After finishing Jonathan Haidt’s The Anxious Generation, I couldn’t wait to recommend it to my family, friends, and others. I truly believe this book is a must-read for anyone with a smartphone, children, or, well, a pulse. Smartphones’ impact has been so fast and pervasive in our culture that we are only beginning to understand […]
About Daniel
Dan Burton lives in Millcreek, Utah, where he practices law by day and everything else by night. He reads about history, politics, science, medicine, and current events, as well as more serious genres such as science fiction and fantasy.
Reflections on Night by Elie Weisel
2024-06-19 · by ·
When reflecting on a literary work that has endured for almost 65 years and left an indelible mark on history, it’s remarkable to consider its profound impact on millions of readers and its recognition with a Nobel prize. The moment was the Holocaust, and the book–the memoir–is Elie Wiesel’s Night. It is a gut-wrenching snapshot […]
Book Review | The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak
2024-04-24 · by ·
If there’s one book that surprised me, it’s The Book Thief. I brushed it off for the longest time due to my aversion to historical fiction and young adult novels. However, an unexpected trip to Poland, with a visit to Auschwitz on the agenda, led me to reconsider. It all started with Elie Weisel’s Night, […]
Happy birthday, Stephen Ambrose
2024-01-10 · by ·
I’m reading D-Day by Stephen E. Ambrose, and it also happens to be his birthday (January 10). I’ve also by him on my shelves I’ve got Nothing Like It In the World and Undaunted Courage. He was born in Decatur, Illinois (1936). He was 28 years old when a small university press published his first book, […]
Looking back on 2023’s non-fiction reads
2023-12-28 · by ·
“Imagine a marketplace teeming with vibrant stalls, each overflowing with treasures not of gold or silk, but of words and worlds waiting to be explored. This, my friends, is the bibliophilic bazaar I invite you to wander today, where each book beckons like a whispered promise, a portal to hidden dimensions of experience.” Thanks for […]
Short Review | Words on Fire by Jennifer A. Nielsen
2023-08-20 · by ·
This summer our 12-year-old started a book club with her friends. I expected them to settle on something more fantastical–maybe Brandon Mull or Jessica Day George. Instead, they chose a more serious-looking story, Words on Fire by Jennifer A. Nielsen, about a young girl in Lithuania in the late 1800s. I was intrigued and decided […]
Review | The Making of the Atomic Bomb by Richard Rhodes
2023-07-29 · by ·
Opening this weekend, Chris Nolan’s “Oppenheimer” has a run time of 3 hours, is very light on CGI, and is rated R for sexuality, nudity, and language.* Released in 1986, Richard Rhodes’ The Making of the Atomic Bomb is 896 pages (or 37 hours on Audible) long, has zero CGI scenes, and, well, is not rated […]
Short Review: Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman
2023-07-14 · by ·
Neil Gaiman has his fans, and they are passionate. I’ve enjoyed a book or two of his, myself. But when Norse Mythology came out in 2017, it felt like the Gaiman fans turned out in droves to read (what looked to me) an opportunistic money grab by the famous author. Thor: Ragnarok, the second—and best—of […]
Happy Birthday, Tom Clancy
2023-04-12 · by ·
My first introduction to Tom Clancy and his world of espionage and military techno-thrillers was The Hunt for the Red October. Dad handed it to me sometime in my early teens, and I remember seeing the movie with him shortly after it came out. I’ll never forget it. it. I remember Sean Connery’s character, Russian […]
Review | The Revolutionary: Samuel Adams by Stacy Schiff
2023-03-06 · by ·
As I write this, it is March 5, the anniversary of the Boston Massacre (or an “Unhappy Disturbance” if you were British) on a cold night in 1770. It started as an argument between a British soldier and several Boston residents and soon escalated as a crowd gathered, chasing the soldier back to the Customs […]
