As chance would have it, I happen to have a few recommendations for this 100th anniversary of Armistice Day, or what we now call Veterans Day. 1. All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque. Written from the perspective of a German soldier in the last year of the war, it has […]
Book Thoughts | Daily Rituals: How Artists Work by Mason Currey
2018-10-13 · by ·
What a delightful little read. You’ll find here one to two-page summaries about how some of the great artists, scientists, writers, movie makers, composers, and more worked. Each is short and sweet, perfect for a quick bit of motivation or inspiration between other tasks. It fills the place that exists between one project and another, […]
Short Review | The War That Saved My Life by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley
2018-09-30 · by ·
I read this to the girls this summer. Wow. What a story. I’m not sure who was affected more: them or me. Set in the early months of World War II in London and Kent, it’s the story of Ada and her brother. Neglected and abused by their mother, they escape during the evacuation of […]
Short Review | Factfulness: Ten Reasons We’re Wrong About the World — And Things Are Better Than You Think
2018-08-19 · by ·
Things were not better when we were kids. Not by a long shot. As one of my heroes once said: “There never was a greater time in the history of the world to live upon the earth than this. How grateful every one of us ought to feel for being alive in this wonderful time with all […]
Book Review | Artemis by Andy Weir
2018-04-07 · by ·
If duct tape was what held Mark Watney’s world together in The Martian, then welding is what holds the moon together for Jazz Bashara in Artemis. If I was to make a wild guess, Andy Weir has spent a good portion of the time since writing The Martian (2011) learning how to weld, then reimagining […]
Book Thoughts | Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
2018-02-19 · by ·
I finished reading Of Mice and Men last night. Its very short length belies the emotional impact of Steinbeck’s obliquely named novella. Though I had read it before, some twenty odd years ago, I found myself hazy on the details, and I decided to read it again. And I think I may read it yet […]
2017 Reading Stats in Review
2018-01-02 · by ·
I read a few books in 2017. Here’s a breakdown of stats, followed by some lists of my favorite books this year: 72 total books/graphic novels/audiobooks. 64 different authors. 30 books in 22 different series, 13 which were the first book in the series, 5 were the second, 2 were the third, and 8 were […]
Review | The Collapsing Empire (The Interdependency #1) by John Scalzi
2018-01-01 · by ·
Meh. A big fat ‘meh’ is all I can muster for Scalzi’s latest, The Collapsing Empire. There’s potential here, interesting concepts and creative ideas, and even some clever plot twists. And yet, it feels like Scalzi is mailing it in. Due to a discovery of the Flow, humanity has managed to overcome the light speed […]
Review | Time Travel: A History by James Gleick
2017-11-11 · by ·
A few years ago, I read a book called Debt: The First 5,000 Years. Written by David Graeber, an anthropologist, and anarchist (I’m not sure how one teaches at the London School of Economics and calls themselves an anarchist, but what do I know?), it was less about economics and more about anthropology. It described […]
Short Review | A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles
2017-11-10 · by ·
As titles go, A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles is about as much of an understatement as it gets. And yet, it is one of the most surprisingly fulfilling reads of my year. During the Russian Revolution, Count Alexander Rostov finds himself an aristocrat in a world where only the proletariat is legal. By […]
