https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bd/Laocoon_and_His_Sons.jpg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laoco%C3%B6n_and_His_Sons My high-school aged son is avidly devouring classic literature, and the echoes of those epic struggles from my own education, float back to me. On our winter break one evening, he had left the Norton Anthology of Western Literature out on the coffee table. Soon I was in the midst of battle at … Continue reading Laocoön, The Aeneid and Captain Picard
Category: Books and Media I Recommend
Bowling Alone or Kicking in Groups? Wellness concerns…
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/f/f5/Bowling_Alone.jpg/220px-Bowling_Alone.jpg I'm part of WellDOM, the Wellness initiative within the Department of Medicine at University of Colorado. As such, I continue to support the idea of Sprints, the way we boost physician and team efficiency and effectiveness using the Electronic Health Record. However, we know that a large part of physician burnout and wellness have … Continue reading Bowling Alone or Kicking in Groups? Wellness concerns…
Because of Winn Dixie (book review)
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/76/Because_of_Winn-Dixie.jpg by Kate DiCamillo, via Wikipedia I think it is crucial to read outside of one's vocation. Winn-Dixie is a supermarket chain where I grew up, in Tallahassee, Florida. Furthermore, Kate DiCamillo is a magical writer, whom my children and I discovered as they were growing up. I recently found audio books at our local … Continue reading Because of Winn Dixie (book review)
Why I read and blog about Sci-Fi. Life 3.0, Superintelligence, and the Sirens of Titan
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/12/books/review/namwali-serpell.html?action=click&module=Well&pgtype=Homepage§ion=Book%20Review This is a fun read. My father never understood my passion for fantasy (The Hobbit, the Lord of the Rings) in middle school or sci-fi in high school (Ender's Game, entire libraries of Asimov, Heinlein, PK Dick, and countless others). I'd try to explain, (not nearly as cogently as this journalist) that science fiction … Continue reading Why I read and blog about Sci-Fi. Life 3.0, Superintelligence, and the Sirens of Titan
Getting to Yes (Book review)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-c-SUdBoD6M OK, nobody has time to read an actual book, so here is William Ury speaking at Creative Mornings about his book. Do you have 30 minutes to be a better person? Ever seen the arm-wrestle exercise? Watch the video. I've read his book several times now. At least put it on your bookshelf. My … Continue reading Getting to Yes (Book review)
Book review: Turtles All the Way Down
Five stars. John Green channels teenage angst like no one, and he parlays them, unaccountably, into riveting novels of pathos and the teen journey. He broke my heart with The Fault in Our Stars, and he did it agai with Turtles. The title of course comes from the story that some old woman was arguing … Continue reading Book review: Turtles All the Way Down
Book review: Flow (second time review)
Here we are (again)! How can I review this? An incredible landmark of a book, it has sat on my bookshelf for more than a decade, and then on my 'actively reading coffee table' for another few years. Despite its mention in almost every important other book I have read, and my repeated abortive attempts … Continue reading Book review: Flow (second time review)
Book review: Singularity Sky
Four stars. Stross's Accelerando is perhaps my favorite book of his so far. I like his writing, the ideas that he sprinkles along the way. In Singularity Sky, for example, that the economic takeover of a planet begins with a rainfall of portable telephones from the sky, and that those who pick them up are … Continue reading Book review: Singularity Sky
Book review: Artemis
Five stars. Maybe the best sci-fi book of the year? Well, it is in the running. I'm sure it is difficult for an author to follow-up a first-novel blockbuster book with a successful second novel, but Andy has pulled it off. It is NOT the paradigm-shifting story of a marooned human on Mars, but a … Continue reading Book review: Artemis
The Glass Cage by Nicholas Carr (book review)
One of our book club books, for the 'clinical decision support' team for the electronic health record at our institution. We have now read it in our Large PIG book club meeting (the Physician Informatics Group: we try hard not to take ourselves too seriously). Some of us were depressed after reading. The initial optimism … Continue reading The Glass Cage by Nicholas Carr (book review)