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)
Category: Books and Media I Recommend
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)
Book review: the Chemist
Three stars? Four? I have never been a Twilight fan (and proud to say it). But Stephanie Meyer is on to a new heroine now, the Chemist. How interesting that it interleaves with my current TV series obsession "Breaking Bad." My wife and I are powering through season 4, maybe 5 by the time I … Continue reading Book review: the Chemist
Wait But Why: the wisdom ladder by Tim Urban
"Religion for the nonreligious" https://waitbutwhy.com/2014/10/religion-for-the-nonreligious.html Okay, don't get put off! I love this kind of writing. WARNING: navel gazing ahead. The idea that we are on a stepladder of consciousness, beginning on the one end, from one-celled, barely alive organisms, rising up through insects and up to chimpanzees and then Einstein-level humans, is interesting. And … Continue reading Wait But Why: the wisdom ladder by Tim Urban
Book review: Born a Crime, Trevor Noah
https://www.amazon.com/Born-Crime-Stories-African-Childhood/ Trevor is someone I only know from his hosting the Daily Show on Comedy Central. He is hilarious, insightful and holds up an incisive mirror to America by being from another culture, by being from South Africa. Now he brings us along through his hilarious and also terrible childhood and growth into adulthood. One memory … Continue reading Book review: Born a Crime, Trevor Noah
Book review: Blade Runner (Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?)
Five stars. I have wanted to read this book for decades. Now, with my emphasis on reading consistently (both via Audible.com and in print, but alas only rarely on my Kindle app or Kindle device that my son discarded), I'm finally making progress on that enormous mountain of backlogged titles. I love coming home, seeing … Continue reading Book review: Blade Runner (Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?)
NYTimes: Talking about Failure is Crucial for Growth
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/17/smarter-living/talking-about-failure-is-crucial-for-growth-heres-how-to-do-it-right.html This is great, and timely, and something I want all my readers, my colleagues, my family to read. I need to read this again, too. This NYTimes article is about vulnerability, and the human condition, and ME not being embarrassed when (yet another) presentation or project, or idea that I have goes down the … Continue reading NYTimes: Talking about Failure is Crucial for Growth
Book review: The Art of Storytelling: from parents to professionals. The Great Courses
This is the first Great course that I have listened to. Yes, I’m like all of you. I’m proudest of those ‘important books’ on my bookshelf that I read during high school and college, and always aspire to buy and read more, but ... there never seems to be enough time to CATCH UP ON … Continue reading Book review: The Art of Storytelling: from parents to professionals. The Great Courses