Book Reviews

3-stars

Redshirts

I was grinning like an idiot as Scalzi skewered classic sci-fi tropes with irreverent panache in "Redshirts" [http://amzn.to/2xoMkoD]. The book's best feature is its outrageously sarcastic and witty dialogue. The first half was genuinely hilarious and I was prepared to give the

3-stars

Blood Meridian

Lots of people love this book, but I just couldn't get into Cormac McCarthy's "Blood Meridian" [http://amzn.to/2xW3m0q]. I get that it's supposed to be a book about senseless violence. I get that it's not supposed to have

2-stars

Dark Matter

Crouch's "Dark Matter" [http://amzn.to/2xUpNTJ] is a mediocre execution of a great sci-fi idea. Like most sci-fi authors, Crouch seems more interested in exploring the core idea than in building believable characters. I stayed along for this action/thriller ride until the

5-stars

Kindly Inquisitors: The New Attacks on Free Thought

Jonathan Rauch forcefully defends freedom of speech and liberal science in his short and crisp "Kindly Inquisitors: The New Attacks on Free Thought" [http://amzn.to/2xx8KWs]. Originally published in 1993, the book is even more relevant today than it was back then, resulting in an expanded edition

4-stars

Here I Stand: A Life of Martin Luther

Halloween 2017 is the 500th anniversary of a turning point in Western history. Although few actions have changed the world as much as Martin Luther nailing his 95 theses to the church door at Wittenberg, it was barely mentioned in my formal education. Bainton's "Here I Stand:

3-stars

Something Wicked This Way Comes

Ray Bradbury is best known for his sci-fi, but when I stumbled across his ominously titled "Something Wicked This Way Comes" [http://amzn.to/2wrgPwW], I had to give it a try. Macabre and brimming with baroque language, Bradbury's novel seems to be too dark

3-stars

The Doors of Perception

Best known for his "Brave New World," Aldous Huxley also made his stamp on the counter-culture with his notorious mescalin book, "The Doors of Perception" [http://amzn.to/2jF8oIm]. In it, he brings us along on one of his mescalin trips and takes frequent detours

5-stars

Barbarian Days: A Surfing Life

Finnegan's "Barbarian Days" [http://amzn.to/2w0QgcR] is a cool, easy read. The author himself narrates the audiobook and his unhurried, honest style makes it seem like you're shooting the breeze with him while sitting on a board waiting for the next set to

3-stars

The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark

When I picked up Carl Sagan's "The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark" [http://amzn.to/2xMNSfb], I wasn't expecting such a thorough treatment of alien abduction claims! This book is Sagan's plea for our society to adopt

3-stars

Warnings: Finding Cassandras to Stop Catastrophes

"Warnings" [http://amzn.to/2w8hVfd] asks the most important question of our time: "when it comes to predicting disasters, who should we trust?" Unfortunately, Clarke and Eddy's answer is vague and untenable. One of their four key recommendations is to build a system to

5-stars

The Bet: Paul Ehrlich, Julian Simon, and Our Gamble over Earth's Future

"The Bet" gave me a new framework for interpreting science/policy debates: Neo-Malthusians vs. Cornucopians. Once you see it, you can't stop seeing it everywhere you look. Sabin elegantly traces the intellectual lineage of this debate through the lens of the Ehrlich/Simon wager.

5-stars

Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage

Shackleton's stoic struggle against the ravages of the Antarctic is one of the greatest stories I've ever heard. In "Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage" [http://amzn.to/2vu8Yeo], Lansing reconstructs the perilous existence of Shackleton and his crew of 27 scrappy shipwrecked adventurers

4-stars

Perennial Seller: The Art of Making and Marketing Work that Lasts

In my 2013 personal annual review, I wrote that I wanted to build something that would last 100 years. I have made no progress over the last four years. It is such a large and intimidating goal that it seems impossible to begin. Where to start? What are the steps

4-stars

Death Comes For The Archbishop

Published in 1927, "Death Comes For The Archbishop" [http://amzn.to/2woDqqo] feels like a much more recent novel. Writing in a beautiful, timeless style, Cather crafts a southwestern legend that reaches across time to touch our souls. The breadth and depth of emotion in this barely 200

4-stars

Higher Superstition: The Academic Left and Its Quarrels with Science

This is the hardest I've laughed for any book in my 2017 reading theme [/2017-focus]. "Higher Superstition" [http://amzn.to/2vDJvBX] is a wickedly perceptive takedown of the absurdities of the "academic postmodern left" and their "perspectivist" critique of science. Gross

3-stars

Science: The Endless Frontier

"Science: The Endless Frontier" [http://amzn.to/2v908lR] is a landmark in the history of American science because it launched the National Science Foundation. At FDR's request, Vannevar Bush wrote this report to lay out how science would be funded in the US after WWII. Bush&

5-stars

The Satanic Verses

Surreally cynical, flamingly controversial, and surprisingly touching, Rushdie's "The Satanic Verses" [http://amzn.to/2uuISKt] is a work of art. Structuring a frame narrative around the intersecting paths of two Indian actors as they flit between London and Bombay, Rushdie made me laugh, frown, ponder, and

5-stars

The Road

There's a certain comfort to knowing that things can't get any worse. While McCarthy's "The Road" [http://amzn.to/2sFLrUw] is undeniably bleak and occasionally disturbing, I was surprised to frequently find myself in a peaceful, semi-meditative mood as I progressed

3-stars

The Very, Very Rich and How They Got That Way

"The Very, Very Rich and How They Got That Way" [http://amzn.to/2x943TQ] feels like reading a late night self-help informercial but redeems itself with a few gems. Great literature, this is not. Occasionally entertaining and mostly tedious, this is. Profiling 15 men who made over

3-stars

The War on Science: Who's Waging It, Why It Matters, What We Can Do About It

"The War on Science" [http://amzn.to/2tmFP3w] does a good job of contextualizing the current science/politics debate but is unevenly written and methinks it smacks a bit too much of half-baked undergraduate political ranting. Otto's book gave me a better understanding of recent

3-stars

Making "Nature": The History of a Scientific Journal

"Making 'Nature'" [http://amzn.to/2qNVXJv] feels like half the book it could have been. Rather than settling for a rather dry exposition of the journal's history, Baldwin attempts to enliven the narrative by exploring some of Nature's biggest controversies. Yet her

4-stars

The Remains of the Day

Ishiguro gently seduces the reader by narrating "The Remains of the Day" [http://amzn.to/2rSjYSY] from the unlikely perspective of a genteel English butler during early twentieth-century Britain. Nothing particularly dramatic or exciting happens, but the fastidiously professional Stevens gently pulls at our heartstrings in this

1-star

Solve for Happy: Engineer Your Path to Joy

"Solve for Happy" [http://amzn.to/2sya2Mc] is a condescending and lazy self-help book. While the premature death of his son is undeniably tragic, Gawdat loses my sympathy with his faux insights and patronizing tone. "Going back to one of my childhood interests, the theory of

crime

The Big Con: The Story of the Confidence Man

There is a certain romance about master confidence men. The risk, the cleverness, and the nervous tension all combine to make the expert grifter the beloved subject of some of our culture's most treasured films and novels. In "The Big Con" [http://amzn.to/2rwsvbS], University

3-stars

The Death of Expertise: The Campaign Against Established Knowledge and Why it Matters

A timely but excessively cranky book. Nichols' "The Death of Expertise" [http://amzn.to/2vwwaIo] rails against the public's rejection of expert authority. Nichols' goal was to present the strongest possible case for his point of view - namely that democratic "equality", sloppy