Tag: book reviews
-
Review: Venkataraman’s The Optimists Telescope
The Optimists Telescope: Thinking Ahead in a Reckless AgeBina Venkataraman People are very bad at long term planning. There are good reasons for this. For most of our existence it was always a better idea to eat that food, eat that mushroom, have sex with that person, right now cause tomorrow was really, seriously, not…
-
Review: Turgenev’s Fathers and Sons
Fathers and Sons Ivan Tugenev The novel that really introduced the concept of nihilism to the world. In many ways, this is a classic story. Father sends son away to school, son comes back, changed, with new ideas that feel dangerous to the father. They grow apart. But with time, and love, there is a…
-
Review: Tavenner’s Prepared
Prepared: What Kids Need for a Fulfilled Life Diane Tavenner A guidebook for a new model of education by one of the founders of Summit Public schools. I picked this up because I have young kids whose education I fuss over and it was on Gates end of the year list of best books. Lots…
-
Review: Marantz’s Anti-Social
Anti-Social: Online Extremists, Techno-Utopians and the Hijacking of the American Conversation Andrew Marantz Antisocial is an extension of the reporting Marantz did for the New Yorker, both before and after the election on the rise of clickbait websites and alt-right trolls. Some of this will be familiar ground to those who read the earlier articles,…
-
2019 My Year In Books
Every year I read 52 books. Some years that’s easy, some years it’s hard. This year, it was hard. Child rearing, work commitments and the siren song of the youtube video all conspired to keep me from my reading goal, but I prevailed. There’s a decent argument that my goal of 52 books a year…
-
Koestler’s Arrival and Departure
Arrival and Departure Arthur Koestler A taught little novel about intrigue and politics in a town of transients and refugees. Our protagonist is a leftist hero, who has left the growing dictatorship in his country to either return to fight on the side of justice or flee to an apolitical life across the sea. He…
-
Review: Manchette’s Ivory Pearl
Ivory Pearl Jean-Patrick Manchette The master of the noir novels final, unfinished, work Ivory Pearl was supposed to be the start a new, expansive series using the espionage novel as a means to talk about the revolutions and uprisings of the post WWII years. Manchette died before he could finish it, but what he left…
-
Review: Morrison’s The Bluest Eye
The Bluest Eye Toni Morrison I am embarrassed to admit that until this year, the only Toni Morrison book I have read was Beloved. I’m determined to change that. And being me, I started at the beginning with Bluest Eye. Good lord it is stunning. A clear eyed, visceral, look into a black community in…
-
Review: Ratliff’s The Mastermind
The Mastermind: Drugs, Empire, Murder, Betrayal Evan Ratliff From crypto computer programmer to mastermind of an international drug and arms smuggling ring, the story of Paul Calder Le Roux is a hell of a ride. We got assassins in the Philippines, online pill mills run out Israel, private armies in Somalia, and more. It’s all…
Milo and the Calf 