Tag: recommended for the enthusiast
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Joseph’s Evolution of a Cro-Magnon
Evolution of a Cro-Magnon John Joseph The completely insane, at times totally unbelievable, utterly compelling, tragic, hilarious, memoir of the street kid turned hardcore legend, John Joseph aka Bloodclot. Born into an abusive home, Joseph would soon end up separated from his mother and placed with his brothers in a horrific foster home. From there,…
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Skolnick’s One Breath: Freediving, Death, and the Quest to Shatter Human Limits
One Breath: Freediving, Death, and the Quest to Shatter Human Limits Adam Skolnick A book about a lost young man who finds himself through the extreme sport of free diving. A tale of ambition, physical brilliance, and ultimately death. A book about how far you can really push the human body, and a book about…
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Boyrain’s Borderlands: The Partition of Judaeo-Christianity
Borderlands: The Partition of Judeo-Christinaty Daniel Boyarin Daniel Boyarin is a genius and a personally fascinating scholar. A Talmudic scholar and an expert on rabbinic Judaism and early Christianity, he’s also versed in what is generally called “theory” and rhetoric. He’s an observant Jew, and an anti-Zionist. He’s also, I’m afraid to say, a complex…
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Harris’s Dictator
Dictator: A Novel Robert Harris The final volume in Harris’s novelization of the life of Cicero, this one covering his actions during the time of the assassination of Caesar up to his death on the orders of Marc Anthony. Cicero is one of Rome’s most memorable senators. A brilliant lawyer and rhetorician who was also…
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Review: Knecht’s Who Is Vera Kelly
Who Is Vera Kelly Rosalie Knecht A clever spy novel that doubles as a coming out story, while also being an disection of gender and sexuality in 1950-60s American and is an subtle exposition of the catastrophic effects of U.S. involvement in Latin America. Many spy novelists are ostensibly liberals (LeCarre, Steinhauer come to mind)…
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Review: Holiday’s The Obstacle Is the Way
The Obstacle if the Way: The Timeless Art of Turning Trials into Triumph Ryan Holiday When I first heard of Ryan Holiday, and his mini-stoicism inspired empire, I figured he was probably an asshole. It was all a bit too Silicon Valley bro-y for me (and I’m someone with a deep interest in stoicism and…
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Review: Mackintosh’s I Let You Go
I Let You Go Clare Mackintosh A thriller about a dead child and a battered woman that has a plot twist that’s almost too clever. The writing is excellent, and the pacing in the first two third of the book feels like a perfect mix of long periods of dread and sorrow punctuated by short…
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Review: Hutchinson’s Endure
Endure: Mind, Body and the Curiously Elastic Limits of Human Performance Alex Hutchinson Anyone who has followed this site for any length of time knows I’m obsessed with human endurance. Why (and how) do we push through pain, how do we keep getting faster? Why are some people so much better at this, and how…
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Review: Zomorodi’s Bored and Brilliant
Bored and Brilliant: How Spacing Out Can Unlock Your Most Productive and Creative Self Manoush Zomorodi Another in a long line of books fretting over our distraction culture, this one focused on the importance of boredom in the creative process. I’ve read far more of these books than I care to admit (yet remain active…
Milo and the Calf 