Reading

I enjoyed the formatting of the book and the different stories.

Not much of a driving narrative to keep it interesting. Would work as a long form article, but not a whole book.

I don’t get why this book is highly regarded. Style over substance. It’s like a George Lucas prequel movie. Tons of action with no connection to the characters.

An interesting insight into the competitiveness of science and probably very candid for its time. Watson clear is a huge sexist asshole and product of his time, but clearly doesn’t leave any doubt to his antiquated misogyny and arrogance.

What a treat to read!

So the Ina Garten book has an apt title “Be Ready When The Luck Happens”. It’s pretty much her rattling off how lucky she has been (apart from an abusive childhood). She comes off charming, but a little out of touch for someone who could just start flipping houses in her 20s and moving from one thing to another to relative ease. It also tries to be a self-help and business book at points, which I feel is something publishers must push on their writers these days. Not a bad book, but just more ‘golly gee wiz’ than deep.

I liked how this captured the essence and complexity of creating something with friends and all the drama that can come with it. Also, the settings were very familiar. My only complaint would be that some of the verisimilitude in the book was hackneyed, hitting all the pop culture touchstones of each time period.

I thought this book would be more historical and less of a rambling pretensions mess. Hard to get a clear picture of his source material and make a convincing argument. It felt very mystical in its writing. Maybe I just don’t get why this book is well regarded.

Finished in a day. Rarely does a book choke me up. Beautiful.

A dense book. Has some slow parts when it comes to discussing “shock” but overall an interesting read.

A page-turner. Really well written and researched. Never got bored reading it.

It’s like if Bel-Ami didn’t make his way up the ranks by sleeping with women and probably more realistic a story of a writer who tries to make a name for himself after moving to Paris.

This was an interesting book in the chapters where it dealt with the history and development of the language. However at other parts of the book it felt oddly dated and very early 2000s. Which is something I rarely come across. I get the feeling this book came out after the success of their previous book that sounds like it was popular during the Freedom Fries era of the Iraq War. This book had weaved into it what seemed like the parts a publisher wants to make a mass market book appealing. I wish the book stuck to the more timeless parts then interspersing it with facts from 2005.

I read this pretty fast over four days. The short chapters make it a page turner. Morris' commentary makes you think and is written in a way as if he were in the room with you. It makes one think about how the media and people perceive a suspect of a crime, even if they might be innocent. Trying to find some clue to maybe how they are guilty, even if they are not remorseful for a crime they didn't actually commit. The hardcover edition of this book is also designed beautifully, it's a shame they went for a more 'ripped from the headlines' for the paperback edition.

A long, but insightful biography of de Gaulle, his times, and his country as a whole.

I didn’t realize how closely Eyes Wide Shut follows this book.

Quite interesting. It's about a suicide epidemic that occurred at the end of the Third Reich. The second half drew from memoirs and diaries from the time and dealt with topics such as how ordinary citizens became more and more radicalized, the aftermath of the war, and the self-delusion of believing they were victims as well. The scariest part of the book is not the obvious one, the descriptions of death and suffering, but the descriptions of a slow erosion of morals and decency.

It was done, it was finished, it was tedious, it was boring.

I just finished this on the recommendation of Ryan Reed. I found it very insightful into how government policy, indifference, and outright bigotry can distort our perspectives on racially segregated areas, how policies have held back African Americans from breaking out of poverty, and possible remedies for the future. It's also very relevant since Trump tweeted about AFFH the other day, essentially promoting segregation in housing.

My father gave me this book to read. I'm wondering why now. I hated it. It's pseudo-philosophical, surprisingly religious, and goes on tangents for each of its "rules." It seems to be aimed at an audience of straight men. This book is a waste of time.

It gave a good description and analysis of Leonardo as a normal person, as much as one can say that of the quintessential Renaissance man. I enjoyed the book.

I read this in April 2018, right after my mom was diagnosed with ocular melanoma, a rare eye cancer. It is the same cancer that eventually took Dr. Sacks's life. The book talks about interesting cases of visual impairment, like people who can't recognize objects or see stereoscopically. He then writes about his own experience with ocular melanoma. This book helped me deal with my mom's cancer diagnosis. Luckily, she had radiation and had the best prognosis one can get for this type of cancer, and it had not spread.

It's been a fascinating read. It talks about a painter who becomes colorblind, a blind man seeing again and the difficulties with that, a surgeon with Tourette's, and more fascinating cases. They show how varied human experience can be and raise deeper questions about consciousness and our own perceptions of reality.

I picked up this book after reading a few pages of Edward Morris's copy in New York City. The author writes about his experience of living in Greenwich Village, with musings on city life, urban planning, architecture, politics, and more. I've really enjoyed this book, which is right up my alley.

I started it last summer, picked it up again this summer, and finished it. Sacks goes on a lot of tangents, and the book is very jargon-filled. However, it shows how people who might not seem alive, who have severe Parkinson's, might just be like a panther trapped behind bars, unable to get out. The documentary and movie are also great.

A little dated in some parts. Chapter on Memex and Management were good. Science essays good as well, he's got a very positive outlook on things, The chapter on Baseball physics and statistics was dated.