Starship Troopers by Robert A. Heinlein My rating: 4 of 5 stars The movie was satire of the book, right? The movie was campy (and as a woman told me just a reason to show boobs). The book reveals nuggets of insights about human nature within organizations. While I enjoyed both, I appreciate the book…
An Army of Davids: How Markets and Technology Empower Ordinary People to Beat Big Media, Big Government, and Other Goliaths by Glenn Reynolds My rating: 2 of 5 stars On page 36 there is a quote about Athens, GA where I live about a wireless network downtown anyone can use. When I first moved here,…
I Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban by Malala Yousafzai My rating: 4 of 5 stars A memoir about growing up as a young girl in Swat of Pakistan. She explains life there both before and during Taliban involvement. I vaguely recall the news about her…
Mindset: The New Psychology of Success by Carol S. Dweck My rating: 2 of 5 stars I wanted to learn more about how to use the growth mindset. I personally tend to fall too much into the fixed mindset. Only this book fell too much into the Self-Help traps: “This is how I am. What…
Twelve Years a Slave by Solomon Northup My rating: 3 of 5 stars An autobiography about a mixed race free man kidnapped into slavery hit a little too close to home. His experience being free made acclimating to the difficult masters more challenging. More amazing me is he did not break under the weight of…
The Varieties of Scientific Experience: A Personal View of the Search for God by Carl Sagan My rating: 3 of 5 stars This book was originally Glasgow University Gifford Lectures for the theme The Search for Who We Are in 1985. Sagan does a great job explaining difficult concepts clearly and with compelling evidence. Unfortunately,…
What the Dog Saw and Other Adventures by Malcolm Gladwell My rating: 4 of 5 stars Pro-tip: All the chapters are articles published for Gladwell by The New Yorker. Most are behind their paywall. However, his web site has an an archive where I found the ones mentioned below. The publication date is noted at…
Divergent by Veronica Roth My rating: 2 of 5 stars The dystopian environmental use of Factions reminded me of the Houses in Harry Potter. People have a label by which they belong to another group of people who behaviorally are supposed to be like themselves. They are natural allies and yet frictions exist within the…
Endless Universe: Beyond the Big Bang by Paul J. Steinhardt My rating: 3 of 5 stars Tone of this book felt defensive. Too much reliance on ad hominems? I like the ekpyrotic theory presented by the authors and hope theirs is what wins out over the Big Bang. View all my reviews