The Martian by Andy Weir My rating: 5 of 5 stars This was lovingly written by an obvious space nerd. Weir explains large amounts of science and engineering in a very accessible format. As only a true space nerd would do, there are lots of jokes and puns. Not everyone will like them, but they…
Táin Bó Cúalnge. English by L. Winifred Faraday My rating: 4 of 5 stars I put out a call on Facebook for suggestions on Gaelic mythology to read. This was the top suggestion. This strongly reminded me of Norse and Saxon epics. All account for the names of places by describing the battles undertaken there.…
The Man in the High Castle by Philip K. Dick My rating: 5 of 5 stars PKD writes about my favorite topic which is how we perceive reality. What is real? Can we actually tell? I may need to read more of his books. Sensation and Perception was my favorite class doing my Psychology major.…
Joss Whedon: The Biography by Amy Pascale My rating: 4 of 5 stars This biography is essentially a greatly expanded Joss Whedon IMDB.com filmography. Pascale carefully tells the behind the scenes stories about his career. I arrived late to the Whedonverse. Yes, the fandom has a name. Essentially, I saw Serenity in the movie theater,…
Salman Rushdie took a bunch of flak for giving beloved books at poor rating. Well, I don’t like the work of Kingsley Amis, there it is. I don’t have to explain or justify. It’s allowed. He was operating on Goodreads, but Rushdie has not claim his author’s page yet. And, he says he was unaware the ratings…
Allegiant by Veronica Roth My rating: 3 of 5 stars Seems odd, but I found this the best in the series. Things start to click into place. The (terrible, no good not even) scientific explanations made sense of things that had bothered me about the story. At first, the switching back and forth between Tris…
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins My rating: 3 of 5 stars Yeah, I am finally getting around to reading it and years of resisting pressure. I rarely read something while everyone else does. The Harry Potter, Twilight, Hunger Games, and Percy Jackson phenomenons where all for Generation Y while I am GenX. I cannot…
The Gatekeeper by Scott Ferrell My rating: 4 of 5 stars Scott is a friend from high school. We played D&D and terrorized our hometown. I wanted to read this because I figured it would incorporate elements from that experience. Maybe I would even recognize someone I know? Stories like this about the hero stuck…
The Age of American Unreason by Susan Jacoby My rating: 2 of 5 stars Back in 2007, I went to Thanksgiving with Mom to the home of a Philosophy professor. The professor’s father discoursed on why United States presidents should only be intellectuals. His arguments made sense. Someone able to understand the options, determine risk, and plan…