For fans, David Baldacci is renowned for crafting pulse-pounding action sequences, morally complex protagonists, and taut standoffs. This foray into hFor fans, David Baldacci is renowned for crafting pulse-pounding action sequences, morally complex protagonists, and taut standoffs. This foray into historical fiction is a jarring misstep that fails to capture either the immersive depth of literary historical fiction or the gripping momentum of his typical oeuvre. The novel attempts to blend the famous author¡¯s powerful narrative instincts with a descriptive style reminiscent of literary giants like Charles Dickens or Leo Tolstoy. The result is a contrived, disjointed work that feels suspiciously augmented by generative AI.
One of the primary failings is the book¡¯s inability to evoke the visceral reality of wartime London during the Blitz, a setting that demands vivid, textured storytelling. Historical fiction thrives on the author¡¯s ability to combine sensory details, cultural nuances, and human struggles to transport readers to another time. Dickens, in Oliver Twist, doesn¡¯t merely describe the grimy streets of Victorian London; he infuses them with a palpable sense of desperation, hope, and humanity. Similarly, Tolstoy¡¯s War and Peace immerses readers in the Napoleonic era through intricate character studies and philosophical reflections grounded in historical context. Baldacci¡¯s Blitz, by contrast, feels like a stage set¡ªmeticulously described yet oddly sterile. The novel¡¯s depictions of air raids, rationing, and societal upheaval are laden with exhaustive detail, suggesting the hand of generative AI-trained writing, but they remain clinical observations rather than felt experiences.
This overreliance on descriptive excess undermines the novel¡¯s emotional core. The characters are way to simple and unidimensional to fully utilize the complexities that arise from the grim backdrop. Their dialogues are stilted and devoid of the era¡¯s cadence.
Compounding this disappointment is the absence of the author¡¯s signature strengths. Fans of The Camel Club or Memory Man expect fast-paced action, unexpected twists, and dialogue that, while cloyingly pulpy, crackles with tension and wit. Strangers in Time abandons these elements entirely. The pacing is sluggish, as if that¡¯s the necessary element to any chance of literary acclaim.
The suspicion that generative AI played a role in the novel¡¯s creation only deepens its flaws. The prose often feels like a pastiche. AI can generate reams of text that mimic the style of Dickens or Tolstoy, but it lacks the human insight to prioritize emotional truth over data points. The masterpieces succeed because their authors balance historical fidelity with human complexity, something this book fails to achieve. Baldacci¡¯s novel neither honors the literary ambitions it aspires to nor delivers the entertainment his fans expect. ...more
¡°The Equality Machine¡± isn¡¯t the kind of book that screams for attention. It doesn¡¯t indulge in scare tactics or paint artificial intelligence as eith¡°The Equality Machine¡± isn¡¯t the kind of book that screams for attention. It doesn¡¯t indulge in scare tactics or paint artificial intelligence as either a savior or a destroyer. Instead, it offers something harder to find: clarity. The author takes a calm, evidence-based approach to AI¡¯s role in addressing and sometimes reinforcing human biases. This restraint might not win clicks or outrage-fueled debates, but it does something more important¡ªit equips readers with tools to think critically about technology¡¯s potential and pitfalls.
One of the book¡¯s standout points is its exploration of how AI can uncover biases that humans often miss. For instance, hiring algorithms have been scrutinized for perpetuating discrimination, but the author flips this narrative. They show how these systems can also expose patterns of bias that recruiters might overlook. A human evaluator might unconsciously favor candidates from certain schools or backgrounds without even realizing it. AI, on the other hand, can flag these tendencies, offering a chance to correct them. Examples like this¡ªloan approvals skewed by geography, medical diagnoses influenced by race¡ªare present throughout the book.
Another strength is the argument that fixing biases in AI is often simpler than tackling them in human systems. Human decision-makers rarely like being questioned on their own judgments. An algorithm, however, can be audited and adjusted. If a model shows racial disparities in loan approvals, you can retrain it. You can¡¯t easily ¡°reprogram¡± a person entrenched in societal prejudices. The author makes this point not to glorify AI but to highlight its unique advantage: it can be debugged. The process isn¡¯t foolproof or automatic. But, it is far easier to improve where there is will.
The book also dives into the ethical gray areas of bias correction. Not all biases are inherently bad. A basketball coach prioritizing height or speed isn¡¯t discriminatory, which is easy to understand. Similarly, and more difficult to agree with, could be a factory foreman building a cohesive team by emphasizing shared cultural experiences. AI makes such choices explicit. Synthetic data plays a key role here, although it is not discussed in the book, which was written at a time when its capabilities were less apparent. By creating balanced datasets free from historical inequities, AI lets users decide which biases to keep, reduce, or discard. The emphasis is on intentionality¡ªyou can¡¯t fix what you don¡¯t acknowledge, and AI shines a light on these trade-offs.
What¡¯s refreshing is how the book counters the reflex to blame technology for problems rooted in society. Critics often attack AI for failing to meet idealistic standards, but the author counters that fairness is inherently messy. Should an algorithm prioritize diversity over qualifications? Should it reflect societal norms or challenge them? These are more moral, social, political, and even context-dependent economic questions than technological. Blaming AI often unites people with diverse and irreconcilable views on thorny subjects. Technology may make situations worse from the viewpoint of one side discussing the evils of the other, but the same technology could help both see the problems more clearly if they so desire, leading to more constructive resolutions.
The book¡¯s pragmatic approach would be boring for many. Readers seeking dramatic warnings about AI¡¯s dangers may find the tone too measured. But for those tired of sensationalism, this is a breath of fresh air. The author doesn¡¯t shy away from complexity. She is happy to reach practical conclusions with less-than-perfect utopian scenarios.
Ultimately, the book succeeds because it refuses to oversimplify to capture the theoretical high ground. AI is not merely the proverbial weapon that one can blame or not blame when abused; it is actually a powerful tool that equality-seeking people can use to bring about effective changes that would be impossible otherwise. For anyone interested in AI¡¯s role in shaping society, this is a must-read. This is because it¡¯s not flashy or alarmist, but logical and honest....more
Keera Duggan is a compellingly crafted underdog, rich with likable traits that make her instantly relatable. The narrative does a fine job of introducKeera Duggan is a compellingly crafted underdog, rich with likable traits that make her instantly relatable. The narrative does a fine job of introducing her with depth, offering numerous emotional and intellectual high points¡ªnot just for Keera but also for those around her. The story is further elevated by distinctive elements, including the nuanced portrayal of chess as a thematic thread and the complex dynamics within her family ensemble. These layers set the stage for a series with immense potential. What makes this debut especially gripping is its blend of engaging courtroom drama and the tightly wound suspense at the heart of the plot....more
The title Proust Was a Neuroscientist is seductive¡ªbut ultimately more of a literary sleight of hand than a thesis that holds under scrutiny. It teaseThe title Proust Was a Neuroscientist is seductive¡ªbut ultimately more of a literary sleight of hand than a thesis that holds under scrutiny. It teases the idea that great artists somehow anticipated what science would discover almost a century later. That they intuited truths about the mind that neuroscientists can barely approach now appeals to all of us who find scientific concepts difficult to grasp. The book does deliver a set of fascinating vignettes¡ªProust, Woolf, C¨¦zanne, Whitman, and others¡ªeach capturing an artist whom the author would claim sensed some truths about the mind that neuroscience is only now beginning to validate. The parallels drawn appear elegant and almost real but are nothing but a romantic overreach in the end, with little genuine utility.
The book¡¯s central insight plays with the concept of emergence that the whole is often more than the sum of its parts. Emergence is real and fascinating: a flock of birds moves with grace no single bird could plan, just as a poem¡¯s meaning blooms beyond its syntax. Lehrer¡¯s heroes, from Proust to Stravinsky, were indeed pioneers who grasped this in their fields, crafting works that defied reduction to mere components. It¡¯s true in food (a dish is not its ingredients), in language (a sentence is more than a string of words), and in consciousness (a mind is not merely a tangle of neurons).
And that¡¯s where the problems begin. Linking insights across various fields where the whole is more than the parts to the brain¡¯s complexity feels like a forced marriage. Historically, people have done this before¡ªclaiming, say, that an ancient philosopher¡¯s musings on the soul mirror Einstein¡¯s relativity¡ªwithout grappling with the gritty specifics of the science. The author nods to neural concepts like plasticity or the rejection of strict determinism is equivalent of saying relativity is nothing but a case against absoluteness of any motion.
To elevate this into a claim that C¨¦zanne anticipated the Gestalt principles of visual perception, or that Proust understood the non-linear workings of memory better than cognitive scientists, is to drift into the foggy territory of intellectual nostalgia. The fallacy is familiar: the retroactive coronation of earlier thinkers using the vocabulary of modern science. We¡¯ve seen it with people who argue that Indian sages discovered quantum physics or that Shakespeare foreshadowed behavioral economics. What¡¯s usually missing is a sober engagement with the specificity and rigor of the science itself.
Effectively, the concept the book misses is that even if there are emerging phenomena across various fields, all emergence is not created equal. The emergence of meaning in literature is not the same as the emergence of behavior in a neural network. And not all systems that defy reduction can be grouped under a common banner of ¡°anti-determinism.¡± Just because something resists decomposition doesn¡¯t mean it operates by the same principles¡ªor that it escapes mechanistic understanding altogether. By 2025, many of the sweeping claims about the irreducibility of language, music, or image creation have been softened or refined through the rise of large language models and computational neuroscience.
That said, the book is still an engaging and often delightful read. It brings attention to some of the less obvious visionaries¡ªpeople like Gertrude Stein or Escoffier¡ªwho understood something deeply structural about their medium, even if they lacked the terminology of modern science. Perhaps the best takeaway is not that artists were unwitting neuroscientists, but that the best art doesn¡¯t need to be vindicated by science at all....more
The Martini Club is finding its footing, with the author providing the right story for the tight-knit gang to contribute to. The author nails the setuThe Martini Club is finding its footing, with the author providing the right story for the tight-knit gang to contribute to. The author nails the setup and experiments well with the red herrings. A good, breezy read....more
Dopamine Nation offers thematically familiar case studies on modern addictions. However, its concise explanation of dopamine¡¯s role in driving addictiDopamine Nation offers thematically familiar case studies on modern addictions. However, its concise explanation of dopamine¡¯s role in driving addictive behaviors stands out as exceptional. The chapter describes how an imbalance in this single neurotransmitter can drive compulsions across substances and habits.
However, the book¡¯s proposed solutions heavily rely on self-discipline and behavioral control. This highlights a key limitation: understanding dopamine¡¯s power does little unless supported by technological or medical interventions, especially for the severely affected. The author is generally not in favor of extraneous solutions, which is all right on its own, but in this case, one wonders how knowledge is used.
The author rightly notes that addiction can stem from nearly any activity. The common thread is dopamine, released during the act¡ªoften amplified by chemical enhancers. In this framing, addiction and dopamine become almost inseparable concepts.
The suggestions¡ªbuilt around acronyms, guidelines, and deliberate behavior¡ªaim to steer dopamine toward constructive pursuits. Yet, these methods, known across cultures and centuries, feel inadequate for those facing extreme dependency and have likely employed will-power based solutions time and again in their struggles.
Still, the book is worth reading. It invites readers to reflect on their own blind spots. This is especially true for those inclined toward introspection, who choose to engage with the text. The journey through its pages offers abundant material for self-reflection. Thus, it remains a worthwhile read for fostering individual awareness. ...more
A good quick read with a likable lead and her cozy gang. The series¡¯ thread is well laid out, and the author will have to work hard on creating novel A good quick read with a likable lead and her cozy gang. The series¡¯ thread is well laid out, and the author will have to work hard on creating novel story arcs, as a lot of stories have been written around these lines for decades. The first book holds interest as the characters are new, and their interactions somewhat mask the staleness of the plot. ...more
*How to Feed the World: A Factful Guide* is an exhaustive exploration of humanity¡¯s most fundamental challenge¡ªproducing enough food for a growing pop*How to Feed the World: A Factful Guide* is an exhaustive exploration of humanity¡¯s most fundamental challenge¡ªproducing enough food for a growing population. This is a classic Smil book¡ªunyielding, granular, and wholly indifferent to narrative expectations. As the title suggests, it is a guide, and like the most useful guidebooks, it is shorn of anything but details.
Paragraphs are dense with caloric conversion ratios, hectares per capita, historical fertilizer application rates, and energy inputs per kilocalorie of food. If anyone does not know the author¡¯s works and is looking for survey-based trends or interviews with experts, they can entertain themselves by searching for even a small section without a barrage of numbers. Instead, you get food systems dismantled and reassembled with data precise enough to make you sweat over the third decimal. If one enjoys the clashing of apparently disconnected number series that one rarely gets in popular books ¡ªpopulation density against agricultural productivity, protein needs across demographic groups, and such - this book will provide another example of how unique Smil¡¯s contributions are.
The book moves briskly across food evolution, consumption patterns, and sustainability, often pausing to dismantle fashionable ideas with historical comparisons and cross-country data. It questions the feasibility of plant-based transitions, exposes the arithmetic behind food miles, and dissects the real constraints of feeding ten billion humans¡ªarable land, water use, nutrient cycles, and energy flows. His controversial conclusions come without fanfare: not a single appeal to morality or ideology, just the numbers, arranged with precision and authority.
On any of the topics - well covered in popular literature - the author¡¯s approach allows him to say something new. He avoids leaning on expert opinions or surveys, instead relying solely on deconstructed components like required nitrogen content in the energy we need versus soil nitrogen and fertilizer usage. His conclusions often challenge conventional wisdom; for example, he questions whether organic farming can scale sufficiently or if current trends in meat consumption are environmentally tenable. While these assertions may spark debate, they are presented so dispassionately and densely that non-expert readers have little to debate against the barrage of statistics. The sheer density of figures can be overwhelming, even for readers familiar with his style. But it also builds a kind of unimpeachable logic¡ªeach layer of data narrowing the space for vague assumptions.
As one of Smil¡¯s long-studied subjects, food systems receive more than his trademark comprehensive treatment, resulting in more data-heavy text than usual. For Smil aficionados, this depth is precisely what makes the book a delight. One only wishes that these mountains of data could be made more accessible¡ªsegmented, searchable, visualized¡ªby a public institution or open-data initiative. ...more
There is something quietly audacious in what Daniel Mason attempts with North Woods, and the greater marvel is that he pulls it off not through spectaThere is something quietly audacious in what Daniel Mason attempts with North Woods, and the greater marvel is that he pulls it off not through spectacle but with precision, deep intuition, and a kind of literary humility that lets the land and those who pass through it speak for themselves.
The book¡¯s concept¡ªa history of a single patch of New England woods told through the lives of its successive inhabitants¡ªsounds ambitious. But the reading never feels labored. What might have turned into an exercise in structure is instead a study in feeling. The reader is pulled not just into stories but into the temperaments of different centuries, the smell of their air, the rhythm of their griefs.
The writing is, as some might call it, beautiful, but that word seems too pale here. Mason does not merely describe¡ªhe animates, sometimes with startling specificity, other times with a lyricism that hovers just above the literal. You can hear how the moss grows, feel the grain in the wood, and see the curl of smoke rising off a widow¡¯s hearth. And then, in a breath, he shifts. A poem. A play. A naturalist¡¯s diary. A murder report. He isn¡¯t just experimenting¡ªhe¡¯s fluent. What strikes the most is how he adapts to every character¡¯s voice so fully that you forget there is a single author behind it. He thinks with their minds.
There are, in places, moments that jolt¡ªchapters that suddenly bloom into menace or twist mid-sentence into something you didn¡¯t expect to be capable of feeling for a beetle or a stone wall. But even these never feel like set pieces. They emerge from the beats of lives being lived, often clumsily, often in yearning. Each generation of residents leaves behind a half-buried secret or unfinished tales that the next batch cannot shake off like in families. And all of it happens in that same clearing in the woods, which becomes less a setting than a presence itself.
It¡¯s rare to find a novel that so comfortably spans the sweep of time without flattening it. North Woods moves across centuries the way memory does¡ªunevenly, with sudden intensities, odd fixations, and long silences. The author may seem less interested in telling us about history than in reanimating its moods at times, and the book is better for it....more
¡°The Summit¡± is a solid, if somewhat surface-level, account of the historic Bretton Woods conference and the two key personalities at its heart. It do¡°The Summit¡± is a solid, if somewhat surface-level, account of the historic Bretton Woods conference and the two key personalities at its heart. It does a commendable job of capturing the drama, negotiations, and ideological clashes that shaped the post-war economic order. The narrative is engaging, particularly where the author brings to life the personalities and tensions that defined the event. For readers seeking a readable introduction to Bretton Woods, this book delivers.
The author does well to humanize the key players, particularly Keynes, whose brilliance and charisma shine through despite his physical frailty during the conference. Similarly, White emerges as a fascinating figure¡ªa man driven by idealism but also mired in controversy. The agreement that impacted billions ever since is made more about these two, which may or may not be right, but their personal dynamics add color to what could have been a dry retelling of policy debates.
All that told, the book falls short of drawing the true, broader lessons for the modern world when it fails to explicitly explore the unique circumstances that made Bretton Woods possible¡ªcircumstances that are almost impossible to replicate today. The book¡¯s value is in what it does not say about the impossibilities of any similar worldwide agreement in the periods from now, especially in light of the challenges the world faces in 2025.
The rest are my personal takeaways (not as part of the review, but reflections inspired by the book): The Bretton Woods agreement was a product of its time¡ªa unique convergence of factors that allowed 44 nations, largely allies in the midst of World War II, to come together under the leadership of the US and UK. Communication was slow, media influence was minimal, and the global power structure was heavily skewed in favor of a few dominant nations. The solutions crafted at Bretton Woods were designed to address the immediate scars of war and depression, with little consideration for the long-term or the voices of smaller nations. Yet, for all its flaws, the system it created¡ªthe IMF, World Bank, and the gold-dollar standard¡ªprovided a framework that stabilized the global economy for decades.
What¡¯s striking is how difficult it is to achieve such international cooperation today. The number of nations has multiplied, power is more diffuse, and the spirit of partnership that existed among wartime allies is largely absent. Modern attempts at global cooperation, such as COP or WTO negotiations, have repeatedly faltered, highlighting how challenging it is to build consensus about any tangible items in a fractured world.
Bretton Woods teaches us that creating institutions like the IMF or the EU is incredibly difficult, requiring a rare alignment of circumstances, leadership, and shared purpose. Yet, dismantling them¡ªas seen in Brexit or the US¡¯s retreat from multilateralism¡ªis alarmingly easy. The erosion of institutions like the WHO, NATO, WTO, and IMF risks pushing the world further toward a fragmented, ¡°every nation for itself¡± mentality.
The book doesn¡¯t explicitly say this, but it subtly underscores that what made Bretton Woods possible was less about the brilliance of Keynes or White and more about the unique conditions of the time: a manageable number of parties, all allies, united by the urgency of war, and led by two dominant powers with shared economic goals. The largest could sell/tell the vast majority that what was agreed to by them and good for them was good for all, even if they did not have all the details or understand most of the items being discussed.
In conclusion, the book¡¯s real value lies in what it implicitly reveals about the near impossibility of building meaningful global cooperation¡ªa lesson we need in 2025 as we go about dismantling what was miraculously achieved before....more
Making Tracy work with her nemesis, Nolasco, works beautifully. It brings a variety to the investigations and also creates room for good interactions Making Tracy work with her nemesis, Nolasco, works beautifully. It brings a variety to the investigations and also creates room for good interactions between the two. In a series with so many bad cops, having a previously portrayed villain exhibit decency is heartwarming. ...more
Predictably, A History of India is an ambitious attempt to condense the vast and intricate history of the Indian subcontinent into a single volume. ExPredictably, A History of India is an ambitious attempt to condense the vast and intricate history of the Indian subcontinent into a single volume. Expectedly, it falls short. For a topic so expansive, no single book or course could ever do justice. This is especially true for readers who are already well-acquainted with the subject, as this reviewer happens to be. For such readers, there was never going to be much scope for surprises at the broader topic level¡ªafter all, entire libraries could be built on any one of the themes or periods discussed in this book.
The real interest in listening to the lectures lies in understanding what someone unfamiliar with the subject might glean from them and similar works. In this regard, the course does provide a useful summary or ¡°gist¡± of India¡¯s historical trajectory, offering a starting point for those who wish to learn about the subcontinent's rich and diverse past. The book covers major themes like India¡¯s religious plurality, colonialism, and post-independence developments in a way that is accessible to newcomers.
That said, the vast scope means that many topics are touched upon only briefly, often without the depth or nuance they deserve. In some ways, the book becomes an anthology of key historical periods and figures. There is little room for exploration of various perspectives, let alone engagement with contentious topics.
Overall, a decent introductory resource at best....more
Vienna, as Richard Cockett tells it, is a modern Athens¡ªan intellectual cauldron where post-Habsburg economic ruin fueled an extraordinary explosion oVienna, as Richard Cockett tells it, is a modern Athens¡ªan intellectual cauldron where post-Habsburg economic ruin fueled an extraordinary explosion of ideas. Much like its Greek predecessor, Vienna thrived on friction. It did not solve debates; it amplified them. Marxism and liberalism, feminism and patriarchy, tonality and dissonance¡ªall clashed in this pressure cooker of intellectual innovation. The result was a wave of exports that still shape our world today.
Cockett¡¯s Vienna spans philosophy, economics, science, music, art, and feminism. This is both its strength and limitation. The book is ambitious, painting the intellectual landscape with broad strokes rather than deep dives. The ¡°brewhaus era,¡± where disciplines intermingled and debates ran late into the night, comes alive in these pages. But given the sheer breadth of material, some figures receive only passing mention. The philosophers, in particular, get short shrift¡ªnot because of their insignificance but due to the complexity of their ideas. Logical positivism, championed by Moritz Schlick and supported by Carnap, Neurath, and Waismann, influenced the early Wittgenstein profoundly. Karl Popper, in contrast, rejected verificationism in favor of falsifiability. The late Wittgenstein went further, shifting to the contextual and social nature of language. The author acknowledges these seismic shifts but does not linger on them.
Freud¡¯s psychoanalytic dominance was met with feminist resistance from figures like Meyrder and Grete Meisel-Hess. Stefan Zweig embodied the liberal humanist strain, while the darker strains of Viennese thought incubated ideas that would shape Hitler¡¯s worldview. Nowhere was the intellectual ferment greater than in economics. Here, the book devotes the most space, charting the rise of the Austrian School. Carl Menger¡¯s methodological individualism and subjective value theory laid the foundation for Ludwig von Mises, Friedrich Hayek, and Oskar Morgenstern. Their ideas on free markets and anti-socialist critiques stood in stark contrast to the Marxist currents of the time.
Yet in privileging the Austrian School, the author underplays other towering figures. G?del¡¯s incompleteness theorems reshaped mathematics, Schumpeter¡¯s theories of creative destruction still dominate business thinking, and Morgenstern¡¯s game theory revolutionized economics. Otto Wagner¡¯s architectural modernism and Schoenberg¡¯s atonal music disrupted their fields just as much as Hayek and Mises transformed economic thought. While the author mentions these figures, their impact receives less space than the economic debates of the period.
Even with these imbalances, Vienna remains a remarkable work. It captures a city in ruin that refused intellectual stagnation, proving instead that chaos can be the mother of invention. A century later, the world is still shaped by the ideas born in Vienna¡¯s turbulent years. The author tells this story with wide-ranging ambition, and if some areas are left underexplored, it is only because the city¡¯s legacy is too vast to fit between two covers....more
In this book, the author embraces a bolder approach compared to the previous installments in the series, and it pays off. While the narrative retains In this book, the author embraces a bolder approach compared to the previous installments in the series, and it pays off. While the narrative retains familiar contours and themes from earlier works, it could easily have fallen into a pattern of rehashing old ideas with slight tweaks. Instead, the author takes daring steps by introducing extraordinary coincidences and fostering internal conflicts among the protagonists. These choices likely posed challenges for the author but ultimately enhance the book's readability and depth.
The story is a predictable war-time fare. It moves too slowly through the set pieces and without sufficient high emotion notes to make the desToo slow
The story is a predictable war-time fare. It moves too slowly through the set pieces and without sufficient high emotion notes to make the desired impact. ...more
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