en-US Thu, 24 Apr 2025 03:19:03 -0700 60 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg ReadStatus9346330959 Thu, 24 Apr 2025 03:19:03 -0700 /review/show/7514615543 Szymon wants to read Careless People: A Cautionary Tale of Power, Greed, and Lost Idealism by Sarah Wynn-Williams
]]> ReadStatus9346235366 Thu, 24 Apr 2025 02:17:00 -0700 /review/show/4499042078 Szymon marked as owned-and-ready Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell
]]> ReadStatus9329408523 Sat, 19 Apr 2025 22:34:56 -0700 /review/show/6212256551 Szymon started reading The (Mis)Behavior of Markets by Benoît B. Mandelbrot
]]> Review6990207190 Fri, 18 Apr 2025 23:05:08 -0700 /review/show/6990207190 Szymon gave 3 stars to Project Hail Mary (Hardcover) by Andy Weir
3 out of 5, I liked it.

Andy Weir wrote The Martian and although I haven't read it, just watched the movie, the same vibes can be found here. A SF book of problems and having them solved. A SF book of saving human man(kind). A SF book spiced up by meeting other civilization.

What I didn't buy was the fact that humankind was willing to travel light years instead of figuring out what can be done locally. If you have a local star issue and you know what causes it, you might want to break the chain of events locally. Your problem P needs A, B, C? Try to remove A or B or C first. I didn't notice not a single attempt to make it. But this would make the book much shorter, would it not?

The finale provides a great example of knowing where to stop and roll the credits. Heartwarming and.. human.
]]> ReadStatus9320197787 Thu, 17 Apr 2025 11:35:01 -0700 /review/show/7496451117 Szymon wants to read Why We Die: The New Science of Aging and the Quest for Immortality by Venki Ramakrishnan
]]> ReadStatus9289828127 Wed, 09 Apr 2025 09:45:38 -0700 /review/show/7475465145 Szymon wants to read The War on the West by Douglas Murray
]]> ReadStatus9281982633 Mon, 07 Apr 2025 09:49:42 -0700 /review/show/6990207190 Szymon started reading Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir
]]> Review7185190142 Sun, 06 Apr 2025 13:00:49 -0700 /review/show/7185190142 Szymon gave 3 stars to Prisoners of Geography: Ten Maps That Tell You Everything You Need to Know About Global Politics (Hardcover) by Tim Marshall
3 out of 5, I liked it.

This book delivered much more and much less than I anticipated at the same time. Much more, because I was a noob in looking at various political aspects from their geo-perspective. I did understand what a sea was and how close some countries were, but putting it into something that can be acted upon, this was not something I considered when thinking about the news. Clearly the Crimea invasion, Tybet, Panama (and another channel prepared by China), these cases discussed in book show the needs and the vectors.

There are parts though, that instead of discussing impact of the geography, we get a short introduction to a history of a region or a country. If one was not oblivious to history lessons, they could find these parts repetitive and not bringing anything to the table. At least one case was labeled as geo related (it was about taxes) which clearly was an over simplification.

Summing up, it's probably a good primer for geo-politics, but if one knows a thing or two about history, some parts can be omitted. ]]> ReadStatus9253333900 Mon, 31 Mar 2025 04:11:56 -0700 /review/show/7449967714 Szymon wants to read The Dragons and the Snakes: How the Rest Learned to Fight the West by David Kilcullen
]]> ReadStatus9250585526 Sun, 30 Mar 2025 12:28:38 -0700 /review/show/7185190142 Szymon started reading Prisoners of Geography: Ten Maps That Tell You Everything You Need to Know About Global Politics by Tim Marshall
]]>