Allisonperkel's bookshelf: read en-US Fri, 02 May 2025 13:54:24 -0700 60 Allisonperkel's bookshelf: read 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg Delicious in Dungeon, Vol. 1 32856010 192 Ryoko Kui 0316471852 Allisonperkel 4 comics 4.36 2015 Delicious in Dungeon, Vol. 1
author: Ryoko Kui
name: Allisonperkel
average rating: 4.36
book published: 2015
rating: 4
read at: 2025/05/02
date added: 2025/05/02
shelves: comics
review:

]]> Planetfall (Planetfall, #1) 24237785
Renata Ghali believed in Lee Suh-Mi’s vision of a world far beyond Earth, calling to humanity. A planet promising to reveal the truth about our place in the cosmos, untainted by overpopulation, pollution, and war. Ren believed in that vision enough to give up everything to follow Suh-Mi into the unknown.

More than twenty-two years have passed since Ren and the rest of the faithful braved the starry abyss and established a colony at the base of an enigmatic alien structure where Suh-Mi has since resided, alone. All that time, Ren has worked hard as the colony's 3-D printer engineer, creating the tools necessary for human survival in an alien environment, and harboring a devastating secret.

Ren continues to perpetuate the lie forming the foundation of the colony for the good of her fellow colonists, despite the personal cost. Then a stranger appears, far too young to have been part of the first planetfall, a man who bears a remarkable resemblance to Suh-Mi.

The truth Ren has concealed since planetfall can no longer be hidden. And its revelation might tear the colony apart…]]> 336 Emma Newman Allisonperkel 3 science-fiction 3.70 2015 Planetfall (Planetfall, #1)
author: Emma Newman
name: Allisonperkel
average rating: 3.70
book published: 2015
rating: 3
read at: 2025/04/24
date added: 2025/04/24
shelves: science-fiction
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Playing with Reality: How Games Have Shaped Our World]]> 200206308 Alternate cover edition of ISBN 9780593538180

A wide-ranging intellectual history that reveals how important games have been to human progress, and what’s at stake when we forget what games we’re really playing.

We play games to learn about the world, to understand our minds and the minds of others, and to make predictions about the future. Games are an essential aspect of humanity and a powerful tool for modeling reality. They’re also a lot of fun. But games can be dangerous, especially when we mistake the model worlds of games for reality itself and let gamification co-opt human decision making.

Playing with Reality explores the riveting history of games since the Enlightenment, weaving an unexpected path through military theory, political science, evolutionary biology, the development of computers and AI, cutting-edge neuroscience, and cognitive psychology. Neuroscientist and physicist Kelly Clancy shows how intertwined games have been with the arc of history. War games shaped the outcomes of real wars in nineteenth and twentieth century Europe. Game theory warped our understanding of human behavior and brought us to the brink of annihilation—yet still underlies basic assumptions in economics, politics, and technology design. We used games to teach computers how to learn for themselves, and now we are designing games that will determine the shape of society and future of democracy.

In this revelatory new work, Clancy makes the bold argument that the human fascination with games is the key to understanding our nature and our actions.]]> 368 Kelly Clancy Allisonperkel 3 audio, non-fiction 3.76 Playing with Reality: How Games Have Shaped Our World
author: Kelly Clancy
name: Allisonperkel
average rating: 3.76
book published:
rating: 3
read at: 2025/04/20
date added: 2025/04/20
shelves: audio, non-fiction
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Chip War: The Fight for the World's Most Critical Technology]]> 60321447
You may be surprised to learn that microchips are the new oil—the scarce resource on which the modern world depends. Today, military, economic, and geopolitical power are built on a foundation of computer chips. Virtually everythingâ€� from missiles to microwaves, smartphones to the stock market â€� runs on chips. Until recently, America designed and built the fastest chips and maintained its lead as the #1 superpower. Now, America's edge isÌýslipping, undermined by competitors in Taiwan, Korea,ÌýEurope, and, above all, China. Today, as Chip War reveals, China, which spends more money each year importing chips than it spends importing oil,Ìýis pouring billions into a chip-building initiative to catch up to the US. At stake is America's military superiority and economic prosperity.

Economic historian Chris Miller explains how the semiconductor came to play a critical role in modern life and how the U.S. become dominant in chip design and manufacturing and applied this technology to military systems. America's victory in the Cold War and its global military dominance stems from its ability to harness computing power more effectively than any other power. But here, too, China is catching up, with its chip-building ambitions and military modernization going hand in hand.ÌýAmerica has let key components of the chip-building process slip out of its grasp, contributing not only to a worldwide chip shortage but also a new Cold War with a superpower adversary that is desperate to bridge the gap.

Illuminating, timely, and fascinating, Chip War shows that, to make sense of the current state of politics, economics, and technology, we must first understand the vital role played by chips.]]> 464 Chris Miller 1982172002 Allisonperkel 4 history, non-fiction, tech 4.38 2022 Chip War: The Fight for the World's Most Critical Technology
author: Chris Miller
name: Allisonperkel
average rating: 4.38
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at: 2025/04/16
date added: 2025/04/16
shelves: history, non-fiction, tech
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Low-Code AI: A Practical Project-Driven Introduction to Machine Learning]]> 202546738 Low-Code AI to understand machine learning and deep learning concepts. This hands-on guide presents three problem-focused ways to learn no-code ML using AutoML, low-code using BigQuery ML, and custom code using scikit-learn and Keras. In each case, you'll learn key ML concepts by using real-world datasets with realistic problems.



Business and data analysts get a project-based introduction to ML/AI using a detailed, data-driven loading and analyzing data; feeding data into an ML model; building, training, and testing; and deploying the model into production. Authors Michael Abel and Gwendolyn Stripling show you how to build machine learning models for retail, healthcare, financial services, energy, and telecommunications.



You'll learn how

Distinguish between structured and unstructured data and the challenges they presentVisualize and analyze dataPreprocess data for input into a machine learning modelDifferentiate between the regression and classification supervised learning modelsCompare different ML model types and architectures, from no code to low code to custom trainingDesign, implement, and tune ML modelsExport data to a GitHub repository for data management and governance]]> 535 Gwendolyn Stripling 1098146786 Allisonperkel 3 3.67 Low-Code AI: A Practical Project-Driven Introduction to Machine Learning
author: Gwendolyn Stripling
name: Allisonperkel
average rating: 3.67
book published:
rating: 3
read at: 2025/04/15
date added: 2025/04/15
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Notes on Complexity: A Scientific Theory of Connection, Consciousness, and Being]]> 62686859 An electrifying introduction to complexity theory, the science of how complex systems behave—from cells to human beings, ecosystems, the known universe and beyond—that profoundly reframes our understanding and illuminates our interconnectedness.

Nothing in the universe is more complex than life. Throughout the skies, in oceans, and across lands, life is endlessly on the move. In its myriad forms—from cells to human beings, social structures, and ecosystems--life is open-ended, evolving, unpredictable, yet adaptive and self-sustaining. Complexity theory addresses the mysteries that animate science, philosophy, and metaphysics: how this teeming array of existence, from the infinitesimal to the infinite, is in fact a seamless living whole and what our place, as conscious beings, is within it. Physician, scientist, and philosopher Neil Theise makes accessible this “theory of being,� one of the pillars of modern science, and its holistic view of human existence. He notes the surprising underlying connections within a universe that is itself one vast complex system—between ant colonies and the growth of forests, cancer and economic bubbles, murmurations of starlings and crowds walking down the street.

The implications of complexity theory are profound, providing insight into everything from the permeable boundaries of our bodies to the nature of consciousness. Notes on Complexity is an invitation to trade our limited, individualistic view for the expansive perspective of a universe that is dynamic, cohesive, and alive—a whole greater than the sum of its parts. This takes us to the exhilarating frontiers of human knowledge and in the process restores wonder and meaning to our experience of the everyday.]]> 224 Neil Theise 1954118252 Allisonperkel 3 3.97 2023 Notes on Complexity: A Scientific Theory of Connection, Consciousness, and Being
author: Neil Theise
name: Allisonperkel
average rating: 3.97
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2025/04/15
date added: 2025/04/15
shelves:
review:

]]> Embassytown 9265453
Avice Benner Cho, a human colonist, has returned to Embassytown after years of deep-space adventure. She cannot speak the Ariekei tongue, but she is an indelible part of it, having long ago been made a figure of speech, a living simile in their language.

When distant political machinations deliver a new ambassador to Arieka, the fragile equilibrium between humans and aliens is violently upset. Catastrophe looms, and Avice is torn between competing loyalties—to a husband she no longer loves, to a system she no longer trusts, and to her place in a language she cannot speak yet speaks through her.]]> 345 China Miéville 0345524497 Allisonperkel 4 3.89 2011 Embassytown
author: China Miéville
name: Allisonperkel
average rating: 3.89
book published: 2011
rating: 4
read at: 2025/04/13
date added: 2025/04/13
shelves:
review:
Interesting premise on language as power.
]]> <![CDATA[Careless People: A Cautionary Tale of Power, Greed, and Lost Idealism]]> 223436601 An explosive memoir charting one woman’s career at the heart of one of the most influential companies on the planet, Careless People gives you a front-row seat to Facebook, the decisions that have shaped world events in recent decades, and the people who made them.

From trips on private jets and encounters with world leaders to shocking accounts of misogyny and double standards behind the scenes, this searing memoir exposes both the personal and the political fallout when unfettered power and a rotten company culture take hold. In a gripping and often absurd narrative where a few people carelessly hold the world in their hands, this eye-opening memoir reveals what really goes on among the global elite.

Sarah Wynn-Williams tells the wrenching but fun story of Facebook, mapping its rise from stumbling encounters with juntas to Mark Zuckerberg’s reaction when he learned of Facebook’s role in Trump’s election. She experiences the challenges and humiliations of working motherhood within a pressure cooker of a workplace, all while Sheryl Sandberg urges her and others to “lean in.�

Careless People is a deeply personal account of why and how things have gone so horribly wrong in the past decade—told in a sharp, candid, and utterly disarming voice. A deep, unflinching look at the role that social media has assumed in our lives, Careless People reveals the truth about the leaders of Facebook: how the more power they grasp, the less responsible they become and the consequences this has for all of us.]]> 382 Sarah Wynn-Williams 1250391237 Allisonperkel 5 4.27 2025 Careless People: A Cautionary Tale of Power, Greed, and Lost Idealism
author: Sarah Wynn-Williams
name: Allisonperkel
average rating: 4.27
book published: 2025
rating: 5
read at: 2025/04/08
date added: 2025/04/08
shelves: autobiography, non-fiction, tech
review:
Powerful, damning and highly believable telling of idealism and trust turned upside down. A true cautionary tale.
]]> <![CDATA[Drachenfels (The Vampire Genevieve #1)]]> 576834 288 Jack Yeovil 0743411706 Allisonperkel 3 fantasy, grimdark 3.86 1989 Drachenfels (The Vampire Genevieve #1)
author: Jack Yeovil
name: Allisonperkel
average rating: 3.86
book published: 1989
rating: 3
read at: 2025/04/05
date added: 2025/04/05
shelves: fantasy, grimdark
review:

]]> Witch Hat Atelier, Vol. 3 43312297 AN INKY INVESTIGATION

Cast yourself into the world of witches as Qifrey chases after the dark mysteries of the Brimmed Caps!

With some quick thinking and ingenuity, Coco and her fellow classmates use their growing magic skills to save some locals from a grim fate. But this triumph nearly turns to tragedy as the Knights Moralis threaten the young witches with severe punishment for disturbing the natural order of magic. Qifrey convinces the Knights to overlook this issue, but a peculiar happening related to this incident puts him onto the trail of the same forbidden magic that brought Coco into his atelier. This may be Qifrey's only chance to come into contact with the Brimmed Caps, but is he in over his head to engage in this treacherous pursuit on his own?]]> 190 Kamome Shirahama 1632368056 Allisonperkel 4 comics 4.49 2018 Witch Hat Atelier, Vol. 3
author: Kamome Shirahama
name: Allisonperkel
average rating: 4.49
book published: 2018
rating: 4
read at: 2025/04/03
date added: 2025/04/03
shelves: comics
review:

]]> Witch Hat Atelier, Vol. 2 42264867 TRIAL BY FIRE

Join Coco as she continues her spellbinding journey of magic and discovery!

After traveling to the mystical township of Kalhn with her new master to buy a casting wand, a strange, masked witch transports Coco and her three sister apprentices to an eerily quiet city. But they soon find out that they're not alone, and they encounter a ferocious dragon! Do these fledgling witches have what it takes to defeat the fire-breathing beast, or will their plans and lives go up in flames?!]]> 190 Kamome Shirahama 1632368048 Allisonperkel 4 4.45 2017 Witch Hat Atelier, Vol. 2
author: Kamome Shirahama
name: Allisonperkel
average rating: 4.45
book published: 2017
rating: 4
read at: 2025/04/03
date added: 2025/04/03
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Empusium: A Health Resort Horror Story]]> 204316857 The Nobelist's latest masterwork, set in a sanitarium on the eve of World War I, probes the horrors that lie beneath our most hallowed ideas.

In September 1913, MieczysÅ‚aw, a student suffering from tuberculosis, arrives at Wilhelm Opitz's Guesthouse for Gentlemen, a health resort inÌýGörbersdorf, what is now western Poland. Every day, its residents gather in the dining room to imbibe the hallucinogenic local liqueur, to obsess over money and status, and to discuss the great issues of the day: Will there be war? Monarchy or democracy? Do devils exist? Are women inherently inferior?

Meanwhile, disturbing things are beginning to happen in the guesthouse and its surroundings. As stories of shocking events in the surrounding highlands reach the men, a sense of dread builds. Someone—or something—seems to be watching them and attempting to infiltrate their world. Little does Mieczysław realize, as he attempts to unravel both the truths within himself and the mystery of the sinister forces beyond, that they have already chosen their next target.

A century after the publication of The Magic Mountain, Tokarczuk revisits Thomas Mann territory and lays claim to it, blending horror story, comedy, folklore, and feminist parable with brilliant storytelling.]]> 305 Olga Tokarczuk 0593712943 Allisonperkel 5 3.65 2022 The Empusium: A Health Resort Horror Story
author: Olga Tokarczuk
name: Allisonperkel
average rating: 3.65
book published: 2022
rating: 5
read at: 2025/04/02
date added: 2025/04/02
shelves:
review:
Like many of Olga Tokarczuk’s books, ‘The Empusium� is multi layered and critiques gender roles, anti humanistic world views and should be ranked up there with Le Quin’s � the ones who walk away from omelas�. This is the book for this time, 2025, in this world.
]]> <![CDATA[21 Lessons for the 21st Century]]> 38820046 In Sapiens, he explored our past. In Homo Deus, he looked to our future. Now, one of the most innovative thinkers on the planet turns to the present to make sense of today's most pressing issues.

How do computers and robots change the meaning of being human? How do we deal with the epidemic of fake news? Are nations and religions still relevant? What should we teach our children?

Yuval Noah Harari's 21 Lessons for the 21st Century is a probing and visionary investigation into today's most urgent issues as we move into the uncharted territory of the future. As technology advances faster than our understanding of it, hacking becomes a tactic of war, and the world feels more polarized than ever, Harari addresses the challenge of navigating life in the face of constant and disorienting change and raises the important questions we need to ask ourselves in order to survive.

In twenty-one accessible chapters that are both provocative and profound, Harari builds on the ideas explored in his previous books, untangling political, technological, social, and existential issues and offering advice on how to prepare for a very different future from the world we now live in: How can we retain freedom of choice when Big Data is watching us? What will the future workforce look like, and how should we ready ourselves for it? How should we deal with the threat of terrorism? Why is liberal democracy in crisis?

Harari's unique ability to make sense of where we have come from and where we are going has captured the imaginations of millions of readers. Here he invites us to consider values, meaning, and personal engagement in a world full of noise and uncertainty. When we are deluged with irrelevant information, clarity is power. Presenting complex contemporary challenges clearly and accessibly, 21 Lessons for the 21st Century is essential reading.]]> 372 Yuval Noah Harari 0525512179 Allisonperkel 2 global 4.15 2018 21 Lessons for the 21st Century
author: Yuval Noah Harari
name: Allisonperkel
average rating: 4.15
book published: 2018
rating: 2
read at: 2025/03/19
date added: 2025/03/19
shelves: global
review:
The book isn't aging well and the author's tone comes across as smug. And I say that as someone who agrees with many of the ideals given. The arguments are fairly trite and superficial. The "both sides" for some of the material lacks nuance and depth. I will say the immigration section was pretty solid.
]]> Witch Hat Atelier, Vol. 1 40893782 A TOUCH OF MAGIC

In a world where everyone takes wonders like magic spells and dragons for granted, Coco is a girl with a simple dream: She wants to be a witch. But everybody knows magicians are born, not made, and Coco was not born with a gift for magic. Resigned to her un-magical life, Coco is about to give up on her dream to become a witch…until the day she meets Qifrey, a mysterious, traveling magician. After secretly seeing Qifrey perform magic in a way she’s never seen before, Coco soon learns what everybody “knows� might not be the truth, and discovers that her magical dream may not be as far away as it may seem…]]> 204 Kamome Shirahama 163236770X Allisonperkel 4 comics 4.45 2017 Witch Hat Atelier, Vol. 1
author: Kamome Shirahama
name: Allisonperkel
average rating: 4.45
book published: 2017
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/14
date added: 2025/03/14
shelves: comics
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Frieren: Beyond Journey's End, Vol. 12 (Frieren: Beyond Journey's End, #12)]]> 214151517 The adventure is over but life goes on for an elf mage just beginning to learn what living is all about.

Elf mage Frieren and her courageous fellow adventurers have defeated the Demon King and brought peace to the land. But Frieren will long outlive the rest of her former party. How will she come to understand what life means to the people around her?

Upon touching the ancient monument of the Goddess, Frieren finds herself cast back in time to 53 years before the death of Himmel. Her old adventuring comrades don’t know she has come from the future, and Frieren realizes she must protect the secrecy of advancements in magic from their enemies. Here, the Demon King has not yet been defeated, and his minions are still powerful and determined to destroy Frieren!]]> 190 Kanehito Yamada 1974751813 Allisonperkel 5 comics, fantasy 4.58 2023 Frieren: Beyond Journey's End, Vol. 12 (Frieren: Beyond Journey's End, #12)
author: Kanehito Yamada
name: Allisonperkel
average rating: 4.58
book published: 2023
rating: 5
read at: 2025/03/12
date added: 2025/03/12
shelves: comics, fantasy
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Frieren: Beyond Journey's End, Vol. 11 (Frieren: Beyond Journey's End, #11)]]> 207301485 The adventure is over but life goes on for an elf mage just beginning to learn what living is all about.

Elf mage Frieren and her courageous fellow adventurers have defeated the Demon King and brought peace to the land. But Frieren will long outlive the rest of her former party. How will she come to understand what life means to the people around her?

Frieren has broken the curse of Diagoldze and released herself and Denken. Now they face Macht and Solitär in a final battle of retribution. With his memories of his wife driving him, Denken challenges Macht, his former master. Frieren takes on Solitär, who is confident of victory. But demons have always underestimated Frieren, one of the greatest mages to ever live, and Macht and Solitär would do well to not count Frieren out just yet!!]]> 188 Kanehito Yamada 1974748987 Allisonperkel 5 fantasy, comics ]]> 4.61 2023 Frieren: Beyond Journey's End, Vol. 11 (Frieren: Beyond Journey's End, #11)
author: Kanehito Yamada
name: Allisonperkel
average rating: 4.61
book published: 2023
rating: 5
read at: 2025/03/08
date added: 2025/03/08
shelves: fantasy, comics
review:
this series keeps getting better

]]> <![CDATA[The Drawing of the Three (The Dark Tower, #2)]]> 5094
Here he links forces with the defiant young Eddie Dean and the beautiful, brilliant, and brave Odetta Holmes, in a savage struggle against underworld evil and otherworldly enemies.

Once again, Stephen King has masterfully interwoven dark, evocative fantasy and icy realism.]]> 463 Stephen King 0451210859 Allisonperkel 4 fantasy, fiction 4.23 1987 The Drawing of the Three (The Dark Tower, #2)
author: Stephen King
name: Allisonperkel
average rating: 4.23
book published: 1987
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/07
date added: 2025/03/07
shelves: fantasy, fiction
review:
Steady improvement over the first book.
]]> The Forest of Lost Souls 199396945
Raised in the wilderness by her late great-uncle, Vida is a young woman with an almost preternatural affinity for nature, especially for the wolves that also call the forested mountains home. Formed by hard experience, by love and loss, and by the prophecies of a fortune teller, Vida just wants peace. If only nearby Kettleton County didn’t cast such a dark shadow.

It’s where Jose Nochelobo, the love of Vida’s life and a cherished local hero, died in a tragic accident. That’s the official story, but Vida has reasons to doubt it. The truth can’t be contained for long. Nor can the hungry men of power in Kettleton who want something too: that Vida, like Jose, disappear forever. One by one they come for her, prepared to do anything to see their plans through to their evil end. Vida is no less prepared for them.

Vida, the forest, and its formidable wonders are waiting. She will not rest until goodness and order have been restored.]]> 396 Dean Koontz 1662500505 Allisonperkel 4 fiction, fantasy 4.32 2024 The Forest of Lost Souls
author: Dean Koontz
name: Allisonperkel
average rating: 4.32
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/07
date added: 2025/03/07
shelves: fiction, fantasy
review:
A timely anti billionaire book that kept a taught, fun pace.
]]> <![CDATA[The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America]]> 397483
Burnham's challenge was immense. In a short period of time, he was forced to overcome the death of his partner and numerous other obstacles to construct the famous "White City" around which the fair was built. His efforts to complete the project, and the fair's incredible success, are skillfully related along with entertaining appearances by such notables as Buffalo Bill Cody, Susan B. Anthony, and Thomas Edison.

The activities of the sinister Dr. Holmes, who is believed to be responsible for scores of murders around the time of the fair, are equally remarkable. He devised and erected the World's Fair Hotel, complete with crematorium and gas chamber, near the fairgrounds and used the event as well as his own charismatic personality to lure victims.

Combining the stories of an architect and a killer in one book, mostly in alternating chapters, seems like an odd choice but it works. The magical appeal and horrifying dark side of 19th-century Chicago are both revealed through Larson's skillful writing. - John Moe]]> 464 Erik Larson 0609608444 Allisonperkel 3 4.02 2003 The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America
author: Erik Larson
name: Allisonperkel
average rating: 4.02
book published: 2003
rating: 3
read at: 2025/02/28
date added: 2025/02/28
shelves:
review:
The book rambles and the section on Holmes feels more sensational than fact.
]]> <![CDATA[A Philosophy of Software Design]]> 39996759 190 John Ousterhout 1732102201 Allisonperkel 4 4.18 2018 A Philosophy of Software Design
author: John Ousterhout
name: Allisonperkel
average rating: 4.18
book published: 2018
rating: 4
read at: 2025/02/24
date added: 2025/02/24
shelves: non-fiction, programming, software-architecture
review:
A charming read on dealing with complexity is software development and design.
]]> <![CDATA[Unruly Places: Lost Spaces, Secret Cities, and Other Inscrutable Geographies]]> 18222723 A tour of the world’s hidden geographies—from disappearing islands to forbidden deserts—and a stunning testament to how mysterious the world remains today

At a time when Google Maps Street View can take you on a virtual tour of Yosemite’s remotest trails and cell phones double as navigational systems, it’s hard to imagine there’s any uncharted ground left on the planet. In Unruly Places, Alastair Bonnett goes to some of the most unexpected, offbeat places in the world to reinspire our geographical imagination.

Bonnett’s remarkable tour includes moving villages, secret cities, no man’s lands, and floating islands. He explores places as disorienting as Sandy Island, an island included on maps until just two years ago despite the fact that it never existed. Or Sealand, an abandoned gun platform off the English coast that a British citizen claimed as his own sovereign nation, issuing passports and crowning his wife as a princess. Or Baarle, a patchwork of Dutch and Flemish enclaves where walking from the grocery store’s produce section to the meat counter can involve crossing national borders.

An intrepid guide down the road much less traveled, Bonnett reveals that the most extraordinary places on earth might be hidden in plain sight, just around the corner from your apartment or underfoot on a wooded path. Perfect for urban explorers, wilderness ramblers, and armchair travelers struck by wanderlust, Unruly Places will change the way you see the places you inhabit.]]> 270 Alastair Bonnett 054410157X Allisonperkel 4 3.51 2014 Unruly Places: Lost Spaces, Secret Cities, and Other Inscrutable Geographies
author: Alastair Bonnett
name: Allisonperkel
average rating: 3.51
book published: 2014
rating: 4
read at: 2025/02/22
date added: 2025/02/22
shelves:
review:
Nothing really ties the stories together and yet this book is enjoyable in its descriptive overly ‘deep� prose.
]]> <![CDATA[Where the Water Goes: Life and Death Along the Colorado River]]> 31544566 A brilliant, eye-opening account of where our water comes from and where it all goes

The Colorado River is a crucial resource for a surprisingly large part of the United States, and every gallon that flows down it is owned or claimed by someone. David Owen traces all that water from the Colorado's headwaters to its parched terminus, once a verdant wetland but now a million-acre desert. He takes readers on an adventure downriver, along a labyrinth of waterways, reservoirs, power plants, farms, fracking sites, ghost towns, and RV parks, to the spot near the U.S.–Mexico border where the river runs dry.

Water problems in the western United States can seem tantalizingly easy to solve: just turn off the fountains at the Bellagio, stop selling hay to China, ban golf, cut down the almond trees, and kill all the lawyers. But a closer look reveals a vast man-made ecosystem that is far more complex and more interesting than the headlines let on.

The story Owen tells in Where the Water Goes is crucial to our future: how a patchwork of engineering marvels, byzantine legal agreements, aging infrastructure, and neighborly cooperation enables life to flourish in the desert, and the disastrous consequences we face when any part of this tenuous system fails.]]> 288 David Owen 1594633770 Allisonperkel 4 audio, non-fiction 3.90 2017 Where the Water Goes: Life and Death Along the Colorado River
author: David Owen
name: Allisonperkel
average rating: 3.90
book published: 2017
rating: 4
read at: 2025/02/21
date added: 2025/02/21
shelves: audio, non-fiction
review:
Fascinating book on the Colorado river and western water management. Once again, over optimization leads to brittle systems and new problems.
]]> <![CDATA[The Bogleheads' Guide to Retirement Planning]]> 6479781 370 Taylor Larimore 0470455578 Allisonperkel 3 non-fiction, self-help Very dated 4.07 2009 The Bogleheads' Guide to Retirement Planning
author: Taylor Larimore
name: Allisonperkel
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2009
rating: 3
read at: 2025/02/17
date added: 2025/02/17
shelves: non-fiction, self-help
review:
Very dated
]]> Roadside Picnic 12851913
First published in 1972, Roadside PicnicÌýis still widely regarded asÌýone of the greatest science fiction novels, despite the fact that it has been out of print in the United States for almost thirty years. This authoritative new translation corrects many errors and omissions and has been supplemented with a foreword by Ursula K. Le Guin and a new afterword by Boris Strugatsky explaining the strange history of the novel’s publication in Russia.]]> 209 Arkady Strugatsky 1613743416 Allisonperkel 5 3.98 1972 Roadside Picnic
author: Arkady Strugatsky
name: Allisonperkel
average rating: 3.98
book published: 1972
rating: 5
read at: 2025/02/08
date added: 2025/02/08
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Quit: The Power of Knowing When to Walk Away]]> 60097435 From the bestselling author of Thinking in Bets comes a toolkit for mastering the skill of quitting to achieve greater success

Business leaders, with millions of dollars down the drain, struggle to abandon a new app or product that just isn't working. Governments, caught in a hopeless conflict, believe that the next tactic will finally be the one that wins the war. And in our own lives, we persist in relationships or careers that no longer serve us. Why? According to Annie Duke, in the face of tough decisions, we're terrible quitters. And that is significantly holding us back.

In Quit, Duke teaches you how to get good at quitting. Drawing on stories from elite athletes like Mount Everest climbers, founders of leading companies like Stewart Butterfield, the CEO of Slack, and top entertainers like Dave Chappelle, Duke explains why quitting is integral to success, as well as strategies for determining when to hold em, and when to fold em, that will save you time, energy, and money. You'll learn:
How the paradox of quitting influences decision making: If you quit on time, you will feel you quit early
What forces work against good quitting behavior, such as escalation commitment, desire for certainty, and status quo biasHow to think in expected value in order to make better decisions, as well as other best practices, such as increasing flexibility in goal-setting, establishing "quitting contracts," anticipating optionality, and conducting premortems and backcasts
Whether you're facing a make-or-break business decision or life-altering personal choice, mastering the skill of quitting will help you make the best next move.]]> 336 Annie Duke 0593422996 Allisonperkel 5 4.14 2022 Quit: The Power of Knowing When to Walk Away
author: Annie Duke
name: Allisonperkel
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2022
rating: 5
read at: 2025/02/08
date added: 2025/02/08
shelves: audio, neuro-science, non-fiction, self-help
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Subculture Vulture: A Memoir in Six Scenes]]> 145625057
After bottoming out, being institutionalized, and getting sober all by the tender age of fifteen, Moshe Kasher found himself “What’s next?� Over the ensuing decades, he discovered the a lot.

There was his time as a boy-king of Alcoholics Anonymous, a kind of pubescent proselytizer for other teens getting and staying sober. He was a rave promoter turned DJ turned sober ecstasy dealer in San Francisco’s techno warehouse party scene of the 1990s. For fifteen years he worked as a psychedelic security guard at Burning Man, fishing hippies out of hidden chambers they’d constructed to try to sneak into the event. As a child of deaf parents, Kasher became deeply immersed in deaf culture and sign language interpretation, translating everything from end-of-life care to horny deaf clients� attempts to hire sex workers. He reconnects and tries to make peace with his ultra-Hasidic Jewish upbringing after the death of his father before finally settling into the comedy scene where he now makes his living.

Each of these scenes gets a gonzo historiographical rundown before Kasher enters the narrative and tells the story of the lives he has spent careening from one to the next. A razor-sharp, gut-wrenchingly funny, and surprisingly moving tour of some of the most wildly distinct subcultures a person can experience, Subculture Vulture deftly weaves together memoir and propulsive cultural history. It’s a story of finding your people, over and over again, in different settings, and of knowing without a doubt that wherever you are is where you’re supposed to be.]]> 320 Moshe Kasher 0593231376 Allisonperkel 5 4.10 2024 Subculture Vulture: A Memoir in Six Scenes
author: Moshe Kasher
name: Allisonperkel
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2024
rating: 5
read at: 2025/01/27
date added: 2025/01/27
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Dispossessed: An Ambiguous Utopia]]> 13651 387 Ursula K. Le Guin Allisonperkel 2 fiction, politics 4.24 1974 The Dispossessed: An Ambiguous Utopia
author: Ursula K. Le Guin
name: Allisonperkel
average rating: 4.24
book published: 1974
rating: 2
read at: 2025/01/11
date added: 2025/01/11
shelves: fiction, politics
review:
I appreciate the political nature and critique of society within the book but this isn’t a story. The writing is very much of a time in America, almost like a postcard from the past with sketches and ideas of what’s wrong. The idealism stands firm, and I appreciate it.
]]> Service Model 195790861 To fix the world they first must break it further.

Humanity is a dying breed, utterly reliant on artificial labor and service. When a domesticated robot gets a nasty little idea downloaded into their core programming, they murder their owner. The robot then discovers they can also do something else they never did before: run away. After fleeing the household, they enter a wider world they never knew existed, where the age-old hierarchy of humans at the top is disintegrating, and a robot ecosystem devoted to human wellbeing is finding a new purpose.]]> 376 Adrian Tchaikovsky 1250290287 Allisonperkel 3 3.98 2024 Service Model
author: Adrian Tchaikovsky
name: Allisonperkel
average rating: 3.98
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2025/01/09
date added: 2025/01/09
shelves:
review:
While a decent story, the humor stayed too long. A novella would be the perfect size.
]]> <![CDATA[Intrinsic Motivation at Work: Building Energy and Commitment]]> 6676398 240 Kenneth W. Thomas 1576755673 Allisonperkel 4 management, social-science 3.73 2000 Intrinsic Motivation at Work: Building Energy and Commitment
author: Kenneth W. Thomas
name: Allisonperkel
average rating: 3.73
book published: 2000
rating: 4
read at: 2014/10/23
date added: 2025/01/09
shelves: management, social-science
review:
The first few sections are a little slow but once the book moves into how to find your motivation/engagement and then how to help build engagement, the book takes off.
]]> <![CDATA[The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity]]> 56269264
For generations, our remote ancestors have been cast as primitive and childlike—either free and equal innocents, or thuggish and warlike. Civilization, we are told, could be achieved only by sacrificing those original freedoms or, alternatively, by taming our baser instincts. David Graeber and David Wengrow show how such theories first emerged in the eighteenth century as a conservative reaction to powerful critiques of European society posed by Indigenous observers and intellectuals. Revisiting this encounter has startling implications for how we make sense of human history today, including the origins of farming, property, cities, democracy, slavery, and civilization itself.

Drawing on pathbreaking research in archaeology and anthropology, the authors show how history becomes a far more interesting place once we learn to throw off our conceptual shackles and perceive what’s really there. If humans did not spend 95 percent of their evolutionary past in tiny bands of hunter-gatherers, what were they doing all that time? If agriculture, and cities, did not mean a plunge into hierarchy and domination, then what kinds of social and economic organization did they lead to? The answers are often unexpected, and suggest that the course of human history may be less set in stone, and more full of playful, hopeful possibilities, than we tend to assume.

The Dawn of Everything fundamentally transforms our understanding of the human past and offers a path toward imagining new forms of freedom, new ways of organizing society. This is a monumental book of formidable intellectual range, animated by curiosity, moral vision, and a faith in the power of direct action.]]> 692 David Graeber 0374157359 Allisonperkel 4 history 4.20 2021 The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity
author: David Graeber
name: Allisonperkel
average rating: 4.20
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at: 2024/12/27
date added: 2024/12/27
shelves: history
review:
Brilliant challenging take on how we evolved our politics.
]]> <![CDATA[Living on the Spectrum: Autism and Youth in Community (Anthropologies of American Medicine: Culture, Power, and Practice, 8)]]> 48815977
Honorable Mention, New Millennium Book Award, given by the Society for Medical Anthropology

How youth on the autism spectrum negotiate the contested meanings of neurodiversity

Autism is a deeply contested condition. To some, it is a devastating invader, harming children and isolating them. To others, it is an asset and a distinctive aspect of an individual’s identity. How do young people on the spectrum make sense of this conflict, in the context of their own developing identity?

While most of the research on Asperger’s and related autism conditions has been conducted with individuals or in settings in which people on the spectrum are in the minority, this book draws on two years of ethnographic work in communities that bring people with Asperger’s and related conditions together. It can thus begin to explore a form of autistic culture, through attending to how those on the spectrum make sense of their conditions through shared social practices.

Elizabeth Fein brings her many years of experience in both clinical psychology and psychological anthropology to analyze the connection between neuropsychological difference and culture. She argues that current medical models, which espouse a limited definition, are ill equipped to deal with the challenges of discussing autism-related conditions. Consequently, youths on the autism spectrum reach beyond medicine for their stories of difference and disorder, drawing instead on shared mythologies from popular culture and speculative fiction to conceptualize their experience of changing personhood.

In moving and persuasive prose, Living on the Spectrum illustrates that young people use these stories to pioneer more inclusive understandings of what makes us who we are.]]> 304 Elizabeth Fein 1479864358 Allisonperkel 5 4.58 Living on the Spectrum: Autism and Youth in Community (Anthropologies of American Medicine: Culture, Power, and Practice, 8)
author: Elizabeth Fein
name: Allisonperkel
average rating: 4.58
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2024/12/22
date added: 2024/12/22
shelves: neuro-science, non-fiction, science
review:
A well researched view into how ppl on the spectrum see themselves and how others see and treat them. A Moving and powerful reminder we are all human.
]]> <![CDATA[The Haunting of Tram Car 015 (Dead Djinn Universe, #0.3)]]> 36546128 The Haunting of Tram Car 015 returns to the alternate Cairo of Clark's short fiction, where humans live and work alongside otherworldly beings; the Ministry of Alchemy, Enchantments and Supernatural Entities handles the issues that can arise between the magical and the mundane. Senior Agent Hamed al-Nasr shows his new partner Agent Onsi the ropes of investigation when they are called to subdue a dangerous, possessed tram car. What starts off as a simple matter of exorcism, however, becomes more complicated as the origins of the demon inside are revealed.]]> 130 P. Djèlí Clark 1250294800 Allisonperkel 4 fantasy 3.96 2019 The Haunting of Tram Car 015 (Dead Djinn Universe, #0.3)
author: P. Djèlí Clark
name: Allisonperkel
average rating: 3.96
book published: 2019
rating: 4
read at: 2024/12/10
date added: 2024/12/10
shelves: fantasy
review:
Light, fun short story that told a good ghost story.
]]> <![CDATA[Ancillary Justice (Imperial Radch, #1)]]> 17333324
On a remote, icy planet, the soldier known as Breq is drawing closer to completing her quest.

Once, she was the Justice of Toren - a colossal starship with an artificial intelligence linking thousands of soldiers in the service of the Radch, the empire that conquered the galaxy.

Now, an act of treachery has ripped it all away, leaving her with one fragile human body, unanswered questions, and a burning desire for vengeance.]]> 386 Ann Leckie Allisonperkel 4 science-fiction 3.98 2013 Ancillary Justice (Imperial Radch, #1)
author: Ann Leckie
name: Allisonperkel
average rating: 3.98
book published: 2013
rating: 4
read at: 2024/12/06
date added: 2024/12/06
shelves: science-fiction
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Think Faster, Talk Smarter: How to Speak Successfully When You're Put on the Spot]]> 101021597
Many of us dread having to convey our ideas to others, often feeling ill-equipped, anxious, and awkward. Public speaking experts help by focusing on planned communication experiences such as slide presentations, pitches, or formal talks. Yet, most of our professional and personal communication occurs in spontaneous situations that creep up on us and all too often leave us flustered and stumbling for words. How can we rise to the occasion and shine when we’re put on the spot?

In Think Faster, Talk Smarter , Stanford lecturer, podcast host, and communication expert Matt Abrahams provides tangible, actionable skills to help even the most anxious of speakers succeed when speaking spontaneously. Abrahams provides science-based strategies for managing anxiety, responding to the mood of the room, and making content concise, relevant, compelling, and memorable. Drawing on stories from his clients and students, he offers best practices for navigating Q&A sessions, shining in job interviews, providing effective feedback, making small talk, fixing faux pas, persuading others, and handling other impromptu speaking tasks.

Whether it’s a prospective client asking you an unexpected question during a meeting or all eyes turning to you at a dinner party, you’ll know how to navigate the situation like a pro and bring out your very best. Think Faster, Talk Smarter is an accessible guide to communication that will help you master new techniques in no time.]]> 254 Matt Abrahams 1668010321 Allisonperkel 2 3.71 Think Faster, Talk Smarter: How to Speak Successfully When You're Put on the Spot
author: Matt Abrahams
name: Allisonperkel
average rating: 3.71
book published:
rating: 2
read at: 2024/12/05
date added: 2024/12/05
shelves:
review:
Decent first half on what gets in the way of speaking clearly. The second half is bad to the point of removing anything and everything of personality and controversy.
]]> <![CDATA[As Gods: A Moral History of the Genetic Age]]> 60568508 464 Matthew Cobb 1541602854 Allisonperkel 3 non-fiction, science 4.05 As Gods: A Moral History of the Genetic Age
author: Matthew Cobb
name: Allisonperkel
average rating: 4.05
book published:
rating: 3
read at: 2024/07/13
date added: 2024/11/25
shelves: non-fiction, science
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Ravenor: The Omnibus (Ravenor #1-3)]]> 6092590
Contains the novels Ravenor, Ravenor Returned and Ravenor Rogue, plus two short stories and an introduction by the author.]]> 891 Dan Abnett 1844167372 Allisonperkel 3 grimdark 4.42 2009 Ravenor: The Omnibus (Ravenor #1-3)
author: Dan Abnett
name: Allisonperkel
average rating: 4.42
book published: 2009
rating: 3
read at: 2024/11/25
date added: 2024/11/25
shelves: grimdark
review:
As the stories went further, the plot got worse.
]]> <![CDATA[The Hero of Ages (Mistborn, #3)]]> 2767793
Who is the Hero of Ages?

To end the Final Empire and restore freedom, Vin killed the Lord Ruler. But as a result, the Deepness—the lethal form of the ubiquitous mists—is back, along with increasingly heavy ashfalls and ever more powerful earthquakes. Humanity appears to be doomed.

Having escaped death at the climax of The Well of Ascension only by becoming a Mistborn himself, Emperor Elend Venture hopes to find clues left behind by the Lord Ruler that will allow him to save the world. Vin is consumed with guilt at having been tricked into releasing the mystic force known as Ruin from the Well. Ruin wants to end the world, and its near omniscience and ability to warp reality make stopping it seem impossible. Vin can't even discuss it with Elend lest Ruin learn their plans!]]> 572 Brandon Sanderson 0765316897 Allisonperkel 3 fantasy 4.54 2008 The Hero of Ages (Mistborn, #3)
author: Brandon Sanderson
name: Allisonperkel
average rating: 4.54
book published: 2008
rating: 3
read at: 2024/11/16
date added: 2024/11/16
shelves: fantasy
review:
Solid fantasy and in need of an editor.
]]> <![CDATA[The Lost City of the Monkey God]]> 40873920 A five-hundred-year-old legend. An ancient curse. A stunning medical mystery. And a pioneering journey into the unknown heart of the world's densest jungle.

Since the days of conquistador Hernán Cortés, rumors have circulated about a lost city of immense wealth hidden somewhere in the Honduran interior, called the White City or the Lost City of the Monkey God. Indigenous tribes speak of ancestors who fled there to escape the Spanish invaders, and they warn that anyone who enters this sacred city will fall ill and die. In 1940, swashbuckling journalist Theodore Morde returned from the rainforest with hundreds of artifacts and an electrifying story of having found the Lost City of the Monkey God-but then committed suicide without revealing its location.

Three quarters of a century later, author Doug Preston joined a team of scientists on a groundbreaking new quest. In 2012 he climbed aboard a rickety, single-engine plane carrying the machine that would change everything: lidar, a highly advanced, classified technology that could map the terrain under the densest rainforest canopy. In an unexplored valley ringed by steep mountains, that flight revealed the unmistakable image of a sprawling metropolis, tantalizing evidence of not just an undiscovered city but an enigmatic, lost civilization.

Venturing into this raw, treacherous, but breathtakingly beautiful wilderness to confirm the discovery, Preston and the team battled torrential rains, quickmud, disease-carrying insects, jaguars, and deadly snakes. But it wasn't until they returned that tragedy struck: Preston and others found they had contracted in the ruins a horrifying, sometimes lethal-and incurable-disease.]]> 326 Douglas Preston Allisonperkel 3 non-fiction
]]> 3.95 2017 The Lost City of the Monkey God
author: Douglas Preston
name: Allisonperkel
average rating: 3.95
book published: 2017
rating: 3
read at: 2024/11/15
date added: 2024/11/15
shelves: non-fiction
review:
Most of the book is a historical recap of other expeditions or talking about liesh. There is very little on the city and the author needs some help with math. Bonus, diamonds]’s “guns germs and steel� was already proven problematic before ‘lost city� so it is odd to see diamond referenced so positively.


]]> <![CDATA[How to Be Successful without Hurting Men's Feelings: Non-threatening Leadership Strategies for Women]]> 39296119 The unspoken rules for how women should behave in the workplace are as numerous as they are confusing.

Ask for a pay rise? Pushy.
Take credit for an idea? Arrogant.
Admit a mistake? Weak.
Successfully juggle work and family? Unpromotable.

In How to Be Successful Without Hurting Men's Feelings, Sarah Cooper, author of the bestselling 100 Tricks to Appear Smart in Meetings, illustrates how women can achieve their dreams, succeed in their careers and become leaders, without harming the fragile male ego.

This wickedly funny tongue-in-cheek guide includes chapters on ‘How to Ace Your Job Interview Without Over-acing It�, �9 Non-threatening Leadership Strategies for Women�, and ‘Choose Your Own Adventure: Do You Want to Be Likeable or Successful?�. It even includes several pages to doodle on while men finish explaining things.

When all else fails, there is a set of cut-outable moustaches inside to allow women to seem more man-like, which will probably lead to a quick promotion!

PRAISE FOR 100 TRICKS TO APPEAR SMART IN MEETINGS:
'A lot of fun and absolutely on the money' Daily Telegraph, Book of the Year

'Even though it's mostly a comedy book, I can't help but think how legitmately useful I would have found this in my early twenties' The Pool

'Sarah Cooper is uncannily spot on when describing the seemingly innocent behaviours of people attempting to impress others' Christine Tsai, Founding Partner, 500 STARTUPS]]> 216 Sarah Cooper 1449476074 Allisonperkel 5 humor 4.17 2018 How to Be Successful without Hurting Men's Feelings: Non-threatening Leadership Strategies for Women
author: Sarah Cooper
name: Allisonperkel
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2018
rating: 5
read at: 2024/11/13
date added: 2024/11/13
shelves: humor
review:
So perfect I laugh cried on my way thru the book
]]> <![CDATA[The Gunslinger (The Dark Tower, #1)]]> 43615
He is a haunting figure, a loner on a spellbinding journey into good and evil. In his desolate world, which frighteningly mirrors our own, Roland pursues The Man in Black, encounters an alluring woman named Alice, and begins a friendship with the Kid from Earth called Jake. Both grippingly realistic and eerily dreamlike, The Gunslinger leaves readers eagerly awaiting the next chapter.]]> 231 Stephen King 1501143514 Allisonperkel 3 fantasy 3.95 1982 The Gunslinger (The Dark Tower, #1)
author: Stephen King
name: Allisonperkel
average rating: 3.95
book published: 1982
rating: 3
read at: 2024/11/03
date added: 2024/11/03
shelves: fantasy
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Way of Kings (The Stormlight Archive, #1)]]> 7235533 From #1 New York Times bestselling author Brandon Sanderson, The Way of Kings, book one of The Stormlight Archive begins an incredible new saga of epic proportion.

Roshar is a world of stone and storms. Uncanny tempests of incredible power sweep across the rocky terrain so frequently that they have shaped ecology and civilization alike. Animals hide in shells, trees pull in branches, and grass retracts into the soilless ground. Cities are built only where the topography offers shelter.

It has been centuries since the fall of the ten consecrated orders known as the Knights Radiant, but their Shardblades and Shardplate remain: mystical swords and suits of armor that transform ordinary men into near-invincible warriors. Men trade kingdoms for Shardblades. Wars were fought for them, and won by them.

One such war rages on a ruined landscape called the Shattered Plains. There, Kaladin, who traded his medical apprenticeship for a spear to protect his little brother, has been reduced to slavery. In a war that makes no sense, where ten armies fight separately against a single foe, he struggles to save his men and to fathom the leaders who consider them expendable.

Brightlord Dalinar Kholin commands one of those other armies. Like his brother, the late king, he is fascinated by an ancient text called The Way of Kings. Troubled by over-powering visions of ancient times and the Knights Radiant, he has begun to doubt his own sanity.

Across the ocean, an untried young woman named Shallan seeks to train under an eminent scholar and notorious heretic, Dalinar's niece, Jasnah. Though she genuinely loves learning, Shallan's motives are less than pure. As she plans a daring theft, her research for Jasnah hints at secrets of the Knights Radiant and the true cause of the war.

The result of over ten years of planning, writing, and world-building, The Way of Kings is but the opening movement of the Stormlight Archive, a bold masterpiece in the making.

Speak again the ancient oaths:

Life before death.
Strength before weakness.
Journey before Destination.

and return to men the Shards they once bore.

The Knights Radiant must stand again.]]> 1007 Brandon Sanderson 0765326353 Allisonperkel 4 fantasy 4.66 2010 The Way of Kings (The Stormlight Archive, #1)
author: Brandon Sanderson
name: Allisonperkel
average rating: 4.66
book published: 2010
rating: 4
read at: 2024/10/31
date added: 2024/10/31
shelves: fantasy
review:
The first 60% truly should be cut in half as it drags and feels overly written. The last 40% ish is wonderful. Also there are some truly wonderful women which is something I don’t see as much from male fantasy writers.
]]> ±á´Ç°ù°ù´Ç°ù²õ³Ùö°ù 13129925
To unravel the mystery, three employees volunteer to work a nine-hour dusk-till-dawn shift. In the dead of the night, they’ll patrol the empty showroom floor, investigate strange sights and sounds, and encounter horrors that defy the imagination.

A traditional haunted house story in a thoroughly contemporary setting, ±á´Ç°ù°ù´Ç°ù²õ³Ùö°ù is designed to retain its luster and natural appearance for a lifetime of use. Pleasingly proportioned with generous French flaps and a softcover binding, ±á´Ç°ù°ù´Ç°ù²õ³Ùö°ù delivers the psychological terror you need in the elegant package you deserve.

Designed by Andie Reid, cover photography by Christine Ferrara.]]> 248 Grady Hendrix 1594745269 Allisonperkel 3 3.64 2014 ±á´Ç°ù°ù´Ç°ù²õ³Ùö°ù
author: Grady Hendrix
name: Allisonperkel
average rating: 3.64
book published: 2014
rating: 3
read at: 2024/10/17
date added: 2024/10/17
shelves:
review:
I love the idea but the execution was only ok.
]]> <![CDATA[Why Sh*t Happens: The Science of a Really Bad Day]]> 8504650 Why Sh*t Happens, he draws on science (much of it cutting edge) to explore all those unfortunate things that we consign to chance.]]> 322 Peter J. Bentley 1605296600 Allisonperkel 4 non-fiction, science
Our protagonist, a business man who should have really never left the bed in the morning, Goes through a sequence of events; none of them particularly horrid, but all very annoying. Each event, whether its a bee sting or eating dirt and glass, is used as a launching point for a discussion on such topics as to why the bee stings, how the teeth work, how the digestive system protects you and so on.

There are 39 chapters in the book, each contains a mini lesson. In general, the lessons are:

1) sleeping through the alarm
2) slipping on soap
3) cutting yourself shaving
4) toast on fire
5) exploding liquids
6) milk gone bad
7) wet mp3 player
8) bird droppings
9) forgotten bag
10) skidding on the road
11) diesel instead of gas
12) tripping on the curb
13) chewing gum in hair
14) rain soaked clothing
15) being lost
16) bee sting
17) sticking yourself with superglue
18) electromagnetic interference from phone
19) puncture
20) leaking pens
21) mistaken identity
22) torn clothing
23) opening an e-mail virus
24) jammed finger
25) computer hard disk failure
26) broken finger
27) dropping keys down the drain
28) pulled muscle
29) sparking microwave
30) broken glass
31) stains
32) chile pepper in the eye
33) food on the floor
34) lighning kills the tv
35) burns and blisters
36) scratched cd
37) broken tooth
38) stubbed toe
39) overflowing bath

The chapters are fairly self contained, so reading out of order won't detract. A truly fun read.]]> 3.60 2009 Why Sh*t Happens: The Science of a Really Bad Day
author: Peter J. Bentley
name: Allisonperkel
average rating: 3.60
book published: 2009
rating: 4
read at: 2009/08/07
date added: 2024/09/28
shelves: non-fiction, science
review:
Dr Bentley has crafted a light hearted, easy to read book that takes you through one of the worst days imaginable and then teaches you exactly what the science behind the event is. He details 39 bad events with great humor, which quickly draws you into the idea, and then he follows with a 5 to 10 page discourse on the science behind the event.

Our protagonist, a business man who should have really never left the bed in the morning, Goes through a sequence of events; none of them particularly horrid, but all very annoying. Each event, whether its a bee sting or eating dirt and glass, is used as a launching point for a discussion on such topics as to why the bee stings, how the teeth work, how the digestive system protects you and so on.

There are 39 chapters in the book, each contains a mini lesson. In general, the lessons are:

1) sleeping through the alarm
2) slipping on soap
3) cutting yourself shaving
4) toast on fire
5) exploding liquids
6) milk gone bad
7) wet mp3 player
8) bird droppings
9) forgotten bag
10) skidding on the road
11) diesel instead of gas
12) tripping on the curb
13) chewing gum in hair
14) rain soaked clothing
15) being lost
16) bee sting
17) sticking yourself with superglue
18) electromagnetic interference from phone
19) puncture
20) leaking pens
21) mistaken identity
22) torn clothing
23) opening an e-mail virus
24) jammed finger
25) computer hard disk failure
26) broken finger
27) dropping keys down the drain
28) pulled muscle
29) sparking microwave
30) broken glass
31) stains
32) chile pepper in the eye
33) food on the floor
34) lighning kills the tv
35) burns and blisters
36) scratched cd
37) broken tooth
38) stubbed toe
39) overflowing bath

The chapters are fairly self contained, so reading out of order won't detract. A truly fun read.
]]> <![CDATA[The Lost Art of Running: A Journey to Rediscover the Forgotten Essence of Human Movement]]> 55032554 'Heads up � here's how to run like a pro' - The Times'A fascinating book' - Adharanand Finn, author of Running With the Kenyans'I'm convinced that Shane's insights were were instrumental in me winning the Marathon des Sables for a second time' - Elisabet Barnes, coach and athlete'Shane is the Indiana Jones of the running world' - Damian Hall, ultra marathon runner'You can't but help go out the door for your next run and try to put it all into practice' - Nicky Spinks, endurance runnerThe Lost Art of Running is an opportunity to join running technique analyst coach and movement guru Shane Benzie on his journey across five continents as he trains with and analyses the running style of some of the most gifted athletes on the planet.Part narrative, part practical, this adventure takes you to the foothills of Ethiopia and the 'town of runners'; to the training grounds of world-record-holding marathon runners in Kenya; racing across the Arctic Circle and the mountains of Europe, through the sweltering sands of the Sahara and the hostility of a winter traverse of the Pennine Way, to witness the incredible natural movement of runners in these environments.Along the way, you will learn how to incorporate natural movement techniques into your own running and hear from some of the top athletes that Shane has coached over the years. Whether experienced or just tackling your first few miles, this groundbreaking book will help you discover the lost art of running.]]> 303 Shane Benzie 1472968115 Allisonperkel 1 bad 4.07 The Lost Art of Running: A Journey to Rediscover the Forgotten Essence of Human Movement
author: Shane Benzie
name: Allisonperkel
average rating: 4.07
book published:
rating: 1
read at: 2024/09/25
date added: 2024/09/26
shelves: bad
review:
The writing is terrible and while their are some good ideas, those ideas are vaguely described in about 2 pages. Bonus there is a Luddite / noble savage vibe running thru this entire book.
]]> <![CDATA[Exit Interview: The Life and Death of My Ambitious Career]]> 65215677 Nothing Good Can Come from This.

What would you sacrifice for your career? All your free time? Your sense of self-worth? Your sanity?

In 2006, Kristi Coulter left her cozy but dull job for a promising new position at the fast-growing Amazon, but she never expected the soul-crushing pressure that came with it.

In no time she finds the challenge and excitement she'd been craving―along with seven-day workweeks, lifeboat exercises, widespread burnout, and a culture driven largely by fear. But the chase, the visibility, and, let's face it, the stock options, proved intoxicating, and so, for twelve years, she stayed―until she no longer recognized the face in the mirror or the mission she'd signed up for.

Unsparing, absurd, and wickedly funny, Exit Interview is a rare journey inside the crucible that is Amazon. An intimate, surprisingly relatable look at the work life of a driven woman in a world that loves the idea of female ambition but balks at the reality.]]> 384 Kristi Coulter 0374600902 Allisonperkel 5 4.14 Exit Interview: The Life and Death of My Ambitious Career
author: Kristi Coulter
name: Allisonperkel
average rating: 4.14
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2024/09/22
date added: 2024/09/22
shelves:
review:
This book hits very close to home and on so many levels.
]]> <![CDATA[Doppelganger: A Trip into the Mirror World]]> 138505710
Not long ago, the celebrated activist and public intellectual Naomi Klein had just such an experience―she was confronted with a doppelganger whose views she found abhorrent but whose name and public persona were sufficiently similar to her own that many people got confused about who was who. Destabilized, she lost her bearings, until she began to understand the experience as one manifestation of a strangeness many of us have come to know but struggle to define: AI-generated text is blurring the line between genuine and spurious communication; New Age wellness entrepreneurs turned anti-vaxxers are scrambling familiar political allegiances of left and right; and liberal democracies are teetering on the edge of absurdist authoritarianism, even as the oceans rise. Under such conditions, reality itself seems to have become unmoored. Is there a cure for our moment of collective vertigo?

Naomi Klein is one of our most trenchant and influential social critics, an essential analyst of what branding, austerity, and climate profiteering have done to our societies and souls. Here she turns her gaze inward to our psychic landscapes, and outward to the possibilities for building hope amid intersecting economic, medical, and political crises. With the assistance of Sigmund Freud, Jordan Peele, Alfred Hitchcock, and bell hooks, among other accomplices, Klein uses wry humor and a keen sense of the ridiculous to face the strange doubles that haunt us―and that have come to feel as intimate and proximate as a warped reflection in the mirror.

Combining comic memoir with chilling reportage and cobweb-clearing analysis, Klein seeks to smash that mirror and chart a path beyond despair. Doppelganger What do we neglect as we polish and perfect our digital reflections? Is it possible to dispose of our doubles and overcome the pathologies of a culture of multiplication? Can we create a politics of collective care and undertake a true reckoning with historical crimes? The result is a revelatory treatment of the way many of us think and feel now―and an intellectual adventure story for our times.]]> 416 Naomi Klein 0374610320 Allisonperkel 4
I still fear for our world when people will put money above humanity and use hate to increase their power. ]]> 4.21 2023 Doppelganger: A Trip into the Mirror World
author: Naomi Klein
name: Allisonperkel
average rating: 4.21
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2024/09/18
date added: 2024/09/18
shelves: non-fiction, politics, social-science
review:
Solid, interesting walk into the underside of American politics (mostly) with the last section focusing on Israel. There is a lot to take in and while I may quibble with the slight victim blaming, I agree with the premises of the book. Namely the need to work together and the need to see the truth behind the hate and the rhetoric.

I still fear for our world when people will put money above humanity and use hate to increase their power.
]]> Simulacra and Simulation 22613 Simulacra et Simulation in 1981 marked Jean Baudrillard's first important step toward theorizing the postmodern. Moving away from the Marxist/Freudian approaches that had concerned him earlier, Baudrillard developed in this book a theory of contemporary culture that relies on displacing economic notions of cultural production with notions of cultural expenditure.

Baudrillard uses the concepts of the simulacra—the copy without an original—and simulation. These terms are crucial to an understanding of the postmodern, to the extent that they address the concept of mass reproduction and reproduceability that characterizes our electronic media culture.

Baudrillard's book represents a unique and original effort to rethink cultural theory from the perspective of a new concept of cultural materialism, one that radically redefines postmodern formulations of the body.

Sheila Glaser is an editor at Artforum magazine.]]> 164 Jean Baudrillard 0472065211 Allisonperkel 2 non-fiction, thinking
The writing is beyond dense, overly so. The attempts to bring in science fall flat, Baudrillard makes too many absolute statements on science that are either no longer true or he’s not understanding the nuances of the science. This is particularly true when he talks about information. He didn’t need to pull in Shannon’s work: baudrillard’s point on information in the hyperreal are brilliant on their own and trying to use science to prove his ideas comes off as trying too hard. Dare I say perverting his simulated image of the real?

The overly academic writing style of the 20th century combined with some dated, terrible examples, makes me wish I didn’t invest the time into this work. Like many academic books, my belief is this book sits on a lot of shelves, unread, while the ideas are referenced and shared broadly in other, better mediums. Which is a wee bit ironic.
]]> 4.01 1981 Simulacra and Simulation
author: Jean Baudrillard
name: Allisonperkel
average rating: 4.01
book published: 1981
rating: 2
read at: 2024/09/15
date added: 2024/09/15
shelves: non-fiction, thinking
review:
The core ideas on hyperreal, simulacra, perversion of the simulation and of the real are brilliant. The ripples of impact this book has on modern thought are indeed profound.

The writing is beyond dense, overly so. The attempts to bring in science fall flat, Baudrillard makes too many absolute statements on science that are either no longer true or he’s not understanding the nuances of the science. This is particularly true when he talks about information. He didn’t need to pull in Shannon’s work: baudrillard’s point on information in the hyperreal are brilliant on their own and trying to use science to prove his ideas comes off as trying too hard. Dare I say perverting his simulated image of the real?

The overly academic writing style of the 20th century combined with some dated, terrible examples, makes me wish I didn’t invest the time into this work. Like many academic books, my belief is this book sits on a lot of shelves, unread, while the ideas are referenced and shared broadly in other, better mediums. Which is a wee bit ironic.

]]> Tao Te Ching 20173569 Tao Te Ching, the esoteric but infinitely practical book written most probably in the sixth century B.C. by Lao Tsu, has been translated more frequently than any work except the Bible. This translation of the Chinese classic, which was first published twenty-five years ago, has sold more copies than any of the others. It offers the essence of each word and makes Lao Tsu's teaching immediate and alive.

The philosophy of Lao Tsu is simple: Accept what is in front of you without wanting the situation to be other than it is. Study the natural order of things and work with it rather than against it, for to try to change what is only sets up resistance. Nature provides everything without requiring payment or thanks, and also provides for all without discrimination—therefore let us present the same face to everyone and treat all men as equals, however they may behave. If we watch carefully, we will see that work proceeds more quickly and easily if we stop "trying," if we stop putting in so much extra effort, if we stop looking for results. In the clarity of a still and open mind, truth will be reflected. We will come to appreciate the original meaning of the word "understand," which means "to stand under." We serve whatever or whoever stands before us, without any thought for ourselves. Te—which may be translated as "virtue" or "strength"—lies always in Tao, or" natural law. In other words: Simply be.]]> 144 Lao Tzu 0060778075 Allisonperkel 5 non-fiction, zen Simple, elegant translation 4.48 -350 Tao Te Ching
author: Lao Tzu
name: Allisonperkel
average rating: 4.48
book published: -350
rating: 5
read at: 2020/12/12
date added: 2024/09/13
shelves: non-fiction, zen
review:
Simple, elegant translation
]]> Light from Uncommon Stars 56179360
Shizuka Satomi made a deal with the to escape damnation, she must entice seven other violin prodigies to trade their souls for success. She has already delivered six. When Katrina Nguyen, a young transgender runaway, catches Shizuka's ear with her wild talent, Shizuka can almost feel the curse lifting. She's found her final candidate. But in a donut shop off a bustling highway in the San Gabriel Valley, Shizuka meets Lan Tran, retired starship captain, interstellar refugee, and mother of four. Shizuka doesn't have time for crushes or coffee dates, what with her very soul on the line, but Lan's kind smile and eyes like stars might just redefine a soul's worth. And maybe something as small as a warm donut is powerful enough to break a curse as vast as the California coastline. As the lives of these three women become entangled by chance and fate, a story of magic, identity, curses, and hope begins, and a family worth crossing the universe for is found.
At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.]]> 372 Ryka Aoki 1250789060 Allisonperkel 3 4.03 2021 Light from Uncommon Stars
author: Ryka Aoki
name: Allisonperkel
average rating: 4.03
book published: 2021
rating: 3
read at: 2024/09/02
date added: 2024/09/02
shelves:
review:
While I found the characters enjoyable and the cozy parts are cozy this book has the trans character as, initially, using prostitution to survive. This felt very ‘take back this stereotype� writing and not super enjoyable. This also doesn’t feel rooted in the 21st century.
]]> <![CDATA[When I Was Your Age: Life Lessons, Funny Stories & Questionable Parenting Advice from a Professional Clown]]> 123239396 240 Kenan Thompson 0063348063 Allisonperkel 2 3.82 2023 When I Was Your Age: Life Lessons, Funny Stories & Questionable Parenting Advice from a Professional Clown
author: Kenan Thompson
name: Allisonperkel
average rating: 3.82
book published: 2023
rating: 2
read at: 2024/08/28
date added: 2024/08/28
shelves:
review:
While I love Kenan Thompson, this book wasn’t well put together and could use another round of edits.
]]> <![CDATA[Move Fast and Fix Things: The Trusted Leader's Guide to Solving Hard Problems]]> 123805196 240 Frances Frei 1647822874 Allisonperkel 4 management 3.57 Move Fast and Fix Things: The Trusted Leader's Guide to Solving Hard Problems
author: Frances Frei
name: Allisonperkel
average rating: 3.57
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2024/08/21
date added: 2024/08/21
shelves: management
review:
I have quibbles and the general outline seems to work as a framework for tackling issues and problems - at least in terms of order of operation.
]]> <![CDATA[The Last Unicorn (The Last Unicorn, #1)]]> 29127 Alternate cover edition of ISBN 9780451450524

She was magical, beautiful beyond belief—and completely alone...

The unicorn had lived since before memory in a forest where death could touch nothing. Maidens who caught a glimpse of her glory were blessed by enchantment they would never forget. But outside her wondrous realm, dark whispers and rumours carried a message she could not ignore: "Unicorns are gone from the world."

Aided by a bumbling magician and an indomitable spinster, she set out to learn the truth. but she feared even her immortal wisdom meant nothing in a world where a mad king's curse and terror incarnate lived only to stalk the last unicorn to her doom...]]> 294 Peter S. Beagle Allisonperkel 4 fantasy, fiction 4.16 1968 The Last Unicorn (The Last Unicorn, #1)
author: Peter S. Beagle
name: Allisonperkel
average rating: 4.16
book published: 1968
rating: 4
read at: 2024/08/21
date added: 2024/08/21
shelves: fantasy, fiction
review:
A nice ya fantasy novel that’s really about archetypes, loss, and love.
]]> Stone Blind 61102615 A fresh take on the story of Medusa, the original monstered woman.

They will fear you and flee you and call you a monster.

The only mortal in a family of gods, Medusa is the youngest of the Gorgon sisters. Unlike her siblings, Medusa grows older, experiences change, feels weakness. Her mortal lifespan gives her an urgency that her family will never know.

When the sea god Poseidon assaults Medusa in Athene's temple, the goddess is enraged. Furious by the violation of her sacred space, Athene takes revenge--on the young woman. Punished for Poseidon's actions, Medusa is forever transformed. Writhing snakes replace her hair and her gaze will turn any living creature to stone. Cursed with the power to destroy all she loves with one look, Medusa condemns herself to a life of solitude.

Until Perseus embarks upon a fateful quest to fetch the head of a Gorgon...

In Stone Blind, classicist and comedian Natalie Haynes turns our understanding of this legendary myth on its head, bringing empathy and nuance to one of the earliest stories in which a woman--injured by a powerful man--is blamed, punished, and monstered for the assault. Delving into the origins of this mythic tale, Haynes revitalizes and reconstructs Medusa's story with her passion and fierce wit, offering a timely retelling of this classic myth that speaks to us today.]]> 373 Natalie Haynes 0063258390 Allisonperkel 4 fiction 3.78 2022 Stone Blind
author: Natalie Haynes
name: Allisonperkel
average rating: 3.78
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at: 2024/08/15
date added: 2024/08/15
shelves: fiction
review:
Super fun take on the Medusa side of the Perseus myth.
]]> <![CDATA[Humble Pi: A Comedy of Maths Errors]]> 39074550 An international bestseller

The book-length answer to anyone who ever put their hand up in math class and asked, "When am I ever going to use this in the real world?"

"Fun, informative, and relentlessly entertaining, Humble Pi is a charming and very readable guide to some of humanity's all-time greatest miscalculations--that also gives you permission to feel a little better about some of your own mistakes." --Ryan North, author of How to Invent Everything

Our whole world is built on math, from the code running a website to the equations enabling the design of skyscrapers and bridges. Most of the time this math works quietly behind the scenes . . . until it doesn't. All sorts of seemingly innocuous mathematical mistakes can have significant consequences.

Math is easy to ignore until a misplaced decimal point upends the stock market, a unit conversion error causes a plane to crash, or someone divides by zero and stalls a battleship in the middle of the ocean.

Exploring and explaining a litany of glitches, near misses, and mathematical mishaps involving the internet, big data, elections, street signs, lotteries, the Roman Empire, and an Olympic team, Matt Parker uncovers the bizarre ways math trips us up, and what this reveals about its essential place in our world. Getting it wrong has never been more fun.]]> 314 Matt Parker 0241360196 Allisonperkel 4 humor, non-fiction 4.11 2019 Humble Pi: A Comedy of Maths Errors
author: Matt Parker
name: Allisonperkel
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2019
rating: 4
read at: 2024/08/07
date added: 2024/08/07
shelves: humor, non-fiction
review:
Well done overview of why math matters and what happens when it goes wrong.
]]> <![CDATA[A Brief History of Korea: Isolation, War, Despotism and Revival: The Fascinating Story of a Resilient But Divided People (Brief History of Asia Series)]]> 43347638
Korea was one of the last countries in Asia to be visited by Westerners and its borders have remained largely unchanged since it was unified in the seventh century. Though it is one of the world's oldest and most ethnically homogeneous states, Korea was not born in a vacuum. Geographically isolated, the country was heavily influenced by powerful China and was often used as a bridge to the mainland by Japan.

Calling themselves as "a shrimp among whales," Koreans borrowed elements of government, culture and religion all the while fiercely fighting to maintain independence from powerful neighbors. This fascinating book tells the story of Korean domestic dynasties, empires and states, as well as foreign conquest, occupation and division. Today, the two Koreas are starkly different--North Korea a nation closed to the world and South Korea an economic powerhouse and center of Asian democracy.

Chronicling significant events right up through 2018's Singapore Summit, author Michael J. Seth presents a relevant, interesting and important history of Korea within a larger global context. Korea's history is a turbulent one, but ultimately the story of a resistant and resourceful people in search of lasting peace.]]> 244 Michael J. Seth 0804851026 Allisonperkel 3 history 3.95 2019 A Brief History of Korea: Isolation, War, Despotism and Revival: The Fascinating Story of a Resilient But Divided People (Brief History of Asia Series)
author: Michael J. Seth
name: Allisonperkel
average rating: 3.95
book published: 2019
rating: 3
read at: 2024/07/31
date added: 2024/07/31
shelves: history
review:
Quick overview of Korean history that helps put the current political and economic situation into perspective.
]]> <![CDATA[The Well of Ascension (Mistborn, #2)]]> 68429
The impossible has been accomplished. The Lord Ruler—the man who claimed to be god incarnate and brutally ruled the world for a thousand years—has been vanquished. But Kelsier, the hero who masterminded that triumph, is dead too, and now the awesome task of building a new world has been left to his young protégé, Vin, the former street urchin who is now the most powerful Mistborn in the land, and to the idealistic young nobleman she loves.

As Kelsier's protégé and slayer of the Lord Ruler she is now venerated by a budding new religion, a distinction that makes her intensely uncomfortable. Even more worrying, the mists have begun behaving strangely since the Lord Ruler died, and seem to harbor a strange vaporous entity that haunts her.

Stopping assassins may keep Vin's Mistborn skills sharp, but it's the least of her problems. Luthadel, the largest city of the former empire, doesn't run itself, and Vin and the other members of Kelsier's crew, who lead the revolution, must learn a whole new set of practical and political skills to help. It certainly won't get easier with three armies - one of them composed of ferocious giants - now vying to conquer the city, and no sign of the Lord Ruler's hidden cache of atium, the rarest and most powerful allomantic metal.

As the siege of Luthadel tightens, an ancient legend seems to offer a glimmer of hope. But even if it really exists, no one knows where to find the Well of Ascension or what manner of power it bestows.]]> 590 Brandon Sanderson 0765316889 Allisonperkel 4 fantasy 4.38 2007 The Well of Ascension (Mistborn, #2)
author: Brandon Sanderson
name: Allisonperkel
average rating: 4.38
book published: 2007
rating: 4
read at: 2024/07/31
date added: 2024/07/31
shelves: fantasy
review:
I enjoyed "Well" much more than the first book in the series. I'd call this "optimistic grim dark".
]]> <![CDATA[Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow]]> 58784475 In this exhilarating novel, two friends—often in love, but never lovers—come together as creative partners in the world of video game design, where success brings them fame, joy, tragedy, duplicity, and, ultimately, a kind of immortality.

On a bitter-cold day, in the December of his junior year at Harvard, Sam Masur exits a subway car and sees, amid the hordes of people waiting on the platform, Sadie Green. He calls her name. For a moment, she pretends she hasn't heard him, but then, she turns, and a game begins: a legendary collaboration that will launch them to stardom. These friends, intimates since childhood, borrow money, beg favors, and, before even graduating college, they have created their first blockbuster, Ichigo. Overnight, the world is theirs. Not even twenty-five years old, Sam and Sadie are brilliant, successful, and rich, but these qualities won't protect them from their own creative ambitions or the betrayals of their hearts.

Spanning thirty years, from Cambridge, Massachusetts, to Venice Beach, California, and lands in between and far beyond, Gabrielle Zevin's Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow is a dazzling and intricately imagined novel that examines the multifarious nature of identity, disability, failure, the redemptive possibilities in play, and above all, our need to connect: to be loved and to love. Yes, it is a love story, but it is not one you have read before.]]> 401 Gabrielle Zevin 0735243344 Allisonperkel 3 fiction 4.12 2022 Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow
author: Gabrielle Zevin
name: Allisonperkel
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2022
rating: 3
read at: 2024/07/31
date added: 2024/07/31
shelves: fiction
review:
Solid though a bit disjointed and the twists at the end felt a little forced. Still a great summer read.
]]> The Left Hand of Darkness 18423 The Left Hand of Darkness tells the story of a lone human emissary to Winter, an alien world whose inhabitants spend most of their time without a gender. His goal is to facilitate Winter's inclusion in a growing intergalactic civilization. But to do so he must bridge the gulf between his own views and those of the completely dissimilar culture that he encounters.

Embracing the aspects of psychology, society, and human emotion on an alien world, The Left Hand of Darkness stands as a landmark achievement in the annals of intellectual science fiction.]]> 304 Ursula K. Le Guin Allisonperkel 4 science-fiction 4.11 1969 The Left Hand of Darkness
author: Ursula K. Le Guin
name: Allisonperkel
average rating: 4.11
book published: 1969
rating: 4
read at: 2024/07/06
date added: 2024/07/06
shelves: science-fiction
review:
Wonderful read as powerful today as when it was released.
]]> <![CDATA[The Lies of the Land: Seeing Rural America for What It Is―and Isn’t]]> 112975288 Ìý
It seems everyone has an opinion about rural America. Is it gripped in a tragic decline? Or is it on the cusp of a glorious revival? Is it the key to understanding America today? Steven Conn argues that we’re missing the real question: Is rural America even a thing? No, says Conn, who believes we see only what we want to see in the lands beyond the suburbs—fantasies about moral (or backward) communities, simpler (or repressive) living, and what it means to be authentically (or wrongheadedly) American. If we want to build a better future, Conn argues, we must accept that these visions don’t exist and never did.

In The Lies of the Land, Conn shows that rural America—so often characterized as in crisis or in danger of being left behind—has actually been at the center of modern American history, shaped by the same forces as everywhere else in the country: militarization, industrialization, corporatization, and suburbanization. Examining each of these forces in turn, Conn invites us to dispense with the lies and half-truths we’ve believed about rural America and to pursue better solutions to the very real challenges shared all across our nation.]]> 320 Steven Conn 0226826902 Allisonperkel 3 non-fiction, politics 3.99 2023 The Lies of the Land: Seeing Rural America for What It Is―and Isn’t
author: Steven Conn
name: Allisonperkel
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2024/07/06
date added: 2024/07/06
shelves: non-fiction, politics
review:
Quite a deep history of non urban America in the 20th century. The writing seems to get caught up in history a wee bit too much which distracts from the author’s premise.
]]> <![CDATA[Reductionism in Art and Brain Science: Bridging the Two Cultures]]> 29587078
In Reductionism in Art and Brain Science, Kandel shows how this radically reductionist approach, applied to the most complex puzzle of our time―the brain―has been employed by modern artists who distill their subjective world into color, form, and light. Kandel demonstrates through bottom-up sensory and top-down cognitive functions how science can explore the complexities of human perception and help us to perceive, appreciate, and understand great works of art. At the heart of the book is an elegant elucidation of the contribution of reductionism to the evolution of modern art and its role in a monumental shift in artistic perspective. Reductionism steered the transition from figurative art to the first explorations of abstract art reflected in the works of Turner, Monet, Kandinsky, Schoenberg, and Mondrian. Kandel explains how, in the postwar era, Pollock, de Kooning, Rothko, Louis, Turrell, and Flavin used a reductionist approach to arrive at their abstract expressionism and how Katz, Warhol, Close, and Sandback built upon the advances of the New York School to reimagine figurative and minimal art. Featuring captivating drawings of the brain alongside full-color reproductions of modern art masterpieces, this book draws out the common concerns of science and art and how they illuminate each other.]]> 238 Eric R. Kandel 0231542089 Allisonperkel 4 non-fiction, science 4.14 2016 Reductionism in Art and Brain Science: Bridging the Two Cultures
author: Eric R. Kandel
name: Allisonperkel
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2016
rating: 4
read at: 2024/07/03
date added: 2024/07/06
shelves: non-fiction, science
review:
Fascinating read that helped me appreciate modern art.
]]> The Ethics of Ambiguity 21119 162 Simone de Beauvoir 080650160X Allisonperkel 5 thinking
Existential thought and meaning, being read after Sandel’s justice form a one two punch on what it means to be alive and good. I’m still pondering the notion of everything in the absolute finite: the means too, as a way to view action. ]]> 4.18 1947 The Ethics of Ambiguity
author: Simone de Beauvoir
name: Allisonperkel
average rating: 4.18
book published: 1947
rating: 5
read at: 2024/06/14
date added: 2024/06/14
shelves: thinking
review:
Powerful, inspiring and very much a book for the 2020’s and the rise of fascism rising again.

Existential thought and meaning, being read after Sandel’s justice form a one two punch on what it means to be alive and good. I’m still pondering the notion of everything in the absolute finite: the means too, as a way to view action.
]]> <![CDATA[Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End, Vol. 10]]> 178141437 208 Kanehito Yamada 1974744760 Allisonperkel 5 comics 4.72 2023 Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End, Vol. 10
author: Kanehito Yamada
name: Allisonperkel
average rating: 4.72
book published: 2023
rating: 5
read at: 2024/06/11
date added: 2024/06/11
shelves: comics
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Frieren: Beyond Journey's End, Vol. 9]]> 101158730
As Frieren, Fern, and Stark continue their journey in the Northern Plateau, they face many obstacles, both natural and supernatural, including the Great Tor Canyon. But once across the canyon, they receive a plea for help that will take them to a cursed city and a confrontation with Macht of the Golden Land, the last and most powerful of the Seven Sages of Destruction. Macht also has a surprising connection to Denken that may provide an edge in the struggle…]]> 188 Kanehito Yamada 1974740609 Allisonperkel 5 comics 4.41 2022 Frieren: Beyond Journey's End, Vol. 9
author: Kanehito Yamada
name: Allisonperkel
average rating: 4.41
book published: 2022
rating: 5
read at: 2024/06/11
date added: 2024/06/11
shelves: comics
review:

]]> The Lessons of History 174713 119 Will Durant 1567310249 Allisonperkel 3
This book is a product of its time: a pre ww2 history professor trying to make sense of 1960s America. There are a lot of ideas that did make me think ( a society that is more free tends to pull apart; some order is needed ) and others that were quite bad. Like whoa, his ideas on marriage and procreation are pretty messed up.

There are certainly ideas to ponder but you’ll need to ignore a lot of get off my lawn rhetoric. ]]> 4.05 The Lessons of History
author: Will Durant
name: Allisonperkel
average rating: 4.05
book published:
rating: 3
read at: 2024/06/06
date added: 2024/06/06
shelves:
review:
I listened to the audiobook so my review takes into account the interviews with Will and Ariel Durant after each chapter.

This book is a product of its time: a pre ww2 history professor trying to make sense of 1960s America. There are a lot of ideas that did make me think ( a society that is more free tends to pull apart; some order is needed ) and others that were quite bad. Like whoa, his ideas on marriage and procreation are pretty messed up.

There are certainly ideas to ponder but you’ll need to ignore a lot of get off my lawn rhetoric.
]]> <![CDATA[Justice: What's the Right Thing to Do?]]> 6452731
Affirmative action, same-sex marriage, physician-assisted suicide, abortion, national service, the moral limits of markets―Sandel relates the big questions of political philosophy to the most vexing issues of the day, and shows how a surer grasp of philosophy can help us make sense of politics, morality, and our own convictions as well.

Justice is lively, thought-provoking, and wise―an essential new addition to the small shelf of books that speak convincingly to the hard questions of our civic life.]]> 308 Michael J. Sandel 0374180652 Allisonperkel 5 ethics, thinking 4.30 2007 Justice: What's the Right Thing to Do?
author: Michael J. Sandel
name: Allisonperkel
average rating: 4.30
book published: 2007
rating: 5
read at: 2024/06/06
date added: 2024/06/06
shelves: ethics, thinking
review:
A book designed to challenge assumptions on justice and the role morality plays in society.
]]> <![CDATA[Eyes of the Void (The Final Architecture, #2)]]> 58950674 The Arthur C. Clarke award-winning author of Children of Time brings us the second novel in an extraordinary space opera trilogy about humanity on the brink of extinction, and how one man's discovery will save or destroy us all.

After eighty years of fragile peace, the Architects are back, wreaking havoc as they consume entire planets. In the past, Originator artefacts � vestiges of a long-vanished civilization � could save a world from annihilation. This time, the Architects have discovered a way to circumvent these protective relics. Suddenly, no planet is safe.

Facing impending extinction, the Human Colonies are in turmoil. While some believe a unified front is the only way to stop the Architects, others insist humanity should fight alone. And there are those who would seek to benefit from the fractured politics of war � even as the Architects loom ever closer.

Idris, who has spent decades running from the horrors of his past, finds himself thrust back onto the battlefront. As an Intermediary, he could be one of the few to turn the tide of war. With a handful of allies, he searches for a weapon that could push back the Architects and save the galaxy. But to do so, he must return to the nightmarish unspace, where his mind was broken and remade.

What Idris discovers there will change everything.]]> 596 Adrian Tchaikovsky 1668604906 Allisonperkel 3 science-fiction 4.12 2022 Eyes of the Void (The Final Architecture, #2)
author: Adrian Tchaikovsky
name: Allisonperkel
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2022
rating: 3
read at: 2024/06/05
date added: 2024/06/05
shelves: science-fiction
review:
This one missed more than it hit. It feels like the middle book of a trilogy.
]]> To Be Taught, If Fortunate 43190272
Ariadne is one such explorer. As an astronaut on an extrasolar research vessel, she and her fellow crewmates sleep between worlds and wake up each time with different features. Her experience is one of fluid body and stable mind and of a unique perspective on the passage of time. Back on Earth, society changes dramatically from decade to decade, as it always does.

Ariadne may awaken to find that support for space exploration back home has waned, or that her country of birth no longer exists, or that a cult has arisen around their cosmic findings, only to dissolve once more by the next waking. But the moods of Earth have little bearing on their mission: to explore, to study, and to send their learnings home.

Carrying all the trademarks of her other beloved works, including brilliant writing, fantastic world-building and exceptional, diverse characters, Becky's first audiobook outside of the Wayfarers series is sure to capture the imagination of listeners all over the world.]]> 153 Becky Chambers 0062936018 Allisonperkel 4 fiction, science-fiction 4.19 2019 To Be Taught, If Fortunate
author: Becky Chambers
name: Allisonperkel
average rating: 4.19
book published: 2019
rating: 4
read at: 2024/05/21
date added: 2024/05/21
shelves: fiction, science-fiction
review:

]]> Euthyphro 811970
One of Plato’s well-known Socratic Dialogues, Euthyphro probes the nature of piety, and notably poses the so-called Euthyphro Dilemma: Do the gods love a thing because it is holy, or is a thing holy because it is loved by the gods?]]> 120 Plato 1853991325 Allisonperkel 5 ethics, thinking 3.95 -399 Euthyphro
author: Plato
name: Allisonperkel
average rating: 3.95
book published: -399
rating: 5
read at: 2024/05/18
date added: 2024/05/18
shelves: ethics, thinking
review:
there is a reason for this being a classic: the dialog and wit is fully on display and the question and answer does get the reader to think about piety, sin, what is right and how to live.
]]> No Exit and Three Other Plays 10037 275 Jean-Paul Sartre Allisonperkel 4 ethics, thinking, fiction 4.08 1947 No Exit and Three Other Plays
author: Jean-Paul Sartre
name: Allisonperkel
average rating: 4.08
book published: 1947
rating: 4
read at: 2024/05/18
date added: 2024/05/18
shelves: ethics, thinking, fiction
review:
no exit is brilliant play. In fact, everything was wonderfully well written and I'm closer to 5 star than 4. Each play gets to mind delving deeper into what is right, are there answers, and how should we look at being ourselves/human.
]]> <![CDATA[The Spiritual Brain: Science and Religious Experience (Great Courses)]]> 24464392 continue beyond death? Whether you are a deeply religious person, a spiritual seeker, or one who has come to doubt or disbelieve in a spiritual power, you have probably pondered these questions and at least begun to answer them for yourself. In fact, archaeological and historical records show that even the earliest humans were aware of a spiritual realm and developed religious practices as a result.

One of humanity's most awesome forces, the spread and practice of religion has exerted a profoundly outsized effect on individuals and entire civilizations, altering the course of history. The religious impulse is so powerfully pervasive that neuroscience has posed a provocative question: Are our brains wired to worship?

In The Spiritual Brain: Science and Religious Experience, award-winning scholar and practicing neuroscientist Dr. Andrew Newberg, Director of Research at the Myrna Brind Center of Integrative Medicine at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, offers you 24 riveting lectures that explore the new and exciting field of neurotheology, a discipline aimed at understanding the connections between our brains and different kinds of religious phenomena. Using an academic, experimental approach into what he calls "objective measures of spirituality," Dr. Newberg attempts to explain what others have previously only guessed at: the neuroscientific basis for why religion and spirituality have played such a prominent role in human life.]]> 0 Andrew B. Newberg 1598038842 Allisonperkel 5 neuro-science, zen
If you're looking for a different view into how our brain functions, this is a great listen. I left thinking I should meditate more and I should really work to be more social. Slight note - I don't believe belonging to a church improves the quality and length of your life. I do believe being part of a community, with friends, does. It's little points like the one I referenced that make some of the arguments within this lecture series fall apart]]> 3.54 2012 The Spiritual Brain: Science and Religious Experience (Great Courses)
author: Andrew B. Newberg
name: Allisonperkel
average rating: 3.54
book published: 2012
rating: 5
read at: 2024/05/18
date added: 2024/05/18
shelves: neuro-science, zen
review:
While I find much to quibble about with this book, I did find this different way of looking at data refreshing. Does Dr Newberg draw conclusions I 100% find wrong, yes. Does he still make cogent arguments that get me out of my comfort zone? yes.

If you're looking for a different view into how our brain functions, this is a great listen. I left thinking I should meditate more and I should really work to be more social. Slight note - I don't believe belonging to a church improves the quality and length of your life. I do believe being part of a community, with friends, does. It's little points like the one I referenced that make some of the arguments within this lecture series fall apart
]]> <![CDATA[How Migration Really Works: A Factful Guide to the Most Divisive Issue in Politics]]> 82005192 Authoritative and myth-busting, this is the one book you need to read to understand why we’ve been wrong about migration

'An important book that will force Left and Right alike to reconsider old assumptions' The Telegraph

'This book should be falling out of briefcases all over Westminster' Tortoise Media

'Careful, balanced and convincing . . . challenges much of what we think is obvious about migration' Ian Morris, author of Why the West Rules - For Now

-----------------------------------

Global migration is not at an all-time high.

Climate change will not lead to mass migration.

Immigration mainly benefits the wealthy, not workers.

Border restrictions have paradoxically produced more migration.

These statements might sound counter-intuitive or just outright wrong - but the facts behind the headlines reveal a completely different story to the ones we're told about migration. In this ground-breaking and revelatory book, based on more than three decades of research, leading expert Professor Hein de Haas explodes myths espoused by both left and right that politicians, interest groups and media regularly spread about migration.

Comparing trends and perspectives from Western 'destination countries' (UK, US and Europe) as well as 'origin countries' in Asia, Africa and Latin America, de Haas equips readers with essential knowledge on migration based on the best evidence and data, showing migration not as a problem to be solved, nor as a solution to a problem, but as it really is.

Above all, How Migration Really Works offers a new vision of migration based on facts rather than fears, and a paradigm-altering understanding of this perennially important subject.]]> 436 Hein de Haas 024199876X Allisonperkel 4
I'm not sure if everything truly applies to the US given what's happening now but I do view immigration completely differently. Also what a refreshing book after reading the terrible, xenophobic "Morality" by Jonathan Sacks. This was quite the palette cleanser after that horrid book.

The only negative, and why this is 4 stars, Hein de Haas repeats himself a lot. It's clear this is a polemic read aimed at the heart of the left and right on immigration reform.]]> 4.39 2023 How Migration Really Works: A Factful Guide to the Most Divisive Issue in Politics
author: Hein de Haas
name: Allisonperkel
average rating: 4.39
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2024/05/18
date added: 2024/05/18
shelves: economics, history, social-science
review:
This book destroys preconceived notions on immigration. I was blown away at how some of my ideas are not exactly true (like why immigrants come here, how small the numbers actually are and how stronger boarders actually make illegal immigration worse).

I'm not sure if everything truly applies to the US given what's happening now but I do view immigration completely differently. Also what a refreshing book after reading the terrible, xenophobic "Morality" by Jonathan Sacks. This was quite the palette cleanser after that horrid book.

The only negative, and why this is 4 stars, Hein de Haas repeats himself a lot. It's clear this is a polemic read aimed at the heart of the left and right on immigration reform.
]]> <![CDATA[Shards of Earth (The Final Architecture, #1)]]> 55278507 The Arthur C. Clarke award-winning author of Children of Time brings us an extraordinary space opera about humanity on the brink of extinction, and how one man's discovery will save or destroy us all.

The war is over. Its heroes forgotten. Until one chance discovery . . .

Idris has neither aged nor slept since they remade him in the war. And one of humanity's heroes now scrapes by on a freelance salvage vessel, to avoid the attention of greater powers.

After earth was destroyed, mankind created a fighting elite to save their species, enhanced humans such as Idris. In the silence of space they could communicate, mind-to-mind, with the enemy. Then their alien aggressors, the Architects, simply disappeared—and Idris and his kind became obsolete.

Now, fifty years later, Idris and his crew have discovered something strange abandoned in space. It's clearly the work of the Architects—but are they returning? And if so, why? Hunted by gangsters, cults and governments, Idris and his crew race across the galaxy hunting for answers. For they now possess something of incalculable value, that many would kill to obtain.]]> Adrian Tchaikovsky 1549106392 Allisonperkel 5 grimdark, science-fiction 4.09 2021 Shards of Earth (The Final Architecture, #1)
author: Adrian Tchaikovsky
name: Allisonperkel
average rating: 4.09
book published: 2021
rating: 5
read at: 2024/05/18
date added: 2024/05/18
shelves: grimdark, science-fiction
review:
This was a wonderful, exciting space opera of the highest order. The cast of characters is wonderful, some of the best since "A Long Way to a Small Angry Planet". The action is well paced and the story is rich. I'm hooked.
]]> <![CDATA[France: A History: from Gaul to de Gaulle]]> 39077689 'For his final book, the late Norwich tackled the dauntingly vast subject of two millennia of French history with admirable lightness and urbanity . . . his comic footnotes deserve a review of their own' DAILY TELEGRAPHI can still feel, as if it were yesterday, the excitement of my first Channel crossing (as a child of nearly 7) in September 1936; the regiment of porters, smelling asphyxiatingly of garlic in their blue-green blousons; the raucous sound all around me of spoken French; the immense fields of Normandy strangely devoid of hedges; then the Gare du Nord at twilight, the policemen with their képis and their little snow-white batons; and my first sight of the Eiffel Tower . . . This book is written in the belief that the average English-speaking man or woman has remarkably little knowledge of French history. We may know a bit about Napoleon or Joan of Arc or Louis XIV, but for most of us that's about it. In my own three schools we were taught only about the battles we Crécy and Poitiers, Agincourt and Waterloo. The rest was silence. So here is my attempt to fill in the blanks . . .John Julius Norwich's last book is the book he always wanted to the extremely colourful story of the country he loves best. From frowning Roman generals and belligerent Gallic chieftains, to Charlemagne (hated by generations of French children taught that he invented schools) through Marie Antoinette and the storming of the Bastille to Vichy, the Resistance and beyond, FRANCE is packed with heroes and villains, adventures and battles, romance and revolution. Full of memorable stories and racy anecdotes, this is the perfect introduction to the country that has inspired the rest of the world to live, dress, eat -- and love better.]]> 456 John Julius Norwich 1473663822 Allisonperkel 4 history 4.00 2018 France: A History: from Gaul to de Gaulle
author: John Julius Norwich
name: Allisonperkel
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2018
rating: 4
read at: 2023/12/13
date added: 2024/05/01
shelves: history
review:
Goodbye Sir Norwich, you will always be one of my favorite authors. you bring wit and wisdom, insights and bon mons into everything you've written and we are all better off for your contributions.
]]> <![CDATA[Morality: Restoring the Common Good in Divided Times]]> 50623466
With liberal democracy embattled, public discourse grown toxic, family life breaking down, and drug abuse and depression on the rise, many fear what the future holds.

In Morality , respected faith leader and public intellectual Jonathan Sacks traces today's crisis to our loss of a strong, shared moral code and our elevation of self-interest over the common good. We have outsourced morality to the market and the state, but neither is capable of showing us how to live. Sacks leads readers from ancient Greece to the Enlightenment to the present day to show that there is no liberty without morality and no freedom without responsibility, arguing that we all must play our part in rebuilding a common moral foundation.

A major work of moral philosophy, Morality is an inspiring vision of a world in which we can all find our place and face the future without fear.]]> 384 Jonathan Sacks 1541675312 Allisonperkel 1 bad, ethics
Everything else is where we disagree. Sacks central thesis appears to be "the 1960s era of free love was the root of all our issues because family broke down at that point because women got the pill". The second point is "minorities and those not white and male should default to the common good and stop bringing up issues of injustice". This basically boils his solution to a the typical "everyone needs to be like me and my values in order to fit in". I find this entire set of arguments, at best, terrible, and at worst willfully negligent.

My hot take: Multiculturalism makes us stronger. Learning about, respecting, and incorporating others beliefs, knowledge and world view makes us stronger. The family structure changed because women got rights and no longer had to stay in terrible situations (no fault divorce anyone?). Economically, corporation broke their covenant of growing with their employees and took on a growing upon their resources . I could list hundreds of other reasons that would all be better. Oh and corporations before the 60s weren't paragons of virtue - it was just hidden better. That's not to say Rabbi Sacks ideas have no merit, they do have and they are part of a greater narrative. That's all they are. We are in a watershed time with new ways of communicating, new ways of work, and radically different mobility. To take just one thing and say "this is it" is massive hubris.

He does call out greedy companies, like Enron, and the problems of free markets and fairness, but then doubles down on family and religious breakdowns as the cause. He does take some time to heap blame on social media (semi fair), addictive nature of screens, and wave his "compassionate racism" flag. I mean I didn't realize he was "that guy" on EU immigration until I went back and googled his name. Had I done that at the start, I've have several hours of my life back and be happier for it.

I expected more from this book. I expected my views challenged with cogent arguments: not vapid, nice sounding sound bites from Reagan/Thatcher era politics. I literally picked up the wrong book on morality: I actually meant to grab Hume's "On Moral Theory". Next time I'll stick with the plan.]]> 4.32 2019 Morality: Restoring the Common Good in Divided Times
author: Jonathan Sacks
name: Allisonperkel
average rating: 4.32
book published: 2019
rating: 1
read at: 2024/05/01
date added: 2024/05/01
shelves: bad, ethics
review:
I knew going in I would struggle with some of Rabbi's Sacks conclusion but I didn't realize the extent. What was most frustrating was I agree with his problem statements: Society is splintering apart. A strong minority no longer cares about the common good. There is an identity politic at play where the main focus is hurting those you feel are against you (on the right) and an exclusionary focus across all spectrums. In this Rabbi Sacks and I are aligned.

Everything else is where we disagree. Sacks central thesis appears to be "the 1960s era of free love was the root of all our issues because family broke down at that point because women got the pill". The second point is "minorities and those not white and male should default to the common good and stop bringing up issues of injustice". This basically boils his solution to a the typical "everyone needs to be like me and my values in order to fit in". I find this entire set of arguments, at best, terrible, and at worst willfully negligent.

My hot take: Multiculturalism makes us stronger. Learning about, respecting, and incorporating others beliefs, knowledge and world view makes us stronger. The family structure changed because women got rights and no longer had to stay in terrible situations (no fault divorce anyone?). Economically, corporation broke their covenant of growing with their employees and took on a growing upon their resources . I could list hundreds of other reasons that would all be better. Oh and corporations before the 60s weren't paragons of virtue - it was just hidden better. That's not to say Rabbi Sacks ideas have no merit, they do have and they are part of a greater narrative. That's all they are. We are in a watershed time with new ways of communicating, new ways of work, and radically different mobility. To take just one thing and say "this is it" is massive hubris.

He does call out greedy companies, like Enron, and the problems of free markets and fairness, but then doubles down on family and religious breakdowns as the cause. He does take some time to heap blame on social media (semi fair), addictive nature of screens, and wave his "compassionate racism" flag. I mean I didn't realize he was "that guy" on EU immigration until I went back and googled his name. Had I done that at the start, I've have several hours of my life back and be happier for it.

I expected more from this book. I expected my views challenged with cogent arguments: not vapid, nice sounding sound bites from Reagan/Thatcher era politics. I literally picked up the wrong book on morality: I actually meant to grab Hume's "On Moral Theory". Next time I'll stick with the plan.
]]> Principles: Life and Work 34536488 Ray Dalio, one of the world’s most successful investors and entrepreneurs, shares the unconventional principles that he’s developed, refined, and used over the past forty years to create unique results in both life and business—and which any person or organization can adopt to help achieve their goals.

In 1975, Ray Dalio founded an investment firm, Bridgewater Associates, out of his two-bedroom apartment in New York City. Forty years later, Bridgewater has made more money for its clients than any other hedge fund in history and grown into the fifth most important private company in the United States, according to Fortune magazine. Dalio himself has been named to Time magazine’s list of the 100 most influential people in the world. Along the way, Dalio discovered a set of unique principles that have led to Bridgewater’s exceptionally effective culture, which he describes as “an idea meritocracy that strives to achieve meaningful work and meaningful relationships through radical transparency.� It is these principles, and not anything special about Dalio—who grew up an ordinary kid in a middle-class Long Island neighborhood—that he believes are the reason behind his success.

In Principles, Dalio shares what he’s learned over the course of his remarkable career. He argues that life, management, economics, and investing can all be systemized into rules and understood like machines. The book’s hundreds of practical lessons, which are built around his cornerstones of “radical truth� and “radical transparency,� include Dalio laying out the most effective ways for individuals and organizations to make decisions, approach challenges, and build strong teams. He also describes the innovative tools the firm uses to bring an idea meritocracy to life, such as creating “baseball cards� for all employees that distill their strengths and weaknesses, and employing computerized decision-making systems to make believability-weighted decisions. While the book brims with novel ideas for organizations and institutions, Principles also offers a clear, straightforward approach to decision-making that Dalio believes anyone can apply, no matter what they’re seeking to achieve.

Here is a rare opportunity to gain proven advice unlike anything you’ll find in the conventional business press.]]> 16 Ray Dalio 1508243247 Allisonperkel 4
My last big issue involves the heavy love of expert systems and ai. The take away was Mr dalio believes “we can’t encode biases and we expect rational actors� is a true statement, it isn’t. Algorithms are biased by those who create them. People aren’t rational. However, Mr dalio does state ‘we need to understand the algorithm� which is something I truly believe. He also states the algorithm needs the human - something I also believe.

Still, 80% of the book is great wisdom to take, modify, ignore but always think about. The chapter dealing with nice people making the greater whole worse was powerful. The idea of using expert systems to gut check as well as build in checks and balances at all levels is important. Stating, and living by, no one is above the law is a much needed breadth of fresh air. He deals with ethics as a first class citizen and, especially in business, that’s something we need more people calling for.

This is a good book. It’s not perfect and I think, based on the persona presented, Mr Dalio would welcome a ‘sandpapering�. ]]> 4.09 2017 Principles: Life and Work
author: Ray Dalio
name: Allisonperkel
average rating: 4.09
book published: 2017
rating: 4
read at: 2024/04/26
date added: 2024/04/26
shelves: ethics, management, non-fiction
review:
I’m very torn on this book: on the one hand I am part of the target audience and some of the ideas resonate. On the other, too much of this book is based on an inherently biased systems that only get lip service ( 1 paragraph ) in the book. Worse, there is some offerings to the alter of jack welch and ge ( stack rank? Really?) combined with the biases that lead to some particularly bad behaviors ( I was just embracing radical candor ). I’ve seen these tools weaponized too many times.

My last big issue involves the heavy love of expert systems and ai. The take away was Mr dalio believes “we can’t encode biases and we expect rational actors� is a true statement, it isn’t. Algorithms are biased by those who create them. People aren’t rational. However, Mr dalio does state ‘we need to understand the algorithm� which is something I truly believe. He also states the algorithm needs the human - something I also believe.

Still, 80% of the book is great wisdom to take, modify, ignore but always think about. The chapter dealing with nice people making the greater whole worse was powerful. The idea of using expert systems to gut check as well as build in checks and balances at all levels is important. Stating, and living by, no one is above the law is a much needed breadth of fresh air. He deals with ethics as a first class citizen and, especially in business, that’s something we need more people calling for.

This is a good book. It’s not perfect and I think, based on the persona presented, Mr Dalio would welcome a ‘sandpapering�.
]]> <![CDATA[Red Rising (Red Rising Saga, #1)]]> 15839976 "I live for the dream that my children will be born free," she says. "That they will be what they like. That they will own the land their father gave them."

"I live for you," I say sadly.

Eo kisses my cheek. "Then you must live for more."

Darrow is a Red, a member of the lowest caste in the color-coded society of the future. Like his fellow Reds, he works all day, believing that he and his people are making the surface of Mars livable for future generations.

Yet he spends his life willingly, knowing that his blood and sweat will one day result in a better world for his children.

But Darrow and his kind have been betrayed. Soon he discovers that humanity already reached the surface generations ago. Vast cities and sprawling parks spread across the planet. Darrow—and Reds like him—are nothing more than slaves to a decadent ruling class.

Inspired by a longing for justice, and driven by the memory of lost love, Darrow sacrifices everything to infiltrate the legendary Institute, a proving ground for the dominant Gold caste, where the next generation of humanity's overlords struggle for power. He will be forced to compete for his life and the very future of civilization against the best and most brutal of Society's ruling class. There, he will stop at nothing to bring down his enemies... even if it means he has to become one of them to do so.]]> 382 Pierce Brown 0345539788 Allisonperkel 1 4.26 2014 Red Rising (Red Rising Saga, #1)
author: Pierce Brown
name: Allisonperkel
average rating: 4.26
book published: 2014
rating: 1
read at:
date added: 2024/04/21
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Airplane Mode: An Irreverent History of Travel]]> 50831138
For Shahnaz Habib, an Indian Muslim woman, travel has always been a complicated pleasure. Yet, journeys at home and abroad have profoundly shaped her life. In this inquiring and surprising debut, Habib traces a history of travel from pilgrimages to empires to safaris, taking on colonialist modes of thinking about travel and asking who gets to travel and who gets to write about it.

Threaded through the book are inviting and playful analyses of obvious and not-so-obvious travel artifacts: passports, carousels, bougainvilleas, guidebooks, expressways, the idea of wanderlust. Together, they tell a subversive history of travel as a Euro-American mode of consumerism—but as any traveler knows, travel is more than that. As an immigrant whose loved ones live across continents, Habib takes a deeply curious and joyful look at a troubled and beloved activity.]]> 288 Shahnaz Habib 1646220153 Allisonperkel 3 3.85 2023 Airplane Mode: An Irreverent History of Travel
author: Shahnaz Habib
name: Allisonperkel
average rating: 3.85
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2024/04/21
date added: 2024/04/21
shelves:
review:
While some very interesting and trenchant takes on us/eu privilege in travel, the writing is awkward and feels forced.
]]> <![CDATA[The 5 Resets: Rewire Your Brain and Body for Less Stress and More Resilience]]> 128082820 From Harvard stress expert, nationally sought after speaker, and television correspondent Dr. Aditi Nerurkar comes a reimagined approach to overcoming your stress and burnout using five small but mighty mindset shifts.

For Dr. Nerurkar, the common misperception of stress as “bad� needs reframing. Stress is a healthy biological phenomenon that helps us tackle life’s many demands. It becomes problematic when it’s out of tune with the frequency of our lives, result­ing in burnout, fatigue, sleep disturbances, and many other physical symptoms. To bring stress back to healthy levels, Dr. Nerurkar offers her five science-backed mindset shifts, rooted in more than two decades of clinical experience, for when life gets hard:

� The First Reset: Get Clear on What Matters Most
� The Second Reset: Find Quiet in a Noisy World
� The Third Reset: Sync Your Brain and Your Body
� The Fourth Reset: Come Up for Air
� The Fifth Reset: Bring Your Best Self Forward

Dr. Nerurkar illuminates why our everyday attempts at being “resilientâ€â€”like multitasking, sleeping less, and undergoing huge lifestyle overhauls—aren’t beneficial to our stressed brains. Instead, she prescribes practical, real-world solutions for our modern-day perils that are time efficient, cost-free, and can be applied to anyone’s life, including fol­lowing the Resilience Rule of 2 (making no more than two changes at a time because doing more is unsustainable), accepting that multitasking is a myth (our brains are wired to do one thing at a time!), and adopting her Bookend Method (creating boundaries to honor our brain’s need for compart­mentalization).

The five mindset shifts, along with fifteen proven techniques, offer you a road map to change your relationship with stress, bring your biology back into balance, and feel calmer right now.]]> 283 Aditi Nerurkar 0063289245 Allisonperkel 3 4.10 2024 The 5 Resets: Rewire Your Brain and Body for Less Stress and More Resilience
author: Aditi Nerurkar
name: Allisonperkel
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2024/04/17
date added: 2024/04/17
shelves:
review:
Solid advice on managing stress.
]]> <![CDATA[The Creative Act: A Way of Being]]> 60965426 From the legendary music producer, a master at helping people connect with the wellsprings of their creativity, comes a beautifully crafted book many years in the making that offers that same deep wisdom to all of us.

"A gorgeous and inspiring work of art on creation, creativity, the work of the artist. It will gladden the hearts of writers and artists everywhere, and get them working again with a new sense of meaning and direction. A stunning accomplishment." --Anne Lamott

"I set out to write a book about what to do to make a great work of art. Instead, it revealed itself to be a book on how to be." --Rick Rubin

Many famed music producers are known for a particular sound that has its day. Rick Rubin is known for something else: creating a space where artists of all different genres and traditions can home in on who they really are and what they really offer. He has made a practice of helping people transcend their self-imposed expectations in order to reconnect with a state of innocence from which the surprising becomes inevitable. Over the years, as he has thought deeply about where creativity comes from and where it doesn't, he has learned that being an artist isn't about your specific output, it's about your relationship to the world. Creativity has a place in everyone's life, and everyone can make that place larger. In fact, there are few more important responsibilities.

The Creative Act is a beautiful and generous course of study that illuminates the path of the artist as a road we all can follow. It distills the wisdom gleaned from a lifetime's work into a luminous reading experience that puts the power to create moments--and lifetimes--of exhilaration and transcendence within closer reach for all of us.]]> 406 Rick Rubin 0593652886 Allisonperkel 5 non-fiction, thinking, zen 4.00 2023 The Creative Act: A Way of Being
author: Rick Rubin
name: Allisonperkel
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2023
rating: 5
read at: 2024/04/12
date added: 2024/04/12
shelves: non-fiction, thinking, zen
review:
A zen love letter on creativity.
]]> <![CDATA[The Kamogawa Food Detectives (Kamogawa Food Detectives, #1)]]> 154488299 The Kamogawa Food Detectives is the first book in the bestselling, mouth-watering Japanese series for fans of Before the Coffee Gets Cold.

What’s the one dish you’d do anything to taste just one more time?

Down a quiet backstreet in Kyoto exists a very special restaurant. Run by Koishi Kamogawa and her father Nagare, the Kamogawa Diner serves up deliciously extravagant meals. But that’s not the main reason customers stop by . . .

The father-daughter duo are ‘food detectives�. Through ingenious investigations, they are able to recreate dishes from a person’s treasured memories � dishes that may well hold the keys to their forgotten past and future happiness. The restaurant of lost recipes provides a link to vanished moments, creating a present full of possibility.

A bestseller in Japan, The Kamogawa Food Detectives is a celebration of good company and the power of a delicious meal.]]> 201 Hisashi Kashiwai 0593717716 Allisonperkel 2 3.70 2013 The Kamogawa Food Detectives (Kamogawa Food Detectives, #1)
author: Hisashi Kashiwai
name: Allisonperkel
average rating: 3.70
book published: 2013
rating: 2
read at: 2024/04/10
date added: 2024/04/10
shelves:
review:
Very meh with no real plot, characters, or development.
]]> <![CDATA[Supercommunicators: How to Unlock the Secret Language of Connection]]> 157981748 Alternate cover edition of ISBN 9780593243916.

Who and what are supercommunicators? They're the people who can steer a conversation to a successful conclusion. They are able to talk about difficult topics without giving offence. They know how to make others feel at ease and share what they think. They're brilliant facilitators and decision-guiders. How do they do it?

In this groundbreaking book, Charles Duhigg unravels the secrets of the supercommunicators to reveal the art - and the science - of successful communication. He unpicks the different types of everyday conversation and pinpoints why some go smoothly while others swiftly fall apart. He reveals the conversational questions and gambits that bring people together. And he shows how even the most tricky of encounters can be turned around. In the process, he shows why a CIA operative was able to win over a reluctant spy, how a member of a jury got his fellow jurors to view an open-and-shut case differently, and what a doctor found they needed to do to engage with a vaccine sceptic.

Above all, he reveals the techniques we can all master to successfully connect with others, however tricky the circumstances. Packed with fascinating case studies and drawing on cutting-edge research, this book will change the way you think about what you say, and how you say it.]]> 320 Charles Duhigg Allisonperkel 3 3.99 2024 Supercommunicators: How to Unlock the Secret Language of Connection
author: Charles Duhigg
name: Allisonperkel
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2024/04/06
date added: 2024/04/06
shelves: non-fiction, self-help, social-science
review:
Ok book with some solid communication ideas to make sure you’re listening. Some of the examples were forced which took me out of the book.
]]> <![CDATA[Your Next Five Moves: Master the Art of Business Strategy]]> 61321952 In this book, Patrick Bet - David translates this skill into a valuable methodology that applies to high performers at all levels of business. Whether you feel like you've hit a wall, lost your fire, or are looking for innovative strategies to take your business to the next level, Your Next Five Moves has the answers.

You will
CLARITY on what you want and who you want it to be.
STRATEGY to help you reason in the war room and the board room.
GROWTH TACTICS for good times and bad.
SKILLS for building the right team based on strong values.
INSIGHT on great deals.]]> Patrick Bet David Allisonperkel 1 4.15 Your Next Five Moves: Master the Art of Business Strategy
author: Patrick Bet David
name: Allisonperkel
average rating: 4.15
book published:
rating: 1
read at: 2024/04/06
date added: 2024/04/06
shelves:
review:
The 5 whys recap was decent, the rest reads like an mlm pitch deck from a person who read way too many pop self help books. I wish I did the googling before getting this book.
]]> An Outline of Philosophy 144354 264 Bertrand Russell 0415141176 Allisonperkel 3 thinking 3.75 1927 An Outline of Philosophy
author: Bertrand Russell
name: Allisonperkel
average rating: 3.75
book published: 1927
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2024/03/30
shelves: thinking
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Ethics in the Real World: 86 Brief Essays on Things that Matter]]> 30272030 Peter Singer is often described as the world’s most influential philosopher. He is also one of its most controversial. The author of important books such as Animal Liberation, Practical Ethics, Rethinking Life and Death, and The Life You Can Save, he helped launch the animal rights and effective altruism movements and contributed to the development of bioethics. Now, in Ethics in the Real World, Singer shows that he is also a master at dissecting important current events in a few hundred words.

In this book of brief essays, he applies his controversial ways of thinking to issues like climate change, extreme poverty, animals, abortion, euthanasia, human genetic selection, sports doping, the sale of kidneys, the ethics of high-priced art, and ways of increasing happiness. Singer asks whether chimpanzees are people, smoking should be outlawed, or consensual sex between adult siblings should be decriminalized, and he reiterates his case against the idea that all human life is sacred, applying his arguments to some recent cases in the news. In addition, he explores, in an easily accessible form, some of the deepest philosophical questions, such as whether anything really matters and what is the value of the pale blue dot that is our planet. The collection also includes some more personal reflections, like Singer’s thoughts on one of his favorite activities, surfing, and an unusual suggestion for starting a family conversation over a holiday feast.

Provocative and original, these essays will challenge—and possibly change—your beliefs about a wide range of real-world ethical questions.

]]> 336 Peter Singer 1925355853 Allisonperkel 3 3.94 2016 Ethics in the Real World: 86 Brief Essays on Things that Matter
author: Peter Singer
name: Allisonperkel
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2016
rating: 3
read at: 2024/03/23
date added: 2024/03/23
shelves:
review:
At times super interesting, at other times too sanctimonious - I mostly enjoyed the writings of a brilliant mind that I don’t always agree with.
]]> <![CDATA[Exact Thinking in Demented Times: The Vienna Circle and the Epic Quest for the Foundations of Science]]> 34848865 A dazzling group biography of the early twentieth-century thinkers who transformed the way the world thought about math and science
Inspired by Albert Einstein's theory of relativity and Bertrand Russell and David Hilbert's pursuit of the fundamental rules of mathematics, some of the most brilliant minds of the generation came together in post-World War I Vienna to present the latest theories in mathematics, science, and philosophy and to build a strong foundation for scientific investigation. Composed of such luminaries as Kurt Gödel and Rudolf Carnap, and stimulated by the works of Ludwig Wittgenstein and Karl Popper, the Vienna Circle left an indelible mark on science.

Exact Thinking in Demented Times tells the often outrageous, sometimes tragic, and never boring stories of the men who transformed scientific thought. A revealing work of history, this landmark book pays tribute to those who dared to reinvent knowledge from the ground up.
]]> 480 Karl Sigmund 0465096956 Allisonperkel 3 4.13 2015 Exact Thinking in Demented Times: The Vienna Circle and the Epic Quest for the Foundations of Science
author: Karl Sigmund
name: Allisonperkel
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2015
rating: 3
read at: 2024/03/19
date added: 2024/03/19
shelves:
review:

]]> Choosing to Run: A Memoir 61420096
When Des woke up on April 16, 2018, the morning of the Boston Marathon, it was 39 degrees and raining, with high, gusty winds. The weather didn’t bother her. In fact, she thought it might be a blessing. She was far from peak form—recovering from illness and questioning her running future—and didn’t expect much of herself that day.

But as she ticked off mile after mile in the brutal conditions, passing familiar landmarks on the course she knew by heart, something shifted. Opportunity unexpectedly presented itself. Des tapped into her inner strength and remembered all of the reasons she loved to race.

Coming off Heartbreak Hill at Mile 22, Des took the lead and never relinquished it, becoming the 2018 Boston Marathon champion and the first American woman to win the race in thirty-three years.Ìý

Her career has always been defined by tenacity and an independent spirit, stretching back to her first competitive race in San Diego, when she beat better-outfitted, more experienced kids. Des was a two-time All-American at Arizona State University, and as her collegiate years wound down, she decided she wasn’t done with the sport. Des gambled on herself and moved to Michigan to give professional running a try. As she rose through the elite ranks, she became increasingly determined to do things her way in an industry often bound by the status quo.

In her first book, readers will learn the story behind that the way Des trains, the way she thinks, her relationships with other great runners of her generation, and how much she values her family and friends. They’ll read about her deep connection to the most famous marathon in the world, her two very different Olympic experiences, and how she defined new goals and set a world record at the 50-kilometer distance.
Ìý
Most of all, they’ll learn what makes her get up and run every day.]]> 272 Des Linden 0593186648 Allisonperkel 4 audio, autobiography, health 4.24 2023 Choosing to Run: A Memoir
author: Des Linden
name: Allisonperkel
average rating: 4.24
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2024/03/11
date added: 2024/03/11
shelves: audio, autobiography, health
review:
A solid and inspiring story on overcoming grit and the desire for perfection.
]]> <![CDATA[Private Government: How Employers Rule Our Lives (and Why We Don't Talk about It)]]> 32889465 Why our workplaces are authoritarian private governments--and why we can't see it

One in four American workers says their workplace is a "dictatorship." Yet that number probably would be even higher if we recognized most employers for what they are--private governments with sweeping authoritarian power over our lives, on duty and off. We normally think of government as something only the state does, yet many of us are governed far more--and far more obtrusively--by the private government of the workplace. In this provocative and compelling book, Elizabeth Anderson argues that the failure to see this stems from long-standing confusions. These confusions explain why, despite all evidence to the contrary, we still talk as if free markets make workers free--and why so many employers advocate less government even while they act as dictators in their businesses.

In many workplaces, employers minutely regulate workers' speech, clothing, and manners, leaving them with little privacy and few other rights. And employers often extend their authority to workers' off-duty lives. Workers can be fired for their political speech, recreational activities, diet, and almost anything else employers care to govern. Yet we continue to talk as if early advocates of market society--from John Locke and Adam Smith to Thomas Paine and Abraham Lincoln--were right when they argued that it would free workers from oppressive authorities. That dream was shattered by the Industrial Revolution, but the myth endures.

Private Government offers a better way to talk about the workplace, opening up space for discovering how workers can enjoy real freedom.

Based on the prestigious Tanner Lectures delivered at Princeton University's Center for Human Values, Private Government is edited and introduced by Stephen Macedo and includes commentary by cultural critic David Bromwich, economist Tyler Cowen, historian Ann Hughes, and philosopher Niko Kolodny.]]> 196 Elizabeth S. Anderson 0691176515 Allisonperkel 5 3.98 2017 Private Government: How Employers Rule Our Lives (and Why We Don't Talk about It)
author: Elizabeth S. Anderson
name: Allisonperkel
average rating: 3.98
book published: 2017
rating: 5
read at: 2024/03/03
date added: 2024/03/03
shelves:
review:
Thought provoking essay on what power we give to our employers.
]]> <![CDATA[Gene Machine: The Race to Decipher the Secrets of the Ribosome]]> 39088590 Gene Machine is an insider account of the race for the structure of the ribosome, a fundamental discovery that both advances our knowledge of all life and could lead to the development of better antibiotics against life-threatening diseases. But this is also a human story of Ramakrishnan's unlikely journey, from his first fumbling experiments in a biology lab to being the dark horse in a fierce competition with some of the world's best scientists. In the end, Gene Machine is a frank insider's account of the pursuit of high-stakes science.]]> 288 Venki Ramakrishnan 0465093361 Allisonperkel 4 4.00 2018 Gene Machine: The Race to Decipher the Secrets of the Ribosome
author: Venki Ramakrishnan
name: Allisonperkel
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2018
rating: 4
read at: 2024/03/02
date added: 2024/03/02
shelves: autobiography, non-fiction, science
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Sure, I'll Join Your Cult: A Memoir of Mental Illness and the Quest to Belong Anywhere]]> 112093865 From “weird, scary, ingenious� (The New York Times) stand-up comedian Maria Bamford, a brutally honest and hilariously frenetic memoir about show business, mental health, and the comfort of rigid belief systems—from Dale Carnegie’s How to Win Friends and Influence People, to Suzuki violin training, to Richard Simmons, to 12-step programs.

Maria Bamford is a comedian’s comedian (an outsider among outsiders) and has forever fought to find a place to belong. From struggling with an eating disorder as a child of the 1980s, to navigating a career in the arts (and medical debt and psychiatric institutionalization), she has tried just about every method possible to not only be a part of the world, but to want to be a part of it.

In Bamford’s signature voice, Sure, I’ll Join Your Cult, brings us on a quest to participate in something. With sincerity and transparency, she recounts every anonymous fellowship she has joined (including but not limited Debtors Anonymous, Sex and Love Addicts Anonymous, and Overeaters Anonymous), every hypomanic episode (from worrying about selling out under capitalism to enforcing union rules on her Netflix TV show set to protect her health), and every easy 1-to-3-step recipe for fudge in between.

Singular and inimitable, Bamford’s memoir explores what it means to keep going, and to be a member of society (or any group she’s invited to) despite not being very good at it. In turn, she hopes to transform isolating experiences into comedy that will make you feel less alone (without turning into a cult following).]]> 276 Maria Bamford 1982168560 Allisonperkel 1 bad 3.71 2023 Sure, I'll Join Your Cult: A Memoir of Mental Illness and the Quest to Belong Anywhere
author: Maria Bamford
name: Allisonperkel
average rating: 3.71
book published: 2023
rating: 1
read at:
date added: 2024/02/25
shelves: bad
review:
This book is unfunny, rambling, and I could not finish it as it was so bad.
]]> <![CDATA[The Other Shore: A New Translation of the Heart Sutra with Commentaries]]> 34127174 138 Thich Nhat Hanh 1941529151 Allisonperkel 5 non-fiction, thinking, zen 4.68 The Other Shore: A New Translation of the Heart Sutra with Commentaries
author: Thich Nhat Hanh
name: Allisonperkel
average rating: 4.68
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2024/02/18
date added: 2024/02/18
shelves: non-fiction, thinking, zen
review:
A lovely view into the heart sutra.
]]> <![CDATA[50 Philosophy Classics: Thinking, Being, Acting, Seeing, Profound Insights and Powerful Thinking from Fifty Key Books (50 Classics)]]> 17087629
From Aristotle, Plato, Epicurus, Confucius, Cicero and Heraclitus in ancient times to 17th century rationalists Descartes, Leibniz and Spinoza, from 20th-century greats Jean-Paul Sartre, Jean Baudrillard and Simone de Beauvoir to contemporary thinkers Michael Sandel, Peter Singer and Slavoj Zizek, 50 Philosophy Classics explores key writings that have shaped the discipline and had an impact on the real world.

Philosophy can no longer be confined to academia, and 50 Philosophy Classics shows how powerful it can be as a tool for opening our minds and helping us think. Whether you are fascinated or daunted by the big questions of how to think, how to be, how to act and how to see, this is the perfect introduction to some of humanity's greatest minds and their landmark books.]]> 325 Tom Butler-Bowdon 1857885961 Allisonperkel 5 ethics, non-fiction, thinking Great opinionated overview 4.11 2013 50 Philosophy Classics: Thinking, Being, Acting, Seeing, Profound Insights and Powerful Thinking from Fifty Key Books (50 Classics)
author: Tom Butler-Bowdon
name: Allisonperkel
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2013
rating: 5
read at: 2024/02/16
date added: 2024/02/16
shelves: ethics, non-fiction, thinking
review:
Great opinionated overview
]]> <![CDATA[Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World]]> 41795733
Plenty of experts argue that anyone who wants to develop a skill, play an instrument, or lead their field should start early, focus intensely, and rack up as many hours of deliberate practice as possible. If you dabble or delay, you'll never catch up to the people who got a head start. But a closer look at research on the world's top performers, from professional athletes to Nobel laureates, shows that early specialization is the exception, not the rule.

David Epstein examined the world's most successful athletes, artists, musicians, inventors, forecasters and scientists. He discovered that in most fields--especially those that are complex and unpredictable--generalists, not specialists, are primed to excel. Generalists often find their path late, and they juggle many interests rather than focusing on one. They're also more creative, more agile, and able to make connections their more specialized peers can't see.

Provocative, rigorous, and engrossing, Range makes a compelling case for actively cultivating inefficiency. Failing a test is the best way to learn. Frequent quitters end up with the most fulfilling careers. The most impactful inventors cross domains rather than deepening their knowledge in a single area. As experts silo themselves further while computers master more of the skills once reserved for highly focused humans, people who think broadly and embrace diverse experiences and perspectives will increasingly thrive.]]> 339 David Epstein 0735214484 Allisonperkel 3
E.o. Wilson’s ‘Consilience� is a better exploration of this topic.]]> 4.12 2019 Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World
author: David Epstein
name: Allisonperkel
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2019
rating: 3
read at: 2024/02/11
date added: 2024/02/11
shelves: non-fiction, social-science, thinking
review:
First half of the book was solid with few anecdotes and more specifics. The second half was storytelling. While I agree with the general ideas, I felt the book was too much like a glsdwell pop sci stories to back up a thesis book than a real dive into why range matters in today’s society.

E.o. Wilson’s ‘Consilience� is a better exploration of this topic.
]]> <![CDATA[Roboute Guilliman: Lord of Ultramar (The Horus Heresy: Primarchs, #1)]]> 29430422
Long before the coming of the Imperium, the realm of Ultramar was ruled by Roboute Guilliman, the last Battle King of Macragge. Even after learning of his true heritage as a primarch son of the Emperor of Mankind, he strove to expand his domain as efficiently and benevolently as possible, with the XIII Legion Ultramarines as his alone to command. Now, facing a rival empire on the ork-held world of Thoas, Guilliman must choose his weapons carefully � otherwise his dream of a brighter future could be lost forever.

It's the start of a brand new series of 18 books focusing on the greatest of heroes, the primarchs themselves. This volume kicks it all off with a tale of Roboute Guilliman at the height of his powers, leading his legion into battle at the apex of the Great Crusade.]]> 181 David Annandale 1784964417 Allisonperkel 3 grimdark 3.41 2016 Roboute Guilliman: Lord of Ultramar (The Horus Heresy: Primarchs, #1)
author: David Annandale
name: Allisonperkel
average rating: 3.41
book published: 2016
rating: 3
read at: 2024/01/31
date added: 2024/01/31
shelves: grimdark
review:
Solid war hammer, grim dark book. One of the better written books.
]]> <![CDATA[Priests of Mars (Forges of Mars #1)]]> 13259661 320 Graham McNeill 1849701768 Allisonperkel 3 4.01 2012 Priests of Mars (Forges of Mars #1)
author: Graham McNeill
name: Allisonperkel
average rating: 4.01
book published: 2012
rating: 3
read at: 2024/01/22
date added: 2024/01/22
shelves:
review:
Exceedingly meh with a lot of pulp.
]]> Pariah (Bequin, #1) 13417141 In the city of Queen Mab, nothing is quite as it seems. Pariah, spy and Inquisitorial agent, Alizebeth Bequin is all of these things and yet none of them. An enigma, even to herself, she is caught between Inquisitors Gregor Eisenhorn and Gideon Ravenor, former allies now enemies who are playing a shadow game against a mysterious and deadly foe. Coveted by the Archenemy, pursued by the Inquisition, Bequin becomes embroiled in a dark plot of which she knows not her role or purpose. Helped by a disparate group of allies, she must unravel the secrets of her life and past if she is to survive a coming battle in which the line between friends and foes is fatally blurred.

Read it because
It's an intriguing and evocative story that shows characters you know and love through new (yet strangely familiar) eyes, and forges a stunning mystery that will leave you astonished.

]]> 320 Dan Abnett 1849702012 Allisonperkel 3 grimdark The first 60% was quite meh, the last 25% was solid thus I’m rounding up. A little higher. World building is fine but books like this need either story or action to drive. ]]> 4.26 2012 Pariah (Bequin, #1)
author: Dan Abnett
name: Allisonperkel
average rating: 4.26
book published: 2012
rating: 3
read at: 2024/01/18
date added: 2024/01/18
shelves: grimdark
review:

The first 60% was quite meh, the last 25% was solid thus I’m rounding up. A little higher. World building is fine but books like this need either story or action to drive.
]]> <![CDATA[The Year 1000: When Explorers Connected the World—and Globalization Began]]> 52322053 From celebrated Yale professor Valerie Hansen, a groundbreaking work of history showing that bold explorations and daring trade missions connected all of the world’s great societies for the first time at the end of the first millennium.

In history, myth often abides. It was long assumed that the centuries immediately prior to AD 1000 were lacking in any major cultural developments or geopolitical encounters, that the Europeans hadn’t yet discovered North America, that the farthest anyone had traveled over sea was the Vikings� invasion of Britain. But how, then, to explain the presence of blonde-haired people in Mayan temple murals in Chichen Itza, Mexico? Could it be possible that the Vikings had found their way to the Americas during the height of the Mayan empire?

Valerie Hansen, a much-honored historian, argues that the year 1000 was the world’s first point of major cultural exchange and exploration. Drawing on nearly thirty years of research on medieval China and global history, she presents a compelling account of first encounters between disparate societies. As people on at least five continents ventured outward, they spread technology, new crops, and religion. These encounters, she shows, made it possible for Christopher Columbus to reach the Americas in 1492, and set the stage for the process of globalization that so dominates the modern era.

For readers of Jared Diamond’s Guns, Germs, and Steel and Yuval Noah Harari’s Sapiens, The Year 1000 is an intellectually daring, provocative account that will make you rethink everything you thought you knew about how the modern world came to be. It will also hold up a mirror to the hopes and fears we experience today.]]> 308 Valerie Hansen 1501194100 Allisonperkel 3 3.67 2020 The Year 1000: When Explorers Connected the World—and Globalization Began
author: Valerie Hansen
name: Allisonperkel
average rating: 3.67
book published: 2020
rating: 3
read at: 2024/01/17
date added: 2024/01/17
shelves:
review:
This book tries so hard to fit a narrative but just comes across as dry and at times really stretching ideas too far. Still a good, interesting read with lots of details, and maybe too much speculation (Norse in chichen itza - which is possible, just not proven).
]]> <![CDATA[System Collapse (The Murderbot Diaries, #7)]]> 65211701 Am I making it worse? I think I'm making it worse.

Everyone's favorite lethal SecUnit is back.

Following the events in Network Effect, the Barish-Estranza corporation has sent rescue ships to a newly-colonized planet in peril, as well as additional SecUnits. But if there’s an ethical corporation out there, Murderbot has yet to find it, and if Barish-Estranza can’t have the planet, they’re sure as hell not leaving without something. If that something just happens to be an entire colony of humans, well, a free workforce is a decent runner-up prize.

But there’s something wrong with Murderbot; it isn’t running within normal operational parameters. ART’s crew and the humans from Preservation are doing everything they can to protect the colonists, but with Barish-Estranza’s SecUnit-heavy persuasion teams, they’re going to have to hope Murderbot figures out what’s wrong with itself, and fast.

Yeah, this plan is... not going to work.]]> 245 Martha Wells 1250826977 Allisonperkel 3 science-fiction 4.19 2023 System Collapse (The Murderbot Diaries, #7)
author: Martha Wells
name: Allisonperkel
average rating: 4.19
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2024/01/07
date added: 2024/01/07
shelves: science-fiction
review:
It’s still murderbot but this one feels like it’s trying to be murderbot.
]]> The Epigenetics Revolution 12414734 320 Nessa Carey Allisonperkel 5
]]> 4.05 2011 The Epigenetics Revolution
author: Nessa Carey
name: Allisonperkel
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2011
rating: 5
read at: 2024/01/06
date added: 2024/01/06
shelves:
review:
A fairly technical but still quite readable overview of our current knowledge and assumptions on epigenetic research.


]]> <![CDATA[The First 20 Minutes: Surprising Science Reveals How We Can: Exercise Better, Train Smarter, Live Longer]]> 13358979 A cutting-edge prescription for exercise by the New York Times “Phys Ed� columnist

At one point or another, nearly every person who works out wonders: Am I doing this right? Which class is best? Do I work out enough? Answering those questions and more, The First 20 Minutes helps both weekend warriors dedicated to their performance and readers who simply want to get and stay fit gain the most from any workout.

With the latest findings about the mental and physical benefits of exercise, personal stories from scientists and laypeople alike, as well as researched-based prescriptions for readers, Gretchen Reynolds shows what kind of exercise—and how much—is necessary to stay healthy, get fit, and attain a smaller jeans size. Inspired by Reynolds's wildly popular “Phys Ed� column for The New York Times, this book explains how exercise affects the body in distinct ways and provides the tools readers need to achieve their fitness goals, whether that's a faster 5K or staying trim.]]> 288 Gretchen Reynolds 1594630933 Allisonperkel 2
Information wise, as a few others have said: there isn’t a lot of new here and the presentation is very much boiler plate extended read articles. While I commend the general tenants (exercise, find what’s right for you, listen to your body, move!) the packaging was just not enjoyable. The above makes the gender backhanded jokes all the more mean spirited.]]> 3.78 2012 The First 20 Minutes: Surprising Science Reveals How We Can: Exercise Better, Train Smarter, Live Longer
author: Gretchen Reynolds
name: Allisonperkel
average rating: 3.78
book published: 2012
rating: 2
read at: 2023/01/08
date added: 2024/01/03
shelves:
review:
The book reads like an extended NYT’s article: a more recent one at that. The gender call outs were very first wave feminism which means lots of gender, and sex, attempts at humor and puns. They aged about as well as Don Rickles.

Information wise, as a few others have said: there isn’t a lot of new here and the presentation is very much boiler plate extended read articles. While I commend the general tenants (exercise, find what’s right for you, listen to your body, move!) the packaging was just not enjoyable. The above makes the gender backhanded jokes all the more mean spirited.
]]> <![CDATA[Robots (The MIT Press Essential Knowledge series)]]> 29889540 An accessible and engaging account of robots, covering the current state of the field, the fantasies of popular culture, and implications for life and work.

Robots are entering the mainstream. Technologies have advanced to the point of mass commercialization—Roomba, for example—and adoption by governments—most notably, their use of drones. Meanwhile, these devices are being received by a public whose main sources of information about robots are the fantasies of popular culture. We know a lot about C-3PO and Robocop but not much about Atlas, Motoman, Kiva, or Beam—real-life robots that are reinventing warfare, the industrial workplace, and collaboration. In this book, technology analyst John Jordan offers an accessible and engaging introduction to robots and robotics, covering state-of-the-art applications, economic implications, and cultural context.

Jordan chronicles the prehistory of robots and the treatment of robots in science fiction, movies, and television—from the outsized influence of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein to Isaac Asimov's I, Robot (in which Asimov coined the term “robotics�). He offers a guided tour of robotics today, describing the components of robots, the complicating factors that make robotics so challenging, and such applications as driverless cars, unmanned warfare, and robots on the assembly line.

Roboticists draw on such technical fields as power management, materials science, and artificial intelligence. Jordan points out, however, that robotics design decisions also embody such nontechnical elements as value judgments, professional aspirations, and ethical assumptions, and raise questions that involve law, belief, economics, education, public safety, and human identity. Robots will be neither our slaves nor our overlords; instead, they are rapidly becoming our close companions, working in partnership with us—whether in a factory, on a highway, or as a prosthetic device. Given these profound changes to human work and life, Jordan argues that robotics is too important to be left solely to roboticists.]]> 274 John M. Jordan 0262529505 Allisonperkel 3 non-fiction, tech 3.67 Robots (The MIT Press Essential Knowledge series)
author: John M. Jordan
name: Allisonperkel
average rating: 3.67
book published:
rating: 3
read at: 2024/01/01
date added: 2024/01/01
shelves: non-fiction, tech
review:
A little dated but a decent overview from the mid 2010s.
]]>