en-US Wed, 12 Jun 2024 08:20:16 -0700 60 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg ReadStatus8033425931 Wed, 12 Jun 2024 08:20:16 -0700 /review/show/2363636062 Jonathan finished reading A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson
]]> Review6447560885 Mon, 22 Apr 2024 04:01:43 -0700 /review/show/6447560885 Jonathan gave 3 stars to The Conspiracy Against the Human Race (Hardcover) by Thomas Ligotti
I admit I gave this book 3 stars even though I didn't really finish it (I put it down after about 50%).

So it's possible the second half is amazing and/or terrible so this is really a reflection of the first half.

I wanted to like this book, being somewhat of a pessimist myself, I found this is mostly a repetitive litany of the same idea: we are living in a horror story where we are the puppets come to life, and non-existence is better than any kind of suffering.

While it does scratch that nihilistic itch if you got it, I didn't see a big enough difference between the core arguments of each chapter to justify reading more. But I recognize that other readers might want to go on reading - hence 3/5.

Ligotti does do a very broad overview in this book of similar or counter arguments, so it also might serve some as an introduction to thinkers they might not have heard about. ]]> Review5999649079 Mon, 22 Apr 2024 04:01:01 -0700 /review/show/5999649079 Jonathan gave 3 stars to Humble Pi: A Comedy of Maths Errors (Paperback) by Matt Parker
Interesting stories from the realm of "math meets real life". Some of these are pretty well known, so if you're steeped in this sort of content, you will not find a lot of novelty here. Others I did not find as interesting as I would've liked, but overall I would recommend to people who like math, and stories about people being wrong (all of us, I guess?). ]]> Review5999649079 Mon, 22 Apr 2024 03:59:28 -0700 /review/show/5999649079 Jonathan gave 3 stars to Humble Pi: A Comedy of Maths Errors (Paperback) by Matt Parker
Interesting stories from the realm of "math meets real life". Some of these are pretty well known, so if you're steeped in this sort of content, you will not find a lot of novelty here. Others I did not find as interesting as I would've liked, but overall I would recommend to people who like math, and stories about people being wrong (all of us, I guess?). ]]> Review6013562971 Mon, 22 Apr 2024 03:59:15 -0700 /review/show/6013562971 Jonathan gave 5 stars to What If? 2: Additional Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions (What If?, #2) by Randall Munroe
Fun and insightful, though if you're an avid reader of the XKCD onlne "what-if" section you won't find something radically diffedrent here, for better or worse. ]]> Review6013562971 Mon, 22 Apr 2024 03:57:47 -0700 /review/show/6013562971 Jonathan gave 5 stars to What If? 2: Additional Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions (What If?, #2) by Randall Munroe
Fun and insightful, though if you're an avid reader of the XKCD onlne "what-if" section you won't find something radically diffedrent here, for better or worse. ]]> Review6013559837 Thu, 30 Nov 2023 06:14:08 -0800 /review/show/6013559837 Jonathan gave 3 stars to The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable (Hardcover) by Nassim Nicholas Taleb
A good book that has a lot of the same themes as the Fooled by Randomness. Of the two, I think this one is better and more concise/refined, so if you got to choose one, pick this one. ]]> ReadStatus7250004655 Thu, 30 Nov 2023 06:14:07 -0800 /review/show/5999649079 Jonathan started reading Humble Pi: A Comedy of Maths Errors by Matt Parker
]]> Review6013559837 Thu, 30 Nov 2023 06:12:52 -0800 /review/show/6013559837 Jonathan gave 3 stars to The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable (Hardcover) by Nassim Nicholas Taleb
A good book that has a lot of the same themes as the Fooled by Randomness. Of the two, I think this one is better and more concise/refined, so if you got to choose one, pick this one. ]]> Review6013556577 Thu, 30 Nov 2023 06:12:41 -0800 /review/show/6013556577 Jonathan gave 3 stars to Fooled by Randomness: The Hidden Role of Chance in Life and in the Markets (Incerto) by Nassim Nicholas Taleb
A good book that has a lot of the same themes as the Black Swan. I thought it got a little repetetive at the end, but many nonfiction works tend to feel a bit repetitive as they get a narrow but interesting topic inflated to commercial-book-length. ]]>