Gregor

A change in style from previous Poirot adventures, but not a good one in my eyes. This book feels very disjointed, which is not a surprise when you discover that it was originally twelve distinct short stories that were later cobbled together to form one novel. The grander scale is an interesting change of pace, and Poirot's fallibility is appreciated, but that is not enough to warrant a high rating for a novel that even Christie herself thought was poor.

An enjoyable collection of short stories involving Poirot and Hastings. It was interesting that the author included a couple of cases where Poirot failed, in one case relying on karma to catch up to the guilty party. I particularly liked one story where Poirot plays up his belief in the supernatural, much to his companions' disbelief. The mystery and tension that builds up over the previous Poirot entries are of course absent here, considering that these are short stories, so they did not grip me in the same way as Christie's earlier offerings. Nonetheless, this was an enjoyable collection and made for very easy reading.

A worthy follow-up to the first Poirot story, this book swaps England for France as the setting. The inclusion of an arrogant rival detective from Paris is a good source of comedy as Hastings is invariably impressed by his industry, only for Poirot to be the one in the right as usual. I found the romantic subplot to be a bit threadbare, although Christie does manage to weave it into the main plot at the end, albeit not a hundred percent satisfactorily. All in all another enjoyable whodunit and I look forward to reading the next.

This is the first Agatha Christie book I have read and it has left me very keen to dive into some more of her work. Poirot is full of life and there are some great moments of comedy as the narrator, Hastings, gets irritated with Poirot's nonsensical actions or thinks that he has got it right and Poirot is barking up the wrong tree. The country estate setting is classic for a murder mystery and the ensemble cast is well flashed-out. A great introduction to Agatha Christie's oeuvre.

A good refresher on what Bitcoin is and why it matters. I cannot say that the book had any new points for me but it was still a worthwhile short read and would be a great introduction to Bitcoin for anyone who is curious enough to read about the subject but does not want to commit to a longer book such as The Bitcoin Standard.

A good introduction to what life is like living with OCD. I knew very little about OCD going in so I got a lot out of this book - I imagine that if you are already well-versed on the subject then you will probably not learn anything new here. Even so, the excerpts from the author's life keep the book well-paced throughout and make it easy to empathise with him. All in all, an eye-opening read that I would recommend to anyone wanting to learn more about OCD.

This essay is short enough that it could easily be read in a single afternoon, yet I still managed to make more highlights in it than I usually do in a book five times the length. Such is the sensible nature of the advice that the author shares. Despite being a century old, much of the wisdom still holds, and I appreciated the unpretentious handling of whether or not you ought to spend your free time on high literature. One point that particularly resonated with me was that there is no value in reading a large number of books each year unless you spend time after each one carefully considering its ideas and truly taking something from the time spent reading it. This is an excellent book that I would recommend to anyone, especially considering how short of a time commitment it would be!

A good exploration of a selection of Facebook's many scandals, although much of it was already familiar to me. It was interesting to read about Zuckerberg's ambition to combine Facebook's messaging apps into one in contrast with the WhatsApp founder's candid admission that he had sold his users' privacy by selling his app to Facebook. A decent read overall and I would recommend it for those who currently use Meta's apps without concern.

Having already watched the film based on this book I knew what to expect going in. Nonetheless I was very much interested throughout, especially the sections following Michael Burry. I must admit that most of the Wall Street jargon was still going over my head even by the end of the book, although I read this in one sitting on a flight which may well have affected my comprehension.

Lots of economic wisdom packed into just over 200 pages. A lot of this was already familiar from reading similar works but the section on unions, striking, and strikebreakers was new to me, and very interesting too. The fact that this book was originally published in the 1940s (then revisited by the author in the 1970s) yet the lessons still ring true today suggests that they are timeless, and that this will still be a book worth reading for many years to come.

I read this in one sitting which is usually a good sign! I thoroughly enjoyed the author's comparisons between himself, his father, and his grandfather at different points in life and the similarities and differences in their views on farming. I would have liked to hear even more about the attitudes towards college-trained farmers and how they have disrupted the local balance. All in all, this was a thoroughly enjoyable read.

This was an interesting read that offered a simple approach to diet with ample data to back it up. I especially enjoyed the chapter on how to approach socialising whilst eating a carnivore diet, which is something that I feel is not discussed often enough in podcasts and YouTube videos on the the carnivore diet.

This book confirmed a few suspicions of mine when it comes to multitasking and the importance of reading code well. There were some useful stats on the productivity cost of getting interrupted whilst programming which I highlighted. I enjoyed the final chapter on onboarding new developers, as I have never seen this topic addressed before, and the author's recommendations seemed sensible. Overall this was an enjoyable read that served more to confirm some of my thoughts than introduce new ideas.

I would highly recommend this to anyone who has yet to delve into how our diet has changed over the last century or so. Whilst I already knew the overarching story, the author shared many enlightening details that I duly highlighted. I was also pleasantly surprised to find a short section at the end, written by Saifedean Ammous, giving advice on obtaining and cooking meat and bones. There were a few noticeable typos which was a shame to see but I nonetheless thoroughly enjoyed this book.

The multiple perspectives make this less of a page-turner than Brown's earlier novels in the series but do make for a thrilling third act that has me excited to jump into the sequel. I particularly appreciated Darrow's introspection and reflections on a decade of war, what that has cost, and whether it has been and will be worth it. Another strong entry in a series that continues to impress!

An excellent end to a top sci-fi trilogy. There are fewer twists and turns than in Golden Son but they are no less impactful, and Brown's depiction of action is as pulsating as ever. The ending leaves room for more stories to be explored in this universe, and I cannot wait to start on the fourth book!

I thought the first book was good but the author's second outing blows the first out of the water. Granted, they are very different in scope, with this second novel truly befitting the term "space opera". The character development is a delight and the twists and turns kept me on the edge of my seat. Easily the best book I have read thus far this year.

An eye-opening exploration of how Bitcoin is being used around the world to resist financial oppression. I found the chapter on the CFA franc particularly disturbing as I had never come across it before. I would recommend this to anyone who currently thinks that Bitcoin is unnecessary and a frivolous waste of energy.

This fairly short read is packed with information and serves as a very useful introduction to the topic of central banking. The focus is very much on the USA's central bank as opposed to central banking overall, although there are references to the BOJ and BOE. I found it quite dry in places but since it is a short read that was not a deal breaker. Overall, the author has achieved their goal of writing the primer that they would have wanted when they got their start in the industry.

The prose is certainly flowery which can make it hard to penetrate at times but I assume the translation is staying faithful to the original Japanese. Mishima's fascination with the last writings of a Japanese "suicide squad" was particularly interesting considering his own ritual suicide. Overall I enjoyed this short read but did not find it quite as impactful as I had expected.

The book was packed with useful nuggets of information about exercise and the dangers of our modern, sedentary lifestyle. I particularly enjoyed the point that exercise has now been commodified into disparate gym sessions rather than being part and parcel of our daily lives. The section on rucking read rather like a brand deal, although the author does mention that you do not need fancy equipment to get started. A worthwhile read, kept well-paced and never too dry thanks to the regular cutting back to the author's hunt in the Arctic.

An interesting insight into the history of hygiene practices and why we might have gone too far nowadays. The exploration of the history of soap and its usage was eye-opening, and it is clear that companies have muddied the waters around cleanliness such that we feel the need to buy an assortment of lotions and potions from them.