Gregor

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.

This was a real mixed bag. Some days contained platitudes, others advice I would consider downright toxic, and a few harboured genuinely helpful lessons. I think the most value I got was from the quotations from famous figures of the past that would sometimes precede a day's entry, and these made up the majority of my highlights.

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.

This served as a good introduction to object-oriented thinking at a high level although a lot of the examples felt contrived rather than representative of real use cases of OOP design. The ending was rather abrupt without an overall conclusion to bring the book to a close. Overall a worthwhile read.

The author's passion for learning is clear from the off, and I especially enjoyed his conclusion that at the end of his ultralearning projects he always found that he had barely scratched the surface of the topic in question. In terms of practical advice, the focus on "metalearning" was insightful and I enjoyed the brief exploration of the Polgar family and what it takes to "raise a genius". The advice on language learning is also largely sound (based on my own experience). Overall a worthwhile and enjoyable read.

An interesting exploration of some hot-button issues in our society today. I learned a lot from the "Trans" chapter and the author makes some compelling points. My one criticism would be that the author at one point criticises someone for cherry-picking "unusual events" as if they were commonplace, when the same thing could be said of the examples highlighted in this book, such as American students demanding the resignation of a professor. All in all, I enjoyed the book and was able to get through it in a couple of days which suggests it was well-paced.

This book is packed full of useful insights about adopting a microservices architecture. I took copious notes and can definitely see myself coming back to this as a reference in the future. I appreciated the fact that the author is not dogmatic about microservices and is instead quick to urge caution, even predicting a reaction against microservices as teams adopt them (because they are the latest fashion) without considering their own needs. Overall, this was an excellent read and one that I will surely be coming back to.

There quite a few useful points here and I have got some good highlights to go back to. Unfortunately, I cannot give this book a high rating because there is simply not enough in its 100-odd pages, especially considering all the breaks for new chapters. I did enjoy the author's book recommendations at the end and I wish more authors would include such a section rather than a purely dry bibliography. Overall, some useful insights but simply not enough content to justify this being a full-price technical book.

I finished it in a matter of days which is always a good sign. The middle felt somewhat laboured but the emotional beginning and the frenetic end more than made up for it. Excited to dive into the next book in the series.

It is almost a century old but its lessons still hold, as no doubt they will in another 100 years' time. There was no advice in here that I had not heard before but it is always worth keeping these ideas fresh in your mind.

An interesting exploration of why we fall into self-destructive habits and how we can attempt to overcome them. I was especially interested to learn about slot machines and how they have been fine-tuned over the years to be as addictive as possible. I struggle to give it more than 3.5 stars due to a lack of tangible takeaways, although that is perhaps the point considering the latter part of the book, which focuses on monks who all have their own, personal reason for living at a monastery and how, in turn, each of us must find our own way of getting meaning from life.