Patrick G
Meh. Kinda of boring interview questions, and the responses don't translate well. I don't know if its Ai Weiwei's bad English or simply a poor translation. He sounds like a super interesting guy, but there's probably better sources out there from which to learn about him.
Pretty great collection I moody short stories. Some much better than others, but overall, well worth the time.
Approachable yet detailed (though non-rigorous) guide to many different physics and chemistry topics. It's not a textbook, obviously (“Visual Tour” is literally in the title), and I really enjoy it for what it is.
Loved this book. I learned a lot about chickens, Ag, and animal rights in general. I liked the characters, and their collective penchant towards action in the face of ruthless insignificance. I loved Janey, and her split-self identity. All and all, really good.
I loved this book. The characters felt more alive and real than in any other book in recent memory. Dean and Kaui, man.
Man this book was so good. I loved the format, I loved the weirdness, I loved the character treatments and the journey of self-discovery that Willis went on, and how although it was fantastical it was rooted in a very honest and harsh reality. A plus.
Meh. Much too abstract, artistic, and rose-tinted to be of much use. I enjoyed many of the stories, and there's some good content, but so much grandeur to wade through.
I don't know if I lacked appropriate historical context or if the writing just didn't strike me, but I couldn't find much to enjoy in this book. The themes were interesting and there was some beautiful prose, but so much of the story felt smothered under innumerable references to places, things, people, or events that were never fleshed out.
Thought this was going to be a bunch of productivity hacks but it turned out to have a lot of pretty good advice on (and foundational tools for) success. The insight and summaries of research were really good, the anecdotes weren't annoying as they are in other self-help books, and in general the perspective was very down to earth. Highly recommended.
Exceptionally good book, but the title is misleading: It's much more about the making of modern atomic physics, and how that precipitated the bomb. They don't get to making an actual bomb until more than half way into the book. Still super interesting though and full of great side-stories about Bohr, Meitner, Einstein, you name ‘em. Should be required reading for anyone interested in physics.
The first part was excellent: Phil's story is that of a wandering soul turned entrepreneur, and hearing how Nike got its start is interesting and gripping.
The second part drags on, and the ending is kinda bad. By 1975, Nike is established and doing well enough, so the stories are just braggadocio about getting drunk with business partners or dodging taxes – not exactly inspiring stuff.
The final chapter drips with self-importance and contrived writing, glossing over huge and important events in Phil's life, like his son's death (the last regular chapter ends in 1980). He devotes only a few paragraphs to the sweatshop investigations of the 90s, only to say that the journalists were wrong but oh by the way Nike's factories are the best in the world now.
Nike's legacy as one of the greatest American companies is undeniable, and the origin story is worth hearing about, but the rest of the book isn't worth the time.
Overall an enjoyable telling of Bertrand Russell life and work. Took kinda forever for them to get to Gödel, and I'm not really a fan of the story within a story within a story. It feels like a cheeky incompleteness reference and is just unnecessary.
I didn't get half the references and found the colloquial British hilarious but I still loved it.
I find time travel stories hard to enjoy because my brain goes into overdrive thinking about the various loops and dependency chains, etc, but this was pretty enjoyable! The soft-sci-fi-ness was a nice change of pace for me and it felt extremely easy – read the whole thing on a single flight. I love the cat.
There are useful insights in this book but it's far too stodgy to recommend. The misogyny of the 1940s really shows, as the only pronouns used in the book are he/him, and the recommended reading list of 137 authors contains only two (!) women – one of whom was George Eliot.
I could see this being more useful, widely read, and appreciated if it were updated for modern audiences. Alder and Van Doren and both dead now, so I'm sure they wouldn't mind shaving off 100+ pages of repetitiveness and overwrought explanations. In the spirit of syntopical reading, I look forward to reading an alternative.
Oil. The world really works because of oil.
Good for its candor about serious issues with the challenge of decarbonization. Bad for its “old man yells at cloud” energy. Some of the examples feel pretty cherry-picked and his conclusions not reasonable (“Y2K never happened!” Uhhh yeah dude cause we spent years making sure it wouldn't). Overall a decent read.
So so beautiful to read. The extremity of Mathilde in Furies caused a disconnect for me, but it was still enjoyable all the way through.
Not my favorite KSR. I appreciate the big ideas and the hopefulness, but it felt like the dark realism at the beginning gave way to fantasy idealism really quickly towards the end. Too long!