Finished reading: Adam Frank cleverly uses interest in UFOs to get at the science of extraterrestrial life in The Little Book of Aliens 📚
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Finished reading: Slow Productivity by Cal Newport has some interesting concepts for how to manage pseudo productivity. Almost makes me want to have the type of job that would allow me to really apply the advice 📚
Finished reading: Black Hole Survival Guide by Janna Levin is a short, fascinating, and entertaining book all about black holes 📚
Finished reading: I enjoyed A Darker Shade of Magic by V. E. Schwab. Moves briskly with an interesting plot, good characters, and intriguing magic system 📚
Finished reading: Blood Meridian, Or, The Evening Redness in the West by Cormac McCarthy is bleak, nihilistic, and compelling 📚
Finished reading: The Rise and Reign of the Mammals by Steve Brusatte is a comprehensive and detailed tour of all of the mammals, past and present, that stays engaging. Such tremendous diversity and curious lifestyles 📚
Finished reading: The Lost Metal by Brandon Sanderson is a good ending to The Wax and Wayne series. Although the Cosmere hints were intriguing, they also got a bit confusing. Presumably to be clarified in later books 📚
Finished reading: The Bands of Mourning by Brandon Sanderson is a fun continuation of the series. Intriguing to see the world of Elendel open up to a wider perspective 📚
Finished reading: Justin Trudeau on the Ropes by Paul Wells is a short, informative, entertaining, and timely look at Justin Trudeau’s tenure as Prime Minister 📚
Finished reading: As Gods by Matthew Cobb is a really good look at the science, politics, and ethics of genetic engineering 📚
Finished reading: Hexarchate Stories by Yoon Ha Lee contains lots of fun stories. Only make sense though if you’ve read the series 📚
Finished reading: Witch King by Martha Wells is good. I enjoyed the clever interweaving of the two time periods and the vivid world building 📚
Finished reading: The Dog Sitter Detective by Antony Johnston is an entertaining and easy to read murder mystery 📚
Finished reading: The Narrow Road Between Desires by Patrick Rothfuss is a fun interlude of the Kingkiller Chronicle series 📚
Finished reading: Ancillary Mercy by Ann Leckie is a good continuation of a great series. Includes some interesting ideas about AI 📚
Finished reading: Aurora by Kim Stanley Robinson has a good twist on the humans-colonizing-other-worlds narrative, along with his usual, highly technical descriptions 📚
Finished reading: The Long Earth by Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter is entertaining. Takes a relatively simple premise about parallel worlds and really works through the implications 📚
Finished reading: Jinx by Matt Gemmell is a fun read. I enjoy these characters and the settings Gemmell places them in 📚
Finished reading: Although it took two library loan periods, I made it through The Shadow Rising by Robert Jordan. Having made it this far, I’m sure to get through all of the books now, even though there are many to go 📚
Finished reading: If you want a very detailed resource on how to do CBAs, especially for public sector projects, Cost-benefit analysis of investment decisions by Glenn Jenkins, Chun-Yan Kuo, and Arnold Harberger is the book for you. That said, you really need to want details – you’ve been warned 📚
Finished reading: I can’t decide if I liked Nona the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir. The first book of the series, Gideon the Ninth, was one of my favourite books of 2021. The second, Harrow the Ninth, was frustratingly confusing. Nona was similarly challenging: lots of names, hints of conversations, and plot twists. Felt more like work than entertainment 📚
Finished reading: Shadows of Self by Brandon Sanderson continues this entertaining series. A nice break from the “heavier” fantasy books 📚
Finished reading: I enjoyed Red Moon by Kim Stanley Robinson. Some of his usual attention to detail without getting too dry and a nice emphasis on Chinese culture and history📚
Finished reading: Although difficult to describe, I enjoyed The Factory by Hiroko Oyamada. A strange, slightly creepy story about modern work life 📚
Finished reading: The Last Graduate by Naomi Novik is a great sequel to A Deadly Education 📚
Finished reading: Empire of the Sum: The Rise and Reign of the Pocket Calculator by Keith Houston is more fun than you might expect📚
Finished reading: My Murder by Katie Williams has an intriguing premise, good twists, and is well written. A great book📚
Finished reading: The Mimicking of Known Successes by Malka Older is a fun, short murder mystery on a gas giant planet 📚
Finished reading: I enjoyed My Effin' Life by Geddy Lee more than I expected. A great testament to hard working, talented friends. Also a great excuse to revisit Rush’s music. I’d missed their last few albums and it was a pleasant surprise to discover them📚
Finished reading: Although I’m far from having a crisis, I’m well into midlife. So, Midlife by Kieran Setiya was a powerful book.
I could relate, when Setiya describes what he expects to feel after he finishes writing the book:
If experience is anything to go by, the hole will be filled soon enough. There will be another project: a class to teach, a book to read, an article to write. I will move on. But the movement is like running on a treadmill. Life is a succession of projects, each one left behind, their numbers slowly adding up. What the future holds is only more of the achievements, and the failures, that make up my past. It will differ only in quantity from the life I have already lived, a mere accumulation of deeds.
I won’t spoil the outcome. Suffice it to say that this book has lots of good advice, written clearly and with humour.
Setiya also has a good session on Waking Up.
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