Although A Desolation Called Peace by Arkady Martine isn’t as remarkable as A Memory Called Empire, I still really enjoyed it. Some of the enjoyment was momentum from the first book. I also liked the mystery of the aliens and the exploration of shared memories and awareness 📚
Fathoms by Rebecca Giggs is about so much more than whales. Beautifully written, Giggs uses whales to talk through society, culture, environmentalism, evolution, and history, along with lots of good natural history on whales📚
Currently reading: Fathoms: the world in the whale by 📚
Currently reading: A Desolation Called Peace (Teixcalaan, 2) by Arkady Martine 📚
I really enjoyed Salvation by Peter F. Hamilton (book 1 of the Salvation Sequence trilogy). A fun blend of sci-fi, detective novel, and alien invasion with a cliffhanger ending📚
This book caught my eye at the local used bookstore: Pragmatism and Other Essays by William James 📚
Fire Season: Field Notes from a Wilderness Lookout by Philip Connors is an interesting mix of reflections on solitude, the importance of conservation, and American history 📚
Currently reading: Fire Season: Field Notes from a Wilderness Lookout by Philip Connors 📚
Excession by Iain M. Banks is a great read with a fun mix of space opera, humour, morality, and mystery 📚
Currently reading: Excession by Iain M. Banks 📚
Currently reading: The Little Drummer Girl: A Novel by John le Carre 📚
Finished reading: Matter (Culture) by Iain M. Banks. This was a straightforwardly entertaining read 📚
Finished reading: The Strategy Paradox: Why Committing to Success Leads to Failure (And What to do About It) by Michael E. Raynor 📚
Green Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson is a good second book in the Mars trilogy. So much great detail, you really get a strong sense of Mars as a place that is distinct from Earth 📚
Currently reading: Green Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson 📚
Math Without Numbers by Milo Beckman takes a conversational approach to math, saying as much about how mathematicians think as it does about the math. Removing numbers helps focus on the concepts and the delightful illustrations are just whimsical enough to match the prose📚
I’m looking forward to starting Math Without Numbers by Milo Beckman 📚
Currently reading: Limitless by Jim Kwik 📚
Currently reading: Stillness Is the Key by Ryan Holiday 📚
Humble Pi by Matt Parker is a very entertaining book about math errors. His irreverent personality really comes through and the stories make the important point about how essential math is to our everyday lives. 📚
Currently reading: Humble Pi by Matt Parker 📚
The Light of All That Falls by James Islington is a great end to The Licanius Trilogy. I was in the mood for an immersive fantasy series and these delivered, each book weighing in at close to a thousand pages. Interesting mix of fantasy, politics, time travel & free will 📚
Currently reading: The Light of All That Falls by James Islington 📚
The long way to a small, angry planet by Becky Chambers is great. I really enjoyed the characters and the sense of family on the Wayfarer. Definitely a nice change of pace from some more typical hard sci-fi stories that are more focused on the physics📚
Currently reading: The long way to a small, angry planet by Becky Chambers 📚
Seven and a Half Lessons about the Brain by Lisa Feldman Barrett is a charming, short book about how our brains work and our misconceptions about them 📚
Currently reading: Seven and a Half Lessons about the Brain by Lisa Feldman Barrett 📚
If you’re interested in how algorithms are affecting us, Hello world by Hannah Fry is a great read. Rather than explain how algorithms work, Fry describes their opportunities and risks in different parts of society, such as health, justice, and art 📚
Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir is a very imaginative and entertaining mix of sci-fi and horror 📚
Blueprint by Nicholas Christakis is an interesting book about universal feature of our societies (the social suite) and how they are based on genetics, emergent properties, and complex network effects. The book has lots of interesting examples and makes clear connections between human societies and attributes of other animals.📚