Mission Economy, Mariana Mazzucato

 

Mission Economy: A moonshot guide to changing capitalism by Mariana Mazzucato is a book I saw reviewed somewhere, possible New Republic.

Started: 7/27/2021
Completed: 7/29/2021
Recommendation: Not Recommended
Recommended By: New Republic

Review:

I like the idea of the Mission Economy.  I'm not thrilled with the way that this information was presented.  It feels like this is a pamphlet that should sit on top of some of the missions already developed.  It did not feel like a fully developed book.  It also feels like this is a rah-rah by the author for her own work (not to be diminished by this critique) rather than a justification for a mission economy which looks at the arguments against such an effort and explains the flaws of those arguments.  I'm OK with one-sided, but, heck, it must be a brutally overwhelming argument and this one just wasn't.

In fairness, at the very end of the book, the author does credit others (particularly women) who have helped formulate details that support Mission Economy.  This is a rah-rah for untested, but compelling approaches.

My Beloved World, Sonia Sotomayor

 

My Beloved World by Sonia Sotomayor is another biography of a justice I cannot ignore.

Started: 7/19/2021
Completed: 7/27/2021
Recommendation: Highly Recommended
Recommended By: Nobody

Review:

I honestly didn't think I would have anything in common with Sonia Sotomayor.  It turns out that I do.  I did not grow up with her financial poverty or rich family life, but I can strongly relate to her experience with forensics.  I was not a minority in any way and have never experienced any form of racism, but I can relate to her feelings of being an outsider.  For those commonalities, we overlap little.  Her story of perseverance and family support is well worth reading and listening to Rita Moreno is hard to beat.

The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee, David Treuer

 

The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee:  Native America from 1890 to the present by David Treuer is a book that I came across in several places and the recent fight with the water protectors and the XL Pipeline (I was part of that protest in DC) just emphasized to me how much I had to learn.  This book was also on President Obama's list.

Started: 7/13/2021
Completed: 7/19/2021
Recommendation: Highly Recommended
Recommended By: Lots of sources, but no one in particular

Words for which I Sought Help:

exogamy -- the social norm of marrying outside one's social group

Review:

This book has to move anyone who reads it.  This is a good book that helps put the experience of the Indian into perspective.  The time span is huge.  It is impossible to read this book and not be moved.  Treuer writes well and his story is remarkable.  Makes one ashamed to be an American...how can we all be better together?

When describing the traumatic loss of a still born child, "...this is a time in your life when the whole page turns..."  What a wonderful turn of phrase that captures so much.

The Last Thing He Told Me, Laura Dave

 

The Last Thing He Told Me by Laura Dave is a book I saw while both my wife and I were looking at books and it seemed like this might be a good one for her, but I also liked it.  Kudos to the artist who did the cover, I really like the positioning of "a novel."

Started: 7/12/2021
Completed: 7/13/2021
Recommendation: Not Recommended
Recommended By: Nobody

Review:

There was no character development.  The relationship that was supposed to foster and bloom during this time did, but with apparently little or no introspection.  Just did not enjoy it.

Amoralman, Derek Delgaudio

 

Amoralman: A true story and other lies by Derek Delgaudio.  I'm pretty sure that this review form the New York Times is the reason it is on my list.  Honesty and lies have been something I confronted hard after meeting my wife (I was on the lie side) and I dealt with it by doing my very best to simply be honest.  It seemed interesting to hear how someone else dealt with it.  Oh, and magic.

Started: 7/11/2021
Completed: 7/12/2021
Recommendation: Recommended
Recommended By: New York Times

Review:

Poker.  Magic. Plato's freakin' cave of shadows?!?  What's not to like?

Delgaudio does a good job explaining how his life alone as a child helped him develop the skills to be a crooked poker dealer which lead to an existential experience of Plato's cave of shadows with himself cast as the puppeteer.  This is not a huge a book, but it packs a lot into a small space.  His relationship with another crooked dealer sort of provides a framework and a cautionary tale all in one.  This book does not really deal with honesty and lies the way I had hoped, but it does peek into honesty from the darkness of lies and one hopes that Delgaudio goes on to expand that opening and be birthed into a better life.

The Cruelest Month, Louise Penny

 

The Cruelest Month by Louise Penny is the next Chief  Inspector Gamache novel.

Started: 7/6/2021
Completed: 7/11/2021
Recommendation: Recommended
Recommended By: My mother

Review:

I'm not a fan of suspense.  Penny uses artificial means to create suspense in this book by using steps to reveal something.  Person 1 knows something and starts to reveal it, then stops.  We go to Person 2 who figures out the same thing and start to reveal it, then stops.  We go to Person 3 who knows nothing about it (yes, I was about ready to throw something against a wall) and then we go back to Person 1 who reveals what is happening.  This reminds me of Agatha Christie (though I think I've only read one or two of her novels) and I hope that it is a blip that Penny eventually abandons.

With that notation, I really like the Penny writes--her turns of phrase make me chuckle and keep me engaged.  She re-describes Three Pines and its primary inhabitants at the beginning of each book in the series (so they can probably stand on their own) and this is never boring.  Each time the descriptions are subtly different and reveal a little more.  It is a pleasure to meet these characters again. 

Fundamentals, Frank Wilczek

 

Fundamentals: Ten keys to reality by Frank Wilczek.  I keep finding myself drawn back to books that describe the fundamental principals of physics.  It feels like they are changing (though they are not), so I think it is useful to see them from many different perspectives.

Started: 7/5/2021
Completed: 7/6/2021
Recommendation: Not Recommended
Recommended By: I think I read a review that was favorable, but I may have just seen the title and author.

Review:

In an effort to be inclusive, Wilczek includes religion and quotes a lot of Christianity.  I find this off-putting.  Religion is a matter of faith--belief without evidence.  Science is about extracting an understanding from the evidence.  I think it is nice that there are scientists who can reconcile religion and science (it seems like Wilczek cannot really do this as he disputes the basic concepts of miracles, prayer, and even "magical thinking").  When I open a book by a physicist, I expect physics.  Finding religion mixed in is, well, off-putting.

So, the basic concepts, the fundamentals, are well and properly explained.  My failure to understand chromatics is not forgetting, it probably was not taught when I was in college.  Recently I read some texts and a few papers to try to understand how it worked and this is a book by one of the founders of QCD, so I kind of hoped it would have more.  What it did have was quite helpful.  I have trouble recommending this book because of the tie-ins with religion.

The Meaning of the Night, Michael Cox

 

The Meaning of the Night:  A Confession by Michael Cox is a book I saw in a library with my cousin, Amee.

Started: 4/25/2021
Completed: 7/5/2021
Recommendation: Mild Recommendation
Recommended By:  Nobody

Words for which I Sought Help:

Stygian -- relating to the Styx River; very dark

Review:

The style of this book is intentionally heavy handed.  It feels rococo and is read with a flourish.  The plot and minor sub-plots are fairly simple, but the process by which they are told is so elliptical that this long book held my interest.  The character development is good and it is possible to feel the main character's drift into madness.   This is a long read without much happening--there is also a lot of meaningless dialog.  Michael Cox only wrote one book and he spent a long time thinking about it.  There is no question that this book has the feel of a Victorian novel.

Harrow The Ninth, Tamsyn Muir

 

Harrow the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir is the next book in the Locked Tombs Trilogy.

Started: 6/29/2021
Completed: 7/5/2021
Recommendation: Not Recommended
Recommended By: Nobody

Words for which I sought Help:

anechoic -- free from echo

rumbled -- to discover that someone is doing something illegal (British slang)

Review:

I hate being confused.  3/4 of this book is simply confusion.  It was driving me crazy.  Keep reading; in this one case I accept the necessity of it.

The end, however, is only more confusing.  I'm not sure it is worth the gore to read another.