Egypt's Golden Couple, John Darnell and Colleen Darnell

 

Egypt's Golden Couple:  When Akhenaten and Nefertiti were Gods on Earth by John Darnell and Colleen Darnell.  It is hard for me to resist anything about Nefertiti or Tutankhamun.  As a kid I saw Tut's treasures on display.

Started: 2/20/2023
Completed: 2/24/2023
Recommendation: Not Recommended
Recommended By: Nobody

Review:

If you are an archaeologist, this is probably not written at a level of scholarly expertise you would find useful.  If you are not an archaeologist, this book is very dry despite the author's efforts to "bring to life" these rulers.  I learned some interesting things--most notably that the bust of Nefertiti was really just a practice head to help sculptors practice setting eyes, but nothing particularly shocking.  If you are a Christian or Jew wondering if Akhenaten was worshipping the one true God, you will be disappointed (he considered himself a God on Earth, which might have resonance for Christians, but would likely be considered blasphemy by both religions).  I like that the scientists who wrote this were clear about what was speculation and what was less speculation.  I like that they were comfortable describing how little they did know and how amazed they were by the details they did after 3,000 years.  It helps make the book more approachable by most people who know nothing but what the scholars share.

Tell Me An Ending, Jo Harkin

 

Tell Me an Ending by Jo Harkin

Started: 2/15/2023
Completed: 2/20/2023
Recommendation: Recommended
Recommended By: This came from a new release list and seemed tantalizing.

Words for which I sought help:

conker -- British expression for a horse chestnut

helter skelter -- British word for a spiral slide that goes around a central tower

Review:

This book looks hard at memory.  There is marginal character development as opposed to revelation.  The ending does not tie things up neatly.  In short, it is a brief look at people whose story really does not matter except in the details.  As a whole, it doesn't matter what the story is of those individuals except in so far as it furthers the ideas being explored.  I am comfortable with this kind of science fiction because I don't have to find the people believable--it is a little like humor, it is fine for the people to be distorted.  The people of this novel are starkly distorted and that really forwards the story.  I enjoyed the story itself and felt my mind expand at the concepts addressed.  Very rewarding.

What We Owe the Future, William MacAskill

 

What We Owe the Future by William MacAskill

Started: 2/12/2023
Completed: 2/15/2023
Recommendation: Highly recommended
Recommended By: I cannot remember how I came to look at this book, but the title is engrossing.

Review:

I am not a big fan of the "long view" on the world and I have no previous experience with population morality.  This book is an excellent and persuasive look at each.  It helps present some context for the Native American position that current decisions should be made considering the impact seven generations hence.  I've always been inclined toward that mode of thinking because it helps bring some perspective to what are "crucial" problems of today (e.g. probably not the kind of car to buy and probably how to instill serious concern for the environment in government as fast as possible).  I really like the ideas that are presented in this book and I like the way that they are presented.  I found the arguments compelling.  I listened to this book from the library, but have bought a copy so that I can go back over it, make notes, and have it on my shelf for reference.  This book is well worth reading and I can recommend it to everyone.  It is short, it is composed of understandable pieces, and it will change your approach to life--probably more in some than in others.

Demon Copperhead, Barbara Kingsolver

 

Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver is a book that I saw in many reviews and my wife really enjoys Kingsolver.

Started: 2/6/2023
Completed: 2/11/2023
Recommendation: Recommended
Recommended By: My wife

Words for which I sought help:

duff -- decaying vegetable matter covering the ground under trees

Review:

This book is beautifully written and for that reason, I recommend it.  To be honest, I found none of the characters compelling, though there were a few occasions I laughed out loud.  In general, I disliked the story and I would have known that if I'd taken a minute to read that this is modern retelling of David Copperfield.  I don't know how accurately this book portrays the opioid crisis in America, but it is pretty brutal in the retelling.  If anything, I think that the actual thing is even worse.

The Witch Elm, Tana French

 

The Witch Elm by Tana French.  I picked this book up because I liked some of her other books and this one was identified as a particularly good one of hers.

Started: 1/31/2023
Completed: 2/6/2023
Recommendation: Mild Recommendation
Recommended By: Nobody

Review:

This isn't really my kind of book (a murder mystery), so consider that.  The character development was interesting and the mechanism of a protagonist who had memory problems was novel.  The story, however, didn't grab me and as the book progressed, I found that there was only one character I actually found tolerably interesting.  Most of the characters are simply horrible.  The descriptions were rich and there were sections that could have done with more editing for length, but overall, this was an OK read.  I have to admit that the ending surprised me...the last plot twist caught me off guard, though I wondered what was going to happen as it seemed the book had wrapped up early.  I'm not sure I can say that I enjoyed it.

The Curse of Bigness, Tim Wu

 

The Curse of Bigness:  Antitrust in the new gilded age by Tim Wu is a book I have had on my "to read" list for a long time, but only recently bought a copy.

Started: 1/29/2023
Completed: 2/4/2023
Recommendation: Run, do not walk, to your local independent book store
Recommended By: I cannot remember

Words for which I sought help:

bête noire -- A person or thing that one particularly dislikes

Review:

The book opens with this sentence in the end of the second paragraph, "If we learned one thing from the Gilded Age, it should have been this:  The road to fascism and dictatorship is paved with failures of economic policy to serve the needs of the general public."  This is not a hollow realization as the author went on to work in the White House to resolve antitrust issues.  We need antitrust as a bullwork against the otherwise unlimited power and acquisition of wealth that monopolies have pursued since time immemorial. 

In practice, this is done through the court system.  "It is time to rehabilitate the reputation of big cases, give them their due, and stress their importance--particularly for a dynamic, technologically drive economy."  By breaking up monopolies, fresh air is driven into an entire sector of the economy which allows entrepreneurs to breath, healthy competition to develop, and the entire consumer base to benefit.  We need a strong antimonopoly DoJ which pursues large cases and ends non-competitive monopolies.  In order for the free market to operate, monopolies cannot dominate, brow-beat, consume, and pose barriers to entry on the market.  What a great book.

The Chaos Machine, Max Fisher

 

The Chaos Machine:  The inside story of how social media rewired our minds and our world by Max Fisher

Started: 1/26/2023
Completed: 1/31/2023
Recommendation: Highly Recommended
Recommended By: Nobody

Words for which I sought help:

lacuna -- an unfilled space or interval; a gap

Review:

Beware, the pace on the audio is languid--I turned it up to 1.5 speed and lost nothing, but gained an unnecessary sense of urgency at the clipped words.  I am familiar, on the periphery with how AI systems are programmed and this book hits hard at one of the serious problems with AI--it can get caught on local maxima.  It is also only as good as the validation parameters, so it can maximize items identified in the validation parameters but seriously undermine other, unidentified parameters.  Morality is rather difficult to enumerate, so it was not part of the validation parameters and this book talks about the bloody outcome.  I now look at any recommendation from any social media with a jaundiced eye.  It also explains to me why my friends and even children seem to have heard of so many bizarre and unlikely convoluted explanations for things, but are unaware of the obvious explanation.  This is an excellent book and anyone who interacts with social media (basically anyone) should read it.