When We Cease To Understand the World, Benjamin Labatut

 

When We Cease to Understand the World by Benjamin Labatut was short listed for the Booker Prize.  Adrian Nathan West did the translation and Adam Barr did the narration.

Started: 1/14/2022
Completed: 1/15/2022 (Did not finish)
Recommendation: Not Recommended
Recommended By: Man Booker Prize

Review:

I am honest with myself.  I read to learn and I read to escape.  Reading in detail how cyanide kills--detail to include how the Jews were massacred is beyond what I can do.  I appreciate that there are people who still do not know this in detail.  I do.  I cannot read it again. 

How Democracies Die, Levitsky and Ziblatt

 

How Democracies Die:  What history reveals about our future by Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt.  What happens with a couple of Harvard professors start thinking about the political future?

Started: 1/8/2022
Completed: 1/14/2022
Recommendation: Mild Recommendation
Recommended By: Nobody

Review:

This is an interesting book talking about some of the criteria that can be used to identify a democracy at risk.  The fact that Trump pushed all the buttons while the book was being written and the advice was that the Republican party should reform itself and the Democratic party should provide space for that is remarkably difficult to follow.  The Republican party has been the primary abusers of democracy and started the abuses (by the authors' own analysis).  The thought that the Democratic party should just move to the side and hope that the Republican party decides to reform is hard to fathom.  As long as the Republican party is getting what they want with the current process, they will continue to work the way that they are.  I recommend this book for the analysis, but not the conclusions.

A Trick of the Light, Louise Penny

 

A Trick of the Light by Louise Penny is the next book in the Chief Inspector Gamache series.

Started: 1/1/2022
Completed: 1/8/2022
Recommendation: Recommended
Recommended By: My Parents

Review:

Louise Penny delivers again, but, in general, this book was a little disturbing as one becomes increasingly invested in the characters and the characters show complexity which is uncomfortable.  I particularly did not like the ambiguity of the ending.  It feels like someone is telling Penny to make this book a cliff hanger, so she sets up 5-6 subplots that all hang at the end of the story along with a couple more that get an interesting start.  Penny does not need to hook me, so leaving the book partway through when I know I'm likely to read the next seems unnecessary.

Rationality, Steven Pinker

 

Rationality:  What it is, why it seems scarce, why it matters by Steven Pinker is an effort by a Harvard cognitive psychologist to understand rationality.

Started: 12/25/2021
Completed: 1/1/2022
Recommendation: Recommended
Recommended By: Nobody

Words for which I sought help:

Waving a bloody shirt -- a pejorative phrase, used during American election campaigns in the 19th century, to deride opposing politicians who made emotional calls to avenge the blood of soldiers that died in the Civil War.

Review:

So this is a review of a lot of material that I have read elsewhere (Kahneman's studies and the work of Freakanomics).  It is also a review of concepts that I understand fairly well (basic statistics, logics, and Bayesian probabilities).  It is nicely packaged, however, and there are fantastic anomalies and descriptions that help illustrate the points well.  Beware, however, if you are religious or a support of Homeopathy. 

Clanlands, Heughan and McTavish

 

Clanlands: Whiskey, warfare, and a Scottish adventure like no other by Sam Heughan and Graham McTavish is supposed to be a fun romp (travelogue?) through Scotland by a couple of friends.

Started: 12/18/2021
Completed: 12/30/2021
Recommendation: Not Recommended
Recommended By: Nobody

Words for which I sought help:

crinigerous -- having hair

dogsbody -- a person who is given meaningless, boring tasks

dualchas -- cultural inheritance (Gaelic)

Review:

There is some good material in this book, but it is sparse.  I am not a fan of Outlander (never seen it), so the fact that the two who wrote the book are from the series has no meaning for me.  Moreover, their tales of their pasts and the adventures while filming Outlander is only marginally interesting, but takes up a staggeringly large portion of the book.  I think that these two are genuinely friends, but the way that they go at each other is not entertaining for me...it is distracting and bit like trying to referee with 13 year old boys.  Not a fun experience.

The subtitle mentions whiskey, but the most telling whiskey information is about one of the author's own brand (perhaps, also, that the authors drink too much of it).  Other than that, whiskey mentions seem to be focused around what one keeps in a flask in a kilt.  The "warfare" was most of the good material--not that I enjoy warfare, but it was interesting material that kept me engaged.  The "adventure" focused mainly on how uncomfortable they were, though they seemed to look at it in hindsight as a great adventure.  The "great adventure" part, however, was not emphasized.

With a few interesting nuggets, it is not worth the time unless you want to read more about these two actors from Outlander.

Think, Simon Blackburn

 

Think: A compelling introduction to philosophy by Simon Blackburn is a book that was on a reading list to prep for a degree in philosophy.

Started: 6/15/2021
Completed: 12/26/2021
Recommendation: Highly Recommended
Recommended By: A Reading List

Review:

The title call is answered in this book.  Covering thought from the ancient Greeks to contemporary philosophers (not in a timeline), Blackburn provides an overview of thought on a variety of issues.  I like that Blackburn started with Descartes and the basic question of how one knows one exists.  To me, this is a logical starting point for philosophy, although it was assumed for a very long time.  The effort to understand the word outside of the individual is a window into both historical and contemporary thought.  The desire and effort to persuade others of an opinion and, finally, what to do with thinking is a natural progression.  Excellent.

Palmares, Gayl Jones

 

Palmares by Gayl Jones was on a best books of 2021 list from the New York Times.

Started: 12/23/2021
Completed: 12/25/2021 (did not finish)
Recommendation: No Comment
Recommended By: The New York Times

Review:

This book addresses slavery in Brazil as a lived condition.  The book opens with abuse and rape (as well as many of the other common attributes of slavery) and I just could not stomach it.  It is all perceived from the eyes of a 7 year old whose marginal family is torn asunder in the first quarter of the book.  I recognize the need to have such first hand accounts (even fictional), but I just can no longer stomach them.  Thus, I cannot comment reasonably on the quality of the book.