Tiassa

I keep reading Stephen Brust's books like a habit: they come out every few years, I read them.  I can remember the fun I had reading the first one: the most recent almost seemed like a chore, because I couldn't remember anything from the previous books, given the interminable wait between books.  Oh well, this one a fun story, at least.  I read it some weeks ago, but forgot to blog it.

Four Fish

Fun (and thought-provoking) book about fish and how mankind is doing a great job of reducing their population drastically.  The author finds it depressing that people always ask him what fish to eat, but he does implicitly answer that question: tilipia and tra are apparently very good fish to eat, because they are efficient converters of protein.  A lot of fun little anecdotes and stories in this book; well worth reading if you care about food issues.

Against All Things Ending

I'm just guessing at when I finished reading this book (if you haven't noticed, I set the time on my posts for when I watch/read a book/movie/TV show, not when I post).  It was my first real Kindle book, and I found it to be an interesting experience reading a long novel on the Kindle.  First, the Kindle let me skim more than I already tend to skim in dense books (and the Covenant books are all dense, but more on the book itself later).  More surprisingly, though, because I use my Kindle every morning on my commute, it lets me reread much more frequently: I find that I've read the parts I initially skimmed over the last month or so.  So, all in all, a rich reading experience.  And the Kindle gives me far less eyestrain than my iPhone, because of the former's passive display.

As for Donaldson's latest book: it has all of the intensity and drama (melodrama, maybe) of his earlier novels.  Either you like it or you don't: and I like it.  His reinvention of the Land over three separate eras is fascinating, and well done.  The characters are a bit too caught up in their own pain, but it's almost cathartic to read of their travails.  All in all, highly recommended if you liked his earlier novels.

Oracle Bones

I finally have some time to read: on the train commuting to/from Manhattan.  It is a bit difficult to work, so I combine leisure reading and some work to make the commute bearable.

I managed to finally finish this lovely book by Peter Hessler, which is about China in the first 5 or 6 years of this century.  (I had to return his newest book to the library before I could even crack it open, given the arrival of Penelope!)  Even now it feels like it is about an "old China", given the pace of change there (as well as here).

My favorite quote: "General Tso and Colonel Sanders: great chicken imperialists."

The funniest chapter was the one about Imre Galambos and his website, www.logoi.com.  He sells Chinese characters for tattoo art, but the funniest part was where Peter Hessler describes how Galambos kept trying to explain to people that Chinese doesn't have an alphabet!

The Homework Myth

I've gotten on a binge of reading (or at least skimming) Alfie Kohn's books: the current one I finished is The Homework Myth, which argues that homework is in general a bad thing. I think his argument boils down to a bunch of varied points:
1. Kids get too much homework. Can't argue with that one, if it's true.
2. Kids who are forced to do something as homework learn to dislike that task. I find it hard to disagree with that, although sometimes there are things that one should learn despite disliking it.
3. Homework is drudgery. Bad homework is drudgery, but certain skills can only be learned through practice.

In any case, I'm tiring of his books: they raise very valid points, but they beat those points to death.

Heading Home With Your Newborn

This is one of the better books I've read in preparation for the arrival of our little one.

The Cartoon Introduction to Economics

Cartoons, economics. Fun to read; and I learned something about economics, as well: tax equivalence was something I hadn't read about before.

Peter and Max

This book, based on the universe from the comic book Fables, is a delightful read. Like the comic, the characters are drawn from familiar children's story characters (mostly): it tells the story of Peter Piper, Bo Beep, and the Pied Piper of Hamlin (who is Peter's brother). Like the comic, it also has some of its weaknesses: most of the characters are developed without much depth (in particular, Max the Pied Piper), and the ending just slams the book to a halt. Nonetheless, if you like Fables, you should read this book.

Punished By Rewards

This book talks about the problems with using carrots (as opposed to sticks) with children, in the workplace, and in society. A bit long-winded and full of anecdotal evidence, but the book presents a very plausible theory of how people dislike any efforts to subvert their control (whether real or perceived) over their lives.

Legacy of Ashes

This fantastic history of the CIA is kind of depressing: it shows how organizational dysfunction can be caused by inadequate/bad/misguided leadership, as well as the inability of our Presidents to use the CIA appropriately. If you want to know all of the crazy/illogical/misguided things that the CIA has done in the name of America, read this book.

I was particularly intrigued by the portrait of President Clinton as uninterested/uninformed about the rest of the world. Even though President George W. Bush was not very well informed, the picture that the author paints of Clinton's initial years in the White House is not very different.

Drive

Drive, by Daniel Pink, is a fascinating book about work vs. play, motivation and money. Some experiments have shown that economic incentives ($) can actually lower the long-term performance of so-called "knowledge workers". That is, performing an interesting task (i.e., writing software) can become less interesting to workers if management links performance too heavily to pay. The best explanation in the book for that is that it takes away the worker's sense of autonomy: people want to work, and they want to solve interesting and worthwhile problems.

Well worth reading. The author gave a talk about his book at work, but I wasn't able to listen to the talk, unfortunately.

Lords of Finance

This lovely book tells the story of the Great Depression, and how many errors (both political and economic) led to it, as well as World War II. The time span roughly covers the founding of the Federal Reserve system to Bretton Woods, and introduces many important historical figures. It is remarkable how the "conventional" experts failed: how astute John Maynard Keynes was, and FDR was the right person in the right place, and how the poor health of Benjamin Strong led to his premature passing from a critical position in the world's financial leadership. This book is a very easy read, and well worth it to show how hard it is to understand macroeconomics.

The End of Overeating

This book by David Kessler, who was commissioner of the FDA, talks about the research showing that the combination of sugar, fat, and salt can be considered addictive to many people. Well worth reading.

Stiff

I've been slowly reading this book in the mornings while on the subway going to the squash club. It was a difficult book to get into, mostly because I'm a little squeamish about dead bodies (which is what this book is about). But it is highly informative and entertaining: the author, Mary Roach, is pretty hilarious. Definitely worth reading, as long as you can stomach the topic.

The Man Who Loved Books Too Much

A fascinating cast of characters inhabits this entertaining book about the world of rare book dealers and thieves. Well, one thief in particular. The author, Allison Hoover Bartlett, finds an interesting way to tell the story of John Gilkey, an obsessive book thief, but the insertion of her own commentary and self-reflection into the narrative ultimately are boring, as there is no real resolution to her own involvement in the story.

Complications

This fantastic book (a National Book Award finalist) by Atul Gawande about a surgeon's experiences in his residency is well worth reading. Hopefully you are able to cope with the descriptions of the cutting of human flesh: I found it painful to read at times (which is why I didn't become a physician). But it is refreshing to read Gawande's explanation about how he (and doctors in general) thinks about his profession. This book is more about surgery than his more recent book, Better.

Poor People

I started this incredibly well-written book, but couldn't finish it, as it was too depressing. The author, William Vollmann, sure can write: but he writes about a topic that is guaranteed to make you sad: impoverished people across the world.

Amsterdam

Since I enjoyed the movie Atonement (based on a novel by Ian McEwan), I thought I should read Amsterdam, which won the Booker Prize in 1998. The novel is beautifully written, but dark and verging on depressing in the way it portrays humanity. I hope Mr. McEwan has a more optimistic outlook on life than his novels depict! Nevertheless, I really enjoyed reading this novel.

Prisoner of the State

I tried to read this book, which consists of Zhao Ziyang's notes about his life (and Tiananmen, in particular). Unfortunately, my knowledge of contemporary Chinese politics is fairly weak, and the notes were pretty dry analyses of what went wrong: nothing really gripping, other than the historical context. So eventually I gave up: the first book I haven't finished in a while.

A Ship of the Line

I think I've read enough of the Hornblower series. The three I read (Beat to Quarters, A Ship of the Line, and Flying Colours) are pretty good, and capture the central part of Hornblower's (fictional) career. Entertaining stuff, even though Hornblower was a bit neurotic in his insecurities.