Always a must read
Books I loved reading this year
101–110 of 166 posts
Re: Books I loved reading this year
#102I haven't even finished it yet, but my favorite book of 2021 is certain to be Rutger Bregman's Humankind. If you are feeling cynical about your species thanks to climate change, COVID, etc. it may be exactly what you need.
Re: Books I loved reading this year
#103[deleted]
Re: Books I loved reading this year
#104I'm reading a novel with my PIM (partner in mischief) titled The Mandibles, by Lionel Shriver. I was thinking that the novel may have been written recently because so much of it reminds me of our current economic & political situation, but I was very surprised to learn it was originally written in 2016! It's eerie how much the author has gotten right!
> PIM (partner in mischief) What do you mean? I haven't seen that expression anywhere and google wasn't helpful.
I think they're just saying "partner in crime," which literally means someone you commit crimes with, but in slang means someone who has your back no matter what (e.g. a spouse), but in this case they wanted to emphasize that while the two of them don't commit crimes, they do get into a bit of mischief together.
I have no idea why it was made into an acronym.
Re: Books I loved reading this year
#105I recently read Enough: True Measures of Money, Business, and Life, by Jack Bogle, the founder of Vanguard. Written during the 2008 recession, it's so much more than a business book. It highlights in detail how the financial industry at large leeches so much wealth for itself while creating so little, and offers insights from someone truly introspective of life, business, finance, and the future of the country. Highl…
The title "Enough" made me think of this great poem/story from Kurt Vonnegut:
True story, Word of Honor:
Joseph Heller, an important and funny writer
now dead,
and I were at a party given by a billionaire
on Shelter Island.
I said, “Joe, how does it make you feel
to know that our host only yesterday
may have made more money
than your novel ‘Catch-22’
has earned in its entire history?”
And Joe said, “I’ve got something he can never have.”
And I said, “What on earth could that be, Joe?”
And Joe said, “The knowledge that I’ve got enough.”
Not bad! Rest in peace!
— Kurt VonnegutRe: Books I loved reading this year
#106- List for the lazy - A Thousand Brains: A New Theory of Intelligence, by Jeff Hawkins. The Code Breaker: Jennifer Doudna, Gene Editing, and the Future of the Human Race, by Walter Isaacson. Klara and the Sun, by Kazuo Ishiguro. Hamnet, by Maggie O’Farrell. Project Hail Mary, by Andy Weir.
Doudna has her own memoir, "A Crack in Creation: Gene Editing and the Unthinkable Power to Control Evolution." Why would you read Isaacson's third-person account, when you can get the information from the scientist herself? Well, I read both books, and Isaacson's is much better. In fact, Doudna's book was largely written by her coauthor, her then-graduate student Sam Sternberg, based on long interviews. This is the s…
Isaacson has a knack for writing flowing non-fiction prose that make for a great read. Sometimes the detail can border on excruciating but he seems to have resolved this in his later works.
Re: Books I loved reading this year
#107- List for the lazy - A Thousand Brains: A New Theory of Intelligence, by Jeff Hawkins. The Code Breaker: Jennifer Doudna, Gene Editing, and the Future of the Human Race, by Walter Isaacson. Klara and the Sun, by Kazuo Ishiguro. Hamnet, by Maggie O’Farrell. Project Hail Mary, by Andy Weir.
Doudna has her own memoir, "A Crack in Creation: Gene Editing and the Unthinkable Power to Control Evolution." Why would you read Isaacson's third-person account, when you can get the information from the scientist herself? Well, I read both books, and Isaacson's is much better. In fact, Doudna's book was largely written by her coauthor, her then-graduate student Sam Sternberg, based on long interviews. This is the s…
Awesome comment. Thank you.
Re: Books I loved reading this year
#108Surprised there's no marriage books on this list...
I'm surprised to see people still fawning over Gates, he's clearly as scummy as all the other billionaires. But apparently to be liked as a billionaire all you have to do is talk smart or smoke weed while tweeting memes.
Re: Books I loved reading this year
#109I partially liked Hail Mary. Most of the book was good, but I found Eva's character too hard to suspend my disbelief. IMO, I found her character "lazy" on Weir's part. I wish he tried a little harder to make her easier to believe as a real person.
Agree, but Weir isn't very good at writing women. I'm glad that he kept her character relatively simple and as a sort of driver for the narrative. Had he attempted adding more depth she'd end up in a cringey love triangle or something.
I found Jasmine in Artemis very believable.
Eva doesn't need more depth, that's not the issue. Her interactions just aren't believable. It's not a gender thing, either, because I wouldn't believe a male version of Eva.
Maybe because I can't believe that someone would ever have that much power and be a jerk at the same time?