Fourth Wing#
Rebecca Yarros
My girlfriend requested I read this book. I have no comments.
The Signal and the Noise#
Nate Silver
Rating: 3.75 / 5
Through a series of detailed vignettes, Nate Silver provides a nuanced view of interpreting the world and gaining a better understanding of truth by discerning signal from noise. He recommends a probabilistic paradigm founded in Bayesian statistics to learn by perpetually updating beliefs as new information is received.
Each chapter is a deep dive into a different field where forecasting and prediction are essential, providing different windows into the key aspects of this skill. While interesting, some of the chapters feel a bit long and diverge into tangents that seem irrelevant to forecasting/prediction. Still, with Silver’s experience, expertise, and knowledge, these passages were still valuable and informative, if off topic. Silver’s writing style is easy to read and his explanations follow.
Mornings on Horseback#
David McCullogh
Rating: 4 / 5
Mornings on Horseback is a biography of Theodore Roosevelt’s early life, finishing well before his presidency. It is tremendously thorough, and the author is forthright when information is uncertain or conflicting, presenting all reputable sides and then providing his opinion. It describes T.R.’s childhood and young adult years, but also a lot of background on his parents, their heritage, and his siblings, representing a full picture of the future president. The author also presents the story with details about the contemporary world, putting T.R.’s story in the proper light of those days. This is a dense book and a slow read for all save the most avid fans of T.R. Still, it is well written and information-rich, making it a good option for those interested in understanding this unique president and his lasting impact on America.
For Blood and Money#
Nathan Vardi
Rating: 4 / 5
For Blood and Money brings the reader on a very realistic journey through the convoluted research, trial, production, and marketing process for a modern day small molecule drug (I look forward to the sequel on gene and cell therapies). Working for a pharmaceutical company, I can attest to how complicated it is to get from discovery to the clinic – rarely is the route straight, more often swapping hands multiple times, falling into patent disputes, plans changing because of a company’ strategic “realignments,” etc. This is a quick read as the author doesn’t delve into the full backstory of every character and generously summarizes the research process. Personally, I am more interested in the history of the science portion of the tale, but this book focuses predominately on the Wall Street aspects (which makes sense given that is the author’s journalistic beat). I would mostly recommend For Blood and Money to anyone new to pharmaceuticals or interested in modern-day clinical trial process or drug marketing, but it’s an easy read, fast-paced, so if you’re interested, it’s probably worth a shot.
Bottle of Lies#
Katherine Eban
Rating: 3.75 / 5
Bottle of Lies unravels some of the most dangerous and pervasive fraud that plagues drug manufacturing. At the time of reading, I’ve been working at a US pharmaceuticals company for 1.5 years and can attest to the caution and precision that is required to maintain good research and manufacturing processes. Reading this book, I became acutely aware about how critical maintaining a culture that observes and values those processes is to the entire industry. There are some many opportunities for fraud and deceit, only exasperated by the limited oversight the U.S. agencies have in foreign countries. Eban does a great job of walking the reader through the complexity of this industry, both the biomedical field and the regulatory structure and systems. The narrative style she employs, revealing the story in a manner similar to how it unfolded in real time, highlights for the reader the complexity and scale of the issue – it starts with a trickle, but as there is more investigation, it’s really a massive flood.
Beyond Order#
Jordan Peterson
Rating: 4.25 / 5
This self-help book follows Peterson’s 12 Rules for Life; I recommend starting there as it lays the foundation for the rules Peterson provides here. In the first of the duology, Peterson provides guidance on how to get control of oneself and one’s life. In Beyond Order, Peterson describes how to interact and manage with chaos. He addresses where it might come from, its different forms, how society has built of rules and institutions to deal with it, and how it’s a normal part of life not to be underestimates. It’s a dense book written in Peterson’s signature style of allusion and allegory. I recommend reading this one chapter at a time, best pairing it with a novel to allow time for each lesson to sink in (I paired it with All the Light We Cannot See).
All the Light We Cannot See#
Anthony Doerr
Rating: 4.25 / 5
I don’t read many novels, so my reviews and critiques are likely simple compared to the more avid fiction reader. That said, I breezed through this book; the style of writing, the plot, clever intricacies of the theme of light, made this book hard to put down. It’s a complicated mixture of heart-warming and inspiring moments, surrounded and almost consumed by darkness, despair, and hopelessness. Great novel with an interesting style and flair.
Slow Productivity#
Cal Newport
Rating: 4.5 / 5
Another classic Cal Newport productivity and self-help book. Paired with Deep Work, this system prescribed by Newport can be transformational. The three principles he lays out in the “Slow Productivity” system resonated with me and I have already been putting them into practice at work and in my hobbies to great success. The main pitch is that employing this system leads to a more natural, sustainable work style without a loss (instead, likely an increase) in production of high-quality results.
To finish, if you listen to Newport’s podcast, you probably don’t need to read this book. That said, if you are that avid of a listener, then you’ll also likely value having the book as a go-to reference. I recommend supporting his work by picking up a copy. It’s a quick read and good to have everything in one place.
The Rust Programming Language#
Steve Klabnik, Carol Nichols
Rating: 3.75 / 5
The manual on the Rust language. Good place to start if you are coming from higher-level programming languages (in my case, Python). There are some key principles around memory management and object ownership that are critical to understand to even write Rust code that compiles.
Bully for Brontosaurus#
Stephen Jay Gould
Rating: 4.25 / 5
Bully for Brontosaurus is a collection of some of Gould’s short essays on natural history organized into a few different topics. As expected, they were thoroughly researched, informative, and well written. Gould has a novelist’s style of writing, but an esteemed academic’s devotion to accuracy that makes his essays and books perfect for any biologists who enjoy reading. I also appreciate his intellectual fairness to people who have come before us and lived in a different time. He judges their reasoning, but doesn’t scrutinize their morality through the lens of modern times. Bully for Brontosaurus is both a great place to start reading Gould’s work and a continuation of one’s collection.
The Gene#
Siddhartha Mukherjee
Rating: 3 / 5
To start, my credentials: I’m a geneticist with a PhD in computational genetics, specifically cancer genetics, and I now work in gene therapy research for a pharmaceutical company. Also I have read and enjoyed The Emperor of All Maladies.
A priori I really wanted to enjoy this book. The first 300 pages or so were exactly as expected: detailing the story of the advancements in genetics, weaving a narrative between the key insights and revolutions. It had the same feel as in Emperor of All Maladies.
This was followed by about 100 or so pages on social issues with weak, cherry-picked, evidence to support vague claims. This included a lot of opinion and personal stories. There was this feel of half-baked philosophical musings – there were silly analogies and pseudo-sophisticated sentences (i.e. they sounded nice and with a semi-poetic structure), but they didn’t hold up to simple scrutiny. I read through a chapter of this and then began skimming and skipping where I could see the content was of limited value or interest.
Finally, the last 50 or so pages touched on gene editing, though the rich history of basic research and technology development was skipped with a limited discussion of the discovery and development of CRISPR. In general, this section felt lazily written, as if either the author was hitting the editor’s page limit or he didn’t want to have to wade through several decades of dense research (genetics and biological research in general moves much faster and with greater volume than it did in Darwin’s time).
In summary, the first 2/3 of the book are solid, the remainder is shaky and can be skipped. Throughout, there is a lot of fluff, a distracting number of poor analogies and quips, and odd repetitions of information and ideas (as if sections were moved around after all the editing and proofreading was complete). (Comparatively, Emperor of All Maladies was more thorough and better written and maintained its intensity throughout the entire book.)
Four Seasons in Rome#
Anthony Doerr
Rating: 4 / 5
This is Doerr’s memoir about a year he spent on Rome on a writing fellowship, further complicated by the addition of his two newborn twins. I read this as a start to my preparations for a trip to Rome I have planned for this fall. Doerr poetically relates the simultaneous romance and chaos of the city, the nerves and excitement of travel, the joy for adventure and the desire for routine. It’s a quick read and well written, though I wouldn’t necessarily recommend it as a standalone piece; it is best paired with a Reader expecting to visit Rome or wanting a more personal interface with Doerr (I matched on both accounts having just read All the Light We Cannot See).
Brunelleschi’s Dome#
Ross King
Rating: 4.25 / 5
This well-researched tome ventured into the obscure realm of a solitary architect and his singular masterpiece. What initially seemed a modest pursuit unfolded into a revelation of profound importance. Enter Filippo Brunelleschi, the capomaestro of Renaissance innovation. The towering dome crowning Santa Maria del Fior (or the Florence Cathedral), a feat that defied convention and redefined the very essence of architecture. Brunelleschi wasn’t merely a builder; he was a maverick, pioneering novel techniques and tools to shape his vision into reality. Through his daring ingenuity, he elevated the craft from mere labor to an esteemed art form. In this concise yet compelling narrative, Brunelleschi’s legacy shines brightly, beckoning readers to contemplate the enduring impact of his genius. For those intrigued by the interplay of history and innovation, this book promises an enriching journey into the heart of artistic evolution.
SPQR#
Mary Beard
Rating: 4.0 / 5
This book was one of the most frequently recommended when I searched for reading about Rome before my trip in October, so it seemed like a good starting point. Beard provides a deep-dive into ancient Rome, particularly focussed on the period of the emperors. It is well written, with an academic style, feeling almost like a lecture series. The author begins by warning that there are few certainties regarding our knowledge of the history of Rome. The writing that does remain are often recordings of events decades after they occurred or were penned by parties with particular biases and reasons to fabricate one way or the other. With this in mind, as the book continues, Beard provides descriptions of the artifacts that remain paired with her interpretation of the pieces influenced by her broader understanding of the time and place. Through this, she pieces together a more cohesive story of the time period than would be possible if only studied in fragments or from the direct writings. Coming from just about zero knowledge of this era, the beginning was tough to get through with so many new names and concepts. With dedication though, the names became more familiar and I felt I came away with a strong foundation with which to continue my education on the region.
Out of Range#
C.J. Box
Rating: 3.5 / 5
I picked this up at a Walmart in Port Angeles, Washington so I would have something to read for the rest of my trip in Olympic National Park. While admittedly not a flattering detail, it’s not meant as a knock against the novel, it’s just not a book to which I would normally have gravitated. I had recently heard about the Joe Pickett series when the author was on The Meateater Podcast so, given the limited selection at the store, I figured I’d give it a shot. It was a quick and easy read. The series is centered around a game warden, Joe Pickett, who is a tenacious, tough, righteous enforcer of the law in the wild, wild back country of Wyoming. These novels are suspenseful thrillers with action and mystery, flavored with personal struggles (familial, social, etc.) that give Pickett additional dimensions that span across books. While reading, I didn’t have the whole story foretold, but some of the primary mysteries were predictable. Overall, I don’t regret reading it (I was curious after the listening to the podcast anyways), but I’m not running out to get the next one in the series (mainly because I prefer nonfiction).
Coming Into the Country#
John McPhee
Rating: 3.75 / 5
As my first foray into John McPhee’s extensive catalogue, this was a tough one. His phrasing and sentence structure was, as expected, expertly curated, conveying information not just with his word choice, but also the pacing and organization of sentences and paragraphs. Coming Into the Country was over 400 pages of the controversy of how to manage Alaska as the final American frontier. He sourced opinions from federal land management, natives, and white, further subdivided into Alaskan born-and-raised and new arrivals. The portrayal of all opinions was even-handed and couched in the context from which they arose and the lives of the people from which they came. Overall, it was a well written piece, but I would recommend it primarily to those interested in the topic a priori.