Book Reviews

**Hand-Waving Advice ** Posits that parents should be more gardeners than carpenters. OK, but what does that mean? I thought it would mean gardening in the way that Seeing like a State describes farming: a complex interaction between farmer and environment that includes non-reducible complexity and generations of built in-knowledge that is ignored by intersubjective human systems. That would have been an interesting avenue to explore. But alas, when the Gopnik says gardening, what she really means is allowing kids to play, rather than being overly didactic or prescriptive in parenting. Maybe for somebody in my grandparents generation who thought that kids should be ‘seen and not heard’ this thesis is new. But for me, this is not news. I would have wanted to know more about types of play, what are effective methods of fostering play, when is it still necessary to be didactic etc. Instead the advice is just: ’let them play’ which while I directionally agree with, doesn’t need a book to convince me or fill in any details to justify the time and price for this one. ...

Interesting for parts: the language and references and moments. But this is not a story like other plays. Characters are pretty thin, plot is a bit forced, maybe it’s because I listened to this while sick on a transatlantic flight with a sick kid, but the parts didn’t really fit together into any whole.

Exactly what I want out of fiction. A well paced plot, a few characters to root for, and surprises that keep the story ahead of, or at least more complex than a readers lazy imagination. Recommended.

** Disjointed ** Even though this is a serial put together in 5 parts, the story didn’t quite fit together. Some sort of cross between Story of your Life and the movie Moon, there were certainly interesting ideas, but the pieces didn’t fit together into an airtight whole. Aliens, bounty-hunters, and a love story felt more like a collection of short stories in different universes, rather than a single story.

Was interested in the first arc, somewhat distracted in the second. The narrative involving mass trait didn’t resonate, and by the end I was a bit bored. DNF about 80% through.

Scattershot for Smil, but I don’t regret reading it.

Great overall thesis, but what is the definition of an elite? And how are they overproduced? Feels like this book should be 1000 pages to support the breadth of arguments it aims for, and is limited by format.

** Some 菊花茶 Tea? ** I’ve recently started to appreciate Chrysanthemum tea. For most of my life, I thought it bland, and if given the choice, would readily take coffee, preferably with sugar. But this year I’ve started to appreciate Chrysanthemum, a sweet fragrance almost orthogonal to the sweetness of sugar and a refreshing touch that pairs nicely with savory dishes. How could I have missed this flavor all those years? ...

2

Brings nothing not better articulated in The Long Game. Yet maybe that’s the point, the Trumpist hawks and liberal hawks are saying the same things with only a different level of sophistication.