Fiction

Better than the first book in the series.

Felt like a mix between Embassytown and Ancillary Justice. Military Scifi set in a world where mathematics and calendar rituals enable fantastic technologies, but bullets still work. Perhaps because the rules of ’exotic’ calendric powers were never really explained, it was difficult to feel surprise at any of the twists, I just felt like I was watching a sport I didn’t fully understand. I don’t quite recommend it, but wasn’t disappointed either.

At first I thought it was a bit pretentious, but by the end I felt that Kalanithi got to the non-fiction equivalent of the hero’s journey. Death is the inevitable conclusion to all our lives, and our journey to the end is something worth contemplation. A great book to read along with Atul Gawande’s ‘Being Mortal’. Short and powerful, highly recommended.

I thought I would have liked this book. I’m interested in the person and the era. However the frequent lapses into comparing Leonardo to other innovators, art critique, and other information kept making me lose my focus. It’s been sitting in the queue for about 4 months and I still haven’t had any motivation to get back to it. Bailing.

Fun to read, but after thinking about the story, the plot just doesn’t hang together. The more I think about it the more disappointed I am.

Have you ever talked with a stranger about relationships? Sometimes a normal conversation turns into a diatribe about the stranger’s recent divorce and how all relationships are a sham. As you awkwardly pull away, they grab your elbow and plead, spittle landing on your arm, “Promise me you’ll never marry! PROMISE!!” That’s what it felt like to read this book. I wanted to learn more about the housing boom and bust of the 2000s, as part of a larger attempt to understand what it means to own real estate, hoping for a short (if simple) summary of what happened. I previously read the Economist every week during the crisis, and know a little bit about implicit government guarantees, market distortions, and sub-prime mortgages. Judging by my angry dismissals of Jon Stewart diatribes, I probably even have a bit of free market leaning when it comes to macroeconomic issues. ...