The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell

The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference by Malcolm Gladwell
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Even though this is totally out of date with Facebook, it was still really interesting. It makes you wonder if Gladwell's theory fits with how the Russian ads for Trump were implemented. They were mostly used in the relevant electoral vote swing areas, so they were tailored in a way not described in the book. The "connector" was not a person but the Facebook and Twitter ad technology itself, which according to the book is not supposed to work especially well- especially considering that we are overwhelmed by Facebook and Twitter information. They were definitely "sticky"- racism often is.

Anyway, the book could definitely use an update in the post-social media world. Is everything different now? Or is social media really just like email? I'm thinking everything is different now.

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Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

A lot of interesting things to consider, but I can’t swallow the reduction and even near-banishment of suffering as synonymous with slavery. The first clue is when you consider pure slavery is synonymous with suffering. The second clue is that Huxley’s world isn’t a real improvement in suffering, as for example, when we cured polio. No one would legitimately claim we were in any way better off with polio. Instead, Huxley’s world is devoid of true joys like parenting and full of things that bring momentary pleasure like sexual encounters devoid of intimacy and drugs. So in that regard, he fails to sell me.

On the other hand, the Brave New World is more similar to the current world in 2017 than it was in the 1930s when it was written. The dogma of capitalism and positivity as religions does appear to rule our society for the worse. So as pure prediction Brave New World succeeds.

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Chemistry by Weike Wang

Chemistry by Weike Wang
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I have an insane crush on this book. I flew through it while stopping only to text people to go read this book now. The science is beautiful. The relationships are real, and touching, and so sad. It's also hilarious. Also, clearly the author is brilliant. I am seriously considering just reading this book again immediately.

Note: I know this sounds like one of those crazy reviews that a friend of an author writes but I never even heard of Weike Wang before I picked up the book and read it.

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Lady Chatterley's Lover by D.H. Lawrence

Lady Chatterley's Lover by D.H. Lawrence
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

At first, I loved this book, and it felt very modern, but as it continued it was just too much sex and conversations about sex. The first few conversations about sex were interesting in that the woman seemed so real and I was impressed with Lawrence's grasp of a modern woman. But later conversations about sex left me feeling like maybe Lawrence was actually missing the boat entirely. Also, it just became overplayed. The over-emphasis on sex made it feel decidedly not modern.

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Pax by Sara Pennypacker

Pax by Sara Pennypacker
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Totally adequate children's story. Kind of boring, kind of violent. My kids are not especially sensitive when it comes to fiction so I'd let them read it as soon as they were up to the reading level. The ending is good but a bit unsatisfying because "the war" is just beginning so there will be an end after the end of the book, and it probably won't be good.

No idea where this book takes place in space or in time which kind of bugs me. I kept imagining Mason-Dixon area pre-civil war but there's a tractor and a number of other things that make it certain that it's after the civil war. Red foxes are native to North America so I assume Europe is off the list for a possible setting.

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From Dawn to Decadence by Jacques Barzun

From Dawn to Decadence: 500 Years of Western Cultural Life, 1500 to the Present by Jacques Barzun
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I did not especially enjoy reading this which is why I initially gave up after 200 pages. But I hate quitting things, and this is one of my dad's books, so I persisted. It's definitely interesting the way he handles European culture of 500 years, which is too long a time period even for a book this long, but it was a good try.

I initially was thinking 3 stars, but I bumped up my stars when I got to the end and read his summation of more modern history. I wonder how I would have viewed the previous 400-year summaries if I'd read the end first. It's a pretty good summary of life as we know it though it's pretty damning as well.

Finally, another reason for bumping to 4 stars is that I intend to keep the book as a list of "people and things to read about next."

Big demerit for spoiling the plots of many classical books on my to-read shelf! Almost enough to keep me to 3 stars, but I was feeling generous because I was so happy to be finished with this tome.

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All My Sons by Arthur Miller

All My Sons by Arthur Miller
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Woah, super intense and very powerful denunciation of greed. Basically an essay on our responsibility for each other in this world. It was extremely dramatic, as in, very sensational.

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Love Warrior by Glennon Doyle Melton

Love Warrior by Glennon Doyle Melton
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

My review isn't entirely about just this book. I read her first book, Carry On, Warrior: Thoughts on Life Unarmed first. That one shows her sense of humor more than this one, and based on that one I know I like her and appreciate her take on things. This second book is a better memoir, with a better chronology, story, and better writing. However, if you haven't read the first one like I did, you might think she takes herself a bit too seriously. Having read both, I think the tone of this one is more serious both because she's facing a significant crisis but also because she's revealing a lot more intimate detail about both her and her husband. I think this one is a better memoir, but the other one shows more of the real her, or at least in combination with this one shows more of the real her.

One strange thing is that because of her public nature, everyone knows more about the status of her relationship than this book actually reveals by the end.

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My Man Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse

My Man Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Cute and funny. Really a love letter to Jeeves. This is like a melon ball shot on top of my reading binge.

Most of it takes place in New York City, but it has this fun mocking quote about Long Island which is still mostly true 100 years later: "The days down on Long Island have forty-eight hours in them; you can't get to sleep at night because of the bellowing of the crickets; and you have to walk two miles for a drink and six for an evening paper. I thanked Rocky for his kind hospitality, and caught the only train they have down in those parts. It landed me in New York about dinner-time."

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The I Ching or Book of Changes by Anonymous

The I Ching or Book of Changes by Anonymous


This is the strangest book yet. It’s an ancient choose your own adventure prophesy book. The prophesy are written in the form of indecipherable aphorisms. Perhaps a lot is lost in translation.

“If you abandon jaws of it all and good fortune will prevail...”

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The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck by Mark Manson

The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life by Mark Manson
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Lots of great points, but I don’t think it makes a well-unified thesis. Care only about the important things, and not about the things that aren’t important.

Okay, I’m with you so far. But how do we determine what’s important?

Well, we’re going to die and only the conceptual self will survive.

Okay, great, so focus on that?

No, give up your conceptual self and just accept the annihilation of the self, but still do good for others.

Unfortunately, I think this kind of unclear thesis often happens when the self-help writer isn’t an expert in anything in particular. His philosophy touches on Buddhism but I suspect Marc Manson is not an expert in that either. Nonetheless, a few powerful thoughts can definitely alter some people’s lives for the better or at least put them on a better path.

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Carry On, Warrior by Glennon Doyle Melton

Carry On, Warrior: Thoughts on Life Unarmed by Glennon Doyle Melton
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

More of a collection of essays on accepting yourself and others rather than an actual memoir, though we do learn a lot about the author in her essays. The essays are inspiring and she has some very good points about parenting and religion.

From a memoir aspect, we get an incomplete view of who the people in her life story are. To some extent, we learn about the author herself, but most of the other people are presented as somewhat flat. How am I to resolve who her husband is for example? He models and cheats on Glennon for years without confessing but also agrees to give all their money away to charities twice in their marriage. I just have no sense of who this person is or why he does the things he does. Same for "Sister" and her parents. She wrote a sequel and I think I heard it fills in these blanks more, so I look forward to reading that.

Overall, I agree that her bravery in honesty is probably helping a lot of people.

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1984 by George Orwell

1984 by George Orwell
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

For whatever reasons, I was assigned this book 3 times in high school and have read it at least 2 times since then, making this the book that I've read the most times in my life. I don't enjoy the novel enough for it to be my most read book- it's just a bad accident. Alternatively, maybe I read it for the same reasons that terrifying local news gets such high ratings.

Here's one thing Orwell didn't anticipate, in the modern world everyone wants to be constantly surveilled on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, Goodreads, and YouTube. (Me too.) In the modern world, The Ministry of Truth still resides in Russia but pumps in their "truths" via these same social media channels. (Are they on Goodreads? Are they giving 1984 bad reviews on account of poor characterization?) There's no time to read anyway because everyone is watching reality television. The Real Housewives of Doublethink. In the modern world, the government doesn't care if everyone hates the government because they don't need your vote just your money. In the modern world, we hardly have time for thought crimes because we're constantly fighting incorrect bills and insurance companies.

Winston's job is especially quaint. In the modern world, there's no need to falsify history or the news. Not enough people care about the ample evidence of the actual truth. Anyone can just wave away the truth, claim any unsubstantiated nonsense, and enough Congressmen and civilians will follow in step. The rest of us can just scream into our social media. It's so much simpler really.

Yes, I know I'm being dramatic.

On the other hand: “She did not feel the abyss opening beneath her feet at the thought of lies becoming truths.” - Orwell

I do, Orwell! I feel the abyss. This abyss needs to be updated though because it’s gotten much bigger: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2...

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The Way of the Bodhisattva by Śāntideva

The Way of the Bodhisattva: A Translation of the Bodhicharyavatara by Śāntideva
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Some interesting things to think about. Some weird stuff. Short but dense. Read it because Dan Harris said Dalai Lama recommended it. Hm.

I was particularly interested in some (accidental?) overlap with Christianity (love thy enemy) and modern particle physics.

As one reviewer mentioned, this is definitely not an introductory text for Buddhism but a more advanced book, and despite the previous Buddhism books I've read, a substantial amount was probably just above my head.

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The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro

The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Some spoilers ahead.

First, my current mental state. I lost my father 7 years ago. He was 61, and I was 31 at the time. Last week- but it feels like a million terrible years - I lost my mother. She was 60, and I am now an old-feeling 38. My parents didn't have any other children, and I have virtually no family left from my childhood. I say this in part because it feels weird that I haven't told my "Goodreads friends" but also because it strongly affected how I responded to this book.

I picked this book up knowing it had a romantic component and hoping to take my mind off things with a Jane Austen-like repressed love. Nope. Steven's father dies. Kenton's maternal-figure aunt dies leaving her with no family. Rip. My. Heart. Out.

Then it just gets worse. Just like real life! Very sad, very moving, and real.

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10% Happier by Dan Harris

10% Happier: How I Tamed the Voice in My Head, Reduced Stress Without Losing My Edge, and Found Self-Help That Actually Works by Dan Harris
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

What a surprisingly wonderful book! I picked this up by accident because I thought it was a popular science book about the phenomenon of our happiness set point and the small change we're able to make to those set points. A few pages in, I realized I was reading a memoir about a news anchor who was not the kind of person I find it easy to relate to usually. I checked on Goodreads and saw some not-so-positive reviews, and I almost gave up reading the book. I'm so glad I didn't.

The author first takes us on his journalistic investigation of religion, especially Evangelical Christianity, which then leads to his own spiritual quest. He skeptically interviewed some self-help gurus. He then went off in a different direction by examining Buddhism. This leads to a significant portion of the book examining the practice, purpose, and pitfalls of mindfulness and meditation. All the while, the author is describing how his quest helped him grow as a person, and I realized how much I can and do connect with the author.

I'm not sure if I could have totally understood the value of this book two years ago, but since then I've also regularly practiced (with some inconsistency) and read widely about meditation. This is one of my new favorite books about meditation. Harris has a very non-guru approach which was very refreshing to me because I am also not a meditation guru. He had every skeptical thought I had in my early learning process, but more importantly, he addressed problems that I had not yet resolved in my own practice. He provided information that was new to me despite the books I've read about meditation and mindfulness, and this has encouraged me to go back to practicing more regularly and possibly for longer sessions. I think I also want to go to one of those multi-day meditation retreats now.

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Capitalism by Ayn Rand

Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal by Ayn Rand
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I did not give this 4 stars because I agree with most of it or even half of it. I gave it 4 stars because I do think she did a good job of conveying her ideas, and the essays made me think about my views and examine whether they were based on faulty assumptions. Also, I found this book much easier and more entertaining than other Rand books I've read.

Here are just a few issues I had with Rand's ideas. She seems to willfully ignore basic economic concepts such as the tragedy of the commons. ToC is basically the worst world-wide threat right now. Global climate change invalidates so many of her arguments right off the bat. She ignores how money can generate more money without any innovation or hard work. Modern research in the irrationality of man also disproves many of her arguments. Her arguments against anti-trust laws can be effortlessly dismissed by anyone who has previously paid for cable or an internet connection. I think she terribly discounts the good that labor unions have done for working people. Now that labor unions have lost power in many industries I think we've all felt some of the negative effects both in the economy, politics and in loss of our leisure time, though we may not all associate it with that cause. And OMG did she honestly try to make an argument in favor of child labor? That's when you know that unfettered capitalism has really jumped the shark. As an aside, her attack on altruism is diametrically opposed to both Christianity and the current science of happiness.

There were also interesting parts that challenged me to think - and occasionally I even agree with some things. For example, I agree that many government subsidies are a horror. I have long had an intense dislike of the corn subsidy and its terrible results for both our economy and health. Nor am I a fan of train subsidies. Clearly, the price point for trains should be in between buses and airplanes? Yet trains often cost the same or more as a flight. I am also interested in Rand's argument about unemployment being related to government interference in the market. That seems plausible when government interference in immigration is considered, but I don't know enough about the research and numbers - and a fully mobile world labor market doesn't seem likely anytime soon. She appears to be mostly right about the hypocrisy of both political parties with regards to religion and reason.

Rand makes the argument that it's not true that too much of a good thing is always bad, and that's correct that it's not ALWAYS true. But it is sometimes true. (Even excessive water consumption can kill you.) I don't think she succeeded in proving that unfettered capitalism is better than capitalism with regulation.

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The Upside of Irrationality by Dan Ariely

The Upside of Irrationality: The Unexpected Benefits of Defying Logic at Work and at Home by Dan Ariely
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I gave it only 4 stars because there is a lot of overlap with Arely's other book, Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions. In particular, I think Predictably Irrational also addressed how high wages or bonuses are demotivating, how the "Sisyphean condition" at work is demotivating, and how we overvalue our own work.

I really enjoyed the new sections on adaption, "assortative mating" which is economist talk for hot people pairing up together, dating inefficiencies and how to potentially make them more efficient, and the joys of consumer revenge (though I'm certain that's not how Ariely would describe that section). There was also an interesting section on how we tend to follow our own example. Once we have behaved a particular way, we view our choices so positively that we continue to behave in that way. Mind-bending.

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This Boy's Life by Tobias Wolff

This Boy's Life by Tobias Wolff
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Excellent memoir but had to withhold a star for the pitiless discussion of 15-year-old Miss Flood. What a horror.

Favorite quote:
"When we are green, still half-created, we believe that our dreams are rights, that the world is disposed to act in our best interests, and that falling and dying are for quitters. We live on the innocent and monstrous assurance that we alone, of all the people ever born, have a special arrangement whereby we will be allowed to stay green forever."
- Tobias Wolff, This Boy's Life

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Al Franken, Giant of the Senate by Al Franken

Al Franken, Giant of the Senate by Al Franken
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Don't read this for the sake of humor. This book isn't as funny as Lies & the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair & Balanced Look at the Right. Instead, you should read this book if you're interested in a somewhat candid look at the work of a U.S. Senator. While Franken admits he is not fully candid, I think this is as close as you'll get from a politician because Franken has a very non-politician bent in his governing style. When he ran for office he was an outsider and so he's able to see the process with outsider's eyes as an ordinary American might.

Also gives a nice in-depth and humorous look at some of the things that make Ted Cruz so awful he's even disliked by his own party.

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Hunger: A Memoir of (My) Body by Roxane Gay

Hunger: A Memoir of (My) Body by Roxane Gay
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This memoir is both very interesting and very moving. I could relate to a lot of what she wrote about since nearly every woman in America struggles with weight loss (even the thin ones seem to stress about it). There were also many things about life in the BMI numbers above overweight and obese that I was unaware of and therefore perhaps not sensitive to - for example, some of the accommodations that are necessary. I like Gay's collection Bad Feminist, but I think this memoir is even stronger.

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All the President's Men by Carl Bernstein, Bob Woodward

All the President's Men by Carl Bernstein, Bob Woodward
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Having not lived through Watergate it's really interesting to read the book and see how revelations came out little by little, and how ugly the coverup became eventually.

On the other hand, the focus of the book is on the drama and proper practice of journalism though, and if you're not familiar with all the people in the Nixon administration this book can get a little dull in places. Nixon figures very little in the book.

Obviously, I picked this book because I expected to find parallels to the current political climate under Trump. There were many differences- especially that Nixon was very popular at the time of this scandal- but there were also some similarities I didn't know about. The attacks on journalism and journalists, in particular, were strikingly similar. However, to my knowledge, Trump has not yet threatened the lives of any journalists, just his opposition candidate.

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The Upanishads by Anonymous

The Upanishads: Translations from the Sanskrit by Anonymous


As a rule, I don't rate Holy Books. I will say this is more the sort of thing one would expect from a holy book if you were imagining the concept from scratch. The philosophy here overlaps a bit with Buddhism. It also does not depend purely on reasoning, as the philosophy can be better understood through the practical application of meditation. Not all of it makes great sense to me, but I'm not a great Yogi, so I wouldn't expect it to anyway.

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