Category Archives: Book Reviews

The Volunteer   The incredible true story of a Polish resistance fighter’s infiltration of Auschwitz to sabotage the camp from within, and his daring escape to warn the Allies about the Nazis’ true plans for a “Final Solution.” To uncover the … Continue reading →

audible.com Louis D. Brandeis Check out this great listen on Audible.com. The first full-scale biography in 25 years of one of the most important and distinguished justices to sit on the Supreme Court – an audiobook that reveals Louis D. … Continue reading →

The author started off telling us that we overlook the big impact of the Spanish in America, which is true. She then elides to “the Americas,” implying that the Americas were Spanish. As an old Brazil lover, I think more … Continue reading →

I feel mildly uncomfortable about emergence. I like to think there are reasons why things happen. Daniel Dennett does not come to the rescue when he explains that there are always reasons FOR somethings but that we should not confuse … Continue reading →

Need to manage complexity in a holistic way. Need to change how we practice agriculture to restore soil and sequester more carbon in them. Create policies holistically and revolution in institutions. Addressing complexity is hard. Need to recognize difference between … Continue reading →

fancied myself a classical scholar for a few years. I spent many hours in libraries. During my grad school years, I literally spent many more time at Memorial Library than I did at home. The idea of finding and preserving … Continue reading →

Robert Caro has been criticized for writing this book, not for anything in or about the book itself, but rather because critics don’t want him to divert his time and energy from finishing his series on Lyndon Johnson. His final … Continue reading →

Walkable cities are more pleasant even for those who do not walk much. These cities are cleaner, safer and more sustainable than others, since the factors that make it walkable are very often just good. Why don’t we have these … Continue reading →

Soil is a living community, not just a pile of dirt. The best insight from this book is that plants and fungi are developing in the soils, and it is useful to think of the microbes as livestock. They have … Continue reading →

Some summer reading and maybe finding patterns that do not exist. I am usually reading a few books over the same period, so I get them confused. This is not helped by the fact that I tend to read related … Continue reading →