Category Archives: Book Reviews

Book Review:  Philosophy for Polar Explorers by Erling Kagge

Not long ago I was pleasantly surprised by the beautiful photos and thoughts in Silence: In the Age of Noise by Erling Kagge. This book is similar in that it is full of breathtaking photographs, mainly of Kagge’s journeys to … Continue reading →

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Book Review:  Outside Looking In: A Novel by T. C. Boyle

T. C. Boyle has a penchant for examining countercultural issues, especially those from the sixties and seventies. One of his previous novels, Drop City, concerns a commune of hippies that decides to relocate from California to Alaska; the transplanted freaks … Continue reading →

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Book Review:  Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI by David Grann

Let me preface this review by clarifying that I have not seen the award-nominated film of the same name by Martin Scorsese, so reading this book was my introduction to this horrific story. After oil is discovered on land belonging … Continue reading →

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Book Review:  Once Upon a Time in Hollywood: A Novel by Quentin Tarantino

I am normally not a fan of novelizations of films, but this one, after all, is written by Tarantino himself, so I figured it was worth a read. It turns out that the book is not really a novelization; that … Continue reading →

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Book Review:  The God Equation: The Quest for a Theory of Everything by Michio Kaku

The God Equation is Michio Kaku’s term for the ultimate theory, “the holy grail of physics, a single formula from which, in principle, one could derive all other equations, starting from the Big Bang and moving to the end of … Continue reading →

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Book Review:  The Quickening: Creation and Community at the Ends of the Earth by Elizabeth Rush

Elizabeth Rush is the author of Rising: Dispatches from the New American Shore, a study of the effects of global warming and rising sea levels on vulnerable places and communities. In The Quickening she continues her studies of the impact … Continue reading →

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Book Review:  The Bezzle by Cory Doctorow

A few months ago I attended an author event featuring Neal Stephenson and Cory Doctorow, ostensibly to promote Doctorow’s new book The Bezzle. However, they spoke little about The Bezzle, instead launching into a fascinating discussion of the internet, Big … Continue reading →

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Book Review:  Slow Productivity: The Lost Art of Accomplishment Without Burnout by Cal Newport

It was serendipitous that Slow Productivity came to my attention when it did. I have been in the midst of finalizing my latest book, a collection of memoirs and essays, but at the same time have been juggling numerous other … Continue reading →

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Book Review:  Empire of Ice and Stone: The Disastrous and Heroic Voyage of the Karluk by Buddy Levy

At the heart of this account of a compelling tragic adventure in the far north is a comparison of two very different styles of leadership: one single-mindedly selfish, and the other heroically self-sacrificial. Empire of Ice and Stone tells the … Continue reading →

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On Reading The Lord of the Rings for the Fifteenth Time; Part Three: The Return of the King and Appendices

The third volume of The Lord of the Rings, The Return of the King, is full of epic-scale heroic deeds: the passage of Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli, and the Dunedain through the paths of the dead; the ride of the Rohirrim … Continue reading →

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