Category Archives: Book Reviews

Thoughts on This Immortal by Roger Zelazny

Recently I needed a book that I could take with me on a journey by plane without adding much to the weight and volume of my carry-on luggage. It also had to be well-written and absorbing, something that would hold … Continue reading

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Book Review:  Human Nature: Nine Ways to Feel About Our Changing Planet by Kate Marvel

For days I have been immersed in this fascinating new book on the environmental impact of human activities. Marvel is a climate scientist with a PhD in theoretical physics who works with computerized climate models to study climate change. At … Continue reading

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Book Review:  Team Dog: How to Train Your Dog – the Navy SEAL Way by Mike Ritland

If you consider Team Dog a departure from the type of books I usually review, you’d be right. After all, I don’t even own a dog. However, there is a reason for this deviation. And in the interests of all … Continue reading

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Book Review:  The Demon of Unrest: A Saga of Hubris, Heartbreak, and Heroism at the Dawn of the Civil War by Erik Larson

I wouldn’t say I have a particular penchant for Civil War stories, but this book caught my attention due to its relevance to the modern era of political antagonism and uncertainty. The author researched and wrote the book during the … Continue reading

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Book Review:  The AI Con: How to Fight Big Tech’s Hype and Create the Future We Want by Emily M. Bender and Alex Hanna

The year 2023 saw the publication of The Internet Con by Cory Doctorow, which explains how big tech creates monopolies for their products so that consumers needing to access them have a dearth of options. This exclusivity allows tech companies … Continue reading

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Book Review:  The City and Its Uncertain Walls by Haruki Murakami

I have already read and appreciated several of Murakami’s books, including the novels Kafka on the Shore and Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage and short story collections Men Without Women and First Person Singular. I like his … Continue reading

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Book Review:  The Book of Alchemy: A Creative Practice for an Inspired Life by Suleika Jaouad

In a literary marketplace that is surfeited with imitations and imitations of imitations, The Book of Alchemy is a startlingly original book. It concerns the value of journaling, both as a therapeutic device and as an art form. However, it … Continue reading

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The Rediscovery of America: Native Peoples and the Unmaking of U.S. History by Ned Blackhawk (Part Two)

This is a tragic story of greed and betrayal, certainly a black spot and cause for shame in the nation’s history. As I read it, I wondered whether humankind was capable of truly evolving. Sure, we can come up with … Continue reading

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Book Review:  The Rediscovery of America: Native Peoples and the Unmaking of U.S. History by Ned Blackhawk (Part One)

One of the enduring friends I made when I attended the Clarion West science fiction writing workshop in 1973 was the late Russell Bates, a Kiowa Native American who’d already sold several indigenous-themed stories to magazines and anthologies and went … Continue reading

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Book Review:  We Do Not Part by Han Kang

Han Kang is a South Korean author who was awarded the 2024 Nobel Prize in Literature. This novel is my first exposure to her work, and I should clarify from the outset that We Do Not Part is well-written, atmospheric, … Continue reading

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