Category Archives: Book Reviews

Book Review: Winners Take All: The Elite Charade of Changing the World by Anand Giridharadas

The key to understanding the motivation for this book is found in the acknowledgement section at the end. The author explains that he himself has been part of the charity networks on which he reports, but he began to develop … Continue reading

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Book Review: Best American Short Stories 2017 Edited by Meg Wolitzer and Heidi Pitlor

I look forward to reading best short stories of the year collections because I don’t have time to seek out and read all these stories otherwise. I always read them hoping that as a short story writer, apart from the … Continue reading

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Book Review: Leadership in Turbulent Times by Doris Kearns Goodwin

This book is similar to another I read recently: The Soul of America: The Battle for Our Better Angels by Jon Meacham. Both books deal with presidential leadership in troubled times, and both books have as their main examples Abraham … Continue reading

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Book Review: Henry Miller: A Seeker in Big Sur by Arthur Hoyle

I have to make something clear from the outset: I don’t read Henry Miller’s works very often anymore. However, when I was young, his writings were influential in propelling me out onto the road to find my own voice as … Continue reading

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Book Review: Unholy Land by Lavie Tidhar

This novel has a terrifically compelling premise. In an alternate world, instead of settling in Israel, disenfranchised Jews are given a homeland by the British government in East Africa. I have to admit that I brought some expectations and hopes … Continue reading

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Book Review: The Space Barons: Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and the Quest to Colonize the Cosmos by Christian Davenport

I came across this book by chance in the library, and it’s one of those fortuitous accidents that don’t come along often. It’s a terrific book: exciting, relevant, eye-opening, and mind-blowing. It’s about the takeover of the space race by … Continue reading

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Book Review: The Soul of America: The Battle for Our Better Angels by Jon Meacham

This is a very topical book. As I write this in mid-2018, it is exceedingly relevant. However, it is also universal and timeless. Although it’s obviously a reaction to the present state of chaos in the United States – and … Continue reading

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Book Reviews: The Year’s Best Science Fiction: Thirty-Fifth Annual Collection Edited by Gardner Dozois and Best Science Fiction of the Year Volume 3 Edited by Neil Clarke

Although I read the Clarke anthology and wrote its review first, I’m going to start here with the Dozois book. Gardner Dozois died recently, so this is the last time he’ll compile the best science fiction of the year for … Continue reading

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Book Review: Nomadland: Surviving America in the Twenty-First Century by Jessica Bruder

Let’s start this out the right way: It’s not hyperbole to say that this book hit me more profoundly, personally, and viscerally than any other book I’ve read in the past few years. One other possible contender about which I’ve … Continue reading

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Book Review: The Writers: A History of American Screenwriters and Their Guild by Miranda J. Banks

After my six-week stint at Clarion West science fiction writing workshop in 1973, my epic hitchhiking journey down the West Coast, through Mexico and into Guatemala, my return to Seattle, and my abortive attempt to get normal jobs, I got … Continue reading

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