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September 03
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Patrick
is currently reading:
Following the Equator: A Journey Around the World (Dover Books on Travel, Adventure)
by Mark Twain
bookshelves:
currently-reading
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my rating:
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Patrick
is currently reading:
Underground (Paperback)
by Haruki Murakami
bookshelves:
currently-reading
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my rating:
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August 22
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Patrick
gave
to:
What I Talk About When I Talk About Running (Hardcover)
by Haruki Murakami
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my rating:
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read in August, 2008
Patrick said:
"This book is my diary. It just happens to be written by another person.
Haruki Murakami wrote these essays on running while training for the New York City Marathon. He is a long-time runner who has been running marathons for a number of years. ...more
This book is my diary. It just happens to be written by another person.
Haruki Murakami wrote these essays on running while training for the New York City Marathon. He is a long-time runner who has been running marathons for a number of years. These essays aren’t about how to take 30 seconds off your 5K time or what shoes to buy; they get at the root of what motivates endurance athletes. There are plenty of books on this topic out there, but I’ve never encountered one written by a writer as talented as Murakami.
I don’t re-read a lot of books, but this is one that I plan to purchase so I can re-read and re-re-read it in the future.
...less
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August 10
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Patrick
gave
to:
Rule Number Two: Lessons I Learned in a Combat Hospital (Hardcover)
by Heidi Squier Kraft
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my rating:
Added to my books!
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read in August, 2008
Patrick said:
"This book was sitting on my wife's nightstand; I stole it to avoid Paradise Lost for a couple more days. This is an account of a Navy psychologist's tour of duty in Iraq. It's a quick read but incredibly poignant. It provides just a glimpse...more
This book was sitting on my wife's nightstand; I stole it to avoid Paradise Lost for a couple more days. This is an account of a Navy psychologist's tour of duty in Iraq. It's a quick read but incredibly poignant. It provides just a glimpse into what soldiers encounter in a war zone, but it's more than I could handle at some points....less
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August 08
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Patrick
gave
to:
Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness (Hardcover)
by Richard H. Thaler, Cass R. Sunstein
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my rating:
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read in August, 2008
Patrick said:
"Nudge looks at choice architecture – the manner in which choices are presented to people – and how it can be tweaked in a number of situations to improve social welfare without inhibiting personal freedom. (The authors call their philosophy one ...more
Nudge looks at choice architecture – the manner in which choices are presented to people – and how it can be tweaked in a number of situations to improve social welfare without inhibiting personal freedom. (The authors call their philosophy one of “libertarian paternalism”.) Some of the scenarios discussed are ways to increase organ donation, increase personal savings and decrease energy usage. These goals are achieved not through draconian measures but through simple “nudges” that provide people with information and incentives to make better decisions.
I was particularly impressed with the quality of the writing. The authors discuss these subjects in some depth while keeping the tone more conversational than academic. (They also inject a dry sense of humor that made me laugh out loud – in a book written by economists.) If you enjoy Malcolm Gladwell, you may well enjoy Nudge.
...less
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August 01
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Patrick
added:
Paradise Lost (Penguin Classics)
by John Milton
bookshelves:
currently-stalled
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my rating:
Added to my books!
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July 29
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Patrick
gave
to:
When You Are Engulfed in Flames (Hardcover)
by David Sedaris
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my rating:
Added to my books!
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read in July, 2008
Patrick said:
"I enjoy David Sedaris’s regular essays in the New Yorker magazine, so I was looking forward to reading his new book. While I figured that I would have seen some of the essays before, I wish there was more new material. The vast majority of these ...more
I enjoy David Sedaris’s regular essays in the New Yorker magazine, so I was looking forward to reading his new book. While I figured that I would have seen some of the essays before, I wish there was more new material. The vast majority of these essays had been originally printed in the New Yorker, so I recognized most of them after a couple paragraphs. The previously unpublished material is pretty good, and it’s worth borrowing (not buying) the book to read that – especially the final essay on quitting smoking (which was excerpted but not previously published in its entirety).
That said, if you don’t read the New Yorker, this is another accumulation of funny (but sometimes dark) work by Sedaris that I would recommend.
...less
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July 27
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Patrick
gave
to:
The Diaries of Adam and Eve (Hesperus Press)
by Mark Twain
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my rating:
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read in July, 2008
Patrick said:
"Twain does Genesis. Absolutely brilliant.
These really are just a couple short stories -- and they're available for free online at gutenberg.org -- so there's nothing stopping you from dropping what you're doing and reading these. Go. Now.
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July 26
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Patrick
gave
to:
How to Lie with Maps (Hardcover)
by Mark Monmonier
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my rating:
Added to my books!
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read in July, 2008
Patrick said:
"I read a reference to “How To Lie With Maps” in an interesting cartographic blog post. Something about the comment made me set my expectations very high; I almost expected that the book would look at maps the way that Edward Tufte looks at graph...more
I read a reference to “How To Lie With Maps” in an interesting cartographic blog post. Something about the comment made me set my expectations very high; I almost expected that the book would look at maps the way that Edward Tufte looks at graphs. It didn’t.
The book sets out to address the different ways that people can manipulate maps in a way to mislead readers. It does a decent job of that, but it doesn’t provide any useful method of sorting useful maps from sketchy maps. The only way you can tell a good map from a bad map is to look at the raw data – data that aren’t usually provided when you see maps in newspapers/magazines/websites. So you’re left with “maps can lie” and few tips on making better maps (explaining appropriate use of choropleth maps and different color schemes) but little else.
I don’t mean to completely pan the book, but I was left feeling that while the book had some useful information it could have been more efficiently conveyed in a long-form magazine article (in something like The Atlantic or Scientific American)....less
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July 20
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Patrick
marked as to-read:
A Nuclear Family Vacation: Travels in the World of Atomic Weaponry (Hardcover)
by Sharon Weinberger
bookshelves:
to-read
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my rating:
Added to my books!
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