Colin Marks's Blog, page 8

Review: Hope in Hell: A decade to confront the climate emergency by Jonathon Porritt

Most environmental books make for a bleak read – they tend to focus on the failure of previous governments to engage, and due to the ignorant deniers and the political lobbying they prophesize doom and gloom and the end of civilisation. Hope in Hell isn’t immune to this, but it presents a far more balanced outlook, citing improvements in technology and options for climate engineering that could, alongside emission control, help reduce the effects of this climate crisis.

Sir Jonathon Porritt h...

Remote: Office Not Required by Jason Fried, David Heinemeier Hansson

Remote, by Jason Fried and DHH (the founders of 37signals/Basecamp), justifies the benefits of home working and offers some sensible procedures and techniques to ensure you and your team remain integrated and productive. The book is written as a series of short essays, all raising issues and skimming over solutions. There’s little depth – if you want that, listen to Matt Mullenweg’s (founder of WordPress) Distributed podcast – but as a quick introduction to the pros and cons of remote working, y...

Review: Metropolis: A History of Humankind’s Greatest Invention by Ben Wilson

Interestingly, after completing Metropolis, I picked up Remote by Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson, which talks-up home/remote working. Early on in that book, they predicted the working from home movement (greatly accelerated by Covid19) would result in the decline of cities – people would choose to live in cheaper, larger properties out of the city. Being a city person, I disagreed with this statement, and after reading Ben’s Metropolis, I realised why.

It’s easy to label cities as d...

Review: To Be a Man by Nicole Krauss

This is the first book by Nicole Krauss I’ve read, but it certainly won’t be the last. This collection of short stories have mostly been printed elsewhere, so fans of her writing may have read them before. The stories, Jewish influenced, explore relationships – the coming together and drifting apart. They’re quirky but intelligent, the writing poetic and lyrical. A lovely read.

Book supplied by Netgalley for an honest review.

See review on Goodreads.

Review: The Art of Doing Nothing and Something: Pottering as a Cure for Modern Life by Anna McGovern

One of the most silliest, most oddest, most charming books you’ll read. When, in the opening pages, I was given detailed instructions on how to make a cup of tea, I wasn’t quite sure what to think. By the end, I got it. Not one to read cover to cover in one sitting, just pick up and put down when you’re pottering, read a few pages, drift onto something else. I’m off to organise my herb rack now…

Book supplied by Netgalley for an honest review.

See review on Goodreads.

Review: Idle Hands by Cassondra Windwalker

An interesting, but flawed book. Perdie is a victim of domestic violence, and with Ella (the Devil) looking over her shoulder, waiting to influence outcomes, she has an opportunity to try a different route through her life.

Interesting, because it was a good idea, kind of like a Sliding Doors concept.

Flawed, because I felt the execution wasn’t quite right. Ella’s voice, while initially interesting, broke the plot too often for too long, with monologues that contributed less than intended....

Review: How Should One Read a Book? by Virginia Woolf

An interesting speech given by Virginia Woolf to some students, edited into an essay. A quick half hour read, lovely for free, not sure I’d feel the same after paying the £7 price tag…

Book supplied by Netgalley for an honest review.

See review on Goodreads.

Review: Humankind: A Hopeful History by Rutger Bregman

This is a fantastic read.

Bregman’s premise is that humans are a pretty decent species, and not the monsters that the media portrays through dodgy reporting and dubious science. The sections where he tears into widely reported examples of human selfishness and aggression – such as the Stanford Prison Experiment, the Milgram experiment, the self-destruction of Easter Island, Kitty Genovese’s murder (all of which I’d heard of and believed the established narratives) – was eye-opening and shocki...

Review: Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi, Geoffrey Trousselot

Before the Coffee Gets Cold is definitely a marmite book – you’ll hate it or love it. The story is undeniably charming, well structured and original. The issue is with the writing. Forget what you’ve been told about good writing – “don’t jump point of view”, “show, don’t tell”, “trust the intelligence of the reader” – all those rules are broken multiple times on every page. If you can tolerate that, and it was a struggle, you’ll be rewarded with a beautiful story.

Book supplied by Netgalley f...

Review: A Girl Made of Air by Nydia Hetherington

This beautifully written debut novel follows an unamed tight-rope walker (called Mouse by her friend) – her ups, her downs, and her bad but well intended decisions. The magical realism is nicely played, and the story structure is excellently created.

The reason why I gave it 4 stars and not 5, was the narrators voice was mature, confident, educated. Mouse, hence her name, is timid, hides under lorries to watch the world, and states as a teenager that she’s only conversed with four or so peopl...