Late Fall Book Reviews

The World Until Yesterday: What Can We Learn from Traditional Societies? by Jarrod Diamond
I loved the previous two book by Jarrod Diamond that I read -- "Guns, Germs, and Steel" and, especially, "Collapse."  The book was not as good as either of those classics, but I still enjoyed it.  It looked at changes that happen in societies when the transition from Traditional to Modern.  Specially, the book explores the treatment of children and elderly, warfare, justice, multilingualism, diet, etc.  The book is pretty long, and, personally, I thought the first half was pretty slow (and could have been condensed), but the second half was much more interesting to me.  A very good book, but not a classic.  Grade: B

The App Generation by Gardner Howard and Katie Davis
This book examines differences between the current "App Generation" (i.e., my kids) and other recent generations.  It was interesting at times, but I thought most of the observations were relatively obvious and I was frustrated by the reliance on observational and interview data rather than broader, quantitative data. Grade: C-

Devil in the Grove: Thurgood Marshall, the Groveland Boys and the Dawn of a New America by Gilbert King
A very interested biographical look at an series of important events in both the life of Thurgood Marshall and also US race relations in general.  I learned a lot from this book.  It was disturbing, moving, and provocative. Highly recommended.  Grade: A-.

Final Review Solutions

4.69) y_CO = 4100 ppm
6.27) m_H2O = 0.26 kg/h and V_feed = 13,500 L/hr