Summer Book Reviews

Children of Time by Brian Tchaikovsky
An interesting science fiction novel that address so many different issues: cooperation vs conflict, person/machine divide, slavery, etc.  The book was very slow at times, but it kept me thinking.  Avoid it if you hate spiders.  Grade: B

Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow by Yuval Noah Harris
This book is a historians view on what will be the next major challenges faced by humanity.  Incredibly interesting.  Avoid if you do not like to hear someone attacking belief in God.  Grade: B+

Educated: A Memoir by Tara Westover
Wow, the best book I've read this year (or more).  A fascinating and moving story of growing up in a backward home in Idaho and then clawing your way out.  Ms. Westover has grit and more grit.  Must read.  Grade: A

Factfulness by Hans Rosling
It is so nice to read a book written by an optimist.  I learned a lot about the world in the 21st century while reading this book and you will too.  Grade: A-

Evicted by Matthew Desmond
A case study based look at poverty and the rise in eviction in the United States.  Good but soooo slow.  Grade: C

Turtles all the Way Down by John Green
A fictional story about a teenager with mental illness.  I enjoyed the other John Green books I read more, but this one probably made me think more.  Grade: B

Spring Book Reviews

Wow, it has been a long time since I updated my book list... Here it goes.

I Am Watching You by Teresa Driscoll
A murder mystery that is very popular with many readers, but that I found to be a little slow.  The ending surprised me, the characters were well developed and believable, but I wish the book had moved faster.  Grade: C

The Lost City of the Monkey God by Douglas Preston
The true story of a series of expeditions to Honduras to find a lost city.  The book was very interesting and very well researched.  My wife was in Nicaragua while I was reading the book so the chapters on mysterious rainforest diseases absolutely freaked me out.  An enjoyable book.  Grade: A-

Red Hope by John Dreese
Blue Hope by John Dreese
Two books that tell one science fiction story.  Do not attempt to read just one of the books.  The story concerns a manned mission to Mars after evidence of a lost alien race is discovered.  From there the story is mostly interesting and moves along well.  I think these may have been the first two books by Mr. Dreese, and it shows.  The story is entertaining -- like the author has wanted to write the books for a while, but the story also contains a few items that lack authenticity -- a common issues with first-time writers.  They are not bad books, and in fact they are very good, but they are not the best.  Grade: B

We are Legion (We are Bob) by Dennis E. Taylor
For We are Many by Dennis E Taylor
All These Worlds by Dennis E. Taylor
Three books that tell one science fiction story, and they really need to be read together, in sequence.  I loved this story.  It is about an engineer that finds himself as the first **human** explorer of the the Milky Way.  The books and the overall story is complex with many interwoven, smaller sub-stories.  I usually do not enjoy big, complex, interwoven stories, but it worked here.  Just a fantastic story and highly recommend.  One final note, I listened to a lot of these books via audible.  The narrator for these 3 books is easily one of the very best narrators I've encountered after listening to parts of >100 books.  Consider the audible book here.  Grade: A-

December Book Reviews

Hyperion by Dan Simmons
This is really a collection of science fiction short stories that are tied together around a common event.  As short stories, they were really good.  As a stand alone book with a beginning and end, it missed the mark.  Grade: B-

Nudge by Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein
A very interesting book about human behavior and economics.  The authors argue that we should do more to help people make good decisions, i.e., we should nudge them.  I agreed with some of what they said, but not all.  Enjoyable and interesting book.  Grade: B+

Poisson Feather by Matthew Fitzsimmons
Cold Harbor by Matthew Fitzsimmons
These are books 2 and 3 of the current 3-book Gibson Vaughn series.  They are your basic murder, mystery, suspense-type books.  The first book in the series, The Short Drop, was pretty good, and, I assume, led to a big contract for books 2 and 3.  Book 2, Poisson Feather, was a complete train wreck.  The book didn't have an ending and was depressing throughout.  Grade: F
Book 3, Cold Harbor, was better but still didn't quite hit the the quality of The Short Drop.  Grade: B

Infinity Born by Douglas E. Richards
I've always enjoyed Richards' books, and this one was no exception.  It was a little long and some of the scenes felt like they lacked authenticity, but there are other dialogues in the book that I completely enjoyed and will think about for a long time.  This book tackled issues associate with AI and brain emulation -- lots of food for thought.  Grade: A-

Fall Book Reviews

Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of Nike by Phil Knight
A fascinating book about the creation and growth of Phil Knight's shoe companies -- Blue Ribbon Sports initially, later renamed Nike.  The stories of the original ideas, the first sales, the first store, etc. are fascinating.  Everyone that I've talked with about the book has a 'favorite part.'  For me, my favorite part was when Phil was running the startup company (mainly an import company with mail order sales) and he went back to work as a CPA.  It was an impressive display of humility and commitment, in my mind, that he worked a day job even though he was running a company with employees.  The book really only gives the story into the late 70's so we miss the Jordan years and other major milestones, but it is still a great book.  Highly recommended.  Grade: A-

The Neon Lawyer by Victor Methos
A book based on a true story and set in Salt Lake City.  It tells the story of a new lawyer battling to help a client against a ladder-climbing district attorney looking to move up.  The book is short and enjoyable.  Grade: B+

Breakthrough by Michael C. Grumley
A science fiction book set here on earth.  It includes everything from aliens that are here but hidden to AI for communicating with dolphins.  Pretty good, but the ending was a bit of a let down because the bad guys got away with too much bad stuff.  Grade: B-

Summer Book Reviews

Irresistible: The Rise of Addictive Technology and the Business of Keeping Us Hooked by Adam Alter
The title of this book say it all, this book talks about the different types of technology that some people become addicted to, it addresses the question of whether or not behavioral addiction is even possible, and it talks about the reasons why technology can be addictive.  I thought the book was interesting, especially the sections on video game addiction, but I wished it had talked more about solutions or strategies to overcoming/avoiding behavioral addictions.  Grade: B

The Black Widow by Daniel Silva
A best selling book with very, very high reviews on Amazon.  This fictional book is about a terrorist group within ISIS that is planning a major attack, and a women working for Israel that is trying to infiltrate the group and help to stop the attack.  The book felt pretty real -- it was not an unbelievable James Bond-esq book, but I think I like my fictional books to be a little more exciting and maybe less real.  Grade: B

A Beautiful Poison by Lydia Kang
Set in New York during the later part of World War I, this fictional book is about a group of mostly wealth and young New Yorkers that are in the middle of a series of murders.  The book has some interesting characters and some interesting chemistry, but the story is also slow and too character-driven for me.  Grade: B-

The Man of Legends by Kenneth Johnson
This book is interesting and very hard to describe.  It is a fictional story about a man with a very, very long and complex past and he is now facing a climactic good vs evil situation.  It felt a little like Forrest Gump crossed with Lord of the Rings -- I know that sounds crazy, but it had lots of history and lots of good vs. evil.  Entertaining.  Grade: A-

Ancillary Justice
A science fiction book that won the Hugo and Nebula awards; hence it was one of the most critically acclaimed science fiction books ever.  The concept behind the book is interesting, especially to me as I am interested in artificial intelligence and the limits/potential therein.  However, the story felt slow and choppy to me.  Grade: C-

June Book Reviews

Born a Crime by Trevor Noah
A very interesting and funny memoir by Trevor Noah, current host of the Daily Show, about growing up in South Africa.  The title is a reference to the fact that his mom was black and his dad was white (a Swiss/German ex-pat) and for them to have sex was illegal under apartheid.  I loved the book and thought his mom sounded like an amazing person.  Highly recommended.  Grade: A

Beneath a Scarlet Sky by Mark Sullivan
I might be biased because Mark Sullivan is a local author, living in Bozeman, Montana, but I thought this was a fascinating and interesting story of a young, Italian man, Pino Lella, during World War 2.  Pino survived an incredible number of harrowing experiences, and he faced some incredibly difficult decisions during the war.  We all need to know and understand history so we can learn from it.  Grade: A-

I Contain Multitudes by Ed Yong
Microorganisms are all around us and inside of us.  They have more of an impact on our health and well-being than most of us realize.  This book is about the incredible interactions between microbes and other living things. Fascinating and highly recommended.  Grade: A

Book Reviews: The Red Rising Trilogy

The Red Rising Trilogy, much like the Lord of the Rings Trilogy, is really one long story spread across three books.  You can read none of them or all of them, but you cannot read one or two of them.  I thought the trilogy was exceptional, second only to the Lord of the Rings Trilogy from those I've read.  The books are emotionally moving -- at times I was exhilarated, angry, crushed, elated, moved, appalled, etc. Pick an emotion, and I probably felt it, strongly, at some point while reading these books.  They are part social commentary, and they are part inspirational.  One way to describe them is to take one part "The Hunger Games", one part "Game of Thrones", and one part "Star Wars (episode IV - VI)" and mix.  The overall trilogy gets a grade of A, but a few notes before closing:

1. The first book was very good.  It felt overly violent, but maybe that was necessary (I'm skeptical).  Grade: B+
2. The second book had the single worst ending of any book I've ever read.  Whoever made the tragic mistake of not moving the last 2 or 3 chapters to the start of book 3 should never be allowed to make such a decision again.  Grade: F-----
3. The third book saved the trilogy. Grade: A+
4. Obviously, the third book's grade counts more than the others.
5. The books are written first person, from the point of the protagonist, Darrow of Lycos.  However, it is a limited first person view because the reader does not always know what Darrow is thinking/doing.  This writing style is very effective for raising the emotional level of the books.  In retrospect, I found it both frustrating and interesting.