There was a time when I read a lot of science fiction. How much has tapered off in recent years as I’ve pursued other interests in reading. But I still think my heart is with science fiction. While on its surface it can seem like it’s all aliens, lasers, robots, and mad scientists, much of […]
Short Review | Steal Like an Artist: 10 Things Nobody Told You About Being Creative by Austin Kleon
2021-07-11 · by ·
This is the type of book that frees you up to be the artist you want to be, even if–or especially if–that means you are imitating (what Kleon calls “stealing”) your heroes. Don’t let criticism, finances, or fear get in the way. Just create that thing, stealing from the greats along the way, and make […]
Review | Holes by Louis Sachar
2021-05-30 · by ·
“If only, if only,” the woodpecker sighs, “The bark on the tree was as soft as the skies.” While the wolf waits below, hungry and lonely, Crying to the moo-oo-oon, “If only, if only.” I’m not sure if I’ve ever read Holes by Louis Sachar before, but the kids have me on a “read […]
Review | Lawrence in Arabia by Scott Anderson
2021-05-29 · by ·
T.E. Lawrence has always intrigued me. Not that I know much about him, but something about him, as played by Peter O’Toole in my mind’s eye, has always seemed mysterious and exciting, though I could not have put my finger on it. I visualize a blonde, wild-eyed rebel, a man who could manipulate the greatest […]
Review | Lovely War by Julie Berry
2021-03-30 · by ·
Julie Berry tortures her readers. It’s true. She carefully creates characters with so much color and depth that they feel more real than the people I actually know. Then, once I’m invested and committed to these characters, these imaginary people that are no more than ink on the paper, she begins to twist events around […]
Review | Extraterrestrial: The First Sign of Intelligent Life Beyond Earth by Avi Loeb
2021-03-22 · by ·
I’m not sure what I expected from a book that posits that an alien structure passed through our solar system in 2017. Yes, I expected to read about some kind of weird anomalous, unexplainable object that passed through our solar system, and that’s definitely here. In the 11 days that we astronomers were able to […]
Review | Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
2020-07-14 · by ·
If you haven’t read any Ray Bradbury lately, right now is a fantastic time to read Fahrenheit 451. Published nearly 70 years ago, when computers still filled rooms and were the provenance of the military and large universities, 1953 saw an armistice in Korea, the Rosenbergs executed for stealing the atomic bomb for the Soviets, […]
Short Review | Love Your Enemies by Arthur C. Brooks
2020-07-02 · by ·
“What is the good of pretending to be what you are not? Well, even on the human level, you know, there are two kinds of pretending. There is the bad kind, where the pretense is there instead of the real thing; as when a man pretends he is going to help you instead of really […]
Review & Thoughts | The Bear River Massacre: A Shoshone History by Darren Parry
2020-03-15 · by ·
I want you to read this book. Darren Parry is Shoshone and The Bear River Massacre: A Shoshone History is as much a memoir of his grandmother, a work of family history as it is a history of his people. Though it does not read like something written by a trained historian (to my knowledge, […]
Review | Hatchet by Gary Paulsen
2020-02-10 · by ·
“Going to the woods is going home, for I suppose we came from the woods originally. But in some of nature’s forests, the adventurous traveler seems a feeble, unwelcome creature; wild beasts and the weather trying to kill him, the rank, tangled vegetation, armed with spears and stinging needles, barring his way and making life […]
