The Happiness Myth: Why What We Think Is Right Is Wrong by Jennifer Michael Hecht
My rating: 0 of 5 stars
Hecht explores the notion of happiness and how to get it by contrasting modern sensibilities with past perspectives on the topic. It makes for an eye-opening approach and I love the clarity of Hecht’s writing.
The Interestings by Meg Wolitzer
My rating: 0 of 5 stars
Smartly written and affecting. Recommended.
Through the Eye of a Needle: Wealth, the Fall of Rome & the Making of Christianity in the West, 350-550 AD by Peter R.L. Brown
My rating: 0 of 5 stars
Fantastic. Very thoroughly researched history of how wealth and Christianity intersected during the end of the Roman Empire and the start of the Medieval era.
Fun & Games by Duane Swierczynski
My rating: 0 of 5 stars
A highly enjoyable bit of low-calorie absurdity, packed from top to bottom with action movie references. Most of which I probably missed.
Learning GNU Emacs by Debra Cameron
My rating: 0 of 5 stars
Pretty good! I definitely learned some useful new things about the editor I have been using for so long.
The Discovery of France: A Historical Geography from the Revolution to the First World War by Graham Robb
My rating: 0 of 5 stars
Excellent – a meandering tour through the modern history of France, mostly sans royalty.
Missing Microbes: How the Overuse of Antibiotics Is Fueling Our Modern Plagues by Martin J. Blaser
My rating: 0 of 5 stars
Totally fascinating and a little scary. This book is about our internal passengers, the microorganisms that live in and on us throughout our lives, and how we’ve been intentionally and unintentionally getting rid of them with antibiotics. As it turns out, we might need to put some of them back.
Read more: Review: Missing Microbes: How the Overuse of Antibiotics Is Fueling Our Modern Plagues →
Another good book by Grandin. This one is focused on our principal domesticated animals (dogs, cats, cows, pigs, horses, and chickens) and what we can and should be doing to make their lives better.
So one of the world’s leading authorities on ants wrote a novel! And it has ants in it. Wilson is a great writer of non-fiction, but his skills as a novelist clearly need some honing. There is, however, a little gem of a story buried in the middle of the book and it is quite good. Spoiler alert: That story is about ants.
A review of the latest research in paleontology with an eye towards debunking creationist misinformation. Perhaps a bit too strident, but I can understand his frustration with their tactics.