Wonderful book! I'm only 40% into it, but it is already the book of the year for me :)
Review to come when I finish
Saturday, September 13, 2014
Home Land: a Novel. Sam Lipsyte (2004)
(ebook) Supposedly a very funny author, I found it just entertaining. The whole book is a series of letters destined to the high school alumni newsletter: The catmounts. That is fresh for a while, a few good liners, the cynic look on the successes and mediocrity of the alumni.
But even literature seems saturated by this over used trend of amuse the audience by introducing endless list of characters doing bizarre and pointless things, or just a few characters doing an endless list of bizarre and pointless things. Protagonist and productive seem to be contradictory these days.
Saturday, March 8, 2014
Altered Carbon (2002). Richard K. Morgan
(ebook) The first 2 techno-thrillers I tried this year left me either unsatisfied or with a bad taste in my mouth, so I tried a third one, and this one probed to be fairly entertaining, a detective story set in the future, where humans can download their mind on new (natural or artificial) bodies.
Plenty of chases, shootings, fights, some sex (basically a pulp), but some interesting sci fi ideas, some of the not part of the actual plot, but off the cuff, such as the mention that whale language had been decrypted, and the communication had provided information about pre-history.
I'm halfway through.
Plenty of chases, shootings, fights, some sex (basically a pulp), but some interesting sci fi ideas, some of the not part of the actual plot, but off the cuff, such as the mention that whale language had been decrypted, and the communication had provided information about pre-history.
I'm halfway through.
The Hardcore History - Dan Carlin
(podcast) I was very conflicted about adding this to my book blog. there are many radio shows / podcasts that I enjoy, but this one is in a category by itself because it is so thoroughly researched, because it provided me with so much historical data that was brand new, or added details to known stories that give you a whole new perspective.
I can clearly state that I know much more about world history now that I did one year ago when I first started listening this. there are 50 episodes to date, typically 1 or 2 hours, some as long as 5 hours. I'd say that I've been listening to at least 100 hours of lectures on topics from Genghis Khan, the Roman empire, to WWII's east front, and the Cuban independence. Fascinating, informative, and surprisingly unbiased for an american.
I recommend it to anyone and everyone, in an ideal world I would have time to create a similar one in spanish.
I can clearly state that I know much more about world history now that I did one year ago when I first started listening this. there are 50 episodes to date, typically 1 or 2 hours, some as long as 5 hours. I'd say that I've been listening to at least 100 hours of lectures on topics from Genghis Khan, the Roman empire, to WWII's east front, and the Cuban independence. Fascinating, informative, and surprisingly unbiased for an american.
I recommend it to anyone and everyone, in an ideal world I would have time to create a similar one in spanish.
State of Fear (2004). Michael Crichton.
(audiobook) I had to stop in the middle, it is such a cartoonish propaganda denying climate change that it hurts. It is rabid and overblown, anything that enviromentalist do is out of pure evil or utter stupidity, and the climate change deniers are demi-gods with lucid minds and irrefutable data. No wonder is a big hit among Tea Party and such crowd. Sad state of affairs.
Red Mars (1993). Kim Stanley Robinson.
(ebook) It's becoming a tradition to start the year with a Sci Fi recommendation from Marchebout. I asked for a techno-thriller, but didn't like Red Mars.
The main plot of the story is the colonization of the planet, the logistics, technical challenges and politics. In many points it read more as a project plan, a blue print, rather than a novel, too much to my taste. He switches the narrative from one character to another, which is not bad on itself, except that few of the characters are compelling (the psychologist, the japanese biologist / cult leader).
The less believable aspect of the book is not the far fetched technology to colonize mars, or to revert aging, not even the idea that billions of dollars would be invested for that purpose. The most unlikely premise is the idea that most people spend their energies building, constructing, making progress, instead of looking for self-benefit.
The main plot of the story is the colonization of the planet, the logistics, technical challenges and politics. In many points it read more as a project plan, a blue print, rather than a novel, too much to my taste. He switches the narrative from one character to another, which is not bad on itself, except that few of the characters are compelling (the psychologist, the japanese biologist / cult leader).
The less believable aspect of the book is not the far fetched technology to colonize mars, or to revert aging, not even the idea that billions of dollars would be invested for that purpose. The most unlikely premise is the idea that most people spend their energies building, constructing, making progress, instead of looking for self-benefit.
Friday, January 3, 2014
Brain Bugs. How the brain flaws shape our lives. Dean Buonomano. 2012
Audiobook. I picked up this one thinking "why am I reading yet another popularization book on this subject?" Alas, not all books are the same, even if the material on this book overlaps with several others on the subject, and I can't identify any new ideas, this is one of the most entertaining and well put books on the subject I've read (or listen to), eloquent and illustrative, I'd recommend it to everyone as an introductory book on the subject. It quotes Pinker, quotes Kahneman (thinking fat and slow), but it is more entertaining than the latter.
A very good read
A very good read
Arrecife. Juan Villoro. 2012
Regalo de Juan Antonio, pero el mismo Juan Antonio reconoce que es una novela floja, opinión que comparto, y que compartieron Fausto y Ernesto Lumbreras, a quienes vi con un par de días de diferencia. Los cuatro coincidimos en que Villoro es ensayista y periodista soberbio, yo pienso que como novelista Testigo fue un home run, quizá porque la leí en mi condición de exilio, Lumbreras dice que a él no le pareció muy lograda.
En fin, Arrecife falla en varios rubros, los personajes si bien son creíbles, nunca terminan de ser relevantes para uno como lector, es difícil empatizar; la trama es insulsa, un asesinato que es menos interesante que las historias de juventud del personaje, un modelo turístico que no se lo cree ni la abuelita de Marcos (cuánta gente paga para arriesgarse a una guerrilla?) y para cuando se descubre el asesino la verdad que a uno le da igual. Lo más rescatable del libro son las pequeñas idiosincracias de los personajes, y pro supuesto, Cancún como el cementerio de los perdedores del rock nacional.
Esperemos que Villoro de el gran salto.
En fin, Arrecife falla en varios rubros, los personajes si bien son creíbles, nunca terminan de ser relevantes para uno como lector, es difícil empatizar; la trama es insulsa, un asesinato que es menos interesante que las historias de juventud del personaje, un modelo turístico que no se lo cree ni la abuelita de Marcos (cuánta gente paga para arriesgarse a una guerrilla?) y para cuando se descubre el asesino la verdad que a uno le da igual. Lo más rescatable del libro son las pequeñas idiosincracias de los personajes, y pro supuesto, Cancún como el cementerio de los perdedores del rock nacional.
Esperemos que Villoro de el gran salto.
Friday, December 27, 2013
La sombra del viento. Carlos Ruiz Zafón
Es un best-seller, con eso se dice mucho.
Los aciertos: Se desarrolla en la Barcelona durante la consolidación franquismo, los personajes aman a los libros y los libros mismos son protagonistas, la trama es compleja y de historias anidadas, todo personaje o entorno nuevo es presentado junto con su detallado historial, el cliché de la chica pianista y elegante es destrozado tanto sobre las teclas como sobre la cama, el protagonista tiene la claridad sobre sus inquietudes amorosas que se esperaría a ésa edad.
Los errores: El tono es increíblemente provinciano, no parece una novela escrita en el siglo 21, sino apenas en el albor del siglo 20. Cuando los personajes hablan de algo que les fue relatado a ellos, saturan el relato con detalles que es anti-natural que les fueran revelados. Hay cientos de ejemplos a lo largo de la novela, y fue quizá lo que más me molestó. Por ejemplo, el sacerdote recuerda que en la secundaria un amigo conoció a una chica y habla del encuentro saturándolo de metáforas, que si la luz flotaba alrededor de la chica como un encantamiento de un mago medieval, etc. O el abogado de la imprenta hablando que se había enterado que los libros se habían mandado a reciclar, pero recuerda con sospechosa claridad qué había sido del destino del papel reciclado, qué tipo de misarios se habían impreso, que tipo de gente leía los misarios y qué ropa y comidas hacían tales lectores... suena a demasiado detalle para alguien que había escuchado sobre el reciclaje a la pasada.
En fin, es un best-seller, su principal mérito es atrapar al lector, y es difícil declarar que no me gusto siendo que me atrapó tanto y que lo leí en tan corto tiempo, tratando de saber "qué va a pasar?"
Los aciertos: Se desarrolla en la Barcelona durante la consolidación franquismo, los personajes aman a los libros y los libros mismos son protagonistas, la trama es compleja y de historias anidadas, todo personaje o entorno nuevo es presentado junto con su detallado historial, el cliché de la chica pianista y elegante es destrozado tanto sobre las teclas como sobre la cama, el protagonista tiene la claridad sobre sus inquietudes amorosas que se esperaría a ésa edad.
Los errores: El tono es increíblemente provinciano, no parece una novela escrita en el siglo 21, sino apenas en el albor del siglo 20. Cuando los personajes hablan de algo que les fue relatado a ellos, saturan el relato con detalles que es anti-natural que les fueran revelados. Hay cientos de ejemplos a lo largo de la novela, y fue quizá lo que más me molestó. Por ejemplo, el sacerdote recuerda que en la secundaria un amigo conoció a una chica y habla del encuentro saturándolo de metáforas, que si la luz flotaba alrededor de la chica como un encantamiento de un mago medieval, etc. O el abogado de la imprenta hablando que se había enterado que los libros se habían mandado a reciclar, pero recuerda con sospechosa claridad qué había sido del destino del papel reciclado, qué tipo de misarios se habían impreso, que tipo de gente leía los misarios y qué ropa y comidas hacían tales lectores... suena a demasiado detalle para alguien que había escuchado sobre el reciclaje a la pasada.
En fin, es un best-seller, su principal mérito es atrapar al lector, y es difícil declarar que no me gusto siendo que me atrapó tanto y que lo leí en tan corto tiempo, tratando de saber "qué va a pasar?"
Sunday, December 15, 2013
In pursuit of the unknown. 17 equations that changed the world, Ian Stewart (2012)
(Kindle) I'm often surprised when smart people don't have a basic understanding of what was required to create the civilization around us: planes, buildings, subway, supermarkets, computers, phones. Knowledge of the scientific progress is patchy, but math seems to be way off the radar for most people, so I think books like these are a necessity.
Somewhere in chapter 12 it quotes novelist C.P. Snow, who warns that society is starting to slit into 2 groups, one of them being scientifically illiterate, says that in a party people would be appalled if you haven't heard who Shakespeare is, but it would be perfectly OK (if not charming) not to know what is the Second Law of thermodynamics is about; I agree that scientific ignorance is a peril.
The quote is "The great edifice of physics goes up, and the majority of the cleverest people in the western world have as much insight into it as their Neolithic ancestors would have"
The book is well written, but intellectually demanding at times, is not an introductory book, it assumes you have some notion of basic algebra and calculus, it assumes you know what's a matrix (not the martial arts Matrix, but the vector arrangements). It does a good job at describing the equation, what does it mean, and the real world implications, it even peppers some chapters with a few historical or biographical notes about the mathematicians. It does try to walk you through the equations at a high level, but is not easy to do on a book, the same way is easier to learn calculus with a teacher on a room than reading on your own. Still, definitely worth the read, if a reader is not to keen on the math portions, they can always skip the hard parts and go straight to the implications.
The chapter on logarithms finally explained to me the musical scale (besides 'The Sound of Music' Do Re Mi song, that is) Sadly, it made me realize how much math I've lost in the 20 years since I graduated.
Chapter 12, is full of shocks and revelations, some minor, like the fact that even in 1900 most scientist still didn't favour the theory that matter is made from atoms, but mainly, the fact that the second law of thermodynamics may only apply to closed systems, "In the kinetic theory of gases, the forces that act between the molecules are short-range (active only when the molecules collide) and repulsive (they bounce). But most of the forces of nature aren't like that. For example gravity acts at enormous distance, and it is attractive" The philosophical implications are colossal! It means that the 'slow dead of the universe' scenario implied by entropy can be the result of mistakenly applying a model to a system where it doesn't apply.
A really great book, it is intellectually exciting, and it gives you a peek into some of the greatest minds ever. As I was reading the last chapter, I took a cab ride in Guadalajara with a driver that was Schumacher re-incarnated, and talking about his 12 year old taxi, I asked how many kilometres it had, he mentioned "I've never been good at math" and then laboriously put together the 7 and the 1 to guess 71,000km (it really was 711,000), but the fact that he could barely read numbers and could guess wrong by an order of magnitude gave me pause to reflect on the education gaps this society still has to close, and probably never will. Let's just hope that the gap is not closed by bringing down everyone to the scientific illiteracy level.
Some favorite quotes so far:
"“Actually, though, the null hypothesis is ‘the data are due to chance and the effects of chance are normally distributed’, so there might be two reasons to reject the null hypothesis: the data are not due to chance, or they are not normally distributed. The first supports the significance of the data, but the second does not. It says you might be using the wrong statistical model.”
Somewhere in chapter 12 it quotes novelist C.P. Snow, who warns that society is starting to slit into 2 groups, one of them being scientifically illiterate, says that in a party people would be appalled if you haven't heard who Shakespeare is, but it would be perfectly OK (if not charming) not to know what is the Second Law of thermodynamics is about; I agree that scientific ignorance is a peril.
The quote is "The great edifice of physics goes up, and the majority of the cleverest people in the western world have as much insight into it as their Neolithic ancestors would have"
The book is well written, but intellectually demanding at times, is not an introductory book, it assumes you have some notion of basic algebra and calculus, it assumes you know what's a matrix (not the martial arts Matrix, but the vector arrangements). It does a good job at describing the equation, what does it mean, and the real world implications, it even peppers some chapters with a few historical or biographical notes about the mathematicians. It does try to walk you through the equations at a high level, but is not easy to do on a book, the same way is easier to learn calculus with a teacher on a room than reading on your own. Still, definitely worth the read, if a reader is not to keen on the math portions, they can always skip the hard parts and go straight to the implications.
The chapter on logarithms finally explained to me the musical scale (besides 'The Sound of Music' Do Re Mi song, that is) Sadly, it made me realize how much math I've lost in the 20 years since I graduated.
Chapter 12, is full of shocks and revelations, some minor, like the fact that even in 1900 most scientist still didn't favour the theory that matter is made from atoms, but mainly, the fact that the second law of thermodynamics may only apply to closed systems, "In the kinetic theory of gases, the forces that act between the molecules are short-range (active only when the molecules collide) and repulsive (they bounce). But most of the forces of nature aren't like that. For example gravity acts at enormous distance, and it is attractive" The philosophical implications are colossal! It means that the 'slow dead of the universe' scenario implied by entropy can be the result of mistakenly applying a model to a system where it doesn't apply.
A really great book, it is intellectually exciting, and it gives you a peek into some of the greatest minds ever. As I was reading the last chapter, I took a cab ride in Guadalajara with a driver that was Schumacher re-incarnated, and talking about his 12 year old taxi, I asked how many kilometres it had, he mentioned "I've never been good at math" and then laboriously put together the 7 and the 1 to guess 71,000km (it really was 711,000), but the fact that he could barely read numbers and could guess wrong by an order of magnitude gave me pause to reflect on the education gaps this society still has to close, and probably never will. Let's just hope that the gap is not closed by bringing down everyone to the scientific illiteracy level.
Some favorite quotes so far:
"“Actually, though, the null hypothesis is ‘the data are due to chance and the effects of chance are normally distributed’, so there might be two reasons to reject the null hypothesis: the data are not due to chance, or they are not normally distributed. The first supports the significance of the data, but the second does not. It says you might be using the wrong statistical model.”
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