(no subject)
Some books I read recently:
-Awakenings by Oliver Sacks- This is mostly a collection of case studies of people who developed Parkinson's after an epidemic illness in the 1910's and '20s, then took a new drug in the 1960's. Some had amazing recoveries. The book is good, but clinical and gets a bit repetitive. I mostly skimmed it. I'd reccomend his later book, The Man who Mistook his Wife for a Hat, over this one. He refined his writing style a lot in between the two.
-The Botany of Desire by Michael Pollan- Talks about of four plants whose histories are intertwined with human history. Each one represents a desire: The apple and sweetness, the tulip and beauty, marijuana and intoxication, the potato and control. I enjoyed it quite a bit. This is the same author who wrote The Omnivore's Dilemma, and, like Oliver Sacks' books, you can see the beginnings of the later book in the earlier one.
-A Thread of Grace by Mary Doria Russell- This is the same author who wrote The Sparrow. This one had just as much beautiful imagery, but was somewhat less soul-crushing. It's historical fiction about northern Italy during World War II. The main characters are Catholic priests and Jewish refugees, whose stories are all interwoven.
-The Grid: a Journey through the Heart of Our Electrified World by Philip Schewe- About the electrical grid. I enjoyed it enough to finish it, but I would have liked it to be more technical and less historical. I may not be the target audience on that count, though. My biggest beef with the book was that he never passes up a chance to use a metaphor, or two or three or even four at once. I thought it was funny that he mentions Amory Lovins a lot, and I felt that the book I read of Lovins' was also too wordy. Maybe they have the same editor.
-Awakenings by Oliver Sacks- This is mostly a collection of case studies of people who developed Parkinson's after an epidemic illness in the 1910's and '20s, then took a new drug in the 1960's. Some had amazing recoveries. The book is good, but clinical and gets a bit repetitive. I mostly skimmed it. I'd reccomend his later book, The Man who Mistook his Wife for a Hat, over this one. He refined his writing style a lot in between the two.
-The Botany of Desire by Michael Pollan- Talks about of four plants whose histories are intertwined with human history. Each one represents a desire: The apple and sweetness, the tulip and beauty, marijuana and intoxication, the potato and control. I enjoyed it quite a bit. This is the same author who wrote The Omnivore's Dilemma, and, like Oliver Sacks' books, you can see the beginnings of the later book in the earlier one.
-A Thread of Grace by Mary Doria Russell- This is the same author who wrote The Sparrow. This one had just as much beautiful imagery, but was somewhat less soul-crushing. It's historical fiction about northern Italy during World War II. The main characters are Catholic priests and Jewish refugees, whose stories are all interwoven.
-The Grid: a Journey through the Heart of Our Electrified World by Philip Schewe- About the electrical grid. I enjoyed it enough to finish it, but I would have liked it to be more technical and less historical. I may not be the target audience on that count, though. My biggest beef with the book was that he never passes up a chance to use a metaphor, or two or three or even four at once. I thought it was funny that he mentions Amory Lovins a lot, and I felt that the book I read of Lovins' was also too wordy. Maybe they have the same editor.