BookWyrm

Mark.Michaelis reviewed Mountains Beyond Mountains by Tracy Kidder

Tracy Kidder: Mountains Beyond Mountains (Paperback, 2004, Random House Trade Paperbacks)

At the center of Mountains Beyond Mountains stands Paul Farmer. Doctor, Harvard professor, renowned infectious-disease …

Review of 'Mountains Beyond Mountains' on 'GoodReads'

5 stars

Fantastic!!!! Paul Farmer is amazing in his persistence in Haiti and hearing about his outlook and approach to the work is inspiring. I especially appreciate his logical, albeit atypical conclusions. For example, when he faces the question of burnout, he concludes that whenever he chooses not to give life his all or relax more than the absolute minimum, he is aware that people are dying that he could save. He, therefore, concludes to give it his all to save lives.
I found the book inspiring!

Mark.Michaelis rated Talk Like TED: The 9 Public-Speaking Secrets of the World's Top Minds: 3 stars

Carmine Gallo: Talk Like TED: The 9 Public-Speaking Secrets of the World's Top Minds (2014, St. Martin's Press)

Talk Like TED: The 9 Public-Speaking Secrets of the World's Top Minds by Carmine Gallo

Mark.Michaelis rated Mating in Captivity: 3 stars

Esther Perel: Mating in Captivity (2006, HarperCollins)

Mating in Captivity by Esther Perel

Why does great sex so often fade for couples who claim to love each other as much as ever? Can …

Mark.Michaelis rated Digital Fortress: 5 stars

Dan Brown: Digital Fortress (Paperback, 2004, Corgi Books)

Digital Fortress by Dan Brown

When the National Security Agency's invincible code-breaking machine encounters a mysterious code it cannot break, the agency calls its head …

Mark.Michaelis rated Nonviolent Communication: 5 stars

Marshall B. Rosenberg: Nonviolent Communication (2015, PuddleDancer Press)

Nonviolent Communication by Marshall B. Rosenberg

The latest edition of the communication guide that has sold more than 1,000,000 copies

An enlightening look at how peaceful …

Mark.Michaelis rated Beartown: 4 stars

Fredrik Backman: Beartown (2018, Simon and Schuster Inc.)

Beartown by Fredrik Backman

Mark.Michaelis rated Building a Story Brand: 3 stars

Building a Story Brand by Miller, Donald

Mark.Michaelis rated Summer Frost: 3 stars

Blake Crouch: Summer Frost (EBook, 2019, Amazon Original Stories)

Summer Frost by Blake Crouch (Forward, #2)

Mark.Michaelis reviewed Ready Player Two by Ernest Cline (Ready Player One, #2)

Ernest Cline, Ernest Cline: Ready Player Two (Hardcover, 2020, Ballantine Books)

An unexpected quest. Two worlds at stake. Are you ready?

Days after Oasis founder James …

Review of 'Ready Player Two' on 'GoodReads'

4 stars

After listening to the first few pages I wanted to stop. Wade was such a dork making such obviously stupid but significant choices. However, the tension soon subsided during the long introduction of the scene (including a recap of the significant facts from the first book). In the end, the book was filled with many twists and turns and ended up merging the game world with the real world in some pretty ingenious ways - like how the real world controlled avatars sitting in rigs that controlled real-world robots.
Additionally, the book had multiple surprises that changed the perspective and opened up new ideas about saving memories and capturing the concept that ultimately our being/soul is just physics so why not be able to capture it and reconstitute it in an online world.
My only criticism was that the speed with which Samantha (Art3mis) forgave wade without any reconciliation seemed …

After listening to the first few pages I wanted to stop. Wade was such a dork making such obviously stupid but significant choices. However, the tension soon subsided during the long introduction of the scene (including a recap of the significant facts from the first book). In the end, the book was filled with many twists and turns and ended up merging the game world with the real world in some pretty ingenious ways - like how the real world controlled avatars sitting in rigs that controlled real-world robots.
Additionally, the book had multiple surprises that changed the perspective and opened up new ideas about saving memories and capturing the concept that ultimately our being/soul is just physics so why not be able to capture it and reconstitute it in an online world.
My only criticism was that the speed with which Samantha (Art3mis) forgave wade without any reconciliation seemed a bit silly, but in the end, it wasn't that significant a piece of the puzzle that it can be overlooked.

Mark.Michaelis reviewed Ready Player One by Ernest Cline (Ready Player One, #1)

Ernest Cline, Ernest Cline: Ready Player One (Paperback, 2011, Crown Publishers)

Ready Player One is a 2011 science fiction novel, and the debut novel of American …

Review of 'Ready player one' on 'GoodReads'

4 stars

A fun book that brings a video game to life. I read very little fiction but I thoroughly enjoyed this. The author is creative and has some fun twists on the combination of the real word with the game world.

One takeaway was the comparison of our pandemic school vs. the OASIS school. The contrast emphasizes that the pandemic move of school online was nothing more than adding a remote broadcast. Despite the incredible opportunity, we didn't innovate or re-invent. We just started lecturing through a computer screen.