Reviews and Comments

Carlos Cámara

ccamara@bookwyrm.social

Joined 2 years, 10 months ago

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wants to read Less Is More by Jason Hickel

Jason Hickel: Less Is More (2021, Penguin Random House) 5 stars

The world has finally awoken to the reality of climate breakdown and ecological collapse. Now …

Book recommended at Climate Cafe about degrowth: "book about the potential for interventions in the system that could have a really powerful effect on reducing carbon and improving people's lives."

reviewed The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin (Hainish Cycle, #4)

Ursula K. Le Guin: The Left Hand of Darkness (Paperback, 2018, Orion Publishing Co) 4 stars

[Comment by Kim Stanley Robinson, on The Guardian's website][1]: The Left Hand of Darkness by …

Good ideas, bad story

2 stars

Content warning It contains spoilers

Mark Graham, Martin Dittus: Geographies of Digital Exclusion (2021, Pluto Press) 3 stars

Irregular, but worth reading

3 stars

The book starts really strong. The first chapters are catchy and relevant and they are very well written, too. Additionally, it is methodologically sound and some of their findings are interesting. Regretfully, at some points it becomes quite repetitive (in terms of methods and results) and, the methodology is sometimes unconsistent, unclear (i.e. I'd like to fully understand how the searches were made) and even questionable.

Actually, what I found to be more controversial is the decision of comparing Google Maps and Wikipedia. Mainly because they are very different in purpose and contents, but also because I believe that OpenStreetMap would have been a fairer comparison or bridge between the two. It is true that there are some mentions and comparisons to it, but the book claims to focus only oncomparing Google Maps and Wikipedia alone, and therefore, OpenStreetMap is something accessory and not as extensively or consistently as the …

Natalia de Santiago: Invierte con poco (Paperback, 2022, Editorial Planeta) 3 stars

Interesante

3 stars

Se trata de un libro muy diferente a su anterior obra, "Invierte en ti". Si bien conserva de él el estilo de escritura (pedagógico y divertido) que es capaz de contar cosas complejas de forma sencilla, es un libro menos generalista, más aplicado. También es más especialista. Al ser menos genérico, se abordan menos temas con mayor profundidad, lo cual es muy positivo. Sin embargo, tengo la sensación de que algunos capítulos (por ejemplo tipos de fondos de inversión) no están equilibroados y hay un gran salto de lo genérico a lo muy específico. También he echado de menos que se desarrollase más el último capítulo, con consejos o criterios para invertir, lo cual lo haría más aplicado todavía (que entiendo que es su vocación -aunque entiendo lo difícil de hacerlo dado que hay tantas casuísticas como lectores). Es un libro que tendré que volver a leer para poder aprovecharlo …

Albert Sánchez Piñol: Pandora al Congo (Catalan language, 2005) 5 stars

Sorprenent

5 stars

(EN below) Es tracta d'un llibre que va evolucionant contínuament on res no és el que sembla. El que al començament em semblava que només es tractava una història ben explicada però que s'assemblava massa a la seva anterior novel·la (La Pell Freda) i exigia fer massa actes de fe en virtut de l'entreteniment, va mutant en un seguit d'històries dins històries, amb un final sorprenent i intel·ligent on tot el que no tenia sentit pren una nova i inesperada dimensió.

This is a constantly evolving book where nothing is what it seems. What at first seemed to me to be just a well-told story but too similar to his previous novel (La Pell Freda) and requiring too many acts of faith for the sake of entertainment, turns into a series of stories within stories, with a surprising and clever ending where everything that didn't make sense takes on a …