Review of 'The Chessboard and the Web' on 'Goodreads'
Suggested to me by the author's excerpt of the book in a Foreign Affairs article I read on 2016-12-15:
https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/world/2016-10-04/how-succeed-networked-world
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Biomedical and electrical engineer interested in education, information theory, math, complexity, journalism, mnemotechny, #IndieWeb, economics, history
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Chris Aldrich reviewed Son of the Mob by Gordon Korman
Review of 'Son of the Mob' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
This is definitely in my top three Korman books so far. Maybe it's the top, but we'll have to see if it lives up to multiple reads the way No Coins, Please has.
An entertaining plot with some excellent writing and characters. I did see the cat website mystery from a mile away, but it was still well done. The rest of the plotting was excellent all the way through with just enough drama and humor at every turn. I'd worry a bit about the niche audience, but I totally want to option this and turn it into a movie.
Chris Aldrich reviewed Red Bones by Ann Cleeves
Review of 'Red Bones' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
Fairly slow moving to begin with, as her other prior books in the series are. But once one gets to the half way point they tend to pick up. Are all her stories two body mysteries?
I still appreciate the language and colloquialisms she uses.
I enjoyed the character building of Sandy here instead of bringing in outside investigative help.
There were a few places where I felt she was placing distracting information or conveniently leaving things out which have influence on how one views the characters and their motivations versus her plotting as an author.
I'd seen the first half of this TV episode, but apparently missed the ending.
Chris Aldrich rated Schooled: 4 stars
Schooled by Gordon Korman
Homeschooled by his hippie grandmother, Capricorn (Cap) Anderson has never watched television, tasted a pizza, or even heard of a …
Chris Aldrich reviewed White nights by Ann Cleeves (The Shetland Island quartet -- bk. 2)
Review of 'White nights' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
Well tied up after l after laying things out so beautifully. Bigger on character than actual plot though, so it moved pretty slowly until about 60% of the way through.
Chris Aldrich reviewed Songlines by Margo Neale (First Knowledges, #1)
Songlines are an archive for powerful knowledges that ensured Australia's many Indigenous cultures flourished for …
Review of 'Songlines' on 'Goodreads'
5 stars
A fantastic understanding and description of a major piece of what Western culture had been missing about indigenous cultures for far too long.
Chris Aldrich rated Beware the Fish!: 3 stars
Beware the Fish! by Gordon Korman (Bruno and Boots)
Chris Aldrich rated Go jump in the pool!: 4 stars
Go jump in the pool! by Gordon Korman (Bruno and Boots #2)
York Academy has a pool; Macdonald Hall does not. While annoying, this has never bothered the Macdonald Hall students much...until …
Chris Aldrich reviewed Remember by Lisa Genova
Review of 'Remember' on 'Goodreads'
Preliminary thoughts after skimming through:
I've just gotten a copy of Remember: The Science of Memory and the Art of Forgetting by Lisa Genova which came out earlier this week.
I've thumbed through it quickly and done some targeted searches of the text. From all appearances, it looks like she's approaching the topic of memory from a neuroscientist's perspective and talking about broad psychology and culture.
There are a few references to the method of loci and a tangential reference to the phonetic major system in chapter 5. She approaches these briefly with a mention of [a:Joshua Foer|2867569|Joshua Foer|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1322436441p2/2867569.jpg] [b:Moonwalking with Einstein: The Art and Science of Remembering Everything|18768400|Moonwalking with Einstein The Art and Science of Remembering Everything|Joshua Foer|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/book/50x75-a91bf249278a81aabab721ef782c4a74.png|6533383] and his PAO system (without using the word Person-Action-Object), but dismisses all too quickly.
"But you would have to do a lot of memorizing before you can actually use these techniques …
Preliminary thoughts after skimming through:
I've just gotten a copy of Remember: The Science of Memory and the Art of Forgetting by Lisa Genova which came out earlier this week.
I've thumbed through it quickly and done some targeted searches of the text. From all appearances, it looks like she's approaching the topic of memory from a neuroscientist's perspective and talking about broad psychology and culture.
There are a few references to the method of loci and a tangential reference to the phonetic major system in chapter 5. She approaches these briefly with a mention of [a:Joshua Foer|2867569|Joshua Foer|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1322436441p2/2867569.jpg] [b:Moonwalking with Einstein: The Art and Science of Remembering Everything|18768400|Moonwalking with Einstein The Art and Science of Remembering Everything|Joshua Foer|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/book/50x75-a91bf249278a81aabab721ef782c4a74.png|6533383] and his PAO system (without using the word Person-Action-Object), but dismisses all too quickly.
"But you would have to do a lot of memorizing before you can actually use these techniques (and others like them) to remember the stuff you’re interested in remembering. If the thought of doing this kind of mental labor sounds exhausting, I’m right there with you. I don’t have the dedication or time. Unless you’re motivated to become an elite memory athlete or your life’s dream is to memorize 111,700 digits of pi, I suspect you don’t, either. Most of us will never want or need to memorize that kind or that amount of information. But many of us would like to be better at memorizing the ten things on our to-do list, our Wi-Fi password, or the six things we need at the grocery store."
Sadly she doesn't bring up the much easier to use phonetic major system, but blows right by it.
I'll try to delve into the rest of the text shortly, but I was really hoping for more on the mnemonics front. I mnemonists won't get much out of it on the techniques front, but might find it useful for an overview of the neuroscience or psychology fronts from Hermann Ebbinghaus onwards.
(originally posted at boffosocko.com/2021/03/27/55789107/)
Chris Aldrich reviewed Raven Black by Ann Cleeves
Raven Black begins on New Year's Eve with a lonely outcast named Magnus Tait, who …
Review of 'Raven Black' on 'Goodreads'
3 stars
Entertaining enough. I may have ruined it by watching the series first (though I missed this episode somehow.)
Chris Aldrich rated Mad Scientists' Club: 5 stars
Mad Scientists' Club by Bertrand R. Brinley
The six members of the Mad Scientists' Club experiment with new projects which include investigating a strange sea monster and …
Chris Aldrich reviewed How to Take Smart Notes by Sönke Ahrens
An informational book that describes and advocates for the note taking system of the German …
Review of 'How to Take Smart Notes: One Simple Technique to Boost Writing, Learning and Thinking – for Students, Academics and Nonfiction Book Writers' on 'Goodreads'
5 stars
I really wasn't sure this would be worth the time, but it was far more inter esting than I could have expected. My experience with some of the methods verifies their usefulness, but there is more that the system could be doing for related ideas of memory and spaced repetition. I highly recommend this to students and writers versus many of the similar books I've seen in the space.
It's an Easter Egg-stravaganza!Lucille is having an Easter Egg Hunt at her rich expensive mansion! …
Review of 'Junie B., First Grader: Dumb Bunny' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
As always Junie B is hilarious. Toy can't read these and not smile.
Chris Aldrich rated History of the English Language, 2nd Edition: 5 stars
Review of 'Lost Christianities: Christian Scriptures and the Battles over Authentication' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
Clear concise story with some excellent history and comparison of early Christianities. Unstated, but there are lots of parallels to the diversity of beliefs in Christianity today. There are lots of interesting things within the "lost" sects which still lived on through cultural spread despite the disappearance of the original groups.