Reviews and Comments

An engrossing read. My friend described it as a pile of ideas disguised as a story, which is pretty accurate. But, I also think the story is well done. It transmits the main character's unease and discomfort very well, and when he finally breaks free it is an incredible relief.

Within the book she describes multiple different societies. How these are presented, and how the main character reacts to their various customs and limitations, will stick in my mind for a long time.

Fascinating book where two rad old men talk about their rad old lives. Lots of cool stuff in here about how they think about education, social change, and living life. Totally fun, and seems like it'd be useful if you're at all interested in empowering the people around you and/or education or just how some very interesting people thought and lived their lives.

Reading this book kicked off a whole swarm of poorly-formed thoughts about how to live my life. I want to re-read this book in a few months- hopefully it will help those thoughts fall into place. If this plan works I'll come back and update to a 5.

This is a pretty interesting book that mostly tells a bunch of stories about what it calls "momentum-driven organizing" - basically large strategic nonviolent protests. This is laid out as separate from "structure-based" organizing, in the tradition of unions, community organizations, etc. The book argues that both of these traditions are necessary to create lasting and meaningful social change, and can complement or detract from each other depending on a variety of factors.

It lays out a few tenets for successful campaigns and goes through several case studies, including Otpor, ACT UP, the SCLC, and others.

I found this book informative and inspirational - it really helped focus my thinking about the limited amount of activism I have done, and will continue to shape my thinking going into the future.

I got a lot less out of this than I did from The Visual Display of Quantitative Information, which is to say still a fair amount. I thought it was an enjoyable read nonetheless and certainly worth spending a few evenings on. The main thrust of the book seemed to be that it's important to show the reader information in a way that maximally enhances their understanding. Beyond that there's a list of examples of what to do and not do, and I'll remember those down the line when I'm looking at or making pictures.

A wide-ranging book that dips into some of the ways that the powerful oppress the less powerful in America. I already agreed with the author on the issues. It seems like someone who doesn't, but is genuinely interested in learning about the issues, would not be turned off by the tone.

I'm not sure I've gained much more new insight from reading the book. But I think this book ties together a lot of points well, which helps me think and talk about these things in an orderly way. I think that's pretty valuable.

I thought this book was excellent! It is largely told from the perspective of someone reflecting on their experience as a child.

The family dynamics are very well done and the story is gripping. It also introduced me to a part of history I had honestly just not thought about a lot. It manages to both convey the uniqueness of the author's own story and tie it to the widespread suffering during the revolution and war. The art is gorgeous as well. Certainly excited to read the second book.

I read this book on a whim based on some list I found of "how to think about design." I wanted to get an idea of how pictures work. This was a very quick read that has given me a way of more systematically understanding my own response to pictures. I have yet to do the exercises in the book. I expect some hands on experience would really help solidify my grasp of these principles.