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The Tao of Pooh is a book written by Benjamin Hoff. The book is intended …
Reads like a story-line made up to justify a list of things the author hates and that hate too is without any proper reason. Avoid!
Spanning the globe and several centuries, The Gene is the story of the quest to …
Siddhartha Mukherjee tells the story of the gene in a way that is both personal and historical. And he does it very competently. He is a very good writer who occasionally likes to include almost lyrical descriptions. While this might turn-off some experts, I do think this style is essential to convey the meaning and importance to laypeople. As a scientist working in the field of biotechnology, I knew most of the science that was being described, but still the story behind the science and the human element in the story made it a compelling read. You might find some experts disagreeing on some details presented in this book (on epigenetics, IQ, etc). But to my mind, these are not serious enough to reduce the overall quality of the book. Attempting to write a book of such a huge scope is highly ambitious and it should be appreciated.
Highly recommended!
Great book! I thoroughly enjoyed reading the stories in this book. The author has done a great deal of research to fish out so many stories about elements and he does a splendid job of putting everything into a coherent narrative. Highly recommended!
While this book is not as fun as some of Douglas Adams' best work, the book still makes one marvel at Adams' wild imagination. The plot feels a bit contrived but it is never dull. Adams' humourous observations about humans and animals are always fun to read.
Cixin Liu's trilogy-opening novel about first contact with aliens and the clandestine struggle with them …
I am a novice when it comes to science fiction, so maybe that is why I was disappointed with this book. I tried to push myself to finish this book, but at some point, I decided not to waste my time anymore. The characters were shallow and stereotypical, the plot structure was somewhat predictable but these things can be forgiven if the science is deep and thought-provoking. Unfortunately, after reading some utter nonsense written in this book about nanotechnology and noticing other instances of inaccurate science, I gave up. It looks like the author is genuinely excited about the possibilities of various fields of science but is not patient enough to probe the science deeply to fish out fantastic possibilities. I read this book won the Hugo award. Does that mean the other books that year were even worse than this one? I truly believe that science fiction can accomplish …
I am a novice when it comes to science fiction, so maybe that is why I was disappointed with this book. I tried to push myself to finish this book, but at some point, I decided not to waste my time anymore. The characters were shallow and stereotypical, the plot structure was somewhat predictable but these things can be forgiven if the science is deep and thought-provoking. Unfortunately, after reading some utter nonsense written in this book about nanotechnology and noticing other instances of inaccurate science, I gave up. It looks like the author is genuinely excited about the possibilities of various fields of science but is not patient enough to probe the science deeply to fish out fantastic possibilities. I read this book won the Hugo award. Does that mean the other books that year were even worse than this one? I truly believe that science fiction can accomplish a lot more than what this book has done.
"It's the story of quantum mechanics told through the lens of the 'double-slit' experiment, showing …
I liked how the author ties together multiple areas of research within the story of an old experiment. I appreciated that the author did not dumb down the Physics or dilute it. I have read about the history of quantum mechanics before, but I was still astonished by the depth of meaning and all the possibilities behind quantum mechanics and the results from the double-slit experiments. 'Mind-boggling' is too light a word to describe it. Kudos to the author for capturing the essence of this area of research while preserving the mystery.
Ham on Rye is a 1982 semi-autobiographical novel by American author and poet Charles Bukowski. …
I enjoyed the book. Charles Bukowski's prose is never pretentious and he writes without any dishonest attempts to make it sound deep or sophisticated. The perspective with which the main character (based on Bukowski's own experiences) looks at the world, the urban poor he depicts are vivid and even if you do not agree with the perspective you come to understand it. This was my first Bukowski novel and it makes me want to read more from him.
A first volume of a series detailing the life and work of the influential political …
From this book, I learned some surprising things about Gandhi's work in South Africa. For example, I did not know that Chinese activists joined Gandhi in his Satyagraha in South Africa. It is quite amazing to learn how thousands of people, including Chinese, Tamils, Gujaratis, Hindus, Muslims, Parsis, etc., all willingly went to jail under Gandhi's leadership. The author succeeds in giving us a good social portrait of the times. I would have liked to learn more about Gandhi's childhood, but I think it is not the author's fault that historical material is hard to come by for that time period. Overall, I liked this book and recommend it!
One Hundred Years of Solitude (Spanish: Cien años de soledad, American Spanish: [sjen ˈaɲoz ðe …
I do not have much experience in reading dense, rich, and highly imaginative fiction, so my views on this classic book might lack proper comparisons to other such work. But I did enjoy this book more than I expected when I started reading it. It is fairly obvious that a lot of the cultural commentary the author probably tried to provide in this book is lost on me since I know very little about Latin American culture. Still, there are many universal themes in the book that even a novice like me can understand. I imagine this book would be much richer for someone who is more familiar with the culture and reads the book in Spanish. Yet, I marvel at the skill with which the author fills even the most mundane sentence with liveliness and imagination. It took me some time to get used to the style this book …
I do not have much experience in reading dense, rich, and highly imaginative fiction, so my views on this classic book might lack proper comparisons to other such work. But I did enjoy this book more than I expected when I started reading it. It is fairly obvious that a lot of the cultural commentary the author probably tried to provide in this book is lost on me since I know very little about Latin American culture. Still, there are many universal themes in the book that even a novice like me can understand. I imagine this book would be much richer for someone who is more familiar with the culture and reads the book in Spanish. Yet, I marvel at the skill with which the author fills even the most mundane sentence with liveliness and imagination. It took me some time to get used to the style this book is written. But once I was engaged it was always interesting.
