User Profile

Max Pearl

pearlbear@bookwyrm.social

Joined 4 months, 3 weeks ago

Science Fiction reader and writer.

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2023 Reading Goal

5% complete! Max Pearl has read 2 of 36 books.

Evicted (2017, Broadway Books) 4 stars

WINNER OF THE 2017 PULITZER PRIZE GENERAL NON-FICTION

From Harvard sociologist and MacArthur “Genius” Matthew …

Review of 'Evicted' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

This is one of the most depressing books I've read recently (and I've read a lot of depressing non-fiction.) But it's an important read - I really recommend it.

He follows a number of people in Milwaukee, WI to look at how poverty makes housing uncertain, and how evictions make things so much worse. He follows tenants as well as landlords. You get a peek into how they live their daily lives.

It is so clear how the incentives, both for tenants and landlords, are such that people are continually stuck in a cycle of sub-standard housing, evictions, and homelessness. And the timing and setting doesn't even address the issues that arise when housing is as expensive it is in some coastal cities. There are simple solutions to this problem - solutions we know are unlikely to be politically possible in this country.

Anyway, it's a really well written, engaging, …

The Man in the High Castle (1974, Berkley) 4 stars

The Man in the High Castle is an alternate history novel by American writer Philip …

Review of 'The Man in the High Castle' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

I read this book because I'd seen a couple of episodes of the TV series. Honestly, as usual, the book is better. They took a lot of liberties with the series (only way to stretch a relatively short book that long,) and the characters are sometimes quite different.

This is classic Phillip K. Dick. Dystopian alternative future. It's very conceptual, rather than character-driven, although a couple of the characters are better developed than the rest. Worth a read, for sure.