A System for Writing – Bob Doto
Bob Doto’s, A System for writing is a good entry into the world of note-taking books. He is concise and direct while still hitting all the high points I think need to be hit to create a good practice of taking notes and producing writing/content from them. We both agree that a key point is…
Rating: MaybeStyle: Non-fictionAuthor: Bob DotoThe Language of the Night – Ursula K. Le Guin
This is a compilation of many essays by Le Guin on writing and writing science fiction in particular. She deals with the pronouns used in sci-fi to describe characters, with special updated notes covering her newer thoughts on “he” as a gender neutral pronoun (she doesn’t believe it is in the 1980’s like she did…
Rating: MaybeStyle: Non-fictionAuthor: Ursula K. Le GuinThe Courage to Be Disliked – Kishimi & Koga
The Courage to be Disliked is a discussion between a philosopher and a young adult who comes to challenge the philosopher on the validity of their ideas. The philosopher has taken Alfred Adler’s psychological theory of individual psychology to heart and spends the book teaching it to the visitor. My favourite point to think about…
Rating: MaybeStyle: Non-fictionFootprints In Search of Future Fossils – David Farrier
What types of fossils will our society leave behind? What is the half life of our nuclear waste, and what does that mean in the terms of future generations that will still have to deal with it? How is the pollution we’re putting into the atmosphere today going to show up for generations to come?…
Rating: RecommendedStyle: Non-fictionAuthor: David FarrierThe Toll – Neal Shusterman
This is the final book in the Arc of the Scythe series. Citra and Rowan have disappeared and Scythe Goddard has nothing standing in his way to his dream of unchecked killing by his new order of Scythe’s. I found the book had me on the edge of my seat, just like the whole series…
Rating: RecommendedStyle: FictionAuthor: Neal ShustermanThunderhead – Neal Shusterman
Thunderhead is the second book in the Arc of the Scythe series. This follows Anastasia as she tries to “glean” with compassion while openly challenging the new order of Scythes that want to gain more power over the world. I found the world compelling and will read through the whole series again.
Rating: RecommendedGenre: Science FictionStyle: FictionAuthor: Neal ShustermanThinking in Systems – Donella H Meadows
Just a few pages into this book I was expecting a fairly dense book on the mechanics of systems thinking. In fact I assumed the first chapter was a warmup to deep hard to wrap my head around topics. I was pleasantly surprised that this wasn’t that type of book. Meadows treats readers to a…
Rating: RecommendedStyle: Non-fictionAuthor: Donella H MeadowsThe Black Swan – Nassim Nicholas Taleb
This is supposed to be some all fired amazing book about randomness. The title is derived from the idea that Europeans thought all swans were black until they visited Australia and suddenly found a black swan. They had no way of knowing that what they thought was true was untrue until confronted by the evidence.…
Rating: Don’t ReadStyle: Non-fictionAuthor: Nassim Nicholas TalebCourage is Calling – Ryan Holiday
On my shelf remains unread.
Genre: PhilosophyStyle: Non-fictionAuthor: Ryan HolidayDemocracy at Work – Richard Wolff
The biggest idea was intrigued by here was radical democracy, which in this context means that only workers have any say in the ways they work and the ways that any surplus (profits) from their work are spent at their place of work. There are no boards, no shareholders, no owners unless you are doing…
Rating: RecommendedStyle: Non-fictionAuthor: Richard Wolff