Danny ChaiInspired by Jason’s reading list, some quick reviews of books I’ve read in the past few months:
1776 – I think it won the Pulitzer? I dunno, it was OK. But it spent too much time setting things up at the tail end of the year 1775, and by limiting the content to 1776, it felt kind of incomplete, with no real resolution, kind of like an SNL sketch. 2 stars.
Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell – a good, sometimes great book, but slow. Apparently it’s a book about 19th century England written in the style of a 19th century English book, which is both clever and annoying. You may have heard it described as a Harry Potter for adults. It’s not that at all. It’s more a historical novel with elements of magic. On the whole though, it kept my interest the whole time, and the last fifth is fantastic. 3 stars.
Extending and Embedding PHP – In my opinion, the quality of a technical book can be judged by its index, because few people read such books straight through, so when you come across something with which you’re not familiar, you need to be able to quickly look up what it means. And this book’s index is not great, with lots of missing stuff. It’s still essential, because you can’t find this info anywhere on the web. But not the greatest reference in the world. 2 stars.
Prey – Crichton book about killer nanoparticles. I loved it, probably because I jive with the science behind it. Not the nanotechnology stuff so much as the genetic programming stuff. My brother-in-law hated it, but I thought it was one of Crichton’s best books. 3.5 stars.
Blink – Great book, with fascinating ideas. Too expensive for the size, but Gladwell knows how to explain disparate concepts and pull them together really well. 4 stars.
State Of Fear – Very entertaining, like all Crichton books for me. The ideas are bankrupt though. If you’re not familiar with the book, it’s a long diatribe against global warming. It’s too cheaply set up, and if you do a cursory web search, you’ll find that most of his ideas in the book are simply wrong. Furthermore, he admits himself that the scientists from which he culled data all believe in man-made global warming. Hence, he’s saying he knows how to analyze the data better than every single expert he got them from. Bold. Probably wrong. But I was entertained. 3 stars.
Next – Crichton’s worst book. That I’ve read at least. Deals with genetic therapies. He makes some bad storytelling decisions, like having so many disparate characters and storylines that it’s really hard to keep track of what’s going on. And a couple characters have the same name. Just really hard to follow. 1 star.
Simply Christian – I’ve written about this before, and will probably continue to. I still find his understanding of Jesus being god and man strange. But the other stuff is pretty good. I find Mere Christianity way more compelling, but there’s some interesting stuff here. 3 stars.
The Homework Myth – Like I wrote, a fascinating and highly recommended read. I borrowed this from the library but was so compelled, I’m buying it. 3 stars.
Friday Night Lights – an absolutely fascinating book about high school football in a West Texas town. I haven’t seen the movie or watched the TV show, but the book is terrific. It’s not just about football, it’s about the heart of a town that’s on the edge of dying. 3.5 stars.
The Blind Side: Evolution Of A Game – book I’m currently reading. Another incredibly fascinating book if you have any interest in football at all. It’s an examination of why the left tackle is so highly prized in modern football, interwoven with a strange story of a highly prized high school left tackle recruit. From what I’ve gathered so far, the main contributors to the rise of the left tackle is Lawrence Taylor (changed the game by being a ferocious linebacker who attacks the quarterback’s blind side) and Bill Walsh (the West Coast offense is built on passing, which makes it particularly susceptible to blind side linebackers like LT. He found a temporary solution to LT in the ’81 playoffs by pulling the left guard, but it could only work one game – the opponents would eventually realize that tactic leaves the middle open to a inside blitz. So the system requires a great left tackle to protect the QB, more so than run-based offenses).
I can’t say enough about this book. I love Michael Lewis’ writing – Moneyball was a fantastic book, and he also wrote a great essay on the New York Giants drafting Eli Manning. If there’s any weakness in his writing, it’s that he’s *too* compelling. You come away thinking players like Eli Manning and Chad Bradford (!) are the greatest players ever, and his arguments for why they are are extremely compelling. But when you take a step back you realize, hey wait, they kind of suck. It’s the same thing with this book; the recruit (Michael Oher) comes across as being the best left tackle in history. We’ll see. Also, the book uses an annoying font, which matters. But it’s a great read. 4 stars.