Category Archives: Books

BOOK: “What If? 2” by Randall Monroe

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What If? 2: Additional Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions (What If?, #2)What If? 2: Additional Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions by Randall Munroe
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Author site

The Venn Diagram intersect of “hilarious” and “educational” tends to be sparsely occupied territory, but it’s where Randall Monroe lives. This sequel continues the approach set in the original volume, take a completely absurd question that can be answered with science and do just that with frequent interjections of sarcasm. Some examples of the questions addressed are: How many pigeons would it take to fly a person to the top of a skyscraper? Can all the world’s bananas fit in all the world’s churches? How much real dinosaur is in a plastic toy dinosaur? How many people worth of dead skin cells does a person consume and inhale over a lifetime?

The book uses many stick figure cartoons and other line drawings to both clarify the material and for the sake of humor. While it might seem like these questions could be answered hastily (as a dad might by saying, “You’re an idiot. Go away!”) most take several pages of elaboration because Monroe considers the many complexities of the question and of finding a scientific answer. There are sections throughout called “Short Answers” which include many a question so ridiculous or intuitive that being dismissive seems like the right approach.

If you’re interested in science but still find it goes down better with chortles and chuckles, I’d highly recommend this book.

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BOOK: “The Attention Merchants” by Tim Wu

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The Attention Merchants: The Epic Scramble to Get Inside Our HeadsThe Attention Merchants: The Epic Scramble to Get Inside Our Heads by Tim Wu
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Publisher Site — Penguin

This book explores the evolution of capturing attention for commercial purposes. It delves into the history of attention economics from the development of print ads to the pursuit of virality via the internet and social media. Wu outlines how different media (e.g. print, radio, television, cable tv, and the internet) learned different lessons about how to make advertising work given the unique nature of each platform. The book also offers insight into how advertising spawned a market for people’s personal consumer information as the internet era began to allow companies to target ads for maximum effect, rather than using the scattershot approach that was all that was available to radio and broadcast television.

I found this book to be informative and it’s a subject of which people should be aware. William James famously said, “…what we attend to is reality.” If James was right, our reality is being shaped by forces that often remain outside our awareness. If you are curious about the attention economy, this is a highly readable overview of the subject.

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PROMPT: Inspired

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Daily writing prompt
What’s a movie or book that inspired you to travel?
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I would say it’s much more common for travel to inspire me to read a particular book than the other way about. I can’t think of a case in which reading a book was the prime mover in a decision to travel to a given place. But I do try to read some literature from every country or literarily active city that I visit.

PROMPT: Read More

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Daily writing prompt
Which book have you read more than any other?
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孙子兵法 (i.e. Sun Tzu’s “Art of War“) or Hamlet, perhaps. It would have to be something short, important, and that bore new fruit upon revisit.

But, in truth, it’s not a score I’ve kept. I just know there are few books I’ve re-read, and exceedingly few that I’ve read more than twice. There are too many good books to get stuck on any of them without great cause.

BOOKS: “The Weary Blues” by Langston Hughes

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The Weary BluesThe Weary Blues by Langston Hughes
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Available online — Lehigh University

Langston Hughes was one of the greats of 20th century American poetry, and The Weary Blues was his first collection (1926,) containing some of his most beloved (and anthologized) pieces, including: “The Negro Speaks of Rivers” and “I, too, sing America” [a.k.a. Epilogue; which plays off Whitman’s “I Hear America Singing.”] I’ve always loved how Hughes used the rhythm of repetition and the technique of standing in for the everyman (as he famously did in “The Negro Speaks of Rivers,” but in other of his poems as well.) He also had a gift for concision.

These sixty-nine poems deal in a wide range of themes including race, travel, love, etc. Music, be it Jazz or Blues, is an ever-present force in Hughes work. In addition to the aforementioned classics, among my favorite pieces from the collection are: “Winter Moon,” “March Moon,” “‘The Night is Beautiful'” [a.k.a. Poem,] “When Sue Wears Red,” “Water Front Streets,” “Long Trip,” “Seascape,” “Suicide’s Note,” “Songs to the Dark,” and “Lament for Dark Peoples.”

I’d highly recommend this collection for poetry readers.

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PROMPT: Sequel

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Daily writing prompt
What’s a book you think deserves a sequel?
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I think sequelization is a pox upon the literary world. I would hazard to say that anything good I’ve ever read was a standalone work. Seldom does the “resolution-to-hook” ratio lead to a satisfying, let alone illuminating, reading experience. A popular book series is far more likely to end like the television series Lost than to pull all its outstanding narrative strings together coherently.

Unless you’re talking nonfiction, in which case I would be open to another volume of The Complete History of the World at some point.

BOOK: “Among Warriors” by Pamela Logan

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Among Warriors: A Woman Martial Artist in Tibet (Vintage Departures)Among Warriors: A Woman Martial Artist in Tibet by Pamela Logan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Author Site

This is an interesting travelogue describing Logan’s 1991 journey through Tibet and Nepal via bicycle, foot, and hitchhiked rides in trucks. It’s reminiscent of Alexandra David-Néel’s description of a journey in Tibet, though Alexandra David-Néel’s trip was both successful in ways Logan’s was not (e.g. in 1924 the former reached Lhasa, which Logan is turned away from,) and Alexandra David-Néel had to go full native — i.e. she couldn’t have completed her trip without convincing all the locals she interacted with that she was, in fact, from the region, herself. Still, Logan comes across as no slouch, heading out even when permits were denied or stalled, getting turned back, and making legitimate attempts to sneak her way to her objective. One must acknowledge that late 20th century China is a very different world than early 20th century Tibet, and so it may not be a fair comparison.

It is Logan’s stating of her objective that sets this book up to be anticlimactic, despite its thrilling elements. Her initial objective was to come into contact with Khampas — nomadic Tibetan warriors who were legendarily hard. While Logan has many adventures and fascinating experiences, she doesn’t succeed in her stated objective. I found it bold, but perhaps ill-conceived, to so ardently discuss said objective (even in the back blurb,) knowing that — adventures or no — it would feel like a let-down to many readers.

If you are interested in learning more about the highways, byways, and villages of Tibet, particularly how it was back in the early 90’s, I’d recommend reading this book. However, I wouldn’t go into it with any blurb-generated expectations.

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BOOK: “A Cook’s Tour” by Anthony Bourdain

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A Cook's Tour: Global Adventures in Extreme CuisinesA Cook’s Tour: Global Adventures in Extreme Cuisines by Anthony Bourdain
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Publisher Site – Bloomsbury

Anthony Bourdain’s work is a joy to read if you love gonzo writing, and food — lots of food. It’s like reading Hunter S. Thompson, if Thompson were obsessed with the meals that he ate. A Cook’s Tour is Bourdain’s second work of nonfiction, after Kitchen Confidential, the book which turned him from Executive Chef at a high-brow New York restaurant to a Personality — writer, TV star, and celebrity. Where his previous book explored life in the kitchen, this one ventured out into the world, to Portugal, Scotland, Japan, Mexico, Cambodia, San Francisco, and Vietnam — to name a few.

I must admit, if Bourdain had been the kind of foodie that was obsessed with foam reductions and $300 per head tasting menus, his writing would hold limited intrigue for me. But because this was a guy who seemed as happy with a streetside bowl of pho or a simple hunk of grilled meat on a stick as he was with fine dining, I find his work relatable. It also avoids the cognitive dissonance of reading someone who wrote like Hunter Thompson, but who only talked about escargot and wine pairings. It lent Bourdain authenticity.

I’d highly recommend this book to anyone who travels, loves food, or lives at the confluence of the two.

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BOOK: “AI for Good” by Josh Tyrangiel

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AI for Good: How Real People Are Using Artificial Intelligence to Fix Things That MatterAI for Good: How Real People Are Using Artificial Intelligence to Fix Things That Matter by Josh Tyrangiel
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Publisher Site – Simon & Schuster

— Out Now —

There’re a lot of books out about artificial intelligence (AI) these days. There are how-to manuals. There are books about the making of billionaires on the back of AI-centric business models. There are books that consider how AI will destroy the human economy (and possibly humanity as we know it.) Josh Tyrangiel’s book seeks to carve out a niche by taking a positive view towards AI but focusing not so much on how it produces more billionaire tech executives, but rather on how it can help fix persistent social problems in education, healthcare, governance, and human communication and connectedness. Of course, this isn’t a completely separate topic from business use of AI (e.g. healthcare is one of the biggest businesses in America [which is no doubt emblematic of America’s unrelentingly shitty healthcare;]) however, these are areas that each feature their own unique challenges, problems for which the lessons of the business sector, broadly, are often of limited value.

I found this book to be illuminating. It introduced several fascinating characters from various domains. Among the most intriguing discussions were those with a short-lived DOGE employee and one with a Hoosier high school principal. It was also interesting to learn about the evolution of AI language translators.

If you are interested in how AI is being applied beyond hardcore business uses like supply chain optimization and computer programming, you may want to give this book a look.

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BOOK: Bokuden Ryu Jujutsu by Otsuka Nobuyoshi; Trans. by Eric Shahan

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Bokuden Ryu Jujutsu: A Record of Intensive Lessons in Jujutsu with Additional Secret Teachings on ResuscitationBokuden Ryu Jujutsu: A Record of Intensive Lessons in Jujutsu with Additional Secret Teachings on Resuscitation by Otsuka Nobuyoshi
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Translator Amazon Page

This is a manual, written in 1916, of the Bokuden Ryu school of Jujutsu. Tsukahara Bokuden was a sixteenth century samurai and is one of the most famous of Japan’s swordsmen, having been instructor to a Shogun and a Provincial Governor, and the school of Jujutsu described in this book was said to have been founded by him.

The manual mostly consists of textual and line drawn descriptions of thirty techniques of the system, mostly throws and takedowns. Each page has an English translation appended to the original manual’s text and drawings. Most techniques are explained over two or three pages (i.e. two or three drawings.) The book also includes three resuscitation techniques and a few odds and ends. There is also a nice set of atemi maps – i.e. drawings showing various vulnerable spots on the body, and a brief biography (a few pages) of Tsukahara Bokuden.

The translator points out errors in the original and corrects them in the translation (e.g. there are a couple of techniques in which attacker and defender labels are swapped.)

If you’re interested in Japanese martial arts and the evolution of Jujutsu, I’d recommend this manual. There is not a great deal of fine detail to be gleaned, but the concise descriptions do offer insights into what is unique and what is common to the system.

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