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The Gods Themselves

Wrote a review for

If I had a complaint, it would be that the book isn't longer. What's here works, but it feels like a shame to leave the "alien" storyline where it ends. I want to know what happens next.

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a year ago

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How to Be Perfect: The Correct Answer to Every Moral Question

Wrote a review for

If you want an inscrutable text on moral philosophy that covers every possible interpretation of every influence in the field, this isn't it. You may or may not gain anything if you've read the huge body of philosophy material that's out there.


But for the rest of us (even those with reasonable high level understanding of many of the core ideas he covers), this is an approachable, humorous presentation of many of the main schools of thought that are out there. Micheal Schur did his research for the show The Good Place (or The Good Place arose from his interest in philosophy). It showed in the questions the (excellent) show contemplated during its run, and the core "just try to be better" idea is definitely a key takeaway from the book as well.

You won't become a moral philosophy professor from reading this book, but it does give you some tools to make better choices tomorrow than you did yesterday, and it does it without being the chore to read that a lot of other work on the subject can be.

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@NerdisaurusWrex

a year ago

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J
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Thinking, Fast and Slow

Wrote a review for

This is the Bias Bible. If you want to get a brief overview of how your brain works, and lots of information on how you aren't the rational actor you see yourself as, this is the book.Kahneman won the Nobel Prize in Economics for his work on human judgement covered in this book, and played a key role in the development of the field of behavioral economics. If you read one book on the brain, this is the one.


(If this is overwhelming and you want an accurate, but less in depth alternative, I also highly recommend Thinking in Bets by Annie Duke.)

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a year ago

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I'm Glad My Mom Died

Wrote a review for


I'm glad her mom died, too.


Jennette McCurdy is hilarious. Her mom is the textbook "living through her kid" Hollywood parent, and it's not comfortable. But the way she tells her story is fantastic. She communicates her innermost thoughts in an incredibly transparent, non-judgmental way, while at the same time highlighting how absurd her damaged thought process was through an excellent sense of comedic timing and structure.


This story could easily come across as incredibly dark, because it is, and in many cases similar situations have turned out with dark ends as well. Fortunately, Jennette made it through and got the help she needed to grow into an incredibly healthy person. Both how broken she was, and the fact that she's better now, come across crystal clear just through the way she tells the series of stories. I am generally not a fan of memoirs, but I'm glad I made an exception for this book.

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a year ago

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J
Supporter
Dead Man's List

Added to listOwnedwith 187 books.

Dead Man's List
I'm Glad My Mom Died
On the Origin of Species
Executive Orders
The Hard Way
Past Tense
No Middle Name: The Complete Collected Jack Reacher Short Stories