Sam

Another great entry in the His Dark Materials series, i am very much looking forward to the third book.

I think the story is a great vehicle for religious critique and I am very much enjoying it. The writing is very clear and the allegory is very interesting.

A great book for learning about tidying, a short read got through it in 2-3 ish hours of reading and gave me a new perspective for keeping my space tidying

While the content is interesting I think the dry nature of how the information is delivered made me feel like was just li reading lecture notes which is not bad but not what I was expecting which is probably what lowered my rating of the book. If you are interested in this part of history it can give you a good understanding of the period and the context of the Byzantine empire

The Malthusian catastrophe which this book uses as motivation for the BBEG is very unbelievably laughable, I feel like Langdon's ability to outsmart a woman who supposedly has an above 200 in borders on feeling sexist. I think so far this is the worst book in the series so far.

I think this book is a good read to have an understanding of one the foundational texts in linguistic philosophy and understanding where many modern theories have their basis. Building on that I think I would only recommend this book to those which are really interested in learning about linguistic philosophy.

I can't really put this book into words it's weird and creepy and fantastic and gross and horrible and deep and shallow. It's a true piece of horror. It will stay with me racking my brain for a long time.

I don't know where I could start or finish this review besides saying how satisfied I was with it

The golem myth is one that I hold close to heart. I feel like this book is rooted in the reality of our time while keeping the fantasy alive. I think the book touches amazingly on the ideas of Jewish identity and modern issues.

While I could wax on poetic about the golem and imagery I'll leave it to a video essay by Jacob Geller https://youtu.be/pUBVSH6hBvY?si=Fu7XljKymGa5sbGO

Pinker does an excellent job exploring universal grammar (UG) and expanding upon Chomsky's work. He lays down great arguments for why language instinct and UG should be the model to be expanded upon while explaining succinctly the shortcomings of other theories. The book is definitely aged with many of it's references of artificial intelligence (AI) aging it and rooting it in the time the book was written I think it still raises many questions that we can look to answer even to this day.

I think this book will remain one that I go back to for quotes and facts such as the hierarchy of vowels and constants leading to how we come up with certain phrases (razzle-dazzle). I would recommend this book for anyone interested in linguistics and human cognition.

While the author does a good job explaining himself and the thesis of the book I feel as though it devolves from the thesis that knowledge is lost when a language dies to just listing language features of endangered languages.

While I understand and agree cultural knowledge is lost when a language dies I remain unconvinced that ‘actual' knowledge is. I even believe the authors co-signing of the statement that any idea can be expressed in any language showcases the issues with the thesis.

I remain open to the idea and will see if any other literature persuades me.

Made a decision to read more classics and some Shakespeare, decided to start with this one as I've heard many times it's a good entry point. Ultimately enjoyed it but prefer to read other stuff, I do think it's a good entry way and will see if my enjoyment increases.

Neverwhere has a interesting world with London below being a dreamland of fantasy which I could get lost in, really enjoyed the world building and how much it leaves to the imagination the short story included in my copy adds to the world to make it even more alluring.

An amazing book on “Black English” McWhorter is an amazing educator and his book delivers and excellent and succinct argument for why everyone should pay attention and care about the linguistics of Black English

Clearly lays out the events which caused the entry into Iraq by the USA I think it also showcases many of the ineptitudes of the US intelligence machine and the office of the president during Bush's presidency.

An interesting book on how soccer has been involved in politics and how politics have effected soccer, would recommend for any fan of soccer

This book has given me insight and language to help me further understand a lot of decision making in my life as well as a better understanding of how to analyze decisions made by others

A book from my childhood I decided to reread the series and I wasn't disappointed, the mix of mythologies with the modern backdrop makes me giddy with excitement. The main characters are still believable and hold up.

Interesting collections of stories including one of my favorite pieces of science fiction Johnny Mnemonic, I would highly recommend this for any fan of the cyberpunk genre as Gibson is the godfather of the genre

I think this book highlights a lot of the issues with the intelligence machine of the US without being one of those books that purely villainizes the CIA as a boogie man and actually, shines a light on many of the shortcomings that may be otherwise unknown if you only believe the hype that you see from conspiracy theories and propaganda

Decided to read this after watching the TV show, and I have to say the book is much better, while I think the show has a nicer pace, the books characters feel more real and interesting I rather prefer the book I will be reading the others in the series

The Alex Stern series has kept me coming back for more and I'm excited to read more. The backdrop which is somewhere I am familiar growing up near Yale has me engrossed in the world building as I can easily imagine every scene.

Great mystery novel about race and the American experience of PoC, I think its twists and turns are well timed and I liked the musical theme.

Interesting book which goes over a lot of ways which archeological sites and information can be used to provide misinformation and how the field is used to carry water for other conspiracies

Guy Deutscher lays out the best arguments for linguistic relativity (relative to the time of publication 2010) and I feel for me they fall flat, I've read much on the subject including some of the research papers cited in this book. While I do not contend that language plays no role in effecting our thought I believe the way in which it is exemplified leaves more to be wanting. I think the fact that the actual difference is not described for many of the experiments on color in the last chapter feels like we are being kept in darkness so we accept the difference is relevant to a great extent. I think the information presented in this book would be better suited had Guy revealed the actual objective metrics instead just saying what metrics exist (ie give the actual difference in reaction time rather than just saying there was a difference in reaction time).

A book which left me wanting I feel like I didn't learn or gain anything from this book and it felt like I was reading from ‘policy winks' from twitter. I think the information is important but I think this book is for someone with less political knowledge and is a good starting point. Even if I say positive it's hard for me to give it higher than 2 stars for me personally

I read this for a book the other reviews do a good job bringing up critiques about both the story and the author. If you can move past that l, the story is moving and interesting I do have doubts about certain things and wish that the story was unmarred by the controversy surrounding the author and her story