Steve Gross

Delightful book but the new English translation is sometimes jarring, mixing 1900's language with 20th century slang.

Different than most histories. Lots of data.

Long and somewhat dense. The best parts are excursions into specialized topics, like the role of women or technology differences.

The best book I've ever read on spherical trigonometry (actually, the only book!). Diagrams were a little hard to follow but that may be due to the nature of the subject.

I thought this was an Israel-based thriller, but it's really a Christian Romance novel. The constant injection of Christianity gets tedious if you're not a Christian.

The first rationalists guide to Judaism. A bit old fashioned but holds up well.

The typesetting was poor - it was hard to tell what was a quote, excerpt or text. Also confusing as the author, the son of the subject, alternately referred to his father as “father”, “Ginzberg”, “Louis Ginzberg” and more.

The protagonist is not a very sympathetic character.

A beautifully produced book with heavy pages and rich colors. The content is so-so. The author thinks video games are the key to all learning.

In-depth portrait of an amazing man. Not sure this was a hagiography, but still comes through as a unique portrait.

Antique but interesting.

If you like advanced mathematics and dense weather descriptions, this is the book for you.

Most of the time, using math is like killing a fly with a sledgehammer. Somewhat ponderous.

Wonderful

Wonderfully evokes a different place and time. Like Agatha Christie, the author is so skillful and making you think what he wants you to think and feel what he wants you to feel. A classic.

Smug, I'm-smarter-than-you-although-I'm-pretending-not-to-be. Completely unnecessary use of profanity, although the author would say these are perfectly good words. See the first sentence.

A compilation of magazine articles and it shows. Most of the concepts are either not explained well or too complicated to explain.

A feast for those who love the Hebrew language.

Pretty comprehensive. I could have done without the film theory parts. Lots and lots of stills.

Not a book about the contents of the Talmud, but a history of the book itself. Some interesting history with lively writing.

Kind of tedious because of the repetition but I guess that's how folk tales work.

A clear and simple overview of archaeology. If you are already a fan, it's nice to hear the latest news on famous archaological sites.

I have been a fan of Davies for a long time. This book is not up to his usual standards. Lots of handwaving and several irritations: frequent references to his ASU colleagues, looooong paragraphs and British spellings.

Maybe because I listened instead of read it, but it was hard to keep track of all the players, places and times. Spots of nice writing though.

Better than average pulp fiction