Steve Gross

This book has three parts: the search for the Higgs Boson, a description of the Large hadron Collider and what a particle physicist does. This book cries out for an editor - the author repeats himself endlessly. Still, some good physics explanations.

A little bit better written than the first one. The first book ended with the character at a crossroads and I wanted to see what he would do next. Well, ditto for book #2...

Another mystery where the protagonist is a hit man. Set in Japan with lots of authentic color. This is a first novel and may turn into a good series. Worth another try.

Weird writing style - kind of a cross between biography and informal “as told by...” style. Author spends more time talking about Dyson than describing his achievements.

The fourth book in the 7 volume Foundation series, this one was written 30 years after the initial trilogy. Interesting but a bit talky. Could have used more action.

Lawrence Wright, who wrote the excellent “The Looming Tower”, tackles Scientology in this new book. The result is not a success. Too many personalities, too much time spent on Hollywood people and Tom Cruise in particular. he could have cut 100 pages from this overlong book. Scientology is very weird.

Why tenure stinks.

Almost as good as a Reacher book, except the protagonist is a bad guy.

A book about the mechanics of poetry - form, rhyme, meter, etc. I listened to this which was probably better than reading it. First half was much better than the second, which had a lot of list reading and unnecessary profanity.

Injured and traumatized cop partners with injured and traumatized dog. Some interesting chapters told from the dog's point of view. A little too repetitive - how many times can you say “he stroked the dog”? Still, better than average recent Crais.

Better than average thriller about the hunt for a lost library

Modern-day adventurer looks for the fabled White City in Honduras while paralleling his quest with an explorer/spy of WWII. OK of its kind.

A lot of blather about movies. As an example of how badly Thomson misses, he describes 2001 as “a numb elegy to advanced technology, the American space program...” Skip it.

The author's thesis is that the Rabbis generally tried to ameliorate the legal status of Jewish women from the Biblical period. I'm not 100% convinced of all her claims but a brilliant marshalling of sources nonetheless. Well worth reading.

Standard Gideon Oliver mystery. Well written but nothing new here except lots of Italian.

A classic from the Golden Age of mystery stories. Set in Oxford, veddy British, is somewhat dated.

Fourth revision of a study of mystery books. Somewhat dated (which is why they keep revising it). Some interesting points.

The author tries to explain why Agatha Christie is still so popular and widely read while most of her contemporaries are no longer in print. His answer is that Christie uses stock cardboard characters that allow the readers to substitute their local versions of the people.

Uncomplicated basic review of Dayan's life. Best feature is that it is short (200 pages).

Exactly what the title says - dozens of 10-15 page biographical essays, many of literary types.

Twenty-odd chapters, each one the recounting of a Mossad exploit and related stories. The writing is just fair, with the authors having a penchant for describing people's foreheads. Good if you like Mossad stories.

A history of cleanliness, bathing and the lack thereof. Basically, until very, very recently, almost everyone was disgustingly filthy, and by choice. Amusing and well-produced book, but not for the weak of stomach.

A prominent mystery writer's take on mysteries. She really doesn't like Agatha Christie.

Standard British police procedural, first in a series. OK, a little on the amateurish side. Lotso f profanity.

A true crime story of a British girl who disappeared in Japan. At once the story of an average girl, a police procedural, a divorced famil and an alien culture. Too long at almost 450 pages.