Corey McCaffrey

Full of literal idioms, devilish puns, and the most realistic demons known to mankind, I wish this book had found me in my fourth grade instead of my fourth decade.

If, God forbid, you or a loved one ever need surgery, and you have an opportunity to ask questions before the operation, ask the surgeon whether he or she uses the WHO Safe Surgery Checklist. If you don't think this sounds like a big deal one way or the other, please read this book.

My former law firm's IP department used a variety of checklists to great effect. If you're not using checklists in your job, consider reading this book to understand how nearly every industry and profession can benefit.

Fun, quick read. Don't worry about trying to make sense of the technology—how it works or why it's there—just accept the fantastical premise and enjoy Sanderson's short take on the buddy cop/detective genre.

This is a great, brief audiobook narrated by the author. It vividly illustrates the tension many left-leaning, liberal Jews like me feel about being left behind by the progressive movement, and the confusion many of us feel about the rise of identity politics.

It's impossible for me to read this book without comparing it to my favorite book on the subject, How to Fight Anti-Semitism by Bari Weiss. Bari offers the American perspective, David the British. Bari leans into Judaism and Zionism, David sets them aside to focus on anti-Jewish racism irrespective of religion and Israel. Bari's book has breadth, looking at historical and present anti-semitism from the left, right, and radical Islam; David's book is more narrowly focused on recent examples from the left.

Bari's target audience is mainly (I think) other Jews; in the “How to Fight” chapter, she is speaking to Jews (e.g., “Lean into Judaism,” and “Nurture your Jewish identity”). David's target audience is (I think) everyone. In one example after another, he turns an antisemitic incident on its head, inviting people to consider how they would react if an analogous incident had been targeted at a different minority.

I even went so far as to search for any comments Bari and David may have written about each other's books, and I was pleasantly surprised to see that they will be speaking with each other next week (3/18/2021): https://howtoacademy.com/events/bari-weiss-meets-david-baddiel-jews-dont-count/

I preferred Bari's book. I preferred her approach of embracing Israel and Judaism as inextricably linked to fighting anti-semitism over David's approach of minimizing their importance to the Jewish experience of a British atheist Jew. But I hope you'll read both anyway.

Liquid Rules is a fun and fascinating book, and a great follow-up to Stuff Matters. Interesting and wide-ranging facts about all types of liquids were organized around charming and ceaselessly self-effacing vignettes from the author's transatlantic flight. The audiobook narration is perfect.