Dave
Best Science Fiction I've read in years.
Absolutely epic in scope and more importantly execution. When I was about a third of the way through, I reached out to a group of friends with whom I share occasional recommendations and marked this series as a MUST read. Interestingly two of the four already had the first book on their read list but hadn't started it yet.
This is genius level science fiction of the highest order.
This is exactly the kind of book we should all read before we make that run on Facebook to convince others of our superior intellect.
Seriously, this will broaden your understanding at the over view level of how the energy production, distribution, and consumption systems in our modern cultures work. As the title says, it's a beginners guide, perhaps not written for an 8th grade education, but not deep enough for graduate work.
I've never read anything like it.
Mr McBride is a fine writer, among the best, I've never had a piece of modern fiction hit me with the emotional weight that this book did. Like a lot of other reviewers, I wondered where it was going for a while as the story meandered along. There was just so much going on, and had the prose not been so entertaining, and the events so fascinating, I don't know that I'd have made it to the third act. Closing a great story is the hardest part of writing g, and Mr McBride did so here with an elegance that could teach lessons for almost everyone who fools around with fictions.
I can't recommend it enough, it is a must read.
No-Nonsense Buddhism for Beginners: Clear Answers to Burning Questions About Core Buddhist Teachings
Great primer on Buddhism
Many questions on the practice of Buddhism can be difficult to find simple answers to, or answers that are simple to the western mind. For some reason, many western teachers adhere to this technique, so that even books written by westerners are written in circles without explanation. I've read a good many books on the practice, and lived it myself for ten years, and I found this small piece refreshing and informative, I would recommend it to anyone with even just a curiosity on the subject.
I'm going I have to agree with some FL the other r jewels, while the book and its information presents fascinating ideas, it reads like a graduate textbook, not like something to educate the average, albeit well read, individual on the concepts of consciousness. I literally had to slog through the book to complete it. I am very interested in the ideas, and the explorations of consciousness currently undertaken around the world, but unless you're a scientific scholar yourself, this might not be the book to delve into it, at least not for most of us. I will reread it at some point in the future, perhaps when more of the terms and concepts are less foreign I will find it more bearable.
A superb, very personal narrative of the life of a German Naval officer. For 70 years the world had no interest in the realities of war from their point of view, and I imagine that many never will, however not hearing their story is doing an injustice to them and us. They were warriors, like most of us, and their stories stand to be lost to time. I thoroughly enjoyed the writing, and am again mind boggled by how well indoctrinated the German military as a whole was, that even when faced with the reality of the death of all he he knew and loved, he was resolute to continue to do his duty.
A well written piece of history.
Perspective ! A tall cool glass of perspective!
Which is what literally everyone needs right now. The tendency for people to get themselves whipped into a froth over half-truths, emotional narratives, and outright lies is, in my opinion, the biggest challenge we face in progressing past our brutal nature. Mr Pinker does a very fine job of providing some of that perspective with this book.
You can do far worse than giving it a look see with an open mind.
Five stars easily.
The best book on the conflict in Vietnam I have yet read.
Possibly because it is among if not the, first to be written without any obvious political agenda, spin, or loyalty to any cause other than the truth. Bowden simply tells the story, whichever side or cause warrants the point of view for the event gets the attention. He gives no excessive quarter to any participant.
A good look at the life of an accomplished athlete and human
It's a good, quick read. It's like a small group therapy session really, it doesn't delve too deeply into anything, don't expect any real revelations. Clara doesn't really discuss how or even if she's solved some of her problems, she just invites us all along on the journey.
Quick Overview of a small but historically important conflict
Nothing particularly deep here, and there are a great many typographic and grammar errors, but it does give a quick and easily digested overview of a war that set the stage for the future Co flicks between western powers, Korea, China, and Japan.
Refreshingly honest and well put together
I'm ruthless with books of poetry because I feel like most of it belongs on someone's tumblr page, or twitter rather than bound in expensive paper. This is one of the surprises of the genre. This was very good. Her imagery was not teen angst ridden melodrama, but rather proclamations of self. Standing on her own two feet, despite moments of doubt is the over arching story she tells, and she tells it with colors, and flavors and sounds. A very enjoyable read. I will find more of her work if I can, and I would indeed buy it in print.