So what is this book all about? I kind of think of it as a catalogue of how not to design, followed by the better way to design things. It’s about human-centred design or prototyping, testing, getting feedback and iterating. Continue reading
Category Archives: Non fiction
Book review: Inferior
To call it well written would be an insult. It’s brilliant. It’s a compulsive read – which in other circumstances could be trying to other authors given the range of subjects covered, papers mentioned, people interviewed. The narrative is so beautifully crafted that its easily one of the most accessible and fascinating non-fiction books I’ve read in a long time. Continue reading
Book review: The Princess Diarist
Short holiday review of The Princess Diarist by Carrie Fisher. Continue reading
Book review: The Ministry of Nostalgia
What an angry book. No that this is a bad thing. I think there were two chapters that I found the most interesting and fascinating and one that I lost the plot a bit. The first chapter that I really liked was the whole exploration of nostalgia via things like ‘keep calm and carry on’. … Continue reading
Book review: Southern Emancipator
Wow. So, I should know a lot about Moncure Conway, but I don’t. I’m rectifying that knowledge gap this year, for multiple reasons (one being PhD reasons). So I picked up Southern Emancipator: Moncure Conway: The American Years, 1832-1865 from the delightful library at Conway Hall (Conway Hall named after him, of course). It’s hard … Continue reading
Book review: Herding Hemingway’s cats
I think if I needed to pick a single word to describe Kat Arney’s first (and fabulous) book on how genes work, it would be irreverent. And I mean that in the best possible way. Full disclosure, I know Kat and have brewed beer with her. To be fair, this is so far a one-off … Continue reading
Book reviews / Comics / History / Non fiction
Book review: Supergods
I think I picked up this book by Grant Morrison at the comics exhibition at the British Museum. I have read a few comics by Morrison, like Joe the Barbarian and All Star Superman. I enjoyed both. So in the post-script to the paperback edition, he describes Supergods as a subjective history. Ah ha ha … Continue reading
Book review: The Ends of the Earth
The ends of the earth is the smooshing together of two anthologies about the arctic and antarctic. It’s a mixture of both the best fiction and non-fiction stories about these two interesting places. I think I preferred the old journals of the first explorers and the science excerpts more than any of the non-fiction prose. … Continue reading
Book review: Austerity ecology and the collapse-porn addicts
This was fun! I think it is my first book review of someone I actually know – having met Leigh Phillips randomly on a Eurostar to Brussels one terribly early morning a few years ago. Leigh’s book is a no-holds barred assault on de-growth, small is beautiful, return to the land ideologies. It is a … Continue reading
Book review: Population wars
I very much enjoy reading (and listening) to anything written by Greg Graffin, so I guess I’m the perfect audience for his most recent book, Population Wars: a new perspective on competition and coexistence. It’s a tour through biology, zoology and anthropology to argue the points of environmental stewardship, that population wars rarely read to … Continue reading
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