About halfway through this book, I looked at the author’s inset and realised that it was written by Canada’s current Prime Minister, Stephen Harper. Oops. It apparently took 8 years to write, with lots of other people helping with the research. I don’t doubt that he wrote a lot of it, because the language feels … Continue reading
Category Archives: Non fiction
Book review: Thinking, fast and slow
I imagine if you’ve been to the airport or any bookstore that has best seller lists, you’ve come across Daniel Kahneman’s Thinking, fast and slow. You might think it’s one of those easy pop-psych books that you can read in the plane, but it’s rather more tough than that. It makes you think and then … Continue reading
Book review: The power of knowledge
This is not a book for the faint of heart. My version is a giant hardcover that runs at 412 pages but feels more like 800. It is big. It is long. However, it doesn’t mean that it isn’t interesting. Or at least, large parts of it. The central thesis is that the accumulation of … Continue reading
Book review: A slip of the keyboard
I remember I bought this book when out adventuring in the Lake District. It is the kind of book you buy on holiday. I have read so much Terry Pratchett. I think I’m only one short of reading all of the Discworld. If there was a literary character that I could somehow make real it … Continue reading
Book review: Do it Like a Woman
Like all good books, Caroline Criado-Perez’s book left me both utterly aghast at injustice but equally uplifted by those brave women who look at injustice in the face and tell it to go fuck itself. In equal measure, I was either frowning and perplexed at the incredibly awful things that have happened to women (or … Continue reading
Book review: Woodie Guthrie, American Radical
This was an excellent read, a super dense 207 pages that covers Woody’s life and exactly how bloody radical he was. It’s hard to believe there was such a large radical left movement in the United States. Then you’re reminded again of McCarthyism and it’s horrors and you understand why it’s so hard to rebuild. … Continue reading
Book review: The People’s Car
The People’s Car: A global history of the Volkswagon Beetle – Bernhard Riegar A few months ago @psythor and I went to the German exhibition at the British Museum. Of course, going through the bookshop, I couldn’t help but pick up this book. It is what it says on the tin – a global history … Continue reading
Book review: The Sense of Style
Steven Pinker’s new book, The sense of style: The Thinking Person’s Guide to Writing in the 21st Century, is a complete joy to read. I think my favourite bit of the book is where pedantry is debunked. Maybe this is so delightful because I run across such things almost every other day for work. It … Continue reading
Book review: The quest for a moral compass
Perhaps I needed a break from the swathe of somewhat trashy science fiction or maybe I just wanted to feel clever, but for whatever reason, I picked up this book. @Psythor had bought it and it had been perched precariously upon a stack of other books we had purchased recently, but hadn’t put away properly. … Continue reading
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