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2011 books 29-32
May. 3rd, 2011 08:34 pm29) The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion: This was luminous. Wonderful. And very much makes you grateful for what and who you have.
30) The Disappearing Spoon and other true takes of madness, love and the history of the world from the periodic table of the elements by Sam Kean: Rachel and I were commenting that science books feel like they've been getting a lot more interesting in the last decade. Sam Kean's book was no exception to this - a good, fun romp through chemistry and physics, stuffed with both science and personality told in a very amiable, informative voice. The only thing that kept me from reading even more of it aloud to Rachel was her desire to read it herself.
31) Radioactive: Marie & Pierre Curie: A Tale of Love and Fallout by Lauren Redniss: this was... odd. Not bad, just odd. A mini-bio of the Curies, Marie in particular (only logical since she long outlived her husband) filtered around and through Redniss' peculiar artwork. I'm not sure I'd recommend it, but it was a quick read.
32) The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell: I got turned on to Gladwell from his appearances on Radiolab, and this was an interesting book. I was also interested how some of his ideas, or ideas that paralleled his, were taken up by both William Gibson and Connie Willis in Pattern Recognition and Bellweather respectively. I was irritated upon finishing it to discover that it was an abridged-for-audiobook copy.
30) The Disappearing Spoon and other true takes of madness, love and the history of the world from the periodic table of the elements by Sam Kean: Rachel and I were commenting that science books feel like they've been getting a lot more interesting in the last decade. Sam Kean's book was no exception to this - a good, fun romp through chemistry and physics, stuffed with both science and personality told in a very amiable, informative voice. The only thing that kept me from reading even more of it aloud to Rachel was her desire to read it herself.
31) Radioactive: Marie & Pierre Curie: A Tale of Love and Fallout by Lauren Redniss: this was... odd. Not bad, just odd. A mini-bio of the Curies, Marie in particular (only logical since she long outlived her husband) filtered around and through Redniss' peculiar artwork. I'm not sure I'd recommend it, but it was a quick read.
32) The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell: I got turned on to Gladwell from his appearances on Radiolab, and this was an interesting book. I was also interested how some of his ideas, or ideas that paralleled his, were taken up by both William Gibson and Connie Willis in Pattern Recognition and Bellweather respectively. I was irritated upon finishing it to discover that it was an abridged-for-audiobook copy.
