Chris's bookshelf: all en-US Thu, 09 Jan 2025 11:38:45 -0800 60 Chris's bookshelf: all 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg Wool - Holston (Wool, #1) 12287209
Or you'll get what you wish for.]]>
56 Hugh Howey Chris 0 4.14 2012 Wool - Holston (Wool, #1)
author: Hugh Howey
name: Chris
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2012
rating: 0
read at: 2018/09/10
date added: 2025/01/09
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Carrion Comfort 11286
THE PRESENT... Compelled by the encounter to survive at all costs, so begins a journey that for Saul will span decades and cross continents, plunging into the darkest corners of 20th century history to reveal a secret society of beings who may often exist behind the world's most horrible and violent events. Killing from a distance, and by darkly manipulative proxy, they are people with the psychic ability to 'use' humans: read their minds, subjugate them to their wills, experience through their senses, feed off their emotions, force them to acts of unspeakable aggression. Each year, three of the most powerful of this hidden order meet to discuss their ongoing campaign of induced bloodshed and deliberate destruction. But this reunion, something will go terribly wrong. Saul’s quest is about to reach its elusive object, drawing hunter and hunted alike into a struggle that will plumb the depths of mankind’s attraction to violence, and determine the future of the world itself...]]>
884 Dan Simmons 0446359203 Chris 0 currently-reading 3.91 1989 Carrion Comfort
author: Dan Simmons
name: Chris
average rating: 3.91
book published: 1989
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/18
shelves: currently-reading
review:

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K-Pax 6310374
Pierwsza część trylogii, żywa, dowcipna, świetnie napisana książka stawiająca pytania, które od pokoleń dręczą człowieka: kim jesteśmy? skąd przychodzimy? dokąd zmierzamy? Na jej podstawie nakręcono film pod tym samym tytułem ze znakomitym Kevinem Spaceyem w roli Prota.]]>
244 Gene Brewer 8324001786 Chris 0 to-read 3.71 1995 K-Pax
author: Gene Brewer
name: Chris
average rating: 3.71
book published: 1995
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/12/17
shelves: to-read
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<![CDATA[Red Dragon (Hannibal Lecter, #1)]]> 28877 454 Thomas Harris Chris 0 to-read 4.07 1981 Red Dragon (Hannibal Lecter, #1)
author: Thomas Harris
name: Chris
average rating: 4.07
book published: 1981
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/12/17
shelves: to-read
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The Devil's Advocate 248760
A BROTHERHOOD OF BLOOD

John Milton assigns Kevin one of the most notorious cases of the year, along with a file that had been put together prior to the crime. Throwing himself into his work, Kevin begins to see a pattern of evil emerging from behind the plush facade of his firm. As he watches them win every courtroom battle, and sees every criminal walk free, his mounting suspicions give way to all-out terror. For Kevin has become

THE DEVIL'S ADVOCATE

and there's no turning back from the world of the damned...]]>
336 Andrew Neiderman 0671014102 Chris 0 to-read 4.01 1990 The Devil's Advocate
author: Andrew Neiderman
name: Chris
average rating: 4.01
book published: 1990
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/12/17
shelves: to-read
review:

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Kick-Ass 3918010
COLLECTING: Kick-Ass 1-8]]>
144 Mark Millar 0785132619 Chris 0 to-read 4.06 2010 Kick-Ass
author: Mark Millar
name: Chris
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2010
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/12/17
shelves: to-read
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Coraline 17061
In Coraline's family's new flat are twenty-one windows and fourteen doors. Thirteen of the doors open and close.

The fourteenth is locked, and on the other side is only a brick wall, until the day Coraline unlocks the door to find a passage to another flat in another house just like her own.

Only it's different.

At first, things seem marvelous in the other flat. The food is better. The toy box is filled with wind-up angels that flutter around the bedroom, books whose pictures writhe and crawl and shimmer, little dinosaur skulls that chatter their teeth. But there's another mother, and another father, and they want Coraline to stay with them and be their little girl. They want to change her and never let her go.

Other children are trapped there as well, lost souls behind the mirrors. Coraline is their only hope of rescue. She will have to fight with all her wits and all the tools she can find if she is to save the lost children, her ordinary life, and herself.

Critically acclaimed and award-winning author Neil Gaiman will delight readers with his first novel for all ages.]]>
176 Neil Gaiman 0061139378 Chris 0 to-read 4.13 2002 Coraline
author: Neil Gaiman
name: Chris
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2002
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/12/17
shelves: to-read
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Seven Years in Tibet 270032 330 Heinrich Harrer 0874778883 Chris 0 to-read 4.08 1953 Seven Years in Tibet
author: Heinrich Harrer
name: Chris
average rating: 4.08
book published: 1953
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/12/17
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The Prestige 239239
Their rivalry will take them to the peaks of their careers, but with terrible consequences. In the course of pursuing each other's ruin, they will deploy all the deception their magicians' craft can command--the highest misdirection and the darkest science.

Blood will be spilled, but it will not be enough. In the end, their legacy will pass on for generations...to descendants who must, for their sanity's sake, untangle the puzzle left to them.]]>
404 Christopher Priest 0312858868 Chris 0 to-read 3.92 1995 The Prestige
author: Christopher Priest
name: Chris
average rating: 3.92
book published: 1995
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/12/17
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<![CDATA[The Ocean at the End of the Lane]]> 18505792
A groundbreaking work as delicate as a butterfly's wing and as menacing as a knife in the dark, The Ocean at the End of the Lane is told with a rare understanding of all that makes us human, and shows the power of stories to reveal and shelter us from the darkness inside and out.

Includes bonus features: a meet with Neil Gaiman, a reading group guide, and an interview with Gaiman.]]>
195 Neil Gaiman 0062255665 Chris 0 to-read 4.06 2013 The Ocean at the End of the Lane
author: Neil Gaiman
name: Chris
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2013
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/17
shelves: to-read
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<![CDATA[The Happy Lawyer: The Blueprint to Avoid Burnout and Put Together Your Good Life Personally and Professionally]]> 199597723 No book can make you happy. Only you can do that. But if you want to be happy, you’ll need to have the perspective to see what steps to take, the belief that you can, and the motivation to start. The Happy Lawyer is the indispensable resource to help you make that happen. You too can be happy.]]> 255 Paul Karvanis Chris 0 to-read 4.82 The Happy Lawyer: The Blueprint to Avoid Burnout and Put Together Your Good Life Personally and Professionally
author: Paul Karvanis
name: Chris
average rating: 4.82
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/12/17
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<![CDATA[The Lawyer Bubble: A Profession in Crisis]]> 15843067
In The Lawyer Bubble , Steven J. Harper reveals how a culture of short-term thinking has blinded some of the nation’s finest minds to the long-run implications of their actions. Law school deans have ceded independent judgment to flawed U.S. News & World Report rankings criteria in the quest to maximize immediate results. Senior partners in the nation’s large law firms have focused on current profits to enhance American Lawyer rankings and individual wealth at great cost to their institutions. Yet, wiser decisions—being honest about the legal job market, revisiting the financial incentives currently driving bad behavior, eliminating the billable hour model, and more—can take the profession to a better place.

A devastating indictment of the greed, shortsightedness, and dishonesty that now permeate the legal profession, this insider account is essential reading for anyone who wants to know how things went so wrong and how the profession can right itself once again.]]>
272 Steven J. Harper 0465058779 Chris 0 to-read 3.68 2013 The Lawyer Bubble: A Profession in Crisis
author: Steven J. Harper
name: Chris
average rating: 3.68
book published: 2013
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/12/17
shelves: to-read
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American Psycho 28676 American Psycho is a bleak, bitter, black comedy about a world we all recognize but do not wish to confront.]]> 399 Bret Easton Ellis 0679735771 Chris 3 3.82 1991 American Psycho
author: Bret Easton Ellis
name: Chris
average rating: 3.82
book published: 1991
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2024/12/10
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<![CDATA[Quantum Computation and Quantum Information (Cambridge Series on Information and the Natural Sciences)]]> 153910 700 Michael A. Nielsen 0521635039 Chris 5 4.34 2000 Quantum Computation and Quantum Information (Cambridge Series on Information and the Natural Sciences)
author: Michael A. Nielsen
name: Chris
average rating: 4.34
book published: 2000
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2024/12/10
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a real page turner, I turn a page and then turn back to read it again, and again.
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<![CDATA[Reality is Not What it Seems: The Journey to Quantum Gravity]]> 29767627 From the best-selling author of Seven Brief Lessons on Physics comes a new book about the mind-bending nature of the universe

What are time and space made of? Where does matter come from? And what exactly is reality? Scientist Carlo Rovelli has spent his whole life exploring these questions and pushing the boundaries of what we know. Here he explains how our image of the world has changed throughout centuries. Fom Aristotle to Albert Einstein, Michael Faraday to the Higgs boson, he takes us on a wondrous journey to show us that beyond our ever-changing idea of reality is a whole new world that has yet to be discovered.]]>
256 Carlo Rovelli 5268439022 Chris 3 4.34 2014 Reality is Not What it Seems: The Journey to Quantum Gravity
author: Carlo Rovelli
name: Chris
average rating: 4.34
book published: 2014
rating: 3
read at: 2024/12/09
date added: 2024/12/09
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<![CDATA[The Wide Wide Sea: Imperial Ambition, First Contact and the Fateful Final Voyage of Captain James Cook]]> 191746386
On July 12th, 1776, Captain James Cook, already lionized as the greatest explorer in British history, set off on his third voyage in his ship the HMS Resolution . Two-and-a-half years later, on a beach on the island of Hawaii, Cook was killed in a conflict with native Hawaiians. How did Cook, who was unique among captains for his respect for Indigenous peoples and cultures, come to that fatal moment?

Hampton Sides� bravura account of Cook’s last journey both wrestles with Cook’s legacy and provides a thrilling narrative of the titanic efforts and continual danger that characterized exploration in the 1700s. Cook was renowned for his peerless seamanship, his humane leadership, and his dedication to science-–the famed naturalist Joseph Banks accompanied him on his first voyage, and Cook has been called one of the most important figures of the Age of Enlightenment. He was also deeply interested in the native people he encountered. In fact, his stated mission was to return a Tahitian man, Mai, who had become the toast of London, to his home islands. On previous expeditions, Cook mapped huge swaths of the Pacific, including the east coast of Australia, and initiated first European contact with numerous peoples. He treated his crew well, and endeavored to learn about the societies he encountered with curiosity and without judgment.

Yet something was different on this last voyage. Cook became mercurial, resorting to the lash to enforce discipline, and led his two vessels into danger time and again. Uncharacteristically, he ordered violent retaliation for perceived theft on the part of native peoples. This may have had something to do with his secret orders, which were to chart and claim lands before Britain’s imperial rivals could, and to discover the fabled Northwest Passage. Whatever Cook’s intentions, his scientific efforts were the sharp edge of the colonial sword, and the ultimate effects of first contact were catastrophic for Indigenous people around the world. The tensions between Cook’s overt and covert missions came to a head on the shores of Hawaii. His first landing there was harmonious, but when Cook returned after mapping the coast of the Pacific Northwest and Alaska, his exploitative treatment of the Hawaiians led to the fatal encounter.

At once a ferociously-paced story of adventure on the high seas and a searching examination of the complexities and consequences of the Age of Exploration, THE WIDE WIDE SEA is a major work from one of our finest narrative nonfiction writers.]]>
408 Hampton Sides 0385544766 Chris 0 to-read 4.47 2024 The Wide Wide Sea: Imperial Ambition, First Contact and the Fateful Final Voyage of Captain James Cook
author: Hampton Sides
name: Chris
average rating: 4.47
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/12/03
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You Dreamed of Empires 127938747 From a visionary Mexican author, a hallucinatory, revelatory, colonial revenge story that reimagines the fall of Tenochtitlan.

One morning in 1519, conquistador Hernán Cortés entered the city of Tenochtitlan � today's Mexico City. Later that day, he would meet the emperor Moctezuma in a collision of two worlds, two empires, two languages, two possible futures.

Cortés was accompanied by his nine captains, his troops, and his two translators: Friar Aguilar, a taciturn, former slave, and Malinalli, a strategic, former princess. Greeted at a ceremonial welcome meal by the steely princess Atotoxli, sister and wife of Moctezuma, the Spanish nearly bungle their entrance to the city. As they await their meeting with Moctezuma � who is at a political, spiritual, and physical crossroads, and relies on hallucinogens to get himself through the day and in quest for any kind of answer from the gods � the Spanish are ensconced in the labyrinthine palace. Soon, one of Cortés’s captains, Jazmín Caldera, overwhelmed by the grandeur of the city, begins to question the ease with which they were welcomed into the city, and wonders at the risks of getting out alive, much less conquering the empire.

You Dreamed of Empires brings to life Tenochtitlan at its height, and reimagines its destiny. The incomparably original Alvaro Enrigue sets afire the moment of conquest and turns it into a moment of revolution, a restitutive, fantastical counter-attack, in a novel so electric and so unique that it feels like a dream.]]>
220 Álvaro Enrigue 059354479X Chris 0 to-read 3.76 2022 You Dreamed of Empires
author: Álvaro Enrigue
name: Chris
average rating: 3.76
book published: 2022
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/12/03
shelves: to-read
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The Revenant 22836957
Rocky Mountains, 1823. The trappers of the Rocky Mountain Fur Company live a brutal frontier life. Hugh Glass is one of the most respected men in the company, an experienced frontiersman and an expert tracker.But when a scouting mission puts Glass face-to-face with a grizzly bear, he is viciously mauled and not expected to survive. Two men from the company are ordered to remain with him until his inevitable death. But, fearing an imminent attack, they abandon Glass, stripping him of his prized rifle and hatchet.

As Glass watches the men flee, he is driven to survive by one all-consuming desire: revenge. With shocking grit and determination, he sets out on a three-thousand-mile journey across the harsh American frontier, to seek revenge on the men who betrayed him.

The Revenant is a remarkable tale of obsession and the lengths that one man will go to for retribution.

The novel that inspired the epic new movie starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hardy. ]]>
262 Michael Punke 125006662X Chris 0 to-read 3.94 2002 The Revenant
author: Michael Punke
name: Chris
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2002
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/10/19
shelves: to-read
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No Country for Old Men 12497 Alternate Cover Edition for ISBN 9780375706677

In his blistering new novel, Cormac McCarthy returns to the Texas-Mexico border, the setting of his famed Border Trilogy. The time is our own, when rustlers have given way to drug-runners and small towns have become free-fire zones.

One day, Llewellyn Moss finds a pickup truck surrounded by a bodyguard of dead men. A load of heroin and two million dollars in cash are still in the back. When Moss takes the money, he sets off a chain reaction of catastrophic violence that not even the law–in the person of aging, disillusioned Sheriff Bell–can contain.

As Moss tries to evade his pursuers–in particular a mysterious mastermind who flips coins for human lives–McCarthy simultaneously strips down the American crime novel and broadens its concerns to encompass themes as ancient as the Bible and as bloodily contemporary as this morning’s headlines.
No Country for Old Men is a triumph.]]>
309 Cormac McCarthy Chris 5 4.15 2005 No Country for Old Men
author: Cormac McCarthy
name: Chris
average rating: 4.15
book published: 2005
rating: 5
read at: 2024/10/19
date added: 2024/10/19
shelves:
review:
This is one of the best books I’ve ever ever read even if you’ve seen the movie. You should read this book.
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<![CDATA[The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder]]> 61714633 From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Killers of the Flower Moon, a page-turning story of shipwreck, survival, and savagery, culminating in a court martial that reveals a shocking truth. The powerful narrative reveals the deeper meaning of the events on the Wager, showing that it was not only the captain and crew who ended up on trial, but the very idea of empire.

On January 28, 1742, a ramshackle vessel of patched-together wood and cloth washed up on the coast of Brazil. Inside were thirty emaciated men, barely alive, and they had an extraordinary tale to tell. They were survivors of His Majesty's Ship the Wager, a British vessel that had left England in 1740 on a secret mission during an imperial war with Spain. While the Wager had been chasing a Spanish treasure-filled galleon known as "the prize of all the oceans," it had wrecked on a desolate island off the coast of Patagonia. The men, after being marooned for months and facing starvation, built the flimsy craft and sailed for more than a hundred days, traversing nearly 3,000 miles of storm-wracked seas. They were greeted as heroes.

But then . . . six months later, another, even more decrepit craft landed on the coast of Chile. This boat contained just three castaways, and they told a very different story. The thirty sailors who landed in Brazil were not heroes - they were mutineers. The first group responded with countercharges of their own, of a tyrannical and murderous senior officer and his henchmen. It became clear that while stranded on the island the crew had fallen into anarchy, with warring factions fighting for dominion over the barren wilderness. As accusations of treachery and murder flew, the Admiralty convened a court martial to determine who was telling the truth. The stakes were life-and-death--for whomever the court found guilty could hang.

The Wager is a grand tale of human behavior at the extremes told by one of our greatest nonfiction writers. Grann's recreation of the hidden world on a British warship rivals the work of Patrick O'Brian, his portrayal of the castaways' desperate straits stands up to the classics of survival writing such as The Endurance, and his account of the court martial has the savvy of a Scott Turow thriller. As always with Grann's work, the incredible twists of the narrative hold the reader spellbound.]]>
331 David Grann 0385534264 Chris 3 4.14 2023 The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder
author: David Grann
name: Chris
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2024/09/23
date added: 2024/09/23
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Wellness 65650229 A witty and poignant novel about marriage, middle age, tech-obsessed health culture and the bonds that keep people together

When Jack and Elizabeth meet as college students in the '90s, the two quickly join forces and hold on tight, each eager to claim a place in Chicago's thriving underground art scene with an appreciative kindred spirit.Fast-forward twenty years to married life, and alongside the challenges of parenting, they encounter cults disguised as mindfulness support groups, polyamorous would-be suitors, Facebook wars, and something called Love Potion Number Nine. For the first time Jack and Elizabeth struggle to recognize one another, and the no-longer-youthful dreamers are forced to face their demons, from unfulfilled career ambitions to painful childhood memories of their own dysfunctional families. In the process Jack and Elizabeth must undertake separate, personal excavations, or risk losing the best thing in their lives: each other.]]>
611 Nathan Hill 0593536118 Chris 3 3.97 2023 Wellness
author: Nathan Hill
name: Chris
average rating: 3.97
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2024/09/23
date added: 2024/09/23
shelves:
review:
very very good writer. loved the nix. this one’s okay.
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<![CDATA[The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao]]> 297673
Diaz immerses us in the tumultuous life of Oscar and the history of the family at large, rendering with genuine warmth and dazzling energy, humor, and insight the Dominican-American experience, and, ultimately, the endless human capacity to persevere in the face of heartbreak and loss. A true literary triumph, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao confirms Junot Diaz as one of the best and most exciting voices of our time.]]>
335 Junot Díaz 1594489580 Chris 0 to-read 3.89 2007 The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
author: Junot Díaz
name: Chris
average rating: 3.89
book published: 2007
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/09/21
shelves: to-read
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<![CDATA[Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland]]> 40163119
Patrick Radden Keefe's mesmerizing book on the bitter conflict in Northern Ireland and its aftermath uses the McConville case as a starting point for the tale of a society wracked by a violent guerrilla war, a war whose consequences have never been reckoned with. The brutal violence seared not only people like the McConville children, but also I.R.A. members embittered by a peace that fell far short of the goal of a united Ireland, and left them wondering whether the killings they committed were not justified acts of war, but simple murders.

Patrick Radden Keefe writes an intricate narrative about a notorious killing in Northern Ireland and its devastating repercussions.]]>
441 Patrick Radden Keefe 0385521316 Chris 0 to-read 4.47 2018 Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland
author: Patrick Radden Keefe
name: Chris
average rating: 4.47
book published: 2018
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/09/21
shelves: to-read
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Station Eleven 20170404 An audacious, darkly glittering novel set in the eerie days of civilization’s collapse—the spellbinding story of a Hollywood star, his would-be savior, and a nomadic group of actors roaming the scattered outposts of the Great Lakes region, risking everything for art and humanity.

Kirsten Raymonde will never forget the night Arthur Leander, the famous Hollywood actor, had a heart attack on stage during a production of King Lear. That was the night when a devastating flu pandemic arrived in the city, and within weeks, civilization as we know it came to an end.

Twenty years later, Kirsten moves between the settlements of the altered world with a small troupe of actors and musicians. They call themselves The Traveling Symphony, and they have dedicated themselves to keeping the remnants of art and humanity alive. But when they arrive in St. Deborah by the Water, they encounter a violent prophet who will threaten the tiny band’s existence. And as the story takes off, moving back and forth in time, and vividly depicting life before and after the pandemic, the strange twist of fate that connects them all will be revealed.]]>
333 Emily St. John Mandel 0385353308 Chris 0 to-read 4.05 2014 Station Eleven
author: Emily St. John Mandel
name: Chris
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2014
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/09/21
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10:04 20613582 10:04 has enjoyed unlikely literary success, has been diagnosed with a potentially fatal medical condition, and has been asked by his best friend to help her conceive a child. In a New York of increasingly frequent superstorms and social unrest, he must reckon with his own mortality and the prospect of fatherhood in a city that might soon be underwater.

A writer whose work Jonathan Franzen has called "hilarious . . . cracklingly intelligent . . . and original in every sentence," Lerner captures what it's like to be alive now, during the twilight of an empire, when the difficulty of imagining a future is changing our relationship to both the present and the past.]]>
256 Ben Lerner 0865478104 Chris 0 to-read 3.78 2014 10:04
author: Ben Lerner
name: Chris
average rating: 3.78
book published: 2014
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/09/21
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The Plot Against America 703
For one boy growing up in Newark, Lindbergh's election is the first in a series of ruptures that threatens to destroy his small, safe corner of America - and with it, his mother, his father, and his older brother.]]>
391 Philip Roth 1400079497 Chris 0 to-read 3.79 2004 The Plot Against America
author: Philip Roth
name: Chris
average rating: 3.79
book published: 2004
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/09/21
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<![CDATA[The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America]]> 397483
Burnham's challenge was immense. In a short period of time, he was forced to overcome the death of his partner and numerous other obstacles to construct the famous "White City" around which the fair was built. His efforts to complete the project, and the fair's incredible success, are skillfully related along with entertaining appearances by such notables as Buffalo Bill Cody, Susan B. Anthony, and Thomas Edison.

The activities of the sinister Dr. Holmes, who is believed to be responsible for scores of murders around the time of the fair, are equally remarkable. He devised and erected the World's Fair Hotel, complete with crematorium and gas chamber, near the fairgrounds and used the event as well as his own charismatic personality to lure victims.

Combining the stories of an architect and a killer in one book, mostly in alternating chapters, seems like an odd choice but it works. The magical appeal and horrifying dark side of 19th-century Chicago are both revealed through Larson's skillful writing. - John Moe]]>
464 Erik Larson 0609608444 Chris 0 to-read 4.02 2003 The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America
author: Erik Larson
name: Chris
average rating: 4.02
book published: 2003
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/09/21
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2666 63032 1128 Roberto Bolaño 843396867X Chris 0 to-read 4.22 2004 2666
author: Roberto Bolaño
name: Chris
average rating: 4.22
book published: 2004
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/09/21
shelves: to-read
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<![CDATA[The Yellow Wallpaper and Other Stories]]> 99300
Written from a feminist perspective, often focusing on the inferior status accorded to women by society, the tales include "turned," an ironic story with a startling twist, in which a husband seduces and impregnates a naïve servant; "Cottagette," concerning the romance of a young artist and a man who's apparently too good to be true; "Mr. Peebles' Heart," a liberating tale of a fiftyish shopkeeper whose sister-in-law, a doctor, persuades him to take a solo trip to Europe, with revivifying results; "The Yellow Wallpaper"; and three other outstanding stories.

These charming tales are not only highly readable and full of humor and invention, but also offer ample food for thought about the social, economic, and personal relationship of men and women � and how they might be improved.

Collects:
—The Yellow Wallpaper
—Three Thanksgivings
—The Cottagette
—TܰԱ
—Making a Change
—If I Were a Man
—Mr. Peebles' Heart]]>
129 Charlotte Perkins Gilman 0486298574 Chris 0 short-stories 4.05 1892 The Yellow Wallpaper and Other Stories
author: Charlotte Perkins Gilman
name: Chris
average rating: 4.05
book published: 1892
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/09/06
shelves: short-stories
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<![CDATA[The Good Spy Dies Twice (The Bullseye, #1)]]> 31163136
Years later, a condemned murderer, who claims he was abandoned by the CIA, and who starred in an early episode of Bullseye, is finally executed for killing two supposed Soviet spies back in the 1970’s.

Jake Boxer, still trying to piece his life back together, is on his honeymoon in a posh ski resort in the Alaskan mountains when he gets word of the inmate’s execution . . . and the old killer’s final words: “The good spy dies twice.�

Those five words, seemingly meant for Jake, draw the ex-reporter from his forced retirement and into a complex and deadly global conspiracy involving his newlywed wife, the secretive New World Order, and the hotel’s hundred or so “guests.�

Everyone is a suspect.

Described as James Bond in a Stephen King novel, THE GOOD SPY DIES TWICE is the explosive first book in the Bullseye Series. Part spy thriller, part whodunit, this fast-paced novel introduces an exciting new hero, the intrepid, conspiratorial journalist, Jake Boxer.]]>
328 Mark Hosack Chris 0 to-read 3.96 2016 The Good Spy Dies Twice (The Bullseye, #1)
author: Mark Hosack
name: Chris
average rating: 3.96
book published: 2016
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/08/30
shelves: to-read
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White Noise 28251250
White Noise tells the story of Jack Gladney, his fourth wife, Babette, and four ultra­modern offspring as they navigate the rocky passages of family life to the background babble of brand-name consumerism. When an industrial accident unleashes an "airborne toxic event," a lethal black chemical cloud floats over their lives. The menacing cloud is a more urgent and visible version of the "white noise" engulfing the Gladneys—radio transmissions, sirens, microwaves, ultrasonic appliances, and TV murmurings—pulsing with life, yet suggesting something ominous.

Part of the Penguin Orange Collection, a limited-run series of twelve influential and beloved American classics in a bold series design offering a modern take on the iconic Penguin paperback

Winner of the 2016 AIGA + Design Observer 50 Books | 50 Covers competition]]>
320 Don DeLillo 0143129554 Chris 0 to-read 3.88 1985 White Noise
author: Don DeLillo
name: Chris
average rating: 3.88
book published: 1985
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/08/29
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True Grit 257845 224 Charles Portis 1585673692 Chris 4 4.15 1968 True Grit
author: Charles Portis
name: Chris
average rating: 4.15
book published: 1968
rating: 4
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date added: 2024/08/29
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<![CDATA[Around the World in Eighty Days]]> 54479 252 Jules Verne 014044906X Chris 0 to-read 3.95 1872 Around the World in Eighty Days
author: Jules Verne
name: Chris
average rating: 3.95
book published: 1872
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/08/29
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<![CDATA[The Demon of Unrest: A Saga of Hubris, Heartbreak, and Heroism at the Dawn of the Civil War]]> 195608683 The #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Splendid and the Vile brings to life the pivotal five months between the election of Abraham Lincoln and the start of the Civil War—a slow-burning crisis that finally tore a deeply divided nation in two.

On November 6, 1860, Abraham Lincoln became the fluky victor in a tight race for president. The country was bitterly at odds; Southern extremists were moving ever closer to destroying the Union, with one state after another seceding and Lincoln powerless to stop them. Slavery fueled the conflict, but somehow the passions of North and South came to focus on a lonely federal fortress in Charleston: Fort Sumter.

Master storyteller Erik Larson offers a gripping account of the chaotic months between Lincoln’s election and the Confederacy’s shelling of Sumter—a period marked by tragic errors and miscommunications, enflamed egos and craven ambitions, personal tragedies and betrayals. Lincoln himself wrote that the trials of these five months were “so great that, could I have anticipated them, I would not have believed it possible to survive them.�

At the heart of this suspense-filled narrative are Major Robert Anderson, Sumter’s commander and a former slave owner sympathetic to the South but loyal to the Union; Edmund Ruffin, a vain and bloodthirsty radical who stirs secessionist ardor at every opportunity; and Mary Boykin Chesnut, wife of a prominent planter, conflicted over both marriage and slavery and seeing parallels between both. In the middle of it all is the overwhelmed Lincoln, battling with his duplicitous Secretary of State, William Seward, as he tries desperately to avert a war that he fears is inevitable—one that will eventually kill 750,000 Americans.

Drawing on diaries, secret communiques, slave ledgers, and plantation records, Larson gives us a political horror story that captures the forces that led America to the brink—a dark reminder that we often don’t see a cataclysm coming until it’s too late.]]>
565 Erik Larson 0385348746 Chris 3 4.13 2024 The Demon of Unrest: A Saga of Hubris, Heartbreak, and Heroism at the Dawn of the Civil War
author: Erik Larson
name: Chris
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2024
rating: 3
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date added: 2024/08/14
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<![CDATA[How to Win Your Personal Injury Claim]]> 19265804
Dealing with insurance companies and lawyers when filing a personal injury claim can feel like another accident is in the offing. But you can handle a claim yourself -- and save hundreds or thousands of dollars in the process.

How to Win Your Personal Injury Claim shows you how to handle almost every accident situation, and guides you through the insurance claim process, step by step. Learn how to:

- protect your rights after an accident
- determine what your claim is worth
- handle a property-damage claim
- deal with uncooperative doctors, lawyers and insurance companies
- counter the special tactics insurance companies use
- prepare a claim for compensation
- negotiate a full and fair settlement
- stay on top of your case if you hire a lawyer

This edition of How to Win Your Personal Injury Claim provides your state's most recent laws, small-claims court limits and Department of Insurance contact information. Plus, you'll find an all-new chart explaining your state's in-car text and cell phone laws.]]>
297 Joseph L. Matthews Chris 3 3.30 1992 How to Win Your Personal Injury Claim
author: Joseph L. Matthews
name: Chris
average rating: 3.30
book published: 1992
rating: 3
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<![CDATA[The Wandering Earth: Classic Science Fiction Collection]]> 18160995
It can be terrifying to contemplate the end of our world and stories that describe such destruction can be disturbing. At the same time however, they can leave us feeling not only entertained, but exhilarated and inspired. Maybe, they can even give us a chance to renew our love of life. Most stories found in the “The Wandering Earth� collection take us to a sci-fi vision of Earth's end. But here, there are no Hollywood aliens, descending from the depths of space to blow up our cities. In these futures, the dangers humanity faces are much stranger and whimsical than that. The unexpected calamities that befall his richly detailed worlds are only eclipsed by humanity's epic, but always plausible, attempts to escape destruction.

In all this peril and doom, Liu Cixin always feels for humanity. His stories are full of a deep love for all of Earth's peoples. But even this love does not escape reflection and even ridicule when viewed through his unrelenting cosmic lens. No matter how dearly one loves the Earth, humanity and all its cultures, there is no avoiding the cold, hard truth that they mean absolutely nothing when viewed against the vastness of the universe. But even an infinite universe could not change the simple fact that we are worthy of love, that we need love. It is this twist that lies at the very heart of the stories in this collection.

Table of Contents

1 The Wandering Earth
2 Mountain
3 Of Ants and Dinosaurs
4 Sun of China
5 The Wages of Humanity
6 Curse 5.0
7 The Micro-Age
8 Devourer
9 Taking Care of Gods
10 With Her Eyes
11 The Longest Fall]]>
477 Liu Cixin Chris 0 to-read 4.30 2000 The Wandering Earth: Classic Science Fiction Collection
author: Liu Cixin
name: Chris
average rating: 4.30
book published: 2000
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/07/13
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<![CDATA[Supercommunicators: How to Unlock the Secret Language of Connection]]> 157981748 Alternate cover edition of ISBN 9780593243916.

Who and what are supercommunicators? They're the people who can steer a conversation to a successful conclusion. They are able to talk about difficult topics without giving offence. They know how to make others feel at ease and share what they think. They're brilliant facilitators and decision-guiders. How do they do it?

In this groundbreaking book, Charles Duhigg unravels the secrets of the supercommunicators to reveal the art - and the science - of successful communication. He unpicks the different types of everyday conversation and pinpoints why some go smoothly while others swiftly fall apart. He reveals the conversational questions and gambits that bring people together. And he shows how even the most tricky of encounters can be turned around. In the process, he shows why a CIA operative was able to win over a reluctant spy, how a member of a jury got his fellow jurors to view an open-and-shut case differently, and what a doctor found they needed to do to engage with a vaccine sceptic.

Above all, he reveals the techniques we can all master to successfully connect with others, however tricky the circumstances. Packed with fascinating case studies and drawing on cutting-edge research, this book will change the way you think about what you say, and how you say it.]]>
320 Charles Duhigg Chris 0 to-read 4.00 2024 Supercommunicators: How to Unlock the Secret Language of Connection
author: Charles Duhigg
name: Chris
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/05/03
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James 173754979 A brilliant reimagining of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn—both harrowing and satirical—told from the enslaved Jim's point of view

When Jim overhears that he is about to be sold to a man in New Orleans, separated from his wife and daughter forever, he runs away until he can formulate a plan. Meanwhile, Huck has faked his own death to escape his violent father. As all readers of American literature know, thus begins the dangerous and transcendent journey by raft down the Mississippi River toward the elusive and unreliable promise of the Free States and beyond.

Brimming with nuanced humor and lacerating observations that have made Everett a literary icon, this brilliant and tender novel radically illuminates Jim's agency, intelligence, and compassion as never before. James is destined to be a major publishing event and a cornerstone of twenty-first-century American literature.

Alternate cover edition of ISBN 9780385550369.]]>
303 Percival Everett Chris 0 to-read 4.47 2024 James
author: Percival Everett
name: Chris
average rating: 4.47
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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Termush 62678428 Introduced by Jeff VanderMeer, welcome to a luxury hotel at the end of the world in this post-apocalyptic 1967 dystopia ...

The day we came up from the shelters four people were found dead on the steps of the hotel.

Welcome to Termush: a luxury coastal resort like no other. All the wealthy guests are survivors: preppers who reserved rooms long before the Disaster. Inside, they embrace exclusive radiation shelters, ambient music and lavish provisions; outside, radioactive dust falls on the sculpture park, security men step over dead birds, and a reconnaissance party embarks.

Despite weathering a nuclear apocalypse, their problems are only just beginning. Soon, the Management begins censoring news; disruptive guests are sedated; initial generosity towards Strangers ceases as fears of contamination and limited resources grow. But as the numbers - and desperation - of external survivors increase, they must decide what it means to forge a new moral code at the end (or beginning?) of the world ...]]>
119 Sven Holm 057137915X Chris 0 to-read 3.27 1967 Termush
author: Sven Holm
name: Chris
average rating: 3.27
book published: 1967
rating: 0
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<![CDATA[Spinoza: Freedom's Messiah (Jewish Lives)]]> 188531462
Baruch (Benedictus) Spinoza (1632�1677) was a radical free thinker who led a life guided by strong moral principles despite his disbelief in an all-seeing God. Seen by many—Christians as well as Jews—as Satan’s disciple during his lifetime, Spinoza has been regarded as a secular saint since his death. Many contradictory beliefs have been attached to his rationalism or metaphysics, atheism or pantheism, liberalism or despotism, Jewishness or anti-Semitism. However, there is no question that he viewed freedom of thought and speech as essential to an open and free society.

In this insightful account, the award-winning author Ian Buruma stresses the importance of the time and place that shaped Spinoza, beginning with the Sephardim of Amsterdam and followed by the politics of the Dutch Republic. Though Spinoza rejected the basic assumptions of his family’s faith, and was consequently expelled from his Sephardic community, Buruma argues that Spinoza did indeed lead a Jewish a modern Jewish life. To Heine, Hess, Marx, Freud, and no doubt many others today, Spinoza exemplified how to be Jewish without believing in Judaism. His defense of universal freedom is as important for our own time as it was in his.]]>
216 Ian Buruma 030024892X Chris 0 to-read 3.70 Spinoza: Freedom's Messiah (Jewish Lives)
author: Ian Buruma
name: Chris
average rating: 3.70
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rating: 0
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<![CDATA[The Passenger (The Passenger #1)]]> 60581087
Traversing the American South, from the garrulous barrooms of New Orleans to an abandoned oil rig off the Florida coast, The Passenger is a breathtaking novel of morality and science, the legacy of sin, and the madness that is human consciousness.]]>
385 Cormac McCarthy 0593535227 Chris 5
“To prepare for any struggle is largely a work of unburdening one’s self. If you carry you past into battle you are riding to you death. Austerity lifts the heart and focuses the vision. Travel light.�
]]>
3.58 2022 The Passenger (The Passenger #1)
author: Cormac McCarthy
name: Chris
average rating: 3.58
book published: 2022
rating: 5
read at: 2023/01/31
date added: 2024/03/29
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Western West Brittain

“To prepare for any struggle is largely a work of unburdening one’s self. If you carry you past into battle you are riding to you death. Austerity lifts the heart and focuses the vision. Travel light.�

]]>
The Maniac 75665931 From one of contemporary literature’s most exciting new voices, a haunting story centered on the Hungarian polymath John von Neumann, tracing the impact of his singular legacy on the dreams and nightmares of the twentieth century and the nascent age of AI

Benjamín Labatut’s When We Cease to Understand the World electrified a global readership. A Booker Prize and National Book Award finalist, and one of the New York Times� Ten Best Books of the Year, it explored the life and thought of a clutch of mathematicians and physicists who took science to strange and sometimes dangerous new realms. In The MANIAC, Labatut has created a tour de force on an even grander scale.

A prodigy whose gifts terrified the people around him, John von Neumann transformed every field he touched, inventing game theory and the first programable computer, and pioneering AI, digital life, and cellular automata. Through a chorus of family members, friends, colleagues, and rivals, Labatut shows us the evolution of a mind unmatched and of a body of work that has unmoored the world in its wake.

The MANIAC places von Neumann at the center of a literary triptych that begins with Paul Ehrenfest, an Austrian physicist and friend of Einstein, who fell into despair when he saw science and technology become tyrannical forces; it ends a hundred years later, in the showdown between the South Korean Go Master Lee Sedol and the AI program AlphaGo, an encounter embodying the central question of von Neumann's most ambitious unfinished project: the creation of a self-reproducing machine, an intelligence able to evolve beyond human understanding or control.

A work of beauty and fabulous momentum, The MANIAC confronts us with the deepest questions we face as a species.]]>
368 Benjamín Labatut 0593654471 Chris 3
The book cover art is AI generated.

Was AI used to rewrite /assist in generating other parts of the book?

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4.33 2023 The Maniac
author: Benjamín Labatut
name: Chris
average rating: 4.33
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2024/03/29
date added: 2024/03/29
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Decent . The chapters in which the author tries to write as Feynman are very slapstick kitsch in tone. Also then wholesale takes parts (copy pasta) directly from Feynman’s “Los Alamos From Below� talk.

The book cover art is AI generated.

Was AI used to rewrite /assist in generating other parts of the book?


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Elon Musk 122765395 From the author of Steve Jobs and other bestselling biographies, this is the astonishingly intimate story of the most fascinating and controversial innovator of our era—a rule-breaking visionary who helped to lead the world into the era of electric vehicles, private space exploration, and artificial intelligence. Oh, and took over Twitter.

When Elon Musk was a kid in South Africa, he was regularly beaten by bullies. One day a group pushed him down some concrete steps and kicked him until his face was a swollen ball of flesh. He was in the hospital for a week. But the physical scars were minor compared to the emotional ones inflicted by his father, an engineer, rogue, and charismatic fantasist.

His father’s impact on his psyche would linger. He developed into a tough yet vulnerable man-child, prone to abrupt Jekyll-and-Hyde mood swings, with an exceedingly high tolerance for risk, a craving for drama, an epic sense of mission, and a maniacal intensity that was callous and at times destructive.

At the beginning of 2022—after a year marked by SpaceX launching thirty-one rockets into orbit, Tesla selling a million cars, and him becoming the richest man on earth—Musk spoke ruefully about his compulsion to stir up dramas. “I need to shift my mindset away from being in crisis mode, which it has been for about fourteen years now, or arguably most of my life,� he said.

It was a wistful comment, not a New Year’s resolution. Even as he said it, he was secretly buying up shares of Twitter, the world’s ultimate playground. Over the years, whenever he was in a dark place, his mind went back to being bullied on the playground. Now he had the chance to own the playground.

For two years, Isaacson shadowed Musk, attended his meetings, walked his factories with him, and spent hours interviewing him, his family, friends, coworkers, and adversaries. The result is the revealing inside story, filled with amazing tales of triumphs and turmoil, that addresses the are the demons that drive Musk also what it takes to drive innovation and progress?]]>
688 Walter Isaacson 1982181281 Chris 4
also book had exact same rhythm as isaacson’s Jobs book � eg.: steve job walks into room, tells engineers “what is this shit? work harder!� and that’s what saves the day. wow! such insight!

that said, the SpaceX tales are worth the book alone , awesome.]]>
4.29 2023 Elon Musk
author: Walter Isaacson
name: Chris
average rating: 4.29
book published: 2023
rating: 4
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date added: 2024/02/20
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4 stars for early amazing mid 90s SV stories and a whole lot of rocketry . remove 1 star because Walter isaacsan drank wayyyy toooo much koolaid; book is way too long.

also book had exact same rhythm as isaacson’s Jobs book � eg.: steve job walks into room, tells engineers “what is this shit? work harder!� and that’s what saves the day. wow! such insight!

that said, the SpaceX tales are worth the book alone , awesome.
]]>
<![CDATA[Absolute Zero And The Conquest Of Cold]]> 843920 an extraordinary trip, starting in the 1600s with an alchemist's air conditioning of
Westminster Abbey and scientists' creation of thermometers. Later, while entrepreneurs sold Walden Pond ice to tropical countries -- packed in "high-tech" sawdust -- researchers pursued absolute zero and interpreted their work as romantically as did adventurers to remote regions. Today, playing with ultracold temperatures is one of the hottest frontiers in physics, with scientists creating useful particles Einstein only dreamed of.

Tom Shachtman shares a great scientific adventure story and its characters' rich lives in a book that has won a grant from the prestigious Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.
Absolute Zero is for everyone who loves history and science history stories, who's eager to explore Nobel Prize-winning physics today, or who has ever sighed with pleasure on encountering air conditioning.]]>
272 Tom Shachtman 0618082395 Chris 5 3.78 1999 Absolute Zero And The Conquest Of Cold
author: Tom Shachtman
name: Chris
average rating: 3.78
book published: 1999
rating: 5
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date added: 2024/02/11
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Shōgun (The Asian Saga) 201855946 The classic epic novel of feudal Japan that captured the heart of a culture and the imagination of the world, by the #1 New York Times bestselling author and unparalleled master of historical fiction, James Clavell

After Englishman John Blackthorne is lost at sea, he awakens in a place few Europeans know of and even fewer have seen--Nippon. Thrust into the closed society that is seventeenth-century Japan, a land where the line between life and death is razor-thin, Blackthorne must negotiate not only a foreign people, with unknown customs and language, but also his own definitions of morality, truth, and freedom. As internal political strife and a clash of cultures lead to seemingly inevitable conflict, Blackthorne's loyalty and strength of character are tested by both passion and loss, and he is torn between two worlds that will each be forever changed.

Powerful and engrossing, capturing both the rich pageantry and stark realities of life in feudal Japan, Shōgun is a critically acclaimed powerhouse of a book. Heart-stopping, edge-of-your-seat action melds seamlessly with intricate historical detail and raw human emotion. Endlessly compelling, this sweeping saga captivated the world to become not only one of the best-selling novels of all time but also one of the highest-rated television miniseries, as well as inspiring a nationwide surge of interest in the culture of Japan. Shakespearean in both scope and depth, Shōgun is, as the New York Times put it, "...not only something you read--you live it." Provocative, absorbing, and endlessly fascinating, there is only one: Shōgun.]]>
1301 James Clavell Chris 0 to-read 4.41 1975 Shōgun (The Asian Saga)
author: James Clavell
name: Chris
average rating: 4.41
book published: 1975
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/01/08
shelves: to-read
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<![CDATA[Quantum in Pictures: A New Way to Understand the Quantum World]]> 100341327


Written by world-leading experts, Quantum in Pictures is a simple, friendly, and novel way to explain the magical world of quantum theory. This book will be of interest to both the young (and not-so-young) amateur and the quantum specialists.



Using pictures alone, this book will equip you with the tools you need to understand the quantum world including recent developments in quantum computing and prove things about it, both known and new. Topics that are covered



� Quantum Entanglement

� Quantum Teleportation

� Computing with Quantum Circuits

� Quantum Measurement

� Quantum Uncertainty

� ZX Calculus

� Measurement-based quantum computing

� Quantum Key Distribution

� Relativity Theory In Pictures

� Quantum Nonlocality (2022 Nobel Prize)





You’ll learn that the pictures aren’t mere illustrations, but rather a new kind of rigorous mathematics, tailor-made to talk about quantum things. This new maths was developed and refined over several years by many researchers, including the authors, and it is now being adopted by the quantum computing industry.



“Quantum in Pictures� is a book that takes us beyond the “why� questions that mesmerised the giants of quantum physics a century ago, to the “what� questions being tackled by today’s pioneers of quantum information technology. It's the perfect jumping-off point for every reader who feels ready to make the leap many have already from the “why� of what quantum tells us about the universe to the “what�.]]>
218 Bob Coecke 1739214722 Chris 5
If I could choose a handful of books to learn quantum information from scratch it would be:

1. Mike and Ike (“Quantum Computation and Quantum Information�) � of course.

2. This book

3. The dodo book (“Picturing Quantum Processes�)

4. Q is for Quantum by Rudolph ]]>
3.82 Quantum in Pictures: A New Way to Understand the Quantum World
author: Bob Coecke
name: Chris
average rating: 3.82
book published:
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2023/12/31
shelves:
review:
Perhaps the best book on quantum in the last few years. Imho, you still need a solid grasp of linear algebra and complex analysis to understand the diagrams (which, amazingly, all directly correspond to items of tensor calculus in Hilbert space).

If I could choose a handful of books to learn quantum information from scratch it would be:

1. Mike and Ike (“Quantum Computation and Quantum Information�) � of course.

2. This book

3. The dodo book (“Picturing Quantum Processes�)

4. Q is for Quantum by Rudolph
]]>
Quantum Supremacy 61965263
The runaway success of the microchip processor may be reaching its end. Running up against the physical constraints of smaller and smaller sizes, traditional silicon chips are not likely to prove useful in solving humanity’s greatest challenges, from climate change, to global starvation, to incurable diseases. But the quantum computer, which harnesses the power and complexity of the atomic realm, already promises to be every bit as revolutionary as the transistor and microchip once were. Its unprecedented gains in computing power herald advancements that could change every aspect of our daily lives.

Automotive companies, medical researchers, and consulting firms are betting on quantum computing, hoping to exploit its power to design more efficient vehicles, create life-saving new drugs, and streamline industries to revolutionize the economy. But this is only the beginning. Quantum computers could allow us to finally create nuclear fusion reactors that create clean, renewable energy without radioactive waste or threats of meltdown.They could help us crack the biological processes that generate natural, cheap fertilizer and enable us to feed the world’s growing populations.And they could unravel the fiendishly difficult protein folding that lies at the heart of previously incurable diseases like Alzheimer’s, ALS, and Parkinson’s, helping us to live longer, healthier lives. There is not a single problem humanity faces that couldn’t be addressed by quantum computing. Told with Kaku’s signature clarity and enthusiasm, Quantum Supremacy is the story of this exciting frontier and the race to claim humanity’s future.]]>
352 Michio Kaku 0385548362 Chris 2 3.69 2023 Quantum Supremacy
author: Michio Kaku
name: Chris
average rating: 3.69
book published: 2023
rating: 2
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date added: 2023/12/31
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Humongous Book of Cartooning 18887578 224 Christopher Hart Chris 3 4.42 2009 Humongous Book of Cartooning
author: Christopher Hart
name: Chris
average rating: 4.42
book published: 2009
rating: 3
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date added: 2023/12/19
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<![CDATA[Modern Cartooning: Essential Techniques for Drawing Today's Popular Cartoons]]> 18887554 162 Christopher Hart Chris 3 4.18 2013 Modern Cartooning: Essential Techniques for Drawing Today's Popular Cartoons
author: Christopher Hart
name: Chris
average rating: 4.18
book published: 2013
rating: 3
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date added: 2023/12/17
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<![CDATA[Journey to the Edge of Reason: The Life of Kurt Gödel]]> 55298400
Stephen Budiansky’s Journey to the Edge of Reason is the first biography to fully draw upon Gödel’s voluminous letters and writings—including a never-before-transcribed shorthand diary of his most intimate thoughts—to explore Gödel’s profound intellectual friendships, his moving relationship with his mother, his troubled yet devoted marriage, and the debilitating bouts of paranoia that ultimately took his life. It also offers an intimate portrait of the scientific and intellectual circles in prewar Vienna, a haunting account of Gödel’s and Jewish intellectuals� flight from Austria and Germany at the start of the Second World War, and a vivid re-creation of the early days of Princeton’s Institute for Advanced Study, where Gödel and Einstein both worked.

Eloquent and insightful, Journey to the Edge of Reason is a fully realized portrait of the odd, brilliant, and tormented man who has been called the greatest logician since Aristotle, and illuminates the far-reaching implications of Gödel’s revolutionary ideas for philosophy, mathematics, artificial intelligence, and man’s place in the cosmos.]]>
368 Stephen Budiansky 1324005440 Chris 5 4.03 Journey to the Edge of Reason: The Life of Kurt Gödel
author: Stephen Budiansky
name: Chris
average rating: 4.03
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2023/05/10
date added: 2023/12/03
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Cartagena 56674703 English, Spanish 150 Herna n Di az 848922000X Chris 0 to-read 4.75 Cartagena
author: Herna n Di az
name: Chris
average rating: 4.75
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/12/03
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In the Distance 34381330
At first, it was a contest, but in time the beasts understood that, with an embrace and the slightest push, they had to lie down on their side and stay until Håkan got up. He did this each time he thought he spied someone on the circular horizon. Had Håkan and his animals ever been spotted, the distant travelers would have taken the vanishing silhouettes for a mirage. But there were no such travelers—the moving shadows he saw almost every day in the distance were illusions. With the double intention of getting away from the trail and the cold, he had traveled south for days.

Hernán Díaz is the author of Borges, Between History and Eternity (Bloomsbury 2012), managing editor of RHM, and associate director of the Hispanic Institute at Columbia University. He lives in New York.]]>
256 Hernan Diaz 1566894883 Chris 5 4.12 2017 In the Distance
author: Hernan Diaz
name: Chris
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2017
rating: 5
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date added: 2023/12/03
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<![CDATA[The Everything Store: Jeff Bezos and the Age of Amazon]]> 17660462 The definitive story of Amazon.com, one of the most successful companies in the world, and of its driven, brilliant founder, Jeff Bezos.

Amazon.com started off delivering books through the mail. But its visionary founder, Jeff Bezos, wasn't content with being a bookseller. He wanted Amazon to become the everything store, offering limitless selection and seductive convenience at disruptively low prices. To do so, he developed a corporate culture of relentless ambition and secrecy that's never been cracked. Until now. Brad Stone enjoyed unprecedented access to current and former Amazon employees and Bezos family members, giving readers the first in-depth, fly-on-the-wall account of life at Amazon. Compared to tech's other elite innovators--Jobs, Gates, Zuckerberg--Bezos is a private man. But he stands out for his restless pursuit of new markets, leading Amazon into risky new ventures like the Kindle and cloud computing, and transforming retail in the same way Henry Ford revolutionized manufacturing.

The Everything Store will be the revealing, definitive biography of the company that placed one of the first and largest bets on the Internet and forever changed the way we shop and read.]]>
384 Brad Stone 0316219266 Chris 3 business 4.12 2013 The Everything Store: Jeff Bezos and the Age of Amazon
author: Brad Stone
name: Chris
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2013
rating: 3
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date added: 2023/11/07
shelves: business
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Lincoln in the Bardo 29906980 Lincoln in the Bardo is a literary experience unlike any other—for no one but Saunders could conceive it.

February 1862. The Civil War is less than one year old. The fighting has begun in earnest, and the nation has begun to realize it is in for a long, bloody struggle. Meanwhile, President Lincoln's beloved eleven-year-old son, Willie, lies upstairs in the White House, gravely ill. In a matter of days, despite predictions of a recovery, Willie dies and is laid to rest in a Georgetown cemetery. "My poor boy, he was too good for this earth," the president says at the time. "God has called him home." Newspapers report that a grief-stricken Lincoln returned to the crypt several times alone to hold his boy's body.

From that seed of historical truth, George Saunders spins an unforgettable story of familial love and loss that breaks free of its realistic, historical framework into a thrilling, supernatural realm both hilarious and terrifying. Willie Lincoln finds himself in a strange purgatory, where ghosts mingle, gripe, commiserate, quarrel, and enact bizarre acts of penance. Within this transitional state—called, in the Tibetan tradition, the bardo—a monumental struggle erupts over young Willie's soul.

Lincoln in the Bardo is an astonishing feat of imagination and a bold step forward from one of the most important and influential writers of his generation. Formally daring, generous in spirit, deeply concerned with matters of the heart, it is a testament to fiction's ability to speak honestly and powerfully to the things that really matter to us. Saunders has invented a thrilling new form that deploys a kaleidoscopic, theatrical panorama of voices—living and dead, historical and invented—to ask a timeless, profound question: How do we live and love when we know that everything we love must end?]]>
368 George Saunders 0812995341 Chris 4 dnf-may-read-later drab and depressing. 3.75 2017 Lincoln in the Bardo
author: George Saunders
name: Chris
average rating: 3.75
book published: 2017
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2023/11/07
shelves: dnf-may-read-later
review:
drab and depressing.
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<![CDATA[Quantum Computation and Quantum Information: 10th Anniversary Edition by Michael A. Nielsen Isaac L. Chuang(2001-10-02)]]> 166312857 0 Chris 5 4.75 Quantum Computation and Quantum Information: 10th Anniversary Edition by Michael A. Nielsen Isaac L. Chuang(2001-10-02)
author: Michael A. Nielsen Isaac L. Chuang
name: Chris
average rating: 4.75
book published:
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2023/11/07
shelves:
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Trust 58210933 An unparalleled novel about money, power, intimacy, and perception

Even through the roar and effervescence of the 1920s, everyone in New York has heard of Benjamin and Helen Rask. He is a legendary Wall Street tycoon; she is the daughter of eccentric aristocrats. Together, they have risen to the very top of a world of seemingly boundless wealth—all as a decade of excess and speculation draws to an end. But at what cost have they acquired their immense fortune? This is the mystery at the center of Bonds, a successful 1937 novel that all of New York seems to have read. Yet there are other versions of this tale of privilege and deceit.

Hernan Diaz's TRUST elegantly puts these competing narratives into conversation with one another—and in tension with the perspective of one woman bent on disentangling fact from fiction. The result is a novel that spans over a century and becomes more exhilarating with each new revelation.

At once an immersive story and a brilliant literary puzzle, TRUST engages the reader in a quest for the truth while confronting the deceptions that often live at the heart of personal relationships, the reality-warping force of capital, and the ease with which power can manipulate facts.]]>
402 Hernan Diaz 0593420314 Chris 4 This, good book. 3.77 2022 Trust
author: Hernan Diaz
name: Chris
average rating: 3.77
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at: 2023/11/07
date added: 2023/11/07
shelves:
review:
This, good book.
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<![CDATA[Annihilation (Southern Reach, #1)]]> 17934530 Annihilation, the first volume of Jeff VanderMeer's Southern Reach Trilogy, we join the twelfth expedition.

The group is made up of four women: an anthropologist; a surveyor; a psychologist, the de facto leader; and our narrator, a biologist. Their mission is to map the terrain, record all observations of their surroundings and of one another, and, above all, avoid being contaminated by Area X itself.

They arrive expecting the unexpected, and Area X delivers—but it’s the surprises that came across the border with them and the secrets the expedition members are keeping from one another that change everything.]]>
195 Jeff VanderMeer 0374104093 Chris 3 3.79 2014 Annihilation (Southern Reach, #1)
author: Jeff VanderMeer
name: Chris
average rating: 3.79
book published: 2014
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2023/10/08
shelves:
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<![CDATA[Chip War: The Fight for the World's Most Critical Technology]]> 60321447
You may be surprised to learn that microchips are the new oil—the scarce resource on which the modern world depends. Today, military, economic, and geopolitical power are built on a foundation of computer chips. Virtually everything� from missiles to microwaves, smartphones to the stock market � runs on chips. Until recently, America designed and built the fastest chips and maintained its lead as the #1 superpower. Now, America's edge isslipping, undermined by competitors in Taiwan, Korea,Europe, and, above all, China. Today, as Chip War reveals, China, which spends more money each year importing chips than it spends importing oil,is pouring billions into a chip-building initiative to catch up to the US. At stake is America's military superiority and economic prosperity.

Economic historian Chris Miller explains how the semiconductor came to play a critical role in modern life and how the U.S. become dominant in chip design and manufacturing and applied this technology to military systems. America's victory in the Cold War and its global military dominance stems from its ability to harness computing power more effectively than any other power. But here, too, China is catching up, with its chip-building ambitions and military modernization going hand in hand.America has let key components of the chip-building process slip out of its grasp, contributing not only to a worldwide chip shortage but also a new Cold War with a superpower adversary that is desperate to bridge the gap.

Illuminating, timely, and fascinating, Chip War shows that, to make sense of the current state of politics, economics, and technology, we must first understand the vital role played by chips.]]>
464 Chris Miller 1982172002 Chris 3 4.38 2022 Chip War: The Fight for the World's Most Critical Technology
author: Chris Miller
name: Chris
average rating: 4.38
book published: 2022
rating: 3
read at: 2023/10/08
date added: 2023/10/08
shelves:
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Flowers for Algernon 18373 Winner of both the Hugo and Nebula Awards, the powerful, classic story about a man who receives an operation that turns him into a genius...and introduces him to heartache.

Charlie Gordon is about to embark upon an unprecedented journey. Born with an unusually low IQ, he has been chosen as the perfect subject for an experimental surgery that researchers hope will increase his intelligence � a procedure that has already been highly successful when tested on a lab mouse named Algernon.

As the treatment takes effect, Charlie's intelligence expands until it surpasses that of the doctors who engineered his metamorphosis. The experiment appears to be a scientific breakthrough of paramount importance, until Algernon suddenly deteriorates. Will the same happen to Charlie?]]>
311 Daniel Keyes 015603008X Chris 0 to-read 4.19 1966 Flowers for Algernon
author: Daniel Keyes
name: Chris
average rating: 4.19
book published: 1966
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/09/17
shelves: to-read
review:

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<![CDATA[The Best of Peter Egan: Four Decades of Motorcycle Tales and Musings from the Pages of Cycle World]]> 39295399 The Best of Peter Egan offers a “greatest hits� collection of Egan's motorcycle musings from the past four decades, delivered in his signature, wise but amusing, style. Peter Egan's writing invites you to pull up a chair, pour a little scotch, and relax while he shares with you his tales from the road, his motorcycling philosophy, and his keen observations about the two-wheeled life.

For some forty years, Peter Egan’s columns and feature articles have been among Cycle World's most anticipated monthly content. Egan's legions of fans know they will gain a fresh perspective on motorcycling from each of his articles.

Drawings from motoring artist Hector Cademartori beautifully illustrate Egan’s musings, and a foreword by super-enthusiast Jay Leno introduces the book. This is an unforgettable collection from a master writer whose simple adventures of two-wheeled life remind us why we love to ride.
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288 Peter Egan 076036379X Chris 0 to-read 4.64 The Best of Peter Egan: Four Decades of Motorcycle Tales and Musings from the Pages of Cycle World
author: Peter Egan
name: Chris
average rating: 4.64
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/08/22
shelves: to-read
review:

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<![CDATA[Zen Flesh, Zen Bones: A Collection of Zen and Pre-Zen Writings]]> 870160
Zen Flesh, Zen Bones offers a collection of accessible, primary Zen sources so that readers can contemplate the meaning of Zen for themselves. Within the pages, readers will find:

When Zen Flesh, Zen Bones was published in 1957, it became an instant sensation with an entire generation of readers who were just beginning to experiment with Zen. Over the years it has inspired leading American Zen teachers, students, and practitioners. Its popularity is as high today as ever.]]>
211 Paul Reps 0804831866 Chris 4 4.17 1957 Zen Flesh, Zen Bones: A Collection of Zen and Pre-Zen Writings
author: Paul Reps
name: Chris
average rating: 4.17
book published: 1957
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2023/07/29
shelves:
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<![CDATA[The Greatest Music Stories Never Told: 100 Tales from Music History to Astonish, Bewilder, and Stupefy (The Greatest Stories Never Told)]]> 9648290 The Greatest Stories Never Told returns with new historic tales from the world of music—ennobling, entrancing and inevitably surprising stories of soaring genius, tantalizing scandal, nefarious intrigue, and, above all, unbridled passion for music.]]> 214 Rick Beyer 0061626988 Chris 3 3.61 The Greatest Music Stories Never Told: 100 Tales from Music History to Astonish, Bewilder, and Stupefy (The Greatest Stories Never Told)
author: Rick Beyer
name: Chris
average rating: 3.61
book published:
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2023/06/14
shelves:
review:

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Unparalleled 40881903 287 D.S. Smith Chris 0 to-read 4.17 2018 Unparalleled
author: D.S. Smith
name: Chris
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/05/10
shelves: to-read
review:

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<![CDATA[To Sleep in a Sea of Stars (Fractalverse, #1)]]> 48829708 move.

As war erupts among the stars, Kira is launched into a galaxy-spanning odyssey of discovery and transformation. First contact isn't at all what she imagined, and events push her to the very limits of what it means to be human.

While Kira faces her own horrors, Earth and its colonies stand upon the brink of annihilation. Now, Kira might be humanity's greatest and final hope...]]>
880 Christopher Paolini 1250762847 Chris 0 to-read 3.77 2020 To Sleep in a Sea of Stars (Fractalverse, #1)
author: Christopher Paolini
name: Chris
average rating: 3.77
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/05/10
shelves: to-read
review:

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The Devil Takes You Home 58978299
Buried in debt due to his young daughter’s illness, his marriage at the brink, Mario reluctantly takes a job as a hitman, surprising himself with his proclivity for violence. After tragedy destroys the life he knew, Mario agrees to one final job: hijack a cartel’s cash shipment before it reaches Mexico. Along with an old friend and a cartel-insider named Juanca, Mario sets off on the near-suicidal mission, which will leave him with either a cool $200,000 or a bullet in the skull. But the path to reward or ruin is never as straight as it seems. As the three complicated men travel through the endless landscape of Texas, across the border and back, their hidden motivations are laid bare alongside nightmarish encounters that defy explanation. One thing is certain: even if Mario makes it out alive, he won’t return the same.

The Devil Takes You Home is a panoramic odyssey for fans of S.A. Cosby’s southern noir, Blacktop Wasteland, by way of the boundary-defying storytelling of Stephen Graham Jones and Silvia Moreno-Garcia.
NAMED A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR BY: NPR, Harper's Bazaar, Chicago Tribune, Vulture, Oprah Daily, CrimeReads, The Millions, and many more!

An Edgar Award Finalist � A Bram Stoker Award Winner � A Shirley Jackson Award Winner � A Book of the Month Club Pick � An August Indie Next List Selection � An ABA Indie Bestseller]]>
320 Gabino Iglesias 0316426911 Chris 0 to-read 3.65 2022 The Devil Takes You Home
author: Gabino Iglesias
name: Chris
average rating: 3.65
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/05/10
shelves: to-read
review:

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<![CDATA[The Infinite Machine: How an Army of Crypto-hackers Is Building the Next Internet with Ethereum]]> 50175330 Written with the verve of such works as The Big Short, The History of the Future, and The Spider Network, here is the fascinating, true story of the rise of Ethereum, the second-biggest digital asset in the world, the growth of cryptocurrency, and the future of the internet as we know it.

Everyone has heard of Bitcoin, but few know about the second largest cryptocurrency, Ethereum, which has been heralded as the "next internet."

The story of Ethereum begins with Vitalik Buterin, a supremely gifted nineteen-year-old autodidact who saw the promise of blockchain when the technology was in its earliest stages. He convinced a crack group of coders to join him in his quest to make a super-charged, global computer.

The Infinite Machine introduces Vitalik’s ingenious idea and unfolds Ethereum’s chaotic beginnings. It then explores the brilliant innovation and reckless greed the platform—an infinitely adaptable foundation for experimentation and new applications—has unleashed and the consequences that resulted as the frenzy surrounding it grew: increased regulatory scrutiny, incipient Wall Street interest, and the founding team’s effort to get the Ethereum platform to scale so it can eventually be accessible to the masses.

Financial journalist and cryptocurrency expert Camila Russo details the wild and often hapless adventures of a team of hippy-anarchists, reluctantly led by an ambivalent visionary, and lays out how this new foundation for the internet will spur both transformation and fraud—turning some into millionaires and others into felons—and revolutionize our ideas about money.


]]>
320 Camila Russo 0062886142 Chris 2 dnf-no-interest
(dnf about 50% way though the book.)]]>
4.08 2020 The Infinite Machine: How an Army of Crypto-hackers Is Building the Next Internet with Ethereum
author: Camila Russo
name: Chris
average rating: 4.08
book published: 2020
rating: 2
read at: 2021/11/03
date added: 2023/04/30
shelves: dnf-no-interest
review:
Well written, but it's a hard sell to believe that Ethereum is the "Next Internet". If you buy into that view, you'll love this book, but otherwise imho it's hyping Etherum wayyyy more than it should. And I am rooting for Ethereum to succeed, but this book is about a decade too early, at least. Let's see if dapps actually become so commonplace so to become the next Internet. How many successful dapps are there to date???; very few to none, and my hunch is no it will not be the next world wide communication or processing network.

(dnf about 50% way though the book.)
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<![CDATA[A Good Man Is Hard to Find and Other Stories]]> 48464
"A Good Man Is Hard to Find"
"The River"
"The Life You Save May Be Your Own"
"A Stroke of Good Fortune"
"A Temple of the Holy Ghost"
"The Artificial Nigger"
"A Circle in the Fire"
"A Late Encounter with the Enemy"
"Good Country People"
"The Displaced Person"
©1955 Flannery O'Connor; 1954, 1953, 1948 by Flannery O'Connor; renewed 1983, 1981 by Regina O'Connor; renewed 1976 by Mrs. Edward F. O'Connor; (P)2010 Blackstone Audio, Inc.]]>
252 Flannery O'Connor 0151365040 Chris 0 short-stories, to-read 4.19 1955 A Good Man Is Hard to Find and Other Stories
author: Flannery O'Connor
name: Chris
average rating: 4.19
book published: 1955
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/04/30
shelves: short-stories, to-read
review:

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<![CDATA[Stella Maris (The Passenger, #2)]]> 60526802
1972, BLACK RIVER FALLS, Alicia Western, twenty years old, with forty thousand dollars in a plastic bag, admits herself to the hospital. A doctoral candidate in mathematics at the University of Chicago, Alicia has been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, and she does not want to talk about her brother, Bobby. Instead, she contemplates the nature of madness, the human insistence on one common experience of the world; she recalls a childhood where, by the age of seven, her own grandmother feared for her; she surveys the intersection of physics and philosophy; and she introduces her cohorts, her chimeras, the hallucinations that only she can see. All the while, she grieves for Bobby, not quite dead, not quite hers. Told entirely through the transcripts of Alicia’s psychiatric sessions, Stella Maris is a searching, rigorous, intellectually challenging coda to The Passenger, a philosophical inquiry that questions our notions of God, truth, and existence.]]>
190 Cormac McCarthy 0307269000 Chris 4
“We’d walked on the beach the night before and there was a moon and a mock moon that rode in the rings and we talked about the paraselene and I said something to the effect that to speak of such things which are composed solely of light as problematic or perhaps as wrongly seen or even wrongly known or of questionable reality had always seemed to me something of a betrayal. He looked at me and he said betrayal? And I said yes. Things composed of light. In need of our protection. Then in the morning we sat in the sand and drank our tea and watched the sun come up.”]]>
3.83 2022 Stella Maris (The Passenger, #2)
author: Cormac McCarthy
name: Chris
average rating: 3.83
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at: 2023/02/26
date added: 2023/04/30
shelves:
review:
Very good. Fairly certain Alicia is based on Gödel.

“We’d walked on the beach the night before and there was a moon and a mock moon that rode in the rings and we talked about the paraselene and I said something to the effect that to speak of such things which are composed solely of light as problematic or perhaps as wrongly seen or even wrongly known or of questionable reality had always seemed to me something of a betrayal. He looked at me and he said betrayal? And I said yes. Things composed of light. In need of our protection. Then in the morning we sat in the sand and drank our tea and watched the sun come up.�
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The Beach 607639
The Khao San Road, Bangkok -- first stop for the hordes of rootless young Westerners traveling in Southeast Asia. On Richard's first night there, in a low-budget guest house, a fellow traveller slashes his wrists, bequeathing to Richard a meticulously drawn map to "the Beach."

The Beach, as Richard has come to learn, is the subject of a legend among young travellers in Asia: a lagoon hidden from the sea, with white sand and coral gardens, freshwater falls surrounded by jungle, plants untouched for a thousand years. There, it is rumoured, a carefully selected international few have settled in a communal Eden.

Haunted by the figure of Mr. Duck -- the name by which the Thai police have identified the dead man -- and his own obsession with Vietnam movies, Richard sets off with a young French couple to an island hidden away in an archipelago forbidden to tourists. They discover the Beach, and it is as beautiful and idyllic as it is reputed to be. Yet over time it becomes clear that Beach culture, as Richard calls it, has troubling, even deadly, undercurrents.

Spellbinding and hallucinogenic, The Beach by Alex Garland -- both a national bestseller and his debut -- is a highly accomplished and suspenseful novel that fixates on a generation in their twenties, who, burdened with the legacy of the preceding generation and saturated by popular culture, long for an unruined landscape, but find it difficult to experience the world first hand.]]>
436 Alex Garland 1573226521 Chris 5 3.97 1996 The Beach
author: Alex Garland
name: Chris
average rating: 3.97
book published: 1996
rating: 5
read at: 2023/04/30
date added: 2023/04/30
shelves:
review:
F’ing incredible / great book. Never saw movie, don’t plan to. That would be hard to make into a good movie. It reads like great travel literature, going haywire.
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<![CDATA[The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage]]> 22822839 THE THRILLING ADVENTURES OF LOVELACE AND BABBAGE . . . in which Sydney Padua transforms one of the most compelling scientific collaborations into a hilarious series of adventures.

Meet Victorian London’s most dynamic duo: Charles Babbage, the unrealized inventor of the computer, and his accomplice, Ada, Countess of Lovelace, the peculiar protoprogrammer and daughter of Lord Byron. When Lovelace translated a description of Babbage’s plans for an enormous mechanical calculating machine in 1842, she added annotations three times longer than the original work. Her footnotes contained the first appearance of the general computing theory, a hundred years before an actual computer was built. Sadly, Lovelace died of cancer a decade after publishing the paper, and Babbage never built any of his machines.

But do not despair! The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage presents a rollicking alternate reality in which Lovelace and Babbage do build the Difference Engine and then use it to build runaway economic models, battle the scourge of spelling errors, explore the wilder realms of mathematics, and, of course, fight crime—for the sake of both London and science. Complete with extensive footnotes that rival those penned by Lovelace herself, historical curiosities, and never-before-seen diagrams of Babbage’s mechanical, steam-powered computer, The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage is wonderfully whimsical, utterly unusual, and, above all, entirely irresistible.

(With black-and-white illustrations throughout.)]]>
317 Sydney Padua Chris 2 4.02 2015 The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage
author: Sydney Padua
name: Chris
average rating: 4.02
book published: 2015
rating: 2
read at:
date added: 2023/03/01
shelves:
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<![CDATA[The Death of Stalin (Graphic Novel)]]> 34437954
Fear, corruption and treachery abound in this political satire set in the aftermath of Stalin's death in the Soviet Union in 1953.

When the leader of the Soviet Union, Joseph Stalin, has a stroke—the political gears begin to turn, plunging the super-state into darkness, uncertainty and near civil war. The struggle for supreme power will determine the fate of the nation and of the world. And it all really happened.]]>
144 Fabien Nury 1785863401 Chris 5 3.73 2010 The Death of Stalin (Graphic Novel)
author: Fabien Nury
name: Chris
average rating: 3.73
book published: 2010
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2023/01/20
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Black Hole 38333
As we inhabit the heads of several key characters—some kids who have it, some who don't, some who are about to get it—what unfolds isn't the expected battle to fight the plague, or bring heightened awareness to it, or even to treat it. What we become witness to instead is a fascinating and eerie portrait of the nature of high school alienation itself—the savagery, the cruelty, the relentless anxiety and ennui, the longing for escape.

And then the murders start.

As hypnotically beautiful as it is horrifying, Black Hole transcends its genre by deftly exploring a specific American cultural moment in flux and the kids who are caught in it—back when it wasn't exactly cool to be a hippie anymore, but Bowie was still just a little too weird.

To say nothing of sprouting horns and molting your skin…]]>
368 Charles Burns 037542380X Chris 3 3.85 2005 Black Hole
author: Charles Burns
name: Chris
average rating: 3.85
book published: 2005
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2023/01/18
shelves:
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<![CDATA[A Wrinkle in Time (A Wrinkle in Time Quintet, #1)]]> 18131
It was a dark and stormy night.

Out of this wild night, a strange visitor comes to the Murry house and beckons Meg, her brother Charles Wallace, and their friend Calvin O'Keefe on a most dangerous and extraordinary adventure—one that will threaten their lives and our universe.

A Wrinkle in Time is the first book in Madeleine L'Engle's classic Time Quintet.]]>
211 Madeleine L'Engle 0440498058 Chris 3 4.04 1962 A Wrinkle in Time (A Wrinkle in Time Quintet, #1)
author: Madeleine L'Engle
name: Chris
average rating: 4.04
book published: 1962
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2023/01/13
shelves:
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<![CDATA[The Last Lone Inventor: A Tale of Genius, Deceit, and the Birth of Television]]> 1127305
In a story that is both of its time and timeless, Evan I. Schwartz tells a tale of genius versus greed, innocence versus deceit, and independent brilliance versus corporate arrogance. Many men have laid claim to the title "father of television," but Philo T. Farnsworth is the true genius behind what may be the most influential invention of our time.
Driven by his obsession to demonstrate his idea,by the age of twenty Farnsworth was operating his own laboratory above a garage in San Francisco and filing for patents. The resulting publicity caught the attention of RCA tycoon David Sarnoff, who became determined to control television in the same way he monopolized radio.
Based on original research, including interviews with Farnsworth family members, The Last Lone Inventor is the story of the epic struggle between two equally passionate adversaries whose clash symbolized a turning point in the culture of creativity.]]>
352 Evan I. Schwartz 0060935596 Chris 5 4.22 2002 The Last Lone Inventor: A Tale of Genius, Deceit, and the Birth of Television
author: Evan I. Schwartz
name: Chris
average rating: 4.22
book published: 2002
rating: 5
read at: 2023/01/02
date added: 2023/01/02
shelves:
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<![CDATA[The Generalist Counsel: How Leading General Counsel are Shaping Tomorrow's Companies]]> 19261167 211 Prashant Dubey 0199354537 Chris 4 business 3.66 2013 The Generalist Counsel: How Leading General Counsel are Shaping Tomorrow's Companies
author: Prashant Dubey
name: Chris
average rating: 3.66
book published: 2013
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2022/12/31
shelves: business
review:

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The Princess Bride 21787
As a boy, William Goldman claims, he loved to hear his father read the S. Morgenstern classic, The Princess Bride. But as a grown-up he discovered that the boring parts were left out of good old Dad's recitation, and only the "good parts" reached his ears.

Now Goldman does Dad one better. He's reconstructed the "Good Parts Version" to delight wise kids and wide-eyed grownups everywhere.

What's it about? Fencing. Fighting. True Love. Strong Hate. Harsh Revenge. A Few Giants. Lots of Bad Men. Lots of Good Men. Five or Six Beautiful Women. Beasties Monstrous and Gentle. Some Swell Escapes and Captures. Death, Lies, Truth, Miracles, and a Little Sex.

In short, it's about everything.]]>
429 William Goldman 0345418263 Chris 5 4.27 1973 The Princess Bride
author: William Goldman
name: Chris
average rating: 4.27
book published: 1973
rating: 5
read at: 2022/12/31
date added: 2022/12/31
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<![CDATA[The Code Breaker: Jennifer Doudna, Gene Editing, and the Future of the Human Race]]> 54968118 The Double Helix on her bed. As she sped through the pages, she became enthralled by the intense drama behind the competition to discover the code of life. Even though her high school counselor told her girls didn’t become scientists, she decided she would.

Driven by a passion to understand how nature works and to turn discoveries into inventions, she would help to make what the book’s author, James Watson, told her was the most important biological advance since his co-discovery of the structure of DNA. She and her collaborators turned a curiosity ​of nature into an invention that will transform the human race: an easy-to-use tool that can edit DNA. Known as CRISPR, it opened a brave new world of medical miracles and moral questions.

The development of CRISPR and the race to create vaccines for coronavirus will hasten our transition to the next great innovation revolution. The past half-century has been a digital age, based on the microchip, computer, and internet. Now we are entering a life-science revolution. Children who study digital coding will be joined by those who study genetic code.

Should we use our new evolution-hacking powers to make us less susceptible to viruses? What a wonderful boon that would be! And what about preventing depression? Hmmm…Should we allow parents, if they can afford it, to enhance the height or muscles or IQ of their kids?

After helping to discover CRISPR, Doudna became a leader in wrestling with these moral issues and, with her collaborator Emmanuelle Charpentier, won the Nobel Prize in 2020.]]>
536 Walter Isaacson 1982115858 Chris 3 4.23 2021 The Code Breaker: Jennifer Doudna, Gene Editing, and the Future of the Human Race
author: Walter Isaacson
name: Chris
average rating: 4.23
book published: 2021
rating: 3
read at: 2022/12/31
date added: 2022/12/31
shelves:
review:
Very good beginning (discovery of crispr) and middle section (the patent fight). The coronavirus section didn’t add much.
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<![CDATA[War and Remembrance (The Henry Family, #2)]]> 42986
The multimillion-copy bestsellers that capture all the drama, romance, heroism, and tragedy of the Second World War -- and that constitute Wouk's crowning achievement -- are available for the first time in trade paperback.]]>
1042 Herman Wouk 0316954993 Chris 0 to-read 4.40 1978 War and Remembrance (The Henry Family, #2)
author: Herman Wouk
name: Chris
average rating: 4.40
book published: 1978
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/12/09
shelves: to-read
review:

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<![CDATA[The Ride of a Lifetime: Lessons Learned from 15 Years as CEO of the Walt Disney Company]]> 44525305 A grand vision defined: The CEO of The Walt Disney Company shares the ideas and values he has used to reinvent one of the most beloved companies in the world, and inspire the people who bring the magic to life.

In 2005, Robert Iger became CEO of The Walt Disney Company during a difficult time. Morale had deteriorated, competition was more intense, and technology was changing faster than at any time in the company's history. "I knew there was nothing to be gained from arguing over the past," Iger writes. "The only thing that mattered was the future, and I believed I had a clear idea of the direction Disney needed to go." It came down to three clear ideas: 1) Create the highest quality content Disney could produce. 2) Embrace and adopt technology instead of fighting it. And 3) Think bigger--think global--and turn Disney into a stronger brand in international markets.

Twelve years later, Disney is the largest, most respected media company in the world counting Pixar, Marvel, Lucasfilm and 21st Century Fox among its properties. Its value is nearly five times what it was when Iger took over, and Iger is recognized as one of the most innovative and successful CEOs of our time.

Now, he's sharing the lessons he's learned while running Disney and leading its 200,000 employees--taking big risks in the face of historic disruption; learning to inspire the people who work for you; leading with fairness and communicating principles clearly. This book is about the relentless curiosity that has driven Iger for forty-five years, since the day he started as a studio supervisor at ABC. It's also about thoughtfulness and respect, and a decency-over-dollars approach that has become the bedrock of every project and partnership Iger pursues, from a deep friendship with Steve Jobs in his final years to an abiding love of the evolving Star Wars myth.

"Over the past fourteen years, I think I've learned so much about what real leadership is," Iger writes. "But I couldn't have articulated all of this until I lived it. You can't fake it--and that's one of the key lessons in this book."

Librarian Note: This is an Advance Reader Copy issued with ISBN 9780399592096. That ISBN has been moved to the final published copy, found here]]>
272 Robert Iger Chris 5 business 4.37 2019 The Ride of a Lifetime: Lessons Learned from 15 Years as CEO of the Walt Disney Company
author: Robert Iger
name: Chris
average rating: 4.37
book published: 2019
rating: 5
read at: 2022/12/07
date added: 2022/12/07
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<![CDATA[How to Avoid a Climate Disaster: The Solutions We Have and the Breakthroughs We Need]]> 52908942 Bill Gates shares what he's learned in more than a decade of studying climate change and investing in innovations to address the problems, and sets out a vision for how the world can build the tools it needs to get to zero greenhouse gas emissions.

Bill Gates explains why he cares so deeply about climate change and what makes him optimistic that the world can prevent the worst impacts of the climate crisis. Gates says, "we can work on a local, national, and global level to build the technologies, businesses, and industries to avoid the worst impacts of climate change." His interest in climate change is a natural outgrowth of the efforts by his foundation to reduce poverty and disease. Climate change, according to Gates, will have the biggest impact on the people who have done the least to cause it. As a technologist, he has seen first-hand how innovation can change the world. By investing in research, inventing new technologies, and by deploying them quickly at large scale, Gates believes climate change can be addressed in meaningful ways. According to Gates, "to prevent the worst effects of climate change, we have to get to net-zero emissions of greenhouse gases. This problem is urgent, and the debate is complex, but I believe we can come together to invent new carbon-zero technologies, deploy the ones we have, and ultimately avoid a climate catastrophe."]]>
288 Bill Gates 0385546130 Chris 4 4.08 2021 How to Avoid a Climate Disaster: The Solutions We Have and the Breakthroughs We Need
author: Bill Gates
name: Chris
average rating: 4.08
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at: 2022/11/19
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<![CDATA[In-House Counsel's Essential Toolkit]]> 5339463 7 1590316622 Chris 0 business, to-read 3.50 2007 In-House Counsel's Essential Toolkit
author: Committee on Corporate Counsel
name: Chris
average rating: 3.50
book published: 2007
rating: 0
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<![CDATA[The Corporate Counsel Survival Guide]]> 35675291 172 William E. Kruse 163425886X Chris 0 business, to-read 4.09 The Corporate Counsel Survival Guide
author: William E. Kruse
name: Chris
average rating: 4.09
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rating: 0
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Measure What Matters 39286958 The revolutionary movement behind the explosive growth of Intel, Google, Amazon and Uber.
With a foreword by Larry Page, and contributions from Bono and Bill Gates.

Measure What Matters is about using Objectives and Key Results (OKRs), a revolutionary approach to goal-setting, to make tough choices in business.

In 1999, legendary venture capitalist John Doerr invested nearly $12 million in a startup that had amazing technology, entrepreneurial energy and sky-high ambitions, but no real business plan. Doerr introduced the founders to OKRs and with them at the foundation of their management, the startup grew from forty employees to more than 70,000 with a market cap exceeding $600 billion. The startup was Google.

Since then Doerr has introduced OKRs to more than fifty companies, helping tech giants and charities exceed all expectations. In the OKR model objectives define what we seek to achieve and key results are how those top­ priority goals will be attained. OKRs focus effort, foster coordination and enhance workplace satisfaction. They surface an organization's most important work as everyone's goals from entry-level to CEO are transparent to the entire institution.

In Measure What Matters, Doerr shares a broad range of first-person, behind-the-scenes case studies, with narrators including Bono and Bill Gates, to demonstrate the focus, agility, and explosive growth that OKRs have spurred at so many great organizations.

This book will show you how to collect timely, relevant data to track progress - to measure what matters. It will help any organization or team aim high, move fast, and excel.

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299 John Doerr Chris 0 to-read, business 3.95 2017 Measure What Matters
author: John Doerr
name: Chris
average rating: 3.95
book published: 2017
rating: 0
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<![CDATA[The Inside Counsel Revolution: Resolving the Partner-Guardian Tension]]> 30208769 629 Benjamin W. Heineman Jr. 1634252802 Chris 0 to-read, business 3.75 2016 The Inside Counsel Revolution: Resolving the Partner-Guardian Tension
author: Benjamin W. Heineman Jr.
name: Chris
average rating: 3.75
book published: 2016
rating: 0
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High Output Management 324750
The essential skill of creating and maintaining new businesses—the art of the entrepreneur—can be summed up in a single word: managing.Born of Grove’s experiences at one of America’s leading technology companies (as CEO and employee number three at Intel), High Output Management is equally appropriate for sales managers, accountants, consultants, and teachers, as well as CEOs and startup founders. Grove covers techniques for creating highly productive teams, demonstrating methods of motivation that lead to peak performance.

"Generous enough with advice and observations to be required reading."� The Wall Street Journal]]>
272 Andrew S. Grove 0679762884 Chris 0 to-read 4.27 1983 High Output Management
author: Andrew S. Grove
name: Chris
average rating: 4.27
book published: 1983
rating: 0
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Business adventures 4191136 This business classic written by longtime New Yorker contributor John Brooks is an insightful and engaging look into corporate and financial life in America.

What do the $350 million Ford Motor Company disaster known as the Edsel, the fast and incredible rise of Xerox, and the unbelievable scandals at General Electric and Texas Gulf Sulphur have in common? Each is an example of how an iconic company was defined by a particular moment of fame or notoriety.

These notable and fascinating accounts are as relevant today to understanding the intricacies of corporate life as they were when the events happened.

Stories about Wall Street are infused with drama and adventure and reveal the machinations and volatile nature of the world of finance. John Brooks’s insightful reportage is so full of personality and critical detail that whether he is looking at the astounding market crash of 1962, the collapse of a well-known brokerage firm, or the bold attempt by American bankers to save the British pound, one gets the sense that history really does repeat itself.]]>
408 John Brooks 0575003499 Chris 0 to-read, business 3.81 1969 Business adventures
author: John Brooks
name: Chris
average rating: 3.81
book published: 1969
rating: 0
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<![CDATA[Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die]]> 69242 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - The instant classic about why some ideas thrive, why others die, and how to improve your idea's chances--essential reading in the "fake news" era.

Mark Twain once observed, "A lie can get halfway around the world before the truth can even get its boots on." His observation rings true: Urban legends, conspiracy theories, and bogus news stories circulate effortlessly. Meanwhile, people with important ideas--entrepreneurs, teachers, politicians, and journalists--struggle to make them "stick."

In Made to Stick, Chip and Dan Heath reveal the anatomy of ideas that stick and explain ways to make ideas stickier, such as applying the human scale principle, using the Velcro Theory of Memory, and creating curiosity gaps. Along the way, we discover that sticky messages of all kinds--from the infamous "kidney theft ring" hoax to a coach's lessons on sportsmanship to a vision for a new product at Sony--draw their power from the same six traits.

Made to Stick will transform the way you communicate. It's a fast-paced tour of success stories (and failures): the Nobel Prize-winning scientist who drank a glass of bacteria to prove a point about stomach ulcers; the charities who make use of the Mother Teresa Effect; the elementary-school teacher whose simulation actually prevented racial prejudice.

Provocative, eye-opening, and often surprisingly funny, Made to Stick shows us the vital principles of winning ideas--and tells us how we can apply these rules to making our own messages stick.]]>
291 Chip Heath 1400064287 Chris 0 to-read, business 3.98 2006 Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die
author: Chip Heath
name: Chris
average rating: 3.98
book published: 2006
rating: 0
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<![CDATA[Built to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies (Good to Great, 2)]]> 4122 368 Jim Collins 0060566108 Chris 0 to-read, business 4.06 1994 Built to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies (Good to Great, 2)
author: Jim Collins
name: Chris
average rating: 4.06
book published: 1994
rating: 0
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<![CDATA[The Five Dysfunctions of a Team]]> 21343 The Five Dysfunctions of a Team Patrick Lencioni once again offers a leadership fable that is as enthralling and instructive as his first two best-selling books, The Five Temptations of a CEO and The Four Obsessions of an Extraordinary Executive. This time, he turns his keen intellect and storytelling power to the fascinating, complex world of teams.

Kathryn Petersen, Decision Tech's CEO, faces the ultimate leadership crisis: Uniting a team in such disarray that it threatens to bring down the entire company. Will she succeed? Will she be fired? Will the company fail? Lencioni's utterly gripping tale serves as a timeless reminder that leadership requires as much courage as it does insight.

Throughout the story, Lencioni reveals the five dysfunctions which go to the very heart of why teams even the best ones-often struggle. He outlines a powerful model and actionable steps that can be used to overcome these common hurdles and build a cohesive, effective team. Just as with his other books, Lencioni has written a compelling fable with a powerful yet deceptively simple message for all those who strive to be exceptional team leaders.]]>
228 Patrick Lencioni 0787960756 Chris 0 to-read, business 4.09 2002 The Five Dysfunctions of a Team
author: Patrick Lencioni
name: Chris
average rating: 4.09
book published: 2002
rating: 0
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<![CDATA[The Personal MBA: Master the Art of Business]]> 9512985
Josh Kaufman founded PersonalMBA.com as an alternative to the business school boondoggle. His blog has introduced hundreds of thousands of readers to the best business books and most powerful business concepts of all time. Now, he shares the essentials of entrepreneurship, marketing, sales, negotiation, operations, productivity, systems design, and much more, in one comprehensive volume. The Personal MBA distills the most valuable business lessons into simple, memorable mental models that can be applied to real-world challenges.

The Personal MBA explains concepts such
* The Iron Law of the Why every business is limited by the size and quality of the market it attempts to serve-and how to find large, hungry markets.
* The 12 Forms of Products and services are only two of the twelve ways you can create value for your customers.
* The Pricing Uncertainty All prices are malleable. Raising your prices is the best way to dramatically increase profitability-if you know how to support the price you're asking.
* 4 Methods to Increase There are only four ways a business can bring in more money. Do you know what they are?

True leaders aren't made by business schools-they make themselves, seeking out the knowledge, skills, and experience they need to succeed. Read this book and you will learn the principles it takes most business professionals a lifetime of trial and error to master.]]>
416 Josh Kaufman 1591843529 Chris 0 to-read, business 4.10 2010 The Personal MBA: Master the Art of Business
author: Josh Kaufman
name: Chris
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2010
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The Intelligent Investor 106835 Now available for the first time in paperback!

The Classic Text Annotated to Update Graham's Timeless Wisdom for Today's Market Conditions

The greatest investment advisor of the twentieth century, Benjamin Graham taught and inspired people worldwide. Graham's philosophy of "value investing" -- which shields investors from substantial error and teaches them to develop long-term strategies -- has made The Intelligent Investor the stock market bible ever since its original publication in 1949.

Over the years, market developments have proven the wisdom of Graham's strategies. While preserving the integrity of Graham's original text, this revised edition includes updated commentary by noted financial journalist Jason Zweig, whose perspective incorporates the realities of today's market, draws parallels between Graham's examples and today's financial headlines, and gives readers a more thorough understanding of how to apply Graham's principles.

Vital and indispensable, this HarperBusiness Essentials edition of The Intelligent Investor is the most important book you will ever read on how to reach your financial goals.]]>
623 Benjamin Graham 0060555661 Chris 0 to-read, business 4.24 1949 The Intelligent Investor
author: Benjamin Graham
name: Chris
average rating: 4.24
book published: 1949
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<![CDATA[The Man Behind the Microchip: Robert Noyce and the Invention of Silicon Valley]]> 1203093 440 Leslie Berlin 0195163435 Chris 5 created by Bob Noyce, the Fairchild semiconductor gang, and Intel. ]]> 4.27 2005 The Man Behind the Microchip: Robert Noyce and the Invention of Silicon Valley
author: Leslie Berlin
name: Chris
average rating: 4.27
book published: 2005
rating: 5
read at: 2022/09/18
date added: 2022/09/18
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Very good readable history of Silicon Valley as
created by Bob Noyce, the Fairchild semiconductor gang, and Intel.
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Mere Christianity 40792344 Mere Christianity is C.S. Lewis's forceful and accessible doctrine of Christian belief. First heard as informal radio broadcasts and then published as three separate books � The Case for Christianity, Christian Behavior, and Beyond PersonalityMere Christianity brings together what Lewis saw as the fundamental truths of the religion.

Rejecting the boundaries that divide Christianity's many denominations, C.S. Lewis finds a common ground on which all those who have Christian faith can stand together, proving that "at the centre of each there is something, or a Someone, who against all divergences of belief, all differences of temperament, all memories of mutual persecution, speaks the same voice."]]>
98 C.S. Lewis Chris 4 4.43 1952 Mere Christianity
author: C.S. Lewis
name: Chris
average rating: 4.43
book published: 1952
rating: 4
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A Gentleman in Moscow 34066798 The mega-bestseller with more than 2 million readers—Now a Paramount+ with Showtime series starring Ewan McGregor as Count Alexander Rostov

From the #1 New York Times-bestselling author of The Lincoln Highway and Rules of Civility, a beautifully transporting novel about a man who is ordered to spend the rest of his life inside a luxury hotel

In 1922, Count Alexander Rostov is deemed an unrepentant aristocrat by a Bolshevik tribunal, and is sentenced to house arrest in the Metropol, a grand hotel across the street from the Kremlin. Rostov, an indomitable man of erudition and wit, has never worked a day in his life, and must now live in an attic room while some of the most tumultuous decades in Russian history are unfolding outside the hotel’s doors. Unexpectedly, his reduced circumstances provide him entry into a much larger world of emotional discovery.

Brimming with humor, a glittering cast of characters, and one beautifully rendered scene after another, this singular novel casts a spell as it relates the count’s endeavor to gain a deeper understanding of what it means to be a man of purpose.]]>
462 Amor Towles Chris 4 4.28 2016 A Gentleman in Moscow
author: Amor Towles
name: Chris
average rating: 4.28
book published: 2016
rating: 4
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<![CDATA[Quantum Computing: The transformative technology of the Qubit Revolution]]> 56920969




Computer technology has improved exponentially over the last 50 years. But the headroom for bigger and better electronic solutions is running out. Our best hope is to engage the power of quantum physics.







‘Quantum algorithms� had already been written long before hardware was built. These would enable, for example, a quantum computer to exponentially speed up an information search, or to crack the mathematical trick behind internet security. However, making a quantum computer is incredibly difficult. Despite hundreds of laboratories around the world working on them, we are only just seeing them come close to ‘supremacy� where they can outperform a traditional computer.







In this approachable introduction, Brian Clegg explains algorithms and their quantum counterparts, explores the physical building blocks and quantum weirdness necessary to make a quantum computer, and uncovers the capabilities of the current generation of machines.]]>
176 Brian Clegg 1785787071 Chris 5 3.58 Quantum Computing: The transformative technology of the Qubit Revolution
author: Brian Clegg
name: Chris
average rating: 3.58
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Quicksilver 57968229
Quinn Quicksilver was born a mystery—abandoned at three days old on a desert highway in Arizona. Raised in an orphanage, never knowing his parents, Quinn had a happy if unexceptional life. Until the day of “strange magnetism.� It compelled him to drive out to the middle of nowhere. It helped him find a coin worth a lot of money. And it practically saved his life when two government agents showed up in the diner in pursuit of him. Now Quinn is on the run from those agents and who knows what else, fleeing for his life.

During a shoot-out at a forlorn dude ranch, he finally meets his destined companions: Bridget Rainking, a beauty as gifted in foresight as she is with firearms, and her grandpa Sparky, a romance novelist with an unusual past. Bridget knows what it’s like to be Quinn. She’s hunted, too. The only way to stay alive is to keep moving.

Barreling through the Sonoran Desert, the formidable trio is impelled by that same inexplicable magnetism toward the inevitable. With every deeply disturbing mile, something sinister is in the rearview—an enemy that is more than a match for Quinn. Even as he discovers within himself resources that are every bit as scary.]]>
356 Dean Koontz 1542019885 Chris 0 to-read 3.56 2022 Quicksilver
author: Dean Koontz
name: Chris
average rating: 3.56
book published: 2022
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Foucault’s Pendulum 17841
On a lark, the editors begin randomly feeding esoteric bits of knowledge into an incredible computer capable of inventing connections between all their entries. What they believe they are creating is a long, lazy game - until the game starts taking over...

Here is an incredible journey of thought and history, memory and fantasy, a tour de force as enthralling as anything Umberto Eco—or indeed anyone—has ever devised.]]>
623 Umberto Eco 015603297X Chris 0 to-read 3.92 1988 Foucault’s Pendulum
author: Umberto Eco
name: Chris
average rating: 3.92
book published: 1988
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<![CDATA[Conscious: A Brief Guide to the Fundamental Mystery of the Mind]]> 41571759 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

"If you’ve ever wondered how you have the capacity to wonder, some fascinating insights await you in these pages.� —Adam Grant,New York Timesbestselling author ofOriginals

As concise and enlightening asSeven Brief Lessons on PhysicsandAstrophysics for People in a Hurry, this mind-expanding dive into the mystery of consciousness is an illuminating meditation on the self, free will, and felt experience.

What is consciousness? How does it arise? And why does it exist? We take our experience of being in the world for granted. But the very existence of consciousness raises profound questions: Why would any collection of matter in the universe be conscious? How are we able to think about this? And why should we?

In this wonderfully accessible book, Annaka Harris guides us through the evolving definitions, philosophies, and scientific findings that probe our limited understanding of consciousness. Where does it reside, and what gives rise to it? Could it be an illusion, or a universal property of all matter? As we try to understand consciousness, we must grapple with how to define it and, in the age of artificial intelligence, who or what might possess it.

Consciousoffers lively and challenging arguments that alter our ideas about consciousness—allowing us to thinkfreely aboutit for ourselves, if indeed we can.]]>
144 Annaka Harris 0062906712 Chris 0 to-read 3.82 2019 Conscious: A Brief Guide to the Fundamental Mystery of the Mind
author: Annaka Harris
name: Chris
average rating: 3.82
book published: 2019
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Elsewhere 52737437
Ed entrusts Jeffy with hiding a strange and dangerous object—something he calls “the key to everything”—and tells Jeffy that he must never use the device. But after a visit from a group of ominous men, Jeffy and Amity find themselves accidentally activating the key and discovering an extraordinary truth. The device allows them to jump between parallel planes at once familiar and bizarre, wondrous and terrifying. And Jeffy and Amity can’t help but wonder, could Michelle be just a click away?

Jeffy and Amity aren’t the only ones interested in the device. A man with a dark purpose is in pursuit, determined to use its grand potential for profound evil. Unless Amity and Jeffy can outwit him, the place they call home may never be safe again.]]>
364 Dean Koontz 1542019850 Chris 0 to-read 3.85 2020 Elsewhere
author: Dean Koontz
name: Chris
average rating: 3.85
book published: 2020
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Billy Summers 56852407
How about everything...]]>
517 Stephen King 1982173610 Chris 0 to-read 4.11 2021 Billy Summers
author: Stephen King
name: Chris
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2021
rating: 0
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