This was a lot of fun action with very little gore & sex, just a con man who tries to do the 'right' thing while lining his own pockets. Of course, thThis was a lot of fun action with very little gore & sex, just a con man who tries to do the 'right' thing while lining his own pockets. Of course, the course is a tough one to navigate, so Gas has to scramble to keep a step ahead. There are some leaps in the plot, but it's all in fun so didn't bother me.
It was nice reading another book with power armor, too. Future infantry in power armor is a theme that has interested me since I read Starship Troopers & The Forever War. Followed by Armor & Old Man's War in that order shows a progression of the idea. This is a good, if not great, addition.
Mammay really showed the feel of an infantry unit with the macho guy interplay & all. Excellent narration helped the story, too. Definitely recommended....more
This lecture contains visual elements which doesn't help in an audiobook. Starbird is interesting, but I've certainly heard better lecturers. He stuttThis lecture contains visual elements which doesn't help in an audiobook. Starbird is interesting, but I've certainly heard better lecturers. He stutters around too much, although my annoyance at that is offset by his obvious enthusiasm.
It's been many moons since I last had any formal education in probability & statistics, so I wanted some extra help with the basics. I found an excellent series of lessons at Stattrek (https://stattrek.com/tutorials/probab...)
Unfortunately, I just couldn't keep up with the lecture, so I listened to it & then had to do the work through other sites. I got tired of that & just let it roll over me. Good stuff, but just too complex for an audiobook....more
There isn't an audio edition listed, but that's what I'm reading. Well narrated as usual by Stephen Rudniki & I liked it better than the last few bookThere isn't an audio edition listed, but that's what I'm reading. Well narrated as usual by Stephen Rudniki & I liked it better than the last few books. The sex scenes were done better & there weren't too many since he's pushing 70, but he's still a badass. It was fun revisiting some of his old jobs, too....more
A good, fast overview of our current understanding of human evolution. Occasionally it bogged down a little when listing various hominids by their LatA good, fast overview of our current understanding of human evolution. Occasionally it bogged down a little when listing various hominids by their Latin names (better read in text than listened to), but it trucked along for the most part & hit the high points. Wood also made good points about "our current understanding", dating, & some of the fossils they're working from. This led to explanations alternate theories & arguments between archeologists. There wasn't too much, just enough to show that the news stories aren't always as simple as they seem.
I almost shelved this as reference & it's also a good introduction. Well narrated....more
This started off rather slow for me, but I really liked it by the end. Well narrated with a good mystery to solve by people & organizations that are aThis started off rather slow for me, but I really liked it by the end. Well narrated with a good mystery to solve by people & organizations that are as morally ambiguous as their means all leavened with just the right amount of low-key humor. There is magic in this world, but it isn't explained to death & yet well enough to be understandable & have proper limits. Good characters, too. Many started off flat & became full blown as the story progressed....more
A GR friend of mine wrote in his review that this is cotton candy for the mind. I'd give it higher marks, but I understand his point. This book is funA GR friend of mine wrote in his review that this is cotton candy for the mind. I'd give it higher marks, but I understand his point. This book is fun, well narrated, & probably informative to those without much experience with math, the history of engineering disasters, & computer programming. I'm not particularly well versed in these subjects, but I recognized many (most) immediately. Still, if you're not familiar with any of that, this would be eye-opening. It's probably a good book for the under 30 crowd down to teens, maybe even somewhat younger.
I liked his point about blame. We want to find a villain in every disaster, but often they were well meaning people who were working at the edge of our knowledge or it was a committee failure. A little larger or heavier construct suddenly passes a limit where previously minor problems become major ones or add up in odd ways. Many of our projects are too complex for anyone to have a full grasp of all the parts &/or market/political forces overshadowed a dire warning. It's instructive, sad, & all too common.
He spent a little too much time with exact, very large numbers which I pretty much ignored since I listened to the audiobook. An exact number in the millions is meaningless to me & everyone else except in very specific situations & this book wasn't one. That's why we have significant digits & scientific notation, a point he made, but could have done better, IMO. He's too young to remember the days of the slide rule. He mentions them, but doesn't really have a feel for them & the way they shaped our thinking since he grew up with calculators & computers, but his example of the increase in numbers is one I use constantly, too. 1,000 seconds = about 17 minutes 1 million seconds = about 12 days 1 billion seconds = about 32 years 1 trillion seconds = about 32,000 years I can't grasp the last in any personal sense, but this helps me keep some perspective when dealing with large numbers.
His narration was excellent & there was enough humor to keep it interesting. Still, it was simple enough that if I zoned out for a few minutes, I didn't really miss anything. I'll give it 4 stars & recommend it to most with the above reservations....more
Lettie is basically Lucas with tits, which I expected, & there were enough nods to her sex to make her seem enough like a chip off the old block that Lettie is basically Lucas with tits, which I expected, & there were enough nods to her sex to make her seem enough like a chip off the old block that the resemblance didn't become a burden. In this, I think he did a better job than Connelly has done with Renee, a female version of Harry. (I really like & read Connelly's books as soon as they come out.)
The story was really good. I could certainly see the events depicted happening today. Hopefully we'll have a heroine & her trusty side kick available if they do. It's probably a question of when & I probably don't know about several attempts that have been stopped. It's that well done.
He also did a good job of working Letty's back story in. That's tough to do. He didn't bore me with it & I've read every book in the series in order, but there's enough meat in the flashbacks & explanations that you'll get a good picture of her even if this is the first book you've picked up. (If it is, I highly recommend reading the rest of his books in order. After book 17, start reading a Virgil Flowers book every other time. A lot of books, but worth it.)
Well narrated, as always, but Lettie is too good to be true. The story isn't 'just a little Hollywood', unfortunately. ...more
I listened to this, but also have the ebook. Excellent narration, but text is mandatory as the short (1-2 pages) essays are often dense & need some stI listened to this, but also have the ebook. Excellent narration, but text is mandatory as the short (1-2 pages) essays are often dense & need some studying. For instance, one essay is about "comparative advantage" which discusses tariffs & trade, not something I'm normally too interested in, but I took notice over the simplified example of just how specialization can make even the poorer of two reciprocating trade partners richer. It was brilliant & opened a whole new avenue of thought for me.
The sheer number of essays also requires breaks. There are 175 of them & each is thought provoking. I was surprised how interesting I found almost all of them even though some were fairly esoteric, but they were usually basic principles for the various fields, some spanning many. Any practicing scientist might do well to read this as it would open new avenues of thought within their own field.
Richard Dawkins: How a Scientist Changed the Way We Think is my current text read & its claims are bolstered by quite a few of the essays in this book. Diverse scientists mention how his writing made them change the way they view their own fields. That's great for me since I'm something of a fan & it reinforces my belief in the importance of this book.
An odd theme for an anthology, authors named David published by Baen & edited by another David. Not all fit, either. The last one was by Barry N. MalzAn odd theme for an anthology, authors named David published by Baen & edited by another David. Not all fit, either. The last one was by Barry N. Malzberg & the editor gushed over it. I didn't get it, but I've never been a fan of Mazberg's work.
Overall, it's a pretty good collection, but some of the stories I liked the best were ones I'd read before such as the Bolo story. It's one of the best & saddest. All were well narrated, so it was a pleasant listen. ...more
Instead of covering anything in-depth, Zacks skims through numerous historical topics with entertaining examples. It was fun to listen to & well narraInstead of covering anything in-depth, Zacks skims through numerous historical topics with entertaining examples. It was fun to listen to & well narrated, but too lightweight. He skipped around in history & topics a lot, so I was never bored or really satisfied either. Too much dessert without a main course.
He hits some subjects multiple times from a variety of angles, but he missed a lot even then. For instance, he covers witches & King James several times, but never mentions Daemonologie & I believe he said that no witches were killed in England. I must have misheard that because hundreds were. He also barely (finally!) mentioned that a witch conviction meant confiscation of all assets, one of the major causes of accusations.
Overall, it was just a fun book. I'd give it 3.5 stars, but I'm rounding down because he left out some really important information that left the wrong impression in some cases that really irked me....more
As so many others have noted, this is a much needed book today since we're drowning in bullshit. Worse, it's difficult to know who or what institutionAs so many others have noted, this is a much needed book today since we're drowning in bullshit. Worse, it's difficult to know who or what institutions are bullshitting us & how. Sure, I expect it from a buddy at a bar & the car salesman, but institutions I grew up thinking were proof against it are now shoveling it with both hands & they're not even subtle about it. I was around for Spiro Agnew & Richard Nixon to fall & the Pentagon Papers to be released so I knew even the president could lie, but they did pretty good cover up jobs for years. Now, Trump just lies constantly & transparently. Deepak Chopra & Mehmet Oz at least try to baffle folks with bullshit. Petrocelli points his finger at all 3 plus quite a few others showcasing just how fast BS spreads, how badly it damages society, & how tenacious its hold is with another well known example in Wakefield & the MMR-autism fake.
He mentions quite a few of the brain bugs that cause our credulity & also points out why we all bullshit at times. Best of all, he gives quite a few tips on how to detect bullshit & avoid believing it. Not all are obvious. It's for this reason that I suggest getting a text copy. It's great to listen to, but parts deserve more study....more
After reading his earlier autobiography, An Appetite for Wonder: The Making of a Scientist, I wasn't in a rush to read this one, but I'm glad I did. IAfter reading his earlier autobiography, An Appetite for Wonder: The Making of a Scientist, I wasn't in a rush to read this one, but I'm glad I did. I liked it more since he covers his adult life in roughly chronological order teaching, writing, & lecturing touching on the many wonderful people he's met. Many are quite famous, others are unknown, but his remarks about them were usually quite nice & interesting. He's a lot like my father-in-law, another man I respected immensely. He rarely has anything bad to say about anyone even when they've clashed. Dawkins is always generous with praise where it is due unlike another science book I read recently where the author (Reich) took all the credit for everything. Unlike him, Dawkins seems quite pleased when his students have outpaced him in one respect or another & he often makes much of those who have corrected his mistakes or taken his initial work further. He seems positively delighted when they've outstripped him & that's no mean feat.
One of the best bonuses was learning more about his second wife, Lalla Ward, who often alternates narration in Dawkins' audio editions of his books. I hadn't realized she was a leading lady in Dr. Who or that she was so talented in other arts. (She painted a tie for Dawkins & the Queen thought the animal was ugly, although the artwork was good.)
Dawkins also mentions most of his books & what they cover. It's worth getting a text version of this book for the picture section at the end, but I really enjoyed Dawkins' narration of the audiobook edition. It was very much like a conversation with the great man. Highly recommended....more
While it had a lot of elements that have been done before, it put them together in a new & interesting way. There were several reveals throughout the book which changed who I was rooting for. As big as they were, they made sense. Very well done. I'd like to say more, but I don't want to spoil anything. Just keep an open mind & watch for clues.
The ending was satisfying, but definitely left room for a sequel. I'm not sure if I'll read it or not. I think this did a pretty good job just like Dune. Sure, life goes on, but I never thought much of those sequels. This book was well narrated, too. I'll look for more by this author....more
I'm not a real fan of true crime nor do I care to ogle at disasters, so this didn't do a lot for me, but it was well narrated & interesting enough. GiI'm not a real fan of true crime nor do I care to ogle at disasters, so this didn't do a lot for me, but it was well narrated & interesting enough. Given the number he covers, there isn't a lot of depth on any of them, but that was did work for me. An overview plus some odd details was all I needed & he went beyond that most of the time. I think the ToC covers the rest pretty well.
Table of Contents Introduction Part 1: Murder with a Twist Chapter 1: Girl Gone Chapter 2: Spell Murder for Me Chapter 3: The Boozing Barber Chapter 4: The Elementary School Murderer Chapter 5: Bad Apples Chapter 6: Sing a Song of Murder Chapter 7: Antifreeze and a Cold Heart
Part 2: Perpetual Puzzles Chapter 8: The Oak Island Mystery Chapter 9: Who Was the Persian Princess? Chapter 10: The Love Me Tender Murders Chapter 11: Dark Water Chapter 12: The Unknown Man Chapter 13: The Dyatlov Pass Incident
Part 3: The Madness of Crowds Chapter 14: Northern Rampage Chapter 15: The UFO Cult Chapter 16: Colonia Dignidad Chapter 17: The Ripper Crew Chapter 18: Los Narcosatánicos Chapter 19: Children of Thunder
Part 4: Notable Disasters Chapter 20: The Great Influenza Pandemic of 1918 Chapter 21: The Eruption of Mount St. Helens Chapter 22: The Space Shuttle Challenger Explosion Chapter 23: The Grenfell Tower Fire Chapter 24: The Boxing Day Tsunami Chapter 25: The Chilean Mining Accident...more
Science defines our lives as never before, yet we know little about those who have come up with so many of the wonders. Klien interviews a couple of dScience defines our lives as never before, yet we know little about those who have come up with so many of the wonders. Klien interviews a couple of dozen about their work, where it's led, & why they chose to study what they did as well as some other matters. It's fairly brief, informal, & was fascinating. I always felt as if I wanted the conversations to go on - that's a good thing. I was never bored nor was it ever repetitive.
Well narrated & I had the ebook to let me skim back over any points I needed to ponder. There were plenty of those. Highly recommended.
Table of Contents Introduction ON THE COURAGE TO SPEND A LIFETIME SEARCHING We Are All Stardust • COSMOLOGIST MARTIN REES • ON THE BEGINNING AND END OF THE WORLD The Genes of the Good • EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGIST RICHARD DAWKINS • ON EGOISM AND SELFLESSNESS In the Hall of Illusions • NEUROSCIENTIST V. S. RAMACHANDRAN • ON CONSCIOUSNESS The Recalcitrant Zebra • PHYSIOLOGIST AND GEOGRAPHER JARED DIAMOND • ON CHANCE AND NECESSITY IN HISTORY Chimps Are Individuals Like Us • PRIMATOLOGIST JANE GOODALL • ON OUR RELATIONSHIP TO ANIMALS The Unity of the World • PHYSICIST STEVEN WEINBERG • ON SCIENCE AND RELIGION Can We Become Immortal? • MOLECULAR BIOLOGIST ELIZABETH BLACKBURN • ON AGING Is Luxury Immoral? • PHILOSOPHER PETER SINGER • ON ETHICS Our Well-Being Depends on Our Friends and Their Friends • PHYSICIAN AND SOCIAL SCIENTIST NICHOLAS CHRISTAKIS • ON HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS The Software of Life • BIOCHEMIST CRAIG VENTER • ON THE HUMAN GENOME The Poetry of Molecules • CHEMIST AND POET ROALD HOFFMANN • ON BEAUTY Do You Remember? • NEUROBIOLOGIST HANNAH MONYER • ON MEMORY The Others in Our Heads • NEUROSCIENTIST VITTORIO GALLESE • ON EMPATHY The Laws of Devotion • ANIMAL BEHAVIOR RESEARCHER RAGHAVENDRA GADAGKAR • ON ALTRUISM The Hunger for Fairness • ECONOMIST ERNST FEHR • ON MORALITY The Strongest Feeling of All • NEUROPHARMACOLOGIST WALTER ZIEGLGÄNSBERGER • ON PAIN The Female Side of Evolution • ANTHROPOLOGIST SARAH HRDY • ON MOTHERHOOD Babies Can Be Smarter Than Us • DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGIST ALISON GOPNIK • ON CHILDHOOD Love Is the Offspring of Knowledge • ARTIST LEONARDO DA VINCI • ON THE BEGINNING OF MODERN SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH...more
I tried to read this, but Jane is not my favorite character & this was just too much of the same thing that's been done in 8 previous books. I took a I tried to read this, but Jane is not my favorite character & this was just too much of the same thing that's been done in 8 previous books. I took a break, read a different book & came back to this one. Then i took another break & finally decided I'm not going to bother with it. Too many books, too little time left....more
Overall, interesting & would have been a lot better if the editor had given him a limited space in which to make his arguments. The science got a soliOverall, interesting & would have been a lot better if the editor had given him a limited space in which to make his arguments. The science got a solid 5 stars, the delivery wandered between 2 & 3 stars. I'd give this 4 stars if I was feeling generous, but he put my teeth on edge a little too often.
The Good: Well narrated & full of really interesting findings even if many are somewhat iffy due to new methods & small sets for statistical analysis. They certainly open our eyes to the complexity of our ancestors' lives, migrations, & breeding. Societies couldn't have been as static as we once thought & ancient DNA is proving that there were 'ghost populations', entire peoples that we have no anthropological evidence for yet. We might never have that evidence, but some of the story is in the gene groups they have passed down such as the genomic signatures of inequality; usually the subservient or conquered race showing signs of the male conquerors or rulers DNA but not female as shown by the Y chromosome & mitochondrial DNA.
The Bad: His explanations confused me too often. He'd state a point as part of larger statement which I might or might not get. I might be willing to just go with it, but then he'd make a convoluted explanation that completely lost me. Sometimes this was through redundancy. An example or two would be fine, but 4 or 5 would either make me lose the point or they had enough differences that I'd get confused. In several cases, he seemed to take a stance & then keep talking until it seemed as if he'd reversed course. This usually happened in politically sensitive topics where he seemed to want to please everyone.
Reich always refers to work as taking place in HIS laboratory. It irks me because even though he acknowledges working with others, he never mentions that they did most, if not all, the heavy lifting since he's clearly in a position of oversight much of the time. If he had even occasionally said "we" or "our", I would have liked it a lot better.
The Ugly - RACE: He did an excellent job handling this at first. It's touchy & one of the ugliest subjects to deal with since "race" is such a fraught word. ...On the one side there are beliefs about the nature of the differences that are grounded in bigotry and have little basis in reality. On the other side there is the idea that any biological differences among populations are so modest that as a matter of social policy they can be ignored and papered over. It is time to move on from this paralyzing false dichotomy and to figure out what the genome is actually telling us... There is more genetic variation within 'races' (even using Feldman's 7 genetic clusters rather than the traditional 3) than between them, but that doesn't mean the overall differences aren't important in the sciences. They help doctors narrow down symptoms for conditions that are more likely to occur in some groups & forensic scientists to figure out just who died. I like that he also pointed out that as the speed & accuracy of genetic testing increases, such categories will become less important, especially in medicine. They'll have to since we're mixing more.
All good to that point, but then he blathered on & lost me. He really should have stopped trying to explain in many instances. In this, it was similar to A Troublesome Inheritance: Genes, Race and Human History which is both instructive & amusing since Reich takes Wade to task for making assertions that I remember as possibilities, not fact. This is something which Reich also stresses. In my review of Wade's book, I wrote, "If he had stuck to these points, the book would have been a lot shorter & I would have liked it better. Instead he tries very hard to appease the politically correct, so he broadens his examples into areas that I thought were sketchy." That applies to this book as well. OK, the amusement is minor, but it is instructive that both think Political Correctness is damaging this area of research & they provided quite a few examples including their own efforts to avoid getting on the wrong side of it. I found Reich's wiggling & over explaining even more annoying than Wade's.
We really need a set of new words to describe groupings of people that don't trigger everyone, a point he passes over quickly without offering any solutions. That might have been the biggest disappointment by the end of the book since he's in the position to provide them.
Table of Contents Introduction
Part I The Deep History of Our Species - 1 How the Genome Explains Who We Are - 2 Encounters with Neanderthals - 3 Ancient DNA Opens the Floodgates
Part II How We Got to Where We Are Today - 4 Humanity’s Ghosts - 5 The Making of Modern Europe - 6 The Collision That Formed India - 7 In Search of Native American Ancestors - 8 The Genomic Origins of East Asians - 9 Rejoining Africa to the Human Story
Part III The Disruptive Genome - 10 The Genomics of Inequality - 11 The Genomics of Race and Identity - 12 The Future of Ancient DNA...more
The Arc Manor / Phoenix Pick newsletter wrote that Ekpeki's novelette "O2 Arena"--first published in issue 53 of Galaxy's Edge magazine--has just beenThe Arc Manor / Phoenix Pick newsletter wrote that Ekpeki's novelette "O2 Arena"--first published in issue 53 of Galaxy's Edge magazine--has just been announced as a finalist for a Nebula (for Best Novelette) & provided a link to a PDF. https://mcusercontent.com/9f17d596f16...
It was short, so I read it & it's OK, although it took a leap at the end that didn't make much sense to me. Nasty world creating nasty people....more
Started off slow as Modesitt built a whole new world, but it came together fairly quickly. Full of politics & economics, both subjects that he excels Started off slow as Modesitt built a whole new world, but it came together fairly quickly. Full of politics & economics, both subjects that he excels at. He poses interesting issues that often parallel ours in some ways, but are just different enough that there's no way he's making this into a partisan debate of ours. I appreciate that since I'm sick of our politics.
His world is a steampunk one in some ways. It's fantasy due to a large minority of people having an empathic sense. There's nothing very magical about it & he clearly shows both its strengths & disadvantages as two bodyguards struggle to keep their councilor alive during a critical political period which lends some action to the story.
The politics revolve around a 3 party system where no individual councilor's vote is ever known. The reasoning behind that is really interesting. There are protesters demanding individual responsibility & they're quite effective. It will be interesting to see what they get up to in the next book.
The ending was predictable, but still well done. I'm not sure it was quite a 4 star read, but certainly more than 3 stars. Well narrated, as usual, too....more
Very basic stuff, so probably good for people who aren't very Internet savvy & don't understand all the tricks that are used. It would have been borinVery basic stuff, so probably good for people who aren't very Internet savvy & don't understand all the tricks that are used. It would have been boring for me if it wasn't so short. They did mention most of the really obvious stuff, but didn't go into the reasons for or dangers of many of the fakes. Their examples of fake pictures, video, & audio were good since too many don't know just how easy it is or how often it's done. They also discussed some of our cognitive biases a little, too.
I quit watching 'documentaries' on anything requiring thought many years ago. Camera tricks have always been far too easy to play & most seem to have an agenda now. In text, I can examine the arguments, search out portions of text (highlight the text, right click & left click "search") for further clarification, & jot down questions. I can't do any of that with a video. They're just too good at getting me caught up in their narrative. For instance, seeing a video about people killing sea turtles is horrific & I want it to stop now. In a text article I can look up the area & might find out that this slaughter is a mainstay of their economy. Stopping it would be great, but it's not going to happen unless another means of income is provided first. Dead turtles are bad, starving kids are horrific, though.
They mentioned political divisiveness, but didn't delve enough into the profit or information gathering that many use. For instance, those stupid Facebook posts that say something like "Name your first car" or "Bet you can't name a state without an "a" in the name" aren't doing it just for fun. Most are scraping information about you. A common security question is naming your first car. Just posting on their post lets them look for security holes such as your friend list, phone number, birthday, email address, etc.
They didn't list nearly enough free sources for checking bullshit, but listed several that cost money without mentioning it. Most folks won't pay a monthly fee to fact check. Heck, we're lucky if we can get anyone to do it. This site lists some good free ones: https://webliteracy.pressbooks.com/ch... You'll probably have to open a new tab & search with both the site name & the fact you want to check, though. This site lists mostly sites that require a monthly fee. https://thetrustedweb.org/browser-ext... On the plus side, they usually have browser plug-ins to make look ups easy. Media Bias/Fact Check Extension is one exception that automatically rates news sites in Facebook, though. It's not 100%, but pretty good.
This is something to recommend to your older relatives & less savvy friends. It will give them a start in the right direction in just a couple of hours. Because of that, it gets 4 stars....more
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