Book Review

Berlin 1961 is outside my normal nonfiction reading and, to be honest, if it hadn’t made the nonfiction short list for the Indie Lit Awards, I probably never would have read it. The Cold War and the Berlin Wall are both outside my political frame of reference — too recent to really have found their way into my history reading, but too far back for me to even remember. When the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, I was only three years old. The first major crisis-level event I remember clearly is the Oklahoma City Bombing in 1995, and the first event I understood the political repercussions for is the Sept. 11 attacks in 2001.

Physics of the Future is a look at the future based on the work and predictions of scientists who are actually doing the work that is going to change how the world looks in 100 years. In that way, the book is deeply fascinating. However, I was disappointed is how many moments felt like they only scratched the surface of what seemed like the most interesting details about how science is going to fundamentally change the way we live.

I’ve always liked reading books written by people who have experiences that I will never get to have. Most of the time, those stories are something extraordinary — crashing in the jungle in New Guinea or writing restaurant reviews for the New York Times. But there’s also something fun to read about more common but just as foreign experiences, like those of a firefighter.

I’m not sure what to write about Mindy Kaling’s Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? except that it was an entirely delightful read.

Mindy Kaling is probably best known as a writer, producer, and actor on NBC’s The Office. But Kaling is also an accomplished Off-Broadway playwright and actress, and just the sort of warm and funny person a reader could want as a friend.

One of the questions that usually comes up during a job interview is, “What is your greatest weakness?” My usual response, and one that often surprises people, is that I can be really shy (not an especially great trait for a journalist, right?). But after reading Susan Cain’s Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking, I think the more appropriate answer is that, at my core, I’m an introvert.

One Sentence Summary: Opposition researchers Alan Huffman and Michael Rejebian share details about their work, digging through public records to reveal the secrets that political candidates and their opponents may or may not use during the course of a campaign season.

One Sentence Review: Huffman and Rejebian’s book suggests dark secrets but delivers a slightly bland celebration of opposition researchers as relentless truth seekers with no control over how their work is ultimately used (or misused).

Review: Writing a book based on a book as beloved and well-known as Jane Eyre is no easy task. Although it’s been several years since I read Jane Eyre, I went into Margot Livesey’s The Flight of Gemma Hardy with high expectations, wondering both how Livesey would honor the original book while still writing something new and original.

Review: There’s nothing like finding a book that tells a previously unknown or misunderstood story, and the tale of Jeanne Baret is definitely one of those. Set on the high seas, and full of romance, intrigue and adventure, it’s exactly the sort of narrative history book that I find deeply fascinating.

I’ve had two quite busy and stressful weeks at work, which has cut into the brain power I have for reading and blogging. I just haven’t been able to write any reviews lately, and I’ve been struggling to get into some of the nonfiction I’ve got on my plate right now.