What did Alex Trebek and Leonard Cohen have in common? “Both were Canadians,” you reply. “Both were beloved by huge audiences,” you add. Yes, of course. And both get the title of Rabbi, according to Mark Oppenheimer, cohost of the… Read More ›
Books
The true name of the bear (in XKCD, not Vernor Vinge)
True names are important: if somebody knows your true name, they have power over you. I’m not talking about Vernor Vinge’s important novella, True Names, although there is definitely a strong connection with it. Many contributors to social media, as we know,… Read More ›
Science fiction? Greek mythology? Philosophy? All in Jo Walton’s The Philosopher Kings
Three months ago I reviewed Jo Walton’s The Just City. Recently I finished reading the sequel, The Philosopher Kings, which is equally fascinating and equally worth reading. “We don’t know when we are,” as one character remarks. When, not where. The gods live “outside… Read More ›
Will he go?
Will he go? Of course he will! We hope. He says he’s “not sure” that he will accept the results. I have just finished reading the short but vital book by Lawrence Douglas with the full title of Will He Go?… Read More ›
The Answer is… “Who is Alex Trebek?”
No, the title of this post is not the title of a book, despite the italics. More specifically, it’s not the title of a book: it’s a portmanteau of the titles of two books: The Answer is… (by Alex Trebek) Who is… Read More ›
You’re Fired! (We can hope.)
You’re Fired: The Perfect Guide to Beating Donald Trump. That’s the full title. It’s partially successful at fulfilling its subtitle. I give it a B+. This is an often amusing and always fairly quick read despite the 61 pages of endnotes!… Read More ›
Popularizers V: Raymond Smullyan
A very special island is inhabited only by knights and knaves. Knights always tell the truth, and knaves always lie. You meet two inhabitants: Zoey and Mel. Zoey tells you that Mel is a knave. Mel says, “Neither Zoey nor I… Read More ›
You’re Wearing That?
I’ve never been a mother. I’ve never been a daughter. So why would I want to read You’re Wearing That?, which bears the subtitle Understanding Mothers and Daughters in Conversation? Two reasons: The author is Deborah Tannen, as shown above the title. Tannen, if… Read More ›
Is it fantasy? Or is it science fiction? Some ruminations.
Do we care about labeling a literary genre? What difference does it make? Ever since I was a pre-teen, I was interested in science fiction. Fantasy, not so much. But what’s the difference? And who cares? First of all, just… Read More ›
Popularizers IV: Douglas Hofstadter
Gödel, Escher, Bach — what more do I need to say? Quite a bit more, you reply, especially since only 8% of you have actually read this amazing book. (Statistics gladly invented on the spot, of course.) If you’ve heard of… Read More ›
Greek! (The Ingenious Language)
Where do I begin when I try to describe this marvelous book? If you look at the cover (see image at the bottom of this post), you’ll see that the full title of this book is The Ingenious Language: Nine Epic… Read More ›
Greek! (The Ingenious Language)
Where do I begin when I try to describe this marvelous book? If you look at the cover (see image at the bottom of this post), you’ll see that the full title of this book is The Ingenious Language: Nine Epic… Read More ›
Semper Augustus, a short novel
A short novel? Maybe it’s a long novella. In any case, it’s well worth reading. This dystopian work by the well-known science fiction author Nancy Kress is set in the near future, and I do mean “near.” The wealth gap… Read More ›
Popularizers III: George Gamow
What? Why was I reading without my eyeglasses? That’s easy. This photo, my semi-official portrait at age 11, was taken just before I got glasses. And that was all because of a substitute teacher! My regular teacher always had always… Read More ›
A Cat
Why had I never heard of this book before? Well, at least I’m not alone. A Cat is a little-known 1995 work written by Leonard Michaels and illustrated by Frances Lerner. I read the 2018 Tin House hardcover version, which I… Read More ›
Hebrew Script Hacking
How is this book different from all other books in the series? I’m referring to Teach Yourself Library’s Script Hacking series, which teaches you several alphabetical writing systems — a limited objective, and the series does a good job with it. Little… Read More ›
Murder on Lexington Avenue
Signing or lip-reading? If you’re Deaf, which should you be taught? That is the question. And if you are in upper-class turn-of-the-century New York, no less, that is ultimately the core issue in Victoria Thompson’s Murder on Lexington Avenue. I… Read More ›
Popularizers I: Asimov on Numbers
Many popularizers are unjustly looked down upon by professional academic scientists and mathematicians. I learned about that as an early age, and I also learned to reject those snobby attitudes. That’s mostly because of my dad’s influence: even though he… Read More ›
Hid from our Eyes
It was over eleven years ago that I read and reviewed the fourth book in Julia Spencer-Fleming’s series of upstate New York novels, and now we’re onto book #9. This averages out to only about one book every two years, a… Read More ›
Learning Strategies 