Normally I wouldn’t even bother to review this slight and forgettable volume by Martin Walker, but it provides such a nice “compare and contrast” opportunity that I can’t resist. Immediately after reading The Children Return, I turned to Bruno and the Carol Singers, another… Read More ›
Books
The Children Return
How timely can you be? Martin Walker’s latest novel in his “Bruno, Chief of Police” series takes a darker turn. I wrote about these books twice before in this blog: First, of course, came the initial effort, and even then I… Read More ›
BiblioTech
What an exciting book! “Surely you jest,” you say. “An exciting book about libraries? That’s an oxymoron!” Well, OK, maybe not quite exciting. But it’s a fine book that has a lot of important things to say and will stimulate your… Read More ›
It’s a matter of fact, not a matter of opinion: it’s science!
No, I’m not going to bring up the old misguided debate about putting one or two spaces after a period. That’s because it isn’t a debate. It’s an empirical matter: do you believe the evidence, or do you want to continue… Read More ›
Einstein’s Dreams
What a mystifying play! Yesterday I went to see Einstein’s Dreams at the Central Square Theater, and I wish I brought Dr. Korsunsky along so that he could have explained the physics to me. A year of honors physics in high school was… Read More ›
Flowering Judas
For some reason it has been nine years since I’ve reviewed a Jane Haddam novel, despite the fact that I’ve read and enjoyed almost all of the 25 or so books in her Gregor Demarkian mystery series. Flowering Judas is the most recent;… Read More ›
Marauder’s Map
Harry would be jealous. Look at this: it’s a real-life Marauder’s Map! But instead of showing where people are, it shows where MBTA subway trains are — right now, in real time. How cool is that?
The so-called Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up
What an annoying book! How did it become a New York Times best-seller??? In the words of H.L. Mencken, “no one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American people,” so maybe that’s the explanation. In The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, Marie… Read More ›
X
The last time I wrote about Sue Grafton’s Kinsey Millhone mystery series was two and a half years ago. At that point I was up to V. Then came W — and now, of course, X. But this one breaks… Read More ›
Hello Ruby
Can young kids really learn about coding (which we used to call “programming”)? If so, do they need a computer, or can they learn it better through reading and playing board games? Linda Llukas is betting on “yes” and “the… Read More ›
Oliver Sacks redux
I’m gradually working my way through most of the oeuvre of the late Oliver Sacks. Two months ago I wrote about Uncle Tungsten, On the Move, and Hallucinations. Now it’s time for The Island of the Colorblind, Cycad Island, and Awakenings. Once again, all three are fascinating and worth… Read More ›
The Ophelia Cut
You’re probably wondering how many John Lescroart mystery novels featuring Dismas Hardy I’ve read at this point. No, you’re not wondering that? That’s just as well, since I’m not at all sure; there are 14 in all, and they seem… Read More ›
What’s wrong with Strunk and White?
The Elements of Style, by Strunk and White, is certainly a popular book, but its popularity is richly undeserved. There, I said it. A recent article by Stanford’s Asya Pereltsvaig in the Languages of the World blog explains why the popularity of Strunk… Read More ›
How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big: Kind of the Story of My Life
We all like Dilbert. Well, some of us like Dilbert. Those of us who have worked in the software industry post copies of Dilbert cartoons near our desks because they are so much on target about the high-tech workplace and… Read More ›
The Shining Girls
What an unusual book! The genre-defying novel The Shining Girls, by South African author Lauren Beukes, might not be your cup of tea…but give it a try. Don’t worry about its genre. Is it science fiction? Is it fantasy? Is it a… Read More ›
Plato at the Googleplex: Why Philosophy Won’t Go Away
Plato! Google! What a combination! Philosopher and novelist Rebecca Newberger Goldstein imagines what would happen if Plato were somehow still alive and were visiting Google, being interviewed on talk shows, etc. This premise, of course, requires a certain suspension of disbelief,… Read More ›
Seveneves
Another fine novel from the great Neal Stephenson! Though not by any means his best, Seveneves is still a five-star story. Go read it. At only 880 pages, you’ll be able to finish it in a day or two. Well…no. It really… Read More ›
What Language is: And What it isn’t and What it Could Be
Sometimes people ask me to recommend a good book on linguistics for the general reader — not a textbook, not a technical treatise, just an informative (and accurate) explanation of what linguistics is all about. I’ve never quite been sure… Read More ›
You Are Not Special
You’ve probably heard about David McCullough Jr.’s much-publicized graduation speech at Wellesley High School back in 2012. Perhaps you even saw it on YouTube. Perhaps you read the book by the same title. Perhaps you were even there in person. In… Read More ›
Ace Atkins as Robert Parker
Reading Robert B. Parker’s Spenser novels is a guilty pleasure. The Boston and Cambridge locales are spot on, the dialog is snappy, and most of the plots are entertaining. Or perhaps I should say it was a guilty pleasure, as Parker died… Read More ›
Learning Strategies 