I don’t usually read books just on the basis of advertising, so I first checked with my colleague the music teacher before I decided to read the new book with such intriguing ads: Daniel J. Levitin’s This is Your Brain… Read More ›
Books
The Crimes of Jordan Wise
Bill Pronzini’s neo-noir novel, The Crimes of Jordan Wise, is a pleasant diversion but certainly not one of his better works. The idea that a geeky guy who excelled in math in high school might become a successful accountant is,… Read More ›
Studs Terkel's Working
This year’s spring musical at Weston High School is the little-known Working, based closely on Studs Terkel’s great book of the same name. Although I say “closely,” the musical can of course include only a tiny fraction of the chapters… Read More ›
Careless in Red
Elizabeth George has long been one of my favorite authors, but her books have been becoming bleaker and bleaker. Even though I’ve read many — most? even all? — of her novels, I don’t think I’ve ever reviewed any of… Read More ›
Predictably Irrational
I generally find that non-fiction works are difficult to follow in the audiobook format. Perhaps it’s because non-fiction books remind the reader of college lectures, so there’s an impulse to take notes. Perhaps it’s because they tend to be dryer… Read More ›
Cries and Whiskers
Generally I stay away from mysteries that feature cats. They tend to be too cute, with anthropomorphized felines that solve crimes or even talk. But Clea Simon’s Cries and Whiskers avoids those pitfalls. Aside from featuring cats, this novel also… Read More ›
Everything is Miscellaneous
For years now I’ve been fascinated and bothered by hierarchical systems of organization, starting with the Dewey Decimal System and progressing to typical org charts in businesses and hierarchical file systems on computers. On the one hand, the systematic structure… Read More ›
The Numbers Behind Numb3rs
My students sometimes ask me whether the mathematics in the television show Numb3rs is real. This question, among others, is explored in a fascinating book, The Numbers behind Numb3rs: Solving Crime with Mathematics, by mathematicians Keith Devlin and Gary Lorden…. Read More ›
People of the Book
Like some of the other novels I tend to read, People of the Book appeals to a particular type of audience rather than the general public. Australian author Geraldine Brooks’s fascinating historical novel spans many centuries while remaining firmly anchored… Read More ›
The Stranger House
Here is yet another genre-transcending novel that’s something of a gothic mystery but really is neither gothic nor mystery: The Stranger House, by Reginald Hill. It helps, of course, that the protagonist this time is a mathematician — even better… Read More ›
The Lake of Dead Languages
I recently listened to the audiobook version of The Lake of Dead Languages, a fascinating novel by Carol Goodman. Well, actually, I don’t know how fascinating it would be to the general reader, but it resonated for me in so… Read More ›
The Global Achievement Gap
Think about this: The most important skill in the New World of work, learning, and citizenship today — the rigor that matters most — is the ability to ask the right questions. Old World rigor is still about having the… Read More ›
To Darkness and to Death
I enjoyed reading To Darkness and to Death, the fourth book in Julia Spencer-Fleming’s series of upstate New York mysteries featuring a female Episcopal priest. Not that I know much about Episcopalians or their priests, but that only makes these… Read More ›
The Likeness
Although it’s not quite as enthralling as her first book, Tana French’s sequel is well worth reading. In The Likeness, French continues her lyrical writing and fascinating characterization. Cassie Maddox continues from the prior novel, In the Woods, but this… Read More ›
Thesauri & The Man Who Made Lists
I recently read Joshua Kendall’s biography of Peter Mark Roget, entitled The Man Who Made Lists: Love, Death, Madness, and the Creation of Roget’s Thesaurus. While this book is fascinating, it’s also deeply flawed — especially for those of us… Read More ›
David Handler's Berger & Mitry series
David Handler, best known for this Stewart Hoag series and other novels, has also written six books (so far) in his Berger and Mitry series: The Cold Blue Blood (2001) The Hot Pink Farmhouse (2002) The Bright Silver Star (2003)… Read More ›
Obedience
Obedience, by Will Lavender, is a fascinating but flawed novel. Not flawed like Strip Search, which I reviewed the other day; this novel is worth reading. But it’s flawed nevertheless. It shares with Strip Search the characteristic of a great… Read More ›
Strip Search
Strip Search, by William Bernhardt, is an irritating novel. Why do I say that? Well, it’s not just because Bernhardt portrays math teachers as weird and psychotic, though that’s certainly a major part of it. And it’s not just because… Read More ›
The Girl of His Dreams
If you can’t travel to Venice in the real world, the next best thing is to travel vicariously in the novels of Donna Leon. Formally speaking, these novels are squarely in the mystery genre, but Leon devotes as much attention… Read More ›
Reading the OED and The Professor and the Madman
I have recently read two unconnected but closely related non-fiction books: Reading the OED: One Man, One Year, 21,730 Pages, by Ammon Shea, and The Professor and the Madman, by Simon Winchester. Probably I should have read them in the… Read More ›
Learning Strategies 