This book has shown me that I prefer when Crouch leans more heavily into the sci-fi realm. Dark MaBird Box on steroids.
Grisly ride—great weekend read.
This book has shown me that I prefer when Crouch leans more heavily into the sci-fi realm. Dark Matter and Recursion are still my favorites.
*There were some rather grim similarities to the Holocaust alongside some rather unbelievable/super convenient plausibility factors that kind of threw me out of the story. I'm not sure why I'm more ready to accept parallel universes than a family on the run coming across help at the very last life-saving second, but here we are....more
Dry at times, but the second half makes up for it.
Also — Mattis's hardline stance on the importance of reading was completely fantastic and I am obsesDry at times, but the second half makes up for it.
Also — Mattis's hardline stance on the importance of reading was completely fantastic and I am obsessed with his related quotes:
“If you haven't read hundreds of books, you are functionally illiterate, and you will be incompetent, because your personal experiences alone aren't broad enough to sustain you.”
“By reading, you learn through others’ experiences, generally a better way to do business, especially in our line of work where the consequences of incompetence are so final for young men. Thanks to my reading, I have never been caught flat-footed by any situation, never at a loss for how any problem has been addressed (successfully or unsuccessfully) before. It doesn’t give me all the answers, but it lights what is often a dark path ahead.”
He also delivers an awesome blow to PowerPoint:
“PowerPoint is the scourge of critical thinking. It encourages fragmented logic by the briefer and passivity in the listener. Only a verbal narrative that logically connects a succinct problem statement using rational thinking can develop sound solutions. PowerPoint is excellent when displaying data; but it makes us stupid when applied to critical thinking.”
Prior to this book, I didn't know that much about Mattis. He comes across as a dedicated, honorable patriot and it's impossible not to have respect for him. There is no dishing or dirt, and he flat out states that he takes great pride in the fact that no one knows who he votes for — he supported every commander-in-chief he served under equally.
Improvise. Adapt. Overcome.
Some of Mattis's favorite books from the bibliography (for later reference):
Max Boot, "Invisible Armies" & "The Savage Wars of Peace" Robert Coram, "Boyd: The Fighter Pilot Who Changed the Art of War" Martin Van Crevald, "Fighting Power" Nate Fick, "One Bullet Away" Gen U.S. Grant, "Personal Memoirs" Colin Gray, "Fighting Talk: Forty Maxims on War, Peace and Strategy" Liddell-Hart, "Sherman: Soldier, Realist, American" & "Scipio Africanus: Greater Than Napoleon" M.M. Kaye, "The Far Pavilions" H.R. McMaster, "Dereliction of Duty" Williamson Murray, "Military Innovation in the Interwar Period" & "Successful Strategies" Anton Myrer, "Once An Eagle" Hew Strachan, "The Direction of War" Colin Powell, "My American Journey" Steven Pressfield, "Gates of Fire" Guy Sajer, "The Forgotten Soldier" Michael Shaara, "Killer Angels" George P. Shultz, "Turmoil and Triumph" & "Issues On My Mind" Viscount Slim, "Defeat Into Victory" Nicholas Monsarrat, "The Cruel Sea" Robert Gates, "Duty" C.E. Lucas Phillips, "The Greatest Raid of All" Will & Ariel Durrant, "The Lessons of History" Alistair Horne, "A Savage War of Peace" Betty Iverson & Tabea Springer, “Tabea’s Story” Sun Tzu, “The Art of War” Andrew Gordon, “The Rules of the Game” Paul Kennedy, “The Rise and Fall of Great Powers” David Rothkopf, “National Insecurity: American Leadership in an Age of Fear” Barbara Tuckman, “March of Folly” & “The Guns of August” Vali Nasar, “The Dispensable Nation: American Foreign Policy in Retreat” Henry Kissinger’s, “Diplomacy” & “World Order” Daniel James Brown, “The Boys in the Boat” Willaam Manchester, “American Caesar” & “Goodbye Darkness” Max Hasting, “Catastrophe 1914: Europe Goes to War” David Fromkin, “A Peace to End All Peace” E.B. Sledge, “With the Old Breed” Michael Walzer, “Just and Unjust Wars” Wavell, “Other Men’s Flowers” (poetry) Bing West, “The Village” Anthony Zinni, “Before the First Shot is Fired” Malham Wakin, “War, Morality and the Military Profession” Gail Shisler, “For Country and Corps” Herman Wouk, “The Caine Mutiny” Ralph Peter, “Never Quit the Fight” Max Lerner, “The Mind and Faith of Justice Holmes” Albert Pierce, “Strategy, Ethics and the ‘War on Terrorism’" Joseph Conrad, “Lord Jim” T.E. Lawrence, “Seven Pillars of Wisdom” Rudyard Lawrence, “Kim” James McPherson, “Battle Cry of Freedom” Archibald Wavell, “The Viceroy’s Journey”
Basically, Mattis just has awesome quotes about everything:
“Initiative has to be practiced daily, not stifled, if it’s to become a reality inside a culture. Every institution gets the behavior it rewards.”
“Be polite, be professional — but have a plan to kill everyone you meet.”...more
Absolutely GORGEOUS writing, achingly beautiful, haunting and so atmospheric: 10/10
What a book! 4.5 stars rounded up. Yes, it wasn't perfect, there waAbsolutely GORGEOUS writing, achingly beautiful, haunting and so atmospheric: 10/10
What a book! 4.5 stars rounded up. Yes, it wasn't perfect, there was some racism and Beryl using her plane to spot for elephants so rich white hunters could kill them for ivory was heartbreaking — aside from that, it was *almost* perfect.
Don't take my word for it, Ernest Hemingway wrote to Maxwell Perkins in 1942 with some uncharacteristically high praise for the book:
"Did you read Beryl Markham's book, West with the Night? I knew her fairly well in Africa and never would have suspected that she could and would put pen to paper except to write in her flyer's log book. As it is, she has written so well, and marvelously well, that I was completely ashamed of myself as a writer. I felt that I was simply a carpenter with words, picking up whatever was furnished on the job and nailing them together and sometimes making an okay pig pen. But [she] can write rings around all of us who consider ourselves writers. The only parts of it that I know about personally, on account of having been there at the time and heard the other people's stories, are absolutely true . . . I wish you would get it and read it because it is really a bloody wonderful book." — Ernest Hemingway
**QUOTES**
"The essence of progress is time."
“A word grows to a thought—a thought to an idea—an idea to an act. The change is slow, and the Present is a sluggish traveler loafing in the path Tomorrow wants to take.”
“I look at my yesterdays for months past, and find them as good a lot of yesterdays as anybody might want. I sit there in the firelight and see them all. The hours that made them were good, and so were the moments that made the hours. I have had responsibilities and work, dangers and pleasure, good friends, and a world without walls to live in.”...more
Not quite as good as Chernow's Grant but still completely epic.
What a time to be alive.
“I will not take by sacrifice what I can achieve by strategy.”Not quite as good as Chernow's Grant but still completely epic.
What a time to be alive.
“I will not take by sacrifice what I can achieve by strategy.”
"A true leader has the confidence to stand alone, the courage to make tough decisions, and the compassion to listen to the needs of others. He does not set out to be a leader, but becomes one by the equality of his actions and the integrity of his intent."...more
No matter your viewpoint, or opinion on this book, it's worth reading just for the wider perspective.
"There is no such thing as a pure fact, innocentNo matter your viewpoint, or opinion on this book, it's worth reading just for the wider perspective.
"There is no such thing as a pure fact, innocent of interpretation. Behind every fact presented to the world—by a teacher, a writer, anyone—is a judgment. The judgment that has been made is that this fact is important, and that other facts, omitted, are not important. ... What we learn about the past does not give us absolute truth about the present, but it may cause us to look deeper than the glib statements made by political leaders and the 'experts' quoted in the press."
As someone who grew up super religious, and who now is not a big fan of organized religion AT ALL — this book was better than expected.*
I had a frienAs someone who grew up super religious, and who now is not a big fan of organized religion AT ALL — this book was better than expected.*
I had a friend describe it as "a breath of fresh air" — and coming from a church that tried to shame, embarrass, control and keep women "in their place," not to mention preach that all homosexuals are going to hell, etc. etc. — this book was refreshing.
Religion should not be used to instill lifelong fear, shame, and psychological hangups. It's beyond sad that it so often does. We need more Nadia Bolz-Weber's in the world.
*To be honest, I almost quit at the beginning, because I thought it was too "churchy"/religious, but it wasn't, and I'm glad I pushed on....more
RBG is the OG women's rights warrior, and I'm beyond relieved that she is starting 2020 off cancer free!
All I can say is, she better hold on until theRBG is the OG women's rights warrior, and I'm beyond relieved that she is starting 2020 off cancer free!
All I can say is, she better hold on until the next resident moves into 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.
This book was the most comprehensive of all the RBG books I've read, even Ginsburg's My Own Words (4 stars). I should have spaced them out more however, as it felt a little repetitive at times—and good heavens, does it really need to be 700+ pages?
If you're looking for an in depth look, this is it. It's just a little dry ... and long.
Personally, I enjoyed Notorious RBG the most (5 stars), but maybe it's because I read it first.
At the end of the day, I think I OD’d on RBG books, too many, too soon even for a hardcore fan. ...more
*2020 REREAD* Dark Matter still reigns supreme, but this book still kicks quantum buttocks.
“Time is an illusion, a construct made out of human memory.*2020 REREAD* Dark Matter still reigns supreme, but this book still kicks quantum buttocks.
“Time is an illusion, a construct made out of human memory. There’s no such thing as the past, the present, or the future. It’s all happening now.”
Still thinking about this twisted tale. Not *quite* as good as Dark Matter, but still quite the trip. Officially drunk on the Crouch Kool-Aid.
Beautiful, haunting, mind melding.
“He thinks perhaps there’s a reason our memories are kept hazy and out of focus. Maybe their abstraction serves as an anesthetic, a buffer protecting us from the agony of time and all that it steals and erases.”...more
Not *that* bad, occasionally interesting — you probably already know most of it.
Yes, the internet is affeClearly written in 2009 (published in 2010).
Not *that* bad, occasionally interesting — you probably already know most of it.
Yes, the internet is affecting our brains!
“The Net’s interactivity gives us powerful new tools for finding information, expressing ourselves, and conversing with others. It also turns us into lab rats constantly pressing levers to get tiny pellets of social or intellectual nourishment.”
“We become, neurologically, what we think."
“What the Net seems to be doing is chipping away my capacity for concentration and contemplation. Whether I’m online or not, my mind now expects to take in information the way the Net distributes it: in a swiftly moving stream of particles. Once I was a scuba diver in the sea of words. Now I zip along the surface like a guy on a Jet Ski.”
“In the quiet spaces opened up by the prolonged, undistracted reading of a book, people made their own associations, drew their own inferences and analogies, fostered their own ideas. They thought deeply as they read deeply.”
“Culture is sustained in our synapses...It's more than what can be reduced to binary code and uploaded onto the Net. To remain vital, culture must be renewed in the minds of the members of every generation. Outsource memory, and culture withers.”
“The bond between book reader and book writer has always been a tightly symbiotic one, a means of intellectual and artistic cross-fertilization. The words of the writer act as a catalyst in the mind of the reader, inspiriting new insights, associations, and perceptions, sometimes even epiphanies. And the very existence of the attentive, critical reader provides the spur for the writer’s work. It gives the author confidence to explore new forms of expression, to blaze difficult and demanding paths of thought, to venture into uncharted and sometimes hazardous territory. “All great men have written proudly, nor cared to explain,” said Emerson. “They knew that the intelligent reader would come at last, and would thank them.”
“Even the earliest silent readers recognized the striking change in their consciousness that took place as they immersed themselves in the pages of a book. The medieval bishop Isaac of Syria described how, whenever he read to himself, “as in a dream, I enter a state when my sense and thoughts are concentrated. Then, when with prolonging of this silence the turmoil of my memories is stilled in my heart, ceaseless waves of joy are sent me by inner thoughts, beyond expectation suddenly arising to delight my heart.” Reading a book was a meditative act, but it didn’t involve a clearing of the mind. It involved a filling, or replenishing, or the mind. Readers disengaged their attention from the outward flow of passing stimuli in order to engage it more deeply with an inward flow of words, ideas, and emotions. That was—and is—the essence of the unique mental process of deep reading.”...more
Reminded me of Gone With The Wind in some respects.
Couldn’t stop reading once I started — finished in one day.
“The road to Manderley lay aExcellent.
Reminded me of Gone With The Wind in some respects.
Couldn’t stop reading once I started — finished in one day.
“The road to Manderley lay ahead. There was no moon. The sky above our heads was inky black. But the sky on the horizon was not dark at all. It was shot with crimson, like a splash of blood. And the ashes blew towards us with the salt wind from the sea.”
Fun, but not much substance — the Lifestyle Movie version of a zombie movie. In fact, I could swear there is a zombie movie, or anoth*Pandemic fluff.*
Fun, but not much substance — the Lifestyle Movie version of a zombie movie. In fact, I could swear there is a zombie movie, or another book where the infected are caught in infinite loops of the last things they were doing before they got sick, but I can't think of it now.
Still, it was interesting to see the similarities in Ling Ma's predictions (2018) for a world suffering from a flu-like pandemic (Shen Fever vs Wuhan) to the actual reality of the 2020 coronavirus. Fun.
Actually, this is more about the main character's relationships and life before the Shen Fever than the post apocalyptic world: mixed timeline, lots of ennui, abrupt ending. And a character (Bob) that reminded me of The Governor from The Walking Dead.
“The past is a black hole, cut into the present day like a wound, and if you come too close, you can get sucked in. You have to keep moving.”
“To live in a city is to live the life that it was built for, to adapt to its schedule and rhythms, to move within the transit layout made for you during the morning and evening rush, winding through the crowds of fellow commuters. To live in a city is to consume its offerings. To eat at its restaurants. To drink at its bars. To shop at its stores. To pay its sales taxes. To give a dollar to its homeless. To live in a city is to take part in and to propagate its impossible systems. To wake up. To go to work in the morning. It is also to take pleasure in those systems because, otherwise, who could repeat the same routines, year in, year out?"...more
Would revisit this one in the future as it's so short and interesting—very light on Extremely readable—on par with Astrophysics for People in a Hurry.
Would revisit this one in the future as it's so short and interesting—very light on the physics.
My favorite topic would have to be time travel, which Hawking believes is theoretically possible, but unlikely.
This book was published 7 months after Hawking's death and was finished by his scientific colleagues, friends, and family using his writings, lectures, and notes.
Included is a foreword from Oscar-winning actor Eddie Redmayne, who played Hawking in the movie The Theory of Everything; an introduction by Nobel Prize-winning physicist and Hawking's lifelong friend, Kip Thorne; and a touching afterword from Hawking's daughter, Lucy.
“So remember to look up at the stars and not down at your feet. Try to make sense of what you see and wonder about what makes the universe exist. Be curious. And however difficult life may seem, there is always something you can do and succeed at. It matters that you don’t just give up. Unleash your imagination. Shape the future.”...more
“Furthermore, unlike many other great predators of history, from Genghis Khan to the Spanish conquistadors, King Leopold II never saw a drop of blood spilled in anger. He never set foot in the Congo. There is something very modern about that, too, as there is about the bomber pilot in the stratosphere, above the clouds, who never hears screams or sees shattered homes or torn flesh.”
“And yet the world we live in—its divisions and conflicts, its widening gap between rich and poor, its seemingly inexplicable outbursts of violence—is shaped far less by what we celebrate and mythologize than by the painful events we try to forget. Leopold's Congo is but one of those silences of history.”...more
Love a good spy story, and this was a fun fictional follow up to the excellent The Spy and the Traitor.
I watched the movie first, but they're so diffeLove a good spy story, and this was a fun fictional follow up to the excellent The Spy and the Traitor.
I watched the movie first, but they're so different, it didn't spoil anything for me.
Looking forward to the next book!
One thing that was very cool to learn is that prior to becoming a novelist, Jason Matthews spent 33 years working for the CIA. While in the CIA he was officially a diplomat, in Europe, Asia and the Caribbean, but his real job was recruiting and then managing foreign agents. _________
There are recipes at the end of every chapter. Matthews covers what things smell like and textures and even Dominika (the "Red Sparrow") has synesthesia and can see sounds and auras. Attention is brought to daily activities like dining to provide a richer tapestry and "3D" experience to the story.
Definitely my first cookbook-spy thriller-combo! I'm not sure how eager I am to eat most of the recipes, but I thought it was funny/interesting/strange how many of them included sour cream....more
*“Almost all good writing begins with terrible first efforts. You need to start somewhere.”*
My new mantra.
“Perfectionism is the voice of the oppressor*“Almost all good writing begins with terrible first efforts. You need to start somewhere.”*
My new mantra.
“Perfectionism is the voice of the oppressor, the enemy of the people. It will keep you cramped and insane your whole life, and it is the main obstacle between you and a shitty first draft. I think perfectionism is based on the obsessive belief that if you run carefully enough, hitting each stepping-stone just right, you won't have to die. The truth is that you will die anyway and that a lot of people who aren't even looking at their feet are going to do a whole lot better than you, and have a lot more fun while they're doing it.”
Hopefully, this book will help inspire me to not be so precious about writing. However, I'm still agonizing over the deadline I have tonight and am writing this review instead of finishing the article ... ¯\_(ツ)_/¯...more
Random book that runs the gamut. Taleb really can't miss a chance to slam Steven Pinker—he really can't staOne sentence review: Expect the unexpected.
Random book that runs the gamut. Taleb really can't miss a chance to slam Steven Pinker—he really can't stand him! Not quite as bad as the Pinker jabs in Skin in the Game: The Hidden Asymmetries in Daily Life however.
Amusing, entertaining, and interesting. My 4th Nassim Nicholas Taleb read, looking forward to finishing the Incerto Series with The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable. I read them out of order, but they can each stand on their own.
I'll leave you with James Clear's excellent three sentence summary:
Randomness, chance, and luck influence our lives and our work more than we realize. Because of hindsight bias and survivorship bias, in particular, we tend to forget the many who fail, remember the few who succeed, and then create reasons and patterns for their success even though it was largely random. Mild success can be explainable by skills and hard work, but wild success is usually attributable to variance and luck....more
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