Bound in Venice: The Serene Republic and the Dawn of the Book by Alessandro Marzo Magno

Beautiful paperback about printing in Venice in the 16th - 17th centuries. Ostensibly featuring the "dawn of the book" and publishing as an industry led by Aldus Manutius. Very well written but is more of just a catalog of notable books in the main categories of publishing and the ups and downs of Venice, once a world superpower.

Bible by God

12-31-2019

Earthly Remains by Donna Leon

(read aloud)

Brunetti is burned out and goes to an ocean villa and rows with the caretaker who had been a friend of his late father. The mystery is slow but intriguing and resolves only on the last page!

Eyes in the Sky: The Secret Rise of Gorgon Stare and How it Will Watch Us All by Arthur Holland Michel

Drones with extremely high resolution cameras can see everything in a city and go forward and back in time focusing on whatever they want. The capabilities are increasing and photo and signal surveillance are merging.

The Guardians by John Grisham

(read aloud)

Very good and actually informative about unfair prosecutions and race and the death penalty. Good story, excellent characters, hope in a dark place.

Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup by John Carreyrou

The Theranos scandal, reads like fiction, good investigations, lawyers covering up wrongdoing, nondisclosure agreements, is Elizabeth Holmes a sociopath?

Lion Eyes by Claire Berlinski

Clever plot and fluent writing with laugh out loud moments. Well drawn characters and interesting settings in Paris and Istanbul. Substantive ideas presented subtly without taking herself too seriously. Nicely self referential. Is Claire herself current or former CIA?

Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future by Ashlee Vance

Mr. Vance does a detailed and interesting account of Musk, his life and his exploits. He was eventually given full access to Musk and all his friends and family. Even his enemies and his ex-wives cooperated and largely praised him. This is a saga that continues and Musk is underestimated at one's peril.

Paradise Lost by John Milton

Read and appreciated more than enjoyed. A stunning display of erudition. Any comprehension was contingent on the "argument" at the beginning of each "book." It would take a full course to explain even the most famous allusions, especially the non-scriptural ones.

The Late Scholar by Jill Paton Walsh

(read aloud)

A continuation of Peter Wimsey and Harriet Vane. Quite good really. Enjoyable and very well written. Some slight missteps of tone to my ears which seem "un-Sayers-like" but perhaps missed if I hadn't known Sayers wasn't the author. Very good in all.

From Nature to Creation: A Christian Vision for Loving and Understanding our World by Norman Wirzba

This is about revering the world, actually seeing it, not using it and not objectifying it but caring for it and loving it as a creation. Idolatry is different than iconography. He sources and joins Wendell Berry. It is a deep but good book. His view of money is very interesting and probably corrective.

Quantum: A Thriller (Captain Chase) by Patricia Cornwell

Terrible writing, no plot, trite characters. A waste of time.

The Book: A History of the Bible by Christopher De Hamel

A beautiful book, wonderful reproductions of ancient manuscripts and pages from Bibles. The writing is very interesting and nuanced. The text we have is very accurately transmitted.

Unto Us a Son is Born by Donna Leon

(read aloud)

Very good mystery of an adult adoption and a hidden past and musings about love and lust and justice and friendship. Beautifully written.

Unnatural Death by Dorothy Sayers

(read aloud)

Read years ago, but very much enjoyed again. Wonderful writing, vivid characters, fantastic involved plot (spoiler alert: air embolism!). Class, men and women's roles, education all involved. Each character's dialog is true to them and their ideas as well, but done deftly.

King Lear by William Shakespeare (no-fear Shakespeare)

This book is one of a series with the original text on the left and a contemporary version on the right-facing page. I was amazed how much I needed the translation to not only illuminate phrases I didn't understand but also to correct my understanding of words and phrases I thought I did understand. A very pleasant and efficient approach to Shakespeare at my level.

Jim Ryun, master of the mile by John Lake

Engaging story of my childhood idol. A trip into the past, and a pleasant nostalgia overdose.

Campusland: A Novel by Scott Johnston

A very enjoyable over the top satire about current campus correctness and associated absurdity. Rated R but funny.

Delta-v by Daniel Suarez

Sci-fi about asteroid mining and amoral billionaires and astronauts like Navy Seals and the politics involved. Interesting orbital mechanics, hence the title. Worth reading but not great; characters generic, plot generic, science fair.

Life is a Miracle by Wendell Berry

The idea of creature and place and familiarity and love and localism and family and the land and what is being lost. A thousand ideas beautifully written, a lifetime of thought and care. A glimpse of, dare I say, Eden.

On Trails: An Exploration by Robert Moor

Detailed treatment of the idea and reality of trails; what they are, the stories they tell, and what they mean. It is metaphorized, even metaphysical, and at times stretched, it seems to me.

The Catcher was a Spy: The Mysterious Life of Moe Berg by Nicholas Dawidoff

A major league catcher who went to law school in the off-season and spoke 5-7 languages joined the OSS and spied on German scientists and nuclear bomb experimenters in Italy and Switzerland. Very reclusive even after hundreds of interviews. The author paints a very shadowy picture of the spy who knew Babe Ruth, Joe DiMaggio, and Nelson Rockefeller.

12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos by Jordan B. Peterson

Peterson takes archetypal narratives in an eclectic manner, addresses them psychologically, and serves them up in a clear practical manner. The expositions are longer and less direct than I expected but richer and more immersive as a result. Classically liberal in its ethic, it is nonetheless deeply conservative in its reverence for the "old stories." It is also, I would say, deeply spiritual without being religious. A book that could be life-changing for some.

A Man Lay Dead: Inspector Roderick Alleyn #1 by Ngaio Marsh

(read aloud)

A group in an English mansion playing a murder game. What could go wrong? Wait for it! A real murder. Still it was really a pretty good mystery. Had fun looking up English words.

A Noble Radiance by Donna Leon

(read aloud)

An heir of a noble family is kidnapped, his body found, and Brunetti solves the case, which shows the difficult fate of justice in Italy. Good writing, fair plot.

Charlatans by Robin Cook

Usual Robin Cook fare, mediocre writing, stereotyped medical settings, awkward dialog. But alas, I couldn't put it down and read the whole thing. You know things aren't the way they appear, but somehow are still surprised.

How to Land a Plane by Mark Vanhoenacker

Delightful short book by the author of Skyfaring. He says if you are really in need of this book, skip immediately to chapter 2!

The Sentence is Death by Anthony Horowitz

(read aloud)

Delightful murder mystery. Greatly enjoyed. Again, the word is 'meta,' fiction written as if it was real by a character who is the author bound by the facts and characters in the case who are sometimes real people. Writing by a writer about a writer (himself) who is writing the book you are reading.

Point Blank (Alex Rider adventure) by Anthony Horowitz

Engaging youth (male-oriented) fiction read because of interest in Horowitz's adult mysteries.

The Perfectionists: How Precision Engineers Created the Modern World by Simon Winchester

Winchester does it again, talking about engineering precision past to present. Much of this engineering occurs out of our sight and unnoticed. He talks about the machines that make the machines.

Galileo Goes to Jail and Other Myths about Science and Religion by Ronald L. Numbers

These essays are interesting in the way they both debunk and bolster almost every story. These "myths" seem to contain an important grain of truth but also excess, exaggeration, or agenda. As such it was both disappointing and surprising. Written by non-believers, with considerable integrity.

How the Irish Saved Civilization by Thomas Cahill

An interesting and surprising book that is well written and coherent and organized. It is at times delightful and full of life. My most complimentary word would be that I see it as important.

Fatal Grace by Louise Penny

(read aloud)

Inspector Gamache mystery, one of her earlier ones, writing not as good, plot quite good. Stories continue so probably should read in order.

Counting Backwards: A Doctor's Notes on Anesthesia by Henry Jay Przybylo

An engaging account of the work and the rewards and trials of a pediatric anesthesiologist. He describes the obsession with detail and routine which allow him to tell parents "nothing will happen." He seems to have mastered his craft to the point where he can see beyond into the lives of his patients and even beyond ordinary expectations to aspire to the highest level of pain relief.

The Word is Murder by Anthony Horowitz

(read aloud)

I loved everything about this book. It is even more self-referential, even recursive, than Magpie Murders, if that is possible. The writing is clever, the plot is interesting, the characters are wonderfully drawn. Is he being original, or have I just missed other works of this kind?

Je suis née en Chine by Jean Fritz

(read aloud)

Enjoyable tale of growing up in China as an American expat family. From the point of view of a little girl who loves China and dreams of life in America. Delightful and actually quite suspenseful as conditions for westerners are rapidly becoming more dangerous. Problems on the world stage juxtaposed with a young girl's concerns about being accepted on her arrival in America.

The Book of Why: The New Science of Cause and Effect by Judea Pearl and Dana Mackenzie

This book purports to present a revolutionary idea. Pearl gives credit to many predecessors and it seems he is widely considered to be a leader in his field and to have come up with some real breakthroughs. It seems to me that his basic idea, that we can prove causation using diagrams and a do-calculus, depends on his diagrams showing ALL the possible influences. If not, it seems to me that his ideas devolve into a probabilistic model that he deprecates.

Also I wonder if his do-calculus has any relation to basic lambda-calculus or other mathematical logic systems that preceded it. It would seem unlikely that this would be completely new. He claims we will soon see practical applications in studies. He makes a good case that by explicitly using his diagrams, whole arms of some trials may be unnecessary, with great benefits, of simplicity and cost.

The Joy of x: A Guided Tour of Math, from One to Infinity by Steven Strogaz

A series of chapters, each dealing with a field of mathematics. Every one is well done and interesting, and well explained. The joy in the title is well deserved.

Maps of Meaning by Jordan Peterson

A very deep difficult book about the evolutionary roots of meaning and self-actualization. It is a psychological, physiological, and philosophical approach with a base of Jungian thought. There is also a deep foray into the reality of evil and malevolence as primary reality. The argument seems coherent and plausible but extremely dense. It is very eclectic, making it seem a bit disorganized, but I think it is more that some parts require a second or third reading to understand. There were parts that I failed to understand but am quite sure this is due to my lack of persistence rather than a fault of the writer.