The Ophelia Cut by John Lescroart

     A police story and courtroom drama. Fairly conventional, a twist at the end. Several plot threads, some of which go nowhere.

Endless Frontier by G. Pascal Zachary

     About Vannevar Bush, an engineer and scientist who became the czar of American science before, during, and after WWII. His influence was very great. He was perhaps partly responsible for the Allies winning the war. He supervised the development of radar, the proximity fuse, and the A-bomb and H-bomb. He developed analog computing and sketched out future computing, data searching and even opined about AI.

Last Devil to Die by Richard Osman

(read on Alaska cruise September 2025)

     Fun read of Thursday Murder club, about art theft. Good characters and clever plot.

Spaced Out by Mike Prada

    How basketball has changed from low post boredom to the use of the entire floor and more and more long-range shooting and defense changes. The three point shot and change in rules about zone defense slowly changed the game. The minutiae and depth of knowledge of observers like Prada is astonishing. The sport is analyzed to the individual dribble and the hand placement on the ball. And yes the best players get away with however many steps they want!

Virusphere by Frank Ryan

     Everything about viruses, all shapes and sizes and risks and benefits, ?what infects viruses, seems there is no limit to the complexity of creation. What is life? It certainly is blurry at the margins and no less a mystery.

Marble Hall Murders by Anthony Horowitz

(read aloud)

     A very clever multi-level mystery with anagrams and allegories and interesting characters and manuscripts within manuscripts. Horowitz is prolific and has a definite style but he can walk the tightrope of cliché and not fall off.

Proof: The Art and Science of Creativity by Adam Kucharski

    A discussion of proof and p-values and confidence intervals and failures of good science. The author ably describes mathematical misuse and false conclusions but is curiously uncritical of his own unerring pronouncement during covid where he drew correct inferences, he says.