This was one of the best books I read heading into the whole parenting experience. It’s kind of like a survey of academic literature in parenting, butThis was one of the best books I read heading into the whole parenting experience. It’s kind of like a survey of academic literature in parenting, but written for a popular audience.
Each chapter covers one specific topic that might create questions or cause confusion: cord clamping, breastfeeding, solid foods. The book’s subtitle references “Your Baby’s First Year” but the topics are somewhat kicked towards the younger end of that spectrum (the latest thing that’s covered is solid foods, and there’s nothing about topics like development of coordination or mobility).
The writing is clear and straightforward, and is willing to present both recommendations and ambiguity/uncertainty depending on the academic findings. I really liked it!...more
I found this book to be mostly composed of common-sense insights about how to hold productive conversations. People probably already know they should I found this book to be mostly composed of common-sense insights about how to hold productive conversations. People probably already know they should be doing most of what’s in here; it’s just challenging to keep emotions in check, or conjure up the boldness to speak at the right moment. It might be a good refresher before having an actual difficult conversation, but I think skimming the recaps at the ends of the chapters would suffice.
The best suggestions are tactical - what can you do to best manage the flow of conversation and react to certain responses? The first non-introductory chapter is the best one, advising you to keep checking that the topic of conversation is the desired one you want to have, and to identify the “level” of conversation needed/desired (addressing the immediate matter at hand, or something deeper like interpersonal problems).
I thought the non-tactical suggestions, like humanizing others or establishing safety, fell more into the common-sense bucket I mentioned. The later chapters of the book have a tendency to recap what was already covered in earlier chapters, with less content, and I found Part III (“How to Finish”) to be very generic....more
I didn’t really find this book useful. I thought its content was stretched thinly over the length of the book, and was a mixture of common sense and aI didn’t really find this book useful. I thought its content was stretched thinly over the length of the book, and was a mixture of common sense and a few basic notes hit repeatedly. Make changes gradually but firmly. Condition your baby with associations. Don’t be too hard on yourself.
The humor wasn’t really my speed, sometimes made the presentation of actual content more confusing, and felt a little like I was being talked down to. (“Ninjas”, “Goddess of Consistency”? Come on.) Maybe it’s meant to make exhausted and desperate parents feel better - but it’s just as plausible that exhausted and desperate parents reading the book just want to cut to the chase.
Amongst all that, there is standard but reasonable advice on sleeping, so if you are only allowed one resource to read on your child’s sleep, I suppose you could do worse. But, sleep being such a huge topic for new parents, there’s no shortage of other material, and I think you might do just as well with the sleep section of a general book on infant care....more
A collection of short personal essays about Gawande’s experiences as a surgeon, thematically tied by the balance between human judgment and mechanistiA collection of short personal essays about Gawande’s experiences as a surgeon, thematically tied by the balance between human judgment and mechanistic reasoning that pervades medicine. This theme notwithstanding, the essays have a fair degree of independence and can be read in any order, and you can tell that they were published as standalone works beforehand.
Gawande writes well, and the medical cases that play out in the pages are exciting, not just the moments where a life hangs in the balance, but also in the day-to-day cases covering medical procedure. My favorite chapters covered the questions of procedure: “The Computer and the Hernia Factory,” about outcomes improved by rote practice and mechanization; “Final Cut,” about autopsies, and “When Good Doctors Go Bad,” addressing the mythos and deference given to great doctors and what happens when it starts to fall apart. I’d regard only one essay as bad, the one about superstitions; the rest were all very readable and enjoyable....more
What it says on the cover - a short guide to the US Constitution and a few other docs - the back cover of the edition I read even advertises it as pocWhat it says on the cover - a short guide to the US Constitution and a few other docs - the back cover of the edition I read even advertises it as pocket-sized. It’s not that much deeper than what you can get from encyclopedias, but it’s cleanly, directly written, and provides some historical context.
The commentary accompanying the documents was a little light, especially on the selections from the Federalist Papers. On the other hand, the short historical account after the documents was a great little summary, emphasizing the different interests, philosophies, and disagreements that the Founding Fathers brought to the table. In particular: “it was not so much that they distrusted the inherent intelligence of the people, but, rather, that they had a very clear and realistic understanding of [their] provincialism” - a point that I myself do not consider enough when thinking about representative vs. direct democracy....more
This was basically ten encyclopedia articles, written in a more folksy manner. That’s not the worst thing - encyclopedia articles and survey pieces arThis was basically ten encyclopedia articles, written in a more folksy manner. That’s not the worst thing - encyclopedia articles and survey pieces are great ways to get introduced to a subject! - but it’s not what I thought I was going to get.
The title suggested to me that this would be heavily focused on, well, geography, and we certainly get some of that, but we also get a lot of very high-level historical summary. By very high-level, I mean that we’re quickly recapping centuries of events in a handful of pages. These are dizzying, and I’m not sure if it’s better than just reading Wikipedia or other encyclopedic articles on your own. Where geography does get discussed is interesting - for example, I did not have a sense of the climates of Mali and the clashes that have developed between the southern area near the Niger and the arid north.
The subtitle “Ten Maps That Reveal the Future of Our World” also led me to believe that cartography was going to be an important part of the book. It’s really not. The maps for each chapter look like generic pages from an atlas, and often places discussed in the chapter don’t even appear on the map! There are many examples; one I’ll give is the Turkey chapter, which also spends time discussing the Ottoman routes towards Europe (the Carpathians, Bessarabia, the Iron Gates). That’s a great thing to have a map of. But the map we get is just modern-day Turkey.
I did try to take this book as inspiration, as a starting point to learn more about perhaps an arbitrarily picked a handful of places (also big missed opportunity to have a Ukraine chapter in here). But my recommendation on the book proper is mixed....more
A useful reference. Clearly laid-out checklists and bullet points, easy to follow along, reminds you of a few things you might forget. Fun illustratioA useful reference. Clearly laid-out checklists and bullet points, easy to follow along, reminds you of a few things you might forget. Fun illustrations. A little too much on the groaner dadbro-jokes....more
An excellent book consisting of two reflective essays on black-white relations in America as of the 1960s. Some of the messaging feels quite modern, lAn excellent book consisting of two reflective essays on black-white relations in America as of the 1960s. Some of the messaging feels quite modern, like it could have been written today, which I suppose is a somewhat depressing sign. Very short, almost pamphlet-sized, but Baldwin writes well, with an efficiency and economy of prose that packs a lot of punch into not that many words.
The first essay is only a few pages. It takes the form of a letter to Baldwin’s nephew, and I think it serves as an elegant introduction to the themes covered in the second essay: the bitterness of being black in America, and how entrenched power structures make it difficult for people (of any race) to properly think about the problem of racial injustice.
The second essay is more autobiographical, drawing on Baldwin’s personal experiences to expand on these themes. It feels more directed to white liberals (whom he specifically calls out at one point), to drive home the prejudicial experiences that are everyday life for black Americans and to explain the draw of movements like the Nation of Islam that promise redress of the power imbalance, despite his personal disagreements with them. There is a part right after Baldwin meets with the NOI where I think the writing loses some coherency and tries to go in several directions at once, but it pulls back together strongly to deliver the titular warning at the end. ...more
An excellent summary of cancer immunotherapy, which focuses on getting a patient’s own immune system to fight cancer, and which has seen a burst of inAn excellent summary of cancer immunotherapy, which focuses on getting a patient’s own immune system to fight cancer, and which has seen a burst of interest and promising results in this century. It is aimed at a popular audience, and does a nice job balancing science, history, and personal patient stories.
The treatments it focuses on are “checkpoint inhibitors,” drugs that target chemical pathways in the immune system to stimulate more forceful activity. Cancer often “learns” by cell-level genetic selection to suppress natural immune responses, and checkpoint inhibitors help counteract that. There is also a little coverage of CAR-T cellular therapy, a newer treatment using whole cells as the form of treatment.
Two things I’d suggest for the book, both mild, is to incorporate some of the endnotes into the main text as some of them really don’t feel tangential enough to be separated, and to add slightly more about non-immunotherapy treatments so that the reader has a better sense of the contrasting approaches. ...more
Genuinely a really interesting read regardless of whether you’re thinking about a pregnancy or not. The writing is friendly, reasonable, and direct. OGenuinely a really interesting read regardless of whether you’re thinking about a pregnancy or not. The writing is friendly, reasonable, and direct. Oster importantly always emphasizes the distinction between specifically prescribing courses of action, which she only does when the data is totally clear, vs. being presented with risks and tradeoffs and making a decision. I foudn the sections on drug safety to be the most interesting, both in informing me about specific drugs and in explaining the framework of drug safety assessment. There are some basic statistics lessons in here too, wrapped in the clothing of pregnancy discussion....more
I knew very little about the Spanish Civil War heading into the book, and picked it up because it seemed like a primer and introductory text. But I thI knew very little about the Spanish Civil War heading into the book, and picked it up because it seemed like a primer and introductory text. But I think it seems targeted for readers with a little pre-existing knowledge.
It’s not written in straight chronological order, but rather on a historical theme per chapter, and while the chapters were interesting, I ended up with a kind of jumbled picture of what happened. Sometimes the result is that a term appears several times well before it is clearly discussed. For example, Carlists are most clearly defined in an endnote fairly late into the book, well after I had already gone to the Internet to look the term up.
That having been said, I did take away many important and thought-provoking themes, particularly the comparative organization of the militants vs. the disorganization of republicans, the role of the Catholic Church in supporting Franco, and the war as a staging ground for European powers in the larger war to come. Already in the 1930s there wasn’t really room for an isolated “civil war” in Europe; the belligerents’ international partnerships strongly influenced the flow and eventual outcome of the war. Something to think about today in particular....more
This was overall good but a bit disappointing to me, as it was recommended very strongly to me by several people. (Maybe we read different editions? MThis was overall good but a bit disappointing to me, as it was recommended very strongly to me by several people. (Maybe we read different editions? Mine appears to be revised as of 2013.) There’s definitely some great stuff in here, but there’s also long passages where it reads more like a generic business book. This problem starts mild and becomes worse as you read on; the first few chapters are great and the last two are a slog.
The book is at its best when discussing concrete, specific examples of design and how they help or fail to help their human users. I’ll highlight the fine section on mental models of refrigerator and freezer temperature, and also the discussion of doors and fire exits. I also found the characterization of knowledge “in the head” vs. knowledge “in the world” to be very thought-provoking, a nice mental framework for thinking about design. The passages on human cognition are a mixed bag, and I think Thinking, Fast and Slow had much clearer coverage of that topic for a popular audience. Again, the last two chapters, about organizing business and projects around design, are really dull and corporate-speak-ish. I suppose it’s better that the bad parts be concentrated, just cut those down to about a quarter of their current size and in my opinion at least you have a much better book.
Especially to that last point, the book may be in part a victim of its own success. Some of the ideas contained within may have seemed newer when they were first published. But at least in the tech industry, I’ve already come across many of them, and the business prescriptions in particular didn’t seem fresh but almost like conventional wisdom that people regularly espouse or at least pay lip service to. ...more
Solid book that got me very interested in the subject material. It’s an exciting growing field that feels to me like it could thoroughly reshape how wSolid book that got me very interested in the subject material. It’s an exciting growing field that feels to me like it could thoroughly reshape how we think about biology. After I finished I immediately added some of the bibliography to my reading list. (Yong’s endnotes, which are great and probably should’ve been formatted as footnotes, include many helpful comments about which works are particularly worth reading.)
The first half of the book is really excellent, introducing microbial symbiosis, giving its history, and providing a measured balance of explanation and illustrative examples. I’ll particularly single out the discussion of human milk and its saccharides that are meant not directly for babies but for bacteria, and also the look at Jeff Gordon’s germ-free mouse lab. The second half was also very good, but in my opinion it needed to either be significantly longer, or some of the discussions, interesting as they were, should’ve been cut out - it goes through various studies and biological relationships enthusiastically, but too quickly. In particular, the “Microbes à la Carte” chapter felt like it should’ve been maybe three times as long, and I found it hard to digest as it was.
Regardless, if the goal is to introduce the reader to microbes and get them wanting to learn more, I’d call it a success!...more
I came into this book knowing nothing about the Mandan - I was actually looking for another book by Fenn at the library when I found this. It was a reI came into this book knowing nothing about the Mandan - I was actually looking for another book by Fenn at the library when I found this. It was a really good read! I got a vivid and rich picture: their cultural activities and norms, their agriculture, their trade, their relations with neighboring tribes, and how they dealt with shifting socioeconomic pressures over time: the appearance of Europeans, the arrival of horses and guns and their influence, competing trade influences from the north towards Hudson Bay and the south along the Missouri, and the devastating impact of smallpox and the Norway rat.
The book is enthusiastic about its subject, feels thoroughly researched, and has several extremely helpful maps to help orient the reader (and a table of contents for the maps! super helpful as I flipped back and forth frequently). My main quibble is the organization of chronology: the book is roughly chronological but also jumps around in time, sometimes deliberately for effect, but it had the effect of confusing me. For example, the settlement of Mih-tutta-hang-kusch is mentioned several times well before it is first built in the roughly chronological flow - which doesn’t happen until 1822, so nearly at the end! Otherwise, I enjoyed it and would recommend it....more
Fun book for Premier League fans! Takes a close look at the business aspects of the Premier League’s history. I had not realized the degree to which EFun book for Premier League fans! Takes a close look at the business aspects of the Premier League’s history. I had not realized the degree to which English club owners were influenced by the American vision of sports when designing it, and the dynamics of the initial breakaway are particularly relevant in the context of today’s Super League controversy. The discussion of the broadcast rights is the most interesting part, and even if it makes for dry reading, it’d be great to hear even more there (maybe a book written by Richard Scudamore?). I don’t think this will interest you if you aren’t already interested in soccer, and it’s a little breathlessly written, so recommended for pre-existing fans only. ...more
A thorough, well-written biography of mathematician John Nash. Nash is noteworthy for his mathematical contributions, and is particularly famous for hA thorough, well-written biography of mathematician John Nash. Nash is noteworthy for his mathematical contributions, and is particularly famous for his long period of schizophrenia and subsequent recovery, but what also makes the story worth telling is just what a strange character he also was in his healthier younger days. The mental breakdown itself doesn’t start until halfway into the book, but it’s a compelling read throughout.
Nash was complicated and often unpleasant, and I don’t think this should be read, nor does it come across, as a “heroic” biography. He was incredibly competitive, holding onto things like the Putnam competition decades later; he was snobby and prejudiced, even excluding his screeds and rantings during his illness, and was sometimes cruel to his wives and children; he seems to have been repressed and confused about his sexuality; he didn’t think much of people who weren’t as smart as him. His incredible mathematical talent was what kept people drawn to him - he had the ability to attack problems in intuitive and original ways that would not occur to most others. And you certainly couldn’t call his life boring, even if you wouldn’t want to have hung out with him.
The first act tracks Nash’s meteoric rise. Again, it’s excellently written, Nasar is very engaging and depicts Nash skillfully, with my one complaint being that people’s names pop into the narrative at a high rate even if they aren’t all that important to the story. The second act, when he starts losing his mind, takes a turn away from seeing Nash’s life up close and more towards seeing how others cope with him as he becomes unhinged. (I have not seen the movie, but the book’s introduction indicates that it makes a similar shift with storytelling perspective.) The attempts by Nash’s wife and colleagues increasingly frantic attempts to try to restore Nash’s sanity are moving, and the depictions of different institutions’ approach towards mental illness is eye-opening.
Towards the end, we see Nash himself work himself slowly, almost under the radar, back to recovery, diffident and humbler but still with flashes of the old mind. It’s a great story, and Nasar handles it masterfully. ...more
An incredible book and historical document. It takes an unflinching, honest, and brave look at slavery from the valuable perspective of Solomon NorthrAn incredible book and historical document. It takes an unflinching, honest, and brave look at slavery from the valuable perspective of Solomon Northrup, born and raised free, then kidnapped and enslaved, but finally able to return to freedom to tell the tale.
People don’t fit into neat boxes. Amongst the slaves, many vibrant personalities and cultural practices emerge: the resilient and resourceful Northrup himself, the tragic Eliza, and the memorable, Andrew Jackson-loving Uncle Abram. There is also a moving depiction of Christmas celebrations amongst the slaves. Amongst the slaveowners there is one who is kindhearted but mentally ingrained into slavery, one cruel and vicious, and another cruel one who is also of low social status amongst other white Southerners.
Slavery as an institution is discussed frankly and firmly. Slaves are placed in roles and hierarchies, and overseer slaves are made to whip those below them. The tendency of slaveowner men to coerce, rape, and have children by their female slaves is not just mentioned, but presented as a cultural fact - for example, Epps’s wife’s takes our her jealousy on Patsey, which in turn leads to even more cruelties against her. The trade of buying and selling slaves comes in for a particularly clear-eyed, harsh depiction. And there’s even some economic and agricultural description of how slaves organized to grow and harvest cotton and sugar.
My edition also carried three excellent introductory notes from director Steve McQueen and academics Henry Louis Gates and Ira Berlin. Gates’s note in particular is less directly about the book and more a musing on how he would define an African-American literary canon, and could stand as a fine essay independent of the book. Overall, very much recommended!...more
A look at a growing American economic stratum, the “houseless”: people who reside in an RV, van, or other large vehicle, are typically poor but not deA look at a growing American economic stratum, the “houseless”: people who reside in an RV, van, or other large vehicle, are typically poor but not destitute, tend to be older and white, and support themselves by traveling around the country to seasonally available jobs, especially at Amazon and campgrounds.
The biggest thing that Bruder does is simply raise awareness of their existence, lives, and culture. Many of them ended up here because they were confronted with financial hardship and decided that sacrificing a traditional house was the best way they could deal with their situation. Though many nominally live alone, they also engage in a substantial community through the Internet, through organized social gatherings with other nomads, and through simply seeing the same people in the same jobs and places. The depiction of the community developed by the houseless is the book’s strong point, fascinating, heartwarming.
A theme that I’d like to have explored deeper was the houseless’ perception of the American social contract. What (if anything) had they believed it was before their nomadic days? Did they feel unfairly done by it, have their opinions changed since hitting the road? Most importantly, does this economic stratum’s mere existence indicate a problem - is it a sensible and clever adaptation to a changing economy, or would it be better if the houseless never were? With Amazon’s temporary jobs, for example: the book shows the harsh work conditions and some dreadful corporate-speak about the work, but at the same time doesn’t seem willing to say that it shouldn’t exist entirely. There’s a really interesting discussion that the houseless raise about social contracts, and even if the book doesn’t want to come down on a particular side, I’d love to have spent more time on this subject. ...more
Personally, I don’t have to like or agree with characters in the books that I read, non-fiction or fiction. I know some do and that’s fine; to each thPersonally, I don’t have to like or agree with characters in the books that I read, non-fiction or fiction. I know some do and that’s fine; to each their own. As the book itself acknowledges, its main character, Chris McCandless, is highly polarizing, with some feeling admiration and sympathy for the purity of his soul and the honesty with which he wanted to live, and others considering him a fool who paid the logical price of whatever it was he was trying to do. My personal feeling is much more closer to the latter, but I’d really like to underline that that would be fine by me, if the book were otherwise well-written and though-provoking.
It is well-written enough - I really enjoyed Krakauer’s Into Thin Air, in part because of the direct, engaging writing. But I just didn’t find McCandless an interesting character at all. His philosophy towards life struck me as painfully adolescent - I didn’t read anything about him here that made me think that I was missing anything. In what is perhaps a fundamental characteristic of zealotry, he seemed unable to get that others could find joy and meaning in ways other than how he did.
So that leaves us with the adventuring and McCandless’s backstory, which I did like (although I don’t think Krakauer’s personal mountaineering anecdote added much here). What I enjoyed the most was reading not about McCandless alone in the wild, but how he interacted with other people in civilization. It’s clear that he had some powerful natural charisma. On several occasions people found themselves just taking a liking him and doing him extra favors. And he certainly showed some tactical smarts, figuring out how to get to where he wanted to go and what he’d need along the way. All this is enhanced by Krakauer’s writing style, which I find pleasingly clean direct.
But given that a decent fraction of the story is about his attitudes towards life and his idealism in living those attitudes out, and given that I didn’t find these especially thought-provoking at all, I can only enjoy the book so much. ...more
Great and clearly written introduction for someone who’s new to the challenges of voter suppression, although if you have been keeping up with this isGreat and clearly written introduction for someone who’s new to the challenges of voter suppression, although if you have been keeping up with this issue in American politics, this book can feel pretty high-level.
I admire Abrams greatly. Every time I come across her in the news I feel more impressed, and this book reinforces that further. I appreciate that she doesn’t pull punches here: she directly attacks the efforts of Republican politicians (with a handful called out by name) to disenfranchise voters and rig electoral laws rather than encouraging voter participation and, you know, actually trying to reach out to more people. Chapters 1-5 and 7 cover the major bullet points behind the issue: gerrymandering, voter purges, under-resourced polling areas, and the huge amount of red tape voters sometimes have to fight through just to make their vote count. I could have done without Chapter 6, which tries to cram absolutely way too much history into 20 pages.
Chapter 8, “The Playbook,” was something that I’d love to read expanded into a full book; after seeing results in Georgia, how could you not? It covers Abrams’s electoral strategy in detail, emphasizes pulling unlikely voters to likely voters over trying to swing likely voters, and underlines the importance of local elections in daily life over the spotlight-stealing national ones. I’d like to hear more from Abrams about some of the nitty-gritty: a further breakdown of how she grabbed her early mail ballot lead, some details about her time on Ways and Means, and maybe some things she tried in her campaign that didn’t work, or other ways in which she altered her tactics from 2018 for future elections (even if she was mostly successful, surely there’s something.)
If you haven’t already been thinking about how disenfranchisement erodes American democracy, this is a solid place to start! And even if you have, this is a mostly good, concise summary of the issue from one of the most important people involved in it. ...more
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