“Guns, Germs, and Steel” by Jared Diamond
Rating: ★★★★☆ Jared Diamond, Guns, Germs, and Steel (W. W. Norton, 1997). Well now I know. After 6 months, I’m still not recovered from grad school. After reading some “art for art’s sake” books, I...
View Article“Salt” by Mark Kurlansky
Rating: ★★★☆☆ Mark Kurlansky, Salt: A World History (A. Knopf Canada, 2002). If you like reading history, then you’ll enjoy the book. It’s well organized and clearly written—very accessible writing...
View Article“Wanderlust” by Rebecca Solnit
Rating: ★★★★★ Rebecca Solnit, Wanderlust: A History of Walking (New York: Viking, 2000). I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It is beautifully written and I think hits some very powerful points. It’s not...
View Article“Colour” by Victoria Finlay
Rating: ★★★☆☆ Victoria Finlay, Colour: Travels Through the Paintbox (London: Sceptre, 2002). Victoria Finlay is one adventurous woman. From the Australian outback to war-torn Afghanistan, Finlay...
View Article“Infectious Greed” by Frank Partnoy
Rating: ★★★★☆ Frank Partnoy, Infectious Greed: How Deceit and Risk Corrupted the Financial Markets (Revised ed.) (New York: Public Affairs, 2009). Make no mistake, this is one daunting read. It is 450...
View Article“The Words We Live By” by Linda Monk
Rating: ★★★★☆ Linda R. Monk, The Words We Live By (New York: Hyperion, 2003). This book is the entire text of the US Constitution and its 27 amendments, annotated line by line with explanations,...
View Article“Autobiography of Parley P. Pratt”
Parley P. Pratt, Autobiography of Parley P. Pratt (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1985). And now for something completely different. As yet I haven’t reviewed any church-related literature, of which I...
View Article“Debt: The First 5,000 Years” by David Graeber
Rating: ★★★★★ David Graeber, Debt: The First 5,000 Years (New York: Melville House, 2011). I really, really enjoyed this book. This is not a manifesto. It’s an honest-to-goodness anthropological...
View Article“Jerusalem” by Simon Sebag Montefiore
Rating: ★★★★☆ Simon Sebag Montefiore, Jerusalem: The Biography (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2011). This is one serious piece of work! This 650-page tome presents an excellent high-level summary of the...
View Article“Story of Ain’t” by David Skinner
Rating: ★★☆☆☆ David Skinner, The Story of Ain’t: America, Its Language, and the Most Controversial Dictionary Ever Published (New York: Harper, 2012). It’s books like this that make me question my...
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