Author: Adrian Wooldridge Rating: โญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธ.5 I had mixed feelings about this book. Iโve read both The Tyranny of Merit and The Meritocracy Trap. The first covers how meritocracy is a double-edged sword that both rewards people for effort but can punish them for failure and blame them for that outcome. The second reviews how the... Continue Reading →
The Lazarus Heist
Author: Geoff White Rating: โญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธ This book tells the story of several cyberattacks that took place around the world all thought to be the work of the Lazarus group. This includes the Wannacry virus that brought down a good portion of the NHS, the Sony Pictures hack that led to both great embarrassment and commercial... Continue Reading →
Land of the Dawn-Lit Mountains
Author: Antonia Bolingbroke-Kent Rating: โญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธ This is the second book on India Iโve read for my Around the World Book Tour, and I liked it much more than the first one. For me, good travel writing not only gives an account of the authorโs journey, but puts the place theyโre travelling to into context. The... Continue Reading →
March Reading Wrap-up – Fiction
March was a very good month for me in terms of both fiction (and non-fiction) books. I loved every one of the books I read, and I would highly recommend any of these.
Against the Grain
Author: James C. Scott Rating: โญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธ When I started this book, I thought it would be a slightly dry and moderately vain attempt by a Political Scientist to stretch into several other social sciences to cobble together a mildly interesting theory explaining things that happened thousands of years ago that likely had little relevance today.... Continue Reading →
The Urge
Author: Carl Erik Fisher Rating: โญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธ I was only a few chapters into this book when I realised it would likely become one of my favourites of the year. Fisher combines his personal expertise as an addiction physician with his personal experience as a former alcoholic to discuss the history of addiction, and, more specifically,... Continue Reading →
Around India in 80 Trains
Author: Monisha Rajesh Rating: โญ๏ธโญ๏ธ.5 Although Rajeshโs parents are Indian, she grew up mostly in the UK (apart from a brief two-year stint where her family returned to India during her childhood), so sheโd never explored the country much beyond visiting relatives and such, so, partially inspired by Jules Verneโs Around the World in 80... Continue Reading →
February Reading Wrap-up – Fiction
Thoughts on the fiction books I read in February
The Russian Revolution
Author: Sean McMeekin Rating: โญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธ This book is a very thorough look into the Russian Revolution, tracing the movements and interactions of all the significant players, including the imperial family, the various governments, the Bolsheviks and the military. Having never studied Russian history in much detail, the Russian Revolution has always been one of those... Continue Reading →
January Reading Wrap-up – Non-Fiction
Thoughts on the non-fiction books I finished in January
