books

Intuition by Allegra Goodman

Intution
by Allegra Goodman

****

A very nice character-driven novel about life in a biotech lab in Cambridge MA.  The characters inhabit the same world as I do, which was a lot of fun.  One of the better novels I've read lately.

The Laws of Simplicity

The Laws of Simplicity
John Maeda
***

I really like the graphic design work of John Maeda, the unofficial resident graphic designer of MIT.  However, I didn't really like this book very much.  It was too heavy on "laws" and generalities, without enough meaty examples.  The best part about the book was the $20 price, perfect for a book on simplicity.

The Man Who Loved Only Numbers

The Man Who Loved Only Numbers
The Story of Paul Erdos and the Search for Mathematical Truth

By Paul Hoffman

A fun biography of Paul Erdos (if you are the type who can consider reading about a mathematician fun), who must have been one of the most unusual people ever.  For the record, my Erdos number is 5 :-).

Review: Beautiful Evidence, Edward Tufte

Beautiful Evidence
Edward Tufte

My review as a post on my normal blog, for once.

The Face of Home : A New Way to Look at the Outside of Your House

The Face of Home : A New Way to Look at the Outside of Your House
By Jeremiah Eck

****

First, I should say that Jeremiah Eck is one of my favorite architects.  If I ever build a house (which is hard, because I live in Boston where there are essentially no lots), I'll probably use him as an architect. So I should love this book, and I mostly do. Ideally, I'd like an architecture book to:

1) have lots of great pictures and floor plans of wonderful houses
2) have interesting ideas to convey
3) have good prose to read

I'd say this book scores very well on the first two point, and less so on the third.  The photography is excellent, with lots of great houses.  Mr. Eck is trying to convey some good ideas about the exterior of a house. Ideally, he things the exterior of a house should have a style that follows from other elements of the design, rather than be superficial decoration.  So on the strength of those reasons alone, you should buy it.  But for some reason I find his prose hard going.  I can't quite put my finger on what bothers me, but it doesn't pull you forward.  I found this to be true of his first book, "The Distinctive Home" as well.  I'm very pleased I read it anyway.

The Da Vinci Code

The Da Vinci Code

Dan Brown

I figured I should read it before the movie came out.  A fun book, it keep me interested on the train.

1491 : New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus

1491 : New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus
by Charles C. Mann

This is a review of modern views that archaeologists have on American Indians.  Many of these ideas have changed over the past 30 years.  The author discusses issues such as:

1. There were many more Indians than previously thought (they were just mostly wiped out by European diseases).
2. How they developed advanced civilizations
3. How they came earlier than previously thought
4. How they had a great impact on the land, not "living lightly"

It was a very interesting read.  It was interestingly written, with good stories on a potentially dry subject.  I'm glad I read it.

Killing Rain

Killing Rain

****, Barry Eisler

A good new series of spy thrillers, based on the character John Rain.  He's an assassin who only kills bad guys in this book.  The book takes place in various locations across Asia, and is a very fast page turner.  It is just screaming to be a movie, in the best possible way.  Very good characters, lots of spy trade-craft, a fast moving plot.  I really enjoyed it.

Wine for Dummies

Wine for Dummies

*****

Rachel and I are trying to learn about wine, and this was a great book to do it.  It was a fun, informative read.  I'm just starting to decipher French wine, but this is a good start.  I'll be using it as a reference for many years.

The Adventures of Ibn Battuta, by Ross E Dunn

The Adventures of Ibn Battuta: A Muslim Traveler of the 14th Century
by Ross E. Dunn

A selection on the very excellent Global Business Network (GBN) reading list.

I really wanted to like this book.  I imagine it is as intersting a presentation of this material as you're going to find.  In a way, Islamic history is very relevant to current events.  However, it was just too slow going in between the good parts.  I had to give up on page 143.  Bad me.