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#BookReview: The Math Of Life And Death by Kit Yates

No Formulas. Just Numb3rs. In this book about how math shapes our lives, British math professor Yates doesn’t take us into the algebra, geometry, and even trigonometry that we all use daily – whether we realize it or not. Instead, he takes an approach similar to the now decade old US television show Numb3rs, starring David Krumholtz and Rob Morrow, wherein he shows applications of higher level mathematics in fields such as epidemiology, medicine, law, journalism, elections, and several others. Yates cites real world examples including unjust convictions and Ebola outbreaks and many others to show how math was used incorrectly and what the math actually showed in that situation, to help the reader begin to get an overall sense of math without getting bogged down in the technical calculations. Truly an excellent book for even the more arithmophobic among us, as it shows the numbers all around us and explains how we can have a better sense of them.

Disclaimers: 1) I LOVED Numb3rs back in the day and would still be watching it if it were still on the air. 2) I have a computer science degree and very nearly got secondary mathematics education and mathematics bachelors degrees at the same time as my CS one – so obviously I’m a bit more attuned to math than others.

This review of The Math Of Life And Death by Kit Yates was originally written on September 29, 2019.

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Featured New Release Of The Week: All The Silent Voices by Elena Mikalsen

This week we’re looking at a story in many ways ripped from the headlines of the last couple of years. This week we’re looking at All The Silent Voices by Elena Mikalsen.

I gotta admit, when I first saw this book shortly after reading The House By The Cypress Trees, I was torn. On the one hand, Cypress had been awesome – light and fun and almost feeling like you were there in Italy experiencing everything with the characters. On the other, this was very obviously a female writing about the MeToo movement – something I’ve seen very little balance on when I’ve seen it in my feeds. So I was leery of this book, but ultimately I decided to take it on and try it.

And yes, it had its moments of wanting to throw it through the nearest window.

But by the end of the book there actually is much more balance and nuance than it initially appears there might be – Mikalsen truly does a great job placing that in the book, even if much of it comes in the last quarter of the book in its final scenes. She uses a concurrent plot of Big Pharma corruption to balance the scales a bit, even while having characters she clearly thinks of as the protagonist and antagonist, and this plot could well have been described in the 2019 book Drugs Money and Secret Handshakes by Robin Feldman it was that seemingly plausible.

Frankly this was an excellent story, and its dichotomy with the author’s previous work shows just how good of a storyteller Mikalsen really is. Very much recommended.

As always, the Amazon/ Goodreads review:
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#BookReview: Ghost Of A Memory by Pandora Pine

A Confrontation Decades In The Making. With the way the previous Haunted Souls book ended, the anticipation for this book was *sky* high. On the relationship side, the book absolutely did not disappoint, particularly in relation to this being a spinoff series from the Cold Case series. (Jn other words, the Cold Case characters are referenced but never actually appear “on screen” in this book.) On the action and mystical side, I gotta admit, the final fight was a bit more anticlimactic than most of either this series or its main series. Until the final confrontation that side of the story was its usual excellent nature, it was that particular scene that had issues. Still, truly one of the best books of this series and an absolute must read for those who have been invested in it. As always, it *can* work as an entry point to both this series and the overall universe- and actually my issues with the final confrontation may be lessened for someone using this book as an entry point. Very much recommended.

This review of Ghost Of A Memory by Pandora Pine was originally written on December 31, 2019.

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#BookReview: The God Game by Danny Tobey

Solid Yet Could Have Been Transcendental. If you’ve seen the 2016 movie Nerve, you have a pretty good idea what you’re getting into here. The two are very similar in overall concept, though ultimately both use the common concept to speak to different issues. With this particular book, you get more into The Million Dollar Man Ted DiBiase’s mantra – everyone has a price – even as the book tries in spits and spurts to discuss much weightier metaphysical topics. Hell, the book name drops Aquinas and Lewis and uses Thoth, Christ, Freud, and Heaphestus as characters! And while all of these add some interesting wrinkles to the overall tale, ultimately this book suffers from the same fate as Marcus Sakey’s Afterlife. By this I mean that, as I said in the title, it is a solid action/ scifi book that could have been transcendental with a bit more care. Very much recommended.

This review of The God Game by Danny Tobey was originally written on January 3, 2020.

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Featured New Release of the Week: This Is Not How It Ends by Rochelle Weinstein

This week we’re looking at an epic love triangle set in the beautiful Florida Keys. This week we’re looking at This Is Not How It Ends by Rochelle Weinstein.

Structurally this book is a bit interesting. Part 1 is told via two timelines, one a couple of years ago and one present day. In each, our lead character finds herself falling in love with two men… who happen to be best friends. In Part 2 the book is told via a now unified present day timeline, and right around the 2/3 point we get one character telling another character the title of this book. It is at this point that the book goes from “solid” to “waterfall” level, and the waterworks continue pretty well through the end of the book.

Reading this book just a day after finishing Iona Grey’s The Glittering Hour, another waterfall level book, was a bit intense, and I very much recommend surrounding this book with light and fun romantic comedies in your own reading. (Or maybe mindless “kill everything that moves, get the girl, save the world” level action, if you prefer.) Reading both of these books right at a holiday known for being one of the biggest parties of the year was even more intense, and I very much recommend waiting until the middle of winter when you need a good cry anyway. Guess what? Since you’re reading this after Jan 2, 2020 (I’m writing it at roughly 4a EST on that date), you’re already in a much better position to read this book.

Which is what you should do. Right now. Go buy this book if you haven’t yet and get set for a good weekend cry. Go!
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#BookReview: The Freedom Of Self Forgetfulness by Timothy Keller

A Christian Case For A Phenomenon Many Realize As They Mature. In this short text – right around 40 pages or so – Christian theologian Timothy Keller makes a Biblical case for getting onself to the point of both self acceptance and no longer caring what anyone thinks of you. He spins this through his own worldview and builds his case based primarily on a text from 1 Corinthians – and both cites it within its context and doesn’t directly appeal to any other texts to “prove” his points, thus earning a rare 5* rating from me for a Christian nonfiction book. Solid within its frame, as noted here there are other methods for achieving the very same state Keller claims is only possible for Christians, which hurts his case objectively but which is understandable within the author’s own mindset. Very much recommended.

This review of The Freedom of Self Forgetfulness by Timothy Keller was originally written on December 31, 2019.

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#BookReview: The Glittering Hour by Iona Grey

Welcome To The Roaring Twenties. As I finish this book a couple of weeks late – yet appropriately just hours before the Roaring Twenties come back – I’m actually thankful I wasn’t able to complete it sooner due to various traveling I was doing in the early parts of this month. Because this book is a phenomenal look at the Roaring Twenties, young adult disillusionment in their twenties generally, and the realities we sometimes face in our thirties. But it is also extremely tragic, and without actually giving anything away let’s just say be prepared to bawl for the last 100 pages or so of this 400 page book. Truly an excellent work, and very much recommended.

This review of The Glittering Hour by Iona Grey was originally written on December 30, 2019.

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#BookReview: You Have The Right To Remain Innocent by James Duane

Every American Needs To Read This Book. In well documented yet easy to read prose, Duane lays bare why the stakes are so high for his ultimate premise: If a cop unexpectedly questions you, state your name, why you were in the location they saw you *at the moment they saw you* (and not even a second before), and four simple words: “I want a lawyer.” Citing case after case after case from around the country, many of which have wound up with Supreme Court decisions on them, Duane shows why this is so utterly imperative for every American. And yet he is also careful to bow to our police overlords with “appropriate” obsequiousness, lest they try to attack his argument as being just “anti-cop”. Truly one of the most important books any American will ever read in the modern American police state. Very much recommended.

This review of You Have The Right To Remain Innocent by James Duane was originally written on December 29, 2019.

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#BookReview: Two Tyrants by A.G. Roderick

This Is Frank Castle Speaking. To know the tone of this book, you really only need to know about two other things within the pop culture psyche, if a bit obscure: The 80 page Galt Speech in the back part of Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged gives you an idea of the overall length, and Frank Castle’s letter over the final scenes of the 2004 Punisher movie show you the overall style. This is a dogmatic polemic against Democrats and Republicans that is generally roughly as problematic as the problems it (mostly correctly) points out. It could absolutely use more documentation and a far more extensive bibliography, and even its general points and recommendations need quite a bit more thought. But it does espouse a bit of thinking that more people need to be exposed to, and therefore even with its issues it is recommended.

This review of Two Tyrants by A.G. Roderick was originally written on December 29, 2019.