Serendipitous Reader v2.0

Just about every list of the best books of 2018 included this book, but I thought it was "eh". It's about the fire that destroyed the LA Public Library in 1986 and its aftermath... It was interesting, but I thought the book could've been half as long as it was.

This was a quick, fun read about a woman who became a hacker in the 1990's. It's not particularly well-written and it's longer than it needs to be, but a good "beach" read.

I'm a huge Richard Powers fan and I was very excited to read this. Of course, there were the pages and pages of rave reviews. But I struggled to get through even half of it and it's still unfinished. I'll come back to this one at some point because I can't believe I'm having such a hard time getting into it... Maybe the timing just wasn't right... To be continued...

I happened to see/hear an interview with McCabe soon after this book was published and was impressed with how credible and measured his responses were. So I picked up a copy - partly to support him because he did the right thing, despite the personal consequences. I really enjoyed the book... I learned a lot about how the FBI operates, and about the lead-up to the appointment of Robert Mueller to handle the Russia investigation.

This book was published in 1979 and I'm not sure why I bought it now - but it's a great story about a tennis match between Arthur Ashe and Clark Graebner at Forest Hills in 1968. Definitely about a different era and since it's John McPhee, the writing is great.

Another great book from Pam Houston. This one is about her ranch in the Rockies. And about her connection to the wilderness, her animals, her writing, her friends... Once I got started, I didn't want to put it down.

There probably was a plot to kill George Washington, and it would be interesting to read a non-fiction account about it. But the authors are trying way too hard to make this book read like fiction; I suspect most of it actually is fiction... The result is - at best - beach reading....

We've watched this movie with Katelyn so many times, I decided to read the book. And it's a great story about really smart, resilient women who had huge impact on the space program.

I read this book on vacation on an island off the coast of Belize, where we could see amazing stars every night. It was a perfect location to read about the far reaches of the universe. Fascinating story about the scientists who spent years assembling the Event Horizon Telescope - a virtual radio telescope comprised of 8 sites around the world - to try to "see" a black hole. It's years of work (and politics) to get the EHT operating. At the end of the book, they coordinate the observations for about 2 weeks at all the sites and HOPE they have the data to product the images. But they don't actually know if they have anything to show, since it'll take about 2 years to process all the data(!) Talk about a cliffhanger... In April, 2019, they released the beautiful images to much international fanfare. Here's a JPL article showing the images and describing the process.

Great book. Exactly what I'd expect from Michelle Obama....Smart, funny, insightful, well-written. I really enjoyed it. This is a super-fun, light read.

The author is a neuroscientist and explains the science behind why we sleep and what sleep does for your body. Given the plethora of benefits he attributes to sleeping 8 hours a night, that may be one of the best things you can do to stay healthy. Really interesting and well-written. And I'm happy to have a good reason to get that much sleep.

Great story about the billionaires who are engaging in the space race v2.0.

Interesting book about several commonly-used algorithms and when/how to use similar logic in day-to-day decisions.

This is a fascinating book, which summarizes decades of research that is the foundation of behavioral economics. I couldn't put it down. Engaging and insightful book about how we make decisions and how our very irrational brains really work. One of my favorite books of all time. I read this back in 2015 but included it here so I have it on my "official" list of favorites. 

Here's where it all began when I decided to check out what blogging was in 2002:  Serendipitous Reader v1.0