Gregor
A strong entry in the Poirot series with great interplay between the detective and Captain Hastings. The cast of characters is large in this one and at times it felt a little hard to stay on top of things, which would be my only real complaint. Otherwise, the London setting and the dynamic of English aristocracy versus American celebrity are enjoyable, and the big reveal is a delight, especially the last couple of pages.
This time Poirot and Hastings are down in Cornwall, investigating a murder yet to take place. This changes the dynamic as we are treated to various conversations with the would-be victim. The intrigue did not grip me as much as some other of Poirot's adventures but the ending was a highlight, especially the very last paragraph in which the final sticking point is put to rest. Definitely worth a read for anyone who has read Christie's prior works.
A really interesting dive into a domain that not enough football fans know anything about. The author is humble enough to admit that there are no easy answers when it comes to what makes a good owner, and there was a pleasing variety of ownership models and owners explored, from the social media generation to straight-up warlords. Definitely recommended to any football fan who wants to be more informed on the topic.
A real home run that sets things up beautifully for the finale. The character work is excellent here, with Lysander and Darrow's points of view dominating, and Lysander's chapters towards the end of the novel being particularly rich. As is always the case with Brown, the fight scenes are visceral and there are a suitable number of gut punches for the penultimate entry in this series. My only criticisms would be that a couple of deaths felt a little rushed and perhaps under-developed, and there was a lack of focus on a certain antagonist, although I am sure that will make sense in Red God. Those issues are not enough for me to give this book anything less than 5 stars and I cannot wait for the final entry!
A good explanation of Ross Ulbricht's story. The author's writing style of vividly setting the scene and using direct quotation helps to keep the pace up but can make chapters feel disingenuous at times. One thing that the author failed to mention is that Ulbricht was never sentenced to do with hits or alleged hits, so he was sentenced to life in prison for non-violent crimes.
This is far from the first book I have read on FIRE but I still found interesting takeaways, especially when it comes to the possibility of travelling and actually saving money whilst doing so. I also appreciated the author's honesty when describing the panic she felt experiencing her first market downturn. Overall a solid FIRE book that would serve as a good introduction to the subject.
A worthwhile read for anyone interested in learning more about how data has changed the Premier League. I knew the basics of xG going in but left with a much greater appreciation for it and the myriad other statistics that are used to analyse football matches. I also never knew that if it were not for xG, Jurgen Klopp would never have got the Liverpool job!
A good read for gaining perspective on the modern Western diet. Whilst I do not agree with all of the author's suggestions, such as including alcohol in your diet, most of the advice is good, common sense which is sorely lacking in today's landscape.
An excellent starting point for anyone interested in learning to manage their money. There is hardly any jargon and each chapter is short and sweet, making this an easy read for those new to books on personal finance. For my part, this served as a welcome refresher on investing concepts, even if there are a handful of US-centric chapters. Overall, an enjoyable read and sound investment advice. Simple is best!
This novelisation was my first experience of Black Coffee, having never read or seen the original play by Agatha Christie. The tone is spot on throughout, however the plot itself felt middling compared to earlier Poirot stories. A strong ending is enough to lift this whodunnit a little higher in my estimation but it is not a top-tier Poirot mystery for me.
Not the strongest Poirot adventure, but still an enjoyable read. I found there to be a few too many characters, many lacking in development to the point of being easily forgotten. Furthermore, the victim is not particularly sympathetic which makes this less of a page-turner. On a more positive note, the setting of a train is an excellent backdrop for a murder mystery and there is some intrigue around different compartments and who left the train at what time. All in all, a weak Poirot novel but still one I am glad to have read.
A change in style from previous Poirot adventures, but not a good one in my eyes. This book feels very disjointed, which is not a surprise when you discover that it was originally twelve distinct short stories that were later cobbled together to form one novel. The grander scale is an interesting change of pace, and Poirot's fallibility is appreciated, but that is not enough to warrant a high rating for a novel that even Christie herself thought was poor.
An enjoyable collection of short stories involving Poirot and Hastings. It was interesting that the author included a couple of cases where Poirot failed, in one case relying on karma to catch up to the guilty party. I particularly liked one story where Poirot plays up his belief in the supernatural, much to his companions' disbelief. The mystery and tension that builds up over the previous Poirot entries are of course absent here, considering that these are short stories, so they did not grip me in the same way as Christie's earlier offerings. Nonetheless, this was an enjoyable collection and made for very easy reading.
A worthy follow-up to the first Poirot story, this book swaps England for France as the setting. The inclusion of an arrogant rival detective from Paris is a good source of comedy as Hastings is invariably impressed by his industry, only for Poirot to be the one in the right as usual. I found the romantic subplot to be a bit threadbare, although Christie does manage to weave it into the main plot at the end, albeit not a hundred percent satisfactorily. All in all another enjoyable whodunit and I look forward to reading the next.
This is the first Agatha Christie book I have read and it has left me very keen to dive into some more of her work. Poirot is full of life and there are some great moments of comedy as the narrator, Hastings, gets irritated with Poirot's nonsensical actions or thinks that he has got it right and Poirot is barking up the wrong tree. The country estate setting is classic for a murder mystery and the ensemble cast is well flashed-out. A great introduction to Agatha Christie's oeuvre.
An absolute triumph! I'll be lucky if I read a better whodunnit than this. It's no wonder that this is cited as one of Christie's best works, and is a must-read in my eyes.
I couldn't help but feel disappointed considering that this is the author's most famous work. Lovecraft is at his best when describing the appearance and assault on the senses that is Cthulhu, but outside of that I found very little in the story to inspire dread.
An interesting read, although I am not sure if I am totally sold on the author's assertions. It was certainly worth the short time it took to read this book as it raised some deep questions about how we structure patent and copyright laws.
A good refresher on what Bitcoin is and why it matters. I cannot say that the book had any new points for me but it was still a worthwhile short read and would be a great introduction to Bitcoin for anyone who is curious enough to read about the subject but does not want to commit to a longer book such as The Bitcoin Standard.
A worthy follow-up to First Into Action, if somewhat less compelling. The variety of stories keeps each chapter unique at the cost of making the whole feel somewhat disjointed compared to the author's prior non-fiction effort. Nonetheless, this was an excellent, eye-opening read.
A good introduction to what life is like living with OCD. I knew very little about OCD going in so I got a lot out of this book - I imagine that if you are already well-versed on the subject then you will probably not learn anything new here. Even so, the excerpts from the author's life keep the book well-paced throughout and make it easy to empathise with him. All in all, an eye-opening read that I would recommend to anyone wanting to learn more about OCD.
This essay is short enough that it could easily be read in a single afternoon, yet I still managed to make more highlights in it than I usually do in a book five times the length. Such is the sensible nature of the advice that the author shares. Despite being a century old, much of the wisdom still holds, and I appreciated the unpretentious handling of whether or not you ought to spend your free time on high literature. One point that particularly resonated with me was that there is no value in reading a large number of books each year unless you spend time after each one carefully considering its ideas and truly taking something from the time spent reading it. This is an excellent book that I would recommend to anyone, especially considering how short of a time commitment it would be!
A good exploration of a selection of Facebook's many scandals, although much of it was already familiar to me. It was interesting to read about Zuckerberg's ambition to combine Facebook's messaging apps into one in contrast with the WhatsApp founder's candid admission that he had sold his users' privacy by selling his app to Facebook. A decent read overall and I would recommend it for those who currently use Meta's apps without concern.
Having already watched the film based on this book I knew what to expect going in. Nonetheless I was very much interested throughout, especially the sections following Michael Burry. I must admit that most of the Wall Street jargon was still going over my head even by the end of the book, although I read this in one sitting on a flight which may well have affected my comprehension.
Lots of economic wisdom packed into just over 200 pages. A lot of this was already familiar from reading similar works but the section on unions, striking, and strikebreakers was new to me, and very interesting too. The fact that this book was originally published in the 1940s (then revisited by the author in the 1970s) yet the lessons still ring true today suggests that they are timeless, and that this will still be a book worth reading for many years to come.