jess

You are a character. This life is your story.

What a powerful thought.

Donald takes us with him as he reflects on life and meaning when he is told that his real life is boring...and realizes the profound opportunity that we have for following God and our dreams.

Get off the couch. Try something crazy. Make memories. Share life with others. Be peaceful.

This book illustrates many of the ways that genetic engineering can help humans (and through them, the rest of the world but less so). It offers up a repeated narrative through time of a woman seeking to have a child through IVF and the options available to her as technology becomes more advanced. The technology and genetics explored include: preventing serious disease, improving immune response, selecting for physical traits, identifying personality, etc. Some of this technology is already here, and saving lives: like identifying life-threatening recessive genes in early stages of development. Some of it is already here and can be used for “designer” babies: like identifying deafness or dwarfism. Some of it is postulated - like identifying genetic markers for intelligence, kindness, strategy, etc.The author spends a little time talking about ethics throughout, and legality and policy considerations in the last part. However, this was my greatest discomfort with the book. It seems to me that Jamie missed some very real ethical dilemmas in the woman-visiting-their-fertility-doctor narrative throughout. The “choices” of genetic combinations never discussed the likelihood that the “smartest, kindest, most something or other” embryo might also have the weakest immune response or any other sort of contrary combination. Let's ignore all of the physical appearance space (like eye and skin color). Sure, if we first eliminate the possibility that you could pursue further development of embryos that will develop into humans whose lives will be incredibly short and/or painful, some of the moral divergence is reduced....but it there is a whole lotta grey between “definitely gonna have a terrible short life” to probably going to be healthy. That grey area is where I think most of the moral ambiguity resides (assuming that embryo selection were to be a generally accepted practice). Back to the connection between science, health, policy, and morality - what kinds of incentives will these hypothetical future mothers face? Are there incentives to raise certain types of children over others. Who structured those incentives? Who is responsible for making those choices, or changes to them?Interesting book, nonetheless. I'd also recommend [b:Homo Deus: A History of Tomorrow 31138556 Homo Deus A History of Tomorrow Yuval Noah Harari https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1468760805l/31138556.SY75.jpg 45087110] for readers of this one.

A few good nuggets in here. I like the voice and passion of the book, but not the structure of it.

So many fascinating people and connections are covered here, and so beautifully. I had a notes list for things I needed to lookup or people I needed to learn more about - hard to construct given that I listened to this book while running! But really, the stories are given so well, I couldn't help myself from wanting to learn more about them.

This book is primarily about people - people who have had an outsized influence on your life - people you have heard of but maybe did not know influenced each other ... or you never understood a particular relationship of people in time - Maria will shine some light on it.

Maria Popova's prose is well-crafted. While she is busy discussing the lives and drives of famous authors and artists and scientists, her words are spinning their own web - I was pausing and replaying to listen to some of the sentences again and again. I don't know if that would be better with a physical book or if it was better audibly.

This book could be read to middle grades on up. I'd recommend it for all - especially budding scientists and artists who might be a little self-critical or anyone who enjoys a good narrative and history.

** I listened to the audible version

I really enjoyed this book. James Clear engages the reader with actionable plans and meaningful narrative to make forming habits less like your mom telling you to brush your teeth and more like you enjoying coffee in the morning because you want to.

The book builds on so many other fantastic books and research about how people think, how we engage, how we fight, and how we can use our underlying behavior to make it easier to do the things that we say we want to do.

I would have no qualms about recommending this book to anyone interested in science or power of habit. Graspable for high school and up. If you haven't read the other big titles - Atomic Habits has the references for you to dive in (if you want) and the summary and juicy bits from the perspective of this book (if you don't).

I forgot to review Atomic Habits when I read it a year ago, but it has stuck with me. I'll also say that I love the newsletter that James sends out each week - short and thought provoking.

History and passion and commentary in one collection of essays.

E.B. White is a treasure. These essays are on all kinds of topics, but they all give a moment in time and offer up fodder for consideration. Reading these essays make me want to be a better person - they are that well done.

This is an unabashedly positive nonfiction book about beavers. If you want another perspective, you'll need a whole other book. That being said, there is a lot of science and history packed into this short, easily consumed narrative.

I enjoyed learning about the complex relationship of beavers to their surroundings, especially through the lens of excited beaver believers. I was especially interested in the case studies where beavers were shown to improve water storage of land, mitigating flood, drought, and fire risk. I was surprised to learn of how well beavers were a boon to fish, especially the salmon we so endear in the PNW.

After finishing this book, I was on state websites, looking for information about beavers, water, salmon, and the like - trying to educate myself more on how policy and animal were really working in my state. fascinating stuff.

Cute short middle grade reader about science, family, and what really matters. I liked the earnest POV character, Ellie, and the way the story felt modern.

Lovely little musings. A great book to feel a kinship across humanity for the delights we may notice in the moment and not voice.

This story continues to be a delight - we get some surprise reveals in this book, and the unnamed narrator keeps us guessing at the end.

I enjoyed the additional layers added on to the story, and it seems we have some new characters.

This series, targeting middle grades, I think, is delightful so far.

What a painful, ugly, complex, beautiful, simple story. Baldwin succeeds in creating intoxicating imperfect characters and weaving their lives together in a web where the wrong seems right and the right seems impossible.

A bit explicit. Not for children.

This story was more original and interesting (to me) than the first. I kinda zoned out during the long battle scenes, but I accept that they may have been necessary to describe the magnitude if the evil.

This is a short very short essay/speech to a the college graduating class of 2018. Except for one point where he relates the time of 2018 with 1974, the speech is timeless. It talk about how real success and happiness come from going out every day and doing the work.

The audio version will maybe take you 15 minutes.

This book was very challenging to read. I consistently felt like I was s few steps behind the author, then I would catch up and again be surprised. The treatment is very dry and academic in places.

Maybe if I was super interested, I'd give this one a second read. I'll come back to it if I feel like my base of history knowledge is vastly improved.

The third in a series : Red Rising, Golden Son, Morning Star. Overall, I enjoyed the story. The pacing was a little uneven, but still enough ups and downs to be interesting. This installment felt more battle heavy, and those are just not interesting to me. Between battles, drama and character development kept me engaged. Thankfully, Pierce Brown was able to end the story in a way that wasn't too neat and tidy to be unbelievable.

In the background of this series are huge philosophical questions about race, class, effective governance, loyalty, and honor. Some of it is superficial, and some is pretty deep.

The whole series is worth a read, especially for science fiction fans. I'd recommend this to readers in high school and up: be cautioned for gory violence, poor language, and some mature sexual content.

I'm looking forward to great things from this author.

I loved rereading this story with my son. The main character is relatable, and his adventures bring out the best in him. The imaginative world beyond the tollbooth captures the reader and won't let go.

I'd recommend this story to all readers above about 5th grade. It can be read in an afternoon or over a long time. An easy choice for read aloud (that will help parents and teachers catch trouble words for readers) or curling up by the fire.

This is another fun chapter in the adventures of Artemis Fowl and company. We meet demons (who don't turn out to be all that bad) and save the world again. The story introduces time travel, which is somewhat stitched into the story and doesn't play too big of a part. Our heroes do their best.

There are new characters introduced, and the complexity of the main demon/imp is perhaps the most interesting. I'd continue to recommend this book to readers of the series, and I'd recommend the previous books, as this one benefits from background.

Fantastically woven story. The characters are believable and fanciful at the same time.

I enjoyed this one far more than Mirror, Mirror but not quite as much as wicked.

The characters and world have promise, but there was something missing or not working for me. I would love to see more buildout.

There's some interesting science fiction - and some political intrigue. Perhaps this is a great book for you.

Wow. The premise and execution of this book are both difficult. However, it was nerve-fraying to read this list. I can't say that I enjoyed this book, because of the content. The author really hit home with the simplicity. It is an effective medium.This book tracks one, particular challenging, year in the popular culture.I would like to see more news/history in this format because I do not have a basis on which to compare. I read this book after reading [b:What Were We Thinking: A Brief Intellectual History of the Trump Era 53879809 What Were We Thinking A Brief Intellectual History of the Trump Era Carlos Lozada https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1601822734l/53879809.SX50.jpg 84216463] which reviewed hundreds of books during the era. It is one piece of a surprisingly large body of literature.

This book was an unexpected delight. I knew going in that this book included a strong focus on depression, but it is not a sad book.

I enjoyed getting to see the world through the lens that Darius has, even as he struggles because he also starts to see that the world is a beautiful place, and things are not always just as they appear.

This book has wonderful perspective about seeing ourselves and others as whole people, with good things and less good things, but ultimately giving grace and being okay with difference.

Almost all of the experience of Darius is outside of my experience, and I really enjoyed going on an adventure (on my computer) to see Yazd, learning about the B'hai and Zoroastrian faiths, and learning about tea. It's a fun read with cultural notes.

Also: The narrator of the audiobook does a fantastic job.

Sam Harris covers a lot of ground in this book. At times, I was nodding along; at others, I was absorbing new ideas; and a few times, I was completely lost.

I enjoyed the thesis - that being aware of our present and taking steps to be better at being aware of our present is objectively good for us. Most of the book seems to strongly support this thesis. This is especially true of the beginning of the book and parts where Sam discusses research.

I disagree with what appears to be an antagonism towards religion. While I see the many harms from dogma, I also know and see people who benefit themselves and those around them by their religious faith. I do not see religious faith as antithetical to good life. Not a religious person myself, I am not making this claim of my view from a defensive posture.

While I did not altogether follow the discussion of different spiritual teachers and their successes and failures, I did enjoy the very personal aspect that Sam brings to those narratives - having met and seen some of the people, he has a different perspective than I could get elsewhere. On that same topic, I appreciated his cautionary words about how difficult it is to identify a real guru/teacher on spiritual matters. In addition to the caution, he gives specific examples of things that are probably red flags.

The first few chapters of this book are thoughtful and compel the reader to take action with clear arguments for the benefits of improving code. The rest of the book dives into details that some readers may enjoy and others may want to skim.

Certainly a useful argument to write better code and improve code aggressively.

Sam Kean brings another bit of science to us with lively characters and his own bit of humor.

I enjoyed this book - but don't expect too much focus on the early ‘dueling neurosurgeons' - the book covers so much about the brain, what we know and still don't know.

This book about an ordinary man facing his ordinary insecurities through a real and spiritual journey is moving. Makes for a surprisingly quick read, uplifting at times and terribly sad at others.