Mr Fred
Sooo, I stand corrected. I was reluctant to pick up this book, not because I wasn't interested in the subject matter (quite the opposite) but because I expected to find either “the basic things comprehensive sex ed should have taught you long ago”, or a self-indulgent manifesto of goddess worship, not least due to the cringeworthy tropical fruit on the cover.
Instead, a pleasant surprise. The author managed to give a structured, anatomically correct overview over this woefully underexplored topic, and gives tangible instructions and advice in a way that respects both the giver and receiver, and feels very informative and empowering in the process. As a result, I recommend this book to any adult whose partner has the relevant body configuration, whether you have a lot to learn about this or very little. It'll make you more adventurous, and more confident, both incredibly attractive properties. And who wouldn't want that?
Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go have a snack.
Papaya, incidentally.
An easy to understand and entertaining book talking about the latest theories of just how we might meet our maker, astrophysically speaking. Not a book that's about to compete with the Brief History of Time, but I enjoyed it nonetheless.
A great book even if you don't personally feel like “poly” is a description that fits you very closely - I read it on a recommendation, because I never subscribed to the societal notion of relationships acting primarily as handcuffs, rather than an expression of everyone in it being there because they truly want to be.
The first part of the book reads like an academic paper - which I like, but in case you don't, do not despair - the second part has a lot of practical advice on how to develop your attachment patterns with one (or any number of) partners as well as yourself. If you are willing to introspect and work on yourself and your partner(s), you'll find enough advice to think through for a long time.
And at a minimum, you'll end up understanding yourself better. Something we can likely all benefit from.
Great book about one of the most influential punk bands, period. Reading this was a great trip down memory lane to my youth, and realizing how much BR and their peers meant to me.
Okay this was amazing. I listened to the audiobook version and had to pause it frequently to think and re-think what was said, to let it sink in when one of the concepts I knew scientifically wasn't sacrosanct but didn't fully “grok” was challenged and explained by the author. In college, I focused very little on monetary theory, but I always found it fascinating in its own right, a collective illusion that is so strong, entire societies would rather perish clinging on to their idea of it than alter their opinion. In that sense, it is among the most human of inventions, and like all human inventions, we should perpetually challenge it and improve on it for the betterment of mankind.
A great memoir about a game designer that's been responsible for some of my fondest childhood memories playing Civilization with my brother on our family PC. Not only is this a great trip down memory lane, Sid also shares some insightful principles of his about game design and ultimately user experience design in software products - no software genre focuses so relentlessly on the person in front of the screen, and in a world that has at times shifted toward treating players more like a wallet with a keyboard than the focus of attention, Sid remains uncompromising and clearly, one of the greatest of all times.
Teetered between 4 and 5 stars for a long time. In the beginning, I struggled to see where this might be heading, and for a long time I was unsure if I could summon enough empathy for the villains to truly buy into the message but I think eventually I got there.
I enjoyed the variety of characters, their diverse backgrounds and various realistic and unrealistic bodily features.
The protagonist's pansexual (?) love interests were a little confusing, all unrequited, and left a lot to be desired from a story point of view, all the way to the end when instead of a resolution we got a cliffhanger, which was honestly a little dissatisfying.
Regardless, a wonderful book and I'm glad I read it.
A great book, an exciting adventure full of mystery and wonder. And, despite the young target audience, it's a masterfully assembled piece of German prose.
Alas, some of the casually deployed cultural, social, and racial stereotypes, as well as a minor, somewhat strange (i.e., entirely unnecessary for the plot) biblical tie-in show the book's age. Not enough to make it a bad read (let alone to scratch it off the list of best children's books), but probably enough to warrant a little bit of contextualization/commentary by the adult reader.
A remarkable book. Decades later, Baldwin still remarks right on the mark (though I suspect he wishes he wasn't).
Intriguing. Gawande covers aspects of complexity that make medicine so much more an art than a science, against doctors' self-image and certainly, against patient expectation.
In the end, the book is an interesting collection of essays, not slow enough to bore me and make me stop reading, but also not enough of a page turner to keep me fired up for more, except the prospect of reaching the end and moving on to another book. Go figure.
An amazing book, not just the plot and characters, but also the ample local references, both creative and just perfectly on point, down to the street corners and hyperlocal avian idiosyncrasies.
If you like Seattle, you'll love this book.
A phenomenal history of quaint early hackerdom as the internet grew up, up until and including modern hacker warfare and Russian election interference. For someone like me who grew up with all this it's a great trip down memory lane.
Pretty good book. The cases were interesting and the author developed some of the most important guidelines to approaching violent people in siege situations. Unfortunately, the middle of the book is spent almost entirely bemoaning the incompetence of a group of influential but ill-advised “rambos”, leading, tragically and predictably, to loss of lives. A little less repetition on that point might have sufficed.
This is a difficult book, and the very polarized reviews show it – a fictional and yet impressively honest and unashamed portrait of a woman who is submissive not as an attempt to spice up an otherwise insignificant sex life for 15 minutes, but as the very fabric she is woven out of as a human being. The affluent men running a secret Parisian sex society are invented, the fabric is not.
Of course, those who picked up this book to get their rocks off on erotica remain disappointed by the lack of extended fornication, and while the book is exceedingly graphic, it isn't parading endless pornographic scenes around in front of the reader.
Almost as disappointed as those who express their commitment to feminism primarily by telling women how they should lead their lives and which kinks are acceptable for them to have (how ironic, truly).
But if we make it past all of these hurdles and can accept O for what she longs to be, perhaps we learned what Pauline Réage had to teach.
Bourdain was a brilliant and eloquent observer who could be found mincing many things except words, and his fans, myself included, loved him for it. His fascination with and simultaneous disdain for humanity matches my own and so, when I read or watch the things he's written and produced, I feel not so much entertained as I feel seen. For that, I'll be forever grateful.
A harrowing tale of violent struggle and, ultimately, no winners. The author did a remarkable job researching and presenting the history of the Troubles and ends with a surprise plot twist. An amazing book.
Pretty interesting though lacking detail, which is unfortunate because the people, the procedures, the setbacks and successes all deserve much more justice than this book is doing them.
Over all, however, a decent book especially for people hearing about any of this for the first time.
