The Wrong Stuff: How the Soviet Space Program Crashed and Burned

The Wrong Stuff: How the Soviet Space Program Crashed and Burned by John Strausbaugh

The Soviet Union built up its space program primarily by making crude copies of western technology. There focus was more on embarrassing the west than on technological innovation. They hid their failures while exaggerating their successes. They lacked some of the advanced technology, so they would over-engineer heavy machines. The program did send people to space and made celebrities out of initial cosmonauts. However, they never did get a man to the moon. After Khrushchev lost power, the USSR shifted resources away from the space race. This book is a very snarky take on the Soviet program, with an emphasis on the structural problems and ineptitude of the space program.

There Were Giants in the Land: Episodes in the Life of W. Cleon Skousen

There Were Giants in the Land: Episodes in the Life of W. Cleon Skousen by W. Cleon Skousen, Jo Ann Skousen and Mark Skousen

W. Clean Skousen's family members assembled an autobiography from his journals. Skousen was born in Canada, then served a church mission in Europe and then came to live in the USA. He spent time working for J Edgar Hoover in the FBI. He was later a university professor and a police chief before focussing on his National Center for Constitutional Studies. The organization advocated a conservative focus on the study of the constitution and it's religious basis. In addition to the political writings, he also wrote parenting works and a "thousand years" series of books on the Old Testament. He was very devoted to his organization and his brand of conservative principles. However, he had trouble with others that differed in the way to run things. His anti-communist beliefs were perfect for the cold war mentality and seemed to reach the mainstream peak during the Reagan era. After the end of the cold war, his relevance appeared to wane.

The Woman Who Died a Lot: A Thursday Next Novel, Book 7

The Woman Who Died a Lot: A Thursday Next Novel, Book 7 by Jasper Fforde

The book is filled with literary puns and indirect political commentary. There are "smitings" happening from some diety. The Goliath Corporation has some scheme and way to benefit. There are some history from librarians and sushing. All this comes together in a detective story that, alas, is not terribly engaging.

Born to Run

Born to Run by Bruce Springsteen

This is a fairly long memoir that also moves too fast. It feels that it rushes through key points as side notes, almost putting an afterthought that a song was "Born to Run". I don't remember anything mentioning how he got the nickname "the Boss".  Either I missed it, or it was not mentioned. The book follows the typical rock star format. He struggled initially and barely made ends meet as he was trying to get the career off the ground. He stuck with it and then became a super star. His career arcs up until he has the greatest mainstream success with the misunderstood "Born in the USA". Then he continues on. 

Gone Before Goodbye

Gone Before Goodbye by Harlan Coben and Reese Witherspoon

The book was ridiculously engaging at first. Then it starts to drag with a few too many twists and turns. The book starts by introducing us to the protagonist, a doctor who has lost her medical license and her husband. They had been involved in a charity that would perform surgery to those in violent areas and husband was caught in cross fire. She later has an old friend offer to help her out. She is asked to do a job on some rich people in Russia. She will get special authorization there to do it. While there, she has a conversation with an AI grief bot of her husband and realizes that she could be in big trouble. She flees and later comes in contact with a government operative. She ends up in Dubai and is asked to do more special surgery. Then she sees the Russian oligarch get killed but learns that he was just an imposter and the the real oligarch wants her to perform surgery on him. She also learns the charity got involved with money laundering and organ harvesting and there were some murders planned and carried out. There were just a few too many twists at the end.

The Magic of Code

The Magic of Code: How Digital Language Created and Connects Our World—and Shapes Our Future by Samuel Arbesman

What is the philosophy of coding? This book explores computer programming from a near metaphysical standpoint. How are we able to communicate with computers? How has this communication evolved over time? How does this relate to the way we can describe ourselves with genetics? It is a different take on the history of code and how it impacts us.

The Vanishing Church: How the Hollowing Out of Moderate Congregations Is Hurting Democracy, Faith, and Us

The Vanishing Church: How the Hollowing Out of Moderate Congregations Is Hurting Democracy, Faith, and Us (Why Culture Wars Led to Polarization and What It Means for the Future of Religion in America) by Ryan P. Burge

At one time, mainline protestant churches were community institutions. They represented a cross-section of the community, with different political beliefs. Today these churches are rare. Evangelical churches have risen up and are tightly associated with the right. Born Again and Evangelical are associated with politics as much as they are with religion. (There are even cases of non-religious or other religions adopting those terms.)

While right wing is associated with religious, left wing has been more associated with agnostic. There is a dearth of the "middle". The churches that could appeal to everyone have been dying off. Many small towns have lost their churches. People with fall away from churches due to political beliefs. There are also few avenues for people who are honestly questioning. Churches have represented multiple things. They are provide community, service, moral guidance and spirituality. With them falling away, society is at a loss.

Stories of Your Life and Others

Stories of Your Life and Others by Ted Chiang

This thought provoking science fiction collection deals more with philosophy than hard science. (Though mathematicians and linguists may beg to differ.) The story notes were rather short and placed at the end rather than after each story.

Story List (titles rom Wikipedia entry):

"Tower of Babylon" (originally published in Omni, November 1990) (Nebula Award winner)

This is an exploration of the Tower of Babel with a "literal" cosmology like the bible. It is fun, but not super insightful.

"Understand" (originally published in Asimov's, August 1991)

A man receives a medical treatment that gives him super-human intellect. The scientists are trying to study this, but he is always one step ahead of them due to his abilities. He later secretly obtains more of the treatment, making him even more intelligent. He eventually connects with another super-human. They fight with their capabilities, leading to one surviving. Could we have any control over "super-capabilities"? Part of super-smartness would be an understanding of what people are trying to test, making it difficult to measure. 

"Division by Zero" (originally published in Full Spectrum 3, June 1991)

What if math were not fixed and division by zero were possible? The woman who discovers this struggles with sanity and causes issues with her marriage. Her husband is both her support and falling out of love with her.

"Story of Your Life" (originally published in Starlight 2, November 1998) (Nebula Award and Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award winner)

How would we learn to communicate with aliens? A scientist is tasked with understanding the language of heptapods that have visited earth. Their language is structured different from ours, with a non-linear structure closely related to how they are. They also find some math "simple" that we find more advanced. It is an intriguing look at the challenges of communication when there are large differences. It also comes to an abrupt end when they decide it is time to leave.

"Seventy-Two Letters" (originally published in Vanishing Acts, June 2000) (Sidewise Award winner)

Names have power. While this was one of the reasons I read this collection, I was a bit lost in the story.

"The Evolution of Human Science" (originally published as "Catching Crumbs from the Table" in Nature, June 2000)

What would the role of humans be if we had "metahumans" with greater capacity?

"Hell Is the Absence of God" (originally published in Starlight 3, July 2001) (Hugo Award, Locus Award and Nebula Award winner)

In this world angelic visitations are common, but not worry free. Sometimes people are healed, while others may be injured by flying shrapnel. People may end up in heaven or hell depending on their behavior and everyone knows where they go. The story focuses on people with different faith journeys. It is portrayed as pure fantasy which allows it to better explore relationships between faith and knowledge. It has an interesting structure nearer to a documentary of intertwined people.

"Liking What You See: A Documentary"

People can get a special treatment that causes them to not notice people's looks. Thus they will not be lead astray by common concepts of beauty. Many parents would have their kids undergo this process. The central focus is a college where the students are voting to have this treatment mandatory so as not cause harm to people without good looks. It is an interesting exploration of equality gone to extremes, while also exploring how we often make bad decisions based on appearance. How would life be if we could have this treatment?

Cubed: A Secret History of the Workplace

Cubed: A Secret History of the Workplace by Nikil Saval

White-collar jobs were originally confined to proprietors that may have a clerk helping out. This began to change during the industrial revolution. Giant organizations and economies of scale led to many of these white collar workers becoming employees. Now employee is the norm, rather than entrepreneur. These workers see themselves as being closer to the management than to the blue collar workers. They identify with the middle class and are generally not unionized. This is an interesting exploration of how office work has changed over time.

The Most Dazzling Girl in Berlin

The Most Dazzling Girl in Berlin by Kip Wilson

In Weimar Germany, queer clubs were popular and somewhat accepted. This book paints Germany as an LGBT Utopia that was only brought down by the rise of Hitler and Nazis. The book paints a picture of revisionist history that was extremely black and white. It feels like a revisionist Germany painted to look like the modern world. It is pretty short.

The Body: A Guide for Occupants

The Body: A Guide for Occupants by Bill Bryson

This book explores the human body. There are many different "stories" talking about parts and systems of the body. It is not a complete reference, but it does provide interesting exploration of different topics, from the common to obscure.

The Girl With All the Gifts

The Girl with All the Gifts by M. R. Carey

A fungus wiped out most of the population and turned those in contact with it into zombies. A few other "off the grid" humans managed to survive, but would fight against other groups. There were also some military groups that survived and are studying it in a lab. They are studying some kids that have been exposed to the fungi, yet still function as normal humans. The lead researcher is portrayed in a negative light throughout the book. This sets up the conclusion where they realize the best course of action is to let the funga do a massage spore release that will wipe out the current state of humanity and lead to a future human/fungi symbiosis. The narrative flows very well and stays interesting, even as it presents a non-standard conclusion to the post-apocalyptic zombie tale.

When Prophecy Fails

When Prophecy Fails by Leon Festinger, Henry W. Riecken and Stanley Schachter

An alien cult predicted that they would be brought up by aliens. They were fairly secretive and did not actively proselytize. However, after the aliens failed to appear, the group become more open. Those close to the leaders stayed loyal. While those more distant and without close, regular contact with other members fell away. This seems similar to what happens in many other groups (even without the alien prophecies.) 

Family of Spies

Family of Spies: A World War II Story of Nazi Espionage, Betrayal, and the Secret History Behind Pearl Harbor by Christine Kuehn

Grandpa was Nazi spy with interesting history in Hawaii. There were rumors of "baby spy" in the family that would go try to get intel. This book is part memoir and part family history. The author explores the skeletons in his family's closet. They were raised as an all American family. However, Grandpa was executed as a spy. (Though the family gives other reasons for what happened.) The book is an interesting exploration of interrelated bits of World War II history.

Vigil: A Novel

Vigil: A Novel by George Saunders

Vigil is short. That is good because I was fairly lost as to what was happening. 

Superagency: What Could Possibly Go Right with Our AI Future

Superagency: What Could Possibly Go Right with Our AI Future by Reid Hoffman and Greg Beato

The authors think AI is the next great thing and will help out humanity. This piece focusses on the positives of AI with little attention to the negatives (like energy consumption).

Well Endowed: The Secrets to Strategic Spending, Building a Financial Foundation for You and Your Family, and Creating Lasting Generational Wealth

Well Endowed: The Secrets to Strategic Spending, Building a Financial Foundation for You and Your Family, and Creating Lasting Generational Wealth by Vivian Tu

The author came from an immigrant Chinese family who wanted what was best for their daughter. They were frugal and were able to save for her to go to University of Chicago. Now she dispenses financial advice to Millenials. It seems to be "save more than you spend, but still enjoy things." There are also long discussions about treating marriage and kids as financial endeavors. Oh millenials.

Spellbound: How Charisma Shaped American History from the Puritans to Donald Trump

Spellbound: How Charisma Shaped American History from the Puritans to Donald Trump by Molly Worthen

People with charisma have been able to influence people. The term was originally used theologically and much of the book explores the charismatics from a religious perspective. In modern times, it has come to spread beyond religion to other people like Donald Trump. Charismatic people can influence others in various ways and have lead various large-scale religious movements. The Puritans and other early religious movements had many charismatic leaders. The second great awakenings were similar. (Though Joseph Smith was charismatic, many people were drawn in after reading the Book of Mormon before seeing him.) Political leaders also had their appeal based on their public oratory. Later television would play a role in changing how we viewed leaders (with Nixon/JFK being an early example.) The history of charisma is interesting, but almost too broad to be well covered.

Atlantic Cataclysm: Rethinking the Atlantic Slave Trades

Atlantic Cataclysm: Rethinking the Atlantic Slave Trades by David Eltis

This book objectively explores the history of Atlantic slave trade within the context of the day. Slavery was a fairly normal part of the world. However, some restrictions had come into play, such as Christians not enslaving other Christians. This left Africans as a common source of slaves. Africa was far from homogeneous. It was often one group selling off their enemies to be slaves. The names of slave ships showed the gradual change in feelings towards slavery. The slaves were treated less humanely and the slavers begin to acknowledge it. The practice of slavery became more and more repugnant and more open to calls for abolition. 

The author also explores the economic impact of slavery and came to the conclusion that it likely hurt development more than it helped. Places with the most significant slave culture often stalled developmentally compared to similar places with stronger embedded slavery. This book is able to present powerful arguments against slavery without retrofitting modern values onto the past.

Einstein's Unfinished Revolution: The Search for What Lies Beyond the Quantum

Einstein's Unfinished Revolution: The Search for What Lies Beyond the Quantum by Lee Smolin 

Quantum mechanics is hard to understand. It often seems to go in the face of what we observe. However, it is possible to be realist and understand quantum mechanics. There were some that put forth the postulates, but did ended up losing popularity to the non-realists. (Einstein was a realist, but he struggled to get a good explanation.) Today, we may need a revolution to adopt a new framework that truly covers everything together. Some will likely fail, but we need new ideas to come to final solution. The book says as much about the pitfalls of academic culture as it does with the quantum mechanics. Academia can get stuck in its ways and find it difficult to move on.

Two Women Living Together

Two Women Living Together: The Bestselling Korean Memoir by Kim Hana and Hwang Sunwoo

The title describes it well. This is the story of two adult women who live together. They are not romantic partners. They are just friends that care for each other.  They also advocate for better legal protections. Why are rights tied to marriage whether heterosexual or homosexual? What about people that have mutual caring without the romance? There is not a lot of substance to the book, but it does have some interesting thoughts to explore on the different styles of human relationships.

Firestorm: The Great Los Angeles Fires and America’s New Age of Disaster

Firestorm: The Great Los Angeles Fires and America’s New Age of Disaster by Jacob Soboroff

A reporter found himself in LA reporting on his hometown of Pacific Palisades burning down. The book tries to straddle the line between detachment and heavy involvement. There are reminiscences of the past in the area as well as jabs at Trump. The fires came right around the transition from Biden to Trump so there is ample time to poke fun of Trump's obsessions. (Many seemed to start off with a rational point and then go off the rails with hairbrained solutions.) The fires come across as surprisingly non-dramatic in the book. There was a lot of hard work and creeping into deserted areas, but not much of the expected personal drama. Maybe we have just become too spoiled with the disaster genres.

Dominion: How the Christian Revolution Remade the World

Dominion: How the Christian Revolution Remade the World by Tom Holland

This book is more a less a history of Christianity. However, instead of focussing on the internal leadership of the church, it explores the "power" that church held in society. The narrative meanders around different times and places. It lacked a clear focus as it explored the influence of Christianity on society.

The Nvidia Way: Jensen Huang and the Making of a Tech Giant

The Nvidia Way: Jensen Huang and the Making of a Tech Giant by Tae Kim

There were many times in the early days where Nvidia almost went belly-up. They had some strategic decisions that didn't pan out. They bet on new, better technology, but had slow software translation to the old technology. The company would strive to excel technically, while not disgarding the lower levels of the market. The organization structure is extremely flat with the CEO having a large staff. Employees from the CEO down put in crazy amounts of hours of work. They always viewed themselves as being one bad mistake away from oblivion.

Things really started to boom for Nvidia after the company received an XBox contract. Later the company coined the term GPU to describe their programmable graphics chips, but let the term be used generally. They released programming tools and were able to dominate the GPU market. Nvidia saw the potential for GPUs to be used in artificial intelligence work and have been able to ride the AI boom to record valuations. They also got a nice lift from Bitcoin mining and they are still popular with gamers. Nvidia has been able to become the world's highest valued company thanks toa confluence of hard work and being in the right place at the right time.

The Situation and the Story: The Art of Personal Narrative

The Situation and the Story: The Art of Personal Narrative by Vivian Gornick

How do you make a memoir sound alive? This book provides examples and tools for helping to write memoirs. There is not much narrative in the book itself, but it may be appealing for writers.