recent posts
Book Review: How to Slay a Dragon by Cait Stevenson
It’s obvious that the author really knows her stuff and is capable of writing an engaging book, but this one was too burdened by her trying to make her writi...
Book Review: The Seed Detective by Adam Alexander
There are people whose interests intersect more closely with the author’s botanical inclination who will enjoy this book. I found myself largely bored and le...
Book Review: So You Want to be a Wizard by Diane Duane
The story is fine, but the pacing really didn’t work for me.
Book Review: Move the Body, Heal the Mind by Jennifer Heisz, PhD
A good read and a lot of good current science about the many ways that the body and mind cooperate to keep everything operating well.
Book Review: Spiderlight by Adrian Tchaikovsky
From the very start, this book put me off. Even the ending was disappointing, except that it signified that I was nearly done reading the thing.
Book Review: To Be Taught If Fortunate by Becky Chambers
It’s a thoughtful piece of work and, while it doesn’t shy from difficult situations and questions, I feel it’s an optimistic one as well.
Book Review: The Butchering Art: Joseph Lister’s Quest to Transform the Grisly World of Victorian Medicine by Dr. Lindsey Fitzharris
If you enjoy well-researched books about the history of science, don’t pass this one by. Just maybe don’t read it after eating.
Book Review: Stolen Focus: Why You Can’t Pay Attention—and How to Think Deeply Again by Johann Hari
This book still had me asking myself a lot of questions for which I still don’t have answers that I feel I probably should find.
Book Review: Clarkesworld Magazine Issue 195
Title: Clarkesworld Magazine Issue 195 Author: Various ISBN: n/a
Book Review: Meditation for Fidgety Skeptics by Dan Harris, Jeff Warren, and Carlye Adler
If you’ve been considering trying meditation—to help you focus, or sleep, or alleviate stress, or whatever—but are turned off by the new age/religious/etc re...
Book Review: A Prayer for the Crown-Shy by Becky Chambers
I hope the author fell as deeply in love with the world as the rest of us did and can’t help but explore it in more books and stories.
Book Review: The Leader’s Guide to Storytelling by Stephen Denning
I have to assume that this book is a good fit for some people, but I am not one of them.
Book Review: A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers
I’m very glad I have the second book in the series handy, and already sad that there are only two of them so far.
How to make yogurt
There’s not much to making yogurt and it’s easy to do in any home with little to no special equipment.
Book Review: The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, November/December 2022
This was my first ever FandSF issue and if it’s at all representative of the rest then I’m looking forward to the next issue in January.
Book Review: The Spare Man by Mary Robinette Kowal
This book is much more “mystery that happens to be set on a spaceship” than “spaceship where there happens to be a mystery.”
Book Review: Shady Characters: The secret life of punctuation, symbols, & other typographical marks by Keith Houston
Houston steps through the evolution of several different forms of punctuation, and does so in an engaging and friendly way that makes you want to keep reading
Book Review: Fantasy Magazine Issue 85
Title: Fantasy Magazine Issue 85 Author: Various ISBN: n/a
Book Review: The Haunting of Tram Car 015 by P. Djèlí Clark
What if djinn returned to the world in the late 19th Century, settled down, and transformed Cairo into the most modern and innovative city in the world?
Book Review: The Storytelling Animal: How Stories Make Us Human by Jonathan Gottschall
While I didn’t get what I was expecting out of my time reading this book, I still think it was valuable and enjoyable time spent.