The White Fleet by Jay Allan

More great plot twists in this very-long series.  The bad science and cardboard politics are a little grating but I hope to finish the series.  3/5 stars.

The History of Jihad from Muhammad to ISIS by Robert Spencer

The writing is a little inconsistent and the author omits some scholarly research and data from influential thought that do not support his narrative.  The history is interesting; the details are good and some of my personal knowledge gaps are filled.  At times it was a slog to get through and I think the text needs better editing, 3/5 stars.

How to Have a Good Day by Caroline Webb

I have not read this book.  However my daily Blinkist spam had an ultra terse distillation worth sharing:

Take a moment to think about one of your goals. It could be anything – from a professional aspiration to a dietary resolution.

Got it? Okay, now jot it down.

Did you write something like "Stop eating junk," or was it more like "Make healthy, delicious meals for myself"?

The former formulation is an avoidance goal; the latter, in contrast, is an approach goal.

Create approach goals for feel-good productivity

As you probably guessed, approach goals – aiming for something positive rather than steering clear of something negative – make us feel better and are more effective at ushering us to actual goal achievement.

One 1997 study found that students who used approach goals improved their performance, while the opposite was true for students using avoidance goals.

So why not take a couple of goals you already have and reframe them? Because not only does "Deliver a presentation that I'm proud of" sound a lot more appealing than "Don't screw up my next presentation," it literally gives you a better chance of achievement.

This approach to goal setting seems very simple, straightforward, and useful.  I have not tried it yet.

Stand on Zanzibar by John Brunner

Another classic that withstands the test of time, great drama, amazing characters. 5/5 stars

The tunnel under the world by Frederik Pohl

Long flight from Frankfurt to Seattle.  Another very-old story that stands the test of time, 3/5 stars.

Bullshit Jobs, A Theory by David Graeber

I really enjoyed this (audio) book while flying back from Zurich.  The data are terrible and many of the assumptions are silly.  The politics are, of course, uninformed, wonderfully idealistic, and naive.  Despite these fatal flaws Graeber's concepts are fantastic.  The anthropological analysis and social insights are very interesting and in many cases spot-on.  The microeconomics are also good.  Most summaries of the book gloss over or fail to mention the strong anthropological analysis the author makes and therefore the concepts sound stupid.  Read the original. The phenomenon is real.  The book is worth reading, 4/5 stars.

Survival Kit by Frederik Pohl

Another great story that holds up after all this time, 4/5 stars.

The Big Nine by Amy Webb

A kind of weird, but interesting take on the current and near future state of data and machine learning (AI) from a political perspective.  It is great to be reminded of the insular, tribal perspectives by AI development communities as well as the political and social implications of current abuses of personal information that continue to increase exponentially.  The prescriptive suggestions are also quirky and completely impractical, of course.  But it's worth a read, 3/5 Stars.

Der Trick von Emanuel Bergmann

Eines der besten Bücher, die ich dieses Jahr gelesen habe! Ich habe buchstäblich laut gelacht und am Ende geweint. Fantastisches Schreiben, 5/5 Sterne.

three laws lethal by David Walton

Great premise, setting, beginning and story-telling, cardboard characters; the end was weak, cramming too much action into too few pages. 2/5 Stars.  Disappointed.