Green Swans by John Elkington

I don't know how this book appeared in my stack but I am severely disappointed. At most 20% of the material makes any sense and there are so many ridiculous, random ideas, I was frequently tempted to put the book down and stop reading. 1/5 Stars.

A Handbook for New Stoics

Not bad, and surprisingly useful.  Pigliucci's interpretation of stoicism is more about mental discipline and less about ethics. 3/5 Stars.

Rationality by Steven Pinker

Great book. Dense, hard-hitting, actionable. 5/5 Stars.

Schilf von Juli Zeh

Ich habe dieses Buch geliebt. Jedes Kapitel ist straff, spannend, Hitchcock-artig. Zehs Stil ist fließend, aber auch elegant sparsam. Sie spielt den Roman im Schwarzwald und ihr beschreibendes Schreiben gibt dem Roman ein Gefühl für die Gegend, ihre saubere, frische Luft und unberührten Gebäude. Die Charaktere sind fantastisch. Die Art und Weise, wie die Physik und die Definition von Zeit in die Handlung eingewoben werden, ist wunderbar. Jetzt muss ich mehr von ihren Büchern finden. 5/5 Sterne.

Mature vs Immature Developers

As a manager, I frequently consider impact, results, peer feedback, artifacts, and other direct, objective information about developers when analyzing their performance.  There is a dimension of seniority that is not easily summarized by these objective measures -- maturity.  I usually summarize observable, behavioral differences by saying things like "the senior developer comes into code you wrote, cleans it up, adds documentation, and fixes your bugs for you; the junior developer files bugs without reading your code and asks you to add capabilities or features that violate the purpose of your design."  But what are the abstract elements and signs of maturity?

My friend recently blogged about an article he came across and generalized that non-developers also display these abstract signs of maturity or immaturity.  I could not agree more.

Network Effect by Martha Wells (Murderbot 5)

Another short murderbot book, this one in two major story arcs. Interesting, mysterious space operatic sci-fi tech, bad science, but fantastic characters and anthropomorphised AI's. I can't wait to read the 6th book (Hugo award winner!) 4/5 Stars.

When we cease to understand the world by Benjamin Labatut

I received this short book as a gift.  It is very gripping and melodramatic as the great scientists from the turn of the 20th century struggle with big ideas and the societal  (and personal) consequences of their discoveries.  However the fictional parts of the stories -- gothic horror and insanity stuff --  are silly and bad.  A much better and similar book is Jim Holt's  When Einstein walked with Gödel because Holt's book is historically accurate.  3/5 Stars.

Door into Summer by Robert A Heinlein (1956)

I read many of Heinlein's books in the 1960's and 1970's but I missed this one.  In 2021, Netflix adapted the story to film (in Japanese).  Friends (and Reddit) claim the adaptation is good.  I have added it to our Netflix queue.  Meanwhile, I read the original.  It is quite good and holds up surprisingly well.  It's a fun story 3/5 Stars.

Artificial Condition by Margaret Wells

The stories continue to be fun.  They are short enough to get through in a few sittings and they are wonderful escape literature.  I enjoy the psychology and personalities of the AIs. 4/5 Stars.

Unterleuten von Juli Zeh

Dies ist ein großartiger Roman über das Leben in einer ländlichen Gemeinde und die Komplexität von Beziehungen. Das Buch ist äußerst gut gemacht. Es hat eine breite Palette von tiefen Charakteren. Es ist lustig, satirisch, berührend und erschreckend. Die Handlung ist fantastisch. Ich war die ganze Zeit in der Geschichte gefangen. Dieses Buch ist das beste deutsche Buch, das ich dieses Jahr (bisher) gelesen habe. 5/5 Sterne.