What's on the stack to read this year?

I recently celebrated another trip around the sun. My loving friends and family sent me some great books to read, along with many other thoughtful and wonderful presents that I really love. I had a great "haul" this year!  Many of my reservations at the libraries are now available as well.

Here is a partial list:

1. Der Schwarm von Frank Schatzing, Vor der Küste greifen plötzlich große Mengen Haie und Quallen Menschen an.
2. Forgotten Ally by Rana Mitter about the Sino-Japanese war of 1937 to 1945.
3. SPQR by Mary Beard, the authoritative History of the Roman Empire.
4. Hurra, wir leben noch! von Johannes Mario Simmel.
5. The Daily Laws by Robert Greene and Fred Sanders, excerpts from Greene's Power & War books.
6. Imperial Twilight by Mark Deakins, the exciting and authoritative history of the first Opium War.
7. The Art of Theft (Lady Sherlock #4) by Sherry Thomas.
8. Murder on Cold Street (Lady Sherlock #5) by Sherry Thomas
9. Kelwitt's Stern von Andreas Eschbach, Kelwitt der Jombuuraner kriegt unsere Sonne als Geschenk.
10. Icehenge by Kim Stanley Robinson
11. Barsk, The Elephants' Graveyard by Lawrence M Schoen
12. Raft by Stephen Baxter
13. Jahrestage von Gesine Cresspahl
14. Diaspora by Greg Egan
15. Biology and Human Behavior by Robert Sapolsky
16. Paladin of Souls by Lois McMaster Bujold
17. Hominids by Robert J Sawyer
18. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
19. Die Kinder der Finsternis von Wolf von Niebelschütz

Lost in Trans Nation by Miriam Grossman (2023)

I recently watched this Free Press interview with Steven Pinker where professor Pinker chats with Michael Moynaham on "why smart people believe in stupid things" such as conspiracy theories.  Moynahan grilled Pinker on many current events that evidence backsliding of our western societies away from rationality and enlightenment thinking, including evidence-based science. In this bit of the interview, during their discussion of Jon Haidt's book Pinker acknowledges that the political, economic, and scientific communities are retreating from science.

"The routine pathologizing of ordinary human emotion where every setback is a trauma where every difference is a neuroatypical condition and which Haidt and Greg lukanov have identified as the three great law lies: 1) whatever doesn't kill you makes you weaker 2) always trust your emotions and 3) the world may be divided into good and evil. They argue these lies are the diametric opposite to what cognitive behavior therapy tries to accomplish. And we know this therapy is one of the most successful forms of therapy of all time And the set of three great untruths may have had as much of a role as the like button on Facebook. I would add another thing. I tend to think that the Doom Mongering of mainstream media, which is easier and easier as everyone is an on-the-spot reporter.

Among the anti-science phenomena where activist bullies have destroyed evidence-based studies, enlightenment ideals, rationality, and the progress we had made in mental health treatments is the "trans" movement.  This fantastic book by Miriam Grossman is well-researched, well-written, and valuable.  The references and depth of her explanations is fantastic.  I was crying through two of the chapters as the real traumas were described in excruciating detail. All parents should read this book. 5/5 Stars.  Highly recommended.

Transcendent by Stephen Baxter (2005)

I didn't like the ending of this trilogy. The magic system and motivations became muddled and arbitrary. The theology and metaphysics were also uncompelling. 2/5 Stars.

Kingsbridge 5: The Armour of Light by Ken Follett (2023)

Having read the Pillars of Earth in 1989, and following along in the 1990s as the sequels came out, I was happy to discover another book in the series.  This story illustrates growing pains of the industrial revolution, the Napoleonic wars, and societal upheavals of the region.  The church politics are not as prevalent.  The books is good but some of the characters, especially the women, are not portrayed well and others are too one-dimensional.  4/5 Stars.

Miracle and Wonder: Conversations with Paul Simon by Malcolm Gladwell (2021)

Great podcast by Malcolm Gladwell describing Paul Simon's career and music.  5/5 Stars.

Thrive by Arianna Huffington (2014)

I did not particularly like this shallow survey of self-help topics but I did appreciate the feminist context.  It is a gentle reminder about why I no longer read self-help books and a good reminder to prioritize aligning my own pursuits towards what I want people to say at my funeral. 3/5 Stars.

Under Pressure

Here is an interesting survey and analysis of how the physical pressure on developing cells signals cascades associated with growth, differentiation, and variations that we have discovered from growing miniature organs (organoids) outside the body.

Service Model by Adrian Tchaikovsky (2024)

I sometimes enjoy science fiction stories where advanced AI and technology have agency, volition, purpose, and powerful capabilities.  Other times, I cannot suspend my disbelief and cannot enjoy the story.  For example, I find the Craig Alanson "skippy" series fun and entertaining and I don't mind the personalities and anthropomorphization of the AI systems.  However, I don't like the Vaughn Heppner books.  I did not like this Adrian Tchaikovsky book because the (unneeded) descriptions of the software and decision systems in all of the robots were so terrible. 2/5 Stars.

For which purpose?

People sometimes ask me why I prefer to answer surveys or take online training in German instead of English.  English is, after all, my first and best language.  My answer is that I find German more precise, much like the use of Latin in medicine and legal terminology, German is less ambiguous, especially in terminology associated with psychographics.  My buddy Michael recently wrote this fantastic analysis of the ambiguity in our English word "why," His short analysis illustrates issues with the popular Toyota root cause analysis "Five Whys," but also generalizes to many other contexts, especially in product requirements and definition.  Which business outcomes? Which result? To which end?  Go read Michael's entire blog post.  It is eye opening.

Der fremde Passagier (2023

Schreckliche Physik. Übertriebenes Melodrama, nicht gut. 2/5 Sterne.