The Bezzle by Cory Doctorow (2024)

Another rant and adventure in the life of "forensic accountant" Martin Hench. This time Martin takes on a few of the evil people behind the catastrophe of the private equity roll-up of the California prison system (department of corrections).  Cory's books are almost alway interesting and fun. 5/5 Stars.

A Conspiracy in Belgravia by Sherry Thomas (2017)

This second book in the "Lady Sherlock" series is slightly better than the first one and continues to develop the author's alternative Holmes universe with the emergences of the mysterious "Moriarity" super-villain. 3/5 Stars.

Zwischen Welten von Juli Zeh & Simon Urban (2023)

„Wir glauben stets einer Meinung sein zu müssen, um einander nicht zu verlieren."

Das Buch ist eine fesselnde Geschichte über die Milchbäuerin Theresa und den Journalisten Stefan. Es wird in Form von WhatsApp-Nachrichten und E-Mails geschrieben.

Es ist ein fantastisches Buch: zynisch, polemisch und aktuell. Aber es ist auch voller Plattitüden, Stereotypen und deprimierenden Ereignissen. Keiner der Protagonisten ist sympathisch und dieses Stilmittel der Geschichte ist beabsichtigt. Wie alle Bücher von Juli Zeh regt diese Geschichte dazu an, lange und intensiv über die eigenen Werte und das Verhältnis zur Gesellschaft nachzudenken. 5/5 Sterne.

The Parasitic Mind by Gad Saad (2020)

I had some relatively high expectations for the cogency, science, and rigor when I started reading the book but  am now disappointed.  The author spends too much time in righteous indignation and goes into great detail about how irrational, primitive, and unenlightened academic institutions have become as they teach odd religious indoctrination instead of science, objective reality, or humanist enlightenment. I did learn a few things that are interesting, though. 3/5 Stars.

Darkest Fear by Harlan Coben (2013)

Another tight Harlan Coben thriller with fun characters, plot twists and wheels within wheels of an overly complex mystery.  The characters in the Myron Bolitar saga are becoming a little too cliche.  I did enjoy it when the narrator broke the fourth wall sometimes. 4/5 Stars.

Progression to the Mean

I can no longer find the reference, but I read somewhere that we regress to the mean performance of the five people with whom we spend the most time professionally.  There is a lot of sociological evidence that would lend some evidence to this theory but I can't find academic papers that have measured the hypothesis.

In my case, at my current "day job," I am getting much better every day as I try to keep up with the fantastic people with whom I work.  I am energized, engaged, passionate about the work, and having a great time with awesome people.

Governor by David Weber and Richard Fox (2021

Fun military space opera with great politics. The story is much like the books in the Honor Harrington universe, but the  celestial mechanics are better. 4/5 Stars.

Das Glasperlenspiel von Hermann Hesse (1943)

Die Sprache, der Takt und die künstlerische Darstellung der Geschichten im Buch sind wunderschön und sehr angenehm zu lesen. Allerdings sind die antifaschistischen Gefühle und der Sarkasmus veraltet und die Geschichten langweilig. Ich hatte für keinen der Charaktere Verständnis. 2/5 Sterne.

Libraries

Where I live in King County, Washington, USA, the libraries and all of their services are completely free.  The buildings provide great meeting rooms, free WiFi, computers, printing , research, and dozens of other community services, in addition to books, media, and online services.  

I am also a member of the Association of Berlin's public libraries aka Verbund der Öffentlichen Bibliotheken Berlins (VÖBB).  They charge $12 per year for their services. It's a great deal for access to all their online media.  But it's interesting how differently our cultures and societies perceive taxes and fairness.

A Study in Scarlet Women by Sherry Thomas (2016)

For those of us who love Laurie King's Mary Russel books, here is another great author who embraces the Victorian era and the famous Sherlock Holmes tropes. Especially well-presented in this series is Holmes's near-psychic ability to divine information from subtle clues.  Although the feminism and outrage is a little bit exaggerated, the plot, characters, mystery, and story-telling are fantastic. I enjoyed it enormously. 4/5 Stars.