Batched Books Reviews Archive #9
From 07.02.2023–07.04.2023
Published in
5 min readJan 2, 2024
Non-fiction:
- Unlearn (3+/4) — It’s hard for me to describe this book. It’s like someone took most of the rules I try to follow in my life and put them on paper. The book is short but requires you to think about what you read to really benefit from reading it. The description on Audible is not good IMHO — think of it as quite philosophical yet practical guidance for a happy and satisfying life. It’s definitely worth reading.
- Imperial Twilight (2+/4) - History of the Opium Wars. I picked it up because I knew literally nothing about this period. The book is not bad, but it could be half as long for my needs. Also, approximately 80% of it is context leading to the wars. It’s probably a good book, but too detailed if you’re looking for a brief overview.
- The Upward Spiral (4/4) — Neuroscience of depression. As someone who could be described as anti-depressed, I wanted to learn a bit about how depression works and feels. Oh, and learn I did. The book is great. It tells you how certain circuits in your brain work and what to do to affect them. It is practical and deeply scientific at the same time. I highly recommend it to both those struggling with depression tendencies and those who are just interested in the topic.
- Radical Candor (4/4) — This book receives mixed reviews, but I liked it a lot. On the surface, it might appear as a book about management, but I prefer to perceive it as a book about communication and relationships. Hence, you don’t have to be on a management path to benefit greatly from it. I highly recommend it.
- So You Want to Talk About Race (3/4) — Coming from an ethnically homogeneous country (where there is little opportunity for systemic racism to arise), I wanted to read something about the problem that seems so prevalent in the US. This is a very emotional book, which has its pros and cons. Many times during the read, I thought, “Yes, but…” or “Okay, but where is the data?” or “Why don’t you discuss the counterarguments?” Therefore, it’s not a comprehensive, data-driven study of the topic. However, it was an exceptional exercise in acknowledging feelings and experiences. So, in the end, I understand the perspective of people affected by systemic racism a bit better, but I don’t comprehend the core problem as deeply as I would like.
- Inspired (4/4) — One of the best readings of this year. It delves deeply into how to build a product and recommends a specific set of practices for Product Managers. However, it is equally valuable for everyone working on a product, and I will be recommending it to all my fellow engineers.
- What We Owe the Future (3+/4) — The first philosophical book I have read in a while. It addresses really interesting subjects in quite mathematical/practical terms. For example, when comparing the suffering of animals, should we evaluate it based on mass, quantity, or neuron count? Another compelling question: could altering the pace of human progress impact our ultimate destiny as a species? (Spoiler: it could.) Recommended if you are looking for something short and thought-provoking. The only caveat: the audiobook version could be better.
- The Intelligent Investor (3-/4) — I read this book primarily to gain more exposure to the investment domain and its jargon. From that standpoint, it was a worthwhile read. The book is rather technical and somewhat outdated, but it does offer some valuable investment advice. However, if investment guidance is your main reason for considering this book, I’d recommend seeking a more contemporary alternative.
- The Intelligence Trap (3+/4) — “General intelligence (IQ) can be seen as a car engine, lets see what other aspects of thinking contribute to the steering wheel and breaks” — this is a general premise of the book and a very accurate one. It investigates why smart people make dumb mistakes, what other types of intelligence were identified by psychology researchers and what we can do not to fall into the “intelligence trap” where we run really fast but in a completely wrong and potentially dangerous direction.
Fiction:
- Stuff and Nonsense (4-/4) — I bought it at random just because of the intriguing blurb. A story of a teddy bear becoming a hero sounds a bit unusual, right? And I was not disappointed, not at all. Even in the presence of my complicated relationship with the LitRPG genre (I didn’t plan to read anything like this for now) I enjoyed the book a lot. A point of view of an animated teddy bear who is just learning how to think, an excellent narration, a quite funny story. How often do you see gaining levels through playing tea party with an 11-year-old or an epic fight with a house cat?
[Note from the future] The series doesn’t maintain the quality, see BBR#9 - Exhalation (4/4) — This book reminded me how much fun short stories can be (I haven’t read such a book in years). I really enjoy when an author tries to mainly explore ideas and the story is just a background. It reminded me of the Broken Mirror TV series and is at least just as good.
- Genesis (2-/4) — A military book in a poorly created sci-fi environment. Yet another one from the genre of “I want to write a book about the army but it’s hard to sell it as such so I will frame it as sci-fi”. I liked it less than Expeditionary Force (which was not much). Comparing it to Ender’s Game in the blurb deserves some kind of a lawsuit. Sci-fi parts are one thing but it’s also ridiculous from a psychological/sociological point of view (a random guy gets to create a colony security unit after like 15 min of waking up from stasis. And he is not even on the passenger list. Seriously?)
- Challenge (2+/4) — Among ~7 progression fantasy series I read, this one looks the worst. At the same time, it’s somewhat interesting as the main character is a rather broken person and definitely not a hero. Also, the last 20% of the book was an order of magnitude better than the first 80%. I might go for a sequel if it shows up on sale but that’s it.
- Dungeon Crawler Carl (4/4) — This is the primary reason I’ve been absent from writing reviews for nearly a month. I’ve binge-read the whole series (>80h of content). Really well-crafted LitRPG with a strong Borderlands game vibe. Fast-paced, engaging characters, and delightful humor (an AI with a foot fetish? The protagonist going pantless throughout all five books? An intergalactic organization hell-bent on eliminating cocker spaniels? You’ve got it all!). Nice lightweight read.
- Azarinth Healer: Book One (3/4) — Another LitRPG. Not bad, but nothing special either. I would go for the next book if there was one, though, so it seems above the average.
