posts

the happiness curve: why life gets better after 50 (jonathon rauch) i’m honestly not sure what to make of this book. i was about to drop it about halfway through. the first half is a regurgitation of the “U” curve “discovery” coming at it from various angles. to summarize, happiness is a U-shaped curve that has its trough in middle age, precise placement of the trough varies to some degree by culture and seems to move slightly to the right with life expectancy and our cultural recognition of new stages of life....

blindsight (peter watts) i don’t know how i ran across this. likely on some recommended reading list that i’ve long forgotten about. an entertaining read, i’m pretty sure that i’ll forget all about the plot of this book within the next week. 2 notable plot elements here. there’s a vampire in the mix. this is apparently set in some world where vampires co-evolved with humans. ok, that’s a fun twist. there’s an amusing “academic presentation” on some of the backstory here within the accompanying web site....

number go up (zeke faux) there’s not a lot to say about this book. i blasted through it on a trip to iceland. if you had any interest in the crypto grift scene that was ablaze you’ll recall most of the drama from this time. faux provides some amusing anecdotes from his experiences reporting on this multi-year shitshow and rolling grift party. if anything, this is an amusing, if at times irritating, look at the desire to make tons of money in america and the desperation that drives some really irrational behaviors....

under a white sky: the nature of thefuture (elizabeth kolbert) this was not a happy read. kolbert runs through an interesting collection of examples where humankind has altered the ecosystem so significantly that heroic efforts are required to preserve a species or to forestall what appears to be eminant disaster. examples explored here include coral reefs, the pupfish in the desert and a reasonably detailed discussion around geo-engineering in the interests of addressing climate change....

a sand county almanac (aldo leopold) i just cracked this and damn… i’m sucked into the reverse chronological history of this dude recounting the events that a tree has survived as he works to fell it. i doubt it was set up to be so engrossing, but it’s some beautiful and surprisingly moving writing. whether this is planned or instinctual is something i’d love to know. the diversity leopold describes in wandering around his property in 1940s wisconsin has me reading this with wikipedia in the other hand....