Verra, Vlad's patron goddess, hires him to assassinate a king whose country lies outside the Dragaeran Empire, resulting in increased tension between the two places. Meanwhile, the peasant Teckla and the human Easterners persevere in their fight for civil rights. As Vlad's wife Cawti is a firm partisan of the movement, and Vlad is not, their marriage continues to suffer, causing Vlad to make some decisions that will change his life forever.

<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/133465.Phoenix?utm_medium=api&amp;utm_source=rss"><img alt="Phoenix (Vlad Taltos, #5)" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1682481910l/133465._SY75_.jpg" /></a> 
 author: Steven Brust 
 name: Daniel 
 average rating: 4.2 
 book published: 1990 
 rating: 5 
 read at: 2024/02/25 
 date added: 2024/02/25 
 shelves: 
 review:

Phoenix (Vlad Taltos, #5)

New York Times bestseller Cory Doctorow's The Bezzle is a high stakes thriller where the lives of the hundreds of thousands of inmates in California’s prisons are traded like stock shares. The year is 2006. Martin Hench is at the top of his game as a self-employed forensic accountant, a veteran of the long guerrilla war between people who want to hide money, and people who want to find it. He spends his downtime on Catalina Island, where scenic, imported bison wander the bluffs and frozen, reheated fast food burgers cost 25$. Wait, what? When Marty disrupts a seemingly innocuous scheme during a vacation on Catalina Island, he has no idea he’s kicked off a chain of events that will overtake the next decade of his life. Martin has made his most dangerous mistake trespassed into the playgrounds of the ultra-wealthy and spoiled their fun. To them, money is a tool, a game, and a way to keep score, and they’ve found their newest mark―California’s Department of Corrections. Secure in the knowledge that they’re living behind far too many firewalls of shell companies and investors ever to be identified, they are interested not in the lives they ruin, but only in how much money they can extract from the government and the hundreds of thousands of prisoners they have at their mercy. A seething rebuke of the privatized prison system that delves deeply into the arcane and baroque financial chicanery involved in the 2008 financial crash, The Bezzle is a sizzling follow-up to Red Team Blues .

<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/127306588-the-bezzle?utm_medium=api&amp;utm_source=rss"><img alt="The Bezzle (Martin Hench #2)" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1690390791l/127306588._SY75_.jpg" /></a> 
 author: Cory Doctorow 
 name: Daniel 
 average rating: 4.1 
 book published: 2024 
 rating: 0 
 read at: 
 date added: 2024/02/24 
 shelves: to-read 
 review:

The Bezzle (Martin Hench #2)

A radical reinterpretation of how your mind works - and why it could change your life 'An astonishing achievement. Nick Chater has blown my mind' Tim Harford 'A total assault on all lingering psychiatric and psychoanalytic notions of mental depths ... Light the touchpaper and stand well back' New Scientist We all like to think we have a hidden inner life. Most of us assume that our beliefs and desires arise from the murky depths of our minds, and, if only we could work out how to access this mysterious world, we could truly understand ourselves. For more than a century, psychologists and psychiatrists have struggled to discover what lies below our mental surface. In The Mind Is Flat, pre-eminent behavioural scientist Nick Chater reveals that this entire enterprise is utterly misguided. Drawing on startling new research in neuroscience, behavioural psychology and perception, he shows that we have no hidden depths to plumb, and unconscious thought is a myth. Instead, we generate our ideas, motives and thoughts in the moment. This revelation explains many of the quirks of human behaviour - for example why our supposedly firm political beliefs, personal preferences and even our romantic attractions are routinely proven to be inconsistent and changeable. As the reader discovers, through mind-bending visual examples and counterintuitive experiments, we are all characters of our own creation, constantly improvising our behaviour based on our past experiences. And, as Chater shows us, recognising this can be liberating.

<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/36325702-the-mind-is-flat?utm_medium=api&amp;utm_source=rss"><img alt="The Mind is Flat" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1520977033l/36325702._SY75_.jpg" /></a> 
 author: Nick Chater 
 name: Daniel 
 average rating: 3.7 
 book published: 
 rating: 3 
 read at: 2024/02/23 
 date added: 2024/02/23 
 shelves: 
 review:

The Mind is Flat

Journey to the land of the dead. All expenses paid! Not my idea of an ideal vacation, but this was work. After all, even an assassin has to earn a living. The trouble is, everyone knows that a living human cannot walk the Paths of the Dead, and return, alive, to the land of men. But being an Easterner is not exactly like being human, by Dragaeran standards anyway. Thus, the rule doesn't apply to me... I hope.

<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/915554.Taltos?utm_medium=api&amp;utm_source=rss"><img alt="Taltos (Vlad Taltos, #4)" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1682481363l/915554._SY75_.jpg" /></a> 
 author: Steven Brust 
 name: Daniel 
 average rating: 4.2 
 book published: 1988 
 rating: 4 
 read at: 2024/02/21 
 date added: 2024/02/21 
 shelves: 
 review:

Taltos (Vlad Taltos, #4)

Drawing on years of experience as a clinical psychologist, online sensation Dr Julie Smith provides the skills you need to navigate common life challenges and take charge of your emotional and mental health in her debut book. Filled with secrets from a therapist's toolkit, Why Has Nobody Told Me This Before? teaches you how to fortify and maintain your mental health, even in the most trying of times. Dr Julie Smith's expert advice and powerful coping techniques will help you stay resilient, whether you want to manage anxiety, deal with criticism, cope with depression, build self-confidence, find motivation, or learn to forgive yourself. The book tackles everyday issues and offers practical solutions in bite-sized, easy-to-digest entries which make it easy to quickly find specific information and guidance. Your mental well-being is just as important as your physical well-being. Packed with proven strategies, Dr Smith's empathetic guide offers a deeper understanding of how your mind works and gives you the insights and help you need to nurture your mental health every day. Wise and practical, Why Has Nobody Told Me This Before? might just change your life.

<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/58536046-why-has-nobody-told-me-this-before?utm_medium=api&amp;utm_source=rss"><img alt="Why Has Nobody Told Me This Before?" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1670001084l/58536046._SY75_.jpg" /></a> 
 author: Julie Smith 
 name: Daniel 
 average rating: 3.9 
 book published: 2022 
 rating: 0 
 read at: 
 date added: 2024/02/20 
 shelves: to-read 
 review:

Why Has Nobody Told Me This Before?

The most trusted explainer of the most mind-boggling concepts pulls back the veil of mystery that has too long cloaked the most valuable building blocks of modern science. Sean Carroll, with his genius for making complex notions entertaining, presents in his uniquely lucid voice the fundamental ideas informing the modern physics of reality. Physics offers deep insights into the workings of the universe but those insights come in the form of equations that often look like gobbledygook. Sean Carroll shows that they are really like meaningful poems that can help us fly over sierras to discover a miraculous multidimensional landscape alive with radiant giants, warped space-time, and bewilderingly powerful forces. High school calculus is itself is a centuries-old marvel as worthy of our gaze as the Mona Lisa. And it may come as a surprise the extent to which all our most cutting-edge ideas about black holes are built on the math calculus enables. No one else could so smoothly guide readers to grasping the very equation Einstein used to describe his theory of general relativity. In the tradition of the legendary Richard Feynman lectures presented sixty years ago, this book is an inspiring, dazzling introduction to a way of seeing that will resonate across cultural and generational boundaries for many years to come.

<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/57933599-the-biggest-ideas-in-the-universe?utm_medium=api&amp;utm_source=rss"><img alt="The Biggest Ideas in the Universe" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1649651692l/57933599._SY75_.jpg" /></a> 
 author: Sean Carroll 
 name: Daniel 
 average rating: 3.9 
 book published: 2022 
 rating: 5 
 read at: 2024/02/19 
 date added: 2024/02/19 
 shelves: 
 review:

The Biggest Ideas in the Universe

"Die Teckla proben den Aufstand. Ich wußte, irgendwann musste das passieren. Teckla sind faule, dumme, feige Bauern. Aufstand! Ein Witz mit so einem Bart. Aber jetzt revoltieren sie gegen das Imperium. Ein neuer Witz. Und ein Jhereg-Herrscher mit kriminellen Ambitionen stachelt sie ordentlich an. Leider kein Witz. Aber der eigentliche Witz ist, daß ich sie schütze. Ich. Lord Vlad Taltos - treuer Enkel, liebender Ehemann. Jhereg. Zauberer. Auftragskiller. Alles eben, was diese Typen hassen. Und geradi ich beschütze auch noch diese Parolen sabbernden, schwachsinningen Revoluzzer, von denen jeder einzelne mir die Pest an den Hals wünscht. Aber es kommt noch dicker: der ganze Haufen imperialer Edelleute, alle aus dem Haus der Jhereg, setzt alles daran, mich um die Ecke zu bringen..."

<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/133466.Teckla?utm_medium=api&amp;utm_source=rss"><img alt="Teckla (Vlad Taltos, #3)" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1357479420l/133466._SY75_.jpg" /></a> 
 author: Steven Brust 
 name: Daniel 
 average rating: 3.9 
 book published: 1986 
 rating: 4 
 read at: 2024/02/18 
 date added: 2024/02/18 
 shelves: 
 review:

Teckla (Vlad Taltos, #3)

Vlad Taltos tells the story of his early days in the House Jhereg, how he found himself in a Jhereg war, and how he fell in love with the wonderful woman, Cawti, who killed him.

<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/817357.Yendi?utm_medium=api&amp;utm_source=rss"><img alt="Yendi (Vlad Taltos, #2)" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1302450419l/817357._SY75_.jpg" /></a> 
 author: Steven Brust 
 name: Daniel 
 average rating: 4.1 
 book published: 1984 
 rating: 5 
 read at: 2024/02/16 
 date added: 2024/02/16 
 shelves: 
 review:

Yendi (Vlad Taltos, #2)

Guile is the Prism, the most powerful man in the world. He is high priest and emperor, a man whose power, wit, and charm are all that preserves a tenuous peace. Yet Prisms never last, and Guile knows exactly how long he has left to live. When Guile discovers he has a son, born in a far kingdom after the war that put him in power, he must decide how much he's willing to pay to protect a secret that could tear his world apart.

<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7165300-the-black-prism?utm_medium=api&amp;utm_source=rss"><img alt="The Black Prism (Lightbringer, #1)" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1327921884l/7165300._SY75_.jpg" /></a> 
 author: Brent Weeks 
 name: Daniel 
 average rating: 4.2 
 book published: 2010 
 rating: 4 
 read at: 2024/02/13 
 date added: 2024/02/13 
 shelves: 
 review:

The Black Prism (Lightbringer, #1)

A potent exploration of the power of blockchains to reshape the future of the internet—and how that affects us all—from influential technology entrepreneur and startup investor Chris Dixon The internet of today is a far cry from its early promise of a decentralized, democratic network of innovation, connection, and freedom. In the past decade, it has fallen almost entirely under the control of a very small group of companies like Apple, Google, and Facebook. In Read Write Own, tech visionary Chris Dixon argues that the dream of an open network for fostering creativity and entrepreneurship doesn’t have to die and can, in fact, be saved with blockchain networks. He separates this movement, which aims to provide a solid foundation for everything from social networks to artificial intelligence to virtual worlds, from cryptocurrency speculation —a distinction he calls “the computer vs. the casino.”   With lucid and compelling prose— drawing from a 25-year career in the software industry—Dixon shows how the internet has undergone three distinct eras, bringing us to the critical moment we’re in today. The first was the “read” era, in which early networks democratized information. In the “read-write” era, corporate networks democratized publishing. We are now in the midst of the “read-write-own” era, sometimes called web3, in which blockchain networks are granting power and economic benefits to communities of users, not just corporations.   Read Write Own is a must-read for anyone—internet users, business leaders, creators, entrepreneurs—who wants to understand where we’ve been and where we’re going. It provides a vision for a better internet and a playbook to navigate and build the future.

<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/178628338-read-write-own?utm_medium=api&amp;utm_source=rss"><img alt="Read Write Own: Building the Next Era of the Internet" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1687141213l/178628338._SX50_.jpg" /></a> 
 author: Chris Dixon 
 name: Daniel 
 average rating: 4.1 
 book published: 
 rating: 0 
 read at: 
 date added: 2024/02/13 
 shelves: on-deck 
 review:

Read Write Own: Building the Next Era of the Internet

A Finnish journalist, now a naturalized American citizen, asks Americans to draw on elements of the Nordic way of life to nurture a fairer, happier, more secure, and less stressful society for themselves and their children. Moving to America in 2008, Finnish journalist Anu Partanen quickly went from confident, successful professional to wary, self-doubting mess. She found that navigating the basics of everyday life—from buying a cell phone and filing taxes to education and childcare—was much more complicated and stressful than anything she encountered in her homeland. At first, she attributed her crippling anxiety to the difficulty of adapting to a freewheeling new culture. But as she got to know Americans better, she discovered they shared her deep apprehension. To understand why life is so different in the U.S. and Finland, Partanen began to look closely at both. In The Nordic Theory of Everything, Partanen compares and contrasts life in the United States with life in the Nordic region, focusing on four key relationships—parents and children, men and women, employees and employers, and government and citizens. She debunks criticism that Nordic countries are socialist “nanny states,” revealing instead that it is we Americans who are far more enmeshed in unhealthy dependencies than we realize. As Partanen explains step by step, the Nordic approach allows citizens to enjoy more individual freedom and independence than we do. Partanen wants to open Americans’ eyes to how much better things can be—to show her beloved new country what it can learn from her homeland to reinvigorate and fulfill the promise of the American dream—to provide the opportunity to live a healthy, safe, economically secure, upwardly mobile life for everyone. Offering insights, advice, and solutions, The Nordic Theory of Everything makes a convincing argument that we can rebuild our society, rekindle our optimism, and restore true freedom to our relationships and lives.

<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/29957381-the-nordic-theory-of-everything?utm_medium=api&amp;utm_source=rss"><img alt="The Nordic Theory of Everything: In Search of a Better Life" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1479403681l/29957381._SY75_.jpg" /></a> 
 author: Anu Partanen 
 name: Daniel 
 average rating: 3.6 
 book published: 2016 
 rating: 0 
 read at: 
 date added: 2024/02/13 
 shelves: on-deck 
 review:

The Nordic Theory of Everything: In Search of a Better Life

Candide is the story of a gentle man who, though pummeled and slapped in every direction by fate, clings desperately to the belief that he lives in "the best of all possible worlds." On the surface a witty, bantering tale, this eighteenth-century classic is actually a savage, satiric thrust at the philosophical optimism that proclaims that all disaster and human suffering is part of a benevolent cosmic plan. Fast, funny, often outrageous, the French philosopher's immortal narrative takes Candide around the world to discover that -- contrary to the teachings of his distinguished tutor Dr. Pangloss -- all is not always for the best. Alive with wit, brilliance, and graceful storytelling, Candide has become Voltaire's most celebrated work.

<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/19380.Candide?utm_medium=api&amp;utm_source=rss"><img alt="Candide" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1345060082l/19380._SY75_.jpg" /></a> 
 author: Voltaire 
 name: Daniel 
 average rating: 3.8 
 book published: 1759 
 rating: 0 
 read at: 
 date added: 2024/02/10 
 shelves: on-deck 
 review:

Candide

Fonda Lee returns to the acclaimed Green Bone Saga with four prequel short stories that delve into the personal histories of the Kaul and Ayt families. The Witch and Her Friend. Before she was the ruthless leader of the Mountain clan, Ayt Mada was an orphan without friends at school except for one: Aun Ure, a teenage girl feared and renowned as an assassin but yearning for a simpler life. Not Only Blood. Before he was the heir apparent of the No Peak clan, Kaul Lan challenged his grandfather and clan patriarch to help a boy who had lost everything. Better Than Jade. Before they were married, Kaul Hilo and Maik Wen were a young couple facing long odds: the son of a top Green Bone clan in love with a stone-eye girl from a disreputable family. Granddaughter Cormorant. Before she left and returned to Kekon, Kaul Shae was the apple of her grandfather’s eye…as well as a daring secret informer to a foreign country. Contains an introduction and story notes by the author.

<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/123362384-jade-shards?utm_medium=api&amp;utm_source=rss"><img alt="Jade Shards (The Green Bone Saga, #0.75)" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1679434481l/123362384._SX50_.jpg" /></a> 
 author: Fonda Lee 
 name: Daniel 
 average rating: 4.3 
 book published: 2023 
 rating: 4 
 read at: 2024/02/10 
 date added: 2024/02/10 
 shelves: 
 review:

Jade Shards (The Green Bone Saga, #0.75)

An epic history of the Mongols as we have never seen them―not just conquerors but also city builders, diplomats, and supple economic thinkers who constructed one of the most influential empires in history. The Mongols are widely known for one thing: conquest. In the first comprehensive history of the Horde, the western portion of the Mongol empire that arose after the death of Chinggis Khan, Marie Favereau shows that the accomplishments of the Mongols extended far beyond war. For three hundred years, the Horde was no less a force in global development than Rome had been. It left behind a profound legacy in Europe, Russia, Central Asia, and the Middle East, palpable to this day. Favereau takes us inside one of the most powerful sources of cross-border integration in world history. The Horde was the central node in the Eurasian commercial boom of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries and was a conduit for exchanges across thousands of miles. Its unique political regime―a complex power-sharing arrangement among the khan and the nobility―rewarded skillful administrators and diplomats and fostered an economic order that was mobile, organized, and innovative. From its capital at Sarai on the lower Volga River, the Horde provided a governance model for Russia, influenced social practice and state structure across Islamic cultures, disseminated sophisticated theories about the natural world, and introduced novel ideas of religious tolerance. The Horde is the eloquent, ambitious, and definitive portrait of an empire little understood and too readily dismissed. Challenging conceptions of nomads as peripheral to history, Favereau makes clear that we live in a world inherited from the Mongol moment.

<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/55437277-the-horde?utm_medium=api&amp;utm_source=rss"><img alt="The Horde: How the Mongols Changed the World" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1624960168l/55437277._SY75_.jpg" /></a> 
 author: Marie Favereau 
 name: Daniel 
 average rating: 3.8 
 book published: 2021 
 rating: 3 
 read at: 2024/02/09 
 date added: 2024/02/09 
 shelves: 
 review:

The Horde: How the Mongols Changed the World

* 17 hours * One groundbreaking discovery...will change everything. Welcome to 'QUANTUM RADIO', A.G. Riddle's first new novel in almost two years - a spell-binding epic filled with science, history, and enough plot twists to keep you up late into the night. On September 10th, 2008, the Large Hadron Collider began operating at CERN in Geneva, Switzerland. It was - and still is - the largest machine ever built. It has a simple purpose: to examine the smallest building blocks of the universe. That work could solve the greatest scientific mysteries of all time: the nature of space and time itself and the origins of our universe. Recently, the Large Hadron Collider was upgraded. Today, it has the ability to detect sub-atomic particles researchers have never seen before. Some of those particles hid a secret, a revelation that will rewrite our very understanding of the universe. A few days ago, a quantum physicist working at CERN made an incredible discovery. Using a computer algorithm, Doctor Ty Vogel identified a pattern in the sub-atomic particles being generated by the LHC. This pattern is a data transmission across space and time - a signal being broadcast by a sort of...quantum radio. That signal - and the message it carries - will change the world forever. ©2021 A.G. Riddle (P)2021 Recorded Books, Inc.

<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/58435340-quantum-radio?utm_medium=api&amp;utm_source=rss"><img alt="Quantum Radio" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1678453226l/58435340._SX50_.jpg" /></a> 
 author: A.G. Riddle 
 name: Daniel 
 average rating: 4.1 
 book published: 2023 
 rating: 0 
 read at: 
 date added: 2024/02/08 
 shelves: to-read 
 review:

Quantum Radio

Fonda Lee returns to the world of the Green Bone Saga with a new standalone novella. The rapidly changing city of Janloon is ruled by jade, the rare and ancient substance that enhances the abilities and status of the trained Green Bone warriors who run the island’s powerful clans. Pulo Oritono is not one of those warriors. He’s simply an apprentice jade setter with dreams of securing clan patronage and establishing a successful business. His hopes are dashed, however, when a priceless jade weapon is stolen from the shop where he works. Now, Pulo has three days to hunt down the thief, find the jade, and return it to its rightful owner if he wants to save his future prospects, the people he cares about, and his very life. The desperate mission will lead Pulo to old vendettas, vast corruption, and questions about everything and everyone he thought he knew.

<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/57951331-the-jade-setter-of-janloon?utm_medium=api&amp;utm_source=rss"><img alt="The Jade Setter of Janloon (The Green Bone Saga, #0.5)" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1641417448l/57951331._SY75_.jpg" /></a> 
 author: Fonda Lee 
 name: Daniel 
 average rating: 4.3 
 book published: 2022 
 rating: 4 
 read at: 2024/02/06 
 date added: 2024/02/06 
 shelves: 
 review:

The Jade Setter of Janloon (The Green Bone Saga, #0.5)

Jade, the mysterious and magical substance once exclusive to the Green Bone warriors of Kekon, is now known and coveted throughout the world. Everyone wants access to the supernatural abilities it provides, from traditional forces such as governments, mercenaries, and criminal kingpins, to modern players, including doctors, athletes, and movie studios. As the struggle over the control of jade grows ever larger and more deadly, the Kaul family, and the ancient ways of the Kekonese Green Bones, will never be the same. The Kauls have been battered by war and tragedy. They are plagued by resentments and old wounds as their adversaries are on the ascent and their country is riven by dangerous factions and foreign interference that could destroy the Green Bone way of life altogether. As a new generation arises, the clan’s growing empire is in danger of coming apart. The clan must discern allies from enemies, set aside bloody rivalries, and make terrible sacrifices… but even the unbreakable bonds of blood and loyalty may not be enough to ensure the survival of the Green Bone clans and the nation they are sworn to protect.

<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/51057191-jade-legacy?utm_medium=api&amp;utm_source=rss"><img alt="Jade Legacy (The Green Bone Saga, #3)" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1565294729l/51057191._SX50_SY75_.jpg" /></a> 
 author: Fonda Lee 
 name: Daniel 
 average rating: 4.6 
 book published: 2021 
 rating: 5 
 read at: 2024/02/05 
 date added: 2024/02/05 
 shelves: 
 review:

Jade Legacy (The Green Bone Saga, #3)

Before 1854 when George Boole published The Laws of Thought, the subject of "logic" in the Western world was entirely restricted to the study of Aristotelian syllogism, which dates back 384-322 BC&gt; In this work, Boole' introduces a sort of algebra of propositions with probability.

<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/71991.An_Investigation_of_the_Laws_of_Thought?utm_medium=api&amp;utm_source=rss"><img alt="An Investigation of the Laws of Thought" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1266465687l/71991._SY75_.jpg" /></a> 
 author: George Boole 
 name: Daniel 
 average rating: 4.0 
 book published: 1854 
 rating: 0 
 read at: 
 date added: 2024/01/31 
 shelves: on-deck 
 review:

An Investigation of the Laws of Thought

The secret to productivity isn’t discipline. It’s joy. We think that productivity is all about hard work. That the road to success is lined with endless frustration and toil. But what if there’s another way? Ali Abdaal has uncovered an easier and happier path to success. Drawing on decades of psychological research, he has found that the secret to productivity and success isn't grind – it's feeling good. If you can make your work feel good, then productivity takes care of itself. Ali reveals how the science of feel-good productivity can transform your life. He introduces the three hidden 'energisers' that underpin enjoyable productivity, the three 'blockers' we must overcome to beat procrastination, and the three 'sustainers' that prevent burnout and help us achieve lasting fulfillment. He recounts the inspiring stories of founders, Olympians, and Nobel-winning scientists who embody the principles of Feel-Good Productivity. And he introduces the simple, actionable changes that you can use to achieve more and live better, starting today. Armed with Ali’s insights, you won’t just accomplish more. You’ll feel happier and more fulfilled along the way.

<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/142402923-feel-good-productivity?utm_medium=api&amp;utm_source=rss"><img alt="Feel-Good Productivity: How to Do More of What Matters to You" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1689695229l/142402923._SY75_.jpg" /></a> 
 author: Ali Abdaal 
 name: Daniel 
 average rating: 3.9 
 book published: 2023 
 rating: 4 
 read at: 2024/01/31 
 date added: 2024/01/31 
 shelves: 
 review:

Feel-Good Productivity: How to Do More of What Matters to You

Darrow would have lived in peace, but his enemies brought him war. The Gold overlords demanded his obedience, hanged his wife, and enslaved his people. But Darrow is determined to fight back. Risking everything to transform himself and breach Gold society, Darrow has battled to survive the cutthroat rivalries that breed Society’s mightiest warriors, climbed the ranks, and waited patiently to unleash the revolution that will tear the hierarchy apart from within. Finally, the time has come. But devotion to honor and hunger for vengeance run deep on both sides. Darrow and his comrades-in-arms face powerful enemies without scruple or mercy. Among them are some Darrow once considered friends. To win, Darrow will need to inspire those shackled in darkness to break their chains, unmake the world their cruel masters have built, and claim a destiny too long denied—and too glorious to surrender.

<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18966806-morning-star?utm_medium=api&amp;utm_source=rss"><img alt="Morning Star (Red Rising Saga, #3)" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1461354277l/18966806._SY75_.jpg" /></a> 
 author: Pierce Brown 
 name: Daniel 
 average rating: 4.5 
 book published: 2016 
 rating: 5 
 read at: 2024/01/31 
 date added: 2024/01/31 
 shelves: 
 review:

Morning Star (Red Rising Saga, #3)

The story of Candide, a naive youth, who is conscripted, shipwrecked, robbed, and tortured by the Inquisition without losing his will to live is accompanied by imaginary letters on various themes

<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/452801.Candide_and_Philosophical_Letters?utm_medium=api&amp;utm_source=rss"><img alt="Candide and Philosophical Letters" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1174899329l/452801._SX50_.jpg" /></a> 
 author: Voltaire 
 name: Daniel 
 average rating: 3.8 
 book published: 2000 
 rating: 0 
 read at: 
 date added: 2024/01/29 
 shelves: to-read 
 review:

Candide and Philosophical Letters

Philosophy, Russell argues, is concerned with the universe as a whole. He reveals how the world in which we seem to live differs from reality and makes clear how scientific advance has transformed our concept of the world.

<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/144354.An_Outline_of_Philosophy?utm_medium=api&amp;utm_source=rss"><img alt="An Outline of Philosophy" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1172163147l/144354._SY75_.jpg" /></a> 
 author: Bertrand Russell 
 name: Daniel 
 average rating: 3.8 
 book published: 1927 
 rating: 0 
 read at: 
 date added: 2024/01/29 
 shelves: to-read 
 review:

An Outline of Philosophy

This book provides an in-depth, problem-oriented introduction to philosophical analysis using an extremely clear, readable approach. The Fourth Edition does not only update coverage throughout the book, but also restores the introductory chapter— Words and the World —the most distinguished, widely acclaimed feature of the first two editions.

<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/145059.An_Introduction_to_Philosophical_Analysis?utm_medium=api&amp;utm_source=rss"><img alt="An Introduction to Philosophical Analysis (4th Edition)" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1347846417l/145059._SX50_.jpg" /></a> 
 author: John Hospers 
 name: Daniel 
 average rating: 3.9 
 book published: 1965 
 rating: 0 
 read at: 
 date added: 2024/01/29 
 shelves: to-read 
 review:

An Introduction to Philosophical Analysis (4th Edition)

This Elibron Classics edition is a facsimile reprint of a 1920 edition by A. &amp; C. Black, Ltd., London.

<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/500193.Early_Greek_Philosophy?utm_medium=api&amp;utm_source=rss"><img alt="Early Greek Philosophy" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1175279895l/500193._SY75_.jpg" /></a> 
 author: John Burnet 
 name: Daniel 
 average rating: 3.7 
 book published: 1892 
 rating: 0 
 read at: 
 date added: 2024/01/29 
 shelves: to-read 
 review:

Early Greek Philosophy

The individual volumes of Sir Anthony Kenny's acclaimed History of Western Philosophy have been hailed as "wonderful, authoritative, hugely rewarding" (Times Higher Education Supplement) and "genial and highly accessible" (London Review of Books). Now these four splendid books have been combined into one magnificent volume, providing a continuous sweeping account of the great thought of the Western world. Here readers will find not only an authoritative guide to the history of philosophy, but also a compelling introduction to every major area of philosophical inquiry. Kenny tells the story of philosophy chronologically, his lively narrative bringing the great philosophers to life and filling in the historical and intellectual background to their work. Kenny also looks closely at each of the main areas of philosophical exploration: knowledge and understanding; science; metaphysics; mind and soul; the nature and content of morality; political philosophy; and God. A New History of Western Philosophy is a stimulating chronicle of the intellectual development of Western civilization, allowing readers to trace the birth and growth of philosophy from antiquity to the present day.

<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8412068-a-new-history-of-western-philosophy?utm_medium=api&amp;utm_source=rss"><img alt="A New History of Western Philosophy" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1399215781l/8412068._SY75_.jpg" /></a> 
 author: Anthony Kenny 
 name: Daniel 
 average rating: 4.2 
 book published: 2007 
 rating: 0 
 read at: 
 date added: 2024/01/29 
 shelves: to-read 
 review:

A New History of Western Philosophy

This brilliant and concise account of the lives and ideas of the world's great philosophers —Plato, Aristotle, Bacon, Spinoza, Voltaire, Kant, Schopenhauer, Spencer, Nietzsche, Bergson, Croce, Russell, Santayana, James, and Dewey—is "a delight" ( The New York Times ) and remains one of the most important books of our time. Will Durant chronicles the ideas of the great thinkers, the economic and intellectual environments which influenced them, and the personal traits and adventures out of which each philosophy grew. Durant’s insight and wit never cease to dazzle; The Story of Philosophy is an essential book for anyone who wishes to understand the history and development of philosophical ideas in the Western world.

<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/31795.The_Story_of_Philosophy?utm_medium=api&amp;utm_source=rss"><img alt="The Story of Philosophy: The Lives and Opinions of the World&#39;s Greatest Philosophers" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1438471992l/31795._SY75_.jpg" /></a> 
 author: Will Durant 
 name: Daniel 
 average rating: 4.2 
 book published: 1926 
 rating: 0 
 read at: 
 date added: 2024/01/29 
 shelves: to-read 
 review:

The Story of Philosophy: The Lives and Opinions of the World's Greatest Philosophers

Back in print for the first time in more than a decade, Gene Wolfe's The Fifth Head of Cerberus is a universally acknowledged masterpiece of science fiction by one of the field's most brilliant writers. Far out from Earth, two sister planets, Saint Anne and Saint Croix, circle each other in an eternal dance. It is said a race of shapeshifters once lived here, only to perish when men came. But one man believes they can still be found, somewhere in the back of the beyond. In The Fifth Head of Cerberus, Wolfe skillfully interweaves three bizarre tales to create a mesmerizing pattern: the harrowing account of the son of a mad genius who discovers his hideous heritage; a young man's mythic dreamquest for his darker half; the bizarre chronicle of a scientists' nightmarish imprisonment. Like an intricate, braided knot, the pattern at last unfolds to reveal astonishing truths about this strange and savage alien landscape.

<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/845501.The_Fifth_Head_of_Cerberus?utm_medium=api&amp;utm_source=rss"><img alt="The Fifth Head of Cerberus" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1383352739l/845501._SY75_.jpg" /></a> 
 author: Gene Wolfe 
 name: Daniel 
 average rating: 4.0 
 book published: 1972 
 rating: 0 
 read at: 
 date added: 2024/01/29 
 shelves: to-read 
 review:

The Fifth Head of Cerberus

Mesmerizing sci-fi from the author the Denver Post calls "one of the literary giants of science fiction." The melancholy memoir of Alden Dennis Weer, an embittered old man living in a small midwestern town, reveals a miraculous dimension. For Weer's imagination has the power to obliterate time and reshape reality, transcending even death itself.

<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/60213.Peace?utm_medium=api&amp;utm_source=rss"><img alt="Peace" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1391052690l/60213._SY75_.jpg" /></a> 
 author: Gene Wolfe 
 name: Daniel 
 average rating: 4.1 
 book published: 1975 
 rating: 0 
 read at: 
 date added: 2024/01/28 
 shelves: on-deck 
 review:

Peace

Here is the concluding volume of Sir Anthony Kenny's monumental four-volume history of philosophy, the first major single-author narrative history to appear for several decades. In this volume, Kenny tells the fascinating story of the development of philosophy in the modern world, from the early nineteenth century to the end of the millennium. Alongside (and intertwined with) extraordinary scientific advances, cultural changes, and political upheavals, the last two centuries have seen some of the most intriguing and original developments in philosophical thinking, which have transformed our understanding of ourselves and our world. In the first part of the book, Kenny offers a lively narrative introducing the major thinkers in their historical context. Among those we meet are the great figures of continental European philosophy, from Schopenhauer, Kierkegaard, and Nietzsche to Heidegger, Sartre, and Derrida; the Pragmatists such as C.S. Pierce and William James, who first developed a distinctively American philosophical tradition; Marx, Darwin, and Freud, the non-philosophers whose influence on philosophy was immense; and Wittgenstein and Russell, friends and colleagues who set the agenda for analytic philosophy in the twentieth century. Kenny then proceeds to guide the reader lucidly through the nine main areas of philosophical work in the period, offering a serious engagement with ideas and arguments about logic, language, epistemology, metaphysics, ethics, aesthetics, politics, and the existence of God. Graced with many beautiful illustrations, Philosophy in the Modern World concludes Kenny's stimulating history of the intellectual development of Western civilization, allowing readers to trace the birth and growth of philosophy from antiquity to the present day.

<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/166556.Philosophy_in_the_Modern_World?utm_medium=api&amp;utm_source=rss"><img alt="Philosophy in the Modern World (New History of Western Philosophy, vol. 4)" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1347786217l/166556._SX50_.jpg" /></a> 
 author: Anthony Kenny 
 name: Daniel 
 average rating: 3.7 
 book published: 2007 
 rating: 0 
 read at: 
 date added: 2024/01/28 
 shelves: to-read 
 review:

Philosophy in the Modern World (New History of Western Philosophy, vol. 4)

Sir Anthony Kenny's engaging new multi-volume history of Western philosophy now advances into the modern era. The Rise of Modern Philosophy captures the fascinating story of the emergence, from the early sixteenth to the early nineteenth century, of the great ideas and intellectual systems that shaped modern thought. Kenny introduces us to some of the world's most original and influential thinkers and helps us gain an understanding of their famous works. The great minds we meet include Rene Descartes, traditionally seen as the founder of modern philosophy; the great British philosophers Hobbes, Locke, and Hume; continental thinkers such as Spinoza, Liebniz, and Hegel; and the towering figure of Immanuel Kant, who perhaps more than any other made philosophy what it is today. Kenny first tells the story of modern philosophy chronologically: his lively, accessible narrative brings the philosophers to life and fills in the historical and intellectual background to their work. It is ideal as the first thing to read for someone new to this wonderfully creative period. Kenny then backtracks to look closely at each of the main areas of philosophical exploration in this period: knowledge and understanding; the nature of the physical universe; metaphysics (the most fundamental questions there are about existence); mind and soul; the nature and content of morality; political philosophy; and God. The book also features many intriguing and beautiful illustrations which evoke the human and social side of philosophy. Anyone who is interested in the evolution of modern thought will find this a book a treasure.

<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/166838.The_Rise_of_Modern_Philosophy?utm_medium=api&amp;utm_source=rss"><img alt="The Rise of Modern Philosophy (New History of Western Philosophy, vol. 3)" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1347783959l/166838._SY75_.jpg" /></a> 
 author: Anthony Kenny 
 name: Daniel 
 average rating: 3.8 
 book published: 2006 
 rating: 0 
 read at: 
 date added: 2024/01/28 
 shelves: to-read 
 review:

The Rise of Modern Philosophy (New History of Western Philosophy, vol. 3)

Sir Anthony Kenny here continues his fascinating account of the history of philosophy, focusing on the thousand-year-long medieval period. This is the second volume of a four-book set in which Kenny will unfold a magisterial new history of Western philosophy, the first major single-author history of philosophy to appear in decades. In this volume, Kenny takes us on a fascinating tour through more than a millennium of thought from 400 AD onwards, charting the story of philosophy from the founders of Christian and Islamic thought through to the Renaissance. The Middle Ages saw a great flourishing of philosophy, and the intellectual endeavor of the era reaches its climax in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, with the systems of the great schoolmen such as Thomas Aquinas and John Duns Scotus. With Kenny as guide, we see these major philosophers through the eyes of a man who has spent a lifetime contemplating their work. Thus we do not simply get an overview of philosophy, but also a penetrating and insightful critique of it. Kenny offers an illuminating account of various thinkers and schools of thought, from Augustine to Maimonides and from Grosseteste to Pomponazzi. And he offers much insight into medieval thinking about logic and language, knowledge, physics, metaphysics, the mind, the soul, and God. Vividly written, but serious and deep enough to offer a genuine understanding of the great philosophers, Kenny's lucid and stimulating history will become the definitive work for anyone interested in the people and ideas that shaped the course of Western thought.

<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/31896.Medieval_Philosophy?utm_medium=api&amp;utm_source=rss"><img alt="Medieval Philosophy (New History of Western Philosophy, vol. 2)" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1388373730l/31896._SY75_.jpg" /></a> 
 author: Anthony Kenny 
 name: Daniel 
 average rating: 3.8 
 book published: 2005 
 rating: 0 
 read at: 
 date added: 2024/01/28 
 shelves: to-read 
 review:

Medieval Philosophy (New History of Western Philosophy, vol. 2)

Sir Anthony Kenny here tells the fascinating story of the birth of philosophy and its remarkable flourishing in the ancient Mediterranean world. This is the initial volume of a four-book set in which Kenny will unfold a magisterial new history of Western philosophy, the first major single-author history of philosophy to appear in decades. Ancient Philosophy spans over a thousand years and brings to life the great minds of the past, from Thales, Pythagoras, and Parmenides, to Socrates, Epictetus, Marcus Aurelius, and Augustine. The book's great virtue is that it is written by one of the world's leading authorities on the subject. Instead of an uncritical, straightforward recitation of known factsPlato and his cave of shadows, Aristotle's ethics, Augustine's City of Godwe see the major philosophers through the eyes of a man who has spent a lifetime contemplating their work. Thus we do not simply get an overview of Aristotle, for example, but a penetrating and insightful critique of his thought. Kenny offers an illuminating account of the various schools of thought, from the Pre-Socratics to the Epicureans. He examines the development of logic and reason, ancient ideas about physics ("how things happen"), metaphysics and ethics, and the earliest thinking about the soul and god. Vividly written, but serious and deep enough to offer a genuine understanding of the great philosophers, Kenny's lucid and stimulating history will become the definitive work for anyone interested in the people and ideas that shaped the course of Western thought. Sir Anthony Kenny is one of Britain's most distinguished academic figures. He has been Pro-Vice-Chancellor of the University of Oxford, Master of Balliol College, Chairman of the Board of the British Library, and President of the British Academy. He has published more than forty books on philosophy and history.

<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/31894.Ancient_Philosophy?utm_medium=api&amp;utm_source=rss"><img alt="Ancient Philosophy" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1347775370l/31894._SX50_.jpg" /></a> 
 author: Anthony Kenny 
 name: Daniel 
 average rating: 3.9 
 book published: 2004 
 rating: 0 
 read at: 
 date added: 2024/01/28 
 shelves: to-read 
 review:

Ancient Philosophy

'This was the original GAME OF THRONES' George R.R. Martin Available for the first time in English, THE KING WITHOUT A KINGDOM is the seventh and final volume of The Accursed Kings series. The reign of the Capetian kings has ended and John II, 'The Good', takes the throne. Under the leadership of this vain, cruel, incompetent monarch The Hundred Years War escalates and England and France begin to tear each other apart. Warring factions plunder the land, famine threatens the people and the Black Death spreads far and wide. France is bleeding to death around the new king...

<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25489631-the-king-without-a-kingdom?utm_medium=api&amp;utm_source=rss"><img alt="The King Without a Kingdom (The Accursed Kings, #7)" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1549932159l/25489631._SY75_.jpg" /></a> 
 author: Maurice Druon 
 name: Daniel 
 average rating: 3.3 
 book published: 1977 
 rating: 4 
 read at: 2024/01/28 
 date added: 2024/01/28 
 shelves: 
 review:

The King Without a Kingdom (The Accursed Kings, #7)

Since its first publication in 1945 Lord Russell's A History of Western Philosophy has been universally acclaimed as the outstanding one-volume work on the subject—unparalleled in its comprehensiveness, its clarity, its erudition, its grace and wit. In seventy-six chapters he traces philosophy from the rise of Greek civilization to the emergence of logical analysis in the twentieth century. Among the philosophers considered are: Pythagoras, Heraclitus, Parmenides, Empedocles, Anaxagoras, the Atomists, Protagoras, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, the Cynics, the Sceptics, the Epicureans, the Stoics, Plotinus, Ambrose, Jerome, Augustine, Benedict, Gregory the Great, John the Scot, Aquinas, Duns Scotus, William of Occam, Machiavelli, Erasmus, More, Bacon, Hobbes, Descartes, Spinoza, Leibniz, Locke, Berkeley, Hume, Rousseau, Kant, Hegel, Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, the Utilitarians, Marx, Bergson, James, Dewey, and lastly the philosophers with whom Lord Russell himself is most closely associated -- Cantor, Frege, and Whitehead, co-author with Russell of the monumental Principia Mathematica.

<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/243685.A_History_of_Western_Philosophy?utm_medium=api&amp;utm_source=rss"><img alt="A History of Western Philosophy" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1344399003l/243685._SY75_.jpg" /></a> 
 author: Bertrand Russell 
 name: Daniel 
 average rating: 4.1 
 book published: 1945 
 rating: 4 
 read at: 2024/01/27 
 date added: 2024/01/27 
 shelves: 
 review:

A History of Western Philosophy

The royal house of France has fallen. Charles IV is dead, fulfilling the curse of the Templars once and for all. This leaves the path to the throne open for Robert of Artois to place his cousin, Philippe of Valois, upon it. Having committed fraud, perjury and murder in the name of the new king, Robert expects to receive a title and his full reward. But the days of betrayal are far from over and Robert is banished to England. In the land of France's enemies vengeance sparks fresh conflict as King Edward III and his new ally prepare for war. As swords are sharpened the lion wakes and a pretender threatens France once more.

<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23112171-the-lily-and-the-lion?utm_medium=api&amp;utm_source=rss"><img alt="The Lily and The Lion (The Accursed Kings, #6)" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1426365207l/23112171._SY75_.jpg" /></a> 
 author: Maurice Druon 
 name: Daniel 
 average rating: 4.2 
 book published: 1959 
 rating: 4 
 read at: 2024/01/27 
 date added: 2024/01/27 
 shelves: 
 review:

The Lily and The Lion (The Accursed Kings, #6)

An alternate cover edition can be found <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/29081573-house-of-chains" rel="nofollow noopener">here</a>. In Northern Genabackis, a raiding party of savage tribal warriors descends from the mountains into the southern flatlands. Their intention is to wreak havoc amongst the despised lowlanders, but for the one named Karsa Orlong it marks the beginning of what will prove to be an extraordinary destiny. Some years later, it is the aftermath of the Chain of Dogs. Tavore, the Adjunct to the Empress, has arrived in the last remaining Malazan stronghold of Seven Cities. New to command, she must hone twelve thousand soldiers, mostly raw recruits but for a handful of veterans of Coltaine's legendary march, into a force capable of challenging the massed hordes of Sha'ik's Whirlwind who lie in wait in the heart of the Holy Desert. But waiting is never easy. The seer's warlords are locked into a power struggle that threatens the very soul of the rebellion, while Sha'ik herself suffers, haunted by the knowledge of her nemesis: her own sister, Tavore. And so begins this awesome new chapter in Steven Erikson's acclaimed Malazan Book of the Fallen.

<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/55398.House_of_Chains?utm_medium=api&amp;utm_source=rss"><img alt="House of Chains (Malazan Book of the Fallen, #4)" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1548490548l/55398._SY75_.jpg" /></a> 
 author: Steven Erikson 
 name: Daniel 
 average rating: 4.3 
 book published: 2002 
 rating: 0 
 read at: 
 date added: 2024/01/26 
 shelves: on-deck 
 review:

House of Chains (Malazan Book of the Fallen, #4)

What if you woke up one morning and found you’d acquired another self―a double who was almost you and yet not you at all? What if that double shared many of your preoccupations but, in a twisted, upside-down way, furthered the very causes you’d devoted your life to fighting against? Not long ago, the celebrated activist and public intellectual Naomi Klein had just such an experience―she was confronted with a doppelganger whose views she found abhorrent but whose name and public persona were sufficiently similar to her own that many people got confused about who was who. Destabilized, she lost her bearings, until she began to understand the experience as one manifestation of a strangeness many of us have come to know but struggle to define: AI-generated text is blurring the line between genuine and spurious communication; New Age wellness entrepreneurs turned anti-vaxxers are scrambling familiar political allegiances of left and right; and liberal democracies are teetering on the edge of absurdist authoritarianism, even as the oceans rise. Under such conditions, reality itself seems to have become unmoored. Is there a cure for our moment of collective vertigo? Naomi Klein is one of our most trenchant and influential social critics, an essential analyst of what branding, austerity, and climate profiteering have done to our societies and souls. Here she turns her gaze inward to our psychic landscapes, and outward to the possibilities for building hope amid intersecting economic, medical, and political crises. With the assistance of Sigmund Freud, Jordan Peele, Alfred Hitchcock, and bell hooks, among other accomplices, Klein uses wry humor and a keen sense of the ridiculous to face the strange doubles that haunt us―and that have come to feel as intimate and proximate as a warped reflection in the mirror. Combining comic memoir with chilling reportage and cobweb-clearing analysis, Klein seeks to smash that mirror and chart a path beyond despair. Doppelganger What do we neglect as we polish and perfect our digital reflections? Is it possible to dispose of our doubles and overcome the pathologies of a culture of multiplication? Can we create a politics of collective care and undertake a true reckoning with historical crimes? The result is a revelatory treatment of the way many of us think and feel now―and an intellectual adventure story for our times.

<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/138505710-doppelganger?utm_medium=api&amp;utm_source=rss"><img alt="Doppelganger: A Trip into the Mirror World" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1689105362l/138505710._SY75_.jpg" /></a> 
 author: Naomi Klein 
 name: Daniel 
 average rating: 4.3 
 book published: 2023 
 rating: 0 
 read at: 
 date added: 2024/01/26 
 shelves: to-read 
 review:

Doppelganger: A Trip into the Mirror World

Defeated, crushed, and driven almost to extinction, the remnants of the human race are trapped on a planet that is constantly attacked by mysterious alien starfighters. Spensa, a teenage girl living among them, longs to be a pilot. When she discovers the wreckage of an ancient ship, she realizes this dream might be possible—assuming she can repair the ship, navigate flight school, and (perhaps most importantly) persuade the strange machine to help her. Because this ship, uniquely, appears to have a soul.

<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/36642458-skyward?utm_medium=api&amp;utm_source=rss"><img alt="Skyward (Skyward, #1)" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1531845177l/36642458._SY75_.jpg" /></a> 
 author: Brandon Sanderson 
 name: Daniel 
 average rating: 4.5 
 book published: 2018 
 rating: 0 
 read at: 
 date added: 2024/01/26 
 shelves: to-read 
 review:

Skyward (Skyward, #1)

Philippe V le Long vient de mourir avant d'avoir atteint trente ans et, comme son frère Louis X le Hutin, sans descendance mâle. Le troisième fils du Roi de fer, le faible Charles IV le Bel, lui succède. Une évasion de la tour de Londres ; la chevauchée cruelle conduite par une reine française d'Angleterre pour chasser du trône son époux ; un atroce assassinat perpétré sur un souverain... La relance de l'Histoire vient d'Angleterre. La Louve de France , c'est le tragique surnom que les chroniqueurs donnèrent à la reine Isabelle, fille de Philippe le Bel, qui semblait avoir transporté outre-Manche la malédiction des Templiers.

<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2481568.The_She_Wolf_of_France?utm_medium=api&amp;utm_source=rss"><img alt="The She-Wolf of France (The Accursed Kings, #5)" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1690231712l/2481568._SY75_.jpg" /></a> 
 author: Maurice Druon 
 name: Daniel 
 average rating: 4.3 
 book published: 1959 
 rating: 4 
 read at: 2024/01/25 
 date added: 2024/01/25 
 shelves: 
 review:

The She-Wolf of France (The Accursed Kings, #5)

Louis X is dead, poisoned, murdered, by the hand of Mahaut d''Artois. Her plan is simple - to clear the path to the throne for her son-in-law Philippe. However, there is the small matter of Queen Clemence and her unborn child. As the country is thrown into turmoil, Philippe of Poitiers must use any means necessary to save his country from anarchy. However, how far is he willing to go to clear his path to the throne and become King in his own right?

<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18679998-the-royal-succession?utm_medium=api&amp;utm_source=rss"><img alt="The Royal Succession (The Accursed Kings, #4)" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1391330198l/18679998._SY75_.jpg" /></a> 
 author: Maurice Druon 
 name: Daniel 
 average rating: 4.2 
 book published: 1957 
 rating: 4 
 read at: 2024/01/23 
 date added: 2024/01/23 
 shelves: 
 review:

The Royal Succession (The Accursed Kings, #4)

An entralling and accessible account of humanity’s quest to make sense of our physical world, told through interwoven tales of inspiration, tragedy, and triumph. How do the remarkable recent discoveries of the Higgs boson, dark matter, and dark energy connect with the equally revolutionary discoveries in centuries past? In Grace in All Simplicity, readers will delight in Cahn and Quigg's engaging prose and see how the infinite and the infinitesimal are joined. Today, physicists and astronomers are exploring distances from a billionth of a billionth of the human scale to the entire cosmos, and contemplating time intervals that range from less than a trillionth of a trillionth of a second out to far longer than the age of the universe. Leaving home in this metaphorical way requires devising new instruments that spectacularly expand our senses and conceiving original ways of thinking that expand our minds. This is at once an act of audacity and an exercise in humility. Grace in All Simplicity narrates the saga of how we have prospected for some of Nature’s most tightly held secrets, the basic constituents of matter and the fundamental forces that rule them. Our current understanding of the world (and universe) we inhabit is the result of curiosity, diligence, and daring, of abstraction and synthesis, and of an abiding faith in the value of exploration. In these pages we will meet scientists of both past and present. These men and women are professional scientists and amateurs, the eccentric and the conventional, performers and introverts. Scientists themselves, Cahn and Quigg convey their infectious joy as they search for new laws of nature. Join the adventure as scientists ascend mountain tops and descend into caverns deep underground, travel to the coldest places on Earth, and voyage back in time to near the birth of the Universe. Visit today’s great laboratories and the astounding instruments they house. Grace in All Simplicity is a thrilling voyage filled with improbable discoveries and the extraordinary community of people who make them. Together, we will travel the path to the Higgs boson, weigh the evidence for subliminal dark matter, and learn what makes scientists invoke a mysterious agent named "dark energy." We will behold the emergence of a compelling picture of matter and forces, simple in its structure, graceful in the interplay of its parts, but still tantalizingly incomplete.

<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/101016890-grace-in-all-simplicity?utm_medium=api&amp;utm_source=rss"><img alt="Grace in All Simplicity: Beauty, Truth, and Wonders on the Path to the Higgs Boson and New Laws of Nature" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1678900348l/101016890._SY75_.jpg" /></a> 
 author: Chris Quigg 
 name: Daniel 
 average rating: 0.0 
 book published: 
 rating: 0 
 read at: 
 date added: 2024/01/23 
 shelves: on-deck 
 review:

Grace in All Simplicity: Beauty, Truth, and Wonders on the Path to the Higgs Boson and New Laws of Nature

As a Red, Darrow grew up working the mines deep beneath the surface of Mars, enduring backbreaking labor while dreaming of the better future he was building for his descendants. But the Society he faithfully served was built on lies. Darrow’s kind have been betrayed and denied by their elitist masters, the Golds—and their only path to liberation is revolution. And so Darrow sacrifices himself in the name of the greater good for which Eo, his true love and inspiration, laid down her own life. He becomes a Gold, infiltrating their privileged realm so that he can destroy it from within. A lamb among wolves in a cruel world, Darrow finds friendship, respect, and even love—but also the wrath of powerful rivals. To wage and win the war that will change humankind’s destiny, Darrow must confront the treachery arrayed against him, overcome his all-too-human desire for retribution—and strive not for violent revolt but a hopeful rebirth. Though the road ahead is fraught with danger and deceit, Darrow must choose to follow Eo’s principles of love and justice to free his people. He must live for more.

<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18966819-golden-son?utm_medium=api&amp;utm_source=rss"><img alt="Golden Son (Red Rising Saga, #2)" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1394684475l/18966819._SY75_.jpg" /></a> 
 author: Pierce Brown 
 name: Daniel 
 average rating: 4.5 
 book published: 2015 
 rating: 5 
 read at: 2024/01/22 
 date added: 2024/01/22 
 shelves: 
 review:

Golden Son (Red Rising Saga, #2)

What brings the Earth to life, and our own lives to an end? For decades, biology has been dominated by the study of genetic information. Information is important, but it is only part of what makes us alive. Our inheritance also includes our living metabolic network, a flame passed from generation to generation, right back to the origin of life. In Transformer, biochemist Nick Lane reveals a scientific renaissance that is hiding in plain sight —how the same simple chemistry gives rise to life and causes our demise. Lane is among the vanguard of researchers asking why the Krebs cycle, the “perfect circle” at the heart of metabolism, remains so elusive more than eighty years after its discovery. Transformer is Lane’s voyage, as a biochemist, to find the inner meaning of the Krebs cycle—and its reverse—why it is still spinning at the heart of life and death today. Lane reveals the beautiful, violent world within our cells, where hydrogen atoms are stripped from the carbon skeletons of food and fed to the ravenous beast of oxygen. Yet this same cycle, spinning in reverse, also created the chemical building blocks that enabled the emergence of life on our planet. Now it does both. How can the same pathway create and destroy? What might our study of the Krebs cycle teach us about the mysteries of aging and the hardest problem of all, consciousness? Transformer unites the story of our planet with the story of our cells—what makes us the way we are, and how it connects us to the origin of life. Enlivened by Lane’s talent for distilling and humanizing complex research, Transformer offers an essential read for anyone fascinated by biology’s great mysteries. Life is at root a chemical phenomenon: this is its deep logic.

<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/58999183-transformer?utm_medium=api&amp;utm_source=rss"><img alt="Transformer: The Deep Chemistry of Life and Death" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1650681579l/58999183._SY75_.jpg" /></a> 
 author: Nick Lane 
 name: Daniel 
 average rating: 4.0 
 book published: 2022 
 rating: 0 
 read at: 
 date added: 2024/01/19 
 shelves: on-deck 
 review:

Transformer: The Deep Chemistry of Life and Death

Inspired by Bill Simmons' epic The Book of Basketball, Tyler Cowen translates a lifelong passion for economics into an entertaining and erudite analysis of who qualifies as the greatest economist of all time. Through vivid storytelling, Cowen examines the lives of history’s most influential economic thinkers, from the passionate idealism of a young John Stuart Mill to the analytical brilliance of Milton Friedman. Delving into long-forgotten lectures, private letters, and formative childhood moments, Cowen unearths surprising insights into what drove these great thinkers. Was Alfred Marshall's photographic memory the key to his theories of supply and demand? Did Adam Smith's absent father help spark his visionary ideas? In the end, Cowen crowns a surprising winner and makes a compelling case for the under-appreciated qualities that separate the good from the truly great. Call it juvenile, or overly hierarchical, but Tyler will force you to think about economics in a new way. Think he’s wrong? Tell it to the AI.

<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/200622289-goat?utm_medium=api&amp;utm_source=rss"><img alt="GOAT: Who is the Greatest Economist of All Time?" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1698185056l/200622289._SX50_.jpg" /></a> 
 author: Tyler Cowen 
 name: Daniel 
 average rating: 3.8 
 book published: 
 rating: 0 
 read at: 
 date added: 2024/01/19 
 shelves: on-deck 
 review:

GOAT: Who is the Greatest Economist of All Time?

A lively and still one of the best introductions to philosophy, this book pays off both a closer reading for students and specialists, and a casual reading for the general public.

<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/31799.The_Problems_of_Philosophy?utm_medium=api&amp;utm_source=rss"><img alt="The Problems of Philosophy" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1405495766l/31799._SX50_.jpg" /></a> 
 author: Bertrand Russell 
 name: Daniel 
 average rating: 3.9 
 book published: 1912 
 rating: 0 
 read at: 
 date added: 2024/01/19 
 shelves: on-deck 
 review:

The Problems of Philosophy

"I live for the dream that my children will be born free," she says. "That they will be what they like. That they will own the land their father gave them." "I live for you," I say sadly. Eo kisses my cheek. "Then you must live for more." Darrow is a Red, a member of the lowest caste in the color-coded society of the future. Like his fellow Reds, he works all day, believing that he and his people are making the surface of Mars livable for future generations. Yet he spends his life willingly, knowing that his blood and sweat will one day result in a better world for his children. But Darrow and his kind have been betrayed. Soon he discovers that humanity already reached the surface generations ago. Vast cities and sprawling parks spread across the planet. Darrow—and Reds like him—are nothing more than slaves to a decadent ruling class. Inspired by a longing for justice, and driven by the memory of lost love, Darrow sacrifices everything to infiltrate the legendary Institute, a proving ground for the dominant Gold caste, where the next generation of humanity's overlords struggle for power. He will be forced to compete for his life and the very future of civilization against the best and most brutal of Society's ruling class. There, he will stop at nothing to bring down his enemies... even if it means he has to become one of them to do so.

<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15839976-red-rising?utm_medium=api&amp;utm_source=rss"><img alt="Red Rising (Red Rising Saga, #1)" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1461354651l/15839976._SY75_.jpg" /></a> 
 author: Pierce Brown 
 name: Daniel 
 average rating: 4.3 
 book published: 2014 
 rating: 5 
 read at: 2024/01/18 
 date added: 2024/01/18 
 shelves: 
 review:

Red Rising (Red Rising Saga, #1)

The computer revolution brought with it new methods of getting work done—just look at today's news for reports of hard-driven, highly-motivated young software and online commerce developers who sacrifice evenings and weekends to meet impossible deadlines. Tracy Kidder got a preview of this world in the late 1970s when he observed the engineers of Data General design and build a new 32-bit minicomputer in just one year. His thoughtful, prescient book, The Soul of a New Machine, tells stories of 35-year-old "veteran" engineers hiring recent college graduates and encouraging them to work harder and faster on complex and difficult projects, exploiting the youngsters' ignorance of normal scheduling processes while engendering a new kind of work ethic. These days, we are used to the "total commitment" philosophy of managing technical creation, but Kidder was surprised and even a little alarmed at the obsessions and compulsions he found. From in-house political struggles to workers being permitted to tease management to marathon 24-hour work sessions, The Soul of a New Machine explores concepts that already seem familiar, even old-hat, less than 20 years later. Kidder plainly admires his subjects; while he admits to hopeless confusion about their work, he finds their dedication heroic. The reader wonders, though, what will become of it all, now and in the future. —Rob Lightner

<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7090.The_Soul_of_a_New_Machine?utm_medium=api&amp;utm_source=rss"><img alt="The Soul of a New Machine" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1627012239l/7090._SY75_.jpg" /></a> 
 author: Tracy Kidder 
 name: Daniel 
 average rating: 4.1 
 book published: 1981 
 rating: 0 
 read at: 
 date added: 2024/01/18 
 shelves: on-deck 
 review:

The Soul of a New Machine

In Jade War, the sequel to the World Fantasy Award-winning novel Jade City, the Kaul siblings battle rival clans for honor and control over an Asia-inspired fantasy metropolis. On the island of Kekon, the Kaul family is locked in a violent feud for control of the capital city and the supply of magical jade that endows trained Green Bone warriors with supernatural powers they alone have possessed for hundreds of years. Beyond Kekon's borders, war is brewing. Powerful foreign governments and mercenary criminal kingpins alike turn their eyes on the island nation. Jade, Kekon's most prized resource, could make them rich - or give them the edge they'd need to topple their rivals. Faced with threats on all sides, the Kaul family is forced to form new and dangerous alliances, confront enemies in the darkest streets and the tallest office towers, and put honor aside in order to do whatever it takes to ensure their own survival - and that of all the Green Bones of Kekon. Jade War is the second book of the Green Bone Saga, an epic trilogy about family, honor, and those who live and die by the ancient laws of blood and jade.

<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/41716919-jade-war?utm_medium=api&amp;utm_source=rss"><img alt="Jade War (The Green Bone Saga, #2)" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1537885614l/41716919._SY75_.jpg" /></a> 
 author: Fonda Lee 
 name: Daniel 
 average rating: 4.4 
 book published: 2019 
 rating: 5 
 read at: 2024/01/15 
 date added: 2024/01/15 
 shelves: 
 review:

Jade War (The Green Bone Saga, #2)

Offers advice for the clients of professional investment managers in becoming actively involved in the administration of investment funds and adds a new chapter with advice for individual investors

<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7008107-investment-policy?utm_medium=api&amp;utm_source=rss"><img alt="Investment Policy: How to Win the Loser&#39;s Game" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1405809400l/7008107._SY75_.jpg" /></a> 
 author: Charles D. Ellis 
 name: Daniel 
 average rating: 3.9 
 book published: 1985 
 rating: 4 
 read at: 2003/10/30 
 date added: 2024/01/12 
 shelves: 
 review:

Investment Policy: How to Win the Loser's Game

Investment Policy presents a fresh approach to professional investment management that involves active client participation. This revised and updated consumer's guide to investment policy will enable you and your clients to The basic nature of institutional investing;; How to formulate specific policies to reach long-term investment goals and objectives; How to manage investment managers to achieve these goals.

<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/911852.Investment_Policy?utm_medium=api&amp;utm_source=rss"><img alt="Investment Policy: How to Win the Loser&#39;s Game" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1387748143l/911852._SY75_.jpg" /></a> 
 author: Charles D. Ellis 
 name: Daniel 
 average rating: 3.1 
 book published: 1985 
 rating: 5 
 read at: 
 date added: 2024/01/12 
 shelves: 
 review:

CAN THE YOUNGEST SON OF A NOBLE HOUSE SAVE HIS FAMILY FROM A PLOT GENERATIONS IN THE MAKING? Crispin Marlowe grew up in his brother’s shadow, but Hadrian is gone, and his grandmother—the duchess of Delos—is dying. Answering her summons, Crispin takes off on what should be a routine flight to the ducal palace from the castle at Devil’s Rest. But he is flying into a trap. There are whispers of treachery among the duchess’s many daughters, rumors of hidden knives in the planet’s court . . . if he can even make it there. With no one coming to save him and only his sister, Sabine, and a few injured guardsmen to protect him, House Marlowe’s least famous son must make his heroic stand, and contend not only the foes arrayed against his house, but with the cultists who dwell in the mountains above his family’s ancestral home . . . . PRAISE FOR THE LESSER "A deep and vividly told story that promises an even larger epic in the main body of the series. It's science fiction in the vein and legacy of Dune with its own satisfying voice." – R.R. Virdi, Two-Time Dragon Award-Finalist, Nebula-Finalist, Amazon Bestselling Author PRAISE FOR CHRISTOPHER "Empire of Silence is epic science fiction at its most genuinely epic. Ruocchio has made something fascinating here, and I can't wait to see what he does next." —James S.A. Corey, New York Times-bestselling author of The Expanse novels “Empire of Silence is a rich tapestry of future history and worldbuilding, a galactic-sized story of a hero, a tyrant, but portrayed as a man.” —Kevin J. Anderson, New York Times-bestselling author of The Dark Between the Stars "Space opera fans will savor the rich details of Ruocchio’s far-future debut, which sets the scene for a complicated series.... Readers who like a slow-building story with a strong character focus will find everything they’re looking for in this series opener." —Publishers Weekly "Although stretched across a vast array of planets, the story line is often more focused on the intimate than on the expanse, giving it a wonderful emotional punch. This wow book is a must for fans of Pierce Brown and Patrick Rothfuss." —Library Journal (starred review)

<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/53536557-the-lesser-devil?utm_medium=api&amp;utm_source=rss"><img alt="The Lesser Devil (The Sun Eater, #1.5)" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1590633476l/53536557._SX50_.jpg" /></a> 
 author: Christopher Ruocchio 
 name: Daniel 
 average rating: 4.0 
 book published: 2020 
 rating: 4 
 read at: 2024/01/10 
 date added: 2024/01/10 
 shelves: 
 review:

The Lesser Devil (The Sun Eater, #1.5)

Using history to challenge Communist Party rule. China's Underground Historians and their Battle for the Future describes how some of China's best-known writers, filmmakers, and artists have overcome crackdowns and censorship to forge a nationwide movement that challenges the Communist Party on its most hallowed its control of history. The past is a battleground in many countries, but in China it is crucial to political power. In traditional China, dynasties rewrote history to justify their rule by proving that their predecessors were unworthy of holding power. Marxism gave this a modern gloss, describing history as an unstoppable force heading toward Communism's triumph. The Chinese Communist Party builds on these ideas to whitewash its misdeeds and glorify its rule. Indeed, one of Xi Jinping's signature policies is the control of history, which he equates with the party's survival. But in recent years, a network of independent writers, artists, and filmmakers have begun challenging this state-led disremembering. Using digital technologies to bypass China's legendary surveillance state, their samizdat journals, guerilla media posts, and underground films document a regular pattern of from famines and purges of years past to ethnic clashes and virus outbreaks of the present--powerful and inspiring accounts that have underpinned recent protests in China against Xi Jinping's strongman rule. Based on years of first-hand research in Xi Jinping's China, Sparks challenges stereotypes of a China where the state has quashed all free thought, revealing instead a country engaged in one of humanity's great struggles of memory against forgetting―a battle that will shape the China that emerges in the mid-21st century.

<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/123199472-sparks?utm_medium=api&amp;utm_source=rss"><img alt="Sparks: China&#39;s Underground Historians and their Battle for the Future" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1690815502l/123199472._SY75_.jpg" /></a> 
 author: Ian Johnson 
 name: Daniel 
 average rating: 4.4 
 book published: 2023 
 rating: 4 
 read at: 2024/01/09 
 date added: 2024/01/09 
 shelves: 
 review:

Sparks: China's Underground Historians and their Battle for the Future

JADE CITY is a gripping Godfather-esque saga of intergenerational blood feuds, vicious politics, magic, and kungfu. The Kaul family is one of two crime syndicates that control the island of Kekon. It's the only place in the world that produces rare magical jade, which grants those with the right training and heritage superhuman abilities. The Green Bone clans of honorable jade-wearing warriors once protected the island from foreign invasion--but nowadays, in a bustling post-war metropolis full of fast cars and foreign money, Green Bone families like the Kauls are primarily involved in commerce, construction, and the everyday upkeep of the districts under their protection. When the simmering tension between the Kauls and their greatest rivals erupts into open violence in the streets, the outcome of this clan war will determine the fate of all Green Bones and the future of Kekon itself.

<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/43587154-jade-city?utm_medium=api&amp;utm_source=rss"><img alt="Jade City (The Green Bone Saga, #1)" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1547625704l/43587154._SY75_.jpg" /></a> 
 author: Fonda Lee 
 name: Daniel 
 average rating: 4.1 
 book published: 2017 
 rating: 5 
 read at: 2024/01/08 
 date added: 2024/01/08 
 shelves: 
 review:

Jade City (The Green Bone Saga, #1)

Hadrian Marlowe, a man revered as a hero and despised as a murderer, chronicles his tale in the galaxy-spanning debut of the Sun Eater series, merging the best of space opera and epic fantasy. It was not his war. On the wrong planet, at the right time, for the best reasons, Hadrian Marlowe started down a path that could only end in fire. The galaxy remembers him as a hero: the man who burned every last alien Cielcin from the sky. They remember him as a monster: the devil who destroyed a sun, casually annihilating four billion human lives—even the Emperor himself—against Imperial orders. But Hadrian was not a hero. He was not a monster. He was not even a soldier. Fleeing his father and a future as a torturer, Hadrian finds himself stranded on a strange, backwater world. Forced to fight as a gladiator and navigate the intrigues of a foreign planetary court, he will find himself fighting a war he did not start, for an Empire he does not love, against an enemy he will never understand.

<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/36454667-empire-of-silence?utm_medium=api&amp;utm_source=rss"><img alt="Empire of Silence (Sun Eater, #1)" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1523897945l/36454667._SY75_.jpg" /></a> 
 author: Christopher Ruocchio 
 name: Daniel 
 average rating: 4.1 
 book published: 2018 
 rating: 4 
 read at: 2024/01/05 
 date added: 2024/01/05 
 shelves: 
 review:

Empire of Silence (Sun Eater, #1)

Kant's Prolegomena, although a small book, is indubitably the most important of his writings. It furnishes us with a key to his main work, The Critique of Pure Reason; in fact, it is an extract containing all the salient ideas of Kant's system. It approaches the subject in the simplest and most direct way, and is therefore best adapted as an introduction into his philosophy.

<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/80324.Prolegomena_to_Any_Future_Metaphysics?utm_medium=api&amp;utm_source=rss"><img alt="Prolegomena to Any Future Metaphysics" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1405624515l/80324._SY75_.jpg" /></a> 
 author: Immanuel Kant 
 name: Daniel 
 average rating: 4.0 
 book published: 1783 
 rating: 4 
 read at: 2023/12/31 
 date added: 2023/12/31 
 shelves: 
 review:

Prolegomena to Any Future Metaphysics

From the ashes of the War of the Way arises chaos, and a new menace swarms over the battle-ravaged kingdoms of Eormenlond while disease and violence claim thousands. But the greatest threat to Eormenlond is its savior. Stark choices confront Dayraven's friends as they race to salvage what they can of their world. Amidst the vast struggle for survival and meaning is Seren, a girl from Caergilion who may hold the key to unlocking the Prophet’s mind. The convergence of plotlines sweeps the tale back to where it all began in Return to Edan , the monumental conclusion of The Edan Trilogy .

<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/196301282-return-to-edan?utm_medium=api&amp;utm_source=rss"><img alt="Return to Edan (The Edan Trilogy, #3)" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1691775151l/196301282._SY75_.jpg" /></a> 
 author: Philip Chase 
 name: Daniel 
 average rating: 4.5 
 book published: 
 rating: 0 
 read at: 
 date added: 2023/12/31 
 shelves: to-read 
 review:

Return to Edan (The Edan Trilogy, #3)

Ruin follows in the wake of Torrlond’s victorious army and the beasts its priests enslave, leaving no corner of Eormenlond untouched by the inferno of its war. Kingdoms and tribes line up on opposing sides as the conflict rages, rekindling ancient hatreds and avenging old wrongs. As Dayraven struggles to contain the vast power of his curse, he and Sequara confront the destruction of all they hold dear. To salvage their world, they must sacrifice what most makes it precious. With twists as wrenching as they are unexpected, The Prophet of Edan reveals the War of the Way’s culmination.

<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/171285064-the-prophet-of-edan?utm_medium=api&amp;utm_source=rss"><img alt="The Prophet of Edan (The Edan Trilogy, #2)" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1685672934l/171285064._SY75_.jpg" /></a> 
 author: Philip Chase 
 name: Daniel 
 average rating: 4.3 
 book published: 
 rating: 0 
 read at: 
 date added: 2023/12/31 
 shelves: to-read 
 review:

The Prophet of Edan (The Edan Trilogy, #2)

The Kingdom of the Eternal will awaken when the Way of Edan holds sway over all of Eormenlond. So say the prophecies. With unrivalled power in the gift, the Supreme Priest Bledla leads Torrlond and its mighty army to convert rival kingdoms by the sword and by the fang. Among the gathering resistance is the sorceress Sequara, whose mission is to protect her island and her Andumaic faith from the Torrlonders’ aggression. As holy war looms over the kingdoms of Eormenlond, a chance encounter bestows a terrible curse upon a young man. Dayraven’s curse may decide Eormenlond’s fate. But first, with the help of unlikely friends, he must survive the shattering of his world. Equal parts epic and lament, The Way of Edan is the lyrical opening of The Edan Trilogy.

<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/123153535-the-way-of-edan?utm_medium=api&amp;utm_source=rss"><img alt="The Way of Edan (The Edan Trilogy #1)" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1678034266l/123153535._SX50_.jpg" /></a> 
 author: Philip Chase 
 name: Daniel 
 average rating: 4.0 
 book published: 2023 
 rating: 0 
 read at: 
 date added: 2023/12/31 
 shelves: on-deck 
 review:

The Way of Edan (The Edan Trilogy #1)

The New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice • A poet, a physicist, and a philosopher explored the greatest enigmas in the universe—the nature of free will, the strange fabric of the cosmos, the true limits of the mind—and each in their own way uncovered a revelatory truth about our place in the world “[A] mind-expanding book. . . . Elegantly written.” — The New York Times Argentine poet Jorge Luis Borges was madly in love when his life was shattered by painful heartbreak. But the breakdown that followed illuminated an incontrovertible truth—that love is necessarily imbued with loss, that the one doesn’t exist without the other. German physicist Werner Heisenberg was fighting with the scientific establishment on the meaning of the quantum realm’s absurdity when he had his own epiphany—that there is no such thing as a complete, perfect description of reality. Prussian philosopher Immanuel Kant pushed the assumptions of human reason to their mind-bending conclusions, but emerged with an idea that crowned a towering philosophical system—that the human mind has fundamental limits, and those limits undergird both our greatest achievements as well as our missteps. Through fiction, science, and philosophy, the work of these three thinkers coalesced around the powerful, haunting fact that there is an irreconcilable difference between reality “out there” and reality as we experience it. Out of this profound truth comes a multitude of galvanizing the notion of selfhood, free will, and purpose in human life; the roots of morality, aesthetics, and reason; and the origins and nature of the cosmos itself. As each of these thinkers shows, every one of us has a fundamentally incomplete picture of the world. But this is to be expected. Only as mortal, finite beings are we able to experience the world in all its richness and breathtaking majesty. We are stranded in a gulf of vast extremes, between the astronomical and the quantum, an abyss of freedom and absolute determinism, and it is in that center where we must make our home. A soaring and lucid reflection on the lives and work of Borges, Heisenberg, and Kant, The Rigor of Angels movingly demonstrates that the mysteries of our place in the world may always loom over us—not as a threat, but as a reminder of our humble humanity.

<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/63946909-the-rigor-of-angels?utm_medium=api&amp;utm_source=rss"><img alt="The Rigor of Angels: Borges, Heisenberg, Kant, and the Ultimate Nature of Reality" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1684816550l/63946909._SY75_.jpg" /></a> 
 author: William Egginton 
 name: Daniel 
 average rating: 4.2 
 book published: 
 rating: 4 
 read at: 2023/12/27 
 date added: 2023/12/27 
 shelves: 
 review:

The Rigor of Angels: Borges, Heisenberg, Kant, and the Ultimate Nature of Reality

The ultimate adventure for fans of Rush and the internationally bestselling author Kevin J. Anderson Imagine if someone had written the novel of The Wall, Tommy, or Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band when those classic albums were released. For fans of the multi-platinum band Rush, Clockwork Angels: The Novel is that project. In collaboration with the legendary rock band, acclaimed novelist Kevin J. Anderson turns the sonic journey of Rush’s new album into a full-length literary adventure. In a young man’s quest to follow his dreams, he is caught between the grandiose forces of order and chaos. He travels through a lavish and colourful world of steampunk and alchemy, with lost cities, pirates, anarchists, exotic carnivals, and a rigid Watchmaker who imposes precision on every aspect of daily life.

<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13592828-clockwork-angels?utm_medium=api&amp;utm_source=rss"><img alt="Clockwork Angels (Clockwork Angels, #1)" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1337657558l/13592828._SX50_.jpg" /></a> 
 author: Kevin J. Anderson 
 name: Daniel 
 average rating: 3.7 
 book published: 2012 
 rating: 4 
 read at: 2023/12/23 
 date added: 2023/12/23 
 shelves: 
 review:

Clockwork Angels (Clockwork Angels, #1)

It's an hilarious revisionist account of Noah's ark, narrated by a passenger who doesn't appear in Genesis

<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17705524-a-history-of-the-world-in-10-1-2-chapters?utm_medium=api&amp;utm_source=rss"><img alt="A History of the World in 10 1/2 Chapters" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1440950367l/17705524._SY75_.jpg" /></a> 
 author: Julian Barnes 
 name: Daniel 
 average rating: 3.8 
 book published: 1989 
 rating: 0 
 read at: 
 date added: 2023/12/20 
 shelves: to-read 
 review:

A History of the World in 10 1/2 Chapters

Vlad Taltos ist ein Hexer, freiberuflicher Attentäter, lebt als Ostländer (also Mensch) unter Dragaeranern und nennt einen reptilischen Vertrauten mit beissendem Humor sein Eigen. Und er ist in Schwierigkeiten, denn er muss einen Krieg verhindern, in dem sich seine besten Freunde und daneben auch die großen Familien von Dragaera gegenseitig auslöschen würden... The first to be published, this is actually the fourth novel in the timeline of the VLAD TALTOS series. The books recount the adventures of the wisecracking hired killer Vlad, a human on a planet mainly inhabited by the long-lived, extremely tall sorcerers known as the Dragaerans. One of the most powerful bosses in the Jhereg--Dragaera's premier criminal organization--hires Vlad, one of their guild members, to assassinate Mellar, who stole millions from the Jhereg leadership and fled. Unfortunately, this thief turns out to be protected in a way that makes it difficult for Vlad to do his job without gaining the permanent enmity of a friend. The reader also learns more about Vlad's past in this, and in other, lives.

<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/133454.Jhereg?utm_medium=api&amp;utm_source=rss"><img alt="Jhereg (Vlad Taltos, #1)" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1328204364l/133454._SY75_.jpg" /></a> 
 author: Steven Brust 
 name: Daniel 
 average rating: 4.2 
 book published: 1983 
 rating: 4 
 read at: 2023/12/19 
 date added: 2023/12/19 
 shelves: 
 review:

Jhereg (Vlad Taltos, #1)

From the Reviews: ..". Inside PFTB (Proofs from The Book) is indeed a glimpse of mathematical heaven, where clever insights and beautiful ideas combine in astonishing and glorious ways. There is vast wealth within its pages, one gem after another. Some of the proofs are classics, but many are new and brilliant proofs of classical results. ...Aigner and Ziegler... write: ..". all we offer is the examples that we have selected, hoping that our readers will share our enthusiasm about brilliant ideas, clever insights and wonderful observations." I do. ... " Notices of the AMS, August 1999 ..". the style is clear and entertaining, the level is close to elementary ... and the proofs are brilliant. ..." LMS Newsletter, January 1999 This third edition offers two new chapters, on partition identities, and on card shuffling. Three proofs of Euler's most famous infinite series appear in a separate chapter. There is also a number of other improvements, such as an exciting new way to "enumerate the rationals."

<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/696238.Proofs_from_the_Book?utm_medium=api&amp;utm_source=rss"><img alt="Proofs from the Book" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1348220647l/696238._SX50_.jpg" /></a> 
 author: Martin Aigner 
 name: Daniel 
 average rating: 4.4 
 book published: 1998 
 rating: 0 
 read at: 
 date added: 2023/12/18 
 shelves: on-deck 
 review:

Proofs from the Book

#1 New York Times-bestselling phenomenon Patrick Rothfuss returns to the wildly popular Kingkiller Chronicle universe with a stunning reimagining of "The Lightning Tree." Expanded to twice its previous length and lavishly illustrated by Nathan Taylor, this touching stand-alone story is sure to please new readers and veteran Rothfuss fans alike. Bast knows how to bargain. The give-and-take of a negotiation is as familiar to him as the in-and-out of breathing; to watch him trade is to watch an artist at work. But even a master's brush can slip. When he accepts a gift, taking something for nothing, Bast's whole world is knocked askew, for he knows how to bargain—but not how to owe. From dawn to midnight over the course of a single day, follow the Kingkiller Chronicle's most charming fae as he schemes and sneaks, dancing into trouble and back out again with uncanny grace. The Narrow Road Between Desires is Bast's story. In it he traces the old ways of making and breaking, following his heart even when doing so goes against his better judgement. After all, what good is caution if it keeps him from danger and delight?

<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/157265081-the-narrow-road-between-desires?utm_medium=api&amp;utm_source=rss"><img alt="The Narrow Road Between Desires (The Kingkiller Chronicle, #2.6)" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1689071571l/157265081._SX50_.jpg" /></a> 
 author: Patrick Rothfuss 
 name: Daniel 
 average rating: 4.0 
 book published: 2023 
 rating: 5 
 read at: 2023/12/15 
 date added: 2023/12/15 
 shelves: 
 review:

The Narrow Road Between Desires (The Kingkiller Chronicle, #2.6)

He called himself Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever because he dared not believe in the strange alternate world in which he suddenly found himself. Yet the Land tempted him. He had been sick; now he seemed better than ever before. Through no fault of his own, he had been outcast, unclean, a pariah. Now he was regarded as a reincarnation of the Land's greatest hero--Berek Halfhand--armed with the mystic power of White Gold. That power alone could protect the Lords of the Land from the ancient evil of Despiser, Lord Foul. Only...Covenant had no idea of how the power could be used! Thus begins one of the most remarkable epic fantasies ever written...

<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/219205.Lord_Foul_s_Bane?utm_medium=api&amp;utm_source=rss"><img alt="Lord Foul&#39;s Bane (The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever, #1)" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1333217655l/219205._SY75_.jpg" /></a> 
 author: Stephen R. Donaldson 
 name: Daniel 
 average rating: 3.7 
 book published: 1977 
 rating: 4 
 read at: 2023/12/13 
 date added: 2023/12/13 
 shelves: 
 review:

Lord Foul's Bane (The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever, #1)

The universe has many secrets. It may hide additional dimensions of space other than the familier three we recognize. There might even be another universe adjacent to ours, invisible and unattainable . . . for now. Warped Passages is a brilliantly readable and altogether exhilarating journey that tracks the arc of discovery from early twentieth-century physics to the razor's edge of modern scientific theory. One of the world's leading theoretical physicists, Lisa Randall provides astonishing scientific possibilities that, until recently, were restricted to the realm of science fiction. Unraveling the twisted threads of the most current debates on relativity, quantum mechanics, and gravity, she explores some of the most fundamental questions posed by Nature—taking us into the warped, hidden dimensions underpinning the universe we live in, demystifying the science of the myriad worlds that may exist just beyond our own.

<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/68013.Warped_Passages?utm_medium=api&amp;utm_source=rss"><img alt="Warped Passages: Unraveling the Mysteries of the Universe&#39;s Hidden Dimensions" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1442628072l/68013._SY75_.jpg" /></a> 
 author: Lisa Randall 
 name: Daniel 
 average rating: 3.9 
 book published: 2005 
 rating: 0 
 read at: 
 date added: 2023/12/09 
 shelves: on-deck 
 review:

Warped Passages: Unraveling the Mysteries of the Universe's Hidden Dimensions

A compelling and clear exploration of the power and peril of advanced artificial intelligence that provides actionable suggestions for all citizens to create a safer future with AI. We are living in a world of rapid change and technological progress. Artificial intelligence is poised to be the most significant development to affect our lives now, and in the coming years. More powerful than nuclear bombs and as impactful as electricity, fire, and oil rolled into one, advanced AI might bring us untold wonders but it could also be a threat to our jobs, our relationships, and our place in the world. Is artificial intelligence dangerous? How does artificial intelligence work? Will artificial intelligence take over? Uncontrollable uses engaging analogies and relatable examples to summarize AI for beginners, and unpacks AI risk and safety for readers without a technical background. Uncontrollable examines artificial intelligence as a concept and technology, describes what AI is, how image generators and language models work, and how we don’t fully understand what is happening in these AI systems. It provides evidence to show that artificial superintelligence presents a risk to humanity, and demonstrates that it will be very difficult to understand, control, or align as it rapidly increases in capabilities and becomes more integrated into how we work, live, and play. We are not prepared. Yet, we can be. Uncontrollable clearly communicates the urgency to act now and provides concrete suggestions for society and concerned citizens to create a safer future with AI. Uncontrollable is a first-of-its-kind publication and call to arms to address the defining issue of our time.

<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/202416160-uncontrollable?utm_medium=api&amp;utm_source=rss"><img alt="Uncontrollable: The Threat of Artificial Superintelligence and the Race to Save the World" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1700446464l/202416160._SX50_.jpg" /></a> 
 author: Darren McKee 
 name: Daniel 
 average rating: 4.8 
 book published: 
 rating: 5 
 read at: 2023/12/08 
 date added: 2023/12/08 
 shelves: 
 review:

Uncontrollable: The Threat of Artificial Superintelligence and the Race to Save the World

What do Bach's compositions, Rubik's Cube, the way we choose our mates, and the physics of subatomic particles have in common? All are governed by the laws of symmetry, which elegantly unify scientific and artistic principles. Yet the mathematical language of symmetry-known as group theory-did not emerge from the study of symmetry at all, but from an equation that couldn't be solved. For thousands of years mathematicians solved progressively more difficult algebraic equations, until they encountered the quintic equation, which resisted solution for three centuries. Working independently, two great prodigies ultimately proved that the quintic cannot be solved by a simple formula. These geniuses, a Norwegian named Niels Henrik Abel and a romantic Frenchman named Évariste Galois, both died tragically young. Their incredible labor, however, produced the origins of group theory. The first extensive, popular account of the mathematics of symmetry and order, The Equation That Couldn't Be Solved is told not through abstract formulas but in a beautifully written and dramatic account of the lives and work of some of the greatest and most intriguing mathematicians in history.

<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/233873.The_Equation_That_Couldn_t_Be_Solved?utm_medium=api&amp;utm_source=rss"><img alt="The Equation That Couldn&#39;t Be Solved: How Mathematical Genius Discovered the Language of Symmetry" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1438228898l/233873._SY75_.jpg" /></a> 
 author: Mario Livio 
 name: Daniel 
 average rating: 3.9 
 book published: 2005 
 rating: 5 
 read at: 2023/12/07 
 date added: 2023/12/07 
 shelves: 
 review:

Title	Author	Shelf
All Art is Propaganda: Critical Essays	George Orwell	currently-reading
Error Correction Coding: Mathematical Methods and Algorithms	Todd K. Moon	currently-reading
A Computational Introduction to Number Theory and Algebra	Victor Shoup	currently-reading
The Princeton Companion to Mathematics	Timothy Gowers	currently-reading
Critique of Pure Reason	Immanuel Kant	currently-reading

Books Listing