I read this book while on a long flight to Tokyo. While superficially about Japan, it's more about American anxiety about the relationship between the two countries. The constant undercurrent is an admiration about how Japan played capitalism better than the country which conquered it. There's a momentary diversion at the start of the book to look at how the Meji Restoration changed Japan's…
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After reading about a menopausal werewolf (fictional) I decided that it was probably a sensible idea to read up on the reality. Dr Lundy has an inclusive and relaxed tone of writing. She methodically goes through every aspect of the menopause in great detail. The book is sprinkled with humour to lighten what is otherwise an intimidating topic. This is almost solely focussed on the medical…
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This book is astonishingly good. A high-flying career woman thinks she's going through the menopause but she isn't. She's becoming a werewolf. That, as it turns out, is more than enough of a premise to drive this book. What I loved was just how well observed the characters are. Our protagonist works in a tech start-up and every character there is someone I've worked with before! I could feel …
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While visiting Goethe Haus in Frankfurt, I read a summary of the 1822 book "Meister Floh" and thought it might be fun to read. It is curious. Half the satire has long since lost all relevance to the world, yet it is still an entertaining and mysterious novel. Much like 1827's "The Mummy! A Tale of the Twenty-Second Century" things just happen. People wander into rooms, announce their…
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I find misery-memoirs like this difficult to read and disturbing to think about. Much like the tragic story of Mini and Me, reading this book made me feel like I was trapped in one of those nightmares where you try to scream a warning but no sound comes out. Fern has been refreshingly honest about autism and how it affects women in particular. I can't think when I last read an autobiography…
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This is a gloriously nerdy book. Shuichiro Yamanouchi - considered to be one of the founding forces behind Japan's "Bullet Train" system - takes us behind the scenes of its development. It's a mixture of autobiography and corporate retrospective, with a healthy dose of engineering geekery. Although originally published in 1999 there are fairly comprehensive footnotes updating the reader on…
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Well this is a treat! It is rare to find a pop-science book which does such a good job of actually explaining the science, rather than just using it as a background for storytelling. The Battle of Beams doesn't go too deep into the mechanics and physics, but gives a general overview with just enough detail to keep things interesting. It is also well illustrated (not a given in these sorts of…
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This is a stunning book. If some scientists and mathematicians have seen further than others, it is by standing on the mountains of madness. This straddles between being a faithful and fanciful biography of insanity. It is written like a hyperactive friend trying to show you how all the things in the universe connect with each other - while you slowly back away in terror. Are these ghost…
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Brother Mauro, an older monk, and Nicolo, a young, striving merchant are called by the Pope to traverse the treacherous political, religious, and mercantile terrain of medieval Europe and the Byzantine Empire to seek out the powerful Presbyter John, a mysterious king in the Far East who has promised to put his wealth and vast armies to the service of the pope's crusade. I don't understand why…
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This is a marvellous and depressing book. Marvellous because it finely details the history, atrocities, and geopolitical strife of unfettered capitalism. Depressing for much the same reason. Dalrymple takes the thousand different strands of the story and weaves them into a (mostly) comprehensible narrative. With this many moving parts, it is easy to get confused between the various people,…
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This is a curious and mostly satisfying novel. It bills itself as a satire, but it is rather more cynical than that. A kid has been stabbed and the worst instincts of humanity descend. Race-baiting police, vote-grubbing politicians, and exploitative journalists. I can't comment on the accuracy of the satire of the press - but it feels real. It's full of the hungriest, nastiest people who will…
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This should be a fascinating look at how streaming services evolved and the outsized impact they've had on our culture. Instead it is mostly a series of re-written press-releases and recycled analysis from other people. Sadly, the book never dives in to the pre-history of streaming. There's a brief mention of RealPlayer - but nothing about the early experiments of livestreaming gigs and TV…
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