in which I write about stuff
author: Bill Bryson
name: Elaine
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2010
rating: 3
read at: 2011/07/05
date added: 2011/07/08
shelves: ebook, history, non-fiction
review:
I wanted this to be better than it was. Great anecdotes, but essentially all anecdote, and very much fixated on Victorian England. Which I suppose makes sense since he was riffing on an 1851 house, but still somewhat disappointing. Gave it an extra star because it was clever and entertaining.
author: Bill Bryson
name: Elaine
average rating: 0.0
book published: 2010
rating: 3
read at: 2011/07/05
date added: 2011/07/08
shelves: ebook, history, non-fiction
review:
I wanted this to be better than it was. Great anecdotes, but essentially all anecdote, and very much fixated on Victorian England. Which I suppose makes sense since he was riffing on an 1851 house, but still somewhat disappointing. Gave it an extra star because it was clever and entertaining.
author: Bill Bryson
name: Elaine
average rating: 3.89
book published: 2010
rating: 3
read at: 2011/07/05
date added: 2011/07/08
shelves: ebook, history, non-fiction
review:
I wanted this to be better than it was. Great anecdotes, but essentially all anecdote, and very much fixated on Victorian England. Which I suppose makes sense since he was riffing on an 1851 house, but still somewhat disappointing. Gave it an extra star because it was clever and entertaining.
author: Bill Bryson
name: Elaine
average rating: 3.91
book published: 2010
rating: 3
read at: 2011/07/05
date added: 2011/07/08
shelves: ebook, history, non-fiction
review:
I wanted this to be better than it was. Great anecdotes, but essentially all anecdote, and very much fixated on Victorian England. Which I suppose makes sense since he was riffing on an 1851 house, but still somewhat disappointing. Gave it an extra star because it was clever and entertaining.
author: David Berlinski
name: Elaine
average rating: 2.50
book published: 2011
rating: 2
read at: 2011/07/03
date added: 2011/07/08
shelves: didnt-finish, ebook, history, non-fiction, science
review:
meh. couldn’t get into it.
author: Jonah Lehrer
name: Elaine
average rating: 3.90
book published: 2007
rating: 3
read at: 2011/06/30
date added: 2011/07/08
shelves: art, biography, ebook, history, non-fiction, science
review:
An intriguing collection of essays on 19th & 20th century artists & writers and their connections to (or foreshadowing of) psychology and neuroscience. Fascinating both for the personal histories and for the science. What’s stuck with me is both the weirdness of perception and the malleability of the brain. FWIW, that second bit actually brings me a lot of hope and comfort.
Even as a writer, I got annoyed after a while with the touches of "oh some things can never be explained" (I’m paraphrasing badly) bits. Felt a bit hand-wavey.
Still, quite interesting.
author: Jonah Lehrer
name: Elaine
average rating: 3.83
book published: 2007
rating: 3
read at: 2011/06/30
date added: 2011/07/08
shelves: art, biography, ebook, history, non-fiction, science
review:
An intriguing collection of essays on 19th & 20th century artists & writers and their connections to (or foreshadowing of) psychology and neuroscience. Fascinating both for the personal histories and for the science. What’s stuck with me is both the weirdness of perception and the malleability of the brain. FWIW, that second bit actually brings me a lot of hope and comfort.
Even as a writer, I got annoyed after a while with the touches of “oh some things can never be explained” (I’m paraphrasing badly) bits. Felt a bit hand-wavey.
Still, quite interesting.
author: Jonah Lehrer
name: Elaine
average rating: 3.83
book published: 2007
rating: 3
read at: 2011/06/30
date added: 2011/07/08
shelves: art, biography, ebook, history, non-fiction, science
review:
An intriguing collection of essays on 19th & 20th century artists & writers and their connections to (or foreshadowing of) psychology and neuroscience. Fascinating both for the personal histories and for the science. What’s stuck with me is both the weirdness of perception and the malleability of the brain. FWIW, that second bit actually brings me a lot of hope and comfort.
Even as a writer, I got annoyed after a while with the touches of “oh some things can never be explained” (I’m paraphrasing badly) bits. Felt a bit hand-wavey.
Still, quite interesting.
author: Stephen Hunt
name: Elaine
average rating: 3.63
book published: 2009
rating: 3
read at: 2011/06/17
date added: 2011/06/29
shelves: fantasy, fiction, sci-fi, steampunk
review:
Somewhat slow to start, but an entertaining adventure book in the same vein as the previous. Brings back a lot of characters from the earlier books, which actually is a bit frustrating having been so long since I read them. (Especially the first one, and there’s lots of characters and plot references from the first one.) All the dust-jacket descriptions focus on Purity Drake, but I actually identified with Molly as the central character. (Maybe because I vaguely remembered her role in the first book?) Great weird imagery.
author: Stephen Hunt
name: Elaine
average rating: 0.0
book published: 2009
rating: 3
read at: 2011/06/17
date added: 2011/06/29
shelves: fiction, fantasy, steampunk, sci-fi
review:
Somewhat slow to start, but an entertaining adventure book in the same vein as the previous. Brings back a lot of characters from the earlier books, which actually is a bit frustrating having been so long since I read them. (Especially the first one, and there’s lots of characters and plot references from the first one.) All the dust-jacket descriptions focus on Purity Drake, but I actually identified with Molly as the central character. (Maybe because I vaguely remembered her role in the first book?) Great weird imagery.