If you want to understand how Russia came to this moment read this book. If you want to understand why the recent congressional committee Supreme Court hearings focused so grossly on pedophilia read this book. Gessen‘s way into the history is from the ground up—average peoples‘ lives. The stories are riveting and illuminating, not to mention disturbing familiar in the alt rights current tactics in America. The future IS history.

Whatever one thinks of the plot, the writing is very good. I usually find authors attempts to use, or weave in, digital tools fail, but Oyler has a flair for a self-referential critique of our modern ways through literature. Does this age create more narcissism or simple display it more ruthlessly? I liked the book, but felt a little befuddled at the end, wondering if maybe I didn‘t fully get it? Maybe that was part of the point.

Considering this is a book ostensibly about the history of double entry bookkeeping, I am seriously bowled over by the scope and impact. It is a fascinating and remarkable read which I cannot recommend enough. Within this seemingly boring topic holds the histories of commerce, capitalism, the rise of the industrial era, climate change, and the lens through which we value everything. The history of math and printing make appearances as well. Wow.

Excellent history of monetary policies and theories. Added benefit of involving the Bloomsbury group, and so glad I learned about Joan Robinson. Carter pulled me back from a hopeless despondency that sets in as Keynesian economics are inevitably attached, perverted and then wielded as tools for the rich by the neocons, but the final few pages are downright rousing. Fascinating life, great read (and biographies are not my favorite genre).

Might be my favorite read this year. Hits the bone of our existential angst with an earnest dark humor of a fellow librarian and caretaker.

Fascinating book. The parts and chapters are so interesting, weaving the history of our attempts to control nature with our future imperative to control the outcome of our attempts to control nature is so well written and explained and such a pleasure to read that you almost forget how terrifying our situation is. I highly recommend—especially to those that don‘t want to read a depressing book about climate change.

Searing and smart. I couldn‘t put it down. A no bullshit intellectually, well—thick—insight into racism, its lived truths and results. Sharp in every sense of the word.

“He felt moved by an uncontrollable impulse. All his actions had completed themselves before his mind was aware of them. His mind was struggling along aimlessly in pursuit of his actions, impotently deprecating them and whispering warnings. But it was powerless.”

That this book was not the first choice to come up when I typed in the title is crazy to me and more reason to write this review. Here it is: thought-provoking, powerful book. Just read it.

Dystopic logical conclusion of our culture‘s mania for health and well-being. The details of Heng‘s writing are a delight —almost makes you feel guilty to gobble the book whole by her theme‘s ethic!

It all starts to make sense. The meanness of our culture. The stubbornness of our systemic problems. Vital first step in working towards a better future: name the problem and think deeply upon your place in the caste system.

“It is not necessary that people be wicked but only that they be spineless. “

Funny, off kilter, and sadly timely in so much as we struggle endlessly to remain human within social constructs.

Same wit and eccentric verve of Milkmen, but darker, yes darker, and more chaotic in a visceral way.

The writing, particularly of the first half is funny, complex, insightful. In the second half, the plot overwhelmed the nuance of the first half a bit, making a potato chip of a book —one just gobbles it up. I do love potato chips, but the substantive aspect can get subsumed. There is a lot of substance coupled with a fascinating heroine. I favor the substantive parts, but the book is so entertaining, I will take what I can get from Ms. Reid.

Wonderful wit and verve. Surprisingly moving at the end. Very enjoyable read.

“When it comes to physical reality, there are no final explanations but ever more efficient descriptions” p. 187

Brilliant book. A case study, beautifully and appropriately off-kilter in style, giving voice to how violent and traumatized societies affect the inhabitants of said society.

“Throughout the living world whenever the opportunity has arisen, the subjective experiences and cognitive choices of animals have aesthetically shaped the evolution of biodiversity. The history of beauty in nature is a vast and never-ending story.”

Book 3 in my Pre-road trip through Kentucky reading list! So many books, so little time.

Wonderfully rich and detailed with a heroine that will stay inside my heart and head, giving me counsel and courage, for a long time. a simply beautiful book.

Gertie nodded, puzzled by the woman‘s voice. The words told, but the voice, like the eyes, asked, even when she gave her name.

Made me nostalgic for my teenage reading habits: historical fiction, adventure: Ivanhoe, Kidnapped, James Fenimore Cooper. But, ended a little too rah rah-tame the wilderness, for my taste. Still, I learned a lot about how Kentucky was settled. Giles, a woman of the 1950s, portrayed prejudices honestly, if one-sidedly, with characters exhibiting both admirable and (as the book‘s wonderful vernacular would have it) misadmirable qualities.

“Lordy, but it was fair and pretty.”

Starting my pre-road-trip, get-in-the-mind-to-drive-36 hours book queue. Focusing on Kentucky as: I‘ve never been and it falls mid-way round the circle we‘ll make.