Book Review: Evolving Ourselves: How Unnatural Selection and Nonrandom Mutation are Changing Life on Earth,  Juan Enriquez and Steve Gullans

Book Review: Evolving Ourselves: How Unnatural Selection and Nonrandom Mutation are Changing Life on Earth, Juan Enriquez and Steve Gullans Nonfiction Science: Evolving Ourselves: How Unnatural Selection and Nonrandom Mutation are Changing Life on Earth, Juan Enriquez and Steve Gullans The premise of Evolving Ourselves is simple. Human evolution has not stopped. It has accelerated. We are […]

Book Review: The Prodigal Tongue, Lynne Murphy

Book Review: The Prodigal Tongue: The Love-Hate Relationship Between British and American English, Lynne Murphy Nonfiction: The Prodigal Tongue: The Love-Hate Relationship Between British and American English, Lynne Murphy The Prodigal Tongue is one of the funniest books I have read in a long, long time!  Lynne Murphy writes with her own (prodigal?) tongue planted firmly in […]

Book Review: Mutants: On Genetic Variety and the Human Body, Armand Marie Leroi

Book Review: Mutants: On Genetic Variety and the Human Body, Armand Marie Leroi Nonfiction Science: Mutants: On Genetic Variety and the Human Body, Armand Marie Leroi   Mutants is probably not your first choice for a beach read unless you are a geneticist or medical professional. It is a fascinating book. It is educational both for its […]

Book Review: Violent Outbursts, Thaddeus Rutkowski

Book Review: Violent Outbursts, Thaddeus Rutkowski Nonfiction Essay Collection: Violent Outbursts, Thaddeus Rutkowski   I love reading authors who live and write in the margins. Don’t get me wrong. I’m down for a Patterson or Baldacci or Grisham any day of the week. But the authors and books that excite me are those that open a new […]

Book Review: Border Crossings, Thaddeus Rutkowski

Book Review: Border Crossings, Thaddeus Rutkowski Poetry Collection: Border Crossings, Thaddeus Rutkowski   Border crossings are fraught with tension. Some, like India and Pakistan, or the Koreas, have standing armies. One stray move could start a war. Others are peaceful, but full of reminders that you are going from one country to another. Signs in multiple languages, […]

Book Review: Everything Happens for a Reason and Other Lies I’ve Loved, Kate Bowler

Book Review: Everything Happens for a Reason and Other Lies I’ve Loved, Kate Bowler Nonfiction: Everything Happens for a Reason and Other Lies I’ve Loved, Kate Bowler   You’ve heard someone say this to you, usually in a dark and difficult time. “Everything happens for a reason.” You may have said it to people. As someone who […]

Book Review: The Future of Humanity, Michio Kaku

Book Review: The Future of Humanity: Terraforming Mars, Interstellar Travel, Immortality, and Our Destiny Beyond Earth, Michio Kaku Nonfiction Science: The Future of Humanity: Terraforming Mars, Interstellar Travel, Immortality, and Our Destiny Beyond Earth, Michio Kaku You cannot avoid physicist Michio Kaku if you watch science shows on TV. Nor would you want to. He has hosted or guest […]

Book Review: This Explains Everything: Deep, Beautiful, and Elegant Theories of How the World Works, Edited by John Brockman

Book Review: This Explains Everything: Deep, Beautiful, and Elegant Theories of How the World Works, Edited by John Brockman Nonfiction Essay Collection: This Explains Everything, John Brockman, Editor John Brockman is the founder of the Reality Club, a gathering of thinkers and intellectuals that met in restaurants and other locations from 1981-1996. In 1997, the Reality Club […]

Book Review: Superforecasting: The Art and Science of Prediction, Philip E. Tetlock and Dan Gardner

Book Review: Superforecasting: The Art and Science of Prediction, Philip E. Tetlock and Dan Gardner Nonfiction Social Science: Superforecasting: The Art and Science of Prediction, Philip E. Tetlock and Dan Gardner Several years ago I worked for a cellphone company. One day it was announced that we would be carrying a new product. It was larger than a […]