Books: Alphabetical

I’ve heard a few interviews with Taleb and he can be very interesting so I tried to give one... more

Another Aubry/Maturin book. This one has both sea and espionage elements.

I was bored silly by this classic sci-fi book. I wanted to like it. It’s voted as the greatest... more

Well, this is why I write these reviews. I got about a quarter the way into this book and... more

Even as an audio book, this was a chore to get through. It’s a tale of a future with... more

Bond travels to Istanbul to meet with a rogue Russian agent who claims to be in love with him.... more

Postrel makes the case for decentralized, dynamic systems. The obvious application of this is in free-market versus command-style economies,... more

I don’t think I really like science fiction. Sure there have been a few stories I liked, Dune, The Ender... more

Incarcerat continues much along the same lines as Terrortome. Things start to lose steam in the last part of... more

The audiobook is the way to go here. The character of Garth Marenghi (who reads the book) is hilarious... more

A short, fun read with a simple plot and one-dimensional characters, but that should go without saying for just... more

Looks like The Expanse TV show will not be returning so now I have to read a dozen novels... more

Beautiful wood engravings are the reason to “read” this.

Nero Wolfe is a dick. It’s a wonder that this mostly unlikable character spawned such a successful series of... more

This autobiography was pretty uninformative. Reads more like a compilation of unrelated essays about with a little bit of... more

This massive book has been sitting on my shelf taunting me for twenty-plus years. Ages ago it was recommended... more

Starts out pretty good, but decends into the idiotic by the end.

Philip Guston started as a WPA muralist, then became one of the leading figures of abstract expressionism. He is... more

Weakest of the first 3 Aubry Maturin books.

An excellent catalog of graphic artworks by this famous student of Dürer. A good chunk of this deals with... more

Norton is usually a very entertaining guest on whatever chat show on which he appears. However, I’ve watched his... more

Thought I’d give this series a try after finishing the Aubry/Maturn series. Hornblower is definately a simpler read, and... more

A satisfying ending to a wonderful series of books. The rating reflects my opinion of the series more than... more

It was a good read even though it’s about wizards and other nerdy things.

Starts out with some amusing short stories but never amounts to much. The main plot line is barely existent... more

I read this mostly because I am an admirer of Apocalypse Now. It sorta lost me by the end so... more

Along with Barefoot Aivnesi this is backstory for the Tower and Tree fantasy novels. I’m not quite invested enough... more

The Hero of Ages picks up a year or so after the events of The Well of Ascension. This final volume... more

This short and small volume does a good job in contextualizing the work of Bosch. Lots of images but... more

Phillip Marlowe has been hired to track down a stolen gold coin and, of course, it leads to murder.... more

In this book Roberts (of EconTalk fame) takes Adam Smith’s other major work, The Theory of Moral Sentiments, and makes it understandable in a... more

Quite frankly I was bored by this litany of Scottish people and their ancestors and all their accomplishments. I... more

When I started this book I was apprehensive. As much as I love Gavin’s current incarnation as a wild... more

I am not usually a non-fiction reader outside of the occasional political tome, but I bought this after it... more

I’d recommend any book in this series. They have their highs and lows, but all-in-all I think this is... more

Mildly amusing but poorly written memoir.

Well, it’s no Crime and Punishment. The plot revolves mostly around relationships and character interactions within the rules of... more

This is the sort of book that I feel like I have read already but that is mostly because... more

I decided to try this one out on a whim. I like Adam Carolla and his humor translated pretty... more

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn brings us more thrilling tales from the gulag! This is his fictionalized account of life in the... more

Listened to it as a book on tape. Good but lacked an over arching plot.

The title of this one is a bit deceptive. The book is actually a history of British wood engraving. It starts... more

This is from one of those mass market art book series, Crown Art Library. I’m a sucker for these... more

Gutfeld’s latest is a bit more focused than his last book. The primary theme of the book is that people... more

This was a PlanetMonk Kindle reprint of a 50s pulp novel. I was expecting tons of scary drug use... more

Jenkins meticulously documents how some of the great treasures of antiquity ended up in museums so far away from... more

This is a pretty good overview of the roots of (mostly) right-wing Internet subcultures and trolls with a little... more

A crime boss rebuilds his empire after suffering a nervous breakdown. He becomes more and more ruthless as time... more

I loved I, Claudius but was utterly bored by this. Maybe I would have appreciated more if I had... more

The final Witcher book is a solid conclusion to the series but doesn’t quite stand up to the previous... more

Not quite as gripping as the first book in the series, but Martin maintains much of the same level... more

The final book of the First Law trilogy was a sort of step backwards from the previous book. In... more

I’ve played the games, watched the television show, and now I am going to work my way through the... more

I’m a regular reader of Jimmy Maher’s blog The Digital Antiquarian which documents the history of the early days of home... more

The story of The Expanse has come to an end in a mostly satisfying way. The final book isn’t... more

I’ve been watching The Expanse lately and wanted to get a taste of the novels that the show is based upon.... more

Over the first few chapters I thought this was going to be great. It’s exactly like a John Waters... more

The thesis here is that, despite the constant cries of “fascism” when talking about right-wing policies, the real heirs... more

Short overview of the basics of classical liberalism with nary a reference to praxeology.

The story picks up right where The Colour of Magic with our heroes tumbling off the edge of the world. Book... more

For whatever reason this Philip Marlowe novel did not click with me. I had long stretches where I put... more

I started reading this thinking it would cover the techniques and materials of the Renaissance masters. Apparently, that’s another... more

This is essentially a Death Wish style vigilante story about a cop who really, really doesn’t like the drug trade. There is absolutely... more

A perfectly serviceable Poirot mystery involving the most despicable kind of people on earth. That’s right, theater people.

Starts out nicely with Hornblower sent off to deal with a mutinous crew and keeps up the pace for... more

Above average 50’s pulp trash. See my Bent Pages recap.

Here we go, yet another post about Nox Archaist. This book probably won’t be of much interest to people... more

A good collection of political writings spanning from Hobbes to Marx. Hobbes and Locke lay down a nice foundation... more

Interesting with a nice ending, but lacks any real plot complications to hook me in.

Apocalyptic dystopia from a libertarian perspective. Biases confirmed! In this story it’s not war, plague or environmental catastrophe that... more

This book is massive. Over a thousand pages filled with colorful photos, poster art and columns upon columns of... more

I got this as an audiobook, hoping to get a decent overview of what Marxism is without having to... more

Much better than the last book in the series.

This was an enjoyable fantasy about a world that’s been turned to blight everywhere except a single kingdom which... more

This is probably the definitive guide to the history and process of mezzotint printing. There are tons of images... more

My post-Game of Thrones decent into pure phantasy nerdom continues with the Mistborn trilogy. This first book in the series... more

This sci-fi classic starts off interestingly enough: in an authoritarian society on the Moon, an engineer befriends a self-aware... more

So, I’m now four books into the Discworld series and I think I will keep going with it (only 33 more... more

It has been a while since I’ve read a contemporary novel that I liked this much. Motherless Brooklyn is a pretty... more

Now much to say. It’s a swell Poirot mystery that is written in the first person from the perspective... more

The ending was spoiled for me, but a clever twist indeed.

I read this knowing the ending but I still think it is a top-tier Poirot mystery. The confined setting... more

The chapters on Free Masonry and The Golden Dawn were pretty informative. I think my big takeaway about these... more

I found this volume in the Mysteries series to be much more readable and informative than the last few... more

The first chapter about sea creatures is probably the best part of this book. Lots of great illustrations of... more

So far, my favorite of the MOTU series. I think I liked this one because there is some grounding... more

This book is a collection of anecdotal tales of various people from the olden days being visited by spirits.... more

It’s been quite some time since I last dove into the Mysteries of the Unknown and this entry in... more

Seems like they are scraping the bottom of the barrel with this MotU entry. The book is roughly divided... more

Transformations is divided into three main sections: native American shapeshifters, werewolves and vampires. The shapeshifters chapter is filled with interesting images... more

I enjoyed this one a lot more than Phantom Encounters. The historical accounts are more fact-based rather than anecdotal and... more

Pretty good mystery.

Some interesting magic history, a few neat tricks and lots of David Blaine’s self-hating magic style-endurance artist crap.

It’s been years since I read me some Poirot and it was refreshing to dive back in. I am a better... more

A murder mystery on a sparsely populated planet where each person lives isolated from everyone else and all the... more

An extremely well written fantasy novel that steers clear of most of your standard fantasy fiction clichés. Sure, there... more

Malice takes a break from trolling to clarify what exactly “The New Right” is. The dear readers are guided through the intellectual... more

The ridiculous plot of this pulp trash novel is as follows: disgraced big city reporter winds up in small... more

John Stossel is awesome. I’ve been a fan ever since I was in the seventh grade and watched him... more

Public sector unions stink and cause all sorts of problems. This book points out just about every reason why... more