Winter Study, by Nevada Barr. Penguin Books. Paperback. 2008. $10. I’m easily impressed by authors who integrate real, local geography into their novels. The idea of being able to “go there” and walk in the footsteps of the protagonist is a romantic notion of mine, I suppose. James Lee Burke fuses southern Louisiana geography into…
An Appetite For Wonder. Richard Dawkins. Ecco Press. 2013. $25 Had I been the publisher, I might have suggested the title, “A Career in Science was a Foregone Conclusion.” Or, perhaps, “How My Genes Forced Me Into Evolutionary Biology.” Either would have been a more appropriate title and truer to the author’s own admissions. “I’m…
The Information, by James Gleick. Pantheon Books. Hardback. 2011. Book Review 0.1, from a previous blog post. Book Review 0.2, Progress Update, pg. 17, from my Goodreads “I’m sure someone will review, “Ho hum, I knew all this stuff on information already.” Meh; good for you. Guess what? Me, too. But, I still like these…
The Information, by James Gleick. Pantheon Books. Hardback. 2011. The Information is one of those books which demands a pre-review in advance of the full review. I’m not sure I completely like the book. I cannot put my finger on why I’m bothered by the book. Could be because I didn’t write it. The Information…
On the Map: A Mind-Expanding Exploration of the Way the World Looks. Simon Garfield. Gotham Books. Paperback. $17. Mr. Garfield’s book might also have the subtitle of, “Why you should care about the geography of Liberty City.” For those of you who are not familiar with Liberty City, allow me to fill you in. While…
Black Holes and Time Warps: Einstein’s Outrageous Legacy; by Kip Thorne; Norton Press; Paperback; $19 I’ve read so many books on black holes, space-time warps, wormholes, the universe, membranes, event horizons, riders on trains looking at stationary candles, people on platforms looking at moving candles, red-shift, blue-shift, Doppler shift, and the like, I think I’ve…
Bare Bones. Kathy Reichs. Pocket Star Books. Paperback. 2003. I don’t like writing bad reviews. Anyone who knows me knows I have no particular issue being critical. Writing a bad review means I’ve spent time reading a disappointing book, time I could have spent reading a better book. Kathy has written a few books which…
The Story of Earth, by Robert M. Hazen. Viking Press. Hardback. $28 I’m writing this review early. I think it is important I do so. I learned something almost immediately, within the Introduction, in fact. Not even did I reach the first chapter before I realized how ignorant I have allowed myself to become. And,…
Drood. Dan Simmons. 2009. Hatchette Book Group. Hardback. $9 I’ve been wanting to read a Dan Simmons tome – and I do mean tome – for years. Originally, I had anticipated reading his Hyperion Cantos series first. This collection of four novels has become a science fiction classic around which science fiction enthusiasts have developed…
Purple Cane Road, by James Lee Burke. 2000. Dell Fiction. Paperback. $8 Some people, when they write, take you there. You know what I mean; poets, authors, songwriters whose ink magically transmutes thoughts and imagery from their minds into ours. Lyrical words spellbind us, capturing our attention like the scent of a woman, like driving…
Constant Geography 
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