I like books about memory and the brain. I must have read The Memory Book by Harry Lorayne when I was still in high school-not that it helped me with my studies, but I did learn how to memorize all kinds of random items. I really loved Superlearning as well. There is something amazing about how the mind can be trained to sort this and that-and in my case, pretty much useless info. Which brings us to Moonwalking With Einstien. We start off following a reporter covering the mindnumbingly dull U.S. Memory Championships-which involves watching people memorize all kinds of…
Category: book review
Fringe-ology by Steve Volk
It seems there are two main types when it comes to the Paranormal, the Believers and the Skeptics. Or so the case is put forth in Fringe-ology by Steve Volk. He takes a look at such topics as Near Death Experiences, Ghosts, UFOs, Meditation, and Lucid Dreaming. He tries to keep an Open Mind and prefers fringe events that have real scientists doing real scientific research about them. Needless to say, any serious scientist who pursues the study of the paranormal is not treated very seriously once they put forth their data. And Steve Volk seems to think it is…
The 10X Rule
So, what’s the difference between success and failure? Action, of course. The successful people of the world do things, while the less successful sit around watching tv and playing video games. Hmm. The 10X Rule, like most self help books, is a great read that left me feeling as if I have finally found the meaning of life, the universe, and everything. The 10X Rule is simple, to get more, do more. It’s also a bit scary. Do more? You mean, like now? Yes, now The 10X Rule tells us. The 10X Rule also has a list of the 32…
Skyjack-The Hunt for D. B. Cooper
In 1971 a man with a briefcase hijacked a Northwest Orient 727 flight. He ransomed the passengers for $200,000 and then jumped out of the plane. He has never been heard from since, leaving the end of his story open for everyone to write their own ending. Geoffrey Gray tells the story of D. B. Cooper, including every bit of minutia, every theory, and every crackpot who has claimed to be Dan Cooper since 1971. Geoffrey Gray also reads the audio book and he can’t help but ham it up every once in a while. There is also the occasional…
No Shortage of Good Days
John Gierach is a fly fisherman who has managed to turn his love into his profession. He gets paid to roam around the country looking for little used trout streams and pull trouts out of them. Along the way he talks about his hippie days, how he feels about the new rich, and how book tours are not as much as you might think. His many opinions all lead, one way or another, to fishing, specifically, fly fishing. I’m not a fly fisherman, though I have been known to do a bit of fishing for carp, catfish, and the occasion…
Extra Lives
I then realized I was contrasting my aesthetic sensitivity to that of some teenagers about a game that concerns itself with shooting as many zombies as possible. It is moments like this that can make it so dispritingly difficult to care about video games. ~author Tom Bissell I’ve been an adventure game addict since I bought my first computer back in the Dark Ages of 1982-the game that hooked me was Infocom’s Zork. My latest video game love is The Witcher 2, an adventure game with a lot more fighting and running than puzzling and thinking. I still find myself…
Robopocalypse
Harlan Ellison hasn’t sued Daniel H. Wilson-at least not yet, but it’s hard not to think of The Terminator while reading Robopocalypse. More precisely, it bears a striking resemblance to S. M. Stirling’s trilogy sequel to Arnold’s T2. I really loved the T2 books and I’m pretty impressed with Robopocalypse, though I do pretty much hate the name. As in The Matrix, mankind is happy in the not too distance future when a mad scientist invents AI in a secret lab. This supercomputer calls itself Archos and it is pissed because the Mad Scientist keeps killing it and bringing it…
Change Anything
The idea here is that you can change any aspect of your life-if you are just willing to follow a few simple steps. The problem, of course, is that most of us are unable to follow a few simple steps. Near the beginning of Change Anything we are told that a recent study found that ALL diets work-if people are willing to do exactly what any given diet plan calls for. Most of us are pretty good at starting things, but not so good at the follow through. So Change Anything takes a slightly different tack to the problem-it offers…
The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake
The story of an odd family told through the eyes of a young woman who can taste people’s emotions from the food they prepare. This kind of food mind reading is not fun and our hero tends to eat as many manufactured foodstuffs as she can. Machines have no bad feelings to impart on their food. Author Aimee Bender just drops us into the story and lets us discover along with the young woman what it is like to taste her mother’s sadness and the baker’s anger and the harvester’s disgruntlement. But the girl who can taste people is not…
Beaten, Seared, and Sauced
Jonathan Dixon is an old man of 38 when he decides that he is tired of wandering aimlessly through life. The path before him has become clear. He wants to be a Chef and the best way to get there runs through the Culinary Institute of America. For the most part, the CIA is a place for the honing of skills and the refining of talents. Those that sign up without any practical experience in a working kitchen find it all a bit overwhelming. Being a Professional Chef is not for everyone. Beaten, Seared, and Sauced: On Becoming a Chef…