Review: How the Mind Works

Part of me wants to say how fascinating and informative this book was. The other part wants to say how irritating and poorly written the book was.

How The Mind Works contains a lot of insight into the inner workings of the human mind without getting too technical for a lay person to understand. The author is good at explaining ideas with anecdotes and intelligent observations. My biggest problem with the book, though, is that it seems to be written with no thought to structure. I felt like the author was just pouring out ideas as they popped out of his mind. Desipite having an index, I doubt I could easily relocate a fact that I found interesting when I read it the first time. The author also intermixes his own opinions with such poise and confidence that the reader must be careful to not confuse them with the facts.

Still, overall, I'd recommend this book. Just make sure to keep an ample supply of post-it's ready if you want to be able to refer to you favorite parts later.

Review: Why Men Earn More

This book should be read by any woman or man who wants to understand the relevant factors that effect how much money one makes. The author takes a critical look at the statistical fact that the average women makes less money the the average man by analyzing equivalent conditions. You'll be surprised (perhaps) by the results. The author presents 25 factors that can influence pay. This book was well worth reading.

Review: Deception Point

This is the latest book that I have read by Dan Brown. After reading Digital Fortress and Angels & Demons, I was pleasantly surprised to find this book exciting and interesting. It was as good as the Da Vinci code. This book deals with the conflicts between science and politics. I prefer this to how Da Vinci code deals with conflicts between religion and historical facts. The pace of the book is fast and the action good. This one would make a good movie.

Review: Freakonomics

This was a great book, well worth reading! The authors call themselves "rogue economists" as they punch holes in conventional wisdom and shed light on the ways that we might be misinformed by experts. After reading this book, I am going to be more hesitant to accept "facts" from experts that are not properly incentivized to have my best interests in hand.

Review: Prey

This book, by Michael Crichton, is about a dangerous swarm of self-learning tiny machines. While the idea seemed a bit too far-fetched, if you suspend your disbelief just enough, this book is quite enjoyable. The plot is scary and suspenseful as the main character is thrust into a strange and dangerous situation. Rarely does a book keep me on the edge of my seat, but this one did thanks to Crichton effective style.

Review: Digital Fortress

This book, by Dan Brown, is not related to Angels and Demons or the DaVinci Code.
While not as exciting as either of those two books, the story in Digital Fortress is pretty good. The ending was reasonable and restores my faith in the author (after the horrible ending of Angels and Demons).

Review: Harry Potter: Order of the Phoenix

This wasn't my favorite Harry Potter book. It was too long. There wasn't a strong cohesive plot. Things just kinda happen to Harry until the book ends. The only good thing about the book is that you see Harry and his friends become stronger and more confident in their abilities. I bet this one will be one of the weaker movies. Then again, there was enough quirky magic in the book to make it a special effects hits.

Review: Angels & Demons

I just finished reading this book. For the first 2/3 of the book I was really enjoying the story. It was captivating and entertaining. When reading Dan Brown's novels you just have to accept that the hero, Robert Langdon, is going to solve the puzzles using historical facts (any of it real, or all fictional history?) and you will not be able to solve the puzzles yourself. These are not whodunnit novels. But the story is so interesting, you don't care.

However, the ending of the book was extremely disappointing. The plot twists were unexpected, but also unappreciated. This is one story that would have been much, MUCH, better if the ending had been more straightforward. It went from eventually becoming a blockbuster summer action film to being one of those crappy-assed B films, probably staring Vin Deisel (as the Hassassin) or someone of that ilk.

This review should probably be on my rant and rave page because I really hate it when books or movies have a great storyline but are ruined by a crappy ending.