Wednesday
04Nov2009
Richard Corfield's THE SILENT LANDSCAPE: THE SCIENTIFIC VOYAGE OF HMS CHALLENGER
Wednesday, November 4, 2009 at 11:59AM In 1872 the HMS Challenger left England on a two year voyage of scientific discovery.
Dennis McDonald’s BOOK REVIEWS
This section contains my occasional book reviews. You can find my movie reviews here.
- A complete index of my book reviews is here.
- Scroll down for book review summary links sorted by date.
- My movie reviews are here.
Wednesday, November 4, 2009 at 11:59AM Tuesday
22Sep2009
W. Somerset Maugham's THE NARROW CORNER
Tuesday, September 22, 2009 at 07:37AM Whenever I feel I’ve been reading too much non-fiction or I just want to read a good story with interesting characters I turn to W. Somerset Maugham.
Saturday
29Aug2009
Ed Regis' WHAT IS LIFE: INVESTIGATING THE NATURE OF LIFE IN THE AGE OF SYNTHETIC BIOLOGY
Saturday, August 29, 2009 at 11:48AM In this fascinating and accessible book Ed Regis concludes that the maintenance of metabolic processes is really the primary indicator of “life.” But by the time that point is reached in the book, it doesn’t really matter.
Thursday
14May2009
Chiara Frugoni's A DAY IN A MEDIEVAL CITY
Thursday, May 14, 2009 at 08:36PM If all you know about the Middle Ages consists of warfare, popes, and kings, and you want to know what daily life was really like, this is the book for you.
Saturday
21Mar2009
Thomas B. Allen and Norman Polmar's CODE-NAME DOWNFALL: THE SECRET PLAN TO INVADE JAPAN AND WHY TRUMAN DROPPED THE BOMB
Saturday, March 21, 2009 at 10:00PM Allen and Polmar convincingly demonstrate Truman’s justification for dropping the atom bomb on Japan to end World War II.
Saturday
22Nov2008
C.J. Box's IN PLAIN SIGHT
Saturday, November 22, 2008 at 04:42PM One of a series of novels by this author about a fictional Wyoming game warden named Joe Pickett, IN PLAIN SIGHT tells a gripping story that intertwines murder, family feud, politics, and a love of nature and the outdoors
Monday
27Oct2008
Sue Halpern's FOUR WINGS AND A PRAYER
Monday, October 27, 2008 at 08:27PM The subtitle of this book is “Caught in the Mystery of the Monarch Butterfly.” I was caught by this book’s beguiling tone, its lovely writing, and its respect for science and the mystery of the unknown that drives people to “do science.”
Sunday
05Oct2008
Oliver Sacks' SEEING VOICES: A JOURNEY INTO THE WORLD OF THE DEAF
Sunday, October 5, 2008 at 01:44AM This 3-part book by Oliver Sacks from 1989 reviews the history of deaf education and language, the neurological underpinnings of language acquisition and deafness, and the student uprising at Gallaudet College in 1988.
Sunday
31Aug2008
Peter Watts' BLINDSIGHT
Sunday, August 31, 2008 at 03:36PM Peter Watts’ Blindsight is hard SF. Normally I like hard SF but I had some trouble with this one:
Sunday
18May2008
Anthony Lewis' FREEDOM FOR THE THOUGHT THAT WE HATE: A BIOGRAPHY OF THE FIRST AMENDMENT
Sunday, May 18, 2008 at 08:50PM This little volume is packed with an amazing amount of readable information about the history of the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment, libel, privacy, freedom of speech, and freedom of the press.