Here’s the list of books we’ve read and discussed as a group. We each gave
the books we read a rating from 0 to 10. However, we don’t necessarily share
the same rating standards. Three of us have made our standards explicit:
| Rating | Kirby’s scale | Rosie’s scale | Scott’s scale |
| 0 | Everyone associated with producing this book should be caned. |
Don’t read. | Worthless. |
| 2 | Wasted my time AND my money. | OK for beginners only. | Few things of interest. |
| 4 | OK, grudgingly admit there are some nuggets of interest there. |
Fair; or review material for our group. |
Of some limited interest. |
| 6 | A bit above the average pulp of popular science. |
Good | Quite a few points of interest. |
| 8 | Would recommend this book to people with an interest in this area. |
Very good | Much of interest; well worth reading. |
| 10 | Would recommend this book to everybody. |
Terrific!!! | Important/profound/ don’t miss it! |
The book titles below which are highlighted are links to our collective
review or comments which one or more of us have written as individuals.
| # | Date | Book or Topic | Review (0 to 10) | ||||||||
| Reviewer ==> |
J o h n |
K e v i n S |
K i r b y |
R i c h |
R o s i e |
S c o t t |
S h e l |
G u e s t s |
A v e r a g e | ||
| 1 | c. 12/87 | Beyond Einstein, by Michio Kaku & Jennifer Trainer (1987) |
- | - | - | 6 | 6 | 4 | - | - | 5.4 |
| 2 | c. 3/88 | Quantum Universe, by Tony Hey & Patrick Walters (1987) |
- | - | - | 8 | 8 | 8 | - | - | 8.0 |
| 3 | c. 6/88 | In Search of the Big Bang, by John Gribbin (1986) |
8 | - | - | 8 | 4 | 6 | - | - | 6.2 |
| 4 | 10/25/91 | The Big Bang Never Happened, by Eric Lerner (1991) |
- | - | - | 8 | 8 | 8 | - | - | 8.0 |
| 5 | 11/29/91 | The Emperor’s New Mind, by Roger Penrose (1989) |
- | - | 6 | 4 | 4 | 2 | - | - | 4.0 |
| 6 | 1/29/92 | Grammatical Man, by Jeremy Campbell (1982) | 8 | - | 8 | 6 | 6 | 6 | - | - | 6.8 |
| 7 | 4/3/92 | Improbable Machine, by Jeremy Campbell (1989) |
6 | - | 6 | 6 | 6 | 4 | - | - | 5.6 |
| 8 | 9/18/92 | The Ape That Spoke, by John McCrone (1990) | 6 | - | 6 | 6 | 6 | 4 | - | - | 5.6 |
| 9 | 10/30/92 | Seeing Voices, by Oliver Sacks (1990) | 8 | - | 10 | 8 | 10 | 10 | - | - | 9.2 |
| 10 | A Leg to Stand On, by Oliver Sacks (1984) ["Extra credit"] |
- | - | - | - | 8 | 4 | - | - | 6.0 | |
| 11 | 12/12/92 | Synchronicity, by F. David Peat (1987) | 0 | - | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | - | - | 0.0 |
| 12 | 2/19/93 | Artifical Life, by Steven Levy (1992) | 6 | - | 10 | 6 | 6 | 6 | - | - | 6.8 |
| 13 | 5/15/93 | Consciousness Explained, by Daniel C. Dennett (1991) |
2 | - | 6 | 4 | 8 | 9 | - | - | 5.8 |
| 14 | 8/21/93 | Genie, by Russ Rymer (1993) | 10 | - | 8 | 8 | 10 | 6 | - | - | 8.4 |
| 15 | 10/30/93 | Exons, Introns & Talking Genes, by Christopher Wills (1991) |
6 | - | 8 | 6 | 10 | 6 | - | - | 7.2 |
| 16 | 12/18/93 | Fritjof Capra movie: Mind Walk | 6 | - | 4 | 8 | 4 | 0 | - | - | 4.4 |
| 17 | 2/5/94 | The Arrow of Time, by P. Covener & R. Highfield (1990) |
6 | - | 8 | 6 | 6 | 10 | - | - | 7.2 |
| 18 | 4/2/94 | Genius: Life & Science of R. Feynman, by J. Gleick (1992) |
8 | - | 8 | 10 | 8 | 8 | 0 | - | 7.0 |
| 19 | 5/28/94 | The Third Chimpanzee, by Jared Diamond (1992) |
10 | 9 | 10 | 8 | 10 | 6 | 10 | - | 9.0 |
| 20 | 7/22/94 | The Blind Watchmaker, by Richard Dawkins (1987) |
6 | - | 6 | 6 | 4 | 6 | - | - | 5.6 |
| 21 | 9/10/94 | Complexity, by M. Mitchell Waldrup (1992) | 8 | - | 8 | 6 | 8 | 4 | 6 | - | 6.6 |
| 22 | 10/29/94 | Science as Salvation, by Mary Midgley (1992) |
- | - | 6 | - | 4 | 4 | - | - | 4.6 |
| 23 | 1/14/95 | Post-Capitalist Society, by Peter F. Drucker (1993) |
8 | 7 | 4 | 6 | 4 | 0 | - | - | 4.8 |
| 24 | 3/4/95 | The Runaway Brain, by Christopher Wills (1993) |
6 | - | 4 | 6 | 6 | 6 | - | - | 5.6 |
| 25 | 4/29/95 | The Language Instinct, by Steven Pinker (1994) | 2 | - | 6 | 2 | 8 | 6 | - | - | 4.8 |
| 26 | 6/24/95 | The Prisoner’s Dilemma, by William Poundstone (1992) |
8 | 5 | 8 | 6 | 6 | 4 | 2 | - | 5.6 |
| 27 | 9/9/95 | Hyperspace, by Michio Kaku (1992) | 6 | 2 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 2 | 2 | - | 4.3 |
| 28 | 11/18/95 | The Quark and the Jaguar, by Murray Gell-Mann (1994) |
2 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 8 | 4 | 2 | - | 3.4 |
| 29 | 2/10/96 | Emotional Intelligence, by Daniel Goleman (1995) |
8 | 8 | 4 | 8 | 8 | 4 | 4 | - | 6.3 |
| 30 | 4/6/96 | The Map Makers, by John Noble Wilford (1981) | - | 6 | 10 | 6 | 7 | 6 | 7 | - | 7.0 |
| 31 | 6/15/96 | Patty Hearst: Her Own Story (1982) | 8 | 3 | 2 | 10 | 10 | 2 | 2 | - | 5.3 |
| 32 | 8/18/96 | Being Digital, by Nicholas Negroponte (1995) | 6 | 4 | 8 | - | 5 | 5 | 7 | L 8 | 6.1 |
| 33 | 9/29/96 | The Body Silent, by Robert F. Murphy (1987) | 6 | 5 | - | - | 6 | 4 | 8 | - | 5.8 |
| 34 | 11/16/96 | Engines of Creation, by K. Eric Drexler (1986) |
- | 5 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 6 | - | - | 4.6 |
| 35 | 2/1/97 | The Science of Revolution, by Lenny Wolff (1983) |
7 | 4 | 6 | 5 | 6 | 8 | 1 | M 3 | 5.3 |
| 36 | Scott’s Intro to Marxism presentation | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 37 | 3/29/97 | Virtual Reality, by Howard Rheingold (1991) | 3 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 6 | 4 | 1 | - | 4.0 |
| 38 | 6/14/97 | The Fourth Dimension, by Rudy Rucker (1984) | 4 | 2 | 7 | 4 | 6 | 1 | 3 | - | 3.9 |
| 39 | 9/6/97 | The Metaphysics of Virtual Reality, by Michael Heim (1993) |
1 | 0 | 3 | 1 | - | 1 | - | - | 1.2 |
| 40 | 11/2/97 | The Origin of Language, by Merritt Ruhlen (1994) |
9 | 5 | 9 | 6 | 6 | 9 | 4 | - | 6.9 |
Guests: L = Larry McKey; M = Maria Wiese
| # | Date | Book or Topic | Review (0 to 10) | ||||||||||||
| Reviewer ==> |
B a r b a r a |
B i l l M |
J o h n L |
K e v i n C |
K e v i n S |
K i r b y W |
R a n d y S |
R i c h S |
R o s i e R |
S c o t t H |
S h e l R |
G u e s t s |
A v e r a g e | ||
| 41 | 1/10/98 | The Beak of the Finch, by Jonathan Weiner (1991) |
- | - | 9 | - | 5 | 8 | - | 7 | 10 | 8 | 9 | - | 8.0 |
| 42 | 3/21/98 | Return to Sodom & Gomorrah, by Charles Pellegrino (1994) |
- | - | 9 | - | 5 | 10 | - | 5 | 7 | 4 | 9 | - | 7.0 |
| 43 | 5/2/98 | Longitude, by Dava Sobel (1995) | - | - | 7 | 6 | 7 | 5 | - | 7 | - | 6 | 6 | - | 6.3 |
| 44 | 7/12/98 | The Measure of Reality, by Alfred W. Crosby (1987) |
- | - | 2 | 1 | 5 | 4 | - | 3 | 5 | 3 | 5 | - | 3.5 |
| 45 | 9/20/98 | Consilience, by Edward O. Wilson (1998) | - | - | 6 | 5 | 6 | 8 | - | 6 | 7 | 1 | 2 | - | 5.1 |
| 46 | 12/5/98 | Guns, Germs, and Steel, by Jared Diamond (1997) |
- | - | 10 | - | 6 | 8 | - | 7 | 7 | 8 | 7 | - | 7.6 |
| 47 | 2/6/99 | Science & the Retreat from Reason, by Gillott & Kumar (1997) |
- | - | 5 | - | 1 | 2 | - | 5 | 3 | 7 | 3 | - | 3.7 |
| 48 | 4/18/99 | The Whole Shebang, by Timothy Ferris (1997) |
4 | - | 7 | 7 | 7 | 5 | 7 | 7 | 8 | 2 | 7 | - | 6.1 |
| 49 | 6/19/99 | The Age of Spiritual Machines, by Ray Kurzweil (1999) |
7 | - | 1 | - | 1 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 7 | 7 | 1 | - | 3.8 |
| 50 | 8/29/99 | What Remains To Be Discovered, by John Maddox (1998) |
- | - | 7 | 6 | 8 | 8 | - | 7 | 0 | 6 | 1 | - | 5.4 |
| 51 | 10/16/99 | Billions and Billions, by Carl Sagan (1998) |
7 | - | 10 | - | 6 | 10 | 5 | 7 | 6 | 6 | 3 | - | 6.7 |
| 52 | 12/11/99 | The Elegant Universe, by Brian Greene (1999) | - | - | 7 | 8 | 5 | 7 | 9 | 10 | 9 | 6 | 7 | - | 7.6 |
| 53 | 2/5/00 | Mystery of Mysteries, by Michael Ruse (1999) | 6 | - | 2 | - | 2 | 5 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 6 | 0 | - | 3.0 |
| 54 | 4/8/00 | Time Detectives, by Brian Fagan (1995) | - | - | 8 | - | 3 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 8 | 6 | 5 | - | 6.4 |
| 55 | 6/17/00 | Zero, by Charles Seife (2000) | 7 | - | 7 | 6 | 8 | 7 | 9 | 7 | 9 | 4 | 7 | - | 7.1 |
| 56 | 7/30/00 | The Scientist in the Crib, by A. Gopnik, A. Meltzoff & P. Kuhl (1999) |
- | - | - | 7 | - | - | - | 5 | 7 | 9 | 5 | - | 6.6 |
| 57 | 10/7/00 | Faster: The Acceleration of Just About Everything, by James Gleick (1999) |
5 | - | 4 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 6 | 4 | 3 | - | 4.4 |
| 58 | 12/2/00 | Genes, Peoples, and Languages, by Luigi Luca Cavalli-Sforza (2000) |
- | - | 5 | 3 | - | 7 | - | 6 | 5 | 8 | - | - | 5.7 |
| 59 | 2/3/01 | African Exodus, by Christopher Stringer & Robin McKie (1996) |
4 | - | 10 | 8 | 7 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 6 | 8 | 4 | - | 7.1 |
| 60 | 3/31/01 | It Ain’t Necessarily So: The Dream of the Human Genome Project and other Illusions, by Richard Lewontin (2000) |
3 | - | 1 | - | 0 | 4 | - | - | 8 | 9 | 0 | - | 3.6 |
| 61 | 6/9/01 | Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors, by Carl Sagan & Ann Druyan (1992) |
3 | - | 7 | - | - | 9 | - | - | 4 | 3 | 4 | - | 5.0 |
| 62 | 9/8/01 | Visions: How Science will Revolutionize the 21st Century, by Michio Kaku (1997) |
- | - | 7 | - | 5 | 6 | - | 7 | 8 | 7 | 5 | - | 6.4 |
| 63 | 11/17/01 | The End of Time, by Julian Barbour (1999) | - | - | 2 | - | - | 7 | - | - | 8 | 1 | - | - | 4.5 |
| 64 | 1/19/02 | Descartes’ Error, by Antonio Damasio (1994) | 7 | - | 7 | - | 6 | 7 | 10 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 1 | - | 6.6 |
| 65 | 3/2/02 | Humanity: A Moral History of the 20th Century, by Jonathan Glover (2001) |
- | - | 8 | 7 | 7 | 10 | - | 8 | 8 | 1 | 5 | - | 6.8 |
| 66 | 6/9/02 | Emergence: The Connected Lives of Ants, Brains, Cities and Soft- ware, by Steven Johnson (2001) |
- | 4 | 5 | - | 4 | 2 | 7 | 5 | 7 | 5 | 5 | A 8, EG 6, ES 8, J 2 |
5.2 |
| 67 | 8/25/02 | Galileo’s Daughter, by Dava Sobel (2000) | 7 | - | 5 | 9 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 6 | 1 | - | ES 7 | 5.7 |
| 68 | 11/2/02 | The Battle for God: A History of Fundamentalism, by Karen Armstrong (2000) |
9 | 8 | 9 | - | 8 | 10 | 6 | 10 | 10 | 2 | - | - | 8.0 |
| 69 | 1/18/03 | The Hole in the Universe, by K.C. Cole (2001) | 0 | - | - | - | - | 4 | - | - | 8 | 3 | - | - | 3.8 |
| 70 | 3/15/03 | Dead Reckoning: The New Science of Catching Killers, by M. Baden & M. Roach (2001) |
- | 5 | 8 | - | 6 | 8 | - | 7 | 8 | 8 | - | - | 7.1 |
| 71 | 6/7/03 | The Engine of Reason, the Seat of the Soul, by Paul Churchland (1996) |
6 | - | 5 | - | - | 6 | - | 6 | 7 | 8 | - | - | 6.3 |
| 72 | 8/23/03 | Debunking Economics: The Naked Emperor of the Social Sciences, by Steve Keen (2001) |
- | - | 8 | - | 7 | 8 | - | 8 | 8 | 8 | - | - | 7.8 |
| 73 | 10/04/03 | Isaac Newton, by James Gleick (2003) | 10 | - | 7 | - | 8 | 7 | - | 6 | 8 | 6 | - | - | 7.4 |
| 74 | 1/10/04 | The Secret Life of Dust, by Hannah Holmes (2001) |
5 | - | 5 | - | 3 | 7 | - | 5 | 8 | 4 | 1 | - | 4.8 |
| 75 | 3/13/04 | Assembling California, by John McPhee (1993) |
9 | - | 5 | - | - | 6 | - | 4 | 5 | 8 | - | - | 6.2 |
| 76 | 5/8/04 | Einstein’s Luck: The Truth Behind Some of the Greatest Scientific Discoveries, by John Waller (2003) |
- | - | 9 | - | 7 | 9 | - | 7 | 5 | 6 | - | - | 7.2 |
| 77 | 7/17/04 | Wild Minds: What Animals Really Think, by Marc Hauser (2000) |
4 | - | - | - | - | 7 | - | - | 8 | 8 | - | - | 6.8 |
| 78 | 9/11/04 | The Science of Good and Evil, by Michael Shermer (2004) |
9 | - | 6 | - | 7 | 8 | - | 9 | 2 | 1 | - | - | 6.0 |
| 79 | 12/11/04 | The Feeling of What Happens: Body and Emotion in the Making of Con- sciousness, by Antonio Damasio (1999) |
9 | - | 5 | - | - | 6 | - | - | 5 | 8 | - | Jim 4, Kay 6 |
6.1 |
| 80 | 1/29/05 | The Middle Mind: Why Americans Don’t Think for Themselves, by Curtis White (2003) |
- | - | 1 | - | - | 6 | - | 3 | 2 | |
0 | Jim 5, Kay 6 |
3.3 |
Guests: A = Arnie Stoper;
EG = Eric Goodman;
ES = Emily Stoper;
J = Julie Goldstein;
M = Maria Wiese;
| # | Date | Book or Topic | Review (0 to 10) | ||||||||||||
| Reviewer ==> |
B a r b a r a |
J o h n L |
K e v i n S |
K i r b y W |
R i c h S |
R o n M c |
R o s i e R |
S c o t t H |
S h e l R |
G u e s t s |
A v e r a g e | ||||
| 81 | 4/2/05 | Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed, by Jared Diamond (2004) |
9 | 10 | 8 | 10 | 9 | - | 10 | 4 | 8 | Kay: 8 | 8.4 | ||
| 82 | 6/26/05 | The Wisdom of Crowds, by James Surowiecki (2004) |
7 | - | 4 | 6 | 7 | - | 4 | 5 | - | - | 5.5 | ||
| 83 | 9/10/05 | Freakonomics, by Steven Levitt & Stephen Dubner (2005) |
4 | 7 | 6 | 3 | 7 | - | 6 | 3 | - | - | 5.1 | ||
| 84 | 12/17/05 | Endless Forms Most Beautiful: The New Science of Evo Devo, by Sean Carroll (2005) |
3 | 10 | 9 | 9 | 8 | 8 | 9 | 8 | - | - | 8.0 | ||
| 85 | 2/18/06 | Dying to Win: The Strategic Logic of Suicide Terrorism, by Robert Pape (2005) |
- | - | 6 | 8 | 7 | 8 | 8 | 5 | - | - | 7.0 | ||
| 86 | 4/22/06 | Stem Cell Now, by Christopher Thomas Scott (2006) |
9 | 10 | 8 | 9 | 10 | - | 10 | 7 | - | - | 9.0 | ||
| 87 | 7/15/06 | Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon, by Daniel Dennett (2006) |
9 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4 | - | - | 2.9 | ||
| 88 | 9/30/06 | Why Geography Matters, by Harm de Blij (2005) |
- | 8 | 8 | 7 | 7 | 8 | 5 | 2 | - | - | 6.4 | ||
| 89 | 11/11/06 | A Different Universe: Reinventing Physics, by Robert Laughlin (2006) |
5 | - | 3 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 8 | - | - | 3.9 | ||
| 90 | 1/6/07 | Hegemony or Survival: America’s Quest for Global Dominance, by Noam Chomsky (2003) |
6 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 7 | 8 | 7 | 10 | - | - | 8.1 | ||
| 91 | 3/24/07 | The Trouble With Physics, by Lee Smolin (2006) |
4 | 8 | 5 | 5 | 8 | 5 | 4 | 5 | - | - | 5.5 | ||
| 92 | 6/23/07 | The God Delusion, by Richard Dawkins (2006) |
10 | 7 | 0 | 8 | 6 | 7 | 0 | 8 | - | - | 5.75 | ||
| 93 | 8/25/07 | American Theocracy, by Kevin Phillips (2006) |
8 | 9 | 5 | 9 | 8 | 6 | 8 | 6 | - | ES: 8 | 7.3 | ||
| 94 | 11/3/07 | The World Without Us, by Alan Weisman (2007) |
8 | 6 | 9 | 9 | 5 | 8 | 3 | 5 | - | Th: 9 | 6.9 | ||
| 95 | 1/12/08 | Presentation by physicist Tom Simonen about fusion power and its prospects. |
- | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 96 | 4/12/08 | Euclid in the Rainforest, by Joseph Mazur (2005) |
3 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 7 | - | Th: 2 | 2.3 | ||
| 97 | 4/12/08 | On Intelligence, by Jeff Hawkins (2004) |
9 | 9 | 9 | 10 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 8 | - | Th: 8 | 8.2 | ||
| 98 | 6/14/08 | The Cooperative Gene: The Evolution of Complex Beings, by Mark Ridley (2001) |
5 | - | 4 | 7 | - | 8 | ... | 6 | - | - | 6.0 | ||
| 99 | 8/16/08 | The Three-Pound Enigma, by Shannon Moffett (2006) |
8 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 7 | 6 | 8 | 4 | - | - | 6.0 | ||
| 100 | 10/26/08 | I am a Strange Loop, by Douglas Hofstadter (2007) |
3 | 2 | 0 | 8 | 5 | 0 | 8 | 8 | - | - | 4.3 | ||
Guests: ES = Emily Stoper; Th = Thomas Francis
| # | Date | Book or Topic | Review (0 to 10) | ||||||||||||
| Reviewer ==> |
B a r b a r a |
F o r r e s t |
J o h n L |
K e v i n S |
K i r b y W |
R i c h S |
R o n M c |
R o s i e R |
S c o t t H |
G u e s t s |
A v e r a g e | ||||
| 101 | 1/10/09 | What Is America?: A Short History of the New World Order, by Ronald Wright (2008) |
- | - | 10 | 6 | 10 | 8 | 9 | 7 | 7 | Th: 8 | 8.1 | ||
| 102 | 3/14/09 | Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable, by Nassim Taleb (2007) |
5 | - | 2 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 2 | - | 3.1 | ||
| 103 | 5/9/09 | Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything, by Don Tapscott & A. Williams (2006) |
6 | - | 3 | 5 | |
6 | 1 | 9 | 2 | - | 4.6 | ||
| 104 | 7/18/09 | Lessons From the Living Cell: The Limits of Reductionism, by Stephen Rothman (2002) |
9 | - | 3 | 5 | 8 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 7 | - | 5.8 | ||
| 105 | 10/3/09 | The Drunkard’s Walk: How Randomness Rules Our Lives, by Leonard Mlodinow (2008) |
2 | - | 6 | - | 6 | - | 7 | 6 | 8 | - | 5.8 | ||
| 106 | 1/09/10 | Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen, by Christopher McDougall (2009) |
9 | - | 8 | 8 | 10 | 8 | 10 | 6 | 6 | - | 8.1 | ||
| 107 | 3/27/10 | Bastard Tongues, by Derek Bickerton (2008) |
6 | 7 | 5 | - | 4 | 5 | 8 | 10 | 10 | - | 6.9 | ||
| 108 | 6/5/10 | Adam’s Tongue: How Humans Made Language..., by Derek Bickerton (2009) |
- | 10 | 9 | 8 | 8 | 9 | 9 | 3 | 10 | - | 8.1 | ||
| 109 | 8/21/10 | Rare Earth: Why Complex Life is Uncommon in the Universe, by Peter Ward & Donald Browntree (2003) |
9 | 9 | 9 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 8 | 9 | 10 | - | 8.7 | ||
| 110 | 11/6/10 | Without Miracles: Universal Selection Theory, by Gary Cziko (1997) |
5 | - | 6 | 4 | 6 | 4 | 4 | 6 | 5 | - | 5.0 | ||
| 111 | 1/22/11 | The Grand Design, by Stephen Hawking & Leonard Mlodinow (2010) |
9 | 3 | 7 | 4 | 2 | 6 | 4 | 4 | 1 | BG: 5 PA: 6 |
4.6 | ||
| 112 | 3/19/11 | The Collapse of Complex Societies, by Joseph Tainter (1990) |
7 | 6 | - | 8 | 8 | 3 | 3 | 7 | 0 | - | 5.2 | ||
| 113 | 5/14/11 | Nemesis: Last Days of the American Republic, by Chalmers Johnson (2007) |
- | 3 | 8 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 6 | - | 8 | - | 5.3 | ||
| 114 | 8/13/11 | The Information, by James Gleick (2011) |
- | 5 | - | 3 | 6 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 3 | Dawn: - | 4.9 | ||
| 115 | 11/05/11 | Entanglement: ... Einstein’s Spookiest Theory, by Amir Aczel (2001) |
- | - | 6 | 7 | - | 8 | 4 | 8 | 2 | - | 5.8 | ||
| 116 | 1/14/12 | The 4% Universe: Dark Matter, Dark Energy, by Richard Panek (2011) |
- | - | 4 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 5 | 4 | - | 5.0 | ||
| 117 | 3/24/12 | Thinking Fast and Slow, by Daniel Kahneman (2011) |
5 | - | 7 | 4 | 9 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 5 | - | 6.8 | ||
| 118 | 5/12/12 | The First Word: Search for the Origins of Language, by Christine Kenneally (2007) |
9 | - | 5 | 6 | 9 | - | 6 | - | 6 | Vicki: 7 | 6.9 | ||
| 119 | 7/14/12 | The Power of Babel, by John McWhorter (2003) |
7 | - | - | 7 | 8 | 5 | 4 | 8 | 9 | Vicki: 8 Shel: 5 |
6.8 | ||
| 120 | 9/16/12 | Googled, by Ken Auletta | 5 | - | - | 8 | 2 | 5 | 3 | 7 | 3 | Shel: 4; Vicki: 6 | 4.8 | ||
Guests: Th = Thomas Francis; BG = Bob Gray; PA = Pablo Arbalaez
| # | Date | Book or Topic | Review (0 to 10) | ||||||||||||
| Reviewer ==> |
B a r b a r a |
J o h n L |
K e v i n S |
K i r b y W |
R i c h S |
R o n M c |
R o s i e R |
S c o t t H |
V i c k i S |
G u e s t s |
A v e r a g e | ||||
| 121 | 12/1/12 | The Hidden Reality, by Brian Greene (2011) |
3 | 6 | 1 | 8 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 6 | Shel: 2 | 3.2 | ||
| 122 | 2/2/13 | Mapping Human History, by Steve Olson (2002) |
9 | 6 | 3 | 4.5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 10 | - | Shel: 1 | 5.3 | ||
| 123 | 4/20/13 | The Epigenetics Revolution, by Nessa Carey (2012) |
- | 7 | 9 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 8 | - | 7.9 | ||
| 124 | 6/29/13 | The Mind's Eye, by Oliver Sachs (2010) |
- | 6 | 8 | 6 | 8 | 5 | 7 | 8 | - | - | 6.9 | ||
| 125 | 8/10/13 | The Social Conquest of Earth, by Edward O. Wilson (2012) |
- | - | 4 | 8 | - | 5 | - | 2 | - | - | 4.8 | ||
| 126 | 10/26/13 | Lone Survivors, by Chris Stringer (2012) |
- | 8 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 4 | ? | 3 | - | 4.7 | ||
| 127 | 1/18/14 | The Unthinkable, by Amanda Ripley (2009) |
- | 9 | 3 | 10 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 1 | - | - | 6.1 | ||
| 128 | 4/18/14 | Braintrust, by Patricia Churchland (2011) |
- | 1 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 2 | - | 2 | 1 | - | 1.4 | ||
| 129 | 7/12/14 | Turing’s Cathedral, by George Dyson (2012) |
- | - | 5 | 5 | - | 5 | 8 | 4 | 6 | - | 5.5 | ||
| 130 | 9/13/14 | No Place to Hide, by Glenn Greenwald (2014) |
- | 10 | 8 | 10 | 8 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 10 | - | 9.1 | ||
| 131 | 11/15/14 | Einstein Defiant, by Edmund Blair Bolles (2004) |
7 | 4 | 3 | 8 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 5 | - | 4.0 | ||
| 132 | 1/31/15 | Stuff Matters, by Mark Miodownik (2013) |
- | 9 | 6 | 5 | 9 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 8 | - | 8.0 | ||
| 133 | 4/25/15 | The Knowledge, by Lewis Dartnell |
9 | 7 | 6 | 7 | 5 | 2 | - | 5 | 8 | Shel: 2 | 4.3 | ||
| 134 | 8/22/15 | This Changes Everything, by Naomi Klein (2014) |
6 | 6 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 7 | 5 | 3 | 6 | - | 4.9 | ||
| 135 | 10/24/15 | Genes, Cells & Brains, by Hilary & Steven Rose (2014) |
7 | 7 | 4 | 8 | 4 | 6 | 5 | 8 | 2 | Shel: - | 5.7 | ||
| 136 | 1/9/16 | Consciousness and the Brain, by Stanislas Dehaene (2014) |
9 | - | 6 | 7 | - | 7 | - | 9 | 9 | - | 7.8 | ||
| 137 | 3/12/16 | The Believing Brain, by Michael Shermer (2011) |
10 | 7 | 3 | 9 | 5 | 7 | 3 | 1 | 4 | - | 5.4 | ||
| 138 | 5/14/16 | Seeing in the Dark, by Timothy Ferris (2002) |
7 | 7 | 5 | 5 | - | 6 | 4 | 7 | 4 | - | 5.62 | ||
| 139 | 7/9/16 | Saving Capitalism, by Robert Reich (2015) |
6 | - | 8 | 5 | 7 | - | 7 | 8 | 10 | Shel: 7 | 7.2 | ||
| 140 | 9/10/16 | Infinitesimal, by Amir Alexander (2016) |
9 | 8 | 6 | 8 | 7 | 8 | - | 8 | 5 | - | 7.4 | ||
| # | Date | Book or Topic | Review (0 to 10) | ||||||||||||
| Reviewer ==> |
B a r b a r a |
J o h n L |
K e v i n S |
K i r b y W |
R i c h S |
R o n M c |
R o s i e R |
S c o t t H |
V i c k i S |
G u e s t s |
A v e r a g e | ||||
| 141 | 11/05/16 | Superintelligence, by Nick Bostrom (2014) |
4 | 4 | - | 8 | 4 | 0 | - | 6 | 8 | - | 4.86 | ||
| 142 | 2/4/17 | The Vital Question: Energy, Evolution, and the Origins of Complex Life, by Nick Lane (2015) |
9 | 7 | 5 | 6 | 5 | 7 | 5 | 10 | 7 | - | 6.78 | ||
| 143 | 3/25/17 | Storm in a Teacup by Helen Czerski (2017) |
9 | 8 | 8 | 9 | 8 | 8 | 5 | 5 | 7 | Shel: 0 | 6.7 | ||
| 144 | 6/10/17 | The Gene: An Intimate History by Siddhartha Mukherjee (2016) |
10 | 9 | - | 8 | 10 | 8 | 7 | 4 | - | - | 8.0 | ||
| 145 | 8/26/17 | Who Rules the World? by Noam Chomsky (2017) |
8 | 5 | 5 | - | 7 | - | 6 | 8 | 6 | - | 6.43 | ||
| 146 | 11/11/17 | Time Reborn by Lee Smolin (2013) |
3 | 3 | 0 | 5 | 3 | - | 1 | 1 | 1 | - | 2.1 | ||
| 147 | 1/13/18 | In the Shadows of the American Century by Alfred McCoy (2017) |
5 | 8 | 6 | 10 | 7 | 7 | - | 8 | 8 | - | 7.38 | ||
| 148 | 4/28/18 | Surfaces and Essences: Analogy as the Fuel and Fire of Thinking, by D. Hofstadter & E. Sander (2013) |
5 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 2 | - | 2.8 | ||
| 149 | 6/30/18 | Weapons of Math Destruction, by Cathy O’Neil (2017) |
5 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 7 | - | 8 | 6 | 8 | Abbie: 6 | 6.67 | ||
| 150 | 9/8/18 | The Doomsday Machine: Confessions of a Nuclear War Planner, by Daniel Ellsberg (2017) |
8 | 10 | 9 | 10 | 10 | 9 | 10 | 10 | 10 | Shel: 10 | 9.6 | ||
| 151 | 11/10/18 | Now: The Physics of Time, by Richard Muller (2017) | 10 | 7 | 1 | 8 | 6 | 8 | 2 | 1 | 6 | - | 5.44 | ||
| 152 | 1/12/19 | The Book of Why: The New Science of Cause and Effect, by Judea Pearl & Dana Mackenzie (2016) |
3 | 4 | - | 4 | 5 | 6 | 1 | 7 | 5 | - | 4.38 | ||
| 153 | 3/30/19 | Connectography: Mapping the Global Network Revolution, by Parag Khanna (2016) |
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| 154 | 10/19/2019 | Upheaval: Turning Points for Nations In Crisis, by Jared Diamond (2019) |
3 | 4 | 7 | 5 | - | 5 | - | 1 | 6 | - | 4.43 | ||
| 155 | 1/11/20 | Why You Like It, by Nolan Gasser (2019) | 9 | 7 | 5 | 5 | - | 8 | - | - | 5 | Nolan Gasser! | 6.5 | ||
| 156 | 3/10/20 | Invisible Women: Data Bias in a World Designed for Men, by Caroline Criado Perez (2019) |
7 | 8 | 7 | 9 | - | 8 | - | - | 8 | - | 7.83 | ||
| 157 | 6/20/20 | Spillover, Animal Infections and the Next Human Pandemic, by David Quammen (2012) |
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