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Read this aloud with my daughter, 10. I really enjoyed the story and found parts of it quite spooky, especially towards the end. The authors background shows, and the idea of positive thoughts leading to growth and recovery shines through. The ending is a little abrupt, but I understand there is a sequel.

The authors conclusion, summarized - The unwritten rules of baseball primarily exist to promote respect for other players, the team, and the game itself, and the most common enforcement of those rules were the bean ball and the kangaroo court fine. Both these rules and their enforcements are fading away because players are more focused on their paychecks.

That conclusion was from the end of the book. Before that, the authors offer anecdotes - and nothing but anecdotes - for 250 pages. Other than a loose clustering by the superstition or unwritten rule broken, they are unsorted - 1916 sits next to 1996. As a whole, this book wears thin quickly.

This precursor to the Hunger Games ends up getting the same rating, but for different reasons. I ought to update my one-line review of that also.

This story is told from multiple points of view, often visiting a student's story just before they are killed. I really enjoyed seeing the friendships and the differing perspectives. We never end up in the head of one of the students, the nearly unstoppable bad-guy.

Of course, most of those stories come to a violent end, and the descriptions in this book are very violent - fountains of blood and brain bits are all too common. These gory bits relate not just to guns but also the other weapons provided and found - knives, bows, and an axe.

Comparing to Hunger Games, I enjoyed knowing multiple characters and the ending here was much better; on the flip side this book is far more violent.

More of a reference work, the preface gives a very up-to-date breakdown of earth's geologic periods, linking them to the ages of flora and fauna that we all know.
Each of the 101 sites listed has a page of text and a page of pictures/maps/charts. Each describes a part of the history of this continent, from inland seas to glacial folds to volcanic flows. The information is very accessible, and a map leads to each of the sites.

subtitled Underdogs, Misfits and the Art of Battling Giants, this book revolves closely about that topic. Definitely some interesting stuff I didn't know or hadn't thought about quite that way, but that's vintage Gladwell for you. The last chapter didn't fit as well and seemed a bit short, and there was no real summary of the points. It's been too long since I read the other books to remember if they had summaries or conclusions.

Also, this may be the soonest I have read a book after its publication.

Saw a friend's review of this book and decided to give it a try. It fits the categories of historical sports fiction, so I might have found it anyways. Either way, I'm glad I read it.

The author gives complete and evolving descriptions of a town and the inhabitants - every few chapters, a new wrinkle appears in a by now familiar face. A lot of these people started the book downtrodden, branded as "losers" by life or circumstances, or more directly by other basketball teams. This book about casting off those shackles, told through a narrative that I found hard to put down. Definitely recommended.

Similar to another recent book ([b:Nine Algorithms That Changed the Future: The Ingenious Ideas That Drive Today's Computers|12413727|Nine Algorithms That Changed the Future The Ingenious Ideas That Drive Today's Computers|John MacCormick|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1356090041s/12413727.jpg|17395460]), this book focuses on the four of the six unsolved mathematical Millennium Prize Problems, with one chapter per. Variations and discussions of the math and importance of these problems is very accessible to the average reader. The illustrations help illustrate the concepts and shapes discussed. A fifth chapter describes the Poincaré conjecture, only mentioning Grigori Perelman's proof at the end without seriously delving into it.

With chapters counting down the Bortle scale (9 to 1), this book examines levels of darkness in the world. Chapters discuss modern fallacies (light reduces crime!) and the real reasons (adding light is an easy win for politicians; utilities need to sell electricity at night). Some very good discussions of night in earlier cultures, some rambling travels with a lot of bad weather. Enjoyed the discussions from each chapter at the end, and plan to find a Bortle 1 class night next summer. Somewhere between 3.5 and 4 stars.

Tried reading this with my daughter (9) who couldn't get into it. Finished it on my own; a better target may be young teens. In the book, the author tells a story of his father's diary, recorded while lost in Tibet. These events are connected to stories told to the author while sick in bed, and both events and stories have a dreamlike quality. Color is used to separate the stories and the illustrations as well, and the final pictures have many glorious colors.

I sought this one out because of the first story, closely connected to the Forever War, which was okay. Most of the rest were better than average.

Much interrupted, this was a very enjoyable childrens book. Quite a bit of fun to read aloud - an opportunity to use German, Irish, Asian, Egyptian, and even early American voices. Daughter and I will seek out other Lloyd Alexander titles to read, and I plan to read the famous Prydain series soon.

A good beginning and a situation that makes you think - what if people were given free license to discriminate against someone? Would they come out of the woodwork, happy to disrespect a human being legally? No, I don't think this is where the author was going, but it made me think. Then things devolved into cartoon violence. Certain aspects were unbelievable, and others were inevitable. The main character's primary aspect is that he's good - at least if he reminds himself that he is. I more or less liked the ending - just the middle parts that needed some work.

A good book, perhaps too focused on the brain-level functions of anger. The message that you can change your brain is great, and there are some good strategies in the latter half of the book. I think we could all stand to improve our empathy and empathic concern.

Originally picked this up to read with my son, but the medical bits got to be too much. Came back to it in September; this is really a fairly quick read.

I found myself comparing this to William Gibson's Blue Ant series, mostly unfavorably (from me, that series netted only 3 stars). This book was rambling and long, with mostly unconnected sections. It was originally serialized on Tor's website, and perhaps it was written with that in mind. I enjoyed the character of Suzanne Church (even if she was mostly 2D) and the epilog, which was really excellent. The idea of Makers was also interesting, but didn't feel well thought out. Bringing Disney in half-way through felt very forced. I'll look for other books by Cory Doctorow, but after a break.