Another book I won in Goodreads Giveaways. (This is so strange, for quite a while I received nothing and then suddenly there were like four of them wiAnother book I won in Goodreads Giveaways. (This is so strange, for quite a while I received nothing and then suddenly there were like four of them within a week).
I feel a little bit bad, since half-way through the book I decided to stop. It was not because of the book but rather because of me. I think I am not the targeted audience.
The Universe in the Rearview Mirror is book on physics, which focuses on Symmetries and how beautiful this trait is found in many laws around us, in many levels of micro and macro.
However, the book was a bit advanced for my taste and background. I suppose I could still continue reading it and could follow it, but then I feel my eagerness drying out quickly. Goldberg's explanations and uses of analogies, I am sure are very carefully chosen, but sometimes still prove to be too obscure for a non-natural-science major like me. After a bit of re-read, I got it, but well, I'm not that crazy to continue the journey, each puzzle every 20-page (note that I have much love physics and the wild and beautiful imagination of physicists and mathematicians, and yet...). For the right audience (which I guess to be undergraduate level science-major/geek), the book should be a great read - for all of those passions and humors and jokes about nerdiness and scientists' badasseries. Goldberg is genuinely in love with his field, which I admire.
This shows the difficulty that pure sciences face when they want to reach the general audience. There is so much progress being made in this century, but much of it remains in its own circle. We all knew about the development in finding Higgs boson (*minor correction), but then we are just vaguely aware of its "significance" and its application. It is not because experts do not try to widen their bases (they are trying, this book is one of such efforts), but it is just because all stuffs become too complex and abstract to digest. Not to mention that we are often more concerned with things that present their effects on us directly. Perhaps an injection of more advanced material in natural sciences in lower-level education would help improving the backgrounds of us readers, but, well, that would take quite some times.
A minor problem I encountered in this book is Goldberg's treatment of "ancient" scientists. Well, they were not correct in their interpretations, but I wish the audience could appreciate more their legacies (and we should). There are some nice and fun anecdotes about scientists from the Enlightenment onwards (Newton for sure, then Galileo for instance), but history-lovers, beware! Sciences, for instance, were not so much differentiated from alchemies in early16-17th, the church was not so against the new progress in science, such as the introduction of the heliocentric system, as it was against Galileo's condescending and self-centered behavior. (But of course, these things do not interfere so much with the content and purpose of this book - they are just some sidenotes, I just want to give a few warnings)
I won Twilight of the Elites from Goodreads Giveaways.
In essence, what Hayes argues is that the current political, social, & business structure in AmI won Twilight of the Elites from Goodreads Giveaways.
In essence, what Hayes argues is that the current political, social, & business structure in America, that he identifies as Meritocracy, which is in theory based entirely on merits or intellectual prowess, is overestimated and not working properly, if not decaying rapidly. The system has produced an elite class that overtime has becomes so obsessed with themselves, with wealth and winning, so confident in their intelligence and legitimacy, and so far-removed from the actual interests of the people they are supposed to represent, thus, they have been slowly and disastrously brought the nation to crisis. Hayes regards the era after 1970 til the last decade as the time of deterioration in equality, when real income of the poorest in fact decreasing, while the few 1% riches amassing great fortune. He, in this book, asks for reformation, for radical rethinking of the system that is symbolically American.
I find the style of this book ok. At first I was wary of the journalistic style, in which one presents some anecdotes and analogies with much passionate cryings so as to plead to the audience' feelings. The style also features some certain definitions and scattered and patched theories, to impress and intimidate readers. This book, well, has it all, as expected, but fortunately, not overly so. The tone is strong, but not too full of emotions, and at times quite controlled. I imagine myself a normal reader instead of a more research-oriented audience, and so it is not bad.
The content of the book can be improved. The author touches several critical issues of the nation and criticizes many traits and points out the common pattern of the system. Unfortunately, he is not able to dig deep into these matters, but just gives a brief impressions. As a result, I feel quite dissatisfied. I want to know more about the internal working, the internal operation of a system that leads to its "bad" results. Why, for example, is Credit Default Swap being traded OTC a horrible idea. Sure, they are not as transparently regulated as standardized products being exchanged in clearing houses. But how exactly does this trait lead to (possibly) easy exploitation? What types of exploitation, who can take advantage and what did they do, and did they, evidence? I don't need detailed description (the book is not about financial crisis exclusively), but I need more than abstract criticism. On other occasions, Hayes stops at one point and just not elaborates more, not providing any more proof. He, for instance, uses the example of Greenspan and Bernanke's speeches to criticize the overly confident attitude of the elites, the privileged and well-educated class who pays no heeds to other dissent voices. What are some other voices? How prevalent are they? There are several examples like these, and the book would work better if it focuses on its well-researched points only.
I do not think that Twilight of the Elites presents materials too much astounding. Any system is prone to abuse, from times to times, and democracy is no great exception. I doubt there is a perfect system at all. There are always the elites, no matter of what type (wealth, race, religion, and now merits), and anyone in power for so long will gravitate towards being self-serving. There is no surprise that up to a certain point, the abuse becomes too obvious, too disturbing that social unrest and discontents are heard more often and (hopefully) acted upon.
Despite all of these weaknesses, there is one significant thing I like in Hayes' book: his close focus on Meritocracy, the ideology that America embraces. The ideology expresses the wish and the possibility of improving one's own life, of liberating, of emancipating oneself from whatever is hindering one, by one's own power. It is a very beautiful idea indeed. And the system based of meritocracy is indeed efficient, one can argue.
And yet it is problematic and far from perfect: the over-stress on intelligence, the inadequacy of education to create an equal level/background for all, the resulted conceited thinking of "knowing-all", the never ending competition for power, wealth, and recognition, the looking down on any other who did not make it, the disregarding of many random and societal factors playing in one's life & success, the disregarding of all other equally, if not more, important qualities in man. Yes, the over-appreciation of intelligence, or any other "innate" talents. Why? You have better scores than me, you earn more degress than me, but that does not mean you are without fault and mistake-free, and especially that does not mean you are a better person than me. ...more
Warning: I am not exactly a big fan of young adult genre and have not read that many, except for some fantasy that can be categorized as young adult aWarning: I am not exactly a big fan of young adult genre and have not read that many, except for some fantasy that can be categorized as young adult as well. I am quite a nerd myself and am not sure how young people behave normally, so excuse me and you are welcome to enlighten me.
I received this book from Goodreads Giveaways. I suppose giveaways present some good chances for all of us to gain exposure to new books and new genres. So here it is, a young adult (contemporary?) romance. Some people shelved it as realistic fiction as well, also as chick-lit. Yes, great exposure *sigh*.
I am perplexed *blink*. A bit dumbfounded. I tried hard, real hard, to make sense of the whole story and its characters, yet simply could not. I tried to solicit a single, no matter how trivial, meaningful message, but found none.
I think character building is of utmost importance in young adult books, since it is all what the genre is about: exploring the young self, learning its goods and bads, coming to terms with it and growing up. Yet, in this book, character building is... no, I could not find a right adjective. The book still makes me feel very unintelligent, since I could not understand any character. Some are one dimensional (Bailey's parents and grandparent), some do not function, are completely superfluous (Julie? , Bailey's so-called ex-bf and friends in highschool - they are bad, the book says, Bailey's makeup artist - why does she have to be there, to make it feel more like a book about music and gigs?), mostly are totally confusing (the rest, which I means all main characters). Perhaps my role as a reader is to fill in the blank and imagine for myself so that everyone becomes well rounded?
Ok, there is some random conversation: you have to live for yourself, your parents are wrong, you will succeed (to Bailey), you have to overcome the past and your family situation(to Sam), blah blah blah, bull sh*t bull sh*t bull sh*t. I could not figure exactly after all what Bailey's problem is, what Sam's problem is, what and how exactly they dealt with themselves emotionally: what they learned, how much they actually reflected and examined themselves and their past and their "scars." How deep are these scars? They are said to be great, the book says. THe book never focuses on a specific issue, never even expresses it clearly not to mention to deal with it satisfactorily. One thing jumps to another, by chance. All problems present themselves and then disappear. Oh, by the way, why did Bailey love Sam so much?
I then suddenly thought. Oh, was the message about how confusing this world is, things never make sense? Boom! Sh*t, and in the end they are still all happy and successful? NICE.
On the other hand, if all you care about is a romance in which cute boy and pretty girl finally get together and pretty girl overcomes all her obstacles and magically (no matter how unreasonably) has all what she wants, with some makeout sessions as bonus, then this is perhaps a decent read? The writing is not so bad, just the story line is unbelievably horrible.
This book is not even worth 1 star. I feel bad for my other one stars. ...more
Warning: I'm not so confident giving this book a review. I might be a bit too harsh since thriller is not my usualI won this as a Goodreads giveaway.
Warning: I'm not so confident giving this book a review. I might be a bit too harsh since thriller is not my usual genre, and thus I have no sense where the book's quality stands. As a result, I have to resort to comparing it with some others - heavier towards fantasy - that I read before. Overall it is an enjoyable read for me, but it could have been better.
Jin Village is kinda a Chinese version of Mummy. The comparison is bad, I know, but that gives you a general idea: ancient, evil, powerful force vs. some modern men and women. It is about a group of archeologists and engineers going to excavate an ancient, forgotten, cursed village and then finding themselves trapped in a nightmare.
There are a few problems I encounter with the book.
First is characters. In the beginning, there are 40 people and I was feeling very optimistic for I thought there would be interesting interactions among this group, a political/sociology study or sth. But instead, Jin Village has quite a narrow focus: only 5 of them are actually active. The rest plays only a very trivial role, in fact they disappear too quickly. Five main characters are two professors (one evil-one kind), two assistants (a college boy and a phD student) and one former military man. There is also, of course, stories from the main evil and another farmer named Hong (whose story I like most). The stories are mainly told in their viewpoints. The narrow focus would be fine if these characters show some more psychological depth and more distinct personalities. However, I find them very indistinguishable. It seems anyone can behave just like the way they do? And then there is this evil professor, which I find not very convincing, quite simplistic and one dimensional. Also, I find these characters' personal anecdotes are not really connected into the story but remain detached and sometimes disrupt the story line, rather distracting. The sexual tensions between Amy and Sean, for example, is unneccessary in my opinion (but maybe interesting for other readers?). Their growing attachment is not convincing for me.
Then the plot. I feel a bit disappointed since I expect a more well-structured and developed plot. You know, the type that every minute details, every small hints work together towards a big grand scheme. Maybe some connections between the past and the present. Above all, I wish that Mother Chen's past, her driving force for revenge, were stronger and better told. Not that the story is not convincing, but it is still somewhat weak. Her development into power is ignored, which is such a waste. I wish her power is more well imagined (how it works, where does the power come from? etc., a clearer system). In short, the plot is quite sketchy and a bit fragmented. Writings could have been improved, more descriptives and showing not telling could have been more effective.
Despite all of these weaknesses, Jin Village has a major strength that outweighs all and that makes me finish the book. It is Stoia's ability to create the atmosphere of the ancient, isolated Chinese village. I was quite absorbed into that quiet and yet thrilling world. The cover itself is captivating! I immediately visualize the mountains and houses, etc. It feels distinctively Chinese, which is a great achievement. Perhaps this is because the author is able to integrate quite accurately Chinese cultures and traditional customs into the book. I believe many will be fascinated by paragraphs on bound feet, they are very informative and yet short enough not to interrupt the flow of the book....more
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