Carlo Rovelli

2014

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"Brief" they are indeed: this is not Feynman's Six Easy Pieces: Essentials of Physics By Its Most Brilliant Teacher in any respect, rather it's a popular-science description of some of the currents in modern physics. And it's amazingly well-done, making the concepts understandable as only someone immersed in them and gifted both in the science and in literature can possibly make them.

4/5. Finished 17 November 2018.

(Originally published on Goodreads.)

Eric Schlosser

2013

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History at its most nail-biting. This should be read as a counterpoint to Plutopia: Nuclear Families, Atomic Cities, and the Great Soviet and American Plutonium Disasters, a description of the military plans that led to the need for the nuclear materials.

Many of the anecdotes are terrifying, and make one wonder how we managed to to survive the Cold War – and how we'll survive the current era too, given that the systems are all still in place with their existing faults.

5/5. Finished 17 November 2018.

(Originally published on Goodreads.)

Ryan Holiday

2016

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5/5. Finished 17 November 2018.

(Originally published on Goodreads.)

Joe Haldeman

1974

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A classic of science fiction with a "hard" premise: how can one fight a long-distance war in the presence of relativity? Haldeman's conclusion is insightful: in travelling to battle your technology becomes old compared to those you'll fight when you arrive, which given the speed of technological advance places the attacker at a huge disadvantage. He gives his physics human scale and a prosaic, if perfectly believable resolution.

5/5. Finished 17 November 2018.

(Originally published on Goodreads.)

Tim Dee

2013

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A lyrical, poetic tale of rural life. The writing is wonderful, if perhaps a little drawn out: a book to be tackled in short doese for the beauty of the imagery.

3/5. Finished 17 November 2018.

(Originally published on Goodreads.)