The Order of TimeAuthor: Carlo RovelliType: Non-Fiction(Physics)Finished: July 5, 2019Copyright: 2018 Image from Amazon Carlo Rovelli opens his book by warning us there is no such thing as time. “We convetionally think of time as something simple and fundamental that flows uniformly, independently from everything else, from the past to the future, measured by clocks …
Seven Brief Lessons on Physics Author: Carlo RovelliType Non-Fiction (Physics)Finished: June 13, 2019Copyright 2016 Rating: ★★★ Image from Amazon Although brief in terms of pages, this book is not a breeze. Each lesson moves through the evolution of theories on the make up of the universe. Carlo Rovelli starts with Einstein’s work that proved “that atoms …
The Perfectionists: How Precision Engineers Created the Modern WorldAuthor: Simon WinchesterType: Non-FictionFinished: June 11, 2019Copyright: 2018 Rating: ★★★★ Image from Amazon In the pre-industrial world precision was unneeded. It was easy enough to live one’s life without knowing exactly what time it was or exactly how far apart two places were. All manufacturing was essentially …
Endurance: Shackleton’s Incredible VoyageAuthor: Alfred LansingType: Non-FictionFinished: April 14, 2019Copyright: 1959 Rating: ★★★★ Image from Amazon Ernest Shackleton was a product of his time – the late 19th and early 20th centuries – one of those men strong-willed men who did audacious things. He formed the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition to be the first to travel …
Work SongAuthor: Ivan DoigType: FictionFinished: April 7, 2019Rating: ★★★ Image from Amazon Meh. This story is narrated by Morrie Morgan about 10 years after his time in Marias Coulee in The Whistling Season. After travelling to the Southern Hemisphere he is back in Montana. “But an urge can spin the points of a compass as …
The Whistling SeasonAuthor: Ivan DoigType: FictionFinished: March 28, 2019Rating: ★★★ Image from Amazon As the novel opens, Paul, who is now the Montana state superintendent of schools, returns to the one room school house he loved and reflects on his seventh grade year that propelled his course in life. Paul is the oldest of three …
Where You Once BelongedAuthor: Kent HarufType: FictionFinished: March 7, 2019Rating: ★★★★ (Image from Amazon) Although I read them out of order, I have now read all six of Kent Haruf’s novels about the fictional town of Holt, Colorado east of the Rockies. As the story opens, the town discovers that Jack Burdette has returned. Haruf’s …
Our Souls at NightAuthor: Kent HarufType: FictionFinished: March 3, 2019Rating: ★★★★ One evening, the widow Addie goes over to her neighbor’s house to ask the widower Louis to consider something. After some hemming and hawing she gets to the point: “I wonder if you would consider coming to my house sometimes to sleep with me.” …
The Tie That BindsAuthor: Kent HarufType: FictionDate Finished: Feb. 27, 2019Rating: ★★★★★ Image from Amazon Roy Goodnough was a mean son of a bitch. When first introduced he seems almost comical, “But Roy now, I suppose Roy would have come [to the West] anyway, even if Indians were still here. He was about enough of …
Homicide: A Year on the Killing StreetsAuthor: David SimonType: Non-FictionDate Finished: February 24, 2019Rating: ★★★★ Image from Amazon Back in the 1990s I caught a few episodes of the crime drama “Homicide: Life on the Streets”. I liked it but we were busy raising our kids and didn’t watch as much TV. In subsequent years …