Because I was impressed with Seveneves, I decided to make my next read another novel by Neal Stephenson. There are several highly-praised options to choose from, but the one that came to hand first in the library was 1999’s Cryptonomicon. It’s a monster of a tome, clocking in at just over 900 pages, which is … Read more
At first, I thought the titular Seveneves referred to fragments of the Moon. It blows up on the first page of the novel – or disaggregates anyhow, into seven big chunks. But these start knocking into one another, breaking off smaller pieces, and these bang into each other, making more pieces. Soon, there are a … Read more
I have mentioned that I’m on a year-long effort to diversify my reading list. There are so many great books to be consumed, and I’ve been spending far too much time with white, male authors. When I heard a few weeks ago that the new cadre of MacArthur fellows was announced, I read their biographies … Read more
There’s a lot of talk about this book lately, since they just made it into what I’m told is a very good movie. I heard the scuttlebutt and watched the preview for the film, and when the protagonist/narrator said “I’m going to have to science the shit out of this,” I knew this was probably … Read more
My latest audiobook consumed during my commute was the story of Napoleon Bonaparte’s (why do we always call him by his first name?) ill-fated expedition to Egypt in 1798. Napoleon brought with him a corps of “savants,” natural historians, engineers, artists, and musicians, charged with documenting the history and natural history of Egypt, and helping … Read more
This week’s book was a survey of human history, from the dawn of civilization to the Cold War, of the various ways that societal, health, political, technological, and economic factors drove the adoption of various beverages, and how the presence of those beverages in human society generated ripples of cause and effect, propelling advances and … Read more
Time for my book report: This week, I read (well, listened to) a fun history of the assassination of three American presidents. Yes, it’s simultaneously about political murder and is a fun read (well, listen). This is because of the author’s ideal mix of snark, intelligence, and obsession with the three stories discussed herein: the … Read more
I just finished this excellent memoir by Mary Karr, mostly about her childhood, mostly in east Texas. It’s not explicitly geological but it does feature an oil town economy and a hurricane, as well as some consideration of the Rocky Mountain Front Range in Colorado. I didn’t read it out of any illusions it would … Read more
On the recommendation of my friend Troy Holland, I just finished reading Michael Punke’s novel about Hugh Glass. The book has been optioned as a film, and because it stars Leonardo diCaprio, it will doubtless be a hit. What got Troy’s attention, though, is the director: Alejandro González Iñárritu, the guy who gave us Babel, … Read more
I’m grateful to Mountain Press for sending me copies of all of their new books. There are some terrific volumes that have arrived in my mailbox over the past year, and I feel guilty for not reviewing more of them. But when I upwrapped this one, I was struck by two things: 1) The author … Read more
I am way, way, way behind in reporting on the books I’ve read. As time goes by, the list gets longer, and the “book report” more daunting… So I’m going to do a brief book report in hopes of clearing out the backlog: What if? by Randall Munroe Really entertaining scientific answers to ridiculous questions, … Read more
Callan reviews 11 books he’s read in the past 11 months, some having to do with geology, many with the intellectual heritage of scientific insight, a few about history, two biographies, and some about random things.
Bill Bryson is a very fun writer. Like many people, I first dipped into his oeuvre when he published his book about hiking the Appalachian Trail. Though I bruised my ribs laughing as hard as I did, I went back and read many of his other books – about traveling in Australia, or the UK. … Read more
Sam Harris wrote a couple of excellent missives on the downsides of modern religious thinking and religious institutions in The End of Faith and the sequel which rebutted some of the U.S. criticism from it, called Letter to a Christian Nation. He published a new major work in 2010, The Moral Landscape: How Science Can … Read more
My friend Joe Cancellare knows that I like cartoons, and that I even draw a few cartoons myself. He surprised me a couple weeks ago with a gift of a book – a new memoir by New Yorker cartoon editor Bob Mankoff. This was a real treat – it explores (a) the idea of how … Read more
On Saturday of this past weekend, I led a field trip to Sideling Hill and Paw Paw Tunnel, and on the (1.5+.75+1.5=) 3.75 total hours of driving, I listened to the audio book version of Tim Cahill’s short book on traveling around in Yellowstone National Park. It’s a fun little book, but I wished it … Read more
I recently read God’s Harvard, by Washington Post reporter Hanna Rosin. It’s a profile of the people and philosophy behind Patrick Henry College, a private Christian college located not too far from me, in Purcellville, Virginia. PHC is an Evangelical place that strives to serve its homeschooled matriculating freshmen with a sense of worldliness and … Read more
When Michael Collier came to visit last year, he recommended a couple of books to me. I finally got around to reading the first of them – Refuge, a memoir mixed with natural history of Utah by Terry Tempest Williams. The arc of the story is essentially twofold: the women in Williams’ family get cancer, … Read more
Callan reviews Bob Hazen’s latest book, “The Story of Earth,” a history of our planet that emphasizes the coevolution of minerals and life.
Some time ago, when I reviewed some books here, Thomas Hodgson left the suggestion that I might enjoy The Snoring Bird, by Bernd Heinrich. So I asked the library to order it, and they did, and as soon as it arrived, someone else checked it out. Then I got my turn, and today, when I … Read more