It is with a heavy heart that I officially shut down Mark’s Book Blog, a.k.a. Mark’s Book Diary. (If a tree falls in the forest, and there's no one around. . .)
I’m just not posting as often as I’d like. A blog must contain fresh information. As with all readers, the time it takes for me to finish a book, as well as the time that I may take between books, varies. I had intended to supplement book-specific posts with features like, “The Classics Never Die” (about classic novels), “Quick Hits” (featuring a sentence or two on previously-read books), “Random Musings” (which were frequently random and discussed book resources, other blogs, etc.) and other book information (like e-book reader developments, award-winning books, etc.). I have let myself down by not posting regularly.
I intend to continue to maintain a list of books I read and books I want to read. I will also jot down a note or two about each book I read since a big reason that I started the Blog was to keep track of what I read.
I want to THANK the 2 or 3 (ok, 1 or 2?) loyal readers out there who wasted their valuable time on my ramblings. Please keep in touch with book recommendations and let me know if you want to know “what I’ve read recently and whether I recommend it.”
LIVE LONG, READ AND PROSPER. WE’LL LEAVE THE LIGHTS FOR YOU.
Monday, March 21, 2011
Monday, March 7, 2011
Seinfeld Post - A Post About Virtually Nothing
So, there I was, browsing my list o' books, undecided about what to read next. I still haven’t read all of my “misses” from 2010. And who knows if I will ever pick those up.
I stumbled upon some information regarding HBO’s upcoming series, “A Game of Thrones.” A book, I might add, NOT on the list o' books.
[Aside: If you are “A Song of Fire and Ice” devotee, you will note that the remainder of this post is written from the point of view of me, “A Song of Fire and Ice” and George R.R. Martin neophyte. When I question the double middle initials below, please don’t post that I’m a heathen who is undeserving of reading the books because I don’t know the backstory. And, if I misidentify a reference to one of Mr. Martin's books below, please don’t call the world wide interweb police on me. I hadn’t read Word 1 written by Mr. Martin before last Friday, and I am only about 1/3 of the way through “A Game of Thrones.” While I’d love a succinct list of characters or family tree (to keep all of the characters straight), I was unable to easily find one that didn’t have spoilerability (a newly-coined term (by me) meaning, “the power or capacity to crush a reader’s hopes and dreams by exposing a significant narrative event”). As a result, some of the family relations (heh heh) and geographic connections are difficult to follow. Therefore, instead of pointing out my inadequacies, any assistance on this front would be greatly appreciated. End of aside. Question, if an “Aside” turns out to be the focal point of a post, does that render it not an “Aside” and instead render the rest of the post as the “Aside”? Tough question for a Monday.]
The book, “A Game of Thrones,” is the first in George R.R. Martin’s series entitled, “A Song of Fire and Ice.” (OK, what’s with the two middle initials? Am I the only one of finds that a bit much?)
The series had been recommended to me in the past and had actually been compared favorably to Stephen King’s “Dark Tower” series (more on that in an upcoming post). Apparently, Martin’s series was initially meant to span three books and now in intended to span seven. Of which four have been published, one is scheduled for release, one is titled and the last is nowhere (as far as I can tell). Martin is 62, and I am reluctant to invest the kind of time necessary to read the approximately 3,000 existing pages much less the 2,500+/- that will comprise the last three novels, if Martin makes it that far.
That being said, I am greatly enjoying the first book. I am particularly fond of Martin’s approach to character development. There are several characters that Martin uses for the telling of his story. Each chapter has the title of a character’s name, and the chapter is then written from that character’s point of view. As a result, you learn more and more about each character in each of the character's “chapters.”
I will post on “A Game of Thrones” once I complete it. I do not expect to immediately pick up the second book, but assuming that I intend to forge ahead, I will probably read one or more books before doing so. Just in case you’re keeping score at home.
Live long, read and prosper. We’ll leave the lights on for you.
Monday, February 28, 2011
RIP Borders and Why I Feel Culpable
As discussed at length on this blog in the past, I am a recent Kindle convert. I don’t know about the other Kindle converts out there, but I now have a difficult time reading an actual physical book. I keep a “non-Kindle Wish List” in my Amazon account, and those titles are comprised mainly of books not offered on the Kindle. That whole list is just gathering dust.
Despite my affection for online shopping (one of my wife’s pet peeves for sure), I still love going to bookstores. I love paging through books, seeing what might interest me. In the past, I often felt compelled to buy something. Be it the mega-Barnes & Noble or neighborhood bookstore, I wanted to lend my support.
I still feel this way about the neighborhood bookstore. I’ve blogged about one of my all-time favorites in Columbus, Ohio (The Book Loft) before. I always buy something there—for myself or members of my family.
Of course, Amazon has led the charge in commoditizing books. 30% off? How about 40%? 45%? For a while there it was so ridiculous (and I was so ridiculous) that I’d shop Amazon, BN.com, Buy.com, Walmart.com, any-other-discount-book.com website looking to save 23 cents on a book. Yes, it was a game. And among those online retailers playing the discount game, I was ok. Fact is, the quaint neighborhood bookstore had been dying a slow death since long before the evil empires of Walmart and Amazon achieved international prominence.
Well, the commoditizing has its price. Yes, I still love browsing through bookstores, but as a Kindle guy now, I leave the bookstore empty handed except for the titles of books to be added to the reading list. I’m not even buying the damn books any more. And, unfortunately, the e-book industry can’t get its act together and allow (without, in some cases, some techno-mumbo-jumbo-unscrewthis-plugthatintocomputer nonsense) multiple venders to supply your e-reader. So, you buy a Kindle and your only easy option is to download your books from Amazon—as much as you might feel compelled to “buy” from Barnes & Noble because, guess what? That’s where you saw the book in the first place.
To Borders. I went to college in Ann Arbor, Michigan. In 1971 (long before I arrived), the first Borders Book Shop opened in Ann Arbor. Borders was still there during my time 1985-1989. It had begun to expand and open in new markets by that time as well. It was a great bookstore. It was nestled among all of the “college bookstores” selling text books (all at the same price, by the way), college apparel, etc. Borders was the bookstore your parents wanted to browse through on visits.
Yeah, Borders was purchased and went corporate. But I, and countless others like me, effectively abandoned brick and mortar bookstores. So, does it come as any surprise that Borders is going through bankruptcy. And it’s not like Barnes & Noble is a picture of economic health, though there’s hope that someone will step up and take it private.
Anyway, RIP Borders. It’s possible that Borders could emerge following bankruptcy. Nobody knows at this point. My local Borders is having its “Store Closing” sale, however. And I am not aware of any "neighborhood bookstore" in my neighborhood. I find it a shame.
Live long, read and prosper. We’ll leave the lights on for you.
Saturday, February 26, 2011
Scorecasting by Tobias J. Moskowitz and L. Jon Wertheim - A-
This book is likely for a narrow audience. Scorecasting was written by two boyhood friends--one is now a sports journalist for Sports Illustrated (Wertheim) and the other is now a finance professor at the University of Chicago and colleague of Stephen Levitt, co-author of Freakonomics and Superfreakonomics.
For a non-sports fan, the rest of this entry can be summarized thusly: blah blah blah blah blahblah blah blah BLAH! Those who continue on do so at their own risk.
Scorecasting is basically a Freakonomics of sports. The authors select a number of accepted sports beliefs (home field advantage, there's no "I" in team and others) and attempt to prove or disprove them through statistical analysis. Where they find truth to the beliefs, they further analyze the data to try to reach a conclusion about the underlying reasons.
For instance (and I have heard this discussed on radio interviews with the authors, so this, in my opinion--which is the only opinion that matters on my blog--does not violate my "no spoilers" rule), the authors show that home field advantage is a truism in all sports. Larger in some than others, but applicable to all sports, from the US major sports to soccer (over the pond) to Japanese baseball. After analyzing the data, however, they prove that performances of home team players vs. visiting team players do not vary. Among other data used to prove the point, the authors looked at certain statistics where they could isolate a statistic and factor out all of the "noise." For example, the home team in the NBA makes precisely the same percentage of free throws as the visitors. Soccer penalty shots are identical as well. And so on.
What does differ, however, is the way that the umpires or referees call the games. This "referee bias" is surprisingly prevalent and noticeable in looking at the data. Home teams are called for fewer fouls than visitors in the NBA. The strike zone is bigger for the pitcher, and smaller for the hitter, with respect to the home team. The basic conclusion (I'm being intentionally overly-simplistic) is that, well, if you were an umpire, and 30,000 fans cheered every time you called a strike and booed every time you called a ball, wouldn't you be predisposed to call borderline pitches a strike?
Freakonomics was, in many ways, revolutionary. Whether you "buy" the authors' conclusions or not, their ability to turn conventional wisdom on its head was thought-provoking.
Scorecasting doesn't have as much impact. For a sports fan, it is a fun, quick read. Its conclusions aren't going to keep you up nights with your brain tied up in knots, though.
Live long, read and prosper. We'll leave the lights on for you.
For a non-sports fan, the rest of this entry can be summarized thusly: blah blah blah blah blahblah blah blah BLAH! Those who continue on do so at their own risk.
Scorecasting is basically a Freakonomics of sports. The authors select a number of accepted sports beliefs (home field advantage, there's no "I" in team and others) and attempt to prove or disprove them through statistical analysis. Where they find truth to the beliefs, they further analyze the data to try to reach a conclusion about the underlying reasons.
For instance (and I have heard this discussed on radio interviews with the authors, so this, in my opinion--which is the only opinion that matters on my blog--does not violate my "no spoilers" rule), the authors show that home field advantage is a truism in all sports. Larger in some than others, but applicable to all sports, from the US major sports to soccer (over the pond) to Japanese baseball. After analyzing the data, however, they prove that performances of home team players vs. visiting team players do not vary. Among other data used to prove the point, the authors looked at certain statistics where they could isolate a statistic and factor out all of the "noise." For example, the home team in the NBA makes precisely the same percentage of free throws as the visitors. Soccer penalty shots are identical as well. And so on.
What does differ, however, is the way that the umpires or referees call the games. This "referee bias" is surprisingly prevalent and noticeable in looking at the data. Home teams are called for fewer fouls than visitors in the NBA. The strike zone is bigger for the pitcher, and smaller for the hitter, with respect to the home team. The basic conclusion (I'm being intentionally overly-simplistic) is that, well, if you were an umpire, and 30,000 fans cheered every time you called a strike and booed every time you called a ball, wouldn't you be predisposed to call borderline pitches a strike?
Freakonomics was, in many ways, revolutionary. Whether you "buy" the authors' conclusions or not, their ability to turn conventional wisdom on its head was thought-provoking.
Scorecasting doesn't have as much impact. For a sports fan, it is a fun, quick read. Its conclusions aren't going to keep you up nights with your brain tied up in knots, though.
Live long, read and prosper. We'll leave the lights on for you.
Monday, February 21, 2011
The Long Ships by Frans G. Benggston - A-
The Grandson: A book?
Grandpa: That's right. When I was your age, television was called books. And this is a special book. It was the book my father used to read to me when I was sick, and I used to read it to your father. And today I'm
gonna read it to you.
The Grandson: Has it got any sports in it?
Grandpa: Are you kidding? Fencing, fighting, torture, revenge, giants, monsters, chases, escapes, true love, miracles...
The Grandson: Doesn't sound too bad. I'll try to stay awake.
Grandpa: Oh, well, thank you very much, very nice of you. Your vote of confidence is overwhelming.
Grandpa: Westley didn't reach his destination. His ship was attacked by the Dread Pirate Roberts, who never left captives alive. When Buttercup got the news that Westley was murdered...
The Grandson: -Murdered by pirates is good...
"The Long Ships" by Frans G. Benggston is a tremendously fun adventure. Taking place at the turn of the first millennium, "The Long Ships" follows the life and adventures of Orm Tosteson, a Norseman from a long line of Vikings who was initially thrust into the Viking life after being captured. Orm is not what you would consider an ordinary Viking. Sure, he plunders and fights. He's immensely strong. He's also a bit of a hypochondriac, more worried at one point in the book, for example, of fighting (to the death, I might add) outside in the cold where he might get a chill than he is about fighting at all.
Orm goes on many voyages and meets many great friends and characters along the way-Toke Gray-Gullsson, Father Willibald, Olof Sommerbird, and others, including Orm's wife, Ylva. There's murder, revenge, plundering, quests, religious conflict, torture and general skullduggery. I just wanted to use the word "skullduggery."
But this is much more than a story. It can be read like a story, of course, but there are numerous themes to ponder as well, including ye olde standby, sin and redemption, religious themes, fate (including luck) vs. free will, many others. Benggston also often leaves the reader hanging, and there are many questions that are left unanswered to be discussed and considered.
Benggston was a Swede who lived from 1894-1954. "The Long Ships" is actually a combination of two books written by Benggston in 1941 and 1945. For some reason, the book was recently republished (and Kindled). One of my favorite authors, Michael Chabon, wrote the introduction to the most current version.
"The Long Ships" is a great book, recommended to anyone who enjoys a good adventure.
Live long, read and prosper. We'll leave the lights on for you.
Grandpa: That's right. When I was your age, television was called books. And this is a special book. It was the book my father used to read to me when I was sick, and I used to read it to your father. And today I'm
gonna read it to you.
The Grandson: Has it got any sports in it?
Grandpa: Are you kidding? Fencing, fighting, torture, revenge, giants, monsters, chases, escapes, true love, miracles...
The Grandson: Doesn't sound too bad. I'll try to stay awake.
Grandpa: Oh, well, thank you very much, very nice of you. Your vote of confidence is overwhelming.
Grandpa: Westley didn't reach his destination. His ship was attacked by the Dread Pirate Roberts, who never left captives alive. When Buttercup got the news that Westley was murdered...
The Grandson: -Murdered by pirates is good...
"The Long Ships" by Frans G. Benggston is a tremendously fun adventure. Taking place at the turn of the first millennium, "The Long Ships" follows the life and adventures of Orm Tosteson, a Norseman from a long line of Vikings who was initially thrust into the Viking life after being captured. Orm is not what you would consider an ordinary Viking. Sure, he plunders and fights. He's immensely strong. He's also a bit of a hypochondriac, more worried at one point in the book, for example, of fighting (to the death, I might add) outside in the cold where he might get a chill than he is about fighting at all.
Orm goes on many voyages and meets many great friends and characters along the way-Toke Gray-Gullsson, Father Willibald, Olof Sommerbird, and others, including Orm's wife, Ylva. There's murder, revenge, plundering, quests, religious conflict, torture and general skullduggery. I just wanted to use the word "skullduggery."
But this is much more than a story. It can be read like a story, of course, but there are numerous themes to ponder as well, including ye olde standby, sin and redemption, religious themes, fate (including luck) vs. free will, many others. Benggston also often leaves the reader hanging, and there are many questions that are left unanswered to be discussed and considered.
Benggston was a Swede who lived from 1894-1954. "The Long Ships" is actually a combination of two books written by Benggston in 1941 and 1945. For some reason, the book was recently republished (and Kindled). One of my favorite authors, Michael Chabon, wrote the introduction to the most current version.
"The Long Ships" is a great book, recommended to anyone who enjoys a good adventure.
Live long, read and prosper. We'll leave the lights on for you.
Friday, February 4, 2011
War and Peace - 2011's Failed Experiment
I may have mentioned that one of my “book resources” is a website and podcast called, “Books on the Nightstand.” I’m particularly drawn to this resource because, pre-Kindle, I kept dozens of books on or under my nightstand. These books were the bane of my wife’s existence (along with: failing to put dirty clothes in the hamper, putting shoes away, leaving plates/bowls/cups in the sink, failing to close bagged foods, toilet issues, hogging blankets, others).
Anyway, the site and podcast are hosted by two people who work for Random House. They are very up-front about their Random House connection. At times, it is a limiting factor to the breadth of a podcast as, for example, when they previewed upcoming books to be released but were obviously much more familiar with Random House releases (and informed listeners of the fact).
Anyway, they do some neat stuff. They have a retreat in Vermont this April. They also have book club read-alongs. One of them is coming up as some will read “The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay” by Michael Chabon with them. This is an excellent novel, and I’d read it again except so little time, so many books…
One of the two podcast hosts will also do a “War and Peace” read-along.
So, I start thinking, why not? I’ve never read “War and Peace.” That’s one you can cross off the bucket list, right? It’s a classic—some say the best novel ever written.
I try to get some of my reading friends to join me.
For the most part, the silence of the responses was deafening. However, one brave soul said he was in.
As luck would have it, we both started “War and Peace” earlier this week. We also both abandoned the project less than 24 hours after starting it.
I can’t speak for my reading buddy, but here were my initial problems:
(1) The book was written in the 1800s and, although translated, reads like, well, a 19th Century novel. Ok, I expected that. But it still made for slow, rough reading.
(2) As the introduction to my edition told me, Tolstoy wove a bunch of French and German in the original Russian novel. Tolstoy, himself, translated the French and German in footnotes. Commentary indicates that Tolstoy’s translations were not necessarily 100% accurate—which was either intentional or not. I find that to be a fun fact. Anyway, the translators, correctly in my humble, small brained opinion, retained the original French and German and translated only the Russian. The French and German was, again, translated in footnotes. And there’s the rub. For those of you Kindle readers out there, navigating through footnotes is my hugest Kindle pet peeve. You have to click on the footnote number in the text and then jump to another location and then go back and find your former spot—it’s a huge headache. [As an aside, it’s also a big difficulty that I had in starting “Decoded” by Jay-Z. Not sure how to fix this in the Kindle, but footnotes are a stumbling block for me. Now, it’s entirely possible that I’m a moron and there’s an easier way to do this, but I don’t know].
So, anyway, my buddy and I chose to read another book together.
We went to college together, and the movie, “The Princess Bride” came out our senior year (I think??). Anyway, we often quote “The Princess Bride” to one another. (Wow. Is the previous sentence as geeky and loser-ish as I think it is. Yeah, it is.)
So, taking a quote from “The Princess Bride,” if “Murdered by pirates is good” then perhaps “Murdered by VIKINGS is better.” We’re reading Frans G. Bengtsson’s Viking novel, “The Long Ships.”
And who wrote the introduction to the edition of “The Long Ships” available on Kindle? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? Bueller?
Michael Chabon, of course.
Live long, read and prosper. We'll leave the lights on for you.
Anyway, the site and podcast are hosted by two people who work for Random House. They are very up-front about their Random House connection. At times, it is a limiting factor to the breadth of a podcast as, for example, when they previewed upcoming books to be released but were obviously much more familiar with Random House releases (and informed listeners of the fact).
Anyway, they do some neat stuff. They have a retreat in Vermont this April. They also have book club read-alongs. One of them is coming up as some will read “The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay” by Michael Chabon with them. This is an excellent novel, and I’d read it again except so little time, so many books…
One of the two podcast hosts will also do a “War and Peace” read-along.
So, I start thinking, why not? I’ve never read “War and Peace.” That’s one you can cross off the bucket list, right? It’s a classic—some say the best novel ever written.
I try to get some of my reading friends to join me.
For the most part, the silence of the responses was deafening. However, one brave soul said he was in.
As luck would have it, we both started “War and Peace” earlier this week. We also both abandoned the project less than 24 hours after starting it.
I can’t speak for my reading buddy, but here were my initial problems:
(1) The book was written in the 1800s and, although translated, reads like, well, a 19th Century novel. Ok, I expected that. But it still made for slow, rough reading.
(2) As the introduction to my edition told me, Tolstoy wove a bunch of French and German in the original Russian novel. Tolstoy, himself, translated the French and German in footnotes. Commentary indicates that Tolstoy’s translations were not necessarily 100% accurate—which was either intentional or not. I find that to be a fun fact. Anyway, the translators, correctly in my humble, small brained opinion, retained the original French and German and translated only the Russian. The French and German was, again, translated in footnotes. And there’s the rub. For those of you Kindle readers out there, navigating through footnotes is my hugest Kindle pet peeve. You have to click on the footnote number in the text and then jump to another location and then go back and find your former spot—it’s a huge headache. [As an aside, it’s also a big difficulty that I had in starting “Decoded” by Jay-Z. Not sure how to fix this in the Kindle, but footnotes are a stumbling block for me. Now, it’s entirely possible that I’m a moron and there’s an easier way to do this, but I don’t know].
So, anyway, my buddy and I chose to read another book together.
We went to college together, and the movie, “The Princess Bride” came out our senior year (I think??). Anyway, we often quote “The Princess Bride” to one another. (Wow. Is the previous sentence as geeky and loser-ish as I think it is. Yeah, it is.)
So, taking a quote from “The Princess Bride,” if “Murdered by pirates is good” then perhaps “Murdered by VIKINGS is better.” We’re reading Frans G. Bengtsson’s Viking novel, “The Long Ships.”
And who wrote the introduction to the edition of “The Long Ships” available on Kindle? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? Bueller?
Michael Chabon, of course.
Live long, read and prosper. We'll leave the lights on for you.
Sunday, January 30, 2011
“The Emperor of All Maladies—A Biography of Cancer” by Siddhartha Mukherjee - Solid A
Every once in a while, I read a book which I describe as, from beginning to end, one of the best books I have read in a while. Sometimes, a book starts off strong (see “The Instructions”), I get excited and then my hopes and dreams are dashed as the book either fizzles altogether or stretches out too long. Sometimes, I have a difficult time initially with a book. I may put it down for a while or forever. I may struggle through it. I may experience a breakthrough making the book no longer difficult. And then there are the books that are just ok.
“The Emperor of All Maladies—A Biography of Cancer” is one of the best books that I’ve read in a while. I was skeptical about whether I would enjoy this book. It was written by Siddhartha Mukherjee, an oncologist and assistant professor of medicine at Columbia, and my skepticism was two-fold. First, I could not imagine how a non-fiction book about a disease could hold my attention. Second, I was concerned that the science would be overly technical.
I was incorrect on both counts.
“Biography” is the right description for the book. Dr. Mukherjee tells the history of cancer discussing everything from factors involving causation to diagnostic techniques to the evolution of treatment.
Dr. Mukherjee clearly recognized that a purely chronological history would have been a nonsensical approach because discoveries relevant, for example, to isolating the cells responsible for producing cancer cells in the body occurred over many time periods. Also, parsing the subject purely by topic (causation, treatment, etc.) would have required significant temporal overlap and would not have created a cohesive narrative.
Therefore, Dr. Mukherjee’s approach is generally period-based where early approaches to treatment and diagnosis transition to the next evolution in thought and innovation. In other words, he has chapters on forms of chemotherapy and approaches to surgical treatment in the early 1900s and then often reviews those topics when new discoveries lead to innovations in future periods. He talks about environmental and behavioral causation generally when discussing the mid-20th Century after virtually no discussion preceding the period since the link between smoking and lung cancer, for example, was not considered until the later period. In this way, the reader clearly understands the evolution regarding causation, diagnosis and treatment of cancer. Also, Dr. Mukherjee backtracks where necessary to earlier periods and reviews material for the reader to assist in context for later periods.
Dr. Mukherjee also interweaves vignettes from his own experience in treating cancer. We meet some of his patients, and we meet some of the physicians with whom he has worked.
The book has a “mystery” feel to it. For instance, some early research often focused on leukemia because at that time, unlike cancer of an organ, cancer in blood could be measured. The problem (leukemia) is presented, the players (researchers, physicians) are introduced or reintroduced, the process (investigation, research, trials) is discussed, and then there is a conclusion. In some cases, the conclusion is a huge disappointment—more so for the researchers and physicians than for you as reader. In any event, tension builds as the reader invests in the history.
Back to the science. Yes, there are a number of techno-babble terms in the book. Dr. Mukherjee does an excellent job of defining them. I found it more impressive, however, that Dr. Mukherjee could explain difficult concepts by comparing them to everyday situations that anyone can understand. While I am certain that Dr. Mukherjee was being somewhat simplistic, he knew the depth of the topic that he needed to explain in order for his lay reader to understand the concept. Some of the science was more than my brain could handle, but I expect that readers will not find, and have not found, the science to be an obstacle to reading and enjoying the book.
Even with all of these positives, the book could not succeed on such a high level without Dr. Mukherjee emotional connection to the disease and the patients. He takes the reader with him to visit his patients. He effortlessly describes the patient’s state of mind, the states of mind of the patient’s family members, his own state of mind. He cares a great deal about his patients, really about all cancer patients and the families of cancer patients. Dr. Mukherjee’s emotional investment draws the reader in to the subject matter. He is clearly a post-cancer William Hurt from the film, The Doctor.
My family has had its health issues, but we have fortunately not been hit hard by cancer. I am curious whether those with family or close friends who have suffered from cancer will want to read this book and, if so, how they will feel about it. I wonder the same about cancer survivors. My suspicion is that because of the tone and approach of Dr. Mukherjee, they, too, will be sucked into the book.
Dr. Mukherjee is a phenomenal author. He effortlessly explains his subject matter, and his language is impeccable. At every turn, he selects exactly the right wording to convey his message.
I didn’t intend to enjoy “The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer” as much as I did. I actually expected that I would put the book down when I got the gist of the message. This book was never a chore for me. I was shocked at how much of a page-turner it was.
Live long, read and prosper. We’ll leave the lights on for you.
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