By Philip Roth
The story of a PE instructor and playground director, in a Newark, NJ neighborhood in the summer of 1944, and the way his world is affected by a polio outbreak.
This book made me realize how much I didn't know about polio. [fiction, 280pp.]
By Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson
This book explores some of the reasons we live in scarcity (housing, public transit, innovation, etc.) and imagines a world of abundance. It doesn't describe how exactly we get there, just gives general directions to try. For example, reduce regulation (while somehow maintaining the standards these regulations were intended to ensure). [nonfiction, 304pp.]
By Joseph Alexiou
I heard about this while attending the installation of Mucky's Return (a sculpture of dolphin that was found in the canal). The author gave an interesting speech about Mucky and other unfortunate marine mammals who were found stranded in the polluted waters of the canal. The book is not about them (a point of disappointment to me). It is about the history of the place that now includes the canal, from the days of the American Revolution to current times. It is interesting, but perhaps a bit too detailed for me, whereby the bigger story kind of got lost. It reads like a research paper, but a very long one. [non-fiction, 398 pp.]
A Journey into the Mysterious System That Keeps You Alive
By Philipp Dettmer
The immune system is very complex. I remember how confused I was when I attended immunology class in college and vet school. But this book is doing a decent job simplifying but still describing important aspects. I am by no means an expert in this field, and I felt like I got a good basis to understand what are the different parts of the immune system are, what they do, and how they interact. It also goes into what happens when the immune system turns on the body and possible reasons why.
Fun(?) fact: Measles is no joke - the virus attacks memory cells, those immune cells that provide long-term immunity to diseases you've survived. Vaccinate your kids! Jeez. [non-fiction, 341pp.]
By Kyle Paoletta
The interesting history of cities in the American southwest, what they did wrong, what they did right, and how we can apply from these lesson to cities around the country. I thought the most. Probably what struck me the most was the repeating history of abuse and oppression by the government of various non-white groups of people. [non-fiction, 326pp., including notes, bibliography, and index]
By William Faulkner
I can hardly understand anything. [Fiction, 267 pp. only got to 105 before giving up]
By Heather Cox Richardson
It's such an interesting historical review of American politics, I really should get a copy of this book. [non fiction, unfortunately, 286pp.]
