What I Read on Summer Vacation

Very good historical analysis of media, but most of the neurophysiology went right over my head. I don't know what to make of most brain science claims. Someone who knows the data needs to sit down and make some careful distinctions about what's correlation and what's causation.

The chapters on suffering and asceticism were the best. I'm not sure I understood what he was saying about prayer and meditation. I found Seven-Storey Mountain and Dark Night of the Soul much easier the second time around, and will probably try this one again.

A good quick read, and very sad. The symbolism is a bit overplayed, and the characters are hard to believe by the end.

Wonderful, gripping book. The best American novel I've read in a long time.

Lots of rubbish. He's a great story-teller, but it isn't real history. (Every social ill of the past 500 years is reduced to a greedy cartel of evil white capitalist men.) There are some real injustices in this book that ought to be discussed and addressed, but the whole book is so strident that you hardly know what to take seriously.

I forgot how great this book is. It was a delight to re-read it.

I still love the Hornblower books, but finally discovered why everyone talks about Capt. Aubrey. This was brilliant.

This is what all spy novels should be like. I hadn't read it since college.

I liked the country scenes at the beginning of this one especially. I also started to really get the humor.

The best of the three so far, I thought. (Or maybe I'm just getting more of the naval jargon three books in) It will be hard to decide how many more to read when things get busy in the Fall.

I'd highly recommend this and Mr. Romney's book before the election. They are especially useful for understanding how each candidate interprets the story of the past 20-30 years of political history. I have some narrative context now for statements that I'd otherwise misunderstand. (Or, perhaps, misunderstand even worse)

The first of the Smiley novels. Very good, very original.

Terribly, terribly sad book. I don't know if any of the film adaptations are any good, but I'm sure they couldn't capture the deep religious substory. (Greene might have thought of the religious story as the main course, and the affair as the side dish!)

Not as interesting as Call for the Dead (none of the international concerns) but a good mystery.