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An insightful critique of capitalism

Revisado: 03-29-25

A classic and insightful critique of capitalism. The discussion in this book is highly relevant to the challenges we face today.

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Natural Farming Techniques, sprinkled with Anti-Science Narrative

Revisado: 01-07-25

The natural farming techniques presented in this book are interesting, and I was hoping to hear an in-depth scientific analysis of these successful farming strategies. However, the book instead presents a strong anti-science narrative and shallow philosophy along with it. I was disappointed with the second half of the book which focused on this philosophy.

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Phenomenal Work on Our Understanding of Free Will

Revisado: 06-24-24

An insightful, thorough, and well organized review on humanity’s scientific understanding of its own free will (or lack thereof). This book lays out a comprehensive and convincing explanation as to why our free will feels so real, but does not actually exist. This lack of free will provides yet another moral imperative for human societies to reorganize into more equitable structures for everyone, away from meritocratic mythologies and capitalist systems promoting inequality.

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Good information with uncritical neoliberal conclusions in the afterward

Revisado: 04-27-24

This book was a good overview of middle eastern history from the birth of Islam up until the events of 9/11. The book presents an interesting and easily understandable story of middle eastern and Islamic history. However, the book takes a neoliberal approach to the conclusions it draws from this history, which is to say that it focuses on ideological narratives instead of the material circumstances of the societies that it is discussing.

Several examples of this uncritical approach include Tammi’s almost negligible discussion of western imperialism and colonialism and its tremendous impact on the socioeconomic and political conditions of the Middle East. This lack of analysis extends to US imperialism and colonialism in the region. These should be the main topics of interest when trying to understand the modern circumstances of the Middle East, but instead are glossed over by Tamim who seems more interested in the secondary effects of religion and ideology.

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Good, but has missing pieces

Revisado: 01-08-24

This was an interesting read covering Cuban history from European colonization to the election of Joe Biden. The author covers race relations in thorough detail, along with internal Cuban politics. However, it seems that European and US colonization of Cuba is treated with light gloves in this book, which was disappointing. The brutal treatment of indigenous and black slaves in the Spanish occupied Cuba is not covered in detail.

Similarly, US destabilization efforts and economic sanctions are glossed over in this book. Entire US bombing operations were left unmentioned, including Operation Mongoose. Additionally, the author says almost nothing of the impact of US economic sanctions and embargoes when analyzing the post-1959 revolution Cuban economy. Instead, she mainly attributes Cuba’s difficult economic situation to its own policies (which had a demonstrably positive impact on poverty, health, and inequality in the country). Had these major aspects been covered more thoroughly, this would have been an excellent read.

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Eye opening!

Revisado: 07-17-23

This book was Informative and motivating. A great book and easy to read even for readers not previously familiar with the research behind its contents.

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A Long and Nonsensical Rant with no Objective

Revisado: 01-16-21

I started this book because a friend had recommended it to me. Sadly this is one book I wish I hadn’t read, as I feel like I’ve gained nothing from it. Each chapter in this book had a stated topic, but did not stick to that topic at all. The chapters were one long mess of off-topic rants, logical problems, and biblical references. The book didn’t seem to have any point at all other than convincing the reader of Jordan Peterson’s world and political views. This book was a complete waste of time.

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Excellent Outline of Plan to Tackle Climate Change

Revisado: 10-17-20

This book proposes a global plan to tackle the climate change targets set by the IPCC (global net zero emissions by 2050). The plan laid out by the authors provides reasonable guidelines for an egalitarian transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources. This book is not an introductory book on climate change. It assumes the basic knowledge and understanding that climate change is due to human greenhouse gas emission, and is an imminent danger to the environment and human civilization. The book focuses on a realistic and applicable solution to climate change. I highly recommend this book to anyone who cares about the environment and wants to have a better understanding of policy changes we can make to help us tackle the significant problems we face.

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Mixed Emotions From a Fan if Greene

Revisado: 07-07-20

I usually enjoy Brian Greene’s books, but I have mixed feelings about ‘Until the End of Time.’ I loved Greene’s wonderfully descriptive chapters on cosmology, entropic evolution, and future speculation. However, I was disappointed by the shallow and seemingly off-topic middle chapters on the humanities and Greene’s philosophy.

The book would discuss concepts such as free will, the meaning of life, and other philosophical questions with a quasi-scientific approach. Chapters would end with a conclusion and not discuss any of the tremendous implications of that conclusion. For example, Greene does not believe that humans have free will. In his eyes we are a combination of particles with complex responses to stimuli. He does not mention that this view entails that any occurrence in the universe is practically set in stone from the beginning (a sort of extreme belief in fate). The evolution of the universe would depend solely on its initial state, leaving us as impartial observers of our own actions and environment. These would be interesting additions to the discussions on the meaning of life (which I found to be shallow and lacking as well).

Another issue I had with this book (and many other popular science literature) is the discussion of quasi-scientific speculation as more relevant than faith driven speculation. How can the belief in multiverse theory, a theory for which no evidence can ever be obtained (based on what we know right now), be any more substantial than a theory of a creator? Sounding scientific does not make something scientific.

Maybe as a fellow scientist I am too picky, I very much enjoyed Greene’s other books such as ‘The Elegant Universe.’ I guess I prefer information dense books to books that attempt to cover everything in under 10 hours.

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Fluffy and Historically Inaccurate

Revisado: 03-21-20

I was very excited to listen to this course for its interesting take on history. I was hoping for a scientific analysis of food and culture, but what I found was an opinionated and sometimes false account of history with snippets of food information. The author often expresses information in terms of his own opinion, with little or no explanation backing the opinions. I am very disappointed in this book, it is the first book I have ever returned.

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