mikefromco's reviews
36 reviews
Listen, Liberal: Or, What Ever Happened to the Party of the People by Thomas Frank
challenging
medium-paced
2.5
This is one of the interesting pre-Trump left populist books that spends a shocking amount of time whining about liberalism and a even more shockingly little amount of time stating what should be different. Except for saying over and over again “it doesn’t have to be this way” the book does little to actually articulate how it could be different and/or how.
Very much an early contribution to the post-Trump election “dirtbag left” populist trend this one doesn’t quite do as effective job as many of its brethren have done in articulating what should be different.
I also listened to the self-read audiobook and the cadence of the entire book was just a very bitter whining which made this difficult to sit through.
Very much an early contribution to the post-Trump election “dirtbag left” populist trend this one doesn’t quite do as effective job as many of its brethren have done in articulating what should be different.
I also listened to the self-read audiobook and the cadence of the entire book was just a very bitter whining which made this difficult to sit through.
Bootstrapped: Liberating Ourselves from the American Dream by Alissa Quart
Did not finish book. Stopped at 46%.
Did not finish book. Stopped at 46%.
Just a very self-help pop-politics type book that didn’t even really try to add anything that hasn’t been said better by others.
Triumph of the City: How Our Greatest Invention Makes Us Richer, Smarter, Greener, Healthier and Happier by Edward L. Glaeser
informative
medium-paced
4.5
Carmageddon: How Cars Make Life Worse and What to Do about It by Daniel Knowles
informative
inspiring
fast-paced
4.25
A History of Japan: Revised Edition by R. H. P. Mason, J. G. Caiger
medium-paced
2.0
This really should have been titled “A Concise Cultural History of Japan” because wow does it skip over a lot of elements well spending a just enormous amount of time discussing poems, art, and Buddhism (but weirdly forgets about it after about 1750).
I wasn’t a fan and feel that this is a piece of historical work that has become too historical in and of itself with the last updates concerning the mid 1990s.
I wasn’t a fan and feel that this is a piece of historical work that has become too historical in and of itself with the last updates concerning the mid 1990s.
The Shadow Docket: How the Supreme Court Uses Stealth Rulings to Amass Power and Undermine the Republic by Stephen Vladeck
informative
slow-paced
4.5
Great book about the shadows docket and how it got here, just drags a bit in the third quarter.