rossbm's reviews
455 reviews

11/22/63 by Stephen King

adventurous mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

Listened to this as a French audibook. Very long. This is the first Stephen King book I have finished. I suppose that they aren't all as long as this, but previous ones I have tried (The Stand) were also very long. Narrator was very good for this book which helped me get through it. Since it's so long, definitely slow. Takes too long in the beginning to reveal the main hook, then after the big climax at the end, there's 6 hours of denouement!

Still, was enjoyable. Waiting to see how/if assassination would be stopped. Then the love story got interesting.

Endure: Mind, Body, and the Curiously Elastic Limits of Human Performance by Alex Hutchinson

informative inspiring medium-paced

3.5

I listened to it as an audiobook. It's a decent pop science book. Focuses on the physiology and psychology of feats of athletic endurance. It mainly focuses on running (long distance) and cycling, which is not too surprising since these sports are well studied. Trekking, both in cold and heat, free diving, mountain climbing, and a few other feats of endurance also make appearances.

The author is runner, and seems to be from Ottawa or at least has run the Ottawa marathon which neat. The author is definitely a good runner based on his half and full marathon times

While I said the book was about  psychology, it's more about mechanical brain-body connections than beliefs, although those are addressed also. My biggest takeway is that my brain is automatically processing signals from my body in the background in a sophisticated way, then presenting this information in a manner that can be a bit crude and make it hard to understand exactly what is happening in my body. Also, a lot of the regulation is anticipatory, rather than immediate feedback on current state. For example, swishing a sports drink in your mouth can improve performance, even if you don't swallow, probably because of detection of carbs. Also, don't need to overdrink. Your body is complicated, and even if you lose some water weight, doesn't mean that you're dehydrated to point of impeding health or performance.

Paved Paradise: How Parking Explains the World by Henry Grabar

informative medium-paced

4.0

A very interesting book. Never considered how important parking was before. It's true that at the end of every drive, there needs to be a parking spot. It raises some good point about how free or cheap parking can be more equitable in some ways, since while it might not be efficient, at least poorer people are in the same boat as richer people. Especially true when comes to accessing public areas such as beaches and parks that poorer people can't afford to live next to. The book does a good job of explaining how this free or cheap parking is an important contributor to high real estate prices. 

Oracle by Andrew Pyper

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.5

Listened on audible in French. Not the best. Horror/mystery. Kind of silly. But decent enough.

Waking Up: A Guide to Spirituality Without Religion by Sam Harris

informative inspiring reflective slow-paced

3.75

Even though a short booked (~200 pages), found that it dragged on  a bit, especially towards the end. Last chapter is about gurus, death and drugs. Not really interested in the talk of gurus; maybe that is preoccupying for people who are really into this spirituality business and are suckers for charlatans who demand sex or whatever, but not something I think I am likely to encounter. Reading all that made me skim the parts on death, then jumped over the drugs part.

Earlier chapters can be quite good. Still hard to understand, but think there are some interesting reflections on the concepts of consciousness and self. 

Dust by Hugh Howey

adventurous dark emotional inspiring medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

A good end to the silo trilogy. I wish things had been explained a bit more, and end felt a bit rushed.

For example, what was the point of keeping in people in the silos and whittling them down to one again? Were they breeding for specific characteristics? Like conformity and in-group acceptance?

But good stories, especially the one taking place in Silo 1. Silo 17 and 18 were a bit less interesting, felt a bit drawn out/more of side show. Still, interesting things taking place.

Shift by Hugh Howey

adventurous dark medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

A good follow up to the first book, Wool. Gives a lot more of the backstory. Interesting how it alternatives between view points, and potentially time and place, every chapter. Drags on a bit in places, especially the chapter about Silo 17. 

Wool by Hugh Howey

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

A very enjoyable book. Read it quite fast. Very interesting setting; believable dystopia. Mysterious world you want to learn more about. Good action, advances pretty fast. Can kind of tell was originally a few different short stories with the way it switches character viewpoints. I very quickly started reading next book in series.

Battle Royale by Koushun Takami

adventurous dark emotional sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

I got this book for Christmas, a gift from my brother. It's a big book, but not a hard read. The short chapters make it easier to go through, with natural pause points. I found a bit difficult to track all the characters, especially given their unfamiliar Japanese names. The first chapter introduced all the students, but there are 40 of them. There was list of student names and numbers at the start of the book, but it would have been helpful to include the small amount of information about them that was embedded in the first chapter. The translation of this book was quite good.

I remember seeing the movie version of this as a teenager, and it being pretty wild. The book also had some of those scenes, but because it was a book it was able to draw out the characters thoughts and motivations more. Some were quite well done, although the amount of "crushes" and how these crushes affected things seemed over done. Overall, a very enjoyable book.

Strong Towns: A Bottom-Up Revolution to Rebuild American Prosperity by Charles L. Marohn Jr.

informative slow-paced

4.0

Interesting book. Main thesis is that the pattern of suburban development by American towns is not sustainable due to cost of maintaining infrastructure not being supported by the local properties. As a result, calls for more "concentrated" (says not prop density?) and walkeable cities. Almost/pretty much advocating for degrowth. 

Book kind of meanders a bit. Would have preferred more case studies and hard numbers. Insipred me to go check assessed  property values and property taxes for the different Ottawa wards. My ward (somerset) has the most amount of dollar value per km2.