Lorna Doone by R.D. Blackmore I went into this knowing nothing about it but the name. It ended up being a bit of a slog, for a few reasons: dialogue rendered in impenetrable dialect, a lot of blah blah blah musings, and the fact that I didn’t really like the ... more >
The first comprehensive history of felines—from the laps of pagan gods to present-day status as meme stars—as revealed by a very learned tabby with a knack for hunting down facts Since the dawn of civilization, felines have prowled alongside mankind as they expanded their territory and spread the myth of ... more >
Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow I had long wanted to see Hamilton, Lin-Manual Miranda’s award-winning musical based on this book, and I finally got a chance on my 50th birthday in 2019. I liked it a lot, though it wasn’t the magical experience for me that I know it was ... more >
A beautifully designed guidebook to the unnoticed yet essential elements of our cities, from the creators of the wildly popular 99% Invisible podcast Have you ever wondered what those bright, squiggly graffiti marks on the sidewalk mean? Or stopped to consider why you don’t see metal fire escapes on new ... more >
In Kindred, Neanderthal expert Rebecca Wragg Sykes shoves aside the cliché of the shivering ragged figure in an icy wasteland, and reveals the Neanderthal you don’t know, our ancestor who lived across vast and diverse tracts of Eurasia and survived through hundreds of thousands of years of massive climate change. ... more >
A lively, illustrated exploration of the 500-million-year history of bone, a touchstone for understanding vertebrate life and human culture. Human bone is versatile and entirely unique: it repairs itself without scarring, it’s lightweight but responds to stresses, and it’s durable enough to survive for millennia. In Bones, orthopedic surgeon Roy ... more >