🔗The Hail Mary Project by Andy Weir

11/10. This was such a fun read! Good sci-fi, technical enough to keep me entertained, and yet not so technical as to bore the non-STEM. Such a good read, I cannot recommend this book enough. One of my top picks for 2023!

🔗Needful Things by Stephen King

10/10. Excellently Written. A gripping premise. The book draws you along from high excitement to high excitement. A good read for horror fans.

🔗Educated: A Memoir by Tara Westover

10/10. This book is an Important Book to Read. An excellent tail.

🔗Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup by John Carreyrou

7/10. This was a good account of the Theranos scandel. Makes you shake your head at Elizabeth Holmes.

🔗Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson

9/10. An excellent biography. Isaacson made me appreciate Jobs in a more complex, nuanced way, which I'm sure we all deserve. It also cemented my exacerbation of those who idolize Jobs. There are so many similarities between Jobs and Elon Musk. The absolute certainty that these men have of their own rightness and the way those around them have to work around them, not with them, to accomplish anything. I hope I never become one of these billionaires living in their own self-deluded bubble.

🔗Stuff Matters: Exploring the Marvelous Materials That Shape Our Man-Made World by Mark Miodownik

8/10. An excellent little book on material science. I particularly loved the descriptions of porcelain and self-healing concrete.

🔗The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson

10/10. This was such a lovely fantasy read. People have been telling me for ages that I should read Mistborn, so I was glad to see what all the fuss was about. The story wrapped up so nicely that I honestly didn't want to start the sequel.

🔗Chip War: The Quest to Dominate the World's Most Critical Technology by Chris Miller

7/10. An interesting history of the semiconductor industry.

🔗Blade Runner by Phillip K. Dick

8/10. A classic scifi/film noir. Not much to say. Was it worth reading? Probably. I think the synthetics/natural born angle is better explored in other franchises, though. Battlestar Galactica being one.

🔗The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey

11/10. I highly recommend this book to everyone. The breadth and depth of practical prescriptions for life and character refinement are impeccable. This book drops so many truth bombs and then just keeps them coming. Nonfiction Book of the Year award from me!

🔗The Well of Ascention by Brandon Sanderson.

8/10. This book flags a little behind its predecessor. But it is still a great novel. Again, the ending made me not want to read ahead, which I am forced to conclude, is a regular effect of Sanderson's writting. There were high payoff moments, though, and much appreciated expansion on some topics introduced in The Final Empire. Eventually I will read the third book in the series, but I'm still recovering from the end of this one.

🔗When McKinsey Comes to Town by Walt Bogdanich and Michael Forsythe

8/10. An eye-opening tale of corporate greed and corruption. Everyone should read this book if they wish to understand corporate America better.

🔗Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption by Bryan Stevenson

10/10. Everyone should read this book too. The author's background in philosophy certainly comes through in his measured, gentle prose on a charged and fraught topic. Such a valuable work in both race relations and criminal justice, from a man on the inside.

🔗Speaker for the Dead by Orson Scott Card

9/10. This was a really smashing read. I was entralled with the Piggies and their culture, and the narrative was engaging. I was left craving the next book.

🔗Ghost in the Wires: My Adventures as the World's Most Wanted Hacker by Kevin Mitnik

10/10. This was a phenominal read. I'd read Kevin Mitnik's other book, The Art of Deception, before and enjoyed it. This was like on a whole 'nother level. Fans of Mr. Robot and Catch Me If You Can will love this book as well!!