Rating: 4/5 Neal Stephenson, Anathem (New York, NY: William Morrow, 2008). This is a book that’s all about the journey. It’s quite long (almost a thousand pages), and I’d certainly classify it as a “slow burn.” The story is set in a post-apocalyptic world (but not your run-of-the-mill post-apocalypse) in which...

Rating: 4/5 Robert Charles Wilson, Spin (New York: Tor Books, 2005). I managed to squeeze in at least one new book this summer. Wilson’s Spin is a sci-fi novel that follows two families (three main protagonists) as the world tries to figure out what happened to the suddenly invisible stars. The narrative alternates...

Rating: 4/5 David Wong, This Book is Full of Spiders: Seriously, Dude, Don’t Touch It (New York: Thomas Dunne Books, 2012). This book is a sequel to the excellent John Dies at the End by the same author. Go read that review first . Essentially the same comments apply. These books are a cross between Lovecraftian “weird...

Rating: 4/5 David Easley and Jon Kleinberg, Networks, Crowds, and Markets: Reasoning about a Highly Connected World (Cambridge University Press, 2010). I really, really enjoyed this book. I learned so much. As far as textbooks go—I’ve read my share—this one is very well organized. I thought the progression of topics...

Rating: 4/5 Marty Makary, MD, Unaccountable: What Hospitals Won’t Tell You and How Transparency Can Revolutionize Health Care (New York: Bloomsbury Press, 2012). A vital issue, harrowing stories, and reasonable solutions. The problem is the corporatization of health care and the lack of incentives to improve health...

Rating: 4/5 David Wong, John Dies at the End (New York: St. Martin’s Griffin, 2010). David Wong is the pen name of Jason Pargin, senior editor at Cracked.com . If you’ve never visited the site, and you’re OK with a little coarse language, check it out. You will laugh out loud. This book is a fascinating cross between...

Rating: 4/5 Simon Sebag Montefiore, Jerusalem: The Biography (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2011). This is one serious piece of work! This 650-page tome presents an excellent high-level summary of the history behind the conflicts we are seeing today in the Middle East. It does what a good history book should do: that is,...

Rating: 4/5 Scott Norton, Developmental Editing: A Handbook for Freelancers, Authors, and Publishers (University of Chicago Press, 2009). I’ve never read a book on developmental editing before, so I can’t speak to how it compares to others. I always find it interesting to watch other editors work, though. It’s one of...

Rating: 4/5 Shirley O. Corriher, CookWise: The Secrets of Cooking Revealed (New York: William Marrow, 2011). I thought BakeWise was a much better book. Not only does this book (which was written before BakeWise, I’ll grant) spend half the book talking about baking, I think the book could have been better organized as...

Rating: 4/5 Susan G. Purdy, Pie in the Sky: Successful Baking at High Altitudes; 100 Cakes, Pies, Cookies, Breads, and Pastries Home-Tested for Baking at Sea Level, 3000, 5000, 70000, and 10000 feet (and Anywhere in Between) (New York: William Morrow, 2005). If you bake, and you live above 3000 feet, then this book is...