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John Scalzi I started off really liking the premise, and still did going forward. But the writing was just insufferable. This style, I later found, is something that John Scalzi is known for. The characters are one-dimensional beings with non-stop banter appreciated by 12 year olds. The protagonists laugh in the face of life-threatening danger,Continue reading “The Kaiju Preservation Society”

REBECCA SKLOOT I have finally decided to pick this book up after five years since having bought it. I am writing a review for this book as I read it, with periodical updates every few pages. Recently, I have been giving in to writing the review anytime from immediately after, to a month or twoContinue reading “THE IMMORTAL LIFE OF HENRIETTA LACKS”

PETER WOHLLEBEN This book, like the other books I am reading this year, had been languishing on my shelf being neglected and gathering dust before I finally picked it up. I had started this book once or twice earlier and dropped it after a few chapters for no particular fault of the book itself. ThisContinue reading “THE HIDDEN LIFE OF TREES”

Naomi Oreskes and Erik M. Conway If How to Lie with Statistics by Darrell Huff is a manual on the manipulation of data, Merchants of Doubt is a record of the practical implementation of the principles outlined in the former. The book extensively cites over 100 sources per chapter, demonstrating how organizations and companies collaboratedContinue reading “MERCHANTS OF DOUBT”

A Gentleman in Moscow is a novel by Amor Towles that tells the story of Count Alexander Rostov, who is sentenced to house arrest in the luxurious Hotel Metropol in Moscow. The book follows Rostov as he adapts to his confined lifestyle and forms relationships with the hotel staff and guests. I found this toContinue reading “A GENTLEMAN IN MOSCOW”

N.K. JEMISIN ★★★✰✰ This review has been written four months after I finished reading all the three books. I picked this series up after I saw that all three books have won the Hugo award for best novel. (The most prestigious award in Sci-Fi and fantasy, the Hugo is generally good with their nominations andContinue reading “THE BROKEN EARTH TRILOGY”

BLAKE CROUCH I was very eager to read Upgrade when I knew the book was coming out. I had set a reminder on my calendar months in advance so that I could start reading it immediately. And it was totally anti-climatic for me.   Upgrade was clearly a rushed book, with little to no rewritingContinue reading “UPGRADE”

A FEW OPINIONS ON ARCHITECTURE AND MYSELF It has not been long since I wrote about why I want to quit architecture. My frame of mind has since shifted to the other side a bit. This is not to say that I have changed my views about why my profession does not inspire much confidenceContinue reading “DESIGN AND CHALLENGE”

ANDY WEIR★★★★✰ The book starts off well enough, a man wakes up connected to various tubes to every orifice in his body with no memory of who he is; and also finds two dead people in the room connected to similar tubes. Through ingenious experiments he deduces that he is on a spaceship and triesContinue reading “PROJECT HAIL MARY”

The front cover of The Gene has a blurb by Hugh Jackman who calls it “A fascinating read”, and a blurb by Bill Gates who calls Mukherjee “A fascinating storyteller” Both the blurbs are right, but blurbs by a Hollywood actor and a tech billionaire misled me in to thinking that this book is aContinue reading “The Gene : An intimate history by Siddhartha Mukherjee”