Hidden Figures

Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race by Margot Lee Shetterly
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The inspirational and interesting characters and setting bump this biography up to 4 stars. That the women (and men mentioned) were able to transcend the persecution of the times (especially in their state of Virginia) and become instrumental in the NASA program speaks to their genius, their tenacity, and their sense of community. Shetterly expresses her intent that by shining the spotlight on the group, it would prevent outsiders from thinking any one of the group was an anomaly...that indeed there was a considerable number of black women mathematicians who went on to become engineeres, computer programmers, etc. But by following several women, the story could get a little choppy and jumbled at times. I found it useful to watch the movie, that focused on just 4 of the women, to help navigate the book. So while a bit disjointed, it is worth the read to find out about these women and be inspired by them.

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The City of Mirrors

The City of Mirrors by Justin Cronin
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Cronin wraps up The Passage trilogy brilliantly. We explore Zero's backstory and our intrepid heroes from the first books seek to make mankind free from the virals once and for all. Cronins themes of time, spirituality, and destiny are reiterated. Love, the seeking of it, finding of it, denial of it, and it's subsequent consequences are even more heavily reinforced. But along with that City of Mirrors becomes a book of reckoning...how are we seen, how do we perceive ourselves, and how does the love around us (or lack of it) change that reflection of ourselves? If this seems like unlikely fodder for a Vampire apocalyptic novel, Cronin makes it all work in his mythology. If I have any criticisms, it is that, like most epics, the endings last forever in an effort to give each character his proper send off. The epilogue starts with a "lecture" and while slightly clever, it slows down the pacing way down. Overall, one of the best trilogies I've read (even better read all together).

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The Golden Son

Golden Son by Pierce Brown
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I enjoy the Red Rising series because of Darrow's unique voice: he is poetic and observant and holds nothing back--his guilt, his fears, his motivations. I also enjoy that I can never see what is coming. Don't get too comfortable with any character, because there is no mercy in the war Darrow is fighting. Friends betray and die, enemies become allies. I like the mish- mash of classic Roman lore with futuristic technology. It seems to emphasize the point that humanity is always in a circle of trying to create something better, mostly through violent and deceptive ways, only to have that system become corrupted and the whole cycle begin again. The series can be gory, though that is intentional too...all of it points to the waste, terror, and horror of war. Is Darrow's ideals worth it? That is for the reader, and possibly book 3 to figure out. This is a series best read together since I have read Rising Sun too long ago and had to look up characters and events to refresh my memory.


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Where I am kinetic energy, he is potential.

It's there,even if you never see it til the end---that spark of individuality, of freedom,

The Wright Brothers

The Wright Brothers by David McCullough
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

McCullough does not write a comprehensive biography here. Rather he gives you the most interesting and pertinent parts of the Wright brothers' lives and how they worked out the problem of flight. McCullough does a good job of giving only facts, without embellishing it with either opinion or imagined detail, but still keeps the story inspired and engaging. By the time the book is done, you get a sense of who these men were and the qualities that drove them to be the first to fly.

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 But it isn’t true,” Orville responded emphatically, “to say we had no special advantages . . . the greatest thing in our favor was growing up in a family where there was always much encouragement to intellectual curiosity.”

 It wasn’t luck that made them fly; it was hard work and common sense; they put their whole heart and soul and all their energy into it and they had the faith. John T. Daniels

 They were always thinking of the next thing to do; they didn’t waste much time worrying about the past. Charlie Taylor

 Their patient perseverance, their calm faith in ultimate success, their mutual consideration of each other, might have been considered phenomenal in any but men who were well born and well reared. These flights, or spurts at flying, they always made in turn; and after every trial the two inventors, quite apart, held long and confidential consultation, with always some new gain; they were getting nearer and nearer the moment when sustained flight would be made, for a machine that could maintain itself aloft two minutes might just as well stay there an hour, if everything were as intended. Wertherner( a teacher that helped them)

Planted

Planted: Belief and Belonging in an Age of Doubt by Patrick Q. Mason
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This was one of the most thought-provoking and paradigm-shifting church books I've read. Though it doesn't offer many answers to specific questions, Mason instead offers some new ways at looking at history, the church, and even its leadership. He emphasizes that faith doesn't need to look one particular way and that we can be faithful while still having doubt. It also helps those of us with stronger belief to understand and be compassionate towards those who are struggling with their faith. Highly recommended for those who are doubting and even more so for those who aren't.


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A Little is A Lot or a Little

Butterfly wings change the course of history.
Orbits of planets rotate unhindered for millennia.

One snowflake starts an avalanche.
Tides lap the earth with habitual doggedness.

The breakup of an atom leads to mass annhilation.
A lone wolf's brays wane in the wind.

A dream can raise a city.
A dream can dim with the rising sun.

SevenEves

Seven Eves by Neal Stephenson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Two-thirds of this book was riviting. The moon has been been broken into seven pieces that will exponentially crash into each other and cause such a shower of meteorites that will burn the atmosphere and catch the world on fire. The only choice mankind has is to go into space. But this is a book rooted in our day...we don't have warp speed, cryogenics, or transporter beams. We have a space station that must be retrofitted to be an ark to save humanity until the earth cools down...in 5,000 years. It is The Martian on steroids, taking real science and coming up with plausible solutions. The characters in this part are well-drawn, the action exciting, the technology, politics, and psychology believeable. In the end notes he explains where he got real-life information for makeshift space habitats, asteroid mining, and orbits. Several people have mentioned a real-life alter ego for Doob, the astronomer/publicist. He also borrows from mythology and Bibical stories to create the story of the Epic ancestors. There is even a theory that all European/Caucasian ancestors can be traced back to seven lines (or Eves).
Part 3, however, could have (should have?) been another book in a duology. Stephenson gets a little carried away with describing alien technology in the first 50 pages of part 3 without the interjection of character development and little action so it becomes ponderous to wade through. The characters in this part are very underdeveloped and the themes of race and colonization feel different from the earlier part of the book ( though the theme of using media to placate/persuade the masses does shine throughout the whole book). He brings up some very good questions and situations that are the direct effect of parts 1 and 2, but they don't get fully see developed, and feels more like a 200 page epilogue than an actual continuation of the story. I would have loved to see the civilizations and characters in part 3 be more developed and their histories explored more deeply ( sequel?) because the first 2/3 was quite engrossing.

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