Reading Notes: October–December 2022
A quarterly roundup of the books I finished between October and December 2022, spanning biography, history, science, and a few classics.
Biography and American History
"Justice for All: Earl Warren and the Nation He Made" — A detailed biography of the Supreme Court chief justice. Solid and thorough, this one rewards readers looking for depth on Warren's life and legacy.
"Dreams of El Dorado: A History of the American West" by H. W. Brands — A fast-paced overview of major events in the Western U.S. Given the scope, the treatment is necessarily shallow, but it remains a pleasant read.
"Gideon's Trumpet" by Anthony Lewis — The story behind Gideon v. Wainwright, the case that guaranteed counsel for indigent defendants. A remarkable account of how one determined individual reshaped the U.S. criminal justice system. The book is well written and rich with detail about Supreme Court procedure, though it turns somewhat heavy and academic; law students will find it especially useful.
World and Economic History
"The Silk Roads: A New History of the World" by Peter Frankopan — A whirlwind history of the world centered on Central Asia. Not bad, but the enormous scope makes it scattered. The book's premise is to de-center Europe, yet it fails in this task: it still concentrates mostly on Europe, and treats Asia mainly in terms of its connections to the West. More space is given to English commercial interests in China than to Chinese history itself.
"The Ascent of Money: A Financial History of the World" by Niall Ferguson — An entertaining, anecdote-driven overview of how the modern financial system came to be. It reads as if it's biting off more than it can chew—not bad, but nothing remarkable.
Science and Technology
"How I Killed Pluto and Why It Had It Coming" by Mike Brown — An entertaining memoir of the research leading to Pluto's reclassification as a dwarf planet. Brown discovered Eris, Haumea, and Makemake, and this book offers more scientific detail than deGrasse Tyson's treatment of the same topic.
"The Future of Fusion Energy" by J. Parisi and J. Ball — Reviewed in full in a separate post.
"Who We Are and How We Got Here" by David Reich — A summary of recent research (circa 2018) in ancient DNA analysis, tracking human population movements. The findings are fascinating and cutting-edge, but the prose is dry and overly academic. It's hard to tell how speculative some claims are; much of this work was published in very recent papers. Still, an exciting field to watch.
"Learning HTTP/2" by S. Ludin and J. Garza — A very short (barely 100 pages) book on HTTP/1.1 performance limitations and HTTP/2's design remedies. The performance sections are insightful, but the explanation of protocol mechanics lacks depth. Additional detail, even a simple educational implementation, would help; the book could still stay under 200 pages.
"Immune" by Philipp Dettmer — A layperson's guide to a staggeringly complex system. Execution is decent, not amazing; the prose rambles, analogies abound, and diagrams are scarce. Still, I came away with a better understanding of the immune system than before.
Classics and Fiction
"The Trial" by Franz Kafka — The book that spawned cultural memes, it's far stranger than I expected. Toward the end, the main point lands—powerful and depressing—but much of the narrative remains bizarre and seemingly unconnected to any central plot.
"The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" by L. Frank Baum — Re-read with my kids after 30 years. Historical context clarifies a lot: contemporary reviews called it the "first really American fairytale," rooted in corn farming and self-made men as opposed to old European peasant tales. It's also startlingly violent—the Tin Woodman decapitates a wild cat without hesitation, and my daughter objected: the cat just wanted to eat. Interesting to note that those same early reviews praised the book as gentle for its day, sparking reflections on a century-long shift in what children's literature deems acceptable.
Re-reads This Quarter
- "The Pastures of Heaven" by John Steinbeck
- "Atlas Shrugged" by Ayn Rand
