Tag: book reviews

25 posts
Review - Colourfields: Writing About Writing About Science Fiction by Paul Kincaid

Review - Colourfields: Writing About Writing About Science Fiction by Paul Kincaid

An amateur reviewer talks about a book of book reviews of academic non-fiction written by a self-professed non-academic. Good luck untangling this one.

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Jul 4, 2026
Review of Ahamed’s 1873—The first international financial crisis rhymes with 2026

Review of Ahamed’s 1873—The first international financial crisis rhymes with 2026

Rated: 4.5/5 Stars | Ahamed is unquestionably an excellent writer. In 1873, he managed to pack four decades of history about the Western financial system into 300 pages in an insightful and convincing manner.


EconReporter icon
EconReporter
en.econreporter.com/
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Apr 18, 2026
Planet Money Book—a long-time listener, first-time reader’s review

Planet Money Book—a long-time listener, first-time reader’s review

Rated: 4/5 Stars | Planet Money Book is an excellent introduction to economics and finance and reminded me why it is good to have Planet Money in our life.


EconReporter icon
EconReporter
en.econreporter.com/
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Feb 18, 2026

Waarom We Politiek Niet Alleen Aan Politici Kunnen Overlaten

Het wantrouwen in de politiek neemt toe, terwijl politiek een onderwerp blijft waarover veel mensen niet willen praten. Toen ik Waarom We Politiek Niet Alleen Aan Politici Kunnen Overlaten bij de boekenwinkel heb gezien, dacht ik: "oh, dat klinkt interessant".


Henrique Dias icon
Henrique Dias
hacdias.com
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Sep 20, 2025

Queria? JĂĄ NĂŁo Quer?

Nos Ășltimos meses, tenho tido um maior interesse na lĂ­ngua, quer seja ela a LĂ­ngua Holandesa, a LĂ­ngua Inglesa, ou a LĂ­ngua Portuguesa. JĂĄ hĂĄ tempos que sigo Marco Neves no Instagram, e os seus vĂ­deos trazem sempre mĂșltiplos fun facts sobre origens, mitos e outras pequenas coisas. Quando vi que tinha escrito este livro, pensei: tenho que o ler.


Henrique Dias icon
Henrique Dias
hacdias.com
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Sep 14, 2025

Surrounded by Idiots

After seeing the book Surrounded by Idiots virtually everywhere, I decided to check some reviews and what it was actually about: communication, and "how to understand those who cannot be understood" - the quote on quote "idiots". The topic sounded interesting, so I decided to pick up this book and read it.


Henrique Dias icon
Henrique Dias
hacdias.com
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Sep 2, 2025
Taal Is Zeg Maar Echt Mijn Ding

Taal Is Zeg Maar Echt Mijn Ding

Taal Is Zeg Maar Echt Mijn Ding is mijn eerste boek van Paulien Cornelisse. Het is eigenlijk het eerste "volwassene" Nederlands boek dat ik lees, laten we het zo zeggen. Het gaat over taal en dingen die mensen zeggen, niet per se expres, maar dingen die gewoon voorkomen.


Henrique Dias icon
Henrique Dias
hacdias.com
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Aug 3, 2025

The Ministry of Time

The Ministry of Time is the debut novel from Kaliane Bradley. It is set in a world where the British ministry has started a new initiative to gather "expats" from different points in history in order to understand if time travel is feasible.


Henrique Dias icon
Henrique Dias
hacdias.com
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Jul 29, 2025

Piranesi

This was the first book I read by Susanna Clarke. I heard about it at a friend's birthday party, after someone gifted this book to the birthday person. After seeing how gorgeous the cover was, and hearing a little bit about the story, I decided to buy it!


Henrique Dias icon
Henrique Dias
hacdias.com
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Jul 19, 2025

Death and Life: Rereading Jane Jacobs and the Legacy of Good Intentions

I recently finished rereading Jane Jacobs’ The Death and Life of Great American Cities. It wasn’t my first encounter with the book. I first read it in graduate school over 15 years ago. At the time, it was eye-opening. I wasn’t particularly familiar with the planning profession then, beyond a vague desire to make places better—a motivation that probably leads many people into the field. Having grown up in Saginaw, Michigan, I witnessed firsthand the fallout of deindustrialization. The once-thri


Low Velocity icon
Low Velocity
lowvelocity.org
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Nov 28, 2024

Ikigai

Yesterday, I finished reading Ikigai, a book by HĂ©ctor Garcia and Francesc Miralles, which dives into the Japanese concept of the same name, Ikigai (生きç”Č斐). The reasons for buying this book months ago were not exactly because I wanted to read it, but just because it looked and felt nice. But now that I have read it, I think it was a good purchase.


Henrique Dias icon
Henrique Dias
hacdias.com
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Oct 21, 2024

If on a Winter's Night a Traveller

This is an unusual post: today I did not finish a book, but I decided to consciously stop reading it. And yet, I give it a 3 stars out of 5, which, for me, doesn't mean it's bad. It means it is good, but it is still lacking something for me.


Henrique Dias icon
Henrique Dias
hacdias.com
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Aug 23, 2023

The Creative Programmer

Last night I thought: tomorrow morning I will finish reading The Creative Programmer, and so I did. I woke up this morning, had a light breakfast, made a coffee, and sat down in the balcony reading the last pages of Wouter's book.


Henrique Dias icon
Henrique Dias
hacdias.com
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Jun 12, 2023

The Culture Map

A few days ago I started reading this book by Erin Meyer, The Culture Map. And, today, I finished it. Considering I don't read many non-fiction books, I was quite surprised to see how much this book captivated my attention.


Henrique Dias icon
Henrique Dias
hacdias.com
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May 21, 2023

The Island of Missing Trees

I started reading this book in June and, even though I was enjoying it, life happened and I started reading very infrequently. I feel like this is a cycle that happens every year: in the beginning of the year I read a lot, during winter, and spring. Then summer comes and I stop reading.


Henrique Dias icon
Henrique Dias
hacdias.com
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Dec 25, 2022

Tales from the Cafe

This is the sequel of Before the coffee gets cold and I enjoyed it just as much. I keep the same rating I gave to the first book. It was just as good, a perfect continuation of the first book. Deeply magical and sentimental.


Henrique Dias icon
Henrique Dias
hacdias.com
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Mar 2, 2022

Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde and Other Stories

When I bought this book, I didn't notice it had "other stories" in the title. Not only does the book contain 7 other stories from Robert Louis Stevenson, but it also includes biographical and bibliographical information about the author.


Henrique Dias icon
Henrique Dias
hacdias.com
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Feb 20, 2022

Under the Whispering Door

This book was quite interesting. Similarly to the books I've been reading recently, there's a magical element that makes this book be completely different from what I expected. In a nutshell, there's a man called Wallace that is definitely not a good person. One day, he dies. However, the story tells us what happens after he dies. Of course, I don't want to write spoilers.


Henrique Dias icon
Henrique Dias
hacdias.com
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Feb 17, 2022

This Is How You Lose the Time War

This book is about two characters, Red and Blue, that stand on enemy sides of a time war. In this war, these two enemies end up falling in love until some one's boss discovers this "affair". I gave this book a 3 out of 5, not because the story is bad, but because it didn't resonate with me. In addition, the first tens of pages can be quite slow and hard to understand. I recommend the book for those who enjoy both science fiction and romance though.


Henrique Dias icon
Henrique Dias
hacdias.com
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Feb 8, 2022

The Midnight Library

"The Midnight Library" portrays a character, Nora, that after dying at exactly midnight, got transported to a library where time doesn't change. In this library, Nora has the opportunity to try all the different lives she would have had if she had made different decisions. To keep the level of spoilers to a minimum, I will not go over a lot more.


Henrique Dias icon
Henrique Dias
hacdias.com
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Feb 3, 2022

Nightfall and Other Stories

Read the first story of this book, "Nightfall", which portrays a dystopian and apocalyptic future. It narrates a story where the sun is going to disappear forever and everyone will be in eternal darkness. And what can that cause in people?


Henrique Dias icon
Henrique Dias
hacdias.com
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Feb 2, 2022

Red, White & Royal Blue

Just finished reading the romance "Red, White and Royal Blue" from Casey McQuiston. In this book, Casey creates an hypothetical situation where the First Son of the US and the Prince of the UK would fall in love with each other, as well as the political and diplomatic outcomes from that.


Henrique Dias icon
Henrique Dias
hacdias.com
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Jan 30, 2022

Before the coffee gets cold

Just finished reading "Before the coffee gets cold" by Toshikazu Kawaguchi. It is, yet again, a book that falls into the magical realism domain. In this book, the story takes place in a little café in Tokyo. In this café, there is a special seat where people can seat and travel in time.


Henrique Dias icon
Henrique Dias
hacdias.com
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Jan 26, 2022

The House in the Cerulean Sea

Today, I finished reading "The House in the Cerulean Sea" by TJ Klune and I was just want to say that it was beautifully constructed.


Henrique Dias icon
Henrique Dias
hacdias.com
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Jan 22, 2022

O ano da morte de Ricardo Reis

Today, I finished reading "O Ano da Morte de Ricardo Reis" (The Year of The Death of Ricardo Reis in English) by José Saramago, while on a train from Den Haag to Eindhoven, after visiting the Portuguese embassy.


Henrique Dias icon
Henrique Dias
hacdias.com
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Jan 17, 2022