https://deanebarker.net https://deanebarker.net/reading/reviews/ploductivity/ This book is an attempt by Douglas Wilson to convey a “theology of work,” and explain how any work is blessed and sacred. The book is promoted as more of a celebration of working slowly – plodding… Mon, 22 Nov 2021 00:00:00 +0000 https://deanebarker.net/reading/reviews/ploductivity/ https://deanebarker.net/reading/reviews/heights/ I’m giving this five stars because it absolutely achieves what it sets out to do. It’s a glossy, illustrated love letter to how skyscrapers are built and managed. If that’s what you want, then this is… Sat, 20 Nov 2021 00:00:00 +0000 https://deanebarker.net/reading/reviews/heights/ https://deanebarker.net/reading/reviews/how-to-read-book/ This is a classic instruction manual that does what it says on the cover – it explains the different ways one might read a book. Specifically, there are four levels: An interesting thing happens… Sat, 20 Nov 2021 00:00:00 +0000 https://deanebarker.net/reading/reviews/how-to-read-book/ https://deanebarker.net/reading/reviews/first-world-war-complete-history/ A magisterial history of The Great War. Nothing is left out. The book proceeds down a strict timeline, battle by battle, event by event, mutiny by mutiny. It starts just before, and ends just after…. Sat, 6 Nov 2021 00:00:00 +0000 https://deanebarker.net/reading/reviews/first-world-war-complete-history/ https://deanebarker.net/reading/reviews/james-bond/ Wonderful graphic adaption of Fleming’s first novel. It obviously abridges somewhat, but the artwork is unique, and there’s a neat element of “floating words” that represent what Bond is thinking… Sat, 6 Nov 2021 00:00:00 +0000 https://deanebarker.net/reading/reviews/james-bond/ https://deanebarker.net/reading/reviews/chair-time/ A very short book that basically boils down to having some period of God-centered quiet time. Giving it a higher rating because I appreciated that it was short – it had a simple, concise point, and it… Fri, 5 Nov 2021 00:00:00 +0000 https://deanebarker.net/reading/reviews/chair-time/ https://deanebarker.net/reading/reviews/taboo/ I did not write a review for this book. Fri, 5 Nov 2021 00:00:00 +0000 https://deanebarker.net/reading/reviews/taboo/ https://deanebarker.net/reading/reviews/this-is-water/ This is simply the text of David Foster Wallace’s famed commencement speech given at Kenyon College a few years before he took his own life. What’s interesting is the format – it’s a tiny book (the… Sat, 30 Oct 2021 00:00:00 +0000 https://deanebarker.net/reading/reviews/this-is-water/ https://deanebarker.net/reading/reviews/inside-comedy/ To appreciate this book, I think you need to know who David Steinberg is. I didn’t know who he was. The whole thing didn’t make a lot of sense until I did some research on Steinberg. He’s a Canadian… Sun, 17 Oct 2021 00:00:00 +0000 https://deanebarker.net/reading/reviews/inside-comedy/ https://deanebarker.net/reading/reviews/perfect-mess/ A book which makes a wonderful claim: not everything has to be perfect. We spend our lives thinking we need to get everything organized, but this book argues that often, we just…don’t. An early and… Sat, 16 Oct 2021 00:00:00 +0000 https://deanebarker.net/reading/reviews/perfect-mess/ https://deanebarker.net/reading/reviews/origins-journey/ This is a fun book. It’s not gonna change your life or anything, but you’ll probably enjoy it if you accept it for what it is. It’s basically a series of short chapters – blog posts, essentially –… Sat, 16 Oct 2021 00:00:00 +0000 https://deanebarker.net/reading/reviews/origins-journey/ https://deanebarker.net/reading/reviews/greenlights/ I very much regret not getting the audiobook. It would have been spectacular to listen to the author read this. This is a memoir. It was made out to be more than that because (1) the cover is funky,… Sat, 16 Oct 2021 00:00:00 +0000 https://deanebarker.net/reading/reviews/greenlights/ https://deanebarker.net/reading/reviews/thomas-jefferson-tripoli-pirates/ This is a recounting of the First Barbary War. That event is important because it was the first overseas conflict the young United States ever fought in. (From the Marine Corp hymn: “From the halls of… Sat, 16 Oct 2021 00:00:00 +0000 https://deanebarker.net/reading/reviews/thomas-jefferson-tripoli-pirates/ https://deanebarker.net/reading/reviews/steal-like-artist/ This is one of those motivational/inspirational type books. It doesn’t really present a lot of new information, and it’s formatted all funky with weird fonts and colors and stuff (a la Tom Peters),… Sat, 16 Oct 2021 00:00:00 +0000 https://deanebarker.net/reading/reviews/steal-like-artist/ https://deanebarker.net/reading/reviews/intelligence-trap/ A book about how smart people are sometimes very stupid. Sometimes, we can be so smart and analytical that we outsmart ourselves, lose sight of the forest for the trees, and come full-circle back to… Sat, 16 Oct 2021 00:00:00 +0000 https://deanebarker.net/reading/reviews/intelligence-trap/ https://deanebarker.net/reading/reviews/highland-defender/ This was another book that someone bought me for my birthday as a joke. So, of course, I read it. I’m glad I did. It wasn’t as terrible as I feared (that’s a wildly elitist statement, I know). It’s… Wed, 22 Sep 2021 00:00:00 +0000 https://deanebarker.net/reading/reviews/highland-defender/ https://deanebarker.net/reading/reviews/cutting-for-stone/ Absolutely stunning novel. I had heard of the book for years. My mother was born in Ethiopia in the 1940s (my grandparents were missionaries from New Zealand), and several people had told me that the… Tue, 21 Sep 2021 00:00:00 +0000 https://deanebarker.net/reading/reviews/cutting-for-stone/ https://deanebarker.net/reading/reviews/art-fear/ The title is accurate: this is a meditation (an “observation”) about making art. It’s not a practical book, it’s just a series of thoughts about the struggle of people who make at to do it in spite of… Tue, 21 Sep 2021 00:00:00 +0000 https://deanebarker.net/reading/reviews/art-fear/ https://deanebarker.net/reading/reviews/secret-old-mill/ My neighbor bought me this for my 50th birthday as a joke. Just to spite him, I read it. It’s about what you would expect. It was written in 1962 and it shows. Lots of “fellows” and “chums” and… Tue, 21 Sep 2021 00:00:00 +0000 https://deanebarker.net/reading/reviews/secret-old-mill/ https://deanebarker.net/reading/reviews/extra-life/ I love Steven Johnson. He’s one of my favorite authors. He writes mainly about the history of science and technology. This book is about the history of how we began to live longer. The average… Sun, 12 Sep 2021 00:00:00 +0000 https://deanebarker.net/reading/reviews/extra-life/ https://deanebarker.net/reading/reviews/modern-detective/ This is a weird and wonderful book. The author is a private investigator, and it seems he just decided to write a book one day about cases he’s worked on. And the book is really good. Each chapter… Sun, 12 Sep 2021 00:00:00 +0000 https://deanebarker.net/reading/reviews/modern-detective/ https://deanebarker.net/reading/reviews/this-will-all-be-over-soon/ I’m not going to rate this one because it was…different. I think you have to be a certain place emotionally and mentally to appreciate it, and I just wasn’t there. Cecily Strong is one of my all-time… Sun, 12 Sep 2021 00:00:00 +0000 https://deanebarker.net/reading/reviews/this-will-all-be-over-soon/ https://deanebarker.net/reading/reviews/divergent/ I read this on a friend’s recommendation. I’m trying to read more fiction. I enjoyed it. It’s a young adult novel, so you get the familiar tropes: adolescent facing a major choice, problems with… Tue, 31 Aug 2021 00:00:00 +0000 https://deanebarker.net/reading/reviews/divergent/ https://deanebarker.net/reading/reviews/holy-roar/ A short book that combines evangelism with etymology. The basic premise is that the English word “praise” has seven separate meanings in Hebrew. The book devotes a chapter to each of them. The book is… Tue, 31 Aug 2021 00:00:00 +0000 https://deanebarker.net/reading/reviews/holy-roar/ https://deanebarker.net/reading/reviews/dottir/ This is a nice, lightweight autobiography of one of a greatest female CrossFit athletes of all time. It’s quite good for what it is – this doesn’t go particularly deep in anything, but if you like… Mon, 30 Aug 2021 00:00:00 +0000 https://deanebarker.net/reading/reviews/dottir/ https://deanebarker.net/reading/reviews/prize/ This is the definitive history of oil, from the first discovery in the 1850s through the first Gulf War of of the 1990s. It’s a lot – 900-some-odd pages. Not for the faint of heart. I actually brought… Mon, 30 Aug 2021 00:00:00 +0000 https://deanebarker.net/reading/reviews/prize/ https://deanebarker.net/reading/reviews/dice-men/ Wonderful book about the history of D&D and role-playing in general. The author is a journalist, and the book is both an objective history and a personal reflection. The book is…tender, in places. It… Sat, 21 Aug 2021 00:00:00 +0000 https://deanebarker.net/reading/reviews/dice-men/ https://deanebarker.net/reading/reviews/convergence/ I really shudder at the thought of what it took to write this book. There’s just so much here. It’s a comprehensive history of science in the 20th century, and even earlier. The basic idea is that the… Sat, 7 Aug 2021 00:00:00 +0000 https://deanebarker.net/reading/reviews/convergence/ https://deanebarker.net/reading/reviews/ascent-money/ An interesting book, but also not what the title would suggest – the subtitle anyway. This was not an all-encompassing history of money and finance. The book starts with Jewish moneylenders in Venice,… Sat, 7 Aug 2021 00:00:00 +0000 https://deanebarker.net/reading/reviews/ascent-money/ https://deanebarker.net/reading/reviews/kill-it-with-fire/ Not what I expected. I thought I was getting a technical book with literal strategies for managing and migrating legacy systems. Instead, the book spends a lot of time on organizational politics,… Sat, 7 Aug 2021 00:00:00 +0000 https://deanebarker.net/reading/reviews/kill-it-with-fire/