Rated The Death of Ivan Ilyich and Other Stories 6/10
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Rated What It Means When a Man Falls from the Sky 8/10
Wants to read Africa's Discovery of Europe: 1450-1850
Rated Tales of Falling and Flying 10/10
With deceptively plain language and within just a few pages a story, Loory paints little universes in which a little magic and imagination overrule everyday reality. Easy to read, hard to forget.
Rated Amsterdam: geschiedenis van de meest vrijzinnige stad ter wereld 6/10
No shocking new information for those familiar with Amsterdams history here but Shorto is a skilled writer and effortlessy weaves the stories of some of Amsterdams defining characters into the city's history and that of the modern world. His enthusiasm for his 'adoption city' is charming and makes this book an easy read but it also seems to inform a lot of his rather bold claims about the city's role in the defining of liberalism as the world knows it today. Interesting approach nonetheless, though somewhat overstretched at times.
Rated The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao 6/10
Rated The Basque History of the World 8/10
Perfect read for a Basque country holiday. In the first chapters, Kurlansky skillfully channels the history of the start of the modern world through the story of the Basques, a people whose origin and language remain ever mysterious. The author is an obvious sympathizer of the Basques and the way they maintained their foothold over what is now south western France and a part of the North of Spain. As a result, he writes about these outward-looking-explorers-cum-ancient-culture preservers with great gusto. <br/><br/>Kurlansky displays what seems like a deep knowledge of his subject and world history at large (though his absurd claim that Spains population was the only one not consulted about European Economic Community membership does dent his authority as a former Europe correspondent). <br/><br/>It all gets somewhat less spirited towards the end but it remains a fascinating read. Also: gotta love the way he blends Basque recipes (writing about Spanish regional identies = writing about food?) into this romantic history of a tough and tiny nation.
Rated Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones 4/10
Woa, if life was only as easy as James Clear describes it! I found ‘Atomic Habits’ underwhelming. While the book has some interesting, actionable and useful advice, it suffers from oversimplification all over. Clear shares an anecdote here, cites a psychologist there… then freely associates to come up with conclusions that confirm what seem to be merely his intuitions. This, in addition to the constant bragging and the strong focus on Clear's own physical activity, made ‘Atomic Habits’ little helpful.
Edited 35d ago