Book Blog #358: The Backyard Bird Chronicles by Amy Tan

 

Title: The Backyard Bird Chronicles

Author: Amy Tan

# of Pages: 280 (hardback)

Genre: Nonfiction

Rating: ★★★☆☆

Synopsis: A gorgeous, witty account of birding, nature, and the beauty around us that hides in plain sight. Tracking the natural beauty that surrounds us, The Backyard Bird Chronicles maps the passage of time through daily entries, thoughtful questions, and beautiful original sketches. With boundless charm and wit, author Amy Tan charts her foray into birding and the natural wonders of the world. In 2016, Amy Tan grew overwhelmed by the state of the Hatred and misinformation became a daily presence on social media, and the country felt more divisive than ever. In search of peace, Tan turned toward the natural world just beyond her window and, specifically, the birds visiting her yard. But what began as an attempt to find solace turned into something far greater—an opportunity to savor quiet moments during a volatile time, connect to nature in a meaningful way, and imagine the intricate lives of the birds she admired.

Review: I knew exactly what I was getting myself and that I wouldn't be interested in the topic (birds) of this book any more than the average non-birder. Did that stop me? Apparently not.

This book deserves 5 stars for delivering exactly what it advertises: whimsy journal entries from famous author Amy Tran on her birdwatching hobby with some very realistic illustrations.

But based on my level of enjoyment, it would be 2 stars. I don't share Tan's fascination of birds. She even humanizes their behavior which can either come off as charming or a bit obsessed (nothing wrong with an obsession but makes it harder to relate). While I was open to learning more, the entries got repetitive as she sees more of the same birds visit her backyard. This book really should have been limited to a max of 80 pages, if that.

So I'm settling on 3 stars for delivering but maybe not worth being delivered for the average reader. I would only recommend this if you're interested in a birds and want to see some amazing illustrations (although I didn't appreciate the larger-than life yellow jacket drawing). 

Book Blog #349: Viewfinder by Jon M. Chu, Jeremy McCarter

 

Title: Viewfinder

Author: Jon M. Chu, Jeremy McCarter

# of Pages: 289 (hardback)

Genre: Non-fiction,  Autobiography

Rating: ★★☆☆☆

Synopsis: Long before he directed Wicked, In The Heights, or the groundbreaking film Crazy Rich Asians, Jon M. Chu was a movie-obsessed first-generation Chinese American, helping at his parents’ Chinese restaurant in Silicon Valley and forever facing the cultural identity crisis endemic to children of immigrants. Growing up on the cutting edge of twenty-first-century technology gave Chu the tools he needed to make his mark at USC film school, and to be discovered by Steven Spielberg, but he soon found himself struggling to understand who he was. In this book, for the first time, Chu turns the lens on his own life and work, telling the universal story of questioning what it means when your dreams collide with your circumstances, and showing how it’s possible to succeed even when the world changes beyond all recognition. With striking candor and unrivaled insights, Chu offers a firsthand account of the collision of Silicon Valley and Hollywood—what it’s been like to watch his old world shatter and reshape his new one. Ultimately, Viewfinder is about reckoning with your own story, becoming your most creative self, and finding a path all your own.

Review: Jon M. Chu is a great filmmaker. I've some of he's biggest hits such as Crazy Rich Asians and Wicked. He's also not half-bad at speaking - I happened to see a clip from an interview (podcast?) where he talks about some behind-the-scene tidbits such as how his mom's words and Steven Spielberg impacted his career. 

In fact, those tidbits were actually the most interesting talking points of this book, his memoir. Already, Chu had these "spoilers" working against him, but it's not a dealbreaker for me. A similar situation happened with Jennette McCurdy's book, but it didn't stop me from being captivated. 

However, Chu should stick with his most familiar medium - film. I didn't need to read in the last 100 pages about his parent's lives describe to me as if it were a movie. While his parent's success story could actual stand alone as its own story, the way this section was written actually put me in a readers block, and this book ended up sitting untouched on a table for weeks. 

The rest of the story was not bad per se. Many readers likely don't know just how many movies Chu has worked on, so this was a pleasant surprise in the earlier parts of the book before getting his Crazy Rich Asians era. However, I couldn't help but feel like this book was premature - Chu is relatively young and likely has many more movies ahead of him. I couldn't help but think that maybe this should have stayed in the drafts until latter in his life.

Overall, I didn't find this book to be worth reading. It's great that Chu found a role model in Steve Jobs, but the first part of this book felt like a Steve Jobs fan boy's memoir. If you're interested in Chu's story, just watch his interviews. 

Book blog #336: Spare by Prince Harry

 

Title: Spare

Author: Prince Harry

# of Pages / Duration: 16 hours (audiobook)

Genre: Non-fiction, Autobiography

Rating: ★☆☆☆☆

Synopsis: It was one of the most searing images of the twentieth century: two young boys, two princes, walking behind their mother’s coffin as the world watched in sorrow—and horror. As Princess Diana was laid to rest, billions wondered what Prince William and Prince Harry must be thinking and feeling—and how their lives would play out from that point on. For Harry, this is that story at last. Before losing his mother, twelve-year-old Prince Harry was known as the carefree one, the happy-go-lucky Spare to the more serious Heir. Grief changed everything. He struggled at school, struggled with anger, with loneliness—and, because he blamed the press for his mother’s death, he struggled to accept life in the spotlight. At twenty-one, he joined the British Army. The discipline gave him structure, and two combat tours made him a hero at home. But he soon felt more lost than ever, suffering from post-traumatic stress and prone to crippling panic attacks. Above all, he couldn’t find true love. Then he met Meghan. The world was swept away by the couple’s cinematic romance and rejoiced in their fairy-tale wedding. But from the beginning, Harry and Meghan were preyed upon by the press, subjected to waves of abuse, racism, and lies. Watching his wife suffer, their safety and mental health at risk, Harry saw no other way to prevent the tragedy of history repeating itself but to flee his mother country. Over the centuries, leaving the Royal Family was an act few had dared. The last to try, in fact, had been his mother. . . .

Review: Defensive, whiney, entitled. 

Gave this one a listen at 1.25x speed since I knew I wouldn't be able to get through a book about public figure I'm not interested in without their story being forced into my brain. 

I would rather him plainly tell his story from his perspective. Instead, Prince Harry tells his story through clickbait headlines and tries to argue against them. As someone who only knows a bit about the Royal Family from pop culture (and takes tabloid headlines with a grain of salt), most of the articles he mentions I've never even heard of (or if I have, it's from one of the many interview he and Meg have done). 

Normal people don’t worry about how history will remember them - they worry about whether they’ll be remembered at all. Prince Harry is still thinking like a royal, and it shows in this book. Instead of worrying about his own life, Prince Harry cares a lot about how he's perceived and will be perceived in history. 

Unlike Jennette McCurdy's stunning book last year (another celebrity who's life I don't pay much attention to), Prince Harry's life is pretty boring. The part that touched me the most was when he talks about losing his mother and being in denial - it felt like he was speaking from the heart and sharing HIS experience rather than sharing how he was influenced by others (paparazzi or otherwise). The rest of the book goes over mostly his experience in the military which is incredibly dry. It also open up more opportunities to complain how his life was negatively affected. This includes a section about how his penis got frostbite - while amusing it doesn't tell me much about Prince Harry other than he had a bad experience and wants the reader to feel sorry for him. 

Even if you're a Royal family drama fan, I do not recommend this book. Just watch their interviews to get the highlights if you're curious. 

Book Blog #325: When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi

 

Title: When Breath Becomes Air

Author: Paul Kalanithi

# of Pages: 157 (ebook)

Genre: Non-fiction, Autobiography

Rating: ★★★★☆

Synopsis: At the age of thirty-six, on the verge of completing a decade's worth of training as a neurosurgeon, Paul Kalanithi was diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer. One day he was a doctor treating the dying, and the next he was a patient struggling to live. And just like that, the future he and his wife had imagined evaporated. When Breath Becomes Air chronicles Kalanithi's transformation from a naïve medical student "possessed," as he wrote, "by the question of what, given that all organisms die, makes a virtuous and meaningful life" into a neurosurgeon at Stanford working in the brain, the most critical place for human identity, and finally into a patient and new father confronting his own mortality. What makes life worth living in the face of death? What do you do when the future, no longer a ladder toward your goals in life, flattens out into a perpetual present? What does it mean to have a child, to nurture a new life as another fades away? These are some of the questions Kalanithi wrestles with in this profoundly moving, exquisitely observed memoir. Paul Kalanithi died in March 2015, while working on this book, yet his words live on as a guide and a gift to us all.

Review: To meet my 2023 reading goal before the rapidly approaching deadline, I picked a short (~200 pages or less) book so I could finish in time.

I didn't know it was short because Kalanithi died while writing this book. 

Shortly before starting this book, I read Maybe You Should Talk to Someone, a therapist's book with a significant portion dedicated to talking about a patient who battled cancer in early adulthood (sub-40s). The common message between these books is how facing death makes us live fuller lives, but we should real live the lives we want NOW because death is inevitable. 

"I would have to learn to live in a different way, seeing death as an imposing itinerant visitor but knowing that even if I'm dying, until I actually die, I am still living." 

I found myself reading Kalanithi's words from the perspective that he was wise and authoritative - after all, he was a very accomplished man and was even a resident as a neurosurgeon. What makes Kalanithi's story stand out amongst other doctors is how he went from being a literature major to becoming a doctor in pursuit of what makes life meaningful. Through his diverse experiences, there were a lot of notable insights for him to share, such as:

- "It's very easy to be number one: find the guy who is number one, and score one point higher than he does.": If you measure success via being better than everyone else, then your level of success is directly correlated with how good everyone around you is. If the bar for success is lower, you will also be achieving a lower level of excellence. 

- "Only later would I realize that our trip had added a new dimension to my understanding of the fact that brains give rise to our ability to form relationships and make life meaningful. Sometimes, they break.": Living isn't just a manner of "being a live" - we need our brain to be able to operate in the world in a meaningful way. 

- "Yet the best-informed people - doctors - almost never donated their bodies. How informed were the donors, then? As one anatomy professor put it to me, 'You wouldn't tell a patient the gory details of a surgery if that would make them not consent.": I'm not sure how I feel about donating my or loved ones' bodies to science. 

At least I felt this way until he started comparing himself with Freud, who was also a successful neuroscientist, claiming that similarly wanted to move away from science to explore greater understanding of life. After this point, I couldn't help but feel reading Kalanithi as a bit domineering. He even included an bad experience with a slacking resident, which didn't show anything expect that Kalanithi was right - just as the reader would already expect. 

What emotionally hit the hardest was the portion written after Kalanithi's death by his wife, Lucy. Hearing about Kalanithi's death through her was heartbreaking and really made the book end on a strong note. I would even dare say that I was more moved by her writing style and account of events than any portion earlier in the book written by Paul. 

It's a short read, so I thought it was worth my time, even if it is unfinished. I would recommend it for those interested in Paul Kalanithi and can handle the heavy topics.

Book Blog #323: Maybe You Should Talk to Someone by Lori Gottlieb

 

Title: Maybe You Should Talk to Someone

Author: Lori Gottlieb

# of Pages: 379 (ebook)

Genre: Non-fiction, Autobiography

Rating: ★★★★★

Synopsis: One day, Lori Gottlieb is a therapist who helps patients in her Los Angeles practice. The next, a crisis causes her world to come crashing down. Enter Wendell, the quirky but seasoned therapist in whose office she suddenly lands. With his balding head, cardigan, and khakis, he seems to have come straight from Therapist Central Casting. Yet he will turn out to be anything but. As Gottlieb explores the inner chambers of her patients' lives -- a self-absorbed Hollywood producer, a young newlywed diagnosed with a terminal illness, a senior citizen threatening to end her life on her birthday if nothing gets better, and a twenty-something who can't stop hooking up with the wrong guys -- she finds that the questions they are struggling with are the very ones she is now bringing to Wendell. With startling wisdom and humor, Gottlieb invites us into her world as both clinician and patient, examining the truths and fictions we tell ourselves and others as we teeter on the tightrope between love and desire, meaning and mortality, guilt and redemption, terror and courage, hope and change.

Review: This book will make you feel like you're going to therapy.

Okay, that could be a bit of an exaggeration. However, both Gottlieb's diverse experiences with her patients as a therapist and her experiences AS a patient offer a lot of wisdom delving into how and why we feel a certain way. Gottlieb covers a lot - from relationship troubles to grappling with death, this book tells several stories of her patients to even introduce some psychology theories (e.g. Prochaska's transtheoretical model of behavior change). 

This isn't to say that this Gottlieb is preaching ideas at the reader the whole time; she expertly weaves in the lessons she's learned through her time as a therapist as well as from her therapist into the "characters'" stories. It was sometimes hard for me to remember that the people mentioned in this book AREN'T just fictional characters (although Gottlieb says there are some modifications done to conceal identities). I couldn't help but be invested in their life stories and cheer for them as their "plots" progressed, crying with them when they encountered a tragedy in their lives. 

This book also served as a great reminder of lessons many of us probably already know (or seem obvious once you hear them). Some of these include:

• Acknowledging death's inevitability can make people live fuller lives rather than ignoring it and becoming "lazy". How meaningfully people live their lives can change how easily they can accept death vs despairing/regretting later in life. 
• Compassion doesn't always lead to forgiveness - you don't have to force your feelings just because society has a "playbook" of how to handle trauma. 
• The unknown is a common source of struggle for many, but at some point it is necessary to come to terms with never finding an answer. 
• People have more freedom than they realize, and adults can feel restricted from responsibilities. One way to regain some of their freedom is to regain emotional freedom. 

As someone who likes reading about human behavior, psychology, etc., this was right up my alley and VERY readable. Probably one of my favorite reads in the last couple of years at least. I would highly recommend this book!

Book Blog #322: Bad Blood by John Carreyrou

 

Title: Bad Blood

Author: John Carreyrou

# of Pages: 300 (hardback)

Genre: Non-fiction, Biography

Rating: ★★★★☆

Synopsis: In 2014, Theranos founder and CEO Elizabeth Holmes was widely seen as the female Steve Jobs: a brilliant Stanford dropout whose startup "unicorn" promised to revolutionize the medical industry with a machine that would make blood tests significantly faster and easier. Backed by investors such as Larry Ellison and Tim Draper, Theranos sold shares in a fundraising round that valued the company at $9 billion, putting Holmes's worth at an estimated $4.7 billion. There was just one problem: The technology didn't work. For years, Holmes had been misleading investors, FDA officials, and her own employees. When Carreyrou, working at The Wall Street Journal, got a tip from a former Theranos employee and started asking questions, both Carreyrou and the Journal were threatened with lawsuits. Undaunted, the newspaper ran the first of dozens of Theranos articles in late 2015. By early 2017, the company's value was zero and Holmes faced potential legal action from the government and her investors. Here is the riveting story of the biggest corporate fraud since Enron, a disturbing cautionary tale set amid the bold promises and gold-rush frenzy of Silicon Valley.

Review: The first time I heard about Elizabeth Holmes, it was a Reddit post talking about how she faked a deep voice for pretty much her whole career. I watched a video, was mildly amused by how unnatural it sounded (especially knowing it was already fake, and then moved on with my day. 

Fast forward to 2021/2022, Holmes is in all the headlines. I didn't know anything about Theranos and why exactly she was on trial other than running a scam startup and that she was going to great lengths to push back the trial and avoiding going to prison to serve her sentence. I meant to read this book during all of that hype, but didn't get around to it until now coincidentally when there's been a lot of other tech CEO headlines have to plentiful. Crypto CEO Sam Bankman-Fried recently was sentenced for his own type of fraud,  and CEO Sam Altman was ousted from his position at OpenAI for not being trustworthy (exact reason still TBD), and CEO Kyle Vogt of Cruise stepped down not long after the company lost its license to test self-driving cars after one of their vehicles struck a pedestrian. 

Now I know the extent of the scam that Holmes created with Theranos, thanks to Bad Blood. I appreciate Carreyrou doing his due diligence to create a full picture of the scam company. There are many perspectives (employees, potential investors, FDA and military officials) to show all the signs that led to the revelation that Theranos never got passed the "dream" stage for Holmes, despite her promises of having a working product. 

The various perspectives seemed overwhelming at first - each person is introduced to the reader with a bit of background which became exhausting when new people were introduced every chapter. Some of these people mentioned again - some are unimportant after supplying their experiences to the pool. Carreyrou did a pretty good job at reintroducing people as their names came up again in later chapter, so I didn't have much of a problem following what was going on (the hardest name to remember was Carreyrou's since he talks in first person about himself, but other characters might mention his last name). 

What was a little harder to follow was some of the domain specific details. If the reader doesn't have as much background in these areas, it could be slower going reading through the explanations of what's happening in the "development process" (if we can even call it that) of the Theranos products, and this doens't even include the different approvals (patents, license, etc.) of which the average person is likely unfamiliar with. 

Although it's not the most gripping nor the most fun nor the most easy to read nonfiction book I've read, it's definitely more readable than many nonfiction books out there (especially since this is one is more of a biography than autobiography, with the former running the risk of sound too textbook). 

If you're interested in this book, I would recommend giving it a read since it goes over the case in great detail. My only major wish for this book is for it to have been written later to cover the trial period. 

Book Blog #320: The Art of War by Sun Tzu

 

Title: The Art of War

Author: Sun Tzu

# of Pages: 90 (hardback)

Genre: Classics, Non-fiction

Rating: ★★☆☆☆

Synopsis: Sun Tzu's insights are still relevant today, and his advice can be applied to a wide range of situations, from business negotiations to political campaigns. If you are looking for a book to help you succeed in any competitive position, then The Art of War is a must-read. It is a timeless classic that has something to offer everyone.

Review: This book might be short, but it's far from sweet.

I either going to give this book 2 stars or 3. 3 stars because I know it's a very old historical text (500 B.C.) that has ALSO been translated - so it's not fair to hold it to the same standards as a fictional modern text that I read for fun. 2 stars because, in short, I didn't learn much and didn't enjoy the read.

Although it was only 5 pages, the introduction was long winded and almost made me put the book back on the shelf forever. It details some of the history of Sun Tzu and other military greats that I quickly forgot about (not particularly interesting to me). I picked up this book to hear some ancient advice about facing opponents and leading an army (cough, team, cough), not to hear a dry history lesson.

Sun Tzu might have some strong points (that I'm sure were much more original back then than they are now), but he chooses to say them in way more words than necessary. The points that are most applicable to a modern audience include:

- Knowledge (e.g. spies) is the most important first step before strategizing and attacking

- Know your opponent/competition

- Know your army (team) and how to establish discipline

- Don't spread you and your resources too thin. Focusing your strategy will yield better results than trying protect everything. 

None of these points are particularly enlightening. Sun Tzu also provides some advice that seems harder to generalized, such as his repetitious chapters on different types of terrain and how to position your army on it.

If someone tells you to read this for the sake of leadership advice, don't bother. 

Book Blog #159: Civilization: The West and the Rest by Niall Ferguson

Title: Civilization: The West and the Rest
Author: Niall Ferguson
# of Pages: 432 (paperback)
Genre: Non-fiction, History, Economics
Rating: ★★☆☆☆
Synopsis: How did the West overtake its Eastern rivals? And has the zenith of Western power now passed? Acclaimed historian Niall Ferguson argues that beginning in the fifteenth century, the West developed six powerful new concepts, or “killer applications”—competition, science, the rule of law, modern medicine, consumerism, and the work ethic—that the Rest lacked, allowing it to surge past all other competitors. Yet now, Ferguson shows how the Rest have downloaded the killer apps the West once monopolized, while the West has literally lost faith in itself. Chronicling the rise and fall of empires alongside clashes (and fusions) of civilizations, Civilization: The West and the Rest recasts world history with force and wit.
Review: I shouldn't have been surprised how pro-Western Ferguson was going to be.

Ferguson tries to be relatable by using apps on a phone as an analogy for the aspects of Western society that made them "superior" to the Rest. This analogy falls miserably flat; I thought he was going to compare competition, science, property, medicine, consumerism, and work ethic (the six "killer apps") to actual apps that could be found on a phone (Twitter, Instagram, Trivia Crack).

Despite this, the book had a strong start. I had heard that this book was difficult to get through, but I found it easier to read that The History of the World in 6 Glasses. However, the book got progressively worse until one reached the last chapter where Ferguson speculates about the end of the world.

Overall, not recommended.

Book Blog #154: Lucky by Alice Sebold

Title: Lucky
Author: Alice Sebold
# of Pages: 256 (hardback)
Genre: Non-fiction, Memoir, Autobiography
Rating: ★★★☆☆
Synopsis: Alice Sebold reveals how her life was utterly transformed when, as an eighteen-year-old college freshman, she was brutally raped and beaten in a park near campus. What propels this chronicle of her recovery is Sebold's indomitable spirit-as she struggles for understanding ("After telling the hard facts to anyone, from lover to friend, I have changed in their eyes"); as her dazed family and friends sometimes bungle their efforts to provide comfort and support; and as, ultimately, she triumphs, managing through grit and coincidence to help secure her attacker's arrest and conviction. In a narrative by turns disturbing, thrilling, and inspiring, Alice Sebold illuminates the experience of trauma victims even as she imparts wisdom profoundly hard-won: "You save yourself or you remain unsaved."
Review: This exceeded my expectations.

I was shocked. Sebold included graphic images of her rape in her book, (so if that is going to bother you, don't read this book) which I thought was amazing - she could describe such a difficult situation in such detail.

It is well written, though she mentions a lot of different people, which was confusing for me (and the reason why the rating I am giving it isn't extremely high).

If you are interested in this book at all, even if you haven't read/watched Lovely Bones (like me), definitely read it!

Book Blog #76: The Girl Who Was On Fire edited by Leah Wilson

Title: The Girl Who Was On Fire
Author: Leah Wilson (editor)
# of Pages: 210 (paperback)
Genre: Non-fiction, Dystopian, Essays
Rating: ★★★☆☆
Synopsis: In The Girl Who Was on Fire, thirteen YA authors take you back to Panem with moving, dark, and funny pieces on Katniss, the Games, Gale and Peeta, reality TV, survival, and more. From the trilogy's darker themes of violence and social control to fashion and weaponry, the collection's exploration of the Hunger Games reveals exactly how rich, and how perilous, protagonist Katniss' world really is.

• How does the way the Games affect the brain explain Haymitch's drinking, Annie's distraction, and Wiress' speech problems?
• What does the rebellion have in common with the War on Terror?
• Why isn't the answer to "Peeta or Gale?" as interesting as the question itself?
• What should Panem have learned from the fates of other hedonistic societies throughout history and what can we?

The Girl Who Was On Fire covers all three books in the Hunger Games trilogy.

Review: It's not the book's fault that it got such a bad rating. It's mine.

I should never have picked up this book. It's a nonfiction, a collection of essays! Obviously not the book for me. I was hoping that I would be interested in a little insight of the book, that the authors who wrote the essays would make connections within the book (if that makes any sense). But the authors made a connection to today, thus rapidly making The Girl Who Was On Fire  outdated.

If you are AT ALL interested, read it NOW. I imagine in the next ten years younger readers will find this book somewhat lacking.