at a crossroads.
10 1/2 Things No Commencement Speaker Has Ever Said by Charles Wheelan. Norton, 2012, 128 pages.
Showing posts with label Harvard. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Harvard. Show all posts
4.22.2013
10 1/2 Things No Commencement Speaker Has Ever Said: Review Haiku
Good advice worth
revisiting when you find yourself
at a crossroads.
10 1/2 Things No Commencement Speaker Has Ever Said by Charles Wheelan. Norton, 2012, 128 pages.
at a crossroads.
10 1/2 Things No Commencement Speaker Has Ever Said by Charles Wheelan. Norton, 2012, 128 pages.
1.30.2013
That Book About Harvard: Review Haiku
year -- except, uh, not.
(Widener D-basement, dude. Sheesh.)
That Book About Harvard: Surviving the World's Most Famous University, One Embarrassment at a Time by Eric Kester. Sourcebooks, 2012, 352 pages.
1.09.2013
The Good Girls Revolt: Review Haiku
this recent history is.
Rock on, ladies.
The Good Girls Revolt: How The Women of Newsweek Sued Their Bosses and Changed the Workplace by Lynn Povich. PublicAffairs, 2012, 288 pages.
10.24.2012
Seating Arrangements: Review Haiku
happened at my wedding* (or
I didn't notice).
Seating Arrangements by Maggie Shipstead. Knopf, 2012, 320 pages.
* Thirteen years yesterday -- happy anniversary, dorkbutt!
10.17.2012
The Honest Truth About Dishonesty: Review Haiku
narrator" concept gets
a whole new meaning.
The Honest Truth About Dishonesty: How We Lie to Everyone -- Especially Ourselves by Dan Ariely. Harper, 2012, 304 pages.
9.07.2012
The Storytelling Animal: Review Haiku
asserts we're all raconteurs
at heart. Good quick read.
The Storytelling Animal: How Stories Make Us Human by Jonathan Gottschall. HMH, 2012, 272 pages.
8.20.2012
The Red Book: Review Haiku
if/how it resonates with
non-H-bomb-droppers.
The Red Book by Deborah Copaken Kogan. Hyperion, 2012, 368 pages.
6.15.2012
The Power of Habit: Review Haiku
your habits. Now lose weight and
stop biting your nails.
The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business by Charles Duhigg. Random, 2012, 400 pages.
3.16.2012
The Canterbury Tales: Review Haiku
I had totally
forgotten how random, weird,
and dirty these were.
The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer, adapted by Seymour Chwast. Bloomsbury, 2011, 144 pages.
3.07.2012
Science Fair Season: Review Haiku
Totally made me
wish I'd been an engineer.
Rock on, smartypants.
wish I'd been an engineer.
Rock on, smartypants.
Science Fair Season: Twelve Kids, a Robot Named Scorch . . . and What It Takes to Win by Judy Dutton. Hyperion, 2011, 288 pages.
11.07.2011
Between Expectations: Review Haiku
Yes, I AM a sucker
for medical-school memoirs --
why do you ask?
Between Expectations: Lessons from a Pediatric Residency by Meghan Weir, MD. Free Press, 2011, 288 pages.
9.19.2011
The Social Animal: Review Haiku
Proves Forster's hoary
dictum has ring of truth to
it. Dense but snappy.
The Social Animal: The Hidden Sources of Love, Character, and Achievement by David Brooks. Random, 2011, 448 pages.
8.29.2011
Sex, Murder, and the Meaning of Life: Review Haiku
Debunks "lizard brain"
idea, but not as clever
as he thinks he is.
Sex, Murder, and the Meaning of Life: A Psychologist Investigates How Evolution, Cognition, and Complexity Are Revolutionizing Our View of Human Nature by Douglas T. Kenrick. Basic Books, 2011, 256 pages.
3.16.2011
The Panic Virus: Review Haiku
When fear trumps science,
everybody loses. Now please
jab my kids more.
everybody loses. Now please
jab my kids more.
The Panic Virus: A True Story of Medicine, Science, and Fear by Seth Mnookin. S&S, 2011, 448 pages.
2.10.2010
The Accidental Billionaires: Review Haiku
A whole lotta drama
just to bring us Mafia
Wars and Farmville.
just to bring us Mafia
Wars and Farmville.
The Accidental Billionaires: The Founding of Facebook -- A Tale of Sex, Money, Genius, and Betrayal by Ben Mezrich. Doubleday, 2009, 260 pages.
P.S. Could someone pls proofread this book? And could someone from Harvard pls read it?
- Page 15: Mark lives in Eliot. Page 17: Mark lives in Kirkland. (Hint: They are not the same house.)
- Page 64: If you are standing on the Widener steps, you can't "just make out the peak of Memorial Church in the distance," because it is RIGHT IN FRAKKING FRONT OF YOU.
- Page 80: Aaron Greenspan becomes Aaron Grossman within two LINES of each other, then reverts to Aaron Greenspan on the following page.
- Page 115: There are no "three-one"s at the law school; there are only "3L"s. (As in "Law," get it? Could you not read your handwritten notes?)
- Page 235: OMG the president of Harvard does NOT hand out rolled-up diplomas and read out names at Commencement. BEN, YOU WENT TO HARVARD. YOU KNOW THIS.
GAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH.
10.22.2008
The Fortune Cookie Chronicles: Review Haiku
Lee uncovers the
sweet and sour history
of General Tso.
sweet and sour history
of General Tso.
The Fortune Cookie Chronicles: Adventures in the World of Chinese Food by Jennifer 8. Lee. Twelve, 2008, 320 pages.
3.09.2008
What I Was: Review Haiku
Bleak and strange with a
weak frame story; still, she's a
hell of a writer.
weak frame story; still, she's a
hell of a writer.
What I Was by Meg Rosoff. Viking, 2008, 209 pages.
6.21.2007
Ant Farm: Review Haiku
5.21.2006
Intuition
Loved it. I have never read Allegra Goodman before, though I've been tempted to many times. I think I feared she was too highbrow, too smart, and the times I thought about picking up Kaaterskill Falls or The Family Markowitz were times when I really needed a quick YA fix or collection of humor columns instead.
But Intuition is a wonderful read: a careful, nuanced portrayal of life and politics in the world of high-stakes scientific laboratories. Cliff, once a golden boy researcher who's since failed to live up to his potential, is on thin ice at the Philpott Institute, a small cancer research lab located near and loosely affiliated with Harvard. He's been experimenting on mice with R-7, a cancer vaccine, for years with no results. Finally, suddenly, a handful of mice in his experimental group show signs of remission. Is R-7 a wonder drug? Is Cliff the new face of hope for cancer patients? Or are his results too good to be true?
Rounding out the characters are Robin, Cliff's quickly-former girlfriend, whose suspicions about the validity of Cliff's data lead to a potentially disastrous NIH inquiry; Sandy and Marion, the lab's directors, whose working relationship threatens to sour under the pressure of the investigation; and Feng, another postdoc whose notions of integrity and diligence provide perhaps the strongest moral compass in the lab. Minor characters such as Sandy's daughter, Robin's neighbors, and Marion's husband give context to the players outside the lab. Sandy's relationships with his three girls, in particular, provide some of the best and most cringe-worthy moments, as his heavy-handed, charisma-laden parenting style keeps him blind to his family's needs.
Goodman is a master of internal monologue, and imbues each character with enough depth that it's impossible to categorize any of them as wholly good or wholly bad. The novel doesn't wrap up neatly, but instead presents a conclusion that feels real: not without consequences for any of the characters, but not without a glimmer of redemption either.
(I particularly enjoyed the shout-out Goodman gives to my college choir and conductor. Not surprising, since her husband is a fellow alum, but delightful nonetheless.)
Intuition by Allegra Goodman. Dial, 2006, 352 pages.
But Intuition is a wonderful read: a careful, nuanced portrayal of life and politics in the world of high-stakes scientific laboratories. Cliff, once a golden boy researcher who's since failed to live up to his potential, is on thin ice at the Philpott Institute, a small cancer research lab located near and loosely affiliated with Harvard. He's been experimenting on mice with R-7, a cancer vaccine, for years with no results. Finally, suddenly, a handful of mice in his experimental group show signs of remission. Is R-7 a wonder drug? Is Cliff the new face of hope for cancer patients? Or are his results too good to be true?
Rounding out the characters are Robin, Cliff's quickly-former girlfriend, whose suspicions about the validity of Cliff's data lead to a potentially disastrous NIH inquiry; Sandy and Marion, the lab's directors, whose working relationship threatens to sour under the pressure of the investigation; and Feng, another postdoc whose notions of integrity and diligence provide perhaps the strongest moral compass in the lab. Minor characters such as Sandy's daughter, Robin's neighbors, and Marion's husband give context to the players outside the lab. Sandy's relationships with his three girls, in particular, provide some of the best and most cringe-worthy moments, as his heavy-handed, charisma-laden parenting style keeps him blind to his family's needs.
Goodman is a master of internal monologue, and imbues each character with enough depth that it's impossible to categorize any of them as wholly good or wholly bad. The novel doesn't wrap up neatly, but instead presents a conclusion that feels real: not without consequences for any of the characters, but not without a glimmer of redemption either.
(I particularly enjoyed the shout-out Goodman gives to my college choir and conductor. Not surprising, since her husband is a fellow alum, but delightful nonetheless.)
Intuition by Allegra Goodman. Dial, 2006, 352 pages.
4.23.2006
How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wild, and Got a Life
Okay, so I finished it. It was not bad: a decently frothy read, not too much mental energy expended, and the author did a nice job weaving in cultural details (both Indian/Desi and New Jersey high school) without going overboard or devolving into the didactic.
But . . .
I am the wrong person to read this book. Problem #1: It is written by someone who is both younger than I *and* more successful (despite having the same opportunities/education in general). I cannot be an objective reader when I finish every chapter thinking, "Okay, at the time in your life that you were writing this, I was watching Animaniacs and pretending to understand The Fairie Queene."
Problem #2: In a previous post, I mentioned the Fictional Harvard problem; it continues throughout the book, though not quite in the same way. The geography gets better, but the portrayal of Harvard is so relentlessly positive that it felt unreal. Harvard is the perfect place! For nerds! For princesses! For hippies! Come to Harvard and be happy forever! I have my own biases, but this utopian idealization would have bothered me no matter where it was set.
Minor things: Very little was surprising, plot-wise. I was annoyed during the pre-frosh visit section, where Opal was astonished and surprised by things like the dorms, the square, the food, the classes. Someone who has been polishing herself for Harvard for 17 years would've done that kind of research (and hello: the dorms are pictured in the admissions materials). The interactions with the dean of admissions felt contrived and implausible. And the naivete of Opal and her parents about friendships and popularity seemed like a stretch: they're intelligent, driven people, sure -- but they have friends, too, and Mrs. Mehta's keen understanding of the Indian social scene in their neighborhood makes it unlikely that she would be so dense when it came to Opal's popularity and the pitfalls of HOWGAL.
Still, I must admit: I liked Opal. Not all the time, and not always a lot, but I did care enough to want to see her have a happy ending. (Sidenote: I wasn't sure whether to be impressed with my prescience, or just resigned, to discover that Opal does, in fact, drink Scorpion Bowls.)
Bottom line: A good choice for summer reading, but don't expect much more from it.
How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wild, and Got a Life by Kaavya Viswanathan. Little, Brown, 2006. 320 pages.
UPDATE: The Harvard Crimson published an article suggesting that Viswanathan's novel bears a few striking similarities to Megan McCafferty's 2001 Sloppy Firsts. (AP article, via Boston.com)
But . . .
I am the wrong person to read this book. Problem #1: It is written by someone who is both younger than I *and* more successful (despite having the same opportunities/education in general). I cannot be an objective reader when I finish every chapter thinking, "Okay, at the time in your life that you were writing this, I was watching Animaniacs and pretending to understand The Fairie Queene."
Problem #2: In a previous post, I mentioned the Fictional Harvard problem; it continues throughout the book, though not quite in the same way. The geography gets better, but the portrayal of Harvard is so relentlessly positive that it felt unreal. Harvard is the perfect place! For nerds! For princesses! For hippies! Come to Harvard and be happy forever! I have my own biases, but this utopian idealization would have bothered me no matter where it was set.
Minor things: Very little was surprising, plot-wise. I was annoyed during the pre-frosh visit section, where Opal was astonished and surprised by things like the dorms, the square, the food, the classes. Someone who has been polishing herself for Harvard for 17 years would've done that kind of research (and hello: the dorms are pictured in the admissions materials). The interactions with the dean of admissions felt contrived and implausible. And the naivete of Opal and her parents about friendships and popularity seemed like a stretch: they're intelligent, driven people, sure -- but they have friends, too, and Mrs. Mehta's keen understanding of the Indian social scene in their neighborhood makes it unlikely that she would be so dense when it came to Opal's popularity and the pitfalls of HOWGAL.
Still, I must admit: I liked Opal. Not all the time, and not always a lot, but I did care enough to want to see her have a happy ending. (Sidenote: I wasn't sure whether to be impressed with my prescience, or just resigned, to discover that Opal does, in fact, drink Scorpion Bowls.)
Bottom line: A good choice for summer reading, but don't expect much more from it.
How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wild, and Got a Life by Kaavya Viswanathan. Little, Brown, 2006. 320 pages.
UPDATE: The Harvard Crimson published an article suggesting that Viswanathan's novel bears a few striking similarities to Megan McCafferty's 2001 Sloppy Firsts. (AP article, via Boston.com)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)