Pepe El Toro

The WEIRDest people in the world by Joseph Henrich. The author is professor of human evolutionary biology at Harvard University. I learned about this fascinating book from a podcast featuring Paul Bloom, a psychologist at Yale University. What caught my attention was his observation that highly educated people show differences not just at psychological level […]

Growth of the Soil by Knut Hamsun (Nobel Prize in Literature in 1920) is a well-known novel. One of the author’s most famous works is “Hunger.” I also read another book by him called “In Wonderland.” All of these books are amazing and have different themes. One of the things that makes Knut Hamsun a

The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion by Jonathan Haidt. The author is Professor of Ethical Leadership at NYU and received his Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania.  I got interested in this book after reading some comments on another book called “The power of regret”, in which the author

The power of regret by Daniel H. Pink.  Despite not being a psychologist or a behavioral researcher, the author of this book, D.H. Pink, possesses formidable credentials. Having graduated from Yale Law School and served as an advisor to the U.S. Vice President, his background is undoubtedly impressive. Regret, an intricate emotion, relies on the

Secondhand time by Svetlana Alexievich (2015 Nobel Prize in Literature). This book is made from several interviews with Russians in the early 90s when they realized Soviet communism had  been torn down.  What I find interesting about this book is the unique perspective it offers—the viewpoint of individuals who spent their entire lives in Soviet

“The Count of Monte Cristo” published by Alexandre Dumas in 1846, tells the story of Edmond Dantes, a young sailor who is wrongly accused of a crime and thrown into prison right before his wedding. Dantes spends many years alone in prison. While in prison, Dantes becomes friends with another inmate who knows about a

Doctor Faustus by Thomas Mann. In recent years I have been trying to read works written by as many Nobel Prize winners as I can.  Doctor Faustus, one of Mann’s renowned works, was published in 1947, nearly two decades after he became a Nobel laureate. The book is about an ambitious musician who makes an

Fifth Business  (Deptford Trilogy #1) By Robertson Davies. This is the first book in the Deptford Trilogy by Canadian author Robertson Davies. Even though I hadn’t heard of him before, I was really impressed by his beautiful writing style. Published in 1970, “Fifth Business” is set in a fictional town called Deptford, where the main

Dos crímenes (Spanish for ‘Two Crimes’) by Jorge Ibargüengoitia. The plot of the story develops in Mexico around the 70’s, a time when many western governments around the world crushed the socialist ideologies of young people. There used to be a constant conflict between students  voicing their ideologies and police trying to suppress their freedom