Review

Disgrace by John W. Coetzee. This book hit me hard. It’s one of those novels that leaves you reeling. Another one that had a similar effect on me was “Blindness” by Jose Saramago. I remember feeling down for days after finishing it. “Disgrace” is all about things going terribly wrong. It asks the question: when […]

Destined for war: Can America and China escape Thucydides’s trap? by Graham Allison. Lately, I’ve been reading about current global conflicts, starting with “The Israel Lobby and US Foreign Policy” by John Mearsheimer and “Silent Invasion” by Hamilton Clive. Both authors are academics in the US and Australia, respectively, making their books well-crafted and thoroughly

Many years ago, I read a short story by Alejandro Jodorowsky, and what blew my mind was how rapidly evolution takes place in this story, unfolding in various directions. Alejandro truly possesses an astonishing power of imagination. He writes in Spanish and resides in France, but I have never come across this story translated into

Letters from Thailand by Botan is a book that takes place in 1948 and follows the journey of Tan Suan U, a young Chinese man who moved to Thailand in search of a better life. The novel is constructed through the letters Suan U writes to his mother back in China. Although it is far

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

“The Shadow of the Sun” is a book written by Ryszard Kapuściński, who was a journalist that traveled extensively across Africa from the late 1950s to the end of the 20th century. He was fluent in many languages, which allowed him to connect with and understand various cultures, making his work rich and insightful. In

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