What Are You Reading? May 4, 2011

Just finished

Musicophilia by Oliver Sacks. Subtitle is "tales of music and the brain" and that describes it well. Written with Sacks' typical clarity and humanity.

The Confusion by Neal Stephenson. The second volume of the Baroque Cycle, which starts with Quicksilver.

The Informationist by Taylor Stevens. Vanessa "Michael" Munroe is expert at getting information in third world countries, especially in Africa. She speaks 22 languages, and she has fantastic abilities to absorb the essence of a culture quickly. She is the child of missionaries who essentially ignored her, and she lived with a group of mercenaries, one of whom abused her while teaching her self defense.

Her usual clients are corporations looking to invest in Africa. But now she's been hired to find the daughter of a billionaire, last seen in western Africa. She'll need all her skills as she negotiates the terrain of Equatorial Guinea and neighboring countries.

This is very good. The writing isn't stellar, but Stevens gives a great sense of place, and the main characters are wonderfully drawn.

Now reading

Judgment under Uncertainty: Heuristics and Biases ed. by Kahneman, Slovic and Tversky. A collection of now classic works on how people reason under uncertainty.

Washington: A life which I am reading on my new Kindle 2 (my old Kindle broke). So far, it's living up to the hugely favorable reviews, although the beginning was a bit repetitive about some aspects of Washington's personality.

Charming Proofs. A book of beautiful (or charming) proofs in mathematics, nearly all of which require no advanced math.

For science and book lovers: The Number Sense by Stanislas Dehaene. All about how humans and animals think about numbers. Fascinating.

Just started

The System of the World by Neal Stephenson; the third and final volume of the huge Baroque Cycle.