2024 Penultimate Episode: The Empire Shrikes Back
2024 Round 25...
All previous Book Reviews/ ratings can be found at jessesbooks.com.
Once more into the breach…
New Additions (Bolded)
[⭐️⭐️⭐️] Hyperion, Dan Simmons – This book was recommended to me in the same vein as the Red Rising series so naturally you can understand how excited I was when it became available on Libby. Unfortunately, it did not live up to the hype. The basic premise is seven strangers making a pilgrimage to the mysterious world of Hyperion (set centuries in the future where humanity has expanded into the galaxy) to visit the Shrike, a mysterious metal demi-god (maybe?) who we learn very little about. Along the way, we uncover the backstory of each crew member, and why they are on this final mission, but much about the mysterious destination. As such, the book is clearly setting up for the rest of the series as I left it with more questions that I got answers. It's also hard to follow the numerous obscure sci-fi references to things that only exist in the Hegemony universe, as Simmons doesn’t explain many of the specific details that only exist in this series.
2024 Rankings
Morning Star, Pierce Brown [⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️]
Golden Son, Pierce Brown [⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️]
When Breath Becomes Air, Paul Kalanithi [⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️]
Light Bringer, Pierce Brown [⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️]
Red Rising, Pierce Brown [⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️]
Iron Gold, Pierce Brown [⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️]
The Rose Code, Kate Quinn [⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️]
Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City, Matthew Desmond [⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️]
The Silent Patient, Alex Michaelides [⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️]
The Psychology of Money, Morgan Housel [⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️]
The Chaos Machine: The Inside Story of How Social Media Rewired Our Minds and Our World, Max Fisher [⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️]
Shattered Sword: The Untold Story of the Battle of Midway, Jonathan Parshall & Anthony P. Tully [⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️]
The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Caused an Epidemic of Mental Illness, Jonathan Haidt [⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️]
At Dawn We Slept: The Untold Story of Pearl Harbor, Gordon W. Prange [⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️]
The Man Who Solved the Market: How Jim Simon’s Launched the Quant Revolution, Gregory Zuckerman [⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️]
Elon Musk, Walter Isaacson [⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️]
Good Strategy Bad Strategy: The Difference and Why It Matters, Richard Rumelt [⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️]
Dark Age, Pierce Brown [⭐️⭐️⭐️]
Red Queen, Victoria Aveyard [⭐️⭐️⭐️]
Hyperion, Dan Simmons [⭐️⭐️⭐️]
The 6:20 Man, David Balducci [⭐️⭐️⭐️]
The Anarchy: The East India Company, Corporate Violence, and the Pillage of an Empire, William Dalrymple [⭐️⭐️⭐️]
The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder, David Grann [⭐️⭐️⭐️]
Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania, Erik Larson [⭐️⭐️⭐️]
The Name of the Wind, Patrick Rothfuss [⭐️⭐️⭐️]
The Most Important Thing: Uncommon Sense for the Thoughtful Investor, Howard Marks [⭐️⭐️⭐️]
The Lost Symbol, Dan Brown [⭐️⭐️]
Liar’s Poker, Michael Lewis [⭐️⭐️]
Die with Zero: Getting All You Can from Your Money and Your Life, Bill Perkins [⭐️⭐️]
The Last Yakuza: Life and Death In The Japanese Underworld, Jake Adelstein [⭐️⭐️]
Complete Reviews
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐
Morning Star, Pierce Brown – The final installment of the first Red Rising did not disappoint at all. Picking up right where the monumental cliffhanger in Golden Son ended, Morning Star boldly ties together all the threads of the Red uprising, while bringing closure to many of the interpersonal ties that Brown cultivates throughout his books. It explores what it means to build and not simply conquer, it deals with pain and grief, with honor and duty, and with betrayal and loss. I LOVED Morning Star; to me, this was the best of the series thus far. Landing a trilogy can be very difficult, but I thought it was done exceptionally.
Golden Son, Pierce Brown – The second installation of the Red Rising Saga, Golden Son picks up two years after Red Rising ends. In the sequel, the stakes feel larger, the scale grander, the emotions deeper. It’s hard to say more without spoiling some of Red Rising, so bear with me if this review is light on plot details. Golden Son has more sweeping battles and sets than Red Rising, compared to the first book being more about intellect and mind games. However, after some thought, I would rank Golden Son slightly higher than Red Rising, but just barely. I really enjoyed this and read it in about three days. Once again, at times the pacing can seem strangely off, as Brown spends chapters on a few hours but then races ahead at other points. The end is a huge cliffhanger, so I will be looking forward to picking up in #3, Morning Star.
When Breath Becomes Air, Paul Kalanithi – WOW. This memoir was INCREDIBLE. For context, Kalanithi was a Stanford neurosurgeon who received a terminal cancer diagnosis and decided to pursue his passion for writing in his last days. He beautifully brings the reader into the humanity and pathos of medicine, into the mind of the brilliant doctors who don’t have jobs, but rather a calling to serve. I mostly read this over two separate flights and during both of them, I was fully ugly crying in my seat. The writing is beautiful, how Kalanithi viewed life and death was beautiful, and his and doctors’ worldwide devotion to helping people is profoundly beautiful. It wasn’t a long book because his time was unfortunately cut short before he could fully finish (the book was published posthumously) but it’s incredibly moving and I can’t recommend this one enough. Read this book.
Light Bringer, Pierce Brown – Clang, clang, clang. That’s the sound of Pierce Brown bringing Red Rising back to its original trilogy heights. I’ll admit, I didn’t realize the sequel trilogy was in fact a tetralogy, and so was expecting a conclusion at the end of Light Bringer, but instead, the pieces are in place for a climactic final chapter. I loved the emotional arch that the characters we have grown to love over the six-book series bend towards; true growth amongst heartbreak and loss. The battles are very grounded individualistic, rather than grand and sprawling like in other installments. The backstabs and twists are unexpected. The tone is a welcome breath of air from the grim darkness that was Dark Age. Finally, there is one character in particular who I absolutely despise and cannot wait for their time to come. Can’t give anything else away for fear of spoilers, but oh man, was his villain arc well written… This is Red Rising at its finest. I now wait with bated breath for Red God and hope that the internet is correct in that it will be released by the end of the year. We will be there.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐
Red Rising, Pierce Brown – Set in a dystopian future where humanity has split into classes based on one’s Color, Red Rising is the first in a six-part series that is a cross between The Hunger Games and Halo. It follows Darrow, a Martian member of the lowest class, the Reds, and his journey to upend the class structure once he learns of how unfair and deceitful the system is to humankind. I LOVED this book, and the only reason it’s not a five-star is that the ending felt somewhat rushed and off-paced with the rest of the book. It’s violent, it’s got great plot twists, and it’s a real page-turner. Would recommend.
Iron Gold, Pierce Brown – Okay, doing all of these reviews without spoiling previous ones is proving to be quite challenging, but here we go. Set ten years after the events of the original Red Rising trilogy, Iron Gold returns to the dystopian future and brings us the worlds of the Rising and the Society. It expands the landscape, bringing us to the Outer Rim and Core planets. Unlike the OG trilogy, Iron Gold doesn’t follow one narrator, but rather four separate threads that may seem unrelated, but eventually converge into one complete picture. I enjoyed it but found the threads of the Golds to be more compelling than some of the others. Iron Gold also starts to usher in a tone shift to the series; it’s much more gritty and dark than the previous books, and the ending leaves the reader with no doubt how much worse things are about to get in Dark Age.
The Rose Code, Kate Quinn – Another WWII historical fiction from Kate Quinn (long-time readers will recognize her from The Diamond Eye in 2023). The Rose Code tells the story of three young British women whose lives intertwined while working different jobs at Bletchley Park in England. If it sounds familiar, Bletchley Park was a cryptography site where the British cracked the German Enigma code (depicted in Enigma, starring Benedict Cumberbatch). The book jumps between life in Bletchley Park during the war and a post-war search for a potential traitor to the crown. It’s an easy ready, fairly historically accurate, and mostly based on real people who helped the Allies win the Second World War, working primarily in utmost secrecy.
Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City, Matthew Desmond – Evicted is a really well written investigation into poverty America, told through the lens of multiple families facing eviction in inner-city Milwaukee. I was profoundly moved by the daily struggle that evictions heap on people and reminded of how privileged I am that my basic needs are met so that I can thrive and not just survive. I felt angry at the housing and legal system that places the inner-city poor in these situations and immense sadness for these families, especially the kids, whose lives are constantly uprooted and turned upside down. It’s four stars only because it is really hard to reach at times, not due to any fault of Desmond, but because it’s pretty heartbreaking and depressing.
The Silent Patient, Alex Michaelides – An interesting, page-turning, murder mystery, except the murderer is revealed at the beginning and we are trying to find out why. Alicia Berenson kills her husband and does not speak a word afterward, prompting her to be put into a psych ward. The story is told through the eyes of her psychotherapist who looks to unlock the mystery behind Alicia’s actions and subsequent silence. Did not see the twist at the end coming at all.
The Psychology of Money, Morgan Housel – As a bit of a personal finance nerd, I really liked this one. The idea is that, while personal finance may seem very formulaic, mathematical, and straightforward, in reality, we are dealing with irrational human beings. People have feelings and emotions, and while their decisions might not make sense to you, they make sense to themselves; therefore, we have to take into account human psychology when we talk about finances. Sometimes the best decision is not the most rational one, but the one that helps you sleep the best at night (I also tend to agree with this).
The Chaos Machine: The Inside Story of How Social Media Rewired Our Minds and Our World, Max Fisher – The Chaos Machine definitely has an agenda (tech is bad, social media is even worse) but it sure does a compelling job of pushing it. Fisher’s investigative journalism details first-hand accounts from inside the big social media companies (YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, Instagram, etc.) from their creation through 2021. He lays a narrative of societal neglect, selective ignorance, and sometimes outright disregard for physical harm that these platforms have on society through their ability to spread misinformation, ruin lives through online abuse, and increasingly radicalize opinions through their engagement-maximizing algorithms. As someone with a love-hate relationship with social media, I decided to do a bit of a cleanse after reading this and probably should reexamine my screen time afterward.
Shattered Sword: The Untold Story of the Battle of Midway, Jonathan Parshall & Anthony P. Tully – This book is not for everyone, and I would only recommend it to a true WWII nerd like myself. HOWEVER, if you find yourself falling into that bucket, then Shattered Sword was incredible, even for someone who knows a lot about the Battle of Midway. The book reads like a Ph.D. dissertation on the battle and is incredibly researched and detailed. It primarily focuses on the Imperial Japanese Navy’s perspective, seeking to better educate why and how the IJN was so spectacularly defeated at Midway. Additionally, there are major myths about Midway that have seeped into the Western public’s perception, and Shattered Sword does a great job of tearing them down. The level of primary research cited to do so is truly astounding. This book is long and dense, but I still thoroughly enjoyed it and learned a ton about a topic that I would consider myself above average educated on.
The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Caused an Epidemic of Mental Illness, Jonathan Haidt – After reading this and The Choas Machine (earlier in the year) I might be fully out on social media. The Anxious Generation explores how the rise of social media & gaming and the subsequent decline in childhood play and face-to-face interaction have taken a toll on Gen Z’s mental health and anxiety levels. It’s pretty damning; right around the time of teens receiving smartphones, the anxiety, depression, and suicide rates of teens (especially girls) have risen sharply, and the pandemic only worsened the trend. Haidt makes a very compelling case for a few parenting tips (see bullets) to prevent this, but honestly, most will likely be ineffective if applied in isolation. Coincidentally, the morning I wrote this post, Australia banned social media for anyone under 16, which is the recommended age Haidt gives for teens starting off. I’d highly recommend reading this, even as a non-parenting adult, because we all probably use social media a bit too much. The reason it’s not a 5-star is that it can read like an academic paper at times, which slows down reading the book.
Suggestions (not exhaustive)
No phones until 10, no socials until 16
Phone-free schools (not just classes)
No more than 5 hours a week of gaming
Re-introduce most unstructured play (before/ after school, during recess)
Let your child explore out of your sight far earlier than you personally would feel comfortable will
At Dawn We Slept: The Untold Story of Pearl Harbor, Gordon W. Prange – In case it’s not obvious, Shattered Sword put me back in my WWII nerd shoes for a little bit and I wanted another one. At Dawn We Slept is widely considered to be THE book on Pearl Harbor. It meticulously details the events leading up to the attack, the Japanese planning, US intelligence failures, the attack itself as experienced around the country, and the subsequent US investigation into how Pearl Harbor could happen (although I found this part to be incredibly boring). I learned quite a bit, but the most interesting thing to me was that the start of the Pacific Theater did not catch the US entirely unaware. Through codebreaking and failed diplomacy, we had been anticipating Japanese aggression in the days leading up to Pearl Harbor, and even had many warning signals, none of which appropriately made it to the military leaders in Hawaii to prevent the disaster. This book is long, so I’d only recommend it to a WWII buff, but if that’s you then you’ll love it.
The Man Who Solved the Market: How Jim Simon’s Launched the Quant Revolution, Gregory Zuckerman – I was inspired by a recent Acquired podcast episode to move this one out of the backlog; it had been one I’d wanted to read for a while. As an aside, if you like slightly-nerdy business breakdowns and are not familiar do yourself a favor and give them a listen, they are excellent. Back to RenTech. The Man Who Solved the Market is the biography of Jim Simons (RIP, he recently passed on Friday), mathematically the most successful investor ever and founder of Renaissance Technologies (RenTech) and quant hedge fund in Long Island. If you’re unfamiliar with RenTech, their Medallion Fund has generated an average of 66% gross returns every year for the last THIRTY YEARS. It’s an unbelievable string of success. The book is an easy read working through Jim’s life, and culminating with the inside story of a highly secretive firm, known to have lifetime NDAs and tightly sealed lips. While I knew the general story of RenTech, because of Acquired, this book goes deeper into the interpersonal aspects, and the many times when RenTech was legitimately in trouble, something that its absurd string of year-over-year returns wouldn’t seem to indicate. Very niche, but a good book.
Elon Musk, Walter Isaacson – Isaacson’s biography of Elon Musk is LONG, so strap in if you’re reading this one. It’s also extremely thorough, as he followed Elon around for two years gathering material for the book. He does, in my opinion, a good job of being impartial and presenting facts and other’s opinions, which I like and appreciate in a biography. As to Elon, he’s clearly an asshole, insanely intense, and insensitive but, I do think the planet is better off as a result of his work with Tesla and SpaceX. The book does a great job of bringing you along through both companies’ multiple near demises (and boy were they close) as they persisted almost through Elon’s sheer will alone. It also takes you inside the absolute shitshow that was the Twitter acquisition. Overall, I found it interesting but not riveting. On a more personal note, I learned why SpaceX employees like tiki bars so much.
Good Strategy Bad Strategy: The Difference and Why It Matters, Richard Rumelt – Many people cite this as the premiere book on business strategy, and I can see why. Rumelt is clearly an expert and his lessons can be applied across industry, sector, and time. It’s not a 5-star because it’s so very niche that only certain people would find this useful, and I do think about context in my reviews. BSchool friends, this one is for you.
⭐️⭐️⭐
Dark Age, Pierce Brown – I hate not to have a glowing review of a Red Rising book, but Dark Age simply didn’t do it for me the same as the earlier installments in the series. As expected, Dark Age was EXTREMELY dark. To be completely honest, this one could be hard to read at certain points. I maintain that some of the subplots could be entirely omitted and the story would still flow the same. This would have the added benefit of helping the length; Dark Age is 750+ pages, for no good reason. And finally, there are some extremely horrific/ gory/ graphic/ violent parts of this book that were tough to get through. And that’s saying something since the series isn’t exactly known for sunshine and rainbows! Overall, easily my least favorite of Brown’s books.
Red Queen, Victoria Aveyard – Another dystopian class struggle sci-fi/ fantasy where a girl in the bottom class (ironically, also the Reds) leads a rebellion against the ruling tier (the Silvers). Very easy to read, pretty engaging at times, but the writing wasn’t the strongest, and the plot wasn’t the most interesting. Red Queen also has the misfortune of being directly compared to Red Rising earlier this year. Good but not great.
Hyperion, Dan Simmons – This book was recommended to me in the same vein as the Red Rising series so naturally you can understand how excited I was when it became available on Libby. Unfortunately, it did not live up to the hype. The basic premise is seven strangers making a pilgrimage to the mysterious world of Hyperion (set centuries in the future where humanity has expanded into the galaxy) to visit the Shrike, a mysterious metal demi-god (maybe?) who we learn very little about. Along the way, we uncover the backstory of each crew member, and why they are on this final mission, but much about the mysterious destination. As such, the book is clearly setting up for the rest of the series as I left it with more questions that I got answers. It's also hard to follow the numerous obscure sci-fi references to things that only exist in the Hegemony universe, as Simmons doesn’t explain many of the specific details that only exist in this series.
The 6:20 Man, David Balducci – A murder mystery/ thriller crossed with high finance at a high-frequency trading shop. Normally, I’m a fan of Balducci, and I was pretty hooked for the first 60% of the book. However, the final third strays from being grounded and practical into a much broader, grander, but less believable plot, with convenient plot twists and armor that nearly made me roll my eyes. It’s certainly a page-turner, but Balducci failed to keep me as interested, and in the end, this is another one of those airport newsstand novels.
The Anarchy: The East India Company, Corporate Violence, and the Pillage of an Empire, William Dalrymple – The Anarchy is a well-researched history of the East India Company and its colonization of India–from the early days operating two small trading posts, to the Battle of Plassy, to fully taking over from the Mughals and Marathas as the ruling power in India. Truth be told, I didn’t realize that India was colonized by a for-profit corporation and not the British Empire, but that was indeed the case. Imagine today if Apple outright had a standing army that it used to overthrow governments and install puppet regimes! I learned a LOT about Indian history, but only rank this three stars for a few reasons. First, it seems like at times up to a third of the book is just quotes from primary sources, which peeved me a little. I understand wanting to bring in direct sources, but I would have liked a little more original thought. Second, long stretches of the book were very dense, dull, and difficult to get through. And finally, the last years of the EIC, from conquering Delhi to nationalization about 50 years later, were sped through in about 15 pages, which felt like a very rushed ending. Still, I found The Anarchy altogether fascinating, mainly due to my ignorance of the history.
The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder, David Grann – The Wager thoroughly underwhelmed me for a number of reasons. 1) It had been hyped by many sites 2) as long-time readers know, I LOVED Killers of the Flower Moon and 3) the plot sounds like it should be thrilling; a 17th-century shipwreck of the HMS Wager off the coast of Patagonia. However, reality did not match expectations. Perhaps it’s because the bar for these types of books is incredibly high after reading Unbroken and Endurance but the level of detail simply wasn’t there. In my opinion, the book is too short, and it skips over/ speeds through many pieces of the story that would be fascinating. It has potential but failed to deliver.
Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania, Erik Larson – I really liked The Devil in the White City and found The Splendid and the Vile somewhat interesting, so when Dead Wake came up on Libby I thought “why not?”. I knew very little about the sinking of the Lusitania, other than incorrectly thinking it contributed heavily to the US entering into WWI. The journalism is very high quality here, but I once again found it to be a little boring, surfacing a lot of mundane details that didn’t drive the story along. The most interesting aspect of the book is that Larson lays out the details in a way that you can’t help but conclude that Britain did not do all it could to avoid this tragedy.
The Name of the Wind, Patrick Rothfuss – I had very high hopes for this one because it’s a fairly well-reviewed sci-fi/ fantasy book and that is normally my cup of tea. The book tells the story of one of the most famous arcanists (magicians) in all the land, through his own retelling to a famous scribe. I found it to actually be very boring, as the bulk of the book is spent on Kvothe’s upbringing as a child and his early teenage days. There are hints dropped of battles with demons and an evil band of folk known as the Chandrian, and the killing of kings (hence the name). Andddddd none of that happens in this book. Instead, it’s about him going to class at the University… Imagine Harry Potter if it primarily focused on Potions. This might be a Three-Body Problem type situation where the series in its entirety is good but the first book is a lot of build-up.
The Most Important Thing: Uncommon Sense for the Thoughtful Investor, Howard Marks – After reading this book I can confidently say that I am just not cut out for investing. Not investing as a means to comfortably live/ retire, but investing for the sake of investing. I think The Most Important Thing is likely a very good book on the topic, but I couldn’t get into it at all and found it pretty boring. Wouldn’t recommend to anyone but a professional investor.
⭐️⭐
The Lost Symbol, Dan Brown – After really enjoying The Da Vinci Code last year, I was looking forward to the sequel and was sorely disappointed. The Lost Symbol follows Robert Langdon as he is drawn into another Templar mystery, this time in the nation’s capital, Washington DC. When he is summoned by a friend to give a last-minute lecture, his world turns upside down as he’s involved in another “thrilling” chase, including murder, intrigue, and the promise of long-hidden treasure. One of the beautiful things about The Da Vinci Code was how believable the symbolism and premise of the plot were, but I didn’t feel that at all with The Lost Symbol. Not only that, but I found it repetitive; I also got tired of the structure of each chapter and the predictable cliffhanger endings. I’m probably done with Langdon after this one.
Liar’s Poker, Michael Lewis – I’m normally a huge Michael Lewis fan (see Moneyball, The Big Short, The Premonition), so imagine my disappointment when his much-acclaimed first-ever book fell flat on its face for me. Liar’s Poker is Lewis’ insider’s view into the Salomon Brothers’ bond department in the 1980s. 1) Turns out I’m just not interested in bond trading and sales and 2) I don’t find the stories and anecdotes of grotesque corporate gluttony and excess to be as funny or interesting as others. I might be the world’s worst MBA graduate :)
Die with Zero: Getting All You Can from Your Money and Your Life, Bill Perkins – Let me spare you 200 pages. The basic premise is that you should not wait until retirement & the end of your life retirement to have fun, enjoy life, and spend your money, but rather bring it forward to when you are young and healthy and able to appreciate things more. I 100% agree with this. However, this book could have been a blog post and instead has too much filler to justify its own existence.
The Last Yakuza: Life and Death In The Japanese Underworld, Jake Adelstein – The book's premise, a semi-accurate (details changed for safety reasons) biography of a real-life Japanese mob boss, sounded very appealing to me but I couldn’t get into this one. It jumps all over the place, the writing is somewhat dull, and I found it hard to follow without much prior knowledge of Japanese history. That being said, I’d imagine there are a lot of the inner workings of yakuza organizations that are brought into the light for the first time in The Last Yakuza, and if that interests you, maybe give it a shot.
⭐
n/a
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Cheers,
Jesse