Robert Schaefer

Readers will find Zadie Smith’s short story collection a mixed bag with a few interesting bits and pieces, and a few good short works.

John Johnson Jr, author of Zwicky, tells the fascinating life story of the imaginative and abrasive astrophysicist Fritz Zwicky, providing historical context and also biographies of collea

Author Susan Hockfield, president emerita of MIT, and in The Age of Living Machines provides an entertaining popular science introduction to the convergence of biology and engineering tech

“The Book of Why offers a popular science history and explanation of the mathematics of causation. . . . written in a simple and entertaining style . . .”

“I have always preferred to disguise my feelings from others.”—almost every character in almost every short story by Gerald Murnane.

Sergio De La Pava’s Lost Empress begins with all the right things, interesting plot, smart dialogue, and punning wordplay but sadly, like a child’s letting go of an untied balloon, Los

Mailer has flashes of brilliance. Historically interesting.

“Extreme Cities offers a mix of postmodernism, revolutionary ideology with only a few moments of rational clarity to imagine a dystopian future shaped by the force

What It’s Like to Be a Dog is a well-written, enthusiastic account of a scientific study sponsored by the Office of Naval Research (ONR) to image dogs’ brains by Magnetic Resonance Imager

When all hands are dirty what is justice?

In A Legacy of Spies, author John le Carré explores the aftermath of moral choices made during the Cold War.

4th Rock from the Sun provides the current view of what we do and do not know about the planet Mars.

“If everybody always lies to you, the consequence is not that you believe the lies, but rather that nobody believes anything any longer.”—Hanna Arendt

“We are living in the Golden Age for Surveillance.”
—Jennifer Stisa Granick

Author Melvin Goodman spent 42 years in government, including a 25-year stint in the CIA.

“Is there any question more fascinating than whether or not we are alone in the universe?” asks author Ben Miller in The Aliens Are Coming!.

Slipping is a collection of Lauren Beukes’ previously published shorter works that shows off her skill across a range of genres.

Brooke Harrington peels back the layers of high net-worth Individuals and wealth managers to expose economic inequality—politely.

Author Adam Segal dives into the political and technical details of nation-state cyber hacking addressing complex issues in great detail with numerous references; however detail does not lead to an

In Our Own Image will make accessible to readers many of the complex issues behind artificial intelligence (AI).

The philosophy at the heart of this book is existentialism, a philosophy that offers meaning for those who are searching for meaning.

“What is missing from Doublespeak, what would have made it worthwhile today, would be a reworking to compare doublespeak . . . from the 1980s to today.”

The Age of Catastrophe is a thousand-plus page history of Western Europe set between World War One and World War Two.

“On Inequality is neither informative nor entertaining.”

This book is disappointing.

Author of Single Digits Marc Chamberland provides his take on the significance of the single digits excluding zero (zero’s significance is so great it can fill a book all by itself).

“Stephen Tomecek and Fred Harper together succeed in making Earth science fun.”

“mostly surface and anecdote, disorganized, and unserious.”

Suffice to say National Geographic Little Kids First Big Book of Who is amply illustrated.

The preface of Mathematics Without Apologies is certain to discourage readers that are expecting a “popular” mathematics text from reading further.

“The Fascinating World of Graph Theory is readable and “student-friendly”—more so than the typical math textbook . . .”

“[C]yber secrets are hard to keep and easy to exploit, to the effect that “today’s secret NSA programs are tomorrow’s PhD dissertations and the next day’s hacker tools.”

“David Reimer succeeds in keeping the mathematics in Count Like an Egyptian clever and light, raising this book into a rare category: a coffee table book that is serious and

“Whether you agree or disagree with the idea of mixing zombies with calculus, Adams is a craftsman of the first order.

“As a meandering collection of facts, stories, curiosities, and oddities in mathematics, The Grapes of Math is as entertaining as it is enlightening.”

“What makes this book unique is the authors are chemists and provide experiments based on alchemy for readers to try.

“The Physics of War is uneven in covering physics and war, conflates physics with technology, and conflates war with history. . .

“Wizards, Aliens, and Starships is a great book by itself or as a starting point for exploring the physics of space exploration as well as the classics in science fiction.”

“. . . a fun and interesting introduction to cosmology and multiverse theory.”

“As an introduction to GPS, its history, uses, issues and concerns GPS Declassified can’t be beat.”

Jorge Luis Borges is considered the patron saint of computer programmers for his mastership of infinity and self-reflection, and Borges at 80 is a reprint of the same title published by th

Though in the introduction the authors tell the reader, “[t]he main goal of this book . . .

“. . . thorough, detailed, and fascinating.”

“Who Owns the Future? is non-linear, hyperactive, non-sequitur filled, maddening to read, and ultimately unsatisfying.”

“Wide ranging and entertaining . . . thoughtful . . . chatty . . . we learn that things are not always what they seem.”

“The King of Infinite Space is for anyone who cares about Euclid, geometry, the philosophy of mathematics and, most especially, for those who appreciate fine writing.”

“Melvin A. Goodman is a damn fine author, and National Insecurity is a damning assessment of U.S. defense spending and covert operations.”

“Paul J. Nahin really knows how to tell a good story. The Logician and the Engineer is truly a gem.”

“. . . the writing is so beautiful, personal, and alive, so in the moment . . .”

“Surprise! The Irrationals is a true mathematician’s and historian’s delight, not just another pretty book.”

“Perhaps the only problem with writing a textbook on design is that there is such a wealth of material that no one textbook could hope to cover it all.”

“The ideas are subtle, possibly significant, and slightly unsettling. What more could a reader wish for?”

“. . . a very handsome book . . . will sit with quiet elegance on your coffee table for guests to peruse if ever the conversation should lag.”

“In Pursuit of the Unknown is a really fun read. . . . Ian Stewart is a genius . . .”

“Mr.

“The tale of Mr g is about the creation (and the end) of the universe.

“According to the author the purpose of Sharp’s Dictionary of Power and Struggle is to ‘bring some degree of clarity to academic and public discussion of nonviolent action.’”

“Reinventing Discovery is a survey, an analysis, a how-to, and a harbinger of greater things to come.

“Each author has in common a sense of wonder and amazement. All articles are short, 5 to 20 pages, and each is a potato chip, you can’t read just one.”

“. . . well-written, fast paced, and difficult to put down. . . . The Ghost in the Wires, an amazing and engaging book, is destined to be a bestseller.”

“The sun has a heartbeat . . . is in fact a third generation star, . . . [and] The fate of our sun at the very end will not be a supernova, but . . .

The possibility of the existence of multiple universes is a hot topic among cosmologists, and John D.

The Hippocratic oath, “I will enter only for the good of my patients”, challenges doctors to resist market pressures and social expectations.

Everything Is Obvious is sectioned into two parts, the first, Common Sense, deals with the recognition that commonsense is anything but, and explores various types of errors in commonsense

Jim al-Khalili holds a Ph.D. in theoretical physics from the University of Surrey and is the chair of the Public Engagement in Science at the University of Surrey.

Fate, Time, and Language is a collection of monographs whose subject is a study of the validity of fatalism from the perspective of the use of logic practiced by philosophers.

One of the ongoing mysteries of physics is why stuff weighs what it does.

The purpose of this book can be found in the preface’s title: A Call for Energy Literacy.

Niccolò Capponi is a historian and direct descendent of Machiavelli.

Shing-Tung Yau is a winner of the prestigious Fields Medal in math (those who are not mathematicians may have seen the movie Good Will Hunting).

Jaron Lanier, an early developer of Virtual Reality, presents his manifesto, his state-of-the-union address of the cultural impact of the Internet and the Web. He has been prescient in the past.

Raphaël Kies is a researcher in political science at the University of Luxembourg; co-founder of the E-democracy center, Switzerland; and a member of Réseau de Démocratie Électronique, France.

A new manager assigned to a project is told by his predecessor that three envelopes have been placed in his top desk drawer and labeled One, Two, and Three.