August 30, 2012

"No Easy Day: The Firsthand Account of the Mission that Killed Osama Bin Laden" by Mark Owen and Kevin Maurer

Have you heard of Osama Bin Laden? Of course you have. Did you know that somewhat recently he was allegedly killed and had his body burned at sea before a camera lens could even be pointed at it? Of course you did. However, how much do you know exactly about that operation shrouded in secrecy which allegedly led to the demise of one of America’s greatest enemies?

Well, just like you, I had a truckload of questions about the operation, but nobody to answer them… and then Mark Owen, with the help of Kevin Maurer wrote his book No Easy Day: The Firsthand Account of the Mission that Killed Osama Bin Laden.

August 29, 2012

"Breakfast of Champions" by Kurt Vonnegut

When Kilgore Trout had finally bit the dust, his tombstone was marked with a phrase which achieved somewhat of a legendary status: "We are healthy only to the extent that our ideas are humane". This brings up a number of questions, such as "what is humane in this context?", what does "healthy" imply, and what exactly happens when our ideas cease to be humane? How does it come to that point?

 While these are the kinds of questions you usually won’t get a concrete answer to, Kurt Vonnegut decided to explore the concept of falling into madness in his novel, Breakfast of Champions.

August 25, 2012

"The Presidents Club" by Nancy Gibbs and Michael Duffy

Even though many of us don’t pay too much attention to politics, the fact of the matter is that they have played a ginormous role in forming our world today. Practically every important decision taken, whether we are talking about the assassination of Julius Caesar or America’s decision to invade the Middle East, has been mostly rooted in politics. 

How exactly do politics affect our daily lives? Well, to put it bluntly, politicians are the people who try and pass new laws, put in place healthcare plans, financial plans… they are even the ones who start wars, and I’m sure you can figure out how such a decision can impact a person’s life.

August 23, 2012

“The Alchemist” by Paulo Coelho – The Wisdom of the Heart


Updated on November 2, 2023

The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho (Book cover)


Short Summary


Paulo Coelho may have used simple language and straightforward plot structures in his novels, but as is best exemplified through The Alchemist, what lay beneath his work was anything but simple and straightforward. In this all-time classic, we follow the story of the young Santiago, an Andalusian shepherd who, following a dream he had, wanders off to the Egyptian pyramids in search of great treasure.

August 21, 2012

"Man’s Search for Meaning" by Viktor E. Frankl

Suffering is something which most of us work day and night to avoid… but in the end, are we as successful as we would like to think? Is the work to prevent suffering not a kind of suffering in itself? 

Well, according to Viktor E. Frankl, a psychiatrist who was held in four different concentration camps during the Second World War, including Auschwitz, there is no way for human beings to avoid suffering. However, it is within our power to choose to cope with it, find some kind of meaning in it, learn from it, and move onwards with more purpose than before. 

August 20, 2012

"The Drop" by Michael Connelly

Harry Bosch yet again finds his way into a Michael Connelly masterpiece in The Drop. This time around, Harry is faring a little better as he has been accepted back in the LAPD and given three years before he retires, which only lights his hunger for more cases to solve (because what he went through in The Last Coyote was just so much damn fun for him).

Finally, he finds something to satisfy his appetite when the DNA of a 29-year-old rapist matches that from a 1989 rape and murder… which would make the man eight years of age at the time… or mean that a mistake has been committed at the lab, which would compromise all of the DNA cases that are currently in court.

August 19, 2012

"The Last Coyote" by Michael Connelly

The Last Coyote by Michael Connelly (Book cover)
While many of us have been in situations where we considered our lives to be sh*t, our plights simply cannot compare to what Harry Bosch has to go through. For starters, his home got ravaged by an earthquake, after which it was condemned, basically leaving him homeless.

As if that wasn’t enough, his girlfriend decides to leave him (possibly having something to do with the fact that he is homeless), and he’s hitting the bottle like never before.

August 16, 2012

"Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail" by Cheryl Strayed

I’ll admit it, I never cared for Oprah’s Book Club. The times I took a look at her recommendations, I was just looking at books that I knew I wasn’t going to enjoy. However, a few people around me just kept nagging me, and basically letting me know how much I was missing out on. 

Following their recommendations I gave Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail a try, seeing as how it was one of Oprah’s Book Club 2.0 selection (she has two book clubs?!). In any case, enough about Oprah’s as I’m sure you know about her a lot more than I do, so let’s have a look at the book.

August 14, 2012

"The Untethered Soul: The Journey Beyond Yourself" by Michael A. Singer

During the time humans have spent on this planet many questions have been answered, such as "what are stars?" and "Is Tom Cruise as crazy as he seems?". However, for all the thinking great philosophers of the past and present have done, one question remains largely unanswered: who am I? And I’m not talking specifically about me. I’m talking about the question everyone asks themselves at one point or another. 

The more you look into it, the less you understand. How can you define yourself? Are you a physical entity? A spiritual one? A combination of both? A collection of memories? Most of us choose to define ourselves with a name or occupation, but doesn’t the essence of being a human go far beyond that?

August 12, 2012

"Cloud Atlas" by David Mitchell

Writing a good book is not only about making good characters, an interesting story and exploring some mysterious themes… it is also about how the events unfold and their connections to each other. 

Take for example Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell (yes, it has been made into a movie with Tom Hanks), a long narrative which touches upon the lives of six main characters. Each one of these characters has their own story, but in the end, as it usually happens, the stories intertwine in one way or another to make for a grand finale where all is revealed.

August 11, 2012

"The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet" by David Mitchell

1799, Dejima, Nagasaki: The Japanese Empire only has a single port that keeps it open to the rest of the world, and one day a man by the name of Jacob de Zoet arrives there. His purpose? He has exactly five years to earn a fortune in the East and then come back to Holland in order to win the hand of his beloved fiancée. 

Being only a young clerk, Jacob starts to try and scrape whatever money he can, hoping to climb the pyramid from bottom to top. However, he one day meets Orito Aibagawa, the disfigured wife of the magistrate.

August 9, 2012

"The Yiddish Policemen’s Union" by Michael Chabon

When in 1948 the fledgling state of Israel had collapsed many safe havens were created for the Jews, one of is located in the Sitka district. There, the Yiddish have gladly isolated themselves from the rest of the world (possibly having something to do with the fact that most people still want them dead), creating their own colorful and vibrant community. 

But every good thing is meant to come to an end, and soon the district is to return under the control of Alaskan authorities.

August 8, 2012

"The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay" by Michael Chabon

Often regarded as being the pinnacle of Michael Chabon’s work, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay is an amazingly-diverse story which begins in New York, 1939, right at the beginning of the Second World War, when an escape artist with his magician friend, Joe Kavalier, arrive on the doorstep of Sammy Clay, Kavalier's cousin. 

Even though Hitler is leaving his mark of hatred on chaos on Europe, things are quite different in America as the comic book craze is taking over everyone by storm… and Sammy seems to have an idea for how to make some money on it.

August 5, 2012

"The Racketeer" by John Grisham

Perhaps one of the toughest jobs on the planet is to be a judge, especially when they have to make really tough decisions, such as: "Do I put him in prison for the rest of his life or the electric chair?".

As a matter fact, when taking into consideration that thousands of judges have passed on countless sentences, many of which ruined lives, it is sort of astonishing to learn that only four of them have died… or at least, that is the premise of John Grisham’s The Racketeer.

August 3, 2012

"How to Be a Woman" by Caitlin Moran

Even though officially women are equal to men in many parts of the world, one would have to be blind not to see all the double standards which have been put into place. In other words, life is far from being a walk in the park for many modern women, but not for the reasons you would expect. 

As it happens, they are constantly tormented by various mysteries and social conventions, including existential questions such as "Do men hate us?" and "How come bras hurt?". According to recent estimates, there are about 3,456,782,396 men on Earth, which makes for 3,456,782,396 people who don’t know what it’s like to be a woman. 

August 2, 2012

"Something Blue" by Emily Giffin

Most of us have an idea as to what our ideal life would be. In some rare occasions, we actually make that dream become a reality in one way or another… and in some cases, this dream breaks even before you’ve had the chance to live it out.
 
For example, you could get the job of your dreams, only to have the company close two weeks after… or you could be getting married to the spouse of your dreams, only to have the wedding called off at the last moment.