The Quarter-Life Reviews

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If you have walked into a Starbucks within the last six weeks or so, you have most likely seen this book prominently  on display.  The book explores the phenomenon of “black swans”, or, events that occur that are unpredictable and how they impact our society.

Some of the events that are explored in this book-the terrorists attacks of 9/11, the explosion of the Google phenomenon amongst other such events.

From the book jacket, it would seem as though the book would be interesting, even for the layperson with even the most minor interest in economics, mathematical theories or philosophy. The book is a tad dull, but mostly readable-especially with the handy glossary at the back of the book.  However, the last section of the book dealing with statistics is especially difficult to read (I finally gave up).  I also found Taleb to be pretentious and unfortunately at many times throughout the book his personality shown through-which made the book to be unenjoyable.

Unless you are very interested in this theory and don’t mind having the feeling of being talked down upon I would recommend it.  If not, perhaps pass this one.

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Bill Bryson is well known for his travel books.  He has a natural gift for weaving humor in with education which makes his books both informative and extremely fun to read.  In recent years Bryson has traveled from his normal adventures to exploring the world of science, himself…and now biographies.

In his latest book, Bill Bryson has contributed to the Eminent Lives series with a biography about The Bard.  As there is painfully little known about William Shakespeare (included the correct spelling of his name!) Bill Bryson does a solid job of filling in the gaps with interesting tid bits of what life was life in London during that time.

While this book does not include many of the hilarious anecdotes that are normally found in Bryson’s other books, there does include a few chuckles regarding certain customs during that time period.

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Two years after the untimely demise of Nirvana’s front man, Kurt Cobain, surviving band members Krist Noveselic and Dave Grohl came together in order to release an album filled with some of Nirvana’s top performances.  The songs chosen for the compilation spanned the band’s entire career, from the low budgeted “Bleach” to the punk inspired “Insesticide”.

Each track on the album is solid, and despite the fact that the performances spanned across many concerts over the course of their career, it is difficult to tell where one track ends and the next begins.  You could almost be fooled into believing you have been treated to one of Nirvana’s very last performances.

Unlike some live albums where die hard fans are more likely to enjoy the album, “From the Muddy Banks of the Wishka” would appeal to true Nirvana fans as well as the more casual music fan.

Track listing is as followed:
1. Intro
2. School
3. Drain You
4. Aneurysm
5. Smells Like Teen Spirit
6. Lithium
7. Sliver
8. Spank Thru
9. Scentless Apprentice
10. Heart Shaped Box
11. Milk It
12. Negative Creep
13. Polly
14. Breed
15. Tourette’s
16. Blew

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If you can believe the author’s bio, Augusten Burroughs is one of the top fifteen funniest people in America. I tend to agree. After reading (and throughly enjoying) three of his previous books I had a pretty good feeling that 1. I would laugh and 2. I would probably gasp from shock at least once. I was not disappointed.

“Possible Side Effects” is a collection of stories-memories that Burroughs has stored away through out his lifetime. Spanning from childhood until very recently, the anecdotes he conjures up are sure to entertain. Some are hilarious, some are shocking, and some are heartbreaking.

A bit of warning however, much like a person’s memory never seems to go in chronological order, this book does not either. The stories are scattered throughout the book in no particular order and at times it can get slightly confusing.

Not for the faint hearted or easily offended, but nonetheless, a fun read.

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I am sure that by now most have heard of this book, or at least are familiar with the movie adaptation.  In recent months, the story of Christopher McCandless has received a lot of publicity and spectulation.

In case you aren’t familiar with the book (or movie), Christopher McCandless was a young idealist who donated all his money to charity, rid himself of all his possessions and took off for the wilds of Alaska-never to return.  Several months after his journey began, his body was discovered in an abandoned bus.  A victim, many claim, of his own stupidity.

Jon Krakauer first picked up McCandless story for Outdoor Magazine.  It gleamed so much publicity and interest that Krakauer returned to the story and dug further into finding out who Christopher McCandless was, why he did what he did, and what he did wrong.  Armed with interviews from those who befriended McCandless prior to his Alaskan adventure and anecdotal stories about other men who attempted to go “into the wild”, Krakauer managed to deliver a heart breaking account of a lost soul.

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“One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” by Ken Kesey is not for the faint hearted. The book gives a compelling and candid view of life in a mental institution from the 60’s, and some of it’s descriptions and events could be upsetting to some.

The story however is exciting, yet for the most part is fairly low key. There’s not a whole lot of physical action amongst the characters-bar a few episodes-but there is a great deal of intensity between the main character McMurphy, and the other characters, especially Big Nurse.

The story itself is told in somewhat of a unique way. Rather than told in the voice of either of the two main characters, or in the voice of a face-less narrator, the story is told in by the view of another patient on the mental ward. Due to his supposed condition he is given the vantage point of being able to observe both his fellow patients and the staff of the ward with relative ease. Along with his narration of the events unfolding on the ward, he gives bits and pieces of his own past history which builds into the events that are currently happening in the book.

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I always find it difficult to write reviews about “classics”. The way I see it, there hals already been so much written about the story that anything I add would be considered overkill.

Unlike several other classics that I have read however, “A Farewell to Arms” was almost a completely perfect book. Ernest Hemingway did an exceptional job of melding together a story of war and it’s atrocities with an undying love complete with all of the emotions that a love story usually entails. The fact that Hemingway hadn’t even reached his 30th birthday by the time this work was published, it’s hard to believe.

“A Farewell to Arms” is somewhat of a quick read-which is its one downfall. At certain times during the story I felt that certain parts were rushed through, which made it difficult to grasp in the short amount of pages alloted. At the same time however, the fast pace captures the essence of time careening out of control, especially during times of love and war.

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Reading the entire set of Encyclopedia Brittanica is a feat that even the most seasoned readers would most likely shun. Just imagining that type of task would be enough to send most to the medicine cabinet for a strong dose of Excedrin.

A.J. Jacobs is not like everyone else. Instead of being overwhelmed with such a task-he revels in the quest for knowledge-plowing his way through the entire alphabet spewing out facts left and right coupled with some hilarious, witty and thought provoking commentary.

Jacobs makes reading the E.B. sound exciting and fun and well-very time consuming. This books almost makes me entertain the idea myself. However, I will instead extend my kudos to Mr. Jacobs (and his endlessly patient wife) and instead undertake a more modest proposal-such as memorizing the entire Beatles catalogue.

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The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini is a heartbreaking, yet optomistic story of Amir, an Afganhi immigrant. The story follows Amir from his childhood in pre Taliban ruled Afganistan to his adulthood in California where, at age 18, he moved with his father to escape the political unrest that had begun to plague Afganistan. Unknown to anyone else, Amir is also running away from the memories of a painful past event which cost him the friendship of Hassan, his father’s servent’s son who worshipped the ground that Amir walked on.

Once in California, Amir thought that he had escaped his past, both the unrest in his native country as well as his past personal history, but as he discovers, you can’t really run away from your past.

This is an absolutely beatiful book, it speeds through with a momentum that never falters, every chapter builds up the story and unlike many other books that I have read that fails to deliver its goods, this one is just perfect in every aspect. It really grips you emotionally and I dare anyone to read this without tearing up at least once, it also gives a very “in your face” look at modern day Afganistan under the Taliban’s rule, but without becoming political at all.

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Finally, a movie worth going to the theaters to go see! Maybe it’s just me, but lately the movies being shown in the theaters have looked total crap. The last movie that I REALLY wanted to see (but unfortanately missed) was Little Miss Sunshine.

Stranger Than Fiction follows Harold Crick, an auditor for the IRS who leads a perfectly boring, and borderline obsessive-compulsive life. Every day is the same, down to the way he brushes his teeth, to the amount of steps it takes him to get to the bus every morning. Then, one day he starts hearing a voice. Not the type of voice that tells him to go on a murdering rampage or anything like that, but rather, a narration of his life. And unnervingly, the voice indicates that Harold Crick was heading towards an imminent death, which then leads Crick on a mission to try to stop his death.

I can’t say enough good things about this movie. It is funny, but not at all goofy, more like a quirky, understated, almost dark but not quite humor. Farrell’s character reminded me of Jim Carey’s role in Eternal Sunshine for a Spotless Mind though, towards the end Farrell let his normal goofiness show through the otherwise stuffy (yet likable) character. There were several really touching moments in this movie, especially near the end. The characters were genuine and the only actress that I thought was out of place was Queen Latifah, but she was okay…though if kind of felt as though she was only in the movie to fill in a certain quota (if you catch my drift). I loved the plot, it was really interesting and unique and though inside that plot the subplots were sort of overdone, they fit well in the main plot and really made sense. Oh, and I loved the soundtrack.