This book was mentioned numerous times in Stephen King's memoir, On Writing. I think I'd heard of it before, but throughout school I had always been required to use other sources. And when I was browsing the Writing section of a Maui Friends of the Library location and happened across…
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Is Anyone Listening? What Animals Are Saying to Each Other and to Us
I debated about whether or not to write a review since I didn't finish this book (I did read half the book). But I thought it be prudent for the casual reader to know my impressions of it before they pick it up. In short, it was quite interesting, but…
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Midnight in Chernobyl: The Untold Story of the World’s Greatest Nuclear Disaster
There's no denying that 1986 was a year of tragedy, with two major disasters: the explosions of Space Shuttle Challenger in January and of the Chernobyl nuclear reactor in April. Both were horrific in their own right and arguably could have been avoided. And while Challenger claimed seven lives in…
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On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft
As someone who fancies himself a bit of a writer, I decided to read this book to close out the year that I became a Stephen King fan (2024).
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Reentry: SpaceX, Elon Musk, and the Reusable Rockets that Launched a Second Space Age
This book effectively picks up where Liftoff left off. Plus, it covers Elon Musk's, how to put this, mental decline over the last several years. But ultimately what this book does is tells the story of the hard work that a lot of people put in to make a private…
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Liftoff: Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days That Launched SpaceX
Say what you will about Elon Musk... go ahead, I'll wait... you get it out of your system? Okay, so putting all that aside, if you ever thought your job was hard, imagine working for a huge nerd with a lofty vision and seemingly endless amounts of money who just…
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Life as No One Knows It: The Physics of Life’s Emergence
"You know, I can understand nine words in that book now." - Billy Madison
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Chasing New Horizons: Inside the Epic First Mission to Pluto
I'm sure for a lot people, they don't have that "I remember where I was when we saw the first images of Pluto." But I do. I was at work, watching a live NASA feed as they released the first high resolution images of that most distant planet, er, dwarf…
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The Asteroid Hunter: A Scientist’s Journey to the Dawn of our Solar System
Another pick for the Planetary Society book club. And what an amazing pick this was! Who knew that a journey to a lifeless rock somewhere between Mars and Jupiter would be interesting?! This author understood the assignment!
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Chariots of the Gods
I should preface this by mentioning that I realize this is a bit of a controversial book. And the show that it inspired, Ancient Aliens, may be even more controversial in its claims. But who doesn't like a good ol' conspiracy theory or "out there" claims? I, for one, love…