Michael Gouker reviewed This Is Your Mind on Plants by Michael Pollan
Review of 'This Is Your Mind on Plants' on 'Goodreads'
5 stars
This is just brilliant. The Drug War is so stupid.
Reviews and Comments
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Michael Gouker reviewed The Final Girl Support Group by Grady Hendrix
A fast-paced, thrilling horror novel that follows a group of heroines to die for, from …
Review of 'The Final Girl Support Group' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
I really enjoyed this one.
Michael Gouker rated The Great Derangement: 4 stars
The Great Derangement by Amitav Ghosh
"Are we deranged? The acclaimed Indian novelist Amitav Ghosh argues that future generations may well think so. How else to …
Michael Gouker reviewed NeuroTribes by Steve Silberman
What is autism? A lifelong disability, or a naturally occurring form of cognitive difference akin …
Review of 'NeuroTribes: The Legacy of Autism and the Future of Neurodiversity' on 'Goodreads'
5 stars
Incredibly well researched survey of Autistic Spectrum Disorder.
Michael Gouker reviewed Creativity by John Cleese
Review of 'Creativity' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
Good advice. I like the advice about how to best get feedback from readers.
Michael Gouker reviewed The Pool of Fire by John Christopher
Review of 'The pool of fire' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
I like how the story ends, which is a chilling indictment about our inability to learn. The criticisms about the paucity of women in the story are right on target.
Michael Gouker reviewed Cooked by Michael Pollan
"Fire, water, air, earth--our most trusted food expert recounts the story of his culinary education …
Review of 'Cooked' on 'Goodreads'
5 stars
Absolutely brilliant. I love the journey.
Michael Gouker reviewed The city of gold and lead by John Christopher (The Tripods -- 2)
The City of Gold and Lead ~ John Christopher/Samuel Youd
From the back of Collier …
Review of 'The city of gold and lead' on 'Goodreads'
3 stars
I read this when I was 10 (about 50 years ago) and it haunted me for a long time. Now I realize this was my first taste of sci fi dystopia, though at first glance it seems a serfdom euphoria. On a repeat read today I found the MC grows in the story, and it has both positive and negative things about humans. What was most interesting is the blindness of the imperialist aliens who seem to have many of the same problems as the humans they replaced.
Michael Gouker rated The white mountains: 4 stars
The white mountains by John Christopher (The Tripods -- 1)
Young Will Parker and his companions make a perilous journey toward an outpost of freedom where they hope to escape …
Michael Gouker reviewed When the Tripods Came by John Christopher (The Tripods (0.5))
Fourteen-year-old Laurie and his family attempt to flee England when the Tripods descend from outer …
Review of 'When the Tripods Came' on 'Goodreads'
3 stars
Origin story of the Tripods. Interesting but only if you like the original Tripod series.
Michael Gouker reviewed Midnight Tides by Steven Erikson
Midnight Tides is the fifth volume of Canadian author Steven Erikson's epic fantasy series, the …
Review of 'Midnight Tides' on 'Goodreads'
5 stars
Erikson is brilliant in the 5th volume of the series. Clever backstory which does an excellent job of centering the main tale. I love the philosophy, especially the brilliant juxtaposition of debt and slavery.
Michael Gouker reviewed The circadian code by Satchin Panda
A comprehensive health book and lifestyle plan to help manage the body's natural rhythms offers …
Review of 'The circadian code' on 'Goodreads'
3 stars
I would have preferred to see a deeper analysis into the data. Too much repetition too. I am not arguing against the theory or the results though. When I changed my habits to eat in an 8-hour period, I lost 10 kg (80 to 70), exercise better, and function better at work and play. That was a long book, though, so this morning I'm sleepy.
In our unique genomes, every one of us carries the story of our species--births, deaths, …
Review of 'A Brief History of Everyone Who Ever Lived' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
Impressive in its scale, varies between serious science and humorous storytelling. I filled in a lot of gaps in my knowledge and learned I need to know even more. The chapter on genes and race is a brilliantly made compelling argument with a hidden deeper comparison I only grasped later (I love when that happens): Rutherford first shows how widely diverse his roots are, how tangled and twisted everyone is in general, makes the case for how genes cluster among groups and how they mostly do not (with language syntax transformations etc), and then later on I realized he was also showing how two people of almost the same roots (Galton & Darwin) are so different.