Scan barcode
_astridedwards_'s reviews
63 reviews
Hatching Twitter: A True Story of Money, Power, Friendship, and Betrayal by Nick Bilton
3.0
The inside story of the birth and rise of Twitter is as messy and chaotic as Twitter itself.
If you want to know how not to run a start up, read [b:Hatching Twitter: A True Story of Money, Power, Friendship, and Betrayal|18656827|Hatching Twitter A True Story of Money, Power, Friendship, and Betrayal|Nick Bilton|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1381332539s/18656827.jpg|25670400]. These guys made all the normal mistakes, and invented a few of their own.
If you want to know how not to run a start up, read [b:Hatching Twitter: A True Story of Money, Power, Friendship, and Betrayal|18656827|Hatching Twitter A True Story of Money, Power, Friendship, and Betrayal|Nick Bilton|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1381332539s/18656827.jpg|25670400]. These guys made all the normal mistakes, and invented a few of their own.
Don't Wait for the Next War: A Strategy for American Growth and Global Leadership by Wesley K. Clark
4.0
Despite being written by [a:Wesley K. Clark|98222|Wesley K. Clark|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1283486986p2/98222.jpg], a four star general and veteran of both the Vietnam and Kosovo wars, [b:Don't Wait For The Next War: Rethinking America's Global Mission|21413854|Don't Wait For The Next War Rethinking America's Global Mission|Wesley K. Clark|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1397267407s/21413854.jpg|40714618] is not about war or military strategy. It is about how America can avoid another war.
Clark identifies five key challenges of terrorism, cybersecurity, the US financial system, China and climate change. He argues that the United States must address these in order to develop (and as a pivotal part of) a new national strategy. Indeed, Clark talks of a Grand Strategy akin to when the United States embraced total war after Pearl Harbour and anti-Communism throughout the Cold War.
This is not a partisan book. Clark advocates for consensus as a part of the Grand Strategy even as he notes that 'the two major American political parties have been forced further apart than at any other time since World War II, and perhaps since the American Civil War (page 127).
While not all of [a:Wesley K. Clark|98222|Wesley K. Clark|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1283486986p2/98222.jpg]'s economic and socio-political observations stack up, this is a worthy read for those looking for a broad and bold new approach to thinking about America's place in the world.
Clark identifies five key challenges of terrorism, cybersecurity, the US financial system, China and climate change. He argues that the United States must address these in order to develop (and as a pivotal part of) a new national strategy. Indeed, Clark talks of a Grand Strategy akin to when the United States embraced total war after Pearl Harbour and anti-Communism throughout the Cold War.
This is not a partisan book. Clark advocates for consensus as a part of the Grand Strategy even as he notes that 'the two major American political parties have been forced further apart than at any other time since World War II, and perhaps since the American Civil War (page 127).
While not all of [a:Wesley K. Clark|98222|Wesley K. Clark|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1283486986p2/98222.jpg]'s economic and socio-political observations stack up, this is a worthy read for those looking for a broad and bold new approach to thinking about America's place in the world.
Prince Lestat by Anne Rice
4.0
I first read [b:Interview with the Vampire|43763|Interview with the Vampire (The Vampire Chronicles, #1)|Anne Rice|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1380631642s/43763.jpg|873132] as a teenager two decades ago. I fell in love with Lestat then (didn't we all?), but I distinctly fell out of love with The Vampire Chronicles as a whole in the years after [b:Memnoch the Devil|31338|Memnoch the Devil (The Vampire Chronicles, #5)|Anne Rice|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1301778006s/31338.jpg|2925946].
Lestat was a minor character - or depressed, lying prone on the floor of a Church - for many of those novels. It was entries into the Chronicles by Lestat himself that were always the most engaging, and here, in [b:Prince Lestat|21412673|Prince Lestat (The Vampire Chronicles #11)|Anne Rice|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1394635385s/21412673.jpg|40713679], Lestat is back and in fine form.
The novel is not perfect, but anyone who saw potential in the original Brat Prince will enjoy this work. And of course, this opens the way for new entries into the Chronicles, perhaps from the vampires (both ancient and young) who people this book, but as we would all prefer from the newly anointed Prince Lestat himself.
Lestat was a minor character - or depressed, lying prone on the floor of a Church - for many of those novels. It was entries into the Chronicles by Lestat himself that were always the most engaging, and here, in [b:Prince Lestat|21412673|Prince Lestat (The Vampire Chronicles #11)|Anne Rice|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1394635385s/21412673.jpg|40713679], Lestat is back and in fine form.
The novel is not perfect, but anyone who saw potential in the original Brat Prince will enjoy this work. And of course, this opens the way for new entries into the Chronicles, perhaps from the vampires (both ancient and young) who people this book, but as we would all prefer from the newly anointed Prince Lestat himself.
Girl, Interrupted by Susanna Kaysen
5.0
A timeless memoir of mental illness, social stigma and the the darkest thoughts of the human psyche.
Susanna Kaysen was admitted - against her will - to McLean Hospital in 1967. She remained there for two years, in a ward with other young women, all of whom were struggling with their own demons.
While social mores have changed in the four decades since, mental illness remains a misunderstood and taboo subject - and Girl, Interrupted remains as relevant as ever.
Susanna Kaysen was admitted - against her will - to McLean Hospital in 1967. She remained there for two years, in a ward with other young women, all of whom were struggling with their own demons.
While social mores have changed in the four decades since, mental illness remains a misunderstood and taboo subject - and Girl, Interrupted remains as relevant as ever.
Bad Jelly the Witch: A Fairy Story by Spike Milligan
5.0
Bad Jelly the Witch is brilliant.
The tale inspires children to think by refusing to follow the standard fairy tale format.
The version published in [a:Spike Milligan|114722|Spike Milligan|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1208957754p2/114722.jpg]'s own handwriting - including drawings of Bad Jelly and the rest - is highly recommended (and a damn dight more imaginative than the current 'child-friendly' purple one).
They simply don't publish fairytales like they used to.
The tale inspires children to think by refusing to follow the standard fairy tale format.
The version published in [a:Spike Milligan|114722|Spike Milligan|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1208957754p2/114722.jpg]'s own handwriting - including drawings of Bad Jelly and the rest - is highly recommended (and a damn dight more imaginative than the current 'child-friendly' purple one).
They simply don't publish fairytales like they used to.
My Sister Sif by Ruth Park
5.0
One of the most influential books of my childhood, and the first to spur my love for the environment. First published in 1986, [b:My Sister Sif|645118|My Sister Sif|Ruth Park|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1346766424s/645118.jpg|89422] was YA and CliFi before anyone even recognised such genres.
[a:Ruth Park|53234|Ruth Park|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1240197496p2/53234.jpg] weaves reality with fantasy: set in our world, the young Erika travels back to her her native island Rongo with her big sister Sif. There, we meet their family - mermen and merwomen fighting to protect their ocean and suffering the consequences of environmental damage all around them.
[b:My Sister Sif|645118|My Sister Sif|Ruth Park|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1346766424s/645118.jpg|89422] is an excellent introduction to issues of the environment for teenagers and young adults (particularly girls). Give it to all of the teenagers you know.
[a:Ruth Park|53234|Ruth Park|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1240197496p2/53234.jpg] weaves reality with fantasy: set in our world, the young Erika travels back to her her native island Rongo with her big sister Sif. There, we meet their family - mermen and merwomen fighting to protect their ocean and suffering the consequences of environmental damage all around them.
[b:My Sister Sif|645118|My Sister Sif|Ruth Park|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1346766424s/645118.jpg|89422] is an excellent introduction to issues of the environment for teenagers and young adults (particularly girls). Give it to all of the teenagers you know.
Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice
5.0
Credited with spurring on the vampire craze of the the last three decades (from [a:Joss Whedon|18015|Joss Whedon|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1302721520p2/18015.jpg]'s Buffy the Vampire Slayer to [a:Charlaine Harris|17061|Charlaine Harris|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1399317093p2/17061.jpg]'s Sookie Stackhouse series (of True Blood fame) and everything in between), [b:Interview with the Vampire|43763|Interview with the Vampire (The Vampire Chronicles, #1)|Anne Rice|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1380631642s/43763.jpg|873132] (published in 1976) remains an exceptional literary achievement.
[a:Anne Rice|7577|Anne Rice|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1383250078p2/7577.jpg] reimagines vampire mythology and forces the reader to question what it means to be human.
Louis de Pointe du Lac, a vampire who wants to be human, tells all to Daniel Molloy, a young human reporter who can't stay away. Louis tells of his maker, the indomitable Lestat de Lioncourt, and the long lost vampire child Claudia. Louis recounts his flight from New Orleans in the New World to Old World Europe in search of other vampires. He finds no answers, and his wanderings over the centuries find him back in New Orleans, confessing to a human.
Interview with the Vampire is the first book in the Vampire Chronicles, the latest of which was published in 2014 ([b:Prince Lestat|21412673|Prince Lestat (The Vampire Chronicles #11)|Anne Rice|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1394635385s/21412673.jpg|40713679]). While some additions to the series are less successful, all centre around the quest for humanity and the meaning in life.
And the movie was pretty good too.
[a:Anne Rice|7577|Anne Rice|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1383250078p2/7577.jpg] reimagines vampire mythology and forces the reader to question what it means to be human.
Louis de Pointe du Lac, a vampire who wants to be human, tells all to Daniel Molloy, a young human reporter who can't stay away. Louis tells of his maker, the indomitable Lestat de Lioncourt, and the long lost vampire child Claudia. Louis recounts his flight from New Orleans in the New World to Old World Europe in search of other vampires. He finds no answers, and his wanderings over the centuries find him back in New Orleans, confessing to a human.
Interview with the Vampire is the first book in the Vampire Chronicles, the latest of which was published in 2014 ([b:Prince Lestat|21412673|Prince Lestat (The Vampire Chronicles #11)|Anne Rice|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1394635385s/21412673.jpg|40713679]). While some additions to the series are less successful, all centre around the quest for humanity and the meaning in life.
And the movie was pretty good too.
Drugs Don't Work Penguin Special: A Global Threat by Jonathan Grant, Dame Sally Davies, Mike Catchpole
5.0
Everyone should read this essay.
No new antibiotics have been developed since 1987 and the ones we have are becoming less effective.
Davies - both a Dame and a Professor - outlines what we can, and should, do about it.
No new antibiotics have been developed since 1987 and the ones we have are becoming less effective.
Davies - both a Dame and a Professor - outlines what we can, and should, do about it.
Ulysses by James Joyce
3.0
The everyday epic of the everyman. Now that Joyce has written this, no one else need to. And I can't help but think, no one ever needed to.
If This Is a Man • The Truce by Primo Levi
5.0
Intimately haunting. A read through which you will remember your humanity.