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treyhunner's reviews
523 reviews
How Music Works by David Byrne
3.0
I enjoyed the discussion of Byrne's different experiences with music making in the various projects he has been involved in. Making music lyrics-first, melody-first, from samples, and from self-made samples. The first-hand CBGB history was interesting also. Byrne's thoughts on natural music, pop, and other musical fads and concepts were interesting, but somewhat verbose.
The book dragged on occasionally, but this was probably due to the fact that I listened to it straight through as an audiobook. It may have been more enjoyable if I had thumbed through chapters.
The book dragged on occasionally, but this was probably due to the fact that I listened to it straight through as an audiobook. It may have been more enjoyable if I had thumbed through chapters.
Naked Statistics: Stripping the Dread from the Data by Charles Wheelan
4.0
This book largely focuses on (often humorously) explaining statistics intuitively and demonstrating the huge variety of ways that Statistics is used and misused. Baseball stats are mentioned multiple times throughout the book to help make analogies. I don't know anything about baseball, but I didn't find these segues too distracting.
This book explains the Gambler's fallacy, the Monty Hall problem, how information can (and can't) be extracted from population samples, how DNA evidence is used/abused, and a variety of other Stats-based topics. I feel well-acquainted with the term "null hypothesis" now.
I wish I had read this before taking Stats in school.
This book explains the Gambler's fallacy, the Monty Hall problem, how information can (and can't) be extracted from population samples, how DNA evidence is used/abused, and a variety of other Stats-based topics. I feel well-acquainted with the term "null hypothesis" now.
I wish I had read this before taking Stats in school.
The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins
4.0
Some ideas from the book:
Things prefer persistence, replication can help persistence, evolution (from copying errors or otherwise) is an inevitable consequence of replication. Our bodies are vehicles for our genes to use to create more copies of themselves. A gene may favor helping a sibling or another relative at times because siblings, parents, and offspring are all just as likely to contain the same gene within them. All replicants share certain properties and memes are an interesting example of these gene-like properties.
Things prefer persistence, replication can help persistence, evolution (from copying errors or otherwise) is an inevitable consequence of replication. Our bodies are vehicles for our genes to use to create more copies of themselves. A gene may favor helping a sibling or another relative at times because siblings, parents, and offspring are all just as likely to contain the same gene within them. All replicants share certain properties and memes are an interesting example of these gene-like properties.
Our Constitution: The Way It Was by Madalyn Murray O'Hair
2.0
I cannot vouch for the correctness of the book's content. I had heard some of the details about Thomas Paine and Thomas Jefferson before, but I did not know much about the supposedly religiously-intollerant colonial laws, the George Washington information, nor many of the other details.