Tag: Book Review

How All Systems Red by Martha Wells dispelled my fear of sentient machines

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Many Science fiction books and movies feature sentient robots or Artificial Intelligence that has evolved to gain consciousness. These stories often end up in a man versus machine theme. The robots may crave power and think they are superior to the fragile humans and decide to kill them off. Or they may enslave humans in a matrix to use us as a source of their power supply. They may even decide to end some humans for the sake of preserving humanity as a whole.

There is differing opinion on how close we are to Artificial Sentience or Machine Consciousness. Continue reading →

Book Review: The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

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This story is set in, as you may have guessed, a circus. It is called Le Cirque des Rêves. As the title suggests, it opens only at night and arrives without warning. Within its black-and-white striped tents is a magical and utterly unique experience. The descriptions of the setting was the main focus of this book. I thoroughly enjoyed the writing style.

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Book Review: On Immunity – Eula Biss

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This book is a collection of essays from the author’s perspective as a doctor’s daughter and a mother. It informs the reader about immunity, viruses, history of some diseases, clinical trials and vaccination. It also explains the concept of herd immunity and the process involved in finding a vaccine for a disease. All these are very relevant to the current crisis of coronavirus. Continue reading →

Thoughts on “The Little Prince” by Antoine de Saint-Exupery

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The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery is a French children’s book. This classic is suitable for readers of all ages. I’d particularly urge adults to read it. The story is narrated by a pilot who crashes his plane in the Sahara desert and encounters the titular little prince. The little prince tells the narrator thought-provoking stories about his planet and his travels.
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Very Good Lives: A Review

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Summary:

In 2008, J.K. Rowling delivered a deeply affecting commencement speech at Harvard University. Now published for the first time in book form, Very Good Lives offers J.K. Rowling’s words of wisdom for anyone at a turning point in life, asking the profound and provocative questions: How can we embrace failure? And how can we use our imagination to better both ourselves and others? Continue reading →

Book Review: Most and More by Mahatria Ra

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Reading this book brought a smile to my face because many thoughts here are similar to what my father believes. In fact, many people I know from my parent’s generation would tell you similar things. However, they may be blunt about it (and maybe come off as a bit preachy). Mahatria Ra weaves his idealogy into stories and makes it interesting. The language is also written in a simple manner, so it gave me a comforting feeling like listening to a moral embedded story from an elder relative. Continue reading →