My Book Notes

The Elements of Rhetoric

When I started this, I thought I wanted a short overview. On completion, I think I needed more. This is a largely fine, but ultimately cursory, review of rhetoric. In retrospect, I think I wanted something a little deeper. One minor annoyance still un… MORE

Completed — Oct 05, 2026

The Tombs of Atuan

No notes yet.

Completed — Sep 05, 2026

A Wizard of Earthsea

No notes yet.

Completed — Aug 22, 2026

The Light Brigade

No notes yet.

Completed — Aug 08, 2026

Slow Gods

No notes yet.

Completed — Jul 25, 2026

The Kingdom of Gods

This one took me a minute to get through. The entire trilogy was a little weird for me, each book taking a while to expose the actual plot. This one felt the weakest, but it did manage a good ending not only to the book, but also to the trilogy.

Completed — Jul 11, 2026

Knowledge: A Very Short Introduction

A nice refresher on epistemology. Drags a bit towards the end and doesn't do a great job of providing easy mental models for separating some concepts, but it's only 100ish pages long. Does what it says on the cover.

Completed — Jun 04, 2026

The Faith of Beasts

I think this one might have been a step down from both the first book in the series and the typical propulsive pacing that the Corey duo typically impresses on me. And honestly, I think it's my fault. Unlike the Expanse - where I only read the main… MORE

Rating: 6.3/10

Completed — May 16, 2026

The Broken Kingdoms

Similar to the first book in the series, this one also took a while to click for me. Despite being set in the arguably the same space as the first entry, the world is rather changed. The plot is twisty and takes a while to unfold - it's a non-obvious stru… MORE

Rating: 6.0/10

Completed — May 10, 2026

The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms

Interesting start. Took a while to click for me, but quite liked it. Started the second book immediately.

Completed — Apr 19, 2026

The Breath of the Gods

An oddly arranged structure. Due to having 5 large chapters composed of a score of so of smaller parts, this feels like a series tied together by a theme. But I did learn a lot, such as why it's always windy at the beach. I listened to the audiobok as… MORE

Rating: 6.5/10

Completed — Mar 20, 2026

There Is No Antimemetics Division

This is a fantastic premise told poorly. I recently watched The Creator and this is the mirror opposite. The core thread and the attached plot are solid, but the prose makes some very amateur choices - stumbling to live up to the strength of the premi… MORE

Rating: 5.0/10

Completed — Mar 15, 2026

Wastelands: The True Story of Farm Country on Trial

This one was well outside of what I normally read, but I was utterly intrigued by it. In a time when the bad guys seem to always win, when bullies are rewarded instead of shamed, it's nice to read a book that starts by telling you that it will have a … MORE

Rating: 7.0/10

Completed — Feb 20, 2026

Joke Farming

Explaining a joke is a great way to ruin an already imperfect joke. But I enjoyed this read on the process of creating jokes. The need to continually examine craft, and to refine based on those observations, is something that I've had to learn over my… MORE

Rating: 5.0/10

Completed — Feb 17, 2026

Wolf in White Van

I grabbed this as a fan of Darnielle's music, and I was a bit hesitant due to buying musicians novels in the past. Still, I went in largely blind and was pleasantly surprised. Darnielle seemed to have addressed a time and a culture he was familiar wit… MORE

Rating: 6.5/10

Completed — Jan 23, 2026