Finished these:
The verge : Reformation, Renaissance, and forty years that shook the world (2021) By Wyman, Patrick. Definitely on the re-read list! ( Told thru the stories of 9 people
Columbus
Isabel of Spain
Fugger!
Aldo Manutius
Charles V
four others!
So Very Small, by Tom Levenson, about germs, and how their role in disease (they cause it) was discovered.
Built from Broken, by Scott Hogan. Physical therapy exercises and how to practice them. I plan to write about this in practiceletter.com
Rin Tin Tin, the life and legend by Susan Orlean. Rin Tin Tin, a silent movie start of the 1920s, was born an orphan on a WW 1 battlefield in France.
On the shelf:
The Information by James Gleick. History of information. I picked this back off the shelf to check out the history of the telegraph, which is poorly covered in another book I’m reading “What Hath God Wrought”.
No Straight Road Takes You There, by Rebecca Solnit. Essays
A new History of Stalin’s War, by Sean McMeekin
Hate the Game, by Daryl Fairweather (MIT PhD in economics), an engaging story of “Economic Cheat Codes for Life, Love & Work”
American Heresy, about the Christian background of the US
Crossings, by Ben Goldfarb. A book literally about highway crossings that I got because I thought it was about the highways themselves. Oops!
The Heat and the Fury, by Peter Schartzstein, about climate violence
The Undoing of Alejandro Velasco, by Diego Boneta. A murder mystery (I think), set near San Miguel de Allende
A Numerate Life, Irreligion, and Beyond Literacy, by John Allen Paulos. Three books on math by a math writer, inspired by a toddler who, visiting for a party, pulled another book by Paulos (Innumaracy) off the shelf, and it looked pretty good
Meanwhile:
I posted ‘best of 2024’ reads from last year.
— all photos Copyright © 2022-2026 George D Girton all rights reserved