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SCIENCE FICTION

MYSTERIES & THRILLERS

A gritty crime novel set on an Indian reservation

A gritty crime novel set on an Indian reservation

What most Americans know about life on the more than 300 Indian reservations comes from the novels of the late Tony Hillerman and his daughter Anne. Dark Winds, the television series based on their novels, contributes, too. But the Navajo Nation in which their stories are set...

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NONFICTION

How depression in the 1870s set the stage for the 20th century

How depression in the 1870s set the stage for the 20th century

Former World Bank economist Liaquat Ahamed earned the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for History for Lords of Finance: The Bankers Who Broke the World. His book explored the causes of the Great Depression and made a compelling argument that central bankers' stubborn adherence to the gold...

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Popular Fiction

Leon Trotsky, Diego Rivera, and the Red Scare

Leon Trotsky, Diego Rivera, and the Red Scare

When years ago I read The Poisonwood Bible, I was flummoxed by its power and beauty. It was clear to me that Barbara Kingsolver possessed a fierce talent not just as a storyteller but also as a wordsmith and a reporter. Her vivid prose brought into high relief the tragic...

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Explore My “BEST OF the category” selections

WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE BOOK?

When people ask me that question, I never know what to say. In a lifetime of reading, I’ve read many thousands of books. And I’ve reviewed well over 2,000 of them on this site. Picking just one as a “favorite,” or even a handful of them, makes no sense to me.

The problem is, I read for many different reasons. Perhaps you do, too. And I read many different sorts of books. Mysteries and thrillers. Popular fiction, especially historical fiction. Science fiction.

And nonfiction, history in particular. You’ll find hundreds of reviews in every one of those categories on this site.

Look to the right for a rotating random selection culled from throughout this site.

Happy reading!

 

Cover image of "The Dean of Shandong," a book about the Chinese political system

An insider’s view of the Chinese political system

Ask just about any American at random to describe the Chinese political system, and the answer is likely to be "Communism." It's a convenient label that results from Mao Zedong's 1949 revolution and seven decades of reporting by and about the Chinese Communist Party. Not to mention decades of...
able spy story: The Silent Man by Alex Berenson

An able spy story about terrorism, nuclear weapons, and Russia

A review of The Silent Man, by Alex Berenson. @@@ (3 out of 5). The third in Alex Berenson’s series about soldier-spy John Wells and his continuing efforts to keep the world safe for humanity, this time from terrorists with a nuclear weapon.

Cover image of "Secret Asset" by Stella Rimington, a novel about British counter-espionage

An engrossing novel about British counter-espionage

Sohail Din, a young Pakistani-British man, has postponed entry into law school for a year to serve as an undercover source for MI5. His agent runner, Liz Carlyle, returns from leave to find that Din has reported a visit by a notorious radical Pakistani imam to the Islamist bookstore where he...
Cover image of "Crook Manifesto," the second book of Colson Whitehead's Harlem trilogy

Colson Whitehead’s Harlem trilogy continues

Estimated reading time: 5 minutes Ray Carney owns and operates a successful furniture store in Harlem. But the luxurious house where he lives with his wife and children in Strivers' Row didn't come from the store's earnings. Because, for years, Ray was a fence for diamonds and other high-end...
Cover image of "Phantom," a Harry Hole novel

Another brilliant Harry Hole tale from Jo Nesbo

Here's what's in store for you if you read Phantom or any other of Jo Nesbo's engrossing Harry Hole novels: maddening suspense; several confusing plots and subplots that collide and intersect with abandon and only make sense as the end approaches; an alcoholic, self-hating detective (Harry) who is...
Cover image of "How to Rule the World," one of the top 6 books about Silicon Valley

The 7 best books about Silicon Valley

It’s difficult not to be alive and aware anywhere in the world today without recognizing the impact of Silicon Valley on the way we live our lives. Half a century ago the Santa Clara Valley that is the heart of what we know today as Silicon Valley was purely agricultural. Orchards of apricots,...
Cover image of "Crooked Seeds,"

In post-apartheid South Africa, a criminal investigation reawakens disturbing memories

How is it that an otherwise supremely talented author would choose to write a book about a character nobody could ever love? I understand cranky people. And the chronically pessimistic. I have my moments, probably more than my share. But Deidre van Deventer, the protagonist of Karen Jennings'...
Powers and Thrones

Change in the Middle Ages came thick and fast

Today the term "medieval" implies ignorance, backwardness, and barbarism. It's the fruit of the long-held belief that the millennium between the implosion of Rome and the fall of Constantinople in 1453 were the "Dark Ages," when monks were hunched over manuscripts in candlelight and little of...
Cover image of "Why the West Rules for Now," a book about what history teaches us.

What history teaches us about climate change

Thoughts while reading Why the West Rules – for Now: The Patterns of History, and What They Reveal About the Future, by Ian Morris. Ian Morris’ extraordinary book has led me to a surprising conclusion: that climate change has been one of the most profound determinants of the course of human history.

Iraqi view: Nabeel's Song by Jo Tatchell

The Iraqi view of life under Saddam Hussein

The celebrated Iraqi poet Nabeel Yasin and his family were front-row witnesses to the brutality, the indignities, and the humiliations of life under Saddam Hussein for more than three decades. In this lovingly written family biography, Jo Tatchell, a British freelance journalist and friend of...

My Most Popular Reviews

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Mal Warwick - Book Reviews

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Mal Warwick

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…includes summaries and links to all the previous week’s three to five book reviews, including some that don’t appear in any of the other newsletters.

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