Blight

A Short History of Nearly Everything

It has been a while since my last set of mini book reviews, but I have finished reading two more non-fiction books and I'm ready to give my take on them.

First up is Bill Bryson's "A Short History of Nearly Everything". I finished this one on my way back from Las Vegas, and I was surprised how easily I covered vast tracts it at a time. Bill's writing style is very conversational and when something technical comes up he uses a variety of approachable methods to reach a wide range of readers. For instance, although not necessarily useful for my fellow esteemed high school graduates, he explains scientific notation in a rather lengthy footnote. I think that part of the reason it works so well is that he is admittedly not the most scientifically or mathematically minded and so he speaks in "common".

Another way that he helps keep the book flowing as he covers everything from plate tectonics to gravity to inner and outer nuclear forces is that he weaves a narrative with the major scientific players of the ages and freely adds dashes of flavour text about their personal lives, eccentricities, and relationships with other players - whether they be friends or enemies.

The second book (that I finished a month or two ago) is Joel Bakan's "The Corporation". This book has been used as the basis of a movie (which I haven't seen), but it is an amazing and frightening (although very short) read. It shows just how dangerously powerful we are allowing the "virtual-person" entity, aka a corporation, to become.

Entry after entry, the evidence of the corrupt and maniacal practices of corporations is listed in detail. Thankfully I didn't see my employer listed, but in essence corporations can't help it. They are required by law to do anything (whether illegal or not) that can increase their profits for their shareholders. Something to think about, and I'm glad that Canada has already undertaken efforts to reduce the lobbying power of corporations in Canada.

I would recommend both of these books, but the first one was by far the more compelling of the two.

Labels: book

posted by Blight @ 5:46 PM