What If? by Randall Munroe

What If?: Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions by Randall Munroe
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The subtitle really sums it up well. Randall Munroe takes ridiculous questions that are submitted to him and does his best to provide scientifically sound, yet thoroughly entertaining, answers. Some examples include whether you could make a jetpack with downward firing machine guns and what would the moon look like if everyone in the world shined a laser pointer at it at the same time. I was familiar with a lot of the questions from his blog, but it had been a while since I read the answers, and it was nice to read some new ones as well.

Definitely the kind of book that I couldn't put down until it was done, and usually the answers weren't too long so I could sneak in a few of them whenever I had a bit of free time. I certainly highly recommend!

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Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck

Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I'm sure that this is one of those books where the characters are some metaphor for some global commentary, but outside of that it was just a simple, kinda sad story about (**SPOILER**) a big oaf who isn't understood by those around him so his best friend has to kill him to protect everyone. It was an easy, but definitely not uplifting read. Only real positive was that it was a easy one to knock off the reading list!

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The Stuff of Thought by Steven Pinker

The Stuff of Thought: Language as a Window into Human Nature by Steven Pinker
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

What a shift from some of the more casual books I've read in the recent past! This was an extremely interesting exploration into the history and origins of the language we use, like why certain words work in forms that similar words don't (one can fill a glass with water, but not pour a glass with water), cross-cultural similarities, and even a chapter about profanity. The only real downside was that it was a very academic read. That is not an inherently a bad thing, but lately I may have preferred something that felt more like a respite than an intellectual exercise. I think many of my more linguistic friends would really enjoy this, but it would be accessible to most anyone. Just be prepared to put your thinking caps on! It is almost like a well-written textbook. Nearly as information-dense, but not nearly the dry read that most of them are.

I started it a while back and made it about halfway through before getting distracted with life. Glad to be able to pick it back up and finally make it all the way through! Looking forward to following this one with something a little more mindless, haha.

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A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Short review on this one. I actually finished it back in January, but apparently I forgot to write a review! Given that it is a pretty well known story, there were not a lot of surprises. It WAS interesting to read the original subject matter for which I have seen any number of performance adaptations. Doesn't hurt that it was a short and easy read! :-)

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