I’m trying something new! Instead of writing full-blown reviews here and there, I’m going to write a short paragraph about every book I read. A very quick review, if you will.

Non-Fiction

It’s On Me, by Sara Kuburic

The subtitle of the book – Accept Hard Truths, Discover Your Self and Change Your Life – is as all-encompassing as it gets. It’s not especially revolutionary if you’ve read other books about similar topics (wellness, self-help), but it’s definitely one of the best ones I’ve read. It’s very accessible, her style of writing is fluid and enjoyable. Solid recommend.

Brainstorm, by Daniel J. Siegel

This is the third of Daniel J. Siegel’s books (Whole-Brain Child & No-Drama Discipline are the two others) I’ve had the opportunity to read. In short, I am a bit disappointed. There are certainly some interesting ideas that could come in handy for some parents and teenagers. To me, it felt a bit flat. I have to say that I had pretty high expectations going in – I loved his other works – so this might have played a role.

Mind of the Raven, by Bernd Heinrich

Written by a biologist, this book explores one of the most fascinating species of bird in the world. Having done the majority of the experiments and subsequent observations himself across decades, he has thousands of hours of material to work with. What I really enjoyed is how honest and open he is about his work. You would expect someone who’s spent so long with ravens to be so enamored with them that he would lose a bit of objectivity. He’s entirely aware of his own biases and keeps facts at the center of his work.

La Nouvelle Physique, par Yann Mambrini

Consommateur d’ouvrages de vulgarisation scientifique que je suis, je dois dire que j’ai tout de suite été attiré par le titre : “Nouvelle Physique”. Une approche simple, certes, mais payante dans ce cas-ci. L’auteur, physicien et directeur de recherche au CNRS, dresse un portrait de la physique moderne, des dernières avancées et des questions qui restent, pour l’instant, sans réponse. Nous avons droit ici à la physique dans son ensemble, de la physique des particules jusqu’à l’expansion cosmique et aux trous noirs. Bien que j’étais déjà familier avec un bon pourcentage des sujets abordés, l’auteur a quand même su clarifier certaines notions qui étaient encore floues dans mon esprit. Yann Mambrini a une très belle plume et rend accessible des idées qui, mal présentées, m’ont déjà semblé plus magiques que scientifiques. Évidemment, certains concepts demeurent très complexes et je n’ai pas la prétention de bien saisir la mécanique quantique et la physiques des particules subatomiques. Il est excellent et je le recommande fortement.

Antarctica, by Gabrielle Walker

In short, it’s a deep-dive into this surprisingly enormous continent (it’s about 1.5 times larger than Canada). The author, a very talented science communicator, has visited Antarctica a handful of times and shares with the reader what truly happens on this frozen land mass. While there are rarely more than a couple thousand humans “living” there, a lot is happening in many different fields of science, most notably biology, astronomy, geology and climate-science. Furthermore, since Antarctica is shared by many countries across the world, its subcultures are quite fascinating and the people the author has met down are, let’s say, unusual in the best sense.

Fiction

Career of Evil, by Robert Galbraith

The third book in the Cormoran Strike series. I’m reading them in order and so far I think that’s the best one. It’s also the longest one so far – a little over 600 pages if I’m not mistaken – and it does take a bit of time to get into the story. In the end, it was worth it. The main characters are explored more deeply and the investigation takes some wild turns. It was a bit more gruesome that I expected, but still a pretty good read.