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The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, by Rebecca Skloot
While browsing on various reading forums to get new ideas for future reads, I often came across mentions of this book. Finding the title intriguing by itself, I looked it up online and learned that it was about some extremely resilient cancer cells – called HeLa, for Henrietta Lacks – able to reproduce at a…
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All Hell Let Loose : The World at War 1939-1945, by Max Hastings
There’s an expression in French where we describe a relatively small but thick and dense book as a “pavé”, a word that could be translated to “paving stone” or “slab”. That was exactly the word my wife used when she saw me reading this. It’s quite a massive book, but it’s absolutely worth it if…
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Project Hail Mary, by Andy Weir
I started reading this book at 10 one evening and, an instant later, it was 11 and I had to be a reasonable adult and turn off the lights. As I fell asleep, I kept thinking about what I had just read and decided then that I had to write about it. This might be…
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L’Univers à Portée de Main, par Christophe Galfard
Je suis tombé sur ce livre un peu par hasard dans une petite boutique de livres usagés. Je ne connaissais pas l’auteur, mais ma curiosité et mon amour pour la vulgarisation scientifique m’ont conduit à le “googler” rapidement dans la rangée. Christophe Galfard est un physicien théorique français qui a étudié sous Stephen Hawking à…
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The Silmarillion, by JRR Tolkien
Like most, you probably associate Tolkien’s name with The Lord of Rings Trilogy or The Hobbit, easily the most influential works in the fantasy genre and arguably in all of 20th century fiction. However, Tolkien’s work on this universe began much, much earlier. In fact, he started writing about Arda, the name given to our…
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L’Affaire Alaska Sanders, par Joël Dicker
Il s’agit du troisième ouvrage de Joël Dicker mettant en vedette l’écrivain Marcus Goldman, après La Vérité sur l’Affaire Harry Québert et Le Livre des Baltimore. J’ai eu l’opportunité de lire ceux-ci dans les dernières années, mais pas les autres livres de l’auteur. Ceux qui ont apprécié Harry Québert ne seront pas déçus. L’Affaire Alaska…
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Being Mortal, by Atul Gawande
One of the most vivid childhood memories I have revolves around death. Not the death of a loved one or a pet or anything dramatic. One day, at 8 years of age, I simply became aware of the concept of death. I won’t go into the details, but I can tell you it was extremely…
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The Story of English, by Robert McCrum, Robert MacNeil & William Cran
All languages are fascinating. That much is quite obvious for anyone who has ever stopped and thought about it for a second. With a relatively small quantity of sounds – 44 in English, 36 in French – or small curvy lines on a piece of paper (or screen, in this case), we can communicate anything.…
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Origins : How Earth’s History Shaped Human History, by Lewis Dartnell
It’s easy to look at the title of that book and think “Well that seems like a rather obvious statement of fact” and go on your way. In some respect, it is. No sane person will disagree that our planet and its physical characteristics have influenced humans in many ways. A quick look at a…
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Think Again : The Power of Knowing What We Don’t Know, by Adam Grant
“Knowing what you don’t know.” Those few words were all I needed to want to read this book. As someone who absolutely LOVES to learn about anything and everything, I’ve always been fascinated by the process of learning, how knowledge can evolve, the value of questioning and doubting. In other words, I am the perfect…
I Read Many Things
A bilingual blog about reading. Un blog bilingue sur la lecture.
I Read Many Things 