C Gockel Writes

  • Sponsored Links
  • Blog
  • About
  • Newsletter
  • I Bring the Fire
  • Archangel Project
  • Urban Magick & Folklore
  • Collections

Book Review: Portrait of a Scotsman (A League of Extraordinary Women Book 3) by Evie Dunmore

March 4, 2023 by Carolynn

Available at Amazon US, United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, Australia

Apple, Nook, Kobo, GooglePlay

I like romance! But I’m horribly picky, and I toss aside more romances than I finish. I tend to like romances that are historical or sci-fi, with the history or the sci-fi elements integral to the story. Portrait of a Scotsman fits! It takes place in the U.K. during the Victorian era, as women’s rights activists are just starting to make gains.

What I really liked about this book is that it showed how much of the things striven for by the activists were so out of step with actual women. Upper class ladies wanted rights to their property and suffrage–but even poor women’s husbands didn’t have property or suffrage. Also, they were already working, many outside the home, and they often wanted more hours–while upper class women were sometimes actively working to restrict their hours.

I thought the hero and heroine were well-done, even when they did things I didn’t like. The heroine has a lot more sympathy for a mine owner who had been negligent than I liked. My grandfather, the first person who really encouraged me to write was a coal miner. I know about mining accidents, and the terror they cause for the people in coal towns. If the hero had pushed said negligent owner down a shaft I would have rooted for him.

But the mine owner is a member of the heroine’s class, and she really hates seeing him financially destroyed. I was annoyed with her. It was probably realistic though.

The final thing that sold this book for me was the format. It didn’t follow the traditional romance plot line, and the ending was different than most romances. However, romance fans, there is a HEA.

I picked this up at the library because it was on the Staff Picks shelf. It is traditionally published, and on the newish side, so it isn’t yet on Scribd, but your library may have it!

Filed Under: Book Reviews Tagged With: A League of Extraordinary Women, Evie Dunmore, Portrait of a Scotsman

Book Review: Whatever You Do, Don’t Run by Peter Allison

February 22, 2023 by Carolynn

Book Review: Whatever You Do, Don't Run by Peter Allison

Run and get this book at: Amazon US, United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, Australia

Apple, Nook, Kobo (audibook in KoboPlus), GooglePlay, and Scribd in Audiobook which is how I listened to it. The narration is great. (also check your local library!)

This was just loads of fun, written by a nerdy Australian animal lover from the Sydney suburbs (apparently they aren’t all action heroes, who knew?) If you love animals, and want to go on a book escape to Africa, with a charming narrator, get this. It’s a love letter to the African animals, and to the people of Botswana. It also offers a chapter that is a moving biography of Seretse Khama, the once king, later prime minister, later president of Botswana, who is largely responsible for making a land-locked country in Southern Africa a success story. This book is funny and poignant by turns.

Filed Under: Book Reviews Tagged With: Don't Run: True Tales of a Botswana Safari Guide, Peter Allison, Whatever You Do

Book Review: The Intelligence Trap – Why Smart People Make Dumb Mistakes by David Robson

February 19, 2023 by Carolynn

Book Review: The Intelligence Trap - Why Smart People Make Dumb Mistakes by David Robson

The Intelligence Trap is available at  Amazon US, United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, Australia

Apple, Nook, Kobo, GooglePlay and Scribd as an Audiobook

Sometimes you read (or listen to) books that you wish were required reading in high school because they should be required reading for the whole human race … and then you realize that in high school you’re limited to textbooks and literature and you get annoyed that the categories of study are so narrow.

I’m not sure what category of non-fiction the Intelligence Trap should be inserted into, but I do think everyone should read it. Especially people who consider themselves smart.

The Intelligence Trap is a healthy reminder to those of us who use The Dunning Krueger Effect as a punchline. Yes, I’m guilty. (For those who don’t know, the Dunning Krueger Effect is how the incompetent and unknowledgeable tend to overestimate their competence and knowledge. It’s often used to make fun of people less gifted on the IQ spectrum.)

Much fewer people know about the Curse of Expertise and how experts, when faced with a challenge in their field. The Intelligence Trap explains the neuroscience behind the cognitive blind spots of those with high IQ–and how devastating the blindness can be for them, and the human race.

The book introduces concepts like “Faschidiots,” people who have no knowledge outside a particular field (thank you, Germans for that word), and the bandwagon affect. It discusses Functional Stupidity, group think, motivated reasoning, and emotional reasoning–all of which can blindside high IQ people even more severely than the less intellectually gifted, perhaps because their high IQ makes them think they are immune. All of these concepts are discussed with illuminating anecdotes, which aren’t proof–but make the concepts much easier to remember.

Best of all, the books teaches strategies for how individuals can get out themselves out of intellectual ruts. It also describes how organizations can set up processes that will shield them from group think, functional stupidity, and band wagon thinking.

I highly recommend it.

As a side note … Other books I wish more people would read (or listen to–it’s a great way to get your steps in) are: Free Speech a History From Socrates to Social Media by Jacob McHangama (For my review of Free Speech and a defense of Flat Earthers click here). Also, Seeing Like a State: How Certain Schemes to Improve the Human Condition Have Failed is also another fantastic read. I could best break Seeing down as “How central planning fails.” but that makes it come off as a diatribe against collectivist states, ignoring how much Western governments and supposedly “free market” economies have dismal records with “central planning” schemes–and how often they try to impose them.

Filed Under: Book Reviews Tagged With: David Robson, The Intelligence Trap

Book Review: Hyperion by Dan Simmons

January 5, 2023 by Carolynn

Hyperion (Hyperion Cantos, Book 1) Kindle Edition
by Dan Simmons  (Author)

$3.99 as of January 5, 2023
Click For Current Price Amazon US, United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, Australia

Apple Books, Nook, Kobo, & GooglePlay

They Hyperion Cantos is the series that made me love sci-fi. Deep characters, real love, real loss, and enduring philosophical questions in an epic story that spans the universe? Sign me up please.

So what is it about?

Errrrr….

God?

A would be God?

People who’ve lost faith in God?

AI?

Yes.

Space exploration? Also, yes.

This is sci-fi that makes you feel as much as think, and it is completely deserving of the Hugo Award it received.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Book Reviews Tagged With: Dan Simmons, Hyperion

Book Review: Mickey 7 by Edward Ashton

January 2, 2023 by Carolynn

Amazon US, United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, Australia

Apple, Kobo

Mickey7 is the only clone on a deep space colonization mission. He has a very important job–to die, whenever a suicidal mission presents itself. This happens a lot. Fortunately, for Mickey, he’s got his consciousness and body backed up on the colony mainframe. He doesn’t really die. Or does he?

Mickey 7 asks deep questions and explores the attitudes that non-clones might have towards him, but it does it with a light touch. At times Mickey 7 borders on satire, but never crosses so far over the line that you wind up not feeling for it’s main character.

Highly recommended.

Traditionally published and probably available at your public library.

Filed Under: Book Reviews, Box Set List Featured Sci-Fi Tagged With: Edward Ashton, Mickey 7

Book Review: The Thief (Queen’s Thief Book One) by Megan Whalen Turner

January 2, 2023 by Carolynn

Amazon US, United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, Australia

Nook, Kobo, GooglePlay

I picked up this book on the recommendation of two of my fans (the guilty parties know who they are.) I am now hooked on the series. Mickey7 explores hi-tech immortality, The Thief explores the God given kind in a high fantasy setting inspired by ancient Greece. A wonderful engaging protagonist, a richly drawn fantasy world, humor, and a gentle philosophical undercurrent, I was sucked in. It also delivered a satisfying ending with a twist. The first book has a real ending, but I want more. Fortunately, there are quite a few more books in the series.

Highly recommended.

This is a traditionally published novel (and series) and you may be able to find it at the library. It’s currently available at Scribd in eBook and Audiobook. Also, the used paperback version on Amazon is very affordable (and it has a pretty cover.)

Filed Under: Book Reviews, Box Set Featured Fantasy Tagged With: Megan Whalen Turner, Queen's Thief, The Thief

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • …
  • 11
  • Next Page »

Follow Me

  • Facebook
  • Tumblr
  • Twitter

Copyright © 2023 C. Gockel · Privacy Policy