Rating

Four Stars

149 reviews

These are some of my favorite things

Books

  2. A Primate's Memoir

    Robert M. Sapolsky

    Part African travelogue, part baboon behavioral study. The travelogue parts are interesting since traveling in Africa, especially in the 1980s, is always an adventure. But the stories of the baboons, and how similar they are to humans, are the highlight for me.

  19. Conquerors

    Roger Crowley

    The history of Portugal’s colonization in the Indian Ocean. Does a really good job of showing how out of their element the Portuguese were, how they got incredibly lucky to be able to establish a multi-century foothold in Asia.

  67. The Racket

    Conor Niland

    I know basically nothing about tennis, but this was a great read. Goes into the details of what it takes to succeed at the top level, and how unglamorous it is unless you’re at the very top. You can read a pretty representative excerpt first to decide if it’s your type of thing.

  78. You Can Just Do Things

    Cate Hall, Sasha Chapin

    Like many self-help books, this one really depends on your similarity to the author. I share some strengths and weakness with Cate Hall, so this book resonates with me, but I know plenty of people for whom this would be a terrible fit. If you enjoy the blog post that inspired the book or the rest of her blog posts, then the book is definitely worth reading.

  80. Zonal Marking

    Michael Cox

    Walks through the evolution of soccer tactics in Europe from the 1990s to 2020, with a focus on countries that influenced the game the most: The Netherlands, Italy, France, Portugal, Spain, Germany, and England.

Movies & TV

  1. Barbarian

    I’m not typically into horror, but this was great, surprisingly funny at times. Go in blind if you can.

  2. Bugonia

    As with other Yorgos films, this is not for everyone. Recommend going in blind and sticking with it to the end (my wife did not). Great acting by Jesse Plemons and Emma Stone.