I have been doing the same but this year I made it mandatory to read at least 10-20 pages per day but usually exceed them. My advice would be to read a few pages from a book every day, force yourself to it and before you know it you'll be reading every day. Now I feel extremely guilty when I do not read, it has become a habit lol. I hope this helps you :)
Just stumbled on this video after watching several different book review videos, and am quite excited to dive deeper into your channel. SciFi/Fantasy books, popular science books, and serious content about climate science - are you kidding me? This has to be too good to be true. As a criminologist, I constantly try to learn more about the hard science behind climate change to get a better understanding of the fundamental reasons behind issues that green criminology deals with. I've already ordered Mann's book and am hoping it arrives before I leave for my vacation! :p
So I happened to see you on Lateral, and just on a whim decided to see what your channel is about. Henrietta Lacks was amazing and I love your take on many of these. Subscribed and followed on Goodreads :)
The Etymologicon - By Mark Forsyth (the Necronomicon for Etymology nerds) is a brilliant read, which highlights the surprising origin of everyday words used in British English. What's so special about this book from other Etymology publications is with each definition mentioned being thematically linked to the next to provide an interesting flowing narrative unlike reference books on Etymology.
@Lily Indeed, I've noticed that myself. That's the beauty of Linguistics. If you haven't already I'd recommend watching the *TED Talk: What your speaking style, like, says about you | Vera Regan | TEDxDublin*
@Lily I'm glad to see you're broadening your horizons! I'm bilingual myself, however, that's due to living in a Filipino household. Anyway, keep up the good work!
Simon just yesterday I was re watching that one video you made about books about physics to read just because i want little things to read alongside other books I want to get. You have amazing timing with your books videos. THANK YOU FOR ALL THE VIDS I LOVE THEM
My favourite thing to do on goodreads is go to my stats and then select publication year. Its a great scatter diagram of when you read the book and how old it was!
Gotta say man, I love your videos. I'm a layman and a newbie when it comes to climate change, but you have an incredibly engaging style that really helps.
I recommend checking out your local public library. I just put holds on all of the titles I want to read (mostly the non fiction ones). Who can afford to buy all of these? Also, think of all the trees we can save.
And if you go to a university they often have used book stores (at least mine does) where you can buy books for very cheap, like $1.50, and I just donate them back when I finish.
Going on a tangent here.....I'm currently reading the GOT books and I must say that your review of them was spot on. I think that his extremely simple and straightforward use of language helps him sway the reader in any direction he wants and leaves no room for multiple or deep analysis of characters. BTW...read comet and shadows of forgotten ancestors by Carl Sagan.
I looooooved the Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. I really want more people who are trained journalists to tell these kinds of stories, because Rebecca is just a masterful storyteller first and foremost. And I agree- I honestly think the book was a way to honor Henrietta's family as much as it was about Henrietta herself and I love that.
Dear Simon, if you haven't read it yet, I strongly advise you to try The Three-body Problem by Liu Cixin (translated by Ken Liu!). It's an amazing sci-fi book, and I can't tell you what it is about, I'd ruin the surprise... But believe me, Barack Obama, George R. R. Martin and myself agree on saying it's worth the while ;) Also as a physics graduate you may enjoy the book even more than I did! I join you on Homo Deus, I was a bit disappointed by the turn it took. I didn't even understand that the conclusion was the conclusion, the end was a bit abrupt and I felt like Noah Harari focused on some possibilities but left out so many others... I mean that's a choice but well, I felt like it promised more than this x) The pub analogy was funny, so British!
a book recommendation: If on a Winter's Night a Traveler by Italo Calvino its one of my favorite books ive ever read, mostly because its unlike any book i'd ever read before, i highly recommend it
First highly recommend the Libby app if you have access to a library card. You get access to all e-books and audiobooks available at your local library (often libraries will pool their books as well). It's fantastic! Recommendations (Top picks *): Science/ Health The Longevity Diet - Dr. Valter Longo * The Big Picture - Sean Carroll How Not To Be Wrong - Jordan Ellenberg * Missing Microbes - Martin J Blaser Why We Sleep - Dr. Matthew Walker Spark - John J. Ratey How Not to Die - Dr. Michael Greger History/Social Sciences Thinking Fast and Slow - Daniel Kahneman * Tribe - Sebastian Junger * Sapiens - Yuval Noah Harari Coyote America - Dan Flores Talking to My Daughter About the Economy - Yanis Varoufakis The Fine Print - David Cay Johnston Barking Up the Wrong Tree - Eric Barker Atomic Habits - James Clear Fantasy/ Urban Fiction Storm Front - Jim Butcher * Rosemary and Rue - Seanen McGuire Red Rising - Pierce Brown * Financial The Simple Path to Wealth - JL Collins
I just started reading the expanse series. Just finished the first book. Loving it so far. Those books are a mixture of politics between different factions, human relationships, love, death, war, space travel and "zombies". It's about humans need to satisfy their curiosity and how how they have reached a stagnant state, in terms of expansion. Their biology and technology aren't allowing them to reach the stars. Until they encounter something, something truly extraterrestrial that enables them.
Love these book reviews so much. I'm so backed up with books right now as uni is in full swing and I am absolutely swamped. I probably shouldn't even be on UA-cam right now but anyway... As for books I have read! I finally got around to reading Fahrenheit 451 and that is an interesting book with great ideas and good dialogue.... however it's not really a good story. The pacing never feels quite right and whilst I can understand how groundbreaking the ideas may have been at it's publication time, they aren't really relevant now. it just felt quite... simple. Like it could have been so much more yet it wasn't. Still, a good read and I'd recommend it to anyone. I also read The Catcher In The Rye, this one has been sitting on my shelf for a few years now and I finally got around to it. I loved it! I struggled through the first several chapters as there is a sort of lack of plot... yet as I continued I couldn't put the book down and it left me in awe. I've had to read 3 books so far for a literature class I picked up at uni (Outline, The Sailer Who Fell From Grace With the Sea, and Pride and Prejudice), so I've had no time for any of my own reading for now! Once I get past this semester I'll be picking up some of your recommendations! (Also I would recommend The Sailer Who Fell From Grace With the Sea to anyone not afraid of a dark, twisted novel. It's confronting and graphic, but raises interesting ideas about heroism and glory. The author himself was a questionable, but interesting person and this book reflects his life and ideas in a strange way). If you read this far into this comment you deserve a cookie.
I think you will really like the graphic novel Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi. It won't take you long to read, maybe a day or two, but honestly gives a whole new perspective as to the struggles people in other parts of this world are facing.
Your constant plugging of the Black Library actually made me dig out my old Gaunt's Ghosts omnibus and reread some of it - still enjoyed it! (Really found the extended battle passages quite gripping) Buuut I also got out Eisenhorn, the only other book I still had from BL, which I found so unbearable I probably didn't get more than a dozen pages into it... Do you find the quality varies a lot? Rly appreciate the book review series btw - after following your videos from before GCSE's to now long past A Levels it's a pleasant way of continuing along the academic path with you
I mean the quality with the black library definitely varies A LOT, but I'd say GG and Eisenhorn were two of the best series. What did you not like about the latter?
Speaking of Warhammer... I recently read two novels from both 40k and Fantasy. The Legend of Sigmar and A Thousand Sons - Both are by Graham McNeill. Also, in the non-fiction department - The Cosmic Perspective by Jeffrey Bennett and Meg Donahue.
I'm reading 21 lessons for the 21st century - the newest book and now I want to read the whole lot! It makes you think about familiar subjects in new ways. By the way, al true bookworms have the same problem.... too many books and too little time. Lekker lees !
Do you fast read? Also, if you feel like going into a new topic (investing) I would recommend Investing for the long term by Francisco Garcia Parames as an intro and Ray Dalio's Big Debt crisis which is in pdf. I think by only reading these 2 you can get such a broad understanding about a topic which should be of importance to anyone who has some spare bucks :)
If I was to rank Yuval Harari's books: 'Sapiens', '21 lessons for the 21st century', 'Homo Deus' -- However, I doubt that you can rank his writings. :) You should definitely have a go on the last one
Always look forward to these vids to find new books to read, I love your honesty and passion when talking about books and you read such a variety it's great :) You might like to try 'The Secret Life of Plants' by Peter Tompkins and Christopher Bird if you haven't already. I haven't read it completely myself so I can't say how good it is but the experiments I know from it were very interesting to me and changed the way I understood and appreciated plants as living beings so I'd recommend it to you and I'd also be curious to know what you think of it as it's more on the controversial side. Also looking forward to your full review once you've finished 'Can We Borrow Your Language' ideky but I find etymology so fascinating! I loved that vid you did talking about why cos and sin mean nothing it was so interesting especially because I love maths haha oops lol just got to the part where you *don't* ask for recommendations oh well ;)
The Hidden Life of Trees is great book, if you cut of the last 30% or so. It just starts to repeat itself and that is… a Little bit frustrating, but I really like that he puts back awareness to what nature actually is and escpacially in middle europe "true Woods" are basically dying out. Now we have the Problem of thousands and thousands of trees cut down thanks to the bark beetle. Btw his Name is pronounced wohl, like vol in volbeat (hold the O a Little bit longer, that is indicated by the h after it) and leben like le from left + ben (the Name) Homo Deus was an awful book. Nice Video by the way I will defenitely check out Hockey Stick and the Climate Wars
I recommend Humble Pi by Matt Parker. Its a book about what happens when maths goes bad. The history of mistakes when someone doesn't use maths properly
Simon Clark I may have looked on your Goodreads and checked first but wasn't on you To Read list. However, highly recommend the book! If you get a chance watch his lecture in the Royal Institution, its really good!
When the finish the Rothfuss duology (the third one won't be releaed the next 100 years), I highly recommend everything Sanderson related. I've also read half of the rest, great books. Thanks for the recommendations.
My Favorite Author is Robin Hobb. I highly recommend reading her books. All except for 1 Trilogy is set in the same universe. A Universe that she herself has dreamed up. Start with "The Farseer Triology". It's about a young boy & his service to the Farseer crown during times of Turmoil of both magical & non-Magical. It's all set in a Fantasy world. Of Swords, Spells & Dragons. First book is Called "Assassins Apprentice". That series was the first Book I seriously read. We were forced to read a Book of a minimum of 200 Pages during my time in English Class for a book report due in 1 week. As a Non-Native English speaker I chose to read The First book in that series & Loved every second of it. I managed around 500 Pages. Teacher was sadly not impressed by my presentation. The way she writes her books is very engaging for the reader. You Follow a Character in third person While you are able to read that persons Thoughts as if the book was written in First person. The book is written as if the main character himself has written the book.
If the hidden life of trees didn’t work for you I think you should try Seed by Thor Hanson, he writes in a way which sucks you in while teaching you a lot that you didn’t even expect to learn from the book. Loved it
How do you read so fast? I read daily but only went through four books this year! There was How emotions are made on your book pile which is one of the four I read. It was quite nice
@@thisfeatureisdumbandredundant Oh I meant four during 2019 so in 4 months. So nothing that serious ought to be wrong with me :) How ever I think I am quite slow reader. One problem I do have is that I grow tired very fast when reading. If I read during the day I must take a nap afterwards so my reading takes place usually when I go to sleep.
I agree with you on the hidden life of trees. There was something that i really liked about it, but I never finished it. There were ups and downs. each chapter was way to short. It was easy to lose interest.
Nice vid Simon! Have you read 'The wise man's fear'? Even though you said no recommendations I have to recommend it to you, sorry. In my opinion it is better than 'The name of the wind' and makes you empathize more with Kvothe and realize he's not so powerful.
... haven't heard of the J curve, yet? The hockey stick curve is a version of that, just nicked from economix and apple-eyed to climb-it. And like any old engineering, it's organised...
I recommend 83 days of radiation sickness. It’s relatively short and it’s about the man who was blast with 10k UV of gamma radiation from the Fukushima meltdown. When he went to the hospital he seemed fine until they took stem cell data. They realized that the radiation was so bad, it unraveled his dna strands. And without that, your body cannot do call division. The story is about his days in the hospital as he basically decayed alive. There are pictures of him on the internet that are gruesome if you’re that interested. I highly recommend this book
I am currently studying environmental geoscience and find your videos very interesting! As someone you’re who has completed your PhD I wanted to ask what kind of organisations/companies would you recommend for jobs in climate change?
I feel like I would have bought the one about trees, and it sounds super interesting.. but your review reminded me of a few other books similarly lacking in 'story telling' 😔 any other tree books to recommend?
Simon I have a climate question and I’m really hoping you can reply (lol I know it’s not the right video but hey ho). Basically I have a question which is - can global warming be tied to deforestation too? As the sun warms up the land mass by radiation, and this then subsequently warms the air which affects the weather and local climate, wouldn’t we all be a lot cooler if we planted a TONNE more trees everywhere so that the suns radiation couldn’t heat up the earths land mass as quickly? Back when the world was less populated by people there must surely have been a LOT more forested area. Just a theory I hope you can reply :) Thank you
I really recommend Reality Is Not What It Seems: The Journey to Quantum Gravity by Carlo Rovelli. Especially the second half of the book. It's about the theory that combines general relativity and quantum mechanics.
Found the thumbnail kind of misleading in that 'May We Borrow Your Language?' isn't reviewed yet is the only book face on... For anyone else interested in linguistics, I would thoroughly recommend Found In Translation: How Language Shapes Our Lives and Transforms the World
If you're interested in environmental policy in the United States, "The Environmental Case: Translating Values Into Policy" by Judith A. Layzer is a great book to read. It takes a case study approach, detailing how various environmental conflicts have played out in the United States through policy and the policymaking process. A great environmental history book is "Toxic Archipelago: A History of Industrial Disease in Japan" by Brett L. Walker. Very readable and a good example of history done right.
I loved it too! Strangely, I knew of the opera by Michael Nyman before I found out it's based on a real book. It feels weird to hear Simon call it a fresh breath of air when I consider it to be quite an old book. (First published 1985.)
Do you read one book at a time for the most part, or have multiple books you work though at the same time? I always stick to one at a time, but I’m curious what other people do.
This is gonna piss of a lot of people too Simon: I didn't like "Sapiens" at all ;-) I found it boring and superficial. Didn't dicuss anything I hadn't already contemplated about at this point in time (at least the part I read until I stopped reading it)
OOoo finally! Such a good video! Here is what Ive read since your last video: 2018 since last video: The Fall of the West by Goldsworthy The Call of Cthulhu by H.P. Lovecraft The Last Days of Socrates by Plato Flatland by Edwin A. Abbott The Inheritance of Rome by Wickham Alices Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll The Celts by Alice Roberts The Vikings by Else Rosedahl The Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens The Fall of Gondolin by JRR Tolkein Edgedancer by Brandon Sanderson 2019: Europe in the High Middle Ages by William Jordan The Importance of Being Earnest and Other Plays by Oscar Wilde Gorgias by Plato Viking Myths and Sagas by Rosalind Kerven The Merovingian Kingdom by Ian Wood The Murders in the Rue Morgue and Other Tales by Edgar Allan Poe The Satyricon by Petronius Dracula by Bram Stoker The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde The Crusades by Thomas Asbridge Classical Mythology VSI by Helen Morales Treasure Island and The Ebb-Tide by Rober Louis Stevenson Frankenstein by Mary Shelly The Persians and Other Plays by Aeschylus Eureka! by Peter Jones The Hitchikers Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams I do highly recommend The Hitchikers guide which i literally just finished. So funny! The best history book i read was The Crusaders by Asbridge and Europe in the High Middle Ages by Jordan. I do highly recommend them!!! Also, Dracula is surprisingly fun and well written! The books that are very dull: The Merovingian Kingdom which is highly academic and dry, Plato in general (sorry Plato lol but its not very fun to read (even if it is useful for cultural reasons)). Oscar Wilde is a lot of fun as well and i do highly recommend him. Poe is also a great writer, while Lovecraft is just weird...
To be honest I really disliked Homo Deus. I did feel there was a bit too much speculation in order to serve his narrative. I found it hard to ignore this once I noticed him doing this a lot, up to that point i did enjoy it.
Whatever you do, don't read a science-fiction novel that I recently published called "Roswell Chronicles". Getting those totally checks is really a bummer. 🙃
And I have almost 50 books, resting on my bookshelf while I'm procrastinating all the time watching UA-cam or playing games 😭
Dudeee same. Most of my books are science nonfiction and classic fictions
Literally me , I feel guilty for procrastinating and leaving the books just there waiting for me
😥😥😥
same LOL . dont know how to solve that
I have been doing the same but this year I made it mandatory to read at least 10-20 pages per day but usually exceed them. My advice would be to read a few pages from a book every day, force yourself to it and before you know it you'll be reading every day. Now I feel extremely guilty when I do not read, it has become a habit lol. I hope this helps you :)
I can't even read through my uni notes.
agun17 bruh same
I can't bother taking notes, or even going to classes half the time.
Just stumbled on this video after watching several different book review videos, and am quite excited to dive deeper into your channel. SciFi/Fantasy books, popular science books, and serious content about climate science - are you kidding me? This has to be too good to be true. As a criminologist, I constantly try to learn more about the hard science behind climate change to get a better understanding of the fundamental reasons behind issues that green criminology deals with.
I've already ordered Mann's book and am hoping it arrives before I leave for my vacation! :p
So I happened to see you on Lateral, and just on a whim decided to see what your channel is about. Henrietta Lacks was amazing and I love your take on many of these. Subscribed and followed on Goodreads :)
The Etymologicon - By Mark Forsyth (the Necronomicon for Etymology nerds) is a brilliant read, which highlights the surprising origin of everyday words used in British English. What's so special about this book from other Etymology publications is with each definition mentioned being thematically linked to the next to provide an interesting flowing narrative unlike reference books on Etymology.
Ooo that sounds good, I'm going to have to read this
@Lily Indeed, I've noticed that myself. That's the beauty of Linguistics. If you haven't already I'd recommend watching the *TED Talk: What your speaking style, like, says about you | Vera Regan | TEDxDublin*
@Lily I'm glad to see you're broadening your horizons! I'm bilingual myself, however, that's due to living in a Filipino household. Anyway, keep up the good work!
@Lily Tagalog if you don't already know is the National language of the Philippines.
Simon just yesterday I was re watching that one video you made about books about physics to read just because i want little things to read alongside other books I want to get. You have amazing timing with your books videos. THANK YOU FOR ALL THE VIDS I LOVE THEM
My favourite thing to do on goodreads is go to my stats and then select publication year. Its a great scatter diagram of when you read the book and how old it was!
Gotta say man, I love your videos. I'm a layman and a newbie when it comes to climate change, but you have an incredibly engaging style that really helps.
I recommend checking out your local public library. I just put holds on all of the titles I want to read (mostly the non fiction ones). Who can afford to buy all of these? Also, think of all the trees we can save.
And if you go to a university they often have used book stores (at least mine does) where you can buy books for very cheap, like $1.50, and I just donate them back when I finish.
Going on a tangent here.....I'm currently reading the GOT books and I must say that your review of them was spot on. I think that his extremely simple and straightforward use of language helps him sway the reader in any direction he wants and leaves no room for multiple or deep analysis of characters.
BTW...read comet and shadows of forgotten ancestors by Carl Sagan.
I looooooved the Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. I really want more people who are trained journalists to tell these kinds of stories, because Rebecca is just a masterful storyteller first and foremost. And I agree- I honestly think the book was a way to honor Henrietta's family as much as it was about Henrietta herself and I love that.
hi. WHERE DID YOU GET THAT SHIRT? lol
Dear Simon, if you haven't read it yet, I strongly advise you to try The Three-body Problem by Liu Cixin (translated by Ken Liu!).
It's an amazing sci-fi book, and I can't tell you what it is about, I'd ruin the surprise... But believe me, Barack Obama, George R. R. Martin and myself agree on saying it's worth the while ;)
Also as a physics graduate you may enjoy the book even more than I did!
I join you on Homo Deus, I was a bit disappointed by the turn it took. I didn't even understand that the conclusion was the conclusion, the end was a bit abrupt and I felt like Noah Harari focused on some possibilities but left out so many others... I mean that's a choice but well, I felt like it promised more than this x)
The pub analogy was funny, so British!
Ooh very interesting. So far this year I've read 22 books, my favourite so far DEFINITELY being Picasso: El pintor.
Loving The Immortal Life Of Henrietta Lacks. My English teacher ordered a set for our english class so props to her
Shouldn't the title say Winter 2018/19? 😅
Lucy Schneider it confused me too
maybe a typo
a book recommendation: If on a Winter's Night a Traveler by Italo Calvino
its one of my favorite books ive ever read, mostly because its unlike any book i'd ever read before, i highly recommend it
Hii , what's the story about ?
Thanks again for popping over to our channel to talk about those books!
Make a video
About new books for Physics lovers
He already did mate
First highly recommend the Libby app if you have access to a library card. You get access to all e-books and audiobooks available at your local library (often libraries will pool their books as well). It's fantastic!
Recommendations (Top picks *):
Science/ Health
The Longevity Diet - Dr. Valter Longo *
The Big Picture - Sean Carroll
How Not To Be Wrong - Jordan Ellenberg *
Missing Microbes - Martin J Blaser
Why We Sleep - Dr. Matthew Walker
Spark - John J. Ratey
How Not to Die - Dr. Michael Greger
History/Social Sciences
Thinking Fast and Slow - Daniel Kahneman *
Tribe - Sebastian Junger *
Sapiens - Yuval Noah Harari
Coyote America - Dan Flores
Talking to My Daughter About the Economy - Yanis Varoufakis
The Fine Print - David Cay Johnston
Barking Up the Wrong Tree - Eric Barker
Atomic Habits - James Clear
Fantasy/ Urban Fiction
Storm Front - Jim Butcher *
Rosemary and Rue - Seanen McGuire
Red Rising - Pierce Brown *
Financial
The Simple Path to Wealth - JL Collins
Loving the cameo in yogscasts' GTA sesh!
A few fantastic storytelling scientific communication books are "She Has Her Mother's Laugh" by Carl Zimmer and "Eating the Sun" by Oliver Morton.
I just started reading the expanse series. Just finished the first book. Loving it so far. Those books are a mixture of politics between different factions, human relationships, love, death, war, space travel and "zombies". It's about humans need to satisfy their curiosity and how how they have reached a stagnant state, in terms of expansion. Their biology and technology aren't allowing them to reach the stars. Until they encounter something, something truly extraterrestrial that enables them.
I always feel the urge to run to my local bookshop after your reviews... Guess that's a good thing?
Written form is the only appropriate medium to discuss a topic in-depth.
Love these book reviews so much. I'm so backed up with books right now as uni is in full swing and I am absolutely swamped. I probably shouldn't even be on UA-cam right now but anyway... As for books I have read!
I finally got around to reading Fahrenheit 451 and that is an interesting book with great ideas and good dialogue.... however it's not really a good story. The pacing never feels quite right and whilst I can understand how groundbreaking the ideas may have been at it's publication time, they aren't really relevant now. it just felt quite... simple. Like it could have been so much more yet it wasn't. Still, a good read and I'd recommend it to anyone.
I also read The Catcher In The Rye, this one has been sitting on my shelf for a few years now and I finally got around to it. I loved it! I struggled through the first several chapters as there is a sort of lack of plot... yet as I continued I couldn't put the book down and it left me in awe.
I've had to read 3 books so far for a literature class I picked up at uni (Outline, The Sailer Who Fell From Grace With the Sea, and Pride and Prejudice), so I've had no time for any of my own reading for now! Once I get past this semester I'll be picking up some of your recommendations!
(Also I would recommend The Sailer Who Fell From Grace With the Sea to anyone not afraid of a dark, twisted novel. It's confronting and graphic, but raises interesting ideas about heroism and glory. The author himself was a questionable, but interesting person and this book reflects his life and ideas in a strange way).
If you read this far into this comment you deserve a cookie.
I think you will really like the graphic novel Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi. It won't take you long to read, maybe a day or two, but honestly gives a whole new perspective as to the struggles people in other parts of this world are facing.
Simon, you need to read When Breath Becomes Air. Heartbreaking, wonderful, written by a late neurosurgeon who developed cancer
Awesome book! I especially recommend the Audiobook.
That’s been on my list for a bit. I didn’t realize the author died from cancer.
Your constant plugging of the Black Library actually made me dig out my old Gaunt's Ghosts omnibus and reread some of it - still enjoyed it! (Really found the extended battle passages quite gripping) Buuut I also got out Eisenhorn, the only other book I still had from BL, which I found so unbearable I probably didn't get more than a dozen pages into it... Do you find the quality varies a lot? Rly appreciate the book review series btw - after following your videos from before GCSE's to now long past A Levels it's a pleasant way of continuing along the academic path with you
I mean the quality with the black library definitely varies A LOT, but I'd say GG and Eisenhorn were two of the best series. What did you not like about the latter?
Speaking of Warhammer... I recently read two novels from both 40k and Fantasy. The Legend of Sigmar and A Thousand Sons - Both are by Graham McNeill. Also, in the non-fiction department - The Cosmic Perspective by Jeffrey Bennett and Meg Donahue.
If you enjoyed A Thousand Sons I'd recommend Storm of Iron - one of the books that really got me into the universe
I'm reading 21 lessons for the 21st century - the newest book and now I want to read the whole lot! It makes you think about familiar subjects in new ways. By the way, al true bookworms have the same problem.... too many books and too little time. Lekker lees !
Do you fast read?
Also, if you feel like going into a new topic (investing) I would recommend Investing for the long term by Francisco Garcia Parames as an intro and Ray Dalio's Big Debt crisis which is in pdf. I think by only reading these 2 you can get such a broad understanding about a topic which should be of importance to anyone who has some spare bucks :)
Omg! Stephen Hawking A brief history of time!! I really wanted that book. Could you give me that book to me as a birthday's gift. Hehehe
If I was to rank Yuval Harari's books: 'Sapiens', '21 lessons for the 21st century', 'Homo Deus' -- However, I doubt that you can rank his writings. :) You should definitely have a go on the last one
You should read “stuff matters“ by Mark Miodovnik
One of the best books review videos i've ever seen :) you're so well spoken! I had to add some books to my 'going to read' list 😄
Always look forward to these vids to find new books to read, I love your honesty and passion when talking about books and you read such a variety it's great :) You might like to try 'The Secret Life of Plants' by Peter Tompkins and Christopher Bird if you haven't already. I haven't read it completely myself so I can't say how good it is but the experiments I know from it were very interesting to me and changed the way I understood and appreciated plants as living beings so I'd recommend it to you and I'd also be curious to know what you think of it as it's more on the controversial side. Also looking forward to your full review once you've finished 'Can We Borrow Your Language' ideky but I find etymology so fascinating! I loved that vid you did talking about why cos and sin mean nothing it was so interesting especially because I love maths haha
oops lol just got to the part where you *don't* ask for recommendations oh well ;)
Hahaha, thank you anyway!
The Hidden Life of Trees is great book, if you cut of the last 30% or so. It just starts to repeat itself and that is… a Little bit frustrating, but I really like that he puts back awareness to what nature actually is and escpacially in middle europe "true Woods" are basically dying out. Now we have the Problem of thousands and thousands of trees cut down thanks to the bark beetle.
Btw his Name is pronounced wohl, like vol in volbeat (hold the O a Little bit longer, that is indicated by the h after it) and leben like le from left + ben (the Name)
Homo Deus was an awful book.
Nice Video by the way I will defenitely check out Hockey Stick and the Climate Wars
Dude, you seriously gotta check out this magnificent book: The Fabric of the Cosmos by Brain Greene
I have never watched any book reviews on UA-cam before. Great job, I’m going pick up a couple titles from your review :)
I recommend Humble Pi by Matt Parker. Its a book about what happens when maths goes bad. The history of mistakes when someone doesn't use maths properly
Absolutely on my list! I met Matt recently and watched him present some of the books highlights - really looking forward to reading it all!
Simon Clark I may have looked on your Goodreads and checked first but wasn't on you To Read list.
However, highly recommend the book! If you get a chance watch his lecture in the Royal Institution, its really good!
I have read The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat and I bloody loved it.
When the finish the Rothfuss duology (the third one won't be releaed the next 100 years), I highly recommend everything Sanderson related.
I've also read half of the rest, great books. Thanks for the recommendations.
My Favorite Author is Robin Hobb. I highly recommend reading her books. All except for 1 Trilogy is set in the same universe. A Universe that she herself has dreamed up.
Start with "The Farseer Triology". It's about a young boy & his service to the Farseer crown during times of Turmoil of both magical & non-Magical. It's all set in a Fantasy world. Of Swords, Spells & Dragons. First book is Called "Assassins Apprentice".
That series was the first Book I seriously read. We were forced to read a Book of a minimum of 200 Pages during my time in English Class for a book report due in 1 week. As a Non-Native English speaker I chose to read The First book in that series & Loved every second of it. I managed around 500 Pages. Teacher was sadly not impressed by my presentation.
The way she writes her books is very engaging for the reader. You Follow a Character in third person While you are able to read that persons Thoughts as if the book was written in First person.
The book is written as if the main character himself has written the book.
thumbnail :)))). i've caught up loads of reading after ur last book rec videos, i must thank you for that
My favourite Physics book?
*The Fault in Our Stars*
@JOSEPH ASWATH Admit that it's a good joke.
wow, you should perform with such a voice... give speeches or something. or narrate audiobooks.
If the hidden life of trees didn’t work for you I think you should try Seed by Thor Hanson, he writes in a way which sucks you in while teaching you a lot that you didn’t even expect to learn from the book. Loved it
Where did you get that epic t-shirt?
I think it was a limited run print, if you google it you might be able to find something!
You should check out "A Primate`s Memoir" by Robert Sapolsky.
How do you read so fast? I read daily but only went through four books this year!
There was How emotions are made on your book pile which is one of the four I read. It was quite nice
@@thisfeatureisdumbandredundant Oh I meant four during 2019 so in 4 months. So nothing that serious ought to be wrong with me :)
How ever I think I am quite slow reader. One problem I do have is that I grow tired very fast when reading. If I read during the day I must take a nap afterwards so my reading takes place usually when I go to sleep.
@@WMfin oh ok
Thoughts: Don't forget your local library too.
Great reviews of some interesting books.
Simon's looking pretty buff in this one. /blushes :-)
I agree with you on the hidden life of trees. There was something that i really liked about it, but I never finished it. There were ups and downs. each chapter was way to short. It was easy to lose interest.
Nice vid Simon! Have you read 'The wise man's fear'? Even though you said no recommendations I have to recommend it to you, sorry. In my opinion it is better than 'The name of the wind' and makes you empathize more with Kvothe and realize he's not so powerful.
... haven't heard of the J curve, yet? The hockey stick curve is a version of that, just nicked from economix and apple-eyed to climb-it. And like any old engineering, it's organised...
Always so excited whenever these come online!
How fast do you read through these books. How many pages per hour do you think you read on average?
I recommend 83 days of radiation sickness.
It’s relatively short and it’s about the man who was blast with 10k UV of gamma radiation from the Fukushima meltdown. When he went to the hospital he seemed fine until they took stem cell data. They realized that the radiation was so bad, it unraveled his dna strands. And without that, your body cannot do call division. The story is about his days in the hospital as he basically decayed alive. There are pictures of him on the internet that are gruesome if you’re that interested. I highly recommend this book
I am currently studying environmental geoscience and find your videos very interesting! As someone you’re who has completed your PhD I wanted to ask what kind of organisations/companies would you recommend for jobs in climate change?
I lovee Literature & Science 😍. I recommend reading The Brain that changed itself by Norman Doidge
I feel like I would have bought the one about trees, and it sounds super interesting.. but your review reminded me of a few other books similarly lacking in 'story telling' 😔 any other tree books to recommend?
Thanks for adding more books to my reading list....
That book budget is bust
Simon I have a climate question and I’m really hoping you can reply (lol I know it’s not the right video but hey ho).
Basically I have a question which is - can global warming be tied to deforestation too? As the sun warms up the land mass by radiation, and this then subsequently warms the air which affects the weather and local climate, wouldn’t we all be a lot cooler if we planted a TONNE more trees everywhere so that the suns radiation couldn’t heat up the earths land mass as quickly?
Back when the world was less populated by people there must surely have been a LOT more forested area.
Just a theory I hope you can reply :)
Thank you
Were you convinced with the argument in the hockey stick? Reading the intro and I'm not getting a great impression
What argument specifically do you mean?
Have you read merchants of doubt? If not, I think you'd enjoy it
I really recommend Reality Is Not What It Seems: The Journey to Quantum Gravity by Carlo Rovelli. Especially the second half of the book. It's about the theory that combines general relativity and quantum mechanics.
If you like 40k books I strongly recommend the Horus Heresy series. They are amazing books and Dan Abnett does a few of them.
Found the thumbnail kind of misleading in that 'May We Borrow Your Language?' isn't reviewed yet is the only book face on... For anyone else interested in linguistics, I would thoroughly recommend Found In Translation: How Language Shapes Our Lives and Transforms the World
Carl Sagan's Pale Blue Dot an amazing book.
If you're interested in environmental policy in the United States, "The Environmental Case: Translating Values Into Policy" by Judith A. Layzer is a great book to read. It takes a case study approach, detailing how various environmental conflicts have played out in the United States through policy and the policymaking process.
A great environmental history book is "Toxic Archipelago: A History of Industrial Disease in Japan" by Brett L. Walker. Very readable and a good example of history done right.
I love this kind of video.
New subscriber. I’m excited to see more of your content. You’re quite intelligent and well spoken.
Hi, Simon! I was wondering if you had any recommendations for more introductory books about climate change?
Love your collection of books, I’m eager to get some of em and devour it
I loved the man who mistook his wife for a hat !
I loved it too! Strangely, I knew of the opera by Michael Nyman before I found out it's based on a real book.
It feels weird to hear Simon call it a fresh breath of air when I consider it to be quite an old book. (First published 1985.)
Do you read one book at a time for the most part, or have multiple books you work though at the same time? I always stick to one at a time, but I’m curious what other people do.
This is gonna piss of a lot of people too Simon: I didn't like "Sapiens" at all ;-)
I found it boring and superficial. Didn't dicuss anything I hadn't already contemplated about at this point in time (at least the part I read until I stopped reading it)
Which Etymology book would you recommend the most, Simon?
OOoo finally! Such a good video! Here is what Ive read since your last video:
2018 since last video:
The Fall of the West by Goldsworthy
The Call of Cthulhu by H.P. Lovecraft
The Last Days of Socrates by Plato
Flatland by Edwin A. Abbott
The Inheritance of Rome by Wickham
Alices Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
The Celts by Alice Roberts
The Vikings by Else Rosedahl
The Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
The Fall of Gondolin by JRR Tolkein
Edgedancer by Brandon Sanderson
2019:
Europe in the High Middle Ages by William Jordan
The Importance of Being Earnest and Other Plays by Oscar Wilde
Gorgias by Plato
Viking Myths and Sagas by Rosalind Kerven
The Merovingian Kingdom by Ian Wood
The Murders in the Rue Morgue and Other Tales by Edgar Allan Poe
The Satyricon by Petronius
Dracula by Bram Stoker
The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
The Crusades by Thomas Asbridge
Classical Mythology VSI by Helen Morales
Treasure Island and The Ebb-Tide by Rober Louis Stevenson
Frankenstein by Mary Shelly
The Persians and Other Plays by Aeschylus
Eureka! by Peter Jones
The Hitchikers Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
I do highly recommend The Hitchikers guide which i literally just finished. So funny! The best history book i read was The Crusaders by Asbridge and Europe in the High Middle Ages by Jordan. I do highly recommend them!!! Also, Dracula is surprisingly fun and well written! The books that are very dull: The Merovingian Kingdom which is highly academic and dry, Plato in general (sorry Plato lol but its not very fun to read (even if it is useful for cultural reasons)). Oscar Wilde is a lot of fun as well and i do highly recommend him. Poe is also a great writer, while Lovecraft is just weird...
"I also have this pile of books" Well, if that is not the story of my life.
Those books of yours are so wonderful and inspiring. I badly want one of your books. He he he
Where did you buy your shirt? Please tell me!
Read Sacks for my writing class in uni aaaah it’s lovely!
As someone who has read Homo Deus, it really doesn't get speculative about the future until the final 3rd of the book
You should read The Gentleman Bastards Sequence
Well, Lies of Locke Lamora at least. The second one is far inferior to the first (but still good), while the third is kidna ehhh
Could you recommend me some pop science books which are math heavy yet fun to read specially on astronomy, my son is very fond of such
WHOSE FROM THE YOGSCAST
Any plans to make a video just about Warhammer books?
I'll be doing one about gaunts ghosts which will function as a general black library review! Just give me a few months to read them all haha
Did you read Periodic Tales by Hugh Aldersey Williams
Big fan ive got to step up my reading game!
The Beginning of Infinity, David Deutsch!
To be honest I really disliked Homo Deus. I did feel there was a bit too much speculation in order to serve his narrative. I found it hard to ignore this once I noticed him doing this a lot, up to that point i did enjoy it.
Whatever you do, don't read a science-fiction novel that I recently published called "Roswell Chronicles".
Getting those totally checks is really a bummer. 🙃
J'aime ta chemise!
Why don't you make one on your examinations at oxford
I plan to do this on twitch relatively soon!
i heard you are a doctor for the last few days i have been having erections that last up to 4 hours can you help?
Lovin the poster...
Go listen to oliver sacks on radiolab he is simply fantastic
Couldn’t agree more with the secret life of trees way too much anthropomorphism for a factual book.
I enjoyed you vehemently holding back masses of rage when reviewing the climate change book.