Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time
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About Halbs

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I'm left-handed! (Learn more about this Cannonballer: Halbs's Quick Questions interview.)

Halbs's Reviews:

An Undergrad Course on Liking Music

Why You Like It: The Science and Culture of Musical Taste by Nolan Gasser

March 6, 2020 by Halbs Leave a Comment

When I reviewed Sixsmith’s Russia I mentioned that it was sometimes classified as a textbook, even though the narrative style made it much easier to read than a traditional history text. Unfortunately, this book is the opposite of that. Even though the book is admittedly dry at times and full of nerdy digressions, it is still a worthwhile endeavour for zealous music fans, even if just as a collection of various philosophies and studies of music.  The biggest thing going for the book is the […]

Filed Under: Non-Fiction Tagged With: music, Nolan Gasser

Halbs's CBR12 Review No:11 · Genres: Non-Fiction · Tags: music, Nolan Gasser ·
Rating:
· 0 Comments

Blair Underwood Presents….Tennyson Hardwick!

Casanegra by Blair Underwood, Steven Barnes, Tananarive Due

February 25, 2020 by Halbs Leave a Comment

Black writers are woefully underrepresented in my Goodreads lists, and so I’m trying to add more African American authors to my regular readings, as well as black authors from around the world. My local librarians mentioned to me that Steven Barnes is a great sci-fi writer. When I was browsing his books I found out that he and his spouse Ms. Due have worked with actor Blair Underwood on this hard-boiled mystery/thriller series around a character called Tennyson Hardwick. Ten is the son of a […]

Filed Under: Fiction, Mystery Tagged With: Blair Underwood, Blair Underwood, Steven Barnes, Tananarive Due, Steven Barnes, tananarive due

Halbs's CBR12 Review No:10 · Genres: Fiction, Mystery · Tags: Blair Underwood, Blair Underwood, Steven Barnes, Tananarive Due, Steven Barnes, tananarive due ·
Rating:
· 0 Comments

An Engaging and Expansive Look at “A Paradoxical People”

Russia: A 1000-Year Chronicle of the Wild East by Martin Sixsmith

February 23, 2020 by Halbs 3 Comments

My wife and I recently watched the fantastic adaptation of War & Peace starring Lily James and Paul Dano (and Little Women’s James Norton, if you’ve seen it. That was my final straw – I had to learn more about Russian history. Everything I knew was from writers Tolstoy and Dostoevsky; as well as Doctor Zhivago and other movies. My usual search for history book advice on the internet wasn’t fruitful – any recommended book would be shot down by others as incorrectly biased or […]

Filed Under: History Tagged With: martin sixsmith, Russia

Halbs's CBR12 Review No:9 · Genres: History · Tags: martin sixsmith, Russia ·
· 3 Comments
Happiness for Humans

Robo Boogey

Happiness for Humans by P.Z. Reizin

February 5, 2020 by Halbs Leave a Comment

Jen is a struggling writer (aren’t we all). She doesn’t have much direction in life (who does). To make things even worse, her smarmy lawyer boyfriend has not only decided that he doesn’t want to have kids with Jen, but that he doesn’t even want to be with Jen. She takes a writing assignment about a tech company, and later comes on full-time for the company for a year in order to become a conversation partner with an AI named Aiden (get it). The idea is […]

Filed Under: Romance, Science Fiction Tagged With: artificial intelligence, P.Z. Reizin, romantic comedy

Halbs's CBR12 Review No:8 · Genres: Romance, Science Fiction · Tags: artificial intelligence, P.Z. Reizin, romantic comedy ·
Rating:
· 0 Comments
Love Power Justice

“The estranged is striving for reunion.”

Love, Power, and Justice: Ontological Analyses and Ethical Applications by Paul Tillich

January 28, 2020 by Halbs 4 Comments

I think all of us are pretty interested in the relationship between power and justice these days. We also want to understand how to transcend our divisions. Being the nerd that I am, I thought this seventy-year-old work from philosopher-theologian Paul Tillich could provide me with some insight on power, justice, and love. This book from the 1950s is more of a collection of lectures than a piece of prose. That’s a pro more than a con, as it encourages the writing to be relatively […]

Filed Under: Non-Fiction, Religion Tagged With: Ontology, Paul Tillich, Philosophy, theology

Halbs's CBR12 Review No:7 · Genres: Non-Fiction, Religion · Tags: Ontology, Paul Tillich, Philosophy, theology ·
Rating:
· 4 Comments

Art and Love Everywhere

Coming to My Senses: The Making of a Counterculture Cook by Alice Waters

January 23, 2020 by Halbs 1 Comment

A family friend gifted me a year-long membership to Master Class, the website containing video courses from experts in all kinds of fields. My favorite thus far has been Herbie Hancock on music and Gary Kasparov on chess. I’ve learned so much about being open to life and taking risks from both. One class my spouse and I have enjoyed watching together is about cooking. The class is taught by Alice Waters. Waters teaches in what appears to be her own home kitchen. It’s got […]

Filed Under: Biography/Memoir, Cooking/Food Tagged With: Alice Waters, cooking, counterculture, slow food

Halbs's CBR12 Review No:6 · Genres: Biography/Memoir, Cooking/Food · Tags: Alice Waters, cooking, counterculture, slow food ·
Rating:
· 1 Comment
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Recent Comments

  • esmemoria
    on It Serves Me Right
    I traumatized myself!
  • esmemoria
    on It Serves Me Right
    It’s fun to write too :)
  • Classic
    on It Serves Me Right
    Virtual hug over a pretty bad book. I’ve had a bad run but this sounds top tier.
  • Classic
    on CBR Diversion – Bingo – “Wheels”
    Nice list. I’ve just finished Wake in Fright that has the main character trying to get back to Sydney via...
  • Classic
    on Wake in Fright by Kenneth Cook
    Yeah I don’t think I can watch this one. Some of the scenes in the book were pretty bad (the...
See More Recent Comments »

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