Early on in the The Dreamers by Karen Thompson Walker, two college students discuss the Trolley Problem, a very popular thought experiment in ethical decision-making. It’s a scenario (would you kill one person to save five?) that has made its rounds again and again in academics, pop culture and in meme form, sometimes referred to …
“Like many fairy tales, there are many different ways it is told, but it always begins the same. An old man and an old woman live happily in their small cottage in the forest, but for one sorrow: they have no children of their own. One winter’s day, they build a girl of snow.” The …
Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup by John Carreyrou tells the story of Theranos, a biotech startup that had a staggering rise to a close to $10 billion valuation and an even more dramatic fall. The very short version of this review: I was really impressed by this book. Being in …
Once Upon a River by Diane Setterfield was released yesterday, but I’d been looking forward to it pretty much as soon as I heard about it. Naturally, I was very excited to be approved for an advanced copy of the book. I read her debut novel, The Thirteenth Tale, over ten years ago at the …
An American Marriage by Tayari Jones is about a young couple stuck in a love triangle in the wake of a wrongful incarceration. The book has received praise from Barack Obama, and Oprah patronized the book via inclusion in her omnipresent book club. I actually picked it up based on a misunderstanding of what the …
