Reading - October 2019

Factfulness by Hans Rosling (2018)

I often argue (in a hand-wavey, uninformed way) that when we're fretting about Trump's latest outrage or a terrorist incident somewhere, that it's important to also keep a good historical perspective on things. I'm old enough to remember how much less we had as kids - only 3 TV channels and no internet (such deprivation) - and if you only go another fifty years further back than that, huge changes have happened. This book makes the same argument but backs it by drawing on vast amounts of properly analysed, worldwide data. It's central point is that you need to know that things are continuing to get better all the time, while simultaneously acknowledging that they can still get better. An important, fascinating, fact-based insight into how we're doing as a world.

The Secret DJ by Anonymous (2018)

The dance music equivalent of the hedonistic, tell-all exposes in rock world. At least, as far as I can tell. I only managed to get about a quarter of the way through before being thoroughly bored. Yeah yeah, drugs, stupidity, boredom, hotels, airports ... there's nothing new here, and nor was there when the rock stars were doing it - the jazzers had all been there before. Not very well written and depressingly predictable. Meh.

Bedlam by Christopher Brookmyre (2013)

Not quite sure why I read this again (for the sixth time) other than that none of the books I have on the go are quite doing it for me, for low-intensity, about-to-go-sleep reading, and I saw this on the shelf and fancied being in its world again. Quite involved in places but since I am so familiar with it, this didn't bother me and I just enjoyed being taken along for the ride.