Astrophysics for People in a Hurry by Neil DeGrasse Tyson

Science

In this short book, Tyson takes on the major topics of astrophysics and tries to explain them in a way that is digestible. We start with the big bang and how the universe was created. There are still so many things that we don't have complete understandings of though and it makes you wonder who the next scientists will be with the next big discovery and when these discoveries will happen.

I was expecting a bit more of a dumbed down version of astrophysics than what was presented in this book. I did most of my reading of this book before going to sleep and it's just not a 'before sleep' kind of book. The subjects are pretty complex and there are many facts thrown out there in a single sentence. It was overwhelming and I missed a lot because of it.

Tyson also gets in to the major elements that form the universe, but is that really astrophysics? My expectations of this book were completely different than what I got out of it.

First Line: "In the recent years, no more than a week goes by without news of a cosmic discovery worthy of banner headlines."

Rating:
(2.5/5)

After Dark by Haruki Murakami

Fiction

After dark in Japan, sees a teenager nursing a coffee in a Denny's, reading a book. A young man walks up to her and recognizes her. He knows her sister and asks if he can join her. Her name is Mari but she doesn't find out what his name is. He talks about her sister and how he had a crush on her. He leaves to go to band practice and soon after, another woman walks in frantically looking for her, because she has heard that Mari speaks Chinese. A woman has been assaulted but only speaks Chinese. Can Mari help?

Throughout the night, the story switches between Mari, the young man, and the Chinese woman. We learn more about Mari's sister and how she is sleeping her life away.

The interactions between the characters were interesting and the concept of one night in Japan was unique. However by the end of it, literally nothing has happened and you're questioning what the point of the book was.

First Line: "The eyes mark the shape of the city."

Rating:
(3/5)

Final Approach by John J Nance

Thriller

A storm in Kansas City has pilots concerned. Thunderstorms are rolling through and the airline doesn't take kindly to delays. One pilot is on the ground and decides not to take off, another is in the air and despite hitting a microburst on his first approach, he circles around and tries again. When he comes down, he ends up landing directly on the waiting plane, tearing it in half and killing most people on board the two flights.

Joe Wallingford from the NTSB is called in to investigate. He must determine what the cause of the crash was and it could be everything from pilot error to plane malfunction to weather to sabotage. Despite doing his best job to investigate, there's a lot of political powers at play who only care about climbing up the ladder rather than doing what's best for the NTSB. There are so many things for Joe to investigate, but he's getting blocked from getting some of the information he needs.

Having read and enjoyed a few Nance books in the past, I was looking forward to this one. Final Approach was easy to get in to, had a very slow middle, and an action-packed ending. I wish some of the action from the end had been spaced out a bit better because I was getting a little bored in the middle of the book. I also felt like the romance introduced for Joe added nothing to the plot and could have been done without.

First Line: "A lightning flash blinded Dr. Mark Weiss momentarily through the rain-smeared windshield, illuminating his wife Kimberly in the passenger seat of the family's station wagon as she turned in his direction."

Rating:
(3.5/5)

Guantánamo Diary by Mohamedou Ould Slahi

Non-Fiction

Slahi is a Muslim originally from Mauritius, but lived for stints in Germany in Canada. While in Canada, the police followed him around at the US' request. The Americans were convinced he was part of the Millenium plot to bomb LAX. Slahi decides Canada is not the place for him and returns home where he is asked to turn himself in. Since he believed he had nothing to hide, Slahi dutifully turned himself in and the start of his horrific 14-year journey began. Again, acting on behalf of the Americans, his own country questions him and his involvement with Al Qaeda. Slahi doesn't give them much because there's not much to give them. His government believes him, but the American pull is bigger and he gets transferred to Jordan. Jordan is where torture begins for Slahi, but those officers also find that there isn't much Slahi is giving them and that's when he gets transferred to Guantánamo Bay.

This is where the real torture starts. In this redacted version of Slahi's journal, it's surprising that the American government allows the stories of Slahi's torture to reach the public. Slahi was beat, forced to stay away, forced to stand for hours, made to listen to heavy metal music on repeat, put in very cold conditions and then doused with water, etc. Eventually and not surprisingly Slahi breaks and tells his captors what they want to hear. His life gets easier but he isn't allowed to leave.

At the end of the book, Slahi is still in prison and he remains there until 2016. All for knowing the wrong people. If this book came out before the Abu Ghraid scandal, it would have been shocking. That scandal desensitized us to what American imprisonment of terrorists involves. It's still surprising, and pretty depressing to me, that the world superpower would resort to this. I feel bad for Slahi and his family and while I'm glad he's out now, it's far too late. It also begs the question, who else is in that jail that is innocent and just rotting there?

First Line: "⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛, July ⬛, 2002, 10 p.m."

Rating:
(4/5)