Author: Mary Roach
Rating: 3 Stars
Review By: Shana

A rare miss (or at least slightly off target) for Mary Roach. Grunt has its high points, moments of genuine humor, and interesting vignettes. But, on the whole, the subject of war is not given to Roach's typical (and usually so effective) irreverent tone. It isn't so much that every topic covered in her book needs grave and solemn treatment - humor naturally bubbles up when talking about issues of body odor and bodily functions, of weapons premised on terrible smells. Instead, some chapters felt like Roach was trying to shoehorn serious topics into her trademark, light-hearted tone. When discussing IED maiming and penile transplants it just feels awkward when the tone is forced jocularity. If Roach had just let humor arise where it came naturally and let a few of the passages go by without forced humor, I think the entire book would have been better. Entertaining and informative, but not her best work.

Author: Richard A. Clarke & R.P. Eddy
Rating: 4.5 Stars
Review By: Shana

Cassandra of Greek myth had the gift of prophecy but the curse of never being believed. In this book, authors Clarke and Eddy turn to modern day Cassandras - those who warn of dire events but whose warnings are unheeded. The book starts with multiple chapters, each dedicated to a different catastrophe. Each catastrophe is explained, with the authors outlining the factors that made each disaster particularly harrowing, followed by an introduction to the individual or individuals who predicted the event, tried to get the powers that be to mitigate it, but were ignored. This ranges from the Madoff scandal to the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear calamity, from the rise of ISIS to the formation of Hurricane Katrina and its fallout. In each instance, the authors have interviewed the Cassandra in question, parsed the technical expertise that underpinned the predictions, and examined the impact (short and long term) of failing to take the warnings seriously.

Author: Mark Schatzker
Rating: 2 Stars
Review By: Shana

While this book has some good qualities, on the whole it was mediocre. The good is contained in the scientific discussion of flavor and nutrition, and how the modern diet has inadvertently divorced the deep relationship between the two. Also good, in small doses, is the author's personal experience seeking out flavor and good food. Unfortunately, this also contributes to the disappointment I felt reading.  

Author: Jennifer Wright
Rating: 1 Star
Review By: Shana

Jennifer Wright has taken an interesting premise and mostly squandered it. In every respect, this book misses wonderful opportunities and the result is a painfully superficial read. Wright has identified thirteen relationships in history that have ended (calling them all breakups is kind of misleading) and discussed what happened. Where each of these stories through history (reaching back into ancient Rome and coming all the way up into 1960s Hollywood) could have offered an interesting vantage point into the times and the concept of love, Wright only does a superficial amount of research and explanation. In fact, she often seems to have opted to put forth the most salacious version of events, or whatever version fits into the moral or lesson she has decided to highlight. She glosses over facts and nuance, and her historical perspective is uncritical and shallow. 

Author: Richard H. Thaler
Rating: 5 Stars
Review By: Shana

Thaler is an absolute gem, and if this book is any guide, he must be a fantastic professor. Misbehaving manages to be insightful, humorous, educational, and eye-opening as it introduces the reader to behavioral economics. Having read this excellent book, it is not surprising that Thaler won the 2017 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics.

Author: Aziz Ansari
Rating: 4.5 Stars
Review By: Shana

This is neither a humor book or a memoir, but rather a very amusing mix of social science through the prism of Ansari's patented humor. This book looks at how relationships play out in the modern world, for better or worse.

Author: Ted Koppel
Rating: 4 Stars
Review By: Shana

An incisive look at the existential threat of a cyberattack on our power grid. This book is streamlined and eminently readable, well-sourced and clear eyed.  Koppel's far-ranging access and variety of interviewees paints a disturbing picture of our unpreparedness for a very real threat (though any student of psychology will be unsurprised at the lack of urgency - we humans are awful at prediction and planning for disaster unless we clearly see the disaster coming). 

Author: Bryan Denson
Rating: 3.5 Stars
Review By: Shana

Denson brings a snappy writing style (if sometimes bogged down by clunky metaphors) to this story of a disgraced CIA officer (found out to be feeding Russia information) and his youngest son (who he manipulated into passing further information). 

Author: Luke Harding
Rating: 3 Stars
Review By: Shana

Solid journalistic recounting of Edward Snowden's exposure of extralegal surveillance by the NSA. The book reads well and offers some perspective that was not possible to get in real time as one headline after another assaulted the world. While the author sometimes seems a bit dramatic (which can color the objectivity of certain passages), overall the facts and events are recounted with a fair amount of balance. 

​This is a solid book of reporting on the VW scandal (thus far). In explaining the contours of VW's efforts to thwart United States emissions tests, Ewing first places VW in history. The book, after a brief introductory chapter, flashes back to the founding families of VW and Porshe (the Piëch and Porshe families), covering their interests in engineering, their place in Germany and Austria during WWI, the interwar period, and WWII, and the personalities at play. Ewing also gives highlights of each car company's products, explanation of some of the engineering behind advances, and a broad portrait of how the larger companies were run.