Actually March 2022 Reading and Parties

 Hi friends,

March was a good month for reading. I finished the First Law trilogy and the Jade City trilogy and read a few nonfiction books about quantum physics and the immune system. 

March was also a fun month for our family as we celebrated Maya’s third birthday! Crazy…

Anyway, let me know what you think about these books and if you have suggestions for further reading. 

Cheers,

Tonya 

Helgoland: The World of Quantum Theory by Carlo Rovelli

Rating: 4 of 5 stars

Recommendation: yes, if you want to learn more about what quantum really means

Review: I’ve read Rovelli’s other books about time and physics, and while I never understand everything that he discusses, I always enjoy reading them. His prose is impressive --- “The abyss of what we do not know is always magnetic and vertiginous,” for example --- and he explains complex, abstract theories and processes simply enough to be understood without making them less accurate. Being a good scientist requires one skill set, and being a good science communicator requires a completely different skillset, and Rovelli seems to have both. I learned a lot in this book about quantum physics. He explains it better than I could by saying, “Quantum theory is the theory of how things influence each other. And this is the best description of nature that we have.” He goes on to talk about some classic quantum experiments such as observing photons and Mr. Schroedinger’s famous cat, and uses these experiments to show how quantum changed everything that physicists thought they knew about the world, and how physicists and philosophers continue to grapple with what this means today. In fact, this book contained a good amount of philosophy, which I didn’t expect. He spends the last half talking about how different philosophies can help us understand and explain quantum theory. It’s always a pleasure to read Rovelli, and this book didn’t disappoint. 

Jade War (The Green Bone Saga #2) by Fonda Lee

Rating: 4 of 5 stars

Recommendation: yes, but you have to read the first one

Review: I reviewed Jade City, the first installment in this trilogy last month and was excited to see how the story progressed. Unlike many second books of trilogies, this one didn’t drag or leave us with an unsatisfying ending. The action moved, the characters developed, and while there was still more story to tell at the end, you didn’t feel like you’d been left out to dry. My favorite character in this installment was definitely Shae. It was great seeing her grow into her leadership role in the clan, and I think she has the best action sequence in the series in this book. One of the things I really like about this series is the fallibility of the protagonists. They make mistakes, sometimes really serious ones, and have to deal with the consequences, even if sometimes those consequences are years in coming. The tone of this series is also superb. I love the urban fantasy, gangster vibe. It’s familiar, but unique to this genre of epic fantasy, and was really refreshing to read. 

Jade Legacy (The Green Bone Saga #3) by Fonda Lee

Rating: 5 of 5 stars

Recommendation: yes, an amazing end to the series!

Review: This conclusion to the Green Bone Saga was amazing. The story has really expanded in scope to cover the whole world beyond the Japanese-inspired Kekon, we get to see villains and protagonists, but mostly villains, in cultures reminiscent of modern-day Europe and the United States. This book takes place over several decades, and the latter half of the book focuses more on the children of our protagonists from the first two books, and it was great to see them grow up and see their parents mature. My least favorite character was Hilo. He was really awful to his wife in the beginning of the book, and I never felt like he adequately made it up to her. There are some hard scenes to read and some really intense moments that had me on the edge of my seat. Again, Shae was my favorite character, and I really liked seeing her grow up and mature. I wasn’t a huge fan of her new romance at the beginning of the book, but I eventually got on board. In fact, this series had a great representation of diverse, strong female characters, including the main villain, who was one of the most interesting villains I've read in fantasy. It was great to see all the different characters represented instead of just one token female hero responsible for representing 50% of the whole species. Like the male characters, they had great character arcs, complex motivations, and the independence to make their own decisions. The ending was really satisfying as well, and I hope that Lee writes more in this universe. 

Career and Family: Women’s Century-Long Journey Towards Equity by Claudia Goldin

Rating: 4 of 5 stars

Recommendation: yes, if you like economics and learning about gender equity

Review: This book is a summary of Goldin’s career-long work looking at women in the workforce over the past 100 years. She’s an economist at Harvard, and this book definitely reads like it was written by an economist complete with lots of charts and figures that I honestly found hard to understand, at least in the first third of the book. She divides the century into five groups of college-graduate women -- the book doesn’t talk about women without college degrees -- and discusses the different opportunities for career and/or family available to them. The general story starts with women having to choose either family or career with a very small percentage of women able to do both. Then women were able to choose first a career and then a family or first a family and then a career. Finally, the last cohort, including some early millennials, has been able to choose to have both a family and career at the same time. It was enlightening to read this book and see the amazing progress and changes that have happened over the past century. It really made me optimistic for the future. She also discusses in depth the gender-wage gap, and presents evidence that shows that the pay gap isn’t due to sexism, bigotry, or misogyny, but more systematic and structural issues including economic choices that individual couples make to support their families and the incentives that employers give employees for working long, inflexible hours. She doesn’t make a lot of policy or other recommendations to help resolve these issues, but I found it really helpful to better understand the causes of the gender wage gap. 

Immunity: A Journey Into the Mysterious System that Keeps You Alive by Phillip Dettmer

Rating: 5 of 5 stars

Recommendation, yes! An understandable and fascinating explanation of the immune system

Review: Dettmer is a YouTube science communicator who is also an immune system enthusiast and cancer survivor. This book is the most helpful and illuminating popular science book I think I’ve ever read. The immune system is really complex, as Dettmer repeatedly emphasizes, and he does a great job explaining the nuts and bolts of how it works and breaking down all of the different cellular systems and relationships that are constantly working without any knowledge or effort on our part to keep us alive. I probably won’t remember the names of all the different cells involved in the active immune reaction, but I will remember the general concepts, and I better understand inflammation, allergies, and even cancer. The book contains some great graphics that really helped me understand the concepts in the text. One of the most important take-aways is that an immune system must be first and foremost balanced, rather than just strong. In fact, an immune system that’s too strong or sensitive can lead to allergies and autoimmune diseases. As he says, “Boosting the Immune System is a horrible idea that is used by people trying to make you buy useless stuff!...At least for now, there are no scientifically proven ways to directly boost your immune system with any products that are easily available. And if there were, it would be very dangerous to use them without medical supervision.” This makes even more sense as he explains more about the detrimental effects of an overactive or hypersensitive immune system. Highly recommend that everyone read this book. It changed how I look at the world, and every time I see my three-year-old’s nose run or get a scrape, I think about my immune system leaping into action!

The Last Argument of Kings (First Law #3) by Joe Abercrombie

Rating: 4 of 5 stars

Recommendation: yes, if you read the first two, you should finish the series

Review: This is the third and final installment in Abercrombie’s First Law trilogy. It stays true to its grimdark genre and definitely does not have a happy ending. Since all of the characters seem to end up exactly where they were when the story started three books ago, I was tempted to ask, “What’s the point?” At the same time, I couldn’t stop reading it. Not having virtuous heroes, definitely introduces a lot of uncertainty to the story and makes it interesting to keep reading. Bayaz steps into the spotlight as the main villain, and I couldn’t help but think that all of the characters would be much better off at the end if he died somehow. It was definitely an interesting progression from the benevolent, wizard guide that he’s portrayed as at the beginning of the series. Luthar was obnoxious again and seemed to quickly forget all of the humility and maturity that he gained on the unsatisfying quest in the second book. Glokta continued to impress with his genius but also seemed to develop some compassion. Logen’s story was the least satisfying, especially the revelation about the Bloody Nine. It just seemed like a bunch of bad things happened, and a bunch of people died for no purpose? I guess that’s why people say grimdark is more realistic than other fantasy genres, but the hopelessness and ruthlessness of the characters also seemed really unrealistic. I couldn’t put this book down, but I didn’t really enjoy it. Kind of a weird reading experience. I don’t know if I’ll read more grimdark in the future, but I’m not feeling very inclined to now.

Mommy Corner

We went to Chatauqua Park in Boulder at the foot of the flatirons and got blown away by the wind coming down off the mountains. The girls still had a great time, though. 

Maya modeling an Easter dress and new Keene's from Grandma Johnson,

We give Maya little treats as rewards when she finishes her meals. Sometimes, she just likes to literally hold them. In this case, she took her whole nap with three mini marshmallows in her hand. She was really happy to rediscover them when she woke up!

Chloe and Maya modeling some presents Maya got for her birthday. Her nursery teacher was nice enough to bring her a special little gift and smart enough to also bring one for Chloe, who experienced some severe bouts of jealousy the whole week of Maya's birthday.