How the Mind Works by Stephen Pinker Summary: Pinker explains culture– music, art, fashion– and how they were born from our minds and our evolutionary need to interact with each other. Review: Amazing. I particularly adored the way he described music’s appeal with a strong basis in Western (European) music theory. He described the cycle…

The Language Instinct by Stephen Pinker (2007) Summary: This book describes how a parent can have bad grammar while the offspring has excellent grammar. It goes over how “by modulating the sounds we make when we exhale,” language changes and transforms over generations to fit the groups needs and is reinforced by use. Syntax is…

A Wild Sheep Chase by Haruki Murakami (1982) Summary: A man looks for answers as more questions pop up. He will do it for the money, for his life, but it all seems uncanny. What is the meaning of the hotel name? Why has his friend been out of touch for so long? What is…

Nabokov’s Quartet by Vladimir Nabokov (1966) Summary: Four short stories by Nabokov. A man rides a train. A man hears a crackle. A man feels nostalgia. A man and a woman drift apart in a soft and melancholic way. Review: Words cannot express human emotions, except when they are wielded by Nabokov. He uses such…

All Customers Are Irrational by William J. Cusick Summary: This book might be the most boring way to cover the same information that’s in a Communication 101 class. Priming, Framing, and Customer Testing, you want your customer to look at you (your company) and feel important and cared for. He addresses the new importance of customer…

The Unincorporated Man by Dani Kollin & Eytan Kollin (2009) Summary: A cross between Heinlein’s Stranger in a Strange Land, Time Enough for Love and Edward Bellamy’s Looking Backward, The Unincorporated Man follows the story of Justin Cord and what he catalyzes in a society three hundred years in the future. This future has flying cars, skyscrapers…

Hitch-22 by Christopher Hitchens (2010) Summary: Perhaps the last English gentleman, Hitchens describes his life in all its political detail. He describes his affiliations to socialism, patriotism, authority and his views on Trotsky. His own family remains a small footnote, his children missing a portion of fatherly love. His political life is rife with influential…