Animal Farm
by George Orwell
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Summary
The book is set in a farm called Manor farm where there's a group of animals including sheep, horses, chickens, pigs and so on and a farmer called Mr. Jones and his Family. The animals grow frustrated with Mr. Jones leadership of the farm and how he treats them so the pigs plan and stage a revolt and takke control of the farm with Mr. Jones unable to defend himself against such a large number of animals.
Notes
It's very interesting to see the transition of the pigs from animals that were on the same level as the other animals to deceiving and manupilating them and changing the history to their liking. It was also pretty cool to learn that the different pigs and characters in general are based on real life people and it makes sense as it feels very lifelike to history and human nature in general.
The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy
by John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt
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Summary
The book is split into two parts with the first giving a general overview of U.S foreign policy, a brief origin of Israel and whether Israel is an asset to the United States. The book shows that ever since around the 1950s Israel has been getting billions of dollars in aid per year along with loans from american banks at good rates and many other benefits with the aid increasing in times of war. Israel is also shown to prioritize itself even if it harms the United States like when it bought U.S weapons and sold them to China or the general idea that the main cause for terrorism against the U.S. is due to the general opinion in arab countries of the U.S. as a "devil" due to it's association with Israel and that being the main cause of 9/11.
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Junglekeeper: What it Takes to Change the World
by Paul Rosolie
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Summary
This book is very similar to Paul's other book (Mother of God) and many of the stories are interleaved in that book's timeline. Essentially the first half of this book is more stories from Paul's Childhood like his adventures in India or more stories with JJ. Though THe second half focuses more on the events between the publishing of Mother of God and this book. Paul mentions the difficulty of protecting the Las Piedras area after Emma had sold the lodge, how Emma's leaving and taking Joseph with her affected JJ and Paul talking about his own difficulties with marriage and how he'd divorced Gowri (The girl he was in love with in the first book).
Notes
I really liked the 50 or so pages when he talks about how they almost failed due to covid and how they barely succeeded, it feels very similar to stories of various startups but still feels vastly different. Though it does explain how when you care deeply about something then you want it to happen then it eventually happens. Though I felt the timeline was a bit weird especially that I read the Mother of God book right before this one which probably wasn't the author's intention. But I believe that you should read Mother of God before reading this book though leave a decent amount of time between reading both.
The Lessons of History
by Will and Ariel Durant
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Summary
As the authors finished their 10 volume masterpiece of "The Story of Civilization" they reread it and distilled all that knowledge into a roughly hundred page book. Their argument is that most of human history repeats itself and if you could learn a dozen or so ideas then you'll see them across history many times.
Notes
I felt that the book was way too distilled and too information dense to be able to be understood easily and the writing was kind of weird, I really wanted to like this book and even the cover art and the general idea of the book is great but I just couldn't get into it.
Mother of God: An Extraordinary Journey into the Uncharted Tributaries of the Amazon Rainforest
by Paul Rosolie
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Summary
The book is narrated in first person and goes over the life of the author navigating from a dyslexic student in a Brooklyn school to deciding that he wanted to live in the Amazon Rainforest and save it where he takes the steps necessary to reach that goal. It starts off explaining that Paul was a terrible student at school and not really being able to read properly or do math like the other students so he was always getting suspended and never got good grades. Though through all that Paul kept reading about nature conservationists like Steve Irwin and Jane Goodall who convinced him that nature needs saving, and he also found his passion in 'collecting' various animals and going with his friend Noel on hikes that took several days through the forest.
Notes
I really liked this book to be honest and I've listened to many of Paul's podcast episodes with Joe Rogan and Lex Fridman so I was excited to read this book. I found Paul's description of the first time he went to the Amazon fascinating and the process of convincing researchers to let him pursue his goal fascinating.
Poor Charlie's Almanack
by Charlie Munger, Peter D. Kaufman
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Summary
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Notes
An interesting book full of life wisdom based on Charlie Munger's life and his work as a lawyer and as vice chairman of Berkshire Hathaway. The first third or so of the book are various passages on Charlie: some by his kids while most are by people he worked with. The remainder is on various talks he held, so there is repetition between the different talks.
Shift
by Hugh Howey
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Summary
The second book of the Silo series behind *Wool*. This book mainly looks at the backstory behind why the Silo exists and how they were built. The story follows Donald (Donny), a (senator?) from the state of Georgia, as he works with Thurman (another senator?) and Thurman's daughter Anna, who was Donald's girlfriend in college. The threat of nanorobots, tiny robots that travel through the bloodstream, is at large. While America has used this technology for good to repair damaged cells, other countries like Iran have weaponized it to destroy cells, demonstrated with a town in Israel.
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Siddhartha: eine indische dichtung
by Hermann Hesse
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Summary
The story is set in India and starts off with the main character Siddhartha and his friend Govinda in their village where they feel there is more to life than what they were living so when they saw Samanas temporarily reside in their village they took a chance and joined them. Though it's interesting how Siddhartha was able to convince his father to let him join the Samanas, once he got the idea to join them he went to his father and told him and his father though for several hours while sitting in the same spot then disagreed, in response Siddhartha stood in the same place for two days without moving, eating or drinking water, by the second day his father saw that his knees were shaking but his face was still.
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Wool
by Hugh Howey
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Summary
A story set in a hundred-level underground bunker called the Silo where thousands of people live. The main protagonist, Jules, looks for reasons why the Silo exists, how it was built, and if it's safe outside the Silo. Throughout the Silo, only a handful of people know the secrets behind it. Most people are governed by *The Pact* and *The Order*, books intentionally written to maintain order and prevent rebellion. The Silo has a very Orwellian vibe: people are afraid to ask questions, and all citizens are monitored through cameras hidden in apartment mirrors.
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