Reviews
You won't find reviews of Hike Your Own Hike or The Hidden Europe here (that's a lie: there's one review for The Hidden Europe). Instead, this section is for my review of other books, especially nonfiction books, which I comprise 95% of my reading. I occasionally review clothes, movies, a politician, a gadget, or anything else that looks promising.
I've put my best reviews here, but if it's not enough, then you'll find hundreds of reviews on Amazon. I am one of the top 10,000 reviewers on Amazon with over 1,500 helpful votes. And yes, I can review your product if you'd like. Just contact me to see if I'm interested.
Today (May 25, 2023) is the third anniversary of George Floyd's horrible death.
As I predicted, the number of unarmed Black (and White) people killed by the police would remain unchanged despite all the protests and defunding movements.
I explained what needed to happen for those statistics to improve. (Hint: it's got little to do with racism.)
My wife, Rejoice, is a black African (she's from Cameroon).
When the George Floyd protests erupted, Good White Racist came out, making it a timely book, so I wanted to read it.
As other critics have mentioned, Connelly's tone is condescending.
I feel like the Spanish Inquisition has strapped me to a chair; no matter what, I am a sinner.
I'll quote the parts that made me want to vomit:
"To readers in the BIPOC [black, indigenous people of color]: Beautiful soul, thank you for reading even this far. . . . You've done enough, borne enough of this weight."
Yuck. It's like a mother patting her little black child on the head as if the child is some fragile creature that must be coddled and pampered.
She falsely asserts: "White people cannot be victims of racism. So-called reverse racism is just not a thing, people."
She's the classic politically correct person obsessed with "micro-aggressions."
Since she's treating us like babies, hasn't she heard about "sticks and stones may break my bones...."?
Grow up.
She talks about "gaslighting." Example: "A white woman might touch a black woman's hair while telling her it's pretty."
According to her rules, "this is inappropriate behavior."
My wife LOVESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS when people complement (or even touch) her hair. She has 20 wigs and finds it hilarious how easy it is to fool white people.
Of course, every person who gave this book one star is doing one or more of the dreaded Ds:
DENY/DETRACT, DISTRACT, DISCLAIM, AND DISAPPEAR.
In my case, I commit the DISCLAIM sin because I say I'm not a racist because my wife is a black African.
You're damned either way if your skin is white, which, frankly, is a racist idea.
The author spouts a "truism" from one of her friends, who has some color. She said, "If the white people in the room are happy and comfortable, chances are the people of color in the room are not."
Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight. Of course, I'm sure some POC feel that way, but to imply that it's universal is absurd.
My wife spit out her drink when she heard that line - and laughed so hard.
It's also racist to suggest that POC and whites all think the same way.
Yes, this book is cringeworthy.
I feel guilty about blasting this book because Connelly means well.
She wants to improve this planet and race relations.
She wants white people to be more self-aware of their privilege and sensitive.
These are noble goals.
The problem is her execution is atrocious and offputting.
Racism is terrible. So is this book.
VERDICT: 1 out of 5 stars.
Herman Narula's Virtual Society book examines the metaverse. Chapter 1 begins unexpectedly. It discusses the ancient site of Gobekli Tepe. WTF?
However, it makes sense when you realize that the people who built that holy site were imagining a virtual world, just like the pharaohs of Egypt who built pyramids hoping to go to another universe.
He writes, "We have always had the capacity as a society to believe in, and to imbue with a kind of half-life, worlds of events, ideas, and people that are not strictly real. We have engaged this capacity for millennia."
Before giving my verdict, I'll quote fascinating parts of the book to give you an idea about what it covers and says. I bolded parts that I find memorable:
In October 2022, two books about Mars were released. I'll review each and then give my recommendation on which is best.
The Red Planet is a Mars guidebook, revealing Mars's geologic history and current state. The second book, Dinner on Mars, explores leading-edge AgTech to reveal how we will feed a Mars settlement—and ten billion Earthlings too.
I plan to interview Simon Morden about his book so let's start with that.
The Red Planet: A Natural History of Mars by Simon Morden
I've read many books about Mars, so I expected to learn little from this book.
I was so wrong!
This was a tour guidebook revealing many facts about the red planet. For instance:
Many know that Mars has the Solar System's biggest volcano.
But I didn't know that Olympus Mons is NOT the tallest mountain in the Solar System.
It's the second tallest.
Mars's Hellas is the solar system's largest single extant crater. 2300 km across by 9 km deep.
Mars has the biggest canyon we know of. Valles Marineris is 2000 km east-west, 200 km wide, and 10 km deep.
Mars's Great Dichotomy explains it's uneven.
The south is 2 km higher than the north.
Can methane appear on Mars without volcanic activity?
It has 28 large volcanoes.
Thin lava made flat volcanos with 4-degree slopes, so if you stood on a Martian volcano, you probably wouldn't realize it.
Perchlorates are chlorine-rich compounds that are lethal at Mars-level doses.
Solar flares increase the solar radiation 200 times because Mars lacks a magnetic field & its atmosphere is too thin.
Inhaling the dust is a killer: it produces silicosis.
This book is readable and fast-paced.
VERDICT: 5/5 STARS
Dinner on Mars: The Technologies That Will Feed the Red Planet and Transform Agriculture on Earth by Lenore Newman and Evan D.G. Fraser
I adored this book too! I've read many books on Mars, and this one taught me so many things! If the book above taught me about Mars' geology, then this book is all about food on Mars! What will Martians eat!?
I'll quote my favorite passages below:
Perhaps Carl Sagan was right when he wrote, “For all its material advantages, the sedentary life has left us edgy, unfulfilled. Even after 400 generations in villages and cities, we haven’t forgotten. The open road still softly calls, like a nearly forgotten song of childhood. We invest far-off places with a certain romance. This appeal, I suspect, has been meticulously crafted by natural selection as an essential element in our survival. Long summers, mild winters, rich harvests, plentiful game — none of them lasts forever. It is beyond our powers to predict the future. Catastrophic events have a way of sneaking up on us, of catching us unaware. Your own life, or your band’s, or even your species’ might be owed to a restless few — drawn, by a craving they can hardly articulate or understand, to undiscovered lands and new worlds.”
It should be possible to put cyanobacteria at the base of the Martian community and use it to turn locally found Martian ingredients into a food system that could function without regular supply runs from Earth.
The bewildering diversity of life we witness is made up of some relatively commonplace atoms. Here the scientist’s job can scan the genetics of plant life and then show how these basic building blocks can be assembled into new things — new nanoparticles, new forms of protein.
People are drawn to spaces with plants, water they can touch, places to sit alone and with others, and places seeded with food. Others have built upon Whyte’s work to show people can stand small living quarters if they have views of nature.
Martians will eat something closer to a nutritionally “recommended” diet rather than indulging in what is today the average Earthling’s diet.
Plants can turn only 3 to 6 percent of the total solar radiation that lands on their leaves into sugars (aka, chemical energy).
The bottom line is that Mars generally receives somewhere around 50 percent of the solar insolation of Earth. This means that putting a greenhouse at the Martian equator would be somewhat analogous to putting a greenhouse on Devon Island in Northern Canada.
C4 plants — can keep photosynthesis going even when it gets hot. Overall, only about 3 percent of flowering plants are C4, but together this group produces about 20 percent of global photosynthesis.
Every single input can be used with total efficiency, and that every output is imagined fulfilling multiple purposes. Maybe it’s this mindset — more than the technologies themselves — that we need to adopt on Earth?
Our ability to produce [lactase] fades with time, and as it goes, so too does our ability to digest milk and other dairy. Globally, about two-thirds of the human population react to milk in this way, though some populations can stomach dairy better than others
Cellular agriculture (cell-ag). This emerging technology proposes to produce meat and milk but without any animals.
Perfect Day began selling cell-ag ice cream in the U.S. during the summer of 2020, followed by cream cheese in 2021.
“But why would we take animal farming, which is horridly inefficient and ethically bankrupt, with us to a new planet?
Eat Just and Future Fields are working on churning out bulk plant-based
Mosa Meat and by 2020 was boasting he could produce the same burger patty for about ten Euros. Mosa is currently working on perfecting producing cellular animal fat (to mix in with the muscle cells) and is also working to perfect the process of brewing vegan growth serums. Post admits to being on a crusade to ensure that there are a lot fewer cows on the planet in the future. He argues that today’s cattle population of one and a half billion cows needs to drop to about 30,000.
“Animal agriculture uses huge amounts of land, energy, and water. I know you think there are some situations where animals can be raised in ways that meet environmental or ethical standards but, overall, the way the world produces animals today is madness.
If I’m going to eat fish on Mars, I want it to be grown in the lab and printed by a 3D printer.”
Finless Foods, which is working on replicating bluefin tuna; BlueNalu, which is planning to offer a variety of seafoods; Shiok Meats, a company pioneering the production of shrimp, crab, and lobster; and of course, Wildtype, among others. Finless even sent cells to the International Space Station where they were cultured and shaped into spheres using a 3D printer.
At any given time, there are twenty-three billion chickens pecking away somewhere on the planet, destined to serve our insatiable desire for cheap protein.
In 2017, Eat Just announced they would be growing chicken nuggets using cellular agriculture. The result was 70 percent synthetic (cellular) meat,
Eat Just’s chicken for public sale, and restaurant 1880 became the first place on Earth where one could find cultured meat on the menu.
Heme is what makes meat red, but it is also found in plants. Impossible uses heme found in soy, but companies are increasingly making their own heme using a process similar to the fermentation.
Globally producing analogues for beef (Mosa Meat, Aelph Eatery, Upside Foods), chicken (Eat Just, SuperMeat), seafood (Wildtype, Finless Foods, BlueNalu, Shiok), leather (Modern Meadow), gelatin (Geltor), dairy (Perfect Day,TurtleTree), and eggs (The EVERY Company, Eat Just). But the industry, aside from some outliers, is concentrated in a few key geographic areas, including California’s Bay Area, Singapore, Israel, and the Netherland’s Golden Triangle.
Is it possible to design a system that is both economically efficient and closed-loop here on Earth as well as in space?
Aquaponics, these operations attempt to mimic closed-loop systems by bringing fish and vegetable production together under one roof.
For breakfast, the average Martian would probably consume some kind of nutrient-dense bar that would be algae-based. This might be flavored with insect protein but most of the insects would be used to feed fish.
When it comes to lunch, hyper-fresh salads
Along with the salad, we imagine folks eating a 3D-printed fish or chicken cutlet where the proteins are either grown in a bioreactor or are derived by yeasts.
For additional protein, there would likely be some yeast-derived cheese added to the salad.
Bread products, however, are probably going to be scarce given that it would be difficult and expensive to set up domed habitats capable of growing any quantity of wheat, corn, rice, or barley. Pasta and baked goods will be a luxury to be savored. But at lunch or dinner, there might be potato pancakes or some small pastry made from potato flour.
At dinner, BaseTownies would sit down to a printed chicken breast and another salad, perhaps washed down with a glass of faux dairy milk or some juiced berries from the vertical farming operations. For a special occasion, the inhabitants might enjoy an actual real-life fish.
For dessert, sweetener proteins synthesized in the biofoundries might be mixed with synthetic egg proteins and a little bit of (very valuable) flour to create small biscuits that would accompany ice cream or a milkshake (again made with yeast-derived dairy proteins).
For an evening greasy snack,seasoned fried protein balls (salmon, beef, and chicken flavored) and fries could be common.
Overall, the Martian diet we foresee is likely to be sensible, tasty, and well-balanced. The biggest difference between what we are imagining and what we eat on Earth today is the lack of livestock products and the relative dearth of simple carbs. But, over time, we think the inhabitants of Mars will not miss these products all that much. Folks there will be, by necessity, eating a diet much more aligned with what nutritionists and national food guides recommend we eat. If
Our key message is that it is on Earth where this food revolution will have the biggest impact.
Ten species dominate about 39 percent of the planet — 14 percent dedicated to cropland and another 25 percent held for forage and grazing (that is almost entirely devoted to cattle).
It is the abundance of land, water, soil, and species — an evolutionary heritage that Mars will never have — that has allowed us the luxury of developing food and farming systems that are staggeringly inefficient.
VERDICT: The authors didn't set out to be vegans, but that's one of the many fascinating conclusions of this book. Because resources are abundant on Earth, we can afford to be incredibly inefficient. Eating meat is the most inefficient way to get protein. That's the lesson of planning to eat dinner on Mars. Martians will teach Earthlings how to grow food 1000x more efficiently! 5/5 stars! PERFECT!
Which book is better?
It's hard to say because I gave both books five stars.
It depends on what interests you. Those who want to understand Mars's geology and geography should read The Red Planet. Those interested in learning how we might live on Mars should read Dinner on Mars.
Without knowing what interests you, I recommend Dinner on Mars over The Red Planet because it has profound implications for eating on Earth.
Fans of Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Paul Allen, Richard Branson, and the privatization of space should celebrate. Three recent books document the 21st-century private space race.
One is Christian Davenport’s book, Space Barons: Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, and the Quest to Colonize the Cosmos.
The other is by Tim Fernholz's Rocket Billionaires: Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and the New Space Race.
And the most recent is Ashlee Vance's When the Heavens Went on Sale.
Which one should you read?
When the Heavens Went on Sale
Among the three books, I recommend Ashlee Vance's When the Heavens Went on Sale. Although all three books are fabulous, I prefer Vance's book because he focuses exclusively on lesser known companies, such as:
- Astra
- Firefly
- Planet Labs
- Rocket Lab
I knew little about these innovative companies, so I loved taking a deep dive into them.
Another reason why Lance's book is best is that it's the most recent. It's available May 9, 2023, whereas the other books have been out for a few years. In the fast-changing space industry, it's best to get the latest info.
I enjoy reading books about the war, the military, special operations, and the navy.
Publishers send me Advanced Reader Copies (ARC).
I review them on this page on a 1-5 scale (5 = best).
A few books have long articles and a podcast devoted to them.
That's where I interviewed the author.
I summarize and link to the full review and podcast in those cases.
The books below are in reverse chronological order.
In other words, the books I have read most recently are at the top.
If you have feedback, write it in the comments below.
If you want me to review your book, contact me.
U. S. Naval Power in the 21st Century: A New Strategy for Facing the Chinese and Russian Threat by Brent D. Sadler
Brent Sadler summarizes how the US Navy needs to be in this century.
It's essential reading for military and political strategists.
Here are three quotations that I loved:
Sir Walter Raleigh declared in the early 17th century that "whoever commands the sea, command the trade; whoever commands the trade of the world commands the riches of the world, and consequetly the world itself."
"The object of naval warefare is the control of communications, and not, as in land warfare, the conquest of territory." - Principles of Maritime Strategy, 1911
"Whoever said the pen is mightier than the sword obviously never encountered automatic weapons." - Douglas MacArthur
VERDICT: 4 out of 5 stars.
British Paratroopers in Action
Jason Wood's Paras in Action: Ready for Anything – The Parachute Regiment Through the Eyes of Those Who Served is perfect for someone interested in:
- Paratroopers
- British military history
- Special operations
- Elite combat units
- Skydiving warriors
Wood documents a century of paratrooper activity, including:
- WWII
- Cyprus
- The Falklands
- The Balkans
- Afghanistan
- Iraq
- The 2021 withdrawal from Afghanistan
- The Circuit (private protection)
Occasionally, Wood reflects on the training.
This tome salutes the brave warriors the fall from the sky.
I would have liked Wood to explain how the Paras differ from US Airmen PJs, Airborne Rangers, and US Special Operations.
VERDICT: 4 out of 5 stars.
What the British Navy did to end the slave trade
Read my full review of Royal Navy Versus the Slave Traders.
My one-sentence summary is: author Bernard Edwards supplies ample evidence that Europeans, especially the British Navy, were instrumental in ending the slave trade, despite the efforts of Africans and others to keep it going.
VERDICT: 4 out of 5 stars
Regarding slavery, the standard narrative is that Europeans were the bad guys and Africans were the victims.
In Royal Navy Versus the Slave Traders, author Bernard Edwards supplies ample evidence that Europeans, especially the British Navy, were instrumental in ending the slave trade, despite the efforts of Africans and others to keep it going.
Some memorable parts of the book:
"Contrary to popular belief, slavery in Africa was not initiated by the white man but was homegrown, often the consequence of intertribal warfare. Long before the arrival of foreigners on their shores, it was the habit of local chieftains to make slaves of prisoners taken in battle. Any surviving men, women and children on the losing side were enslaved as a matter of course and for as long as their conquerors wished. In the rare times when peace reigned between tribes, the shortfall was made up by enslaving those who committed crimes against the community."
The patent-pending capsule holds up to 120 words; enough storage for 10 seed phrases of 12 words each.
- The capsule is hacker-proof, fire-proof, water-proof, impact-proof and shock-proof
- Rugged aluminum and stainless steel construction; seed phrase strips are able to withstand 2192 degrees Fahrenheit
- Compatible with all cryptocurrency recovery seed phrases and key types including Hex, BIP39, Alphanumeric, and all wallets
- The capsule has additional storage space inside for other valuables such as gold and silver coins, jewelry, and documents
Buy the Capsule on Amazon.
Product Dimensions 10.25 x 2 x 2 inches
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In the USA, trade crypto with Kraken
Outside the USA, trade crypto with Binance and get 5% off your trading fees!
For backpacking gear, buy from Gossamer Gear
The Ballet Wallet is a fabulous solution for:
- Novices
- Those with under $100k in crypto
- Want to have some of their crypto easily accessible or transferable, but they don't want to have 100% of it on their smartphone.
- Gifting crypto
- Inheritance
Ballet Wallet could be used in conjunction with hardware wallets like the Ledger or Coldcard.
If you liked my unbiased review of the Ballet Wallet and you'd like to buy one or some other crypto wallet, please use the appropriate affiliate link below to help support this channel and get a discount.
Prices sometimes change after I made the video:
- Buy a Ballet wallet direct from the manufacturer & 5% off.
- Buy a Ballet wallet from Amazon in 1 unit ($35) or 3-pack ($80-100) or more.
BUY COINKITE'S COLDCARD or OPENDIME.
BUY A LEDGER.
Securing your cryptocurrency is paramount, but there is no one-size-fits-all solution.
Check to make sure:
-
QR Code sticker hasn’t been peeled off
-
The passphrase scratch-off has no scratches
-
All the serial numbers are on the top of the wallet
-
(Optional) Use a UV light to make sure the Ballet ‘B’ logo and the words ‘BITCOIN’ are shown on the top QR Code sticker
I review:
-
How to download the Ballet Crypto App
-
How to add the Ballet wallet into the Ballet Crypto App
-
Show how the app looks like
I was not able to:
-
Show the ‘Buy Crypto’ and ‘Exchange’ functions
-
Show that you can add in different types of cryptocurrencies
Things I mentioned
-
Brief introduction of Ballet (when it started, who the founder is, etc.)
-
The most easy-to-use non-electronic, physical wallet
-
It has the same level of security as other wallets
-
The two components of the encrypted private key and the passphrase are created in two different locations and have never been interacted with each other
-
The actual unencrypted private key has never been revealed until the user signs and sends a transaction
-
Safe to use, easy to use, and great for gifting
-
No need to write down or memorize a 24-word mnemonic seed phrase
-
Great for long term cold storage
Additional info:
-
Follow Ballet on Twitter.
-
The Two-Factor Key Generation process.
-
The open-source decryption/verification website tool (recommended to use while disconnected from the internet).
- https://www.bitaddress.org/
- https://github.com/
bitcoinjs/bip38 - https://iancoleman.io/
bitcoin-key-compression/
More info
You can post comments, ask questions, and sign up for my newsletter at http://wanderlearn.com.
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Rewards start at just $2/month!
Affiliate links
Start your own podcast with the same company I use, Podbean, and get one month free!
https://www.podbean.com/ftapon
In the USA, trade crypto with Kraken
https://r.kraken.com/c/2226643/687189/10583
Outside the USA, trade crypto with Binance and get 5% off your trading fees!
One of the best things about cryptocurrency is that you can self-custody your assets.
One of the worst things about cryptocurrency is that self-custody is complicated.
Although it is much easier now than ever, it's still cumbersome and NOT user-friendly.
Opolo is changing that.
But is their hardware wallet solution worth $250 when you can buy a Ledger Nano X for less than half the price?
Watch the head-to-head matchup between the Opolo and Ledger and decide for yourself.
00:00 Intro
01:30 Randomized keyboard
02:45 Sharding backup cards
07:40 Passphrases
13:28 RFID backup issue
15:00 Security
17:48 Price
18:20 Two minor flaws
20:10 Verdict
Enjoy my comprehensive video review of Coinkite's SEEDPLATE.
It's a 3x5-inch metal plate with prefabricated etching so that you can stamp out your cryptocurrency wallet's 24-word seed phrase.
Having a hardware wallet is a fantastic way to manage your private bitcoin keys and sign transactions.
But what happens if your hardware wallet (or software wallet) breaks or gets lost or stolen?
You can recover it with your 24-word (or sometimes 12-word) seed phrase.
Experts urge you NOT to write those 24 words on ANY electronic device.
Paper can age, burn, or become unreadable if it gets wet in a flood.
What's the solution?
Etching your seed phrase on metal tough enough to survive most disastrous events.
You might want to buy 2-4 SEEDPLATES.
Why?
First, if you use a passphrase on your wallet for added security, then you'll need to back up those words just as securely as your 24-word seed phrase (assuming you've associated BTC with that passphrase).
Second, if you're super paranoid, you'll want to stamp out a pair of SEEDPLATES and place them in separate locations in case one place suffers a nuclear attack that pulverizes your SEEDPLATE.
Yeah, that's an extreme measure, but if you're worried about losing your bitcoin or crypto, then this is the ultimate prudent step.
Each SEEDPLATE costs less than $49 if you buy it using my affiliate link.
You can also buy an Automatic Center Punch for $9 at the Coinkite store.
Lastly, are you looking for the BIP-39 word list that I referred to a couple of times in the video? Here you go:
https://github.com/bitcoin/bips/blob/master/bip-0039/english.txt
It's the 2,048-word dictionary that you'll need to decode the 4-letter words on a SEEDPLATE.
For example: if your SEEDPLATE's first word is ABAN, then you look it up on the list, and it's ABANDON.
If it's PION, then you look for the only word on the BIP-39 list that starts with those 4 letters. Answer: PIONEER.
No word on the BIP-39 list shares the first 4 characters of another word on the list.
That's why you only need to write the first 4 letters.
More info
You can post comments, ask questions, and sign up for my newsletter at http://wanderlearn.com.
If you like this podcast, subscribe and share!
On social media, my username is always ftapon. Follow me on:
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- Gossamer Gear's Crotch Pot - Use Body Heat to Cook
- How and When To Use Opendime - A Bitcoin Piggybank v4
- Coldcard MK3 vs Ledger's Nano S & X Hardware Wallets
- Review of Gossamer Gear's Ranger 35 Backpack
- The Ape that Understood the Universe by Stewart-Williams
- Harari's '21 Lessons for the 21st Century' book
- Michio Kaku's Take on 'The Future of Humanity'
- 'Figures in a Landscape' Book by Paul Theroux is Great
- Who Should Read 'North' by Scott Jurek
- 'Saving Africa' book by Timoleon Amessa
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