Mere Mortals Book Reviews

This episode of the Mere Mortals book review covers 'Elon Musk' by Ashlee Vance, published in 2015. The book is a biography of the billionaire and founder (somewhat disputed) of SpaceX, Tesla & SolarCity. We are taken through a journey from his early childhood in South Africa, rich tech startup kid to fighting for his businesses during the 2008 GFC and beyond. A somewhat polarising and temperamental figure at times, the book gives a good insight into his life as well as some of the personality

This episode of the Mere Mortals book review covers 'On Liberty' by John Stuart Mill, published in 1859. The book is an essay of his ideas regarding freedom, liberty, the shortcomings of democracy, role of the government and human rights. It is split into 5 parts: introduction, of the liberty of thought and discussion, of individuality as one of the elements of well being, of the limits to the authority of society over the individual and applications.The book is extended in its reach and covers a

This episode of the Mere Mortals book review covers 'Scale: The Universal Laws of Life And Death In Organisms, Cities And Companies' by Geoffrey West. This book promised to deliver so much, but unfortunately fell a little bit short. In it a theoretical physicist turned biologist tries to discover what characteristics of animal, cities and companies are similar independent of size. He manages to show this in some very convincing graphs that occur throughout the book, one of the books actual strong

This episode of the Mere Mortal book review looks at 'The Rape of Nanking' written by Iris Chang and 'Man's Search For Meaning' by Viktor Frankl. Both books are focused on massacres that occurred during WWII, but take different perspectives. Chang's book is more of a history of the event, a way to highlight to the world the tragedy in Nanking. Frankl's book deals with the reason why we live and is a personalised account of his journey through the concentration camps as well as a treatise on

Two books for the price of one!This episode of the Mere Mortals Book Reviews looks at 'The Hero With A Thousand Faces' by Joseph Campbell and 'Black Rednecks And White Liberals' by Thomas Sowell. Campbell explores the landscape of myth and story, following the archetypal journey of the hero throughout it's many phases. This book is somewhat known as a classic and its influence can still be seen today. Sowell's book is a collection of 6 essays: the similarity between redneck and black culture,

In this book review Kyrin goes over the books 'The Day Of The Triffids' by John Wyndham & 'A Portrait Of The Artist As A Young Man' by James Joyce. The first is a story of an apocalyptic world populated with dangerous plants and the second is of a young Irish boy growing into a young man. Neither books were spectacular in his opinion but did raise some questions of ethics being context dependent and the psychology of spiralling downwards. Hope these brought some insights into your own

Welcome to the Mere Mortals Book Review channel!'Island' by Aldous Huxley is a utopian world set on the island of Pala. Will Farnaby is an embittered journalist who arrives to convince the ruler to sell the oil rights to his boss. As he stays longer he learns about the social setup and interconnected community of the inhabitants. The main themes focus on the interweaving of religion/meditation/psychedelics and how they play a part in the structure of the island.I summarised the book as follows. "An

'Ordinary Men' by Christopher R. Browning details the experiences of Reserve Police Battalion 101 during the occupation of Poland by Nazi Germany. It examines the role played by the battalion in the murder/exportation of the Jewish people in this era. Browning shares his thoughts on some of the psychological and ethical issues raised by the circumstances.I summarised the book as follows. "This was a sombre and difficult read. It's extremely detailed so be prepared to learn in excruciating detail