The Invention of Nature

Oh, what a book! I am not sure if I hated it. This is a biography of Alexander von Humboldt, and I really like him. I have very fond childhood memories of going to the Museum of San Ildefonso to see an extremely beautiful exhibition of his life and work. But this book!
  I find it extremely repetitive in the most banal way. This novel could have most certainly been reduced to a short story without losing any of the main things that were said in it. The main point of the novel should definitely be restated here: it would be cool if more people knew about Alexander von Humboldt. I am actually not sure if that was the main point of the novel, but that is what I would like more people to know.
  Also, I really did not appreciate the many vague insinuations that Alexander von Humboldt was not heterosexual. I think that if that is what the author wanted to say, she should have said it explicitly. In conversation with my friend Jo, she pointed out that maybe nobody knows, and because he lived so long ago there might not be many records in that regard. Is that what the author wanted to convey? Who knows!

How to Win Friends and Influence People

First of all, thank you Chris for my wonderful birthday present. It took me a while to read this book, mainly because I have been lazy and I have not been reading as much as I would have liked.
  I did like this book. It very much reminded me of John Bridge's How To Be a Gentleman. Except this book goes more into the theory of dealing with other people, gives example scenarios, and strategies to solve particular problems. Overall, they are good advice. An issue I found with several of those strategies, however, is that they can be severely optimistic in what they are trying to achieve. The book does tend to be somehow repetitive, which makes me think that maybe the book would have benefited from being a little shorter.
  Certainly, I recommend this book to whomever wants a reminder on how to be a nice person. I was many times surprised by how often the book made me aware of my rude manners. I will try to be better.