Category Archives: Non-fiction

Steve Brusatte – The Rise and Reign of the Mammals (2022) Review

Posted on January 26, 2023 by Jeroen Admiraal

As a kind of sequel to his previous book, The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs (2018), popular science writer Steve Brusatte now looks at the evolutionary history of the mammals. The previous book even ended with a cliffhanger: a … Continue reading →

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The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs (2018) by Steve Brusatte

Posted on August 1, 2022 by Jeroen Admiraal

Before there was fantasy and science fiction, before there was literature, before there were learned gentlemen, before there was agriculture, before there were humans, before there were freaking capuchin monkeys, before there was grass, before there were, in some cases, … Continue reading →

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Contingency and Convergence: Toward a Cosmic Biology of Body and Mind (2020), by Russell Powell

Posted on June 20, 2022 by Jeroen Admiraal

Behind the abstract title and the stuffy academic cover of this book lies a world of deep thought and wonder. Written by one person, Rachell Powell (formerly Russell as it still says on the cover), a book like this is … Continue reading →

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In Plain Sight: An Investigation into UFOs and Impossible Science, by Ross Coulthart (review)

Posted on August 9, 2021 by Jeroen Admiraal

First, A Brief Dive Into the UFO rabbit hole  Before I talk about the book, I will give a story on my own short excursion into the topic. Interest in UFOs has exploded lately and I briefly joined the ride. … Continue reading →

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Trillion Year Spree: The History of Science Fiction (1986), by Brian W. Aldiss and David Wingrove

Posted on July 5, 2021 by Jeroen Admiraal

Brian Aldiss’ Trillion Year Spree is a mammoth narrative history of the genre of science fiction, written together with author David Wingrove. It is in fact an updated version of Billion Year Spree, by Aldiss alone. Aldiss is, of course, … Continue reading →

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Peter Frankopan – The New Silk Roads (2018) Review

Posted on January 7, 2019 by Jeroen Admiraal

Peter Frankopan’s The Silk Roads: A New History of the World became a very popular history book and deservedly so. It might be the best book about general history of the world that I have ever read. Not only gives … Continue reading →

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Peter Godfrey-Smith – Other Minds: The Octopus and the Evolution of Intelligent Life (2017) Review

Posted on November 21, 2018 by Jeroen Admiraal

The octopus is the closest we will come to meeting an intelligent alien. The fact that the octopus shows any kind of intelligence has implications on a cosmic level. First, you have to realize that the octopus is incredibly far … Continue reading →

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Yuval Noah Harari – 21 Lessons for the 21st Century (2018) Review

Posted on November 13, 2018 by Jeroen Admiraal

Historian Yuval Noah Harari made a name for himself with his successful non-fiction book Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind. A very readable and easy to understand view of the rise of humanity, yet also brimming with fresh perspectives. Then … Continue reading →

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Stephen Fry – Mythos (2017) Review

Posted on October 29, 2018 by Jeroen Admiraal

Seeing as I went to Greece on a holiday for the first time, wanting to see the old Greek temples and landscapes, I thought that that was a good excuse to pick up Stephen Fry’s latest book, Mythos. Fry, surely … Continue reading →

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Max Tegmark – Life 3.0 (2017) Review

Posted on September 3, 2018 by Jeroen Admiraal

The decades after WW2, the 1950s and 1960s, was a time when many people found themselves rather stunned by the leaps of technological achievement and the rapid changes in society that had taken place. First there was radio, television, automobiles, … Continue reading →

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