Recensioni e commenti

A captivating read. Patti Smith has so many good stories to tell!

Obviously I've only started the book because I was captivated by the eye candy of the movie, but surprisingly I ended up reading it in one sitting because it was very captivating. There's something for everybody.

«Water is the least favourable condition for life on Arrakis. And remember that growth itself can produce unfavourable conditions unless treated with extreme care.»

A good reference, mostly because it's so compact and well thought out. I've not managed to use it that much in practice, but it can be a good starting point for conversations or for self-improvement if you're confused about where you stand.

Rileggere Lessico famigliare non è stata una delusione. Si può godere la pure bellezza linguistica, oppure assaporare l'immagine di una vita famigliare molto particolare eppure molto semplice, o ancora meravigliarsi della macrostoria di cui apprendiamo tramite questa microstoria, come l'episodio della fuga di Turati.

Not my favourite Virginia Woolf, to be honest, but you can't avoid reading Orlando. A remarkable play with time.

A classic of sociology and the study of the commons, which remains captivating and entertaining. Even though the forest ranger is nowadays a mere metaphor of the challenges of administration and regulation, particularly in the area of the commons, I've also learnt a lot about forest management in the USA. The book is packed with figures and concrete data but remains very enjoyable to read.

I'm a broken record on this, but one of my take aways was how important it is for a central bureaucracy to consider the cost of information when working on such a huge space. The passages on the importance of preserving records and local knowledge, and the difficulty of training new rangers, may sound trivial, but I believe they're crucial.

Spiega molto bene l'evoluzione delle stelle; peccato non aver fatto a tempo a finirlo.

One of the best summaries of ancient philosophy I've ever read. Plato gets completely destroyed, and he deserves it.

From chapter 9: «Aestheticism and radicalism must lead us to jettison reason, and to replace it by a desperate hope for political miracles. This irrational attitude which springs from an intoxication with dreams of a beautiful world is what I call Romanticism. It may seek its heavenly city in the past or in the future; it may preach "back to nature" or "forward to a world of love and beauty"; but its appeal is always to our emotions rather than to reason. Even with the best intentions of making heaven on earth it only succeeds in makin it a hell–that hell which man alone prepares for its fellow-men.»

Noioso... non l'ho finito, non riuscivo a procedere a una velocità decente.

Kropotkin is a classic, of course, but what I didn't expect is that this book is packed with data and and historical information about different land management structures which existed across Russia before a specific economic model was imposed on everybody. I wish Kropotkin had had the resources to conduct studies of the sort Elinor Ostrom did on Swiss pastures. Now so much has been lost forever.

Sostanzialmente una serie di definizioni. Probabilmente è inevitabile che sia interessante solo per gli specialisti.

Back in 2004 I had great hopes for John Kerry, and his digital campaign was very innovative, so I was interested in seeing his take on the classic genre, "memoir to re-write history and raise the profile of one's late career". The book is well written, no doubt, but it remains a bit hard to reconcile the anti-Vietnam war beginnings with everything happened afterwards.

It was nevertheless very interesting to learn about a number of episodes in decades of behind the scenes. There are a few remarkable admissions.