DMPL Book Chat discussion

See which books staff read for this challenge below. If you've completed this challenge, let us know which book you read and what you thought about it! Also, don't forget to register for the 2022 Reading Challenge at dmpl.org/readingchallenge.

I read The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce. Story was very interesting and kept at a good pace.

For this category, I read Queen of the Sea by Dylan Meconis, which captured my attention when I walked by it at the library. It's a children's graphic novel inspired by the exile of Queen Elizabeth. It was sweet with an interesting plot with some humor and I would recommend it to both adults and children!

I read 'A History of π' by Petr Beckmann based on its cover design (math nerd). As expected, I found the book to be a thorough exploration of the math and mathematicians behind key logical discoveries of π. However, I was pleasantly surprised to find the math history coincide with political history and commentary.

I found the author's commentary added context to the history being presented, broke up literal digit hunters, and provided humor throughout, often time making light of humanity's shortcomings throughout history. I leave a passage that resonates with my current feelings toward society that unfortunately seems to be a reoccurring theme in Western Civilization:

'It has again become fashionable to blame science for the Luddites who were uneducated, miserable, and desperate. I have none for the college-educated illiterates who drivel about "too much science and technology" because they want to conserve their life style by denying it for everybody else.'