Books Set in the World

Humble Pi: When Math Goes Wrong in the Real World, by Matt Parker (2019)

 

I am not a mathematician, but my husband is.  His knowledge of math, however, has not rubbed off on me.  I picked up this book, though, because I was amused by the cover ~ It’s of a bicycle with square wheels.

 

The author, Matt Parker, a comedian and former math teacher, managed to make the math we use in our daily lives (even unwittingly), come to life through examples.  He uses may examples of when humans fail to take math into consideration, and projects fail, sometimes with tragic results.  He also explained how days, months and years are calculated.  Prior to the Julian calendar, named in honor of Julius Caesar, the lengths of months was somewhat arbitrary and political.  He explained the math behind the Y2K scare.  A similar problem may result in 2038!

 

I can’t say I understood everything in this book, but I can say it was a fun read and I did learn a lot.  It was also laugh-out-loud funny!

 

Read: June 18, 2021

 

4 Stars

Books Set in North America, United States, Philadelphia and New York City

Oreo, by Fran Ross (1974)

 

What’s not to love about a novel that, within its first few pages contains the following: 

 

There is no weather per se in this book.  …  Assume whatever season you like throughout.  Summer makes the most sense …  That way pages do not have to be used up describing people taking off and putting on overcoats.

 

This novel is a very funny novel about relations between African-Americans and Jews.  Fran Ross (1935 ~ 1985) was the daughter of a Jewish father and an African-American mother.  She had also been a comedy writer for Richard Pryor, hence, her humor in this book.

 

The heroine of the novel is also the daughter of a Jewish father and Black mother.  Although her given name was Christine Clark, she was known by family and friends as Oreo.  Ostensibly, it was because her grandmother called her Oriole after the bird.  But, of course, this is a nod to the fact that the name is also a racial slur.

 

Her parent’s marriage causes concern on both sides of the family.  Oreo is raised by her maternal grandmother after her father deserts the family, but not before he leaves his legacy of Yiddish words and phrases, and her mother travels with a theater troupe.

 

When she reaches of age, Oreo sets off for New York City to find her father and his new family.  This book is hard to describe, as it is written in such a humorous manner, complete with graphs, tables and mathematical equations.  It addresses heavy issues on race relations and is quite relevant in todays atmosphere.

 

Read:  August 3, 2020

 

5 Stars

Books Set in Asia: Singapore

Crazy Rich Asians, by Kevin Kwan (2013)

I picked up this book because I know that is a soon-to-be released movie.  

This is an amusing book about the adult children of very, very rich families. The rich families in the novel are Chinese living in Singapore, but probably the children of the very, very rich families anywhere would be essentially the same.  The novel essentially follows the lives of three intertwined ultra-wealthy families.

Rachel Chu and Nicholas Young are professors at a university in New York City. Rachel is 29 and Nicholas is in his early 30s.  They have been living together for the past two years.  When Nicholas invites Rachel to spend the summer with him in Singapore, she jumps at the chance to meet his family.  Little does she know, however, that he is of THE Young Family.  She gets her first hint when the plane tickets are in a suite on the flight to Asia.

Upon arriving in Singapore, Rachel and Nicholas attend a gathering at the palace of Nicholas’s grandmother.  She is in awe of the magnificent surroundings.  Nicholas’s mother, however, is certain that Rachel a gold-digger and out to snare her son, so she leaves the country so isn’t present to welcome her son and his girlfriend.  She also hires a private eye to investigate Rachel’s background. 

Rachel is introduced to Nicholas’s friends.  Nicholas is to be the best man at his close friend’s wedding.  Rachel is invited to a bachelorette party with the bride and her friends.  The bridal party quickly recognized that Rachel is not of their social class, and treat her very poorly.  Rachel soon sees how competitive and catty the other young women.

We are also introduced to Astrid, Nicholas’s cousin, who is married to Michael. They try to live on Michael’s salary, but Astrid still sneaks off to Paris twice a year to spend literally millions on clothing. 

Also, very amusingly in this novel, the author includes footnotes to explain translations of Chinese words and phrases, or to provide details into the lives of such high-culture and society.  His explanations are often very funny.

What will the detective find out about Rachel’s past?  Does so much money really make the families happy?  How do marriages work when one partner is so wealthy and the other is from a more modest background?

This is a very entertaining novel about the extravagances of the super rich.

Read: July 19, 2018

4 Stars

Books Set In the United States

I am America (And So Can You), by Stephen Colbert (2007)


Read: March 12, 2011