I was in love with reading at first. I started reading at the age of four and practically did not stop for 14 years. Every extra second I found was dedicated to reading. Writing came later. I had only written in my diaries for the first 24 years of my life, but then blogs became …
Author Archives: ali.farnoud
Book Review: The Nest by Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney
As an exclusive non-fiction reader trying to ease his way back to fiction, I am picking the fiction books in our home library one by one. There are those that are hard to read, and then there are those whose prose feels like a beautiful dance to the eyes. The Nest was of the latter …
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Paper Planes
It was in the fifth grade when the paper plane craze started. Everyday during recess, we pulled a page out of our notepads and made a paper plane, each of us hoping to send it further than our classmates’. Every evening, we went home and worked on our designs. That was when I first heard …
Where the Crawdads Sing – Book Review
Years before I was born, there was some sort of a “marsh people” in my town. There was a little island where the poorest of the poor had moved to. They would fish for themselves, live and mingle amongst themselves, and were completely disconnected from the town people. A bridge was installed in the 60s …
Book Review: Educated by Dr. Tara Westover
Tara Westover writes her autobiography is Educated, and like all memories, they are fluid, fuzzy at times, and dependent on others’ accounts of the events. One thing is for sure though: Dr. Westover did not have a good childhood. She did not go to school to experience different upbringings, was constantly oppressed in a male-dominated …
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Sun Tzu’s Art of Project Management
Neil deGrasse Tyson has mastered the art of explaining complicated topics to a non-technical crowd. For that reason, I follow him and his speeches. He once explained String Theory on the RadioLab podcast by describing the movement of his fingers. I could not see him on a radio show but still followed the motions perfectly …
The Meaning of Life, Copenhagen Version
For as long as humans existed, so did the argument over the definition of “art”. What constitutes art, what do you consider art, and why Picasso’s attempt at the destruction of all things holy is considered an art, while my three-year-old’s doodling is just that: doodling. I am no authority on the matter. Neither do …
Destiny is All: On the Last Kingdom
Atlas the titan has always been one of my favorite mythological figures. He sits there, carries the sky with both shoulders, and does not say a word although he clearly does not enjoy the task. He benefits us all with the giant burden that is on his back and does not ask for anything in …
The Power of the Dog
Spoiler alert for those who haven’t seen the movie: I discuss the plot here. —–In his phenomenal interpretation of the Bible, Asimov talks about the story of Cain and Abel in a new light. He sees Abel, the brother who brings the sheep for sacrifice as the symbol of nomads, and Cain, the one with …
Book Review: A Gentleman in Moscow
What happens when your life abruptly changes? When one day you’re living a posh life and another minute, you beg the conquerers to skip execution and have another sweet minute of life? This has happened many times throughout the history of the world. Kings came, queens left, and the lives of those having any claim …