500 and counting

[vamysteryfan]

 Spread the Word by William Safire. This is the 500th book I’ve added since I started using Goodreads to track them in October 2012. It’s a collection of his columns “On Language” in the New York Times from the late 90s. While some of the examples are dated, it’s still a fascinating read. He had a gift for playing with language. I love when there are words about words. Take Paradiorthosis, a correction that is itself incorrect. Next time a guy tries to mansplain to me, I’ll throw that at him. Or Kakistocracy, government by the worst people. I think that should be illustrated with a picture of the current Congress. Or Linguaclips, the technique of abbreviation, clipping long words into short ones, and clipping those into initials and acronyms. I could go on. A great book for people who enjoy reading.

Future Crimes: Everything Is Connected, Everyone Is Vulnerable, and What We Can Do About It by Marc Goodman. This is a well-written, well-researched book that will open your eyes. After the first few chapters, I disabled Location on my apps and Facebook and started turning off my cellphone when it wasn’t in use. The amount of data we willingly share on line is staggering, but you might not know what happens to it next. When you sign up for an online dating service, for example, that data is sold, often in realtime. We are commodities, bought and sold to advertisers. Then there’s what hackers and organized crime does with the information. Hackers can access your computer cam and sell photos of you online. With the Internet of Things (communicating devices) gaining speed more and more of our world is subject to intrusion. His final chapters detail some solutions that governments can take, that corporations and coders can take, and that we as individuals can take. Mr. Goodman did an amazing job making this technical subject accessible to regular readers.

Clam Wake by Mary Daheim. I’m generally a fan of Mary Daheim’s cozies. I’ve read all the Alpine mysteries and most of the Bed & Breakfast series. This was a weaker entry. Renie and Auntie Vance in particular were grating. The way she harped on all the drinking was weird. The mystery was fun, though slight, and the location descriptions were excellent.