We Are Not Able to Live in the Sky: The Seductive Promise of Microfinance (Mara Kardas-Nelson)

The idea of microfinance - known internationally as giving small loans to poor individuals typically to help them with a business - has exploded in use over the past fifty years. Muhammad Yunus was one of the early pioneers of this financial product and arguably its loudest champion. Despite its intent to help individuals solve a problem or need, it has also indebted many others. Mara Kardas-Nelson offers a very candid and honest look at both sides of the microcredit coin in We Are Not Able to Live in the Sky.

Kardas-Nelson relays two stories in her book. The first is the rise of microcredit as an industry - from Yunus’ Grameen Bank in Bangladesh to Accion in the US to Fedecredito in El Salvador - and how policy decisions and smooth talking helped pave the way for a burgeoning market for loans. The drawback is that many of those loans were high interest or high fee, which meant that repayment was often difficult and many individuals ended up worse off than before. The other stories weave through Sierra Leone and a family that was heavily in debt due to microcredit and how through bribes and the legal system they faced more challenges with a high interest rate in repaying their relatively small loans.

The author does a good job showing the pitfalls of lending without any sort of regulations and safeguards to protect individuals. She also briefly mentions the importance of education, although financial literacy in general could have been amplified more heavily. Her solutions (universal basic income) may not be a panacea to fix poverty among the poorest of the global population, but at least Kardas-Nelson presents a very authentic reality on how lending can be quite predatory, even under the guise of good intentions, and that lenders who do engage in microfinance need to do better in this regard.

MY RATING: 4.5

Here One Moment (Liane Moriarty)

Liane Moriarty's Here One Moment is one of my favorite books of 2024...or maybe ever. The story is so unique and packed with characters I grew to care about greatly.

Short, domestic flights happen every single day in every single airport. But on this particular flight, an older woman gets up, points to most passengers and crew, and tells them how and when they will die. Most just laugh it off, but when what she predicts starts to become a reality, the people who were on the plane do everything they can to stop the woman's predictions from coming true. 

Imagine if you were told when and how you will die. Obviously, this often happens for people with serious illnesses. But for many of us just going about our day-to-day, we need to understand that life is so fragile and can end in an instant. This, I believe, is the ultimate message of Here One Moment.

How can a book teeming with death and grief be so life-affirming? I'm not sure how Moriarty did this, but I know I came away from this book changed for the better with a new appreciation for life.

MY RATING: 5

The Catalyst: RNA and the Quest to Unlock Life's Deepest Secrets (Thomas R. Cech)

DNA is often considered the “building block of life.” RNA, or ribonucleic acid, arguably has a powerful role of its own in essential life functions. The Catalyst: RNA and the Quest to Unlock Life’s Deepest Secrets, is Thomas R. Cech’s dive into the world of RNA and how it serves an essential role in helping save or prolong lives.

Cech is a Nobel Laureate for his research into the role of RNA in serving as a catalyst to speed up biochemical reactions. Without getting too into the weeds scientifically, Cech and others in biochemical fields began to see how RNA could help in developing effective antibiotics to stem off infections and, more recently, vaccines (via mRNA). You’ve likely heard of mRNA, especially if you’ve had a COVID-19 vaccine in recent years, as the vaccine uses mRNA to bypass the process of training DNA in recognizing and combating disease. Thus, the “catalyst” that becomes the impetus and focus of Cech’s book.

The Catalyst is an informative and highly technical journey into the history of RNA research. If you have a decent grasp of science and curiosity about disease and epidemics, you will likely enjoy this book. At times, I had to re-read a few sections because of the level of technical detail involved. However, Cech does a good job overall explaining the importance of RNA in modern medical research and the likely role it will play in the years to come.

MY RATING: 4

Origin Uncertain: Unraveling the Mysteries of Etymology (Anatoly Liberman)

Etymology is the study into the origin of a word’s form and its meaning. Word origins can be fascinating and sometimes very difficult given the gradual evolution of word meaning and spelling over centuries. Anatoly Liberman has long been the Etymologist at Oxford University Press, running a long-standing blog into unique word origins. He has taken a collection of his more unique findings and chronicled them in Origin Uncertain: Unraveling the Mysteries of Etymology.

In addition to interesting words like nerd, dude, and brisket, Liberman discusses idioms such as “pay through the nose” and “kick the bucket.” Many words and idioms in English come from other languages - typically Germanic or sometimes one of the Romance languages like French or Spanish - and Lieberman artfully tells the story of the origins of many of these words. In cases where it was nearly impossible to figure out the evolution, the most plausible scenarios are offered.

In all, Origin Uncertain is an entertaining read into the history of language and human development.Liberman offers a great study on how to explore competing origin stories and what insights he uses to identify the most accurate one.

MY RATING: 4.5

American Civil Wars: A Continental History, 1850-1879 (Alan Taylor)

The 1850’s and 1860’s were a tumultuous decade in North America. In addition to America’s Civil War, warfare and European attempts to reestablish heavy influence on government affairs gripped Mexico, while Canada was facing its own conflicts and issues as it worked towards its nominal independence from England. Author Alan Taylor captures nearly a quarter century of North American strife and unrest in American Civil Wars: A Continental History, 1850-1879.

Conflict and tension gripped the continent as America wrestled with tensions between North and South over slavery, along with post-Civil War tensions with Native American populations. In Canada, Taylor documents the tension between English-speaking “Canada West” and French-speaking “Canada East”, and their mutual fear of American expansion into Canada. Mexicans fought an attempted establishment of an emperor powered by France while also dealing with Confederates eyeing Mexican territory to expand slavery into Mexico. The period between 1850 and 1873 was filled with violence in all three countries, most notably in Mexico and the United States. However, even Canada could not avoid moments of conflict. Taylor deftly weaves between all three countries, with personalities and names shifting from one country to another in order to try to gain influence.

For those of us in America, the history of Canada and Mexico during these decades is incredibly informative since what occurred in the United States shaped much of the course of both Canada and Mexico in the late 19th Century and beyond. Taylor’s work is fast-moving and packed with information for those who are seeking a broader appreciation of North American history during the 19th Century.

MY RATING: 4.5

Sailing Alone: A Surprising History of Isolation and Survival at Sea (Richard J. King)

I've been on a sailboat maybe three times in my life. While I loved the experience for a day or two, the idea of sailing across wide expanses of ocean for weeks, months, or even years at a time is something that I struggle to comprehend. And sailing alone? That's wild in my eyes. I was fascinated to read about the journeys of brave men and women who sailed across our oceans in Richard J. King's Sailing Alone: A Surprising History of Isolation and Survival at Sea. 

King crossed the Atlantic by himself. The book intersperses his journey with those of others, exploring their stories and reasons for sailing, each unique in their own right. King offers a very detailed discussion of solitary crossings, as well as the advances of technology and how it has helped (or not helped). He also explores what individuals did while dealing with long stretches of solitude. 

Sailing Alone is an authentic, humorous, and educational collection of stories that I thoroughly enjoyed.

MY RATING: 5

How the World Made the West: A 4,000 Year History (Josephine Quinn)

Josephine Quinn's How the World Made the West: A 4,000 Year History is a wonderful thought exercise into the origins of Western culture and how societies evolved over a 4,000 year period. Much of our thinking has centered around how "West" and "East" were distinctly different cultures that occasionally interacted through trade. Quinn's book challenges that narrative in a powerful way.

The West (Europe) borrowed extensively from innovations from the Middle East, the Far East, and India. Irrigation, legal codes, sailing, scholarship, and metalworking all had origins outside of Greco-Roman and Western European society. Quinn's argument is that globalism has helped advance both West and East at varying rates over the millenia, with trade, warfare, and human travel helping to shape and share ideas and force technological advances along the way.

How the World Made the West is a brisk walk through several millennia of world history, and Quinn astutely points out the contributions of globalism to advancing civilization.

MY RATING: 4.5