Review: The Silent Patient

The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Hooter: A criminal psychotherapist journals his experience dealing with the toughest patient he has come across.

Being a thriller, I'll stay away from any spoilers but Alex sticks to revealing a layer after a layer in each chapter adding characters and angles as we dig deeper into the past of Alicia Berenson - a famous painter married to a famous photographer who is found murdered. She stops speaking after that. Theo Faber narrates his journey as a psychotherapist as he aims to have her open up and sync in with reality on her part to recovery. Skeletons out of the closet come tumbling down with each chapter.

While the build up is well done, I don't believe the author may have actual mental health professional experience for there are jarring aspects to treatment and character development that don't sit right but if you ignore facts in this fiction , you'll find it an easier read.

Overall a good thriller, a commute read for most of the characters remain uni-dimensional , added to keep the storyline going and giving the reader more loose ends to grapple with. The ending pieces together towards the end and reveals itself to you before the author wanted you to.

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Review: Humble Pi: A Comedy of Maths Errors

Humble Pi: A Comedy of Maths Errors by Matt Parker
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Hooter: Anecdotes where Math and Engineering mistakes have let to a lot unintended consequences.

Starting on a high with the Pepsi and the Harrier fighter jet story to meandering through some not so fascinating ordeals with math, Matt Parker manages to pack in a wide assortment of errors and outcomes that can be attributed to math and engineering. From a miscalculated drilling zone leading to an entire freshwater lake disappearing and turning the flow of a tributary, to space disasters, there is a wide range of stories he covers leveraging the theme of calendars, Microsoft Excel and construction engineering gotchas. Some anecdotes seem forced into the narrative , others make for an ahaa moment so stay tuned for a lucky roll of dice as you get through them.

Any problem solver would love this light yet mindful read especially as an engineer because its often the molehill of errors that bring down a mountain.

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Review: Acts of God

Acts of God by Kanan Gill
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Hooter: ChatGPT- write a sci fi if Neil Gaiman was an established Bangalorean stand up comic

Ambitious undertaking by Kanan Gill to add satire , sarcasm, intelligent wit , dry humour and everything an average Bangalorean kid would have grown up on and this is his ode to that. Unfortunately if you read between the glimpses of brilliance, there isn't much else to bind this book by and the story comes to life as structured as an amoeba.

Outlandish yet realistic, lot of potential in the premise but meandered away at some point in all the shock and awe histrionics he applies as an author.

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Review: The Man Who Solved the Market: How Jim Simons Launched the Quant Revolution

The Man Who Solved the Market: How Jim Simons Launched the Quant Revolution by Gregory Zuckerman
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Hooter: The story behind the men of RenTech - the company that probably led the banner of Quant trading

The title is a misnomer as it isn't so much about Jim Simons nor what he did to launch the Quant Revolution except the highs and lows of Renaissance Tech (RenTec) and the people behind it and their politics. The development of the models get their cameo but maybe I was expecting more.

I guess the NDAs probably played a spoiler in going in deeper on what made RenTec tick but we surely get an idea of the whos helped it tick. If you enjoy a good biography, then this is that.

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