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SCIENCE FICTION

Did the ancient Greeks make First Contact?

Did the ancient Greeks make First Contact?

We humans are a race of storytellers. Over the course of the 300,000 years that we have commanded the power of speech, we have huddled in caves, sat around campfires, recited epic poems, published books, produced stage-plays, and used modern media to tell our stories. But in...

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MYSTERIES & THRILLERS

A peculiarly British mole hunt in MI6

A peculiarly British mole hunt in MI6

In the years following World War II, the emerging Cold War took on global dimensions. Then Britain, still clung on to its far-flung empire,. And the conflict with the Soviet Union played itself out not just at home and in Eastern Europe but throughout its possessions in Africa,...

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NONFICTION

Popular Fiction

Explore My “BEST OF the category” selections

WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE BOOK?

When people ask me that question, I never know what to say. In a lifetime of reading, I’ve read many thousands of books. And I’ve reviewed well over 2,000 of them on this site. Picking just one as a “favorite,” or even a handful of them, makes no sense to me.

The problem is, I read for many different reasons. Perhaps you do, too. And I read many different sorts of books. Mysteries and thrillers. Popular fiction, especially historical fiction. Science fiction.

And nonfiction, history in particular. You’ll find hundreds of reviews in every one of those categories on this site.

Look to the right for a rotating random selection culled from throughout this site.

Happy reading!

 

Cover image of "The Monk of Mokha," a great example of Dave Eggers nonfiction

Another superior example of Dave Eggers nonfiction

In the latest example of Dave Eggers nonfiction, the San Francisco author has struck gold once again with the extraordinary story of the Yemeni-American entrepreneur Mokhtar Alkhanshali, "a poor kid from [San Francisco's] Tenderloin who now has found some significant success as a coffee importer."...
Exigency

Scientists explore a planet with two sentient species

For six years they've been in orbit around Epsilon C, a rocky, Earth-like planet that hosts not one but two sentient species. The nine are on a mission of scientific exploration. They've devoted their lives to it. And they've learned a great deal about the local inhabitants. Even—with tiny probes...
Cover image of "The Fools in Town Are On Our Side," one of the 100 best mysteries

Definitely one of the 100 best mysteries of all time

Estimated reading time: 3 minutes For extended periods over the past several decades, I've been reading mysteries by the carload. I thought that by now I'd be reasonably familiar with the best writers in the genre. Somehow, I missed Ross Thomas, who penned twenty-three crime novels between 1966...
Mick Herron's misfit spies star again in London Rules.

MI5’s misfit spies outdo themselves in this very funny novel

Ever since World War II, espionage has been a favorite topic of thriller writers. Authors such as Eric Ambler and Graham Greene set the tone, and some of their novels are regarded as classics of the genre to this day. In the years since their heyday (the 1930s and 40s), the genre has veered off in...
Cover image of "A Very English Scandal," a novel about a political scandal

The political scandal that roiled the British Establishment

Look around carefully. Find three despicable human beings. Start with a confused and weak-willed young man, a male model with no other marketable skills who is helpless in the face of authority. Then find a lay preacher whose oratorical skills have gotten him a seat in Parliament despite a...
Cover image of "New York," an epic historical novel

An epic historical novel about New York City

Once upon a time they were known as Mannahata, Breukelen, Bronck's Farm, Staten Eylandt, and Queens, after Queen Catherine of Braganza, wife of the seventeenth-century King Charles II of England. Of course, now the five boroughs of New York City have more familiar names. But that was centuries in...
Cover image of "Keeping the Faith,"

When the debate over evolution divided America

Most of us, at least in the United States, learned a little about the famous "Monkey Trial" early in our schooling. It was, in fact, a milestone in the national debate over whether science or religion should dominate in considering Charles Darwin's monumental breakthrough in our understanding of...
Cover image of "Darwin's Children," a novel about the posthuman future

A novel view of the posthuman future

The tagline on the cover of Darwin's Children reads "Evolution has changed the face of the world." In the sequel to his brilliant 1999 novel, Darwin's Radio, Greg Bear now spells out the ways in which a dramatic event in the evolution of the human race has laid the foundation for a posthuman...
Cover image of "Curses!," a novel about a Mayan curse

An entertaining mystery about a Mayan curse

Now 41 years of age and happily married for two years, Gideon Oliver is a tenured professor of physical anthropology at a university near Seattle. He is known far and wide as "the Skeleton Doctor" for his work in forensic anthropology with the FBI. As Curses! opens, Gideon is between terms and...
The Laughing Policeman is the fourth of the Martin Beck novels.

The Martin Beck novels are classic police procedurals

What we know today as Scandinavian or Nordic noir originated in the 1960s in the ten-book Martin Beck novels written by the husband-and-wife team of Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö. These are classic police procedurals that treat the cops as human beings, without romantic embellishments. Both Left-Wing...

My Most Popular Reviews

Weekly Reviews Delivered to You!

Mal Warwick - Book Reviews

Weekly book reviews to match your taste!

Love mysteries and thrillers? Historical fiction fan? Prefer to read nonfiction? Or, like me, you just love reading? Take your pick of my three weekly newsletters. Just click the Yes! button, and you’re on your way. Here you can take your pick of the three newsletters I publish each week. They’re all free of ads, and I never share subscribers’ email addresses with anyone. Just make your newsletter selections below. Feel free to subscribe to any or all of these newsletters. Remember, they’re ad-free, and I won’t share your contact information with anyone. Enjoy reading! Mal Warwick

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