Book Review: ‘Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind’ – a story of where we came from and where we might be going

May 26, 2017May 27, 2017 A Good Reed Review Book Review culture and biology, Human history, Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind, WPLongform, Yuval Noah Harari

By Ande Jacobson

Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind, by Yuval Noah Harari, was first published in the U.S. in 2015, and it took the country by storm. It quickly became a New York Times best seller and is used in numerous history courses around the country. Great Britain saw its English language release a year earlier in 2014, but the author’s countrymen saw it first published in his native Hebrew a few years before that in 2011. Beyond that, the book has been translated into over thirty languages worldwide, and at least the American English version is credited as being translated by Harari, with help from John Purcell and Haim Watzman. Why did Sapiens:… make such a splash around the world? It tells a fascinating story. Harari is an Israeli born historian and a tenured history professor at Hebrew University of Jerusalem with a passion for how every human endeavor affects history and the world. Continue reading →

It’s time for ‘Pear Slices 2017’

May 7, 2017May 7, 2017 A Good Reed Review Review Pear Slices 2017 review, The Pear, WPLongform

By Ande Jacobson

For the 14th time, the Pear lovingly offers up eight new slices of theatre in the form of short, one-act plays (in reality more akin to a series of single scenes) that provide a full evening (or afternoon) of entertainment. What started as an experiment has become an annual event showcasing somewhere between six and nine new works, written by members of the Pear Playwrights Guild, and performed by a select troupe of actors assuming multiple roles throughout the presentation. This year’s Slices includes:

For Art’s Sake by Elyce Melmon
Stella Wind by Bridgette Dutta Portman
Mirror to Face by Leah Halper
Anasazi Breakdown by Douglas Rees
Deuce Cooper: The Bloomfield Case by Paul Braverman
Aboriginal by Susan Jackson
Meantime in Between Time by Leah Halper
Proposal by Max Gutmann

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‘Rags’ seeks the virtues of Lady Liberty at TheatreWorks

April 16, 2017April 25, 2017 A Good Reed Review Review Charles Strouse, Joseph Stein, Rags, Robert Kelley, Stephen Schwartz, TheatreWorks

By Ande Jacobson

Lady Liberty has long been the symbol of America, offering the promise of freedom and opportunity to all who pass by her in their journey toward a better life. Rags, currently in production at TheatreWorks, takes a look at a community of Jewish immigrants on the Lower East Side of Manhattan (circa 1910) trying mightily to overcome the challenges that face them. It was a difficult time, and these eager immigrants fled desperate conditions and persecution in Mother Russia to build new lives for themselves and their families. From the start, hucksters and thugs are never far away, lying in wait to prey upon the naïve newcomers. Although a period piece, many of the issues in the story are just as relevant in today’s socio-political climate. Continue reading →

Book Review: ‘Harry Potter and the Cursed Child’ adds a thrilling eighth chapter to the series

February 18, 2017August 19, 2019 A Good Reed Review Book Review Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Harry Potter review, Harry Potter script review, J.K. Rowling, Jack Thorne, John Tiffany, WPLongform

By Ande Jacobson

J.K. Rowling discovered gold when her first Harry Potter book, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (renamed to Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone outside of the U.K.), hit the presses in 1997. Intended as the first installment of a seven-part children’s book series, it fortuitously (though unexpectedly) appealed to readers of all ages. Rowling released the subsequent books over the next decade with the final installment reaching the shelves in July 2007 with Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. The reception was phenomenal. Not only did readers clamber for each new book, the movie industry embraced the stories and released blockbuster adaptations of each one, the last taking two films to fully explore.

In 2015, a new story synopsis in the Harry Potter oeuvre surfaced. The story was written by J.K. Rowling, John Tiffany, and Jack Thorne, and Thorne went on to put this story into the form of a play. The full rehearsal script of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child was released on 31 July 2016, one day after the maiden voyage of the play opened in London. This review discusses only the script as a book, not as commentary on any performance of the material. Continue reading →

Book Review: ‘The Hidden Brain’ – how much do we really know about what we think?

January 22, 2017June 6, 2020 A Good Reed Review Book Review psychology, Shankar Vedantam, The Hidden Brain

By Ande Jacobson

The Hidden Brain: How Our Unconscious Minds Elect Presidents, Control Markets, Wage Wars, and Save Our Lives was published in 2010, but it has retained its relevancy in these increasingly tumultuous times. Written by Shankar Vedantam, the book sheds some needed light on the increasingly complex situations being observed in society today by drawing on research efforts in human behavior and the social sciences to explain numerous seemingly conflicting phenomena. As an added bonus, the book’s notes section provides a comprehensive reference list to the studies cited. Continue reading →

Book Review: ‘Einstein’s Beach House’ takes a sharp, yet witty view of life

January 22, 2017 A Good Reed Review Book Review Einstein's Beach House, Jacob M. Appel, short stories

By Ande Jacobson

Jacob M. Appel is an interesting author. He’s passionate about his writing while also pursuing parallel careers in medicine and the law. In the writing realm, he’s not only published numerous short story collections, novels, journal articles, and essays in the press, he gives back in the form of writing webinars and seminars to help aspiring authors hone their craft. While he’s written all manner of forms, the short story is one of his favorites, and his short story collection entitled Einstein’s Beach House doesn’t disappoint. Drawing from his vast education, professional experience, and vivid imagination, he expertly weaves stories that grab the reader’s interest at the outset, and rarely slow down. Continue reading →

The Pear’s “Uncanny Valley” touches the heart of the Silicon Valley

January 21, 2017January 25, 2017 A Good Reed Review Review Caroline Clark, Evan Kokkila Schumacher, Mary Price Moore, Pear Theatre, The Pear, Uncanny Valley, WPLongform

By Ande Jacobson

The Pear takes a stunning leap into the world of science fiction with Thomas Gibbons’ play, Uncanny Valley. What constitutes sentience, and more than that, what makes a person a person? Taking a further leap, can we conceive of a time when a robot could be considered a person? The world of science fiction has explored this in myriad ways over the years. In the mid-20th century, Isaac Asimov set forth the Three Laws of Robotics in his short story Runaround (one of the stories in the I Robot collection) which stated:

A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
A robot must obey the orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Laws.

Continue reading →