Gregory Mone

This is the book I've been looking for ever since I was a parent. I just never knew it. Now when my children ask how Santa Claus can fit down the chimney or deliver millions of presents across the world in a few hours, I'll have the answer:

Santa is a bio-engineered immortal equipped by aliens with technology from the future.

At least that's the hypothesis of Gregory Mone, a contributing editor to Popular Science and author of The Truth about Santa: Wormholes, Robots, and What Really Happens show more on Christmas Eve. Mone uses his considerable scientific knowledge to explain how Santa, using technology that is still decades away for us mere mortals, can accomplish his herculean feats.

- Delivering presents across the globe in a single night? The work of an army of lieutenants utilizing wormholes built into our chimneys and windows.

- Flying reindeer? A myth; Santa uses a warp-powered sleigh for his personal transportation. (Because of the hazards involved, Santa shuns wormhole travel. His lieutenants are well compensated for the risk.)

- Elves making toys? Actually their main job is maintaining the huge IT infrastructure needed to support Santa's operations.

Mone has crafted a book that combines a wicked (and slightly NSFW) sense of humor with a survey of near-future tech, all wrapped in the peppermint shell of Santa's annual rounds. Adults will get a chuckle out of the science fiction-inspired explanations, but I expect children will suspect the truth: that Mone is just a patsy for Santa, throwing us off the trail.

As every child knows: it's all magic. show less

Quiet Power is a book that I decided to buy after I saw Susan Cain's TED talk on YouTube two years ago.
This book has been on my shelf for a while now and I had picked it up once before this but couldn't bring myself to read more than two pages. I was thinking "What's the point? It's for teens." Nevertheless, I got myself to read it a year later and boy! Am I glad that I read it!
The books talks about being an introvert in a world where being a social butterfly is considered normal, where if show more you don't speak up, you're left behind. Most importantly, it tells us to embrace the introversion that we have and how to channel it in a way that will make us superheroes.
Susan Cain and her co authors have done a great job in writing a book which is basically an introvert Bible. It discusses various topics like being active in classrooms, to being leaders, to making friends, to using social media to your advantage and battling FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) and even recharging your batteries when you run out of your energy by carefully cruising through an ocean of small talk.
I wish I had this book when I was a teenager. I remember freaking out in front of a crowd as a child and avoiding conversations with people and thinking that it's a lack of confidence than thinking that maybe I am an introvert. I couldn't bring myself to ask questions or speak up in class. I don't know if I regret it or not but I made myself speak up and be a conversationalist that I would like to think I am, today.
This is definitely worth a read. Even if it says teenagers, it helped me, a graduate student, a lot.
Also check out their project Quiet Revolution online to learn more! show less

Eleven year old Maurice Reidy lived in a large family on a farm where everyone worked throughout the day. Fish wasn’t very good at doing the job, his siblings did twice as much work each day than he does. One day, when they were playing and bathing in a pond, two of Maurice’s siblings got into a fight. He tried to stop them, but they threw him into the deep end of the pond. No one can swim in the Reidy family, so Maurice thought that he was going to drown. But a kick of his legs and a show more push of his arms brought Maurice to the surface, meaning that he could swim! That’s when he got his nickname: Fish. A couple of days later, their horse died, and Fish had to go into the city to work and provide money for the family. At his new job in the city, he was a messenger, running errands. One day, he had to deliver a specifically important pouch of gold coins to a ship. He was robbed by a pirate on the way there, so he went after him on their pirate ship. Since he could swim, he just swam right on over to the ship and confronted the pirates, which did not succeed. They forced him to work on the decks. One day, though, they announced that they will be raiding a ship. Once they came close enough to the ship, Fish could see that it was the ship he was supposed to deliver the coins to! When the pirates were busy attacking, he quickly stole the coins from the captains cabin, and went to deliver them secretly. He was stopped though by the pirate captain. Later, Fish was interrogated by the captain, and he explained that the pirates are looking for the Chain of Chuacar which if they found, it would be worth a fortune. Fish decided that he would find this chain, and send home the fortune he would get, so he joined the pirates. Harrowing days and nights eventually proved that the coins made a message: degrees for latitude and longitude. They had an idea where the chain was! They made a pit stop at Turtle Island where they learned that the first mate and some others were planning a mutiny. After they departed Turtle Island, they headed straight for the place where the chain was supposed to be. When they got there, the first mate truly did start a mutiny, but failed in the end when Fish and the others found the chain.

This book was chewed through in one day. It was one of the more interesting books that I’ve read. Fast-paced, mystery, and action is what I look for in books, and this was the perfect example. I loved how the author made a not so interesting concept like pirates into an edge of your seat book. Fish easily made my day when he accepted being a pirate, it changed the entire view on the book. The pirates were now the “good guys” instead of the “bad guys.” Fish is probably one of the top three books I have ever read! I rate this book a 5 out of 5 (6 out of 5 if I wanted to!). show less

Eleven year old Maurice Reidy lived in a large family on a farm where everyone worked throughout the day. Fish wasn’t very good at doing the job, his siblings did twice as much work each day than he does. One day, when they were playing and bathing in a pond, two of Maurice’s siblings got into a fight. He tried to stop them, but they threw him into the deep end of the pond. No one can swim in the Reidy family, so Maurice thought that he was going to drown. But a kick of his legs and a show more push of his arms brought Maurice to the surface, meaning that he could swim! That’s when he got his nickname: Fish. A couple of days later, their horse died, and Fish had to go into the city to work and provide money for the family. At his new job in the city, he was a messenger, running errands. One day, he had to deliver a specifically important pouch of gold coins to a ship. He was robbed by a pirate on the way there, so he went after him on their pirate ship. Since he could swim, he just swam right on over to the ship and confronted the pirates, which did not succeed. They forced him to work on the decks. One day, though, they announced that they will be raiding a ship. Once they came close enough to the ship, Fish could see that it was the ship he was supposed to deliver the coins to! When the pirates were busy attacking, he quickly stole the coins from the captains cabin, and went to deliver them secretly. He was stopped though by the pirate captain. Later, Fish was interrogated by the captain, and he explained that the pirates are looking for the Chain of Chuacar which if they found, it would be worth a fortune. Fish decided that he would find this chain, and send home the fortune he would get, so he joined the pirates. Harrowing days and nights eventually proved that the coins made a message: degrees for latitude and longitude. They had an idea where the chain was! They made a pit stop at Turtle Island where they learned that the first mate and some others were planning a mutiny. After they departed Turtle Island, they headed straight for the place where the chain was supposed to be. When they got there, the first mate truly did start a mutiny, but failed in the end when Fish and the others found the chain.

This book was chewed through in one day. It was one of the more interesting books that I’ve read. Fast-paced, mystery, and action is what I look for in books, and this was the perfect example. I loved how the author made a not so interesting concept like pirates into an edge of your seat book. Fish easily made my day when he accepted being a pirate, it changed the entire view on the book. The pirates were now the “good guys” instead of the “bad guys.” Fish is probably one of the top three books I have ever read! I rate this book a 5 out of 5 (6 out of 5 is I wanted to!). show less