When Skateboards Will Be Free by Saïd Sayrafiezadeh

Is it mandatory to have an out-there childhood to write a good memoir? As a white male engineer from the midwest who likes to write a spot now and then, I hope not. Sayrafiez, though, had a hell of a go growing up, and this book needed to be written.
I generally consider myself to be more or less a socialist, in a best-fit sense. But this memoir, about a socialist childhood, signs on to the platform 100 percent. Although political books can often cause headaches one way or another, I loved that this book written through the wondering eyes of a child. Although anyone in the hardcore socialist movement is likely to be authentic, the author was only growing up, and so wasn't yet sure what all to believe.
The book heavily features the socialist publication The Militant, and by the end I felt myself vicariously not reading them, just as the author's mother dutifully subscribed and kept every back issue, despite rarely if ever reading anything in them. Interestingly, the website for The Militant shows 14 domestic distributors and 7 international, big cities like Paris and London and New York and San Francisco. Amazingly, little old Des Moines, Iowa makes the list. Who knew? If you want a little political adventure, visit the socialist bookshop in Des Moines.
Good book if you like politics and memoir.

The Great Equations by Robert P. Crease

So, it's been almost a month. Comic-Con took up over a week in which I added to my to-blog list. But I have a bunch ready.
Anyway, The Great Equations is a good read, but the enjoyability seems to be monotonically decreasing. I'm not sure if that's because the first few were genuinely more interesting, or if it was some combination of mental drag and the increasing specialization of the sciences. At any rate, the first bit about Pythagoras was brilliant. I didn't know just how many proofs there are, including the guy that wrote hundreds as a hobby.
From there it goes into the details about a lot of our favorite equations, written at a good level for those with some maths background and those without.
All in all a good way to revere the beauty of math and science, and great if you don't yet want to read books for each of the equations featured.