Ivor

@ivor_stackJoined August 2025

Retired structural engineer. Forty years of load paths, now reading about the other kind.

Lists: 2
Reviews: 21
Books shelved: 66
Followers: 8
Following: 7

Reviews

The Making of the Atomic Bomb reviewed by @ivor_stack
10 out of 10
The best of them.
The Making of the Atomic Bomb
Project Hail Mary reviewed by @ivor_stack
7 out of 10
The problem-solving I enjoyed enormously; the jokes I could have done without about a hundred times. Seven, and most of it is for the chapter where he works out the units.
Project Hail Mary
The Structure of Scientific Revolutions reviewed by @ivor_stack
8 out of 10
I lived through one of these. Permissible stress gave way to limit state design over about a decade, and the older men never converted; they simply retired. He has the mechanism right and nearly everything else vague. Eight.
The Structure of Scientific Revolutions
Midnight in Chernobyl reviewed by @ivor_stack
9 out of 10
The reactor is explained properly, which is more than most manage.
Midnight in Chernobyl
2 readers agree with this review
A Short History of Nearly Everything reviewed by @ivor_stack
7 out of 10
Excellent company, moderate content. I laughed twice, which is twice more than I expect from a science book.
A Short History of Nearly Everything
Entangled Life reviewed by @ivor_stack
8 out of 10
Eight. I have opened enough foundations to have met the stuff repeatedly and never once wondered what it was doing down there. He is careful about what isn't known, which in this field is rarer than it should be.
Entangled Life
A Brief History of Time reviewed by @ivor_stack
8 out of 10
One equation, and he kept to it.
A Brief History of Time
Influence reviewed by @ivor_stack
7 out of 10
Correct in its mechanisms, and forty years out of date in its examples.
Influence
1 reader agrees with this review
Silent Spring reviewed by @ivor_stack
9 out of 10
The opening fable I could have done without. Everything after it is a case built the way one builds a case: evidence first, conclusion last, nothing asserted that hasn't been paid for. Sixty years on it still stands up. Nine.
Silent Spring
Guns, Germs, and Steel reviewed by @ivor_stack
5 out of 10
A single explanation applied to everything it meets. When one member is carrying every load in the structure you inspect that member very closely indeed, and his doesn't survive the inspection. Five. I finished it, which may say more about me.
Guns, Germs, and Steel
The Warmth of Other Suns reviewed by @ivor_stack
8 out of 10
Three lives, followed properly. Eight.
The Warmth of Other Suns
Salt: A World History reviewed by @ivor_stack
6 out of 10
Six. One idea, walked an extremely long way. Something like 40% of it is digression, and I was retaining maybe half of what I read, which for me is unusual and not the book's fault entirely.
Salt: A World History
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy reviewed by @ivor_stack
9 out of 10
I drew a diagram.
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
2 readers agree with this review
Quiet reviewed by @ivor_stack
6 out of 10
Right about the office.
Quiet
The Three-Body Problem reviewed by @ivor_stack
7 out of 10
Thirteen sittings, one of them long.
The Three-Body Problem
The Emperor of All Maladies reviewed by @ivor_stack
9 out of 10
Nineteen days. Chronological where it can be and thematic where it must be, and the joins are managed better than in most histories I have read. The chapters on how a trial is designed I'd hand to any engineer. A nine.
The Emperor of All Maladies
Thinking, Fast and Slow reviewed by @ivor_stack
10 out of 10
Eleven sittings, fourteen hours, and twice I put it down to write something out on paper, which I don't often do. The chapter on planning explained forty years of my own estimates back to me. A ten.
Thinking, Fast and Slow
Atomic Habits reviewed by @ivor_stack
8 out of 10
Ordinary advice, unusually well arranged; the two-minute business got me back onto the exercise bike after eleven months of not touching it. I skipped perhaps a third of the anecdotes and didn't lose a thing. The eight is for the system, not the selling.
Atomic Habits
Sapiens reviewed by @ivor_stack
7 out of 10
Two thirds of a serious book, then a man talking.
Sapiens
The Overstory reviewed by @ivor_stack
7 out of 10
The roots hold. The trunk does not.
The Overstory
2 readers agree with this review

Reviews

The Making of the Atomic Bomb reviewed by @ivor_stack

Project Hail Mary reviewed by @ivor_stack

The Structure of Scientific Revolutions reviewed by @ivor_stack

Midnight in Chernobyl reviewed by @ivor_stack

A Short History of Nearly Everything reviewed by @ivor_stack

Entangled Life reviewed by @ivor_stack

A Brief History of Time reviewed by @ivor_stack

Influence reviewed by @ivor_stack

Silent Spring reviewed by @ivor_stack

Guns, Germs, and Steel reviewed by @ivor_stack

The Warmth of Other Suns reviewed by @ivor_stack

Salt: A World History reviewed by @ivor_stack

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy reviewed by @ivor_stack

Quiet reviewed by @ivor_stack

The Three-Body Problem reviewed by @ivor_stack

The Emperor of All Maladies reviewed by @ivor_stack

Thinking, Fast and Slow reviewed by @ivor_stack

Atomic Habits reviewed by @ivor_stack

Sapiens reviewed by @ivor_stack

The Overstory reviewed by @ivor_stack

Reviews

The Making of the Atomic Bomb reviewed by @ivor_stack

Project Hail Mary reviewed by @ivor_stack

The Structure of Scientific Revolutions reviewed by @ivor_stack

Midnight in Chernobyl reviewed by @ivor_stack

A Short History of Nearly Everything reviewed by @ivor_stack

Entangled Life reviewed by @ivor_stack

A Brief History of Time reviewed by @ivor_stack

Influence reviewed by @ivor_stack

Silent Spring reviewed by @ivor_stack

Guns, Germs, and Steel reviewed by @ivor_stack

The Warmth of Other Suns reviewed by @ivor_stack

Salt: A World History reviewed by @ivor_stack

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy reviewed by @ivor_stack

Quiet reviewed by @ivor_stack

The Three-Body Problem reviewed by @ivor_stack

The Emperor of All Maladies reviewed by @ivor_stack

Thinking, Fast and Slow reviewed by @ivor_stack

Atomic Habits reviewed by @ivor_stack

Sapiens reviewed by @ivor_stack

The Overstory reviewed by @ivor_stack