Nonfiction on The Techno Scholar Chronicles

Book Review: Local Optimization: Lessons From An Unplanned Path

Fri, 26 Jun 2026 13:25:00 -0500

Local Optimization is a short and thoughtful reflection on Alvitta Ottley’s path into academia. She presents the book as a personal reflection on the many decision points in her life, describing her approach as “local optimization.” Rather than beginning with a five-year plan, she made the best decision she could at each stage, asking what the next right step was and what would increase her capacity to grow. Her path moves from growing up on an island to working at a bank, pursuing school, engaging in research, and eventually becoming tenured faculty at WashU.

Book Review: Who Am I to Judge?: Responding to Relativism with Logic and Love

Mon, 22 Jun 2026 15:45:00 -0500

“Don’t be so judgmental!” is a phrase one might hear when talking to someone about morality, right and wrong, or good and evil. Dr. Edward Sri writes Who Am I to Judge? to address the problem of moral relativism and how we can respond to it with logic and love.

In a relativistic society, each person can have his or her own truth. Relativism denies that there is an objective truth, but there are many problems with this view. For example, relativism can become very self-centered, leading to a modern notion of freedom as doing whatever a person wants, even if it hurts relationships. In contrast, true freedom is the freedom to love. Through ethics and the moral law, man can fulfill his telos, his end goal, which is friendship with God and neighbor.

Book Review: Making Sense Out of Suffering

Sat, 09 May 2026 17:00:00 -0500

Making Sense Out of Suffering is a book by Peter Kreeft, a Catholic philosopher at Boston College. He writes very well, and this book is no exception. Part of what makes his writing style so effective is that it is very accessible. He is clearly a philosopher and knows the subject deeply, but there is a distinction between knowing philosophy and being able to communicate it. That is what Peter Kreeft does so well: he makes philosophy accessible to a general audience.

Book Review: Of Angels and Men: A Thought-Provoking Look at Angelic Action in Human History

Sun, 12 Apr 2026 19:00:00 -0500

Throughout salvation history, there is an unseen action of angelic beings intimately involved in human activity. This is taught theologically, and we encounter angels periodically in Scripture. Fr. Giesler reflects on events in salvation history from the angels’ perspective and highlights the “struggle between the good and the bad angels, and between good and not-so-good human beings.” He engages in a form of theological meditation, starting from what the Church teaches and thoughtfully developing what can be understood about the perspectives and activities of angels. It is beautifully done and makes for a good book for spiritual reading.

Book Review: The Documents of Vatican II

Sat, 07 Feb 2026 13:23:00 -0600

Growing up, I often heard about the many changes in the Catholic Church that followed Vatican II. It was a spiritually challenging time for many Catholics and for the broader culture. Many parishes experienced dramatic shifts in liturgy and practice, resulting in diminished reverence and understanding of the sacraments, particularly the Eucharist. I wasn’t there to witness it firsthand, but we still experience its effects in the Church and the wider culture.

Book Review: Engineering Design: A Survival Guide to Senior Capstone

Mon, 19 May 2025 00:00:00 -0500

Engineering Design: A Survival Guide to Senior Capstone contains a wealth of information about the engineering design process. One of the goals of this textbook is to bridge the gap between academia and industry. To that end, it draws on project management resources and provides extensive insights from an industry perspective—yet it remains tailored to senior design courses.

I used this textbook while developing a capstone course in computer engineering. Although I couldn’t implement every design process outlined in the book (especially in a one-semester course), it served as a strong foundation to build upon. My advice for instructors is to treat it as a flexible resource—pick and choose the most important parts of the design process to include in your course. For students, this book can be a valuable resource, not only to help navigate senior design but also to prepare for and gain exposure to design work in industry.

Book Review: Diary of an American Exorcist: Demons, Possession, and the Modern-Day Battle against Ancient Evil

Fri, 08 Nov 2024 00:00:00 -0600

This is an excellent spiritual read! Msgr. Rossetti, an exorcist, and his prayer team regularly perform exorcisms to drive out demons from people and places. Nothing is done by his own power but only through Jesus, the sacraments, and the intercession of the saints. An exorcist has a special authority given to him to command demons to leave. It is essential that the exorcist is obedient and faithful.

I had wanted to read this book since hearing Msgr. Rossetti speak at a Marian conference. As with spiritual warfare-type books, temptations can always arise. As a precaution, I always pray before reading from the book.

Book Review: Digital Design and Computer Architecture, RISC-V Edition

Fri, 13 Sep 2024 00:00:00 -0500

I am an instructor, and we use this textbook to teach Computer Architecture. I enjoyed reading it and thought the authors wrote in a simple and understandable style. They introduced and built on concepts throughout the book, providing detailed explanations and a wealth of information. The book can be read cover-to-cover or used as a reference. It offers many circuits, designs, and relevant information for each topic.

The textbook uses examples throughout each chapter to work through problems and designs. At the end of each chapter, there are numerous exercise problems that cover the material, with solutions to odd-numbered exercises provided through an online supplement on the authors’ website. Additionally, the authors include sample interview questions that have been asked during real job interviews—something worth looking at if you’re preparing for one!

Book Review: The Story of the Family: G.K. Chesterton on the Only State that Creates and Loves Its Own Citizens

Fri, 19 Jul 2024 00:00:00 -0500

G.K. Chesterton lived in the early 1900s and wrote on the issues of his time. He was a great defender of Christian orthodoxy. In this book, Dale Ahlquist compiled a collection of poems, quotations, excerpts, and essays on the family from G.K. Chesterton. In today’s society, we see all kinds of attacks on the family around feminism, birth control, divorce, promiscuity, etc. To quote Ecclesiastes 1:9, “There is nothing new under the sun.” It was the same in G.K. Chesterton’s time. He speaks on these topics, which are just as relevant today.

Book Review: Stories, Statistics, Solutions: Towards Understanding and Including People with Disabilities in Faith Communities

Wed, 17 Apr 2024 00:00:00 -0500

This book has been very enlightening for me to read. It gives the perspective of many individuals who are disabled in some way and living with that disability. They tell their stories, providing insight into their lives. But it’s not just about their stories. They also give advice, speak about their faith, and tell us what we should know about them to better incorporate them into our lives, work, and faith communities. The stories constitute most of the book. In addition, a good discussion of solutions provides some practical advice for listening better and incorporating those with disabilities into faith communities. The practical advice is not limited to faith communities but can also be applied to other situations where one works with people.

Book Review: Adventures with the Holy Spirit: A Journey with RUACH

Sat, 24 Feb 2024 00:00:00 -0600

Deacon Durban writes about his life and how the Holy Spirit worked in his life. When I first started reading the book, I didn’t quite know what it was going to be about. I’m sorry to say that the book title and description didn’t do it justice. However, as I read further, I came to understand that this was about his life with all it’s ups and downs, and on-and-off relationship with God and the Holy Spirit.

Book Review: Git: Project Management for Developers and DevOps Teams

Sat, 13 Jan 2024 00:00:00 -0600

I very much enjoyed reading this book as it has helped teach me the skills I need to use Git in my professional work. The authors, in my opinion, were very thorough on the topic. They explored not just Git, but how Git can be used by developers in teams. They covered the Git commands, low-level details of how Git internally works (up to a point for basic understanding), using Git with platforms such as GitHub and GitLab (and other alternative platforms), workflows using Git in teams, using Git in real life, Git problems and solutions, etc.

Book Review: How Christ Saves Souls―with Us: The Mystery of Co-Redemption

Mon, 06 Nov 2023 00:00:00 -0600

This book was well done! I have not read a book on co-redemption before and it is not a topic I typically hear about. But, it is a topic that is easy to relate to!

The mystery of co-redemption is the free participation of Christ’s followers in the redemption of their fellow men and women. Becoming closer to God, participating in the sacraments, certain decisions we make for living out our faith, in how we work, play, and love one another, all participate in co-redemption.

Book Review: THE KAI: The Adventures of a Mystic Martial Arts Maintenance Man

Sat, 02 Sep 2023 00:00:00 -0500

This is an honest memoir of Jamey Toner’s life with all the ups and downs, and the wanderings of his life. Constant throughout his life have been the martial arts (Kai) and his Catholic faith. There are many times he has gone from place to place and sometimes without money or a place to live.

As I read along, I was glad to see him get more stability in his life and to turn away from that old life of wandering. He relates wisdom from his Catholic faith throughout this memoir which edifies his story. It was edifying to me, for example, to see that he chose to be chaste (faithful in his faith) rather than to sin in a dating relationship.

Book Review: Python Microservices Development: Build, test, deploy, and scale microservices in Python

Fri, 05 May 2023 00:00:00 -0500

This book was a good read for me. It covered many aspects of developing microservices in Python that are relevant to my engineering job. Some of these aspects include developing a REST API with a web server such as Flask; writing, testing, and documenting code; interacting with other services via synchronous vs. asynchronous calls; using task or topic queues (e.g., RabbitMQ); monitoring services; securing services; packaging services; containerizing services; and deploying on AWS. The aim of the book is to provide insight and examples of how to develop a microservice by focusing on a toy application called Runnerly.

Book Review: The Legacy Code Programmer's Toolbox: Practical Skills for Developers Working with Legacy Code

Tue, 31 Jan 2023 00:00:00 -0600

I had this book sitting on my desk for a few years, recommended by a coworker. Life got busy. I decided to pick it back up and finish it! Here’s some of the insight I’ve learned from it.

The author begins by defining legacy code as code that is hard to understand, uncomfortable to change, and causes concern. Attitude plays a significant role in how we approach legacy code. There’s the natural mindset, often negative, versus the effective mindset, which is more constructive. We can choose to understand legacy code as a solution to past problems accumulated over time and recognize it as a reason we have jobs.