s tsui Female, Married. Hong Kong

It is evident that the success of Da Vinci Code affected Dan Brown deeply. Instead of exploiting the existing conspiracy theories against a certain secret society, he went out of his way to defend the focus of this book, the Freemasonry. (This reversal in attitude, ironically, adds fuel to the feeling that the Masons are unduly influential.) He also changed the formula that he used in all his previous fictions, i.e. that the big bad is the protagonist's most trusted mentor. The artifacts that served as clues also felt more haphazard, compared to the fairly strong themes (e.g. religious artworks) that united each of the previous volumes.

Unfortunately, the poor writing hadn't changed. Except perhaps four or five instances where the writing suddenly burst with brilliance, the rest are humorously mediocre (see http://bit.ly/ecxdS for a catalog of leaden sentences from his earlier works). The characterization of Langdon was especially embarrassing - an all-knowing smarty-pants who never listens, and yet he mysteriously holds sway over the female gender through only "a deep voice" and a "broad chest", features that the readers are reminded over and over again.

Nevertheless, Dan Brown seems to remain the only author able to satisfy our appetite for conspiracies in an entertaining and somewhat coherent fashion. I have no problem with him being a bestselling author in the fiction category.

The Supreme Court of the US is the last stand against unchecked ambition and panderism in the other branches of the most important government in the world. I've always thought of it as a clinical and sterile operation - nine of the most sophisticated and intelligent people on earth churning out textbook opinions day in day out. Reality is, of course, far from it.

Toobin tells the tale in an analytical yet still gripping prose. My stomach were in knots when he described stories behind some of the most consequential cases decided by the court - hardly the kind of experience I expected from a book about some old people in robes. Through meticulous analysis, Toobin mapped the evolution of the court and its most pressing issues in the last few decades. Above all, it was the nine justices' temperament and, lately, ideology that influenced the court's decisions. The rising importance of ideology reflected the polarization of politics in the pre-Obama era, so it'd be interesting to see how things are changing in these few years.

Having read this book just after Souter's resignation (on an unrelated note, I envy his lifestyle), I now understand the historical and legal context of the latest discourse on new appointments to the Supreme Court (who, given the predictable stance of the current justices, will likely be the critical vote in hotly contended cases). The timing - my reading, Souter's resignation at the beginning of Obama's term - is just perfect. So is the book.

Fans of Nassim Nicholas Taleb (sorry, him again!) will find an eerily sense of vindication in this story of the battle between science and "conventional wisdom" in baseball. I knew next to zero about the sport (one guy throws and the other guy hits... right???) yet I still found the experience immensely enjoyable. It seems true that Michael Lewis could turn his attention to ANYTHING and write an uncompromisingly sensible and fun book about his chosen topic.