Mind and matter

Mind and matter: a life in math and football / John Urschel and Louisa Thomas, read by Sullivan Jones, 241 pgs.

A fascinating memoir by the guy who retired from the NFL to spend more time on his Phd program at M.I.T. studying math.  Urschel tells of being a puzzle obsessed kid who took a college calc course as an 8th grader. He describes himself as "not an natural athlete" who is built like a football player and worked hard to develop those skills.  He seems like a natural mathematician, not that he didn't work hard at that too but it seems to have come easier to him.  Loving both of these pursuits and working hard in both, he finally decided to retire from the NFL after a bad concussion made his brain unable to do that math.  Very interesting to read about his life and studies.

The last equation of Isaac Severy

The last equation of Isaac Severy: a novel in clues / Nova Jacobs, read by Lisa Flanagan

Days after Isaac Severy dies, he family gathers and lets their oddities out for display.  His adopted granddaughter Hazel gets a letter mailed to her the day before his death with instructions on how what of his work to preserve and what to destroy.  It is all a mystery to her and she spends her time searching for answers by reading into his letter many clues.  Not sure who to trust, she bonds with one of her cousins but then realizes that she has been betrayed.  Everyone in this family is interesting with their own issues but none more than Hazel's brother Gregory.  When more deaths occur, things take an interesting turn.  The audio version is done nicely by Lisa Flanagan. One odd pet peeve, of all the medical doctors and Phd characters, they are all referred to as "Mr." or "Mrs."

One Plus One / Jojo Moyes 368 pages

My third Moyes read, following the terrific Me Before You and the not-terrific-but-still-good The Girl You Left Behind.  One Plus One falls into the latter category.  It's the story of Jess, a fine young woman whose life has jumped the tracks, with a lousy job, a damaged stepson, and a math-genius daughter.  At a desperate turning point in her life she meets Ed, a wealthy software whiz who's made some incredibly dopey decisions.  Incredible is the word here - the plot is so implausible that the book should stink, but Moyes creates believable characters with excellent dialogue and interior voices so that the plot hardly matters.  She's cranking them out very quickly these days - we have Silver Bay and The Ship of Brides yet to come in 2014 alone -  and I worry that my favorite light pleasure reads may lose their appeal.  We'll see.