Roelof Kotvis

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Feed: Roelof's Updates

• The Harvest of Sorrow: Soviet Collectivization and the Terror-Famine | 2012-05-12

  Shelves: currently-reading
  

• Roelof became a fan of Richard Dawkins | 2012-04-29

  
  Roelof Kotvis became a fan of Richard Dawkins

• Roelof Kotvis is now following Richard Dawkins | 2012-04-29

  Roelof Kotvis is now following Richard Dawkins

• The God Delusion | 2012-04-29

  Shelves: to-read
  

• The Selfish Gene | 2012-04-29

  Shelves: to-read
  

• Kind van het Ereveld | 2012-04-25

  4 stars
  

• The Dogs of Riga | 2012-04-25

  1 star
  Not a very good book, I'm sorry to say. The plot is rather thin, and anything that could have added any literary quality to the story is lacking: no intricate metaphors to contemplate, no depth of character whatsoever, no nicely crafted prose. Most annoying, however, is the author's complete and utter ignorance about the city that features so prominently in his book: the descriptions of the city of Riga are totally inadequate. In 1991, when the action takes place, Riga's television tower had only been completed five years earlier. It's one of the tallest buildings in Europe and it dominates the Riga skyline: you really can't miss it, especially not if you cross the river as the main character does on several occasions - yet it's not even mentioned in the book. Nor is the Academy of Sciences building ("Stalin's Birthday Cake"), a nineteen fifties' skyscraper just south of the city centre, or any of the numerous beautiful Jugendstil buildings. The cathedral, the parks, the statues, the orthodox churches with their shiny cupolas - all suspiciously absent. Mankell's Riga doesn't bear any resemblance to the real Riga, and any cheap city guide would have sufficed to add a little credibility to a story that is in dire need of it. Riga may very well have been a dreadful place to live in 1991, but things weren't as grim as Mankell paints them.
  
  The book has a certain entertainment value; unfortunately, that's the only positive thing I can say about it.

• The View from Mount Improbable | 2012-04-15

  4 stars
  This little gem reads like an "Evolution Theory for Dummies". Dawkins takes the reader on a trip around the animal kingdom, explaining in great detail and with an inescapable logic, the ways in which animal eyes have developed. Several techniques of forming images, some simple, some complex, are described. The author points out the remarkable similarities between the eyes of completely different species and the distinctions between the eyes of animals that are clearly related, all of which help to support the thesis this booklet set out to prove: Darwin knew what he was doing.

• De Man Die Nee Zei: Charles de Gaulle 1890-1970 | 2012-04-14

  Shelves: to-read
  

• Verzameld werk 3 | 2012-04-04

  Shelves: to-read
  

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