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Peter’s Year In Books

Peter’s 2025 Year in Books

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Peter Gelfan

Goodreads Author

Born

New York, The United States

Website

http://PeterGelfan.com

Twitter

GelfanP

Genre

Contemporary, Nonfiction

Member Since

August 2012

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Peter Gelfan is a novelist, screenwriter, book editor, and writing teacher. He was born in New York City, grew up in New Haven and the New York suburbs, and has lived in Spain, England, Florida, and Vermont.

He wrote the screenplay for Cargo, Les Hommes Perdus, which was produced and released in France in 2010. Found Objects, his debut novel, came out in 2013. His second novel, Monkey Temple, was published in February 2019. The first edition of his nonfiction book Hurling Words into Darkness: A Book Doctor's Dose of Brain Science for Writers was published in 2021; a revised second edition will be released in fall of 2022. He volunteers as a writing tutor in a New York City public high school.

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Combine Editions
Peter Gelfan’s books

Average rating: 3.88 · 94 ratings · 35 reviews · 4 distinct works

	Found Objects 3.78 avg rating — 76 ratings — published 2013 — 6 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Hurling Words into Darkness: A Book Doctor's Dose of Brain Science for Writers 4.20 avg rating — 10 ratings — published 2021 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Monkey Temple: A novel 4.60 avg rating — 5 ratings — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Hurling Words Into Darkness: A Book Doctor’s Dose of Brain Science for Writers 4.33 avg rating — 3 ratings — published 2021	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

* Note: these are all the books on Goodreads for this author. To add more, click here.

16 posts
Peter Gelfan's Blog

College Application Essays

Notes on Writing College Essays

A college essay isn’t just another writing assignment. A homework essay is practice. A college essay is the real thing: a piece of writing which will have an impact on the rest of your life. Think of it more as an audition or a job interview.
The college will judge your scholastic abilities on your test scores and grades. The main purpose of the essay is give the admi Read more of this blog post »

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Published on September 16, 2019 06:26

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Peter’s Recent Updates

Peter Gelfan has read A World Appears: A Journey into Consciousness by Michael Pollan (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
This book is a terrific summary of philosophical, scientific, and psychedelic theories about consciousness, as the author reports on his conversations with many of those who have studied and written about this topic. As of yet, there’s no definitive ...more
Apr 26, 2026 10:42AM · like · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of A World Appears by Michael Pollan. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — A World Appears by Michael Pollan <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Peter Gelfan rated a book it was amazing The Coming Wave: AI, Power, and Our Future by Mustafa Suleyman	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
This book doesn’t talk much about the internal politics of the major AI companies, which Karen Hao’s book does in some detail. Suleyman’s concern is the tremendous impact AI will have on the entire planet and the dangers this entails. AI will change ...more
Mar 13, 2026 10:51AM · like · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of The Coming Wave by Mustafa Suleyman. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — The Coming Wave by Mustafa Suleyman <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Peter Gelfan rated a book really liked it Empire of AI: Dreams and Nightmares in Sam Altman's OpenAI by Karen Hao	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
This book is about what might be called an arms race to create AGI, artificial general intelligence: a computer that is actually intelligent, like a human, but a million times faster. Such a machine could be the best thing that ever happened to us or ...more
Jan 21, 2026 01:07PM · like · see review
Peter Gelfan rated a book really liked it Open Socrates: The Case for a Philosophical Life by Agnes Callard	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
A lively and interesting book that brings Socrates to life. How much of it is fact and how much later interpretation, I do not know. The author juxtaposes what we know of Socrates’s work with that of later and modern philosophy. I would say the main ...more
May 03, 2025 08:19AM · like · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Open Socrates by Agnes Callard. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Open Socrates by Agnes Callard <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Peter Gelfan rated a book liked it The Blind Spot: Why Science Cannot Ignore Human Experience by Adam Frank	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
This book contains a whole lot of interesting information about the current state of physics. However, for me, the book’s thesis never quite came into focus. It seemed to be based on the fact that physics, in describing the world, has gone far beyond ...more
Feb 07, 2025 12:00PM · like · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of The Blind Spot by Adam Frank. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — The Blind Spot by Adam Frank <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Peter Gelfan rated a book it was amazing Seven And A Half Lessons About The Brain by Lisa Feldman Barrett (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
If you are going to read only one book about the brain, maybe even just one short one, this is it. The author is a scientist, so the book doesn’t consist of philosophical metaphors, religious dogma, or self-help platitudes. It’s a summary of hard-lea ...more
Aug 28, 2024 12:31PM · like · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Seven And A Half Lessons About The Brain by Lisa Feldman Barrett. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Seven And A Half Lessons About The Brain by Lisa Feldman Barrett <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">