Another month gone, and — well, I’m a little proud of this one, primarily because I FINISHED THE SCIENCE SURVEY! My previous record has been August (2022), so hurrah. The year’s science reading isn’t over, of course, but now I can run away from physics to the loving arms of Mount Doom’s science offerings, which are all about morality, blood, and music. May’s surprises were a strong showing by audiobooks (4), and the apparent arrival of Opening Day at Reading Freely, with three books on baseball read and another two started. One, an audiobook, will be knocked off tonight. I have a strong sentimental attachment to baseball, but this year I’ve had an unusual fixation on it — following the Red Sox more than I usually do, re-watching movies like The Sandlot and The Pride of the Yankees, etc. I’m sure it will fade (most of my spontaneous fixations do), but in the meantime it’s a pleasant and unexpected dish in my book smorgasboard.

Climbing Mount Doom
The Confederate Reader: How the South Saw the War, Richard B. Harwell
The Life of Johnny Reb, Irwin Bell Wiley
Log Cabin Pioneers: Stories and Sayings, Wayne Erbeson
Air: The Restless Shaper of Our World, William Bryant Logan

The Big Reads

I had wonderful intentions. The Shahnameh even rode around in the car with me all month.

Classics Club Strikes Back: Year III

I meant to read Paradise during the Easter season, but now we’re in Pentecost, so that’s a whoopsie. June & July will be all about American lit, though, so I expect this category to spring to life.

The Science Survey
Air: The Restless Shaper of Our World, William Bryant Logan.
Calculating the Cosmos: How Mathematics Unveils the Universe, Ian Stewart
The Unpersuadables: Adventures with the Enemies of Science, Will Storr
Other Minds: The Octopus, the Sea, and the Deep Origins of Consciousness

Readin’ Dixie
Our Man in Charleston, Christopher Dickey
The Confederate Reader: How the South Saw the War, Richard B. Harwell
Baseball in Alabama, Doug Wedge
The Life of Johnny Reb, Irwin Bell Wiley
Log Cabin Pioneers: Stories and Sayings, Wayne Erbeson

Unreviewed:
Johnny Reb: Review in the works.

Other Minds: The Octopus, the Sea, and the Deep Origins of Consciousness. I’d previously heard that octopods were brainy, but I had no idea how fascinating they really were, with dynamic skins which can serve as camouflage, signaling, or conveying emotional states. The author argues that octopods (fun fact: there are three accepted plurals for octopods, the others being octopuses and octopi, but the latter is linguistically inappropriate because it’s a Latin ending stuck onto a Greek word) are conscious, and that given their ancient lineage, that means the great apes were beaten to the punch rather handily. I read this for the insight into consciousness, but was completely distracted by how cool and weird octopods are.

Being Better: Stoicism for a World Worth Living In, Kai Whitling, Leonidas Konstantakos. Read by Liam Gerrard. Ehhhhh. Very basic stoicism mixed with veganism, climate change, etc. Not too long, fortunately.

Coming in June:
Marian and I are doing a buddy read of The Isle of Dr. Moreau, and I’ll start gearing up for my usual salute to the American revolution and American lit.