Reading Freely

Top Ten Books I’d Recommend to Someone Who Doesn’t Read Nonfiction

Posted on January 17, 2012 by smellincoffee

This week the Broke and the Bookish are asking people to recommend ten books to someone who doesn’t read a particular genre. Since nonfiction doesn’t get a lot of love in the blogging community — people read it sparingly if at all — and it generally constitutes half or more of my reading, I though I’d focus on it today.I consider nonfiction reading a valuable resource for continuing education — not only in specific subjects, but as a human being. Therefore, here are ten titles which I think could either (1) entice lay people to learn more about an area of human knowledge or (2) prompt people to consider the way they live their lives.

1. Guns, Germs, and Steel; Jared Diamond

Some books simply tell a story; others impart a fundamental understanding of how history works, In Guns, Germs, and Steel, Diamond examines the success and failure of various civilizations as the result of geography and local resources, drawing on multiple disciplines; the result is a fantastic read that draws as much from science as it does from history.

2. The Consolations of Philosophy, Alain de Botton

Think philosophy is academic fluff with no relevance to your life? Hardly! Throughout human history, the concerns of philosophers have always hit close to home; it’s only recently that they’ve acquired a poor reputation. Alain de Botton shows the value of a considered life by examining the thoughts of Seneca on anger, Epicures on simple living and anti-consumerism, Schopenhauer on broken hearts, and more. A similar title is Plato’s Podcasts: the Ancients’ Guide to Modern Living.

3. Theories for Everything: An Illustrated History of Science, various authors (National Geographic)

While I’ve enjoyed learning about nature all my life, I didn’t become passionate about science until 2006 or so. In 2007 I read this, and it along with Dan Falk’s Universe on a T-Shirt provided the introduction and foundation of my on-going zeal for science and its history.

4. Amusing Ourselves to Death and/or Technopoly: the Surrender of Culture to Technology, Neil Postman

These two books are on the short list of works which have changed my life. Both share a general theme in that they address the unexpected consequences of technology and forced me to think about the way I use certain media. Amusing Ourselves to Death deals primarily with television and its poisonous effect on politics, religion, education, and journalism, as all are hijacked by impulses toward sensationalist entertainment devoid of actual content.

5. The Demon-Haunted World, Carl Sagan

This staple of critical-thinking advocates stresses the importance of both science education in a world increasingly dependent on technology, and scientific thinking in general. Learning to think, to reason independently of any authority or tradition, is crucially important for individuals and society, as our freedom and strength depend on our ability to make good choices based on solid facts.

6. A Guide to the Good Life: the Ancient Art of Stoic Joy (William Irvine), The Emperor’s Handbook (Marcus Aurelius, trans. David and Scott Hicks), or The Art of Living (Sharon Lebell)

While I reccommend philosophical reflection in general to everyone, one philosophical school in particular has proven a boon to me: Stoicism, which is enjoying a curious modern rebirth. Don’t believe me? Edmund Kern penned The Wisdom of Harry Potter a few years ago and identifies Harry as a Stoic hero. Stoicism is an ancient school of Greek philosophy which focused on virtue as the sole good in life, and emphasized developing strength of character and offers freedom from the petty disturbances of life. I like to call it Buddhism for the western world. Of the books listed: the first is an introduction to the philosophy for modern minds, the second is a contemporary translation of Marcus Aurelius’ Meditations, a primary source for Stoics, and the third is an interpretation of Epictetus’ Handbook, which sold me on the school to begin with.

7. The Age of Absurdity: Why Modern Life Makes it Hard to be Happy , Michael Foley

I read this book twice last year; it’s that good. Its essential premise is that we’ve created societies which not only fail to meet our needs as human beings, but often run counter to them. For instance, how do we find time for detachment and reflection when an ever-increasing number of gadgets vie for our attention?

8. A People’s History of America, Howard Zinn

Imagine a history written from the perspective of the powerless, the losers. That’s what Howard Zinn provided, and his narrative prompts readers to not only reconsider traditional versions of history, but to consider that the power to effect change lies not in the hands of Great Men, but in themselves. It is both history and a call to political activism much needed in these days.

9. In Praise of Slowness, Carl Honore

This is one I intend on re-reading soon..

In Praise of Slowness is a book that incorporates simple living, New Urbanism, and the philosophical life into its text. I will summarize as it as being written to make human lives human and livable once more. Where our way of life has reduced us to living passively, consuming unthinkingly, and bouncing from one task to the next without ever really enjoying anything, Slowness asserts that we should slow down and think about what it is we’re doing.

10. A Life of Her Own, Emile Carles.

This was required reading for a European history class I took a few years ago, and I responded with it with such enthusiasm that I think I made my professor uncomfortable by gushing with thanks. It’s the biography of a French peasant woman who, despite her highly isolated and conservative environment in an alpine farming village, matures into an independent thinker whose political passions are formed in the early years of the 20th century. Reading this not only encouraged me — if she could flourish despite that environment, anyone can — but it added significantly to my understanding of political philosophy.

11. The Geography of Nowhere, James Howard Kunstler

Were this list written just for American readers, I would have mentioned the Stoic books along with The Consolations of Philosophy, for The Geography of Nowhere is a must-read for American readers. In it, Kunstler attacks the land-use patterns of cheap oil (surburbanization and urban sprawl), decrying them as not only wasteful and doomed to extinction, but physically and spiritually degrading. It’s become one of my favorite books, which sounds odd if you haven’t read Kunstler; his history is enlightening and his sharp criticism a joy to read.

Posted in General | Tagged memes and surveys | 1 Comment

The Positronic Man

Posted on January 13, 2012 by smellincoffee

The Positronic Man
© 1993 Isaac Asimov and Robert Silverberg
290 pages

This novel takes me back to high school, where at some point following the release of The Bicentennial Man starring Robin Williams, I checked it out and read my very first Asimov. I’d watched enough Star Trek to know that ‘positronic’ meant that this was about an android, and thought perhaps the movie was based on it. My guess was right: The Positronic Man is an expansion of Asimov’s short story, “The Bicentennial Man”, just as Nightfall is an Asimov-Silverberg expansion of “Nightfall”. The tale of Andrew Martin, the robot who wanted to become a man, is one of my favorite Asimov stories. Data from The Next Generation may have predisposed me to being fascinated with the book’s theme — what does it mean to be a human, to be sentient?

After having read Silverberg and Asimov’s expansion of “Nightfall”, I cannot read the original story without missing the additional content. It seems like only half a story. The Positronic Man is more conservative on that count, starting and ending at the same points as Asimov’s original story. That can scarcely be avoided, as much of the original story took place in the form of a flashback, as Andrew — preparing for a surgery that will constitute the ‘final’ leap and give him either the humanity he desires or the welcome release of death — recounts how he came to be such an usual creature, the being who is far more a robot and yet, not quite a man. The Positronic Man greatly enriches the experience; events which are summarized in a sentence or two in the original story unfold over the course of a chapter, allowing for a great deal more characterization, both on Andrew’s part and his human companions This isn’t simply a ‘lengthier’ version of ” Bicentennial Man”: the additions, which flow so well from the original text, allow Andrew to truly evolve throughout the course of the book: he matures before our eyes as a character, not just as a robot who abandons metal coverings for pseudo-skin or gains legal standing. The polite, metallic servant introduced in the first chapter slowly grows into a thoughtful man, accomplished in multiple artistic and intellectual fields, driven by the same impulses that motivate us all.

I enjoyed this work tremendously; while I don’t know how much is Silverberg and how much is Asimov’s, the result makes my favorite Asimov story even better.

Posted in Reviews, science fiction | Tagged Asimov's Robots, Isaac Asimov, Robert Silverberg, science fiction | Leave a comment

This Week at the Library (11 January)

Posted on January 11, 2012 by smellincoffee

Currently Reading: How the Mind Works, Steven Pinker; The Positronic Man, Isaac Asimov and Robert Silverberg; The Fabric of the Cosmos, Brian Greene (on hold until I finish How the Mind Works).

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“It’s ridiculous, sir! Getting married.”
“Women like it, Patrick.”
“Why do they need us? Why don’t they just do it and tell us afterwards. Christ!”

p. 313, Sharpe’s Honour. Bernard Cornwell.

“Virtually nothing is known about the functioning microcircuity of the human brain, because there is a shortage of volunteers willing to give up their brains to science before they are dead.”

p. 184, How the Mind Works. Steven Pinker.

You are a robot, Andrew reminded himself sternly.
You are a product of the United States Robots and Mechanical Men Corporation.
And then Andrew would look at Little Miss and a sensation of great joy and warmth would spread through his positronic brain — a sensation that he had come to identify as ‘love’ — and then he would have to remind himself, all over again, that he was nothing more than a cleverly designed structure of metal and plastic with an artificial platinum-iridium brain inside his chrome-steel skull, and he had no right to feel emotions, or to think paradoxical thoughts, or to do any other such complex and mysterious human being.

p. 51, The Positronic Man, Asimov and Silverberg.

Posted in Reviews | Tagged week in review | Leave a comment

Sharpe’s Honour

Posted on January 10, 2012 by smellincoffee

Sharpe’s Honour
© 1985 Bernard Cornwell
320 pages

In Sharpe’s Enemy, Richard Sharpe vanquished one foe only to create another, this time the subtle French intelligence officer Pierre Ducos. Ducos is an enemy both to England and Sharpe, for with one plan he manages to ensnare Sharpe in legal turmoil that may end in a death sentence, and begin the destruction of the Anglo-Spanish alliance which is driving the French army back across the Pyrenees. Sharpe’s only hope is the possible help of a treacherous and dangerously attractive ‘Marquesa’.

Without giving too much away, Sharpe spends most of the book in trouble as an escaped and condemned outlaw working behind enemy lines. The escape tests Sharpe’s character several times, not just his resourcefulness; there are times when giving his parole or simply refusing to go one would make his life much easier, but Sharpe insists on making a fight of it.At the same time that Sharpe is engaged in a battle for his life, Wellington’s army and the French are moving toward one of the most decisive altercations of the Peninsular War: the Campaign at Vitoria. Much of the battle takes place without our rifleman, but it wouldn’t be a Sharpe novel without him making a dramatic entrance at a pivotal moment. The book is worth it just for the ending; being completely unfamiliar with the history of the Peninsular War, I flew into the book blind and didn’t know what surprises Wellington had up his sleeve or what fate would await him.

Although I missed the usual running interaction between Sharpe and his men, Honour offers plenty of excitement and a thoroughly satisfying ending that lifts the pall remaining from Sharpe’s Enemy‘s conclusion.

Next time: Sharpe’s Regiment invades France!

Posted in historical fiction, Reviews | Tagged Bernard Cornwell, historical fiction, Sharpe's Series, The Napoleonic Wars | 1 Comment

Bowling Alone

Posted on January 7, 2012 by smellincoffee

Bowling Alone: the Collapse and Revival of American Community
© 2001 Robert D. Putnam
544 pages

Every so often I read a book that strikes my brain as lightening, forever altering my thinking and earning a permanent place both on my bedside bookcase and on the tip of my tongue, for I will be thinking, talking, and writing about it from that point on. Bowling Alone is such a book. In it, Robert Putnam makes the case that America has experienced over a half-century of social decline — decline that is universal, across all demographics and throughout the nation. He uses a concept called social capital, a representation of the strength of social ties between individuals and their networks; the more social capital a society has, the more cohesive it is and the better it functions as a human community in matters of health, safety, and problem solving.

He first charts a steady decline in social capital by using falling rates in civic organizations (like the Rotary Club), locally-organized political activity, religious participation, communal leisure activities, and other markers. Putnam then attempts to ascertain the causes of this steep decline, which seems inexplicable given that the baby boomer generation has reached the age where civic participation is at its greatest. He finds a variety of society-wide forces (increasing job and security pressure; suburbanization; the rise of television), but also notes a major generational influence. The most active civic generation in American history is dying off, but much of their strength comes (Putnam believes) from the unifying force of WWII. That war called upon the resources of the entire nation — women in the workforce and children gathering scrap metal were just as important as the soldiers in the field. People didn’t simply work together; they believed they were working together, and for a common goal. Putnam believes that this extended period of national solidarity cast a shadow over that generation’s lives — but the baby boomers and generation-Xers have had no such struggle. No one would think of the Vietnam War as bringing people together; indeed, it must stand out as one of the most divisive wars in American history.

In making his argument, Putnam is both exhaustive and conservative — anticipating objections to his conclusions and answering them as a matter of course. He’s also not quick to overestimate the influence of any one factor, when sometimes I thought such emphasis might be appropriate. Putnam then asks the question, “So what?” and examines the ways in which social capital is a boon to society and then the consequences of losing it. He then ends by offering several goals for American society to work forward to as a way of strengthening itself. My interest in this book stems from my interest in the ‘human habitat’ in general, and community is an essential part of that.

Bowling Alone is imminently worthy of consideration — not just for the ideas it contains, but for the thorough manner that Putnam presents them. A small caveat; the book may be marginally dated given the rise of social networking sites. While Putnam does address online communities, facebook and similar creatures are altogether different from usenet groups and static websites — and although they’re scarcely a replacement for what we’ve lost, certainly they’re a factor that would need to be considered if this book were published today. For my own part, I am resolutely committed to doing my part to live my life in connection with other people.

Highly recommended.

Related:

The Geography of Nowhere, James Howard Kunstler

Posted in Reviews | Tagged social criticism, Society and Culture, sociology | 6 Comments

The Son of Neptune

Posted on January 6, 2012 by smellincoffee

The Heroes of Olympus, Volume II: The Son of Neptune
© 2011 Rick Riordan
521 pages

In The Lost Hero, Rick Riordan introduced another epic battle between the gods, forcing three young demigods to free Hera from imprisonment and forestall the awakening of Gaea and her Giants — but without their leader, Percy Jackson. The ‘lost hero’ returns to the story in The Son of Neptune, robbed of most of his memory and under constant attack by monsters until he finds refuge in a camp of demigods…named Camp Jupiter.

This is no small camp of half-bloods; Camp Jupiter is a bonafide city styled on Rome, where its illustrious history and mythology live on. These campers are born of the gods’ Roman personalities and they regard their rumored Greek relations with contempt. Beset on every side by monsters and without their own leader, they regard the unexpected arrival of Percy with suspicion. But Hera — Juno — has a plan, and Percy must play a part in it together with two new characters, both with mysterious pasts they would prefer to hide. The trio are given a quest — to travel beyond the reach of the gods, to a place where no demigod has returned from alive before….Alaska. There they must free Death from the clutches of one of Gaea’s giants, because no one is staying in the Underworld like they should and it’s causing quite a bit of confusion.

I welcomed the return of Percy and couldn’t wait to read this book, eager to see how Riordan developed the Roman camp. They’re far different beyond referring to the gods by different names; the Romans are populous enough to live in a large city defended by legions of demigods and their descendants, governed by a senate. They are organized, energetic, and militant. I delighted seeing little nods to both history and mythology. For instance, Percy is forced to join a disgraced legion which lost its eagle in the artic hinterlands years ago, under the leadership of a man named…Varus. One of Riordan’s new heroes (Frank Zhang) gives him the opportunity to create a character with a fascinating backstory out of a possible Romano-Chinese connection in history, a ‘lost legion‘. The Son of Neptune is the “end of the beginning” for Riordan’s new series: now Juno’s plan to unite the camps is laid out in full, for only together — and with the gods — can they triumph over the ancient and wrathful earth-goddess by marching on the Doors of Death. I took for granted that the heroes would triumph in this little adventure — surely they must live on to fulfill the Prophecy of Seven introduced in the original series. It wasn’t quite as novel as The Lost Hero given that the reader has already learned most of the mystery by this point, but I still enjoyed the Roman aspects and dramatic tension which is building in the series. The next book, the Mark of Athena, will unite the seven properly, and I’m excited to see where they’re going…for the next battle will be fought not in America, but in the home of the gods….Greece.

Posted in Reviews | Tagged fantasy, Rick Riordian, The Heroes of Olympus | Leave a comment

The Week at the Library (4 January)

Posted on January 4, 2012 by smellincoffee

Pending Review(s): Bowling Alone: the Collapse and Revival of American Community, Robert Putnam.
Currently Reading: The Son of Neptune; Rick Riordian; The Fabric of the Cosmos, Brian Greene (on hold until next week)
Potentials: How the Mind Works, Stephen Pinker

This blog started out as a weekly affair until I switched to individual book reviews, and since then I’ve been trying to work with the weekly post and make it purposeful, but not redundant. In addition to the info above, I’ll also be including quotations I would have otherwise scribbled down in my journal or posted to my facebook wall — funny bits of diaogue, deliciously rich exposition, or thought-provoking passages.

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“We did it, we bashed them, wee Potter’s the one
And Voldy’s gone moldy, so now let’s have fun!”
“Really gives a feeling for the scope and tragedy of the thing, doesn’t it?”

p. 746, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Finally finished up my Harry Potter Christmastime Re-Read!

The reason there are no humanlike robots is not that the very idea of a mechanical mind is misguided. It is that the engineering problems that we humans solve as we see and walk and plan and make it through the day are far more challenging than landing on the moon or sequencing the human genome.Nature, once gain, has found ingenious solutions that human engineers cannot yet duplicate. When Hamlet says “What a piece of work is man! how noble in reason! How infinite in faculty! in form and moving how express and admirable!” we should direct our awe not at Shakespeare or Mozart or Einstein or Kareem Abdul-Jabbar but at a four-year old carrying out a request to put a toy on a shelf.

p. 4, How the Mind Works. Stephen Pinker.

British political philosopher John Stuart Mill lauded the effects of participatory democracy on character. Without shared participation in public life, Mill wrote, a citizen “never thinks of any collective interest, of any objects to be pursued jointly with others but only in competition with them, and in some measure at their expense…A neighbor, not being an ally or an associate, since he is never engaged in any common undertaking for joint benefit, is therefore, only a rival.” The engaged citizen, by contrast, ‘is called upon…to weight interests not his own; to be guided, in case of conflicting claims, by another rule other than his own private partialities….He is made to feel himself one of the public, and whatever is for their benefit to be for his benefit.”

p. 337, Bowling Alone

TV-based politics is to political action as watching ER is to saving someone in distress. Just as one cannot restart a heart with one’s remote control, one cannot jump-start republican citizenship without direct, face-to-face participation. Citizenship is not a spectator sport.”

p. 341, Bowling Alone

Posted in Reviews | Tagged week in review | Leave a comment

The Best of 2011: Annual Year in Review

Posted on January 1, 2012 by smellincoffee

Previous yearly wrap-ups: 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010

Ever since I began blogging about books in May 2007, I’ve taken time in early January to reflect on the previous year of reading. There are always stand-out books I like to spotlight, and trends to mull over.

Using ChartGo.com, I broke my reading down into the main genres I visit, excluding miscellaneous works. Last year I commented with some wariness that for the first time ever, fiction had surpassed nonfiction reading. It accomplished the same feat this year, and by a larger margin. I blame Bernard Cornwell. Discovering the police mysteries of Michael Connelly also helped, as I’ve read more than a few Harry Bosch mysteries this year.

Early in the year I resolved to read ten particular books, most of which had given me trouble in the past; I’m happy to say I read nine of those. I was also able to maintain my ‘bookish resolutions‘for the most part. An undeclared goal was that of finishing Isaac Asimov’s Empire series, which I did.

And now…the best reads of 2011!

In general fiction, there were some truly outstanding novels:

The Sea-Wolf by Jack London combines adventure at sea with an epic story-discussion about morality, the meaning of life, and the measure of a man when a literary critic is kidnapped and forced to serve on a sealing schooner dominated by a brute who fancies himself a Nietzschean superman.
To Kill a Mockingbird is, “classic” status aside, simply one of the best novels I’ve ever read. This coming of age story set in Depression-era Alabama features two young people who are forced to grapple with adult questions of conscience and courage during a legal battle. They are guided by their extraordinary father Atticus Finch.
The Big Rock Candy Mountain by Wallace Stegner is a beautiful, wild, wrenching story about a restless man who drags his family through peril and poverty looking for financial success.Though the man Bo is never a viewpoint character, he dominates the book and its central characters with his admirable energy and sometimes destructive passion. Even months after reading it, I simply can’t get over the novel.
The Ethical Assassin by David Liss is an altogether different experience than these prior three. It isn’t grand or profound, but quirky and provocative. At first glance it might come off as merely a whimsical novel, but the fascinating interplay between the titular assassin and the main character should stir the minds of readers.

Historical fiction proved to be a mainstay this year. Last year its success was based on two series (Horatio Hornblower and the Saxon Stories), but in 2011 Bernard Cornwell’s Sharpe novels swept the field. Sharpe is a stand-out action hero, almost legendary, but so much more attracts me to the series — the way Cornwell brings the world the early of the 19th century so utterly alive, the relationships between the characters, and oh…that wit. Almost every week I share a quotation from a Sharpe novel on my facebook wall because they’re just too good to keep to myself.

‎”What I don’t understand,” Sharpe persevered, “is why she ran away.”
“She’s probably in love,” Hogan explained airily. “Nineteen-year-old girls of respectable families are dangerously susceptible to love because of all the novels they read.”
(Sharpe’s Havoc)

It’s terribly hard to choose between the Sharpe novels, but the three most memorable —

Sharpe’s Prey, in which Sharpe plays the part of spy during the British siege of Copenhagen.
Sharpe’s Fortress, involving an unintentionally hilarious villain and a fantastic ending.
Sharpe’s Fury is another “Sharpe alone behind enemy lines” story, which I seem to like best of all.

I did read historical fiction outside of Sharpe, though:

The Revolutionist is down as one of my ten favorite books this year. It’s the story of Alexander Til, a Russian-American immigrant who returns to his homeland following the collapse of the tsar and the rise of the Bolsheviks. Til is a believer in the cause of the people — not the state, which gets him into trouble when the new Soviet state turns out to be just as vicious as the old empire. What follows is an intense thriller set during the opening decades of Lenin and Stalin’s reign.

Other notable works included Bernard Cornwell’s The Fort, Bernard Cornwell’s Gallows Thief, and Bernard Cornwell’s — look, I can’t help that the man writes brilliant books. His heroes are fantastic, his villains loathsome, his supporting characters often hilarious, and the relationships between characters done to a T. Combine that with the plots and the man can’t be beaten.

Bernard Cornwell, Author of the Year

It just can’t be helped. Moving on —

Last year I jumped back into Star Trek literature and had intended to keep up with new releases throughout the year, but my ability to do so flagged over the summer. And yet, it’s one of the stronger categories. Good heavens. I enjoyed the Vanguard series as a whole, but the big standout is Christopher L. Bennett’s Over a Torrent Sea.

Outside of Star Trek I read a fair bit of science fiction, mostly in finishing Asimov’s Empire series. Joe Haldeman’s The Accidental Time Machine is definitely worth mentioning, but as far as SF goes I liked The Currents of Space and The Gods Themselves the best.

History is of course my staple, and this year saw me return to Will Durant’s Story of Civilization series, along with knocking out volume one of H.G. Well’s The Outline of History. My library doesn’t have volume II, hence why I’ve never finished it. The Age of Faith stymied my progress last year, and it took me three attempts to tackle it properly, but once I did it proved to be my favorite of the series. Other fantastic books:

With Wings Like Eagles: A History of the Battle of Britain, Michael Korda
To End all Wars: A Story of Loyalty and Rebellion, Adam Hochschild; a history of WW1 which focuses on those who resisted it.
Electric Universe: the Shocking True Story of Electricity, David Bodanis. A strangely captivating history of electricity, which introduced me to one of the best stories of WWII: Operation Biting. How can you not want to read about a scientist who trains as a paratrooper to steal a high-tech radar assembly and who is rescued by lost Scottish highlanders?

And though I’m hopelessly biased, I won’t go without mentioning Montevallo: Images of America, a pictorial history of my beloved university town.

The numbers lie: this was a slow year for science, a year which I propped up with books of essays by Asimov and a few “made simple” works. As it happens I’m in the middle of a substantial science read, but it won’t be finished until 2012, I’m afraid. Marlene Zuke’s Sex on Six Legs and the BBC’s Walking with Dinosaurs were high notes, though. The best would be Jared Diamond’s The Third Chimpanzee, which I sort of forgot to review, because I’m a boob.

Religion-wise, I read a few books on the Catholic and Anglican churches as part of my ongoing cultural literacy goal; Why Do Catholics Do That? was a stellar introduction. Early in the year I enjoyed Robert Wright’s The Evolution of God, a naturalistic approach to the development and growth of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.

Philosophy and social criticism are related subjects for me, so I shall mention them together. While the Dhammapada was enjoyable, and Michael Pollan’s food books were fairly eye-opening (even if they had to be taken with a grain of salt given his anti-scientific slant), the undisputed king this year was Michael Foley’s The Age of Absurdity: Why Modern Life Makes it Hard to Be Happy. I read it early last year but just couldn’t do it justice in a review, so I read it again in November and tried afresh. KunstlerCast is a close second: I yelped in surprise to see it listed on Amazon and was positively delighted when I won it from LibraryThing. I listen to the podcast every week, you see, and practically swear by Kunstler’s Geography of Nowhere, so this print version of the conversations Kunstler and his cohost have on suburban sprawl, urban planning, and the global oil economy was right up my alley.

This year marked the first time I’ve read books relating to health and/or nutrition: The Complete Guide to Walking for Health, Weight loss and Fitness and The Beginning Runner’s Handbook are both excellent.

As for next year….I predict that historical fiction will make another strong showing, because I’m not quite done with the Sharpe series yet. I’ll be continuing in the Story of Civilization series with The Age of Louis XIV at some point. There are still a fair few Trek lit books I’m just waiting to read, but science books are going take priority when it comes to new acquisitions. I also intend on visiting the nonfiction works of Alison Weir, whose novels I’ve enjoyed so much. If I read Asimov’s End of Eternity, I’ll be in the awkward position of having read all of his best-known work, save perhaps the collection I, Robot. After that it’s just…short story and essay collections for the most part.

Posted in General | Tagged Annual Wrapup, review | 3 Comments

2011 Cumulative Reading List

Posted on December 31, 2011 by smellincoffee

Earlier in the year I took advantage of blogger’s “pages” function to keep a running list of everything I’ve read, since the blog’s own index tends to become cluttered. Tomorrow the page shall be wiped clean in preparation for 2012, but here for posterity is the list, updated for the final time only moments ago. There are three books on the list still in need of reviewing, and I fully intended to accomplish that today, but it was a nice day and I spend it outside, reading and dozing in the sun. You can’t blame me for that, can you?

I regard the bolded entries as particularly superior accomplishments. Also note, this is not my annual “year in review” post. That should come sometime this next week, though.

— January —
1. In a Sunburned Country, Bill Bryson
2. Reunion, Michael Jan Friedman (Fiction)
3. The Evolution of God, Robert Wright
4. To End All Wars, Adam Hochschild
5. Redcoat, Bernard Cornwell (Fiction)
6. Sex on Six Legs, Marlene Zuke
7. The Black Echo, Michael Connelly (Fiction)
8. The Rise and Fall of the Bible, Timothy Beal.
9. A Far Better Rest, Susanne Alleyn (Fiction)
10. The Age of Absurdity: Why Modern Life Makes it Hard to be Happy, Michael Foley.
11. Beyond Band of Brothers: the War Memoirs of Major Dick Winters, Dick Winters
12. Electric Universe: The Shocking True Story of Electricity, David Bodanis
13. 50 Jobs in 50 States, Daniel Seddiqui

— February —
14. Star Trek Titan: Sword of Damocles, Geoffrey Thorne. (Fiction)
15. Star Trek Vanguard: Harbinger, David Mack (Fiction)
16. Agincourt, Bernard Cornwell (Fiction)
17. Star Trek Vanguard: Summon the Thunder, Dayton Ward and Kevin Dilmore (Fiction)
18. Overlook, Michael Connelly (Fiction)
19. The Near East, Isaac Asimov
20. Star Trek Titan: Over a Torrent Sea, Christopher L. Bennett (Fiction)
21. A History of Life on Earth, Jon Erickson
22. The Revolutionist, Robert Littell (Fiction)
23. The Outline of History, Volume I, H.G. Wells.
24. Paths of Disharmony, Dayton Ward (Fiction)
25. With Wings Like Eagles, Michael Korda

— March —
26. The History of Japan, Kenneth Scott Latourette
27. The Fort, Bernard Cornwell (Fiction)
28. Confessions, Augustine of Hippo
29. Reap the Whirlwind, David Mack (Fiction)
30. The Fall of Terok Nor, Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens (Fiction)
31. The War of the Prophets, Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens (Fiction)
32. Inferno, Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens (Fiction)
33. A Man in Full, Tom Wolfe (Fiction)
34. Then Everything Changed, Jeff Greenfield
35. The Forgotten 500, Gregory Freeman
36. You Can’t Be Neutral on a Moving Train, Howard Zinn
37. Bomber, Len Deighton

— April —
38. Gallows Thief, Bernard Cornwell (Fiction)
39. What Catholics Really Believe, Karl Keating
40. Echo Park, Michael Connelly (Fiction)
41. The Archer’s Tale, Bernard Cornwell (Fiction)
42. Star Trek Vanguard: Open Secrets, Dayton Ward (Fiction)
43. The Heart and the Fist, Eric Greitens
44. Why Do Catholics Do That?, Kevin Orlin Johnson
45. The Stars, Like Dust, Isaac Asimov (Fiction)
46. The Book of Wisdom, New English Bible
47. Disaster 1906: The San Francisco Earthquake and Fire, Edward F. Dolan Jr.
48. The Accidental Time Machine, Joe Haldeman (Fiction)
49. Ecclesiasticus, New English Bible
50. Sharpe’s Rifles, Bernard Cornwell (Fiction)

— May —
51. The Tragedy of the Moon, Isaac Asimov
52. The Coming, Joe Haldeman (Fiction)
53. The Book of Tobit, New English Bible
54. The Undiscovered Country, J.M.Dillard (Fiction)
55. City of Bones, Michael Connelly (Fiction)
56. Guns, Ed McBain (Fiction)
57. The Sea-Wolf, Jack London (Fiction)
58. To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee (Fiction)
59. Earth Science Made Simple, Edward Albins
60. Cave Paintings to Picasso, Henry Sayre
61. Sharpe’s Tiger, Bernard Cornwell (Fiction)
62. The Ethical Assassin, David Liss (Fiction)
63. Angels and Demons, Dan Brown (Horrible, Horrible Fiction)

–June–
64. Star Trek Vanguard: Precipice, David Mack (Fiction)
65. Montevallo: Images of America, Clark Hultquist and Carey Heatherly
66. All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten, Robert Fulghum
67. The Omnivore’s Dilemma, Michael Pollan
68. Sharpe’s Triumph, Bernard Cornwell (Fiction)
69. Biology Made Simple, Rita Mary King
70. The Currents of Space, Isaac Asimov (Fiction)
71. Cop Hater, Ed McBain (fiction)
72. Sharpe’s Fortress, Bernard Cornwell (fiction)
73. God is not One, Stephen Prothero
74. The Final Storm, Jeff Shaara (fiction)

–July–
75. Sharpe’s Trafalgar, Bernard Cornwell (fiction)
76. Sharpe’s Prey, Bernard Cornwell (fiction)
77. Robots and Empire, Isaac Asimov (fiction)
78. An Altar in the World, Barbara Brown Taylor
79. Diary of a Wimpy Kid #2: Rodrick Rules, Jeff Kinney
80. Why Choose the Episcopal Church, John M. Krumm (fiction)
81. Judge and Jury, James Patterson (fiction)
82. Honeymoon, James Patterson (fiction)
83. The Big Switch, Harry Turtledove (fiction)
84. The Third Chimpanzee, Jared Diamond
85. Diary of a Wimpy Kid #1, Jeff Kinney

–August–
86. Star Trek Titan: Synthesis, James Swallow (fiction)
87. Seven Ages of Paris, Alistair Horne
88. Covert, Bob Delaney
89. Gospel Medicine, Barbara Brown Taylor
90. Isaac Asimov’s Caliban, Roger MacBride Allen (fiction)
91. The Age of Faith, Will Durant
92. The Gods Themselves, Isaac Asimov (fiction)
93. The Big Rock Candy Mountain, Wallace Stegner (fiction)

–September–

94. Astronomy Made Simple, Kevin B. Marvel
95. The Feather Merchants, Max Shulman (fiction)
96. The Illiad, translated by Barbara Leonie Picard
97. Your Faith, Your Life: An Invitation to the Episcopal Church, Jennifer Gamber and Bill Lewellison
98. The Renaissance, Will Durant
99. Sharpe’s Gold, Bernard Cornwell (fiction)
100. Marcus Aurelius: A Life, Frank McLynn
101. Discourses, Epictetus
102. The Tales of Beedle the Bard, J.K. Rowling (fiction)
103. Dhammapada, trans. Max Mueller, annotated by Jack MacGuire
104. The Red Pyramid, Rick Riordian (fiction)
105. Sharpe’s Escape, Bernard Cornwell (fiction)
106. Walking with Dinosaurs, Tim Haines

–October–

107. The Reformation, Will Durant
108. The Union Club Mysteries, Isaac Asimov (Fiction)
109. The Good German, Joseph Kanon (Fiction)
110. The Lost Hero, Rick Riordan (Fiction)
111. Pathways, Jeri Taylor (Fiction)
112. The Complete Guide to Walking for Health, Weight Loss, and Fitness; Mark Fenton
113. Sharpe’s Fury, Bernard Cornwell (Fiction)
114. Active Living Every Day; Steven Blair, Andrew Dunn, Bess Marcus, Ruth Ann Carpenter, and Peter Jaret.

115. The Planet that Wasn’t, Isaac Asimov
116. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (fiction)
117. At Home in Mitford, Jan Karon (fiction)
118. The Beginning Runner’s Handbook, Ian MacNeill and Doug Clement.
119. The Rapture Exposed: The Message of Hope in the Book of Revelation, Barbara Rossing
120. Clash of Wings: World War II in the Sky, Walter J. Boyne
121. Sharpe’s Company, Bernard Cornwell (Fiction)
122. The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (fiction)

— November —
123. The Astral, Kate Christensen (fiction)
124. Sharpe’s Sword, Bernard Cornwell (fiction)
125. KunstlerCast: Conversations with James Howard Kunstler….the tragic comedy of surburban sprawl; Duncan Crary
126. The Greater Journey, David McCullough
127. Plain and Simple: A Woman’s Journey to the Amish, Sue Bender
128. God Has a Dream, Desmond Tutu
129. The Crisis of Islam, Bernard Lewis
130. In Defense of Food, Michael Pollan
131. A Light in the Window, Jan Karon (fiction)
132. Timequake, Kurt Vonnegut (fiction)

–December–
133.Physics of the Future, Michio Kaku
134.Redwall, Brian Jacques (fiction)
135. Santa and Pete, Christopher Moore (fiction)
136. Bicycle Diaries, David Byrne
137. The City in Mind: Notes on the Urban Condition, James Howard Kunstler
138. Incognito: the Secret Lives of the Brain, David Eagleman
139. Open Your Heart with Bicycling: Mastering Life through the Love of the Road, Shawn B. Rohrbach
140. 11/22/63, Stephen King (fiction)
141. The Litigators, John Grisham (fiction)
142. Sharpe’s Enemy, Bernard Cornwell (fiction)
143. Social Graces: Words of Wisdom on Civility in a Changing Society, ed. Jim Brosseau

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