brewbooks hikes thru 2025

A little about myself: I am a retired electrical engineer in my late sixties who grew up in NY and NJ. I have lived in the small city of Lake Forest Park, WA, since 1989 with my wife, who is also an avid reader. We have two cats who tolerate our eccentricities.

My passion for reading and nature is a significant part of who I am. I have an extensive home library emphasizing science and technical books. While I gravitate towards nonfiction, I always keep an eye out for good fiction and other genres to broaden my perspectives. Suggestions are always welcome.

I dedicate a considerable amount of time to hiking and exploring nature in the Cascade and Olympic Mountains, and occasionally, I venture to different parts of the world. As an amateur naturalist, I am constantly learning and expanding my understanding of the world around us. "Each one of us adds a little to our understanding of Nature, and from all the facts assembled arises a certain grandeur." - Aristotle, as quoted by Bradford Washburn.

I'm involved in my community as a volunteer at two library branches. I also do conservation work at local parks. I like spending time at Third Place Books in Lake Forest Park and Ridgecrest Books in nearby Shoreline, WA.

Last year, I read 95 books. This year, I aim to work on writing more and reading a bit less. My goal is to write about brain-machine interfaces and hiking as we age.

January 2025 books
1.The Great U.S.-China Tech War by Gordon G. Chang 3.5 1 January 2025
2. A Separate Peace by John Knowles 4.5 2 January 2025 (1st read this in 2008)
3. Why Machines Learn: The Elegant Math Behind Modern AI by Anil Ananthaswamy 5.0 4 January 2025
4. Let Us Know Praise Famous Men by James Agee and Walker Evans (Photographer) 4.5 8 January 2025
5. Chaos: Charles Manson, the CIA, and the Secret History of the Sixties by Tom O'Neill with Dan Piepenbring 4.0 12 January 2025
6. Grace: President Obama and Ten Days in the Battle for America by Cody Keenan 4.0 14 January 2025
7. Wolverine: Origin - The Complete Collection by Bill Jemas 3.5 16 January 2025

Hope you have a great year of reading!

I'm now a Florida resident, but lived 35 years in the Seattle suburbs. I loved Third Place Books--one of my favorite places to hang out. Were you ever a member of the book club that used to meet there?

Welcome back!

>4 arubabookwoman: Nope. I am a member of the book club at Shoreline Library. I like book clubs because they shake me out of my usual ruts and introduce me to new books and genres that I wouldn't have normally considered. I love the Third Place Commons concept and feel lucky we have this place (and I've also visited the Ravenna store). A bit envious of Florida as we march through the winter in Lake Forest Dark... but summers here are amazing.

Wrap up From 2024 reading
5 star books
The Feeling of Life Itself: Why Consciousness Is Widespread but Can't Be Computed by Christof Koch
The Fourth Turning Is Here: What the Seasons of History Tell Us … by Neil Howe
Dune by Frank Herbert
Unsettled: What Climate Science Tells Us, What It Doesn't, and Why It Matters by Steven E. Koonin
For Love of Country: Leave the Democrat Party Behind by Tulsi Gabbard
The Idea Factory: Bell Labs and the Great Age of American Innovation by Jon Gertner
The Source by James Michener
Happiness Is a Serious Problem: A Human Nature Repair Manual by Dennis Prager
Self-Reliance by Ralph Waldo Emerson
Wonder by R. J. Palacio

Ratings (Average = 4.18) It's skewed high because I only count a book I finish, there were DNFs (did not finish)
5.0 10
4.5 30
4.0 37
3.5 9
3.0 3
2.5 1

What ratings mean to me
Rating Meaning
5.0 Outstanding
4.5 Many new ideas, very inspiring
4.0 Some new ideas, inspiring
3.5 Very interesting
3.0 Interesting
2.5 A few nuggets
2.0 Mediocre
1.5 Boring
1.0 Awful

Read Dates Over Time
Jan 7
Febr 6
Mar 8
Apr 7
May 9
Jun 9
Jul 8
Aug 4
Sep 4
Oct 13
Nov 8
Dec 7

Top Genres
History 28
Science & Nature 18
Biography & Memoir 17
Technology 15
Business 13
Science Fiction 12
Suspense & Thriller 10

All genres, see https://www.librarything.com/stats/brewbooks/share/u24a1549e.u2e6fd853

I love the comment John on the cats tolerating you and your wife's eccentricities!

Welcome back for another year.

>8 PaulCranswick: Thanks Paul

>1 brewbooks: Hi - a bit of an odd trudge through early chapters of this novel, but worth the wait if you love Moss(es):

THE SIGNATURE OF ALL THINGS.

>10 m.belljackson: Thanks, I was able to get this from my library as an audiobook; it looks to be a book that's up my alley.
I do love mosses, lichens, vascular plants, animals, Earth - in fact, I love Gaia.

February 2025 books
8. The Blind Spot: Why Science Cannot Ignore Human Experience by Adam Frank 3.5 1 February 2025
9. Lovely One: A Memoir by Ketanji Brown Jackson 4.5 3 February 2025 My Review
10. The Hidden Canyon: A River Journey by John Blaustein 4.5 4 February 2025
11. Guts: A Graphic Novel by Raina Telgemeier 4.0 5 February 2025
12. Rosie Revere, Engineer: A Picture Book (The Questioneers) by Andrea Beaty 4.0 6 February 2025
13. The Necessary Revolution: How Individuals and Organizations Are Working Togeth… by Peter M. Senge 3.5 6 February 2025
14. Meme Wars: The Untold Story of the Online Battles Upending Democracy in America by Joan Donovan 2.5 16 February 2025
15. Andersonville by MacKinlay Kantor 4.0 17 February 2025
16. The Signature of All Things: A Novel by Elizabeth Gilbert 5.0 20 February 2025

>12 brewbooks: Hope all is well, John.

March 2025 books
I had a long gap in my reading while I drafted the Colorado River for 24 days in late February and early March
17. Belknap's Waterproof Grand Canyon River Guide by Buzz Belknap / Loie Belknap Evans 5.0 17 March 2025
18. The Emerald Mile : the epic story of the fastest ride in history through the heart of the Grand Canyon
by Kevin Fedarko 5.0 21 March 2025 (first read in 2021, even better the second reading)
19. Colossus: The Turbulent, Thrilling Saga of the Building of Hoover Dam by Michael Hiltzik 4.0 29 March 2025
20. Journeys to the Edge: Where Will Your Vision Take You? 4.5 24 March 2025
by Randall Peeters 4.5 24 March 2025
21. Tenure by Blaine L. Pardoe 4.0 31 March 2025

April 2025 Books
22. Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse 5.0 4 April 2025
23. The laws of medicine : field notes from an uncertain science by Siddhartha Mukherjee 4.0 12 April 2025
24. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak 4.5 17 April 2025
25. The Grand Canyon: Between River and Rim by Pete McBride 4.5 19 April 2025
26. John Adams Under Fire: The Founding Father's Fight for Justice … by Dan Abrams 4.5 21 April 2025 Review
https://www.librarything.com/work/24007752/reviews/285039508
27. The Well-Lived Life: A 102-Year-Old Doctor's Six Secrets to Health … by Gladys McGarey MD 5.0 25 April 2025

May Books
28. Abundance by Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson 4.5 3 May 2025
29. Murray's Private Night Out by Madelyn Katzman Matthew Rinaldi 4.0 8 May 2025
30. Georgia O'Keeffe by Nancy Frazier 4.0 10 May 2025
31. The Prepared Prepper: An EMP Post Apocalypse Prepper Thriller by William Stone 3.5 12 May 2025
32. Crisis Preparedness Handbook: A Comprehensive Guide … by Patricia Spigarelli Aston 4.0 21 May 2025
33. The GEEK by Ross Carson 3.5 23 May 2025
34. The Curmudgeon by Ross Carson 3.0 26 May 2025
35. The Limestone Hermit by Ross Carson 3.0 29 May 2025
36. 100 Classic Hikes Utah: National Parks and Monuments / National Wilderness and… by Julie Trevelyan 4.5 30 May 2025

June books
37. The Rational Bible: Genesis by Dennis Prager 5.0 3 June 2025
38. Memorial Days: A Memoir by Geraldine Brooks 4.5 8 June 2025
39. A Handful of Earth, A Handful of Sky: The World of Octavia Butler by Lynell George 3.0 10 June 2025
40. Reentry: SpaceX, Elon Musk, and the Reusable Rockets … by Eric Berger 4.5 16 June 2025
41. Who Wrote the Bible? by Richard Friedman 4.5 18 June 2025
42. The Walking Drum by Louis L'Amour 4.5 20 June 2025
43. The Folk of the Fringe by Orson Scott Card 3.5 22 June 2025
44. The Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant: The Complete Annotated Edition by Ulysses S. Grant 5.0 29 June 2025
45. The Quiet Professional: Major Richard J. Meadows of the U.S. Army Special Force… by Alan Hoe 4.5 30 June 2025

July 2025 books
46. Cut The Small Talk: Must Have Techniques Simplifying How To Talk To Anyone … by Dean Hope 4.5 3 July 2025
47. Gray Whales: Wandering Giants by Robert Busch 4.0 7 July 2025
48. Breaking Through: My Life in Science by Katalin Karikó 4.5 12 July 2025
49. The Attack by Kurt Schlichter 4.5 14 July 2025
50. Uncharted: How Trump Beat Biden, Harris, and the Odds in the Wildest Campaign… by Chris Whipple 3.5 19 July 2025
51. Damage Control by Thomas M Cassidy 4.5 31 July 2025
Review https://www.librarything.com/work/28969107/reviews/291213703

August 2025 books - I've been out hiking half the month!
51. Hiking Oregon's Eagle Cap Wilderness (Regional Hiking Series) by Fred Barstad 4.5 5 August 2025 Review
https://www.librarything.com/work/525658/reviews/294139384
52. Four Thousand Paws: Caring for the Dogs of the Iditarod: A Veterinarian's Story by Lee Morgan 4.0 10 August 2025
53. Graph Databases in Action by Dave Bechberger 3.5 19 August 2025
54. Black Autumn: A Survival Post-Apocalyptic Thriller by Jeff Kirkham and Jason Ross 4.0 22 August 2025
55. Door Into Summer by Robert A. Heinlein 3.5 25 August 2025
56. Breaking the Grid: How to Buy Nothing, Make Everything, and Live Sustainably by Dan Martin 4.0 26 August 2025
57. Farnham's Freehold by Robert A. Heinlein 4.0 30 August 2025

September 2025 books
58. Algospeak: How Social Media Is Transforming the Future of Language by Adam Aleksic 3.5 2 September 2025
59. RiverMaps Guide to the Colorado & Green Rivers in the Canyonlands of Utah & Co… by Tom Martin 4.0 13 September 2025
60. Belknap's Waterproof Canyonlands River Guide by Buzz Belknap 3.5 16 September 2025
61. The Pursuit of God: The Human Thirst for the Divine by A W Tozer 5.0 19 September 2025
62. The Order: Inside America's Racist Underground by Kevin Flynn 4.0 24 September 2025
63. Original Sin: President Biden's Decline, Its Cover-Up .... by Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson 4.0 29 September 2025

October 2025 books
64. Every Life Is on Fire: How Thermodynamics Explains the Origins of Living Things by Jeremy England 4.5 2 October 2025
65. In the Blood: A Thriller by Jack Carr 4.0 4 October 2025
66. The Jewish Annotated New Testament by Amy-Jill Levine and Marc Zvi Brettler (Editors) 5.0 15 October 2025
https://www.librarything.com/work/11585748/reviews/298652597
67. Facts and Fears: Hard Truths from a Life in Intelligence by James R. Clapper and Trey Brown 4.0 20 October 2025
68. The Monkey's Bridge: Mysteries of Evolution in Central America by David Rains Wallace 4.0 24 October 2025
69. The Origins of Judaism: An Archaeological-Historical Reappraisal by Yonatan Adler 4.0 27 October 2025
https://www.librarything.com/work/29255052/reviews/298854758
70. The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors: The Extraordinary World War II Story of the U.S. Navy's Finest Hour by James D. Hornfischer 5.0 30 October 2025
https://www.librarything.com/work/689934/reviews/298855182

November 2025 books
71. Contact by Carl Sagan 4.5 10 November 2025
72. Starman Jones by Robert A. Heinlein 4.0 17 November 2025
73. Scorched Earth: A Global History of World War II by Paul Thomas Chamberlin 4.5 22 November 2025
74. AMERICAN APOCALYPSE: The Second American Civil War by Kurt Schlichter 4.0 28 November 2025

December 2025 books
75. I Am Not Your Enemy: A Memoir by Reality Winner 3.0 3 December 2025
76. Space Exploration―A History in 100 Objects by Sten Odenwald 6 December 2025
77. The Newtonian system of the world, the best model of government:… by John Theophilus Desaguliers 4.5 14 December 2025
78. The Fort Bragg Cartel: Drug Trafficking and Murder in the Special Forces by Seth Harp 2.0 16 December 2025
79. George Marshall: Defender of the Republic by David L. Roll 4.5 17 December 2025
80. The Giant Joshua by Maurine Whipple 4.5 22 December 2025
81. Hiking Wyoming (State Hiking Guides Series) by Roxy and Ben Dawson 4.0 26 December 2025

Congrats on zipping past the goal!

>24 drneutron: Thanks, I have been slow in November but made it over the goal line. Thanks for a great group.