VG- Tens

I finished my 75 challenge and wanted to start something anew. I'll start this one on 10-10. I'm going to try to do ten challenges of ten books, each with ten categories. Some categories will repeat throughout the year. Others might appear only once. But I'm definitely going to end up with more than ten categories. I can handle ten books at a time. Thinking of 100 gives me a headache.

First Ten-
1. Finishing Up A Series- Blood's A Rover, James Ellroy- Book three of the American Underworld series. Final one.
2. Nature And Wildlife- Of Wolves and Men, Barry Lopez- I've been meaning to get to Lopez for awhile now.
3. Cold War- A Fiery Peace in a Cold War, Neil Sheehan
4. Science- Complexity: A Guided Tour, Melanie Mitchell- I've been taken with Complexity Theory lately.
5. Fantasy- The Anubis Gates, Tim Powers- Been on my TBR lists for years now.
6. Futurism- What's Next: Dispatches on the Future of Science, Edited by Max Brockman- Young scientists.
7. Lit/Fiction- The Gold Bug Variations, Richard Powers
8. Historical Fiction- The Revolutions Trilogy, John Banville- Actually an omnibus edition containing three novels. None too long though.
9. Peak Oil- $20 Per Gallon, Christopher Steiner
10. History of Science- American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer, Kai Bird- Pulitzer winner.

Second Ten-
1. Everyman's Library- I've picked up several of these over time and need to start reading them. Decided to start with The Periodic Table by Primo Levi.
2. Graphic Non-Fiction- Logicomix
3. Science- The Strangest Man: The Hidden Life of Paul Dirac, Mystic of the Atom, Graham Farmelo (2) in science category.
4. Environment- Whole Earth Discipline: An Ecopragmatist Manifesto, Stewart Brand
5. Economics- sub-category- economics from a humorous goldbug curmudgeon- The New Empire of Debt: The Rise and Fall of an Epic Financial Bubble, William Bonner
6. You Can Never Step In The Same River Twice-Rereads- Haven't picked one yet but I'm going to try to get some rereads in this challenge. Decided on Bless Me, Ultima, Rudolfo Anaya for the first reread.
7. Futurism- The Department of Mad Scientists, Michael Belfiore (2) in Futurism category
8. Historical Fiction- Wolf Hall, Hilary Mantel (2) in Historical Fiction category
9. Current Events/Politics- Zeitoun, Dave Eggers
10. Books About Books- A Primer of American Literature by Charles F. Richardson.

Third Ten-
1. Translations- Your Face Tomorrow: Fever and Spear, Javier Marias
2. Science Fiction- Makers, Cory Doctorow
3. Economics- sub-category- economics from a former music biz marketing guy- The Genius of the Beast: A Radical Re-Vision of Capitalism, Howard Bloom
4. Technology- The Nature of Technology: What it is and How It Evolves, W. Brian Arthur
5. Architecture- The BLDGBLOG Book, Geoff Manaugh
6. Books About Books- The Bibliophile's Devotional, Hallie Ephron
7. Nature and Wildlife- Dunwoody Pond: Reflections on the High Plains Wetlands and the Cultivation of Naturalists, John Janovy
8. Translations- The Last Summer of Reason, Tahar Djaout
9. Science Fiction- Galileo's Dream, Kim Stanley Robinson
10. Graphic Non-Fiction- Footnotes in Gaza, Joe Sacco

Fourth Ten-

1. Finishing Up A`Series- Freedom™, Daniel Suarez
2. Graphic- Asterios Polyp, David Mazzucchelli
3. Environment- Heart of Dryness, James G. Workman
4. Travel, Transportation- The Routes of Man, Ted Conover
5. Nature and Wildlife- Where the Wild Things Were, William Stolzenburg
6. Books About Books- This Book Is Overdue!, Marilyn Johnson
7. Nature And Wildlife- Fiction- The River Why, David James Duncan
8. Science- Longevity-Eternity Soup, Greg Critser
9. Books As`Objects- The Red Book, Carl G. Jung
10. Lit/Fiction- Matterhorn, Karl Marlantes

Fifth Ten-

Sixth Ten-

Seventh Ten-

Eighth Ten-

Ninth Ten-

Tenth Ten-

OK, I've got four out of my first ten started. Blood's a Rover, A Fiery Peace in a Cold War, What's Next, and $20 Per Gallon. Yay me!

An explanatory note. When I post comments on a book they are just my reactions to it. I'm not trying to convince anyone to read or not to read a particular book. I try not to recommend or post things like must-read. They will just be my thoughts on a book. It makes me a bit nervous when people put books that I've gushed about on their TBR or wishlists. Or take them off when I don't. I'm only reading for me and posting about my reading. I'm not trying to be a persuader.

Out of the four I've started I don't have high hopes for $20 Per Gallon. It's retreading areas I'm familiar with. I'll probably finish it though.

Congrats - off to a good start! I wouldn't worry at all about writing comments on a book - as long as they explain why you liked or didn't like... I've had times where someone has completely written down a book, and, because I know that person's taste, I can probably add it to my wishlist! :) That's why it's so much fun with different people liking such different stuff!

Hi VisibleGhost, I know what you mean about not wanting to be responsible for a person's reading enjoyment. We are all pretty experienced readers here at LT, and probably have a pretty good feel for what we would and would not like. I do like reading the comments that people supply but ultimately the final decision is mine. With that said I am looking forward to reading yours and others comments in this challenge.

Hi bookaholic13 & DeltaQueen50, thanks for the drop-in. I liked your thoughts on most people taking responsibility for their own reading here. I'm off the hook! May everyone enjoy their upcoming reading year. Damn, now I sound like a greeting card. Well, do it anyway. ;)

Oh, yes, post your comments and don't be afraid to gush if you've a mind to. I especially enjoy reading enthusiastic comments about a book that I know I won't like. Sometimes I've been convinced to give something new a try. And I like that comment about each of us taking responsibility for our own reading!

Do you think $20 Per Gallon would be more enjoyable for people less familiar with the subject?

1. Blood's a Rover, James Ellroy

This is the third book in The Underworld USA Trilogy.* Frankly, I think another one would have killed me. Underworld is a reimagining of US history from 1958 until 1972. A tumultuous bloody fourteen years in the US. Ellroy's style in these books has been described as 'word jazz', 'telegraphic' prose, and 'stacatto'. It is machine-gun like with words being used as weapons. Racial slurs from the era are used repeatedly. As are other derogatory terms from that time in the US. It's choppy and sentence fragmented. Either the reader will adapt to the style or the reader will go absolute batshit. I adjusted to the rhythm but I have a feeling many won't.

It is hyper-violent and hyper-frenetic. It's ugly. The body count for the trilogy would be in the thousands. Gratuitous? Not really. Underneath it's a critique of the times and the prevalent attitudes of that time. Characters that commit horrible atrocities are conflicted in some areas. Loyalties and core beliefs shift. It's an anti-dote to the victors getting to manufacture history by manufacturing a different history. It's a series without peers.

Ellroy is an egoist and a self-promoter. I don't think a humble person could have written this trilogy. In that regard he resembles writers like Norman Mailer. They have completely different writing styles but the ego is there in the writing.

Did I like the trilogy? I do like things that are a bit different from everything else out there. And I like hard questions being posed. I do realize that to get to the world we live in today there were millions of victims that had 'short brutish lives'. Power is still coveted and some will wreak havoc to acquire and hold it. It wasn't easy reading but I am glad I read it.

The Underworld USA Trilogy
1) American Tabloid
2) The Cold Six Thousand
3) Blood's a Rover

_Zoe_, I should finish $20 Per Gallon this week and I'll write something up about it.

Following you over here, VG!

I'll be interested to hear your thoughts on The Gold Bug Variations when you get to it. I have a copy, as yet unread, but after reading James Woods' demolition of Generosity in the New Yorker, which took plenty of time out to be rude about Powers' previous books, I think I need to wait a while to come to it unprejudiced. There's something about James Woods that predisposes me to be unreasonably forgiving of a book, and I'd like to read it with more of an open mind...

#17 You know whilst I quite enjoyed the first two I just dont have the energy to pick up the next one! Somehow the The Cold Six Thousand satiated me :)

I've had The Gold Bug Variations on my shelf forever without cracking it, but I did enjoy Galatea 2.2.

Stasia, glad to see you followed the bread crumbs to here.

FlossieT, That reminds me, I have yet to finish Wood's How Fiction Works. I started it but put it aside after about the third eyeroll. I'm not sure why but I put him in the literary reductionism camp. More enthralled by the minute instead of the overall.

clfisha, I can understand the satiation. In Blood's a Rover there is an autobiographical character mixed in, Crutchfield, and there are two women who play a bigger role and have a bigger voice than women did in one or two. The basic flavor remains a continuation though.

kristenn, I'm getting the feeling that Gold Bug Variations is sitting on lots of shelves unread. That's where my copy has been. I did get it down and blow the dust off. And the remnants of a spider web.

2. $20 Per Gallon: How the Inevitable Rise in the Price of Gasoline Will Change Our Lives for the Better, Christopher Steiner

Peak Oil books tend to have two overall leanings. The first is- OMG! we're all going to die, or most of us anyway. The second is the end of oil will lead to near-utopia situations. As the really long subtitle of this one proclaims it is of the latter bent. I've read several of these books and the information tends to overlap in some of them. I keep reading them because there is usually an area or two that is new to me in each one. And I'm goofy enough to find the subject(s) fascinating.

What disappears in this one if the price of oil skyrockets. Wal-Mart. Las Vegas. Commercial Airlines. Most suburbs. Many Plastics. Disneyland.

What appears. Bio-plastics. Your cell phone will be made out of a corn cob. Mega-cities as the population densifies. Local agriculture. More trains. Windfarm driven hydrogen production. More nuke plants. Nuclear powered cruise ships. Local power production. Like in the basement of big buildings. Peace, love, and understanding. OK, I made that last one up.

It's a worthwhile read if you're interested in the subject. It's written in a journalistic style that makes it a quick one to read.

>24 VisibleGhost:
OK, that was funny. I wonder if the cell phones will be made in funny shapes, like corn cobs. Caskets are made like that sometimes (really, look it up!). I've seen garden tools, books, animals. I can't imagine actually seeing one at a funeral, but they're out there for sale. My favorite: a standard shape decorated with daisies.

Well, that got off topic.....

VG - You went and hid over here. I'm mainly posting so that when I click on "Your posts" updates to this thread will show up. Also because I'm interested in what you read, enjoy your comments. Good luck with the 10/10.

auntmarge64, there should be a big-box franchise chain called CasketsRUs.

dchaikin, personally, I think anyone who wants to follow my reading needs the services of a good shrink-but- glad to see here. ;) Do you know where you're going to post next year on LT? If you post on LT- that is.

Maybe I should call one-?- No, these threads are fun, and I learn quite a lot from them - swelling that wishlist and TBR.

I'm not sure yet where I'll post next year. Probably Club Read 2010, if it exists, or some other non-challenge group. I will post on LT somewhere, I'll let you know where.

I've been into some of the Peak Oil books lately, too.... Have you read Kunstler's The Long Emergency? I think that's the one that got me started. Also...along a similar historical/end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it vein is Strauss and Howe's The Fourth Turning. I highly recommend it if you haven't gotten a chance to read it. It was written in the 90s and it's startling how much was (and continues to be) right on.

Hi VG - this looks fun!

Will be interested to see how you like The Revolutions Trilogy because a) I own it and b) I loved Banville's The Untouchable. I've packed the trilogy into a storage box though so can't read it till we get back in a few years... it didn't make the final cut for books moving with us. So I'd like you to like it but not be crazy about it!

#24: I am all for $20 a gallon if it will get rid of Wal-Mart, one of my least favorite places on earth :)

Seriously, though, it looks like a good book and I will look for it. Thanks for the recommendation, VG.

callen610, I have read The Long Emergency and World Made By Hand which is Kunstler's fictional take on Peak Oil. He is one of the scarcity proponents, most of whom think a Malthusian catastrophe is on the way. Lately, I've been reading some of the Peak Water books which are also very interesting. I have never read The Fourth Turning. It looks like something I'd like. I checked the sales rank on Amazon and it was around the 3,400 level. That's amazing for a more than ten year-old book.

cmt, I have started The Revolutions Trilogy. It's early yet- but so far- I'm crazy about it!

alcottacre, there was an interesting section on Wal-Mart Realty and their efforts to move abandoned big boxes.

Thanks for the review of $20 Per Gallon. It sounds like something I would enjoy.

3. A Fiery Peace in a Cold War: Bernard Schriever and the Ultimate Weapon, Neil Sheehan

Like most, I'm conflicted about the Cold War. On the one hand, instead of having WWIII in the 20th Century to go along with all the rest of the bloody wars of that century, it funneled resources into technology and science. Rather than having the full powers of armies engaged in smashing one another (and their countries) to bits, a lot of that energy went into labs and technology.

On the other hand, the weapons created were powerful enough to wipe out most of the life on Earth. The pace of advance was staggering. That got even the most hard-core hawks attention. Most involved realized the brink had been reached. Fiery Peace covers the missile part of the Cold War and Bernard Schriever's part in it. With millions in the military and civilian world involved in this effort, this is just a small slice of the CW. It's not a complete history of it. As such, it does a good job with the early ICBM missiles. The focus is on the missiles not the hydrogen bombs. Even so, there are a lot of names, organizations, corporations, and places to keep track of. It kept my interest up even with those factors.

Interesting. I've seen a few posts on this and I've been reading some of the reviews. I'll keep it in mind.

4. What's next?: Dispatches on the Future of Science, edited by Max Brockman
An anthology containing eighteen short essays from young scientists and the fields they're working in, ranging from physics, biology, and including some of the soft sciences. I like anthologies like this because I can read a selection, put it down without having to worry about forgetting plotlines and characters for a time, then pick it up again when I'm in the mood for more. As expected, some were a lot more interesting than others.

I didn't have Catching Fire or Zeitoun scheduled in my First Ten but both came in from the library so I'll have to get to them. I don't want to go back on the waiting list.

>32 VisibleGhost: VG, can you please mention some books on Peak Water? an important issue, no doubt, but gets less attention than Peak Oil i think.

deebee1, the books I'm familiar with cover the water situation in the US. Cadillac Desert, Rivers of Empire, and the last one I read, Unquenchable. Six Degrees was a global climate change book that had some water sections. I haven't read Peak Water by Alexander Bell (Wait! Isn't he the telephone inventor guy?) yet so I'm not sure which areas of the world he covers. As I understand it, India is facing the biggest water problem in the future. Aquifers are being depleted and climate change could worsen things. The Wikipedia Peak Water page has some info.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peak_water

From time to time I'll run across a serendipitous find that will push everything else I'm Reading down a notch or two. This is one of those times. Today in a bookstore I found The Department of Mad Scientists: How DARPA* is remaking Our World, from the Internet to Artificial Limbs By Michael Belfiore. I didn't even know this book existed before I laid eyes on it today. I did read Belfiore's Rocketeers: How a Visionary Band of Business Leaders, Engineers, and Pilots Is Boldly Privatizing Space and enjoyed it.

Basically, DARPA's mission is- here's a few billion dollars, go find some really weird things to do with it. They don't just push the to edge of the envelope, they blow the envelope up. They scare even the top military brass sometimes. Then they get a step-back message and are urged to slow down a bit. If a technological singularity is possible, DARPA will probably be a player. Even if it's not possible, DARPA is/will be involved in some mind-bending shit.

Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency

I looked at The Department of Mad Scientists in a bookstore recently, and I couldn't tell how seriously to take it. I'm glad to hear that it's worth reading.

#39 sounds like an interesting book as all I know about DARPA is their work on networking.

5. The Department of Mad Scientists: How DARPA* is Remaking Our World, from the Internet to Artificial Limbs, Michael Belfiore
*Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency

DARPA was one of the many 'children' that Sputnik caused to come into being. It started life as a military missile and space agency but had that mission taken away after only two years when it was given to NASA. Eisenhower made NASA a civilian agency instead of a military one. DARPA foundered for a bit and almost went out of existence due to undefined purpose. It came back to life as a research arm of the US Armed Forces.

Early on, it was decided it would not run its own laboratories and dedicated facilities. It would use those resources from a variety of organizations. Colleges, corporations, national labs, and even small companies. A lean cheap method of operating. Even today, all of DARPA's employees fit in a small-sized ordinary office complex. DARPA employees have their DARPA employment termination date on their ID badges. Contracts are usually two years or four years. This leads to intense short-term projects. It is not an agency of burnt-out lifers. The energy levels are frenetic and hurried.

Most projects are taken on to prove possibility. Then the projects are handed off to others for implementation or growing a business. The project has to have a customer at the end or else it is shut down. It might come back but it might not. The range of projects taken on are immense and varied. Fifty percent of DARPA's projects are classified. The unclassified ones cover the spectrum of ideas. Solar power, medicine, robotics, biofuels, computation, networks, hypersonic planes, driverless transportation vehicles, and the list goes on.

DARPA has gone back and forth from ARPA to DARPA more than once. Its two most well known projects are the internet and GPS systems. Both started out as military applications then spilled over into the civilian sector.

The book has a small section on the history of DARPA but the majority is focused on several areas that DARPA is currently funding. Lots of intriguing little tidbits of information and technology development. I find this stuff fascinating but it might appeal to some general readers also.

Sounds like a great book, thanks for sharing.

#48: Yet another one of your recommendations that I need to track down, VG. Thanks (I think!)

dc & aa, another interesting angle of DARPA is the sheer number of institutions it works with. I was unfamiliar with many of them and some of them do very cutting edge work themselves.

Me and schedules go together about as well as peanut butter and mustard sandwiches do. Of my first Ten I am working on three of them: American Prometheus, (great!), Complexity, (it's making me work), and The Revolutions Trilogy, (rich, so I'm nibbling at it in small portions). At the moment I don't have anything from the second Ten started.

For whatever reason(s) I am not getting into Catching Fire at this time so back to the library it goes. Zeitoun remains unstarted. However, I was kind of in the mood for some techno-anarcho-corporate-capitalism written in a smart-assed, smug, hyper-frenzied mode, so, I started Makers by Cory Doctorow which wasn't on any of my Tens list. If I wasn't used to myself I'd drive me crazy.

#45 "If I wasn't used to myself I'd drive me crazy." LOL!

6. American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer, Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin

I hit the jackpot in biographies this year. Earlier, I read Janet Browne's excellent two volume biography of Charles Darwin consisting of Voyaging and The Power of Place. American Prometheus is every bit as good as the Darwin was. It captures the complexity of Oppenheimer's personality but doesn't install words or thoughts into his essence that are pure speculation. Many bios make that mistake.

Bird and Sherwin delved deep into research and invested a lot of time in this biography. It paid off with a definitive work. It captures a brilliant man with conflicts that came to cause many troubling episodes in his life. Oppenheimer had two great loves. Physics and New Mexico. He fell for New Mexico long before the Manhattan Project and went there for relaxation for most of his life. When physics and politics would grind him down he sought out New Mexico for rest and relaxation.

Oppenheimer was instrumental in the Manhattan Project and became haunted by it. His stance on thermonuclear weapons and the morality of their use started him on the road as an outcast. The physics and applied science slipped through his grasp and became much bigger than he naively thought possible. It squeezed him out of the picture and relegated him to the sidelines of power and influence. A very painful process for Oppenheimer to endure.

As biography goes, this is a well written, thorough, insightful look at a complicated life lived in the 20th century where the stakes got very high indeed. At over 700 pages, it wasn't a quick read but I found it very much worth the time spent reading it.

VG - the Browne books are on the wishlist. I've added this one too based on your comments, although honestly it's unlikely I'll get there. I recall considering this one before, probably because of the Pulitzer award, but it became one of too many books to read.

dc, it will still be a good book in ten or twenty years. Or even longer. I'm confident you will have a very long reading life.

Oh, who knows. This year I've developed something of a nuclear obsession and now would be a great time to read it. I'm sure how long the obsession will last.

I started American Prometheus several years ago and have never gotten back to it. Thanks for the reminder to pick it back up again.

American Prometheus sounds fascinating, and would fit both my biography and 20th-century US history categories.

tymfos, it would fit nicely into either one of those categories.

I wasn't planning on reading my next read. Truth be told, I'd completely forgotten I even owned it. Looking around my shelves last night, trying to find some space,(ongoing process) I saw a little gap between two large books. I pulled out this little green slip of a book that measures 5"x4". About a 1/4" thick. 111 pages. Inside there is a name written in ink. I can't make out the first name but the last name is Schott. Also handwritten in ink is the date, Oct. 20, 1881. The book is:
7. A Primer of American Literature by Charles F. Richardson. The copyright date of the book is 1878. It offers a very brief look at American literature. Chapter 1- 1620- 1775. This takes all of 16 pages. Chap. 2- 1775-1812- This takes up 9 pages.

And so it continues until the final chapter, After 1861. Since it was written in 1878 that takes American lit a whole 13 years past The Civil War. It was a quick breezy read that brought up names still very familiar and others that are very obscure at present. I found it an entertaining superficial read and also wondering who ______ Schott was and why s/he acquired the book in 1881.

It was strange reading a survey of American literature with no mention of Jack London, Cather, Flannery O'Conner, Hemingway, F. Scott, Wharton, and many others that would now be mentioned in a contemporary survey. I think I remember picking this book up at an estate sale several years ago. It's nice finding forgotten treasures on my own bookshelves.

I have a problem with the internet. It is much, much too easy to find books that interest me. Case in point- today, on a quick stop to see what NPR mentioned this week I found out that the University of Nebraska is doing a twelve book related series on space exploration, called Outward Odyssey. Twenty-four hours ago I was perfectly content not even knowing this series existed. Now I have a nagging feeling my life won't be complete unless I start acquiring said series. * big forlorn sigh*

http://www.nebraskapress.unl.edu/Catalog/ProductSearch.aspx?ExtendedSearch=false...

#54: It was not very nice of you to post that link, VG. Now I am going to have to look for those books, too, since I am interested in space exploration. (And I promised my husband that I would not buy any more books in the coming year!)

Stasia, technically there is still about 33 days until it's the coming year. Order often and in great quantities until then. I'm intrigued. Are you really going to go a whole year without buying books? I think the last time I went a year without buying books was when I was a three-year-old.

When I told my husband I was not going to be buying books next year, he reached over and felt my forehead, sure that I was deathly ill or something :) Yes, I am going to try (operative word here) not to buy any books next year - I have some 800+ in my personal library that I have not yet tackled, not to mention a ton of books at the public library I want to read as well.

8. The Interrogative Mood: A Novel?, Padgett Powell

Is it possible to write a 164 page book that contains only questions? Without chapters? If so, would anybody read it? Is the result fiction? Something else? Has this been done before? Did I really read it? Did I like it? Did I answer the questions in my head? Did I laugh at a few of them? Would you like it? Is it unique? Are some questions even answerable? What kind of a person would write such a book? And therefore, what kind of a person would read such a book? Is this a review of sorts?

#58: what kind of a person would read such a book?

A curious one? A completely ungrammatical one?

What kind of a question was that? ;)

Great review, but do I really want to read the book?

FlossieT, I dunno, do you?

OK, the questions have to end somewhere or the rest of my thread will be all questions. You would have to be in a certain mood, like experimental writing, and be aware and interested in the structure Powell is playing with behind the questions. Sui generis is over used but it could be applied to this book without breaking the definition.

Just stopping by for a moment. I enjoyed your questionable review, but I'm refusing to click the link in post #54.

63- but it's such a harmless innocent little link.

9. Zeitoun, Dave Eggers

I'll come back and post some thoughts on this later. I'm conflicted about Zeitoun. He reminded me a bit of the young man whose story was told in Into the Wild.

Some thoughts on Zeitoun.

Eggers tells the tale of Abdulrahman Zeitoun and his experiences before and after Katrina. He mainly keeps himself out of the story but the brushstrokes of where he wants the reader to end up are visible at times. Deftly done, and it doesn't expand into propaganda. The impact of the story is focused on the martial law period following Katrina. Thousands of people ended up with heavy footed, jack-booted clad feet on their throats. A 73 year-old woman ends up being held for more than a week for retrieving sausages from the trunk of her own car. Homeland Security and the rules it operates under practically guarantee civil rights abuse. Claims of national security interests trump civil rights issues in that department's eyes. The New Orleans police department didn't exactly have an outstanding reputation before Katrina and the mixture of that weak department, the military, and Homeland Security trying to restore order ended up being a messy affair. Parts of the aftermath are still playing out in political circles and the court system. Eggers illuminates some of these issues.

Zeituon is a hardworking Syrian-American who settled in New Orleans, married a Louisiana native and they are raising a family together. Like most couples, they have their problems but they were making it work. Abdulrahman has his own construction contracting company and is something of a workaholic. They also own several rentals. Getting him to take family vacations was a battle every time.

This obsessiveness, while understandable, led to his experiences during and after Katrina. He passed through the storm and the levee breaches unscathed. During this time his wife and his brother pleaded with him several times to leave. Keep the family together and work through the hardships as a unit rather than be split up during this period. Zeitoun was adamant in his refusal to evacuate even though there were several opportunities to get out. He had a old used canoe that he used to rescue some stranded neighbors and fed some trapped dogs. It was God's will that he was where he was he would say. Then he was arrested. All of a sudden the God's will reasoning went away and the thoughts of being reunited with family came to the fore. If one believes in a deity that is in control of every part of one's life then it seems the bad should be a part of that belief along with the good. The loss of freedom turned his thoughts to family that probably should have been there before the loss of freedom.

Zeitoun is not a uncaring or cruel man. He has his flaws like anyone else does. After he was released he restarted his business and bought some more rentals. He is changed but his wife is changed even more and not for the better. I found myself wondering if and when the next evacuation order comes, will Abdulrahman leave or stay?

VG - great review, you should post in the review section. You only the millionth person on LT to inspire me to pick this up some time - but still you covered a different aspect from what the comments I've read elsewhere.

I, too, think you should post this in the review section! Very useful review, I would give it a thumb's up!

If I didn't already have Zeitoun sitting on my bookshelf, I'd be looking for it after reading this. And I'm moving it up the TBR pile . . .

dchaikin & twmfos, thanks for the comments. The only reviews I have posted on LT are for ER & MG books. I think it's because of the way I use LT. When I'm using the site to decide if I want to add a book to my TBR lists I tend to click on conversations instead of reviews. There tends to be more of an informal atmosphere in conversations in general. More hair is let down or something like that.

Since you asked, I did copy and paste the thoughts on Zeitoun into the review box.

. . . And you now have a Hot Review! Congratulations!

Congratulations!

Great review. This is one of the reasons I love LT so much. This is a book that I probably would never have heard of, but with the all the buzz it's getting here, I am adding it to my wish list. Thanks.

It does sound interesting.

10. The Bibliophile's Devotional: 365 Days of Literary Classics, Hallie Ephron
One of these years my book immunity genes will kick in and I'll be able to resist books like this. But it hasn't happened yet. It's not like I've never thumbed through books with reading lists before. I've probably thumbed through fifty or more of them. Anyway, it's now in my possession.

Ummm...... I think the book is supposed to be read in a one entry per day manner to last the whole year. I made it last two days. Each book gets a one page description from the author with a small quote about the book from another author or a critic. It's not just a list of older classics but includes a lot of books published in the last 25 years. I didn't do an accurate count but I think I've read about half of them. It wouldn't hurt me to read the other half. A reader would be a pretty well-rounded reader if s/he read all 365 books included in this book devotional.

I am reading three connected-related books at present that deal with technology and capitalism. Makers by Cory Doctorow (fiction), The Genius of the Beast: A Radical Re-Vision of Capitalism by Howard Bloom, and The Nature of Technology: What It Is and How It Evolves by W. Brian Arthur. I should probably add Joseph Schumpeter's Capitalism, Socialism, and Democracy to the mix to complete this little jag of reading. The Gale of Creative Destruction is looming large in all of them. I didn't consciously set these books up to be read together but somehow they all have bookmarks in them now.

I can only imagine how many yawns this post will generate but I am enjoying the books and the cogs are turning in my head.

I'll be interested to hear your thoughts on the Doctorow - there's a copy on the shelf at work at the moment and I keep picking it up and putting it back again.

11. Makers: A Novel of the Whirlwind Changes to Come, Cory Doctorow

The last couple of years has seen the charge by a few in literary circles that too many authors today are taking refuge in historical fiction. Their point seems to be there is nothing wrong with historical fiction but it can lead to a dearth of writers writing about the world we live in at present. Understanding and describing our times can be like trying to mold water into a sculpture. Nothing stays as it was for more than a microsecond. Change is constant and accelerating.

Cory is a writer at ease in contemporary time. His fiction and essays have worked this territory for decades now. The early age SF writer A.E. VanVogt wrote with the rule that a reader should be hit with a new idea every 800 words. I'm not sure if CD is aware of this rule but his style suggests it. Makers is a novel of ideas. But it's not just a novel of ideas. He's digging deeper into capitalistic corporate economics, social networking, sociology, culture, abundance, waste, and poverty among other subjects. It is a wild ride from the start until the finish.

The main characters are two techno-geek friends and a reporter/blogger that chronicles their efforts. They like to make things, thus the title. In the process they help create a new economy based on New Work. Things do good and they are riding high. It crashes. Now they are not riding so high. The story follows them into old age with all kinds of ups and downs. When is the last time you read of old techno-geeks literally playing Calvinball? The game from Calvin and Hobbes where the same rule can never be used twice.

Cory is a successful (Boing Boing) blogger. He can string some snarky irreverent passages together like some politician's do spin. He's writing near-future that takes place in about the next five hours and seven minutes. He also lives what he writes. When the Canadian SF writer Peter Watts was recently beaten, pepper sprayed by and turned out into a snowstorm with no coat by the US Border Patrol, CD blogged about it, set up a legal defense fund, and PayPal-ed him $1,000 Canadian. Not a bad guy to have in your corner during these times. He writes a pretty good book too.

#76: That one looks very good. I will see if I can find a copy. Thanks for the recommendation, VG!

I've been meaning to read Makers ever since I read Little Brother a few weeks ago, so I'm glad to hear good things about it.

#76 VG, even though this book doesn't sound like something I'd enjoy, your review is excellent. I hope you'll post it, as none of the others are nearly as informative.

_zoe_, I liked Little Brother also. I think a lot of teens will look back fondly at it twenty to thirty years from now.

sjmccreary, just for you- I posted the review for Makers.

It's the time of year for best of year lists. They are everywhere. On LT, blogs, print media, book selling sites, and ????? What the heck- I'll be a conformist and make my own list.

A Baker's Dozen- Best Fiction Read in 2009

The Master and Margarita, Mikhail Bulgakov- 6,939 copies on LT. Overall LT rating- 4.33

Empire of the Sun, J.G. Ballard- 1,426 copies, 3.95 rating.

American Tabloid, James Ellroy- 1,145 copies, 4.1 rating.

The Sunne in Splendour, Sharon Kay Penman- 966 copies, 4.54 rating.

The Radetzky March, Joseph Roth- 688 copies, 4.24 rating.

Q, Luther Blissett- 661 copies, 3.93 rating.

The Jewel in the Crown, Paul Scott- 560 copies, 4.1 rating.

Cities of Salt, Abdalrachman Munif- 189 copies, 3.89 rating.

The Well and the Mine, Gin Phillips- 188 copies, 4.04 rating.

The King's Last Song, Geoff Ryman- 105 copies, 3.81 rating.

All the Living, C.E. Morgan- 59 copies, 3.83 rating.

Big Machine, Victor LaValle- 40 copies, 3.75 rating.

November 22, 1963, Adam Braver- 32 copies, 4.07 rating.

Well, that was fun. I listed the ratings to show how my thoughts about a book compared to the LT community and the number of copies to show how popular or obscure a book was. Both numbers will change on LT over time so they are a snapshot of today. I'll make a non-fiction list later.

Good to see The Jewel In the Crown on your list, that one I am definitely planning to read next year for my historical fiction category.

DeltaQueen50, here's hoping you enjoy Jewel. I still have the next three of The Raj Quartet to get to one of these days.

Thanks for posting the review of Makers. I have been toying with reading it as I quite enjoyed Little Brother (and of course his articles on boing boing). Its an interesting point about the lack of contempory fiction, although I always suspect it's just me missing out. Hmm.. I think I am going to make a point of searching some out for next year!

Nice list! I like the format, too!

clfisha, it took three or four instances of the historical fiction criticism to get me to start wondering- who is trying to write about our world from a global god's eye viewpoint in fiction these days? There are plenty of micro-view books written about current life ( think plethora of dysfunctional suburban family sagas) but not as many macro-view books. BTW, it's been so long since I first read your 1010 thread I've forgotten what your categories are. Some of the early threads in this group were put up months ago and my memory- let's just say I need to trade my old memory in on a shinier newer memory model.

tymfos, thx- non-fiction list coming up. If I don't forget to post it, that is. ;)

A Baker's Dozen- Best Non-Fiction Read In 2009

American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer, Kai Bird & Martin Sherwin- 594 copies on LT. Overall LT rating- 4.37.

A Man on the Moon: The Voyages of the Apollo Astronauts, Andrew Chaikin- 510 copies, 4.51 rating.

The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life, Alice Schroeder- 412 copies, 4.06 rating.

In Search of Memory: The Emergence of a New Science of Mind, Eric Kandel- 320 copies, 4.27 rating.

The Age of Wonder: How the Romantic Generation Discovered the Beauty and Terror of Science, Richard Holmes- 294 copies, 4.19 rating.

The Limits of power: The End of American Exceptionalism, Andrew Bacevich- 258 copies, 3.90 rating.

Charles Darwin: Voyaging: Volume 1 of a Biography, Janet Browne- 168 copies, 4.66 rating.
Charles Darwin: The Power of Place: Volume 2 of a Biography, Janet Browne- 162 copies, 4.35 rating.

The Next 100 Years: A Forecast for the 21st Century, George Friedman- 145 copies, 3.71 rating.

Descent Into Chaos: The United States and the Failure of Nation Building in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Central Asia, Ahmed Rashid- 138 copies, 3.67 rating.

Wired For War: The Robotics Revolution and Conflict in the 21st Century, P.W. Singer- 110 copies, 3.92 rating.

Dreams and Shadows: The Future of the Middle East, Robin Wright- 77 copies, 4.25 rating.

Unquenchable: America's Water Crisis and What To Do About It, Robert Glennon- 23 copies, 4.0 rating.

The Edge of Medicine: The Technology That Will Change Our Lives, William Hanson- 13 copies, 3.67 rating.

Done in the same format as the fiction list- from the most copies on LT to the least.

#86 I did put it up in September so I am not surprised you can't remember! :) Most of my groups are themed (i.e. geographical/colours/9 muses etc..).

It's irritating me now that I cannot think of macro view fiction books (good desc btw) off the top of my head. Hmm I tempted to change my bonus category so I have an excuse to go and find some.

Edited to fix bizarre spacings

12. The Lucky Strike, Kim Stanley Robinson

I have a soft spot for some of the smaller political presses from the Left, to the middle, and even some of the Libertarian ones. They are usually run by ideologues and done from a labor of love stance not a profit based stance. Subtlety is not their forte. PM Press is one founded in 2007 that represents the left side of the equation and some current anarchist thought.

KSR and I have a lot in common thus I have always liked his work. He's interested in and fascinated with technology but has a deep love of the wild. He's probably more eco-utopian than I am but I like his thoughts and descriptions of nature. Terraforming is looked down on by many in the enviro crowd but KSR's view is we already live in a terraformed world. It's been in a terraforming state for thousands of years. Pure nature hasn't been in control for a long time now. Anthropogenic forces have been molding the Earth for millennia.

The Lucky Strike isn't about that subject. It's a short story asking a what if question concerning the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. That's the fiction in the book. It also contains an essay trying to pin down the conditions of history. That also is a re-release of a work that has appeared elsewhere. It also contains an interview done by Terry Bisson. I'm not sure if that has appeared elsewhere or not. And finally, it contains a bibliography of KSR's printed works. It lists not just the publishers of his works that have appeared in English but also the publishers that have published him in other languages. So what you get in this slim little volume is a short story, an essay, an interview, a bibliography, and three ads for books by other authors in the publisher series that have appeared so far. Terry Bisson, Gary Phillips, and Eleanor Arnason.

Interesting Top Ten lists. Of the ones I've read, I agree with your high opinion.

Did you know Cities of Salt is part of a trilogy? I've read the second book, The Trench, and it's very good too.

I second the notion that you should read the remaining volumes of The Raj
Quartet--sooner rather than later.

And, I always thought Empire of the Sun was nonfiction? Did Ballard make it up?

I have the second Cities of Salt book on a list somewhere.

Empire of the Sun is autobiographical fiction. It was published as such and has always been in the fiction section. Its twin is The Executioner's Song. I will never understand why that book is considered fiction, was published as fiction, won a fiction award, and is in the fiction section of libraries.

Really like the idea of putting your opinion up against "the community". I loved All the Living also - incredible book.

Regarding Cory, I think I'll start with Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom, which I already have, before I chase up Makers. Not sure I could quite keep up.

This has little to do with books except for the fact that some of these companies and robots are mentioned in some of the futurism books I read.

Best Robots Of 2009
http://singularityhub.com/2009/12/22/a-review-of-the-best-robots-of-2009/

13. Wolf Hall, Hilary Mantel

I can imagine Hilary reading through dusty stacks and the letters Thomas Cromwell left behind, rubbing her hands together with purpose, and deciding she was going to make old Thomas Cromwell a more sympathetic figure than he has been portrayed in other works. She takes the literary equivalent of a block of unformed clay and begins molding TC into her vision of what he might have been like. The goal is to lead the reader into believing this is really how it might of been. That's the beauty of historical fiction: it can be approached from near endless angles. I have little doubt that Mantel could write another novel about Cromwell under a pseudonym that fingered Cromwell as a mean, cruel, and double-dealing bastard and it would be just as good.

One of the reasons Wolf Hall works as well as it does is because it is written in the present tense. Even though we know what happens to some of the players like Anne, Mark the musician, and even Cromwell himself, it doesn't matter because the reader is engaged in the unfolding drama. The book ends in July, 1535 when Cromwell is still rising and consolidating his powers. He knows he is playing the unpredictable games of power and he knows (being a reader of Machiavelli's The Prince) how fast things can shift. But he is still very intent of playing the game to its conclusion and trying to influence the powers that be into his corner. Friends build up but so do the enemies. The delicate dance of using the law, rumors, finance, and personality to advance are just too tempting to Cromwell to think of easing into a more placid retirement.

Mantel uses he and him many times when attributing conversation or thought to Cromwell. Reading too fast will lose or confuse passages meant to be attributed to Cromwell. There are also eleven Thomases to keep track of. She also can turn a phrase that is quite eloquent but biting. Some of them are of modern English usage but that didn't bother me but might bother others. In some books I can get lost in the story and forget the author and the writing but with Wolf Hall I was always aware of Mantel's voice and style. That's not a bad thing. Wolf Hall is not so much a celebration of Thomas Cromwell as it is a celebration of Hilary Mantel.

14. The BLDGBLOG Book, Geoff Manaugh

Manaugh started his blog several years ago. He decided he was only going to devote energy to subjects that interested and invigorated him. The blogosphere is full of people ranting about things they don't like or wailing against the way things are. It's easy to rant. Try it. Think of something that makes you angry. See. The rant builds with little effort. It's harder to wax positively. For day after day. It takes an effort to stay interested in and engaged with life. Much easier to rant. Manaugh also decided that whatever subject interested him, he was going to tie it back into architecture.

This is a format that is probably going to become more and more common. A book that has its kernel in blogging or social media. The BLDGBLOG Book arises from the blog but it differs from it and gives birth to a different form of media than the blog does. It employs photographs, elements from graphic books, interviews, themes, and other methods that 'freeze' the blog into a book. There is more depth in some areas and more conciseness in others. It is an experiment that worked out well.

Most of us live in a world where we are surrounded by architecture every day even if we don't give it much thought. I now walk or drive around thinking about redesigning things. Like American parking lots which have all of four seconds of thought put into them. I really enjoyed spending time with this not quite conventional book.

Loved your review of Wolf Hall (and loved the book as well...) What always intrigues me about a work of historical fiction is when well-known sets of facts (and what in these days, in the era of 'The Tudors' and Philippa Gregory, could be better known than Henry VIII's marital misadventures?) is told from a completely fresh POV, and particularly that of a character who by his very existence and nature represents the societal transformation that is beginning and will really take flight by the 18th century. You might also take a look at A Place of Greater Safety, her take on the French Revolution. I've been a Mantel fan since reading one of her early books back in the early 90s or thereabouts.

Will have to check out Cory Doctorow...

Thanks for dropping in Chatterbox. I have to admit that I was unaware of Mantel until she was nominated for the Booker. Good to know some of her other books are something to look forward to.

15. The Genius of the Beast: A Radical Re-Vision of Capitalism, Howard Bloom

Howard Bloom is a strange author to like but like him I do. Not Harold the literary critic but Howard. He studied science in college (physics, microbiology) but ended up with a career in entertainment; mostly in the popular music marketing business back in the 1970s and 1980s when it was a cash cow. He developed some theories of mass popularization and behavior of crowds. IOW, tipping points before tipping points became tipping points. Then he started writing books with grand theories of why the world, and the universe for that matter. is like it is. The Lucifer Principle- forces of history. Global Brain- barbarians always win, and now The Genius of the Beast- capitalism as a organism or process.

Does he overreach? Only by several thousand miles. Is it entertaining? If you're as strange as I am, I found it terribly entertaining. The writing and ideas are just frigging deliciously audacious and cocksure. To give you an idea here's some chapter titles or sub-titles: Why bankers are like bacteria. What do slime mold and your credit card have in common? The tale of the jobless bees. There is some delightful anthropomorphism when it comes to discussing insects, cellular biology, and even universal laws. All the chapters are short and readable. They are chock block full of fascinating tidbits. He can boil down a complex idea into a couple of words. For instance, Bloom uses a different corporation but this will work for for one we all know- Google. How does one describe Google? Change the name to Engulf and Devour. Simple, but it speaks volumes. This is the flavor of the writing.

Now to the gravitas of Beast. Is this book going to become required reading in Capitalism classes in the future? I seriously doubt it. Is it nutcase conspiracy theory economics? No, that's a different sub-genre of economics. This is more reminiscent of an 18th century polymath sitting down to describe the world as they see it. A big picture overview. Not a detailed, dense, academic, small-niche, mathematical-proofed rigorous work. Even though it's dealing with the dismal science it's not dismal reading.

Did I end up agreeing with the pulled-from-everywhere-and-synthesized theories? No, but it made my cogitation gears go into action. I was anything but bored reading it.

16. The Nature of Technology: What It Is and How It Evolves, W. Brian Arthur

The last book I finished in 2009. It was another thought provoker. It is not a treaty on the good or evil of technology or even the pace of technological change. What Arthur attempts is a theory of technology. The question- What is Technology?- is one of those tricky questions that seems easy to answer but once the answers start coming they appear to answer the question insufficiently.

Arthur's theory of technology is not complete. It is however a good foundation and a good start on enclosing the structure. Others will be able to build upon this effort. I don't think this book will be a bestseller but it might be one of those books that have influence over time in its niche.

It looks like my January is going to be busy in RL so I might not finish very many books for a spell. Here's hoping everyone has a happy and booky year in 2010.

interesting categories and mix of books you have on your list, VG -- i especially look forward to your reads under Translations, Economics, Environment, and Current Events. will certainly try to get hold of some of those Baker's Dozen NF titles. and book 15 does look very intriguing.

have a booky year yourself in 2010!

Thanks deebee, in skimming over this thread from the start, I find I'm on a non-fiction kick. 11 out of the 16. And The Interrogative Mood is not quite fiction and half of The Lucky Strike wasn't fiction. I keep putting the fiction aside. Knowing me though, at some point I'll go on a fiction kick and put the NF aside for a bit.

A happy and booky New Year to you too!

"Empire of the Sun is autobiographical fiction" - I had no idea it was non-fictional. I've only seen the movie - a pre-college favorite, but plan to finally read the book this year. That the movie is semi-nonfictional (beyond the setting) gives me chills.

Oh, Hi - I haven't stopped by in awhile. So many new reviews, and they're all so interesting. I probably won't read any of those seven books I just read your reviews on. So your comments are my window.

Nice top-dozen lists. Along with Empire of the Sun, I also have Radetzky' March on my 2010 shelf.

After reading your review, I have added American Prometheus to my Book Depository wish list. It's reminded me to find out more about Oppenheimer, a scientist with a conscience.

#98: Looking for that one. Thanks for the review, VG!

17. Doctor Copernicus, John Banville

I ended up liking Banville's writing style. Large vocabulary, clever turns of phrase, and some descriptive passages. In this treatment of Copernicus, he doesn't come off as exactly likable but is nonetheless an interesting persona. He was one of those people ill at ease in the physical world. Trying to decipher the heavens is much easier than dealing with corporeal humans. Especially when some of those humans are relatives. He devises a heliocentric theory but is uneasy with the thought of publishing it in an unsettled and violent time. Banville has a character named Rheticus relate his part of the tale in the first person in a section of the book. He is quite obnoxiously funny at times. I'm not sure why, but I think this is the first Banville I've read. Looking forward to some of his other works.

This is the 13th day of the year and I've only finished one book. Too much working and playing going on to do much reading. Maybe I'll get back on schedule later in the year. Then again, maybe I won't. No matter. It's all life. Tick-tock, tick-tock- That's the sound of my lifeclock tick-tocking away. Better run before the cuckoo bird pokes its head out of my clock.

You know that fits my muse:astronomy category perfectly. I see one LT reviewer found the 1st part a bit dry, I take from it from your review that it was ok?

"This is the 13th day of the year and I've only finished one book." - there's a long list of comments here, but I just can't think of any. :) Anyway, I'm not going to try to keep up with you.

Nice review. Interesting about Copernicus' personal life - or maybe that part was fictional??

clfisha, I thought it was a four star book. Just don't pick it up when you're in the mood for action or something plot driven.

dchaikin, I've never read a biography of Copernicus. Banville does mention in his acknowledgments that he used numerous extracts from Copernicus's own writings. Still, when an author tries to get into someone's head that's been dead for centuries the results are probably more fictional than not.

Not a biography, but I really enjoyed The Copernican Revolution if anyone is looking for some more Copernicus.

Even more Copernicus! I looked through my shelves and found I have an Easton Press edition of De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium. Lots of tables and geometry. I also found The Book Nobody Read: Chasing the Revolutions of Nicolaus Copernicus by Owen Gingerich with a bookmark about a third of the way through. It's more in the book about books genre. He tracked down every surviving copy in the first and second editions to look at annotations and such. They sell for big money when they come up for sale. The Kuhn book looks good also, _Zoe_.

VG - Kuhn is tough. His major work, which you may already know, is The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. Copernicus and a fundamental part of this book (as is Einstien, iirc). It's brilliant, if you can work through it.

I just checked and it's in your library, so maybe you've already read it.

I have The Book Nobody Read sitting on my shelf too, though I don't think a bookmark has even made it in yet....

I haven't actually read The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, but I found The Copernican Revolution quite accessible.

I checked my copy of The Structure of Scientific Revolutions and my bookmark is on page 43. The only problem is it's been there a couple of years. It is considered a seminal work so I should probably finish it off. Look for my thoughts in the 16-16-16 challenge.

Ha, I will.

If you can manage to complete that along with 255 other books, I'll be very impressed :)

18. Dunwoody Pond: Reflections on the High Plains Wetlands and the Cultivation of Naturalists, John Janovy Jr.

One of my favorite popular science books is Parasite Rex by Carl Zimmer. It changed the way I think of large life forms including humans. Instead of being just a tiger or just a human, we're a collection of many life forms both bacterial and parasitical. As more and more work is done on the human genome, the findings include more and more bacterial and parasitical DNA strings. The numbers I've seen are that the human body has 100 trillion cells. Only 10 trillion of those are human. Uhhhh.......Yikes?

Janovy is a biology professor and naturalist in Nebraska. He advises students working on masters or PhDs in biology in the middle of the Bible Belt. One of the areas he advises in is parasitology. One of the first discussions is what to study. He gently reminds students that want to study cute little furry animals that parasitology will require dissecting a lot of specimens. They might feel bad and their friends might object or worse. Many then concentrate on damselflies, beetles, frogs, and tiny crustaceans.

Dunwoody Pond is not just a book about parasitology though. The author picks some of his students and follows their path through their young scientific lives. He muses on this kind of life and the rest of the world's thoughts on someone that would pick this kind of education. He ponders science careers and curiosity in a sometimes seeming incurious milieu where football reigns supreme. He riffs a bit on politics and religion but not much. Mostly, it is a book about place and lifestyle in a discipline that most of us are unaware of. It's also about teaching and guiding with a light touch. Nudge the students in a direction but let them frame the questions and specifics of their research that they will spend countless hours on. I found this a calm, peaceful, reflective book with many interesting digressions. Something I was not expecting in a parasite book.

If you want to crank up the itch factor even a bit higher, another good book is Human Wildlife: The Life that Lives on Us. Sorry to tell you this but you are a veritable zoo. Lotsa interesting beasties to get acquainted with.

Excellent review! I've added it to my wishlist.

I might track down Parasite Rex. I just read some reviews and they mentioned one parasite making a living as anfake tongue, I am disgusted yet intrigued. hmm.. not sure I am brave enough though!

RidgewayGirl, glad to expand your wishlist. I liked the book but was unsure if it would appeal to anyone else.

clfisha, there is definitely an ick factor to Parasite Rex but underneath the propagation, adaptation, and survival strategies of some parasites are amazing. The things they do to some of their hosts is downright bizarre.

VG - nice review. Janovy was highly recommended to me a couple years, but I haven't found a book by him yet. The book recommended was Vermilion Sea: A Naturalist's Journey In Baja California.

dc, I love Baja California. I'll have to track that one down. It's nice to hear that someone recommended Janovy to you. I wasn't aware of him until I bought Dunwoody Pond. That is the great thing about books. No matter how many one has heard of there are a thousand times (or more) that many that one has never heard of before. Of learning about books there is no end. I like that.

19. The Last Summer of Reason, Tahar Djaout, Foreword by Wole Soyinka, translated from the French by Marjolijn de Jager

In 1993 Djaot was attacked leaving his home in Algeria by Fundamentalists. He lapsed into a coma and died one week later. The Last Summer of Reason was found in his papers. It starts with a sermon decrying the wretched state of the world from a fundamentalist viewpoint. It's powerful though chilling. The certainty of the deliverer and the simplicity of the message appeals to certain mindsets. All questions fade away and individual freedom of thought is decried.

Then the story follows Boualem Yekker, a used bookseller, as his country goes down the path to Fundamentalism. Families don't remain as cohesive support units but turn on one another. Restrictions build and build. Children as young as twelve began stoning unbelievers with supreme confidence. Options fade and hope begins to whither and die. The past blurs into something like fantasy. Life may have been different then, but it gets harder and harder to remember. Yekker knows there will be no happy endings.

The foreword by Wole Soyinka is an added bonus that is worth reading as a speak truth to power element. The foreword and the book does not contain many pages. Together, they are razor sharp words that will strike loathing and anger into the minds of those who declare with clarity that their way and only their way is right and other ways of thinking should be suppressed or eliminated.

ETA- I'm not a clear reviewer. It is fiction. I reread my thoughts and said, well VG is it fiction or non-fiction?

20. Galileo's Dream, Kim Stanley Robinson

I'm not really a fan of Alternate History and I'm not a lover of the time travel trope. However, KSR is one of those authors that fits me like a hand in a glove and I just ease into his writing and stories. This book also uses the historical fiction genre along with the aforementioned two.

Galileo is portrayed as a lovable, cantankerous, ass. He'll wake up in a bad mood and holler at the servants, " Somebody get in here! I need to hit someone." Most of the household not only tolerate him but like him. He gets excited when he discovers something new then dances around house singing and yelling involving the household in his celebration. He's careless in showing off his intelligence and isn't careful when it comes to insulting others that disagree with him. He likes his food and wine and the party circuit. His attitude leads to the making of friends but also the making of enemies.

Travelers from the future find him in his time and whisk him off to Jupiter to intervene in the ongoing squabbles of humanity. Different parties are using him for opposing interests. Being curious, he wants to learn their math and science that is hundreds of years beyond his own. After these trips he is returned to his own times with a sort of mind wipe to forget said trips.

All this had the potential to get schlocky and campy but KSR is a pretty serious writer that tends to avoid those treatments. Instead he lets Galileo ponder things with his own set of intellectual tools. For the most part it works. The blend of alternate history, time travel, philosophy of science, and historical fiction might not work for everyone but in this case it worked for me.

I have never been a huge fan of Kim Stanley Robinson (I found the length of the Mars trilogy a bit trying,short attention span and all that), but am interested to see how carries off such a difficult setup without being too anachronistic.

21. Whole Earth Discipline: An Ecopragmatist Manifesto

Stewart Brand a mix of ecologist and futurist. He's not an environmentalist though he is often mistaken for one. He put out the Whole Earth Catalog (1968-1985) which won a National Book Award in 1972. He also helped found The Clock of the Long Now Foundation, an effort to get humanity to ponder 10,000 years. He's been involved in numerous projects and debates. His most famous quote is, " We are as gods and have to get good at it." Therefore the subtitle.

In Whole Earth Discipline, Brand posits that cities, including cities with huge slums, are easier on the environment than dispersed populations. Cities breed innovation and efficiency, reduce poverty, lower birth rates, and reduce pressure on the land left behind. There is ugliness and squalor but for many there is also opportunity. Many others have started to change their views from a pastoral forty-acres-and-a-mule ideal into cityscapes as less harmful. Over fifty percent of the World's population now live in cities and if present trends continue that number may reach eighty percent later in the 21st century.

Next up is nuclear energy. Some Greens have become advocates of nuclear energy, after decades of opposition (including Brand), because of the idea that Global Climate Change possibilities out trump not using nuclear energy. The storage of waste problem is being looked at differently also. Instead of perfect storage for thousands of years being sought the focus is on good enough storage for 175 years. Future technology possibilities and the studies on life after the Chernobyl accident have changed some minds. It's still not a common stance in environmental circles though.

Then comes genetic engineering, as in food crops. The ethics of the Precautionary Principle, which is more common in Europe than anywhere else, is brought up. If there is a chance of something going badly wrong- like superweeds- then shut down not only implementation but also research. Brand is not thrilled with locking out science. One argument against 'green-goo' overrunning the Earth is that evolution has tried and continues to try every strategy out there. It would have already happened if it was possible. GE crops, like all other food crops and pretty flowers that everyone likes, are wimps. Without humans looking out for their interests they would get creamed in the evolutionary battles. The Americas, Asia, NZ, Australia, and parts of Africa practice GE foodstock. Eastern Europe is wanting in leaving Western Europe alone on this issue but even there there is pressure to slowly change farming practices. We'll see. Organic farming does not stop gene flow. It still happens but is more happenstance than directed.

Brand's writing style is almost conversational and is easy to follow. He quotes many of the people involved in such issues, both from speeches and their books. He pulls up interesting ones and many factiods of all kinds. That keeps the flow of the book moving and keeps it from becoming ponderous. This book doesn't drill deep into the science, ethics, and philosophy of these issues but covers them from a current affairs, topical overview. Some parts made me think, I can see it that way, while other parts made me think, I'm not sure about that. For a manifesto it was a good one.

One nitpick- The footnotes are online not in the book. I hope that doesn't become a trend.

22. Footnotes in Gaza, Joe Sacco

Some words roiling around in my head while reading FIG.

Intractable, Impossible, Hopeless, Unsolvable, Non-Communication, Misunderstanding, Unchangeable, Impasse, Endless, Never-Ending, Perpetual, Clusterfuck, Monotheism, Memes, Depressing.

Thanks for the review of the Stewart Brand book -- I've been eying his work since I decided to try and do some research into what kind of 'capitalist alternatives' are being structured out there and how they are working, beyond things like food co-ops. (Made little progress on that project...)

The Book Nobody Read was actually a book I found very difficult to read, despite my interest in the history of books. It was incredibly ponderous. Banville's book, however, sounds interesting. I have read The Sea and his style wouldn't scare me off; I've actually been thinking about seeking out more of his books in the wake of that one.

You're welcome Chatterbox. I did want to convey that most of the Back to the Pleistocene movement(s) wouldn't be happy with the book.

> 126, good timing to visit your thread, VG. i came across Footnotes in Gaza in a bookshop last night and immediately bought it. reading it will depress me, i'm sure of that, but it's one of those things we ought to know about.

Being a comics fan I am ashamed I have never read any of Joe Sacco books.. I really must track down [Palestine].

db & cl, I'll check your threads to see how you react to Sacco's work. As you can probably tell, I was drained and couldn't put anything together beyond single words.

23. The Strangest Man: The Hidden Life of Paul Dirac, Mystic of the Atom, Graham Farmelo

Dirac was as taciturn as a person could get and not be a mute. His colleagues invented a term called 'a dirac' for the shortest answer possible to a question. He didn't keep a diary and his letters to his parents (postcards) usually contained twenty words or less. Stories abound from his fellow physicists on his lack of communication skills. With this dearth of material to work from, somehow, Farmelo puts together a near five hundred page comprehensive biography that is enlightening. A rabbit out of the hat so to speak.

Dirac was one of the founders of quantum mechanics and became the youngest Nobel winner in physics. Despite his communication problems in spoken language he was concise and literal minded in his writing. His textbook on quantum mechanics has never gone out of print. When Einstein was wrestling with quantum problems, he would often mutter, " where's my Dirac?" His contemporaries respected him but struggled to understand him. He lived in a mathematical world where he sought 'the beauty' of equations. Neils Bohr, who knew and interacted with many eccentric scientists called Dirac the strangest man. There is speculation that Dirac was a high functioning autistic. When his wife was in pursuit of him she quickly found out he was incapable of seeing questions as rhetorical. He would create a table in his replies, number them, and answer each one literally. Some of these are included in the book. It makes for one of the strangest wooing adventures ever. But she did manage to snag him.

Even though the book is about quantum mechanics, there is only about five equations in it and some of them don't even deal with physics. Farmelo is gifted at keeping the subject approachable for the average reader. Of all the books that have covered personalities from the early days of quantum mechanics, Dirac has been the least written about. This biography fills that gap.

24. Freedom™, Daniel Suarez

In Daemon, Matthew Sobol has died. Then he begins to take over the world. Yes, he really is dead. No, there is nothing supernatural going on. It was a fun technothriller with ideas out the wazoo and non-stop thrill a minute action. Perfectly formulaic and damn near perfect. Freedom™ is the conclusion. It's not quite as good as Daemon but it does a plausible job of finishing up the series. It gets into more abstract ideas than Daemon does and there are more stereotypes. Suarez is kind of a heir to Stephenson and Sterling and their hyper-technological mix of speculation and hubris they put out in the 1990s. Fun-ness in a big dollop.

25. Asterios Polyp, David Mazzucchelli

Asterios is one of those works that could only work in the graphic format. It seems like a simple enough story until second thoughts emerge. Mazzucchelli plays with different drawing styles that are also tributes to other artists. There is some satire, some philosophy, and some of many other things. An ending that makes one wonder, did he really do that? Or did he just make one think he did that? I thought the whole book was very well done and the author/artist will likely never top this effort.

Another good comic too add to my wishlist. I must admit the device of using different styles/colours is not one I remember seeing before, I am intrugued.

#132: Adding that one to the BlackHole. Thanks for the review, VG!

>134 VisibleGhost: Yeah, I don't know if I'll ever settle on the ending. But it was an amazing story. Especially the second time around, because I originally missed some things. Like what exactly was happening in the very beginning.

I know you have The Anubis Gates on your list. We're going to start discussing it next week on the Steampunk thread in the 75 book challenge. Why not join us?

clfisha, the use of color in Asterios is interesting indeed.

Stasia, it was nice to find out that there once existed a man even stranger than I.

kristenn, I did the same thing. When I finished I flipped back to the start to see what I missed the first time.

ronincats, I actually started Anubis Gates earlier this year- made it to page 28. Then my daughter came through and 'borrowed' it. Now it's in Dana Point.

26. Heart of Dryness: How the Last Bushmen Can Help Us Endure the Coming Age of Permanent Drought, James G. Workman

Most natural disasters will bring people together in a common mission of helping out their fellow humans. Droughts tend not to. Instead, as they grind along, divisions and conflict tend to increase until it works its way down to the neighbor against neighbor level.

Heart of Dryness is a narrative investigative journalism book. It covers the Bushman of the Kalahari in their conflict over water with the country of Botswana. Workman spent several years on the story and covers it in exhaustive detail. There are many controversial issues in this battle. Indigenous populations in game reserves. Hunting, ecotourism, diamond mining, relocation, culling elephants, and more. There is some anthropology but it's only one of the themes tracked here.

The focus is on Botswana's water situation but other water troubled places are brought up in a minor way. The problem with water is not so much precipitation but the use of aquifers and deep wells. This 'fossil water' can only be used once for all practical purposes and many of the uses of this water has not been done wisely over the last few decades. Limitations are being hit.

The Bushman point of view is covered mainly from a woman, Qoroxloo, who lived her whole life in the Kalahari. She is one of the 'old wise ones' whose knowledge is fast disappearing in a changing world.

#134: I picked up Asterios Polyp at the library the other day. I hope I enjoy it as much as you did, VG.

#140: I will look for that one. Thanks for the review.

Heart of Dryness sounds interesting.

Too bad about your copy of The Anubis Gates. You could always go to the library for a book you already own....

Stasia, I'll check your thread to see your thoughts on Asterios. I think I've now read 3 of your 75 threads this year. I'm getting to them weeks after you're done posting on them.

_Zoe_, The Anubis Gates must still be a popular book. I checked my local library system and the wait is only 72 days for their one copy.

Ha, that is a bit much. I'm surprised they only have one copy if it's still so popular.

27. The Search For the Codex Cardona:On the Trail of a Sixteenth-Century Mexican Treasure, Arnold J. Bauer

Of all the peoples of The Pre-Columbian Americas only the Mesoamericans (present-day central Mexico & Guatemala) produced books. They were known as amoxtli and tataah. They were painted books with words and pictures depicting myths, history, and every day life of the region. When Spain made its entrance into the region most of these ended up lost for all time. Some through plunder, others through neglect, but most were destroyed by bonfire around the same time Martin Luther was nailing his thesis to the door in Europe. Spain wanted to convert the region to Christianity and the painted books of the Nahua populations (Aztecs) were declared heresy and heathenish; thus they had to go even though some of the friars wanted to salvage some. It is estimated that only twelve remain. It makes me want to cry.

Not long after the originals were put into the flames, some works were commissioned to record the history of pre-Columbian times and also tell the story of the 'conversion' of the area. These became known as the Mexican Codices. Some of the pages of these books were done by scribes that still spoke the original languages and had some connections to the past of the region.

The Search for the Codex Cardona is the story of one of these codices. It appeared in 1982 along with many doubts about its authenticity and provenance. It was offered to several institutions of high renown but none actually pulled the trigger and acquired it. Bauer, a history professor in the University of California system, had seen the codex, knew it had disappeared again, got the urge to track it down and explain where it might of come from. If it was hoax. Or a high-quality forgery. This book is the tale of that search and the many players involved.

The writing style is personable not academic. It does have some disjointedness but does manage to get some of the Quixotic story told. There are still biblionuts out there that will devote a significant amount of their life to tracking a single book down. Or tracking it until the trail completely evaporates.

Recap - five months into my 1010 challenge. I started in October.

To finish 100 books in one year I needed to read 8.33 per month. I have completed 27. That's 5.4 per month. Uhhhhh...... I'm in negative territory, dammit. Well, behind anyway. At this rate it'll be well into 2011 before I finish my 1010 challenge. That'll learn me to bite off more challenge than I can chew.

The Search for the Codex Cardona sounds like an interesting read. It always makes me so sad to think about those poor books, though....

One of the Indian communities produced eight thousand sheets of amate paper (made from Ficus trees) annually. There were other communities that also produced them. It's hard to estimate just how much was destroyed. If you ever find yourself in the region you can buy modern reproductions made on amate paper. The quality and prices vary greatly but they're still interesting to see.

#146 At least you are doing better than my 4 a month! Luckily (in this case) I am a pessimist aimed for 55 :)

#145: I have added that one to the BlackHole. My local library does not have it, so it will be a while before I get to it.

Hi VG - Apologies for not posting here in awhile, good stuff. I originally read your comments on Heart of Dryness literally just after watching The God's Must Be Crazy - that was about a week ago. (I recommend the strange movie if per chance you haven't seen it yet, esp in light of this book.). And your review of The Search For the Codex Cardona makes we want to cry too - I had no idea they had books. How sad they're gone...

Good luck with the Challenge - it doesn't make any difference how much we read - we almost always plan to have read more!

dchaikin, no need to apologize. I'm not only behind in book reading, I'm behind in LT reading and posting. I don't have that many threads starred but I'm even behind in those. I think part of it is that LT Talk is busier than it used to be. I get to a smaller and smaller percentage of it all the time.

I remember The Gods Must Be Crazy from years ago. It's been awhile but I do 'member the Coke bottle. Heart of Dryness does touch on the issue of moving back and forth between modernity and the old ways.

Hey, I'm even behind on my own threads! I think I need to consolidate next year.

28. The Routes of Man: How Roads Are Changing the World and the Way We Live Today, Ted Conover

First a mini-rant. If publishers don't quit using the words change, changing, and changed in their titles and sub-titles I'm going to drop 47 sets of Encyclopedia Britannica on their collective head. The world changes everyday. Always has, always will. On to this 'changing' book.

Roads and routes play various roles in the locales where they are built or appear naturally. Conover travels to six places and describes what he finds there in regards to ground transportation. There are very interesting differences.

First is Peru and routes mahogany takes from the forests there to world markets. Then on to Zanskar in the Kashmir region of India. Here the route is a frozen river in deep canyons, in winter, that are traveled by foot. Next, the roads from eastern Africa in Mombasa to Kampala along with the truckers that work this area. Then, Israel and the West Bank where Israel has near total control of the roads. China and their new driving culture is the next stop. Cops don't give out many speeding tickets there. Kinda strange logic applied there. The he finishes up with ambulance crews in Lagos, Nigeria. Here there are five separate departments of police to deal with.

In between the places visited are short essays about roads. Ecology and roads, roads and national character and other such subjects. It was a glimpse of 21st century life in corners of the globe that most will never get to travel to in person. Conover is mostly level-headed and does well in trying to understand things from a local cultural level. There is not really a overarching theory to tie 'roads' together which is good. It's a mixture of travel, current events, a wee bit of politics, and journalism.

VG - have you read other books by Conover? I read a interview of him years ago and have wanted to try some of his books since - he follows a pretty intense immersion journalism. The books I had highlighted, both older, are Rolling Nowhere and Newjack.

dc, that was my first Conover. Immersion is a good word to use for him. In Routes of Man he did travel on all the roads and routes he wrote about. He didn't just interview and then write about them.

VG, I heard an interview with Conover on the NYT book review podcast a few weeks ago and it sounded quite interesting. I'm glad there wasn't one grand theory - will look out for it in the library.

cmt, I checked my handy-dandy book to person match-up crystal ball. It says that there is a 79.84% likelihood that you will like The Routes of Man. That'll be $1.17 US in crystal ball consultation fees. Thx.

Here's hoping you're enjoying your time on the continent.

29. Where the Wild Things Were: Life, Death, and Ecological Wreckage in a Land of Vanishing Predators, William Stolzenburg

Biology and conservation theories have been undergoing changes for the last fifty years. One of the theories gaining traction is the keystone large predator theory. When large predators disappear the ecological diversity of a region is greatly reduced. Deer and elf and other herbivores tend to resemble plagues of locusts in their consumption of trees, plants, and flowers. What tends to replace these plants in zones of over consumption is the thorny, poisonous, invasive types of plants that even deer tend to avoid. The areas from ground level to as high as herbivores can reach become nearly devoid of diversity. Not only in plant life but in birds also.

Humans fear large predators and have spent years and millions in trying to eradicate them. Any attempts to reintroduce them into ecosystems are some of the bitterest fights in any arena. They make presidential politics look like child's play. The fights never end either. Most plans will generate dozens if not hundreds of lawsuits. This is true all over the world. Reintroducing turtles and other 'cute' animals are accepted by a large part of the population as non-controversial. Large predators such as the big cats, wolves, sharks, and large birds of prey are a different matter. They inspire fear and loathing. The extreme end of this is vigilantes that adopt a shoot, shovel, and shut-up message when it comes to large predators. Kill the animals, destroy the tracking devices, bury the animal, and tell no one.

With continued human development and expansion most places in the world are becoming island ecologies. There is no connection between zones of diversity. Disasters or pressures leave life on these islands with nowhere to retreat or move into when such events occur. It's the end of the road for many species.

This book will work for those who are new to some of these biological and conservation theories and for those who are familiar with the issues and names involved. For a debut book it is well written, information packed, and educational. It goes on my list as one of my favorites for the year.

>29 callen610:

This sounds like a book I would want to read later this year. Good review. Thanks.

I think there was an idea to re-introduce wolves back into the UK (Scotland?) but no one was too keen because, as any fool knows, they will just start chowing down on poor unsuspecting hikers :-) Interesting to see there's a UK wolf charity with a few "ambassador" wolves penned in to try and convince people otherwise, but to be honest I just can't see it happening.

@159 sounds like a really interesting
idea, thanks.

#158 haaaaa thanks the cheque is in the mail!

I'm not a sciency-book-reader usually but that sounds really interesting. I just finished tom Friedman's global warming one and it's got me a lot more interested in reading more, even thought it's all so depressing.

hailelib, it's one of those books that makes you think. And educates in a painless manner.

clfisha, I've been to Yellowstone to see the wolves a couple of times. It's interesting to watch people watch the wolves. There is admiration and the sense of beauty in seeing them. When they look at you it's like they can see straight through you. But there is also fear in a lot of wolf watchers. You'll see a involuntary shiver or unease. Which I think is not a bad thing. It brings back feelings that were probably familiar to most of out ancestors. It brings out alertness and heightens the senses that makes one aware of other sounds and smells that wouldn't be noticed if one was totally at ease. Wolves and humans have a kind of natural avoidance system built in. Distance is usually all it takes to keep them apart. When that 'personal space' gets too close both tend to seek to broaden that distance. I haven't followed the Scottish wolf battles but when wolves are involved all of them are hard fought.

cmt, a lot of natural science is observation and counting. This book didn't get into the nitty-gritty of biology and conservation equations but was dealt with by narrative and language. It's very readable for anyone that likes animals. The author does catch himself getting depressed but then brings up small gains being made. That's probably true for most of us. It's either- throw your hands up and give up or plod forward one small step at a time.

30. Snowcrash, Neal Stephenson, Reread

Awhile back, I was shifting some books around looking for more space and found a battered old copy of Snowcrash. It came out in the early 1990s just before the internet went 'mainstream'. At that time it made a huge impact. It's still considered influential but how's it holding up? It will still work for most young readers. I wonder though- how many 16 year-olds would know what Gippers and Ed Meese's are when referred to as currency? Much of the book holds up though. Well, there are payphones in it.

This time, because I remembered the story, I paid attention to Stephenson's smart-ass one liners. He's good at generating them by the dozens. Sometimes it looks like he concocted some and then built the paragraphs around them. It was an enjoyable trip down memory lane.

31. This Book is Overdue!: How Librarians and Cybrarians Can Save Us All, Marilyn Johnson

This book had some trends I wasn't aware of but not many of them. I have book articles and such pulled for me from some of the aggregator sites so I had run into some of the issues mentioned. The author pulls a lot of info from blogs as well. It's more like a collection of magazine articles than a thesis driven book. No issue is delved deeply into. I would call it tidbits from the library world in the early 21st century.

32. The River Why?, David James Duncan- Twentieth-Anniversary Edition, 2002

A fishing classic. Don't be put off by that if fishing bores you to tears. It is so much more. It includes a marriage with one of the most mismatched couples in literature. A prim and proper Englishman with a hardscrabble, tough as nails, coarse, uneducated, no-nonsense American woman raised in the boonies of Oregon. A son who grows up in this turbulent household and becomes a fisherman and one that won't have anything to do with fishing. They are all eccentric as hell. There is humor, philosophy, nature, environment, a love story, neighbors, wanderings, ponderings, and a kitchen sink or two. Some folklore, some myth, and some tall tales. One of my favorite reads of the year.

33. Eternity Soup: Inside the Quest to End Aging, Greg Critser

I read an 'immortality' book every two years or so. Why? I dunno. I have no illusions or goals of living a really, really, really long time myself. I just find it comforting that every generation produces obessives seeking the fountain of youth. This effort brings me up to date on some of the research and crack-pot theories making the rounds. In these books, we are always only five to ten years away from huge breakthroughs in human longevity. Will it ever happen? I've got my doubts but I'll probably seek out another immortality book in a couple of years.

34. The Red Book, Carl G. Jung

Wow! Just wow and wow again. Let me 'splain, Lucy. If you're looking for a book about Jung's life or his career, or his writing canon this isn't the book. It's a reproduction of his 'red book', a journal of words, calligraphy, illumination, and artwork, produced in the years 1914 to 1930. It weighs ten pounds, has a list price of $195.00 US, is huge, and about as portable as an iron lung. It's gorgeous though. It's akin to a middle ages 'book of hours'. The first half is a wonderful digitally accurate scan of the work. There's a video on YouTube on how the book was made. The second half is an English translation of the work. Jung never finished The Red Book and left ambiguous instructions in his will on what should happen to it. Luckily for us, it's made its way to bookstores.

Hi VG - lots of great stuff you've gone through recently. Where the Wild Things Were is already on my wishlist, and I just added The River Why?. Snowcrash brings up some nostalgia - although I didn't read it that long ago - love that book. And The Red Book sounds fascinating.

Wow! What a terrific bunch of books you have been reading.

dchaikin, oops, there is no question mark in the title of The River Why. I'm not sure why I put one in the touchstone- probably because of the cover.

Hi Stasia, I've read threads 1,2,3, 4, and 6 of your 2010 75 challenge. I think. I have 5 and 7 to go. And probably 8,9,10, and 11 in the next month or so. ;) Just can't keep up!

35. Matterhorn, Karl Marlantes

There have been scores of fiction books written about the US/Vietnam War. It is not unexplored territory. Matterhorn still manages to say some important things about the war. The focus is on a Marine company. It covers a period of around three months in 1969. The Marines in Bravo Company go through one 'shit sandwich' after another during this time. It captures the exhaustion of this period well. It exhausts the reader. Angers the reader. Makes the reader understand the 'bush'.

Race relations that are teetering on the edge are explored. The horrors of war are vivid and presented matter of factly. Tensions in the chain of command are rendered from several viewpoints. The fighting spirit and camaraderie, including the love of fighting, is not left out. Respect and admiration of the enemy along with hating them is brought out. The political maneuvers down to the battlefield level results in frustration and anger up and down the lines. Territory loses its importance and the war becomes a war of numbers. Killed, wounded, and probables. An area is taken, then, abandoned, then retaken again. It becomes maddening for all involved.

There is a lot of slang, jargon and technical terms but there is a glossary to guide through its use. Marlantes spent thirty years working on the book while pursuing a career. The effort paid off in a well written book that conveys the suffering, doggedness, emotions, despair, tragedies, and a time that is now firmly in the past in a near perfect rendition.

My Top Five for Q1 of 2010 in the order I read them.

Dunwoody Pond, John Janovy
Asterios Polyp, David Mazzucchelli
Where the Wild Things Were, William Stolzenburg
The River Why, David James Duncan
Matterhorn, Karl Marlantes

36. You Are Not A Gadget: A Manifesto, Jaron Lanier

You Are Not A Gadget is a fantastic manifesto. Jaron states his positions firmly in some cases. In other cases it is obvious he has thought deeply on the issues but hasn't come to a workable conclusion on how to better processes and software. He admits he doesn't have the answers but has some hope that technology, especially the internet, will improve in the future before it gets locked into inanity.

He is critical of Web 2.0 (including FaceBook) and the online hive mind. Crowds are not always wise, sometimes they are pretty stupid. He takes on the ability of artists, with a focus on musicians, to earn a living in this environment. It hasn't worked out well for them. He rails against the Singularitarians and their rabid zeal that compares to fundamentalist's eager anticipation of the rapture. He touches are many other areas on technology and the ways he thinks it is bereft of the possibilities that could be with greater vision.

A manifesto doesn't have to be completely agreed with by the reader. Very few are. A manifesto should decree the manifesto writer's position on the issues written about. In this instance he has created a manifesto that will be discussed and referred back for quite some time. It's going to fester under some technologist's skin and inspire others to create software 'that doesn't suck'. Some will write Lanier off as a 'goofball'. I found he made me think more deeply about the internet and to continue to think about its direction.

@171 sounds interesting, although I am way behind having only just signed up to twitter (so far its seems to be good for free gig tickets, funny websites and the odd bit of propaganda).

clfisha, Lanier is a humanist at heart which makes him sort of a technologist oddball in a good way. The book is broken up into short little sections, most with funky summary titles regarding a section. It's a book you don't have to read straight through. He is a cephalopod lover and envies their 'post-symbolic communication', that is, communicating with body morphing. He grew up in New Mexico, as did I, and acquired that NM desert/mountain artist aura that is so prevalent in the state. It's nearly impossible to throw a rock and not hit an artist community there. Something about the light, near constant sunshine, ancient landscapes, ancient peoples, UFOs, the tri-culture (Native American, Hispanic, Anglo), nuclear weapon research labs, and vistas without end, I guess.

37. Logicomix: An Epic Search for Truth, Apostolos Doxiadis & Christos H. Papadimitriou

I have been curious about this book ever since I heard it was coming out. How would mathematics, logic, and Bertrand Russell work in a graphic format? Part of the answer turned out to be the writers and graphic artists discussing this in the book. While it didn't work out perfectly it did get the job done. I am glad that such subjects as the foundation of mathematics is getting exposure in the graphic novel arena. Maybe Einstein and his theories will be next. Or Alan Turing. Overall, the final result of Logicomix opens some doors for more works in this are. At least I hope it does.

Well if Ada Lovelace and Charles Babbage get their own adventures I think Alan Turing deserves one!

How accessible is it to a complete maths idiot? I really struggled through an Alan Turing biography I read last year.

I enjoyed a comic book about the life of Euler that I read a few years ago: Leonhard Euler: A Man to be Reckoned With.

clfisha, the couple of formulas that appear in Logicomix stay in the panels as background material. I think it's accessible to most readers, even ones with just a passing interest in the subject(s).

_Zoe_, I was not aware of that one. There's only two copies on LT. Thanks for the mention.

It has been a while since I popped in over here, VG. Looks like some good reading going on. I have already put Marlantes' book on hold at the library, added Lanier's book to the BlackHole to join Logicomix, which is already there. Thanks for the recommendations.

Two so-so books finished. Probably shouldn't have finished either of them.

38. Dark Matter, Philip Kerr

Bland mystery featuring Isaac Newton at the Mint.

39. 2017, Olga Slavnikova

2017 won the Russian Booker prize. I would be surprised if the English translation wins any sort of prize. There are some dazzling descriptive passages but more often than not they are followed by asinine similes with incongruent adjectives. Lots of adjectives. Attention grabbing adjectives that throws the reader completely out of the story. There is a sort of folkloric magical realism or lite-fantasy element that floats around untethered to the rest of the text.

2017 is a comment on the existential angst and runaway materialism in modern Russia. Unexamined consumption and the pursuit of wealth at all costs leaves some with pockets full of rubles while their hearts are empty and callous. It is a satirical novel but the satire can be nebulous to the point of disappearing entirely. I cannot read Russian, but for those readers that can, 2017 probably works a lot better in Russian than it does in English.

I followed up my two so-so reads with a great one. Booker nominee? Booker winner?

40. The Thousand Autumns of Jacob De Zoet, David Mitchell

David Mitchell has blended genres in some of his previous works with great success. The Thousand Autumns of Jacob De Zoet is historical fiction and only historical fiction. He does squeeze in some folklore, some myths, and a couple of tall tales. They are inserted into the book through character's conversations and thoughts but not in a direct manner. Mitchell has played around with the historical fiction genre in the past but this time he immerses himself in it. And yes, he does very well in this genre.

It takes place in Nagasaki, Japan beginning in the year 1799. The Dutch have a small trading island they are confined to and act as Japan's ears and eyes for news from Europe. The Japanese are forbidden from traveling there and Europeans are forbidden from entering Japan. The powers in the world are changing and Japan is uneasy. There is intrigue on the little Dutch outpost, power struggles, betrayals, plotting, and scheming. The same is true of Nagasaki.

It is a book best read slow and savored. There will be temptations to speed ahead to see what happens next but those are best avoided. Part of the pleasure of slowing down is enjoying Mitchell's talents of the written word. Particularly delightful, is the communication shortcomings of translating Dutch into Japanese and vice versa. He also inserts thoughts throughout conversations which works quite well. It's a book I enjoyed thoroughly and have a feeling it is also one that is indelibly etched into my mind. Definitely one of my best reads of the year.

@180 sounds utterly facsinating. although I must admit racing through books is a bad habit of mine (and in the process I miss far too much).

hmm it doesn't look like it's in the UK yet. Since I have tried any of his books would you recommend anything else?

I'm reading the Mitchell book as well and really enjoying it. He can really write a sentence, can't he? And the book is chock-a-block action from the beginning. I guess I can forgive him for writing so slowly if this is the result.

#180 - Nice review. I've been meaning to read something by David Mitchell for a while, this only encourages me more.

>180 VisibleGhost: Have added it to the library wishlist - no one has it yet. :(

>180 VisibleGhost: Cloud Atlas ranks right near the top of my Best Books in the Last Few Years. I knew he had a new book, and am glad to hear it's so good. B&N says Jacob De Zoet will be available June 29.

clfisha, Cloud Atlas is Mitchell's most ambitious book- six story lines woven together using several genres. Black Swan Green- a coming of age story (semi-autobiographical?) set in 1980s Worcestershire, England. Delightful. Ghostwritten- Mostly set in Japan, again interconnected theme. I haven't read Number9Dream yet.

RidgewayGirl, he can concoct some great sentences and paragraphs. Glad you're enjoying Thousand Autumns.

dChaikin, I'm not sure how I got started on David Mitchell but I'm glad I did.

bell7, release date is June 29th in US. That's not so far away. The ARC did have quite a few typos so hopefully those will get cleaned up for the retail version.

ivyd, I imagine most readers that liked Cloud Atlas will also enjoy Thousand Autumns. Here's hoping you do.

VG, thanks for the review of Thousand Autumns. I liked Cloud Atlas but haven't read any of his other books - it sounds like I'll love this one.

The only other book by David Mitchell that I've read is Black Swan Green. I loved it, really loved it.

41. In the Shadow of the Moon: A Challenging Journey to Tranquility, 1965-1969, Francis French and Colin Burgess, (Outward Odyssey: A People's History of Space)
Projected to end up with twelve volumes. A link to the publisher is in message 54 upthread.

I enjoy reading about the 'space race' because it's history without a bunch of people trying to kill one another all the time. It was competition with slide rules, computers, and engineering. It was a branch of the Cold War, a war that did manage to stay cold. The number of people employed in these efforts exceeded the size of many fielded armies. War does advance technology but so did the space programs. Reading in this area is history that clicks with me.

This volume covers the later Gemini flights and the Apollo program to the landing on the moon with Apollo 11. The 'footsteps' on the moon are not covered. It met Kennedy's goal of landing on and returning from the moon before 1970. The authors did intensive research and interviews with many of the primary people involved with Gemini and Apollo during the years 1965-1969. They write about wives, mission controllers, engineers, and many of the astronauts. They also cover the Russian space flights during this time. It is a sweeping overview that goes well beyond the highlights of these flights.

The writing covers technical matters ably but remains readable throughout. Even though it is published by a university press it should appeal to most general readers. Donn Eisele gets almost a whole chapter which hasn't happened with frequency in other space books. His divorce likely led him to be scrubbed from future flights. After he broke the unwritten rules divorce became more common and didn't stop others from flying. Because there has been so much material produced by Gemini and Apollo the authors had a treasure trove of material to sift through. They sifted well and the final product is history writ large.

This is the first Outward Odyssey volume I have read but it's not going to be the last.

I just got the Jacob de Zoet book as an ER book, and am really looking forward to reading it. Mitchell is one of my favorite contemporary writers--my favorite is Cloud Atlas. I also just picked up Matterhorn, so I'm glad to hear that you thought it's a good book.

abw, Matterhorn is probably the intensest book I've read this year. I'm interested to see if it will win any awards. I think it likely.

I just noticed that I've been on LibraryThing for three years as of today. I should send LT a bill for all the books I've acquired that I have been introduced to here. The pre-LT world seems like a long time ago.

42. City of Glass: The Graphic Novel, Adaptation by Paul Karasik and David Mazzucchelli, introduction by Art Spiegelman

City of Glass seems like an impossible novel to turn into a graphic novel. It's kind of a noir metafiction that circles in on itself. Actually, I doubted anything could be done with it with panel art. The efforts came out better than I thought they would. It's not perfect but it manages to capture most of the feel of City of Glass. It did win a place on the 100 Most Important Comics of the Century list. Still, it's hard to try to turn a review of it into words so I'll stop here before I tie myself into a knot.

43. The Next Hundred Million: America in 2050, Joel Kotkin

The population of the US is currently 310 million. Most projections point to the population rising to at least 400 million by 2050. If that comes to pass the density of the US population will still only be 1/6 the population density of Germany. The US has 52 Metropolitan Statistical Areas with populations above 1,000,000. It has 366 MSAs. It takes at least 50,000 people to qualify for MSA status. There are vast differences in these MSAs. Some are majority Latino. Some are white majority. African Americans are near majority in some. Many are diverse and ethnically mixed. Few will be majority white in 2050.

Americans like a front yard, a back yard, and cars. 80% of all growth in the last ten years happened in suburbs and exurbs. Suburbs are becoming denser but anti-growth sentiments in most of them keep them from becoming city-dense. Many have predicted the end of surburbia but it hasn't happened, isn't happening, and is unlikely to happen. 30 million Americans now telecommute, many near full-time and more and more part-time. It takes pressure off of commuting times and expenses. With technology advances it can be done from near anywhere. Many suburbs now have populations of 500,000 or more. Sometimes they are classified as edge cities.

The coasts are becoming too expensive for some and this is leading to growth in some areas of the 'Heartland' away from the coasts. Agricultural byproducts including fuels and consumer products are creating jobs in areas that had been losing population. Americans like 'local' governments but have a love/hate relationship with federal government. Counting state, county, city, town, and other small entities, America has 65,000 governments. Local and small is preferred over big and national. Locales will come to very different conclusions in regards to dealing with problems or perceived problems. People will move to areas that fit their lifestyles and politics.

Kotkin stays mostly politically neutral throughout the books and sticks to facts and statistics. There is much to read between the lines though. For example, Americans are often accused of voting against their self-interests. However, 16% of Americans are self-employed. There are 26 million microenterprises that employ less than four people. Even among those pulling a paycheck from an employer, several million of them dabble in 'moonlighting' self-employment. Add these sectors up and they exceed union members by about 12 million.

The US has a positive immigration inflow from all areas of the world. That is, more are coming from those countries to the US than the other way round. European immigration has slowed to a trickle but there are around 400,000 EU science and technology graduates residing in the US. Only one in seven is planning to leave soon. Legal immigration is running at 1 million people per year. In 2008, 1,046,539 were naturalized as US citizens- a record.

Overall, Kotkin is optimistic and makes his points well. I found it hard to disagree with his conclusions about how America might look in 2050. Still religious, mostly suburban, diverse, family oriented, and pessimistically optimistic. Kind of like it is now. Whether one will be happy or not in such a US future is another discussion.

44. Rewilding the World: Dispatches From the Conservation Movement, Caroline Fraser

I read this as a follow-up to Where the Wild Things Were. Wild Things is mostly about theories and how those theories have changed over time and are still changing. Fraser's book is a world tour of conservation efforts from from near every corner of the globe. Conservation biology is not the management of animals and plants, it is the management of people. Because people are involved, the successes and failures of conservation projects vary widely. Some never get off the ground. Others are opposed from special interests from dozens of stakeholders. Some thrive for decades then come crashing to complete halts and reversals. Most of the time it's three steps forward and 2.99 steps backward. Sometimes, it's three steps forward and five steps backward. It's hard not to despair if you like lifeforms like tigers, wolves, and orcas.

Rewilding covers many of these efforts. It is interesting/important reading but I wouldn't call it pleasant reading. The bright spots are that there are still those making attempts to control diversity loss. Even small ones that seem like a drop in the bucket do add up. Fraser's book is informative and cautiously optimistic with a little bit of encouragement dished out along the way. Theory is abstract and can be beautiful even when coming to undesired conclusions. Reporting on conservation biology reality is messy, sometimes ugly, and non-abstract. It was a good read on a tough subject.

#192 - belated, but happy 3 year anniversary. Pre-LT is long time ago for me. In my library I use an "LT-Inspired" tag - which I've applied to 130 books so far.

195- sadly, I didn't think to use an LT tag for such purposes. I am reading Life and Fate which should have a tag like- mentioned by more than 50 people on LT threads I have read.

VG, how far through Life and Fate are you? I bought it and started it in February but put it down (I was on a train without kids for 3 hours - it's not such a great book to read in 5 minute blasts.)

cmt, I'm on page 238 of Life and Fate. Most evenings I find myself asking, " I wonder how my Russians are faring?" Then I'll spend a half hour or so finding out.

One of these days I will get to Life and Fate. I am currently engrossed in some Russian reading of my own, having just finished The Idiot and picking up Oblomov next.

Been a while since I checked in on you, VG. Some very good reading here! I am keeping my eyes open for the David Mitchell book.

Hi Stasia, I seem to be picking up your sleep habits. I went to bed last night at 9:30 PM and woke up (wide-awake) at 1:30 AM. Early AM is great reading time.

Yes, it is! I love reading in the wee hours.

45. Skunk Works: A`Personal Memoir of My Years at Lockheed, Ben R. Rich & Leo Janos

It's been some time since I read a business memoir. I'm not even sure where I first heard of this book since it was written in 1994. The Skunk Works at Lockheed is legendary in airplane circles. They designed and produced the P-80, F-104 Starfighter, U-2, SR-71 Blackbird, and the F-117A stealth fighter, which some consider the butt-ugliest plane ever built. . The SR-71 was about the baddest bad-ass plane ever produced. It was retired in 1990 and still holds many flight records.

Skunk Works is written in an anecdotal fashion and is entertaining reading. It is not an in depth look at the whys and hows of military procurement but it does touch on this area. It also portrays Kelly Johnson who started and ran Skunk Works as a personal fiefdom. Rich took over when Johnson reached mandatory retirement age and had pissed off way too many generals by referring to them as idiots. It also includes little pieces written by test pilots, military pilots, Pentagon officials, political figures, and engineers. It includes a bit of everything related to these planes.

46. Firmin, Sam Savage

Firmin is a rat. An ugly little runt rat. The first time he sees his reflection, he nearly hurls. Poor Firmin. He has human envy. He doesn't think much of other rats. He's a literary rat. In his memoir he mentions lots of great books. At times he is melancholy. At times he is dejected with his lot in life. At times he copes with firm rat resolve at his station in life. I have also read about Numbers, the Bible reading cockroach. The Roaches Have No King. I wonder what literary creature I'll read of next? I also wonder about my sanity sometimes.

Numbers, the Bible reading cockroach? I admit, I have not heard of that one.

47. Consider Phlebas, Iain M. Banks

It's been a while since I've visited The Culture. I've read several of the novels but not in order and I lost track of which ones I had read. Somehow, I missed Phlebas which is the first. More likely, I started it sometime in the past and never finished it. Most of the ones I had were mass market paperbacks. I tend to jettison those as soon as I'm done with them. I looked around and I only saw four or five MMPBs hanging out here. I really don't like 'em. Cheap paper, ink shedding things. This was a trade PB reissue that I picked up somewhere. Anyway, it was good to revisit The Culture.

Testing the poll thing-y.

48. This Will Change Everything: Ideas That Will Shape the Future, Edited by John Brockman

Finished another loobrary book. It was also another one from The Edge.org crowd. There are 125 entries from a wide range of thinkers. Most are one or two pages long. As expected, some made me think, a few made me uneasy, some were wacky, and some made my eyes roll.

@203 literary rats and religous coackroaches? ..adds to wishlist..

I quite like the culture books but they can be a mixed bunch, I enjoyed Consider Phlebas and it's Irdirans though but I must admit I can't summon up the energy to read Matter, it's just sooo huge.

49. Son of the Morning Star: Custer and the Little Bighorn, Evan S. Connell

Connell has written fiction, history, poetry, and essays. Son of the Morning Star is non-fiction though some of the other genres he writes in leak through. It is history with a definite flavor of its own. He starts on a subject, then digresses, then digresses from the digression. Sometimes there are several levels of this digressing. Instead of being maddening, something wonderful starts to happen. He is filling in all the blank spots on the canvas of the era and a full detailed picture emerges. Connell will quote from a diary or journal from a source of the day and follow with a one word sentence from himself like- Really. These sources conflict one another so often it's hard to divine the truth from wild imaginations. The end result is not formal buttoned-down history.

At times, Son of the Morning Star out Blood Meridians Blood Meridian. There is violence of every imaginable sort. It was a bloody rough and tumble world on the Plains and Mountain West in the latter half of the nineteenth century. White on white violence. Native American on native violence. White on Red violence. Red on White violence. It was perpetrated against animals, women, children, and even the grasses of the prairie. Slaughter-fests would not be an inappropriate term. The writing doesn't glory in the violence but does record it in some detail.

General Armstrong Custer. What a bundle of contradictions contained in human form. Many soldiers who went through much of the Civil War claimed they never knew hardship until they served under him. He was known as Hard-Ass or Iron Butt. Some years the desertion rate of his unit was more than fifty percent. He made enemies by the hundreds. He also had his supporters. He needed them after being court-martialed. President Grant didn't want him on the frontier but he begged his way back onto the field. He took his wife to several posts with him and pampered her endlessly but also had mistresses. He loved animals. He caught a field mouse and kept it in a inkpot on his desk. It would run up his arm then nest in his hair. He let a porcupine sleep on his bed. He wrote poems about some of his dogs when they died. Once, he had his column march around a meadowlark's nest because he didn't want it disturbed. It wasn't all consistency though, even when it came to animals. He saw a white pelican flying and shot it to measure its wingspan. When he visited his parents he would be sobbing like a baby when it was time to part ways. He was flawed to the bone but probably wasn't evil incarnate.

The Battle of the Little Bighorn is one of those American events that just won't fade into oblivion. Each generation keeps the interest and myths and legends of the battle alive. There have been hundreds of books, paintings, and historical interpretations of that battle in 1876. Custer's intentions and performance at Little Bighorn will always be a contentious subject. This book is a good one covering many angles of the battle, the era, and the man.

#206 VG, I couldn't help myself and voted yes. I hope you'll take that as a compliment. Also, Son of the Morning Star is going on my wishlist.

#209: I need to re-read that one. It has been at least 10 years since my initial read.

PS - I voted 'Yes' too :)

Well, I haven't accomplished much reading in June. Two (2!) looks like all I'm going to finish. I did the family reunion thing. For two weeks! Which isn't as bad as it sounds. My family is one of those that has scattered to the winds and rarely comes together as a single unit.

50. House of Suns, Alastair Reynolds

A`standalone. Still no faster than light travel. Well, mostly. Huge swaths of time. Civilizations rise and fall like clockwork. Some really long-lived players. Millions of years. A mystery or two. Big-concept/Big idea science fiction. Good if you like this sort of stuff. And Reynolds, as I do.

Fifty puts me halfway through this challenge. Only problem is I started in Oct. Maybe I'll get fifty more this year if I extend to the end of 2010. A fifteen month challenge. Then again, I might not get fifty more read this year. I'm tiring. And faltering. And burning out.

I'm tiring. And faltering. And burning out.

???

If I saw you in real life and you said that, I'd shake my head and try to buy you a beer. It's all relative, of course. Your still burning through pages from my perspective.

You know it's funny, June is almost over and I've read 12 books this year (with three more just about done, being read simultaneously) - even for me this is a very small number. But still, and I'm just realizing this, this year has been one of the most enjoyable years for me reading-wise. Go figure.

d- thanks for the beer. I needed it.

Note to self. Do the best of Q2 then start a new thread.

The 1010 shouldn't be a burden. By all means, make yourself a shiny new thread. I made my categories outrageously broad and I'm finding that most of the books I read could fit in several. I look forward to seeing your redesign!

RG, It's a bit of summertime lethargy is all.

The best reads of Q2-2010 jumped out at me. Only three though.
The Thousand Autumns of Jacob De Zoet
In the Shadow of the Moon
Son of the Morning Star

Now I can build my categories for the first 50. It's kinda backwards of the norm.

One- Finishing Up A`Series- 1. Blood's a Rover 2. Freedom, Both satisfactory.

Two- Nature/Wildlife- 1. Dunwoody Pond, 2.Where the Wild Things Were, 3.Rewilding the World, Good stuff here.

Three- Cold War- 1. A Fiery Peace, 2.In the Shadow of the Moon, Shadow excellent, Fiery good.

Four- Futurism- 1.What's Next, 2.The Department of Mad Scientists, 3.Eternity Soup, 4.The Next Hundred Million, 5. This Will Change Everything, Mad Scientists is the fave here.

Five- Historical Fiction- 1. Wolf Hall, 2. Dr. Copernicus, 3.Matterhorn, 4.The Thousand Autumns of Jacob De Zoet, Wow! Superstrong category.

Will finish later.

Continuation of building categories from the first fifty read for this challenge. This is sorta fun.

Six- Peal Oil/Peak Water/Environment- 1.Whole Earth Discipline, 2.Heart of Dryness, 3.$20 Per Gallon, $20 was so-so.

Seven- History of Science- 1.American Prometheus, 2.The Strangest Man, both were thorough, enjoyable bios.

Eight- Graphic- 1.Footnotes in Gaza, 2.Asterios Polyp, 3.Logicomix, 4.City of Glass, another strong category.

Nine- Economics- 1.The Genius of the Beast, I don't believe it. The only economic book I've finished in this year of constant economic news was an off-the-wall but entertaining one.

Ten- Rereads- 1.Snowcrash, another category with only one book in it. An oldie (makes me feel old) but goodie.

Good Lord!! Still not done. OK, I promise this will come to a conclusion next post.

Continuation continuing.

Eleven- Current Events/Politics- 1.Zeitoun, 2.The Routes of Man, both are good reads.

Twelve- Books About Books- 1.A Primer of American Literature, 2.The Bibliophile's Devotional, 3.The Search for the Codex Cardona, 4.This Book is Overdue!, 5The Red Book, Codex was interesting but uneven, The Red Book is more of a book as object. A beautiful one.

Thirteen- Translations- 1.The Last Summer of Reason, 2.2017, Last Summer is powerful, 2017 did a big old bellyflop in the diving competition. Behind in this category.

Fourteen- Science Fiction- 1.Makers, 2.The Lucky Strike, 3.Galileo's Dream, 4.Consider Phlebas, House of Suns, none are going to vie for my top ten of the year.

Fifteen- Architecture- 1.The BLDGBLOG Book, different but a contender.

Sixteen- Technology- 1.The Nature of Technology, 2.You Are Not a Gadget, 3.Skunk Works, liked all three.

Seventeen- Literature/Fiction- 1.The Interrogative Mood, 2.The River Why, 3.Firmin, The River Why is so good it hurts.

Eighteen- Mystery- 1.Dark Matter, Meh, I'm not much of a conventional mystery reader to begin with and this one put me off any more for the rest of the year, I'm afraid.

Nineteen- History- 1.Son of the Morning Star, History with an attitude.

Done! Hopefully, that all adds up to 50.

I know exactly what you mean. I just stopped what I was reading, tidied away my tbr pile and went book shopping. Much happier now :) Although that may also be due to uncharacteristic sunshine the UK is bathing!

@216 I just started Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell and if I enjoy it I am going to treat myself to The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet

219- Damn- I was thinking about booking a trip to the UK for some gloom and rain. 98 of the last hundred days here have been nothing but bright sunshine. Well, the sun will hide behind A cloud for a minute or two. Oh well, I've been a desert rat most of my life. I'll check your thread for Cloud Atlas thoughts.

Second half thread- http://www.librarything.com/topic/93757