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December 28, 2007

The Perry Bible Fellowship: The Trial of Colonel Sweeto and Other Stories by Nicholas Gurewitch Oh lord this guy is hilarious. Bizarre, sometimes jarring comic strips drawn in a variety of styles. Always makes me smile. You can see all of the strips at www.pbfcomics.com, but the book is quite nice.

December 27, 2007

Poetry 180: A Turning Back to Poetry by Billy Collins In 2003 Billy Collins was chosen as America’s Poet Laureate, an honor he richly deserved. As part of the inherited campaign to popularize poetry which accompanied his position, he collected 180 contemporary poems meant to be read out loud and published them. Ideally, schools would read the poems to the students each day. The result is a wonderful collection of poems, easy to read and very thought-provoking.

December 24, 2007

Papillon by Henri Charriere What an amazing story. Papillon ("The Butterfly") was sent to prison in 1931, beginning a gruelling odyssey that lasted 14 years. Refusing to accept his incarceration, he attempted multiple escapes from prisons in South America, paying dearly on more than one occasion by being condemned to solitary confinement. A gripping, well-told tale that stands as a testament to human freedom. Also a scathing criticism of the pre-war justice system in France.

December 16, 2007

The First Crusade by Thomas Asbridge A delightfully informative read. Tells how and why Pope Urban II called for a crusade in 1095, providing the correct historical context in which to view the initial conflict between muslims and christians that has continued to this day. A well-written narrative of the events makes up most of the book.

December 2, 2007

Freakonomics by Steven D. Levitt, Stephen J. Dubner An interesting read, certainly. I like the general idea of applying economics-like scrutiny to societal issues, yet as the authors note, this isn't necessarily the point of the book. The book has no unifying theme, but one can infer that its purpose is to show how varied and disparate factors can lie at the root of problems, usually circumventing the conventional wisdom. Best part of the book for me was the link between abortion and crime rates. This book's relevance has yet to be seen.

November 21, 2007

Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed by Jared Diamond The ultimate argument for sustainable policy. Following on the heels of his paradigm-shifting Guns, Germs and Steel, this book takes the argument one step further: now that we know how certain societies have formed and advanced (at necessarily different paces), how do they proceed to collapse? Taking the three historical sagas of the Anasazi Indians, the Greenland Norse, and the Easter Island community together, Diamond weaves the story of our destruction. Specifically, he builds on and explores a list of factors, environmental and otherwise, that become relevant when deciding the fate of a nation or people. Depending on how the particular society deals with the problems accompanying each factor, certain societies manage to sustain their way of life while others don't. Diamond refutes the unfair charges leveled against him as being an "environmental determinist" in this book by cogently describing the multifacted arc of society qua society, and offers a most convincing argument for making one word a global priority for the rest of human history: sustainability.

November 17, 2007

Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert Beautifull written story of ennui and its tragic consequences. Very salacious for its time.

November 7, 2007

Krueger's Men: The Secret Nazi Counterfeit Plot and the Prisoners of Block 19 by Lawrence Malkin An interesting story, but not the most compellingly told.

October 15, 2007

Fathers and Sons by Ivan Turgenev This book seems to highlight the tranformation that was occurring prior to Russia's communist revolution. Essentially the story of the changing friendship of two young men, and how they react to the rapidly changing world around them. The book was very controversial when it came out, though it is hard to figure out why just by reading it.

October 1, 2007

The Complete Joy of Homebrewing by Charlie Papazian This is the definitive guide to homebrewing. Well-written, funny, deeply learned. Way over my head for the time being but I definitely learned to relax and have a homebrew before I do anything else. Ever.

September 15, 2007

Homebrewing for Dummies by Marty Nachel A great beginner's guide, most likely (We'll see how my beer turns out). Lots of great charts and recipes to use later, though.

August 24, 2007

The Faiths of Our Fathers: What America's Founders Really Believed by Alf Mapp This is a thinly-disguised attempt to downplay deism and portray the founding fathers as Christians, sometimes even despite themselves. A terrible piece of history.

August 16, 2007

Salt: A World History by Mark Kurlansky Fascinating, broad in scope, well-written. You'll never look at salt, or the world, in the same way.

August 12, 2007

The Devil's Dictionary by Ambrose Bierce An opus of hilarious cynicism. Witty and biting.

July 21, 2007

Normandy to Germany with The Ghost Army 1944-1945 by E. Gordon Wilson, Jr. This book was written by a veteran for his comrades in arms. Interesting story about a WWII unit whose sole mission was to employ inflatable tanks and jeeps in places the U.S. army wasn't going to be, in order to confuse the Germans.

July 22, 2007

The Frontiersmen by Allan W. Eckert A comprehensive, week-by-week narrative of the settlement of the "northwest" territories of Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, and Illinois in the late 18th century. Follows the story of Simon Butler, a contemporary of Daniel Boone and others who was instrumental in dealing with the indians and exploring the area. Although written like a novel, all the events in the book actually happened.

July 14, 2007

The Buffalo Creek Disaster by Gerald M. Stern Good read for those interested in the early days of class action lawsuits in America. Terrible failure of dam unleashes hell upon innocent residents, and the company tries to get out as cheaply as it can. Not to spoil the ending, but this book makes you like lawyers for once.

July 13, 2007

Confederate Home Front: Montgomery During the Civil War by William Warren Rogers, Jr. Well-researched account of what it was like to live in Montgomery during its political heyday. Not only relevant for Montgomerians; gives an accurate account of how wars affect the culture and economy of a region as well. Includes excerpts from contemporaneous journals and diaries that flesh out the history.

June 30, 2007

Inside the Third Reich by Albert Speer Probably the most illuminating book on Hitler's regime I've ever read. Day by day accounts of the man's strengths and weaknesses as well as of those around him. The book really explains the fervor and excitement that accompanied Hitler's ascendance until 1943-44, and gives a good account of the complicated political structure that eventually undermined Germany's successes. As Hitler's architect and friend (so to speak), Speer was ringside at the Nazi circus, and provides an extraordinary account of the swift and often jarring chnages that accompanied Hitler's rise to power. Although he at times seems proccupied with justifying his actions during the war, he fully acknowledges the lack of objective, critical thinking in his dealings with the Nazi government, as well as the frightening nature of its personal intrigues and political pitfalls. Because he was so involved in the government, few could have ever drawn such an intimate portrait of the Reichschancellor.

May 20, 2007

The Cruise of the German Raider Atlantis by Joseph P. Slavick I met Joe in Montgomery during the summer of 2006, through my good friends Carol and Tim Collier. Joe wrote this book after years of researching Captain Rogge and the daring raids made by the German ship Atlantis from 1940-1943. And these were truly daring. Disguised as a merchant cruiser, the Atlantis would patrol shipping lanes until encountering enemy cargo ships. The Altantis could imitate vessels belonging to 26 other countries. With little warning, the Atlantis would drop its disguise, revealing a deadly arsenal of guns. Needless to say, the ship was extraordinarily successful and operated brilliantly across the world's oceans until the advent of radar technology and the wising up of the allies resulted in its eventual capture and destruction. The book is thoroughly researched and exceptionally well-written and ranks as one of the great stories of World War II, where the convergence of technology and culture often resulted in the most unusual modes of warfare. Although a movie was made of Captain Rogge's exploits after the war, this would make a great movie today. Joe, I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

May 7, 2007

Letter to a Christian Nation by Sam Harris Another gauntlet thrown down by a great thinker concerning religion. In admiribly concise and convincing movements, Harris explains how modern religion is indistinguishable from ancient superstition. He also explains very clearly how the attitudes and prejudices passed down by superstitious cults are frequently outdated and therefore detrimental to an evolving heterogenous society. Do yourself a favor: read this book. It will open your eyes.

April 17, 2007

Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds by Charles MacKay This book is listed by Sam Harris, the author of "Letter to a Christian Nation," as one of the more important books we need to read. I read it before I heard his admonition, and I agree fully. Written in the 19th century, it recounts an exhaustive litany of rogues, fads, crazes, and scams that have managed to fool the general public at various times over the past 400 years. With a scientist's detatchment and attention to detail, he tells the stories of many of the greatest pop culture excesses to grace the planet. The first chapter is especially interesting, while the endless alchemists are tiring. Nonetheless, this book will make you think more than many, many other books are capable of. A wonderful illustration of the famous quote attributed to Mark Twain: "Which is more likely - that miracles happen or that men lie?"

March 29, 2007

Mountain Man Dance Moves: The McSweeney's Book of Lists by the folks at McSweeney's I laughed out loud several times while reading this bizarre collection of lists. Don't read this straight through--keep it in your bathroom and read it when you need a bit of wit and absurdity.

March 7, 2007

The Days of the French Revolution by Christopher Hibbert A well-written account of one of the most turbulent periods in any country's history. A bit dry at times and somewhat narrow in scope (not much about the wave of reaction that swept across Europe in here, or any connection to modern times), the book nonetheless takes us through each day in detail, all the way up to Napoleon's rise to power. A fascinating account for anyone wondering exactly how France managed to tear itself apart at the very end of the eighteenth century.

February 23, 2007

The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins This is the book you need to read. More than anyone else of late (but with proper rescpects to Sam Harris and Christopher Hitchens), Dawkins has taken head on the glaring evils and logical absurdities of the modern Christian religion. Of particular importance are his ideas on the failure of religion to evolve and the nature of religion as a "meme" or cultural phenomena. This book truly throws down the gauntlet, and has yet to be answered in any real way by Christian apologists. Although I agree that most of what he says is self-evident, there are aspects of the book that are bitter and will drive moderate freethinkers away. But the book does not back down; one of his main points is that it is precisely the moderate Christian who are allowing the radicals to proliferate. Since radicals can only do what they do by representing a population that agrees witht heir principles, if not their methods, it is therefore up to the moderates to keep the radicals in check. This, Dawkins argues, is one of modern religion's biggest failings. And the result of a rise in extremism, as we all know, is just more extremism in response. Dawkins has deftly made the argument that if we don't react now to the absurdities of religion, we may be setting the stage for a very real armageddon.

February 1, 2007

Benjamin Franklin: An American Life by Walter Isaacson This is a great biography of an enigmatic figure. I was inspired to join the Kiwanis Club after reading about Franklin's dedication to civic improvement. Isaacson cuts through the layers of misinterpretation well, giving us a rather clear picture of the man.

January 29, 2007

Thrilling Tom the Dancing Bug Stories by Ruben Bolling Hilarious. Absolutely biting and brilliant in every way.

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"When I get a little money, I buy books; and if any is left, I buy food and clothes." -- Desiderius Erasmus