The 2012 Fifty Book Challenge

[dp]

1. Legs by William Kennedy 318pg
2. The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains by Nicholas Carr 276pg
3. Kaputt by Curzio Malaparte 407pg
4. The Volga Rises in Europe by Curzio Malaparte 281pg
5. Kingdom of Fear by Hunter S. Thompson 354pg
6. Is Voting for Young People? by Martin P. Wattenberg 225pg
7. Genius in Disguise: Harold Ross of the New Yorker by Thomas Kunkel 497pg
8. Fear and Loathing: On The Campaign Trail '72 by Hunter S. Thompson 505pg
9. Eating the Dinosaur by Chuck Klosterman 245pg
10. The Skin by Curzio Malaparte 344pg
11. Life and Fate by Vasily Grossman 880pg
12. Mother Night by Kurt Vonnegut 192pg
13. The Snows of Kilimanjaro and Other Stories by Ernest Hemingway 154pg
14. The Winter of Our Discontent by John Steinbeck 276pg
15. Leaving the Atocha Station by Ben Lerner 181pg
16. Life With Picasso by Francoise Gilot 350pg
17. Brief Interviews With Hideous Men by David Foster Wallace 321pg
18. Loving Picasso: The Private Journal of Fernande Olivier 296pg
19. All Is Forgotten, Nothing Is Lost by Lan Samantha Chang 208pg
20. Although of Course You End Up Becoming Yourself by David Lipsky 320pg
21. Snow by Orhan Pamuk 426pg
22. Everything and Nothing by Jorge Luis Borges 129pg
23. Open City by Teju Cole 259pg
24. The Avian Gospels: Book One by Adam Novy 275pg
25. The Pale King by David Foster Wallace 548pg
26. The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery 325pg

Written by some French philosophy professor or some such thing, this was a huge hit in France. A pretty solid book overall I'd say. The two main characters are a 12 year old daughter of a French minister and the 54 year old concierge who takes care of the building the girl lives in. Both are super smart, and both hide their intelligence from the rest of the world. However, for a book that that spends so much time showing that a 54 year old widow concierge can in fact be a much smarter and better person than the rich aristocrats who live in her building, it certainly doesn't suffer from too much democratic spirit. The characters take an extremely pessimistic, cynical, almost hate-filled view of others (something I tend to do myself). But instead of being represented as a sort of flaw, it seems the author herself wants us to see this as a good thing? Or rather that this is how the author feels about others and is addressing the reader as if it's a given that this is how we feel as well. And while it is how I feel sometimes, it's not a productive thing, it helps no one, it only adds to the malaise of the world.

Not sure if I represented my thoughts here in ANYTHING resembling coherence...

[Jeremy]

1. Mostly Harmless by Douglas Adams - 229pp [ebook]
2. I Am Legend by Richard Matherson - 180pp [ebook]
3. The Drowned World by JG Ballard - 158pp [ebook]
4. Lord of the Flies by William Golding - 248pp [ebook]
5. Bad Science by Ben Goldacre - 338pp [ebook]
6. Galactic Human Handbook: Entering The New Time: Creating Planetary Groups by Sheldon Nidle and Jose Arguelles - 157pp
7. The Future Eaters by Tim Flannery - 407pp
8. Tasmania; A Natural History by William E. Davies Jr. - 236pp
9. Complexity: A guided tour by Melanie Mitchell - 368pg [ebook]
10. Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency by Douglas Adams - 306pp [ebook]
11. A Study in Scarlet by Arthur Conan Doyle - 108pp [ebook]
12. Free Will by Sam Harris - 66pp
13. Australian Freshwater Ecology: Processes and management by Andrew Boulton and Margaret Brock - 244pp
14. Arguably by Christopher Hitchens - 800pp [ebook]
15. The Red Queen: Sex and the Evolution of Human Nature by Matt Ridley - 405pp [ebook]
16. The Godfather by Mario Puzo - 447pp
17. Battle Royale by Koushun Takami - 624pp [ebook]
18. Paranormality: Why we see what isn't there by Richard Wiseman - 341pp [ebbok]

An interesting and fun read that explains a series of paranormal experiences - ghosts, out of body experiences, telekinesis etc. It's a focus on the psychological explanations, rather than merely proving the supernatural claims to be false. It was a very good read. I have a long interest in trying to understand why people believe these kinds of absurdities, and this went a long way to understanding it. Although I had a vague idea at a lot of the explanations, this book was particularly good in that it outlined specific experiments that have been carried out which support the psychological explanations. It was also full of interesting and bizarre anecdotes, as well as a number of cool ways you can use the same principles to either have the same experiences, or make other people have the same experiences. A very fun and interesting book. Definitely worth a read if you're interested in the paranormal, either from the perspective of a believer or sceptic, or just interested in weird psychology.

[Jeremy]

1. Mostly Harmless by Douglas Adams - 229pp [ebook]
2. I Am Legend by Richard Matherson - 180pp [ebook]
3. The Drowned World by JG Ballard - 158pp [ebook]
4. Lord of the Flies by William Golding - 248pp [ebook]
5. Bad Science by Ben Goldacre - 338pp [ebook]
6. Galactic Human Handbook: Entering The New Time: Creating Planetary Groups by Sheldon Nidle and Jose Arguelles - 157pp
7. The Future Eaters by Tim Flannery - 407pp
8. Tasmania; A Natural History by William E. Davies Jr. - 236pp
9. Complexity: A guided tour by Melanie Mitchell - 368pg [ebook]
10. Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency by Douglas Adams - 306pp [ebook]
11. A Study in Scarlet by Arthur Conan Doyle - 108pp [ebook]
12. Free Will by Sam Harris - 66pp
13. Australian Freshwater Ecology: Processes and management by Andrew Boulton and Margaret Brock - 244pp
14. Arguably by Christopher Hitchens - 800pp [ebook]
15. The Red Queen: Sex and the Evolution of Human Nature by Matt Ridley - 405pp [ebook]
16. The Godfather by Mario Puzo - 447pp
17. Battle Royale by Koushun Takami - 624pp [ebook]
18. Paranormality: Why we see what isn't there by Richard Wiseman - 341pp [ebbok]
19. Freakonomics: A rouge economist explores the hidden side of everything - revised edition by Steven D. Levitt & Stephen J. Dubner

I know that this book is somewhat maligned, and that the sequel is especially criticised (which I may read later). However I found most of it convincing and enjoyable, and I especially like the theme, if there is one, about the importance of data analysis for understanding how the world works, rather than merely using common sense and conventional wisdom. The most controversial part of the book - the link between abortion and crime - was an argument I found convincing, despite being a sceptic before I'd read the book. I guess I have to accept their word that their analysis does say what they suggest, but there's no reason to doubt them. I think they raise another good point, which is the difference between stating a fact and passing judgement. Saying something like "black people are more likely to commit crime than white people" shouldn't be viewed as racist or wrong. Of course their analysis shows that the reason for this is that black people are more likely to have lower incomes, and that white and black people in the same socio-economic position are just as likely to commit crime as each other. Avoiding facts because they "politically incorrect" or otherwise taboo is problem, and they do a good job addressing it.

There's that terrible expression "lies, damn lies, and statistics" and I think it's rubbish. While it's true that you can use statistics to mislead people, that merely demonstrates why it's important to understand statistics, so you can't be manipulated. If you don't have good evidence for a position, it's even easier to be manipulated. As they say "numbers don't lie", and given all the biases we have, it's only through detailed and transparent statical analysis that we can arrive at an objective truth despite our bias.

The big issue I had with this book though, and they do acknowledge it to a degree, is what an annoying wank fest it is. It's full of statements about how awesome Steven Levitt is, what a genius he is etc. While I understand that these are mainly or entirely written by Stephen Dubner, I think it's poor form to co-write a book that's theme is really how awesome you are. In the revised edition they've apparently moved a lot of this self-serving to the end of the book, but since I read entire books, I read it anyway. The revised edition also has some selected newspaper columns and blog posts, some of which continue to demonstrate how amazing and influential they think they are, or repeat what is already written in the book.

Despite this, I did thoroughly enjoy the book, and I can see why it is so popular.

[Jeremy]

1. Mostly Harmless by Douglas Adams - 229pp [ebook]
2. I Am Legend by Richard Matherson - 180pp [ebook]
3. The Drowned World by JG Ballard - 158pp [ebook]
4. Lord of the Flies by William Golding - 248pp [ebook]
5. Bad Science by Ben Goldacre - 338pp [ebook]
6. Galactic Human Handbook: Entering The New Time: Creating Planetary Groups by Sheldon Nidle and Jose Arguelles - 157pp
7. The Future Eaters by Tim Flannery - 407pp
8. Tasmania; A Natural History by William E. Davies Jr. - 236pp
9. Complexity: A guided tour by Melanie Mitchell - 368pg [ebook]
10. Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency by Douglas Adams - 306pp [ebook]
11. A Study in Scarlet by Arthur Conan Doyle - 108pp [ebook]
12. Free Will by Sam Harris - 66pp
13. Australian Freshwater Ecology: Processes and management by Andrew Boulton and Margaret Brock - 244pp
14. Arguably by Christopher Hitchens - 800pp [ebook]
15. The Red Queen: Sex and the Evolution of Human Nature by Matt Ridley - 405pp [ebook]
16. The Godfather by Mario Puzo - 447pp
17. Battle Royale by Koushun Takami - 624pp [ebook]
18. Paranormality: Why we see what isn't there by Richard Wiseman - 341pp [ebbok]
19. Freakonomics: A rouge economist explores the hidden side of everything - revised edition by Steven D. Levitt & Stephen J. Dubner
20. Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe - 209pp [ebook]

Fantastic. The best book I've read this year by a mile. Very powerful, but also short and easy to read, so I think there is no excuse for not reading this.

[lilo]

1. Agatha Christie - Miss Marple & Mystery (collection of short stories)
2. Kerry Greenwood - Urn Burial
3. Anna Stothard - The Pink Hotel
4. Kazuo Ishiguro - Never Let Me Go
5. Martina Cole - The Runaway
6. Agatha Christie - Detectives & Young Adventurers (collection of short stories)
7. Nancy Mitford - Love In A Cold Climate
8. Kate Morton - The Distant Hours
9. Sarah Waters - The Little Stranger
10. Benjamin Law - The Family Law
11. Kerry Greenwood - Blood & Circuses
12. Anonymous - A Woman In Berlin
13. Mulgray Twins - No Suspicious Circumstances
14. Jon Richardson - It's Not Me, It's You
15. Neville Shute - A Town Like Alice
16. Richard Llewellyn - How Green Was My Valley
17. Chloe Hooper - The Tall Man
18. Kate Grenville - The Secret River
19. John Ajvide Lindqvist - Let The Right One In
20. Dodie Smith - I Capture The Castle
21. Wilkie Collins - The Woman In White
22. Jane Austen - Northanger Abbey
23. Stella Tilyard - The Tides Of War
24. Jim Thompson - The Killer Inside Me
25. Mandy Sayer - Love In The Years Of Lunacy
26. Belinda McKeon - Solace
27. Karin Altenberg - Island Of Wings
28. Emma Donoghue - The Sealed Letter
29. Robert Frank - The Return Of The Economic Naturalist
30. Caitlin Moran - How To Be A Woman
31. Jonathan Coe - The Rotters' Club

32. Kate Grenville - Sarah Thornhill
This is the sequel to The Secret River, which I read earlier this year. It was OK, not as good as the first book, and I didn't like the way it was written... it was written as though the main character was telling us the story down the pub or something.

33. Marieke Hardy - You'll Be Sorry When I'm Dead
A memoir, written as a series of short stories. Marieke is an Australian writer/journalist/broadcaster/etc, and I know her a little bit, so it was really interesting to read this because of the stories I've heard before, and the other people I know who feature in this book.

34. Tina Fey - Bossypants
I really enjoyed this! I don't actually know much about Tina Fey except that she wrote Mean Girls and impersonated Sarah Palin, so it was interesting to find out more about her.

35. Georgina Harding - Painter Of Silence
I'm actually struggling to remember what this book was about! Ooops.. can't have been very memorable I guess.

36. Patrick de Witt - The Sisters Brothers
This was great! Very funny.

37. Peter May - The Black House
A murder mystery... with a twist at the end! But don't they all...

38. Rusty Young - Marching Powder
Really really interesting, a memoir written by this guy that's in this prison in Bolivia, and his life there. It sounds incredible, but it's all actually true.

39. Penelope Lively - How It All Began
Great chick lit exam study escapism.

40. John Charalambous - Silent Parts
A novel about an Australian soldier in France in WW1, and what happens to him after he deserts.

This project has been interesting for me, in that it's shown me how much rubbish I read. Well, not rubbish, but I've read mostly novels this year, and I'd guess that's typical. I guess it's because I read for relaxation and escapism and entertainment, and I don't generally read to learn things.. that's what uni textbooks are for! I guess I am OK with that.

[dp]

1. Legs by William Kennedy 318pg
2. The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains by Nicholas Carr 276pg
3. Kaputt by Curzio Malaparte 407pg
4. The Volga Rises in Europe by Curzio Malaparte 281pg
5. Kingdom of Fear by Hunter S. Thompson 354pg
6. Is Voting for Young People? by Martin P. Wattenberg 225pg
7. Genius in Disguise: Harold Ross of the New Yorker by Thomas Kunkel 497pg
8. Fear and Loathing: On The Campaign Trail '72 by Hunter S. Thompson 505pg
9. Eating the Dinosaur by Chuck Klosterman 245pg
10. The Skin by Curzio Malaparte 344pg
11. Life and Fate by Vasily Grossman 880pg
12. Mother Night by Kurt Vonnegut 192pg
13. The Snows of Kilimanjaro and Other Stories by Ernest Hemingway 154pg
14. The Winter of Our Discontent by John Steinbeck 276pg
15. Leaving the Atocha Station by Ben Lerner 181pg
16. Life With Picasso by Francoise Gilot 350pg
17. Brief Interviews With Hideous Men by David Foster Wallace 321pg
18. Loving Picasso: The Private Journal of Fernande Olivier 296pg
19. All Is Forgotten, Nothing Is Lost by Lan Samantha Chang 208pg
20. Although of Course You End Up Becoming Yourself by David Lipsky 320pg
21. Snow by Orhan Pamuk 426pg
22. Everything and Nothing by Jorge Luis Borges 129pg
23. Open City by Teju Cole 259pg
24. The Avian Gospels: Book One by Adam Novy 275pg
25. The Pale King by David Foster Wallace 548pg
26. The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery 325pg
27. One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez 383pg

Not super impressed with this book. The last few pages were the only thing that really gripped me.

[bigdirtyfoot]

17. The Man Whose Teeth Were All Exactly Alike, Philip K Dick, 304 pg.

This book is from PKD's selection of non-science-fiction stories. If I remember correctly, he wrote most of these stories early on in his career; they weren't very popular and remained unpublished until fairly recently. These books tell the stories of small towns in the mid-twentieth century. The people all know each other and nothing exciting really happens, but PKD is able to tell these stories with a high level of detail that allows these ordinary characters to shine. I am impressed that I end up genuinely interested in uninteresting people and things in each one of these books. The Man Whose Teeth Were All Exactly Alike is a pretty good book, but certainly isn't anything special.

[dp]

1. Legs by William Kennedy 318pg
2. The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains by Nicholas Carr 276pg
3. Kaputt by Curzio Malaparte 407pg
4. The Volga Rises in Europe by Curzio Malaparte 281pg
5. Kingdom of Fear by Hunter S. Thompson 354pg
6. Is Voting for Young People? by Martin P. Wattenberg 225pg
7. Genius in Disguise: Harold Ross of the New Yorker by Thomas Kunkel 497pg
8. Fear and Loathing: On The Campaign Trail '72 by Hunter S. Thompson 505pg
9. Eating the Dinosaur by Chuck Klosterman 245pg
10. The Skin by Curzio Malaparte 344pg
11. Life and Fate by Vasily Grossman 880pg
12. Mother Night by Kurt Vonnegut 192pg
13. The Snows of Kilimanjaro and Other Stories by Ernest Hemingway 154pg
14. The Winter of Our Discontent by John Steinbeck 276pg
15. Leaving the Atocha Station by Ben Lerner 181pg
16. Life With Picasso by Francoise Gilot 350pg
17. Brief Interviews With Hideous Men by David Foster Wallace 321pg
18. Loving Picasso: The Private Journal of Fernande Olivier 296pg
19. All Is Forgotten, Nothing Is Lost by Lan Samantha Chang 208pg
20. Although of Course You End Up Becoming Yourself by David Lipsky 320pg
21. Snow by Orhan Pamuk 426pg
22. Everything and Nothing by Jorge Luis Borges 129pg
23. Open City by Teju Cole 259pg
24. The Avian Gospels: Book One by Adam Novy 275pg
25. The Pale King by David Foster Wallace 548pg
26. The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery 325pg
27. One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez 383pg
28. The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet by David Mitchell 479pg

[bigdirtyfoot]

18. Tao Te Ching, Lao-Tzu, 106 pg.

I decided to re-read this book because it has been three and a half years since I had last read it, and it is so incredibly short that I figured it was time for me to check in with it again. Tao Te Ching is a collection of ancient Chinese wisdom that is attributed to a possibly fictitious man named Lao-Tzu. The book offers up many koan-like pieces of advice and is best absorbed slowly and carefully, in my opinion. While it won't offer up any hard solutions for your life or the great questions that we all face, this book invites the reader to approach things with a fresh perspective. Many of the virtues that are revered in Tao Te Ching have been forgotten or outright contested by contemporary Western culture, and as a result, humanity is facing a troublesome proposition. I do not believe that this book alone will solve the problems that we face, but I do think that it is a perfect companion to someone who has temporarily lost their way. And with that in mind, I would recommend this book to everyone in the world to read, because humanity definitely seems to have lost a clear sense of direction. Because this was originally written in Chinese and has been translated many times over thousands of years, its meaning can be interpreted in many ways. I find that this is one of its rewards - similar to a flowing stream, Tao Te Ching has different meanings for everyone and its messages can (and must) change over time.

[dp]

1. Legs by William Kennedy 318pg
2. The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains by Nicholas Carr 276pg
3. Kaputt by Curzio Malaparte 407pg
4. The Volga Rises in Europe by Curzio Malaparte 281pg
5. Kingdom of Fear by Hunter S. Thompson 354pg
6. Is Voting for Young People? by Martin P. Wattenberg 225pg
7. Genius in Disguise: Harold Ross of the New Yorker by Thomas Kunkel 497pg
8. Fear and Loathing: On The Campaign Trail '72 by Hunter S. Thompson 505pg
9. Eating the Dinosaur by Chuck Klosterman 245pg
10. The Skin by Curzio Malaparte 344pg
11. Life and Fate by Vasily Grossman 880pg
12. Mother Night by Kurt Vonnegut 192pg
13. The Snows of Kilimanjaro and Other Stories by Ernest Hemingway 154pg
14. The Winter of Our Discontent by John Steinbeck 276pg
15. Leaving the Atocha Station by Ben Lerner 181pg
16. Life With Picasso by Francoise Gilot 350pg
17. Brief Interviews With Hideous Men by David Foster Wallace 321pg
18. Loving Picasso: The Private Journal of Fernande Olivier 296pg
19. All Is Forgotten, Nothing Is Lost by Lan Samantha Chang 208pg
20. Although of Course You End Up Becoming Yourself by David Lipsky 320pg
21. Snow by Orhan Pamuk 426pg
22. Everything and Nothing by Jorge Luis Borges 129pg
23. Open City by Teju Cole 259pg
24. The Avian Gospels: Book One by Adam Novy 275pg
25. The Pale King by David Foster Wallace 548pg
26. The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery 325pg
27. One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez 383pg
28. The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet by David Mitchell 479pg
29. Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin 694pg

I've seen season 1 and season 2 of the HBO show (which is really great) and they cover book 1 and 2 of the series, so this whole book I knew everything that was going to happen. I was pretty amazed, the show follows the book almost exactly. Anyways, this would have been enjoyable if I hadn't known what all was going to happen. I'll have to slog through the 2nd book I suppose before I get the 3rd where I'll really start to enjoy it. The book was fun to read though, just a good warn really, and I intend this summer to read all the books in the series that are out so far.

[bigdirtyfoot]

19. Wise Blood, Flannery O'Connor, 232 pg.

I read this book for the first meeting of a local book club that I recently joined. I found the book to be somewhat confusing but I liked the style. In fact, I would say that I liked the book, but didn't love it. The pacing and dialogue reminded me a lot of Cormac McCarthy's writing, but it was really hard to follow the story. I would read through several paragraphs before I realized that I didn't know what O'Connor was describing. Most of the other people in book club felt the same way. The story suffers from the fact that it was originally four separate short stories that were stitched together - unsuccessfully.

However, with all this said, I am very interested in reading the rest of O'Connor's work. I really appreciated her style, and the topics she wrote about in "Wise Blood" - religion, love, small towns, dark humor, the South, etc. I'd like to read some of her short story collections in the future.

[dp]

1. Legs by William Kennedy 318pg
2. The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains by Nicholas Carr 276pg
3. Kaputt by Curzio Malaparte 407pg
4. The Volga Rises in Europe by Curzio Malaparte 281pg
5. Kingdom of Fear by Hunter S. Thompson 354pg
6. Is Voting for Young People? by Martin P. Wattenberg 225pg
7. Genius in Disguise: Harold Ross of the New Yorker by Thomas Kunkel 497pg
8. Fear and Loathing: On The Campaign Trail '72 by Hunter S. Thompson 505pg
9. Eating the Dinosaur by Chuck Klosterman 245pg
10. The Skin by Curzio Malaparte 344pg
11. Life and Fate by Vasily Grossman 880pg
12. Mother Night by Kurt Vonnegut 192pg
13. The Snows of Kilimanjaro and Other Stories by Ernest Hemingway 154pg
14. The Winter of Our Discontent by John Steinbeck 276pg
15. Leaving the Atocha Station by Ben Lerner 181pg
16. Life With Picasso by Francoise Gilot 350pg
17. Brief Interviews With Hideous Men by David Foster Wallace 321pg
18. Loving Picasso: The Private Journal of Fernande Olivier 296pg
19. All Is Forgotten, Nothing Is Lost by Lan Samantha Chang 208pg
20. Although of Course You End Up Becoming Yourself by David Lipsky 320pg
21. Snow by Orhan Pamuk 426pg
22. Everything and Nothing by Jorge Luis Borges 129pg
23. Open City by Teju Cole 259pg
24. The Avian Gospels: Book One by Adam Novy 275pg
25. The Pale King by David Foster Wallace 548pg
26. The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery 325pg
27. One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez 383pg
28. The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet by David Mitchell 479pg
29. Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin 694pg
30. A Clash of Kings by George R. R. Martin 1009pg

[Zac Miley]

1. Letters Between Friends: Pierre Bonnard and Henri Matisse
2. Three Artemis Fowl books which I will count as one, Eoin Colfer
3. A Moveable Feast, Ernest Hemingway
4. The Road, Cormac McCarthy (reread)
5. Brief Interviews with Hideous Men, David Foster Wallace
6. Word Freak, Stefan Fatsis
7. Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy
8. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Stieg Larsson
9. The Tradition of the New, Harold Rosenberg
10. The Complete Short Stories of Ernest Hemingway: Finca Vigia edition, Ernest Hemingway
11. Gerhard Richter: Portraits, Stefan Gronertis, Hubertus Butin
12. Working Space, Frank Stella
13. Caravaggio, no specified author
14. The Sun Also Rises, Ernest Hemingway
15. Labyrinths, Jorge Luis Borges

Reading The Man Within by Graham Greene currently.

[dp]

1. Legs by William Kennedy 318pg
2. The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains by Nicholas Carr 276pg
3. Kaputt by Curzio Malaparte 407pg
4. The Volga Rises in Europe by Curzio Malaparte 281pg
5. Kingdom of Fear by Hunter S. Thompson 354pg
6. Is Voting for Young People? by Martin P. Wattenberg 225pg
7. Genius in Disguise: Harold Ross of the New Yorker by Thomas Kunkel 497pg
8. Fear and Loathing: On The Campaign Trail '72 by Hunter S. Thompson 505pg
9. Eating the Dinosaur by Chuck Klosterman 245pg
10. The Skin by Curzio Malaparte 344pg
11. Life and Fate by Vasily Grossman 880pg
12. Mother Night by Kurt Vonnegut 192pg
13. The Snows of Kilimanjaro and Other Stories by Ernest Hemingway 154pg
14. The Winter of Our Discontent by John Steinbeck 276pg
15. Leaving the Atocha Station by Ben Lerner 181pg
16. Life With Picasso by Francoise Gilot 350pg
17. Brief Interviews With Hideous Men by David Foster Wallace 321pg
18. Loving Picasso: The Private Journal of Fernande Olivier 296pg
19. All Is Forgotten, Nothing Is Lost by Lan Samantha Chang 208pg
20. Although of Course You End Up Becoming Yourself by David Lipsky 320pg
21. Snow by Orhan Pamuk 426pg
22. Everything and Nothing by Jorge Luis Borges 129pg
23. Open City by Teju Cole 259pg
24. The Avian Gospels: Book One by Adam Novy 275pg
25. The Pale King by David Foster Wallace 548pg
26. The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery 325pg
27. One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez 383pg
28. The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet by David Mitchell 479pg
29. Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin 694pg
30. A Clash of Kings by George R. R. Martin 1009pg
31. Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell 309pg

Not very good. A series of anecdotes, weak analogies, and strawman arguments, in the end it appears that his overall conclusion is that some things affect other things... Seems you can conclude that without a book...

He's a staff writer for the New Yorker, and I don't really like msot of his pieces, but every once in a while he has a really great one so I thought I'd give one of his books a chance.

[dp]

EDIT: double post

[Jeremy]

Thanks for the review Danny - that book has been the most recommended book to me in recent years, but I think I'll keep it on the "maybe read at some point in the future" list

No updates from me, but I'm reading 3 books and they're all very good

[bigdirtyfoot]

20. Food Rules: An Eater's Manual, Michael Pollan, 140 pg.

This is a really quick read, and a solid resource for sound advice regarding what we should be eating. The book consists of an in depth foreword and 64 rules (which are more like snippets of advice than rules) for a person's food intake. The foreword explains that there is still not too much understood about nutritional science, which goes hand in hand with what I have been finding out during the past few months. Some resources advise one particular diet, while the others advise the complete opposite practice. However, Michael Pollan simplifies a lot of this by stating that 1) The so-called Western diet, consisting of highly-processed and convenience foods, is entirely unhealthy and is most likely the source of most of our chronic diseases while 2) People who eat traditional diets, although completely different from region to region, show drastically reduced levels of these common Western illnesses. During the years he was conducting the research for his books, he stumbled across a seven-word mantra that is extremely simplified, but a great thing to remember regarding diet: Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.

I have read Pollan's "Botany of Desire" prior to reading "Food Rules: An Eater's Manual" and am glad I read the latter before reading his "Omnivore's Dilemna" or "In Defense of Food," because I have heard that the majority of "Food Rules" exists in the last two. I found the majority of this book to be common sense, but there were certainly a few rules that I took away from the book that I will bring with me to the supermarket and farmer's markets. This is such a quick read - it took me a little over an hour to complete! And because of this I would recommend it to anyone looking to read a nutritional advice book without the controversial nutritional science.

[dp]

1. Legs by William Kennedy 318pg
2. The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains by Nicholas Carr 276pg
3. Kaputt by Curzio Malaparte 407pg
4. The Volga Rises in Europe by Curzio Malaparte 281pg
5. Kingdom of Fear by Hunter S. Thompson 354pg
6. Is Voting for Young People? by Martin P. Wattenberg 225pg
7. Genius in Disguise: Harold Ross of the New Yorker by Thomas Kunkel 497pg
8. Fear and Loathing: On The Campaign Trail '72 by Hunter S. Thompson 505pg
9. Eating the Dinosaur by Chuck Klosterman 245pg
10. The Skin by Curzio Malaparte 344pg
11. Life and Fate by Vasily Grossman 880pg
12. Mother Night by Kurt Vonnegut 192pg
13. The Snows of Kilimanjaro and Other Stories by Ernest Hemingway 154pg
14. The Winter of Our Discontent by John Steinbeck 276pg
15. Leaving the Atocha Station by Ben Lerner 181pg
16. Life With Picasso by Francoise Gilot 350pg
17. Brief Interviews With Hideous Men by David Foster Wallace 321pg
18. Loving Picasso: The Private Journal of Fernande Olivier 296pg
19. All Is Forgotten, Nothing Is Lost by Lan Samantha Chang 208pg
20. Although of Course You End Up Becoming Yourself by David Lipsky 320pg
21. Snow by Orhan Pamuk 426pg
22. Everything and Nothing by Jorge Luis Borges 129pg
23. Open City by Teju Cole 259pg
24. The Avian Gospels: Book One by Adam Novy 275pg
25. The Pale King by David Foster Wallace 548pg
26. The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery 325pg
27. One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez 383pg
28. The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet by David Mitchell 479pg
29. Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin 694pg
30. A Clash of Kings by George R. R. Martin 1009pg
31. Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell 309pg
32. A Storm of Swords by George R. R. Martin 1177pg

I'm enjoying this series of books. I don't read a lot of "fun" books, but these are all just really fun enjoyable stories.

I'm volunteering with the Obama campaign this summer, but besides that I pretty much have zero responsibilities so I'm trying to cram in as many books as I can before late August when school starts again!

[dp]

1. Legs by William Kennedy 318pg
2. The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains by Nicholas Carr 276pg
3. Kaputt by Curzio Malaparte 407pg
4. The Volga Rises in Europe by Curzio Malaparte 281pg
5. Kingdom of Fear by Hunter S. Thompson 354pg
6. Is Voting for Young People? by Martin P. Wattenberg 225pg
7. Genius in Disguise: Harold Ross of the New Yorker by Thomas Kunkel 497pg
8. Fear and Loathing: On The Campaign Trail '72 by Hunter S. Thompson 505pg
9. Eating the Dinosaur by Chuck Klosterman 245pg
10. The Skin by Curzio Malaparte 344pg
11. Life and Fate by Vasily Grossman 880pg
12. Mother Night by Kurt Vonnegut 192pg
13. The Snows of Kilimanjaro and Other Stories by Ernest Hemingway 154pg
14. The Winter of Our Discontent by John Steinbeck 276pg
15. Leaving the Atocha Station by Ben Lerner 181pg
16. Life With Picasso by Francoise Gilot 350pg
17. Brief Interviews With Hideous Men by David Foster Wallace 321pg
18. Loving Picasso: The Private Journal of Fernande Olivier 296pg
19. All Is Forgotten, Nothing Is Lost by Lan Samantha Chang 208pg
20. Although of Course You End Up Becoming Yourself by David Lipsky 320pg
21. Snow by Orhan Pamuk 426pg
22. Everything and Nothing by Jorge Luis Borges 129pg
23. Open City by Teju Cole 259pg
24. The Avian Gospels: Book One by Adam Novy 275pg
25. The Pale King by David Foster Wallace 548pg
26. The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery 325pg
27. One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez 383pg
28. The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet by David Mitchell 479pg
29. Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin 694pg
30. A Clash of Kings by George R. R. Martin 1009pg
31. Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell 309pg
32. A Storm of Swords by George R. R. Martin 1177pg
33. Homage to Catalonia by George Orwell 232pg

[dp]

1. Legs by William Kennedy 318pg
2. The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains by Nicholas Carr 276pg
3. Kaputt by Curzio Malaparte 407pg
4. The Volga Rises in Europe by Curzio Malaparte 281pg
5. Kingdom of Fear by Hunter S. Thompson 354pg
6. Is Voting for Young People? by Martin P. Wattenberg 225pg
7. Genius in Disguise: Harold Ross of the New Yorker by Thomas Kunkel 497pg
8. Fear and Loathing: On The Campaign Trail '72 by Hunter S. Thompson 505pg
9. Eating the Dinosaur by Chuck Klosterman 245pg
10. The Skin by Curzio Malaparte 344pg
11. Life and Fate by Vasily Grossman 880pg
12. Mother Night by Kurt Vonnegut 192pg
13. The Snows of Kilimanjaro and Other Stories by Ernest Hemingway 154pg
14. The Winter of Our Discontent by John Steinbeck 276pg
15. Leaving the Atocha Station by Ben Lerner 181pg
16. Life With Picasso by Francoise Gilot 350pg
17. Brief Interviews With Hideous Men by David Foster Wallace 321pg
18. Loving Picasso: The Private Journal of Fernande Olivier 296pg
19. All Is Forgotten, Nothing Is Lost by Lan Samantha Chang 208pg
20. Although of Course You End Up Becoming Yourself by David Lipsky 320pg
21. Snow by Orhan Pamuk 426pg
22. Everything and Nothing by Jorge Luis Borges 129pg
23. Open City by Teju Cole 259pg
24. The Avian Gospels: Book One by Adam Novy 275pg
25. The Pale King by David Foster Wallace 548pg
26. The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery 325pg
27. One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez 383pg
28. The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet by David Mitchell 479pg
29. Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin 694pg
30. A Clash of Kings by George R. R. Martin 1009pg
31. Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell 309pg
32. A Storm of Swords by George R. R. Martin 1177pg
33. Homage to Catalonia by George Orwell 232pg
34. A Feast for Crows by George R. R. Martin 1060pg

4th out of the 5 that have been published... I've decided when you read 4000 pages of one type of thing in a short period, you grow weary of it... I haven't decided whether to try to knock out the 5th quickly or read a few books in between first.