Sunday, December 31, 2017

What I Read in 2017

Updated for the last time last night, here's 2017 in books!  As usual, titles in bold were favorites.


-- January --
1. Stiff Upper LipJeeves; P.G. Wodehouse (Comedy)
2. Ask a Science Teacher Larry Scheckel (Science)
3. The Twilight War: the Secret History of America's Thirty Year War with Iran, David Crist (History)
4. Laughing without an Accent, Firoozeh Dumas (Comedy)
5. In the City of Bikes: the Story of the Amsterdam Cyclist, Pete Jordan (History/Cities)
6. Mean Streets: Confessions of a Nighttime Cab Driver, Peter McSherry (Memoir)
7. Land of the Tiger: A Natural History of the Indian Subcontinent, Valmik Thapar (Nature - Discovery of Asia)
8. The Big Necessity: the Unmentionable World of Human Waste and Why it Matters, Rose George
9. The Twilight of the Presidency, George E. Reedy (Politics)
10. Laughter is Better than Communism, Andrew Heaton (Humor)
11. On Bikes: 50 Ways the New Bike Culture Can Change Your Life, ed. Amy Walker (Civic)
12. The Digital Divide, ed. Mark Bauerstein (Tech and Society)
13. The CanonA Whirligig Tour of Science's Beautiful Basics, Natalie Angier (Science)
14. The Forever War, Joe Haldeman (Science Fiction)
15. India in the World Community (History - Discovery of Asia), P. Pradakumya Caran
16. Mesh: Why the Future of Business is Sharing, Lisa Gansky (Tech &; Society, Business)
17. The Silk Road: Two Thousand Years in the Heart of Asia, Frances Woods (History - Discovery of Asia)

-- February --
18. The Future of the Mind,  Michio Kaku (Science)
19. The City on the Edge of Forever: the Original Teleplay, Harlan Ellison (Science Fiction/Rant)
20. From the Ashes: Rebuilding American Culture, Anthony Esolen
21. Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World,  Jack Weatherford (History - Discovery of Asia)
22. Before Plan 9: Plans 1-8 From Outer Space, various authors (Science Fiction/Humor)
23. This Brave New World: India, China, and the United States, Anja Manuel (Geopolitics - Discovery of Asia)
24. Affluenza: The All-Consuming Epidemic; John de Graaf, David Wann,  and Thomas H. Naylor
25. Garbology: Our Dirty Love  Affair with Trash, Edward Humes
26. Fear no Evil, Natan Sharansky (Memoir)
27. The Gargoyle Code, Dwight Longenecker (Religion)
28. Drone, Mike Maden (Thriller)
29. Up from Slavery, Booker T. Washington (American Literature/Classic)
30. Verbal Judo, George Thompson (Communication)
31. The Wheels of Chance: A Bicycling Idyll, H.G. Wells
32. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Maya Angelou (Southern Literature/Classic)
33. Selma: A Bicentennial History, Alston Fitts III
Bonus review: Selma 1965: The Photographs of Spider Martin

-- March --
34. A History of Saint Augustine, Florida; William Dewhurst (History)
35. In Spite of the Gods: the Rise of Modern India, Edward Luce (History)
36. Real Music,  Anthony Esolen (Music-Culture)
37.  Future Perfect: the Case for Progress in a Networked Age, Steven Johnson (Business/Econ)
38. Florida under Five Flags,  Rembert Patrick (History)
39. China Road: A Journey into the Heart of a Rising Power, Rob Gifford (History/Travel - Discovery of Asia)
40. Robert E Lee,  Roy Blount Jr (Biography)
41. China: An Introduction, Lucien Pye (History  - Discovery of Asia)
42. The Big Sleep, Raymond Chandler (Mystery/Thriller)
43. The Benedict Option, Rob Dreher (Religion-Culture)
Reread: Surprised by Joy, C.S. Lewis
44. The Unvanquished, William Faulkner (Southern Literature)
45. The Other War of 1812: The Patriot War and the American Invasion of East Florida, John Cusick
46. La Florida: Five Hundred Years of Hispanic Presence, ed. Viviana Diaz Balsera and Rachel May
47. The Seven Storey Mountain, Thomas Merton
48. A Study in Scarlet, Arthur Conan Doyle (Mystery)

-- April, and to Read of England --
Bonus review: Tolkien's Sanctifying Myth, Brad Birzer. (Re-read from last year.)
49. Perelandra, C.S. Lewis (Science/Fantasy Fiction)
50. The Eagle and the Wolves, Simon Scarrow (Historical Fiction)
51. London at War, Phillip Ziegler (History)
52. The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood, Howard Pyle (English Lit)
53. Hood, Stephen Lawhead
54. Sister Queens: The Noble, Tragic Lives of Catherine of Aragon and Juana of Castille, Juliet Fox
55. In the Beginning: the Story of the KJV, Alister McGrath (History)
56. On the Shoulders of Hobbits: The Road to Virtue with Tolkien and Lewis, Louis Markos (Philosophy)
57. The Armada, Garrett Mattingly (History)
58. Sense and Sensibility,  Jane Austen (Classic)
59. 1066: A New History, Peter Rex (History)
60. Spain in the Southwest, John Kessell (History)
61. From Narnia to a Space Odyssey, ed. Ryder Miller (English Lit)
62. The Canterbury Tales, Gregory Chaucer / translated Petter Tuttle (Classic)

 -- May --
63. Reclaiming the Catholic Social Doctrine, Anthony Esolen
64. Captain to Captain, Greg Cox (Star Trek(
65. I Contain Multitudes, Ed Yong (Science)
66. The Elephant and the Dragon,  Robyn Meredith (Business - Discovery of Asia)
67. Astrophysics for People in a Hurry, Neil deGrasse Tyson (Science)
68. El Narco: Inside Mexico's Criminal Insurgency,  Ioan Grillo
69. Confront and Conceal:  Obama's Secret Wars and Surprising Use of American Power, David Sanger
70. The Adventure of English, Melvyn Bragg
71. Hank Williams: The Biography, Colin Escott
72. Neither East Nor West: One Woman's Travels in Iran, Christiane Bird
73. Countdown to Zero Day: Stuxnet and the Launch of the World's First Digital Weapon, Kim Zetter
74. The Dark Net: Inside the Digital Underworld, Jamie Barlett
75. Over and Over the Road: A Truck Driver's Stories, V. Shephard

-- June --
76. Mind's Eye, Douglas E. Richards (Technothriller)
77. Mars, Ben Bova (Science Fiction)
78. Kingpin: How One Hacker Took Over the Cybercrime Underground, Kevin Poulsen
79. Zero Day, Mark Russonovich (Technothriller)
80. CYBERPUNK: Outlaws and Hackers on the Computer Frontier, Katie Hafner
81I Know Who You Are and I Know What You Did: Social Networks and the Death of Privacy, Lori Andrews (Technology and Society)
82. The Martian Chronicles, Ray Bradbury (Science Fiction)
83. Baghdad without a Map, Tony Horowitz (Travel)
84. Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury (Science Fiction)
85. Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution, Stephen Levy (History)
86. Revolutionary Summer, Joseph Ellis (History)
87. Masters of Doom, David Kushner (History)
88. The Fountainhead, Ayn Rand
89. ST Myriad Universes:  Infinity's Prism. Christopher L. Bennett, William Leisner, and James Swallow (Star Trek)
90. The Patient Will See You Now, Eric Topol (Health and Medicine)
91. The Lost Continent: Travels in Small Town America, Bill Bryson (Travel)
92. The Great Explosion, Eric Frank Russell
93. Forgotten Founder, Drunken Prophet: The Life of Luther Martin, Bill Kauffman
94. A Place in Time, Wendell Berry
95. Black Sun, Edward Abbey
96. Who Controls the Internet?  Jack Goldsmith

-- July --
97. East of Eden, John Steinbeck
98. Passionate Sage: The Character and Life of John Adams, Joseph Ellis
99. Japan: A Cultural History, Henri Stierlin
100. A New History of India, Stanley Wolbert (History - Discovery of Asia)
101. Unsettling America: Culture and Agriculture, Wendell Berry
102. Cell, Robin Cook (Technothriller)
103. The Job: True Tales from the Life of a New York City Cop, Steve Osborn
104. Consent of the Networked, Rebecca MacKinnon
105. How To Destroy the Imagination of Your Child, Anthony Esolen
106. Midnight's Furies: Te Deadly Legacy of India's Partition, Nisid Hajari (History - Discovery of Asia)
107. Redshirts: A Novel With Three Codas, John Scalzi
108. No Place to Hide, Glenn Greenwald
109. The Art of Intrusion, Kevin Mitnick
110. The Mexican Frontier. 1821 - 1846: The American Southwest Under Mexico, David Weber
111. Boomsday, Christopher Buckley
112. Rousseau and Revolution, Will Durant

--August--
113. Cities of Gold: A Journey Across the American Southwest in Pursuit of Coronado, Douglas Preston
114. Life Under Compulsion: Ten Ways to Destroy Humanity Of Your Child, Anthony Esolen
115. The Irish Soldiers of Mexico, Michael Hogan
116. The Tragedy of Liberation: A History of the Chinese Revolution, Frank Dikotter (History - Discovery of Asia)
117. The Gulag Achipelago, Vol. I. Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
118. The Age of Napoleon, Will Durant
119. The Art of Deception, Kevin Mitnick
120. State of Fear, Michael Crichton (Science Fiction)
121. Romans Without Laurels, Indro Montanelli
122. Dragon Teeth, Michael Crichton (Historical Fiction)
123. Tyrannosaur Canyon, Douglas Preston
124. The Wonder That Was India, Arthur Llewellyn Basham

-- September --
125. The Politically Incorrect Guide to English and American Literature, Elizabeth Kantor
126. A Devil's Chaplain, Richard Dawkins
127. The Republic of Imagination: America in Three Books, Azar Nafisi
128. The Circle, Dave Eggers
129. Eye of the Storm: Inside City Hall During Katrina, Sally Forman
130. Isaac's Storm: A Man, A Time, and the Deadliest Hurricane in History, Erik Larson
131. The Black Ice, Michael Connelly
132. Infrastructure:  A Field Guide to the Industrial Landscape, Brian Hayes
133. My Life with the Saints, James Martin SJ
134. China Wakes: The Struggle for the Soul of a Rising PowerNicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn
135. The Fellowship: The Literary Lives of the Inklings, Philip and Carol Zaleski
136. Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China, Chang Jung
137.  Dracula, Bram Stoker (Classics Club)

-- October --
138. A Thousand Miles from Nowhere, Graham Coster
139. Ancestral Shadows, Russell Kirk
140. The Gulag Archipelago Vol 2, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
141. A Mighty Fortress: A History of the Germans, Steven Ozment
142. German Resistance to Hitler, Peter Hoffman
143. Energy Myths and Realities, Vaclav Smil
144. Korea Reborn: A Grateful Nation, Korea's Ministry of Patriots
145. R.U.R., Karel Capek
146. The Transhumanist Wager, Zoltan Istvan
147. Lockout, John Nance
148. The Dragon Seekers, Christopher McGowan
149. The Disappearing Spoon, Sam Kean
150. Grunt: The Curious Science of Men at War, Mary Roach

-- November --
151. Tex, S.E. Hinton
152. Conquest of the Skies: A History of Commercial Aviation in America, Carl Solberg
153. Manhood in the Making: Cultural Concepts of Masculinity, David Gilmore
154. Of Other Worlds, C.S. Lewis (Essays)
155. The Naked Future, Patrick Tucker (Digital World)
156. The Hemingway Patrols,  Terry Mort (Biography)
157. I, the Constable, Paula M. Block (Star Trek)
158. Embracing Defeat: Japan in the Wake of WW2, John Dower (History)
159. The Never-Ending Sacrifice, Una McCormack (Star Trek)
160. Welcome to the Orthodox Church, Frederica Mathews-Green (Religion)
161. New Mexico: A History, Joseph Sanchez et. al
162. These Rugged Days: Alabama in the Civil War, John Sledge
163. The Heart of the Dragon, Alasdair Clayre (Discovery of Asia)
164. Dragon Rising: An Inside Look at China Today,  Jasper Becker (Discovery of Asia)

--December --
165. Empires of Light: Edison, Tesla, Westinghouse, and the Race to Electrify the World, Jill Jonnes
166. The Emperor Far Away: Travels at the Edge of China, David Eimer
167. Country Driving: A Journey through China from Farm to Factory, Peter Hessler
168. Down and Out in Paris and London, George Orwell (Classics Club)
169. Factory Girls: From Village to City in a Changing China, Leslie Chang
170. Star Trek: Revelation and Dust, David R. George
171. Star Trek: Crimson Shadow, Una McCormack
172. Camino Island, John Grisham
173. Fixing Your Computer: An Absolute Beginner's Guide, Paul McFedries
174. The Discovery of India, Jawaharlal Nehru
175. Cro-Magnon: How the Ice Age Gave Birth to the First Modern Humans, Brian Fagan

9 comments:

  1. I am impressed and envious. 2017 was for me a terrible year. With my new blog address, plans, and goals, I hope for a better year in 2018. Happy New Year, Stephen.
    https://inquiriesinformal.blogspot.com/

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    1. Sorry to hear that, but I'm glad to see you back!

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  2. '17 was a terrible year for everybody; only some don't know it yet...
    impressive reading list; i worry sometimes that my eyes will wear out before my brain; but Mrs. M says not to fret, that won't happen... what?...

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    1. I was just mentioning to Fred on this blog that I don't remember anything from this year being especially bad, besides Hurricane Irma. Nothing like 2015!

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  3. ...and I think I'm doing well if I can hit *70* books a year..... [grin]

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    1. Well, I picked up a BUNCH of games from the Steam winter sale, so my 2018 may get off to a slow start. We'll see. (Do you do steam? I was forced to install it to play Mafia 2 and Civ5, but those were disc games. Only recently have I started buying, downloading, and playing games through steam itself. So far it's just Cities Skylines, plus a few games whose disc versions don't run on Windows 10...Age of Empires, SimCity 3000, Civ3...

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    2. Yes, I 'do' Steam. Playing "Company of Heroes 2" presently with my longtime gaming partner 'Mr P'. Still playing WoW too just not as much.

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  4. WOW! You are an awesome reader. So many books on here that I'd love to add to my already long TBR list.

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