Never stop learning

2016 Cumulative Reading List

...whew.

-- January --
1. How I Killed Pluto and Why It Had it Coming, Mike Brown (Science)
2. Stagecoach:  Wells-Fargo and the American West,  Phillip Fradkin (History)
3. Picking Up:  On the Streets and Behind the Trucks with the Sanitation Workers of New York City, Robin Nagle
4. Defeating Sin: Overcoming Our Passions, Fr. David Huneycutt
5. Destiny, Disrupted: A History of the World Through Islamic Eyes, Tamim Ansary
6. Dictator, Robert Harris (Historical Fiction)
7. Data and Goliath: The Hidden Battles to Collect Your Data and Control Your World, Bruce Schneier (Technology and Society)
8. Facing East: A Pilgrim's Journey into the Mysteries of Orthodoxy, Frederica Mathews-Green (Religion)
9. Demonic Males: Apes and the Origins of Human Violence, Richard Wrangham and Dale Peterson
10. Future Crimes:  Everything is Connected, Everyone is Vulnerable, and What We Can Do About It, Marc Goodman
11. Warriors of the Storm, Bernard Cornwell (Historical Fiction)
12. Ain't My America: The Long, Noble History of Antiwar Conservatism, Bill Kauffman (Politics)
13. Taxi! A Social History of the New York City Cab Driver, Graham Hodges (History)

- February --
14. Swiped! How to Protect Yourself in a World Full of Scammers, Phishers, and Identity Thieves, Adam Levin (Technology and Society)
15. Unstoppable: The Emerging Left-Right Alliance to Dismantle the Corporate State, Ralph Nader (Politics)
16. The War of the Three Gods: Romans, Persians, and the Rise of Islam,  Peter Crawford (History)
17. Genome: the Autobiography of a Species in 23 Chapters, Matt Ridley (Science)
18. 2001: A Space Odyssey, Arthur C. Clarke (Science Fiction)
19. Lost to the West: the Forgotten Byzantine Empire that Rescued Western Civilization, Lars Brownworth (History)
20. A  Survival Guide to the Misinformation Age, David Hefland (Science/Skepticism)
21. An Economist Gets Lunch: New Rules for Everyday Foodies, Tyler Cowen (Food)
22. The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, Robert Heinlein (Science Fiction)
23. The Lives of a Cell, Lewis Thomas (Science)
24. Unnatural Selection:  How We are Changing Life Gene by Gene, Emily Monosson (Science)
25. The Social Conquest of Earth, Edward O. Wilson (Science)
26. Equal to the Sun, Anita Amirrezvani (Historical Fiction)

-- March --
27. The Picture of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde
28. Fin Gall: A Novel of Viking-Age Ireland, James Nelson (Historical Fiction)
29. The Wisdom of the Myths: How Greek Mythology can Change Your Life, Luc Ferry (Philosophy)
30. All Other Nights, Dara Horn (Historical Fiction)
31. Dixie's Forgotten People: The South's Poor Whites, Wayne Flynt (History)
32. Pilgrim's Progress, John Bunyan ('retold' by James Thomas)
33. The Scotch-Irish: A Social History, James Leyburn (History)
34. Armed and Dangerous, William Queen and Douglas Century (Police)
35. The Lincoln Lawyer, Michael Connnelly (Legal Thriller)
36. The News: A User's Manual, Alain de Botton
37. The Return of the King, J.R.R. Tolkien (Fantasy/ English Lit)
38. The Road to Little Dribbling, Bill Bryson (Travel)
39. The First Congress,  Fergus Bordewich (History)
40. Brideshead Revisited, Evelyn Waugh (English Literature)

-- April --
41. Great Expectations, Charles Dickens (English Literature)
42. Lord of the Flies, William Golding (English Literature)
43. Frodo's Journey, Joseph Pearce (English Literature / Religion)
44. The Invisible Man, H.G.Wells (Science Fiction)
45. My Man Jeeves, P.G. Wodehouse (Humor)
46. Bilbo's Journey, Joseph Pearce (English Literature)
47. Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte (English Literature)
48. The English Resistance: Underground War Against the Normans, Peter Rex (History)
49. When the Eagle Hunts, Simon Scarrow (Historical Fiction)
50. Master and Commander, Patrick O'Brian (Historical Fiction)
51. The Promise, Chaim Potok (Fiction)
52. Murder on the Orient Express, Agatha Christie (Mystery)
53. Funny in Farsi, Firoozeh Dumas (Memoir)
54. Waterloo, Bernard Cornwell (History)
55. The Quest for Shakespeare, Joseph Pearce (Biography)
56. Reading Lolita in Tehran, Azar Nafisi (Literature/Memoir)
57. The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
58. In the Days of the Comet, H.G. Wells (Tedious Fiction)
59. The Voyage of the Beagle, Charles Darwin (Science/Memoir)
60. Driving with the Devil: Southern Moonshine, Detroit Wheels, and the Birth of NASCAR, Neil Thompson
61. ST: The Patrian Transgression, Simon Hawke

-- May --
62. After the Prophet: the Epic Shia-Sunni Split, Lesley Hazleton
63. Aces over Ypres, John Stack (Historical Fiction)
64. Diving Companions: Sea Lion, Elephant Seal,  Walrus, Jacques-Yves Cousteau
65. Sphere, Michael Crichton (Science Fiction)
66. Rome Sweet Home,  Scott and Kimberly Hahn
67. Iran and the United States: An Insider's View, Seyed Hossein Mousavian (History/Geopolitics)
68. On the Grid: A Plot of Land, an Average Neighborhood, and the Systems That Make Our World Work, Scott Huler
69. Off the Grid: Inside the Movement for More Space, Less Government, and True Independence in Modern America, Nick Rosen
70. The Planets, Dava Sobel (Scienceish)
71. In God's Path: The Arab Conquests and the Creation of an Islamic Empire, Robert Hoyland (History)
72. 8.4, Peter Hernon (Science Fiction)
73. The Persians: Ancient, Mediaeval, and Modern Iran, Homa Katouzian (History)
74. All the Shah's Men,  Stephen Kinzer (History/Geopolitics)
75. The Grid, Phillip  Kerr (Science Fiction)
76. Memorial Day, Vince Flynn (Rambo Fiction)

-- June --
77. Liberty, Defined, Ron Paul (Politics)
78. Trojan Horse, Mark Russinovich (Cyberthriller)
79. Earthquakes in Human History, Jelle de Boer,  Donald Sanders (Science/History)
80. Big Box Swindle, Stacy Mitchell (Politics)
81. Saving Congress from Itself, James Buckley (Politics)
82. Volcanoes in Human History, Jelle de Boer, Donald Sanders (Science/History)
83. Cyber War: The Next Threat to National Security, Richard Clarke (Politics)
84. When Asia Was the World, Stewart  Gordon (History)
85. The Orthodox Church, Kallistos (Timothy) Ware  (Religion)
86. Sons of Anarchy: Bratva, Christopher Golden
87. Green, Blue, and Grey: The Irish in the American Civil War, Cal McCarthy
88. Don't Hurt People and Don't Take Their Stuff, Matt Kibbe (Politics)
89. The Great Taos Bank Robbery, Tony Hillerman
90. ST DS9: Wrath of the Prophets; Peter David, Michael Jan Friedman, and Robert Greenberger
91. Freedom and Virtue: the Conservative-Libertarian Debate, ed. George Carey (Political Philosophy)
92. The Great Debate: Edmund Burke, Thomas Paine, and the Origin of Right and Left, Edmund Burke (Political Philosophy)
93. Harvest of Empire: A History of Latinos in America, Juan Gonzalez (History)
93. Death Comes for the Archbishop, Willa Cather (Historical Fiction)
94. White Fang, Jack London (Adventure Fiction)
95. O Pioneers!, Willa Cather (Historical Fiction)

-- July --
96. The Monkey Wrench Gang, Edward Abbey (Fiction)
97. Our America: A Hispanic History of the United States, Felipe Fernández-Armesto (History)
98. The Obstacle is the Way, Ryan Holiday (Self-Help)
99. Enterprise: the First Adventure, Vonda McIntyre (Star Trek)
100. Literary Converts, Joseph Pearce (Literature)
101. The Red Badge of Courage, Stephen Carne (Historical Fiction)
102. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, Phillip K. Dick (Science Fiction)
103. Domesticated: Evolution in a Man-Made World, Richard Francis (Science)
104. 10% Human, Alanna Collen
105. Requiem, Michael Jan Friedman and Kevin Ayan (Star Trek)
106. Go Directly to Jail, ed. Gene Healy
107. Inferno, Dante; trans. Anthony Esolen
108. Crescent and Star: Turkey between Two Worlds, Stephen Kinzer
109. A Country Called Amreeka: U.S. History Retold through Arab-American Lives,  Alia Malek
110. The Journey Home, Edward Abbey (Essays)
111. Fire on the Mountain, Edward Abbey (Fiction)
112. The Ugly Little Boy, Isaac Asimov and Robert Silverberg (Science Fiction)
113. The Spanish Frontier in North America, David J. Weber (History)


--August --
114. Glass Houses: Privacy, Secrecy, and Cyber Insecurity in a Transparent World, Joel Brenner
115. ST DS9: Devil in the Sky, Greg Cox and John Gergory Betancourt
116. The Director, David Ignatius. (Cyberslumberer)
117. Airframe, Michael Crichton (Thriller)
118. Rising Sun, Michael Crichton (Thriller)
119. Playing to the Edge, Michael Hayden (Politics/Memoir)
120. small is still beautiful, Joseph Pearce
121. The Ordinary Spaceman, Clayton C. Anderson (Astronaut Memoir)
122. Send More Idiots, Tony Perez-Giese
123. Stalingrad: The Fateful Siege, Anthony Beevor (History)
124. Dreamland: Travels Inside the Secret World of Roswell and Area 51, Phil Patton
125. The Thin Man, Dashiel Hammett
126. Miracle at Midway; Gordon W. Prange, Donald M. Goldstein,  and Katherine V. Dillon
127. The Pawnbroker, Aimée Thurlo and David Thurlo (Thriller)
128. The Porch and the Cross, Kevin Vost
129. The Cargo Ship Diaries, Niall Doherty
130. The Arabs in History, Bernard Lewis (History)
131. Las Alamos, Joseph Kanon (Thriller)
132. Wheat Belly, Ken Davis (Health/Nutrition)
133. Real Dissent, Tom Woods (Politics)
134. When Tigers Fight: The Story of the Sino-Japanese War, 1937-1945; Dick Wilson (History)

-- September --
135. Rescue Warriors: The US Coast Guard, America's Forgotten Heroes, David Helvarg
136. Murder at Fenway Park, Troy Soos (Mystery)
137. How the Scots Invented the Modern World, Arthur Herman (History)
138. Tolkien's Sanctifying Myth: Understanding Middle-Earth, Brad Birzer
139. Musonius Rufus on How to Live, adapted Ben White. (Philosophy)
140. ST: The Better Man, Howard Weinstein
141. ST: War Drums,  John Vornholt
142. Bloodletter, K.W. Jeter
143. America First! Its History, Culture, and Politics, Bill Kauffman
144. Turbulent Skies: The History of Commercial Aviation, T.H. Heppenhimer
145. Hillbilly Elegy, J.D. Vance
146. Deke! Manned Spaceflight from Mercury to the Shuttle, Deke Slayton and Michael Cassutt
147. The Pride and the Fall: Iran, 1974-1949, Anthony Parsons
148. Azazel, Isaac Asimov
149. Night of the Living Trekkies, Kevin David Anderson and Sam Stall

-- October --
150. Out of the Silent Planet, C.S. Lewis
151. Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, J.K. Rowling, Jack Thorn, John Tiffany
152. Timeless Mexico, Hudson Strode
153. World War Z, Max Brooks
154. Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard: Sword of Summer, Rick Riordan
155. West of the Revolution, Claudio Saunt
156. The Brave Cowboy, Edward Abbey
157. Jasmine and Stars: Reading More than Lolita in Tehran, Fatemeh Keshavrarz
158. The Greeks, H.D.F. Kitto
159. Dubh-Linn, James Nelson

-- November --
160. Heretics and Heroes, Thomas Cahill
161. Hidden Order, Brad Thor
162. Divided Highways: Building the Interstates, Transforming American Life, Tom Lewis
163. Don't Get Above Your Raisin': Country Music and the Southern Working Class, Bill Malone
164. The Road Taken: The History and Future of America's Infrastructure, Henry Petroski
165. When It was Worth Playing for: My Experiences Writing about the TV Show Survivor, Mario Lanza
166.  Bye Bye Miss American Empire, Bill Kauffman (Politics)
167.  Lost Enlightenment: Central Asia's Golden Age, from the Arab Conquest to Tamerlane, S. Frederick Starr (History)
168. The Motel in America; Jefferson S. Rogers, John A Jakle, and Keith A. Sculle
169. Civilian Warriors: The Inside Story of Blackwater, Erik Prince
170. The Works: the Anatomy of a City, Kate Ascher
171. Columbine, Dave Cullen
172. Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind,  Yuval Noah Harari
173. Conclave, Robert Harris

-- December --
174. The Flame Bearer, Bernard Cornwell
175. Danger Heavy Goods, Robert Hutchinson
176. The Epic of Gilgamesh, trans. Danny Jackson
177. The Aeneid for Boys and Girls, A.J. Church
178. You Have the Right to Remain Innocent, James Duane
179. Inside the Kingdom, Robert Lacey
180. Glimpses of World History, Jawaharlal Nehru
181. The Chinese in America,  Iris Chang

Telling the Future

Well, dear readers, another year is upon us!  How shall we use the time?   Here are some things to expect in the coming year from these parts...


1. Discovery of Asia
My big challenge this year is to make good my ignorance regarding pre-20th century Asia, by  focusing on India and China.

2. Classics Club Challenge (Year II)
Last year I went after the low-hanging fruit of my Classics list, mostly Anglo-American novels. This year I hope to be a bit more ambitious.

3. Read of England '17 

Since time immemorial, or perhaps only since 2009, I have done a little 'salute' to English history and literature.  In recent years it's been my custom to devote April to England entirely, in observance of Shakespeare's birthday and St. George's Day, both on April 23rd. Expect that to continue, because I always find it a joy.

4. The Digital World, continued

Last year I intended to read a series of books on the digital world around us, as it continues to reshape our societies and economy. I became fixated on cybersecurity, instead.  This year we'll try to read beyond that.

5. Rebuilding towards the  Future

Another planned series this year will be hopeful books about the future -- about ways people acting as citizens of their local communities are changing them for the better, about ways technology is allowing people to make more use of their time and resources and create a better life for and with their neighbors, that sort of thing.  Most importantly, it will be about the actions of ordinary people, at the scale of the local -- whether  they are working with their neighbors to make their street a better place or  using technology like Uber apps to serve the needs of others and make a living as their own boss.

6. Science!

While I read science every year, I tend to focus on anthropology and biology at the expense of everything else. I haven't read any physics since 2011! In the interests of refreshing my general scientific literacy,  I've composed a list of different categories, basically borrowing those from my Science Index, and -- in an ideal world -- will attempt to read a book from each category before lapsing into my favorites.

7. Celebrating American Independence
As usual, in late June and early July there will be books either on the early colonial period, the Revolution, the war, or the period of the early Republic.  I may throw in some American lit this year as well.

Classics Club: Year I

Twenty-sixteen was my first full year in the Classics Club challenge, and I'm off to a good start. Virtually everything came from my American Lit and English Lit specials in April, June, and July, though.

2015:
Emma, Jane Austen (12/29/2015)

2016
2001: A Space Odyssey, Arthur C. Clarke (2/12/16)
The Picture of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde (3/2/2016)
The Pilgrim's Progress, John Bunyan (3/13/2016)
Brideshead Revisited, Evelyn Waugh (3/26/2016)
Great Expectations, Charles Dickens (4/1/2016)
Lord of the Flies, William Golding (4/3/2016)
Death Comes for the Archbishop, Willa Cather (6/27/2016)
White Fang, Jack London (6/29/2016)
O Pioneers!  Willa Cather (7/1/2016)
The Red Badge of Courage, Stephen Crane (7/6/2016)
Inferno, Dante (7/16/2016)
The Epic of Gilgamesh,  trans/ Danny P. Jackson (12/2/2016)
The Aeneid (prose trans. A.J. Church 12/4/2016, verse trans. Robert Fitzgerald pending)

I don't have a specific plan for 2017. While I'd like to proceed chronologically from this point (and I have The Histories checked out), in truth I will probably read randomly from my list. 

The Whistler

The Whistler
© 2015 John Grisham
384 pages

The offices of the Board of Judicial Conduct rarely see excitement.  Responsible for investigating claims of judicial abuse and defrocking offenders, their rowdiest target has been an old lech who forgot which bar  he was a member of and attempted to seduce various women in the courtroom. But now a disbarred lawyer who represents a shadowy chain of confidants claims to have information that might expose the most corrupt judge in American history.  According to the ex-lawyer, the mysterious robed one is in bed with a swamp gang, skimming millions from an Indian casino.    After a series of deaths and disappearances, lead character Lacey Stolz and the BJC are forced to call in the FBI to help bring the errant judge and the conspiracy to justice. (Which they do, rather quickly.)

Although I faithfully read the latest Grisham book every year,  I've been enormously disappointed in most of his recent works -- so much so that I didn't even look forward to trying this one, I merely cracked it open for tradition's sake. I'm happy to report that the book was not awful; it was even moderately enjoyable. Huzzah for mildness!   Execution-wise there's not a like to brag about: forgettable characters,  flat dialogue, and repetition. (Seriously, Lacy Stolz mentions how glad she is not to be married so many times that I hope Grisham's wife doesn't read this and think he's complaining vicariously.)  On the bright side, the Board of Judicial Review is fresh ground for Grisham, and the extensive time spent on an Indian reservation is new as well. (Grisham did poke into this area in Ford County, but that was only one story.)   Grisham also stays technologically relevant by having one character monitor a house break-in through an app on her phone.  Best of all, though, the characters are not the abysmally awful cretins of Rogue Lawyer.  They even have friends who like them.

The Whistler is a very vanilla sort of book; tasty enough not to put down, but not so compelling that it consumes the reader. It's genuine airplane/vacation reading, with a rushed ending in case boredom sets in.

"The covers are the same? ....make the new one red. They'll never know."

2017: The Discovery of Asia

For several years now I have dared myself to take on a formidable challenge:  Asia.  Prior to the 20th century, it is a historical black hole for me. I have caught glimpses of it from time to time, but have never considered it at length, in its own right. Its sheer size -- in geography, abundance of cultures and life -- are daunting. This is the year I'm taking my own dare; and, borrowing from Jawaharlal Nehru's book, The Discovery of India, I've dubbed this personal challenge The Discovery of Asia.

The plan: My minimum target is two books a month, alternating between India and China who will carry Korea and Mongolia in their wake.  I took a course in Japanese history while at uni, but it will still appear here.  While history will reign, I hope to find a good book on Asia's natural geography and intend on looking for at least one read into Chinese philosophies. Then I will attempt books on modern Asia. While I don't have a fixed list of books, I do have some possibilities posted in a public Worldcat list.

As with the 2014: Year of the Great War, I will review my progress every three or four months to see if I'm short-changing one area or the other.

Top Ten Reads, 2016

This week the Broke and the Bookish  invite readers to think about their top ten books for the year.

Twenty-sixteen started off with a bang: no less than five top-ten contenders appeared in January, and four of them survived to make the list. (Data and Goliath was edged out by a similar book.). These appear in the order of my reading them.

1. How I Killed Pluto and Why It Had it Coming, Mike Brown (Science)

That book would have made this list just for the title, but here astronomer Mike Brown -- the man whose discovers of Kuiper Belt objects put Pluto into a new perspective, demoting it from the planetary society --  not only delivers a personal history of the discoveries, but demonstrates how the science is done.

2. Picking Up:  On the Streets and Behind the Trucks with the Sanitation Workers of New York City, Robin Nagle

Journalist follows and interviews sanitation workers in New York City, throwing light onto the constant work required to keep the Big Apple  from drowning in an ocean of Starbucks cups and hamburger wrappers -- or from being completely paralyzed by snow in the winter!

3. Future Crimes:  Everything is Connected, Everyone is Vulnerable, and What We Can Do About It, Marc Goodman

What a book this was: pick your terror: data collection,  credit card breaches, compromised items on home networks turning against their owners, war...it was an all-round eye-opener.

4. Ain't My America: The Long, Noble History of Antiwar Conservatism, Bill Kauffman (Politics)

Here Bill Kauffman remembers the good old days, when opposing war and meddling abroad was the default American attitude.

5. The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, Robert Heinlein (Science Fiction)

The American revolution in space, but an even more ambitious one!

6. All Other Nights, Dara Horn (Historical Fiction)

Civil War historical fiction + mystery + unrequited devotion  + Jewish communities of the South.

7. Brideshead Revisited, Evelyn Waugh (English Literature)

A sentimental novel about the passing of Old England before the Great War, and of a love higher than romance.

8. Sphere, Michael Crichton (Science Fiction)

Sci-fi meets horror in the depths of the ocean, where no light reaches and where sits a mystery: a ship from the far future, evidently built by humans.

9. All the Shah's Men,  Stephen Kinzer (History/Geopolitics)

The history of night in 1956, when the United States began its first steps into becoming a noxious imperial power in the middle east.  It has yet to escape the Chinese finger trap of middle-east intervention, as one bit of manipulation leads to unforeseen consequences that are manipulated away to create unforeseen consequences that have to be manipulated away but create unforseen...*sigh*

10. The Porch and the Cross, Kevin Vost

Very accessible introduction to the Stoics, with generous quoting from not only the big two, but Seneca and Musonius Rufus as well.