I’ve never seen the True Grit movies. Till I ran across this book at a yard sale I was never even aware of the novel’s existence. But when you need a Western, as I sometimes do, this appears to be just what the doctor ordered.
Patrick O'Brian's THE REVERSE OF THE MEDAL
I put off reading this book. Frankly, I’ve grown so attached to Aubrey and Maturin that I was not looking forward to the career disaster and legal troubles I knew were about to befall Jack.
Peter F. Hamilton's THE TEMPORAL VOID
I love space opera, but I’m probably not going to read Book Number Three in this series.
Peter F. Hamilton's THE DREAMING VOID
It’s over 1,000 years since the events described in Pandora’s Star. Investigator Paula Myo is still around and is tied into the fractious digital overmind that thinks it rules the galaxy. Unfortunately her personality is more cryptic than ever and she contributes little to the story.
Len Fisher's WEIGHING THE SOUL: THE EVOLUTION OF SCIENTIFIC BELIEFS
The theme of this book is that scientists do sometimes believe things that seem opposed to reality or common sense.
Graham Greene's OUR MAN IN HAVANA
This is a grim but witty tale of Cold War skullduggery in pre-revolution Cuba. An expatriate British vacuum cleaner salesman whose teenage daughter has expensive tastes agrees to serve as a paid informer for the British secret service. He starts inventing agents and intelligence reports in order to pad his monthly expense reports.
Conor Cruise O’Brien's FIRST IN PEACE: HOW GEORGE WASHINGTON SET THE COURSE FOR AMERICA
This little book is organized around George Washington’s first and second terms as U.S. President. The first chapter concentrates on the relationship between Washington and his Secretary of State, Thomas Jefferson. The second focuses on the visit to the U.S. by Edmond-Charles Genêt, also known as “Citizen Genêt,” whose job it was to secure support from the American people for the French Revolution.
Guy Delisle's SHENZHEN
Have you ever worked by yourself for an extended period of time in a foreign country? If so, you’ll recognize a lot of what author Delisle writes about in Shenzhen.
Herman Wouk's THE LANGUAGE GOD TALKS
At first I thought this book was both meandering and annoying. It wasn’t till page 69 (out of only 183) that I finally figured out what it’s about.
Andrew Williams' THE BATTLE OF THE ATLANTIC
This war history book about the U-boat war in the Atlantic during World War II has one of the best balances of strategy, tactics, and firsthand experience that I’ve read.
Guy Delisle's PYONGYANG
This graphic novel depicts a two-month visit to North Korea by animator Delisle to supervise children’s TV animation work subcontracted by Delisle’s French employer.
Guy Delisle's BURMA CHRONICLES
This comic strip depiction of Delisle’s year in Burma as a “house-dad” while accompanying his Doctors Without Borders wife is simultaneously touching, funny, and scary.
Peter Bernhardt's “THE ROSE'S KISS: A NATURAL HISTORY OF FLOWERS”
I started paying attention to flowers last year. My son gave me a camera that takes decent closeups. I started carrying the camera while walking our dog down by the creek near our house and while working in our yard.
Osamu Tezuka's PHOENIX: A TALE OF THE FUTURE
The artwork is nowhere near the level of detail and sophistication present in the author’s Buddha graphic novel series, but the story’s scope is vast. It begins in the year 3404 when the human race is decaying. The periodic intervention of the mystical Phoenix is all that stands in the way of total physical collapse of the Earth.
Osamu Tezuka's BUDDHA (volumes 1-8)
My knowledge of Buddhism and the Buddha is minimal. I approached this 8-volume manga series purely out of curiosity when I saw it sitting on the shelf in the graphic novels section of the Alexandria Public Library.
Richard Corfield's LIVES OF THE PLANETS: A NATURAL HISTORY OF THE SOLAR SYSTEM
Corfield starts at Mercury and works his way out. In the process he summarizes what we know now about the solar system (circa 2007) now that we’ve had several decades of (mostly) robot exploration.
Richard Corfield's THE SILENT LANDSCAPE: THE SCIENTIFIC VOYAGE OF HMS CHALLENGER
In 1872 the HMS Challenger left England on a two year voyage of scientific discovery.
Whenever I feel I’ve been reading too much non-fiction or I just want to read a good story with interesting characters I turn to W. Somerset Maugham.
Ed Regis' WHAT IS LIFE: INVESTIGATING THE NATURE OF LIFE IN THE AGE OF SYNTHETIC BIOLOGY
In this fascinating and accessible book Ed Regis concludes that the maintenance of metabolic processes is really the primary indicator of “life.” But by the time that point is reached in the book, it doesn’t really matter.
Chiara Frugoni's A DAY IN A MEDIEVAL CITY
If all you know about the Middle Ages consists of warfare, popes, and kings, and you want to know what daily life was really like, this is the book for you.