My Reading List

My 2011 Reading List

2011-11-12T20:56:00.000-08:00

Books read in 2011. Book title, author, and date completed.

1. Power Trip: The Story of America’s Love Affair with Energy by Amanda Little 5-15-11

Reviewed in detail on my energy blog - Book Review: Power Trip

2. Cracking the Carbon Code by Terry Tamminen 7-3-11

Reviewed in detail on my energy blog: Book Review: Cracking the Carbon Code

3. Energy, Convenient Solutions: How Americans Can Solve the Energy Crisis in Ten Years by Howard Johnson 7-15-11

Reviewed in detail on my energy blog: Book Review: Energy, Convenient Solutions

4. Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts 7-19-11

You know the Dos Equis commercial about the most interesting man in the world? Gregory David Roberts might actually be fit to hold that title. This is an incredible book, but it is a very big book (933 pages). I have been reading at it for over a year. Not because the book wasn't interesting, just because I generally read when I travel, and the book is so big I didn't always take it with me.

The book is set in Mumbai, a city I have been especially fascinated with since my visit in 2008. When I was there, I often wondered what life must be like in the slums. Roberts takes us there, as he lived there for 10 years after escaping from prison in Australia. The book is described as a novel, but many of the events are clearly from Roberts' life. As with the main character, Roberts' lived in Mumbai's slums, setting up a free medical clinic there, was recruited to Mumbai's mafia, and ultimately went to war in Afghanistan. Unbelievable story.

5. Idea Man: A Memoir by the Cofounder of Microsoft by Paul Allen 11-12-11

I am always fascinated by people who have achieved great success. I like to gain some insights into what it was that made them special. In Paul Allen's case, one of the things he said in the book is that he and Bill Gates were working on the right problem at the right time. Five years earlier or five years later and Microsoft wouldn't have happened. Of course it took more than just timing; Paul is obviously a very smart guy with diverse interests. Some of his interests mirror my own; the workings of the human brain for instance. Even if you took Microsoft completely out of the equation, Paul has accomplished a great deal in his life. He details the failures as well; discussing specific investment mistakes he made that results in billions of dollars of losses. He also was quite frank in his comments on the people he came into contact with. Bill Gates, for instance, is portrayed as a genius, a jerk, and Paul's very close friend. All in all, a very engaging autobiography.

My 2010 Reading List

2010-12-31T17:35:00.000-08:00

Books read in 2010. Book title, author, and date completed.

1. Big Coal by Jeff Goodell 2-05-10

Reviewed in detail on my energy blog - Book Review: Big Coal

2. Julian Comstock: A Story of 22nd-Century America by Robert Charles Wilson 3-29-10

Reviewed in detail on my energy blog - Book Review: Julian Comstock

3. The Oil Depletion Protocol by Richard Heinberg June 17, 2010

As I read this book, I kept thinking “Yes, this plan would probably work if you could get government around the world to follow it.” The basics of the plan is to have all countries commit to reduce their oil consumption by a small percentage each year. I think the problem is going to be exactly the same as in getting countries to agree to reduce carbon emissions. Some will, some won’t. The fast-growing developing countries like China and India will never agree to it because of the perceived negative impact on their economic growth. Further, there are great incentives for countries to cheat on the their consumption; that may give them advantages over countries going through economic contraction as a result of reduced oil use. The bottom line is that I just don’t think in the real world it can be executed successfully.

4. Power Hungry by Robert Bryce October 1, 2010

Reviewed in detail on my energy blog.

5. The Impending World Energy Mess by Robert L. Hirsch, Roger H. Bezdek, and Robert M. Wendling. December 4, 2010

Reviewed in detail on my energy blog: Book Review: The Impending World Energy Mess

My 2009 Favorites

2009-12-31T17:34:00.000-08:00

Wow, I can't believe I only read 13 books in 2009. The good thing was that most of them were pretty good reads. Here are my Top 5 from 2009:

1. Biofuels, Solar and Wind as Renewable Energy Systems: Benefits and Risks. Edited by David Pimentel, with a chapter by yours truly. Was it my favorite because of my own contribution? Probably. Still a good book, though, if dry in places. Reviewed here.

2. Crude World: The Violent Twilight of Oil by Peter Maass. Reviewed here.

3. Oil 101 by Morgan Downey. Reviewed here.

4. Why Your World Is About to Get a Whole Lot Smaller: Oil and the End of Globalization by Jeff Rubin. Reviewed here.

5. Oil on the Brain by Lisa Margonelli. Reviewed here.

However, I would add one more that has probably had the biggest impact on me personally by changed my eating habits for life. I have become a semi-vegetarian (probably 80% of my meals are now vegetarian, and I cut most sugar out of my diet) after reading this book:

Dr. Neal Barnard's Program for Reversing Diabetes: The Scientifically Proven System for Reversing Diabetes without Drugs by Neal Barnard. Reviewed here (see the 2nd book in the list).

I hope to do a bit better than 13 books in 2010. On the other hand, that may mean that I am spending too much time on airplanes, which is when I find the most time for reading.

My 2009 Reading List

2009-11-23T06:19:00.000-08:00

Books read in 2009. Book title, author, and date completed.

1. Biofuels, Solar and Wind as Renewable Energy Systems: Benefits and Risks. edited by David Pimentel, with a chapter by yours truly. 1-10-09

Despite having had this book since last summer, and despite the fact that I wrote one of the chapters in it (you can see a chunk of it here), I just now got around to reading the rest of it. The book is obviously about renewable energy systems, delving into the environmental issues and potential unintended consequences. Because many different people contributed, the material is covered at various levels. There are chapters in there for the laymen, and there are chapters that are written at a much higher level. I personally found some of the material to be a difficult read, and I think most people will most likely pick out some essays they like instead of reading it from cover to cover.

2. Dr. Neal Barnard's Program for Reversing Diabetes: The Scientifically Proven System for Reversing Diabetes without Drugs by Neal Barnard 1-22-09

I don't have diabetes, but my blood sugar has been trending high in recent years. A doctor told me a couple of years ago if I don't get it under control that I was at risk for developing diabetes. I first became aware of the possibility of reversing diabetes in Ray Kurzweil's Fantastic Voyage: Live Long Enough to Live Forever. Kurzweil was a diabetic, but by making changes in his diet he was able to rid himself of all symptoms. I figure if the program can reverse diabetes, it should be able to prevent diabetes from ever developing. After reading the book, I will say that this is one of those life-changing books. I have never had a particularly healthy diet, and the scientific studies in this book really make it clear why I have high blood sugar (and high cholesterol). The gist of the diet is that it is a vegan diet: No animal products of any kind. The studies cited show that animal fats (even fish and chicken) promote insulin resistance by interfering with insulin's ability to break down glucose. This results in an increase in blood sugar. The case studies cited in the book showed that by eliminating animal protein and fats, blood sugar, cholesterol, and triglycierides all returned to normal levels.

So I decided to give it a shot. Most people who know me could see me as someone who could give up vegetables, but not meat. But I went to the store and picked up soy and rice milk, veggie burgers, hot dogs, and breakfast sausages, and lots of whole wheat breads. It's not that bad, to tell you the truth. The burger was dry, but it tasted pretty much like a regular burger. Once I start adding in things like salsa - which I love - and mix in some Indian food (I spent a week in India last year, and they have some very good vegetarian meals), I think I can pull it off. Giving up seafood will be the hardest part. I plan to do this diet strictly for a month prior to my next physical to see if it works for me.

3. The Lobster Chronicles: Life On a Very Small Island by Linda Greenlaw 2-01-09

This was not exactly what I expected. I guess I should have been tipped off by the subtitle "Life on a Very Small Island." There was much more about island life and the lives of the people living there than on lobster fishing. I have always been a big fan of Deadliest Catch on the Discovery Channel, and I thought this would be the same, yet for lobster fishing. Not exactly. There is some of that, but it isn't the main focus. The author - who was also portrayed in The Perfect Storm - was concerned about an increase in visitors based on her description in the book; I don't think she has to worry about that. She made it sound pretty miserable.

4. Beyond Human: Living with Robots and Cyborgs by Gregory Benford and Elisabeth Malarte 3-06-09

I love reading about technology. I love thinking about what the future could be, which is why I like science fiction so much. This book delved into a possible future with cyborgs, robots, and artificial intelligence. As the book points out, robots are all around us even now (an example was an automatic pool cleaner), we just don't call them robots. Ditto for cyborgs; by definition people with artificial limbs, or even contact lenses could be classified as cyborgs. But the book goes much deeper than that and seriously explores a topic that has always fascinated me: The emergence of consciousness. Can a machine ever achieve consciousness? Hard to say when we don't even understand it ourselves. The only thing I found slightly annoying about the book is that it often presented this future as inevitable, instead of a possible future.

5. Oil 101 by Morgan Downey 4-19-09

Reviewed in depth on my energy blog: Oil 101 Book Review.

6. Why Your World Is About to Get a Whole Lot Smaller: Oil and the End of Globalization by Jeff Rubin 5-24-09

Reviewed in depth on my energy blog: Book Review: Why Your World Is About to Get a Whole Lot Smaller

7. Green Algae Strategy: End Oil Imports And Engineer Sustainable Food And Fuel by Mark Edwards 5-30-09

Reviewed in depth on my energy blog: Book Review: Green Algae Strategy. The author responded, and I published his response as well: Response to Green Algae Strategy Review

8. Planet India: The Turbulent Rise of the Largest Democracy and the Future of Our World by Mira Kamdar 7-6-09

I have been interested in India for a long time, and finally got to visit there last year (my trip was described here, here, and here). This book paints a compelling story of an India that is just starting to flex its muscles on the world stage, and which will be formidable on many fronts as the poor begin to gain purchasing power. The only downside to the book is that she occasionally came across as a bit nationalistic (the author is American of Indian descent) and that made the book feel less than entirely objective. One thing I did not realize was that India had such a long history of having suffered major terrorist actions. I was very familiar with the attacks in late 2008, but there were many serious attacks prior to that. She also described a scene that was all too familiar to me when I was there: Look in one direction, and you see a lush golf course for the very rich. Turn around and you see some of the poorest people on earth living under tarps. You see those kinds of contrasts everywhere in India.

9. Crude World: The Violent Twilight of Oil by Peter Maass 9-21-09

Reviewed in detail on my energy blog: Book Review: Crude World

10. Axis by Robert Charles Wilson 10-8-09

I really enjoyed Wilson's previous book Spin. This was more or less a sequel, but not as mind-bending as I found Spin to be. I have been advised that Wilson's book Julian Comstock: A Story of 22nd-Century America is a much better read, so I put it on my reading list.

11. Power of the People: America's New Electricity Choices by Carol Sue Tombari 10-10-09

Reviewed in detail on my energy blog: Book Review - Power of the People

12. Outsourcing Energy Management by Steven Fawkes 10-12-09

This book has taken me longer to read than any other book in my life. I started reading it back in April, and I just finished it today. The problem for me is that it is a textbook, and as such it isn't something that you can just sit and read cover to cover. It is a very comprehensive "how-to" guide for managing energy in an organization. The author has a clear grasp of the serious energy issues facing us, and makes a compelling case that by letting professionals manage the energy needs of an organization, savings will be more likely to be achieved. Ultimately, this would be a very important book for someone like an energy coordinator for a company. The book did trigger a number of ideas, but it took a lot to get through it.

13. Oil on the Brain by Lisa Margonelli 10-26-09

Reviewed in detail on my energy blog: Book Review - Oil on the Brain

My 2008 Favorites

2009-01-05T06:40:00.000-08:00

1. Thirteen by Richard K. Morgan

Excellent reading. I almost bit off more than I could chew, having decided to read one more book (by a Scottish author) a week before I was to leave Scotland. It's a pretty long read, and I finished this and dropped it off as I was leaving town. Interestingly, the UK version - which was the version I read - is called "Black Man." I guess the U.S. publishers felt that was politically incorrect. I had previously read and enjoyed Morgan's Altered Carbon, but I didn't know anything about this one. I just thought the cover looked pretty cool. But given that I had enjoyed Morgan before, I decided to give it a read. Very glad I did. The book is about a genetically engineered human (happens to be a black man) who was made to be a "super soldier." Once peace breaks out, these folks are seen as a threat. The U.S. has also split in two in this book, which was an interesting concept. For the most part, Republicans got the middle, and Democrats got "the rim." Good stuff though, and a compelling read.

2. Xenocide by Orson Scott Card

It seems like I have been working at this book for years. The 3rd book in the Ender series, and Card still had some tricks up his sleeve. I like his far-out biology concepts; they really stretch the imagination. A lot of people felt like this one fell short of the two in the series that preceded it. To be honest, it's been so long since I read Ender's Game - which is sometimes described as the best science fiction novel ever written, that I really can't compare them. I found Xenocide pretty entertaining; no complaints from me.

3. Gusher of Lies: The Dangerous Delusions of Energy Independence by Robert Bryce

This was a great book, and I reviewed it in detail on my energy blog: Book Review: Gusher of Lies

4. Big Cotton: How A Humble Fiber Created Fortunes, Wrecked Civilizations, and Put America on the Map by Stephen Yafa

Fascinating book. I learned a wealth of information about cotton, and it gave me a whole new respect for it. This book was well-written, humorous, and very informative. I especially enjoyed reading about the history of the battles with various pests, and how technology has evolved to combat these resilient pests.

5. How to Grow More Vegetables and Fruits (and Fruits, Nuts, Berries, Grains, and Other Crops) Than You Ever Thought Possible by John Jeavons

This is really a great book to have on your shelf if you are a gardener. I probably learned more about the importance of soil quality (how to maintain it, the need to have it loosened to a greater depth, etc.) than I had learned up to this point in my life. I am actually putting the techniques in this book into practice in my garden.

My 2008 Reading List

2009-01-04T08:56:00.000-08:00

Books read in 2008. Book title, author, and date completed.

1. The Road by Cormac McCarthy 1-6-08

I had asked for book recommendations at The Oil Drum, and I got a long list. I shortened it down, and then when I was home for Christmas I went to the local library to see what they had. This was the only one I could find. The book won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction. It also said that it was an Oprah Book Club book, and I don't think I have ever read one of those. The book is written in a very unusual style - there are no chapters and the dialogue is not quoted. It was a very difficult read.

It played upon some of my worst nightmares - watching one of your children starve, and being unable to do anything about it. Not being able to help other people in distress - including children - because you are barely surviving yourself. Facing conditions so horrible that the main character was constantly thinking of ending his and his young son's lives to end the misery. Worse for me, I have a couple of boys that age, so I of course kept envisioning them with me in that situation. The one thing I kept expecting was some explanation for how things got to that condition. The only thing I can think of that could remotely explain the devastation would be the Yellowstone Super Volcano blowing its top.

2. Diamond Dogs, Turquoise Days by Alastair Reynolds 1-12-08

Reynolds has become one of my favorite science fiction writers. What an imagination this guy has. This book consisted of a pair of novellas based on worlds/concepts he introduced in previous novels. The stories are very different, and both will stretch your imagination. I have yet to read anything from him that I didn't like, but I have let myself get behind on reading his books. I need to make an effort to catch up on his books this year, because I never regret the time I spend reading them. Books that I have read and thoroughly enjoyed by Reynolds are Revelation Space, Redemption Ark, and Chasm City.

3. Gusher of Lies: The Dangerous Delusions of Energy Independence by Robert Bryce 1-21-08 (pre-release copy)

This was a great book, and I reviewed it in detail on my energy blog: Book Review: Gusher of Lies

4. Thirteen by Richard K. Morgan 2-29-08

Excellent reading. I almost bit off more than I could chew, having decided to read one more book (by a Scottish author) a week before I was to leave Scotland. It's a pretty long read, and I finished this and dropped it off as I was leaving town. Interestingly, the UK version - which was the version I read - is called "Black Man." I guess the U.S. publishers felt that was politically incorrect. I had previously read and enjoyed Morgan's Altered Carbon, but I didn't know anything about this one. I just thought the cover looked pretty cool. But given that I had enjoyed Morgan before, I decided to give it a read. Very glad I did. The book is about a genetically engineered human (happens to be a black man) who was made to be a "super soldier." Once peace breaks out, these folks are seen as a threat. The U.S. has also split in two in this book, which was an interesting concept. For the most part, Republicans got the middle, and Democrats got "the rim." Good stuff though, and a compelling read.

5. Wood Modification by Callum Hill 3-10-08

Not a book for the average reader, just something I read that is related to my new job. But if you are into that kind of thing, this is The Bible.

6. Xenocide by Orson Scott Card 4-15-08

It seems like I have been working at this book for years. The 3rd book in the Ender series, and Card still had some tricks up his sleeve. I like his far-out biology concepts; they really stretch the imagination. A lot of people felt like this one fell short of the two in the series that preceded it. To be honest, it's been so long since I read Ender's Game - which is sometimes described as the best science fiction novel ever written, that I really can't compare them. I found Xenocide pretty entertaining; no complaints from me.

7. World Made by Hand by James Howard Kunstler 4-23-2008

Reviewed in detail on my energy blog: Book Review: World Made by Hand

8. Profit from the Peak: The End of Oil and the Greatest Investment Event of the Century by Brian Hicks and Chris Nelder 5-11-2008

Reviewed in detail on my energy blog: Book Review: Profit from the Peak

9. Confessions of an English Opium Eater by Thomas De Quincey 7-18-2008

My reading is really suffering this year as demands from work have sapped all of my spare time. Once upon a time I was always reading through a book at lunch. No longer, as I am usually working through lunch. But, back on topic, I found this to be a difficult read. It was interesting, to be sure, to watch someone over 100 years ago slip into the same kind of drug dependency that is all too familiar to us today. Description of life in 19th century England was also worth the read. The trouble I had was that the language and expressions were different enough that sometimes I had to read a paragraph a few times to understand what he was saying. This really slowed down my reading speed. Some of the build up to his slide into opium addiction was also incredibly tedious.

10. Basic Composting: All the Skills and Tools You Need to Get Started (Basic How-to Guides) by Eric Ebeling 8-3-08

I didn't learn a whole lot that I didn't already know about composting, but there were a lot of useful building plans in the book.

11. Big Cotton: How A Humble Fiber Created Fortunes, Wrecked Civilizations, and Put America on the Map by Stephen Yafa 8-5-08

Fascinating book. I learned a wealth of information about cotton, and it gave me a whole new respect for it. This book was well-written, humorous, and very informative. I especially enjoyed reading about the history of the battles with various pests, and how technology has evolved to combat these resilient pests.

12. Slash by Slash and Anthony Bozza 8-14-08

If half of what Slash wrote is true, I don't know how he survived. I picked this book up for the insider's story on my favorite band of all time. I love biographies, especially those rags to riches stories of people who persevered and made it big. I find them inspirational. But I had never realized until reading this book just how extreme the drug usage and "appetite for destruction" really was. These guys were really insane. Slash explains in no uncertain terms why – in his view – the band broke up. Given that he has moved on to a successful career with other bands, I tend to believe his version that the band collapsed mostly because of Axl's erratic behavior. Anyway, very interesting book if you are a GNR fan.

13. W.A.R.: The Unauthorized Biography of William Axl Rose by Mick Wall 8-29-08

I have been traveling a lot, and I like to read light when I am traveling. So, following the wake of the previous autobiography by Slash, I decided to read the unauthorized biography of W. Axl Rose. The author is Mick Wall, who Axl ripped into during the song "Get in the Ring" off of Use Your Illusion II. Mick is a Brit, and thus the book is very Brit-oriented. All of Axl's major musical influences were British, yadda, yadda. At times Mick comes off as a scorned lover, and seems to be lashing out in retribution. The picture he paints of Axl is a very disturbing portrait of a guy who apparently has some pretty serious mental issues. I went to see the band play in 1988, and after about half an hour, Axl threw the mike down and walked off the stage. I knew that he pulled this a few times - as well as sometimes coming on stage very late - but I didn't realize until reading these books that it happened all the time. Axl had no problem keeping fans waiting up to four hours until he was ready to perform. A musical genius – at least to me – it is sad to see that he could never get it together again after the band split. He has been working on an album for 15 years, always promising the release is just around the corner. I think he is destined to go down in history as the "Howard Hughes of music."

14. Rainbows End by Vernor Vinge 9-27-08

This book was not at all what I expected. Vernor Vinge has written some of the best science fiction I have ever read. A Fire Upon The Deep and A Deepness in the Sky are two of the best science fiction books I have ever read, but this one was very different. It reminded me more of Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash. It was a good book; very complex and sometimes hard to follow the layers. It was just a disappointment to me because I was expecting something like one of his earlier books.

15. Gardeners' Questions Answered by Richard Bird 10-11-08

I have got to start paying attention to the books I pick up. This isn't the first I have gotten that was written for British gardens. There was some useful information, but a lot that is specific to the UK climate.

16. The Organic Home Garden by Patrick Lima 10-24-08

Much better than the previous book, but still written from a cold climate perspective. There was quite a bit of useful information here, though. There were especially a lot of practical tips for dealing with garden pests. I also enjoyed the detailed instructions for various vegetables.

17. How to Grow More Vegetables and Fruits (and Fruits, Nuts, Berries, Grains, and Other Crops) Than You Ever Thought Possible by John Jeavons 10-31-08

I have been chipping away at this book for months. It is really a great book to have on your shelf if you are a gardener. I probably learned more about the importance of soil quality (how to maintain it, the need to have it loosened to a greater depth, etc.) than I had learned up to this point in my life. I am actually putting the techniques in this book into practice in my garden.

18. The No-Work Garden: Getting the Most Out of Your Garden for the Least Amount of Work by Bob Flowerdew 11-8-08

Lots of good tips in this book, but it occurs to me that I really like working in the garden. People always ask me why I don't have someone else mow my lawn (I have neighbors frequently offering me their lawn guy). I tell them I like to mow my own lawn. It is therapeutic. Having said that, though, there are a lot of really good tips in here on a much wider range of topics than many gardening books I have read.

19. Galactic North by Alastair Reynolds 11-20-08

While Reynolds is one of my favorite authors, I didn't realize that this was a collection of short stories. I don't really care for short stories, because my attention span is short. If I have to learn an entirely new cast of characters every 30 pages, it becomes like work. In his first two chapters, he kept the characters the same, and just changed the time frame. That worked well. But then by Chapter 3 he was on to the typical theme of an entirely new story (albeit it in the same Revelation Space universe) with every chapter. One thing that did strike me as I was reading this book. Reynolds tells a great story, no doubt about that. But people don't really behave in the way that he sometimes has his characters behave. For instance, in his second story, a guy wakes up from a long period of being froze, and has an incredible discovery to share. But he keeps it secret until the climax. Given the nature of that discovery, I couldn't figure out why he wouldn't spill it all out just as soon as he was awake. There was no compelling reason not to.

20. Where Have All the Leaders Gone? by Lee Iacocca 12-6-08

I got this book thinking it might be a good book on leadership. Instead, it is an angry rant against the Bush Administration. That's well and good, if that's what I was looking for. But what I wanted was for Iacocca to share some of his wisdom on leadership. What I read leads me to believe Iacocca is past his 'sell by' date. I did think it was ironic to hear him brag about how well the auto industry does things, when as I was reading it they were before congress looking for a bailout.

21. First, Break All the Rules: What the World's Greatest Managers Do Differently by Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman 12-30-08

I like data, and this book was the result of a massive Gallup survey of 80,000 managers in 400 companies on what works in management. They debunk such myths as "people are capable of almost anything" and put an emphasis on matching up talents and needs. The good thing is that most of what they say works is already the way I manage my group. But it was nice to have some confirmation that this is the style that works best.

My 2007 Favorites

2008-01-07T12:31:00.000-08:00

1.

Having previously read Neal Stephenson's books Snow Crash and The Diamond Age, I was really looking forward to this one. It came highly recommended by several readers of The Oil Drum, where I am write essays on energy issues. First of all, it's almost an understatement to call this book a tour de force. It was like Tom Clancy on steroids. I didn't know that it wasn't a science fiction book until I was well into the book. It was historical fiction, and it bounced back and forth between WWII and today. It is not for the casual reader. The book has 1,130 pages and took me over a month to finish. But if you are a reader, and you like complex plots and characters - with Stephenson's unique writing style thrown in for good measure - then you will probably enjoy this one.

2.

This is a great book on so many levels. A history of some of the great mathematicians and unsolved problems in mathematics, a story of genius, mental illness, and triumph. Nash's wife Alicia has a tenacity that just boggles the mind. I often felt sorry for the trials she went through with the schizophrenia of her husband, and later son. She is a strong, strong woman. I also found myself thinking of Nash as someone who was an incredible jerk with one of the biggest egos I have ever seen, to wondering whether the mental illness was connected to these personality quirks. Everyone should read this book.

3.

This book came highly recommended, and I was not disappointed. What a paradigm-shifter. Mann details the intricate and complex societies that existed in America prior to Colombus' arrival in 1492. There were long-lasting wars with complex dynamics, and cities to rival those of Europe at that time. Mann was also good about contrasting different viewpoints on many topics, such that the reader can weigh the evidence and make up their own mind about which explanation is more likely. This book is a great companion to Jared Diamond's Guns, Germs, and Steel and Collapse. It supports Diamond's ideas in some areas, and disagrees in others. But it was nothing if not thought-provoking.

4.

This was a great book, and a real paradigm-shifter. Taleb is a very good writer, and caused me to think about things I hadn't thought about before. When a book does that, I really appreciate it. But my gosh he is full of himself. That was the only thing that put me off a bit. I work with someone like that, and I can't stand to be in the same room with him. Frequently denigrating other people to lift himself above them. Not necessary. Taleb has no need to do that, and it was very distracting.

5.

This was a very nice piece of science fiction. It took two premises that I have spent considerable time thinking about and explored them. The first premise involves fast-forwarding the terraforming of Mars. (This concept is also explored in great depth in Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars Trilogy). The second premise explores the future of the earth when the sun is dying and swells to encompass the earth's orbit. Premise 2a is that this causes "end of the world" panic, which is another premise that fascinates me. The book had interesting and complex characters, and the story was engaging. My only criticism is that it did jump back and forth in time, which didn't work for me in this book. I found it distracting. Every time they jumped forward in time, I wanted to skip past so I could find out how they had come to that point.

My 2007 Reading List

2007-12-31T07:18:00.000-08:00

Books read in 2007. Book title, author, and date completed. I read 22 books in 2007, down significantly from the previous two years.

1. Fantastic Voyage: Live Long Enough to Live Forever by Ray Kurzweil and Terry Grossman 1-2-07

Kurzweil's The Singularity is Near really blew my mind, so I decided to see what else he had to offer. He has some unconventional ideas about diet, but he backed most of it up with scientific studies. His comments about stevia as a natural sweetner intrigued me, but I found out that it isn't without controversy. Regardless, despite his claims that he has the body of a 35-year old, externally he appears his age. I suspect the internal story is pretty similar.

2. Life After Death: The Burden of Proof by Deepak Chopra 1-11-07

This was an OK book for learning just a bit about Eastern religions, but Chopra certainly doesn't meet any burden of proof. Any supernatural claim is readily accepted and hardly challenged: remote viewing, psychic abilities, ghosts, faith-healing. He was pretty careless with some scientific facts that he quoted in the book, so I just don't trust him when he starts talking about the scientific studies that demonstrated that psychic powers are real. A million dollars says they aren't.

3. Winning by Jack Welch 1-16-07

I have always been sort of fascinated with Jack Welch. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest CEOs of all time. After reading this book, it is clear that some of the things that differentiated him - his stunning candor, for instance - are just difficult for many people. Or, a person might find themselves in a job where candor is not appreciated. Reading this book I couldn't help but wonder how many other Jack Welch's there might have been out there, who just didn't rise to the top because the specific characteristics they had were not appreciated by their management.

4. 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus by Charles C. Mann 1-25-07

This book came highly recommended, and I was not disappointed. What a paradigm-shifter. Mann details the intricate and complex societies that existed in America prior to Colombus' arrival in 1492. There were long-lasting wars with complex dynamics, and cities to rival those of Europe at that time. Mann was also good about contrasting different viewpoints on many topics, such that the reader can weigh the evidence and make up their own mind about which explanation is more likely. This book is a great companion to Jared Diamond's Guns, Germs, and Steel and Collapse. It supports Diamond's ideas in some areas, and disagrees in others. But it was nothing if not thought-provoking.

5. Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson 3-18-2007

Having previously read Neal Stephenson's books Snow Crash and The Diamond Age, I was really looking forward to this one. It came highly recommended by several readers of The Oil Drum, where I am write essays on energy issues. First of all, it's almost an understatement to call this book a tour de force. It was like Tom Clancy on steroids. I didn't know that it wasn't a science fiction book until I was well into the book. It was historical fiction, and it bounced back and forth between WWII and today. It is not for the casual reader. The book has 1,130 pages and took me over a month to finish. But if you are a reader, and you like complex plots and characters - with Stephenson's unique writing style thrown in for good measure - then you will probably enjoy this one.

6. To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis 4-7-2007

I had previously read another Connie Willis book, Doomsday Book, and really enjoyed her style. This is another book involving time travel, although there are many elements involved in this story. It is lightly sci-fi, a detective story, a comedy, and a bit of romance in Victorian England. It was a fun read, although toward the end I had the sense of watching an episode of Scoobie Doo where the gang is solving the mystery. But, a book that was worth the time to read.

7. More Than Human: Embracing the Promise of Biological Enhancement by Ramez Naam 4-22-2007

I thought this book would be more informative on cutting-edge genetic enhancement research than it was. If information on biological enhancement is what you are interested in, better bets are The Singularity is Near, Gregory Stock's Redesigning Humans: Our Inevitable Genetic Future, or Lee Silver's Remaking Eden. However, this book did provide a lot of information I did not know about cutting edge mechanical implants. I really had no idea that science was so far along in fields like retinal, cochlear, and brain implants. The book could be a little slow at times, but I ultimately got a lot out of it because it opened up my mind to quite a few things I did not know.

8. Spin by Robert Charles Wilson 5-5-2007

This was a very nice piece of science fiction. It took two premises that I have spent considerable time thinking about and explored them. The first premise involves fast-forwarding the terraforming of Mars. (This concept is also explored in great depth in Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars Trilogy). The second premise explores the future of the earth when the sun is dying and swells to encompass the earth's orbit. Premise 2a is that this causes "end of the world" panic, which is another premise that fascinates me. The book had interesting and complex characters, and the story was engaging. My only criticism is that it did jump back and forth in time, which didn't work for me in this book. I found it distracting. Every time they jumped forward in time, I wanted to skip past so I could find out how they had come to that point.

9. The Viking by Alan Baker 5-20-2007

Most of the books I read are through recommendations, so I don't end up reading too many that I consider a waste of time. This book, however, is one that I picked out because 1). I am very interested in the Vikings, and 2). I had a gift certificate and it just did fit under the limit. While maybe not a waste of time, there are better books on Vikings. The author tended to wander off topic at times, and he quoted liberally from other works, such as Magnus Magnusson's The Vikings and Gwyn Jones' A History of the Vikings. In fact, he borrowed so heavily from them that his extensive quotations probably took up at least a quarter of the book. I would recommend one of the two previously mentioned books over this one, which often read like a book report on those books.

10. Don't Tell Mom I Work on the Rigs: She Thinks I'm a Piano Player in a Whorehouse by Paul Carter 6-14-2007

Funny at times, and very sobering at times, this book gives a depiction of what it is like to work on the oil rigs. I can say, after reading this book, that I will never work in Nigeria (although I had pretty much already decided that).

11. A Beautiful Mind : A Biography of John Forbes Nash, Jr. by Sylvia Nassar 6-16-2007

This is a great book on so many levels. A history of some of the great mathematicians and unsolved problems in mathematics, a story of genius, mental illness, and triumph. Nash's wife Alicia has a tenacity that just boggles the mind. I often felt sorry for the trials she went through with the schizophrenia of her husband, and later son. She is a strong, strong woman. I also found myself thinking of Nash as someone who was an incredible jerk with one of the biggest egos I have ever seen, to wondering whether the mental illness was connected to these personality quirks. Everyone should read this book.

12. The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable by Nassim Nicholas Taleb 10-30-2007

This was a great book, and a real paradigm-shifter. Taleb is a very good writer, and caused me to think about things I hadn't thought about before. When a book does that, I really appreciate it. But my gosh he is full of himself. That was the only thing that put me off a bit. I work with someone like that, and I can't stand to be in the same room with him. Frequently denigrating other people to lift himself above them. Not necessary. Taleb has no need to do that, and it was very distracting.

13. Speaker for the Dead by Orson Scott Card 11-4-2007

Card is just a superb writer. I bought this book 5 years ago, but just got around to reading it. I won't wait so long to read Xenocide, which I purchased at the same time. The creative biological ecosystem that Card creates in this book is very impressive. I am amazed the people can just imagine this kind of stuff.

14. Building High-Performance Teams by Debbie D. DuFrene 11-8-07

This book was a bit different than what I was expecting. It is true to the title, but I guess I expected something more. I was looking for more of a general management book, and this was not it.

15. The EQ Edge: Emotional Intelligence and Your Success by Steven Stein 11-18-07

Some useful information, but also a lot of pop-psychology.

16. Mars Plus by Frederik Pohl 11-25-07

Having read Pohl's Gateway, I had high hopes for this book. But I found it disappointing. I was hoping for a sort of cyborgs help colonize Mars. But Mars had very little to do with the actual storyline. I also didn't find the characters all that interesting.

17. Beyond Heaven's River by Greg Bear 12-1-07

Again, I had high hopes for this one based on Bear's previous books. But a year from now, I won't even remember what this one was about. I also thought the ending was very abrupt and left several storylines hanging.

18. Icehenge by Kim Stanley Robinson 12-6-07

Not a bad book. I found it sort of like Robinson's Mars Trilogy. The writing is excellent and technically detailed, but sometimes I find it losing my attention.

19. Time Machines: The Greatest Time Travel Stories Ever Written edited by Bill Adler 12-15-07

I don't usually like short stories, but I love books about time travel. This one has some classic stories in there, and some of the all-time great authors. It was a good book to read while traveling, because I could just read a story here and there as I had time.

20. Jubal Sackett by Louis Lamour 12-18-07

When I was in the 2nd grade, the first "real" book I ever read was Lamour's The First Fast Draw. I was hooked on his writing, and proceeded to read practically every book he had written (which my Dad had in his bookshelf) by the end of the 3rd grade. When I was home for Christmas, I pulled an old favorite off of the shelf - a book in the Sackett series that I loved so much as a kid. It's a good book if you like Westerns, or tales about the early settlement of the U.S. It helps, though, to have read previous Sackett books so you know who is who.

21. Quantico by Greg Bear 12-26-07

I kept having to remind myself that I wasn't reading Tom Clancy. This reads very much like a Tom Clancy book. While Bear is famous for his science fiction, this was definitely a change of pace for him. I enjoyed the book (as much as you can enjoy a book about biological warfare using anthrax).

22. The Vegetable & Herb Expert by D.G. Hessayon 12-30-07

I got this book for Christmas. I intend to get back into gardening as quickly as I can (it has been hard due to all the moves) and this was a good book, but written entirely from a UK perspective. Some of the specific advice won't be valid when I move back to the U.S. It was also kind of funny to see things like jalapenos, sweet potatoes, and okra, both of which will grow like weeds in the U.S., referred to as "shop vegetables" (i.e., won't grow well in the U.K.)

My 2006 Favorites

2007-01-03T16:51:00.000-08:00

Below are the best books I read in 2006. Not that a lot of the books that I read weren't good, but these really stood out.

First, from Ray Kurzweil:

This book just blew my mind. I thought he was overly optimistic with his premises, but the potential future he paints is mind-boggling.

Next, from Peter Ward:

Ward is a great story teller. This is a book depicting mass extinctions throughout history, and lays out the evidence for the current mass extinction that is underway.

Next, by J. Storrs Hall:

This was another in the vein of "Singularity." This potential future is just amazing to contemplate.

Finally, a classic by Joe Haldeman:

I have wanted to read this one for years, but I never ran across it. I am glad that I finally did this past year. Haldeman has quite the gift for science fiction.

I will be starting a new job overseas in a few weeks, and hopefully can pick my reading right back up after the move.

My 2006 Reading List

2006-11-28T16:49:00.000-08:00

Books read in 2006. Book title, author, and date completed. This list is a work in progress.

1. The Meaning Of It All by Richard Feynman 1-4-06

2. The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Robert Heinlein 1-31-06

3. Everyday Life in Ancient Rome by Lionel Casson 2-7-06

4. Parallel Worlds by Michio Kaku 2-20-06

5. The Singularity is Near by Ray Kurzweil 3-4-06 (mind-blowing)

6. The Engines of God by Jack McDevitt 3-17-06

7. The Forever War by Joe Haldeman 3-27-06

8. Radical Evolution by Joel Garreau 4-2-06

9. The Laws of Money by Suze Orman 4-6-06

10. Debt of Honor by Tom Clancy 4-14-06

11. Edison: Inventing the Century by Neil Baldwin 4-23-06

12. Executive Orders by Tom Clancy 5-20-06

13. Rainbow Six by Tom Clancy 6-26-06

14. The Theory of Everything by Stephen Hawking 8-4-06

15. Trail Mix by Louis Lamour 8-6-06

16. The Bear and the Dragon by Tom Clancy 8-9-06

17. The Truth by Al Franken 8-17-06

18. Henry Ford: The Wayward Capitalist by Carol Gelderman 8-28-06

19. The End of Fossil Energy by John G. Howe 9-17-06

20. The End of Evolution by Peter Ward 9-21-06

21. Nanofuture: What’s Next for Nanotechnology by J. Storrs Hall 10-4-06 (very good)

22. Hammerfall by C.J. Cherryh 10-20-06

23. In the Line of Fire by Pervez Musharraf 10-27-06

24. The Adsense Code by Joel Comm 11-2-06

25. The One Thing You Need to Know by Marcus Buckingham 11-6-06

26. Forge of Heaven by C.J. Cherryh 11-12-06

27. Never Complain, Never Explain (Henry Ford II) by Victor Lasky 11-18-06

28. Riding for the Brand by Jim Whitt 11-20-06

29. Isaac Newton by James Gleick 11-25-06

30. Traipsing into Evolution by Jonathan Witt 11-28-06

31. The Rookie Manager by Joseph T. Straub 12-7-06

32. The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership by John C. Maxwell 12-12-06

33. Peak Oil Prep by Mick Winters 12-15-06

34. An Inconvenient Truth by Al Gore 12-18-06

My 2005 Favorites

2006-11-27T20:14:00.000-08:00

Favorite Authors

My favorite authors in 2005 were Alastair Reynolds and Jared Diamond.

Top 6 Books

Why Top 6? Because I couldn't narrow it to 5:

Thought-Provokers

Here were the books that I found the most thought-provoking, and they would also round out my Top 10:

Garbage

Here, by far, was the worst book that I read in 2005:

My 2005 Reading List

2006-11-27T20:10:00.000-08:00

Book title, author, and date the book was finished.

1. Doomsday Book by Connie Willis 1-06-05

2. American Gods: A Novel by Neil Gaiman 1-10-05

3. Factoring Humanity by Robert J. Sawyer 1-13-05

4. Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson 1-27-05

5. Hominids (Neanderthal Parallax) by Robert J. Sawyer 1-31-05

6. Beggars in Spain (Beggars Trilogy) by Nancy Kress 2-3-05

7. Beggars Ride (Beggars Trilogy) by Nancy Kress 2-9-05

8. Sims by F. Paul Wilson 2-15-05

9. Churchill: A Biography by Roy Jenkins 3-2-05

10. Beggars And Choosers (Beggars Trilogy) by Nancy Kress 3-4-05

11. Gateway by Frederik Pohl 3-6-05

12. Revelation Space by Alastair Reynolds 3-23-05

13. DNA: The Secret of Life by Andrew Berry and James Watson 4-6-05

14. Early Europe: Mysteries in Stone (Lost Civilizations) 4-16-05

15. Hen's Teeth and Horse's Toes by Stephen Gould 4-18-05

16. Chasm City by Alastair Reynolds 5-3-05

17. Double Helix by Nancy Werlin 5-4-05

18. The Third Chimpanzee by Jared Diamond 5-12-05

19. Humans by Robert J. Sawyer 5-16-05

20. Hybrids by Robert J. Sawyer 5-19-05

21. Altered Carbon by Richard K. Morgan 5-25-05

22. Timescape by Gregory Benford 5-29-05

23. Vitals by Greg Bear 6-3-05

24. Visions by Michio Kaku 6-10-05

25. Supermen: Tales of the Posthuman Future by Gardner Dozois 6-19-05

26. Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed by Jared Diamond 7-9-05

27. Darwin’s Children by Greg Bear 7-14-05

28. Redemption Ark by Alastair Reynolds 7-26-05

29. Absolution Gap by Alastair Reynolds 8-2-05

30. YOU: The Owner’s Manual by Michael Roizen and Mehmet Oz 8-5-05

31. The Borderlands of Science by Michael Shermer 8-13-05

32. Ilium by Dan Simmons 8-15-05

33. Olympos by Dan Simmons 8-20-05

34. Billions and Billions by Carl Sagan 8-23-05

35. Evolution: The Triumph of an Idea by Carl Zimmer 8-28-05

36. Childhood’s End by Arthur C. Clarke 8-31-05

37. The Speed of Dark by Elizabeth Moon 9-4-05

38. The Long Emergency by James Howard Kunstler 9-10-05

39. Twilight in the Desert by Matthew R. Simmons 9-23-05

40. The Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson 10-03-05

41. Cyteen by C. J. Cherryh 11-6-05

42. Stalking Trophy Mule Deer by Walt Prothero 11-16-05

43. What Remains to be Discovered by John Maddox 12-5-05

44. The Coming Global Superstorm by Whitley Strieber 12-9-05

45. The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger 12-12-05

46. Saving Your Brain by Jeff Victoroff 12-20-05

47. Cholesterol Cures by Richard Trubo 12-23-05

48. The Player of Games by Iain Banks 12-27-05

Introduction

2006-11-27T20:08:00.000-08:00

I love to read, and I am almost always working my way through a book. I read while eating, walking on the treadmill, even while watching TV. People who see me reading a lot have asked me from time to time how many books I read each year. I had heard of people who maintain reading lists, but I had never done so. So, starting in 2005, I decided to record every book that I read.

I averaged almost a book a week in 2005. My pace slowed in 2006 as I started my R-Squared Energy Blog, and did a lot of writing for The Oil Drum and various other websites. However, I am still averaging over 2 books a month in 2006.

What do I read? Mostly science fiction, or books on science. I am also pretty fond of biographies, and this year I finally started reading Tom Clancy. Usually I check books out from the library, but every now and then I will join a science fiction book club and load up on books.

Anyway, I thought I would share my book list, and update it every time I finish a book. I will post my reading list starting in 2005, give my favorites from 2005, and then put up 2006. If you have a recommendation based on any of the books on my list, I would love to hear it.