Favourite books of the 00's
Top books of the 00’s I read
I admit this is another weak list, even smaller this time, just 10. This is because I mostly ended up reading books from other decades, with unknown titles like 1984, Slaughterhouse V, that kind of stuff. Or relatively unknown comic books like Watchmen, Maus, or The Dark Knight Returns. Also I was in university for half of this decade reading about exciting things like policy cycles, stakeholder consultation, multiplier effects, state finance, and genie coefficients! Weee! Come to think of it, a public policy English lesson would be a lot of fun.
Any suggestions of other great books to read are of course welcome. I dig fiction that is funny and insightful as well as non-fiction books that about important things with a conclusion usually about socialism or saving the environment.
10. Shakey: Neil Young’s biography by Jimmy McDonough - I love Neil Young for his music and because he is kind of a strange guy. His life and just what he does is amazing.
9. J-Pod by Douglas Coupland - It’s set in Vancouver, Burnaby, and the Lower Mainland, which I love. It even mentions the Brentwood Mall. And it’s Coupland at his finest. He even drops by in the novel.
8. A short history of nearly everything by Bill Bryson - This was a great read since I don’t really know a lot about science. The book went into the debates in different scientific fields and how basic things we take for granted were discovered and agreed upon. Scientists as it turns out are eccentric and hilariously crazy. Isaac Newton once stared at the sun for an entire day to see what it would do to his eyes for example. The book is full of neat little gems like this.
7. The Long Emergency: Surviving the Converging Catastrophes of the Twenty-first Century by James Howard Kunstler
- It’s hard to say he will be right about how the future will turn out or if he truly right about peak oil. He makes a pretty convincing case though and writes with great passion about the issue. Definitely worth a read if you wonder about the peak oil perspective. Even if we find more and more of the stuff, without oil, our modern way of life is pretty much over. It’s important to realize and essential for our governments to think more about in a policy development context. The End of Oil was also quite good.
6. The Aquariums of Pyongyang by Kang Chol-Hwan - A Korean gets on the list again! A very sad memoir about life in a North Korean concentration camp is just about as disturbing as some of the works out there on the holocaust. Made me think that living on a rural South Korean fishing island ain’t that bad either.
5. The Corporation by Joel Bakan - Oh yes, the documentary was also book, it was also a great read too. If corporations were medically evaluated as people like they legally are, than they would be insane. It’s kind of common sense, but its nice to see it but all together. A watchful public and government is essential in this day of age with the large and transnational nature of corporations.
4. Blankets by Craig Thompson - A very touching coming of age comic book. I digged it.
3. Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser - The book that made us all realize how disgusting fast food really is. I think it helped with my conversion to vegetarianism. Although I now eat meat and fast food in Korea, its really more of a comfort food thing. As soon as I get back to Canada its back to shunning this junk.
2. Oryx & Crake by Margaret Atwood - She’s a great science-fiction writer when it comes to writing about a future dystopian society. With epidemics out of control, corporations even more powerful than now, mass extinction of species in a devastated environment, an even more unequal distribution of wealth, and lots of weird genetic experiments, it’s probably a world that we all fear and is not too far-fetched.
1. (Tie) Shock Doctrine & No Logo by Naomi Klein
Even if you don’t protest against globalization I think these are great books everyone should check out. No Logo of course focuses on some of the problems those nasty transnational corporations cause. While Shock Doctorine is kind of a sequal as it focuses more on the role of states and the spread of neo-liberalism, forcibly. The books have definitely made me aware of some really great critical perspectives on what is happening with neo-liberalism, the IMF, and our corporate dependent economy that really deserve more scrutiny.
I admit this is another weak list, even smaller this time, just 10. This is because I mostly ended up reading books from other decades, with unknown titles like 1984, Slaughterhouse V, that kind of stuff. Or relatively unknown comic books like Watchmen, Maus, or The Dark Knight Returns. Also I was in university for half of this decade reading about exciting things like policy cycles, stakeholder consultation, multiplier effects, state finance, and genie coefficients! Weee! Come to think of it, a public policy English lesson would be a lot of fun.
Any suggestions of other great books to read are of course welcome. I dig fiction that is funny and insightful as well as non-fiction books that about important things with a conclusion usually about socialism or saving the environment.
10. Shakey: Neil Young’s biography by Jimmy McDonough - I love Neil Young for his music and because he is kind of a strange guy. His life and just what he does is amazing.
9. J-Pod by Douglas Coupland - It’s set in Vancouver, Burnaby, and the Lower Mainland, which I love. It even mentions the Brentwood Mall. And it’s Coupland at his finest. He even drops by in the novel.
8. A short history of nearly everything by Bill Bryson - This was a great read since I don’t really know a lot about science. The book went into the debates in different scientific fields and how basic things we take for granted were discovered and agreed upon. Scientists as it turns out are eccentric and hilariously crazy. Isaac Newton once stared at the sun for an entire day to see what it would do to his eyes for example. The book is full of neat little gems like this.
7. The Long Emergency: Surviving the Converging Catastrophes of the Twenty-first Century by James Howard Kunstler
- It’s hard to say he will be right about how the future will turn out or if he truly right about peak oil. He makes a pretty convincing case though and writes with great passion about the issue. Definitely worth a read if you wonder about the peak oil perspective. Even if we find more and more of the stuff, without oil, our modern way of life is pretty much over. It’s important to realize and essential for our governments to think more about in a policy development context. The End of Oil was also quite good.
6. The Aquariums of Pyongyang by Kang Chol-Hwan - A Korean gets on the list again! A very sad memoir about life in a North Korean concentration camp is just about as disturbing as some of the works out there on the holocaust. Made me think that living on a rural South Korean fishing island ain’t that bad either.
5. The Corporation by Joel Bakan - Oh yes, the documentary was also book, it was also a great read too. If corporations were medically evaluated as people like they legally are, than they would be insane. It’s kind of common sense, but its nice to see it but all together. A watchful public and government is essential in this day of age with the large and transnational nature of corporations.
4. Blankets by Craig Thompson - A very touching coming of age comic book. I digged it.
3. Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser - The book that made us all realize how disgusting fast food really is. I think it helped with my conversion to vegetarianism. Although I now eat meat and fast food in Korea, its really more of a comfort food thing. As soon as I get back to Canada its back to shunning this junk.
2. Oryx & Crake by Margaret Atwood - She’s a great science-fiction writer when it comes to writing about a future dystopian society. With epidemics out of control, corporations even more powerful than now, mass extinction of species in a devastated environment, an even more unequal distribution of wealth, and lots of weird genetic experiments, it’s probably a world that we all fear and is not too far-fetched.
1. (Tie) Shock Doctrine & No Logo by Naomi Klein
Even if you don’t protest against globalization I think these are great books everyone should check out. No Logo of course focuses on some of the problems those nasty transnational corporations cause. While Shock Doctorine is kind of a sequal as it focuses more on the role of states and the spread of neo-liberalism, forcibly. The books have definitely made me aware of some really great critical perspectives on what is happening with neo-liberalism, the IMF, and our corporate dependent economy that really deserve more scrutiny.