My year in reading: 2010
You know you have procrastination issues when you do one of your summing-up-your-year posts when it's nearly seventy outside. Of course, having moved from Minnesota to Seattle, that's sort of cheating now. Anyways, I've fortunately read enough book this year that I need to free up space on the books-I've-read-this-year shelf, providing impetus for this post.
Please note that this is probably missing a couple things that got read and then lent out rather then getting put on the shelf. There are also a bunch of things that won't get listed (the only things that come to mind are The Epic of Gilgamesh and a bunch of Socratic dialogues) because my reading-tracking system only includes whole books consumed. Also, comic books are right out because I read them too much.
Most of my comments are really just rushed attempts to put down what I thought about the book. If you'd like more in-depth thoughts about the books or want more of a description of what they're about, feel free to ask and I'll see what I can do.
Anyways, here's what I've got in no particular order:
The Templars and the Assassins: The Militia of Heaven by James Wasserman
I honestly don't remember this book very well, largely because I read it slightly over a year ago and you know how well my memory applies to events more than a year in the past. This was a proof I had left over from my Hungry Mind days, and the main thing that surprised me about it was that I had sort of expected this to be a slightly crazy conspiriology type book but it was actually an authentic history. It's actually quite good--it reads a bit dry but the history itself is interesting and it's reasonably well-told.
Queer by William S. Burroughs
Continuing my very slow plan to read all the works of Burroughs chronologically. It's a good book, but a bit less than I was expecting. Between the chunks that were pulled out and inserted into JUNKY and (I think) THE YAGE LETTERS and the events that are intentionally omitted entirely (pretty much anything involving Joan), the book feels a bit cannibalized. But it's still early Burroughs, and therefore totally awesome.
The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas, unabridged
Trashy true confession: my interest in this book was driven in large part by the Jim Caviezel/Guy Pearce adaptation from a few years back, combined with a little bit of drive to read Dumas from his influence on Steven Brust's Khaavren Romances. Anyways, whatever reason I cooked up to convince me to read the book, it was totally worth it. I fucking love Dumas' writing style just as much as I expected to (based on reading others ape it), and I fucking loved this book through and through. Doubleplusgood recommended, especially if you like tragic tales of Rube Goldbergian revenge.
You Only Live Twice by Ian Fleming
Really, it was a buck at the Farmer's Market. Apparently this is the first Bond movie to have nothing whatsoever to do with the book. Impressively, rather more racist than the movie (which I admittedly haven't seen in the better part of a decade). Still good enough that I'm keeping my eyes out at used book stores for more of them.
The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind by Julian Jaynes
I got this at Powell's in Portland after reading some intriguing descriptions of it online. Really, really, really, really good. Mind-blowingly good. Incredibly well-written, an aggressive, well-argued thesis, and I'm not at all convinced but it's thought-provoking enough that I bring it up in conversations with other neuroscientists all the time now. I can definitely see myself going back to this again and again both to try and make up my mind and also just for a good example of how to think about and argue these kinds of topics.
Solar Lottery by Philip K. Dick
I think I picked this up at Half-Price or Elliot Bay's used section for a couple bucks, this is another one I read early last year so I don't remember it very well by now. From what I recall, it had some standard Phildickian issues with him writing about how he thought science or probability worked that in fact bears minimal relation to how it actually works.
Asimov's Guide to the Bible by Isaac Asimov
You might recall that I have a degree in religious studies that, in retrospect, seems to have mostly been acquired for shits and giggles. You may also have heard that Isaac Asimov has been my favorite author since I was like nine years old. You can only imagine how much I loved the shit out of this book, and the best part is that it is in fact really actually totally THAT GOOD. An incredibly well-written, well-researched attempt to both historicize the Bible and interpret it as itself an attempt to portray the history of the Hebrew people and the cult that sprung out of them during the Roman occupation. So, so, good. Like, I climb out of bed in the middle of the night just to lick it. That good.
You Can't Win by Jack Black
I think I picked this up new at the UW bookstore after I read Junky and that Burroughs bio whose name and author escape me. Anyways, this was a book Burroughs read as a kid and it was a profound influence on his development and writing style. Unsurprisingly, it's really good and very interesting. It's an autobiography that's ostensibly polemic, but almost reads more like a picaresque of turn of the 20th century hobo culture. Depressingly, whenever I start to talk about it people think I'm talking about a highly overrated member of Tenacious D.
Boink by Mary Roach
I think I just picked this up on a trip to Portland or something to have something to read. I was pretty underwhelmed on a number of levels. On the one hand, as a scientist, there were a lot of sections that were basically like "I know you can't believe that scientists do this!" where I was like, "well of course scientists do this, what else would we do?" OTOH, there was this pervasive titillated-middle-class-housewife feelling throughout the book where she just seemed to think it was way more risque to be writing about S-E-X than it actually is in the 21st century. I can only take so much of the author giggling into her hand as she tries to avoid making it sound dirty. Very annoying. That said, it was worth five bucks and a couple afternoons which is more or less what I think I put into it.
FreeDarko Presents The Undisputed Guide to Pro Basketball History
This is basically the best writing on basketball I've ever encountered. SO GOOD. If you know someone who's obsessed with basketball and you want to know why or you just want to be able to have a conversation with them, READ THIS BOOK. NOW. THEN READ IT AGAIN. LOOK BACK AT MY HAND. I'M ON A HORSE.
FreeDarko Presents The Macrophenomenal Pro Basketball Almanac
After the profound love I felt for Undisputed, I immediately purchased the first book (which I'd previously been interested in). It's really really good. I should have read them in the other order, because I was a little bit left down because it just wasn't quite as good (or quite as much what I wanted) as Undisputed. But it's still really really good, I swear.
So that's 2010. So far, in 2011, I'm continuing the trend of reading really really long books, which admittedly makes these posts shorter.
J out
Please note that this is probably missing a couple things that got read and then lent out rather then getting put on the shelf. There are also a bunch of things that won't get listed (the only things that come to mind are The Epic of Gilgamesh and a bunch of Socratic dialogues) because my reading-tracking system only includes whole books consumed. Also, comic books are right out because I read them too much.
Most of my comments are really just rushed attempts to put down what I thought about the book. If you'd like more in-depth thoughts about the books or want more of a description of what they're about, feel free to ask and I'll see what I can do.
Anyways, here's what I've got in no particular order:
The Templars and the Assassins: The Militia of Heaven by James Wasserman
I honestly don't remember this book very well, largely because I read it slightly over a year ago and you know how well my memory applies to events more than a year in the past. This was a proof I had left over from my Hungry Mind days, and the main thing that surprised me about it was that I had sort of expected this to be a slightly crazy conspiriology type book but it was actually an authentic history. It's actually quite good--it reads a bit dry but the history itself is interesting and it's reasonably well-told.
Queer by William S. Burroughs
Continuing my very slow plan to read all the works of Burroughs chronologically. It's a good book, but a bit less than I was expecting. Between the chunks that were pulled out and inserted into JUNKY and (I think) THE YAGE LETTERS and the events that are intentionally omitted entirely (pretty much anything involving Joan), the book feels a bit cannibalized. But it's still early Burroughs, and therefore totally awesome.
The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas, unabridged
Trashy true confession: my interest in this book was driven in large part by the Jim Caviezel/Guy Pearce adaptation from a few years back, combined with a little bit of drive to read Dumas from his influence on Steven Brust's Khaavren Romances. Anyways, whatever reason I cooked up to convince me to read the book, it was totally worth it. I fucking love Dumas' writing style just as much as I expected to (based on reading others ape it), and I fucking loved this book through and through. Doubleplusgood recommended, especially if you like tragic tales of Rube Goldbergian revenge.
You Only Live Twice by Ian Fleming
Really, it was a buck at the Farmer's Market. Apparently this is the first Bond movie to have nothing whatsoever to do with the book. Impressively, rather more racist than the movie (which I admittedly haven't seen in the better part of a decade). Still good enough that I'm keeping my eyes out at used book stores for more of them.
The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind by Julian Jaynes
I got this at Powell's in Portland after reading some intriguing descriptions of it online. Really, really, really, really good. Mind-blowingly good. Incredibly well-written, an aggressive, well-argued thesis, and I'm not at all convinced but it's thought-provoking enough that I bring it up in conversations with other neuroscientists all the time now. I can definitely see myself going back to this again and again both to try and make up my mind and also just for a good example of how to think about and argue these kinds of topics.
Solar Lottery by Philip K. Dick
I think I picked this up at Half-Price or Elliot Bay's used section for a couple bucks, this is another one I read early last year so I don't remember it very well by now. From what I recall, it had some standard Phildickian issues with him writing about how he thought science or probability worked that in fact bears minimal relation to how it actually works.
Asimov's Guide to the Bible by Isaac Asimov
You might recall that I have a degree in religious studies that, in retrospect, seems to have mostly been acquired for shits and giggles. You may also have heard that Isaac Asimov has been my favorite author since I was like nine years old. You can only imagine how much I loved the shit out of this book, and the best part is that it is in fact really actually totally THAT GOOD. An incredibly well-written, well-researched attempt to both historicize the Bible and interpret it as itself an attempt to portray the history of the Hebrew people and the cult that sprung out of them during the Roman occupation. So, so, good. Like, I climb out of bed in the middle of the night just to lick it. That good.
You Can't Win by Jack Black
I think I picked this up new at the UW bookstore after I read Junky and that Burroughs bio whose name and author escape me. Anyways, this was a book Burroughs read as a kid and it was a profound influence on his development and writing style. Unsurprisingly, it's really good and very interesting. It's an autobiography that's ostensibly polemic, but almost reads more like a picaresque of turn of the 20th century hobo culture. Depressingly, whenever I start to talk about it people think I'm talking about a highly overrated member of Tenacious D.
Boink by Mary Roach
I think I just picked this up on a trip to Portland or something to have something to read. I was pretty underwhelmed on a number of levels. On the one hand, as a scientist, there were a lot of sections that were basically like "I know you can't believe that scientists do this!" where I was like, "well of course scientists do this, what else would we do?" OTOH, there was this pervasive titillated-middle-class-housewife feelling throughout the book where she just seemed to think it was way more risque to be writing about S-E-X than it actually is in the 21st century. I can only take so much of the author giggling into her hand as she tries to avoid making it sound dirty. Very annoying. That said, it was worth five bucks and a couple afternoons which is more or less what I think I put into it.
FreeDarko Presents The Undisputed Guide to Pro Basketball History
This is basically the best writing on basketball I've ever encountered. SO GOOD. If you know someone who's obsessed with basketball and you want to know why or you just want to be able to have a conversation with them, READ THIS BOOK. NOW. THEN READ IT AGAIN. LOOK BACK AT MY HAND. I'M ON A HORSE.
FreeDarko Presents The Macrophenomenal Pro Basketball Almanac
After the profound love I felt for Undisputed, I immediately purchased the first book (which I'd previously been interested in). It's really really good. I should have read them in the other order, because I was a little bit left down because it just wasn't quite as good (or quite as much what I wanted) as Undisputed. But it's still really really good, I swear.
So that's 2010. So far, in 2011, I'm continuing the trend of reading really really long books, which admittedly makes these posts shorter.
J out