Why a list of books I’ve recently read? 

Books fill my mind with new ideas, and like most people, during the time that I’m in the process of reading a good book, I find myself thinking about it during the day and looking for opportunities to grab a quiet twenty minutes to finish the chapter that I ill-advisedly began at midnight in bed the night before.

I suspect that compelling books such as these likely effect the way that I play.

Recently finished books:

The Girl Who Played with Fire - Stieg Larsson

A compelling read that I enjoyed over a long period of time. Well written and engrossing.

3/30/15

Clint: A Retrospective - Richard Schickel

I found this while I was looking for another book at the library. I’m not a huge Clint fan, but I did enjoy Letters from Iwo Jima, Million Dollar Baby and Unforgiven greatly. There are compelling descriptions of the stories behind these and dozens of his other movies as well as great, large format photos to go with them. The part that most impressed me, though, was Clint’s recounting of how he wanted to take control of his “failures and successes” after the big budget musical he starred in: Paint your Wagon. As a creative person, I found this inspiring.

8/10/14

The Martian - Andy Weir

This novel takes place in the near future. Mark Watney, our hero, has been left for dead by his comrades after a severe dust storm early in their Martian mission. This highly entertaining story describes how he survives for years on the Red Planet’s surface and his subsequent rescue. I was VERY sad to see this book end! I am excited to hear that The Martian will be made into a movie, although I think the story would be better served as a yearlong Netflix series.

8/1/14

The Girl with the Dragon Tatoo - Stieg Larsson

I picked this up at the local library on a lark AFTER having seen the Swedish extended version of the three movies on Netflix. I thought the movies were extremely well done and, in many ways, I found the movie more compelling than the book. That said, I found the book a quite engrossing summer read and am onto the second installment.

8/14/13

Escape from Camp 14: One man’s remarkable odyssey from North Korea to freedom in the West - Blaine Harden

This is an account of the only known escapee of a North Korean forced labor camp by a prisoner born within it’s fences. The conditions and brutality that up to 200,000 North Koreans endure within these camps is difficult to comprehend. These conditions include near endless forced labor, beatings, rapes and malnourishment. It is incredible that these camps, similar to what Jews and others endured in Nazi German, have been in existence for over 60 years. These camps, the existence of which are denied by the North Korean regime, are visible in Google Earth. The largest of these camps is 20x30 miles! 7/31/12

The Pearl - John Steinbeck

Bleak but beautiful. No happy story, this, but gripping and quite a quick read. Steinbeck is the Chet Baker of the literary world. ie: he writes only what is necessary. 

7/20/12

Unbroken - Laura Hillenbrand

Such an unbelievable WWII era war and POW saga, it’s hard to fathom. Extraordinarily compelling and very well written. Unbroken details the life of Louis Zamperini from childhood to old age. Things really get interesting from the time of his participation in the Berlin Olympics and into WWII where Zaperini served as a Army Air Corp bombardier.

4/20/2012

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer - Mark Twain

There are not many funny books that will increase your vocabulary.  This is one of them.  Twain’s power for description is powerful and makes this book more entertaining that I could have hoped.  1/15/2012

Steve Jobs - Walter Isaacson

Holy Moly, Steve Jobs was a crazy genius!  I got my first Mac in 1987 and have been a Mac guy ever since.  Their machines work with so much less fuss than their Windows counterparts, I gladly pay more for them. So, I was bowled over to hear how abrasive and cruel Jobs could be considering the care and thought that obviously go into Apple’s devices.  I wish for those that worked with him, and his own health that he could have kept some of that Zen sensibility and peace for himself. 11/20/2011

A Time to Die - Robert Moore

Recounts the tragic sinking of the Russian nuclear submarine, the “Kursk” on August 12, 2000 during a Russian naval exercise, and the subsequent bungled rescue effort that eventually sealed the fate of the entire crew. 10/8/2011

The Jazz Ear - Ben Ratliff

A fascinating series of short interviews with fifteen jazz artists whom Ratliff admires.  Some are legends, such as Sonny Rollins.  Others, such as Guillermo Klein, are not.  Artists are asked to play three recordings of other musicians that they feel are important.  Reveling and entertaining. 8/28/2011

Marshfield - Cynthia Hagar Krusell and John J. Galluzzo

One of the many books in the “Images of America” series, Marshfield is about my home town south of Boston.  My parents bought a home in “the Hills” in 1958 and after major renovations, moved their young family in in 1959.  At that time they already had three of their final tally of five children, of whom I am the last.  It was interesting seeing how Marshfield was a tourist destination before Cape Cod and New Hampshire superseded the south shore in popularity.  I still love the rocky beaches and cold water of Marshfield and Humarock - technically in Scituate. - 1/1/2010

Infidel - Ayaan Hirsi Ali

An compelling biography that takes the reader through the life Hirsi Ali - from Somalia, Saudi Arabia, Ethiopia, Kenya, Germany, Holland and presently to the US where she works at the American Enterprise Institute.  Now matter your politics, this is a remarkable book that shines a light on places and events that that need to be seen by a wider Western audience.  Hirsi Ali’s sometimes clumsy writing style is well worth staying with in order to hear her remarkable story.  -12/16/2009

Jazz - Geoffrey C. Ward & Ken Burns

This Burns take on Jazz is an entertaining and informative read but is unfortunate in its extreme neglect of the music from the 1960’s onward.  If Baseball can get a “10th inning,” Jazz certainly deserves a “3rd Set.” - 4/15/09

Fighting the Flying Circus - Captain Eddie V. Rickenbacker

Eddie Rickenbacker was a World War I ace with 26 confirmed victories.  He led the first American squadron of the war, the 94th (other successful American pilots had also served under the French before America’s entry to the war), which by the war’s end had shot down 96 enemy aircraft.  Rickenbacker’s first hand account of the air war, a mere 10 years after the Wright brothers had invented the first airplane, describes the perils of directing and receiving machine gun fire at 15,000 feet with no parachute!

Images of the Universe - Leonardo daVinci:  The Artists as Scientist - Richard McLanathan

A great read about and a great collection of illustrations by the definitive Renaissance man.

Blink - Malcolm Gladwell

Could it be true that one should make snap judgments for big decisions and and take a more studied approach for smaller matters?

Outliers - Malcolm Gladwell

Gladwell makes the case that success and failure in life follow predictable patterns.

Stuart Little - E. B. White

How can you not love a little mouse with so much joie de vivre?  My five year old and I both loved it!

Charlotte’s Web - E. B. White

This was Sofie’s first book without pictures on every page, and my first time with this beautifully written story.  Thank goodness I had a compelling reason to read this as an adult!

Homes for a Changing Climate - Katrin Klingenberg, Mike Kernagis and Mary James

This book outlines eight homebuilding projects that have met or nearly met the vaunted German Passivhaus standard.  The seven principals that Passivhaus designers and builders strive to meet are:

1. •superinsulate (the building envelope)
   

2. •eliminate thermal bridges (places where thermally conductive materials such as wood or metal allow heat to pass through an otherwise tight building envelope
   

3. •make it airtight
   

4. •specify energy or heat recovery ventilation
   

5. •specify high-performance windows and doors
   

6. •optimize passive-solar and internal heat gains
   

7. •model energy gains and losses using the PHPP (Passive House Planning Package), a computer program which models a building’s energy consumption
   

Being Peace - Thich Nhat Hanh

Thich Nhat Hanh offers wonderful, sensible ways of transforming negativity into positivity.

One Man’s Wilderness-An Alaskan Odyssey - Sam Keith/Richard Proenneke

The diary of a man who built his own log cabin with hand tools in the Alaska wilderness and lived there alone for over a year.  Amazing and beautiful.

The Cartoon History of The United States - Larry Gonick

This condensed look at US history is more serious than it’s title would imply, but it is also very funny!

Peace is Every Step - Thich Nhat Hanh

This short read changed my life.  It offers simple insights into living and experiencing the world.

Vengeance - George Jonas

The sad, but completely compelling story (if it’s indeed true) of Israel’s response to the 1968 Munich Olympic massacres.

Animal Farm - George Orwell

The classic story that most people read in High School.

The Right Stuff - Tom Wolf

I’d always heard this was a great book, but had no idea how fun it would be to follow Wolf’s stories surrounding the first American astronauts.

The Cartoon History of the Modern World, Vol. 1 - Larry Gonick

Extraordinarily interesting and FUNNY!

When Genius Failed - Roger Lowenstein

The story of the big hedge fund meltdown of Long-Term Capital Investment in the mid 1990’s.

Guerrilla P.R. Wired - Michael Levine

How to get P.R. on the cheap.

What I’m reading...

Reading list