This page is a list of books that I am or have read recently (with a few month delay).
You know, every book that I post on here starts a few month process/journey for a new book. I find it amazingly hard to find books that I want to finish. If they do not catch me the right way, they get tossed. So, off I go on a trip to the bookstore to go up and down every isle until the next book catches my attention. Enjoy reading the books below as I did.
What I have read since March 20, 2005 : Oct 16, 2007
I will not be writing any more reviews of the books I have read for a while. I just do not have the time. There are probably another fifty that are not listed on this page that you can see in the photo. So, check the photo out and email me if you want to know a good book to read. And, no, I do not read the cat scratch pad at the bottom.
Me Talk Pretty One Day : March 20, 2005
So this book was the most random book I think I have ever read in my life! There really was not much flow to it. It seemed more like I was given excerpts from David Sedaris’s personal journal over the years with no real overall goal to the book. The excerpts (chapters) generally had me laughing out loud on the Metro getting funny looks from others. What his sister yells to him on the NYC subway will be permanently logged in my brain as one of the best jokes ever. Oh god and his poor dead cat (too funny for me to write)! If you can handle random chapters, but want to roll on the floor laughing, this is the book for you. I could do without some of his talk about his boyfriend, but then again, I am straight and he is gay….lol.. I can say, however, that I will be buying more of his books in the future, just to hear some random outrageous stories.
Click here for more info.
A Confederacy of Dunces : March 20, 2005
So this book is rather funny while the story is setting up. However, after a while it gets a little winded. I have read this book off and on over a two-year period and recently just finished it. If I had not bought it, I would have never have had the urge to finish reading it. There are only so many descriptions of the severely obese character I can take. And, at various points I wanted to bitch-slap the main character. When I got to the end of the book, I was left with the feeling that the book was a waste. Why would you create such an off-the-wall kind character and then let him fizzle at the end? I have heard people comparing this book to a modern-day Huckleberry Finn, and let me just say they are probably right. Both stories bored the living daylights out of me. Can I get the time back I spent reading this book please?
Click here for more info.
Bringing Down the House (The Inside Story of Six M.I.T. Students Who Took Vegas for Millions) : March 20, 2005
So I’m a numbers kind of guy, and after hearing of about this book (via CNN) I had to have it. To be honest, the way in which the M.I.T. students were counting cards was not the best part of the story. You need not be a student at M.I.T. to do what they did. If anything, it was just a group of people exploiting the fact they were in a rich recruiting ground for achieving their goal. I bet you could recruit players like they had in their groups at any college in America. However, the story was told in such a way, that you actually become intrigued by the lives that these students were living. If anything, the math was the simple part. And man, those Casinos were taken (legally) for a lot of cash, and reading the ways in which they adapt to the M.I.T. students is interesting alone. This is a great true story, great book! Excellent Read!
Click here for more info.
Dune (the series): March 20, 2005
What can I say about this series is that it is one of the best Science Fiction series ever. Because I really do not want to give the details of the books (spoilers), I will give rather general summaries of each book in the series.
Dune:
The first book that which establishes the story (and series), and the best in the series (IMHO). I loved it.
Click here for more info.
Dune Messiah:
Rather wordy, but in the end comes together. Has to be my least favorite in the series, but build to one of the best in the series.
Click here for more info.
Children of Dune:
Great book in the series. A lot of expansion upon the previous two books with new characters taking the lead in the plot. It was a very exciting read.
Click here for more info.
God Emperor of Dune:
This book was an awkward transition in the series in that all of the characters from before were no more (save two, but the lead character is far different)… I will leave the details of that change in the series to you the reader. But, because of the transition in the line of books to some time in the future, there is a lot of information to process in this book. Once you get through it all, it is well worth it.
Click here for more info.
Heretics of Dune:
So the old boss on the block is gone, and now there are new troublemakers. This is a very good book, and it takes a bit to start cheering for the good guys as you have wanted them to suffer in the pervious books, but this book is good (very good read).
Click here for more info.
Chapterhouse:
I guess every series has to come to an end. Sadly, it did not end in the way that I wanted. Since Frank Herbert is no more, I guess that is it as well. What a great book though, I loved it until the end. This is probably my second favorite in the series after the original Dune.
Click here for more info.
The Mission: Waging War and Keeping Peace with America’s Military: May 7, 2003
This book was very amazing. Dana Priest is an absolutely great writer. I must note that there were some grammar errors in the book that really irritated me. Aside from the occasional retake because of that, this book was the most enlightening work I have read about the American government. I haven’t been in a history class in some time, and I was a very good student when it came to history. That said, the restructuring of the armed forces of America after Grenada is/was staggering. If you truly want to know how the US government works, this should be a must read! Not only do you learn in detail how the US military is used around the world for strictly military purposes, you also learn that the new post cold war diplomatic arm of the US is the military.
Click here for more info.
What Went Wrong? The Clash Between Islam and Modernity in the Middle East: May 7, 2003
If you ever wanted a “cliffnotes” of interactions between the Middle East and the west and the repercussions of those events, then this book is a must read. This book (in my opinion) should only be read if you are really interested in the topic. It drags filling in a lot of the important history leading to the modern issues at the start. However, this might also be answered by the fact that the modern day issues between the two cultures is nothing new, but has been happening for a very long time. Maybe with Iraq, we can give the Islamic world one nation where the people vote for their leaders and have a choice in the direction a person wants to take their life. From reading this book, I think that it is clear without those choices for the people of the Islamic world, the world as a whole will feel the rath of the disenchanted youth of the middle east.
Click here for more info.
The Silmarillion: Feb 17, 2003
This is a book that I knew of for a long time, but was not eager to hop into because of some bad reviews that I had read. To my great surprise, this book was just as good as The Hobbit or the Lord of the Rings serious. In fact, this book lays out the whole history of Middleearth and explains many of the details that were missing from the aforementioned books. I recommend this book highly to anyone who loves the Lord of the Rings. If you ever wanted to know where Gandalf or a Balrog came from, this book will explain those and much more. Simply, I cannot recommend this book enough.
Click here for more info.
The Cell: Feb 17, 2003
This book is a fascinating read. It is clear from reading this book, that the end of the Afghanistan war for the Russians was just the beginning of the U.S. and militant Islamic groups. The amount of detail in this book describing the growth process of Islamic terrorists in attacking the U.S. is very informative. From the lack of action taken by our government and the amount of planning done by Al-Qeada and the sophistication of their attacks from the start to the most recent attacks is staggering.
My Personal Opinion:
Radical Islamic groups are the greatest threat to the United States (in my humble opinion). They claim to want a free Palestine, but they want more. A free Palestine to the radical Islamic groups is a Palestine with no Israel, and that is just the beginning. It should be known that to them, a world of diverse cultures and beliefs living side-by-side is a world filled with “Unbelievers” (a term used for those that do not follow a very strict code if Islam). The world is mistaken if they think the modern terrorist conflict is between the U.S. and militant Islamic groups. The sole goal of these groups is to create a worldwide Islamic state.
You might also pose this question to yourself: “When will the youth of Islam stop willing acting as puppets of evil cowards?” To this I add, when the Islamic Clerics stop preaching hatred of the west and of a “Global Jihad.”
Click here for more info.
Ghost Soldiers: Feb 17, 2003
Most of the stories of the Philippines during WWII for me started off that McArthur retreated from the islands and then later on returned as a triumphant victor on the way to winning the pacific theater. However, this book brings a whole new light to that “retreat” of a few that was a death march for many. I had never realized how many U.S. troops were left behind and that so many had actually perished in the hazardous exodus to internment camps. The Bataan death march was more than just some “evil” army sending troops to POW camps and killing them along the way, it was an utter failure by a good intentioned commander (towards the POWs) in the Japanese military to adapt to higher POW numbers than he had envisioned. This book also helps show that the Japanese army of WWII had both good and bad soldiers. Some would help those along the march and in prison, while some would torment them, and still others would kill for nothing at all.
Also included in this book is just the start of a marvelous truthful story of an American woman working behind enemy lines helping those who were in camps and providing vital information to U.S. forces in the Pacific. For those that think a women has not done “dangerous” work in wars and that all the fighting and spying is done by men, I recommend you read a little on Claire Phillips.
Click here for more info.
Finding Fish: A Memoir : Dec 11, 2002
Finding Fish was a book that I became interested in after seeing a trailer for the movie at apple.com almost a half-year before the movie was even going to be released (there was not even a title for the movie at the time). Anyways, I became inspired to read this book, and the reward was great. Any parent who might have an adopted child should let that child read this book when they are a rebellious teen. It smacks you in the face with the reality with the sometimes cruel and other times sad life of a child living through foster care, and of a person making something from nothing. This book was an absolutely amazing read. Definitely one of my favorites!
Click here for more info.
A Walk In The Woods : Oct 6, 2002
A friend told me that this book would be a good read and that I should check it out when considering my next book. So, I went to the store and just bought it on blind faith. Kind of odd for me to do that, but I was totally rewarded for my decision. This book has made me laugh a lot and has informed me of things that I had never known regarding the world, nature, and Americas forests. If you like to go on hikes and enjoy a good read, I strongly recommend this book. It will remain one of my favorites.
Click here for more info.
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius : June 8, 2002
It is a rare day when I stumble on a book of this calabir. This was written with much humor and wit! This is a must read book!
Click here for more info.
Crypto : Feb 18, 2002
This is an outstanding book on the development of cryptology in the public sector and the struggle to let everyone use it. This is a modern day David-and-Goliath story. This is a must read if you know anything about the Internet. I was addicted to this book.
Click here for more info.
All Quiet On The Western Front : Feb 18, 2002
Amazingly, I never read this throughout high school or college. I decided I should read it and see why so many have read it. I thought the book was okay. It has a few moments, but the pace of the book was a little slow for my taste. If you are looking for a book to help explain why war is bad, check out “Johnny Got His Gun” below.
Click here for more info.
Children of A New Father Land : Feb 18, 2002
This is an okay book. I bought it because I was wondering how in heck the youth in Germany could be doing some of the racist things that in the past led to the Nazis. I find it amazing that the German terrorists in the 60s and 70s were getting support from the PLO. I found myself skipping through allot of the book.
Click here for more info.
Battle Field Earth : July 22, 2001
This is a good book. If you are a SCI-FI fan, you will like it allot. If there was one drawback to the book, it was the ending (it got slow). For those of you concerned that this is nothing but a book for scientologists, you are wrong.
Click here for more info.
The Hobbit : July 22, 2001
This is one of the best books that I have ever read! This is/was the basis for every fantasy book after the 1950s. It is a literary classic and one of the best selling books of all time. I highly recommend this book.
Click here for more info.
The Lord of The Rings : July 22, 2001
This is a collection of three books that follow The Hobbit, and will place you in a trance as you get deeper into the story! These three books are a great read. I happen to think that the Hobbit is better, but the Lord of The Rings is a very close second. Plus, it concludes the story begun in The Hobbit.
Click here for more info.
Things Fall Apart : July 22, 2001
This is a great book written from an African perspective about the precolonialization of african society and the complete break down of African society at the begining of colonialization. It has been a while since I read this book, but it is a classic in my opinion and is a great read.
Click here for more info.
On Liberty : July 22, 2001
This is a great book which has influenced many people in how a government should work and still promote freedom among its citizens. This book will give you a greater understanding of America and the ideals which we strive to maintain in our government/society.
Click here for more info.
The Book of Honor : July 22, 2001
This is a great book that documents the lives of those individuals who have made the ultimate sacrafice for the good of the country serving the Central Intelligence Agency. Sometimes you will be upset about the misfortune that occured to the people in this book, but you must understand that these things happen and however regretable they may be, they will always be needed/necessary.
Click here for more info.
The Puzzle Palace : July 22, 2001
This is a great book which documents the history of the National Security Agency from its birth to present day. I must say that this was a great book to read even though in places the book drags…
Click here for more info.
The Ultimate HitchHikers Guide : July 22, 2001
This is an amazingly funny book to read and will fit well into any computer geeks book collection.. Some of the sayings in this book will forever be your code words to tell if someone else is a true computer geek or not..
Click here for more info.
The Day the American Revolution Began : July 22, 2001
If you are a person who loves America, then this is a great book to read. This gives a detailed cronological narrative on the events that would set the American Colonies on the path to becoming the greatest country ever!
Click here for more info.
Johnny Got His Gun : July 22, 2001
Helps show that war should be avoided if at all possible. This helps destroy the glory of war often portrayed in the movies with the story of a soldier who is forever tortured by the isolation of his war injuries.
Click here for more info.
