Well Worn In

Summer is dunzo.  Bummer.  I didn’t do much this summer besides sleep and read.  Here are my book reviews, they’re short and to the point.

Confederates in the Attic by Tony Horwitz

A great read by an author who is becoming one of my favorites.  The book examines the legacy of the American Civil War in today’s South.  Combining in depth historical research with poignancy and wit, Horwitz’s book is a must for the shelf of any history buff.  Much like another book of his,  A Voyage Long and Strange, the research was conducted first hand throughout the region.  This spices the book up a little as it adds a travel theme to the stew.  The narrative is easy to follow yet smart.

The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane

A classic.  I guess I was on somewhat of a Civil War Kick.  This time though, the work is fiction.  Also, Crane chooses to place his protagonist, Henry Fleming, in a Union uniform.  The book written in a flowery, beautiful, 19th century prose.  I even took my pen out and scribbled, underlined, and bracketed sentences and passages that just oozed of descriptive goodness.  Much of the book focuses on Fleming’s thoughts and emotions throughout days on the front.  A reader witnesses Fleming go through stages of paralyzing fear, jubilation, anxiety, guilt, and a number of other emotions.  Crane was only 24 upon the book’s publication.

Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck

Another classic.  The only thing I can say about this book is READ IT.  It’s about 100 pages, and packs a serious punch.  Do yourself a favor and read this.

Confessions of an Economic Hit Man by John Perkins

If I could give this book a sub-title it would be:  The Way the World Really Works.  In this memoir, Perkins discusses his days as an Economic Hit Man (EHM).  The role of the EHM was to, essentially, saddle a country with so much debt that they would never be able to repay it.  As a result, the lender organizations and countries enjoyed political, military, and economic cooperation from those debt-ridden states.  Now, that is a bastardized and over-simplified summary, but you get the idea.  This book truly helps you to understand the word globalization.  The book can paint a pretty dreary image of the world and the United States, and at times can get gritty–not for the idealistic or faint of heart.  If you’re interested in US foreign policy, or international policy over the last 50 years, this is a must read.

Say You’re One of Them by Uwem Akpan

This was my summer reading assignment–yes, I have summer reading in college.  The book is a collection of 5 short stories, all told from the perspective of children living in Africa.  From a Muslim killed by Christians amidst religious violence, to an Uncle selling his niece and nephew into child slavery, this book covers the spectrum of hardships many African children face today.  But through it all,  I think there is some strand of hopefulness.  The stories are all together moving, sad, and inspiring.

By Robert Persig

Publisher: William Morrow & Company

I first heard about this novel when checking out some reading lists online, specifically, a reading list for men.  The title intrigued me, so I did a little looking and found that it was a best seller, a landmark work, etc. etc.  One of my favorite genres of books is the road novel.  Endless miles on an open ride provide a great background for a novel.  I am also infatuated with motorcycles.  The book seemed like a perfect fit for me.  I was wrong, and I think that soured my enjoyment of the book as a whole.

It wasn’t as much a novel about the road, about motorcycles, or about a father-son relationship (which I was also promised) as it was about philosophy.  I should have been clued in to this when the employee at Barnes & Nobel walked past the fiction section to the philosophy section.  If I had to quantify the ratios, I would say that Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance is 2 parts road novel, 1 part father-son examination, and 4 parts philosophy.  Qualitatively, I would describe the book as dense.  I found myself thoroughly enjoying and breezing through the road oriented passages, and yet laboring through the philosophy passages.  Admittedly,  much of the philosophy was over my head.  I am not a slow reader, yet I found this book a tiresome read.  Work, rather than pleasure.  That said, I will say the road and the father-son passages were interesting, and to a large extent, entertaining.

In all, I am glad I read it.  It does offer many interesting insights and anecdotes that are indeed relevant to everyday life.  Also, the running narrative on the author’s “former self” Phaedrus, is quite interesting, although at times frustratingly mysterious.  If you’re interested in philosophy, I recommend the book–otherwise, I recommend the book with an asterisk.  If you don’t know much about philosophy,  go ahead and get your feet wet, it’s not a painful read.  But if you know you have an aversion to over analysis and philosophy, then I’d say look elsewhere on the bookshelf for your next read.

By: Steven D. Levitt (The Economist) & Stephen J. Dubner (The Writer)

Publisher: William Morrow

If you’ve read Freakonomics and enjoyed it, you should read it’s sequel, SuperFreakonomics.  There I said it–That’s the review in a nutshell.  For a more detailed review, continue reading.

Good news and bad news.  Bad news first: Freakonomics was a great book, and an enthralling read–easily one of my favorite books.  Maybe my expectations for Super- were a little too high, but the sequel didn’t quite fill the shoes set before it.  But, really, could it?  Freakonomics was fresh and provided a lot of food for thought–everything from sumo wrestling to crack dealing.   It was wholly original.  Maybe Super- just lacked the originality factor of its predecessor.  It feels as though the book was rushed, like the authors took whatever material they had on hand–left over from the original even–and cranked out another book (Ironically, in the Forward the authors tell us they tried to avoid doing this).

But it’s not all bad!  Believe me!  Good news:  It does offer its fair share of not your average insights.  Example: Prostitution in a Chicago park seems to peak every year around July 4th–the same time that family reunions peak in the very same park.  Hmm…  Super- seems to have a continuity (although at times it feels contrived) to it that I cannot recall from Freakonomics–however, I did read it two years ago.  Super- is a fine read, however, and applies to today, with a portion of the book devoted to global war–er…uhm…global cooling.  It’s also a quick read, coming in at about 200 pages, it’s nothing too serious.

In all, if you’ve read the first, read the second.  If you haven’t read the first–read the first.  Then consider the second.

Buy SuperFreakonomics Here

Buy Freakonomics Here

Also of note:

Freakonomics Blog from the NY Times and the Freakonomics Podcast

*A Short History of Nearly Everything

By Bill Bryson

Publisher: Broadway Books

If you’ve ever read Bill Bryson, you know the experience is unlike reading any other author.  In A Short History of Nearly Everything, Bryson attacks–well, nearly everything, with his characteristic humor and adroit story telling.  The book begins with genesis, that is, the beginning of earth and the formation of the solar system.  From there, it outlines scientific history all the way to the 20th century.  All the while Bryson entertains his readers with anecdotes about some interesting figures who helped push science to new frontiers.

The best part about the book is that it it entirely readable.  Bryson does not mire the reader with obtuse scientific jargon, despite having every opportunity to.  He explains concepts such as plate tectonics or evolution with such clarity and lucidity that even a business major (such as myself) would find them thoroughly engrossing.   There is one drawback, however, to the book: it was published in 2003.  This does not subtract from the book in any substantial manner, but reading it in 2010, some of the figures or data seemed–not outdated–merely, middle-aged, if you will.  That aside, it is an excellent work, and an easy read sure to make you raise your eyebrows, laugh, and think differently about the world around us.

Available from Amazon.

By Tony Horwitz

Publisher: Picador

How much do you know about American History?  Well, Columbus sailed the ocean blue in 1492, and the pilgrims landed at Plymouth rock in 1620, and the Declar–wait.

What happened between 1492 and 1620?  If you’re like many Americans, that time period is a veritable historical black out.  And it’s not because nothing happened, either.  Quite the contrary, a lot happened!

Author Tony Horwitz sets out to answer this question in his most recent book, A Voyage Long and Strange: On the Trail of Vikings, Conquistadors, Lost Colonists, And Other Adventures in Early America.   Horwitz takes readers on a caffine-fueled quest across America’s highways and through time, providing insights and anecdotes from past and present throughout.

It is highly readable history.  Your average history text is stuffy, and somewhat condescending.  Horwitz begins where the reader begins, however, ignorant of the topic.  As he travels, and learns, the reader learns.  This cultivates an interesting relationship between author and reader, a feeling of shared experience almost.  By the end of the book, the reader is comfortable enough with Horwitz to take the hours long road trip across the plains, or through North Carolina’s back country on the trail of Roanoke’s lost colonists.

Horwitz’s poignant insights, coupled with assiduous research create a book chock-full-o-facts, most fun, all interesting, and all sure to impress anyone at a cocktail (or natty light) party.  While not the type of information that can be readily applied to everyday life, it more than fills the void of knowledge regarding early American history, precisely what the author set out to do.

Buy the book Here

Chad “Ocho Cinco” Johnson’s New Book

If you thought Kanye West was an ass, you should read this.

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