My Book List

This is a list of the last 20 books that I have read (for fun, medical books do not count!) over the past ~3-4 years, along with a little review of each one. If you are interested in the material contained within this blog, these books may be a nice supplement. I have tried to put them in the order that I read them, starting from the Summer of 2001:

1. American Terrorist: Timothy McVeigh and the Oklahoma City Bombing, by Lou Michel and Dan Herbeck

An excellent book revealing the mind of Tim McVeigh. It was interesting for me because a great deal of the book dealt with his life in Western New York, where he grew up ~25 miles away from me. He even graduated high school at Art Park in Lewiston, which is where I graduated as salutatorian. This book should be considered the authoritative source on the entire story of the Oklahoma City Bombing, written by Lou Michel and Dan Herbeck, who worked for the Buffalo News. The book is based upon interviews with Tim McVeigh in prison shortly before he was executed. I finished this book about a week before his execution. I was actually saddened because Tim really seemed like a nice boy growing up until he became messed up from witnessing the Persian Gulf War and subsequently became obsessed with revenge against the U.S. government for the atrocities committed at Waco, Texas. I would highly recommend this book.

2. Mere Christianity, by C.S. Lewis

This was a great book. The first section is the best, as it deals with a "proof" of sorts of God’s existence, and how he differs from what many people think is his opposite, the Devil. Definitely one of Lewis’s best works of non-fiction.

3. Have Gun Will Travel, by Ronin Ro

This is one of the coolest books I have ever read. It is all about the rise of Death Row Records in the early 1990’s, one of the most powerful rap conglomerates ever. Details the come-up from the early days of N.W.A with Eazy-E, Ice Cube, Mc Ren, and Dr. Dre, who later went on to form Death Row Records with Suge Knight. Along with the superstar rise of Snoop Dogg and many of the Death Row crew, including Snoop’s cousins Daz and RBX, the Lady of Rage, and Kurupt the Kingpin, to the later days when Tupac Shakur joined Death Row after he was released from prison. Ronin Ro witnessed a great deal of this, especially the strong-arm tactics of CEO Suge Knight (a Blood), and his relationship with Snoop and Daz, who were both Crips.

4. Robot: Mere Machine to Transcedent Mind, by Hans Moravec

This book was very interesting, being a futuristic look into the past, present, and future of artificial intelligence. Although a little dry in some areas of the book, the best portion included a look into the future, when robots will start to gain intelligence, pattern recognition, and adaptability. Hans Moravec, who is a robotics genius at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, models a timetable based on Moore’s Law, which described the doubling of computational processing power in a certain amount of time. Based upon quantum computing, machines will possess amazing power and, according to this book, will eventually become our mind-children and succeed human beings, subsequently colonizing the universe. He bases the evolution of this process on certain qualities of animals, from insects to lizards and beyond.

5. Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Philosophy: Fear and Trembling in Sunnydale, by James South

This book was a little out of my league, but if you enjoy philosophy, it may be cool. It consists of a collection of essays on all different aspects of philosophy, from Socrates to Nietzsche, and how the characters of Buffy the Vampire Slayer illustrate the philosophical concepts. I really think you need to be a philosophy major to understand this one.

6. A Brief History of Time, by Stephen Hawking

This is the GREATEST physics book ever written, hands down. This is raw physics for the masses. From Newton to Einstein, quantum mechanics, and the newer string theories, Stephen Hawking’s explanations are easy to understand and very well-written. Hawking, who basically discovered black holes, has Lou Gehrig’s disease, and is confined to an electronic wheelchair, only able to move his eyes. He speaks and writes through a retinal scanner. Despite his limitations, he is an absolute genius, and the concepts detailed in this book will make anyone appreciate the discovery of the amazing physical laws of the universe.

7. Relativity, by Albert Einstein

A book by the greatest genius of all time, explaining the concepts of both special and general relativity. A little hard to understand unless your mind is wide-open and able to visualize tough concepts. Nevertheless, who better to explain relativity than Einstein himself? Here he uses his famous example of the train to illustrate the main points of special relativity, and his classic example of a space elevator equating gravity with acceleration, as outlined by general relativity. All of the pertinent equations are here, but suprisingly, E=mc2 is only mentioned in a little footnote!

8. Time Travel in Einstein’s Universe: The Physical Possibilities of Travel Through Time, by J. Richard Gott

This is definitely the best book about time travel that I have read so far. Explains how time travel may be possible given relativity theory, quantum mechanics, and string theory. Gives a brief overview of all the theories, but more about their applicability in time travel theory, particular in the use of wormholes for both space and time travel. The author even uses a lot of classic movie references, including Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure and Back to the Future! Very cool. Also gives many explanations in work-around of the many paradoxes that arise when fathoming the possibility of time travel. Also gives a great explanation of the twin paradox. Definitely a worthwhile read.

9. Darwin’s Black Box: The Biochemical Challenge to Evolution, by Michael Behe

This book is classic. I remember hearing about it when I was a undergrad student at Grove City College. The interesting part about the book is that Behe, a biochemist, does not use religion at all for his argument against macroevolution as an origin of species. He does maintain that there is an obvious inherent design in the biochemical makeup of living organisms. The main point in refuting evolution is that of irreducible complexity, a theory which points out the fact that in biochemical systems, if any one part of the system is removed, than the system ceases to function. He uses the example of a mouse-trap to illustrate this point. Thus, if evolution were true, multiple simultaneous mutations would have to occur for it to provide to the organism an advantageous ability and then subsequently be passed on to successive generations. For example, a mousetrap would have to develop all of it’s parts simultaneously, or else it would confer no advantage to the trapper if say, the spring came first, then the board several "models" later, and then the cheese several "models" beyond that. Uses tons of examples to illustrate the concept of irreducible complexity, from the clotting cascade to the giraffe’s development of a complex baroreceptor system to regulate blood pressure to it’s head when it leans down to drink water. Awesome stuff! At the end, Behe proposes various non-religious design theories, including Francis Crick’s (of DNA double-helix fame) theory of panspermia, which states that aliens sent the original genetic coding to earth.

10. Ideas & Opinions, by Albert Einstein

Not really a book, but a collection of essays and speeches by Einstein himself on all sorts of subjects, including physics, religion, politics, and culture. Of most interest is his views on the making of the atomic bomb. Definitely an interesting book to learn about another side of Einstein. Can be a little too complex when reading about physics, but it is worthwhile just to read about all of the other subjects that are included, or just to skim around the various essays that are of interest to you.

11. The War on Our Freedoms: Civil Liberties in an Age of Terrorism, by Richard Leone

This book was not that good for somebody who is not well versed in political science. It is a compilation of various essays concerning the gradual destruction of our civil liberties, particularly by the Patriot Act. If anything, should wake some people up out there who believe that the Patriot Act is actually a good thing for the country. It is quite shocking what this particular document allows our government to do, all in the name of liberty.

12. Cuba: From Columbus to Castro and Beyond, by Jaime Suchlicki

This book was a little boring, particularly the beginning. It got much better in it’s description of Cuba in the 20th century, during the reign of Batista and Castro’s revolution. May not be for you, but since I am part Cuban, it is good to know the history of one’s people. Particularly interesting is that Fidel Castro was a hero during the time of his revolution, as Batista was a ruthless dictator. After the U.S. refused to back Castro’s revolution, he sought help from communist Russia, and thus the rest is history. I would love to see a reprint detailing the Bush administration’s crackdown on travel and trade with Cuba, which has sent our relations with this country 20 years back.

13. The Screwtape Letters, by C.S. Lewis

One of the only fictional books that I have read in a long long time. Not one of Lewis’s best, but nevertheless is thought-provoking. The concept is interesting enough, detailing a demon’s attempt to tempt a man to stray from God. This is done in a series of letters written from a senior demon, Screwtape, and his nephew, the temptor, named Wormwood. The letter format is very original. A cool work of fiction given the subject matter, and can easily be read in 1 or 2 days as it is very short.

14. The Great Divorce, by C.S. Lewis

I liked this fictional story a little better than The Screwtape Letters. It details a man’s journey through Heaven and Hell, as he begins his trip with a variety of different personalities on a bus. The imagery used really provokes the imagination. The moral of the story focuses upon a man’s choice in whether he spends eternity with God or Satan. Similar to The Screwtape Letters, it is a very short read.

15. The Animal World of Albert Schweitzer: Jungle Insights into Reverence for Life, by Albert Schweitzer

Reverence for Life is Albert Schweitzer’s philosophy concerning the relationship between all forms of life, and how we should only harm life if it is absolutely necessary. The book mainly consists of short segments concerning Schweitzer’s encounters with different animals while stationed in Lambarene, Gabon, Africa as a medical doctor. A lot of great stories about life in the jungle, and how the natives also looked at life. Tons of stories about a variety of different animals, including elephants, his pet warthog, chickens, and his dogs. At the end, he details the ethic of Reverence for Life, a world-view which if adopted by mankind would make this world a much better place. In addition to his philanthropy, Schweitzer’s dealings with all forms of life showed what an amazing man he truly was.

16. The Fabric of the Cosmos: Space, Time, and the Texture of Reality, by Brian Greene

While not as good as A Brief History of Time, this book could be considered an adjunct. Still a great account of all of the concepts and history concerning classical physics, relativity, quantum mechanics, and string theory. Brian Greene’s style is a little more hip and fun than Hawking’s, and a little more in-depth as well. The only problem I have with the book is that it spends a little bit too much time on the string theories (as previously stated, I don’t like string theory that much). I particularly enjoyed his description of Newton’s classical physics. Some areas are easy to understand, yet others are a little difficult, but Greene definitely knows how to reach his target audience. A lot of pop culture is included in his examples (lots of examples involve the Simpsons). Overall, another great book from today’s physics genius himself, Brian Greene.

17. Schrodinger’s Kittens and the Search for Reality: Solving the Quantum Mysteries, by John Gribbin

This book was a little too complex for my liking. It is not the author’s fault, as quantum mechanics itself is such a contradictory and difficult-to-understand theory in itself (the famous physicist Richard Feynman even stated: "I think it is safe to say that no one understand quantum mechanics"). Gribbin does an OK job of trying to explain this difficult theory, providing all of the necessary background needed to understand the basic concepts. Quite a lot of examples and illustrations are utilized.

18. The Emergence of Everything: How the World Became Complex, by Harold Morowitz

This book was really cool, as it details an account of all of the major "emergent" events since the creation of the universe (28 of them to be exact). He even divides up the emergence of different forms of animal life, from invertebrates to all of the major classes of vertebrates to mammals and humankind. Not just limited to science, the depth here is very broad, and includes the emergence of culture, religion, and technology. The style of writing is engaging, and makes the reader realize how important each emergence was in leading to the next.

19. Emergence: The Connected Lives of Ants, Brains, Cities, and Software, by Steven Johnson

This book was really fun, although some areas were not of any interest to me. Johnson’s account of emergent theory is one of the best books on the subject. The best part of the book is the description of the intricacies of ant colonies and of the slime mold, and then advancing to mankind’s utilization of bottom-up systems in the development of intelligent self-learning software (including Amazon.com’s recommendation system). You can tell Johnson is an avid video game player, using many of these examples in his tutorial of emergent theory.

20. Opium: A History, by Martin Booth

This book includes the complete history of opiates and the poppy’s unusual connection to humankind. Interesting is the theory that the opium poppy evolved to produce it’s addictive alkaloids of morphine and codeine in order to ensure it’s own cultivation and propagation by man (and it worked). Everything you ever wanted to know about this plant is included here, from the botany to chemistry to it’s history. Other interesting tidbits include the fact that British people often used to give laudanum to their infants to sooth them, and how opium was really the first medicine to be discovered, often used as a cure-all. Also details the development of heroin, which was first tauted as a cure for morphinism. A large portion of the book deals with opium smoking in China, and how Britain made a fortune by addicting a large portion of the Chinese population through importation of opium via the East India Company. Overall, a very interesting read on one of the most controversial plants on earth.