A Couple of Books

I haven't posted in a while, and in that time, I have finished two and a half audiobooks, a novel, and I have pulled the ripcord on a non-fiction book. Here's some brief summaries:

The Geography of Bliss, by Eric Weiner (audiobook) - What is it that makes people happy? To find out, the author visited a series of countries, some of which rank high on happiness measures (Iceland, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Thailand, etc.), and some of which rank low (Moldova, England). Not to spoil anything, but there are lots of different reasons why people are happy, but fewer reasons why people are unhappy. This was a really interesting listen - very well written, with some interesting philosophical detours into what happiness really is. Made me want to travel more and see some of the places he talked about!

Red Shirts, by John Scalzi (audiobook) - great meta- sci-fi novel about a group of ensigns on the Universal Union spaceship Intrepid (modeled closely on the USS Enterprise) who notice that there's always a junior crew member on away team missions, and that's the guy who always dies. They set off to find out why. I don't want to spoil it, so that's all I'll say. This one gets weird quick, but it is a really great story that touches on fate, destiny, meaning-of-life kind of stuff. Even if you don't like sci-fi, I think you might find this one interesting. (To add to the meta, the audiobook is read by Wil Wheaton, who played Ensign Crusher on Star Trek The Next Generation. He does a great job!)

I got through half of "The World Without Us", by Alan Weisman. It's a thought experiment about what would happen to the planet if mankind suddenly disappeared, leaving behind all our buildings, chemicals, plastic, etc. It's an interesting book, but I got tired of the anti-human attitude that ran through the entire first half. I know we need to be good stewards of the world we have, but the assumption that the untamed wilds are preferable to a human-influenced landscape seems like a big assumption to me. In the first chapter, he talks about a project that is trying to recreate enclaves in Manhattan that restore pre-Dutch landscape and vegetation. It's interesting that he doesn't mention until the last sentence of the chapter that the Native Americans had settled Manhattan for thousands of years and significantly influenced both the flora and the fauna that the Dutch found when they got there. The assumption that European settlement is somehow less valuable than agrarian hunter-gatherer tended forest is just not an assumption I agree with.

Reamde, by Neal Stephenson - entertaining novel about a computer virus that gets out of hand. This novel starts out strong, gets (frankly) rather ridiculous in the middle, and finishes really strong. I mean, you've got Chinese hackers, Russian mafia, islamic terrorists, fundie survivalists, and everything. It's just nuts. But it's well written, and has done interesting things to say about international crime, computer security, and unintended consequences. Weighing in at something like 900 pages, it's an investment, but it pays off.  It's more of a techno-thriller than anything else, and with a good editor could make for an exciting movie.

I was going to write something about the book I just bailed on 25 pages on, but it's not worth it. On to the next book!

Peter and the Secret of Rundoon

I was at the library trying to find an audiobook that was kid friendly and yet would be some what interesting to me, and I saw this book. Peter and the Secret of Randoon this is the third installment of the Barry and Pearson's Peter Pan series.  It was a fun listen.  In this book, you learn why Peter can separate from his shadow, how the croc swallowed the clock, and how the lost boys got to the island.  If you are reading the series it's worth continuing.  Just some fun brain candy.

Ready Player One

I finished this audiobook a week or two ago - Ready Player One by Ernest Cline, as read by Wil Wheaton. I really liked this book. It's set in the not so distant future, after the collapse of the world economy under the pressure of the energy crisis. An inventor born in the 1970s creates an immersive virtual world called The Oasis, filled with 1980s nostalgia. When the inventor dies, his avatar announces a contest - whoever finds the easter egg he has hidden in the Oasis will inherit his fortune. A mad race to find it begins.

Overall, I really enjoyed this one. It's very well written, it's full of great nostalgia, and the performance is fantastic. Even if you don't like Science Fiction, I think you'd enjoy it.

Several Audiobooks

I actually finished listening to several audiobooks over the past few weeks. Between being sick, sick babies, and a sick husband...well time hasn't been on my side, but I have had time to listen to books.  Anyway, I finished  Mark Twain's A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, Eric Metaxis' Bonhoeffer's biography (the one Alex posted on), and the first three books of Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson and the Olympians series (The Lightning Thief, The Sea of Monster's, and The Titan's Curse). 


I have never read this American Classic (unless the Illustrated Classics count) and I wanted to "read" a fun classic.  Mark Twain didn't disappoint.  The fun thing about this book is how clearly Mark Twain displays the attitudes of his time.  I really didn't agree with a lot of the ideas he was promoting (mainly ancient people were stupider than modern people, and some of the stuff he said about the Church). But it was fun to listen to and the performer did a great job reading it.  I don't if this is the first time travel novel, but it is one of the earlier ones, even so it didn't spend a lot of time on how "The Boss" was transported to Arthur's Court, so it's really not much of a "science" fiction story but more of a fiction.

So the plot is basically a Connecticut Blacksmith gets into a fight and gets knocked out.  He wakes in King Arthur's England without any idea of where he is and how he got there.  He is captured and taken to Court where he is sentenced to burn on the stake.  But because he knew that a solar eclipse was going to happen the day of his execution he uses it to turn around his fortunes.  He then tries to turn the "simple" people into modern (Twain's modern) people with "modern" sensibilities and values.  There is adventure, love, war, and time travel. A fun book all around.  It was also kinda fun to argue with some of his assertions, but they were merely the mindset of his time. I enjoyed it.

Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Prophet, Martyr, Spy Alex has already commented on.  All I can say is Wow.  What a life! It was a great book, very well written.  I almost want to get it in print to be able to mark it up and use it for quotes and things to ponder.  I wonder if Alex would let me do that...he hasn't ever really liked me marking up books...anyway...It's a great book and a fascinating person.

Percy Jackson and the Olympians these are great to listen to while driving the kids around praying they will go to sleep.  As they have been sick their naps have been off, and Auggie  has been teething so naps unless taken in a moving car don't often last longer than 15 minutes. So anyway these are fun kids books that are about the children of the Greek gods in today's world.  They are just brain candy and easy to pick up on the plot after dealing with screaming kids. Lots of fun.

Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy

About two weeks ago, I finished the audiobook version of "Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy", by Eric Metaxas.  This was fantastic, and since I've done nothing but talk about it (apparently), I won't write much of a review.

Basically, if you thought the Nazis were bad, you should read/listen to this book.  The Nazis were horrible.  In particular, their deception and abuse of the Christian church in Germany teaches an important lesson the church needs to learn -- be serious and coherent about your theology!  Many pastors and congregations in Germany were led astray because they didn't listen carefully to what the Nazis were saying, and didn't know the Bible well enough to respond.  A lazy church is a weak church, and the Nazis exploited it as long as it served their purposes.

Anyway, this was a fascinating book, and I am even more interested to read some of Bonhoeffer's original works.  Highly recommended!

Dune

Today I finished the audiobook version of Dune by Frank Herbert. This was an excellent audio rendition of the book, with a full cast. As I have re-read Dune over the years, the symbolism has made more sense, and it's clearer what Herbert is trying to say about oil and power and religion. I am not sure I agree with everything he's saying, but it's a heck of a story!