Books I can recommend

 

See other features of my web site

There's nothing like sitting with a cup o' joe and a good book in a quiet local coffee shop. Perhaps Orchard Valley Roasting Company, the Blue Rock Shoot, or The Plantation - after the morning rush.

All the books I list here are ones that I have enjoyed. I've put them into categories that I hope are useful to you.

 

Enjoyed for what they are

Bright Lights, Big City: McInerney  
A fast paced romp through a self destructive chemical dependency.
Thank You for Smoking: Christopher Buckley
An other world like look into the life of a tobacco industry lobbyist. Hilarious.
Jennifer Government: Max Barry
A future where everyone is wired.
Cryptonomicon: Neal Stephenson
An imposing three inches thick, I was enthralled. A very interesting jump between WWII and now.

Non-Fiction, Non-Novels

The Future of Ideas by Lawrence Lessig
Absolutely brilliant man working to define a way to a better future.
Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser
The story of our modern society co-evolving with the food service industry. A very good read.
Gardening with a Wild Heart by Judith Larner Lowry  
She explains how to asses your own garden and take it back to what nature intended. And she tells you why it's such a good idea to do this.
Confessions of a Record Producer by Moses Avalon
Well written and detailed, this book took me through the ins and outs of the financial side of the music industry. An excellent overview for outsiders and absolutely required reading for any musician who is thinking of signing with a label.
Writing Dialog by Tom Chiarella
Practical, straightforward guide for the aspiring writer. Full of tips, exercises, and great advice on making your own fiction writing come alive.
On Writing by Stephen King
Stephen King takes you inside his own process for producing books. He's a master story teller and he uses those talents in this autobiography. I loved the book.
Consciousness by Susan Blackmore
A survey of the current thinking (pun intended) about consciousness. The author goes into each theory to a good depth and does a lot of compare and contrast analysis. I loved it.
Men are from Mars, etc, etc  
You, me, them. Skip the Mars / Venus chapters at the beginning and get right to the heart of the matter
A Party of One by Anneli Rufus
Don't call them loners! Anneli offers great insight to the psychology of those who like to spend time with themselves. (I met her at one of Richie's book parties and found her fascinating to talk with.)
Freakanomics
A fun and fresh look at current problems. The author uses data from old studies to gain new insight into things we should know. Do school teachers cheat? What about sumo wrestlers?
Engineering Your Startup by Michael Baird
This is a must read for anyone who is starting their own company or joining one. It gave me tremendous insight into aspects of the process that I didn't know. Reading this will save you time, money, and perhaps your fortune.
The Tipping Point by Malcom Gladwell
Small things can make a big difference. Almost like chaos theory in business. A fun read that raises some interesting questions.
What were they thinking? by Jeff Pfeffer
I know Jeff, but you'd be wrong to question my review - this book is an excellent read. Jeff covers a range of business management topics in his open, conversational style. All of his observations ring true with my own experiences. It's like a one book distillation of many management classes I took at HP.
Making Miracles Happen by Gregory White Smith
A friend who works in disease modeling recommended this to me. It's only available used, and everyone should read it. This story of one man's journey with a life threatening illness provides the reader with incredibly valuable tips about how to manage your own health care providers. You should read this now, while you are healthy.
The Audacity of Hope by Barack Obama
This was the first book I read on my Kindle 2. I just took the free sample to check out and bought the entire book five minutes later. If Obama only believes half of what he said, then we have made a superb choice for president.

They could be true...

Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden    
How does a man write about being a Geisha? I don't know, but this is engaging.
A Million Little Pieces    
Intimate story of one man's recovery from addiction. Now known to be highly embellished, I still found it to be a good story.
The Story of Junk by Yablonsky    
Heroin junkie and dealer in New York goes crazy
The Reader by Schlink   
A boy in post war Germany comes to grips with his country's past
The Piano Shop on the Left Bank by Carhart
What a pleasant story of a man who finds himself again while pursuing his love of the piano.
The Bird Artist by Howard Norman  
Isolated life in a small Nova Scotia town
Charms for the Easy Life by Kaye Gibbons 
Such a nice, quiet story of life
Ellen Foster by Kaye Gibbons  
Captivating story of a young girl, alone among her relatives
On the Occasion of My Last Afternoon by Gibbons    
A fantastic story of an enlightened woman growing up on the home front of our Civil War
Angle of Repose by Wallace Stegner
It took me a while to get into this. In fact I almost gave up - that would have been a shame. This is a fantastic story of a family living through the late 1800's, interwoven with a modern story line. A wonderfully warm read set in San Jose, Colorado, Utah, and Grass Valley.
Stonewalls Gold
An interesting story about the end of the civil war.
A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain    
Lovely tales of mixing the old world with the new
Snow Falling on Cedars: Guterson  
Sensitive, well written story of xenophobia in W.W.II
Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier   
A deserter walks home from the Civil War
Far Tortuga: Matthiessen  
An incredible stream of consciousness writing style that may drive you nuts.
Mama Makes Up Her Mind by Bailey White  
Beautifully written, hilarious down-home stories without the terminal drowsiness of Garrison Kiellor
How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accent, Julia Alvarez

 

Real stories of life

Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain
A well written peek behind the scenes of many commercial kitchens. Read how they really work to prepare your food. Hilarious.
Finding Fish
A young black boy grows up in the foster care system, that does not care for him. A heart wrenching story - it's amazing that he came out of this so well.
The Unwanted by Kien Nguyen  
An Amerasian boy grows up in South Vietnam after the surrender to the North. A powerful tale told by someone who stood on top of the U.S. embassy in Saigon and watched the helicopters turn back.
Red Azalea: Min  
Life through the Chinese Cultural Revolution
Makes Me Want to Holler, Nathan McCall
The true story of a poor black man who grows up to be a well respected journalist. This is a peek into a world I know so little about. Very engaging.
The Liars' Club by Mary Karr  
A woman grows up in the dysfunctional oil fields of Oklahoma
On the Road: Kerouac  
Live the life of a dharma bum
Cry of the Kalahari: Owens  
Life among a pride of lions, far away from civilization.
Running the Amazon: Kane  
A kayak trip down the length of Amazon
Shooting the Boh: 
A woman's adventure in rafting gets way, way out of control
The Panama Hat Trail: Miller  
Did you know that all Panama hats come from Ecuador?
Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt  
Growing up poor in Ireland, funny but oh so sad. It leaves me wondering how he made it... standby for the sequel
To Destroy You is No Loss, the odyssey of a Cambodian Family, by Joan Criddle and Teeda Butt Mam  
First person story of the Khemer Rouge take over; riveting.
Diamond by Matthew Hart  
A factual story of the diamond trade. An interesting read.
Into Thin Air, Jon Krakauer 
Enough has been said about this in the press. You all know someone who's read this account of climbing Everest.  Some loose fingers, some loose toes, they all go back again.
The Perfect Storm by Sebastian Junger  
Third person recreation of a killer storm off Nova Scotia. Chilling tale.
The Price of Loyalty by Ron Suskind
I have to admit that I did not finish this one. It is such a scary story that after reading a third of it I had to put it down. It was clear to me that the ending was not going to be a happy one. If you want to know about the Bush administration from an insider, read this. He was a loyalist and got out when he saw where it was going.
Assassination Vacation by Sarah Vowel
I wasn't sure what to expect and found this quite scholarly. Sarah drags her family and friends to visit places involved in presidential assassinations. She weaves a story through it all. When I was done I wanted to visit some of these places myself. Thanks to Paul for the recommendation.
Permanent Midnight
A story of a television screen writer who is also a junkie. You get to watch him spin out of control as he writes for Alf.
Lost Mountain
One man documents a mountain as a Virginia coal mining company rips its top off to get at a coal seam. The whole area is destroyed. So very sad.
Super Carrier by George Wilson
Overall a nice read about the life of a journalist living aboard a carrier for a nine month deployment in 1983. It gave me an insight into how hard Navy life really can be.
This House of Sky by Ivan Doig
Marvelous descriptions of growing up in a ranching family in Montana, makes me want to spend time there. But the story, while warm and inviting, did not pull me along. It took me weeks to finish it.

On investing and living your life..

Cashing in on the American Dream: Terhorst  
Man, retire as soon as you can. This is a beauty of a book, but out of print. If you want to get your life plan together, find this book. It changed my life.
Your Money or Your Life
A good beginners book to sorting out your relationship to money and life. Too hippie-like philosophical for my tastes, but I list it here because if you can get past the preaching it does ask the right questions. For those who don't like the style, try Cashing In On The American Dream, listed above.
A Random Walk Down Wall Street: Malkiel  
Why common wisdom about technical stock market analysis is bunk. Lesson? Buy value.
Portfolio Selection: Markovitz 
This is the only way to invest. I have pages on my site about how to do retirement planning, this is the guy who invented efficient portfolio theory and won a Nobel Prize for it. If you want to know the details of how EPT works, this is the book for you.
The Millionaire Next Door: Stanley and Danko  
Who has all that money? It's not the guy with the Rolex or the BMW.
Fortune's Formula by William Poundstone
From illegal off track betting to the guys who counted cards in Vegas to the collapse of Long Term Capital Management, the story weaves them all into a fast paced history of risk management mathematics.

 

 

Other books I've read and enjoyed..

The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency  by Alexander McCall Smith  
I felt like I was back in Kenya. Warm stories told in a simple way.
Mother Tongue by Demetria Martinez  
The life of Salvadorian  refugees in an underground railroad
Moo by Jane Smiley  
A bit tongue in cheek on the life at a Midwest University
Stormy Weather by Carl Hiaasen  
Just crazy
The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver
The O'Henry Awards (2001)
A collection of short stories. The first one didn't grab me, but the rest did. They got me so much that I bought a bunch of other years too. (and made me want to write my own short story.)
The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett
Watch a church being built over the course of 300 years.
World Without End by Ken Follett
A nice fast read, but so formulaic that I got tired of it. Oh look, they've solved that situation; oh no, Mr. X is back; end of chapter.
The Intelligent Asset Allocator
Nothing earth shattering in this one, but a good solid review of the investment strategy that has made me independent. This is an easy read.
My Year of Meats
A fun little first person story about a woman who produces a Japanese television show about eating meat. Funny situations develop in her relationship with the head office as she starts to put her own influence into the show. Then in a major shift the story gets serious. Same pacing as Jennifer Government.

LukeWarm; I read 'em but...

The Gridlock Economy by Michael Heller
Interesting idea that multiple owners of a single asset or different aspects (rights) to a single asset can cause an ownership gridlock. Too many people having partial ownership of some real estate. Or too many people owning different rights to a book or a song. Or too many patents all covering a slightly different aspect of some area. All interesting. But he tends to defend all use as good without regard to the negative consequences. It seemed to me that if someone wasn't building on the land it was considered under utilized. I think that in some cases of unrepairable harm, some amount of gridlock acts to put brakes on otherwise unrestrained, harmful exploitation. Not all gridlock is bad.

Books I've read, but either didn't finish, or did but didn't like

  1. The Worst Journey in the World  by Apsley Cherry-Garrard   First person historical account of Scott's Antarctic expedition. If you really want to know what the trip was like, this will provide all you need to know. I just couldn't hang in there for all those details.
  2. The Price of Loyalty by Paul O'Neill  The book itself seemed fabulous. I read the first two chapters and it scared me to death. Really. I knew it was going to end bad so I dropped it. I highly recommend reading it if you have a strong stomach.
  3. Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki  Good lessons on how to deal with money, but I found it repetitive and I didn't care for the teaching device of calling his biological dad Poor Dad. Too often his points were stretched out over several pages of storytelling when one to-the-point page would have done the trick.
  4. Yak Butter and Black Tea (Carl, where do you find these?) An adventure trip through China to reach an isolated valley of people. Only along the way this self centered adventurer shows himself to be less of a heroic figure and more of an insensitive opportunist. When he cut the telephone lines to an outpost village, eliminating their only way to contact the outside world, I thought: another ugly American. Yuck.
  5. One Dry Season by Caroline Alexander    A modern day adventurer follows the mid-1800s trip of Mary Kingsley.  Too slow. The unending quotes from Mary's journals are distracting.  Often the author quotes Mary and then repeats the same story herself.  Told without suspense or wonder.
  6. Accordion Crimes by Annie Proulx  Man, I snoozed. I kept waiting for something to happen. This is wonderfully written, but it's a collection of sad times that all revolve around this little green accordion as if it was Christine. But the accordion never talks.
  7. Guns, Germs, and Steel. A lot of people like this history of the evolution of society. I just couldn't get into it. Sorry.
 

My friend Chris supplied her book club's list, here it is:

Book List:

Our bookclub members recommend:

Books that are in my reading pile:

I am listing them here in the hope that this will shame me into reading more often.

 

Books I've read that I don't feel strongly enough about recommending or dissing. These might appeal to you.

 

 

The book ordering links are provided in association with Amazon.com Books. A great online bookstore. Buying the book here sends me pennies; I list the links not for the money but because this is such a super example of web commerce. (Well, truth be told, I did this back in 1997 when it really was amazing. These days it is pretty passé. Ah well, so it goes.)