I was looking for some light reading, so I picked up The Men Who Stare at Goats expecting the novel upon which the movie was based. Was I ever wrong! It was one of the strangest books I‘ve read, but is non-fiction. It about how the Army and CIA tried to use psychic powers to spy on enemies, to influence their behavior, etc. What got me the most was that so many of the characters actually believed the things they tried would actually work.

I laughed out loud, I nodded my head in agreement, I shook my head in disbelief, I was surprised, I was saddened, I was angry. But most of all, I was so happy to have read ‘Lessons in Chemistry.‘ Words fail me in describing how much I enjoyed this book. My favorite characters were Mad and Six-Thirty. Please read Bonnie Garmus‘ treasure of a book.

Desmond‘s latest book gives a thoughtful and well-researched overview of poverty in America, it‘s causes, and suggestions for policy initiatives that help eliminate poverty. TRIGGER ALERT: If you are threatened by any suggestion that poverty is the result of institutional racism, governmental policy, or that poverty isn‘t brought on by people living in poverty, avoid this book. Approached with an open mind, you will gain insight into poverty.

You know the story already - Clarence Thomas nominated to the Supreme Court, Anita Hill reluctantly testifying to Thomas‘ harassment of her, the pubic hair on the Coke can, the character assassination, the 52-48 vote to confirm. This book gets into the nitty gritty of Thomas, Hill and the Senate Hearings. Spoiler alert: there is only one hero here, a reluctant one at that. She kept her head up while the rest were varying degrees of slime.

Roger Angell, longtime fiction editor and sports writer for The New Yorker, passed away last year at the age of 101. So it‘s about time I read some of his baseball essays. Five Seasons is a collection of 16 essays about baseball, World Series, the beginning of free agency, and scouts. His writing is clear and engaging. His love of the game, and his fears for its future are clear throughout. Non fans can simply enjoy the well crafted prose.

Orestes and Conway document how America moved from the ideals of Declaration of Independence (the rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness) to a government concerned with protecting property above everything else, and how the deification of the free market has led to business profits belonging solely to the business, but business losses are shared (through bailouts and tax right offs).

Kolbert explores how introduced species have adversely affected nature and how human efforts to undo the damage have generally made matters worse. She approaches the science with wit of Mary Roach. The result is an accessible read. One take away for me is that it has taken us a long time to get where we are so we shouldn‘t expect solutions to be either easy or quick.

WOW!! This first person account of life in the FLDS was riveting from page 1. Her description of life in the FLDS, its control over its adherents, its decision that she should marry her first cousin despite her pleas to to prevent , and later to end, this forced marriage was disturbing and gut wrenching. Elissa‘s courage making a break from the FLDS and her testimony in the criminal case against a former church leader is admirable. Just WOW!

Sgt. John Basilone, USMC is an American hero in every sense of the word. After struggling to find his calling early in life, he found it in the Marines. The narrative is well written and draws you in, even though you know Basilone‘s fate before you begin. My only issue with this biography is that it was written as a first person narrative, as though Basilone is speaking to us from the grave. Aside from this, Basilone‘s bio is inspirational.

In the first 3/4 of Turn Right, Adams weaves together three stories: Hiram Bingham‘s 1911 “discovery” of Machu Picchu, Mark‘s own trek retracing Bingham‘s, and the legal fight over ownership of artifacts taken from Peru. Mark does this with humor and a keen eye for detail. The last portion deals with a return trip along the Inca Trail and ongoing questions about the meaning of Machu Picchu. Totally engrossing, and good prep for a planned trip.

This was a surprisingly easy read, given how painful the subject matter was. Keene profiles the Sackler brothers, their families and the companies they owned, primarily Purdue Pharma, maker of OxyContin (an opioid many hold largely responsible for the opioid crisis). A quote near the end of the book sums up my thoughts perfectly: “I‘m not sure that I‘m aware of any family in America that‘s more evil than yours.”

JoJo Rabbit was based on this novel. Really impressed by the film. Still trying to figure out what I make of this novel. The narrator, Johannesburg, is no hero. But then neither is Elsa, the object of his affections, hatred, indifference. Perhaps the only heroic characters are his mother and grandmother. Perhaps I‘m just too dense to understand the meaning of this book. But then again I may not be.

Reading The Divider is like rereading a familiar horror novel: even knowing what will happen next, you are still frightened. And even knowing the broad strokes of what happens, you are enraged by the details and nuance you initially missed. A political thriller as much as an historical narrative.

I‘ve been breathing on a regular basis for the past 69 years. Who knew I‘d been doing it wrong almost the whole time? Even after training myself NOT to be a mouth breather 30 years ago, I still have faulty technique. James Nestor presents an enlightening tour of the overlooked science surrounding breathing, describes the health benefits of proper technique. Big shocker: CO2 levels are more important than O2 levels! Read it and breathe easy.

Hersey follows 6 survivors of the first atomic bomb used against Japan as they struggled to survive, to cope with their injuries and the deaths of so many around them. The will to survive and the concern to help others among these survivors is genuinely heroic. Reading this in high school, my reaction was “meh”; 55 years later my perspective is dramatically different. Hersey lets the reader draw their own conclusions about the morality of war.

I‘d largely abandoned novels in favor of non-fiction. But 3 novels have deeply affected me A Gentleman in Moscow, The Lincoln Highway, and now The Kite Runner. This novel, about trust given unconditionally, trust betrayed, and trust regained, is a compelling read. The plot twists are not cliches; the characters believable; and the insights into a new culture compelling. A must read novel. I‘m sorry it‘s taken me 19 years to finally read it.

A fascinating life and a single minded woman. The book is quite timely in light of national proposals to ban all abortions and even to ban contraception. Sanger, whose life was devoted to women‘s freedom of choice was not a proponent of abortion but fought vigorously to make contraception available to all women. The battles she fought for most of the 20th century may again be fought in the coming years.

No, it‘s not THAT Lincoln Highway. This book tells the history of the Lincoln Highway, from Carl Fisher‘s 1912 idea for a transcontinental road, through Henry Joy‘s 1913 plan for the road, including tales of early adventurers on the road, which in areas was little more than a muddy cow path or a vague idea, to the burial of large sections under I-80. Pleasantly and lovingly presented as a nostalgic trip along The Lincoln Highway.

Whoda thunk it? That Wonder Woman was created by feminist who lived a “Bohemian” life, claimed to have invented the lie detector, earned a PhD from Harvard but couldn‘t keep an academic job in his field, promoted views on emotions and female-male relations that were out of the mainstream? Jill Lepore writes the fascinating story of William Moulton Marston, his wife, his former student Olive Byrne and his most notable creation: Wonder Woman.

T.S.Eliot said the world will end “not with a bang but a whimper.” In Shute‘s telling, the bangs precipitating the end of the world occurred a year or so earlier. We see how the characters cope with the knowledge that they have only months to live. The writing is excellent, the characters are believable (mostly). Some face their demise with grace, others with denial, and other with a fatalism that is admirable. A moving story well told.

I purchased this book in the summer of ‘71, and aside from the last chapter have not read it until now. Raucher‘s novel is both embarrassingly funny and heartbreakingly sad. His descriptions of adolescent boys and sex are spot on hilarious. His description of Hermie trying to impress Dorothy is humiliating and painfully accurate. The conclusion is tragic and cathartic. I tear up every time I read it, and this time was no exception.

I have such mixed feelings about this book. The writing was lyrical. But between the French and the round about way of making a point, I often found myself a bit confused about what I‘d just read. Did I mention that the narrator was a pedophile and rapist? Had I read this 2 or 3 decades ago, I might have enjoyed it. However in 2022 any sympathetic portrayal of a pedophile just doesn‘t fly, no matter how eloquent the writing.

Even though I bought the paperback back in 1967 as a high school freshman I just got around to reading it. This book set in 1880s Nevada is a taught story about mob justice and a mob mentality that overwhelms a group generally honest men. The parallels to current times in the way some grab hold of an idea and refuse to listen to counter arguments made reading this book 55 years after buying it made it all the more relevant. An excellent read.

Nelson‘s account of the events leading up to the mid-air collision of TWA 2 and United 718 and the efforts to locate the crash sites and recover the victims‘ remains is riveting. However, I found his sweeping descriptions of the reactions of victims‘ families (e.g., everyone felt…) to be too broad and cloying as were his speculations of the role of fate in this tragedy.

If Mary Roach wrote high school science books more teens would love science. Her first person narrative is both informative and funny. An entertaining read.

This collection magazine articles, essays and a newspaper article was a treat to read. Bowden writes clearly and compellingly. Little bits of humor tossed into several stories had me laughing out loud. I was drawn into some topics which I never gave much thought about, but as I read these stories it became increasingly clear that I needed to know about them. Simply put, Bowden‘s writing drew me in and never let me go.

Personal opinion: Buckley is upset that Yale didn‘t live up to his expectations. Not enough Christianity, too many agnostics and atheists on faculty; too much emphasis on collectivism and the general welfare, too little praise in individualism; too much emphasis on academic freedom, not enough on making faculty teach the values he believes in. He would have been much happier if he‘d transferred to Georgetown or a seminary, in my humble opinion.

In plain English, Kruger details the backstories of the 5 desegregation cases bundled together as Brown v Board of Education through the Warren court‘s landmark 1954 decision. The struggle for desegregation follows a positive trend, climaxing with the court‘s unanimous decision. Events subsequent to the decision are also detailed, as the Nixon and Reagan administrations and Rehnquist court dismantled much of the Brown v Board finding.

When appointed Chief Justice several of his brethren looked down on him because of lack of judicial experience and legal scholarship. Cray documents how, motivated by the single question “Is it fair?”, Warren led the court for 16 years and left the legacy of Brown, Gideon, Miranda, Baker, and other decisions that champion civil rights and liberties. Cray shows Warren to be an honest man who cared about the common man and the common good.

Bowden and Teague‘s book is readable account of the attempts by Trump and his associates to claim victory in the 2020 presidential election by claiming a variety of conspiracy theories alleging the election was stolen. They follow these attempts in AZ, GA, MI, NV, PA, and WI. Even while detailing events around a serious threat to democracy, Bowden and Teague leaven the narrative with occasional bits of humor. A good, yet easy read.

An insightful book covering over 500 years of history. Told with wit, These Truths follows US history by following ideas and themes, and how they intertwined rather than chronicling a list of dates, places, battles and generals. Despite it length it is an easy and compelling read.

Wow! A fascinating thriller involving a Supreme Court Justice, his clerk, biological research, the President, the FBI, DHS, and a host of others. I really had trouble putting this down, I just had to find out how it turned out. Stacey Abrams gets my vote as polymath of the decade.

I turned 11 in the summer of ‘64, the same summer that hundreds of volunteers travelled to Mississippi to register Black residents to vote and to open Freedom Schools. This book describes the experiences of those volunteers and the terror they and the Black sharecroppers they wanted to help faced that summer. Bruce Watson‘s telling of those stories brought their hopes and fears, their successes and failures alive for me. A compelling read.

Claire Connor‘s memoir about her parents‘ lifelong affiliation with the John Birch Society was eye opening as it described the transition from conservatives to leadership positions in JBS, as they become true believers of every conspiracy theory promulgated by Robert Welsh, was truly frightening. I was vaguely aware of JBS in the early 60s, but I was never aware of just how far right wing it was. Not great literature, but an important read for me.

The most requested book by GIs in WWII. I think I can see why: many soldiers probably identified with Francie Nolan‘s family (poor, food insecure, yet proud and determined not to be limited by their circumstances). Read through lens of a baby‘s experience, this was an eye opener regarding life in Brooklyn‘s tenements of the early 20th century.

Amor Towles creates characters that come alive. Some you love, some you admire, some you empathize with, and others you loathe. Even the villains have some endearing quality. None are neutral characters, there only to take up space. At times I was so distressed by what might happen next that I had to put the book down until I calmed down. Am I ever so glad that each time I picked Lincoln Highway up again! A fascinating story, well told.

Ms. Fox artfully combines a fascinating story with relevant historical and scientific background. If I didn‘t know that these 2 British POWs really did con their way out of a Turkish prison with the unwitting but wholehearted help of the warden and his staff. Some episodes had me laughing out loud! Think Mel Brooks meets The Sting. A wonderfully entertaining read.

The book has been hailed as the best book from WWII. I don‘t get it. Was pretty good for the first 600 pages, but… the ending left me disappointed. After writing for 600+ pages Mailer didn‘t conclude his book so much as he stopped writing. The deus ex machina end to the patrol was right out of a high school writing assignment. I expected so much more from this book. It was for me the literary equivalent of overwrought empty calories.

Gideon Clark evolves from a youth doubting the existence of the Iowa Baseball Confederacy, supposedly a short-lived semipro league that ceased operations in 1908, to a believer trying to prove its existence despite a complete lack of evidence. This is a beautifully written fantasy that drew me in immediately. It‘s enigmatic conclusion, surprisingly, left me with a warm, sentimental feeling. I want reread the closing passages again and again.

You‘ve used a pencil all your life. You think you know all about pencils. WRONG! Petroski‘s book tells all about pencils, their history, their development, their manufacture, their uses. Possibly more than you ever wanted to know. However, in Petroski‘s hand, the history of the pencil becomes a metaphor for the history of engineering and how the artifacts of life evolve from crude ideas to useful tools that we seldom give a second thought to.

The first 2/3 of the book documented the unconscionable hubris of big box and category killer chains. They way they extracted tax breaks and infrastructure paid by local communities, contributed to pollution, replaced good paying jobs with low paying ones, destroyed downtowns, etc. made me never want to go shopping again. The last 1/3 illustrated how some small towns fought back and preserved their downtowns and local businesses.

Confession: I saw the movie years ago, only just now read the novel. Even knowing the characters and the ending, I found this novel about a coup to overthrow the government tightly written and full of suspense. The events depicted struck me as entirely plausible. Even though this novel was first published 59 years ago and communications technology is much more advanced now, the novel is quite contemporary.

I read Catch-22 in 1967, when I was 13 and loved it‘s insanity and dark humor. I waited til now to read Closing Time (C-22‘s sequel). I‘m now 68, the age of Yossarian in this book. At this age I can appreciate the characters‘ reflections on their lives and their preoccupation with their mortality. It took several chapters for Heller to approach the humor and style of C-22. Disappointingly, the book just stopped rather than concluded. Sad.

Who knew that one of the most effective leaders of the underground resistance in France during WWII was an American woman, employed by the British? Virginia Hall, who lost part of her left leg in a hunting accident and spoke accented French, was a woman who would not let her limp or her gender confine her remarkable intelligence and abilities to more traditional female roles. A true life spy thriller.

I‘ve hiked Grand Canyon to Phantom Ranch twice, rafted the Canyon and did a 6 day rim-2-rim-2-rim hike. In the back of my mind each time there lingered concerns that without care and preparation Grand Canyon could be dangerous. ‘Til reading this tome, I didn‘t realize how many people died there. This book will either scare you from getting close to the edge or encourage you to be prepared. Most deaths were due to lack of prep or overconfidence

WOW!! What an eye opening read! I grew up in a blue-collar and didn‘t even realize at the time that we were borderline poor. But still I was vaguely aware that I had it better than others. Wilkerson‘s book points out the many ways in which those in the dominant caste have privilege they aren‘t even consciously aware of. This book looks at America through the lens of caste rather than race. Now I have some serious soul searching to do.

Reading this, I was impressed with Martin‘s turn of phrase, how he captured both humor and pathos in a single event. It is a light entertainment, a quick read. I was reminded throughout of his film L.A. Story as I read this. Not great literature, but a fun reading confection.

I‘m a bit late reading this, as it deals with economic panics ending with the 2008 housing bust. Also, my understanding of Wall Street and high finance is primitive at best. This collection of articles and essays on these market events raised my understanding a bit. I found the shorter articles and those written by Lewis to be the most engaging, providing me with the baddest bang for my reading buck.

Latitude is a piece of cake! Lines of latitude are all parallel to the equator, making the calculation of how far north or south of the equator you are located relatively easy. Not so longitude. The distance between lines of longitude vary, depending how far north or south you are. Ships and lives were lost because longitude could not be accurately determined. This is the fascinating story of how we learned to measure longitude.

You‘ve seen the movie, now read the book. Every bit as enjoyable as the film. Goldman draws you in so masterfully that you find yourself asking if he his writing the story himself or summarizing a much longer story written by S. Morgenstern. Either way, book is in turn funny, scary, romantic, heroic and dramatic.