Books
Below is a list of books that I have read, liked, and recommend. I don’t grantee that you will like them, but then I can’t do anything if you suffer from poor taste. The list is in no particular order and I may or may not include a brief description of why I liked it.
Oh, and before you ask. Yes, the links provided for the books listed are Amazon affiliate links (which means I get a few pennies if you buy the book using the link I provide). In case that bothers you here are direct links to several online retailers that should carry the books listed: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Borders.
A Short History of Nearly Everything – Bill Bryson
(via Wikipedia) “A Short History of Nearly Everything” is a general science book by Bill Bryson, which explains some areas of science, using a style of language more accessible to the general public than many other books dedicated to the subject. It was the bestselling popular science book of 2005 in the UK, selling over 300,000 copies.
My thoughts: Seriously, A Short History of Nearly Everything should be required reading in schools. Text books fail at what A Short History of Nearly Everything achieves – explaining science in a fun, entertaining, and understandable way. Even if you could care less about the Big Bang, or quantum physics, you will enjoy this book. What I really liked about A Short History of Nearly Everything is that Bryson doesn’t just explain the science, but he also conveys the humanity behind the science.
World War Z – Max Brooks
(via Wikipedia) “World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War” (abbreviated WWZ) is a 2006 post-apocalyptic horror novel by Max Brooks. It is a follow-up to his 2003 book “The Zombie Survival Guide”. Rather than a grand overview or single narrative, World War Z is a collection of individual accounts in the form of interviews with characters conducted by the author. Brooks plays the role of an agent of the United Nations Postwar Commission who published the novel a decade after the Zombie War. The United Nations left out much of his work from the official report, choosing to focus on facts and figures from the war rather than individual stories; these form the bulk of the novel. The interviews chart a decade-long war against zombies from the view point of many different people of various nationalities. The personal accounts also describe the changing religious, geo-political, and environmental aftermath of the Zombie War.
My thoughts: It’s a zombie book, nuff said.
The Zombie Survival Guide – Max Brooks
(via Wikipedia) “The Zombie Survival Guide,” written by American author Max Brooks and published in 2003, is a survival manual dealing with the potentiality of a zombie attack. It contains detailed plans for the average citizen to survive zombie uprisings of varying intensity and reach, and describes “cases” of zombie outbreaks in history, including an interpretation of Roanoke Colony.
My thoughts: This should be required reading in schools. If you want to have half a chance of surviving the zombie apocalypse you need to read this book.
The God Delusion – Richard Dawkins
(via Wikipedia) In “The God Delusion,” Dawkins contends that a supernatural creator almost certainly does not exist and that belief in a personal god qualifies as a delusion, which he defines as a persistent false belief held in the face of strong contradictory evidence. He is sympathetic to Robert Pirsig’s observation in Lila that “when one person suffers from a delusion it is called insanity. When many people suffer from a delusion it is called religion.”
My thoughts: While Dawkins may be characterized as “Darwin’s pit-bull” he does not strike me as such. What I get from Dawkins is frustration, frustration that in this day and age people insist in on believing irrational (often silly) things. If I got anything out of this book it’s that I am not alone in my frustration regarding religion, in my unbelief, and that we need more people like Dawkins to stand up against the idea that religion is sacred and untouchable. Good book.
Old Man’s War – John Scalzi
(via Wikipedia) The first-person narrative is about a soldier named John Perry and his exploits in the CDF (Colonial Defense Forces). Old Man’s War is similar in overall structure to Robert A. Heinlein’s Starship Troopers and Joe Haldeman’s The Forever War as it follows Perry’s military career from CDF recruit to the rank of captain. It is set in a universe heavily populated with life forms (much like David Brin’s Uplift Universe); colonists from Earth must compete for the scarce planetary real estate which is suitable for sustaining life. As such, Perry must learn to battle against a wide variety of aliens. While the soldiers in Starship Troopers and The Forever War relied on powered body armor to gain advantage over their aliens, the soldiers in Old Man’s War have enhanced DNA and nanotechnology, giving them advantages in strength, speed, and endurance.
My thoughts: John Scalzi is an excellent writer – Old Man’s War does not disappoint. My wife can attest that I had a very hard time putting this book down. It’s just a really good book. I’m looking forward to reading the rest in the series – The Ghost Brigades, 
The Cuckoo’s Egg – Clifford Stoll
(via Wikipedia) Clifford Stoll (the author) managed some computers at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California. One day, in August 1986, his supervisor (Dave Cleveland) asked him to resolve a USD$0.75 accounting error in the computer usage accounts. He traced the error to an unauthorized user who had apparently used up 9 seconds of computer time and not paid for it, and eventually realized that the unauthorized user was a hacker who had acquired root access to the LBL system by exploiting a vulnerability in the movemail function of the original GNU Emacs.
My thoughts: The Cuckoo’s Egg starts off a bit slow but if you stick with it your quickly rewarded with a story of computer hacking and espionage that spans the globe. Once things get going it’s difficult to put down. What makes this book so compelling is that it’s a true story, told by the man who lived it.