Books Read in 2003

These are the books I read in 2003.

Best Books of the Year

• T. Rex and the Crater of Doom -- fun to read
• Genome -- summarizes the research in the area.
• The Illusion of Conscious Will -- interesting take on free will
• Freedom Evolves -- another interesting take on free will
• Animal Liberation -- I was resistant at first but he makes a strong
  case
• American Studies -- intellectually satisfying
• What Should I Do With My Life? -- tackles issues important to everyone.

Books I Read

• Biological science, psychology, and philosophy
  • The Illusion of Conscious Will by Daniel M. Wegner -- This book
    presents the thesis that our unconscious mind really determines our actions
    but in addition to performing the action it creates a sense in our consciousness
    that we consciously willed the action. Very interesting idea.
  • The Meme Machine by Susan Blackmore -- A meme is an idea that
    can be imitated. Memes exist in human brains and spread from brain to
    brain. As such they are a second kind of replicator, like a gene. There
    is selection among memes just like genes. She thinks brains are basically
    a collection of memes. The idea is compelling and explains a lot of things.
    Very interesting and recommended even though she doesn't make that compelling
    of a case.
  • Genome: the autobiography of a species in 23 chapters by Matt
    Ridley -- For each chromosome he picks a few genes and talks about some
    topic in genetics. Generally fascinating. He is too gung hjo about genetic
    research and how it can never do any harm. Recommended.
  • T. Rex and the Crater of Doom by Walter Alvarez -- The story
    of how they figured out that the great KT (Cretacious-Tertiary extinction
    was caused by a giant comet or meteor hitting the earth. A fascinating
    story of how science works in the real world. He lays it out as a mystery.
    Highly recommended.
  • Freedom Evolves by Daniel C. Dennett -- He tries to show that
    a reasonable version of free will is compatible with determinism, that
    is, that determinism does not imply imevitability. Very interesting and
    compelling argument.
  • Animal Liberation by Peter Singer -- He makes a convincing case
    against factory farming and eating meat. He starts from a utilitarian
    ethics that rates all suffering (human and animal) equally and argues
    that causing massive suffering to farm animals is not worth the pleasure
    of eating meat. Combined with ecological and health reasons for vegetarianism
    makes a convincing case.
• Computers, complexity and mathematics
  • Six Degrees: the science of a connected age by Duncan J. Watts
    -- Discusses recent work in the science of networks. Similar to Linked
    by Laszlo Barabasi but from the sociology point of view rather than the
    physics point of view. Interesting stories about how the science developed,
    when the physicists arrived, etc.
• Physics
  • The Universe In a Nutshell by Stephen Hawking -- very clear explanation
    of events in cosmology since his A Brief History of Time.
  • The Philosophy of Quantum Mechanics: the interpretations of qyantum
    mechanics in historical perspective by Max Jammer -- I only read small
    sections of this book. It is quite technical with a lot of mathematics
    and you would need a good grounding in quantum mechanics to read all of
    it. But it had some accessible sections about the interpretations of quantum
    mechanics. The subject is quite complex and I am still trying to understand
    it. There are problems with all the interpretations.
  • A Shortcut Through Time: the path to the quantum computer by
    George Johnson -- An interesting but necessarily low-level discription
    of quantum computing. It gives a good overview but leaves you with a lot
    of questions.
  • Dreams of a Final Theory by Steven Weinberg, 1992 -- Good overview
    of the state of particle physics in 1992 and how the science is conducted.
    A whole chapter on the superconducting supercollider. He says they need
    it to get anywhere in particle physics. $20 billion emplyment program
    for particle physicists.
  • The Odd Quantum by Sam Treiman -- still reading
  • QED: the strange theory of light andf matter by Richard P. Feynman
    -- still reading
  • Quantum Reality: beyond the new physics by Nick Herbert -- Very
    good explanation of quantum theory especiallly Bell's theorem. Recomended.
  • Nano: the ererging science of nanotechnology: remaking the world
    -- molecule by molecule by Ed Regis -- Mainly the story of K. Eric
    Drexler. Hard to evaluate nanotechnology. It seems like it is possible
    but it will take a long time and not be as cheap and easy as they say
  • Where does the weirdness go?: Why quantum mechanics is strange, but
    not as strange as you think by David Lindley -- A good discussion
    of quantum theory. Uses the idea of "decoherence", basically
    that quantum uncertainly always goes away before you get to the macro
    level and so you never need to worry about it. So you get a sort of determinism.
• Other science
  • What Einstein Told His Cook: Kitchen Science Explained by Robert
    L. Wolke -- Answers to questions about the scienctific side of cooking,
    like what are fats and fatty acids, what is ultrapasturization, are potatoe
    eyes poisonous, etc. Fascinating reading.
  • Don't Know Much About Geography: everything you need to know about
    the world by never learned
    
    by Kenneth C. Davis -- I just read part of this. It was too elementary.
    He tried too hard to by funny.
  • The Ascent of Science by Brian L. Silver -- A history of science.
    I got it for the section on quantum theory which was recommended. A little
    too brief for my purposes.
  • Children of the Stars: our origin, eveolution and destiny by
    Daniel R. Altschuler -- still reading
  • The Science of Harry Potter: how magic really works by Roger
    Highfield -- still reading
  • The Science of Star Wars by Jeanne Cavelos -- She goes through
    all the aspects of Star Wars and discusses how scientifically feasible
    each one is. A bit dull in places but many of the discussions are interesting.
    
• Social commentary, social science and politics
  • Walden by Henry David Thoreau -- Clearly a great book but I it takes a lot
    of work to get what you should out of it. I was not ready to put in that effort this
    time. maybe later.
  • An unexpected light : travels in Afghanistan by Jason Elliot -- Intriguing
    look at the land and people of Afghanistan. The women are not treated too well,
    that is for sure, even before the Taliban. Very ncie writing.
  • The Trouble with Dilbert: how corporate culture gets the last laugh
    by Norman Solomon -- Argues the idea that Dilbert doesn't challenge corporate
    values but reinforces them. It serves to demoralize corporate workers
    and think others are idiots rather than working together to improve working
    conditions. It promotes hostility. It repeats the same joke over and over.
  • The Tipping Point: how little things can make a big difference
    by Malcolm Gladwell -- Very interesting. Sort of a mix of memes and networking.
    He treats social phenomena like epidemics. Three principles: Rule of the
    Few, a few people make a big difference, that is, Connectors, Mavens and
    Salesmen; Stickyness, the basic idea has to be appealing; The Power of
    Context -- little things in the environment can make a big difference.
  • Fat Land: how Americans became the fattest people in the world
    by Greg Critser -- Americans are the fattest people on earth and getting
    fatter every year. He treats this a major health problem that the country
    is in denial over. Causes: cheap food products (thanks to Earl Butz!),
    fast food, snacking, and no exercise.
  • You Just Don't Understand by Deborah Tannen -- A study of the
    different verbal styles of men and women and how that makes for miscommunication.
    Very balanced and interesting.
  • Talking from 9 to 5 by Deborah Tannen -- a followup to You
    Just Don't Understand concentrating on how the different speak styles
    of men and women affect the work place.
  • World on Fire: how exporting free market democracy breeds ethnic
    hatred and global instability by Any Chua -- She points out the problems
    with combining democracy with markets. Markets tend to enrich the few,
    democracy empowers the masses that resent the few. She offers some solutions,
    mainly a slow introduction of democracy, transfers, etc. Very interesting
    book.
  • What Liberal Media? the truth about bias and the news by Eric
    Alterman -- He makes a strong case that the media are predominantly conservative
    and getting more so. The few liberals try to be balanced and the far right
    is always polemical.
  • Civilization and Its Discontents by Sigmund Freud -- People pay
    a large price for civilization, in terms of repressing their desires.
    Freud is not sure that it is worth it.
  • The Future of an Illusion by Sigmund Freud -- Freud thinks that
    people want a father and so they believe in religion. He thinkls society
    would be better off without it. I wasn't too impressed although I agreed.
    Interesting example: before Compernicus the idea that the sun revolves
    around the earth was a delusion, now it is an illusion.
  • When You Ride Alone, You Ride with Bin Laden by Bill Mahr --
    His take on 9/11. His idea is that the government should be asking people
    to sacrifice in the war on terror, that they were willing to sacrifice
    in WWII and would be again. Instead of cosmetic thing, use less oil and
    reduce our dependence on Middle East oil. A similar quote about Hilter
    in WWII is the basis of the title
  • Made In Texas: George W. Bush and the Sothern Takeover of American
    Politics by Michael Lind -- still reading
  • What Should I Do With My Life? The true story of people who answered
    ... by Po Bronson -- He found people who took chances and did interesting
    things with their life and told the stories. Very good.
    
• Novels. etc.
  • Woman in the Dunes by Kobo Ab? -- I saw the movie many years ago. It interpreted
    the book quite well so I didn't get too much more out of reading the book although
    it was well-written.
  • In cold blood by Truman Capote -- Very interesting book. I suppose a close
    look at any people's life written by a good writer will be intersting though.
  • Cakes & Ale by Somerset Maugham -- Pretty good story of the
    life of a writer, told by another writer who knew him.
  • Prey by Michael Crichton -- A nanotechnology disaster story.
    Somewhat interesting but too much reliance of chases and the like and
    not enough discussion of the scientific issues.
  • A Box of Matches by Nickelson Baker -- Meditations of a mad who
    gets up around 4 am every day and makes a fire. Observations about the
    little things in life. I didn't like it as well as Mezzanine but
    it was still good. I identified with several of his observations.
  • The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen -- very good study of a dysfunctional
    family and how it affected the parents and the three children.
  • Don't Look Now and other Stories by Daphne du Maurier -- a collection
    of her macbre stories. The Birds was creepy and good. All of the stories
    are interesting.
  • Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier -- Fairly creepy story of a young
    wife in a stately home, Manderly, with an evil housekeeper. I didn't like
    it a lot but it was a pretty good mystery.
  • The Dream of Scipio by Iain Pears -- started slow for me but
    picked up later. How three people in different historical periods deal
    with the breakdown of civilization and how they handle the problem of
    collaboration with an evil power.
  • Heart of Darkness: search for the unconscious by Gary Adelman
    -- criticism of Heart of Darkness. I thought it was a good analysis, straightforward
    without too much lit-crit theory.
  • The Hours by Michael Cunningham -- A very good book about three
    woman, Virginia Wolf while writing Mrs. Dalloway, a dissatisfied
    housewife in the 1950s who is reading Mrs. Dalloway, and a woman
    in the 1990s who is living a life very much like Mrs. Dalloway.
    You should read Mrs. Dalloway first to enjoy it more. Beautifully written.
  • Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf -- I didn't finish this. I read
    about 60% of it. I had trouble with the stream-of-consciousness style
    and just couldn't get interested. I'm glad I read that much though because
    it made The Hours more fun to read.
  • Night Listener by Armistad Maupin -- It took me a while to get
    into it but then I was fascinated. A story ofa gay writer who befriends
    a young boy auther. A good story and a mystery. By the author of the fabulous
    Tales of the City series.
  • Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen -- Her first novel. Less mature
    than her others but still very good. Some interesting authorial comments
    on why novel heroines should read novels.
  • A Room With a View by E. M. Forster -- Good but I didn't love
    it. The lives and loves of the Britsh idle classes.
  • The Last Refuge of Scoundrels: a revolutionary novel by Paul
    Lussier -- a novel about George Washington and the Revolutionary War.
    I didn't finish it. I didn't like it that well.
  • Skipping Christmas by John Grisham -- Not bad but it didn't catch
    my interest. I stopped about halfway through.
  • Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver -- Very good novel about
    Appalachia and ecology.
  • Middle Age: A Romance by Joyce Carol Oates -- I could not get
    into this and didn't finish it.
  • The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway -- A powerful story
    of the battle between an old Cuban fisherman and an huge fish.
  • The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway -- The "Lost Generation"
    in Paris and Spain. Lots of drinking. Lots of tough guys. Hemingway's
    style is lean, clean and refreshing.
  • Cliff's and Barron's Notes on: The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway
    -- Reasonable analysis of the novel. Cliff's notes were a bit one-sided
    in favor of the main character.
  • The Sun Also Rises: a novel of the twenties by Michael S. Reynolds
    -- Criticism of the novel.
  • Gilligan's Wake by Tom Carson -- still reading
  • Pattern Recognition by William Gibson -- still reading
  • Notes from the Underground by Fyodor Dostoevsky -- Portrait of
    a Russian former-bureaucrat who can't handle life. He can't relate to
    other people and is very unhappy.
  • The Diamond Age: or, a young lady's illustrated primer by Neal
    Stephenson -- Speculations on how nanotechnology will affect life and
    society on earth. Very good.
  • American Gods by Neil Gaiman -- The gods from other countries
    came to North America in the minds of the immagrants but now they are
    forgotten but they still live among us as taxi drivers, grifters, etc.
    Odin/Wodan is the main character. Very interesting novel.
  • Swann's Way by Marcel Proust -- First volume of "In search
    of lost time" or "Remembverance of things past". Extremely
    detailed observations on life. I only got a quarter way through this one.
    It was good but it did go on. I can see it is a great work but it was
    not easy to read.
  • Boulevard of Broken Dreams by Kim Deitch -- A graphic novel.
    Strange story, Detailed and interested graphics. Overall I did not enjoy
    it.
  • Maus: A survivor's tale by Art Spiegelman -- An early graphic
    novel.The story of the author's father's experience in the Holocaust.
    Very well done.
  • Maus II: A survivor's tale by Art Spiegelman -- The sequel. Also
    very good.
  • Brain Storm by Richard Dooling -- novel about neuroscience and
    how it affects the law, satire on lawyers. Very good.
  • Jane and the Man of the Cloth, 2nd Jane Austen Mystery by Stephanie
    Barron -- very good mystery in the Jane Auten style.
  • The Two Towers: Book Two of the Lord of the Rings by J. R. R.
    Tolkien -- it was great to reread this as an audio book. The narrator
    did all the voices and made it much richer. Still a great book and a great
    adventure story.
  • The Return of the King: Book Three of The Lord of the Rings by
    J. R. R. Tolkien -- see The Two Towers.
  • The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera -- novel about
    life in Communist Czechoslovakia, and about life in general and the relations
    between men and women. Pretty heavy stuff some of the time but quite good
    overall.
  • Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen -- still reading
• Humor
• Lucky Jim by Kingsly Amis -- Amusing but not riotously funny. A story of an
  academic in England in the 50s. Even then they were worried about declining standards
  to accomodate the returning soldiers.
• Notes from a Small Island by Bill Bryson -- A moderately humorous
  book about England. Bryson's last trip around england before he moves back
  to the US. Not his best work. Read it if you plan to travel in England.
• History
  • Redcoats and Rebels by Christopher Hibbert -- The American Revolution
    from the British point of view. I was slow to get into it, ots of descriptions
    of battles but it got more interesting. He gives a lot of background about
    the people and how they got along.
• Essays, memoirs and biography
  • Quarrel and Quandry by Cynthia Ozick -- Essays on lots of things. Some insights
    but not too many.
  • How To Be Alone: Essays by Jonathan Franzen -- A book of essay
    by the guy who was "disinvited" from Oprah's Book Club. He is
    concerned about the place of the novel in modern life. Most were very
    interesting
  • The Pleasure of Finding Things Out by Richard Feynman -- A collection of
    Feynman's writings. All excellent with many insights. He was an amazing man.
  • Surely You're Joking Mr. Feynman by Richard Feynman -- An interesting
    and inspiring book by a truely interesting character. The main lesson
    I got out of it was to be patient and keep working on things.
  • Elvis Presly by Bobbi Ann Mason -- still reading
  • Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt -- A
    reporter starts going to Savannah frequently and writing about the local
    characters and then a high-society murder case comes up and he covers
    it. Interesting and well done. still reading
  • Toujours Provence by Peter Mayle -- More adventures of the ad-man
    who moved to Provence. Interesting tales about the French. Not as good
    as his first book.
  • American Studies by Louis Menand -- A collection of essays about
    Richard Wright, the New Yorker, Oliver Wendall Holmes, Pauline Kahl, Rolling
    Stone, and Laurie Anderson. Menard is very intellectual with interesting
    and different takes on things.
  • Understanding Comics: the Invisible Art by Scott McCloud -- In
    comic form. A very good introduciton to the art of creating comics.He
    considers comics a legitimate artistic form different from writing or
    drawing. He goes of the techniques used in comics. Fun to read.
  • Yoga For People Who Can't Be Bothered To Do It by Geoff Dyer
    -- A book of travel essays.Quite good. He has travels like a youth into
    his forties. Now he is wondering whether to continue.
  • The Old Patagonian Express: by train through the Americas by
    Paul Theroux -- still reading
  • Songbook by Nick Hornby -- still reading
  • Mortal Lessons: notes on the art of surgery by Richard Selzer
    -- Literate, interesting thoughts of a surgeon on the parts of the body,
    surgery, medicine, etc.
• Plays
  • Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead by Tom Stoppard -- Theater
    of the Absurd. Hamlet from the point of view of these two minor
    characters. Most of the time they are "off-stage" in a place
    with no features or time. They talk and try to pass the time but they
    never know where they are or what is relaly happening.
  • Hamet by William Shakespeare -- I read this before reading Rosencrantz
    & Guildenstern Are Dead. I liked it a lot. It is amazing how many
    common expressions you can find in it, like "every dog has its day"
    among numerous others.
  • Othello by William Shakespeare -- It seems like Othello was pretty
    easily convinced that Desdemona was unfaithful. Not nearly as many famous
    lines as in Hamlet.
• Mysteries
  • Motherless Brooklyn by Jonathan Lethem -- A mystery where the
    detective has Tourette's Syndrome. And interesting study in what Tourette's
    is like.
  • This Gun For Hire by Graham Greene -- one of Greene's "entertainments"
    about a hired killer who does a political murder, gets cheated and tries
    to get even. I only read half of it. Just not in the mood for mysteries.
  • Jane and the Genius of the Place by Stephanie Barron -- written
    in the Jan Austen style with Jane as the detective using facts from her
    life. Nicely done and a good approximation of her style. I liked it.
  • Jane and the Unpleasantness at Scargrave Manor by Stephanie Barron
    -- The first Jane Austenm mystery. Enjoyable.
  • PMS Outlaws: an Elizabeth MacPherson Novel by Sharon McCrumb
    -- A good mystery. Sharan McCrumb is always good.
  • A Ghost of a Chance by Bill Crider -- Good. I like Sheriff Dan
    Rhodes mysteries.
  • A Romantic Way To Die by Bill Crider -- still reading
  • A Knife In The Back by Bill Crider -- Good mystery. I like Bill
    Crider
• Other
  • The Story of Philosophy; the essential guide to the history of western
    philosophy by Bryan Magee -- good summaries of the main ideas.
  • Reading the Vampire Slayer: an unofficial critical companion for
    Buffy and Angel edited by Roz Kaveny -- critical theory applied to
    Buffy, feminist analysis, space and place, etc. Interesting if you like
    Buffy (as I do). Some of the analysis is quite interesting, like how the
    Scooby Gang is egalatarian and not hierarchical and the enemies are always
    hierarchical.
  • The Eye of the Prophet by Kahlil Gibran -- poems and aphorisms
    about life, read by Johnny Cash. Interesting.
  • The King's English: a Guide to Modern Usage by Kingsley Amis
    -- somewhat interesting review of usage.Amis is a bit of a pedant but
    sometimes amusing. It gets a little tedious if you read it through.
  • Big Ideas by Lynda Barry -- A graphic book (i.e. cartoon) --
    still reading
  • One Hundred Demons by Lynda Barry -- A graphic book (i.e. cartoon).
    Mostly about growing up in a somewhat disfunctional family with a Filipino
    mother. Some interesting insights.