Dead Trees: A Book List for 2007 (Update XIII)

After reading Blork’s book list for 2006 I decided to keep one for 2007. I’ll update this post every time I finish reading a book and republish it. I doubt I’ll get as many books as he does, read in one year but I do consume books one after the other non-stop and read on all sorts of topics, mostly non-fiction. You can always keep abreast of what I am currently reading by looking at my sidebar, there’s an entire section dedicated to my reading and the Now Reading part even has the covers of the books.

“The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who can’t read them.“
- Mark Twain

 

Update XIII : Published November 19th, 2007

The End of America: Letter of Warning To A Young Patriot
by Naomi Wolf

Could it happen? Could America descend into a fascist state? All the right-wing patriotic pornography we’ve seen of late seems to indicate it could. Naomi Wolf takes a good look at the parallels between previous fascist states and tendencies emerging right now in America. Even the stubborn most dogmatic conservative should read this book, take him or herself out of the American Experience bubble for the time to read this book and look inside and analyze everything that’s going on and realize that something not right is going on and that something needs to be done before its too late. Sadly I now know more about the Constitution than I do about The Charter. Sadly I’m afraid for my American neighbors.

Update XII : Published November 13th, 2007

The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism
by Naomi Klein

I always had a sneaking suspicion about backroom deals and power struggles by US corporations to control the world market but I only had only a few puzzle pieces to go. Now the puzzle is complete. Now I see the big picture. Somewhere, deep down I wish I didn’t. But there it is the Friedman doctrine to rid the world of labour forces, to privatize everything and deregulate everything, to make the rich, richer and the poor, destitute. It takes only Cordelia’s wit to ask, what Friedman’s childhood trauma was and it is simple, his daddy’s business was shutdown by unions and his whole philosophy is based on its antipode. By chapter one you’ll be soiling your underwear and by the end of the book, you will have pretty much given up, but there is hope, shock wears off, people wake up and educate yourself; INFORMATION IS SHOCK RESISTANCE… ARM YOURSELF

 

Update XI : Published September 22th, 2007

Twinkie, Deconstructed: My Journey to Discover How the Ingredients Found in Processed Foods Are Grown, Mined (Yes, Mined), and Manipulated Into What America Eats
by Steve Ettlinger

With a title like Twinkies, Deconstructed, I knew I wanted to read it. I felt it was going to be an attack on the food industry, sort of like a Supersize Me take on Little Debbie instead on Ronald McDonald. Well turns out it’s en extended ingredient list and the author mostly defends the industry practices and seems to me to be a proponent of free market philosophy which, if you read this blog, you know makes me puke and the book bored me enough I couldn’t finish it.

Update X : Published August 17th, 2007

God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything
by Christopher Hitchens

Brutal, vicious, unforgiving and megalomaniacal. Such is how God is perceived, not Christopher Hitchens. Hitchens just kicks ass and takes no prisoners. He drills it into you from the first chapter; religion Poisons Everything. Dawkins is eloquent and unrestrained. Onfray is analytical and direct.

Hitchens goes for the jugular of religion and wants nothing more than to kill it even though he knows well it can’t be done. He shows it no mercy. Before I had some tolerance for religion, now I have none. This and Dawkins’ book had a conversion effect; I can no longer excuse the madness of religion.

Taking the Red Pill: Science, Philosophy and Religion in The Matrix
by Glenn Yeffeth

That pretty much caped my reading material on The Matrix for a while (though I think I’ve said this before) and on philosophy. Reading philosophers justify freemarket libertarianism was enough to make me puke and then nit-picking every little scientific detail within The Matrix’s universe was giving me Trekkie flashbacks.

Don’t get me wrong, if you love The Matrix and Philosophy (heh not a lot of folks like that out there) this book is a decent one but aimed at the laidback arm-chair philosopher. I’ve read much deeper material on the philosophical aspects of The Matrix

It’s Not News, It’s Fark: How Mass Media Tries to Pass Off Crap As News
by Drew Curtis

The level of cynicism and sarcasm in this book makes me feel like an optimist. And that’s scary shit! Drew Curtis completely tears Mass Media to shreds and leaves no one standing with an argument for the crap the dole out on a daily and he certainly doesn’t shy away from pointing the finger also at the IQ level of those who consume the mass media’s regurgitated crap.

My favourite line from the book: “There were only two groups of people happy about 9/11 (other than the perpetrators). One was the sharks. The other was Gary Condit. Remember him? Probably Not”

I almost died laughing in the subway. I thought I was the only who was wondering whatever happened to that alleged internacidal congressman. The book has some redundant parts and some slow parts but then it kicks back in gear and kicks some Media ass.

Update IX : Published June 23rd, 2007

In Defense Of Atheism: The Case Against Christianity, Judaism and Islam
by Michel Onfray

After The God Delusion, vehemently attacking the fairy-dusted brainwashed religious with evolution based arguments comes In Defense Of Atheism by Michel Onfray who vehemently attacks the fairy-dusted brainwashed religious with the oldest of religion’s enemy, philosophy a.k.a. reason. The book starts out pretty soft. Soft enough that I thought to myself this might be all too forgiving. But it ends in a harsh, brutal and unforgiving litany of disputation of the evil of religion. Though lacking the poetic inclination of Richard Dawkins, the purely philosophical approach was all too interesting.

 

Update VIII : Published June 7th, 2007

Magic Lantern Guides: Canon EOS Digital Rebel XTi EOS 400D (Magic Lantern Guides)
by Michael Guncheon

Not much to say here. I was expecting a more exhaustive and paufinéd approach but it was more or less the guide I got with my Canon EOS Digital Rebel XTi EOS 400D but just BIGGER and slightly more detailed. I was looking for a more technical approach to photography and less a technical manual flaunting the perfection that is the Canon EOS Digital Rebel XTi EOS 400D.

 

 

Update VII : Published May 25th, 2007

Richard Dawkins : How a scientist changed the way we think
by Alan Grafen

A huge love fest for Dawkins and his books, that focuses mostly on his controversial masterpiece and first book, The Selfish Gene. Even those who disagree with him can’t help but love the guy. Brilliant biologist, brilliant writer, brilliant humanist. A quote from the book: “He is a coiner of memorable phrases, he is a ferocious and implacable opponent of those who water the dark roots of superstition. But mainly he celebrates.“

 

Update VI : Published April 24th, 2007

Sayings and Tales of Zen Buddhism: Reflections for Every Day
by William Wray

A nice collection of reflections, one for everyday, of Zen sayings and wisdom. Some are witty quickly understood one-liners others need more thought to grasp; some seem to approach being a koan. Some deep stuff in here but some sayings seem to be repeated. This may have been best served as a desk calendar one finds in books stores during Christmas time.

 

Update V : Published March 28th, 2007

The Tao of Photography: Seeing Beyond Seeing
by Philippe L. Gross and S. I. Shapiro

“You have to let it all go, Neo. Fear, doubt, and disbelief. Free your mind.” That’s the gist of this book on photography. But why did I start with a quote? Because when a book is written by PhDs that’s the frakking problem… QUOTES. CITATIONS. FREE RANGE PEDANTICISM. As great as the book was, I always have trouble reading books on creativity when written by PhDs because the paragraphs are flooded with a tsunami of quotes which leaves me wondering if these PhDs have ever had an original thought. But the book’s message in this mess of quotes is about letting go of the discriminating mind. It helps a lot if you have already familiarized yourself with Taoism to begin with. There’s nothing here about the technical aspect of photography, this is purely about creativity, about detachment, about seeing the wonder in the mundane. Despite the excess of quotes, still a great book.

 

Update IV : Published March 22th, 2007

Life After Death: the Burden of Proof
by Deepak Chopra

ACK! BLEH! I need some more Richard Dawkins to serve as Mental Mouthwash to remove the bitter aftertaste Deepak’s latest book has left. In an interview he gave on the CBC, Deepak made an impressive case for the USER to Dawkin’s Hardware argument. SO I had to read. But it’s just a lot of fluffy reprocessed predigested new-agy bullshit where everyone gets what they expect. It’s exactly what’s wrong with the New Age movement. It’s all about horizontal growth and not vertical.

 

Update III : Published March 8th, 2007

Photography: The New Complete Guide to Taking Photographs
by John Freeman

A beginner’s guide to photography which falls short on many, many aspects the would-be beginner should be looking for. First, the book goes old-school. Virtually no camera shop sells film based cameras anymore and there’s a good reason for that: The demand isn’t there. New photographers as well as old ones and mostly leaving film behind and have gone digital. The book, published only 3 years ago, concentrates on film based SLR cameras and perhaps makes mention of DSLR 5 or 6 times, a grave mistake in my opinion. Second, too much room has been made to showcase the often stock photography work of John Freeman in lieu of technical details. For instance, when describing lighting details, show me a graphic detail of the setup to help me better understand, this is what matters to me, not the 6 different results of the picture. When describing pieces of equipment, show it to me please, so I can recognise it when I’m looking for it; it was the reason I purchased the book, to learn more about the technical aspect of photography.

 

 

Update II : Published March 7th, 2007

The God Delusion
by Richard Dawkins

A no holds barred manifesto decrying the insanity of religion and its power over people by the uber-genius who is known as Darwin’s pit-bull. His opponents have called Dawkins hostile, but on the contrary, he’s much gentler than one could ever believe. His hostility stems from his incredulity when faced with the amount of illogical bullshit people will believe and the dark ends they will go to, to defend that bullshit.

“I am thrilled to be alive at a time when humanity is pushing against the limits of understanding. Even better, we may eventually discover that there are no limits.”

Update I : Published January 22nd, 2007

War Photography: Images of Conflict from Frontline Photographers
by Giles H. Wynn (Editor)

A promising title for a person who aspired to become a war photographer. Unfortunately this book is a collection of archive war pictures from the Daily Mirror, a British paper and has very little pictures that depict the horrors of war. Most of the images are portraits or images that are easily manufactured. There is no Capa-esque fortitude to be found here. Frank Capa’s mantra was simple: “If your pictures aren’t good enough, you’re not close enough.” And the book just never comes close.

 

Original Post : Published January 16th, 2007

Science Friction : Where the Known Meets the Unknown
by Michael Shermer

If you don’t know who Shermer is, he’s the founder of Skeptic Magazine. So it’s a lot less about science and a lot more about debunking and pride and self-promotion. But it was still a very interesting read for the science geek in me. He may be the good buddy of Mr Richard Dawkins but their writing styles are galaxies apart.

Stiff: The Curious lives of Human Cadavers
by Mary Roach

I began by reading her second book, Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife and I was hooked. Hooked on her books, hooked on her witty smart and hilarious writing style. I wish to mind-meld with Mary Roach. I devour her books and I can’t wait for her next one. She could write about the fascinating world of filling out tax forms and I’d still read it with immense interest.