The Metaphysical Club: A Story of Ideas in America, by Louis Menand

I picked up this book for 10 cents at a little used book store in West Virginia. It won the Pulitzer Prize for History in 2002, so I figured I'd give it a go.

I was quickly drawn into it, the book opening with talk of civil war era thinking, it was very interesting. It touched upon science in the 19th century, which I've always been enthralled with. In the last three parts (of five) it really gets pretty deep into philosphy of the 19th century. Now I am not a student of 19th century philosophy, or any philosophy for that matter, so it took some time for me to at least somewhat get my head around their ideas before I could properly read this. So it took me almost 2 months to finally get to the end of this book, and I still believe there was plenty I could learn from a rereading of it sometime in the future.

Good book, not dry and boring, but definately a lot of information packed into it's 400+ pages of reading.

The Secret Of Life, by Paul McAuley

A friend of mine loaned me this book. I was pleased to discover that it was written by a biologist turned science fiction writer. So you get piles of science talk, and biology basics that you can depend on to be true. Having true, in depth, facts definately added to my enjoyment of this book.

It is about a woman who is able to go on a Mars trip to do research on possible life there, and the repercussions of said life coming to earth. It was all a very plausible scenario, tiny microbiological life living deep in the ice of the northern pole of Mars. The book gets into her character a lot, her motives (some of which she is even unsure of), and her attempts to make sure science prevails in a world where corporate sponsors have great influence on directions and discoveries by NASA.

Good book, I'll definately be reading more by this author.

The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress, by Robert Heinlein

This is the second Heinlein book I've ever read, and I must say I was not let down.

The moon was made inhabitable and is being used as a penal colony. But once the convicts have finished their sentence they cannot leave, because of physical changes that come from living on the low-gravity moon. The story centers around Mike, a computer that has become intelligent and aids a small group of rebels in their fight for complete freedom on Mars.

This book really makes you think back to a lot of earth-side revolutions, and it's amusing to see the moon colonists use the United States so often as a blueprint for revolution. The intelligent computer was really cool as well. I greatly enjoyed reading this book.

Foundation Trilogy, by Isaac Asimov

It's surprising that I hadn't read these three books (Foundation, Foundation and Empire and Second Foundation earlier, since I've turned into a big science fiction fan.

It follows a space civilization through it's downfall and years in near chaos. Only one man knows how it will come out, he predicted several steps in the civilization using "psychohistory" a field of study that believes that large groups of humans, their government and revolutions, can be accurately predicted.

I loved this trilogy. It's definately a "must read" for anyone who enjoys good Science Fiction. Quite a masterpiece!

Friday, by Robert Heinlein

This books tells of a future where a genetically engineered woman, Friday, is trying to find her place. In the beginnin we meet her working as a "courier" for mysterious firm. As the story progresses we see a world where people who are genetically engineered are referred to as "artificial people" and greatly limited in their rights and acceptance. Friday must come to terms with her place in society, and deal with the consequences of not being fully truthful about her origins. Sometimes this book ended with scenes that were quite heartbreaking.

I did enjoy it, and it gave an interesting glimpse into what the world could turn into with genetic alterations a real possibility. Maybe people won't want them, maybe the altered won't be considered human anymore...

The plot wasn't exactly well-defined and it slowed down in parts, but as a whole I'd say I enjoyed this book.

"Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!": Adventures of a Curious Character, by Richard Phillips Feynman

I borrowed a whole pile of books from a friend of mine, and the last one he dropped on my pile was this one. I looked at it a bit funny (there I go again, judging by the cover) then shrugged and accepted.

Boy was I surprised by the greatness of this book!

It is a series of anecdotes by physicist Richard Feynman. He has all sorts of stories to tell about things he's done in his life, and it was quite intriguing to read about someone who has so much more curiousity. He's absolutely brilliant but is just another guy, you can so easily relate to him. It's funny because you can find yourself getting quite comfortable with a story, and then it hits you that some of the things he says are crazy clever.

This book was a pleasure to read. Apparently he's published a few, I'll definately be picking them up as well!

Ender's Shadow, by Orson Scott Card

I first read Ender's Game while in high school. It wasn't until this past year that I went further into the Ender Saga, I like Orson Scott Card as an author so I was happy with the series.

I wasn't sure what I'd think about a book like this one, a "parallel novel" to Ender's Game. I guess I worried that he wouldn't be able to pull off the same story, or that I'd end up disliking how Bean (the main character in this book) portrayed Ender and all the older children.

I was pleasantly surprised. This book turned out to be quite good! I was very happy with it. It was wonderful how Card managed to rewrite so much of the same story in such a different way from this character's point of view. It also very nice to learn more about Bean, as he's such a small character in Ender's Game. I'll definately be reading more books in this... "Bean saga"

The Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity, and the Making of The Oxford English Dictionary, by Simon Winchester

I had heard about this book when it was first published back in 1999. I was interested but never got around to picking it up until I was at the local library browsing the non-fiction section. I became quite excited, and immediately checked it out. On our vacation to West Virginia I was able to read it.

I love history, and although the history of the writing of a dictionary may seem like a dull subject, it wasn't at all! Even without the "murder and insanity" it was an interesting story. It gave me an entirely different view on the mutability english language, there just weren't comprehensive dictionaries before this on, imagine how much work went into creating such a massive book! This book even sparked my interest in Doctor Johnson's Dictionary of the English Language, which was published in 1755 and was the standard dictionary for over 150 years.

This book was amazing, and I'll defiantely be buying a copy for my home library. Who knew dictionaries were so interesting?