The other night I completed A Walk in the Woods, by Bill Bryson. The book details the author’s trek along the Appalachian Trail, with a history and ecology of the trail thrown in as well.
To be perfectly honest, I was amazed at how interesting this book was. Some authors have the ability to make some of the most uninteresting activities (see: hiking) enthralling. I was legitimately laughing out loud during the first half of this book, and while the remainder of the account was somewhat sobering, there was still a chuckle every few pages.
This book made me want to go out and hike…and I don’t like hiking.I am currently reading Guns, Germs, and Steel, by Jared Diamond. I’m afraid I won’t have as many nice things to say about this one tomorrow. This books has been the bane of my existence for months now.
Was crack the worst thing to hit Black Americans since Jim Crow?
Do police actually lower crime rates?
Is a swimming pool more dangerous than a gun?
What’s the blackest name? What’s the whitest name? Does it matter?
The answers to some of those questions might surprise you…at least if you put a lot of stock in common sense and age-old adages.
This morning I finished reading my first book, Freakonomics, by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner, and above were some of the questions that were posed throughout the text.
This was easily one of the most interesting books that I have ever read. I cannot recall being so taken in with a work of non-fiction before. While there may not be a unifying theme to the book, the text is nonetheless engaging and extremely thought provoking. Levitt and Dubner pull no punches and make no apologies for their ideas, and the book is unabashedly politically incorrect. For example, as if abortion weren’t an incendiary enough topic, they claim that it is the main contributing factor in the rapid fall of crime in the 1990’s.
What’s most intriguing about this book is that it doesn’t have an agenda. The authors take an open-minded consideration of all the facts and come to conclusions which often fly in the face of “conventional wisdom.”
This blog is going to chronicle my attempt to read 150 books in the next year. I am not sure if I can achieve this or not; however, I know that there’s at least a chance I could do it, so I might as well set aim high. My intention is to provide updates during the course of my reading, letting you know what I think of the books, as well as providing some observations on the everyday life of a voracious reader.
In order to prevent chaos, I’m establishing some rules for myself:
- I have been known to reread books on occasion. These will not count towards the total.
- At least 1/3 of the books (that’s 50 for those of you who are counting) must be non-fiction.
- While not every book needs to be of Dickensian length, on average, they must be of a respectable size.
Some things working in my favor:
- I already read a lot, so this isn’t exactly going to be a shock to my system
- My fiancee is also an avid reader, so there’s quality time (sort of…) that we can spend together
- There’s a library down the street and two used bookstores within a ten minute walk. Lack of reading material will not be a problem
- I have to travel to Texas for work next month and will be there, by myself, for two months. I will have nothing better to do than sit around and read most of the time (at least during the week).
Some things working against me:
- We are in the midst of wedding planning. That is sure to eat up some time.
- I have to make two solo cross country trips (by car). That is going to eat up some days.
- I’m transitioning to a new job and am not sure how much of my free time that is going to take- at least while I’m learning the ropes.
All in all, I think that they probably are going to even out and shouldn’t have too much of an impact on the overall outcome of this endeavor.
I’m going to start tomorrow, 19 January 2009. Hopefully, a year from now, you will be able to scroll through and see my thoughts/reviews of more than 150 books. Let the fun begin.
Buried By Books 