It’s almost November and that means the holidays are close. One of my favorite aspects of the holiday seasons are extended periods of quiet… like days long. While there will be Destiny 2 and Mario Odyssey during these times, my goal is to fill those long silences with reading. Here are ten books you should read during the holiday:
- Barbarian Days. A Surfing Life My favorite read of the last decade. Yes, it’s a surf book, but I suspect that non-surfers will consume this book. Also, William Finnegan’s sentence structures are… a joy.
- Batman/The Flash: The Button A comic. I watch the Watchmen slowly invade the DC universe.. hesitantly.
- The Great Bridge: The Epic Story of the Building of the Brooklyn Bridge I’ve already waxed poetic about this book, but if you want understand the mindset of engineers – read this.
- The Path Between Seas: The Creation of the Panama Canal If you already read the Brooklyn Bridge book, how about reading how to make a canal? In the jungle? Across as isthmus? When you don’t understand that mosquitoes carry malaria around?
- Seveneves Big book, large concept, no spoilers. Highly recommend.
- Hawkeye Omnibus A day in the life of Hawkeye. Not a lot of super powers, just a lot of humans.
- Becoming Steve Jobs: The Evolution of a Reckless Upstart into a Visionary Leader The remains my favorite Steve Jobs book.
- Locke and Key, Vol. 1: Welcome to Lovecraft The entire series is worth it, but give the first volume and whirl and see if you able to not buy the next.
- Cool Tools: A Catalog of Possibilities You’re welcome.
- The Wild Trees: A Story of Passion and Daring Read the trees in my backyard.
What’d I miss? Tell me so I can add it to the wishlist.
Every single Terry Pratchett book
Rebuilding the Indian
If you have to deal with American health care system at all, “American Sickness” is great. Not cheerful, but very interesting.
Even with good insurance I always felt system is structurally broken. Mr. Rosenthal’s book is kind of like a deep dive into it. It should have been just a depressing, dry book, but her writing keeps it interesting, and hopeful.
A few I enjoyed in recent years:
• The Better Angels of our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined, by Steven Pinker
• The Alchemy of Air (story of the Haber-Bosch process)
• Creativity, Inc. (by Pixar founder Ed Catmull)
With wildfires raging across the American west, I found myself rereading Norman MacLean’s “Young Men and Fire”.
https://www.amazon.com/Young-Men-Fire-Norman-Maclean/dp/0226500624
It is one of my favorites. Not a page turner, but rather an in-depth look at tough men on a tight team taking on impossible odds in an environment that does not forgive mistakes.
The hardcover version has a map of the Mann Gulch area which is a great to reference as you go through the story.
The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O – Neal Stephenson and Nicole Galland
Nice time travel conundrums, plus start ups and government spooks
Love the science fiction of Seveneves. Recommend for all to read.
I hope this isn’t considered a spoiler, but I thought that first 2/3 of Seveneves was fantastic, but I was distinctly meh about the final 1/3.