A Briefer History of Time

Author: Stephen Hawking
Format: Print

A great overview of some of the ideas of physics that have entered the public view. Relativity, quantum mechanics, string theory, black holes, the big bang, worm holes. By the way, did you hear about the black hole with the mass of 18 billion suns?

Never Sniff a Gift Fish

Author: Patrick E. McManus
Format: Audiobook

This was a great read. It's a comedy book equal to what I've read from Dave Barry. Especially funny if you've ever been camping or enjoy outdoor sports such as hunting or fishing. Great light reading.

Einstein: His Life and Universe

Author: Walter Isaacson
Format: Audiobook

Great! I really enjoyed reading this book. Mr. Isaacson does exactly as his title describes, including the important biographical elements as well as great explanations of Einstein's ideas in physics. This book makes me want to delve deeper into this world of curved space, quantum questioning, and the quest towards a unified field theory. Things I will take with me: think visually, think creatively, and challenge the norms.

The World is Flat

Author: Thomas L. Friedman
Format: Audiobook

This book should be read by people "all around the world." I'm wishing I had counted the number of times Mr. Friedman used this phrase in his book, I'm sure it is in the hundreds. However, "all around the world" pretty much sums it up, in his "history of the twenty-first century" Mr. Friedman more or less concludes that our era is all about globalization. Wait, wait, wait! All around the world! I thought it was flat now, Mr. Friedman? If anything the new connectivity of people around the world pulls it in tighter and increases the curvature or this sphere. When people lived on a flat earth it was full of unknowns, the people on one side of the coin didn't even know the people on the other side existed. All this to say, the terminology of a flat world annoys me. Still, a good read full of interesting anecdotes about technology and globalization. If you've been asleep for the past few years, wake up and read this book.

The Audacity of Hope

Author: Barack Obama
Format: Audiobook

Mr. Obama discusses his political views in this book and his hope for the future of America. This book definitely influences my vote for the upcoming presidential election. This man just might have a shot. I like what he says about education, I agree with him, we need to pay teachers more and pay them based on their performance. The trick will be doing this without taking power from the unions, oh and paying for it. I also like his commitment to tackling poverty and ending hefty tax cuts for the extremely rich. He ends his book with talking about the importance of family and bringing in his own personal family story, a cheap trick but it works.

Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim

Author: David Sedaris
Format: Audiobook

I found this book by listening to the "This American Life" podcast. David Sedaris is a regular guest voice reading some of his stories. This book is full of hilarious short stories about Mr. Sedaris and his family, a great read. I especially like stories about his hillbilly brother including where he trains his dog to eat his little dogs ummm.... presents. Ewww.

Teacher Man

Author: Frank McCourt
Format: Print

Frank McCourt's account of his 30 year teaching career. It was a well written entertaining book that mixes in parts of his past as a child in Ireland and young adult in New York. Most striking is his meandering sense of adventure throughout his career. His 30 years is divided up by an attempt at getting a doctoral degree, getting fired and changing schools, lessons on cookbooks that don't seem to have any point.

Blink

Author: Malcolm Gladwell
Format: Audiobook

Interesting book about the unconscious mind "thinking without thinking" and the advantages and disadvantages of making snap judgements.

The Way It Spozed To Be

Author: James Herndon
Format: Print

This book described Mr. Herndon's experiences during his first year of teaching in an urban environment in the 60's. It seems that Herndon goes into the school as a blank slate, he doesn't really have a plan, or a mission, or educational theories and practices. He doesn't attempt to "control the class" but observes as it chaotically organizes itself and he steers it towards education. In ways I had a similar experience: 5th period didn't change, they didn't decide to listen to my lectures, or quietly work like they should--I changed, I stopped lecturing, and stopped expecting quiet, I found a way to communicate to people who won't listen.

My Life

Author: Bill Clinton
Format: Audiobook

Hey, I read nonfiction! About politics! This book actually made me think, "hey, I could be President--it doesn't seem that hard." Ofcourse, it also made me appreciate the skills that President Clinton brought to the table even if spoken from his own mouth. I wish he had said more about "[his] Life" it would have been better named "My Presidency" I suppose, although he does talk about issues and events outside of politics, it seems like it is a lot of "name clearing" that goes on in this book. Does he need to be on the defensive even after retiring from being the president? It was neat that it was read by the author.

Dave Barry is Not Making This Up

Author: Dave Barry
Format: Audiobook

Very funny collection of Mr. Barry's columns. I enjoyed the section about people "teaming" in China. Beware of toilet snakes.

The Seven Habbits of Highly Effective People

Author: Stephen R. Covey
Format: Audio

Not exactly an audiobook version of "7 habits." It seems to be more of a supplementary audio program. Great intro to the 7 habits, definitely something I'd like to revisit.

Mere Christianity

Author: C.S. Lewis
Format: Audiobook

C.S. Lewis reminds me a lot of Isaac Asimov in that he uses logic in his writing beautifully. This book attempts to give a good overview of what it means to be a Christian and gives logical evidence for why things are the way they are. A great read, it was difficult to put this one down.

Innumeracy

Format: Print
Author: John Allen Paulos

"A billion, a trillion, whatever." We say these things but do we really have a sense of magnitude for big and small numbers as well as the risk and probabilities associated with our daily lives. Paulos tries to give the reader a good number sense as well as an understanding of probability while explaining the effects and causes of "innumeracy." The book is pretty entertaining with some great examples.

Infinite Ascent

Format: Print
Author: David Berlinski

This was a great overview of Math History. This topic is lacking in my math education so this book was a great help. It is very poetically written and could be good for even non-math types all though some passages were a little difficult to wrap my head around. Point of interest: Cantor claims that there are different sized infinities, he calls the size of the natural numbers "Aleph null." Also, not only is Euclid the "Father of Geometry" he is the Father of Proof as well.