- Akhil Reed Amar, America's Constitution: A Biography
- Barton Biggs, Hedge Hogging
- Brian Doherty, Radicals for Capitalism: A Freewheeling History of the Modern American Libertarian Movement
- Giles Foden, Mimi and Toutou's Big Adventure: The Bizarre Battle of Lake Tanganyika
- Diego Gambetta, The Sicilian Mafia: The Business of Private Protection
- Barry M. Goldwater, The Conscience of a Conservative
- Madeleine L'Engle, A Wrinkle in Time (nowhere near as good as I remembered, and the other two I read were so bad I didn't buy the fourth)
- Madeleine L'Engle, A Wind in the Door
- Madeleine L'Engle, A Swiftly Tilting Planet
- Mark R. Levin, Rescuing Sprite: A Dog Lover's Story of Joy and Anguish
- Roger Lowenstein, When Genius Failed: The Rise and Fall of Long-Term Capital Management
- Ernest Nagel and James R. Newman, Goedel's Proof
- Robert Neuwirth, Shadow Cities: A Billion Squatters, A New Urban World
- Ronald Numbers, The Creationists: From Scientific Creationism to Intelligent Design (revised edition)
- Kevin Phillips, American Dynasty: Aristocracy, Fortune, and the Politics of Deceit in the House of Bush
- William Poundstone, Fortune's Formula: The Untold Story of the Scientific Betting System That Beat the Casinos and Wall Street
- Rudy Rucker, Frek and the Elixir
- Jim Steinmeyer, The Glorious Deception: The Double Life of William Robinson, aka Chung Ling Soo, the "Marvelous Chinese Conjurer"
- Tim Weiner, Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA
- Jonathan Wolff, Robert Nozick: Property, Justice and the Minimal State
- Carl Zimmer, Evolution: The Triumph of an Idea
Wednesday, December 26, 2007
Books Read in 2007
As another year comes to a close, I've again put together a list of the books I've managed to read this year. Once again, there are many that I've not finished, some of which were started but left uncompleted in 2005 or 2006, but I'm not going to bother listing those this year. While in previous years I've reviewed almost every book I read on Amazon.com, this year I've hardly done so at all, and my Amazon.com reviewer rank has dropped accordingly--I had hopes at one time of cracking the top 2000 (and got up to 2,171), but that won't happen if I don't write some more reviews. I'm disappointed with how few books I've read this year--this is the first time I can recall purchasing more new books than I've finished reading, so I plan to use my vacation days (the rest of the year) to see if I can finish a few more.
I know how you feel. Despite reading ten books in the last two months, my overall number of books read is fewer than the last couple of years. And given my sometimes impulsive buying spree (both online and off) I have over two dozen unread books bought just this year.
ReplyDeleteBTW, in your list, I haven't read any of those except the last one by Carl Zimmer, which is awesome and should be required reading for anyone doubting Evolution (deniers won't be convinced, though).
I've only read one of yours, and it's on the same subject (Gould's The Panda's Thumb).
ReplyDeleteI've got another Zimmer book ready to start reading, Soul Made Flesh.
In line with Kurt Goedel, I noticed that Douglas Hofstadter has a new book out--"I am a Srange Loop". It looks like a fun read.
ReplyDeleteThat one's on my wish list, but not yet purchased.
ReplyDeleteI've read Soul Made Flesh too. Carl Zimmer is a genius in science writing. I wish some other science writers I read are half as good. :p
ReplyDeleteHm. I'm not even sure what books I've read this year ... I never thought to keep track (although it would probably be a good idea to start since I pick a book of the year every year ...).
ReplyDeleteI'm leaning toward spam, Jim.
ReplyDeleteHowever, the fact that I'm not sure is a tribute to the spammer.
Yeah, I think spam... it's gone.
ReplyDelete