The History Book Club discussion

Here is your new thread for 2013.

Our Format:

JANUARY

1. Winston S. Churchill
Finish date: March 2008
Genre: (whatever genre the book happens to be)
Rating: A
Review: You can add text from a review you have written but no links to any review elsewhere even goodreads. And that is about it. Just make sure to number consecutively and just add the months.

Note: I will delete required format post once you get started.

Thanks for setting this up!
I listen to audiobooks while I work, so I get through a lot of books. Here I'm going to track my non-fiction reads for 2013. Also I tend to rate books critically. According to goodreads only 1/3 of what I rate gets A or B.

JANUARY

1. by Carl Sagan
Finish Date: January 8
Genre: Science/Space Travel
Rating: A
Review:
I'm pretty young, and I grew up in an era where it was no big deal that there are astronauts flying above in a space station or that people have been to the moon. This book helped put everything into perspective and made me much more interested and amazed by NASA, the ISS, and our future plans for space travel.

2. by Neil Shubin
Finish Date: January 9
Genre: Biology
Rating: B
Review:
I love books that give a story of evolution - how and why we evolved to be what we are now. This book did a good job of covering that, along with some added insight of the author, who discovered one of the major transitional fossils between fish and mammals.

3. by James Gleick
Finish Date: January 11
Genre: Science/Technology
Rating: A
Review:
This is one of my favorite books. It goes through the entire history of information: how we developed communication and language and how that changed our way of thinking, how we learned to send messages quickly over long distances and how that changed our culture and economics, and finally computing, coding, and data storage.

4. by Charles Duhigg
Finish Date: January 22
Genre: Psychology
Rating: C
Review:
This book had some really interesting and well researched parts about how the brain forms and uses habits. It also went into how to use habits in advertising and how to break habits, but those sections just weren't written as well. It felt like they were thrown in to reach a more general audience.

5. by Susan Cain
Finish Date: January 23
Genre: Psychology
Rating: C
Review:
I really liked the history of attitudes towards introversion and extroversion over the last few centuries in this book. I feel like the book went on too long after that point and made a lot of over-generalizations though.

6. by Richard Panek
Finish Date: January 24
Genre: Physics
Rating: D
Review:
This book was pretty dry. I felt like it spent way too much time going into the details of research teams fighting over who discovered what first, and really skimmed over what they discovered or the importance of it.

7. by Jesse Bering (no photo)
Finish Date: January 25
Genre: Biology
Rating: C
Review:
This book was really fun and funny. However, books about evolution need to be careful about staying away from "just so" stories that happen to explain why things are the way they are but don't yet have sufficient evidence to back it up. This book was filled with those types of stories.

8. by Sharon Moalem (no photo)
Finish Date: January 30
Genre: Medicine/Biology
Rating: D
Review:
This one felt very similar to book 7 - it asserted a lot of anecdotal stories without much evidence to back it up. This is a worse crime in medical biology because there is so much evidence available, and some of it contradicts what the author is asserting. This should have been addressed in the book. it was also much drier and not fun or funny, so it gets a D.

FEBRUARY

9. by Rebecca Stott
Finish Date: February 6
Genre: Biology/History
Rating: B
Review:
This book was really interesting and well written. It went through all the predecessors to Darwin who came close or helped in the discovery of evolution by natural selection.

10. by Brian Greene
Finish Date: February 8
Genre: Physics
Rating: B
Review:
This book gave a really good explanation of string theory, it's history, and what it means for our understanding of the universe.

11. by John Cornwell (no image)
Finish Date: February 8
Genre: History
Rating: D
Review:
This could have been a really good book. Unfortunately, it was really dry and didn't cover a lot of the really interesting things I was hoping for about German scientists during WWII. The author also wastes a lot of time convincing the reader that Hitler was a bad person, and he doesn't even do a very good job of it.

12. by Bill Wasik and Monica Murphy
Finish Date: February 15
Genre: Medicine/History
Rating: C
Review:
This book was dry at times, but otherwise interesting. I really liked hearing about the superstitions and myths that were created because of rabies.

13. by Brian Greene
Finish Date: February 28
Genre: Physics
Rating: A
Review:
This book was incredibly well written. It gave a great overview of everything we understand about our universe and what might be possible outside of it.

MARCH

14. by Sean Carroll (no image)
Finish Date: March 14
Genre: Physics
Rating: A
Review:
This book has the best explanations of relativity and everything we know about time that I've read. It gets pretty far into very recent science, so parts of it are very theoretical and don't have a scientific consensus. It was definately an interesting and mind-twisting read.

15. by Michio Kaku
Finish Date: March 21
Genre: Physics/Technology
Rating: D
Review:
I didn't know until after I read this book, but Michio Kaku has been called out by other physisists for over-popularizing science to the point of saying things that aren't true. He did that a lot in this book too.

16. by Douglas Starr (no photo)
Finish Date: March 23
Genre: History/Forensic Science
Rating: B
Review:
Great book. Because Vacher documented so much about his life, the book read more like a novel than a history. It went into a lot of detail without ever getting boring.

17. by Matt Ridley
Finish Date: March 27
Genre: Biology
Rating: D
Review:
This book was pretty good for the first 2/3 or so, but when it got into evolutionary psychology the science got really bad. Here's a typical quote from that part of the book: "The things that male brains are usually good at, gay brains are often bad at, and vice versa"

APRIL

18. by Oliver Sacks
Finish Date: April 3
Genre: Psychology
Rating: C
Review:
This book was interesting and it covered the topic really thoroughly. I wish it would have gone a little bit more into how the brain works and what causes hallucinations though.

19. by Christopher Hitchens
Finish Date: April 10
Genre: Religion
Rating: C
Review:
This was a lot shorter than I thought it would be. A good summary about the problems with Mother Teresa and a lot of other religious missionaries.

20. by Stephen Jay Gould
Finish Date: April 11
Genre: Science
Rating: C
Review:
This book was really fascinating. It shows just how fallible scientists can be when predjudices affect their work.

21. by Richard Carrier
Finish Date: April 15
Genre: Religion
Rating: B
Review:
This book was mostly a rebuttal, but it went into some really interesting and well-researched history of the origins of Christianity and how it evolved as a religion over its first few hundred years.

22. by Neil deGrasse Tyson
Finish Date: April 17
Genre: Astronomy
Rating: B
Review:
This read a lot like a Carl Sagan book updated 30 years and written for a modern audience. It didn't quite have the sense of wonder I got from Sagan books though.
Carl Sagan

23. by Jared Diamond
Finish Date: April 22
Genre: Biology/History
Rating: B
Review:
This is a great book. I learned so much from it and really enjoyed it. My favorite parts were about linguistics - what happens to humans when we aren't raised with language, and how close some other animals are to a true language.

24. by Ben Goldacre
Finish Date: April 23
Genre: Science
Rating: C
Review:
A fun, easy read. I enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I would because I thought it would rehash a lot of things I already knew.

25. by Mary Roach
Finish Date: April 25
Genre: Space Travel
Rating: B
Review:
Really fun and informative. Just like any Mary Roach book, you'll learn more about space travel then you ever thought you wanted to know, and then some.

26. by Anthony Shadid
Finish Date: April 26
Genre: Memoir
Rating: C
Review:
Part of my Middle East Challenge. This book gave a good feel for life in Lebenon, but I was frustrated with trying to understand the author's motivations and find a purpose.

MAY

27. by Elissa Wall (no photo)
Finish Date: May 2
Genre: Memoir
Rating: C
Review:
Not the most well-written book, but it is an incredible story.

28. by Roxana Saberi
Finish Date: May 3
Genre: Memoir
Rating: C
Review:
Part of my Middle East Challenge. This book gives a lot of great insight into Iran even though much of the book is on the author's personal struggles.

29. by Sam Kean
Finish Date: May 9
Genre: Chemistry
Rating: B
Review:
This book was really fun. It gave me a good sense of the history behind the periodic table and its elements, and also a good overview of the chemistry behind many of the elements.

Wow, Danielle, I'm impressed by the amount you read and how you used the template perfectly. Very well done. (Sound of applause).

I have only one tip moving forward: it flows better if you review one book per post, rather than one long post. I think you did this to catch us all up, which is cool.

Again, great job.

Thanks! I will do one book per post from now on, this was just to catch up.

Well done, Danielle. Heed Bryan's helpful hints but well done.

30. by Mary Roach
Finish Date: May 16
Genre: Science/Paranormal
Rating: C
Review:
This one was definitely my least favorite of the Mary Roach books I've read so far. I still liked it - a fun and entertaining read - but it just seemed to drag more than the other books. I also really didn't like the conclusion of the book, which was pretty much 'just believe what you want because I don't like what is most likely the truth, and I think it's boring.'

Wow, I love your quick reviews and now I want to read all your books!

Thanks!

31. by Marc J. Seifer (no photo)
Finish Date: May 31
Genre: Biography
Rating: C
Review:
A very thorough book! Although it was a great read, sometimes it got too detailed and I felt like I was missing the forest for the trees. The author also had a tendency to speculate a little too much. For example, he would judge Tesla's mental state throughout his life by the way he signed his name or by his handwriting.

JUNE

32. by John Brockman (editor)
Finish Date: June 7
Genre: Science
Rating: C
Review:
This book had a really interesting idea: 150 scientists write essays to answer "What is your favorite deep, elegant, or beautiful explanation?" It ended up being a great general summary of everything we know in science. However, it's a little difficult to read because it often jumps abruptly to different topics, and the style and length of each essay is inconsistent. Some were pages long while some were a few sentences, some were written for other scientists while others could be understood by kids, and one was even written as a poem.

33. by Sandy Tolan
Finish Date: June 7
Genre: History/Memoir
Rating: B
Review:
My 3rd book for the Middle East Challenge. This was a great book. It did a good job of telling a balanced history of the Israel/Palestine conflict while keeping it relatable and human by following the stories of two people. The book sometimes struggles with the best order or narrative to tell the story in, and especially at the beginning I would easily lose track of when where and who this part of the story was about.

I have heard great things about that book Danielle.

34. by Azar Nafisi
Finish Date: June 13
Genre: History/Memoir
Rating: A
Review:
I loved this book. It's my fourth book for the Middle East Challenge, and it did an incredible job giving a personal history of the last few decades in Iran along with new perspectives on many western classics.

Danielle wrote: "34. by Azar Nafisi
Finish Date: June 13
Genre: History/Memoir
Rating: A
Review:
I loved this book. It's my fourth book for the Mi..."

Hi Danielle,
I'm about 1/3 of the way into this book and I've also been thrilled with how introspective and beautiful the writing is. I'm reading it for the Middle East challenge as well. When the challenge is over, it would be interesting to see what books showed up the most on people's list. This one is a real keeper.

Judy wrote: "When the challenge is over, it would be interesting to see what books showed up the most on people's list. This one is a real keeper. "

Yes, I would be interested in that too. It would be helpful even now to see some more organized statistics of what books people are reading to pick out what to read next.

35. by William Shakespeare
Finish Date: June 17
Genre: History Play
Rating: B
Review:
I'm going through the War of Roses cycle over the next few weeks, and this is the first play in it. This one is written entirely in prose so it's very pretty to listen to. I loved the monologue by John of Gaunt at the beginning of Act II.

36. by Sam Kean
Finish Date: June 21
Genre: Genetics
Rating: C
Review:
This is a good general overview of the history of genetics. It's an entertaining and interesting read. However, there were several times where I noticed the author asserting things to be true that I've read to be still in question or even definitely false by scientific articles or experts. The author didn't give any sources for these assertions, so I don't know where they came from.

37. by Steven Pinker
Finish Date: June 28
Genre: Psychology/Lanugage
Rating: B
Review:
I thought this book was fascinating. It covered a ton of information while keeping a very light and easy to read style.

Danielle wrote: "37. by Steven Pinker
Finish Date: June 28
Genre: Psychology/Lanugage
Rating: B
Review:
I thought th..."

Pinker is a wonderful writer.

Peter wrote: "Pinker is a wonderful writer. "


I agree. This is the third book of his I've read, and I've enjoyed them all so far. The other two were


and

Steven Pinker

JULY

38. by Karen Elliott House
Finish Date: July 3
Genre: History
Rating: B
Review:
This was my 5th and final book for the Middle East Challenge, though I still might read a few more. I learned a lot from this book. It did a great job covering the dynamics and history of Saudi Arabia. It was a little disorganized though. It often skipped between topics and repeated some points a few times.

39. by Jared Diamond
Finish Date: July 11
Genre: Anthropology
Rating: C
This books was really interesting, but it was probably my least favorite by Jared Diamond so far, who is one of my favorite authors. I think he tried a little too hard to summarize and draw conclusions where it would have been better to just lay out the messy diversity of human cultures.

40. by William Shakespeare
Finish Date: July 11
Genre: History Play
Rating: B

41. by William Shakespeare
Finish Date: July 11
Genre: History Play
Rating: C

Review:
I'm combining my review of these two since they go together. I enjoyed the first part a little better with all the dramatic patriotic monologues. The second part had a lot more humor in it, though it's a little difficult to understand or find the jokes.

42. by William Shakespeare
Finish Date: July 16
Genre: History Play
Rating: B
Review:
This was by far my favorite of the War of Roses cycle so far. I was surprised so much of it was in French - I thought Shakespeare only wrote in English.

43. by William Shakespeare
Finish Date: July 16
Genre: History Play
Rating: D
Review:
And this was by far my least favorite. I've lost my motivation and I'm putting Shakespeare down for a while, maybe I'll finish the cycle later.

44. by Steven Johnson
Finish Date: July 18
Genre: History/Disease/Science/Urban Planning
Rating: B
Review:
This was a really interesting book about the cholera outbreak of 1854 and the discovery of waterborne disease. I love histories from the 19th century, everything is so well documented.

45. by David Graeber
Finish Date: July 23
Genre: History/Anthropology
Rating: B
Review:
This is a great comprehensive book on the history of human commerce and economies. It dispels the myth we were taught in school that societies first used barter before developing money and only recently started using digital or imaginary forms of currency. In reality it was the other way around.

Danielle wrote: "44. by Steven Johnson
Finish D..."

Ghost Map was a great book. The start of epidemiology.

46. by Nicholas Wade
Finish Date: July 26
Genre: Biology/History/Anthropology
Rating: B
Review:
A really great overview of recent human evolution and the formation of cultures and language.

AUGUST


47. by Andrew Scott Cooper (no photo)
Finish Date: August 24
Genre: History/Middle East/Foreign Policy
Rating: C
Review:
This book was super detailed and left me wanting to learn more about the subject beyond the scope of the book. I gave it a C because it often read like a really long news summary, so sometimes it was a little hard to follow.

48. by Mary Roach
Finish Date: August 27
Genre: Biology/Science
Rating: C
Review:
All you could ever want to know about corpses and then some! It was an interesting book, but I finished listening to it while in a traffic jam caused by a bad-looking rollover car crash and I think that soured any enjoyment of it.

Danielle wrote: "48. by Mary Roach
Finish Date: August 27
Genre: Biology/Science
Rating: C
Review:
All you could ever want to kn..."

I thought Stiff was excellent.

SEPTEMBER

49. by Eugene Rogan (no photo)
Finish Date: September 12
Genre: History
Rating: B
Review:
This is a huge history of the middle east from the Ottoman Empire to present day. It had more of a focus on the past century, and was great at sticking to the facts and staying away from opinion.

50. by Tamim Ansary
Finish Date: September 19
Genre: History
Rating: A
An even larger history of the middle east from the fall of Rome to present day. The book is written in a narrative tone that makes it really easy to understand. This is my 8th book for the middle east challenge, and it was by far my favorite and the one I learned the most from.

Hooray, I finished 50 non-fiction books for 2013! My goal for this year is 75 non-fiction books and 150 books total. I'm a few books behind for both goals.

You are doing stellar.

Danielle wrote: "Hooray, I finished 50 non-fiction books for 2013! My goal for this year is 75 non-fiction books and 150 books total. I'm a few books behind for both goals."

Tres ambitious, Danielle! Congratulations on the 50 non-fiction reads. You can post your fiction books here also, you know. We'd love to know what you've read and how you liked them.

Vicki wrote: "Tres ambitious, Danielle! Congratulations on the 50 non-fiction reads. You can post your fiction books here also, you know. We'd love to know what you've read and how you liked them."

Thanks!

I know I can add my fiction books too, but a lot of the fiction books I read are guilty pleasures and/or book series. I'm not as interested in reviewing them, and I worry I would lose motivation to post here if I added them in.

OCTOBER

51. by Iris Chang
Finish Date: October 3
Genre: History
Rating: B
Review:
This book is very passionately and vividly written. The author is obviously biased toward the subject, but I don't think she exaggerated anything, and this is definitely a subject to be passionate about.

52. by John Keay
Finish Date: October 9
Genre: History
Rating: D
Review:
I had a really hard time getting through this one. I rarely read more than one book at once, but I set this book aside 4 times to read other books before I got through it. It's definitely a thorough history book, but it reads worse than a textbook and the language is so unnecessarily formal and archaic that I kept double checking the publication date, sure it must have been written in the early 19th century, not the 21st.

I agree, Danielle, this book was an eye-opener for me:

by Iris Chang

53. by Steven Pinker
Finish Date: October 17
Genre: Biology
Rating: C
Review:
This is a really fascinating book about everything we know about how the mind works. While most of the information in the book is still up to date, a lot of the analogies did not age well - especially those using computers.

54. by Mark Forsyth
Finish Date: October 18
Genre: Linguistics
Rating: C
Review:
A book of random etymology stories. The author does a really good job of linking the stories together and making the book flow together. The book tends to oversimplify and tell the more interesting theories rather than the most likely, but it's a fun book.

55. by Steven Pinker
Finish Date: October 30
Genre: Linguistics/Psychology
Rating: B
Review:
This was is a fascinating book which changed how I think about language and thought. It goes in depth but stays easy to read and understand.

56. by Greg Mortenson
Finish Date: October 30
Genre: Biography
Rating: F
Review:
This book is awful. It's terribly written and rubbed me the wrong way right from the start. Its really egotistical and spends way too long idolizing the author. Apparently a lot of it is inaccurate and exaggerated too.

Thanks for the honest review, it has garnered a lot of praise and book sales. Interesting; I have not read it.

Bryan wrote: "Thanks for the honest review, it has garnered a lot of praise and book sales. Interesting; I have not read it."

Yeah, I was surprised it was this bad after being so popular. However, most of the top reviews on goodreads are very negative, and the trashy-looking rebuttal written about the book has a better rating.

by Jon Krakauer

57. by Richard Dawkins
Finish Date: October 31
Genre: Biology
Rating: C
Review:
Like all books by Richard Dawkins, this one is great at explaining life and evolution in an accessible way. This one is much shorter, and more basic than his other books. It gives an overview without getting into the science much. However, he tends to repeat ideas through his books, and there's not much new in this one.