cascadianrain's reviews
321 reviews

How terribly sad I am to have read the final published words of Douglas Adams. To never again laugh for the first time at one of his absurdities or freshly marvel at his wit is a painful thing to consider. I've put off the reading of Salmon of Doubt for several years now because I always wanted to have something more of his in reserve. But now the timing felt right, having just purchased my Kindle, to make his book the very first e-book I've ever read. I know that that would please him, and it pleased me too.

If you haven't ever read anything by Douglas Adams, do yourself a favor and pick up the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Read the series, then move on to the Dirk Gently novels. When you're done, you'll want to have Salmon of Doubt in reserve for a while too, I'm sure. You, like me, won't want to say goodbye to his enriching and hilarious perspective.

I suppose we won't have to, though, because it will always be a part of us.

Max Brooks shows a surprising expertise (or fakes it very well) in a range of subject matters as he puts together this fictional history of the zombie wars.

Inspired by the oral histories gathered and published by beloved author and historian Studs Terkel, Brooks tells the tale of a zombie infestation that nearly wiped out the human race.

While the concept is certainly a fun twist on your standard zombie story, I mostly found the format to be frustratingly unfulfilling. Many of the characters, though from different cultures and having had wildly divergent experiences, spoke with the same voice... An unsurprising effect for a book by a single author that featured dozens of perspectives.

In the few vignettes where I found myself compelled to read on, the stories often ended abruptly and I was left having to slog through several less engrossing stories before I'd come across another one that I loved.

Overall, this book is a worthwhile read if you're a fan of the genre, but I'm not going to be passing this one around to my friends.

The several short stories in this book are brilliantly written semi-fictional accounts of atrocities throughout the African continent from the perspective of children.

Akpan's portrayal of life in the many countries in which these stories take place feels (and no doubt is) incredibly authentic, and each story has a different texture as the author spans the bounds between classes and cultures. Additionally, the author refrains from outright moralizing, which saves his work from becoming the Christian polemic that I feared it might be given the author's biography.

Fair warning: They are, none of them, happy stories, and herein lies my only regret with this book: It did little to expand my view of the African continent beyond the stereotypes and common wisdom of war, hunger, strife, and religiously motivated madness.

That said, it was clearly never the author's intention to focus on the progress that's been made in many African nations, but rather to broaden the reader's understanding of the atrocities that have occurred there. In this, he was quite successful.

The Selfish Gene is one of the classics of science writing. All humans should be required to read this book.

Little more than a 200 page rant about the modern day epidemic of rudeness, but it's an entertaining one, and one that I'm largely inclined to agree with.
This is a quick read, and entertaining if you're bored. I'd rather you read this than watch reality TV.

Bacevich has written a well conceived response to American foreign policy since World War II. This book is both a brilliant critique of American profligacy and imperialism as well as a guide for redirecting our national course.
Highly recommended!

This was one of the first expose-style books from an ex-member of Bush's cabinet. Unfortunately, it was largely overlooked by the American public which was still under the hypnotic spell of W.

Thank god that's over! If only people had payed more attention to books like this one, we might have booted Bush out in '04.

I read this at the behest of my mom who was deeply touched by it.

I thought it was poorly written sappy drivel that unconsciously displayed some of the least attractive qualities of the baby boomer generation.

The author, in an attempt at profundity, clumsily sought to inspire the reader with a moral narrative that would be insightful only to the most ethically stunted of persons. The book, while about teaching a young man to be a morally responsible and well-rounded person, seemed really to address an older audience of a generation that valued money over community, money over the environment, and money over family. There is an undertone of remorse in this story, laid on top of an exhausting sermon about living a moral life.

I suspect a great many adults read this book wishing to pass the author's set of ethics down to a generation of kids who were raised by bad examples of it.