G's Bid for 75

New to the group, but I've already racked up 8 books this year so far. That bodes well for me completing this challenge. I'm migrating over from the 50 Book Challenge Group to up the ante for myself. Nothing worth doing is easy. So here we go...

Here's what I've done so far:

1. Panek, Richard. The Invisible Century: Einstein, Freud, and the Search for Hidden Universes.
2. Goldstone, Lawrence & Nancy Goldstone. The Friar and the Cipher: Roger Bacon and the Unsolved Mystery of the Most Unusual Manuscript in the World.
3. Johnson, Marilyn. The Dead Beat: Lost Souls, Lucky Stiffs, and the Perverse Pleasure of Obituaries.
4. Kaplan, Michael. The Best Time to Do Everything: Expert Advice on How to Live Cooler, Smarter, Faster, Better.
5. Ehrman, Bart D. Peter, Paul, and Mary Magdalene: The Followers of Jesus in History and Legend.
6. King, Ross. Brunelleschi’s Dome: How a Renaissance Genius Reinvented Architecture.
7. Hugo, Richard. The Triggering Town: Lectures and Essays on Poetry and Writing.
8. Kurlansky, Mark. Cod: A Biography of the Fish that Changed the World.

I'm also part of the Dewy Decimal Challenge (definitely not a one-year challenge), and I blog about the books at Lifelong Dewey

Welcome! Looks like a nice start. I'm going to see if I can find the Einstein/Freud book.

I love NF, so I look forward to following your thread this year!

9. Gould, Stephen Jay. Questioning the Millennium: A Rationalist’s Guide to a Precisely Arbitrary Countdown.

Very boorish in the beginning, but finished well. All about how mankind has viewed the measuring of a "millennium."

Full blog post: Lifelong Dewey

Welcome to the group, Gerard!

>6 alcottacre: Thanks!

10. Kinnell, Galway. The Book of Nightmares.

A splendid and scary book-length poem about children and war--definitely worth reading.

Full blog post: Lifelong Dewey

11. Duncan, David Ewing. Calendar: Humanity’s Epic Struggle to Determine a True and Accurate Year.

I found this book incredibly rich and detailed, with only a few dry parts. Worth a read if you're into science history.

Full blog post: Lifelong Dewey

Oooh, the Calendar book looks good - adding it to my wishlist!

12. Budiansky, Stephen. Her Majesty’s Spymaster: Elizabeth I, Sir Francis Walsingham, and the Birth of Modern Espionage.

Interesting tapestry of Elizabethan England and European espionage. The details are superb.

Full blog post: Lifelong Dewey

13. Milton, Giles. Samurai William: The Englishman Who Opened Japan.

William Adams' 1598 journey makes him the first Englishman in Japan, and he's smart enough to treat his hosts with respect.

Full blog post: Lifelong Dewey

Thirteen books in a month is definitely a record for me (previous best was 11 in Jan 2009), but I have a feeling that my pace will slow bit as the year goes on.

14. Foucault, Michel. Madness and Civilization: A History of Insanity in the Age of Reason.

This one was a bit of a doozy. An interesting but thick history of mental illness and its treatment.

Full blog post: Lifelong Dewey

15. Schutt, Bill. Dark Banquet: Blood and the Curious Lives of Blood-Feeding Creatures.

A bit creepy and a bit whimsical. Bill Schutt's sense of humor made this book about blood-eating creatures quick and enjoyable.

Full blog post: Lifelong Dewey

16. Underhill, Paco. Why We Buy: The Science of Shopping.

A delightful treatise on the psychology and science of shopping. A lot of good ideas for store owners.

Full blog post: Lifelong Dewey

17. Freud, Sigmund. The Future of an Illusion

Hooooly crap -- Freud is off his rocker. Thankfully the book is mercifully short.

Full blog post: Lifelong Dewey

18. Char, Rene. Leaves of Hypnos (Extracts) and Lettera Amorosa.

Rene Char's poetry is beautiful and haunting, the way all good poetry should be.

Full blog post: Lifelong Dewey

19. Pease, Barbara and Allan Pease. Why Men Don’t Listen and Women Can’t Read Maps: How We’re Different and What To Do About It.

This was a funny book that helped to illustrate the psychological differences between men and women.

Full blog post: Lifelong Dewey

20. Nicholas, Lynn H. The Rape of Europa: The Fate of Europe’s Treasures in the Third Reich and the Second World War.

A splendid history of Germany's looting of Europe's cultural legacy in WWII and the Allied Forces subsequent recovery of most of it.

Full blog post: Lifelong Dewey

21. Marks, Leo. Between Silk and Cyanide: A Codemaker’s War, 1941-1945.

Two in a row on WWII (but in very different areas of study). Marks' personal history of the war is lengthy but interesting. Good fun for amateur cryptographers here.

Full blog post: Lifelong Dewey

22. Meyerson, Daniel. The Linguist and the Emperor: Napoleon and Champollion’s Quest to Decipher the Rosetta Stone.

Meyerson manages to eschew most of the rules of modern history-writing and applies an unnecessary melodrama to the decipherment of Egyptian hieroglyphs. Such a shame, too, because the story is actually interesting...

Full blog post: Lifelong Dewey

23. Carter, W. Hodding. Flushed: How the Plumber Saved Civilization.

A fun jaunt through the history of plumbing and toilets. Not for the squeamish, though.

Full blog post: Lifelong Dewey

24. Beowulf

Heaney's translation is poignant and evocative, making this classic come alive again.

Full blog post: Lifelong Dewey

Yup. It's my favorite!

I wouldn't call it a favorite, but it definitely has the feel of a great classic. It seemed very derivative at first, but then I had to remember that that's because most of our current warrior tales are derived from this tradition. I'll most assuredly keep it in the library for a while, but a lot of that is because my copy is signed by Heaney himself.

Oh, cool. Where did get a chance to get him to sign?

I meant that Heaney's is my favorite translation. He's got a lyrical style that worked very well for me. But Beowulf is a good tale in any competent translation!

I cannot truthfully verify its authenticity. I bought for 3 bucks or so from Amazon earlier this year to fill a gap in my shelves. I was glancing through to catalog it here and was stunned to see a penned signature. I looked around and it appears to be the real deal.

I agree on the translation front. His translation pays a lot of attention to the ancient poetic devices and tries to replicate them in Modern English. He does a very good job.

25. Johnson, Steven. The Invention of Air: A Story of Science, Faith, Revolution, and the Birth of America.

A wonderfully complicated work on England's best amateur scientist. Several of his suppositions are a bit weak, but it's entertaining nonetheless.

Full blog post: Lifelong Dewey

Chiming in as a fellow fan of Heaney's translation!

26. Standage, Tom. A History of the World in 6 Glasses.

A quick and compact human history viewed as a timeline of drink creations.

Full blog post: Lifelong Dewey

27. Cummins, Joseph. Ten Tea Parties: Patriotic Protests that History Forgot

An interesting look into the other tea parties in the colonies, besides the one at Boston. A quick read, but a little sparse scholarship-wise.

Full blog post: Lifelong Dewey

28. Miles, Jack. God: A Biography.

Very dense, but very rewarding. An interesting look at an old character.

Full blog post: Lifelong Dewey

29. Borges, Jorge Luis. Labyrinths

A wonderful and heady collection of stories and essays to twist your mind.

Full blog post: Lifelong Dewey

30. Wilczek, Frank. The Lightness of Being: Mass, Ether, and the Unification of Forces

This book with blow your mind. It's like an episode of NOVA on steroids. Read at your own risk.

Full blog post: Lifelong Dewey

31. Collins, Paul. Banvard’s Folly: Thirteen Tales of Renowned Obscurity, Famous Anonymity, and Rotten Luck.

A wonderful collection of folks who just didn't measure up. Great fun.

Full blog post: Lifelong Dewey

32. Weissman, Susan. Feeding Eden: The Trials and Triumphs of a Food Allergy Family.

Spent the day at home, so I was able to get this one done in 24 hours. Susan Weissman's book is a heartfelt look into the panic and joy of living in a family with severe food allergies. A lot of good info in there.

Full blog post: Lifelong Dewey

33. Rousseau, Jean-Jacques. The First and Second Discourses.

A bit heady, a bit stiff, and a bit enlightening -- Rousseau can always be counted on for some food for thought.

Full blog post: Lifelong Dewey

34. Gjelten, Tom. Bacardi and the Long Fight for Cuba: The Biography of a Cause.

Gjelten's sweeping biography of the Bacardi family and rum business is both breath-taking and heart-breaking.

Full blog post: Lifelong Dewey

35. Burleigh, Robert. Toulouse-Latrec: The Moulin Rouge and the City of Light. (no touchstone)

Didn't notice that this was YA book until I received, but I read it nonetheless.

Full blog post: Lifelong Dewey

36. Humez, Alexander & Nicholas Humez. Alpha to Omega: The Life & Times of the Greek Alphabet.

Wonderful, trivia-laden book about the Greek alphabet and modern etymology. Recommended for all linguistic nerds.

Full blog post: Lifelong Dewey

37. Whitney, Catherine. The Calling: The Year in the Life of an Order of Nuns.

An interesting look into how nuns become nuns and how they deal with the religious life.

Full blog post: Lifelong Dewey

38. Lemonick, Michael D. Other Worlds: The Search for Life in the Universe

Michael Lemonick meets with astronomers and cosmologists to understand how we are (or were) trying to find extrasolar planets and civilizations.

Full blog post: Lifelong Dewey

39. Milosz, Czeslaw. A Treatise on Poetry.

Milosz's tour through Polish poetry and WWII is both haunting and beautiful, but you have to read it twice (at a minimum).

Full blog post: Lifelong Dewey

40. Green, Hardy. The Company Town: The Industrial Edens and Satanic Mills that Shaped the American Economy.

A underwhelming attempt at an interesting facet of early American businesses.

Full blog post: Lifelong Dewey

41. Devlin, Keith. The Unfinished Game: Pascal, Fermat, and the Seventeenth-Century Letter that Made the World Modern.

An interesting but simplistic look at the history of statistics.

Full blog post: Lifelong Dewey

42. Burleigh, Nina. The Stranger and the Statesman: James Smithson, John Quincy Adams, and the Making of America’s Greatest Museum.

Burleigh's tale of the creation of the Smithsonian Institution was fun, but unfortunately a lot of the source documentation is missing.

Full blog post: Lifelong Dewey

43. Everitt, Anthony. Cicero:The Life and Time of Rome’s Greatest Politician

Everitt's portrait of Rome's greatest politician is stunning and rich. A definite read for anyone interested in ancient history.

Full blog post: Lifelong Dewey

44. Man, John. Gutenberg: How One Man Remade the World with Words

John Man jimmies together the scant details of the printing pioneer's life and does a very good job.

Full blog post: Lifelong Dewey

45. Jacobs, Noah Jonathan. The Toils of Language.

This is the most esoteric treatise on linguistic history I have ever encountered.

Full blog post: Lifelong Dewey

46. Cliff, Nigel. The Shakespeare Riots: Revenge, Drama, and Death in Nineteenth-Century America.

Imagine blue-collar workers getting worked up over who the best Shakespearean actor is these days. I don't see it becoming this heated...

Full blog post: Lifelong Dewey

47. Wielenberg, Erik J. God and the Reach of Reason: C. S. Lewis, David Hume, and Bertrand Russell.

Wielenberg's combination of these three giants is at once inspiring and peaceful.

Full blog post: Lifelong Dewey

48. Barrow, John D. The Infinite Book: A Short Guide to the Boundless, Timeless and Endless.

Luckily, the book about infinity had an end and was good to boot.

Full blog post: Lifelong Dewey

49. Snodgrass, Mary Ellen. Roman Classics: Notes.

A quick summary tour through the big-hitters of Roman literature. Not too shabby...

Full blog post: Lifelong Dewey

50. Shea, Ammon. The Phone Book: The Curious History of the Book That Everyone Uses But No One Reads.

A great re-read (for the DDC Challenge) afforded me a second look into telephones and the Yellow Pages.

Full blog post: Lifelong Dewey

51. Aczel, Amir. The Jesuit and the Skull: Teilhard de Chardin, Evolution, and the Search for Peking Man.

Another re-read that enabled me to retain a bit more about the greatest Jesuit anthropologist to come out of France.

Full blog post: Lifelong Dewey

52. Garfield, Simon. Mauve: How One Man Invented a Colour That Changed the World.

Re-read a book that looks back at the start of industrial chemistry and its founding father, Sir William Perkin.

Full blog post: Lifelong Dewey

53. Lekuton, Joseph Lemosolai. Facing the Lion: Growing Up Maasai on the African Savanna.

A wonderful book about family, tribal tradition, and adversity.

Full blog post: Lifelong Dewey

54. Petroski, Henry. The Book on the Bookshelf.

An interesting history of the bookshelf and how they once had chains.

Full blog post: Lifelong Dewey

55. Bryson, Bill. At Home: A Short History of Private Life

A friend let me borrow this and now my brain is packed full of fun, new trivia.

Full blog post: Lifelong Dewey

56. Beckett, Sister Wendy. The Mystery of Love: Saints in Art Through the Centuries.

Sister Wendy Beckett picks 40 wonderful pieces to showcase how saintliness and prayer is depicted in paintings through history.

Full blog post: Lifelong Dewey

57. Grass, Gunter. Peeling the Onion.

Grass's memoir is sad and haunting, and speaks to a time in his life that my have been best left hidden.

Full blog post: Lifelong Dewey

58. Driver, Jack M. The Vatican: Conspiracies, Codes and the Catholic Church. (no touchstone)

Blech--this book was terrible!

Full blog post: Lifelong Dewey

59. Whitaker, Robert. The Mapmaker’s Wife: A True Tale Of Love, Murder, And Survival In The Amazon.

A strange, haunting, and inspirational tale of hunger and heartache in the Amazon River rainforest.

Full blog post: Lifelong Dewey

60. Heymann, Tom. On An Average Day in The Soviet Union.

A quick jaunt through the average day in 1990 USSR. Interesting but forgettable.

Full blog post: Lifelong Dewey

61. Royte, Elizabeth. The Tapir’s Morning Bath: Solving the Mysteries of the Tropical Rain Forest.

Royte's scientific romp through the Panama Canal delivers the goods.

Full blog post: Lifelong Dewey

62. Kendall, Joshua. The Man Who Made Lists: Love, Death, Madness, and the Creation of Roget’s Thesaurus.

I didn't know the thesaurus guy was an inventor as well...

Full blog post: Lifelong Dewey

63. Freud, Sigmund. An Outline of Psychoanalysis.

Freud's outline of psychoanalytic principle is mostly as wack-a-doo as the first time I read it...

Full blog post: Lifelong Dewey

64. De Angelis, Milo. Between the Blast Furnaces and the Dizziness: A Selection of Poems, 1970-1999.

A beautiful collection of translated Italian poems--also learned a bit of Italian history.

Full blog post: Lifelong Dewey

65. Dufty, David F. How to Build an Android: The True Story of Philip K. Dick’s Robotic Resurrection.

The creation and loss of the Philip K. Dick android head is both amazing and heart-breaking...

Full blog post: Lifelong Dewey

66. Huler, Scott. Defining the Wind: The Beaufort Scale and How a 19th-Century Admiral Turned Science into Poetry.

The life and legacy of Sir Francis Beaufort wind scale are as poetic as they are historic.

Full blog post: Lifelong Dewey

67. Wise, Steven M. Though the Heavens May Fall: The Landmark Trial That Led to the End of Human Slavery.

The landmark case of English slavery was as riveting as any TV crime drama.

Full blog post: Lifelong Dewey

68. Lewis, Claire. Exposed: Confessions of a Wedding Photographer: A Memoir.

A very fun romp through the wedding business from the eyes of a vendor.

Full blog post: Lifelong Dewey

69. Butts, Kim. The Praying Family.

A lackadaisical manual on family prayer...

Full blog post: Lifelong Dewey

70. Humez, Alexander & Nicholas Humez. ABC Et Cetera: The Life & Times of the Roman Alphabet.

The Humez Brothers give us an interesting look into the Roman alphabet and culture.

Full blog post: Lifelong Dewey

71. Lansky, Aaron. Outwitting History: The Amazing Adventures of a Man Who Rescued a Million Yiddish Books.

An awe-inspiring of one person's struggle to rescue a dying literature...

Full blog post: Lifelong Dewey

72. Cathcart, Thomas & Daniel Klein. Plato and a Platypus Walk into a Bar: Understanding Philosophy Through Jokes.

I can at least say this much--the jokes were funny.

Full blog post: Lifelong Dewey

73. Gallagher, Winifred. House Thinking: A Room-by-Room Look at How We Live.

A interesting look at the intersection of architecture and psychology.

Full blog post: Lifelong Dewey

74. Poletto, Cecilia. The Higher Functional Field: Evidence from Northern Italian Dialects.

So thick with analysis...can't read any more...this book was like passing a kidney stone.

Full blog post: Lifelong Dewey

75. Capaldi, Nicholas. The Art of Deception: An Introduction to Critical Thinking.

It started out so well...then things went downhill. And that makes 75!

Full blog post: Lifelong Dewey

Congrats!

Thanks! This is by far the most I've read in a year. This group really motivates one to keep reading!

76. Gleeson, Janet. The Arcanum: The Extraordinary True Story.

The quaint tale of the first European porcelain factory. There was a lot more intrigue than I remembered.

Full blog post: Lifelong Dewey

Congratulations!!

Congrats on 75! I always love stopping in here to see what you've been reading, and usually leave with a longer wishlist!

77. Steinberg, Ted. American Green: The Obsessive Quest for the Perfect Lawn

While homeowners seek out the perfect green, we may be making the world slightly more imperfect.

Full blog post: Lifelong Dewey

78. Bruce, Mary Stone. Grammaire française a l’usage des élèves de l’enseignement secondaire (French grammar for high school students).

A 1904 textbook that teaches French language and grammar from the ground up. Old school--I like it.

Full blog post: Lifelong Dewey

79. Stanford, Peter. The Legend of Pope Joan: In Search of the Truth.

An interesting little volume about the folklore around a possible female pope in the 9th Century.

Full blog post: Lifelong Dewey

80. Dennett, Daniel C. Darwin's Dangerous Idea: Evolution and the Meanings of Life.

A pleasant, accessible, but penetrating look at evolutionary philosophy--very well done.

Full blog post: Lifelong Dewey

81. Pearson, Will, Mangesh Hattikudur, & Elizabeth Hunt, eds. mental_floss presents Forbidden Knowledge: A Wickedly Smart Guide to History’s Naughtiest Bits.

A fun romp through historical trivia of a more lascivious nature.

Full blog post: Lifelong Dewey

82. Lasdun, Susan. The English Park: Royal, Private and Public.

The Olympics have slowed the pace a bit, but I still got through a splendid history of English parks.

Full blog post: Lifelong Dewey

83. Green, Mike. The Nearly Men: A Chronicle of Scientific Failure.

A wonderful compilation of scientists who got forgotten in the history books.

Full blog post: Lifelong Dewey

84. Holt, Marion P. & Julianne Dueber. 1001 Pitfalls in Spanish

If you're trying to perfect your Spanish, this is a great book for avoiding common mistakes. It's just very hard to read cover to cover.

Full blog post: Lifelong Dewey

85. Rooney, Kathleen. Reading with Oprah.

Rooney finally gives the Oprah Book Club a fair and honest assessment.

Full blog post: Lifelong Dewey

86. Winslow, Ola Elizabeth. Meetinghouse Hill, 1630-1783

A interesting and old-school look at church formation in Pre-Revolutionary New England.

Full blog post: Lifelong Dewey

87. Nietzsche, Friedrich. On the Genealogy of Morals.

Old school German philosophy basically saying that morality is unnecessary and other philosophers are substandard.

Full blog post: Lifelong Dewey

88. Schweitzer, Albert. The Words of Albert Schweitzer

A small but wonderfully powerful collection of quotations from the winner of the 1952 Nobel Peace Prize.

Full blog post: Lifelong Dewey

89. Shrady, Nicholas. The Last Day: Wrath, Ruin, and Reason in the Great Lisbon Earthquake of 1755

A quick and action-packed history of the destruction of Lisbon and the efforts to rebuild the city.

Full blog post: Lifelong Dewey

90. Snodgrass, Mary Ellen. Greek Classics

A quick tour through the heavies of classical Greek literature. Dense but informative.

Full blog post: Lifelong Dewey

91. Klosterman, Chuck. Killing Yourself to Live: 85% of a True Story.

Chuck Klosterman's rock 'n' roll road trip gets funny and introspective.

Full blog post: Lifelong Dewey

92. Phelan, James. Howard Hughes: The Hidden Years.

Phelan's biography of the industry giant was both sad and intriguing.

Full blog post: Lifelong Dewey

93. Sabbagh, Karl. A Rum Affair: A True Story Of Botanical Fraud.

A weird detective tale of scientific fraud and British botany.

Full blog post: Lifelong Dewey

94. Wex, Michael. Born To Kvetch: Yiddish Language and Culture in All Its Moods.

Oy, this vas such a good book! Such a complete immersion in the Yiddish language and culture...

Full blog post: Lifelong Dewey

95. Clarke, Thurston. Ask Not: The Inauguration of John F. Kennedy and the Speech That Changed America.

Clarke does a very good "biography" of JFK's inaugural address...

Full blog post: Lifelong Dewey

96. The Koran: Selected Suras. Translated by Arthur Jeffrey.

A good selection of verses from Islam's Koran. Interesting...

Full blog post: Lifelong Dewey

97. Confucius. The Analects.

A well-noted translation of ancient Chinese philosophy...

Full blog post: Lifelong Dewey

98. DeBartolo, Dick. Good Days and MAD: A Hysterical Tour Behind the Scenes at MAD Magazine

This inveterate look into MAD's history and headquarters was a welcome respite from some of the more headier reading I've been doing...

Full blog post: Lifelong Dewey

99. Felt, Hali. Soundings: The Story of the Remarkable Woman Who Mapped the Ocean Floor.

An interesting biography of a little-known female scientist.

Full blog post: Lifelong Dewey

100. Gu, Sharron. A Cultural History of the Chinese Language.

Just a big, muddled mess of an attempt at relaying the entirety of Chinese langauge and culture.

Full blog post: Lifelong Dewey

101. Koenstenbaum, Wayne. Cleavage: Essays on Sex, Stars, and Aesthetics.

An interesting and bewildering collection of cultural essays...

Full blog post: Lifelong Dewey

102. Mould, Philip. The Art Detective: Adventures of an Antiques Roadshow Appraiser.

The world of appraising and restoring art is more adventurous than we all think...

Full blog post: Lifelong Dewey

Hello,
I just discovered your thread and your blog. Very good reviews and some very interesting books you read. Reminds me to start reading some more non-fiction again. :)

Thanks for the praise. I'm a big non-fiction freak, but I get lost when people start talking about novels and such, so once I'm done with this project (sometime in 2018), I'm moving on to all the great fiction I've been missing out on. Good to have you as a reader, though!

Yep, I should think you found yourself a new follower. So ONLY non-fiction until 2018? Wouldn't work for me. I read only non-fiction for work, and I just need to have a mix of fluff to whatever, mixed with some non-fiction off work, otherwise I wouldn't function properly.
Wish you a lovely weekend. :)

Well...not only non-fiction. Since this project is to read one book in every Dewey Decimal section, there are some reserved for "literatures of the world." By my count, I expect to intersperse 40 or so works of fiction, poetry, or drama over the coming years. Some seem genuinely interesting while others may take some work to get through. But that's the challenge!

103. Glassman, Steve & Armando Anaya. Cities of the Maya in Seven Epochs, 1250 B.C. to A.D. 1903.

An underwhelming history of a great civilization...

Full blog post: Lifelong Dewey

Actually, you are right I thought I knew what the Dewey Decimal system is - my sister is a manager in a reference library and they use that system, but use something like ?McColvin? for their music and art section as the Dewey isn't sufficient enough in them areas. I am impressed that you read your way through the system, definately nothing for me.

Interesting review on Cieties of the Maya in Seven Epochs, 1250 B.C. to A.D. 1903. :)

104. Lutz, Tom. Doing Nothing: A History of Loafers, Loungers, Slackers, and Bums in America.

Apparently, doing nothing is hard work.

Full blog post: Lifelong Dewey

105. Lake, Carlton. Confessions of a Literary Archaeologist.

Somehow, I was expecting more research and less braggadocio...

Full blog post: Lifelong Dewey

106. Calvino, Italo. If on a Winter's Night a Traveler.

You have to read it twice, but it's totally worth it.

Full blog post: Lifelong Dewey

Hello Gerard,
yep, there is the fiction part :). Very much enjoyed your review of If on a Winter's Night a Traveler by Italo Calvino.

119> Thanks! It was a pleasant break from all the history I've been reading. Although, I kind of wish I would have gone with something a little more straightforward. My brain hurt after reading it, but I will definitely come back for a second helping in the future.

I haven't read this book yet, but it has been recommended to me by some of my friends. LOL - I know that feeling of a hurting brain, apparently not all of his books are constructed that confusing.
However, if you fancy in future some more literary fiction you may want to try The Hunger Angel by Herta Müller who won the nobel prize 2009. I read the book in German and in English and can highly recommend it. You find my review here :)

107. Johnson, Ella Mae Cheeks (with Patricia Mulcahy). It Is Well with My Soul: The Extraordinary Life of a 106-Year-Old Woman.

105 years in America provides an awful lot of anecdotes and inspiration.

Full blog post: Lifelong Dewey

108. Poole, Robert M. Explorers House

Poole's history of National Geographic magazine makes me want to renew my subscription.

Full blog post: Lifelong Dewey

109. Sun Tzu. The Art of War.

A short book of military strategies and rules, but still very relevant and necessary.

Full blog post: Lifelong Dewey

110. Bishop, Holley. Robbing the Bees.

A wonderful, quick tromp through the history of honey and beekeeping.

Full blog post: Lifelong Dewey

111. White, Michael. Isaac Newton: The Last Sorcerer.

This one presupposes that it was Newton's foray into alchemy that really got the genius going...

Full blog post: Lifelong Dewey

112. Simons, Eric. Darwin Slept Here.

A nifty travelogue-cum-science-history treatise about the cross-effects of South American history and Darwin's travels on the Beagle.

Full blog post: Lifelong Dewey

113. Mortenson, Greg. Three Cups of Tea.

A heart-warming account of educational philanthropy in Central Asia.

Full blog post: Lifelong Dewey

Very much enjoyed most of your reviews :) Espescially the one on Three Cups of Tea which is on my reading list. Wish you a great week *smile*

Thanks -- it was a great week for reading. And with my upcoming trip to San Diego, I plan on getting through at least another eight to ten books before month's end.

*gulp loudly* another eight to ten? Well, the last two weeks were pretty bad, in regards to reading, for myself. I was so busy that I seriously had no time.

Curious me *blush* "San Diego" - a holliday?

Have fun!

114. Saramago, Jose. Death with Interruptions.

A rather poignant fictional thought experiment about the absence of death in just one country.

Full blog post: Lifelong Dewey

Your review for Death with Interruptions has caused me to de-lurk. Great review! I love that one! death (with a little 'd') is such a great character! I can picture her right now drumming her bony fingers on her desk....... I also like how it shows Sarmago's more comical side, as not everything he writes is a dark and intense as Seeing.

Indeed -- I liked this one more than Seeing, but I liked The Stone Raft just a bit more. You can tell he's nearing the end with this one, though.

What a great review on Death with Interruptions :). I just bought my first book by him Cain which is supposed to be very good as well. Is gone straight onto my wishlist :)

115. Weatherford, Jack. Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World.

A brilliant history and biography of a revolutionary leader and the world he made.

Full blog post: Lifelong Dewey

116. Sullivan, Robert. Rats.

A beautiful and unnerving look into the rat ecosystem in New York City.

Full blog post: Lifelong Dewey

117. Nelson, Craig. Thomas Paine.

Nelson's biography is both riveting and riotous -- a good read for any Revolutionary enthusiast.

Full blog post: Lifelong Dewey

118. Johnson, Steven. The Ghost Map.

The 1854 London cholera outbreak was rather terrifying, but thankfully we have a treatment.

Full blog post: Lifelong Dewey

Love your review of The Ghost Map another book gone onto my wishlist. Thank you :)

119. Perowne, Stewart. The Life and Times of Herod the Great.

A dense treatise on the last Judean king before the birth of Jesus.

Full blog post: Lifelong Dewey

120. Kathryn and Ross Petras. Very Bad Poetry.

A chuckle-worthy collection of some of the worst poetry of all time.

Full blog post: Lifelong Dewey

121. Niederman, Derrick. Number Freak.

An interesting tour through the first 200 integers and how they each have their own significance.

Full blog post: Lifelong Dewey

122. Powers, Dennis M. Tales of the Seven Seas.

An awesome true tale of a great captain who spanned two great ages of sailing.

Full blog post: Lifelong Dewey

123. Steingarten, Jeffrey. The Man Who Ate Everything.

Steingarten's food critiques are inventive, picturesque, and witty.

Full blog post: Lifelong Dewey

124. Jackson, Donald. A Year at Monticello.

A oldie but goodie to rev up the historical juices about the Founding Fathers.

Full blog post: Lifelong Dewey

125. Smith, Rich. You Can Get Arrested For That.

A quick travelogue about breaking silly US laws that was good but not great.

Full blog post: Lifelong Dewey

126. Nicolson, Adam. God's Secretaries.

A very info-packed book about the creation and history of the King James Bible.

Full blog post: Lifelong Dewey

127. Fortey, Richard. Dry Storeroom No. 1: The Secret Life of the Natural History Museum.

Fortey's look into the hidden halls of the British Museum of Natural History are both enlightening and amusing. Sometimes, the personal stories get in the way, though...

Full blog post: Lifelong Dewey

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128. Larsen, Reif. The Selected Works of T. S. Spivet (374 p.) -- This book is all at once a bildungsroman, an adventure tale, and a poignant look at family history and loss. All in all, a pleasant and unexpected read. The illustrations alone are worth the price of admission.

Full blog post: Lifelong Dewey

Alrighty, folks -- I'm off and away to visit both the in-laws and the (out)laws, so I'll be away until 2013. I'll come back and post the remaining books I read then. Here's to hitting 130!

Adios!

Safe travels, and see you in 2013!

129. Cheney, Margaret. Tesla: Man Out of Time. (354 p.) -- This biography is full of many interesting anecdotes and personal letters, but there are times where it deifies its subject rather than explain it. This book, however, will give you a very good understanding of his age and work.

Full blog post: Lifelong Dewey

Safe travels *smile* and have fun!

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

130. Waldfogel, Joel. Scroogenomics: Why You Shouldn’t Buy Presents for the Holidays. (146 p.) -- Joel "Grinch" Waldfogel says that because presents become essentially de-valued by the receiver, giving to charity is the only possible solution to the problem. This book was OK; I liked the economic theory and data better than the thesis.

Full blog post: Lifelong Dewey

I've definitely enjoyed lurking here this year, and I look forward to lurking on your 2013 threads!

No worries, Amber--I'm a supreme lurker. I've got some interesting stuff lined up for 2013. Cheers!

131. Adams, Mark. Turn Right at Machu Picchu: Rediscovering the Lost City One Step at a Time. (292 p. -- Finished 27 Dec 2012) -- Mark Adams finds sublime beauty on the Inca Trail following the footsteps of the adventurer Hiram Bingham III. There, he learns the history of a people, the necessity of always being prepared, and how not to be a typical tourist.

Full blog post: Lifelong Dewey

132. Appelfeld, Aharon. All Whom I Have Loved: A Novel. (246 p. -- Finished 30 Dec 2012) -- Appelfeld's tale of family, pain, childhood, and loss in 1938 Ukraine is achingly painful. But at the same time, it is a love story from a unique voice. If you can endure the tears, this makes for a wonderful and poignant story.

Full blog post: Lifelong Dewey

Finally got around to reviewing Turn Right at Machu Picchu. Last review of 2012 coming soon...

...and then: Statistics!

Here's the final counts for 2012:

Total books read in 2012: 132
Total pages read in 2012: 32,931

Average pages/day: 89.98 pages
Average days/book: 2.77 days

Categories (based on Dewey Decimal classes):

General Works: 9
Philosophy/Psychology: 10
Religion: 11
Social Sciences: 18
Language: 10
Science: 15
Technology: 15
Fine Arts: 11
Literature: 16
History/Geography: 17

Longest book: Between Silk and Cyanide by Leo Marks -- 600 pages
Shortest book: Toulouse-Latrec by Robert Burleigh -- 29 pages

Absolute favorite book of 2012:

It's a close one, but I'd have to go with The Rape of Europa by Lynn H. Nicholas -- absolutely meticulous and riveting all the way through its 444 pages.

Absolute worst book of 2012:

No competition -- The Vatican by Jack M. Driver. First off, it's so bad, there's not even a touchstone on LT for it. Secondly, it's the first professional book I've ever seen with shoddy clip-art jpegs scattered around the text. Complete drek.

Alright folks, 2012 was fun. I've got some interesting picks in store for 2013, including 31 books on their way from Amazon! Hopefully, I'll be able to sneak in some longer volumes while also keeping pace with the group again this year.

Adios!