Books I've Read Recently

In the last 4 months, no one has asked me what I've read recently. Taking this as a sign of interest, here's a list of books that I've read "recently": (let's hope I can still remember what they're all about)

What Do You Care What Other People Think? by Richard Feynman
This is the "sequel" to Surely You're Joking Mr. Feynman and has more crazy tales from the life of Richard Feynman. In as much as neither one of these books as a plot, I put "sequel" in quotes. This book is a bit less funny than the first, because relatively large sections of it are devoted to telling the story of meeting, courting and marrying his first wife who died of TB just a year or two after their marriage, as well as a lengthy section about Dr. Feynman's time on the committee investigating the Challenger disaster. Neither of those topics are very funny. But the book is still good, which is why I own it and have read it more than once.

Seabiscuit: An American Legend by Laura Hillenbrand
This book was big when it came out, and they made a movie of it, so you're probably aware of it. I'd always resisted reading it, because I'm not interested in horse racing. But Shannon read it, and if it makes her interested in horse racing, it must be pretty good. It's a classic "sports movie". An unsung also-ran who is discounted for physical flaws and a cranky disposition proves everyone wrong by winning all the races. About two thirds of the way in, I felt that it got bogged down with long sections that all seemed to say, "they went to such-and-such track and got ready to race, but it rained, so they didn't race and instead went to some-other track, but it rained there, too." It must have been a very rainy year. Also, I was shocked to learn that horse racing isn't fair at all, because they load the horses with different amounts of weight in order to make it more competitive - because horse racing isn't about who is the fastest, it's about gambling. Hillenbrand's second book, Unbroken, is better, so read that one first.

Perfect Rigor by Masha Gessen
This is a nerd book about a Russian mathematician, Grigori Perelman, who solved a very significant problem, didn't formally publish it, and then dropped off the face of the earth. You've never heard anything about this because:

1. When I say "very significant" I mean "very significant if you have a Ph.D. in math."
2. No one cares about really high levels of math

To spoil the ending a bit (it's obvious as you read the book) super math geniuses have higher rates of autism, and Dr. Perelman is among them, so it doesn't get along with other people super well.

Gatefather by Orson Scott Card
Chalk up another trilogy for OSC that starts well enough, but becomes less interesting as it goes on. (see also: Pathfinder). In this one, OSC manages to find a few pages to have his characters discuss his views on the importance of nuclear families with children for the carrying on of society. Oh wait, you're saying that all of his books do that now . . . ?

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling
I read this aloud to the girls. It's a lot of pages and I read almost all of them. Shannon reads a lot more books with the girls, so it was fun to have this one for my own, so to speak. And speak I did, until my voice nearly gave out at times. Also, I don't have a very good Hagrid voice. But my Hermione is spot on. The movies are too scary for the girls, and the books are certainly too hard for Ella (and possibly to scary for Julia to read on her own right before bedtime), so we figured that as series starts to have a lot more death, we'll be doing more reading out loud. Don't tell the girls yet, but I think for Ella's birthday I'll start reading the next one with them.

44 Scotland Street by Alexander McCall Smith
This book was first published serially in a newspaper - which used to be very common 100+ years ago. As a result, the chapters are very short, and nearly all of them have something happen, though it often isn't very much. The main character is a young girl who is taking a second gap year and moves into an apartment at #44 Scotland Street. The book follows her interactions with her roommate, neighbors and work at a small art gallery. It's not terribly exciting, it's mostly just life.

Morning Star by Pierce Brown
Book three of the "Hunger Games in Space" trilogy. More scheming, fighting, betrayal and killing. You'll be shocked to know that the protagonist wins in the end.

A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson
This is a fantastic book which covers the history of all the natural sciences over the last few hundred years as a means to appreciate the world in which we live. It covers physics, chemistry, geology and biology from the perspective of Mr. Bryson who is an expert on none of these topics. As usual with his writing, he always manages to insert interesting personal tidbits about all of the colorful characters involved in the history of science. You should read this book.

Trigger by Arthur C. Clarke and Michael P. Kube-McDowell
Yes, that Arthur C. Clarke and no, I have no clue who Michael P. Kube-McDowell is. This is a sci-fi novel written in 1999 and set in the present/near future. A research scientist accidentally discovers a relatively cheap devise that acts as a "trigger" to set off all ammunition and bombs within a certain range. Essentially it creates the ultimate "gun free zone". As you can imagine, it then heads into the political sphere and the book becomes heavily focused on gun rights debates. The book was suggested to me by a co-worker and it is sadly a continuously relevant topic. I enjoyed the book, and I'm sure it didn't help it's cause that it largely fits my view on the topic which is succinctly summed up by the book as: "we can do better".

Our Souls at Night by Kent Haruf
This is the story of an elderly man and woman who begin a relationship. It's short, it's well written. It doesn't have a whole lot of plot, nor does it have a single quotation mark, though the novel is mostly dialogue. I read this in 3 or 4 sittings - it's only 192 pages and they go quickly - so it's engaging enough to keep me interested for that period of time, but it's very much another story of "here are some people, life happens to them". Nothing in this would make the newspaper, even in the small town of Holt, Colorado.