2011 Best of List

Once again in 2011, only five books made it on to my best of the year list.

Best fiction of the year:

* The Informationist, by Taylor Stephens
* Gates of Fire, by Steven Pressfield
* Topic of Night, by Michael Gruber


Best non-fiction of the year:

* Jesus on Death Row, by Mark Osler
* On China, by Henry Kissinger
 
As usual, I like to keep track of the numbers -- just because.   I expected to have read more books in the latter part of 2011 but a move late in the year caused almost all of my reading queue to be boxed up, and my reading time to be consumed with packing and unpacking.   In 2011, of the 116 books I read, fiction outweighed non-fiction at 67 to 49.   But I'm expecting lots of reading time in 2011; I've promised myself to make it through the stack of books in the box before taking on any new titles!

Keeping Pet Chickens, by Paul, Windham, and Stahlkuppe

This cute little book has excellent photos, but few of them as it is quite thin.   There is a narrow purpose for which I think this book might be very good:  if you are considering raising chickens and want to inch your way forward slowly as you determine if it will be fun for you, this, early on, provides just enough information to be a gate.   It explains enough so that you will have sufficient understanding to say either, "nope, not for me," or "okay, I'm game, now let's get a real book and learn some more."

Reamde, by Neal Stephenson

Neal Stephenson's "Cryptonomicon" is one of my favorite novels ever.   Apparently this is true for many people, whose reviews of "Reamde" tend to the negative only so much as they compare this latest novel to his prior work.    But this is not a problem for me:  this is a terrific novel.

There are two primary heros:  Richard, who got rich smuggling marijuana between Canada and the USA and then went straight with a massively multi-player online role-playing game called "T'Rain."    And, Zula, Richard's adult niece, who demonstrates considerable resourcefulness under pressure.   Several secondary characters are well described.

The plot, as is typical of Stephenson, is complex and multi-layered.  Chinese game players (for profit) have hacked the game such that files on a player's computer get encrypted.  They require that one make a $73 payment (inside the game structure) to get the decryption code.   The game structure allows virtual currency to be converted to real world currency, so with enough players paying, there's big money to be made.

Russian mobsters get involved when some of their files are affected.   And from there, there's too much risk of plot spoilers to say more.

Bottom line:  ignore the reviews that say "I liked his other books better," and read "Reamde."

Kosher Chinese, by Michael Levy

This book's subtitle is "living, teaching, and eating with China's other billion."   It is the experience of a Peace Corps volunteer assigned to teach English in Guiyang.

The opening line of a book sets the tone.   I feel very kindly towards Mr. Levy, who wrote:  "I strongly believe there is no species of millipede I will ever find palatable."

But it is very difficult to cross over from an interesting (check), amusing (check) travelogue to a brilliant one (not so much of a check).  Perhaps Peter Mayle did it with A Year in Provence.

Still, this was a fun, cheerful read.   He portrays the Chinese people in a lovely but not apparently unrealistic way.

I recommend it.

The Time of My Life, by Patrick Swayze & Lisa Niemi

I'm not a huge fan of biographies, at least not of biographies of performers.   I'm more the Winston Churchill or Einstein biography fan.    But this book was in the house.  And besides, who doesn't love Dirty Dancing?  And Mr. Swayze was fantastic in one of my favorite movies, To Wong Foo Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar.

So I read it and was pleasantly surprised:  it is well written and interesting -- well as interesting as it can be to read about the life of someone you don't have any particular tie or interest in.    And Mr. Swayze does seem to have been as straight up a good guy as he seemed to be (something that isn't guaranteed when it comes to Hollywood types -- but one of the points of this book is, I believe that Mr. Swayze and Ms. Niemi are far from being real Hollywood types -- and yes, that's a compliment).

If you're a fan of artist biographies, or of Mr. Swayze or Ms. Niemi, then this is probably a delightful read for you.

Foundations of Financial Management, by Stanley B. Block and Geoffrey A. Hirt

Yes, yes, I am aware that this is hardly what one would call a typical leisure book.   But I found it in the house (presumably a text book that one of the kids was unable to sell back to the college book store) and thought it might be fun.    Since it is a text book, I took some liberties -- that is, I didn't do the homework problems, and I skimmed many of the sections that were quite familiar to me, or overly burdened with detail that I studied long ago and wasn't interested in repeating.

Overall this is a surprisingly pleasant book.   There are many examples using well known firms and their data, and many (mostly) topical sidebars (even for this 2005 edition).

The transparencies used as graph overlays to help explain annuities and present value were great.

One complaint though:  very early on in the book, at page 11, the authors damaged the credibility of their subjective comments (although I continued to trust their statement of accounting fact).   They gave an example of two alternatives for the financial manager of a firm to consider in orchestrating earnings per share (EPS).   In alternative A, the EPS would be $1.50 in period one and grow to $2.00 in period two.   In alternative B, the EPS would be $2.00 in period one, dropping to $1.50 in period two.

The authors pointed out that the total earnings are equal.  They asserted that alternative B is "clearly superior because the larger benefits occur earlier."   Bah humbug!    Imagine what happens to a publicly traded firm who's EPS drops by 25% from period to period.   It would be a disaster and the financial manager who took this advice would be apt to find herself an unemployed former CFO.

(Newer editions are available.)

First Lessons in Beekeeping, by Keith S. Delaplane

My caveat to this review is that I've never done beekeeping -- so it is possible that, were I an experienced beekeeper, I would have a different view.   But as a novice:  this book rocks.

It is complete, clearly written, provides ample detail.   I learned more than I'd expected to -- in fact, more than I expected I'd want to.     I couldn't be more pleased.

What surprised me the most on this topic:   beekeeping is like any other livestock activity -- meat goats, cattle, etc.   Just smaller, they fly, and they sting.   The care and feeding of the livestock (bees) includes dealing with supplemental feed, diagnosing herd ailments and treating them, and the like.    They take up less space, but do need to be further from public gathering spots.   Feed is cheaper (compared to meat on the hoof), but you don't wear a mesh veil to avoid getting stung by your goats.

So for those of you who, like me, imagined that beekeeping would be very simply scraping out some honey a few times a year, think again!   

The Accidental Historian: Tales of Trash and Treasure, by Monte Akers

Another book from the Texas Book Festival, and another really interesting author who I had the pleasure to hear speak there.

Unlike the Utley - Beeman or Baker books, Mr. Akers' isn't so much an authoritative history as it is a collection of stories.   Many are autobiographical, some emphasize some historic events or more likely people, and all are amusing.

Among the topics: civil war re-enactments, buying historic artifacts, and then there are just plain old stories told over drinks.

Gangster Tour of Texas, by T. Lindsay Baker

At the Texas Book Festival, I enjoyed hearing the author read a chapter from this book.   As a consequence, the voice in my head as I read this text was his -- his soft Texas accent, his cadence and word emphasis.   It made the reading altogether more fun.

This is a very different sort of book from another local Texas history text I've just read, in that this one, instead of celebrating heroes, tells the stories of villains.   Just as the title indicates.

The downside of this is that I'm personally quite a bit less motivated to take a road trip to see where bad guys did their thing.

But the stories were captivating.   This is a fine example of history telling come alive.

There are two other great things about this book.  First, at the conclusion of each chapter, you'll find detailed instructions about how to find each of the sites mentioned, including detailed little maps.   And second, each chapter ends with a "Judge the evidence for yourself" section providing the detailed references for the story told.

This is a fun book even if you're not crazy about crime stories, because it tells tales of the very early 1900s in story form and is quite well written.

History Ahead: Stories beyond the Texas Roadside Markers, by Dan K. Utley and Cynthia J. Beeman

The best history books not only reveal the past so as to help us learn from it but also are fun to read.  This book meets that mark.   It is a "micro -history" in that it tells the smaller stories, tales that might otherwise go unknown.   And some of the fun comes from the design:  the material is entirely based on roadside historical markers in Texas.    This means you can not only read about events but also plan your road trip to the specific marker site; this is cool!

Just because I refer to this as a micro - history does not mean the stories are insignificant.  The story of Bessie Coleman, who in June of 1921 became "...the first black woman in the world to earn a pilot's license," or of Carl Morene, who was perhaps the least likely person to bring organized music instruction to Schulenburg High School in the 1930s and '40s, are inspirational, touching and meaningful.

Similarly, reading about Margo Jones -- perhaps my theatre friends know the name, but I'd never before heard of her -- was interesting, given that her work in the first half of the 20th century may have played a big role in my ability to see live theatre in a variety of venues today.

Nearly every chapter gives a similar example.   This is a very enjoyable read.

But, not without flaw: editing in chapter 19 allowed reference to Margo Jones' 1942 encounter with Tennessee Williams to be described on page 272 and again on page 273 as though it hadn't previously been mentioned. This would be easy to correct in a following edition. [The page references are from my hard copy first edition, which I acquired at the Texas Book Festival, having had the good fortune to also hear the authors speak at one of the sessions.]

All in all this is a book worth owning -- most particularly, but not exclusively, for those living in Texas; it warrants a read.