2015 Books Read

End of the year, so time for my annual accounting of books consumed for 2015!

The 2015 Book List

1. Libriomancer by Jim C. Hines (reread)
2. The Martian by Andy Weir
3. Arctic Rising by Tobias Buckell
4. Codex Born by Jim C. Hines (reread)
5. How We Learn: The Surprising Truth About When, Where, and Why It Happens by Benedict Carey
6. America's Bitter Pill: Money, Politics, Backroom Deals, and the Fight to Fix Our Broken Healthcare System by Steven Brill
7. Out of My Later Years: The Scientist, Philosopher, and Man Portrayed Through His Own Words by Albert Einstein
8. Unbound by Jim C. Hines
9. Abraham Lincoln: A Presidential Life by James McPherson
10. The Just City by Jo Walton
11. The Divide: American Injustice in the Age of the Wealth Gap by Matt Taibbi
12. The Future of the Mind: The Scientific Quest to Understand, Enhance, and Empower the Mind by Michio Kaku
13. Does Santa Exist?: A Philosophical Investigation by Eric Kaplan
14. Thinking About Cybersecurity: From Cyber Crime to Cyber Warfare by Prof. Paul Rosensweig (The Great Courses)
15. On the Plurality of Worlds by David Lewis
16. Terrorists in Love by Ken Ballen
17. Orthodoxy by G.K. Chesterton
18. Beyond the God Particle by Leon Lederman & Christopher Hill
19. The Android's Dream by John Scalzi
20. Lock In by John Scalzi
21. Less Doing, More Living: Make Everything In Life Easier by Ari Meisel
22. Death of a King by Tavis Smiley
23. How to Win an Election: An Ancient Guide for Modern Politicians by Quintus Tullius Cicero & Philip Freeman
24. The Pluto Files: The Rise and Fall of America's Favorite Planet by Neil deGrasse Tyson
25. Genius: The Life and Science of Richard Feynman by James Gleick
26. The Clockwork Universe: Isaac Newton, the Royal Society, and the Birth of the Modern World by Edward Dolnick
27. The Quantum Moment: How Planck, Bohr, Einstein, and Heisenberg Taught Us to Love Uncertainty by Robert P. Crease and Alfred Goldhaber
28. The Time Machine by H.G. Wells (reread)
29. The Practicing Mind: Developing Focus and Discipline in Your Life - Master Any Skill or Challenge by Learning to Love the Process by Thomas M. Sterner
30. Animal Farm [audio dramatization] by George Orwell
31. The Science of Liberty: Democracy, Reason, and the Laws of Nature by Timothy Ferris
32. Gemini Cell by Myke Cole
33. The Evolution of God by Robert Wright
34. Mastermind: How to Think Like Sherlock Holmes by Maria Konnikova
35. Finding Your Element: How to Discover Your Talents and Passions and Transform Your Life by Ken Robinson and Lou Aronica
36. Behavioral Economics: When Psychology and Economics Collide by Prof. Scott Heuttel (The Great Courses)
37. Scientific Secrets of Self-Control by Prof. C. Nathan DeWall (The Great Courses)
38. Writing Monsters: How to Craft Believably Terrifying Creatures to Enhance Your Horror, Fantasy, and Science Fiction by Philip Athans
39. A Beautiful Mind by Sylvia Nassar
40. Love in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction: A Novel by Judd Trichter
41. The Death of Ivan Illyich by Leo Tolstoy
42. Monster by A. Lee Martinez
43. Heroes and Legends (The Great Courses) by Prof. Thomas Shippey
44. Forged: Writing in the Name of God - Why the Bible's Authors Are Not Who We Think They Are by Bart D. Ehrman
45. The Philosopher Kings by Jo Walton
46. Gentlemen Scientists and Revolutionaries: The Founding Fathers in the Age of Enlightenment by Tom Shachtman
47. The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
48. Leviathan Wakes by James A. Corey
49. The Theological Origins of Modernity by Michael Allen Gillespie
50. A History of Western Philosophy by Bertrand Russell
51. Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates
52. Among Thieves by Douglas Hulick
53. The Strange Affair of Spring-Heeled Jack by Mark Hodder
54. The Sacredness of Questioning Everything by David Dark
55. Off to Be the Wizard by Scott Meyer
56. Spell or High Water by Scott Meyer
57. Islam and the Future of Tolerance: A Dialogue by Sam Harris and Maajid Nawaz
58. The Scorch Trials by James Dashner
59. An Unwelcome Quest by Scott Meyer
60. Emperor Mollusk Versus the Sinister Brain by A. Lee Martinez
61. Fable: Blood of Heroes by Jim C. Hines
62. How Ideas Spread (The Great Courses) by Jonah Berger

Breakdown

Format:

• Audiobooks: 45
• Kindle: 10
• Dead tree books: 10

Subjects:

• Total Fiction: 25
• Classics: 4
• Science Fiction: 12
• Fantasy: 14
• Urban/Modern Fantasy: 9
• Young Adult: 
• Steampunk: 1
• Non-Fiction: 37
• Science: 17
• Physics: 7
• Psychology: 8
• Biology: 1
• Technology: 2
• Math/Statistics: 1
• Religion: 12
• History: 15
• Politics: 11
• Education: 4
• Economics: 6
• Business: 2
• Philosophy: 11
• Humor: 1
• Writing: 2

These numbers don't quite match up, because some books cover multiple areas, and so I've included them in all relevant categories. So, for example, a book on free will would fall in both Psychology and Philosophy (and possibly even Religion) categories.

Similarly, some books I read using Whispersynch-for-Voice to jump between the Amazon Kindle and Audible audiobook versions of the books, so they got double-counted in the format section. I've also included The Great Courses audios that I listen to through Audible.com. Though not actually books, I figure that a 10+ hour course on a subject contains about the same informational content, if not presented structurally in quite the same way as it would take in a written book.

The History

And for anyone who is interested in looking into the past to see some of my previous book lists...

• 2014 books read
• 2013 books read
• 2012 books read
• 2011 books read
• 2010 books read
• 2009 books read
• 2008 books read

Prior to 2008, I didn't keep a precise running record of the books that I read.

Behemoth - World War Steampunk

Scott Westerfeld has created a brilliant steampunk alternate history, where forces wielding darwinian monsters clash with mechanical monstrosities, in his new trilogy, which started with the 2009 release of Leviathan and continues with the 2010 book Behemoth. This trilogy has some valuable lessons about history, class structure, gender roles, biology, and mechanics. And, like Westerfeld's previous Uglies trilogy, it's a ripping good yarn ... although it takes a bit of build-up to reach that point.

It Starts with Leviathan

First, the backstory:

In the real world, there was this big war around the beginning of the last century which they called The Great War, but which we now call World War I. It began with the assassination of the Archduke of Austria-Hungary, Franz Ferdinand, on June 28, 1914, but there were a lot of secret treaties and things that played into the mix. Also assassinated on that date (though I didn't know it until reading Leviathan) was Ferdinand's wife, Sophie Chotek, who was not nearly as noble as the Archduke. They left behind three children.

That is pretty much where reality is left behind, because in this version of the story there is only one child, Aleksandar. After his parents are assassinated, he is secreted away in a giant war machine by his father's closest friends and allies, because it turns out that the Germans orchestrated the assassination of the Archduke in order to have an excuse for war. They want to put Aleksandar under house arrest and probably kill him. For reasons which are not clear until toward the end of Leviathan, it is vitally important that Aleksandar not be captured or killed, because he actually has the potential to end the war. I won't give it away, because it's a clever plot twist.

Meanwhile, there is a tangential story about a girl named Deryn who is impersonating a boy in order to join the British Air Service. She is stationed aboard a genetically-engineered living airship, the Leviathan, the largest airship in the BAS. The Leviathan sets sail to take part in the new war that's breaking out.

The most annoying thing about the first book is that it takes so long for these two divergent plot threads to connect together. Alek is running all over Austria-Hungary trapped in a tin can with legs while Deryn is riding around on a flying whale. War is imminent, shots have been fired, but neither seems in a position to really do much about it until the very end, when the two plot threads do come together.

Fortunately, the second book more than makes up for any frustrations in the first one ... but first, a side note on the setting.

Original novel artwork.
New artwork from paperback edition
is shown below.

Nature vs. Machine

As you may have noticed, I've dropped some phrases like "giant war machine" and "genetically-engineered living airship" as if they made sense, when obviously such things didn't exist in 1914. As Westerfeld explains in the "Afterward" to Leviathan, the first armored fighting machines (i.e. tanks) didn't actually enter the war until 1916. The versions in Leviathan don't run on treads, though, they're giant mechanical constructs that walk on two or more legs. Their aptitude at creating these mechanical creatures have resulted in the people of Germany and Austria-Hungary to become known as the Clankers.

The people of Britain, on the other hand, are Darwinists, who weave the "threads of life" (in other words, DNA) to create living machines, such as "message lizards" which can follow complicated commands and deliver a precise verbal message. The machines are not intelligent, not self-aware, but they are useful.

And they are also, to the Clankers, unholy abominations. The separation between the Darwinists and the Clankers is fundamentally a religious and spiritual one. The Darwinists view themselves as utilizing the scientific powers of nature in a noble way, while the Clankers think they're subverting the order of the natural world and defying God.

There are obvious parallels here with modern concepts of technological progress, genetic manipulation, bioethics, and spirituality, but they don't get belabored in the book and I certainly don't intend to belabor them here. I'll get into the sequel, after the official book trailer (which you may, of course, feel free to skip).

On to Behemoth

The first book ends with Deryn and Aleksandar both on board the Leviathan. (To find out how that happens, you'll have to read the book.) Alek knows, however, that he's technically an enemy, since he's an Austrian nobleman. The British need him (again, you'll have to read to find out why), but he's soon to outlive his usefulness, at which point he will be either sent back to England or at least be locked in a brig somewhere until the war is over.

The Leviathan heads to Istanbul (not Constantinople) to extend a peace offering to the sultan of the Ottoman Empire. See, Winston Churchill has commandeered a ship that was grown for the Ottomans, and they're not too happy about it. They have already paid for it, after all. (This is based on a real event, although in the real world it was a warship and not a genetic creation.)

Seeing his chance, Alek makes a break for it. In Istanbul, he is forced to really decide how he wants to approach this war, what side he wants to be on, and whether or not he's in a position to make a real difference. He also reveals all of his secrets to Deryn ... who is still keeping one rather large secret from him, in the form of her gender (and her romantic interest in him).

All of the groundwork that Westerfeld spent establishing the character relationships in the first book pays off in this the sequel. When I finished the first book, I honestly wasn't completely certain what I felt about it. It was good, but not phenomenal as a stand-alone effort. It established a rich world, full of potential, but I knew that the success of the trilogy hinged on the second book knocking things out of the park.


Behemoth takes this potential and leverages it into a wild ride through a dynamic world that contains both war beasts and combat machines, including strange devices like a Tesla cannon! It more than eliminates the doubts I had after completing the first book.

Honestly, after reading Behemoth my only complaint is that this is still being promoted as a trilogy, and I don't see how he can resolve everything in just one more book. Things just started getting good and I, for one, would like to see the concept drawn out a bit, the world explored in more depth. My vote would be for about 5 books.

(You don't want to stretch these things out too far, else you fall into the trap of Orson Scott Card's Alvin Maker series, which started in 1987, has 6 books out, and still isn't done.)

Conclusion

This is a rich series in fully-realized alternate history setting. It can be appreciated on a number of levels, and I personally think that this trilogy would be perfect to structure some sort of inter-disciplinary enrichment around. Students could read the trilogy, then have discussions about the historical and social aspects of the novels, as well as the literary ones. It's rare when a trilogy can spark discussions about the bioethical considerations in genetic manipulation and the morality of warfare at the same time.

Or, of course, you could just read the book and enjoy it, without going in for all of the subtext.

You could ... but why would you really want to?

Conundrum Computing Contraption

Authors Jeff VanderMeer and Ann VanderMeer are editing a strange collection: The Thackery T. Lambshead Cabinet of Curiosities. (The image on the right is a preliminary cover from the proposal, not the cover of the actual book - due out in 2011.) The book - a sequel, of sorts, to the The Thackery T. Lambshead Pocket Guide to Eccentric & Discredited Diseases - sounds like it'll be a steampunk-ish collection of stories detailing the curious objects located in the home of the illustrious Thackery T. Lambshead after his death.

A few weeks back, the VanderMeers put out a call for micro-submissions on this collection. Small entries of curiosities to be included in a listing in the back of the book, as a supplement to the complete short stories that will make up the bulk of the book. I submitted an idea, but it wasn't selected.

While disappointed, I figured it would be nice to share the idea (since, at the moment, I have no particular plans to use it in a story myself). You can view the other micro-subs by scrolling down to the comments section on this page.

CONUNDRUM COMPUTING CONTRAPTION - Wooden box with a hinged top, the 3C opens to reveal a mechanical device similar to a massive typewriter, containing 26 keys corresponding to the letters of the alphabet and a toggle with settings “Encrypt” or “Decrypt.” Mathematician Alan Turing built the device, which can create a unique, unbreakable cryptogram and can decode any other system’s encryption algorithm. Turing contacted British intelligence about the 3C in 1954, but due to his “suicide” days later, there was no recorded follow up. The next mention of the 3C was in 1987, when it was confiscated for national security purposes by MI-6 following its implication in the Black Monday stock market collapse. How it came into Dr. Lambshead’s possession is unknown. It is currently being safeguarded by the World Bank, until such time as reliable quantum encryption techniques render it obsolete.

Join in the hunt...

In her debut novel, Spiral Hunt, my high school friend Margaret Ronald takes readers deep into the "undercurrent" of Boston's magical subculture. It's a society that's drenched in ancient Irish traditions and previously ruled by the supernatural equivalent to the Irish mob. This fictional version of Boston is a rich, deeply realized world that is introduced with a compelling main character and a storyline that keeps escalating in tension until the powerful conclusion.

Evie Scelan possesses the natural ability to sniff out (exactly like it sounds) anything ... she can track people or things or magical paths of power, each of which have their own distinct scents. The novel starts with a call from an old boyfriend, who appears to be in trouble, so "the Hound" (as Evie is called) begins to investigate what's happened to him ... and is rapidly drawn even deeper into the world of magic, a world that she normally tries to skirt the edge of.

As Evie (and we) become more involved in this world, the story grows continually richer and the stakes continue to rise, until the reader (and Evie) realize that they are in a war between ancient powers, between weakened gods and powerful magicians. Evie also begins to discover the true nature of her own power, which unveil new levels of potential ... levels which, I suspect, will continue to be demonstrated in future additions to the series. I look forward to accompanying the Hound on her next hunt.

The best thing about the book is also the one aspect that might discourage some readers: Ronald doesn't spoon feed you infodumps about the setting, but instead slowly reveals the world, bit by bit, as the story progresses. A reader who is uncomfortable with being left afloat, given information that doesn't particularly make sense for a few pages or chapters, will feel lost at times. For a first-time novelist, this is daring ... she's built up no credibility for the reader to trust her, so it's even more off-putting to be put in this situation, but in every case she fulfills the author's promise to answer the questions that she has brought up.

Margaret Ronald blogs about her writing (and, since the release of the book, promotional) experiences over at The Magic District. You can also check out her more random, personal, and "sillier" blog over at Wordpress.