Books I Read This Year

Books I've read since the jump (just over 6 months now):

The Ecology of Commerce by Paul Hawken:
Seemingly valid approaches, however impossible in implementation, to the concurrent problems of class warfare, corporate greed and environmental exploitation. I tend to be an advocate of big picture approaches, and here Hawken examines the very root of our daily lives. Reading this book, I came to understand that there is a fundamental flaw to the manner in which we conduct business, and to continually ignore it is to hasten our own collapse.


The Autobiography of Malcolm X:
For me, provided tremendous insight on perhaps the most influential figure in black culture. I had been woefully ignorant of his accomplishments, history and lifestyle and found him to be nothing short of inspirational. A true rebel who found out through daunting trials that the revolution starts within. X went from being, essentially, a street thug (albeit a particularly calculating and skilled one) to being perhaps the most disciplined, hardest-working firebrand of America’s past century. One of very few martyrs in our recent history.


The Age of Spiritual Machines by Ray Kurzweil:
A great deal of hubris and self-aggrandizement from an individual just shy of deserving it. Illuminated the facts I needed to argue for something I’ve felt for a long time; that we will inevitably merge with our technology. Were you aware that currently there is a complex, evolutionary algorithm at work somewhere in NYC that is monitoring millions of dollars in investments with an amazing track record? This book is full of ponderous updates on the progress of artificial intelligence.



Waiting For the Barbarians by J.M. Coetzee:
Obviously influenced by The Great Wall by Franz Kafka, but chilling nonetheless. There is something inherently surreal about a settlement out on the frontier, waiting to be pounced upon by barbarians, or rather waiting to pounce on noble savages in their midst. This book had some extremely powerful moments; stark, painful, reflection on an Absurdist agony.



Dune by Frank Herbert:
I've already talked about this here



The Silent Cry by Kenzuburo Oe:
Not very good at all. I used to really like Oe.


Collapse by Jared Diamond:
This book provides great context and historical background on why civilizations fail. From Easter Island to the Vikings to modern day China. We live beyond our means, simple as that, and as long as we continue to measure things in purely monetary, short-term units we are destined to fail.


The Dead Father by Donald Barthelme:
Hilarious, beats Samuel Beckett at his own game. The story essentially revolves around the transportation of a quasi-dead, partially mechanical godhead across the countryside. He is at once full of rage and lust and innocence and stupidity. He inspires both awe and pity. Fascinatingly written, but occasionally overwrought in its strangeness.


As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner:
I have had this book since I was 16 and then found it too difficult to follow. Now, reading it, I see why Faulkner is considered such a great writer. Nimble and funny. He is capable of making one feel exactly how he wants in the mere architecture of a scene. And the way Darl describes things can make you weep at the timbre of the words on the page. Near the end is, I venture to say, the single best "action" scene in all literature.


(BTW, this is my 100th post. Go me!)