My original intent here was to list all the books that I’d read in the last year with notes on each, as well as those currently sitting at my bedside awaiting their turn. But, you know, going through all those books from 2005 seemed so last year and certain to suck up even more valuable reading time (I’m doing this Great Magazine Experiment, you know) that I thought it best to just go with 2006 and then backtrack to earlier books that I really liked and would recommend later. Each book is linked through to Amazon for your buying convenience and to help us pay the hosting bill. Feel free to comment on any of these, or to leave me recommendations. These are presented in no particular order, as I like to choose what comes next when its time for what comes next. I have broken the tech books out to asection at the end as I tend to read those simultaneously with the regular stack.

Finished

Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger — My “review” here.

The Stupidest Angel, by Christopher Moore — My comments here. If its too late for the Christmas theme on this one, pick up his Practical Demonkeeping or Island of the Sequined Love Nun.

No Country for Old Men, by Cormac McCarthy — magnificent thriller undercarriage with the man-on-man prose of a Hemingway. McCarthy is genius.

The Game: Penetrating the Secret Society of Pickup Artists, by Neil Strauss — The subtitle is “Penetrating the Secret Society of Pickup Artists”. Now, all of you who know me (show of hands….one, two….two) know that I also have an unnatural affinity for secret societies. I also like trap doors and hidden rooms behind bookcases and all, but that’s another story. Anyway, my reading this had nothing to do with picking up women. I mean come on, like that’s a problem for me? Well, I guess its no problem because, well, I don’t really try to do it. ANYWAY….its a fascinating book. Neil joins this international brotherhood, jumping in dick first, so to speak. And yes, these guys are just as screwed up as you can imagine, needing the constant conquests to validate themselves. Shameful…really. It probably doesn’t help that the book comes bound in fake black leather with a red bookmark ribbon sewn in and gilded pages. Sorta like a Bible. Who thinks of these things?

Hiking Marin: 141 Great Hikes in Marin County (3rd Edition), by Don and Kay Martin — For reference. This is the new edition just out and is terrific. If you live in Marin County California you should have this. It has a cool feature that allows you to print out any of the hikes to take with you on your hike from their website. Its referenced so that you can look quickly at the 14 Waterfall trails this time of year. Nothing is better than taking the kids for a hike with a waterfall at the end.

Pending Stack

Naked Conversations, by Robert Scoble and Shel Israel — The subtitle is “how blogs are changing the way businesses talk with customers”. Scoble is Microsoft’s kept blogger and Israel is a well known consultant. There has been talk about this book for awhile in the blogosphere and its now on shelves and on my stack.

The Search: How Google and its Rivals Rewrote the Rules of Business and Transformed Our Culture, by John Battelle — Battelle was a founder of The Industry Standard and an original editor of Wired. He’s got the bonafides and here seeks to give more than a history of Google or even “search”, but an anthological look at search and the way it changed our lives. Added this to the business blogging books as essential background.

Blogging for Business, by Shel Holtz and Ted Demopoulos — Subtitled “everything you need to know and why you should care”, this looked like a good place to start in exploring blogging for businesses.

The Ape in the Corner Office, by Richard Conniff — I won this one from inBubbleWrap and am a bit excited to read it. The subtitle is “Understanding the WorkPlace Beast In All Of Us.” After this last job that had more incompetent managers, office politics and just plain ego-charged idiots running things, I figured I needed some new paradigm for looking at my fellow workers. Monkeys in suits seems as good as any.

Presence: An Exploration of Profound Change in People, Organizations, and Society, by Peter Senge, C. Otto Scharmer, Joseph Jaworski, and Detty Sue Flowers — It sounds a bit pretentious, eh? This was another freebie from inBubbleWrap (go and click the button and register with them–free business books given away daily–some might as well go to you). I want to be better positioned as a change agent for my work and home community, family, and beyond. This looks like a good start. Or it will bore me to tears. I’ll let you know.

The Purpose Driven Life, by Rick Warren — This was given me by my ex-mother-in-law in the midst of all that. I dutifully tried to give it a read but was just not in the right place for that. So I put it aside. I will try again.

John Jay, by Walter Stahr — I’ve been enthralled with the Founding Fathers for the last couple of years, reading several histories of the period and biographies of Washington, Franklin, Adams, Jefferson and more. Jay seems to have gotten a bit lost in the historical shuffle, both on my bookshelf and in the minds of Americans. I look forward to this one greatly.

Four Souls, by Louise Erdrich — I once described Erdrich as a Pulitzer Prize in waiting, and may get proved right still. This story, as do most of hers, centers around the lives of various Native Americans generally living in the upper midwest. Four Souls is supposed to be tied in to her much earlier book Tracks most closely. Not for everyone, but Erdrich tells wopnderful stories and I can only dream of being able to write so beautifully.

DaVinci Decoded, by Michael J. Gelb — No, this isn’t another exploration of the DaVince Code, though clearly the author thought to take advantage of that tie with his title. Gelb earlier wrote How to Think Like Leonardo DaVinci that explored living from a daVinci point of view, as a genius would approach life. In this second volume Gelb lays out what he calls daVinci’s seven principles, the essential principals that daVinci lived by. Those principals are: Seek the truth, Take responsibility, Cultivate awareness, Engage the shadow, Balance the masculine and feminine principles, Integrate body and spirit, and Practice love. I know, its just another one of those self help book filled with drivvel. But maybe not. And I like to feed my brain some decent self-help books periodically to keep it focused on the important things.

Writing on Both Sides of the Brain, by Henriette Anne Klauser — I would love to write for a living. This blog isn’t going to make that possible, but it is a start. Klauser’s book purports to help writers do just that. And I need help keeping motivated to do just that.

The Success Principles, by Jack Canfield — I picked this up last year and got through half of it and then got buried in a couple of other books and projects and didn’t finish it. So now I need to read it front to back. Again, just feeding more good stuff to my brain.

The Eighth Habit: From Effectiveness to Greatness, by Stphen R. Covey — Covey’s Seven Habits of Highly Effective People really did help me a lot. It gave me a new way to think about organization and effectiveness, and offered a context for it all that felt just right to me. I guess a lot of folks thought so since he sold a bazillion copies. I’ve had this sitting here for a while, though, and seem to find a reason to skip over it each time. Maybe now is the time.

The Mind of the Soul, by Gary Zukav and Linda Francis — Zukav wrote The Seat of the Soul which I read a few years ago and thought had some terrific insights. I picked up the follow up because I liked that original one so much, and because the subtitle is “Responsible Choice”. I feel like I’ve made some really bad choices in my life and am working toward coming to terms with much of that. Maybe this book will help in that process.

Postwar: A History of Europe Since 1945, by Tony Judt — Hey, I’m just another stupid american who doesn’t understand how Europe works. So Judt will be my graduate seminar in Europe’s trip from the ashes of war to today. I need this. I really do.

Making Your Dreams Come True, by Marcia Wieder — You know, I’m starting to feel a little strange that my stack is so heavily leaning toward selfhelp titles. Maybe its because I read the histories and biogrpahies and mysteries and literature, but just buy the self help books to try and fool myself into thinking I’m doing something good for myself. Maybe. Regardless, Wieder is one of the first to call herself a Dream Coach and in this book she takes you through the process she uses with her clients to help them follow their dreams. I picked it up after leafing through it and seeing a bit on setting goals and understanding your dreams that said, basically, its ok to not have an elevator pitch for yourself all worked out–that most folks don’t really know what they want. She says thats just fine and says she’ll help you figure it out. I liked that.

Self-Discipline in 10 Days, by Theodore Bryant, MSW — The subtitle is “How to go from Thinking to Doing.” It uses his “Psychological-Systems Approach”. The book looks like it was printed at home and has the feel of a fourth grade school book. Nevertheless, I bought this while struggling to get myself to take some actions that I knew had to be done, but kept putting off. Some of the reviews on Amazon for it were glowing. But I suppose that the benefits of this 10-day program don’t actually start until you begin, so I don’t know yet. Check out the Amazon reviews in the meantime if you’re looking for something like this.

So that’s the pile that is sitting here unread right now, but my virtual pile includes the following books, just sitting on my Wish List page on Amazon waiting for me to hit that 1-click button. They’ll be home soon:

Washington’s Secret War: The Hidden History of Valley Forge, by Thomas Fleming — another Washington and Revolutionary America book…what’s this attraction I have for this period and people?

Specimen Days, by Michael Cunningham — Cunningham is one of my all time favorite writers (he wrote The Hours and several other great books) and I missed this one when it came out. Catch up.

A Great Improvisation: Franklin, France, and the Birth of America — Washington’s place is on a pedestal over the heads of the other Founding Fathers. But let’s be honest, its Frnaklin you’d rather share a pint with at the local pub. He astounds me, and his miracle work in France was vital to the new country.

Art Since 1900: Modernism, Antimodernism, and Postmodernism, by Hal Foster — its that Art Appreciation class that I managed to scam my way out of in college and have regretted since.

The Wisdom of Crowds: Why the Many are Smarter than the Few and How Collective Wisdom Shapes Business, Economies, Societies and Nations, by James Surowiecki — This one is about understanding the power of the masses when elitism sometimes feels more right to me. Can all of those really stupid people out there actually run things?

Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln, by Doris Kearns Goodwin — Highly recommended story of the genius of Abraham Lincoln, perhaps our greatest President. Godwin knows how to tell the tale.

Washington’s General: Nathanael Greene and the Triumph of the American Revolution, by Terry Golway — Greene was the best military strategy of the Revolutionary War and had a huge hand in winning Washington’s war. I’ve gotten pieces of him in several other books, but look forward to this full treatment.

Net Tech Books

Building Online Communities with Drupal, phpBB, and WordPress, by Robert T. Douglass — this was the ONLY book I could find on Amazon about WordPress.

SAMS Teach Yourself HTML and XHTML in 24 Hours (6th Edition), by Dick Oliver and Michael Morrison — I needed to get back up to speed on the newest incarnations of HTML and understand CSS and XHTML so that I could get a better grasp on the underpinnings for this blog and WordPress. I generally prefer the Visual QuickPro Guide series to the SAMS “in 24 Hours” series, but this was the most up to date of the books on the shelf and I needed one now. If reality, I’ve already read through most of this in reference and just leave it here because I want to actually go start to finish with it to get it all in some context.

PHP and MySQL for Dynamic Web Sites (2nd Edition), by Larry Ullman — this is part of the Visual QuickPro Guide series, aimed at those with a bit more starting knowledge than the Visual Quickstart series, or the Dummies books. It covers PHP 5 and MySQL 4.1, meaning it is still very current for my needs. I’m trying to read it front to back so that I can feel more comfortable futzing around with the code beneath my weblog. It seems the perfect reference for me, as I have some old web skills. I wrote webpages back in the old days before the Dreamweavers and other good tools were out there, just typing away at the html code.