Summer Reading List

[cairo140]

Summer 2007 Reading List
Presented by cairo140 and the OT Forums

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As summer rises once again, people all about the Northern Hemisphere are taking their vacations and making the best of a little time off. I thought it might be a neat idea to share some reading recommendations for fellow CivFanatics Forums members. I will make sure that this OP gets updated as new suggestions come in for easy viewing. To make life easier on all, posts recommending books should follow this general format (author last name first please). Summaries should be brief (25-100 words). This makes it easy for me to copy-and-paste to edit this OP.

Author:
Title:
Genre:
Additional Publication Information (if necessary):
Summary:

Information on Genres:

Spoiler :

Genre choices have been arbitrarily chosen by me. Please try your best to classify your recommendations. Here are the definitions for each genre...

Fantasy: A novel in which our version of reality does not serve as the premise for the way in which the fictional society functions.

Science Fiction: A novel in which our version of reality does serve as the premise for the way in which the fictional society functions, but in which modifications have been made so that its society does not correspond to ours entirely.

Historical Fiction: A novel in which our version of reality does serve as a premise for the way in which the fictional society functions, and in which very few liberties have been taken to deviate from historical reality.

Documentary-style Non-Fiction: A book in which the author documents a particular experience, whether it was temporary, ongoing, or lifelong, and draws conclusions from the experience.

Soft Science Non-Fiction: Anthropology, sociology, psychology, natural sciences, economics, theology, philosophy.

History Non-Fiction: Human civilization, politics, religion, specific current events.

Hard Science Non-Fiction: Physics, chemistry, biology, cosmology, astronomy.

Feel free to include your own more detailed take on the work after the common format in your post; I will not be copying-and-pasting that portion. Keep in mind you do not have to have read these books recently. Any good read will do!

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Fantasy (0 titles):

Spoiler :

Author:
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Genre:
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Science Fiction (1 title):

Spoiler :

Author: Ray Bradbury
Title: Fahrenheit 451
Submitter: odintheking
Summary: In the future, firemen set fires on houses with books instead of putting them out. One fireman starts reading a book and starts a revolution.

Historical Fiction (1 title):

Spoiler :

Author: God, et al.
Title: The Holy Bible
Submitter: Perfection
Genre: Revised to Historical Fiction considering the vast majority of the text documents real events.
Summary: Repent now, this hard-hitting book makes clear and cogent arguments about the universe and our place in it. It's in touch with the latest medical advances and tells us the pitfalls of such things as abortion, homosexuality and women's suffrage. It also clears up numerous common myths about cosmology, biology and geology in a scientifically robust manner. This book has been the inspiration of numerous great public figures like Jimmy Carter, Pat Robertson and George W. Bush. I strongly reccomend this book (and it makes a great father's day gift too!)

Other Fiction (0 titles):

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Author:
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Documentary-style Non-Fiction (1 title):

Spoiler :

Author: Thomas L. Friedman
Title: The World is Flat
Submitter: ansar
Summary:As we emerge into the 21st century, we have gone through a wide variety of changes in inventions and who controls the power in the world today (economically). The book pretty much talks about how "Globalization" has (and is) changed the world (changing) and how we are losing our power in the global economy and new powers such as China and India are rising due to outsourcing.

Soft Science Non-Fiction (2 titles):

Spoiler :

Author: Malcolm Gladwell
Title: Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking
Submitter: cairo140
Summary: Gladwell argues that humanity possesses an unconscious ability to make surprisingly accurate judgments without relying on substantial conscious evidence or analysis. He addresses the questions about thin-slicing and gives a wide range of examples of blinking from the worlds of experts in gambling, speed dating, tennis, military war games, the movies, malpractice suits, popular music, and predicting divorce.

Author: Michael R. LeGault
Title: Think: Why Crucial Decisions Can't Be Made in the Blink of an Eye
Submitter: cairo140
Summary: A book written to contradict the idea of Blink (Gladwell, 2005), Think argues that an increasing reliance on snap judgments has turned into a full-blown dependency and that the disturbing trend has managed to displace critical analysis in the last century of American history. LeGault argues that thinking is the superior methodology, that American society has left thinking behind, and that the regression has led to many of the problems faced today.

History Non-Fiction (0 titles):

Spoiler :

Author:
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Hard Science Non-Fiction (0 titles):

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Other Non-Fiction (1 title):

Spoiler :

Author: Richard Feynman
Title: Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman! (Adventures of a Curious Character)
Submitter: Fetus4188
Genre: Autobiography
Summary: A collection of humorous anecdotes that aren't quite biographical but more of an assortment of puzzle pieces and bits of wisdom. Reveals the eccentricity of this Nobel Prize-winning physicist: from safe cracking at Los Alamos and a fondness for topless bars to his first wife's struggle with tuberculosis. A must read.

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Thanks to our contributors so far: gandhi rules; ansar; odintheking; Perfection

 

[Love]

Some discworld books and a good thriller or two

 

[Ansar]

Author: Thomas L. Friedman

Title: The World is Flat

Genre: Documentary-style Nonfiction.

Summary:
As we emerge into the 21st century, we have gone through a wide variety of changes in inventions and who controls the power in the world today (economically). The book pretty much talks about how "Globalization" has (and is) changed the world (changing) and how we are losing our power in the global economy and new powers such as China and India are rising due to outsourcing.

The book is pretty interesting and talks about how world will probably turn out if we dont do anything soon.

 

[odintheking]

Author: Ray Bradbury
Title: Fahrenheit 451
Genre: Science Fiction
Summary: In the future, firemen set fires on houses with books instead of putting them out. One fireman starts reading a book and starts a revolution.

It's a pretty good book. I like it a lot.

 

[Fetus4188]

Author: Richard Feynman
Title: Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman! (Adventures of a Curious Character)
Genre: Other Non-fiction (autobiography)
Summary: A collection of humorous anecdotes that aren't quite biographical but more of an assortment of puzzle pieces and bits of wisdom. Reveals the eccentricity of this Nobel Prize-winning physicist: from safe cracking at Los Alamos and a fondness for topless bars to his first wife's struggle with tuberculosis. A must read.

 

[Perfection]

Author: God Himself
Title: The Holy Bible
Genre: Hard Science Non-Fiction
Summary: Repent now, this hard-hitting book makes clear and cogent arguments about the universe and our place in it. It's in touch with the latest medical advances and tells us the pitfalls of such things as abortion, homosexuality and women's suffrage. It also clears up numerous common myths about cosmology, biology and geology in a scientifically robust manner. This book has been the inspiration of numerous great public figures like Jimmy Carter, Pat Robertson and George W. Bush. I strongly reccomend this book (and it makes a great father's day gift too!)

 

[cairo140]

Master list has been updated. Perfection's recommendation must not be overlooked!

 

[Sophie 378]

OK, I'll come out of lurk mode long enough to do a hit-and-run. Why have you put Natural Sciences in the list of "soft sciences", when a quick look at a dictionary should assure you that "natural sciences" means the opposite of things like anthropology and social sciences?

[/rant]

Author: David Bodanis
Title: The Secret House
Genre: Documentary-style Non-Fiction / Hard Science Non-Fiction
Summary: 224 pages of the hidden science behind an everyday 24 hours in a house. From the oxidising self-healing power of aluminium to time-lapse explanation of a lightening bolt; to the history and chemistry of the making of lipstick, nylon and margerine; to the fizzle of white noise on your radio and why not to bother shouting in a storm; to the life-cycles of the dust-mites in your carpet and the bacteria on ... well ... everything, this book is full of fascinating science and explanations that makes you think anew and find a sense of wonderment about all those little miracles that constantly happen around you.
To quote Amazon on the pretty pictures: "The illustrations range from high powered scanning electron micrographs, to thermosgrams, computer enhanced X-rays, polarized light microscopy, and even airflow visualization techniques currently being developed for the aerospace industry."

 

[VX250]

the Bible

the Bible

 

[Perfection]

the Bible

the Bible

It's already on the list!

 

[EdCase]

Author: Frank Herbert
Title: Dune (The whole arc both old and new)
Genre: Science Fiction
Summary: The best of the Messianic themed books..tops the Bible,with a better plot

Time to reread these classics for me. It's been 20 years since I read the original.

 

[Jono]

Author: J. G. Ballard
Title: High Rice
Genre: Science Fiction
Summary: A story of a high-rise building whose inhabitants lose touch with reality and return to their primitive savage ways.