Summer Reading

The best thing about summer is having more time to read (why is that, really? I don’t have much more time than during the school year. Must be psychological). In keeping with so many other blogs, here are recently read books as well as a list of those sitting on the nightstand (in reality and virtually) …

World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War by Max Brooks. I am not really a zombie fan, but I couldn’t resist the format of this book – it’s a future-history told as “first person” accounts during the aftermath of a global zombie war. At first I thought that reading interview after interview would get tedious, but the story was highly engaging. Great example of a non-traditional fiction format. This was also the first book I read using Kindle – makes traveling so much easier!

The No Asshole Rule: Building a Civilized Workplace and Surviving One That Isn’t by Robert Sutton. An interesting book, more academic than I would have expected (rather well-researched). It’s an appealing argument, but I guess I would prefer that a desire to work with civility and courtesy would be just so much common sense – guess that’s simply not the case.

World Without End by Ken Follett. Thankfully, read on my Kindle because the sheer weight of this tome is ridiculous. Pillars of the Earth was one of my all-time favorite books – I’ve read its 900+ pages several times (last time while staying in Winchester, England – totally cool!). I was thrilled to read the sequel, but it quickly became “Book Without End” – rather a formulaic reproduction of Pillars and quite a disappointment.

Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing Without Organizations by Clay Shirky. Ever since I heard Clay Shirky’s brilliant analogy of industrial revolution vis-à-vis web 2.0 technology, I’ve been a huge fan. This book did not disappoint. Truly visionary, well written, and many applications to education. I’ll probably re-read this book very soon.

Next on my reading list …

How Soccer Explains the World: An (unlikely) Theory of Globalization by Franklin Foer … after being in Germany for the Euro Cup, I am definitely more interested. And since I’ll soon be UK bound … guess I’d better be up on the football (and not the American sort).

When You Are Engulfed in Flames by David Sedaris … just love David Sedaris. He needs to write more books … or just come to my house to tell stories. Can’t get enough.

The Price of Privilege: How Parental Pressure and Material Advantage Are Creating a Generation of Disconnected and Unhappy Kids by Madeline Levine … because I’m probably somewhat guilty of this too – what happened to wanting to raise strong, independent, and critically thinking kids?

The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch … started it. Put it down. Started it again. Very difficult to read with some detachment …

Shakespeare: The World as Stage by Bill Bryson … Bryson is such a fabulous writer and provides such great perspective. Can’t wait to read his take on the bard …

The Age of Spiritual Machines: When Computers Exceed Human Intelligence by Ray Kurzweil … this came so highly recommended by a friend … I’m ready to be freaked out because I know a little about Kurzweil and his cybernetic art

The Egyptologist: A Novel by Arthur Phillips … because I’m still reeling from seeing the pyramids at Giza and Abu Simbel.

And my kid is reading The Hitchhiker’s Guide for the first time … how cool is that?!