Manhood for Amateurs

Title: Manhood for Amateurs: The Pleasures and Regrets of a Husband, Father, and Son

Author: Michael Chabon

Genre: Non-fiction essays

Pages (words): 336 (N/A)

Readability: N/A

Rating (out of 5 stars): ****

Reviewed by: Ben

Description: This book is a collection of essays dealing with the topic of manhood. In them, Chabon tells about living through the divorce of his parents, his relationship with his brother, finding the right woman to marry, and his struggles at being a good father. He also covers general topics, such as the lost freedom of childhood and his difficulties of dealing with religion.

Thoughts: I wasn't sure what to expect from Manhood for Amateurs, but I really liked it a lot. The best part about it was the actual writing; Chabon is a great writer. So, regardless of the subject matter I found it nice just to listen to the book. In addition, I really liked a lot of his insights into the struggles and pleasures of being a man. I didn't really agree with everything in the book, but it was enlightening to read and consider. I particularly liked his thoughts on the lost freedom of childhood. Overall, it was a really nice book, and one I would recommend to both men and women. I would have given the book an extra half star if it had not included a fairly significant section on him losing his virginity, which was neither enlightening nor necessary to the book. I really could have just done without that part--not that it was too graphic, but just not really tasteful, in my view. So, my recommendation is that you skip the portion of the book entitled "Burning Women," and read the rest.

Disclaimer: In addition to the section on losing his virginity, there are also a fair number of swear words in the book.

Bringing Down the House

Title: Bringing Down the House: The Inside Story of Six M.I.T. Students who took Vegas for Millions

Author: Ben Mezrich

Genre: Nonfiction (kind of)

Pages (words): 273 (78,076)

Readability: 7.3

Rating (out of 5 stars): ***

Reviewed by: Ben

Description: In the mid-1990s, a team of MIT students mastered the art of team card-counting, and then took their game to Vegas. This book details their experiences, the double lives they led, the money they made, and their struggles against the casinos to stay in the game.

Thoughts: This was an enjoyable read, but nothing earth-shattering. The subject of the book is completely fascinating: super-smart people leading double lives, wearing disguises, taking on fake identities, and using their brains to win nearly $4 million from Vegas casinos. It doesn't get much better than that, really. However, I didn't really love Mezrich's writing style, and I really could have done without some of the strip club scenes. All in all, a fun book, but not one I'll readily tell everyone to read.

Disclaimer: This book has a lot of swearing, wild parties, strip clubs, etc. A little more than I was comfortable with, really.

Soccernomics

Title: Soccernomics: Why England Loses, Why Germany and Brazil Win, and Why the U.S., Japan, Australia, Turkey--and Even Irag--Are Destines to Become the Kings of the Worlds' Most Popular Sport

Authors: Simon Kuper & Stefan Szymanski

Genre: Popular Economics

Pages (words): 336 (N/A)

Readability: N/A

Rating (out of 5 stars): ****

Reviewed by: Ben

Description: Kuper, a sport journalist, and Szymanski, a sports economist, use cold, hard data to tackle questions regarding commonly-held beliefs about soccer. Ranging from what determines a country's success in major tournaments to how purchase a player for your team to the game theory behind the penalty kick, they show that many of the "truisms" of soccer are actually wrong. They have the data to prove it.

Thoughts: I'm kind of hit-and-miss on the extent to which I like popular economics books like Freakonomics. But you couldn't find a book better suited to my particular tastes than Soccernomics. I follow U.S. soccer relatively closely, and I think to myself very often that I would love to have the data to test a few ideas. In this book, Kuper and Szymanski do that for me. I really loved the book, and I even thought that the economics they used were sound for the most part. That being said, this book really isn't for everyone. In fact, if you're not a relatively big soccer fan, you probably wouldn't enjoy it. But I loved it!

Disclaimer: None.

Mockingjay

Title: Mockingjay (Hunger Games, Book 3)

Author: Suzanne Collins

Genre: Young Adult Science Fiction

Pages (words): 400 (N/A)

Readability: N/A

Rating (out of 5 stars): ****

Reviewed by: Ben

Description: The conclusion of the saga of Katniss Everdeen and her fight against the Capitol. I can't say much more without spoiling things if you haven't read the previous books in the series!

Thoughts: I thought this was a great conclusion to the Hunger Games series. I'm so glad that the series didn't devolve into a hopeless love triangle (I'm looking at you, Twilight books), and that instead there were many more issues involved than just Katniss' relationships with Gale and Peeta. I was also glad that the plot didn't pull any punches; several important characters are killed along the way, and many others are permanently affected. Although the book was pretty brutal, the brutality made the book less predictable and, hence, more captivating for me. I was even glad that there wasn't really a "happily ever after" ending, but instead more of "pick up the pieces and move on" conclusion. The writing wasn't great by any means, but the plot really moved along enough to keep me fully absorbed and excited for each chapter. All in all, I really enjoyed the whole Hunger Games series (especially the second and third books), and would recommend it to anyone who is looking for a quick, engrossing read.

Disclaimer: The book is pretty gory, and it might have a few swear words, but I can't recall anything too major.