Lone Survivor

Title: Lone Survivor: The eyewitness account of Operation Redwing and the lost heroes of SEAL Team 10
Author: Marcus Luttrell
Genre: Memoir
Pages: 464
Rating (out of 5 stars): ***
Reviewed by: Ben
Description: Tells the story of how Luttrell became a Navy SEAL and was eventually deployed in Afghanistan.  While out on patrol, his team was attacked by the Taliban.  Miraculously, Luttrell survived the ordeal.
Thoughts: This is such an amazing story that you can't not enjoy reading it.  Luttrell spends considerable space writing about his SEAL training, and I actually enjoyed that as much as the story.  It really gives you an insight into who the SEALs are and how they are trained to think and act.  The story itself is amazing, sad, and patriotic all at once.  My only complaint with the book is that Luttrell goes off on random diatribes about a few issues (such as the liberal media) here and there, and that kind of detracted from the story.  Not that he doesn't have a right to express that, but it comes off just sounding like a rant and it left a bit of a bad taste in my mouth.  All in all, though, I enjoyed the book and am glad that I read it.
Disclaimer:  Like most military books, the language gets salty at times, and there is plenty of wartime violence and gore as well.  However, I'd say that this is actually cleaner than many war books that I've read.

Foundation

Title: Foundation
Author: Isaac Asimov
Genre: Science Fiction
Pages: 320
Rating (out of 5 stars): **1/2
Reviewed by: Ben
Description: Set far in the future, Foundation tells the story of a galaxy-wide Empire that has enjoyed peace for thousands of years.  But a brilliant psychologist named Hari Seldon has worked out a set of mathematical equations that predict the future, and what he finds is that the Empire is on the verge of collapse.  He sets up a foundation of scientists designed not to prevent the collapse of the Empire (its too far gone for that), but rather to shorter the dark ages that he knows will follow by retaining the accumulated knowledge of mankind.
Thoughts: This is one of the first, great sci-fi books out there; the predecessor to Star Wars, Star Trek, the Ender series, 2001, and basically every other sci-fi bit of media you've ever seen.  Written way back in 1951, it is quite imaginative and, in some ways, maybe a bit prescient.  But, I'm just not much of a sci-fi fan, I don't think.  I never really got into it; much of the story seemed too contrived so that everything tied up just a bit too neatly.  And the writing itself isn't great either, although I'm willing to let Asimov slip on that given that he was just 21 when he wrote the book.  Anyway, if you like sci-fi, you should read it.  Otherwise, it might not be worth your time.
Disclaimer: Maybe a swear word or two??  Pretty clean.

The Devil in the White City

Title: The Devil in the White City: A Saga of Magic and Murder at the Fair that Changed America
Author: Erik Larson
Genre: History
Pages: 447
Rating (out of 5 stars): ****
Reviewed by: Ben
Description: Larson weaves together the story of the building of the Chicago World's Fair in 1893 with the tale of a mass murderer far worse than Jack the Ripper.  Both stories are so outrageous that you might think he made them up, but they're both true, and they happened at the same time in the same place.
Thoughts: It took me about a hundred pages to really get into this book, but by the end I was hanging on every word.  Having moved to Chicago a year ago, this was the perfect time for me to read The Devil in the White City; I've been here long enough to know my way around, but I'm still trying to figure out its aura.  Knowing a bit of the history helped with that.  And the World's Fair is a huge part of what put Chicago on the map (and its imprint is still quite visible on the South Side).  I was mind-boggled at how many firsts there were at the fair (a small sampling: first shredded wheat, first usage of AC current, first Ferris wheel) and at the vastness of the project of just putting it together.  It left me wondering why we don't have World Fairs any longer; it's a shame they've gone away.  At any rate, throw in the true tale of a truly clever and sick mass murderer to boot, and you've got a great book.
Disclaimer: The descriptions of the murders were somewhat gruesome.

Sum

Title: Sum: Forty Tales of the Afterlives
Author: David Eagleman
Genre: Modern Fiction / Philosophy
Pages: 128
Rating (out of 5 stars): *****
Reviewed by: Ben
Description: David Eagleman, a neuroscientist, writes 40 different vignettes of what the afterlife might be like.  In one version, you re-live your life but with events grouped together so that you sleep for 30 years straight, spend 200 days in the shower, five months on the toilet, and so forth.  In another, you find out that God created humanity but then lost control and is farming out the work of managing people's lives to individuals who have passed away.  Each chapter is only 2-3 pages long.
Thoughts: I really loved this book.  It is amazing how much the afterlife can teach you about THIS life, and Eagleman does a really amazing job of delivering a new insight or deep thought in an incredibly creative way by forcing you to consider what each type of afterlife would be like.  What if in the afterlife you were stuck in a room until no one remembered you any longer?  How would that change how you behave?  I found myself underling the last couple of paragraphs in nearly every single chapter, finding new thoughts that made me think about how I'm living.  Eagleman's book was so good not because he writes about what the afterlife will actually be like, but because each different afterlife made me thing about what my current life is all about.
Disclaimer: None.

Confessions of a Public Speaker

Title: Confessions of a Public Speaker
Author: Scott Berkun
Genre: Advice
Pages: 240
Rating (out of 5 stars): *** 1/2
Reviewed by: Ben
Description: Scott Berkun is a professional public speaker.  This book gives his advice on how to prepare and give a great talk, as well as advice on how to handle difficult situations and what to do when things go wrong.  It's also full of funny stories about public speaking.
Thoughts: I find myself doing a lot of public speaking in my career, so it seems worthwhile to try to get better at it.  Berkun's book had a lot of good advice, and it was fun to read as well.  I really liked that it didn't come off as preachy at all, but more, "I've made a whole bunch of mistakes; hopefully you can learn from some of them."  Berkun is pretty funny as well, which is always a plus.  At the end of the day, I didn't come away with any earth-shattering new advice, but all of it was solid and helpful.
Disclaimer: Maybe a few swear words in this one, but not much.

Quiet

Title: Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World that Can't Stop Talking
Author: Susan Cain
Genre: Behavioral Psychology
Pages: 368
Rating (out of 5 stars): ***1/2
Reviewed by: Ben
Description: Susan Cain's goal in this book is to dispel misconceptions about what introverts are, to remove any negative stigma there might be out there about introverts, and to try to convince the world that we should not cater only to extroverted types.  Laced with lots of anecdotes and scientific research, she tries to champion introverts in the same way that feminists began to be advocated for back in the 60s.
Thoughts: I loved the topic and the content of this book, and I really think that everyone should read it.  Whether you're and introvert or not (and you may be one without even knowing it!), this book is full of useful information that might change the way you structure your life, or at least make you more understanding of how others choose to structure theirs.  It has totally helped me understand better what motivates and energizes me. (I'm a total introvert, for the record.  Like, 100%)  My only complaint with the book is the tone.  It's written almost as a manifesto.  Cain is very upfront that she wants to spark a social movement for introverts similar to how the feminist movement was partially sparked by Betty Freidan's The Feminine Mystique.  To me, the book came off a little bit too much as a "Rah! Rah! Introverts are amazing!  Extroverts just don't get it!" kind of a message, despite it being chock full of really great insights.  In my view, she would have been more effective is she had just kept it more informational and let the reader decide what to do with the information.  But, you should read the book, and just ignore the tone.
Disclaimer: None.

The Road

Title: The Road
Author: Cormac McCarthy
Genre: Modern Fiction
Pages: 287
Rating (out of 5 stars): ****
Reviewed by: Ben
Description: In a post-apocalyptic world, a man and his son are barely staying alive.  Due to some worldwide destruction (that is never specified), nothing grows and ash is constantly falling from gray skies.  Meanwhile, the man and his son travel along the road, hoping to find a better place, hoping that they can find enough food to last for a few more days, and hoping that they meet no one else along the way.
Thoughts: This is a book that will stick with me for a long time.  I couldn't figure out why anyone would write such a book for most of it; it's just so dark and depressing nearly all of the time.  Is it a commentary on how humans are essentially animals?  On how easily our society could come apart?  On the human spirit's amazing drive to survive?  Yes, it's about all of those.  But, when you come right down to it, this is a book about a father who knows he can't protect his son from the hard, dark things of this world, no matter how much he wants to.  And that certainly resonated with me.  Aside from the themes of the book, I also loved the writing style.  It felt almost like Hemingway to me, and I really like to read Hemingway.  All in all, I would definitely recommend it.  And, I must say, that despite how dark the book it, I do think that its main message is one of hope.
Disclaimer: There is some bloodshed in this book, and probably a swear word or two.  Mostly, though, it's just a mature-themed book.

The Brothers

Title: The Brothers: John Foster Dulles, Allen Dulles, and Their Secret World War
Author: Stephen Kinzer
Genre: History
Pages: 416
Rating (out of 5 stars): *** 1/2
Reviewed by: Ben
Description: John Foster Dulles and his brother Allen Dulles were the Secretary of State and the head of the CIA, respectively, under Eisenhower.  Working jointly as the overt and covert foreign policy directors for the U.S., this book describes their shaping of American foreign policy during the darkest times of the Cold War.
Thoughts: I've joined a men's book club, and this was the first book of the year.  It was extremely fascinating, and I'm surprised that I had never heard much about the Dulles brothers, despite the fact that a major airport is named after them.  The book is really well-written with amazing details (from de-classified documents) about the secret workings of the Cold War in the U.S. that I knew nothing about.  My only complaint is that it's clear the the author really hates the Dulles brothers, and his bias taints nearly all of the book.  It's clear that Foster and Allen were no saints and did plenty of bad things (with Eisenhower's sanction), but I would have preferred for Kinzer to just tell the story, and let the reader come to that conclusion on their own.  Other than that, though, this was fascinating and really taught me a lot about a period of U.S. history that I knew almost nothing about.
Disclaimer: I ran out of time to quite finish this book before our book group met, so I didn't get all the way through, but read enough to feel confident saying that it's quite clean.

The Indian in the Cupboard

Title: The Indian in the Cupboard
Author: Lynn Reid Banks
Genre: Children's Fiction
Pages: 240
Rating (out of 5 stars): ***1/2
Reviewed by: Ben
Description: Omri receives an old medicine cabinet for his birthday, and discovers that plastic figurines come to life in it when it is locked with his mother's special key.  The Indian in the Cupboard tells the story of Omri's efforts to help "his" little Indian, and his realization that responsibility often accompanies new privileges.
Thoughts: Henry and I listened to this book during the drive to Virginia over New Years, and we both enjoyed it a lot.  I read it first in 3rd grade, I think, and had forgotten nearly all of the details.  It's a great story: funny, touching, and captivating, with a good (but not overt) message at the end.  It's a great book for an 8-11 year old.
Disclaimer: None.

A Short History of Nearly Everything

Title: A Short History of Nearly Everything
Author: Bill Bryson
Genre: Non-fiction (science/history)
Pages: 544
Rating (out of 5 stars): **** 1/2
Reviewed by: Ben
Description: Bill Bryson sets out to write a science book that is actually readable.  In it, he briefly covers everything from  the Big Bang to evolution to the discovery to gravity (and much, much more).  The focus of the book is not on the what so much as the how.  How did they figure out the distance to the sun?  How do we know what we do about dinosaurs?  And so forth.
Thoughts: I ate this book up.  It's been a long time since I had read much about pure science, and this book filled that gap for more.  Bryson's writing style is extremely readable, with just the right level of detail that it's quite easy to follow along.  He is also very adept and moving from topic to topic in a very natural way.  Interestingly enough, my biggest takeaway from this book is how little we really know about our universe.  For example, only a tiny fraction of all animals that die end up creating fossils, and then we only find a tiny fraction of the fossils that are on the earth.  There are huge pieces that we are just missing.  Given how little we know, the other surprising thing for me was just how difficult it typically is for new discoveries to become widely accepted.  Bryson details multiple times how the established scientific community discredited new evidence for years and years because it didn't match with their conception of the world, only to be proven wrong later.  Anyway, I would highly recommend this book.  It only missed out the extra half star because I felt like it dragged on a bit towards the end.  It needed to be 50 pages shorter, and it would have been perfect.
Disclaimer: None.

The House of the Seven Gables

Title: The House of the Seven Gables
Author: Nathaniel Hawthorne
Genre: Classic
Pages: 416
Rating (out of 5 stars): **
Reviewed by: Ben
Description: A twisting tale of the Pynchon family, a venerable bunch from a small New England town in the 19th century, who own the House of the Seven Gables.  The story focuses on two members of that family who have been shut up in the house for many years due to some dark past and terrible rumors, and how they finally break loose of those chains with the help of young Pheobe, who comes to live with them.
Thoughts: I never liked The Scarlet Letter or The Cruicible when I studied them in 11th grade English.  Turns out I'm still not a fan of those kinds of harsh, New England, gothic stories.  I found my mind wandering nearly every time I listened to this book, and when I'd snap to I'd usually find that I hadn't missed anything and that the story was still describing some ancient relative of the Pyncheons that had little to do with the plot.  Overall, I just never got into the book, and the best thing about it were the names of the main characters: Hepzibah, Jaffrey, Phoebe, and Clifford.  After living near Concord for the past five years, I'm glad to have read the book, but it's never a good thing when you're relieved that it's over.
Disclaimer: None.

The Lost Symbol

Title: The Lost Symbol
Author: Dan Brown
Genre: Thriller
Pages: 624
Rating (out of 5 stars): ***1.2
Reviewed by: Ben
Description: Robert Langdon is at is again, this time right in Washington, D.C.  The plot swirls around the Masons, the U.S. Capitol Building, and the Smithsonian Institution as Robert Langdon is forced to crack an ancient code in order to save his friend.
Thoughts: The Robert Langdon novels are maybe a bit formulaic, but they're certainly page-turners.  Dan Brown really does an amazing job of weaving arcane details and real-life objects into some pretty fantastic stories.  I listened to this one on a drive from Zion's National Park all the way to Tucson, and it was a great way to pass the time.  My only complaint with it is that the build-up and suspense in every single chapter got a bit tiresome by the end of the book.  It just felt like Brown was trying so hard to prolong the revelation of what was really going on that it forced him into some pretty poor writing at time.  Other than that, it's a fun book.
Disclaimer: As with other Dan Brown novels, there's some violence as well as some sexual material in this one.

Mayflower

Title: Mayflower: A Story of Courage, Community, and War
Author: Nathaniel Philbrick
Genre: History
Pages: 480
Rating (out of 5 stars): ***
Reviewed by: Ben
Description: Mayflower covers the history of the original Pilgrims from the time they leave England to the end of King Philip's War in 1678.  The book really isn't about the Mayflower voyage very much, but instead focuses on the relationship between the Pilgrims and the Native Americans during the first 50 years after the colonists arrived in the New World.  The two groups were able to maintain peace for a remarkably long time, but war was nearly inevitable by the end.
Thoughts: This is a period of history that rarely gets covered, and it's always seemed strange to me that we learn in school that the Pilgrim's landed in Plymouth in 1620 and then the Revolution happened in 1776.  There's 150 years there that we just never learn much about!  So, I enjoyed reading this book to help fill in the gap.  I thought it was well-written, but not grippingly so, and hence I'm only giving it 3 stars.  Still, it's fascinating material and I'm glad I read it and know at least a little bit more about this time period.
Disclaimer:  None.

How Will You Measure Your Life?

Title: How Will Your Measure Your Life?
Author: Clayton Christensen, James Allworth and Karen Dillon
Genre: Self-help
Pages: 240
Rating (out of 5 stars): ****1/2
Reviewed by: Ben
Description: Clayton Christensen uses his renowned ideas on business and applies them to people's lives instead.  In particular, he focuses on how we can make sure that we reach our goals, how we can make sure our goals are the right ones, and how to be ethical along the way.
Thoughts: I saw Clayton Christensen give a lecture on this material at HBS a little over a year ago, and it was spectacular.  Reading the book was a great reminder.  In a lot of ways you almost feel like you're reading a church book, except it's not directly preachy and throws in a lot of business references.  But seriously, this is the kind of book I think I should read about every 5 years, just to make sure I'm on track and going where I want to be going.  The only reason it missed out on all 5 stars was that I had heard nearly all of the ideas in the book previously, so it wasn't as new or exciting for me.  Still, I highly recommend it!
Disclaimer: None.

Choose Yourself!

Title: Choose Yourself!  Be Happy, Make Millions, Live the Dream
Author: James Altucher
Genre: Self-help
Pages: 274
Rating (out of 5 stars): ***
Reviewed by: Ben
Description: Altucher is a self-made millionaire several times over.  Between each of those times, he lost all of his money, and had to pick himself back up again and start over with nothing.  Along the way, he learned a lot about himself and what makes him tick.  In this book, he shares what he has learned from the violent roller-coaster his life has been.
Thoughts: By nature, Altucher is much more of a risk-taker than I am, and hence he has had both more successes and failures than I have had (or ever hope to have, really).  But, it makes him a very interesting person to listen to, even if I disagree with much of what he says.  The main things I like in this book were his ideas on not getting stuck in a mental rut.  I definitely need more creativity and spontaneity in my life, so I've tried his suggestion of coming up with 10 new ideas every day, and I think it's really good for me.  Much of his advice seemed quite conventional to me (get enough sleep, don't carry grudges) even if they were good reminders.  And then there was plenty of things that I disagreed with completely (you don't need to have a purpose in life).  Luckily, all of it was interesting.  My main complaint with the book is that felt very disjointed, with random stories thrown into the middle of chapters than didn't have much connection to the main point.  Often I found myself thinking, "Okay, this is interesting and enjoyable to read, but what's the point he's trying to make?"  At any rate, this book was not life-changing for me, but it was fun to read and had a few good ideas.
Disclaimer: None.

Addendum:  You can read Altucher's blog at www.jamesaltucher.com.

Adapt

Title: Adapt: Why Success Always Starts with Failure
Author: Tim Harford
Genre: Non-fiction
Pages: 352
Rating (out of 5 stars): ****
Reviewed by: Ben
Description: Harford makes the claim that most of the problems we face in today's world are too complex so be solved with a single silver bullet.  Instead, he argues that solutions need to evolve, much like complex organisms have evolved and adapted to very difficult environments.  He they lays out how to create environments that encourage adaptation, failure, and evolution towards better solutions to our most challenging problems.
Thoughts: I really enjoyed this book a lot.  I pretty much buy into Harford's main idea that most problems in our lives, from nationwide issues like healthcare or social security to personal issues like choosing a career or parenting, are so complex that finding the best solution right off the bat is just not likely to happen.  I really liked how this book made me think about what I'm doing in my life to stay adaptable and tolerate failure when something that I try doesn't work.  I think that the ideas in this book are applicable to nearly anything, and are worth thinking over.
Disclaimer: None.

Mornings on Horseback

Title: Mornings on Horseback: The Story of an Extraordinary Family, a Vanished Way of Life and the Unique Child who Became Theodore Roosevelt
Author: David McCullough
Genre: Biography
Pages: 370
Rating (out of 5 stars): ***1/2
Reviewed by: Ben
Description: A biographical sketch of not just Theodore Roosevelt, but of his whole family.  The book describes what it was like growing up a Roosevelt, and follows Teddy only until about age 30, a full twelve years before he became president.  Rather than give a full biography, the goal of the book is to help the reader understand how Teddy became Teddy, one of our most iconic presidents.
Thoughts: This is another great McCullough book, full of interesting detail and extremely well-written, as I've come to expect from McCullough.  I did find it fascinating to learn about Theodore Roosevelt's upbringing in one of the super-rich families in New York.  My only complaint really is that it ends too early; I wish it had at least covered his life up until he became president.  Instead, we miss out on any information about his rise in politics or his time with the Rough Riders and the Battle of San Juan Hill.  On the other hand, the focus of the book allows much more detail about Teddy's upbringing in a truly unique family.  So, there's trade-offs there, I guess.  Overall, another solid book from David McCullough.
Disclaimer: None.

Eldorado

Title: Eldorado
Author: Baroness Orczy
Genre: Classic (19th century adventure/romance)
Pages: 352
Rating (out of 5 stars): ***1/2
Reviewed by: Ben
Description: A sequal to The Scarlet Pimpernel, Eldorado picks up the plot and follows Sir Percy and his gang back to France who seek to rescue the young King Louis XVII from the hands of the French Revolution.  But the plot thickens when one of the Scarlet Pimpernel's gang ignores his command and endangers the Pimpernel himself.
Thoughts: This is the kind of fun, light-hearted book that I have a hard time putting down once I start.  I'm a sucker for intrigue and twisting plots, and this has plenty of those.  My only complaint is that it might be a bit over-dramatic at points, but you have to expect that with these kind of books.  Overall, a very worthy sequel to The Scarlet Pimpernel, and if you liked the first one you should pick this up as well.
Disclaimer: None.

Matterhorn

Title: Matterhorn
Author: Karl Marlantes
Genre: Modern Fiction (Vietnam War)
Pages: 640
Rating (out of 5 stars): ***
Reviewed by: Ben
Description: Lieutenant Mellas arrives in Vietnam and joins Bravo Company deep in the bush.  The book follows Mellas and Bravo Company over the next three months as they struggle to capture Matterhorn (a low-lying hill), while coming to grips with the meaning of the war and life and race and growing up.
Thoughts: This was an incredibly captivating, well-written book that really opened my eyes to what the Vietnam war was like for at least some of the Marines.  It's really hard to comprehend what it must have been like for these 18-, 19-, and 20-year-olds to suddenly be making decisions on which the lives of many men depended, and to be faced with dealing with the mental burden of living with those decisions for the rest of their lives (if they lived).  This book does a great job of trying to convey that, though.  However, I can't whole-heartedly recommend this book due to lots and lots and lots of bad language (F-bombs), heavy violence (as you might expect), and many inappropriate sexual references as well.  In the end, I kind of feel like reading this book is like watching Saving Private Ryan (which I haven't seen): in order for it to be realistic, there is a lot of filth and violence.  So, that's why it gets three stars from me.  I'm glad that I've read the book, but I'm not going to recommend it to my boys when they're older.
Disclaimer: Lots of language, violence, and inappropriate references.  HEAVY disclaimer on this one.

Inverting the Pyramid

Title: Inverting the Pyramid: The History of Football Tactics
Author: Jonathan Wilson
Genre: Sports (Non-fiction)
Pages: 384
Rating (out of 5 stars): ***1/2
Reviewed by: Ben
Description: Wilson covers the history of soccer (football!) tactics from its beginnings up to the present day.  From the very first matches on up nearly until WWII, most soccer teams employed only 2 defenders and had 5 forwards.  Since that time, the pyramid has inverted, so that today we see 4 defenders and only 1 or 2 forwards.  Wilson talks about the matches, coaches, and players who were involved in that evolution, describing how ideas bounced around the globe until we came to the point we are at today.
Thoughts: You have to really love soccer to like this book, but if you like soccer you should totally read it.  It's changed the way that I watch games, actually, as I have a much better idea of the role each player is supposed to play and how they came to play those roles.  Also, I thought it was really interesting how he described the way that different ideas were exported around the world.  This idea of exporting and importing ideas I think is really at the basis of how businesses (including soccer teams) around the world stay competitive.  So I loved that aspect as well.
Disclaimer: None.
Note: A huge thanks to Kati and Joe for getting me this book for Christmas 15 months ago!  The fact that it took me 15 months to read it is simply due to the fact that I mostly listen to books, and didn't have a chance to read a real, physical copy until I rode on so many airplanes and sat in a lot of airports over the past few weeks.  Anyway, many thanks!

Rocket Boys

Title: Rocket Boys
Author: Homer Hickam, Jr.
Genre: Memoir
Pages: 368
Rating (out of 5 stars): *****
Reviewed by: Ben
Description: Homer Hickam,  a 14-year-old boy in Coalwood, West Virginia, decides in 1957 that he's going to learn to build rockets so that he can someday get out of his small coal-mining town and join the team in Cape Canaveral.  He and his group of friends start learning how to build rockets from scratch and come of age in the process.
Thoughts: This is the best book I've read in the past few months, easily.  Maybe I'm just a sucker for coming-of-age stories, but I really enjoyed this book a lot.  I love that it's a true story, and it had just enough humor, tension, interesting facts, and difficulties to keep me hooked all the way through.  This is the kind of book that I really want my boys to read when they are teenagers; it's all about pushing through difficulties and finding a way to make things work when things don't go your way.  All in all, just a great book.  Also, the movie October Sky was based on the book, so if you've seen that and liked it, you'll love the book.
Disclaimer: Some teenage romance, but nothing too descriptive.

Thinking, Fast and Slow

Title: Thinking, Fast and Slow
Author: Daniel Kahneman
Genre: Popular Science (non-fiction)
Pages: 512
Rating (out of 5 stars): ****
Reviewed by: Ben
Description: Daniel Kahneman, a Nobel-Prize winning psychologist, boils down decades of psychological research into how humans think and make decisions into a single volume.  In it, he describes the differences between fast and slow thinking, the biases that result from fast thinking, and ways that our surroundings and experiences can alter our decision-making in surprising ways.
Thoughts: This was a spectacular book if you like psychology and/or economics.  It basically covers all of behavioral economics in a very readable format, with clear examples but enough technical detail as well.  I liked it enough that I bought a print copy of it for reference.  However, keep in mind that it does kind of read like a reference book a little bit; it got to be a bit tiresome to read straight through, I thought.  Still, an amazing book from one of the best thinkers in the past 50 years.
Disclaimer: None.

This I Believe

Title: This I Believe: The Personal Philosophies of Remarkable Men and Women
Editors: Jay Allison & Dan Gediman
Genre: Philosophy
Pages: 320
Rating (out of 5 stars): ****
Reviewed by: Ben
Description: Over the past several years, NPR has aired a feature called This I Believe in which individuals from all walks of life write and record personal belief statements.  Each statement is around 3 1/2 minutes long (about 400 words), and is typically focused on one personal belief or one story that has changed their views on life.  This book is a collection of those recordings, with about half of them coming from more famous people and the other half being culled from individuals who have submitted their "This I Believe" states to NPR directly.
Thoughts: I really liked this book a lot.  It was fascinating to listen to what people would choose to say given only 400 words to write a personal belief statement.  I found myself constantly thinking in my head, "What would I write?"  In fact, I've committed myself to writing one (I've started, but it's really hard!), and it's been a really healthy thing for me to try to do.  Nearly every segment made me think hard about whether I believe the same thing, or why my beliefs differ from others'.  If you're going to read this book, I have two recommendations.  First, listen to it on audiobook.  They have the authors each read their own statements, and I really liked having each person's own voice behind the statements.  Second, don't listen to it all straight through.  I found that with one belief statement coming right after the next, I didn't have enough time to think about what the last person had said, and sometimes I'd find myself thinking about the last statement while the next one was going on.  It'd be better to listen to one or two, then take a break, I think.
Disclaimer: None.

Caleb's Crossing

Title: Caleb's Crossing
Author: Geraldine Brooks
Genre: Historical Fiction
Pages: 336
Rating (out of 5 stars): ***
Reviewed by: Ben
Description: Bethia Mayfield is a Puritan girl living on Martha's Vineyard in the early 1600's when she meets a young Native American man named Caleb.  Bethia and Caleb secretly meet many times, learning each other's language and customs and gaining an appreciation for the differences between them.  Eventually, Caleb decides to cross over completely into the English world, but the transition is much more difficult than either could have imagined.
Thoughts: There was a lot to like about this book, but for some reason it took me a while to get into it.  If I could, I'd give a separate rating of 2 stars to the first half of the book, and 4 stars to the second half, because I really liked the second half a lot.  It was particularly fascinating for me because a lot of the book is centered on Harvard when it was just starting out, and I really liked reading about how the college worked almost 400 years ago.  Also, it was very interesting to read a bit more about the prejudices that divided the Pilgrims from the Native Americans so strongly, and made it so difficult for them to reach any kind of understanding.  All in all, if you like historical fiction, you would like this book.
Disclaimer: None.

The Mayor of Casterbridge

Title: The Mayor of Casterbridge
Author: Thomas Hardy
Genre: Classic
Pages: 400
Rating (out of 5 stars): ****
Reviewed by: Ben
Description: As a young man, Michael Henchard sells his wife and daughter in a fit of drunken rage.  As the years pass, Michael establishes himself and becomes successful, but his dark past hangs over him, and eventually comes back to haunt him.
Thoughts: Somehow, I forgot to review this book when I finished it, so my memory is a bit hazy now on the details.  But, I remember really liking this book.  It's got plenty of plots twists that keep it interesting, but Hardy is really at his best when he examines characters that are in difficult moral circumstances.  This book is full of those, and pondering over the characters makes you see a bit of yourself in each of them.  All in all, a really great book.  I think I might have actually liked it more than Tess of the D'urbervilles.
Disclaimer: None.

Northanger Abbey

Title: Northanger Abbey
Author: Jane Austen
Genre: Classic
Pages: 192
Rating (out of 5 stars): ***
Reviewed by: Ben
Description: Catherine (the heroine) heads from her rural country home to Bath, where she enjoys society and makes friends with a man whom she's quite interested in.  Will she end up with him?  Or will the formalities of 18th century society get in the way?
Thoughts: This is classic Jane Austen writing: lighthearted, easy to read, engaging, romantic, and critical of society in general.  I really enjoyed the story and the writing for the most part, but in my opinion this doesn't compare to Austen's more famous works like Pride and Prejudice or Emma.  Still, if you're in the mood for some Jane Austen, Northanger Abbey was a good, if not great, book.
Disclaimer: None

Endurance

Title: Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage
Author: Alfred Lansing
Genre: Historical Non-fiction
Pages: 288
Rating (out of 5 stars): ****1/2
Reviewed by: Ben
Description: In the summer of 1914, Ernest Shackleton set off with 21 other men on a quest with the goal of making the first transcontinental journey across the Antarctic Continent.  It did not take long for disaster to strike, however, when their ship was frozen solid in the middle of an ice sheet before even touching land in Antarctica.  Endurance chronicles the crew's astounding journey that had an entirely new goal: survival.
Thoughts: Between this book, Unbroken, and Undaunted Courage, I've had the pleasure of reading about some truly amazing accounts of the indomitable human spirit over the past few months.  Really, each of those three books is worthy of my highest praise.  And, to be honest, I think that Endurance just might contain the most incredible story of the three.  The extremes that these men suffered while stuck on sea ice in the middle of the ocean is just unfathomable.  Hunger, cold, thirst, fatigue, despair . . . and yet somehow they kept their wits about them.  It's just incredible to even think about, to be honest.  I highly recommend this book to anyone who's looking for a great adventure story.  And it's a true tale to boot!
Disclaimer: None.

The Good School

Title: The Good School: How Smart Parents Get Their Kids the Education They Deserve
Author: Peg Tyre
Genre: Non-fiction/Self-help
Pages: 256
Rating (out of 5 stars): ****
Reviewed by: Ben
Description: Peg Tyre, an education journalist, brings together as much research as she can gather in this book on how to identify a good school and a good teacher for your child.  She tackles all the major questions: picking a pre-school, the importance of class size, reading, math, teacher quality, and how to make a difference at your school.
Thoughts: I think that everyone who has a school-age kid should read this book.  It does a really nice job of synthesizing a whole bunch of information, and directly and answering the questions that concerned parents would like to have answered about their child's education.  Each chapter had some clear, major take-aways, and I felt like it at least gave me a clear set of things that I want to make sure that my kids' schools have.  I also really liked that the book was very fair, and that it was not pushing a particular agenda.  Tyre was open about what we still don't know, and openly says that some of her recommendations will likely change as new evidence comes out.  I really appreciated that.  I only have two complaints about the book: (1) it used a fair amount of research, but rarely were the claims backed up by numbers.  For example, she said pre-school teachers who are very verbal (talk a lot) do a better job of helping kids learn language skills.  That's good to know, but how big was the impact?  How much do they need to talk?  I just felt like it was light on real numbers so that I could get a handle on the magnitude of the various effects.  (2) It was bit on the dry side.  Writing a book like this that isn't dry is pretty hard to do, so this is a pretty minor complaint.  Anyway, besides those two things, this was really a great book.  Highly recommended.
Disclaimer: None.

Robinson Crusoe

Title: Robinson Crusoe
Author: Daniel Defoe
Genre: Classic
Pages: 304
Rating (out of 5 stars): ***
Reviewed by: Ben
Description: The classic tale of poor Robinson Crusoe, who was stranded on a tropical island for 28 years.  Through his ingenuity, he not only survives, but comes to live in relative peace and comfort on the island, before he finally finds a way back to civilization.
Thoughts: Robinson Crusoe has been on my to-read list for a long time, and I'm glad that I finally got around to it, but it's not one that I'll highly recommend to someone looking for an exciting adventure book.  Crusoe is regarded as one of the earliest English novels, and so I think that reading it is more of an educational experience than pleasurable.  Defoe is prone to spend too long describing some things and not long enough on other parts, I felt like, so I wasn't never really captivated by the book.  I often found my mind wandering while I listend to it.  But, for being written in 1719, it's pretty darn good, and it's certainly become an important part of our culture.  I think you just have to expect some long, winding plots and some philosophizing with these old novels.  Overall, I'm glad I read it, but it was a bit of a project to get through.
Disclaimer:  None, other than the fact that Defoe is quite racist, as all white Europeans were in 1719.

To The Rescue

Title: To The Rescue: The Biography of Thomas S. Monson
Author: Heidi Swinton
Genre: Biography
Pages: 600
Rating (out of 5 stars): ****
Reviewed by: Ben
Description: The biography of President Monson.  Not much more to say than that.
Thoughts: I had heard from several people that this was a great book, and I definitely agree with them.  I feel like President Monson has a very different personality from President Hinckley, and so when that transition happened it was hard for me to imagine President Monson as the prophet.  This book really put into perspective the greatness of this man for me.  I just can't get over how many stories are in there of him listening carefully to the Spirit and then reaching out to the one.  President Monson is an incredible example of that.  And, I don't think I had fully comprehended just how long he's been in full-time service for the Church.  He was made an Apostle by David O. McKay, for heaven's sake!  I think that you have to admire his incredible endurance to serve so faithfully for so long.  Anyway, I really enjoyed this book a lot--it's chock full of great stories, it's entertaining, and it's inspiring all at once.
Disclaimer: None, obviously.