The Polka Dotted Pickle recently posted a great list of all the books she read in 2006 with brief reviews. I enjoyed her list and they say that imitation is the sinceres form of flattery so here goes:
A note on my scoring: I use a 5 star system. 2.5 stars is indifference, less than 2.5 are books that I’d recommend avoiding. 3 stars marks a reasonably good book and anything higher indicates a book I really loved.
The Ionian Mission - Patrick O’Brian. Three stars. This is book #8 of the fantastic Aubrey-Maturin series which novelize early 19th century naval warfare. While not my favorite in the series it is worthwhile.
Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen. Four stars. What can I say? I really enjoyed this book. Contrary to the belief of inumerable hordes of teen-aged girls this isn’t a romance, it’s social satire.
Life on the Edge - Dr. James Dobson. Three and a quarter stars. Dr. Dobson lays out a compelling challenge for young adults to seize hold of their own destiny and to use the early years of adulthood wisely.
Backyard Ballistics - William Gurstelle. Three stars. This book gives instructions on how to build a variety of shooting, flinging and launching devices. In all honesty I was a little disappointed by the projects but the fascinating history tidbits made the book well-worthwhile.
How to Stay Christian in College - J. Budziszewski. Three stars. A good primer but I’d already heard most of the advice from his columns on Boundless.
Till We Have Faces - C.S. Lewis. FIVE STARS! This retelling of the Cupid-Psyche myth was fantastic. I can’t recommend it highly enough.
Just for Fun - Linus Torvalds and David Diamond. Four stars. This autobiography of the Finnish creator of Linux was fascinating, inspiring and humorous.
Art of the Catapult - William Gurstelle. Three stars. Like Backyard Ballistics but focused on trebuchets, mangonels and ballistas.
The Icarus Hunt - Timothy Zahn. FIVE STARS! This was actually a re-read. This Sci-Fi adventure story was so fun that I had to read it again. I passed it on to my non-sci-fi fan mom and she also loved it.
Out of the Silent Planet - C.S. Lewis - Four stars. You can’t go wrong with C.S. Lewis. This tome begins his Space Trilogy.
My Man Jeeves - P.G. Wodehouse. Three stars. A funny collection of short stories.
Perelandra - C.S. Lewis. Four and a half stars. My favorite of the Space Trilogy.
That Hideous Strength - C.S. Lewis. Three stars. The conclusion of the Space Trilogy was very different than the original two books and I didn’t like it as well.
Freakonomics - Stephen D. Levit and Stephen J. Dubner. Three stars. While interesting, and commendable for bringing Econ to the man-on-the-street, I think some of the studies showed errors in methodology and reasoning.
An Army of Davids - Glenn Reynolds. Four stars. This book by the author of Instapundit presents an optimistic and inspiring view of the future and a bright eyed look at how future technology developments will improve our lives just as current innovations are making positive changes to todays world.
Outbound Flight - Timothy Zahn. Three stars. I’m really getting tired of Star Wars. Even Zahn was only able to achieve “good” instead of his usual “fantastic.”
Economics for Real People: An Introduction to the Austrian School of Economics - Gene Callahan. Three Stars. A good start but the Austrian School’s ideas can’t be compressed into such a small book. The examples given in the book were a bit cheezy.
In Fury Born - David Weber. Three and a half stars. Another military Sci-Fi. A fun read.
Adventures from the Technology Underground - William Gurstelle. Three and a half stars. An online add for this book is what originally motivated me to pick up Gurstelles first two books. This one deals with dangerous but extremely cool science projects including rail guns, tesla coils and flame throwers.
Free to Choose - Milton and Rose Friedman. Four Stars. Reading his book this summer increased my sadness when this economic masterbrain died in the fall.
That concludes my list. I know that I’m missing some books, but these are the ones that I really enjoyed.
Rabenstrange,
When I was in high school I made a Tesla coil…It was actually quite fun, did it for a science fair…It stood about 3.5 ft tall and I made it with a variety of items including making my own capacitors out of glass bottles. It is during this that I discovered that soda cans do not conduct electricity, they are coated with a material that prevents it from conducting any electricity because it is used to protect the can from dissolving from the carbonation of the soda.
Tesla was a genius and I am still amazed at what God gave him…