| Books (86) |
2005
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by George R. R. Martin Nov 2005
 (590 reviews) List: $28.00
784 pages
Spectra
| I don't read a lot of science fiction and fantasy, but I'm as fond as the next person of well-written page-turners, which this one is. It's a low-magic version of The War of the Roses, with the Yorks as protagonists.
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by James Kakalios Sep 2005
 (5 reviews) List: $26.00
384 pages
Gotham
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by Peter D. Kramer May 2005
(26 reviews) List: $25.95
368 pages
Viking Adult
| The author of Listening to Prozac, which I read when it came out, followed up with this book, which argues against the notion that one's depressed self is somehow the authentic, natural self, and that medication is thus false comfort.
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A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything
by Steven D. Levitt,
Stephen J. Dubner May 2005
(1171 reviews) List: $25.95
242 pages
William Morrow
| Yes, you've heard about it from every economics blog in creation, including theirs. But it really is enjoyable. It won't give you a basic grounding in economics, but it will give you insight into economic problem-solving. It's just a bonus that the writing is engaging and entertaining.
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by William Lashner May 2005
(9 reviews) List: $7.50
576 pages
HarperTorch
| Sort of noirish fiction set in modern-day Philadelphia, narrated by a wanna-be mob lawyer. He's no Tolstoy, but he will help you pass more than a few pleasant hours. I liked his earlier books even better, but I recommend them all very highly if you like mysteries.
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by Orson Scott Card Mar 2005
(81 reviews) List: $25.95
367 pages
Tor Books
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Wall Street, the IMF, and the Bankrupting of Argentina
by Paul Blustein Feb 2005
 (15 reviews) List: $27.50
278 pages
PublicAffairs
| Brilliant.
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| 2004
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The Conflict Between Iran and America
by Kenneth Pollack Nov 2004
(25 reviews) List: $26.95
576 pages
Random House
| Absolutely required reading, given the current nuclear imbroglio. Warning: enough failed American realism to make you want to side with the Iranians.Absolutely required reading, given the current nuclear imbroglio. Warning: enough failed American realism to make you want to side with the Iranians.
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A Story of Failed States, Financial Crises, and the Wealth and Poverty of Nations
by Sebastian Mallaby Sep 2004
(22 reviews) List: $29.95
480 pages
Penguin Press HC, The
| Engaging. A nice counterpoint to Easterly's The Elusive Quest for Growth. It shows the actual machinations behind putting all the World Bank's theories into practice.
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Three Women, Ten Kids, and a Nation's Drive to End Welfare
by Jason Deparle Sep 2004
 (20 reviews) List: $25.95
432 pages
Viking Adult
| Simply outstanding. It gives you a gritty, and touching, picture of the utter chaos of their lives; walks you through the policy process that brought us welfare reform in the first place; and shows you how welfare reform did, and didn't, transform the world of welfare mothers.
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by Martin Wolf Jul 2004
(34 reviews) List: $32.00
416 pages
Yale University Press
| Free trade: Good. Mr Wolf lines up, in exhaustive detail, all the reasons why.
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by Will Durant,
Ariel Durant Audio CD
Jun 2004
(25 reviews) List: $27.95
Audio Partners
| Later they collaborated on the enormous multi-volume Story of Civilization. This book isn't so ambitious; it's just a summing up of what they've learned about people and governments from their study of history.
I can't recommend it highly enough.
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Why the Many Are Smarter Than the Few and How Collective Wisdom Shapes Business, Economies, Societies and Nations
by James Surowiecki May 2004
(114 reviews) List: $24.95
320 pages
Doubleday
| Mr Surowiecki's astonishing awesomness as the New Yorker's financial columnist is on full display in this book.
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by Leo Tolstoy May 2004
(132 reviews) List: $16.00
864 pages
Penguin (Non-Classics)
| Outstanding, even in translation . . . and I generally hate translation. Tolstoy's characters breathe even though they (never) lived over 100 years ago.
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by William Lashner Mar 2004
(32 reviews) List: $7.50
576 pages
HarperTorch
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Invisible in America
by David K. Shipler Feb 2004
(56 reviews) List: $27.50
336 pages
Knopf
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Uncensored Writings
by Mark Twain Feb 2004
(32 reviews) List: $13.95
336 pages
Harper Perennial Modern Classics
| A collection of unpublished writings, which was put together after his death. It lacks the polish of his published work, and some of it is unfinished, but it offers in some ways a more intimate look into his mind.
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| 2003
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by Orson Scott Card Jun 2003
(121 reviews) List: $7.99
384 pages
Tor Books
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The Murderous Voyage of the Whaleship Sharon
by Joan Druett May 2003
(9 reviews) List: $24.95
304 pages
Algonquin Books
| It's a popular history about a whaling boat where a couple members of the crew kill the captain. The author dissects the official story, which had native crewmen going bonkers for no particular reason, and reveals that the captain was possibly crazy, certainly cruel. I found it surprisingly engrossing. I also learned a great deal about whaling, not that I expect this to come in handy any time soon.
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by William Lashner Apr 2003
(19 reviews) List: $7.99
592 pages
HarperTorch/ReganBooks
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by Ira Levin Apr 2003
(22 reviews) List: $12.00
242 pages
Carroll & Graf Publishers
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The Story of a Childhood
by Marjane Satrapi Apr 2003
(123 reviews) List: $17.95
160 pages
Pantheon
| I don't quite know where to put this: it's a semi-autobiographical graphic novel by a woman who grew up in Iran around the 1979 revolution. It's really quite stunning.
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by George R. R. Martin Mar 2003
(716 reviews) List: $7.99
1216 pages
Spectra
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by Joseph Conrad Mar 2003
(40 reviews) List: $13.00
152 pages
Hesperus Press
| I may nominate the beginning of this book for best prose ever. I actually get chills down my spine every time I read the words "And this too was among the dark places of the earth". If you haven't read this, you must, and not just because you liked Apocalypse Now.
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A Lone Humorist Attempts to Explain the Entire U.S. Government
by P. J. O'Rourke Feb 2003
(55 reviews) List: $13.00
240 pages
Grove Press
| The book that started my slow slide into libertarianism. Still unbelievably hilarious after fifteen years--I mean, milk - out - of - the - nose, collapse - into - a - heap, go - to - the - emergency - room - for - laughter - induced - muscle - cramps hilarious. If you haven't read it, you must.
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| 2002
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by Robin Hobb Nov 2002
(105 reviews) List: $7.99
688 pages
Spectra
| Okay, it's not quite Conrad, but who is? It's still absolutely first class fantasy writing. If you haven't read the prequel trilogy, the Farseer trilogy, which starts with Assassin's Apprentice, I'm very excited for you, because you have an enormous treat in store. The books are lovely and thick, perfect for taking on vacation.
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by Sloan Wilson,
Jonathan Franzen Sep 2002
(6 reviews) List: $13.95
288 pages
Four Walls Eight Windows
| It's a period piece--postwar 1950's "Isn't there something better than this?" literature. It's enjoyable not merely as a period piece--though peaking into the heads of our near ancestors is in itself a pleasurable reading experience--but as a novel, even though it gets a little sappy at the end.
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Economists' Adventures and Misadventures in the Tropics
by William Easterly Aug 2002
(54 reviews) List: $23.95
356 pages
The MIT Press
| Shut off your computer, step smartly out to the nearest bookstore, and buy it at once--it's one of my all-time favourite books about global economics
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by Ira Levin,
Peter Straub Aug 2002
(60 reviews) List: $11.95
144 pages
Harper Paperbacks
| Didn't know it was a book, did you? I confess, I was taken aback by how much I enjoyed this book, which has a lean, understated prose style that really sets off the underlying horror.
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On (Not) Getting By in America
by Barbara Ehrenreich May 2002
(981 reviews) List: $13.00
230 pages
Owl Books
| Offers occasional insight into the lives of the working poor, but almost unreadable because of its dripping, venomous contempt for the middle class (and its paternalistic contempt for her working class co-workers, whom she repeatedly implies are too stupid or deluded to understand that THEY'RE BEING BRUTALLY EXPLOITED AND THEIR LIVES ARE WORTHLESS!).
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2001
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by Orson Scott Card Dec 2001
(227 reviews) List: $7.99
464 pages
Tor Books
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by Julia Child,
Louisette Bertholle,
Louisette Bertholle,
Simone Beck Oct 2001
(39 reviews) List: $40.00
752 pages
Knopf
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Bush, Gore, and the Supreme Court
Editors:
Cass R. Sunstein,
Richard A. Epstein Oct 2001
List: $18.00
232 pages
University Of Chicago Press
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The Origins of a National Gun Culture
by Michael Bellesiles Sep 2001
 (158 reviews) List: $16.00
624 pages
Vintage
|  (my rating) Unfortunately, it's a sham
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A CBS Insider Exposes How the Media Distort the News
by Bernard Goldberg Feb 2001
(841 reviews) List: $27.95
234 pages
Regnery Publishing
| The phenomenon Goldberg is covering is real, but the book is hopelessly sloppy.
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| 2000
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by Orson Scott Card Dec 2000
(613 reviews) List: $7.99
480 pages
Tor Books
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The 70's: The Decade That Brought You Modern Life--For Better or Worse
by David Frum Nov 2000
(52 reviews) List: $18.95
421 pages
Basic Books
| It's a book about the 1970's, arguing that it wasn't the 1960's, but rather the 1970's, that created modern life. Yes, it sounds unbelievably dull, but it's incredibly good -- I've already re-read it several times. In the process, I've developed an enormous crush on David Frum. Also an enormous inferiority complex.
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Essential Techniques and Recipes from a Lifetime of Cooking
by Julia Child Nov 2000
(28 reviews) List: $21.00
144 pages
Knopf
| . This book is full of concepts and tips for the beginner-to-middling cook--no instructions to buy larding tools to pull strips of pork fat through your roast, or spend three days making your own duck pate to put in the beef wellingtons. It's practical everyday cooking, and some of the ideas are really cool--like cooking short-grained rice in a soup, and then pureeing it, for a low-fat cream soup.
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An Age Like This 1920-1940: The Collected Essays, Journalism & Letters
by George Orwell Oct 2000
(2 reviews) List: $17.95
600 pages
Nonpareil Books
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by Leo Tolstoy Oct 2000
(229 reviews) List: $10.95
976 pages
Modern Library
| It's adorable even if you don't love long, Victorian novels, but if you do, it's positively irresistable. Having so loved it, I'm embarking on a Russian binge. This will not, however, include learning Russian, or learning to eat pickled herring.
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by George R. R. Martin Sep 2000
(582 reviews) List: $7.99
1040 pages
Spectra
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More Than 125 All-Time Favorite Pies & Tarts
by Susan G. Purdy Jun 2000
(4 reviews) List: $17.95
384 pages
Broadway Books
| I love pie. All kinds of pie: custard, lemon, any sort of fruit, chicken . . . if I had to pick one food to live on forever, it would be purple raspberry pie. (Sigh) The book doesn't just have recipes; it has the science of piecrusts, fillings, and toppings (meringues, whipped creams) laid out in excruciating detail for those of us who are still struggling to live up to our mothers.
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by John Cheever May 2000
(49 reviews) List: $17.95
704 pages
Vintage
| , Run, don't walk, down to your nearest bookstore and pick this up. John Cheever was one of the prose greats of the twentieth century
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The New Upper Class and How They Got There [BARGAIN PRICE]
by David Brooks May 2000
(182 reviews) List: $25.00
288 pages
Simon & Schuster
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China, Europe, and the Making of the Modern World Economy
by Kenneth Pomeranz Feb 2000
(15 reviews) List: $65.00
392 pages
Princeton University Press
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by Charles Neider Feb 2000
(14 reviews) List: $15.00
560 pages
Harper Perennial Modern Classics
| A sampling of the autobiographical musings he dictated at the end of his life. Because he didn't mean it to be published until after his death, it is much more frank than most autobiography, and of course, Mark Twain is one of the most brilliant writers ever.
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1999
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The Logic of Human Destiny
by Robert Wright Dec 1999
(88 reviews) List: $27.50
448 pages
Pantheon
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Hidden Language of Computer Hardware and Software
by Charles Petzold Nov 1999
(49 reviews) List: $27.99
393 pages
Microsoft Press
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A Personal Account of the Mt. Everest Disaster
by Jon Krakauer Oct 1999
(1373 reviews) List: $13.95
368 pages
Anchor Books
| Jon Krakauer was on Everest in 1996 when everything went to hell. This chronicle of that expedition is brilliant.
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And Other Progressive Causes
by David Horowitz Sep 1999
(84 reviews) List: $24.95
300 pages
Spence Publishing Company
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Washington's Faustian Bid for World Dominance
by Peter Gowan Aug 1999
(5 reviews) List: $20.00
280 pages
Verso
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The Madness of American Law
by Paul F. Campos Jul 1999
(17 reviews) List: $19.95
208 pages
Oxford University Press, USA
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Against the Tyranny of the Market
by Pierre Bourdieu Apr 1999
(7 reviews) List: $12.95
108 pages
New Press
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The Fates of Human Societies
by Jared M. Diamond Apr 1999
(917 reviews) List: $16.95
480 pages
W. W. Norton & Company
| Although I have some problems with the book, it's a must read for anyone who wants to know how domestic civilization arose. I highly recommend it.
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by Philip Greenspun Apr 1999
(234 reviews) List: $54.95
608 pages
Morgan Kaufmann
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Xerox PARC and the Dawn of the Computer Age
by Michael A. Hiltzik Mar 1999
(41 reviews) List: $26.00
480 pages
Collins
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1998
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Lessons from the Halls of Power
by Lawrence B. Lindsey Dec 1998
 (3 reviews) List: $24.95
215 pages
AEI Press
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by Betty Crocker Editors Nov 1998
(92 reviews) List: $29.95
456 pages
Betty Crocker
| . This is the cookbook I do half my baking out of, and all of my jello molds. It's actually surprisingly fabulous . . . a beginner's cookbook from the era before baking mixes and salad oil became staple ingredients. The section at the end urging tired and depressed housewives to "consult a doctor and follow medical advice" (hellllooooooo, Valium) is alone worth the price.
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The Imperial Global Economy Explains Itself to the Membership in Davos, Switzerland
by Lewis H. Lapham Nov 1998
(6 reviews) List: $15.00
84 pages
Verso
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The Radical Assault on America's Future
by David Horowitz Oct 1998
(42 reviews) List: $25.00
224 pages
The Free Press
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Will Technology Force Us to Choose Between Privacy and Freedom?
by David Brin May 1998
(28 reviews) List: $17.75
378 pages
Perseus Books
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How Certain Schemes to Improve the Human Condition Have Failed
by James C. Scott Mar 1998
(16 reviews) List: $60.00
464 pages
Yale University Press
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12 Short Stories
by Jack Finney Feb 1998
(17 reviews) List: $12.00
224 pages
Touchstone
| My current short story find . . . 12 stories about people who long to be not just somewhere else, but somewhen else . . .
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Richard Nixon vs Helen Gahagan Douglas-Sexual Politics and the Red Scare, 1950
by Greg Mitchell Jan 1998
(5 reviews) List: $25.00
316 pages
Random House
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1997
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by Ira Levin Sep 1997
(64 reviews) List: $7.99
320 pages
Signet
| I highly recommend.
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by George R. R. Martin Aug 1997
(1366 reviews) List: $7.99
864 pages
Spectra
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by Jon Krakauer Jan 1997
(886 reviews) List: $12.95
224 pages
Anchor Books
| Less biographical, more journalistic than Into Thin Air; it's a reconstruction of a boy on the hippy fringe who breaks all ties with his family and goes off into the Alaska wilderness to test his manhood, where he dies. It all sounds rather juvenile and melodramatic, and it is, but at the heart of juvenile melodrama there is a worthy core of aspiration that Krakauer deftly extracts.
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| 1996
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The Increasing Inequality of Wealth in America and What Can Be Done About It
by Edward N. Wolff Sep 1996
(3 reviews) List: $7.95
New Press
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50th Anniversary Edition
by Henry Hazlitt Jul 1996
(19 reviews) List: $9.95
205 pages
Fox & Wilkes
| One of the hardest things about learning economics is learning to look beyond your first order intuitions to second order effects. Hazlitt does an excellent job of puncturing common economic fallacies by leading the reader, in simple, easy-to-understand language, through the second order effects.
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by William Lashner Apr 1996
(35 reviews) List: $7.99
608 pages
HarperTorch/ReganBooks
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by Robin Hobb Mar 1996
(288 reviews) List: $7.99
464 pages
Spectra
| The book isn't the usual sort of "swords and elves" thing; it's rather hard and bloody, but wonderfully written, and the characters are absolutely fantastic.. Read the whole Farseer trilogy. The books are lovely and thick, perfect for taking on vacation.
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| 1995
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Toward Clarity and Grace
by Joseph M. Williams Jun 1995
(22 reviews) List: $13.00
226 pages
University Of Chicago Press
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by Fred Schwed Feb 1995
(22 reviews) List: $19.95
256 pages
Wiley
| A humorous book about Wall Street written in mid-century, skewering the conceits of both investors and brokers. The shocking thing is that almost all of it still applies today.
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| 1994
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Great Writers on Good Times
by Bob Shacochis Aug 1994
(11 reviews) List: $13.95
224 pages
Chronicle Books
| A compilation of works by a number of damn fine writers, including Mark Twain, Charles Bukowski, Henry Miller, Vladimir Nabokov, Spalding Gray, and Dorothy Parker, that offers tribute to the peccadilloes we regret.
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1993
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by Margaret Mitchell Aug 1993
(630 reviews) List: $7.99
1024 pages
Warner Books
| It's unmistakeably racist, and it glorifies a system I am not sad to see gone. But this may have the best set of characters in any English language book, and she manages to make you sympathise with the thoroughly unsympathetic heroine, so it's not much of a leap to sympathising with their compatriots. Plus the story is utterly absorbing, and it's long enough to last for a few lazy holiday afternoons.
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| 1990
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War, Money and the English State, 1688-1783
by John Brewer Oct 1990
(2 reviews) List: $22.95
320 pages
Harvard University Press
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by Joseph Conrad Jul 1990
(370 reviews) List: $1.50
80 pages
Dover Publications
| I can't believe he packs so much gifted prose and raw emotion into such a short little book. This, of course, makes me insanely jealous. But it's worth it. The opening is a very good candidate for Best Opening Ever.
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by Nelson DeMille Jun 1990
(50 reviews) List: $7.99
432 pages
Warner Books
| (my rating) May be the best modern thriller about the Middle East.
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1989
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by Julia Child Sep 1989
(36 reviews) List: $65.00
528 pages
Knopf
| It's practical everyday cooking, and some of the ideas are really cool...it's full of concepts and tips for the beginner-to-middling cook--no instructions to buy larding tools to pull strips of pork fat through your roast, or spend three days making your own duck pate to put in the beef wellingtons.
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| 1985
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by Rose Wilder Lane Nov 1985
(7 reviews) List: $19.95
309 pages
University of Nebraska Press
| These stories are really oustanding. It's a series of interlaced stories about a gawky, too-bright girl growing up in a very small town at the turn of the century, but not in that mawkish, "turns into a swan" style that makes you gag.
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1984
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by Rose Wilder Lane Oct 1984
(10 reviews) List: $21.95
332 pages
University of Nebraska Press
| Rather good, especially if you've read her mother's children's books; she tells the darker, adult side of pioneering, like the couple out on the prairie who were murdering families who stopped at their houses and stealing their stuff . . . dozens and dozens of people.
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| 1982
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by Leo Tolstoy Jul 1982
(270 reviews) List: $13.95
1472 pages
Penguin Classics
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1981
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by Edna St. Vincent Millay Aug 1981
(9 reviews) List: $22.95
768 pages
Harper Perennial
| One of the patron saints of light verse.
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| 1980
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OUR ORIENTAL HERITAGE: VOLUME I
by Will Durant Dec 1980
(21 reviews) List: $35.00
Simon & Schuster
| I'll read this someday when I have a zillion dollars to spare.
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1976
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by Dorothy Parker Dec 1976
(22 reviews) List: $16.00
640 pages
Penguin (Non-Classics)
| One of the patron saints of light verse. When I was in college, I thought I wanted to be Dorothy Parker, until I realised that no matter how hard I tried I was never going to be talented, Jewish, or short, and that dying alone only sounds romantic so long as you continue to believe yourself to be immortal.
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| 1971
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by Milton Friedman,
Anna Jacobson Schwartz Nov 1971
(8 reviews) List: $60.00
888 pages
Princeton University Press
| revolutionised monetary policy, removing it from the clutches of the Keynesians
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