My Challenge for 2022

 So my challenge for myself in 2021 was to read books suggested by various friends, with the goal of 1 book per week. I picked the first and last book, but otherwise I read nearly every book that was suggested to me. There were some really great books in there, and it reminded me how much variation of interest my friends have. That was really interesting. There was everything from light adult fiction, to some serious tomes! 

 

I’m still going to take suggestions on books to read, because there were so many good ones in there. So, keep the suggestions coming!

 

My challenge for myself for 2022 is something that I’ve been thinking about for a while. I went to Catholic grade school and high school.

 

—--- Read the Bible in Chronological order —--

 

Yup… that’s the plan. I’ve already started, and even have a blog dedicated to the process…. And… I am recording as I read it, with occasionally some commentary. It is interesting to think that the book s are out of order, because Job fits into Genesis, right after Noah and the flood and the big listing of all of Noah’s descendents. I’m sure I am mis-pronouncing many of the names and places, but it is an interesting exercise. I’ll link to the webpage which includes the recordings that I am making as I read. I’ve always been embarrassed to hear my own voice, but… I’m putting it out there. I’ve added commentaries from John Gill’s Exposition on the Bible, which was published around 1750. 

 

So, to recap—59 total books in 2021 (although Lonesome Dove spilled into the new year by two days.) Still… Here is the list:

 

A Jacques Barzun Reader

The Golden Compass

Science and Philosophy

Gossip Girl

A Great and Terrible Beauty

The Wind-up Bird Chronicle

Inkheart

The Story of Earth

A Moveable Feast

Insomnia

The Raw Shark Texts

The 48 Laws of Power

Treason’s Crown

Flatland

A Tale of Two Cities

In The Woods

When Breath Becomes Air

The Parasitic Mind

Princess: More Tears To Cry

Beneath a Scarlet Sky

Go Set a Watchman

1620: A Critical Response

12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos

Beyond Order: 12 More Rules For Life

Stuntman!

Facing Reality: Two Truths About Race in America

Keep Moving

Empire of Lies

People's Republic

The Split

Crisis

Collapse

Wildfire

Indian Country

Black Ice

Last Exit to Brooklyn

Crazy Dangerous

A Matter of Principle

How Paul Robeson Saved My Life

The Lost Continent

A Story Guide to Vaclac Havel’s “The Memorandum”

Cryptocurrency Mining

Crisis of Responsibility

Fate is the Hunter

Babylon Berlin

Less Than Words Can Say

The Power of Babel

Six Easy Pieces

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

The Time In Between

In The Weeds

Taking the Bastille

A Winter’s Promise

The Haunting of Hill House

A Tiger in The Smoke

What Would You Do If You weren’t Afraid?

A Gentleman of Color

The Great Upheaval

Lonesome Dove

Quick Review - Book #43 - "Empire of Lies" - by Andrew Klavan

 Andrew is a podcaster and author who has numerous books that have been turned into movies.

There are very few openly conservative authors out, especially those that write from an explicitly Christian perspective. 

Klavan's book is a great thriller, with very human and believable characters. He has a looseness of prose that belies the density of his subject matter. He packs a punch in surprisingly few words. 

Loved his characters, even those that are based on (and quite obviously related) to figures in the current public sphere. He paints them with a broad brush, and he is honest about what characters he dislikes.

Next up: Andrew Klavan's Crazy Dangerous

Quick Review - Book #42 - "Crisis of Responsibility" - by David Bahnsen

 The best description of this book that I could find was 

Very well written and intelligent, but in my opinion there just wasn't much that was new or revealing. The primary point is that a lack of personal responsibility on the part of all of the actors was the biggest contributor to the financial meltdown and the Great Recession. I think that any fair minded person would come to that conclusion.

Mr Bahnsen goes to great length to describe the solution to our current problems. Responsibility. Yeah, sure, I get it... There is a great deal of truth in this, and for the most part, I agree.

There seems to be a widespread culture of victim-hood and blaming others, instead of taking personla responsibility. 

As a different reviewer on Amazon said 

 The author asks the reader to question whether or not they should send their children to college, meanwhile there is no doubt that he himself will be sending his offspring to university.

There is a good case to be made that we are far over-educated, but I think the reality is that we are over-credentialed. Working to a PhD used to mean that you were working on expanding the wealth of human knowledge, not merely adding your name to vast lists of the already accomplished. What additional knowledge can you possibly bring?

All in all, a good read, and well written. 

Next up: Andrew Klavan's "Empire of Lies" 

Quick Review - Book #41 - "Cryptocurrency Mining" - by Jeffrey Miller

This book was more of a lark;

What is crypto, and how does it work? How on earth do you 'mine' your own virtual 'money?' What the heck is the even all about?

Mining is essentially solving hyper-complex math problems, which are used to verify blocks in a chain, guaranteeing (as much as possible) the continuity of the security of the code. 

So you are putting energy into math, and getting rewarded for the effort. the result of this reward is a currency 'coin,' that only exists virtually.

So, as long as everyone 'agrees' that this can be used for currency, then it has value. If people and crypto fans decide that is doesn't then it will all collapse like a house of cards. 

Interesting!

New up ---- "The Haunting of Hill House," by Shirley Jackson

Quick Review - Book #40 - "A Story Guide to Vaclav Havel's "The Memorandum"

 When I got this order from the library, I didn't look at the page count, and yes, it is just a small study guide, merely 27 pages or so.

Very interesting to read into The Memorandum, which was one of the first plays staged for Havel. 

The play takes place over 2 days, and in it he describes a company manager, who has been told to learn the 'new language,' which is designed to make communications easier. He cannot get anyone to translate the memo that he has from the new language into a normal language, starting with nobody has the authority, to getting permission, to taking a class on this completely incomprehensible language himself. 

Havel repeats himself many times in the play, or rather, has his characters repeat themselves many times, doing mundane tasks, and the repetition is just because that is what they have to do in a communist society and company. 

The manager works through confusion, a subordinate trying to undermine him at any opportunity, frustrating coworkers, and a general air of confusion, especially that this is not the first time... in fact, this is the way it always seems to be... and resignation, because this is their fate. 

Next up ---- Cryptocurrency Mining

Quick Review - Book #39 - "The Lost Continent" - by Bill Bryson

 This is a re-read.

I was first introduced to Bill Bryson when he published "A Short History of Nearly Everything" in 2003. I then read a bunch of his travel-novellas about his life and travels.

I know that I read this around the same time, and at the time I thought it was a great commentary on middle America and the life there.

Time sure changes things.

I got through the first two chapters, and I was just not interested in reading any more of what he wrote here. It feels like a nonstop put-down of everything in small town America.

The best description of this, I read in another review panning the book on Amazon. I'll quote it "Bill Bryson writes in this book like he is trying to impress his European Friends with how silly he thinks Americans are. "

That is this book on the nose. 

Obviously, I've grown up a bit since I first read it... the book did not age well at all.

Next up--- "A Study Guide to Vaclav Havel's "The Memorandum."

Quick Review - Book #38 - " How Paul Robeson Saved My Life and Other Stories" - by Carl Reiner

Carl Reiner is probably best known for being the originator and writer for "The Dick Van Dyke Show." He certainly had a hit on his hands, with that one!

He's also famous for being the father of Rob Reiner, aka "Meathead," also director extraordinaire, etc.

This is a collection of anecdotes about his life, around the time that he was in the army. As usual, told with his wit, there are nuggets of fun and wisdom in here for just about anyone.

His short stories are just that. Short. Quite a few of them are proper little vignettes on life, with his wit and noticeably dry humor. Some of these are based on his life and travels, others are stories inspired by thoughts he had when he met people, and wondered what they were doing in life. 

Interesting names, interesting situations. This book reads fast, but it doesn't flow from one story to another, so it can seem a little disjointed. 

Next up---- Bill Bryson's "The Lost Continent."