https://github.com/mccright/rrl

Recreational Reading Log
https://github.com/mccright/rrl

Last synced: 5 months ago
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Recreational Reading Log

Host: GitHub
URL: https://github.com/mccright/rrl
Owner: mccright
License: mit
Created: 2022-07-25T16:21:25.000Z (almost 4 years ago)
Default Branch: main
Last Pushed: 2026-01-20T13:36:10.000Z (5 months ago)
Last Synced: 2026-01-20T22:11:02.940Z (5 months ago)
Language: SCSS
Size: 4.37 MB
Stars: 3
Watchers: 1
Forks: 0
Open Issues: 1
Metadata Files:
- Readme: README.md
- License: LICENSE

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README

# My Recreational Reading Log
This is where I maintain a list of the books that I [have read](#completed_reading) or [are reading or are considering reading](#pending-or-currently-underway) since 25 July 2022 (*when I started tracking my reading*).
This information is also organized by [Audio Books](https://mccright.github.io/rrl_staging/AudioBooks/), [Out-of-Copyright - Open-Access eBooks](https://mccright.github.io/rrl_staging/OpenSourceTexts/) or [Commercial and "Open Access" Books](https://mccright.github.io/rrl_staging/Books/), along with some notes about [where I get reading materials on-line](https://mccright.github.io/rrl_staging/#supporting-material) in my *staging* area...

## Completed Reading

12 Months to Live (*Jane Smith*). By James Patterson and Mike Lupica. 2023

### 12 Months to Live (*Jane Smith*) (9:32)
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/9529708/12-months-to-live
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/9529554/12-months-to-live
By [James Patterson](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Patterson) (1947 – )) and [Mike Lupica](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Lupica) (1952 – )

Reading Notes: Lawyer Jane Smith has never lost a case. She currently has a tough one. She finds out she has advanced-stage cancer and has a year to live... An [action](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Action_fiction), *[whodunnit](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whodunit)*, mystery and trial rolled into this story. It is entertaining-enough to warrant 9.5 hours of your life.

1601: Conversation, as it was by the Social Fireside, in the Time of the Tudors. By Mark Twain. 1880

### 1601: Conversation, as it was by the Social Fireside, in the Time of the Tudors. (1:22)
Audio: https://librivox.org/1601-conversation-as-it-was-by-the-social-fireside-in-the-time-of-the-tudors-version-2-by-mark-twain/
eBook: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/3190
By [Mark Twain](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Twain) (1835 - 1910)

Reading Notes: This recording includes an excellent 40 minute history of the story and its publication -- which I found more interesting than the story itself.

Wikipedia Summary: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1601_(Mark_Twain)
Librivox Summary:
>Also known simply as "1601", this is a humorously risque work by Mark Twain, first published anonymously in 1880, and finally acknowledged by the author in 1906. (Summary by John Greenman & Wikipedia) Please note: this recording contains strong language.

1939 -- A People's History of the Coming of the Second World War. By Frederick Taylor. 2020

### 1939 -- A People's History of the Coming of the Second World War. (15:00)
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/5295464/1939
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/5077155/1939
By [Frederick Taylor](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_Taylor_(historian)) (1947 – )

Reading Notes: Anyone interested in the early stages of [WWII](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II) should consider this book. Largely assembled using newspaper and diary content from [Germany](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Germany), [Czechoslovakia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Czechoslovak_Republic), [Poland](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poland) and [England](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/England), Taylor builds a broad view into "*people's*" interests and focus as [Hitler](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adolf_Hitler) [and his senior team led *his country* through the last moves into war with neighbors](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Causes_of_World_War_II).

1984. By George Orwell. 1949

### 1984. (11:00)
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/71105/1984
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/625352/1984
By [George Orwell](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Orwell) (1903 – 1950)

Reading Notes: Working for the Ministry of Truth, Winston Smith quietly hates the Party and dreams of rebellion. This is still excellence in writing and as relevant as ever. See [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nineteen_Eighty-Four) for a more detailed summary.

Wikipedia Summary: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nineteen_Eighty-Four

2034 -- A Novel of the Next World War. By Elliot Ackerman and Adm. James Stavridis. 2021 (Recommend it: read it carefully and invest in discussions about it with others)

### 2034 -- A Novel of the Next World War. (11:00)
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/5558540/2034
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/5558752/2034
By [Elliot Ackerman](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elliot_Ackerman) (1980 – ) and [Adm. James Stavridis](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_G._Stavridis) (1955 - )

Reading Notes: [Speculative fiction](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speculative_fiction)/[thriller](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thriller_(genre)): On March 12, 2034, China starts a war with the United States that quickly escalates into WWIII... Today [China](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China), [Russia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russia), [Iran](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran), and [India](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/India) appear to be working on capabilities today that are used at scale in this story. It seems realistic-enough to be frightening in the context of the trajectory of U.S. leadership and influence on this small planet. I believe that this story should be required reading for young adults (maybe Juniors in High School) through the most aged tax-payer. Everyone involved in politics, government and the military should read it carefully and invest in discussions about it with constituents. It explores a range of situations that require all the humans involved to have been educated rigorously, read broadly, studied history, served others and maintained a clear connection with material facts (*without a fog of fiction poisoning decision-making processes and even intuition*). If you want a better view of the book's content, see the [wikipedia summary](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2034:_A_Novel_of_the_Next_World_War).

Wikipedia summary: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2034:_A_Novel_of_the_Next_World_War

Review By Claire Jarvis: [https://www.nytimes.com/...2034-elliot-ackerman-james-stavridis...](https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/09/books/review/2034-elliot-ackerman-james-stavridis-thousand-ships-natalie-haynes-slash-and-burn-claudia-hernandez.html)

The 6:20 Man -- A Thriller. By David Baldacci. 2022

### The 6:20 Man -- A Thriller. (10:00)
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/7728272/the-620-man
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/8732186/the-620-man
By [David Baldacci](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Baldacci) (1960 – )

Reading Notes: Travis Devine -- a financial industry "burner" (*a low-paid first-year employee*) -- takes the 6:20 train to Manhattan. Without knowing, he gets involved with people engaging in large-scale [money laundering](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Money_laundering) and fraud. His military training helps him stay alive. This *[whodunnit](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whodunit)* is time-reasonable entertainment.

The 9th Man -- Luke Daniels. By Steve Berry. 2023

### The 9th Man -- Luke Daniels Series. (12:00)
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/9384241/the-9th-man
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/9384268/the-9th-man
By [Steve Berry](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Berry_(novelist)) (1955 – )

Reading Notes: What happened on [November 22, 1963 in Dallas](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassination_of_John_F._Kennedy), Texas? In this story one man will kill anyone to keep others from knowing the truth. "The 9th Man" is an easy-to-follow [thriller](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thriller_(genre))/[action fiction](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Action_fiction) story filled with high-stakes, high-energy, and fast-paced events. The action sequences in this novel are more entertaining than the *research and analysis* sections between them. Most of the characters are relatively flat/2D even though some include extensive back stories. The action is filled and fueled with unlimited resources (*private on one side and government on the other*) and main characters who embody improbable physical and mental resilience in the face of frequent extreme stress and violence.

Some Central Characters:
- Luke Daniels ex-Army Ranger, now with the Justice Department’s Magellan Billet.
- Jillian Greenfield Stein ex-Marine, now with *some private security organization*.
- Thomas Henry Rowland, a 90-something year old Washington insider, corrupt ex-CIA.
- Jack Talley, ex-Army, now leading Thomas Rowland's private security crew.

Abigail Adams. By Woody Holton. 2009

### Abigail Adams. (20:00)
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/257554/abigail-adams
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/345973/abigail-adams
By [Woody Holton](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woody_Holton) (1959 – )

Reading Notes: This biography emphasizes many ways that [Abigail Adams](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abigail_Adams) employed her legal rights and norms to play a material role in managing her family's finances and wealth accumulation. See the [OverDrive summary](https://www.overdrive.com/media/257554/abigail-adams) for more detail.

You might also see:
* "[The Unexpected Abigail Adams -- A Woman "Not Apt to Be Intimidated](https://www.overdrive.com/media/10977600/the-unexpected-abigail-adams)." By John L. Smith, Jr. 2024
* "[Abigail Adams -- (Early America) Primary Source Readers](https://www.overdrive.com/media/1048228/abigail-adams)." By Jill K. Mulhall. 2012
* "[Abigail Adams -- A Biography](https://www.overdrive.com/media/1423911/abigail-adams)." By Phyllis Lee Levin. 2013.

OverDrive [Summary](https://www.overdrive.com/media/257554/abigail-adams):
>Abigail Adams offers a fresh perspective on the famous events of Adams's life, and along the way, Woody Holton, a renowned historian of the American Revolution, takes on numerous myths about the men and women of the founding era. But the book also demonstrates that domestic dramas-from unplanned pregnancies to untimely deaths-could be just as heartbreaking, significant, and inspiring as the actions of statesmen and soldiers. A special focus of the book is Adams's complex relationships: with her mother, sisters, and children; with her husband's famous contemporaries; and with Phoebe, one of her father's slaves. At the same time that John exhibited his own diplomatic skills on a better-known canvas, Abigail struggled to prevent the charitable gifts she gave her sisters from coming between them. In a departure from the persistently upbeat tone of most Adams biographies, Holton's work shows how frequently her life was marred by tragedy, making this the deepest, most humanistic portrayal ever published. Using the matchless trove of Adams family manuscripts, the author steps back to allow Abigail to respond to her many losses in her own words. Holton reveals that Abigail Adams sharply disagreed with her husband's financial decisions and assumed control of the family's money herself-earning them a tidy fortune through her shrewd speculations (this during a time when married women were not permitted to own property). And he shows that her commitment to women's equality and education was intense and explicitly expressed and practical, from the more than two thousand letters she wrote over her lifetime to her final will (written in defiance of legislation prohibiting married women from bequeathing property). Alternately witty, poignant, and uplifting, Holton's narrative sheds new light on one of America's best-loved but least-understood icons.

Act of Oblivion -- A Novel. By Robert Harris. 2022

### Act of Oblivion -- A Novel. (16:00)
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/8742777/act-of-oblivion
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/8671542/act-of-oblivion
By [Robert Harris](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Harris_(novelist)) (1957 – )

Reading Notes: This story explores what it was like for many of the [Puritans](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puritans) in England and the in [the New England Colonies](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puritan_migration_to_New_England_(1620%E2%80%931640)) by the 1660s, as well as some of the political disruptions in [London, England](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London) in the years immediately following the [English Civil War](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_Civil_War), including the [Great Plague](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Plague_of_London) (1665–1666) and the [Great Fire of London](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Fire_of_London) (1666).
After the [First English Civil War](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_Civil_War#First_English_Civil_War_(1642%E2%80%931646)), [King Charles I](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_I_of_England) was a prisoner of the Parliamentarians. The Parliamentarians ultimately decided that they could not successfully negotiate a settlement with him and concluded that he would have to be put to death. The [House of Commons](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_of_Commons_of_England) organized a bill charging try Charles I for high treason (*the [House of lords](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_of_Lords) refused to pass it*). Charles was found guilty on Saturday 27 January 1649, and his death warrant was signed by [fifty-nine commissioners](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_regicides_of_Charles_I). He was executed on 30 January 1649. The "fifty-nine" were called [regicides]((https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regicide)) -- the people responsible for killing a monarch.
Set in 1660 this historical novel follows an imaginary "Richard Nayler" of the [Privy Council](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Privy_Council_of_England) who is tasked with tracking down the *real* regicides, focusing with special passion on [Edward Whalley](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Whalley) and his son-in-law [William Goffe](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Goffe). Although dead by this time [Oliver Cromwell](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oliver_Cromwell) remains *present* and influential in the lives of these core characters.

Advance Agent. By Christopher Anvil. 1957

### Advance Agent. (1:20)
https://librivox.org/advance-agent-by-christopher-anvil/
Text: https://gutenberg.org/ebooks/51273
By [Christopher Anvil](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Anvil) (1925 - 2009)
(published in "Galaxy Science Fiction." February 1957)

Reader's Notes: This story starts with the assumption that all resources of the universe are targets for human exploitation and consumption. Add worm holes for faster-than-light travel, formalized *survival-of-the-fittest* population control, and engineering/re-engineering of humans, and you have a story that can be read on many levels and might meet the interests of many Science Fiction listeners.

Librivox Summary:
>Raveling Porcy's systematized enigma, Dan found himself with a spy's worst break—he was saddled with the guise of a famed man! A masterful science fiction tale told by one of the greats. - [Summary by Paul Hampton](https://librivox.org/advance-agent-by-christopher-anvil/).

After the Flood. By Kassandra Montag. 2019

### After the Flood. (13:00)
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/4471070/after-the-flood
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/4471533/after-the-flood
By [Kassandra Montag](https://kassandramontag.com/bio) ( – )

Reading Notes: This is a dystopian post-apocalyptic novel about a climate-change-altered world overrun by water a century (*or more*) in the future. At the opening, Myra and her 7 year-old daughter, Pearl, have been fishing from their small boat originally built by Myra’s grandfather, the Bird, for almost seven years. They roam the waters of what used to be the Rocky Mountains in North America (*now just a string of islands*). They visit dry land only to trade for supplies and information in the few remaining outposts of civilization -- looking for Myra's 12 year old daughter, Row, who had been taken away by Myra's husband.
Myra discovers that Row was last seen in a community on land near the Artic Circle. Myra and Pearl begin a journey into the cold and dangerous northern ocean in search of Row. It is a complicated path that forms the bulk of the novel.

The vocabulary and plot choices made this seem a little like a young adult (YA) novel. That is not necessarily a bad thing, but it sometimes seems to constrain how interpersonal relations play out.

Review by [Megan Kloustin](https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/15511127-megan-kloustin): https://literaryquicksand.com/2019/09/review-after-the-flood/

The After House. By Mary Roberts Rinehart. 1914

### The After House. (5:52)
Audio: https://librivox.org/the-after-house-by-mary-roberts-rinehart/
eBook: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/2358
By [Mary Roberts Rinehart](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Roberts_Rinehart) (1876 - 1958)

Reading Notes: The characters are a little shallow and one-dimensional, but the story regularly moves forward with some energy -- saving it for me. NOTE: This story was written just before WWI in the U.S. and incorporates some racist assumptions and behaviors. As a result, here are issues of racial stereotypes, derogatory race-related terms and dehumanizing language about African American characters in the text of "The After House."

Project Gutenberg [Automated Summary](https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/2358):
>"The After House" by Mary Roberts Rinehart is a mystery novel penned in the early 20th century. The story revolves around the character (Ralph) Leslie, who finds himself on a yacht named Ella shortly after recovering from a serious illness. As the narrative unfolds, readers are drawn into a web of suspense surrounding the ship and its crew, highlighting both personal ambitions and darker human emotions, culminating in a series of tragic events. At the start of the novel, Leslie introduces himself as a newly graduated medical student who, after enduring a bout of typhoid fever, is drawn to the adventurous life at sea. With a background as a deck-steward and an ambition for adventure, he is introduced to the Ella, a transformed coasting-vessel now serving as a yacht. His time on board showcases not only his interactions with the crew, including the enigmatic Miss Lee, but also hints at a brewing conflict that suggests an ominous undercurrent aboard the ship. As tensions rise, occurrences hinting at mystery and danger begin to emerge, setting the stage for a suspenseful voyage that promises intrigue and peril in equal measure.

The Age of Elizabeth. By Mandell Creighton. 1876

### The Age of Elizabeth. (07:35)
https://librivox.org/the-age-of-elizabeth-by-mandell-creighton/
Text: https://archive.org/details/ageelizabeth07creigoog
By [Mandell Creighton](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mandell_Creighton) (1843 - 1901)

Reader Notes:
This book invests a lot of effort in establishing some of the context surrounding the reign of Queen Elizabeth. These include, but are not limited to: The evolution of religion in Germany, England, France, Spain, the Netherlands and the rise of Protestantism. Catholic reaction to these changes. France, England, and Scotland. Key personalities involved. The Jesuits, and more. It was an enjoyable listen and I *learned* a lot. The author builds a confident narrative throughout. But it is important to keep in mind that this book was published in 1875, and more current examinations of this period may build varying narratives...
Librivox Summary:
>This short history by the eminent British historian, Mandell Creighton, places Elizabeth and her reign within the context of 16th century European political, religious, and military events. Elizabeth overcomes her two great rivals, King Philip of Spain and Mary, Queen of Scots. England gradually unites behind her Queen, who survives multiple assassination plots. After the defeat of the Spanish Armada, the English, lightly taxed by their frugal sovereign, launch flourishing commerce enterprises. The author writes of the Protestant Reformation that "a change of belief meant a revolt from authority." In this age of individualism, personal daring, and a consciousness of national greatness, the golden age of Elizabethan literature breaks new ground in historiography, literary theory, poetry, and above all, drama. - ([Summary by Pamela Nagami, M.D.](https://librivox.org/the-age-of-elizabeth-by-mandell-creighton/))

The Age of Innocence. By Edith Wharton. 1920

### The Age of Innocence. By Edith Wharton. (9:57)
https://librivox.org/the-age-of-innocence-version-2-by-edith-wharton/
Text: https://www.gutenberg.org/etext/541
By [Edith Wharton](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edith_Wharton) (1862 - 1937)
Wikipedia Summary: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Age_of_Innocence
Librivox Summary:
>Edith Wharton became the first woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for fiction with this 1920 novel about Old New York society. Newland Archer is wealthy, well-bred, and engaged to the beautiful May Welland. But he finds himself drawn to May's cousin Ellen Olenska, who has been living in Europe and who has returned following a scandalous separation from her husband. [Introduction by Elizabeth Klett](https://librivox.org/the-age-of-innocence-version-2-by-edith-wharton/)

The Age of Magical Overthinking -- Notes on Modern Irrationality. By Amanda Montell. 2024

### The Age of Magical Overthinking -- Notes on Modern Irrationality. (6:00)
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/10108419/the-age-of-magical-overthinking
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/9919782/the-age-of-magical-overthinking
By [Amanda Montell](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amanda_Montell) (1992 – )

Reading Notes: I think that the life-long presence of the Internet has so impacted the author's intellectual/cultural *framework* that she and I are distantly out of phase. That said, she reviews a number of [cognitive biases](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_bias) that are important to all of us -- making this book a useful read, or listen.

[OverDrive Summary](https://www.overdrive.com/media/10108419/the-age-of-magical-overthinking):

Review by [Lauren Puckett-Pope](): [https://www.elle.com/...amanda-montell-the-age-of-magical-overthinking-interview/](https://www.elle.com/culture/books/a60433148/amanda-montell-the-age-of-magical-overthinking-interview/)

The Alice Network. By Kate Quinn. 2017

### The Alice Network.
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/2985766/the-alice-network
Ebook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/2952389/the-alice-network
http://www.katequinnauthor.com/books/the-alice-network
By [Kate Quinn](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kate_Quinn).
Reading Notes: See the [Wikipedia Summary](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Alice_Network)
Wikipedia Summary: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Alice_Network
Also see an [NPR Summary](https://www.npr.org/2017/06/08/530794379/the-alice-network-is-a-crackling-tale-of-spies-and-suspense)

The Ambassadors. By Henry James, 1903

### The Ambassadors (16:46)
https://librivox.org/the-ambassadors-by-henry-james/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ambassadors
Text at: https://www.gutenberg.org/etext/432
By [Henry James](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_James) (1843 - 1916), published 1903

Reading Notes: I recommend this excellent 19th century novel to anyone who has the time to think about their place and role in the world...
[Summary from Librivox](https://librivox.org/the-ambassadors-by-henry-james/):
>"Henry James considered The Ambassadors his best, or perhaps his best-wrought, novel. It plays on the great Jamesian theme of the American abroad, who finds himself in an older, and some would say richer, culture that that of the United States, with its attractions and dangers. Here the protagonist is Lambert Strether, a man in his fifties, editor of a small literary magazine in Woollett, Massachusetts, who arrives in Europe on a mission undertaken at the urging of his patron, Mrs. Newsome, to bring back her son Chadwick. That young man appears to be enjoying his time in Paris rather more than seems good for him, at least to those older and wiser. The novel, however, is perhaps really about Strether's education in this new land, and one of his teachers is the city of Paris -- a real Paris, not an idealized one, but from which Strether has much to learn. Chad Newsome, of course is there too, and so are a scattering of other Americans, his old friend Waymarsh and his new acquaintance Maria Gostrey among them. Had Strether his life to live over again, knowing what he has now learned, how different would it be? and what are the lessons he takes home with him?" - Summary from: https://librivox.org/the-ambassadors-by-henry-james/

America Before -- The Key to Earth's Lost Civilization. By Graham Hancock. 2019

### America Before -- The Key to Earth's Lost Civilization. (17:00)
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/4248087/america-before
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/4334563/america-before
By [Graham Hancock](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graham_Hancock) (1950 – )

Reading Notes: An overly-long, but interesting argument about a theorized ancient civilization that seeded the cultures across the globe that followed. The author includes a lot of "what if" speculation that may not mix well with the "*sciency*" stuff for some.

Author's Summary: [https://grahamhancock.com/america-before/](https://grahamhancock.com/america-before/?trk=public_post_comment-text)

[Overdrive Summary](https://www.overdrive.com/media/4248087/america-before):
>We've been taught that North and South America were empty of humans until around 13,000 years ago—amongst the last great landmasses on earth to have been settled by our ancestors. But new discoveries have radically reshaped this long-established picture and we know now that the Americas were first peopled more than 130,000 years ago—many tens of thousands of years before human settlements became established elsewhere. Hancock's research takes us on a series of journeys and encounters with the scientists responsible for the recent extraordinary breakthroughs. In the process, from the Mississippi Valley to the Amazon rainforest, he reveals that ancient "New World" cultures share a legacy of advanced scientific knowledge and sophisticated spiritual beliefs with supposedly unconnected "Old World" cultures. Have archaeologists focused for too long only on the "Old World" in their search for the origins of civilization while failing to consider the revolutionary possibility that those origins might in fact be found in the "New World"?America Before: The Key to Earth's Lost Civilization is the culmination of everything that millions of listeners have loved in Hancock's body of work over the past decades, namely a mind-dilating exploration of the mysteries of the past, amazing archaeological discoveries and profound implications for how we lead our lives today.

Review by [Hung Truong](): https://somuchscifi.com/america-before-key-to-earths-lost-civilization-graham-hancock/

America Fantastica -- A Novel. By Tim O'Brien. 2023

### America Fantastica -- A Novel. (14:00)
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/9581906/america-fantastica
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/9565616/america-fantastica
By [Tim O'Brien](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_O%27Brien_(author)) (1946 – )

Reading Notes: **I strongly recommend this book.** O'Brien's [satire](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satire) about the rise and impacts of the lying *disease* that has consumed the Trump-centric right over the last decade gushes with [sarcasm](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarcasm) and "*[militant](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/militant)" irony*. The tactical and strategic use of lying and *misleading oversimplification*, the need to *control the narrative* via emotional resonance, the distrust of mainstream media, the repetition of lies by trusted leaders and normalized deception help drive this excellent story forward. O'Brien opens the book with "Boyd Halverson" robbing a bank in Fulda, California and taking the teller, Angie Bing, hostage. Boyd, Angie, and a broad cast of characters live out the "*mythomaniac*" life-style in cross-country criminality, self-discovery and corruption before returning home. Read one or more of the reviews below if you want to know more details about the story.

Review by [Noah Hawley](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noah_Hawley): [https://www.nytimes.com/...america-fantastica](https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/23/books/review/tim-obrien-america-fantastica.html)
Review by [John Walters](https://johnwalterswriter.com/about/): [https://johnwalterswriter.com/...america-fantastica...](https://johnwalterswriter.com/2024/10/12/book-review-america-fantastica-by-tim-obrien/)

American Spy. By Lauren Wilkinson. 2019

### American Spy. (11:00)
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/3994888/american-spy
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/4239792/american-spy
By [Lauren Wilkinson](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lauren_Wilkinson_(writer)) ( – )

Reading Notes: This [spy thriller](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spy_fiction) is about a black female secret agent Marie Mitchell an intelligence officer with the FBI, a sister, daughter, and mother and much more. She gets her first mission in 1986, at "*the end of the cold war*" -- to gather information about [Thomas Sankara](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Sankara) leader of the newborn [Burkina Faso](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burkina_Faso). Unfortunately, her handler has lied to her...

Review by [Mick Herron](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mick_Herron): [https://www.nytimes.com/.../american-spy...](https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/20/books/review/american-spy-lauren-wilkinson.html)

American Sugargristle. By Toby Huss. 2024

### American Sugargristle
Physical book: [Hat & Beard Press](https://hatandbeard.com/products/american-sugargristle-by-toby-huss) and [their Instagram acct](https://www.instagram.com/hatandbeardpress/reel/DDIqNbHy-We/?locale=es_us&hl=en)
Audio: NA
eBook: NA
By [Toby Huss](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toby_Huss) (1966 – )
Hat & Beard Press, Los Angeles

Reading Notes: This book showcases Toby Huss as a [narrative photographer](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narrative_photography) and creative writer. The photos are from his travels around the United States. I assume that most of the vignettes that accompany his photographs are products of his unique immagination, powers of observation, broad experience and more. Each is effectively partnered with its accompanying photograph. If you enjoy exposure to immensely talented creative people, this book might be for you.
Some memorable quotes:
```terminal
Mr. Cheap Butts
Brenda Carmichael
You got a pencil?
Where them stairs?
Bruce Wayne
First direct hit since 1951
Sting.
Oh, God, NO! Don't send Jeff back to housewares
Pardner? Pard? You OK?
"Free Trumpet Lessons"
...buxom with July wheat
```

Publisher's Summary: https://hatandbeard.com/products/american-sugargristle-by-toby-huss

Anathem. By Neal Stephenson 2008 (I strongly recommend reading this book)

### Anathem.
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/171066/anathem
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/180366/anathem
https://www.nealstephenson.com/anathem.html
By [Neal Stephenson](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neal_Stephenson) (1959 - _)
Published 2008, 937 pages.

See the plot summary at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anathem#Plot_summary
When you are finished with the book (*or whenever...*) consider reading Stephenson's [Acknowledgments page](https://www.nealstephenson.com/acknowledgments.html) to get a sense of what parts of this story are more tightly coupled to other's ideas.

Reading Notes:

This story has enormous scope, incorporating a broad spectrum of [science fiction](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_science_fiction_themes) and [religious](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_religious_ideas_in_science_fiction) themes as it builds out science, technology, religion, and secular societies across multiple worlds.
Some Quotes from the book:
>Its general import is that one should never believe a thing only because one wishes that it were true.

>They knew many things but had no idea why. And strangely this made them more, rather than less, certain that they were right.

>"That is the kind of beauty that I was trying to get you to see," Orolo told me. "Nothing is more important than that you see and love the beauty that is right in front of you, or else you will have no defense against the ugliness that will hem you in and come at you in so many ways."

>Thousands of years ago, the work that people did had been broken down into jobs that were the same every day, in organizations where people were interchangeable parts. All of the story had been bled out of their lives. That was how it had to be; it was how you got a productive economy. But it would be easy to see a will at work behind this: not exactly an evil will, but a selfish will. The people who made this system thus were jealous, not of money and not of power but of story. If their employees came home at day's end with interesting stories to tell, it meant something had gone wrong...

>There is no longer superposition. No wavefunction collapse. Just a lot of copies of me -- of my brain -- each really existing in a different parallel cosmos. The cosmos model residing in each of those parallel brains is really, definitely in one state or another. And they interfere with one another.

>Quantum interference -- the crosstalk among similar quantum states -- knits the different versions of your brain together.

>Hearing was worse than useless; I was sorry I'd been born with ears.

>And it happened all the time that the compromise between two perfectly rational altrnatives was something that made no sense at all.

>There is one universe, by the definition of *universe*. It is not the cosmos we see through our eyes and our telescopes -- *that* is but a single Narrative, a thread winding through a Hemm space shared by many other Narratives besides ours. Each Narrative looks like a cosmos alone, to any consciousness that partakes of it.

>...the only way to determine the direction of time's arrow was to measure the amount of disorder in a system. The cosmos seems oblivious to time. It only matters to us. Consciousness is time-constituting. We build time up out of instantaneous impressions that flow in through our sensory organs at each moment.

>We don't give our consciousness sufficient credit for its ability to take in noisy, ambiguous, contradictory givens from the senses, and sort it out... to confer *thisness* on what we perceive. ...absolutely necessary from an evolutionary standpoint...

>The full cosmos consists of the physical stuff and consciousness. Take away the consciouness and it's only dust; add consciousness and you get things, ideas, and time.

>"All right, already! I get it! The Hylaean Flow brings about convergent development of consciousness-bearing systems across worldtracks! But where is the payoff? There's got to be more to it than this big ship roaming from cosmos to cosmos collecting sample populations and embalming them in spheres."

>I thought that I was like a man lame in one leg, who learned to move about well enough that all awareness of his disability had passed out of his mind. And yet, when he tried to go on a journey, he kept finding himself back where he had started, since his weak leg made him go in circles. But if he found a partner who was weak in the other leg, and the two of them set out as companions...

>Then I happened to glance down at the coffin beside my knee, and wondered... Who had given the order...

>There are certain worldtracks -- certain states of affairs -- that are only compatible with certain persons' being...absent.

>Upsight: A sudden, usually unlooked-for moment of clear understanding.

>The mystic nails a symbol to one meaning that was true for a moment but soon becomes false. The poet, on the other hand, sees that truth *while it's true* but understands that symbols are always in flux and that their meanings are fleeting.... Anyway, my point is that guys like Flec have a weakness, almost a kind of addiction, for the mystical, as opposed to poetic, way of using their minds.

>...the evolution of our minds from bits of inanimate matter was more beautiful and more extraordinary than any of the miracles cataloged down through the ages by the religions of our world. And so he had an instinctive skepticism of any system of thought, religious or theorical, that pretended to encompass that miracle, and in so doing sought to draw limits around it.

>I was an adjunct professor, which means that I was given the most unpleasant and unrewarding teaching assignments with no opportunity for university-supported research, no job security, and no benefits. Also the pay was terrible...

>Well, that would challenge certain assumptions about the nature of reality that I did not even know I had.

Ancestral Night -- A White Space Novel. By Elizabeth Bear. 2019

### Ancestral Night. (17:00)
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/4256700/ancestral-night
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/4245835/ancestral-night
By [Elizabeth Bear](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Bear) (1971 – )

Reading Notes: This is thoroughly satisfying [science fiction](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science_fiction) / [space opera](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_opera) / [character study](https://writing.stackexchange.com/questions/38272/what-exactly-is-a-character-study). Interstellar salvage ship crew Haimey, Singer, and Connla (*and their two cats*) operate within the Synarche republic (*most of the of the Milky Way galaxy*) as treasure hunters. They find a wreck on the edge of inhabited space only to discover it was used to manufacture drugs using *people* as a major raw material. Central character "[Haimey, like most of the Synarche’s citizens, has implants that allow her to interface with technology as easily as most of us breathe. These implants also allow her to turn emotions on and off and even alter her personality and psychological makeup at will](https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2471851762)." While exploring the wreck, Haimey is infected with an alien (Koregoi) substance (*living aliens*?) that give her new senses. This salvage *discovery* was actually organized by revolutionaries and their partner pirates to lure Haimey into revealing secrets from her past -- a past that has been buried in the recesses of her pharmaceutically maintained consciousness. Pirate Farweather -- the image of unrestrained self-interest (*think Trump?*) -- battles with Haimey, who fights to maintain her chosen *moral compass* and altruism as they travel the galaxy. Although speeding along at [faster-than-light](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faster-than-light) velocity using "whitespace" technology (*created and managed "ripples" in space-time*), space remains gigantic, so there is a lot of time for character interactions and (*for Haimey*) personal reflection. They *discover* ancient -- yet advanced -- civilization-disrupting technology and...

[Overdrive Summary](https://www.overdrive.com/media/4245835/ancestral-night):
>A space salvager and her partner make the discovery of a lifetime that just might change the universe in this wild, big-ideas space opera from Hugo Award-winning author Elizabeth Bear. Halmey Dz and her partner Connla Kurucz are salvage operators, living just on the inside of the law...usually. Theirs is the perilous and marginal existence—with barely enough chance of striking it fantastically big—just once—to keep them coming back for more. They pilot their tiny ship into the scars left by unsuccessful White Transitions, searching for the relics of lost human and alien vessels. But when they make a shocking discovery about an alien species that has been long thought dead.

Review by Russell Letson: https://locusmag.com/2019/04/russell-letson-reviews-ancestral-night-by-elizabeth-bear/
Review by Russ Brown: https://sfbook.com/ancestral-night.htm
Lots of reviews on GoodReads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/26159745-ancestral-night
Reviews on Bookmarks: https://bookmarks.reviews/reviews/ancestral-night/

Anchorite. By Randall Garrett. 1962

### Anchorite. 1962
eBook: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/23561
Audio: https://librivox.org/anchorite-by-randall-garrett/ -- Running Time: 02:02:14
By [Randall Garrett](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Randall_Garrett) (1927-1987)

Reading Notes: This story (*and the Librivox summary below*) while entertaining and a worthwhile read, seems loosely like a science fiction expression of [Ayn Rand'ian romantic realism](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayn_Rand#Literary_approach_and_influences) -- with the central characters as heroic individualists or ignorant villains who emphasize duty to your team and collectivist moral ideals.
[Librivox Summary](https://librivox.org/anchorite-by-randall-garrett/):
>Randall Garrett sticks a sharp needle into our government and society in this wonderful story. He projects the current trends towards paternalistic government into the future. Yes, we have attained a world government and everyone is equal whether they want to be or not; everyone is taken care of no matter how incompetent, stupid or sleazy they are and everyone is out to undermine everyone else. The author predicts (sadly only too well) what the trends of today will eventually produce if allowed to continue. But wait! there is hope in the asteroid belt where jerks and incompetents are weeded out by hard physical laws and only those who possess common sense and the ability to actually survive are allowed to govern. But will the Earth government allow this to continue? Of course not. Listen to this great story to have a peek into the future.

The Andromeda Evolution. By Daniel H. Wilson. 2019

### The Andromeda Evolution. By Daniel H. Wilson. (10:00)
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/4608846/the-andromeda-evolution
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/4591747/the-andromeda-evolution
By [Daniel H. Wilson](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_H._Wilson) (1978 – )

Reading Notes: [The Andromeda Evolution](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Andromeda_Evolution) is a fast moving, entertaining technothriller. If you like the genera, this seems like a good match. It is the fourth novel published after [Michael Crichton](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Crichton)'s death in 2008, and is a sequel to his 1969 novel "[The Andromeda Strain](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Andromeda_Strain)." See the [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Andromeda_Evolution) or [OverDrive](https://www.overdrive.com/media/4608846/the-andromeda-evolution) summary if you need to know more details about the story...

See the Wikipedia Summary of [The Andromeda Evolution](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Andromeda_Evolution).

[OverDrive Summary](https://www.overdrive.com/media/4608846/the-andromeda-evolution):
>The Evolution is Coming.
>In 1967, an extraterrestrial microbe came crashing down to Earth and nearly ended the human race. Accidental exposure to the particle—designated The Andromeda Strain—killed every resident of the town of Piedmont, Arizona, save for an elderly man and an infant boy. Over the next five days, a team of top scientists assigned to Project Wildfire worked valiantly to save the world from an epidemic of unimaginable proportions. In the moments before a catastrophic nuclear detonation, they succeeded.
>In the ensuing decades, research on the microparticle continued. And the world thought it was safe...
>Deep inside Fairchild Air Force Base, Project Eternal Vigilance has continued to watch and wait for the Andromeda Strain to reappear. On the verge of being shut down, the project has registered no activity—until now. A Brazilian terrain-mapping drone has detected a bizarre anomaly of otherworldly matter in the middle of the jungle, and, worse yet, the tell-tale chemical signature of the deadly microparticle.
>With this shocking discovery, the next-generation Project Wildfire is activated, and a diverse team of experts hailing from all over the world is dispatched to investigate the potentially apocalyptic threat.
>But the microbe is growing—evolving. And if the Wildfire team can't reach the quarantine zone, enter the anomaly, and figure out how to stop it, this new Andromeda Evolution will annihilate all life as we know it.

Anomaly. By David Kazzie. 2019

### Anomaly. (10:00)
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/4871889/anomaly
eBook:
By [David Kazzie](https://david-kazzie.squarespace.com/) and on LI [David Kazzie](https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-kazzie-62a57444) ( – )

Reading Notes: Just OK. ...Scientist, Peter Abbott, disappears on research trip. Scientist's scientist wife, Claire Hamilton, moves on, builds new family. Twelve years later *Scientist wife* goes on mission to find first husband & *meet* first alien visitor(s). Government conspiracy. Conflict. Sciencey-stuff then alien visitor(s) disappear/leave. Most of the story is what seems to me to be kind of *stiff* dialog between main characters and inside their heads -- main characters who are not well fleshed out characters.

Review on [errantdreams.com](https://www.errantdreams.com/): [https://www.errantdreams.com/...anomaly-david-kazzie/](https://www.errantdreams.com/2018/12/review-anomaly-david-kazzie/)

The Anomaly. By Hervé Le Tellier. 2020 French/2021 English

### The Anomaly. (10:00)
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/6104021/the-anomaly
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/6093663/the-anomaly
By [Hervé Le Tellier](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herv%C3%A9_Le_Tellier) (1957 – )

Reading Notes: At the outset, this story may seem like an extended series of lightly-connected expert-level creative writing exercises. Stick with it. About four hours in -- yes "**4**" -- we begin to get some important context, and I think that the story becomes one that should hold your interest (and more). It did mine. After thinking about this book a little, to me it has parallels to a vast chapel ceiling by Michelangelo at his peak -- via the written word. I wonder what sparks, what raging fires of creativity and supporting knowledge, craft and effort propel the author to *this* result. "[The Anomaly](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Anomaly_(novel))" is the first work by [Hervé Le Tellier](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herv%C3%A9_Le_Tellier) that I have read/heard. This seems like an important book because of Le Tellier's sensitivity to culture and the breadth of cultures he incorporated into the story. Again and again that silent question surfaced -- "how did he do that?" (*if you really need to know more about the story before deciding to read it, see the [Wikipedia summary](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Anomaly_(novel)) or the [summary on Overdrive](https://www.overdrive.com/media/6093663/the-anomaly)*).

Wikipedia Summary: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Anomaly_(novel)

The Antidote -- A Novel. By Karen Russell. 2025

### The Antidote -- A Novel (18:00)
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/10971475/the-antidote
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/10908992/the-antidote
By [Karen Russell](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karen_Russell) and [at her site](https://www.karenrussellauthor.com/about) (1981 – )

Reading Notes: Ron Charles described "The Antidote" as "[dazzlingly original and ambitious](https://wapo.st/3XS0r2D)." I couldn't agree more. The action takes place in South Central [Nebraska](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nebraska) between the [Republican](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republican_River) and [Platte](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Platte_River) rivers between the 1870s and the mid-1930s, including in the fictional town of Uz. There are a number of narrators in this historical novel -- Antonina Teresa Rossi (AKA, "The Antidote"), a prairie witch who acts as a bank or “vault” for anything local residents want to forget(*but may want to retrieve*), Asphodel “Dell” Oletsky, an orphan, a high school age basketball player (*and much more*), Harp Oletsky, farmer and Dell's Uncle & guardian, son of Polish peasants who emigrated to the U.S. in the late 19th century to become farmers in [Nebraska](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nebraska) (*displacing Native Americans*), Cleo Allfrey, a Black photographer, sent by the [New Deal](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Deal) [Resettlement Administration](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resettlement_Administration) to document farm life, a [scarecrow](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scarecrow) and a mother cat. Parallel threads of racism, cultural genocide, morality policing, corruption, violence and waste lead the characters to each other and begin the next phases of their lives.
My wife and I listened to this book on a long drive West (*Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas & plains Colorado*) and it was a good fit.
See one or more of the reviews below for more...

NYT Review by [Victor LaValle](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victor_LaValle): [nytimes.com/...karen-russell-the-antidote](https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/12/books/review/karen-russell-the-antidote.html?unlocked_article_code=1.4U8.CvlK.RdtN0hayrjSa&smid=url-share) (*free access*)
Washington Post Review by [Ron Charles](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ron_Charles_(critic)): [washingtonpost.com/...antidote-karen-russell-review](https://wapo.st/3XS0r2D)
Review / author interview by [Matthew Trueherz](): [www.pdxmonthly.com/...interview-the-antidote](https://www.pdxmonthly.com/arts-and-culture/2025/03/karen-russell-interview-the-antidote)

Apiary Experiments. Foundation in Comb Building. By C. P. (Clarence Preston) Gillette. 1900

### Apiary experiments. Foundation in comb building. 1900
By [C. P. (Clarence Preston) Gillette](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clarence_Preston_Gillette) (1859-1941)
Publication info: Fort Collins, Colo, The Experiment station, 1900
Notes: "Bulletin 54. The Agricultural experiment station of the Agricultural college of Colorado."
eBook: https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/bibliography/55796
and: https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/116514#page/8/mode/1up
and: https://ia801301.us.archive.org/16/items/cu31924003192543/cu31924003192543.pdf

Reading Notes: The title says it all... If you have any interest in how honey bees build their honey combs, this might be a useful, short introduction to the subject.

Arch-Conspirator. By Veronica Roth. 2023

### Arch-Conspirator (3:00)
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/8958964/arch-conspirator
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/8918095/arch-conspirator
By [Veronica Roth](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veronica_Roth) (1988 – )

Reading Notes: This short story (*3 hours*) incorporates many kinds of loss -- in the end, most of the characters choose their death. This is probably not a story for the already depressed.

Summary from [the author's book website](https://veronicarothbooks.com/books/arch-conspirator/):
>Outside the last city on Earth, the planet is a wasteland. Without the Archive, where the genes of the dead are stored, humanity will end. Antigone's parents -- Oedipus and Jocasta -- are dead. Passing into the Archive should be cause for celebration, but with her militant uncle Kreon rising to claim her father's vacant throne, all Antigone feels is rage. When he welcomes her and her siblings into his mansion, Antigone sees it for what it really is: a gilded cage, where she is a captive as well as a guest. But her uncle will soon learn that no cage is unbreakable. And neither is he.

Argylle. By Elly Conway. 2024

### Argylle (14:00)
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/9381882/argylle
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/10043420/argylle
By [Elizabeth "Elly" Conway](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_Hayes) is an author pseudonym for the writing team of [Terry Hayes](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_Hayes) and [Tammy Cohen](https://tammycohen.co.uk) ( – )

Reading Notes: If you are looking for an [action](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Action_fiction) story, this seems like a good option. A young agent with a complex back story exhibits *super* skills in a mission to defang a rising Russian autocrat.

An Army at Dawn: The War in North Africa, 1942-1943 (Abridged) · The Liberation Trilogy. By Rick Atkinson. 2002

### An Army at Dawn: The War in North Africa, 1942-1943 (Abridged) (7:00)
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/76360/an-army-at-dawn-the-war-in-north-africa-1942-1943
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/510753/an-army-at-dawn-the-war-in-north-africa-1942-1943
By [Rick Atkinson](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Atkinson) (1952 – )

Reading Notes: The first year of the Allied war.

OverDrive Summary:
>Beginning with the daring amphibious invasion in November 1942, An Army at Dawn follows the American and British armies as they fight the French in Morocco and Algeria, and then take on the Germans and Italians in Tunisia. Battle by battle, an inexperienced and sometimes poorly led army gradually becomes a superb fighting force. Central to the tale are the extraordinary but fallible commanders who come to dominate the battlefield: Eisenhower, Patton, Bradley, Montgomery, and Rommel. [OverDrive](https://www.overdrive.com/media/510753/an-army-at-dawn-the-war-in-north-africa-1942-1943)

Arsenals of Folly -- The Making of the Nuclear Arms Race. By Richard Rhodes. 2007

### Arsenals of Folly. (14:11)
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/138702/arsenals-of-folly
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/148008/arsenals-of-folly
By [Richard Rhodes](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Rhodes) (1937 – )
886 pages (hardcover)

Reading Notes: I lived through the period covered in this book and was reminded of the many ways individuals coveting power lied about non-existant "*secrets*" and then exaggerated *threats* to justify their actions. I think it should be required reading for anyone who finds themselves believing political or military actors who use lies and/or fear to motivate their followers and justify their actions. There is [a lot of science supporting the negative impacts of lying and dishonesty on the human brain](https://duckduckgo.com/?q=what+lying+does+to+the+brain&t=h_&ia=web) and this book appears to illustrate some critical outcomes when leaders (*at many levels*) make lying and exaggerating threats a habit. At the end of the book, Rhodes argued that the the military investments driven by the repeated fake intelligence and threat inflation displaced *trillions of dollars* in social and infrastructure investments, leaving the U.S. much worse off than it would have been. Many of the same *characters* repeatedly appear through the Reagan, Bush *senior* and Bush (*junior*) adminstrations. Some of them also helped create academic *research* and public and private policy organizations to nurture new generations to carry on and evolve their ideas and practices. Their progeny remain influential today. Richard Rhodes shares a *lot* of detail throughout this historical nonfiction book. Unless you have an interest in Nuclear Weapons and their proliferation from the 1960s through the early 1990s this book might be a slog.

Presentation by Rhodes on Arsenals of Folly, November 1, 2007, [C-SPAN](https://www.c-span.org/video/?202128-1/arsenals-folly)
[OverDrive Summary](https://www.overdrive.com/media/148008/arsenals-of-folly):
>In a narrative that moves like a thriller, Rhodes sheds light on the Reagan administration’s unprecedented arms buildup in the early 1980s, as well as the arms-reduction campaign that followed, and Reagan’s famous 1986 summit meeting with Gorbachev. Rhodes’s detailed exploration of events of this time constitutes a prehistory of the neoconservatives, demonstrating that the manipulation of government and public opinion with fake intelligence and threat inflation that the administration of George W. Bush has used to justify the current “war on terror” and the disastrous invasion of Iraq were developed and applied in the Reagan era and even before. Drawing on personal interviews with both Soviet and U.S. participants, and on a wealth of new documentation, memoir literature, and oral history that has become available only in the past ten years, Rhodes recounts what actually happened in the final years of the Cold War that led to its dramatic end. The story is new, compelling, and continually surprising -– a revelatory re-creation of a hugely important era of our recent history.

At the Mountains of Madness. By H. P. Lovecraft. 1936

### At the Mountains of Madness. (4:13)
https://librivox.org/at-the-mountains-of-madness-by-h-p-lovecraft/
Text: https://archive.org/details/Astounding_v16n06_1936-02_frankenscan/page/n9/mode/2up
Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/At_the_Mountains_of_Madness
By [H. P. Lovecraft](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H._P._Lovecraft) (1890 - 1937)

Reader's Notes:
Horror, supernatural, scienct fiction expertly read by Ben Tucker.
For context, you might want to see [Cthulhu Mythos](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cthulhu_Mythos).

[Librivox Summary](https://librivox.org/at-the-mountains-of-madness-by-h-p-lovecraft/:
>"In the most cold and remote region of the planet lies mountains towering higher than the Himalayas and containing abominable secrets the mind can scarcely fathom. When an intrepid expedition stumbles across the remains of an ancient race of creatures that predates humanity by millions of years, they believe they've discovered the scientific find of the century. Instead, they've unearthed a terror beyond all reckoning which may devour them both body and soul. Enter into the icy realms of one of H. P. Lovecraft's most seminal cornerstones of the Cthulhu mythos.... If you dare!" - Summary by [Ben Tucker](https://librivox.org/at-the-mountains-of-madness-by-h-p-lovecraft/)

Atlantis. By Gerhart Hauptmann, 1912

### Atlantis (13:59)
https://librivox.org/atlantis-by-gerhart-hauptmann/
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/17241
By [Gerhart Hauptmann](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerhart_Hauptmann) (1862 - 1946) Published 1912
Translated by **Adele Szold Seltzer** (1876 - 1940)
Reader Notes: This is an interesting story -- in places it seemed *long* and unnecessarily wandering.
Librivox [Summary](https://librivox.org/atlantis-by-gerhart-hauptmann/):
>Frederick von Kammacher is a young doctor in Germany whose wife has gone *insane*, whose children are in a boarding school, and whose career has been destroyed by some faulty research he has published. He becomes infatuated with a teenage dancer, and on a whim he boards the the same steamship the dancer is on bound for New York. Hauptmann was heralded as a seer for his description of what happens to their steamship mid-ocean, and what in reality happened to the Titanic only months later.
Summary/Review by "[Steve R](https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3265689713)" on GoodReads.

Atomic! By Henry Kuttner. 1947

### Atomic! (1:01)
https://librivox.org/atomic-by-henry-kuttner/
Text: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/68167
By [Henry Kuttner](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Kuttner) (1915 - 1958)

Reader's Notes:
More juvenile/young adult science fiction -- lots of *unlikely* human behaviors throughout. See the Librivox summary... Add in an assumption that *mind control* is a natural/normal activity.
[Librivox Summary](https://librivox.org/atomic-by-henry-kuttner/):
>"What nuclear war may do to the world we know is a closed book to mankind—but here’s what coming eras may bring!" After nuclear war, scientists in Biological Control Labs monitor the former bomb sites, fearing that a mutated animal will develop the intelligence and power to become a threat to humans. One day, men sent to investigate alarms activated in the nuclear wasteland in the New York area find more than they bargained for. - Summary by [Elsie Selwyn](https://librivox.org/atomic-by-henry-kuttner/)

Attack from Within -- How Disinformation Is Sabotaging America. By Barbara McQuade. 2024

### Attack from Within -- How Disinformation Is Sabotaging America. (10:29)
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/10335398/attack-from-within
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/9830572/attack-from-within
By [Barbara McQuade](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbara_McQuade) (1964 – )

Reading Notes: This is an excellent essay. Read or listen to it.

[Overdrive Summary]():
>(Barbara McQuade) breaks down the ways disinformation has become a tool to drive voters to extremes, disempower our legal structures, and consolidate power in the hands of the few. American society is more polarized than ever before. We are strategically being pushed apart by disinformation-the deliberate spreading of lies disguised as truth-and it comes at us from all sides: opportunists on the far right, Russian misinformed social media influencers, among others. It's endangering our democracy and causing havoc in our electoral system, schools, hospitals, workplaces, and in our Capitol. Advances in technology including rapid developments in artificial intelligence threaten to make the problems even worse by amplifying false claims and manufacturing credibility. In Attack from Within, legal scholar and analyst Barbara McQuade, shows us how to identify the ways disinformation is seeping into all facets of our society and how we can fight against it. Disinformation is designed to evoke a strong emotional response to push us toward more extreme views, unable to find common ground with others. The false claims that led to the breathtaking attack on our Capitol in 2020 may have been only a dress rehearsal. Attack from Within shows us how to prevent it from happening again, thus preserving our country's hard-won democracy.

#1 Aubrey & Maturin Series: Master and Commander. By Patrick O'Brian. 1969/1970/2005/2011

### Master and Commander. By Patrick O'Brian. (13:26)
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/61448/master-and-commander
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/676907/master-and-commander
By [Patrick O'Brian](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrick_O%27Brian) (1914 – 2000)

Reading Notes: If you enjoy sailing novels or [historical novels](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historical_novel) set in the earliest 19th century, or [naval histories](ttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nautical_fiction) I recommend this series. (*I read this series in the 1990s. This is the start of my re-reading.*) Patrick O'Brian introduces a collection of characters who will play core roles in the rest of the series and does so emphasizing their strengths and weaknesses and the stage of their careers and/or station in life/society (*which will evolve throughout this excellent series*). "Master and Commander" (*from [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Master_and_Commander)*) "is a [nautical](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nautical_fiction) [historical novel](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historical_novel) set at the turn of the 19th century. It focuses on two characters: the young Jack Aubrey, a [Royal Navy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Navy) lieutenant who has just been promoted to the rank of [Master and Commander](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commander_(Royal_Navy)), effectively a captain, and Stephen Maturin, a destitute physician and naturalist whom Aubrey appoints as his [naval surgeon](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ship%27s_doctor). They sail in HM [sloop-of-war](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sloop-of-war) Sophie with [first lieutenant](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_lieutenant) James Dillon, a wealthy and aristocratic Irishman. The naval action in the Mediterranean is closely based on the real-life exploits of [Lord Cochrane](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Cochrane,_10th_Earl_of_Dundonald), including a battle modelled after Cochrane's spectacular victory in the brig [HMS Speedy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Speedy_(1782)) over the vastly superior Spanish frigate [El Gamo](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_frigate_El_Gamo)."

Wikipedia Summary of Master and Commander: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Master_and_Commander](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Master_and_Commander)
Principal characters mentioned in Master and Commander: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Master_and_Commander#Principal_characters](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Master_and_Commander#Principal_characters)
Ships mentioned in Master and Commander: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Master_and_Commander#Ships](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Master_and_Commander#Ships)
Wikipedia Summary of the Aubrey–Maturin series: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aubrey%E2%80%93Maturin_series](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aubrey%E2%80%93Maturin_series)
Recurring characters in the Aubrey–Maturin series: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recurring_characters...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recurring_characters_in_the_Aubrey%E2%80%93Maturin_series)

#2 Aubrey & Maturin Series: Post Captain. By Patrick O'Brian. 2011/2009/1990/1972

### Post Captain. By Patrick O'Brian. (16:00)
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/74610/post-captain
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/676909/post-captain
By [Patrick O'Brian](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrick_O%27Brian) (1914 – 2000)

Reading Notes: If you enjoy sailing novels or [historical novels](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historical_novel) set in the earliest 19th century, or [naval histories](ttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nautical_fiction) I recommend this series. Patrick O'Brian introduces a few more characters who will play core roles in the rest of the series. "Post Captain" (*from [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post_Captain_(novel))*) is a [nautical](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nautical_fiction) [historical novel](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historical_novel) set at the turn of the 19th century. "During the brief [Peace of Amiens](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peace_of_Amiens), Aubrey and Maturin live in a country house in England, where they meet women with whom they fall in love. The mores of courtship restrict both men as to making marriage proposals. Then their lives are turned upside down when Aubrey loses his money due to decisions of the prize court and a dishonest prize-agent. To avoid seizure for debt, they proceed through France to Maturin's property in Spain. When the war begins afresh, Aubrey has a command aboard HMS *Polychrest*, gaining fewer prizes yet succeeding in his military goals. He is eventually promoted and is given temporary command of the frigate HMS *Lively* while its captain is ashore. The emotions of his love life interfere with his ways at sea, showing him sharply different in his decisiveness at sea compared to his clumsiness on land."

Wikipedia Summary of Post Captain: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post_Captain_(novel)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post_Captain_(novel))
Principal characters mentioned in Post Captain: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post_Captain_(novel)#Principal_characters](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post_Captain_(novel)#Principal_characters)
Ships mentioned in Post Captain: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post_Captain_(novel)#Ships](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post_Captain_(novel)#Ships)
Wikipedia Summary of the Aubrey–Maturin series: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aubrey%E2%80%93Maturin_series](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aubrey%E2%80%93Maturin_series)
Recurring characters in the Aubrey–Maturin series: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recurring_characters...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recurring_characters_in_the_Aubrey%E2%80%93Maturin_series)

Audubon's Western Journal: 1849-1850. By John Woodhouse Audubon. 1906

### Audubon's Western Journal: 1849-1850 -- Being the MS. record of a trip from New York to Texas, and an overland journey through Mexico and Arizona to the gold-fields of California. (5:28)
https://librivox.org/audubons-western-journal-1849-1850-by-john-woodhouse-audubon/
Text: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/58575
By [John Woodhouse Audubon](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Woodhouse_Audubon) (1812 - 1862)
With biographical memoir by his daughter [Maria Rebecca Audubon](http://www.audubonparkny.com/audubonfamily.html) (1843-1925)
Introduction, notes, and index by [Frank Heywood Hodder](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Heywood_Hodder) (1860-1935)

Reading Notes: This travel journal provides a little access into the brutality of cross-country travel in 1849 in what is now the Southern and Western United States.
Librivox Summary:
>"[John Woodhouse Audubon](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Woodhouse_Audubon) (1812-1862), son of the famous painter [John James Audubon](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_James_Audubon) and an artist in his own right, joined Col. Henry Webb's California Company expedition in 1849. From New Orleans the expedition sailed to the Rio Grande; it headed west overland through northern Mexico and through Arizona to San Diego, California. Cholera and outlaws decimated the group. Many of them turned back, including the leader. Audubon assumed command of those remaining and they pushed on to California, although he was forced to abandon his paints and canvases in the desert…. Throughout the whole of this long journey Mr. Audubon took notes of scenes and occurrences by the way. In his descriptions he exhibits the keen observation of the naturalist and the trained eye of the artist. The result is a remarkable picture of social conditions in Mexico, of birds and trees, of sky and mountains and the changing face of nature, of the barrenness of the desert and the difficulties of the journey, of the ruined missions of California, of methods of mining, and of the chaos of races and babel of tongues in the gold fields. It was manifestly impossible to keep a daily journal, and the entries were made from time to time as opportunity occurred. Considering the circumstances under which they were taken, the notes are remarkable for their accuracy. Because it was not edited by Audubon, the text (and this recording) ends abruptly." - ([Summary by [Book Introduction](https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/58575/pg58575-images.html#Page_11) and [David Wales](https://librivox.org/audubons-western-journal-1849-1850-by-john-woodhouse-audubon/))

Auguste Rodin. By Rainer Maria Rilke. 1919

### Auguste Rodin. (1:53)
https://librivox.org/auguste-rodin-by-rainer-maria-rilke/
Text: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/45605
Reference: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auguste_Rodin
By [Rainer Maria Rilke](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainer_Maria_Rilke) (1875 - 1926)
Translated by [Jessie Lemont](https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Author:Jessie_Lemont) (1862 - 1947)

Reading Notes: This is not a traditional biography. It is worth a couple hours while pulling weeds, gardening, dusting, etc. but I cannot recommend it to anyone wanting a 'traditional' biography of Rodin or a review of his artistic work.

Librivox Summary:
>Rodin has pronounced Rilke's essay the supreme interpretation of his work. (From the translators' Preface)

>Auguste Rodin, 1840-1917, was a French sculptor. Although Rodin is generally considered the progenitor of modern sculpture, he did not set out to rebel against the past. He was schooled traditionally, took a craftsman-like approach to his work, and desired academic recognition, although he was never accepted into Paris's foremost school of art. Sculpturally, Rodin possessed a unique ability to model a complex, turbulent, deeply pocketed surface in clay. … Rodin… modeled the human body with realism, and celebrated individual character and physicality. From the unexpected realism of his first major figure… to the unconventional memorials whose commissions he later sought, Rodin's reputation grew, such that he became the preeminent French sculptor of his time. By 1900, he was a world-renowned artist.

>Rainer Maria Rilke (1875-1926) was a Bohemian-Austrian poet and novelist, "widely recognized as one of the most lyrically intense German-language poets", writing in both verse and highly lyrical prose. Several critics have described Rilke's work as inherently "mystical"…. [Rilke's] encounter with modernism was very stimulating: Rilke became deeply involved in the sculpture of Rodin, and then with the work of Paul Cézanne. For a time he acted as Rodin's secretary, also lecturing and writing a long essay on Rodin and his work. Rodin taught him the value of objective observation… - ([Summary from the Foreword by Herman George Scheffauer](https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/61284))

Aurora, By Kim Stanley Robinson. 2015

### Aurora (17:00)
https://www.overdrive.com/media/2234713/aurora
By [Kim Stanley Robinson](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kim_Stanley_Robinson) (1952 - )
Kim Stanley Robinson bibliography: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kim_Stanley_Robinson_bibliography

Reader's Notes: Another excellent book!
A [generation ship](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generation_ship) is launched from Earth in 2545 at 0.1 c (i.e. traveling at 108,000,000 km/h or 10% the speed of light). It includes twenty-four self-contained biomes and an average population of two thousand people. Their destination is the Tau Ceti system to begin colonization of a planet's moon, an Earth analog, which has been named Aurora.
The book follows Devi (the ship's de facto chief engineer and leader) and Freya (Devi's daughter) and the ship's AI quantum computer through a journey of discovery.

Wikipedia Summary/Review: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aurora_(novel)

The Aviators -- Eddie Rickenbacker, Jimmy Doolittle, Charles Lindbergh, and the Epic Age of Flight. By Winston Groom. 2013

### The Aviators -- Eddie Rickenbacker, Jimmy Doolittle, Charles Lindbergh, and the Epic Age of Flight. (17:00)
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/1418113/the-aviators
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/1311441/the-aviators
By [Winston Groom](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winston_Groom) (1943 - 2020)

Reading Notes: This includes capsule popular *biographies* of [Eddie Rickenbacker](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eddie_Rickenbacker), [Jimmy Doolittle](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimmy_Doolittle) and [Charles Lindbergh](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Lindbergh) -- each of which became self-made avaition leaders by the late 1920s and returned as middle-aged men to military avaition leadership in World War II. Theirs are interesting stories. If you don't know much about these three individuals, this book might be an entertaining place to start.

The Awakening. By Kate Chopin, 1900

### The Awakening (5:14)
Audio: https://librivox.org/the-awakening-by-kate-chopin/
Audio: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/23724
eBook: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/160
By [Kate Chopin](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kate_Chopin) (1850 - 1904)
Publication date: 22 April 1900 (first edition was 1899 or earlier)

Wikipedia Summary: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Awakening_(Chopin_novel)

Barsk -- The Elephants' Graveyard. By Lawrence M. Schoen. 2015

### Barsk -- The Elephants' Graveyard. (12:00)
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/2557117/barsk
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/2229358/barsk
By [By Lawrence M. Schoen](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawrence_M._Schoen) and on [lawrencemschoen.com](http://www.lawrencemschoen.com/biography/) (1959 – )

Reading Notes: This is an interesting story that occurs in a sci-fi wrapper (*the storyline depends on some well-integrated sci-fi "science"*), but it also probes the nature of prejudice, greed, hate, friendship, self-awareness, ethics, culture & social norms and much more. The author's *story-telling* drew me in and kept me engaged. In the distant future "the Alliance" -- a hundred or more different highly advanced anthropomorphic mammal species (*think: elephant, otter, domestic dog, cheetah, bear, prairie dog, panda, sloth, yak, etc.*) -- elephants or "Fants" occupy planet Barsk and are an outcast race. Fants control the secret manufacture of "koph" a drug that enables a small minority of users (*Speakers*) to converse with the dead. The storyline starts as we learn that someone or some peoples are attempting to learn how to make koph and are willing to use extreme measures to gain that knowledge. On Barsk, Fant Jorl ben Tral is a historian and a Speaker knows his best friend Arlo recently committed suicide. Jorl is a mentor/friend of his dead friend's 6 year old son Pizlo ben Arlo, who is shunned as an “abomination” by the rest of the Fants because of his albinism & other health issues. Fant discovers that some people who where thought to be recently dead cannot summoned by a Speaker -- which should not be... If you want to learn more about the story -- including spoilers -- see the reviews linked below.

Author's Summary: http://www.lawrencemschoen.com/the-universe-of-barsk/
Review by Bill Capossere and Marion Deeds: https://fantasyliterature.com/reviews/barsk/
Review on [elitistbookreviews.com](https://elitistbookreviews.com/) by "[Dan](https://elitistbookreviews.com/ebr-team/dan/): https://elitistbookreviews.com/2016/11/03/barsk-the-elephants-graveyard/
Lots of reviews on GoodReads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28220629-the-elephants-graveyard

Bashan And I. By Thomas Mann. 1923

### Bashan And I. (4:13)
https://librivox.org/bashan-and-i-by-thomas-mann/
Text: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/61284
By [Thomas Mann](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Mann) (1875 - 1955)
Translated by [Herman George Scheffauer](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herman_George_Scheffauer) (1876 - 1927)

Librivox Summary:
>Simple and unpretentious as a statement by Francis d'Assisi, yet full of a gentle modern sophistication and humour, this little work will bring delight and refreshment to all who seek flight from the heavy-laden hour. It is, moreover, one of the most subtle and penetrating studies of the psychology of the dog that has ever been written—tender yet unsentimental, realistic and full of the detail of masterly observation and description, yet in its final form and precipitation a work of exquisite literary art. - [Summary from the Foreword by Herman George Scheffauer](https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/61284)

The Beautiful Mystery. By Louise Penny. 2012

### The Beautiful Mystery. (10:00)
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/985444/the-beautiful-mystery
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/1012531/the-beautiful-mystery
By [Louise Penny](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louise_Penny) (1958- )

Reading Notes:
[Chief Inspector Armand Gamache](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chief_Inspector_Armand_Gamache) and Jean-Guy Beauvoir of the [Sûreté du Québec](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S%C3%BBret%C3%A9_du_Qu%C3%A9bec) investigate a murder at the remote monastery Saint-Gilbert-Entre-les-Loups. This was a good fit for a long car ride...

If you like this series or are considering starting it there is a site that has resources to help you decide *what next*, [https://www.gamacheseries.com/explore/series-re-read/](https://www.gamacheseries.com/explore/series-re-read/) -- outlining each of the volumes.

"Before the Coffee Gets Cold: A Toshikazu Kawaguchi Book Set" (numbers 1-3 in the series). By Toshikazu Kawaguchi 2020

### Before the Coffee Gets Cold: A Toshikazu Kawaguchi Book Set" (numbers 1-3 in the series). (19:00)
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/5431622/before-the-coffee-gets-cold
eBook: https://www.overdrive.com/media/4838030/before-the-coffee-gets-cold
By [Toshikazu Kawaguchi](https://www.panmacmillan.com/authors/toshikazu-kawaguchi/28093) (1971 – )

Reading Notes: Includes: "Before the Coffee Gets Cold" (2015), "Tales from the Café." (2022) and "Before Your Memory Fades." (2022)

Wikipedia Summary: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Before_the_Coffee_Gets_Cold
Review by [Antonia Hitchens](https://muckrack.com/antonia-hitchens/articles): [https://www.nytimes.com/...toshikazu-kawaguchi-tales-from-the-cafe.html](https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/14/books/review/as-you-were-elaine-feeney-sara-stridsberg-the-antarctica-of-love-toshikazu-kawaguchi-tales-from-the-cafe.html)
https://apa.si.edu/bookdragon/before-the-coffee-gets-cold-by-toshikazu-kawaguchi-translated-by-geoffrey-trousselot-in-christian-science-monitor/
https://www.bookseriesinorder.com/toshikazu-kawaguchi/
https://www.harpercollins.com/products/before-the-coffee-gets-cold-a-toshikazu-kawaguchi-book-set-toshikazu-kawaguchi?variant=41049284083746

Behind a Mask, or a Woman's Power. By Louisa May Alcott. 1866

### Behind a Mask, or a Woman's Power. (4:08)
https://librivox.org/behind-a-mask-by-louisa-may-alcott/
Text: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/8677
By [Louisa May Alcott](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louisa_May_Alcott) (1832 - 1888)
Reader Notes: First, see the [Wikipedia Summary](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Behind_a_Mask). This may be more than a simple 19th century family drama. Jean Muir manipulates males who range from their late teens to (*maybe*) their middle sixties -- men who do her bidding in *virtually* total self-interest, the desire to "have her." As a male reader, this all seemed a little *too easy*, *too convenient*. Yet, Ms. Alcott may have been more successful at building (*and crushing*) widely assumed male and female archetypes. In any case, she leaves much of the Coventry family damaged. And left the reader wondering how these characters went about their roles in mid-19th century British society...
Wikipedia Summary: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Behind_a_Mask
Librivox Summary:
>"Fans of Louisa May Alcott's Little Women will remember that her heroine Jo wrote racy novels before turning her hand to more "serious" literature. Alcott, writing under the pseudonym A. M. Barnard, often did the same, and Behind a Mask (1866) is one of her sensation novels. It focuses on Jean Muir, who enters the home of the wealthy Coventry family as governess to their sixteen-year-old daughter. But is the beguiling Miss Muir all that she seems to be?" [Summary by Elizabeth Klett](https://librivox.org/behind-a-mask-by-louisa-may-alcott/)

Bernard Treves's Boots; A Novel Of The Secret Service. By Laurence Clarke. 1920

### Bernard Treves's Boots; A Novel Of The Secret Service. (10:08)
https://librivox.org/bernard-treves-boots-a-novel-of-the-secret-service-by-laurence-clarke/
Text: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/42459
By [Laurence Clarke (Laurence Ayscough)](https://prabook.com/web/laurence_ayscough.clarke/744839) and [1911 census info](https://www.findmypast.co.uk/1911-census/laurence-ayscough-clarke-rg14/00597/0099/1-546d1f6b-9fd1-45be-8c7b-c0d7e4bf353c) and [family tree](https://www.ancestry.com/genealogy/records/laurence-ayscough-clarke-24-21rqnpz) (1873 - 1942)

Reading Notes: This story is based upon a member of the British secret services finding a [doppelgänger](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doppelg%C3%A4nger) of a known German spy in WWI England -- so *perfect* a match that the spy's wife and his father could not tell them apart. If you can get by that, the story of intrigue moves rapidly and characters are *human-enough* to make it a pleasant listen.
Librivox Summary:
>What has Manton gotten himself into? His impersonation has broader implications -- and more dangerous ones -- than he had imagined. - ([Summary by David Wales](https://librivox.org/bernard-treves-boots-a-novel-of-the-secret-service-by-laurence-clarke/))

The Best Church Hymns. 1898

### The Best Church Hymns. (1:38)
https://librivox.org/the-best-church-hymns-by-louis-fitzgerald-benson/
Text: https://archive.org/details/bestch00bens
Related: https://www.logcollegepress.com/louis-fitzgerald-benson-18551930
By [Louis Fitzgerald Benson](http://www.hymntime.com/tch/bio/b/e/n/s/benson_lf.htm) and [https://www.jstor.org/stable/23332603](https://www.jstor.org/stable/23332603) (1855 - 1930)

Reading Notes: This is an *odd,* short book, that includes the reading of representative sections of roughly 30 hymns. I enjoyed listening to the sometimes clever and sometimes magical rhymes and word-play represented in some of the best.
Librivox Summary:
>This 1898 book is the result of a survey of 107 hymn-books. The thirty-two hymns are ranked in order of popularity. The texts in this recording are said only, not sung, along with a few explanatory notes for each hymn (some footnotes, not all, here recorded). The texts are preceded by two essays concerning hymns and their standards. Benson (1855-1930) was an American Presbyterian minister who edited several hymnals. - ([Summary by David Wales](https://librivox.org/biographical-notice-of-nicolo-paganini-with-an-analysis-of-his-compositions-and-a-sketch-of-the-history-of-the-violin-by-francois-joseph-fetis/))

The Big Sky: A Novel. By A. B. Guthrie, Jr. 1947

### The Big Sky.
Book: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Big_Sky_(novel) (*It seems [widely available](https://duckduckgo.com/?t=h_&q=the+big+sky+by+a.b.+guthrie+jr&ia=web) in libraries and commercially.*)
Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/1222142/the-big-sky (14:24)
By [A.B.Guthrie, Jr. (Alfred Bertram Guthrie, Jr.)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A._B._Guthrie_Jr.) (1901 - 1991)

Reader notes: A classic [western](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_(genre)) novel. It begins in the 1830s about Boone Caudill, Jim Deakins, and Dick Summers.
After a fight with his father, *Boone* takes his unconscious father's rifle and runs away to *the West* and *the mountains*. Boone starts his flight as a scared child, but as he overcomes numerous challenges facing him as a penniless runaway he gains confidence in himself and in his *plan* to head *West*. Jim Deakins joins *Boone* along the road in Kentucky. In St. Louis they join a [keelboat](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keelboat) team that includes Dick Summers heading up the Missouri River -- headed West. After their keelboat meets with disaster, they stick together trapping and hunting in the mountains for years. When Dick Summers *goes back East* as an *old man*, Boone and Jim continue together and spend time with the Blackfeet Piegan Indians. Then Boone travels back to Kentucky after receiving a letter from his mother. Finally, Boone begins a journey West again, stopping to talk with Dick Summers, now farming in Missouri, and coming to a vague *understanding* that *The West* of his dreams is gone and his behavior has left him unmoored and without a sense of his future.
The story's central character Boone Caudill learns to be an expert trapper, hunter, and tracker -- *joining* nature and observing his environment with all his senses. He is able to endure enormous suffering from long travel on horseback and on foot and camping in melting heat and sharp cold, from injury, and from lack of food. As far as that goes, he is a classic, maybe even heroic "[mountain man](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mountain_man)." But from many perspectives, Boone Caudill also seems like an anti-hero. He steals a gun, steals a boat, steals horses, murders repeatedly without remorse. He is often ill-tempered, unfriendly, even hostile. He is inarticulate in speech and thought. This combination often makes him a rough, sporatically dangerous, even malicious character.
A.B.Guthrie's writing is the hero of this story. He drew me in and took me on repeated journeys through the mountains, plains and rivers of the 1830s American mountain West. His humans seem human, and I could *see* and *feel* the world within which the story took place. Through character's thinking and dialog, the author also presents a range of attitudes and perspectives toward the land and resource *theft*, the cultural and literal genocide of indigenous peoples that was practiced across the American West in the 19th century.
If you are interested in the topic of *mountain men* in the 19th century but want non-fiction, you might try the biography of [Joseph L. Meek](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Meek), "[Eleven Years in the Rocky Mountains and Life on the Frontier](https://mccright.github.io/rrl/AudioBooks/)." By [Frances A. Fuller Victor](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frances_Fuller_Victor), 1870. Audio: https://librivox.org/eleven-years-in-the-rocky-mountains-and-a-life-on-the-frontier-by-frances-a-fuller-victor/ (13:39) and text: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/39465
My copy of this book was a loan from a brother-in-law. It was printed in 1980 and included a helpful map in the front. This was excellent recreational reading and I recommend it to everyone having even a hint of interest in this genre!
This is the first book in a series that also includes: "[The Way West](#the_way_west_by_a_b_guthrie)." and "[Fair Land, Fair Land](#fair_land_fair_land_by_a_b_guthrie_jr)." (*see their entries on this page*)

Wikipedia Summary: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Big_Sky_(novel)
Additional Resources: https://westernamericanliterature.com/a-b-guithre/

Big Sur. By Jack Kerouac. 1962

### Big Sur (6:23)
https://librivox.org/big-sur-by-jack-kerouac/
Text: https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.31822033766825&view=1up&seq=1
By [Jack Kerouac](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Kerouac) (1922 - 1969). Published 1962
See [Wikipedia Summary](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Sur_(novel))

Reading Notes: I *got through* roughly half of this book and have *given up*. The only food that I find repulsive is canned beets... For me, the attitude and repetition of this book has a little of that canned beet flavor, and I will likely never finish it.

Wikipedia Summary: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Sur_(novel)

Librivox Summary:
>This classic of the beatnik era from famous bohemian traveller Jack Kerouac focuses on Jack Dulouz, a thinly veiled Kerouac surrogate, and his attempts to reconcile his new found success as an author with his battle with alcoholism amid trips to a cabin in Big Sur in California. [Summary by Ben Tucker](https://librivox.org/big-sur-by-jack-kerouac/)

Billy Budd. By Herman Melville. 1924

### Billy Budd. (3:07)
Audio: https://librivox.org/billy-budd-by-herman-melville/
eBook1: https://melville.electroniclibrary.org/versions-of-billy-budd
eBook2: https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.b3549801&view=1up&seq=7
By [Herman Melville](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herman_Melville) (1819 - 1891)

Reading Notes: This is an interesting story. After listening to it I went back and read it to ensure that I caught as much of the text as possible. I don't know what to think about "Billy Budd" other than it strikes me as an excellent story well told. There are [a range of interpretations](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billy_Budd#Literary_significance_and_reception).
```NOTE:``` *I'm now veering off into strongly opinionated territory which may not be useful in helping you decide to read this book but satisfies my need to scratch a particular itch*... The story includes a couple of what my life experiences leads me to believe are *universal* characters. First, the extraordinarly good looking and socially successful Billy Budd, described by Captain Vere as "the young fellow who seems so popular with the men -- Billy, the Handsome Sailor." And second, the Master-at-arms John Claggart characterized by Melville as driven by his "spiritual depravity" and "envy," seems like a *type* too often encountered in any long life, and currently (*Spring 2025*) headlined by *example #1* Donald J. Trump, and to a lessor extent a tribe of his sycophantic minions...

Wikipedia Summary: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billy_Budd
[Librivox Summary](https://librivox.org/billy-budd-by-herman-melville/):
>Young naive sailor Billy Budd is impressed into military service with the British navy in the 1790s, framed for conspiracy to mutiny [*who strikes and inadvertently kills his false accuser, Master-at-arms John Claggart,"the direct reverse of a saint" and envious of Billy*], summarily convicted in a drum-head court martial, and hanged. Billy Budd is the final published work by Herman Melville, discovered in his personal papers three decades after his death. (Summary by [ScientificMethodist](https://librivox.org/billy-budd-by-herman-melville/))

Biographical Notice Of Nicolo Paganini... By Francois-Joseph Fetis. ~1884, 1895

### Biographical Notice Of Nicolo Paganini With An Analysis Of His Compositions And A Sketch Of The History Of The Violin. (3:40)
https://librivox.org/biographical-notice-of-nicolo-paganini-with-an-analysis-of-his-compositions-and-a-sketch-of-the-history-of-the-violin-by-francois-joseph-fetis/
Text: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/58184
By [Francois-Joseph Fetis](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fran%C3%A7ois-Joseph_F%C3%A9tis) (1784 - 1871)

Reading Notes: If you are interested in the history of violin, viola or guitar, or of Nicolo Paganini, this may be a useful and enjoyable book.
Librivox Summary:
>Niccolò (or Nicolò) Paganini (1782 – 1840) was an Italian violinist, violist, guitarist, and composer. He was the most celebrated violin virtuoso of his time, and left his mark as one of the pillars of modern violin technique. François-Joseph Fétis (1784 – 1871) was a Belgian musicologist, composer, teacher, and one of the most influential music critics of the 19th century. - ([Summary by David Wales](https://librivox.org/biographical-notice-of-nicolo-paganini-with-an-analysis-of-his-compositions-and-a-sketch-of-the-history-of-the-violin-by-francois-joseph-fetis/))

Black No More. By George Schuyler. 1931

### Black No More: Being an Account of the Strange and Wonderful Workings of Science in the Land of the Free, A.D. 1933-1940. (5:06:55)
Audio: https://librivox.org/black-no-more-by-george-schuyler/
eBook: http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/68811
By [George Schuyler](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Schuyler) (1895 - 1977)
250 pages.

Reading Notes: This satire is filled with stereotypical characters and seems deeply pessimistic. Written in the late 1920s or 1930 about race in the U.S., it uses terms for African Americans that are likely objectionable to many readers today -- the whole story may offend some... Read the excellent [Wikipedia summary](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_No_More) if you want to know more... Also, this audio book suffers from a *flat* reading that may draw attention from the story -- it might be a better [read](http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/68811).

Wikipedia summary: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_No_More

Blake of the "Rattlesnake." By Frederick Thomas Jane, 1895

### Blake of the "Rattlesnake" (5:21)
https://librivox

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