Scott posted one of those “learn more about you” questions on his blog and I decided to participate. This one is relatively simple:

Rules: Don’t take too long to think about it. Fifteen books you’ve read that will always stick with you. First fifteen you can recall in no more than 15 minutes.

1. Dune by Frank Herbert – Utterly compelling story that’s stuck with me
2. Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card – Another compelling story with a definite dark side
3. Snow Crash by Neil Stephenson – To call this one thought provoking is an understatement
4. Inferno by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle – Taught me that reading can be extremely fun
5. Watership Down by Richard Adams – Who new a story about rabbits could be so dramatic
6. Three Dialogues Between Hylas and Philonous by George Berkeley – Taught me that the obviously absurd may not be as absurd as first thought
7. Meditations of First Philosophy by René Descartes – I learned that doubt is one of the best tools we have to create knowledge
8. The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan – I for one welcome our new corn overlords
9. Foundation Series by Isaac Asimov – Read these so long ago that I’ve forgotten much of thier content, but I remember the love I had for them
10. The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien – This has been read to me at least twice in my life. The level of intimacy created by such an act is profound
11. Lord of the Rings Trilogy by J.R.R. Tolkien – These were also read to me
12. Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky – First classic that I choose to read
13. The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins – Helped me refine my theological thinking and enabled me to be more out about my atheism
14. Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis – Reminded me that just because it’s Christian doesn’t automatically make it foolish
15. Gödel, Escher, Bach by Douglas Hofstadter – Felt like I was in the presence of a genius the entire time I read it. I wish I understood more of it

And I thought 15 would be difficult to come up with. They are listed in a very particular order – the order in which I thought of them. The downside is that since coming up with these initial ones, I keep thinking of so many more that have impacted my thinking. If these were listed by importance, I’d definitely have to include “The Man Who Mistook His Wife for His Hat” by Oliver Sacks, “Rethinking Life and Death” by Peter Singer, and “Utilitarianism” by John Stuart Mill. These books along with a few others in my list helped me rebuild a worldview after freeing myself from religion.

I’m sure there are so many others that slipped my mind today for whatever reason. What’s your list?

Kate Hopkins runs one of my favorite food blogs, Accidental Hedonist (second only to my close friend’s The Way the Cookie Crumbles). Hopkins is also the author of the overly-subtitled book: 99 Drams of Whiskey: The Accidental Hedonist’s Quest for the Perfect Shot and the History of the Drink. Back in the Spring, she posted an offer to her readers who have their own blogs: agree to dedicate a post to reviewing her new book and receive a free copy. Wait a moment. I like whiskey. I like books. I have a blog. So I requested a copy. Several weeks later, it arrives.

The book is equal parts travel log, history, and whiskey review. Hopkins’ writing style is informal, personal, and very easy to read. She seamlessly moves from, say, her visit to a distillery to the drink’s impact on local culture and laws then back to the distillery for the tasting. It felt like I was traveling with her to Ireland, Scotland, Canada, and America. All the while, we discussed the drink that we both love. This tone may be off-putting to those who are snobbish serious about whiskey but it suited me just fine. Taste is such a subjective experience that is unconsciously influenced by things other than the drink. I am skeptical that tasting ‘experts’ can objectively identify taste subtleties.

One aspect of the book that I value greatly is that Hopkins describes the context of every one of her whiskey tastings. I knew what her mood was, where she was, who she was with, how the whiskey was presented, etc. This is in stark contrast to the ‘professionals’ who all-too-often leave these things out claiming objectivity. Being aware of the entire situation definitely allowed me to better evaluate her opinions. Also helpful are the more formal reviews of some of the whiskeys interspersed with the text. This included a brief description followed by a section for the nose, taste, finish, and character.

I’ve done a little studying of whiskey’s history. Yet I was still able to learn a lot from 99 Drams. Most of my research has been around the history of the production of whiskey. Hopkins includes a history of cultural influences, taxation, the business history, the impact of the Temperance Movement in general and Prohibition in particular. It’s rocky history gave me an even grater appreciation for the drink.

I’m no stranger to whiskey (nor am I any kind of expert); it’s been my adult beverage of choice for a few years now. Yet I was able to learn many new things about it from 99 Drams of Whiskey. In addition to the historical aspects, I learned some commonalities about my favorite whiskeys and that there is an emerging approach to distilling that is comparable to micro-brewing for beers. I’ve even identified a few whiskeys I’d like to try. Overall, I enjoyed Hopkins’ book very much and would recommend it to anyone who enjoys or is even interested in whiskey. Everyone but the snobs; they’ll just get annoyed.

Author Scott Roche has created a video promo for his book Archangel. In the second part of his story, I voice one of the characters and provide audio production assistance. Check it out.

In Ayn Rand’s imagination, there is a perfect correlation between self-interest and moral goodness. This sentiment was expressed in her famous book Atlas Shrugged – required college reading for every budding libertarian. I read it and very much enjoyed it. I even flirted with libertarian political thought for a while. Then I actually thought critically about it and realized economic libertarianism results in the destruction of the middle class and all the political and social instability that comes with an economically polarized society. Rand was guilty of cherry-picking plots and characters so that in her fictional world, selfishness is virtuous.

In one sense Rand is correct; economic self-interest turns out to be the best system we’ve ever created to spread general wealth and well being (we call that system capitalism). She simply took that idea to the extreme and claimed that un-checked, excessive self-interest (aka ‘greed’) must be the greatest good. To demonstrate the folly of this, Jeremiah Tucker has written a humorous update to Atlas Shrugged based on the current economic crisis. I admit that if you haven’t read the original, the update will probably not be all that funny, but if you have, you’re in for a treat (assuming you’re not a Randroid).

Here are a couple of excerpts:

With your advanced alloy and my high-tech railroad, we’ll revitalize our country’s failing infrastructure and make big, virtuous profits.”

“Oh, no, I got out of that suckers’ game. I now run my own hedge-fund firm, Rearden Capital Management.”

“We who live by the mind could’ve been engineers, scientists, doctors, extreme-sports enthusiasts, but there is no purer pursuit than the pursuit of money. A is A. Money begets more money, and …”

Galt went on like this for what seemed to Dagny like hours, until, finally, something he said piqued her interest.

I’m hoping the recent economic collapse will fatally injure the libertarian movement that’s been gaining steam in the last few decades. There’s been a repeated pattern in recent economic history – deregulation within a sector reaches critical mass resulting in exploitative greed then economic collapse. It happened with savings and loans crisis in the late ’80s, the California energy crisis at the turn of the millennium, and last year with the mortgage and derivatives market. Throughout that whole time, the middle class has been shrinking and economic disparity has increased.

Economic libertarianism may sound good in theory and even better in a great work of fiction, but has repeatedly failed in practice.

B4B has completed another couple of book reviews. One is for Neil Gaiman’s Neverwhere and the other is for the entire Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket. As usual, she did a great job of reviewing both. Here are a couple of excerpts.

This book [Neverwhere] was an eye-opener for me on Gaiman’s amazing ability – the writing kept my interest, the story was a nice mixture of adventure and plot and I found the characters entertaining. What I most liked about this story (and subsequent Gaiman novels) is that although it is a fantasy story it is grounded in reality. Nothing is too obscure or goofy and everything is written to make the reader think that it is plausible…

Just when I was about fed up with this one-trick-pony of [A Series of Unfortunate Events], I reached the seventh book in which an overarching mystery is revealed and the children’s adventures become about solving the mystery and not about finding new places to live. The big mystery is written well from books seven through ten. There are clues and riddles that the Baudelaires must decipher; this larger plot involves the author, Lemony Snicket, Count Olaf and the children’s deceased parents. I found myself once again interested, however by book twelve there are too many clues and unanswered questions…

You can keep up with all her reviews and all the books she has read and is currently reading on her book page.

In a post I wrote awhile back, I bemoaned the increasing prevalence of censorship done in the name of “tolerance”. It seems that I am not alone in my opinion. I found this opinion piece by Jo Glanville by way of a RichardDawkins.net reprint. In it, Glanville calls the corporate coward Random House Books to task for caving to threats of violence and reversing a decision to publish The Jewel of Medina.

“It was also disingenuous of Random House to suggest that the novel might incite violence. Certain members of the population might choose to commit an act of violence, but that is not the same as the book itself inciting violence. To pass the responsibility in this way to the novel was a betrayal of the author and of free speech.”

But Glanville brought something to my attention that I was unaware of. The Jewel of Medina will be published, at least in Britain. A small and brave publisher, Gibson Square Books, has signed a deal with the book’s author, Sherry Jones.

The decision by Gibson Square’s owner, Martin Rynja, was met with violence. Over the last weekend, Gibson Square’s offices suffered a fire bomb attack. No one was injured and three suspects are in custody.

In my opinion, the book sounds completely awful – it’s a historical fiction based on the romance between Mohammed and his prepubescent wife, Aisha. Despite that, I’m tempted to buy it just to rub it in the faces of these self-righteous assholes. More likely, I will purchase another book from the publisher simply to reward their dedication to free speech.

This above image is licensed by Windy Ed.

Scott’s first podcast project is complete. It’s his novel Archangel: Valley of the Shadow. It’s 16 episodes long and well worth listening to. You can download all episodes via iTunes or find them on the dedicated website.

He’s currently working on a collaborative effort for Part II so stay subscribed. Until then, don’t miss this promo, which has music by yours truly.

I’ve been remiss in keeping up with Bunnies4Buddha’s book reviews. She’s had a couple new reviews up on her book page. The most recent are for The Turkish Gambit by Boris Akunin, who B4B describes as “the James Patterson of Russia – writing popular series books about the same character.” The second is a collection of interviews with Edward Gorey called Ascending Peculiarity. Karen Wilkin edited the collection. Be sure to read her reviews of both.

Since writing those reviews, she has read a few other books. For the Series of Unfortunate Events books, she’s waiting to finish all of them before reviewing. She’s also finished two Neil Gaiman books, Neverwhere and Stardust, but is waiting to watch the TV/Movie adaptations before she reviews those. So be alert for more excellent write-ups from her.

Meanwhile, I have finished The Bible Against Itself, which turned out to be an eye-opener to me. I plan on posting about it as time permits. Since finishing that, I’ve gone back to reading more of Thomas Paine’s writings. Currently, those include the The Forrester Letters that Paine wrote in response to ones written against the war for independence. The letters critical of the war were written by someone going by the name ‘Cato’ and are directly critical of Paine’s Common Sense which I read earlier this year.

Scott’s podcast novel, Archangel is up to episode 8. Be sure to listen to the entire story!

Episode 1
Episode 2
Episode 3
Episode 4
Episode 5
Episode 6
Episode 7
Episode 8

I’ll promote his novel after every few episodes are released. It would be much easier for you if you subscribed via iTunes or through Scott’s RSS Feed. If you enjoy it, leave a review on iTunes, or leave a comment on his website.

Scott has introduced me to podcast fiction by way of his own podcast novel, Archangel: Valley of the Shadow. You can listen to the promo here. He’s up to five episodes. For convenience, you’ll find direct links to these episodes below:

Episode 1
Episode 2
Episode 3
Episode 4
Episode 5

But this list won’t help you stay up to date on the story. If you use iTunes, you can subscribe to future episodes here. Otherwise, subscribe to SpiritualTramp’s RSS Feed and keep an eye our for new Archangel episodes.

Lastly, Scott love’s to hear positive feedback, and likes to get any other kind. You can leave a review on iTunes, or leave a comment on his website.