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Zero - by Charles Seife - May 2024 - selected by Tommy

Paul: "Props to Charles Seife for occupying the infinitesimal middle section in the Venn diagram of people who know enough math to write this book and people with a clear and lively writing voice who can actually bring it to life. I particularly enjoyed the first half of the book, which focused on the history of different mathematicians' and cultures' understanding of zero and infinity. The physics stuff was fascinating too, but even with some seriously admirable attempts to put things in simpler terms and provide clear diagrams, I was still pretty lost. And maybe at the end of the day, that's kind of the point?" B+

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Wasteland - by Oliver Franklin-Wallis - April 2024 - selected by Paul

Andy: "Definitely thought provoking. I don't think most people think about their trash. The fact that we don't see where it goes isn't a good thing. I like how he talked about his realization about reduce, reuse, recycle. That it should actually be done in that order." B+

Gabe: "I really liked this book. I thought it was well organized, and that the author did a great job of pointing out the nuance in the world of waste. As in, not everything is cut and dry good or bad. My only knock was there felt like too much data out of context. But overall, a great book that left me feeling morally confused, which I liked." A-

Paul: "Fascinating look at what happens to our waste once it leaves our hands. Franklin-Wallis has a conversational writing style from his men's magazine days, which made this a lively and quick read. He also did admirable legwork to actually visit all of the places he reported on in the book, introducing us to a memorable cast of experts and freegan weirdos. There are no easy answers here, which can certainly feel disheartening, but reading this book was a great reminder of the power of simply buying less. So next time someone tries to shame you for wearing a 25-year-old Brighton lacrosse pinny, throwing your food waste in hole in your backyard, or licking a plate clean at a restaurant, just know that you are absolutely doing the right thing." B+

GPA: 3.44

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The White Death - by McKay Jenkins - March 2024 - selected by Jachles

Andy: "This was an enjoyable read for me. It didn’t feel like it dragged on too long and the author did a good job setting the scene. I felt I was in Glacier National Park with the rescuers. I enjoyed that background on avalanches which I didn’t know much about." B+

Gabe: "I liked this book." B+

Paul: "This book tells the tragic story of five teenage mountain climbers who were killed in one of the worst avalanche disasters in American history, while also weaving in a scientific and cultural overview of avalanches in general. Jenkins does a good job of respectfully honoring the legacy of the climbers by telling their story in a very human way. The best parts of the book for me were the philosophical and poetic musings about man's relationship with mountains, and while I left this book feeling absolutely no desire to ever go mountain climbing, it provided a fascinating and empathetic look into the psyche of people who feel a spiritual calling to climb." B+

GPA: 3.33

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How to Hide an Empire - by Daniel Immerwahr - February 2024 - selected by Gabe

Gabe: "I generally liked this book. I thought it was pretty interesting and covered a topic I knew little about. It did feel like the author spent too long on the history of the Philippines and Puerto Rico without ever really getting into the current situation there, but I thought the part about standards was awesome and super eye opening to think about." B+

Paul: "Well-written, insightful, and funnier than a 400-page book about American Imperialism had any right to be. Immerwahr has a lively writing style that made this fresh perspective feel even fresher. I found the first half a bit more engaging, as it followed a chronological timeline and provided surprising detail and context that definitely wasn't covered in Mr. Lutterbein's AP American history class. The second half consists of more standalone chapters, many of which were quite interesting (shoutout to the crowd-pleasing chapter about standardization), but I found it lost some momentum towards the end." B+

GPA: 3.33

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Nature's Best Hope - by Douglas Tallamy - January 2024 - selected by Krebs

Paul: "I've been on the anti-lawn train for years, so this book was really preaching to the choir, but it was some damn good preaching. By replacing our lawns with native plants that encourage biodiversity, we can help the environment, save money, and bring the joys and beauty of nature to our doorstep. Seriously, what's stopping us!? Tallamy is a clear and concise science communicator, and his passion for nature came through on just about every page. I particularly enjoyed the FAQ section, where Tallamy seemed to shed his gentle environmentalist persona, unleashing some savage clapbacks on his (hypothetical?) haters." B+

GPA: 3.33

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2023 Year in Review

Books by GPA

The Perfect Mile - 3.47

Huey Long - 3.33

California Burning - 3.13

Pale Horse Rider - 3.07

The WEIRDest People in the World - 3.00

Beaverland - 2.53

Fight Like Hell - 2.33

The Gray Lady Winked - 2.13

Andy's Top Three

The Perfect Mile

Pale Horse Rider

Huey Long

Gabe's Top Three

The Perfect Mile

Huey Long

The WEIRDest People on Earth

Jachles's Top Three

California Burning

Pale Horse Rider

Huey Long

Paul's Top Three

Huey Long

The Perfect Mile

Pale Horse Rider

Tommy's Top Three

The Perfect Mile

The WEIRDest People on Earth

California Burning

Non Book Club Books and Articles We Enjoyed in 2023

Andy:

You're Not Listening by Kate Murphy

Finding Ultra by Rich Roll

Attention Span by Gloria Mark

The Self-Driven Child by William Stixrud and Ned Johnson

Gabe:

The Last Action Heroes by Nick de Semlyen

Billionaire Wilderness by Justin Farrell

Labyrinth of Ice by Buddy Levy

Jachles:

Did Demolition Man Predict the Millenial? by Kabir Chibber from The New York Times

Paul:

Stay True by Hua Hsu

How to Read Nancy by Mark Newgarden and Paul Karasik

Wail: The Life of Bud Powell by Peter Pullman

The Number Ones by Tom Breihan

Left Back by Diane Ravitch

Other Minds by Peter Godfrey-Smith

The Garden State Parkway's Jon Bon Jovi Rest Stop is Playing Fast and Loose With Famous Quotes by Dan McQuade from Defector

Tommy:

Helgoland by Carlo Rovelli

Scarcity Brain by Michael Easter

We're all Stochastic Parrots by Goutham Kurra

Why AI Will Save the World by Marc Andreesen

A Pointed Angle by Meera Subramanian from Orion Magazine

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The Perfect Mile - by Neal Bascomb - November 2023 - selected by Andy

Andy: A

Gabe: "I thought this was a pretty good book overall. I liked how it bounced around between the three main guys, and appreciated how it gave a window into sports of that era. The book did feel repetitive in structure, but I get how that added to the dramatic tension of who would break the 4-minute mark." B+

Jachles: B+

Paul: "Well-written, entertaining, and (mostly) uplifting story of the race to break the four-minute mile barrier. The biographies of the three men are interwoven with dramatic recaps of the key races, which Bascomb skillfully narrates with drama and excitement. He talks a lot about this particular moment marking an end to the "amateur era" of sports (for better and worse), and I think the writing style is also evocative of the pre-TV era of sports, when a sportswriter's primary objective was to make you feel like you are in the stadium, soaking up the sights and sounds." B+

Tommy: B+

GPA: 3.47

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The WEIRDest People in the World - by Joseph Heinrich - October 2023 - selected by Tommy

Andy: B

Gabe: "I thought this book started pretty slow, and found the first 40% or so quite repetitive. Once he made the transition to exploring how the church’s marriage and family policies grew into our WEIRD society, though, I thought the book really took off. Great discussion, too." B

Paul: "When I first picked up this book, looked at the title, and began reading the introduction, I totally thought it was a thinly veiled argument for white supremacy. After reading the book, it's clear that that was never Heinrich's intent, and he does eventually acknowledge all the horrible things that western cultures have done in recent history. But there is a certain tone-deafness in the introduction of his thesis - "hey you, you're WEIRD! Isn't that crazy!" - that I could never quite shake. The argument itself is quite compelling, and I ended up feeling pretty convinced that the western way of thinking is highly unusual and has had a tremendous impact on the world, for better and worse. Was it necessary to include literally hundreds of scatter plots involving cousin marriage to convince me of this thesis? Maybe! Did the scatter plot about blood donations vs. cousin marriage lead me to immediately make an appointment to donate blood? Absolutely!" B

Tommy: B

GPA: 3.00

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Pale Horse Rider - by Mark Jacobson - August 2023 - selected by Paul

Andy: A-

Gabe: "I liked this book quite a bit at first, as it was fun and interesting to read about aliens and JFK and the rise of Bill Cooper into pop culture. I lost interest as the book went on, though, as it became clear that mostly the book was a paraphrasing or cliff notes version of Behold a Pale Horse and not much of anything in the way of analysis. Foiled again by a subtitle." C

Jachles: B+

Paul: "I learned of this book a few years ago when a man on the street roped me into a 20 minute lecture about numerology, hidden messages in dollar bills, and (according to him) the ultimate source of truth - William Cooper's Behold a Pale Horse. When I got home and googled it, Mark Jacobson's New York Magazine article about Cooper's influence on hip hop culture was the first thing to pop up, and I quickly devoured it. Similar to the article, this book is a whirlwind of pop culture, history, sociology, and just plain weirdness. In a single paragraph, Jacobson may bring up Ol' Dirty Bastard, ancient Babylonian texts, and secret government files about aliens. Cooper himself comes off as a troubled and tragic figure, but it was fascinating to think about his influence on the current landscape, where misinformation and conspiracy theories run rampant." B+

Tommy: B

GPA: 3.07

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California Burning - by Katherine Blunt - June 2023 - selected by Jachles

Andy: B

Gabe: "I found this book to be a bit of a miss. The author breezed over very complicated parts of PG&E or energy regulation, and was then repetitive in unnecessary ways. I appreciate that it gave me a more nuanced understanding of my local utility, though, and how it got to where it's at today." B-

Jachles: A-

Paul: "The scary thing about this book is that it didn't seem like the people at PG&E were doing anything particularly malicious. The combination of outdated infrastructure, climate change, and the limitations of relying on capitalism to provide basic human needs, has sadly resulted in tragedy for California. While it's tempting to say that this is a uniquely Californian problem, it seems like it's only a matter of time before these types of events become common elsewhere. The writing is crisp and journalistic, but attempts to build human drama fell a bit flat for me. Definitely worth reading as a strong warning about a problem that's not going away any time soon." B+

Tommy: B

GPA: 3.13

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Huey Long - by T. Harry Williams - May 2023 - selected by Gabe

Andy: A-

Gabe: "I loved learning about Huey, as I knew nothing about him before this book. It was incredibly detailed, and I felt like it did a good job capturing his personality. What was missing for me, though, was an overarching retrospective analysis of him, his actions, and his policies/beliefs. The ending - where I expected to find that - was incredibly disappointing, in that the book rapidly ended with his death. I was left wanting more, which I'm not sure is a sign that overall this was a good book or not." B

Jachles: B+

Paul: "This was our first foray into the world of extremely thick, old-school biographies NOT written by Robert Caro. While T. Harry certainly doesn't have the story-telling chops and flair for dramatic that make Caro's 1000-pagers so zesty, there's still a lot to like here. First of all, Huey is a fascinating figure. T. Harry opts for a pretty straightforward narrative approach, but there are rich thematic elements to unpack in Huey's life, and it made for a great discussion. The writing style felt old-fashioned and dry, but luckily there were enough outrageous moments like the iconic Long Island Urinal Incident to provide us some zing. Lastly, reading a behemoth of a book like this always results in a sense of accomplishment, and while it didn't end well for Huey (spoiler alert - he dies!), reaching the final pages of this book gave me a feeling of satisfaction I haven't felt since the Caro days." A-

Tommy: B

GPA: 3.33

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Fight Like Hell - by Kim Kelly - March 2023 - selected by Krebs

Andy: “This book didn't do it for me. There was too much information and it felt very redundant. Kelly should have focused more on certain people to build up interest. I did find at the end of the book it picked up steam when it was talking about people with disabilities as well as the sex industry.” B-

Gabe: “I didn’t absorb any details at all from this book, but appreciate the reminder of how many people worked so hard for so long to secure union rights in their respective industries. I also thought it was intriguing to think about prisoners and sex workers unionizing. Overall too repetitive in structure and shallow in depth to really enjoy it, though.” B-

Jachles: C

Paul: “Kim Kelly, who famously lives on the same block as my friend Sarah AND the chicken man, set out to document the history of labor through the lens of marginalized groups like women, people of color, queer and trans people. The purpose is admirable, and there were some very interesting stories and chapters (flight attendants, prisons, sex workers, etc.), but it did not make for a particularly engaging or enjoyable book. Particularly in the early chapters, it reads like a Buzzfeed list of “Top 200 forgotten labor heroes,” where each story is only given about 2 pages before we’re introduced to brand new people and events. This structure made it tough to build momentum while reading and rendered many of the individuals forgettable simply due to the lack of depth.” B-

Tommy: C-

GPA: 2.33

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Beaverland - by Leila Philip - February 2023 - selected by Andy

Andy: “Fascinating creatures. Not an amazing author. The parts that interested me the most were when she was writing about the ecological impact beavers have. Some of the history around trapping was cool too.” B

Gabe: “I was really disappointed by this book. It felt merely beaver-adjacent, and very little of it seemed like it was actually about beavers or their natural history. Not a worthwhile read, in my opinion.” D+

Jachles: C+

Paul: “Pretty similar to Robbing the Bees, this is another attempt at an overview of a fascinating creature and its relationship to humans. While not quite as good as it could have been, once again the subject matter was so compelling that I found this to be a pretty enjoyable read. I particularly liked the parts about the history and modern-day practice of fur trapping and the ecological implications of beavers as they re-emerge in big numbers. I wish there had been a more thorough examination of the events that led to the near-extinction of the beaver, and while this didn’t quite get into the heady territory of Of Wolves and Men, it certainly ranks above The Soul of an Octopus in the BNFBC animal book power rankings.” B+

Tommy: B-

GPA: 2.53

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The Gray Lady Winked - by Ashley Rindsberg - January 2023 - selected by Tommy

Andy: “The Gray Lady Winked billed itself as a gripping report of the many times that The New York Times dropped the ball, purposefully reported things incorrectly or outright covered up poor reporting. Although I do think it's important that the Times be called out and asked to fix these issues, as anyone who makes mistakes should, it felt very repetitive and a bit boring.” C+

Gabe: “I thought this was a really weakly argued book, that set out with a weighty charge and offered only scant evidence to meet it. Moreover, the lack of context - how other newspapers were reporting the same stories - was a real deficit in knowing how to evaluate the author’s claims of intentional and systematic misreporting. Nevertheless, I do appreciate how the book reminds us that reporters have biases and agendas that can seep through, even in seemingly ‘objective’ reporting.” C-

Jachles: C

Paul: “There were a few genuinely shocking instances of the NYT doing some seriously bad journalism (using a Manhattan Project staffer as a “science expert” when introducing readers to the atomic bomb, employing a paid agent of Castro to report on Cuba, etc.), but Rindsberg’s argument - that the Times is a corrupt institution controlled by nefarious forces - ultimately fell flat for me. I gotta imagine if you look at the history of any newspaper that’s been operating as long as the Times you’re going to find some questionable stuff, and while I appreciate the effort to bring some of these stories to light, it’s clear the author has a serious political and personal agenda of his own, and this book tiptoed into conspiracy theory land a few times (notably in the Israel/Palestine chapter and the 1619 Project discussion). On top of that, it was pretty poorly written, and by page 12 I was already sick of how often Rindsberg used the term “the Gray Lady.” C

Tommy: "The New York Times has served as one of the world's most trusted new outlets for decades. Rindsberg demonstrates that while the NYT typically upholds high standards, they have a hidden history of getting things wrong, not owning up to their mistakes, trusting their journalists too much, and frequently failing to reconcile discrepancies between their own journalists’ stories. Rindsberg recaps several major historical events, but his focus routinely felt too narrowly focused on the NYT without presenting the broader picture. My interest ebbed and flowed based on my knowledge of the event that was detailed. The sections in which Rindsberg editorialized often felt out of place and this was most disagreeable when he discussed the 1619 Project. The book did serve as an important reminder that it's critical to vary one's news sources and always read with a healthy dose of skepticism." B-

GPA: 2.13

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2022 Year in Review

It’s May 16, 2023 as I write this, so while last year is not particularly fresh in my mind, at least I’m getting the year in review in before the halfway mark of 2023! Gonna keep it brief this year because I just spent two hours getting the blog up to date, but as we cruise into our 11th year (!!!), suffice to say the book club is still a constant source of joy, learning, and connection. And while our pace of reading (and blog updating) has waned slightly, our discussions are as lively as ever, and I feel lucky to have a group of people in my life who will happily read a 1000 page Huey Long biography and call it “fun.”

On to the lists!

2022 Books by GPA:

The Outlaw Ocean - 3.67

Yearbook - 3.58

The Nineties - 3.50

The Antidote - 3.00

Robbing the Bees - 3.00

The Secret Knowledge of Water - 2.83

The Dawn of Everything - 2.67

The Soul of an Octopus - 1.42

Andy’s Top Three:

Yearbook

The Nineties

The Outlaw Ocean

Paul’s Top Three:

The Nineties

The Outlaw Ocean

Yearbook

Gabe’s Top Three:

The Outlaw Ocean

Yearbook

The Nineties

Non Book Club Books and Articles We Enjoyed in 2022

Andy:

The Coddling of the American Mind by Jonathan Haidt

Walkable City: How Downtown Can Save America, One Step at a Time by Jeff Speck

Paul:

Afterparties by Anthony Veasna So

Four Fish by Paul Greenberg

Major Labels by Kelefa Sanneh

America Has a Problem and Beyoncé Ain’t It by Wesley Morris from The New York Times

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The Nineties - by Chuck Klosterman - November 2022 - selected by Paul 

Andy: “Awesome book. Just like my book brother compatriots, I enjoyed myself some I Love the 80's on VH1. There is something in the brain about nostalgia. I liked that Klosterman didn't just share the info but got down into the details and studied it. Good stuff!” A

Gabe: “I enjoyed the nostalgia of thinking about the 90s, and appreciated the analysis of the decade in retrospect. The thing I didn't love was the overly-academic tone, and the way that Klosterman was kind of all over the place in terms of where he would start and end a chapter. Overall, though, I very much enjoyed it and have been talking about some of its points with friends since finishing it.” A-

Paul: “There’s something about looking back just far enough into the past that really appeals to me. When I Love the 80′s captured the imagination of certain pop-culture loving dorks like myself, I don’t think it would have worked had it been I Love the 70′s or I Love the 90′s (note - I think both of these happened but obviously they didn’t slap like the original). Basically what I’m trying to say is the timing of this book is perfect - the 90′s are now far enough away that it seems like a different world, but still recent enough that the nostalgia hits hard. While I’ve always found Klosterman to be a funny and lively writer, some of his earlier stuff was a bit too Gen-X for me. The navel-gazing and snark have been tempered a bit, and there is a good deal of wisdom and depth emerging from these zippy essays about clear beverages, snap bracelets and the like.” A-

Tommy: "Despite many moments of enjoyable nostalgia, the book's tone prevented me from fully embracing it. Klosterman comes off as overly confident with his theories and I don't find him as funny or clever as I think he thinks he is. Aside from the writing style, it was fun to rehash and dissect many events from the nineties that I'm familiar with. I liked Klosterman's argument about decades not being based on given years, but rather aligned with events that denote a marked change. It's difficult to fully explore events when an author attempts to cover an entire decade, and I felt that with this book. Even though it felt a bit strange to briefly cover tangential topics after each chapter, I recall enjoying several of the afterwords between chapters before moving onto the next topic." B-

GPA: 3.50

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The Secret Knowledge of Water - by Craig Childs - October 2022 - selected by Jachles

Andy: “I love nature books, so this was one that I thought I'd love. I enjoy when the author can paint such a picture that you feel you are in that place a la Aldo Leopold. However, Craig Childs just didn't do that for me. He often seemed to ramble or try to tell too much. So, cool topic, not great delivery.” B

Gabe: “While I didn't find this book particularly gripping, and while I usually find books about nature that use overly-flowery language to be irritating, this book had its moments. I liked the way the author chunked out the book into different sections about water in the desert, and found his accounts of climbing into a waterfall in the grand canyon and experiencing a flash flood pretty fascinating.” B+

Paul: “I loved the subject matter, and there were some cool sections (the evolutionary biology of desert water microorganisms being a particular standout), but I found the writing to be overly florid and metaphysical. It felt like Craig Childs wrote this entire book while micro-dosing alone in the middle of nowhere Arizona, and he really could have used an editor to help bring it a bit back to earth. There were also sections that should have been riveting (narrowly escaping from a tiny canyon crevasse), but I found it hard to even follow the narrative flow or picture the landscape with all the forced poetic language getting in the way.” C+

Tommy: "The book's premise is that despite the apparent lack of water in the desert, it is in fact water that shapes and reshapes the landscape. I hadn't considered this before and was astounded by some of the stories Childs included and by the sheer destructive power of water in the desert. Childs's writing is quite poetic throughout and I was able to feel the various environments he described. While there aren't a tremendous amount of takeaways, there were several fascinating details sprinkled in. The first two thirds of the book had me rapt, but the last third felt a bit repetitive and meandering. Childs seems to be more interested in recounting his adventures versus providing the reader with a deep education of hydrology." B-

GPA: 2.83