Today is the last day of December of 2023. I normally would post my reading list on the first, but this is a special one. As mentioned in my November reading list, this is the last reading list that I will be posting.

As mentioned in that post a majority of the books that I read are ones that I have read before. And December is not much different. Also as mentioned in that post, I have actually cancelled my Audible subscription which means that I will not be purchasing new books beyond what I have already purchased; at least not a regular basis.

Now, here is my reading list for December.

In December I listened to 22 books total. Four of these titles were new, or approximately 18.18 percent. I want to highlight two of the new titles that I listened to. The first is The Six: The Untold Story of America's First Women Astronauts by Loren Grush.

When NASA sent astronauts to the moon in the 1960s and 1970s the agency excluded women from the corps, arguing that only military test pilots—a group then made up exclusively of men—had the right stuff. It was an era in which women were steered away from jobs in science and deemed unqualified for space flight. Eventually, though, NASA recognized its blunder and opened the application process to a wider array of hopefuls, regardless of race or gender. From a candidate pool of 8,000 six elite women were selected in 1978—Sally Ride, Judy Resnik, Anna Fisher, Kathy Sullivan, Shannon Lucid, and Rhea Seddon.

In The Six, acclaimed journalist Loren Grush shows these brilliant and courageous women enduring claustrophobic—and sometimes deeply sexist—media attention, undergoing rigorous survival training, and preparing for years to take multi-million-dollar payloads into orbit. Together, the Six helped build the tools that made the space program run. One of the group, Judy Resnik, sacrificed her life when the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded at 46,000 feet. Everyone knows of Sally Ride’s history-making first space ride, but each of the Six would make their mark.

It is likely that you might have heard of Sally Ride, but the remaining five women are likely people that you have not heard about before. If you want to learn more about the early history of women astronauts.

The second book that I want to highlight is The Great Bridge: The Epic Story of the Building of the Brooklyn Bridge by David McCullough.

The dramatic and enthralling story of the building of the Brooklyn Bridge, the world’s longest suspension bridge at the time, a tale of greed, corruption, and obstruction but also of optimism, heroism, and determination, told by master historian David McCullough.

This monumental book is the enthralling story of one of the greatest events in our nation’s history, during the Age of Optimism—a period when Americans were convinced in their hearts that all things were possible.

In the years around 1870, when the project was first undertaken, the concept of building an unprecedented bridge to span the East River between the great cities of Manhattan and Brooklyn required a vision and determination comparable to that which went into the building of the great cathedrals. Throughout the fourteen years of its construction, the odds against the successful completion of the bridge seemed staggering. Bodies were crushed and broken, lives lost, political empires fell, and surges of public emotion constantly threatened the project. But this is not merely the saga of an engineering miracle; it is a sweeping narrative of the social climate of the time and of the heroes and rascals who had a hand in either constructing or exploiting the surpassing enterprise.

The reason I want to highlight this one is because it is a good detailed history of the building of the Brooklyn Bridge. I do not normally listen to abridged books, but this one I did because the abridged version was narrated by Edward Herrmann.

Other Reading Lists

Now that Thanksgiving in the United States is in the past, we are squarely in the holiday season. With December starting, it is now time for my reading list for November. Before diving into the books that I listened to, it should be noted that this is the second to last Reading List that I will be posting. There are a couple of a reasons for this.

The first reason is that I have cancelled my Audible subscription. Part of the reason why I cancelled my Audible subscription is budgetary, but not entirely. An Audible subscription is approximately $15 a month and when you look at it over the course of a year that is $180. I am absolutely not getting $180 worth of value from the service.

In case you are not aware, an Audible subscription comes with the ability to purchase titles through the use of a credit system. At one point earlier this year I had six credits, which means that I had not purchased anything for six months. It has become a struggle to find items to purchase with these credits. While Audible credits do not expire, for the plan that I am on, I cannot have more than six at a time. If you do not use the credits, you forfeit a credit, which means that you are effectively paying for nothing at that point.

One aspect of an Audible subscription is Audible Plus. I do not utilize the Audible Plus catalog because most of the books there are not ones that I am interested in. I have tried a number of titles I have stopped listening to each of them after a bit of time and just removed them from my library.

The second reason is that there has been almost no feedback when I post them. I initially thought this might be a way of providing a non-Apple post every month, but without it getting any traction it does not make sense to continue posting these.

The third reason is that if you look over the three years of reading lists, a majority of the books are ones that I have listened to before and not that many books are new ones.

Even though I will not be posting everything that I read over the course of a month, I still will be reading books. Instead of a subscription, I will likely be a bit pickier about the books that I purchase. I may still post about titles that stand out, but this definitely will not be on a monthly basis.

And now, on to the items that I did read in November.

In November I listened to 14 books total, of which three were new. I want to highlight one of the new titles that I listened to, All Souls Lost by Dan Moren.

Say hello to Mike Lucifer, Spiritual Consultant. He’s back in town to take care of business. Unfortunately, when business is good, things must be very, very bad.

After two years trying to run away from his past, Mike Lucifer’s back in his office less than ten minutes when a persistent young woman shows up asking for help: her boyfriend’s been possessed by a demon.

That’s exactly the kind of mess that drove him from his hometown of Boston to a sunny beach—and the bottom of a bottle—in the first place. But there are some problems that even booze can’t drown, and while Lucifer may be no hero, his dwindling bank account provides a thousand reasons to take the case.

No sooner is he back in the game then the complications and corpses start to add up. The boyfriend’s not possessed—he’s dead. The tech company where he worked is looking shadier by the second. And Lucifer’s client definitely knows more than she should…about everything. The deeper Lucifer digs, the more he wonders if whatever sinister entity lurks behind this case wants him to be the last to die…

Previous Reading Lists

Halloween is now over, and Thanksgiving in the United States is quickly approaching. That means that it is now time for my reading list for October. I did not listen to that many books last month. However, out of the ten books I did listen to, two of them were new. I want to highlight one of those, Armor of Light by Ken Follett.

The Spinning Jenny was invented in 1770, and with that, a new era of manufacturing and industry changed lives everywhere within a generation. A world filled with unrest wrestles for control over this new world order: A mother’s husband is killed in a work accident due to negligence; a young woman fights to fund her school for impoverished children; a well-intentioned young man unexpectedly inherits a failing business; one man ruthlessly protects his wealth no matter the cost, all the while war cries are heard from France, as Napoleon sets forth a violent master plan to become emperor of the world. As institutions are challenged and toppled in unprecedented fashion, ripples of change ricochet through our characters’ lives as they are left to reckon with the future and a world they must rebuild from the ashes of war.

Over thirty years ago, Ken Follett published his most popular novel, The Pillars of the Earth. Now, with this electrifying addition to the Kingsbridge series we are plunged into the battlefield between compassion and greed, love and hate, progress and tradition. It is through each character that we are given a new perspective to the seismic shifts that shook the world in nineteenth-century Europe.

I will admit that this book starts off a bit slow, but it does pick up and become a bit more fast-paced as it goes on.

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Even though we are early in fall, it does not yet feel like fall, but it will be soon enough. The beginning of October means that it is time to provide you a list of the books that I listened to during September.

Last month I only listened to a total of five books last month. This may be the fewest number of books that I have listened to in a single month. Now, four of those books were 40+ hours each. None of those were new titles but I wanted to re-listen to the books in order to listen the latest in that series, which I was not able to finish in September and hope to finish in October.

I did manage to listen to a single new book last month and that is the book to be highlighted this month. The book is titled "Starer Villain" by John Scalzi. Here is the description of the book:

Charlie's life is going nowhere fast. A divorced substitute teacher living with his cat in a house his siblings want to sell, all he wants is to open a pub downtown, if only the bank will approve his loan.

Then his long-lost uncle Jake dies and leaves his supervillain business (complete with island volcano lair) to Charlie.

But becoming a supervillain isn't all giant laser death rays and lava pits. Jake had enemies, and now they're coming after Charlie. His uncle might have been a stand-up, old-fashioned kind of villain, but these are the real thing: rich, soulless predators backed by multinational corporations and venture capital.

It's up to Charlie to win the war his uncle started against a league of supervillains. But with unionized dolphins, hyper-intelligent talking spy cats, and a terrifying henchperson at his side, going bad is starting to look pretty good.

In a dog-eat-dog world...be a cat.

This was a funny book that is in somewhat similar to another of John Scalzi's books, The Kaiju Preservation Society

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Summer is coming to a close and fall is rapidly approaching. August was a bit heavier listening as compared to the last couple of months. In August I listened to 14 books, most are repeat listens.

I only listened to a single new book last month and that is the book I want to highlight. The book is titled "How to Survive History: How to Outrun a Tyrannosaurus, Escape Pompeii, Get Off the Titanic, and Survive the Rest of History's Deadliest Catastrophes" by Cody Cassidy. Here is the description of the book:

A detailed guide to surviving history’s most challenging threats, from outrunning dinosaurs to making it off the Titanic alive

History is the most dangerous place on earth. From dinosaurs the size of locomotives to meteors big enough to sterilize the planet, from famines to pandemics, from tornadoes to the Chicxulub asteroid, the odds of human survival are slim but not zero—at least, not if you know where to go and what to do.

In each chapter of How to Survive History, Cody Cassidy explores how to survive one of history’s greatest threats: getting eaten by dinosaurs, being destroyed by the asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs, succumbing to the lava flows of Pompeii, being devoured by the Donner Party, drowning during the sinking of the Titanic, falling prey to the Black Death, and more. Using hindsight and modern science to estimate everything from how fast you’d need to run to outpace a T. rex to the advantages of different body types in surviving the Donner Party tragedy, Cassidy gives you a detailed battle plan for survival, helping you learn about the era at the same time.

History may be the most dangerous place on earth, but that doesn’t mean you can’t visit. You can, and you should. And with a copy of How to Survive History in your back pocket, you just might make it out alive.

This was a good book that provides some plausible methods for actually surviving some of the worst disasters in history. It is both entertaining as well as informative. It seems like a topic that could be dull, but it is not.

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July is now over and we are in the midst of summer. July was an even lighter listening month than June. I managed to listened to 8 titles, but three of those were books that totaled more than 98 hours.

Unlike last month three of the titles I listened to was a new one. The new title I listened to is the one that I want to highlight for the month. The new book that I read is called "The Girls of Atomic City: The Untold Story of the Women Who Helped Win World War II" by Denise Kiernan. Here is the description of the book:

At the height of World War II, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, was home to 75,000 residents, and consumed more electricity than New York City, yet it was shrouded in such secrecy that it did not appear on any map. Thousands of civilians, many of them young women from small towns across the U.S., were recruited to this secret city, enticed by the promise of solid wages and war-ending work. What were they actually doing there? Very few knew. The purpose of this mysterious government project was kept a secret from the outside world and from the majority of the residents themselves. Some wondered why, despite the constant work and round-the-clock activity in this makeshift town, did no tangible product of any kind ever seem to leave its guarded gates? The women who kept this town running would find out at the end of the war, when Oak Ridge’s secret was revealed and changed the world forever.

Drawing from the voices and experiences of the women who lived and worked in Oak Ridge, The Girls of Atomic City rescues a remarkable, forgotten chapter of World War II from obscurity. Denise Kiernan captures the spirit of the times through these women: their pluck, their desire to contribute, and their enduring courage.

This was a good book that provides a history of what occurred in Oakridge Tennessee during World War II. Many know that work was done to help bulid the atomic bombs in Oakridge, but they may not know the specifics. This book does shed some more light on what life was like during that time.

I am not sure how many titles I will end up listening to in August. The new title that was expected to be released at the end of July has been delayed yet again. So, it will be a while before I get to listen to that one.

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June has just finished and we are now into summer. June was a lighter listening month and I managed to listened to 10 titles. Just like last month one of the items I listened to was a new title. The new title I listened to is the one that I want to highlight for the month. The new book that I read is called "D-Day with the Screaming Eagles" by George Koskimaki. Here is the description of the book:

Many professional historians have recorded the actions of D-Day but here is an account of the airborne actions as described by the actual men themselves, in eyewitness detail. Participants range from division command personnel to regimental, battalion, company, and battery commanders, to chaplains, surgeons, enlisted medics, platoon sergeants, squad leaders and the rough, tough troopers who adapted quickly to fighting in mixed, unfamiliar groups after a badly scattered drop. And yet they managed to gain the objectives set for them in the hedgerow country of Normandy.

This book is primary source material. It is a “must read” for anyone interested in the Normandy landings, the 101st Airborne Division, and World War II in general. Hearing the soldiers speak is an entirely different experience from reading about the action in a narrative history.

This was an interesting book that provides some more context and detail to what happened on June 6th, 1944. The book was originally published in 1969 means that many of those discussed in the book were alive and were able to provide their first hand account of their experiences. If you are a fan of the "Band of Brothers" miniseries, it is definitley worth reading.

I am not sure how many titles I will end up listening to in July. There is one new title that I have pre-ordered, but it has been delayed multiple times now, and it is released at the end of the month, so time will tell how much I end up listening to.

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May 2023 is now behind us, and it is the meterological start of summer. May was a busy listening month and I managed to listened to 24 titles, of which only one was a new title. The new title I listened to is the one that I want to highlight for the month. The new book that I read is called "Brute Force" by Scott Meyer. Here is the description of the book:

A peaceful organization of civilized planets is faced with a threat to their very existence. Desperate to save themselves, they turn for help to the most brutal, backward, violent species in the known galaxy: humans.

Growing up in the aftermath of an apocalyptic event known as "The Bad Week" hasn't been easy for Cross Agarwal. Decades ago, in a world before The Bad Week, he would have been graduating from college, starting a career, and living on his own. But in a post-apocalyptic time when mankind is in ruins and on the verge of self-destruction, Cross works in his father's subterranean cobra farm, tries to avoid getting involved in the turf war between his town and the Southern Basin, wondering if his future will ever be anything but bleak.

When a group of aliens appears by surprise and invites a select group of humans to join them, it could be Cross's chance to not only find his own place in the universe, but to also help prove that humanity is good for more than just violence.

There are a couple of things that I would like to mention. First, Scott Meyer is known as creating books that usually have an outlandish and comedic premise. "Brute Force" is no different in that it is outlandish and comedic.

The second thing to note, you may notice that I re-listened to the "Old Man's War" series by John Scalzi (again). However, this time around I skipped book 4, "Zoe's Tale". It is not that I do not like the book, I do, but having listened to it a few times before, I do not think I will need to listen to it again to enjoy the rest of the series.

I am not sure how many titles I will end up listening to in June, because June is a busy month with me writing a new book that covers Apple's latest operating systems. I am sure there will be at least one or two books, but I honestly could not even guess how many titles I will end up listening to.

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Spring of 2023 is in full swing, and it is time for April's reading list. In April I managed to listened to 19 titles, of which one three of them were new. I will highlight all three this month.

The first title is "Wordslut: A Feminists Guide to Taking Back the English Language" by Amanda Montell.

A brash, enlightening, and wildly entertaining feminist look at gendered language and the way it shapes us.

The word bitch conjures many images, but it is most often meant to describe an unpleasant woman. Even before its usage to mean “a female canine,” bitch didn’t refer to women at all—it originated as a gender-neutral word for “genitalia.” A perfectly innocuous word devolving into an insult directed at females is the case for tons more terms, including hussy, which simply meant “housewife”; and slut, which meant “an untidy person” and was also used to describe men. These are just a few of history’s many English slurs hurled at women.

Amanda Montell, reporter and feminist linguist, deconstructs language—from insults, cursing, gossip, and catcalling to grammar and pronunciation patterns—to reveal the ways it has been used for centuries to keep women and other marginalized genders from power. Ever wonder why so many people are annoyed when women speak with vocal fry or use like as filler? Or why certain gender-neutral terms stick and others don’t? Or where stereotypes of how women and men speak come from in the first place?

Montell effortlessly moves between history, science, and popular culture to explore these questions—and how we can use the answers to affect real social change. Montell’s irresistible humor shines through, making linguistics not only approachable but downright hilarious and profound. Wordslut gets to the heart of our language, marvels at its elasticity, and sheds much-needed light on the biases that shadow women in our culture and our consciousness.

The second title I want to highlight is Console Wars: Sega, Nintendo, and the Battle That Defined a Generation

Console Wars—a mesmerizing, behind-the-scenes business thriller that chronicles how Sega, a small, scrappy gaming company led by an unlikely visionary and a team of rebels, took on the juggernaut Nintendo and revolutionized the video game industry.

In 1990, Nintendo had a virtual monopoly on the video game industry. Sega, on the other hand, was just a faltering arcade company with big aspirations and even bigger personalities. But that would all change with the arrival of Tom Kalinske, a man who knew nothing about videogames and everything about fighting uphill battles. His unconventional tactics, combined with the blood, sweat and bold ideas of his renegade employees, transformed Sega and eventually led to a ruthless David-and-Goliath showdown with rival Nintendo.

The battle was vicious, relentless, and highly profitable, eventually sparking a global corporate war that would be fought on several fronts: from living rooms and schoolyards to boardrooms and Congress. It was a once-in-a-lifetime, no-holds-barred conflict that pitted brother against brother, kid against adult, Sonic against Mario, and the US against Japan.

Based on over two hundred interviews with former Sega and Nintendo employees, Console Wars is the underdog tale of how Kalinske miraculously turned an industry punchline into a market leader. It’s the story of how a humble family man, with an extraordinary imagination and a gift for turning problems into competitive advantages, inspired a team of underdogs to slay a giant and, as a result, birth a $60 billion dollar industry.

The last title I want to highlight is a sequal. The title is New Arcadia: Revolution (New Arcadia Book 2)

In the not-so-distant future, a deadly plague has forced billions into their homes, and locked them up tight. Hope may soon arrive in the form of an effective new cure from the mega-global Chum Corporation, but not before they decide their customers are ready for it.

That’s why they’ve created New Arcadia—a real-as-life virtual-reality game designed to bring the isolated people of the world together again.

After its successful launch in New Arcadia: Stage One, the game is being updated and expanded with a new rhythm-game mechanic to bring players together on the dance floor. No longer just for 1990s arcade fighting-game fans, all ages are being welcomed to the virtual party now.

For Prime Beta Tester John Chambers and his friends in New Arcadia, the stakes have never been higher. As the original players of the game, they feel a duty to ensure the new arrivals in New Arcadia adapt successfully to the world and prove to the Chum Corporation that people are ready to come together again in real life.

But there are other players within the game who have a more sinister objective—and they’ll do anything to ensure that the online experiment of New Arcadia is doomed to disaster and the people of the world continue to languish in solitude for a long, long time.

To succeed, John and his friends will have to conquer the mean streets of New Arcadia. And kill it on the dance floor.

I am not sure how many titles I will end up listening to in April, I am sure there will be at least a few, but beyond that I do not know how many titles.

Previous Reading Lists

We have just completed the first full quarter of 2023, and it is time for March's reading list. In March I listened to 16 titles, of which one was new and that new title is the one I want to highlight for the month.

The title is "Destructive Reasoning (Authorities Book 2)" by Scott Meyer.

An actor is brutally murdered while sitting alone in his fully locked car.

A note arrives claiming responsibility and explaining the man died not for who he was, but for who he pretended to be. He played Dr. Watson in a production of Sherlock Holmes. The note promises to kill everybody in Hollywood currently playing Dr. Watson: a surprisingly long list.

Billionaire Vince Capp sends his crime fighting team, the Authorities, down from Seattle to solve the crime, stop the killer, save lives, and above all else, increase their national profile. But it won't be easy. Detective Sloan will have to wrestle with the most irritating case of her career while two of her key operatives are terribly distracted: Rutherford has found a new role model to follow and emulate, and Max must tangle with a mysterious figure from a past he'd rather forget.

Destructive Reasoning is book two in the Authorities series: a funny, thrilling, confounding mystery in a setting of Hollywood glamor viewed with Seattle ironic detachment.

I am not sure how many titles I will end up listening to in April, I am sure it will be at least a few, but beyond that I do not know.

Previous Reading Lists