What I've Been Reading - Year End Edition

I am taking it easy with this final article of the year. Today I am going to share some more of my recent reads, just in case you are looking for something to read. Or avoid😉

American Prometheus is the first book. In case you did not know, this is the basis of the movie Oppenheimer. It is a long read, but a good one. It gives a deeply detailed history of Robert Oppenheimer, from childhood to his death. As I was reading this I kept thinking about the tremendous amount of research that had to go into creating something as thorough as this book. So many other key characters are smoothly pulled into it, from his personal life to his work on the atomic bomb. The movie is very true to the book. However, there is so much more in the book and definitely worth the read.  

Next on the list is Deluge, by Stephen Markley. This one is tough to describe, although it is an excellent read. It is the longest fiction book I can recall reading (maybe there were longer ones in high school, but I have blocked them out). Basically, it is a dystopian view of the world, focused on the US, in the near future. The focus is climate change, but also quite a bit of politics too. Two interesting things with the book. His writing style is such that you really need to focus as you can’t skim like so many lighter fiction books. Next, many of the themes he touches come close to reality, which is daunting. Regardless, it is highly recommended.

Deluge caused me to grab this next book – On the Move by Abrahm Lustgarten. He is an investigative reporter who has been writing about climate change for years. Again, another one I recommend. The basis of this book is what will migration look like with climate change. I find the topic interesting for two reasons, and I promise neither is political. First, living near the Great Lakes may not be exciting, but it is a relatively stable location from climate change. Next, and I know this is a bias on my end, I am spending more time reading stuff about insurance rates. Insurance companies are a bit of a canary in a coalmine as they get to pay out claims on everything from hurricanes to wildfires. It is a quick read and a solid one.

The final book I decided to go a bit lighter with some mindless fiction reading. I picked up the first novel in the Alex Cross series from James Patterson, Along Came a Spider. My wife and I started watching the Alex Cross series on Amazon and I figured it was worth seeing how the book series is. It is an enjoyable and easy read, at least for the themes of cops, kidnappers, and a killer. Again, something that may be worth borrowing from the library for something simple.

A few other books include Masters of the Air (series on Apple very loosely followed the book), Move: Where People Are Going for a Better Future by Parag Khanna, who has his PhD from the London School of Economics, a few John Sandford novels, and I just started Ohio by Stephen Markley (my older son, who is an avid reader told me good luck with this one).