Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies by Nick Bostrom is nearly a decade old but could not be more timely. The book focuses on various forms of superintelligence, but the one most jarring and current is Artificial Intelligence (AI). This books is loaded with incredible insight but
Look Me In the Eye: My Life With Asperger’s is the memoir of John Elder Robison. The brother of Running With Scissors author, Augusten Burroughs, John Elder was diagnosed with Asperger’s at the age of 40. It was Augusten’s prompting that led to John Elder
Mark Fearing’s Welcome to Feral: Little Town, Big Secrets is a graphic novel full of beautiful artwork and great writing. The book consists of five haunting stories told by the investigative narrator, Freya. Freya is trying to unearth the weird things that keep happening to
The Grand Canyon: Between River and Rim is a coffee table book showcasing the adventure Pete McBride and his friend Kevin Fedarko took through the Grand Canyon. Their trek was not the popular “rim to rim” hike that many take. This extreme journey, assigned by
Rinker Buck’s Life on the Mississippi: An Epic American Adventure borrows Mark Twain’s title from the 1883 classic, Life on the Mississippi. But while Twain focused on his early steamboat days, Buck sets out to recreate a journey from Pennsylvania to New Orleans on a
Blood and Thunder: An Epic of the American West, written by Hampton Sides, is a wonderful biography of the legendary Christopher “Kit” Carson (1809-1868). But it is also much more. America’s wild west was full of many interesting characters, and Kit Carson is near the
I came across Red Caddy: Into the Unknown with Edward Abbey completely by accident. Previously, I was ignorant of Charles Bowden and his writing. I had first heard of Edward Abbey when assigned Monkey Wrench Gang for an environmental history class at Northern Illinois University.
Animal Dialogues: Uncommon Encounters in the Wild is a beautiful collection of essays about truly wild encounters. Craig Childs recounts his amazing and often unbelievable adventures in moving prose. His writing makes you feel like you are there with him, looking through his eyes. The
Coyote America: A Natural and Supernatural History by Dan Flores is a well-researched, well-written natural history of the oft misunderstood and maligned canine, the coyote. There is no denying, I am a dog person. I have always been drawn to dogs and have felt a
The Forgetting Moon is the first book of “The Five Warrior Angels” trilogy by Brian Lee Durfee. Originally set to be a five-book series, it instead consists of three hefty books. With Game of Thrones or Malazan vibes, The Forgetting Moon has a lot to