Winter Reading Program -- March 4, 2023

Nothing new here. This has all been previously posted. 

1. California: America's High-Stakes Experiment, Peter Schrag, c. 2006.

• California politics, late 1990s into the 21st century. 
• how the California public education system (kindergarten through university) collapsed. 
• what happens when 1% of the population accounts for 49% of the state's revenue.

2. Silent Spring Revolution: John F. Kennedy, Rachel Carson, Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, and The Great Environmental Awakening, Douglas Brinkley, 2022.

• "EPA" politics
• incredibly good writing;
  

3. The Rise and Reign of the Mammals: A New History, From the Shadow of the Dinosaurs to US, Steve Brusatte, c. 2022.

• one of four books that should be read by every high school junior / senior who plans to major in the life sciences in college; the others:
  
• The Ancestor's Tale: A Pilgrimage to the Dawn of Evolution, Richard Dawkins and Yan Wong, c. 2016 (revised and expanded from earlier edition) 
• The Mistaken Extinction: Dinosaur Evolution and the Origin of Birds, Lowell Dingus and Timothy Rowe, c. 1998
• How The Mountains Grew: A New Geological History of North America, John Dvorak, c. 2021.

4. The Age of Entanglement: When Quantum Physics Was Born, Louisa Gilder, c. 2008; and, Too Big for a Single Mind: How the Greatest Generation of Physicists Uncovered the Quantum World, Tobia Hürter, c. 2021.

• the two books that should be ready by every high school senior who plans to major in physics or chemistry in college

5. Mailer: The Naked and the Dead; Selected Letters 1945 - 1946. J. Michael Lennon, editor, c. 2023.

• "everybody" talks about reading "Mailer." And "no one" has read "Mailer." This is the only Mailer book worth reading.

6. Chip War: The Fight For the World's Most Critical Technology, Chris Miller, c. 2022. 

• every investor needs to read this book

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Winter Reading Program, 2022 - 2023

My 2022 - 2023 winter reading program -- ends May 31, 2023.

 The books

• Silent Spring Revolution: John F. Kennedy, Rachel Carson, Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, and The Great Environmental Awakening, Douglas Brinkley, 2022.
  
• California: America's High-Stakes Experiment, Peter Schrag, c. 2006.
  
• The Book of Eels, Our Enduring Fascination with the Most Mysterious Creature in the Natural World, Patrick Svensson, c. 2020.
• The Mind of a Bee, Lars Chittka, c. 2022. Princeton University Press. A scientific treatise.
  
• The Rise and Reign of the Mammals: A New History, From the Shadow of the Dinosaurs to US, Steve Brusatte, c. 2022.
• Lady Almina and the Real Downton Abbey: The Lost Legacy of Highclere Castle, The Countess of Carnarvon, 2011.
• The Lord of the Rings, J. R. R. Tolkien, deluxe edition, 2004. Notes on the text: Douglas A. Anderson, May, 2004.
  
• Cinema Speculation, Quentin Tarantino, November 1, 2022.
  
• The Age of Entanglement: When Quantum Physics Was Born, Louisa Gilder, c. 2008.
  
• Chip War: The Fight For the World's Most Critical Technology, Chris Miller, c. 2022.
  
• Indigenous Continent: The Epic Contest for North America, Pekka Hämäläinen, September, 2022. 
• Too Big for a Single Mind: How the Greatest Generation of Physicists Uncovered the Quantum World, Tobia Hürter, c. 2021.
• Mailer: The Naked and the Dead; Selected Letters 1945 - 1946. J. Michael Lennon, editor, c. 2023. See note here.