PJ's bookshelf: all en-US Fri, 22 Nov 2024 08:18:44 -0800 60 PJ's bookshelf: all 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg <![CDATA[Depletion & Abundance: Life on the New Home Front]]> 3445983 288 Sharon Astyk 0865716145 PJ 4 4.02 2008 Depletion & Abundance: Life on the New Home Front
author: Sharon Astyk
name: PJ
average rating: 4.02
book published: 2008
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2024/11/22
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I read this on the tail of Orlov's Reinventing Collapse, and while the two share a similar forecast for future events and the breakdown of our society, this one offers more of a pragmatic roadmap for how to weather the storm. It's a bit more positive, but I'm still very indebted to Orlov for setting the stage as a preparation for this book. Astyk's hypocrisy of adding four more hungry mouths to a completely overshot planet, when she should be one of the few who understands our predicament, taints the book, as do her constant references to her religion, which is irrelevant.
]]> <![CDATA[Hokkaido Highway Blues: Hitchhiking Japan]]> 37438 344 Will Ferguson 1841952885 PJ 0 currently-reading 3.98 1998 Hokkaido Highway Blues: Hitchhiking Japan
author: Will Ferguson
name: PJ
average rating: 3.98
book published: 1998
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2019/11/14
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> Unbeaten Tracks in Japan 300369 348 Isabella Lucy Bird 1885211570 PJ 4 3.80 1885 Unbeaten Tracks in Japan
author: Isabella Lucy Bird
name: PJ
average rating: 3.80
book published: 1885
rating: 4
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date added: 2019/11/12
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]]> The Inland Sea 421446 Times Literary Supplement.

"Richie is a stupendous travel writer; the book shines with bright witticisms, deft characterizations of fisherfolk, merchants, monks and wistful adolescents, and keen comparisons of Japanes and Western culture." �San Francisco Chronicle

"A learned, beautifully paced elegy."�London Review of Books

Sheltered between Japan’s major islands lies the Inland Sea, a place modernity passed by. In this classic travel memoir, Donald Richie embarks on a quest to find Japan’s timeless heart among its mysterious waters and forgotten islands. This edition features an introduction by Pico Iyer, photographs from the award-winning PBS documentary, and a new afterword. First published in 1971, The Inland Sea is a lucid, tender voyage of discovery and self-revelation.

Donald Richie is the foremost authority on Japanese culture and cinema with 40+ books in print.]]> 260 Donald Richie 1880656698 PJ 3 3.89 1971 The Inland Sea
author: Donald Richie
name: PJ
average rating: 3.89
book published: 1971
rating: 3
read at: 2019/11/12
date added: 2019/11/12
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As someone who has lived and traveled in Japan (including the Seto Naikai), I found this valuable overall and a fairly quick read, and because I can speak basic Japanese I appreciated the inclusion of some Japanese words in the text. Richie makes some good observations, though some are quite dated 50 years on. Some parts were boring, and as others have noted the author's boner often takes the center stage, leading to a few cringe-worthy episodes where we shortly expect to read the details of a rape. Apart from those segments, whose stereotypical, privileged behavior made me ashamed to be among the ranks of "gaijin," I think it's worth reading if the Japan of the late 1960s and/or the Inland Sea are of interest to you. One last thing, he made many tedious references to classical literature and historical figures, both western and Japanese, that were completely lost on me. Bothering to Google those dozens of names, or having a degree in literature might give those parts a lot more gravity, but I mostly just skimmed over them.
]]> <![CDATA[Yakuza Moon: Memoirs of a Gangster's Daughter]]> 6482679 Yakuza Moon is the shocking, yet intensely moving memoir of 37-year-old Shoko Tendo, who grew up the daughter of a yakuza boss. Tendo lived her life in luxury until the age of six, when her father was sent to prison and her family fell into terrible debt. Bullied by classmates and terrorized at home by a father who became a drunken, violent monster after his release from prison, Tendo rebelled. A regular visitor to nightclubs at the age of 12, she soon became a drug addict and a member of a girl gang. At 15 she was sentenced to eight months in a juvenile detention center.

Adulthood brought big bucks and glamour when Tendo started working as a bar hostess during Japan's booming bubble economy of the nineteen-eighties. But among her many rich and loyal patrons there were also abusive clients, one of whom beat her so badly that her face was left permanently scarred. When her mother died, Tendo plunged into such a deep depression that she tried to commit suicide twice.
Tendo takes us through the bad times with warmth and candor, and gives a moving and inspiring account of how she overcame a lifetime of discrimination and hardship. Getting tattooed, from the base of her neck to the tips of her toes, with a design centered on a geisha with a dagger in her mouth, was an act that empowered her to start making changes in her life. She quit her job as a hostess. On her last day at the bar she looked up at the full moon, a sight she never forgot. The moon became a symbol of her struggle to become whole, and the title of the book she wrote as an epitaph for herself and her family.]]> 196 ShĹŤko TendĹŤ 477003086X PJ 2 3.69 2004 Yakuza Moon: Memoirs of a Gangster's Daughter
author: ShĹŤko TendĹŤ
name: PJ
average rating: 3.69
book published: 2004
rating: 2
read at:
date added: 2018/10/05
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]]> <![CDATA[God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything]]> 43369 307 Christopher Hitchens 0446579807 PJ 5 3.94 2007 God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything
author: Christopher Hitchens
name: PJ
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2007
rating: 5
read at: 2009/01/01
date added: 2015/01/11
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Incisive, hilarious and essential, a great one to just pick up and flip to any random page. The section on Mormonism is particularly good.
]]> <![CDATA[Designing and Maintaining Your Edible Landscape Naturally]]> 1164383 382 Robert Kourik 1856230260 PJ 4 3.82 1986 Designing and Maintaining Your Edible Landscape Naturally
author: Robert Kourik
name: PJ
average rating: 3.82
book published: 1986
rating: 4
read at: 2010/06/01
date added: 2011/09/16
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This is a bit dated and also primitive in its printing (looks like a bound stack of xerox copies), but has a lot of very helpful illustrations and some great info throughout. A worthy addition to a Permaculture library, if a somewhat heavy and redundant in its multiple bibliographies. Root growth maps are especially interesting.
]]> <![CDATA[The Transition Handbook: From Oil Dependency to Local Resilience]]> 2932356 224 Rob Hopkins 1900322188 PJ 4
The beginning part of the book offers an excellent primer on Peak Oil and Climate Change, and I enjoyed the first third of it more than the middle third, I haven't finished it yet though so maybe it will pull me back in.]]> 4.01 2008 The Transition Handbook: From Oil Dependency to Local Resilience
author: Rob Hopkins
name: PJ
average rating: 4.01
book published: 2008
rating: 4
read at: 2008/10/01
date added: 2010/01/07
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The Transition movement seems to be really taking of in the UK, I hope that the US will adopt these ideas and methods just as readily. It's already happening in Boulder CO and a few other places, I've lent this book to a couple of people here in Louisville and they were excited about it too. Basically it offers a framework for citizen activists and community leaders to prepare their locales for what is sure to be a bumpy road ahead as we face peak oil, climate change and possible economic collapse. Strengthening community bonds and establishing vibrant local economies is the key here.

The beginning part of the book offers an excellent primer on Peak Oil and Climate Change, and I enjoyed the first third of it more than the middle third, I haven't finished it yet though so maybe it will pull me back in.
]]> <![CDATA[The Earth Care Manual: A Permaculture Handbook for Britain and Other Temperate Climates]]> 1230471 482 Patrick Whitefield 185623021X PJ 5 4.50 2005 The Earth Care Manual: A Permaculture Handbook for Britain and Other Temperate Climates
author: Patrick Whitefield
name: PJ
average rating: 4.50
book published: 2005
rating: 5
read at: 2008/09/01
date added: 2010/01/07
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This hefty volume, weighing in at 450+ letter-sized pages (and about $80!) is no breezy novel, but I'm almost done with it and would highly recommend it to others. It's almost like a permaculture coursework, covering all of the essential topics in quite a bit of detail, with lots of photos, charts and illustrations. It was recommended to me by Peter Bane, a permaculture teacher well-known in the US (and publisher of the wonderful Permaculture Activist magazine). He didn't steer me wrong. One of the most valuable books in my collection!
]]> <![CDATA[Streetwise: Race, Class, and Change in an Urban Community]]> 686602
"The sharpness of his observations and the simple clarity of his prose recommend his book far beyond an academic audience. Vivid, unflinching, finely observed, Streetwise is a powerful and intensely frightening picture of the inner city."—Tamar Jacoby, New York Times Book Review

"The book is without peer in the urban sociology literature. . . . A first-rate piece of social science, and a very good read."—Glenn C. Loury, Washington Times]]> 276 Elijah Anderson 0226018164 PJ 4 3.76 1992 Streetwise: Race, Class, and Change in an Urban Community
author: Elijah Anderson
name: PJ
average rating: 3.76
book published: 1992
rating: 4
read at: 2005/01/01
date added: 2008/11/20
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review:
An in-depth look at urban race and class issues, especially gentrification. A thorough exploration of a difficult subject, based on years of living in a transitional neighborhood, wonderful interviews and scholarly reflection. Set in Philadelphia but could be any major city. The only thing weird about this book was the overuse of "quotation marks" for any sort of "slang words" throughout the "book," it got a bit "tiresome."
]]> <![CDATA[Ethnic Chicago: A Multicultural Portrait]]> 2843025
The founding fathers: the absorption of French-Indian Chicago, 1816-1837 / Jacqueline Peterson --
Irish Chicago: church, homeland, politics, and class --
the shaping of an ethnic group, 1870-1900 / Michael F. Funchion --
German American ethnic and cultural identity from 1890 onward / Melvin G. Holli --
A community created: Chicago Swedes, 1880-1590 / Anita R. Olson --
The Jews of Chicago: from shtetl to suburb / Irving Cutler --
Polish Chicago: survival through solidarity / Edward R. Kantowicz --
Ukrainian Chicago: the making of a nationality group in America / Myron Bohdon Kuropas --
Chicago's Italians: a survey of the ethnic factor, 1850-1990 / Dominic Candeloro --
Greek survival in Chicago / Andrew T. Kopan --
African-American migration to Chicago / James R. Grossman --
Chatham: an African-American success story / William Braden --
Latino Chicago / Jorge Casuso and Eduardo Camacho --
The Chinese in Chicago: the first one hundred years / Susan Lee Moy --
Japanese Americans: melting into the all-American melting pot / Masako Osako --
Asian Indians in Chicago: growth and change in a model minority / Padma Rangaswamy --
Koreans of Chicago: the new entrepreneurial immigrants / Joseph Ahne --
The ethnic saloon: a public melting pot / Perry R. Duis --
Ethnic sports / Steven S. Riess --
Ethnic crime: the organized underworld of early 20th century Chicago / Mark H. Haller --
The ethnic church / Edward R. Kantowicz --
Chicago's ethnic neighborhoods: the myth of stability and the reality of change / Dominic A. Pacyga --
Ethnic cemeteries: underground rites / Helen A. Sclair]]> 656 Peter d'A. Jones Jones 0802870538 PJ 3 3.07 1984 Ethnic Chicago: A Multicultural Portrait
author: Peter d'A. Jones Jones
name: PJ
average rating: 3.07
book published: 1984
rating: 3
read at: 2004/01/01
date added: 2008/11/20
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This fascinating book covers a hell of a lot of ground, I read it a few years ago and managed to retain my interest through all 600-something pages. As someone interested in the history of Chicago and also the various challenges faced by all kinds of immigrant and minority groups (and their various solutions to such challenges), this book had a great appeal.
]]> <![CDATA[Learning from Las Vegas: The Forgotten Symbolism of Architectural Form]]> 132435 192 Robert Venturi 026272006X PJ 4 4.01 1972 Learning from Las Vegas: The Forgotten Symbolism of Architectural Form
author: Robert Venturi
name: PJ
average rating: 4.01
book published: 1972
rating: 4
read at: 1998/01/01
date added: 2008/11/20
shelves:
review:
Recommended to me by some brainy, overanalytical grad student in college, it is nonetheless a fine and relevant book for any student of design or resident of this vapid commercial strip we call America.
]]> Blue Highways 63832 Hailed as a masterpiece of American travel writing, Blue Highways is an unforgettable journey along our nation's backroads.
William Least Heat-Moon set out with little more than the need to put home behind him and a sense of curiosity about "those little towns that get on the map-if they get on at all-only because some cartographer has a blank space to fill: Remote, Oregon; Simplicity, Virginia; New Freedom, Pennsylvania; New Hope, Tennessee; Why, Arizona; Whynot, Mississippi."
His adventures, his discoveries, and his recollections of the extraordinary people he encountered along the way amount to a revelation of the true American experience.]]> 428 William Least Heat-Moon PJ 3 4.03 1982 Blue Highways
author: William Least Heat-Moon
name: PJ
average rating: 4.03
book published: 1982
rating: 3
read at: 1999/01/01
date added: 2008/11/20
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Not my favorite travelogue or road-book ever, but certainly a good one and well-worth reading.
]]> <![CDATA[The Lure of the Local: Senses of Place in a Multicentered Society]]> 155907 328 Lucy R. Lippard 1565842472 PJ 5 4.21 1997 The Lure of the Local: Senses of Place in a Multicentered Society
author: Lucy R. Lippard
name: PJ
average rating: 4.21
book published: 1997
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2008/11/20
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review:
How could I have forgotten this one, one of my all-time favorites, it's surely helped to steer my life and my worldview since first reading it in college.
]]> <![CDATA[Reinventing Collapse: The Soviet Example and American Prospects]]> 2367427
Rather than focusing on doom and gloom, Reinventing Collapse suggests that there is room for optimism if we focus our efforts on personal and cultural transformation. With characteristic dry humor, Dmitry Orlov identifies three progressive stages of response to the looming crisis:


Mitigation—alleviating the impact of the coming upheaval Adaptation—adjusting to the reality of changed conditions Opportunity—flourishing after the collapse He argues that by examining maladaptive parts of our common cultural baggage, we can survive, thrive, and discover more meaningful and fulfilling lives, in spite of steadily deteriorating circumstances.

This challenging yet inspiring work is a must-read for anyone concerned about energy, geopolitics, international relations, and life in a post-Peak Oil world.

Dmitry Orlov was born in Leningrad and immigrated to the United States at the age of twelve. He was an eyewitness to the Soviet collapse over several extended visits to his Russian homeland between the late eighties and mid-nineties. He is an engineer and a leading Peak Oil theorist whose writing is featured on such sites as and .]]> 176 Dmitry Orlov 0865716064 PJ 5
For an idea of the gist of this book, you can at the recent Plan C Conference (which I was lucky to attend). Please do and prepare yourself and your family.]]> 3.98 2008 Reinventing Collapse: The Soviet Example and American Prospects
author: Dmitry Orlov
name: PJ
average rating: 3.98
book published: 2008
rating: 5
read at: 2008/10/01
date added: 2008/11/20
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One of the most influential books I've ever read, VERY highly recommended to everyone I know and care about. It describes what will likely unfold as the great empire of the US falls on its face, similar to how the USSR did in the late 80s, but with much less preparation in our case. Shocking, disturbing, hilarious and actually heartening, in some ways I'm looking forward to the low-energy version of the USA.

For an idea of the gist of this book, you can at the recent Plan C Conference (which I was lucky to attend). Please do and prepare yourself and your family.
]]> <![CDATA[Root Cellaring: Natural Cold Storage of Fruits & Vegetables]]> 680351 297 Mike Bubel 0882667033 PJ 0 to-read 4.11 1979 Root Cellaring: Natural Cold Storage of Fruits & Vegetables
author: Mike Bubel
name: PJ
average rating: 4.11
book published: 1979
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2008/11/20
shelves: to-read
review:
Another great reference to have on-hand when it comes time to store food over the winter.
]]> <![CDATA[Storey's Basic Country Skills: A Practical Guide to Self-Reliance]]> 63656
Readers will find step-by-step, illustrated instructions for every aspect of country living including:


Finding country land
Buying, building, and renovating a home
Developing water sources and systems
Understanding wiring, plumbing, and heating
Using alternative heating and energy sources
Vegetable, flower, and herb gardening
Traditional cooking skills such as baking bread and making maple syrup
Preparing and preserving meat, fruits, and vegetables
Building and maintaining barns, sheds, and outbuildings
Caring for common farm and ranch animals, and pets]]> 576 M. John Storey 1580172024 PJ 0 to-read 4.22 1999 Storey's Basic Country Skills: A Practical Guide to Self-Reliance
author: M. John Storey
name: PJ
average rating: 4.22
book published: 1999
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2008/11/20
shelves: to-read
review:
Goes along with "Country Wisdom" and "Encyclopedia of Country Living," just got all three since they were inexpensive and each pack a wallop of great info.
]]> <![CDATA[The Natural House: A Complete Guide to Healthy, Energy-Efficient, Environmental Homes]]> 29271 The Natural House is a tour of the construction, costs, and pros and cons of fourteen natural building methods. Straw Bale, Rammed Earth, Cob, Cordwood, Adobe, Earthbags, Papercrete, Earthships…whatever the method, the common goal is to create a house that is economical, energy efficient, nontoxic, soothing to the soul, kind to the environment, and pleasing to behold. This comprehensive sourcebook offers in-depth information that will guide your search for the perfect sustainable dream home. It is a must for home builders, contractors, and architects.
Author Dan Chiras shows how you can gain energy independence and reduce your environmental impact through passive solar heating and cooling techniques, solar electricity, wind power, and micro-hydropower. He also explains safe, economical ways to obtain clean drinking water and treat wastewater, and discusses affordable green products.
While he's an unabashed advocate of natural building techniques, Chiras takes care not to romanticize and to alert readers to avoidable pitfalls. His detailed, practical, and ecologically sound advice can save tens of thousands of dollars, whether you are buying, building, or renovating a natural home.]]> 468 Daniel D. Chiras 1890132578 PJ 0 to-read 3.94 2000 The Natural House: A Complete Guide to Healthy, Energy-Efficient, Environmental Homes
author: Daniel D. Chiras
name: PJ
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2000
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2008/11/20
shelves: to-read
review:
Flipping through this one it seems pretty solid, glad to have it in my library and will refer back to it later as I get closer to building a place.
]]> Voices from the Farm 797611 176 Rupert Fike 157067051X PJ 4 3.73 1998 Voices from the Farm
author: Rupert Fike
name: PJ
average rating: 3.73
book published: 1998
rating: 4
read at: 2008/08/01
date added: 2008/11/20
shelves:
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A short book (wish it was longer), offering a chorus of varying accounts of life on The Farm (a large hippie commune started in the early 70s in rural Tennessee, they were over 1,000 strong and nearly self-sufficient for many years). I would've liked a lot more stories and details, but otherwise a fine read.
]]> <![CDATA[The Encyclopedia of Country Living]]> 3800517 922 Carla Emery 1570615535 PJ 4 currently-reading 4.40 1977 The Encyclopedia of Country Living
author: Carla Emery
name: PJ
average rating: 4.40
book published: 1977
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2008/11/20
shelves: currently-reading
review:
Got this one along with a couple of other "basic skills bibles", and so far I'm impressed with the breadth and depth of its coverage. Been reading about corn lately, all kinds of stuff about it. A good one for the commode, to have handy and just open randomly to any page.
]]> <![CDATA[World Made by Hand (World Made by Hand #1)]]> 1689657
A captivating, utterly realistic novel, World Made by Hand takes speculative fiction beyond the apocalypse and shows what happens when life gets extremely local.]]> 317 James Howard Kunstler 0871139782 PJ 4 3.65 2007 World Made by Hand (World Made by Hand #1)
author: James Howard Kunstler
name: PJ
average rating: 3.65
book published: 2007
rating: 4
read at: 2008/05/01
date added: 2008/11/20
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I'm a big fan of the acerbic nonfiction of Kunstler's, like The Geography of Nowhere and The Long Emergency. This novel is set in the not-too-distant future after a catastrophic collapse or meltdown of society, and it allows Kunstler to plug in all of his favorite stuff, from small-town living to olde-tymey skills to a car-less society, with the main character even being quite the ladies' man to the womenfolk around town. A bit cheesy at times but fascinating and definitely worth reading.
]]> <![CDATA[Four-Season Harvest: Organic Vegetables from Your Home Garden All Year Long]]> 47930
This story of sunshine, weather patterns, old limitations and expectations, and new realities is delightfully innovative in the best gardening tradition. Four-Season Harvest will have you feasting on fresh produce from your garden all through the winter.

To learn more about the possibility of a four-season farm, please visit Coleman's website .]]> 236 Eliot Coleman 1890132276 PJ 4 4.30 1990 Four-Season Harvest: Organic Vegetables from Your Home Garden All Year Long
author: Eliot Coleman
name: PJ
average rating: 4.30
book published: 1990
rating: 4
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date added: 2008/11/20
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review:
I got really excited when first reading this book, about the prospects of greenhouse growing in Michigan during the winter. That is until someone reminded me how cloudy MI is during the winter...so I did some research, and sure enough, the part of Maine the author lives in has more sunny days than the US average in winter, whereas Michigan is among the cloudiest of all areas, with sunny days far below the national average. It's still a good book, but I think the author should've made as much a point of cloud cover as he did latitude.
]]> <![CDATA[When Technology Fails: A Manual for Self-Reliance and Planetary Survival]]> 664532 405 Matthew Stein 1933392835 PJ 4 currently-reading 3.97 2000 When Technology Fails: A Manual for Self-Reliance and Planetary Survival
author: Matthew Stein
name: PJ
average rating: 3.97
book published: 2000
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2008/11/20
shelves: currently-reading
review:
Seems like a decent primer so far, good reference to have handy.
]]> <![CDATA[Small is Possible: Life in a Local Economy]]> 2836394 Another beautiful idea is that a community needs a variety of people and businesses to thrive. And that as you begin living locally- and begin working toward a healthy community - people and businesses find their niches. And when you find your own niche within the local economy, your own happiness rises. Your sense of well-being increases when you realize your positive and necessary contribution to society.
As we go further into debt and economic security throughout the world, nurturing our small, local, sustainable businesses and infrastructure will become increasingly important. I recommend this book.
Reviewed by Melinda on The Blogging Bookworm In an era when incomprehensibly complex issues like Peak Oil and climate change dominate headlines, practical solutions at a local level can seem somehow inadequate. In response, Lyle Estill’s Small is Possible introduces us to “hometown security,� with this chronicle of a community-powered response to resource depletion in a fickle global economy. True stories, springing from the soils of Chatham County, North Carolina, offer a positive counterbalance to the bleakness of our age. This is the story of how one small southern US town found actual solutions to actual problems. Unwilling to rely on the government and wary of large corporations, these residents discovered it is possible for a community to feed itself, fuel itself, heal itself, and govern itself. This book is filled with newspaper columns, blog entries, letters, and essays that have appeared on the margins of small-town economies. Tough subjects are handled with humor and finesse. Compelling stories of successful small businesses, from the grocery co-op to the biodiesel co-op, describe a town and its people on a genuine quest for sustainability. Everyone interested in sustainability, local economy, small business, and whole foods will be inspired by the success stories in this book. Lyle Estill is “Vice President of Stuff � at Piedmont Biofuels, and has won numerous awards for his work in the biodiesel business. He is the author of Biodiesel Power and lives in Moncure, North Carolina.]]> 240 Lyle Estill 086571603X PJ 3 3.35 2008 Small is Possible: Life in a Local Economy
author: Lyle Estill
name: PJ
average rating: 3.35
book published: 2008
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2008/11/20
shelves:
review:
I thought this book was okay, but it dragged ass in some areas and got caught up in boring minutia and autobiographical stories which weren't all that interesting. It's heartening to know that these things are possible in small communities, but I think his particular community has a disproportionate amount of liberal-leaning folks and quirky local businesses...I don't know if a lot of this could be extrapolated to say a small town of a few hundred people in the middle of the corn belt. Maybe worth reading but not as good as Sharon Astyk's book Depletion and Abundance.
]]> <![CDATA[Running on Emptiness: The Pathology of Civilization]]> 449949 214 John Zerzan 092291575X PJ 4 3.78 2002 Running on Emptiness: The Pathology of Civilization
author: John Zerzan
name: PJ
average rating: 3.78
book published: 2002
rating: 4
read at: 2008/04/01
date added: 2008/11/20
shelves:
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Another wonderful eye-opener that may change your entire worldview. Zerzan argues that mankind lived happily for nearly a couple of million years without "technology," "agriculture," and "civilization," and makes a strong point that almost every human technological advance (beyond primitive tools) has served to fracture society, create disparity, increase alienation and lead to a less fulfilling life. He's not even a fan of language! Very interesting.
]]> <![CDATA[Reader's Digest Back to Basics: How to Learn and Enjoy Traditional American Skills]]> 76998 456 Reader's Digest Association 0895770865 PJ 4 4.40 1981 Reader's Digest Back to Basics: How to Learn and Enjoy Traditional American Skills
author: Reader's Digest Association
name: PJ
average rating: 4.40
book published: 1981
rating: 4
read at: 2008/11/20
date added: 2008/11/20
shelves:
review:
My parents had a copy of this when I was growing up and I appreciate it in a new light now as an adult. TONS of great information packed into one book, highly-recommended. I don't give it 5 stars because of the animal-agriculture aspects of some chapters. :)
]]> <![CDATA[Disposable People: New Slavery in the Global Economy]]> 884137
Three interrelated factors have helped create the new slavery. The enormous population explosion over the past three decades has flooded the world's labor markets with millions of impoverished, desperate people. The revolution of economic globalization and modernized agriculture has dispossessed poor farmers, making them and their families ready targets for enslavement. And rapid economic change in developing countries has bred corruption and violence, destroying social rules that might once have protected the most vulnerable individuals.

Bales's vivid case studies present actual slaves, slaveholders, and public officials in well-drawn historical, geographical, and cultural contexts. He observes the complex economic relationships of modern slavery and is aware that liberation is a bitter victory for a child prostitute or a bondaged miner if the result is starvation.

Bales offers suggestions for combating the new slavery and provides examples of very positive results from organizations such as Anti-Slavery International, the Pastoral Land Commission in Brazil, and the Human Rights Commission in Pakistan. He also calls for researchers to follow the flow of raw materials and products from slave to marketplace in order to effectively target campaigns of "naming and shaming" corporations linked to slavery. Disposable People is the first book to point the way to abolishing slavery in today's global economy.

All of the author's royalties from this book go to fund anti-slavery projects around the world.]]> 298 Kevin Bales 0520224639 PJ 4 3.89 1999 Disposable People: New Slavery in the Global Economy
author: Kevin Bales
name: PJ
average rating: 3.89
book published: 1999
rating: 4
read at: 2008/11/20
date added: 2008/11/20
shelves:
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Makes my distaste for mankind reach new depths, and makes me feel like we've learned nothing over the millenia...but a good and very relevant book for a privileged American to read.
]]> Strawbale Homebuilding 1719104 156 Alan T. Gray 0958639744 PJ 4 3.67 2001 Strawbale Homebuilding
author: Alan T. Gray
name: PJ
average rating: 3.67
book published: 2001
rating: 4
read at: 2008/11/20
date added: 2008/11/20
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Travels with Charley: In Search of America]]> 5306 A quest across America, from the northernmost tip of Maine to California’s Monterey Peninsula

To hear the speech of the real America, to smell the grass and the trees, to see the colors and the light—these were John Steinbeck's goals as he set out, at the age of fifty-eight, to rediscover the country he had been writing about for so many years.

With Charley, his French poodle, Steinbeck drives the interstates and the country roads, dines with truckers, encounters bears at Yellowstone and old friends in San Francisco. Along the way he reflects on the American character, racial hostility, the particular form of American loneliness he finds almost everywhere, and the unexpected kindness of strangers.]]> 214 John Steinbeck 0142000701 PJ 5 On the Road or I See by My Outfit, but with an observance steeled with the wisdom of age. Something akin to the wonderful documentary interview books of Studs Terkel (Division St. America, for instance). JS is traveling cross-country incognito in a truck/camper with his faithful hound, meeting and immortalizing the folks he meets along the way. Highly-recommended.]]> 4.07 1961 Travels with Charley: In Search of America
author: John Steinbeck
name: PJ
average rating: 4.07
book published: 1961
rating: 5
read at: 2006/05/01
date added: 2008/01/21
shelves:
review:
The first Steinbeck I'd ever read, an engrossing and wonderful travelogue in the spirit of On the Road or I See by My Outfit, but with an observance steeled with the wisdom of age. Something akin to the wonderful documentary interview books of Studs Terkel (Division St. America, for instance). JS is traveling cross-country incognito in a truck/camper with his faithful hound, meeting and immortalizing the folks he meets along the way. Highly-recommended.
]]> I See by My Outfit 640975 238 Peter S. Beagle 1933572078 PJ 5 4.12 1965 I See by My Outfit
author: Peter S. Beagle
name: PJ
average rating: 4.12
book published: 1965
rating: 5
read at: 2003/01/01
date added: 2008/01/21
shelves:
review:
Another of my all-time favorite books, an account of two beatnik-era buddies traversing the country on motorscooters, stopping in small towns, meeting people, having adventures, and recording it all with a very sensitive ear. I had the pleasure of meeting Peter Beagle (better known for his fantasy writing) and he's as delightful, observant and witty in person as he is in this book...highly, highly recommended.
]]> A Clockwork Orange 227463 A Clockwork Orange is a frightening fable about good and evil, and the meaning of human freedom. And when the state undertakes to reform Alex to "redeem" him, the novel asks, "At what cost?"

This edition includes the controversial last chapter not published in the first edition and Burgess's introduction "A Clockwork Orange Resucked."]]> 192 Anthony Burgess PJ 5 3.98 1962 A Clockwork Orange
author: Anthony Burgess
name: PJ
average rating: 3.98
book published: 1962
rating: 5
read at: 1992/01/01
date added: 2008/01/21
shelves:
review:
One of my all-time favorites, mostly for the inventiveness and poetry of the language Burgess has crafted. I pick it up occasionally and start reading at any page and am never disappointed, a good story told in a delightful tongue.
]]> <![CDATA[Vegan: The New Ethics of Eating]]> 384184 212 Erik Marcus 0935526870 PJ 4 4.03 1955 Vegan: The New Ethics of Eating
author: Erik Marcus
name: PJ
average rating: 4.03
book published: 1955
rating: 4
read at: 2001/01/01
date added: 2008/01/21
shelves:
review:
While much shorter and breezier than Diet for a New America, "Vegan" makes many of the same arguments in a fairly compelling way. Not my favorite book on the subject and not one that I really recommend to people, but I'm glad to have read it and glad that it's out there.
]]> <![CDATA[Diet for a New America: How Your Food Choices Affect Your Health, Happiness and the Future of Life on Earth]]> 51315
Well-researched and equally well-written author Robbins sounds the alarm and reveals the astounding physical, emotional and economic price we unknowingly pay. You may never again look at the local supermarket's meat counter the same way after you read this book. A must-read for anyone involved or interested in ecological and political issues.]]> 448 John Robbins 0915811812 PJ 5 4.18 1987 Diet for a New America: How Your Food Choices Affect Your Health, Happiness and the Future of Life on Earth
author: John Robbins
name: PJ
average rating: 4.18
book published: 1987
rating: 5
read at: 1997/02/01
date added: 2008/01/21
shelves:
review:
This book is quite outdated now, but still full of very relevant and compelling messages about how what we eat plays out in the larger world (to animals, the environment and our health). This is the book that turned me into a vegan in 1997 or so and I haven't looked back since! I used to give this book as a gift quite often and implore people to read it, but it's been superseded by Robbins' The Food Revolution, so now I leave it to history. Excellent book, a life-changer.
]]> <![CDATA[Challenging Chicago: Coping with Everyday Life, 1837-1920]]> 2012011
Challenging Chicago reveals the survival strategies to which the many people who flocked to the city resorted, especially those of the lower and middle classes for whom urban life was a new experience.]]> 448 Perry R. Duis 0252023943 PJ 4 3.92 1998 Challenging Chicago: Coping with Everyday Life, 1837-1920
author: Perry R. Duis
name: PJ
average rating: 3.92
book published: 1998
rating: 4
read at: 2006/02/01
date added: 2008/01/21
shelves:
review:
I read this in a few different bursts, finishing it about a year ago. I think I was drawn to it by the vivid accounts of the squalor of everyday life as given in The Jungle, and this book details what it was like as a big city grew up out of a swamp/prairie and discovered electricity, sewers, automobiles, refrigeration, etc...and the effect those new powers had on everyday life. Fascinating to someone who grew up with "all the conveniences" and lived in modern Chicago, where almost no trace of this former life is evident. A bit dry and repetitive but worthwhile!
]]> Division Street: America 59657 Division Street, Studs Terkel’s first book of oral history, established his reputation as America’s foremost oral historian and as “one of those rare thinkers who is actually willing to go out and talk to the incredible people of this country� (in the words of Tom Wolfe).

Viewing the inhabitants of a single city, Chicago, as a microcosm of the nation at large, Division Street chronicles the thoughts and feelings of some seventy people from widely varying backgrounds in terms of class, race, and personal history. From a mother and son who migrated from Appalachia to a Native American boilerman, from a streetwise ex–gang leader to a liberal police officer, from the poorest African Americans to the richest socialites, these unique and often intimate first-person accounts form a multifaceted collage that defies any simple stereotype of America.

As Terkel himself put it: “I was on the prowl for a cross–section of urban thought, using no one method or technique. . . I guess I was seeking some balance in the wildlife of the city as Rachel Carson sought it in nature. Revealing aspects of people’s lives that are normally invisible to most of us, Division Street is a fascinating survey of a city, and a society, at a pivotal moment of the twentieth century.


]]> 416 Studs Terkel 1595580727 PJ 5 4.17 1966 Division Street: America
author: Studs Terkel
name: PJ
average rating: 4.17
book published: 1966
rating: 5
read at: 2004/10/01
date added: 2008/01/21
shelves:
review:
Like "Working," this is another fascinating cross-section of society given through interviews with everyday folks from all walks of life and taken during a tumultuous time (toward the end of the Vietnam war and in the midst of much civil rights activity in the US). Highly-recommended!
]]> <![CDATA[Working: People Talk About What They Do All Day and How They Feel About What They Do]]> 59649 640 Studs Terkel 1565843428 PJ 5 4.25 1974 Working: People Talk About What They Do All Day and How They Feel About What They Do
author: Studs Terkel
name: PJ
average rating: 4.25
book published: 1974
rating: 5
read at: 2005/03/01
date added: 2008/01/21
shelves:
review:
Amazing documentary writing, definitely inspired me to ask more questions of people I know (and record interviews with my family elders). Chock-full of engaging snippets and summaries of nearly every job imaginable at the time it was written (early 70s?), highly-recommended.
]]> <![CDATA[Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim]]> 10176 --davidsedarisbooks.com]]> 257 David Sedaris 0965904830 PJ 3 4.12 2004 Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim
author: David Sedaris
name: PJ
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2004
rating: 3
read at: 2006/12/01
date added: 2008/01/21
shelves:
review:
While this did make me L-O-L a few times, I'm not a huge fan of Sedaris' schtick and wasn't dying to read more after this one. An entertaining-enough read full of Griswold-esque family situations and mental anguish, easy to pick up and put down, good candidate for reading on the throne.
]]> <![CDATA[Building Green: A Complete How-to Guide To Alternative Building Methods - Earth Plaster, Straw Bale, Cordwood, Cob, Living Roofs]]> 95132
This absolutely groundbreaking manual doesn't just talk about eco-friendly building techniques, but actually shows every step! More than 1,200 close-up photographs, along with in-depth descriptions, follow the real construction of an alternative house from site selection to the addition of final-touch interior details. Co-authors Clarke Snell and Timothy Callahan (a professional builder and contractor) provide thorough discussions of the fundamental concepts of construction, substitutes for conventional approaches, and planning a home that's not only comfortable and beautiful, but environmentally responsible. Then, they roll up their sleeves and get to work assembling a guest house that incorporates four different alternative building straw bale, cob, cordwood, and modified stick frame. The images show every how the site is cleared, the basic structure put together, the cob wall sculpted, the bales and cordwood stacked, a living roof created, and more. Most important, the manual conveys real-world challenges and processes, and offers dozens of sidebars with invaluable advice. It's head and shoulders above all others in the field.]]> 615 Clarke Snell 1579905323 PJ 4 4.16 2005 Building Green: A Complete How-to Guide To Alternative Building Methods - Earth Plaster, Straw Bale, Cordwood, Cob, Living Roofs
author: Clarke Snell
name: PJ
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2005
rating: 4
read at: 2008/02/20
date added: 2008/01/21
shelves:
review:
I've become quite interested in natural building and aspire to build my own little house in the country someday in the not-so-distant future...this book is 600 pages full of beautiful photographs and conversational-but-concise show-how tips. Enjoying it very much as a primer on the subject, though it's not as low-impact as it could be (using more conventional materials and tools than I would've expected, and water and electricity from the grid).
]]> The Grapes of Wrath 4395 The Grapes of Wrath is a landmark of American literature. A portrait of the conflict between the powerful and the powerless, of one man’s fierce reaction to injustice, and of one woman’s stoical strength, the novel captures the horrors of the Great Depression and probes into the very nature of equality and justice in America. Although it follows the movement of thousands of men and women and the transformation of an entire nation, The Grapes of Wrath is also the story of one Oklahoma family, the Joads, who are driven off their homestead and forced to travel west to the promised land of California. Out of their trials and their repeated collisions against the hard realities of an America divided into Haves and Have-Nots evolves a drama that is intensely human yet majestic in its scale and moral vision, elemental yet plainspoken, tragic but ultimately stirring in its human dignity.

First published in 1939, The Grapes of Wrath summed up its era in the way that Uncle Tom's Cabin summed up the years of slavery before the Civil War. Sensitive to fascist and communist criticism, Steinbeck insisted that "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" be printed in its entirety in the first edition of the book—which takes its title from the first verse: "He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored." At once a naturalistic epic, captivity narrative, road novel, and transcendental gospel, Steinbeck’s fictional chronicle of the Dust Bowl migration of the 1930s is perhaps the most American of American Classics.]]> 455 John Steinbeck PJ 5 3.88 1939 The Grapes of Wrath
author: John Steinbeck
name: PJ
average rating: 3.88
book published: 1939
rating: 5
read at: 2008/02/20
date added: 2008/01/21
shelves:
review:
Really enjoying it so far, about halfway-through now. It was highly recommended to me by Lindsay (she says it's much better than The Jungle), and it's definitely damn good.
]]> <![CDATA[The Most Beautiful Woman in Town & Other Stories]]> 50451
Bukowski's writings have addicted legions of American readers, even though the high literary establishment continues to ignore them. In Europe, however (particularly in Germany, Italy, and France, where he is published by the great publishing houses), Bukowski is critically recognized as one of America's greatest realist writers.]]> 240 Charles Bukowski 0872861562 PJ 4 3.99 1983 The Most Beautiful Woman in Town & Other Stories
author: Charles Bukowski
name: PJ
average rating: 3.99
book published: 1983
rating: 4
read at: 2007/10/01
date added: 2008/01/04
shelves:
review:
Great collection of short stories, wine-soaked tales of barrooms and beach bungalows and racetracks and whores, among other things. Looking forward to reading more Bukowski in longer prose.
]]> <![CDATA[Made in America: An Informal History of the English Language in the United States]]> 10541
Exploding much of America's self-created self-image, Bryson de-mythologises his native land - explaining how a dusty desert hamlet with neither woods nor holly became Hollywood, how the Wild West wasn't won, why Americans say "lootenant" and "Toosday", how Americans were eating junk food long before the word itself was cooked up - as well as exposing the true origins of the G-string, the original $64,000 question and Dr Kellogg of cornflakes fame.]]> 364 Bill Bryson PJ 5 3.91 1994 Made in America: An Informal History of the English Language in the United States
author: Bill Bryson
name: PJ
average rating: 3.91
book published: 1994
rating: 5
read at: 2001/01/01
date added: 2008/01/04
shelves:
review:
Another favorite by Bryson, tracing the ways in which American English evolved from British English with countless poignant and hilarious examples and backstories. Another must for anyone interested in the English language, American culture or humor. Very easy and engaging reading.
]]> <![CDATA[The Mother Tongue: English and How It Got That Way]]> 29
From its mongrel origins to its status as the world's most-spoken tongue; its apparent simplicity to its deceptive complexity; its vibrant swearing to its uncertain spelling and pronunciation; Bryson covers all this as well as the many curious eccentricities that make it as maddening to learn as it is flexible to use.

Bill Bryson's classic Mother Tongue is a highly readable and hilarious tale of how English came to be the world's language.]]> 270 Bill Bryson 0380715430 PJ 5 3.91 1990 The Mother Tongue: English and How It Got That Way
author: Bill Bryson
name: PJ
average rating: 3.91
book published: 1990
rating: 5
read at: 2001/01/01
date added: 2008/01/04
shelves:
review:
One of my all-time favorites, a book that you can pick up and start reading on any page and be hard-pressed to put down, a must read for anyone interested in the English language and how it got to be what it is.
]]> <![CDATA[I'm a Stranger Here Myself: Notes on Returning to America After Twenty Years Away]]> 25
Delivering the brilliant comic musings that are a Bryson hallmark, I'm a Stranger Here Myself recounts his sometimes disconcerting reunion with the land of his birth. The result is a book filled with hysterical scenes of one man's attempt to reacquaint himself with his own country, but it is also an extended if at times bemused love letter to the homeland he has returned to after twenty years away.]]> 304 Bill Bryson 076790382X PJ 3 3.90 1998 I'm a Stranger Here Myself: Notes on Returning to America After Twenty Years Away
author: Bill Bryson
name: PJ
average rating: 3.90
book published: 1998
rating: 3
read at: 2007/12/01
date added: 2008/01/04
shelves:
review:
Entertaining little vignettes, pulled from a weekly newspaper column and reflecting anew on life and culture in the USA by a guy who grew up here and then lived in the UK from about ages 20-40. Sometimes surprising, a bit formulaic and not Bryson at his best, but solid and cute and sometimes hilarious.
]]> Into the Wild 1845 Librarian's Note: An alternate cover edition can be found here

In April, 1992, a young man from a well-to-do family hitchhiked to Alaska and walked alone into the wilderness north of Mt. McKinley. His name was Christopher Johnson McCandless. He had given $25,000 in savings to charity, abandoned his car and most of his possessions, burned all the cash in his wallet, and invented a new life for himself. Four months later, a party of moose hunters found his decomposed body. How McCandless came to die is the unforgettable story of Into the Wild.

Immediately after graduating from college in 1991, McCandless had roamed through the West and Southwest on a vision quest like those made by his heroes Jack London and John Muir. In the Mojave Desert he abandoned his car, stripped it of its license plates, and burned all of his cash. He would give himself a new name, Alexander Supertramp, and, unencumbered by money and belongings, he would be free to wallow in the raw, unfiltered experiences that nature presented. Craving a blank spot on the map, McCandless simply threw away the maps. Leaving behind his desperate parents and sister, he vanished into the wild.]]> 207 Jon Krakauer 0385486804 PJ 4 4.01 1996 Into the Wild
author: Jon Krakauer
name: PJ
average rating: 4.01
book published: 1996
rating: 4
read at: 2007/11/01
date added: 2008/01/04
shelves:
review:
Not the kind of book I normally read, but light and engaging enough. Picked up a copy while in Alaska, read it in a couple of sittings, saw the film and thought it to be a good adaptation.
]]> The Road 6288
A father and his son walk alone through burned America. Nothing moves in the ravaged landscape save the ash on the wind. It is cold enough to crack stones, and when the snow falls it is gray. The sky is dark. Their destination is the coast, although they don’t know what, if anything, awaits them there. They have nothing; just a pistol to defend themselves against the lawless bands that stalk the road, the clothes they are wearing, a cart of scavenged food—and each other.

The Road is the profoundly moving story of a journey. It boldly imagines a future in which no hope remains, but in which the father and his son, “each the other’s world entire,� are sustained by love. Awesome in the totality of its vision, it is an unflinching meditation on the worst and the best that we are capable of: ultimate destructiveness, desperate tenacity, and the tenderness that keeps two people alive in the face of total devastation.]]> 241 Cormac McCarthy 0307265439 PJ 5 3.99 2006 The Road
author: Cormac McCarthy
name: PJ
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2006
rating: 5
read at: 2008/01/01
date added: 2008/01/04
shelves:
review:
Brilliant and austere use of language, chock full of great words and bleak scenes. Highly recommended.
]]> Ham on Rye 624821 283 Charles Bukowski 0876855575 PJ 4 4.11 1982 Ham on Rye
author: Charles Bukowski
name: PJ
average rating: 4.11
book published: 1982
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2007/10/26
shelves:
review:

]]> Animal Liberation 29380 The Book That Started A Revolution

Since its original publication in 1975, this groundbreaking work has awakened millions of concerned men and women to the shocking abuse of animals everywhere -- inspiring a worldwide movement to eliminate much of the cruel and unnecessary laboratory animal experimentation of years past.

In this newly revised and expanded edition, author Peter Singer exposes the chilling realities of today's "factory forms" and product-testing procedures -- offering sound, humane solutions to what has become a profound environmental and social as well as moral issue. An important and persuasive appeal to conscience, fairness, decency and justice, Animal Liberation is essential reading for the supporter and the skeptic alike.

]]> 324 Peter Singer 0060011572 PJ 3 4.29 1975 Animal Liberation
author: Peter Singer
name: PJ
average rating: 4.29
book published: 1975
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2007/10/26
shelves:
review:

]]> The Jungle 41681
When it was published in serial form in 1905, it was a full third longer than the censored, commercial edition published in book form the following year. That expurgated commercial edition edited out much of the ethnic flavor of the original, as well as some of the goriest descriptions of the meat-packing industry and much of Sinclair's most pointed social and political commentary.

The text of this new edition is as it appeared in the original uncensored edition of 1905.
It contains the full 36 chapters as originally published, rather than the 31 of the expurgated edition.

A new foreword describes the discovery in the 1980s of the original edition and its subsequent suppression, and a new introduction places the novel in historical context by explaining the pattern of censorship in the shorter commercial edition.]]> 335 Upton Sinclair 1884365302 PJ 5 3.77 1906 The Jungle
author: Upton Sinclair
name: PJ
average rating: 3.77
book published: 1906
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2007/10/26
shelves:
review:

]]> The Canterbury Tales 2696 The procession that crosses Chaucer's pages is as full of life and as richly textured as a medieval tapestry. The Knight, the Miller, the Friar, the Squire, the Prioress, the Wife of Bath, and others who make up the cast of characters -- including Chaucer himself -- are real people, with human emotions and weaknesses. When it is remembered that Chaucer wrote in English at a time when Latin was the standard literary language across western Europe, the magnitude of his achievement is even more remarkable. But Chaucer's genius needs no historical introduction; it bursts forth from every page of The Canterbury Tales.

If we trust the General Prologue, Chaucer intended that each pilgrim should tell two tales on the way to Canterbury and two tales on the way back. He never finished his enormous project and even the completed tales were not finally revised. Scholars are uncertain about the order of the tales. As the printing press had yet to be invented when Chaucer wrote his works, The Canterbury Tales has been passed down in several handwritten manuscripts.

]]> 504 Geoffrey Chaucer 0140424385 PJ 4 3.51 1400 The Canterbury Tales
author: Geoffrey Chaucer
name: PJ
average rating: 3.51
book published: 1400
rating: 4
read at: 2008/01/04
date added: 2007/09/07
shelves:
review:

]]>