Reading

A while back I posted on the BForum about how I wanted to read more in the upcoming year and was looking to put together a reading list of sorts as way of doing that.

Between then and now I have finished reading Into The Wild and have started and finished The Hobbit (my thoughts below). I am still in the process of putting together a list of "New Years Resolutions" but tentatively I am thinking to try and read 4 new novels by different authors, 4 tech books (this will be easy) and 4 non-tech and non-fiction books between now and the end of 2008. This may be a lofty goal, but you know me. Who would I be if not for my lists and lofty goals. :-)

Hopefully I will put together an intended reading list soon, but until then Thanks to everyone who posted there and I have talked to in person. You all have given me a list of candidates that is much longer than I can even comprehend. Now I just need to pick a few to get me started.


Into The Wild - by Jon Krakauer

This book outlines the most unusual life and death of Chris McCandless. By recounting the information found while researching the book, and a previous magazine article which originally brought Chris' story to national attention, the author tries to piece together the events that lead to Chris's tragic end and tries to understand the man.

Big abstract words aside, I found the story very interesting and thought provoking. I won't spoil too many details here, but Chris' story hinges around his unusual lifestyle, his relationships, and his death in Alaska while attempting to live out the summer "in the bush," completely alone. I had a chance to see the recently released movie just before starting the book but didn't for reasons I have forgotten. I will definitely have to see it now.

I have thought before that it would be interesting to try and live off the land, go back to simpler times and see how well I (or someone like me) could survive if put into an extreme situation without modern comforts. Its probably why Robinson Crusoe always appealed to me. Its amazing how it took our ancestors thousands of years to figure things out as "simple" as carpentry, foraging, hunting, etc and how fast a person of today can fall if these things are taken out of the equation.

The idea of moving back to simpler times. without cell phones. without computers. without the "need" of prepackaged precooked preprocessed foods from around the world. Its very provocative. Like being at our cabin without the worry that in a week or 2 you have to go back :-p


The Hobbit - by J.R.R. Tolkien

Having seen and loved the LOTR movies and never read the original books or The Hobbit, I thought this was a good starting place. I was surpised to find the book fairly light given the depth of back story and details that the movies describe and which are found in the book.

I was surprised by how what I thought would be the climax of the book, wasn't, and how the last third of the book flew by in a flurry of action and plot changes. I thought it was a great story and helped to tie together a number of things that the movies (by themselves) left without closure or explanation. I can't wait for this movie either.