Pun Salad

Explanation plagiarized from last year, which remains accurate:

Just in case you're interested in what I found informative, interesting, thought-provoking, etc. last year. The cover images are Amazon paid links, and clicking on them will take you there, where I get a cut if you purchase, thanks in advance. Clicking on the book's title will whisk you to my blog posting for a fuller discussion.

I am restricting the list to books I rated with five stars at Goodreads. Nota Bene: Goodreads ratings are subjective; they do not necessarily reflect a book's cosmic quality, just my gut reaction. And perhaps also my mood at the time, grumpy or generous. In other words, don't take this too seriously.

The complete list of books I read in 2024, including fiction, is here.

In order read:

	Road to Surrender:Three Men and the Countdown to the End of World War II by Evan Thomas. A punchy, accessible story of the thorny negotiations surrounding Japan's defeat. It was a close-run thing. I learned a lot I didn't know.
	Milton Friedman: The Last Conservative by Jennifer Burns. The definitive biography of a Pun Salad all-time hero. The author is unafraid to criticize him, and I'm sure he would object to the subtitle. But the lesson remains: one man can make a difference in turning a country toward liberty.
	The Individualists: Radicals, Reactionaries, and the Struggle for the Soul of Libertarianism by Matt Zwolinski and John Tomasi. "Bleeding-heart libertarians" tell the story of how this odd ideology (which includes me under its big tent) developed. Never fear, it's fair. And the authors identify broad ranges of agreement, even between folks calling each other nasty names.
	The New Deal's War on the Bill of Rights: The Untold Story of FDR's Concentration Camps, Censorship, and Mass Surveillance by David Beito. A mostly-warts history of the underside of FDR's biography, showing his distrespectful, and probably unconstitutional, attitudes toward his political adversaries and (of course) Japanese in California. It's not a commonly-told tale.
	Material World: The Six Raw Materials That Shape Modern Civilization by Ed Conway. Spoiler: sand, salt, iron, copper, oil, and lithium. Conway is an enthusiastic and diligent researcher, who unexpectedly caught my interest on topics I didn't expect. Sand?
	The Conservative Futurist: How to Create the Sci-Fi World We Were Promised by James Pethokoukis. This is an age of miracles and wonder, but the author argues (convincingly) that we could have done better. Better than the Roomba, anyway. We need to encourage R&D, innovation, skilled immigration, and (generally) optimism. And (frankly) if it doesn't happen in the USA, it ain't happening anywhere on this planet in the foreseeable future.
	The Weirdness of the World by Eric Schwitzgebel. He's a philosophy prof who likes to think outside—way outside—the box. Is the United States of America is a conscious entity? Eric thinks so, and see if you don't agree. Tough going in spots, but in most parts wonderfully accessible and insightful.
	America's Revolutionary Mind: A Moral History of the American Revolution and the Declaration That Defined It by C. Bradley Thompson. He looks at that intro of the Declaration of Independence—the thing which Woodrow Wilson urged us to get beyond—and teases out the mood and thoughts of the country that caused it to be written that way.
	My Planet: Finding Humor in the Oddest Places by Mary Roach. Think Erma Bombeck, except still alive. Ms. Roach is Dave Barry-level funny, a natural humorist. All the columns here made me smile, many drew amused snorts, and (yes) a number of guffaws.
	The End of Race Politics: Arguments for a Colorblind America by Coleman Hughes. I found myself in violent agreement with just about everything Hughes says here, in support of his hopeful subtitle. Unfortunate that the dominant ideology these days seems to point the other way, meaning we have more division and animosity to look forward to.
	Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void by Mary Roach. Yes, another Mary Roach book. It's a little old (2010) but holds up pretty well. Despite the title, there isn't lot of Mars-specific stuff here. Mary interviews astronauts, scientists, engineers, etc., all dedicated to figuring out how to get people into space and back in one piece, keeping them functional while on the way.
	Democracy: A Guided Tour by Jason Brennan. He clearly states his goal: "a guided tour of the best and most important arguments for and against democracy over time." And he doesn't treat "democracy" as a sacred cow, which is refreshing.
	The Pursuit of Happiness: How Classical Writers on Virtue Inspired the Lives of the Founders and Defined America by Jeffrey Rosen. I found this book to be complementary to C. Bradley Thompson's (above), and also excellent. Rosen compiles a reading list of philosophers that the Founders considered insightful: a lot of stoics, and also Hume, Locke, and Adam Smith.
	The Singularity Is Nearer: When We Merge with AI by Ray Kurzweil. And Kurzweil isn't kidding around when he says "merge". We're gonna plug those machines into our nervous system, and… well, he predicts we'll be uploaded. Did he just blow my mind? Yup.
	Fuzz: When Nature Breaks the Law by Mary Roach. Yes, another Mary Roach book. Here, she looks at human/non-human interactions, mostly violent, gross, and otherwise unpleasant. Not as hilarious as her other books, because Mary (being nice) often takes the side of the non-humans.
	Morning After the Revolution: Dispatches from the Wrong Side of History by Nellie Bowles. A collection of essays from a very independent mind, who (as a lesbian feminist) is somewhat put out as being defined as a "non-man attracted to non-men". She tours outposts of woke ideology, coming away amused, disgusted, and outraged, in various proportions.