YodaBeesh Book Club: Recommended Summer Reading

Seeing as how Oprah's recommendations have been a source of controversy as of late (à la A Million Little Pieces), I think that I can one-up Ms. Winfrey.

Actually let me take that back. I could never out-do Oprah Winfrey (nor do I dare to try.)

Instead I'll just give you a list of my own recommended summer reading. Hmm... perhaps I should re-phrase that. This is what's on my summer reading list:

My summer reading...

Assorted MCAT Review Material from ExamKrackers and The Gold Standard: I'm taking the MCAT in August. Its a lot of fun trying to remember obscure scientific principles that I barely learned over 10 years ago. Even more fun to take standardized exams at the ripe age of 33. My personal favorite (read: "arch-nemesis") is Physics. I know I need to embrace it more for the sake of getting through this exam, but I really don't see how calculating the force required to push a box up a 30 degree slope is going to add value to my life.

The 3-Hour Diet by Jorge Cruise, The Book of Muscle by Ian King, and The Complete Book of Pilates for Men by Daniel Lyon, Jr. : I tried a personal trainer last month, but in the end decided to go it on my own (besides, I didn't feel like forking over an arm and a leg for intuitive advice. Famous last words for YodaBeesh...?) The diet book is actually pretty good. It has its quirky anecdotes and motivational-speak, but once you're able to cut through the fodder, it has a lot of tips that just make sense. The exercise book was recommended to me by SwissMiche. It has a good regimen laid out, so I'm just going to follow the "recipe book" instructions and see what happens. I've been into it for one month and enjoy it thus far. (YodaBeesh has never been one for regimen or schedule.) As for the pilates book... its a good supplement to a Pilates Boot Camp that I went through before leaving for vacation. I love pilates... its a great fat burner plus is good for toning.

It Didn't Happen Here: Why Socialism Failed in the United States by Lipset and Marks, and America Against The World: How We Are Different and Why We are Disliked by Kohut and Stokes: These are my "political books" of the summer. The former has been on my Amazon wishlist for over a year. I forget what the actual "tipping point" was that compelled me to buy it. And as for the latter, it first caught my eye in a NYT Book Review. I caught a lecture by the authors presented at the New America Foundation (yes, I am a leftist liberal) and was very impressed with the results of their study. Admittedly, the book is dry for the casual reader, but if you are an analytical wonk who enjoys reading scientific quantitative studies in order to prove a hypothesis, then this is your book! Also, it validates a lot of my own personal findings that I gathered over vacation in Gran Canaria through my interactions with various Euros.

The File: A Personal History by Timothy Garton Ash. For various odd reasons, I like reading about life in the East during the Cold War. This book is very well-written; the author reflects on his time as a visiting scholar in East Germany by using his released Stasi (GDR state police) file as a trip down memory lane. Very cheeky.

And last but not least, various travel books by Lonely Planet and others on Germany, Berlin, Bavaria, and Switzerland. MB and I would like to go there for a couple weeks next year to check out the region and see friends as well. I have this crazy idea that I will start brushing up on my German (hey, I had ONE SEMESTER of it in college!) starting in September so that I can be a bumbling tourist by next June.

Additional books that I highly recommend for the beach that I have already read (trust me, very light reading... you'll burn through these books in a day...): The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon, How to Survive a Robot Uprising by Daniel H. Wilson (a fellow CMU alumni), and last but not least, The Da Vinci Code by Robert Brown. I know that a lot of you have either read the latter book or are just plain sick of hearing about it in the news... but to be quite honest, its a good thriller novel. Originally, I had no desire to read it. Then, I wanted to see what all the fuss was about. In retrospect, I'm glad that I did read it. When I finished reading the book, I remember thinking to myself, "WTF is all the fuss about...?!" Curious Incident is very creative as its written from the viewpoint of an autistic child who is trying to solve a mystery in his neighborhood.

So, I guess that's probably enough reading to hold me over until next summer. I have this very bad habit of starting books, but then not finishing them immediately... I'll put the book down for a number of weeks or months, but then feel guilty and will finish it off.

Cheers for now and make the most of your summer!