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This was the first book I read on the topic of peak oil, so it was an eye-opening experience. It makes the case for peak oil to a general audience without too much technical detail and describes the likely consequences. He may be too dismissive of alternative power sources, notably solar thermal technologies, which M.K. Hubbert thought were viable in principle even in the 1960's, but at this point we are a long way from making that a reality.

This is one of the better peak-oil books. Leggett has a broader perspective and is concerned about climate change and certain cultural issues as well as peak oil. He envisions a rush to use coal to make up for a petroleum shortfall and spends some time on how that is likely to play out. He is also a bit more optimistic than some other authors. Although he predicts a global depression (optimists in this territory see only a depression) due to a faltering energy supply, he suggests that this will result in stabilization of the population and a sustainable culture.

This is often classified as a political novel, a fictional account of Huey Long's life, but the political ambiance is in many ways incidental to core theme of difficult personal choices, ethics, and moral development. At the outset the main character, Jack Burden, is just another corporate/organizational booster, but he is compelled by circumstances to confront himself and decide if he is more or less than that. If the book is successful, readers will recognize Burdens in themselves and realize that the same confrontations await us all. Warren was mainly a poet and his sentences flow in rhythmic patterns, adding sensual appeal.

Collins provides excellent historical coverage of the behind-the-scenes maneuvering that gave rise to a culture of economic growth in the U.S. President Eisenhower, for one, was dubious of the wisdom of heightening economic growth to new levels. Advocates of maximum growth eventually carried the day, leading to the current situation, in which both major political parties try to outdo each other in promising and delivering economic growth, with little attention to the quality of life.

The data Putnam collected and analyzed represents a major achievement. Yet, after doing all that hard work he failed to go very far down some paths his data showed him. For example, more Americans are part of the work force than in previous decades, when many two-adult families had only one adult in the work force, leaving the other free to participate in community and neighborhood activities. The phenomena of overwork and overspending, explored brilliantly by Juliet Schor, is tied to the decline in social capital, but in this book is not given its due.

Victor Nell seeks to answer basic questions about how and why people read for pleasure in this book. He covers both theory and empirical research competently and from a variety of perspectives. The focus of much of this work is on the voracious readers who congregate at Goodreads, so I am a bit surprised it is not reviewed more frequently here.

This is the sort of book that many psychologists wish they had written. Wegner's achievement was to collect separate bits of research and put them together in an organized whole, providing impressive support for the notion that the subjective feeling of freely willed actions and thoughts is an illusion. It is an illusion that is constantly with us, and only by examining the research Wegner so brilliantly describes and analyzes, can the illusion be unmasked. Although the book is much admired within psychology currently, over time it will be further recognized as a major achievement. I suspect that these basic ideas will eventually find their way into the public consciousness in some form, where it will have continuing repercussions, including in the literary, visual and performing arts.

Being horribly wronged is compensated by the creation of new lives as father and child. A wonderful story that stays with you.

Many books about money implicitly assume that money is everything, but this book downplays money, buying and consuming, thoughtfully placing these things in a larger life context. The practical advice for saving and spending is excellent. Their method of forcing you to confront the individual life choices you are making by means of day-to-day spending decisions will likely be an eye-opener.

Many people learn of the Lewis and Clark expedition in school as a part of history, but the interesting parts of the journey are in the details including various encounters with native Americans along the way. Ambrose supplies these details, making it possible for the reading to get a safe taste of what it would have been like to be along for the trip.

D-day was a pivotal day in the 20th Century and Ambrose weaves together the logistical planning, strategic decisions, and individual instances of tragedy and heroism into a coherent package. There is no greater drama than that of D-Day, when the fate of civilization depended the actions of individual soldiers and those that led them.

This book uncovers the ugly side of car culture: Harmful environmental effects, destruction of walkable and bike-friendly communities, high taxes required to maintain the enormous roadway infrastructure, fossil-fuel depletion, thwarting of viable mass-transit alternatives, urban sprawl, injuries and deaths in collisions, etc. It is well written and researched. Car culture is deeply entrenched in the U.S., but Kay offers useful suggestions for beginning the difficult task of undoing it.

I had an English teacher in high school who spoke highly of this book in the late 60's, explaining that it was far ahead of its time in understanding race relations and anticipating their deterioration. I read it years afterward and agreed with her entirely. Lewis, who understood and portrayed the shallow materialism of American culture, also had insights into racial problems, which are sharply dramatized in Kingsblood Royal. There is fine use of irony throughout, starting from the title.

The Seven Brothers is a story that can be interpreted in different ways of course, but for me the adventures of the brothers represent more-or-less the story of every Finn. It is a story of exploration, curiosity, attraction to nature, defiance, rebellion, evasion of dissolution, and in the end redemption and truce with the larger world. Kivi captured a collective shared experience and gave it narrative expression.

At least as I understood it, The Trial is a black comedy that contrasts the disconnectedness of individuals from larger societal agencies. As governments and corporations have become larger and more powerful, the world has become increasingly Kafkaesque, surreal and full of bewildering mini-trials to accompany their big-brother trials. Humans evolved under social conditions where tribal elders were accessible, but mass culture leaves people isolated and disempowered, and unable to form relationships of reciprocal influence. Kafka portrays all this in a way that reveals the absurdity of the modern individual's plight.