All the Books: 2006

Dharma Punx – Noah Levine
Although the writing was not great, the story of Noah Levine’s memoir of inner and outer journeys from juvenile hall misery to Buddhist dharma teacher was hard as hell to put down. Levine managed to stitch a series of vignettes into a larger story that did have some real power, and I’m sure having a famous and well-published father didn’t hurt. His writing about the turn toward spirituality, and frank descriptions of self and spiritual doubt were as good reads as the more dramatic tales of punk rock life and pilgrimages across Asia.

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close – Jonathon Safran-Foer
I was surprised at how much I enjoyed this novel told from the perspective of a quirky and gifted Manhattan boy after finding “Everything is Illuminated” a bit over-hyped and disappointing. Like the “Dog in the Night-Time” book, EL&IC managed to skirt the perils of sentimentality in spite of its potentially precious sounding premise- a precocious boy on a quest to learn more about his father who died in the World Trade Center on 9/11. Fun, funny, poignant and engaging, definitely one of my favorites this year.

Our Inner Ape – Franz De Waal
As a psychologist I found this book by a primate anthropologist who studies Bonobo apes absolutely fascinating. While the chimpanzee is often cited as humanity’s closest cousin, the Bonobo ape is often overlooked as a human cousin. An animal with a very real culture, ability to see the future, feel empathy, express language and other attributes we think of as exclusively human, (not to mention the sex orgies) the book holds up a mirror to humans and provokes some very interesting questions about human social behavior and our biological capacity for kindness and generosity. I found this helpful for thinking about psychology as well as questioning what it is that defines us as uniquely human.


The Wisdom of Crowds – James Surowiecki
I always enjoy Surowiecki’s business page piece in The New Yorker, he makes seemingly dull, dry topics on the cutting edge of the business world accessible and interesting by drawing from psychology and the wider culture. The Wisdom of Crowds however, was taking one idea and really stretching it out far- farther than might have been necessary. Although an interesting thesis about how decisions are made, what makes a good decision and when and how “groupthink” can be a positive or negative, and some thought-provoking psychological and economic studies kept me interested, it ultimately felt stretched a little bit thin. The accounts of group analysis predicting more accurately than individual “experts” about everything from sports to elections to terrorist attacks were particularly interesting, as was the part about the science behind the universal experience of why committees and group projects are so inefficient.

The Dhammapada – Words of the Buddha
This is a phenomenal spiritual text and a great psychological theory and practice. A surprisingly pragmatic approach to life that is as good and relevant now as it was 2500 years ago.

The Tao Te Ching – Lao Tzu
See above. These little aphorisms are a bit more oblique and a little more ancient than the Dhammapada, but a wonderful read in the morning to check out one or two to keep in your mind for the day.

V for Vendetta – Alan Moore
Another one I wanted to be sure to read before seeing the movie. Kept me so occupied that I got a nasty sunburn while reading this one on the beach. Highly relevant to our times as terrorists/freedom fighters fight against a police state/protective government. This was a point that the movie version made a lot more heavy handedly than the book.

One Breath at a Time – Kevin Griffin
I’ve encountered some people who find that this book strays a little too far from the orthodoxy of original Buddhism, but I found this book’s attempt to bridge 12-step recovery and Buddhist principles effective and useful. This is certainly not the first book of its kind, there are four or five others, all of which are recommendable. Griffin structured this one a little differently as a narrative memoir of addiction and recovery that serves as the basic structure. From there he builds his points about the twelve steps and their points of convergence and departure from the Buddhist dharma. This sometimes made for a somewhat stilted presentation, I’d get into the narrative and it would break for exposition or vice-versa, but overall I’d highly recommend this book for anyone interested in addiction, recovery, Buddhism or psychology.

The Quiet American – Graham Greene
This was the first book I read after getting tickets to travel to Vietnam for the summer. The novel, set in 1950’s Vietnam as the French struggle to hold their colonies and the Americans begin to take an interest, is at its most basic level a classic love triangle story. On another, it works as a metaphor for the decline of European empires and the rise of America’s global influence in the Cold War era as two men jockey for the affections of a young Vietnamese woman. The extended metaphor is hardly one-to-one, allowing for nuance in understanding and the beautifully written prose captures the ending era of French colonial Saigon. The plot itself was both moving and gripping, while ultimately quite dark in tone and outlook. A definite read.

In Search of Captain Zero – Allan Weissbecker
A great idea for a book- part surfing memoir, part crazy adventure journey driving south into Central America in search of an old friend, Weisbecker has a great story on his hands but nearly ruins it with his intolerably overwritten prose style. Only true devotees or surfing or adventure travel writing will be able to appreciate the great story buried beneath the language.

The Places That Scare You – Pema Chodron
What can I say, Chodron writes wonderful books that explain the practical application ancient Buddhist (usually Tibetan) practices, for use in everyday human interpersonal or other situations in contemporary times. The Places That Scare You is no exception, though it is far more practice oriented than theoretical or descriptive of concepts as some of her other books are. She delves right into the how-to and why-to of Metta, Maitri and other ancient Tibetan practices that heal both the individual and those around them. Highly recommended.

Bangkok 8 – John Burdett
Bangkok Tattoo – John Burdett
Two great mystery page-turners about Sonchai Jitlecheep a former Buddhist monk turned police detective in contemporary Bangkok. Son of a GI and prostitute, Jitlecheep bombs around the underbelly of Bangkok, investigating murders, corruption and the standard noir novel fare, like a Bangkok Confidential The backdrop includes international criminal syndicates, illegal Burmese Jade/methamphetamine triangle trade, stolen cars and corrupt cops, cheap sex change operations, the local and global sex trades, gender roles, Malaysian terrorists, Buddhism, the Yakuza, and the Vietnam War. Raises the age old question of whether its worse for your Karma to sell and prostitute your mind or your body. Burdett, a British ex-pat, has lived in Southeast Asia for years and has extensively researched the subjects he covers while deftly weaving them into page-turning mysteries. Highly recommended, especially for 23-hour airplane rides to Bangkok.

Don’t Know Much About Mythology – Kenneth Davis
I was a little disappointed in the dryness of the material here, given what a potentially rich subject this is. Maybe it was because I listened to this during rush-hour commutes rather than reading it for pleasure. Still, a decent overview that includes early history of humankind as well as the evolution our myths across time and place.

Will In The World – Stephen Greenblatt
Somewhat disappointing after all that I’d heard and the brilliant basic concept. (Again maybe because I mostly listened and didn’t fully read this one.) A popular history book, Greenblatt offers a biography of William Shakespeare that is told partly through the way events in his personal life, or historical events during his lifetime may have shaped the plays and poems that he penned. Gives wonderful context for the plays that helps to explain what they meant at the time and what they mean now. Definitely recommended for armchair historians and Shakespeare buffs.

Unchained Memories – Lenore Terr MD
The writing in the book was schlocky to the point of ridiculousness, but Lenore Terr does know what she’s talking about when it comes to trauma. Even though the case studies/vignettes were written in the style of a cheap thriller, or “unsolved mysteries” voiceover, they were compelling nonetheless. Terr, a forensic psychiatrist most well known for “Too Scared to Cry” and other research on Chowchilla trauma victims, recounts seven cases she consulted on about recovered memories. These were of horrible trauma, abuse, witnesses to crimes, secondary trauma and the ways and whys that trauma is repressed in conscious memory and is expressed in unconscious ways. A worthwhile read for those with little knowledge of trauma, though maybe a bit sensationalist and simple for psychologists to read.

The Sorrow of War – Bao Ninh
The novel/memoir describes the Vietnam War from the viewpoint of a young soldier in the north, resulting in a sort of Vietnamese “The Things They Carried.” It was banned for years in Vietnam, partly because it so fiercely questioned the point and pursuit of the war, harshly criticizing atrocities committed on all sides. The book was far more of a reflection of the American genre of Vietnam fiction than one would expect. Like the tropes of the American narrative the soldiers drank and drugged to excess, raped and pillaged, hated themselves, lost their innocence and cultivated their cynicism with the propaganda of army and government. Unfortunately, my taste for the sentimental and romantic is limited, and the love story was so treacly to my western taste that I found it cloying, though this is not unusual in the Asian literary tradition. Definitely a worthwhile read for anyone interested in recent American history and the Vietnam War. Particularly fun to read the scenes about escaping from a train while its being bombed while on that very train in Vietnam of course!

The Honourable Schoolboy – John LeCarre
I’m a big LeCarre fan, though have mostly read his more recent books and not so much his early cold-war era books like The Honourable Schoolboy. This was another that was particularly fun to read while traveling around Southeast Asia, where much of the book takes place- hard to believe the vivid descriptions of Phnom Penh under siege as I sat in a Phnom Penh café reading thirty years later. The descriptions of Laos also captured the recent history and wild-west feel of the place that continues today. As for the content of the book, it was a typically well-researched and informed blending of historical events and places with complex psychological characters and an even more complex plot. I’ve noticed in the evolution of his writing that LeCarre’s plots have become somewhat more straightforward and his characters more complex over time, the opposite of his early novels, which felt more plot driven. Amazing to remember how enormously the cold war once loomed and played out across the globe, profoundly shaping (an ending) the lives of millions, and then suddenly over.

Shogun – James Clavell
Again, reading in Tokyo made the book all the more enjoyable. While hardly literature, a bit dated and not so politically correct to the contemporary reader, the book still had great historical exposition woven through the plot. I really felt like I was learning something about world history and culture and not just enjoying a meaty page-turner.

Charlie Wilson’s War –
Nonfiction account of the American backed Mujahideen war in Afghanistan against the Soviet Red Army. Provided enough great details of real-life crazy cloak and dagger intrigue and larger than life (but real!) characters to make it read more like a spy novel than the nonfiction historical account that it was. Fascinating to understand the ways that just one weapon can change the course of history. Another definite read for anyone interested in the cold war or Afghanistan’s recent history.

Don’t Know Much About the Bible – Kenneth Davis
And it’s true, I feel completely embarrassed about my ignorance, and thankfully now less so. I enjoy listening to these types of things on my many drives, and this one was far better than the mythology one. I really felt like I got a much better sense of the bible, its historical context, the cultural and historical reasons for certain interpretations, where the book stands in the continuity of other religious texts that came before and after. I hardly feel qualified to comment much on the bible, but I do feel much better informed for engaging in debates about religion, which was my primary goal in listening to this book.

A Short History of Mythology : Karen Armstrong
This was a little disappointing after enjoying many of her other books so much, perhaps it just didn’t go into enough detail about the myths that it covered, though the connections between classical Middle Eastern / Babylonian mythology and the Bible were quite interesting. A short read, but I didn’t feel like I walked away with much more than what I had going in.

See No Evil - Robert Baer
A great follow-up read to Charlie Wilson’s War, this was another thrilling nonfiction spy account. This is Robert Baer’s memoir of his time in the CIA, from recruitment in the 1970’s through the present and provided the (very loose) basis for the movie Syriana. Baer details some of his training, the history of the agency and his time spent in Beirut, India, Russia, Kurdish Iraq and elsewhere. I did wonder a little about his political motives, which were very anti-Clinton and anti-Iran, and also wondered what the book would be like if published now in the mess that is Iraq, rather than the run-up to war. In spite of the politics toward the end, it was a great read for the first three-quarters, with amazing anecdotes about cold war era CIA escapades in all corners of the globe.

Stumbling on Happiness – Daniel Gilbert
This was kind of another in the Daniel Goleman/ Malcolm Gladwell mold of semi-popular psychology. Gilbert, a harvard psychologist, explores what makes people happy and social beings, utilizing recent studies about mirror neurons, delayed gratification, anticipation, fear/regret, and other “hip,” oft-cited and unique social psychology studies. Very informative, though not a lot of new ground for the well read or armchair psychologist.

The Anatomy of Hope – Jerome Groopman
I always enjoys Groopman’s health and medicine related articles in the New Yorker, so was moderately disappointed by his full-length book. I found the writing somewhat arrogant, though was able to ignore it and get engaged in the stories and studies that he used to illustrate the ways people cope with cancer. Definitely worth a read for anyone with an interest in health psychology as it makes accessible a number of the main principles of this subdiscipline of psychology where it intersects with medicine and bodily healing. Being an MD- an oncologist at that- Groopman wastes no time on flakey or trendy miracle cures, instead citing real science whether it gives us pretty answers or not.

The Mission Song – John LeCarre
The latest LeCarre, and like his last novel, a bit disappointing. Definitely more political and conspiratorial (and more obvious) feeling than some of his earlier books and far from his best. Better than Absolute Friends, and some good characters and early well researched exposition about African post-colonial politics, culture and history, but nothing that really stuck with me.

Holy War Inc. – Peter Bergman
A great introduction to the world of Al-Qaeda, and the ways that it uniquely utilizes technology to its advantage. This differentiates it from other anti-modern strains of Islamism (or religious / cultural fundamentalism) like the Taliban. Not a lot in here that was new to me, but I’m a bit of a nerd about this stuff. Still, an accessible and nice summary, history with some solid theories about Bin Laden and Al-Qaeda.

Little Children – Tom Perrotta
Yes, there is now a movie. I wanted to read the book first as I’ve enjoyed Tom Perotta’s other novels, which, while not heavy literature, are a pleasure to read. He’s kind of like an American Nick Hornby- writing stories about finding masculinity and relationships in one’s 20’s and 30’s while making solid observations about human weaknesses. Takes place in suburban Boston, the well-sketched story of couples struggling with children, commitments and community hysteria. Less boring than a book about the suburbs sounds. Similar to, but less nasty, than other suburban satires.

Jerusalem: One City, Three Faiths – Karen Armstrong
A rich and comprehensive history of the city from pre-Judaic times through the present. Does what good history does best, remind us how situations that may intractable in the immediate future always change over time. Takes the reader through conquests and dominance by various faiths and ethnic groups, some bloody, some peaceful. Left me feeling far more hopeful about the capacity for change and peace in a place holy to so many people the world over. A strong word of caution at the end that the longest lasting rulers of the city were the most tolerant of all the city’s faiths.

A Death In Belmont – Sebastian Junger
I read this mainly because I’ll read anything by a fellow Wesleyan graduate, which is not a particularly good reason. Ostensibly about the Boston Strangler case and Junger’s strange connection to it (The strangler worked as a handyman for his family) the book does paint a nuanced picture of racial politics and American culture in the 1970’s that is the best part of what would otherwise be a ho-hum true crime book. Some of the psychology parts were also interesting, to see both how much and how little we’ve progressed in understanding psychopathy in the last thirty years, and therefore worth a read for all you forensic psychology people out there.

An Unquiet Mind – Kay Redfield Jamison
I enjoyed this book far more than I thought I would, as I’m often skeptical about the genre of the mental illness memoir. Jamison is a psychologist and researcher, who writes a clear and refreshingly understated memoir of her own lifelong struggle with bipolar disorder. This is definitely recommended to anyone seeking greater understanding about bipolar disorder and mental illness from a personal and clinical perspective.

Pledged, The Secret Life of Sororities – Alexandra Robbins
I’m really not sure what possessed me to read this, or to continue reading it once I’d started. I’ll say this, if you have preconceived notions of sorority women as overly conformist, bullying, promiscuous, superficial, alcoholic, bulimic, superficial and catty, this book isn’t about to change your mind. It was kind of just nauseatingly depressing from start to finish, and I felt like taking a shower to feel clean afterwards.

SO: This years top recommendations:

Best Novels: Quiet American, Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close
Best Page Turners: The Bangkok 8 Books
Best Memoirs: Dharma Punx, An Unquiet Mind
Best Nonfiction (Cultural/Historical): Jerusalem: Three Faiths, One City
Best Nonfiction: (Science/ Psychology): Our Inner Ape, The Anatomy Of Hope
Best Nonfiction: (Spirituality): One Breath At A Time, Dhammapada, Places That Scare You