Books: By Rating

After finishing The Name of the Wind, I wanted to continue my fantasy novel kick. A Game of Thrones is a similar... more

I had thought that this was the conclusion of the entire Song of Fire and Ice series, but aparently this is... more

Great page turner.

I really liked this noir-ish crime novel set in the dingy pool halls of rural Texas. Lots of great... more

The second Baby Shark story is just as brutal and action packed as the first with great characters and writing.

Another thoroughly enjoyable book in this series. This time Kristen is told to take some time off from all... more

I love these Baby Shark books. They are just great, action packed reads. I burned through this book in a few... more

A satisfying ending to a wonderful series of books. The rating reflects my opinion of the series more than... more

It was a good read even though it’s about wizards and other nerdy things.

This book is massive. Over a thousand pages filled with colorful photos, poster art and columns upon columns of... more

It has been a while since I’ve read a contemporary novel that I liked this much. Motherless Brooklyn is a pretty... more

An extremely well written fantasy novel that steers clear of most of your standard fantasy fiction clichés. Sure, there... more

Not quite as gripping as the first book in the series, but Martin maintains much of the same level... more

I was late to the whole A Game of Thrones thang (but, for the record, I was like totally in to... more

Although I don’t think it’s hardly the best book in this series, I burned through this one in just... more

Another enjoyable story filled with shooting, kicking and revenge. This story is much more straightforward than others in the... more

The third book in The Witcher series brings the story back to the quality that was shown in the... more

I still chuckle every time I read the name Hieronymus Cock. Maybe I’m just an immature fool, but Hieronymus... more

I have read quite a few books that give an account of what it is like to live under the... more

The books keep getting better.

Michael Lucas is best known as the schtick-loving bassist of The Phantom Surfers. This book was self-published under his... more

Eccentric Orbits is the history of the rise, fall, and eventual rebirth of the world’s first (and only) global satellite... more

A straightforward and methodical look at the economic principal of accounting for both the seen, and unseen effects of... more

The third Discworld novel starts a completely new storyline with no crossover with the first two books. I actually... more

Another great Hornblower tale. The action picks up right at the end of the previous book and keeps going... more

The audiobook is the way to go here. The character of Garth Marenghi (who reads the book) is hilarious... more

Philip Guston started as a WPA muralist, then became one of the leading figures of abstract expressionism. He is... more

An excellent catalog of graphic artworks by this famous student of Dürer. A good chunk of this deals with... more

When I started this book I was apprehensive. As much as I love Gavin’s current incarnation as a wild... more

My post-Game of Thrones decent into pure phantasy nerdom continues with the Mistborn trilogy. This first book in the series... more

I read this knowing the ending but I still think it is a top-tier Poirot mystery. The confined setting... more

So far, my favorite of the MOTU series. I think I liked this one because there is some grounding... more

I enjoyed this one a lot more than Phantom Encounters. The historical accounts are more fact-based rather than anecdotal and... more

John Stossel is awesome. I’ve been a fan ever since I was in the seventh grade and watched him... more

My first post The Exapnse the T.V. show novel and it’s a good one. What makes it good? The... more

Racing the Beam is a fairly accessible look at the technology behind the Atari 2600 video game console. Apparently the... more

While wood engraving was the method of illustrating books for at least a century, there doesn’t seem to be... more

Another exciting Hornblower sea tale. This one was a much better read than the last, although, outside of the... more

The second collection of Witcher short stories is actually the first or something like that. You’ll need to Google... more

Chris Daunt is known in wood engraving circles as one of the few remaining block makers out there. Here... more

To Kill a Mockingbird with a serial killer.

One of the best looking books on printmaking I’ve seen. Printed on a think matte stock, with over 100... more

Another Aubry/Maturin book. This one has both sea and espionage elements.

The Hero of Ages picks up a year or so after the events of The Well of Ascension. This final volume... more

I’d recommend any book in this series. They have their highs and lows, but all-in-all I think this is... more

Malice takes a break from trolling to clarify what exactly “The New Right” is. The dear readers are guided through the intellectual... more

A very well done Aubry/Maturin story. More Maturin centric than usual, which is refreshing.

Required reading for anyone who is sick of the political name calling and soft bigotry that permeates every single... more

Essential reading for understanding that people who might disagree with politically are not evil or stupid, they are just... more

Book two in the Mistborn series continues this the storyline directly after the climactic events of the first novel. This... more

Apparently, I liked this one.

My copy was bought used and man-o-man does it smell musty. The odor is, at best, like a stack... more

The penultimate entry in the Expanse-o-verse has the crew scattered across the galaxy and we’re finally getting a glimpse... more

A very good read that is a critical analysis and brief history of text adventures. The first half gets... more

Book two in this excellent series is just about as good as the first. The story picks up right... more

I read a large chunk of this book in draft form as he serialized it on his Substack blog.... more

There are very few books detailing the technical aspects of wood engraving out there. This is about as close... more

In the past (“the past” get it… oh, wait you haven’t read the next bit yet), I have tried... more

The third book in this series is finally bringing things together for most of our main characters. I am... more

The Expanse continues with the story of the first traversals into the mysterious ring. A well-paced story that spends... more

Another big book about risk from Taleb filled with math, anecdotes, history and Fat Tony. This time it’s all... more

He starts off with a typical comedian’s memoir and, after about three pages, Norm gives up and go total... more

Although I was disappointed by The Blade Itself, I decided to continue on with the series to see if all... more

A collection of six lengthy essays on race, history and misconceptions. The “Black Rednecks” essay is probably the most... more

The first official book in The Witcher series is not as jam-packed with action as the short story volumes... more

This is a nice companion piece to his book on Bosch. There quite a bit more to talk about... more

Filled with art featuring death (for the most part that means a skeleton… spooky, no?) taunting the living. The... more

I recently discovered Prologue Books—a publisher devoted to re-releasing old pulp novels in ebook form. This is a company that... more

Outside of Helter Skelter, I have not read much true crime literature. I picked this one mainly because is was co-written... more

Another Philip Marlowe mystery featuring excellent hard-boiled prose. The story is filled with drug addicts, drinking, mobsters and crooked... more

I’ve heard a few interviews with Taleb and he can be very interesting so I tried to give one... more

Incarcerat continues much along the same lines as Terrortome. Things start to lose steam in the last part of... more

Beautiful wood engravings are the reason to “read” this.

In this book Roberts (of EconTalk fame) takes Adam Smith’s other major work, The Theory of Moral Sentiments, and makes it understandable in a... more

I decided to try this one out on a whim. I like Adam Carolla and his humor translated pretty... more

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn brings us more thrilling tales from the gulag! This is his fictionalized account of life in the... more

This is from one of those mass market art book series, Crown Art Library. I’m a sucker for these... more

This was a PlanetMonk Kindle reprint of a 50s pulp novel. I was expecting tons of scary drug use... more

I’m a regular reader of Jimmy Maher’s blog The Digital Antiquarian which documents the history of the early days of home... more

I’ve been watching The Expanse lately and wanted to get a taste of the novels that the show is based upon.... more

The thesis here is that, despite the constant cries of “fascism” when talking about right-wing policies, the real heirs... more

A good collection of political writings spanning from Hobbes to Marx. Hobbes and Locke lay down a nice foundation... more

This was an enjoyable fantasy about a world that’s been turned to blight everywhere except a single kingdom which... more

So, I’m now four books into the Discworld series and I think I will keep going with it (only 33 more... more

The chapters on Free Masonry and The Golden Dawn were pretty informative. I think my big takeaway about these... more

I found this volume in the Mysteries series to be much more readable and informative than the last few... more

Transformations is divided into three main sections: native American shapeshifters, werewolves and vampires. The shapeshifters chapter is filled with interesting images... more

It’s been years since I read me some Poirot and it was refreshing to dive back in. I am a better... more

Another enjoyable read from Red Eye host Greg Gutfeld. The thesis as I see it is that liberals own... more

Another nice entry in the Aubry Maturin series.

I’m slowly working my way through various artist monographs I have collected over the years. Up until now I... more

I couldn’t be bothered to write a review.

The historical fiction version of A Feast for Crows with the church versus the crown. It’s a thick but quick-paced read... more

Johan Norberg wrote one of the clearest accounts of the 2007 financial meltdown and, after that dismal tale, he’s back with... more

The most recent book in this series builds up to a grand conclusion, an last-stand battle of epic proportions,... more

A nice collection of works by Eric Ravilious. This isn’t too text heavy, but each print gets a few... more

Leave it to The Phantom Surfers to release an instrumental surf record without any music, singing, talking or audio... more

Season of Storms is a fitting palette cleanse after the main Witcher series thud of an ending. There’s no... more

This is a fantasy novel I picked up based strictly on the reviews and auto-recommendations online. I enjoyed it... more

This is the first Western I’ve ever read. Written in 1933, Silvertip is the story of a gray-templed gunslinger who likes... more