Things I've Read...Catch Up, Part I

While preparing my several blogs for their 2011 updates and revamping, I noticed that I have been lacking in the updates of my Things I've Read series (as well as not reading as much as I used to).

• Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers - Mary Roach
  Mary Roach has a morbid fascination to report on the odd nooks and crannies in this world, and in this book she takes the morbid part very seriously. Yes, she looks into all the weird things that happens to our bodies after we die, from art exhibits to recycling; cremation to test dummies.

• Powersat - Ben Bova
  Sci-fi writer Bova is best known for his Grand Tour series of a future where humanity explores space beyond The Moon. But this is not that series, exactly. This is a look into how all of this was possible, by the attempts and creation of the power satellite. A driven company looks to create a massive solar collector in space, while other companies and a terrorist cell take aim at the massive station. 

• Children of Men - P. D. James
  P. D. James, known for her crime stories pens about an alternative reality where humanity is faced with a mysterious, mass sterilization of all men in the early 90s. The story is in England, 2021, when a dictator seeks to hold power, while a small cell of resisters try to tell him otherwise.

• SuperFreakonomics - Steven D. Levitt & Stephen J. Dubner
  The sequel to the massively successful, and equally enjoyable, Freakonomics, the Steves are at it again in revealing interesting numbers with the weirdest origins and relations. A few topics include oral sex, terrorists and life insurance, global cooling, and hospital efficiency.

• Predictably Irrational - Dan Ariely
  Ariely challenges the conventions of "rational thought" and what we think we know in his book about what truly makes our decisions for us--and how to tweak the outcomes. Through a series of anecdotes, studies, and other findings, readers find the "secret" behind Starbucks, the major influence of the word "FREE" on our minds, and how in control we really are (not) in an "excited state."

• A Pleasure to Burn - Ray Bradbury
  A compilation of short stories and original versions of Bradbury's classic, Fahrenheit 451. This isn't meant to be read like a novel, but more of a library for fans to peruse and peak into the mind workings of one of the greatest contemporary writers alive.