Good Ol' Star

Narrowly escaping a troll den...

Orwell, George. Animal Farm.

Thesiger, Wilfred. Arabian Sands.
Classic travel literature about dangerous outings in post WWII Arabia--an ode to a now vanished culture.

Capote, Truman. In Cold Blood.
Tie in to the popular Capote film. Great description of life in the 50s, with beatiful characterization of people ranging from those who were down and out to the upstanding citizens of the time.

Zinn, Howard. Original Zinn: Conversations on History and Politics.
Some nice rabble-rousing socialist politics from the master.

Ehrenreich, Barbara. Nickel and Dimed.
Is it really possible to make a living in America on minimum wage with rising housing and medical care costs? Read and find out.

Stewart, Rory. The Prince of the Marshes: And Other Occupational Hazards of a Year in Iraq.
Rating: 3.5/5
A good description of why Iraq is so fubar. There are no hackneyed answers here for what should be done. Rather, Rory Stewart presents his own experience as governor of a southern province and gives the reader insight into the various factions at work in Iraq, allowing the reader to reach his own conclusions.

Rawicz, Slavomir. The Long Walk: The True Story of a Trek to Freedom.
Rating: 3/5
Great story of a few mens' journey from the arctic Siberian wilderness southward to the foothills of the Himalayas in India. If only it were really a true story...

 

Matthew T. Haley
University of Texas at Austin Physics Dept.
mhaley@physics.utexas.edu
(917) 576-2316

 

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