March 29, 2004

From the Bookshelf

Going to be a busy day here in the the land that provides Andy a living wage, so instead of being delightfully entertained by my wit, banter, and intelligent commentary on various topics du jour, I trust you shall find favor with a space-taker-upper list of the books currently being consumed by my beautiful mind.

• Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers, by Mary Roach. If you've always been curious about what happens to the human body once it is but a mortal coil lying on a mortuary slab (or, perhaps, a shallow grave if you're the unwitting victim of some grisly crime), then this is the book for you. Written with both a light and light-hearted touch (rather necessary given the topic), you'll learn all about bloat, maggots, gloving, embalming, and the general deleterious effects that the cessation of one's heartbeat has on one's corpse. If anything, I am more motivated to avoid dying now - and damned glad that when I finally expire, I won't be around to watch the circle of life come around.

• The Rift, by Walter J. Williams. Fictional account of a massive, modern-day earthquake on the New Madrid fault. Haven't gotten to the earth-shaking event yet, primarily just meeting the cast of many. Only weakness so far is that, given the number of characters, the author is falling back on a lot of "telling" to provide backstory - but clocking in at 900 pages, if he'd gone the route of "showing," we'd have something the size of a telephone book.

• Breakthrough Rapid Reading, by Peter Kump. I'm only into the first chapter so far, but then again, I only cracked it last night - and with the exercises, I imagine I'll have to schedule some time to apply myself to the effort. I'll report upon any improvements in speed and comprehension as they show themselves. Ooh, ahhh.