Summer Books

The books I read during the summer (In order)
1. The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins
2. Bob Dylan: Revolution In the Air by Clinton Heylin
3. Letter to a Christian Nation by Sam Harris
4. IV: A Decade of Curious People and Dangerous Ideas by Chuck Klosterman
5. Darker Than the Deepest Sea: The Search for Nick Drake by Trevor Dann ( this book was a let down).
6. Against All Enemies: Inside America's War on Terror by Richard Clarke.
7. A Freewheelin' Time: A Memoir of Greenwich Village in the Sixties by Suze Rotolo
8. I'm currently reading The End of Faith by Sam Harris.

Next on my list: Bound for Glory by Woody Guthrie

I really enjoyed reading over the summer. I read a lot. All the books I read were extremely enjoyable expect for the book about Nick Drake. I was excited about it, because Nick Drake was a very mysterious guy living in solitude. I thought it would be interesting to find out more about him. The book didn't really grab my attention at all though. Major disappointment. He wrote some cool tunes, but he was a pretty strange guy.
The God Delusion: I'm obviously not a very religious person considering that I enjoyed reading Dawkin's book. It was great. A huge eye opener. A friend of mine was confused why I was reading a book written by a "cult leader." He's talking about an Atheist. This friend of mine is a Catholic, so he can't really talk. I could say the same thing about the Pope. This book is extremely interesting. This book should be next to every bible in every hotel.
Revolution in the Air: This book is about all of Bob Dylan's songs written from 1957 to 1973. The author tells the story of how and why each song was written. Each song is like a chapter. The author wrote about the songs in the order that they were written. That was cool. Bob Dylan has always been a hero of mine. I've had that feeling since middle school. This book made that feeling stronger. Did you know that Lay Lady Lay was written in the early '60s before Dylan recorded his first album? I do like Nashville Skyline, but how can you beat the early Dylan? I can't even imagine what the original version would sound like. What do you think?
Letter to a Christian Nation: It's only like 97 pages, and it's awesome. Read it.
IV: This book is full of essays. They are mostly of Chuck Klosterman and his interviews with famous rock musicians. He interviews some actors too though. And the NBA star, Steve Nash. I really enjoyed reading about Thom Yorke of Radiohead, the guitarist from Wilco, and Robert Plant. He's really funny in his writing too. This is probably my favorite Chuck Klosterman book.
Against All Enemies: This book is amazing. The author, Richard Clarke, was the head of the Counter Terrorist Unit for the white house during George Bush's, Bill Clinton's, and George Bush Jr.'s years in office. Clarke was super honest in the book. It's believable too, because he knows all the facts. The first chapter is about the evacuation of the White House during the 9/11 disaster. Crazy stuff. Clarke just points out what each president did on the war on terror. Clinton did the most out of the three. Clarke clearly points this out. He also clearly shows his frustration with the Bush administration. He quit his job about a year after 9/11. No one would listen to him. This book brought up some questions. Should the U.S really be in Iraq? If your answer is yes, please get educated. Read this book. I researched a little about the book. I guess Dick Chenny said that Richard Clarke was "out of the loop" with the war on terror. However, Condoleezza Rice said that he was completely "in the loop" with the whole fight on terror. It's weird. Clarke was the loop. Don't you love the government sometimes?
A Freewheelin' time: Suze Rotolo was Bob Dylan's girlfriend during the '60s. She experienced a lot. How couldn't she? She was dating the fastest growing folk singer in the world. She wrote about how times were great, but also about how times were tough. The times were definitely a changin' when Dylan got massive attention. He changed. Suze didn't see Dylan as a very reliable person. He really wasn't. Suze didn't want to deal with the change. She also didn't want to be used. Used by all of Dylan's fans. They would all go up to her hoping to get closer to Bob. She hated it. Lots of interesting stuff in Suze's memoir.

I really enjoyed reading over the summer. It's so much better to read for pleasure. What was wrong with me when I was a little kid? Harry Potter and the Lord of the Rings are cool and all, but non-fiction is so much more interesting to read in my opinion.