Moneyball- Michael Lewis

Moneyball is about Billy Beane, general manager of the Oakland A’s, a small money baseball team in a world where teams like the Yankees and the Red Sox buy championships. The story details strategy for winning with less money, drafting well, and, as the subtitle says, “the art of winning an unfair game.”

I was always going to like this one.  I’m an avid Reds fan, a team that hasn’t won a world series since 1990 and hadn’t made the playoffs in 15 years when they made it in 2010. Which gives me perspective on both small money baseball teams and teams that don’t win when they have big names (see: Ken Griffey Junior).  It is fascinating to read about Beane’s strategy in drafting new players, how he makes decisions based on stats, the fact that he would never keep a player that eats up half of his payroll. Which of course makes me nervous about the huge contracts that Votto and Phillips have just signed, but I digress.

Without getting into the extreme details of the book, I’ll just say that I really enjoyed the read. I loved thinking of how this applies to my favorite team and players in the game today.  I’m not totally sure I agree with everything that Beane lives by (specifically that he has no interest in defense- I don’t care how good your pitcher is, no one pitches perfect games every time out, you’ve got to have someone to field the ball and make outs!), but I will agree that he changed my mind a little bit, and definitely made me think a lot more about a sport that I love. 

4- definitely one I will read again. And even though it’s not my usual type of book (non-fiction and full of stats), I think I have to see what else Lewis has done.

Moonwalking with Einstein- Joshua Foer

Moonwalking with Einstein was yet another venture outside of my comfort zone. A book about memory, more of a memoir than a self-help book, Moonwalking with Einstein takes the reader (listener in my case) through Josh Foer’s journey from regular guy who can’t remember where his keys are to US Memory Champion.

I have to admit, this was much better than I was expecting. It’s been on my radar awhile, after being a best seller on both Amazon and NY Times. Before I impulse downloaded it to listen to, I thought there would be no way I’d ever pay attention to a book about memory tricks. But it’s so much more than that.

I can’t believe how interesting it was to hear about Foer’s training and tricks. The information unearthed through his studies of and with the various experts in the field was captivating. It’s remarkable what the human brain can do. Even now, I can remember the various list of random nonsense that was the one example Foer walks you through how to remember (pickled garlic, cottage cheese, peat smoked salmon, six bottles of white wine, three pairs of socks, three hula hoops, scuba diving gear, dry ice machine, email Sofia, skin colored cat suit). Are you kidding? That’s nonsense that I memorized and I listened to that part of the book a week and a half ago. Incredibly impressive.

I gave this a 3 based on my rating system (3 = liked it but won’t read it again) but this one was one that almost breaks the scale. I don’t need to read it again but I was really impressed with it. So much different (and so much better!) than I expected!

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks- Rebecca Skloot

Henrietta Lacks was a poor black woman whose cancerous cells were taken in a sample at Johns Hopkins and grew to become the most prolific and first “immortal” strain that science had seen. With Henrietta Lacks’ cells (HeLa), scientists have cured polio, and made other unbelievable advances in medicine. But how were these cells collected? Why doesn’t anyone know the story behind the woman who made all of this possible? Rebecca Skloot is a white journalist who takes us on the journey of discovering who Henrietta was, why her cells are so important to science and history, and takes a (mostly) objective look at the ethics of what has been done to her and her descendents in the name of scientific progress.

This book was our book club’s March pick. It’s not something that I would usually read, as for the most part I’m a fiction kind of girl. But I’m very glad that I was out of my comfort zone and reading this one. I’ll admit, for the first half of the book or so, I was a little bored. The reporting of Henrietta’s background and her family was fine, but a bit bland. When we discovered things like the unethical treatment of African Americans at Johns Hopkins, and how cancer radiation was treated back then, I was downright disturbed. But I admit all of this was necessary to have the third part of the book, a look at Henrietta’s immortality, and questions about the ethics of how HeLa is used and distributed, which was much more engaging, in my opinion.

I’m still not sure I have a strong opinion either way on the events of the book. In general I think today the biggest problems of the situation are more regulated: informed consent, privacy laws, etc. I won’t go into it now, and will let you draw your own conclusions. Suffice it to say, this book made for good conversation at our book club meeting. Highly recommended if you have someone to talk it over with.

I’ll give it a 3- I liked it more than I thought I would, and I’m happy I read it.

The Accidental Billionaires- Ben Mezrich

What can I say about The Accidental Billionaires that hasn’t already been said about the movie made based off of it, The Social Network? I decided to check out this book in audiobook form, mostly BECAUSE I liked The Social Network so much, so let’s be honest, there was really no way I wasn’t going to like this one.

In case you haven’t heard all of the buzz in the past year or two, this (and the movie) is the story of the creation of Facebook. Everyone involved in the tech world would probably recognize the name of Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s CEO, but this book tells the stories of Eduardo Saverin, his friend and partner at the beginning, and the Winklevoss twins, who claim he stole the idea from them.

I’m not sure how much of this book is true, but I have to admit that it was a captivating story. This is another non-fiction book written very well, and something outside of my usual reading (and listening) material.

I have to admit that I liked the movie more though. Eduardo was a significantly more sympathetic main character, possibly even a protagonist, in the movie, and in the book he came off as sort of a tool. This is ironic, because the way it sounds, I think he was more involved in the writing of the book.

Regardless, this is an entertaining read/listen. Another good 3.

Unbroken- Laura Hillenbrand

As previously mentioned, Unbroken is an audiobook that I would consider out of the ordinary from ones I normally listen to. Smart, interesting, and unbelievably inspiring, Unbroken is the true story of the life of Louie Zamperini: Olympian, World War II airman, and POW. I had been on the hold list at the library waiting for Unbroken for months when I noticed it available to download from the library site I use for my audiobooks. Naturally, I checked it out as fast as I could.

I’m not sure how much of this book I should summarize, it seems like me going in with middle of the road expectations worked out well. All I knew going in was that it was a biography about a World War II veteran. In general I usually read fiction, and don’t stray away from that very often, only making exceptions for books getting a ton of buzz (like this one), or funny memoirs. I am so happy that this book got the attention that it got so I could break my string of crappy fiction, even if it was in audio book form.

I honestly can’t believe that all the events of this book happened to one man. It is truly astounding. Hearing about the things that Louie has done (and survived) was so intense and moving that I think the best thing to do to review it is simply to tell you that you HAVE to read this.

Long story short, I am so impressed with this biography that I am considering buying it in order to actually sit down and read, not just listen to. This was one of the few audiobooks that I was genuinely hooked on, listening to while I cooked, cleaned, even while I was just hanging around. In addition, I want to read more of the author’s work, which was so captivating that I forgot how boring I usually find nonfiction. I am really awed by both Louie’s life and the way it is conveyed.

5- you have to read this one. Have to.