Read in 2002

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January

The Botany of Desire by Michael Pollan.  Random House, New York / Toronto, 2001.  ISBN 0-375-50129-0.

Using the apple, cannabis, the tulip and the potato as case studies, this book sets forth a theory that these plants evolved in such a way as to have man select them for survival because of their benefits to him.

In the Heart of the Sea by Nathaniel Philbrick.  Viking Penguin, New York, 2000.  ISBN 0-670-89157-6.

This book reconstructs the history of the last voyage of the whaling ship Essex, which sailed in 1819 from Nantucket to the Pacific Ocean, where it sank after being rammed by a whale.

February

Crypto by Steven Levy.  Penguin Books, New York / London / Camberwood (Australia) / Toronto / Auckland / New Delhi / Johannesburg, 2002.  ISBN 0-14-02.4432-8.

A history of the evolution of cryptographic methodologies that paralleled the development of the modern computer.

Leviathan by Paul Auster.  Penguin Books, New York / London / Ringwood (Australia) / Toronto / Auckland, 1993.ISBN 0-14-01.7813-9.

A fictional account of a man turned to desperation by the circumstances of his life.

March

The Body Artist by Dom DeLillo.  Simon & Schuster, New York / London / Toronto / Sydney / Singapore, 2001.  ISBN 0-7432-0395-X.

An evocative novel of self discovery about a woman trying to cope with the death of a loved one, and the life that remains beyond it.

The Sea Shall Embrace Them by David W. Shaw.  The Free Press, New York, 2002.  ISBN0-7432-2217-2.

The story of the sinking of the steamship Arctic in the Atlantic Ocean in 1854.

April

Fastnet, Force 10  by John Rousmaniere. W.W. Norton & Co., New York / London, 2000.  ISBN 0-393-30865-0.

An account of the disastrous 1979 Fastnet Boat Race from England to Ireland and back during one of the worst storms ever to strike the area.

May

Ghost Soldiers by Hampton Sides.  Anchor Books, New York, 2002.  ISBN 0-385-49565-X.

The true story of a group of army rangers who successfully rescued over five hundred inmates of Japanese POW camp Cabanatuan Prison in the Phillippines during World War II.

Time Travel in Einstein's Universe by J. Richard Gott.  Houghton Mifflin Co., London & New York, 2001.  ISBN 0-395-95563-7.

An articulate and erudite pursuit through the temporal and spatial ramifications of the universe described by Albert Einstein's theories of general and special relativity.

June

Over the Edge: Death in the Grand Canyon by Michael P. Ghiglieri and Thomas M. Meyers.  Puma Press, Flagstaff, AZ, 2001. ISBN 0-9700973-1-X.

Accounts of all known deaths in the Grand Canyon.

July

Beyond the Deep by William Stone and Barbara am Ende with Monte Paulsen.  Warner Press, New York, 2002.  ISBN 0-446-52709-2.

The story of William Stone's 1994 expedition that explored the underground Huautla Cave System in southeastern Mexico.

Fire Lover by Joseph Wambaugh.  William Morrow (Harper Collins Publishers), New York, 2002.  ISBN 0-06-009527-X.

The true story of the pursuit, capture, trial and conviction of John Orr, a California arson inspector who set a series of tragic fires across the state during the late nineteen eighties.

You Got Nothing Coming by Jimmy A. Lerner.  Broadway Books, New York, 2002.  ISBN 0-7679-0918-6.

This memoir of a prisoner residing in the Nevada State Penitentiary for twelve years after plea bargaining a voluntary manslaughter charge tells how he became reconciled to his sentence.

Escape edited by Lena Lencek and Gideon Bosker.  Marlowe & Company (Avalon Publishing Group), New York, 2002.  ISBN 1-56924-526-6.

An anthology of stories, some true and some fictional, about getting away.

August

Fermat's Enigma by Simon Singh.  Anchor Books, New York, 1998.

An accessible tale of mathematician Andrew Wiles' successful pursuit to prove Pierre de Fermat's Last Theorem.

The Cold Six Thousand by James Ellroy.  Vintage Books, New York, 2002.  ISBN 0-375-72740-X.

An alternative history, and view, of the turbulent events that shaped the nineteen sixties in the United States.

September

White Noise (Text and Criticism) by Don DeLillo.  Edited by Mark Osteen.  Penguin Books (Viking Critical Library), New York, 1998.  ISBN 0-14-02-7498-7 (pbk).

An exploration of the nature of living, or dying, in post-modern America.

Red Rabbit by Tom Clancy.  G. P. Putnam & Sons, New York, 2002.  ISBN 0-399-14870-1.

A fictional prequel about the defection of a Russian communications officer to the United States in the early nineteen eighties.

October

Synners by Pat Cadigan.  Introduction by Neil Gaiman.  Four Walls Eight Windows, New York, 1991.  ISBN 1-56858-185-8.

A dense, difficult cyberpunk science fiction novel about the merging of reality and virtual reality at the threshold of sensory overload.

November

Fire by Sebastian Junger.  Avon Books, New York, 2002.  ISBN 0-06-050180-4.

A book of essays by a roving correspondent about everything from forest fires to war torn Afghanistan, with stops in Bosnia, Cypress, Kashmir and Sierra Leone.

December

Stupid White Men by Michael Moore.  Harper Collins Publishers Inc, New York, 2001.  ISBN 0-06-0392452.

An activist liberal's rant about the state of the nation, with a moral - get involved.

Pour Your Heart Into It by Howard Schultz.  Hyperion, New York, 1997.  ISBN 0-7868-6397-8.

The Chairman and CEO of Starbucks, tells about the founding and building of that company, one cup at a time.