bfertig joins the crowd

This looks like fun, will be a good chance to see how broadly I actually read and will encourage me to explore new topics. My time limit for this challenge will be defined as follows: whenever I finish it (unlikely), get bored with it (likely), or die (certainly - but hopefully not for a long long long while). :) I am considering this more of a general and lifelong (as much as I can remember, or remain a LT member) reading list. I will be attempting to complete the one of each of the xxx categories, but won't go deeper into decimal territory - that's like contemplating infinity. To be clear, I won't start from scratch, and will include books I've already read (but not those on my tbr shelves).

I like how tututhefirst has organized her challenge, so this is my impersonation of mimicking her. The first post will be the overall Dewey Decimal System, and subsequent posts will be by category of 100s.

Progress

10/10 100%
53/100 53%
120/908 13.22%


Wikipedia listing of categories: http://tinyurl.com/2mt52z

Library Thing Dewey Browser

000-099 Computer Science, Information, and General Works
2/84 2.4%

003 Systems Linked
005 Computer programming, programs & data SAS/STAT 9.2 User's Guide
007 Unassigned
008 Unassigned
009 Unassigned

013 Unassigned

024 Unassigned
025 Library operations The Book of Answers
027 General libraries Running the books
029 Unassigned

031 Encyclopedias in American English The know-it-all-

040 Unassigned (formerly Biographies) ill go home then it's warm and has chairs

Missing 2nd levels:
010s
050s
060s
070s
080s
090s

100-199 Philosophy and Psychology
3/89 = 3.3%

100 Philosophy The impact of science on society
104 Unassigned

112 No longer used—formerly Methodology

125 No longer used—formerly Infinity

132 No longer used—formerly Mental derangements
134 No longer used—formerly Mesmerism & Clairvoyance
136 No longer used—formerly Mental characteristics

151 No longer used—formerly Intellect
155 Differential & developmental psychology Dibs in search of self
157 No longer used—formerly Emotions
158 Applied psychology How to win friends and influence people
159 No longer used—formerly Will

163 Not assigned or no longer used
164 Not assigned or no longer used

174 Economic and professional ethics The Honest Broker

Missing Second Levels:
110s
120s
130s
140s
160s
180s
190s

200-299 Religion

216 No longer used—formerly Evil
217 No longer used—formerly Prayer
219 No longer used—formerly Analogies

221 Old Testament Tanakh: the holy scriptures
222 Historical books of Old Testament Now these are the names

230 Christian theology Misquoting Jesus: the story behind who changed the Bible and why
237 No longer used—formerly Future state

244 No longer used—formerly Religious fiction
245 No longer used—formerly Hymnology

256 No longer used—formerly Religious societies
257 No longer used—formerly Parochial schools, libraries, etc.
258 No longer used—formerly Parochial medicine

288 No longer used—formerly Unitarian
289 Other denominations and sects Under the banner of heaven

291 No longer used—formerly Comparative religion
292 Classical (Greek and Roman) religion Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes
294 Religions of Indic Origins Theravada Buddhism: a social history from ancient benares to modern colombo
296 JudaismI asked for wonder
297 Islam, Babism and Bahai FaithIslam today
298 No longer used—formerly Mormonism
299 Other ReligionsThe Tao of Pooh

Missing Second Levels:
(I will likely not finish most of these and just concentrate on the 290s)
200s
210s
240s
250s
260s
270s

300-399 Social Sciences

302 Social interaction The tipping point
303 Social processes Guns, Germs, and Steel
304 Factors affecting social behavior collapse
305 Social groups The mole people
306 Culture and institutions Gig
307 Communities The death and life of great American cities
308 No longer used—formerly Polygraphy John Quincy Adams and continental empire
309 No longer used—formerly History of sociology

311 311 No longer used—formerly Theory and methods how to lie with statistics
312 No longer used—formerly Population
313 No longer used—formerly Special topics

320 Political scienceThe prince
321 Systems of governments and states The case for democracy
324 The political process Adams vs. Jefferson
326 Slavery & emancipation Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglas
327 International relations A peace to end all peace
329 Not assigned or no longer used

330 Economics Freakonomics
333 Land economics Chesapeake Bay Blues
337 International economics The lexus and the olive tree
338 Production The economic transformation of America

344 Social, labor, welfare, and related law The clean water act TMDL program

355 Military science The art of war

362 Social welfare problems and services The glass castle
363 Other social problems and servicesThe unnatural history of the sea
364 Criminology The pirate hunter: the true story of captain kidd

376 No longer used—formerly Education of women
377 No longer used—formerly Ethical education
379 Government regulation, control, support The Shame of the Nation

385 Railroad Transportation Nothing like it in the world

394 General customs fast food nation
396 No longer used—formerly Women's position and treatment
397 No longer used—formerly outcast studies
398 Folklore yiddish wisdom for marriage

Missing Second Levels: NONE!!
Nearly Done 3rd levels:
300
301

400-499 Languages

416 No longer used—formerly Prosody

420 English and Old English The adventures of english
423 English dictionaries The professor and the madman
424 No longer used—formerly English thesauruses
426 No longer used—formerly English prosodies
428 Standard English usage Eats, shoots, and leaves

434 Not assigned or no longer used
436 Not assigned or no longer used
439 Other Germanic languages Born to kvetch

444 Not assigned or no longer used
446 Not assigned or no longer used

454 Not assigned or no longer used
456 Not assigned or no longer used

464 Not assigned or no longer used
466 Not assigned or no longer used

474 Not assigned or no longer used
476 Not assigned or no longer used

484 Not assigned or no longer used
486 Not assigned or no longer used

Missing Second Levels:
400s
410s
440s
450s
460s
470s
480s
490s

500-599 Science and Mathematics

500 Natural sciences & mathematics A short history of nearly everything
501 Philosophy & theory Don't be such a scientist
504 Not assigned or no longer used
508 Natural history Walden
510 Mathematics The man who loved only numbers

515 Analysis A tour of the calculus
517 Not assigned or no longer used

523 Specific celestial bodies and phenomena A brief history of time
524 Not assigned or no longer used
526 Mathematical geography Longitude: the true story of a lone genius who solved the greatest scientific problem of his time

530 Physics Einstein: his life and universe
531 Classical mechanics: Solid mechanics Six ideas that shaped physics: unit N
536 Heat Six ideas that shaped physics: unit T
537 Electricity and electronics Six ideas that shaped physics: unit E
539 Modern physics Six ideas that shaped physics: unit C

540 Chemistry and allied sciences General chemistry: principles and modern applications
544 No longer used-formerly Qualitative analysis
545 No longer used-formerly Quantitative analysis
547 Organic chemistry Organic chemistry

550 Earth Sciences The map that changed the world
551 Geology, hydrology, meteorology Krakatoa: the day the world exploded
553 Economic geology Salt: a world history

569 Fossil Mammalia Cro-Magnon: how the ice age gave birth to modern humans

570 Life Sciences Experimental design and analysis for biologists
571 Physiology packing for mars
572 Biochemistry Lehninger Principles of biochemistry
573 Physiological systems of animals The third chimpanzee
574 Not assigned or no longer used Species diversity in space and time
576 Genetics and evolution On the Origin of Species
577 Ecology Stable isotope ecology
578 Natural history of organisms Ocean Life

589 No longer used-formerly Forestry

591 Zoology Strange animals I have known
594 Mollusca and molluscoidea Ecology of bivalves: an ecosystem approach
597 Cold-blooded vertebrates, fishes A Fish Caught in Time
598 Aves (Birds) The beak of the finch: a story of evolution in our time

Missing Second Levels:
580s

600-699 Technology

600 Technology Communicating science effectively: a practical handbook for integrating visual elements

610 Medical sciences: Medicine The art and politics of science
611 Human anatomy, cytology, histology Stiff: the curious lives of human cadavers
613 Promotion of health In defense of food: an eater's manifesto
616 Diseases Shrinks: The Untold Story of Psychiatry
619 No longer used-formerly Experimental medicine

621 Applied physics The boy who harnessed the wind
626 Not assigned or no longer used
629 Other branches of engineering West with the night

635 Garden crops (Horticulture) The brother gardeners
639 Hunting, fishing, conservation Leviathan: the history of whaling in America

641 Food and drink Animal, vegetable, miracle

650 Management and auxiliary services Bait and switch: the (futile) pursuit of the American dream
654 Not assigned or no longer used
655 Not assigned or no longer used
656 Not assigned or no longer used
658 General management The courage to act

669 Metallurgy Marine ecological processes

689 Not assigned or no longer used

699 Not assigned or no longer used

Missing Second Levels:
670s
680s
690s

700-799 Art and recreation

711 Area planning Design of cities

741 Drawing and drawings Piled Higher and Deeper
744 Not assigned or no longer used

756 Not assigned or no longer used

762 Not assigned or no longer used
768 Not assigned or no longer used

774 No longer used-formerly Holography
775 No longer used-formerly Digital photography
779 Photographs Earth from above

780 Music And you shall know us by the cover of our vinyl
789 Not assigned or no longer used

792 Stage presentations Bossypants

Missing Second Levels:
700s
720s
730s
750s
760s

800-899 Literature

804 Not assigned or no longer used
808 Rhetoric and collections of literature The best American science and nature writing 2003
809 Literary history & criticism Zami: a new spelling of my name

811 American poetry in English The new kid on the block
812 American drama in English Our Town
813 American fiction in English Moby dick
814 American essays in English Me talk pretty one day
817 American humor & satire in English Go the F*** to sleep
818 American miscellaneous writings in English The daily show with Jon Stewart presents America (the book): a citizen's guide to democracy inaction
819 No longer used-formerly Puzzle activities

821 English poetry Old possum's book of practical cats
822 English drama A year in the life of William Shakespeare: 1599
823 English fiction Gulliver's travels

833 German fiction Siddhartha
839 Other Germanic literatures Four Great Plays by Henrik Ibsen

843 French fiction The count of Monte Cristo

853 Italian fiction Baudolino

863 Spanish and Portuguese literature Zorro

883 Classical Greek epic poetry & fiction The Iliad

891 East Indo-European and Celtic literature Master and margarita
895 Literatures of East & Southeast Asia Kafka on the Shore

Missing Second Levels:
870s

900-999 History, Geography, & Biography

909 World history Amazing adventures of the Jewish people

910 Geography and travel The river of doubt
912 Graphic representations of Earth Maphead
914 Geography and travel: Europe Munich and Bavaria
917 Geography and travel: North America Undaunted courage: Merriwether Lewis, Thomas Jefferson, and the opening of the American west

920 Biography, geneology, insignia Dearest Friend: a life of Abigail Adams
921 This range is reserved as an optional location for biographies, which are shelved alphabetically by subject's last name. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
922 This range is reserved as an optional location for biographies, which are shelved alphabetically by subject's last name.
923 This range is reserved as an optional location for biographies, which are shelved alphabetically by subject's last name.
925 This range is reserved as an optional location for biographies, which are shelved alphabetically by subject's last name.
926 This range is reserved as an optional location for biographies, which are shelved alphabetically by subject's last name.\
927 This range is reserved as an optional location for biographies, which are shelved alphabetically by subject's last name.
928 This range is reserved as an optional location for biographies, which are shelved alphabetically by subject's last name.

932 Egypt to 640 Red land black land

940 General history of Europe Franklin and Winston
946 General history of Europe: Iberian Peninsula and adjacent islands The Basque history of the world
949 General history of Europe: Other parts of Europe Anne Frank: the diary of a young girl

956 General history of Asia: Middle East (Near East) From Beirut to Jerusalem

966 General history of Africa; West Africa & offshore islands Blood Diamonds
968 General history of Africa; Southern Africa
Long Walk to Freedom

970 General history of North America 1491
972 General history of North America; Middle America; Mexico I, Rigaberta Menchu: an Indian Woman in Guatemala
973 General history of North America: United States What Hath God Wrought
974 General history of North America: Northeastern United States The wordy shipmates
975 General history of North America; Southeastern United States The Swamp
976 General history of North America: South central United States Bayou farewell
977 General history of North America; North central United States The middle ground: Indians, empires, and republics in the Great Lakes region
978 General history of North America: Western United States The worst hard time
979 General history of North America: Great Basin and Pacific slope A crack in the edge of the world

991 Not assigned or no longer used
992 Not assigned or no longer used
996 General history of other areas; Other parts of Pacific Polynesia Unfamiliar fishes

Missing Second Levels:
980s

A couple notes:
I have diverged from my original formatting, since the tickers for each section of 100s were not correctly updating, and it's not worth it for me to fix it. I've added in the title of the topics because it interests me to know. I've gone to only counting one book from each number so that it's easier to see the list.

I found I've read several books in categories no longer used: particularly 308 and 574. Other books I've read in 574 include Experiments in ecology: their logical design and interpretation using analysis of variance,
Biogeochemistry: an analysis of global change, and Species diversity in space and time

I've also found a few books I would have categorized elsewhere. I would have thought Elements of Style would have gone somewhere in the 400s, like 428 (Standard English usage) not 808 (rhetoric and collections of literature). Also, Franklin and Winston and Night are labeled 940 (General history of Europe), but these books are definitely not general and not really about Europe, per se. The former is rather specifically about the relationship and friendship of these two leaders. I'm surprised this didn't make it into the biography section (921-928). Also, I'm surprised that the biography section doesn't have a sub-section for national leaders (presidents, prime ministers, monarchs, etc.) or whatever and is just by last name. Night by Elie Wiesel is also in this category, which makes no sense either. The latter is of course an autobiographical escape from the Holocaust.

While I like the idea of using decimals as a categorization mechanism, I suppose I would have just done things slightly differently.

aaah! You read Dark Tide. That's been sitting on my shelf for a few months waiting for me. I'm so excited about that one.

:)

fundevogel, Go for it! I really enjoyed Dark Tide reading about this odd catastrophe. It read very quickly, and from the preface or introduction or something it sounded like the book came out of presentations the author has given at various times.

Added 292, Edith Hamilton's Mythology, which I had read in high school and neglected to previously mention

I just finished Purple Hibiscus, which I enjoyed, and thought I'd be able to knock off an African Literature section. I was surprised to find that according to LT, the call number was 823, English literature. Hmm. A story set in Nigeria by a Nigerian writer counts as English literature? I don't get it. I would have thought it should go under 892 - Afro-Asiatic Literatures.

I am also nearly done with Kafka on the Shore, so am including that as well. This gives me 895 for Literatures of East and Southeast Asia.

17>

The 800s are based on original language of the work, rather than on setting or nationality of the author. So, yeah, books by African writers that were originally in English go in 823. (That's annoyed me too.)

I am going to include Blood Diamonds before I forget. I'll probably be able to finish it by the end of the week anyway. It's a really well written, if depressing and appalling, history and discussion of diamonds from Sierra Leone, including their mining and associated wars, war crimes, atrocities, direct links with small arms distribution and terrorists, illegal smuggling, money laundering, greed, power, and the De Beers diamond empire which has essentially created and controlled the diamond market for a century. Really amazing to see what havoc, destruction, and death these stones have caused, and that their value is essentially artificial, as they are much more common than commonly believed. I recommend the book, if you can stomach it (I couldn't get past the first chapter the first time around; it does tone down after that.)

966 - General history of Africa; West Africa & offshore islands

I hesitated to see the movie for those reasons even though I heard it was well done because I didn't think I could stomach it. The real world is so darn depressing these days. I would like to hear how the book compares to the movie if anyone has done both.

#4: I've noticed the same thing. A lot of miscellaneous religions are put into the 100's as well, for some strange reason.

#20: I would like to hear how the book compares to the movie if anyone has done both.

Same here, varielle. I've only seen the movie; I wasn't even aware it was based on a book.

And I was not aware there was a movie. Though I can easily imagine there would be one.

As I go through Blood Diamonds, I am reminded of the movie Lord of War, with Nicholas Cage - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0399295/ - which was about gunrunning and the small arms trade, with the focal point being the character Yuriy Orlov, based on the real-life Viktor Bout, aka Merchant of Death. Douglas Farah and Stephen Braun wrote Merchant of Death about him. While I haven't read that one yet, needless to say, I would like to.

My crush Leonardo DiCaprio and Daiman Hanshou (sp?) looked like they did a terrific job just from the trailers I saw. I believe that movie got nominated for some award, but don't recall specifically.

#23: Was "Lord of War" any good? I remember seeing the trailer for it, but never got around to watching it. (I usually like most of Nicholas Cage's movies.) I had no idea his character was based on a real person either. I guess I need to pay more attention to the news. :)

#24: The movie was very good. I was on Wikipedia earlier and looked up the nomination info you were talking about: "The film was nominated for five Academy Awards including Best Actor (DiCaprio) and Best Supporting Actor (Hounsou)," plus a whole bunch more awards. Definitely check it (the movie) out when you can.

I really enjoyed the movie and thought it was the best thing Nicholas Cage has ever been in and that he was perfect for the role. Apparently the film won Special Recognition for Excellence in Filmmaking by the National Board of Review in 2005. I saw this movie well over a year ago, and still remember and and think of it.

Lord of War was an excellent movie, but be prepared, it is very rough, i.e. violence. It will make you wonder what the world is coming to.

Sounds intriguing. I'm usually OK with violence (on TV at least; not in real life) as long as it pertains to the plot; but I'll still keep my eyes at half-squint just in case. Thanks, you two, for the input. I'm putting "Lord of War" on hold as I type.

I think one of the most important and interesting points made in Blood Diamonds is that the diamond wars and the connections with known terrorists is a case in point that is really should be impossible to ignore Africa any longer. Allowing terrorists to transfer wealth into quite mobile and smuggle-able diamonds doesn't make the world a safe place. It drives home the point that there is no such thing as 'regional conflict' anymore, that globalization is not just an economic term, and that ignoring Africa is harmful to international interests and even American interests of security etc. I don't know how, if at all, things have changed since the book was researched and published, or even if the arguments and claims were overstated to sell more books, but even still, it seems worthwhile to pay attention to how diamonds fit in with these other major events.

For a similar theme try the Ralph Fiennes/Rachel Weiss movie The Constant Gardener. Most excellent. They drive their point home with the abuse of Africa by the drug companies and the perils of disease.

Received A Fish Caught in Time from Bookmooch, and immediately jumped into it. It's a fun quick read and nets me 597 - Cold blooded vertebrates, fishes.

I loved A Fish Caught in Time. They have a whole website devoted to it www.dinofish.com . I need the coelacanth t-shirt. Edited because I can't spell coelacanth.

Finished listening to Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglas during the commute in this morning. Really really worth reading. Just an eloquent portrayal of the social conditions of the time, slavery, Frederick Douglas' life, and how he learned to read and his motivations for escaping. Brilliantly written, well spoken. And his denunciation of hypocritical and empty religiosity can ring as true today as then.

Highly highly recommended.

#33 I agree completely, and everyone else who has commented on this book has similar high praise. I think it should be required reading.

Frankly, I'm a bit surprised it wasn't required reading. It is clearer exposition than some of the other accounts of slavery we read in history class.

#35 Yes, and easier to read, too. I'm thinking about requiring my kids to read it, since their school doesn't.

I hadn't even noticed slavery had its own category. For some reason I expected it to be stuffed into one of the "Social problems & services" categories. I'm glad, the social problem categories seem like too much of a catch all to me.

Yeah, it seems to me that slavery would be a big enough 'social problem and service' to warrant its own category. Especially given the economic and political ramifications on top of the obvious horrid human condition and human rights issues. And then, too, there's the international sex trade and human trafficking that still goes on even today. There's a lot of different types of books that I imagine could be classified under this category. Plus, the 'emancipation' part of it opens up other angles as well.

Just about done with The story of Chicago May, but guess I can't count it for this challenge, as I already have a 364 - Criminology book.

Will be finishing Long Walk to Freedom this evening, which gives me another section of Africa covered. It's a really really good book as well, and I give it 5 thumbs up ;) - Nelson Mandela is a truly articulate man.

My full review:
Though Nelson Mandela wrote these words about his colleague Oliver Tambo, they are fitting to him as well: 'He too epitomized Chief Luthuli's precept: 'Let your courage rise with danger.''

Nelson Mandela's autobiography is simply a must read. Mandela's writing captures your attention and dares you to disbelieve that he is not in the room telling you these things himself. Though a thumper of a book at over 600 pages, it was impossible for me to read less than 50-75 at a time. I highly recommend it to everyone.

He wrote the first draft while in prison on Robben Island, and it eloquently and deftly tells his story: his noble birth and legal training, the rise of his political consciousness and activism, his struggles against the apartheid regime, his trials for treason and his decades of political imprisonment on Robben Island. No matter the challenge, Mandela's courage rises to meet it: going underground, representing fellow prisoners for grievances for color-blind food rations and clothing, and being separated from his wife and family with visitations separated by years.

Mandela recounts numerous anecdotes to point out lessons learned, disparities impossible to ignore, changing perceptions of the political and social world (both inside and outside prison), and what is required of a leader. “Like the gardener, a leader must take responsibility for what he cultivates; he must mind his work, try to repel enemies, preserve what can be preserved, and eliminate what cannot succeed.” His cognizance and candor about what his re/actions represent and symbolize to others amazes me. As a person who possesses the inner strength, self-control, and follow-through, Mandela fits the billing of a real-life superhero, on the scale of Gandhi and Moses.

Finished another! This time 972. Just need 971 975 977 to finish the 970s!



I, Rigaberta Menchu: an Indian woman in Guatemala

“I’m still keeping secret what I think no-one should know. Not even anthropologists or intellectuals, no matter how many books they have, can found out all our secrets.” Indian society in Guatemala is filled with secrets. How many and what they are *about*, much less *are* is merely alluded to by Rigaberta as she recounts her life story and struggles. The narrative reads quite literally as if Rigaberta were telling her story directly to the reader. In so doing, she really tells us three stories: 1) Indian community life cycles, 2) Rigaberta’s life and work and 3) the history of the Guatemalan peasant revolution in the 60s-80s.

At the time of the telling, Rigaberta had only been speaking Spanish for three years, and deliberately learned it to better unite separate Indian communities with distinct languages and dialects against her and their common enemies: the Guatemalan government and rich finca landlords, who readily practiced discrimination, hostility, rape, land takeovers, massacres, and torture. She was never trained to read or write.

I expect that this (effective) primary source will be excellent fodder for many secondary sources that may make it more digestible. I recognize the need for Rigaberta’s voice to come through, but perhaps it could help broaden her audience by having a professional writer or biographer assist with smoothing the organization and clarity and such.

The raw power and emotion evident by what Rigoberta has to say makes this an important resource in bringing these issues to the international community. Though many secrets are still kept, this book is rich for curiosity seekers, social scientists, folks interested in labor and peasant movements, Latin American Indians, etc.

Since, I'm planning on finishing this book today, I'm going to list it here now.

920 - Dearest Friend - actually, I'm surprised that this is my first 920, and that this number is not a repeat for me. But that's ok.

I liked this book. Aside from the occasional typo, it was a really fun biography of Abigail Adams, that really gave a sense of what it was like to live in those times, and to see the Revolution and early formation of America from the eyes of someone who was watching it closely, and *indirectly* rather than directly involved. Actually, I thought some of the passages were some of the most memorable descriptions of some well-discussed events that I've read, for instance the Battles of Bunker and Breeds Hills, which Abigail observed first hand with John Quincy from nearby Penn's Hill. The discussions of the Adams' estate was well done, though I admit I have benefitted by having visted the Adams Historical Park in Quincy earlier this year before reading this book - it was great putting the book and the visit together in context. The author did a good job of relying heavily on personal letters and diaries of Abigail and John, as well as their daughter Nabby. There was less detail on her relationship with John Quincy though, than I expected. Anycase, my earlier gripe about the lack of footnotes should be squelched because there are quite adequate endnotes which I hadn't realized previously. Silly me. I would recommend this book, it reads fairly quickly, and is a good story in additon to good history.

Oh hey! 920 gave me a new _x_! And it looks like 921-928 are only optionally used for biographies. Hmm... looks like I'm that much closer!

and I only need a history of the Ancient World, South America, and 'Other Areas' (e.g. Australia, New Zealand, Antarctica...) to round out the 900s.

#43 That's amazing! Congratulations!

Random comments from earlier, that I'm reposting here to clean up my listings:

Hmm.. Christianity seems to dominate the 200s. Other/Comparative religions share a mere 10 numbers of the 100. Judaism gets one of those, and Islam shares its number, 297, with Babism and Bahai (The latter I've heard of, the former I'm unfamiliar with). Buddhism and Hinduism are merely implied. Kinda seems unevenly distributed given the global populations of people following these various faiths, if you ask me.

It seems to me that Marine ecological processes is very poorly categorized. There really is no mention of metallurgy in this text book. Perhaps the closest would be consideration of metals in marine processes... But really this is an ecology text book. It belongs up in 577 (Ecology).

#43, sjmccreary, thanks, but don't know that I deserve that quite yet, as they aren't actually done yet.

I've cleaned up my listing and noted missing second levels to be clearer. In so doing, I noticed that actually, I am closest to finishing the second levels of the 800s (need Latin and Classical Greek literature), and the 500s (Paleontology/Palaeozoology, and Plants).

Further, I need 3 books in 2nd level categories for the 300s (General Statistics, Education, and Commerce/Communication/Transport) and the 900s (History of Ancient World, History of South America, and History of 'Other' Areas)

So, with 10 books I can knock out 4 top level categories!

45>

Christianity seems to dominate the 200s

Which is why I'm basically ignoring the 200s. :) Dewey seems to share the view of world religions with Chief Wiggum in that old Simpsons episode -- "Christian, Jewish, and miscellaneous".

It seems to me that Marine ecological processes is very poorly categorized.

I agree, and personally I wouldn't be happy counting something that was obviously misclassed, but YMMV. (Looking on Worldcat, the closest public library to me that has it calls it a 577.7)

what is YMMV?

Sorry, Your Mileage May Vary.

well, we'll see. im not likely to pick up a metallurgy manual or anything, but if i find something more appropriate, i'll change it then...

Inspired by the mini-challenge thread and the new year, I've come up with my own mini-challenge that I think will be pretty fruitful if I can manage it.

I'd like to read 20 books, half focused on the divisions and half focused on the sections, towards helping me complete my challenge this year... which for me is a lot, considering I read 42 books total last year.

Here, I am going to post POTENTIAL reads for these categories, most of which I already own and are on my TBR shelves. When (and if) I read them, I will try to cross them off or remove them here and add them above in the main list.

10 divison books would help me complete the 300s, 500s, 800s, and 900s
1. 310s - How to lie with statistics - 311 (carlym)
2. 370s - Three cups of tea OR The language police (nickelini)
3. 380s - Nothing like it in the world OR The victorian internet (lorax)
4. 560s - Cro-Magnon OR Wonderful life (lorax) OR Tyrannasaurus sue (lucien)
5. 580s - Oaxaca Journal - 587 (Fundevogel)
6. 870s
7. 880s - Helen (nickelini) OR Protagoras and meno ()
8. 930s - Time detectives (lorax) OR Arcaheology detectives (nickelini)
9. 980s - Aguirre: the re-creation of a 16th century journey across south america (varielle)
10. 990s

9 sections would complete 3 divisions: the 300s, the 570s, and the 970s
1. 300 - McMafia: A journey through global criminal underworld
2. 301 - Future of Success OR Ants, Indians, & Little Dinosaurs
3. 309
4. 573 - The 3rd Chimpanzee
5. 575
6. 579
7. 971 - Island of Seven Cities
8. 975 - Pirates on the Chesapeake OR The Swamp
9. 977 - Postville OR The middle ground: Indians, empires, and republics in the Great Lakes region

Plus one anywhere else for good luck and fun.

If you've got a recommendation for any of these missing categories, I'm interested to hear about it!

Thank you for your recommendations!!

These are on my TBR list so I can't vouch for them. Do what you will with them.

581 Wicked Plants: The Weed That Killed Lincoln's Mother and Other Botanical Atrocities by Amy Stewart
587 Oaxaca Journal by Oliver Sacks

Well, if anyone by any chance needs an 863, I'd go ahead and recommend Zorro, which I just finished reading outloud to my wife. I'm using this to replace Like water for chocolate, which I had read earlier. Not that it's really difficult to find recommendations for this section, just figured I'd throw this one out there as well.

Review:
This is the tale of Diego de la Vega and how he became Zorro. It's great. It's got everything. Adventure and romance, duels and fencing, pirates and caballeros, New World and Old, what more could you want? Fortunes are made, lost, and restored again. Heroics, antics, and bravado are the tools of the trade. Fate and characters' trajectories are apparent but veiled, and all told with a sweeping narration with all the embellishments of a tall-tale. Set against the epic backdrop of Spanish California and Napoleonic conquests, the settings and scenes were quite vivid. So much so, that as written, it would make a fantastic movie, even though there was hardly any dialogue and action was generally episodic rather than continuous (at least for the first half).

The only minor detraction was the intermittent interruption of the voice of the narrator, but it provided a sense of an actual person telling the story, though somehow the narrator was rather omniscient. I felt the second half was better than the first, especially once the plot really started thickening with the real rise of rivalry between De La Vega and Raphael Moncada. A fun book club choice, though I'm not sure how much meat there is to discuss - it's just a fun romp.

Slogged my way through The middle ground to finally finish it and post a 977. This was an interesting book, and actually many parts of it read very quickly, provided I was OK with not know exactly who the players were, where the action was, or to some extent what was going on. Which perhaps makes the book sound more cryptic than it was. Other parts were difficult to follow. Extensive footnotes on each page made many of them fairly short and easy to continue page turning.

This was an academic analysis of the relationships between: Indians and Indians (e.g. Algonquins and Iroquois), Indians and French, Indians and British, and Indians and Americans at the local (tribe/village/frontier/forts) through empire scales in the area that became the midwest (both US and Canada) in the Great Lakes region. The depth and breadth of this book is quite impressive. It was also impressively confusing for a neophyte like me not familiar.

What I learned from this was essentially that in between the time of initial colonial contacts and the indiscriminate killing, there was a moment of attempts for trade and commerce and ideas as well as material objects moved back and forth, creating a tenuous situation which the author calls 'The Middle Ground'. This Middle Ground was rooted in ideas and customs for trade, revenge, murder, property, marriage, war, peace, alcohol, religion, etc. Negotiation was the key and nothing was quite permanent in a shifting landscape of motives, understanding, advantage, and power. These themes are examined over time with many examples and stories of leaders some of whom are generally recognizable (e.g. Pontiac, Tecumseh) others completely archaic (to me).

Some good tidbits, but overall this book is difficult to just jump into without at least some familiarity with the subject. Fascinating and well researched but it also knows it is being written for an academic audience and often skimps on the story telling and is heavy on the analysis.

Read Aqua Shock, which was 333, Land Economics. I wouldn't recommend it - there are much better books on the topic out there. My review is up but suffice it to say I panned the book. A number of other LTers have recommended Cadillac Desert or Water, the Fate of our Most Precious Resource instead.

Sounds pretty dull. I was hoping to rely heavily on history to get through the 330's. I imagine pickings might be pretty slim otherwise.

56>

Stay far, far away from Aqua Shock. (I got it for ER, too. Here's my review.

Some 333s that I would recommend are Cadillac Desert, which bfertig mentions as an alternative to Aqua Shock (I agree wholeheartedly), and Rewilding the World (another ER book, see my review. I do agree that most of the 33x look pretty bleak, though.

Thanks for the recommendations. I've got a smattering of options in 330, but most of them involve the history of labor (its hardcore) or the corporate underbelly. The only book I had marked for 333 was Cod: A Biography of the Fish That Changed the World but after attempting The Big Oyster I've been rather leery of micro-histories.

lorax - I really liked your review of Aqua Shock and agreed with your points. I found it difficult to articulate much of anything different. I just finished Rewilding the World, enjoyed it, and am thinking about what I'd like to say. I'm waiting to read your review until I write mine so hopefully I won't overlap too much.

fundevogel - what about The Big Oyster didn't you like? Or is it micro-histories in general? They seem to be fairly popular - or at least there are a lot of them these days. Mark Kurlansky appears to alternate between micro-history (salt, cod, oysters...) and world history of something (Basques, 1968..). I admit I'm a fan of them. I like looking at things from a different perspective or taking the long view.

Crap, it's the same guy that wrote Cod? I probably wouldn't like that either then.

I think The Big Oyster is only micro history I've tried to read, unless stuff like Dark Tide counts, so I'm reluctant to say I just don't like micro history. It was just way more than I ever wanted to know about oysters. Some of it was interesting, but when he started discussing the presence of oysters in 17th century Dutch still life painting it became clear to me that the book included every fact about oysters the author could find and I don't think any subject is so compelling that you can't trim some strings off it in it's presentation, certainly not oysters. So I guess my issue was that I thought it needed more judicious editing.

Mmmm. I'm actually looking forward to Cod (its on my shelf but I haven't gotten to it yet) and also Secret life of lobsters (not Kurlansky). Then again, I have spent the last 5 years studying oyster ecology and am pretty interested in marine life and how humans interact with it in general. But given his other books and what you're not looking forward to I would hazard to say that you may want to keep looking. Personally, I like the level of detail he gets to, but if that's not your thing.... YMMV. Did you wind up liking The Dark Tide after all?

It does sound like you are uniquely predisposed to get a lot out of Cod and possibly The Big Oyster. I hope you do, I like the idea that though it didn't work for me it could have something to offer someone else.

I did like Dark Tide. The only reason I was unsure initially was it was so narrative and whenever history books get that personal I start to wonder if the author is giving history a little creative license. Once I realized just how vast his source material was it made sense and I enjoyed it. I just wish he'd noted something about the source of his research in an intro so I could relax and properly enjoy it from the start.

Yes, i think I'm going to bump Cod up a few notches on MtTBR.. Between Aqua Shock and Rewilding, there's been a bit of an environmental theme, which has been fun. I've picked up Wildfire and Americans for the Go Review That Book! group (its taken quite awhile for me to get to!) so that continues the theme of environmental books with some incentive for review writing. May continue that with just the environmental bit and chase after Cod and The Unnatural History of the Sea next.

I did enjoy The Big Oyster and lent it to friend also studying oysters. Of the two of us he eats them and I don't so the recipes may only have gotten halfshell of the use ;) (groan).

>60 fundevogel:
it became clear to me that the book included every fact about oysters the author could find and I don't think any subject is so compelling that you can't trim some strings off it in it's presentation

That was my problem with the author's Salt. I am hoping that the shorter length of Cod keeps him better focused. Unfortunately Cod looks to be the same size as The Big Oyster so it's not looking good.

So, fundevogel and lucien, I'm wondering if you've read history of the world in six glasses - there's less detail and more stories of interest with each beverage in part because Standage tackles 6 items rather than 1 in a book roughly the same length.

ETA: I wonder if some of these micro-histories or commodity histories would be improved/more appreciated if they took Standage's approach rather than Kurlansky's..

Nope, but it certainly sounds more digestible.

Yes I did prefer Standage's Six Glasses. You and I actually had a brief exchange about Six Glass vs Salt on another thread. I thought Standage didn't get as bogged down in details, didn't oversell the importance of his topics, and spent as much time showing how the drink represented an era of history as much as it did on facts about the drink itself. Salt did seem more scholarly and the breezy nature of Six Glasses might not be to everyone's non-fiction tastes but I enjoyed it greatly.

that's right - sorry lucien, just slipped my mind. no offense meant. :)

Oh, none taken. I knew I was going to be a bit repetitive so I figured I'd just mention it.

I wonder how writers of microhistories are at parties. Are they always cornering people and telling them facts about cod and salt?

I'm still not sure what constitutes micro history. Is it strictly commodity history or is it just a close look at histories that aren't considered major historical events?

thats a good question fundevogel. I've been pretty loose with my usage of microhistory and commodity history, using them somewhat interchangeably. I guess to some extent they are at least intended for more popular audiences rather than academic one, which also tend to have narrower focuses. but where would a history of a local place or city go? e.g. a history of baltimore (which I've had a hard time finding) or of specific places (often funded by local historical societies). dunno if these fit 'microhistory' either.

ok. well what about history of a railroad, like the Union Pacific and Central Pacific railroads which became the transcontinental railroad in the 1800s? I'm reading about that in Nothing like it in the world and am about a quarter of the way through.

btw, this will give me a 385 and put me only 2 second levels away from completing the 300s second levels. :)

put me only 2 second levels away from completing the 300s second levels.

If you find anything readable in the 310s, please let me know; I've been stalled at 9/10 second levels for the 300s for a long time, since the 310s are such a desert.

I am optimistically oblivious at the moment :)

I added How to Lie With Statistics (311) to my TBR list after someone mentioned it here. It's got a lot of reviews and 4.5 stars on Amazon so it would seem fairly digestible. It's the only 31x I've managed to add to my list though.

oh that's right. that's on my wishlist as well. considering how much stats I do, I really ought to read it ;)

I have that one out on my table to read soon.

I wonder how many other categories there are where most of the people doing the challenge are reading the same book?

Huh. I've always seen How to Lie with Statistics in 519 with the other stats books; doing a little poking around it looks like 311 was a previously used classification for that work. Thanks.

>79 lorax:
This calls for a pie chart!

80>

Bah, statistics, can't trust them, it's all just a bunch of lies! (Damned lies, even!)

But it's pie!

I don't have anything to add to fleela's post so I will link to a dilbert comic.

aww, the pie graph is awesome. I personally prefer ven diagrams though. It would probably look like this:

anyone interested in doing a group read of how to lie with statistics, considering that a bunch of us are thinking of using it for 310s?

it could be interesting to chat about effective ways to present stats and data and such. (science) communication in general is something that a lot of folks - even the military - leave room for improvement.

maybe not quite the same as other group reads, but hey.

I'm interested.

Give me time to track down a copy, and I'm in.

yeah - i'd have to track one down as well. ive got a bunch on my plate at the moment, so not sure excactly when... any months better for you then others?

I'm up for it, though after a second look I realized 311 is one of the "unassigned no longer used" numbers. I don't mind picking those up from time to time, but I thought I'd mention in case it made a difference to anyone.

I posted a list of other possible 310s in another thread.

Also--How to Lie with Statistics is really short. My version is 142 small-size pages, with cartoons.

I'd be up for a read of it. I'm torn on whether to count it for 311 or 519 due to the "no longer used issue" but I don't have either.

how about some time this summer? july/august? i don't know that i'll really have time to pick it up before then.

>91 lucien:
My library has it as 519.5, and they do have 311's.

Hmm.. It's July. I was gone from LT for awhile! But in all fairness, the dissertation did get complete and the defense was successful so I guess life balances out ;-)

Still not sure when might want to get to the statistics/lying book - maybe Aug/Sept.. is it on anyone else's radar these days?

Congratulations!!

I still want to read the statistics book. It's short, so any time is fine.

94>

But in all fairness, the dissertation did get complete and the defense was successful so I guess life balances out ;-)


Congratulations Dr. bfertig! I don't really know the career path for ecology -- what's next, a postdoc?

Still not sure when might want to get to the statistics/lying book - maybe Aug/Sept.. is it on anyone else's radar these days?

Aug/Sept are crazy for me -- cross-country move in early Sept -- and I'm trying to cut down on book-buying before then. My wife has started viewing everything coming into the house as more Stuff To Move.

Congratulations! I'm also flexible since it's a short book, though I won't be ready to start before August. Maybe we should do it after Lorax's move?

Thanks!!

Yeah, I'm fine with waiting for a little while longer yet still. Tons to do yet, with revisions to make, manuscripts to try to send out, trying to make decisions about the next steps, baby due mid-September, and maybe (or maybe not) a move myself!

Statistics will still be there! But that being said, my copy of Spatial Analysis: A Guide for Ecologists just arrived!

Finished listening to Nothing like it in the world and have even posted a review - but basically, if you've got another railroad book for 385, try that one first.

Finishing up Don't be such a scientist which was recommended to me based on the theme of science communication. Despite the mildly off-putting title, its an interesting book worth reading for those in various science fields. Science communication is getting some serious consideration these days, for example with the Ecological Society of America (ESA) putting that theme on their front cover of their membership newsletter. And communication is certainly critical when discussing complex and controversial topics like evolution, climate change, or the importance of vaccinations. And its important both between scientist communities and between scientists and decision makers, the public, or anyone else interested (including family!).

OK. So now that I've gotten that off my chest and I'm off my soapbox, I think its a worthwhile book to read, and the message is helpful and told in a conversational tone. It's interesting in part because Randy Olson, the author, is a marine ecologist by training and mid-career switched fields and moved to Hollywood to become a film director and reach a wider audience with the message of how cool and important our oceans really are. So there's an interesting personal element to it. Along the way he imparts lessons learned from Hollywood about communicating and connecting with audiences and points out how scientists can do a better job than they are, and why it's important to do so.

This book really hit home for me in part because science communication is something I'm really interested in. That's what I want to say for now. I will probably try to take a moment to really give a better review in a bit.

Oh and this gave me a 501. So if that's something you're looking to fill, I'd say this would be a good one.

OK so finished up Don't be such a scientist.

So Randy Olson's book on communicating science focuses on communicating (marine) science to broad audiences through video. In a conversational tone, he talks about different ways to connect and communicate with an audience - through the head (eg information dump), the heart (eg religion), the gut (eg humor), and the sex organs (is an eg necessary?). He also talks about ways that scientists can learn to better connect with folks - by being less cerebral, less literal, more likeable, etc. These things can be learned like most other things scientists do. He argues that learning to do this is critical to maintain public support (both directly and via government) for scientists and science that can help to improve society.

Drawing on lessons from acting classes and from movie making experience, Olson both his successes and his failures and turning points along his scientist-turn-Hollywood career. This is a worthwhile read, particularly if you are skeptical about the power of communicating science to a wide audience or if you are unsure how communicating science to non-scientists is different from communicating to scientists.

There's a fair bit to chew over that's subjective, opinion, and anecdotal, but considering that Dr. Olson is one of the few who have walked the talk, I think it's worthwhile to hear him out. And at the very least, you may be entertained. Recommended, 4.5 stars.

Looking for a bit of spontaneity and something not history or science focused, I was riffling through books on the shelf that I haven't yet read and found one that magically appeared via BookMooch, probably via my wife since I didn't recall ever hearing of it before.

Anyway, I'm now about halfway through Zami: a new spelling of my name which is alright. At times poetic, at times straightforward and blunt look at growing up Black and lesbian in New York City as a child of immigrants in the 40s and 50s. Definitely sucked, and there were some traumatic experiences, no doubt.

In some ways it would have been cool to read this in the early 80s when this came out. I think it would have been much more poignant and powerful then. In some ways, as important and still relevant as this story is, it has been told many times. Which is probably for the best - it is an important story and voice to be heard.

I'm not exactly sure what a 'biomythography' is -- which is part of the sub-subtitle. Any thoughts? Why not just call it a fictionalized memoir?

Finished up Unnatural history of the sea. My review is rather long, so you can read it on the book page or in my 1111 challenge thread. It's a 363, which is not a new number for me, but I think fits better than Dark Tide so I'm switching it out.

Hmm. My other reading thus far this year has not amounted to new Dewey numbers. 940 for Simon Weisenthal biography and 813 for Oryx and Crake. Oh well. Will keep what I have in there for now.

Still been on a fiction kick lately.

Read two books on writing academic topics - one geared towards academic audiences, one geared for more general audiences (e.g. newspapers).. thought at least one of those would be a new Dewey number.. but nope.

Also picked up an overview history of the Caribbean while in Puerto Rico recently.. also thought that would give me a new number, but nope.

Casual reading selections are having diminishing returns.. will have to actually more intentionally meet my mini challenge I think if I'd like to keep making progress.

It's disappointing to read something that seems like it would fit into a new category, only to find out it fits into some much more common category.

oh well. to be honest, there's only been so much selection process to fit new categories that i've done. my reading tastes have generally been ecclectic enough to get me this far.. about 10% of Dewey, which when come to think about it is not so bad.

moving soon, so most all books are packed. new job, so not a whole lot of reading time these days anyway.

Good luck on the move - maybe in the unpacking you'll discover a great book that you'd forgotten about - and on the new job.

Are you leaving Maryland?! :(

no.. moving to Baltimore area

Oh, okay. Is your work taking you there?

Just don't go too far! You'll be closer to the Baltimore Book Festival then. :)

What area? My daughter is moving to Halethorpe soon (if she gets the house she and her fiance want). I grew up in Pimlico.

Ah, Baltimore's a pretty cool city. I hope wherever you end up it works out well for you.

lol.. yeah I guess work... with the new job I am now mainly working remotely and so need a home office and thus a larger place. and we may as well be located closer to my wife's work to cut down her commute. not far from pimlico i think... though i'm not really sure where the neighborhood lines really are quite yet. to be honest - the city is ... growing on me.. though i did make it to the baltimore book swap last year which was cool, but it looked fairly well picked over and i wasn't really looking to walk away with much since my tbr pile is still over flowing...

also, managed to finish up The blind assassin right before the move.. but that doesnt pop onto the dewey board either since its fiction... was really well thought out and written --

> 113

Well, have fun exploring the city. I find it kind of a time warp. Nothing seems to have changed since I left there in 1968!

i can definitely see that ... baltimore seems to have missed a lot of the growth of the 90s and even a bunch from this decade. it seems to me to be a city replete with a misty reminder of splendor swathed in some amount of neglect though.

i think a while back on another thread some where i went looking for recommendation of history of baltimore or at least something about the city.. think now might be a good time to dig up those recommendations and ask for others as well. would be fun to read something about my new digs.

I'm trying to rediscover Baltimore ,too, so let me know of interesting places you find.

Don't miss The Book Thing of Baltimore where you can pick up free books any weekend. THere are also two book stores of Daedalus Books, one in Towson and one in Columbia that are very cool. They have new and remaindered books at great prices. Have some fun browsing at all three places.

posted the boy who harnessed the wind. A few more words about it on the 11 11 challenge thread, but it was really good. inspiring story. here's his TED talk about building a windmill after learning all about electricity completely on his own through books borrowed at a local village library.

flew through it - it's ghost written, and told simply. really worth it, imho.

ETA that this is a 621 - Applied Physics. Which brings me a bit closer towards the 600s.

I finally got around to reading a book I should have read Ice Ages ago for the Early Reviewer program. Super cool: it gives me a 56x, which is new for me and means I only need a 58x to finish off the 500s.



569 Fossil Mammalia Cro-Magnon: how the ice age gave birth to modern humans

I am waffling about what to rate this one. It was interesting but probably could have been shortened a bit and I felt there were some flaws and some stylistic things I would have preferred otherwise.

It was a fast read (for me) - about a week, with most of it going by on two airplanes. The content is fascinating, looking at the big picture was done well, and the story was well told in terms of bringing together the changes in climate/ice ages with the archaeology, anthropology, stone age technology and society.

Its written for a general audience as a narrative of what we know and can surmise about Cro-Magnon evolution, migration/geography, contact with and domination over Neanderthals, and general way of life/culture/art etc. This book does a great job of not getting bogged down in minutiae, classifications, or jargon, all of which abound in the technical fields. It also does a great job of sticking to the big picture and broad sweeps of human pre-history. There's a lot we don't know and that's stated up front. There's a lot we can infer and that's stated up front. And there's a lot we can imagine things being like and that's stated up front.

But there was also a lot that was stated that was overstated. There were a lot of "must have been"s when really it's "could have been". Climate changes and shifts in glaciers and temperatures would very likely have an impact on animal and human migration and settlement patterns, but I'm not yet convinced to make the leap that climate change would directly influence the human human evolution or the propensity for culture, religion, art, etc.

I'm also fairly skeptical that life was quite as static over the millenia as is repeatedly stated -- while I can't think of a way to prove it, it just doesn't seem quite right that there weren't social changes that just may not be reflected in the archaeological artifacts. There were many comparisons made to current hunter/gatherer societies - but I have to imagine there were some pretty substantial differences there as well. Finally, throughout the book there were fluffy imaginary scenes meant to illustrate these peoples and make them 'real' which I felt were superfluous and made the book feel more like historical fiction. There were also many side bars that two 2-3 pages each that disrupted the flow of reading. Often figures didn't appear anywhere near where they were being discussed which resulted in a lot of page flipping. And there was a lot of poor quality foreshadowing that sounded sort of like "well this is a really cool topic, but we won't talk about it until Chapter 6".

Overall, the book was really good at piquing my interest and at pointing out all the things that we really *don't* know about life for the first anatomically modern humans. There just isn't the evidence or archaeological record to say much at all with confidence. Ultimately, this remains a book that says much and means little in a generally interesting way.

Cautiously recommended - go ahead if you're looking for something intriguing and big picture but take it with a grain of salt. 3.5 stars.

I find your thoughts on Cro-Magnon very interesting. It's on my TBR list, but I've decided to go for People of the Earth: An Introduction to World Prehistory by the same author first. It sounds from your review that there might be some substantial overlap, so I might end up skipping Cro-Magnon entirely.

Thanks Samantha.
Brian Fagan, the author, sure appears to know what he's talking about - and I really liked the way he was able to interleave the climatic changes along with the archaeology. The book that you mention looks good as well - but I think I will be leaving that for others.
Jared Diamond - in The third chimpanzee also has a brief summary of prehistory in the first section that largely corroborates much of what Brian Fagan has to say.

The author does know what he's talking about. But many of his books overlap in what they cover. Cro-Magnon will obviously cover that time period in history more in depth than People of the Earth, but if I'm honest I prefer to read another author when going more in depth, just for a wider viewpoint than just Brian Fagan's

was searching around and found that Brian Fagan's Rape of the Nile would fill another number for me, so I might look into that at some point too.

Go the F*** to sleep

This is hysterical. I have a 10 month old, and I laughed so hard when I saw the YouTube version of this. Then I had to get the free audible.com version, narrated by Samuel L. Jackson (brilliant!!). Then my mother-in-law got this for us. And I've had to share it with others, it's great. The main humor is in the widely-relate-able situation with parents and the juxtaposition of the bedtime story layout and illustrations and simple verses, with the abject frustration and angst of the narrator. This will probably blow its course and not stick around too long as a pop-culture reference, but then again, what do I know.

And since it doesn't appear to be classified for Dewey automatically by LT, I added it to 817, Satire & humor, which is conveniently a new number for me.

973.X Mini Challenge!
I have (and have read a bunch of 973 books - US history. I am going to see how they break down even further, and try to see if I have read something from each of those time periods. I specifically chose this number because I thought I had a good chance of either having already completed it or being really close.

973.0 General What hath God wrought
973.1 European Contact
973.2 Colonial Period Mayflower
973.3 Revolution and Confederation 1776
973.4 Washington through Jefferson administrations John Adams
973.5 Madison through Tyler administrations Mr adams last crusade
973.6 Polk through Buchanan administrations
973.7 Lincoln administration Team of Rivals
973.8 Johnson through McKinley administration Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglas
973.9 Roosevelt administration and beyond The breakthrough: politics and race in the age of Obama

Is Maniac Magee really 371? I was just looking for reads in the 370s in the Dewey Browser and it popped up as this number and in my library -- I had read it as a kid in school and LOVED it - it's one of my favorite books of all time. But I don't recall it being really about Teachers, Methods, and Discipline

Down to 15 to complete a whole bunch of mini-goals. I've identified some potential titles with help from your recommendations. I'm a little confused about 575: Wikipedia lists it as the Physiological systems of plants while the Dewey Browser lists it as Evolution and Genetics.

*8* divison books would help me complete the 300s, 500s, 800s, and 900s
1. 310s - How to lie with statistics - 311 (carlym)
2. 370s - Three cups of tea OR The language police (nickelini) -- or The shame of the nation since I have a copy..
3. 580s - Oaxaca Journal - 587 (Fundevogel) or Flower Confidential: The Good, the Bad, and the Beautiful in the Business of Flowers 582 or
4. 870s - The Aenid
5. 880s - The Odyssey or Helen (nickelini) OR Protagoras and meno ()
6. 930s - Time detectives (lorax) OR Arcaheology detectives (nickelini)
7. 980s - Aguirre: the re-creation of a 16th century journey across south america (varielle)
8. 990s - Unfamiliar Fishes

*7* sections would complete 3 divisions: the 300s, the 570s, and the 970s
1. 300 - McMafia: A journey through global criminal underworld
2. 301 - Future of Success OR Ants, Indians, & Little Dinosaurs
3. 309 - Baltimore in the nation: 1789-1861
4. 575 - River Out of Eden: A Darwinian View of Life
5. 579 - Mycelium Running: How Mushrooms can help save the world
6. 971 - Island of Seven Cities
7. 975 - Pirates on the Chesapeake OR The Swamp

575 is definitely genetics. (And your example for the 575 sounds right.) Sometimes plant genetics gets into this number and also plant mutations but physiology is 581.1.

Congratulations on getting further on your goals.

>128 GoofyOcean110:, 129
It seems like they got moved somewhere along the line. In the 22nd edition, which I think is current, 576 is Genetics and Evolution. The set of summaries from the OCLC lists the 57x division as:
570 Life sciences; biology
571 Physiology & related subjects
572 Biochemistry
573 Specific physiological systems in animals
574 Unassigned
575 Specific parts of & systems in plants
576 Genetics & evolution
577 Ecology
578 Natural history of organisms
579 Microorganisms, fungi & algae

It seems like the switch from edition 20 to 21 really shuffled this division up. This page has a summary of the changes about 3/4 of the way down the page.

DDC20 -> DDC21 ->TOPIC
575           576          Genetics and Evolution
575           576.8       Evolution
575.01      576.82     Theories of evolution
575.0162  576.82      Darwinism
575.0092  576.8092  Darwin - Biography
575.1         576.5       Genetics
575.10724
575.2         660.65      Genetic engineering
575.2        576.54       Genetic variation
576           579           Microorganisms
577           570.1         Biological philosophy

What a crazy system! I can find references to 575 being Evolution back to 1876 and then all of a sudden it's 576. All so that "Specific parts and system in plants" can take its place. Shouldn't that go in the 580 - Botany division anyway? It's not hard to see why catalogers pull their hair out.

ok thanks! it seemed to me like physiology of plants *should* go under botany and i was having a hard time finding much that would go for that, except for plant physiology text books, which while might be interesting i won't be reading for fun soon.

92: well... it's july, almost august! just got my copy of how to lie with statistics. I still need a 311. is anyone still up for a group (re)read of this at some point?

oh. well. it's a quick read anyway. already 80 page into it. actually rather enjoyable. Its amusing to me how antiquated the salaries listed are. From the context, its apparent that an annual salary of $25,000 is quite a lot. Was written in the 50s.

#133 I am going to try and get our college library copy. Since I need a 311 and don't own any, this would be an opportunity.

how to lie with statistics - i really enjoyed this one! 100%

Currently working on three DDC books (yay!):
347 - Louis D. Brandeis
379 - Shame of the Nation
573 - The Third Chimpanzee

One of them even helps me meet my mini challenge!

... and just downloaded Unfamiliar Fishes (996) and Misquoting Jesus (230) for two more DDC books to put onto my ipod.

Found Ivy Bookshop in Mt. Washington neighborhood of Baltimore today.. nice place!

finished up The third Chimpanzee. I was counting it as read for awhile because I felt that most of it was written up (a little better) in his other books Guns Germs and Steel and Collapse. This books felt like it was essentially a collection of elongated articles with a little more conversational/ less didactic tone than those books which had more of a thesis/argument approach. Most chapters were interesting by themselves and could probably stand alone just fine. They were strung together alright, but I didn't have too hard a time either putting the book down for a bit or picking right back up and reading large chunks very quickly.

switched out Bossypants for 792, which I liked much better than 25 questions for a jewish mother.

>137 GoofyOcean110: I loved Misquoting Jesus. Even if you're not into religion as a subject it's worth it for all the background on early book production and how historians evaluate textual differences to figure out which is probably older.

I'm glad you liked How to Lie with Statistics!

I really need to read Bossypants. My dad heard about the book, and without really knowing what it's about he said, "I heard about this book and thought of you--it's called Bossypants." Thanks, dad.

good to hear fundevogel! I think this is why I picked this one up. Audible was have a $5 sale so I figured why not. It was between that and one of Michael Pollan's books - Botany of Desire, which I would like to read but is likely to be similar to other books by him or others that I've read.

the reviews of Misquoting Jesus appeared mainly to focus either on assuring potential readers that this book would not dissuade believers nor provide earth shattering arguments. Not being Christian, the first point is not relevant to me - and having previously taken classes on the history of the Torah, the second point is neither surprising or new. Nevertheless, while the broad strokes are likely old hat, I'm interested to see if there are details new to me.

thanks for the recommendation carlym! the old timey style was fun to read and was sometimes surprisingly timeless (overlooking the numbers themselves). it's been far far too easy to pick out examples on the news each day of some of the examples put forth.

Bossypants was good but many parts were clearly not written for me, being a) a guy, and b) the choir for many of her points. I enjoyed learning a little bit more about 30 Rock and SNL and Fey herself. Nevertheless, it was a great light read.

Updated Plays -- I read this a long time ago but have forgotten to mention it. Our Town

Currently:
halfway finished through Unfamiliar Fishes -- 996 (new for me)
217 pages into Shame of the Nation -- 379 (new for me)
100 pages into A voyage long and strange -- not so new... but I lost it! where did it go?!
70 pages into The big year -- also not new
30 pages into Louis D. Brandeis -- 347 (new for me)... had to give this back to the person I borrowed this from...

had to drive for a while yesterday, finished up Unfamiliar Fishes -- this was interesting and for me, the combination of a conversational tone looking somewhat in depth at a short piece of history really worked well.

Can now post it in the 990s!

2011 progress thus far:

completist Mini Challenge
311 - how to lie with statistics (August)
569 - cro-magnon (July)
573 - The third chimpanzee (August)
621 - boy who harnessed wind (March)
817 - Go the f to sleep (July)
996 - Unfamiliar fishes (August)

973 Mini Challenge
.0 - What hath god wrought (August)
.9 - The breakthrough: politics and race in the age of obama (August)

Other DDC books on the board
629 - West with the night
792 - Bossypants
812 - Our Town

Currently working on
347 - Louis D. Brandeis
379 - Shame of the Nation
975 - The Swamp

So, pretty much the 2nd half of this year has been more new types of non-fiction I guess. 13 more to go on the completist mini challenge, with one in the wings. Only 2 to go in the 973 mini challenge, but I didn't start out empty. I might do another 973 mini challenge next year starting from scratch, or maybe pick another number I read a lot of.

629 - West with the night -- extravagantly written memoir of Beryl Markham, woman horse breeder and aviator in British East Africa - later Kenya. Review is here

This sounds like a very interesting and well-written book. It's a pity (for me) that she was involved with trophy hunting - otherwise, I'd have very much wanted to read this.

I'm planning on reading Markham's Splendid Outcasts for some category--can't remember which one. She sounds like a fascinating person.

I am (ashamedly) still working on Shame of the Nation and The Swamp.... Shame of the Nation is really well written but incredibly depressing so it has been going slowly. Actually, though I expected it to be depressing -- it was written after all by Jonothan Kozol -- it is for different reasons than anticipated. I would have thought to hear more about civil rights, violence/crime/drugs, health issues, and some more abstract intangible stuff... but this is really about curriculum and financing and objectives and what in the world does American society want and expect out of its impoverished school districts... big picture stuff that is brought home with tons of specifics and statistics. So it's hard to read a bunch at a time, or really even pick it up. When I do, I read large chunks, but I have had ~50 left for quite some time now.

I read about 100 pages of The Swamp on my way to/from Florida for a recent conference, which was well aligned with the reading... but something -maybe novelty or something timing wise is missing that make me just not care as much as I might otherwise. Some sort of reading malaise. I think I would have liked to read this book when it was written. It just seems old hat or out of date or something... not that the early history of the development of Florida has changed. I'm not really sure what my problem is with this one.

That being said, I have finished another DDC book:

230 Christian theology Misquoting Jesus: the story behind who changed the Bible and why

It was Good to Pretty Good. Nothing earth shattering. Things get lost and lost in translation. Texts were written down and copied manually, which can introduce errors. Most errors don't matter but some may, depending. Some changes were made intentionally, for example as intentional corrections or in the context of the theological debates/controversies at the time. The people doing the copying may matter. Interesting stuff. Will think a bit more and write (maybe) write something (maybe) more profound later. I don't think this is a book that will change beliefs or opinions in either direction, but at least may raise awareness or provide examples of how of the issue that textual criticism (a field of exegesis) is important and context is critical.

In any case its 230, which gives me another number in the 200s which I think will be a difficult section for me to fill.

Current 2011 DDC count: 10 down, 2 in progress.

I just read The Impact of Science on Society, by Bertrand Russell, an old family copy from probably forty years ago which was given to me for my birthday last month. I had first heard of Russell on LT, actually, so was interested in picking it up to see what he was about. This gives me something for 100 which is a new division for me in the philosophy class.

Also, in even more exciting news, I finished the last 30 pages of Shame of the Nation that were staring at me balefully from my nightstand. Phew.

That actually gives me a 37x, which completes the 300s for me!! !!! !!!! !!!

That's the first class where I have read something for all ten divisions!

2011 progress thus far:

100 - Impact of Science on society
230 - Misquoting Jesus
311 - how to lie with statistics (August)
379 - Shame of the Nation
569 - cro-magnon (July)
573 - The third chimpanzee (August)
621 - boy who harnessed wind (March)
629 - West with the night
792 - Bossypants
812 - Our Town
817 - Go the f to sleep (July)
996 - Unfamiliar fishes (August)

so that's 12 on the board this year, plus 2 for a mini challenge!

973.0 - What hath god wrought
973.9 - The breakthrough

000s: 3
100s: 4
200s: 9
300s: 27
400s: 4
500s: 28
600s: 11
700s: 5
800s: 18
900s: 20

TOTAL: 129/908 = 14.2%

Congratulations on getting all the 300 divisions!

And I like the idea of a mini-challenge. I'd like to do that too with the 973s and maybe the European history - some day when I've filled more numbers.

Russell's kickass isn't he? I've not read that particular one of his but I've yet to read a book of his I didn't enjoy. The distinct lack of Russell in my reading this year has become more noticeable since I'm working on Plato and, well, it turns out the ancient Greeks were no where near as good at philosophy as they were at math. It reminds me of when Russell chided Socrates (?) for his conviction that women had fewer teeth than men saying this stupid claim could have been put to rest if Socrates had taken the time to look in his wife's mouth.

Goal for this year is to post another dozen. Hopefully these will include books to knock off another complete set of divisions. The 500s, 600s, 800s and 900s are all doable...

Chalked up Longitude to 526

Haven't quite finished them but I will be finishing them soon (hopefully) so am posting them now:

635: The brother gardeners
975: The swamp

I would recommend the first one for those interested in gardening, botany, history (british, american), general science or history of science. its interesting but dry, so i wouldn't go quite so far as to say entertaining. lots of good details about the changes in gardening from classical to landscape style gardens and the influence of American plants on British and Continental gardening. Miller, Linnaeus and the rise of botany play a role but the central characters are relatively unknowns - a british merchant Collinson and an american farmer Bartram - though perhaps those with some more horticultural experience than I (that is, any at all) might recognize and know this story.

The swamp has been an absolute slog to get through. Very unexpected since it came highly recommended to me.

The Brother Gardeners is on my too be acquired list.

157 & 159> Mine as well! I'm glad it turned out to be a good read.

it is good read and good to get to know some of these plants and their scientific names - i have since started recognizing Kalmias and a few others when I see them - and learning the story of how some of them were named helps introduce the plants and make it easier to remember both the names and which plants/flowers they are. there are some good figures/illustrations in the center of the book, but this is a case where i wish there were more. for those really into it, it could be neat to read alongside with Miller's "A dictionary of English names of plants applied in England and among English-speaking people to cultivated and wild plants, trees, and shrubs" - which is apparently now back in print and available on amazon.

ETA that I will probably not go that far.

i did wind up finishing the brother gardeners and i still have not been able to bring myself to pick up the swamp for awhile. am right now workign on the iliad (on kindle app) and war and peace (audible) and actually dont have a hard copy book that im reading for once.

54% done with the Iliad. At first the well greaves treks were winning and now Hector of the glancing helm has turned the tide and most of the Greek heroes are wounded and stuck in sick bay. Theyve stormed the ditch and wall the hreeks have built.

There's been a lot of 'this one killed that one and anOther one bit he bloody dust'. Whats confusing is at the moment of each death Homer tells the life story of the slain. Or at least the vitals. Where from, lineage, wife.

There's a lot of familiar names and it's kinda interesting to see them in one place here since they are somewhat more ingrained in my head from elsewhere. Like Laertes or Hercules or Saturn.

I don't know why but the translation I'm reading insists on using the romanized names not the Greek ones. Seems rather silly to me since it is a Greek story.

2012 update/summary

been slow on the board this year thus far... all I've added thus far are:

526: Longitude
635: The brother gardeners
883: The Iliad ... and still not quite done with it.
975: The swamp .... and I will probably find another book for this number to read since I wouldn't recommend this one.

The goal for this year remains 12 books on the board for the DDC.

Finishe the Iliad!

52% done with War and Peace and 22% done with The Odyssey, but I dont think either of those will put me on the board. I have downloaded The Aenid, which will though after I finish with the odyssey.

It's certainly ambitious though.

i dont feel that way particularly though... war in peace is about 1000 pages long.. which is basically the same length as a trilogy of ~300 pages each, which lots of people get through quite frequently! and look at how many people have read the harry potter series (multiple times!;; though i (gasp!) am not one... i never got past the 4th or 5th or something i can't remember (gasp!))

Yeah but the reason people usually cite for giving up on the book is its epic cast and the difficulty keeping track of who's who. And then there's the confusion with the various ways Russians name eachother. I'll admit I had to struggle a little to keep the doctors straight when I read Cancer Ward and there wasn't a whole lot of nickname vs formal name vs patronymic in that one.

Plus I don't know how many people read the Harry Potter series in one go. I read the first three in high school and didn't finish the series til I was a grad student. Yes publishing dates were a factor in that but still.

Gah! My stupid fingers keep switching to my cyrillic keyboard midword. Не хорошо.

i feel the same way about the number of characters in war in peace as i do about the number of names in the iliad -- that there are names and characters that matter and those that don't (or at least for the long-term).. there are characters that pop in and out or wax and wane in the spotlight.

in terms of naming conventions, ive read other russian novels so am roughly familiar with that... xxx-ovna = daughter of, yyy-ovitch = son of, etc.

yes, it took me a bit to connect that 'Rostov' was the same as Nicolai Rostov and that 'Rostov' is used while describing him in uniform in the service and Nicolai while back at home or describing his love with Sonia. but still...

also... i tend think about the characters in groups rather than individually -- groups usually centered around the interactions... e.g. familial or romantic ties, who served with who in army, etc.

also, its helped a LOT by the context. there's so much room to run and tolstoy is so good at character building that there are whole psyches that go along with each - so that even if the name escapes, the moral, philosophical, or political positions that a character takes tends to identify who's speaking or doing.

and if that doesn't work, i just rewind a lot .. after all, im listening to it, i have no shame in going back a bit to retrace my steps.... it does help if i listen to a lot at a time though.

also, i have started to notice how *few* characters there are in most other things - it feels very ... limited. yes given a certain number of pages can only introduce and fully flesh out a certain number of characters.. and to ensure a point or message or story comes through it helps to maintain focus and omit extranneous details, but life contains so much detail and we are able to sift through that on such a quick basis every day, it seems to me that it oughn't be so difficult to do with literature either.

>115 SqueakyChu: having lived in Baltimore now for a couple years I can see what you were sayings bit better! For sure! The things that I like about the city are not what I expected and the things I don't like about the city are also not what I expected!

I have gotten but not yet finished Not In My Neighborhood which is about the real estate market and segregation and how/why neighborhoods are the way they are from an outsiders view. My perception has been one where 'which neighbood are you from' has more relevance than 'where are you from' (eg other county, city, state, country etc)

My postdoctoral is ending and I am in midst of another transition stage.

172>

What's next? Another postdoc or a faculty job?

173> ...still in limbo land...

Swapped out packing for mars for 571 since its more interesting than the textbook I had listed previously

Also my son has entered the dinosaur phase and has been enthralled with dinotopia which I missed when it came out but enjoy enjoy reading to him. Not sure what that might be listed as... Hoping it might count for a new number though... It's illustration focus makes it some what different than straight up fantasy/ fiction. But it's not quite a graphic novel either. Any ideas?

maphead counts for a 912 -- a new number at last. finished it while on vacation in san diego.

mansion of happiness looks like it could fit for 973
but I like What Hath God Wrought much more for that number since its a much more sweeping history.

Recently finished listening to Nefertiti (historical fiction) apparently decently well researched as I am learning in:
Currently listening to Red land Black Land which may actually count for a new DDC number.

Also idly flipping through The People of the mist on kindle... but few moments of reading or listening. its been hard to be motivated to read during my commute these days. not sure why. anyone else have that issue?

Recently added a few:

510: The Man Who Loved Only Numbers
616: Shrinks: Untold Story of Psychiatry

I have no idea when, but a long time ago at this point I read The emperor of all maladies which was really great. But also 616. I read Destiny of the Republic which was good, but another 973.8.

Hard to fill new numbers especially when reading so rarely these days.

Listening to Rebecca Skloot's Immortal life of Henrietta Lacks which is part family biography of Henrietta Lacks, the black woman whose cervical cancer tissue was taken, cultured, and now is so prevalent that it is a form of contamination in cancer research labs. The other part of the book explains some of the biology, cell culture techniques, and cancer research conducted with Henrietta's cells, which for so long have been referred to as HeLa and mistakenly attributed to a "Helen Lane". The ethics of handling biological material samples has not yet (I think) caught up with the potential and actual uses now made possible through modern research techniques - both biological and computational - and nor has the ability to enforce regulations such as HIPPA.

Running the books, which was cataloged as 027, was really well written and worth the read. Memoir of Avi Steinberg’s 2 years working as a civilian prison librarian in Boston in the mid 00’s. Lapsed Orthodox Jew, Harvard grad, former Boston Globe obit writer in the doldrums of life in midst of long-standing inmate doldrums. Witty, morose, contemplative internally and societally Steinberg pulls off a reverie on the state of humans incarcerated and how each individual gets through a day (or doesn’t) both on the inside and once out.

That does sound good!