Written by: Dan Brown
So it turns out that Jesus had a sister and that he married Mary Magdelene, who apparently was not a whore, unlike his mother. Also while some humans can’t even keep from leaving top-secret iPhone prototypes in bars, there is a group of bankers and artists that have kept something secret for centuries, albeit in ridiculously complex ways that risked it being totally lost in a car crash. It’s not at all clear though why they just don’t tell everyone and get it over with. Also, the pope is an asshole who likes albinos.
Length: 8 hrs
9/2003: This was a good story that claimed to be based on true facts but was actually all made up. Or was it?
Written by: Robert M. Pirsig
Ride bike. Fix bike. Zen chaps. Buy American.
Length: 8.5 hrs
7/2003: Worth a listen, some good stuff. Did not make me want a motorcycle.
Written by: Geoffrey C. Ward, Ken Burns, and Dayton Duncan
Follows his life and adventures through his private letters and pubic writings (and statements). Interesting facts about history, but more so showed how awesome Mark Twain was. He was a hilarious, and travelled the world for both inspiration and to create a giant canvas for his humor.
Length: 8 hrs
7/2003: Mark Twain is great. Most large historical figures turn out to have done some pretty awful things, but Mark Twain was basically a consistent rock star. I’m not actually a huge fan of his books, but his reporting and his tales of ‘current events’ (“Never let the truth get in the way of a good story”) are fantastic.
Written by: Walter Isaacson
A great autobiography that teaches not just about Benjamin Franklin, but also the general era and other players during that time. Lots of insight into what he did and why (according to his journals) he did it. Franklin was huge into self-improvement, laying out detailed, long-term experiments and plans for himself and measuring the results. He’s kind of like an old-timey and less douchy version of Tim Ferriss. Also he had gout.
Length: 7.25 hrs
7/2003: If you learn nothing else from this book, try not to get gout.
Written by: Rick Atkinson
Primarily about the war in North Africa from 1942-1943, there is a lot of blowing shit up and people getting shot in the head and other parts. Lots of detailed history and first hand accounts.
Length: 7 hrs
5/2003: Very interesting and engaging, plus I learned a lot.
Written by: Clayborne Carson
He had a dream. He got some stuff changed. Then he got killed, and folks are still working on getting things right.
Length: 10 hrs
7/2003: A great view into what was going on in his mind throughout his life and what motivated him. Very educational.
Written by: Ken Kesey
This ornery Irishman (I think) gets out of jail time by faking crazy to go to a mental hospital instead. Although he likes the free drugs, there is this bitch nurse that is on to his shenanigans and is angry he is messing with her tightly controlled little domain. He gets the other guys out on a roadtrip, which they love but this makes her really angry and she gets him lobotomized. Then this big Indian Chief guy smothers him with a pillow, throws a drinking fountain through a window, and runs off into the sunset. He is later featured in anti-litter commercials sitting on a horse looking over a mound of trash, crying. I’m pretty sure that last part is true.
Length: 10 hrs
6/2003: Probably a very different book if you don’t have the actors from the movie version in your head (Nicholson!) when you read it. A little depressing but good stuff.
Written by: Lama Surya Das
This book consisted solely of some guy yelling loudly into the microphone screaming “WAKE UP FATTY!!!!!”.
Length: 3 hrs
5/2003: I think this made me happy but then I immediately ceased to care about such wordly attachments.
Written by: Yann Martel
So there’s this kid and this tiger in a boat, and some other animals, but then the tiger eats the other animals. Then he tries to eat the kid but the kid keeps away from him and makes the tiger seasick until it becomes his friend. Then they go to some island that is actually made of acid and it tries to dissolve them. Then they go home. Actually though the lion is some mean guy who kills people after a shipwreck and everything else is just a metaphor. Basically it’s “Sixth Sense” on a boat. With a tiger that throws up a lot. The end.
Length: 11.75 hrs
5/2003: I liked it until the end when they said it was actually people and not tigers and the monkey was fake and everybody died.
Written by: Alexander Dumas
A guy in Napoleonic France gets screwed, imprisoned, escapes, finds some treasure and gets super rich, then takes a “Mission Impossible” type revenge on his enemies by creating elaborate scenarios and doing other awesome stuff.
Length: 17.75 hrs
5/2003: Went a little long at times but overall a really good story. Great characters and plot. Worth the duration.
