The Ghost Shift   John Gapper
Very entertaining spy/industrial espionage thriller set in contemporary China. Begins with a personal mystery that expands and is unraveled as the narrative progresses. Liked the characters. Nice, clean prose. Set up for a sequel, which I would like. Really enjoyed it.

Crucible of War: The Seven Years' War and the Fate of Empire in British North America, 1754-1766   Fred Anderson
Outstanding history of the war that really set the stage for the rebellion that became revolution a decade later. Anderson’s massive scholarship provides incredible detail, and his conclusions provide insights into American character and history. Clearly, even beautifully, written. Really, really liked, and profited from, this book. Kind of sad it ended.

Confessions of an Economic Hit Man   John Perkins
Incredibly self-absorbed and indulgent book about Perkins’ experiences serving the American “corporatocracy” in the 1970s through early 2000s. Embarrassingly adolescent writing and thinking, especially the painfully dumb epilogue. Much of the information he provides, without much detail, is better revealed from other sources. Not good, waste of time really. Too bad.

Near Enemy   Adam Sternbergh
Entertaining novel about the further adventures of the garbage man-hit man amusingly named Spademan in a post-dirty bomb New York. Quick, crisp prose moves things right along in and out of the limnospere. A fun escape.

The Dead Lands   Benjamin Percy
Liked the premise of recreating the Lewis and Clark expedition through a post-apocalyptic American west, characters named Clark, a woman, and Lewis Meriwether, and Jon Colter. But the writing is clumsy, there are far too many needless supernatural elements, and the plot has too many 50’s science fiction devices. Too bad, not very good.

The Story of the Human Body: Evolution, Health, and Disease   Daniel Lieberman
Excellent, fascinating history of the evolutionary development of the human body. Also discusses all the evolutionary mismatch diseases that have arisen because our bodies evolved over millions of years to be hunter gatherers who became farmers and who now are sedentary. Informative, well written, and very, very good.

The Water Knife   Paolo Bacigalupi
Harsh, brutal, dystopian novel about a near future western U.S. without enough water. Besides being incredibly timely, it is very well written with interesting and believable characters and a perfectly convincing plot. Couldn’t put it down. Loved it.

A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century   Barbara W. Tuchman
Tuchman is a good historian and a very good writer, especially for a historian, but I found this book uninteresting. Read 150 pages and quit, just didn’t care. The details about the plague were somewhat interesting, but I found my mind wandering through everything else. Maybe because it’s about France. Might pick it up again another time.