List 7: Dewey Deconstructed

Source: More Book Lust (p 62-78)

This is a list that follows, in a general way, the Dewey classification system. The system is broken into its 10 'centuries' and Pearl then gives suggestions in each broad grouping. Most of the recommendations are non-fiction and this does actually constitute another 'mega-list.'

I thought long and hard before choosing another mega list, particularly when I'm still working on the massive Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror list. In the process I thought very seriously about why I'm doing this book journal at all. Of course, I hope that people read it and enjoy it, but I think for me it is more about a process of self education. I have always read a massive amount and enjoyed reading but I have not always read widely; sticking mainly to fantasy, some science fiction, and general fluff as a teenager.

I think, in fact, that it is a comment on the educational system that I managed to stay in honors level English all the way through High School and was not exposed to creative non fiction or much in the way of modern literary fiction. Now this is not really a criticism of my teachers themselves, most of them were very good, but it is comment on the homoganization that seems to be encouraged in public education. I can't remember any teacher being interested in what I was reading outside of class. I really don't know what this is a function of or whether my retrospective expectations are too high but I do wish that I'd had a little more guidance in my reading material.

So I feel that this blog and particularly this year's challenge is really a process of self education. And to that end, I've pick the most varied non-fiction list I could find.

So here we go:

* indicates books mentioned but not really part of the list.

000's:
A dangerous section for me. Books about books! and reference material to boot. I am not, however, reading the entire Encylopedia Britannica...even I am not that insane.

1. So Many Books, So Little Time: A Year of Passionate Reading by Sara Nelson
2. A Feeling for Books: The Book-of-the-Month Club, Literary Taste, and Middle-Class Desire by Janice A. Radway
3. A Child's Delight by Noel Perrin
4. Encyclopedia Britannica (yeah right!)
5. Another Part of the Wood: A Self Portrait by Sir Kenneth Clark*

100's:
Philosophy and psychology.

6. The Cult of Personality: How Personality Tests Are Leading Us to Miseducate Our Children, Mismanage Our Companies, and Misunderstand Ourselves by Annie Murphy Paul
7. Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy by David D. Burns
8. On Death and Dying by Elisabeth Kubler-Ross
9. The Art of Dying: How to Leave This World with Dignity and Grace, at Peace with Yourself and Your Loved Ones by Patricia Weenolsen
10. The Story of Philosophy by Will Durant
11. Philosophy: A Very Short Introduction by Edward Craig
12. The Making of a Philosopher: My Journey Through Twentieth-Century Philosophy by Colin McGinn
13. The Problems of Philosophy by Bertrand Russell
14. The Spell of the Sensuous: Perception and Language in a More-than-Human World by David Abrams

200's:
Religion.

15. World Religions by John Bowker
16. The Religions of Man (aka The Worlds Religions) by Huston Smith
17. The Illustrated World's Religions: A Guide to Our Wisdom Traditions by Huston Smith?
18. God: A Biography by Jack Miles
19. Mary: A Flesh-and-Blood Biography of the Virgin Mother by Lesley Hazleton
20. The Battle For God by Karen Armstrong

300's:
Social Sciences.

21. Why Thing's Bite Back: Technology and the Revenge of Unintended Consequences by Edward Tenner
22. Nine Parts of Desire: The Hidden World of Islamic Women by Geraldine Brooks
23. A Peace to End All Peace: The Fall of the Ottoman Empire and the Creation of the Modern Middle East by David Fromkin
24. Killing Monsters: Why Children Need Fantasy, Super Heroes, and Make-Believe Violence by Gerard Jones
25. The Uses of Enchantment: The Meaning and Importance of Fairy Tales by Bruno Bettelheim
26. Orchid Fever: A Horticultural Tale of Love, Lust, and Lunacy by Eric Hansen
27. The Orchid Thief by Susan Orlean*
28. A Room of One's Own by Virginia Woolf
29. Old Friends by Tracy Kidder
30. The Big Test: The Secret History of the American Meritocracy by Nicholas Lemann
31. Just and Unjust Wars: A Moral Argument With Historical Illustrations by Micheal Walzer

400's:
Language.

32. The Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity, and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary by Simon Winchester
33. The Meaning of Everything: The Story of the Oxford English Dictionary by Simon Winchester
34. Caught in a Web of Words: James Murray and the Oxford English Dictionary by Elisabeth Murray
35. Eats Shoots & Leaves: A Zero Tolerance Guide to Punctuation by Lynne Truss
36. True History of the Kelly Gang by Peter Carey*
37. In Other Words: A Language Lover's Guide to the Most Intriguing Words Around the World by Christopher J. Moore
38. The Superior Person's Book of Words by Peter Bowler
39. Samuel Johnson's Dictionary: Selections from the 1755 Work That Defined the English Language edited by Jack Lynch
40. Descriptionary: A Thematic Dictionary by Marc McCutcheon

500's:
Natural Sciences and Mathematics:

41. An Obsession with Butterflies: Our Long Love Affair with a Singular Insect by Sharman Apt Russell
42. Chasing Monarchs: Migrating with the Butterflies of Passage by Robert Michael Pyle
43. Meetings With Remarkable Trees by Thomas Pakenham
44. Remarkable Trees of the World by Thomas Pakenham
45. Monsters of God: The Man-Eating Predator in the Jungles of History and the Mind by David Quammen
46. The Song of the Dodo: Island Biogeography in an Age of Extinction by David Quammen
47. Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time by Dava Sobel
48. The Sea Around Us by Rachel Carson
49. Wonderful Life: The Burgess Shale and the Nature of History by Stephen Jay Gould
50. The Periodic Kingdom: A Journey into the Land of the Chemical Elements by Peter Atkins
51. E=mc^2: A Biography of the World's Most Famous Equation by David Bodanis
52. The Joy of Pi by David Blatner

600's:
Technology and Applied Sciences.

53. Tools of the Trade: The Art and Craft of Carpentry by Jeff Taylor
54. The Secret Family: Twenty-four Hours Inside the Mysterious World of Our Minds and Bodies by David Bodanis
55. Woman: An Intimate Geography by Natalie Angier
56. Joy of Cooking by Irma S. Rombauer and Marion Rombauer
57. Bernard Clayton's New Complete Book of Breads
58. The Book Lover's Cookbook: Recipes Inspired by Celebrated Works of Literature and the Passages that Feature Them by Shaunda Kennedy Wenger and Janet Kay Jensen
59. One Writer's Beginnings by Eudora Welty*
60. Where the Heart Is by Billie Lett*
61. Daughter of Fortune by Isabel Allende*
62. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald*
63. A Thousand Ways to Please a Husband with Bettina's Best Recipes by Louise Bennett Weaver
64. Perfection Salad: Women and Cooking at the Turn of the Century by Laura Shapiro
65. Something from the Oven: Reinventing Dinner in 1950s America by Laura Shapiro

700's:
Arts, Games, and Sports.

66. An American Collection: Works from the Amon Carter Museum
67. Vermeer in Bosnia: Cultural Comedies and Political Tragedies by Lawrence Welschler
68. Jackie Robinson: A Biography by Arnold Rampersad
69. King of the World by David Remnick
70. Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game by Michael Lewis
71. Off Balance: The Real World of Ballet by Suzanne Gordon

800's:
Literary Theory and Literature.

72. No Other Book: Selected Essays by Randell Jarrell
73. Remembering Randall: A Memoir of a Poet, Critic, and Teacher Randell Jerrell by Mary Jarrell*
74. How to Read a Poem: And Fall in Love With Poetry by Edward Hirsch
75. Will in the World: How Shakespeare Became Shakespeare by Stephen Greenblatt
76. I Could Tell You Stories: Sojourns in the Land of Memory by Patricia Hampl
77. Inside Out: A Memoir of the Blacklist by Walter Bernstein
78. Why Read? by Mark Edmundson

900's:
History and Geography.

79. Lusitania: An Epic Tragedy by Diana Preston
80. Pagan Holiday: On the Trail of Ancient Roman Tourists by Tony Perrottet
81. Night Train to Turkistan: Modern Adventures along China's Ancient Silk Road by Stuart Stevens
82. Iron & Silk by Mark Salzman*
83. News from Tartary by Peter Flemming
84. Forbidden Journey: From Peking to Kashmir by Ella K. Maillart
85. A Thousand Sighs, A Thousand Revolts: Journeys in Kurdistan by Christiane Bird
86. All the Shah's Men: An American Coup and the Roots of Middle East Terror by Stephen Kinzer
87. The Fall of Baghdad by Jon Lee Anderson
88. Iliad by Homer*
89. The Lost and Found: The 9,000 Treasures of Troy: Heinrich Schliemann and the Gold that Got Away by Caroline Moorehead
90. From Dawn to Decadence: 500 Years of Western Cultural Life, 1500 to the Present by Jacques Barzun
91. The Day the World Came to Town: 9/11 in Gander, Newfoundland by Jim DeFede
92. My Kind of Place: Travel Stories from a Woman Who's Been Everywhere by Susan Orlean