Now I'm getting the chance to read books I didn't have time for before. Think of me whenever you see the slogan "So many books, so little time!" Now I've got the time.  Cheers, Fred.

Non-fiction

Mysteries of the Middle Ages: And the Beginning of the Modern World

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Book Number: 
504
Date Fred Read: 
April 2013
Fred's Rating: 
5
Author: 
Thomas Cahill
Total Pages: 
317
Publisher: 
Anchor Books
Year: 
2008

Historian Thomas Cahill is the author of the bestselling Hinges of History (five volumes as of April 2013), published to great acclaim and translated into several languages. The first four volumes were bestsellers. This gift book is volume V. (For his books I’ve read, click on his name.)  Read more

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The Healing of America: A Global Quest for Better, Cheaper, and Fairer Health Care

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Book Number: 
501
Date Fred Read: 
March 2013
Fred's Rating: 
5
Author: 
T. R. Reid
Total Pages: 
243
Publisher: 
Penguin
Year: 
2010

T. R. Reid is a longtime correspondent for The Washington Post and former chief of its Tokyo and London bureaus, as well as a commentator for NPR. His books include The United States of Europe, The Chip, and Confucius Lives Next Door. This book was a NYT Bestseller.  Read more

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Sailing the Wine-Dark Sea: Why the Greeks Matter

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Book Number: 
480
Date Fred Read: 
November 2012
Fred's Rating: 
5
Author: 
Thomas Cahill
Total Pages: 
264
Publisher: 
Anchor Books
Year: 
2004

Historian Thomas Cahill is the author of the bestselling Hinges of History (five volumes as of 2008), published to great acclaim and translated into several languages. The first four volumes were bestsellers. This book is volume IV of this series. (For his books I’ve read, click on his name.)  Read more

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Common Wealth: Economics for a Crowded Planet

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Book Number: 
411
Date Fred Read: 
June 2011
Fred's Rating: 
5
Author: 
Jeffrey Sachs
Total Pages: 
339
Publisher: 
Penguin Press
Year: 
2008

Jeffrey Sachs is director of The Earth Institute at Columbia University and was special advisor to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on the Millennium Development Goals. He is internationally renowned as an economic advisor to governments and international organizations around the world. (For his books I’ve read, click on his name.)  Read more

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The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

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Book Number: 
409
Date Fred Read: 
June 2011
Fred's Rating: 
4
Author: 
Rebecca Skloot
Total Pages: 
328
Publisher: 
Crown
Year: 
2010

Rebecca Skloot is an award-winning science writer whose articles have appeared in The NYT Magazine, The Oprah Magazine, Columbia Journalism Review and elsewhere. She taught non-fiction creative writing at Univ. of Memphis and Univ. of Pittsburgh and scientific journalism at NY Univ. This book, her first, was a NYT bestseller and was on many 'Best of 2010' lists.  Read more

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Merchants of Doubt: How a Handful of Scientists Obscured the Truth on Issues from Tobacco Smoke to Global Warming

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Book Number: 
403
Date Fred Read: 
April 2011
Fred's Rating: 
5
Author: 
Naomi Oreskes
Author: 
Erik M. Conway
Total Pages: 
343
Publisher: 
Bloomsbury Press
Year: 
2010

Naomi Oreskes is a professor of history and science studies at UC San Diego. Her study Beyond the Ivory Tower, published in Science, was a milestone in the fight against global warming. Erik M. Conway has published four previous books, including Atmospheric Science at NASA: A History. This was a gift book.  Read more

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Microtrends: The Small Forces Behind Tomorrow’s Big Changes

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Book Number: 
402
Date Fred Read: 
April 2011
Fred's Rating: 
5
Author: 
Mark Penn
Total Pages: 
368
Publisher: 
Twelve
Year: 
2007

Mark J. Penn, widely regarded as a perceptive pollster in American politics, is CEO of Burson-Marsteller. He has advised many Fortune 500 Corporations and 25 foreign heads of state. E. Kinney Zalesne was a counsel to U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno. This book was a gift.  Read more

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Blue Zones: Lessons for Living Longer from the People Who’ve Lived the Longest

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Book Number: 
397
Date Fred Read: 
March 2011
Fred's Rating: 
5
Author: 
Dan Buettner
Total Pages: 
267
Publisher: 
National Geographic
Year: 
2008

Dan Buettner is the author of Thrive: Finding Happiness the Blue Zone Way (a 6-pp excerpt is in Blue Zones) who founded Blue Zones to research the world’s best practices in health, longevity and happiness. This NYT Bestseller was selected by my wife's Book Club.  Read more

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Stumbling on Happiness

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Book Number: 
389
Date Fred Read: 
January 2011
Fred's Rating: 
5
Author: 
Daniel Gilbert
Total Pages: 
238
Publisher: 
Alfred A. Knopf
Year: 
2006

Daniel Gilbert, Harvard College Professor of Psychology, has won numerous awards for teaching and research, including the Phi Beta Kappa Teaching Prize, a Guggenheim Fellowship, and the American Psychological Associations Distinguished Scientific Award for an Early Career Contribution to Psychology. This national bestseller book was a welcome gift.  Read more

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Super Freakonomics: Global Cooling, Patriotic Prostitutes and Why Suicide Bombers Should Buy Life Insurance

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Book Number: 
386
Date Fred Read: 
December 2010
Fred's Rating: 
5
Author: 
Steven Levitt
Author: 
Stephen Dubner
Total Pages: 
219
Publisher: 
Harper Collins
Year: 
2009

Steven Levitt teaches economics at the Univ. of Chicago. He received the John Bates Clark Medal, awarded every 2 years to the best American economist under 40. Stephen Dubner, a NYT and New Yorker writer, had bestselling books Turbulent Souls and Confessions of a Hero Worshipper. Freakonomics was a NYT bestseller. Both books were gifts.  Read more

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