Tag Archive: Book of the Year

What This Comedian Said will Shock You by Bill Maher

Nothing is Left to the imagination as this comedian stormed Right up the middle of the great North American divide with his own whirled view of everything that is wrong with our world today. At least that’s his opinion (and ours). Anyone who does not read this book does not get to have an opinion because theirs will continue to belong to the talking heads of whichever dyslexic cabal they have chosen to blindly doom scroll and parrot.

What the other guys liked: Top 200 Goodreads of 2024

From the Archive:

The Burglary: The Discovery of J. Edgar Hoover’s Secret FBI by Betty Medsger

This nonfiction nugget from 2014 about a divided America in the anything but halcyon days of the early1970’s is a highly informative blast from the past that provides hope, inspiration, and faith in truth to power. It is the best feel-good nonfiction thriller I have read in a long, long time. It fills in some blanks, adds context, and clears the fog surrounding events that were unfolding back in the days when I (we) were young rebels without a cause like the one this small group of unassuming, ordinary every-day LARGER THAN LIFE American HEROES both embraced and nailed (while, at the same time, driving a GIANT NAIL through the heart of J. Edgar Hoover’s dream of being remembered as the larger than life hero that these guys proved he clearly was not).

Food Fix by Mark Hyman MD

Dr. Hyman clearly describes how the vast majority of all that is wrong in the world today medically, economically, and in the realm of climate change lies in what we are eating, how it is produced, how much big food and big agriculture are willing to spend to get our elected officials to not only turn a blind eye but also shovel our tax dollars into their soulless monopolies in order to keep their (the Big Food and Big Ag) nutritionally challenged, if not toxic, ultra-processed food costs (theirs’ not yours) low.  This should be required reading in every high school on the planet as well as for every global leader and their advisors. WARNING! The story, facts, and numbers laid out vis a vis our current reality is, at best, a kick in the gut and, at worst, doom and gloom on steroids; however, the fixes proposed at the end of each chapter provide real hope for the future of you, your children, humankind, and the planet we live on.

Freezing Order: A True Story of Russian Money Laundering, State-Sponsored Murder, and Surviving Vladimir Putin’s Wrath by Bill Browder

An eye-popping page-turner from the non-fiction genre that outlines what happens when Russian State sponsored corruption and intrigue uses the American way (i.e. Judicial, Political, Journalistic ineptitude) to further its goals. Not a sleeper! we couldn’t put this one down. We stayed up all night in order to finish it.

What the other guys liked: Top 200 Goodreads of 2023

How Fascism Works: The Politics of Us and Them by Jason F. Stanley

It might even be the best read ever. I am already re-understanding what fascism is and, as crazy as me and my voices may be on some planes, we were not actually crazy when we were thinking everybody everywhere couldn’t all be fascists, could they? – i.e. The truck drivers and our Liberal government were calling each other fascists, Fox News and the Republicans call everyone but Fox News and Republicans fascists. The Democrats call Trump, who calls them fascists, a fascist, and so on and so on… This might be a book the UN should translate into every language on the planet and make it part of the required reading curriculum of every school everywhere. Oh Mein Kampf! Did I just suggest that? Isn’t that what a fascist would try to do? Read the book and find out.

Honourable Mention:

Brain Food: The Surprising Science of Eating for Cognitive Power by Lisa Mosconi

American Kleptocracy: How the U.S. Created the World’s Greatest Money Laundering Scheme in History by Casey Michel

What the other guys liked: Top 200 Goodreads of 2022

Best Book (I Read) this Year: No Winner

What the other guys liked: Top 200 Goodreads of 2020

Best Book (I Read) this Year:  No Winner

I didn’t read anything worth recommending, but the jury is still out on “The Mueller Report” (redacted) by William Barr

What the other guys liked: Top 200 Goodreads of 2019

Best Book (that I read) this Year:  An Indigenous Peoples History of the United States by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz

A well-grounded and researched history of US expansion that provided context to what I thought I knew and filled in a lot of other gaps that were conveniently glossed over by school texts, and Hollywood.

What the other guys liked: Top 200 Goodreads of 2018

Related Story: In the lead up to last year’s July 4^th celebrations we learned that Facebook’s hate speech algorithm deletes portions of the US Declaration of Independence. It seemed to think the part that referred to, “merciless Indian savages” was a racist statement.

Best Read of the Year:  www.flotscrum.com

A tongue in cheek, naval grazer’s buffet of lintellectual  in^iespiration, because opinions are like belly-buttons and, although everyone has one, mine is very, very deep (its words, not mine).

Hurting Headitors Note: Although the National Inquirer probably trumped Flotscrum (and perhaps even the bible) in terms of American readership  last year, I elect to limit this award to works that cater to a thinking person.

What the other guys liked: https://www.goodreads.com/book/popular_by_date/2016