#16 - Photoshop Creative

Photoshop Creative is actually more of a magazine, but it is priced in more of a book range and contains more information and instruction than most tomes on the subject. It is an imported magazine from the UK and does include a DVD-ROM for the computer filled with tutorial videos, samples, and stock photography. The subscription seems hefty but is actually quite a bargain compared to the $29.99 cover price in book shops. Full color and amazingly detailed, each issue walks you through all of the tips and tutorials that the pros use to accomplish amazing results. From photography work, to digital painting, to true digital artwork, and all of the tools, brushes, layer tricks, and tips to achieve these same results... It's all there, every issue! It's almost mind-boggling that there is more to cover in the next issue because each one is so exhaustive. If you do any sort of photography or graphic design and would like to take your craft to the next level, this is it. Far better than any Photoshop book I own. Highly Recommended.

#15 - No Touch Monkey

I took this one along on vacation since it was a travelogue sort of read. It turned out to be quite prophetic because we did actually end up touching monkeys on vacation whereby a sign in broken English advised against it because "it could bring hurt to both." Neither brought hurt, and it was actually one of the coolest moments of my life. So back to the book, it starts out well and follows a fairly hapless young woman and her travel on a budget tales with old boyfriends which has quite a few funny spots... and then it all falls apart. Somewhere about half to three-quarters through it takes this terrible nosedive into an uninteresting account of fashion show parties and her having a baby and some disjointed acting gig with her and her husband. None of which are funny in the least and are painful to endure. What a disaster for what could have been a decent book. Not recommended.

#14 -Dungeons & Dragons Player's Handbook 4th Edition

Even though I haven't played for over 10 years I have a love for gaming systems and design and really like the direction 4th edition went. Apparently I'm the only one though since most players have rebelled against it. I'd love to play again, but there is just no one to play with these days sadly. I really enjoyed the new book, I didn't like the Dragonborn thing but other than that I'm down. Recommended, especially if you'll DM and I can play again!

#13 - The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test

Well, while on the drug subculture kick, here is a classic: The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test by Tom Wolfe. What a great time in history and what a crazy ride. Get an old bus, paint it day-glo colors, attach all kinds of speakers and recording gear, pack it full of free spirits and drugs and drive it essentially across the U.S. while freaking out the marshmallows in suits and shiny shoes. It makes for quite a book, although a lot of the participants were highly regarded "beat" generation luminaries I've never been a fan of most of them personally. I think they were largely hypocritical and I think many had ulterior motives behind what they tried to publicly pass off as groundbreaking and selfless. The author is also a bit too "square" for the journey and his own judgments and bias shows through often as does his disconnect from the group. All that said, it is a classic, and a great insight to a lost time in America's past. Recommended.

#12 - Watchmen

This Watchmen graphic novel is a collection of the entire story as originally released in comic book form. I will admit I haven't watched the recent film adaptation, but most comic books turned movie don't do much for me anyhow. This is no mere comic book either, it isn't some happy-go-lucky tale of a do-gooder or mutant/superpower fest, it is simply magnificent writing and execution. I'd say this is about as good as it gets when it comes to graphic novels and really stands in a league of it's own. Highly recommended.

#11 - Peopled Darkness

Peopled Darkness is not the average book, instead it is one man's recounting his experiences with the entheogen Salvia Divinorum, a psychoactive member of the mint family. Much of the book are his notes taken directly following his experiences and while some a slightly profound it doesn't make for the best reading ever. Which makes sense because much of a journey like this is personal and internal, not really the best basis for a book. The fascinating part of it all, though, is how the author's accounts match up so closely with so many other people's reports found online. Drugs, especially hallucinogens seem to take people on wildly different "trips" and each is unique to the individual, but Salvia seems to be very different and takes everyone on the exact same journey. The same concepts are talked about over and over. The loss of ego/self, a female figure welcoming them, a plane of people who seem both welcoming and distant... these are almost always the same. This author contends that this is a land of the dead and that these people are actually deceased and the reason they are distant is because they know the Salvia user is not. His theory is interesting, and the transformative effects Salvia has on him are life-changing. It is just a shame that this ancient plant is best known for dumb, suburban, kids on Youtube making fools of themselves and having no respect for the history and effects. This one is a quick read and is recommended.

#10 - Heat

Bill Buford makes the journey from a journalist to a cook in this mess of a book. I really wanted to like this one, and it comes with many high regards from the food world... I have no idea why. It is a jumbled mess of disjointed accounts that would make far better individual newspaper or magazine shorts, which I would not be surprised if that was the original intention that somehow spawned into a book. From weak accounts of life inside Babbo which centered inexplicably on individuals with no importance rather than the cooking to jumpy tales of the author's time in Italy which don't flow or develop into much of anything. This book is almost worthless. I couldn't recommend this to anyone.