#13 - Gullible's Travels

Every now and then I hit a book like this one. It sounds like a lighthearted, fun, travelogue of sorts with a well known/humorous/"celebrity" author Cash Peters. It managed to make me laugh out loud every 100 pages or so, which left stretches of 99 pages where I wanted to just give up on it. It also had my personal kiss of death, copious use of footnotes for no reason. I HATE to be drawn down to microscopic print at the bottom of the page in the middle of a tale for no reason at all, let alone 2-3 times in as many sentences. Like I said there are a few truly funny comments and observations, but too few to carry this mess of a book. Not Recommended.

#12 - You Know You've Been in Japan Too Long...

Quirky is a word that frequently comes to mind when thinking of Japan. I have been into Japanese culture, food, and tea for quite a long time now which has brought to light a number of these "quirks." Some are almost incomprehensible to a westerner, a "gaijin," and some are hilarious. You Know You've Been in Japan Too Long... is part comic book, part social commentary, and also written in both English and Japanese. While some of the content is truly meant for westerners who have lived in Japan, most of it can be appreciated by anyone who has had a fair bit of exposure to the people and culture. For the right person it is Recommended.

#11 - Panic Rising

As you can probably see by now, I love a good tale of survival. Panic Rising is a recounting of a number of other people's true stories about their brushes with death at the hands of nature. I was a bit skeptical about the retelling of a survival story, since I tend to like to read it straight from the source. You lose a lot of the psychological and inner-thought of such a traumatic experience when it is interpreted by someone else, and this is precisely the main shortcoming of the book. The other issue is that all of the tales are similar and many come from the same region and maps are given early on in the story which give away too much detail. There is nothing inherently wrong with the book, but there are much better stories out there. Not Recommended.

#10 - U.S. Army Survival Handbook

The U.S. Army FM 21-76 manual is basically the go-to guide for survival in many climates and terrains, this version is a more concise and approachable version of that text. For the casual to intermediate outdoorsman this is a great guide packed with life-saving information and techniques for when things go pear-shaped. I think I prefer the real thing myself, but for the average person this book will save a few bucks and is perfectly sufficient. Recommended.

#9 - Hell or High Water: Surviving Tibet's Tsangpo River

Hell or High Water: Surviving Tibet's Tsangpo River is the true story of a group of some of the best kayakers in the world gathered together to become the first people to successfully descend the mighty Tsangpo. Sadly this book falls very flat and fails in just about every regard. The author was basically an unwanted addition to the team and the entire book only succeeds in descending into his complaints and grousing as well as an inordinate amount of detail on labor disputes and uprisings amongst the Sherpas and porters. There is some good historical data and insight into Tibetan life but it is almost devoid of actual action and proper coverage of the kayaking. A bit of technical jargon, maybe two sentences, and a lot of eddy talk describes just about every section dealing with the descent. Boring. Not Recommended.

#8 - Tao Te Ching

I've enjoyed the philosophical teachings of Taoism for about ten years now and the Tao Te Ching is the seminal Taoist work. Fundamental in it's nature but hard to approach for a westerner. One must rely on translations and with the Tao Te Ching there are hundreds of versions. The Penguin Classic version translated by D.C. Lau also includes a great introduction and has been a highly regarded translation for well over 30 years now. I like a number of versions but I go back to this one often, and it was the one I chose the last time I read through it. Books don't come much more Highly Recommended from me.

#6 & 7 - CCNA Official Exam Certification Library

OK, I'm a geek, I freely admit it and yes, I read technical manuals for fun. It's a sickness, I know. The CCNA Official Exam Certification Library consists of two large tomes which is why it takes the sixth and seventh slots on the list. I work in the networking field and Cisco is one of the leaders in the market. These books cover a number of fundamentals and are meant to be a study tool in attaining your CCNA certification. Basically only someone like me even knows/cares about this stuff because most people take the little port they plug their computer into for Internet access for granted, or casually flipping your laptop open and surfing the web wirelessly from your local coffee shop... without networking none of it happens. Highly Recommended (for geeks only).