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Book Reviews
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I don't read as often as I should and when I do I always wonder why. Here's a fairly unimpressive list of the books I've read over the last ten years or so. They're all pretty good so I can thoroughly recommend all of them.

	Paul McCartney - Many Years From Now An interesting book this, McCartney's recollections of his Beatles years. There's a lot of good stuff that really gives a feel of what it was like in the creative industry at the time, jamming with a young Jimmy Page, for example. It was a good read, I enjoyed it.
	Paolo Coelho - The Alchemist The story of a young boy's journey to enlightenment. Does the universe reward a dreamer? I hope so. It does seem hopelessly idealistic though somehow given our cynical world.
	Ernest Hemingway - The Old Man and the Sea Got Victoria to thank for this one. All books should be like this, short lots of imagery, like a painting....Well maybe not all books.
	Aldous Huxley - The Perennial Philosophy Basically a book highlighting the similarities between the world religions, and there are plenty. I like to think that those similarities reflect an underlying truth but nobody else seems to care...
	Catherine Millet - The Sexual life of Catherine M The Times describes this as "neither porn nor her coy younger sister, erotica, but a work of libertine philosophy'. Libertine philosophy ... is that what they call it. This is a frank sexual history that, while being explicit, isn't too shocking in the age of internet pornography. It's hardly required reading but it is interesting albeit in a voyeuristic kind of way.
	Timothy Leary - Flashbacks This is an autobiography by the 'LSD guru' of the sixties that I really enjoyed reading. Having dabbled myself at university it was interesting to read about the early days of psychedelia. It's a shame that some of the more serious academic research into psychedelics was sidelined by the furor caused by the hippy movement and its apparent hedonism.
	Robert Wright - The Moral Animal A look at how our behaviour seems to be influenced by evolution and biology. In other words, certain behaviours have been naturally selected in the same way that physical characteristics have and for the same reasons. It doesn't claim to have all the answers but it certainly gets the synapses firing. It's one of my favourite books.
	George Orwell - Down and Out in Paris and London Orwell's autobiographical account of his own hard times trying to survive in the two capitals. A great piece of writing. I spent some time busking and squatting in London and experienced the modern equivalent of the world Orwell speaks about. It's interesting how little some things have changed.
	Ray Manzarek - Light My Fire Ray Manzarek's autobiography. I've always enjoyed reading about musicians I admire and this book didn't disappoint. The cover gives you the clue that Jim Morrison features heavily throughout this story and, like when he was alive, Manzarek seems happy to give his frontman the starring role.
	Tom Wolfe - The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test Tom Wolfe follows Ken Kesey, author of 'One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest', and his band of Merry Pranksters on their sixties road trip across America in a psychedelic bus. Wolfe uses a kind of free-wheeling writing style to convey the sense of anarchy and chaos of the trip which some find annoying but which I enjoyed. I thought it was excellent writing.
	Christian Parenti - The Freedom: Shadows and Hallucinations in Occupied Iraq This is a really accessible and well written piece of journalism by Christian Parenti who spent time with the US military and amongst Iraqi's in the immediate aftermath of the invasion. It's not an anti-war diatribe but a considered exploration of some of the human stories of the conflict.
	Roberto Saviano - Gomorrah: Italy's Other Mafia This is a book about the Camorra, a mafia organisation based in Naples that in many ways outdoes the more famous Sicilian outfit. There's a wealth of shocking detail about how the Camorra has corrupted the city and it's environs, brought misery to its citizens and poisoned the land and the water amongst many other crimes. Highly recommended.
	Peter Hopkirk - The Great Game: On Secret Service in High Asia If the history curriculum included things like this children might actually enjoy it. Tales of bravery, intrigue and derring do in Asia in the 19th century, this book covers the struggle between Russia and Britain to expand and protect their Empires in the region. It is particularly poignant to hear about the British disasters in Afghanistan given today's troop presence.