Brain Wave - Poul Anderson

Like much good sci fi this book poses an interesting 'what if' question.  What if IQ's on Earth suddenly increased 3 or 4 fold for both man and animals.  How would the world change, how would we change and how would society alter to accomodate these changes?

Poul Anderson gives his answers to these questions in a thought provoking and enjoyable book.  He skips around the world with small set piece stories from various cultures illustrating the changes but always comes back to his central characters based at a scientific institute in New York.  The book is a real product of its time with references to commies and reds litering the book but this gives it a fantastic feel of americana and nostalgia that really adds to the story.  Above all this reads like a good sci fi story set in another era.

I've enjoyed other Poul Anderson work in the past and will definitely keep an eye out for other books.

The Girl who kick the hornets nest - Stieg Larsson

So the final book of the millennium trilogy.  Well it picks up right where the second one left off and if anything this books is the one that feels most like one part of a serial.  Where the other two books could sort of stand alone this one really relies on the reader having knowledge of the first two.  Not that that prevents you from enjoying another adventure with Blomquist and Salander.  Once again the story goes along at a high tempo and keeps you turning the pages from start to finish.

But there is a but.  I probably enjoyed this book the least out of the trilogy.  It feels like a filler wrapping up some plot lines from the first two books before the author could get going on the next set of mysteries and investigations.  Of course that fourth book will never arrive so this book instead stands as the final book in a trilogy.  Whether I enjoyed this book less (and I only mean slightly less) is down to this 'in betweeness' of the book or because I was aware that it wasn't supposed to be the final book but would be.....I don't know.

In any case I've thoroughly enjoyed reading these books and like millions of fans worldwide am genuinely sad that we'll never know how the story would have played out.

Moneyball - Michael Lewis

This book tells the story of a revolution in baseball thinking from the point of view of one major league baseball team - The Oakland A's.  The new thinking in question is looking at players based on the difference they make to the teams chance of winning as opposed to the received wisdom on how good they are.  What this meant in practise was that a team with access to the right statistics could unearth players that no other team was interested in and consequently assemble a winning team far cheaper than their competitors.

So far so similar to a thousand other stories of sporting or business success.  But the author makes this book a fantastic read from start to finish with a good mix of anecdotal stories about individual players or games through to hard and detailed facts and a really good lay mans explanation of what they mean.  A really good book and I'll definitely be exploring some more of the authors work.

The Girl who played with Fire - Stieg Larsson

The second in the Millennium trilogy carries on in the same vein as the first book.  More detective novel fun with more details of the enigmatic heroine given away.  There's not much to say other than that the book is as enjoyable as the first one and really leaves the story hanging for the third book.

Native Son - Richard Wright

This is quite simply a great book.  It reminded me in parts of To Kill a Mockingbird and in other parts of Of Mice and Men.  The author powerfully evokes both the feeling of depression era America and the sense of resentment and envy created by the racist sensibilities contained in American society at the time.

The protagonist is clearly guilty of the central crime of the novel and yet the author had portrayed his plight so powerfully that I found myself on his side for most of the book.

Overall I'm genuinely surprised that this book isn't better known than it is.  I've already recommended it to one friend and will carry on doing so.