Plain and Simple

The story of a woman's journey to the Amish. A short and sweet book, with a beautiful portrayal of the Amish people. Their simplicity, joy in life, joy, and peace. This is ironic given their lack of many things we consider necessities in the modern world. It was a great break from the behemoth I had just finished - giving me a sense of my own peace and quiet. I recommend it for anyone that wants to know a little more about those amazing people, and what they have to offer us in their simplicity.

Cryptonomicon

This book is good. My biggest complaint is that it is is really, really long (over 900 pages), dense, and amazingly wordy (he likes tangents that are completely nonessential to the plot). Other than that, there were a lot of great aspects to it. First, it was very different from my usual reads in that it is completely geared towards (and obviously from) the male perspective - as evidenced by his descriptions, euphemisms and anecdotes. Second, it's historically fascinating. Set in both WWII and today, it covers a lot of ground and really cool topics I was previously unfamiliar with. Last, it's truly and fantastically nerdy. Lots of computer stuff, most of it Linux (nice), old computer stuff (like the character that built the first RAM), and when one of them programmed his laptop to communicate with him via morse code through the LED. Dang cool. All of the crypto math went over my head, but I feel ok about that because how they used the crypto was fascinating.

So, being a computer geek and having lots of guy friends, I totally got it (I think) and I enjoyed it even though it became a personal challenge to finish it. I don't plan on recommending it to any of my girlfriends, and certainly not my mother, but all you guys out there - dig in.

She Got Up Off The Couch: And Other Heroic Acts from Mooreland, Indiana

This was just as fun to read as A Girl Named Zippy
! She is a such a great writer, and really puts you in the mindset of this crazy, tenacious young girl, and you can't help but just adore her (and secretly want to be like her)! I also was super impressed by her mom and all she accomplished given her situation - it was very inspiring. A great read.