I have to thank Andrew Blackwell for the time and effort that went into researching and writing this fascinating book of industrial disaster areas (some still serving industrial functions) throughout the world. As I might want to visit some of these places, I know I never will be able to.
Visit Sunny Chernobyl and Other Adventures in the World’s Most Polluted Places (2012) is a thoughtful work that forces us to consider the long term costs of living our 21st century lifestyles. Do you know where your last computer went after you dropped it off at your local e-recycling event? Read Chapter 6. Any idea where the gasoline your car uses was refined? Very possibly in Port Arthur, Texas (Chapter 3).
The book doesn’t contain any photographs, so it can’t be placed in the real of ruin porn, but it may end up creating the new genre of “eco-disaster tourism.”
Read reviews from the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times.
David Wolman’s The End of Money: Counterfeiters, Preachers, Techies, Dreamers — and the Coming Cashless Society (2012) is an interesting look at our faith-based economic system. If you haven’t already thought the through the implications of an economic system based solely on the widespread belief in that system, you won’t look at cash (or your debit card) the same way again.
The Architect: Karl Rove and the Master Plan for Absolute Power (2006) is an interesting (though uneven) review of Karl Rove and his ride to the White House by two veteran Texas political reporters.
Paul Barrett’s Glock: The Rise of America’s Gun (2012) is an eminently readable history of the lightweight Austrian pistol.
The Mark Inside (2012) tells the fascinating story of a swindled Texas rancher who refused to rest until he got his revenge against each member of the team that took him for $45,000.
The subtitle of Richard Zacks’s Island of Vice: Theodore Roosevelt’s Doomed Quest to Clean Up Sin-Loving New York (2012) gives away the result — hard-charging reformer Teddy Roosevelt aims to clean up New York City as a Police Commissioner, but vice wins.
Tracie McMillan’s The American Way of Eating (2012) should be required reading for any American who eats regularly.
Tom Vanderbilt’s Survival City (2002) is more than just a trip back to the post-World War II era when — it’s good reading in preparation for the inevitable zombie apocalypse.
In Drake’s Fortune (2002), Richard Raynor tells the story of what may be the greatest long con in history.