I read.

A lot.

Usually I plow through three to five books a week. I’ve saved more money with my Barnes and Noble discount card than I did switching to Geico.

Here are my current Top Five favorite books of all time:

5 – Freakonomics : A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner

A book written by an economist? How could this even be remotely interesting? I asked myself that as I bought this book, though I’d heard this book was really thought provoking and interesting. But it was written by an ECONOMIST for crying out loud!

Levitt and Dubner are not “ordinary” economists. They apply the principles of economics and pure logic to real world issues, such as whether Roe vs. Wade had an effect on the national violent crime rate and how street drug dealers actually earn less than minimum wage.

The reason this book makes my Top Five is it made me think, and think differently. That’s probably the best compliment a book can receive.

4 – Leanings: The Best of Peter Egan from Cycle World Magazine by Peter Egan

Peter Egan, a columnist for Cycle World magazine is my favorite motorcycle writer, period. As soon as a new issue of Cycle World arrives, his column is the first thing I read.

Egan is the kind of rider (like me) that will ride from Wisconsin to New Orleans for a tin of chicory coffee. His story “How Many Bikes Do You Really Need?” helped me realize that my own addiction to motorcycles wasn’t necessarily a problem, since his addiction is a hundred times worse than mine. And he brags about it!!

Egan’s easy going manner and ability to find humor in every situation makes him seem like a friend or riding buddy. Twenty-seven of Egan’s favorite columns are reprinted in this book, including the story that got him the job at Cycle World waaaay back in 1977.

3 – So You Wanna Be a Rock & Roll Star by Jacob Slicher

Who the hell is Jacob Slicher? Why, he is the drummer for Semisonic, of course. Who the hell is Semisonic? You know them, they are the band that wrote ‘Closing Time’, the song that played on every radio station at the same time, all day long a few years ago.

This book is probably as close as you can get to being in a semi-famous band. It follows the rise and fall of Semisonic in great detail, from the drummer’s point of view.

Slicher talks honestly about how he would get so nervous in front of a live audience that he almost couldn’t play, the way the radio industry really works, what happens when MTV rejects your video, and more. For a one-time aspiring drummer, this was a fascinating look into the business end of the music business.

2 – A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson

If anyone could write a book about the history of ‘nearly everything’, Bill Bryson is the man. His natural curiosity, wry sense of humor and passion turn what could have been an extremely dull textbook into an incredibly interesting, educational and fun-to-read book. If Bryson wrote school textbooks, people would actually enjoy reading them!

Bill Bryson’s forte is writing travel/adventure books, and most of his books are great. This is a travel/adventur book of sorts, though he travels through history this time.

In Bryson’s own words, the book is about, “How we went from there being nothing at all to there being something, and then how a little of that something turned into us, and also what happened in between and since.”

From the “Big Bang” to dinosaurs to Einstein’s Theory of Relativity to countless other subjects, Bryson keeps everything accessible to us non-scientists.

1 – Ghost Rider: Travels on the Healing Road by Neil Peart

“Serendipitous confluence” is how Neil Peart describes accidental events that come together so perfectly that your life is changed forever. Stumbling across this book by my all-time favorite drummer was a serendipitous confluence for me. Pretty much by chance, I read a review of this book in Cycle World magazine, and decided to check the book out.

Peart’s tragic story is almost too much to bear. In less than a year, he lost both his daughter and his wife. In an effort to save his life, he climbed on his trusty red BMW GS and set out to get away, to find himself and some meaning for his devastated life.

My two minor complaints are the ending, because I didn’t want the book to end, and the fact that he didn’t include a map, for those of us that might like to follow some of the journey someday (when we’re rich and famous millionaires, of course!)

Millionaire or not, this book encouraged me to climb on Stormbringer and see the world (and enjoy the rain) at a time when I really needed it. I have read it about seven times now, and each time I find new meaning in it. On a scale of one to ten I give this book a twenty.

Author: frenchy