Books Read in 2005

Unfortunately my taste in nonfiction is quite limited. I am from Chicago, and the nonfiction I have been reading lately has mostly been about Chicago. If you are interested in that subject I can recommend a few books.
Otherwise, my only recommendation (and I'm not even sure it qualifies 100% as nonfiction) would be Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain. I thoroughly enjoyed it, and I look forward to reading his second book A Cook's Tour . As I mentioned, my taste in nonfiction is restricted to my interests, which I realize are not shared by all.

If you don't mind, I'll offer up two. That way I can pretend that you would've loved the other book if you don't like the book you choose... if you choose. And if you don't, then I can pretend that you would've loved both books. Trust me, I remember that I have no idea what's going on behind your forehead.

Losing the Light : Terry Gilliam and the Munchausen Saga by Andrew Yule. It documents the amazing disaster behind one of my favourite movies, Baron Munchausen . Whatever you think of the film itself it is amazing that anything was released considering what went on with Gilliam and his demons (real and imagined.) Brando was the first choice to play the Moon King. The eventual choice, Robin Williams, insisted that his name be kept off of the poster and out of the advertising campaign (such that it was) because he was convinced that it was all a complete disaster. Sean Connery did weasel out of appearing in the movie in spite of his history with Gilliam in Time Bandits . If you try it and like it then you might want to go for the trifecta by reading Jack Mathews' The Battle of Brazil : Terry Gilliam v. Universal Pictures in the Fight to the Final Cut and watching Fulton and Pepe's documentary Lost in LaMancha . The first is the story of the epic (or Universal) struggle to release the film Brazil exactly as Gilliam intended. It also includes the original screenplay... (so maybe you'd like that better. But i told myself to stick to two recommendations.) The second proves that all of Gilliam's films are, in fact, biographical and that the f-word falls from his lips lake rain in Cherrapunji. There's also the script for Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas in book form somewhere out there... way out there... far out there.

Shadow Syndromes: The Mild Forms of Major Mental Disorders That Sabotage Us by John Ratey and Catherine Johnson. This is basically The Tipping Point applied to the internal mental/emotional conditions of individuals. How's that for a targeted ad campaign. Liberally laced with anecdotes and research it is still phenomenally well written. It has four points of entry right off the bat: an introduction, prologues by both authors and Chapter 1, "The Noisy Brain." Once properly introduced you can pretty much pick your poison and read the chapters/disorders that interest you the most... hypomania, obsessive compulsive, autism, fun stuff like that. But I think that it is worth it to proceed in sequence to arrive at a hilarious and devestating deconstruction of Seinfeld . No matter how highly you regard the show your estimation and enjoyment will rise and you'll want to see every episode again through different eyes. You gotta love a book that has sections devoted to "Wall Street Cowboys" and "Shy Gorillas."

If this over-hype doesn't work we can always fall back on the old joke of Our Family Tree: An Evolution Story.