Mishmash.

The New York Times has published its 100 Notable Books of 2007, and its 10 Best Books of 2007.

Should I be surprised that I’ve read none of them?

I don’t read a lot of brand new books, though I do occasionally get some of the newest nonfiction, since nonfiction is often only good when it’s current. But none of my nonfiction matched theirs.

ScienceBlogs, Seed magazine’s collection of blogs about (wait for it) science, seems collectively unhappy that not a single science book made the 100.

The number of science books on the list has apparently been going steadily down every year, and finally made it to zero. Maybe next year, they’ll actively reject science books by creating a list of books not to read.

As for me, I finished Infidel, which I recommend. It may pinch in parts, because she doesn’t hold back when attacking Islam, but it’s a fascinating read. I especially liked the full description of what it was like for her to come to an infidel country (The Netherlands) after a lifetime of expecting non-Muslim countries to be all sorts of bad.

And I’m still reading Kabloona, about the Inuit back in the 30’s. The book retains some cultural prejudices that people wouldn’t get away with today. For example, the author considers the “primitive mind” barely a mind at all. But if you can get past that, the clear and round picture of life in the arctic is well worth the laughable anthropology. He even has lots of drawings.

Right now, I’m in a section about sharing and swapping wives. It’s as easy as saying, “hey, can I have her tonight?” If that doesn’t get you rushing to the used book bin, then I don’t know what will.

And I’m reading Hard News, which I can’t recommend yet because I just started. It seems to be written at a satisfyingly high level, though, so I should be able to feel smart while only occasionally going to the dictionary.

And, speaking of the dictionary, I recently read/skimmed an American Scholar article about how we apologize way too much. It’s long, but mostly worth it, but I didn’t feel smart reading it. Had to look up a few words, though the only one I remember now is “burking.”