Title: American on Purpose

Author: Craig Ferguson

My Rating: 5/5

My Review: In my opinion, Craig Ferguson is the best late show host on TV, mainly because he does not stick to the basic formula of having a very basic monologue composed of news-related funny-less jokes and interviewing guests by merely cueing in some prepared questions that will feed a funny story. He has a more loosed and honest way about hosting a late night tv show and that makes all the difference amongst so many different (yet all look the same) tv late night shows. Adding to that, I've always been curious as to how did a Scottish comedian ended up hosting a show in the US of A, where I'm pretty sure, there's not shortage of comedians for that task. The book clearly answers this question by showing the early-set of his dream of becoming an American citizen and how his troubled life led to that. And it is amazing to read about his choices in life and the way he struggled to fight addictions and poor decisions in what became a wonderful path to success. Again, having chosen the audiobook version (read by Craig himself) was definitely the best decision, because I felt the tale was much more personal and there's something about Craig's comedic timing that simply cannot be delivered in a reading format.

Title: Along Came a Spider

Author: James Patterson

My Rating: 4/5

My Review: Knowing that there were plans to reboot the Alex Cross character (formerly played by Morgan Freeman) in a series of films, I decided to at least read the first book of the series to recapture my idea about the character. Surprisingly, the character played by Morgan Freeman and the one in the book have almost nothing in common except for the name and ethnicity. Also, the story in the book is completely different from the one in the movie. In the movie, the storyline develops through a couple of days. In the book, the story is a lot more complicated and takes place throughout an entire year (or more). Anyway, the book is an exciting thriller although a bit old fashioned. But the rhythm of the storyline is very appealing and I very much enjoyed the jumps between the narrator and the main character's first-person narratives. The problem was that somehow I already knew the ending (because it is similar to the movie's) and it spoiled a bit of the suspense. But now I'm eager to read the remaining books for which I don't know the story and be surprised.

Title: Pale Blue Dot

Author: Carl Sagan

My Rating: 5/5

My Review: Carl Sagan's writing is well known for being clear, crisp and very educational in what concerns the teachings of the cosmos. But hearing him in the audiobook version is simply stunning. His poetic tone and Shatner-like cadence transform his words into an hypnotic view of the Universe that you can't help but immerse yourself and imagine being floating in some solar system planet's orbit. While this book may present itself as being pessimistic about humans' exploration of space, it is still essential for everyone with a keen interest on all matters of space and Universe exploration.

Title: The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains

Author: Nicholas Carr

My Rating: 4/5

My Review: Nicholas Carr presents an interesting case about the effects that major technologies (in particular the Internet) have on our brains. Starting from the ancient times with the invention of written language until our days in which the Internet dominates our attention span, he clearly explains how these have had huge impacts in the way we think. However, he argues that the impact of the internet has been different from other major technology advances in the sense that it might actually be affecting our capability to perform deep reasoning and problem solving. Online services like Google search allow us to access a gigantic repository of information in just a few seconds, eliminating the need to "store" any information that is not essential to our living. In a sense, we've been "outsourcing" our memory to the web and this has consequences. We live in an age of information skimming. To quote an analogy that I've read/heard somewhere: "we're no longer scuba divers in the ocean of information. We're simple snorkelers that skim the surface looking down for things that might interest us and dive only when the need for further details justifies it." Although well presented and well fundamented with research results the book becomes a victim of the very subject it describes. It is too exhaustive for people that might actually be interested in reading on the subject but only want to know how we will turn out: are we really becoming dumber because of the Internet?

Title: Earth: A Visitor's Guide To The Human Race

Author: John Stewart

My Rating: 4/5

My Review: The premise of the book is simple: imagine you had to leave a record of what humanity was like for future alien visitors to encounter and have a glimpse of our brief history in the universe. This is what Jon Stewart and his Daily Show's minions did, they wrote a hilarious guidebook portraying most of human culture and history (with an obvious focus on American society) that, although stretching some clichés a bit too far, is quite amusing and you can't help but feel yourself represented a bit. It's actually quite interesting as a self-caricature and you end up feeling what it would really be like for an alien to learn about some of our society's most eccentric elements.

Title: I Am America. And So Can You

Author: Stephen Colbert

My Rating: 3/5

My Review: If you know Stephen Colbert and his sarcastic way of expressing his views on society, then this book will definitely feel familiar. Basically, he fires his rants in every direction from women to elderly people, from politicians to religious people, from gays to straight people, etc... No stone is left unturned. In fact, I think a most appropriate title for the book would be "I am (probably going to be sued by all of) America, and so can you". This is not necessarily bad. As you may have seen on his tv show, this type of comedy really works out, but somehow I didn't feel it really worked on the book. Using stereotypes in a humorous way is perfectly ok...as long as they're funny. And sometimes, it just wasn't that funny. In fact, sometimes it came across as just being obnoxious. Which is not to say the book does not have good bits. It does, it's just not enough to compensate for the other parts.