Reading Through Dewey Decimal: An Ongoing Personal Challenge

I started working at a library as a shelver in 2015, and I constantly see books on the shelves that I want to read. Working there makes me want to read about every subject and learn all kinds of new things. So I got the idea to read a book from every division of the Dewey Decimal Classification system!

The DDC splits information up into 10 classes (eg. the 200s are Religion, the 400s are Language, etc.), which are further divided into 100 divisions (eg. the 180s are Ancient, Medieval, and Eastern Philosophy, the 660s are Chemical Engineering, etc.). The 040s are unassigned, which leaves 99 divisions to read from.

I don't read anywhere near 99 non-fiction* books in a year (I don't know if I've read 99 non-fiction books in my life...), so this will be an ongoing challenge with no real deadline.

(* Note: Technically the DDC covers fiction, too, but I'm sticking to the non-fiction section of the library, since they don't use Dewey Decimal for fiction. There is, however, fiction in the non-fiction section, mainly in the 800s (Literature). So some fiction may be included in this challenge.)

This is just a personal challenge I'm doing, but if you're doing something similar please let me know in the comments below! I'll be curious to see what people find to read, particularly in areas that aren't in one's normal areas of interest.

I will be tracking my progress on the Reading Dewey page of this blog.

Getting the Most out of RootsMagic Version 5 by Bruce Buzbee

Title: Getting the Most out of RootsMagic Version 5
Author: Bruce Buzbee
Publication Date: 2012
Length: 345 pages

This book came with the software when I bought RootsMagic Version 5 at a genealogy conference last year. I still haven't had a chance to really dig into the software itself, but I did try some things out along the way while I was reading.

The main issue I had with this book is that it's clearly aimed at someone WAY less computer literate than me. That's not entirely a fault in the book; technical writing is always hard when you have such a mixed audience. But it meant that I spent a lot of the time reading stuff that was painfully obvious to me, just as someone who uses computers a lot.

The other, more minor issue, was just one of editing. I think this book has been edited and rereleased with each version of RootsMagic, and it shows. Sometimes the same bit of text is repeated in several chapters. My guess is that's a result of content being reorganised, but no thorough edit being done afterwards before publication.

Overall, though, it was a good guide to the software. For someone who's not really computer-savvy, it would probably be really helpful. I just felt that personally, I could have figured most of it out just from using the software and poking around.

3 stars.

Offbeat Bride by Ariel Meadow Stallings

Title: Offbeat Bride: Creative Alternatives for Independent Brides
Author: Ariel Meadow Stallings
Publication Date: 2007 (the first edition)
Length: 240 pages

This is the book that started the (amazing) website, http://offbeatbride.com//. It is basically a memoir of the author's process in planning her own offbeat wedding. I read this book because I, too, am planning an offbeat wedding. (By offbeat, I mean it's Pagan, I'm wearing a black dress, and there are some elements of Star Trek involved.)

I enjoyed reading this book, and getting inspiration from it. The thing is, I'd already found the website when I read this book, so I already had huge piles of inspiration at my fingertips (seriously, brides-(and grooms-)to-be, check out that website). So while it was fun to read about Ariel's wedding planning experiences, it really was just a memoir. It's not a how-to book, or anything like that, as I expected it to be.

So, 3 stars. But the website gets a lot of stars.
This book counts for the 2012 A-Z Book Challenge.

Behind the Beautiful Forevers by Katherine Boo

Title: Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity
Author: Katherine Boo
Publication Date: February 7, 2012
Length: 252 pages

Behind the Beautiful Forevers is a work of narrative non-fiction, meaning that it reads like a novel, but it's true. This was my first time reading such a book. One thing I noticed was that I'd be reading it, and thinking how moving the story was, and then suddenly I'd be hit with the realisation that these are real people and real events.

The book tells the stories of people living in Annawadi, a slum in Mumbai. As the city around them grows and prospers, with luxury hotels sprouting up all over the place, these people live in makeshift shacks and sort through garbage to sell to recyclers in order to feed their families. Yet, somehow, they still manage to have hope. Abdul, a garbage sorter, is determined to lift his large family out of poverty. Manju plans to be Annawadi's first female college graduate, while her mother Asha hatches scheme after scheme in her attempts to reach the middle class.

I couldn't help but feel hopeless, though, when reading about the corruption. The police officers, doctors, politicians... all of them make threats and ask for money under the table. When people living in slums have to pay what little money they have just to keep the police officers off their backs, it's no wonder they can't make a better life for themselves.

As for the writing, Katherine Boo is truly amazing. Besides making non-fiction as pleasant to read as a great novel, she writes with an objectivity that is quite impressive; rather than an angry rant, which is what most people would probably produce after witnessing what she witnessed, Boo has created a narrative that would force anyone to feel for the people whose stories she's told. Behind the Beautiful Forevers is a must read.

5 stars.

This book counts for the 2012 A-Z Book Challenge.

Full disclosure: Free copy received from the publisher.

Star Trek and Philosophy: The Wrath of Kant

Title: Star Trek and Philosophy: The Wrath of Kant
Author: various, edited by Jason T. Eberl and Kevin S. Decker
Publication Date: August 2008
Length: 288 pages

I'M FINALLY DONE!

OK, that came out a little harsh. It's not that the book is really terrible or anything. It's just so long, and so much philosophy! I have a minor in philosophy, actually, so you'd think I'd like that kind of thing, but for some reason I just kept falling asleep. I've been working on this book in between other books for many months.

I think part of what kept this book from being as awesome as it should have been for me was the audience (or lack thereof) that the various authors were writing for. Most of them bored me with their explanations of first-year philosophy concepts (understandably, as they probably weren't writing for the philosophy-studying crowd), but then other essays left my head spinning, and not in a wow-you-just-blew-my-mind! kind of way, but in an I-have-no-clue-what-you-just-said kind of way.

To be fair, some of the essays were really cool. My favourite was the last one in the book, Harry Mudd Always Lies by Jerry Kapus. It's about logic, and how our whole concept of logic and truth gets thrown off my statements like "This sentence is not true." Crazy! I've decided logic is definitely my favourite type of philosophy.

There is some really interesting philosophy in Star Trek. The show dealt with almost every important issue imaginable, and really gets you questioning a lot of your philosophical ideas. So, the ideas for these essays were great. Most of them just didn't do anything for me. It was as if they were just brushing the surface of all the interesting questions.

I would recommend maybe reading one essay at a time from this book, picking ones that interest you, rather than trying to read the whole book through.

2 stars, and I can't believe I'm doing that to a Star Trek-related book.

The Winter Solstice by John Matthews

Title: The Winter Solstice: The Sacred Traditions of Christmas
Author: John Matthews
Publication Date: 1998
Length: 241 pages

The Winter Solstice is a non-fiction book that examines the major traditions and symbols associated with the Winter Solstice and Christmas, and goes into great detail about their history and meaning. Major topics include Santa Claus, the evergreen tree, and the Child of Wonder (ie. Jesus, Mithras, the Sun).

I'm very picky about non-fiction, as it easily gets too long and dry for my liking, but this book passed the test. It's broken up into short, easily digestable sections, with lots of pictures, and I felt like it didn't have a lot of filler, even though it's pretty long.

I think this book is especially good for people who celebrate both the Solstice and Christmas due to upbringing, family compromises, etc. It really shows you how similar the two holidays are, since Christmas essentially developed from the Winter Solstice celebrations. I also think it's great for people who are celebrating on their own or just with their own families, who don't have a large community to practice their traditions with. The book really left me with the feeling that I am perfectly capable of celebrating the passing of the seasons with just what I have in my own home.

Overall, I recommend this to anyone who celebrates the Winter Solstice, as well as to anyone who celebrates Christmas and wants to know more about its history (though that depends on your taste, as there are probably more Christian-aimed books that do this).