The year of 2017 is approaching its (somewhat arbitrary) end, and it is time to evaluate it. My general reading goal is about one book per month. And in that regard I have had a great year because I’ve read at least double that. I published 15 reviews, and in hindsight I see it is a mixture of . personal stories, fiction, biographies and non fiction. I even managed to read a really good self help book, not to mention a few books on science.
2017 certainly was a good year!

Some of the books have been read in english and some in norwegian, which in turn has lead me to write my reviews in the same language. mostly anyway. I cannot seem to make up my mind on whether I should write this blog in norwegian or english. If you as a reader have an opinion I would be glad to hear it. Here is a recap of the books I wrote reviews of and a sentence or two about them. If I can I’d like to learn something from everything I read. 

Tilbake til virkeligheten, by Kim Westerberg
The title means “back to reality”, and this is the personal story of the author how he got involved in drugs, and how he quit them. Literally how he found his way back to reality again. I think it is a very powerful story of how easy it can be for someone to fall victim to substance abuse. It is extremely easy to end up there, after only a few wrong turns. The way out can turn out to be very much harder. 

En av oss, by Åsne Seierstad
This is the extremely uncomfortable story of how Anders Behring Breivik ended up being the worst mass murderer in Norway since WWII. possibly the worst one in recorded history. I’ve read several of Åsne Seierstads books and she is a superb story teller. You actually feel sympathetic towards ABB. The author portrays him as a human being who had a very unfortunate upbringing. It does not excuse any part of his gruesome deeds, far from it. But the book shows how a young man radicalized himself through the internet. The process and his example is very relevant with as the world struggles how to deal with the problem of islamist radicalization. 

De ukjente krigerne – norwegians in WWI
Even though Norway was neutral during WWI, several thousands norwegians took part on all sides and in lots of different ways. They were soldies, sailors, nurses, dealt with logistics etc. This book is an anthology of collected stories of those norwegians. They wrote letters to their loved ones and there are other documents that help tell their story. WWI ended several empires, changed the entire map of Europe and the Middle East. This book and other stories from WWI has made me want to read more about the Ottoman empire, The Sykes-Picot agreement and other relevant topics. I feel these stories are important to understand why there still is plenty of trouble in the Middle East. 

Animal Farm, by George Orwell
Now this is a classic I just had to read. My good friend Vegard actually read and published his own review of the book. Which in turn inspired me to do the same. Since this book is a warning about the totalitarian regime of communism I figured it was a good addition to the general topic of WWI and violence. 

Voyage of the Beagle, by Charles Darwin
Most people have heard about the Origin of Species by Charles Darwin, and I do recommend people to read it. It is still a great read even after more than 150 years since it was published. It shows what a thorough scientist Charles Darwin really was. But.. and there is always a but…. the book is abit tedious. If you are not particularly interested in biology I would instead reccommend this book. Charles Darwin kept a diary for his circumnavigation of the globe. And it truly is a fascinating read. It contains crazy adventures such as dangerous storms on the high seas, guerilla war in Argentina and even earthquakes. The diary is also a cultural gem and Darwin is the archtypical upper-class Victorian gentleman. He gets into arguments with captain Fitzroy about slavery, and the descriptions of the south american Gaucho (a kind of cowboy) or the natives in Tierra del Fuego are quite interesting. 

The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald
To my knowledge no other book captures the Roaring Twenties quite like The Great Gatsby. It inspired me to see the film with Leonardo de Caprio. The book was alright I guess, but I am not going to read it again. To put it that way. 

Syria, en stor krig i en liten verden, by Cecilie Hellestveit
This thorough book about the conflict in Syria taught me a couple of things. The conflict in the Middle East is alot more complex than many of our understandings are. The imperial power of the US is not to blame, and neither is the religion of islam. In isolation that is. Those two factors are clearly involved but they do not describe the problems to the relevant level at all. The rivalry between Iran, Saudi Arabia and Turkey was something I was not very aware of. I knew there was a division between sunni and shia but not much more than that. Another important thing about the conflicts in the Middle East in general and in Syria in particular is that the news in our media is very simplistic. I think ISIS (or daesh or whatever you want to call them) has been somewhat of a “blessing” for our media. Because they make it easy to tell the story about religious extremism. The focus on ISIS does however cloud all the other factions, guerillas, and divisions in the area. clans, religions, tribes, kurds, arabs etc. I for one would like to see more books like this one with both depth and thorough analysis. I can highly reccommend it!

Churchill, by Paul Johnson
If you are the slightest interested in the history of the first part of the 20th century you cannot escape Churchill. And there are lots and lots of books, documentaries, films etc about this important politician. I picked up this short book and really liked it. Its a must read!

Den fordømte friheten, by Kaja Melson
The damned freedom would be the english title of this book. It is one of the best self help books I’ve read. And I have read quite a few. This is one of the best ones because it teaches you not to bother so much with “success” or “how to make it”, “be the best you can be” or what ever is the current slogan. Relax and remember that most of us will be average and that is completely fine.  It is a book I reccomend highly

Ready player one, by Ernest Cline
This is a really good scifi about the not so distant future. In a world where the internet have molded together with reality and more and more people are choosing fantasy over reality. Which in no way is very different from our world of today. It is a fascinating read and I am really looking forward to the movie. I believe Spielberg directed it. 

Heart of Darkness, by Joseph Conrad
The colonial plundering of Africa was horrible, and the story of Leopold II abuse of the Congo can definitely match Hitler, Pol Pot or Stalin in the amount of human suffering he caused. It is about the plundering of the Congo as well as the thin line between civilized man and our inner monsters. It is a good read, there are also good films to watch. 

Israel – bak muren av myter og propaganda, by Peder Morten Lysestøl
This was a historic break down of the story behind Israel. It was en enlightning read for sure. Again the topic of collapsing empires after WWI came up. The Sykes-Picot agreement, and the Balfore declaration was also central. I would like to read more books about Israel and how they fit into the bigger picture. I guess this one was an alright way into the subject.

Seven brief lessons of physics, by Carlo Rovelli
This is a book that really makes you think. What does our reality really consist of? What is time? This book, together with A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking, can give you a head ache for sure. I guess my major take away from these books on physics is that reality is not very much like our perceptions of it. Our senses have evolved to solve problems relevant to creatures of our size. Which means that anything smaller than a grain of sand or larger than not-so-many kilometers is beyond our normal comprehension. The same goes for time scales shorter than a second or larger than a few decades. 

Karbon – en uautorisert biografi, by Dag O. Hessen
Now this one was a really interesting and good book. Dag O. Hessen is a professor of Biology from Oslo University and he has recently become one of my favorite authors. I have been to one of his lectures once and also heard him on the radio and in different interviews. He has a very soothing and recognizable voice. Somewhat like Morgan Freeman or Richard Attenborough. So whenever I read his books I also have his voice in my head. The book is all about Carbon and how important it is for all living organisms. Again a simplified topic from the media, the climate crisis, gets nuyanced and expanded. And it also hammers in the message that we are truly in deep sh*t if we don’t fix it. The current refugee “problem” will be a gentle breeze compared to the coming storm to put it that way.

Ikke en flue fortred, by Slavenka Drakulic
How can people in was commit such heinous crimes as they do in civil wars? Whether it is the holocaust, mass murder of muslims in the Balkans, Yezidies in Syria or hutus in Rwanda it seems like mass murder, torture and horrible behaviour in general is the norm when war is concerned. This author followed several of the trials after the war in Yugoslavia. She describes the people on trial and in doing that she follows the tradition of Hanna Arendt. Drakulic shows how even mass murderers are humans, and not so very different from the rest of us. My lesson from this book, as well as the books about ABB (you know the mass murderer from Utøya), WWI, Syria etc is that most people are able to commit the most heinous acts if they are put in the right situation. or wrong I should say. It is definitely worth remembering. 

All in all I read lots of good books in 2017. Lets hope I can keep the trend going for the coming year as well. Hopefully I will continue to learn more about all kinds of interesting topics. I have lots of books lined up already! 

#aYearinReview #bookreport #mementomori #2017 #2018 #happynewyear #godtnyttår