Shaping the City: Studies in History, Theory and Urban Design by Edward Robbins ?
Science and Religion, edited by Paul Kurtz
Great Books by David Denby ?
The Big Con: The Story of the Confidence Man by David Maurer (due to this On The Media report) ?
Reading the OED: One Man, One Year, 21,730 Pages by Ammon Shea ?
The Know-It-All: One Man's Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World by A. J. Jacobs (partially done)
Do You Speak American (DVD: 3 hours)
Old Masters, New World: America's Raid on Europe's Great Pictures by Cynthia Saltzman
Smile When You're Lying: Confessions of a Rogue Travel Writer by Chuck Thompson ?
King Hui: The Man Who Owned All the Opium in Hong Kong by Jonathan Chamberlain ?
Piracy: The Intellectual Property Wars from Gutenberg to Gates by Adrian Johns (heard on BBC Thinking Allowed) ?
Mapping the World: An Illustrated History of Cartography by Ralph Ehrenberg
or maybe The Map Book by Peter Barber ?
Galileo's Daughter: A Historical Memoir of Science, Faith, and Love by Dava Sobel ?
Crying: A Natural and Cultural History of Tears by Tom Lutz ?
The Napoleon of Crime: The Life and Times of Adam Worth, Master Thief or The Englishman's Daughter: A True Story of Love and Betrayal in World War I by Ben Macintyre
Bobos In Paradise: The New Upper Class and How They Got There by David Brooks (mainly for first chpter on wedding announcements) ?
If You Can Read This: The Philosophy of Bumper Stickers by Jack Bowen ?
The Reading Promise: My Father and the Books We Shared by Alice Ozma ?
Positively Fifth Street: Murderers, Cheetahs, and Binion's World Series of Poker by James McManus ?
Waltzing with Bears: managing risk on software projects by Tom DeMarco and Timothy Lister (rec by Larry Hosken) ?
Just My Type: A Book about Fonts by Simon Garfield
History of Programming Langauges edited by Thomas Bergin and Rcihard Gibson
Locked in the Cabinet by Robert Reich ?
Animal Underworld: Inside America's Black Market for Rare and Exotic Species by Alan Green ?
In The Plex: How Google Thinks, Works, and Shapes Our Lives by Steven Levy
I'm Feeling Lucky: The Confessions of Google Employee Number 59 by Doug Edwards
On Rereading by Patricia Spacks (haven't read reviews) ??
The Crimes of Paris: A True Story of Murder, Theft, and Detection by Dorothy Hoobler and Thomas Hoobler ?
Priceless: How I Went Undercover to Rescue the World's Stolen Treasures by Robert Wittman and John Shiffman
Triumph of the City: How Our Greatest Invention Makes Us Richer, Smarter, Greener, Healthier, and Happier by Edward Glaeser (neat facts but wandering argument) ?
The Death and Life of Great American Cities by Jane Jacobs
A Short History of Progress by Ronald Wright (chapter on Easter Island; rec. by Edison) ?
Merchants of Doubt: How a Handful of Scientists Obscured the Truth on Issues from Tobacco Smoke to Global Warming by Naomi Oreskes and Erik Conway ?
Doubt is Their Product: How Industry's Assault on Science Threatens Your Health by David Michaels ?
Sports
Boy Racer: My Journey to Tour de France Record-Breaker by Mark Cavendish
Lance Armstrong's War: One Man's Battle Against Fate, Fame, Love, Death, Scandal, and a Few Other Rivals on the Road to the Tour de France by Daniel Coyle ?
Work & Life
Downshifting: How to Work Less and Enjoy Life More by John Drake
Overworked American by Juliet Schor
Work to Live: The Guide to Getting a Life by Joe Robinson
Bowling Alone by Robert Putnam
Working At Play: A History of Vacations in the United States by Cindy Aron ?
Happier: Can You Learn to be Happy? by Tal Ben-Shahar ?
Getting Things Done by David Allen
Get-It-Done Guy's 9 Steps to Work Less and Do More by Stever Robbins
Economics
The Gridlock Economy: How Too Much Ownership Wrecks Markets, Stops Innovation, and Costs Lives by Michael Heller ?
The Undercover Economist by Tim Harford
Naked Economics by Charles Wheelan
SuperFreakonomics by Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner ?
Armchair Economist by Steven Landsburg ?
Hidden Order by David Friedman ?
The Economic Naturalist by Robert Frank (? partially because heard much of the book discussed on Forum) (read through chapter two)
Medicine
Second Opinions: Stories of Intuition and Choice in the Changing World of Medicine by Jerome Groopman
Law
The Party of the First Part by Adam Freedman
Anonymous Lawyer: A Novel by Jeremy Blachman
A History of American Law (Third Edition) by Lawrence Friedman, then perhaps books on more specific subjects listed in the Recommended Reading section of his book Law in America: A Short Introduction
The Transformation of American Law by Morton Horwitz ?
Writing
Write More Good: An Absolutely Phony Guide by The Bureau Chiefs
On Writing Well by William Zinsser (read through chapter 14 (bits & pieces))
When You Catch an Adjective, Kill It: The Parts of Speech, for Better And/Or Worse by Ben Yagoda
Word Court: Wherein Verbal Virtue Is Rewarded, Crimes Against the Language Are Punished, and Poetic Justice Is Done by Barbara Wallraff and Francine Prose ?
Um. . .: Slips, Stumbles, and Verbal Blunders, and What They Mean by Michael Erard ?
The Secret Life of Words: How English Became English by Henry Hitchings
Food
(many of these authors have other books too)
On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen by Harold McGee
The End of Overeating: Taking Control of the Insatiable American Appetite by David Kessler
Wild Fermentation: The Flavor, Nutrition, and Craft of Live-Culture Foods by Sandor Katz (semi-cookbook)
Medium Raw: A Bloody Valentine to the World of Food or A Cook's Tour: Global Adventures in Extreme Cuisines or maybe No Reservations: Around the World on an Empty Stomach or ... by Anthony Bourdain
Waiter Rant: Thanks for the Tip--Confessions of a Cynical Waiter by Steve Dublanica
The Tummy Trilogy by Calvin Trillin
The Making of a Chef by Michael Ruhlman
Spice: The History of a Temptation by Jack Turner
The Fortune Cookie Chronicles: Adventures in the World of Chinese Food by Jennifer Lee
Toast by Nigel Slater
The Man Who Ate Everything by Jeffrey Steingarten
Consuming Passions: A Food-Obsessed Life by Michael Lee West
Blue Trout and Black Truffles: The Peregrinations of an Epicure by Joseph Wechsberg
Home Cooking by Laurie Colwin (read through p. 110 (hardcover) / finished end of "Nursery Food" chapter)
Shark's Fin and Sichuan Pepper: A Sweet-Sour Memoir of Eating in China by Fuchsia Dunlop (also wrote well-regarded cookbooks)
In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto by Michael Pollan
Food in Chinese Culture: Antropological and Historical Perspectives edited by K. C. Chang
Mindless Eating: Why We Eat More Than We Think by Brian Wansink ?
The United States of Arugula by David Kamp ?
The Apprentice: My Life In The Kitchen by Jacques Pepin ?
Julie and Julia by Julie Powell ?
Life Is Meals by James Salter ?
The Spice Necklace: My Adventures in Caribbean Cooking, Eating, and Island Life by Ann Vanderhoof ?
The Debt to Pleasure: A Novel by John Lanchester ?
What's Your Food Sign? by Alan Hirsch ?
Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan ?
Real Food: What to Eat and Why by Nina Planck ?
The World in My Kitchen: The Adventures of a (Mostly) French Woman in New York by Colette Rossant ?
Two for the Road: Our Love Affair with American Food by Jane Stern and Michael Stern ?
Hotel Bemelmans by Ludwig Bemelmans ?
The Scavenger's Guide to Haute Cuisine by Steve Rinella ??
Diggin' In and Piggin' Out: The Truth About Food and Men by Roger Welsch ?
Food: The History of Taste by Paul Freedman (parts of) ?
Good Calories, Bad Calories by Gary Taubes ?
Flash in the Pan: Life and Death of an American Restaurant by David Blum ?
The Sweet Life in Paris: Delicious Adventures in the World's Most Glorious - and Perplexing - City by David Lebovitz ?
Clementine in the Kitchen by Samuel Chamberlain ?
Finance & Markets & Management
The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine by Michael Lewis ?
The Wisdom of Crowds
Hard Facts, Dangerous Half-Truths And Total Nonsense: Profiting From Evidence-Based Management by Pfeffer and Sutton
The Only Investment Guide You'll Ever Need by Andrew Tobias
Consider Your Options
The Four Pillars of Investing
The Strategy & Tactics of Pricing
The Intelligent Investor by Benjamin Graham ?
More Than You Know: Finding Financial Wisdom in Unconventional
Places by Michael Mauboussin ?
Fashion
Dressing the Man: Mastering the Art of Permanent Fashion by Alan Flusser (?, because nearly all about formalwear)
The Indispensable Guide to Classic Men's Clothing by Josh Karlen (?, because nearly all about formalwear)
Classics
How to Read Literature Like a Professor: A Lively and Entertaining Guide to Reading Between the Lines by Thomas Foster (and sequel if I like it)?
Stendhal: The Red and the Black (partially done, on
book two, chapter four, The Hotel de la Mole, about 2/3rds the way through
the chapter) (book
salon)
more plays by Moliere: The School for Wives Criticized, The Impromptu at Versailles, The Misanthrope, The Clever Women
read (or see performed) King Lear, and maybe Othello (partially done) by Shakespeare
stories by Chekhov (esp. translations by Larissa Volokhonsky and Richard Pevear)
other stories besides The Marquise of O and Michael Kohlhass by Heinrich von Kleist
Memorandum (an essay) by E. B. White (don't know what book it is published in)
Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (such as Hound of the Baskervilles)
Three Men in a Boat: To Say Nothing of the Dog by Jerome K. Jerome
Doctor Faustus by Christopher Marlowe
The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas (especially unabridged translation by Robin Buss)
In The Penal Colony by Franz Kafka ?
Confessions of Zeno or Zeno's Conscience (same book, two translations) by Italo Svevo ?
A Thousand and One Nights by Scheherazade (perhaps translation The Arabian Nights: Tales from a Thousand and One Nights by Richard Burton)
Handbook of Political Fallacies by Jeremy Bentham ?
Pale Fire by Vladimir Nabokov ?
Mahabharata (Indian epic) (rec by Pandu) ?
The African Company Presents Richard III by Carlyle Brown (play, spotted at Oregon Shakespeare Festival) ?
The Language Archive by Julia Cho (play, spotted at Oregon Shakespeare Festival) ?
Fiction
The Spy Who Came in From the Cold or Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy by John le Carre
Small World by David Lodge (sequel to Changing Places)
something by Carl Hiaasen
something (fiction or non-) by David Foster Wallace (perhaps the other articles in A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again, some of which can be found online (in shorter forms) (consider pieces on state fair, television, and tennis)?
Fierce Pajamas (New Yorker fiction) (partially done)
Lifemanship or One-Upmanship by Stephen Potter
The French Lieutenant's Woman by John Fowles ?
The Book of Air and Shadows by Michael Gruber ?
something by William Boyd ?
Black Swan Green by David Mitchell ?
The Road by Cormac Mccarthy ?
The Intuitionist by Colson Whitehead ?
Time's Arrow by Martin Amis ?
Letting Loose the Hounds (short stories) or The Miracle Life of Edgar Mint (novel) by Brady Udall
Cosmicomics (partially done) or The Baron in the Trees (or maybe The Nonexistent Knight and The Cloven Viscount) by Italo Calvino
The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco ?
The Crying of Lot 49 by Thomas Pynchon ? (partially done)
The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen ?
The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky ?
Supreme Courtship by Christopher Buckley (heard on KQED interview)?
Blue Angel: A Novel by Francine Prose ?
When Red Is Black by Qiu Xiaolong ?
something by Mavis Gallant ?
The Bus Driver Who Wanted To Be God by Etgar Keret ?
Swallows and Amazons by Arthur Ransom (nominally a children's book) (rec by John Lamping and wife)
Sci-Fi / Fantasy
Ready Player One by Ernest Cline (80s references) (rec by Bryson and Edison) ?
Fool Moon (Dresden Files series) or Furies of Calderon (Codex Alera series) by Jim Butcher
Blood Rock by Anthony Francis
Arena (Magic - The Gathering, No. 1) by William Forstchen (yes, it actually has good reviews)
more books by Vernor Vinge
A Clash of Kings by George R. R. Martin
Her Smoke Rose Up Forever by James Tiptree Jr.
The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley
Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman (supposedly not as good as American Gods)
more books by Stanislaw Lem (rec by many critics), perhaps Solaris (the only good translation of it is only available in e-book form)
something by James Branch Cabell (rec. by Gaiman)
something by Roger Zelazny (rec. by Gaiman)
something (especially Deathbird Stories) by Harlan Ellison
(rec. by Gaiman)
Uplift series (except for Sun Diver) by David Brin
Fire Watch (rec from Bryson), Lincoln's Dreams, or Impossible Things (or maybe Inside Job) or Blackout (followed by All Clear) (rec by Bryson) by Connie Willis
other books by Robert Heinlein (perhaps Double Star or The Door into Summer) (Bryson any-recs The Number of the Beast)?
Consider Phlebas by Iain Banks (part of the Culture series; I read another book in the series: The Player of Games) (mild rec by Bryson) ?
Spin by Robert Wilson ?
Lord of Light by Roger Zelazny ?
Permutation City by Greg Egan ?
Embassytown by China Mieville ??
Against the Tide of Years (sequel to Island in the Sea of Time) by S. M. Stirling
Into the Storm: Destroyermen by Taylor Anderson (rec by Edison) ?
The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss
We by Eugene Zamiatin (rec by Margaret Atwood) (inspiration for 1984 and Brave New World)
Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke (rec by Kevin S for its style; don't read it as straight fantasy) ?
The Way of Shadows by Brent Weeks ??
The Listeners by James Gunn (inspiration for SETI) ??
Floating Worlds by Cecelia Holland (rec by Kim Stanley Robinson) ?
Dark Universe by Daniel Galouye (rec by Richard Dawkins) ?
Caliban's Hour (and perhaps other books) by Tad Williams
final books in Robert Jordan's series (completed by Brandon Sanderson)
In the Beginning...was the Command Line by Neal Stephenson (technically non-fiction) (possibly out-dated)
Tigana by Guy Gavriel Kay
Puzzles
Martin Gardner's Mathematical Games or The Colossal Book of Short Puzzles and Problems or similar
Adventures in Puzzling: Multi-Puzzle Extravaganzas for the Brave, Bold & Bright by Patrick Berry (rec by Larry H)
The Simple Book of Not-So-Simple Puzzles by Serhiy Grabarchuk (and others) (rec by Will Shortz)
Scenes from an Impending Marriage by Adrian Tomine (rec by Hosken)
Zits (Sketchbook 1-6)
Jon Stewart's America
a coffee-table book on Chihuly (e.g., de Young catalog)
What It Is by Lynda Barry
Humor
Fart Proudly: Writings of Benjamin Franklin You Never Read in School by Benjamin Franklin (but don't read prologue or closing piece by Japiske)
maybe Give War a Chance or All the Trouble in the World: The Lighter Side of Overpopulation, Famine, Ecological Disaster, Ethnic Hatred, Plague, and Poverty by P. J. O'Rourke ?
Before the Mortgage: Real Stories of Brazen Loves, Broken Leases, and the Perplexing Pursuit of Adulthood by Christina Amini and Rachel Hutton (Editors)
Parenting
The Parenthood Decision by Beverly Engel
The Journey to Parenthood: Myths, Reality and What Really Matters by Diana Barnes, Leigh Balber, and Roberta Michnick
Two Is Enough: A Couple's Guide to Living Childless by Choice by Laura Scott
Baby Not on Board: A Celebration of Life without Kids by Jennifer Shawne ?