Review of The Unadulterated Cat by Terry Pratchett

The Unadulterated Cat by Terry Pratchett is an amusing commentary on the behavior of cats and how the author feels that some cats are more real than others and gives a comprehensive guide on how to tell a real cat from an unreal one along with some hypothetical musings. This was a fun quick read and I especially enjoyed all of the references to Schrodinger's cat. I also thought it was hilarious that some of the "real" cats that the author seemed to be describing seemed very much like the cat Greebo from his Discworld series. This is a must read for cat lovers and you might even enjoy it even if you're not a cat person like me, but are still exposed to cats enough to be familiar with their behavior.

Review of A Book of God's Love by M. R. Bawa Muhaiyaddeen

A Book of God's Love by M. R. Bawa Muhaiyaddeen is a short book discussing spiritual topics such as unconditional love, forgiveness, and others. Some parts of the book definitely resonated with me more than others, but I didn't find it too hard to take the wisdom that was meaningful to me and discard the rest. Even when reading parts of the book that I didn't particularly resonate with, I still felt a sense of peace when reading it. One thing I particularly liked about the book was the theme that one should forever be a student and never stop learning and questioning the world around us. I think that people who have more traditional spiritual beliefs would get even more out of this book than I did.

Review of Awakening: A Sufi Experience by Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan

Awakening: A Sufi Experience by Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan gives a good overview of the beliefs and ideals of Sufism. Admittedly there was some material that was over my head, but a surprising amount of what I read was familiar to me. This is because Sufism draws from many different religions and cultures and there were concepts discussed in this book that closely resembled things I had learned when studying new age spirituality. There is a lot of emphasis on meditation in this book and it describes many different meditation and breathing exercises. Some of these I was already familiar with, but many of them were new to me. One thing that I thought was really cool about this book is that scientific principles are often used to help explain metaphysical and spiritual concepts which certainly made them easier for me to understand. I thought this was an excellent book and I'd highly recommend it to anyone new to the subject. I really enjoyed reading it and just the act of reading this book helped me to feel more peaceful.

Review of Hyperbole and a Half: Unfortunate Situations, Flawed Coping Mechanisms, Mayhem, and Other Things That Happened by Allie Brosh

Hyperbole and a Half: Unfortunate Situations, Flawed Coping Mechanisms, Mayhem, and Other Things That Happened by Allie Brosh is a collection of hilarious short stories and essays about the author's life that range from her crazy antics as a child to her current outlook on life as an adult. I was a fan of the author's blog and was excited when I found out she had published a book as well. There is all new hilarious content in the book not available on the blog which I thoroughly enjoyed, but I was a bit disappointed that some of the stories from the blog did not make it into the book. Here's hoping the author puts out a second volume.

This book made me laugh so much and I'd highly recommend it. To get an idea of what is in the book, visit the author's blog at http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/. Don't let yourself be scared off by the juvenile illustrations. I assure you that it's all a part of the humor. If you enjoy the blog then you should definitely read the book.

Review of Last Chance to See by Douglas Adams & Mark Carwardine

Last Chance to See by Douglas Adams and Mark Carwardine isn't sci-fi or fantasy. In fact it isn't even fiction, but since I've been on a Douglas Adams kick lately I decided I wanted to give this book a chance. The book basically details the travels of Douglas Adams and Mark Carwardine around the planet to visit/research endangered species. It makes for a very good story and it is quite educational and humorous. I think anyone who is a Douglas Adams fan would enjoy reading about his real life adventures.

Review of The Salmon of Doubt: Hitchhiking the Galaxy One Last Time by Douglas Adams

There were some parts of the Salmon of Doubt that I found interesting, funny, and enjoyable, but on the whole I found the book rather tedious to get through. I'd still recommend it though to any Douglas Adams fans.