My Favorite Authors

When I was in primary and secondary school, I never read what was assigned to me. It wasn’t that I couldn’t read, it was that I disliked reading. I couldn’t tell you why I didn’t enjoy reading, but I definitely didn’t and it affected my academic performance for many years. First because I (obviously) couldn’t pass the quizzes about things I hadn’t read. But the worst bit came later in university. Because I hadn’t honed the skill of reading, comprehension was slow and difficult. I’ve since learned to love to read for pleasure, but I still am not a fast reader.

My point in telling this story is to say I have not read a ton of books. But I have found a few authors that I really love and come back to frequently.

Carl Sagan

Dr Sagan was such an amazing teacher. He was not the first “popular” scientist, having been preceded by great communicators like Isaac Asimov, Stephen Jay Gould, and Oliver Sachs. But he was the greatest. And no one has come close to matching him since his acclaimed Cosmos first aired on PBS so many years ago. And it’s not for lack of trying: Brian Cox, Neil Tyson, Brian Greene, and others have tried to position themselves as the second coming of Carl Sagan. None has succeeded.

Here are my favorite Carl Sagan books:

• Billions & Billions is a collection that includes an amusing refutation of the quotation (popularized by Johnny Carson) that inspired the title, as well as several other memorable essays.

• The Varieties of Scientific Experience is another book of essays adapted from transcripts of Sagan’s 1985 Gifford Lectures, the purpose of which is “to promote and diffuse the study of natural theology in the widest sense of the term.”

• Contact is a profound piece of writing that pays thoughtful respect to the tension between science and religion and the essence of inquiry. This book is one of my rocks.

Jean Shepherd

There are, have been, and always will be very funny people—authors, actors, media personalities. Jean Shepherd was all three. I wouldn’t dare make the claim that he was the funniest of all, but his books still make make laugh out loud when I read them and that gives his memory a special place in my heart. We’re all familiar with the stories contained in In God We Trust, All Others Pay Cash thanks to Bob Clark’s enduring film adaptation^[1], but there are three more books in the series that are well worth a look. It’s been a while since I read them all, but I remember they all made me laugh out loud.

• Wanda Hickey’s Night of Golden Memories and Other Disasters

• The Ferrari in the Bedroom

• A Fistful of Fig Newtons

Bonus: Jean Shepherd was also a ham radio operator, something he discussed occasionally on his radio program.

• “Ham Radio License Exam” from The Jean Shepherd Show, Jan 24, 1963 (YouTube)

• Tribute to Jean Shepherd (DJ5IL)

Christopher Hitchens

Christopher Hitchens just had… a way… about him. Such conviction. Such arrogance. I admit to having a fair amount of confirmation bias when it comes to reading his work, but it is simply impossible to have agreed with him on everything all the time; provocation was his modus operandi. He was a true war correspondent, but he also wrote book reviews and political commentary. He famously arranged to be waterboarded so he could write about the experience in the pages of Vanity Fair^[2]. The fun of reading—or better yet listening—to him, was in his voice. And I mean that figuratively as well as literally.

My favorite Christopher Hitchens books:

• God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything is a no-holds-barred refutation of religion in all its forms. It is succinct and, at times, beautifully written.

• Arguably is a collection of essays on all sorts of topics published in various magazines over the years.

• Letters to a Young Contrarian contains advice from the man himself.