What I've been reading

Mutants: On Genetic Variety and the Human Body: The title says it all, this book is not for the squeamish.

Hunger's Brides: A Novel of the Baroque, by Paul Anderson.  I'm a sucker for 1400-page Canadian novels about Mexican nun/poetesses who are learning to speak Nahuatl and are involved in murders.  The New York Times ran an article on how to deal with the book's size and weight.

Chronicles, volume I, by Bob Dylan.  No, I don't care about him anymore either, but  nonetheless this was one of the best books I read all summer.  A primer on what it means to be American and why low rents are good for artistic creativity.

Healthy Competition: What's Holding Back Health Care and How to Free It, by Michael Cannon and Michael Tanner, published by the Cato Institute.

Sons of the Conquerors: The Rise of the Turkish World, by Hugh Pope.  A useful and entertaining book on modern Turkey and how it relates to Azerbaijan and the "stan" countries.  Short of actual travel, this is your best hope of gaining a knowledge foothold in these areas.

My favorite book this summer remains the accessible yet deeply philosophic The Time Traveler's Wife.  More generally, Michael at www.2blowhards.com offers a comprehensive set of links on what is new in the world of books.