Simon Winchester uses the Pacific Ocean as a central theme to discuss a number of events that happened since 1950 (the "present" of Before Present time). Many of the events involve the military - the nuclear tests on Bikini Island, the division of Korea, and the growth of Chinese power on the Pacific. The environment is discussed, both in the context of newly discovered species in deep sulfuric trenches as well as climate change's impacts on coral and the "garbage" vortex. There are also stories of the business and culture, including the rise of Sony and the building of the Sydney Opera house.
Intertwined with these stories is the plight of the people that call the pacific home - especially the Polynesian and Micronesian inhabitants of the pacific islands. They are often given faint mention in the rhetoric of the western world. The Bikini islanders lost their homeland due to the nuclear tests and the contamination of the land. Many Polynesians still live on their islands, but have lost their traditional lifestyle and navigation skills due to the advances of western civilization. Many islands are in further danger of being submerged due to sea level rises.
Winchester has a unique writing style. He loves to add details from personal experience and loves to dive into details of seemingly random topics. He will also use a narrow thread to string together a set of seemingly unrelated stories. It is not your typical linear writing style, but is a nice refreshing, entertaining style.
I had thought that I read the second book in the series before reading this one. Alas, I had not, and that left made this a bizarre metaphysical exploration. The book spends much of its time exploring life after death and the internal battle between good and evil. By having the second book The Gate Thief, fresh on your mind, this would all make sense in the story. But without that context, it seems to be just about an author preparing for the end of his life. 
In this short book, Simon Winchester interweaves the history of photography with the early biography of Lewis Carroll. Early photography was a messy affair. The bulky equipment needed to be brought in place and the subject had to be still for an extended period of time for the proper light exposure. Then, a mix of chemicals needed to be applied to "freeze" the image in place. It was a far cry from the instant feedback of modern digital photography. The initial photographic processes involved patent protected technology and were outside the price range of all but the most wealthy. Gradually new innovations arose that allowed more people access to photography. Some non-patent innovations caught on due to the cost. The "negative" and development process also allowed for greater flexibility in the process. However, photography was still far from the "everyday" occurrence that it is today.
This is a refreshing approach to the question of income inequality. The problem is not so much the people, but the system that we have that puts a high premium on growth and consolidation. The financial provides strong benefits to consolidation and carving off singular domains. Consumers like the convenience of dealing with a single entity, rather than with multiple different people. It is easier going through a central source (like and Amazon or Uber), even though this leads to a huge amount of control on inequality. In turn, these businesses can use their clout to further "regulate" smaller companies out of the market (often under the guise of protecting consumers.)
The Giver takes place in a pseudo-Utopian society. Everybody obeys strict rules and lives together in harmony. Apologies are given for even the slightest infraction. Children are free to explore different fields and volunteer in different areas. This will be used as input to their future career. However, when they come of age, their career will be picked for them. Reproduction is also carefully regulated, with everybody on an 'urge' reducing pill and special "birth mothers" producing all the children of society. When somebody is no longer needed they are 'released' out of the community.
In its history, salt has been an expensive commodity that has been fought over and even used as a currency ('salary' comes from the word salt.) Pure salt was highly salt after and governments would often try to use the salt trade for their benefit. Today, however, salt is dirt cheap and often used to dump on roads. "Impure" salt is more highly valued for its additional color and taste. Salt domes are primarily valuable for the oil that may be contained underneath. (But could the history of salt be a foreboding for the future of oil?)
Salt + Sugar + Fat = delicious. After reading this book I found myself snacking on some salted butter and sugar. That really is the basis of great taste. I can easily see how companies would love to use this to manipulate customers. There is plenty of nastiness uncovered in this books. By using the cheapest possible sugars and fats, companies can create highly desirable foods for cheap prices. Nutrition takes a back seat in the production of the things that people crave. In many cases companies know the negative impacts of what they are doing, yet they let the market decide. Yes, the processed food that we get today is scary. Our best solution is to sacrifice convenience and cost for home-made meals. Big food knows this and has further infiltrated the kitchen, producing items such as the Betty Crocker cookbook (that subtly encourages using convenient food products like bisquick and margarine.
Brandon Sanderson has a knack for making epic fantasy books that are a joy to read. Elantris was his first widely published book. Elantis was once the home of the magical beings. Being "chosen" to go to Elantris was a special privilege. However, a few years ago, it lost its magic. Now, it is a great curse to be required to join Elantris. (However, it is something that cannot be avoided, because a body "changes" making it obvious that they need to be taken there.) 
This is a "diet" book without being a diet book. It dives deep to understand the science (or the lack thereof) in many of the dietary recommendations today. Many of the heavily pushed recommendations (such as the low-fat diet) were created with flimsy dietary underpinning. However, once the establishment started running with these ideas, the burden of proof was on all challengers to "prove" that their option should even be listened to. (Even more amazing was that these recommendations seemed to go against very well entrenched industries such as beef packers.) This history shows how little you can truly take "government standards" at face value. Science is often very political, with the "best campaigner" often winning out over the "truth".
These hidden secrets of motivation are based on the author's review of scientific literature. (However, he does not go into much detail as to how the review was done.) Religious faith is one of the "Secrets" of motivation, though the other tries to make it clear that a non-religious person could also use this "secret". (He does do a good job of making it accessible to all, but it feels like he does have to do some reaching to get there. There was nothing groundbreaking, but the work was made very accessible.
Is giving away something a valid business model? Chris Anderson attempts to show how "free" business models can work. The book contains a lot of interesting anecdotes, but some of material already seems dated, just six years after the publication. However, the "dated" facts actually serve to help his thesis. Some concerns were echoed about facebook's business model. Wouldn't monetizing cause them to lose the eyeballs they had built up? Apparently not. Facebook has managed to build up an extremely profitable business. Google is still profiting by giving away even more (and selling a little bit.) Freemium models where only a minute percentage of customers pay are working well. Online music streaming services have caught on. 
I remember hearing everyone rave about Neuromancer when it came out in the 80s. It was supposed to be one of the coolest books around and something on the "must read" list for every computer geek. Accordingly, it had been on my "must read" list for a long time. However, I never got around to it. 
The richest man in Babylon is a fun take on the traditional "financial self-help" book. The advice is all structured as discovered tales from ancient Babylon. Some people discovered certain paths to follow to obtain wealth. These "parables" show how they did that (and also how people failed.) The combination of history and good stories make this an entertaining story, even if the advice does feel somewhat dated (though for the most part, still usable.)
I read the Rithmatist immediately after reading Elantris. Both had a lot in common, but they were very different novels. Elantris is a long "Epic Fantasy" set in a distant world. The Rithmatist is a shorter more modern young adult fantasy novel. However, both deal with magic caused by writing. People are "chosen" to practice the magic and can't elect themselves.
Malcolm Gladwell is an entertaining author. David and Goliath reads similar to his other books. He takes a sociological premise that seems somewhat counter-intuitive, and then uses a number of well-told anecdotes to help "prove" his point. In this book, the premise is that disadvantages can force people to work in other ways to "overcome the odds". The basketball full-court press was shown as an example of how weaker teams can beat better teams. (Though you have to wonder - if this works so well, why don't more teams do it.) Other stories present similar "Against the ods" victories. These are nice, well-told feel-good anecdotes that come together in an entertaining story. There is not a lot of strong "science" here, but plenty of well done entertainment.
Isaac Asimov's first two books in the robot series were palatable sci-fi mysteries. Robots of Dawn is not. It comes across as the unedited musings of a lecherous old man. It is much longer than the other robot books, and filled with too much of Asimov's sociological musings. Plot and characters, are, alas tough to find. It does, however, have a nice sounding title.
Ok, it has been a long time since I read this book. (Nine months can put a dent on an initial reaction.) It is a detective story set in a science fiction future with robots. The key to solving it is figuring out the loopholes in the laws of robotics. It is not a bad story, but not a great one either.
Firefight is Young Adult love story interspersed with loads of action. (Attack of the Clones comes to mind.) We also delve deeper into the Epics. They all seem to have powers and weaknesses that are somewhat related to their life prior to becoming an Epic. The use of their power corrupts them, leading them to use it more and become more evil. Even if they use their power for good, that use tends to corrupt them and make them use it more for destruction. Some Epics lose all self control and go on power-grabbing destructive binges. Others have a little more self control and can limit the use of power to their advantage (though they still tend to use it at the expense of humans.) It is a rare Epic that can not fight against humanity. (And to do that, they have to significantly limit their use of power.)
I listened to this one after hearing the author talk on the Writing Excuses Podcast. I actually like the fantasy books by podcast host Branden Sanderson, so I figured this book would be good also.