It’s been a very long time since I’ve posted a simple list of the books I’ve acquired at any given point in time, so with a lovely batch received today for Christmas, here goes…

• Trilobite: Eyewitness to Evolution by Richard Fortey: Because trilobites are awesome.
• Horseshoe Crabs and Velvet Worms: The Story of the Animals and Plants That Time Has Left Behind by Richard Fortey: Because “living fossils” are also awesome.
• Here There Be Monsters: The Legendary Kraken and the Giant Squid by HP Newquist: Because cephalopods are awesome.
• 1861: The Civil War Awakening by Adam Goodheart: On the recommendation of my brother.
• Ways of Forgetting, Ways of Remembering: Japan in the Modern World by John W. Dower
• From the Ruins of Empire: The Intellectuals Who Remade Asia by Pankaj Mishra
• The Hobbit, or There and Back Again by J.R.R. Tolkien: Beautiful 75th-anniversary edition with original dust jacket art and illustrations by the author.
• The Case for Mars: The Plan to Settle the Red Planet and Why We Must by Robert Zubrin with Richard Wagner
• Physics of the Future: How Science Will Shape Human Destiny and Our Daily Lives by the Year 2100 by Michio Kaku

I’m amused that every single book this year comes with a subtitle. As I said of Christmas 2006, not a bad haul!