2001 DrumNet "Best of the Year" Awards

It's time for the 2001 awards! The envelope please....

Book Awards

2001 awards are given for books read by Kevin in 2001, regardless of publication date. The winners are...

  • Best fiction: Kavalier and Clay, by Michael Chabon. This is an unlikely story of two young World War II refugees who land in America in the late 30s and become the writer/artist team of bestselling superhero comic books. Despite a few rough spots, it works well and makes for an absorbing story. An honorable mention goes to e, by Matt Beaumont, a funny story of a British ad agency told via the medium of email. Other worthwhile reads included No Man's Land, from DC Comics, a pretty good Batman story arc for comic book fans, and A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, by Dave Eggers, a decent read despite some too-frequently annoying passages and a weak ending.
  • Best science fiction: No award. Unless you count the three Harry Potter books (which were pretty good, but don't seem to be getting better over time), I only read five science fiction books this year. Only one got a grade better than C+ (A Case of Conscience, a 40-year old book by James Blish), and one of them won an award for worst book of the year (see below). Sheesh.
  • Best nonfiction: Freedom from Fear, by David M. Kennedy. This history of the Depression and World War II in America doesn't cover any new ground, but it covers old ground in an unusually readable and compelling way. Kennedy covers a lot of territory in 900 pages, giving particulary strong insight into the character of Franklin Roosevelt and how it affected the contours of the New Deal. (My favorite story: FDR liked to show off his political savvy by asking visitors to draw a straight line anywhere through a map of the U.S. He would then name every county along the line and throw in some knowledge of local politics along the way.) Freedom from Fear is the best account I've read of this period in American history.
  • Honorable mention nonfiction: I read a lot of books this year, mostly nonfiction, so there are quite a few honorable mentions. Top on the list is Twins, by Lawrence Wright, a brief gem of a book that describes how studies of identical twins have had a profound influence on our understanding of how both nature and nurture affect human behavior. Two other books in the same vein were also excellent: As Nature Made Him, by John Colapinto, the story of a baby who lost his penis in an accident and was raised as a girl, and Defenders of the Truth, by Ullica Segerstråle, a long, detailed (and admittedly sometimes tedious) account of the whole nature/nurture sociobiology debate in academia over the past 30 years.

    Other good books this year included Keynes and After, the only good popular account of Keynesian economics that I could find (I tried four or five), and Cyberselfish, an interesting (if uneven) book about the oddball libertarian basis of much of Silicon Valley culture. Three other good reads were Down and Dirty, by Jake Tapper, a lively account of the Florida presidential recount, Word Freak, by Stefan Fatsis, a journey into the world of professional Scrabble players, and Fool's Paradise, by Carey McWilliams, a collection of essays about California by the former editor of The Nation.
  • Worst book of the year: Destiny's Road, by Larry Niven. Yep, Larry Niven. This book was dull, which is bad enough, but was also nonsensical. Nothing about it made any sense at all, and the premise, when it was revealed at the end, was simply idiotic. I don't know how he managed to churn this thing out in good conscience

A complete list of 2001 books, in the order read, is below:

Title Grade Kevin's opinion
The Informant, by Kurt Eichenwald B- A manic-depressive executive at Archer Daniels Midland helps the FBI uncover a price fixing scheme. It never quite lives up to expectations, since it turns out the informant made up an awful lot of his story...
Shadow of the Hegemon, by Orson Scott Card C- Second part of the "Bean Tetralogy," a follow-up to the Ender's Game series. It's getting worse as it goes along.
Triumph of the Straight Dope, by Cecil Adams B Another collection of Straight Dope columns. Nice and readable, but starting to get a little routine (and a little bit more straitlaced since Cecil now has a much wider audience.)
The Redemption of Althalus, by David and Leigh Eddings C+ A "by the numbers" fantasy epic. These guys really need to come up with something new to write about.
Cracking the Genome, by Kevin Davies B- Occasionally interesting story about the race to decode the human genome, but gets tedious more often than it should.
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, by Dave Eggers B A nice story about a guy who raises his 12-year-old brother after their mother dies. It sells itself as a very candid story, and sometimes is, but it also devolves into pretentiousness a little too often for my taste.
Manifold Time, by Stephen Baxter C- A clumsily written book about an inventor who goes through time until he gets to the end of the universe...or something like that.
The Tailor of Panama, by John Le Carre C+ The movie was better.
The Big Con, by David W. Maurer B An intermittently interesting account of both big cons (a la "The Sting") and small cons from the early part of the century.
A Case of Conscience, by James Blish B A 21st century priest has to decide if the inhabitants of a newly discovered planet are creatures of God or creatures of Satan.
As Nature Made Him, by John Colapinto B+ An absorbing tale of a baby who was raised as a girl after his penis was accidentally severed. It didn't take....
The Great Disruption, by Francis Fukuyama B- This is from the same guy who thinks that history is over now that we've discovered capitalism. In this book, he tries to convince us that the social order in the West started disintegrating in--surprise!--the 60s, but his use of statistics and anecdotes is so obviously biased that it amounts to little more than a case of special pleading.
This is Berlin, by William Shirer B A collection of Shirer's radio scripts from the 30s and early 40s. It's good reading, but the format is so limiting, and the censorship so crippling, that it loses an awful lot of its value.
No Man's Land, DC Comics B+ A five-volume reprinting of the year-long series in the Batman comic books. One of the better long story arcs I've read in the past few years.
Introducing Keynesian Economics, by Peter Pugh and Chris Garratt C A brief, comic-book intro to Keynesian economics that does a lousy job of actually explaining what Keynes said.
Freedom from Fear, by David Kennedy A- A tremendously interesting and well constructed survey of America during the Depression and World War II.
Robert A. Heinlein: A Reader's Companion, by James Gifford B A review of everything ever written by Heinlein, by one of his foremost researchers. Unfortunately, it suffers from its breadth since each entry is necessarily quite short and therefore not very enlightening.
New Ideas from Dead Economists, by Todd Buchholz B A general survey of economic thought over the past couple of centuries. OK but not great.
The Money Culture, by Michael Lewis B A collection of Lewis' early essays.
Smashmouth, by Dana Milbank C- Supposedly the story of how the Bush/Gore campaign degenerated into the gutter, but it never delivers the goods.
Defenders of the Truth, by Ullica Segerstråle B+ A very good account of the sociobiology debate of the past 30 years, but not for the faint of heart.
Down and Dirty, by Jake Tapper B+ A spirited and pretty evenhanded description of the Florida recount fiasco.
The End of Science, by John Horgan C- Banal and sometimes idiotic book that tries to convince us that science has reached it limits and has nothing more to discover.
The Seven Sins of Memory, by Daniel Schachter C The seven ways in which memory can fail us. Not very enlightening.
Contempt of Court, by Mark Curriden and Leroy Phillips Jr. B- The story of the only occasion in which the Supreme Court has acted as a trial court, a lynching case in the early part of the century. It's a good hook for a book, but for some reason the storytelling was only so-so.
The Lucifer Principle, by Howard Bloom C Another nature/nurture book. This one has its own peculiar theme, but nothing new to offer.
Keynes and After, by Michael Stewart B+ Of all the books I read trying to figure out what Keynes actually said, this was the only one that did a good job of explaining his theories. As a bonus, Stewart also does a good job of explaining post-Keynesian theories through the late 80s.
Twins, by Lawrence Wright B+ Excellent short account of what twin studies have told us about how nature and nurture interact in forming human behavior.
Destiny's Road, by Larry Niven D+ Wretched and nonsensical novel about a supposed planetwide sociological experiment.
Schrödinger's Kittens, by John Gribbin B- An occasionally interesting account of the latest in quantum mechanical theory, but somehow fails to hold together.
Science and Anti-Science, by Gerald Holton C- Uninteresting collection of essays about the philosophy of science. This was my first introduction to the academic phenomenon of anti-science, about which more later...
e, by Matt Beaumont B+ A funny book about life at a British advertising agency, told via the medium of email.
Living with our Genes, by Dean Hamer and Peter Copeland B More on nature/nurture. Not a bad introduction, but never really developed into anything interesting or new.
A History of Economics, by John Kenneth Galbraith B- This is probably better than I'm giving it credit for, but I wanted more on modern economics and I didn't get it.
After the Science Wars, by Keith Ashman and Philip Baringer C+ More essay on the science wars. Apparently, scientists believe that science is a true description of the physical world, while radical humanities types believe it is merely one of many valid "narratives" of our experience. The mind reels...
Best of the Annals of Irreproducible Research B- A few funny pieces, but only a few.
Mathematics: The New Golden Age, by Keith Devlin B- A review of some classic math problems and where they stand today. It didn't really grab me.
The Golem: What You Should Know About Science, by Harry Collins and Trevor Pinch B Yet more on the science wars. This book has some interesting material about various scientific discoveries of the 20th century along with discussions of how and why they were accepted or rejected. The chapter on general relativity is especially interesting, but the overall conclusion seems disproportionate to the evidence the authors introduce. Self-correction is one of the hallmarks of the western scientific method, and the fact that this can be a messy process shouldn't be taken as evidence that the whole enterprise is irrational.
The Barmaid's Brain, by Jay Ingram C A collection of mediocre science essays. However, "The Monks Who Saw the Moon Split Open," about an unsolved night sighting in England in 1178, was pretty interesting.
Etiquette for Outlaws, by Rob Cohen and David Wollock C- The "inside dope" on gambling, strip clubs, drugs, S&M, etc. Turned out to be fairly tedious.
Cyberselfish, by Paulina Borsook B A pretty interesting book about the libertarian basis of much of Silicon Valley's culture. Added bonus: I wrote an email to Borsook and she was nice enough to answer back.
Why People Believe Weird Things, by Michael Shermer C+ This should have been titled "What Weird Things People Believe." It ended up being little more than a compendium of oddball beliefs with nary an explanation of why to be found.
Does God Play Dice?, by Ian Stewart C Oddly, this is about chaos theory, not quantum mechanics. It's an extremely detailed review of chaos theory, and definitely not for the mathematically faint of heart.
The Rhetoric of Economics, by Deirdre McCloskey C+ A love poem to expository economics and a warning that mathematical economics is mostly horseshit. I was unable to finish it.
Higher Superstition: The Academic Left and its Quarrels with Science, by Paul Gross and Norman Levitt B The book that started it all: Gross and Levitt exposed to a wide audience the bizarre attitude toward science of many "leftish" humanities professors in academia. It really is remarkable the things these folks seem to believe, although the book suffers from spending too long on a small set of examples instead of casting a wider net.
Great Feuds in Science, by Hal Hellman B Pretty decent book about, well, great feuds in science.
The Lady Tasting Tea, by David Salsburg B Interesting book about the development of statistics in the 20th century, with good stuff about Fisher, Pearson, Gosset (the "Student" of Student's t) and others. Statistics is as influential and probably as fundamental as calculus, and it's nice to have a good popular book on the subject at last.
The Truth About the Truth, by Walter Truett Anderson B- Essays on postmodernism. They are mostly well chosen (i.e., not too full of ridiculous jargon), and it's probably a good introduction if you're really interested in what postmodernism is supposedly about, but overall it's disappointing. Do these people really think that they're the first ones ever to realize that different cultures have different points of view?
Suburban Warriors, by Lisa McGirr C Supposedly the story of the growth of the right wing movement in Orange County in the 60s, in reality it's a medicre account of the national rise of the right wing movement with occasional examples from Orange County.
The Godfather, by Mario Puzo B We all know what this is about, right?
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, by Michael Chabon B+ An entertaining story of two Eastern European boys who flee to America in the 30s and become a comic book writer/artist team. It won a Pulitzer Prize.
Valley of the Dolls, by Jaqueline Susann B I was curious about why this is the best selling novel of all time. I'm still curious.
The Revolution That Never Was, by Will Hutton C+ Hutton believes that Keynesian economics was never really given a chance and explains what he thinks Keynesianism is really about. Unfortunately, he drifts off into pointless detail all too often and never really hits a stride.
The Fabric of Reality, by David Deutsch B- A physicist speculates on what quantum mechanics and other modern theories really mean. Deutsch deserves credit for having the courage of his convictions, but he never really convinced me.
Human Natures, by Paul Ehrlich C Another take on genes vs. environment. In many ways this is a more balanced treatment than usual, but in the end, for ideological reasons, Ehrlich seems to shy away from his own evidence that genes really do play a big part in forming human nature.
Demons, by Fyodor Dostoyevsky C+ Originally titled The Possessed. This was a pretty hard slog with not much to show for it in the end.
The CEO of the Sofa, by P.J. O'Rourke B Another collection of essays from P.J.
Shopgirl, by Steve Martin B Mildly amusing short novel from the comic actor.
Making the List, by Michael Korda B- A rundown of all the bestsellers of the 20th century, with commentary.
Fool's Paradise, by Carey McWilliams B+ Good collection of essays about mid-century California.
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, by J.K. Rowling B- Not as good as #1.
One Scandalous Story, by Marvin Kalb B A veteran newsman dissects the media's treatment of the Monica Lewinsky story. He thinks the media did a miserable job, but I'm not sure he really makes his case.
Newton's Tyranny, by David Clark and Stephen Clark C+ Short little book about the fight between Newton and John Flamsteed over Flamsteed's astronomical observations. Although it's true that Newton had an overbearing personality, Clark & Clark give short shrift to Flamsteed's dilatory behavior, which could have tried the patience of a saint.
The Map That Changed the World, by Simon winchester C+ Yet another attempt to show that something or other has been scandalously overlooked by generations of historians. William Smith and his geological map may have been treated badly at the time, but this has surely been more than made up over the past century and a half.
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, by J.K. Rowling B Better than #2.
Acid Tongues and Tranquil Dreamers, by Michael White B More scientific feuds. Generally entertaining and well told.
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, by J.K. Rowling B More of the same. The Harry Potter books are good, but I wish Rowling would break the mold just a little bit from book to book.
Anne of the Island, by L.M. Montgomery C The third book in the Anne of Green Gables series.
Best American Science Writing 2001, by Timothy Ferris B- A few good essays, but nothing really memorable.
Word Freak, by Stefan Fatsis B+ A very entertaining account of one man's journey to become an expert Scrabble player.

Movie Awards

2001 awards are given for movies seen by Kevin in theaters in 2001, regardless of production date. Here are the 2001 winners...

  • Best drama: Traffic. This is a 2000 release, of course, but I saw it in January, so here it is. Traffic was the only top notch movie I saw this year, a genuinely compelling and moving story of the drug trade and how it affects society. Yes, it gets a little heavy handed occasionally, but for the most part I though it made its points intelligently and honestly.
  • Honorable mention drama: Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is another 2000 release that slipped into 2001, and deserves recognition for the ingeniousness of its special effects (which, unfortunately, are quickly being copied into every single martial arts flick made). Spy Game was a pretty decent Robert Redford CIA vehicle, and both Ocean's Eleven and The Deep End were watchable, engaging movies.
  • Best comedy: Bridget Jones' Diary. As with dramas, I only saw one comedy I really liked this year, and this is it. Renee Zellwegger was excellent, and the humor was pointed and sharp. The only other decent comedy this year was Shrek, a pretty good animated feature that suffered a little bit from heavy handedness toward the end.
  • Worst movie of the year: This was an unusually bland year: there weren't many great movies but there also weren't many stinkers, and nothing that deserves to be called worst movie. However, of the three movies that earned a C+ grade, I would have to score Baby Boy as the worst of the lot. There was nothing badly wrong with it, but it just never seemed to make its point in any kind of coherent way.

A complete list of 2001 movies, in the order seen, is below:

Title Grade Kevin's Opinion
Traffic B+ Well directed and well scripted account of the drug trade and how it affects three different American and Mexican families.
Cast Away B- Neither the "island half" or the "back home half" of this movie quite worked for me.
13 Days B A decent, but not great, account of the Cuban missile crisis. Worth seeing.
Finding Forrester B This was quite good for the first hour, but then broke down a bit and lost my interest. Overall, a good movie to rent.
Chocolat B- A little too sappy and predictable for my taste.
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon B+ The story is actually pretty routine, but the original use of special effects makes this worth seeing.
Enemy at the Gates B Good but not great movie about rival sharpshooters at the Battle of Stalingrad.
Tailor of Panama B A good adaptation of the book, but devolves into an ending that was awfully hard to follow. (Then again, so did the book...)
Bridget Jones' Diary B+ Well modulated comedy about being single and mediocre in London.
Shrek B Pretty good animated feature that tells us not to judge a book by its cover.
The Fast and the Furious B This was a pretty dumb car movie, but I enjoyed it.
Swordfish B- With a little more work, this could have been a top notch thriller. As it was, it didn't quite make the grade.
Baby Boy C+ Tedious and didactic movie about black men who abandon their families.
The Score B- Elaborate and unbelievable heist caper.
Sexy Beast B- This got great reviews, but it just didn't hold my attention.
Planet of the Apes B Mediocre remake of the classic movie.
The Deep End B Pretty decent story of blackmail and revenge in a small town.
The Last Castle B- This military prison drama was OK for its first hour and pretty dumb for its second.
K-PAX C+ I just never really got the point here. Plus, I'm not that big a Kevin Spacey fan.
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone B This was a decent (and faithful) adaptation of the book, but it never seemed to develop any real momentum.
Spy Game B+ Robert Redford does a good job in this CIA thriller, although the ending is a little too pat.
Vanilla Sky B- This was mostly just a mishmash with a weird ending, although it's saved (slightly) by the fact that the whole thing turns out to be an elaborate setup for a tech support joke.
Ocean's Eleven B Pretty good robbery caper.
Monsters Inc. C+ Good premise, bad execution.

Once again, this was a poor year for movies. Almost nothing really caught my fancy, and it's hard to pick out ten good films from the mere 24 that I saw. However, here's the annual Top Ten list, for better or worse:

  1. Traffic
  2. Bridget Jones' Diary
  3. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
  4. Spy Game
  5. The Deep End
  6. Shrek
  7. 13 Days
  8. Ocean's Eleven
  9. Enemy at the Gates
  10. The Fast and the Furious

Book and Movie Statistics

The total number of reviewed books was a stupendous 70, up from last year's 57, helped along by the 27 books I read in May and June while traveling on the reseller road show with absolutely no official duties to distract me. They broke up as follows:

  • General fiction: 10
  • Science fiction/fantasy: 8
  • Nonfiction: 52

This continues last year's trend of reading more nonfiction, which has increased from about 50% in 1998-99 to nearly 75% in 2000-01.

The total number of reviewed movies was 24, up slightly from last year's dismal performance. It's hard to say if 2001 was better or worse than 2000, or if I've just gotten so wearied that I can hardly tell the difference any more. One telling indicator of sameness: 21 out of 24 movies received grades of B+ to B-.

Grade distribution for books and movies in 2001 was as follows:

Note: a grade of B- is the cutoff point for recommendations: anything above it is recommended, anything below it is not, and anything that received a B- is on the edge.

Tennis Awards

2001 was a tough tennis year, although not for the usual reason: I had to stop playing in late August due to an injury that turned out to be a torn medial meniscus in my left knee. Surgery in December fixed it up, and I should be back on the courts by March. Because of this, total sets played was much lower than in previous years, and I ended up with a full-year record of 5-29 and a winning percentage of 15%. Next year, with a brand new knee and my body back in peak physical condition, I should easily be able to increase that to 16 or 17%.

Complete 2001 tennis statistics are below:

First Set Second Set YTD Score
4-6 3-6 0-2
2-6 4-6 0-4
6-1 6-3 2-4
6-7 (5-7)   2-5
1-6 5-7 2-7
4-6 5-7 2-9
1-6 4-6 2-11
3-6 4-6 2-13
3-6 1-4 (ret.) 2-15
4-6 3-6 2-17
5-7 4-1 2-18
2-6 4-3 2-19
4-6 6-6 2-20
4-6 4-4 2-21
6-4 3-4 3-21
1-6 5-7 3-23
3-6 4-6 3-25
2-6 4-6 3-27
2-6 6-3 4-28
6-3 1-6 5-29