The Time Travellers Wife (Audrey Niffenegger)

This is one of those rare genre-crossing pieces - science fiction combined with a love story. The book is quite slow to get going, but if you fight your way through the first 50 or so pages, as introduction, this develops into a fascinating story. The book describes the developing relationship between a young woman and a man who is an accidental time-traveller, dragged back and forth in time at the whim of a genetic problem. In standard science fiction, time travel is generally viewed as a liberating experience, but this book describes a darker side of time travel, where there is no control. This is reminiscent of Ian Watson's short story "The Very Slow Time Machine", but with a much stronger link to reality, with the science fiction here linked to (a potential) reality. And, although the scenes shift backwards and forwards in time, the characters develop and grow as if the story was unfolding chronologically.

As the characters develop, we feel the pain and embarrassment from situations that arise from accidental time travel, which carries the book towards its conclusions. Unfortunately, the conclusions is foretold somewhat prematurely, which lessens the impact of the ending. Otherwise, an excellent example of an unusual combination of genres.

Have the Men Had Enough? (Margaret Foster)

This is a beautifully constructed portrait of a family coming to terms with (or failing to) dementia within the family. After a lifetime caring for the family, when the mother/ grandmother needs caring for herself, what is the best approach the family can take? The characters demonstrate the range of emotions and responses that arise in this family challenge – is the quality of grandma’s life more important than her safety? Is the damage to other people outweighed by her happiness? Who benefits, who gains, who loses, who cares? Rather than a purely clinical discussion of dementia, this book celebrates the joys of the patient’s former youth and glory, and combines this with a perspective on some of the more ridiculous aspects of the current situation. The tone conveys the seriousness of the problem, but allows a light-hearted style to convey the message with great effect.

This book draws attention to the questions and challenges that families face with caring for dementia. The characters’ different values and beliefs highlight the conflicts that will arise over caring, comforting and controlling both the sick and healthy within a family. If you are facing this challenge, or fear this for the future, read and share this book with your family – this may give you some reference-point to start the discussions.

The Men Who Stare at Goats (Jon Ronson)

This is written as a documentary exploration of some truly bizarre forms of research into alternative forms of killing, torture and manipulation by various governments, mainly US and UK. While similar to a Michael Moore exposure, it's also so close to a novel that it's hard to tell whether this is truth or fiction (take Moore's Sicko and add in The Constant Gardener). The book investigates forms of development of the human brain usually associated with the personal development movement, but applied to military and government control. From staring at goats (to kill them) to walking through walls, this covers a number of esoteric development skills. The reporting lists interviews with people purported to be involved in this research, and interweaves well-documented cases that add semblance of veracity to these reports. But the evidence is thin.

As a light-hearted holiday read, this deserves marks for an imaginative overview of potentially crazy investments of public funds. As an investigative journal, this is light on evidence and poorly organised to prove a point. Read it and laugh, and suspend belief.

Flags of Our Fathers (James Bradley)

Describing the men involved in the famous photo of the flag-raising on Iwo Juma, this book explores their lives before the war and the reactions of the survivors after. Although described as "the best battle book I have ever read" by Stephen Ambrose (Band of Brothers) on the cover, this does not focus on the battle itself. It is the story of a generation signing up for the army after Pearl Harbour, and the lives of the survivors in searching for meaning after the atrocities in the Pacific theatre. As a European, the Second World War has always meant the Allies and Germany - the battles of Europe, the ghettos and the concentration camps are enough history for one period. So I was not aware of the campaigns and battles in the Pacific - America's war. This book opened my eyes to the war in that part of the world.

There may be other books that describe the battles in greater detail, but this focussed on those few people involved in a simple ceremony during the battle - a flag-raising. Due to one of the flukes of history, this ceremony became iconographic of the battles and victories, and the participants became a nation's heroes. But the book describes their true feelings - simple soldiers doing their job, not heroes. Written by one of the flag-raisers sons, he describes his search for the details of the events after his father's death. The soldiers had remained silent for decades following the battle, and the book highlights some of the possible reasons. The tale of the battle's death and destruction never descends into glorifying battle, but helps us to understand what these soldiers faced, fighting an enemy committed to death rather than surrender. Their struggle to learn a new life after the war is as poignant as the scenes they witnessed in battle. A book to make you cry at the destruction that can be wrought by misguided sets of beliefs and values.

Player Piano (Kurt Vonnegut)

Kurt Vonnegut’s first novel is set in a dystopian America of the future, where technology has made manual work obsolete. This society divides into the few technocrats and managers who devise and control the machines, and the masses. A semi-utopian ideal removes the need for work and provides the masses with all they physically need, but provides no hope – what service can they provide? For those outside the elite, their only work is the army or the “Reeks and Wrecks” (Reconstruction & Reclamation Corps), and even the army is not trusted with guns in an age where wars are fought by machines in foreign lands. Even the legal system has been automated, with machines that analyse data and precedent to pronounce judgement. The book is centred on one character’s struggle to find meaning within this society. Dr Paul Proteus is one of the elite, an engineer who manages one of the vast automated factories. But his state-controlled life provides material wealth and little satisfaction. The book follows his journey from elite to subversive in his search for meaning.

Written around the same time as 1984, the book offers a similar view of the future with total state control of society, work and media. While lighter in tone than 1984, the messages are strikingly similar and the outcome similar. This book ends pessimistically, challenging the goals of constant development but highlighting the needs that drive them.

The Black Swan (Naseem Taleb)

This book is written by a proud sceptic, who challenges all our assumptions about systems and beliefs in modern science and particularly economics. The author worked in large financial firms, and (fore)-saw the downfall of current beliefs. He argues strenuously for people to avoid believing in the charlatans, and demonstrates numerous failings of the systems. But he fails to offer a better way so, despite his displayed intellect and thinking prowess, he comes across as a whiner. This is unfortunate, as I warmed to his message, but I found myself constantly waiting for the great revelation of how things could be run better. It never really appeared.

There is also a follow-up essay from the author - The Fourth Quadrant: A Map of the Limits of Statistics and finally a set of actions for the future. While Mark Vernon argues there is a flaw in the black swan argument.

The Periodic Table (Primo Levi)

Loosely structured around a selection of the chemical elements, this book is a collection of short stories from the author’s memories of a life working in chemistry, together with a couple of pieces of fiction. The book starts with a long rambling chapter about relations in Piedmont before the war, a collection of memories of people from the author’s past. This is a huge barrier to the reader, but the book becomes much more readable after this opening. Primo Levi is famous for his accounts of Auschwitz and afterwards (If This Is a Man (and) The Truce), and this book continues the theme but mostly focuses elsewhere in his life. The painful march towards Auschwitz is described over several years of people’s ignorance, lack of information and unwillingness to be informed. In working for the army in 1942, he recognises that he could have helped the German war effort and admits that he dismissed this notion, focussing on his desire to prove his worth to people who had labelled him inferior. Later chapters tackle the re-appearance of former captors in business many years later, and the dilemma Levi faced in dealing with them.

These are critical thoughts from a survivor of Europe’s darkest hour, and his commentary on his own actions calls for self-reflection. But the deep nature of this thinking does not make this a great book. There are supreme highs followed by long rambling sections that detract from the overall story. The fictional short stories fit with the book’s title, but fail to add to the overall message. Five stars for the message, three for the writing.