Cameron Recommends: Top 3 Non-Fiction Books of 2015

Everyone, hello! As promised here are some lists to cover some of my favorite things from 2015. I'll be beginning with non-fiction. I have in the last few years begun to read more non-fiction releases. So to begin with, here are my top 3 favorite non-fiction books I read from 2015:

Number 3 - How Star Wars Conquered the Universe by Chris Taylor

This was a very, very comprehensive look at George Lucas and Star Wars. The first 30% of the book is mainly about George Lucas' early life and the many sources that influenced the creation of the greatest science fiction franchise ever (sorry Star Trek fans). The next part of the book goes into the actual making of all the Star Wars films and cartoons. It goes into the selling of Lucasfilm to Disney and the beginning of production on The Force Awakens. Throughout the book, the author goes into the influences Star Wars has had on fans, culture and Hollywood. I thoroughly enjoyed it, especially where the author summarizes early drafts of the scripts.

Number 2 - You're Never Weird on the Internet by Felicia Day

I absolutely loved this book, 5 stars. I listened to this one (Felicia Day narrates it herself and she is hilarious). Felicia Day has had an interesting and pretty remarkable life. From being home-schooled, to being accepted to a University on a full-ride violin performance scholarship at the age of 16, to being the mind behind one of the biggest youtube channels there is. What I loved most about this book (other than Felicia's charm and humor) was her honesty. She candidly talks about video game addictions and the harm it had on her. She talks about what got her out of that and how she accepted it. She then talks about the mental health issues she experienced and how she got help for those. Her candor on these topics, mixed with humor, is refreshing and encouraging. I recommend this to anyone and everyone. 
One content warning, there is a chapter in the book on Felicia's experience with gamergate. In it, she reads some of the messages that were sent to her during this time. They are disgusting, and consequently full of terrible language. I feel the chapter is important, as it shows one of the uglier sides of the internet, but more sensitive people may want to skip it. 
If you know anyone who is or who has struggled with video game addiction, or mental health/anxiety issues I would recommend you gift them this book. It is funny but I believe it could help. I was lucky enough to get a signed copy of this from Felicia Day herself at SLC Comic Con 2015 and couldn't be happier about it.

Number 1 - What If? by Randall Munroe

If you haven't been to XKCD the website you are missing out on some very funny and nerdy stuff. (Though I'd say only about 60% of his comics actually make me chuckle) This book, by the author of XKCD, is fantastic. Using his very popular website, Munroe has gathered several absurd, science-based questions, like "How much force power can Yoda produce?" or "What if a rainstorm dropped all of its water in a single giant drop?". Munroe answers these questions using his background as a physicist at NASA and the help of many different professional sources. A lot of the answers result in the end of human civilization, which is fun. But it makes for an interesting and awesome read. I would recommend this to anyone who has ever wondered "What if . . "

Have any of you read these books?

A quick update and plans for the future

Hello readers both old and new, how've you been?

I know it's been over a year, again. I'm just not very great st keeping up with this blog. It's not like I haven't been writing reviews, I have but I've been writing them over at Goodreads. I'll post a bunch of post a bunch of these kn here, I'll probably do a post here soon on my best/worst books, movies, and games of 2015. Hopefully, that'll make up for my absence.

I've also got a draft of an obituary for my beloved dog Kramer that I'm still working on (that's been emotional and difficult to write). The nostalgic, journal-ly side of me still wants to write a series of blogs on important people, places and events in my life. I want to be very candid in these, write about both the very good and bad. This has the potential to offend some people. But I want to be honest about these experiences. It's not like a ton of people are reading this blog anyways.

I want to keep the focus of his blog on things I am passionate about, so I'll keep doing Cameron Recommends and Cameron Doesn't Recommend posts. But I want to use this as a pseudojournal too. I know my writing isn't poetic or really all that great but I'd like to have a place to point loved ones too who want to learn more about me. Anyways, that's all for now. I'm going to start drafting some posts.