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6 | <title>The Printed Word Is Stronger Than Nuclear Arms</title> |
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12 | <body> |
13 | <h1>The Printed Word Is Stronger Than Nuclear Arms</h1> |
14 | <div class="contents"> |
15 | <dl> |
16 | <dt> |
17 | <a href="#sec1">Authors</a> |
18 | </dt> |
19 | <dd> |
20 | <dl> |
21 | <dt> |
22 | <a href="#sec2">William Blake</a> |
23 | </dt> |
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24 | <dt> |
25 | <a href="#sec3">Kahlil Gibran</a> |
26 | </dt> |
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27 | </dl> |
28 | </dd> |
29 | <dt> |
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30 | <a href="#sec4">Fiction</a> |
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31 | </dt> |
32 | <dd> |
33 | <dl> |
34 | <dt> |
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35 | <a href="#sec5">General</a> |
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36 | </dt> |
37 | <dd> |
38 | <dl> |
39 | <dt> |
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40 | <a href="#sec6">Luke Rhinehardt - The Dice Man</a> |
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41 | </dt> |
42 | </dl> |
43 | </dd> |
44 | <dt> |
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45 | <a href="#sec7">Philosophical</a> |
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46 | </dt> |
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47 | <dt> |
48 | <a href="#sec8">Sci-Fi</a> |
49 | </dt> |
50 | <dd> |
51 | <dl> |
52 | <dt> |
53 | <a href="#sec9">Neal Stephenson</a> |
54 | </dt> |
55 | </dl> |
56 | </dd> |
57 | </dl> |
58 | </dd> |
59 | <dt> |
60 | <a href="#sec10">Non-Fiction</a> |
61 | </dt> |
62 | <dd> |
63 | <dl> |
64 | <dt> |
65 | <a href="#sec11">Education</a> |
66 | </dt> |
67 | <dd> |
68 | <dl> |
69 | <dt> |
70 | <a href="#sec12">John Taylor Gatto - Underground History of American Education</a> |
71 | </dt> |
72 | </dl> |
73 | </dd> |
74 | <dt> |
75 | <a href="#sec13">Philosophy</a> |
76 | </dt> |
77 | <dd> |
78 | <dl> |
79 | <dt> |
80 | <a href="#sec14">Chinese</a> |
81 | </dt> |
82 | <dt> |
83 | <a href="#sec15">Marcus Aurelius - Meditations</a> |
84 | </dt> |
85 | <dt> |
86 | <a href="#sec16">Søren Kierkegaard - The Sickness Unto Death</a> |
87 | </dt> |
88 | </dl> |
89 | </dd> |
90 | <dt> |
91 | <a href="#sec17">Politics</a> |
92 | </dt> |
93 | <dd> |
94 | <dl> |
95 | <dt> |
96 | <a href="#sec18">Thomas More - Utopia</a> |
97 | </dt> |
98 | </dl> |
99 | </dd> |
100 | <dt> |
101 | <a href="#sec19">Religion</a> |
102 | </dt> |
103 | <dd> |
104 | <dl> |
105 | <dt> |
106 | <a href="#sec20">William James - The Varieties of Religious Experience</a> |
107 | </dt> |
108 | </dl> |
109 | </dd> |
110 | <dt> |
111 | <a href="#sec21">Technical</a> |
112 | </dt> |
113 | <dd> |
114 | <dl> |
115 | <dt> |
116 | <a href="#sec22">C J Date - Database in Depth</a> |
117 | </dt> |
118 | <dt> |
119 | <a href="#sec23">Gregor Kiczales - The Art of the Metaobject Protocol</a> |
120 | </dt> |
121 | </dl> |
122 | </dd> |
123 | </dl> |
124 | </dd> |
125 | <dt> |
126 | <a href="#sec24">Reports</a> |
127 | </dt> |
128 | <dd> |
129 | <dl> |
130 | <dt> |
131 | <a href="#sec25">2003 National Assesement of Adult Literacy</a> |
132 | </dt> |
133 | </dl> |
134 | </dd> |
135 | <dt> |
136 | <a href="#sec26">Books That I Cannot Find</a> |
137 | </dt> |
138 | <dt> |
139 | <a href="#sec27">Essays</a> |
140 | </dt> |
141 | <dd> |
142 | <dl> |
143 | <dt> |
144 | <a href="#sec28">Computing</a> |
145 | </dt> |
146 | <dd> |
147 | <dl> |
148 | <dt> |
149 | <a href="#sec29">Design</a> |
150 | </dt> |
151 | </dl> |
152 | </dd> |
153 | </dl> |
154 | </dd> |
155 | </dl> |
156 | </div> |
157 | |
158 | |
159 | <!-- Page published by Emacs Muse begins here --><p>I enjoy classical literature and works of philosophy and politics with |
160 | a side of cyberpunk novels for when my brain is tired. When I was in |
161 | High School I read technical books for fun, but now I tend to find |
162 | most of them useless (thank you Internet) excepting a few really well |
163 | written ones (<em>L.i.s.p</em>, <em>TAOCP</em>, ...).</p> |
164 | |
165 | <p>I spend most of my time reading. A full list of things I have read |
166 | would be impossible to compile, but here I am collecting links and |
167 | small summaries of things I have read and find interesting enough to |
168 | mention, but not always recommend, to others.</p> |
169 | |
170 | <h2><a name="sec1" id="sec1"></a> |
171 | Authors</h2> |
172 | |
173 | <h3><a name="sec2" id="sec2"></a> |
174 | William Blake</h3> |
175 | |
176 | <p class="first">His poetry is the result of spending too much time etching copper |
177 | plates and breathing the fumes. Quite wonderful indeed.</p> |
178 | |
179 | |
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180 | <h3><a name="sec3" id="sec3"></a> |
181 | Kahlil Gibran</h3> |
182 | |
183 | <p class="first">Kahlil Gibran is fairly interesting; his earlier works do not agree |
184 | with my æsthetic sense (blah blah), but <em>The Madman</em> onward are all |
185 | rather nice. So far I've read <em>A Tear and a Smile</em> (not so good |
186 | excepting the last poem), <em>The Madman</em>, <em>The Prophet</em> (both excellent), |
187 | and <em>Sand and Foam</em> (an interesting little book of aphorisms). A few of |
188 | his works are <a href="http://leb.net/~mira/">online</a>, but I recommend scouting used book stores for |
189 | old hardcover editions. The (late 90s onward at least) <em>hardcover</em> |
190 | versions from <em>Alfred A. Knopf</em> are in fact permabound paperbacks with a |
191 | hardcasing, and are of seriously inferior quality to the editions from |
192 | the 50s and 60s (and cost quite a bit more, naturally).</p> |
193 | |
194 | |
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195 | |
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196 | <h2><a name="sec4" id="sec4"></a> |
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197 | Fiction</h2> |
198 | |
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199 | <h3><a name="sec5" id="sec5"></a> |
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200 | General</h3> |
201 | |
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202 | <h4><a name="sec6" id="sec6"></a> |
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203 | Luke Rhinehardt - The Dice Man</h4> |
204 | |
205 | <blockquote> |
206 | <p class="quoted"> |
207 | And it's his illusions about what |
208 | constitutes the real world which are |
209 | inhibiting him... |
210 | His reality, his reason, his society |
211 | ...these are what must be destroyed</p> |
212 | |
213 | </blockquote> |
214 | |
215 | <p>A quotation from one of my <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slaughter_of_the_Soul">favorite metal songs</a> inspired me to grab |
216 | this book; at worst it would be a waste of time. Much reward was found |
217 | in this random stab in the dark. The book is framed as an |
218 | autobiography of the author as a psychoanalyst, and his progression |
219 | through life as a Dice Man after deciding to live his life through |
220 | random chance.</p> |
221 | |
222 | <p>The style, plot, and content are equally neurotic; part comedy, part |
223 | attack on psychoanalysis, and part deep philosophy. It was often |
224 | difficult to put down, and was read in under a week of spare time.</p> |
225 | |
226 | |
227 | |
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228 | <h3><a name="sec7" id="sec7"></a> |
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229 | Philosophical</h3> |
230 | |
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231 | |
232 | <h3><a name="sec8" id="sec8"></a> |
233 | Sci-Fi</h3> |
234 | |
235 | <h4><a name="sec9" id="sec9"></a> |
236 | Neal Stephenson</h4> |
237 | |
238 | <h5>Cryptonomicon</h5> |
239 | |
240 | <p>I read <em>Cryptonomicon</em> when it was new, and at the time I thought it was |
241 | good. It could have lost a hundred or so pages without detracting from |
242 | the plot, but it was easy reading and didn't take very long to |
243 | finish. The story was enganging, and the continual switching between |
244 | the 1940s and present day slowly unravelled the tale in a nice way.</p> |
245 | |
246 | <p>I'd still have to recommend <em>Snow Crash</em> if one wished to read only one |
247 | Stephenson novel.</p> |
248 | |
249 | |
250 | <h5>Snow Crash</h5> |
251 | |
252 | <p>As one must read the <em>Bible</em> to understand English literature, so one |
253 | must read <em>Snow Crash</em> today to be a nerd. In the realm of modern pop |
254 | fiction this is one of the better books I've read; it was devoured in |
255 | a mere four nights. Neal Stepheson may not be Milton, but he does come |
256 | up with enganging tales. <em>Snow Crash</em> has a nice undertone of (quite |
257 | accurate) political and social commentary that makes it worth reading |
258 | as more than mere cyberpunk fiction.</p> |
259 | |
260 | |
261 | |
262 | |
263 | |
264 | <h2><a name="sec10" id="sec10"></a> |
265 | Non-Fiction</h2> |
266 | |
267 | <h3><a name="sec11" id="sec11"></a> |
268 | Education</h3> |
269 | |
270 | <h4><a name="sec12" id="sec12"></a> |
271 | John Taylor Gatto - <a href="http://www.johntaylorgatto.com/underground/toc1.htm">Underground History of American Education</a></h4> |
272 | |
273 | <p class="first">Contained within this book (available online for free, but the printed |
274 | copy sits wonderfully on a shelf) is a detailed and seemingly well |
275 | researched history of American Education with a particular focus on |
276 | the transformation that has occured before our eyes in the last |
277 | century. I am unsure if Gatto is entirely correct and not exaggerating |
278 | anything; I have failed to find any negative criticisms, but it is not |
279 | clear to me if that is because he is entirely correct or if no one |
280 | cares enough to write a counterargument. I am in the process of |
281 | tracking down as many of his sources as possible (a good number of |
282 | them are out of print and not in the public domain yet), and will make |
283 | an attempt to verify his argument over the course of the next year |
284 | (that being 2007).</p> |
285 | |
286 | <p>If he is correct then every one of us has had the first eighteen years |
287 | of our lives stolen from us, and we have collectively suffered massive |
288 | intellectual damage. My intuitions tell me he is correct (which is why |
289 | I am driven to verify; I cannot trust myself because I <em>want</em> to |
290 | believe) for my individuality and intelligence were nearly stolen from |
291 | me. The only reason I survived relatively unscathed is because I |
292 | became completely socially withdrawn for the last half of elementary |
293 | school until late in high school due to the abuse I received at the |
294 | hands of my peers creating a deep fear of social interaction in |
295 | me. The downside is that I had the confidence crushed from my soul, |
296 | but now that I have begun to regain it (the good that bicycling |
297 | enabling me to stand straight and gradual realization of my own worth |
298 | as a human have done) I would never trade the ability to think freely |
299 | for the social skills I lack.</p> |
300 | |
301 | |
302 | |
303 | <h3><a name="sec13" id="sec13"></a> |
304 | Philosophy</h3> |
305 | |
306 | <h4><a name="sec14" id="sec14"></a> |
307 | Chinese</h4> |
308 | |
309 | <h5>Tao Te Ching</h5> |
310 | |
311 | |
312 | <h5>Confucianism</h5> |
313 | |
314 | <h5>The Analects</h5> |
315 | |
316 | |
317 | |
318 | |
319 | <h4><a name="sec15" id="sec15"></a> |
320 | Marcus Aurelius - Meditations</h4> |
321 | |
322 | <p class="first">I enjoyed reading this collection of meditations on Stoic |
323 | philosophy. It is a fairly quick read; I read each of the twelve books |
324 | before sleeping over the course of two weeks. Toward the end of the |
325 | collection things get a bit topically repetetive (e.g. acting |
326 | according to the nature of man is reflected upon over and over), but |
327 | each repetition looks at the topic in a slightly different light. A |
328 | number of passages I found quite inspiring, and scratched them down in |
329 | my notebook to ponder further.</p> |
330 | |
331 | |
332 | <h4><a name="sec16" id="sec16"></a> |
333 | Søren Kierkegaard - The Sickness Unto Death</h4> |
334 | |
335 | <p class="first">I purchased this when I was looking through books at a store after |
336 | being unable to find the book I really wanted, and I must say that it |
337 | was better for me to have found this one.</p> |
338 | |
339 | <p>Contained within is a beautiful analysis of despair in the context of |
340 | Christianity (really theism in general). Even if the argument offends, |
341 | the presentation cannot. The dialectical nature of despair is |
342 | reflected in every aspect of the work, and the method of presentation |
343 | forces reflection.</p> |
344 | |
345 | |
346 | |
347 | <h3><a name="sec17" id="sec17"></a> |
348 | Politics</h3> |
349 | |
350 | <h4><a name="sec18" id="sec18"></a> |
351 | Thomas More - Utopia</h4> |
352 | |
353 | <p class="first">I read most of Utopia in high school with the TI-89 ebook reader, but |
354 | the way the book was split up made it a bit difficult to grasp the |
355 | overall structure. I found a copy at a used book store one day, and so |
356 | I read it again, and found it much more comprehensible. It is a quick |
357 | read, and decent piece of literature. The interesting social system |
358 | espoused resembles resembles state communism (even if perhaps as a |
359 | negative ideal), but with an strange blend of 14th century European |
360 | social customs.</p> |
361 | |
362 | |
363 | |
364 | <h3><a name="sec19" id="sec19"></a> |
365 | Religion</h3> |
366 | |
367 | <h4><a name="sec20" id="sec20"></a> |
368 | <a href="William%20James%20-%20The%20Varieties%20of%20Religious%20Experience.html">William James - The Varieties of Religious Experience</a></h4> |
369 | |
370 | |
371 | |
372 | |
373 | <h3><a name="sec21" id="sec21"></a> |
374 | Technical</h3> |
375 | |
376 | <h4><a name="sec22" id="sec22"></a> |
377 | C J Date - Database in Depth</h4> |
378 | |
379 | <p class="first">This was a complete waste of time. The author rants on for 180 pages |
380 | and presents the information in a disorderly and shallow manner. It |
381 | could be rewritten in about fifty pages and contain the same amount of |
382 | information if it were organized properly and the off topic commentary |
383 | were minimized.</p> |
384 | |
385 | |
386 | <h4><a name="sec23" id="sec23"></a> |
387 | Gregor Kiczales - The Art of the Metaobject Protocol</h4> |
388 | |
389 | <p class="first">AMOP is useful as a reference to the CLOS MOP (although less so with |
390 | the online MOP spec), but the true value of the book lies in the first |
391 | half of the book. It presents the design of the CLOS MOP through a |
392 | series of revisions that fix limitations of earlier implementations |
393 | and gradually work toward a generic and well designed MOP for |
394 | CLOS. Through that process one is made more aware of a few general |
395 | object protocol design skills, and gains insight into how to cleanly |
396 | make mapping decisions customizable.</p> |
397 | |
398 | |
399 | |
400 | |
401 | |
402 | <h2><a name="sec24" id="sec24"></a> |
403 | Reports</h2> |
404 | |
405 | <h3><a name="sec25" id="sec25"></a> |
406 | <a href="http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2006/2006483.pdf">2003 National Assesement of Adult Literacy</a></h3> |
407 | |
408 | <p class="first">A depressing view of American literacy rates. Literacy skills |
409 | decreased across almost every population segment in the US between |
410 | 1993 and 2003; a mere 31% of college graduates are considered |
411 | proficient in quantitative literacy (defined as being able to do |
412 | things as terribly complicated as comparing two editorials).</p> |
413 | |
414 | |
415 | |
416 | |
417 | <h2><a name="sec26" id="sec26"></a> |
418 | Books That I Cannot Find</h2> |
419 | |
420 | <p class="first">If you know anyone who has copies I'd appreciate an email. I'm willing |
421 | to buy books for a reasonable cost, and for ones that are more than 25 |
422 | years old and out of print I am not opposed to <em>piracy</em> (no one is |
423 | making money from them, and I feel that long copyrights are unethical |
424 | and therefore feel no pangs of moral guilt).</p> |
425 | |
426 | <ul> |
427 | <li><em>Crystallizing Public Opinion</em> by Edward Bernays |
428 | |
429 | <ul> |
430 | <li>A supposed classic in the field of public relations. Curiosity |
431 | demands that I read the writings of the father of the field to |
432 | better understand the way the international media works.</li> |
433 | <li>Another example of out of print books clearly having a market, |
434 | but no publisher due to copyright (used copies go for nearly a |
435 | thousand dollars in poor condition and hit five thousand or so |
436 | for ones in good shape).</li> |
437 | </ul></li> |
438 | </ul> |
439 | |
440 | |
441 | <h2><a name="sec27" id="sec27"></a> |
442 | Essays</h2> |
443 | |
444 | <h3><a name="sec28" id="sec28"></a> |
445 | Computing</h3> |
446 | |
447 | <h4><a name="sec29" id="sec29"></a> |
448 | Design</h4> |
449 | |
450 | <h5><a href="http://deadhobosociety.com/index.php/Essays/ESSAY12">Confucianism and Technical Standards</a></h5> |
451 | |
452 | |
453 | |
454 | |
455 | |
456 | <!-- Page published by Emacs Muse ends here --> |
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481 | |
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482 | <p class="cke-footer">Mike: I WAS NOT MICROWAVED. |
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483 | </p> |
484 | <p class="cke-timestamp">Last Modified: |
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485 | July 29, 2008</p> |
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486 | </body> |
487 | </html> |