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    <h1>The Printed Word Is Stronger Than Nuclear Arms</h1>
   <div class="contents">
<dl>
<dt>
<a href="#sec1">Authors</a>
</dt>
<dd>
<dl>
<dt>
<a href="#sec2">William Blake</a>
</dt>
<dt>
<a href="#sec3">Kahlil Gibran</a>
</dt>
</dl>
</dd>
<dt>
<a href="#sec4">Fiction</a>
</dt>
<dd>
<dl>
<dt>
<a href="#sec5">General</a>
</dt>
<dd>
<dl>
<dt>
<a href="#sec6">Luke Rhinehardt - The Dice Man</a>
</dt>
</dl>
</dd>
<dt>
<a href="#sec7">Philosophical</a>
</dt>
<dt>
<a href="#sec8">Sci-Fi</a>
</dt>
<dd>
<dl>
<dt>
<a href="#sec9">Neal Stephenson</a>
</dt>
</dl>
</dd>
</dl>
</dd>
<dt>
<a href="#sec10">Non-Fiction</a>
</dt>
<dd>
<dl>
<dt>
<a href="#sec11">Education</a>
</dt>
<dd>
<dl>
<dt>
<a href="#sec12">John Taylor Gatto - Underground History of American Education</a>
</dt>
</dl>
</dd>
<dt>
<a href="#sec13">Philosophy</a>
</dt>
<dd>
<dl>
<dt>
<a href="#sec14">Chinese</a>
</dt>
<dt>
<a href="#sec15">Marcus Aurelius - Meditations</a>
</dt>
<dt>
<a href="#sec16">Søren Kierkegaard - The Sickness Unto Death</a>
</dt>
</dl>
</dd>
<dt>
<a href="#sec17">Politics</a>
</dt>
<dd>
<dl>
<dt>
<a href="#sec18">Thomas More - Utopia</a>
</dt>
</dl>
</dd>
<dt>
<a href="#sec19">Religion</a>
</dt>
<dd>
<dl>
<dt>
<a href="#sec20">William James - The Varieties of Religious Experience</a>
</dt>
</dl>
</dd>
<dt>
<a href="#sec21">Technical</a>
</dt>
<dd>
<dl>
<dt>
<a href="#sec22">C J Date - Database in Depth</a>
</dt>
<dt>
<a href="#sec23">Gregor Kiczales - The Art of the Metaobject Protocol</a>
</dt>
</dl>
</dd>
</dl>
</dd>
<dt>
<a href="#sec24">Reports</a>
</dt>
<dd>
<dl>
<dt>
<a href="#sec25">2003 National Assesement of Adult Literacy</a>
</dt>
</dl>
</dd>
<dt>
<a href="#sec26">Books That I Cannot Find</a>
</dt>
<dt>
<a href="#sec27">Essays</a>
</dt>
<dd>
<dl>
<dt>
<a href="#sec28">Computing</a>
</dt>
<dd>
<dl>
<dt>
<a href="#sec29">Design</a>
</dt>
</dl>
</dd>
</dl>
</dd>
</dl>
</div>


<!-- Page published by Emacs Muse begins here -->
<p>I enjoy classical literature and works of philosophy and politics with
a side of cyberpunk novels for when my brain is tired. When I was in
High School I read technical books for fun, but now I tend to find
most of them useless (thank you Internet) excepting a few really well
written ones (<em>L.i.s.p</em>, <em>TAOCP</em>, ...).</p>

<p>I spend most of my time reading. A full list of things I have read
would be impossible to compile, but here I am collecting links and
small summaries of things I have read and find interesting enough to
mention, but not always recommend, to others.</p>

<h2><a name="sec1" id="sec1"></a>
Authors</h2>

<h3><a name="sec2" id="sec2"></a>
William Blake</h3>

<p class="first">His poetry is the result of spending too much time etching copper
plates and breathing the fumes. Quite wonderful indeed.</p>


<h3><a name="sec3" id="sec3"></a>
Kahlil Gibran</h3>

<p class="first">Kahlil Gibran is fairly interesting; his earlier works do not agree
with my æsthetic sense (blah blah), but <em>The Madman</em> onward are all
rather nice. So far I've read <em>A Tear and a Smile</em> (not so good
excepting the last poem), <em>The Madman</em>, <em>The Prophet</em> (both excellent),
and <em>Sand and Foam</em> (an interesting little book of aphorisms). A few of
his works are <a href="http://leb.net/~mira/">online</a>, but I recommend scouting used book stores for
old hardcover editions. The (late 90s onward at least) <em>hardcover</em>
versions from <em>Alfred A. Knopf</em> are in fact permabound paperbacks with a
hardcasing, and are of seriously inferior quality to the editions from
the 50s and 60s (and cost quite a bit more, naturally).</p>


<h2><a name="sec4" id="sec4"></a>
Fiction</h2>

<h3><a name="sec5" id="sec5"></a>
General</h3>

<h4><a name="sec6" id="sec6"></a>
Luke Rhinehardt - The Dice Man</h4>

<blockquote>
<p class="quoted">
And it's his illusions about what
constitutes the real world which are
inhibiting him...
His reality, his reason, his society
...these are what must be destroyed</p>

</blockquote>

<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
this book; at worst it would be a waste of time. Much reward was found
in this random stab in the dark. The book is framed as an
autobiography of the author as a psychoanalyst, and his progression
through life as a Dice Man after deciding to live his life through
random chance.</p>

<p>The style, plot, and content are equally neurotic; part comedy, part
attack on psychoanalysis, and part deep philosophy. It was often
difficult to put down, and was read in under a week of spare time.</p>


<h3><a name="sec7" id="sec7"></a>
Philosophical</h3>


<h3><a name="sec8" id="sec8"></a>
Sci-Fi</h3>

<h4><a name="sec9" id="sec9"></a>
Neal Stephenson</h4>

<h5>Cryptonomicon</h5>

<p>I read <em>Cryptonomicon</em> when it was new, and at the time I thought it was
good. It could have lost a hundred or so pages without detracting from
the plot, but it was easy reading and didn't take very long to
finish. The story was enganging, and the continual switching between
the 1940s and present day slowly unravelled the tale in a nice way.</p>

<p>I'd still have to recommend <em>Snow Crash</em> if one wished to read only one
Stephenson novel.</p>


<h5>Snow Crash</h5>

<p>As one must read the <em>Bible</em> to understand English literature, so one
must read <em>Snow Crash</em> today to be a nerd. In the realm of modern pop
fiction this is one of the better books I've read; it was devoured in
a mere four nights. Neal Stepheson may not be Milton, but he does come
up with enganging tales. <em>Snow Crash</em> has a nice undertone of (quite
accurate) political and social commentary that makes it worth reading
as more than mere cyberpunk fiction.</p>


<h2><a name="sec10" id="sec10"></a>
Non-Fiction</h2>

<h3><a name="sec11" id="sec11"></a>
Education</h3>

<h4><a name="sec12" id="sec12"></a>
John Taylor Gatto - <a href="http://www.johntaylorgatto.com/underground/toc1.htm">Underground History of American Education</a></h4>

<p class="first">Contained within this book (available online for free, but the printed
copy sits wonderfully on a shelf) is a detailed and seemingly well
researched history of American Education with a particular focus on
the transformation that has occured before our eyes in the last
century. I am unsure if Gatto is entirely correct and not exaggerating
anything; I have failed to find any negative criticisms, but it is not
clear to me if that is because he is entirely correct or if no one
cares enough to write a counterargument. I am in the process of
tracking down as many of his sources as possible (a good number of
them are out of print and not in the public domain yet), and will make
an attempt to verify his argument over the course of the next year
(that being 2007).</p>

<p>If he is correct then every one of us has had the first eighteen years
of our lives stolen from us, and we have collectively suffered massive
intellectual damage. My intuitions tell me he is correct (which is why
I am driven to verify; I cannot trust myself because I <em>want</em> to
believe) for my individuality and intelligence were nearly stolen from
me. The only reason I survived relatively unscathed is because I
became completely socially withdrawn for the last half of elementary
school until late in high school due to the abuse I received at the
hands of my peers creating a deep fear of social interaction in
me. The downside is that I had the confidence crushed from my soul,
but now that I have begun to regain it (the good that bicycling
enabling me to stand straight and gradual realization of my own worth
as a human have done) I would never trade the ability to think freely
for the social skills I lack.</p>


<h3><a name="sec13" id="sec13"></a>
Philosophy</h3>

<h4><a name="sec14" id="sec14"></a>
Chinese</h4>

<h5>Tao Te Ching</h5>


<h5>Confucianism</h5>

<h5>The Analects</h5>


<h4><a name="sec15" id="sec15"></a>
Marcus Aurelius - Meditations</h4>

<p class="first">I enjoyed reading this collection of meditations on Stoic
philosophy. It is a fairly quick read; I read each of the twelve books
before sleeping over the course of two weeks. Toward the end of the
collection things get a bit topically repetetive (e.g. acting
according to the nature of man is reflected upon over and over), but
each repetition looks at the topic in a slightly different light. A
number of passages I found quite inspiring, and scratched them down in
my notebook to ponder further.</p>


<h4><a name="sec16" id="sec16"></a>
Søren Kierkegaard - The Sickness Unto Death</h4>

<p class="first">I purchased this when I was looking through books at a store after
being unable to find the book I really wanted, and I must say that it
was better for me to have found this one.</p>

<p>Contained within is a beautiful analysis of despair in the context of
Christianity (really theism in general). Even if the argument offends,
the presentation cannot. The dialectical nature of despair is
reflected in every aspect of the work, and the method of presentation
forces reflection.</p>


<h3><a name="sec17" id="sec17"></a>
Politics</h3>

<h4><a name="sec18" id="sec18"></a>
Thomas More - Utopia</h4>

<p class="first">I read most of Utopia in high school with the TI-89 ebook reader, but
the way the book was split up made it a bit difficult to grasp the
overall structure. I found a copy at a used book store one day, and so
I read it again, and found it much more comprehensible. It is a quick
read, and decent piece of literature. The interesting social system
espoused resembles resembles state communism (even if perhaps as a
negative ideal), but with an strange blend of 14th century European
social customs.</p>


<h3><a name="sec19" id="sec19"></a>
Religion</h3>

<h4><a name="sec20" id="sec20"></a>
<a href="William%20James%20-%20The%20Varieties%20of%20Religious%20Experience.html">William James - The Varieties of Religious Experience</a></h4>


<h3><a name="sec21" id="sec21"></a>
Technical</h3>

<h4><a name="sec22" id="sec22"></a>
C J Date - Database in Depth</h4>

<p class="first">This was a complete waste of time. The author rants on for 180 pages
and presents the information in a disorderly and shallow manner. It
could be rewritten in about fifty pages and contain the same amount of
information if it were organized properly and the off topic commentary
were minimized.</p>


<h4><a name="sec23" id="sec23"></a>
Gregor Kiczales - The Art of the Metaobject Protocol</h4>

<p class="first">AMOP is useful as a reference to the CLOS MOP (although less so with
the online MOP spec), but the true value of the book lies in the first
half of the book. It presents the design of the CLOS MOP through a
series of revisions that fix limitations of earlier implementations
and gradually work toward a generic and well designed MOP for
CLOS. Through that process one is made more aware of a few general
object protocol design skills, and gains insight into how to cleanly
make mapping decisions customizable.</p>


<h2><a name="sec24" id="sec24"></a>
Reports</h2>

<h3><a name="sec25" id="sec25"></a>
<a href="http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2006/2006483.pdf">2003 National Assesement of Adult Literacy</a></h3>

<p class="first">A depressing view of American literacy rates. Literacy skills
decreased across almost every population segment in the US between
1993 and 2003; a mere 31% of college graduates are considered
proficient in quantitative literacy (defined as being able to do
things as terribly complicated as comparing two editorials).</p>


<h2><a name="sec26" id="sec26"></a>
Books That I Cannot Find</h2>

<p class="first">If you know anyone who has copies I'd appreciate an email. I'm willing
to buy books for a reasonable cost, and for ones that are more than 25
years old and out of print I am not opposed to <em>piracy</em> (no one is
making money from them, and I feel that long copyrights are unethical
and therefore feel no pangs of moral guilt).</p>

<ul>
<li><em>Crystallizing Public Opinion</em> by Edward Bernays

<ul>
<li>A supposed classic in the field of public relations. Curiosity
demands that I read the writings of the father of the field to
better understand the way the international media works.</li>
<li>Another example of out of print books clearly having a market,
but no publisher due to copyright (used copies go for nearly a
thousand dollars in poor condition and hit five thousand or so
for ones in good shape).</li>
</ul></li>
</ul>


<h2><a name="sec27" id="sec27"></a>
Essays</h2>

<h3><a name="sec28" id="sec28"></a>
Computing</h3>

<h4><a name="sec29" id="sec29"></a>
Design</h4>

<h5><a href="http://deadhobosociety.com/index.php/Essays/ESSAY12">Confucianism and Technical Standards</a></h5>


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<p class="cke-footer">    To Wise Man's Son and Wednesday's Child all is white that is not black
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	6	<title>The Printed Word Is Stronger Than Nuclear Arms</title>
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2aff8b5c	16	</head>
	17	<body>
	18	<h1>The Printed Word Is Stronger Than Nuclear Arms</h1>
	19	<div class="contents">
	20	<dl>
	21	<dt>
	22	<a href="#sec1">Authors</a>
	23	</dt>
	24	<dd>
	25	<dl>
	26	<dt>
	27	<a href="#sec2">William Blake</a>
	28	</dt>
f7bae6cc	29	<dt>
	30	<a href="#sec3">Kahlil Gibran</a>
	31	</dt>
2aff8b5c	32	</dl>
	33	</dd>
	34	<dt>
f7bae6cc	35	<a href="#sec4">Fiction</a>
2aff8b5c	36	</dt>
	37	<dd>
	38	<dl>
	39	<dt>
f7bae6cc	40	<a href="#sec5">General</a>
2aff8b5c	41	</dt>
	42	<dd>
	43	<dl>
	44	<dt>
f7bae6cc	45	<a href="#sec6">Luke Rhinehardt - The Dice Man</a>
2aff8b5c	46	</dt>
	47	</dl>
	48	</dd>
	49	<dt>
f7bae6cc	50	<a href="#sec7">Philosophical</a>
2aff8b5c	51	</dt>
2aff8b5c	52	<dt>
	53	<a href="#sec8">Sci-Fi</a>
	54	</dt>
	55	<dd>
	56	<dl>
	57	<dt>
	58	<a href="#sec9">Neal Stephenson</a>
	59	</dt>
	60	</dl>
	61	</dd>
	62	</dl>
	63	</dd>
	64	<dt>
	65	<a href="#sec10">Non-Fiction</a>
	66	</dt>
	67	<dd>
	68	<dl>
	69	<dt>
	70	<a href="#sec11">Education</a>
	71	</dt>
	72	<dd>
	73	<dl>
	74	<dt>
	75	<a href="#sec12">John Taylor Gatto - Underground History of American Education</a>
	76	</dt>
	77	</dl>
	78	</dd>
	79	<dt>
	80	<a href="#sec13">Philosophy</a>
	81	</dt>
	82	<dd>
	83	<dl>
	84	<dt>
	85	<a href="#sec14">Chinese</a>
	86	</dt>
	87	<dt>
	88	<a href="#sec15">Marcus Aurelius - Meditations</a>
	89	</dt>
	90	<dt>
	91	<a href="#sec16">Søren Kierkegaard - The Sickness Unto Death</a>
	92	</dt>
	93	</dl>
	94	</dd>
	95	<dt>
	96	<a href="#sec17">Politics</a>
	97	</dt>
	98	<dd>
	99	<dl>
	100	<dt>
	101	<a href="#sec18">Thomas More - Utopia</a>
	102	</dt>
	103	</dl>
	104	</dd>
	105	<dt>
	106	<a href="#sec19">Religion</a>
	107	</dt>
	108	<dd>
	109	<dl>
	110	<dt>
	111	<a href="#sec20">William James - The Varieties of Religious Experience</a>
	112	</dt>
	113	</dl>
	114	</dd>
	115	<dt>
116	<a href="#sec21">Technical</a>
117	</dt>
118	<dd>
119	<dl>
120	<dt>
121	<a href="#sec22">C J Date - Database in Depth</a>
122	</dt>
123	<dt>
124	<a href="#sec23">Gregor Kiczales - The Art of the Metaobject Protocol</a>
125	</dt>
126	</dl>
127	</dd>
128	</dl>
129	</dd>
130	<dt>
131	<a href="#sec24">Reports</a>
132	</dt>
133	<dd>
134	<dl>
135	<dt>
136	<a href="#sec25">2003 National Assesement of Adult Literacy</a>
137	</dt>
138	</dl>
139	</dd>
140	<dt>
141	<a href="#sec26">Books That I Cannot Find</a>
142	</dt>
143	<dt>
144	<a href="#sec27">Essays</a>
145	</dt>
146	<dd>
147	<dl>
148	<dt>
149	<a href="#sec28">Computing</a>
150	</dt>
151	<dd>
152	<dl>
153	<dt>
154	<a href="#sec29">Design</a>
155	</dt>
156	</dl>
157	</dd>
158	</dl>
159	</dd>
160	</dl>
161	</div>
162
163
11f9bd69 CE	164	<!-- Page published by Emacs Muse begins here -->
11f9bd69 CE	165	<p>I enjoy classical literature and works of philosophy and politics with
2aff8b5c	166	a side of cyberpunk novels for when my brain is tired. When I was in
	167	High School I read technical books for fun, but now I tend to find
	168	most of them useless (thank you Internet) excepting a few really well
	169	written ones (<em>L.i.s.p</em>, <em>TAOCP</em>, ...).</p>
	170
	171	<p>I spend most of my time reading. A full list of things I have read
	172	would be impossible to compile, but here I am collecting links and
	173	small summaries of things I have read and find interesting enough to
	174	mention, but not always recommend, to others.</p>
	175
	176	<h2><a name="sec1" id="sec1"></a>
	177	Authors</h2>
	178
	179	<h3><a name="sec2" id="sec2"></a>
	180	William Blake</h3>
	181
	182	<p class="first">His poetry is the result of spending too much time etching copper
	183	plates and breathing the fumes. Quite wonderful indeed.</p>
	184
	185
f7bae6cc	186	<h3><a name="sec3" id="sec3"></a>
	187	Kahlil Gibran</h3>
	188
	189	<p class="first">Kahlil Gibran is fairly interesting; his earlier works do not agree
	190	with my æsthetic sense (blah blah), but <em>The Madman</em> onward are all
	191	rather nice. So far I've read <em>A Tear and a Smile</em> (not so good
	192	excepting the last poem), <em>The Madman</em>, <em>The Prophet</em> (both excellent),
	193	and <em>Sand and Foam</em> (an interesting little book of aphorisms). A few of
	194	his works are <a href="http://leb.net/~mira/">online</a>, but I recommend scouting used book stores for
	195	old hardcover editions. The (late 90s onward at least) <em>hardcover</em>
	196	versions from <em>Alfred A. Knopf</em> are in fact permabound paperbacks with a
	197	hardcasing, and are of seriously inferior quality to the editions from
	198	the 50s and 60s (and cost quite a bit more, naturally).</p>
	199
	200
2aff8b5c	201
f7bae6cc	202	<h2><a name="sec4" id="sec4"></a>
2aff8b5c	203	Fiction</h2>
2aff8b5c	204
f7bae6cc	205	<h3><a name="sec5" id="sec5"></a>
2aff8b5c	206	General</h3>
2aff8b5c	207
f7bae6cc	208	<h4><a name="sec6" id="sec6"></a>
2aff8b5c	209	Luke Rhinehardt - The Dice Man</h4>
	210
	211	<blockquote>
	212	<p class="quoted">
	213	And it's his illusions about what
	214	constitutes the real world which are
	215	inhibiting him...
	216	His reality, his reason, his society
	217	...these are what must be destroyed</p>
	218
	219	</blockquote>
	220
	221	<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
	222	this book; at worst it would be a waste of time. Much reward was found
	223	in this random stab in the dark. The book is framed as an
	224	autobiography of the author as a psychoanalyst, and his progression
	225	through life as a Dice Man after deciding to live his life through
	226	random chance.</p>
	227
	228	<p>The style, plot, and content are equally neurotic; part comedy, part
	229	attack on psychoanalysis, and part deep philosophy. It was often
	230	difficult to put down, and was read in under a week of spare time.</p>
	231
	232
	233
f7bae6cc	234	<h3><a name="sec7" id="sec7"></a>
2aff8b5c	235	Philosophical</h3>
2aff8b5c	236
2aff8b5c	237
	238	<h3><a name="sec8" id="sec8"></a>
	239	Sci-Fi</h3>
	240
	241	<h4><a name="sec9" id="sec9"></a>
	242	Neal Stephenson</h4>
	243
	244	<h5>Cryptonomicon</h5>
	245
	246	<p>I read <em>Cryptonomicon</em> when it was new, and at the time I thought it was
	247	good. It could have lost a hundred or so pages without detracting from
	248	the plot, but it was easy reading and didn't take very long to
	249	finish. The story was enganging, and the continual switching between
	250	the 1940s and present day slowly unravelled the tale in a nice way.</p>
	251
	252	<p>I'd still have to recommend <em>Snow Crash</em> if one wished to read only one
	253	Stephenson novel.</p>
	254
	255
	256	<h5>Snow Crash</h5>
	257
	258	<p>As one must read the <em>Bible</em> to understand English literature, so one
	259	must read <em>Snow Crash</em> today to be a nerd. In the realm of modern pop
	260	fiction this is one of the better books I've read; it was devoured in
	261	a mere four nights. Neal Stepheson may not be Milton, but he does come
	262	up with enganging tales. <em>Snow Crash</em> has a nice undertone of (quite
	263	accurate) political and social commentary that makes it worth reading
	264	as more than mere cyberpunk fiction.</p>
	265
	266
	267
	268
	269
	270	<h2><a name="sec10" id="sec10"></a>
	271	Non-Fiction</h2>
	272
	273	<h3><a name="sec11" id="sec11"></a>
	274	Education</h3>
	275
	276	<h4><a name="sec12" id="sec12"></a>
	277	John Taylor Gatto - <a href="http://www.johntaylorgatto.com/underground/toc1.htm">Underground History of American Education</a></h4>
	278
	279	<p class="first">Contained within this book (available online for free, but the printed
	280	copy sits wonderfully on a shelf) is a detailed and seemingly well
	281	researched history of American Education with a particular focus on
	282	the transformation that has occured before our eyes in the last
	283	century. I am unsure if Gatto is entirely correct and not exaggerating
	284	anything; I have failed to find any negative criticisms, but it is not
	285	clear to me if that is because he is entirely correct or if no one
	286	cares enough to write a counterargument. I am in the process of
	287	tracking down as many of his sources as possible (a good number of
	288	them are out of print and not in the public domain yet), and will make
	289	an attempt to verify his argument over the course of the next year
	290	(that being 2007).</p>
	291
	292	<p>If he is correct then every one of us has had the first eighteen years
	293	of our lives stolen from us, and we have collectively suffered massive
	294	intellectual damage. My intuitions tell me he is correct (which is why
	295	I am driven to verify; I cannot trust myself because I <em>want</em> to
	296	believe) for my individuality and intelligence were nearly stolen from
	297	me. The only reason I survived relatively unscathed is because I
	298	became completely socially withdrawn for the last half of elementary
	299	school until late in high school due to the abuse I received at the
	300	hands of my peers creating a deep fear of social interaction in
301	me. The downside is that I had the confidence crushed from my soul,
302	but now that I have begun to regain it (the good that bicycling
303	enabling me to stand straight and gradual realization of my own worth
304	as a human have done) I would never trade the ability to think freely
305	for the social skills I lack.</p>
306
307
308
309	<h3><a name="sec13" id="sec13"></a>
310	Philosophy</h3>
311
312	<h4><a name="sec14" id="sec14"></a>
313	Chinese</h4>
314
315	<h5>Tao Te Ching</h5>
316
317
318	<h5>Confucianism</h5>
319
320	<h5>The Analects</h5>
321
322
323
324
325	<h4><a name="sec15" id="sec15"></a>
326	Marcus Aurelius - Meditations</h4>
327
328	<p class="first">I enjoyed reading this collection of meditations on Stoic
329	philosophy. It is a fairly quick read; I read each of the twelve books
330	before sleeping over the course of two weeks. Toward the end of the
331	collection things get a bit topically repetetive (e.g. acting
332	according to the nature of man is reflected upon over and over), but
333	each repetition looks at the topic in a slightly different light. A
334	number of passages I found quite inspiring, and scratched them down in
335	my notebook to ponder further.</p>
336
337
338	<h4><a name="sec16" id="sec16"></a>
339	Søren Kierkegaard - The Sickness Unto Death</h4>
340
341	<p class="first">I purchased this when I was looking through books at a store after
342	being unable to find the book I really wanted, and I must say that it
343	was better for me to have found this one.</p>
344
345	<p>Contained within is a beautiful analysis of despair in the context of
346	Christianity (really theism in general). Even if the argument offends,
347	the presentation cannot. The dialectical nature of despair is
348	reflected in every aspect of the work, and the method of presentation
349	forces reflection.</p>
350
351
352
353	<h3><a name="sec17" id="sec17"></a>
354	Politics</h3>
355
356	<h4><a name="sec18" id="sec18"></a>
357	Thomas More - Utopia</h4>
358
359	<p class="first">I read most of Utopia in high school with the TI-89 ebook reader, but
360	the way the book was split up made it a bit difficult to grasp the
361	overall structure. I found a copy at a used book store one day, and so
362	I read it again, and found it much more comprehensible. It is a quick
363	read, and decent piece of literature. The interesting social system
364	espoused resembles resembles state communism (even if perhaps as a
365	negative ideal), but with an strange blend of 14th century European
366	social customs.</p>
367
368
369
370	<h3><a name="sec19" id="sec19"></a>
371	Religion</h3>
372
373	<h4><a name="sec20" id="sec20"></a>
374	<a href="William%20James%20-%20The%20Varieties%20of%20Religious%20Experience.html">William James - The Varieties of Religious Experience</a></h4>
375
376
377
378
379	<h3><a name="sec21" id="sec21"></a>
380	Technical</h3>
381
382	<h4><a name="sec22" id="sec22"></a>
383	C J Date - Database in Depth</h4>
384
385	<p class="first">This was a complete waste of time. The author rants on for 180 pages
386	and presents the information in a disorderly and shallow manner. It
387	could be rewritten in about fifty pages and contain the same amount of
388	information if it were organized properly and the off topic commentary
389	were minimized.</p>
390
391
392	<h4><a name="sec23" id="sec23"></a>
393	Gregor Kiczales - The Art of the Metaobject Protocol</h4>
394
395	<p class="first">AMOP is useful as a reference to the CLOS MOP (although less so with
396	the online MOP spec), but the true value of the book lies in the first
397	half of the book. It presents the design of the CLOS MOP through a
398	series of revisions that fix limitations of earlier implementations
399	and gradually work toward a generic and well designed MOP for
400	CLOS. Through that process one is made more aware of a few general
401	object protocol design skills, and gains insight into how to cleanly
402	make mapping decisions customizable.</p>
403
404
405
406
407
408	<h2><a name="sec24" id="sec24"></a>
409	Reports</h2>
410
411	<h3><a name="sec25" id="sec25"></a>
412	<a href="http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2006/2006483.pdf">2003 National Assesement of Adult Literacy</a></h3>
413
414	<p class="first">A depressing view of American literacy rates. Literacy skills
415	decreased across almost every population segment in the US between
416	1993 and 2003; a mere 31% of college graduates are considered
417	proficient in quantitative literacy (defined as being able to do
418	things as terribly complicated as comparing two editorials).</p>
419
420
421
422
423	<h2><a name="sec26" id="sec26"></a>
424	Books That I Cannot Find</h2>
425
426	<p class="first">If you know anyone who has copies I'd appreciate an email. I'm willing
427	to buy books for a reasonable cost, and for ones that are more than 25
428	years old and out of print I am not opposed to <em>piracy</em> (no one is
429	making money from them, and I feel that long copyrights are unethical
430	and therefore feel no pangs of moral guilt).</p>
431
432	<ul>
433	<li><em>Crystallizing Public Opinion</em> by Edward Bernays
434
435	<ul>
436	<li>A supposed classic in the field of public relations. Curiosity
437	demands that I read the writings of the father of the field to
438	better understand the way the international media works.</li>
439	<li>Another example of out of print books clearly having a market,
440	but no publisher due to copyright (used copies go for nearly a
441	thousand dollars in poor condition and hit five thousand or so
442	for ones in good shape).</li>
443	</ul></li>
444	</ul>
445
446
447	<h2><a name="sec27" id="sec27"></a>
448	Essays</h2>
449
450	<h3><a name="sec28" id="sec28"></a>
451	Computing</h3>
452
453	<h4><a name="sec29" id="sec29"></a>
454	Design</h4>
455
456	<h5><a href="http://deadhobosociety.com/index.php/Essays/ESSAY12">Confucianism and Technical Standards</a></h5>
457
458
459
460
461
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11f9bd69 CE	488	<p class="cke-footer"> To Wise Man's Son and Wednesday's Child all is white that is not black
	489	They dance in symbiotic deadlock; one step forward two steps back
	490	Playing karmic snakes and ladders (All your sins will find you out)
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