[clinton/website/site/unknownlamer.org.git] / Book List.html

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    <h1>A Not So Fancy Listing of Books</h1>
   <div class="contents">
<dl>
<dt>
<a href="#sec1">Marcus Aurelius</a>
</dt>
<dd>
<dl>
<dt>
<a href="#sec2">Meditations</a>
</dt>
</dl>
</dd>
<dt>
<a href="#sec3">William Blake</a>
</dt>
<dd>
<dl>
<dt>
<a href="#sec4">The Four Zoas</a>
</dt>
<dt>
<a href="#sec5">Jerusalem</a>
</dt>
</dl>
</dd>
<dt>
<a href="#sec6">John Taylor Gatto</a>
</dt>
<dd>
<dl>
<dt>
<a href="#sec7">Underground History of American Education</a>
</dt>
</dl>
</dd>
<dt>
<a href="#sec8">Kahlil Gibran</a>
</dt>
<dd>
<dl>
<dt>
<a href="#sec9">A Tear and a Smile</a>
</dt>
<dt>
<a href="#sec10">The Prophet</a>
</dt>
<dt>
<a href="#sec11">Sand and Foam</a>
</dt>
<dt>
<a href="#sec12">The Madman</a>
</dt>
</dl>
</dd>
<dt>
<a href="#sec13">William James</a>
</dt>
<dd>
<dl>
<dt>
<a href="#sec14">The Varieties of Religious Experience</a>
</dt>
</dl>
</dd>
<dt>
<a href="#sec15">Gregor Kiczales</a>
</dt>
<dd>
<dl>
<dt>
<a href="#sec16">The Art of the Metaobject Protocol</a>
</dt>
</dl>
</dd>
<dt>
<a href="#sec17">Søren Kierkegaard</a>
</dt>
<dd>
<dl>
<dt>
<a href="#sec18">Sickness Unto Death</a>
</dt>
<dt>
<a href="#sec19">Either/Or</a>
</dt>
</dl>
</dd>
<dt>
<a href="#sec20">Thomas More</a>
</dt>
<dd>
<dl>
<dt>
<a href="#sec21">Utopia</a>
</dt>
</dl>
</dd>
<dt>
<a href="#sec22">Friedrich Nietzsche</a>
</dt>
<dd>
<dl>
<dt>
<a href="#sec23">Beyond Good and Evil</a>
</dt>
<dt>
<a href="#sec24">On the Geneaology of Morals</a>
</dt>
</dl>
</dd>
<dt>
<a href="#sec25">Luke Rhinehardt</a>
</dt>
<dd>
<dl>
<dt>
<a href="#sec26">The Dice Man</a>
</dt>
</dl>
</dd>
<dt>
<a href="#sec27">Neal Stephenson</a>
</dt>
<dd>
<dl>
<dt>
<a href="#sec28">Snow Crash</a>
</dt>
<dt>
<a href="#sec29">Cryptonomicon</a>
</dt>
</dl>
</dd>
</dl>
</div>


<!-- Page published by Emacs Muse begins here --><h2><a name="sec1" id="sec1"></a>
Marcus Aurelius</h2>


<h3><a name="sec2" id="sec2"></a>
Meditations</h3>

<p><em>Rating:</em> <span class="rating-good">••••••</span><span class="rating-bad">••••</span> (6) / <em>Nonfiction</em></p>

<p>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>


<h2><a name="sec3" id="sec3"></a>
William Blake</h2>

<p class="first">Blake is my <a href="William%20Blake.html">favorite</a> of the English poets. His
unique use of relief etching and watercoloring makes for very
interesting Illuminated works. There is a very high quality
<a href="http://blakearchive.org">complete archive of Blake's works</a> online
with high resolution plate scans and full transcriptions among other
things.</p>

<h3><a name="sec4" id="sec4"></a>
The Four Zoas</h3>

<p><em>Rating:</em> <span class="rating-good">••••••••••</span> (10) / <em>Fiction</em></p>

<p>The unfinished manuscript of Blake's longest apocalypse. The
Four Zoas divide from Albion and rage through the ages of dismal woe
to bring about the end of the cycle of Ulro and restore the cycle of
Beulah.</p>


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

<p><em>Rating:</em> <span class="rating-good">••••••••••</span> (10) / <em>Fiction</em></p>

<p>The finest of Blake's Illuminated works.</p>


<h2><a name="sec6" id="sec6"></a>
John Taylor Gatto</h2>

<p class="first">Former teacher and now author-activist.</p>

<h3><a name="sec7" id="sec7"></a>
Underground History of American Education</h3>

<p><em>Rating:</em> <span class="rating-good">•••••••••</span><span class="rating-bad">•</span> (9) / <em>Nonfiction</em></p>

<p>An interesting <em>underground</em> history of the American education
system. Available
<a href="http://www.johntaylorgatto.com/underground/">online for free</a>.</p>


<h2><a name="sec8" id="sec8"></a>
Kahlil Gibran</h2>

<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. 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>

<h3><a name="sec9" id="sec9"></a>
A Tear and a Smile</h3>

<p><em>Rating:</em> <span class="rating-good">•••</span><span class="rating-bad">•••••••</span> (3) / <em>Fiction</em></p>

<p>One of Kahlil Gibran's earlier works, I did not much like <em>A
Tear and a Smile</em> excepting the last poem (&quot;A Poet's Voice&quot;).</p>


<h3><a name="sec10" id="sec10"></a>
The Prophet</h3>

<p><em>Rating:</em> <span class="rating-good">•••••••••</span><span class="rating-bad">•</span> (9) / <em>Fiction</em></p>


<h3><a name="sec11" id="sec11"></a>
Sand and Foam</h3>

<p><em>Rating:</em> <span class="rating-good">•••••••</span><span class="rating-bad">•••</span> (7) / <em>Fiction</em></p>

<p>An interesting little book of aphorisms.</p>


<h3><a name="sec12" id="sec12"></a>
The Madman</h3>

<p><em>Rating:</em> <span class="rating-good">••••••••</span><span class="rating-bad">••</span> (8) / <em>Fiction</em></p>


<h2><a name="sec13" id="sec13"></a>
William James</h2>


<h3><a name="sec14" id="sec14"></a>
The Varieties of Religious Experience</h3>

<p><em>Rating:</em> <span class="rating-good">•••••••</span><span class="rating-bad">•••</span> (7) / <em>Nonfiction</em></p>

<p><a href="William%20James%20-%20The%20Varieties%20of%20Religious%20Experience.html">A partially finished extended summary</a></p>


<h2><a name="sec15" id="sec15"></a>
Gregor Kiczales</h2>


<h3><a name="sec16" id="sec16"></a>
The Art of the Metaobject Protocol</h3>

<p><em>Rating:</em> <span class="rating-good">••••••••••</span> (10) / <em>Nonfiction</em></p>

<p>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="sec17" id="sec17"></a>
Søren Kierkegaard</h2>

<p class="first">Kierkegaard was a master of style and philosophy; his writing is
interesting even if one finds the theistic extentialism espoused
disagreeable.</p>

<h3><a name="sec18" id="sec18"></a>
Sickness Unto Death</h3>

<p><em>Rating:</em> <span class="rating-good">••••••••••</span> (10) / <em>Nonfiction</em></p>

<p>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="sec19" id="sec19"></a>
Either/Or</h3>

<p><em>Rating:</em> <span class="rating-good">••••••••••</span> (10) / <em>Nonfiction</em></p>

<p>Composed of two portions, <em>Either/Or</em> is a rather lengthy but
rewarding read. The first book is a series of essays and a diary of a
young esthetician; the second is a pair of long letters from an older
ethicist friend to this esthetician. You are then left to resolve the
conflict between the views.</p>


<h2><a name="sec20" id="sec20"></a>
Thomas More</h2>


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

<p><em>Rating:</em> <span class="rating-good">•••••••</span><span class="rating-bad">•••</span> (7) / <em>Fiction</em></p>

<p>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>


<h2><a name="sec22" id="sec22"></a>
Friedrich Nietzsche</h2>

<p class="first">A bit acerbic and esoteric, Nietzsche is for me a good <em>secular</em>
counterpart to Kierkegaard's theistic philosophy. Nietzsche's
polemical works raise important questions for anyone who reads works
on ethics. As such it is a shame that he has gotten a bad reputation
by being read by far too many angsty teenagers who see (and relay)
only Nietzsche the asshole rather than Nietzsche the master of the
polemic.</p>

<h3><a name="sec23" id="sec23"></a>
Beyond Good and Evil</h3>

<p><em>Rating:</em> <span class="rating-good">••••••••</span><span class="rating-bad">••</span> (8) / <em>Nonfiction</em></p>

<p>A somewhat more comprehensible, if a bit less aesthetically
pleasing, presentation of much of the philosophy found in <em>Thus Spoke
Zarathustra</em>. The final chapters are very important (not to detract
from the value of the rest of the work) if one wishes to understand
<em>On the Genealogy of Morals</em>.</p>


<h3><a name="sec24" id="sec24"></a>
On the Geneaology of Morals</h3>

<p><em>Rating:</em> <span class="rating-good">•••••••••</span><span class="rating-bad">•</span> (9) / <em>Nonfiction</em></p>

<p><em>On the Geneaology of Morals</em> is a wonderful book of three
polemical essays on the origin of moral/ethic valuations, and the
blindness of modern philosphers whose very thinking is tainted by
these valuations unknowingly.</p>


<h2><a name="sec25" id="sec25"></a>
Luke Rhinehardt</h2>


<h3><a name="sec26" id="sec26"></a>
The Dice Man</h3>

<p><em>Rating:</em> <span class="rating-good">•••••••</span><span class="rating-bad">•••</span> (7) / <em>Fiction</em></p>

<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>


<h2><a name="sec27" id="sec27"></a>
Neal Stephenson</h2>


<h3><a name="sec28" id="sec28"></a>
Snow Crash</h3>

<p><em>Rating:</em> <span class="rating-good">•••••••••</span><span class="rating-bad">•</span> (9) / <em>Fiction</em></p>

<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>


<h3><a name="sec29" id="sec29"></a>
Cryptonomicon</h3>

<p><em>Rating:</em> <span class="rating-good">••••••••</span><span class="rating-bad">••</span> (8) / <em>Fiction</em></p>

<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>


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<p class="cke-footer">Mike: GOD DAMMIT CLINTON
Mike: I need to get you a copy of everything from the renaissance.
Mike: BECAUSE THE RENAISSACE WAS LIKE "Heyyyyyy we're starting to
      semi-doubt religion!  LOOK INVENTIONS!!!"
</p>
<p class="cke-timestamp">Last Modified:
    August  6, 2008</p>
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023ad63c	1	<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
	2	<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN"
	3	"http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd">
	4	<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
	5	<head>
	6	<title>A Not So Fancy Listing of Books</title>
	7	<meta name="generator" content="muse.el" />
	8	<meta http-equiv="Content-Type"
	9	content="text/html; charset=utf-8" />
	10	<link rel="stylesheet" href="default.css" media="screen" />
	11	</head>
	12	<body>
	13	<h1>A Not So Fancy Listing of Books</h1>
	14	<div class="contents">
	15	<dl>
	16	<dt>
	17	<a href="#sec1">Marcus Aurelius</a>
	18	</dt>
	19	<dd>
	20	<dl>
	21	<dt>
	22	<a href="#sec2">Meditations</a>
	23	</dt>
	24	</dl>
	25	</dd>
	26	<dt>
	27	<a href="#sec3">William Blake</a>
	28	</dt>
	29	<dd>
	30	<dl>
	31	<dt>
	32	<a href="#sec4">The Four Zoas</a>
	33	</dt>
	34	<dt>
	35	<a href="#sec5">Jerusalem</a>
	36	</dt>
	37	</dl>
	38	</dd>
	39	<dt>
	40	<a href="#sec6">John Taylor Gatto</a>
	41	</dt>
	42	<dd>
	43	<dl>
	44	<dt>
	45	<a href="#sec7">Underground History of American Education</a>
	46	</dt>
	47	</dl>
	48	</dd>
	49	<dt>
	50	<a href="#sec8">Kahlil Gibran</a>
	51	</dt>
	52	<dd>
	53	<dl>
	54	<dt>
	55	<a href="#sec9">A Tear and a Smile</a>
	56	</dt>
	57	<dt>
	58	<a href="#sec10">The Prophet</a>
	59	</dt>
	60	<dt>
	61	<a href="#sec11">Sand and Foam</a>
	62	</dt>
	63	<dt>
	64	<a href="#sec12">The Madman</a>
65	</dt>
66	</dl>
67	</dd>
68	<dt>
69	<a href="#sec13">William James</a>
70	</dt>
71	<dd>
72	<dl>
73	<dt>
74	<a href="#sec14">The Varieties of Religious Experience</a>
75	</dt>
76	</dl>
77	</dd>
78	<dt>
79	<a href="#sec15">Gregor Kiczales</a>
80	</dt>
81	<dd>
82	<dl>
83	<dt>
84	<a href="#sec16">The Art of the Metaobject Protocol</a>
85	</dt>
86	</dl>
87	</dd>
88	<dt>
89	<a href="#sec17">Søren Kierkegaard</a>
90	</dt>
91	<dd>
92	<dl>
93	<dt>
94	<a href="#sec18">Sickness Unto Death</a>
95	</dt>
96	<dt>
97	<a href="#sec19">Either/Or</a>
98	</dt>
99	</dl>
100	</dd>
101	<dt>
102	<a href="#sec20">Thomas More</a>
103	</dt>
104	<dd>
105	<dl>
106	<dt>
107	<a href="#sec21">Utopia</a>
108	</dt>
109	</dl>
110	</dd>
111	<dt>
04cda6d1	112	<a href="#sec22">Friedrich Nietzsche</a>
023ad63c	113	</dt>
	114	<dd>
	115	<dl>
	116	<dt>
04cda6d1	117	<a href="#sec23">Beyond Good and Evil</a>
	118	</dt>
	119	<dt>
	120	<a href="#sec24">On the Geneaology of Morals</a>
023ad63c	121	</dt>
	122	</dl>
	123	</dd>
	124	<dt>
04cda6d1	125	<a href="#sec25">Luke Rhinehardt</a>
023ad63c	126	</dt>
	127	<dd>
	128	<dl>
	129	<dt>
04cda6d1	130	<a href="#sec26">The Dice Man</a>
023ad63c	131	</dt>
04cda6d1	132	</dl>
04cda6d1	133	</dd>
023ad63c	134	<dt>
04cda6d1	135	<a href="#sec27">Neal Stephenson</a>
	136	</dt>
	137	<dd>
	138	<dl>
	139	<dt>
	140	<a href="#sec28">Snow Crash</a>
	141	</dt>
	142	<dt>
	143	<a href="#sec29">Cryptonomicon</a>
023ad63c	144	</dt>
	145	</dl>
	146	</dd>
	147	</dl>
	148	</div>
	149
	150
	151	<!-- Page published by Emacs Muse begins here --><h2><a name="sec1" id="sec1"></a>
	152	Marcus Aurelius</h2>
	153
	154
	155
	156	<h3><a name="sec2" id="sec2"></a>
	157	Meditations</h3>
	158
	159	<p><em>Rating:</em> <span class="rating-good">••••••</span><span class="rating-bad">••••</span> (6) / <em>Nonfiction</em></p>
	160
	161	<p>I enjoyed reading this collection of meditations on Stoic
	162	philosophy. It is a fairly quick read; I read each of the twelve books
	163	before sleeping over the course of two weeks. Toward the end of the
	164	collection things get a bit topically repetetive (e.g. acting
	165	according to the nature of man is reflected upon over and over), but
	166	each repetition looks at the topic in a slightly different light. A
	167	number of passages I found quite inspiring, and scratched them down in
	168	my notebook to ponder further.</p>
	169
	170
	171
	172	<h2><a name="sec3" id="sec3"></a>
	173	William Blake</h2>
	174
92ffc65b	175	<p class="first">Blake is my <a href="William%20Blake.html">favorite</a> of the English poets. His
	176	unique use of relief etching and watercoloring makes for very
	177	interesting Illuminated works. There is a very high quality
023ad63c	178	<a href="http://blakearchive.org">complete archive of Blake's works</a> online
	179	with high resolution plate scans and full transcriptions among other
	180	things.</p>
	181
	182	<h3><a name="sec4" id="sec4"></a>
	183	The Four Zoas</h3>
	184
	185	<p><em>Rating:</em> <span class="rating-good">••••••••••</span> (10) / <em>Fiction</em></p>
	186
	187	<p>The unfinished manuscript of Blake's longest apocalypse. The
	188	Four Zoas divide from Albion and rage through the ages of dismal woe
	189	to bring about the end of the cycle of Ulro and restore the cycle of
	190	Beulah.</p>
	191
	192
	193	<h3><a name="sec5" id="sec5"></a>
	194	Jerusalem</h3>
	195
	196	<p><em>Rating:</em> <span class="rating-good">••••••••••</span> (10) / <em>Fiction</em></p>
	197
	198	<p>The finest of Blake's Illuminated works.</p>
	199
	200
	201
	202	<h2><a name="sec6" id="sec6"></a>
	203	John Taylor Gatto</h2>
	204
	205	<p class="first">Former teacher and now author-activist.</p>
	206
	207	<h3><a name="sec7" id="sec7"></a>
	208	Underground History of American Education</h3>
	209
	210	<p><em>Rating:</em> <span class="rating-good">•••••••••</span><span class="rating-bad">•</span> (9) / <em>Nonfiction</em></p>
	211
	212	<p>An interesting <em>underground</em> history of the American education
04cda6d1	213	system. Available
04cda6d1	214	<a href="http://www.johntaylorgatto.com/underground/">online for free</a>.</p>
023ad63c	215
	216
	217
	218	<h2><a name="sec8" id="sec8"></a>
	219	Kahlil Gibran</h2>
	220
	221	<p class="first">Kahlil Gibran is fairly interesting; his earlier works do not
	222	agree with my æsthetic sense (blah blah), but <em>The Madman</em> onward are
	223	all rather nice. A few of his works are
	224	<a href="http://leb.net/~mira/">online</a>, but I recommend scouting used book
	225	stores for old hardcover editions. The (late 90s onward at least)
	226	<em>hardcover</em> versions from <em>Alfred A. Knopf</em> are in fact permabound
	227	paperbacks with a hardcasing, and are of seriously inferior quality to
	228	the editions from the 50s and 60s (and cost quite a bit more,
	229	naturally).</p>
	230
	231	<h3><a name="sec9" id="sec9"></a>
	232	A Tear and a Smile</h3>
	233
	234	<p><em>Rating:</em> <span class="rating-good">•••</span><span class="rating-bad">•••••••</span> (3) / <em>Fiction</em></p>
	235
	236	<p>One of Kahlil Gibran's earlier works, I did not much like <em>A
	237	Tear and a Smile</em> excepting the last poem ("A Poet's Voice").</p>
	238
	239
	240	<h3><a name="sec10" id="sec10"></a>
	241	The Prophet</h3>
	242
	243	<p><em>Rating:</em> <span class="rating-good">•••••••••</span><span class="rating-bad">•</span> (9) / <em>Fiction</em></p>
	244
	245
	246
	247
	248	<h3><a name="sec11" id="sec11"></a>
	249	Sand and Foam</h3>
	250
	251	<p><em>Rating:</em> <span class="rating-good">•••••••</span><span class="rating-bad">•••</span> (7) / <em>Fiction</em></p>
	252
	253	<p>An interesting little book of aphorisms.</p>
	254
	255
	256	<h3><a name="sec12" id="sec12"></a>
	257	The Madman</h3>
	258
	259	<p><em>Rating:</em> <span class="rating-good">••••••••</span><span class="rating-bad">••</span> (8) / <em>Fiction</em></p>
	260
	261
	262
	263
	264
	265	<h2><a name="sec13" id="sec13"></a>
	266	William James</h2>
	267
	268
	269
	270	<h3><a name="sec14" id="sec14"></a>
	271	The Varieties of Religious Experience</h3>
	272
	273	<p><em>Rating:</em> <span class="rating-good">•••••••</span><span class="rating-bad">•••</span> (7) / <em>Nonfiction</em></p>
	274
	275	<p><a href="William%20James%20-%20The%20Varieties%20of%20Religious%20Experience.html">A partially finished extended summary</a></p>
	276
	277
	278
279	<h2><a name="sec15" id="sec15"></a>
280	Gregor Kiczales</h2>
281
282
283
284	<h3><a name="sec16" id="sec16"></a>
285	The Art of the Metaobject Protocol</h3>
286
287	<p><em>Rating:</em> <span class="rating-good">••••••••••</span> (10) / <em>Nonfiction</em></p>
288
289	<p>AMOP is useful as a reference to the CLOS MOP (although less so with
290	the online MOP spec), but the true value of the book lies in the first
291	half of the book. It presents the design of the CLOS MOP through a
292	series of revisions that fix limitations of earlier implementations
293	and gradually work toward a generic and well designed MOP for
294	CLOS. Through that process one is made more aware of a few general
295	object protocol design skills, and gains insight into how to cleanly
296	make mapping decisions customizable.</p>
297
298
299
300	<h2><a name="sec17" id="sec17"></a>
301	Søren Kierkegaard</h2>
302
303	<p class="first">Kierkegaard was a master of style and philosophy; his writing is
304	interesting even if one finds the theistic extentialism espoused
305	disagreeable.</p>
306
307	<h3><a name="sec18" id="sec18"></a>
308	Sickness Unto Death</h3>
309
310	<p><em>Rating:</em> <span class="rating-good">••••••••••</span> (10) / <em>Nonfiction</em></p>
311
312	<p>I purchased this when I was looking through books at a store after
313	being unable to find the book I really wanted, and I must say that it
314	was better for me to have found this one.</p>
315
316	<p>Contained within is a beautiful analysis of despair in the context of
317	Christianity (really theism in general). Even if the argument offends,
318	the presentation cannot. The dialectical nature of despair is
319	reflected in every aspect of the work, and the method of presentation
320	forces reflection.</p>
321
322
323	<h3><a name="sec19" id="sec19"></a>
324	Either/Or</h3>
325
326	<p><em>Rating:</em> <span class="rating-good">••••••••••</span> (10) / <em>Nonfiction</em></p>
327
328	<p>Composed of two portions, <em>Either/Or</em> is a rather lengthy but
329	rewarding read. The first book is a series of essays and a diary of a
330	young esthetician; the second is a pair of long letters from an older
331	ethicist friend to this esthetician. You are then left to resolve the
332	conflict between the views.</p>
333
334
335
336	<h2><a name="sec20" id="sec20"></a>
337	Thomas More</h2>
338
339
340
341	<h3><a name="sec21" id="sec21"></a>
342	Utopia</h3>
343
344	<p><em>Rating:</em> <span class="rating-good">•••••••</span><span class="rating-bad">•••</span> (7) / <em>Fiction</em></p>
345
346	<p>I read most of Utopia in high school with the TI-89 ebook reader, but
347	the way the book was split up made it a bit difficult to grasp the
348	overall structure. I found a copy at a used book store one day, and so
349	I read it again, and found it much more comprehensible. It is a quick
350	read, and decent piece of literature. The interesting social system
351	espoused resembles resembles state communism (even if perhaps as a
352	negative ideal), but with an strange blend of 14th century European
353	social customs.</p>
354
355
356
357	<h2><a name="sec22" id="sec22"></a>
04cda6d1	358	Friedrich Nietzsche</h2>
	359
	360	<p class="first">A bit acerbic and esoteric, Nietzsche is for me a good <em>secular</em>
	361	counterpart to Kierkegaard's theistic philosophy. Nietzsche's
	362	polemical works raise important questions for anyone who reads works
	363	on ethics. As such it is a shame that he has gotten a bad reputation
	364	by being read by far too many angsty teenagers who see (and relay)
	365	only Nietzsche the asshole rather than Nietzsche the master of the
	366	polemic.</p>
	367
	368	<h3><a name="sec23" id="sec23"></a>
	369	Beyond Good and Evil</h3>
	370
	371	<p><em>Rating:</em> <span class="rating-good">••••••••</span><span class="rating-bad">••</span> (8) / <em>Nonfiction</em></p>
	372
	373	<p>A somewhat more comprehensible, if a bit less aesthetically
	374	pleasing, presentation of much of the philosophy found in <em>Thus Spoke
	375	Zarathustra</em>. The final chapters are very important (not to detract
	376	from the value of the rest of the work) if one wishes to understand
	377	<em>On the Genealogy of Morals</em>.</p>
	378
	379
	380	<h3><a name="sec24" id="sec24"></a>
	381	On the Geneaology of Morals</h3>
	382
	383	<p><em>Rating:</em> <span class="rating-good">•••••••••</span><span class="rating-bad">•</span> (9) / <em>Nonfiction</em></p>
	384
	385	<p><em>On the Geneaology of Morals</em> is a wonderful book of three
	386	polemical essays on the origin of moral/ethic valuations, and the
	387	blindness of modern philosphers whose very thinking is tainted by
	388	these valuations unknowingly.</p>
	389
	390
	391
	392	<h2><a name="sec25" id="sec25"></a>
023ad63c	393	Luke Rhinehardt</h2>
	394
	395
	396
04cda6d1	397	<h3><a name="sec26" id="sec26"></a>
023ad63c	398	The Dice Man</h3>
	399
	400	<p><em>Rating:</em> <span class="rating-good">•••••••</span><span class="rating-bad">•••</span> (7) / <em>Fiction</em></p>
	401
	402	<blockquote>
	403	<p class="quoted">
	404	And it's his illusions about what
	405	constitutes the real world which are
	406	inhibiting him...
	407	His reality, his reason, his society
	408	...these are what must be destroyed</p>
	409
	410	</blockquote>
	411
	412	<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
	413	this book; at worst it would be a waste of time. Much reward was found
	414	in this random stab in the dark. The book is framed as an
	415	autobiography of the author as a psychoanalyst, and his progression
	416	through life as a Dice Man after deciding to live his life through
	417	random chance.</p>
	418
	419	<p>The style, plot, and content are equally neurotic; part comedy, part
	420	attack on psychoanalysis, and part deep philosophy. It was often
	421	difficult to put down, and was read in under a week of spare time.</p>
	422
	423
	424
04cda6d1	425	<h2><a name="sec27" id="sec27"></a>
023ad63c	426	Neal Stephenson</h2>
	427
	428
	429
04cda6d1	430	<h3><a name="sec28" id="sec28"></a>
023ad63c	431	Snow Crash</h3>
	432
	433	<p><em>Rating:</em> <span class="rating-good">•••••••••</span><span class="rating-bad">•</span> (9) / <em>Fiction</em></p>
	434
	435	<p>As one must read the <em>Bible</em> to understand English literature, so one
	436	must read <em>Snow Crash</em> today to be a nerd. In the realm of modern pop
	437	fiction this is one of the better books I've read; it was devoured in
	438	a mere four nights. Neal Stepheson may not be Milton, but he does come
	439	up with enganging tales. <em>Snow Crash</em> has a nice undertone of (quite
	440	accurate) political and social commentary that makes it worth reading
	441	as more than mere cyberpunk fiction.</p>
	442
	443
04cda6d1	444	<h3><a name="sec29" id="sec29"></a>
023ad63c	445	Cryptonomicon</h3>
	446
	447	<p><em>Rating:</em> <span class="rating-good">••••••••</span><span class="rating-bad">••</span> (8) / <em>Fiction</em></p>
	448
	449	<p>I read <em>Cryptonomicon</em> when it was new, and at the time I thought it was
	450	good. It could have lost a hundred or so pages without detracting from
	451	the plot, but it was easy reading and didn't take very long to
	452	finish. The story was enganging, and the continual switching between
	453	the 1940s and present day slowly unravelled the tale in a nice way.</p>
	454
	455	<p>I'd still have to recommend <em>Snow Crash</em> if one wished to read only one
	456	Stephenson novel.</p>
	457
	458
	459
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	473	src="img/buttons/debian.png" alt="[ Powered by Debian ]" /></a>
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	482	alt="[ FSF Associate Member ]" />
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	484	</p>
	485
04cda6d1	486	<p class="cke-footer">Mike: GOD DAMMIT CLINTON
	487	Mike: I need to get you a copy of everything from the renaissance.
	488	Mike: BECAUSE THE RENAISSACE WAS LIKE "Heyyyyyy we're starting to
	489	semi-doubt religion! LOOK INVENTIONS!!!"
023ad63c	490	</p>
023ad63c	491	<p class="cke-timestamp">Last Modified:
04cda6d1	492	August 6, 2008</p>
023ad63c	493	</body>
023ad63c	494	</html>