Book List.html

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  16     <h1>A Not So Fancy Listing of Books</h1>
  17    <div class="contents">
  18 <dl>
  19 <dt>
  20 <a href="#sec1">Marcus Aurelius</a>
  21 </dt>
  22 <dd>
  23 <dl>
  24 <dt>
  25 <a href="#sec2">Meditations</a>
  26 </dt>
  27 </dl>
  28 </dd>
  29 <dt>
  30 <a href="#sec3">William Blake</a>
  31 </dt>
  32 <dd>
  33 <dl>
  34 <dt>
  35 <a href="#sec4">The Four Zoas</a>
  36 </dt>
  37 <dt>
  38 <a href="#sec5">Jerusalem</a>
  39 </dt>
  40 </dl>
  41 </dd>
  42 <dt>
  43 <a href="#sec6">Neil Gaiman</a>
  44 </dt>
  45 <dd>
  46 <dl>
  47 <dt>
  48 <a href="#sec7">The Sandman (series)</a>
  49 </dt>
  50 </dl>
  51 </dd>
  52 <dt>
  53 <a href="#sec8">John Taylor Gatto</a>
  54 </dt>
  55 <dd>
  56 <dl>
  57 <dt>
  58 <a href="#sec9">Underground History of American Education</a>
  59 </dt>
  60 </dl>
  61 </dd>
  62 <dt>
  63 <a href="#sec10">Kahlil Gibran</a>
  64 </dt>
  65 <dd>
  66 <dl>
  67 <dt>
  68 <a href="#sec11">A Tear and a Smile</a>
  69 </dt>
  70 <dt>
  71 <a href="#sec12">The Prophet</a>
  72 </dt>
  73 <dt>
  74 <a href="#sec13">Sand and Foam</a>
  75 </dt>
  76 <dt>
  77 <a href="#sec14">The Madman</a>
  78 </dt>
  79 </dl>
  80 </dd>
  81 <dt>
  82 <a href="#sec15">William James</a>
  83 </dt>
  84 <dd>
  85 <dl>
  86 <dt>
  87 <a href="#sec16">The Varieties of Religious Experience</a>
  88 </dt>
  89 <dt>
  90 <a href="#sec17">The PhD Octopus</a>
  91 </dt>
  92 </dl>
  93 </dd>
  94 <dt>
  95 <a href="#sec18">Henry James</a>
  96 </dt>
  97 <dd>
  98 <dl>
  99 <dt>
 100 <a href="#sec19">The Altar of the Dead</a>
 101 </dt>
 102 </dl>
 103 </dd>
 104 <dt>
 105 <a href="#sec20">Gregor Kiczales</a>
 106 </dt>
 107 <dd>
 108 <dl>
 109 <dt>
 110 <a href="#sec21">The Art of the Metaobject Protocol</a>
 111 </dt>
 112 </dl>
 113 </dd>
 114 <dt>
 115 <a href="#sec22">Søren Kierkegaard</a>
 116 </dt>
 117 <dd>
 118 <dl>
 119 <dt>
 120 <a href="#sec23">Sickness Unto Death</a>
 121 </dt>
 122 <dt>
 123 <a href="#sec24">Either/Or</a>
 124 </dt>
 125 <dt>
 126 <a href="#sec25">Fear and Trembling</a>
 127 </dt>
 128 </dl>
 129 </dd>
 130 <dt>
 131 <a href="#sec26">Alan Moore</a>
 132 </dt>
 133 <dd>
 134 <dl>
 135 <dt>
 136 <a href="#sec27">Watchmen</a>
 137 </dt>
 138 <dt>
 139 <a href="#sec28">V for Vendetta</a>
 140 </dt>
 141 </dl>
 142 </dd>
 143 <dt>
 144 <a href="#sec29">Thomas More</a>
 145 </dt>
 146 <dd>
 147 <dl>
 148 <dt>
 149 <a href="#sec30">Utopia</a>
 150 </dt>
 151 </dl>
 152 </dd>
 153 <dt>
 154 <a href="#sec31">Friedrich Nietzsche</a>
 155 </dt>
 156 <dd>
 157 <dl>
 158 <dt>
 159 <a href="#sec32">Beyond Good and Evil</a>
 160 </dt>
 161 <dt>
 162 <a href="#sec33">On the Geneaology of Morals</a>
 163 </dt>
 164 <dt>
 165 <a href="#sec34">Ecce Homo</a>
 166 </dt>
 167 </dl>
 168 </dd>
 169 <dt>
 170 <a href="#sec35">Luke Rhinehardt</a>
 171 </dt>
 172 <dd>
 173 <dl>
 174 <dt>
 175 <a href="#sec36">The Dice Man</a>
 176 </dt>
 177 </dl>
 178 </dd>
 179 <dt>
 180 <a href="#sec37">Neal Stephenson</a>
 181 </dt>
 182 <dd>
 183 <dl>
 184 <dt>
 185 <a href="#sec38">Snow Crash</a>
 186 </dt>
 187 <dt>
 188 <a href="#sec39">Cryptonomicon</a>
 189 </dt>
 190 </dl>
 191 </dd>
 192 </dl>
 193 </div>
 194
 195
 196 <!-- Page published by Emacs Muse begins here --><h2><a name="sec1" id="sec1"></a>
 197 Marcus Aurelius</h2>
 198
 199
 200
 201 <h3><a name="sec2" id="sec2"></a>
 202 Meditations</h3>
 203
 204 <p><em>Rating:</em> <span class="rating-good"> ••••••</span><span class="rating-bad">•••• </span> (6) / <em>Nonfiction</em></p>
 205
 206 <p>I enjoyed reading this collection of meditations on Stoic
 207 philosophy. It is a fairly quick read; I read each of the twelve books
 208 before sleeping over the course of two weeks. Toward the end of the
 209 collection things get a bit topically repetetive (e.g. acting
 210 according to the nature of man is reflected upon over and over), but
 211 each repetition looks at the topic in a slightly different light. A
 212 number of passages I found quite inspiring, and scratched them down in
 213 my notebook to ponder further.</p>
 214
 215
 216
 217
 218 <h2><a name="sec3" id="sec3"></a>
 219 William Blake</h2>
 220
 221 <p class="first">Blake is my <a href="William%20Blake.html">favorite</a> of the English poets. His
 222 unique use of relief etching and watercoloring makes for very
 223 interesting Illuminated works. There is a very high quality
 224 <a href="http://blakearchive.org">complete archive of Blake's works</a> online
 225 with high resolution plate scans and full transcriptions among other
 226 things.</p>
 227
 228 <h3><a name="sec4" id="sec4"></a>
 229 The Four Zoas</h3>
 230
 231 <p><em>Rating:</em> <span class="rating-good"> ••••••••••</span><span class="rating-bad"> </span> (10) / <em>Fiction</em></p>
 232
 233 <p>The unfinished manuscript of Blake's longest apocalypse. The
 234 Four Zoas divide from Albion and rage through the ages of dismal woe
 235 to bring about the end of the cycle of Ulro and restore the cycle of
 236 Beulah.</p>
 237
 238
 239
 240 <h3><a name="sec5" id="sec5"></a>
 241 Jerusalem</h3>
 242
 243 <p><em>Rating:</em> <span class="rating-good"> ••••••••••</span><span class="rating-bad"> </span> (10) / <em>Fiction</em></p>
 244
 245 <p>The finest of Blake's Illuminated works.</p>
 246
 247
 248
 249
 250 <h2><a name="sec6" id="sec6"></a>
 251 Neil Gaiman</h2>
 252
 253
 254
 255 <h3><a name="sec7" id="sec7"></a>
 256 The Sandman (series)</h3>
 257
 258 <p><em>Rating:</em> <span class="rating-good"> ••••••••••</span><span class="rating-bad"> </span> (10) / <em>Fiction</em></p>
 259
 260 <p>Perhaps the best comic book series of all time; I would say <em>The
 261 <blockquote>
 262 <p class="quoted">Sandman</em> as a whole ranks higher than anything even Alan Moore has
 263 written.</p>
 264 </blockquote>
 265
 266
 267
 268
 269 <h2><a name="sec8" id="sec8"></a>
 270 John Taylor Gatto</h2>
 271
 272 <p class="first">Former teacher and now author-activist.</p>
 273
 274 <h3><a name="sec9" id="sec9"></a>
 275 Underground History of American Education</h3>
 276
 277 <p><em>Rating:</em> <span class="rating-good"> •••••••••</span><span class="rating-bad">• </span> (9) / <em>Nonfiction</em></p>
 278
 279 <p>An interesting <em>underground</em> history of the American education
 280 system. Available
 281 <a href="http://www.johntaylorgatto.com/underground/">online for free</a>.</p>
 282
 283
 284
 285
 286 <h2><a name="sec10" id="sec10"></a>
 287 Kahlil Gibran</h2>
 288
 289 <p class="first">Kahlil Gibran is fairly interesting; his earlier works do not
 290 agree with my æsthetic sense (blah blah), but <em>The Madman</em> onward are
 291 all rather nice. A few of his works are
 292 <a href="http://leb.net/~mira/">online</a>, but I recommend scouting used book
 293 stores for old hardcover editions. The (late 90s onward at least)
 294 <em>hardcover</em> versions from <em>Alfred A. Knopf</em> are in fact permabound
 295 paperbacks with a hardcasing, and are of seriously inferior quality to
 296 the editions from the 50s and 60s (and cost quite a bit more,
 297 naturally).</p>
 298
 299 <h3><a name="sec11" id="sec11"></a>
 300 A Tear and a Smile</h3>
 301
 302 <p><em>Rating:</em> <span class="rating-good"> •••</span><span class="rating-bad">••••••• </span> (3) / <em>Fiction</em></p>
 303
 304 <p>One of Kahlil Gibran's earlier works, I did not much like <em>A
 305 Tear and a Smile</em> excepting the last poem (&quot;A Poet's Voice&quot;).</p>
 306
 307
 308
 309 <h3><a name="sec12" id="sec12"></a>
 310 The Prophet</h3>
 311
 312 <p><em>Rating:</em> <span class="rating-good"> •••••••••</span><span class="rating-bad">• </span> (9) / <em>Fiction</em></p>
 313
 314
 315
 316
 317
 318 <h3><a name="sec13" id="sec13"></a>
 319 Sand and Foam</h3>
 320
 321 <p><em>Rating:</em> <span class="rating-good"> •••••••</span><span class="rating-bad">••• </span> (7) / <em>Fiction</em></p>
 322
 323 <p>An interesting little book of aphorisms.</p>
 324
 325
 326
 327 <h3><a name="sec14" id="sec14"></a>
 328 The Madman</h3>
 329
 330 <p><em>Rating:</em> <span class="rating-good"> ••••••••</span><span class="rating-bad">•• </span> (8) / <em>Fiction</em></p>
 331
 332
 333
 334
 335
 336
 337 <h2><a name="sec15" id="sec15"></a>
 338 William James</h2>
 339
 340
 341
 342 <h3><a name="sec16" id="sec16"></a>
 343 The Varieties of Religious Experience</h3>
 344
 345 <p><em>Rating:</em> <span class="rating-good"> •••••••</span><span class="rating-bad">••• </span> (7) / <em>Nonfiction</em></p>
 346
 347 <p><a href="William%20James%20-%20The%20Varieties%20of%20Religious%20Experience.html">A partially finished extended summary</a></p>
 348
 349
 350
 351 <h3><a name="sec17" id="sec17"></a>
 352 The PhD Octopus</h3>
 353
 354 <p><em>Nonfiction</em></p>
 355
 356 <blockquote>
 357 <p class="quoted">
 358 America is thus as a nation rapidly drifting towards a state of things
 359 in which no man of science or letters will be accounted respectable
 360 unless some kind of badge or diploma is stamped upon him, and in which
 361 bare personality will be a mark of outcast estate.  It seems to me high
 362 time to rouse ourselves to consciousness, and to cast a critical eye
 363 upon this decidedly grotesque tendency.  Other nations suffer terribly
 364 from the Mandarin disease.  Are we doomed to suffer like the rest?</p>
 365
 366 </blockquote>
 367
 368 <p><a href="William%20James%20-%20The%20PhD%20Octopus.html">Full Text</a></p>
 369
 370
 371
 372
 373 <h2><a name="sec18" id="sec18"></a>
 374 Henry James</h2>
 375
 376 <p class="first">The novelist brother of William James; I've not read many (read:
 377 one) of his books, but what I did was decent.</p>
 378
 379 <h3><a name="sec19" id="sec19"></a>
 380 The Altar of the Dead</h3>
 381
 382 <p><em>Rating:</em> <span class="rating-good"> •••••••</span><span class="rating-bad">••• </span> (7) / <em>Fiction</em></p>
 383
 384 <p>A short novella about a man who maintained an altar in a church
 385 for all of his lost loved ones on the surface, but something a bit
 386 more beneath.</p>
 387
 388
 389
 390
 391 <h2><a name="sec20" id="sec20"></a>
 392 Gregor Kiczales</h2>
 393
 394
 395
 396 <h3><a name="sec21" id="sec21"></a>
 397 The Art of the Metaobject Protocol</h3>
 398
 399 <p><em>Rating:</em> <span class="rating-good"> ••••••••••</span><span class="rating-bad"> </span> (10) / <em>Nonfiction</em></p>
 400
 401 <p>AMOP is useful as a reference to the CLOS MOP (although less so with
 402 the online MOP spec), but the true value of the book lies in the first
 403 half of the book. It presents the design of the CLOS MOP through a
 404 series of revisions that fix limitations of earlier implementations
 405 and gradually work toward a generic and well designed MOP for
 406 CLOS. Through that process one is made more aware of a few general
 407 object protocol design skills, and gains insight into how to cleanly
 408 make mapping decisions customizable.</p>
 409
 410
 411
 412
 413 <h2><a name="sec22" id="sec22"></a>
 414 Søren Kierkegaard</h2>
 415
 416 <p class="first">Kierkegaard was a master of style and philosophy; his writing is
 417 interesting even if one finds the theistic extentialism espoused
 418 disagreeable.</p>
 419
 420 <h3><a name="sec23" id="sec23"></a>
 421 Sickness Unto Death</h3>
 422
 423 <p><em>Rating:</em> <span class="rating-good"> ••••••••••</span><span class="rating-bad"> </span> (10) / <em>Nonfiction</em></p>
 424
 425 <p>I purchased this when I was looking through books at a store after
 426 being unable to find the book I really wanted, and I must say that it
 427 was better for me to have found this one.</p>
 428
 429 <p>Contained within is a beautiful analysis of despair in the context of
 430 Christianity (really theism in general). Even if the argument offends,
 431 the presentation cannot. The dialectical nature of despair is
 432 reflected in every aspect of the work, and the method of presentation
 433 forces reflection.</p>
 434
 435
 436
 437 <h3><a name="sec24" id="sec24"></a>
 438 Either/Or</h3>
 439
 440 <p><em>Rating:</em> <span class="rating-good"> ••••••••••</span><span class="rating-bad"> </span> (10) / <em>Nonfiction</em></p>
 441
 442 <p>Composed of two portions, <em>Either/Or</em> is a rather lengthy but
 443 rewarding read. The first book is a series of essays and a diary of a
 444 young esthetician; the second is a pair of long letters from an older
 445 ethicist friend to this esthetician. You are then left to resolve the
 446 conflict between the views.</p>
 447
 448
 449
 450 <h3><a name="sec25" id="sec25"></a>
 451 Fear and Trembling</h3>
 452
 453 <p><em>Nonfiction</em></p>
 454
 455 <p>An interesting dialectical lyric contrasting Despair and Faith.</p>
 456
 457
 458
 459
 460 <h2><a name="sec26" id="sec26"></a>
 461 Alan Moore</h2>
 462
 463
 464
 465 <h3><a name="sec27" id="sec27"></a>
 466 Watchmen</h3>
 467
 468 <p><em>Rating:</em> <span class="rating-good"> ••••••••</span><span class="rating-bad">•• </span> (8) / <em>Fiction</em></p>
 469
 470
 471
 472
 473
 474 <h3><a name="sec28" id="sec28"></a>
 475 V for Vendetta</h3>
 476
 477 <p><em>Rating:</em> <span class="rating-good"> ••••••••••</span><span class="rating-bad"> </span> (10) / <em>Fiction</em></p>
 478
 479
 480
 481
 482
 483
 484 <h2><a name="sec29" id="sec29"></a>
 485 Thomas More</h2>
 486
 487
 488
 489 <h3><a name="sec30" id="sec30"></a>
 490 Utopia</h3>
 491
 492 <p><em>Rating:</em> <span class="rating-good"> •••••••</span><span class="rating-bad">••• </span> (7) / <em>Fiction</em></p>
 493
 494 <p>I read most of Utopia in high school with the TI-89 ebook reader, but
 495 the way the book was split up made it a bit difficult to grasp the
 496 overall structure. I found a copy at a used book store one day, and so
 497 I read it again, and found it much more comprehensible. It is a quick
 498 read, and decent piece of literature. The interesting social system
 499 espoused resembles resembles state communism (even if perhaps as a
 500 negative ideal), but with an strange blend of 14th century European
 501 social customs.</p>
 502
 503
 504
 505
 506 <h2><a name="sec31" id="sec31"></a>
 507 Friedrich Nietzsche</h2>
 508
 509 <p class="first">A bit acerbic and esoteric, Nietzsche is for me a good <em>secular</em>
 510 counterpart to Kierkegaard's theistic philosophy. Nietzsche's
 511 polemical works raise important questions for anyone who reads works
 512 on ethics. As such it is a shame that he has gotten a bad reputation
 513 by being read by far too many angsty teenagers who see (and relay)
 514 only Nietzsche the asshole rather than Nietzsche the master of the
 515 polemic.</p>
 516
 517 <h3><a name="sec32" id="sec32"></a>
 518 Beyond Good and Evil</h3>
 519
 520 <p><em>Rating:</em> <span class="rating-good"> ••••••••</span><span class="rating-bad">•• </span> (8) / <em>Nonfiction</em></p>
 521
 522 <p>A somewhat more comprehensible, if a bit less aesthetically
 523 pleasing, presentation of much of the philosophy found in <em>Thus Spoke
 524 Zarathustra</em> in the negative form. The final chapters are very
 525 important (not to detract from the value of the rest of the work) if
 526 one wishes to understand <em>On the Genealogy of Morals</em>.</p>
 527
 528
 529
 530 <h3><a name="sec33" id="sec33"></a>
 531 On the Geneaology of Morals</h3>
 532
 533 <p><em>Rating:</em> <span class="rating-good"> •••••••••</span><span class="rating-bad">• </span> (9) / <em>Nonfiction</em></p>
 534
 535 <p><em>On the Geneaology of Morals</em> is a wonderful book of three
 536 polemical essays on the origin of moral/ethic valuations, and the
 537 blindness of modern philosphers whose very thinking is tainted by
 538 these valuations unknowingly.</p>
 539
 540
 541
 542 <h3><a name="sec34" id="sec34"></a>
 543 Ecce Homo</h3>
 544
 545 <p><em>Rating:</em> <span class="rating-good"> •••••••</span><span class="rating-bad">••• </span> (7) / <em>Nonfiction</em></p>
 546
 547 <p><em>Ecce Homo</em> is Nietzsche's very strange autobiography and
 548 explanation of his own works. At points it is clear that it could have
 549 used a bit more editing (prevented by Nietzsche ... falling into a
 550 catatonic state and all), but is still a very useful book to read as
 551 Nietzsche explains the overall structure of his works.</p>
 552
 553
 554
 555
 556 <h2><a name="sec35" id="sec35"></a>
 557 Luke Rhinehardt</h2>
 558
 559
 560
 561 <h3><a name="sec36" id="sec36"></a>
 562 The Dice Man</h3>
 563
 564 <p><em>Rating:</em> <span class="rating-good"> •••••••</span><span class="rating-bad">••• </span> (7) / <em>Fiction</em></p>
 565
 566 <blockquote>
 567 <p class="quoted">
 568 And it's his illusions about what
 569 constitutes the real world which are
 570 inhibiting him...
 571 His reality, his reason, his society
 572 ...these are what must be destroyed</p>
 573
 574 </blockquote>
 575
 576 <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
 577 this book; at worst it would be a waste of time. Much reward was found
 578 in this random stab in the dark. The book is framed as an
 579 autobiography of the author as a psychoanalyst, and his progression
 580 through life as a Dice Man after deciding to live his life through
 581 random chance.</p>
 582
 583 <p>The style, plot, and content are equally neurotic; part comedy, part
 584 attack on psychoanalysis, and part deep philosophy. It was often
 585 difficult to put down, and was read in under a week of spare time.</p>
 586
 587
 588
 589
 590 <h2><a name="sec37" id="sec37"></a>
 591 Neal Stephenson</h2>
 592
 593
 594
 595 <h3><a name="sec38" id="sec38"></a>
 596 Snow Crash</h3>
 597
 598 <p><em>Rating:</em> <span class="rating-good"> •••••••••</span><span class="rating-bad">• </span> (9) / <em>Fiction</em></p>
 599
 600 <p>As one must read the <em>Bible</em> to understand English literature, so one
 601 must read <em>Snow Crash</em> today to be a nerd. In the realm of modern pop
 602 fiction this is one of the better books I've read; it was devoured in
 603 a mere four nights. Neal Stepheson may not be Milton, but he does come
 604 up with enganging tales. <em>Snow Crash</em> has a nice undertone of (quite
 605 accurate) political and social commentary that makes it worth reading
 606 as more than mere cyberpunk fiction.</p>
 607
 608
 609
 610 <h3><a name="sec39" id="sec39"></a>
 611 Cryptonomicon</h3>
 612
 613 <p><em>Rating:</em> <span class="rating-good"> ••••••••</span><span class="rating-bad">•• </span> (8) / <em>Fiction</em></p>
 614
 615 <p>I read <em>Cryptonomicon</em> when it was new, and at the time I thought it was
 616 good. It could have lost a hundred or so pages without detracting from
 617 the plot, but it was easy reading and didn't take very long to
 618 finish. The story was enganging, and the continual switching between
 619 the 1940s and present day slowly unravelled the tale in a nice way.</p>
 620
 621 <p>I'd still have to recommend <em>Snow Crash</em> if one wished to read only one
 622 Stephenson novel.</p>
 623
 624
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 651
 652 <p class="cke-footer">Danielle: well road signs were pissing me off
 653 Danielle: I took one of them out, but the other haven't followed as
 654           planned
 655 </p>
 656 <p class="cke-timestamp">Last Modified:
 657     December 11, 2008</p>
 658   </body>
 659 </html>