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<h1>A Not So Fancy Listing of Books</h1>
<div class="contents">
<dl>
<dt>
-<a href="#sec1">William Blake</a>
+<a href="#sec1">Douglas Adams</a>
</dt>
<dd>
<dl>
<dt>
-<a href="#sec2">The Four Zoas</a>
+<a href="#sec2">Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy (collected)</a>
</dt>
<dt>
-<a href="#sec3">Jerusalem</a>
+<a href="#sec3">The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul</a>
</dt>
</dl>
</dd>
<dt>
-<a href="#sec4">Kahlil Gibran</a>
+<a href="#sec4">Aeschylus</a>
</dt>
<dd>
<dl>
<dt>
-<a href="#sec5">A Tear and a Smile</a>
+<a href="#sec5">Oresteia</a>
</dt>
<dt>
-<a href="#sec6">The Prophet</a>
+<a href="#sec6">Prometheus Bound</a>
</dt>
<dt>
-<a href="#sec7">Sand and Foam</a>
+<a href="#sec7">The Persians</a>
</dt>
+</dl>
+</dd>
+<dt>
+<a href="#sec8">Aristophanes</a>
+</dt>
+<dd>
+<dl>
+<dt>
+<a href="#sec9">The Frogs</a>
+</dt>
+<dt>
+<a href="#sec10">The Clouds</a>
+</dt>
+<dt>
+<a href="#sec11">Ecclesiazusae</a>
+</dt>
+</dl>
+</dd>
+<dt>
+<a href="#sec12">Aristotle</a>
+</dt>
+<dd>
+<dl>
+<dt>
+<a href="#sec13">Ethics</a>
+</dt>
+<dt>
+<a href="#sec14">Categories</a>
+</dt>
+<dt>
+<a href="#sec15">Poetics</a>
+</dt>
+<dt>
+<a href="#sec16">Rhetoric</a>
+</dt>
+</dl>
+</dd>
+<dt>
+<a href="#sec17">Marcus Aurelius</a>
+</dt>
+<dd>
+<dl>
+<dt>
+<a href="#sec18">Meditations</a>
+</dt>
+</dl>
+</dd>
+<dt>
+<a href="#sec19">William Blake</a>
+</dt>
+<dd>
+<dl>
+<dt>
+<a href="#sec20">The Four Zoas</a>
+</dt>
+<dt>
+<a href="#sec21">Jerusalem</a>
+</dt>
+</dl>
+</dd>
+<dt>
+<a href="#sec22">Neil Gaiman</a>
+</dt>
+<dd>
+<dl>
+<dt>
+<a href="#sec23">The Sandman (series)</a>
+</dt>
+</dl>
+</dd>
+<dt>
+<a href="#sec24">John Taylor Gatto</a>
+</dt>
+<dd>
+<dl>
+<dt>
+<a href="#sec25">Underground History of American Education</a>
+</dt>
+</dl>
+</dd>
+<dt>
+<a href="#sec26">Kahlil Gibran</a>
+</dt>
+<dd>
+<dl>
+<dt>
+<a href="#sec27">A Tear and a Smile</a>
+</dt>
+<dt>
+<a href="#sec28">The Prophet</a>
+</dt>
+<dt>
+<a href="#sec29">Sand and Foam</a>
+</dt>
+<dt>
+<a href="#sec30">The Madman</a>
+</dt>
+</dl>
+</dd>
+<dt>
+<a href="#sec31">Homer</a>
+</dt>
+<dd>
+<dl>
<dt>
-<a href="#sec8">The Madman</a>
+<a href="#sec32">The Odyssey</a>
</dt>
</dl>
</dd>
<dt>
-<a href="#sec9">John Taylor Gatto</a>
+<a href="#sec33">Aldous Huxley</a>
</dt>
<dd>
<dl>
<dt>
-<a href="#sec10">Underground History of American Education</a>
+<a href="#sec34">The Doors of Perception</a>
+</dt>
+<dt>
+<a href="#sec35">Heaven and Hell</a>
</dt>
</dl>
</dd>
<dt>
-<a href="#sec11">Luke Rhinehardt</a>
+<a href="#sec36">William James</a>
</dt>
<dd>
<dl>
<dt>
-<a href="#sec12">The Dice Man</a>
+<a href="#sec37">The Varieties of Religious Experience</a>
+</dt>
+<dt>
+<a href="#sec38">The PhD Octopus</a>
</dt>
</dl>
</dd>
<dt>
-<a href="#sec13">Neal Stephenson</a>
+<a href="#sec39">Henry James</a>
</dt>
<dd>
<dl>
<dt>
-<a href="#sec14">Snow Crash</a>
+<a href="#sec40">The Altar of the Dead</a>
+</dt>
+</dl>
+</dd>
+<dt>
+<a href="#sec41">Gregor Kiczales</a>
</dt>
+<dd>
+<dl>
<dt>
-<a href="#sec15">Cryptonomicon</a>
+<a href="#sec42">The Art of the Metaobject Protocol</a>
</dt>
</dl>
</dd>
<dt>
-<a href="#sec16">Marcus Aurelius</a>
+<a href="#sec43">Søren Kierkegaard</a>
</dt>
<dd>
<dl>
<dt>
-<a href="#sec17">Meditations</a>
+<a href="#sec44">Sickness Unto Death</a>
+</dt>
+<dt>
+<a href="#sec45">Either/Or</a>
+</dt>
+<dt>
+<a href="#sec46">Fear and Trembling</a>
</dt>
</dl>
</dd>
<dt>
-<a href="#sec18">Søren Kierkegaard</a>
+<a href="#sec47">Alan Moore</a>
</dt>
<dd>
<dl>
<dt>
-<a href="#sec19">Sickness Unto Death</a>
+<a href="#sec48">Watchmen</a>
+</dt>
+<dt>
+<a href="#sec49">V for Vendetta</a>
</dt>
+</dl>
+</dd>
+<dt>
+<a href="#sec50">Thomas More</a>
+</dt>
+<dd>
+<dl>
<dt>
-<a href="#sec20">Either/Or</a>
+<a href="#sec51">Utopia</a>
</dt>
</dl>
</dd>
<dt>
-<a href="#sec21">Thomas More</a>
+<a href="#sec52">Friedrich Nietzsche</a>
</dt>
<dd>
<dl>
<dt>
-<a href="#sec22">Utopia</a>
+<a href="#sec53">Beyond Good and Evil</a>
+</dt>
+<dt>
+<a href="#sec54">On the Geneaology of Morals</a>
+</dt>
+<dt>
+<a href="#sec55">Ecce Homo</a>
</dt>
</dl>
</dd>
<dt>
-<a href="#sec23">William James</a>
+<a href="#sec56">George Orwell</a>
</dt>
<dd>
<dl>
<dt>
-<a href="#sec24">The Varieties of Religious Experience</a>
+<a href="#sec57">1984</a>
</dt>
<dt>
-<a href="#sec25">The PhD Octopus</a>
+<a href="#sec58">Animal Farm</a>
</dt>
</dl>
</dd>
<dt>
-<a href="#sec26">Henry James</a>
+<a href="#sec59">Plato</a>
</dt>
<dd>
<dl>
<dt>
-<a href="#sec27">The Altar of the Dead</a>
+<a href="#sec60">Symposium</a>
+</dt>
+<dt>
+<a href="#sec61">Euthyphro</a>
+</dt>
+<dt>
+<a href="#sec62">Apology</a>
+</dt>
+<dt>
+<a href="#sec63">Crito</a>
+</dt>
+<dt>
+<a href="#sec64">Protagoras</a>
</dt>
</dl>
</dd>
<dt>
-<a href="#sec28">Gregor Kiczales</a>
+<a href="#sec65">Luke Rhinehardt</a>
</dt>
<dd>
<dl>
<dt>
-<a href="#sec29">The Art of the Metaobject Protocol</a>
+<a href="#sec66">The Dice Man</a>
</dt>
</dl>
</dd>
<dt>
-<a href="#sec30">Friedrich Nietzsche</a>
+<a href="#sec67">Neal Stephenson</a>
</dt>
<dd>
<dl>
<dt>
-<a href="#sec31">Beyond Good and Evil</a>
+<a href="#sec68">Snow Crash</a>
+</dt>
+<dt>
+<a href="#sec69">Cryptonomicon</a>
</dt>
+</dl>
+</dd>
<dt>
-<a href="#sec32">On the Geneaology of Morals</a>
+<a href="#sec70">H.G. Wells</a>
</dt>
+<dd>
+<dl>
<dt>
-<a href="#sec33">Ecce Homo</a>
+<a href="#sec71">The Island of Dr Moreau</a>
</dt>
</dl>
</dd>
<!-- Page published by Emacs Muse begins here --><h2><a name="sec1" id="sec1"></a>
-William Blake</h2>
+Douglas Adams</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&#039;s works</a> online
-with high resolution plate scans and full transcriptions among other
-things.</p>
<h3><a name="sec2" id="sec2"></a>
-The Four Zoas</h3>
+Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy (collected)</h3>
+
+<p><em>Rating:</em> <span class="rating-good"> ••••••••</span><span class="rating-bad">•• </span> (8) / <em>Fiction</em></p>
-<p><em>Rating:</em> <span class="rating-good">••••••••••</span></span><span class="rating-bad"> / <em>Fiction</em></p>
-<p>The unfinished manuscript of Blake&#039;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="sec3" id="sec3"></a>
-Jerusalem</h3>
+The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul</h3>
+
+<p><em>Rating:</em> <span class="rating-good"> ••••••</span><span class="rating-bad">•••• </span> (6) / <em>Fiction</em></p>
-<p><em>Rating:</em> <span class="rating-good">••••••••••</span></span><span class="rating-bad"> / <em>Fiction</em></p>
-<p>The finest of Blake&#039;s Illuminated works.</p>
<h2><a name="sec4" id="sec4"></a>
-Kahlil Gibran</h2>
+Aeschylus</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="sec5" id="sec5"></a>
-A Tear and a Smile</h3>
+Oresteia</h3>
+
+<p><em>Rating:</em> <span class="rating-good"> ••••••••••</span><span class="rating-bad"> </span> (10) / <em>Fiction</em></p>
-<p><em>Rating:</em> <span class="rating-good">•••</span><span class="rating-bad">•••••••</span> / <em>Fiction</em></p>
-<p>One of Kahlil Gibran&#039;s earlier works, I did not much like <em>A
-Tear and a Smile</em> excepting the last poem (&quot;A Poet&#039;s Voice&quot;).</p>
<h3><a name="sec6" id="sec6"></a>
-The Prophet</h3>
+Prometheus Bound</h3>
-<p><em>Rating:</em> <span class="rating-good">•••••••••</span><span class="rating-bad">•</span> / <em>Fiction</em></p>
+<p><em>Rating:</em> <span class="rating-good"> •••••••••</span><span class="rating-bad">• </span> (9) / <em>Fiction</em></p>
<h3><a name="sec7" id="sec7"></a>
-Sand and Foam</h3>
+The Persians</h3>
-<p><em>Rating:</em> <span class="rating-good">•••••••</span><span class="rating-bad">•••</span> / <em>Fiction</em></p>
+<p><em>Rating:</em> <span class="rating-good"> ••••••••</span><span class="rating-bad">•• </span> (8) / <em>Fiction</em></p>
-<p>An interesting little book of aphorisms.</p>
-<h3><a name="sec8" id="sec8"></a>
-The Madman</h3>
-<p><em>Rating:</em> <span class="rating-good">••••••••</span><span class="rating-bad">••</span> / <em>Fiction</em></p>
+<h2><a name="sec8" id="sec8"></a>
+Aristophanes</h2>
+<h3><a name="sec9" id="sec9"></a>
+The Frogs</h3>
+
+<p><em>Fiction</em></p>
+
-<h2><a name="sec9" id="sec9"></a>
-John Taylor Gatto</h2>
-<p class="first">Former teacher and now author-activist.</p>
<h3><a name="sec10" id="sec10"></a>
-Underground History of American Education</h3>
+The Clouds</h3>
-<p><em>Rating:</em> <span class="rating-good">•••••••••</span><span class="rating-bad">•</span> / <em>Nonfiction</em></p>
+<p><em>Fiction</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>
-<h
2><a name="sec11" id="sec11"></a>
-Luke Rhinehardt</h2>
+<h
3><a name="sec11" id="sec11"></a>
+Ecclesiazusae</h3>
+<p><em>Fiction</em></p>
-<h3><a name="sec12" id="sec12"></a>
-The Dice Man</h3>
-<p><em>Rating:</em> <span class="rating-good">•••••••</span><span class="rating-bad">•••</span> / <em>Fiction</em></p>
-<p>&lt;quote&gt;
-And it&#039;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
-&lt;/quote&gt;</p>
-<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="sec12" id="sec12"></a>
+Aristotle</h2>
+<h3><a name="sec13" id="sec13"></a>
+Ethics</h3>
+
+<p><em>Nonfiction</em></p>
+
-<h2><a name="sec13" id="sec13"></a>
-Neal Stephenson</h2>
<h3><a name="sec14" id="sec14"></a>
-Snow Crash</h3>
+Categories</h3>
+
+<p><em>Nonfiction</em></p>
-<p><em>Rating:</em> <span class="rating-good">•••••••••</span><span class="rating-bad">•</span> / <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&#039;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="sec15" id="sec15"></a>
-Cryptonomicon</h3>
+Poetics</h3>
+
+<p><em>Nonfiction</em></p>
+
-<p><em>Rating:</em> <span class="rating-good">••••••••</span><span class="rating-bad">••</span> / <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&#039;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&#039;d still have to recommend <em>Snow Crash</em> if one wished to read only one
-Stephenson novel.</p>
+<h3><a name="sec16" id="sec16"></a>
+Rhetoric</h3>
+<p><em>Nonfiction</em></p>
-<h2><a name="sec16" id="sec16"></a>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="sec17" id="sec17"></a>
Marcus Aurelius</h2>
-<h3><a name="sec17" id="sec17"></a>
+<h3><a name="sec18" id="sec18"></a>
Meditations</h3>
-<p><em>Rating:</em> <span class="rating-good">••••••</span><span class="rating-bad">••••</span> / <em>Nonfiction</em></p>
+<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
-<h2><a name="sec18" id="sec18"></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="sec19" id="sec19"></a>
-Sickness Unto Death</h3>
+<h2><a name="sec19" id="sec19"></a>
+William Blake</h2>
-<p><em>Rating:</em> <span class="rating-good">••••••••••</span></span><span class="rating-bad"> / <em>Nonfiction</em></p>
+<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>
-<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>
+<h3><a name="sec20" id="sec20"></a>
+The Four Zoas</h3>
-<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>
+<p><em>Rating:</em> <span class="rating-good"> ••••••••••</span><span class="rating-bad"> </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="sec20" id="sec20"></a>
-Either/Or</h3>
-<p><em>Rating:</em> <span class="rating-good">••••••••••</span></span><span class="rating-bad"> / <em>Nonfiction</em></p>
+<h3><a name="sec21" id="sec21"></a>
+Jerusalem</h3>
-<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>
+<p><em>Rating:</em> <span class="rating-good"> ••••••••••</span><span class="rating-bad"> </span> (10) / <em>Fiction</em></p>
+<p>The finest of Blake's Illuminated works.</p>
-<h2><a name="sec21" id="sec21"></a>
-Thomas More</h2>
+<h2><a name="sec22" id="sec22"></a>
+Neil Gaiman</h2>
-<h3><a name="sec22" id="sec22"></a>
-Utopia</h3>
-<p><em>Rating:</em> <span class="rating-good">•••••••</span><span class="rating-bad">•••</span> / <em>Fiction</em></p>
+<h3><a name="sec23" id="sec23"></a>
+The Sandman (series)</h3>
-<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>
+<p><em>Rating:</em> <span class="rating-good"> ••••••••••</span><span class="rating-bad"> </span> (10) / <em>Fiction</em></p>
+<p>Perhaps the best comic book series of all time; I would say <em>The
+Sandman</em> as a whole ranks higher than anything even Alan Moore has
+written.</p>
-<h2><a name="sec23" id="sec23"></a>
-William James</h2>
+<h2><a name="sec24" id="sec24"></a>
+John Taylor Gatto</h2>
+<p class="first">Former teacher and now author-activist.</p>
-<h3><a name="sec24" id="sec24"></a>
-The Varieties of Religious Experience</h3>
+<h3><a name="sec25" id="sec25"></a>
+Underground History of American Education</h3>
-<p><em>Rating:</em> <span class="rating-good">•••••••</span><span class="rating-bad">•••</span> / <em>Nonfiction</em></p>
+<p><em>Rating:</em> <span class="rating-good"> •••••••••</span><span class="rating-bad">• </span> (9) / <em>Nonfiction</em></p>
-<p><a href="William%20James%20-%20The%20Varieties%20of%20Religious%20Experience.html">A partially finished extended summary</a></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>
-<h3><a name="sec25" id="sec25"></a>
-The PhD Octopus</h3>
-<blockquote>
-<p class="quoted">/ <em>Nonfiction</em></p>
-</blockquote>
+<h2><a name="sec26" id="sec26"></a>
+Kahlil Gibran</h2>
-<p>&lt;quote&gt;
+<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="sec27" id="sec27"></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 ("A Poet's Voice").</p>
+
+
+
+<h3><a name="sec28" id="sec28"></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="sec29" id="sec29"></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="sec30" id="sec30"></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="sec31" id="sec31"></a>
+Homer</h2>
+
+
+
+<h3><a name="sec32" id="sec32"></a>
+The Odyssey</h3>
+
+<p><em>Rating:</em> <span class="rating-good"> ••••••••••</span><span class="rating-bad"> </span> (10) / <em>Fiction</em></p>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="sec33" id="sec33"></a>
+Aldous Huxley</h2>
+
+<p class="first">Perhaps the most overrated modern writer. Other people have written
+everything he has to write better and many years before he got around
+to it.</p>
+
+<h3><a name="sec34" id="sec34"></a>
+The Doors of Perception</h3>
+
+<p><em>Rating:</em> <span class="rating-good"> </span><span class="rating-bad">•••••••••• </span> (0) / <em>Nonfiction</em></p>
+
+<p>Huxley stains the name of Blake by naming this horrible
+pseudo-scientific and pseudo-poetic essay after a line from <em>The
+Marriage of Heaven and Hell</em>. Subjectivity and objectivity are
+incommensurable; his attempt and being subjectively objective is
+utterly worthless.</p>
+
+
+
+<h3><a name="sec35" id="sec35"></a>
+Heaven and Hell</h3>
+
+<p><em>Rating:</em> <span class="rating-good"> </span><span class="rating-bad">•••••••••• </span> (0) / <em>Nonfiction</em></p>
+
+<p>Blah blah LSD blah blah Mushrooms blah blah Peytoe blah blah I'm
+Aldous Huxley I'm a pretentious jerk. Don't bother.</p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="sec36" id="sec36"></a>
+William James</h2>
+
+
+
+<h3><a name="sec37" id="sec37"></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>
+
+
+
+<h3><a name="sec38" id="sec38"></a>
+The PhD Octopus</h3>
+
+<p><em>Nonfiction</em></p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p class="quoted">
America is thus as a nation rapidly drifting towards a state of things
in which no man of science or letters will be accounted respectable
unless some kind of badge or diploma is stamped upon him, and in which
bare personality will be a mark of outcast estate. It seems to me high
time to rouse ourselves to consciousness, and to cast a critical eye
upon this decidedly grotesque tendency. Other nations suffer terribly
-from the Mandarin disease. Are we doomed to suffer like the rest?
-&lt;/quote&gt;</p>
+from the Mandarin disease. Are we doomed to suffer like the rest?</p>
+
+</blockquote>
<p><a href="William%20James%20-%20The%20PhD%20Octopus.html">Full Text</a></p>
-<h2><a name="sec26" id="sec26"></a>
+<h2><a name="sec39" id="sec39"></a>
Henry James</h2>
-<p class="first">The novelist brother of William James; I&#039;ve not read many (read:
+<p class="first">The novelist brother of William James; I've not read many (read:
one) of his books, but what I did was decent.</p>
-<h3><a name="sec27" id="sec27"></a>
+<h3><a name="sec40" id="sec40"></a>
The Altar of the Dead</h3>
-<p><em>Rating:</em> <span class="rating-good">•••••••</span><span class="rating-bad">•••</span> / <em>Fiction</em></p>
+<p><em>Rating:</em> <span class="rating-good"> •••••••</span><span class="rating-bad">••• </span> (7) / <em>Fiction</em></p>
<p>A short novella about a man who maintained an altar in a church
for all of his lost loved ones on the surface, but something a bit
-<h2><a name="sec28" id="sec28"></a>
+<h2><a name="sec41" id="sec41"></a>
Gregor Kiczales</h2>
-<h3><a name="sec29" id="sec29"></a>
+<h3><a name="sec42" id="sec42"></a>
The Art of the Metaobject Protocol</h3>
-<p><em>Rating:</em> <span class="rating-good">••••••••••</span></span><span class="rating-bad"> / <em>Nonfiction</em></p>
+<p><em>Rating:</em> <span class="rating-good"> ••••••••••</span><span class="rating-bad"> </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
-<h2><a name="sec30" id="sec30"></a>
+<h2><a name="sec43" id="sec43"></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="sec44" id="sec44"></a>
+Sickness Unto Death</h3>
+
+<p><em>Rating:</em> <span class="rating-good"> ••••••••••</span><span class="rating-bad"> </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="sec45" id="sec45"></a>
+Either/Or</h3>
+
+<p><em>Rating:</em> <span class="rating-good"> ••••••••••</span><span class="rating-bad"> </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>
+
+
+
+<h3><a name="sec46" id="sec46"></a>
+Fear and Trembling</h3>
+
+<p><em>Nonfiction</em></p>
+
+<p>An interesting dialectical lyric contrasting Despair and Faith.</p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="sec47" id="sec47"></a>
+Alan Moore</h2>
+
+
+
+<h3><a name="sec48" id="sec48"></a>
+Watchmen</h3>
+
+<p><em>Rating:</em> <span class="rating-good"> ••••••••</span><span class="rating-bad">•• </span> (8) / <em>Fiction</em></p>
+
+
+
+
+
+<h3><a name="sec49" id="sec49"></a>
+V for Vendetta</h3>
+
+<p><em>Rating:</em> <span class="rating-good"> ••••••••••</span><span class="rating-bad"> </span> (10) / <em>Fiction</em></p>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="sec50" id="sec50"></a>
+Thomas More</h2>
+
+
+
+<h3><a name="sec51" id="sec51"></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="sec52" id="sec52"></a>
Friedrich Nietzsche</h2>
<p class="first">A bit acerbic and esoteric, Nietzsche is for me a good <em>secular</em>
-counterpart to Kierkegaard&#039;s theistic philosophy. Nietzsche&#039;s
+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="sec31" id="sec31"></a>
+<h3><a name="sec53" id="sec53"></a>
Beyond Good and Evil</h3>
-<p><em>Rating:</em> <span class="rating-good">••••••••</span><span class="rating-bad">••</span> / <em>Nonfiction</em></p>
+<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
-<h3><a name="sec32" id="sec32"></a>
+<h3><a name="sec54" id="sec54"></a>
On the Geneaology of Morals</h3>
-<p><em>Rating:</em> <span class="rating-good">•••••••••</span><span class="rating-bad">•</span> / <em>Nonfiction</em></p>
+<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
-<h3><a name="sec33" id="sec33"></a>
+<h3><a name="sec55" id="sec55"></a>
Ecce Homo</h3>
-<p><em>Rating:</em> <span class="rating-good">•••••••</span><span class="rating-bad">•••</span> / <em>Nonfiction</em></p>
+<p><em>Rating:</em> <span class="rating-good"> •••••••</span><span class="rating-bad">••• </span> (7) / <em>Nonfiction</em></p>
-<p><em>Ecce Homo</em> is Nietzsche&#039;s very strange autobiography and
+<p><em>Ecce Homo</em> is Nietzsche's very strange autobiography and
explanation of his own works. At points it is clear that it could have
used a bit more editing (prevented by Nietzsche ... falling into a
catatonic state and all), but is still a very useful book to read as
+
+<h2><a name="sec56" id="sec56"></a>
+George Orwell</h2>
+
+
+
+<h3><a name="sec57" id="sec57"></a>
+1984</h3>
+
+<p><em>Rating:</em> <span class="rating-good"> ••••••••••</span><span class="rating-bad"> </span> (10) / <em>Fiction</em></p>
+
+
+
+
+
+<h3><a name="sec58" id="sec58"></a>
+Animal Farm</h3>
+
+<p><em>Fiction</em></p>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="sec59" id="sec59"></a>
+Plato</h2>
+
+
+
+<h3><a name="sec60" id="sec60"></a>
+Symposium</h3>
+
+<p><em>Fiction</em></p>
+
+
+
+
+
+<h3><a name="sec61" id="sec61"></a>
+Euthyphro</h3>
+
+<p><em>Fiction</em></p>
+
+
+
+
+
+<h3><a name="sec62" id="sec62"></a>
+Apology</h3>
+
+<p><em>Nonfiction</em></p>
+
+
+
+
+
+<h3><a name="sec63" id="sec63"></a>
+Crito</h3>
+
+<p><em>Fiction</em></p>
+
+
+
+
+
+<h3><a name="sec64" id="sec64"></a>
+Protagoras</h3>
+
+<p><em>Fiction</em></p>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="sec65" id="sec65"></a>
+Luke Rhinehardt</h2>
+
+
+
+<h3><a name="sec66" id="sec66"></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="sec67" id="sec67"></a>
+Neal Stephenson</h2>
+
+
+
+<h3><a name="sec68" id="sec68"></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="sec69" id="sec69"></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>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="sec70" id="sec70"></a>
+H.G. Wells</h2>
+
+
+
+<h3><a name="sec71" id="sec71"></a>
+The Island of Dr Moreau</h3>
+
+<p><em>Rating:</em> <span class="rating-good"> •••••••</span><span class="rating-bad">••• </span> (7) / <em>Fiction</em></p>
+
+
+
<!-- Page published by Emacs Muse ends here -->
<p class="cke-buttons">
</a>
</p>
-<p class="cke-footer">Jessie: i stuck the phone antenna up the dogs nose and he ignored me
+<p class="cke-footer">No, there's nothing here about X, so be quiet.
</p>
<p class="cke-timestamp">Last Modified:
- September 28, 2008</p>
+ December 14, 2008</p>
</body>
</html>
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