From b57daac1dc676b9e74f5d7885b5bb7af32449dea Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: clinton Date: Mon, 29 Sep 2008 01:47:54 +0000 Subject: [PATCH 1/1] Fix book list html --- Book List.html | 457 +++++++++++++++++++++++++------------------------ index.html | 7 +- 2 files changed, 233 insertions(+), 231 deletions(-) diff --git a/Book List.html b/Book List.html index d268ab0..07a7aa7 100644 --- a/Book List.html +++ b/Book List.html @@ -17,149 +17,149 @@
-William Blake +Marcus Aurelius
-The Four Zoas -
-
-Jerusalem +Meditations
-Kahlil Gibran +William Blake
-A Tear and a Smile +The Four Zoas
-The Prophet -
-
-Sand and Foam -
-
-The Madman +Jerusalem
-John Taylor Gatto +John Taylor Gatto
-Underground History of American Education +Underground History of American Education
-Luke Rhinehardt +Kahlil Gibran
-The Dice Man +A Tear and a Smile
-
-
-Neal Stephenson +The Prophet
-
-
-Snow Crash +Sand and Foam
-Cryptonomicon +The Madman
-Marcus Aurelius +William James
-Meditations +The Varieties of Religious Experience +
+
+The PhD Octopus
-Søren Kierkegaard +Henry James
-Sickness Unto Death -
-
-Either/Or +The Altar of the Dead
-Thomas More +Gregor Kiczales
-Utopia +The Art of the Metaobject Protocol
-William James +Søren Kierkegaard
-The Varieties of Religious Experience +Sickness Unto Death
-The PhD Octopus +Either/Or
-Henry James +Thomas More
-The Altar of the Dead +Utopia
-Gregor Kiczales +Friedrich Nietzsche
-The Art of the Metaobject Protocol +Beyond Good and Evil +
+
+On the Geneaology of Morals +
+
+Ecce Homo
-Friedrich Nietzsche +Luke Rhinehardt
-Beyond Good and Evil +The Dice Man
+
+
-On the Geneaology of Morals +Neal Stephenson
+
+
-Ecce Homo +Snow Crash +
+
+Cryptonomicon
@@ -168,38 +168,77 @@

+Marcus Aurelius

+ + + +

+Meditations

+ +

Rating: •••••••••• (6) / Nonfiction

+ +

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.

+ + + + +

William Blake

Blake is my favorite of the English poets. His unique use of relief etching and watercoloring makes for very interesting Illuminated works. There is a very high quality -complete archive of Blake's works online +complete archive of Blake's works online with high resolution plate scans and full transcriptions among other things.

-

+

The Four Zoas

-

Rating: •••••••••• / Fiction

+

Rating: •••••••••• (10) / Fiction

-

The unfinished manuscript of Blake's longest apocalypse. The +

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.

-

+

Jerusalem

-

Rating: •••••••••• / Fiction

+

Rating: •••••••••• (10) / Fiction

+ +

The finest of Blake's Illuminated works.

+ -

The finest of Blake's Illuminated works.

+

+John Taylor Gatto

+ +

Former teacher and now author-activist.

+ +

+Underground History of American Education

+

Rating: •••••••••• (9) / Nonfiction

-

+

An interesting underground history of the American education +system. Available +online for free.

+ + + + +

Kahlil Gibran

Kahlil Gibran is fairly interesting; his earlier works do not @@ -212,163 +251,131 @@ 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).

-

+

A Tear and a Smile

-

Rating: •••••••••• / Fiction

+

Rating: •••••••••• (3) / Fiction

-

One of Kahlil Gibran's earlier works, I did not much like A -Tear and a Smile excepting the last poem ("A Poet's Voice").

+

One of Kahlil Gibran's earlier works, I did not much like A +Tear and a Smile excepting the last poem ("A Poet's Voice").

-

+

The Prophet

-

Rating: •••••••••• / Fiction

+

Rating: •••••••••• (9) / Fiction

-

+

Sand and Foam

-

Rating: •••••••••• / Fiction

+

Rating: •••••••••• (7) / Fiction

An interesting little book of aphorisms.

-

+

The Madman

-

Rating: •••••••••• / Fiction

- - - - - - -

-John Taylor Gatto

- -

Former teacher and now author-activist.

- -

-Underground History of American Education

- -

Rating: •••••••••• / Nonfiction

- -

An interesting underground history of the American education -system. Available -online for free.

+

Rating: •••••••••• (8) / Fiction

-

-Luke Rhinehardt

+

+William James

-

-The Dice Man

-

Rating: •••••••••• / Fiction

-

<quote> -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 -</quote>

+

+The Varieties of Religious Experience

-

A quotation from one of my favorite metal songs 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.

+

Rating: •••••••••• (7) / Nonfiction

-

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.

+

A partially finished extended summary

+

+The PhD Octopus

-

-Neal Stephenson

+

Nonfiction

+
+

+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?

+
-

-Snow Crash

+

Full Text

-

Rating: •••••••••• / Fiction

-

As one must read the Bible to understand English literature, so one -must read Snow Crash 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. Snow Crash has a nice undertone of (quite -accurate) political and social commentary that makes it worth reading -as more than mere cyberpunk fiction.

+

+Henry James

-

-Cryptonomicon

+

The novelist brother of William James; I've not read many (read: +one) of his books, but what I did was decent.

-

Rating: •••••••••• / Fiction

+

+The Altar of the Dead

-

I read Cryptonomicon 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.

+

Rating: •••••••••• (7) / Fiction

-

I'd still have to recommend Snow Crash if one wished to read only one -Stephenson novel.

+

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 +more beneath.

-

-Marcus Aurelius

+

+Gregor Kiczales

-

-Meditations

+

+The Art of the Metaobject Protocol

-

Rating: •••••••••• / Nonfiction

+

Rating: •••••••••• (10) / Nonfiction

-

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.

+

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.

-

+

Søren Kierkegaard

Kierkegaard was a master of style and philosophy; his writing is interesting even if one finds the theistic extentialism espoused disagreeable.

-

+

Sickness Unto Death

-

Rating: •••••••••• / Nonfiction

+

Rating: •••••••••• (10) / Nonfiction

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 @@ -382,10 +389,10 @@ forces reflection.

-

+

Either/Or

-

Rating: •••••••••• / Nonfiction

+

Rating: •••••••••• (10) / Nonfiction

Composed of two portions, Either/Or is a rather lengthy but rewarding read. The first book is a series of essays and a diary of a @@ -396,15 +403,15 @@ conflict between the views.

-

+

Thomas More

-

+

Utopia

-

Rating: •••••••••• / Fiction

+

Rating: •••••••••• (7) / Fiction

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 @@ -418,128 +425,123 @@ social customs.

-

-William James

- - - -

-The Varieties of Religious Experience

- -

Rating: •••••••••• / Nonfiction

- -

A partially finished extended summary

- +

+Friedrich Nietzsche

+

A bit acerbic and esoteric, Nietzsche is for me a good secular +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.

-

-The PhD Octopus

+

+Beyond Good and Evil

-
-

/ Nonfiction

-
+

Rating: •••••••••• (8) / Nonfiction

-

<quote> -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? -</quote>

+

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

-

Full Text

+

+On the Geneaology of Morals

+

Rating: •••••••••• (9) / Nonfiction

-

-Henry James

+

On the Geneaology of Morals 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.

-

The novelist brother of William James; I've not read many (read: -one) of his books, but what I did was decent.

-

-The Altar of the Dead

-

Rating: •••••••••• / Fiction

+

+Ecce Homo

-

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 -more beneath.

+

Rating: •••••••••• (7) / Nonfiction

+

Ecce Homo 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 +Nietzsche explains the overall structure of his works.

-

-Gregor Kiczales

+

+Luke Rhinehardt

-

-The Art of the Metaobject Protocol

-

Rating: •••••••••• / Nonfiction

+

+The Dice Man

-

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.

+

Rating: •••••••••• (7) / Fiction

+
+

+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

+
+

A quotation from one of my favorite metal songs 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.

-

-Friedrich Nietzsche

+

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.

-

A bit acerbic and esoteric, Nietzsche is for me a good secular -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.

-

-Beyond Good and Evil

-

Rating: •••••••••• / Nonfiction

-

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

+

+Neal Stephenson

-On the Geneaology of Morals

+Snow Crash -

Rating: •••••••••• / Nonfiction

+

Rating: •••••••••• (9) / Fiction

-

On the Geneaology of Morals 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.

+

As one must read the Bible to understand English literature, so one +must read Snow Crash 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. Snow Crash has a nice undertone of (quite +accurate) political and social commentary that makes it worth reading +as more than mere cyberpunk fiction.

-Ecce Homo

+Cryptonomicon -

Rating: •••••••••• / Nonfiction

+

Rating: •••••••••• (8) / Fiction

-

Ecce Homo 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 -Nietzsche explains the overall structure of his works.

+

I read Cryptonomicon 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.

+ +

I'd still have to recommend Snow Crash if one wished to read only one +Stephenson novel.

@@ -569,7 +571,8 @@ Nietzsche explains the overall structure of his works.

-

Jessie: i stuck the phone antenna up the dogs nose and he ignored me +

The hubbub of the waking life might close a door +which in the dreamy Subliminal might remain ajar...

Last Modified: September 28, 2008

diff --git a/index.html b/index.html index c0a17c5..8c5e800 100644 --- a/index.html +++ b/index.html @@ -182,10 +182,9 @@ wrote and darcs.

-

And did those feet in ancient time -Walk upon England's mountains green? -And was the holy Lamb of God -On England's pleasant pastures seen? +

So play today + Go make your hay beneath a warm sun shining + But bear in mind one day you'll find the silver cloud's dark lining

Last Modified: September 28, 2008

-- 2.20.1