| 1 | #title A Not So Fancy Listing of Books |
| 2 | |
| 3 | |
| 4 | * Douglas Adams |
| 5 | |
| 6 | |
| 7 | |
| 8 | ** Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy (collected) |
| 9 | |
| 10 | *Rating:* <class name="rating-good"> ••••••••</class><class name="rating-bad">•• </class> (8) / *Fiction* |
| 11 | |
| 12 | |
| 13 | |
| 14 | |
| 15 | ** The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul |
| 16 | |
| 17 | *Rating:* <class name="rating-good"> ••••••</class><class name="rating-bad">•••• </class> (6) / *Fiction* |
| 18 | |
| 19 | |
| 20 | |
| 21 | |
| 22 | * Aeschylus |
| 23 | |
| 24 | |
| 25 | |
| 26 | ** Oresteia |
| 27 | |
| 28 | *Rating:* <class name="rating-good"> ••••••••••</class><class name="rating-bad"> </class> (10) / *Fiction* |
| 29 | |
| 30 | |
| 31 | |
| 32 | |
| 33 | ** Prometheus Bound |
| 34 | |
| 35 | *Rating:* <class name="rating-good"> •••••••••</class><class name="rating-bad">• </class> (9) / *Fiction* |
| 36 | |
| 37 | |
| 38 | |
| 39 | |
| 40 | ** The Persians |
| 41 | |
| 42 | *Rating:* <class name="rating-good"> ••••••••</class><class name="rating-bad">•• </class> (8) / *Fiction* |
| 43 | |
| 44 | |
| 45 | |
| 46 | |
| 47 | * John Allison |
| 48 | |
| 49 | The author of the rather amazing [[http://scarygoround.com][Scary Go Round]]. |
| 50 | I highly recommend procuring the printed collections; the printing |
| 51 | quality is superb (full color on glossy paper), and the long story |
| 52 | arcs are much easier to read. |
| 53 | |
| 54 | ** Looks, Brains and Everything |
| 55 | |
| 56 | *Fiction* |
| 57 | |
| 58 | |
| 59 | |
| 60 | |
| 61 | ** Blame the Sky |
| 62 | |
| 63 | *Fiction* |
| 64 | |
| 65 | |
| 66 | |
| 67 | |
| 68 | ** Skellington |
| 69 | |
| 70 | *Fiction* |
| 71 | |
| 72 | |
| 73 | |
| 74 | |
| 75 | ** The Retribution Index |
| 76 | |
| 77 | *Fiction* |
| 78 | |
| 79 | |
| 80 | |
| 81 | |
| 82 | ** Great Aches |
| 83 | |
| 84 | *Fiction* |
| 85 | |
| 86 | |
| 87 | |
| 88 | |
| 89 | ** Ahoy Hoy! |
| 90 | |
| 91 | *Fiction* |
| 92 | |
| 93 | |
| 94 | |
| 95 | |
| 96 | ** Heavy Metal Hearts and Flowers |
| 97 | |
| 98 | *Fiction* |
| 99 | |
| 100 | |
| 101 | |
| 102 | |
| 103 | ** Ghosts |
| 104 | |
| 105 | *Fiction* |
| 106 | |
| 107 | |
| 108 | |
| 109 | |
| 110 | * Anonymous |
| 111 | |
| 112 | |
| 113 | |
| 114 | ** Chymical Wedding of Christian Rosenkreutz |
| 115 | |
| 116 | *Fiction* |
| 117 | |
| 118 | |
| 119 | |
| 120 | |
| 121 | * Aristophanes |
| 122 | |
| 123 | |
| 124 | |
| 125 | ** The Frogs |
| 126 | |
| 127 | *Fiction* |
| 128 | |
| 129 | |
| 130 | |
| 131 | |
| 132 | ** The Clouds |
| 133 | |
| 134 | *Fiction* |
| 135 | |
| 136 | |
| 137 | |
| 138 | |
| 139 | ** Ecclesiazusae |
| 140 | |
| 141 | *Fiction* |
| 142 | |
| 143 | |
| 144 | |
| 145 | |
| 146 | * Aristotle |
| 147 | |
| 148 | |
| 149 | |
| 150 | ** Ethics |
| 151 | |
| 152 | *Nonfiction* |
| 153 | |
| 154 | |
| 155 | |
| 156 | |
| 157 | ** Categories |
| 158 | |
| 159 | *Nonfiction* |
| 160 | |
| 161 | |
| 162 | |
| 163 | |
| 164 | ** Poetics |
| 165 | |
| 166 | *Nonfiction* |
| 167 | |
| 168 | |
| 169 | |
| 170 | |
| 171 | ** Rhetoric |
| 172 | |
| 173 | *Nonfiction* |
| 174 | |
| 175 | |
| 176 | |
| 177 | |
| 178 | * Marcus Aurelius |
| 179 | |
| 180 | |
| 181 | |
| 182 | ** Meditations |
| 183 | |
| 184 | *Rating:* <class name="rating-good"> ••••</class><class name="rating-bad">•••••• </class> (4) / *Nonfiction* |
| 185 | |
| 186 | At the time, I enjoyed reading this collection of meditations on |
| 187 | Stoic philosophy, and it was a fairly quick read (fifteen minutes a |
| 188 | day over the course of two weeks for me). Nowadays I've read |
| 189 | Epictetus, and I suggest reading his *Discourses* instead. |
| 190 | |
| 191 | |
| 192 | * William Blake |
| 193 | |
| 194 | Blake is my [[William Blake][favorite]] of the English poets. His |
| 195 | unique use of relief etching and watercoloring makes for very |
| 196 | interesting Illuminated works. There is a very high quality |
| 197 | [[http://blakearchive.org][complete archive of Blake's works]] online |
| 198 | with high resolution plate scans and full transcriptions among other |
| 199 | things. |
| 200 | |
| 201 | ** The Four Zoas |
| 202 | |
| 203 | *Rating:* <class name="rating-good"> ••••••••••</class><class name="rating-bad"> </class> (10) / *Fiction* |
| 204 | |
| 205 | The unfinished manuscript of Blake's longest apocalypse. The |
| 206 | Four Zoas divide from Albion and rage through the ages of dismal woe |
| 207 | to bring about the end of the cycle of Ulro and restore the cycle of |
| 208 | Beulah. |
| 209 | |
| 210 | |
| 211 | ** Jerusalem |
| 212 | |
| 213 | *Rating:* <class name="rating-good"> ••••••••••</class><class name="rating-bad"> </class> (10) / *Fiction* |
| 214 | |
| 215 | The finest of Blake's Illuminated works. |
| 216 | |
| 217 | |
| 218 | * Mike Carey |
| 219 | |
| 220 | |
| 221 | |
| 222 | ** Lucifer (series) |
| 223 | |
| 224 | *Rating:* <class name="rating-good"> ••••••</class><class name="rating-bad">•••• </class> (6) / *Fiction* |
| 225 | |
| 226 | Of the *Sandman* spinoffs, *Lucifer* stands out as the best for |
| 227 | the first half, but then the writer appears to take on far too great a |
| 228 | task, and, with the introduction of some disagreeable character |
| 229 | relations, fails to execute the story as well as it could have |
| 230 | been. Still, it was worth reading to the end even though most of the |
| 231 | stories after issue 35 or so were merely ok. If you like Kierkegaard I |
| 232 | suggest issues 2, 3, and 62--they show the form of the incommensurable |
| 233 | relation of the single individual to the absolute perfectly. |
| 234 | |
| 235 | |
| 236 | * Confucius |
| 237 | |
| 238 | |
| 239 | |
| 240 | ** Analects |
| 241 | |
| 242 | *Nonfiction* |
| 243 | |
| 244 | |
| 245 | |
| 246 | |
| 247 | * Neil Gaiman |
| 248 | |
| 249 | |
| 250 | |
| 251 | ** The Sandman (series) |
| 252 | |
| 253 | *Rating:* <class name="rating-good"> ••••••••••</class><class name="rating-bad"> </class> (10) / *Fiction* |
| 254 | |
| 255 | Perhaps the best comic book series of all time; I would say *The |
| 256 | Sandman* as a whole ranks higher than anything even Alan Moore has |
| 257 | written. |
| 258 | |
| 259 | |
| 260 | ** Good Omens |
| 261 | |
| 262 | *Rating:* <class name="rating-good"> ••••••••</class><class name="rating-bad">•• </class> (8) / *Fiction* |
| 263 | |
| 264 | A friend of a friend decided one evening that I needed to read |
| 265 | so-called *normal people books*, and so she lent me *Good Omens*. It |
| 266 | was an enjoyable read and unearthed vague memories of comic book |
| 267 | magazines I read when I was small and the name *Sandman*; thus through |
| 268 | one book I found something far greater. |
| 269 | |
| 270 | |
| 271 | * John Taylor Gatto |
| 272 | |
| 273 | Former teacher and now author-activist. |
| 274 | |
| 275 | ** Underground History of American Education |
| 276 | |
| 277 | *Rating:* <class name="rating-good"> •••••••••</class><class name="rating-bad">• </class> (9) / *Nonfiction* |
| 278 | |
| 279 | An interesting *underground* history of the American education |
| 280 | system. Available |
| 281 | [[http://www.johntaylorgatto.com/underground/][online for free]]. |
| 282 | |
| 283 | |
| 284 | * Kahlil Gibran |
| 285 | |
| 286 | Kahlil Gibran is fairly interesting; his earlier works do not |
| 287 | agree with my æsthetic sense (blah blah), but *The Madman* onward are |
| 288 | all rather nice. A few of his works are |
| 289 | [[http://leb.net/~mira/][online]], but I recommend scouting used book |
| 290 | stores for old hardcover editions. The (late 90s onward at least) |
| 291 | *hardcover* versions from *Alfred A. Knopf* are in fact permabound |
| 292 | paperbacks with a hardcasing, and are of seriously inferior quality to |
| 293 | the editions from the 50s and 60s (and cost quite a bit more, |
| 294 | naturally). |
| 295 | |
| 296 | ** A Tear and a Smile |
| 297 | |
| 298 | *Rating:* <class name="rating-good"> •••</class><class name="rating-bad">••••••• </class> (3) / *Fiction* |
| 299 | |
| 300 | One of Kahlil Gibran's earlier works, I did not much like *A |
| 301 | Tear and a Smile* excepting the last poem ("A Poet's Voice"). |
| 302 | |
| 303 | |
| 304 | ** The Prophet |
| 305 | |
| 306 | *Rating:* <class name="rating-good"> •••••••••</class><class name="rating-bad">• </class> (9) / *Fiction* |
| 307 | |
| 308 | |
| 309 | |
| 310 | |
| 311 | ** Sand and Foam |
| 312 | |
| 313 | *Rating:* <class name="rating-good"> •••••••</class><class name="rating-bad">••• </class> (7) / *Fiction* |
| 314 | |
| 315 | An interesting little book of aphorisms. |
| 316 | |
| 317 | |
| 318 | ** The Madman |
| 319 | |
| 320 | *Rating:* <class name="rating-good"> ••••••••</class><class name="rating-bad">•• </class> (8) / *Fiction* |
| 321 | |
| 322 | |
| 323 | |
| 324 | |
| 325 | * Homer |
| 326 | |
| 327 | |
| 328 | |
| 329 | ** The Odyssey |
| 330 | |
| 331 | *Rating:* <class name="rating-good"> ••••••••••</class><class name="rating-bad"> </class> (10) / *Fiction* |
| 332 | |
| 333 | |
| 334 | |
| 335 | |
| 336 | * Aldous Huxley |
| 337 | |
| 338 | Perhaps the most overrated modern writer. Other people have written |
| 339 | everything he has to write better and many years before he got around |
| 340 | to it. |
| 341 | |
| 342 | ** The Doors of Perception |
| 343 | |
| 344 | *Rating:* <class name="rating-good"> </class><class name="rating-bad">•••••••••• </class> (0) / *Nonfiction* |
| 345 | |
| 346 | Huxley stains the name of Blake by naming this horrible |
| 347 | pseudo-scientific and pseudo-poetic essay after a line from *The |
| 348 | Marriage of Heaven and Hell*. Subjectivity and objectivity are |
| 349 | incommensurable; his attempt and being subjectively objective is |
| 350 | utterly worthless. |
| 351 | |
| 352 | |
| 353 | ** Heaven and Hell |
| 354 | |
| 355 | *Rating:* <class name="rating-good"> </class><class name="rating-bad">•••••••••• </class> (0) / *Nonfiction* |
| 356 | |
| 357 | Blah blah LSD blah blah Mushrooms blah blah Peyote blah blah I'm |
| 358 | Aldous Huxley I'm a pretentious jerk. Don't bother. |
| 359 | |
| 360 | |
| 361 | * William James |
| 362 | |
| 363 | |
| 364 | |
| 365 | ** The Varieties of Religious Experience |
| 366 | |
| 367 | *Rating:* <class name="rating-good"> •••••••</class><class name="rating-bad">••• </class> (7) / *Nonfiction* |
| 368 | |
| 369 | [[William James - The Varieties of Religious Experience][A partially finished extended summary]] |
| 370 | |
| 371 | |
| 372 | ** The PhD Octopus |
| 373 | |
| 374 | *Nonfiction* |
| 375 | |
| 376 | <quote> |
| 377 | America is thus as a nation rapidly drifting towards a state of things |
| 378 | in which no man of science or letters will be accounted respectable |
| 379 | unless some kind of badge or diploma is stamped upon him, and in which |
| 380 | bare personality will be a mark of outcast estate. It seems to me high |
| 381 | time to rouse ourselves to consciousness, and to cast a critical eye |
| 382 | upon this decidedly grotesque tendency. Other nations suffer terribly |
| 383 | from the Mandarin disease. Are we doomed to suffer like the rest? |
| 384 | </quote> |
| 385 | |
| 386 | [[William James - The PhD Octopus][Full Text]] |
| 387 | |
| 388 | |
| 389 | * Henry James |
| 390 | |
| 391 | The novelist brother of William James; I've not read many (read: |
| 392 | one) of his books, but what I did was decent. |
| 393 | |
| 394 | ** The Altar of the Dead |
| 395 | |
| 396 | *Rating:* <class name="rating-good"> •••••••</class><class name="rating-bad">••• </class> (7) / *Fiction* |
| 397 | |
| 398 | A short novella about a man who maintained an altar in a church |
| 399 | for all of his lost loved ones on the surface, but something a bit |
| 400 | more beneath. |
| 401 | |
| 402 | |
| 403 | * Gregor Kiczales |
| 404 | |
| 405 | |
| 406 | |
| 407 | ** The Art of the Metaobject Protocol |
| 408 | |
| 409 | *Rating:* <class name="rating-good"> ••••••••••</class><class name="rating-bad"> </class> (10) / *Nonfiction* |
| 410 | |
| 411 | AMOP is useful as a reference to the CLOS MOP (although less so with |
| 412 | the online MOP spec), but the true value of the book lies in the first |
| 413 | half of the book. It presents the design of the CLOS MOP through a |
| 414 | series of revisions that fix limitations of earlier implementations |
| 415 | and gradually work toward a generic and well designed MOP for |
| 416 | CLOS. Through that process one is made more aware of a few general |
| 417 | object protocol design skills, and gains insight into how to cleanly |
| 418 | make mapping decisions customizable. |
| 419 | |
| 420 | |
| 421 | * Søren Kierkegaard |
| 422 | |
| 423 | Kierkegaard was a master of style and philosophy; his writing is |
| 424 | interesting even if one finds the theistic extentialism espoused |
| 425 | disagreeable. |
| 426 | |
| 427 | ** Sickness Unto Death |
| 428 | |
| 429 | *Rating:* <class name="rating-good"> ••••••••••</class><class name="rating-bad"> </class> (10) / *Nonfiction* |
| 430 | |
| 431 | I purchased this when I was looking through books at a store after |
| 432 | being unable to find the book I really wanted, and I must say that it |
| 433 | was better for me to have found this one. |
| 434 | |
| 435 | Contained within is a beautiful analysis of despair in the context of |
| 436 | Christianity (really theism in general). Even if the argument offends, |
| 437 | the presentation cannot. The dialectical nature of despair is |
| 438 | reflected in every aspect of the work, and the method of presentation |
| 439 | forces reflection. |
| 440 | |
| 441 | |
| 442 | ** Either/Or |
| 443 | |
| 444 | *Rating:* <class name="rating-good"> ••••••••••</class><class name="rating-bad"> </class> (10) / *Nonfiction* |
| 445 | |
| 446 | Composed of two portions, *Either/Or* is a rather lengthy but |
| 447 | rewarding read. The first book is a series of essays and a diary of a |
| 448 | young esthetician; the second is a pair of long letters from an older |
| 449 | ethicist friend to this esthetician. You are then left to resolve the |
| 450 | conflict between the views. |
| 451 | |
| 452 | |
| 453 | ** Fear and Trembling |
| 454 | |
| 455 | *Nonfiction* |
| 456 | |
| 457 | An interesting dialectical lyric contrasting Despair and Faith. |
| 458 | |
| 459 | |
| 460 | ** Repetition |
| 461 | |
| 462 | *Rating:* <class name="rating-good"> ••••••••••</class><class name="rating-bad"> </class> (10) / *Nonfiction* |
| 463 | |
| 464 | He who despairs of esthetic repetition gets none; he who despairs |
| 465 | of ethical repetition receieves the esthetic. Is it true then that no |
| 466 | repetition exists? Is transition all one can hope for? |
| 467 | |
| 468 | |
| 469 | * Alisa Kwitney |
| 470 | |
| 471 | |
| 472 | |
| 473 | ** Destiny: A Chronicle of Deaths Foretold |
| 474 | |
| 475 | *Rating:* <class name="rating-good"> ••••••••</class><class name="rating-bad">•• </class> (8) / *Fiction* |
| 476 | |
| 477 | |
| 478 | |
| 479 | |
| 480 | * David Lamkins |
| 481 | |
| 482 | |
| 483 | |
| 484 | ** Successful Lisp |
| 485 | |
| 486 | *Rating:* <class name="rating-good"> ••••••••</class><class name="rating-bad">•• </class> (8) / *Nonfiction* |
| 487 | |
| 488 | After learning Scheme, I read *Successful Lisp* and was able to |
| 489 | pick up Common Lisp fairly easily. |
| 490 | |
| 491 | |
| 492 | * Mencius |
| 493 | |
| 494 | |
| 495 | |
| 496 | ** Mencius |
| 497 | |
| 498 | *Nonfiction* |
| 499 | |
| 500 | |
| 501 | |
| 502 | |
| 503 | * Walter Miller |
| 504 | |
| 505 | |
| 506 | |
| 507 | ** A Canticle for Leibowitz |
| 508 | |
| 509 | *Rating:* <class name="rating-good"> ••••••••••</class><class name="rating-bad"> </class> (10) / *Fiction* |
| 510 | |
| 511 | |
| 512 | |
| 513 | |
| 514 | * Alan Moore |
| 515 | |
| 516 | |
| 517 | |
| 518 | ** Watchmen |
| 519 | |
| 520 | *Rating:* <class name="rating-good"> ••••••••</class><class name="rating-bad">•• </class> (8) / *Fiction* |
| 521 | |
| 522 | |
| 523 | |
| 524 | |
| 525 | ** V for Vendetta |
| 526 | |
| 527 | *Rating:* <class name="rating-good"> ••••••••••</class><class name="rating-bad"> </class> (10) / *Fiction* |
| 528 | |
| 529 | |
| 530 | |
| 531 | |
| 532 | * Thomas More |
| 533 | |
| 534 | |
| 535 | |
| 536 | ** Utopia |
| 537 | |
| 538 | *Rating:* <class name="rating-good"> •••••••</class><class name="rating-bad">••• </class> (7) / *Fiction* |
| 539 | |
| 540 | I read most of Utopia in high school with the TI-89 ebook reader, but |
| 541 | the way the book was split up made it a bit difficult to grasp the |
| 542 | overall structure. I found a copy at a used book store one day, and so |
| 543 | I read it again, and found it much more comprehensible. It is a quick |
| 544 | read, and decent piece of literature. The interesting social system |
| 545 | espoused resembles resembles state communism (even if perhaps as a |
| 546 | negative ideal), but with an strange blend of 14th century European |
| 547 | social customs. |
| 548 | |
| 549 | |
| 550 | * Friedrich Nietzsche |
| 551 | |
| 552 | A bit acerbic and esoteric, Nietzsche is for me a good *secular* |
| 553 | counterpart to Kierkegaard's theistic philosophy. Nietzsche's |
| 554 | polemical works raise important questions for anyone who reads works |
| 555 | on ethics. As such it is a shame that he has gotten a bad reputation |
| 556 | by being read by far too many angsty teenagers who see (and relay) |
| 557 | only Nietzsche the asshole rather than Nietzsche the master of the |
| 558 | polemic. |
| 559 | |
| 560 | ** Beyond Good and Evil |
| 561 | |
| 562 | *Rating:* <class name="rating-good"> ••••••••</class><class name="rating-bad">•• </class> (8) / *Nonfiction* |
| 563 | |
| 564 | A somewhat more comprehensible, if a bit less aesthetically |
| 565 | pleasing, presentation of much of the philosophy found in *Thus Spoke |
| 566 | Zarathustra* in the negative form. The final chapters are very |
| 567 | important (not to detract from the value of the rest of the work) if |
| 568 | one wishes to understand *On the Genealogy of Morals*. |
| 569 | |
| 570 | |
| 571 | ** On the Geneaology of Morals |
| 572 | |
| 573 | *Rating:* <class name="rating-good"> •••••••••</class><class name="rating-bad">• </class> (9) / *Nonfiction* |
| 574 | |
| 575 | *On the Geneaology of Morals* is a wonderful book of three |
| 576 | polemical essays on the origin of moral/ethical valuations, and the |
| 577 | blindness of modern philosphers whose very thinking is tainted by |
| 578 | these valuations unknowingly. |
| 579 | |
| 580 | |
| 581 | ** Ecce Homo |
| 582 | |
| 583 | *Rating:* <class name="rating-good"> •••••••</class><class name="rating-bad">••• </class> (7) / *Nonfiction* |
| 584 | |
| 585 | *Ecce Homo* is Nietzsche's very strange autobiography and |
| 586 | explanation of his own works. At points it is clear that it could have |
| 587 | used a bit more editing (prevented by Nietzsche ... falling into a |
| 588 | catatonic state and all), but is still a very useful book to read as |
| 589 | Nietzsche explains the overall structure of his works. |
| 590 | |
| 591 | |
| 592 | * George Orwell |
| 593 | |
| 594 | |
| 595 | |
| 596 | ** 1984 |
| 597 | |
| 598 | *Rating:* <class name="rating-good"> ••••••••••</class><class name="rating-bad"> </class> (10) / *Fiction* |
| 599 | |
| 600 | |
| 601 | |
| 602 | |
| 603 | ** Animal Farm |
| 604 | |
| 605 | *Fiction* |
| 606 | |
| 607 | |
| 608 | |
| 609 | |
| 610 | * Plato |
| 611 | |
| 612 | |
| 613 | |
| 614 | ** Symposium |
| 615 | |
| 616 | *Fiction* |
| 617 | |
| 618 | |
| 619 | |
| 620 | |
| 621 | ** Euthyphro |
| 622 | |
| 623 | *Fiction* |
| 624 | |
| 625 | |
| 626 | |
| 627 | |
| 628 | ** Apology |
| 629 | |
| 630 | *Nonfiction* |
| 631 | |
| 632 | |
| 633 | |
| 634 | |
| 635 | ** Crito |
| 636 | |
| 637 | *Fiction* |
| 638 | |
| 639 | |
| 640 | |
| 641 | |
| 642 | ** Phaedo |
| 643 | |
| 644 | *Rating:* <class name="rating-good"> ••••••••••</class><class name="rating-bad"> </class> (10) / *Nonfiction* |
| 645 | |
| 646 | |
| 647 | |
| 648 | |
| 649 | ** Protagoras |
| 650 | |
| 651 | *Fiction* |
| 652 | |
| 653 | |
| 654 | |
| 655 | |
| 656 | * Luke Rhinehardt |
| 657 | |
| 658 | |
| 659 | |
| 660 | ** The Dice Man |
| 661 | |
| 662 | *Rating:* <class name="rating-good"> •••••••</class><class name="rating-bad">••• </class> (7) / *Fiction* |
| 663 | |
| 664 | <quote> |
| 665 | And it's his illusions about what |
| 666 | constitutes the real world which are |
| 667 | inhibiting him... |
| 668 | His reality, his reason, his society |
| 669 | ...these are what must be destroyed |
| 670 | </quote> |
| 671 | |
| 672 | A quotation from one of my [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slaughter_of_the_Soul][favorite metal songs]] inspired me to grab |
| 673 | this book; at worst it would be a waste of time. Much reward was found |
| 674 | in this random stab in the dark. The book is framed as an |
| 675 | autobiography of the author as a psychoanalyst, and his progression |
| 676 | through life as a Dice Man after deciding to live his life through |
| 677 | random chance. |
| 678 | |
| 679 | The style, plot, and content are equally neurotic; part comedy, part |
| 680 | attack on psychoanalysis, and part deep philosophy. It was often |
| 681 | difficult to put down, and was read in under a week of spare time. |
| 682 | |
| 683 | |
| 684 | * Neal Stephenson |
| 685 | |
| 686 | |
| 687 | |
| 688 | ** Snow Crash |
| 689 | |
| 690 | *Rating:* <class name="rating-good"> •••••••••</class><class name="rating-bad">• </class> (9) / *Fiction* |
| 691 | |
| 692 | As one must read the *Bible* to understand English literature, so one |
| 693 | must read *Snow Crash* today to be a nerd. In the realm of modern pop |
| 694 | fiction this is one of the better books I've read; it was devoured in |
| 695 | a mere four nights. Neal Stepheson may not be Milton, but he does come |
| 696 | up with enganging tales. *Snow Crash* has a nice undertone of (quite |
| 697 | accurate) political and social commentary that makes it worth reading |
| 698 | as more than mere cyberpunk fiction. |
| 699 | |
| 700 | |
| 701 | ** Cryptonomicon |
| 702 | |
| 703 | *Rating:* <class name="rating-good"> ••••••••</class><class name="rating-bad">•• </class> (8) / *Fiction* |
| 704 | |
| 705 | I read *Cryptonomicon* when it was new, and at the time I thought it was |
| 706 | good. It could have lost a hundred or so pages without detracting from |
| 707 | the plot, but it was easy reading and didn't take very long to |
| 708 | finish. The story was enganging, and the continual switching between |
| 709 | the 1940s and present day slowly unravelled the tale in a nice way. |
| 710 | |
| 711 | I'd still have to recommend *Snow Crash* if one wished to read only one |
| 712 | Stephenson novel. |
| 713 | |
| 714 | |
| 715 | * Bjarne Stroustrup |
| 716 | |
| 717 | |
| 718 | |
| 719 | ** The C++ Programming Language (3rd edition) |
| 720 | |
| 721 | *Nonfiction* |
| 722 | |
| 723 | Once upon a time I was fifteen and I read this book. It was more |
| 724 | or less what taught me how to write programs just large enough to do |
| 725 | useful things, and so shall forever be remembered by me. A year and a |
| 726 | half later I stumbled upon a little language called Scheme and fell |
| 727 | down the rabbit hole. |
| 728 | |
| 729 | |
| 730 | * JRR Tolkien |
| 731 | |
| 732 | |
| 733 | |
| 734 | ** The Lord of the Rings |
| 735 | |
| 736 | *Rating:* <class name="rating-good"> •••••••••</class><class name="rating-bad">• </class> (9) / *Fiction* |
| 737 | |
| 738 | |
| 739 | |
| 740 | |
| 741 | ** The Silmarillion |
| 742 | |
| 743 | *Rating:* <class name="rating-good"> ••••••••••</class><class name="rating-bad"> </class> (10) / *Fiction* |
| 744 | |
| 745 | |
| 746 | |
| 747 | |
| 748 | ** The Lost Tales |
| 749 | |
| 750 | *Rating:* <class name="rating-good"> •••••••</class><class name="rating-bad">••• </class> (7) / *Fiction* |
| 751 | |
| 752 | |
| 753 | |
| 754 | |
| 755 | * H.G. Wells |
| 756 | |
| 757 | |
| 758 | |
| 759 | ** The Island of Dr Moreau |
| 760 | |
| 761 | *Rating:* <class name="rating-good"> •••••••</class><class name="rating-bad">••• </class> (7) / *Fiction* |
| 762 | |
| 763 | |
| 764 | |