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