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16 <h1>A Not So Fancy Listing of Books
</h1>
17 <div class=
"contents">
20 <a href=
"#sec1">Douglas Adams
</a>
25 <a href=
"#sec2">Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy (collected)
</a>
28 <a href=
"#sec3">The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul
</a>
33 <a href=
"#sec4">Aeschylus
</a>
38 <a href=
"#sec5">Oresteia
</a>
41 <a href=
"#sec6">Prometheus Bound
</a>
44 <a href=
"#sec7">The Persians
</a>
49 <a href=
"#sec8">John Allison
</a>
54 <a href=
"#sec9">Looks, Brains and Everything
</a>
57 <a href=
"#sec10">Blame the Sky
</a>
60 <a href=
"#sec11">Skellington
</a>
63 <a href=
"#sec12">The Retribution Index
</a>
66 <a href=
"#sec13">Great Aches
</a>
69 <a href=
"#sec14">Ahoy Hoy!
</a>
72 <a href=
"#sec15">Heavy Metal Hearts and Flowers
</a>
75 <a href=
"#sec16">Ghosts
</a>
80 <a href=
"#sec17">Anonymous
</a>
85 <a href=
"#sec18">Chymical Wedding of Christian Rosenkreutz
</a>
90 <a href=
"#sec19">Aristophanes
</a>
95 <a href=
"#sec20">The Frogs
</a>
98 <a href=
"#sec21">The Clouds
</a>
101 <a href=
"#sec22">Ecclesiazusae
</a>
106 <a href=
"#sec23">Aristotle
</a>
111 <a href=
"#sec24">Ethics
</a>
114 <a href=
"#sec25">Categories
</a>
117 <a href=
"#sec26">Poetics
</a>
120 <a href=
"#sec27">Rhetoric
</a>
125 <a href=
"#sec28">Marcus Aurelius
</a>
130 <a href=
"#sec29">Meditations
</a>
135 <a href=
"#sec30">William Blake
</a>
140 <a href=
"#sec31">The Four Zoas
</a>
143 <a href=
"#sec32">Jerusalem
</a>
148 <a href=
"#sec33">Mike Carey
</a>
153 <a href=
"#sec34">Lucifer (series)
</a>
158 <a href=
"#sec35">Confucius
</a>
163 <a href=
"#sec36">Analects
</a>
168 <a href=
"#sec37">Neil Gaiman
</a>
173 <a href=
"#sec38">The Sandman (series)
</a>
176 <a href=
"#sec39">Good Omens
</a>
181 <a href=
"#sec40">John Taylor Gatto
</a>
186 <a href=
"#sec41">Underground History of American Education
</a>
191 <a href=
"#sec42">Kahlil Gibran
</a>
196 <a href=
"#sec43">A Tear and a Smile
</a>
199 <a href=
"#sec44">The Prophet
</a>
202 <a href=
"#sec45">Sand and Foam
</a>
205 <a href=
"#sec46">The Madman
</a>
210 <a href=
"#sec47">Homer
</a>
215 <a href=
"#sec48">The Odyssey
</a>
220 <a href=
"#sec49">Aldous Huxley
</a>
225 <a href=
"#sec50">The Doors of Perception
</a>
228 <a href=
"#sec51">Heaven and Hell
</a>
233 <a href=
"#sec52">William James
</a>
238 <a href=
"#sec53">The Varieties of Religious Experience
</a>
241 <a href=
"#sec54">The PhD Octopus
</a>
246 <a href=
"#sec55">Henry James
</a>
251 <a href=
"#sec56">The Altar of the Dead
</a>
256 <a href=
"#sec57">Gregor Kiczales
</a>
261 <a href=
"#sec58">The Art of the Metaobject Protocol
</a>
266 <a href=
"#sec59">Søren Kierkegaard
</a>
271 <a href=
"#sec60">Sickness Unto Death
</a>
274 <a href=
"#sec61">Either/Or
</a>
277 <a href=
"#sec62">Fear and Trembling
</a>
280 <a href=
"#sec63">Repetition
</a>
285 <a href=
"#sec64">Alisa Kwitney
</a>
290 <a href=
"#sec65">Destiny: A Chronicle of Deaths Foretold
</a>
295 <a href=
"#sec66">David Lamkins
</a>
300 <a href=
"#sec67">Successful Lisp
</a>
305 <a href=
"#sec68">Mencius
</a>
310 <a href=
"#sec69">Mencius
</a>
315 <a href=
"#sec70">Walter Miller
</a>
320 <a href=
"#sec71">A Canticle for Leibowitz
</a>
325 <a href=
"#sec72">John Milton
</a>
330 <a href=
"#sec73">Paradise Lost
</a>
335 <a href=
"#sec74">Alan Moore
</a>
340 <a href=
"#sec75">Watchmen
</a>
343 <a href=
"#sec76">V for Vendetta
</a>
348 <a href=
"#sec77">Thomas More
</a>
353 <a href=
"#sec78">Utopia
</a>
358 <a href=
"#sec79">Friedrich Nietzsche
</a>
363 <a href=
"#sec80">Thus Spoke Zarathustra
</a>
366 <a href=
"#sec81">Beyond Good and Evil
</a>
369 <a href=
"#sec82">On the Geneaology of Morals
</a>
372 <a href=
"#sec83">Ecce Homo
</a>
377 <a href=
"#sec84">George Orwell
</a>
382 <a href=
"#sec85">1984</a>
385 <a href=
"#sec86">Animal Farm
</a>
390 <a href=
"#sec87">Plato
</a>
395 <a href=
"#sec88">Symposium
</a>
398 <a href=
"#sec89">Euthyphro
</a>
401 <a href=
"#sec90">Apology
</a>
404 <a href=
"#sec91">Crito
</a>
407 <a href=
"#sec92">Phaedo
</a>
410 <a href=
"#sec93">Protagoras
</a>
415 <a href=
"#sec94">Luke Rhinehardt
</a>
420 <a href=
"#sec95">The Dice Man
</a>
425 <a href=
"#sec96">Neal Stephenson
</a>
430 <a href=
"#sec97">Snow Crash
</a>
433 <a href=
"#sec98">Cryptonomicon
</a>
438 <a href=
"#sec99">Bjarne Stroustrup
</a>
443 <a href=
"#sec100">The C++ Programming Language (
3rd edition)
</a>
448 <a href=
"#sec101">JRR Tolkien
</a>
453 <a href=
"#sec102">The Lord of the Rings
</a>
456 <a href=
"#sec103">The Silmarillion
</a>
459 <a href=
"#sec104">The Lost Tales
</a>
464 <a href=
"#sec105">H.G. Wells
</a>
469 <a href=
"#sec106">The Island of Dr Moreau
</a>
474 <a href=
"#sec107">Yevgeny Zamyatin
</a>
479 <a href=
"#sec108">We
</a>
487 <!-- Page published by Emacs Muse begins here --><h2><a name=
"sec1" id=
"sec1"></a>
492 <h3><a name=
"sec2" id=
"sec2"></a>
493 Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy (collected)
</h3>
495 <p><em>Rating:
</em> <span class=
"rating-good"> ••••••••
</span><span class=
"rating-bad">••
</span> (
8) /
<em>Fiction
</em></p>
501 <h3><a name=
"sec3" id=
"sec3"></a>
502 The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul
</h3>
504 <p><em>Rating:
</em> <span class=
"rating-good"> ••••••
</span><span class=
"rating-bad">••••
</span> (
6) /
<em>Fiction
</em></p>
511 <h2><a name=
"sec4" id=
"sec4"></a>
516 <h3><a name=
"sec5" id=
"sec5"></a>
519 <p><em>Rating:
</em> <span class=
"rating-good"> ••••••••••
</span><span class=
"rating-bad"> </span> (
10) /
<em>Fiction
</em></p>
525 <h3><a name=
"sec6" id=
"sec6"></a>
526 Prometheus Bound
</h3>
528 <p><em>Rating:
</em> <span class=
"rating-good"> •••••••••
</span><span class=
"rating-bad">•
</span> (
9) /
<em>Fiction
</em></p>
534 <h3><a name=
"sec7" id=
"sec7"></a>
537 <p><em>Rating:
</em> <span class=
"rating-good"> ••••••••
</span><span class=
"rating-bad">••
</span> (
8) /
<em>Fiction
</em></p>
544 <h2><a name=
"sec8" id=
"sec8"></a>
547 <p class=
"first">The author of the rather amazing
<a href=
"http://scarygoround.com">Scary Go Round
</a>.
548 I highly recommend procuring the printed collections; the printing
549 quality is superb (full color on glossy paper), and the long story
550 arcs are much easier to read.
</p>
552 <h3><a name=
"sec9" id=
"sec9"></a>
553 Looks, Brains and Everything
</h3>
555 <p><em>Fiction
</em></p>
561 <h3><a name=
"sec10" id=
"sec10"></a>
564 <p><em>Fiction
</em></p>
570 <h3><a name=
"sec11" id=
"sec11"></a>
573 <p><em>Fiction
</em></p>
579 <h3><a name=
"sec12" id=
"sec12"></a>
580 The Retribution Index
</h3>
582 <p><em>Fiction
</em></p>
588 <h3><a name=
"sec13" id=
"sec13"></a>
591 <p><em>Fiction
</em></p>
597 <h3><a name=
"sec14" id=
"sec14"></a>
600 <p><em>Fiction
</em></p>
606 <h3><a name=
"sec15" id=
"sec15"></a>
607 Heavy Metal Hearts and Flowers
</h3>
609 <p><em>Fiction
</em></p>
615 <h3><a name=
"sec16" id=
"sec16"></a>
618 <p><em>Fiction
</em></p>
625 <h2><a name=
"sec17" id=
"sec17"></a>
630 <h3><a name=
"sec18" id=
"sec18"></a>
631 Chymical Wedding of Christian Rosenkreutz
</h3>
633 <p><em>Fiction
</em></p>
640 <h2><a name=
"sec19" id=
"sec19"></a>
645 <h3><a name=
"sec20" id=
"sec20"></a>
648 <p><em>Fiction
</em></p>
654 <h3><a name=
"sec21" id=
"sec21"></a>
657 <p><em>Fiction
</em></p>
663 <h3><a name=
"sec22" id=
"sec22"></a>
666 <p><em>Fiction
</em></p>
673 <h2><a name=
"sec23" id=
"sec23"></a>
678 <h3><a name=
"sec24" id=
"sec24"></a>
681 <p><em>Nonfiction
</em></p>
687 <h3><a name=
"sec25" id=
"sec25"></a>
690 <p><em>Nonfiction
</em></p>
696 <h3><a name=
"sec26" id=
"sec26"></a>
699 <p><em>Nonfiction
</em></p>
705 <h3><a name=
"sec27" id=
"sec27"></a>
708 <p><em>Nonfiction
</em></p>
715 <h2><a name=
"sec28" id=
"sec28"></a>
720 <h3><a name=
"sec29" id=
"sec29"></a>
723 <p><em>Rating:
</em> <span class=
"rating-good"> ••••
</span><span class=
"rating-bad">••••••
</span> (
4) /
<em>Nonfiction
</em></p>
725 <p>At the time, I enjoyed reading this collection of meditations on
726 Stoic philosophy, and it was a fairly quick read (fifteen minutes a
727 day over the course of two weeks for me). Nowadays I've read
728 Epictetus, and I suggest reading his
<em>Discourses
</em> instead.
</p>
733 <h2><a name=
"sec30" id=
"sec30"></a>
736 <p class=
"first">Blake is my
<a href=
"William%20Blake.html">favorite
</a> of the English poets. His
737 unique use of relief etching and watercoloring makes for very
738 interesting Illuminated works. There is a very high quality
739 <a href=
"http://blakearchive.org">complete archive of Blake's works
</a> online
740 with high resolution plate scans and full transcriptions among other
743 <h3><a name=
"sec31" id=
"sec31"></a>
746 <p><em>Rating:
</em> <span class=
"rating-good"> ••••••••••
</span><span class=
"rating-bad"> </span> (
10) /
<em>Fiction
</em></p>
748 <p>The unfinished manuscript of Blake's longest apocalypse. The
749 Four Zoas divide from Albion and rage through the ages of dismal woe
750 to bring about the end of the cycle of Ulro and restore the cycle of
755 <h3><a name=
"sec32" id=
"sec32"></a>
758 <p><em>Rating:
</em> <span class=
"rating-good"> ••••••••••
</span><span class=
"rating-bad"> </span> (
10) /
<em>Fiction
</em></p>
760 <p>The finest of Blake's Illuminated works.
</p>
765 <h2><a name=
"sec33" id=
"sec33"></a>
770 <h3><a name=
"sec34" id=
"sec34"></a>
771 Lucifer (series)
</h3>
773 <p><em>Rating:
</em> <span class=
"rating-good"> ••••••
</span><span class=
"rating-bad">••••
</span> (
6) /
<em>Fiction
</em></p>
775 <p>Of the
<em>Sandman
</em> spinoffs,
<em>Lucifer
</em> stands out as the best for
776 the first half, but then the writer appears to take on far too great a
777 task, and, with the introduction of some disagreeable character
778 relations, fails to execute the story as well as it could have
779 been. Still, it was worth reading to the end even though most of the
780 stories after issue
35 or so were merely ok. If you like Kierkegaard I
781 suggest issues
2,
3, and
62—they show the form of the incommensurable
782 relation of the single individual to the absolute perfectly.
</p>
787 <h2><a name=
"sec35" id=
"sec35"></a>
792 <h3><a name=
"sec36" id=
"sec36"></a>
795 <p><em>Nonfiction
</em></p>
802 <h2><a name=
"sec37" id=
"sec37"></a>
807 <h3><a name=
"sec38" id=
"sec38"></a>
808 The Sandman (series)
</h3>
810 <p><em>Rating:
</em> <span class=
"rating-good"> ••••••••••
</span><span class=
"rating-bad"> </span> (
10) /
<em>Fiction
</em></p>
812 <p>Perhaps the best comic book series of all time; I would say
<em>The
813 Sandman
</em> as a whole ranks higher than anything even Alan Moore has
818 <h3><a name=
"sec39" id=
"sec39"></a>
821 <p><em>Rating:
</em> <span class=
"rating-good"> ••••••••
</span><span class=
"rating-bad">••
</span> (
8) /
<em>Fiction
</em></p>
823 <p>A friend of a friend decided one evening that I needed to read
824 so-called
<em>normal people books
</em>, and so she lent me
<em>Good Omens
</em>. It
825 was an enjoyable read and unearthed vague memories of comic book
826 magazines I read when I was small and the name
<em>Sandman
</em>; thus through
827 one book I found something far greater.
</p>
832 <h2><a name=
"sec40" id=
"sec40"></a>
833 John Taylor Gatto
</h2>
835 <p class=
"first">Former teacher and now author-activist.
</p>
837 <h3><a name=
"sec41" id=
"sec41"></a>
838 Underground History of American Education
</h3>
840 <p><em>Rating:
</em> <span class=
"rating-good"> •••••••••
</span><span class=
"rating-bad">•
</span> (
9) /
<em>Nonfiction
</em></p>
842 <p>An interesting
<em>underground
</em> history of the American education
844 <a href=
"http://www.johntaylorgatto.com/underground/">online for free
</a>.
</p>
849 <h2><a name=
"sec42" id=
"sec42"></a>
852 <p class=
"first">Kahlil Gibran is fairly interesting; his earlier works do not
853 agree with my æsthetic sense (blah blah), but
<em>The Madman
</em> onward are
854 all rather nice. A few of his works are
855 <a href=
"http://leb.net/~mira/">online
</a>, but I recommend scouting used book
856 stores for old hardcover editions. The (late
90s onward at least)
857 <em>hardcover
</em> versions from
<em>Alfred A. Knopf
</em> are in fact permabound
858 paperbacks with a hardcasing, and are of seriously inferior quality to
859 the editions from the
50s and
60s (and cost quite a bit more,
862 <h3><a name=
"sec43" id=
"sec43"></a>
863 A Tear and a Smile
</h3>
865 <p><em>Rating:
</em> <span class=
"rating-good"> •••
</span><span class=
"rating-bad">•••••••
</span> (
3) /
<em>Fiction
</em></p>
867 <p>One of Kahlil Gibran's earlier works, I did not much like
<em>A
868 Tear and a Smile
</em> excepting the last poem (
"A Poet's Voice
").
</p>
872 <h3><a name=
"sec44" id=
"sec44"></a>
875 <p><em>Rating:
</em> <span class=
"rating-good"> •••••••••
</span><span class=
"rating-bad">•
</span> (
9) /
<em>Fiction
</em></p>
881 <h3><a name=
"sec45" id=
"sec45"></a>
884 <p><em>Rating:
</em> <span class=
"rating-good"> •••••••
</span><span class=
"rating-bad">•••
</span> (
7) /
<em>Fiction
</em></p>
886 <p>An interesting little book of aphorisms.
</p>
890 <h3><a name=
"sec46" id=
"sec46"></a>
893 <p><em>Rating:
</em> <span class=
"rating-good"> ••••••••
</span><span class=
"rating-bad">••
</span> (
8) /
<em>Fiction
</em></p>
900 <h2><a name=
"sec47" id=
"sec47"></a>
905 <h3><a name=
"sec48" id=
"sec48"></a>
908 <p><em>Rating:
</em> <span class=
"rating-good"> ••••••••••
</span><span class=
"rating-bad"> </span> (
10) /
<em>Fiction
</em></p>
915 <h2><a name=
"sec49" id=
"sec49"></a>
918 <p class=
"first">Perhaps the most overrated modern writer. Other people have written
919 everything he has to write better and many years before he got around
922 <h3><a name=
"sec50" id=
"sec50"></a>
923 The Doors of Perception
</h3>
925 <p><em>Rating:
</em> <span class=
"rating-good"> </span><span class=
"rating-bad">••••••••••
</span> (
0) /
<em>Nonfiction
</em></p>
927 <p>Huxley stains the name of Blake by naming this horrible
928 pseudo-scientific and pseudo-poetic essay after a line from
<em>The
929 Marriage of Heaven and Hell
</em>. Subjectivity and objectivity are
930 incommensurable; his attempt and being subjectively objective is
931 utterly worthless.
</p>
935 <h3><a name=
"sec51" id=
"sec51"></a>
938 <p><em>Rating:
</em> <span class=
"rating-good"> </span><span class=
"rating-bad">••••••••••
</span> (
0) /
<em>Nonfiction
</em></p>
940 <p>Blah blah LSD blah blah Mushrooms blah blah Peyote blah blah I'm
941 Aldous Huxley I'm a pretentious jerk. Don't bother.
</p>
946 <h2><a name=
"sec52" id=
"sec52"></a>
951 <h3><a name=
"sec53" id=
"sec53"></a>
952 The Varieties of Religious Experience
</h3>
954 <p><em>Rating:
</em> <span class=
"rating-good"> •••••••
</span><span class=
"rating-bad">•••
</span> (
7) /
<em>Nonfiction
</em></p>
956 <p><a href=
"William%20James%20-%20The%20Varieties%20of%20Religious%20Experience.html">A partially finished extended summary
</a></p>
960 <h3><a name=
"sec54" id=
"sec54"></a>
963 <p><em>Nonfiction
</em></p>
967 America is thus as a nation rapidly drifting towards a state of things
968 in which no man of science or letters will be accounted respectable
969 unless some kind of badge or diploma is stamped upon him, and in which
970 bare personality will be a mark of outcast estate. It seems to me high
971 time to rouse ourselves to consciousness, and to cast a critical eye
972 upon this decidedly grotesque tendency. Other nations suffer terribly
973 from the Mandarin disease. Are we doomed to suffer like the rest?
</p>
977 <p><a href=
"William%20James%20-%20The%20PhD%20Octopus.html">Full Text
</a></p>
982 <h2><a name=
"sec55" id=
"sec55"></a>
985 <p class=
"first">The novelist brother of William James; I've not read many (read:
986 one) of his books, but what I did was decent.
</p>
988 <h3><a name=
"sec56" id=
"sec56"></a>
989 The Altar of the Dead
</h3>
991 <p><em>Rating:
</em> <span class=
"rating-good"> •••••••
</span><span class=
"rating-bad">•••
</span> (
7) /
<em>Fiction
</em></p>
993 <p>A short novella about a man who maintained an altar in a church
994 for all of his lost loved ones on the surface, but something a bit
1000 <h2><a name=
"sec57" id=
"sec57"></a>
1001 Gregor Kiczales
</h2>
1005 <h3><a name=
"sec58" id=
"sec58"></a>
1006 The Art of the Metaobject Protocol
</h3>
1008 <p><em>Rating:
</em> <span class=
"rating-good"> ••••••••••
</span><span class=
"rating-bad"> </span> (
10) /
<em>Nonfiction
</em></p>
1010 <p>AMOP is useful as a reference to the CLOS MOP (although less so with
1011 the online MOP spec), but the true value of the book lies in the first
1012 half of the book. It presents the design of the CLOS MOP through a
1013 series of revisions that fix limitations of earlier implementations
1014 and gradually work toward a generic and well designed MOP for
1015 CLOS. Through that process one is made more aware of a few general
1016 object protocol design skills, and gains insight into how to cleanly
1017 make mapping decisions customizable.
</p>
1022 <h2><a name=
"sec59" id=
"sec59"></a>
1023 Søren Kierkegaard
</h2>
1025 <p class=
"first">Kierkegaard was a master of style and philosophy; his writing is
1026 interesting even if one finds the theistic extentialism espoused
1029 <h3><a name=
"sec60" id=
"sec60"></a>
1030 Sickness Unto Death
</h3>
1032 <p><em>Rating:
</em> <span class=
"rating-good"> ••••••••••
</span><span class=
"rating-bad"> </span> (
10) /
<em>Nonfiction
</em></p>
1034 <p>I purchased this when I was looking through books at a store after
1035 being unable to find the book I really wanted, and I must say that it
1036 was better for me to have found this one.
</p>
1038 <p>Contained within is a beautiful analysis of despair in the context of
1039 Christianity (really theism in general). Even if the argument offends,
1040 the presentation cannot. The dialectical nature of despair is
1041 reflected in every aspect of the work, and the method of presentation
1042 forces reflection.
</p>
1046 <h3><a name=
"sec61" id=
"sec61"></a>
1049 <p><em>Rating:
</em> <span class=
"rating-good"> ••••••••••
</span><span class=
"rating-bad"> </span> (
10) /
<em>Nonfiction
</em></p>
1051 <p>Composed of two portions,
<em>Either/Or
</em> is a rather lengthy but
1052 rewarding read. The first book is a series of essays and a diary of a
1053 young esthetician; the second is a pair of long letters from an older
1054 ethicist friend to this esthetician. You are then left to resolve the
1055 conflict between the views.
</p>
1059 <h3><a name=
"sec62" id=
"sec62"></a>
1060 Fear and Trembling
</h3>
1062 <p><em>Nonfiction
</em></p>
1064 <p>An interesting dialectical lyric contrasting Despair and Faith.
</p>
1068 <h3><a name=
"sec63" id=
"sec63"></a>
1071 <p><em>Rating:
</em> <span class=
"rating-good"> ••••••••••
</span><span class=
"rating-bad"> </span> (
10) /
<em>Nonfiction
</em></p>
1073 <p>He who despairs of esthetic repetition gets none; he who despairs
1074 of ethical repetition receieves the esthetic. Is it true then that no
1075 repetition exists? Is transition all one can hope for?
</p>
1080 <h2><a name=
"sec64" id=
"sec64"></a>
1085 <h3><a name=
"sec65" id=
"sec65"></a>
1086 Destiny: A Chronicle of Deaths Foretold
</h3>
1088 <p><em>Rating:
</em> <span class=
"rating-good"> ••••••••
</span><span class=
"rating-bad">••
</span> (
8) /
<em>Fiction
</em></p>
1095 <h2><a name=
"sec66" id=
"sec66"></a>
1100 <h3><a name=
"sec67" id=
"sec67"></a>
1101 Successful Lisp
</h3>
1103 <p><em>Rating:
</em> <span class=
"rating-good"> ••••••••
</span><span class=
"rating-bad">••
</span> (
8) /
<em>Nonfiction
</em></p>
1105 <p>After learning Scheme, I read
<em>Successful Lisp
</em> and was able to
1106 pick up Common Lisp fairly easily.
</p>
1111 <h2><a name=
"sec68" id=
"sec68"></a>
1116 <h3><a name=
"sec69" id=
"sec69"></a>
1119 <p><em>Nonfiction
</em></p>
1126 <h2><a name=
"sec70" id=
"sec70"></a>
1131 <h3><a name=
"sec71" id=
"sec71"></a>
1132 A Canticle for Leibowitz
</h3>
1134 <p><em>Rating:
</em> <span class=
"rating-good"> ••••••••••
</span><span class=
"rating-bad"> </span> (
10) /
<em>Fiction
</em></p>
1141 <h2><a name=
"sec72" id=
"sec72"></a>
1146 <h3><a name=
"sec73" id=
"sec73"></a>
1149 <p><em>Rating:
</em> <span class=
"rating-good"> ••••••••••
</span><span class=
"rating-bad"> </span> (
10) /
<em>Fiction
</em></p>
1156 <h2><a name=
"sec74" id=
"sec74"></a>
1161 <h3><a name=
"sec75" id=
"sec75"></a>
1164 <p><em>Rating:
</em> <span class=
"rating-good"> ••••••••
</span><span class=
"rating-bad">••
</span> (
8) /
<em>Fiction
</em></p>
1170 <h3><a name=
"sec76" id=
"sec76"></a>
1173 <p><em>Rating:
</em> <span class=
"rating-good"> ••••••••••
</span><span class=
"rating-bad"> </span> (
10) /
<em>Fiction
</em></p>
1180 <h2><a name=
"sec77" id=
"sec77"></a>
1185 <h3><a name=
"sec78" id=
"sec78"></a>
1188 <p><em>Rating:
</em> <span class=
"rating-good"> •••••••
</span><span class=
"rating-bad">•••
</span> (
7) /
<em>Fiction
</em></p>
1190 <p>I read most of Utopia in high school with the TI-
89 ebook reader, but
1191 the way the book was split up made it a bit difficult to grasp the
1192 overall structure. I found a copy at a used book store one day, and so
1193 I read it again, and found it much more comprehensible. It is a quick
1194 read, and decent piece of literature. The interesting social system
1195 espoused resembles resembles state communism (even if perhaps as a
1196 negative ideal), but with an strange blend of
14th century European
1202 <h2><a name=
"sec79" id=
"sec79"></a>
1203 Friedrich Nietzsche
</h2>
1205 <p class=
"first">A bit acerbic and esoteric, Nietzsche is for me a good
<em>secular
</em>
1206 counterpart to Kierkegaard's theistic philosophy. Nietzsche's
1207 polemical works raise important questions for anyone who reads works
1208 on ethics. As such it is a shame that he has gotten a bad reputation
1209 by being read by far too many angsty teenagers who see (and relay)
1210 only Nietzsche the asshole rather than Nietzsche the master of the
1213 <h3><a name=
"sec80" id=
"sec80"></a>
1214 Thus Spoke Zarathustra
</h3>
1216 <p><em>Rating:
</em> <span class=
"rating-good"> ••••••••
</span><span class=
"rating-bad">••
</span> (
8) /
<em>Fiction
</em></p>
1218 <p>A masterpiece of indirect communication depsite the occasional
1219 flaw and overly dramatic passage. Certainly a book worth reading many
1220 times over the course of one's life.
</p>
1224 <h3><a name=
"sec81" id=
"sec81"></a>
1225 Beyond Good and Evil
</h3>
1227 <p><em>Rating:
</em> <span class=
"rating-good"> ••••••••
</span><span class=
"rating-bad">••
</span> (
8) /
<em>Nonfiction
</em></p>
1229 <p>A somewhat more comprehensible, if a bit less aesthetically
1230 pleasing, presentation of much of the philosophy found in
<em>Thus Spoke
1231 Zarathustra
</em> in the negative form. The final chapters are very
1232 important (not to detract from the value of the rest of the work) if
1233 one wishes to understand
<em>On the Genealogy of Morals
</em>.
</p>
1237 <h3><a name=
"sec82" id=
"sec82"></a>
1238 On the Geneaology of Morals
</h3>
1240 <p><em>Rating:
</em> <span class=
"rating-good"> •••••••••
</span><span class=
"rating-bad">•
</span> (
9) /
<em>Nonfiction
</em></p>
1242 <p><em>On the Geneaology of Morals
</em> is a wonderful book of three
1243 polemical essays on the origin of moral/ethical valuations, and the
1244 blindness of modern philosphers whose very thinking is tainted by
1245 these valuations unknowingly.
</p>
1249 <h3><a name=
"sec83" id=
"sec83"></a>
1252 <p><em>Rating:
</em> <span class=
"rating-good"> •••••••
</span><span class=
"rating-bad">•••
</span> (
7) /
<em>Nonfiction
</em></p>
1254 <p><em>Ecce Homo
</em> is Nietzsche's very strange autobiography and
1255 explanation of his own works. At points it is clear that it could have
1256 used a bit more editing (prevented by Nietzsche ... falling into a
1257 catatonic state and all), but is still a very useful book to read as
1258 Nietzsche explains the overall structure of his works.
</p>
1263 <h2><a name=
"sec84" id=
"sec84"></a>
1268 <h3><a name=
"sec85" id=
"sec85"></a>
1271 <p><em>Rating:
</em> <span class=
"rating-good"> ••••••••••
</span><span class=
"rating-bad"> </span> (
10) /
<em>Fiction
</em></p>
1277 <h3><a name=
"sec86" id=
"sec86"></a>
1280 <p><em>Fiction
</em></p>
1287 <h2><a name=
"sec87" id=
"sec87"></a>
1292 <h3><a name=
"sec88" id=
"sec88"></a>
1295 <p><em>Fiction
</em></p>
1301 <h3><a name=
"sec89" id=
"sec89"></a>
1304 <p><em>Fiction
</em></p>
1310 <h3><a name=
"sec90" id=
"sec90"></a>
1313 <p><em>Nonfiction
</em></p>
1319 <h3><a name=
"sec91" id=
"sec91"></a>
1322 <p><em>Fiction
</em></p>
1328 <h3><a name=
"sec92" id=
"sec92"></a>
1331 <p><em>Rating:
</em> <span class=
"rating-good"> ••••••••••
</span><span class=
"rating-bad"> </span> (
10) /
<em>Nonfiction
</em></p>
1337 <h3><a name=
"sec93" id=
"sec93"></a>
1340 <p><em>Fiction
</em></p>
1347 <h2><a name=
"sec94" id=
"sec94"></a>
1348 Luke Rhinehardt
</h2>
1352 <h3><a name=
"sec95" id=
"sec95"></a>
1355 <p><em>Rating:
</em> <span class=
"rating-good"> •••••••
</span><span class=
"rating-bad">•••
</span> (
7) /
<em>Fiction
</em></p>
1359 And it's his illusions about what
1360 constitutes the real world which are
1362 His reality, his reason, his society
1363 ...these are what must be destroyed
</p>
1367 <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
1368 this book; at worst it would be a waste of time. Much reward was found
1369 in this random stab in the dark. The book is framed as an
1370 autobiography of the author as a psychoanalyst, and his progression
1371 through life as a Dice Man after deciding to live his life through
1374 <p>The style, plot, and content are equally neurotic; part comedy, part
1375 attack on psychoanalysis, and part deep philosophy. It was often
1376 difficult to put down, and was read in under a week of spare time.
</p>
1381 <h2><a name=
"sec96" id=
"sec96"></a>
1382 Neal Stephenson
</h2>
1386 <h3><a name=
"sec97" id=
"sec97"></a>
1389 <p><em>Rating:
</em> <span class=
"rating-good"> •••••••••
</span><span class=
"rating-bad">•
</span> (
9) /
<em>Fiction
</em></p>
1391 <p>As one must read the
<em>Bible
</em> to understand English literature, so one
1392 must read
<em>Snow Crash
</em> today to be a nerd. In the realm of modern pop
1393 fiction this is one of the better books I've read; it was devoured in
1394 a mere four nights. Neal Stepheson may not be Milton, but he does come
1395 up with enganging tales.
<em>Snow Crash
</em> has a nice undertone of (quite
1396 accurate) political and social commentary that makes it worth reading
1397 as more than mere cyberpunk fiction.
</p>
1401 <h3><a name=
"sec98" id=
"sec98"></a>
1404 <p><em>Rating:
</em> <span class=
"rating-good"> ••••••••
</span><span class=
"rating-bad">••
</span> (
8) /
<em>Fiction
</em></p>
1406 <p>I read
<em>Cryptonomicon
</em> when it was new, and at the time I thought it was
1407 good. It could have lost a hundred or so pages without detracting from
1408 the plot, but it was easy reading and didn't take very long to
1409 finish. The story was enganging, and the continual switching between
1410 the
1940s and present day slowly unravelled the tale in a nice way.
</p>
1412 <p>I'd still have to recommend
<em>Snow Crash
</em> if one wished to read only one
1413 Stephenson novel.
</p>
1418 <h2><a name=
"sec99" id=
"sec99"></a>
1419 Bjarne Stroustrup
</h2>
1423 <h3><a name=
"sec100" id=
"sec100"></a>
1424 The C++ Programming Language (
3rd edition)
</h3>
1426 <p><em>Nonfiction
</em></p>
1428 <p>Once upon a time I was fifteen and I read this book. It was more
1429 or less what taught me how to write programs just large enough to do
1430 useful things, and so shall forever be remembered by me. A year and a
1431 half later I stumbled upon a little language called Scheme and fell
1432 down the rabbit hole.
</p>
1437 <h2><a name=
"sec101" id=
"sec101"></a>
1442 <h3><a name=
"sec102" id=
"sec102"></a>
1443 The Lord of the Rings
</h3>
1445 <p><em>Rating:
</em> <span class=
"rating-good"> •••••••••
</span><span class=
"rating-bad">•
</span> (
9) /
<em>Fiction
</em></p>
1451 <h3><a name=
"sec103" id=
"sec103"></a>
1452 The Silmarillion
</h3>
1454 <p><em>Rating:
</em> <span class=
"rating-good"> ••••••••••
</span><span class=
"rating-bad"> </span> (
10) /
<em>Fiction
</em></p>
1460 <h3><a name=
"sec104" id=
"sec104"></a>
1463 <p><em>Rating:
</em> <span class=
"rating-good"> •••••••
</span><span class=
"rating-bad">•••
</span> (
7) /
<em>Fiction
</em></p>
1470 <h2><a name=
"sec105" id=
"sec105"></a>
1475 <h3><a name=
"sec106" id=
"sec106"></a>
1476 The Island of Dr Moreau
</h3>
1478 <p><em>Rating:
</em> <span class=
"rating-good"> •••••••
</span><span class=
"rating-bad">•••
</span> (
7) /
<em>Fiction
</em></p>
1485 <h2><a name=
"sec107" id=
"sec107"></a>
1486 Yevgeny Zamyatin
</h2>
1490 <h3><a name=
"sec108" id=
"sec108"></a>
1493 <p><em>Fiction
</em></p>
1497 <!-- Page published by Emacs Muse ends here -->
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