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- <title>Book List</title>
+ <title>A Not So Fancy Listing of Books</title>
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- <h1>Book List</h1>
+ <h1>A Not So Fancy Listing of Books</h1>
<div class="contents">
<dl>
+<dt>
+<a href="#sec1">Douglas Adams</a>
+</dt>
+<dd>
+<dl>
+<dt>
+<a href="#sec2">Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy (collected)</a>
+</dt>
+<dt>
+<a href="#sec3">The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul</a>
+</dt>
+</dl>
+</dd>
+<dt>
+<a href="#sec4">Aeschylus</a>
+</dt>
+<dd>
+<dl>
+<dt>
+<a href="#sec5">Oresteia</a>
+</dt>
+<dt>
+<a href="#sec6">Prometheus Bound</a>
+</dt>
+<dt>
+<a href="#sec7">The Persians</a>
+</dt>
+</dl>
+</dd>
+<dt>
+<a href="#sec8">John Allison</a>
+</dt>
+<dd>
+<dl>
+<dt>
+<a href="#sec9">Looks, Brains and Everything</a>
+</dt>
+<dt>
+<a href="#sec10">Blame the Sky</a>
+</dt>
+<dt>
+<a href="#sec11">Skellington</a>
+</dt>
+<dt>
+<a href="#sec12">The Retribution Index</a>
+</dt>
+<dt>
+<a href="#sec13">Great Aches</a>
+</dt>
+<dt>
+<a href="#sec14">Ahoy Hoy!</a>
+</dt>
+<dt>
+<a href="#sec15">Heavy Metal Hearts and Flowers</a>
+</dt>
+<dt>
+<a href="#sec16">Ghosts</a>
+</dt>
+</dl>
+</dd>
+<dt>
+<a href="#sec17">Anonymous</a>
+</dt>
+<dd>
+<dl>
+<dt>
+<a href="#sec18">Chymical Wedding of Christian Rosenkreutz</a>
+</dt>
+</dl>
+</dd>
+<dt>
+<a href="#sec19">Aristophanes</a>
+</dt>
+<dd>
+<dl>
+<dt>
+<a href="#sec20">The Frogs</a>
+</dt>
+<dt>
+<a href="#sec21">The Clouds</a>
+</dt>
+<dt>
+<a href="#sec22">Ecclesiazusae</a>
+</dt>
+</dl>
+</dd>
+<dt>
+<a href="#sec23">Aristotle</a>
+</dt>
+<dd>
+<dl>
+<dt>
+<a href="#sec24">Ethics</a>
+</dt>
+<dt>
+<a href="#sec25">Categories</a>
+</dt>
+<dt>
+<a href="#sec26">Poetics</a>
+</dt>
+<dt>
+<a href="#sec27">Rhetoric</a>
+</dt>
+</dl>
+</dd>
+<dt>
+<a href="#sec28">Marcus Aurelius</a>
+</dt>
+<dd>
+<dl>
+<dt>
+<a href="#sec29">Meditations</a>
+</dt>
+</dl>
+</dd>
+<dt>
+<a href="#sec30">William Blake</a>
+</dt>
+<dd>
+<dl>
+<dt>
+<a href="#sec31">The Four Zoas</a>
+</dt>
+<dt>
+<a href="#sec32">Jerusalem</a>
+</dt>
+</dl>
+</dd>
+<dt>
+<a href="#sec33">Albert Camus</a>
+</dt>
+<dd>
+<dl>
+<dt>
+<a href="#sec34">The Plague</a>
+</dt>
+</dl>
+</dd>
+<dt>
+<a href="#sec35">Mike Carey</a>
+</dt>
+<dd>
+<dl>
+<dt>
+<a href="#sec36">Lucifer (series)</a>
+</dt>
+</dl>
+</dd>
+<dt>
+<a href="#sec37">Confucius</a>
+</dt>
+<dd>
+<dl>
+<dt>
+<a href="#sec38">Analects</a>
+</dt>
+</dl>
+</dd>
+<dt>
+<a href="#sec39">Neil Gaiman</a>
+</dt>
+<dd>
+<dl>
+<dt>
+<a href="#sec40">The Sandman (series)</a>
+</dt>
+<dt>
+<a href="#sec41">Good Omens</a>
+</dt>
+<dt>
+<a href="#sec42">American Gods</a>
+</dt>
+</dl>
+</dd>
+<dt>
+<a href="#sec43">John Taylor Gatto</a>
+</dt>
+<dd>
+<dl>
+<dt>
+<a href="#sec44">Underground History of American Education</a>
+</dt>
+</dl>
+</dd>
+<dt>
+<a href="#sec45">Kahlil Gibran</a>
+</dt>
+<dd>
+<dl>
+<dt>
+<a href="#sec46">A Tear and a Smile</a>
+</dt>
+<dt>
+<a href="#sec47">The Prophet</a>
+</dt>
+<dt>
+<a href="#sec48">Sand and Foam</a>
+</dt>
+<dt>
+<a href="#sec49">The Madman</a>
+</dt>
+</dl>
+</dd>
+<dt>
+<a href="#sec50">Homer</a>
+</dt>
+<dd>
+<dl>
+<dt>
+<a href="#sec51">The Odyssey</a>
+</dt>
+</dl>
+</dd>
+<dt>
+<a href="#sec52">Aldous Huxley</a>
+</dt>
+<dd>
+<dl>
+<dt>
+<a href="#sec53">The Doors of Perception</a>
+</dt>
+<dt>
+<a href="#sec54">Heaven and Hell</a>
+</dt>
+<dt>
+<a href="#sec55">Brave New World</a>
+</dt>
+</dl>
+</dd>
+<dt>
+<a href="#sec56">William James</a>
+</dt>
+<dd>
+<dl>
+<dt>
+<a href="#sec57">The Varieties of Religious Experience</a>
+</dt>
+<dt>
+<a href="#sec58">The PhD Octopus</a>
+</dt>
+</dl>
+</dd>
+<dt>
+<a href="#sec59">Henry James</a>
+</dt>
+<dd>
+<dl>
+<dt>
+<a href="#sec60">The Altar of the Dead</a>
+</dt>
+</dl>
+</dd>
+<dt>
+<a href="#sec61">Gregor Kiczales</a>
+</dt>
+<dd>
+<dl>
+<dt>
+<a href="#sec62">The Art of the Metaobject Protocol</a>
+</dt>
+</dl>
+</dd>
+<dt>
+<a href="#sec63">Søren Kierkegaard</a>
+</dt>
+<dd>
+<dl>
+<dt>
+<a href="#sec64">Sickness Unto Death</a>
+</dt>
+<dt>
+<a href="#sec65">Either/Or</a>
+</dt>
+<dt>
+<a href="#sec66">Fear and Trembling</a>
+</dt>
+<dt>
+<a href="#sec67">Repetition</a>
+</dt>
+<dt>
+<a href="#sec68">The Concept of Anxiety</a>
+</dt>
+</dl>
+</dd>
+<dt>
+<a href="#sec69">Alisa Kwitney</a>
+</dt>
+<dd>
+<dl>
+<dt>
+<a href="#sec70">Destiny: A Chronicle of Deaths Foretold</a>
+</dt>
+</dl>
+</dd>
+<dt>
+<a href="#sec71">David Lamkins</a>
+</dt>
+<dd>
+<dl>
+<dt>
+<a href="#sec72">Successful Lisp</a>
+</dt>
+</dl>
+</dd>
+<dt>
+<a href="#sec73">Mencius</a>
+</dt>
+<dd>
+<dl>
+<dt>
+<a href="#sec74">Mencius</a>
+</dt>
+</dl>
+</dd>
+<dt>
+<a href="#sec75">Walter Miller</a>
+</dt>
+<dd>
+<dl>
+<dt>
+<a href="#sec76">A Canticle for Leibowitz</a>
+</dt>
+</dl>
+</dd>
+<dt>
+<a href="#sec77">John Milton</a>
+</dt>
+<dd>
+<dl>
+<dt>
+<a href="#sec78">Paradise Lost</a>
+</dt>
+</dl>
+</dd>
+<dt>
+<a href="#sec79">Alan Moore</a>
+</dt>
+<dd>
+<dl>
+<dt>
+<a href="#sec80">Watchmen</a>
+</dt>
+<dt>
+<a href="#sec81">V for Vendetta</a>
+</dt>
+</dl>
+</dd>
+<dt>
+<a href="#sec82">Thomas More</a>
+</dt>
+<dd>
+<dl>
+<dt>
+<a href="#sec83">Utopia</a>
+</dt>
+</dl>
+</dd>
+<dt>
+<a href="#sec84">Friedrich Nietzsche</a>
+</dt>
+<dd>
+<dl>
+<dt>
+<a href="#sec85">Thus Spoke Zarathustra</a>
+</dt>
+<dt>
+<a href="#sec86">Beyond Good and Evil</a>
+</dt>
+<dt>
+<a href="#sec87">On the Geneaology of Morals</a>
+</dt>
+<dt>
+<a href="#sec88">Ecce Homo</a>
+</dt>
+</dl>
+</dd>
+<dt>
+<a href="#sec89">George Orwell</a>
+</dt>
+<dd>
+<dl>
+<dt>
+<a href="#sec90">1984</a>
+</dt>
+<dt>
+<a href="#sec91">Animal Farm</a>
+</dt>
+</dl>
+</dd>
+<dt>
+<a href="#sec92">Plato</a>
+</dt>
+<dd>
+<dl>
+<dt>
+<a href="#sec93">Symposium</a>
+</dt>
+<dt>
+<a href="#sec94">Euthyphro</a>
+</dt>
+<dt>
+<a href="#sec95">Apology</a>
+</dt>
+<dt>
+<a href="#sec96">Crito</a>
+</dt>
+<dt>
+<a href="#sec97">Phaedo</a>
+</dt>
+<dt>
+<a href="#sec98">Protagoras</a>
+</dt>
+</dl>
+</dd>
+<dt>
+<a href="#sec99">Edgar Allan Poe</a>
+</dt>
+<dd>
+<dl>
+<dt>
+<a href="#sec100">Tales of Mystery and Suspense</a>
+</dt>
+</dl>
+</dd>
+<dt>
+<a href="#sec101">Luke Rhinehardt</a>
+</dt>
+<dd>
+<dl>
+<dt>
+<a href="#sec102">The Dice Man</a>
+</dt>
+</dl>
+</dd>
+<dt>
+<a href="#sec103">Neal Stephenson</a>
+</dt>
+<dd>
+<dl>
+<dt>
+<a href="#sec104">Snow Crash</a>
+</dt>
+<dt>
+<a href="#sec105">Cryptonomicon</a>
+</dt>
+</dl>
+</dd>
+<dt>
+<a href="#sec106">Bjarne Stroustrup</a>
+</dt>
+<dd>
+<dl>
+<dt>
+<a href="#sec107">The C++ Programming Language (3rd edition)</a>
+</dt>
+</dl>
+</dd>
+<dt>
+<a href="#sec108">JRR Tolkien</a>
+</dt>
+<dd>
+<dl>
+<dt>
+<a href="#sec109">The Lord of the Rings</a>
+</dt>
+<dt>
+<a href="#sec110">The Silmarillion</a>
+</dt>
+<dt>
+<a href="#sec111">The Lost Tales</a>
+</dt>
+</dl>
+</dd>
+<dt>
+<a href="#sec112">Kurt Vonnegut</a>
+</dt>
+<dd>
+<dl>
+<dt>
+<a href="#sec113">Cat's Cradle</a>
+</dt>
+</dl>
+</dd>
+<dt>
+<a href="#sec114">H.G. Wells</a>
+</dt>
+<dd>
+<dl>
+<dt>
+<a href="#sec115">The Island of Dr Moreau</a>
+</dt>
+</dl>
+</dd>
+<dt>
+<a href="#sec116">Robert Anton Wilson</a>
+</dt>
+<dd>
+<dl>
+<dt>
+<a href="#sec117">The Illuminatus! Trilogy</a>
+</dt>
+</dl>
+</dd>
+<dt>
+<a href="#sec118">Yevgeny Zamyatin</a>
+</dt>
+<dd>
+<dl>
+<dt>
+<a href="#sec119">We</a>
+</dt>
+</dl>
+</dd>
</dl>
</div>
-<!-- Page published by Emacs Muse begins here --> <!-- Page published by Emacs Muse ends here -->
+<!-- Page published by Emacs Muse begins here --><h2><a name="sec1" id="sec1"></a>
+Douglas Adams</h2>
+
+
+
+<h3><a name="sec2" id="sec2"></a>
+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>
+
+
+
+
+
+<h3><a name="sec3" id="sec3"></a>
+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>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="sec4" id="sec4"></a>
+Aeschylus</h2>
+
+
+
+<h3><a name="sec5" id="sec5"></a>
+Oresteia</h3>
+
+<p><em>Rating:</em> <span class="rating-good"> ••••••••••</span><span class="rating-bad"> </span> (10) / <em>Fiction</em></p>
+
+
+
+
+
+<h3><a name="sec6" id="sec6"></a>
+Prometheus Bound</h3>
+
+<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>
+The Persians</h3>
+
+<p><em>Rating:</em> <span class="rating-good"> ••••••••</span><span class="rating-bad">•• </span> (8) / <em>Fiction</em></p>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="sec8" id="sec8"></a>
+John Allison</h2>
+
+<p class="first">The author of the rather amazing <a href="http://scarygoround.com">Scary Go Round</a>.
+I highly recommend procuring the printed collections; the printing
+quality is superb (full color on glossy paper), and the long story
+arcs are much easier to read.</p>
+
+<h3><a name="sec9" id="sec9"></a>
+Looks, Brains and Everything</h3>
+
+<p><em>Fiction</em></p>
+
+
+
+
+
+<h3><a name="sec10" id="sec10"></a>
+Blame the Sky</h3>
+
+<p><em>Fiction</em></p>
+
+
+
+
+
+<h3><a name="sec11" id="sec11"></a>
+Skellington</h3>
+
+<p><em>Fiction</em></p>
+
+
+
+
+
+<h3><a name="sec12" id="sec12"></a>
+The Retribution Index</h3>
+
+<p><em>Fiction</em></p>
+
+
+
+
+
+<h3><a name="sec13" id="sec13"></a>
+Great Aches</h3>
+
+<p><em>Fiction</em></p>
+
+
+
+
+
+<h3><a name="sec14" id="sec14"></a>
+Ahoy Hoy!</h3>
+
+<p><em>Fiction</em></p>
+
+
+
+
+
+<h3><a name="sec15" id="sec15"></a>
+Heavy Metal Hearts and Flowers</h3>
+
+<p><em>Fiction</em></p>
+
+
+
+
+
+<h3><a name="sec16" id="sec16"></a>
+Ghosts</h3>
+
+<p><em>Fiction</em></p>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="sec17" id="sec17"></a>
+Anonymous</h2>
+
+
+
+<h3><a name="sec18" id="sec18"></a>
+Chymical Wedding of Christian Rosenkreutz</h3>
+
+<p><em>Fiction</em></p>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="sec19" id="sec19"></a>
+Aristophanes</h2>
+
+
+
+<h3><a name="sec20" id="sec20"></a>
+The Frogs</h3>
+
+<p><em>Fiction</em></p>
+
+
+
+
+
+<h3><a name="sec21" id="sec21"></a>
+The Clouds</h3>
+
+<p><em>Fiction</em></p>
+
+
+
+
+
+<h3><a name="sec22" id="sec22"></a>
+Ecclesiazusae</h3>
+
+<p><em>Fiction</em></p>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="sec23" id="sec23"></a>
+Aristotle</h2>
+
+
+
+<h3><a name="sec24" id="sec24"></a>
+Ethics</h3>
+
+<p><em>Nonfiction</em></p>
+
+
+
+
+
+<h3><a name="sec25" id="sec25"></a>
+Categories</h3>
+
+<p><em>Nonfiction</em></p>
+
+
+
+
+
+<h3><a name="sec26" id="sec26"></a>
+Poetics</h3>
+
+<p><em>Nonfiction</em></p>
+
+
+
+
+
+<h3><a name="sec27" id="sec27"></a>
+Rhetoric</h3>
+
+<p><em>Nonfiction</em></p>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="sec28" id="sec28"></a>
+Marcus Aurelius</h2>
+
+
+
+<h3><a name="sec29" id="sec29"></a>
+Meditations</h3>
+
+<p><em>Rating:</em> <span class="rating-good"> ••••</span><span class="rating-bad">•••••• </span> (4) / <em>Nonfiction</em></p>
+
+<p>At the time, I enjoyed reading this collection of meditations on
+Stoic philosophy, and it was a fairly quick read (fifteen minutes a
+day over the course of two weeks for me). Nowadays I've read
+Epictetus, and I suggest reading his <em>Discourses</em> instead.</p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="sec30" id="sec30"></a>
+William Blake</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's works</a> online
+with high resolution plate scans and full transcriptions among other
+things.</p>
+
+<h3><a name="sec31" id="sec31"></a>
+The Four Zoas</h3>
+
+<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="sec32" id="sec32"></a>
+Jerusalem</h3>
+
+<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="sec33" id="sec33"></a>
+Albert Camus</h2>
+
+
+
+<h3><a name="sec34" id="sec34"></a>
+The Plague</h3>
+
+<p><em>Fiction</em></p>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="sec35" id="sec35"></a>
+Mike Carey</h2>
+
+
+
+<h3><a name="sec36" id="sec36"></a>
+Lucifer (series)</h3>
+
+<p><em>Rating:</em> <span class="rating-good"> ••••••</span><span class="rating-bad">•••• </span> (6) / <em>Fiction</em></p>
+
+<p>Of the <em>Sandman</em> spinoffs, <em>Lucifer</em> stands out as the best for
+the first half, but then the writer appears to take on far too great a
+task, and, with the introduction of some disagreeable character
+relations, fails to execute the story as well as it could have
+been. Still, it was worth reading to the end even though most of the
+stories after issue 35 or so were merely ok. If you like Kierkegaard I
+suggest issues 2, 3, and 62—they show the form of the incommensurable
+relation of the single individual to the absolute perfectly.</p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="sec37" id="sec37"></a>
+Confucius</h2>
+
+
+
+<h3><a name="sec38" id="sec38"></a>
+Analects</h3>
+
+<p><em>Nonfiction</em></p>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="sec39" id="sec39"></a>
+Neil Gaiman</h2>
+
+
+
+<h3><a name="sec40" id="sec40"></a>
+The Sandman (series)</h3>
+
+<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>
+
+
+
+<h3><a name="sec41" id="sec41"></a>
+Good Omens</h3>
+
+<p><em>Rating:</em> <span class="rating-good"> ••••••••</span><span class="rating-bad">•• </span> (8) / <em>Fiction</em></p>
+
+<p>A friend of a friend decided one evening that I needed to read
+so-called <em>normal people books</em>, and so she lent me <em>Good Omens</em>. It
+was an enjoyable read and unearthed vague memories of comic book
+magazines I read when I was small and the name <em>Sandman</em>; thus through
+one book I found something far greater.</p>
+
+
+
+<h3><a name="sec42" id="sec42"></a>
+American Gods</h3>
+
+<p><em>Rating:</em> <span class="rating-good"> ••••••</span><span class="rating-bad">•••• </span> (6) / <em>Fiction</em></p>
+
+<p>Entertaining, but the end was a bit much rushed.</p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="sec43" id="sec43"></a>
+John Taylor Gatto</h2>
+
+<p class="first">Former teacher and now author-activist.</p>
+
+<h3><a name="sec44" id="sec44"></a>
+Underground History of American Education</h3>
+
+<p><em>Rating:</em> <span class="rating-good"> •••••••••</span><span class="rating-bad">• </span> (9) / <em>Nonfiction</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>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="sec45" id="sec45"></a>
+Kahlil Gibran</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="sec46" id="sec46"></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="sec47" id="sec47"></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="sec48" id="sec48"></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="sec49" id="sec49"></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="sec50" id="sec50"></a>
+Homer</h2>
+
+
+
+<h3><a name="sec51" id="sec51"></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="sec52" id="sec52"></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="sec53" id="sec53"></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="sec54" id="sec54"></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 Peyote blah blah I'm
+Aldous Huxley I'm a pretentious jerk. Don't bother.</p>
+
+
+
+<h3><a name="sec55" id="sec55"></a>
+Brave New World</h3>
+
+<p><em>Rating:</em> <span class="rating-good"> •••••••</span><span class="rating-bad">••• </span> (7) / <em>Fiction</em></p>
+
+<p>A nice light read; the story is obvious and by the hundreth page
+the ending is clear, but it provided a bit of a break from heavier
+reading for me. I must say that anyone who has read <em>Brave New World</em>
+and does not despise modern society has the intellectual capacity of
+an <em>Epsilon</em>. <em>1984</em> is perhaps easily misread, but <em>Brave New World</em>
+is very clear with its message and is a bit like being smacked upside
+the head with a hammer.</p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="sec56" id="sec56"></a>
+William James</h2>
+
+
+
+<h3><a name="sec57" id="sec57"></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="sec58" id="sec58"></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?</p>
+
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><a href="William%20James%20-%20The%20PhD%20Octopus.html">Full Text</a></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="sec59" id="sec59"></a>
+Henry James</h2>
+
+<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="sec60" id="sec60"></a>
+The Altar of the Dead</h3>
+
+<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
+more beneath.</p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="sec61" id="sec61"></a>
+Gregor Kiczales</h2>
+
+
+
+<h3><a name="sec62" id="sec62"></a>
+The Art of the Metaobject Protocol</h3>
+
+<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
+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.</p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="sec63" id="sec63"></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="sec64" id="sec64"></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="sec65" id="sec65"></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="sec66" id="sec66"></a>
+Fear and Trembling</h3>
+
+<p><em>Nonfiction</em></p>
+
+<p>An interesting dialectical lyric contrasting Despair and Faith.</p>
+
+
+
+<h3><a name="sec67" id="sec67"></a>
+Repetition</h3>
+
+<p><em>Rating:</em> <span class="rating-good"> ••••••••••</span><span class="rating-bad"> </span> (10) / <em>Nonfiction</em></p>
+
+<p>He who despairs of esthetic repetition gets none; he who despairs
+of ethical repetition receieves the esthetic. Is it true then that no
+repetition exists? Is transition all one can hope for?</p>
+
+
+
+<h3><a name="sec68" id="sec68"></a>
+The Concept of Anxiety</h3>
+
+<p><em>Rating:</em> <span class="rating-good"> •••••••</span><span class="rating-bad">••• </span> (7) / <em>Nonfiction</em></p>
+
+<p>...Very clearly an early work of Kierkegaard. It is rather formal
+and difficult to get through. I'd recommend reading a lot of other
+Kierkegaard before this.</p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="sec69" id="sec69"></a>
+Alisa Kwitney</h2>
+
+
+
+<h3><a name="sec70" id="sec70"></a>
+Destiny: A Chronicle of Deaths Foretold</h3>
+
+<p><em>Rating:</em> <span class="rating-good"> ••••••••</span><span class="rating-bad">•• </span> (8) / <em>Fiction</em></p>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="sec71" id="sec71"></a>
+David Lamkins</h2>
+
+
+
+<h3><a name="sec72" id="sec72"></a>
+Successful Lisp</h3>
+
+<p><em>Rating:</em> <span class="rating-good"> ••••••••</span><span class="rating-bad">•• </span> (8) / <em>Nonfiction</em></p>
+
+<p>After learning Scheme, I read <em>Successful Lisp</em> and was able to
+pick up Common Lisp fairly easily.</p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="sec73" id="sec73"></a>
+Mencius</h2>
+
+
+
+<h3><a name="sec74" id="sec74"></a>
+Mencius</h3>
+
+<p><em>Nonfiction</em></p>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="sec75" id="sec75"></a>
+Walter Miller</h2>
+
+
+
+<h3><a name="sec76" id="sec76"></a>
+A Canticle for Leibowitz</h3>
+
+<p><em>Rating:</em> <span class="rating-good"> ••••••••••</span><span class="rating-bad"> </span> (10) / <em>Fiction</em></p>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="sec77" id="sec77"></a>
+John Milton</h2>
+
+
+
+<h3><a name="sec78" id="sec78"></a>
+Paradise Lost</h3>
+
+<p><em>Rating:</em> <span class="rating-good"> ••••••••••</span><span class="rating-bad"> </span> (10) / <em>Fiction</em></p>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="sec79" id="sec79"></a>
+Alan Moore</h2>
+
+
+
+<h3><a name="sec80" id="sec80"></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="sec81" id="sec81"></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="sec82" id="sec82"></a>
+Thomas More</h2>
+
+
+
+<h3><a name="sec83" id="sec83"></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="sec84" id="sec84"></a>
+Friedrich Nietzsche</h2>
+
+<p class="first">A bit acerbic and esoteric, Nietzsche is for me a good <em>secular</em>
+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="sec85" id="sec85"></a>
+Thus Spoke Zarathustra</h3>
+
+<p><em>Rating:</em> <span class="rating-good"> ••••••••</span><span class="rating-bad">•• </span> (8) / <em>Fiction</em></p>
+
+<p>A masterpiece of indirect communication depsite the occasional
+flaw and overly dramatic passage. Certainly a book worth reading many
+times over the course of one's life.</p>
+
+
+
+<h3><a name="sec86" id="sec86"></a>
+Beyond Good and Evil</h3>
+
+<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
+Zarathustra</em> 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 <em>On the Genealogy of Morals</em>.</p>
+
+
+
+<h3><a name="sec87" id="sec87"></a>
+On the Geneaology of Morals</h3>
+
+<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/ethical valuations, and the
+blindness of modern philosphers whose very thinking is tainted by
+these valuations unknowingly.</p>
+
+
+
+<h3><a name="sec88" id="sec88"></a>
+Ecce Homo</h3>
+
+<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'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.</p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="sec89" id="sec89"></a>
+George Orwell</h2>
+
+
+
+<h3><a name="sec90" id="sec90"></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="sec91" id="sec91"></a>
+Animal Farm</h3>
+
+<p><em>Fiction</em></p>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="sec92" id="sec92"></a>
+Plato</h2>
+
+
+
+<h3><a name="sec93" id="sec93"></a>
+Symposium</h3>
+
+<p><em>Fiction</em></p>
+
+
+
+
+
+<h3><a name="sec94" id="sec94"></a>
+Euthyphro</h3>
+
+<p><em>Fiction</em></p>
+
+
+
+
+
+<h3><a name="sec95" id="sec95"></a>
+Apology</h3>
+
+<p><em>Nonfiction</em></p>
+
+
+
+
+
+<h3><a name="sec96" id="sec96"></a>
+Crito</h3>
+
+<p><em>Fiction</em></p>
+
+
+
+
+
+<h3><a name="sec97" id="sec97"></a>
+Phaedo</h3>
+
+<p><em>Rating:</em> <span class="rating-good"> ••••••••••</span><span class="rating-bad"> </span> (10) / <em>Nonfiction</em></p>
+
+
+
+
+
+<h3><a name="sec98" id="sec98"></a>
+Protagoras</h3>
+
+<p><em>Fiction</em></p>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="sec99" id="sec99"></a>
+Edgar Allan Poe</h2>
+
+<p class="first">ULTRAGOTHIK</p>
+
+<h3><a name="sec100" id="sec100"></a>
+Tales of Mystery and Suspense</h3>
+
+<p><em>Rating:</em> <span class="rating-good"> ••••••</span><span class="rating-bad">•••• </span> (6) / <em>Fiction</em></p>
+
+<p>This is when I learned that I still don't really like late 1800s
+American literature all that much. Some of the tales were worth
+reading, but most of it was not in a style I like all that much.</p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="sec101" id="sec101"></a>
+Luke Rhinehardt</h2>
+
+
+
+<h3><a name="sec102" id="sec102"></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="sec103" id="sec103"></a>
+Neal Stephenson</h2>
+
+
+
+<h3><a name="sec104" id="sec104"></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="sec105" id="sec105"></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="sec106" id="sec106"></a>
+Bjarne Stroustrup</h2>
+
+
+
+<h3><a name="sec107" id="sec107"></a>
+The C++ Programming Language (3rd edition)</h3>
+
+<p><em>Nonfiction</em></p>
+
+<p>Once upon a time I was fifteen and I read this book. It was more
+or less what taught me how to write programs just large enough to do
+useful things, and so shall forever be remembered by me. A year and a
+half later I stumbled upon a little language called Scheme and fell
+down the rabbit hole.</p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="sec108" id="sec108"></a>
+JRR Tolkien</h2>
+
+
+
+<h3><a name="sec109" id="sec109"></a>
+The Lord of the Rings</h3>
+
+<p><em>Rating:</em> <span class="rating-good"> •••••••••</span><span class="rating-bad">• </span> (9) / <em>Fiction</em></p>
+
+
+
+
+
+<h3><a name="sec110" id="sec110"></a>
+The Silmarillion</h3>
+
+<p><em>Rating:</em> <span class="rating-good"> ••••••••••</span><span class="rating-bad"> </span> (10) / <em>Fiction</em></p>
+
+
+
+
+
+<h3><a name="sec111" id="sec111"></a>
+The Lost Tales</h3>
+
+<p><em>Rating:</em> <span class="rating-good"> •••••••</span><span class="rating-bad">••• </span> (7) / <em>Fiction</em></p>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="sec112" id="sec112"></a>
+Kurt Vonnegut</h2>
+
+
+
+<h3><a name="sec113" id="sec113"></a>
+Cat's Cradle</h3>
+
+<p><em>Rating:</em> <span class="rating-good"> •••••••••</span><span class="rating-bad">• </span> (9) / <em>Fiction</em></p>
+
+<p>There are few books that I have started to read before sleeping
+and found myself watching the sun rise after finishing. <em>Cat's Cradle</em>
+is definitely required nerd reading.</p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="sec114" id="sec114"></a>
+H.G. Wells</h2>
+
+
+
+<h3><a name="sec115" id="sec115"></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>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="sec116" id="sec116"></a>
+Robert Anton Wilson</h2>
+
+<p class="first">Or rather, Robert Anton Wilson and Robert Shea (but my book script
+updating thing doesn't do multiple authors</p>
+
+<h3><a name="sec117" id="sec117"></a>
+The Illuminatus! Trilogy</h3>
+
+<p><em>Rating:</em> <span class="rating-good"> ••••••••••</span><span class="rating-bad"> </span> (10) / <em>Nonfiction</em></p>
+
+<p>e-cash MP5K-SD Adriatic Bellcore Lon Horiuchi 9705 Samford Road
+jihad New World Order AVN FTS2000 ANZUS subversive SAPO PET Armani</p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="sec118" id="sec118"></a>
+Yevgeny Zamyatin</h2>
+
+
+
+<h3><a name="sec119" id="sec119"></a>
+We</h3>
+
+<p><em>Fiction</em></p>
+
+
+
+ <!-- Page published by Emacs Muse ends here -->
<p class="cke-buttons">
<!-- validating badges, any browser, etc -->
</a>
</p>
-<p class="cke-footer">Ethan: i'm working on myself
-Ethan: the self is the most important thing
-Ethan: i learned this from a packet of tea
+<p class="cke-footer"> To Wise Man's Son and Wednesday's Child all is white that is not black
+ They dance in symbiotic deadlock; one step forward two steps back
+ Playing karmic snakes and ladders (All your sins will find you out)
+ When all your gains are lost in vain on cosmic wings and roundabouts
</p>
<p class="cke-timestamp">Last Modified:
- January 21, 2013</p>
+ October 26, 2018</p>
</body>
</html>
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