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<h1>A Not So Fancy Listing of Books</h1>
<dt>
<a href="#sec14">The Varieties of Religious Experience</a>
</dt>
+<dt>
+<a href="#sec15">The PhD Octopus</a>
+</dt>
+</dl>
+</dd>
+<dt>
+<a href="#sec16">Henry James</a>
+</dt>
+<dd>
+<dl>
+<dt>
+<a href="#sec17">The Altar of the Dead</a>
+</dt>
</dl>
</dd>
<dt>
-<a href="#sec15">Gregor Kiczales</a>
+<a href="#sec18">Gregor Kiczales</a>
</dt>
<dd>
<dl>
<dt>
-<a href="#sec16">The Art of the Metaobject Protocol</a>
+<a href="#sec19">The Art of the Metaobject Protocol</a>
</dt>
</dl>
</dd>
<dt>
-<a href="#sec17">Søren Kierkegaard</a>
+<a href="#sec20">Søren Kierkegaard</a>
</dt>
<dd>
<dl>
<dt>
-<a href="#sec18">Sickness Unto Death</a>
+<a href="#sec21">Sickness Unto Death</a>
</dt>
<dt>
-<a href="#sec19">Either/Or</a>
+<a href="#sec22">Either/Or</a>
</dt>
</dl>
</dd>
<dt>
-<a href="#sec20">Thomas More</a>
+<a href="#sec23">Thomas More</a>
</dt>
<dd>
<dl>
<dt>
-<a href="#sec21">Utopia</a>
+<a href="#sec24">Utopia</a>
</dt>
</dl>
</dd>
<dt>
-<a href="#sec22">Luke Rhinehardt</a>
+<a href="#sec25">Friedrich Nietzsche</a>
</dt>
<dd>
<dl>
<dt>
-<a href="#sec23">The Dice Man</a>
+<a href="#sec26">Beyond Good and Evil</a>
+</dt>
+<dt>
+<a href="#sec27">On the Geneaology of Morals</a>
+</dt>
+<dt>
+<a href="#sec28">Ecce Homo</a>
</dt>
</dl>
</dd>
<dt>
-<a href="#sec24">Neal Stephenson</a>
+<a href="#sec29">Luke Rhinehardt</a>
</dt>
<dd>
<dl>
<dt>
-<a href="#sec25">Snow Crash</a>
+<a href="#sec30">The Dice Man</a>
+</dt>
+</dl>
+</dd>
+<dt>
+<a href="#sec31">Neal Stephenson</a>
</dt>
+<dd>
+<dl>
<dt>
-<a href="#sec26">Cryptonomicon</a>
+<a href="#sec32">Snow Crash</a>
+</dt>
+<dt>
+<a href="#sec33">Cryptonomicon</a>
</dt>
</dl>
</dd>
<h3><a name="sec2" id="sec2"></a>
Meditations</h3>
-<p><em>Rating:</em> <span class="rating-good">••••••</span><span class="rating-bad">••••</span> (6) / <em>Nonfiction</em></p>
+<p><em>Rating:</em> <span class="rating-good"> ••••••</span><span class="rating-bad">•••• </span> (6) / <em>Nonfiction</em></p>
<p>I enjoyed reading this collection of meditations on Stoic
philosophy. It is a fairly quick read; I read each of the twelve books
+
<h2><a name="sec3" id="sec3"></a>
William Blake</h2>
<h3><a name="sec4" id="sec4"></a>
The Four Zoas</h3>
-<p><em>Rating:</em> <span class="rating-good">••••••••••</span> (10) / <em>Fiction</em></p>
+<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
Beulah.</p>
+
<h3><a name="sec5" id="sec5"></a>
Jerusalem</h3>
-<p><em>Rating:</em> <span class="rating-good">••••••••••</span> (10) / <em>Fiction</em></p>
+<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="sec6" id="sec6"></a>
John Taylor Gatto</h2>
<h3><a name="sec7" id="sec7"></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><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.</p>
+system. Available
+<a href="http://www.johntaylorgatto.com/underground/">online for free</a>.</p>
+
<h3><a name="sec9" id="sec9"></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><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="sec10" id="sec10"></a>
The Prophet</h3>
-<p><em>Rating:</em> <span class="rating-good">•••••••••</span><span class="rating-bad">•</span> (9) / <em>Fiction</em></p>
+<p><em>Rating:</em> <span class="rating-good"> •••••••••</span><span class="rating-bad">• </span> (9) / <em>Fiction</em></p>
+
<h3><a name="sec11" id="sec11"></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><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="sec12" id="sec12"></a>
The Madman</h3>
-<p><em>Rating:</em> <span class="rating-good">••••••••</span><span class="rating-bad">••</span> (8) / <em>Fiction</em></p>
+<p><em>Rating:</em> <span class="rating-good"> ••••••••</span><span class="rating-bad">•• </span> (8) / <em>Fiction</em></p>
+
<h3><a name="sec14" id="sec14"></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><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>
-<h2><a name="sec15" id="sec15"></a>
+<h3><a name="sec15" id="sec15"></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="sec16" id="sec16"></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="sec17" id="sec17"></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="sec18" id="sec18"></a>
Gregor Kiczales</h2>
-<h3><a name="sec16" id="sec16"></a>
+<h3><a name="sec19" id="sec19"></a>
The Art of the Metaobject Protocol</h3>
-<p><em>Rating:</em> <span class="rating-good">••••••••••</span> (10) / <em>Nonfiction</em></p>
+<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
-<h2><a name="sec17" id="sec17"></a>
+
+<h2><a name="sec20" id="sec20"></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="sec18" id="sec18"></a>
+<h3><a name="sec21" id="sec21"></a>
Sickness Unto Death</h3>
-<p><em>Rating:</em> <span class="rating-good">••••••••••</span> (10) / <em>Nonfiction</em></p>
+<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
forces reflection.</p>
-<h3><a name="sec19" id="sec19"></a>
+
+<h3><a name="sec22" id="sec22"></a>
Either/Or</h3>
-<p><em>Rating:</em> <span class="rating-good">••••••••••</span> (10) / <em>Nonfiction</em></p>
+<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
-<h2><a name="sec20" id="sec20"></a>
+
+<h2><a name="sec23" id="sec23"></a>
Thomas More</h2>
-<h3><a name="sec21" id="sec21"></a>
+<h3><a name="sec24" id="sec24"></a>
Utopia</h3>
-<p><em>Rating:</em> <span class="rating-good">•••••••</span><span class="rating-bad">•••</span> (7) / <em>Fiction</em></p>
+<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
-<h2><a name="sec22" id="sec22"></a>
+
+<h2><a name="sec25" id="sec25"></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="sec26" id="sec26"></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="sec27" id="sec27"></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/ethic valuations, and the
+blindness of modern philosphers whose very thinking is tainted by
+these valuations unknowingly.</p>
+
+
+
+<h3><a name="sec28" id="sec28"></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="sec29" id="sec29"></a>
Luke Rhinehardt</h2>
-<h3><a name="sec23" id="sec23"></a>
+<h3><a name="sec30" id="sec30"></a>
The Dice Man</h3>
-<p><em>Rating:</em> <span class="rating-good">•••••••</span><span class="rating-bad">•••</span> (7) / <em>Fiction</em></p>
+<p><em>Rating:</em> <span class="rating-good"> •••••••</span><span class="rating-bad">••• </span> (7) / <em>Fiction</em></p>
<blockquote>
<p class="quoted">
-<h2><a name="sec24" id="sec24"></a>
+
+<h2><a name="sec31" id="sec31"></a>
Neal Stephenson</h2>
-<h3><a name="sec25" id="sec25"></a>
+<h3><a name="sec32" id="sec32"></a>
Snow Crash</h3>
-<p><em>Rating:</em> <span class="rating-good">•••••••••</span><span class="rating-bad">•</span> (9) / <em>Fiction</em></p>
+<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
as more than mere cyberpunk fiction.</p>
-<h3><a name="sec26" id="sec26"></a>
+
+<h3><a name="sec33" id="sec33"></a>
Cryptonomicon</h3>
-<p><em>Rating:</em> <span class="rating-good">••••••••</span><span class="rating-bad">••</span> (8) / <em>Fiction</em></p>
+<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
</a>
</p>
-<p class="cke-footer">The hubbub of the waking life might close a door
-which in the dreamy Subliminal might remain ajar...
+<p class="cke-footer">unknownlamer: Hail Satan
+unknownlamer: And do drugs
+urbanbohemiac: are you wearing underwear
</p>
<p class="cke-timestamp">Last Modified:
- August 2, 2008</p>
+ September 28, 2008</p>
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