Will's blog - booklist

Shroud for a Nightingale by P.D. James
ISBN: 0743219600 Buy at Amazon

Started reading: 2011/05 (2011/05 - Done)
Comments: Superb!

Unnatural Causes by P.D. James
ISBN: 0743219597 Buy at Amazon

Started reading: 2011/04 (2011/04 - Done)
Comments: Superb!

A Mind to Murder by P.D. James
ISBN: 0743219589 Buy at Amazon

Started reading: 2011/03 (2011/03 - Done)
Comments: Superb!

Cover Her Face by P.D. James
ISBN: 0743219570 Buy at Amazon

Started reading: 2011/02 (2011/02 - Done)
Comments: Superb!

The Murder Room by P.D. James
ISBN: 1400076099 Buy at Amazon

Started reading: 2011/01 (2011/01 - Done)
Comments: Riveting. So interesting, that I decided to start at the beginning of the Adam Dalgliesh series and read through them all.

World War Z by Max Brooks
ISBN: 0307346617 Buy at Amazon

Started reading: 2010/04 (2010/05 - Done)
Comments: This book is fascinating. I read it just before I went to sleep at night (probably a terrible idea), and it was really hard to put down.

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Seth Grahame-Smith (and Jane Austen)
ISBN: 1594744513 Buy at Amazon

Started reading: 2010/01 (2010/04 - Done)
Comments: I enjoyed reading the book. I'm a fan of Pride and Prejudice. I think remixing books out of copyright is a great idea, but in this particular case, I think the novelty was slightly more interesting than the actual outcome. Still, it's thoroughly enjoyable.

Kiln People by David Brin
ISBN: 0765342618 Buy at Amazon

Started reading: 2008/05 (2008/05 - Done)
Comments: Wow! I cruised through this book in a couple of days. I sure could use a couple of dittos to work on all the things I'd like to work on.

What We Believe But Cannot Prove by John Brockman
ISBN: 0060841818 Buy at Amazon

Started reading: 2008/01 (2008/02 - Done)
Comments: It's a really interesting collection of essays from scientists about things they believe in but cannot prove. This exercise provides interesting insights into science as it relates to belief and proof as well as how ideas move from someone's imagination into a theory and then worked through the system of observation and evidence.

Eastern Standard Tribe by Cory Doctorow
ISBN: 0765310457 Buy at Amazon

Started reading: 2008/01 (2008/01 - Done)
Comments: It's pretty cool so far. I finished Craphound, too, which I got from Project Gutenburg.

Down and out in the Magic Kingdom by Cory Doctorow
ISBN: 076530953X Buy at Amazon

Started reading: 2008/01 (2008/01 - Done)
Comments: It's a great piece of Sci-Fi. I wish I had read it years ago.

Quicksilver by Neal Stephenson
ISBN: 0060593083 Buy at Amazon

Started reading: 2006/07 (2007/12 - Done)
Comments: I've had this sitting on my shelf for a couple of months (I snitched it from my parents house) and finally it made it to the top of my reading pile. Similar in some architectural ways to the Cryptonomicon, but it's sort of dry. I put it down for a long long spell. The middle part was hard to get through. Parts of the book were really interesting but overall I'm not sure I liked it much.

Programming Python, 3rd Edition by Mark Lutz, et al
ISBN: 0596009259 Buy at Amazon

Started reading: 2007/08 (2007/10 - Done)
Comments: I have the 2nd edition and had a copy of the 3rd edition available. I'm kind of skimming through the book because a lot of the material is already familiar to me. The writing is good, the examples are interesting, and the book covers a very wide breadth of material in the Python universe and in that way is very useful especially to people who are learning Python.

The Siege of Eternity by Frederik Pohl
ISBN: 0812577663 Buy at Amazon

Started reading: 2007/10 (2007/10 - Done)
Comments: It continues the journeys of the characters in the first book as well as a set of copies made by the Beloved Leaders. It's very interesting especially coupled with the first book. This book si very different from the first book in the sense that they both explore different angles of the same set of issues. The first talks about imprisonment by an alien race from the point of view of the prisoners. The second talks about identity and self as well as what might happen to Earth when an alien presence makes itself known. This book ends on a cliffhander--something I'm not particularly excited about. Even so, I look forward to the third in the series.

The Other End of Time by Frederik Pohl
ISBN: 0812535197 Buy at Amazon

Started reading: 2007/09 (2007/09 - Done)
Comments: I liked the book and it was a quick read. I found the sequel at the library and I plan on reading that next.

The World in a Phrase: A History of Aphorisms by James Geary
ISBN: 1582344302 Buy at Amazon

Started reading: 2007/09 (2007/09 - Done)
Comments: It's an interesting book, though I wish it had more aphorisms in it.

In the Skin of a Lion by Michael Ondaatjhe
ISBN: 0679772669 Buy at Amazon

Started reading: 2007/08 (2007/08 - Done)
Comments: Wow--what a fantastic book. It's lyrical and fresh and passionate and there are so many interesting people doing interesting things--it's wonderful.

Start of Darkness (The Order of the Stick, -1) by Rich Burlew
ISBN: 0976658046 Buy at Amazon

Started reading: 2007/08 (2007/08 - Done)
Comments: It's awesome. I think I read it in 2 hours--couldn't put it down.

The Ruby in the Smoke by Philip Pullman
ISBN: 0439977789 Buy at Amazon

Started reading: 2007/08 (2007/08 - Done)
Comments: I didn't actually read this but instead listened to the book on tape on the way from Anacortes, WA to Portland, OR. It's pretty interesting and well-written. Thoroughly enjoyable for a long car-ride.

The Gods Themselves by Isaac Asimov
ISBN: 0553288105 Buy at Amazon

Started reading: 2007/06 (2007/06 - Done)
Comments: I really enjoy reading Asimov's work. There are some parts of this book that I think are fascinating. It's worth reading if only for the middle section.

Survivor by Chuck Palahniuk
ISBN: 009928264X Buy at Amazon

Started reading: 2007/05 (2007/06 - Done)
Comments: Wow--totally trippy. I read it (on my honeymoon) in a few days and it was riveting.

Programming Languages: Application and Interpretation by Shriram Krishnamurthi
ISBN: none

Started reading: 2006/03 (2007/05 - Put it down)
Comments: This is really interesting, too. You can find it here: http://www.cs.brown.edu/~sk/Publications/Books/ProgLangs/ . I read about 20% of it and then put it down. I'll pick it up again when I have time and a hankering for the material again.

Invisible Monsters by Chuck Palahniuk
ISBN: 0393319296 Buy at Amazon

Started reading: 2007/05 (2007/05 - Done)
Comments: It's a bit macabre, but really wild. I figured some things out towards the middle of the book, but even so spent most of the book feeling surprised and morbidly fascinated.

Order of the Stick Volume 1: Dungeon Crawlin' Fools by Richard Burlew
ISBN: 0976658003 Buy at Amazon

Started reading: 2007/05 (2007/05 - Done)
Comments: Hysterical. Most of this story is on-line, but it's totally worth getting the book if you enjoy OOTS. The book has some interesting commentary and a few additional sections that aren't online.

Modern Comiler Implementation in ML by Andrew W. Appel
ISBN: 0521582741 Buy at Amazon

Started reading: 2007/01 (2007/05 - Done)
Comments: The book seems to be a good class text book, though I wish it explained things better. The project the book walks through is interesting so far and I like the fact the code in the book is written in ML. Technically, I'm not really "done". The class I took covered 2/3 of the book (things past chapter 12 were covered very lightly) and I'm done with that. There are some sections that are really confusing and my partner and I think it's due to Appel trying to keep much of the book general enough so that he reduces the work involved in maintaining three versions of the book (C, Java and ML).

ML for the Working Programmer by Lawrence C. Paulson
ISBN: 052156543X Buy at Amazon

Started reading: 2007/01 (2007/05 - Done)
Comments: This is a great introduction to ML. I've also read Elements of ML Programming (1st edition), but I think this book is more comprehensive. This book is very outdated in respects to SML libraries. There are a bunch of other SML texts online that are better. Definitely worth finding a copy of Richard Puella's Notes on Programming Standard ML of New Jersey--it's a good read for understanding the libraries.

Order of the Stick Volume 0: On the Origin of PCs by Richard Burlew
ISBN: 0976658011 Buy at Amazon

Started reading: 2007/03 (2007/03 - Done)
Comments: It's hysterical. I can't tell you how many D & D campaigns I've played that have parallels with The Order of the Stick. If you do/did any D & D, then it's worth reading. This is the prelude to the comics on his web-site (which you can also get in book form) at http://www.giantitp.com/cgi-bin/GiantITP/ootscript .

The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin by Benjamin Franklin
ISBN: 0743255062 Buy at Amazon

Started reading: 2007/02 (2007/03 - Done)
Comments: It's really interesting so far, though I'm not going to wax hyperbole-ical and say this is written by the greatest American or this is the best book ever. Even so, I think it's worth reading so far.

Aspect-oriented Analysis and Design: The Theme Approach by Siobhan Clarke and Elisa Baniassad
ISBN: 0321246748 Buy at Amazon

Started reading: 2007/01 (2007/03 - Done)
Comments: I've never read a book on aspect-oriented programming, so I didn't have many expectations. I thought the book was pretty interesting in how it works through how to think about aspect-oriented design and the challenges involved. The text itself is well-written and the figures are very helpful. It's a good technical book.

Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim by David Sedaris
ISBN: 0316010790 Buy at Amazon

Started reading: 2007/01 (2007/01 - Done)
Comments: It was more poignant than Me Talk Pretty Some Day, but I think I ended up liking it less. However, I read it in the hospital while hooked up to a bunch of machines, so maybe I just wasn't in the mood.

If on a Winter's Night a Traveler by Italo Calvino
ISBN: 0156439611 Buy at Amazon

Started reading: 2007/07 (2007-08 - Done)
Comments: This is really funky. S's mom gave me a copy and I think it's somewhat post-modern in the way that the book is about a guy who's reading books. The plot is more complex and it's been difficult for me to describe to other people. It's definitely an interesting book. It's a little reminiscent of Faucalt's Pendulum which had me in a perpetual state of mild confusion. The second half of the book is a lot easier to follow than the first half; possibly because I read the first half to get to the second half, but it's hard to tell for sure.

The Search: How Google and Its Rivals Rewrote the Rules of Business and Transformed Our Culture by John Battelle
ISBN: 1591841410 Buy at Amazon

Started reading: 2007/03 (2007-04 - Done)
Comments: It's a little dry so far but I figure it'll be interesting overall. I've taken to skimming through the dry parts that are mostly exposition than insight and information. I'm not saying the writing is bad or anything like that--it's just that I'd rather it was more succinct.

Pelican Brief by John Grisham
ISBN: 0440214041 Buy at Amazon

Started reading: 2006/12 (2006/12 - Done)
Comments: I zipped through this book in a couple of days, much like Time to Kill. It's good entertainment, fast reading, and it lacked the disturbing parts that Time to Kill had, so overall it was more enjoyable. Someone told me this was turned into a movie--I had no idea.

Time to Kill by John Grisham
ISBN: 0440211727 Buy at Amazon

Started reading: 2006/12 (2006/12 - Done)
Comments: I'd never read a Grisham novel and the guy at Good Will suggested I read this one and The Pelican Brief. I figured, "why not?" I found the book to be decent entertainment, fast reading, and certain parts somewhat disturbing. Still, it's a nice change from reading about the rigors of continuous functions and domain theory.

Formal Semantics of Programming Languages by Glynn Winskel
ISBN: 0262731037 Buy at Amazon

Started reading: 2006/09 (2006/12 - Done)
Comments: It's for my Semantics in Programming Languages class. It's an intensive book and covers a lot of material. My only issue is that I wish it had a pronounciation key for the symbols it used or alternatively was more specific about what the symbols meant. I think when I read I have an internal narrator and it's difficult when I can't pronounce what I'm reading.

War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells
ISBN: 0812505158 Buy at Amazon

Started reading: 2006/06 (2006/06 - Done)
Comments: I've always wanted to read it, but never got around to it. What a great piece of Sci-Fi! (Haven't seen any of the movies--so I can't compare to them.)

The Murder Room by P.D. James
ISBN: 1400076099 Buy at Amazon

Started reading: 2006/05 (2006/05 - Done)
Comments: I had read a couple of Agatha Christie books a long time ago, but otherwise never pursued murder mysteries. This one is great with some interesting twists. The writing itself is fantastic!

Gun, with Occasional Music by Jonathan Lethem
ISBN: 0312858787 Buy at Amazon

Started reading: 2006/04 (2006/04 - Done)
Comments: WOW! What a fantastic novel! I was totally riveted--so much so that I read the whole thing in a 15 hour span of time. It's got a fascinating storyline set in a really interesting world. Great stuff!

Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity by David Allen
ISBN: 0142000280 Buy at Amazon

Started reading: 2006/03 (2006/04 - Done)
Comments: This book has been both interesting and insightful. It's broken down into two parts the first part explaining the general scheme of things and the second part walking through starting out with the system. The second half is less "self-help salespitch" than the first half. I find I'm skimming bits I don't really care about--but I'm ok with that and it works nicely. The last few chapters talk about how the process helps and they're very interesting. He also mentions how you should re-read the book in 6 months with the wisdom you will have gained from using it to some degree.

Hackers And Painters: Big Ideas From the Computer Age by Paul Graham
ISBN: 0596006624 Buy at Amazon

Started reading: 2006/03 (2006/03 - Done)
Comments: Wow--I wished I had read this years ago, though that would have been impossible since it was written in May 2004. The topics skip around a lot (which is fine) and some chapters are amazingly interesting. There's been one or two chapters that I wasn't wildly interested in. I wouldn't take them out of the book, though.

Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sidaris
ISBN: 0316776963 Buy at Amazon

Started reading: 2006/03 (2006/03 - Done)
Comments: Whoopingly funny. Also, some of the chapters are really philosophically interesting.

The Mythical Man-Month by Frederick P. Brooks
ISBN: 0201835959 Buy at Amazon

Started reading: 2006/01 (2006/01 - Done)
Comments: It's a classic. Some of the chapters are a little amusing in their antiquity. For example, there's one chapter where he spends some time talking about the virtues of using microfiche. Tee hee!

Joel on Software: And on Diverse and Occasionally... by Joel Spolsky
ISBN: 1590593898 Buy at Amazon

Started reading: 2006/01 (2006/01 - Done)
Comments: I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book so much so that I couldn't put it down and finished it in 3 days. He's got a wonderful writing style, a lot of interesting observations, and many great anecdotes. It covers a lot of ground in software engineering, project management, and programming and it's just plain super.

The Hippopotamus by Stephen Fry
ISBN: 1569470545 Buy at Amazon

Started reading: 2005/11 (2005/12 - Done)
Comments: The language is really colorful and wonderful to wade through. The characters are super and the storyline is really funky.

The Telling by Ursula LeGuin
ISBN: 0151005672 Buy at Amazon

Started reading: 2005/07 (2005/07 - Done)
Comments: It was ok. There were parts I liked and parts I didn't really care about much.

The Dispossessed by Ursula LeGuin
ISBN: 006051275X Buy at Amazon

Started reading: 2005/05 (2005/05 - Done)
Comments: I think I've liked all of her books so far. This one is particularly interesting as it delves into social issues and social structure possibilities.

Dive Into Python by Mark Pilgrin
ISBN: 1590593561 Buy at Amazon

Started reading: 2004/12 (2005/01 - Done)
Comments: This book is FANTASTIC! It's technical, wry, short on tedious drivel, long on technical explanation, and really really well-paced for me. I highly recommend it to anyone picking up Python. It's a great read and thoroughly enlightening.

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon
ISBN: 0385512104 Buy at Amazon

Started reading: 2004/07 (2004/07 - Done)
Comments: What a clever and really interesting book. It follows the story of Christopher Boone and the curious death of his neighbor's dog. It's quick reading, but very interesting and entertaining.

It Pays to Talk by Carrie Schwab-Pomerantz
ISBN: 0609610287 Buy at Amazon

Started reading: 2004/06 (2004/06 - Done)
Comments: It's both a basic primer on investing (which you can find in most books on investing) but also talks about how to talk about money issues with family members. That's pretty difficult to do with most families given the things we associate with money and income. It's probably a good book to read, though I haven't read any others in this genre, so I don't know how it stacks up to other books on investing and talking about money.

Earth Abides by George R. Stweart
ISBN: 0449213013 Buy at Amazon

Started reading: 2004/05 (2004/05 - Done)
Comments: Really interesting book about a plague that rips through the human race and what it's like to go through the world afterwards. Written in 1949. The book is fascinating and really well done. I think there's some symmetry between this and 28 Hours. Having said that, the two things are really different.

no death, no fear by Thich Nhat Hanh
ISBN: 1573223336 Buy at Amazon

Started reading: 2003/12 (2004/01 - Done)
Comments: Wonderful. And also really heavy... But it's definitely worth reading if only to have more under your belt when someone close to you is dying and needs support and comfort.

Conversing with Cage by Richard Kastelanetz
ISBN: 0415937922 Buy at Amazon

Started reading: 2002/12 (2003/12 - Put it down)
Comments: Fascinating, though at the half-way mark it's getting dry. I ended up loaning it to my girlfriend's (editor's note: now wife) dad who actually owns John Cage records and has one framed on his wall (which is pretty wild).

How the News Makes Us Dumb: The Death of Wisdom in an Informational Society by C. John Sommerville
ISBN: 0830822038 Buy at Amazon

Started reading: 2003/12 (2003/12 - Done)
Comments: It's a solid, but not comprehensive, essay on modern day society and the news industry. Definitely worth reading. Having said that, I think the author could have said what he wanted to say in 2 chapters if he had dropped all the sensationalist drivel and fanatical hand-waving.

Seven Pillars of Wisdom by T.E. Lawrence
ISBN: 0385418957 Buy at Amazon

Started reading: 2003/09 (2003/12 - Done)
Comments: Intensely interesting. This is a really fanstastic book that is absolutely worth reading for anyone interested in back-story on the Middle East as it is today. Incidentally, this is the basis for Lawrence of Arabia which my brother says is the longest movie with no female characters in it.

Shadow Puppets by Orson Scott Card
ISBN: 0765340054 Buy at Amazon

Started reading: 2003/09 (2003/09 - Done)
Comments: It's decent and covers some interesting issues.

Solaris by Stanisaw Lem
ISBN: 0156027607 Buy at Amazon

Started reading: 2003/09 (2003/09 - Done)
Comments: Really interesting--makes me want to go and re-read PKD for a bit. I thought it was more interesting than the movie, but the movie has George Clooney in it.

Who Says Elephants Can't Dance? by Louis V. Gerstner Jr.
ISBN: 0060523794 Buy at Amazon

Started reading: 2003/07 (2003/07 - Done)
Comments: Excellent.

Into Thin Air by Jack Krakauer
ISBN: 0385494785 Buy at Amazon

Started reading: 2003/06 (2003/06 - Done)
Comments: Terrible book. It's worth reading if you're in the airport and it's a choice between this book and the ingredients of a McDonalds Hot Apple Pie. But only barely.

Awareness: A De Mello Spirituality Conference in His Own Words by Anthony De Mello
ISBN: 0385249373 Buy at Amazon

Started reading: 2003/04 (2003/05 - Done)
Comments: This is a wonderful book that helped me mold myself into the person I am today (though I still have far to go). I re-read it every couple of years though I expect that to stop at some point.

Waiting For Foucault, Still by Marshall Sahlins
ISBN: 097175750X Buy at Amazon

Started reading: 2003/04 (2003/04 - Done)
Comments: Pretty interesting stuff.

Tipper Isn't Going Out by Calvin Trillin
ISBN: 0375758518 Buy at Amazon

Started reading: 2003/04 (2003/04 - Done)
Comments: Whimsical, fun and fascinating.

Fat Land by Greg Critser
ISBN: 0618164723 Buy at Amazon

Started reading: 2003/03 (2003/03 - Done)
Comments: Mind-blowingly disturbing.

The Question of God by Dr. Armand M. Nicholi, Jr
ISBN: 074324785X Buy at Amazon

Started reading: 2003/02 (2003/03 - Done)
Comments: Heavy stuff--but worth reading. Still, not the sort of thing I'm probably going to read again, so I passed it on to someone else as a "permanent loan".

GoTo by Steve Lohr
ISBN: 0465042260 Buy at Amazon

Started reading: 2002/12 (2002/12 - Done)
Comments: It was a good read.