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books - recommendations by wiredd

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The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress, by Robert A. Heinlein

Updated Jun 25, 2008

1st to recommend

Description

Robert Heinlein is probably best known for "Stranger in a Strange Land" (where he coined the term "grok"), or "Starship Troopers" which was adapted to a movie a few years back, but I think this is his best novel. It mixes sci-fi and political themes to great effect, and is a fairly short, fast paced read.

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Kirtas APT 1212 Book Scanning Robot

Updated May 24, 2008

1st to recommend

Description

These robots turn the pages of books and scan each page, which is a lot more fun than scanning a book by hand or removing its binding. These machines originally cost around $120K, but now that Microsoft has abandoned its book digitizing business, you may soon be able to find some "cheap" used models on ebay.

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Super Crunchers: Why Thinking-by-Numbers Is the New Way to Be Smart

Updated Feb 4, 2008

2 people recommended this item

Description

An interesting new book on new ways that statistics are being used in some businesses. Especially applicable to online businesses that have lots of available data to mine.

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H.G. Wells: The Outline of History

Updated Jan 25, 2008

1st to recommend

Description

H.G. Wells is best known for his science fiction (e.g The Time Machine, War of the Worlds), but he also wrote a comprehensive history of the world around the time of WWI. I read this a few years ago and was really impressed with how he explains history in terms of themes (e.g nomads/settled peoples, priests/secular kings).

Even if you don't want to take the time to read the whole thing, this is a great reference for getting overviews of different periods of history. Although this book was hugely popular for many years, I believe it's out of print now, so you'll want to try an Amazon seller or maybe a local used bookstore. I got my copy at Powell's in Portland, which had a good selection when I was there.

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Programming Collective Intelligence: Building Smart Web 2.0 Applications

Updated Nov 2, 2007

1st to recommend

Description

This book (which I've been reading, but haven't finished) explores a variety of techniques that many successful web sites/applications use to provide useful data to their users. Lots of good ideas and practical examples written in Python.

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The Long Walk: The True? Story of a Trek to Freedom

Updated Jul 11, 2007

1st to recommend

Description

I have mixed feelings about this book. I recently read it while on vacation, and although I really enjoyed the story, some of the claims made in the book seem dubious, and it seems like people who have looked into the matter have been unable to corroborate the author's account.

The story itself - about a group escape of a Soviet prison camp and their year long walk through Siberia, Mongolia the Gobi desert, Tibet and the Himalayas - is great, a well written easy read.

If you can't stand the thought of reading something that might be dishonest, try "The Gulag Archipelago" for a more depressing, but probably more realistic view of the lives and treatment of Soviet political prisoners. Volume 3 of that series even has some good escape stories.

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Designing Interactions

Updated Jan 26, 2007

1st to recommend

Description

This is mainly a book of interviews with some of the top designers, inventors and creators of technology from the recent past, focusing mainly on computers, software and electronics. It covers the design of internet services, handheld devices (like the palmpilot and cell phones), toys, computer games, and many related technologies.

Really cool stuff, and not too dry (especially for something that looks like a college textbook). I'm very surprised at the low price too (currently less than $30 on Amazon). (via Barnes & Noble)

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The Lonely Planet Guide to the Middle of Nowhere

Updated Jan 12, 2007

1st to recommend

Description

This makes a beautiful coffee table book - lots of big images and articles about wilderness areas all over the world. I bought this for family for Christmas, and couldn't resist looking through it before I wrapped it up. Now I've got to get my own copy.

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The Now Habit: A Strategic Program for Overcoming Procrastination and Enjoying Guilt-Free Play

Updated Dec 19, 2006

2 people recommended this item

Description

This looks like it would be a good book for me. I'm planning on buying and reading it, maybe after Christmas when I get some gift certificates, or after New Years, when I have some more time to read, or... (via kayzee)

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Snow Crash

Updated Dec 7, 2006

1st to recommend

2 people recommended this item

Description

Arguably Neal Stephenson's best novel, this fast paced thriller races through a bizarre near-future America full of crazy cults, franchise governments, designer drugs and the Metaverse.

A virtual reality successor to the internet, the Metaverse is one of the best sci-fi concepts I've read about. The vision is so strong that during the first internet boom people were starting companies to build what this book described.

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The Mountains of California (John Muir)

Updated Dec 5, 2006

1st to recommend

Description

This is a truly unique book, which covers the Sierra Nevada mountain range that Muir knew and loved so well. Part geology and geography lesson, part travelogue, part guidebook, this book discusses the Sierras with a breadth that would require quite a few modern books from different genres.

The writing is excellent and really sounds different - it almost seems like another language (it was first published in 1894). You can clearly see why Muir was such an influential figure. Great stories too - especially about his glacier climbing with no modern equipment.

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Cadillac Desert: The American West and Its Disappearing Water

Updated Nov 13, 2006

1st to recommend

Description

Fascinating book about a subject that seems boring - the history of water use in the American West. Explains how desert cities like LA, Las Vegas, and Phoenix can exist, and the people and programs that made it possible. Written from a critical view, but the author comes across as reasonable and fair (as opposed to many environmentalist writings). I was especially surprised about how many huge land estates (and the wealth and clout that goes with them) seem to have been built up via Homestead Act fraud.

The book has an updated afterword that paints a much brighter picture than most of the book. The age of building uneconomic or dangerous dams to help a few people appears to be over, and the western cities (which continue to grow and need more water) appear to be forming an effective counter-balance to the farming water lobby.

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The Making of the Atomic Bomb

Updated Sep 21, 2006

1st to recommend

Description

The truly fascinating story of the scientists and military and political leaders who conceived and developed the first atomic bomb. Well written, with great insight into the personalities and feelings of those involved.

The science and engineering work are covered fully, but I thought the most interesting parts were the thoughts of the scientists themselves - whether science should aid in developing such weapons, the effects on war and politics in the future, the fears of what could happen if Hitler or Stalin developed a bomb first.

Winner of the Pulitzer Prize. The same author also wrote Dark Sun, which is about the H-Bomb and covers a lot more of the spying and communist sympathies held by some of the scientists. If you only have time for one of these, this book is the better of the two.

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The Official Scrabble Players Dictionary

Updated Aug 21, 2006

1st to recommend

2 people recommended this item

Description

If you play Scrabble, this is the dictionary to have. It has all of the words you need that probably aren't in a normal dictionary, like "Xu" (a monetary unit of Vietnam) and "Qi" (the Chinese vital force that is inherent in all things).

It's probably not the best everyday dictionary, but works OK for that as well.

My personal Scrabble goals are to score 500 in a game and get the 4x and 9x bonuses. After that, I will retire. (via Kelly)

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Angels & Demons by Dan Brown

Updated Aug 3, 2006

3 people recommended this item

Description

I couldn't put this down, and like how the author lets you feel smart by telegraphing a few of the many plot twists. I've heard it's very much like the Da Vinci Code, which I'm reading now. I've also heard the Da Vinci Code is better, but maybe that's because most people read it before Angels and Demons. (via Kelly)

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The Progress Paradox : How Life Gets Better While People Feel Worse, by Gregg Easterbrook

Updated Nov 7, 2006

1st to recommend

Description

Just starting to read this - it's very interesting. The author argues that the lifestyles of the poor and middle class are coming closer to those of the rich, even though the rich are pulling away in dollar terms.

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