Sections:
Introduction
1/11/2005, My goal is to update the comments and add a links to Amazon.com for more/ better reviews. I've updated the list but haven't done a whole lot else from the old version.
Author(s) are in brown, and Title is a blue link to Amazon as are the images. I grade from 1 to 10; my grades will seem pretty tough. I love to read but I have no interest in owning books. As you'll see I list the 'Library'. There are very few Lib: 'Craig' even in this my top 100 list. FPL=Fargo Public Library, MSU=Moorhead State University Library
This list comes from my 'Reading Record' database where I've listed all
the books I've read since 1985 and some
before. (a reading biography)
As of 1/1/2005 there are 1,389 books listed for a total
of 431,391 pages. graph.pdf
Adventure
I read almost anything, this includes computer manuals. But every so often I feel the need for something fun like Science Fiction or Adventure. Each author you see listed in this section has been exhausted by me. I quickly picked the best of each author, but in most cases I can recommend any book they write.
Total
Control
Baldacci, David
Very exciting edge of your seat. Even the ending was good. David writes a good book!
Angels
& Demons
Brown, Dan
I really enjoyed reading this book. I was on the reserve list for three months, as they only had one copy of the book. A prequel to "Di Vinci Code" (The best selling book this summer). The story was good, fun, exciting; even the ending was pretty good. My only complaint was flying to Switzerland in an X-33 space plane.
Tarzan
of the Apes
Burroughs, Edgar Rice
also 1/14/82
Princess
Of Mars, A
Burroughs, Edgar Rice
SF book club purchased for the Frazetta illustrations circa year, I also have the paperback. I read it first in 1976
Sum
Of All Fears, The
Clancy, Tom
Spine tingling, easy read, and impossible to put down
Debt
Of Honor
Clancy, Tom
I loved this book, it was so exciting, even the set up was exciting and the ending didn't let you down. I started Tuesday evening and finished Friday afternoon. I was hard to put it down at night.
Time
To Kill, A
Grisham, John
Great first novel. I read it in four days. I finished it between 12:30 and 2:00AM, even though I was tired I couldn't put it down.
Vampire
Lestat, The
Rice, Anne
Rice's writing has improved, of course this book was written in 1986 vs 1976 for "Interview.." The story is better as well
Presumed
Innocent
Turrow , Scott
A great story with a number of exciting plot twists. It also fit in with my fantasy of the smart brunette and the dumb but nice blonde. Barbara his wife and Carolyn his not so dumb mistress. I thought it was great hearing Barbara had an advanced degree in Mathematics and read anything
Comedy
Most light hearted funny books are collection of short articles. This fits Dave Barry to a tee. PJ O'Rourke's book a great political satire. Heller and Vonnegut write longer books. Roth's "Great American Novel" is a gem and a supprise. Roth's other books are good, some great but none are this funny.
Dave
Barry In Cyberspace
Barry, Dave
You have to be a computer nerd to really love this book and I am. I was laughing out loud quite a few times. His take on Jerry Pournelle of Byte magazine, mail order ads, the Macintosh operating system and his love story (which was touching.)
Willard
And His Bowling Trophies
Bautigan, Richard
This author came out of a reference in the Ginsberg bio. The book I was looking for (Trout Fishing...) was listed in the MSU's education Library ie children's library. Willard was also in the FPL, I find this amazing, because Bondage is a central plot point, full of descriptive activities. I thought it was to be poerty, but it looked like short prose, it turned out to be a short novette. the book is structured almost perfectly for reading at work. The chapters were only two or tree pages long. Alternating between the couple doing bondage and the crazy, somewhat funny brothers looking for their bowling trophies. Unfortunately the book just ends! and quite unsatisfactory at that.
Pill
vs The Springhill Mine Disaster, The
Brautigan, Richard
Title Poem:When you take your pill it's like a mine disaster.-I think of all the people lost inside of you. (I made another sheet of the love-sexy poems he wrote for Marcia.)
Abortion:
An Historical Romance 1966, The
Brautigan, Richard
Yet another fascinating book by Richard, this one even has an ending. It's model writing. I can't believe this guy wasn't famous. He doesn't have too much to say, but who cares. Surreal fiction that's sensual and funny!
Skipping
Christmas
Grisham, John
This was a nice little book. I think it would make a good Christmas movie. Sort of like 'A Christmas Story'. It could be made pretty funny. I like the anti-Christmas bent, but at the end it gets sentimental. Mom read it, I could hear her laugh all afternoon long
Catch
22
Heller, Joseph
This is one of the finest anti-war, anti-bureauacracy books ever written. Funny and Sad at the same time. (Read it once on 7/5/83)
Age
And Guile Beat Youth, Innocence, And A Bad Haircut: 25 Years Of P.J. O'Rourke
O'Rourke, P.J.
I gave this to Suzanne for her birthday. It arrived from the book club two weeks late. I'm the first to read it. It interest me more than the other books because it isn't a collection from Rolling Stone like the other books. It starts off with writing so bad even PJ stops it. The next part is dirty but interesting. The Third part is the most interesting: sort of the Automobile writing. Finally more Rolling Stone stuff, it slows down the book.
Great
American Novel, The
Roth, Philip
I was surprised that this book is a comedy, and a good one at that, even with the subject of old time baseball.
Magic
Christian, The
Southern, Terry
I got this book at NDSU as well. As soon as I read the first two short chapters I knew I wasn't going to stop. I finished late that night. (I started at 9 PM) Although it was really funny, I thought the people in the book would be wish to Guy Grant as an Allen Funt-like guy. Always expecting him behind his stunts and distancing themselfs from anything he was involved with. Now I got to find the movie on video tape as I remember it stars Peller Sellers and Ringo Starr.
Fiction
I'm a big fan of black humor and dark novels. Jim Carroll wrote these as a teenager. Diaries but there's a lot of day dreaming going on. Vladimir Nabokov is my favorite author. Everything is good. He writes dark but not all that dark. But his use of English is second to none. It doesn't hurt to read him with a dictionary by your side. Even if you know the word, check- he'll be using it in parallel with a secondary usage that few know. Amazing that English is his third language after Russian and French. I think he even wrote some books in German. Ayn Rand is my second favorite Russian author. She writes beautifully. The ideas behind the books are so powerful that "Atlas Shrugged" as voted second most influencial book of all time by The Book of The Month Club. The Bible was first
London
Fields
Amis, Martin
Great work, Martin has that bizarre edge, it's hard to put down even when it's sick, and it is sick. No wonder he cites Nabokov as an inspiration. He's using an expanded vocabulary this time. I had to read it with Websters College Dictionary nearby. Nicola the femme fatale, Guy the nice guy, Keith the street thug, and the author/ narrator something Martin likes to use to add another dimension to the story.
Wish
You Well
Baldacci, David
Like Grissom's "The Painted House", this book is not a suspense thriller but a really good story about living in the mountains of Virginia in 1940. The charactors are well developed and the story is touching.
Sheltering
Sky, The
Bowles, Paul
A Sting reference (Tea in the Sahara), a substory page 32-35; the book is the tragic story of Port, Kit and Tunner. Port dies of typhoid, Kit flips out and becomes a white slave, and Tunner is too always too late haven been ditched by Port.
Angel
Of Darkness
Carr, Caleb
I picked up the sequel to "The Alienist" from Suzanne, while she was in Florida. It was even better. It was a good story and a pleasant read.
Crimson
Petal And The White, The
Faber, Michel
A very good read. The charactors were well developed and for a change I actually cared what happened to them- even the minor charactors. The story was good: a prostitute's (Sugar) rise in 1875 London. The ending is sort of abrupt, but I like it because it let's your imagination run. (I think they went to America- for the following day's lesson.)
Magus,
The
Fowles, John
At some point half way through the book it became obvious that John was content to torture the charactor like Nabakov or Amis would do, but to have a go after me as well. Using the reader's, suspension of disbelief against me! The key is Malvolio (Hamlet?) The writing style was okay; an interesting line: I still couldn't accept that this was not some nightmare, like a freak binding in a book, a Lawernce novel becomes, at the turn of a page, one by Kafka. On Feb 19 I read Part 3 of the first version. I wasn't much different, even the ending was only slighty different with Nicholas trying to make his own Godgame but we still don't know what occurs. He doesn't actually get to sleep with Lily that first time. The other sexual parts seem the same.
Painted
House
Grisham, John
No conspiracy, no lawyers but still a damn good story. The view point was a 7 year old boy, but he seems older. Picking cotton in 1952.
Last
Juror, The
Grisham, John
I enjoyed reading this story. Everything was good, the charactors, the plot, and the telling. This is why I like reading Grisham stories.
On
The Road
Kerouac, Jack
Finally, I read the Kerouac book. Funny, Reading all that material before hand makes the book incrediblily sad. If I had read On the Road first, it would have been a wild wild ride through American...very Beat. But knowing what I know about their lives I see it as an escape from reality. Neil, and to a lesser extent Jack, were self destructive and so dragged every-one down. They'd cross that fine line and be kicked out, forced to beat an escape to the other coast (NYC-SF). They were likable and so things would calm down when they'd return. The road and drugs killed Neil. Success and Alcohol killed Jack. It wasn't hip it was pathetic. Even Allen Ginsberg saw it.
Tristessa
Kerouac, Jack
The prose was beautiful. The book came all the way from an Iowa college thru the interlibrary loan program.
Razors
Edge
Maugham, W. Somerset
I had to read it after seeing the movie. (Bill Murry) I enjoyed it eventhough it didn't have a happy ending. Maugham says it does because everyone got what they wanted. Part of a collection of his storys (I didn't count them), someone wrote insipid comments in the tiny margins; I hate that!
Of
Human Bondage
Maugham, W. Somerset
In Razor's Edge, Larry, the main charactor is looking for truth. In Bondage it's Somerset. in his psuedo-autobiography, Somerset finds what we all find: there is no meaning to life. Some unlucky people won't find this out until they die. there is a biological reason: raising a family. The bok ends with him getting married and settling down. I found parellels to myself that were hard to accept. I couldn't help but think I'd never fall for some of the things he did. I have felt the force of passion, would I be able to withstand the pressure? It makes me laugh now!
Tis:
A Memoir
McCourt, Frank
I read this book yesterday. I didn't want to put it down. Frank has a charming way with words. His life was a slow slow climb out of the muck.
Angela's
Ashes
McCourt, Frank
A tale so depressing it reads like a black comedy. No wonder it won the Pulitzer Prize. I remember seeing Frank on The News Hour and thinking it seemed interesting. I can see a movie- either one that is terrible or one that is great.
Lolita
Nabokov, Vladimir
On the cover sheet someone wrote,"Is this a stupid book or what?". Underneath this someone else wrote,"Get a life you illiterate pagan". I agree with the latter. This was one hot book, I thought it was gonna be dry like the movie but it wasn't. The prose was poetic and one did not feel too sorry for Dolores Haze. (Read the 1st chapter)
ADA
Nabokov, Vladimir
Ada was an amazingly rich sensuous novel. It was slow going; not only did I savour each word but I had to look up the mysterious French words (thanks goes to Bob for loaning me his French-English Dictionary) and the many advanced English about a quarter of these weren't in my Webster Collegian Dictionary. Thank Navokov for translating his native Russian. Incestuous and erotic in nature it was more prolonged foreplay than penetration.
We
The Living
Rand, Ayn
A somewhat depressing book along the lines of last months "The Unbearable Lightness of Being". This book came recommented to me by Suzanne. I enjoyed reading it; although the characters led such desperate lives, I cheered them on, and cursed when they were wronged. I've read enough East Block Lit. for now!
Fountainhead,
The
Rand, Ayn
I've have passed up this book a number of times, but I knew I had to read it now. I wasn't disappointed. I jokenly say it's the best book I've read this decade, but it's more than that. Ayn puts across a number of stories, lessons and ideas. Wrong or right it has more to say and says it better than any other so called literary book, such as Joyces' "Ulyseses". Granted the idea of architecture as a creative force in the world requires a suspension of belief, I'm sure modern painting would work better but had already gain acceptance and wouldn't hold the world forces she play with. the book certainly made me feel good about myself. "The Fountainhead" was emotionally trying at times, overly melodramtic, but the charactors were believable and interesting.
Atlas
Shrugged
Rand, Ayn
It's a good thing I got "Atlas Shrugged" from the FPL, because I pulled out 2000 pages, I needed a full month to read this book. Not only was it long but the print was tiny and the content dense; as witnessed by John Galts' 57 page radio speech! It is an amazing book, but at least 200 pages too long. When I was done, I wasn't left wanting more. I felt the same when I finished Joyces' "Ulyesses", A long hard contest that I finally won. I found parallels at work, it shows how weak and stupid people are.
Anna
Karenina
Tolstoy, Leo
The book should have been call Constantine Dmitrich Levin, as I felt he was more like me and the book delt as much with his search for faith as Anna's fall from grace. The social mores of the times are hard to understand; Anna's position doesn't seem so desperate by todays standards, but Levin's troubles are everyman's!
Hocus
Pocus
Vonnegut, Kurt
Classic Vonnegut, tie-ins to his other books and wild action that has some point in relation to the plot.
Man
In Full, A
Wolfe, Tom
I enjoyed the hell out of this book. It didn't take me long to read it either. At times I got so involved with the charactors that I started getting upset.
History
History is always fascinating. Paul Johnson is my favorite historian. He's hard to read some times but always interesting. My second favorite historian is Stephen Ambrose. He writes better because he rights about individuals. Churchill writes will and his take on World War II can not topped. I don't just read about war, it's just that it's an exciting topic and there's a lot to choose from.
Victors,
The: Eisenhower And His Boys: The Men Of World War II
Ambrose, Stephen E.
This book says it all about the ground war in the ETO during WWII. I got a little choked up after finishing it; I had to call Suzanne to tell her. The ingineuity to get through the hedgerows (212).
Nothing
Like It In The World: The Men Who Built The Transcontinental Railroad
Ambrose, Stephen E.
This is probably Ambroses best book. It made feel good to read a can-do book during this terrorist war with Afghanistan. It's hard to believe it was built by hand- not just laying the rails but the cuts and fills were done by men with shovels. Not just dirt but snow too. All the miles of snow shelters, the hand drills and black powder through thousands of feet of solid granite!
Lessons
Of Terror, The: A History Of Warefare Against Civilians- Why It Has Always
Failed And Why It Will Fail Again
Carr, Caleb
Each chapter except the last is tells the failure of Terrorism in a different period of time. Caleb does make a distinction between guerilla warefare and terrorism. (Civilians) The last chapter is a statement of principles a country or group should hold if they wish to win.
Hour
Before Daylight, An: Memories Of A Rural Boyhood
Carter, Jimmy
Very well written and interesting even though he did not have a very interesting boyhood. This would be a great model for anyone whating to write about their childhood. It seemed effortless, but it took seven years to write. p266 When one of the reporters remarked that Billy was a little strange, he replied, "Look: my Mama was a seventy-year old Peace Corps volunteer in India, one of my sisters goes all over the world as a holy-roller preacher, my oldest sister spends half her time on a Harley-Davidson motorcycle, and my bother thinks he'g going to be president of the United States. Which one of your family do you think is normal?"
History
Of The English Speaking People: The Birth Of Britain
Churchill, Winston S.
Very interesting. Again Churchill goes into detail, until you almost lose interest and then he switches gears into something more interesting.
Gathering
Storm, The
Churchill, Winston S.
I was wondering around the library looking for a book. I decided to look in the history section. I didn't think the FPL had any (many) Churchill books, but they did have his WWII series. I thought if I started I would want to finish. Many volumes, which one to start with? I started at the beginninig. He writes well and the subject is interesting.
Raid
On The Sun
Claire, Rodger W
This was a great story which reads like a Clancy book. Enough details to keep me interested but not so many as to make it like a text book. The chapters on the Mossad and the F-16 were very interesting. There were many parallels to Afganistan and Iraq.
Every
Man A Tiger
Horner & Clancy, Chuck & Tom
The second in Clancy's command series. I good overview of modern air power. The first book was better only because I knew so little about the modern army.
Modern
Times
Johnson, Paul
It was a hard read and it was depressing to read, but it seemed to tell the true store of this century. At some point I wouldn't mind buying it for a reference book.
History
Of The American People, An
Johnson, Paul
This book was even better than "Modern Times". Paul is a genius at writing about the big picture. It can't be easy to tackle such a big subject and yet he does it so well. It isn't an easy read but well worth the effort.
Terrible
Hours, The
Maas, Peter
A very interesting and exciting story. I picked it up because there was nothing much else to read. I read it before supper and after until it was finished.
Yom
Kippur War, The: The Epic Encounter That Transformed The Middle East
Rabinovich, Abraham
A well written account of a fasinating war. I kept waiting for the Israeli army to attack- I already knew they won the war. However it wasn't until they were almost finished off that Israel found a way to pull victory out of defeat. It started when Egypt over reached and Kissinger leveraged the USSR fear of what would happen if the war was left unchecked.
Last
Full Measure: The
Shaara, Jeff
The end of the civil war told through the eyes of the generals who fought it. In the book you can feel the fight leaving Lee. As Stuart gets killed and Longstreet, Hill and even Lee himself are wounded or sick. Grant on the other hand benefits from a strengthing army, a free hand from Lincoln and his 'bad' generals are replace either through early retirement or death. One point which comes across is the change of tactics from old mass concentrations of Neapolian to the trench warfare of WWI. (The musket is replaced by the shovel.)
Bright
And Shinning Lie, A -John Paul Vann And America In Vietnam
Sheehan, Neil
I was the first at MSU to check out this opus. I read it fast because I thought at any minute I would be asked for it back. That and the fact it was so interesting. John vann was a dascinating complex man. Vietnam was a stream of errors both in diplomacy and military force.
Gulag
Archipelago, The
Solzhenilsyn, Aleksandr I.
Very depressing only part 1&2 of a & part series, that's depressing!
Shadow
Warriors: Inside The Special Forces
Stiner & Clancy, General Carl & Tom With Tony Koltz
This was much better than I thought it would be. I was surprised how tough the Special Forces were, but I was surprise how well trained for 'Peace Corp' type activities they were. The SF seem particularly well suited for the US at this point in time. Too bad the book wasn't written after Afghanistan- I think the point was proven there as well.
Way
The World Works, The
Wanniski , Jude
From the pages of 'Reason' a great book on how economics works on a macro scale. Cut taxes drop trade barriers, that's the answer. Adam Smith is our saint.
Non-Fiction
Non-fiction the catch-all for books with odd categories.
Basketball
Diaries, The
Carroll, Jim
This book made the NY to LA flight the shortest on record. While I was gone dad brought my library books back before I recorded them. Theres another 800 pages approx.
Forced
Entries The Downtown Diaries:1971-1973
Carroll, Jim
I just finished Jim Carroll's book. I read it in three settings (the three locations/states of mind) It's just as cool as his first.
Future
And Its Enemies, The: The Growing Conflict Over Creativity, Enterprires,
And Progress
Postrel, Virginia
This may be the best book I've ever read. If I tried to recap the good parts I would just end up rewriting the book here. How she assembled all that information from so many sources is amazing. (There were 34 pages of notes.) I guess it helps being the editor of Reason. I have only two complaints about the book. One, the sentences have too many dependant clauses. They get to be long and monotonous. Two, I would like to see Dynamism (The Party of Life) put into the the structure of Chaos and Statias- what feedback mechanisms prevent Dynamism from degenerating to Chaos. I think I know the answer; Virginia certainly hints at it but I think it deserves a chapter on it's own. Its nice to read a book that you agree 100% with every once in awhile. Without Suzanne's bookclub I don't know that I would have gotten around to reading it or recommending it.
Science Fiction
Science Fiction, what can I say, I love it. The three 'R's': Robots, Rayguns, and Rocketships. I started reading the harder SF with technology topics. Asimov and Clarke can really write well. Then I discovered Heinlein and Herbert with more Social topics. Later I found Delany who specialized the way language changes behavior and modes of living. I have a fetish for Logan's Run which I'm begining to out grow but I still like to use it as a touchstone. I've memorized much of the dialog in the movie. Unfortunately Carl Sagan only wrote one Fiction book, but it was the best SF ever writen. The topic of god and science; how would you ever tell the difference. If you want to know you'll just have to read the book.
If
The Stars Are Gods
Benford, Gregory
Great stuff, but then Benford is a great author.
Pickup
Artist, The
Bisson, Terry
Enjoyable Science Fiction/Comedy. 3/4 through the book I realized it was a psuedo satire of Logan's Run. Hank is Logan, but a Pick Up artist not DS man Homer is his female dog not the killer weapon Henry is his pregnant girlfriend like Jessica He's looking for a Hank Williams LP not Sactuary. The cloned Indian Bob's are like box.
Return
To Mars
Bova, Ben
Interesting book and an easy read. The science might have been better but the fiction was good. This is suppose to be a sequel but I don't remember the orginal. (11/13/1992) I've read many 'Mars' books in the last couple of years.
Ender's
Game
Card, Orson Scott
An exciting, well written science fiction story. I knew Ender wasn't just playing a game during that last game, but actually fighting the war. What I didn't know was all those last games were the real thing. I buzzed through this book.
Prey
Crichton, Michael
It's good that people bring up problems with technology. Even my pet favorites like nanotechnology. I thought Michael would bring up grey goo, but instead comes up with a ghost like swarm of particles. This would make for a cool horror/ sci-fi movie.
Babel
17
Delany, Samuel R.
If you were only going to read one Delany book this would have to be it. Not because it's the best but because it's one of his first (1966). It set him up as a wunderkind. The ideas he developes about future lifestyle and the role language plays in perception work milked for a career. Rydra Wong is a the main charactor, poet and poly language type person.See hunts down the Secret to Code "Babel 17" - sort a computer virus type language for humans. In the end she adds to it creating Babel 18 which allows the Alliance to defeat the Invaders. (p125, Abstract thoughts in a blue room: Nominative, genitive, elative, accusative one, accusative two, ablative, partitive, illative, instructive, abessive, adessie, inessive, essive, allative, translative, comitative. Sixteen cases of the Finnish noun. Odd, some languages get by with only singular and plural.)
Stars
In My Pocket Like Grains Of Sands
Delany, Samuel R.
The alien creatures have a language based on taste; Delaney weaves this into the story seemlessly. I got this hardcover from my sister for Christmas.
Motion
of Light In Water, The
Delany, Samuel R.
There were a couple of Delaney books, the rest I can get later used, but this one I just couldn't resist. I started reading it on the plane home to Fargo. I planned to write on the plane but once I started this there was no way. Not only does his give alot of background on his life in this memoir but tells what went into his writing. His is a remarkable life, and this is a remarkable book. It only covered a couple of years so I hope this is the start of a long series!
Nova
Delany, Samuel R.
This book is not much different than other early Delany SF books. I use to think this would be the easiest Delany to get into. I have my doubts now. The story is standard and the charactors are not that interesting.
Heavenly
Breakfast
Delany, Samuel R.
I got this and read it in San Francisco. Jamie seemed match the feel of this psuedo Autobiography.
Dhalgren
Delany, Samuel R.
I got it in my head to read this book again. It's odd that I haven't read since 1978. I guess I rarely reread books. Although the story hasn't changed the book has. The experience was very different. I had no trouble with the first 200 pages this time. It affected me deeply, but not like the first time natch. Even though I gave this book an A- I wouldn't recommend it to anyone I know. (Reminds me of Great Expectations that way- when Suzanne read the wrong Dickens book.)
Stranger
in a Strange Land, A
Heinlein, Robert
This book really opened my eyes when I read it as a kid. I got this from Aunt Judy, via the Santa Barbara Library.
Dune:
House Adreides
Herbert & Anderson, Brian And Kevin J
This prequel was an easy read. All the charactors were familar and the story filled in all the detail missing from the movie and my memory of the orginal series.
Butlerian
Jihad, The
Herbert & Anderson, Brian And Kevin J
Great book. They wrote the book (part one of three) I thought they should write. The website (www.dunenovels.com) shows a bunch of books (sets of three) they're planning to write.
Logans
Run
Nolan & Johnson, William F.
This story and movie have become a fetish touch stone for me life. But I do have a sense of humor about it. I'm sure I've read it a full dozen times. Read it once on 2/12/82 I got both paperback editions. One from B. Dalton the other from Ernies.
Contact
Sagan, Carl
Cool, I love the ending.
Technology
Science has always fascinated me since I was a child. I'm interested in all the sciences but prefer the hard sciences. I have become very excited lately about Chaos theory. Once you understand how systems stay in balance between stasis and chao using feedback one can see how everything, even topics that seem unfathomable become clear. Kurzweil has written some books about the future that really make you think. If you could live forever as a virtual being or a robot, how would that work.
Fighter
Wing
Clancy, Tom
This makes a great reference book. The story at the end wasn't very good, nor were the Green Flag chapters but the detail about the planes, pilot and weapon systems was interesting.
Whole
Shebang, The: A State Of The Universe(2) Report
Ferris, Timothy
The writting was good and the science fascinating. It got a little difficult near the end but it's still a good book.
Complications:
A Surgen's Notes On An Imperfect Science
Gawande, Atul
A very interesting look a surgery and the problems and possible solutions to using 'very much human' doctors.
Chaos
Hawkins, James Gleik
Another science book from the Rolling Stone 'Hip Reading List'. This one was easier to follow. Interesting how randomness seems to follow certain forms, how these forms can bring forward such complicated interesting biology. I copied down some references to do Fractals on computers.
Ghost
In The Machine
Koestler, Arthur
Harder than Sagan, I admire the strengths, Sagan always gets glassy eyed. I like the theory and it made me think, sometime on things so different I had to concentrate to continue reading.
Age
Of Spritual Machines, The: When Computers Exceed Human Intelligence
Kurzweil, Ray
It was a little difficult to get through, no because the writting was poor, but because the concepts were so advanced. It makes me wonder how much of this will actually occur. People won't accept what they don't understand. I don't know how I feel about being converted to a computer file living virtually or in a robot body.
Complexity:
Life At The Edge Of Chaos
Lewin, Roger
The subject of Complexity was very interesting but the style of writing sometimes made it hard to keep reading.
Gastrointestinal
Health
Peikin, M.D., Steven R.
The book gave me a pretty good idea of what I have: Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS); no reason to worry Diet to help; Soluble Fiber (oat bran & fruit) Drugs that work; p59 Donnatal (belladonna alkoloids w/ phenobarbitol) or p59 Bentyl (dicyclomine hydrochloride) on hand for sudden cramps or p59 warm compresses to the lower abdomen. p73 Donnagel (antispasmodic & andidiarheal agent) for IBS p84 Phenylethylamine (chocolate, aged cheese and red wine) causes migraine headaches.
Amusing
Ourselfs to Death
Postman, Neil
This was the best nonfiction I've read in a long time. Another reference from Mac World. Neil lays forth that television is wrecking our ability to think by trivializing everything. He has nothing against television, only it is a medium of entertainment and should only be used as such. I have to agree. They should ban advertisments, religion, politics and news from TV!.. anything important. He talks about how Orwell was wrong about Big Brother, Alex Huxley is right and Ayn Rand fought against the wrong thing... well maybe she won? and her writing encourages reading.
Nano:
The Emerging Science Of Nanotechnology
Regis, Ed
Remaking the world- molecule by molecule. I was fascinated, this technology could (will) change the world. I will also add a level of complexity to social while making it seem simpler.
Skunk
Works
Rich & Janos, Ben R. & Leo
It was so interesting I read the whole book in one day, one sitting actually. The story behind Lockheed's U-2, SR-71 and F-117A from the successor to 'Kelly' Johnson's Skunk Works.
Pale
Blue Dot: A Vision Of The Human Future In Space
Sagan, Carl
The photographs and illustrations where great. Carls writing was labored. He tends to repeat himself and he isn't as clear as he use to be. His liberal tendency are brought out and they suck.
Shadows
Of Forgotten Ancestors: A Search For Who We Are
Sagan, Carl
Even better than Cosmos, an interesting look at Humans from from an evolutionary prespective. Luckily there's going to be a follow-up book.
Billions
& Billions: Thoughts On Life And Death At The Brink Of The Millennium
Sagan, Carl
Carl died while finishing this book. It's mostly made up from odds and ends like articles from Parade. He convinced me(?) that the Ozone hole might have been a problem but hasn't convinced me about global warming. The best chapter was "Rules of The Game." The Tit-for-Tat rule: "Cooperate with others first, then do unto them as they do unto you." -has the best payoff.
Red
Flag: Air Combat For The 1990s
Skinner & Hall, Michael & George
Lots of fun to read, full of pictures and fighter pilot trivia.
Portraits
In Silicon
Slater, Robert
Many-a-time I walked by this book, finally i picked it up. I'm glad I did. Each chapter deals with someone important in the computer indusrty. The chapter on William Norris was like deja vu. They started talking about the 660, 7700 and the Star 100 released in 1974 and I was there!! favorite quote, "It's easier to apologize than to get permission" - Grace Hopper. Not only did she invent Programing languages (no more hand wiring including COBOL, but coined the term debugging, when they had insects in their computer.
Silicon
Snake Oil: Second Thoughts On The Information Highway
Stoll, Clifford
Very interesting question. Cliff seems even less enamored with computers (and the internet in particular) than I. "Computer programs feed us someone else's logic, instead of encouraging us to develop our own." "I'm damned worried that these students spend most of their time learning tools, rather than concepts.
Visual
Display of Quantitative Information, The
Tufte, Edward R.
The history and use of graphs. How lies are spread and information is misused by them. The difference between plotting and graphing, don't clutter your presention with plotting, thats what you do at home; building the graph.
Amazon Associate
When I got the idea to put Craig's Top 100 Books on the internet I decided to become an Amazon Associate. As an associate I get a tiny kick back on any sales I deliver from my web site. It's so tiny that you shouldn't feel obligated to buy through me, but then again it doesn't cost you any more.