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This is a list of books I've been reading. Since 2003 I've been reading lots of books in ebook format, since they have some good prices at Palm eReader, and I can take many books with me no matter where I go. I really like the convenience of being able to open a book while waiting in line. Digital audio books are similar, since the digital formats can also be used on the PC, PDA, or even burned to CD. Audible.com has a deal on these books, two a month for just US$ 20, considering many good audio books run US$ 30-40, this is a good deal (if you join, use my name "Clyde Warden" as referring you).
XXXXX (Unabridged)
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Tpstudies. |
Makers
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The ky idea in the book focuses on the oversupply of very cheap technology. With CPUs dirt cheap, and machines that can make machines everywhere, people would just produce more rather than seek it mass produced goods. Doctorow's perspective makes a lot of sense in that the mass production is the means of production, not the final product. Very cool idea. This concept is hung on a story of a couple guys at the cent er of the maker movement, a businessman/entrepreneur, and are reporter. It all makes for an nice story, some love triangle stuff, and a bit of action. Doctorow is not so hot with the dialog, the narrative, and stringing the story together (it all got very slow in the middle), but the ideas are great. |
Anna Karenina (Unabridged)
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I admit this is my very first Tolstoy book I was able to get to the end of. Of course in school we get the required War & Peace, but nothing is fun when it is required, especially a huge book. Anna Karenina was a big surprise for me. I found it to be fresh, easy to read, even page turning at times. Most importantly, I was addicted to the realism. Since I love realism in cinema, this book fits my values perfectly. The only problem is the book is very, very long, and at multiple times I thought of taking a break and going to another book. I stuck it out though, and in the end, it was worth it. |
Never Enough (Unabridged)
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A reasonably detailed recounting of the Hong Kong murder case of Nancy Kissel. McGinniss has little doubt about Nancy's guilt. What I liked about the book the most was the very critical description of the expat community in Hong Kong. McGinniss really captured the cut off nature of the foreigners, and not just the rich ones. |
The Good Soldiers (Unabridged)
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Reading. |
American Caesar: Douglas MacArthu (Unabridged)
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Reading. |
Candy Bombers (Unabridged)
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Reading. |
When Everything Changed: The Amazing Journey of American Women from 1960 to the Present (Unabridged)
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A well done history of the American womens' movement. Collins sets the scene well by showing just what the options were for women in the 1950s. One interesting aspect about Collin's writing is how she often covers women not part of the "mainstream." While it is easy to look at the USA in the 1950s and see that widely accepted stereotype of the peak of development, the reality was quite different. Only a faction of Americans lived that suburban life. Many people were excluded, and Collins tells the story of those women also.. |
The Last Train from Hiroshima: The Survivors Look Back (Unabridged)
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Tpstudies. |
The Bible Salesman (Unabridged)
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Read this with my Mom. Did not like it much. A story that centers on life in the South in the late 1950s I guess. Seemed to go nowhere. |
When China Rules the World (Unabridged)
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I was cheering, jumping up and down with joy, when I read the first few chapters of Martin's Jacques' book! The start of this book is a very in-your-face observation of reality that he calls contested modernities. In short, it he tells the reader that there is a huge MODERN thing heading your way, and it is called Chinese culture--get used to it. I have been saying this for years that China is a train coming toward the West and everyone is looking the wrong way. When I tell this to people back in the West, they get offended and hold on to the idea that Western values are still the pinical of culture and Chinese are all becoming Western, moving towards the West--the dreaded world is flat idea. Listen to my audio review here: http://ccc.qbook.tv/content/view/198/86/ Jacques has some great observational skill that aligns well with my decades of experience. There is a lot here for overall understanding of cultural assumptions and what Chinese modernity means. The analysis is more sociological and Marxist in nature, but rings true. For researchers at all interested in Greater China, this book is important because it shows exactly why all assumptions need to be thrown away. Chinese culture brings it own modernity, and that is not related to the West, no matter how many Starbucks you see in Shanghai. |
Pandora's Star (Unabridged)
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Reading. |
Mona Lisa Overdrive (Unabridged)
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Reading. |
Mars Life (Unabridged)
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Reading. |
Behind the Scenes at the Museum (Unabridged)
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Reading. |
The Year of the Flood (Unabridged)
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Reading. |
The Poisonwood Bible (Unabridged)
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Reading. |
SA Greater Infinity (Unabridged)
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Reading. |
Pebble in the Sky (Unabridged)
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I have been looking for this book for about twenty years. Out of print for quite some time, and hard to find in books stores. At LAST, Audible.com produced it themselves are part of their science fiction production push. Reading this book means I have at last completed the Foundation series, which also means I have finished all the Asimov series. A sad moment. Asimov should have had at least twenty more years of fiction writing after he returned to fiction in the early 90. It is a sad statement on the human race that we are obsessed with Dancing with the Stars, fake and over produced talent shows, and ET-Tonight while real issues like science get pushed to the back. This book is very early in Asimov's carreer, and only losely fits into the later series, but the threads are there. After reading Pebble, I really appreciated Issac's growth and development as a writer. Asimov is really the best! RIP. |
Peace War
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I was so impressed with A Fire Upon the Deep that I picked up another Vinge book. This story was more a straight forward action narrative. It was okay, but nothing near as interesting as I expected. |
Scroogenomics (Unabridged)
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An economic analysis of how wasteful Christmas gift giving is. The result is that the Chinese approach of just giving cash is best after all.. |
Return to Mars
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Reading. |
The Road (Unabridged)
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Very, very, very dark, but so very well written. Very impressed with the use of very short sentencesTs. |
The Glass Castle (Unabridged)
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Ts. |
Stealing MySpace (Unabridged)
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Tpstudies. |
Airborn (Unabridged)
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The ky ideas. |
World Without End (Unabridged)
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Reading. |
Inherent Vice (Unabridged)
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The ky ideas. |
The Drunkard's Walk: How Randomness Rules our Lives (Unabridged)
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Tpstudies. |
In Defense of Food (Unabridged)
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The ky ideas. |
The Road To Serfdom (Unabridged)
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Clear economic ideas, centering on the importance of a free market for a strong democracy. Good stuff. |
Factory Girls
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Chang's book is almost an anthropological study of young women in China. The focus is just a couple women, while the context is the factories of Dongguan in Southern China. She covers lots of day to day activities, from getting/leaving a factory job, changing cell phones, taking an English language class, eating, traveling, etc. This approach is very refreshing, with the hang up being "almost an anthropological study." Ms. Chang still holds on to a bit of journalistic approach, by forcing a story on top of the observation and also by missing larger and wider meanings. For example, lots of the behaviors that seem so surprising, like how her subjects can just change their lives, their personas, in a day, is actually related to their young age--they are after all just girls, but also a fundamentally different way Chinese view the self as created from the outside in, rather than the standard Western perspective of the inside out. |
KFC in China: Secret Recipe for Success
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Pretty good details on KFC's growth in China. Audio review here: http://ccc.qbook.tv/content/view/146/86/ |
The Black Swan (Unabridged)
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Picked this up at the start of the economic crisis. Some interesting ideas about risk. At points, Taleb goes a bit off the deep end with his beleif in his being a modern day philosopher. Mostly, however, the theories covered are sound and a good reminder of how to view risk. |
The Pillars of the Earth (Unabridged)
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A thriller set in England, twelfth century, my daughter told me of this book. At times it is a bit long winded, but the historical emphasis, and attention to detail is well done. The book reads almost like a This Old House season on building your own Gothic cathedral, with a story thrown in. I liked it for that actually, and the writing skill of Follett, more a technical emphasis, is clear (the man knows how to write sentences). |
Anathem (Unabridged)
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I had to take a break from the Baroque Cycle, so read this later book. How Stephenson pumps out so many words escapes me. |
The Black Hole War: My Battle to Make the World Safe for Quantum Mechanics (Unabridged)
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Some mud slinging going on here. So much scientific detail, this requires a couple listens. |
When Will There Be Good News (Unabridged)
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Read this while I was in Scotland, which was so cool. Atkinson, a Scottish writer, tells a mystery story very well. The emphasis is on all the people touched by the mystery, rather than the mystery itself. |
The Crying of Lot 49 (Unabridged)
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Nick turned me on to Pynchon, and I have been working to read some of his earlier work. Bordering on a comedy, Pynchon is very unique. The closest feeling I get to this book is reading Vonnegut and Philip K. Dick. As always, this is all made possible by Phnchon just being a great writer of words. He puts together sentences that as so interesting, so full if imagery, I just want to read the next one, and the next one. |
City at the End of Time (Unabridged)
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This story is very far out. Something about multiple dimensions, colliding universes, and a failing society. The story is hard to follow because of a very disjointed style, which is reflecting the multiple dimension idea. Overall, this story was okay, but again, not Bear writing to his strengths. There is nearly no real detailed tech going on here, since the events are not well understood by the characters. |
Up Till Now (Unabridged)
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As a Star Trek nut of course I am a fan of Shatner. He gets so much bad press from the other ST stars, but Shatner is the one who has gone on with numerous sci fi book series, including ST. Obviously Shatner is not doing the writing, but that is the interesting thing, the guy knows how to manage a career. I wanted to learn more about how and why he does all this, and this book goes a long way to speak to that. |
Ladies of Liberty & Founding Mothers (Unabridged)
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Cokie Robert reads these audio books, with the result that these books sound like extended NPR reports. That is good in so far as they are consistent in their quality and done well enough. On the other hand, the details is not there, nor is there a new insight. For solid history, there are better, for an easy read, and some learning, these are good. |
Group Genius (Unabridged)
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The key point here is that individuals take more credit than they should. Groups are the key to the best ideas and breakthroughs. Lots of examples and easy to read. |
The Stuff of Thought (Unabridged)
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A science book on how we think and feel, with a strong linguistic component. Nothing special here. Good to get some of the data, but not a very well written book.. |
eBoys (Unabridged)
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Documenting the VC group, Benchmark Group, during the peak of the Internet Bubble, this book was completed just as that bubble burst. With some perspective now, and the VC market having changed a lot, this book is quite good. There are a few businesses cantered on, like eBay, and others just touched on. Some crashed and burned, which the book ends with the big success of eBay, which didn't do so well years later. A good business book if you can look at the post situation and see that businesses are much less about those VC guys and more about random chance and environment factors. |
Captain's Glory (Unabridged)
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More of the Shatnerverse. Fun stuff. |
Northanger Abbey (Unabridged)
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On my mission to read all the Austen novels. Love them all, and this one is no different. In fact, I think Northanger is a bit different from the others. This story has more over the top romance, resulting in more humour. Really a fun read. |
Made to Stick (Unabridged)
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The Heath brothers wrote this book as a detailed exploration of the concept of sticky ideas raised in the Tipping Point. I found the tipping point to be a very shallow coverage of diffusion concepts already well researched and documented, but I guess every good idea needs its shallow book to get big in market. The Heath brothers are both professors and researchers, so their approach actually is very academic and somewhat rigorous (especially when compared the BS that fills Gladwell's lightweight magazine/book. What makes an idea sticky is well explored in this book, and I found it a good addition to existing diffusion theories--more like a practical guide to sticky ideas. |
Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency (Unabridged)
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This is a BBC production I got from Audible and it is quite fun. As always, Adams is very inconsistent in his ability to tell a good story, but the references to popular culture and science alone make it worthwhile. Audible is so cool to have this kind of stuff. I really don't know how I survived the early 90s in Taiwan! |
Spook Country (Unabridged)
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GREAT, GREAT, GREAT. This book follows on to Pattern Recognition, and while it is not a direct sequel, it shares the same future (present?). Gibson has captured perfectly the future, which happens to be today. The narrative reads just like a science fiction thriller, but the science fiction devices are all things from our current world. Most importantly, everything is touched by marketing. This, of course, is why I love Gibson's recent work so much. The flavor is like PKD, there is a lot of cynicism here, with a much more consistent style. Gibson's big advantage is that he takes marketing as a key part of who everyone interprets the reality around them. Not a critical analysis of it, but a reality check--the future has arrived, and it is all about consumption. |
Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity (Unabridged)
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While I am not nuts over self improvement books, time management is something that does interest me. Allen has gotten a lot of hype going on around this book. That kind of turned me off, and all the people on Amazon.com writing how this book changed their lives also made me hesitate. I gave in after all, and cannot say I was disappointed was just as bad as I thought it would be. For me, the best book on time management is Covey's book The Seven Habits of HIghly Effective People. What that book had and Allen's does not is just how to use larger strategic orientation in order to make decisions about what exactly is actionable and not, what needs to go into a To Do list, etc. Allen spends almost all the book telling the reader to go buy folders and filing cabinets. As is normal for current business books, the author must mention how great he is and all the consulting he has done. This bothered me in a big way because of all the stories Allen told of "High Level" managers he had helped. It seemed they did not quite understand such concepts as putting projects into folders, rather then the floor, and of making schedules! WOW, that is the state of American management--they need to hire someone like Allen to tell them how to buy folders! On the other hand, if this book could be cut down to about 20 pages, the system of thoughts, lists, actions, and projects is useful. The program ThinkingRock seems to do all this very well. |
The Culture Code: An Ingenious Way to Understand why People around the World Live and Buy as They Do
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Rapaille is a bit of a showman when you see him, and his book is much the same, but at the core of his Jung based psychology, Rapaille really has a good grasp of consumers and culture. In this book, Rapaille uses each chapter to tell what is "On Code" for American culture for topics such as food, sex, quality, etc. This approach is very similar to the ZMET research methodology I have used in a number of research projects. It really is powerful, and really works. Do not expect an academic book that lays out strong theoretical structures about culture though. Rapaille has simply gone his own way and made up some names that fit his data. This is more action oriented research. It is not very cross cultural, except for some random examples here and there, so it is not something you can cite in any research, but it is powerful stuff none-the-less. |
CountryThe Genome War: How Graig Venter Tried to Capture the Code of Life (Unabridged)
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I have not read any of Shreeve's books before (he only has a couple others), but I will certainly read any new book he writes--he is a GREAT science writer! This story of the Genome race could have been shallow, but clearly Shreeve tracked down people (or was visiting them often during the events covered in the book) and the result is a triangulation of events through the eyes of many different people. While the story centers on Graig Venter, the science gets very detailed coverage. What I like the most about Shreeve's approach is that he explains the science in scientific terms, then he explains that a bit, then he comes up with an easy metaphor. Each and every science issue gets this treatment, meaning if you understand the science, then you got it, if not, hold on and Shreeve will help you get it. It comes through in the writing that Shreeve knows and likes the science. |
Seeing in the Dark: How Backyard Stargazers Are Guarding Earth from Interplanetary Peril (Unabridged)
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A nice intro to stargazing, but not for the beginner. Ferris works hard to capture the awe of it all, but I suspect for anyone not interested, this just won't do much for them. I, on the other hand was inspiring to break out the telescope and look at the moon. |
The Golden Transcendence: The Golden Age Volume 3
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Took me a trip to the US to at last pick up a copy of Wright's concluding book (never came out in ebook format). After two books it is hard to be impressed with the very hard edge cyber world Wright has created, but the adventure, in the form a an inter star system war, helps by picking up the action. About two thirds in though, the battle becomes so totally based on logic and the two sides battling over words that the book slows to a crawl. I was getting frustrated, but by the end, Wright picks up all the pieces and draws them all together in a satisfying way. |
The 34th Rule (Deep Space Nine)
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This is my first Deep Space Nine novel. My son and I got into the series (which I totally missed in first run because of living in Taiwan) and I promised not to watch any episodes without him. To fill the gap, I thought why not try a book. The 34th rule of acquisition is War is Good for Business (keep in mind the 35th rule is Peace is Good for Business). In general DS9 does a lot that ST can't do, and the core of that difference is the many different people and cultures that are central to the station. This book centers are Quark and his brother Rom who seem to be caught up in some plan of the Grand Nagus. Too many threads are spun out and not enough detail is flushed out in the end. That is kind of the weakness of DS9 in general though. |
All the Tea in China
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There is a flood of really bad books on China and business. Most of them written by American journalist with only the slightest passing understanding of China. This book is very different. One of the most interesting things about this Haft is that he is not such a great writer. In fact, All the Tea in China is generally not laid out well, includes a very weak attempt at a narrative, and lacks any core point or even logic. While that all sounds negative, it actually is a positive because you know Haft is writing honestly, about something he knows--doing business in China. Haft is no academic, and he doesn't have deep theories about consumers or organizations, but he offers personal experiences that ring true. He is not afraid to show the risks of dealing with partners in China, the problems of trust, quality control, HRM issues, but he also is very clear about the benefits and opportunities for businesses moving into this market (not just using it for outsourcing). |
Ubik
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As usual, Dick tests the boundaries between reality, and . . . something else. One reason I was really interested in this book is a research paper I was working on. The data came from my psychological interviews, using the ZMET method. In this type of consumer behavior study, we find that what people say and what they actually do are often very different. People even make up elaborate descriptions and explanations to justify their imaginary behaviors. Ubik really fits this context well, because here Dick references a consumer product called Ubik, that is everywhere. Everyone wants Ubik, but no one seems actually to obtain it. |
Mellon: An American Life (Unabridged)
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A very detailed history of the Mellon family (lots of time spent on the father), but more importantly, this is a description of the rise of American-style capitalism. David Cannadine is a historian with obviously great research skills. This audio book tops 36 hours and I found every minute of it to be interesting. I'm so sick of journalist writing shallow books on topics they only have a passing interest in (and zero research ability beyond talking to someone who just so happens to want to sell something). Prof. Cannadine says the book was more than ten years in the making--I just wish we had more quality business history like this. |
A Scanner Darkly
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PKD is such a different kind of story teller. While lots of movies get made from his stuff, they don't really do justice to the paranoid view contained in his short stories and books. A Scanner Darkly is now a film, and it looks like it comes closer than the other adaptations of Dick's work, so I thought I better get this book out of the way before I see the film. A good story that feels like a surprise is going to jump out at the end, but it never does. Substance D ruins peoples' lives, yet seems to have an important role in society, keeping everyone diverted and giving the government something to do (spying on everyone). Although the story feels very much of the 1970s, the psychosis made me feel more than a bit paranoid while reading. |
The Wal-Mart Effect (Unabridged)
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While Fishman is clearly not a huge fan of Wal-Mart, he really does give the company lots of credit for its accomplishments. The history of the successes and failures are laid out clearly, unlike many other books that either go totally for the chearleading squad approach, or the end of the world approach. This book does do a very good job of showing the competitive advantage of Wal-Mart, and what weaknesses such an approach has, and unlike many others, Fishman actually digs through some academic research. I'm so tired of news reporters just throwing stuff together that Fishman surprised me with some pretty good research. |
The God Delusion (Unabridged)
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Dawkins takes on religion very directly in this book. The basic argument, and the one that really hits home, is presented very early in the book: Anyone else claiming to be an "expert" based on no ability to predict anything in the real world, claims received knowledge from scriblings from thousands of years ago, and directly refutes scientific facts (like the earth is more than 10K years old) would be simply called delusional and not taken serious. Yet religious followers do just that and in the US get treated as if they know some great secret. Dawkins doesn't pull any punches here and just slams Christianity and its more extreme followers. While there is really nothing new in this book, I think it is Dawkins' straight forward attitude that really attracts me to the book. Rather than running around in circles and bending over backwards to try to communicate with and not offend these people, why not simply apply the same rules society applies to everyone else? For example, if prayer works to heal people, then show the measurements, otherwise it is a total fraud and those who continue to preach it are hucksters. |
The Phoenix Exultant: The Golden Age Volume 2
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This is the second installment of a trilogy. I kept waiting for the darn thing to come out in ebook format, but it never did, so I broke down and bought the dead tree version while in the USA (along with the third book). While this is cyber punk with all the dark side of humans included, the technology is WAY ahead of Morgan's Altered Carbon. In The Golden Age books supercomputers have come alive and new life forms have been engineered while existing life forms change themselves through genetic engineering. Politics are complex here, with numerous groups (often based on a way of life, like you can just choose which culture you want to join) but this second book also appears to involve a long lost group of humans who are returning as aliens to do something evil. |
Mansfield Park (Unabridged)
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This Austen book really seemed to be quite darker the the others I've read. It starts out pretty dark, with Fanny's situation of being sent to live with her rich uncle, and it seems like Fanny's whole life there is not a happy one. For some reason I felt a lot of tension, especially related to money, class, etc. Maybe that is what draws me to this, but while it seems many find Fanny in the end to be too weak, I see her as strong within the very confining context of her surrounding situation. Like Austen's books in general, Fanny has a very limited space to maneuver and she stands up for what she thinks is right in the end, although when compared with today, it seems like nothing. That is the point though. Austen does a great job of making the context clear, and context is everything. |
Pride and Prejudice (Unabridged)
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This continues my interest in Austen. Of course this book is made a bit difficult by the numerous film and TV adaptations, which kind of leaves lots of pictures in my head which don't always match the book. Any way, a solid Austen book about love, hidden secrets, and sudden endings (kind of standard). |
Titan (Unabridged)
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More of the same from Bova: space industry, big business, politics, the right wing religious nuts. I love it! Very well read by a cast of talented artists. |
The Kite Runner (Unabridged)
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This book got a lot of press I guess because of the war situation, but it isn't about the current war at all but rather the Russian invasion of Afghanistan and the displacement that caused. That is the setting, but the story is about a boy, Amir, who's father is a rich businessman, and his friend Hassan, who is the son of a family servant. Anastasia, my daughter, read this book along with me, and we both had a lot of difficulty with the first half of the book, because we just found it really easy to hate Amir. Knowing this is setting the reader up for some big surprise didn't make it much better. We both were doubtful the author could pull off the big change, and I really don't think he did. I found the characters hard to like and difficult to relate to, but the story was very rich and well worth the reading.
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The Protector (Unabridged)
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Not having read Niven for about 15 years, I was very happy to get back to his hard science fiction style. This book, about an alien finding his way to our solar system starts out sounding like it can't really go anywhere, but Niven doesn't really tell that story. Rather, the Protector tells the story of evolution on a grand scale. Cool stuff with lots of speculative science and a great intersteller chase scene--of course it takes place at a REALLY slow pace. |
Free Culture: The Nature and Future of Creativity
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Lessing does a good job of making this book an introduction to what copyright is all about. At times, however, I feel like things are made too simple and lack real details. More a conceptual approach, this book quickly moves into criticism of social trends leading to a lockdown of American culture. What makes the book rise above simple criticism is Lessing's honesty about his own role in the social process (rather than blowing his own horn, Lessing is very critical of his own actions). Overall, a very thoughtful book. |
The Google Story: Inside the Hottest Business, Media, and Technology Success of Our Time (Unabridged)
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A good introduction to Google, which tends to be hard to get information about. Most of the book focuses on the two founders, Brin and Page. The business info is not really deep and overall, the authors praise the Google founders to no end. I guess there is just not enough time to get perspective on the company nor to see the social/market context, but hay, it is an up-to-date kind of thing. |
The Last Voyage of Columbus: Being the Epic Tale of the Graet Captain's Fourth Expedition, Including Accounts of Swordfight, Mutiny, Shipwreck, Gold, War, Hurricane, and Discover
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A good history about Columbus at the end of his career. This is very well written, and as the subtitle shows, lots of interesting stuff happened on that last voyage. Dugard paints Columbus as an expert seaman, but his mission of finding the passage to China was simply wrong. I liked all the details of the voyage, with lots of attention to the interaction with local indians. |
Errand of Vengeance
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A Klingon agent on the Enterprise lets us see events from the perspective of an ensign, rather than from the Captain's seat. Cool stuff. |
Elizabeth
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Centering on the early life of Elizabeth, Starkey asserts that the political situations surround the young Elizabeth all had formative influences on her. There is a lot here I didn't realize about what a huge social change the reformation was and how much it was really about transferring power to the people, including the emphasis on having bibles that could be read by anyone and church service in the local language. |
Paladin of Souls
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Lois McMaster Bujold is very strong in character development, and this book, a sequel to Curse of Chalion, has lots of great characters. What I really liked was the the main characters were all real adults, even a bit on the old side, experienced and tired of life. Although lots of characterization sounds like it might be boring, this book has lots of solid action, with some of the best descriptions of hand-to-hand combat I've read. |
Born Losers: A History of Failure in America
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Reading this now. I've been reading a few books about the early development of capitalism in America, with Land of Desire (William Leach), Birth of a Salesman: The Transformation of Selling in America (Walter Friedman), and this book fits right in. |
Pattern Recognition
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After enjoying Neal Stephenson's cyberpunk novels so much, I wanted to try the original originator of the genre but with a more recent book. To my great surprise, Pattern Recognition centers on marketing. A mystery story with lots of stuff about marketing, selling, buying, branding, wow--very cool. I could even make this an extra reading for marketing students since it technically is very right on and it has a very exciting plot. Things never get totally out of hand--no big killings, explosions or world threat. I appreciate that. |
Love Wife
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This is a book I expected to hate. A story involving a mixed American/Chinese family with adopted children from China, sounds like it will be full of stereotypes. Well, I guess that is true, but the great attention to detail in this book, as well as very good experience of Chinese culture on the part of the author, really touched me. While my family situation details are not similar to the family in the book, many of the issues they face in trying to combine these two very different cultures I do deal with every day. Overall a very well written book that my daughter loved too! |
Star Trek Ishmael
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Another Star Trek book. Getting Spock back into late 19th century Earth was cool, since I'm doing a lot of reading about that time. An entertaining book that is more about the North West then the Federation. Some good writing and research on the part of the author gives the book an authentic feeling (strange for Star Trek). |
Conspiracy of Fools: A True Story (Unabridged)
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What I expected to be a dry list of facts is rather an exciting story that includes both office politics while not skipping any of the financial, marketing, and strategy details. What I love most is how Eichenwald just lays out the reality that no one at Enron (and I think most companies) ever thought it was important to actually know the details of what they were doing, or ask someone who actually had 'real' experience. From the start, this is true. The best example is the company's name, with millions paid to a consulting company, and three months, the name Enteron was invented and trademarked. So many 'smart' people thought this was just great, but no one bothered to check the dictionary. From Wikipedia: "Initially, the company was to be named Enteron, chosen for the positive connotations of "enter" and "on," but when it was pointed out that the term meant "intestine" (which had other connotations for a natural gas company) it was quickly shortened." That sums it up so well. This book should be required reading in all MBA programs--ESPECIALLY at the 'top' schools. |
The
Case of the Colonist's Corpse
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Can't go too long without a Star Trek book, and this one is a bit different. Structured around a murder and the ensuing court case, this book only has Captain Kirk making a short appearance. A well written book by this team of authors from whom I hope to see more in the future. |
Sense and Sensibility
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At the start, or at least through the first half, I was really getting into this book. After Emma, I was interested in Austen's work but this only carried me so far. The complexity of the whole thing I think requires another go, but at this point I was getting tired out by the end. At times I feel Austen is so astute and makes such commentary on the social classes, but then at other times I feel this is all such silly fluffy stuff that it seems a total waste. |
The Secret Life of Germs
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More of my SARS research. This book got me carrying around disinfectant and wearing my SARS mask on the train! A good overview of the importance and dangers of germs from a medical perspective. Tierno also presents his dislike for companies that accept 'low' level risks for their big profits, while the rest of us suffer. The best example is Toxic Shock Syndrome, a medical mystery which Tierno was the first solve and about which he clearly still has a bitter attitude. |
The Precipice, The Rock Rats, The Silent War
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Not the best at characterization Bova here does at least have good science. The bad guys are really bad and the good really good and the story a bit weak, but I liked it any way (I've run into my share of bad guys who are really bad to buy into the story). The first book was the strongest, with the other two books spending way too much time reviewing what happened previously (there should be a law against that). |
Inventing a Nation
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I liked Vidal's book The Golden Age enough to try some of his history. This book is recent and seems built up from the extensive work he has done on the early Republic and its leaders. Again, Vidal makes nearly every other sentence cynical or ironic, or smartalecky. At first this put me off, but after a few chapter I got used to it. There is not really much here I didn't already know, as this book is kind of an introduction to the founding fathers (centering on Washington, Madison, and Jefferson). It is clear that Vidal stands in awe of these figures, even as he exposes their very human failings and contradictions. Hamilton gets a lot of coverage (mostly in his role as a British spy), and this has gotten my interest enough to consider looking into a book just on this topic. Vidal on the one hand makes clear Hamilton's founding of the American economy, but of course to Vidal this is not such a good thing. |
The Golden Age
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This is my first Vidal book and by the end I liked it. Vidal does history very well, seeming to get his facts all right while inserting fictional characters, including himself. This story really covers the social scene in Washington D.C. from just before WWII to the late 1950s. What I don't like is the cynical criticism of everything. Political leaders who are populist are portrayed as stupid and in need of visionary and intelligent leadership, while elite leaders are discounted from the population and do things totally in their own interest while fooling everyone else. I don't quite know what the resulting point is. Of course Vidal's point is that America's democracy was lost to a ruling class. This was a great book to follow on after Truman, since the time frame is exactly the same. |
Birth of a Salesman: The Transformation of Selling in America
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An outstanding review of the development of the door-to-door sales force in America. This book gives great context to the retailing market we have today by looking at how modern sales techniques grew with the American economy. Rather than ideas of "modern," Friedman is very good at showing how retailing channels change to fit the context of the times--a perspective I like very much and that I include in my own research. |
How Customers Think
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Zaltman presents marketing research on the metaphor use in consumer psychology. This is a very good direction and highly related to my own research. I very much like how Zaltman brings in many different research areas, such as anthology while playing down the quantitative traditional approaches of marketers, especially in surveying. What I don't like is the constant plugging of Zaltman's own "Registered and Copyrighted" research approach. I was under the impression that research methods should be open so that we can all use them an improve on them. So, once again a marketing researcher who is actually more interested in marketing himself then in actual advancement of the marketing field. Also, lots of what Zaltman seems very gogogaga over, and of course claims he has seemed to uncover, is nothing new. The idea that business owners need to actually use their own products, hang out with people who use them and understand the values their products represent . . . well I thought that was common sense! Okay, at least it is a break from the million get rich quick books that give easy formulas for business success. I just wish there was more (by the the way, Zaltman has published little in the research literature on the methods mentioned here--metaphor elicitation). |
Caraline
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I let my daughter pick any ebook to get started on, and we would both read it, so she found this one. After I turned on my palm and started in, I realized this is Neil Gainman (American Gods) who writes some strange stuff, but good strange stuff. Caraline is just that, good and strange. Winner of a Hugo, this story is hard to stop, but my daughter found it a bit too scary. I think that is mostly because she is afraid of what might come out in the next page, rather than what actually is in the book. The illustrations go far in creating that feeling. |
Journal of the Plague Year
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Although fiction, Defoe investigated the facts of the 1665 London plague and wrote this story as if from a first person perspective. As part of my research on SARS, I found this story to be very interesting. Many details are covered, from macro economic impacts to the very detailed descriptions of individuals trying to cope with the epidemic. What I got out of this book was how universal human response is to an epidemic. The very issues Defoe struggles with, such as "locking up house" were just as controversial during the SARS outbreak in Taiwan (now called quarantine). |
Reefer Madness: Sex, Drugs, and Cheap Labor
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This book does not live up to the standard Schlosser set in Fast Food Nation, which I read last year. Made up of three essays, one on Marijuana one on illegal immigrant labor, and one on the porn industry. The premise of the book is that Schlosser will describe the underground economy of which these three topics play a major role. But the essays actually tell nothing about economics and right away get into political topics on which Schlosser is not at all shy in stating is own preference. In each topic, Schlosser actually uses one or two case studies, but the overall point of these case studies is not at all clear. By far, the most interesting topic is the porn industry, if only because this topic is just not covered much. Rather than an economic study, it should be relabeled a history of the porn industry. Even here, though, the material is not really a complete history, but rather a couple cases that Schlosser has followed up on, and the central topic is the government's war against porn producers. Schlosser's own reading is also uninspiring, but I think that is really just a result of material that is neither academically rigorous nor exciting or relevant as investigative reporting (which is what Schlosser is really aiming at). |
Truman
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This book is over one thousand pages long while the audio is fifty-three hours long. The reason quite simply is that McCullough goes into great detail, often week-by-week and day-by-day. What is amazing is that it never gets boring! McCullough has emphasized Truman's own perspective, totally cutting out the middleman. There was a lot here I never really understood well, especially the importance of Truman as the paradigm for the second half of the 20th century was forming. |
Curse of Chalion
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Like Le Guin, Bujold works well both in science fiction and fantasy genres. Bujold's Vorkosigan Saga books are high science fiction with a big emphasis on characterization--the hero of those books is only four feet tall and has brittle bones. After reading this book though, I find I like her fantasy much better. The Curse of Chalion does have good and evil in it, but the main emphasis is on how the characters choose to act. There are no armies of bad orcs, who just kill and burn because of their nature, bur rather the book is full of people trying to make decisions on limited information and uncertain outcomes. Few characters enter the story without being fleshed out in detail, giving the reader a real feeling for the complexity of the Chalion world. |
Chain of Command
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Chilling! |
The Jane Austen Book Club
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A story of a book club that only reads Jane Austen's novels, Fowler's book turns out to be very enjoyable. I had a very strong feeling when finished that this book needs a number of readings along with re-readings of the Austen books, which are represented one for each chapter. In addition to changing the Austen novel each chapter, Fowler chooses a different person in the club to focus on with scenes from the character's past. Clearly the overall emphasis on social interaction is very much like Austen's emphasis, but this book is of our time, and I found it very touching, making me often smile. Not a supper serious book with any action, but rather a story of normality. |
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Foundation's Chaos (Second Foundation Series #2)
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The second book in the post-Asimov foundation series is by one of my favorite SF authors--Greg Bear. This book picks up after Gregory Benford's Foundation's Fear, but does not come chronologically right after the end of that book. Rather, what has been done in this new series is that spots not filled out by Asimov are now filled in, so Benford's work takes place just as the main character, Hari Seldon, takes the post of First Ministership, while Bear's book takes place after that time and what we were left to think was the decline and death of Seldon (that impression made in Asimov's Forward Foundation. Bear is really great at picking up a genre that is not his own (as I liked in his Star Trek and Star Wars novels). Foundation and Chaos is more like Asimov's style than Benford's, but Bear still manages to fill out some details not covered before, especially about political strive among the robots. The idea that the robots have differing opinions and political groups working against each other is really amazing. Loved it all. |
Speed of Sound: Hollywood and the Talkie Revolution 1926-1930
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A history of the transition from silent cinema to sound, this book was much better than I expected, mostly because Eyman spends a lot of time on the technical details, which of course I enjoy. My work in film/video production from the time I was a teen to the digital technology I use no for my class Websites, make me very aware of the most complex and troublesome of issues--synchronization. Eyman's book does of course go into the personalities of the transition, from the movie Mongols like Fox and the Warner brothers, but the book never sinks into gossip. I was most impressed with Eyman's grasp and appreciation of the film art form and how that was forever lost, replaced with talking that often explains rather than do. That criticism is true right up to today's Hollywood movies that spend so much of their time explaining! |
Minority Report and Other Stories
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This book brings together a number of Philp K. Dick's short stories. They are all good, but none of them are great. It is a great contrast to compare the hard-boiled approach of Dick with that of Heinline in The Puppet Master that I am reading now. Heilein is simply a better writer and uses many technology-based devices that can hold up decades later, but Dick's work feels stuck in the past. |
Children of the Mind
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This is the fourth and last Ender Series book. This may be the weakest of all the Ender books. I really hate using up a major part of a book to cover the details from earlier books in a series. Maybe this book wants to get readers in airports, but beside this group I don't know who would read this book without first reading at least the last book, and more likely all the Ender books. I was especially upset by this because the last book ended so abruptly and clearly was held up for this last book. |
Eragon
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I listened to this kids fantasy book with Anastasia. It was her first audio book and a good choice, since the narrator is very good and the story perfect for young people. Eragon has been hyped a bit since Paolini is just 17 years old, and to be honest, it looks like the publisher has decided this book will be a big commercial hit, no matter what. That turned me off a bit, but the book does seem to work. As a former D&D player, the book worked for me. Kind of a dumbed down Tolkien book; a book that can give you some detailed fantasy action. The story itself though, seems very much like a movie, rather than literature. It lacks the poetry of Tolkien and the deep meaning of Le Guin--both of which I have had a hard time to get the kids interested in, so maybe this book, and future Paolini books, is a good start. |
John Adams
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I got this book while in the U.S. for the 2001 summer after hearing McCullough speak about the book on NPR. I started the book, got busy, and put it down until this week. Once I got back to it, I couldn't stop! McCullough brings out much detail about Adams without ever bring boring. What contributes to this, in a large part, is the never ending emphasis McCullough puts on the importance of the FIRST democracy in the world--the newness of it, the rise of rationalism, the huge risk taken by the leaders, and the sacrifice of those, like Adams, who gave their lives for the development of this new country that they truly believed would lead the world with its new political concepts. Because of that overarching energy and admiration McCullough's book left me seeing Adams, and other Founding Fathers, as human, but devoted to an ideal--freedom and self-government. |
Timequake
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In the same vein as Breakfast of Champions, this book is even more personal for Vonnegut. The Timequake is our universe contracting ten years, and then expanding again, while everyone must relive ten years of life. The reliving of life, however, is Vonnegut himself as he and his alter ego, Kilgore Trout review the last 80 years in America. I think this book is best described as a Fellini movie in print. Vonnegut works magic with words, phrases, and paragraphs that just shouldn't work. Not a happy book, yet so profound as to leave me in a daze, just like I felt after first watching Marcello Mastroianni wander through 81/2. |
Foundation's Fear (Second Foundation Series #1)
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Most everyone agrees that Asimov's early writing was great fun, but I came to appreciate his later work on the foundation novels, especially Forward the Foundation, which I think is his best. Asimov moved beyond simply repeating earlier writing and brought a level of maturity, reflection, and even pessimism. Contributing to an existing universe is not easy, and as readers we feel most comfortable with repeats of existing variables in slightly new variations. If that is what you want, take a look at the Robot books, Caliban, Chimera, or Aurora, where the context and writing style is comfortably familiar. Benford's Foundation's Fear strikes off in a different direction, which I at first found difficult, but then greatly appreciated. Yes, the story does seem quite different, the inclusion of the Sims is strange, and yes Seldon is a different person. But the alternative is a stale repeat, ala Star Trek, where after reading 50 books you come away with nothing that you didn't already see TOS. Flushing out just how Seldon came to power as First Minister is very interesting, and the political instability of the Empire, only referenced previously, is here flushed out in full detail. I also appreciate that Benford has written this book for those who really have already the whole series of Foundation books. Foundation's Fear does not start out by keeping secrets and fitting in to series, but simply starts out from where we all left off; it is like Benford is saying, Okay, we read all that, we know all about the Foundation and Seldon, now let's move on. The Foundation is a richer place after finishing Benford's book, just keep an open mind and stick to it. |
The Birthday of the World: And Other Stories
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Le Guin fills out her Ekumen universe with six stories that are in the tradition of The Left Hand of Darkness--an almost anthropological approach. Sex roles play an important role in all the stories, which gives an interesting perspective on our current power structures in society. A great book. |
Xenocide
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I've been waiting a while to get this book because I liked the direction Scott took in Speaker for the Dead. With Xenocide, that direction continues with much less action and much more thought. Now, that said, the story does tackle a few too many issues. Overcoming a virus that can kill everything, okay, sure--standard sci-fi fare. Solving the problem of faster-than-light-travel, I guess I can buy that. Answering the meaning of life by uncovering the "true" religion, ENOUGH ALREADY! Xenocide contains a sub-plot on a planet with all Chinese, in a kind of neo-Confucian political system centered on a religious system not unlike the Taoism practiced in Taiwan. This is yet another book from a big author using Chinese Characters and settings--I guess it is a trend. Out of all I've seen so far, however, Card's treatment of Chinese is most shallow, coming off with very few redeeming values in the end. Also, the audio book readers always read the Chinese characters' dialogue with very cheap Chinese accents, reminding me of Hong Kong movies that show Westerners always speaking with really bad Chinese accents--really a bad move that only adds to the kind of stupid image imposed on the Chinese characters. I don't think this is Scott's intention, though. |
Sin and Syntax: How to Craft Wickedly Effective Prose
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This little book has a fun attitude toward grammar and the best part is how Hale shows good examples of how the rules can be used and effectively ignored. I read this while working on a big paper, and I think it has helped me to focus, especially on short clear sentences. |
Martian Time Slip
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This is my first Philip K. Dick book and I am looking for my next one already. A really good science fiction read that treats science a bit like Heinlein, which means it is very dated while also using some fifties-type conventions. But, like Heinlein, it is the psychological story that maters, and for Dick this is lots more psychology. The story centers on residents of Mars as they struggle to get and come across the natives' ability to move through time--with results that are not so good. |
The Fabric of the Cosmos: Space, Time, and the Texture of Reality
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The title of the book tells it all, really ALL (the audio book is over 22 hours long). Brian Greene covers everything related to the history and up-to-date developments is cosmology. The topic is very interesting to me, but I think it would be a bit slow for those really interested. This is not because of Greene's writing. He has a very easy to read style and lots and lots of examples. Not the kind of examples only students of physics can get either. For example, about half of his examples use characters and locations from the Simpsons, making understanding much easier. The only difficulty for me was that Greene loves the examples so much that he often has more than three analogies to make a point, and after going through them all, finally says something like, "if you still don't get just how important this is, I have not done my job well." If it was me, I would just hit the reader over the head and move on! |
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Star Trek: The Entropy Effect
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Bought a bunch of STOS books on sale at Palm eReader, they were going for like two dollars a book. McIntyre's book is not bad and attempts to bring a bit more science into the story than is often normal, although the science component of ST is standard. What is most interesting is that this book is from 1986, but it reads almost exactly like one of the many Voyager episodes that include time travel. The effect is well done here, but of course some questions never get answered well. While not a Greg Bear book as far as the tightness of the story and the science goes, it is good fun. |
DNA: The Secret of Life
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The man who discovered the structure of DNA covers the history of what is known about DNA as well as the future, at least a few small predictions. As part of my SARS research this book has been very helpful in understanding what viruses are made of (RNA) and how it is related to DNA. This is a very detailed book at times although never overly technical. |
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Mostly Harmless
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This is the fifth in the Hitchhiker 's Guide Series and the last. Read by Adams himself, the audio book is enjoyable, but very confusing--which I think is the point. I see from cruising the Web that everyone was most surprised by the sudden ending, not to mention it was not exactly ended on a high note. A sequel seems to be set up at the end, but with Adams early death, well the end really is the end. Too bad. |
The Diamond Age
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Reading more of Neal Stephenson, I moved on to what is a kind of follow up to snow crash . There is no continuation of the story here, but the approach is similar in the important role technology plays in the story (in this case that would be nano-technology). Stephenson brings the reader into a similar world as before where states have become fragmented into tribes, with the world dominated by three tribes, Nippon (Japanese), Han (Chinese), and New Atlantis (Neo-Victorian English). I found this to be great, since I am very interested in all three of these cultures. The story mostly centers on the Chinese and New Victorians, with the story taking place in costal China. I don't know how stephenson did it, but is portrayal of the Chinese is nearly right on (about 80% of the time), but to move his story ahead at times you get some Chinese characters occasionally say something like, "To be perfectly clear . . ." a statement that is kind of forced in order to move the plot forward. If you like any of these cultures and if high tech turns you on, this book is for you. The story has a little bit less of the action and attitude of Snow Crash, and I think it is better for that lack, but the story does tend to slow down at times and then jumps into really big scenes, like large battles, which can be a bit disconcerting. |
Ender's Shadow
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This is an interesting book that follows Ender's Game, and in fact tells the same story, only from another person's perspective (Bean). It seems really hard to write the same book twice and pull it off, and for this reason I really didn't like it. It may have been better to read this book first, and then read Ender's Game, but then the surprise ending would be ruined. Overall it seems like a way for the author to milk the genre he created. |
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Star Wars: Rogue Planet
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Being a big fan of Greg Bear I like to read is attempts at different sci-fi genres. I liked his Star Trek novel, so I thought Star Wars might be worth while, even though I don't really like Star Wars (or anything Lucas did after THX 1138). I read this on the plane flying to the USA, so it was a nice distraction. Bear brings a bit of nice characterization to the story, but Bears science is left behind, in favor of Star War's fantasy universe. |
The Earthsea Cycle
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I like Le Guin's science fiction so much, but I never really got into all her work until recently. When I found the Earthsea Cycle I wasn't real sure I would like it because I'm not a big fantasy reader. I'm glad I did get them because they are really very good. All the books are easy reads, and kids should be able to get a lot out of them also. I didn't like the lack of characterization which is usually very good in Le Guin's novels, with lots of dialogue. These are more descriptive generally and told from the perspective of a narrator, more like Lord of Rings, but without the details and poetry. |
Viruses, Plagues and History
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Part of my SARS research, this book has a great introduction to what viruses are and how they have played a role in modern history. This books starts out with viruses of the American Revolutionary War period and works up to AIDS. |
Whose Body? (A Lord Peter Wimsey Mystery)
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As a fan of British mystery writing I got onto this book because of the narrator! Hearing Nadia May's reading of The Dream of Reason impressed me so much I wanted to get another book she has read, thus I got a mystery and a great reading. The detective here, Lord Peter Wimsey, from the 1920s, is an interesting contrast between Sherlock Holmes the characters in Dick Francis' books. Sayers' detective is an upper class gentleman who has time on his hands and lowers himself to actually doing something--that being detective work. Like Holmes, Wimsey finds the whole activity a mental exercise, but unlike Holmes, Wimsey is lowering himself to deal with these issues (Holmes couldn't care less about the whole class system and moves easily in the streets and is often uncomfortable in dealing with the upper class). |
Dream of Reason: A History of Philosophy from the Greeks to the Renaissance
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At 16 hours of audio this was a long book but all I can say is WOW! Better than any university course, because most students wouldn't stand for a teacher covering so much and in such detail. Covering philosophy from early Greek to Galileo. Lots of the general points, the big names, I've heard, but Gottlieb has really taken a fresh look, and she often corrects earlier errors in translations. The additional benefit is a perfect narration by Nadia May. |
Undaunted Courage: Meriwether Lewis, Thomas Jefferson and the Opening of the American West (Unabridged)
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A nice history book that summarizes Lewis' notes on the exploration of the American West. Ambrose is a clean writer who stays on target and keeps the book moving without a lot of extra unrelated stuff (but that may be due to this audio book being abridged, although it was still over five hours). |
The Second Coming of Steve Jobs
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As you can see on my personal Website hobby page, I was an early adopter of Apple, with the Mac Plus. I was also one of the first to buy and use the Apple Newton PDA. But, that is not the reason I was interested in this book (I don't use any Apple hardware today). I love the story of Steve Jobs because it makes so many pop-business book writers and professors eat their words! Everyone was using Apple in the late 80s and early 90s as the archetype example of why firms need professional managers. Managers that don't really need to know anything about the specific product, but know how to run a business. This is part of the whole emphasis on strategy that grew our of Harvard Business School and didn't work very well in the Vietnam War! The fact is that managers need to not only know their business well, but they need to be passionate about it and be very close to the consumers who will buy and use the company's output. The idea of making a strategy-based business plan and that will then lead to success makes for books that sell well, but is total trash in the real business world. Strategic thinking is about having a great product that satisfies a need of consumers (as Steve Jobs would say, "insanely great"). This book shows these characteristics in Steve Jobs, but without praising him as if some god from Mount Olympus. Well written, with a bit of a negative emphasis (the personality thing). |
The Price of Loyalty: George W. Bush, the White House,
and the Education of Paul O'Neill
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This is the book Bushwhacked was not. Lots of detail
from the inside of Bush's cabinet meetings. The Price of Loyalty covers O'Neill's
entry and exit from the Bush administration. This really gave me a clear picture of just how out of control the Bush administration has been. It seems that even just two weeks into the new administration, maps of Iraq were out along with clear markings of oils fields. Susking'swriting is very clear, and he makes the book read like a work of fiction but the scary part is it is all true. Here is a man who has served in the U.S. government and was a "real" CEO, and was 65 years old upon being asked to serve in the Treasury Department yet Bush calls O'Neill, and other cabinet membrs, by made up nick names! Sounds like a great place to work, just like back home in Texas! |
Cat's Cradle
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A very strong start--the end of the world, is typical of Vonnegut's strong starts. This book is a comment on science and the scientist who divorce themselves of any ethical responsibilities. The characters of this book are almost like people in a circus, which is kind of the point. |
Slaughterhouse-Five or The Children's
Crusade: A Duty Dance with Death (Unabridged)
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In
high school I read this book along with some other Vonnegut. My friend
Nick recently mentioned that he just read it and so I got interested
again. This time I listened to it, read by Ethan Hawke, and was very
impressed. This is one of those great books that seems to have a clear
statement (anti-war) and yet upon closer examination are not so simple.
The main character slips through many different times of his life including
World War II. With no linear structure on the surface the book ends
up building slowly to a big climax. How does that work? Only Vonnegut
knows--a true master of the story. Listen to Vonnegut himself read one of the best passages in the book. |
Bushwhacked: Life in George W. Bush's
America (Unabridged)
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As
the American presidential election heats up I've gotten a bit interested
in learning more about the Bush administration. Since I've been in Taiwan
politics has not interested me in the way it did when I was in the U.S.
The issues of the government becoming more extreme in ideology and the
war in Iraq have really made me wonder what the whole story is. This
book gave me a lot of information about Bush's past and especially things like his failed businesses and how his family political connections are
what his success is based on. The information aligns well with the Bush
we often see, who seems to not have any education at all. The whole build
up to the war was full of Bush saying just really stupid things about
the Middle East and showed a total lack of historical context. Well,
we can't expect everything from one person I guess, but the problem is,
as this book shows, Bush does not seek any input from people who do know.
He simply looks for those who hold an ideology even more extreme than
his. |
Time Enough for Love: The Lives of Lazarus
Long (Unabridged)
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This was a long book with many small stories strung together.
It all centers around Lazarus Long who has lived for a thousand years.
In this book you get a very clear picture of Heinlein's social criticisms
and how he sees what the world should be like. That is all very good,
but at times it gets a bit long-winded. This may in part be due to the
book being written in the 1950-60s, thus the social setting much more
"conservative" so Heinlein spends a lot of time attacking those
social behaviors. All the emphasis on open sex is a good example. This
leads to the main problem I have with Heinlein's future history books
in general, that is they tend to center on a main character who is long
winded on social commentary but seems to have zero social productivity.
What exactly is it that Lazarus Long does? He has access to spacecraft
and powerful computers, but it seems he knows nothing about them, preferring
to know how to repair automobiles. Well, after all, every few pages have
a great sentence and occasionally a whole chapter is very tightly written
and a joy to read. The book's ending, about the last third, is very good. |
Deadly Feasts:
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This book is a bit of a scare reading, (the sky is falling syndrome), warning that the Mad Cow epidemic has already spread to all farm animals and will take a huge toll on humans in the next ten year. I did not really like that aspect of the book so much, but from the very start of the book Rhodes showed a documentation style that I did enjoy very much and which links with my own general interest in research and publishing. Rhodes starts by finding the early and divergent research strands, and the researchers doing the work, that are all related to what has become known as Mad Cow disease. The competition for publishing, even targeting the Nobel Prize, are all central stage as are the details of how research designs were undertaken in order to discover a disease mechanism that takes years, and decades, to exhibit symptoms. Multiple scientific areas, including general medicine, virus research, anthropology, and even mathematics and chemistry all have played a role in finding out what causes this disease. In the last third of the book, the UK government's involvement makes it clear how huge the errors of the incompetent government's scientific panels were and lead to what amounted to a cover up which put beef eaters at risk for over ten years. |
The Golden Age:
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Set 10,000 years in the future, a utopian society is described by Wright that includes many social levels and lots of commercialism. Wright describes a cyber-world where social movements split into numerous levels of acceptance of technology that includes placing one's mind in a computer and living life completely through cyber-experiences. The technology descriptions are great and remind me of the first time I ever read Arthur C. Clarke's work. Wright steps much farther into the future, making the technology more like Greg Bear's writing, but Wright doesn't just stop there, he goes WAY into the future. The basic story, of Phaethon, leads us to question just how perfect this utopia is. Just the kind of story I like. |
The Last Lone Inventor:
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Even though I took a degree in video art, I did not know much about television's invention. This book goes far to make up for that lack. It is a great history of the broadcast industry, while also supplying a good historical context. Schwartz starts out a bit harsh and seems to want to make a little man versus big corporation story, but by the end he is much more even handed. The story of Philo T. Farnsworth and how he lost his invention of television comes out as a story of a man who is a genius but doesn't have a solid grasp of the real world of business and politics. This is a great book to read in place of any self-improvement or get rich quick business book. People like these are who drive innovation today at companies, not the CEOs who take the credit and the publish a book to put another lie over on the public! |
The Dispossessed
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I would have loved this book in high school since it definitely has a radical tilt. The story is of two planets (the people on each see the other as a moon). Shevek, a brilliant physicist is dissatisfied with his home government on Anarres, which is really no government at all, but a utopian anarchic social organization. The people on Anarres originally left their other planet, Urras, after a revolutionary movement against a form of capitalism. Shevek finds flaws in his home worlds socialistic order and expects to find something better in the still capitalistic world of Urras, but when he gets to Urras, he is surprised to find a class system that dispossess huge numbers of its own citizens, while an elite group have the good life. Sounds familiar. Once again, I love LeGuin's world view. On both planets life is dirty,
with man screwing up nearly everything he does! Shevek's bumping from
event to event is also very much LeGuin's style of throwing away any
illusions about control. A very good book. |
The Lathe of Heaven
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Read this first when I was in my last year of high school and
remember being very impressed. The idea that George Orr's dreams can change
reality is solid science fiction, but what I really liked about the story
was the dark setting of the future. A future man has totally screwed up
with pollution, racism, bad government, you name it. What's worse than
all that? Even worse is trying to, and having the power to, change it.
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An Hour Before Daylight: Memories of a
Rural Boyhood
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I've always liked Jimmy Carter and admire the work he has done.
This book gives a great insight into the young life of President Carter.
I especially liked getting the first hand account of life before and during
the Depression. It is so different to get this kind of account than the
dry textbook account of macro economics and market situations. A well
written book,this could also be a great introduction for those looking
to understand historical trends in American culture. |
The Collected Stories of Arthur C. Clarke: 1937-1999
(Unabridged Selections)
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Clarke has been my favorite science fiction (SF) author since
about the time I was twelve years old. I've read most of his books, but
this collection is his short stories, starting back in the 1940s. A perfect
format for listening in the car while commuting. |
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Darwin's Radio, Darwin's Children
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I read this just before SARS broke out. With his very detailed science, Bear scared me real good. The mixing of science, mystery and academics is just what I picture my boring life being.
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Reagan's War
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Reagan is the American president I admire very much, although many of the innovations in political campaigning and administration that were developed during his time have come to be abused by politicians. I find Reagan's life most interesting, and one the main points of interest is his single mindedness in confronting the Soviet Union and restoring US confidence in world affairs. While I would agree that many of his domestic policies can be debated, he was part of the resurgence of capitalism in the West, he rode that wave for all it was worth. But the Soviet threat was totally his own issue that he stuck with since the 1950s. I don't have any time for apologists for the communist. While millions were executed and the intellectual class sent to prison camps, liberal Americans like to compare one or two small cases of injustice to justify a kind of equality of injustice between all government systems. This book sets the facts straight by looking in KGB files from the Cold War showing clearly how the Soviet dictatorship planned to dominate world politics through military power. There was not before or since, a politician with the moral determination to the right thing in the face of so much opposition. This man single handedly ended the threat of the Cold War. The world we live in not is not a very safe place, for sure, but at least we don’t live under the threat of Soviet domination and not all of our political decisions are twisted by the Cold War. |
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