My former "serious" reading list

My former "serious" reading list

This is a list of "serious" books I've read and the one paragraph descriptions of them I made while they were on my current reading list.

Language in Thought and Action, by S.I. Hayakawa
Conscientious Objections, by Neal Postman
Rise of the Creative Class, by Richard Florida
Managing in a Time of Great Change, by Peter Drucker
A Walk in the Woods, by Bill Bryson
Reading the Vampire Slayer, ed. Roz Kaveney
The Geography of Nowhere, by James Kunstler (Aug 2002)
Cultivating Communities of Practice, by Etienner Wenger, et al. (Aug 2002)
Pillar of Fire, by Taylor Branch
The Billion-Dollar Molecule, by Barry Werth
The User Illusion, by Tor Norretranders
The Leap, by Tom Ashbrook
High Stakes, No Prisoners, by Charles Ferguson
Crypto Anarchy, Cyberstates and Pirate Utopias, edited by Peter Ludlow
Leadership Ensemble, by Harvey Seifter
From Alchemy to IPO, by Cynthia Robbins-Roth
The Complete Guide to High-End Audio, by Robert Harley
Home Theater for Everyone, by Robert Harley
Naturalist, by E.O. Wilson
The Man Who Only Loved Numbers, by Paul Hoffman
Hardball, by Christopher Matthews
The Spirit of Community, by Amitai Etzioni
Toxic Sludge is Good for You!, by John Stauber and Sheldon Rampton
The Accidental Asian, by Eric Liu
The Future of Ideas, by Lawrence Lessig
Data Smog, by David Shenk
Peopleware, by Tom DeMarco
Why does software cost so much?, by Tom DeMarco
Rapid Development, by Steve McConnell
Writing Solid Code, by Steve Maguire
The Pragmatic Programmer: From Journeyman to Master, by Andrew Hunt and David Thomas
Code and Other Laws of Cyberspace, by Lawrence Lessig
Newjack - Guarding Sing Sing, by Ted Conover
The Corner, by David Simon
Life the Movie: How Entertainment Conquered Reality, by Neal Gabler
The Social Life of Information, by John Seely Brown and Paul Duguid
Chasing Che, by Patrick Symmes
Parting the Waters, by Taylor Branch
Homicide, by David Simon
Chickenhawk, by Robert Mason
The Tipping Point, by Malcolm Gladwell
Power and Prosperity, by Mancur Olson
The New New Thing, by Michael Lewis
Science in Action, by Bruno Latour
The Invisible Computer, by Donald Norman
How We Believe, by Michael Shermer
Sorting Things Out, by Bowker and Star
Designing Web Usability, by Jakob Nielsen
Serious Play, by Michael Schrage
The Gift - Imagination and the Erotic Life of Property, by Lewis Hyde
Trickster Makes This World, by Lewis Hyde
Dealers of Lightning, by Michael Hiltzik
Hamlet on the Holodeck, by Janet Murray
Information Architects, by Richard Saul Wurman
The Art of the Motorcycle, Guggenheim Museum
Virtuous Reality, by Jon Katz
One up on Wall Street, and Beating the Street, by Peter Lynch
Active Faith, by Ralph Reed
Where Wizards Stay Up Late, by Katie Hafner and Matthew Lyon
Trail Fever, by Michael Lewis
Toxic Psychiatry, by Peter Breggin
Does God Play Dice?, by Ian Stewart
Out of Control, by Kevin Kelly
The Power Game: How Washington Works, by Hedrick Smith
News and the Culture of Lying, by Paul Weaver
Breaking the News, by James Fallows
King Jesus, by Robert Graves
The Quark and the Jaguar, by Murray Gell-mann
Straight and Crooked Thinking, by Robert H. Thouless
Connections, by Lee Sproull and Sara Kiesler
Future Shock/The Third Wave/War and Anti-War, by Alvin/Heidi Toffler
Cyberspace: First Steps, ed. Michael Benedikt
The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers, by Paul Kennedy
Preparing for the Twenty-first Century, by Paul Kennedy

Books I started at one point but never finished

Law and Revolution: The Formation of the Western Legal Tradition, by Harold J. Berman
Guns, Germs and Steel, by Jared Diamond
The Third Culture: Beyond the Scientific Revolution, by John Brockman
The Passion of the Western Mind, by Richard Tarnas
Sons of the Profits, by William C. Speidel

A Walk in the Woods, by Bill Bryson
(Sept 2002) A friend at work had this book sitting on his desk, recounting Bryson's experience on the Appalachian Trail (my friend has actually hiked the whole thing, all 2200 miles of it). Knowing basically nothing about the AT, I borrowed and read it. Very light reading. Pretty entertaining - Bryson was a writer who somehow talked himself into doing the AT, despite having no experience and no training for it. He made it further than I thought he would, with lots of amusing anecdotes, and a little bit of the history of the trail. Cute book, that's about it.
Reading the Vampire Slayer, ed. Roz Kaveney
(July 2002) A friend met Kaveney at a sci-fi convention, and upon hearing that she had edited a collection of essays of literary criticism on the show Buffy the Vampire Slayer, my friend knew that I had to read it. Very entertaining. It was amusing to see Buffy analyzed in this fashion, and I actually gained some insight into the series from the analysis, which is surprising, considering how much time I have spent watching and talking about it. Some of the essays got a bit thick for my taste, like the one claiming that the Buffy gang was a perfect example for the communist proletariat, but all in all, a fun read. I'm not sure I'd recommend it to anybody who hadn't seen all the episodes, though; without a thorough grounding in the series, many of the points will be less than clear.
Pillar of Fire, by Taylor Branch
(Aug 2002) The second book in the trilogy started by Parting the Waters, this covers the civil rights movement and Martin Luther King, Jr. from 1963-1965. I don't recommend this book as highly as Parting the Waters, mostly because because Branch is trying to cover so much ground that the sweep of the story is lost in the minutiae. Many interesting subplots are covered in the book, including the beginning of America's involvement in Vietnam, Kennedy's assassination, the passage of the Civil Rights bill, Malcolm X's separation from the Nation of Islam, and J. Edgar Hoover's clandestine war against MLK, but it does not all hang together as well as Parting the Waters did. Still good as a history book to learn about the era, although Branch has an annoying tendency to assume that his reader knows all about the events in question already, so spends his time filling in details while the ignorant reader like myself is trying to figure out what is going on. Not as good as a story.
The Billion-Dollar Molecule, by Barry Werth
(July 2002) An interesting account of Vertex, a start-up biotech company in the early 90's. Mostly interesting to me for being an insider's account of how another biotech company worked, so I can compare and contrast with my own experience at Signature.
The Leap, by Tom Ashbrook
High Stakes, No Prisoners, by Charles Ferguson
(May 2002) Both books about starting up a company in the gold rush days of the Internet (1994-1995). I wrote up a piece after reading these.
Crypto Anarchy, Cyberstates and Pirate Utopias, edited by Peter Ludlow
(Jan 2002) This is a collection of essays about how the Internet will support alternate communities, giving a chance for anarchists and outlaws to survive in an increasingly watchful society. Kinda the same idea as the Stainless Steel Rat. I didn't get a whole lot out of it, except possibly reinforcing some of my thoughts on virtual communities, and some history of LambdaMOO.
Leadership Ensemble, by Harvey Seifter
(Apr 2002) subtitled "Lessons in Collaborative Management from the World's Only Conductorless Orchestra". The orchestra in question is the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, whom I saw in San Francisco last December. I actually saw them by accident (I decided to go to the symphony on a whim, thinking that it was one program, and didn't check my ticket or the program until I was inside), and was really impressed. It was great to watch them all working together, taking cues from each other, instead of everybody just staring at the conductor.

So this book tries to take some of the lessons they've learned about how to get temperamental, highly-skilled-but-specialized workers to work together without a leader to impose order, and apply these lessons to the knowledge economy. Interesting idea. The book itself is somewhat less interesting - it breaks the "Orpheus Process" into eight principles, and spends a chapter on each principle with examples from their own history, and from other companies. With the principles being things like "Encourage individual responsibility", and "Foster horizontal teamwork", it's all a little bit too general to be really useful in my opinion. But the insight into how their orchestra actually functions was interesting. And their ideas are good, but it's difficult to see how to apply them unless you are starting a company from scratch with these principles in mind.

From Alchemy to IPO, by Cynthia Robbins-Roth
After seeing Robbins-Roth give an excellent presentation at a BioE2E event, I wanted to find out more about what she thought, so I read her book. Since I had already been at Signature for a year or so when I read it, a lot of the terminology was no longer new to me, but it is a good introduction to the field of biotechnology, with a little bit of history, and a good overview of the different fields within biotech, and how the industry functions. Good for the casual investor, or the newcomer to the field.
The Complete Guide to High-End Audio, by Robert Harley
Home Theater for Everyone, by Robert Harley
When I was thinking of buying a new stereo system, I polled my friends for advice, and one of them recommended these books as a good place to go for information on becoming an audiophile. After skimming through them, I realized I wasn't ready to care enough to be an audiophile yet, but they are great books if you are. They go into a lot of detail as to why you want things to be a certain way, which makes the engineer happy. Lots of useful tips for what to look for in your components and how to set up your system.
Naturalist, by E.O. Wilson
This autobiography by one of the best-known scientists of our time was something I picked up cheap at a used bookstore because many people respect him, but I knew nothing about him. It was a good read, detailing his life and how he got into entomology (he's one of the world's leading authorities on ants), and some of his adventures wandering in remote lands looking for new species of ants. I think the main thing I picked up from this book was the passion and dedication necessary to lead a leading life in science, something I never really felt about physics. Alas.
The Man Who Only Loved Numbers, by Paul Hoffman
A biography of Paul Erdos, one of the foremost mathematicians of the twentieth century. In fact, much like the the six degrees of Kevin Bacon, every mathematician has an Erdos number, where each link is a co-authorship of a paper. So somebody who published with Erdos has an Erdos number of one, etc. The highest knowing Erdos number for a mathematician working today is 7, which shows the vast number of papers that Erdos published.

His life was fascinating. He cared about nothing except mathematics. He needed people to take care of his most basic needs. He had no home, instead preferring to wander like a gypsy from one friend to another, stay with them long enough to figure out a problem (often leading to a paper), and then move on. The book does a good job of mixing in enough math to give you an idea of the vast breadth of problems that he worked on, but not so much as to overwhelm the average technical reader. Interesting read.

Hardball, by Christopher Matthews
Subtitled "How Politics is played, told by one who knows the game", this book covers many of the strategies used by the wheelers and dealers in Washington, D.C. According to the back cover, "In nearly a generation as a senatorial aide, a presidential speech writer, and righthand man to Speaker of the House Tip O'Neill, Christopher Matthews has seen political "hardball" played by the great politicians from Sam Rayburn to Ronald Reagan." It's an interesting study of how business actually gets done, and provides several insights into how to apply such tactics in your own business dealings.

One cute anecdote from the book was a story of how LBJ, when he first arrived in DC as a secretary to a Congressman, was housed in a dormitory with all the other secretaries. His first week in the dormitory, he would take a shower every ten minutes for an hour, traipsing up and down the corridor to the communal bathroom. Why? To meet as many of his compatriots as possible in as short a time as possible. Apparently, it worked - "Within three months of arriving in Washington, the newcomer got himself elected Speaker of the "Little Congress", the organization of all House staff assistants...proving that getting ahead is just a matter of getting to know people."

The Spirit of Community, by Amitai Etzioni
Picked this book up on a whim for $2 at a booksale. Etzioni is a political science professor who started the Communitarian movement, designed to re-emphasize the community over the individual in our society. He feels that the rights of the individual have gotten too powerful within the United States, to the point where individuals can disrupt their communities legally. He proposes putting the interests of the community explicitly back into the picture. It's an interesting concept, and he has a lot of good ideas as to how to balance the interests of the community versus the individual, from re-designing the physical layout of our communities, how to instill community values at our schools, etc.

While I'm entirely sympathetic to his goals since I strongly believe that no rights come without responsibilities and get annoyed when people free-ride or otherwise abuse their position within a community, I think his formulation is a bit idealistic. Individual rights are easy to define. Community rights are difficult, because you quickly fall into the trap of choosing who represents the community, and unless people are all perfectly loyal to the community, it can quickly degrade into people confusing their interests with those of the community.

The ideas in the book have a new relevance, though, in light of the events of 9/11. It is clear that people are willing to sacrifice some of their rights for the sake of security. Where do we stop along the slippery slope (a term he mocks in the book) before landing in a state of martial law? He proposes some "common sense" ideas for finding balance between the rights of the individual and the community. Certainly an interesting topic for further thought.

Toxic Sludge is Good for You!, by John Stauber and Sheldon Rampton
An indictment of the PR industry, and the many tactics they use to influence lawmakers and voters to advance the interests of the companies they represent.
The Accidental Asian, by Eric Liu
This book by a second generation Chinese American is a really interesting read for those of us with Asian backgrounds. Liu has had a successful career by American standards, serving as a speechwriter to Clinton among other things, but struggles with feelings that he has somehow betrayed his cultural heritage by becoming so assimilated into America. This series of essays is a chance to reflect on the path not taken, on how he could have been more "true" to his Asian-ness, etc. I'd highly recommend this book to most Asian Americans, and anybody else interested in the struggles of actually being in the melting pot of America.
The Future of Ideas, by Lawrence Lessig
(Jan 2002) After reading Code and Other Laws of Cyberspace, I was a big fan of Lessig, so when his new book came out, I bought and read it almost immediately. Lessig uses this book to analyze how corporations are slowly fencing off intellectual property in a way that is antithetical to the original intent of copyright law. He feels strongly that the growing interpretation of intellectual property as _real_ property, unusable by anybody else without permission, is a dangerous misconception that will lead to the withering of innovation as we know it. He strongly believes that intellectual property should be left in the commons, as it was meant to, for others to build off of and innovate further from. As a result, Lessig launched the Creative Commons project, an effort to encourage more people to place their work into the public domain for others to use. The Future of Ideas is a thought-provoking work that raises many disturbing questions.
Data Smog, by David Shenk
(Oct 2000) Subtitled "Surviving the information glut", this book takes a step back from the overwhelming amounts of data that permeate our lives, and tries to figure out how we adapt to living in the information age. Shenk's main point is that we are getting to the point where we are letting our information control us (feeling the need to check our e-mail obsessively, always being on call via our cell-phone, etc.), instead of being in control of our lives. He advises thinking about what's truly important, and re-taking control of your life. Turn off the TV, restrict yourself to a few minutes online each day, simplify your life. Take the time you free up, and go talk to people, take a class, pick up a new hobby. Some good thoughts here, but I've completely failed to act upon them.
Peopleware, by Tom DeMarco
(Mar 2002) This book is outstanding. After reading Joel Spolsky's web site, and liking a lot of what he had to say about software and project management, I felt I had to check out his recommended booklist which is led by Peopleware. With chapters like "Nobody gets anything done between 9 and 5" and "Teamicide", DeMarco really zeroes in on several issues that prevent employees from being productive at work. As I was reading the book, I found myself seeing how these things happen at my own company, and how much they frustrated me. As soon as I finished the book, I picked out a couple key chapters and gave the book to my boss. We'll see if I ever get it back.
Why does software cost so much?, by Tom DeMarco
(Mar 2002) A collection of essays by DeMarco, covering a ridiculously wide range of topics. The ones about software project management are excellent, as would be expected after reading Peopleware. The ones about other topics, ranging from education to video inputs and outputs, are widely varying in quality.
Rapid Development, by Steve McConnell
(Jun 2002) Another book from Joel's book list, and that I'd seen on several people's shelves, but only picked up myself when I got dragged into being software coordinator for a project. It has a lot of good practical points to make about how to make your project succeed. What baffles me is how hard it is to convince management-type people of the wisdom of these points. Heck, the Mythical Man-Month is still one of the best books about software project management, despite being 30 years old, and it's because managers still haven't learned to avoid making the simple mistakes. It's immensely frustrating, especially when you can see it happening at your own company, and fight futilely against it. Anyway.
Writing Solid Code, by Steve Maguire
(Mar 2002) Writing good C code. Tips and tricks.
The Pragmatic Programmer: From Journeyman to Master, by Andrew Hunt and David Thomas
(Apr 2002) Writing good code. More tips and tricks.
Newjack - Guarding Sing Sing, by Ted Conover
I was skimming the Entertainment Weekly website, looking at what they had rated as the best movies and TV shows of 2000, when I saw this book rated as their #1 nonfiction book of the year. Ted Conover wanted to do an in-depth article on the world of corrections officers (aka prison guards), but was not given permission to interview them. So he signed up to become one.

Newjack recounts his time as a guard, through his training course (where he gets tear-gassed so he knows what it feels like), his first terrifying day on the cell block at Sing Sing, and his evolution over nine months into a competent guard, but different person. He describes the incredible stresses that guards are under at all times, and the warping effects those have on the rest of their lives. It's a sobering look at the environment that we subject 1.4 million of our citizens to.

The Corner, by David Simon
I bought this at the same time as I bought Homicide. The Corner is a similar book, chronicling the lives of people on an inner-city street corner over the course of a year as they struggle with the problems of drugs and crime.

It is often hard for those of us with suburban upbringings to understand why anyone would ever fall into the trap of drug addiction, and we tend to think of addicts as stupid and uncaring. Simon makes us meet these people as people, and understand the environment in which they live, and the pressures which have driven them into their addiction. The book also serves as a sobering and depressing reminder of the vast wealth of human potential that is being wasted each year in the inner city. Simon strongly criticizes the ineffectiveness and misguidedness of America's drug war policy, and in so doing, made me think about many issues I tend to try to ignore.

Life the Movie: How Entertainment Conquered Reality, by Neal Gabler
I heard Neal Gabler interviewed on NPR one morning while sitting in traffic, and the idea that we all conduct our lives as if we are starring on our own movie struck me as being powerful and accurate. I forgot all about it until I saw the book recently in a used bookstore and snapped it up. It ties into thoughts about self-stories and all that.

Gabler details a history of this century, through the prism of entertainment. By tracking the growing emphasis on entertainment in American society, Gabler presents a compelling story of how we have come to internalize the values of entertainment, to the point where we visualize ourselves on an internal screen. We have celebrities who are famous for being famous, in effect having turned their lives into movies for the voracious public. Gabler does not pass judgment on this society, instead preferring to describe it in an attempt to make clear the forces that are acting upon us in society today.

Chasing Che, by Patrick Symmes
(Finished: Aug. 16, 2000)
A total impulse buy at the bookstore. The subtitle is "A Motorcycle Journey in Search of the Guevara Legend". Even though I'm a sucker for motorcycle stories, and my knowledge of Che Guevara is zero except that his character has some pretty good songs in the musical Evita, there wasn't a lot to this book. Symmes re-traces a motorcycle journey that Guevara took in 1952, following a diary of the journey that Guevara wrote later in life. On this trip, Guevara was transformed from an aristocratic young man to the Communist revolutionary who would later help Fidel Castro conquer Cuba, and fight in revolutions in both Africa and South America. Unfortunately, there's not enough of the social context to really understand Che's journey, and Symmes's isn't that interesting. Okay as a South American travelogue I suppose, but nothing more.
Parting the Waters, by Taylor Branch
Subtitled America in the King Years 1954-63, this was recommended to me as a good introduction to the civil rights era of American History. This Pulitzer Prize winning book was partly a biography of Martin Luther King, Jr., but more of a history of the American civil rights movement, and the times in which he lived. It is the first book in a trilogy, the second book of which is Pillar of Fire, which is now waiting patiently on my bookshelf.

I am pretty ignorant of the civil rights movement, and, in fact, most of this era of America. My U.S. History course in high school ended just after World War II, as most do. And, of course, I didn't live through it. So much of this book was quite eye-opening. What was amazing to me was how committed these people were to their cause. The beatings and jailings they endured were stunningly recounted, and really brought home just what they were fighting for. The failure of the Kennedys to respond to King's pleas for help, the swirling politics of the day, the tension between the U.S. and state governments - all were vividly brought to life. Highly recommended to learn more about these times.

Homicide, by David Simon
David Simon spent a year following the homicide department of Baltimore as a journalist. He wrote the book Homicide to chronicle their tale, which he later expanded into a well-received television show. I really liked this book. The homicide department dealt with 234 murders in 1988, the year of this book, and solved approximately 75% of them. It's astonishing, considering the limited manpower, the number of cases where they have a body but no clues, etc. And it takes a very special kind of man to deal with the stresses of the job. Simon follows them as they go from crime scene, to office, to interrogating witnesses and suspects, to the morgue for the autopsy, back to the office, and sometimes, eventually, to court. Very cool stuff.
Chickenhawk, by Robert Mason
An account of helicopter warfare in the Vietnam war. I tossed it into my Amazon cart on a whim. Pretty interesting stuff about how hard it is to actually pilot a helicopter, and what it was like on a day-to-day basis in Vietnam. But nothing too earth-shattering.
The New New Thing, by Michael Lewis
I really liked Trail Fever, by Michael Lewis, so I picked up this book which talks about Jim Clark, former CEO of SGI and Netscape, and indirectly, the whole Silicon Valley phenomenon. Nothing too earth-shattering here, except the size of Clark's ego :). He apparently took Netscape public (the first IPO where the company was losing money) so that he could buy the biggest yacht in the world. He then designed the yacht so that it could be completely controlled by computer, with 24 SGI workstations on board. He's a total loon. But a very rich one. I probably wouldn't recommend this; there really wasn't anything of substance here.
Designing Web Usability, by Jakob Nielsen
Jakob Nielsen is one of the leading web design experts. Rather than asserting why one web design is better than another, he performs usability tests and quantifies the differences; for instance, one design allows people to perform their tasks 80% faster than the other. I have read his bi-weekly column faithfully since I found it, and so I bought his book immediately upon publication. Nothing too earth-shattering here, but it has many tips that web designers should be aware of. Of course, I ignore all of them so y'all will just have to suffer :)
Serious Play, by Michael Schrage
I saw Michael Schrage speak at a Media Lab seminar my senior year and was pretty impressed with what he had to say. So when I saw that he had written a book describing the advantages of rapid prototyping (a technique that comprises most of my current job), I went ahead and bought it. The book itself is definitely aimed more at the executive/MBA type person than the techie, and is more business-speaky than I'm comfortable with. But I like most of what he has to say: prototypes will tell you more than any amount of design, playing with your prototypes will teach you things you could not have learned any other way (hence the title, Serious Play), be aware of what possibilities you are ignoring - you often learn more about your company structure by seeing what scenarios are declared forbidden (his example is the Navy running war games where aircraft carriers were declared off limits as targets). Worth picking up to convince some business type that sometimes jumping in and building really is the right way to go.
Dealers of Lightning, by Michael Hiltzik
I'm most of the way through this at the moment. It's a history of the legendary Xerox PARC, the lab where the personal computer as we know it today was conceived, and built. The anecdotes are tremendously entertaining, and since PARC in the 1970's was one of the coolest places ever if you're a geek, this look at what happened there and the personalities involved is fascinating.
Hamlet on the Holodeck, by Janet Murray
This is an exploration of what the future may hold for computer-based narrative. Janet Murray is a professor at MIT, who works with the Media Lab and sees the latest in technology. Furthermore, she interacts with brilliant students who always have clever ideas to offer in such classes as Non-linear Fiction, a favorite of several friends of mine. While she doesn't have anything particularly new to offer, it's a nice summary of the current state-of-the-art in technologies ranging from video games to hypertext novels, while also tying it back to previous narrative forms such as the novel and cinema.
Information Architects, by Richard Saul Wurman
This is another book recommended on the rre mailing list by Phil Agre. It takes a look at how various designers have come up with forms that let us deal with a deluge of information. Ranging from the USA Today Weather page, to the new dinosaur exhibit at the Museum of Natural History, it shows how certain organizing principles can help us find the information we're looking for.
The Art of the Motorcycle, Guggenheim Museum
This exhibition was in Chicago when I was home for Christmas break.  It displays over 100 motorcycles dating from 1894 to 1998, most of which are masterpieces of design and aesthetics. The book has a 2 page spread on each motorcycle as well as several articles describing the peculiar fascination of people with motorcycles, including one by Hunter S. Thompson. It's a great coffee table book.
Virtuous Reality, by Jon Katz
Subtitled: How America Surrendered Discussion of Moral Values to Opportunists, Nitwits and Blockheads like William Bennett. Jon Katz is a web columnist, whom I used to read on a regular basis. When he published a book, I decided to pick it up. It's a pretty decent diatribe against the kneejerk reaction against the dangers of "the net". It's standard opinion of those who live and work online, but it's apparently fairly combative to those who don't. Not sure I'd recommend it, especially in hardcover, but I figured his cause was worth supporting.
One up on Wall Street, and Beating the Street, by Peter Lynch
Peter Lynch is the fantastically successful investor who turned the Fidelity Magellan Fund into a tremendous investment throughout the 80's. In these books, he shares some of his philosophies on picking stocks and how to invest. Some good investment sites are TD Waterhouse and E-Trade.
Active Faith, by Ralph Reed
Ralph Reed is the man who took the Christian Coalition from non-existence to a major player in the presidential sweepstakes in less than 10 years. Although I don't completely agree with his goals, I have to respect his political savvy so I read his book to find out how he accomplished them. As it turned out, it didn't have as much on that aspect as I was hoping to find - mostly emphasizing the grass roots campaigning and local politicking the CC did in order to gain experience to handle the hardball politics at the national level.
Where Wizards Stay Up Late, by Katie Hafner, and Matthew Lyon
The Origins of the Internet is the subtitle of this book. This is a story about the hardware hackers who built the routers and computers which lay under the original Arpanet which was the foundation of what became the Internet. This is sort of like a hardware companion volume to the ode to software hackers, Hackers by Steven Levy. Interesting read for a nerd like me.
Trail Fever, by Michael Lewis
Michael Lewis took on Wall St in his book, Liar's Poker, which I plan to read someday. Here he takes on the 1996 presidential campaign. In format, this is actually very similar to Hunter Thompson's book, Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72. Lewis just decided to hang out around the campaign for the year, not as an "official" journalist, but as an interested observer who happened to be taking notes for a book. The subtitle is great - "Spin doctors, rented strangers, thumb wrestlers, toe suckers, grizzly bears, and other creatures on the road to the White House."
Toxic Psychiatry, by Peter Breggin
I recently read this book, on Crusher's recommendation. It was possibly the scariest book I have read in quite some time. Breggin takes many of the claims made by the psychiatric establishment about the efficacy of their treatments, including electroshock therapy, lobotomy, andbiochemical drugs, ranging from lithium to Prozac, goes back to look at the original studies, and demonstrates that the studies' results were weakly supported at best. He also delves into some of the reasons why such brutal treatments are preferred by the psychiatric establishment. I won't deny that he is biased, but I think that he brings up many good points, and if you, or anybody close to you, is considering drug treatment to deal with a psychiatric problem, I would strongly recommend reading this book.
Does God Play Dice?, by Ian Stewart
Beemer recommended this to me as a good introduction to the field of complexity. I thought it was well-written, interesting, and provided a nice overview. So, yup, it is a good introduction :-).
Out of Control, by Kevin Kelly
This was an interesting book covering an enormous variety of material, generally centered around complexity issues. Kevin Kelly is an executive editor of Wired magazine, who spent 4 years talking to various researchers about their studies in the field of complexity. He espouses a less mechanistic, less control-oriented approach to various systems as a way of taking advantage of knowledge contained in the system. He draws heavily on biological analogies in making his points, but for the most part, I agreed with what he had to say. At the end, he even sums up the book by listing "Nine Laws of God" that anybody trying to design a system should pay attention to.
The Power Game: How Washington Works, by Hedrick Smith
I picked this up at the used bookstore since it was next to Hunter Thompson by some strange marking system. It turned out to be a fairly interesting book, written by the former Washington bureau chief of the New York Times. Smith discusses the various power games and strategies used during the Reagan years by congressmen, staff, lobbyists, etc in order to accomplish their goals. While the events in question are slightly dated, the strategies continue to be prevalent.
News and the Culture of Lying, by Paul Weaver
I read this book while I was at Stanford. It's a media insider's critique of the media industry. In particular, it focuses on how the industry, in its exuberant pursuit of ratings, falls prey to coloring the truth here and there in order to make better stories. The presentation of extreme viewpoints to promote the idea of conflict is just one of the many tactics that he describes that news outlets use to attract our attention. I really began to notice the media fog we live in after reading this book, and became much more cynical about my news - I'm not even capable of sitting through the evening news any more.
Breaking the News, by James Fallows
I read about this book in the paper I think. It's a critical look at the practice of journalism in today's society by a journalist. The subtitle is "How the media undermine American democracy". Interesting study of the media and its effects on our political system by one of its own.
King Jesus, by Robert Graves
Another friend of mine has gotten really into Robert Graves, and his work. I don't know much about him, but from what my friend has said, Graves is a very good historian who ties together lots of trends and facts of the period to make sense about several of the many myths that we have (such as the Christian myth in King Jesus). Myths are very powerful objects in my eyes, and I would love to have a better understanding of how they come about and/or gain power. I recently finished my copy of King Jesus and found it fascinating how many different myths/prophecies were interwoven and fulfilled. By no means does Graves "settle" the issue, but he certainly presents a plausible story of Christ's life. The White Goddess has also been recommended as a good book by Graves, but I have not found a copy of it yet.
The Quark and the Jaguar, by Murray Gell-mann
Reading the jacket, and from the reviews I've read, this is Gell-mann's account of how he went from studying the tiniest particles we know of (quarks) to the behavior of complex systesm (such as jaguars). Since I am currently working on the one end of that spectrum here at CERN, and am extremely interested in learning more about complexity since that area just seems neat to me, and to fit in better with the world I've seen than many simplistic scientific theories, this book sounded neat to me. It's a pity that Gell-mann can not simplify his writing a bit more though - I've been getting lost and having to think hard to figure out what he means, and I have more training in this area than most people I would guess. (6/25/95) Not very interesting overall - don't bother reading it since there are better books dealing with each individual area (particle physics (Search for Schrodinger's Cat, by John Gribbin) and complexity (Does God Play Dice?, by Ian Stewart)).
Coming of Age in America, by Edgar Z. Friedenberg
This is a sociological study conducted in the early 1960's looking at the attitudes and outlooks of high school students at that time. In particular, it focuses on the difference between what high school students learn in their classes and the attitudes impressed upon them by the system. Friedenburg seems to particularly worry about the effects on the democracy of the U.S. when the school system does not encourage the development of self-critical, thinking people.
Ghost in the Machine, by Arthur Koestler
I've actually been trying to get through this book for most of the year. It is split into 3 main sections, one attacking behaviorist psychology, one attacking simple Darwinian evolution, and one developing trends from the first two sections into a theory about the human mind. Fairly interesting stuff, but I got distracted by another book or two about halfway through and am only now just getting back to it.
Straight and Crooked Thinking, by Robert H. Thouless
I saw this on the display rack at my used bookstore - it looked like an amusing title so I picked it up. It's fascinating - an author who takes a look at various methods of crooked arguments/communication/thinking and how to straighten them out. How could I NOT pick up a book which had an appendix "Thirty-eight Dishonest Tricks which are commonly used in argument, with the methods of overcoming them"?
Connections, by Lee Sproull and Sara Kiesler
This is another of my serendipitous pickups from the CERN library when I should really be studying physics. It is apparently a study of how corporations and organizations are changing themselves in order to work more effectively using new communications technologies conducted by sociologists. Very interesting stuff in that it gets away from the gee-whiz technology aspects and concentrates more on the actual effects of these technologies. I never actually finished it though *blush*.
Future Shock/The Third Wave/War and Anti-War, by Alvin/Heidi Toffler
I'd always meant to read these, but never got around to it until I happened to see them in my bookstore here. Future Shock was written in 1970, and yet is ENTIRELY relevant to issues today. Toffler does an amazing job in my eyes of picking out relevant societal trends, and examining where they could lead...and confirmations of much of what he said have appeared over the last 25 years. The same seems to be holding true in The Third Wave (written in 1980). Highly relevant, and should be required reading for even amateur futurists like myself (you have no idea how crushing it is to have your ideas that you thought were creative and original to have been put in print 25 years ago).

I wasn't nearly as impressed by War and Anti-war as the other two Toffler books. They do not seem to be as far ahead of the world as they were - although that may be a side effect of the accelerating rate of change postulated in Future Shock. But their description of "Third-Wave" war is fairly uninteresting, compared to much better depictions done by such authors as Tom Clancy.

Cyberspace: First Steps, ed. Michael Benedikt
I was wandering through the CERN library yesterday and saw this book on the shelves. I've been wanting to read it for quite a while, so I checked it out. It is a collection of various articles on different aspects of cyberspace, its meaning, and how it will develop etc. I really liked Benedikt's introduction where he examines several different threads leading to cyberspace. The major fault I've seen so far is its over-concentration on the Gibson's conception of cyberspace, but oh well. It's still interesting to a Cybergroupie like myself. Benedikt's article is also highly interesting to me, in which he takes a look at several Principles which could be applied in the construction of cyberspace and why he thinks they are necessary, as well as laying out a few possible models for the development of cyberspace.
The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers, by Paul Kennedy
This is one of several books on my list which I'd gotten halfway through and then had to quit for one reason or another (in this case, it was because I was leaving for Europe and it was a local library book). Kennedy examines the macroscopic trends behind the relative positions of nations over the last 500 years (which I read), but then tries to apply his knowledge of those trends to the current state of world affairs, and I wanted to see his conclusions in that realm. I recently found a copy of it here in Europe, and just finished reading it. It amazes me how easy a read it is, compared to the scope and sweep of its subject. Kudos to Paul Kennedy here.
Preparing for the Twenty-first Century, by Paul Kennedy
I read this book as a follow-up to starting The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers (above). Kennedy takes a good hard look at several of the trends that are affecting and will continue to affect each of the world's regions, including robotics, genetic/biochemical engineering, environmental concerns, and overpopulation. These are all issues which we see far too much press on as it is, but Kennedy ties them all together and does a good job (in my opinion) of extrapolating where they will lead to in the year 2025 if they are not checked now. And the picture he paints is an altogether different and uncomfortable one for those of us who live in the "First World." Well worth reading in order to get a broader view of the problems facing us.
Law and Revolution: The Formation of the Western Legal Tradition, by Harold J. Berman
Recommended on the rre mailing list by Phil Agre. It's a fascinating look at the roots of law, placing the key event as being the Investiture Struggle in the late 11th century and 12th century. What does the struggle between Pope Gregory VII and the emperor kings of medieval times have to do with law? It's a long story, but I'm beginning to believe it.
Guns, Germs and Steel, by Jared Diamond
Why did Europe become the world leader in technology? What advantages did this continent have over others - it wasn't the first settled which would seem to be the first guess. Diamond tries to figure out what really happened, and determine "the fate of human societies" as the subtitle states.
The Third Culture: Beyond the Scientific Revolution, by John Brockman
I actually bought this book at a used bookstore a while ago, but it's found renewed relevance to me now that I've found the Edge web site, which is maintained by John Brockman. He describes the Third culture as those scientists who are trying to bridge the gap between hard science and the humanities and the layman. More importantly, he has interviews and articles from a staggering array of intellectual luminaries, such as Daniel Dennett, Stephen Jay Gould, Marvin Minsky and Murray Gell-mann.
The Passion of the Western Mind, by Richard Tarnas
This book was highly recommended by one of the bookstores I frequent and it looked interesting so I picked it up. It purports to be a history of Western Philosophy from the Greeks through the modern era. What little I've read of it is well done - Tarnas gets the ideas across concisely and meaningfully, yet still takes the time to fit the ideas into the history of the period.
Sons of the Profits, by William C. Speidel
I visited Seattle with my family last Christmas break, and we took the Underground tour, a fascinating look at the history of Seattle and how it came to be the way it is. Speidel originated the tours and provided most of the material for them, a good portion of which is collected in his book. Focusing on the shenanigans of the businessmen all trying to make a profit, and incidentally creating a city by their actions, Speidel makes history seem fresh and alive.

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