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If only there was some sort of cultural moment dedicated to changing the perception and social role of women. We could call it "feminism".

I think you might have a branding problem with that name. It's sometimes been associated with anti-intellectual post-modern garbage (such as this), transphobia (such as this), and various bits of misandry. ranging from the subtle (bell hooks's claim that rich and rewarding inner lives that have historically been the exclusive province of women) to the absurd (Dworkin's claim that "Intercourse is the pure, sterile, formal expression of contempt for womenâ(TM)s bodies.").

Of course there are wingnuts in any group, but it seems that feminist leaders have not done an adequate job of disassociating from them. Since the majority of women reject the feminist label, it seems to me that those of us interested in gender equality -- which would include listening to women's opinions, no? Including the majority of women who reject the label "feminist", right? -- might want to find a new one. (I've been thinking "gender libertarianism" might cover it, but the American so-called "libertarian" movement has been working hard for decades to degrade that term. Maybe "gender anarchy"?)

Neil Stephenson's Zodiac.

Why science fiction, why not science fact? How about a book like "One, Two, Three... Infinity" by George Gamow? Or anything written by Martin Gardner? How about Innumeracy by John Allen Paulos? Or Max Born wrote a book, "Einstein's Theory of Relativity", which explains relativity in great detail with nothing more than pre-algebra. Or for the computer nerds, the obligatory recommendation is "Godel Escher Bach, an Eternal Golden Braid" by Douglas Hofstadter.

I have never understood the point of fiction, except as pure entertainment. Non-fiction is where the good stuff is. If it really has to be fiction, try Flatland by Edwin Abbott.

Julio Cortazar's Hopscotch is a good example of what I guess you'd call an interactive book (pre-internet hypertext? Written in 1966). There were, if memory serves, a couple of ways to read the book; one was to "hop" to certain chapters in a prescribed order.

Sure, back in the dark ages, Michael Moorcock did the Elric fantasies, with a moody swordsman with a really nasty haunted sword, and did the "Dancers At the End Of Time" series which was much more interesting, and the didn't work-for-me mixture of the two in "Elric at the end of time". But he's also done some non-fantasy stuff set in the current time with modern human beings, such as King of the City, which is a totally different kind of thing and worth reading.

Neither of these sites cover as many books as Amazon, but because they are prepared to link to other web sites the Complete Review pages are often much more useful.

Danny.

I was in the same position as you about a year ago...I had done advanced calculus stuff in high school about 12 years ago, and really enjoyed it, but somehow let it drop when I got to university. I bought a couple of calculus text books for a refresher and took off for a train ride across the country with them (!). I found it came back to me fairly well, but it was difficult without the structure of a classroom w/required assignments, etc.

If you're just interested in exploring some (fairly) current math theory and less in the mechanics of solving problems, I highly recommend a book called "mathematics: the new golden age" by Keith Devlin. It covers such topics as primes and factoring them, set theory, topology, etc. It was a little over my head, but in the good way -- it forced me to stretch and although there were things I didn't quite get, it was really enjoyable.

just my 2c, hope it's helpful...good luck!

We don't get to watch static anymore. Most new video equipment throws up that 'blue screen' like we'd get in trouble from staring at random bitmaps or something.

hmm, sounds like someone was reading Snow Crash (like I am right now) or someone was use ZOC(?)

meme virus indeed.
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