What's on Your Summer 2002 Reading List?

Quixote asks: "Well, summer is upon us, and I'm wondering: what does Slashdot read? I'm thinking of non-geeky, non-SciFi books. Anything out there that has caught your fancy? Would you like to share your reading list (stuff that you've read and/or plan to read)."

Comments

Manuals - anything else aint geek it's nerd

[DrSkwid]

Program Python (2nd Ed)
XML-RPC
SVG

that would just about do me

Re:Manuals - anything else aint geek it's nerd

[Hast]

From the topic:

I'm thinking of non-geeky, non-SciFi books.

Seems like your suggestions might be a tad bit off. ;-)

Fast Food Nation

[new-black-hand]

Great book about the Fast Food Industry by Eric Schlosser

See it here..

Re:Fast Food Nation

[nicedream]

I didn't think this book was that great.

A lot of it seemed to ramble on and on, without ever getting to the point. When I was done with it I felt as if he tried to make me hate fast food companies, but didn't present a very convincing case.

Re:Fast Food Nation

[powerbarr]

I need to read it as well according to my wife who is now vegetarian, partly because of the book.

My reading list

[Anonymous Coward]

Your passwd file. No, seriously.

I'm currently reading the Qu'ran

[ringbarer]

No lie. With all the anti-Muslim propaganda currently in the news, I feel it's best to try to understand things from another point of view.

Because in the end, we're not that different!

Re:I'm currently reading the Qu'ran

[mike77]

while you're at it read a couple more:

Tao Te Ching
Bahgadvagita

Excellent books of eastern religions. Seeing the world from different perspectives allows us to see ourselves form those perspectives.

Re:I'm currently reading the Qu'ran

[Anonymous Coward]

"Slay the infidels wherever ye find them" - it is the many phrases like this which supposedly come from god which Osama Bin Ladin listens to.

Non Sci-Fi / Non Geeky?

[foniksonik]

Do you mean like 'romance' novels or 'who-dunnits'... non sci-fi / non geeky? Is there anything else that's real and NOT on the Oprah list?

'This Alien Shore' --C.S.Friedman

All about wetware hackers and a genetically derived virus sent out by earth to disable the interstellar travel monopoly of the Guild (a group of mutated humans who alone can navigate the stars effectively).

My Playboy subscription, /., and a few manuals on JSP.

That's the list so far.

Re:Non Sci-Fi / Non Geeky?

[texchanchan]

I read 'em in a geeky way (detailed below), but what I read is a broad selection linked from the Online Books Page. Recommended:

• John Lathrop Motley's 3-part history of the early Dutch Republic. Sheds a lot of light on Microsoft vs. everybody else, UnitedLinux, etc. These situations aren't new. The players just have different names--and, fortunately, big corporations don't actually have armies.
  
• The novels of George Eliot. This 19th-century writer is head and shoulders above her contemporaries. Again, in these books you will discover that people haven't changed.
  
• The novels of Anthony Trollope, especially the Barchester series.
  
• Macaulay's History of England from the Accession of James II. Another historical era with big, big similarities to our own. The explosion of activity powered by the sudden end of censorship in England resembles the 1990s in several ways. For instance: Broadsheet = web page.
  
• H. Rider Haggard. Classic adventure stories. Anna Katherine Green, Maurice Leblanc, Gaston Leroux--all early detective novelists. William Morris--peculiar, pseudo-medieval language, but good stories.

I download these in text format, run a macro to take out the extra carriage returns, then convert them through MakeDocW and read them on the PDA.

Re:Non Sci-Fi / Non Geeky?

[b_pretender]

C++ Primer Plus
Speaker for the Dead (Orson Scott Card)
Disappearing Cryptography, Second Edition - Information Hiding: Steganography and Watermarking (Peter Wayner)

Although I admit that these are all geeky or SciFi books, I have to learn C++ prior to August, the Orson Scott Card book is interesting, and the Steganography book is interesting, too! Sorry. I'm a SciFi geek.

If I finish these books, next on my list is another book by Kurt Vonnegut (I've only read Cat's Cradle). That's hardly geeky.

Re:Non Sci-Fi / Non Geeky?

[joshjs]

Vonnegut is incredible. Everything I've read by him is great (and I've read almost all of his stuff).

Re:Non Sci-Fi / Non Geeky?

[b_pretender]

Well, then please recommend my next book for me. Which Vonnegut book should I read next?

Re:Non Sci-Fi / Non Geeky?

[anti-snot]

Slaughterhouse Five or Mother Night would both be excellent choices.

Re:Non Sci-Fi / Non Geeky?

[xidge]

Do you mean like 'romance' novels or 'who-dunnits'... non sci-fi / non geeky? Is there anything else that's real and NOT on the Oprah list?

'Romance' novels and 'who-dunnits' belong in the same category as sci-fi: geeky. Or nerdy, at least. There are so many good books out there that don't fall into these categories (and few that do) or the Oprah list... Try:

• Infinite Jest (depending on reading speed, you might not need anything else.)
• Naked Lunch
• something by Graham Greene
• William Dement's "The Promise of Sleep" (could be quite usefule for /. folks)
• If you absolutely need geeky, go for something by William Gibson; his writing is exceptional. Or you could re-read Godel, Escher, Bach...

Re:Non Sci-Fi / Non Geeky?

[PeterClark]

Slaughterhouse Five, beyond a doubt.

:Peter

Re:Non Sci-Fi / Non Geeky?

[joshjs]

"Slaugherhouse-Five" is the one that got me hooked, I must say. But I have special fondness for "Mother Night" and several of the pieces in "Welcome to the Monkey House," a collection of short stories.

Re:Non Sci-Fi / Non Geeky?

[Cuthalion]

Infinite Jest is way geeky. But it's fantastic, and geeky in a totally different way from GEB or Programming Perl (first of all, it's a novel. Second of all, computers are as absent as possible from a book that takes place 5-10 years in the future). If you've got the patience for GEB, you'll definately find Infinite Jest worth while. Especially a second time through!

Re:Non Sci-Fi / Non Geeky?

[iago]

I only made it halfway through Godel, Escher, Bach before dropping it in the ocean while fishing. I'm picking it up again in a few days. Its one of the few books I can say that I truly changed the way that I view the world. Read a chapter a night and let the goodness sink in.

Get a recent copy and read Hofstadter's introduction after reading the book.

peace,
don

Re:Non Sci-Fi / Non Geeky?

[gartogg]

It's SO nice to know I'm not the only person reading classic books on computers. When I tell people I just read The Kreutzer Sonata By Tolstoy last week on my computer, I get strange looks, even from people who are geeks like me.

But seriously, are the screens on Palms decent enough to do this? When I ask most people, I just get strange looks and questions about where online books come from: When a Mommy book and a Daddy book get married...

Re:Non Sci-Fi / Non Geeky?

[Kerkyon]

And then once you're done with Infinite Jest,
you can move on to everything else by David
Foster Wallace.

I'd add _House of Leaves_ (Mark Z. Danielewski)
to the pool if you get along well with Infinite
Jest.

Some Japanese authors

[ObviousGuy]

Haruki Murakami is a favorite.

Some Junichiro Tanizaki is always a blast.

You can't go wrong with Yukio Mishima.

And right now I'm reading Michio Kaku.

Re:Some Japanese authors

[foniksonik]

hmmm something strikes me as non-Obvious here, or does it?

Reviews? Please ObviousGuy, be a little more obvious.

thanks

Re:Some Japanese authors

[ObviousGuy]

I'm glad you asked!

Murakami is one of the better fiction writers today. He's not a bad non-fiction writer either as evidenced by his treatment of the Aum Shinrikyo Tokyo subway sarin attack in his book Underground.

Murakami's fiction runs the gamut from love stories to fantasy, and his writing style (at least his translator's interpretation of it) is exciting and quite beautiful in its descriptions of surroundings and exposition of his characters. He writes primarily in the first person so it may take a little getting used to, but the stories really come alive as a result of this technique.

I recommend all his English translations except for Sputnik Sweetheart which felt like a simple rehashing of his older works.

If you read his stuff in order:

Hard Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World Reminiscent of Philip Dick's works. It isn't quite technothriller, it isn't quite fantasy, but it is a blast to read.
A Wild Sheep Chase THE Murakami book to read.
Dance Dance Dance Sequel to Wild Sheep Chase. Quite a bit darker in tone than Sheep.
Norwegian Wood Murakami's first novel. Pure fiction, no fantasy beyond the narrator's imagination.
The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle His magnum opus. It draws all of his themes from other books into a single narrative. It's long, but I didn't lose interest at any point.
South of the Border, West of the Sun My personal favorite because it touches on a lot of themes of love and infidelity. I won't go into the infidelity, thank you very much.

The rest of his stuff is short stories, so read those at your leisure.

Tanizaki is a Japanese writer who has an impish streak running through him. His stories and writing are ebullient and discuss all matters of things from politics to sex. No sci-fi here. I recommend The Makioka Sisters

Mishima is another writer who was a contemporary of Tanizaki. His writings are infused with Japanese Nationalist themes. Even his love stories have nationalist undercurrents. I liked the autobiographical Confessions of a Mask.

Michio Kaku is an American (as far as I can tell). His main topic is Superstring theory, so he doesn't quite fit with the fiction writers that I listed above, but hey, some people think that string theory is fiction.

Re:Some Japanese authors

[Anonymous Coward]

Musashi's The Book of Five Rings!

Re:Some Japanese authors

[foniksonik]

Thanks OG! It's feels really nice to get positive feedback sometimes. I'll take you up on the offer and read some new stuff.

Re:Some Japanese authors

[ObviousGuy]

Send me an email about how you liked the books. Hardboiled Wonderland's a great read.

Bible, anyone?

[tps12]

On my list? The Holy Bible. Don't laugh; religion isn't dead.

I'm no "man of the cloth" myself. Fact is, I don't believe in God at all. But in these times of strife in the Middle East, it's important to refresh one's familiarity with the books that cause such fervor to the different peoples of the world.

So I will be reading the Old Testament, the Talmud, and the Quran, in an attempt to identify with the various combatants and determine for myself who is right.

Re:Bible, anyone?

[ObviousGuy]

I'd also recommend Kissinger's Diplomacy for the reader of history. Although the current situation in Afghanistan is not covered, the book gives a broad introduction to the machinery of nations over the last several centuries.

Re:Bible, anyone?

[codeButcher]

I find that to understand these fanatics that cause all the problems, you need to "understand" their religious book by adhering to the interpretation of some or other tradition. You can't take those writings at face value - plain and simple fundamentals often don't bring you very far in understanding the problem...

Re:Bible, anyone?

[WINSTANLEY]

I don't know much about Kissinger's scholarship but given that he may be one of the most immoral
figures in the history of American government (and
one of the most tireless self-promoters) you might take anything he says about the 20th century
with a grain of salt.

Re:Bible, anyone?

[ObviousGuy]

Opinions of the man of course vary, but the scholarship of Diplomacy is very good through and through.

As most of the book covers the events prior to the 20th Century, there isn't much historical contamination that he can invect into it. His analysis has a very Realpolitik bent to it, that much can be acknowledged without starting a Kissinger flamewar.

Re:Bible, anyone?

[gartogg]

One tends not to "read" the Talmud.
None of the translations do justice to the interplay of commentators on the subjects discussed. There are also 38 seperate books in just the Babylonian Talmud, not including the Jerusalem Talmud, and most Jewish Scholars would agree that studying a page would take at least half an hour (in an english translation) and this would be without any commentaries that explain the reasoning behind the logic, and what the actual law derived from the text is, since is is rarely obvious based on the text of the talmud itself. There are just under 3000 pages of talmud (front and back, otherwise about 600 pages, obviously.) Perhaps you would be better off reading a book written in english about modern Orthodox Judaism, and would like to suggest some authors:

Aryeh Kaplan
Akiva Tatz (Especailly "A Thinking Jewish Teenager's Guide to Life)
And for lighter reading, Hanoch Teller's Books

Re:Bible, anyone?

[mike77]

So I will be reading the Old Testament, the Talmud, and the Quran, in an attempt to identify with the various combatants and determine for myself who is right.

My friend I believe you have missed the point. If you read the religious texts, they all make the claim they are the only ones who are right and everyone else is wrong.
After doing this myself, I came to the conlcusion that none of them are right, but all simply have seen part of the greater scheme of things, like a single side of a die (dice singular) of infinite sides.

Re:Bible, anyone?

[Rivard]

I don't think reading the Bible or the Quran or any other religious text will help you understand the strife; some good psychological studies of terrorism and schizophrenia might help.
Rex Hudson did a great study for the Library of Congress on terrorism, way back in September of 1999. Also, read some good political text, and, for something fun, try Philip Roth's Our Gang it's a wonderful parody of the Nixon White House.

my list isn't all non-geeky

[Eythor]

Here's my list:
Vol. 3 of Knuth's TAOCP (the art of comp. prog.)
Software Engineering [Ian Sommerville]
Selected Papers on the Analysis of Algorithms [D. E. Knuth]
Understanding Agent Systems [Mark D'Inverno and Michael Luck]
Flatterland [Ian Stewart]
The Annotated Wizard of Oz [L. Frank Baum]
Catch 22 [Joseph L. Heller]
Advanced Programming in the UNIX Environment [W. Richard Stevens]

That's all I can remember right now but I'm sure there are a few missing

Re:my list isn't all non-geeky

[invenustus]

What's the Annotated Wizard of Oz? I've read pretty much every Oz book Baum wrote (never got to the ones others did after he died) and I think they're some of the best juvenile literature ever. Is the annotated version focused on the perceived political statements?

DA

[Noodlenose]

Douglas Adam's "The Salmon of Doubt". And it's Winter down here in NZ, you northern hemispherian.

Dirk

The Science of Discworld 2

[soegoe]

Terry Pratchett, Ian Stewart and Jack Cohen just published the second part of their Science of Discworld science book / fantasy novel mix. Unlike the first part, it focuses on the evolution of the human species and on psychology. A worthwile read - and if you don't know the first part yet, get it, too, and read it first.

Just remembered

[foniksonik]

"The 48 Laws of Power" --Robert Greene, Joost Eiffers

Really good stuff. Historical case studies of when and how to use power. Of course you have to interpret it for your situation but very interesting reading.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/014028019 7/ qid=1023794596/sr=8-2/ref=sr_8_2/002-0434838-32016 42

Re:Just remembered

[ObviousGuy]

I read 21 Laws of Leadership by John Maxwell a while back and was unimpressed. These are not the same authors, of course, but if you see Maxwell's stuff at Barnes&Noble skip it. Perhaps Greene's books are better.

If you are really interested in how to weild power, there's nothing like going to the source

Re:Just remembered

[Anonymous Coward]

how to weild power

We're just going to pronounce that waled from now on... ;-)

Obvious Guy

Supporting Controversial Books...

[Chasing Amy]

> With all the anti-Muslim propaganda currently in the news, I feel it's best to try to
> understand things from another point of view.

That's how I try to approach everything. Why believe what agenda-driven media and political people claim, when you can get closer to the source and make up your own mind?

That's why, when I saw Bill O'Reilly screaming his loudest about a recent book release, complaining bitterly that a university press would dare to publish it--I knew I had to read it. :-) Controversial subject matter, but the book he said shouldn't have been published is judith Levine's *Harmful to Minors*:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/081664006 8/ qid=1023794022/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_1/102-3562730-02361 48

So, I pre-ordered it, and I have to say it's a fantastic analysis of the current situation. The author makes a lot of sense, and I feel sad that we (Americans) live in a country where people are so outraged by the simple truths most of the civilized world already takes for granted. We in the U.S. treat 15 year olds the same as 5 year olds. No wonder some kids rebel against that...

Anyway, I always like to support free speech by buying the books of authors whose books get assailed for silly personal moral reasons. So, go buy that book, or another one in need of support, as a big F-U to those who would censor our right to read.

Re:Supporting Controversial Books...

[TRACK-YOUR-POSITION]

I dunno, from what I hear of that book, they are correct that our culture is somewhat insane regarding children, but the proposed culture is far more insane. I think our current overreaction is simply forming a useful "buffer zone"--there is an age of child before which it is among the most reprhensible things on Earth to engage him or her in sexual acts, but we aren't sure which age, so it makes sense to error on the side of over-prohibition. I also think psychology and science in general are completely incapable of measuring the value and quality of our lives, so any argument along the lines of 'children at age X who had sexual contact with adults show no mental damage discenable to psychologists' carries little weight with me.

I'd like to read the book, to decide for myself, but if my suspicion of its wrongfulness is correct then I really don't want to find myself supporting it.

Re:Supporting Controversial Books...

[invenustus]

I hear you. I'm as liberal as the next guy about openness towards sex, but what worries me (judging from good and bad reviews of the book) is the action they want to take. Instead of saying, "Yo, parents, quit repressing your kids!" they want to use the public school system to force sexual knowledge on young peope. It seems to me that the true "liberal" position is to SUGGEST openness, but not impose it.

Re:Supporting Controversial Books...

[Eythor]

You did not get O'Reilly's point!
His argument was that this book should not have been published by a state-funded institution. The Univ of Minnesota gets a lot of its money from the taxpayers (you and me!) and there are probably better things to spend it on than publishing controversial books such as Harmful to Minors.
If the book had been published by a 'private' publisher, O'Reilly would not have put it on his show.

Re:Supporting Controversial Books...

[Chasing Amy]

> You did not get O'Reilly's point!

I always get O'Reilly's point. I watch his show on FoxNN every night at 11, and I find myself either completely agreeing with what he has to say on an issue, or feeling exactly the opposite. ;-)

> His argument was that this book should not have been published by a state-funded institution.

That's an insane argument for several reasons. The first is that a university is an academic institution, and its allegiance has to be to the facts and the truth, not to some pre-approved noncontroversial political piffle. Only despotisms dictate what academic institutions can espouse, and as Thomas Jefferson said, "An elective despotism is not the government we fought for."

The second is that nearly everything is state-funded these days. They take too much of our money in taxes--which the Constitution originally forbade them to do; they had to amend it early this century to allow the federal income tax at all. Then they use our own money to fund everything, all levels of the educational system, fom pre-kindergarten programs to college grants and loans. So by your reasoning, and O'Reilly's, no educational institution in the country should ever say anything controversial or publish anything controversial, only useless non-offensive PC junk. I call BS. Even private colleges take a lot of state money today, thanks to this insane notion we have that *everyone* should go to college. All that does is devalue a college degree and lower the common denominator, making a college degree worth no more than a HS diploma used to be, and necessitating a graduate degree to be worth as much as a BA or BS used to. And it extends state and federal tendrils where they don't belong.

But getting back to the point, we as taxpayers fund a lot of things we don't want to. I have to fund insane public schools which don't work the way they should. You have to fund books you don't like. Too bad; we have to live with it.

> If the book had been published by a 'private' publisher, O'Reilly would not have put it on his show.

Oh yes he would have! Instead of blasting the U of M press, and calling for state lawmakers to look into it, he would have called for a boycott of the private press. Hell, he pratically called for a boycott of the entire nation of Canada the other night...

Re:Supporting Controversial Books...

[dalutong]

I am taking it a step farther... i'm teaching myself arabic so i can read the qur'an in a non-translated form. it is a long term project... but hey! we all need long term plans :)

Re:Supporting Controversial Books...

[Chasing Amy]

> what worries me (judging from good and bad reviews of the book) is the action they want to take.
> Instead of saying, "Yo, parents, quit repressing your kids!" they want to use the public
> school system to force sexual knowledge on young peope.

The book makes some suggestions, but makes no pretense of claiming that they're the only ones that would solve the problem. But, like it or not, the school systems in all but the most underdeveloped Bible Belt backwaters already teach young people about the basics of sex. The problem is, it's taught as something they're not supposed to do, which naturally makes some really want to do it, and the rest develop unnatural sexual inhibitions which can sometimes become full-blown dysfunctions in later life. All bcause sexuality is taught as something to never do until you'e married, or vaguely old.

What's more troubling though is that when young people do choose to engage in sexuality, thwey often get severely punished for normal sexual behavior. For example, the 15 year old boy in Michigan who's on the sex offender registryu for the rest of his life for having had consensual sex with his girlfriend who was one grade below him and a year and a half younger. They're peers. Playing together is normal, dating is normal, but sex is a felony. That's a fucked-up system. That's the system we have today.

That's the system Judith Levine's book is trying to change. So, I support this book fully and without reservation. Despite some reviews, it's an excellent book which exposes this nation's horrible Puritanism and the evils which it imposes.

Re:Supporting Controversial Books...

[TRACK-YOUR-POSITION]

But, like it or not, the school systems in all but the most underdeveloped Bible Belt backwaters already teach young people about the basics of sex. The problem is, it's taught as something they're not supposed to do, which naturally makes some really want to do it, and the rest develop unnatural sexual inhibitions which can sometimes become full-blown dysfunctions in later life.

My non-Bible belt school district had very minimal sex education, and I'm not aware of any great plague of promiscuity or neurosis from the place. I graduated in '97, though, maybe, just like metal detectors, sex education magic appeared everywhere sometime in the half decade since then...

That's a fucked-up system. That's the system we have today.

You condemn your point of view with such strong words. Your example shows the system being slightly flawed in one particular state. It needs slight modification, an increase in the difference between ages, and punishments in proportion to the difference between ages of the partners, perhaps.

There will always be some variance in the laws among the states, thus if your standard is that no state ever, ever err on the side of prohibition, we will have a drastically more liberalized system, in which many states will err on the side of tolerance. And in this particular issue, most Americans have decided that errors on the side of tolerance are completely unacceptable and horrific--as soon as there is one case of it being legal for a 22 year old man to have sex with a 12 year old anyone, you'll see a rapid switch back to Puritanism immediately.

books for research & to review

[cpfeifer]

I'm starting an MSCS grad program at UMBC, so I'll be reading:

• Modern Information Retrieval [Baeza-Yates, Ribeiro-Neto]
• Understanding Search Engines, Berry & Browne
• myth of paperless office, Sellen and Harper
• a mathematical theory of communication, C.E. Shannon
• elementary statistics, some dude

And then just for fun

• Instant Messaging in Java, Shigeoka
• thinking in C#, Eckels

Re:books for research & to review

[foniksonik]

If you weren't a student and didn't know better, somone would tear you a new one... MSCS indeed. Well I suppose a paycheck is the payoff but still...

Re:books for research & to review

[cpfeifer]

What seems to be the problem?

Re:books for research & to review

[gartogg]

Why are posts like these not modded off-topic? It bothers me that someone can SPECIFICALLY exclude a subject from discussion in their post, and the discussion immediately goes in that direction just because people (see parent) can't read a post. And we want to know what they are reading!

ObOnTopic:
A friend of mine told me about a book club that he and a friend (who I know) started, now containing 3 peopl. I am the fourth, and we just finished reading The Kreutzer Sonata, by Tolstoy.

Re:books for research & to review

[joshjs]

I think he's mistaking MSCS for MCSE.

Re:books for research & to review

[ObviousGuy]

I met Bruce Eckel at Software Development 98. He is as interesting in person as he is in writing. While everyone had huge booths to showcase their wares, Eckel had a folding table with a posterboard sign with the title "Professor Bruce Eckel's Magic Java Elixir". He had a semi-boothbabe (you had to be there) and a guy in a gorilla suit with him. He was dressed like a circus master.

The man is hilarious, and very smart.

Re:books for research & to review

[Anonymous Coward]

and extremely handsome too. I was dripping over his
picture on the book cover, and when I met him in
person, my knees got weak.

why aren't all geeks that cute?

Re:books for research & to review

[invenustus]

Or else he's a member of the Slashdot faction that scorns all academic degrees in favor of real-world experience.

Re:books for research & to review

[Tackhead]

> elementary statistics, some dude

"Dude! 19 times out of 20, the probability your CEO's getting you a Dell is 0.95?"

Reading List

[inepom01]

Already reading Dostoyevsky's "Notes From The Dead House". Next after that - probably going to re-read "War and Peace". And of course this "Stocks Bonds Options Futures" book for my new job. But Dostoyevsky is better.

Comic Books

[ObitMan]

I got a stack collecting from the last few months that I havn't got to because I have been too busy with work.
Those and whatever RFP's that come across my desk ;)

more controversial books

[WINSTANLEY]

Caleb Carr author of The Alienist has
written a military history of terrorism
published after 9-11.
The NYT reviewer wrote the most vitriolic
review I have ever seen. Most really be worth
reading (no seriously).

Re:more controversial books

[realgone]

And let's not forget that Carr quickly provided us with one of the most vitriolic responses to a review -- in the form of a letter to Salon -- that most people have ever seen. It included such gems as:

[L]et's not let facts or a shaky grounding in history keep us from being a bitchy wise-ass -- THAT would get you thrown out of the club that meets at [NYT critic] Michiko's to watch "Sex in the City" and spout a lot of nonsense about things they don't know."

full text here

P.S. To quickly bring this post back around to the question at hand, I've got "The Second Rumpole Omnibus" and O'Reilly's "Programming PHP" in my summer bag right now. (Hey, depending on how you look at it, they're both mysteries.)

Douglas Adams

[adc]

I think I'll re-read some books this "summer". HHGTG, and Catch-22 are definitely on the list. And I am waiting for some one to make a movie on Asimov's Foundation...

have read/plan to read this summer:

[oyenstikker]

Animal Farm (Orwell)
1984 (Orwell)
A Girl Named Zippy: Growing Up Small in Mooreland Indiana (Haven Kimmel)(really funny)
The Turk (Tom Standage)
some of Terry Pratchet's Discworld series
some of Lilian Jackson Braun's The Cat Who series (crime solving cats)
some of Dorothy Gilman's Mrs. Polifax series (sweet old aunt Emily joins the CIA)
Take the Canoli (Sarah Vowell)

Re:have read/plan to read this summer:

[dalassa]

Good to see someone else is reading about crime solving cats.
My tenative summer reading list:
Reread the Lord of the Rings, Hobbit and the Silmarillion.
Actually get around to finishing the 80 gabillion computers books on my shelves.
Shelters of Stone, I have fond memories of these books from high school when I discovered they had sex and were school approved.
Finish Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood before I get dragged off to the movie.
And as always a random selection of fantasy from my shelves.

Re:have read/plan to read this summer:

[Anonymous Coward]

animal farm is most favorite book

um. . .

[oyenstikker]

Summer 2002 reading list
Summer 2001 reading list^U
Summer 2000 reading list^U
Summer 1999 reading list^U
AP English summer reading list^U
Billy Bud
A Patch of Blue
1 Shakespear tragedy

I'm reading the newspaper

[travail_jgd]

With my primary interest being the "Help Wanted" section!

My reading list

[bofh31337]

Born in Blood: The Lost Secrets of Freemasonry by John J. Robinson The Salmon of Doubt: Hitchhiking the Galaxy One Last Time by Douglas Adams Origin of Species by Charles Darwin

My list

[Atrahasis]

The Bhagavad Gita Anna Karenina (Tolstoy) Permutation City (G. Egan) Silence of the Lambs etc. (T. Harris) Some more Asimov.

Re:My list

[schulzdogg]

5) Japan's War
A history of the Japanese industrial build up and the Japanese perspective on World War II.

This is a great book. A good companion to it is embracing defeat by dowers, which deals with post war japan.

I guess i should chime in here:

Hamlet
King Lear
Fall of the Roman Empire
The rise and fall of the third Reich
Choke

A bit of a take off for me...

[Mr.Phil]

I'm usually a big SCI/FI and fantasy reader myself, but this summer I'm reading books on construction of small barns, sheds, etc. I'm looking at building a 16' x 20' workshop behind my garage and want to do a majority, if not all, the work myself.

Talk about interesting. Factoring Live Load values on the floor, beams, walls, and the dead weight of snow on the roof to prevent problems is fun. Jumping through all the hoops for the local code office is not.

the shipping news

[crazney]

haven't seen the film, but someone I know did - so I thought I'd read the book..

and so half way through, pretty good book..

Current events, bioterrorism fiction, etc

[blankmange]

The usual: Noam Chomsky's latest on 9/11, just about any and all bioterror fiction novels, and anything that pisses Bill O'Reilly off (that is always a good choice).

Read whatever is on the banned book list -- I always try to get a copy of whatever the government doesn't want me to read; there is usually a good reason they don't......

Some Classics...

[Ivan Raikov]

The Death Ship: The Story of an American Sailor, by B. Traven. Although I disagree with the anarchist/Libertarian political views of the author, he is nevertheless a magnificent story teller, and every time I read this book, I feel as if I'm living with the characters and know their experiences first-hand.

Moby Dick, by Herman Melville. I love sea stories, and I find this to be a very powerful tale of human madness and obsession, although many people find it long and boring. A matter of taste, I suppose.

A Russian Journal, by John Steinbeck. A very interesting historical account of 1948 Soviet Russia. I very much enjoy Steinbeck's narrative style, and if you like Travels with Charley, you'll probably like this one, too.

Hornblower

[medcalf]

My current plan is to read all of C.S. Forester's Horatio Hornblower books. I'm halfway through the third, and figure I'll finish all 11 in about a month. After that, I'll reread the Federalist Papers. After that, no telling.

No Logo

[BSDevil]

My plans for the summer include

• No Logo, by Naiomi Klein. All about modern multinationals, monopolies, anti-Capitalism, swearshops, and the marketing concept of the Logo; plus, she's good homegrown Canadian talent
  
• The Lord of the Rings trilogy, by JRR Tolkien. It may be considered SF, but it's popular/mainstream SF that everybody can read
  
• The Hunt for Red October, by Tom Clancy. One of my favouirite books, beats the piss about of the movie and makes a seven-hour flight just fly by

My Book List

[Anonymous Coward]

When it comes to books, anything EXCEPT computers because I read to relax. Right now I'm working my way through all the Fleming 'James Bond' books and after that I'm going to do the 'Lensman' series by EE 'Doc' Smith. Just remember, there's more to life than computers !!!

Ed Almos

Francois Marie Arouet de Voltaire

[Ashurbanipal]

Bantam books has just reprinted Voltaire's Candide, available at your locally-owned corner bookstore or at Barnes & Noble.

No, it's not a sex book. You're thinking of Justine , which couldn't be more different.

Candide is said to be Voltaire's most important work, yet it's a readable narrative (like Abbott's Flatland ) rather than a dry and dusty tome (like James's Pragmatism ).

Re:Francois Marie Arouet de Voltaire

[ObviousGuy]

And even if you don't read it, don't worry. Everything will work out in the end. Right, Pangloss?

Re:Francois Marie Arouet de Voltaire

[paleollama]

Of course it will. After all, this is the best of all possible worlds.

Re:Francois Marie Arouet de Voltaire

[Hast]

I really didn't enjoy Candide as much as I thought I would. From a literary standpoint it's a rather bad book IMHO. (Yes I know it's a philosophical rebuttal and not /only/ a book.) It's short though so you can read it quickly.

Perhaps it's better if you read it with some of Rousseau's books. To put it in it's philosphical context.

A better book on philosophy would be Zen and the art of motorcycle maintainence. Easily one of the best books I've read. And the rethoric in it is actually interesting in contrast to Candide.

Perhaps it would be interesting to make a "book unsuggestion" list instead. A list of books you've read that you though were good but didn't deliver. (Books read for school summer reading don't count. ;-)

Re:Francois Marie Arouet de Voltaire

[TastySiliconWafers]

And if you get through "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" and want more *quality* reading, his book "Lila" continues with the topic and is every bit as good.

Re:Francois Marie Arouet de Voltaire

[Hast]

Lila just happend to be on *my* "to read this summer list". :-) But thanks for the tip anyways.

Re:Francois Marie Arouet de Voltaire

[Ashurbanipal]

Well, I've read Pirsig's opus several times already, but thanks for the recomendation anyway. It's a pretty good popularization of some basic zen principles (I particularly like the bit about "mechanic's feel") even though a bit less sucessful as a narrative. I also recommend it.

I'm about two thirds through Candide now, and I'm enjoying it. Certainly no LOTR or Gilgamesh, but still interesting and lively, compared to other books I've read from the same time period. And as you mentioned it's short, which is a blessed relief after recently reading Kafka's "Trial" and Frazer's "Golden Bough".

As a rebuttal of Leibnitz/Pangloss, so far it's pretty thorough. The Bantam version's footnotes are refreshingly brief and to the point.

What of Rousseau's would you recommend?

Mah List

[Jeff Knox]

Science Books:
Age of Spiritual Machines (almost done)
Linked: A New Science Of Networks (almost done)
Nexus: Small Worlds and the Groundbreaking Science of Networks
Emergence: The Connected Lives of Ants, Brains, Cities, and Software

Then the usual computer books (already started):
Java & XML, 2nd Edition: Solutions to Real-World Problems
Java in a Nutshell (review, currently reading)
Enterprise JavaBeans (3rd Edition)
Java Web Services
Java & Soap
Java Enterprise in a Nutshell

Some math books:

Handbook of Discrete and Combinatorial Mathematics (maybe)

Concrete Mathematics: A Foundation for Computer Science (2nd Edition)

Introduction to Graph Theory (2nd Edition)
by Douglas Brent West

I am reading

[sinserve]

Nifty.org

no kidding.

Re:I am reading

[foniksonik]

Is that like www.sluggy.com ?

The comic is soooo nifty!

Threee must reads for the summer

[eldub1999]

Body of Secrets: Anatomy of the Ultra Secret NSA by James Bamford.
- Cool book on the NSA and the US' signals intelligence capability.

Stupid White Men by Michael Moore
- A look at America through the eyes of the director of Roger & Me

Good to Great by Jim Collins
- This is a re-read for the summer. Absolutely the most innovative business book ever written. Seek this out!

Emile by Jean-Jacques Rousseau
- Its that time again...

Re:Threee must reads for the summer

[Limburgher]

Um, that's four must reads, not threee. Back to fourth grade math for you. (zap)

F*cked Companies

[nicedream]

This book is written by the guy that created f*ckedcompany.com. I read it while killing time in the DFW airport one day.

Simply put, it was a hilarious account of how stupid some of the .com flameouts were and how miserably they failed. The tone of the book is somewhat unusal, with swear words and a very cynical attitude. When reading it I kept thinking, "if I would ever write a book, it would sound like this".

No Logo

[si_ence]

Read Naomi Klein's "No Logo".
Finished it last night, it is brilliant. About evil marketing/advertising/corporations...

SAM LEITH, Observer
'No Logo is fluent, undogmatically alive to its contradictions and omissions and positively seethes with intelligent anger.'

An odd suggestion

[Icepick_]

One Good Turn: A History of the Screw

A surprising search for the orgin and inventor of the screw and screwdriver. The Screw is named the most important invention of the past 1000 years.

Very intresting.

Re:An odd suggestion

[mjeffers]

Sounds interesting. You might also want to check out The Evolution of Useful Things by Henry Petroski. He talks about the evolution of the paperclip, fork, and zipper amongst other things. I read it last summer and its an interesting read.

My summer reading list is pretty much things I've bought and neglected this spring. I still have to get through

Alan Turing: The Enigma by Andrew Hodges

Dante's Inferno (the new Pinsky translation which I hear is really good)

and

Don Quixote

cold war

[austad]

I'm looking for interesting books on the cold war. Primarily ones that deal with russian secrets, spying, and the "space race".

Some of the greatest technology ever made came out of the cold war, and it's interesting to see how a country essentially closed to the rest of the world can develop it's own version of a current technology that works in a completely different way.

Re:cold war

[Anonymous Coward]

I am currently reading "Blind Man's Bluff" about Cold War spying done using submarines. It is US Navy centric. It would be interesting to read accounts from the former Soviet Navy too. So far it is an interesting book about the mindset, technical achievements, and bravado of the US Navy's Submariners and 'spooks'.

Re:cold war

[dirtstar]

Try Sputnik: The shock of the century, by Paul Dickson.

Pretty interesting account, told mostly from the American side.

Re:cold war

[sowellfan]

I've got a couple of suggestions. Try "Blind Man's Bluff - The Untold Story of American Submarine Espionage", by Sherry Sontag and Christopher Drew. This book has some incredible stories. The chapter about the search for the sunken U.S. sub 'Scorpion' was one of my favorites. They ended up using a method of statistical guessing, outlined in yet another book called "The Theory of the Optimal Search". Another book I really enjoyed was "Skunk Works", by Ben Rich. This book, as you've probably guessed, is all about the history of Lockheed's special project division that developed the U-2, the SR-71, Stealth Fighter, and much other interesting stuff. Ben Rich headed the Skunk Works from 1975 until he retired in 1991. Well, those are two pretty quick reads, and they don't deal with any of the human intelligence stuff, but they have great cold war stories nonetheless.

On the list...

[eibhear]

Here's what I plan for the summer (actually, these books and more that I can't remember are sitting beside my desk -- I've put a moritorium on buying book until the pile is at least 10% of its current size)

• The Last Generation of the Roman Republic; Erich S. Gruen
• The Punic Wars; Can't remember who wrote it.
• In Time of War: Ireland, Ulster, and the Price of Neutrality; Robert Fisk
• Artemis Fowl; Eoin Colfer
• The Arrogance of Power : The Secret World of Richard Nixon; Anthony Summers
• The Catcher in the Rye; J.D. Salinger.
• A Dead Man in Deptford; Anthony Burgess
• Some Hunter S. Thompson books:
  • The Great Shark Hunt
  • Generation of Swine
  • Songs of the Doomed

A strange list, I agree. And I suspect there's more beside my bed. The emphasis on recent history is merely my theme for the summer. (Republican Roman history is an on-going interest).

If anyone knows of a good book to counter Summers' above, giving a favourable history of Nixon's career, can you let me know?

Éibhear

Re:On the list...

[Anonymous Coward]

Didn't Pliny write The Punic Wars?

Anyway, the Summers book is good, very racy and a good read, a little like a Kitty Kelly biography, all the dirt. There are more symnpathetic biogs around, many in fact, Tom Wicker's is fair.

I'm not a fan of Robert Fisk's reporting so I'd not be too keen to trust him on Ireland (esp when there's plenty of choice, although perhaps not for that particular time period - Roy Foster's history gives it a good chapter, but a lot of people don't like Foster's modern slant). Flann O'Brien's works are all written in that era, but you've probably read them. Geeks should read The Third Policeman.

Much as I like Hunter ST, those ones you've listed all remind me of Bob Dylan albums after 1975 - there's glimpses of talent, but that's all.

Travis McGee

[Anonymous Coward]

Try the Travis McGee series by John D. MacDonald -- start with The Deep Blue Good-By and work your way through the colors in the series. Chances are your library has 'em all.

Slip F-18 is the best place to spend the summer!

Some of my favorate non-scfi books

[mkanoap]

A Prayer for Owen Meany -- John Irving
My all time favorate, A theodesy.
Stupid White Men -- Michael Moor
What's wrong with america today.
Round the Bend -- Nevile Shute
Hard to find tale of a Modern day messiah/airplane mechanic (this predates the Jonathon Livingston Seagull sequal with the same idea executed less well) as told by his non-believer boss.
Cryptonomicon -- Niel Stephenson
WWII Codebreakers, gung ho marines and globe trotting unix administrators.
The World's Most Dangerous Places -- Fielding guide
A travel guide to places you DON'T want to go.
A Wolverine is eating my leg -- Tim Cahill
Travel tales of disaster
Bingo -- Fanny Mae Brown
Small town life

Re:Some of my favorate non-scfi books

[dru]

Round the Bend -- Nevile Shute
Hard to find tale of a Modern day messiah/airplane mechanic

All of Nevil Shute's stuff is brilliantly told. His writing style is a bit dry, and the people sometimes feel unreal, but the stories come alive.

My own particular favorites: Trustee from the Toolroom; A Town Like Alice (aka The Legacy); Pastoral. On the Beach is a "must-read" book, but it's quite depressing.

Not much

[bluGill]

It is summer, between the boat, mowing the lawn, projects, and just playing with the dog, I won't be in very much except for work.

However I do plan on using some books as reference materials for various scientific expiriments. (get the full paper catalog, a lot of the good stuff isn't shown online). Someone in my neighborhood should make his own transisters for instance.

Although every one in a while there is a lazy rainy night when I wish I has some books to read, I do most of my reading in winter.

summer?

[somapoi]

is there a difference between summer reading and year-round reading?;) _We the Living_, Ayn Rand

On my list

[Lish]

Secrets and Lies by Bruce Schneier. Somewhat geeky but not a purely tech book, fascinating stuff. Don't need a security background to appreciate it.

Fields of Writing ed. by Comley et al. Short stories and essays. I like collections like this because you can pick it up and read one or two when you have time. Norton Anthologies are good for this too.

Uplift: The Bra in America by Jane Farrell-Beck. Discusses the bra from social, engineering, and historical viewpoints.

The Cartoon Guide to Physics and any others of the "Cartoon Guide to..." series, illustrated by Larry Gonick. Very good at distilling tough concepts into digestible but interesting bits.

The new Harry Potter book was on my list, but it's not coming out for a while yet. Blah.

Some recent picks

[Otter]

Some random books I've enjoyed recently:

• The Peshawar Lancers -- OK, this one is kind of geeky. An alternative history where a comet hitting earth results in a world where the British Empire, transported to India, rules the world.
• It Rains Fishes -- Superb Thai cookbook.
• The Maritime History of Massachusetts -- The person who recommended it said, "When you hear the title you'll think I'm insane, but it's terrific." It's a fascinating book about world trade in old Massachusetts, when Nantucketers would visit China and Africa before they ever set foot on the US mainland.

My Reading List

[DrZish]

Well I work at a library so it seems like my reading list changes depending on the books that get checked in when I work, but here it is for now:

Dragonlance Chronicles (I read this one a few years ago and keep meaning to reread it)

The Tale of Genji (working on this one now... its two volumes and really slow reading but I hope to get it done by the end of summer)

Thinking In C++ (trying to refresh my brain for class next fall)

Redwall (my girlfriend recommended this series so I'm trying it out to see what I think)

The Unfortunate Events series by Lemony Snicket (another recommendation by my girlfriend)

The Professional Chef (trying to expand my skills beyond computers)

Just in Case

[m_evanchik]

Just in case the shit really hits the fan, I've been reading:

FM 21-76

Reprint of Department of the Army Field Manual

US ARMY SURVIVAL MANUAL

Here's a quote from Chapter 4, Field Expedient Weapons and Tools:

"You can make another type of sling club by putting sand or a rock in a sock. This type of weapon, however, is a one-shot deal."

It'll make for good reading on some foreign beach(head).

Manga, punk, and other stuff

[duckie13]

I'm currently hooked on some of TokyoPop's manga translations. Of specific interest:

• Cowboy Bebop
  
• Love Hina
  
• Chobits
  

Chobits is incredibly good, especially for the computer geeks. Go check it out!

Besides that, I'm currently reading Ben Weasel's "Punk is a Four Letter Word". Very good stuff so far.

And, hopefully, I'd like to pick up some "Learning Japanese" books this summer, if I get a chance to, as well as going through my Perl books to continue teaching myself that. Good times.

My summer reading list

[Anonymous Coward]

Pretty much everything by Stephen Batchelor, started with Buddhism Without Beliefs. Blew me away.

The New American Bartender's Guide.

The MYSQL & PHP programming book...

Sarah Vowell

[bpfinn]

I really enjoyed "Take the Canoli", but as good as Sarah's writing is, it's even better to hear her read her work. Try to catch her on This American Life or somewhere else on NPR.

My list

[Buzx]

I'll be reading the "Hinges of History" books by Thomas Cahill:

1) How the Irish Saved Civilisation
2) The Gifts of the Jews
3) Desire of the Evelasting Hills

These books give a good history of the Judeo-Christian religions, from a human perspective. Cahill really knows how to bring historical figures to life and make them seem like the humans they were.

Also,

4) A New Kind of Science, Stephen Wolfram
Yeah, it's geeky, but I intend to finish it by 2004.

5) Japan's War
A history of the Japanese industrial build up and the Japanese perspective on World War II.

6) Intermediate Welsh
A language I've been trying to master for a while.

7) The Sokal Hoax
A physicist submits a post-modernist deconstruction of quantum physics as a joke, and it get published. A collection of the essays and editorials that followed.

Buzx

Adventavit Asinus Pulcher et Fortissimus

More stupid poll topics to come....

[peteshaw]

What's on Your Summer 2002 TV List?

What's on Your Summer 2002 Movie List?

What's on Your Summer 2002 Beer List?

What's on your Summer 2002 Computer Game list?

What insects could bight your bottom this summer 2002?

Will Lyme disease factor in your 2002 Summer reading list?

C'mon guys, this ain't news, it ain't even newsworthy. Just go to a big bookstore (or even amazon) and wander around. Books are like religions -- they are pretty much all the same anyway.
peace
--Pete

Re:More stupid poll topics to come....

[funkhauser]

That's why it's part of "Ask Slashdot."

Chaucer

[Takehiko]

I just finished watching "A Knight's Tale" and it sparked my interest in Chaucer's Cantebury Tales. You can't consider yourself cultured until you've read at least of few of the true classics...

Re:Chaucer

[Anonymous Coward]

Yes, everyone should read at least some classics, but I have lost all respect for your learning due to the motivation being the movie "A Knight's Tale"

Redwall

[dpilot]

My kids went through a Redwall phase, and I read a few for Dad-value. A first one is pretty decent, but shortly after that they seem to lack variety. After a while, you get sick of virtuous mice and their friends who eat heartily, and evil rats and their cronies who - are evil.

There may be something interesting about touching on religious themes, and having all sorts of religious trappings, yet not have any religion or faith.

We took the kids to the local bookstore to see Brian Jaques (and buy a book) when he came to town. He's quite a talker.

JRR Tolkien

[benpharr]

Reading the Hobbit, LOTR Trilogy, Simarillion, and the other books by JRR Tolkien could easily keep you entertained all summer.

Ben

well the plan is something like this:

[djdead]

• ANKOS
• Beautiful Mind
• Div, Grad, Curl, and all that
• Beyond Beef
• Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

Tried and true

[TheWanderingHermit]

I swore I'd never get a PDA, cell phone, or any portable tech, but my best friend got an iPaq through work, so she gave me her old Palm v. I found Weasal, a reader that co-operates with Linux host programs, including a program that lets you make compressed e-books out of standard text files.

Right now I'm reading The Prince and the Pauper, and I've got over a dozen books lined up for download to my PDA for reading. I went by Project Gutenburg and downloaded a ton of classics (including Sherlock Holmes, Beowulf, a wide selection of Twain, Shakespeare, and Moliere). All of these are not only classics, but a lot of them have an element of fantasy to them as well (like Connecticut Yankee or MacBeth). It seems to me anyone who loves sci-fi or fantasy and has half a brain would be interested in the roots of fantasy, which include Shakespeare (MacBeth, The Tempest, Hamlet, Midsummer Night's Dream), and books like Connecticut Yankee. Beowulf is certainly one of the first true action/adventure works, and certainly much more engrossing than a high-budget flick with "Ahhnold". As for plays by Moliere -- he's just downright funny. There's also a lot to be said for Alexendre Dumas and books like The Count of Monte Cristo or The Three Musketeers.

Long live free e-texts!

The Autobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr.

[dstone]

If anyone in the last hundred years should be told, "no, YOU da man!" it's this guy.

Impressive and inspiring book so far (I'm 3 chapters into it). This is written in the first person, in his own words (naturally), and was edited after his death.

here and here
The links are free of referrals. The Indigo.ca link doesn't have popups and prices are in CAN$.

Non-SciFi but BrainBlowing all the same

[mirnav]

Ever read J. G. Ballard? Try out "The Atrocity Exhibition". I finished it a week ago and still did not come back to my senses. This is the first sentence of the book:

"Apocalypse - A disquiting feature of this annual exhibition - to which the patients themselves were not invited - was the marked preoccupation of the paintings with the theme of world cataclysm, as if these long-incarcerated patients had sensed some seismic upheaval within the minds of their doctors and nurses."

Summer Reading: My eBookman

[matthewcraig]

This summer I'll be reading whatever I can sync up with my new Franklin eBookman. I just bought it and I really enjoy reading from it.

Discussing Reading

[hether]

If you'd like to discuss reading, I suggest you join a reading discussion forum. For example:

SF/Fantasy - http://www.sffworld.org/forums/

NY Times Book Forums(all sorts of genres) - http://www.nytimes.com/books/forums/

etc.... I'm sure a Google search can get you in touch with people who'd like to investigate and critique books with you. Slashdot just doesn't seem like the place for good literary discussion.

A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin

[Cire]

A Game of Thrones is the first book in the Song of Fire and Ice Series by George R.R. Martin. It's easily one of the best fantasy series written recently, and probably right up there with Tolkien. It's easy better than Robert Jordan's work.

Honestly, it's fantastic if you're looking for some great fantasy reading this summer.

--Cire
There is no sig.

study ..

[mbyte]

Boudewijn R. Haverkort : Performance of Computer Communication Systems: A Model-Based Approach

i hate having exam in summer, but its the last ;)

Science fiction books...

[mfarah]

... because I am a geek.

I recommend:

• The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy, by Douglas Adams
  
• The Restaurant at the End of the Universe, by Douglas Adams
  
• Life, the Universe and Everything, by Douglas Adams
  
• Foundation, by Isaac Asimov
  
• Foundation & Empire, by Isaac Asimov
  
• Second Foundation, by Isaac Asimov
  
• I, Robot, by Isaac Asimov
  
• The Demolished Man, by Alfred Bester
  
• The Martian Chronicles, by Ray Bradbury
  
• Rendezvous with Rama, by Arthur C. Clarke
  
• Ubik, by Philip K. Dick
  
• The Forever War, by Joe Haldeman
  
• Starship Troopers, by Robert Heinlein
  
• Dune, by Frank Herbert
  
• A Canticle for Leibowitz, by Walter Miller
  
• The Mote in God's Eye, by Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle
  
• Hyperion/The Fall Of Hyperion, by Dan Simmons
  
• A Fire Upon the Deep, by Vernor Vinge
  
• A Deepness in the Sky, by Vernor Vinge
  

Be sure to take a look at the The Internet Top 100 SF/Fantasy List for more recommendations

Re:Science fiction books...

[stevey]

# Starship Troopers, by Robert Heinlein

Because I'm a geek who likes his stories to have a little bite I'd suggest 'Stranger In A Strange Land' above Starship Troopers.

I'd also add 'Wizards First Rule' + sequels by Terry Goodkind.

Re:Science fiction books...

[nanolith]

I'd also add 'Wizards First Rule' + sequels by Terry Goodkind.

Terry Goodkind is an excellent fantasy writer. He currently has 6 books and a few short stories out. Here is an incomplete list:

Wizard's First Rule
Stone of Tears
Blood of the Fold
Temple of Winds
Soul of the Fire
Faith of the Fallen
Pillars of Creation
short story Debt of Bones

I started reading WFR and could not put it down. Since then, I have been addicted. (I am currently finishing POC).

Re:Science fiction books...

[stevey]

I started reading WFR and could not put it down.

Me too .. though I have to say I was a little disappointed with both the 'Faith of the Fallen', and 'Pillars Of Creation'.

Still they're a fantastic collection.

Re:Science fiction books...

[mfarah]

Because I'm a geek who likes his stories to have a little bite I'd suggest 'Stranger In A Strange Land' above Starship Troopers.

I haven't read that book, so I can't recommend it. It IS on my "to-read" queue [I have a copy], though.

The universe in a nut shell

[Jacer]

my girlfriend got it for me for my birthday! she's just as big a geek as I am!! I read a breif history of time a few months ago, and have wanted to read the universe in a nut shell ever since

My to-read pile

[corrosiv]

Gil Amelio's book on 500 days at Apple
Glue by Irvine Welsh
High-rise & Concrete Island by Ballard
and one more spin on one of my favorite books of all time: The Bear Comes Home by Rafi Zabor

Adventures of Kavalier and Clay

[powerbarr]

Started reading a week ago this book by Michael Chabon that won the Pulitzer. Great story and interesting characters with good tid bits on creating comic books and life in New York in the late 30s and 40s.

My list

[HeyLaughingBoy]

To finish (at any time I usually have 2-5 books in process of being read :-):
Hagakure: Book of the Samurai
Flashing Steel: Mastering Eishin-Ryu Swordsmanship
At the Mountains of Madness
The Making of a Pastry Chef

To start:
Front Panel: User interfaces for embedded systems
The stack of ACM Communications, Embedded Systems Programming, American Craft, and Bike magazines on the living room floor.
A Book of Five Rings

To find:
A good book on Kendo more modern than the Warner/Sasamori classic: suggestions??

Not Japanese, but....

[boggsj]

Sun-Tzu's The Art of War!

The Scarlet Letter...

[eugene ts wong]

...is considered classic literature, if I understand correctly. I would never know for sure, so I would appreciate it if some people corrected/verified what I said.

I take a very right wing, Christian fundementalist view on things. The story is about a Puritan village, and the story probably doesn't potray the Puritan religion very well in the eyes of today's world, however, I felt that it wasn't about the religion as much as it was about how people behave. It almost appears to be about social science.

Now that I've studied political science and economics on my own, it would be interesting to reread the story to see if I could glean some deeper messages and principles out of it.

things to read

[Tumbleweed]

I'd recommend you scare yourself to death and read Tom Clancy's "Jack Ryan" novels, including 'Rainbow Six'. Especially Rainbow Six. You should definitely read 'The Sum of All Fears', and see why the movie is pathetic in comparison - they chopped out massive parts of the book, and changed what they left almost to the point of unrecognizability. A great book, with an interesting idea on how to actually achieve a workable peace in the Middle East, though it may be too late after 2001-09-11. :(

Other books - I'd recommend all the 'Spenser' books by Robert B. Parker. These are the books that the tv series and tv movies were based on, and if you liked them, you'll be pleased to know these are the same, only much better. It's interesting to start reading them at the beginning (started in the 70's!), and read them all the way through to the most recent one. Interesting character changes.

And, what else, oh, Peter Mayle's 'Provence' books - starting with 'A Year in Provence'. He's got some other related books that are enjoyable, too. Don't take them as gospel on what Provence is like (from what I hear), but they're still very enjoyable.

Sorry, no links today. :)

Re:things to read

[roju]

Rainbox Six? That's my least favourite Jack Ryan book. There was too much focus on how cool and badass the group was, and less on story; at least in my mind. My advice is that if you're going to take the plunge and read them, read 'em in the order he released them.

I found some old spencer books a while back, they actually did provide me with a lot of entertainment. They reminded me of hardy boy books, but with fewer smugglers :)

Quick list

[trey_belew]

1. The Essential Noam Chomsky -- contains incisive commentary upon the United States in the 20th century as well as the nature and effect of activism upon government.
2. Lonesome Dove -- Intriguing perspective of those characters types so many children idolize.
3. Anna Karenina -- Because Every happy family is happy in the same way; while every unhappy family is unhappy in a different way.
4. Fierce Invalids Home from Hot Climates -- Contains the question: Why does the United States do these horrible things? "Because the cowboys wiped out the buffalo, wherever a buffalo fell, a monster sprung up in its place."
5. In Patagonia -- I am having trouble with this one as it reminds me a little of Steinbeck without faith in humanity nor humour.

Terry Pratchett

[bbtom]

A genius, he is. I will have to borrow (if the Digital Rights management of publishers will allow me) them from my brother, or a library. I might also have a crack at that big book about PHP4 - once I have my computer back. Darned Apple power supply.

My reading list

[dfelznic]

Hello, here is my reading list for the summer:
Linked: The New Science of Networks
Emergence: The Connected Lives of Ants,...
A New Kind of Science
Letters to a Young Contrarian
Flesh and Machines: How Robots Will...
Our Posthuman Future: Consequences of...
I have already read linked. i liked it alot however it gets repeative at times...

God's Debris

[WiKKeSH]

Great book by Scott Adams (The author of Dilbert).
THe book contains no humor, and It is a good read.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/074072190 9/ qid=1023823517/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_1/102-9309714-07801 07#product-details

WARNING - BAD LINK!

[Anonymous Coward]

Don't follow the link - it's redirected to a disgusting site.

Decent mix

[Zurion]

Alice in Wonderland -- Lewis Carroll
The Stand -- Stephen King
Hearts in Atlantis -- Stephen King
1984 -- George Orwell
Band of Brothers -- Stephen Ambrose

I'd like to fit in some more classics, but I'm rather indecisive.

a new kind of science

[r00tarded]

for the next five summers it looks like...

cluetrain manifesto

[cr@ckwhore]

Been meaning to read it for a while.

All Hail the Annual Library Book Sale

[n8willis]

Which brings me:

• The Laughing Sutra by Mark Salzman
  
• The Gulag Archipelago by Alexsandr Solzhenitsyn
  
• The Road to Joy by Thomas Merton
  
• Bread and Wine by Ignazio Silone
  
• The Collected Stories of Philip K. Dick, volume 5
  
• The Cost of Discipleship by Dietrich Bonhoeffer
  
• How the Irish Saved Civilization by Thomas Cahill
  
• Bored of the Rings by Henry Beard et al.
  

Well, alright, the last couple I didn't find at the library sale, but I was caught up in that UL. Anyway, there is some heavy stuff and some light stuff in there, some stuff I've been wanting to read for a while, and some stuff that just lept off the table at me. But the point I wanted to bring up is what a great place a library sale is to pick up an ecclectic stack of reading material. I paid like five bucks for everything I got, and what the hey, the library benefits.

What's geeky?

[Engdy]

I'm not sure I understand the requirement for non-geeky. I think a good definition of "geeky" is "having a passion for something." I know cooking geeks, sewing geeks, music geeks... so in my opinion, you only want to know what books people are reading that they don't care for that much.

Virtual Machine Design and Implementation

[wackybrit]

My summer read is Virtual Machine Design and Implementation (in C/C++) by Bill Blunden.

Why? Because I think custom VMs are the next big mealticket, and I want in on the ground floor. Also.. it teaches you how to write compilers, assemblers, and what not.. so it'll be fun anyway.

Seriously

[The FooMiester]

I'll probably get marked as troll for saying this but . . .

Mein Kampf

I figure it's something I need to read anyway, and history runs in cycles. It's interesting to know where people are coming from.

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JgNmTfW/Pt1fzBZIT0FycakvwNC8h9cQYR aj+An5/y67BvA/hB ytdpB0UCPD2gS

left leaning

[kometes]

Blinded by the Right - David Brock
The Best Democracy Money Can Buy -- ???

10001 Year Old

[egarrido16]

While studying modern mathematics at Columbia University this summer, I will be finishing...

...Wolfram's A New Kind of Science: I've become very interested after the first 200 pages.

... Introduction to Algorithms by Cormen et al.: used in second-year college CS courses as a text book, first five chapters do a pretty good job explaining simple algorithms. I can't wait to see what the next 30 have to offer.

...Time Travel in Einstein's Universe by J. Richard Gott: An interesting look at time travel in light of Einstein's work for the non-particle physicist.

And they say I'm not enjoying my childhood! :)

Mmmm, books

[sclatter]

First, hearty agreement with the person who recommended "Fast Food Nation". It's not as much of a gross-out as "The Jungle" was, though there's a bit of that too. It's more about the culture of fast food. Packed with fun trivia! Did you know Willard Scott was the first Ronald McDonald? They didn't keep him because he was too fat.

I recently finished "War and Peace". It's a *great* book. Took me a *long* time to read, but I really enjoyed every bit of it. Truly a pleasure, and not at all what I expected. Give it a shot!

I am almost finished with "Guns, Germs and Steel". It describes how different people in different locations on earth came to develop the technologies that they did. The author argues convincingly that more advanced cultures owe their success to location, location, location. Specifically, the availability of domesticable plants and large animals drove the development of agriculture, and agriculture led to more advanced societies.

I'm listening to "The Orchid Thief" on audio. It's pretty good. The stories of Victorian orchid hunters are more interesting than the modern storyline, IMHO.

On my "to read" pile are "The Dive from Clausen's Pier" and Ian Rankin's "Dead Souls". "The Dive from Clausen's Pier" is sort of a chick book, I think. It's about a girl who feels suffocated with her life. I've just heard good things about Ian Rankin. I'm not usually into mysteries but i thought I'd give it a try.

How the Middle East got where it is today...

[dru]

I've been Reading A Peace to End All Peace by David Fromkin, about the fall of the Ottoman Empire during WWI. Seven Pillars of Wisdom is T.E. Lawrence's account of the same events, but from quite a different perspective. Anyone know of good books about the Middle East from 1920 until the present?

I'm also reading Greg Palast's The Best Democracy Money Can Buy. I plan to read Naomi Klein's No Logo, and Everything You Know is Wrong by the good people at Disinfomation.

I'm going to see Gary Snyder & Tom Killion read from The High Sierra of California tonight in Santa Cruz; I'll read that.

Maybe I'll finish Snow Crash by Stephenson, and get on to The Design and Implementation of 4.4BSD.

Building a new house

[jdevons]

I'm building a new house, so I thought that The Owner-Builder Book would be a good read.

Vonnegut.

[saintlupus]

Which Vonnegut book should I read next?

Bluebeard. I've read the vast majority of Vonnegut's books, and that one is by far my favorite.

As for me, I decided to spend some time catching up on my mid-20th century American writers. Norman Mailer, James Cain, James Jones, Mickey Spillane - maybe I'll reread some of my Jim Thompson collection while I'm at it.

Though I must admit that the parallels between the anti-Communism of Spillane and the anti-foreign message of, say, Dan Rather, is kind of creepy.

--saint

Technical Style

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm currently reading _Technical Style_ by J. M. Haile. It even covers how to do equations! It's very readable unlike many style guides, which is a huge huge plus as well.

I'm also reading Martin Fowler's _Refactoring_...Very nice to have some names for these various refactoring techniques.

Cryptology books?

[domninus.DDR]

What would be a good cryptology or stenography book that isnt, say a specific manual on how to use pgp? Ive just finished The Code Book by Simon Singh but it just leaves me wanting to know more and in depth.

The Metamorphsis

[TibbonZero]

While I am past summer reading for my classes, some of the most enlighting books that I have read in high school have been:

The Metamorphisis
Siddartha
Candide (Volare is a riot!!!)
Sophie's World (ok, wasn't the best, but entertaining nontheless)

While, not in topic, I have also seen some excelent movies lately:
Muholland Drive
Pi
Memento
The Quills
The Wonder Boys
Y tu Madre Tambien (watched it in spanish, without subtitles, but still a great movie!!)


I don't think that these previous movies I have mentioned got enough box office attention. They were all really good. Some of them (Anything by David Lynch), even makes you think a little more than your standard simple movie plot
Sorry I got offtopic (Watches Karma get shot in the foot)

NSA

[lunchlady doris]

Right now I'm busy reading James Bamford's Bod y of Secrets. So far, I'm having a blast. The book follows the genesis and development of the US's premier eavesdroppers.
-

Adam Smith . . .

[economist102]

Well, I'm a third through Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith. I wanted to read it for decades but it intimidated me. It is huge - more than a thousand pages - but it reads fast, and it leaves me w/a sense of optimism: no matter what radical right/left freaks say or do, people have an incentive to get rich by making better goods and services for lower prices, which is the same thing as increasing the standard of living for people. Some folx will say that the "global warming" "problem" disproves this, but the incentive is for someone to design and sell a cost-effective alternative energy, because this would be worth trillions.

Ummm

[Rogerborg]

Non geeky, non SciFi? What does that leave? Jackie Collins?

Oh, history. If you want a nice blend of popular history and entertainment, try Nathaniel's Nutmeg, a fascinating story about the 17th century spice trade. And no, that's NOT geeky, it says a lot about humanity's ability to commit truly horrendous acts on each other for seemingly trivial things.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0140292608/ qid=1023903130/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_1/002-2433064-31240 52

still building the list

[the_womble]

I have just bought:

Aunt Julia and the Script Writer, by Mario Varas Llosa.
This is something I have been meaning to read for a long time but to be honest a radio interview of him tipped the balance.

Thief of Time by Terry Pratchett

The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon.
An abridged edition (still substatial enough) I ahve downloaded the full version from Project Gutenberg in case it really whets my appetite. My main interest is curiosity as to whether there are interesting parallels between then and now.

The Growth Illusion by Richard Douthwaite
My impression so far is that it is interesting and it is nice to see someone thinking the same way as me about GDP. It does seem a little lacking in rigour though. Probably more worth reading for digestible data rather than analysis. It is the first book that I have bought purely on the basis of the desription + reviews on Amazon so it is a bit of a test for me of how well that works.

Weekend before last was a long weekend and we we went away. I took two books with me that I thought I would other wise not read but only skimmed them - one on game theory and the other on signals and information theory.

I am still looking for suggestions and if anyone on feels like suggesting a thought provoking/interesting book on programming it is next on my list. I was thinking of the Structure and Interpretation fo Computer Programs (as suggested on ask Slashdot recently) or perhaps Paul Graham's book, ANSI Common Lisp.

C++ Primer Plus

[scubacuda]

C++ Primer Plus (by Prata) is a damn good book. Much better, IMO, than the plethora of other C++ books out there.

A Hodgepodge of Things

[TastySiliconWafers]

"The Art of War", Sun Tzu
"All Families Are Psychotic", Douglas Coupland
"Otherland", Tad Williams
"Palace", Katharine Kerr & Mark Kreighbaum
"The Trial", Franz Kafka
"Noir", K.W. Jeter
"Chung Kuo", David Wingrove
"Mona Lisa Overdrive", William Gibson
"The Human Zoo", Desmond Morris
"Ambient", Jack Womack
"Being and Nothingness", Jean-Paul Sartre
"The Illuminatus! Trilogy", Robert Shea & Robert Anton Wilson
"Miss Wyoming", Douglas Coupland
"The Onion Girl", Charles de Lint

The Art of Travel

[ader]

If you're going on holiday, read "The Art Of Travel" by Alain de Botton. It's a lite philosophical discussion of our need and experience of travel, along with some interesting historical diversions.
It might not inspire you to travel, but it will remind you why you love reading.

Ade_
/