Books That I’ve Read in 2002
“Always
read stuff that will make you look good if you die in the middle of it” – P.J.
O’Rourke
Used Books Online:
Mine is
Covered Treasures Bookstore in Monument, Colorado (covrdtreas@aol.com) owned by Mrs. Tommie T. Plank.
Much of what I know I have learned from the New York Review of Books
Emergence: the connected lives of ants, brains, cities, and software (Steven Johnson) – has to do with self-organization and complexity. Interesting stuff.
“N” is for Noose & “O” is for Outlaw (Sue Grafton) – The former is okay but latter is terrific! I had been getting behind on Sue Grafton so I took these on a 5 day back country hut skiing trip. They’re great for that kind of thing because they’re more than 300 pages each yet very light so that they don’t add much weight to the backpack.
Nine Crazy Ideas in Science: A Few Might Even Be True (Robert Ehrlich) – Interesting exercise in critical thinking, which is something that more people should take an interest in. But, one must read books in order to learn to think critically and, since only about 20% of the American population read books, the door to critical thinking is closed to the other 80% of the population.
Balzak and the Little Chinese Seamstress (Dai Sijie) – This is a terrific book. The protagonist and his friend are sent to the provinces in China during the cultural revolution of the early 70s. Sijie himself suffered that fate between 1971 and 1974 and eventually moved to France, where he is now a filmmaker, in 1984. When ideology becomes fanaticism this kind of thing is the result. One must always be on guard.
Hunting Badger (Tony Hillerman) – It has Leaphorn & Chee back together again! I love Hillerman’s Navajo mysteries. Please keep turning them out Tony.
Paris out of hand (Karen Elizabeth Gordon) – KEG has written some wonderful books on language such as The Transitive Vampire and, my favorite, The Disheveled Dictionary. This is a guide to Paris written in her unique style. I read it, of course, in Paris! Fun to read in the right place at the right time.
Think (Simon Blackburn) – I reread this every year or two. It’s something that more people should do.
Yours Faithfully, Bertrand Russell (ed. Ray Perkins, Jr.) – Some 300 letters to the editor written by Bertrand Russell on various topics. As a Russell fan and a compulsive writer myself of letters to the editor I found this to be enjoyable. Not for everyone, obviously; but what is?
No Sense of Obligation – Science and Religion in an Impersonal Universe (Matt Young) – This book had a very good review in The Skeptical Inquirer. Young is a retired physicist who has done a terrific job of putting his thoughts about this subject onto paper. I have only a few minor quibbles. Table 1 on page 251 says it all and would be definitive if cast into mathematical form using Bayes’ Theorem. Zarathustra said it best: “Ah, ye brethren, that god whom I created was human work and human madness, like all gods.”
Brunelleschi’s Dome (Ross King) – an interesting account of Filippo Brunelleschi and his design and construction of the great Duomo of Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence in the 15th century. It was kind of slow reading at times but I liked it.
Warriors of God: Richard the Lionheart and Saladin in the Third Crusade (James Reston, Jr.) – I’ve been interested in the Crusades for long time. This is terrific. Reston notes that Muslims consider Christians to be polytheists and idol worshipers because of their concept of The Trinity and because of their display of the crucifix. Interesting perspective.
The Little Prince (Antoine De Saint-Exupery) – This is a curious book that I have to admit to not understanding. Perhaps I’m too old – or too young.
Ender’s Game (Orson Scott Card) – Won both the Hugo and Nebula awards for SF. Well deserved – gr8t!! It reminds me, in some ways, of Joe Haldeman’s The Forever War, which is a favorite of mine.
The Wailing Wind (Tony Hillerman) - Another Leaphorn & Chee mystery! They’re always a treat.
Year Zero (Jeff Long) – Best novel I’ve read this year! Terrific!
Sherlock in Love (Sena Jeter Naslund) – Lots of fun for Sherlockians!
It Must Be Beautiful: Great Equations of Modern Science (ed. Graham Farmelo) – I like this kind of thing but, obviously, it’s not for everyone.
The Demon-Haunted World (Carl Sagan) – This may be the first thing that I’ve read by Sagan. Good and useful to me. I quoted from this as well as from Feynman’s “Cargo Cult Science” essay [in The Pleasure of Finding Things Out] in my CSAP presentations. Sagan (as well as Feyman) really understood how science is distinctly and uniquely difference from non-science.
The Pleasure of Finding Things Out & The Meaning of It All (Richard Feynman) – I’ve read these before but got back on a Feynman kick for a while. They’re worth reading for those interested in how geniuses view science.
Neuromancer (Willliam Gibson) – I reread this now and then. Perhaps some day I’ll even figure it out! It’s a classic of the cyberpunk genre.
Dark Matter (Philip Kerr) – Murder and intrigue in the Tower of London. Isaac Newton is the 17th century Sherlock Holmes and the narrator of the story is Watson, of sorts. I liked this a lot; but that would figure, wouldn’t it?
Press Enter (John Varley) – Perhaps one of the scariest SF books of all time. I hadn’t reread it since the 1980s but it’s still relevant. It’s especially relevant in these times of so-called Homeland Security and the schemes of Poindexter and Ashcroft to spy on all Americans.
Picasso’s War (Russell Martin) – The story of the destruction of Gernika by the warplanes of the Luftwaffe and the subsequent painting of Guernica by Picasso. This was interesting to read. Martin also wrote Beethoven’s Hair, which was very good.
The Whore’s Child and Other Stories (Richard Russo) – He is a terrific writer. Some of these stories are very engaging and others leave me wondering “What was that all about?” or, in the current vernacular, “I was, like, huh?”.
The Borderlands of Science: Where Sense Meets Nonsense (Michael Shermer) – This is an interesting book although it’s difficult to state in a few words what it’s all about. The chapter on Carl Sagan is very good.