October 2008
Effective C++, 3rd ed.
Scott Meyers
Addison-Wesley Professional , 2005, 320 pages
ISBN 978-0321334879
This book is really insightful. I know I couldn't absorb everything... so I'll be reading it again at some point.
Effective STL
Scott Meyers
Addison-Wesley Professional , 2001, 288 pages
ISBN 978-0201749625
Another excellent book from Meyers. Another requiring a re-read in the future.
The System of the World
Neal Stephenson
Phillips & Nelson Media, Inc , 2004, 892 pages
ISBN 0060523875
September 2008
Quicksilver
Neal Stephenson
2004, 919 pages
ISBN 978-0060593087
The Confusion
Neal Stephenson
Phillips & Nelson Media, Inc , 2004, 816 pages
ISBN 0060523867
February 2008
Beyond the C++ Standard Library: An Introduction to Boost
Bjorn Karlsson
Addison-Wesley Professional , 2005, 432 pages
ISBN 978-0321133540
I simply devoured this book. I read it in something like a week. The section on using boost::function in conjunction with boost::bind & boost::lambda is pure magic. Using the generic/functional approach, you can knock the code for iterating over a container class from 23 lines of code (roughly) to 1 line. Boost::numeric_cast and boost::lexical_cast are also useful. Before reading the book, I was already familiar with the Boost Thread Library and the filesystem library.
December 2007
Airframe (Audio Book)
Micheal Crichton
Ballentine Books , 1997, 448 pages
ISBN 978-0345402875
Berlin Game
Len Deighton
Ballantine Books , 1997, 352 pages
ISBN 978-0345418340
Cryptonomicon
Neal Stephens
Avon , 2002, 1168 pages
ISBN 978-0060512804
Next
Michael Crichton
Harper , 2007, 560 pages
ISBN 978-0060873165
November 2007
The C++ Stardard Library: A Tutorial and Reference
Nicolai M. Josuttis
Addison-Wesley Professional , 1999, 832 pages
I've been using parts of the STL for many years, for example the string class. However, there were other parts I wanted to get more familiar with - the algorithms for example. I found the text clear and concise, as advertised.
July 2007
Learning Ruby
Michael Fitzgerald
O'Reilly , 2007, 193 pages
ISBN 978-0596529864
April 2007
Idoru
William Gibson
Putnam , 2003, 320 pages
ISBN 978-0425190456
March 2007
Dreaming In Code
Scott Rosenberg
Crown Publishers , 2007
ISBN 978-1400082469
January 2006
Atlas Shrugged
Ayn Rand
Signet , 1957, 1074 pages
ISBN 0452011876
August 2005
STL Pocket Reference
Ray Lischer
O'Reilly , 2003, 105 pages
ISBN 0-596-00556-3
A good reference for STL programmers. Also has a nice review of some Boost containers and features.
June 2005
Of Men and War
John Hersey
Scholastic Book Services , 1942, 132 pages
The Road Ahead: Living and Prospering in the Information Age
Bill Gates, with Nathan Myhrvold & Peter Rinearson
Viking , 1995, 286 pages
ISBN 0-670-77289-5
I just wanted to see what *the man* had to say 10 years ago. Some of his predictions were very optimistic, but most were modest and accurate.
February 2005
The Ant and the Elephant: Leadership for the Self
Vince Poscente
Corner Stone , 2004, 115 pages
ISBN 0-974-64035-2
Some nice insight on the strugle between the concious and unconcious mind and how to make them work together to achieve goals. I hesitate to say that it is written in the spirit of The Little Prince, but it is a parable.
The Computer and the Brain
John von Neumann
Yale Nota Bene , 1958, 82 pages
ISBN 0-300-08473-0
December 2004
For Whom the Bell Tolls
Ernest Hemingway
Scribner , 1940, 471 pages
ISBN 0-684-80335-6
The Golden Ratio: the Story of Phi, the World's Most Astonishing Number
Mario Livio
Broadway Books , 2002, 253 pages
ISBN 0-7679-0816-3
The Turk: The Life and Times of the Famous Eighteenth-Century Chess-Playing Machine
Tom Standage
The Berkley Publishing Group , 2002, 247 pages
ISBN 0-425-19039-0
Wholeness: On Education, Buckminster Fuller, and Tao
Alex Gerber, Jr.
Gerber Educational Resources , 2001, 125 pages
ISBN 0-9635367-1-0
September 2004
One Hundred Years of Solitude
Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Translated by Gregory Rabassa from Spanish Perennial , 1967, reprinted 2004, 453 pages
ISBN 0060740450
August 2004
Life of Pi
Yann Martel
Harcount, Inc , 2001, 319 pages
ISBN 0-15-602732-1
The kind of book that is enjoyable to read, none the less leaves you with deep thoughts to chew on when you finish.
The Sun Also Rises
Ernest Hemingway
Charles Scribner's Sons , 1926, reprinted 2003, 251 pages
ISBN 0-684-80071-3
July 2004
Across the River and Into the Trees
Ernest Hemingway
Dell Publishing Company , 1950, 320 pages
ISBN 0-684-84464-8
Being Digital
Nicholas Negroponte
Vintage Books , 1995, 247 pages
ISBN 0-679-76290-6
A "classic" of Internet literature. It is interesting to see what has changed in ten years since Negroponte wrote this. Many of his predictions, of course, where widely fantastic, but some where more or less on the mark.
Everyone In Silico
Jim Munroe
No Media Kings , 2002, 335 pages
Another excellent sci-fi novel released under the Creative Commons license.
Snow Crash
Neal Stephenson
Bantam Books , 1992, 468 pages
ISBN 0-553-56261-4
The Portable Nietzsche
Walter Kaufmann
The Viking Press , 1954, 687 pages
I have spent the better part a year (or more) reading this; aside from reading, much time was spent mulling over the arguments of the work - as is necessary with thought provoking work such as this. Much of the work is profound and requires much seriousness to comprehend, and still much of the writing is offered as satyr. I half desire not to make any statements about Nietzche's work here, and yet feel compelled to. Nietzche is a mirror that one does not enjoy looking into often, and yet the experience offers much insight into essence of man to the extent that his writing is unavoidable.
June 2004
Los De Abajo
Mariano Azuela
Translated by E. Munguia, Jr. from (Mexican) Spanish The New American Library of World Literature, Inc. , 1915, reprinted 1968, 149 pages
ISBN 0-451-52625-2
Smart Mobs: The Next Social Revolution
Howard Rheingold
Perseus Publishing , 2002, 288 pages
ISBN 0-738-20608-3
The book started off well enough, but didn't finish strongly. There was some interesting points made throughout the text, however I wouldn't recomend this one unless you are either seriously into sociology or a complete newbie to the scene.
The Bridge Over The River Kwai
Pierre Boulle
Translated by Xan Fielding from French
Bantam Books , 1954, reprinted 1968, 150 pages
ISBN 0-099-44502-6
Xan did a fabulous job of translating this novel. The style he choose for the English version was tailored very closely to that of Hemmingway. Good read.
April 2004
Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom
Cory Doctorow
Tor Books , 2003, 208 pages
ISBN 0-765-30953-X
I liked "Eastern Standard Tribe" better... but reading multiple books by the same author gives you a since of the themes that they are working with. Cory is definitely considering the same themes in both books.
The Fall
Albert Camus
Translated by Justin O'Brien from French
Vintage Books , 1956, reprinted 1963
ISBN 0-679-72022-7
The Good Earth
Pearl S. Buck
Washington Square Press , 1931, reprinted 1973, 260 pages
ISBN 0-671-47226-7
The New Geography: How the Digital Revolution is Reshaping the American Landscape
Joel Kotkin
Random House , 2001, 189 pages
ISBN 0-375-75832-1
I've never read an author that enjoyed the word "epotimize[d]" more :) Still this was worth reading.
March 2004
Demian
Hermann Hesse
Translated by Micahel Roloff and Michael Lebeck from German Bantam Books , 1925, reprinted 1970, 141 pages
ISBN 0-060-93191-4
Eastern Standard Tribe
Cory Doctorow
2004, 254 pages
This book represents some of the great things that can be done with the Creative Commons Licenses... the book is free - and good. My favorite quote is in chapter 21 "... engineers are all basically high-functioning autistics who have no idea how normal people do stuff."
The writing is contemporary and sometimes it is difficult to tell if the writer is describing scenes in London or in the U.S.A., however this kind of confusion flows along with the story line so no big complaints. Did I mention it's free?? and good?
Galapagos
Kurt Vonnegut
Dell Publishers , 1985, reprinted 1999, 324 pages
ISBN 0-385-33387-0
Green Hills of Africa
Ernest Hemingway
Penguin Books , 1935, reprinted 1976, 244 pages
ISBN 0-684-80129-9
I've found Hemingway's writting easy and enjoyable, even in a book with no real point or plot to it, the language is earthly, smooth, and sanguine.
The Old Man and the Sea
Ernest Hemingway
Charles Scribner's Sons , 1952, 123 pages
ISBN 684-71805-7
What can be said about this little book that hasn't already been said thousands of times before? This is a timeless classic drawing simple but powerful analogies on life.
The Stranger
Albert Camus
Translated by Matthew Ward from French
Vintage , 1946, reprinted 1989, 123 pages
ISBN 0-679-72020-0
Tragic. While considered very American in style during the period it was written, reading it now I think to myself "how French".
February 2004
LDAP Directories Explained: An Introduction and Analysis
Brian Arkills
Addison Wesley , 2003, 385 pages
ISBN 0-201-78792-X
Brian's goal in writing the book was to provide newcomers with a good introduction to LDAP, and he did just that. This was a great book for gaining an appreciation for LDAP and an excellent starting point for anyone administering or programming LDAP for the first time. If you need an intro to LDAP, I recommend this book.
Master and Margarita
Mikhail Bulgakov
Translated by Diana burgin & Katherine Tiernan O'Connor from Russian
Vintage Books , 1940, reprinted 1995, 372 pages
ISBN 0-679-76080-6
Even in their translated forms, Bulgakov was a master. The key is his intricate plots, and expose of the human condition, especially that of his contemporary Russians.
January 2004
Complexity: Life at the Edge of Chaos
Roger Lewin
The University of Chicago Press , 1992, reprinted 1999, 222 pages
ISBN 0-226-47655-3
Fahrenheit 451
Ray Bradbury
Ballantine Books , 1950, reprinted 1991, 178 pages
ISBN 0-345-34296-8
Nexus: Small Worlds and the Groundbreaking Science of Networks
Mark Buchanan
W.W. Norton & Company , 2002, 208 pages
ISBN 0-393-04153-0
After having read "Linked" and "Six Degrees", the beginning portion of this work was not impressive. I found it somewhat disappointing that Buchanan did not adopt the common terminology for the networks presented in "Linked": scale-free networks. Instead, he refers to them as Aristocratic Hierarchical networks. Still, his meaning was quite clear as he focused mostly on Small Worlds rather than their subset cousin the scale-free network. Past this, the book was primarily focused on sociological and economic networks, which I found intriguing. I ended with several ear-marked pages peppered throughout the second half of the book, and an ernest desire to follow up by reading several of the referenced material.
Plato Selections
Plato
Translated by Unknown, edited by Raphael Demos
Charles Scribner's Sons , 1927, reprinted 1963, 448 pages
This translation has stood the test of time and with good reason.
Six Degrees: The Science of a Connected Age
Duncan J. Watts
W.W. Norton & Company, Inc. , 2003, 306 pages
ISBN 0-393-04142-5
Quite humorous: Physicist tend to see themselves as the lords of the academic jungle, loftily regarding their own methods as above the ken of anybody else and jealously guarding their own terrain. But their alter egos are closer to scavengers, happy to borrow ideas and techniques from anywhere if they seem like they might be useful, and delighted to stomp all over someone else's problem. As irritating as this attitude can be to everybody else, the arrival of the physicists into a previously non-physics area of research often presages a period of great discovery and excitement. Mathematicians do the same thing occasionally, but no one descends with such fury and in so great a number as a pack of hungry physicists, adrenalized by the scent of a new problem
I have to argue that computer scientists probably match the flocking hungry hoards of physicists pound for pound. This book was excellent. It did a wonderful job of covering the topic fully from start to finish. Six Degrees deeply satisfied many of the areas that "Linked" titillated but left unabated. Mainly, I appreciated this book for clearly and precisely defining the relationship between Small Worlds and Scale Free networks, while introducing powerful real-world examples and dispelling the mystical shroud surrounding these topics by revealing the pure scientific methods on which the theories are built.
Slaughterhouse-Five or The Children's Crusade: A Duty-Dance With Death
Kurt Vonnegut
Dell Publishing , 1969, reprinted 1991, 215 pages
ISBN 0-440-18029-5
Gripping if not strange. One of those mystical books that is riveting but not enjoyable, while maintaining an air of humor throughout. Very well done.
The Catcher in the Rye
J.D. Salinger
Little, Brown and Company , 1951, reprinted 1991, 214 pages
ISBN 0316769487
December 2003
Hidden Order: How Adaptation Builds Complexity
John H. Holland
Perseus Books , 1995, 172 pages
ISBN 0-201-44230-2
Holland meanders between traditional AI constructs of rule bases before settling on the topic of modeling with genetic based agents. Modeling, it should be clear, is an art form. It depends on the experience and taste of the modeler
... the one shining gem of knowledge. The first chapter also has some interesting ideas, but Holland sweeps them under the rug while trying to reconcile the condition-reaction approach with genetic programming; an informative read if not a little disappointing - I expected more from Holland.
Captains Courageous
Rudyard Kipling
The New American Library , 1897, 169 pages
ISBN 0451523814
Rumble Fish
S.E. Hinton
Bantam Doubleday Dell , 1968, 135 pages
ISBN 0-440-97534-4
Small Pieces Loosely Joined: A Unified Theory of the Web
David Weinberger
Perseus Publishing , 2002, 196 pages
ISBN 0-7382-0543-5
This was an interesting read, falling somewhere between philosophy and technology while revolving around the purpose and affects of the Internet on our society. I must say, I find reading books about technology written by "outsiders" intriguing; they raise questions about purpose, perception, knowledge, and existence that stoke my philosophical interests.
November 2003
Check Point Internet Security Solutions: Management I
Various
Check Point Software Technologies Ltd , 2003, 354 pages
This was a technical manual ;))
Check Point Internet Security Solutions: Management II
Various
Check Point Software Technologies Ltd , 2003, 448 pages
Yes, another technical manual.
Emergence: The Connected Lives of Ants, Brains, Cities, and Software.
Steven Johnson
Simon & Schuster , 2001, 264 pages
ISBN 0-684-86876-8
Heart of a Dog
Mikhail Bulgakov
Translated by Mirra Ginsburg from Russian
Grove Press , 1925, reprinted 2003, 123 pages
ISBN 0-8021-5059-4
Linked: How Everything Is Connected to Everything Else and What It Means for Business, Science, and Everyday Life
Albert-Laszlo Barabasi
Penguin Group , 2002, 279 pages
ISBN 0-452-28439-2
Siddhartha
Hermann Hesse
Translated by Hilda Rosner from German
MJF Books , 1922, reprinted unknown, 122 pages
ISBN 1-56731-007-9
October 2003
Great Writings of Goethe
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Translated by Various from German, edited by Stephen Spender The New American Library , 1958, 278 pages
The epigrams were delicious. Faust had gems here and there. The remaining writings are geared toward morale leasons, hence some of the reading (at least these translations) are drab.
The Fountainhead
Ayn Rand
Signet Classics , 1943, 695 pages
ISBN 0-451-09956-7
I only wish I had read this book sooner - this is the highest praise that I can give.
September 2003
The Sound and the Fury
William Faulkner
Vintage Books , 1929, 336 pages
Faulkner uses some very interesting literary style which benefits any reader. Over all I found the book confusing to follow and difficult to understand. The continual flashbacks and flash-forwards were confusing but served the authors intent and aided in constructing the mood of the main character. It is a modern classic, after all.
July 2003
We
Yevgeny Zamyatin
Eos , 1920, reprinted 1999, 256 pages
ISBN 0380633132
Wow! 1984 eat your heart out. I suspect that much of Russia's forbiden literature is as delightful, gripping, mentally challenging, and as complete as this book is. This should be standard reading for High School students.
May 2003
Tao Te Ching
Lao Tzu
Translated by Gia-Fu Feng and Jane English Vintage Books , unknown, reprinted 1989, 81 pages
Some very good philosophy contained in this small book.
January 2003
The Art of Deception
Kevin Mitnick
Wiley , 2003, 304 pages
The first half of this book was excellent - anyone working in the security industry or related fields needs to read this. The second half was difficult to finish, the writing frankly wasn't great. Indeed, it was only carried through by the value of its content. I still highly recommend it.
The Little Prince
Antoine de Saint-Exupery
Harcourt , 1943, 98 pages
This book is elementary and profound in the same breath. As I read this book I saw elements of myself and others in the characters. Read this book.
November 2002
Perl & LWP
Sean M. Burke
O'Reilly , 2002, 234 pages
This is a utility book, if you are planning on writing any kind of screen-scraping application this book is a must have. It is also a killer introduction to web-bots and spiders.
September 2002
The Predictors: How a Band of Maverick Physiscists Used Chaos Theory to Trade Their Way to a Fortune on Wall Street
Thomas A. Bass
Henry Holt and Company , 1999, 307 pages
ISBN 0-8050-5756-0
Sometimes it seems that I only have positive things to say about the books I read :-) This is an exceptionally well written book. The language is engaging, the chapters are the right length, and if you have an interest in Wall Street, then the subject matter is sublime. I felt like I should start working on my own stock trading program as soon as I put this one down.
August 2002
Artificial Intelligence: The Very Idea
John Haugeland
MIT Press , 1987 , 254 pages
ISBN 0-262-08153-9
This was another book I walked out of Powell's with. I started this book immediately after finishing A-Life. This book is commonly used as a text book for courses dealing with philosophy of Artificial Intelligence. This book was not too terse, but was a very tedious read. Haugeland makes some very pointy arguments if your awake to catch them. I recommend this book as a foundation to course work in Artificial Intelligence. Do not expect to understand implementation of AI from this book, you will be let down. Basically this is a philosophy book -- take it with a grain of salt.
The Age of Spiritual Machines: When Computers Exceed Human Intelligence
Ray Kurzweil
Penguin Books , 1999, 297 pages
ISBN 0-670-88217-8
This is another book that is hard to put down. Kurzweil spends the first of three sections developing the history of Artificial Intelligence. He thens moves into the section section two where he posses very serious questions about the current state of AI, and where it is/needs to go. Section three is deticated to the future of the world (basically), with Kurweil making wild predictions -- some extending well into the next millenia. The third section was intriguing, but nothing more than science-fiction, really. The first and second sections were thought provoking and informative.
July 2002
The Meme Machine
Susan Blackmore
Oxford University Press , 2000, 288 pages
ISBN 0-192-86212-X
All in all, I though this book presented the theory of the Meme very well. I was disapointed by Blackmore's lack of objectiveness toward's the end of the book. I frown on anyone that calls religion a "virus of the mind". I still recommend this book, simply because it will challenge you. Overall not a bad read, a little hard to finish.
June 2002
Artificial Life: A Report from the Frontier Where Computers Meet Biology
Steven Levy
Vintage Books , 1992, 348 pages
ISBN 0-679-74389-8
I purchased this book to entertain myself during a business trip to Portland, Oregan. Actually, I hadn't planned on buying anything, I just wondered into Powell's Books to kill some time. I ran across this classic in the computer section, after browsing a few pages, I decided that it was a must read. I was not dissappointed. Levy has a wonderful journalistic style that was amusing, educational, and easily digestable. I killed this one in two days, with about 6 hours of straight reading -- I am not a power reader, it was just that good. Any one who is interested in a historical perspective of the developement of A-Life, and its impact on AI, robotics, and other fields should read this book.
