Books

This page is a collection of books I am reading or have recently read and the books I want to read and why. The list of books I want to read should always be longer. I often buy books that look interesting or that I think would provide me useful information at some point in my life. Umberto Eco called this the antilibrary. As you collect wealth and (therefore) books, the number of books you haven’t read will increase and the more unread books you have, the more research potential your library has. Having this antilibrary that constantly reminds you how much you don’t know applies a pressure on you to learn more and not settle.

This page will change.

Book Wishlist

Lectures on Computation by Richard Feynman. I’ve been wanting to pick up a book by Feynman for years and I’ve never gotten around to it. Since it is universally agreed he was a brilliant man and teacher, why not start with the subject dearest to my heart?

Current Reading List

A New Kind of Science by Stephen Wolfram (creator of Mathematica). My middle sister got me this book the Christmas after it came out at my request. Just prior to its release there was a lot of hype about how it was going to revolutionize science. It didn’t. As all hype does, this hype splatted against the wall of reality and died a terrible death, taking this book with it. However, I have found it to be quite an interesting read. I’m just getting into the sections where Wolfram looks at the complexity of emergent systems as it applies to the real world. Wolfram isn’t suggesting a revolutionary new way of doing scientific experiments (like a brand new scientific method), but he is suggesting there is another realm waiting to be studied. The realm of simple, rule-based systems.

Titus Groan by Mervyn Peake. This is the first book in the Gormenghast series. I first heard about the series on the Wikipedia article for steampunk. It appears the article has been restructured and no longer mentions Gormenghast (or else I’m misremembering it). The article for the series does mention steampunk, suggesting that the books anticipate the genre.

Recently Read

Stardust by Neil Gaiman. This is just a great read. I love the way Gaiman takes everyday things we are so used to (like fairy tales or nursery rhymes) and turns them on their heads. This book is almost as much a lament of the wasted potential of the human imagination as it an exaggerated modern fairy tale.

Into a Dark Realm (The Darkwar Saga, Book 2) by Raymond E. Feist. I have been following the books of Raymond Feist for forever. Set in the world of Midkemia, Feist is a prolific writer of adventurous high fantasy. In the world of Feist, there are two types of magic: the Lesser Path and the Greater Path. One boy from a wilderness outpost of the Kingdom of the Isles discovers he has the ability to master both paths after being kidnapped by humans from another world. As the series progress (and there are several series), the boy (Pug) grows in power. With each villain defeated, it becomes clear that the true villain behind all of their troubles is none other than the Dark God of Evil himself.

Shelved

Ship of Magic by Robin Hobb. I’ve never read anything by Hobb before and I would have dismissed it as garbage, but George R. R. Martin recently recommended her. I’m about 30 pages in and so far so good. I haven’t seen anything yet that just grips me, but the story is well told and hasn’t been boring. It doesn’t compare to Martin’s work, though. Thirty pages into A Game of Thrones and I was absolutely freaking riveted.