Books
Impressions of books I’ve read.
Angle of Repose by Wallace Stegner, 1971
Stegner is a good observer of western places and people. Good descriptions of (archtypical?) dynamic between male & female. His characters have great emotional depth. And the ending is, in one sense, great.
Blindsight by Peter Watts, 2007
First-contact sci-fi novel with 1st-person pseudo-autism and vampires. The entire book can be read or downloaded from the web for free here; Watts has published it under the Creative Commons license — thanks Peter!
State of Denial by Bob Woodward, 2006
Your tax dollars at work.
Freakonomics by S.D. Levitt and S.J. Dubner, 2005
Economist Levitt finds unexpected correlations that often defy conventional wisdom. The first three chapters are titled: 1. What Do Schoolteachers and Sumo Wrestlers Have in Common? 2. How Is the Ku Klux Klan Like a Group of Real-Estate Agents? and 3. Why Do Drug Dealers Still Live with Their Moms?
Indian Givers: How the Indians of the Americas Transformed the World by Jack Weatherford, 1988
It turns out that corn, potatoes, tomatoes, tobacco, cocaine, representative democracy, adobe houses, aspirin, chocolate and St. John’s Wort are among the many contributions native americans made to ‘old-world’ cultures.
Skunk Works by Ben Rich & Leo Janos, 1994
Eugene Onegin by Aleksandr Pushkin, 1837
I actually read the english translation by Vladimir Nabokov (his translation was criticised because VN sacrificed rhymes for truer meaning). I suppose next I’ll read Charles Johnson’s translation.
Just Six Numbers by Martin Rees, 1999
A mighty fine read about cosmology, and how incredibly small variations in the values of six numbers (representing various cosmological constants) would eliminate the conditions for life as we know it to evolve. I was surprised to learn how much humankind has figured out about the first microseconds of existence (after the big bang). Very interesting.
Decoding the Universe by Charles Seife, 2006
The most mind-expanding book I’ve read in years, this popularization of quantum information theory offers explanations of several weird quantum phenomena including action at a distance, superposition, entanglement and decoherence (the way the world works)…can you say ‘multiverse’?
Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami and Snow by Orhan Pamuk.
A couple of compelling contemporary novels; a surreal Japanese one about a highschool runaway and a political Turkish one about a poet who visits a small town to research suicide among the headscarf girls.
Southbound by Sheila Ortiz Taylor, 1990
Entertaining novel about a lesbian graduate student majoring in poetry at UCLA who is forced to graduate and find a job. In the vein of Rita Mae Brown, although I suspect some of this may be crypto-autobiographical. Taylor shows a bit of a double-standard in the way she criticizes a middleaged man (the fool/villain) for courting a younger woman, but enthuses over a middleaged woman (the heroine) courting an older woman. But this is the author’s prerogative. This is a novel of the heart, not the cerebrum. Good airplane fare when you’re tired of the serious stuff.
Why Geography Matters by Harm de Blij, 2005
A geography professor’s convincing and informative tome on how a better geographically-informed public would make better contemporary policy decisions. Some of the topics de Blij focuses his illuminating perspective on include global climate change, the rise of China as a superpower, and the spread of Islamic fundamentalism, among others. Includes some interesting maps (surprise!). Only a professor could publish a book with a title like this one, but de Blij knows his subject, writes well and makes me rue that my highschool social studies class left me geographically ignorant. His discussion of ‘failed states’ strikes me as biased, however. For an alternate perspective, see Noam Chomsky’s Failed States book (2006).
Forbidden Entries by John Yau, 1996
Amazing, fun, and just plain weird poetry by a guy who has a way with words. I read a dozen of them before the adjective ’surrealistic’ alighted in my head. Yau likes the way words sound and feel as much as their meaning and allusions. These poems also remind me of certain works of Francis Martin.
Outside the Dog Museum by Jonathan Carroll, 1992
Novel about a famous american architect with jerky personality who gets commissioned to build a dog museum for a middle-eastern prince. Subplots involve his two girlfriends and search for enlightenment. Frequent surprises kept me reading almost compulsively to see what would happen next. The middle-east scenes and characters are somewhat quaint and outdated. Contains a lot of annoying stuff about god and magic, but has a satisfying ending. The ‘tower of babel’ subplot reminded me of Don DeLillo. Is it worth reading? Kinda yes, kinda no.
Skinny Dip by Carl Hiaasen, 2004
Entertaining page-turner thriller with some very funny stuff by Florida novelist Hiaasen begins with a woman getting thrown off the deck of a cruise ship by her jerky husband. Towards the end the story gets predictable but the characters are interesting enough to keep it going, and the promise of more belly laughs pays off every few pages.
Sometimes I wonder if Hiaasen thinks that by writing about corruption he’s actually doing something about it. Is poking fun at sleazeballs actually counterproductive by making us feel superior while we’re doing nothing more than reading or writing novels? Eh, I guess I’m off target there, he just finds all this great subject material because he lives in south Florida.
A Death in the Family by James Agee, 1957
How a Knoxville family deals with an unexpected event in 1915. Agee portrays how southern country people talk, think and relate in tender and intimate detail.
Love & Death: The Murder of Kurt Cobain by M. Wallace and I. Halperin, 2004
The truth is out there (but the people who know stuff keep dying)…a serious book with good research that raises serious questions about the Seattle Police Department and others.
The Direction of Play by Kajiwara Takeo, 1979
I thoroughly enjoyed this little book. Takeo’s style, while intense, is very entertaining. Most go books stress taking the whole board into account when selecting moves and strategy. Well, that’s pretty much the point of DOP. Nothing new, right? KT just spends 250 pages illustrating ways to see this idea. He analyzes many examples of bad moves — his own, taken from his own games. He makes bold statements. He takes issue with joseki. He says things like “listen to your stones” and will contradict himself without fear. I found it quite refreshing after a boring diet of Bozulich books containing nothing but problems.
what matters most is how well you walk through the fire by Charles Bukowski, 1999 (posthumous)
Bukowski lived a tough life
but had his fun
and jesus could he write it down.
Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides, 2000
A hermaphrodite’s coming-of-age story melded with a historical Greek-American family chronicle spanning three generations. Some terrific writing. I can nit pick little things here and there but overall I found very little to criticize in this compelling novel.
From Beirut to Jerusalem by Thomas Friedman, 1989, 1990.
An up close and personal account of the middle east conflict as seen by a reporter for the New York Times.
Friedman, an american jew, was UPI’s Beirut correspondent from 1979 - 1981 while Lebanon was in the middle of civil war. In 1982 he became the NYT Beirut bureau chief, staying until 1984 when he was reassigned to Jerusalem.
During his stay in Beirut Friedman reported on the Hama massacre in Syria, the Israeli invasion of Lebanon, the massacres at Sabra & Shatila refugee camps, the exodus of the PLO, the bombing of the US marines Beirut headquarters, and more. He did his job well, interviewing scores of Beiruties from all walks of life. Their stories and quotes are the biggest strength of this book, giving faces and color to the history, facts and figures.
The Israeli/Palestinian conflict is relatively easy to understand compared to the Lebanese civil war. Here’s a nutshell summary based on the beginning of this book.
Friedman was in Jersualem for the start of the intifada Palestinian uprising. His jewishness made him churn out several anguished analyses of Israeli behavior, which has its interesting points (for instance, differences between US and Israeli jewish religious practices) but should have been edited down.
He ends the book with overall suggestions for dealing with the Israeli/Palestinian issue and middle east politics in general. This too is interesting but weak, opinionated and ripe for editing.
However I learned a lot reading this book and have no problem recommending it as an excellent resource for studying the middle east — in particular Lebanon, Israel and the Palestinians.
Shikasta by Doris Lessing, 1979
An ambitious book, Lessing offers an explanation of humankind’s well-documented social flaws (war, environmental despoilation,
disparate wealth distribution, racism, etc) being due to angels, devils, and what amounts to a network problem (denial-of-service attack) in the transmission of the cosmic love vibe (CLV). Lessing uses the new (at the time) legitimacy of the sci-fi (SF) genre to justify a framework of advanced galactic empires and their influence on our planet thru history. DL is not, to put it kindly, particularly suited as an SF writer; much of her ’science’ comes off as vague new-agey claptrap. But Lessing is unsurpassed in her harsh, severe application of the sciences of psychology and sociology. Her portraits of intelligent men and women caught up in political and social causes and crises of their age are stunning. Her series of terrorists is particularly fascinating. Her mastery of left-wing sloganeering cracks me up.
Literary gems are sprinkled throughout, for example on page 201 the sentence beginning “And this is what an eye turned slightly…” observing the tree through the window reflecting cycles of growth, renewal and decay. And in the midst of the spectacle of an international trial of the white nations she dryly notes “…Arabs and Jews were inseperable…” - ha ha! Who says DL doesn’t have a sense of humor?
A heavier dose of editing could have tightened up some of this book’s flaws. For instance, a chapter on cats has nothing to do with the rest of the novel and is attached to the story by the barest thread; DL just likes writing about cats.
I suppose DL
was getting desperate for an answer to her central question (why are people so fucked up) and couldn’t resist using this one.
Or maybe she just enjoyed the scope; I’ll bet it was fun writing about the Chinese conquest of Europe, for example. Regardless, the weakness of the structural framework and annoyance of her rejection of
humankind’s responsibility for it’s messes are small prices to pay for the huge payoff of sharing these awesome and audacious human chronicles.
A Year in Paradise by Floyd Schmoe, 1959
A delightful up-close-and-personal account of the changing seasons on Mount Rainier in the early 1900s, written by one of it’s first guides. Schmoe brings his newlywed wife with him to spend the winter buried under 30 feet of snow in Paradise Inn in 1919. Their adventures provide lots of opportunities to observe the flora, fauna and geology, including fascinating sexual information about ferns and firs. Includes lots of drawings and photos.
Japanese Inn by Oliver Statler, 1961
Statler uses stories from the history of an ancient Japanese inn called the Minaguchi-ya to illustrate the colorful history of Japan from 1569 through 1957. A technique strikingly similar to that used by Andric in Bridge On the Drina; perhaps this is a common authors device, a genre for historical novels which I am just discovering. Regardless, the history is fascinating and the author is perceptive and … engaging. I learned a lot, enjoyably. The last chapter is entirely gratuitous, probably written to please the current owners of the inn. Contains many (black and white) illustrations (Hiroshige and others).
The Bone People by Keri Hulme, 1983
The Maori were the original inhabitants of New Zealand, and some lived to see their
country taken over by Europeans. The Bone People is a moody feminist tale of
Kerewin, Simon and Joe, three Maori whos crazy mixedup lives intertwine awhile.
Hulme’s characters intersperse Maori with English (translations are provided in the
back of the book) and I enjoyed sounding them out. Maori customs, traditions and
folk wisdom also appear in this harsh psychological and poetic novel.
The story has its share of ugliness, as can be found in life. It’s as much about how indivudals
relate to society and each other as it is about Maori juggling traditions with the NZ of the 1980s.
Nontraditional formatting (Hulme has an industrial-strength supply of ellipses) takes a little
getting used to, as does her fluidity with writing. But it’s an incredibly human story. I was entranced and shaken by this world and feel richer for the introduction. Oh yes, it’s positively spooky too.
Making Good Shape by Rob van Zeijst and Richard Bozulich, 2002
Everybody talks about shape but until now, there hasn’t been a book focused specifically on the subject. I learned to play the game of go over ten years ago, but never took lessons from a professional and consequently picked up some bad habits. I’ve been struggling to escape from the double-digit kyu ghetto forever. It’s easy to recognize that a dense clump of eyeless stones is bad shape, but harder to see good shape. Good shape is eye space, the more efficient the better. The first two chapters explain principles of good shape and bad, and the third chapter (approximately two-thirds of the book) consists of 245 problems. The fourth and final chapter has sample games to study. Typographic errors are sprinkled throughout — the author’s name is even misspelled on the front cover, and black and white are often transposed in the text — but oh well, what do you expect from a first printing.
Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson, 1999
Short review: He gets the girl and the gold.
Long review: Fast-paced, testosterone-oozing, multi-threaded action-adventure novel. Stephenson (author of Snow Crash) wrote this in ‘99 and I’m just now reading it in 2003, but it’s still got a contemporary sensibility. WW2 codebreakers and 1990s computer network entrepreneurs and whatever else catches Stephenson’s fancy. The Philippines is a major locale as the action flashes back between 1942 and 1999. Amazingly, all the threads get tied neatly together by the end. While I was engrossed by the action, plot and characters I did notice a few flaws, to wit:
character Enoch Root dies but is resurrected later. Perhaps Stephenson is playing with Root’s ‘woo-woo’ character (mystic priest) but I find it bad journalism. And while most of the main characters have well-defined personalities, the one female lead seems shallowly drawn.
Finally, the ending seemed hasty, like the author was in a hurry to make his points and end it. Which is in contrast to the rest of the book, which gets self-indulgent. I suspect editors are becoming scared to mess with the unconventional Stephenson as his fame and talent grow. But these are minor criticisms for a very entertaining read. The only novel I know which contains an actual perl script (kudo).
A Scanner Darkly by Philip K. Dick, 1977
Dark comi-tragedy of the mixed-up world of 1970s drug addicts. Sensitive, funny, intense, and stunningly dead-on portrait of a crazy time.
The Bridge on the Drina by Ivo Andric, 1945
Interesting historical novel about the folks living in the town of Visegrad, Yugoslavia, on the bank of the river Drina. The history of the bridge over the river takes center stage, but it’s really about the people and history of the town. The more I read the more I was rewarded by this book, however it does seem a bit of a stretch that the 1959 english translation earned this author the Nobel prize for literature. Then again, 1959 was kind of a dull year, wasn’t it? (I know, I was 5 years old at the time.)
Revelation Space by Alastair Reynolds, 2000
Swashbuckling space trash with Conjoiners, Pattern Jugglers, Ultras, entopics, reefersleep, Sun Stealer, meanness, complex agendas and weapons. Mayhem galore. Reynolds is adept at cliff-hanger chapter endings and he doesn’t skimp on action. I found it a real page-turner.
White Teeth by Zadie Smith, 2000
Smith’s first novel is very popular in Seattle; the public library has 71 copies and they were all checked out when I called. I was initially put off by her more than occasional fondness for Tom Robbins-style cuteness, and her more than occasional meanness towards her characters; but by chapter 6 I was charmed and the more I read, the more I was rewarded with entertainment. Someone compared the ending to “Go Dog Go” but I was caught up in the rush of events. I like Smith’s comfortable looseness with language (footloosity). Sometimes she writes like a man, sometimes like a woman. This book is sort of about god; Smith enjoys playing god as she describes others thoughts on the subject. Lots of British phrases that I’m clueless on: posh-totty slags, got a gansey on, bubble and squeak.
Fumbling the Future by D.K. Smith and R.C. Alexander, 1988
Xerox hired the best and brightest computer guys in the early 1970s. In 1973 they produced
the Alto, a personal computer with bitmap graphic display & mouse; ethernet local area
networking; and a laser printer. They called the system EARS (Ethernet, Alto, Research
character generator, Scanned laser output). That’s right, they invented the PC, ethernet, the mouse, and the laser printer. Corporate management thought they were nuts and ignored it. This book describes in sweet detail the origin of modern computing that isn’t common knowledge.
The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea by Yukio Mishima, 1963
An author without fear, Mishima has not only mastered his craft of using words for description but easily enters parallel universes of people who seem to share space and circumstances. This dark tale of a sailor who falls in love with a widowed upscale shopkeeper in Yokohama shows how simple daily life activities are viewed and interpreted rather differently; how the quality of articulateness comes and goes; and the difficulty of real communication, regardless of whether it is attempted.
Rather like a Japanese Hemingway. Disturbing insights into the psyche of gifted and adrift 13 year old boys.
Team Rodent by Carl Hiaasen, 1998
Hiaasen (author of Tourist Season) does a bang-up journalists job naming names, places and dates documenting Disney’s persuasive presence in Florida, and why the natives are so pissed off. Right-on, Carl!
The New Life by Orhan Pamuk, 1997
“I read a book one day and my whole life was changed.” Thus begins this book about a book — Turkish author Pamuk certainly is not the first to use that idea.
The protagonist, a civil engineering student at Technical University, picks up a book because he was attracted to the pretty girl who was reading it. His rapturous description of the book’s power seems facile at first, since no details are provided. Is the book about politics, religion, philosophy, what? How can one write this much about a book without disclosing at least a tidbit of its subject or contents? This bothered me at first, however as the protagonists new life unfolds my complaint withered away in the strong light of Pamuk’s powerful storytelling. In chapter 2 the protagonist falls in love with the girl. His intense inner voice reminds me of a bourgeois Nabokovian character, while the plot is positively Borgesian, slowly enmeshing every tiny detail into a self-referential black hole. I was riveted by chapter 3, and found chapter 4, where our hero spends his life randomly taking busses from town to unplanned town finding rapture in bus accidents, uniquely moving and comforting. I laughed out loud on several occations. The innundation of the east by western culture and merchandise; railroads vs busses; angels on caramel wrappers; comic books and circus tents; love, jealousy and time — these themes and much more make it a rich and enjoyable reading experience.
Being Upright by Reb Anderson, 2001
A good book to learn what this zen buddhist stuff is all about. I agree with many of their precepts; courtesy, respect for all living things, being good, etc. But I don’t make a religion out of it.
A Messy Job I Never Did See A Girl Do by Mary Jane Ryals, 1999
Bone-shaking gut-wrenching multi-colored anthology of north Florida short stories. From pretty grim to wry to surreal, with troughts of soul and seawater and horse love and growing up. Not for the faint-hearted. Although published as fiction, the places and feelings are real. Maybe realer. Ryals is a master of observation and dialect. ‘Lobsterboy’ is the most incredible story I’ve read all year. Warning: do not read before bedtime.
What the hell kind of world is this where Ryals earns her livlihood teaching ‘business communications’ when she is capable of this caliber of writing? A doggone shame it surely is, even if she’s a fucking genius at business communications.
Hondo by Louis L’amour, 1953
Trashy escapist stereotype-ridden western page-turner with the following actual back-cover quote: “Best western novel I have ever read. –John Wayne”
Autobiography of a Brown Buffalo by Oscar Zeta Acosta, 1972
My life is so boring!
Playing off the Rail by David McCumber, 1996
Engaging docunovel about hustling pool on the roads and railroads of America and Canada. Author McCumber provided $20K cash to stake professional pool player Tony Annigoni for three months. The classic plan was to get money games for Tony in places where he wasn’t known.
Willie Mosconi on Pocket Billiards, 1948
All you really need to learn to shoot good pool, at approximately one-tenth the size of a typical Robert Byrne book.
The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin, 1963
Perceptive, impassioned, eloquent, moving first-person analysis of America’s racial scene circa 1963; it would be worth reading even if blacks and whites in this country had achieved economic and political parity by now, which of course they have not.
Assembly Language Step-by-Step by Jeff Duntemann, 2000 (2nd edition)
A great beginners book on assembly language, Duntemann thoroughly and clearly and quite often entertainingly covers learning x86 assembly language. While I question the necessity of learning obsolete memory models, and he wastes a whole chapter on NASM-IDE menus, overall the book is excellent.
Gnarl! by Rudy Rucker, 2000
Fun, fun, fun! Delicious sci-fi short stories by the author of cyberpunk classics Software and Wetware. In a pleasure universe, this collection never ends.
Trilobite by Richard Fortey, 2000
Mmmm…trilobites! Science! History! Big words! These extinct little critters ruled the seas for 350 million years during the Cambrian period. Reading about them will expand your mind.
Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson, 1980
Poor shy stoic little Ruthie grows up with her sister, raised by relatives in her grandmother’s house in the little town of Fingerbone MT. Her life changes when an aunt moves in. My weakness for loners and misfits kept me reading this one. This book taught me to carry stones in my jacket pocket in case I’m chased by dogs.
Amnesia Moon by Jonathan Lethem, 1995
Weird.
The Temptation of Jack Orkney and Other Stories by Doris Lessing, 1963-1972
This bakers dozen of short stories by the well-known master of fiction contains a few gems, a few fascinating stories which seem unfinished (”Mrs. Fortescue”, “Not A Very Nice Story”), mixed with others which seem mere exercises in description (the various garden pieces). Among the gems include Out of the Fountain (possibly written on a dare) and the title piece. I’m still trying to figure out exactly what the tempatation was, in this story of a middleaged man’s changes in perspective, futile observations, inner dialog and insomnia occasioned by his fathers death. One can see in “Report On the Threatened City” a dated and timid shadow of the “Canopus In Argos” series to come later. Several pieces seem dated now, but the good ones stand as fine as when they were written; true pearls of the craft.
Memoirs of a Revolutionary 1901-1941 by Victor Serge (1943)
Hardball politics to the max. The story of the Russian revolution as told by an insider who watched it all go bad. Very bad. Journalist and poet Serge peppers the pages with detailed and endearing mini-portraits of scores of revolutionaries, intellectuals, and working people who are imprisoned and killed for caring.
VS participated in the revolution as a bolshevik; consequently labeled an ‘oppositionist’ by the ruling party, he was eventually arrested & imprisoned. The only reason he wasn’t shot was due to international protests organized by writers, mainly due to the popularity of his books in France (his books were all banned in the USSR). Many of these have been translated into english, including the classic ‘Men in Prison’.
Serge realizes, too late, “Rarely has it been made more sharply obvious that the end, far from justifying the means, commands its own means, and that for the establishment of a socialist democracy the old means of armed violence are inappropriate.” (p.235) But later he is compelled to exclaim “Let us not be embittered by the misfortunes of individuals! Only politics counts.” (p.254)
This books makes one thing very clear: the danger of massing power in the hands of a few (the potential for abuse of power grows as the number of its wielders diminishes). And it made me consider a big problem with technology: it pulls ones attention, creating a sort of tunnel vision — I apply all my problem-solving energy to making technology work, to the exclusion of problems in other realms (social, political).
Required reading for US citizens complacent during the George W. Bush years.
Throwim Way Leg by Tim Flannery (1998)
Flannery is an Australian zoologist who made several field trips to Papua New Guinea (PNG) and Irian Jaya in the 1980s and ’90s. His adventuresome spirit and zeal for both his profession (animal research) and people involve him in situations hard to duplicate anywhere else. Plain-spoken descriptions of anything-but-plain adventures in one of the worlds least-civilized places (not that the natives weren’t kind or smart, just untouched by european influence).
Because PNG is very rugged, with many mountains and valleys, New Guineans living in different areas are isolated from each other, speak different languages and have different histories and customs. The names of people and places in PNG are captivating — places like Woitape, Yapsiei, Kwiyawagi, the Telefomin Valley, Mount Boobiari, Betavip, the OK Tedi mountains, Billingeek, the Arfak Mountains, the coastal town of Wewak; tribes such as the Miyanmin (’the last people’), the Telefol, Atbalmin; and people with names like Kegesep, Anaru, Deyfu, Imefoop, Ambep, Oblankep, Boeadi, Tegiorak.
Flannerys research consisted mostly in collecting different types of animals and shipping them back to his lab in Australia for study and identification. He couldn’t do this without the help of the locals, who knew the area, the customs, and the animals. Some animals which Flannery found common were new to me, such as the cuscus, a nocturnal marsupial similar to a possum.
Less-than-perfect communication and differences between cultures led to occasional misunderstandings, some tense, some comical. In his final visit to Irian Jaya (Indonesia), Flannery recounts his discovery of a sick child in a cave. The story of this child reveals a bad side of the Freeport mining company, and is an ugly example of how 3rd world people are treated by multinational corporations.
The Bear Comes Home by Rafi Zabor (1997)
A joke about a talking bear, expanded to novel length. The author creates an atmosphere in which a bear who talks and plays jazz saxophone is believable. The most unbelievable part is that the bear plays alto instead of tenor or barritone. Frequently melodramatic, but a warm inviting book which calls me back to check on my friend the bear and see how he’s doing.
Over time, what stays with me most is the memorable description of a musician frustrated and trapped inside his style, looking for release.
FUP by Jim Dodge (1983)
This little book has the following things going for it: it’s short; it’s about colorful western characters; the title is the name of a duck, a pun which is the centerpiece of the book; and an awesome Basho haiku is used as prolog.
Unfortunately it ends without much development in the way of characters or plot. It’s too bad because the book has good energy, although a bit in the Tom Robbins vein. It tries really hard to be flippant and ribald, and frequently succeeds. It was worth reading mainly for the pun. Perhaps all the blurbs by famous authors gave me unrealistic expectations.
The Defense by Vladimir Nabokov (1964, english edition)
I had an unhappy childhood; I was shy, socially awkward, always picked last for sports teams, and endured school as a necessary evil until about the age of 16. When I first read a novel about someone else with a miserable childhood, it was a revelation. I realized I wasn’t alone. Now I’m a middle-aged jerk who suspects these books have long since become a genre.
Originally published in Russian in 1930 by a Berlin emigre publishing house, The Defense is the story of Luzhin, a Russian emigre chess prodigy. Its 256 modest pages take us into the head and affairs of this shy authors son, a nerd born before his time. Nabokov is an acknowledged prose master, so I won’t waste time describing how good he writes, other than to mention that the transition from Luzhin the boy to Luzhin the young man made me blink, go back and reread the passage, and reflect on its accomplishment. There’s something compelling about an articulate presentation of the thoughts and feelings of an inarticulate man (at least, with words). This is a very psychological book, in the sense that Luzhin’s life is most vivid inside his head, and readers observe the game’s tragic unfolding from both sides.
The book also contains observations of the life of emigre Russians after the bolshevik revolution. This book made me sigh, shake my head and feel pity for a fictional character.
The Quest for Corvo by A.J.A. Symons (1934)
Quirky biography of quirky author Baron Corvo (Frederick Rolfe), a turn of the century (1900) writer/historian whos’ originality and energy was defeated by his self-delusion and vindictiveness. His habit
of making enemies of his benefactors combined with a lack of business sense left him frequently penniless which increased his bitterness. A fascinating example of how genius and talent are mingled with a variety of other human characteristics. Symons presents a plausible psychoanalysis for Rolfe’s queer life. The brilliant and headstrong Rolfe reminds me of people I’ve known. Tragic, comic, profound, mundane, infused with personality and a reminder of life as it was one short century ago.
Red-Dirt Marijuana and Other Tastes by Terry Southern (1967)
This anthology displays a range of humor from wry to outrageous, a range
of characters from rural south to urban north, and a range of drugs from
gage to red-split.
Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace (1996)
Another book which gets an entire review for itself.
Dog Years by Gunter Grass (1963)
An amazing book about an amazing time. If you want an entertaining “good read” go buy the latest bestseller. But if you don’t mind getting dirt under your fingernails, here’s a book with teeth grinding and ballet slippers, carpenters glue and sawdust, Heidegger and discussion groups, scarecrows and snowmen, nuns and knights, knowledge glasses and mealworms, cough drops and mica gneiss, and of course black german
shepherds. Don’t read this book just before going to bed.
Grass is an enthusiastic writer, comfortable with language, not afraid to go where it leads. Not entirely believable themes and scenarios are taken beyond reasonable limits. In parts Joycian, proto-Pynchonistic and Marquezlike … what’s german for “dude”?
Mastering Regular Expressions by Jeffrey E. F. Friedl.
There’s a lot to like about this book — the writing is clear and well thought out, and so is the typography. And face it: regular expressions are extremely useful but difficult to master. Highly recommended.
The User Illusion by Tor Norretranders (1991)
A Danish science writer for laypeople takes on consciousness and its place in human affairs. What stuck with me longest after reading this book is how it takes half a second between when you initiate an action, and the start of that action (lifting your hand, for instance).
Remnant Population by Elizabeth Moon (1996)
This science fiction novel has a strong start, but is soon overcome with
political correctness. By the middle of the book you can predict the
outcome. Wise, unappreciated old woman Ofelia shows the young
whippersnappers a thing or two, and saves a misunderstood alien race in
the process. Deserves a place on the bookshelf of every old folks home.
Hayduke Lives! by Edward Abbey.
Abbey’s last novel (he died in 1989). A rollicking page-turner full of colorful western characters and fervor. Can’t put it down.
We So Seldom Look on Love by Barbara Gowdy.
The first of this collection of short stories, Body and Soul, is about two young girls and their stepmother. On p. 40 the eleven-year-old picks up an electric drill and drills a hole in her nine-year-old stepsister’s forehead. That was enough for me; I sold the book to avoid reading any more. I need this kind of writing like I need a hole in the head. Great imagery and realistic characters.
October ‘97: Toxic Sludge Is Good For You! by John Stauber
and Sheldon Rampton.
“Lies, Damn Lies and the Public Relations Industry”. This well-researched, potent expose of the public relations field is one of the most depressing little books I’ve read in years. But it’s captivating, important and educational. Read how US corporations are squirting poisons on everything, including farmland, while hiring PR firms to convince the public it’s good for us and create bogus “grassroots movements” and “environmental organizations” to lobby congress for their agenda. Even foreign governments hire US PR firms to improve their image abroad while cracking down on their own dissident citizens. Stauber and Rampton turn a focused spotlight on the “new world order” and it’s not very pretty.
September ‘97: BOTS by Andrew Leonard.
“The Origin of New Species” is the subtitle. This colorful account of self-directed computer programs is written in a nontechnical and entertaining way. Leonard has a weakness for making sweeping, dramatic philosopical statements. But when he’s not philosophizing he’s presenting well-researched and thought-out stories of software and human foibles.
Your Best Interest by Tom Weishaar.
“A Money Book for the Computer Age” is the subtitle. This book describes how to understand the time value of money in its many manifestations, including interest calculations, annuities, amortization and lots more. Don’t worry, he explains what all that stuff means in a straightforward style. He also explains what the average person needs to look out for when dealing with large financial institutions. And lest I forget, he includes templates for several useful spreadsheets, and the formulas if you feel like writing your own code.
Optimizing Windows NT by Russ Blake (1995)
A really good book for learning useful techniques and methods for analyzing resource utilization on a computer — in this case, an NT computer. Lots of useful examples. If you’re an NT administrator I can’t recommend this book too highly. I love Russ Blake.
Programming Internet Controls by Markus Pope et al.
Learn how to create OCX controls (ActiveX) using MSVC wizards — it’s cool! It’s fun! You don’t have to understand COM or OLE! This book gives you enough to figure out how to build your own controls, and several useful functional examples. The typo count is lower than usual. And the authors style is (for me) the right combination of tech talk and chat. I’m on chapter 4 and enjoying it.
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