1. 03 January 2007

    2006 Reading List

    2007-01-03

    My reading list for the past year, I’ll go through and say whatever comes to mind (if anything) and slap a meaningless number on each of them. I’m right between the number I’d read in 2004 and 2005, not that I’m counting.

    1. Catch-22, Joseph Heller. 85
    2. Ishmael, Daniel Quinn. 85
    3. What the Doormouse Said, John Markoff. This has stuck around in my head quite a bit, I did a project for my CSCI seminar 1 on history of computing and threw lots of this in. Makes me want to get my hands on some LSD. Stewart Brand plays a big role here, see also Whole Earth and Clock, later in this list. 80
    4. Reflections from the North Country, Sigurd F. Olson. This guy rocks. The book is nice, but the author better. He was one of the first conservationists, and galvanized formation of the BWCA. 85
    5. Free Culture, Lawrence Lessig. Good ideas, not that impressive a book. 65
    6. The Prince, Machiavelli. What can you say? 70
    7. A Whole New Mind, Daniel H. Pink. I’m disappointed I put this on my christmas/birthday list. 50
    8. Slaughterhouse 5, Kurt Vonnegut. Good read, I really don’t have words for either Vonnegut or Heller. 80
    9. The Last Whole Earth Catalog, Steward Brand. Interesting to look through, I wonder if I could try and order any of the stuff? 80
    10. Utopia, Thomas More. 65
    11. Mother Earth Mother Board, Neal Stephenson. Stephenson rules. Makes talking about undersea cables fun. 80
    12. Notes on the Synthesis of Form, Christopher Alexander. 75
    13. In search of God & Self, Donald Wilcox. Book for Ren/Ref course. 70
    14. Linked, Albert László Barabási. Book for Networks/Open Source course. 65
    15. Three Weeks, Issue 1, (who knows?). Goddamn hipsters. 70
    16. American Assassination, James H. Fetzer and Four Arrows. I’ve let the conspiracy theories lay low for awhile, but am still inclined to go for this one. Wellstone was a good guy. 75
    17. The Metaphysical Club, Louis Menard. Fun ideas, and damn – a polar explorer! 85
    18. Brilliant Orange, David Winner. This is one of the books that came at me from like 5 different angles, and I finally just had to read it. 80
    19. The Nature of Order: Book 1, The Phenomenon of Life, Christopher Alexander. I like Alexander’s ideas on this stuff. I don’t know how/whether they’ve impacted me much, but I think the frameworks he’s laying out is elegant and convincing and hope to see it come to more than just a few glossy books. 90
    20. Getting Real, 37signals. Eh. I got/read it for work, now that 37signals are getting so big I’m doing my shun the popular thing. 70
    21. Alaska, James Michener. Damn I want to go to Alaska. I did before, but the book really tinted my glasses. 85
    22. The Open Society and its Enemies, Karl Popper. I won’t pretend I wasn’t a bit lost in my political philosophy class. But a good book nonetheless. 80
    23. Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, Robert Pirsig. Fun stuff, a nice way to look at the world. 85
    24. The Wild Boys, William S. Burroughs. I’m not sure where I was trying to get reading this. 65
    25. Quicksilver, Neal Stephenson. Rock on. 90
    26. Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad. 75
    27. The Nature of Order Book 2: The Process of Creating Life, Christopher Alexander. Not as enthralling as the first, longer and more technical. But good still nonetheless. 75
    28. The Time Machine, H.G. Wells. The first science fiction? 70
    29. King of the Vagabonds, Neal Stephenson. 90
    30. A Guide for the Perplexed, E.F. Schumaker. 80
    31. In Patagonia, Bruce Chatwin. While I’m at wanting to go places, South America is in the list as well. But really what isn’t in the list? If I keep at soccer for a few more years there’s a training trip to Brazil planned, which might just be fun. 75
    32. Odalisque, Neal Stephenson. 90
    33. Allen & Mike’s Backcountry Ski Book, Allan O’Bannon & Mike Clelland. Instead of doing things I like to read about doing them. 75
    34. Lighten Up!, Don Ladigin. Ditto. 75
    35. Chased by the Light, Jim Brandenburg. Pretty pictures. 85
    36. The Confusion, Neal Stephenson. Can’t wait to get my hands on The System of the World here soon. 90
    37. Finite and Infinite Games, James P. Carse. 70
    38. The Clock of the Long Now, Stewart Brand. 80

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