04 January 2005
Tue, 04 Jan 2005 00:45:09 GMT
2005-01-04
I figured for the end of the year I would log and link to all the entries for books I’ve read this year, all 34 of ‘em in descending order by date. I rated and wrote a little about all of them too, which was a lot more then I was planning on doing an hour ago.
- The Design of Everyday Things, Donald Norman. I’m cheating a bit here – I finished it after the new year – but I started it before and read all but the suggested readings before the new year. 75/100
- The Last Juror, John Grisham. Interesting read, typical Grisham, enjoyable but not incredible 60/100
- How Buildings Learn, Stewart Brand. A very interesting read providing a neat look at how buildings should really be designed and built: to suit the needs of their inhabitants not just presently, but also years from now. 87/100 (I was born in ’87, it’s a nice number.)
- The Personal Intelligences, Launa Ellison. An interesting look at education authored by my sixth grade teacher while I was one of her students. I wasn’t mentioned, but still an interesting book. 65/100
- Getting Things Done, David Allen. I still haven’t done much to this end, I have an inbox but haven’t looked through it for a few weeks (vacation, of course…), but would like to follow up and do a better job. Never been one for self help books, but this wasn’t too much to choke down. 70/100
- The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Stephen Chbosky. This was a real interesting novel, but I’m a sucker for fiction – provided I don’t have to read it for school. Tore through it in a night, and loved it. 85/100
- Hackers and Painters, Paul Graham. Another interesting book – elegant shorts all coming from a upper echelon computer hacker – in the real sense. Graham talks of a number of different topics, and stays engaging and interesting throughout. 80/100
- The Visual Display of Quantative Information, Edward Tufte. In interesting, slightly dense book filled with great little bits on how to best display information in static print. I haven’t quite managed to slough out a redesign of this site after reading it – but it’s on my list somewhere. 50/100
- Visual Explanation, Edward Tufte. Much in the same vein as Visual Display, here Tufte evangelizes the optimal methods for visually explaining data. 50/100
- America the Book: A Guide to Democracy Inaction, Jon Stuart. A funny primer that got me enough to pass my politics 1201 course, thank god. Funny – but I’ve been falling out with the daily show lately. I hope it’s not getting old after so many good years. I always tend to start to hate things when the rest of the world hops on the bandwagon. 65/100
- Vagabonding, Rolf Potts. Traveler Extrodinaire Rolf Potts discourse on traveling widely and cheaply, a truly interesting read and something I hope to be able to do someday. Ah, I can’t wait for someday. 70/100
- You are not a Stranger Here, Adam Haslett. More fiction, again I tore through it in just hours. Lots of darker literature – I don’t remember a vignette that didn’t incorporate death, but the death was used to examine central characters in more depth and to tie all the chapters together, not in a depressing way. 75/100
- The Jungle Book, Rudyard Kipling. A delightful classic fiction, I’d only seen the various incarnations of disney movie and the original way much, much better. 75/100
- Angels and Demons, Dan Brown. Interesting book, like other fiction tomes I tore through it, but these action-adventure novels just don’t stick to me that much. It was enjoyable, but I hardly remember what happened, the three Dan Brown books I’ve read all just melt together. 45/100
- The Complete Folding Kayaker, Ralph Diaz. A general introduction to the world of folding kayaking, I think it would be fun to have one – kayaking is great fun and exercise.
- Wicked, Gregory Maguire. A delightful book spinning the Wizard of Oz from the point of view of the wicked witch of the west, detailing her birth, childhood, and life. Enjoyable and fantastic. 85/100
- The US Army Survival Guide, Army Field Guide. Reccommended by a camping friend, talks of techniques for survival in the field after you stray from your division or your plane is downed in enemy territory. Some fun survival tips and techniques, if you’re into camping in the woods. 70/100
- Digital Fortress, Dan Brown. One of the better Brown authored books I’ve read, it was interesting and even managed to completely throw me off on a plot twist or two, which was enjoyable. This book I remember mostly what happened even. 65/100
- Reason, Robert B. Reich. An interesting look at what the American political left needs to do to stop getting raped politically. Whatever it was, we didn’t quite manage it november – I don’t want to say more. 65/100
- Walden, Henry David Thoreau. Probably my favorite book ever – I really bought into what Thoreau was saying and began to get really disappointed with how shallow society was – but I haven’t read it in awhile and the feeling mostly succeded. But really loved reading it and hope to re-read it early this year after I get to a little Emerson. 95/100
- There’s No Toilet Paper on the Road Less Traveled, Doug Lansky, et al. In interesting collection of travel stories from where else, the road less traveled. 66/100
- Hatchet, Gary Paulsen. One of my favorite books when I was a younger kid, Hatchet manages to be an adventure-reality-fantasy, a really fun read, and something that I almost wished would happen to me. 80/100
- One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Ken Kesey. I saw the DVD for the fairly recent film of the book, and skickered. An excellent read – but I can’t imagine the film measuring up (but then it never does.) 80/100
- Across Five Aprils, Irene Hunt. I read this book in eighth grade – I hated it. But then I never like reading when I’m forced to it, and almost always love reading on my own time. No wonder the second time I read it about a month faster then I did for John’s class. 65/100
- The Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger. A great looking book, it made me think that there’s lots more to life then doing what everyone else does just like everyone else – why not just drop out of school if your having a shitty time? A real interesting novel, I loved it. 75/100
- In Our Time, Ernest Hemingway. A great book of short stories, one of the few reads I’ve enjoyed and also done for school. It was chosen by me – which must have made a difference, but even all the studying of it I did was fun. 79/100
- Giovanni’s Room, James Baldwin. Somewhat enjoyable – having to write a paper on it sort of killed it for me. It was fun to read right after I got back from my trip to France, in which I stayed a few nights in Paris. 55/100
- The Theory of the Leisure Class, Thorstein Veblen. A ’20’s economic masterpiece my history teacher called it, I managed to read it instead of taking notes on a whole bunch of shit. A really good read at the vicariousness of Americans, enjoying life through their outrageous posessions and estates, even in the middle classes. A fun read if you can heck through his goddamn language. 83/100
- Winning Ugly, Brad Gilbert and Steve Jamison. A look at mental toughness in tennis – I’m still a jackass when I play, but have a lot better control over what I do and think during my matches. 70/100
- Annie John, Jamaica Kincaid. A little girl growing up in the carribbean, she had a tough life blah blah blah – I read this book for school. 50/100
- The Awakening, Kate Chopin. I didn’t even write anything about the early books I logged, but I remember that I didn’t like this one much at all. 40/100
- A Pattern Language: Towns, Buildings and Construction, Christopher Alexander. This was a really interesting book to read, but how it declares patterns and practices so concretely it’s tough to summarize. A very interesting book full of ideas on building and designing towns and dwellings. 90/100
- Lies and the Lying Liars who Tell Them, Al Franken. Ugh, stupid rebuplicans. They pull so much shit! 70/100
- Beginners Luck, Laura Pedersen. A nice bit of fiction detailing a few years in the life of a troubled teenage girl. She pulls through, and the ending is quite cute. 66/100
Well, thats all folks – I’m sort of centralized in my ratings of the book – I would reccommend anything about 70, and anything above 80 I really liked and hope to read again a few years down the road. Reading is fun!
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