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"The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who cannot read them." -- Mark Twain

 

Fiction (updated 11/24/01)

Some books I have read (mostly from old records):

Author Title Genre Pub Read Rating Comments
Adams, Douglas Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency sci-fi/humor   1990    
Adams, Douglas Life, the Universe, and Everything sci-fi/humor   1987    
Adams, Douglas So Long and Thanks for all the Fish sci-fi/humor   1987    
Adams, Douglas The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy sci-fi/humor   1986    
Adams, Douglas The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul sci-fi/humor   1990    
Adams, Douglas The Restaurant at the End of the Universe sci-fi/humor   1986    
Adams, Richard Watership Down modern        
Albom, Mitch Tuesdays with Morrie modern 1997 2000    
Anderson, Poul Three Hearts and Three Lions fantasy   1985    
Anthony, Piers A Spell for Chameleon fantasy   1990    
Anthony, Piers Castle Roogna fantasy   1990    
Anthony, Piers Centaur Isle fantasy   1990    
Anthony, Piers Ogre, Ogre fantasy   1990    
Anthony, Piers The Source of Magic fantasy   1990    
Asimov, Isaac Foundation sci-fi 1951 1990    
Asimov, Isaac Foundation and Earth sci-fi   1990    
Asimov, Isaac Foundation and Empire sci-fi   1990    
Asimov, Isaac Foundation's Edge sci-fi   1990    
Asimov, Isaac Prelude to Foundation sci-fi 1988 1991    
Asimov, Isaac Second Foundation sci-fi   1990    
Asprin, Robert Lynn Shadows of Sanctuary fantasy   1989    
Asprin, Robert Lynn Tales from the Vulgar Unicorn fantasy   1989    
Asprin, Robert Lynn Thieves' World fantasy   1989    
Austen, Jane Pride and Prejudice literature        
Barker, Clive Books of Blood horror   1989    
Barry, Dave Big Trouble humor 1999 2001    
Barry, Dave Dave Barry Slept Here humor        
Bradbury, Ray Farenheit 451 sci-fi   1984    
Brooks, Terry The Elfstones of Shannarah fantasy   1986    
Brooks, Terry The Sword of Shannarah fantasy   1985    
Brooks, Terry The Wishsong of Shannarah fantasy   1986    
Bryson, Bill A Walk in the Woods travel/humor   2000    
Burgess, Anthony A Clockwork Orange sci-fi   1991    
Camus, Albert The Stranger modern 1946      
Card, Orson Scott Ender's Game sci-fi 1985 2000    
Chandra, Vikram Red Earth and Pouring Rain fantasy   1997    
Christie, Agatha And Then There Were None mystery        
Clancy, Tom Op-Center action/adventure        
Clancy, Tom Op-Center: Line of Control action/adventure 2001 2001 * sucked
Clarke, Arthur C. Garden of Rama sci-fi 1992      
Clarke, Arthur C. Rama II sci-fi   1990    
Clarke, Arthur C. Rama Revealed sci-fi        
Clarke, Arthur C. Rendezvous with Rama sci-fi   1990    
Clarke, Arthur C. The Fountains of Paradise sci-fi   1990    
Clarke, Arthur C. The Wind from The Sun sci-fi   1985    
Cook, Glen Sweet Silver Blues fantasy   1988    
Cook, Robin Abduction sci-fi   2000    
Crace, Jim Being Dead modern 2001 2001 ** a vignette drawn out to novel length; nice imagery in spots, but mostly boring
Crichton, Micheal Airframe suspense   2001    
Crichton, Micheal Congo sci-fi   2001    
Crichton, Micheal Jurassic Park sci-fi        
Crichton, Micheal Lost World sci-fi        
Crichton, Micheal Sphere sci-fi   2000    
Crichton, Micheal Timeline sci-fi   2000    
Dickens, Charles Great Expectations literature   1983    
Donaldson, Stephen R. Lord Foul's Bane fantasy   1990    
Doyle, Sir Arthur Conan The Hound of the Baskervilles mystery   1986    
Farmer, Philip Jose The Unreasoning Mask sci-fi   1990    
Fitzgerald, F. Scott The Great Gatsby modern   1986    
Gardner, Craig A Malady of Magics fantasy   1986    
Gibson, William Mona Lisa Overdrive sci-fi   1991    
Gibson, William Neuromancer sci-fi        
Golding, William Lord of the Flies modern 1954      
Goldman, William The Princess Bride fantasy     ****  
Grisham, John Testament suspense 1999 2000    
Hawthorne, Nathaniel The Scarlet Letter literature   1985    
Heinlein, Robert A. JOB: A Comedy of Justice sci-fi   1991    
Heinlein, Robert A. Stranger in a Strange Land sci-fi   1991    
Heinlein, Robert A. The Cat Who Walks Through Walls sci-fi   1991    
Heller, Joseph Catch 22 satire   1985    
Heller, Joseph God Knows humor   1991    
Helprin, Mark Best American Short Stories 1988 collection 1988 1992    
Hemingway, Earnest The Old Man and the Sea modern   1985    
Herbert, Frank Dune sci-fi   1985    
Huxley, Aldous Brave New World sci-fi        
Irving, John A Prayer for Owen Meany modern 1990 1995    
Kafka, Franz The Metamorphosis modern 1915      
Kesey, Ken One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest modern   1989    
Keyes, Daniel Flowers for Algernon modern 1959 2001 **** powerful; a "triumph"
King, Stephen Bag of Bones horror        
King, Stephen Pet Sematary horror        
Lamb, Wally She's Come Undone modern 1996 1999    
L'Amour, Louis The Sackett Brand western        
Lee, Harper To Kill A Mockingbird modern        
Le Guin, Ursula K. The Left Hand of Darkness sci-fi 1969 2001    
Leiber, Fritz Swords Against Death fantasy   1986    
Leiber, Fritz Swords Against Deviltry fantasy   1986    
Lovecraft, H.P. The Lurking Fear horror   1985    
Mailer, Norman Tough Guys Don't Dance modern   1991    
McCaffrey, Anne All The Weyrs of Pern sci-fi        
McCaffrey, Anne DragonFlight sci-fi   1989    
McCaffrey, Anne DragonQuest sci-fi   1989    
McCaffrey, Anne Dragonsdawn sci-fi   1989    
McCaffrey, Anne The Renegades of Pern sci-fi   1990    
McCaffrey, Anne The White Dragon sci-fi   1989    
McNaught, Judith Paradise romance 1991      
Moorcock, Micheal Elric of Melnibone fantasy   1990    
Moorcock, Micheal Stormbringer fantasy   1990    
Moorcock, Micheal The Bane of the Black Sword fantasy   1990    
Moorcock, Micheal The Sailor on the Seas of Fate fantasy   1990    
Moorcock, Micheal The Vanishing Tower fantasy   1990    
Moorcock, Micheal The Weird of the White Wolf fantasy   1990    
Morrison, Toni Beloved modern        
Niven, Larry Ringworld sci-fi   1990    
Niven, Larry The Ringworld Engineers sci-fi   1990    
Niven, Larry and Pournelle, Jerry The Mote in God's Eye sci-fi 1974 2001    
Orwell, George 1984 sci-fi        
Orwell, George Animal Farm modern        
O'Toole, John Kennedy A Confederacy of Dunces humor   1990    
Patterson, James Pop Goes the Weasel mystery 2000 2001    
Rowling, J.K. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets fantasy 1999 2001    
Rowling, J.K. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire fantasy 2000 2001    
Rowling, J.K. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban fantasy 1999 2001    
Rowling, J.K. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone fantasy 1997 2001    
Sagan, Carl Contact sci-fi   1994    
Salinger, J.D. The Catcher in the Rye modern        
Segal, Erich Doctors modern   1991    
Segal, Erich Prizes modern 1996      
Segal, Erich The Class modern   1991    
Sheldon, Sidney Master of the Game modern   1991    
Sparks, Nicholas A Walk to Remember romance 1999 2000    
Spencer, Scott Endless Love modern        
Steel, Danielle Message from Nam romance   1991    
Steinbeck, John Cannery Row modern   1987    
Steinbeck, John Grapes of Wrath modern   1991    
Tolkien, J.R.R. The Fellowship of the Ring fantasy   1983    
Tolkien, J.R.R. The Hobbit fantasy   1982    
Tolkien, J.R.R. The Return of the King fantasy   1983    
Tolkien, J.R.R. The Silmarillion fantasy   1984    
Tolkien, J.R.R. The Two Towers fantasy   1983    
Tolkien, J.R.R. Unfinished Tales fantasy   1984    
Updike, John Witches of Eastwick modern        
Vonnegut, Kurt Slaughterhouse Five modern   1986    
Waller, Robert James Slow Waltz in Cedar Bend romance        
Waller, Robert James The Bridges of Madison County romance        
Weis and Hickman Dragon Wing fantasy   1990    
Weis and Hickman Elven Star fantasy        
Wiener, Ellis Doon humor   1986    
Wolfe, Tom The Bonfire of the Vanities modern   1990    

Eventually, I'll copy over the book review notes from my old records, so this page might actually be useful to someone.

 

Non-fiction

Some non-fiction books I have in my library that I have read at least a part of. I picked the ones below almost randomly. The actual list is much larger than the list of fiction above, and it's going to take me forever to list it all.

Subject Author Title Pub. Read Rating Comments
Anatomy and Physiology Tortora, Gerard Introduction to the Human Body: The Essentials of Anatomy and Physiology 1997     Outstandingly clear presentation (haven't finished it yet though).
Business Silbiger, Steven The Ten Day MBA 1993     If you don't plan on going to a top 5 B-school, this is the way to go.
Compilers Aho, Sethi, and Ullman Compilers: Principles, Techniques, and Tools 1988     This is *the* compiler book.
Computer Architecture Husain, Adil A Study of Client File Caching on Mesh-based Multicomputers 1997 :)   Couldn't help myself.
Computer Architecture Tanenbaum, Andrew Structured Computer Organization 1990 1990   My original favorite book on computer architecture by my favorite technical author.
Computer Performance Evaluation Jain, Raj The Art of Computer Systems Performance Analysis 1991     Some philosophy, some computer architecture, some queueing theory, lots of statistics.
Cooking Jaffrey, Madhur Madhur Jaffrey's Indian Cooking 1982     Bought this mostly for the naan recipe. Haven't tried very many recipes, and this one has a lot!
English Grammar Kolln, Martha Understanding English Grammar 1994 1992   Excellent textbook on the structure of English. Lots of detail without getting annoyingly academic.
Hardware Description Languages Armstrong, James Chip-level Modeling with VHDL 1989 1992   Wow, this one brings back memories. Use Verilog.
Human Biology Asimov, Isaac The Human Body: It's Structure and Operation 1992 1994   An outstanding introduction to human biology from the sci-fi master and former professor of biochemistry; a little dated (first published in the 60's) but a must-read for biology students everywhere.
Linguistics Bryson, Bill Mother Tongue: English and How it Got That Way 1990 2000   I love this guy. Packed with information, and very funny too (I have about 10 pages left to read).
Logic Design Roth, Charles Fundamentals of Logic Design 1985 1989   At one time, this was *the* student textbook for logic design. Worked for the author once.
Microprocessor Design Johnson, Mike Superscalar Microprocessor Design 1991 1993   Worked under this guy once. This is basically his PhD thesis.
Nutrition Whitney and Rolfes Understanding Nutrition 1999 2000   Got this from the Stanford medical bookstore: very well arranged textbook on nutrition; makes a handy reference.
Operating Systems Leffler and McKusick The Design and Implementation of the 4.3BSD UNIX Operating System: Answer Book 1991     Contains all the answers to the exercises at the back of the book. Useful because it reads more like a FAQ. I was really into stuff like this once.
Operating Systems Leffler, McKusick, Karels, and Quarterman The Design and Implementation of the 4.3 BSD UNIX Operating System 1990     If you are dying to know about the guts of Unix, this is one place to look.
Operating Systems Silberschatz and Galvin Operating System Concepts 1994     Good textbook on operating systems.
Operating Systems Tanenbaum, Andrew Distributed Operating Systems 1995     This author is a joy to read.
Physics Tipler, Paul Modern Physics 1978 1990   My first introduction to the world of modern physics; perhaps there are better books.
Software Tools Levine, Mason, and Brown lex and yacc 1992 1993   Useful if you write anything from simple parsers to full-blown compilers.
VLSI Design Weste and Eshraghian Principles of CMOS VLSI Design 1993     Useful design reference.
Writing Beer, David F. Writing and Speaking in the Technology Professions 1992     Took a graduate technical writing seminar with the editor. This is a collection of papers.
Writing Fowler, Ramsey The Little, Brown Handbook 1983     Nice college writing reference. I think there are newer editions.
Writing Ivers, Mitchell The Random House Guide to Good Writing 1991     Another useful writing guide; includes grammar and usage troubleshooting sections.
Writing McQuade and Atwan Thinking in Writing 1980     Arranged by writing type; with extensive examples for each. Fun to read even if you don't want to learn about writing.
Writing Packer and Timpane Writing Worth Reading 1986     Excellent general college writing guide. I think there is a newer edition.
Writing Provost, Gary Make Your Words Work 1990 1990   This was truly a joy to read.
Writing Strunk, William The Elements of Style 1972 1990   Don't write another sentence until you read this book; the granddaddy of writing guides.
Writing Zinsser, William On Writing Well 1990 1990   Well-written guide to writing non-fiction.

 

Reference
Type Author Title Pub. Rating Comments
Dictionary   The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language 2000   The best English dictionary in existence. If you own only one book, this should be it.

 

Magazines

Some magazines that are worth reading:

  • Science News - Been reading this one since high school. Probably the best science magazine in the world. Weekly; not sold in newsstands.
  • IEEE Spectrum - Great technical reading for Electrical and Computer Engineers. Just enough detail.

 

Miscellaneous 


Writing by Accretion. An experiment with three friends: I write the opening paragraph, each friend in turn contributes one more, continuing back to me in a ring. Here is its current form as of 3/1/01 after 2 1/2 passes. A colored, vertical bar appears on the left-hand side, with each color corresponding to a particular author (I've been told that Netscape Navigator does not render these bars properly). Here is the same story with author annotations in an adjacent column. Beware, there may be plot :) spoilers.

Here's the start of another experiment with just me and a buddy. It was last updated on 11/1/02.