| Date |
Title |
Author |
Review |
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| Aug 11th, 2019 |
Global Warmin |
John Houghton |
A summary of a whole bunch of things re: climate change. I feel like my research is getting pretty repetitive at this point. I feel like I have a pretty good grasp of the basics - so now time to jus |
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| Aug 9th, 2019 |
Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe |
Benjamin Alire Sáenz |
A beautiful book that had me tearing up every 20 minutes or so (I listened to the audiobook version). Two hispanic american kids in new mexico are both outcasts, but find each other at the start of |
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| Aug 4th, 2019 |
Ready Player One |
Ernest Cline |
A re-read of one of my all-time favorite books. The audio book is read by Will Wheaton which is a fun addition. |
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| Jul 29th, 2019 |
Snapshot |
Brandon Sanderson |
A short story by one of my favorite authors, Brandon Sanderson. In it, there are two cops who on a daily basis go into a virtual world that is an exact replica (snapshot) of a previous day. They o |
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| Jul 28th, 2019 |
Only Human |
Sylvain Neuvel |
The final book of the Themis Files. I really enjoyed this series. Filled with fun action, but also good thoughts on society, and relationships between parents and children, and more. In this last b |
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| Jul 28th, 2019 |
Metatropolis |
John Scalzi et al |
Five different novelas all contained in the same universe, specifically a sort of dystopian future where countries have fallen apart, and cities have taken their place as the central governing bodies |
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| Jul 22nd, 2019 |
The Flight Attendant |
Chris Bohjalian |
Not my normal book at all. Just saw it available on my library app, so I grabbed it. A bit chick-lit, a bit action thriller. A flight attendant with a drinking problem, and strong libido finds her |
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| Jul 12th, 2019 |
Superpower |
Russell Gold |
A book about one man's (Michael Skelly) journey to try to bring more renewable energy to America. At nearly every turn he faced massive hurtles - from political, to business, and beyond. It's a tou |
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| Jul 9th, 2019 |
Waking Gods |
Sylvain Neuvel |
Book two of The Themis Files series. Our heroes learn to drive/maneuver the giant robot, but find themselves in a sticky situation as tensions rise across the planet, and more robots start appearing |
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| Jun 29th, 2019 |
Sleeping Giants |
Sylvain Neuvel |
Book 1 ofThe Themis Files. A few folks at work had read and recommended it. I enjoyed it, and will likely continue the series. It takes place roughly present day, in present reality, where they fi |
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| Jun 29th, 2019 |
Written in Fire |
Marcus Sakey |
The last book in The Brilliance Trilogy. Lots of action, fighting, etc. Fun, but I'm glad it is over - time to move on. A bit too much action / Mission Impossible for me. |
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| Jun 20th, 2019 |
The Uninhabitable Earth: Life After Warming |
David Wallace-Wells |
A really good, and really depressing book about climate change. Really depressing in that it talks in detail about all of the harm that will come to the planet, and civilization in the decades to co |
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| Jun 15th, 2019 |
A Better World |
Marcus Sakey |
Book two of The Brilliance Trilogy. Tensions rise between the Brilliants/Abnorms (people with special powers), and the Norms. Extremists on both sides are looking to start a war, and centrists (incl |
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| Jun 9th, 2019 |
Brilliance |
Marcus Sakey |
A fun action/thriller novel in which the world finds itself in a sort of evolution of the human species, where roughly 1 out of 100 people are born with a special ability. Perhaps similar to X-men, |
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| Jun 4th, 2019 |
Smart Power |
Peter Fox-Penner |
Continuing my quest to understand climate change and renewable energy. This one got into the nitty gritty of how utilities work. It's clearly a complicated system. |
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| May 10th, 2019 |
Clean Disruption |
Tony Seba |
Recommended by Wayne Lin, this book talks about disruption, but in the context of clean energy, electric cars and autonomous cars. I really enjoyed this one a lot. I'll probably re-read it at some |
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| Apr 30th, 2019 |
Clean Break |
Osha Gray Davidson |
About German's energy transformation from dirty energy to clean. A topic I'm super interested in, but I wasn't a fan of this book. There just wasn't much good content in the book. It read almost mo |
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| Apr 25th, 2019 |
Trillion Dollar Coach |
ric Schmidt and Jonathan Rosenberg |
I'd heard much of the legend of Bill Campbell from my Google days, but not many details. It was nice to finally read a bit more about him in this book written by two of the sr Google execs who worke |
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| Apr 7th, 2019 |
This Changes Everything |
Naomi Klein |
I didn't end up finishing this one. It kind of got on my nerves - a bit too preachy about the evils of Capitalism. I was wanting to read about climate change, and that felt secondary to the messag |
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| Mar 21st, 2019 |
Drawdown |
Paul Hawken |
An incredible resource that covers a huge breadth (but not depth) of possible pieces of the answer to how to curb global warming. A great starting point to understand what is out there, and then be |
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| Mar 19th, 2019 |
Circe |
Madeline Miller |
You may recall from Odysseus that Odysseus and his crew land on an island at some point and find a witch with many animals - pigs, wolves, lions. The witch turns the men into pigs, but they eventual |
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| Mar 2nd, 2019 |
The Terror |
Dan Simmons |
A good, but perhaps slightly too long, historical novel taking place in the artic around 1850. The historically accurate aspect of it is that it accounts british explorers trying to find the north-w |
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| Feb 21st, 2019 |
Black & White |
Lewis Shiner |
A historical novel set in 2004 and 1960s, taking place in Durham NC. It was a good book in itself, but was super cool to have it take place in Durham with so many places that I was very familiar wit |
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| Feb 9th, 2019 |
His Majesty's Dragon |
Naomi Novik |
A fun historical fiction book, taking place during the napoleonic wars between England and France. The big twist - given away by the title - is that dragons exist (and have always existed). They ar |
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| Feb 8th, 2019 |
Surface Detail |
Ian M. Banks |
I love Ian Banks' Culture series. They are fun for so many reasons, and also cool that you can read them in any order you want. They are more of a "universe" than just a sequential series. Most boo |
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| Jan 31st, 2019 |
The Traitor Baru Cormorant |
Seth Dickinson |
A good book, but I didn't find it to be an amazing book - although I'm having a hard time deciding why that is. The plot entailed an empire (think British empire, something along those lines) takin |
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| Jan 20th, 2019 |
Anathem |
Neal Stephenson |
This book may be my favorite book of all time, and yet, it shouldn't be. It is very slow to start, with not much of a story line for hundreds of pages. But somehow it is still engaging during that |
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| Jan 20th, 2019 |
Rhythm |
Patrick Thean |
A book for work that talks through how to think strategically as a company, and then execute on that strategy. Solid book actually. Pulls in from lots of places - Good to Great, parts of the OKR sy |
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| Dec 6th, 2018 |
Skyward |
Brandon Sanderson |
Enjoyable young adult novel, described by the author as "How to Train Your Dragon meets Top Gun and Enders Game". Strangely, I agree with that description. Very fun. A bold, intelligent young main |
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| Nov 28th, 2018 |
The Alloy of Law |
Brandon Sanderson |
An extension of the Mistborn series, taking place hundreds of years after the first set of books. In this book, Wax is a High Lord who has become a keeper of the law in an Old West style world. He |
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| Nov 19th, 2018 |
Station Eleven |
Emily St. John Mandel |
Another post-apocalyptic novel... actually, this one is maybe just apocalyptic, as it takes place both before during, and after the apocalypse. It follows a few different characters who's stories al |
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| Nov 9th, 2018 |
Allegiant |
Veronica Roth |
Book three of the Divergent series. Tris finds the outside world, and realizes it has many of the same issues as Chicago. This one I liked the least of the series, mostly because it was just a lot |
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| Nov 2nd, 2018 |
Insurgent |
Veronica Roth |
Book 2 of the Divergent series. Still very enjoyable. I'm 1/2 way done book three as I'm writing this, so it's a bit of a blur re: what happened in books 1 vs 2 vs 3. Regardless, Tris continues t |
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| Oct 27th, 2018 |
Divergent |
Veronica Roth |
Despite the fact that this book seems to have been written for 14 year old girls, I really enjoyed it, and plan to continue reading the series. In contrast to the previous book I read, which was sh |
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| Oct 22nd, 2018 |
Queen of Sorcery |
David Eddings |
Book 2 of The Belgariad. Boy Garion continues his adventure with his aunt and grandfather, legendary and ancient sorcerers, through the various kingdoms of his world. The group is delayed at every |
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| Oct 14th, 2018 |
Pawn of Prophecy |
David Eddings |
Pretty much exactly what I was looking for right now. Just a classic fantasy series to get lost in for my commutes. This is not at all original - rather a set of fantasy cliche tropes. A young bo |
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| Sep 30th, 2018 |
The Martian |
Andy Weir |
A re-read of this great fictional book about an astronaut who gets left behind on mars. What makes this book so amazing is the writing itself, rather than the story. Full of wit, science, engineeri |
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| Sep 5th, 2018 |
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows |
J.K. Rowling |
And the grand finale. Dumbledore is dead, many more die, the gang finds and destroys more horcruxes, and harry goes head to head with Voldemort. It was a lot of fun to experience this series again. |
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| Aug 19th, 2018 |
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince |
J.K. Rowling |
Malfoy plots all book long but don't we find out until the end the goal of his plotting. Alas, poor Dumbledore. We also find out that Snape really is on team Voldemort (or is he????). We also lear |
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| Aug 4th, 2018 |
Anansi Boys |
Neil Gaiman |
A similar theme in Neil Gaiman books: among us mortals, there are a sprinkling of gods living among us. This book focused on "Anansi", a spider deity - that coincidently is a main character in some |
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| Jul 28th, 2018 |
Naomi Alderman |
The Power |
Women across the planet gain the ability to deliver high electric shocks from their body - similar to an electric eel. While a somewhat silly premise, the repercussions are really interesting. Most |
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| Jul 15th, 2018 |
Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire |
J.K. Rowling |
Harry competes in the triwizard tournament as the 4th champion - along with Cedric Diggory, Viktor Krum, and Fleur Delacour. They battle dragons, search out merpeople, and face peril in a hedge maz |
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| Jun 23rd, 2018 |
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban |
J.K. Rowling |
Harry finds out his stepfather is Serious black, and he meets Lupin the professor of dark arts who turns into a werewolf during full moons.... and other events. |
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| Jun 13th, 2018 |
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets |
J.K. Rowling |
Continuing to plow through the Harry Potter books. Something at Hogwarts is turning people into statues, and Harry finds a diary from a boy named Tom Riddle, who turns out to be the original name fo |
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| Jun 3rd, 2018 |
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone |
J.K Rowling |
My son told me that they were reading this at daycare to the 4 and 5 year olds, so I re-read (listed) to it to remind myself if it was scary or not. It is :) . I had nightmares for weeks. The head o |
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| May 26th, 2018 |
Ancillary Mercy |
Ann Leckie |
The last book in the series. I really enjoyed the whole series. Are AI’s deserving of the same rights as humans? Perhaps one day. |
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| May 21st, 2018 |
Norse Mythology |
Neil Gaiman |
A fun re-telling of the classic Norse myths, as told by Neil Gaiman. Thor, Loki, Odin and others. As far as I'm aware, it did not stray from the originals (or at least not much). Just good storyte |
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| May 11th, 2018 |
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress |
Robert Heinlein |
I did not finish this one - it just did not age well. Not sure why, but just really disliked it. Got maybe 10% in and threw in the towel. |
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| May 8th, 2018 |
The Hate U Give |
Angie Thomas |
Way outside of my normal genre, and a really great read. Probably in the young adult fiction category, but very timely to current socio-political environment. The main character - Star - is in a c |
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| Apr 28th, 2018 |
Ancillary Sword |
Ann Leckie |
Book two of the Imperial Radch series. Loving this series. Definitely sci-fi genre, but this book had a little sprinkle of Sherlock Holmes added - with the narrator clearly having figured out som |
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| Apr 20th, 2018 |
The Darkness that Comes Before |
R. Scott Bakker |
This series (The Prince of Nothing) came highly recommended, but I just couldn't get into it. I gave up before getting half way through. It may have partially been because it was an audio book - t |
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| Apr 7th, 2018 |
Ancillary Justice |
Ann Leckie |
The first of three books in the Imperial Radch series. This SciFi novel has gotten rave reviews. I think perhaps because of that I had really high expectations for it, that were perhaps too high |
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| Mar 25th, 2018 |
The Dog Stars |
Peter Heller |
A really beautiful book about a man, and his dog, and his love of fishing, and his family. It all takes part in post-apocalyptic mid-west after a virus has wiped out 99.X% of the population. Odd to |
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| Mar 13th, 2018 |
Alibaba's World |
Porter Erisman |
A look into the Chinese powerhouse company Alibaba. An interesting story of a teacher turned CEO who defied all odds to make one of the most valuable companies on the planet. They compete with Ebay |
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| Mar 8th, 2018 |
The Emperor's Soul |
Brandon Sanderson |
An uncharacteristically short book by Brandon Sanderson, but fun read. The novel starts out with a forger in jail. We soon learn that the emperor has just barely survived an assassination attempt, |
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| Mar 6th, 2018 |
Astrophysics for People in a Hurry |
Neil deGrasse Tyson |
Just a fun quick book covering various science related things. Talks about the very large, and the very small. A bit disjoint at time (I think it was a collection of essays maybe), but fun easy rea |
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| Mar 2nd, 2018 |
The Tao of Pooh |
Benjamin Hoff |
I was not a fan of this audio book. 1) It probably needed more active listening, which didn't work well for me as it was during my commute and I couldn't give deep thought to it. 2) Nit, but it was s |
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| Mar 1st, 2018 |
Oathbringer |
Brandon Sanderson |
The third book in The Stormlight Archive. We learn about Delinar's tormented history as The Black Thorn. Shallan is also a major character as she starts to have an identity crises - playing the par |
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| Jan 22nd, 2018 |
Frontier Justice |
E. Fuller Torrey |
An out of print book about the Loomis Gang - a family of thieves in upstate NY in the mid 1800s. I knew about them growing up as their territory covered the house I grew up in, but it was really int |
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| Jan 11th, 2018 |
Dream Land |
Sam Quinones |
A very interesting look into America's opioid epidemic - both Heroin, and Oxycontin. The two stories are mostly separate, but intertwine at points. Both had somewhat independent major spikes in usa |
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| Dec 30th, 2017 |
Words of Radiance |
Brandon Sanderson |
Book two of The Stormlight Archive. Very enjoyable fantasy series. This one focuses mostly on Kaladin as he learns more about his power, and Shallan and her troubled childhood. On to book three! |
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| Dec 12th, 2017 |
The Way of Kings |
Brandon Sanderson |
This was a doozie of an audio book. 45 hours long. Longest one that I have consumed so far I'm pretty sure. Very fun read. Much of it was military related - multiple armies on the Broken Plains f |
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| Nov 29th, 2017 |
The Chickenshit Club |
Jesse Eisinger |
A look into why white collar crime (specifically, for executives) is rarely prosecuted. It centers around Enron and Arthur Anderson, and how those events - which lead to the collapse of both compani |
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| Nov 28th, 2017 |
Metamorphosis |
Franz Kafka |
A classic that many high schoolers read, but I had not read yet. A quick read - it starts out from the very beginning with the main character waking up to find out he has somehow turned into a giant |
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| Nov 18th, 2017 |
Authority |
Jeff VanderMeer |
Book 2 of The Southern Reach trilogy, this follows a different set of characters from outside of Area X. A new head of The Southern Reach department is brought in to figure out what is going on, an |
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| Nov 11th, 2017 |
Dissolution |
C.J Sansom |
This historical fiction/mystery was recommended to me when I was looking for a change from the batch of fantasy books. It was a good read. Takes place in 1500s England, as an investigator tries to |
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| Nov 1st, 2017 |
Warbreaker |
Brandon Sanderson |
Another fun Brandon Sanderson book. In this world, every person has a "breath", but some people have many breaths. These extra breaths give them additional powers, such as the ability to "awaken" i |
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| Oct 16th, 2017 |
Annihilation |
Jeff VanderMeer |
This reminded me a bit of Solaris. Not a ton of plot other than just trying to come to grips with being in a foreign place where nothing quite makes sense. I really enjoyed it for that reason - fe |
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| Oct 8th, 2017 |
Elantris |
Brandon Sanderson |
Brandon Sanderson is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors. This fantasy novel takes place in a world where god-like people have fallen, and a city and country are trying to rebuild after that |
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| Sep 24th, 2017 |
Falling Free |
Lois McMaster Bujold |
Straight up Sci-Fi. People are genetically modified to have 4 arms instead of 2 arms and 2 legs. They are perfectly made to be perfect manual laborers in space - but these people lack human rights, |
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| Sep 16th, 2017 |
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks |
Rebecca Skloot |
Nonfiction book about HeLa cells, and their origin. HeLa cells are a line of cells used prolifically in labs to study medicine, radiation, cancer, and a whole lot more. They were the first successf |
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| Sep 3rd, 2017 |
The Black Star |
Edward W. Robertson |
Book 3 from The Cycle of Arawn. Not the best series I have ever read, but it held my attention. It was quite the bang for the buck though from Audible. A single credit for all three books combined |
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| Aug 19th, 2017 |
The Great Rift |
Edward W. Robertson |
Continuing the Cycle of Arawn. Still so-so, but going to keep going. In this one, Dante and Blaze battle the king's armies, and Dante's powers grow. He starts to be able to control rocks and dirt |
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| Aug 11th, 2017 |
Dark Matter |
Blake Crouch |
A fun multi-verse novel. The main character gets attacked one night (spoiler) by another version of himself from an alternate universe - and thrown into his doppelganger's version of earth/his life |
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| Aug 8th, 2017 |
Conscience of a Conservative |
Jeff Flake |
I've been asking republicans I know for good conservative books that are rational. This one was exceptional. In this book, sitting republican congressman flake bashes trump quite a bit, but also ba |
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| Jul 21st, 2017 |
The White Tree |
Edward W. Robertson |
This is book one of a trilogy called The Cycle of Arawn. I'm so-so on it to be honest. Just feels very vanilla - not super interesting. It's not bad, just nothing noteworthy. The best part about |
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| Jul 10th, 2017 |
The Golem and the Jinni |
Helene Wecker |
I just ran across this one at the library and it seemed interesting, so I went for it. It was enjoyable. Takes place in NYC probably 100 years ago or so. It takes place set in our reality, but a G |
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| Jun 23rd, 2017 |
Cloud Atlas |
David Mitchell |
A movie (which I have not yet seen) is based on this - although the movie got pretty poor reviews if I remember correctly. Anyhow, I really enjoyed this book, both the unique style, and the actual s |
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| Jun 10th, 2017 |
A Short History of Nearly Everything |
Bill Bryson |
Fantastic read about the history of nearly everything. The formation of the universe. The formation of our planet. Life on earth. Mankind. And more. I feel like I should read a book like this ev |
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| May 30th, 2017 |
The Circle |
Dave Eggers |
I'm writing this review 6 months after reading the book. I read it in May, but didn't realize that I didn't have a review for it until December while discussing the book with coworkers. The book wa |
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| May 29th, 2017 |
Skin Deep (Legion) |
Brandon Sanderson |
Another short - but not as short novella continuing the storyline from Legion. In this one, the main character and his alter egos try to solve a mystery around what happened to the corpse of a recent |
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| May 27th, 2017 |
Legion |
Brandon Sanderson |
A very short Novella. Takes place in current day, in current world (no crazy fantasy stuff). The tweak is that the main character, Stephen has imaginary friends. There are roughly 50 of them. He |
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| May 26th, 2017 |
The Hero of Ages |
Brandon Sanderson |
Book Three of the Mistborn series. Loved the series. In this last episode, our two main characters - Vin and her husband Eland are both mistborn (able to use ("burn") many different types of metals |
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| May 10th, 2017 |
The Sparrow |
Mary Doria Russell |
Very enjoyable, if at some times dark, sci fi book with a heavy dose of philosophy/religion. Emilio Sandoz is a Jesuit priest who has a knack for languages. He is part of the first group of explorer |
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| May 9th, 2017 |
The Well of Ascension |
Brandon Sanderson |
Book 2 in the Mistborn series. Still a very big fan of the series. Vin, the main character of this book, protects her king/partner, helps to protect a city from multiple invading armies, and tries t |
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| Apr 26th, 2017 |
Shoe Dog |
Phil Night |
An autobiography by the co-founder of Nike. Really great story telling, with an interesting story. Heartfelt account of his life, and the life of the company. Definitely gives you warm fuzzies for |
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| Apr 23rd, 2017 |
Wormhole |
Richard Phillips |
Last book in The Rho Agenda series. Glad it's over. The story line is fun, but writing is mediocre. |
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| Apr 17th, 2017 |
Mistborn: The Final Empire |
Brandon Sanderson |
The first in a fantasy series. A classic tale of a repressive class system - where the ruling class is powerful, and many of them have use of magic that is used by consuming various different meta |
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| Apr 11th, 2017 |
Radical Candor |
Kim Scott |
At Pendo we have a core value around "Brutal Honesty". This book was about this same topic, with a slight twist. It was about the candor part (brutal honesty), but emphasized that it needs to be co |
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| Apr 10th, 2017 |
The Collapsing Empire |
John Scalzi |
A great first book in a series - but so far the only book in the series. In the far future, travel between solar systems is through natural intersolar shortcuts called "Flows". When the flows start |
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| Apr 7th, 2017 |
The Halo Effect |
Phil Rosenzweig |
This book's purpose / thesis is that a lot of popular business books and studies, including Good To Great are deeply flawed because of their flawed source material. Specifically, it convincingly ex |
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| Apr 1st, 2017 |
The Blood Mirror |
Brent Weeks |
Book 4 (out of 5) of the Lightbringer "trilogy". Very enjoyable fantasy series. People get magic from different colors of light, each having it's own special characteristics. One more book to go ( |
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| Mar 22nd, 2017 |
Catch-22 |
Joseph Heller |
I read this in high school, but hadn't read it since. Definitely feels like the best audience is high school students - it shocks readers with its bizarre nonsensical but humorous style - but still |
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| Mar 1st, 2017 |
Duty |
Robert Gates |
A memoir by Secretary of State, Robert Gates. He served under bush 43, and Obama. Very interesting to get some behind the scenes on how executive branch works. He is a republican and had great things |
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| Feb 24th, 2017 |
Death's End |
Cixin Liu |
Third book in the "Remembrance of Earth's Past" series (Three Body Problem). This series is definitely sci fi to its core. Aliens, light speed travel, and so forth. A very fun read. All three boo |
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| Feb 10th, 2017 |
Pandora's Star |
Peter Hamilton |
A pretty massive Sci Fi book - evidently the foundation for a lot of books by that author. Didn't do a ton for me. I think I may have read one of the other books long ago though, because they were |
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| Jan 20th, 2017 |
The Wright Brothers |
David McCullough |
Fun to read about the Wright Brothers while living in North Carolina. Hard working, very clever men who were patient, studious in the ways of nature and man, and perfectionists. They were able to m |
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| Jan 9th, 2017 |
Trump Revealed |
Kranish and Fisher |
A biography of Trump published right after we won the primaries. Looks into his early days, and even his parents history. Essentially, he is a megalomaniac and/or narcissist who loves the immediate |
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| Jan 8th, 2017 |
The Dark Forest |
Cixin Liu |
The sequel to The Three Body Problem, this book is a bit further in the future, and therefor starts to feel a bit more Sci-Fi'ish than the first. Very enjoyable. Nerdy Science stuff throughout. The |
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| Dec 23rd, 2016 |
The Three-Body Problem |
Cixin Liu |
Originally written in Chinese, translated and narrated in English, this is a fun sci-fi book that gets a bit physics-y (in a good way) towards the end. Scientists in china are staring to experience |
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| Dec 9th, 2016 |
The Gone-Away World |
Nick Harkaway |
A long, enjoyable novel. I'm not sure the genre - post apocalypse I guess. The first chapter starts out in that post-apocalypse world - with a group of rough and tumble mercenary fire fighters, and |
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| Nov 26th, 2016 |
The Victorian Internet |
Tom Standage |
A quick and interesting read about the history of the telegraph. Morse (of Morse Code), Edison (of the lightbulb) and others make appearances in this book. Very cool to read about how much this inv |
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| Nov 21st, 2016 |
Conscience of a Conservative |
Barry Goldwater |
I have asked many people over the last few years for a "book that would help me understand republican beliefs that doesn't have things like 'Obama is an atheist muslim'" This book was the one that k |
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| Nov 19th, 2016 |
Work Rules |
Laszlo Bock |
The head of People Operations (HR) at Google wrote a book about how Google thinks about hiring, promoting, culture, and much more. I loved this book. Much of it I knew already, but interesting to h |
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| Nov 10th, 2016 |
Good To Great |
Jim Collins |
Todd has been talking about this book for a while now, and I finally got around to reading it. Definitely a whole lot of interesting material on how to make great companies. Definitely going to ha |
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| Nov 6th, 2016 |
The Sun Also Rises |
Ernest Hemingway |
My first Hemingway book in a long time, or perhaps ever. I'm still trying to decide what I think of it. It didn't have strong plot - more of just a meandering narrative following the main character |
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| Oct 31st, 2016 |
The Wise Man's Fear |
Patrick Rothfuss |
Book two of the kingkiller chronicle. Kvothe tells of more of his time at University, as well as his adventures learning martial arts in a far away land, his time spent wooing his crush, and his time |
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| Oct 22nd, 2016 |
The Name of the Wind |
Patrick Rothfuss |
This was a re-read of the first book in a trilogy. I was about to read the third book, so I went to read the synopsis of the first book and could not remember a single thing from the synopsis, so I |
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| Oct 14th, 2016 |
Losing the Signal |
Jacquie McNish |
The story of Blackberry and Research In Motion (the company that makes blackberry). It talks a lot about their co-founders / co-CEOs, and how they did a fantastic job working off each other's streng |
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| Oct 3rd, 2016 |
Lean In |
Sheryl Sandberg |
I highly recommend this book for men and women alike. It helps you understand the biases that exist in all of us about women and their role in the workplace. They talk about an interesting study ca |
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| Oct 1st, 2016 |
Greetings from Myanmar |
David Bockino |
A great little read about a place I knew almost nothing about: Myanmar/Burma. Just some insights and stories about one mans travels through Myanmar, with some background history sprinkled in. This |
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| Sep 28th, 2016 |
Morning Star |
Pierce Brown |
The last book in the Red Rising trilogy. Very enjoyable Sci Fi trilogy. Had me hooked throughout the series. |
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| Sep 19th, 2016 |
Golden Son |
Pierce Brown |
Book two in the Red Rising trilogy. Darrow continues his journey to disrupt civilization at its core. He is adopted by his most hated gold enemy, and rises to power through that adoption. |
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| Sep 8th, 2016 |
Red Rising |
Pierce Brown |
A mix of Hunger Games, and Ender's Game. In the future (perhaps 1000-2000 years from now), humans have colonized most of the solar system. They have created a class system across the solar system w |
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| Sep 1st, 2016 |
The Quantum Mystery |
John Gribbin |
A quick little Kindle Single that talks at a very high level about quantum physics. Pretty much all that it gets into is essentially: Some stuff behaves as if it were both a wave, and a particle. E |
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| Aug 31st, 2016 |
The Passage |
Justin Cronin |
A Zombie book evidently. Not my normal genre. I didnt even know that that was what it was going into it. It was actually probably more of a post-apocalyptic genre rather than a zombie genre - wh |
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| Aug 21st, 2016 |
Exxon: The Road Not Taken |
Neela Banerjee et al |
An Amazon Single (ie, shorter book) about this history of Exxon and climate change research. It turns out that in the early 1980's, they were on the forefront of excellent, unbiased climate change r |
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| Aug 12th, 2016 |
The Color of Magic |
Terry Pratchett |
An interesting book, but not really mind-blowing for me. Perhaps it would have been earlier in my life as young adult fiction. But at this stage in my life, it didn't do a whole lot for me. In a wo |
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| Aug 11th, 2016 |
Secondhand Souls |
Christopher Moore |
I had read two other books by Christopher Moore, including the A Dirty Job which is the predecessor of Secondhand Souls. I had loved both of those books. This one just didn't do much for me. Not en |
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| Aug 1st, 2016 |
Kushiel's Dart |
Jacqueline Carey |
It took me a long while to make it through this beast. Fantasy (although almost nothing magical about it), the main character is a sadomasochist - by genetics - or perhaps more accurately stated, by |
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| Jul 23rd, 2016 |
Big Trouble |
Dave Barry |
A very fun satirical fiction book about a bunch of crazy people in south florida and the shenanigans they get into. A briefcase with a mysterious object in it, some hitmen, an unhappy advertising man |
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| Jul 18th, 2016 |
Voyage of the Basilisk |
Marie Brennan |
I accidentally read this - the third book in the series - before reading the second in the series. I didn't even realize the mistake until nearly the very end of the book. Anyhow, it continues to b |
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| Jul 6th, 2016 |
Hardcore Zen |
Brad Warner |
I really enjoyed this book about Zen. Most times I read about Zen, it calls to me - this is no exception. This was a funny one as it was a DIY version of an audiobook, so literally his cat would wa |
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| Jul 3rd, 2016 |
The Witch of Lime Street |
David Jaher |
A fascinating factual account of Harry Houdini and his battle to unmask "mediums" in the 1920s, especially the one medium who seemed to be outwitting scientists and Harvard academics alike - Margery |
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| Jun 29th, 2016 |
Code Talker |
Chester Nez |
A memoir of Chester Nez, born in the 1920's, living a traditional native american lifestyle in new mexico. When WWII kicked into full force, he (and 28 others) was brought in to develop a communicat |
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| Jun 21st, 2016 |
What If? |
Randall Munroe |
Very enjoyable book by the author of XKCD comics. It is "Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions" - just my kind of book. I listened to audio version of this - so I may have mis |
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| Jun 15th, 2016 |
The Mote in God's Eye |
Larry Niven |
A fun story from 1000 years in the future in which we inhabit many solar systems, and finally find the first intelligent life form. They are much older and more advanced than us, but because of circ |
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| May 30th, 2016 |
The Doomsday Book |
Connie Willis |
Enjoyable time travel book. Time travel is an academic affair, run by history departments of colleges. The mid 1300's are off limits because of the black plague, until by a set of intentional and u |
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| May 26th, 2016 |
Stardust |
Neil Gaiman |
Gaiman describes this as a "fairy tail for adults". Very fun (quick) read. I listened to the audio book - which was read by Gaiman himself, and he does a great job. He has a really nice relaxing |
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| May 20th, 2016 |
Killing Patton |
Bill O'Reilly, et al |
I knew that Bill O'Reilly wrote some history books, so I wanted to check one out. The topic was definitely interesting - about General Patton in WWII, and his great achievements, and also his myste |
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| May 11th, 2016 |
Team of Teams |
General Stanley McChrystal, et al |
A really good business book - talking about moving the US military from a command and control top down hierarchy, to a "team of teams" - autonomous groups with massive knowledge sharing and authority |
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| May 5th, 2016 |
Accidental Saints: Finding God in All the Wrong People |
Nadia Bolz-Weber |
Perhaps the first religious book that I have really enjoyed. The author is a minister in a very fringe church that seems to attract the outcasts of Detroit. She drops lots of swear words, and defin |
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| Apr 24th, 2016 |
Emperor of Thorns |
Mark Lawrence |
The last book in The Broken Empire series. I really enjoyed this series - one of the best that I have ever read, but not sure who I would recommend it to - as I think lots of people would not enjoy |
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| Apr 17th, 2016 |
Terra |
Mitch Benn |
An enjoyable little book about a human infant girl who gets abducted by a friendly alien scientist and brought back to his alien world. A bit of Douglas Adams perhaps - light hearted, silly, but som |
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| Apr 13th, 2016 |
Delirium |
Lauren Oliver |
I happened upon this from my library's digital loans. It was some sort of Orwellian story - similar to Little Brother perhaps. Perhaps wi |
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| Apr 9th, 2016 |
The Egyptian |
Mika Waltari |
This was a long slow read. Not sure why I stuck with it - usually I don't. It was good, but probably not worth the month and a half haul. This was originally written in Finnish I think in the mid |
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| Apr 2nd, 2016 |
A Natural History of Dragons |
Marie Brennan |
A really enjoyable book. A female hero set in sort of an 1800's era where it's not acceptable for women to be adventurers or academics. She however wants both - to find dragons and read and learn |
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| Mar 28th, 2016 |
King of Thorns |
Mark Lawrence |
Book two of The Broken Empire. I'm really enjoying this series. The first book was extremely dark - the main character was vile. In this second book he is much less vile - starting to see some li |
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| Mar 18th, 2016 |
Prince of Thorns |
Mark Lawrence |
Not for everyone. The narrator/main character of this book is pretty vile. Rape, murder, and everything else. Somehow a very intriguing book if you are able to get past that aspect of it. At some |
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| Mar 9th, 2016 |
Storm Front |
Jim Butcher |
This is book one of the Dresden Files. Looks like there are 15+ books in the series. It was entertaining, but not amazing. It looks like multiple people have recommended this series to me over the |
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| Mar 4th, 2016 |
End of Faith |
Sam Harris |
Pretty interesting book on a lot of fronts. He takes a very hardline approach on religion in general, and islam specifically. He believes that religious tolerance should not be tolerated - that eve |
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| Feb 27th, 2016 |
The Far West |
Patricia C. Wrede |
Book three of the Frontier Magic series. A really fun young adult fiction series with a female lead character. In this last book of the series, an expedition is formed to explore the unexplored Ame |
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| Feb 24th, 2016 |
The Amber Spyglass |
Philip Pullman |
The last book in His Dark Materials. So - there is one scene from a book a long time ago that I have vivid memories of - involving another world where animals had wheels. I had strangely vivid memo |
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| Feb 17th, 2016 |
Across the Great Barrier |
Patricia C. Wrede |
Book two of the Frontier Magic series. Enjoyable young adult novel with magic. Still enjoying it - but the books are too quick to read. |
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| Feb 14th, 2016 |
Thirteenth Child |
Patricia C. Wrede |
Young adult fiction - a world much like our own, with similar history (some of the founding fathers were the same, but some differ. Some countries the same, some differ) - but with a flair of mag |
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| Feb 12th, 2016 |
Fear the Future |
Stephen Moss |
Last book in The Fear Saga. Enjoyable series. A hostile alien race comes to take over our planet. Some of the aliens attempt to sabotage the takeover though, and join up with humanity to stop the |
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| Feb 5th, 2016 |
Fear the Survivors |
Stephen Moss |
Book two of The Fear Saga. Fending off a far superior alien race - or the robot advanced party of said race. Still enjoyable. On to the last book. |
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| Feb 4th, 2016 |
The Subtle Knife |
Philip Pullman |
Book two of "His Dark Materials". I'm pretty sure I had read this before, but I didn't remember any of it, so it was a lot of fun. |
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| Jan 26th, 2016 |
The Golden Compass |
Philip Pullman |
I've read this book at least once before, but I enjoyed it - and I heard the audio book was a very good audio book, so I went for the re-read. Great book, and very good audio book - it has a full ca |
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| Jan 15th, 2016 |
Creativity, Inc. |
Ed Catmull |
Very good book by one of the founders of Pixar. A lot of it is about how to foster a creative environment, but it also tells the story of Pixar. Very fun to read - or listen to, as the case may be. |
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| Jan 14th, 2016 |
Lost in a Good Book |
Jasper Fforde |
Book two of the Thursday Next series. Fun series. Not sure how far I will keep going with it though - sounds like there are a bunch in the series. |
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| Jan 6th, 2016 |
47 Ronin |
John Allyn |
The story of the 47 Ronin is a true historical event taking place around 1700 in Japan. This book is true to the historical event, but all dialog and details are made up by the author. I don't kno |
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| Dec 28th, 2015 |
A Time for Truth |
Ted Cruz |
My ongoing attempt to read views that differ from my own. I gained a lot of respect for Cruz in reading this book. I don't agree with a lot of his views - especially social views. But I do respect |
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| Dec 27th, 2015 |
The Forest |
Justin Groot |
Evidently this book came out of a reddit writing prompt [WP] of "Instead of Oceans, they are all big forests, that gets taller and darker instead of deeper, with more dangerous animals living furthe |
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| Dec 25th, 2015 |
The Broken Eye |
Brent Weeks |
Book 3 of the Lightbringer series. Very enjoyable. The 4th and last book is not written yet, so I have to wait about a year for that one. I definitely need to read the 4th book though. |
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| Dec 16th, 2015 |
The Blinding Knife |
Brent Weeks |
Book 2 of the Lightbringer series, still really enjoying this. So much, that I'm plowing right into book three without pause. |
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| Dec 11th, 2015 |
Sapiens |
Yuval Noah Harari |
A tour de force coving the entire history of our species across multiple disciplines - from evolutionary biology, anthropology, psychology, and more. It talks about so many different things that... |
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| Dec 11th, 2015 |
The Black Prism |
Brent Weeks |
The first book in the Lightbringer series - classic fantasy series. Some people are able to make magic from certain colors around them. Some can use blue, some green, some yellow, etc. One - the |
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| Nov 30th, 2015 |
The Stone Man |
Luke Smitherd |
I do not recommend this book. I hate to criticize books when I know that I couldn't do half as good of a job, but regardless - I'm just not a fan of this book. Both the writing, and the narration f |
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| Nov 22nd, 2015 |
The Reluctant Jesus |
Duncan Whitehead |
A fun book about the second coming of Christ. Satire. God is a forgetful, absentee, imperfect father figure who kind of batches the second coming. A 30+ year old man finds out that he is the secon |
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| Nov 13th, 2015 |
One Way Forward |
Lawrence Lessig |
A really good Kindle Single (short book) talking about how we need to get money out of politics - a topic I strongly support. |
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| Nov 8th, 2015 |
The Dudes Abide |
Alex Belth |
A Kindle Single (ie, a short kindle book) that looks behind the scenes at the making of The Big Labowski. I love the notion of Kindle Shorts - that some books just don't need to be 200 pages long. |
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| Nov 7th, 2015 |
The Player of Games |
Iain M. Banks |
Part of a series called "Culture" by Iain banks. The series isn't so much a continuation with the same characters, but rather just the same setting. The Culture being a mostly computer based commun |
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| Nov 4th, 2015 |
Fear the Sky |
Stephen Moss |
A fun sci-fi book taking place present day - in which a hostile alien race decides to destroy humanity. The heroes of the story need to plan countermeasures without being detected by the much more |
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| Oct 22nd, 2015 |
Drift |
M. K. Hutchins |
A very fun Sci/Fi Fantasy book. The main characters live on an island on top of a turtle's back. The turtle island is surrounded by deadly beings that make life difficult to maintain. The main cha |
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| Oct 21st, 2015 |
Being Mortal |
Atul Gawande |
Highly recommended. It's written by a surgeon who re-evaluates what end of life care should be like. The one take-away is that our medical system is built for extending life in the final years, not |
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| Oct 18th, 2015 |
Build the Fort |
Chris Heivly |
A book about startups written by a local friend, Chris Heivly. A fun look into the mindset of entrepreneurism - it walks through a lot of the very early stages of moving from idea to starting the st |
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| Oct 3rd, 2015 |
Dreams of Steel |
Glen Cook |
This is one of the books in the Black Company series. This book follows Croaker, and Lady as they fight off the dark forces of the land. I really enjoyed the first few books in the series, but I th |
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| Sep 28th, 2015 |
The Magicians |
Lev Grossman |
Set essentially in a Narnia type world - an enjoyable book, but not mind blowing. Quentin learns that he is a magician, goes to magicians school for a bunch of years, and finds himself in another |
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| Sep 15th, 2015 |
The Glass Castle |
Jeannette Walls |
A pretty amazing memoir about the author's difficult childhood and her neglectful parents. She had pretty intelligent parents, but their priorities were so messed up that they didn't prioritize get |
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| Sep 3rd, 2015 |
Diamond Age |
Neal Stephenson |
One of my top 5 books of all time. This was a re-read since I had forgotten so much of it since last time around. I'll probably end up re-reading this every 5 or 10 years or so. Nell, the main |
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| Aug 18th, 2015 |
Leaders Eat Last |
Simon Sinek |
Very enjoyable book about leadership, and especially around building an ecosystem of trust. Also talked about human biology - how brain chemicals affect our core behavior as a species - and how that |
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| Aug 6th, 2015 |
Yes Please |
Amy Poehler |
Part of my "read outside of my target demographic" series. Definitely targeted at middle aged women, but interesting none the less. My take-away: Amy Poehler is a hard working individual who has go |
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| Aug 4th, 2015 |
The Cartoon Introduction to Philosophy |
Patton and Cannon |
A nice intro to philosophy. Would be interested to hear from someone who actually knows about philosophy (dad?) as to their take on the book. |
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| Jul 31st, 2015 |
Elon Musk |
Ashlee Vance |
A great in-depth biography of Elon Musk, Paypal, Tesla, SpaceX, and SolarCity. Pretty incredible what he has accomplished. He has audacious goals, and achieves them. Well written book, and well nar |
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| Jul 31st, 2015 |
Shadow Games |
Glen Cook |
Fourth book in a series that I started a while ago. Still a fun read - although I was a bit lost at the beginning since I had forgotten so much. |
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| Jul 18th, 2015 |
Holes |
Louis Sachar |
A short young adult novel about a kid who was sentenced to hard labor for a crime he didn't commit. He had to dig giant holes in a dried up lake day in and day out. The book covers some interesting |
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| Jul 18th, 2015 |
StrengthsFinder 2.0 |
Tom Rath |
A bunch of us at Pendo took the StrengthsFinder test to better understand each other. The premise being, in an org, to have a wide variety of strengths to counter-balance each other. Also, it's goo |
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| Jul 15th, 2015 |
Zero to One |
Peter Thiel |
A good book talking about startups, and more so, talking about revolutionary changes, and somewhat bashing incremental changes. A good read - got some neurons firing. |
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| Jul 9th, 2015 |
The Fold |
Peter Clines |
Wasn't a huge fan of this book for multiple reasons. I think mostly because I am comparing it to the previous audio book I read - The Martian. This one was not nearly as realistic from the science |
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| Jul 4th, 2015 |
It Was Meant to Be |
David Subin |
A self published biography by my uncle. Very enjoyable to learn about his history, his parents, and his kids. Looks to have been written so that his grandkids know more about their dad and their gr |
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| Jul 3rd, 2015 |
Unbroken |
Laura Hillenbrand |
An olympic athlete turned military man, turned castaway, turned prisoner of war. The story is incredible, but I actually found the writing to be so-so. |
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| Jun 24th, 2015 |
The Martian |
Andy Weir |
Highly recommended - especially for the more geeky among us. Fantastic novel full of fun, adventure, science, and a bit of MacGyvering. The premise is an astronaut gets left on mars during a mars |
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| Jun 15th, 2015 |
Good Strategy Bad Strategy |
Richard Rumelt |
So so. I liked the core ideas, but it just kept getting off topic. Talks about strategy - mostly corporate - somewhat military. |
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| Jun 5th, 2015 |
In Real Life |
Cory Doctorow |
Very fast read - 30 minutes or so. A graphic novel about a girl gamer. It has a fun visual style in which when the girl is displayed in real life, there is one color palette, and then in-game she i |
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| May 22nd, 2015 |
Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania |
Erik Larson |
Very enjoyable historical account of the sinking of the Lusitania. I knew essentially nothing about it other than that it was a ship that sank. The author was able to tell many interesting stories |
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| May 19th, 2015 |
All You Need is Kill |
Hiroshi Sakurazaka |
Star Ship Troopers meets Groundhog Day. This was the book on which the movie Edge of Tomorrow was based. I enjoyed the movie, so immediately decided to read the book. They were both excellent - an |
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| May 14th, 2015 |
The Outsorcerer's Apprentice |
Tom Holt |
Fun book - almost a little bit in the genre of Wicked perhaps? It takes place in a fairy tale land, but a couple of characters start to realize how unrealistic the land is - specifically, how the ec |
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| May 4th, 2015 |
The Hard Thing About Hard Things |
Ben Horowitz |
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Best "business" book I have ever read/heard. The narrator was amazing too. If I ever meet Ben Horowitz, I'm going to be so disappointed that he doesn't sound as awe |
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| Apr 23rd, 2015 |
Hooked |
Nir Eyal |
I would NOT recommend the audio format of this book. It had at least one diagram (maybe more?), and it had written exercises, all of which weren't doable with audio version. Also, personal taste, |
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| Apr 18th, 2015 |
Spin |
Robert Charles Wilson |
A re-read of a very good sci-fi novel. We were reading it for the Solterra Book club, but I didn't end up finishing it in time. Anyhow, if you haven't read this book before, I strongly recommend it. |
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| Apr 16th, 2015 |
Einstein: His Life and Universe |
Walter Isaacson |
Very good book. This is my second Walter Isaacson book - the first about Steve Jobs, and this one about Einstein. Both great books. I learned so much about Einstein - the amazing work he contribut |
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| Mar 19th, 2015 |
No Place to Hide |
Glen Greenwald |
This book is about Edward Snowden, the NSA, and the journalists who covered and continue to cover the leaked documents. It was really well written, but I would recommend reading it - not listening t |
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| Mar 4th, 2015 |
In Cold Blood |
Truman Capote |
Very enjoyable audio book. Evidently it's a notable book for being one of the first non-fiction books to be written in more of a novel type style. The story examines a heinous quadruple murder in K |
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| Feb 25th, 2015 |
Libriomancer |
Jim C. Hines |
This is book one in a series. It actually didn't do much for me. Not exactly sure what about it I didn't like. I'm going to pass on the rest of the series. The premise was the main character (and |
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| Feb 10th, 2015 |
Big Little Lies |
Liane Moriarty |
This was 100% chicklit. I saw it on a best seller list, so I got it, not realizing the genre. Funny enough, Katie and I ended up both reading it at the same time. I found the middle to be annoying |
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| Feb 6th, 2015 |
Airman |
Eoin Colfer |
A fun young adult novel that seemed to take some of its inspiration from the Count of Monte Cristo: A brilliant young boy is wrongly imprisoned - he spends years planning the perfect escape, and the |
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| Jan 30th, 2015 |
The Kingdom of Gods |
N. K. Jemisin |
Book Three of The Inheritance Trilogy. Great book - long though at 600+ pages. Continuing the theme of God among Men, the storyline takes place a hundred or so years after the previous book, and fo |
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| Jan 18th, 2015 |
The Broken Kingdoms |
N. K. Jemisin |
Book two of The Inheritance Trilogy. This takes place 10 years after the previous book, with mostly a different set of characters - but a few recognizable ones sprinkled in. Gods (and godlings, an |
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| Jan 9th, 2015 |
Spell or High Water |
Scott Meyer |
Sequel to "Off to Be the Wizard", this follows Martin the wizard from his home in medieval Europe, to Atlantis thousands of years before that. The book continues the style of silly slapstick fun as |
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| Jan 2nd, 2015 |
How Google Works |
Eric Schmidt & Jonathan Rosenberg |
The title pretty much explains it. One of the authors was head of Product Management at Google, so a lot of the people he talks about (Marissa, Salar, Susan, Georges) were all my direct managers at |
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| Dec 31st, 2014 |
The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms |
N. K. Jemisin |
Recommended by cousin Elizabeth, this novel featured a female heroin, and a female author. I very much enjoyed the story and storytelling - of a girl named Yeine who finds herself thrust into an in |
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| Dec 21st, 2014 |
Off to Be the Wizard |
Scott Meyer |
A cross between the Matrix, Monty Python, and something in the time travel genre. I very much enjoyed this book - and it looks like there are more in the series. Martin - the main character, re |
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| Dec 11th, 2014 |
Conform |
Glenn Beck |
My never-ending quest to hear about views that differ from my own. I actually enjoyed a lot of the content of this book - it was centered entirely on education. He had a lot of negative things to s |
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| Dec 5th, 2014 |
Boom |
Tony Horwitz |
A short book that documents the authors driving tour down Canada and United states as he traces the proposed route of the XL pipeline, and talks to farmers and others along the route. He definitely h |
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| Nov 29th, 2014 |
Lock In |
John Scalzi |
I listened to the audiobook which was narrated by Will Wheaton - a geek hero. Anyhow, the book took place in the near future after a massive epidemic resulted in some percent of the wold population be |
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| Nov 28th, 2014 |
The Fire Seekers |
Richard Farr |
A fun action-thriller - a bit young adult crossed with Indiana Jones and probably other items. The premise is a new religion is formed around "the architects" and the notion that if done right, each |
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| Nov 24th, 2014 |
Dust |
Hugh Howey |
Book three of the silo series. Nice closure to the series. All in all, a solid series. Definitely recommended. |
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| Nov 18th, 2014 |
The Boys in the Boat |
Daniel James BrownA Great audiobook. I learned a lot about competitive rowing, and was very entertained by the story of a young man, and his 8 boat-mates as they learned to become a team, and take on the world. Also great side stories about the boat maker |
A Great audiobook. I learned a lot about competitive rowing, and was very entertained by the story of a young man, and his 8 boat-mates as they learned to become a team, and take on the world. Also g |
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| Nov 16th, 2014 |
Shift Omnibus |
Hugh Howey |
Book two of the silo series - still very enjoyable. This book goes back in time a bit and explains some of the backstory from the first book. This one also has some of the same events from the firs |
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| Nov 8th, 2014 |
Wool Omnibus |
Hugh Howey |
Recommended by my brother, this is the first part of a post-apocalyptic series taking place in "silos". An entire community lives in a giant underground silo, with law custom and culture suggesting |
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| Oct 31st, 2014 |
Drift |
Rachel Maddow |
Interesting note on how I found myself reading this book. I actually downloaded the audiobook by Newt Gingrich because I knew it was outside of my comfort zone politically, but I had to stop within |
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| Oct 20th, 2014 |
A Higher Call |
Adam Makos |
A very entertaining non-fiction audiobook about a German WWII ace pilot and his many adventures during the war. The centerpieces of the story is his interaction with a crippled American bomber over |
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| Oct 9th, 2014 |
Neptune's Brood |
Charles Stross |
Fun sci-fi read. Takes place on multiple words, as a cyborg(?) uncovers the truth of her maker, and mass conspiracy across multiple star systems. |
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| Sep 29th, 2014 |
Gardens of the Moon |
Steven Erikson |
The first book of a series called "Malazan Book of the Fallen". Very much in the realm of fantasy. Enjoyable - I'll probably continue reading the series over the coming months. |
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| Sep 15th, 2014 |
Behind the Beautiful Forevers |
Katherine Boo |
Non-fiction, from the Solterra Book Club - this follows a bunch of Indian slum dwellers through the hardships of daily life in Mumbai - many in the book pick, sort, and sell garbage as their primary |
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| Sep 12th, 2014 |
The Stranger |
Albert Camus |
I had no idea what this was when I got it from the library. Evidently it's a classic. Essentially a story about a man and his misfortunes, that illustrates existentialism. I wish I had read this in |
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| Aug 30th, 2014 |
Never Let Me Go |
Kazuo Ishiguro |
Hard to name the genre of this novel. Someplace it is listed as Sci-Fi, but I strongly dispute this. I also see it listed as psychological thriller (also seems far fetched), Romance, as well as "Br |
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| Aug 26th, 2014 |
The Sociopath Next Door |
Martha Stout |
I was sad to see this book end - I was really enjoying it. Non-fiction, written by a Harvard psychologist, it talks about Sociopaths - their total lack of conscience - what motivates them, and so fo |
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| Aug 15th, 2014 |
Use of Weapons |
Ian M. Banks |
A fun sci-fi novel about a General/mercenary who is sent by a higher civilization into lower civilizations to do their dirty work. The higher civilization has benign intentions - trying to bring eac |
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| Aug 8th, 2014 |
Steve Jobs |
Walter Isaacson |
A fantastic telling of the life os Steve Jobs. The author had some pretty amazing access to everyone from Jobs and his family, Bill Gates, Al Gore, and many more. Jobs was a unique individual - nev |
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| Aug 4th, 2014 |
Blindness |
Jose Saramago |
When a whole city (country? world?) goes blind, society collapses. All central infrastructure - from electric power to police - ceases. The story follows a doctor (ironically, an eye doctor actually) |
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| Jul 25th, 2014 |
Ready Player One |
Ernest Cline |
Young adult Science Fiction. Wade, aka Parzival, spends most of his time on OASIS, a massive multiplayer world. For that matter, most of the population does the same. When the inventor of OASIS d |
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| Jul 1st, 2014 |
Diaspora |
Greg Egan |
One of the most sciency sci-fi books I have ever read. Took place starting a few hundred years from present, but continued on for thousands of years into the future. The main characters are sentien |
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| Jun 20th, 2014 |
The Lowlands |
Jhumpa Lahir |
Two brothers in India who grow up together, but then grow apart. One moves to the united states, while the other marries for love in India. The brother in India is killed, and the remaining broth |
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| Jun 11th, 2014 |
1491 |
Charles C. Mann |
I was both excited about, and disappointed in this book at the same time. I was hoping for a book that went much deeper into a day in the life of a native american before the days of Columbus. Inst |
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| Jun 1st, 2014 |
The Ocean at the End of the Lane |
Neil Gaiman |
Katie's pick for the Solterra Book Club, this novel mixes up a little bit of fantasy, a little bit of horror, and a lot of just good fun. It was a quick read, but enjoyable. The main character is a |
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| May 20th, 2014 |
Far From the Tree |
Andrew Solomon |
For our May meeting of the Solterra Book Club, we took on this beast of a book. I only made it about 1/3 of the way through, but my lovely wife tackled the whole thing. Each chapter of this 1000 pa |
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| May 3rd, 2014 |
Lexicon |
Max Barry |
Fun action thriller, with a hint of paranormal type activity. The premise is that words can be used to sort of short circuit the brain, and override it. People known as Poets are experts at this, a |
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| Apr 28th, 2014 |
The Martian Chronicles |
Ray Bradbury |
Written in the 1940's, it's a typical sci-fi book of the era. One thing that I really liked about it was how first encounters with martians ended up being so disastrous time and time again. Feels a |
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| Apr 17th, 2014 |
One Summer: America, 1927 |
Bill Bryson |
I listened to this one as an audiobook, which was a great medium for me. I've found I like non-fiction as audio books, and fiction in written format. This book was about 1927, but really spanned th |
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| Mar 28th, 2014 |
A Memory of Light |
Robert Jordan & Brandon Sanderson |
The last book in a 14 book / 12,000 page series called The Wheel of Time that I had started a few years ago. I hadn't been able to finish back then because the series was still being written, but o |
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| Mar 7th, 2014 |
The River of Doubt |
Candice Millard |
This would probably not have landed on my reading list if not for our neighborhood book club. I'm glad it did though, as it was a lot of fun to read. It documents Teddy Roosevelt's adventures through |
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| Feb 14th, 2014 |
Flowers for Algernon |
Daniel Keyes |
A man with a very low IQ is treated with an experimental procedure that results in his having a genius level IQ. The reader follows along in the man's journal as his writing quality increases, obser |
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| Jan 12th, 2014 |
The Hangman's Daughter |
Oliver Pötzsch |
A fun novel taking place in the 1600's centering around some kids that are being murdered, a midwife who is suspected of witchcraft, and a hangman and doctor who are trying to uncover the truth behin |
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| Jan 7th, 2014 |
Hatching Twitter |
Nick Bilton |
The story of the creation and growth of twitter, mostly focusing around the relationships with the founders. Like the Google book, this one was odd because I knew a lot of the cast of characters fro |
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| Jan 2nd, 2014 |
Solaris |
Stanislaw Lem |
A scientist on a distant planet attempts to interact with a sentient life-form that covers the entire planet. The book doesn't contain a lot of "action" per se, it is mostly in the mind of the narr |
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| Nov 3rd, 2013 |
Axis |
Robert Charles Wilson |
Sequel to Spin (a couple books down). Fun read. The ending was a bit anticlimactic I felt. In this book, a boy exists who is part human, and part Hypothetical (the entities mentioned in my Spin rev |
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| Oct 31st, 2013 |
A/B Testing |
Dan Siroker and Pete Koomen |
Great overview of A/B testing. It sparks a lot of good ideas about tests that can be run, as well as ideas on how to set up an A/B testing culture in a company. Great book for people dealing with u |
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| Oct 27th, 2013 |
Spin |
Robert Charles Wilson |
A great science fiction read. Couldn't put it down. The premise is that some entity has made it so that time on earth moves much slower than time in the rest of the universe. So for people on earth |
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| Oct 19th, 2013 |
What's bred in the Bone |
Robertson Davies |
I read this for the first ever Solterra Book Club meeting. We only ended up chatting about the book for 15 minutes or so, and then on to other things, but fun anyhow. As for the book - it started o |
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| Oct 14th, 2013 |
Dad is Fat |
Jim Gaffigan |
Another audio book, this one a silly book about parenting by comedian Jim Gaffigan. It was fine - not exceptional. |
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| Oct 5th, 2013 |
Quiet |
Susan Cain |
This book talks all about introverts. Fantastic read for introverts, and those wanting to understand introverts better. Covers everything from raising kids who are introverts, to running businesses |
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| Sep 21st, 2013 |
Maus II |
Art Spiegelman |
Book 2 of the Maus series. |
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| Sep 20th, 2013 |
Maus |
Art Spiegelman |
Hard to describe, but essentially a non-fiction account of the holocaust told by a survivor's son in the format of a graphic novel. This would probably be a much better way to learn about the holocau |
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| Sep 17th, 2013 |
Mossflower |
Brian Jacques |
One of the books from the series Redwall. I'm glad I read it, but I don't feel the need to read any more of the series. For those that haven't read the Redwall books, they are meant for middle-scho |
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| Sep 5th, 2013 |
Growth Hacker Marketing |
Ryan Holiday |
A sort of overview of what Growth Hacking is, written by VP of marketing at American Apparel. It was a nice summary of things, but didn't offer much if you already knew what Growth Hacking was all a |
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| Sep 4th, 2013 |
Going Clear |
Lawrence Wright |
One of the best books I have read in years. This is an in-depth look at scientology, especially of L. Ron Hubbard, and his successor, David Miscavige. It paints Hubbard as a schizophrenic who most |
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| Aug 23rd, 2013 |
The Wonderful Future that Never Was |
Gregory Benford |
Scott pointed me towards this book - a fun recap of the future predictions from the Popular Mechanics magazine for the past 100 years. Some of the predictions were very accurate, like alternative c |
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| Aug 18th, 2013 |
Nine Princes in Amber |
Roger Zelazny |
This is a 10 book series, of which I made it through the first 5 books, then called it quits. It was fun, but perhaps too much to take all at once. Maybe if I had read it one book at a time as they |
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| Aug 18th, 2013 |
The Guns of Avalon |
Roger Zelazny |
Book two of the Chronicles of Amber series. |
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| Aug 18th, 2013 |
Sign of the Unicorn |
Roger Zelazny |
Book three of the Chronicles of Amber series. |
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| Aug 18th, 2013 |
The Hand of Oberon |
Roger Zelazny |
Book four of the Chronicles of Amber series. |
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| Aug 18th, 2013 |
The Courts of Chaos |
Roger Zelazny |
Book five of the Chronicles of Amber series. |
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| Aug 10th, 2013 |
Deadpool, Vol. 2: Dark Reign |
Daniel Way |
Reddit has been filled with mention of Deadpool of late, so I figured I should see what all of the fuss was about. Sadly, this book which is sort of in the middle of the story line, was the only one |
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| Aug 9th, 2013 |
Solve Your Child's Sleep Problems |
Richard Ferber |
Trying to get a grasp on Callum's sleep situation. Katie and I went divide-and-conquer on this. The Ferber book gives a lot of background on sleep, and helps you understand how certain associations |
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| Jul 22nd, 2013 |
The Black Company |
Glen Cook |
I joined an online book club over at goodreads, and this first book in the series was on tap for July. I enjoyed t |
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| Jul 22nd, 2013 |
Shadows Linger |
Glen Cook |
Book two of Chronicles of the Black Company |
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| Jul 22nd, 2013 |
The White Rose |
Glen Cook |
Book three of Chronicles of the Black Company |
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| Jul 7th, 2013 |
Shadow & Claw |
Gene Wolfe |
The first half of "The book of the new sun". I'm undecided on this series. It had an interesting story line, but also had this strange misogynistic thread that carried throughout the novel. Sort of |
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| Jul 7th, 2013 |
Sword & Citadel |
Gene Wolfe |
The second half of "The book of the new sun". |
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| May 25th, 2013 |
A Canticle for Leibowitz |
Walter Miller Jr |
This is the second book in a row that was post-apocalyptic. That was not an intentional decision, just coincidence. This was clearly written in the 50's, as the major plot is about nuclear winter. |
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| May 11th, 2013 |
World War Z |
Max Brooks |
After three and a half months of not reading, I have come back from the dead to read World War Z. I'm not a big Zombie movie/book fan, but since this one has gotten so much attention, I figured I'd |
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| Jan 27th, 2013 |
The Convert |
Oliver Broudy |
I do not recommend this book. In reading the description and reviews, I had read something along the lines of "it will make even atheists question their beliefs". Such was not the case. The story |
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| Jan 26th, 2013 |
Why School?: How Education Must Change When Learning and Information Are Everywhere |
Will Richardson |
A Kindle Short about how education is failing our youth, and what must be changed. Specifically it talks about how in a world of abundance of information, we shouldn't be teaching facts, but rather |
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| Jan 25th, 2013 |
How to Get Away with Murder in America |
Evan Wright |
An investigative reporting piece looking into big players in the Miami drug world of the 70's, and examining how they have so far gotten away with all sorts of crimes including murder. |
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| Jan 20th, 2013 |
Agile Product Management with Scrum |
Roman Pichler |
Just brushing up on some Product Management stuff. Funny how many people saw the book on my desk and said "Scrum? That sounds gross." |
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| Jan 11th, 2013 |
The Lightning Thief |
Rick Riordan |
Book one of Percy Jackson and the Olympians. A fun kids' series about Percy Jackson, a boy born of a human mother, and a god for a father (Poseidon). He goes on many adventures encountering the anc |
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| Jan 11th, 2013 |
The Sea of Monsters |
Rick Riordan |
Book two of Percy Jackson and the Olympians. |
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| Jan 11th, 2013 |
The Titan's Curse |
Rick Riordan |
Book three of Percy Jackson and the Olympians. |
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| Jan 11th, 2013 |
The Battle of the Labyrinth |
Rick Riordan |
Book four of Percy Jackson and the Olympians. |
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| Jan 11th, 2013 |
The Last Olympian |
Rick Riordan |
Book five of Percy Jackson and the Olympians. |
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| Jan 7th, 2013 |
In Search of Zarathustra |
Paul Kriwaczek |
I was looking for a book that was an overview of Zoroaster the man, and Zoroasterism the religion. This book was not that. It talked about various people the religion has influenced, including the |
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| Jan 2nd, 2013 |
Lying |
Sam Harris |
As the title suggests, this book is about lying. Or more specifically, it is about how lying is very detrimental to relationships of all kind, even little white lies. A great read. This was a "Kin |
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| Dec 27th, 2012 |
Why Romney Lost |
David Frum |
Written by a moderate republican, this details how the party has lost its way, and what it needs to do to be taken seriously again. Very short read (2 hours max), but I found it very interesting. N |
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| Dec 20th, 2012 |
Kill Decision |
Daniel Suarez |
I have read some of this author's other books and really enjoyed them. This one however didn't do much for me. It was too mass market Michael Crichton, as apposed to his earlier books which were mo |
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| Dec 1st, 2012 |
Island in the Sea of Time |
S. M. Stirling |
Recommended by Chris F., this novel was right up my alley. Often I think about what would happen if I found myself in ancient Rome or Greece - what would I be able to contribute or do with the know |
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| Nov 24th, 2012 |
The New Dad's Survival Guide |
Scott Mactavish |
A gift from Doug Uno - this was a great read for a father-to-be. It was written in a very fun/funny lighthearted way, but still addressed a lot of different items from college savings plans, to what |
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| Nov 15th, 2012 |
The Closing of the Western Mind |
Charles Freeman |
Continuing my quest to understand the driving force behind so much of this planet's history - religion. Took me a solid month to read, but I think it was worth it. This book touched on the rise of re |
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| Nov 11th, 2012 |
A Child's First Bible |
Kenneth Taylor |
If you're having trouble reading the real one, then read the children's version instead. Or that's what I told myself anyhow. Wasn't a big fan of this version - just too light on details. For exam |
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| Oct 13th, 2012 |
A Fire Upon The Deep |
Vernor Vinge |
One of the many books I have gotten from the NPR list. So far none of them have let me down - they are all great reads. In th |
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| Sep 11th, 2012 |
Xenocide |
Orson Scott Card |
Book three of the Ender series - this one pretty much continues on directly from book two - same cast of characters, same setting, same time period roughly. Good read - but it feels like diminishing |
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| Sep 3rd, 2012 |
Speaker for the Dead |
Orson Scott Card |
Book two of the Enders Game series - this one is less action packed, but has some interesting ethnographic insights of the alien kind. You learn that your view of the way society functions is not ne |
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| Aug 28th, 2012 |
Ender's Game |
Orson Scott Card |
This is my favorite book of all time (so far in my life at least). This is the third time I have read the book I think. I'm not sure why I love the book so much, perhaps it's that a kid, against all |
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| Aug 24th, 2012 |
The Stainless Steel Rat |
Harry Harrison |
I found out about this author when he passed away a couple weeks ago - so I figured I'd give him a read. This book took place far in the future, and was written first person by a con-man/thief who w |
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| Aug 22nd, 2012 |
Fluke |
Christopher Moore |
The novel starts out following Nate Quinn, a scientist who is studying whale songs to see if he can understand why they sing. The story starts to twist very early when he sees the words "Bite me" wr |
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| Aug 18th, 2012 |
Freedom™ |
Daniel Suarez |
Sequel to Daemon - a great techie novel that brings together a whole lot of themes including corporations taking over the democratic process, computers becoming self aware, people rebelling again |
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| Aug 15th, 2012 |
Fruit at Work |
Chris Evans |
Written by a local entrepreneur/investor/philanthropist, this book talks about how you can have a successful career (at the top of the ladder or the bottom), and still be faithful to Christian values |
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| Jul 31st, 2012 |
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell |
Susanna Clarke |
A long, but entertaining novel. Taking place in England in the early 1800s, the book is about two magicians who are sometimes friends, and sometimes enemies. Magic has been gone for 400 years, but |
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| Jul 18th, 2012 |
The Call of Cthulhu |
H.P. Lovecraft |
I knew of Cthulhu from pop culture, but had never read the short story from which it came. It was a very quick and fun read - definitely written in a style that I am beginning to associate with lat |
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| Jul 6th, 2012 |
The Eyre Affair |
Jasper Fforde |
I very much enjoyed this novel. It takes place in a slightly different reality where there are a bunch of specialized government agencies including ChronoGuards (investigate time based mishaps), a |
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| Jun 30th, 2012 |
Harmonics: Rise of the Magician |
Earl and Snelgrove |
Book one of the Harmonics series. I Stumbled upon this series. The first book was free on Kindle, and I liked it enough to continue reading (next two books were just $5 on kindle - good value). Fir |
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| Jun 30th, 2012 |
Harmonics: Revelations |
Earl and Snelgrove |
Book two of the Harmonics series. |
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| Jun 30th, 2012 |
Harmonics: The Jadian Sun |
Earl and Snelgrove |
Book three of the Harmonics series. |
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| Jun 16th, 2012 |
The Handmaid's Tail |
Margaret Atwood |
I'm undecided on this one. It's the story of dystopian future where women have become essentially slaves to the system. The main character was torn from her husband, and now must act as a handmaid |
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| Jun 9th, 2012 |
America: The Story of Us |
Kevin Baker |
My brother's suggestion - a really great easy to read history of America. I wish our history text books had been this easy to read. Actually, it sounds like schools do use this now - although it so |
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| Jun 1st, 2012 |
The Wise Man's Fear (Kingkiller Chronicles, Day 2) |
Patrick Rothfuss |
Second book in the Kingkiller series. The story of Kvothe's youth continues. He is learning more (including how to fight), finding out more about his enemies, and racking up incredible numbers o |
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| May 24th, 2012 |
The Closers |
Michael Connelly |
My kindle died half way through the second Kingkiller book, so I had to switch over to paper. I found this book in a hotel book exchange - not something I would have normally read. Classic cop murd |
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| May 15th, 2012 |
The Name of the Wind (Kingkiller Chronicles, Day 1) |
Patrick Rothfuss |
The first in a three part series about Kvothe, a red-headed man telling the story of his notorious youth. In the fantasy genre - Kvothe develops some magical abilities. He is also just a very hard |
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| Apr 26th, 2012 |
The Little Prince |
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry |
A downed pilot meets a little prince from another planet. Through the pilot's eyes we learn of the little prince's adventures as he hopped from one micro-planet to the next. At each planet, we lear |
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| Apr 19th, 2012 |
Cat's Cradle |
Kurt Vonnegut |
Note to self - this is the one with ice nine. I read this a long time ago, and remembered really liking it, but couldn't remember much about it. The main character starts out as a writer/observer, |
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| Mar 9th, 2012 |
Neverwhere |
Neil Gaiman |
Bizarre fun book, taking place below London. An alternate reality lives below the streets of London, with talking mice, angels, and all sorts of other goodness. A fun read. If I knew London well, |
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| Jan 27th, 2012 |
Mysterious Island |
Jules Verne |
A strange little book. Not really that little actually. During the civil war, some union folk find themselves wrecked on a desert island. They build their own tools from scratch, and create a life |
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| Jan 14th, 2012 |
Back to Work: Why We Need Smart Government for a Strong Economy |
Bill Clinton |
As the title implies, this book is about how to create Jobs in America. He takes some shots at the Tea Party - saying that you can (and should) have both a strong government, and a strong private se |
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| Jan 1st, 2012 |
Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom |
Cory Doctorow |
A short read, but entertaining. I really enjoy Cory Doctorow's books - not sure why he doesn't get a ton of love. This one takes place in the future when humans get around death by doing backups, a |
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| Jan 1st, 2012 |
The Art of War |
Sun Tzu (孫子) |
Written 2500 years ago, some things are no longer relevant (chariots, spears, etc), but so much of the actual strategy still is very relevant. A lot of the strategy is around psychological warfare |
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| Dec 24th, 2011 |
Know Your Bible: All 66 Books Explained |
Paul Kent |
This was actually a really good book. In just a few hours of reading, I now have a much better understanding of the bible than I have ever had before. It was really helpful for me to just read from |
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| Dec 23rd, 2011 |
The Prince |
Niccolo Machiavelli |
Well - I now understand the term Machiavellian a lot better. This book describes how to be an effective prince in Machiavelli's time - and being effective does not necessarily mean being nice. It's |
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| Dec 18th, 2011 |
What the World Eats |
Faith D'Aluisio |
I've been reading this off and on for the past week. Very cool look into a bunch of cultures around the world through the lens of their weekly grocery buying habits. A reminder how diverse the worl |
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| Dec 17th, 2011 |
Inheritance |
Christopher Paolini |
The last book of the Inheritance Cycle series (started with Eregon). This book tied up all of the loose ends in the series, but it was a bit of a let down as I pretty much knew everything that was go |
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| Dec 9th, 2011 |
Reamde |
Neal Stephenson |
Not your traditional Neal Stephenson book. As Anthony calls it, more of a Jason Bourne saga. Hackers, Terrorists, Russian Mafia, Bears, Mountain Lions, Guns, Helicopters and a whole lot more. It w |
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| Nov 15th, 2011 |
The Diamond Age |
Neal Stephenson |
In the future, civilization and technology have progressed, but all is not perfect. A nano-engineer and a member of the elite class team up to build a book that will teach the wealthy individual's d |
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| Oct 20th, 2011 |
American Gods |
Neil Gaiman |
Shadow, having recently been released from prison, gets pulled into the affairs of what turn out to be... you guessed it, gods. One of the underlying premises of the novel is that every god that any |
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| Oct 8th, 2011 |
Epic Win for Anonymous |
Cole Stryker |
A very interesting look into 4chan, Reddit, Anonymous and Memes. As an avid Reddit user, it was intriguing to see where lots of the culture that is Reddit bubbled up from. |
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| Sep 20th, 2011 |
In The Plex |
Steven Levy |
The story of Google, from the founding of, through late 2010 / early 2011. Very, very strange for me to read - reading about people I know, and sometimes finding out things I didn't know about these |
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| Aug 18th, 2011 |
Lamb |
Chritopher Moore |
A novel about Jesus's "missing years" (Age 1 to 30) as told by his friend, Biff. Very fun and silly read. |
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| Jul 24th, 2011 |
A Clash of Kings |
George R. R. Martin |
RE-READ. When I heard the 5th book in the series (A Dance with Dragons) was finally coming out, and with The Game of Thrones on TV, I decided to re-read the series. I skipped the first one as I was |
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| Jul 24th, 2011 |
A Storm of Swords |
George R. R. Martin |
RE-READ: Book three in A Song of Ice and Fire. |
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| Jul 24th, 2011 |
A Feast for Crows |
George R. R. Martin |
RE-READ: Book four in A Song of Ice and Fire. |
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| Jul 24th, 2011 |
A Dance with Dragons |
George R. R. Martin |
RE-READ: Book five in A Song of Ice and Fire. |
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| Jul 10th, 2011 |
Robopocalypse |
Daniel H. Wilson |
Man creates Artificial Intelligence, A.I. rebels and decides to exterminate Man. A fun read - written by a CMU Robotics Ph.D. which adds some realism to his accounts. Sounds like Dreamworks has lic |
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| Jun 9th, 2011 |
Love Wins |
Rob Bell |
Non-fiction book written by a reverend who argues against the notions of heaven and hell, and talks about how more time should be spent making "heaven on earth" through our deeds. Great message. |
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| May 22nd, 2011 |
Immune |
Richard Phillips |
Second book in the Rho Agenda series (see below). This one is better written than the first, and still an exciting read. |
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| May 15th, 2011 |
The Second Ship |
Richard Phillips |
A really fun story line (Roswell related), but rather poorly written. The story line was good enough to make we want to keep reading the series actually. I just wish the author was a bit better on |
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| May 10th, 2011 |
Old Man's War |
John Scalzi |
My first book on Kindle! How fun (thanks Katie for the Kindle, and Mom and Dad for the Kindle Credits). A very enjoyable read. Some small similarities to Ender's game in plot - but perhaps inverted |
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| May 7th, 2011 |
The Memoirs of Cleopatra |
Margaret George |
I made it through about a third of this novel, and then gave up. Wasn't holding my attention. Historical fiction from Cleopatra's point of view. |
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| Apr 25th, 2011 |
The Isle of Stone |
Nicholas Nicastro |
I was not impressed. Historical fiction about Sparta Vs. Athenians. It was just scattered story telling - and not very interesting. It also had a random 30 second tidbit in there about finding the |
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| Apr 17th, 2011 |
The Gift |
James Patterson |
Book two of the below series. So-so. Not a lot of new plot development after the first one. Hopefully the third one is more interesting, else this may be the end of the series for me. The third o |
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| Apr 10th, 2011 |
Witch & Wizard |
James Patterson |
Young adult dystopian science fiction. Two young siblings are arrested for no known crime, and come to find out they are a witch and a wizard. There are prophecies about their great future. Looks |
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| Apr 10th, 2011 |
Water For Elephants |
Sue Gruen |
Mom had been recommending this one for me for a long while, and I finally got around to reading it. A very enjoyable novel about a vet's experience caring for animals and humans alike at the circus |
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| Apr 4th, 2011 |
Yellow Blue Tibia |
Adam Roberts |
Sometimes I email myself book titles that I want to read, and then when I'm looking for a book, I just search my inbox and find one that needs reading. I recently looked in my inbox and found a note |
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| Mar 27th, 2011 |
Towers of Midnight |
Robert Jordan & Brandon Sanderson |
This is book 13 in the Wheel of time series. The author (Robert Jordan) passed away before this book came out, so Brandon Sanderson took the wheel on this one - and thank goodness. Things are star |
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| Mar 16th, 2011 |
Mockingjay |
Suzanne Collins |
This was the third book in the Hunger Games series. The first I liked, the second I didn't, and the third I'm undecided on. It definitely does not have a "happily ever after" ending. It's a pretty |
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| Mar 6th, 2011 |
Ringworld |
Larry Niven |
This was on some "Best Sci-Fi of all time" list. It was a very enjoyable read. A couple humans (one 200 years old, and the other bred for luck) join a three legged alien, and a cat like alien on a |
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| Mar 4th, 2011 |
Confession of a Buddhist Atheist |
Stephen Batchelor |
The first Buddhism book (a couple down) didn't do much for me. There was too much theism involved (yes, I know, it's a religion). This book was much, much more up my alley. It was a combination |
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| Feb 26th, 2011 |
Slaughterhouse-Five |
Kurt Vonnegut |
A man is abducted by aliens, is taught how to live his life in non-sequential order, and then tells the story of his life in this non-sequential manor. His life is colored by World War II, as well |
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| Feb 20th, 2011 |
Buddhism for Beginners |
Thubten Chodron |
I was a little disappointed by this book. I'm not sure what I was hoping for, but this wasn't it. I think part of it was that it was pretty dry reading, but also part of it was that I was a bit dis |
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| Feb 13th, 2011 |
Evolution: The Story of Life on Earth |
Hosler, Cannon and Cannon |
I had read another book in this series - "The Stuff of Life: A Graphic Guide to Genetics and DNA" by the same Illustrators, but a different writer. It's a really fun way to learn about a topic - in |
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| Feb 6th, 2011 |
How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe |
Charles Yu |
A great novel. Written in a style all his own (well, perhaps a bit of HHGttG sprinkled in), this book is itself a guide to time travel, and also a story about the writing of the book itself. On the |
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| Jan 30th, 2011 |
The Complete Infidel's Guide to the Koran |
Robert Spencer |
I have a whole lot of mixed feelings about this book. The author is unquestionably, and unapologetically against Muslims and the Islam religion. At the end, among his recommendations of how the west |
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| Jan 22nd, 2011 |
Our Kind of Traitor |
John le Carre |
A young British chap and his girlfriend meet a mysterious Russian man during vacation. In time, he finds the Russian to be an international money launderer who wants to turn over crucial information |
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| Jan 3rd, 2011 |
Stranger in a Strange Land |
Robert Heinlein |
Evidently the word "grok" comes from this book. I've been using the word for years, and never knew that this was the origin. The plot revolves around a human man who was raised by martians on mars, |
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| Dec 26th, 2010 |
Pattern Recognition |
William Gibson |
I had high expectations for this novel, and it sadly didn't live up to those expectations. For some reason I thought it was going to be really thought provoking... but is just wasn't. The story is |
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| Dec 19th, 2010 |
War of the Worlds |
H. G. Wells |
Another classic that I had never read. A surprisingly fun read. The whole time I was reading it, I was thinking of the characters from Mars Attacks!, which made the reading experience even more enjo |
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| Dec 9th, 2010 |
The Time Machine |
H. G. Wells |
One of those classics that I had never gotten around to reading. A somewhat bleak view of our distant future as told by an inventor who creates a time machine and comes back to tell his 19th century |
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| Dec 7th, 2010 |
City of Thieves |
David Benioff |
A very good novel. Takes place during WWII in Russia, featuring a teenager named Lev and his new-found friend Kolya whom he is forced to go on an adventure with through war torn Saint Petersburg and |
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| Dec 4th, 2010 |
Round the moon |
Jules Verne |
The continuation of From the Earth to the Moon. Still an enjoyable read. Our brave scientists explore space and the giant silver orb in the sky. |
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| Nov 28th, 2010 |
From the Earth to the Moon |
Jules Verne |
When I borrowed the Jules Verne book from the library, it actually was a combination of 5 books - so I delved into another one in the collection. This was also a really fun read. One interesting as |
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| Nov 20th, 2010 |
A Journey to the Center of the Earth |
Jules Verne |
This is a novel that is referenced a lot in modern entertainment, so I figured I should go to the source and give it a read. Lots of fun. A professor and his nephew travel to Iceland, and from ther |
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| Nov 13th, 2010 |
The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest |
Stieg Larsson |
Final book in the series. Very enjoyable series. This last book is more of a legal thriller than an action thriller, but that made for an interesting twist as well. |
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| Nov 5th, 2010 |
The Girl Who Played With Fire |
Stieg Larsson |
Continuation of the Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, this time Elizabeth Salamander (not quite her name) finds herself in the middle of the action. |
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| Oct 24th, 2010 |
The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo |
Stieg Larsson |
For some reason I thought this was chick-lit, so I had avoided it. Definitely not chick-lit. It is an often gruesome murder mystery taking place in current era. The two main characters are a journ |
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| Oct 11th, 2010 |
Life of Pi |
Yann Martel |
This has been on every "best fiction books" list I have ever seen, and yet I have always avoided reading it for some reason. I'm very glad I finally sat down and gave it a chance. It was a really f |
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|
| Sep 18th, 2010 |
The Eye of the World |
Robert Jordan |
Book one of The Wheel of Time. 10,500 pages of classic fantasy. Evidently lots of current day fantasy novels were influenced from this series. The author recently passed away, but there are still t |
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| Sep 18th, 2010 |
The Great Hunt |
Robert Jordan |
Book two of The Wheel of Time. |
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| Sep 18th, 2010 |
The Dragon Reborn |
Robert Jordan |
Book three of The Wheel of Time. |
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| Sep 18th, 2010 |
The Shadow Rising |
Robert Jordan |
Book four of The Wheel of Time. |
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| Sep 18th, 2010 |
The Fires of Heaven |
Robert Jordan |
Book five of The Wheel of Time. |
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| Sep 18th, 2010 |
Lord of Chaos |
Robert Jordan |
Book six of The Wheel of Time. |
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| Sep 18th, 2010 |
A Crown of Swords |
Robert Jordan |
Book seven of The Wheel of Time. |
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| Sep 18th, 2010 |
The Path of Daggers |
Robert Jordan |
Book eight of The Wheel of Time. |
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| Sep 18th, 2010 |
Winter's Heart |
Robert Jordan |
Book nine of The Wheel of Time. |
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| Sep 18th, 2010 |
Crossroads of Twilight |
Robert Jordan |
Book ten of The Wheel of Time. |
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| Sep 18th, 2010 |
Knife of Dreams |
Robert Jordan |
Book 11 of The Wheel of Time. |
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| Sep 18th, 2010 |
The Gathering Storm |
Robert Jordan & Brandon Sanderson |
Book 12 of The Wheel of Time. |
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| Aug 30th, 2010 |
Slide:ology |
Nancy Duarte |
A perfect quote from the back of the book "Slide:ology is a book that's as beautiful as it is educational". This book talks about how to make great slides for presentations. It is written by Nancy |
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| Jun 4th, 2010 |
How To Start And Run Your Own Corporation |
Peter I. Hupalo |
Covers how to incorporate, as well as lots of issues such as financing, stock and stock options, directors, officers, tax issues, retirement plans, etc. Great resource, but also really intimidating |
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| Apr 26th, 2010 |
Point of Impact |
Stephen Hunter |
A sniper is asked to help prevent a presidential assassination, but finds himself framed for that same event. Fun, not very mind expanding. |
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| Apr 11th, 2010 |
Aztec |
Gary Jennings |
A very good fictional tale of an Aztec man circa 1500 who tells of life, love, disaster, and so much more before and after the Spaniards arrive and change their life forever. In reading up a bit abo |
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| Mar 18th, 2010 |
Sustainable Energy - Without the Hot Air |
David JC MacKay |
I believe I heard about this from a TED talk given by Bill Gates actually. Anyhow, this is a phenomenal resource to understand our energy needs in the decades to come. For me the biggest take away |
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| Feb 27th, 2010 |
Wizard's First Rule |
Terry Goodkind |
Book one of The Sword of Truth series. I've been reading this for the last few months, with other books sprinkled in. I figured I would make it all one post so as not to pollute the book blog with |
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| Feb 27th, 2010 |
Stone of Tears |
Terry Goodkind |
Book two of The Sword of Truth series. |
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| Feb 27th, 2010 |
Blood of the Fold |
Terry Goodkind |
Book three of The Sword of Truth series. |
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| Feb 27th, 2010 |
Temple of the Winds |
Terry Goodkind |
Book four of The Sword of Truth series. |
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| Feb 27th, 2010 |
Soul of the fire |
Terry Goodkind |
Book five of The Sword of Truth series. |
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| Feb 27th, 2010 |
Faith of the Fallen |
Terry Goodkind |
Book six of The Sword of Truth series. |
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| Feb 27th, 2010 |
The Pillars of Creation |
Terry Goodkind |
Book seven of The Sword of Truth series. |
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| Feb 27th, 2010 |
Naked Empire |
Terry Goodkind |
Book eight of The Sword of Truth series. |
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| Feb 27th, 2010 |
Chainfire |
Terry Goodkind |
Book nine of The Sword of Truth series. |
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| Feb 27th, 2010 |
Phantom |
Terry Goodkind |
Book ten of The Sword of Truth series. |
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| Feb 27th, 2010 |
Confessor |
Terry Goodkind |
Book 11 of The Sword of Truth series. |
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|
| Feb 24th, 2010 |
See You in Court: How the Right Made America a Lawsuit Nation |
Thomas Geoghegan |
This book was about a topic that interests me (the rise of litigation in the united states), and also lays blame on the Right, which is hard to resist. However, the book was not right for me. It ha |
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| Feb 11th, 2010 |
Why pi? |
Johnny Ball |
Aimed at kids 9-12 years old, I found this to be a great read for all ages. I had this book as bathroom reading material, which I found to be the perfect way to read the book. In this way, you coul |
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| Jan 31st, 2010 |
Perfect Rigor |
Masha Gessen |
The true account of a mathematical genius who solved one of the hardest problems of the last 100 years. Much of the book goes into talking about mathematics and antisemitism in cold-war Russia. It |
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| Jan 13th, 2010 |
The Catcher in the Rye |
J.D. Salinger |
Unlike most of my generation, I somehow didn't read this during high school, so I made up for that omission. To be honest, the book didn't do much for me. I feel like it probably has a much greater |
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| Jan 5th, 2010 |
Startups that Work |
Joel Kurtzman |
This turned out to be a bit different than what I expected. It ended up being a more quantitative and data oriented than I had expected, which was great. The book was written around a large longitu |
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| Dec 24th, 2009 |
The Age of Ra |
James Lovegrove |
I randomly saw this at a bookstore, and decided to get it. I was pleasantly surprised (perhaps because I came in with pretty low expectations). I had been complaining recently that a lot of the mor |
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|
| Dec 6th, 2009 |
The Bogleheads' Guide to Investing |
Larimore, Lindauer & LeBoeuf |
I found this to be a really good beginner's guide to investing. It explains all of the basics including inflation, ways to save, taxes, and then talks a lot about why it is foolish to try to beat th |
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|
| Nov 30th, 2009 |
Lord of the Flies |
William Golding |
One of Katie's favorites, and a book that missed out on reading in high school, so I gave it a read. Highly recommended. A bit more violent/sad than I would have guessed, but a good read. I really |
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| Nov 20th, 2009 |
A Dirty Job |
Christopher Moore |
Recommended by my brother - and what a good recommendation it was. Very funny, exciting, and just bizarre. Totally my cup of tea. A man becomes a Death Merchant - having to collect souls when pe |
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| Nov 15th, 2009 |
Interview with the Vampire |
Anne Rice |
This read was inspired by Kristin H. She has been on a vampire reading binge evidently, so I asked her what one good Vampire book was, so I could at least see what everyone's fascination with vampir |
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| Nov 5th, 2009 |
The Road |
Cormac McCarthy |
Why, oh why do some many people love this book? It's page after page of monotonous misery. What do people see in this book that I don't see? I don't get it. Anyhow, as a summary, it's about a kid |
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| Nov 2nd, 2009 |
Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde |
Robert Louis Stevenson |
I have decided that Jekyll and Hyde is essentially an episode of Scooby Doo. |
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| Oct 27th, 2009 |
Catching Fire |
Suzanne Collins |
This was the sequel to The Hunger Games (see below). This was an ok read, but I felt like way too much of it was just repackaging of the first book. The first book left off with lots of potential (t |
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| Oct 12th, 2009 |
The Hunger Games |
Suzanne Collins |
Even though you'll need to find The Hunger Games in the "Teen" section of your local reading establishment, I still found the book to be highly enjoyable. It was one of those feel good, empowering t |
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| Oct 11th, 2009 |
Daniel X: Watch the Skies |
Patterson and Rust |
I sat in a book store and just read this in two sittings. I guess I just didn't want to pay for a book that was only a few hours read. Anyhow, it was not good. I'm very glad I didn't buy it. This |
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| Oct 9th, 2009 |
Anathem |
Neal Stephenson |
This novel is a strange mix of philosophy, action/adventure, and science fiction. The main characters are essentially agnostic monks. They spend all of their time in introspection and studying the |
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|
| Sep 8th, 2009 |
The Guns of the South |
Harry Turtledove |
The general notion of this book is fun - people go back in time from present day to the Civil war to help the south win the war by giving them present day weapons. The book starts out really interes |
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| Aug 17th, 2009 |
Under the Banner of Heaven |
Jon Krakauer |
Katie and I listened to the audio CD version of this book on a road trip to and from Baltimore. It centers on the Mormon faith - both the traditional Mormons, and the more extreme fundamental Mormon |
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| Aug 7th, 2009 |
The Dangerous Days of Daniel X |
Patterson and Ledwidge |
This book can be found in the "Young Adult" section of your local bookarie. Daniel X is an alien hunter, who's job it is to... you guessed it, hunt aliens. Very much like Men In Black, but Daniel i |
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|
| Aug 6th, 2009 |
The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat |
Oliver Sacks |
Oliver Sacks is one of the most famous neurologists of our times. In this book, he chronicles many different clinical anomalies that he has encountered in his long career. Each chapter documents a |
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|
| Jul 18th, 2009 |
Dune |
Frank Herbert |
A re-read of a classic. For those that haven't read it, this is one of the best fiction novels ever - definitely gets into the sci-fi realm, but doesn't feel all sci-fi-ish. This time around I noti |
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|
| Jul 10th, 2009 |
Flesh and Machines: How Robots Will Change Us |
Rodney Brooks |
The author of this book is the head of the robotics lab at MIT. It talks about his personal history with robotics, as well as the lab's history with robotics. In theory, it then talks about what he |
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|
| Jun 4th, 2009 |
Neuromancer |
William Gibson |
Note to self: I need to re-read this someday. For some reason, I had a hard time following the what, who, where of the book for almost the entire time. I felt like I was in a drug induced haze, ju |
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|
| May 31st, 2009 |
The Manga Guide to Databases |
Mana Takahashi et al |
I went to the bookstore to get a refresher Database book, and saw this gem. It just looked too awesome to pass up, so I ended up getting it (as well as a "real" database book). I read it on a fligh |
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|
| May 28th, 2009 |
Indignation |
Philip Roth |
Set in the early 50's, a New Jersey Jewish boy escapes his overbearing father by going to school at a very white Ohio university. He has trouble dealing with others at school (students and administr |
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|
| May 18th, 2009 |
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius |
Dave Eggers |
I'm not sure if there is a name for the genre of this book. It is for the most part non-fiction, based on his life - his parents both dying, and him raising his little brother. The reason the genre |
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|
| May 16th, 2009 |
I Saw You... |
Julia Wertz (Editor) |
This book is a collection of many comics that are each based off of "Missed Connections" from Craigslist. Some are sad, some are funny, some are romantic, etc. I believe that some of them are verba |
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|
| May 5th, 2009 |
Emergency: This Book Will Save Your Life |
Neil Strauss |
I very much enjoyed this non-fiction read. It is the author's first hand account of his preparation for the worst. Specifically, he fears that America may collapse economically and/or become a poli |
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|
| Apr 28th, 2009 |
The Rise of Endymion |
Dan Simmons |
The last of the Hyperion series. I think I just got tired of it at this point. It just dragged on. There was a nice romance type storyline in there which was a bit of a nice change, but yeah, just |
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| Apr 15th, 2009 |
Endymion |
Dan Simmons |
The third in the hyperion series. It takes place a few hundred years after the previous one leaves off, and the main character of the book is Raul, the boyfriend of "The One Who Teaches". We follow |
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|
| Apr 7th, 2009 |
The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable |
Nassim Nicholas Taleb |
I made it about a third of the way through this book, and then I sort of stated "OK, I get his point" and decided not to finish the last two thirds. His point, at least from what I could tell, is th |
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|
| Apr 1st, 2009 |
1984 |
George Orwell |
Somehow, I had not yet read this book. It was a great read for the content and lessons of the book (totalitarian state, loss of freedom and rights), but also really interesting to finally see the or |
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|
| Mar 18th, 2009 |
Farenheight 451 |
Ray Bradbury |
This was a re-read, for old time's sake. I had forgotten most of it, so it was a nice refresher. The central themes are censorship, loss of freedoms, loss of free thinking, and lost touch with the |
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|
| Mar 16th, 2009 |
The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin |
Benjamin Franklin |
Man oh man, that dude had some mad skills. This book is written somewhat sloppily - changing narrative styles throughout, carrying on from time to time, and not even finishing it - but the content i |
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|
| Mar 5th, 2009 |
The Fall of Hyperion |
Dan Simmons |
The sequel to Hyperion (two entries down). In my opinion, this should have been combined with the first book, and should have been a single book. The first book didn't really conclude the storyline |
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|
| Feb 28th, 2009 |
Reflex |
Steven Gould |
This is the sequel to Jumper (two entries down). In this episode, our favorite teleporter manages to get kidnapped by some bad people (it takes some ingenuity to figure out how to keep him kidnapped |
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|
| Feb 24th, 2009 |
Hyperion |
Dan Simmons |
Very much a scifi book, this gets into topics of empire building across worlds, intelligent computers, and so forth. Actually, the reason I wanted to read it was I saw reference to it when I was rea |
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|
| Feb 16th, 2009 |
Jumper |
Steven Gould |
A movie came out recently by the same name. This is a fun book, based on the premise that a kid learns how to teleport. The story line is a bit different from the movie, but much of it is the same. |
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|
| Feb 16th, 2009 |
The Faithful Spy |
Alex Berenson |
Eh. Another spy book. A CIA agent infiltrates a terrorist cell in Afghanistan. The Cell sends him on a mission in the United States. The CIA wants to know if they can still trust him... The Cell wa |
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|
| Feb 9th, 2009 |
The Stuff of Life: A Graphic Guide to Genetics and DNA |
Schultz, Cannon and Cannon |
This is a graphic guide (comic basically) of how genetics and DNA works. It was incredibly well done, very informational, but really fun to read. I was astounded by how complex the basic elements o |
| |
|
| Jan 31st, 2009 |
Cryptonomicon |
Neal Stephenson |
One of the best novels I have ever read. It has lots of Math / Computer stuff in it, which really made it even more enjoyable in my mind. The story takes place over two different time periods - one |
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|
| Jan 12th, 2009 |
The Whiskey Rebels |
David Liss |
My bro and sister-in-law (such a strange term) gave me this one for the holidays. It is historical fiction taking place during President Washington's years in office, with part of the story taking p |
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|
| Dec 15th, 2008 |
The Florians |
Brian M. Stableford |
A slow reading month for me. One book only? Yikes. Anyhow, this was a scifi book about some people who settled on this new world, but had become very large in size (height, weight, strength, etc) |
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|
| Nov 25th, 2008 |
Watchmen |
Alan Moore & Dave Gibbons |
A graphic novel (aka, a comic book) about caped heroes from the 1920s until the 1980s. This was recommended to be by two different people in a span of 24 hours - so I had no choice but to immediatel |
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|
| Nov 22nd, 2008 |
Foundation and Empire |
Isaac Asimov |
The second in the Foundation series. Also a great read. In this book, the blossoming civilization takes on The Mule - a man born with a genetic mutation that help him to conquer worlds. Two charac |
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|
| Nov 18th, 2008 |
Foundation |
Isaac Asimov |
For the last few weeks I have had a lot of false starts - I starting reading a book, then lost interest in it - over and over again. So I decided to go back to an oldie but goodie after my SF roomma |
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|
| Oct 24th, 2008 |
The Lathe of Heaven |
Ursula K. Le Guin |
A great read. The premise is: A man realizes that what he dreams actually comes to happen in real life. Not that he predicts the future, but rather his dreams actually alter the future. Some bad |
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|
| Oct 20th, 2008 |
A Lion Among Men |
Gregory Maguire |
The last of the audio CD's - or at least, the last until next time I decide to drive across the country. This was in the same series as Wicked (of which there was a Broadway play made after), and so |
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|
| Oct 16th, 2008 |
The Revolution: A Manifesto |
Ron Paul |
Another Audio CD on my trip. This book by Ron Paul (yes, that Ron Paul - presidential candidate) contains his views on how the US government should be run. He is free market to the extreme, as well |
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|
| Oct 15th, 2008 |
Chindi |
Jack McDevitt |
A "real" book (as apposed to the audio CD's it is surrounded by). This was a sci fi novel that was a pretty decent read. It takes place a couple hundred years in the future, and revolves around the |
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|
| Oct 15th, 2008 |
Truman |
David McCullough |
Yet another audio CD (although I linked to the book in this case). An excellent biography of Harry S. Truman (turns out "S" didn't stand for anything). I learned a lot from this one, about his humb |
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|
| Oct 13th, 2008 |
Blood Work |
Michael Connelly |
Another Audio CD. A thriller - a retired FBI investigator does a pro-bono case to track down a killer, and finds that the killer has actually killed others before. The victim was a heart donor, and |
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|
| Oct 13th, 2008 |
Audacity of Hope |
Barack Obama |
I listened to this audio book on a drive across the country. I found it to be very interesting; it had a bit of history of U.S. government, and specifically the Senate, as well as Barack's personal |
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|
| Oct 5th, 2008 |
Stone Cold |
David Baldacci |
Bleh. FBI, CIA, Secret Service, Russian spies, American spies, good guy is on the run from the government because he was framed, etc etc. Not much to say about this book. Definitely a cookie cutte |
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|
| Sep 30th, 2008 |
Brisingr |
Christopher Paolini |
This is the third book in a Trilogy, the first being "Eragon". It is very fantasy-ish, so if you aren't into that, then this is definitely not the right book for you. Anyhow, upon fishing this boo |
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|
| Sep 11th, 2008 |
Runaways |
Brian K Vaughan et al |
A graphic novel / comic aimed at youth, written by the same author of Y: The last man (see Jan 25th 2008). The story revolves around a group of kids who revolt against their parents who they find to |
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|
| Sep 8th, 2008 |
Little Brother |
Cory Doctorow |
Wow. That one sort of shook me up. I think I was able to relate to this one more than others might, as it took place in SF, citing many places I am very familiar with - and also because there is a |
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|
| Sep 7th, 2008 |
The World Without Us |
Alan Weisman |
I am sort of cheating by putting this one on the list as I only read a few chapters of the book. The premise was really interesting though, so I figured I would post it. The book is what the author |
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|
| Sep 6th, 2008 |
The Winner |
David Baldacci |
A mass market thriller. A very poor single mother is offered a once in a lifetime opportunity at being guaranteed to be a massive lotto winner - but at what cost? The book is packed with action, susp |
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| Sep 1st, 2008 |
A Deepness in the Sky |
Vernor Vinge |
SciFi to the extreme. Long read (750 pages or so), but a good one. Human traders come into contact with an alien race of spiders who are starting civilization from scratch. The humans lurk from abo |
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| Aug 25th, 2008 |
The Alchemist |
Paulo Coelho |
This novel was originally written in Portuguese in 1988, and according to wikipedia, has been translated into 56 languages since then. It is told in a style reminiscent of ancient verbal storytellin |
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| Aug 17th, 2008 |
Double Take |
Catherine Coulter |
A murder attempt foiled, a missing wife apparently turning up across the country, and psychics butting into the lives of the FBI. This novel takes some classic book themes, and ties in a few twists |
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| Aug 15th, 2008 |
Solar Revolution |
Travis Bradford |
Happy two year anniversary, book blog! Oh, yeah, the book. It summarizes the history and current state of energy in the US and worldwide, and builds the case for Solar. My take-away is that while |
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| Aug 10th, 2008 |
Promise Me |
Harlan Coben |
A fast fun action/thriller/mystery book. This one was recommended by my brother - thanks bro, good book. In this novel, two different teens go missing in northern jersey, but it is unclear if they r |
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| Aug 5th, 2008 |
Shadow Divers |
Robert Kurson |
This is a non-fiction book about... wait, did I just read a non-fiction book? Woh, I did! Amazing! Anyhow, this is about deep sea divers who discovered a German WWII U-Boat (submarine) off the coa |
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| Jul 19th, 2008 |
Saturn's Children |
Charles Stress |
The premise of the novel is that all human, plant and animal life has died, and the galaxy is densely populated with Robots. The main character was originally created by the humans to be an escort - |
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| Jul 12th, 2008 |
Replay |
Ken Grimwood |
Gripping. Couldn't put it down. Finished it in a day. The novel makes you think about your own life, and the choices you have made, and the choices you will make in life. The basic premises is - a |
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| Jun 16th, 2008 |
Rubik |
Philip K. Dick |
Despite the fact that the author - in 1969 at the time of writing this book - gave mankind way too much credit for where civilization would be by the time of this book's setting (1992), it was a very |
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| Jun 14th, 2008 |
Brave New World |
Aldous Huxley |
Written in the early 1930's, this novel takes place in a post Model T Ford era, where life is optimized to the T. Children are no longer born, but rather produced in assembly lines of test tubes. P |
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| Jun 8th, 2008 |
Raising Atlantis |
Thomas Greanias |
This is the first of a three book series that I read after having first read the second book. It was about the discovery of the city of Atlantis in Antarctica, with Indiana Jones type characters cau |
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| Jun 1st, 2008 |
The Atlantis Prophecy |
Thomas Greanias |
A quick fun read, but of the action thriller genre - not something that is going to expand your mind in any way shape or form. Very similar to the movies Nation Treasure (was that based off of this |
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| May 20th, 2008 |
Daemon |
Leinad Zeraus (Daniel Suarez) |
A dark but splendid read for the more computer nerdy of you out there who like a good page turner. This book has some similarities with Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson. Deamon takes place in the near |
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| Apr 12th, 2008 |
Plug-in Hybrids: The cars that will recharge America |
Sherry Boschert |
There is a lot of overlap between this book and the movie Who killed the electric car (which you should see by the way if you have not already). Anyhow, as for the book - it has tons of grea |
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| Apr 6th, 2008 |
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? |
Philip K. Dick |
The movie Blade Runner (which I have NOT seen) was based off of this book. It is about a bounty hunter who's job it is to hunt down and deactivate androids who have gone to the dark side. Very fun re |
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| Mar 29th, 2008 |
Winkie |
Clifford Chase |
One of the more bizarre, but awesome books I have read. It can perhaps be best described by some of the press it has gotten... "If Animal Farm were to bump into Monty Python in the dark alley the re |
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| Mar 16th, 2008 |
The Master and Margarita |
Mikhail Bulgakov |
Multiple friends from high school recommended I read this book. It took me a while to get through - did not grip me as many books do. It was rather interesting and thought provoking though. The st |
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| Mar 1st, 2008 |
Alternative Energy Demystified |
Stan Gibilsco |
The title of the book pretty much tells all. This book covers everything from wind power to solar power, biofuels to fossil fuels, passive solar heating to heat pumps, fission, fusion, and a whole b |
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| Jan 25th, 2008 |
Y: The Last Man |
Brian K. Vaughan et al |
Y (As in the chromosome): The Last Man is a graphic novel about the world when all men on the planet suddenly die, but the women survive. There is one man left - and the novel follows his journeys. |
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| Jan 20th, 2008 |
Fragile Things |
Neil Gaiman |
This is a collection of short stories that seemed like it would be cool. It was not - not cool that is. The first story was very good, I highly recommend it - there is actually an audio version
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| Jan 15th, 2008 |
Blowback |
Chalmers Johnson |
I just skimmed this one. I have been curious for a while now of *why* terrorists would want to bomb us. The explanation of "because they envy our freedom" seemed like the most ridiculous statement |
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| Jan 11th, 2008 |
An Inconvenient Truth |
Al Gore |
This is the "companion" book to the movie of the same name. The content is nearly identical, but with perhaps a bit more detail in the book. As far as graphical design and layout of the book, I fou |
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| Dec 31st, 2007 |
The Once and Future King |
T. H. White |
This was required reading in High school english. I ran into it on my bookshelf when I was back home over Christmas, so I brought it back with me for another reading. The book is historical fiction |
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| Dec 24th, 2007 |
Lost Horizon |
James Hilton |
Recommended by the Samantha Crow Reading Club, this book claims to be the "first novel published as a paperback". It was published (as well as takes place) in 1933... my copy is of course a bit newe |
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| Dec 24th, 2007 |
Winning Our Energy Independence |
David Freeman |
I purchased this book on a whim - I saw it on the shelf at a bookstore. I am very happy that I purchased and read this one, as it had a pretty profound impact on my environmental thinking. Specific |
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| Dec 17th, 2007 |
The Dark Tower |
Stephen King |
The seventh and final book in the Dark Tower series. This is the last leg of the journey for Roland and his band of travelers. In this book, tragedy comes to the Ka-tet of travelers, but also closu |
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| Dec 2nd, 2007 |
Song of Susannah |
Stephen King |
The sixth of the Dark Tower series. This book in the series follows Susannah as she tries to deal with her pregnancy, and Mia - a woman who has somewhat taken over her body. The book also takes pla |
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| Nov 25th, 2007 |
Wolves of the Calla |
Stephen King |
The fifth of the Dark Tower series. The posse of gunslingers find themselves in a town that is sort of a cross between a Mexican town and a mid western town. Here they are tasked with fighting off a |
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| Nov 17th, 2007 |
The Underdogs |
Mariano Azueka |
Supposedly a classic, this novel takes place during the Mexican revolution. I had a hard time making it through the book - it just could not keep my attention. I guess not all stories are timeless. |
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| Nov 7th, 2007 |
Wizard and Glass |
Stephen King |
The fourth of the Dark Tower series. Roland and his comrades step foot in Topeka Kansas (but perhaps from a slightly different universe). Here he tells the story of his childhood, his friends, his |
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| Oct 28th, 2007 |
The Waste Lands |
Stephen King |
The third of the Dark Tower series. Roland (The gunslinger) journeys with others through rough patches of wilderness, and encounters trails against both men and machines. |
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| Oct 21st, 2007 |
Zoom |
Vaitheeswaran & Carson |
Written by two staff members of the Economist, Zoom looks a bit into the history of the Car and Oil companies, and talks about what the future holds in regard to powering cars. It critically analyz |
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| Oct 11th, 2007 |
The Drawing of the Three |
Stephen King |
The second in the Dark Tower series. This one follows the gunslinger through three different periods of time as he follows his destiny to get to the dark tower. |
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| Oct 9th, 2007 |
The Gunslinger |
Stephen King |
This is the first in a somewhat long series called "The Dark Tower" by Stephen King. Even though it is Stephen King, the books are not horror books at all, they are closer to fantasy I guess. This |
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| Oct 7th, 2007 |
Animal Farm |
George Orwell |
It turns out that George Orwell was just a pen name for Eric Blair. Anyhow, Animal Farm is a classic that hopefully you have already read. It is super fast and fun to read again and again. The sto |
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| Sep 30th, 2007 |
The Messenger |
Daniel Silva |
Another airport reading book. A thriller about terrorism, espionage, religion, art, and who knows what else. A fun book, but not something I would highly recommend by any means - just a way to pass |
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| Sep 16th, 2007 |
The Wheel of Darkness |
Preston and Child |
I picked up this book at the airport because of the cover art. As I was visually scanning books, I saw an image that looked very much Tibetan - so I checked out the book and ended up buying it. The |
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| Sep 10th, 2007 |
On a Pale Horse |
Piers Anthony |
This is the first book in a series called "Incarnations of Immortality". I do not think I will be reading the rest of the series, at least not at the moment. The book was not bad, it just didn't kn |
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| Sep 3rd, 2007 |
The Sirens of Titan |
Kurt Vonnegut |
The bookstore I purchased this at claimed it was Vonnegut's best scifi book ever. This seems a bit far fetched to me. It was a good book, but by no means knocked my socks off. The story revolves ar |
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| Aug 23rd, 2007 |
Seven Years in Tibet |
Heinrich Harrer |
A fantastic non-fiction story - one of the best non-fiction stories I have ever read actually. Perhaps it helped that I have a fascination with the Dalai Lama, and am about to go to Tibet - but rega |
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| Aug 10th, 2007 |
Good Omens |
Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett |
I silly/fun story that is somewhat of a mix between the story/characters from the movie Dogma, and humor ala Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. The story is about the apocalypse, and an angel and a dem |
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| Aug 5th, 2007 |
The Book of Illusions |
Paul Auster |
I am still trying to determine what I think of this book - at times I think it is one of the better books I have ever read, and sometimes I think it is just boring nonsense. I'm not sure how a book c |
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| Aug 1st, 2007 |
The Brooklyn Follies |
Paul Auster |
A great book that takes place in Park Slope Brooklyn, which is where my brother lives. It is an endearing story about a retired man and his adventures, trials and tribulations mostly revolving arou |
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| Jul 26th, 2007 |
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows |
J.K. Rowling |
This is a pretty obscure series, but one you may like. It may be hard to find in a traditional book store, you may have to look around for it. This is the 7th and (maybe?) last book in the series. |
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| Jun 13th, 2007 |
Brothers |
Da Chen |
I believe they call this historical fiction (maybe?). It takes place in china from 1960 through 1998, including historical events such as the Tiananmen square protests. The tale tells of two brother |
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| Jun 2nd, 2007 |
The Golden Compass |
Philip Pullman |
Book one of His Dark Materials trilogy. I took a long break from reading to enjoy the natural beauties of the world... or something like that. Anyhow, I saw a movie preview for a film called Golden |
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| Jun 2nd, 2007 |
The Subtle Knife |
Philip Pullman |
Book two of His Dark Materials trilogy. |
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| Jun 2nd, 2007 |
The Amber Spyglass |
Philip Pullman |
Book three of His Dark Materials trilogy. |
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| May 6th, 2007 |
Blow the House Down |
Robert Baer |
A fictional tale about how the events that led up to the September 11th, 2001 occurred. The author of this book is a former CIA agent who is able to bring really great details to the story. It defi |
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| Apr 30th, 2007 |
he Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time |
Mark Haddon |
The third recommendation from the Samantha Crow Reading Club was another hit. That was a very unique and different book. It is a fictitious account written first person by an autistic teenager. T |
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| Apr 28th, 2007 |
Bel Canto |
Ann Patchett |
This novel is the second to come recommended by the Samantha Crow Reading Club. It was a gem of a story - incredibly written and really interesting story line. I must say, I would have preferred to |
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| Apr 25th, 2007 |
The Giver |
Lois Lowry |
I believe this is required reading for some middle schoolers these days - but I guess I must have missed it. It is a super fast read, but really interesting and touching. It takes place in some time |
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| Apr 24th, 2007 |
Digital Nature Photography |
Jim Miotke |
I used this as my introduction to photography, and I was extremely satisfied with the experience. The book went over all of the basics of photography, helped me understand my new camera that I just |
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| Apr 15th, 2007 |
HTML Mastery |
Paul Hine |
This is a fantastic resource for all you HTML haxors out there. Goes into some great detail about various peculiarities with html. The author is definitely opinionated about what is and is not corre |
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| Mar 20th, 2007 |
Ptolemy's gate |
Jonathan Stroud |
The last in "The Bartimaeus Trilogy" - still fun, and still a quick read. |
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| Mar 10th, 2007 |
The Golem's Eye |
Jonathan Stroud |
Second book in the series in "The Bartimaeus Trilogy" - with The Amulaet of Samrkand being the first. Again a good fun quick read. |
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| Feb 16th, 2007 |
American Shaolin |
Matthew Polly |
A surprisingly good read. The book follows Polly on his quest from Princeton to rural china in his attempt to learn martial arts. The topic of martial arts is something that would not normally inte |
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| Feb 10th, 2007 |
The Amulet of Samarkand |
Jonathan Stroud |
I saw someone on the train reading this book, so I figured I would give it a try - turns out it is a fun read. As I was nearing the end of the book I went to the book store to try to find the second |
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| Jan 21st, 2007 |
The Ambler Warning |
Robert Ludlum |
Not a very good read. It was an interesting and exciting story line, but it was just poorly written. The book is about a government agent who is locked away in a psych word unjustly, his escape, and |
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| Jan 1st, 2007 |
Mirror Mirror |
Gregory Maguire |
This is by the same author who wrote Wicked. It is about Snow white and the 7 (+1) dwarves from a very different view point. A lot of fun to read. |
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| Dec 28th, 2006 |
The prestige |
Christopher Priest |
I'm told there was a movie based off of this book recently. It is about two stage magicians in the early 1900s who are at odds with each other - to the point of trying to mess up each other's present |
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| Dec 23rd, 2006 |
Eragon |
Christopher Paolini |
I went on a bit of a reading haitus as I couldn't find a book that would hold my attention. Eragon was a book that I had read a year or two ago, and had really enjoyed, so I re-read this one in celeb |
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| Nov 25th, 2006 |
Snow Crash |
Neal Stephenson |
This was recommended by a couple different people. I would give it two thumbs up. It was written in 1992, at the dawn of the internet age, and it is really amazing how insightful the author is on h |
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| Nov 24th, 2006 |
The Count of Monte Cristo |
Alexandre Dumas |
1,400 pages of fun. About half way through, I realized there is an abridged version as well. Oh well. Anyhow, this was a very fun read that captured my attention for the duration of the book. I de |
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| Nov 8th, 2006 |
A Man in full |
Tom Wolfe |
I didn't finish this one. It came highly recommended, but I was just struggling to keep my interest in this one, so eventually gave up. The story takes place in ATL (and a bit in Cali), and talks a |
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| Oct 16th, 2006 |
Taltos |
Anne Rice |
I was half way through this before I found out that it was the third book in a series. woops. Anyhow, it was a fun read. I'm told that Anne Rice is into vampires and such. This was somewhat in th |
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| Oct 8th, 2006 |
Billy Bathgate |
E. L. Doctorow |
his was a pretty interesting read, entirely fiction, about a young boy who gets pulled in (or rather who chooses to jump into) a mafia gang, and it describes the mentality of the mafia in the 20s, wi |
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| Oct 4th, 2006 |
Prey |
Michael Crichton |
So so. I had read most of Michael Crichton's books as a kid and loved them, but I guess as an adult it just isn't quite the same. At the beginning of the book though it starts out in Mountain View |
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| Oct 1st, 2006 |
The Time Traveler's Wife |
Audrey Niffenegger |
This was a really great book. Somewhat of a chick book so to speak, but really a great read. The story is of a man who time travels often without having any control over when he travels, or where h |
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| Sep 15th, 2006 |
The Outstretched Shadow |
Mercedes Lackey and James Mallory |
Book one of The Obsidian Trilogy. These are a bit more fantasy'ish than what I am used to, but they were a fun entertaining read. They go really quickly as well. |
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| Sep 15th, 2006 |
To Light a Candle |
Mercedes Lackey and James Mallory |
Book two of The Obsidian Trilogy. |
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| Sep 15th, 2006 |
When Darkness Falls |
Mercedes Lackey and James Mallory |
Book three of The Obsidian Trilogy. |
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| Aug 15th, 2006 |
A Game of Thrones |
George R. R. Martin |
Book one of A Song of Ice and Fire. If you have a few months to set aside, this is a good read. There are tons of characters involved, and sometimes you wish that they would just stick with a few |
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| Aug 15th, 2006 |
A Clash of Kings |
George R. R. Martin |
Book two of A Song of Ice and Fire. |
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| Aug 15th, 2006 |
A Storm of Swords |
George R. R. Martin |
Book three of A Song of Ice and Fire. |
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| Aug 15th, 2006 |
A Feast for Crows |
George R. R. Martin |
Book three of A Song of Ice and Fire. |
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