What I Have Been Reading Recently
| 2003 Summary | Books |
|---|
| Number Read | 48 |
| Number Bought | 101 |
| % Read | 48% |
|---|
2003 Reviews (Partial)
Date Read - Author, Title - Score. Review.
- 2003.09.30 - Stephenson, Neal, Cryptonomicon - 8 out of 10. An amazing semi-historical novel. The story is one of World War II adventure with Bobby Shaftoe (Guadalcanal, German U-Boats); cryptography using Enigma, Ordo and a Perl script named Pontifex to do Solitaire encryption (which can also be done with a deck of cards; Solitaire was designed by Bruce Schneier); the beginnings of computers by Waterhouse at Blechley Park; high-tech finance and law at a Silicon Valley company called Epiphyte with Randy and Avi; creating underground bunkers by Goto Dengo and treasure hunting for gold; . Two parallel stories are told throughout the book of Shaftoes and Waterhouses, with some true characters such as Alan Turing thrown in. They converge on gold in the Phillipines. A bit raunchy in places which lessens its value, but still an amazing read. It could have been a 9 if it was cleaned up.
- 2003.08 - Randal, Allison, Perl 6 Essentials - 7 out of 10. A wish there were a Perl 5 Essentials as clean and lean as this is for the ficticious Perl 6! Perl 6 looks great but as you read you begin to see that it is so complicated in certain areas that it may be a while before they can create it.
- 2003.07.06 - Alder, Ken, The Measure of All Things - 6 out of 10. The story of the measuring of the world by two French astronomers (Mechain and Delambre) during the French Revolution. This was done to determine the length of the meter. Fairly interesting, but I wished there were more technical details.
- 2003.07 - Lawson, Nigella, How to Eat - 6 out of 10. A decent cookbook, but no photos of the recipes to get you excited about cooking something. Fun and lively text though. Maybe once I actually cook something from the book I'll give it a higher score.
- 2003.06.26 - Horowitz, Tony, Blue Latitudes - 6 out of 10. The story of Captain Cook. The author visits some of the places that Cook visited and discovered. Part of the text retells what happened when Cook first visited, and this is interleaved with a description of the author's visits to these places in the late 1990s. He and his friend Rodger get drunk an awful lot, so I believe this makes for a sad slant.
- 2003.06.16 - Sobel, Dava, Galileo’s Daughter: A Historical Memoir of Science, Faith, and Love - 6 out of 10. Sort of boring, but it picks up in the 2nd half of the book. Galileo's predicament is interesting to study.
- 2003.05.21 - Winchester, Simon, The Map that Changed the World: William Smith and the Birth of Modern Geology - 7 out of 10. Well written, interesting account of the man who figured out geological layering. Takes place in England, and the man has a hard time of it.
- 2003.05.14 - Winchester, Simon, Krakatoa, the day the world exploded: August 27, 1883 - 8 out of 10. I went to the University of Washington and heard this author read from his book. I've always been fascinated by this topic, but he brought in aspects that were not expected, such as the Islam aspect of Indonesia and how it inter-related. Very good read.
- 2003.03.03 - O’Brian, Patrick, #20: Blue at the Mizzen - 9 out of 10. I completed the Aubrey/Maturin series for the second time. What great books these are. Highly recommended.
- 2003.02.14 - McIntosh, Jason, Mac OS X in a Nutshell - 5 out of 10. This easily could have been a much better book, but the man page section needs work: perl is not included, and the options for awk are pathetic, yet bc has pages and pages dedicated to it! Disappointing.
- 2003.01.27 - Jepson, Brian, Mac OS X for Unix Geeks - 6 out of 10. I did learn some neat new tips about OS X that I did not know, but I wish it had more man pages and was a bit more complete. The focus is on learning how to compile Unix code on OS X.
- 2003.01.20 - Le Cordon Bleu, Complete Cook - 8 out of 10. A great cookbook with great French and classic English recipes. Nice photos. Let's eat!
2002
Date Read - Author, Title - Score. Review.
- 2002.12.26 - O’Brian, Patrick, #19: The Hundred Days - 9 out of 10. See below.
- 2002.12.09 - O’Brian, Patrick, #18: The Yellow Admiral - 9 out of 10. See below.
- 2002.11.25 - O’Brian, Patrick, #17: The Commodore - 9 out of 10. See below.
- 2002.11 - O’Brian, Patrick, #16: The Wine Dark Sea - 9 out of 10. See below.
- 2002.11 - O’Brian, Patrick, #15: The Truelove - 9 out of 10.v
- 2002.10.21 - O’Brian, Patrick, #14: The Nutmeg of Consolation - 9 out of 10. See below.
- 2002.10.20 - O’Brian, Patrick, #13: The Thirteen Gun Salute - 9 out of 10. See below.
- 2002.10.12 - O’Brian, Patrick, #12: The Letter of Marque - 9 out of 10. See below.
- 2002.10.10 - O’Brian, Patrick, #11: The Reverse of the Medal - 9 out of 10. See below.
- 2002.09 - O’Brian, Patrick, #10: The Far Side of the World - 10 out of 10. See below.
- 2002.08 - O’Brian, Patrick, #9: Treason's Harbor - 9 out of 10. See below.
- 2002.07 - O’Brian, Patrick, #8: The Ionian Mission - 9 out of 10. These books can save your life if you are depressed or stressed. They are the best written novels ever, with history, navigation, romance, wars, politics, philosophy, religion, science, medicine, law, and zoology all being described on land and on the ships of the sea during the Napoleonic wars. Stunning in their realism, wit, humor, detail, and impact. Sail into the ocean of your choice without leaving your bed.
- 2002.09.27 - Williams, J. E. D., From Sails to Satellites: The Origin and Development of Navigational Science - 9 out of 10. Very technical details about celestial navigation using sextants, inertial navigation systems using gyroscopes, the math behind navigation, and the history too. Very well done.
- 2002.09.27 - Kinder, Gary, Ship of Gold - 9 out of 10. What a great read. It starts in the California gold mines, then moves to gold being shipped via Panama and up the east coast to NYC in 1857, but the ship sinks. 400 out of 600 die, but the others gave a very detailed account of the sinking. Very Titanic-like. Then the book fast-forwards to the 1980s when a smart guy goes after the sunken vessel, the S.S. Central America, and finally finds millions of dollars worth of gold. This one must be read in one sitting, so plan on staying up late!
- 2002.08.08 - Nibley, Hugh, Teachings of the Pearl of Great Price - 8 out of 10. Hugh Nibley knows more than any man alive. Here he explores the books of Moses and Abraham in depth. These were classroom lectures and his sense of humor is great, but hard to recognize unless you have taken his classes in person. (I am fortunate to have taken many.) Mind expanding as usual.
- 2002.06.16 - Worsley, F. A., Endurance: An Epic of Polar Adventure - 7 out of 10. This has been a year for Shackleton study: I've seen 3 different movies, and read 3 different books on the voyage of the Endurance. This one was written by the navigator of the expedition. He really stands by and admires Shackleton. It is clear that Shackleton was headstrong and the problems of the voyage were largely due to his bad judgment, but when the chips were down he certainly inspired, led, and endured, far more than most ever could. Impressive, but I was hoping for navigational details.
- 2002.06.05 - O’Brian, Patrick, The Unknown Shore - 7 out of 10. This first glimpse at two characters which next became the Aubrey & Maturin series was quite good. A lot takes place in Chili.
- 2002.06.04 - O’Brian, Patrick, #7: The Surgeon's Mate - 10 out of 10. Another great read: Stephen Maturin finally marries Diana.
- 2002.05.31 - Bruce, Colin, Conned Again, Watson! Cautionary Tales of Logic, Math, and Probability - 9 out of 10. This book is fantastic. It teaches important mathematical principles without any math, just by fun Sherlock Holmes stories. Well written, I had to read it cover-to-cover in one evening. Buy this book!!
- 2002.05.30 - Lomborg, Bjørn, The Skeptical Environmentalist: Measuring the Real State of the World - 9.5 out of 10. A great look at our environment using long-term statistical trends and detailed references rather than wild claims. This book debunks many outrageous claims made by people like Al Gore or Greenpeace. Published by Cambridge University Press, this is a very scientific and accurate look at pollution, energy needs, food shortages, and many other earth-related topics. Excellent.
- 2002.05.28 - Mongan, John, Programming Interviews Exposed - 6 out of 10. Interesting puzzles given in programming interviews. Not done by Microsoft people, interestingly enough. A bit predictable. Not too bad.
- 2002.04 - O’Brian, Patrick, #6: The Fortune of War - 9 out of 10.
- 2002.02.24 - O’Brian, Patrick, #5: Desolation Island - 10 out of 10. A fabulous read: the Southern Ocean, Kerguelen (aka Desolation) Island, the Leopard, and the Dutch ship that goes down.
What I Have Been Buying Recently
Date Purchased - Author, Title
- 2004.01.28 - Chauvenet, William, A Manual of Spherical and Practical Astronomy
- 2004.01.24 - US Naval Observatory, 2004 Nautical Almanac Commercial Edition
- 2004.01.24 - Ports and Passes, Tides, Currents and Charts 2004
- 2004.01.23 - St. John, Alan, Reptiles of the Northwest
- 2004.01.23 - Eder, Tamara, Mammals of Washington & Oregon
- 2004.01.21 - Bowditch, Nathaniel, The New American Pracical Navigator
- 2004.01.21 - Bowditch, Nathaniel, American Practical Navigator: An Epitome of Navigation and Nautical Astronomy
- 2004.01.21 - Bowditch, Nathaniel, American Practical Navigator, H.O. No. 9
- 2003.12.25 - Watkins, Matthew, Useful Mathematical and Physical Formulae
- 2003.12.25 - Thomas, Evan, John Paul Jones: Sailor, Hero, Father of the American Navy
- 2003.12.25 - Schreier, Daniel, Tristan da Cunha
- 2003.12.25 - Schott, Ben, Schott's Original Miscellany
- 2003.12.25 - Monmonier, Mark, Spying with Maps
- 2003.12.25 - Mish, Frederick C., ed., Merriam Webster's Collegiate Dictionary Eleventh Edition
- 2003.12.25 - Kays, Roland W., Mammals of North America
- 2003.12.25 - Hurley, Frank, South with Endurance: The Photographs of Frank Hurley
- 2003.12.25 - Hartley, William G., Stand by my servant Joseph: the story of the Joseph Knight family
- 2003.12.25 - Deseret Morning News, 2004 Church Almanac
- 2003.12.19 - Karp, David A., Windows XP Annoyances
- 2003.12.19 - Gralla, Preston, Windows XP Hacks
- 2003.12.12 - US Air Force, U.S. Air Force Search and Rescue Survival Training
- 2003.12.12 - Adams, Scott, Dilbert Gives you the Business
- 2003.11.22 - Corbet, Gordon B., A World List of Mammalian Species
- 2003.11.11 - Skene, Norman L., Elements of Yacht Design
- 2003.11.11 - McKnew, Ed, Powerboat Guide Volume 3: Express and Sedan Cruisers
- 2003.11.11 - Day, Cyrus L., Knots and Splices
- 2003.11.11 - Costantino, Maria, Pocket Book of Knots
- 2003.11.01 - Carlson, Richard, Don't Sweat the Small Stuff
- 2003.10.28 - Eanes, Susan, Intracoastal Waterway Restaurant Guide and Recipe Book
- 2003.10.27 - Wright, Louis B., The Cultural Life of the American Colonies
- 2003.10.27 - Miller, Lee, Roanoke: Solving the Mystery of the Lost Colony
- 2003.10.27 - Eco, Umberto, The Name of the Rose
- 2003.10.23 - Kettlewell, John, ed., The Intracoastal Waterway Chartbook, Norfolk, Virginia, to Miami, Florida
- 2003.10.06 - Lord Cochrane, Seaman
- 2003.10.01 - Kahn, David, Kahn on Codes: Secrets of the New Cryptology
- 2003.09.28 - Brin, David, The Transparent Society
- 2003.09.12 - Petroski, Henry, The Evolution of Useful Things
- 2003.09.12 - Horton, Holbrook L., Mathematics at Work
- 2003.09.02 - Madsen, Truman G., Five Classics
- 2003.09.02 - Burton, Rosemary, Wonders of the World
- 2003.09.02 - Berrett, LaMar C., ed., Sacred Places: New York and Pennsylvania
- 2003.08.27 - Jamsa, Kris, Turbo Pascal 4: The Pocket Reference
- 2003.08.26 - Taylor, Dave, Learning Unix for Mac OS X
- 2003.08.26 - Kernighan, Brian W., The C Programming Language, second edition
- 2003.08.26 - Kernighan, Brian W., The C Programming Language, second edition
- 2003.08.26 - Brown, Tom, Jr., Tom Brown’s Field Guide to Wilderness Survival
- 2003.08.23 - Stephenson, Neal, Cryptonomicon
- 2003.08.23 - Randal, Allison, Perl 6 Essentials
- 2003.08.22 - Lehey, Greg, The Complete FreeBSD
- 2003.08.19 - Hilson, Stephen E., Exploring Puget Sound & British Columbia
- 2003.08.02 - Selby, Dave, ed., Miller’s Collectors Cars Price Guide 2003/4
- 2003.08.02 - Karp, David A., Windows XP Pocket Reference
- 2003.08.02 - Frisch, AEleen, Essential System Administration
- 2003.08.02 - Budworth, Geoffrey, The Book of Knots
- 2003.07.30 - MacDonald, Charles J., ed., Historical Atlas of the World
- 2003.07.30 - Kerr, W. Park, The El Paso Chile Company’s Texas Border Cookbook
- 2003.07.30 - Child, Julia, The French Chef Cookbook
- 2003.07.30 - Beasant, Pam, How to Draw Maps and Charts
- 2003.07.22 - Grainger, Stuart, Creative Ropework
- 2003.07.17 - Wigginton, Eliot, ed., The Foxfire Book
- 2003.07.17 - Kent, William, Kent’s Mechanical Engineers’ Handbook: Power
- 2003.07.17 - Kent, William, Kent’s Mechanical Engineers’ Handbook: Power
- 2003.07.17 - Haltenorth, Theodor, A Field Guide to the Mammals of Africa including Madagascar
- 2003.07.17 - Daugherty, Anita E., Marine Mammals of California
- 2003.07.17 - Burt, William H., A Field Guide to the Mammals
- 2003.07.17 - Brown, Vinson, The Californian Wildlife Region
- 2003.07.16 - Paternie, Patrick, The New Mini
- 2003.07.16 - Orlemann, Eric C., Caterpillar
- 2003.07.02 - Nagao, Tadahiko, Kokology 2
- 2003.06.30 - Giles, Milton, Nathaniel’s Nutmeg
- 2003.06.21 - Lawson, Nigella, How to Eat
- 2003.06.09 - Robinson, Orrin W., Old English and Its Closest Relatives
- 2003.06.09 - Hayes, Derek, Historical Atlas of the Pacific Northwest
- 2003.06.09 - Alder, Ken, The Measure of All Things
- 2003.05.27 - Sobel, Dava, Galileo’s Daughter: A Historical Memoir of Science, Faith, and Love
- 2003.05.27 - Rhodes, Frank T., Geology
- 2003.05.27 - Kavanagh, James, The Nature of Alaska
- 2003.05.27 - Fichter, George S., Endangered Animals
- 2003.05.27 - Calishain, Tara, Google Hacks: 100 Industrial-Strength Tips & Tools
- 2003.05.16 - Simkin, Tom, Krakatau, 1883–the volcanic eruption and its effeccts.
- 2003.05.08 - Sibley, David Allen, The Sibley Field Guide to Birds of Western North America
- 2003.05.06 - Winchester, Simon, The Map that Changed the World: William Smith and the Birth of Modern Geology
- 2003.05.06 - Winchester, Simon, Krakatoa, the day the world exploded: August 27, 1883
- 2003.04.18 - Hume, Ed, Gardening with Ed Hume: Northwest Gardening Made Easy
- 2003.04.18 - Dornfest, Rael, Mac OS X Hacks: 100 Industrial-Strength Tips & Tools
- 2003.04.18 - Atkins, Robert C., Dr. Atkins New Diet Revolution
- 2003.04.16 - Woan, Graham, The Cambridge Handbook of Physics Formulas
- 2003.04.15 - Prinz, Peter, C Pocket Referencee
- 2003.04.15 - Lawson, Nigella, Forever Summer
- 2003.04.15 - Hicks, Roger, Mexican Cooking
- 2003.04.15 - Her Majesty’s Stationary Office, Admiralty Manual of Navigation
- 2003.04.15 - Funk & Wagnalls, 1923 Atlas of the World and Gazetteer
- 2003.04.15 - Bovet, Daniel P., Understanding the Linux Kernel
- 2003.04.14 - Vromans, Johan, Perl 5 Pocket Reference
- 2003.04.02 - Vromans, Johan, Perl 5 Pocket Reference
- 2003.04.02 - Pivka, Otto von, Navies of the Napoleonic Era
- 2003.03.28 - LDS Church, Quadruple Combination
- 2003.03.11 - Valletta, Thomas R., ed., The New Testament for Latter-day Saint Families
- 2003.02.28 - Bowditch, Nathaniel, The American Practical Navigator: An Epitome of Navigation
- 2003.02.20 - Petroski, Henry, To Engineer Is Human
- 2003.02.20 - Hennessy, John L., Computer Architecture: A Quantitative Approach
- 2003.02.15 - Orwant, Jon, ed., Computer Science and Perl Programming
- 2003.02.15 - Harbison, Samuel P., C: A Reference Manual, fifth edition
- 2003.02.06 - Goldman, Jonathan L., ed., Webster’s New World Pocket Dictionary
- 2003.02.04 - US Naval Observatory, 2003 Nautical Almanac Commercial Edition
- 2003.01.25 - Hale, Robert, Waggoner Cruising Guide 2003
- 2003.01.20 - Le Cordon Bleu, Complete Cook
- 2003.01.18 - Jepson, Brian, Mac OS X for Unix Geeks
Histogram of Books by Year Purchased and by Dewey Decimal Classification
Dewey Decimal Catagory Reference
000 = Computer & Reference
100 = Philosophy
200 = Religion
300 = Business & Social Science
400 = Language
500 = Math & Physical Sciences
600 = Technology & Engineering
700 = The Arts
800 = Literature
900 = Geography & History
YEAR CAT # PURCHASED
=====================
1966 000 *
1968 600 *
1968 800 *
1969 600 *
1970 900 *
1971 500 ****
1971 600 *****
1972 500 ***
1972 600 **
1972 800 *
1973 500 **
1973 600 ********
1973 700 *
1974 500 ****
1974 600 ***
1974 700 **
1975 500 ****
1975 600 ***
1975 700 ******
1976 000 **
1976 200 *
1976 500 ************
1976 600 *****
1977 000 **
1977 500 *****
1977 600 *
1977 700 *
1978 200 ***************
1978 400 *
1978 500 **
1978 600 *
1979 200 ***************
1979 500 *
1979 600 *
1980 000 **
1980 200 **************************************
1980 300 *
1980 500 **
1980 600 **
1980 800 **
1980 900 ***
1981 000 ***
1981 100 ****
1981 200 *************************
1981 400 *****
1981 500 ***********
1981 700 **
1981 800 *
1981 900 ***
1982 000 *
1982 100 ****
1982 200 ******************
1982 400 ******
1982 500 **********
1982 600 *
1982 700 *
1982 800 ******
1982 900 *
1983 000 ********
1983 100 *********
1983 200 *********
1983 300 *
1983 400 ******
1983 500 **************
1983 600 *
1983 800 *
1984 000 ****
1984 200 **
1984 500 **
1984 600 *
1985 000 ***********
1985 200 ****
1985 500 ***
1985 600 ***
1985 700 *
1985 900 *************
1986 000 *************************
1986 200 **
1986 500 ***
1986 600 ******
1986 800 *
1987 000 *************************
1987 100 **
1987 200 ***
1987 500 ******
1987 600 *************
1987 700 *
1987 800 ***
1987 900 ****
1988 000 ****************************
1988 200 *
1988 400 ***
1988 500 *******
1988 600 ******************
1988 700 ****
1988 800 **
1988 900 **
1989 000 *************
1989 200 *********
1989 400 **
1989 500 *******
1989 600 *************
1989 700 ****
1989 800 ***
1989 900 *
1990 000 ************
1990 100 **
1990 200 *****
1990 300 *
1990 400 ***
1990 500 *****
1990 600 ********
1990 700 ***
1990 800 **
1990 900 ***
1991 000 *********
1991 100 *
1991 200 ***
1991 300 *
1991 500 ***
1991 600 ***********
1991 800 *
1991 900 *******
1992 000 ***********
1992 200 *
1992 300 ***
1992 400 *
1992 500 **
1992 600 *****
1992 900 ***
1993 000 *************
1993 200 ********
1993 300 **
1993 500 ***************
1993 600 *******
1993 700 *
1993 800 ****
1993 900 **************
1994 000 ******************
1994 200 ****
1994 300 *
1994 400 *
1994 500 ****
1994 600 ***
1994 700 *
1994 800 **
1994 900 ********
1995 000 ************
1995 200 *
1995 300 *
1995 500 ***************
1995 600 *****
1995 800 *
1995 900 ****************
1996 000 *************
1996 200 *****
1996 300 *
1996 400 *
1996 500 ********
1996 600 **********************
1996 700 ************
1996 800 *
1996 900 ****************************
1997 000 ***********************
1997 100 *
1997 200 ***
1997 300 ******
1997 400 *
1997 500 ************************
1997 600 ***********************
1997 700 ******
1997 800 ************
1997 900 ***********************************************
1998 000 **************
1998 200 ******
1998 300 ************
1998 400 ***
1998 500 *******************************************
1998 600 ****************************************
1998 700 *******
1998 800 **************
1998 900 ******************************************************
1999 000 ****************
1999 100 **
1999 200 **
1999 300 ********
1999 400 *****
1999 500 **********************************
1999 600 **********************************
1999 700 *****
1999 800 ***
1999 900 ****************************
2000 000 ******************
2000 200 *********
2000 300 *********
2000 400 ***
2000 500 *************************
2000 600 ************************************
2000 700 ********
2000 800 **********************
2000 900 ***************************
2001 000 *********
2001 200 ********
2001 300 ****
2001 400 *******
2001 500 ********************
2001 600 *******************************
2001 700 *
2001 800 ***
2001 900 ************************************
2002 000 *******
2002 200 ***
2002 300 ****
2002 400 *****
2002 500 ********************
2002 600 ***************************
2002 700 *****
2002 800 ********
2002 900 *************************
2003 000 ***********************
2003 100 **
2003 200 ******
2003 300 ***
2003 400 ***
2003 500 ********************
2003 600 *****************************
2003 700 *
2003 800 **
2003 900 ************
2004 500 *******
2004 600 *
Back to Dan Allen's home page.
Created: 7 Nov 2001
Modified: 6 Feb 2004