Author: Derek Bickerton
Genre: Non-Fiction (Linguistics)
Date Finished: Nov 29, 2009
The author, a linguist, describes how he got started with linguistics and his career long work studying Creoles in different locations around the world, trying to discover insights into the mind.
Who Got Einstein's Office?
Author: Ed Regis
Genre: Non-Fiction
Date Finished: Nov 29, 2009
This is a great book about the history of the Institute for Advanced Study located in Princeton. It was started in the 1930's as a place where outstanding physical scientists could go and work, unhindered by teaching requirements, publishing schedules or other extraneous duties. Their job was to think. Einstein went there when he came to America, Kurt Godel worked there, Oppenheimer and many others. The book covers the Institute from conception to the 1980s I think, talking about the people who there and their work.
Genre: Non-Fiction
Date Finished: Nov 29, 2009
This is a great book about the history of the Institute for Advanced Study located in Princeton. It was started in the 1930's as a place where outstanding physical scientists could go and work, unhindered by teaching requirements, publishing schedules or other extraneous duties. Their job was to think. Einstein went there when he came to America, Kurt Godel worked there, Oppenheimer and many others. The book covers the Institute from conception to the 1980s I think, talking about the people who there and their work.
Circle of Magic #1: Sandry's Book
Author: Tamora Pierce
Genre: Sci-Fi/Fantasy
Date Finished: November 24, 2009
Four young wizards of unusual power come together.
Genre: Sci-Fi/Fantasy
Date Finished: November 24, 2009
Four young wizards of unusual power come together.
"Surely you're joking, Mr. Feynman!" : adventures of a curious character
Author: Richard Phillips Feynman
Genre: Biography
Date Finished: Nov 2009
I've read this book before. A few times actually, long before I started writing this blog. Its full of such neat stories I like to re-read it every so often. A Nobel prize winning genius, when he writes this book he makes everything sound like it happened to him by accident, or simply through persistence. I was reminded of this book during a conversation with a friend at work last week. Seemed like time for a refresher. My favorite part has always been his antics as a lockpicker at Los Almos.
His constant curiosity, learning Spanish, to play the drums or learning to draw, is inspiring.
Genre: Biography
Date Finished: Nov 2009
I've read this book before. A few times actually, long before I started writing this blog. Its full of such neat stories I like to re-read it every so often. A Nobel prize winning genius, when he writes this book he makes everything sound like it happened to him by accident, or simply through persistence. I was reminded of this book during a conversation with a friend at work last week. Seemed like time for a refresher. My favorite part has always been his antics as a lockpicker at Los Almos.
His constant curiosity, learning Spanish, to play the drums or learning to draw, is inspiring.
Storey's illustrated guide to 96 horse breeds of North America
Author: Judith Dutson
Genre: Non-fiction
Date Finished: Nov 2009
This was a neat book. One to two pages about each breed which is covered in the book, color photos.
Genre: Non-fiction
Date Finished: Nov 2009
This was a neat book. One to two pages about each breed which is covered in the book, color photos.
Angels & Demons
Author: Dan Brown
Genre: Fiction (Action?)
Date Finished: November 2009
Although this was the second movie made, this was the first book written. I liked it. Robert Langdon is summoned from his peaceful bed to the CERN institute in Switzerland on an emergency, which is strange because Robert Langdon is a professor of symbology.
Genre: Fiction (Action?)
Date Finished: November 2009
Although this was the second movie made, this was the first book written. I liked it. Robert Langdon is summoned from his peaceful bed to the CERN institute in Switzerland on an emergency, which is strange because Robert Langdon is a professor of symbology.
Practical Common Lisp
Author: Peter Seibel
Genre: Non-Fiction (Computers)
I haven't actually finished this book yet, so I'm not sure it counts. However, since it is about learning to program in Lisp, it could take a significant amount of time to finish.
Weirdly I've had it in my mind for many years to go back and re-learn Lisp some time. At SFU, CMPT 201 was taught in Lisp, and it seemed neat somehow, but when the course ended, I went off and programmed VB, C++, C and Java instead.
Over the years I kept hearing about Lisp, about how it (like Smalltalk) was a kind of special language, years ahead of it's time. Of course, there are articles by Paul Graham, Eric Raymond and others about how effective and special Lisp is. However, nearly every programmer says that about the language they know. The Tibetan Buddhists call it self cherishing, the idea we each hold that we are a unique, special individual, and by extension the things we do and know are also unique and special.
However, it was really this article that convinced me to try a new language. And an impractical language at that. I mean, learning Groovy, Ruby, C# or VB would have potential benefits for my career. However, learning Lisp, that would be purely for fun.
Genre: Non-Fiction (Computers)
I haven't actually finished this book yet, so I'm not sure it counts. However, since it is about learning to program in Lisp, it could take a significant amount of time to finish.
Weirdly I've had it in my mind for many years to go back and re-learn Lisp some time. At SFU, CMPT 201 was taught in Lisp, and it seemed neat somehow, but when the course ended, I went off and programmed VB, C++, C and Java instead.
Over the years I kept hearing about Lisp, about how it (like Smalltalk) was a kind of special language, years ahead of it's time. Of course, there are articles by Paul Graham, Eric Raymond and others about how effective and special Lisp is. However, nearly every programmer says that about the language they know. The Tibetan Buddhists call it self cherishing, the idea we each hold that we are a unique, special individual, and by extension the things we do and know are also unique and special.
However, it was really this article that convinced me to try a new language. And an impractical language at that. I mean, learning Groovy, Ruby, C# or VB would have potential benefits for my career. However, learning Lisp, that would be purely for fun.
Kindred in Death
Author: JD Robb
Genre: Sci-Fiction Detective
Date Finished: Tuesday September 10, 2009
The vicious murder of a police captain's 16 year old daughter ends Eve's weekend early and she pulls the crew back into the thick of things. In the background, Louise is getting married.
Eve and Sommerset are barely even insulting each other any more. Are they mellowed?
Genre: Sci-Fiction Detective
Date Finished: Tuesday September 10, 2009
The vicious murder of a police captain's 16 year old daughter ends Eve's weekend early and she pulls the crew back into the thick of things. In the background, Louise is getting married.
Eve and Sommerset are barely even insulting each other any more. Are they mellowed?
The Woman Who Rides Like a Man
Author: Tamora Pierce
Genre: Fiction (Fantasy) - Young Adult
Date Finished: November 2009
The third book about Alanna of Trebond, following In the Hand of the Goddess. She has finished her training and she is a full fledged knight, off to experience 'adventures', somewhere. Not here. She's sure she can find 'adventure' somewhere.
Instead she gets adopted into a desert tribe, displaces their shaman, becomes a magic teacher. If only she could get untangled from all these attachments so she could go off and find some adventure, somewhere.
Genre: Fiction (Fantasy) - Young Adult
Date Finished: November 2009
The third book about Alanna of Trebond, following In the Hand of the Goddess. She has finished her training and she is a full fledged knight, off to experience 'adventures', somewhere. Not here. She's sure she can find 'adventure' somewhere.
Instead she gets adopted into a desert tribe, displaces their shaman, becomes a magic teacher. If only she could get untangled from all these attachments so she could go off and find some adventure, somewhere.
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