Last update: 10-Dec-2008 at 10:59 AM
This is a partial list of the books I am currently reading, re-reading, or planning to read in the near future. I used to keep a list of papers here, too, but that got to be intractable, due to rapid turnover, so now I'm only posting books, unless the paper in question happens to be really interesting.
Entries I have recently finished reading are displayed in this colour, while those I have not yet acquired are shown in this colour. Titles shown in this colour are on loan to other people. In each case, I have tried to provide enough publication information to make it possible to find some edition of each book, but I have not made any particular attempt to locate the original publication data.
If this list is of interest to you, you might also want to take a look at my Finished Reading List, where I have moved those entries I finished reading a while ago. I sometimes add responses there, too.
Usually referred to as simply “The Dragon Book,” for the illustration of a red dragon on the cover, this is justifiably considered one of the definitive resources on the subject of compiler implementation. I spend a lot of time poring over this book for my research.
I have passed by this book several times now in the bookstores, and not bought a copy. After Book 6, The Song of Susannah, I am no longer sure I really want to read any more of this story. It's grown long and tiresome, and the dark magic it once held has faded for me.
I will probably read it eventually, just so that I can be done, but I cannot yet bring myself to pay money for it. Perhaps I will check it out of the library, when I have some time; but there are enough other things I'd rather read that I'm in no hurry.
When I started reading this book, I expected it to be a fairly generic fantasy story, and my hopes were not high. But I was completely taken aback -- it is ever so much, much better than that! Susanna Clarke writes with a dark faerie-tale sensibility much reminiscent of Neil Gamain, but also with enormous humour and a sublime voice of England in the Napoleonic age. Her characters are human and compelling, and I was carried along so by the story that the book's one-thousand or so pages passed as if they were two hundred.
If you read only one new book this year, let it be this one.
I think that virtually every teacher should read this book, particularly those who teach science or mathematics. The art of teaching a student how to find the answers to complex problems is by no means obvious, and yet Polya's How to Solve It is a perfect kind of "meta-text", that teaches teaching by example.
Although his ideas are presented in the context of mathematics, I have found many of his ideas applicable to a wide variety of topics in the sciences, and I have found that his Socratic style is very engaging to the students, when carefully applied.
With this collection of short stories, Ms. Clarke proves that the charming and thoroughly entertaining style that made her 2004 novel Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell such a delight were no mere fluke. Being of a shorter format, these stories do not engross the reader so deeply as Jonathan Strange, but they were no less entertaining for that! I am eager for another novel-length book by Ms. Clarke.
Spider Robinson has done a remarkable thing with this novel: from seven pages of closely-spaced notes, he has produced a science fiction novel worthy of Heinlein at the height of his powers. At the same time, he didn't just write a wooden parody of the old Grandmaster; Robinson is more than just the Dead Hand of an old soldier. Variable Star is funny, engaging, exciting, and well-paced; often better so than even Mr. Heinlein's own tales. Fans will not be disappointed, and I think Mr. Robinson deserves a hearty round of applause for a job superbly well done.
Although Piper is a bit off the beaten path for mainstream science fiction, his yarns are well-worth a side trip. This collection, which includes Little Fuzzy and Fuzzy Sapiens, also entitled The Other Human Race follows an engaging first-contact scenario between humans and an intelligent but low-technology alien species on a human colonial world.
As with Lone Star Planet, Piper reveals here his gift for keeping a story moving, and those who like a bit of frontier-style courtroom drama will also be well pleased.
This book tells the story of several archaeologists who travel through time to 14th Century France. As usual, Crichton's style is literate, clear, enjoyable, and reads as though he were writing to a screenplay rather than a novel. As such, it does not raise any truly profound questions, but it's a worthy read, and particularly well suited for travelling, since it comes in short, crisp episodes.
It would be perfectly reasonable to describe Kay's world as "alternative history," but that would do no justice to his lyrical and thoroughly engaging writing style. As with A Song for Arbonne, the story that is told here is uncomplicated, but that does not in any way detract from the pleasure of reading it.
An excellent conclusion to the series. For now, I will avoid discussing it in any detail, however, lest I should spoil any of the surprises for those of you who have not read it, yet might happen across this page in your travels.