Jun 20 2010

Books

Published by mdanks

2010

  • Creative Code – John Maeda
  • The Last Fish Tale – Mark Kurlansky
  • The Man Who Made Vermeers – Jonathan Lopez
  • Crossing the Chasm – Geoffrey Moore
  • Charlatan – Pope Brock
  • Neural Smithing – Russell Reed and Robert Marks
  • Genghis Khan – Paul Ratchnevsky
  • The Numerati – Stephen Baker
  • Animal, Vegetable, Miracle – Barabara Kingsolver
  • Seize the Daylight – David Prerau
  • The Dangerous World of Butterflies – Peter Laufer
  • Enigma – Hugh Sebag-Montefiore
  • The Sharper Your Knife, the Less You Cry – Kathleen Flinn
  • Final Crisis – Morrison, Jones, Mahnke
  • Hallelujah Junction – John Adams
  • Wonderful Life – Stephen Jay Gould
  • The Billionaire’s Vinegar – Benjamin Wallace
  • The Man Who Loved Books Too Much – Allison Bartlett
  • Poseidon’s Steed – Helen Scales
  • The Undercover Economist – Tim Harford
  • Godel, Escher, Bach – Douglas Hofstadter

2009

  • The Apothecaries Garden – Sue Minter
    • A delightful history of a 300 year old garden in London
  • Free - Chris Anderson
    • Discussion of the economics of free pricing models
  • The Jennifer Morgue – Charles Stross
    • Same as before.  H.P. Lovecraft crossed with Neal Stephenson fiction
  • Provenance – Laney Salisbury and Aly Sujo
    • How two con men tricked the art world with forgeries
  • The Rest is Noise – Alex Ross
    • In-depth history of modern, 20th century music
  • Henry – David Starkey
    • The early years for Henry VIII, one of the most famous of the monarchs
  • The Atrocity Archives – Charles Stross
    • H.P. Lovecraft crossed with Neal Stephenson fiction
  • The Drunkard’s Walk – Leonard Mlodinow
    • Pop version description of how randomness affects people
  • Pride and Prejudice and Zombies – Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith
    • Exactly what the title says.  Great to read one of them
  • The Art of Making Money – Jason Kersten
    • Gripping tale of a master counterfeiter
  • Eat, Memory – Edited by Amanda Hesser
    • Collection of food articles from the New York Times
  • For Love of Insects – Thomas Eisner
    • Accessible, but scientific overview of the amazing world of insects
  • The Lost City of Z – David Grann
    • A journalist’s obsession with a mythical city in South America
  • How the States Got Their Shapes – Mark Stein
    • Explains why the US states have such odd shapes
  • Watchmen – Alan Moore, Dave Gibbons
    • One of the best graphic novels of all time
  • Wired for War – P. W. Singer
    • Measured look at how robots are being used in war, including technology and ethics
  • The Book of Five Rings – Miyamoto Musashi
    • Classic Japanese text on how to fight and use a sword
  • The Big Oyster – Mark Kurlansky
    • Entertaining history of both the oyster and New York City
  • Flatland – Edwin Abbott
    • Brilliant fiction depicting beings in different dimensions
  • Lost Earth: A life of Cezanne – Philip Callow
    • An overly long book about a brilliant artist with a boring life
  • The Pluto Files – Neil Tyson
    • Self-marketing book by the astronomer who was at the center of the debate if Pluto is a planet
  • Why Some Like it Hot – Gary Nabhan
    • Mildly interesting book about genetic tendencies towards food which makes a number of logic leaps
  • Free Lunch – David Johnston
    • Well documented history of how the US government helps business and the rich at the expense of the vast majority.
  • Champagne - Don and Petie Kladstrup
    • A light history of the wine and region
  • The Conscience of a Liberal – Paul Krugman
    • 1 year old book which (hopefully) accurately predicts what has happened in the USA
  • A Day at El Bulli – Ferran Adria
    • A gorgeous and informative book about the famous restaurant.  Useless as a cookbook, but wonderful as a source of inspiration.
  • What Einstein Told His Cook – Robert Wolke
    • The science behind cooking.  A lot like McGee’s book.
  • The Great Unraveling – Paul Krugman
    • 5 year old book which accurately predicted what has happened to the USA

2008

  • On the Line – Eric Ripert
    • Pragmatic description of how Le Bernardin operates
  • Writings on Music – Steve Reich
    • Wonderful book by the composer giving insight to how he works
  • Under the Black Flag – David Cordingly
    • History of pirates and how they actually behaved.  Text heads off on tangents but is a good analysis
  • Traffic: Why We Drive the Way We Do – Tom Vanderbilt
    • Extremely interesting analysis of how drivers and traffic operate
  • Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed – Jared Diamond
    • Very informative and dense textbook on the history of various societies.
  • Business the Sony Way – Shu Shin Luh
    • Light, inaccurate, poorly written history and analysis of Sony Corp.
  • Izakaya – Mark Robinson
    • Part travelogue, part history, and part cookbook for Japanese pubs.
  • The Knight’s Templar – Sean Martin
    • A dry history of the Templar’s which focuses mainly on historical dates and events.
  • Ender’s Game – Orson Scott Card
    • Classic science fiction book which I hadn’t read. While good, it does not compare to most “classic” dramatic books.
  • Plan of Attack – Bob Woodward
    • Description of the period before the Iraq war that shows that most of the Bush administration should be held accountable for war crimes.
  • What Happened – Scott McClellan
    • Tell all about the Bush White House. McClellan tries to defend himself before history judges him poorly.
  • Proust was a Neuroscientist – Jonah Lehrer
    • Poorly written pop science book which tries to explain how artists know more than researchers
  • Post-Capitalist Society – Peter Drucker
    • Discussion of knowledge workers in industry
  • Spook Country – William Gibson
    • Standard multithreaded Gibson novel set in the present day
  • The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana – Umberto Eco
    • Reminds me of The Island of the Day Before. However, I still like Foucault’s Pendulum the best.
  • Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them – Al Franken
    • If you are a liberal, reinforces your beliefs in the right wing conservative media and movement.
  • The Last Man on the Moon – Eugene Cernan
    • Interesting and amusing anecdotes about the man on the moon program, although it is filled with back stabbing and bitterness.

2007

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