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Tuesday, December 29, 2015

December 29th Surprise




There are some folks out there who must think that all I do is play these silly puzzle apps. In fact, I do manage to read some books, usually on my NYC subway commute.


Here's what I read this year.


Feel free to make book recommendations in the comments below.

3 comments:

  1. Lots of interesting choices there! Are they ranked in your order of enjoyment?
    One of my favourite books of all time is Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell. It's might take a little bit of effort to get through it the first time, but on re-reads it's very enjoyable.
    I haven't finished this one, but it seems interesting enough so far to recommend - House of Leaves by Mark Danielewski. Just a quick google image search of some of the pages in the book will probably tell you enough about this one.
    For something more serious, try Godel Escher Bach by Douglas Hofstadter. It's kind of an exploration of abstract maths, art, and definitions of completeness etc.
    Margaret Atwood's Oryx and Crake trilogy is also a very good read.

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  2. Hmmm... I don't see any from the late, dear departed Terry Pratchet, so either (a) you have read them all, (b) don't like them, or (c) haven't heard of him. If one of the first two, then I can't do much about it, but if (c) is correct, then I very strongly recommend that you start with "The Colour of Magic". If you like that one, then there are many, many more in the series. in my book, the man was a witty, comic genius, the like of whom come all to rarely...

    On a totally different note, I will also put my two cents worth in for Gödel Escher Bach. A fascinating book (I read it about 15 years ago, and I love both Escher and Bach).

    On another topic completely, I can strongly recommend Mendelevs' Dream. Traces the story of chemistry from its roots (I am a chemist). It is completely non-technical, but beautifully researched and even more beautifully written. The dream refers to Dimitry Mendelevs dream, in which he visualized what we now refer to as the periodic table of the elements. Really fun stuff...

    Another one, on my list of books to read is “Seven Brief Lessons on Physics” by Carlo Rovelli; Penguin; ISBN: 9780241235966" It got rave reviews in New Scientist recently.

    Have fun! :-)

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