Top 10ish:
- Working: People Talk About What They Do All Day and How They Feel About What They Do by Studs Terkel
- The English and Their History by Robert Tombs
- Gravity’s Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon
- High Output Management by Andrew S. Grove
- Nature’s Metropolis by William Cronon
- What Do Pictures Want?: The Lives and Loves of Imagesby W. J. T. Mitchell
- The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable by Nassim Nicholas Taleb
- Web Analytics 2.0: The Art of Online Accountability and Science of Customer Centricity by Avinash Kaushik
- The Second Machine Age by Erik Brynjolfsson and Andrew McAffee
- Against The Day by Thomas Pynchon
- Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders
Books I’ve Read (most recent to oldest):
Digital Transformation by Thomas Siebel
So You Want To Talk About Race? by Ijeoma Oluo
Southern Horrors by Ida B. Wells
Beloved by Toni Morrison
Blue Ocean Strategy
The Diversity Bonus by Scott Page
An interesting take on the diversity discussion, moving away from social justice approaches and strictly making a logical and business case for it. Not my cup of tea per se, but solid arguments, well researched, that I’m sure will speak to certain audiences that might not pay attention otherwise.
Achtung Baby by Sara Zaske
Measure What Matters by John Doerr
A good (the good?) overview of the OKR process, with far too many examples.
The Dawn of Eurasia by Bruno Maçães
An incredibly illuminating and enjoyable book, with the downside that I so often wish to travel the places Maçães goes to throughout this book that I was rather jealous. The book is an excellent look at
Why Art? by Eleanor Davis
A wonderful little metaphysical exploration of why we make art and what we hope it says about (and for) us.
Theory of Bastards by Audrey Schulman
What a wonderful book, full of misplaced optimism in a dystopian future. The book follows Frankie, a scientist researching the mating habits of humans and bonobos. (The book spends a lot of time getting to know a pack of bonobos.) Halfway through the book everything turns, and the apes start to seem more in touch with life than the humans. Be sure to set aside time to finish the last half of the book, because you won’t be able to put it down.
The Mother of All Questions by Rebecca Solnit
An excellent collection of recent feminist essays from Solnit; should be required reading.
The Odyssey of Homer, Translated by Emily Wilson
It was a joy to rediscover The Odyssey, especially in such a wonderful translation. The last time I read the Odyssey I was a teenager. No marriage, no children, still learning the world. It’s a very different story to me now, one where I can more easily sympathize with both Odysseus and Penelope, who both seem far more real in this translation. The new translation is great, but the 100 page introduction alone is worth this new edition.
Women and Power by Mary Beard
A wonderful collection of essays on how women with power have been portrayed for millenia. More than anything else, it’s a call to action and an acknowledgment of how far we’ve both come and need to go.
Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In by Roger Fisher, William L. Ury, and Bruce Patton
Gets you closer to yes than you were before. (It’s good.)
Never Eat Alone by Keith Ferrazzi
I don’t have this much energy, but there’s still a lot of great advice about networking and making connections in this book. Including the title: Never Eat Alone.
Reset: My Fight for Inclusion and Lasting Change by Ellen Pao
Part memoir, part argument for D&I efforts, and part how-to guide, this is a wonderful and much needed book. We’re all indebted to Ellen Pao, first for her lawsuit and now for her book.
The Spy Who Came in From the Cold by John le Carré
I should have read this sooner, it’s so good on so many levels. It works as a perfectly taut and very fast-paced spy thriller and an utter condemnation of spycraft.
Hit Refresh by Satya Nadella
Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders
An absolutely wonderful book full of sorrow and joy and humanity. You’ll never read another book that is as profound and as full of ghost scat jokes. The Lincoln of the title is actually Willie, Abe’s son who died at 11 right as the war was beginning. The book is told by a chorus of ghosts all stuck in the Bardo – a sort of in between death and the afterlife state – within the fences of Oak Hill Cemetery. The narrative device allows for some incredible moments of humanity and togetherness.
“His mind was freshly inclined toward sorrow; toward the fact that the world was full of sorrow; that everyone labored under some burden of sorrow; that all were suffering; that whatever way one took in this world, one must try to remember that all were suffering (none content; all wronged, neglected, overlooked, misunderstood), and therefore one must do what one could to lighten the load of those with whom one came into contact; that his current state of sorrow was not uniquely his, not at all, but, rather, its like had been felt, would yet be felt, by scores of others, in all times, in every time, and must not be prolonged or exaggerated, because, in this state, he could be of no help to anyone and, given that his position in the world situated him to be either of great help or great harm, it would not do to stay low, if he could help it.”
Decode and Conquer by Lewis C. Lin
Great overview of product management interview questions, with good frameworks for getting through the questions.
The Everything Store by Brad Stone
The founding myth that is Amazon, but with a good look at the lessons learned over time. Which really gets to one of the keys to Amazon’s success: a constant and unrelenting willingness to invest in and try new ideas. Constantly. Forever.
Cracking The PM Interview by Gayle Laakmann McDowell and Jackie Bavaro
About three times as long as Decode and Conquer but not necessarily three times as useful. The chapters in the middle where various PMs go through their career arcs is phenomenally useful. I also found the extensive list of sample questions useful for brainstorming potential answers.
Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari
While giving an overview of humanity from the dawn of time up through today, Harari convincingly argues it is our ability as a species to form large flexible groups that has let us dominate the planet (he’s also convincing when he argues that we truly dominate the planet, for better or likely for worse). We form these groups by buying into shared stories: religions, companies, nations and football fans are all examples of what Harari calls “intersubjective reality.” I think the book probably reaches too far, especially in the later and more speculative chapters, but there’s a lot here to like and a lot of ideas to pursue. One thought I found fascinating – and I don’t know how substantiated it is – is that before the enlightenment and industrial revolution people broadly believed that the world could not be substantially improved, and this in turn is why there was such an emphasis on studying the classics – all knowledge was already out there and your job was to master it. Once we acknowledged how little we actually knew and embraced our ignorance we kicked off the scientific revolution.
The English and Their History by Robert Tombs
Where in the world can you find a 1,000 year old nation and government? England, I believe, is the one and only example. Despite countless wars and a more than a few detours, England can claim an unbroken and mostly continuously improving system of government that dates back to William the Conqueror’s invasion in 1066. Tombs masterfully, engagingly and enthusiastically takes us from pre-historic Britain all the way through 2014 in less than 900 pages. The English have had such a huge and outsized impact on the world that it is hard to quantify – a third of the world uses common law, for example, still citing precedents determined by landowners meeting in fields by English oak trees. The impact, of course, hasn’t always been great: many of today’s conflicts can be traced back to intentional and unintentional consequences of the British imperial era. Romans, medieval kings, the Enlightenment, the civil war and the Glorious Revolution, Victorian mores (and lack thereof), the swinging 60s, Thatcher and Blair have all taken England and the world to where they are today. Tombs tells the story in an incredibly fascinating and exciting way. Highly recommended, and easily one of my new favourite books.
Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking by Susan Cain
Great book although perhaps a bit overlong with examples. As someone that is probably introverted (although less so after a beer), the book makes you wish more of life was introvert friendly. Definitely good to read as a manager, as it’ll change some of my approaches with some employees and team members.
Negotiating for Success by George Siedel
Great basic overview of negotiating.
Outside In: The Power of Putting Customers at the Center of Your Business by Harley Manning and Kerry Bodine
Good overview of the how and why to orient our business around customers.
The Second Machine Age by Erik Brynjolfsson and Andrew McAffee
A very interesting and optimistic look at the ramifications of technology on broader society. Well, optimistic in the long term but perhaps pessimistic in the short term. The authors argue that the IT/Internet era is the “second machine age” after the “first machine age” of the industrial revolution from 1750-1850. I think they are definitely correct that the technological changes of the last 50 years will irrevocably reshape humanity, but the sobering lesson is that a lot of the benefits of the first industrial revolution took decades to have an impact and there was a steep learning curve along the way (and massive inequality). Hopefully we’ll learn from the past this time around – although we haven’t really so far.
Liberalism by Ludwig von Mises
I’ve been digging into the “Austrian school” lately to learn more about the philosophical underpinnings of liberalism (classical or otherwise). von Mises is of a time where he’s as much arguing against socialism as he is arguing for liberalism/capitalism, but you can see today that his arguments have largely won, at least in the west. A few quotes: 1) “Antiliberal policy is a policy of capital consumption. It recommends that the present be more abundantly provided for at the expense of the future.” 2) “This is the function that the liberal doctrine assigns to the state: the protection of property, liberty, and peace.” 3) “Liberalism, however, must be intolerant of every kind of intolerance.” I agree with much of what von Mises argues, and I do often think the market is the best way of sussing out the best solution to most problems, but I think the apparatus of the state should be far larger than von Mises does and it has obligations to support a basic level of both equality of opportunity as well as quality of life.
On Liberty by John Stuart Mill
Utilitarianism, “the greatest good for the greatest number,” is an interesting foundation for society but led to some very poor decisions in practice, especially as regards The Great Famine in Ireland. Nonetheless, On Liberty is an important step towards true freedom of conscious, where Mill convincingly argues that everyone should be free to think and say as they like, in large part because transparent and open discussion of competing ideas is the surest way to continue to improve society. “But the strongest of all the arguments against the interference of the public with purely personal conduct, is that when it does interfere, the odds are that it interferes wrongly, and in the wrong place.“
Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy
Basically a condemnation of Victorian-era ideas about love and marriage, with several lives being ruined because people chose to be with the people they loved. A bit heavy-handed for sure, but almost all of it is set within 25 miles of where I’m currently living. The most striking thing to me is how much the 1880s rural lifestyle was almost unchanged relative to the preceding centuries, other than that you could hop on a train to visit nearby towns. In this way it’s an interesting look at how technological progress is only slowly distributed to the various areas of society.
Bleeding Edge by Thomas Pynchon
The rare Pynchon novel that I didn’t love, although I did enjoy it. Lots of vignettes of New York City, lots of wonderful characters (although, in Pynchonion fashion, few are believable), and lots of incredible prose. But the story just never seemed to come together for me.
Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert B. Cialdini
So forgettable I literally forgot that I had read it until I found it in my Kindle app again later. Interesting ideas, but read this summary to save yourself some time.
The Last Days of Night by Graham Moore
Kind of like reading Michael Crichton, you can tell Moore is used to screenwriting. Everything is snappy and moves right along, but some of the bits fit together too perfectly. Still, an enjoyable read and enjoyable look at a wild period of American business and invention.
Works Well with Others: An Outsider’s Guide to Shaking Hands, Shutting Up, Handling Jerks, and Other Crucial Skills in Business That No One Ever Teaches You by Ross McCammon
I don’t think anyone outside the entertainment industry can use McCammon’s advice on how much to day drink, but a lot of McCammon’s advice in this book is sound (and enjoyable to read).
The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable by Nassim Nicholas Taleb
Super fascinating book that I am sure I will reread, if only to suss out more of the nuances in the book. Taleb makes four main arguments, all of which resonated with me: 1) what we don’t know we don’t know is far vaster than both what we know and what we know we don’t know; 2) the gaussian bell curve is incredibly dangerous; 3) minimise your exposure to negative events and maximise your exposure to positive events; 4) put yourself in a position to take advantage of serendipity whenever it finds you.
The Book of Common Prayer
“We have left undone those things which we ought to have done; And we have done those things which we ought not to have done.”
The Duel by Anton Chekhov
Interesting but not memorable, definitely of a time which is fascinating in its own right.
The Sense of Style by Steven Pinker
One half super useful guide to grammar and style from a neurology perspective (how does grammar help our brains process what we are reading?), but the other half is boring and muddling in mildly controversial ways. Good overall, though.
Pedigree: How Elite Students Get Elite Jobs by Lauren A. Rivera
A very interesting look from a sociologist looking at how the application and hiring processes for elite firms (consulting, law, banking) are biased towards hiring people from the upper classes with strong socioeconomic backgrounds. Rivera does a good job of showing how this happens despite the best intentions of those involved in the hiring process.
Bodies of Knowledge: Sexuality, Reproduction and Women’s Health in the Second Wave by Wendy Kline
Super fascinating look at how women’s health has changed in the past 40 years, and the history of women’s involvement in transforming the medical industry away from a male dominated view.
Waltzing With Bears: Managing Risk on Software Projects by Tom DeMarco and Timothy Lister
An amazing overview of risk management on software projects, but with lessons and example that are useful far beyond just software development. This book helped me understand how a company I worked for failed: the management assumed everything would go right, and never ever had a plan for when they didn’t. Risk!
How to Steal A Market For Free in Five Days by Michael E. Millsap
Some good ideas, but case studies that are a bit too particular to be applicable in a wider sense. I think the best lesson in the book is to just keep things simple. Customers respond to simple.
The New Rules of Retail by Michael Dart and Robin Lewis
Eh.
The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding by La Leche League
Strong opinions on childbirth and breastfeeding abound, but this does a great job of describing the ideal situation and helping you get there.
Essays on Love by Alain de Botton
I loved this book, but to love it you have to enjoy philosophy, romance, introspection and overanalysis. Still, though, it’s wonderful both as a particular story and general treatise on romantic love. I think it works, more than anything else, because of it’s humour.
What to Expect When You’re Expecting by by Heidi Murkoff and Sharon Mazel
Of all the pregnancy and childbirth books I’ve read this is the least opinionated and most expansive. Instead of arguing for one particular route it lays out all the options and constantly qualifies arguments with “some people do this, but others do that.” It makes for a good overview of what’s out there, but if you know the route you want to go it would be good to find other books with more depth.
Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats by T.S. Eliot
My future source for any cat name I would ever need. Like Bustopher Jones.
Signifying Rappers by David Foster Wallace and Mark Costello
Eh. Not bad not good. But it’s helped me discover a lot of new rap to check out (from the 80s). There are a handful of great insights about rap hidden in amongst the ramblings.
The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion
Utterly depressing, utterly terrifying, yet at it’s heart one of the best appraisals of the ups and downs (but oh so many ups) and all the neither ups nor downs of marriage. Didion reads about grief (the whole book is about her processing the sudden death of her husband), and sees in medical literature that grief can be especially challenging for couples that are particularly depending on each other, writing about this “unusual dependency (is that a way of saying ‘marriage’? ‘husband and wife’? ‘mother and child’? ‘nuclear family’?)” that the lucky among us are blessed with. After reading this book I hope to die after my wife, just to save her from the grief.
The Dhammapada
“Those who know the essential to be essential and the inessential as inessential reach the essential, living in the field of right intention.” I liked this book and like Buddhism.
The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen
Oof. Phenomenally written but incredibly hard to read (emotionally, not intellectually). Franzen’s family of characters is one of the most fleshed out I’ve ever read, and although I loved the book overall I just can’t handle the chapters from the ultra anxious and depressed Gary. Oof.
The Power of Myth by Joseph Campbell/Bill Moyers
I’ve long been intrigued by the stories we tell each other and the bonds we can feel, far and wide, because of those stories. I very much enjoyed this book, but you have to be ready for 300 pages of tangential conversations about mythology. Super fascinating.
The Art of Client Service by Robert Solomon
Saga by Brian K. Vaugn and Fiona Staples
Winter of our Discontent by John Steinbeck
Confessions of an Advertising Man by David Ogilvy
Out of This Century: Confessions of an Art Addict by Peggy Guggenheim
http://www.amazon.com/Out-This-Century-Confessions-Addict/dp/0233976019
This is an absolutely ridiculous book that’s an absolute blast to read (if you can get over how much money is being thrown around all the time). It’s a bit soap opera-ish to be sure and not full of tons of insight into the art world, but it’s fun.
Getting Past No by William Ury
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000PDZFDO
Super redundant with Getting to Yes, but I guess I should have expected that. Still, interesting and I’m sure it will be useful.
Getting To Yes by William Ury, Roger Fisher and Bruce Patton
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001ROAK9E
Good-but-not-great book about negotiating. A lot of it is common sense (which they even admit in the conclusion), but still insightful. Basically if you can communicate well you’ll probably negotiate well, but this has good tips for how to negotiate in more difficult situations.
High Output Management by Andrew S. Grove
http://www.amazon.com/High-Output-Management-Andrew-Grove/dp/0679762884
This book! For something written in 1983 pretty much the entire book still feels incredibly insightful and accurate. And needed: how many books are written about trying to improve middle management? This immediately became one of my favorite books, and I’m sure I’ll be rereading it through the years. I highly recommend it for anyone that manages people or is managed — so pretty much everyone.
Inherent Vice by Thomas Pynchon
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inherent_Vice
OK, so, well, I accidentally reread to Pynchon books back to back. This one I reread because I wanted to have the plot fresh in my mind for the movie (which may or may not have been a good idea). My opinions are about the same this time around: parts of it are amazing, Doc is one of the most lovable characters I’ve ever read, and parts of it aren’t amazing. I’m super jazzed for the movie though.
The Crying of Lot 49 by Thomas Pynchon
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Crying_of_Lot_49
I kinda picked this up one afternoon and before I knew it had read the first fifty pages, so I figured I should finish it. I think this is the third time I’ve read it? This time around I felt like I understood a lot more of what Pynchon was doing (which is probably because I read a lot of literary criticism about Pynchon earlier this year). I love this book and highly recommend it to everyone that is a little paranoid or wants to fight the man.
Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wealth_of_Nations
First let me admit that I skimmed this, thanks to an edition I have that summarizes each section in-line, so that a paragraph of text is reduced down to “such as sugar”. It is fascinating to read this already having studied economics for a long time, as it becomes impossible to discern what I take as common sense now from what is original to Smith. I’m gearing up to read Piketty’s Capital In the 21st Century and this seemed like a good thing to have a basic understanding of beforehand.
Regarding the Pain of Others by Susan Sontag
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regarding_the_Pain_of_Others
Kind of a follow up to Sontag’s On Photography, Regarding the Pain of Others asks why we are fascinated by depictions of suffering and war and what, if any, benefit looking at such images can bring. They are hard questions with no easy answers. (Recently brought to light again by ISIS.) I don’t think there is any doubt at this point that images can have immense power, but the new question seems to be is it possible at all to control that power or do images always have a life of their own.
The Signature of All Things by Elizabeth Gilbert
http://www.amazon.com/The-Signature-All-Things-Novel/dp/0670024856
Any of this books minor flaws are more than made up for by the depth of the main character, Alma Whittaker. I thoroughly enjoyed this, although anything that ends up being about evolution and the pursuit of knowledge will always be A-OK in my book.
Emily Post’s The Etiquette Advantage In Business by Peggy Post and Peter Post
http://www.amazon.com/Emily-Posts-Etiquette-Advantage-Business/dp/0060760028
Where else do you get to read such exquisite sentences as “Keep your voice volume to a reasonable level, so as not to add to the din.” I’ve always been impressed by good hosts and good conversationalists, and now I feel a bit closer to understanding the why and how of going about doing so myself. [Finished 8/31/2014]
Camera Lucida by Roland Barthes
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camera_Lucida_(book)
Barthe ponders (beautifully, at length), why some photos have the power to wound and others don’t. He often talks about intensely personal photos that have incredibly magic to the particular beholder, but these wounds, the punctum of each photo as he describes it, can be universal. Think of the difference between a photo of a recently departed friends vs. John F. Kennedy Jr.’s salute to his father’s casket. The question becomes how do we (can we?) embed these powers in photographs, or if such images will always be a power over us, not a power we have over them. [Finished 8/30/2014]
What Do Pictures Want?: The Lives and Loves of Images by W. J. T. Mitchell
http://www.press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/W/bo3534152.html
Somehow I’ve stumbled into an exploration of images and meaning and thinking all at once, between What Do Pictures Want and Intuition Pumps and The Power of Myth, coming at the topic from the fields of cognitive science, iconology, art history and anthropology all at once. It has been an interesting exploration of the power and magic of images and the sources of that magic, although there is worlds left to say and discover down this line of thinking. I think Mitchell is correct in saying that images want things from us, and that we interact with them as idols, fetish-objects or totems (or all three at once, or all three distinctly to different groups, etc.). I know I’ll be using this deliberately vague mapping in my thinking down the road.
The other great idea in this book — not original to Mitchell but better described by him than I’ve read elsewhere — is that of images fighting a survival of the fittest evolutionary battle for dominance. If images are species (and individual pictures particular specimens of an image), we can imagine at all levels of culture — from the aggregate humanity to my own individual preferences — an evolutionary battle of ideas and images running amok, living lives of their own. We are surely the host organism for images, but once in the wild images have a power and life beyond their creators.
All this isn’t to say that there are winners and losers in an ongoing image-battle or anything. Rather, this is an interesting framework for thinking about why some images are pervasive (the virgin Mary), forgotten (old and inaccurate pictures of dinosaurs), or personally important but largely irrelevant to society (pictures of family).
Running Lean: Iterate from Plan A to a Plan That Works by Ash Maurya
http://www.amazon.com/Running-Lean-Iterate-Works-Series/dp/1449305172
Oh, books you read that you wish you’d read a while ago. I really enjoyed Running Lean, and it makes me anxious to get back into a situation where I can be AB testing all-day-erry-day. This is a book I can tell I’ll be coming back to down the road. [Finished 8/21/14]
The Chicago River: A Natural an Unnatural History by Libby Hill
http://www.amazon.com/The-Chicago-River-Natural-Unnatural/dp/189312102X
I thoroughly enjoyed this book, but, you know, unless you like Chicago history you’d probably find it a bit boring. The history of the river is crazy, and I would argue that everything south of the west branch of the north branch is 100% artificial at this point.
Emotional Intelligence 2.0 by Travis Bradberry and Jean Greaves
http://www.amazon.com/Emotional-Intelligence-2-0-Travis-Bradberry-ebook/dp/B002U3CBUW/
This is a good breezy read that focuses on the how of emotional intelligence (I think it’s safe to assume the what and why). I tend to think of myself as fairly self aware — although it takes me a while to figure out what I was feeling sometimes — but I’m often naively oblivious to the emotions going on around me. I think? Maybe not? Anyway, this book has good simple strategies for all these things. I’d recommend it to anyone that interacts with other people. [Finished 8/16/2014]
Lean In by Sheryl Sandberg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lean_In
I’m glad to have read this as my wife and I try to navigate having two careers (although no kids, so no huge challenges thus far). We currently have a system that makes it very, very hard for women to succeed and the bigger and more open a dialogue we have about that the better things can be. I do think things are getting better but I think we have a long way to go. The whole book can be summed up with a Ruth Bader Ginsburg quote: “Women will only have true equality when men share with them the responsibility of bringing up the next generation.” [Finished 8/14/2014]
Teach Yourself Google Analytics by Michael Miller
http://www.amazon.com/Teach-Yourself-Google-Analytics-Minutes/dp/0672333201
Another good overview. I don’t think anything will ever beat Web Analytics 2.0: The Art of Online Accountability and Science of Customer Centricity by Avinash Kaushik for overall awesomeness and thoroughness, but this does a good job of going through the how of GA as opposed to the who what when where why of Web Analytics 2.0.
Principles of AdWords: Edition 2.0 by Paige Miller
http://www.amazon.com/Principles-AdWords-2-0-March-2014-ebook/dp/B00IQLKRYO/
Good overview. Has an excellent suggestion in the front: read only the things in bold and use the rest for reference down the road. I wish more books in this genre were written this way! [Finished 8/11/2014]
Content Strategy For The Web by Kristina Halvorson
http://www.amazon.com/Content-Strategy-Web-Kristina-Halvorson/dp/0321620062
Great quick read that does exactly what it says on the tin. I’m currently at a brand-new company and can thankfully skip the “content audit” bits because, well, there’s no content. That said I’m glad to be thinking about these issues up front and not down the road once we’ve built bad habits. Halvorson reinforces two key things I already believed: you have to have someone owning “content” if you want it to succeed, and there’s no one home for content, but rather many possible homes for each chunk of content. Also the chapter on “People” is pretty great. [Finished 8/8/2014]
The Pleasure of Good Photographs by Gerry Badger
http://aperture.org/shop/books/the-pleasures-of-good-photographs-2530
This is a hit-or-miss series of essays from British photo critic Gerry Badger. I enjoyed the intro, the essays on Evans, Atget, Adams (of the Robert variety), Avedon and Parr but kind of lost interest in the essays from there on it. In the flavor of Szarkowski’s The Photographer’s Eye, though, the middle section of the book has a wonderful series of small essays about fifteen or so different photographs on a theme. Badger, it seems, has broadly accepting opinions of photography but his particular tastes tend towards documentary and as such so do these essays. Still, I enjoyed it. My biggest complaint, honestly, is that now I want to go spend a lot of money on a lot of photo books that sound incredibly intriguing. [Finished 8/8/2014]
The Mythical Man-Month by Fred Brooks
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mythical_Man-Month
Somehow I accidentally dived into the late-70s computer development hole this week, between this and The Soul of a New Machine. Where Machine is a riveting tale of building a computer, Mythical Man-Month is a collection of essays about software development written by one of the wizards of the business at the top of his game. Brooks has said (thanks Wikipedia) this book is the bible of software engineering because “everybody quotes it, some people read it and a few people go by it.” While the book is O-L-D old by computer industry standards it’s still insightful and still a good read. The 1995 updates add a helpful summary of the key points of the first edition, plus a great discussion of where Brooks was right, where he was wrong and what’s changed since 1975. [Finished 8/8/2014]
The Soul of a New Machine by Tracy Kidder
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Soul_of_a_New_Machine
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. The Soul of a New Machine is pretty easy to summarize: an embedded journalist lives among and studies a team rushing to build a new computer in 1979. Kidder’s a great writer: every chapter manages to move the narrative forward, look at a unique member of the team, and adds context to the bigger picture. I’ve never — and I hope not to — worked on a project as time-consuming as the computer they build, but I’ve caught the faintest whiffs of the highs the book describes coming from building and completing a solid project. The book explores whether or not you can create teams that work this way or if they just accidentally happen. I hope you can create ‘em and I hope to do so someday. [Finished 8/6/2014]
Don’t Make Me Think: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability by Steven Krug
http://www.amazon.com/Dont-Make-Me-Think-Usability/dp/0321344758
Old but good, the principles of Web usability haven’t changed too dramatically with time even if site design overall has somewhat dramatically with the advent of mobile and tablets. You still gotta make things useful. You still got a test everything (and test it again). “Business models are like buses: if you miss one, all you have to do is wait a little while and another one will come along.”
What Makes a Great Exhibition edited by Paula Marincola
http://www.amazon.com/Makes-Great-Exhibition-Paula-Marincola/dp/0970834616
Some great essays, some essays that just want to be obtuse, and some essays that are obtuse but kinda great. All about curating and putting on art exhibitions in bigger museums. One of the essays on the history of biennials and globalization, observed something to the effect of “many people in western culture treat foreign cultures as if they are static,” which is an idea that really intrigues me. You have to know a lot about a topic for it’s history to turn into a narrative, and in the interim you end up thinking of things as discreet and static snapshots. I’m not sure how to avoid that, but it is something I’ll be keeping in mind going forward.
[Finished 7/30/2014]
“A Model of Christian Charity” by Governor John Winthrop
http://religiousfreedom.lib.virginia.edu/sacred/charity.html
and
“Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” by Jonathan Edwards
http://www.ccel.org/ccel/edwards/sermons.sinners.html
Invisible Republic and Gravity’s Rainbow both hearken back to the Puritans and the Great Awakening often enough that I wanted to go back and read these myself. When you listen to Dylan you can hear folk music from a 100 years prior, and when you listen to that folk music you can hear Jonathan Edwards, and in Edwards you can hear Winthrop. I know it is crazy to conflate them all together at once, but that’s America for you. And man oh man can Edwards write: “When you look forward, you shall see a long for ever, a boundless duration before you, which will swallow up your thoughts, and amaze your soul; and you will absolutely despair of ever having any deliverance, any end, any mitigation, any rest at all. You will know certainly that you must wear out long ages, millions of millions of ages, in wrestling and conflicting with this almighty merciless vengeance; and then when you have so done, when so many ages have actually been spent by you in this manner, you will know that all is but a point to what remains.” 🙁
Making Movies by Sidney Lumet
http://www.amazon.com/Making-Movies-Sidney-Lumet/dp/0679756604
I LOVED Lumet’s book on, of course, making movies. He writes wonderfully. His anecdotes are wondrous. He’s the most even-headed pragmatic optimist I’ve ever had the pleasure of reading. Lumet talks about the joy of everything coming together, “everyone working on the same movie,” and how incredibly hard it is to get a team that big to all work together. If you enjoy movies, want to make movies, work on teams, manage groups, or just like a good read I’d recommend this. So basically to almost anyone. [Finished 7/28/14]
Destiny of the Republic by Candice Millard
http://www.amazon.com/Destiny-Republic-Madness-Medicine-President/dp/0767929713
Eh? A good, well researched and well written book about President Garfield and his assassination, but perhaps not for me. I think I am more interested in historical analysis — in the big picture view of ramifications — than in a retelling of details. Ironically, especially given the title, Garfield’s assassination had but the tiniest impact on the country. Millard does a great job, though, and I’d recommend this book to others in spite of not loving it myself. [Finished 7/14/14]
Invisible Republic by Greil Marcus
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invisible_Republic
This is an incredibly detailed look into Bob Dylan’s Basement Tapes. More than being about the songs, though, it dives deep into their cultural background, tracing Dylan’s inspirations as far back as John Winthrop’s 1630 sermon “A Model of Christian Charity.” While the book meanders at times, I definitely recommend it to anyone that likes Bob Dylan, folk music, or the weirdness of American history. I’d recommend the chapter on the History of American Folk Music to anyone and everyone. It’s wonderful.
Parrot and Olivier in America by Peter Carey
http://www.amazon.com/Parrot-Olivier-America-Peter-Carey/dp/0307592626/
Good but not great (especially when the true book is so great), Parrot and Olivier in America creates a fictional narrative around Alexis de Toqueville’s exploration of America’s infant democracy that led to Democracy in America. Parts of it are good, but your time is better spent reading Democracy in America a first or second time.
Will The Circle By Unbroken by Studs Terkel
http://www.amazon.com/Will-Circle-Be-Unbroken-Reflections-ebook/dp/B0041KLCGQ/
Towards the end of his life (and after the death of his wife, Ida) Studs interviewed people from all walks of life and professions about their experiences with death and dying and life. The book ends up being more about living than dying, which I think is fitting for Studs. You walk away with a strong desire to live a good life, be a good person, perhaps or perhaps not more comfortable with the inevitability of dying. As with any book from Studs, I have no idea how he found these amazing people and elicited such amazing conversations from them. It’s wonderful.
Signs and Symptoms: Thomas Pynchon and the Contemporary World by Peter L. Cooper
http://books.google.com/books?id=jqYPLWciGVcC
I vaguely understood Gravity’s Rainbow, but only vaguely. Cooper’s analysis is both invaluable for understanding Pynchon’s themes, but also for putting Pynchon within the context of his contemporaries, both authors and thinkers. A lot of Pynchon’s writing seems more and more prescient, but I’d argue big chunks of it are also outdated too. Either way, Pynchon succeeds at making you consider it all, the elect and the preterite, the profound and the profane, the forces creating order and the forces creating chaos. Cooper provides an excellent overview of it all, helping you see how all of Pynchon’s writings (up through Gravity’s Rainbow) tie it all together.
Gravity’s Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravity’s_Rainbow
I’m still processing this book, and honestly I wouldn’t be able to do so without the online wiki and oodles of scholarly writing available on Google Books. I think, probably because I’ve already read Against the Day (which follows very similar themes), that I probably found Gravity’s Rainbow more optimistic than Pynchon intended. But you can never tell with Pynchon: cracks of light keep breaking through the darkness. Gravity’s Rainbow is about no less than the weight and inertia of civilization, raising a whole host of questions that Pynchon never quite answers. Are our efforts towards creating order turning us into mindless zombies? Are there forces controlling society, or is everything falling into decay? Does love ever prevail? Does technology empower the few (the elect) at the expense of everyone else (the preterite)? I’m not sure yet, but I’m pretty sure, that I loved this book. If nothing else I’ve enjoyed the myriad rabbit holes it has had me pursing since I finished it. [Finished 5/18/2014]
The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Building a Business When There are No Easy Answers by Ben Horowitz
http://www.amazon.com/The-Hard-Thing-About-Things/dp/0062273205
While this is really just a collection of blog posts, it’s a damn good collection of damn good blog posts. Horowitz (half of Andreessen Horowitz) has been at the heart of software and start-up culture for the past fifteen years, and this book is packed with the useful tidbits of knowledge he’s learned along the way.
The Adobe SiteCatalyst Handbook: An Insiders Guide by Adam Greco
http://www.amazon.com/Adobe-SiteCatalyst-Handbook-Insiders-Guide-ebook/dp/B009OMV11W
A pretty straightforward manual for SiteCatalyst, which for all of its help documents could really use something more complete like this. I used it to sort out tracking campaigns through different channels
From Values To Action: The Four Principles of Value-Based Leadership by Harry M. Kraemer
http://www.amazon.com/Values-Action-Principles-Values-Based-Leadership-ebook/dp/B004SHOHT6
This is one of those books that on one hand seems to oversimplify what must be an incredibly complex job (being a CEO), but does so with optimism and a certain heart-warmingness that makes it feel OK to do so. A good book, and a good balance to Ben Horowitz’ The Hard Thing About Hard Things.
Web Analytics 2.0: The Art of Online Accountability and Science of Customer Centricity by Avinash Kaushik
http://www.amazon.com/Web-Analytics-2-0-Accountability-Centricity-ebook/dp/B0032ZD0IE
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. Kaushik does a great job of explaining not just the how of analytics but the why and, perhaps most importantly, how to get the rest of your organization to follow the gospel of web analytics. No other book has had as large an impact on my day-to-day work life.
Space Chronicles by Neil deGrasse Tyson
http://www.amazon.com/Space-Chronicles-Facing-Ultimate-Frontier-ebook/dp/B005LW5KFW
A good book with good arguments: we should spend more money on science and space exploration. Unfortunately, this book is a compilation of several essays deGrasse Tyson has written, most of which weren’t written with the intention of ever being compiled into the same book. As such, the same points are made over and over and the same examples are repeated several times.
The Post American World by Fareed Zakaria
http://www.amazon.com/Post-American-World-Release-2-0-International-ebook/dp/B00505YYGQ
Eh. Good but not great. Zakaria is unlikely to impress anyone that’s already following international politics or sway anyone away from jingoism towards a more international view.
The Org: The Underlying Logic of the Office by Ray Fisman and Tim Sullivan
http://www.amazon.com/Org-Underlying-Logic-Office-ebook/dp/B007ZG30JK/
Did this book confirm that I want to go into management? Yes. Did this book reaffirm my desire to go get an MBA? Yep. Do I wonder if I should go into HR? Maybe. With chapter introductions like “Are bosses necessary and, if so, really?”, Fisman and Sullivan explore how the office came to be, what’s good about it and what’s bad about it. Just like Churchill said of democracy “Indeed, it has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time,“ so Fisman and Sullivan make a pretty convincing case that the office is the best of all the possibly terrible ways we could get together 40 hours a week and try to work together.
A Dance With Dragons by George R. R. Martin
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Dance_with_Dragons
Better, but still eh. While a lot of great stuff happens in this one, it mostly feels like a lot of great stuff is about to happen in the next book, which still isn’t out. Get to it, George! The show’s gonna catch up!
A Feast For Crows by George R. R. Martin
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Feast_for_Crows
Still good, but I think Martin at this point needs an editor to help him rein in and streamline the dozens of plots and to help characters get from point A to B a bit more easily. Probably the worst in the series?
Storm of Swords by George R. R. Martin
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Storm_of_Swords
This is the last of the “good” Song of Ice and Fire books thus far, but oh man is it good. Maybe even the best?
Using WordPress by Tris Hussey
http://www.amazon.com/Using-WordPress-Enhanced-Tris-Hussey-ebook/dp/B007THFRFK/ref=sr_1_1
Aptly named and super useful, this is the perfect book for anyone looking to set up their own WordPress site. I’ve found it invaluable both for making my own site and for sites I’ve made for my work.
The Elements of Style by Strunk and White
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Elements_of_Style
I have finished reading this book. It was a book that I enjoyed reading. I found myself surprised that I had not yet read it. It is a book that I would recommend. [Finished 8/16/12]
The Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects by Giorgio Vasari
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lives_of_Artists
It turns out Italian renaissance artists were pretty awesome: they painted, sculpted, and built amazing stuff all while conniving, holding grudges, and pulling pranks on each other. Vasara wrote the first edition of this in 1555, which makes him a contemporary to Michaelangelo and Titian, the last artists he profiles, and only a handful of generations removed from Cimabue, the earliest artist profiled. I enjoyed it. If you like the renaissance, I’m sure you’ll enjoy it too. [Finished 8/14/12]
Believing is Seeing (Observations on the Mysteries of Photography) by Errol Morris
http://www.amazon.com/Believing-Seeing-Observations-Mysteries-Photography/dp/1594203016/
Errol Morris hates a mystery. Or he loves a mystery? I’m going to go with hates. When he discovers a mystery he works slavishly to obliterate it, to shed light on it, to unmake the mystery. Just as in his documentaries, Morris does an amazing job of following up on every imaginable lead and eliciting telling interviews from everyone he contacts about a topic. From the Crimean war to Abu Ghraib, he wants to know exactly what happened and what, if anything, can we learn from photographs of the events. The answer is less than we think. [Finished 8/13/12]
A Clash of Kings by George R. R. Martin
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Clash_of_Kings
We shall see how long I’m able to put off the next book. These things are addictive and now that I’m caught up with the show I NEED TO KNOW what happens next.
The Corporate Blogging Book by Debbie Weil
As exciting as it sounds, which isn’t too terribly much. I was glad to remember I didn’t pay very much for it, as it was mostly written in 2005 and things have changed a little since then.
At Home: A Short History of Private Life by Bill Bryson
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/At_Home:_A_Short_History_of_Private_Life
The Economist refers to Bill Bryson’s work as “light erudition”, which is pretty accurate. At Home is an immensely interesting collection of long tangents: Bryson attempts to give us a concise history of why each room in our homes are as they are. Prone to what comes awfully close to rambling, but pretty great nonetheless.
Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Game_of_Thrones
You may have heard of this series. I was sucked into it by the HBO series first, and rather than wait for the next season premiere I figured I’d get cracking on the books. The books are better than the show thus far, but both are great. I’ve only read this one so we’ll see how far I get into the series…
Everything You’ve Always Wanted to Know About Curating* by Hans Ulrich-Obrist
http://www.amazon.com/Everything-Always-Wanted-Curating-Afraid/dp/1933128259
This is a collection of interviews with the always on the move, often curating, always interviewing Hans Ulrich Obrist. Sometimes profound, sometimes rambling, sometimes redundant, but often rewarding, I recommend for people interested in talking about art and artists. More than anything else it reminded me of the importance of conversation and starting conversations, which in turn has made me reach out to photographers I know to start up conversations with them. [Finished on 4/21/12]
*But Were Afraid To Ask
Ulysses by James Joyce
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulysses_(novel)
Where to begin?Each chapter of Ulysses is at least three things (probably a lot more): some sort of rhetorical stunt, a reflection of something happening in The Odyssey, and possibly even a slight advancement of the overall plot. I highly recommend the annotations as well as the sparknotes. As I progressed my MO was to read the intro to each chapter from the annotations, read the chapter itself while consulting the annotations as desired, and then to read the sparknotes to make sure I hadn’t missed anything plot-wise. All that said: it was worth it. Bloom is about as adorable a character as you can imagine, with all sorts of Irishness and Jewishness and craziness and perversions and worries and habits. And, I’ll be honest, once you know what’s going on the rhetorical stunts are pretty great in their own right. [Finished on 4/11/12]
Photography As Contemporary Art by Charlotte Cotton
http://www.amazon.com/The-Photograph-Contemporary-Art-World/dp/0500204012/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1333494989&sr=1-1
I read this several years ago but just recently re-read it. This book covers roughly from the 70s up until 2007 or so and does a pretty good job of looking at contemporary photography from a global standpoint. I highly recommend it as an overview of what’s out there. It will open up many a rabbit hole you’ll want to go down
The Digital Eye by Sylvia Wolf
http://www.amazon.com/The-Digital-Eye-Photographic-Electronic/dp/3791343181/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1333494861&sr=8-1
A good survey of early digital photography and digital manipulation, as well as the directions it has been heading in more recent days. A good essay and a good collection of plates ranging from the 90s to just a year or two ago.
On Photography by Susan Sontag
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_Photography
Super dense but super enjoyable (well, I guess, if you’re into this sort of thing).There’s a wealth of quotes and passages that I am sure will influence my thoughts on photography and my photography itself.
The $12 Million Stuff Sharked: The Curious Economics of Contemporary Art by Don Thompson
http://www.amazon.com/Million-Stuffed-Shark-Economics-Contemporary/dp/0230620590/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1328025503&sr=8-1
As with many of the books I’ve been reading, the analysis only goes up until the market highs of 2007 and 2008 with little to say about the economic fallout on the art markets since then. Thompson’s book is great — I highly recommend it — but much of it must be taken with a grain of salt at this point because of the subsequent market crash.
Seven Days in the Art World by Sarah Thornton
http://www.amazon.com/Seven-Days-World-Sarah-Thornton/dp/039333712X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1328025797&sr=1-1
This is a super enjoyable, very readable, and all around pretty great book. Thornton features seven distinct narratives — from an UCLA crit to a day touring Art Basel — and paints a pretty thorough picture of today’s art world rather concisely.
The Law In Plain English For Art Galleries by Leonard D. Duboff
Another book that does what it says on the tin: Duboff’s book goes through most of the day to day interactions with the law that an art gallery should be aware of, from starting up to handling copyrights. Incredibly useful, but it reads like a horror or suspense novel if (like me) you’re moderately unaware of the legal tango of the art world.
Duveen: A Life in Art by Meryle Secrest
http://www.amazon.com/Duveen-Life-Art-Meryle-Secrest/dp/0226744159/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1321378206&sr=8-1
More a long series of scandalous vignettes and anecdotes than a thorough biography, Secrest nonetheless paints us a vivid picture of Duveen’s life and times. Spying on clients! Buying Monet’s to hide them in your inventory because you hate Impressionism! Duveen ended up phenomenally rich and sold everything from Raphael to Gainsborough to everyone from Andrew Mellon to the Rockefeller’s and bought from British royalty to Russia’s Heritage museum. Craziness.
The Artist-Gallery Partnership: A Practical Guide to Consigning Art by Tad Crawford and Susan Mellon
http://www.amazon.com/Artist-Gallery-Partnership-Practical-Guide-Consigning/dp/1581156456/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1321377602&sr=8-1
This book is very straightforward, but quite useful. At its heart is a well thought out and thorough consignment contract and the book mostly goes over each aspect of it in detail. I’d recommend it to anyone running a gallery or trying to be represented by a gallery, for sure.
Towards a Philosophy of Photography by Vilém Flusser
http://www.amazon.com/Towards-Philosophy-Photography-Vilem-Flusser/dp/1861890761/
Far more philosophy than photography, Flusser’s collection of essays here is nonetheless incredibly fascinating. But it is also incredibly dense, so if discussing the ontological differences between technical vs. magical images vs. apparatuses vs. the functionaries of apparatuses (by which Flusser means photographers using cameras), then this may not be the book for you. But if you’ve taken philosophy 101 (or in particular existentialism 101) and photography 101 and would love a dense little read combining the two, I highly recommend Flusser’s book. He is principally trying to ascertain photography’s role in contemporary culture — a position he argues is as important as the role of text in our daily lives — and then extrapolate the ramifications of how we interact with images and imagery. Incredibly lucid.
The Coast of Chicago by Stuart Dybek
http://www.amazon.com/Coast-Chicago-Stories-Stuart-Dybek/dp/0312424256
This is a collection of wonderfully evocative short stories, which I highly recommend to anyone that like fiction, living inside or outside of chicago, fan of short stories or no. Here’s my favorite part of my favorite story. Dybek’s language is so intriguing in its own right that each story ends up a page turner, just because you want to eat up his style and descriptions.
Conversations with Photographers: Brian Ulrich, Hellen Van Meene, Christopher Anderson by Joerg M. Colberg
http://jmcolberg.com/weblog/conversations/
I would argue that Colberg has the best blog about contemporary photography today, and has for several years now. So I was excited to see him enter the world of printed matter, and doubly so with the photographers interviewed in this first edition. I’m friends with and admire Brian Ulrich, I love the work of Hellen van Meene, and I just heard of Christopher Anderson today (although I bought this book a few weeks ago and am just now reading it). I’m sure I’ll be referencing the book soon with some of the quotes in it.
Hills Like White Elephants by Ernest Hemingway
http://www.has.vcu.edu/eng/webtext/hills/hills.htm
OK, I’m not sure a short story this short counts as “fiction” between two works of non-fiction, but I’m trying to stick to my rules, here. “Then I’ll do it, because I don’t care about me.”
The Girl with a Gallery: Edith Gregor Halpert and the Makign of the Modern Art Market by Lindsay Pollock
http://www.amazon.com/Girl-Gallery-Lindsay-Pollock/dp/1586485121/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1317751659&sr=1-1
The story here is so wonderful that it makes it easy to ignore the author’s book-report style of writing. Edith Halpert arguably created the current style of art dealing and certainly the market for American art, but what makes the story all the more remarkable is that she did so as a Jewish-Russian immigrant, raised by a single mother, and starting a business dealing exclusively in luxury goods right before and then weathering through the Great Depression.
The Winter’s Tale by William Shakespeare
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winter%27s_Tale
WTF? One king is thinks his queen cheated on him with his best friend, another king. People die. Identities are hidden. Identities are revealed. Turns out some people didn’t die. I enjoyed the play, but man-oh-man, this is like Shakespeare meets True Blood: a lot of violence and death but somehow it is still a comedy.
How to Start and Run a Commercial Art Gallery by Edward Winkleman
http://www.amazon.com/How-Start-Run-Commercial-Gallery/dp/1581156642/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1236861578&sr=1-1
So, I intend to start a commercial art gallery. You read it here first! I have little doubt that this book will become my bible. I highly recommend it, although I imagine it is only interesting or useful if, you know, you are intending to start and run a commercial art gallery.
Mona Lisa Overdrive by William Gibson
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mona_Lisa_Overdrive
This is the last book of Gibson’s “Sprawl Trilogy”, which also includes Neuromancer and Count Zero. While Neuromancer is the classic and best of the series, I think I enjoyed this the most. Gibson is skilled at writing stories that come together and are more elegant by the end, and this book has the pleasure of having its atmosphere and setting already in place so that the pieces can come together and form a much larger picture than we’d seen before. Punk, paranoid, and probably a little dated, I really enjoyed the trilogy and Gibson’s imagined future.
Demon Haunted World: Science as Candle in the Dark by Carl Sagan
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demon_haunted_world
Carl Sagan wants to you know that there are a lot of ways, countless ways, to prove that alien abductions are craziness. But halfway through the book he moves on from that grinding ax and writes wonderfully about the importance of science, both in terms of what it has achieved and what it will continue to achieve (and what it could achieve with more public emphasis). I like Sagan. A lot. But I think if you’re already scientifically inclined and a trained skeptic that the book may feel tedious at times.
Count Zero by William Gibson
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Count_Zero
I’m finding it quite interesting how a lot of science fiction anticipates technological development but imagines a culturally stagnant society. But, well, Gibson is trying to imagine a 1984 of science fiction and have some fun with it. I’m certainly willing to go along with him, but perhaps only for the fun of it.
Animal Spirits: How Human Psychology Drives the Economy, and Why It matters for Global Capitalism by George A. Akerlof and Robert J. Shiller
http://press.princeton.edu/titles/8967.html
So I know everyone here that reads my photo blog has really, really been curious as to what kind of economic books I’d recommend. If you want a good analysis of what behavioral economics looks like in the aggregate view of macroeconomics, this is the book. I highly recommend it, but you’d probably only enjoy it if you’re a liberal economic nerd.
Neuromancer by William Gibson
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuromancer
In the seven or eight years since I last read Neuromancer you can see technology beginning to look a little more like what Gibson imagined — and, mind you, he wrote this in 1984. Gibson’s great skill — besides spinning a great yarn in a great setting — lies in imagining not only what tech we’ll be using in the future but how both legal and illegal cultures will shift accordingly.
Just Kids by Patti Smith
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/18/books/18book.html
Going into Just Kids I actually knew more about Robert Mapplethorpe than Patti Smith, but for a punk rock poet she’s incredibly endearing. The book is a magical account of how hard it can be to be creative, the New York art world of the 70s, and how beautiful and enduring friendship can be.
The Alchemist by Paulo Cuelho
http://www.amazon.com/Alchemist-Paulo-Coelho/dp/0061122416/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1309025243&sr=8-1
I read this book long, long ago and liking it then. I still like it now, but I think it is one of those books — like the Little Prince — that is enchanting as an adult but inspiring while growing up.
Bossypants by Tina Fey
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bossypants
I’m usually not one to rave about celebrities, but Tina Fey is awesome. I would love to be her best friend. I recommend this book to everyone ever, but any photographers out there should at least read the chapter about being the subject of several photo shoots. A+++ WOULD READ THIS AUTHOR AGAIN.
Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ender’s_game
You can tell nerds like this book because it has a long Wikipedia page. And I’m a nerd, so I liked this book a lot. It stays very true to my #1 rule for sci-fi: be true to the world you’ve created. Card thought up a neat idea for a zero gravity game, the Battle Room, and constructed a very compelling plot around it that worms its way through the pains and joys of growing up a “gifted” student.
Reconciliation: Islam, Democracy, and the West by Benazir Bhutto
http://www.amazon.com/Reconciliation-Islam-Democracy-Benazir-Bhutto/dp/B002WTCBOK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1308027177&sr=8-1
OK, I admit it. I cheated on my fiction then non-fiction reading schedule. Between the Arab Spring and Osama Bin Laden’s death, this (incredibly relevant) book started shouting at me from the shelf. It is a good read, easier and lighter than I expected. And more than anything else it will make you regret Bhutto’s assassination in 2007 all the more.
The Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communist_Manifesto
I actually quite enjoyed this, but I like free trade so much that when Marx lists many of its ills I can’t help but read it as a list of its joys: “The bourgeoisie has through its exploitation of the world-market given a cosmopolitan character to production and consumption in every country. […] In place of the old wants, we find new wants, requiring for their satisfaction the products of distant lands and climes. In place of the old local and national seclusion and self-sufficiency, we have intercourse in every direction, universal inter-dependence of nations.” I’m pretty OK with all that.
Foucault’s Pendulum by Umberto Eco
http://www.amazon.com/Foucaults-Pendulum-Umberto-Eco/dp/015603297X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1306216255&sr=8-1
I’ve enjoyed Foucalt’s Pendulum. Fittingly, it comes off as an amalgamation of a hundred different ideas that has spawned countless imitations (Da Vinci Code, The Assassin’s Creed video games). Take Lolita’s unreliable narrator, add American Psycho’s unknowingly crazier and crazier protagonist, throw in most of the plot (and humour, albeit in a more subtle form) of The Illuminatus! Trilogy, and for kicks not only Pynchon’s paranoia but also his vocabulary and you’ll get Eco’s novel. Eco both enjoys and makes fun of the occult, which I think is probably the most reasonable reaction.
The Book of Mormon “translated” by Joseph Smith, Jr.
http://www.amazon.com/Book-Mormon-Penguin-Classics/dp/0143105531/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1305224556&sr=8-1
I have made a deliberate habit of alternatively reading fiction and non-fiction. I had to think for a few seconds about where in this cycle the Book of Mormon should go, but I can now definitively say that I accurately classified it as fiction up front. Still, it is an interesting read. Prophecies of the American Revolution? Check. Hints of anti-semitism? Throughout. Epic voyages across the Atlantic? Done and done.
Photography After Frank by Philip Gefter
http://www.amazon.com/Photography-After-Frank-Aperture-Ideas/dp/1597110957/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1305224548&sr=8-1
This collection of essays by Philip Gefter culled from various writing for the New York Times and Aperture gives a good overview of photography since Robert Frank’s The Americans. My sole complaint is that it’ll make you want to buy a ton of photo books, plenty of which you won’t be able to afford because they are out of print.
Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare
http://www.amazon.com/Julius-Caesar-William-Shakespeare/dp/1453826653/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1301330648&sr=1-2
According to Dante — at least judging by his Inferno, where Satan hangs out in the 9th circle continuously chewing on Judas, Cassius, and Brutus — 66% of the most evil people world up until 1333 were the conspirators that killed Caesar. Shakespeare finds a little more nuance in them than that, but mostly this is just a short fiction break for me so I can jump back into more non-fiction.
The Rational Optimist by Matt Ridley
http://www.amazon.com/Rational-Optimist-How-Prosperity-Evolves/dp/006145205X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1301330315&sr=8-1
Matt Ridley, apparently, was tired of the current intellectual pessimism and decided to write about how the world is a better place today than it ever has been and getting better at a faster pace all the time. By almost any measure you can conceive and in both relative and absolute ways. It’s a great (and true and fascinating) message, but only a good read.
Siddhartha by Herman Hesse
http://www.amazon.com/Siddhartha-Penguin-Classics-Deluxe-Hermann/dp/0142437182/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1300454824&sr=8-2
I might secretly be Buddhist, or perhaps I would be if I weren’t so damn attached to my friends and loved ones.
Nature’s Metropolis: Chicago and the Great West by William Cronon
http://www.amazon.com/Natures-Metropolis-Chicago-Great-West/dp/0393308731
I just started this but I know I’ll love it. The history of Chicago as it relates to the landscape around it and the westward expansion of America beyond it. Done and done. (Update: after having now finished it I highly, highly, highly recommend it to anyone curious about Chicago’s history of the history of the 19th century. No other book has done a better job of telling the story of the birth of the 20th century.)
Vineland by Thomas Pynchon
http://www.amazon.com/Vineland-Classic-20th-Century-Penguin-Pynchon/dp/0141180633/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1297367509&sr=1-1
OK: I’ll admit it. I’ve been on a Pynchon kick this past year. Almost every other book I’ve read lately has been Pynchon. I enjoyed Vineland a lot, but it probably isn’t the book I’d recommend to the first time Pynchon reader. Fun fact: “vineland” or “vinland” was the viking name for America, which I never knew.
Working: People Talk About What They Do All Day and How They Feel About What They Do by Studs Terkel
http://www.amazon.com/Working-People-Talk-About-What/dp/1565843428/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1293205873&sr=8-1
The most powerful and inspiring book I have read in a long while. This book alone has made me want to get out there make documentary work, finding and telling the untold stories of the world.
Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
http://www.amazon.com/Heart-Darkness-Joseph-Conrad/dp/1936594145/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1293206146&sr=1-3
Wherein I discovered I was the last person to know Apocalypse Now was based on Heart of Darkness. I enjoyed it. Conrad demonstrates the adage “Hitler did to Europe what Belgium had been doing to the Congo for decades”.
The Crying of Lot 49 by Thomas Pynchon
http://www.amazon.com/Crying-Lot-Perennial-Fiction-Library/dp/006091307X/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1293206536&sr=1-1-fkmr0
Pynchon is my favorite author, and although I had read (and apparently forgotten) this years ago I thoroughly enjoyed it a second time. This is the best way to slip into Pynchon’s crazy world without devoting several months of your life to the struggle.
For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway
http://www.amazon.com/Whom-Bell-Tolls-Scribner-Classics/dp/0684830485/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1293206983&sr=1-1
It tolls for thee, silly. This was way, way better but also way more depressing than I expected. I am incredibly grateful to have never lived in the midst of war, even if that means that I am less of a manly man than our good protagonist Roberto. Also: it helped me pick up some of my Spanish again.
To The Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf
http://www.amazon.com/Lighthouse-Oxford-Worlds-Classics/dp/0199536619/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1293207167&sr=1-3
I’ve always enjoyed Virginia and this was no exception. I read the book to help a friend out with a play (I made some artwork inspired by the book). It wouldn’t have been on my reading list otherwise, so I’m glad I stumbled into it.
The First Circle by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
http://www.amazon.com/First-Circle-Uncensored/dp/0061479012/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1293207328&sr=1-1
I didn’t have the pleasure of reading the new uncensored edition (so hard to find brand new books at used book stores, isn’t it?), but if you like ethics, philosophy, relationships, Russia, religion, or good writing I highly recommend this book. It almost reads more as a collection of short stories analyzing the 1950s USSR from tippy top (Stalin) to the very bottom (Gulag prisoners). The whole damn book is incredibly fascinating, and probably my favorite that I’ve read this year.
The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo (Trilogy) by Stieg Larsson
http://www.amazon.com/Girl-Dragon-Tattoo-Stieg-Larsson/dp/0307454541/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1293207658&sr=1-1
Every novel is slow for 100 pages and then will leave you gasping for air for 400 more. The second book is the best. Apparently in Sweden, even in the midst of a thriller, you spend most of your day eating sandwiches and drinking coffee. The books are tons of fun, but if you get queasy reading about violence against women (even when it is thoroughly avenged) you’ll want to pass on these.
Against the Day by Thomas Pynchon
http://www.amazon.com/Against-Day-Thomas-Pynchon/dp/0143112562/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1294711263&sr=8-1
This book is slowly becoming my favorite book — of ever — but I still can’t tell if that is because I want to feel like the six weeks spent reading this were worth the effort. I guess, in the end, I do absolutely and completely love Against the Day, but with the full caveat that it is so weird, so long, so labyrinthine, and so dense that I would never recommend it generally, but there are good friends to whom I would recommend it particularly.
Democracy in America by Alexis de Toqcueville
http://www.amazon.com/Democracy-America-Penguin-Classics-Tocqueville/dp/0140447601/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1294711453&sr=1-1
America was and is an experiment, a thought I had never really had until I read Tocqueville’s outsider-looking-in account of the whole affair. Democracy in America puts the American experiment within the context of contemporary political systems and, I think, makes America feel all the more remarkable and crazy for it.
Inherent Vice by Thomas Pynchon
Pynchon often adopts the style of a particular genre for whole chapters of a book, but here Pynchon has just straight up written a full on noir, with a hard-boiled (and post-drug-addled) detective you can’t avoid falling in love with. Update: This will be a movie, soon, which I am super jazzed about.
The Case for God by Karen Armstrong
Armstrong makes the ongoing debate about God easy to follow by framing the history of religion in a millenia-long dialectic, but at the same time that framing device limits the book, making it seem as if every new religious movement (or intra-religious movement) formed only as a response to what preceded it. The result is an excellent overview of the history of religion, but not a terrible strong Case for God or any one particular religion.
The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution by Richard Dawkins
Dawkins may be one of the more virulently annoying atheists out there, acting with disdain towards the religious, but man-oh-man, when he sticks to his home turf of Biology he’s superb. This book is a wonderful summary of all that we know about evolution, and how we know it. I highly recommend it.
Moby Dick by Herman Melville
[Many many many books proceeded this [like 24 years worth] but, this is where I started keeping track.]