1. 11/22/63 (2011)
2. Billionaires and Bandits (2012)
3. Uniqueness and Reference Immutability for Safe Parallelism (Extended Version) (2012)
4. Talk to the Hand (2005)
5. The Half-made World (2010)
6. Die Stadt am Ende der Zeit (2008) (de)
7. The Alchemist (1992) (en/original in Portuguese in 1988)
8. The Great Gatsby (1926)
9. The Next 100 Years (2009)
10. Common Sense (1776)
11. We Have Always Lived in the Castle (1962)
12. Let’s Explore Diabetes with Owls (2013)
13. The Rise of Ransom City (2013)
14. Flood (2008)
15. Main Street (1920)
16. Doctor... [More]

I was recently given the book The Next 100 Years (2009) by George Friedman by a friend. After the first few dozen pages, I’d made so many quizzical notes that I had to look up the author, because I’d never heard of him. It turns out that he’s “the founder, chief intelligence officer, financial overseer, and CEO of the private intelligence corporation STRATFOR, a global intelligence company founded in 1996”, according to Wikipedia. That helped set the context for the book a bit better.

There... [More]

Firstborn (2007)

by Arthur C. Clarke & Stephen Baxter

This is the final installment in the Time Odyssey trilogy (although the end of the book is quite a cliffhanger that indicates that Baxter is considering soldiering on on his own). The book incorporates almost every hard-science theme you can imagine, flitting from topic to topic and seeming to hurry through the story. It’s quite inconsistent in the way that they kept shuttling people all over the solar system when that’s obviously such a... [More]

If scooping information from the madly bubbling froth of the U.S. media lies at all within your purview, you will no doubt have heard of the latest rage in American literature, called 50 Shades of Grey. A modicum of research reveals that the epithet literature is a good deal more generous a term than the referenced work earns.

It’s more commonly called “Mommy Porn”[1] which seems to be the designator that U.S. culture is going to use to indicate that reading poorly written soft-core pornography... [More]

1. Tell Me No Lies: Investigative Journalism that Changed the World (2005)
2. The Sirens of Titan (1959)
3. Die Welle (de) (1981)
4. Covering Islam (1981)
5. Holidays on Ice (1997)
6. L’étranger (fr) (1942)
7. The Liar (1991)
8. Identity and Violence (2006)
9. The Prince (1513)
10. Oil! (1927)
11. Summer Crossing (1950)
12. Picasso at the Lapin Agile (1993)
13. The Stars’ Tennis Balls (2000)
14. Unseen Academicals (2009)
15. The Enchantress of Florence (2008)
16. Just After Sunset (2008)
17. Profits Over People (1999)
18. Die Zeit-Maschine (1895) (de)
19. Against... [More]

I’ve been keeping track of the movies I watched for a couple of years now, but have only recently been adding mini-reviews[1] to each so I can remember (A) what it was about and (B) whether I liked it.

Since I’m no longer maintaining the old text file in which I kept this list, I’m dumping the list here.

2008 (or so)

1. Monster (2003) — 8/10
2. The Good Shepherd (2006) — 7/10
3. Breach (2007) — 7/10
4. Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007) — 7/10
5. Eastern Promises (2007) — 9/10... [More]

1. Foucault’s Pendulum (1988) (second half) – Umberto Eco
2. The Great War of Civilization (2005) – Robert Fisk (second half)
3. Naked Pictures of Famous People (1998) – Jon Stewart
4. The Drought (1965) – JG Ballard
5. Drowned World (1962) – JG Ballard
6. Spook Country (2007) – William Gibson
7. Free Lunch (2007) – David Cay Johnston
8. Stardust (1999) – Neil Gaiman
9. Heat (2006) – George Monbiot
10. Unbowed (2006) – Wangari Maathai
11. Grieche sucht Griechin/Mister X macht Ferien/Zeitungswesen in der Steinzeit... [More]

It was the start of the long week between Christmas and New Year’s Eve and it was time to start a new book. A quick scan of the book shelf revealed many interesting candidates, but most of those were a bit more challenging than a week of this kind warranted. But look who’s hiding on one of the shelves: good ol’ Dan Brown.

This copy of The Lost Symbol had been obtained from the local Salvation Army secondhand shop for only a couple of bucks. I’d gotten Brown’s two other books in the same way,... [More]

In an effort to continue improving my German, I read the book mentioned in the title, which is a rollicking guide to the finicky nuance of the German language. A few years back, I read Eat, Shoots and Leaves by Lynne Truss, which effects a similar service for the English language. Another absolutely wonderful essay on the issue of usage and grammar is Tense Present: Democracy, English, and the wars over usage by David Foster Wallace (a few citations of which are documented on earthli News),... [More]

Heat is a very accessible book on the state of the world’s climate, energy and heating needs today and going into the future. The author sets himself the task of coming up with a plan for our planet that is economically, socially and climatologically viable. His express goal is to keep convenience and freedom as much like it is now as possible while reducing CO2 emissions by 90% across the board—domestic usage, air travel, industrial, transports, construction and so on.

He will not... [More]

1. The Omnivore’s Dilemma (2006) – Michael Pollan
2. Wicked: the Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West (1995) – Gregory Maguire
3. Beyond Beef: The Rise and Fall of the Cattle Culture (1992) – Jeremy Rifkin
4. The Great War of Civilization (2005) – Robert Fisk (partial)
5. Armed Madhouse (2006) – Greg Palast
6. The Tales of Beedle the Bard (2007) – J.K. Rowling
7. Rough Music (2005) – Tariq Ali
8. Fahrenheit 451 (1953) – Ray Bradbury
9. Confessions of an Economic Hit Man (2004) – John Perkins
10. The Good... [More]

The full text of the article can be downloaded in PDF at In memoriam by David Foster Wallace (Harper's Magazine). All of the articles he published for that magazine are available there.

These are just rough notes to accompany the citations; the book was in German, but yours truly does not yet feel comfortable enough with his grasp of that language’s grammar to formulate the accompanying notes and thoughts in it. So, English it is. Apologies to all those who can only read half.

This small book quickly—so quickly—establishes the gulag life as normal that one hardly notices how restricted and miserable the lives of the inmates actually were because Schuchow’s[1] attitude was... [More]

Fabio Viale’s Hyper-realistic sculptures are all marble, but of everyday objects and with exquisite detail. Click on the images for more detail. Check out the site for much more. (Including a marble boat!)

Two Tires (Infinito)Popcorn (Big Bang)Styrofoam Skull (Skull)

Rough Music: Blair, Bombs, Baghdad, London, Terror by Tariq Ali

Ali’s scathing recap of the Blair/New Labour era in British politics reminds the world that the British have just as much to answer for as the Americans when it comes to picking absolutely corrupt leaders. It’s a very short book, but packed with a very succinct rundown of the depths of Blair’s moral depravity – depths which brings him to the nadir once monopolized by good old “iron balls” Maggie Thatcher.

Beyond Beef: The Rise... [More]

1. A Widow for One Year (1998) – John Irving (second half)
2. Bleachers (2003) – John Grisham
3. The Glass Castle (2005) – Jeannette Walls
4. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (1950) – C.S. Lewis
5. Tuesdays with Morrie (1997) – Mitch Albom
6. Die Weisse Massai (2000) – Corrine Hofmann (de)
7. The Kite Runner (2003) – Khaled Hosseini
8. A Thousand Splendid Suns (2007) – Khaled Hosseini
9. The Book of Saladin (1998) – Tariq Ali
10. The Great Gatsby (1926) – F. Scott Fitzgerald
11. More Tales of the City (1980) –... [More]

1. Cell (2007) − Stephen King
2. The Essential Ghandi (second half) (1962) − Mahatma Ghandi (edited by Louis Fischer)
3. Zwischen Krieg und Terror (2006) − Ulrich Tilgner (de)
4. A Man without a Country (2005) − Kurt Vonnegut
5. Wild Fire (2006) − Nelson DeMille
6. Das Parfum (1994) − Patrick Suskind (de)
7. Cobweb (2005) − Neal Stephenson & J. Frederick George
8. The New Rulers of the World (2002) − John Pilger
9. Thud! (2005) − Terry Pratchett
10. Count Zero (1987) − William Gibson
11. Infinite Jest (1996) − David Foster... [More]

1. Song of Susannah (2004) − Stephen King (second half)
2. The Dark Tower (2004) − Stephen King
3. Things Fall Apart (1959) − Chinua Achebe
4. Blink: the Power of Thinking without Thinking (2005) − Malcolm Gladwell
5. No Longer At Ease (1960) − Chinua Achebe
6. ‘Tis (1999) − Frank McCourt
7. Teacher Man (2005) − Frank McCourt
8. City of Light (1999) − Lauren Belfer
9. Night Watch (2002) − Terry Pratchett
10. Der große Boss: Das Alte Testament, Unverschämt fromm neu erzählt (1992) − Fred Denger
11. Going Postal (2004) − Terry... [More]

1. Monstrous Regiment (2005) − Terry Pratchett
2. Die Vergessliche Nation (2004) − Gore Vidal (de)
3. Fight Club (1996) − Chuck Palahniuk
4. Bush in Babylon (2003) − Tariq Ali
5. The Poisonwood Bible (1998) − Barbara Kingsolver
6. Across the Sea of Suns (1984) − Gregory Benford
7. America (The Book) (2004) − The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
8. A Small Death in Lisbon (1999) − Robert Lisbon
9. Deception Point (2001) − Dan Brown
10. Darwin’s Children (2003) − Greg Bear
11. Amerikas Kreuzzüge (2005) − Claus Kleber (de)
12. Gravity’s... [More]

1. Harry Potter and Order of the Phoenix (2003) − J.K. Rowling
2. Das Rennen Zum Mars (1999) − Gregory Benford (de)
3. A People’s History of the United States 1492-Present (1980) − Howard Zinn
4. Kicking Away the Ladder: Development Strategy in Historical Perspective (2002)- Ha-Joon Chang
5. Vitals (2002) − Greg Bear
6. Inventing a Nation (2003) − Gore Vidal
7. Understanding Power: the Indispensible Chomsky (2002) − Noam Chomsky
8. Practical File System Design: The Be File System (1998) − Dominic Giampaolo
9. Illuminati... [More]

1. Mort (1987) − Terry Pratchett
2. The Light Fantastic (1986) − Terry Pratchett
3. Equal Rites (1987) − Terry Pratchett
4. The Hogfather (1997) − Terry Pratchett
5. Drug Crazy (1998) − Mike Gray
6. Perpetual War for Perpetual Peace (2002) − Gore Vidal
7. Dreaming War (2002) − Gore Vidal
8. Rogue States (2000) − Noam Chomsky
9. XML In a Nutshell (2001) − Harold and Means
10. Fortunate Son (2001) − J.H. Hatfield
11. Interface (1994) − Neal Stephenson
12. Echt Zauberhaft (1994) − Terry Pratchett (de)
13. Der Kleine Hobbit (1999) − J.R.R.... [More]

1. Culture Jam (1999) − Kalle Lasn
2. Black House (2001) − Stephen King
3. Need and Desire in the Post-Material Economy (1998) − James Heartfield
4. Ordeal of Change (1963) − Eric Hoffer
5. Age of Access (2000) − Jeremy Rifkin
6. God’s Debris (2001) − Scott Adams
7. Count of Monte Cristo (1844) − Alexandre Dumas
8. Rush Limbaugh is a Big Fat Idiot (1996) − Al Franken
9. Voltaire Stories (Candide, Micromegas, Zadig, Ingenu, White Bull) (1759) − Voltaire
10. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (1997) − J.K. Rowling
11. Harry... [More]

“A ‘code’ of ethics is a myth. It is only in the most convoluted of circumstances that ethical dilemmas arise. Up to that point, there is no moral quandary. Simply because there exist cases for which a simple, straighforward, common-sense ethics has no answer is no reason to doubt its validity where it does apply. Social interaction is not mathematics; one example does not suffice to disprove its correctness. Therefore, for most matters, there is only one ethics to which all can adhere − that... [More]”

Page 130 − “It was not until the instant of this experience that I understood what he had meant by the ‘wordless truth’. It happened, yet I cannot describe it.” − Chenoeh

Page 162 − “[The military] believe that by risking death they pay the price of any violent behavior against enemies of their own choosing. They have the invader mentality. [They] don’t believe [themselves] responsible for anything done against aliens.” − Leto II

Page 196 − “The mind imposes this framework which it calls... [More]”

Page 123 − “At the quantum level our universe can be seen as an indeterminate place, predictable in a statistical way only when you employ large enough numbers. Between that universe and a relatively predictable one where the passage of a single planet can be timed to a picosecond, other forces come into play. For the in-between universe where we find our daily lives, that which you believe is a dominant force. Your beliefs order the unfolding of daily events. If enough of us believe, a new... [More]”