My reading list
Books I have read, liked
and would gladly recommend.
Forgive me for the pitieously
short discriptions, please e-mail me if you want to hear
more of my humble opinions.
Rating System: on a scale
of 1 to 5 stars.
1. Les Miserables
Victor Hugo
Powerful epic thatwill move anyone
with the patience to read it. After going though all 1440 pages of it I
looked up stunned and lost and said "Is that all?"
2. Victory
Joseph Conrad
About a recluse, Axle Heyst, who runs
into trouble with some robbers. Conrad digs human nature, both its good
and bad sides. His characters think and act so realistically, with an unexpected
twist at the end.
3. "Surely, you're joking Mr Feynman!"
Richard Feynman
Hilarious and truly personal autobiography.
Consists of a series of short anecdotes, suitable for all audiances, with/without
a background in Physics. Makes you flip over in laughter one moment and
cry the next.
4. "What do you care what other
people think?"
Richard Feynman
Mainly about the space shuttle Challenger
disaster and his involvement in the investigation.
5. War and Peace
Leo Tolstoy
Considered by many to be "Cheem, Cheem"
book, but it really isn't any harder to understand than any other, although
there would be so much to discuss and relate to after reading it. I sped
through the book and I say it has a pull of its own. Even Odie could read
it; why can't you?
6. Anna Kerenina
Leo Tolstoy
Another packed and powerful book. Turmultous
and highly realistic in its description of the characters thoughts and
states of mind. Another classic from the author of War and Peace.
7. The Origin of the Universe
John Barrow
Part of the Science Masters Series.
Nice and simple book whose aim is to explain modern cosmology. More easily
understood by those who have taken a freshman physics course. Great book
for the informed layman, and physicist alike.
8. The Last Three Minutes
Paul Davies
Part of the science Masters series.
Explains what modern physic thinks about how this universe is likely to
end.
9. The Origin of Humankind
Richard Leakey
The third of the science masters series
I have sampled so far. The title says it all, and we get to hear a master
in the field of anthropology speak of the most significant dicoveries in
our scientific quest for our origins.
10. How We Die
Sherwin Nuland
I think this a book cramped with excellent
(and touchy) acnedotes. It deals with how ourbody fails and shutsdown in
a scientific manner that is easy to understand, but is at no point cold
or insensitive
11. River Out of Eden
Richard Dawkins
If you found Richard Leakey facinating,
then you'll love this book. Anyone interested in Mathematics, the natural
sciences or the philosophy of science should check this book out.Touches
on topics that range from how DNA is responsible for evolution to the possiblity
of extraterrestrial life, and even tries to debunk a few popular misconceptions
about our understanding of evolution.
12. Sophie's World
Jostein Gaarder
A book that starts out in a sane though
strange manner and ends up in a run away half-crazed reality run away
13. The Solitaire Mystery
Jostein Gaarder
Another excellent book by Jostein Gaarder.
An intreguing tale encapsulated within the adventure of a boy journeying
with his father to find his mother. Philosophy in a story. Great for kids
and adults alike.
14. Mister God, This is Anna
Fynn
This book is part of a whole series
of book by Fynn about the life of a young girl in Pre-WW2 England. Filled
with wonder at the hidden beauty of the world, she introduces the reader
to the miraculous intricacies of even the most mundane things and make
the most far-fetched, yet surprising relavent links between thing; a note
from a piano and a hummingbird, the world and "Mr God"...
15. Anna's Book
Fynn
This short little book is just as interesting
as the first. Wander through the back alleys and meet the people who colour
Anna's little world in their own special way.
16. Anna and the Black Knight
Fynn
17. The Glass Bead Game
Hermann Hesse
18. To Kill a Mockingbird
Harper Lee
19. An Inspector Calls
20. Watership Down
Richard Adams
21. Emotional Intelligence
Daniel Goleman
22. Vital Lies, Simple Truths
Daniel Goleman
23. The Meditative Mind
Daniel Goleman
24. Learned Optimism
Martin E. P. Seligman
25. The Godfather
Mario Puzo
26. Up the Infinite Corridor
Fred Hapgood
27. The Idea Factory
Pepper White
28. Red Sky in the Morning
Elizabeth Laird
29. Speaking of Galbraith
Peggy Lamson
30. My Cousin Rachael
Daphne du Maurier
31. Candide
Voltaire
32. 100 Billion Suns
Rudolph Kippenhan
33. Romeo and Juilet
William Shakesphere
34. Julius Ceaser
William Shakesphere
35. Macbeth
William Shakesphere
36. Superconductivity: the Next Revolution?
Gianfranco Vidali
37. One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich
Alexander Solzhenitsyn
38. Empire of the Sun
J.G. Ballard
39. Lord of the Files
William Golding
40. Five billion vodka bottles to the
moon
Iosif Shkolovsky
41. The Chicken from Minsk
Yuri Chernyak, Robert
M. Rose
42. Lincoln at Gettysburg
Garry Wills
43. Why We Get Sick : The
New Science of Darwinian Medicine
Randolph M., Md Nesse
44. Contact
Carl Sagan
45. The Restaurant at the End of the
Universe
Douglas Adams
If you've got anything nice to add to this list or recommend,
E-mail me!
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