i wanted to create a reading list at some point off my site that gives me a checklist to add/subtract books but also lets others make recommendations for things i should read.

but first i need to finish cryptonomicon and get thru the rest of the stuff on my list.

seems rather ambitious!

Yeah - we'll see how much I actually read. :~) But it's good to have all of the books written down in one place, at least.

Wow, that's a heavy list.

I had to read Catch-22 in high school for an English class. We spent nearly a semester on it. I'm glad the teacher was there to walk us through the references, because I don't think I would have gotten nearly as much out of it if I had sped through it at my own pace. I was supposed to read A People's History for another class, and never made it through. The first few chapters are pretty provocative, and will certainly give you some ammunition to argue with.

My current list: Quicksilver, GEB (the last bit), Terre des Hommes (the end), Siddhartha (in German). I need to go shopping for some more distracting non-fiction.

You'll adore Angle of Repose. I guarantee it. And as for the rest, yes, it is ambitious, but damn, it really must feel good to have them all written down so you can at least go through and check them off as you read them, whether it takes you a summer or a lifetime. It's a life list of books, kinda like a life list of birst or something. :)

Make that birds (four Utah beers = Nicolea mispelling)

Catch-22 is great. It's laugh-out-loud funny, get-strange-looks-from-your-housemate funny. Also very smart and insightful.

Leonardo's Laptop is good but not great. The ideas are interesting, but the Leonardo analogies lacked purpose and seemed like filler.

I've read part of Code but haven't finished it either. Hopefully soon.

Design book recommendation: Stop stealing sheep and find out how type works. I have the old edition, not the new one. Branding with type is also interesting. Before & After magazine (which I highly recommend) now has a book out.

I'm not sure how I missed Natural Capitalism, one of my three favourite books ever. Read this and you'll be have a lot of "aha!" moments, followed by "no shit!" and "why didn't I think of that?"

Suggested additions to your list:

The Corporation
Fahrenheit 9-1-1 (and 451)
Control Room
Spring Summer Fall Winter Spring (slow but splendid)


...free MP3s of "Dude, Where's My Country" and "Hegemony or Survival" among other other items of political interest available at
http://www.aeschatech.com/medialibrary/

~ Joshua

... is one of my favourite books!

Thanks for listing it. I hope you enjoy it.

Siva Vaidhyanathan
sivav@pobox.com