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Erik's Book List
Currently reading:
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince; J. K. Rowling
Eldest; Christopher Paolini.
Agile Software Development; Alistair Cockburn.
Lit Only by Fire: The Mediaval Mind; William Manchester.
Life List:
The Egyptologist; Arthur Phillips. 2005-01-15. Wonderful, exotic, improbably mystery, told in a novel form, in gorgeous prose.
The Cunning Man; Robertson Davies. 2005-11-15. Beautifully written, introspective story. Plot not as interesting as other Davies books I have read.
Software Requirements; Karl Wiegers. Bible of software requirements. A great survey of the field.
Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World ; J. McIver; 2005-07-23. Fascinating.
50 Facts and Fallacies of Software Engineering; Robert Glass. Worthwhile, format makes it great for a business book club.
White City; Erik Larson; 2005-05-13. Murder mystery, of sorts, set in the fascinating 1884 Chicago World's Fair.
Moneyball; 2005-01-30; Michael Lewis. A good read, the ending seemed abrupt, and actually the last 40% or so of the book seemed a bit disorganized. I think there was actually a somewhat laudable reason for this--it is nonfiction, and I don't think the "story" followed a classic fiction plot line, so I am really rather glad that Lewis didn't force or create one.
Zach's Lie; 2004-12-05. A family reading project. Juvenile fiction. Very good, gripping, suspenseful. A bit scary for younger kids.
Henderson the Rain King; Saul Bellow; 2005-05-10. Extremely quirky and imaginative, and very good.
Founding Brothers; 2003-06-01.
Losing Julia; Jonathan Hull; 2003-09-28. ISBN 0-385-33375-7.
The Future and Its Enemies; Virginia Postrel; 2003-12-12. I didn't quite finish this one, but it was worthwhile.
Reflections of a Historian; Stephen Ambrose; 2003-12-12. A very nice read, hitting some high points in the history of the United States, idiosyncratically selected based on Ambrose's professional experience. Nicely counter-balancing current notions of political correctness without being ideological, or over-balancing.
Kissinger; Walter Isaacson; 2004-02-14. A solid biography of a fascinating man. It seems safe to predict there will never be another like him.
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix; J. K. Rowling; 2004-02-15. Enjoyed it, of course, but through most of the 800+ pages, found myself not liking it as much as the others. The end (last 100 pages or so) was fabulous. Just seemed like it didn't have to be as long as it was.
Red Gold; Alan Furst; 2004-03-15. A spy novel set in Vichy Paris. A decent read, nothing remarkable, but a bit of a break after the two recent tomes.
Counterlife; Philip Roth; 2004-04-02.
Benjamin Franklin; Edmund Morgan; 2004-04-30. Short biography of this fascinating man.
Mao; can't remember; 2004-06-30. Very short biography of Mao Zedong. A little too short, there was precious little analysis. I'll read something more substantive someday. Maybe after the archives are opened!
Stalin; Edvard Radzinsky; 2004-07-15. Written in 1995, after the secret archives were opened. Utterly chilling if fascinating. More monstrous than even this anti-communist imagined.
Good to Great; Jim Collins; 2004-11-01. Reasonably good business book, appropriate length.
Eragon; 2004-11-01; Christopher Paolini. Nighttime reading to my son, Seth. Wonderful fantasy adventure story, quite an elevated reading level. Harder than Harry Potter. First in a series.
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