“Ready Player One”
Good but a bit repetetive, especially in how the protaganist has to basically pass the same trial 3 times with only superficial differences.
“Mr. Gatlings Terrible Marvel”
History of the Gatling Gun, especially good in describing the history of patents and how it affected product development.
“No Country for Old Men”
I wanted to read “The Road” but this was at the library instead. Superb, but I just watched the film and that’s better.
The Right Hand by Derek Haas. I am a major covert op fangirl and having just seen The Bourne Legacy I am now going through Bourne withdrawal so this is just what the doctor ordered. It’s written by a Hollywood screenwriter so it reads like a movie.
I recently finished The Game of Thrones series through book 5. Love, love, love, LOVE that series. A fan of the TV series as well, but as with all book adaptations, the books are better.
I recently read World War Z (mentioned in this thread) and found it entertaining at best. Was hoping for more from it, though.
A fun read from Neal Stephenson (of cyberpunk fame) is one called “Reamde”. It is a modern espionage-type thriller that partly takes place in a MMORPG…a smart, pop culture ride.
I’m now diving into “Blood Meridian” by Cormack McCarthy. I’m a huge fan of his book, “The Road”…and this one usually comes up in conversation with any McCarthy fan once you get past the shock and awe of “The Road”.
The Signal and the Noise: Why So Many Predictions Fail-but Some Don’t by Nate Silver. Very Gladwellesque. Great read. I think a lot of what design does is prediction, although in a much more qualitative way compared to Silver’s quantitative methods.
I’ve heard a lot about 1Q84. How are you finding it? I read a couple of pages from it in a book store and I’m going to order it in English on my next trip there.
I’m in the middle of my second reading of Animal Farm after having just re-read Nineteen Eighty-four.
Before this I read _Fahrenheit 45_1 by Ray Bradbury. The one before that was Brave New World by Huxley.
I’m in the Utopian theme phase.
I picked this up at the local bookstore and couldn’t put it down. A short read at only 56 pages; paperback, 5"x 9", $14.95, but worth every nickle.
Coachbuilding; The Hand-Crafted Car Body, Jonathan Wood, Shire Library, 2008
Starting with horse-drawn chariots, cabriolets, broughams, coupés, and the like, through wood and fabric covered bodies, to the last of the bespoken hand-crafted, wood-framed, metal-skinned automobiles by Austin, Morris, Park Ward, Lyons, Rolls-Royce, &c. A great source of “locomotive” history, builders, and terminology.
This account examines the history of coachbuilding, beginning with the coachbuilders who for generations had built horse-drawn wooden carriages, and then explaining how they turned their craft to building the bodywork of the first motorised cars. Using photographs of the different stages of coachbuilding, the author describes the materials, equipment and key techniques involved. Today the profession of coachbuilding is almost a lost art, yet as the restoration of vintage cars seeks to keep the trade alive, this book reflects back on the heyday of the coachbuilt motor car and the skilled workers that made it their craft.
Good insight into what worked and didn’t work for LEGO as they pulled themselves back from the financial brink. I especially liked how management/ innovation trends were interpreted and adopted to make them work, for example “wisdom of the crowd” was actually effective as “wisdom of the clique”. LEGO seems to have gone from a very insular ‘we know best’ company to a very open one, they have provided quite a lot of access to the authors and have taken the approach that all their mistakes need to be out in the open, in order not to repeat them.