What are you reading?

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”.

I’m on GoodReads.com if anyone cares to link up there: Sign Up

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.

1Q84 by: Haruki Murakami and Design For the Real World By: Victor Papanek

WW2, fascists, nazis, jews, bike racing and a biography that wasn’t written in Italian. A good read.

Just started this one; a light read.

A Jew Among Romans: The Life and Legacy of Flavius Josephus
Frederich Raphael
Pantheon Books, 2013
ISBN 978-0-307-37816-3

The history of Josephus (37–c. 100CE), the Jewish general turned Roman historian/traitor (?)

The Stand - by Stephen King…

Keeping me plenty awake at night…

Just finished “Out of Poverty” by Paul Polak

Essential reading for every designer. Filled with very thought provoking ideas. However, written in a sophomoric manner. The guy needs an editor.

Just started reading “Wool” by Hugh Howey

“Batavia” by Peter Fitzsimons
http://www.randomhouse.com.au/books/peter-fitzsimons/batavia-9781864711349.aspx

The flagship of the Dutch East India company hits a reef off the coast of West Australia in 1629, everything then turns to shit.

Here’s the author telling the story in a 30 min podcast, which got me onto the book:

Going through my fourth time of reading “Lord of the Rings”. It’s been about a decade since I last read it, figured it was time to give it another go.

Once that is done, I think it’ll be time for “Devil in the White City”

I’m still reading The last Juror. Hopefully, it will finish soon so I can start another one.

The Missing-Chris Mooney

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.

“Rocket Men; The Epic Story of the First men on the Moon”


I’m not a huge non-fiction guy, but I like this book:

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.

IBSN-13:978 0 7478 0688 2
Shire Library No. 476
http://www.shirebooks.co.uk/store/Coachbuilding_9780747806882

“Brick by Brick: How LEGO Rewrote the Rules of Innovation and Conquered the Global Toy Industry”
http://www.robertsoninnovation.com/brick-by-brick/

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.

The book has a nice trailer:
[vimeo]http://vimeo.com/48823145[/vimeo]

Hugh Howey’s Silo Series is fantastic Sci-fi reading. Dust just came out this month and I am about 1/2 way through. Wool (book 1) and Shift (book 2) are up on the top of my favorites list right now:

“Wool” by Hugh Howey

“Shift” by Hugh Howey

“Dust” by Hugh Howey

I didn’t think I could beat the Wool Trilogy so quickly…but only 35% into it…“Ready Player One” by Ernest Cline is well on its way to being one of my favorite books ever.

If you spent any time in the 80s, have even an ounce of geek in you, words like D&D, Joust, Atari 2600, War Games, or anything else '80s makes you nostalgic…this book is a must read.

Got this for Christmas, really interesting (and since I’ve watched “The Muppets” and “Labyrinth”).


Dave Goelz (Gonzo) is an Industrial Designer.

Not design books, but I just got these for Christmas.

Also read this last year. Love the Giver series. More than any other books, they catalyze the most visceral, tangible imagery I have ever experienced as a reader.

A Song of Ice and Fire series right now, and I must say I am hooked! :slight_smile:

cheers