Books read recently-ish (part 1)

A list of books read over the past several years, that were worthy of attention (2013-2015 ?).

"A Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland" ; Johnson ; 1775 / book .

– 18th century English literature (the best! – leave behind modern simplicity, and enjoy ornate sentences and unusual words)

"Pro Git 2ed v959" ; Chacon, Straub ; 2014 / ISBN-9781484200773 / book .

– the best introduction and guide

"Don Quixote" ; Cervantes, Grossman ; 1615, 2003 / ISBN-9780060188702 / book .

– the humour endures, but maybe over-lengthy

"Programming Languages v132" ; Harper ; 2012 / book .

– elevated prose, but academically burdened: learn good languages instead

"The Amazons Lives and Legends" ; Mayor ; 2014 / ISBN-9780691147208 / book .

– they existed, and they liked hash, horses, and tattoos

"Cakes Custard and Category Theory" ; Cheng ; 2015 / ISBN-9781781252871 / book .

– only a light hint of the catsteristic concepts

"The Visual Display Of Quantitative Information 2ed" ; Tufte ; 2001 / ISBN-9780961392147 / book .

– if you want to invent a diagram, at least start here

"Moby Dick" ; Melville ; 1851 / book .

– vivid, pleasingly wordy, some dull ship/whale technicalities

"Acceleration Methods For Ray Tracing" ; Dammertz ; 2011 / vts-767811019 / dissertation .

– a good exposition of a modern renderer, general and specific

"Language Truth And Logic 2ed" ; Ayer ; 1946 / ISBN-9780486113098 / book .

– logical positivism may be superficially abandoned, but underneath it still rules

"The Pragmatic Programmer" ; Hunt, Thomas ; 2000 / ISBN-020161622X / book .

– just a reminder of the good folk-wisdom you pick up along the way

"Make It Stick" ; Brown, Roediger ; 2014 / ISBN-9780674729018 / book .

– the top guide for learning optimally: and that is valuable – read this to learn better

"Snakes In Suits" ; Babiak, Hare ; 2006 / ISBN-9780061437700 / book .

– a bit more on the industrial insidiousness of psychopaths

"Without Conscience" ; Hare ; 1999 / ISBN-1572304510 / book .

– be aware of psychopaths, mainly so as to avoid them

"The Market System" ; Lindblom ; 2001 / ISBN-9780300093346 / book .

– ?

"Travels through France and Italy" ; Smollett ; 1766 / book .

– 18th century English literature (the best!)

"Zettel 2ed" ; Wittgenstein ; 1981 / ISBN-0631128239 / book .

– next best after 'Philosophical Investigations'

"On Certainty" ; Wittgenstein ; 1969 / book .

– next best after 'Zettel'

"Googles PageRank And Beyond" ; Langville, Meyer ; 2006 / ISBN-9780691122021 / book .

– examines an algorithmic idea of import and interest, quite technically

"Real World OCaml" ; Minsky, Madhavapeddy, Hickey ; 2013 / ISBN-9781449323912 / book .

– best tutorial (and not too outdated still)

"SuperCooperators" ; Nowak ; 2011 / ISBN-9781439100189 / book .

– the structure of cooperation from a bio/evolutionary perspective

"The Castle" ; Kafka ; 1926 / book .

– mundanely surreal, the desultory consciousness of a dream

"Internetworking With TCP IP Vol1 4ed" ; Comer ; 2000 / ISBN-0130183806 / book .

– a little too detailed for a summary, but everyone should know about this major artifact of engineering !

"The Java Programming Language 4ed" ; Arnold ; 2005 / ISBN-0321349806 / book .

– the primary guide and reference

"Networks Crowds Markets" ; Easley, Kleinberg ; 2010 / book .

– a good instructive syncresis of algo-econ knowledge

"Economic Writings Selections 1904 1945" ; Neurath ; 2004 / ISBN-9781402022746 / book .

– expresses an intent for non-markets, but never approaches effective detail

"Producing Open Source Software" ; Fogel ; 2009 / book .

– a good survey of all the circumstantial practicalities

"The Cambridge Handbook Of Expertise" ; Ericsson ; 2006 / ISBN-9780511224904 / book .

– a collection of studies, with some practical learning hints to be found

"Lambda Calculus And Combinators" ; Hindley, Seldin ; 2008 / ISBN-9780511414237 / book .

– academical, hence overly abstract and of little use