Summer Reading, 2008

Pillars of the Earth, by Ken Follett

The Worm Ouroboros, by E. R. Eddison

The Last Lecture, by Randy Pausch

The Assault on Reason, by Al Gore

The Map That Changed the World, by Simon Winchester

The Flanders Panel, by Arturo Perez-Reverte

Captain Alatriste, by Arturo Perez-Reverte

Purity of Blood, by Arturo Perez-Reverte

The Sun Over Breda, by Arturo Perez-Reverte

One Human Minute, by Stanislaw Lem

Schmapplet

One of my photos is included in the latest edition of the Schmap for Ottawa (look under Tulip Festival)

Painting

An artist on flickr asked permission to do a painting based on one of my photographs. Here is the result:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/10901434@N06/1347625875/

Books from Summer 2007

Here's my annual "What I read this summer" list


Northanger Abbey - one of Jane Austen's lesser-known works, but a very entertaining read.

The Children of Hurin - posthumous publication of JRR Tolkien's tale of tragic fate.

blink - Malcolm Gladwell's book about the value of snap decisions.

The Art of Teaching - Jay Parini's memoir of his development as a professor of English.

Suddenly They Heard Footsteps - Dan Yashinsky's reminiscences about becoming a professional story-teller.

Have Spacesuit, Will Travel - pre-moon landing sci-fi from Robert Heinlein - excellent starter for my son.

The Other Boleyn Girl - historical novel about Ann Boleyn's career as Queen of England, told through the eyes of her sister.

A Crack in the Edge of the World - Simon Winchester's fascinating account of the Great San Francisco Earthquake of 1906.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince - way better than #5. I have to say that Snape is the most interesting character in the series, much more complex than HP.

The Ship - a fictionalized account of a British naval vessel during a pivotal WWII battle in the Mediterranean, written by C.S. Forster (of Horatio Hornblower fame).

Whit - a dark comedy by Iain Banks. Frankly, not his best work.

Vancouver's Old-Time Scoundrels - the story of John "Gassy Jack" Deighton and other colourful characters from the early days of Vancouver, by Jill Foran

Confusion
The System of the World - the second and third volumes of Neal Stephenson's Baroque Cycle. I thought Confusion was outstanding, and TSotW was pretty good - not up to Cryptonomicon though.

Rainbows End - near-future sci-fi from Vernor Vinge. Far from his best effort. Read True Names or Fire Upon the Deep

OUF Follies

So, I was on the comfortable coach coming back from TheBigSmoke after a busy day at the Ontario University Fair, telling everyone who would listen that Queen's is a great place to study computing (and it is). Like most of the other passengers I soon exhausted the adrenaline that had kept me going for the last few hours, and I drifted off to sleep.

An indeterminate time later, I opened my eyes to see the bus driver walking past me, towards the washroom at the back of the bus. The first thought to run through my head was "He's put it on cruise control! We're going to die!" (Yes, I think with exclamation marks.)

In fact, we were parked at one of the 401 service stations, and he was counting heads. Ah well, it was exciting for a moment.

Book list update

Recently finished reading:

The Oasis by Pauline Gedge - second book of a trilogy about ancient Egypt. Mostly just a compelling page-turner, but the author's descriptions of the sights and sounds of ancient life by the Nile are beautiful and vivid. They have the same sun-drenched quality as some of Maxfield Parrish's paintings.

Heaven in a Chip by Bart Kosko - further musings by Kosko on how fuzzy logic either lies at the heart of everything, or should. This book is much less technical than his Fuzzy Thinking, and covers a wide range of social issues, including war, politics and religion.

The Lost Continent by Bill Bryson - sometimes hilarious, sometimes quite bitter, Bryson recounts a driving drip around the USA (touching 38 states, I think) in search of the perfect small town - a mythical place he calls Amalgam.

followup

A. C. sent me the following link in response to my musings about flowers. It turns out that I am not the first to ask these questions (now there's a surprise).

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/4255479.stm