A list of things I have read, want to read, tell others to read, mean to read in some distant future, do not want to read, am force to read or just find interesting. Mainly books or papers and other long texts(some call them essays).
Thinking
Writing you might want to blame for my cynical outlook on the world. Though I assure you I am not really like that, I enjoy life. These texts should make you think, read with plenty of time to ponder the ideas.
On Bullshit, Harry G Frankfurt
This essay was given to me Christmas 2006. Find the full text here, in the web archive. It nice little book. Follows the traditional path of philosophy articles, so he looks up bullshit in the OED and then discusses those meanings but also looks at other sources for inspiration. Worth a read I would say, especially as its useful to understand something about bullshit. I might just have a bull session some time.
The Prevalence of Humbug, Max Black
Find the full text at http://www.ditext.com/black/humbug.html This essay is citied at the beginning of On bullshit, its a bit older so it talks about Humbug instead of bull. Have not read it all the way but suspect it to be interesting. It was published in 1980 and still adresses "current" problems, shows how the world only changes very slowly, people are still fooled by the same ideas ?
How to listen to a maths lecture, Tom Körner
How to listen ... is a nice little essay on, well exactly what the title says. If you are currently going to university and are annoyed by the amount of "online" material provided by your lecturer then this might be insightful. Gets a bit tedious towards the end. Other interesting essays are also available on his website.
Relaxing
Airport books, Science fiction, thrillers and other books you can read without paying alot of attention. Might contain the odd non book(what ever that means).
Entertaining
Books and texts that are full of things to do, help you become a more interesting person, teach you how to wrestle a crocodile, interesting places to travel to, tour guides, etc
211 things a bright boy can do, Tom Cuttler
If you are ever stuck for what to do on a rainy afternoon open a random page in this book and you should be sorted. However if you live in Manchester you might want to consider looking else where for entertainment once in a while otherwise this book will run out of ideas pretty fast. This books was given to me christmas 2006. amazon.
This diary will change your life, Benrik
I gave this book away on christmas 2006. It is a truly great diary/calendar! With fun thigns to do each week and it is pretty too! Brains and looks, what would one want more. Benrik, the authors, run a website at http://www.benrik.co.uk/ if you have the diary be sure to check for updates, if you do not have it check for a taste of what the book is like. They have other fun books too, couples should probably get this one. amazon.
Cooking
Cookbooks I own or have read and other recipe collections.
Curry bible, XXX My favourite(and only) indian curry book. Full of good currys and little texts telling you where they are from and who makes them and all that. Very well written and easy to follow. Makes great food!!
Physics
Mainly physics textbooks. Not a comprehensive list of books I read during my years at uni, just a selected few I particularly liked(or disliked).
Thermal Physics, Kittel & Kroemer
This is so far my favourite book on thermal physics, also known as statistical physics. It does not descend upon the chemistry way of doing thermal physics, it starts right of with statistics. Most other books take the "historical" approach which I find rather confusing and to me seems to involve a lot of "believing". Fun to read. amazon.
Geek
Books that will probably only interest people that share the same geek interests as me, programming and computers mainly.
Security Engineering, Ross Anderson
The full text is available from Ross Anderson's website here. This book was given to me christmas 2006 and I have not read very much of it so far. It is not yet another book on firewalls and VPN tunnels. It is much more general and "conceptual", if that is the right word. The author deserves extra browny points for putting the full text online for free, nada, zaaro!