Book notes

Since it is in the title of this blog, I guess I should talk about books every once in a while. So today I will.

First, I have lent this book to a couple of people (including Thailand Jeff) and now three people have purchased it based solely on my recommendation, so I guess it gets my stamp of approval. The Mapmakers, by John Noble Wilford. I know many of you will not be excited by the prospect of a history of mapmaking, but this is a fascinating read. Yes is is a "history" (it goes from Ptolemy to current GIS applications), but it's also a good read. While I've always liked maps, this book gave me a newfound appreciation for just what goes into mapmaking and just how accurate many "primitive" maps turned out to be. It reminds me a whole lot of The Code Book, by Simon Singh. Both books do a wonderful job of striking a balance between the technical aspects of a craft and the human stories of the practitioners and their major breakthroughs. I strongly endorse both.

On the subject of books, here's my review of The End of California. While it didn't knock my socks off, I did enjoy the book. In fact, I liked it enough that I've tracked down a couple of anthologized short stories by the guy and I plan to read another of his novels -- once I get some time.

Speaking of reading projects, I want to enlist y'all in helping me stick to a project. I want to read this book (the thought of slogging through it is just too much for me to even type the title), but I figure I'll give up after a hundred pages or so -- that's what's happened on every previous attempt. So every month or so, I need one of you to ask me if I've made any progress on it. I figure peer pressure might force me to make it through the tome -- this time. Why, you might ask, do I want to read the book if I'm dreading it so much? Good question. Basically I figure the entire canon of 150 years of literary thought can't be completely wrong. I "need" to read it. We'll see how it goes.