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Data Structures Using Pascal   by Aaron Tenebaum and Moshe Augenstein, 545 pages Steven Krise   20 April 2006 Revelation that data structures aren't so much about how data is physically stored but rather how it is accessed and manipulated. All the complex structures discussed in this book can use one or more arrays as the to physically store the data objects.

Play Winning Poker...In No Time   by Alison Pendergast, 183 pages Steven Krise   15 June 2009 If you've played any kind of poker - winning or otherwise then this isn't the book for you. A shallow, uninteresting intro to poker that covers the topics you expect, giving advice you've already heard.

Life on a Young Planet   by Andrew H Knoll, 277 pages Steven Krise   20 May 2009 An informative overview of "the first three billion years of evolution on earth", starting with biogenesis up to just before the so called Cambrian Explosion. It ties together the topics of a couple other books I've read recently which were more focused in scope.

Why God Won't Go Away: Brain science and the biology of belief   by Andrew Newberg, Eugene D'Aquili, and Vince Rause, 226 pages Steven Krise   19 September 2003 Purports to be a survey of the neurological underpinnings of mystical experiences. However, the book disappoints when the authors stray away from neurophysiology (which despite the title is quite often after Ch. 3) into baseless speculation and idle philosophizing. They somehow conclude (in the vein of "insert miracle here") by saying their research shows that there is a real mystical transcendent reality which is the fundamental ground of objective reality and subjective experience.

Complete Warrior - A Player's Guide to Combat for All Classes   by Andy Collins, David Noonan, Ed Stark, 159 pages Steven Krise   17 January 2004 Yeah, I'm a geek. This AD&D accessory collates fighter related information that used to be scattered over a number of sources and updates it for the 3.5 rules.

The First Human - the race to discover our earliest ancestors   by Ann Gibbons, 306 pages Steven Krise   19 June 2008 "This book is not a comprehensive history. It is my perception of the quest for the earliest ancestors during th past fifteen years, as I covered the science of human origins for /Science/. I have focused on the leaders of four teams that found the earliest known members of the human family....I found it impossible, however, to separate the human story of the quest from the scientific results; science is a social endeavor and the personal politics influence not only who gets access to data,...but even how researchers interpret the fossils and formulate hypotheses."

The Face of a Stranger   by Anne Perry, 345 pages Steven Krise   28 August 2004 The "surprise twist" was clearly telegraphed in Chapter 2 but the reader gets the oppurtunity to muddle through an additional 10 chapters with the amnesiac detective until he stumbles onto it himself. Of course, the good Mr Monk regains his memory on page 323 just in time for a tidy ending devoid of any tragedy for the protagonist.

John Gardner: Literary Outlaw   by Barry Silesky, 358 pages Steven Krise   06 July 2008 I need to stop reading authors' biographies because it seems they all seem to turn out to be loons, but I do have a better understanding of who Gardner is and what his fiction was about.

How to win at poker   by Belinda Levez, 106 pages Steven Krise   08 October 2009 Probably the lamest poker book I've ever read. This is what passes for good advice: develop a betting strategy that maximizes profit whilst minimizing loss (with no explanation of how to evaluate a strategy to see if it meets that criterion) or bluff but not too much because when people call your bluff you lose money.

A Walk In The Woods   by Bill Bryson, 276 pages Steven Krise   15 March 2008 Once, aeons ago, the Appalachians were of a scale and majesty to rival the Himalayas....That the Appalachian Mountains present so much more modest an aspect today is because they have had so much time in which to wear away. The Appalachians are immensely old--older than the oceans and continents (at least in their present configurations), far, far older than almost all other landscape features on earth. When simple plants colonized the land and the first creatures crawled gasping from the sea, the Appalachians were there to greet them.

Lunar Park   by Bret Easton Ellis, 308 pages Steven Krise   13 July 2009 Fictional characters from Bret's previous works come to life as an all to real "metaphor" of Bret's need to come to terms with his past, including his father's death and the son he never wanted...until now.

The Elegant Universe   by Brian Greene, 448 pages Steven Krise   13 October 2002 Starting with a chapter long overview of Special Relativity, General Relativity, and Quantum Mechanics, the author goes on to explore the details, implications, and possible future of the cutting edge of theoretical physics, superstring/M-theory, which purports to unify these disparate branches of modern physics into a single grandly elegant theoretical framework. Greene uses an easy to read style and simple profound analogies to help the reader get a grasp of the current best candidate for that holy grail of modern physics, the theory of everything.

History of the Independent Loudoun Rangers   by Briscoe Goodhart, 243 pages Steven Krise   27 November 2002 A history of the only military unit from Virginia to fight for the Union during the Civil War (mustered almost entirely from the German Settlement (Lovettsville, Waterford, Wheatland, Short Hill, and Neersville) and the Quaker settlement (parts of Waterford and Hamilton). By extension the book is a detailed account of the various skirmishes in Loudoun County and a few of the major battles fought in the area, including Antietam, Gettysburg, Monocacy, and Sheridan's Valley Campaign. The book concludes by recounting the author's grim experiences in a southern POW camp. Should be of interest to Civil War buffs, especially those familiar with Loudoun County.

The Seven Daughters of Eve   by Bryan Sykes, 306 pages Steven Krise   07 August 2008 A Discovery Channel-esque narrative of the author's work on mitochondrial DNA, culminating in his identification of the 7 "clans" of Europe - implying 7 mothers of these clans. Closes with a brief chapter for each mother iterating a possible life story for her.

Four Archetypes - Mother, Rebirth, Spirit, Trickster   by C G Jung, 173 pages Steven Krise   15 June 2003 In "The Phenomenology of the Spirit in Fairy Tales" we see good old Carl Gustav make reference to "The Chemical Wedding of Christian Rosencreutz". Those in the know understand what this means.

Database Programming with Visual Basic .NET, Second Edition   by Carsten Thomsen, 959 pages Steven Krise   04 September 2006 What Would Jesus Code?

The New Complete Joy of Homebrewing   by Charlie Papazian, 398 pages Steven Krise   20 April 2002 The definitive how-to guide for the beginning brewer. Worth the price just for the recipes.

The Homebrewer's Companion   by Charlie Papazian, 446 pages Steven Krise   01 May 2002 More in-depth follow-up to NCJHB. Start reading at page 380 to get a feel for who Papazian is.

New Complete Joy of Homebrewing   by Charlie Papazian, 398 pages Steven Krise   20 May 2005 This mad Armenians enthusiasm for beer and brewing is boundless and contagious. A worthwhile read everytime.

The Homebrewers' Companion   by Charlie Papazian, 443 pages Steven Krise   14 February 2006 My annual "pilgrimmage" to sit at the feet of the master homebrewer hisself.

Thumbs, Toes, and Tears: And Other Traits That Make Us Human   by Chip Walter, 256 pages Steven Krise   20 May 2008 "He points out that we give our big toe little thought until we stub it, but its evolution allowed Homo erectus to stand upright millions of years ago and led to other helpful evolutionary features, like the pharynx—which in turn made speech possible. Readers also learn why we tousle our children's hair, why kissing is so much fun and what may lie ahead as we near the end of our current evolutionary reel."

The First Word - The Search for the Origins of Language   by Christine Kenneally, 357 pages Steven Krise   01 August 2008 A survey of the burgeoning field of language evolution. One of the goals of the book is to show that a lot of the confusion about how language evolved was caused by the faulty assumption that it is a monolithic thing that is unique to humans rather than an accreted grab bag of features, most of which have homologs and precursors in other animals.

God Is Not Great - How Religion Poisons Everything   by Christopher Hitchens, 307 pages Steven Krise   08 February 2008 There still remain four irreducible objections to religious faith: that it wholly misrepresents the origins of man and the cosmos, that because of this original error it manages to combine the maximum of servility with the maximum of solipsism, that it is both the result and the cause of dangerous sexual repression, and that it is ultimately grounded in wish-thinking.

Witnesses From the Grave   by Christopher Joyce & Eric Stover, 333 pages Steven Krise   14 June 2004 It was either a history of forensic anthropology or a biography of anthropologist Clyde Snow. Maybe it was supposed to be one layered on top of the other. Anyway, it covers the numerous prominent investigations Snow has been involved in (confirming Mengele's remains in Brazil, searching for desparacidos in Argentina and doing all-important studies on the proportions of stewardesses for the FAA).

Fool   by Christopher Moore, 311 pages Steven Krise   19 November 2009 Sort of a bawdy Pratchett-esque take on King Lear, maybe?

Choke   by Chuck Palahniuk, 293 pages Steven Krise   08 June 2008 The point was, it's not the sex part of pornography that hooked the stupid little boy. It was the confidence. The courage. The complete lack of shame. The comfort and genuine honesty. The up-front-ness of being able to just stand there and tell the world: Yeah, this is how I chose to spend a free afternoon. Posing here with a monkey putting chestnuts up my ass. And I don't really care how I look. Or what you think. So deal with it. He was assaulting the world by assaulting himself.

Fight Club   by Chuck Palahniuk, 199 pages Steven Krise   14 July 2008 The angels here are the Old Testament kind, legions and lieutenants, a heavenly host who works in shifts, days, swing, Graveyard. They bring you your meals on a tray with a paper cup of meds. The Valley of the Dolls playset. I've met God across his long walnut desk with his diplomas hanging on the wall behind him, and God asks me, "Why?" Why did I cause so much pain? Didn't I realize that each of us is a sacred, unique snowflake of special unique specialness? Can't I see how we're all manifestations of love? I look at God behind his desk, taking notes on a pad, but God's got this all wrong. We are not special. We are not crap or trash, either. We just are. We just are, and what happens just happens. And God says, "No, that's not right." Yeah. Well. Whatever. You can't teach God anything.

Rant - An Oral Biography of Buster Casey   by Chuck Palahniuk, 320 pages Steven Krise   22 July 2008 From the Field Notes of Green Taylor Simms: Of greatest interest is the idea that an average person easily reaches this mystical meditation state, "theta" brain waves, the state most sought by monks and pilgrims, simply by driving an automobile. Any long drive, anytime you've passed time and covered distance with no memory of the process, you've been submerged in deep theta-level meditation. Open to visions. Open to your subconscious. Creativity, intuition, and spiritual enlightenment.

History of Scotland   by Cliff Hanley, 192 pages Steven Krise   04 July 2002 The title says it all. Starts out with the Picts and finishes up with the economic downturn of the late 80s. Best part was getting to read aloud in my head the word Glaswegian. Special £9.00 Value! I picked it up while in Glasgow back in 1997.

Beowulf and Other Old English Poems   by Constance B Hieatt (Trans.), 149 pages Steven Krise   13 April 2008 Now the ghoul found that never in the world, anywhere on earth, had he met a man with a mightier handgrip. He became afraid in his heart, but he could not get away any the sooner. He was eager to be off; he wanted to flee to his hiding place and seek out the company of devils--his circumstances there were unlike any he had ever before encountered in all the days of his life. The brave kinsman of Hygelac remembered his vows of that evening: he stood upright and got a fast hold on the monster;

Blood Meridian   by Cormac McCarthey, 337 pages Steven Krise   06 November 2006 The judge said he would never die.

No Country For Old Men   by Cormac McCarthy, 309 pages Steven Krise   19 July 2008 Almost hamletesque in the ruthless efficiency with which all the main and several minor characters are dispatched. Bravo.

The Road   by Cormac McCarthy, 287 pages Steven Krise   09 August 2008 By then all stores of food had given out and murder was everywhere upon the land. The world soon to be largely populated by men who would eat your children in front of your eyes and the cities themselves held by cores of blackened looters who tunneled among the ruins and crawled from the rubble white of tooth and eye carrying charred and anonymous tins of food in nylon nets like shoppers in the commissaries of hell.

A Feast of Creatures, Anglo-Saxon Riddle-Songs   by Craig Williamson, 230 pages Steven Krise   04 September 2002 A book in 3 parts. Zen-like Walt Whitman-influenced intro to riddles as means of enlightenment followed by translations of the 91 Old English riddles of the Exeter Book. Finishes with short commentary on each of the poems. Worthwhile for the first two parts. Includes an index of proposed solutions to the riddles.

Consciousness Explained   by Daniel C Dennett, 511 pages Steven Krise   05 December 2004 Despite the pretentious title, the author did fairly well meeting his goal. "The phenomena of human consciousness have been explained in the preceding chapters in terms of the operations of a "virtual machine," a sort of evolved (and evolving) computer program that shapes the activities of the brain. There is no Cartesian Theater; there are just Multiple Drafts composed by processes of content fixation playing various semi-independent roles in the brain's larger economy of cntrolling a human body's journey through life. The astonishingly persistent conviction that there is a Cartesian Theater is the result of a variety of cognitive illusions that have now been exposed and explained. "Qualia" have been replaced by complex dispositional states of the brain, and the self (otherwise known as the Audience in the Cartesian Theater, the Central Meaner, or the Witness) turns out to be a valuable abstraction, a theorist's fiction rather than an internal observer or boss."

Breaking the Spell   by Daniel Dennett, 448 pages Steven Krise   21 July 2009 Dennett's book length argument for why religion should be treated and studied as a natural phenomenon. Moderately interesting when he stopped bending over backwards trying not to scare away any religious readers.

Freedom Evolves   by Daniel Dennett, 347 pages Steven Krise   12 November 2009 Dennett skirts most of the babble about free will and determinism by defining free will to be behavioral plasticity coupled to culture. As such, it has evolved over the entire course of life on Earth and seems to have culminated in modern humans who have the most plastic and culture.

The Complete Handbook of Home Brewing   by Dave Miller, 248 pages Steven Krise   07 January 2003 There's not really too much new to be covered in an introductory handbook of homebrewing that I haven't come across yet. Miller's anal, detail oriented focus, pathological hatred of hazy beer, and denigration of malt extract brewing and dry yeast is a sharp contrast to Papazian's happier-go-lucky "relax, don't worry, have a homebrew" attitude. Miller seemed to insist on making homebrewing more difficult than it need be. However, I think this is largely a product of the times the book was written (1988). The discussion of malting, fermentation and beer judging benefitted from his unique style. Not a bad read. Papazian is still the homebrew god, in my opinion, though.

Dave Miller's Homebrewing Guide   by Dave Miller, 358 pages Steven Krise   18 January 2003 The more in-depth and technical version of Miller's original opus. The detailed discussion of fermentation and its by-products was interesting. I still found his obsession with filtered beer and denigration of bottle-conditioning, malt extract brewing, and dried yeast unfounded. Whatever, I'm going to stop reading about it and go have a homebrew now.

Brewing the World's Great Beers   by Dave Miller, 150 pages Steven Krise   08 May 2005 I thought it was going to be a book of recipes for notable beers, but was just a rehash of the author's introduction to homebrewing book. In typical Dave Miller fashion a number of things are made harder than they really need to be.

Life Everywhere: The Maverick Science of Astrobiology   by David Darling, 206 pages Steven Krise   18 August 2009 A comprehensive and lucid introduction to the new science of astrobiology.

Brewing the World's Great Beers   by David Miller, 150 pages Steven Krise   02 July 2007 Miller's a twat. He forgets that "crystal clear" beer is, for the most part, a creation of industrialized corporate brewers that has been marketed to the consumer as an improvement, when in fact a yeasty haze is integral to the character of many styles. He acknowledges on p 118-119 that filtering harms the quality of homebrew and yet still advocates it. What a wanker.

Programming Microsoft ADO.NET 2.0   by David Sceppa, 835 pages Steven Krise   10 November 2007 Get a practical introduction to the Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 libraries (ADO.NET 2.0) that communicate, access, sort, and interact with data from .NET-connected applications. Includes coverage of XML data and Microsoft SQL Server 2005.

Programming ADO   by David Sceppa, 363 pages Steven Krise   02 May 2009 God, I wish I had known about this book 5 years ago. A wonderfully comprehensive discussion of Microsoft's (now defunct) universal data access technology, ADO. Worth the price of the book for the chapter on the ADO Cursor Engine alone.

The Eye Of The Hunter   by Dennis L McKiernan, 601 pages Steven Krise   01 January 2004 Shannon says this is a cheap Tolkein rip-off. I wouldn't know anything about that, but it is an overwrought pile of mokk. I've tried to read this book at least half a dozen times (usually around Christmas) in the past 10 years and have just now succeeded (thanks to this book list).

Language and Species   by Derek Bickerton, 297 pages Steven Krise   02 July 2002 An intriguing thesis that language originally evolved as a representational system by modeling the primary representational system (i.e., the sensorium) and was then exapted for communicative use. It's hypothesized there exists 2 distinct linguistic modes in humans, protolanguage (pidgins and speech of children under 2) and language (normal adult speech). Protolanguage evolved early in the hominid line (around the time of H. erectus, 1.5 mya) and that the transition from protolanguage to language occurred 'suddenly' with the emergence of H sapiens. Goes on to show how syntax (language's main distinction from protolanguage) is the currency of thought (by providing linguistic 'tokens' to manipulate) and provides the underpinning to our unique sense of consciousness. It's the kind of thesis that is probably wrong in many details but invaluable for the questions it poses. 'The question is, are there things that exist *only* in the secondary representational system, you see.'

Handbook of Knots   by Des Pawson, 176 pages Steven Krise   28 September 2009 DK always publishes excellent books, and this handbook is no exception. It uses photographs for the various diagrams, which I find easier to decipher and use as a guide than illustrations.

An Alchemy of Mind   by Diane Ackerman, 300 pages Steven Krise   30 January 2008 Reads like a book-length introduction to the topic of mind/brain. Uses a lot of interesting imagery, but makes references to all the usual places (Gazzaniga, Libet). Includes a chapter long diversion on how great Shakespeare is?

From Lucy To Language   by Donald Johanson & Blake Edgar, 272 pages Steven Krise   05 February 2004 More like 2 "books" in one. The first section tells the story of human evolution from Lucy to the flowering of modern human culture in the Upper Paleolithic period. The second half of the book is comprised of in-depth coverage of the most important fossils of the species discussed in the first part. The book finishes up with about a 10 page discussion of the various stages of human lithic culture.

The Long, Dark Tea Time of the Soul   by Douglas Adams, 307 pages Steven Krise   06 December 2005 Thor gets pissed and accidentally saves the day.

Mostly Harmless   by Douglas Adams, 219 pages Steven Krise   23 December 2005 A sort of "many worlds interpretation"-y action adventure thingy that cleverly concludes the 5-part HH trilogy right where it started.

The Salmon of Doubt   by Douglas Adams, 298 pages Steven Krise   04 November 2007 Worth the price of admission just for the essay entitled "Artificial God". The additional essays, bits and pieces of prose, and skeletal form of the 3rd Dirk Gently novel are just bonuses.

Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency   by Douglas Adams, 306 pages Steven Krise   06 December 2007 "Mis Pearce!" he called out, "kindly send out a revised bill, would you, to our dear Mrs Sauskind. The new bill reads 'To: saving human race from total extinction--no charge.'" He put on his hat and left for the day.

The Mind's I   by Douglas Hofstadter and Daniel Dennett (Eds.), 501 pages Steven Krise   07 January 2005 Collection of excerpts, essays, and philosophical circlejerks relating to the topics of the mind-brain interface, consciousness, subjectivity, AI, and personal identity. Highlights were the "Reflections" by DRH and DCD at the end of each selection and the stories by Stanislaw Lem and Robert Smullyan.

Dirty Jokes and Beer   by Drew Carey, 277 pages Steven Krise   03 May 2003 Um, yeah, the title says it all. The chapter with 101 big dick jokes was hilarious, but the final third, "Stories of the Unrefined" (aka Drew tries his hand at writing short stories) can be safely skipped.

Data Structures   by Edward M Reingold and Wilfred J Hansen, 450 pages Steven Krise   11 November 2008 My at work bathroom reading material. Much better than the previous tome I read on data structures: it had a lot of discussion of algorithms, as well, including searching, sorting, and merging. Other titles in the "Little, Brown Computer Systems Series" include 'Personal Graphics for Profit and Pleasure on the Apple II Plus Computer' and 'Computer Games for Business, School, and Home for TRS-80 Level II BASIC'.

The Everything Learning German Book   by Edward Swick, 305 pages Steven Krise   05 June 2009 A thorough but not overwhelming overview of German syntax and grammar.

Beautiful Evidence   by Edward Tufte, 213 pages Steven Krise   05 October 2008 I couldn't discern the line connecting some of the chapters to the overall theme of the book, but it is forgivable. His statements about sparklines and multimodal presentation of data are consciousness-expanding and his excoriation of PowerPoint is deep, thorough, and interesting.

The Origin of Satan   by Elaine Pagels, 214 pages Steven Krise   08 July 2003 Starting with the satan being a role played out by angels or gods in Yahweh's court we see how the concept of the intimate enemy is expanded through Jewish and early Christian thought as the faithful confront opposition. The concept finds its fullest expression in the anti-Semitism of the later Gospels and the demonization of the so-called heretics by Irenaeus.

Professional VB.NET 2nd Edition   by Et al, 985 pages Steven Krise   05 April 2004 "This book explains the underlying philosophy and design of the .NET framework and Common Language Runtime, and details the differences between Visual Basic 6 and Visual Basic .NET." At least the title isn't all acronyms. Note to Ms Bennett, one of the dozen authors was a women. I'm working on it.

Database Programming with Visual Basic .NET and ADO.NET - (Useless) Tips, (Pedantic) Tutorials, and (Shitty) Code   by F Scott Barker, 524 pages Steven Krise   10 September 2006 If (IsTheSuck(oThisBook) = True) = True Then MsgBox "Yup, it sucks ass!", vbOkOnly+vbInformation rem the parenthetical adjectives were omitted from the cover of my copy of the book for some reason

Thus Spoke Zarathustra   by Friedrich Nietszche, 343 pages Steven Krise   11 August 2003 F so obviously left it wide open for a sequel by ending his opus at the dawn before the Great Noontide. I hear Arnold Schwarzenegger is thinking about starring in the movie version of the second book, "Also Sprach Zarathustra - Ich komme wieder".

Snowball Earth   by Gabrielle Walker, 269 pages Steven Krise   03 September 2009 Tells the story of the Snowball Earth hypothesis while telling the story (primarily) of Paul Hoffman, its chief proponent.

Words in Time   by Geoffrey Hughes, 270 pages Steven Krise   18 March 2004 Hughes outlines how social change has impacted semantic change throughout the history of English. In the conclusion he throws several none to subtle darts at the role post-modern linguists, sociologists, and advertisers have played in bringing about verbicide and a general reduction in semantic precision. Fissiparous.

When Will Jesus Bring the Pork Chops?   by George Carlin, 295 pages Steven Krise   28 July 2008 Reads like a bookified blog with George rapping about idiots and their use of language.

Napalm & Silly Putty   by George Carlin, 269 pages Steven Krise   11 August 2008 If you've read any one of Carlin's books and any two of his HBO comedy specials, you've seen or heard all the material in this book.

Principles of Brewing Science   by George Fix, 189 pages Steven Krise   24 March 2006 This is what I was hoping for when I had purchased BrewChem 101. A nice technical discussion (but not so narrow as to read like a journal) of the biochemistry of brewing with a little physics thrown in at the end to cover how the gas laws relate to carbonation.

1984   by George Orwell, 267 pages Steven Krise   19 September 2003 War is peace.

Monsignor Quixote   by Graham Greene, 256 pages Steven Krise   08 October 2003 Started reading the book on the plane from New Orleans while flying through the outer edges of Isabelle. Having left the book on the plane, I had to buy another one to finish (plus it was Shannon's book). Anyway, how can you not love the two main characters?

Burnt-out Case   by Graham Greene, 199 pages Steven Krise   13 September 2004 He came to the end of even that.

The End of the Affair   by Graham Greene, 240 pages Steven Krise   15 September 2004 A week ago I had only to say to her, "Do you remember that first time together and how I hadn't got a shilling for the meter?" and the scene would be there for both of us. Now it was there for me only. She had lost all our memories forever, and it was as though by dying she had robbed me of part of myself.

Monsignor Quixote   by Graham Greene, 256 pages Steven Krise   07 June 2007 The oddest couple in Spain.

A Gun for Sale   by Graham Greene, 186 pages Steven Krise   12 June 2007 Death came to him in the form of unbearable pain. It was as if he had to deliver this pain as a woman delivers a child, and he sobbed and moaned in the effort. At last it came out of him and he followed his only child into a vast desolation.

Brighton Rock   by Graham Greene, 247 pages Steven Krise   26 June 2007

The Human Factor   by Graham Greene, 302 pages Steven Krise   20 November 2008 "Probably the best espionage novel ever written." - Well, certainly better than 'Red Rabbit' not that that is hard to do.

Our Man In Havana   by Graham Greene, 220 pages Steven Krise   11 November 2009 http://www.google.com/#q=synopsis+"graham+greene"+"our+man+in+havana"

What If Our World Is Their Heaven? The Final Conversations of Philip K Dick   by Gwen Lee and Doris Elaine Sauter (Eds.), 204 pages Steven Krise   08 May 2008 Taped on three different days, these conversations between PK Dick and Gwen Lee give an intimate look into the mind and writing process of this literary master.

Memoirs of an Invisible Man   by H F Saint, 396 pages Steven Krise   04 October 2003 Thrilling story of the adventures of an invisible securities analyst. It is amazing the extent to which Saint thought about the psychology of being invisible. It goes without saying that the book is about 8000 times better than the Chevy Chase / Daryl Hannah movie version.

Scandinavian Mythology   by H R Ellis Davidson, 144 pages Steven Krise   18 June 2003 Neither the Lovettsville nor the Purcellville libraries had "Grendel".

Bridget Jone's Diary   by Helen Fielding, 271 pages Steven Krise   16 January 2005 v. g.

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas   by Hunter S Thompson, 204 pages Steven Krise   31 May 2004 "You Samoans are all the same," I told him. "You have no faith in the essential decency of the white man's culture. Jesus, just one hour ago we were sitting over there in that stinking baiginio, stone broke and paralyzed for the weekend, when a call comes through from some total stranger in New York, telling me to got Las Vegas and expenses be damned -- and then he sends me over to some office in Beverly Hills where another total stranger gives me $300 raw cash for no reason at all...I tell you, my man, this is the American dream in action! We'd be fools not to ride this strange torpedo all the way to the end."

Hell's Angels   by Hunter S Thompson, 348 pages Steven Krise   04 July 2005 For nearly a year I had lived in a world that seemed, at first, like something original. It was obvious from the beginning that the menace bore little resemblance to its publicized image, but there was a certain pleasure in sharing the Angels' amusement at the stir they'd created....I realized that the roots of this act were not in any time-honored American myth but right beneath my feet in a new kind of society that is only beginning to take shape. To see the Hell's Angels as caretakers of the old 'individualist' tradition 'that made this country great' is only a painless way to get around seeing them for what they really are -- not some romantic leftover, but the first wave of a future that nothing in our history has prepared us to cope with. The Angels are prototypes. Their lack of education has not only rendered them completely useless in a highly technical economy, but it has also given them the leisure to cultivate a powerul resentment...and to translate it into a destructive cult which the mass media insists on portraying as a sort of isolated oddity, a temporary phenomenon that will shortly become extinct now that it's been called to the attention of the police. This is a reassuring viewpoint and it would be even more so if the police shared it. Unfortunately, they don't.

Kingdom of Fear: Loathsome secrets of a star-crossed child in the final days of the American Century   by Hunter S Thompson, 351 pages Steven Krise   04 February 2008 "Brilliant, provocative, outrageous, and brazen, Hunter S. Thompson's infamous rule breaking -- in his journalism, in his life, and under the law -- changed the shape of American letters, and the face of American icons...."

Hey Rube - Blood Sport, the Bush Doctrine, and the Downward Spiral of Dumbness   by Hunter S Thompson, 246 pages Steven Krise   16 February 2008 Collection of HST's articles from the ESPN column of the same name.

Fear and Loathing: On the Campaign Trail '72   by Hunter S Thompson, 505 pages Steven Krise   03 March 2008 He was reluctant to bet on the game [Super Bowl VII], even when I offered to take Miami with no points. A week earlier I'd been locked into the idea that the Redskins would win easily--but when Nixon came out for them and George Allen began televising his prayer meetings I decided any team with both God and Nixon on their side was fucked from the start.

The Proud Highway: Saga of a Desparate Southern Gentleman, 1955-1967   by Hunter S Thompson, 683 pages Steven Krise   25 December 2008 Collected personal letters of HST for the time period mentioned in the title (odd, that). Gems include a lot of 'em, but it's been a long sick-filled week since I finished the book and I don't remember any of the page numbers I had previously "committed" to memory for to pull out quotes for the BandML.

Clear Thinking   by Hy Ruchlis, 271 pages Steven Krise   28 April 2002 With a forward by the inimitable Carl Sagan, this isn't a bad read. It's geared more for a younger audience than the introduction to formal logic I expected. Should have paid more attention in MOMM, I guess.

The Monkey in the Mirror   by Ian Tattersall, 205 pages Steven Krise   29 May 2002 From this eminent paleoanthropologist (only 2 degress separated from the late, great SJ Gould (via Niles Eldridge)) comes a collection of essays on hominid evolution united by the theme (punk eq) that innovations in the hominid line (that's us) were sporadic and not at all the "refinements" (Neo-Darwinian gradualism) that one so often hears about. It'll be weeks before I get the twisted tune of that lame early 90s Michael Jackson tune out of my head, but otherwise a worthwhile read.

The Human Odyssey - Four Million Years of Human Evolution   by Ian Tattersall, 191 pages Steven Krise   18 January 2004 "Based on the acclaimed new hall of Human Biology and Evolution at the American Museum of Natrual History". This overview starts discussing the details of cells and DNA and the general principles of evolution before moving through mammalian evolution. The focus, not surprisingly, settles on primate evolution and heads down the hominid branch. Finishes up with an impressive review of the Solutrean and Magdelenian cave art typified by that appearing in Lascaux.

Becoming Human   by Ian Tattersall, 258 pages Steven Krise   21 September 2008 Gets a little scattered and speculative in the last chapter (on human consciousness and the future of our species), but overall a good survey of hominid evolution with a focus on how our unique brand of brain/mind evolved.

I, Robot   by Isaac Asimov, 192 pages Steven Krise   03 July 2004 Wir funktionieren automatik. Jetzt wollen wir tanzen mechanik. Wir sind auf alles programmiert und was du willst wird ausgeführt. Wir sind die Roboter.

The Dream Drugstore   by J Allan Hobson, 333 pages Steven Krise   18 August 2003 "In this extraordinary volume, Hobson links the mental changes that are common to dreaming, psychosis, and the actions of psychedelic drugs..." using his 3-dimensional AIM model. A truly interesting book in that Hobson actually addresses how changes in brain state link to changes in the *experience* of consciousness. Highly recommended to any interested in mind-brain studies.

The Catcher in the Rye   by J D Salinger, 192 pages Steven Krise   17 August 2007 That's the whole trouble. You can't ever find a place that's nice and peaceful, because there isn't any. You think there is, but once you get there, when you're not looking, somebody'll sneak up and write "Fuck you" right under your nose.

Cradle of Life   by J William Schopf, 367 pages Steven Krise   17 April 2009 A survey of Precambrian paleontology and its search for fossil microbes and evidence for how life began told from the perspective of the author over the 30 or so years he's been involved in the field. A thoroughly fascinating read.

A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man   by James Joyce, 253 pages Steven Krise   13 July 2002 Inspired by Percesepe's article here http://www.mississippireview.com/PublicScrutiny/Content/ps0104-percesepe.html I decided to read something from his list of authors I'd never read before. The style was disorienting at first, but worth the while to work through. Words I learned: soutane, athwart

Guns, Germs, and Steel - The Fates of Human Societies   by Jared Diamond, 494 pages Steven Krise   29 June 2008

Sword & Fist: A Guidebook to Fighters and Monks   by Jason Carl, 96 pages Steven Krise   30 January 2003 New feats, prestige classes, weapons and organizations. Most of the new feats are geared toward monks rather than fighters. Oh well.

Clan of the Cave Bear   by Jean M Auel, 495 pages Steven Krise   04 October 2003 Recent research on mtDNA recovered from Neandertal bones suggests that Durc and Ura were an impossibility. However, that does little to diminsh the verisimilitude of Auel's world.

Twisted   by Jeffery Deaver, 383 pages Steven Krise   04 January 2004 It's the collected short stories of Jeffery Deaver, all featuring his distinctive plot/character twists. With them all collected in one tome, the gimmick began to wear thin after a while, but still a number of good stories. Sorry, still no female authors, but this one had a number of female "protagonists".

The Blue Nowhere   by Jeffery Deaver, 505 pages Steven Krise   10 January 2004 Psychopathic cracker, Phate, is using his revolutionary backdoor software, Trapdoor, to gain access to his victim's lives in his Real World version of a deadly MUD game. Who the hell is Shawn, you'll wonder.

The Vanished Man   by Jeffery Deaver, 399 pages Steven Krise   08 February 2004 Rhyme and Sachs are tracking down a maniacally devious illusionist turned mercenary/murderer. Little is what it seems to be.

The Empty Chair   by Jeffery Deaver, 479 pages Steven Krise   20 February 2004 To quote 'The Critic', "It stinks!"

Speaking In Tongues   by Jeffery Deaver, 354 pages Steven Krise   29 February 2004 Two silver tongued devils (one a psychiatrist, the other a lawyer) battle over the life of a 17 yr old girl.

The Coffin Dancer   by Jeffery Deaver, 532 pages Steven Krise   25 May 2004 Rhyme and Sachs catch the bad guy. I think I may have finally read too much Deaver since I can pick out which characters are going to be part of the twist almost as soon as they're introduced. It's always an enjoyable read regardless.

The Devil's Teardrop   by Jeffery Deaver, 451 pages Steven Krise   28 June 2004 Parker and Jackie/Margaret catch the bad guy...eventually. Lincoln Rhyme only makes a cameo in this one.

Mistress of Justice   by Jeffery Deaver, 357 pages Steven Krise   01 September 2004 Tale of corporate espionage, coke-snorting lawyers, and high pressure corporate mergers...and don't forget the blood. They're all blood, you see.

A Maiden's Grave   by Jeffery Deaver, 419 pages Steven Krise   07 November 2004 A hostage situation in an old slaughter house. The twists come in just where you expect them.

The Garden of Beasts   by Jeffery Deaver, 402 pages Steven Krise   15 January 2005 An American bad guy (who's really a good guy) is sent to 1936 Berlin to kill a Nazi bad guy (who seems to be a good guy). Intrigue ensues and the American is pursued by a wiley Kripo Inspector who is a good guy.

The 12th Card   by Jeffery Deaver, 395 pages Steven Krise   21 June 2005 bad guys, obligatory plot twist, Lincoln Rhyme, Amelia Sachs, good guys win.

The Cold Moon   by Jeffery Deaver, 370 pages Steven Krise   01 August 2006 I think the old boy has gone daffy trying to fit in the twists.

Transgressions   by Jeffery Deaver, 339 pages Steven Krise   02 January 2007 Deaver and another author each wrote a novella. The other guy seemed to get the knack of it better.

The Sleeping Doll   by Jeffery Deaver, 428 pages Steven Krise   14 August 2007 A Kathryn Dance novel.

The Broken Window   by Jeffery Deaver, 415 pages Steven Krise   06 July 2008 Rhyme and Sachs catch a bad guy who uses "identity theft" to frame and murder people.

Beyond UFOs: The Search for Extraterrestrial Life and Its Astonishing Implications for Our Future   by Jeffrey Bennett, 211 pages Steven Krise   10 September 2009 The author is a professor and textbox author, so he's spent a little too much time dumbing down his prose for creationist college students (shudder) that end up in his Intro to Astrobiology class, which was annoying. However, the book was a serviceable overview of the topic.

The Bone Collector   by Jeffrey Deaver, 427 pages Steven Krise   05 July 2002 A New York crime drama. The most interesting thing about it was the emphasis and detail spent on forensic procedures. I guess there was a twist or two at the end, too, but one expects that from this genre. The twist would be not having a twist.

The Stone Monkey   by Jeffrey Deaver, 424 pages Steven Krise   26 December 2003 Another Lincoln Rhyme novel. This time Rhyme and Sachs are tracking down a notorious Chinese snakehead (human smuggler) with connections high in the Chinese and United States governments.

Darkly Dreaming Dexter   by Jeffry Lindsay, 288 pages Steven Krise   26 October 2008 A break from this 500 page opus I've been moving through for 4 months.

Dexter in the Dark   by Jeffry Lindsay, 303 pages Steven Krise   02 November 2008 Sort of like Dexter's "Superman 3".

Dearly Devoted Dexter   by Jeffry Lindsay, 292 pages Steven Krise   02 December 2008 Sort of like Dexter's "Wrath of Khan".

Teach Yourself C++ in 21 Days   by Jesse Liberty, 756 pages Steven Krise   30 April 2005 There's about zero chance of me ever programming in C++, but it's good to keep one's self sharp.

No Certain Rest   by Jim Lehrer, 222 pages Steven Krise   26 May 2005 I think this is probably the absolute worst book I have ever read. The characters are flat, uninteresting, and unbelievable. The plot is ragged and threadbare without any unifying theme. The writing is amateurish, melodramatic and woefully unoriginal. Proof that hosts of lame Sunday morning news chat shows shouldn't attempt to write "Civil War archeological detective story as prototype for modern day strife" novels.

Brewing Made Easy   by Joe Fisher & Dennis Fisher, 89 pages Steven Krise   03 October 2009 Like somebody created Cliff's Notes from the Cliff's Notes version of the New Complete Joy of Homebrewing. There's nothing to see here; move along.

Why Things Are   by Joel Achenbach, 345 pages Steven Krise   06 September 2004 Why?

Irreligion: A Mathematician Explains Why the Arguments for God Just Don''t Add Up   by John Allen Paulos, 158 pages Steven Krise   10 April 2009 A quirky, light read that critiques 12 classic arguments for the existence of God. With so few pages, there's not a lot of depth here, but it's a good overview of the topic, and, as the author notes, refutations of these "arguments" has been around for ages so there's not much new to say.

Midnight in the Garden of Good & Evil   by John Berendt, 386 pages Steven Krise   30 March 2003 The movie is much better.

Coding Techniques For Microsoft Visual Basic .NET   by John Connell, 633 pages Steven Krise   19 April 2004 Still trying to bone up on this new technology. Unfortunately, the author left out "For Dummies" in the title. This is an intro level text (where intro means "never programmed before"). The only highlight was the author's 2 chapter discussion on ADO.NET. If I had a dollar for everytime I read the phrase "does the heavy lifting", the book would have paid for itself. It certainly didn't pay for itself in any other way.

Neanderthal   by John Darnton, 368 pages Steven Krise   25 February 2004 Col Kurtz with modern day Neanderthals, except not good.

The French Lieutenant's Woman   by John Fowles, 366 pages Steven Krise   29 May 2003 I don't think the author really flipped a coin.

The French Lieutenant's Woman   by John Fowles, 366 pages Steven Krise   17 August 2005 I still don't think he flipped a coin. And I still can't decide if the means by which the author inserted himself into the narrative (both as a character and as the overly self-aware narrator) is clever or not. Is this the first time we see the device of winding back a watch as the means to introducing the second of multiple "possible" endings?

The Collector   by John Fowles, 255 pages Steven Krise   16 February 2009 Very disturbing.

Grendel   by John Gardner, 174 pages Steven Krise   16 July 2003 He smashes me against it, breaks open my forehead. Hard, yes! Observe the hardness, write it down in careful runes. Now sing of walls! Sing! I howl. Sing! "I'm singing!" Sing Words! Sing raving hymns! "You're crazy. Ow!" Sing! "I sing of walls," I howl. "Hooray for the hardness of walls!" Terrible, he whispers. Terrible. He laughs and lets out fire. "You're crazy," I say. "If you think I created that wall that cracked my head, you're a fucking lunatic." Sing walls, he hisses. I have no choice.

The Wreckage of Agathon   by John Gardner, 279 pages Steven Krise   01 February 2005 I think there might something more going on underneath the story of a political dissident coming to grips with his mortality and the consequent "coming of age" of his disciple, but I'm not sure what it might be. Be sure to have your OED handy - dianoetic, canescence, pulchritude, brume.

The King's Indian   by John Gardner, 354 pages Steven Krise   25 February 2005 Three collections of short stories arranged into 3 "books". Author injects himself into the final story 8 pages from the end, apparently, to confirm that the book is mostly filled with nonsense.

Grendel   by John Gardner, 152 pages Steven Krise   27 April 2007 "You're crazy," I say. "If you think I created that wall that cracked my head, you're a fucking lunatic."

The Sunlight Dialogues   by John Gardner, 746 pages Steven Krise   28 May 2007 "I'm boring you," Hodge said. And he knew it was true, or ought to be -- Millie, at any rate, would be bored, and rightly, rightly. So would a reader if this were all a novel.

The Art of Fiction   by John Gardner, 224 pages Steven Krise   13 January 2008 Great fiction can make us laugh or cry, in much the way that life can, and it gives us at least the powerful illusion that when we do so we're doing pretty much the same things we do when we laugh at Uncle Herman's jokes, or cry at funerals. Somehow the endlessly recombining elements that make up works of fiction have their roots hooked, it seems, into the universe, or at lesat into the hearts of human beings. Somehow the fictional dream persuades us that it's a clear, sharp, edited version of the dream all around us. Whatever our doubts, we pick up books at train stations, or withdraw into our studies and write them; and the world--or so we imagine--comes alive.

Freddy's Book   by John Gardner, 246 pages Steven Krise   29 January 2008

Mickelsson's Ghosts   by John Gardner, 590 pages Steven Krise   06 April 2008 I thought it was a story of one man's slow descent to the bottom (ala Fight Club) but Gardner threw in some back to back murder mystery twists in the last 50 pages.

The Art of Living and Other Stories   by John Gardner, 310 pages Steven Krise   13 May 2008 Gardner somehow always manages to get me to care about his characters.

Nickel Mountain   by John Gardner, 309 pages Steven Krise   07 February 2009

The Resurrection   by John Gardner, 244 pages Steven Krise   15 September 2009 Gardner crafts a poignant story about the death of a man in his prime as a means of showing us his aesthetic theory.

In Search of Schrödinger's Cat   by John Gribbin, 302 pages Steven Krise   30 March 2002 Engaging survey of the history of the theory of quantum mechanics. Oddly, focused more on the double-slit experiment (which Feynman calls *the* fundamental mystery in physics) than Schrödinger's Cat paradox. Finishes up with a whole chapter devoted to the Aspect experiments that offer final empirical evidence that the Copenhagen Interpretation (as odd as it may seem) is correct.

The Brethren   by John Grisham, 366 pages Steven Krise   12 February 2002 A good enough book about politics, extortion, and government intrigue. Why do all of Grisham's books begin with an article, usually 'The'?

A Separate Peace   by John Knowles, 196 pages Steven Krise   19 December 2004 The prose is well written even if the story is a cliche thrice over (coming of age story set in a New England boarding school during WW2).

What Everyone Needs to Know About Islam   by John L Esposito, 204 pages Steven Krise   18 August 2003 Book-length FAQ on Islam. It was hard to avoid hearing the bagpipes in the discussions about terrorists, but overall an informative read.

Handbook of Norse mythology   by John Lindow, 365 pages Steven Krise   28 November 2004 Insightful introduction outlining the author's theory of "mythic time" in the Norse mythos followed by an A-Z listing of gods, giants, and events based on the existing corpus of Norse mythology (i.e., skaldic and eddic poetry). Quite thorough with each entry extensively referenced.

The Ape That Spoke - Language and the Evolution of the Human Mind   by John McCrone, 288 pages Steven Krise   24 January 2004 A discussion of how self-consciousness, higher emotions, and willful memory scans were built upon the foundations of the animal mind. McCrone believes language played the key role in providing the new organization for these structures, but it isn't clear if he thinks language evolved first for structure and then communication (like Bickerton) or vice versa. Either way uses an illuminating analogy of "nets" to describe brain function.

The Power Of Babel   by John McWhorther, 327 pages Steven Krise   22 December 2003 A treatise on language evolution exploring the myriad ways languages morph and change over time. Spent an inordinate amount of time beating the "dialects are all there is" dead horse. Interestingly, in the epilogue McWhorther addresses the improbability of Ruhlen's proto-World ursprache and echoes Bickerton's sentiment about creoles being the most accurate picture we'll ever get of what "Adam and Eve" spoke. It's weird to have your books converse with one another.

Poker Night - Winning At Home, At the Casino, and Beyond   by John Vorhaus, 275 pages Steven Krise   05 April 2009 Suggestions, guidelines, and ideas about setting up and hosting your own poker home game. Includes discussion of poker variants, tournaments, and how to alter your strategy as you step out from the home game to public poker venues.

The Everything Poker Strategy Book   by John Wenzel, 289 pages Steven Krise   06 April 2008

The Everything Texas Hold 'Em Book: Tips And Tricks You Need to Take the Pot   by John Wenzel, 271 pages Steven Krise   30 March 2009

The Secret Sharer and Heart of Darkness   by Joseph Conrad, 158 pages Steven Krise   17 March 2005 Conrad plays around a lot with the concept of duality. Interesting to see the little tidbits that made it verbatim into "Apocalypse Now".

Beowulf - The Donaldson Translation, Backgrounds, & Sources Criticism   by Joseph F Tuso (Ed.), 205 pages Steven Krise   02 September 2002 The Donaldson Translation is a more literal translation of the OE Beowulf manuscript and is interesting in that you get to see the kennings and metaphors of OE right before your eyes. Followed by a number of essays and essay excerpts advancing the myriad (and often contradictory) interpretations and analyses of the longest of Old English poems.

Closing Time   by Joseph Heller, 468 pages Steven Krise   03 March 2003 I think it's supposed to be absurd and pointless so my characterization of it as luke-warm owl droppings may be a bit naive.

Poker Face   by Judi James, 256 pages Steven Krise   24 July 2009 Sort of like "Lie to Me" meets "Poker After Dark". The key is to practicing studying people's behavior so you can learn to compare the performed gestures with the unconscious leakage and microexpressions to see if the two classes of behaviours are congruent. Incongruent signals = bluffing.

The Face In the Mirror   by Julian Paul Keenan, 278 pages Steven Krise   11 March 2008 Thus, based on these numerous intriguing studies, we can reasonable argue that the right hemisphere, once thought to be the "minor" hemisphere, may be a key player in self-awareness and mental state attribution. Our original definition of consciousness, we remember, invalved awareness of one's own thoughts as well as an awareness of another individual's thoughts. Thus, by means of a significant number of studies, the right hemisphere appears to be quite important for the formulation of higher-order consciousness.

The VAX DCL Programmers' Reference, VMS 5.0   by K M Leisner and D B Cook, 297 pages Steven Krise   11 September 2009 Exactly as the title says: a programmer's reference to VAX DCL, so don't expect in-depth coverage on the topics.

Homebrew Favorites   by Karl F Lutzen & Mark Stevens, 250 pages Steven Krise   02 May 2009 A collection of recipes compiled mostly during the period of 1988 to 1992 (book was published in 1994). So, the book offers a good snapshot at common homebrew practice at the beginning of the homebrew renaissance of the 1990s.

The Everything Family Tree Book   by Kimberly Powell, 305 pages Steven Krise   24 May 2009 A complete introduction and overview to the process and sources of genealogical research.

Burn Factor   by Kyle Mills, 353 pages Steven Krise   23 October 2003 "If you haven't read Kyle Mills yet, you should--I do." It's funny that Tom Clancy, a) uses a run-on sentence and b) thinks I care what he reads. The lame cover quotes aside, the book was pretty good. Go ahead, be like Tom and me. Read the damned book.

Tao Te Ching   by Lao Tzu, 90 pages Steven Krise   29 March 2002 I have to concur with the author of the Preface, it is one of the wisest book I've ever read. However, I have a hard time getting past the idea that it's a bit of a waste of time to take 90 pages to talk about something everyone agrees at the outset can't be ascertained that way. I suppose that's mysticism for you. Richly dense, wise book, regardless.

Actually Useful Internet Security Techniques   by Larry J Hughes Jr, 378 pages Steven Krise   17 October 2005 Probably more useful in an actual sense 10 years ago when it was written. Interesting (and mostly still relevant) discussion of protocol security and Unix architecture.

The Legacy of Heorot   by Larry Niven and two other dudes, 367 pages Steven Krise   05 March 2005 A tale (loosely modeled on Beowulf) of 200 interstellar human colonists upsetting the ecosystem on another planet. The story was mostly lame, but that seems to be par for the course with most sci-fi literature.

Atom   by Lawrence Krauss, 305 pages Steven Krise   08 December 2002 A history of the universe as told through the "eyes" of an oxygen atom bound in a water molecule in the Super-Kamiokande neutrino detector in Japan. By glossing over hundreds of milions of years in a chapter, the author allows the reader to get a sense of the rhythms of cosmic evolution. Most interesting was the discussion of the origin of life on Earth.

Brew Chem 101 - The basics of homebrewing chemistry   by Lee W Janson, 117 pages Steven Krise   28 December 2002 Very broad overview of the chemistry of brewing from mash-in, through wort boiling, to fermentation. Highlights were the discussion of the chemical sources for off-flavors (and their remedies) in Chapter 5 and the discussion of beer-tasting in Chapter 6. The preceding chemistry was handled with broader strokes than I was hoping for. I guess I'll be searching out George Fix's "Principles of Brewing Science".

Brew Chem 101   by Lee W Janson, 117 pages Steven Krise   25 June 2005 Starts off as a 5th grade primer on chemistry, but peaks to an informative discussion of the chemistry of brewing in chapter 3. Sadly, it finishes off with what appears to be a required section for any book written about homebrewing, a discussion of the causes and cures for off flavors. I did finish it in a days time, so that's a good ppd booster.

mistaken identity   by Lisa Scottoline, 565 pages Steven Krise   23 June 2004 Is Connolly Bennie's twin or not? Is she dead now?

Decisive Battles of the Civil War   by Lt Col Joseph B Mitchell, 207 pages Steven Krise   11 May 2002 Broad, if not in-depth, overview of the Civil War. Interesting feature is that troop movements are outlined on modern day road maps.

Winning methods of bluffing & betting in poker   by Lynne Taetzsch, 128 pages Steven Krise   19 June 2009 Nice little book with suggestions about how to read people, bluff, and most importantly conceal your own style.

Family History 101: A Beginner's Guide to Finding Your Ancestors   by Marcia Melnyk, 138 pages Steven Krise   09 July 2009 So far, this is the best, most informative and useful guide on doing family history research.

The Garden of Ediacara   by Mark A S McMenamin, 295 pages Steven Krise   31 December 2008 For the longest time the Cambrian explosion was fossil evidence of goddiditlettherbelightanditwasgood until we started finding Pre-Cambrian fossils (oh noes). Some of the most perplexing and intriguing Pre-Cambrian fossils are those of the Ediacarans, which are trying their damnedest to defy explication and classification. Dr Mark has cracked the puzzle of the Ediacarans, though, and he shares it in chapter "The Penultimate One" - 12 I think.

The Early History of God   by Mark S Smith, 197 pages Steven Krise   08 July 2003 Circa 1100 BCE, Israelite and Caananite culture are indistinguishable in terms of language and material culture. Smith traces the differentiation of Israelite religion and culture from its Caananite source culminating in the development of Israelite monotheism during the post-exilic period.

Time's Arrow   by Martin Amis, 165 pages Steven Krise   21 October 2003 Sort of like "Memento" in book form, but not really. I believe this another of SGadd's many books I have in my possession.

Time's Arrow   by Martin Amis, 165 pages Steven Krise   25 January 2007 Here there is no why. The world is going to start making sense...now.

Old English Literature, Twenty-two Analytical Essays   by Martin Stevens & Jerome Mandel (Eds.), 330 pages Steven Krise   08 September 2002 The title seems a bit overbearing but it's accurate for this in-depth and comprehensive set of essays. Detailed analysis of numerous Old English poems which probably gives a good overview of the consensus in the field at the time when the book was published (1968).

Stiff - The Curious Lives of Cadavers   by Mary Roach, 303 pages Steven Krise   20 January 2008 After watching another five patients shed similar weight as they died, Macdougbhall moved on to dogs. Fifteen dogs breathed their last without registering a significant drop in weight, which Macdougall took as corroborating evidence, for he assumed, in keeping with his religious doctrine, that animals have no souls. While Macdougall's human subjects were patients of his, there is no explanation of how he came to be in the possession of fifteen dying dogs in so short a span of time. Barring a local outbreak of distemper, one is forced to conjecture that the good doctor calmly poisoned fifteen healthy canines for his little exercise in biological theology.

Frankenstein   by Mary Shelley, 162 pages Steven Krise   12 November 2003 What is it with Romantic characters, that they're such pansies? Vic could have saved himself a whole pantload of trouble if he'd just had the balls to ACT the moment he created his monstrosity and slaughtered it while it was still too disoriented to do much else than open/close its eyes and bump into things. What did he do instead? He went had himself a bit of a cry and then a good lie down. Oh, and I'm hard pressed to see what bearing this story has on any of the subsequent tales supposedly based on it.

The Making of a Poker Player   by Matt Matros, 286 pages Steven Krise   30 August 2009 Matt leads you through his path to a WPT final table-ist, using his experience as a guide to the beginning or novice player.

Area 7   by Matthew Reilly, 507 pages Steven Krise   15 May 2003 Come here to stock up on your multi-syllabic-hypenated-descriptive-sounding-adjective-looking-word-like-things. Fairly good action sequences. Would be a much better movie.

Ambitious Brew: The Story of American Beer   by Maureen Ogle, 422 pages Steven Krise   18 June 2009 An thoroughly engaging, informative, and well-documented history of commercial beer brewing in America. The story begins in the frenetic frontier towns of Milwaukee an St Louis in the 1840s and traces all the important brewers and the events that shaped American brewing up through the early 2000s.

CSI: Double Dealer   by Max Allan Collins, 310 pages Steven Krise   27 August 2003 Man, it's been slow here lately. Barely half a dozen books in two weeks. This was a fun, quick, easy crime drama read based on the CBS series. Noteworthy item, the author also wrote "Road to Perdition".

The Origin of Language   by Merrit Ruhlen, 239 pages Steven Krise   17 November 2003 By offering exercises for the reader to complete, makes a case for linguistic monogenesis. Employs general taxonomic principles known since Darwin and in common practice among the biological sciences, but which (if the author is to be believed) modern linguists are largely unaware. Culminates with a discussion of Renfrew's "Emerging Synthesis", showing how recent genetic studies by Cavalli-Sforza are consistent with Greenberg's classfications in Eurasia, Africa, and the New World.

Blood Work   by Michael Connelly, 498 pages Steven Krise   15 May 2003 They're hardly divisible, sir - well, I can do you blood and love without the rhetoric, and I can do you blood and rhetoric without the love, and I can do you all three concurrent or consecutive, but I can't do you love and rhetoric without the blood. Blood is compulsory - they're all blood, you see.

Chasing The Dime   by Michael Connelly, 436 pages Steven Krise   14 October 2003 Another LA crime drama from the author of Blood Work. Set in the intersection of a cutting edge nanotech computer and an online prostitution ring.

The Eaters of the Dead   by Michael Crichton, 211 pages Steven Krise   27 July 2002 Crichton''s ''re-telling'' of Beowulf. Working on the premise that led to the discovery of Troy and the Hittites (namely that many myths have some historical event grounding them), Crichton uses a 10th century Arabic text about an encounter an emissary from the Caliph of Baghdad had with Vikings in Russia to construct the 'factual' events that may have been the foundation for ''Beowulf''. Read through to the end for an intriguing hypothesis on who Grendel really was. Should be a treat for any Beowulf fans.

Astronomy, The Evolving Universe   by Michael Zeilik, 568 pages Steven Krise   14 December 2002 Surprisingly, Shannon's astronomy textbook at Cedarville. The astronomy prof must have been a guest lecturer to make use of a textbook that accepts current scientific knowledge on the topic. Anyway, this book took me easily the longest to read of all my books to date (probably 2 months).

This Is Not A Pipe   by Michel Foucault, 66 pages Steven Krise   01 January 2004 As Foucault says, "Magritte knits verbal signs and plastic elements together, but without referring them to a prior isotopism. He skirts the base of affirmative discourse on which resemblence calmly reposes, and he brings pure similitudes and nonaffirmative verbal statements into play within the instability of a disoriented volume and an unmapped space." Yeah, what he said.

Caro's Fundamental Secrets of Winning Poker   by Mike Caro, 158 pages Steven Krise   14 July 2009 A sort of book length PowerPoint presentation of Caro's tips for maximizing your profit playing poker. There are general tips on poker strategy, tournament play, gauging starting hands and positional advantage as well as specific tips for Draw Poker, Stud, Razz, Hold 'Em.

Cryptonomicon   by Neal Stephenson, 918 pages Steven Krise   13 December 2004 "How do you know they're Germans? Maybe it's Otto." "The engines sound like diesels. Huns love diesels."

Death by Black Hole   by Neil DeGrasse Tyson, 384 pages Steven Krise   02 May 2009 A series of essays from a self-proclaimed Stephen J Gould fan. Not as good as SJG, but interesting for the most part. Finishes up with a series of essays on the interplay of religion and science: "So the universe wants to kill us all. But as we have before, let's ignore that complication for the moment. Many, perhaps countless, questions hover at the front lines of science. In some cases, answer have eluded the best minds of our species for decades or even centuries. And in contemporary America, the notion that a higher intelligence is the single answer to all enigmas has been enjoying a resurgence. This present-day version of God of the gasp goes by a fresh name: "intelligent design". The term suggests that some entity, endowed with a mental capacity far greater than the human mind can muster, created or enabled all the things in the physical world that we cannot explain through scientific methods. An interesting hypothesis. But why confine ourselves to things to wondrous or intricate for us to understand, whose existence and attributes we then credit to a superintelligence? Instead, why not tally all those things whose design is so clunky, goofy, impractical, or unworkable that they reflect the absence of intelligence?"

Origins: Fourteen Billion Years of Cosmic Evolution   by Neil DeGrasse Tyson, 345 pages Steven Krise   23 August 2009 If you regularly read Scientific American there's probably not much new here (I don't so there was). Regardless, though, NDT is good at telling the story of science: in this instance the story of the origin of the universe and its evolution, culminating in the origin of life on Earth.

Your Inner Fish   by Neil Shubin, 229 pages Steven Krise   19 April 2008 "There is a fundamental design in the skeleton of all animals. Frogs, bats, humans, and lizards are all just variations on a theme. That theme, to [Sir Richard] Owen, was the plan of the Creator. Shortly after Owen announced this observation in his classic monograph On the Nature of Limbs, Charles Darwin supplied an elegant explanation for it....There is a major difference between Owen's theory and that of Darwin: Darwin's theory allows us to make very precise predictions.

Old English and Its Closest Relatives   by Orrin W. Robinson, 290 pages Steven Krise   27 July 2002 Survey of the 7 earliest Germanic languages. What drew me to it is first that it covers the whole spectrum of Germanic languages with an eye toward their genetic relationships and second that it gives readings for each of the languages, forcing the reader to grapple with the language on its own terms. Highlights include the discussion of Germanic alliterative verse in the Old Saxon chapter and the evolution of governing/word order among the Germanic languages in the Old English chapter.

Are You My Mother?   by P D Eastman, 64 pages Steven Krise   20 December 2004 A confused if precocial avian of unspecified species searches for its mother in a variety of unlikely locales, interrogating those it meets with a refrain that lends its form to the book's title. These chance meetings with diverse inhabitants of the bird's environs have a hint of humor (due to the young fowl's naivety) however, the fun is tinged with a vague sense of dread derived from the inherent stress of losing one's primary caregiver and the imminent threat of predation that implies. Not to worry, though, it all ends well for our little feathered friend when a helpful frontend loader lifts it back into its nest just as the matron returns from her foraging expedition.

Tower of Beowulf   by Parke Godwin, 246 pages Steven Krise   27 February 2004 Recasting of the classic epic poem into the form of a novel. Godwin did an interesting job filling in the details left out in the poem such as Grendel's origins and what happened during the years between the battle with Grendel and the dragon.

Discover Your Roots   by Paul Blake and Maggie Loughran, 237 pages Steven Krise   28 May 2009 Written in the "52 Ideas" style where there are 52 chapters, each one focused on a particular theme or idea. The more astute will note that this means each chapter is slightly more than 4.5 pages long meaning each great idea is either commonsense or discussed too shallowly to offer any real insight. On the whole, useless.

Writing Real Programs in DCL   by Paul C Anagnostopoulos, 409 pages Steven Krise   13 June 2008 From the VAX Users Series. I wish I had had this book 8 years ago when I was actually writing real programs in DCL.

The Origins of Life and the Universe   by Paul F Lurquin, 217 pages Steven Krise   31 July 2009 From the back cover because I can't think of anything to say: "'The Origins of Life and the Universe' is the culmination of a university science professor's search for understanding and is based on his experiences teaching the fundamental issues of physics, chemistry, and biology in the classroom. What is life? Where did it come from? These are questions that have occupied us all. This is a book, then, about the beginning of things--of the universe, matter, stars, and planetary systems, and finally, of life itself--topics of profound interest that are rarely considered together.

The Buzz On Beer   by Paul Love and John Craddock III, 219 pages Steven Krise   28 July 2009 A book on beer written, as far as I can tell, for 12 year old boys - judging from the juvenile humour, the goofy fonts, and the pictures on every page (yes, there were pictures on every single fucking page). I actually feel like I know less about beer for having read this book.

Forensic Anthropology   by Peggy Thomas, 210 pages Steven Krise   12 June 2004 Up to date intro to the multi-disciplinary field. Livor mortis.

How To Play In Traffic   by Penn and Teller, 226 pages Steven Krise   04 May 2008 Fun tricks and gags to do on the road.

Human Evolution - An Illustrated Guide   by Peter Andrews & Chris Stringer, 47 pages Steven Krise   14 January 2004 Illustrated by Maurice Wilson (whose drawings are described in the Foreward as "generally ethereal"), this little book details hominoid and hominid evolution starting with Aegyptopithecus in the Oligocene period. Interestingly, the authors come down decidely on the "Neandertals aren't ancestral to H. sapiens" side of the debate. Good little book that is packed with a fair amount of detail for its pithiness.

Searching for Robert Johnson   by Peter Guralnick, 83 pages Steven Krise   16 February 2005 Short essay based largely on the work of Mack McCormick in the 70s that seeks to fix nuggets of fact in the complex matrix of myth, anecdote, and recollection that is the story of RL's life. Has an excellent list of recommended albums in the back, both in terms of RL's influences and people he influenced.

Elementary German Series - Books 1 to 5   by Peter Hagboldt, 286 pages Steven Krise   13 April 2003 A pleasant surprise gift from S Gadd many years ago. An (apparently) innovative graded reader. I was pleased to discovery I would be competent to converse freely with a 4 year old auf Deutsch.

Life As We Do Not Know It: The NASA Search for (and Synthesis of) Alien Life   by Peter Ward, 292 pages Steven Krise   29 October 2009 Ward challenges the Darwinian "orthodoxy" with his startling thesis that life on other planets may (or may not) use different chemistry from Earth life.

Play Poker Like the Pros   by Phil Hellmuth, 394 pages Steven Krise   09 July 2009 Phil gives us his advice on reading players (with his famous "4 animals" categorization) and then in-depth strategy on all the most popular poker games - Hold 'Em, Omaha 8 or Better, Stud, Razz, and Stud 8 or better. Includes the obligatory last chapter on internet gaming.

Ubik   by Philip K Dick, 212 pages Steven Krise   31 October 2007 I spent most of this book not being sure what was going on. After the reveal in the penultimate chapter, I was still not quite sure what was going on, which is a welcome change from the author beating you over the head with their point so you cannot avoid being sure of what's going on. The story's kind of like "The Matrix" except written 30 years before Keanu learned Kung Fu.

A Scanner Darkly   by Philip K Dick, 278 pages Steven Krise   11 November 2007 How does a scanner see?

Selected Stories of Philip K Dick   by Philip K Dick, 476 pages Steven Krise   28 December 2007 Her name, she told him, was Mary Lorne. She was, he decided, pretty, wistful, afraid, and putting up a good front. Together they joined the other new students for a showing of a recent Herbie the Hyena cartoon which Bibleman had seen; it was the episode in which Herbie attempted to assassinate the Russian monk Rasputin. In his usual fashion, Herbie the Hyena poised his victim, shot him, blew him up six times, stabbed him, tied him up with chains and sank him in the Volga, tore him apart with wild horses, and finally shot him to the moon strapped to a rocket. The cartoon bored Bibleman.

Flow My Tears, The Policeman Said   by Philip K Dick, 231 pages Steven Krise   07 January 2008 This one was Dick's Hugo Award winner. It definitely had the Dick flavor, but the epilogue seemed oddly out of place.

Solar Lottery   by Philip K Dick, 200 pages Steven Krise   01 June 2008 In a strange feudal future society governed by Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle and game theory, a disenchanted mid-level worker gets his chance to make a revolutionary change.

The Divine Invasion   by Philip K Dick, 238 pages Steven Krise   12 September 2008 Yahweh was forced off the earth into hiding under a mountain on a distant planet where he messes with Herb Asher's audio recordings. He also infects Rybys Rommey with MS and then impregnates her - all in an attempt to get smuggled back onto earth in utero so he can battle his arch-nemesis Belial. Yeah.

The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch   by Philip K Dick, 278 pages Steven Krise   28 February 2009 I experienced a stack overflow trying to keep track of the nested hallucinatory worlds.

Radio Free Albemuth   by Philip K Dick, 214 pages Steven Krise   14 March 2009 A self-indulgent exposition of Dick's Gnostic theology as a science fiction novel set in an alternate history USA of the late 60s and early 70s. Dick shows up in the novel (I think) as two of the characters: Nick Brady who is being beamed messages by a hyper-intelligent alien named VALIS via an ancient satellite orbiting earth, and his skeptical, yet supportive friend Phil. VALIS's goal is to work with his chosen people (a shadowy subversive organization called Aramchek) to overthrow the tyrannical presidency of Ferris Fremont (clearly based on Nixon).

The Ganymede Takeover   by Philip K Dick and Ray Nelson, 215 pages Steven Krise   23 November 2007 How had Balkani claimed that individuality was established? By selective awareness. I am Paul Rivers, he realized, because I am unaware of the sensations being experienced by someone else, say by Joan Hiashi. Ordinarily my own direct sensations would drown out anything I might pick up from her. But now, when I have no sensations, even faint impressions that she may be undergoing will be infinitely stronger than my own. He began by imagining himself to be a woman.

Disappointment With God   by Phillip Yancey, 258 pages Steven Krise   20 June 2002 A gift from my father-in-law. A theodicy addressed to those who still want to believe. The book made a few novel points along the way, but to keep from failing in its mission of giving sound reasons for remaining a theist in the absence of any subjective experience of god's presence, it needed to support the use of the Bible as an authority and explain the virtue of faith over empirical rationality. Most ludicrous statement is that the Old Testament is a story of God's continued condescension.

Radical Brewing   by Randy Mosher, 350 pages Steven Krise   27 February 2006 With this survey of history's forgotten and fringe brews (and the processes to create them), Mosher seeks to ignite the reader with his same passionate zeal for homebrewing. In the process, he elevates the hobby from quaint craft to an act of protest against bland corporate homogenization and a mystical means of communing with long dead brewing ancestors.

Radical Brewing   by Randy Mosher, 350 pages Steven Krise   13 February 2007 I need to get out to the library more often.

The Everything Knots Book   by Randy Penn, 273 pages Steven Krise   22 October 2009 A fairly standard introduction to knots. It tries to go beyond just having diagrams showing you how to tie knots by having chapters on rope management, teaching knot tying, your continuing knot journey, but the author didn't really have enough material to support these additional chapters. So +5 for the idea, but -7 for the implementation.

The Last Templar   by Raymond Khoury, 532 pages Steven Krise   08 January 2009 Starting with a dramatic robbery of a Templar rotary encoder from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, our heroes pursue the villains and eventually uncover the secret of the Templars - a Gnostic manuscript written in Aramaic by Jeshua of Nazareth, which "proves" that Jesus was just a man, not god. The hard-nosed agnostic archaeologist and the devout Catholic FBI agent eventually throw the manuscript into the ocean because they don't want to topple the Church or disillusion millions of Christians. The book had pleasant enough action sequences but the premise is so absurd I had a hard time enjoying it. There's already plenty of evidence available that Jesus, if he existed, was just a man and yet the Church and Christians continue believing without a problem. One more manuscript would not have any devastating effects.

Defenders of the Faith: A Guidebook to Clerics and Paladins   by Rich Redman & James Wyatt, 96 pages Steven Krise   05 February 2003 I feel kind of stupid entering D&D manuals, but that's what I'm reading right now to keep up my pages/day since I've stalled on this piece of shit by Joseph Heller I've been working on since December.

Poker for Dummies   by Richard D Harroch & Lou Krieger, 80 pages Steven Krise   30 April 2005 A reference for the rest of us.

The God Delusion   by Richard Dawkins, 406 pages Steven Krise   10 March 2008 Fundamentalist religion is hell-bent on ruining the scientific education of countless thousands of innocent, well-meaning, eager young minds. Non-fundamentalist, 'sensible' religion may not be doing that. But it is making the world safe for fundamentalism by teaching children, from their earliest years, that unquestioning faith is a virtue.

Life: A Natural History of the First Four Billion Years of Life on Earth   by Richard Fortey, 344 pages Steven Krise   23 June 2009 A biography of sorts of life on earth, starting with biogenesis and finishing up (predictably) with Homo sapiens. The greatest amount of detail was given to the 3 billion years from biogenesis to the Cambrian "explosion".

Trilobite! Eyewitness to Evolution   by Richard Fortey, 284 pages Steven Krise   19 September 2009 Fortey tells the vast story of what we know about trilobites and how we've come to know it and through that story shows how the minutiae about trilobites has informed all manner larger topics (including shedding light on rates of evolution, the nature of speciation, and reconstructing the Ordovician globe).

Earth: An Intimate History   by Richard Fortey, 425 pages Steven Krise   13 October 2009 Fortey's thesis is (to paraphrase Dobzhansky) that nothing in geology makes sense except in light of plate tectonics. He then takes the reader on a tour of a dozen or so locations around the globe with various geological formations that either were pivotal in providing evidence for the theory or which finally made sense when explicated tectonically.

I Am Legend   by Richard Matheson, 312 pages Steven Krise   19 January 2009 A collection of various stories by Matheson with the eponymous story being the first in the collection (and really the only one worth reading). In the subsequent stories, the author tries to create a surreal atmosphere like the later PK Dick novels or the Twilight Zone, but executes the narrative with such a heavy hand that he fails.

Genesis: The Scientific Quest for Life's Origins   by Robert Hazen, 339 pages Steven Krise   06 May 2009 A comprehensive review of the people and science of origins of life. Fascinating.

The Bourne Identity   by Robert Ludlum, 535 pages Steven Krise   03 May 2003 Despite the paucity of similarities between this book and the movie of the same name, I couldn't help picturing "Jason Bourne" as Matt Damon...good thing it wasn't Carrot Top that got the part for the movie.

Visual Basic 6 Business Objects   by Rockford Lhotka, 735 pages Steven Krise   12 May 2004 I'm sick of reading code as text. Anyway, Rocky should be beat about the head and shoulders for his smug cover photo.

Visual Basic .NET Database Programming   by Rod Stephens, 405 pages Steven Krise   30 October 2006 ¿Programming database applications with Visual Basic .NET?

The Panda's Thumb   by S J Gould, 343 pages Steven Krise   01 August 2005 Natura non facit saltum.

The Panda's Thumb   by S J Gould, 343 pages Steven Krise   29 June 2006 He said radial sesamoid...huhuh.

Dinosaur in a Haystack: Reflections in Natural History   by S J Gould, 480 pages Steven Krise   30 March 2009

Extreme Brewing   by Sam Calagione, 184 pages Steven Krise   08 August 2009 Despite its title, this is actually a conventionally organized book. Preamble is discussion of equipment and process to make "your first batch of beer" and the postscript is a discussion of beer and food pairings. The reason to buy this book, however, is the recipes in the middle half of the book which includes several malt extract versions of recipes for Dogfish Head classics such as 60 Minute IPA, Raison D'Etre, and Midas Touch.

Letter to a Christian Nation   by Sam Harris, 96 pages Steven Krise   06 May 2009 I was warned this was a ridiculous rant by a fool, but as far as I can tell it is just obvious statements about the absurdity of religious fundamentalism by an unashamed atheist. It is a very quick read (easily finished in an hour or two), that feels like a condensed "God Is Not Great" by Hitchens. Not a bad overview if you need to get your atheist card re-stamped, but if you have more time just read Hitchens.

Poker Nights: Rules, Strategies, and Tips for the Home Player   by Scott Tharler, 128 pages Steven Krise   14 April 2009 Slicker (literally) and more colorful than Vorhaus's book about home poker. However, Tharler tries to cover every home poker variation imaginable and consequently only devotes a paragraph at most to describe the rules, action, and strategy. This is a very light-weight book without much meat to offer.

Deep Ancestry - Inside the Genographic Project   by Spencer Wells, 247 pages Steven Krise   17 April 2008 The human race began 60,000 years ago with a single family in an African valley. Today we have carried our genes to the very ends of the Earth--and the DNA in each of us encodes a fascinating encapsulated history of our species and its travels over the ages. Dedicated to uncovering the secrets of deep ancestry, the Genographic Project is an ambitious scientific venture of unparalleled scope and profound implication.

Brew like a Monk   by Stan Hieronymus, 272 pages Steven Krise   24 February 2007 Discussion of Trappist, Abbey, and Strong Belgian ales and how to brew them.

How To Speak Dog   by Stanley Coren, 274 pages Steven Krise   04 December 2003 The guy takes liberties with the definition of 'language', but this is a good informative good, on the whole.

The First Idea: How Symbols, Language, and Intelligence Evolved From Our Primate Ancestors to Modern Humans   by Stanley I Greenspan, M.D. & Stuart G Shanker, D Ph, 504 pages Steven Krise   09 December 2008 The authors put forth a rather far reaching theory stating that higher cognitive functions (such as symbolic and abstract thought, language, theory of mind, and human cultural universals) are the products of a nurturing emotional developmental process called functional/emotional development. The substrate supporting this process has been evolving for several millions of years in social primates and ancient hominids to its apex in modern humans today. Since this process is basically a technology transmitted culturally, it is able to evolve more rapidly than strictly biological processes. "In other words, the fundamental dynamic operating in human history is neither biological nor material: It is the cultural transmission of caregiving practices that support the development of higher reflective capacities in individuals and in groups. Precisely because this is a cultural phenomenon, it is not predetermined and is highly vulnerable to regression." The latter half of the book is spent applying this theory to disorders such as autism, to group dynamics, sociology, economics, and history.

A Taste for Beer   by Stephen Beaumont, 181 pages Steven Krise   04 August 2009 Written in 1995, just as the "craft beer" movement was gaining steam in North America, this book is an ode to beer and its pairing with other enjoyable experiences (including, eating food with beer, cooking food with beer (yes, a whole chapter of recipes), wine, whiskey, cigars, baseball franchises, movies, musical styles).

The Theory of Everything   by Stephen Hawking, 136 pages Steven Krise   19 April 2009 "The idea that space and time may form a closed surface without boundary also has profound implications for the role of God in the affairs of the universe. With the success of scientific theories in describing events, most people have come to believe that God allows the universe to evolve according to a set laws. He does not seem to intervene in the universe to break these laws. However, the laws do not tell us what the universe should have looked like when it started. It would still be up to God to wind up the clockwork and choose how to start it off. So long as the universe had a beginning that was a singularity, one could suppose that it was created by an outside agency. But if the universe is really completely self-contained, having no boundary or edge, it would be neither created nor destroyed. It would simply be. What place, then, for a creator?"

The Panda's Thumb   by Stephen Jay Gould, 343 pages Steven Krise   15 July 2007 More reflections in natural history.

Hearts In Atlantis   by Stephen King, 630 pages Steven Krise   30 January 2002 Um, not too good. The baseball glove?!?

Y - The Descent of Men   by Steve Jones, 252 pages Steven Krise   29 April 2008

Freakonomics   by Steven D Levitt and Stephen J Dubner, 242 pages Steven Krise   08 October 2006 "What the link between [the legalization in 1973 of] abortion and [the sudden drop during the 1990s in] crime does say is this: when the government gives a woman the oppurtunity to make her own decision about abortion, she generally does a good job of figuring out if she is in a position to raise the baby well. If she decides she can't she often chooses the abortion."

The Panda's Thumb   by Steven J Gould, 343 pages Steven Krise   15 May 2002 From the most often misquoted paleontologist comes this collection of essays loosely connected by the theme that it is nature's imperfections that clinch the case for evolution. Highlights: page 41's discussion of the proliferation of geometric perfection in the absence of intelligent guidance and chapter 10's revelation of Teilhard de Chardin's role in the Piltdown hoax. And, of course, there's puncuated equilibrium. They're all puncuated equilibrium, you see.

The Singing Neanderthals: The Origins Of Music, Language, Mind, And Body   by Steven Mithen, 374 pages Steven Krise   27 May 2008 "With equal parts scientific rigor and charm, [Mithen] marshals current evidence about social organization, tool and weapon technologies, hunting and scavenging strategies, habits and brain capacity of all our hominid ancestors from australopithecines to Homo erectus, Homo heidelbergensis, and Neanderthals to Homo sapiens--and comes up with a scenario for a shared musical and linguistic heritage. Along the way he weaves a tapestry of cognitive and expressive worlds--alive with vocalized sound, communal mimicry, sexual display, and rhythmic movement--of various species. The result is a fascinating work--and a succinct riposte to those, like Steven Pinker, who have dismissed music as a functionless evolutionary byproduct."

Starting Out in Poker   by Stewart Reuben, 160 pages Steven Krise   17 October 2009 A fairly standard poker text, except for the unique "Try It Yourself" section at the end of each chapter, which is a short graded quiz with rated answers in the back of the book.

I'm the King of the Castle   by Susan Hill, 223 pages Steven Krise   22 January 2005 Another novel from a British author about a pathetic character I'm supposed to feel sorry for because of his inability to act.

Sword of Shannara   by Terry Brooks, 726 pages Steven Krise   10 October 2004 Why do the bad guys always come out of the North?

Small Gods   by Terry Pratchett, 344 pages Steven Krise   28 February 2002 Quirky tale about the origin and demise of gods as well as the power and danger of belief.

Reaper Man   by Terry Pratchett, 374 pages Steven Krise   19 September 2003 Commentary on the evils of suburbanization and Wal-Mart culture, I think? Another witty, off-the-wall story by Pratchett complete with the Zombie ringleader of the Undead Rights movement, a shy bogeyman who comes "out of the closet" and a wereman.

Small Gods   by Terry Pratchett, 344 pages Steven Krise   24 May 2004 Seems less iconclastic upon the second reading.

Reaper Man   by Terry Pratchett, 353 pages Steven Krise   02 April 2005

Interesting Times   by Terry Pratchett, 368 pages Steven Krise   25 September 2005 Rincewind winced. He had always been aware that Someone Up There was doing something on him. He'd never considered it was smiling.

Soul Music   by Terry Pratchett, 373 pages Steven Krise   20 November 2005 A story about Sex, Drugs, and Music with Rocks In. The main character, Imp y Celyn (which is Llamedos-ish for Small Bud of the Holly), brings an unintended musical revolution to Ankh-Morpork. Oh, and death is off gallivanting about the Disc again trying to sort out the meaning of it all, anyways.

Pyramids   by Terry Pratchett, 380 pages Steven Krise   20 November 2005 When the hatch closed above him, Autocue sidled over to one of the [Trojan] hores's massive legs and put it to a use for which it wasn't originally intended. And it was while he was staring vaguely ahead, lost in that Zen-like contemplation which occurs at moments like this that there was a faint pop in the air and an entire river valley opened up in front of him. It's not the sort of thing that ought to happen to a thoughtful lad. Especially one who has to wash his own uniform.

Going Postal   by Terry Pratchett, 377 pages Steven Krise   12 January 2006 A story of hope set against the backdrop of the competition between two companies in the message delivery industry. Includes a group of phreakers called the Smoking GNU.

The Wyrd Sisters   by Terry Pratchett, 265 pages Steven Krise   21 January 2006 Sort of Pratchett's take on Macbeth.

Thief of Time   by Terry Pratchett, 378 pages Steven Krise   21 November 2006 Perfect clock traps time and kaos ensues.

Feet of Clay   by Terry Pratchett, 357 pages Steven Krise   10 December 2006 Pratchett's take on the murder mystery.

Equal Rites   by Terry Pratchett, 237 pages Steven Krise   20 December 2006 Eskarina is the 8th son of an 8th son, destining her for a long career as a powerful wizard. There's only one problem (to the world, not to Esk). She's a girl.

Mort   by Terry Pratchett, 243 pages Steven Krise   01 January 2007 Death takes an apprentice, goes on a vacation, and then kicks ass after chaos ensues.

Maskerade   by Terry Pratchett, 358 pages Steven Krise   05 April 2007 Pratchett's take on "The Phantom of the Opera".

Eric   by Terry Pratchett, 197 pages Steven Krise   19 July 2007 "If Terry Pratchett is not yet [in] an institution he should be.... Nothing...magical."

Moving Pictures   by Terry Pratchett, 337 pages Steven Krise   03 August 2007 ?

The Red Dragon   by Thomas Harris, 434 pages Steven Krise   31 January 2002 Like it says on the cover, meet Hannibal Lecter for the first time.

Hannibal Rising   by Thomas Harris, 323 pages Steven Krise   14 January 2007 Meet Hannibal Lecter for the first time...again.

Mosby's Confederacy   by Thomas J Evans & James M Moyer, 134 pages Steven Krise   20 December 2002 Walking and automobile tours of Mosby's Confederacy and surrounding areas developed by the authors and Virgil Carrington Jones turned into book form.

Red Rabbit   by Tom Clancy, 618 pages Steven Krise   05 October 2002 How do you make a spy novel (including the defection of a KGB agent from Russia to America by way of Yugoslavia and England and an assassination attempt on a major world figure) boring? Well, 300+ pages of trite uninteresting ''character development'' is a good first step. Read the rest of the book for all the details.

Debt of Honor   by Tom Clancy, 990 pages Steven Krise   05 September 2007

Executive Orders   by Tom Clancy, 1358 pages Steven Krise   29 October 2007 I'm not sure if it's the self-righteous moralism, the fascist politics, the support for the Nuremburg defense or the awful prose that leads me to hate this book. I thought previously that "Red Rabbit" may have been an anomaly but now after slogging thru more than 2000 pages of Clancy I am sure that I simply don't like Clancy's writing.

The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test   by Tom Wolfe, 414 pages Steven Krise   07 September 2005 That was fuckin' trippy...hehe.

The Name of the Rose   by Umberto Eco, 611 pages Steven Krise   25 March 2002 That classic 14th murder mystery. It's not who you think...or is it? Anyway, I need to brush up on my Latin before reading it again. I have to admit, I think this is the first time I ever actually read it all the way to the end (no I didn't finish it when reading it for Persecepe).

Foucault's Pendulum   by Umberto Eco, 533 pages Steven Krise   17 August 2002 Umbilicus Mundi. Fez isn't in Tunisia, and the Assassins, anyway, were in Persia, but you can't split hairs when you live in the coils of Transcendental Time. If our hypothesis is correct...They hold for certain that they are in the light.

The search for the perfect language   by Umberto Eco, 385 pages Steven Krise   17 August 2004 Here he is cranking away at the Lullian wheels, seemingly unaware of the difference between the real omnipotence of God and the potential omnipotence of a human combinatory language.

Foucault's Pendulum   by Umberto Eco, 533 pages Steven Krise   24 March 2007 Do you have the password?

God: The Failed Hypothesis   by Victor J Stenger, 294 pages Steven Krise   07 July 2008 Starting with the hypothesis that there is a god who created the universe and life, imbued humans with an immortal soul, and taught us our moral values, Stenger reviews current scientific facts to test the hypothesis. Aside from giving away the outcome in the title, this is an engaging, delightful, easy read. Highly recommended for theists and atheists alike.

Lolita   by Vladimir Nabokov, 335 pages Steven Krise   11 September 2008 From the Afterword, by VN: "Certain techniques in the beginning of 'Lolita' (Humbert's Journal, for example) misled some of my first readers into assuming that this was going to be a lewd book. They expected the rising succession of erotic scenes; when these stopped, the readers stopped, too, and felt bored and let down. This, I suspect, is one of the reasons why not all the four firms read the typescript to the end. Whether they found it pornographic or not did not interest me. Their refusal to buy the book was based not on my treatment of the theme but on the theme itself, for there are at least three themes which are utterly taboo as far as most American publishers are concerned. The two others are: a Negro-White marriage which is a complete and glorious success resulting in lots of children and grandchildren; and the total atheist who lives a happy and useful life, and dies in his sleep at the age of 106."

VB COM   by Who Cares?, 344 pages Steven Krise   09 December 2003 I can't believe I haven't discovered Property Set() before this. Btw, howda you like a book that has all acronyms in its title?

A Brief History of the Mind   by William H Calvin, 219 pages Steven Krise   14 June 2008 Rather disappointing - read like someone's lecture notes padded out to book length.

Lingua Ex Machina   by William H Calvin & Derek Bickerton, 298 pages Steven Krise   01 February 2004 Set up as a dialog between the two authors, this book hashes out the first draft of a theory about how language evolved in the hominid line. It seemed to lack coherence (ironic given the amount of dicussion of corticocortical coherence) due to the format, but I get the definite impression that the authors are onto something. Bickerton says: "Now all that's left of the mountains of innate knowledge the old system presupposed are a few bare principles. And these principles are merely a metaphorical way of looking at what actually happens. The brain acts as if it obeyed such principles, but what it's actually doing is simply executing algorithms for putting sentences together and understanding them once they've been put together. And what this book's all about is how these algorithms came to be."

The Way of Lao Tzu   by Wing-Tsit Chan, 285 pages Steven Krise   02 July 2003 Annotated "Tao Te Ching" with a lengthy introduction covering the history of Taoist thought, the debate about who Lao Tzu is and when the book was written. Trivia: Wang Chung was an ancient Taoist scholar.