Thursday, August 19, 2010

Reading List Update

I posted a reading list a few months ago, and I thought I'd post an update.

Currently Reading:

Anton, Dale Eisler
This is my uncle's third book and first novel. It's a fictionalized account of the events surrounding my grandmother's family during the Bolshevik Revolution after the first world war - Anton, the main character, is based on my great-uncle Tony. The full synopsis and other information is given on the book's website.

I'm a couple chapters in, and enjoying the writing so far. It's a bit tough for me to read, since it's very personal for me, and there are some really tragic events that happen in the story. It's going to be an interesting experience to read this.

The Princeton Companion to Mathematics
I've read a few sections here and there, which have been uniformly excellent. It's quite slow going, though, as the topics require full attention and can't really be read casually.

The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger Born
I've only read the first chapter of this, but I'm enjoying it so far.

Recently Read:

Logicomix, Apostolos Doxiadis & Christos Papadimitriou
This is a book that I almost can't believe exists - it's a graphic novel about the life of Bertrand Russell and his involvement in the development of the modern philosophy of logic and mathematics. It's difficult to describe, so I'll just link to the Amazon page.

Under the Dome, Stephen King
I thought this was one of the better recent King books, and was a quick read for a thousand-page book. It was nothing earth-shattering, but I quite enjoyed it. 4/5.

The Book of Basketball, Bill Simmons
I generally like Bill's writing style and share his sense of humour, and this book was no exception. On the other hand, I'm only a casual basketball fan, so the topic itself wasn't great for me. I'd say 5/5 for writing and 3/5 for subject matter, so I guess 4/5 overall.

In the "To Read" Pile:

Shalimar the Clown, Salman Rushdie
Godel's Proof, Ernest Nagel & James Newman
A Mathematical Nature Walk, John Adam