Ancient History: Books I read from 2004 to 2013

March 29, 2019

Ancient History

Books I read from 2004 to 2013

As I write this, it is March 29, 2019. From 2004 to 2013, I used a small web app I wrote to keep track of the books I read as I completed them. At some point, I quit using it, and I realized this week that this list would be lost unless I made a point to do something else with it, so I am archiving it here. Unless otherwise noted, all the notes below were written around the time I read the book, not in 2019.

One thing that amazes me is that there are books in this list that I have no memory of. If you asked me, "Have you ever read a book by Daniel Silva?", I would say, "No, not yet." But there one is, in 2009! Ten years later, I have completely forgotten it. There are quite a few like that. I'm glad to have kept this list, and it makes me want to continue including a note or two about books as I complete them, to remind my future self about them.

2004

Psalms: The Prayerbook of the Bible, by Dietrich Bonhoeffer (2004-09-18)
Our Town, by Thornton Wilder (2004-09-27)
The Search for the Elements, by Isaac Asimov (2004-11-30)

2005

Juice, by Evan I. Schwarts (2005-04-01)
Assassination Vacation, by Sarah Vowell (2005-06-01)
A Serrated Edge, by Douglas Wilson (2005-08-01)
Anansi Boys, by Neil Gaiman (2005-09-01)
The Defense Never Rests: A Lawyer's Quest for the Gospel, by Craig Parton (2005-10-01)
Who's Afraid of Classical Music, by Michael Walsh (2005-11-25)

2006

The Hammer of God, by Bo Giertz (2006-01-15)
The Battle for the Bible, by Harold Lindsell (2006-02-15)
A Man for All Seasons, by Robert Bolt (2006-03-15)
The Inner Life, by Thomas á Kempis (2006-03-25)
The Cuckoo's Egg, by Cliff Stoll (2006-03-29)
The Millionaire Next Door, by Thomas J. Stanley and William D. Danko (2006-04-10)
The Postman David Brin, by (2006-04-20)
Fire Someone Today, by Bob Pritchett (2006-05-01)
Catch Me If You Can, by Stan Redding and Frank Abagnale (2006-05-17)
Hearts in Atlantis, by Stephen King (2006-05-29)
How I Accidentally Joined the Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy (and Found Inner Peace), by Harry Stein (2006-06-10)
The Da Vinci Code, by Dan Brown (2006-06-20)
The Year 1000: What Life Was Like at the Turn of the First Millennium, by Robert Lacey and Danny Danziger (2006-06-30)
Freakonomics, by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner (2006-07-04)
The ACLU vs. America, by Alan Sears and Craig Osten (2006-07-05)
Breakfast of Champions, by Kurt Vonnegut (2006-09-02)

Some quotes from Breakfast of Champions:

[Phoebe Hurty] wrote ads for the William H. Block Company, a department store... She wrote this ad for an end-of-the-summer sale on straw hats: "For prices like this, you can run them through your horse and put them on your roses."

...Teachers of children in the United States wrote this date on the blackboards again and again and asked the children to memorize it with pride and joy: 1492. The teachers told the children that this was when their continent was discovered by human beings. Actually, millions of human beings were already living full and imaginative lives on the continent in 1492. That was simply the year in which sea pirates began to cheat and rob and kill them.

When Kilgore Trout, an obscure science fiction writer, receives a letter from a fan promising to make him famous, he says (to his parakeet), "Keep the hell out of my body bag."

[Kilgore Trout wrote a story] entitled "The Dancing Fool." Like so many Trout stories, it was about a tragic failure to communicate. Here was the plot: A flying saucer creature named Zog arrived on Earth to explain how wars could be prevented and how cancer could be cured. He brought the information from Margo, a planet where the natives conversed by means of farts and tap dancing.

Zog landed at night in Connecticut. He had no sooner touched down than he saw a house on fire. He rushed into the house, farting and tap dancing, warning the people about the terrible danger they were in. The head of the house brained Zog with a golfclub.

This was the reason Americans shot each other so often: It was a convenient literary device for ending short stories and books.

All of us were stuck to the surface of a ball, incidentally. The planet was ball-shaped. Nobody knew why he didn't fall off, even though everybody pretended to kind of understand it. The really smart people understood that one of the best ways to get rich was to own a part of the surface people had to stick to.

The Facts Behind the Helsinki Roccamatios, by Yann Martel. Blah. (2006-09-06)
Micro-ISV, from Vision to Reality, by Bob Walsh (2006-09-24)

ISV = "Independent Software Vendor," and the term "Micro-ISV" was coined by Microsoft to mean any software company they hadn't yet acquired. So, in Microsoft-ese, Google is a Micro-ISV! But more commonly, a mISV is a small, niche software company run by just one person or a few people. The book is very inspiring and prompted a lot of small-biz ideas, which I jotted down on my post-it-note/bookmark. Here are those jottings, mainly for my own reference:

book: Perl for e-book editors

program to parse scriptures in highlighted text (for Christian book publishers)

cell phone or PDA car-mileage tracker

code snippet to add to website, create plots from databases, CSV files, etc.

baby milestone tracker for busy moms (e.g., sit at computer, hit F8, type "Kaeta took a step today!", that info gets logged. Can insert a code snippet to add this to your blog, RSS feed, etc.

mp3 splitter that automatically downloads and splits podcasts you've subscribed to

game, scrapbook ideas, tacothreads, wikipedia album

(Note from 2019: It's interesting to see what ideas I had in 2006. I can't remember what prompted the mp3 splitter idea, but I remember that I built something like that at one point.)

Magic for Beginners, by Kelly Link. I especially liked the stories "Stone Animals" (reminded me of The Shining) and "Magic for Beginners" (which read like good juvenile fiction). I especially did not like the story "Catskin." (2006-10-18)
Rich Dad, Poor Dad: What the Rich Teach Their Kids about Money - that the Poor and Middle Class Do Not!, by Robert Kiyosaki (2006-10-22)
The Abyss, by Orson Scott Card (2006-11-25)
Think and Grow Rich, by Napoleon Hill. Man, there is some seriously kooky stuff in this book! The first third of it is pretty good overall -- mainly the part about setting a goal and repeating it to convince yourself that you are going to do it (autosuggestion). (note from 2019: My memory of this book is that it makes money into a god, and even the autosuggestion reads like a weird kind of prayer.) (2006-11-26)
The Warren Buffet Way, by Robert G. Hagstrom. Checked this out from the library; it's good, some parts over my head. It's about how Warren Buffet chooses businesses to invest in. (2006-12-05)
The Case for a Creator, by Lee Strobel (2006-12-10)
A Death in Belmont, by Sebastian Junger. Heard him on NPR, thought it sounded interesting. And it was! If you like reading about serial killers. (2006-12-20)
Blue Like Jazz, by Don Miller (2006-12-20)
Beating the Street, by Peter Lynch (2006-12-23)

2007

The Small Investor Goes to Market, by Jim Gard (2007-01-03)
Rich Dad's Guide to Investing, by Robert Kiyosaki (2007-01-07)
Coloring Outside the Lines, by Roger Schank (2007-01-15)
Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, by Susanna Clark (2007-03-02)
Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman, by Richard Feynman (2007-04-01)
What Do You Care What Other People Think?, by Richard Feynman (2007-04-06)
Logan's Run, by William F. Nolan and George Clayton Johnson. This was like a 180 page chase scene. Interesting premise, but about three times too long. (2007-04-18)
The Time Traveller's Wife, by Audrey Niffenegger. GREAT premise, very well written. Thanks to Colin for loaning it to me. At around 540 pages, it could have been a little shorter. As far as I can remember, this is the first book I've read since "Where the Red Fern Grows" in 5th grade that actually made me cry. The end is sad but complete. It makes time and the people around me seem very real and very special. (2007-04-24)
Amusing Ourselves to Death, by Neil Postman. I can't recommend this highly enough. It is a history and analysis of the effects of print media versus television on American culture. (2007-04-29)
The Spirituality of the Cross, by Gene Veith. (2007-05-01)
All That the Rain Promises and More, by David Arora. This is a guide to mushroom identification that I bought at the Muir Woods gift shop because the cover was so funny. Along with instructions for identifying mushrooms, it's full of anecdotes from mushroom enthusiasts, which I read on the plane ride back to Texas. (2007-05-08)
Brainiac, by Ken Jennings (2007-05-08)
Wizard and Glass, by Stephen King (2007-06-15)
The Probability of God, by Steven Unwin. Premise is interesting, calculation was disappointing. (2007-06-21)
Jonathan Livingston Seagull, by Robert Bach (2007-07-08)
Darwin on Trial, by Phillip E. Johnson (2007-07-14)
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, by J.K. Rowling (2007-08-23)
The Blind Watchmaker, by Richard Dawkins (2007-08-24)
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, by J.K. Rowling (2007-08-26)
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, by J.K. Rowling (2007-09-01)
Dilbert and The Way of the Weasel, by Scott Adams (2007-09-03)
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, by J.K. Rowling (2007-09-13)
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, by J.K. Rowling (2007-09-24)
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Price, by J.K. Rowling (2007-09-28)
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, by J.K. Rowling. These books really live up to the hype, especially the last two. I highly recommend them. (2007-10-03)
I am America, and So Can You!, by Stephen Colbert (2007-10-19)
The Best Software Writing, I, edited by Joel Spolsky. A collection of articles that I could have gotten for free on the internet, but it was cheap at Half-Price Books. (2007-10-27)
Wolves of the Calla, by Stephen King (2007-11-03)
Get Big Fast: Amazon.com, by Robert Spector. Written in 2000, basically a bio of amazon.com. Somewhat outdated and kind of lightweight, but still thought-provoking. (2007-11-16)
Wild at Heart, by John Eldredge. This book was a wedding present from Michelle and Dustin Gooding... You see how long it took me to get around to it! Well, we both read a good part of it back in 2003, but I'd never finished it, and I decided that since I have a son now, I should think about the kind of issues in this book. (2007-11-21)
Song of Susannah, by Stephen King. Dark Tower book 6 -- one more to go! Things are getting interesting... (2007-11-22)

2008

The Dark Tower, by Stephen King (2008-01-10)
The Knights Templar (1982), by Stephen Howarth. Although this is a history of the templars, the bulk of it is about the crusades. Conspiratorial theories about the templars aren't even mentioned until the final page of the book; it's just a well-written history, and the facts alone are interesting enough. It has some pretty dry parts, so I'd only recommend it to people with a particular interest in the templars, but I learned a lot and got a real feel for the time period (1100-1300s). (2008-01-23)
Roaring Lambs, by Bob Briner. We need some salt. We need the lambs to roar! It's time for the salty lambs to start roaring. SALT ROAR LAMBS SALT! (I realize this note makes no sense unless you've read the book...and that doesn't bother me at all.) (2008-03-26)
Born Standing Up, by Steve Martin. This is actually a pretty sad book, but I did enjoy it. Many of the best parts of the book are also in this article: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/funny-martin-200802.html?c=y&page=1 (2008-03-29)
Art and the Bible, by Francis Shaeffer. This is a 64-page booklet I borrowed from Curt. He begins with an apologetic, arguing that the very idea of art is biblical (and not, as some have it, a violation of the injunction against graven images in the 10 commandments). He then defines a few dimensions along which we can create and evaluate art: 1) technical skill, 2) validity (e.g., is the artist just in it for the money, or does the art truly represent the artist?), 3) the art's intellectual content/world view, and 4) how well the art marries style to substance. He also makes the point that a work of art has value in and of itself simply because it is a work of creativity. (2008-04-06)
Free Play: Improvisation in Life and Art, by Stephen Nachmanovitch. Highly recommended. (2008-04-19)
Kiss Me Like a Stranger, by Gene Wilder (2008-04-27)
Imagine: A Vision for Christians in the Arts, by Steve Turner (2008-05-01)
Superman: Secret Identity (Graphic Novel), by Kurt Busiek, Stuart Immonen. An alternate universe, in which the Superman comics exist, and a boy from Kansas gets picked on because his name is Clark Kent. But one day, abruptly, he gets the actual powers of Superman. A very fun story. (2008-05-18)
The Hedge Knight (Graphic Novel), by George R. R. Martin (2008-06-01)
A Brief History of Time, by Stephen Hawking. First half (chapters 1-6) highly recommended, but I had trouble following parts of the second half. (2008-06-08)
Rosemary's Baby, by Ira Levin. Great writing, ambiguous ending! (2008-06-24)
Hank the Cowdog, by John R. Erickson. As good as I remembered! (2008-06-29)
Ben and Jerry's: The Inside Scoop, by Fred "Chico" Lager. Really interesting, if a tad long. I know a lot more about ice cream now. (2008-07-19)
ScreamFree Parenting, by Hal Edward Runkel. O.K. (2008-07-20)
Maus (vol 1), by Art Spiegelman (2008-07-20)
Maus (vol. 2), by Art Spiegelman (2008-07-22)
Me, Myself, and Bob, by Phil Vischer. Phil Vischer is the creator of Veggie Tales. The book combines technology, business, and theology, and at times it's very funny. Karianne and I both read it, and it sparked some thought-provoking conversation. (2008-08-16)
Watchmen, by Alan Moore, Dave Gibbons. I wouldn't have finished it if it wasn't so widely regarded. In the end, it totally lived up to the hype, but I was well over halfway through it before it sucked me in. (2008-08-27)
The Well-Trained Mind, by Jessica Wise and Susan Wise Bauer. This is a comprehensive guide to classical education, mainly for homeschooling. Excellent! (2008-09-06)
Demo, by Brian Wood and Becky Cloonan. Some interesting stories, but I can't *highly* recommend it. (2008-09-06)
Scott Pilgrim (vol 4), by Bryan Lee O'Malley. My first Manga. Wasn't sure at first, but I ended up liking it a lot. (2008-09-11)
On Being a Theologian of the Cross, by Gerhard O. Forde (2008-10-11)
Bat Boy, by Matthew McGough (2008-10-12)
Tuned In: Uncover the Extraordinary Opportunities That Lead to Business Breakthroughs, by Craig Stull, Phil Myers, David Meerman Scott. Read for work. Like many business books, it's about 5-10 pages of ideas spread over 200 pages, but still thought-provoking. (2008-11-09)
Alan Mendelsohn, the Boy from Mars, by Daniel Pinkwater. Borrowed from Curt. Very fun! (2008-11-16)
So You Want to Be a Rock and Roll Star, by Jacob Slichter. Memoirs by the drummer from Semisonic (the band that wrote the song "Closing Time," a big hit in the late 90s). This is a good inside look at the music business. (2008-12-31)

2009

Outliers, by Malcolm Gladwell (2009-01-17)
Odd Thomas, by Dean Koontz. My first Koontz, and I can recommend it. (2009-02-01)
Here Comes Everybody, by Clay Shirky (2009-02-07)
Sliver, by Ira Levin (2009-02-13)
Is Christianity Good for the World? A Debate by Christopher Hitchens and Douglas Wilson (2009-03-23)
Alexander the Great - various Penguin compilation of writings by Plutarch, Arrian, Curtius. (2009-03-29)
god is not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything, by Christopher Hitchens (2009-04-21)
Religion on Trial, by Craig Parton (2009-04-24)
1984, by George Orwell (2009-05-13)
Genesis, by Bernard Beckett (2009-05-16)
Next: The Future Just Happened, by Michael Lewis (2009-05-25)
Don't Make Me Think, by Steve Krug. Web usability book -- a quick read with lots of good, common sense advice. Slightly outdated at times (it's the second ed., from 2006), but still highly recommended. (2009-06-13)
Dot.Bomb: My Days and Nights at an Internet Goliath, by J. David Kuo (2009-07-01)
Charlotte's Web, by E.B. White. Read this with the kids, a chapter a night. (2009-07-25)
Prince of Fire, by Daniel Silva (2009-07-26)
Company, by Max Berry. Great! I read it in about 40 hours. A hilarious satire of the corporate world. (2009-08-16)
Up the Down Staircase, by Bel Kaufman (2009-09-19)
The Odyssey Homer, tr. by Samuel Butler (2009-09-20)
The Time Traveler's Wife, by Audrey Niffenegger (Audio) (2009-09-23)
Recovering the Lost Tools of Learning, by Douglas Wilson. I especially recommend Appendix A, an essay called "The Lost Tools of Learning," by Dorothy Sayers. The essay is online here: http://www.gbt.org/text/sayers.html (2009-09-23)
Story Craft, by John R. Erickson, author of the Hank the Cowdog books. (2009-10-20)
Tree by Tolkein, by Colin Wilson (2009-11-21)
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith. This is AWESOME, and the audiobook reader makes it especially entertaining. I loved Lady Catherine de Burgh talking on and on about her ninjas. (2009-12-09)
Hyperion, by Dan Simmons (2009-12-12)
The Glass Castle, by Jeannette Walls. One of the best memoirs I've read. Great writing and an amazing story to tell. (2009-12-18)
The Wild Things, by Dave Eggers. Novel version of Where the Wild Things Are. (2009-12-28)

2010

My Family and Other Animals, by Gerald Durrell. Loved it! (This was one of our first Audible books --2019 dk) (2010-02-15)
The Fire and the Staff: Lutheran Theology in Practice, by Klemet Preus (2010-03-22)
Last Chance to See, by Douglas Adams and Mark Cawardine (2010-03-28)
God in the Dock, by C. S. Lewis (2010-03-29)
The Good Earth, by Pearl S. Buck (2010-04-11)
The Wordy Shipmates, by Sarah Vowell (2010-04-23)
The Graveyard Book, by Neil Gaiman (2010-05-09)
The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, by C. S. Lewis. Read this with the kids at bedtime. They (Kaeta especially) loved it! (2010-05-16)
Price Caspian, by C. S. Lewis. Read this with the kids at bedtime. (2010-06-06)
The Ordinary Princess, by M. M. Kaye. Read this with the kids at bedtime. (2010-06-14)
Ender's Game, by Orson Scott Card. 20th anniversary audiobook, with some commentary by the author at the end. Great! (2010-06-16)
Half Broke Horses, by Jeannette Walls (2010-06-17)
The Help, by Kathryn Stockett. This was fantastic as an audio book. (2010-07-01)
The Kid Stays in the Picture, by Robert Evans. (2010-07-09)
The Big Short, by Michael Lewis. The story of the 2008 financial collapse. Pretty technical at times, but thoroughly interesting. (2010-07-19)
Scott Pilgrim (Volumes 1-6), by Bryan Lee O'Malley (2010-08-08)
Anathem, by Neal Stephenson. Really great. (2010-11-21)
I Am Legend, by Richard Matheson (2010-12-07)
Sleepwalk With Me, by Mike Birbiglia (2010-12-30)

2011

In the Beginning Was the Command Line, by Neal Stephenson. I have to read NS's books sitting by a computer so I can google all the words I don't know ("whilom?" It means "former".) Although this is over 10 years old now, the writing is good enough to make up for the datedness. Lots of interesting analogies -- my favorite was kind of a throwaway in a chapter discussing GUIs (p. 59 in my copy). After complaining about how GUIs cover up the purer command line interface, he writes: "Now I realize that most of this probably sounds snide and bitter to the point of absurdity... As if I were a self-styled Moses, coming down from the mountain all alone, carrying the stone tablets bearing the Ten Commandments carved in immutable stone -- the original command line interface -- and blowing his stack at the weak, unenlightened Hebrews worshiping images." (2011-01-02)
The Cathedral and the Bazaar, by Eric S. Raymond. A well-written history and analysis of the open source movement by a key participant. (2011-01-16)
A Game of Thrones, by George R. R. Martin. The last chapter blew my mind. Can't wait to read the next one. (2011-01-28)
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Store, by J. K. Rowling. Audio from the library. (2011-02-01)
Zombie Spaceship Wasteland, by Patton Oswalt (2011-02-01)
To Your Scattered Bodies Go, by Philip Jose Farmer. Book 1 of the Riverworld series. Reminds me a lot of LOST (so: good). (2011-02-12)
Love and Logic Magic for Early Childhood, by Jim and Charles Fay (2011-03-05)
The Prestige, by Christopher Priest (2011-03-27)
The Accidental Billionaires: The Founding of Facebook, by Ben Mezrich (2011-04-05)
The Road, by Cormac McCarthy (2011-04-11)
The Book Theif, by Markus Zusak (2011-05-05)
Anne of Green Gables, by L. M. Montgomery (2011-05-16)
A Grief Observed, by C. S. Lewis (2011-05-23)
The Horse and His Boy, by C. S. Lewis (2011-05-30)
True Grit, by Charles Portis. This was fanTASTic. (2011-06-07)
Hackers and Painters, by Paul Graham. First time reading a book on the ipad (2011-06-26)
The Body, by Stephen King (2011-08-07)
The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins (2011-08-14)
Accidental Empires, by Robert Cringely (2011-08-17)
Catching Fire, by Suzanne Collins (2011-08-21)
Mockingjay, by Suzanne Collins (2011-08-28)
How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe, by Charles Yu. Very unique book, a mix of sci-fi, grammar, and Godel, Escher, Bach. Chapter 17 was mind-blowing. (2011-10-01)
The Making of Prince of Persia, by Jordan Mechner. First time purchasing a kindle book - a great experience. Read on iPad, android phone, and laptop. The book was very interesting to me, but pretty niche. I loved Prince of Persia on the Mac back in the early 90s. (2011-11-01)
11-22-63, by Stephen King. Audiobook. (2011-11-26)
Timeline, by Michael Crichton (2011-12-19)

2012

SuperFreakonomics, by Steven Levitt, Stephen Dubner (2012-01-08)
The Book of Drugs: A Memoir, by Mike Doughty (2012-03-16)
The Robots of Dawn, by Isaac Asimov (2012-03-16)
Feynman, by Ottaviani and Myrick. Graphic novel, with a nice bibliography (2012-03-17)
Stitches, by David Small. Graphic novel (2012-05-06)
NurtureShock, by Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman (2012-05-13)
Gutenberg the Geek, by Jeff Jarvis (2012-06-16)
Modern Scholar: The Great War and the World it Made - Audio lectures (2012-07-15)
EntreLeadership, by Dave Ramsey (2012-07-19)
It was the War of the Trenches, by Jacques Tardi. Graphic novel about WWI (2012-07-20)
Good to Great, by Jim Collins (2012-07-30)
A Clash of Kings, by George R. R. Martin (2012-08-05)
Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking, by Susan Cain (2012-09-02)
Machine Man, by Max Barry (2012-09-10)
Address Unknown, by Kressman Taylor (2012-09-15)
Pastoralia, by George Saunders (2012-09-16)

2013

Reamde, by Neal Stephenson (2013-01-25)
Evening in the Palace of Reason, by James R. Gaines (2013-02-03)
Last of the Breed, by Louis La'Amour (2013-02-08)
Farnham's Freehold, by Robert A. Heinlein (2013-04-26)
Hawkeye: My Life as a Weapon, by Fraction, Aja, Pulido. Comic collection (2013-04-28)
1776, by David McCullough (2013-05-10)
Jennifer Government, by Max Barry (2013-05-17)
The Wind Through the Keyhole, by Stephen King (2013-06-01)