Books Read in 1995

A good, though at times hard to follow, read. "I will not serve that in which I no longer believe, whether it call itself my home, my fatherland or my church: and I will try to express myself in some mode of life or art as freely as I can and as wholly as I can, using for my defence the only arms I allow myself to use—silence, exile, and cunning."

Interesting in terms of the relationship between the author and the reader. I enjoyed the explanation of the historical "facts" behind Foucault's Pendulum. I should re-read that one...probably after I read The Island of the Day Before.

I really enjoyed this book. Eco weaves a very convincing story around a 14th century abbey and the monks who live (and die) there. The many detours into religious debate were interesting and generally worthwhile, but occasionally hindered the flow of the tale.

Many of the ideas that Hofstadter talks about are very similar to things I have been thinking about in my own research. His research group, however, stays within very restrictive domains which offer insight into the commingling of cognition and high-level perception, while I perceive my own work as bridging between low- and high-level perception. I'm intrigued by the use of "temperature" and probabilistically-run codelets in his systems, which are very closely related to my own blackboard systems.

For me, this book really tied together Hyperion. Things seemed to drag on a bit here and there, but in general, the flow was wonderful. I highly recommend this series and eagerly await the release of Endymion.

This book was assigned for Whitman Richards' "Cognitive Artifacts" class. It was a very insightful view of computational vision for its time, but it is clearly missing the important element of top-down processing.

Read between train stops on the Red-Line. This book did not grab me, as I was told it might.

A better book than The Blind Watchmaker . I really wish, however, that he had expanded on the meme chapter. That's the most interesting bit!

I was told this is one of the best SF books in existence, but I'm not convinced. It was a good read, but I'm not motivated to read the rest of the series.

Certainly the best- written popular science I've ever read. Contains a lot of accumulated insight into human language. I'm intrigued by the notion of a DNA-coded Universal Human Language, and the evidence is compelling.

Another decent outing by Simmons. This one isn't as compelling as some of his earlier stuff, but it's a good quick read. Enjoyable, but lightweight.

I'm going to have to re-read the original collection. It appears that this would have made a very interesting movie.

I'm not entirely sure what to make of this one. The writing was good and the story was interesting. My only complaint is that it seemed like a bunch of good short stories linked together by a rather tenuous plot. I was a bit startled when he launched into the I remember Siri section, which I had previously read as a stand-alone short story. Very interesting ideas, and good science fiction.

A wonderful collection of short stories around the theme of death. The back cover asks if Ellison is "the best short story writer we've got", and I would certainly place him in the front ranks. His material is the best I have read, though my exposure to good writing has been limited, given my history of reading pulp horror/fantasy. I really should get around to re-reading some of the "classics" in literature...

I think The Selfish Gene is a better book, but this one does really get into the nitty-gritty about certain aspects of Darwinian evolution. For the most part, I buy into most of Dawkins' views, but I think he is a bit pompous in his writing, and I didn't like the way his points were drawn out. The book could easily been edited down to 1/3 of its current size.

I think I'm going to give up on Anne Rice. Telling the story in first person shouldn't be an excuse for writing at a sixth grade level. While the idea of the "devil" telling his story is interesting, and Rice's interpretation of a number of religious beliefs is amusing, the book doesn't hold together. To tell the truth, I haven't really enjoyed any of Anne's books since The Vampire Lestat . She has wonderful ideas, but the endings of her recent books are extremely disappoining. Tale of the Body Thief is an exception to the bad ending rule, but the writing simply doesn't hold up to the level established in Interview with the Vampire . Perhaps Louis just writes better than Lestat?

With my first introduction to Ellison, I am deeply impressed by his writing talent. While I can't claim to understand all the stories in this collection, I am certainly inspired to read more of Ellison's work.

Interesting reading for scientists and those who fund them. Made me feel rather insignificant in contrast to some of the truly great minds of this millenium, but hey! The book gives insight into who truly contributed most to the development of science, and why.

A wonderful character study about an ex-astronaut coming to terms with his place in the universe. I can't possibly say enough good things about the work of Dan Simmons. Afterthought: Especially good reading in preparation for seeing "Apollo 13" (a very well-made and engrossing movie — no mean feat when everyone knows the ending!).

I was on a cruise. It was there. Not recommended, but it made me appreciate Phases of Gravity even more.

This one started out good, and I thought Hapgood was going to attempt to get "inside" the minds of engineers, but this was more of a history of MIT. A somewhat interesting read, at best.

I prefer the movie, though this was a good, and quick, read.

Mostly a rehash of his WiReD articles, this book would be good reading for clueless bureaucratic types in high-tech industries. For the rest of us, a lot of it is self-evident, some of it is whiny, and the rest is worth reading.

Mind Vampires! One of the best horror novels I have ever read. My mother-in-law even liked it!

A superb re-interpretation of the Vlad Dracula myth.

I'm sorry to say that is my least favorite Dan Simmons novel. There are some good ideas, but the book is bogged down in really bad fake math-speak. Still worth a read, however.

A collection of short stories, including precursors to Carrion Comfort and The Hollow Man.

I have been told that Song of Kali is the best description of modern Calcutta ever written. Believe me, I'll be vacationing elsewhere. It's a great read, however, and very deserving of its critical acclaim.

Since the end of February, I have read just about everthing I could find by Dan Simmons. What a superb writer! Never before have I been so caught up by such a variety of work by a single author. All of his work is highly recommended.

I was interested in this because Huxley's progression through religious thought seemed to be similar to mine. In a nutshell, we both completely rejected organized religions, then called ourselves atheists, and later realized we were agnostic. I still reject organized religion, but I have strong beliefs about morality and philosophy, thus Huxley's thinking and writing appeal to me.

Another good one. This didn't get nearly as dark in tone as 1984 but it was a quick and enjoyable read. I love the idea that there is a tiny core of people who run the world and keep the rest of us "happy" with technology, drugs, and sex. Not far from the truth, IMHO.