Geeky Books

  • Doctor Who 2 (7/18/2012)


    I'm really pressed for time this morning so can't fully answer your question, Steve (sorry).

    One geeky book I've read this summer, and thoroughly enjoyed it, was "Zero Day" by Mark Russinovich.

    on my list

  • jasona.work (7/18/2012)


    Just a couple weeks ago I finished a somewhat geeky book, "Red Shirts" by John Scalzi.

    Read that on the plane coming back from London. Laughed to myself quite a few times.

  • abatej (7/18/2012)


    I can't believe no one has mentioned Asimov yet!

    Foundation?

  • Steve Jones - SSC Editor (7/18/2012)


    abatej (7/18/2012)


    I can't believe no one has mentioned Asimov yet!

    Foundation?

    I read that years and years ago. Have it in audio format, and have a 4 hour flight in 2 weeks. Sounds like a good combination.

    Gail Shaw
    Microsoft Certified Master: SQL Server, MVP, M.Sc (Comp Sci)
    SQL In The Wild: Discussions on DB performance with occasional diversions into recoverability

    We walk in the dark places no others will enter
    We stand on the bridge and no one may pass
  • I read the Foundation series, or most of them, years ago. I know a few were added, and its' on my list to re-read.

  • The Foundation series actually has it's roots in a series of robot/detective novels.

    The Caves of Steel, The Naked Sun, The Robots of Dawn, and Robots and Empire.

    The main characters for these books are Elijah Baley and his robot partner R. Daneel Olivaw.

    Psychohistory is first introduced and of course R. Daneel Olivaw is in the final foundation book.

  • I am sooooo far behind in books to read this year. I have a pile of books on my nightstand and another pile in my kindle that I planned on reading but have only made it through maybe 10 of them.

    Some day I may read as much as the illustrious Steve;-)

    Jason...AKA CirqueDeSQLeil
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    SQL RNNR
    Posting Performance Based Questions - Gail Shaw[/url]
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  • Steve Jones - SSC Editor (7/18/2012)


    Sigerson (7/18/2012)


    'Cryptonomicon' is very good, but if we're on Neal Stephenson, don't forget his 'System of the World' trilogy,

    Will add to my list.

    But, yeah, reading keeps me sane with all the time I have to spend in my head building imaginary structures. Fiction, non-fiction mostly history and politics. And lately, the 'classics', Jane Austen, Robert Louis Stephenson, Henry James, etc. I'm discovering all the books I refused to read in school just because they were assigned.

    I mix them up. If you haven't read Gore Vidal's Lincoln, it's good. Fiction, but based in real history.

    I'm almost finished reading Gore Vidal's Creation, which is over 500 pages and it is a slow read. Also, I can't recommend it - at least it's not what I was after, but I'm not a history fan.

    I've mentioned this before here, but Shantaram is the best I've read. I'm not sure if it's a nerdy book, but it sure is great. I'm even tempted to read it again soon.

    The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge. - Stephen Hawking

  • If you like your books deep, try Foucault’s Pendulum. I struggled through it. Interesting though.

    Gail Shaw
    Microsoft Certified Master: SQL Server, MVP, M.Sc (Comp Sci)
    SQL In The Wild: Discussions on DB performance with occasional diversions into recoverability

    We walk in the dark places no others will enter
    We stand on the bridge and no one may pass
  • GilaMonster (7/18/2012)


    If you like your books deep, try Foucault’s Pendulum. I struggled through it. Interesting though.

    Why did you struggle? I read it yonks ago and thought it was an easy and very enjoyable read. I would like to read it again, but somehow my copy disappeared out of my library. Need to buy it again I guess. Or get it from the local library. Got no space left on my shelves anyhow.

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  • I read Wired and it's sequel Amped by Douglas E. Richards. Both were excellent although I enjoyed Wired a bit more. I tend to stick to sci fi and fantasy. Never counted how many books I've read in a year though.



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  • This may be considered both geeky and out-of-place here...

    But I strongly recommend Why Is There Something Instead of Nothing? 23 Questions from Great Philosophers by Leszek Kolakowski, a Polish Oxford senior fellow. For those (including myself) not fully grounded in Western Philosophy it is an excellent exegisis on schools of though throughout Western history, condensed in well-composed, college lecture-style chapters. It's my 'on the plane' book right now...

  • "I think it(reading) improves your thinking and engagement with the world."

    It depends on what you read.:-D

    "Technology is a weird thing. It brings you great gifts with one hand, and it stabs you in the back with the other. ...:-D"

  • The Neal Stephenson books are great. I reread Cryptonomicon this summer, and will reread the Baroque Cycle later this year.

    Any of the Eric Flint Grantville books are good

    I will read almost anything that is alternative history, especially where someone from now is put into the past or the future.

    If you dont' have a Kindle or Nook, or the tablet/phone apps, get one. The books are cheaper and don't take up space on the shelf. And if you travel, you don't have to carry tons of books to get through the trip.

  • Ross McMicken (7/25/2012)


    If you dont' have a Kindle or Nook, or the tablet/phone apps, get one. The books are cheaper and don't take up space on the shelf. And if you travel, you don't have to carry tons of books to get through the trip.

    And you can get a new book easily and quickly. I've grabbed books from free wi-fi in airports, in cabs, etc.

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