Letters Remain

Tag: books

  • The Best Personal Library

    I’ve seen many personal libraries: few that—like David—induce jealousy, fewer still that I truly covet, and none that compel me to blog. At least that was until I saw Jay Walker’s library. The photographs of the Internet entrepreneur’s library alone are awe inspiring. Then I started reading. via Kottke

  • On Business Books, Self-Education, and Mental Models

    I mentioned the Personal MBA Book List last week, and today have come across this interview between Josh Kaufman and Ben Casnocha, author of My Start-Up Life. Josh runs the Personal MBA Recommended Reading List — a list of the best business books one would need to read for a comprehensive business education. It’s a…

  • Classic Books of the Ages

    Ryan Holiday asks, What is the ‘classic’ book of the 80s and 90s? Ryan starts by listing the classics from previous eras and decades… The Scarlet Letter (colonial America) The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (slavery) The Red Badge of Courage (sometimes for civil war) The Jungle (turn of the century) All Quiet on the Western…

  • The Personal MBA Book List

    The Personal MBA is a site dedicated to helping people gain an MBA education without the expense of business school. It’s a self-study guide to advanced business topics and concepts. As Kevin Kelly—the founding executive director of Wired—says: No matter what they tell you, an MBA is not essential for landing or handling a good…

  • Gödel, Escher, Bach

    On a large number of ‘best of’ or ‘books that changed my life’ lists I always spot Gödel, Escher, Bach (GEB), the Pulitzer Prize-winning book by Douglas Hofstadter. When my copy arrived at my door recently I was taken aback by this tome and realised that it was going to be a dense read that…

  • Non-Voting Political Philosophers and Stealing Ethicists

    When I read that political philosophers vote less often than other philosophers (and political scientists) I was reminded of the book Can a Robot be Human?. This book touches on the logic behind voting, and comes to the conclusion that – for an individual – it is pointless because no election has ever been decided…

  • Book Lists

    I’ve been updating my reading list lately and my Amazon wish lists are growing exponentially (even with significant culling). These book lists are great: Eliezer S. Yudkowsky, AI researcher (writer of The FAQ on the Meaning of Life) Ryan Holiday, writer Kevin Kelly, Wired’s Editor at Large and board member of The Long Now Foundation…

  • 100 Best Fiction and Non-Fiction of the 20th Century – The Modern Library

    In 1998 The Modern Library (of Random House) started a poll to find the best 100 fiction and non-fiction books of the 20th century (do you think they realised that there were still two years of the century left?). There are five lists: 100 Best Novels The Reader’s List (Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand) The…

  • Books That Will Induce a Mindf**k

    Trying to keep this site family-friendly (bring the kids… I’ll play with them) I thought a couple of asterisks would come in handy for my most recent find: The den of iniquity that is Everything2 (I waste spend way too much time there) has a pearl of wisdom in Pseudomancer’s Books That Will Induce a…

  • The World Without Us

    What would happen if humans disappeared from the face of the planet right now? What would happen to our infrastructure, the wild animals… our legacy? This is the topic Alan Weisman tackles in his speculative non-fiction book, The World Without Us (which I’m considering adding to my reading list purely out of curiosity). The Wikipedia…