Books of Spring

Since last October, I've not bought many books. A few here and there have been interesting, but not enough to fill my Amazon shopping cart to purchasing fullness. Overseas shipping isn't cheap even when it's via slow boat so I have to balance the ~$120 [including shipping] price point where the tax people become interested with the level of my desire. Spring always brings new books to reel in my interest and my wallet though so I thought I'd list the ones that have caught my eye so far this year. :)

• The Confusion
• Little Children ~ Fantastic author who is one of the few who make me believe that fiction is not a lost art.
• The Radioactive Boy Scout : The True Story of a Boy and His Backyard Nuclear Reactor ~ I read the original short story about this in Harper's and it's an engagingly good story if a bit of a sad tale about modern family and society.
• After the Empire: The Breakdown of the American System ~ This author wrote about the Fall of the USSR back when it wasn't popular. His words are worth reading and thinking about.
• Poplorica : A Popular History of the Fads, Mavericks, Inventions, and Lore that Shaped Modern America ~ Putting fads and pop culture into historical context.
• The Great Game : The Myth and Reality of Espionage ~ An ex-CIA agent picks apart modern spy fiction which should prove to be very entertaining.
• The Linguist and the Emperor : Napoleon and Champollion's Quest to Decipher the Rosetta Stone ~ The Rosetta stone was an immensely important historical find and was the key to the later decipherment of the heiroglyphs.
• Word Spy : The Word Lover's Guide to Modern Culture ~ A compendium of Word Spy words.
• New Words ~ New words in the OED which should be really riveting reading.
• The Elephants of Style : A Trunkload of Tips on the Big Issues and Gray Areas of Contemporary American English ~ Cute pun in the title and an ambitious topic.
• Subwayland : Adventures in the World Beneath New York ~ Subways will be the place where humankind goes when the surface of the planet is no longer hospitable.
• Lonely Planet St.Petersberg City Map
• A Traveller's Companion to St.Petersburg ~ If I litter the house with enough books about St. Petersburg, Jarkko might really get the hint that I intend to go with or without him later this summer. :)
• Prague Pictures : A Portrait of the City ~ Excellent writer and a city I'm curious about.
• Postfix : The Definitive Guide ~ I'm still a Sendmail devotee but Postfix has begun to tempt me into switching.
• Cascading Style Sheets: The Definitive Guide, 2nd Edition ~ The 1st edition was good and if this one ever makes it into production it might still be up to date by the time it's printed.
• The Camera ~ A classic.
• The Negative ~ I'm seriously considering building my own darkroom.
• Examples: The Making of 40 Photographs - Ansel Adams ~ I'm not interested in landscape photography but this should be filled with techniques I'm not aware of yet.
• Henri Cartier-Bresson: The Man, the Image and the World: A Retrospective ~ The Ur-Photojournalist.
• Here and There ~ NYC street photography collection.
• Leica: Witness to a Century ~ A history of Leica which should be interesting.
• Wanderlust ~ I loved the postcard series so this promises to be good.
• Potsticker Chronicles : Favorite Chinese Recipes and Family Fables ~ Looks interesting for the stories behind the recipes as well as dishes the less culinary might be able to make.
• Baking Illustrated: A Best Recipe Classic ~ Cook's Illustrated are the best cookbooks anywhere. I didn't go into food chemistry, but if I had I'd want to work there. Baking chemistry is fascinating
• Global Warming - Laika and the Cosmonauts ~ Strange yet cool Finnish surfer punk music.

16 Mar 2004 at 15:53, Helsinki