House of Leaves is so good! I have yet to come up with a good description of what it's about, but I always try when I tell people about it.
I usually describe it as a story about a guy who finds a manuscript. The manuscript is a collection of essays that detail a documentary that was made about a house that randomly changes rooms.
So at the center of the novel, you have this really creepy story. But there are all the layers above that storyline that you have to read to get there. There's the storyline concerning the people who make the documentary. Then there's the storyline of the guy who wrote the manuscript ABOUT the documentary. Then you have the storyline of the guy who's reading the documentary.
Then there's you. You're reading about a guy who is in turn reading a manuscript about a documentary which was made about a house. It was so well done that at the end, I found myself not really sure what the hell I was reading anymore.
I'm still not sure what the book is, but it's certainly a stroke of genius.
This is a great book. It delves into the psychology of how we think about and use the built world and explains why some things are simply hard to use as compared to other, better designed things.
You reminded me of a great little book published a long time ago which is still very relevant: "The Ugly American"(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ugly_American). A recent really good read was Le Carre's "The Mission Song"
"Structure of Scientific Revolutions" by Thomas Kuhn
This philosophy of science masterpiece illustrates how a community evolves its mental model or paradigm - from a long-accepted world view, to a crisis caused by evidence that contradicts the prevailing model, and then at last to an acceptance of a new paradigm.
not that i understand mathematics that well, but this book gave me many ideas of how an abstract/complex thing like mathematics can evolve through history, i found that exciting
- when i was a teenager i liked a couple of books by Martin Gardner
I like how GEB ties together everything with 'strange loops'.
The concept of how small pieces of something can form into something else entirely, is fascinating. How does a bunch of your cells form into you? How do a bunch of notes from a song form something so grand? How does a collection of 'inanimate' material form something animate?
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[ 4.5 ms ] story [ 171 ms ] threadHitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
I usually describe it as a story about a guy who finds a manuscript. The manuscript is a collection of essays that detail a documentary that was made about a house that randomly changes rooms.
So at the center of the novel, you have this really creepy story. But there are all the layers above that storyline that you have to read to get there. There's the storyline concerning the people who make the documentary. Then there's the storyline of the guy who wrote the manuscript ABOUT the documentary. Then you have the storyline of the guy who's reading the documentary.
Then there's you. You're reading about a guy who is in turn reading a manuscript about a documentary which was made about a house. It was so well done that at the end, I found myself not really sure what the hell I was reading anymore.
I'm still not sure what the book is, but it's certainly a stroke of genius.
What do you care what other people think? (Richard Feynman)
Autobiography of Ben Franklin
Mastering the Winds of Change (solid self-improvement book)
Curse be upon you :-)
The Bible (Various chaps)
(Not trying to belittle, just curious)
Genesis is a necessary read for anyone, regardless of religious affiliation.
I, Claudius (Robert Graves)
The Underground History of American Education (John Taylor Gatto)
Kafka on the Shore (Haruki Murakami)
Blood Meridian (Cormac McCarthy)
Devil in the White City (Erik Larson)
Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts (bit of a beast, but well worth it).
In short:
All books written by Witold Gombrowicz (Diary if have to pick one),
All books written by Slavoj Zizek (Welcome to the Desert of the Real: Five Essays on September 11 and Related Dates if have to pick one)
Recently read and significant:
The Logic of Scientific Discovery, Karl Popper,
Market Wizards: Interviews with Top Traders, Jack Schwager
This philosophy of science masterpiece illustrates how a community evolves its mental model or paradigm - from a long-accepted world view, to a crisis caused by evidence that contradicts the prevailing model, and then at last to an acceptance of a new paradigm.
http://www.des.emory.edu/mfp/Kuhn.html
Sherlock Holmes stories are fun.
The Art of Deception by Kevin Mitnick is also a good read.
Pierre
- surely you are joking mr feynman (rpf)
- origin of order (stuart kauffman)
- slaughter house five (kurt vonnegut)
- goedel escher bach (douglas hofstadter)
- theta-magical memas errr metamagical themas (dogulas hofsta)
- The Development of Mathematics, by E. T. Bell
not that i understand mathematics that well, but this book gave me many ideas of how an abstract/complex thing like mathematics can evolve through history, i found that exciting
- when i was a teenager i liked a couple of books by Martin Gardner
The concept of how small pieces of something can form into something else entirely, is fascinating. How does a bunch of your cells form into you? How do a bunch of notes from a song form something so grand? How does a collection of 'inanimate' material form something animate?
from reading other posts (comments) I've remembered another good book, sort of on the same flavor as the "biological" parts in GEB:
-"Investigations", by Stuart Kauffman
exciting lecture too
http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=56618
Wild at Heart,
How to Win Friends and Influence People,
Songs for Martha <-- I have an autographed copy,
Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy,
Rainbow Six (and most other Clancy books)
The Silmarillion
The Hero With A Thousand Faces
Dune
Walden (about half the chapters anyway)