Books I Read On My Summer Vacation
by David Ludwig
Homeroom Teacher: Hell if I remember
My two week vacation is coming to an end. I've been very good, and have prevented myself from doing any sort of coding, whether it be for work or on-the-side. In it's place, I read a few books. Not too too many, but a heck of a lot more than I usually do. (My usual reading list consists of magazine articles and technical documentation.) Anyhoo, here's what I've read:
* The Lost World, by Michael Crichton. A good read. Not as good as its prequel, Jurrasic Park, but still very good.
* Revolution in the Valley, by Andy Hertzfeld and others. This book chronicled the development of the original Macintosh computer, and was compiled and written by members of its development team. I've read a lot of books about Apple Computer and this one tops them all.
* iCon, The Second Greatest Act In The History Of Business. This was an unauthorized biography of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs. What made this book particularly alluring was the response Jobs had to it's release, which was to pull all of the publisher's books from Apple's stores, which included all of the "For Dummies" series. Not surprising, considering the sub-stellar portrait it displayed of him in the earlier portions of his life, and the seeming fact that Steve Jobs is nuts. The book itself was alright, although I kept getting the feeling that it was rushed to the publisher, and could've used another draft. I can't explain that any further.
* (In Progress) Conspiracy Of Fools, but Kurt Eichenwald. This book, recommended to me by my bos as well as my dad, chronicles the Enron bankruptcy. It's a bit heavy on the finance-speak, but is otherwise alright.
In a few days, when my vacation ends, I think I'm going to try to keep up with the reading. It's been a long time since I read on a recreational basis (tech manuals do NOT count) and I had almost forgotten how relaxing they could be. I do think that more fiction will be in order, however.