Interesting

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Interesting

		Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity, David Allen, Penguin Books, 2001. I've added several projects recently, and decided to use a more formal system to track everything. Getting Things Done ("GTD") is centered around a system for managing time and, well, getting things done. The book is clear, and Allen describes his techniques with authority. (Reviewed Oct., '06)
		The Innovation Algorithm: TRIZ, Systematic Innovation and Technical Creativity, Genrich Altshuller, Technical Innovation Center, 1999 edition. Altshuller was an inventor who systematically studied patents to learn the principles behind them. He developed "algorithms" to take advantage of the principles of invention. The root of the system is to discover the key contradiction and the ideal system. He suggests using a matrix mapping two contradictory desires to a set of principles that might address them. (Reviewed Jan., '04)
		The New Origami, Steve Biddle and Megumi Biddle. St. Martin's Press, 1993. A broad look at an assortment of origami styles. My favorites: the troublewit and the jack-in-the-box. (Reviewed Nov., '02)
		Journey through Genius: The Great Theorems of Mathematics, by William Dunham. ISBN 014014739X. Penguin, 1991. This book is a wonderful mix of proofs and history. The proofs are interesting (and showed me how rusty I am on some of this), but the history really brings it alive, providing a context to show why mathematicians care. I was left with an even greater appreciation for how Euclid, Newton, and Euler really stand high above so many others. (Reviewed August, '06)
		The Spoken Word Revolution, Mark Eleveld (Editor). SourceBooks, Inc., 2005. Poetry has of course long since moved beyond iambic pentameter. What's striking for me in this collection is how important sound and rhythm are to many poems. The CD that comes with this book is welcome - it was great to hear poets perform their own material. (I wish they'd recorded everything, rather than only a third.) The poems have a range of topics and styles. Some of these poems strike me as truly brilliant. (Reviewed May, '06)
		Self-Working Handkerchief Magic, Karl Fulves. Dover Press, 1988. Fulves has a number of collections of simple magic tricks. I enjoy playing with some of them even though I'd never perform them for others. My interest in origami stretches to cloth folding as well, and this book includes a "handkerchief mouse" that my dad used to make. Bruce Tognazzini used to talk about magic as a metaphor for user interfaces; I think it stretches to other things too. (Reviewed May, '04)
		Computers, Ltd., David Harel. Oxford University Press, 2003. This is a brief explanation of the limits that computers face: non-computable and intractable problems. At the end of the book, the author spends a little time examining approaches that might get around these problems, and things that work because of these problems (e.g., encryption). (Reviewed June, '05)
		Reinventing the Wheel, Jessica Helfand. Princeton Architectural Press, 2002. This is a picture book of volvelles, wheel calculators. You typically set a pointer to a particular value, and windows or the edge of the wheel reveal an answer. If you have any interest in job aids, or pre-computer calculators, you will probably enjoy the history and pictures this book contains. (Reviewed Sept., '03)
		Hidden Order, John H. Holland. Addison-Wesley, 1995. This is a readable and interesting introduction to Holland's approach to complex adaptive systems. It touches on agents and emergence, and considers models that are being designed and built in software. The clarity of the book is a two-edged sword - there are insights, but it makes it clear that there's a long way to go before this is anything like a full explanation for things. (A lesser book would push the hype and obscure the distance.) I get the same sense as when I look back at production systems, Prolog, and Cyc - there's something there, but maybe not enough. (Reviewed Feb, '04)
		Funny Noises for the Connoisseur, by Bart Hopkin with Ray Brunelle and Vincent Nicastro. Experimental Music Inc., 2003. ISBN 0-9727313-1-8. Book and CD. In 60 pages, the authors explore a bunch of ways to make some very odd sounds. There are aspects of both custom musical instruments and sound effects in this work. The attached CD demonstrates them all. (Reviewed Sept., '05)
		The Thinker's Toolkit: 14 Powerful Techniques for Problem Solving, Morgan D. Jones. Three Rivers Press, 1995. Tools and exercises for helping you analyze problems, including problem restatement, decision trees, matrices, ranking, hypothesis testing, and utility analysis. (Reviewed Dec., '02)
		Your Mythic Journey: Finding Meaning in Your Life through Writing and Storytelling, Sam Keen and Anne Valley-Fox. J.P. Tarcher, 1989. Ways to think about your life as a story. (Reviewed Nov., '02)
		Mapping Inner Space, 2/e, Nancy Margulies with Nusa Maal. Zephyr Press, 2002. This book presents techniques for visual maps, their version of mind maps. You can certainly learn the basics without this book, but it makes great use of color and has lots of examples of maps and symbols. (Reviewed Jan., '05)
		MouthSounds: How to whistle, pop, boing, and honk, Fred Newman. Workman Publishing, 2004. ISBN 0761134220. I love books that are a smorgasbord, and this one certainly qualifies. Flip to any page, and you'll find an interesting sound to make. Great fun. (Reviewed May, '05)
		Things that Make Us Smart, Donald A. Norman, Perseus Books, 1993. Similar in tone and scope to his other books (that's an endorsement:), Things that Make Us Smart explores ways in which we use artifacts to improve our cognitive abilities. A lot of it is anecdotal, but anything that makes me want to both re-consider where things are in my kitchen and also re-arrange my software has some power to it. (Reviewed Jan., '04)
		Code: The Hidden Language of Computer Hardware and Software, Charles Petzold, Microsoft Press, 2000. It's safe to assume you will never be called on to build a computer out of relays. But if you were, this book would give you a chance. Starting from relays, he constructs logic gates, flip-flops, and other devices on his way to creating a real CPU. He has less compelling discussions of numbers, codes, 8080/6800, and programming languages. The book doesn't give you a broad view of architecture, but that's not its goal. Rather, its charm is in providing that it's bits all the way down. (Reviewed Jan., '04)
		Musical Improv Comedy, Michael Pollock. Masteryear Publishing, 2003. This is a slim volume, about 100 pages, plus a CD. Being able to improvise songs on demand is a skill that appeals to me. This book certainly didn't make me an instant musical improviser (far from it), but it does suggest a path forward. (Reviewed Jan., '06)
		Origami, Hideaki Sakata. GRAPH-SHA LTD., 1984. This is a beginner's origami book, but it's the best beginner's book I've seen. It shows six or seven bases, from which about 40 objects are created. Because the book uses color pictures instead of line drawings, each step is easy to follow. (Reviewed Sept., '03)
		Where Have All the Flowers Gone? Pete Seeger. Lancaster Press. 1997. ISBN 1-881322-10-6 The subtitle is "A Musical Autobiography," and that's what it is. It's chock-full of songs (both words and music) and reminiscences of a long life. It gave me the sense of another world just outside my understanding. (Reviewed May, '05)
		Complete Idiot's Guide to Slam Poetry, Marc Kelly Smith with Joe Kraynak. Alpha, 2004. April is poetry month, so I thought I'd try something different. Slam poetry takes poetry to the stage in "competition." We get the basics of slam and its origins, some tips on performing, and advice on creating slam events. This book is about the structure of slam, and has almost nothing on actually creating poetry. It includes 2 CDs with a sample of readings by a variety of slammers. (Reviewed March, 2006)
		The Victorian Internet Tom Standage. Berkley Press, 1998. A history of the telegraph, from its creation on. The author relates the initial optimism about the telegraph to the similar hype about the Internet - as a tool for bringing about world peace and changing everything. The story ends with Alexander Graham Bell working on a "harmonic telegraph," which became the telephone. It's an interesting and well-written story. (Reviewed Sept., '05)

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