The paper mp3
Reading this post recently, I found myself asking why ebooks haven’t really taken off as a medium. Certainly more recent efforts, such as Amazon’s Kindle, have helped to reignite the market after a rather dubious development period over the past decade or so, but if one compares the ubiquity of mobile phones or digital audio [...]
Recent reads
It’s fairly rare for me to bother reviewing anything I read on here, however since I had some spare minutes and some actual opinions on some of the books I read this last month, there seemed to be enough to say to make up at least a short post. In fact it turned out to [...]
Phantoms in the Brain
In Phantoms in the Brain, V. S. Ramachandran has attempted to emulate the forebears he cites in the Preface, who inspired him to write science that is both informative and interesting to the general reading public. In this he has certainly succeeded, his style is highly approachable, and the content not only comprises interesting tidbits, [...]
The cost of reading
As an avid reader, it often occurs to me just how second-hand book retailers manage to turn a profit. Even assuming the raw stock can be acquired at very little cost, the vast majority of books can go unsold almost indefinitely, all the while occupying shelf or storage space that costs money to maintain. I [...]
Daily Links
Book Glutton – Another social internet site, this time designed around the premise that it’s good to read together. The site offers members a chance to form and join reading groups, enabling them to discuss and annotate the book while they read. ControlC – This website provides a way to save a copy of everything [...]
Domesticating zebras
How do you domesticate a zebra? You can’t, or at least that’s the justification put forward by Jared Diamond in his Guns, Germs and Steel for why these wild beasts were never used as draught animals or cavalry in sub-Saharan Africa. Much of what Diamond writes has a logical ring to it, and whilst the [...]
Currently Reading
Planned books:
- The Affirmative Action Empire by Terry Martin
- The Age of Capital, 1848-75 by E.J. Hobsbawm
- Leviathan by Thomas Hobbes
- History of Western Philosophy by Bertrand Russell
- Rising ’44: The Battle for Warsaw by Norman Davies
Current books:
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The Little Friend by Donna Tartt
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Der Untergang des Abendlandes. Umrisse einer Morphologie der Weltgeschichte. Band 1 by Oswald Spengler
Recent books:
- Sie wollten Hitler töten by Guido Knopp
- Starship Troopers by Robert A. Heinlein
- Uni-Wissen Anglistik /Amerikanistik: Introduction to English Language Teaching by Andreas Müller-Hartmann, Marita Schocker-von Ditfurth
- The Man In The High Castle by Philip K. Dick
- Der Dativ ist dem Genitiv sein Tod by Bastian Sick
Links
Power
