Niven, Larry
| The Mote in God's eye
| Pocket | ISBN: 0297770039
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Classic science fiction novel
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Pawley, Martin
| 20th Century Architecture, a readers guide
| Architectural Press, 2000 | ISBN: 0750646357
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Plenty of books have been written about Architecture. 20th Century Architecture, a reader's guide isn't just another one, rather it is a book about such books. Martin Pawley certainly knows his stuff - he has a wide knowledge of the subject and so is able to bring new views to bear on the books he is reviewing. He is probably at his best when reviewing biographies of famous architects - if there are several of the same person then it gives a view of that person from every angle.
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Pohl, Frederik
| Midas World
| Gollancz, 1983 | ISBN: 0575033746
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Scarcity seems to be a fact of life, and we might imagine that most of our problems would be solved in a world in which scarcity was abolished. But would they really disappear? Frederik Pohl's Midas World: A Novel considers what new problems might arise.
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Pournelle, Jerry
| The Mote in God's eye
| Pocket | ISBN: 0297770039
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Classic science fiction novel
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Pullman, Philip
| The Golden Compass
| Scholastic, 1995 | ISBN: 0590660543
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'The Golden Compass' (or 'Northern Lights' as the version I read was titled) is the first book of Philip Pullman's 'His Dark Materials' trilogy. It's the story of Lyra Belacqua, who spends most of her time playing around the Oxford college where she lives. But her playmates are being kidnapped, and her decision to rescue them draws her into much wider conflicts. Pullman shows such inventiveness in creating a new world for his story that it's sometimes hard to put the book down. But Pullman's books haven't had the same kind of bestselling success as some other books of a similar genre. I think part of the reason for this is that Pullman isn't really sure who he is writing for.
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| The Subtle Knife
| Scholastic, 1997 | ISBN: 0590112899
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The Subtle Knife is the second book in Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy. In this book Lyra crosses into another world, and meets Will a boy from yet another world - our own. One thing to note is that this book needs to be read as part of the trilogy. The first book (The Golden Compass) can just about be read on its own - although there are a few loose ends - but I would advise that to read the second book you need to have read the first and go on to read the third.
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| The Amber Spyglass
| Scholastic, 2000 | ISBN: 043999358X
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The Amber Spyglass is the final book in Philip Pullman's Dark Materials trilogy. I felt that it continued the trend away from the action of the first book, towards a Miltonesque saga, which leaves me even more confused as to who the readership of the books is supposed to be. Possibly Pullman expected his readers to grow up as the books were published, so the first is more (although not totally) suitable for children. That is all very well, but now that they are all available, it makes it hard to recommend the trilogy as a whole (which is how it needs to be read) to any particular readers.
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Rosenberg, Scott
| Dreaming in Code
| Crown Publishing, 2007 | ISBN: 9781400082469
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Software projects are notorious for their problems - time and budget overruns, bugs and feature creep. In Dreaming in Code Scott Rosenberg describes the early days of development of Chandler by the OSAF. This was developed as an open source program, but with substantial funding, so one might think it could avoid the usual problems of software development. But it seems nothing is immune, and problems soon arose. In particular, there was little financial pressure to get something out of the door and version 1.0 always seemed to be a couple of years away.
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Sabbagh, Karl
| Palestine: A Personal History
| Atlantic Books, 2006 | ISBN: 1843543443
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The Sabbagh family have a long history in the region of Palestine, and in this book Karl Sabbagh interleaves the history of his family with that of Palestine and the disputes between the occupants leading up to partition in 1947. Now there are two sides to every question and Sabbagh's account clearly takes one side. How much is this acceptable? Well, my feeling is that everyone has a right to tell their side of the story. On the other hand an author writing a historical account should try to be unbiased. So which is Sabbagh doing? The answer is: a bit of both.
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Sagan, Carl
| Contact
| Orbit | ISBN: 1857235800
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Science fiction story which stimulated research into traversable wormholes.
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Salzman, Marian
| Next Now
| Palgrave, 2006 | ISBN: 1403975647
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The pace of change in all aspects of our lives is constantly accelerating. If you would like to stay ahead of the game, then Next Now: Trends for the Future by Marian Salzman and Ira Matathia gives a wide ranging look at where the world is going in the next few years.
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Savory, Barrie
| The Good Back Guide
| Century, 2006 | ISBN: 1844133958
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Back pain is an unfortunately common occurrence in today's society. In The good back guide Barrie Savory explains how we have adopted a lifestyle which doesn't suit the structure of our bodies and shows that this often leads to some sort of back problem. Admit it you're probably hunched up in a chair at this moment - and the computer mouse is a major culprit in this area. But help is at hand. Savory describes a few simple exercises that can help to deal with back pain within your typical daily schedule.
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Schiffrin, Andre
| The business of books
| Verso, 2000 | ISBN: 1859847633
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André Schiffrin has been in the publishing business for over half a century. The Business of Books: How the International Conglomerates Took Over Publishing and Changed the Way We Read tells his story, and why he thinks that publishing in the USA has taken the wrong direction.
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Schwartz, Barry
Searle's ideas don't really fit into my categories of theories of mind. Maybe this is because these categories are too simplistic, but then again, maybe he is skating round the important issues.
| The Paradox of Choice
| ecco, 2004 | ISBN: 0060005688
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We all want the opportunity to decide things for ourselves, rather than having our lives determined by others. However, the choices available in today's society can be overwhelming, and you may begin to wonder whether choice is such a good thing. In The Paradox of Choice:Why More is Less Barry Schwarz argues that it is not, and give some advice on what we can do about it.
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Sen, Amartya
| Identity and Violence
| Allen Lane, 2006 | ISBN: 0713999381
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When we hear of a conflict, we want to know who the two sides are - we need to categorize people in order to work out the reason for the conflict. But In Identity and Violence:The Illusion of Destiny Amartya Sen warns us that we need to take care when attaching labels to people in this way, since the labelling itself can easily become a reason for violence.
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Sikov, Ed
| Mr Strangelove
| Pan books, 2002 | ISBN: 0330482602
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Peter Sellers is well known, not only as the star(s) of Dr Strangelove, but in many other films including the Pink Panther series. And of course there's also The Goon Show. In Mr Strangelove: A Biography of Peter Sellers Ed Sikov tells his story.
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Smith, Gina
| iWoz
| Norton, 2006 | ISBN: 0755314069
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Personal Computers are now a huge business, with large numbers of people employed in bringing us the latest design. It's surprising to learn that it started with one person designing and building a computer by himself - and doing it in his spare time. That person was Steve Wozniak and in iWoz he tells his story. Up until now he hasn't written about his life, but in this book one sees how his upbringing led to a fascination with electronics and to him being in the right place at the right time to initiate the personal computer revolution.
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Stevenson, Leslie
| Ten Theories of Human Nature
| Oxford University Press, 2004 | ISBN: 9780195169744
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Throughout history we have tried to understand what makes people tick, as well as trying to find rules for the best ways to live our lives. In Ten Theories of Human Nature, Leslie Stevenson and David Haberman look at some of the ideas which have stood the test of time.
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Strathern, Paul
| Dr Strangelove's Game
| Hamish Hamilton, 2001 | ISBN: 0241141346
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We all have our ideas on how to put the world to rights, in particular on how money should be distributed. Various economic ideas have taken hold over the centuries, with differing degrees of success. In Dr Strangelove's Game Paul Strathern tells the stories of some of the originators of these economic theories.
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Topham, Sean
| Where's my Space Age
| Prestel, 2003 | ISBN: 3791328441
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Now that it's getting on for 40 years since the first man on the moon, the era has a strange feeling of unreality. It augered so much for the future, which never happened. In 'Where's my Space Age?' Sean Topham looks back at the how the space program affected society at the time, and in particular how designers created a fitting end to the modernist era. A principal part of the book is the pictures, both of the space program, and of the many aspects of design which were affected. Sometimes one feels that copyright problems have prevented a particular image from being shown, but there are plenty in the book so this doesn't matter too much. The copy I read had a bright pink cover, highlighting the sense of fun and novelty that the book is presenting.
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Uttley, Alison
| Country World
| Faber & Faber, 1984 | ISBN: 0571133282
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Alison Uttley is best known for her Little Grey Rabbit books and similar stories. Country World: Memories of childhood is a collection of her autobiographical work telling of her early years, selected by Lucy Meredith. The book tells of how Uttley (née Taylor) was born on a Derbyshire farm in the depths of winter some way from the nearest village. But being cut off from the rest of the world was not so much of a problem: throughout the book we learn about the self-sufficiency of the farm, which was virtually a community in itself.
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Van den Brink-Budgen, Roy
| Critical Thinking for Students
| How To Books, 1996 | ISBN: 1857036344
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Critical Thinking is an important skill, and it is now a subject which is more and more being taught in its own right. Critical Thinking for Students: Learn the Skills of Critical Assessment and Effective Argument by Roy van den Brink-Budgen is aimed at those who are starting to learn the subject of critical thinking. The book analyses the structure of arguments, looking at whar is and what isn't an argument, and, if there are several reasons supporting an argument, looks at whether they do so independently or whether they form a chain of reasoning.
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Vise, David
| The Google story
| Macmillan | ISBN: 0405053712
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No one with an internet connection can have missed the spectacular rise of the Google search engine in the last few years. This book tells the story of this rise - how the founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin came to top the list of young billionaires without it seems having a particular interest in making money. Thus we hear about how Google has challenged the established way of doing things in business, and the legal problems which they have faced as a result. The book is well written -no technical knowledge required - and is recommended for anyone who want to catch up with what has been happening in the computing world.
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Vonnegut, Kurt
| A man without a country
| Bloomsbury, 2005 | ISBN: 0747584060
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At the start of A man without a country Kurt Vonnegut explains how as a child in a large family he took to humour as a way of getting himself heard. I thought to myself 'Well that explains a lot'. For I have to say I have never got on with his work, and it seems to me to be constantly saying 'look at me, aren't I strange'. The book starts off OK, with details of Vonnegut's life - but it doesn't last, and really the best recommendation I can give for this book is that it's fairly short, and would serve as a taster, to see how you felt about Vonnegut's writing.
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Wallen, Martin
| Fox
| Reaktion Books, 2006 | ISBN: 1861892977
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From when we are very young we are likely to hear stories involving foxes, and these are likely to affect our views concerning these creatures as we grow older. In Fox, Martin Wallen looks at how foxes are viewed in different cultures, and how this has shaped our relationship with them.
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Wells, H G
| The war in the air
| Penguin, 1908 | ISBN: 0141441305
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When I started reading this book, I was rather surprised not to find any film version of the story. There is plenty of action with the smuggling of secret plans, followed by a large scale aerial attack on the USA. If the book had continued in this vein, with initial setbacks but eventual victory over the aggression (and perhaps the setting up of a better world order as in Wells' other books) then it would definitely have been material for the cinema, especially with monorails, that epitome of modernity, everywhere. However, the war doesn't go that way, instead we hear about the struggles of the hero, Bert Smallways (who has been mostly a spectator in the first part of the book), in a post-apocalyptic world. Since we've had plenty of exposure to this sort of idea nowadays it felt a bit of a letdown.
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| The first men in the moon
| House of Stratus, 1901 | ISBN: 0755104013
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I found this to be rather a plotless book - it seems to be more of an exercise in descriptive writing than a proper story. There doesn't seem to be much of an attempt to make the science sound realistic - it ends up seeming much more like magic (of course I'm writing with hindsight, over 35 years after we actually went to the moon). But the real problem is that the characters seem to be more spectators than anything else - there's a bit of action in the middle, but even then I didn't feel any empathy with the main characters
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| The Time Machine
| Penguin Books, 1895 | ISBN: 0141439971
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'The Time machine' is H G Wells' first published science fiction story. It's a short book - Well's commented 36 years later that this was due to the hurry to get it published and he would like to have written a longer work. However I prefer to read somewhat 'naive' early works of sci-fi writers before they have learnt to write 'proper' literature. Reading this book gives and insight into what Well's wanted to write - we see that from the beginning he was more interested in possible futures for society than high tech gizmos. It's also worth reading if you've only seen the film version and want to know more about Wells' work.
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| The Stolen Bacillus and Other Incidents
| Westholme Publishing, 1895 | ISBN: 1594160201
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The Stolen Bacillus and other incidents was first published in 1895, before H G Wells had made his name with his longer stories. I sometimes feel that his later works concentrate too much on social commentary, and that the short stories of this book allow the reader to see more of Wells' unique inventiveness. There are are stories involving attacks by mysterious animals, as well as a couple of deadly plants. If you want to see how Wells' began his career as a novelist, or if you just like to read short stories then you'll probably enjoy the plot twists of these early examples.
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Wharton, Edith
| The Age of Innocence
| David Campbell, 1920 | ISBN: 1857152026
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Edith Wharton's The Age of Innocence is set in upper class New York society in the 1870's. Newland Archer is engaged to May Welland and when May's cousin, Countess Ellen Olenska arrives to escape from an unhappy marriage in Europe, Archer agrees to help with to introduce her to the ways of New York society. But he soon sees her as much more than May's cousin. Now for other men the consequences would be simple, a respectable marriage to May and a clandestine affair with Ellen. Archer doesn't want that - but what exactly does he want?
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Wheeler, Sara
| Travels in a Thin Country
| Abacus Travel, 1994 | ISBN: 0349105847
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For those of us living in the Northern hemisphere, Chile is a far-away country. Sara Wheeler decided to get to know the country better. In this book she describes her journey from the one end of the country to the other (and on to Antarctica). On the way she visited some remote places with spectacular scenery, but the book isn't so much about geography, it's more about the stories of individual people living there, together with the history of the country, and in particular its path towards democracy. I would recommend it to anyone who wants to hear about the story of Chile and about life in some of the remotest areas of the world.
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Wilson, A N
| God's Funeral
| Abacus, 1999 | ISBN: 0349112657
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The gap between religious believers and non-believers is surprisingly wide - arguments on one side or the other often seem to be just 'preaching to the converted'. So how did this gap come about. In God's Funeral, A N Wilson shows how this the legacy of nineteenth century thinkers has a lot to do with it.
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Winchester, Simon
| The Professor and the Madman
| Harperperennial, 1998 | ISBN: 006099486x
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The Professor and the Madman by Simon Winchester is a story of the beginnings of the Oxford English Dictionary. James Murray took the job as editor of this work, but many others were involved in its creation. Winchester gives interesting details about several of these, such as Frederick Furnivall - thought to be the inspiration for Ratty in The Wind in the Willows. This book however, is primarily about one contributor, William Minor. Minor seemed like an ordinary contributor, but when Murray decided to visit him he was in for a surprise - Minor was an inmate of Broadmoor Asylum. Winchester has looked into this fascinating tale, separating out the myth from the reality, and the result is a highly enjoyable book.
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Wollheim, Richard
| Germs: a memoir of childhood
| Black Swan, 2004 | ISBN: 055277314X
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Richard Wollheim is renowned for his works on the philosophy of mind and in particular its relationship to the visual arts. But even if you don't know about his philosophical work, you may well be fascinated by Germs: a memoir of childhood. This is not a typical romaticised view of childhood. It tell of how Wollheim, born in 1923, was often a sickly boy, mixing little with other children of his age. His parents were well off, but, as was fairly typical for such families, they also seemed rather distant. Thus much of his time was spent with his nanny or governess, and of course his books.
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Wozniak, Steve
| iWoz
| Norton, 2006 | ISBN: 0755314069
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Personal Computers are now a huge business, with large numbers of people employed in bringing us the latest design. It's surprising to learn that it started with one person designing and building a computer by himself - and doing it in his spare time. That person was Steve Wozniak and in iWoz he tells his story. Up until now he hasn't written about his life, but in this book one sees how his upbringing led to a fascination with electronics and to him being in the right place at the right time to initiate the personal computer revolution.
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Wrigley, Christopher
| Return of the Hero
| Book Guild, 2005 | ISBN: 1857769902
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The success of Harry Potter, the Lord of the Rings and Philip Pullman's Dark Materials trilogy is something of a surprise. Even adult readers seem to prefer these books to more 'serious' literature. In 'Return of the Hero' Christopher Wrigley analyses why this should be the case, and looks at how the books relate to sexuality, religion and in particular the idea of an initiation rite. Now I feel one shouldn't take such analysis too seriously. If it is done in a negative way - implying that the critic has 'found out' the hidden faults of the work - then it usually becomes simply annoying. But Wrigley is writing as a fan of the books he is analysing, and does offer plenty of insightful comment on these three works.
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