Some Books

Super quick mentions, I don’t feel like writing anything longer but I wanted to list them, to update my total, since others are going for the one book a week thing. (Which I’ll miss this year)

Web Standards Creativity. 10 authors, 10 chapters. Some relatively advanced CSS concepts. Considering I usually assert that I know pretty much everything there is to know about CSS, through books anyway, the fact I learned a couple of interesting techniques speaks pretty well for it.

Hitchhiker’s Guide to The Galaxy, Douglas Adams. The first 75% I liked but was wondering why it was such a cult classic, the next 20% I got why and the last 5% I wondered why the hell he was wrapping everything up so quickly and in a botched manner. A bit disappointed really.

Next, Michael Crichton. Like most of his books, especially the two previous ones, Crichton tales a very contemporary scientific fear (genetics, last two were nano tech and climate change), wraps some real and some pushed to the limits of it’s believability science with a cheap intrigue and uses his platform to promote his agenda in the matter. The others were interesting reading, this one is woven with 6 inch thick threads and could have used a lot more work. Too bad.

The Laws of Simplicity, John Maeda. Some good insights but he minimalized so much and pushed so hard to fit his thoughts in 10 rules that the book is creaking from everywhere. Could have been so much better, as it is you’re better off simply watching his Simplicity patterns talk at Ted.

That makes it 38 on the year, way off pace—although not as “bad” as I thought I was doing—but hopefully some time off during the holidays will let me squeak a few more in before time’s up.