I recently mentioned that Borders were offering a 40% discount to their email list subscribers. I bought a lot of books, but most of them are more relevant to my other blog, so I’ve talked about them there. However, in the same period I’ve also bought a number of books from the second-hand shops in the Bras Basah Complex, and the bargain books stack in Carrefour, so here’s the list:
- Someone comes to town, someone leaves town by Boing Boing editor Cory Doctorow. I was looking for something geeky, and eventually settled on this. It’s a very odd novel, the story of a man whose father is a mountain and mother is a washing machine, his struggles with his very odd siblings, and his romance with a girl with wings. It’s a neat parable of geek alienation, but I found the resolution of the main storyline to be ultimately unsatisfying. From Borders.
- The Diamond Age, by Neal Stephenson. A fantastic novel, with lots of themes that are currently very relevant to my life. I’m going to talk about this book in more detail in a future post. From Borders.
- The Many-Headed Hydra, by Linebaugh and Reider. A hefty book on the roots of the modern world, and the growth of the Atlantic trade and the Americas, seen from the viewpoint of the ordinary people who did the dirty work, and whose voice is rarely heard in histories. I haven’t read much of this yet; I plan to take it on holiday. From Borders.
- Samurai William, by Giles Milton. The true story of the English adventurer fictionalised in James Clavell’s Shogun. Set in a slightly earlier period than the Many Headed Hydra (William Adams, the central character, died in 1620 – the year the Mayflower sailed to America), it describes the early period of Northern European discovery of, and interaction with, Japan and Indochina. From Carrefour.
- The Play Ethic by Pat Kane. I’ve been reading his blog for a long time, but haven’t ever gotten around to reading this exploration of the need to re-evaluate our approach to work and personal motivation. Another one that I’ll be taking on holiday. From Carrefour.
- The Hacker Ethic by Himanen, Torvalds, and Castells. Another that I’ve been meaning to read for years but never got around to. From Carrefour.
- A Whole New Mind by Daniel Pink. I have read, and written about, this one before, but I wanted to get a copy of my own; it will be useful once I start my new job. From Bras Basah.
- Genetically Yours, by Hwa A. Lim. A massively wide-ranging discussion of the life sciences industry, covering the science, innovation, marketing and management, amongst many other topics. Written by a Malaysian entrepreneur, this is one of the most detailed and informative books I’ve seen on the industry, and one that I’m surprised isn’t better known – bear in mind that I took a course on managing the Life Sciences during my MBA, plus another on the management of innovation. I wish I’d had this book then! This is another one that’s likely to be useful when I start my new job. From Bras Basah.
Added 29 Jan:
I forgot to add these to the list:
- Creativity by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. Anybody who;s been involved in an activity they really enjoy has experienced the sensation of ‘flow’; I used to get absorbed in programming, for example. I often referenced Csikszentmihalyi’s concept while I was doing my MBA based on articles, but I haven’t actually read one of his own books. That will now change. From Bras Basah.
- The Path of Least Resistance: Learning to Become the Creative Force in Your Own Life, by Robert Fritz. Actually, this was just an impulse buy, but looks interesting. From Bras Basah.
