Books you're currently reading???

[Perry Winkle]

Here are a few of the non-technical ones I have finished recently (in the last two weeks) or are in-progress (and actively being read) at the moment:
The World Is Flat -- Geeze, Thomas Friedman repeats himself a lot.
Necronomicon: Collected Lovecraft -- A lot of fun stories. A lot of bad stories. Lovecraft likes semicolons almost as much as I.
Here Comes Everybody -- Too soon to tell.
Scratch Beginnings -- Inspiring once you get past the intermittent hubris.
The Chronicles of Narnia -- I've only read the first "book" so far. Boring except for one section that tickled me.
Putt's Law -- Most of the conclusions are "common knowledge" at this point, but it's nice to see the reasoning explicated.
My Job Went to India -- Good advice for increasing the value of your contributions and keeping your job.

The tech books I'm actively studying:
Programming Erlang (along with the Pragmatic screencasts)
Pragmatic Programmer
Making Things Happen (project managment)

I also found that you can download a copy of The Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs for free. That made my day yesterday.

[Perry Winkle]

Oh, and Malcolm Gladwell's new book, Outliers, is even better than the first two.

[rockerreds]

Philip K. Dick-Now Wait For Last Year

[wolf]

Originally Posted by Perry Winkle

The Chronicles of Narnia -- I've only read the first "book" so far. Boring except for one section that tickled me.

Not sure what the experience of Narnia is when you read it for the first time as an adult, but I do know that there's a lot of difference in the experience based on the order in which you read the books.

I take the position that you have to read them in the order of original publication (which means The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe first). By starting in the middle of the story it's a better experience for me ... there are many things about the world that are left unsaid, and the mysteries remain mysteries for a little longer. If you start reading at the Magician's Nephew, you get the background first, and it's nowhere near as much fun.

[DanaC]

Originally Posted by wolf

Not sure what the experience of Narnia is when you read it for the first time as an adult, but I do know that there's a lot of difference in the experience based on the order in which you read the books.

I take the position that you have to read them in the order of original publication (which means The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe first). By starting in the middle of the story it's a better experience for me ... there are many things about the world that are left unsaid, and the mysteries remain mysteries for a little longer. If you start reading at the Magician's Nephew, you get the background first, and it's nowhere near as much fun.

I'd agree with that. I loved the Narnia books as a kid. Nothing in the world of books has ever quite compared with that world and that wardrobe.