SimonReading

Simon P. Ditner

Reading:

'Getting Things Done', David Allen (It sounds silly, but I'm finding it to be really great productivity book)
'Crossing the Chasm', Greoffrey A. Moore
'Cyborg', Steve Mann & Hal Niedzviecki

Read (as in, I have read):

Non-Fiction
- 'Robot Builder's Bonanza', Gordon McComb (I'm not sure that I've actually read this...)
- 'E Myth': Exerpts in TheEMyth
- 'The End of Eternity', Isaac Asimov, 0553288091 (Where are my notes?)
- 'The City After the Automobile'
Fiction
- Greg Egan, Schild's Ladder - I didn't like it much. I barely understood what he was talking about. If you remove the "hard" scifi the plot is wrapped in, it's not too exciting.
- Greg Egan, Diaspora - Fantastic, though the twisting of personal pronouns and abstract thinking makes it a hard read as well
- All of Orson Scott Card's Enders series, parts of the Homecoming series, and Alvin Maker series
- Douglas Coupland -- I just finished 'all families are psychotic' .. Douglas' work always makes me feel like I've stepped into someone elses life. It makes me feel a little sad when I finish a book, and the world vanishes.
Programming
- Interesting programming interviews
- What Corporate Projects Should Learn from Open Source

To Read:

HCI READING Don't ask me what this book format is, I don't know.

--- The books by Spence and Tufte are perhaps the most visually attractive and contain lots of interesting examples. I think Spence's book has more on interactive visualizations, whereas Tufte's are more about static graphics.

The one by Card et al. is visually very unattractive; it contains a bunch of grey-scale reproductions of academic papers. It is useful to academics, though, for the key papers it contains, and is often cited in my field.

Ware's book is about human perception, and actually doesn't contain a lot of examples of visualizations.

Wilkinson's describes a kind of object-oriented framework for describing many kinds of graphics. I guess it would be useful if you wanted to implement a very general and flexible visualization system, because it outlines one set of key constructs that can be combined in useful ways.

Bertin's and Playfair's books are of historical interest because of how old they are. I don't know of any new English copies of Bertin's work (the French copy I have was bought in France recently); you might be able to get used copies at amazon or ebay. Playfair's work has been recently (2005) reprinted; you can get a copy on amazon and read my review of the reprint there -- just search for "William Playfair" at amazon.com. ---

@book{spence2001,

 author={Robert Spence},
 title={Information Visualization},
 year=2001,
 publisher={ACM Press}

}

@book{card1999,

 editor={Stuart K. Card and Jock D. Mackinlay and Ben Shneiderman},
 title={Readings in Information Visualization: Using Vision to Think},
 year=1999,
 publisher={Morgan Kaufmann Publishers}

}

@book{ware2000,

 author={Colin Ware},
 title={Information Visualization: Perception for Design},
 year=2000,
 publisher={Morgan Kaufmann Publishers}

}

% reprinted in 1992; 2nd edition from 2001 % Available at U of T engineering library HA 31 T83 @book{tufte1983,

 author={Edward R. Tufte},
 title={The Visual Display of Quantitative Information},
 year=1983,
 publisher={Graphics Press}

}

@book{tufte1990,

 author={Edward R. Tufte},
 title={Envisioning Information},
 year=1990,
 publisher={Graphics Press}

}

@book{tufte1997,

 author={Edward R. Tufte},
 title={Visual Explanations: Images and Quantities, Evidence and Narrative},
 year=1997,
 publisher={Graphics Press}

}

% Available at U of T math library QA 276.3 W55 @book{wilkinson1999,

 author={Leland Wilkinson},
 title={The Grammar of Graphics},
 year=1999,
 publisher={Springer},
 address={New York}

}

% 2nd edition in 1973 % Translated into English 1983 % English translation available at U of T engineering library HA 31 B413 @book{bertin1967,

 author={Jacques Bertin},
 title={S\'{e}miologie graphique:
       Les diagrammes, Les r\'{e}seaux, Les cartes},
 year=1967,
 publisher={\'{E}ditions Gauthier-Villars},
 address={Paris},
 note={(2nd edition 1973, English translation 1983)}

}

@book{bertin1977,

 author={Jacques Bertin},
 title={La graphique et le traitement graphique de l'information},
 year=1977,
 publisher={Flammarion},
 address={Paris}

}

@book{playfair1786,

 author={William Playfair},
 title={The Commercial and Political Atlas},
 year=1786,
 edition={1st},
 address={London},
 note = {(3rd edition reproduced in The Commercial and Political Atlas
    and Statistical Breviary, by William Playfair,
    edited and introduced by Howard Wainer and Ian Spence, 2005)}

}

@book{playfair1801,

 author={William Playfair},
 title={The Statistical Breviary},
 year=1801,
 address={London},
 note = {(Reproduced in The Commercial and Political Atlas
    and Statistical Breviary, by William Playfair,
    edited and introduced by Howard Wainer and Ian Spence, 2005)}

}

TECH

SDL+Perl
Beautiful Evidence, Edward Tufte, 'good design is timeless, while bad design can be a matter of life and death'
Applied Project Management
More pragmatic programmer books
alt.sysadmin.recovery
Analysis using math
Cryptography in javascript
CSS Zen Garden
Retooling slashdot with CSS
Tools for large graph layout
TPJ archives
- Autoloading looks interesting
W3 Schools

NON-TECH

Permuatation City, Greg Egan (I might alreayd have this one...)
'Silent Spring', Rachel Carson, 1962 -- environmental and human dangers of indiscriminate use of pesticides
'Think and Grow Rich', Napoleon Hill, 1960 (referenced by TheEMyth) (Karl bought me this one for christmas)
'Tacitus: The Annals of Imperial Rome' by Cornelius Tacitus, Michael Grant
'Politics' by Aristotle
- fishy: I have a copy or two of this...
- simon: could you mail it to me (see finger info)
Tuxedo Park: A Wall Street Tycoon and the Secret Palace of Science That Changed the Course of World War II
"Simulacra and Simulation", Baudrillard
'Design Patterns' by Erich Gamma, Richard Helm, Ralph Johnson, John Vlissides
- Amazon has a portion of it online here
From a paper on memes
- 'The Blind Watchmaker', by Richard Dawkins, ISBN 0140291229, (Amazon: CDN$ 12.99, CDN$ 39.49 with the Selfish Gene)
- The Inference Engine
  - 'Human Inference', by Nesbitt and Ross
  - 'The Social Brain', by Michael Gazzaniga
From 'Salmon of Doubt'
- "Pierre Menard.", Jorge Luis Borges (short story)
- "Sunset", Jorge Luis Borges (short story)
- "The Selfish Gene.", Richard Dawkins, ISBN 0192860925 (Amazon: CDN$ 26.50) -- I have two copies of this now, return one
- "The Meme Machine.", Richard Dawkins & Susan Blackmore, ISBN 019286212X (Amazon: CDN$ 19.51).
  - From the reviews, the one by Dominic Pinder seems to indicate that it isn't a quality book.
- --again, "The Blind Watchmaker", by Richard Dawkins
- "The Experts Speak.", Chrisopher Cref and Victor Navasky (great bathroom reader)
- "The Fabric of Reality.", David Deutsch
- "Man on Earth.", John Reader
- "Starship Titanic", CD-ROM
- "..." Ruth Rendel
MathWorld
An equal Music
Tron script, 4th draft
MIT Opencourseware
David Suzuki's website
The 100 Best Movies You've Never Seen, Richard Crouse, ISBN 1550225901
http://www.infinitematrix.net/stories/shorts/i-robot.html

A list of 100 books i should probably check if i've read:

Index of the 100 science fiction books you just have to read http://www.phobosweb.com/features/100books/top100index.html

Childhood's End Written by Arthur C. Clarke
Foundation Written by Isaac Asimov
Dune Written by Frank Herbert
Man in the High Castle Written by Philip K. Dick
Starship Troopers Written by Robert A. Heinlein
Valis Written by Philip K. Dick
Frankenstein Written by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
Gateway Written by Frederick Pohl
Space Merchants Written by C.M. Kornbluth & Frederick Pohl
Earth Abides Written by George R. Stewart
Cuckoo.s Egg Written by C.J. Cherryh
Star Surgeon Written by James White
The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch Written by Philip K. Dick
Radix Written by A.A. Attanasio
2001: A Space Odyssey Written by Arthur C. Clarke
Ringworld Written by Larry Niven
A Case of Conscience Written by James Blish
Last and First Man Written by Olaf Stapledon
The Day of the Triffids Written by John Wyndham
Way Station Written by Clifford Simak
More Than Human Written by Theodore Sturgeon
Gray Lensman Written by E. E. .Doc. Smith
The Gods Themselves Written by Isaac Asimov
The Left Hand of Darkness Written by Ursula K. Le Guin
Behold the Man Written by Michael Moorcock
Star Maker Written by Olaf Stapledon
The War of the Worlds Written by H.G. Wells
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea Written by Jules Verne
Heritage of Hastur Written by Marion Zimmer Bradley
The Time Machine Written by H.G. Wells
The Stars My Destination Written by Alfred Bester
Slan Written by A.E. Van Vogt
Neuromancer Written by William Gibson
Ender.s Game Written by Orson Scott Card
In Conquest Born Written by C.S. Friedman
Lord of Light Written by Roger Zelazny
Eon Written by Greg Bear
Dragonflight Written by Anne McCaffrey
Journey to the Center of the Earth Written by Jules Verne
Stranger in a Strange Land Written by Robert Heinlein
Cosm Written by Gregory Benford
The Voyage of the Space Beagle Written by A.E. Van Vogt
Blood Music Written by Greg Bear
Beggars in Spain Written by Nancy Kress
Omnivore Written by Piers Anthony
I, Robot Written by Isaac Asimov
Mission of Gravity Written by Hal Clement
To Your Scattered Bodies Go Written by Philip Jose Farmer
Brave New World Written by Aldous Huxley
The Man Who Folded Himself Written by David Gerrold
1984 Written by George Orwell
The Strange Case of Dr. Jeckyl And Mr. Hyde Written by Robert Louis Stevenson
Snow Crash Written by Neal Stephenson
Flesh Written by Philip Jose Farmer
Cities in Flight Written by James Blish
Shadow of the Torturer Written by Gene Wolfe
Startide Rising Written by David Brin
Triton Written by Samuel R. Delany
Stand on Zanzibar Written by John Brunner
A Clockwork Orange Written by Anthony Burgess
Fahrenheit 451 Written by Ray Bradbury
A Canticle For Leibowitz Written by Walter Miller
Flowers for Algernon Written by Daniel Keyes
No Blade of Grass Written by John Christopher
The Postman Written by David Brin
Dhalgren Written by Samuel Delany
Berserker Written by Fred Saberhagen
Flatland Written by Edwin Abbot
Planiverse Written by A.K. Dewdney
Dragon.s Egg Written by Robert L. Forward
Downbelow Station Written by C.J. Cherryh
Dawn Written by Octavia E. Butler
Puppet Masters Written by Robert Heinlein
The Doomsday Book Written by Connie Willis
Forever War Written by Joe Haldeman
Deathbird Stories Written by Harlan Ellison
Roadside Picnic Written by Boris Strugatsky & Arkady Strugatsky
The Snow Queen Written by Joan Vinge
The Martian Chronicles Written by Ray Bradbury
Drowned World Written by J.G. Ballard
Cat.s Cradle Written by Kurt Vonnegut
Red Mars Written by Kim Stanley Robinson
Upanishads Written by Various
Alice in Wonderland Written by Lewis Carroll
Hitchhiker.s Guide to the Galaxy Written by Douglas Adams
The Lathe of Heaven Written by Ursula K. Le Guin
The Midwich Cuckoos Written by John Wyndham
Mutant Written by Henry Kuttner
Solaris Written by Stanislaw Lem
Ralph 124C41+ Written by Hugo Gernsback
I Am Legend Written by Richard Matheson
Timescape Written by Gregory Benford
The Demolished Man Written by Alfred Bester
War with the Newts Written by Karl Kapek
Mars Written by Ben Bova
Brain Wave Written by Poul Anderson
Hyperion Written by Dan Simmons
The Andromeda Strain Written by Michael Crichton
Camp Concentration Written by Thomas Disch
A Princess of Mars Written by Edgar Rice Burroughs

last edited September 11, 2006 — ( info ) ( diff )