I was also kind of disturbed to realize that I’d never even heard of the book most often cited by men, , The Outsider. I wonder if it’s a British thing. If you asked people in the US would they pick a different story?

My favorite book is Dune. I don’t think I’d ever say it was life changing though. I recall Beyond the Tomorrow Mountains strongly influencing my thinking in some areas when I was a kid. I reread it recently though and found that what I took out of it was exactly opposite what the author intended, so either I wasn’t reading critically as a kid, or I was just reading it through a lens of my own making. There’s probably a little of both there.

The book I’ve given and recommended to the most people is Les Miserables. That is such a fantastic book, and while I realize that not everybody would like or appreciate a book like Dune, I think that almost everybody would really get a lot out of Les Miserables if they gave it a chance. Was my life really changed by that book though? I don’t know. I don’t think so, but it’s probably come the closest.

It is an interesting idea though.

As a general rule … your viewpoint characters should have less, rather than more, description than anyone else: a reader of different skin or hair color ought to be able to sink into this persona without being continually jolted by contrary information.

Hey, I loved Cyteen, so clearly she knows of what she speaks.

The book I’m reading now (which I can’t even remember) is not taking root in my brain. I’m not sure if that’s the book, or the fact that I’m trying to start reading it at 2 in the morning when I really should have been asleep 2 hours previously. Maybe I should switch over to Neal instead.

Oh, by the way, Jeremiad: A literary work or speech expressing a bitter lament or a righteous prophecy of doom. I had no idea.

I say perhaps because the truth of the matter is that I haven’t yet taken the time to read more than an eighth of that page. I liked what I saw, but dreams call. Maybe tomorrow (if I have time … If I don’t forget). via

Next up on the reading list is An Unfinished Life — a recommendation from my supervisor at work. Not tonight though. Tonight, I need to get some sleep, lots and lots of glorious sleep. Even the web is making me so very, very sleeeeeepppppyyyyy zzzzzzzzzzzz…..

Sometimes the web is so cool and connected. A while ago, I posted an entry about the History of the Universe in 200 Words or Less.

Tonight, Eric Schulman dropped by that entry to answer one of my questions, and let me know that he had revised it down to a mere 100 words (greatly improving it I might add), and that it had become the basis for a book, A Briefer History of Time which you can now download or buy. I’m a few pages into reading it, and it’s great. Well worth your consideration.