Nick's bookshelf: all en-US Tue, 24 Sep 2024 12:29:25 -0700 60 Nick's bookshelf: all 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg The Suitcase Clone 61271429 At last, the story that definitively bridges the world of Sourdough to that of Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore. It’s all one Penumbraverse.

James Bascule is adrift. College beckons—but not quite strongly enough to actually get him to campus. A trip to Europe showed him a world bigger than his Northern California upbringing—and yet, one broken heart later, Northern California is where he’s returned. Back to his old bedroom, paying his bemused parents rent with his new hobby, baking bread with the sourdough starter that is his only souvenir of what was apparently just a summer fling.

The future is being built an hour or two down the highway—it’s 1985; the twenty-first century is just around the corner!—but that’s not his world either. While sitting in a Sonoma County bar, indulging in a little aimless day drinking with a junior college acquaintance, he meets a man. A man with . . . something like a plan. Has James ever heard of a “suitcase clone”? It’s a cutting of a vine used to clone and propagate noteworthy grapes—say, from a legendary European vineyard to an upstart Napa Valley operation. This man has an operation. He has a suitcase. He just needs an enterprising young accomplice up for an adventure.

Just how deliriously fun and thrillingly mind-expanding an adventure, James can’t yet know. But we, of course, know how Robin Sloan crafts a story. Crossing the international literary-techno-conspiracy of Mr. Penumbra with the delicious experimentation of Sourdough, The Suitcase Clone is a tale that enriches and expands the Penumbraverse in ways you never saw coming, told by a mysterious narrator with an unexpected perspective on the great puzzles of life. Who could it be?]]> 78 Robin Sloan 0374716447 Nick 5 3.80 2022 The Suitcase Clone
author: Robin Sloan
name: Nick
average rating: 3.80
book published: 2022
rating: 5
read at: 2022/11/08
date added: 2024/09/24
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]]> 1Q84 Book 1 (1Q84, #1) 6443834 そして2009年、『1蚕84』は逆の方向から1984年を描いた近过去小説である。
そこに描かれているのは「こうであったかもしれない」世界なのだ。
私たちが生きている现在が、「そうではなかったかもしれない」世界であるのと、ちょうど同じように。闭闭> 554 Haruki Murakami 4103534222 Nick 0 to-read 4.02 2009 1Q84 Book 1 (1Q84, #1)
author: Haruki Murakami
name: Nick
average rating: 4.02
book published: 2009
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/08/07
shelves: to-read
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]]> Upgrade 59439117 The mind-blowing new thriller from the New York Times bestselling author of Dark Matter and Recursion

“You are the next step in human evolution.”

At first, Logan Ramsay isn’t sure if anything’s different. He just feels a little . . . sharper. Better able to concentrate. Better at multitasking. Reading a bit faster, memorizing better, needing less sleep.

But before long, he can’t deny Something’s happening to his brain. To his body. He’s starting to see the world, and those around him—even those he loves most—in whole new ways.

The truth is, Logan’s genome has been hacked. And there’s a reason he’s been targeted for this upgrade. A reason that goes back decades to the darkest part of his past, and a horrific family legacy.

Worse still, what’s happening to him is just the first step in a much larger plan, one that will inflict the same changes on humanity at large—at a terrifying cost.

Because of his new abilities, Logan’s the one person in the world capable of stopping what’s been set in motion. But to have a chance at winning this war, he’ll have to become something other than himself. Maybe even something other than human.

And even as he’s fighting, he can’t help what if humanity’s only hope for a future really does lie in engineering our own evolution?

Intimate in scale yet epic in scope, Upgrade is an intricately plotted, lightning-fast tale that charts one man’s thrilling transformation, even as it asks us to ponder the limits of our humanity—and our boundless potential.]]> 352 Blake Crouch 0593157516 Nick 0 currently-reading 3.98 2022 Upgrade
author: Blake Crouch
name: Nick
average rating: 3.98
book published: 2022
rating: 0
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date added: 2022/11/08
shelves: currently-reading
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]]> A Gentleman in Moscow 50823666 An alternative cover edition for this ASIN can be found here.


On 21 June 1922, Count Alexander Rostov – recipient of the Order of Saint Andrew, member of the Jockey Club, Master of the Hunt – is escorted out of the Kremlin, across Red Square and through the elegant revolving doors of the Hotel Metropol.

Deemed an unrepentant aristocrat by a Bolshevik tribunal, the Count has been sentenced to house arrest indefinitely. But instead of his usual suite, he must now live in an attic room while Russia undergoes decades of tumultuous upheaval.

Can a life without luxury be the richest of all?]]> 462 Amor Towles Nick 0 currently-reading 4.36 2016 A Gentleman in Moscow
author: Amor Towles
name: Nick
average rating: 4.36
book published: 2016
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/03/10
shelves: currently-reading
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]]> <![CDATA[Midnight in Chernobyl: The Untold Story of the World's Greatest Nuclear Disaster]]> 41717906
Chernobyl has become lodged in the collective nightmares of the world: shorthand for the spectral horrors of radiation poisoning, for a dangerous technology slipping its leash, for ecological fragility, and for what can happen when a dishonest and careless state endangers not only its own citizens, but all of humanity. It is a story that has long remained in dispute, clouded from the beginning in secrecy, propaganda, and misinformation.

Midnight In Chernobyl is an indelible portrait of history's worst nuclear disaster, of human resilience and ingenuity and the lessons learned when mankind seeks to bend the natural world to his will - lessons which, in the face of climate change and other threats - remain not just vital but necessary.

Now, Higginbotham brings us closer to the truth behind this colossal tragedy.]]> 562 Adam Higginbotham Nick 0 currently-reading 4.45 2019 Midnight in Chernobyl: The Untold Story of the World's Greatest Nuclear Disaster
author: Adam Higginbotham
name: Nick
average rating: 4.45
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/03/06
shelves: currently-reading
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]]> <![CDATA[Empath: The Science of Highly Sensitive People – Master Your Personality, Overcome Fears and Nurture Your Gift]]> 37659845 130 A.C. Drexel Nick 0 currently-reading 3.46 Empath: The Science of Highly Sensitive People – Master Your Personality, Overcome Fears and Nurture Your Gift
author: A.C. Drexel
name: Nick
average rating: 3.46
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2019/05/14
shelves: currently-reading
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]]> <![CDATA[Mastering Product Management: A Step-by-Step Guide]]> 45162429 Mastering Product A Step-By-Step Guide offers practical, real-world advice on how to create and capture value as a Product Manager. It covers the full product life cycle, from idea discovery through end-of-life. Each section is scannable and concise, around two to three pages. Rather than diving deep into the theoretical background of a given area, it serves as a checklist of the key steps a Product Manager should take to complete a given task.

- Source new ideas that succeed- Set a compelling product vision and strategy- Search for profitable new business models- Become a market expert- Effectively manage roadmaps- Ensure a successful product launch- Understand value and price profitably- Build and manage high-performance teamsThis book is a convenient reference guide that you can use throughout your workday. It's meant for Product Managers of all levels and for anyone wishing to understand what it takes to define, develop, launch, and market new products successfully.]]> 157 Kevin Brennan 1733839011 Nick 0 4.02 Mastering Product Management: A Step-by-Step Guide
author: Kevin Brennan
name: Nick
average rating: 4.02
book published:
rating: 0
read at: 2019/05/04
date added: 2019/05/04
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]]> Europe at Midnight 26009702 For an intelligence officer like Jim it's a nightmare. Every week or so a friendly power spawns a new and unknown national entity which may or may not be friendly to England's interests. It's hard to keep on top of it all.
But things are about to get worse for Jim. A stabbing on a London bus pitches him into a world where his intelligence service is preparing for war with another universe, and a man has appeared who may hold the key to unlocking Europe's most jealously guarded secret...]]> 304 Dave Hutchinson 1781083983 Nick 0 to-read 3.97 2015 Europe at Midnight
author: Dave Hutchinson
name: Nick
average rating: 3.97
book published: 2015
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2019/02/02
shelves: to-read
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]]> The Martian 18401393 Note: Alternate-Cover Edition for this ASIN can be found here

Six days ago, astronaut Mark Watney became one of the first people to walk on Mars.

Now, he's sure he'll be the first person to die there.

After a dust storm nearly kills him and forces his crew to evacuate while thinking him dead, Mark finds himself stranded and completely alone with no way to even signal Earth that he’s alive—and even if he could get word out, his supplies would be gone long before a rescue could arrive.

Chances are, though, he won't have time to starve to death. The damaged machinery, unforgiving environment, or plain-old "human error" are much more likely to kill him first.

But Mark isn't ready to give up yet. Drawing on his ingenuity, his engineering skills—and a relentless, dogged refusal to quit—he steadfastly confronts one seemingly insurmountable obstacle after the next. Will his resourcefulness be enough to overcome the impossible odds against him?]]> 385 Andy Weir Nick 0 currently-reading 4.53 2011 The Martian
author: Andy Weir
name: Nick
average rating: 4.53
book published: 2011
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2018/12/03
shelves: currently-reading
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]]> The Golden Arrow 20695666
Joseph de Brull, heir of a once-powerful family now in ruins, has dedicated his life to winning a position on the ruling council. But his rising career is jeopardized when his sister Nicola is chosen to be bound to the young Princess Eloise in an ancient and erotic ritual, which would make them lifelong companions as well as lovers.

Now, as Joseph faces a life-threatening choice between family and power, Nicola must face a life turned upside-down—and new mystical powers that could require the ultimate sacrifice...

Set in a breathtaking world of intrigue and magic, The Golden Arrow is author Anna Redmond’s fantasy debut—a riveting tale that takes dead aim at the quest for absolute power.]]> 282 Anna Redmond Nick 0 currently-reading 2.75 2014 The Golden Arrow
author: Anna Redmond
name: Nick
average rating: 2.75
book published: 2014
rating: 0
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date added: 2018/12/03
shelves: currently-reading
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]]> <![CDATA[The Frustrated State: How terrible tech policy is deterring digital Australia]]> 42106209
Matt Barrie
CEO, Freelancer.com


In his career as a journalist and policy advisor, Renai LeMay saw Australia's political class up close and personal: Behind the scenes and away from the cameras. What this experience taught him is that our politicians generally try and do the right thing when it comes to technology policy.

But that hasn't stopped them from getting technology policy completely wrong. Over and over again. The past decade of technology policy development and implementation by Australia's political sector has been catastrophic for all concerned.

The Frustrated State is the first in-depth examination of how Australia's political sector is systematically mismanaging technological change and crushing hopes that our nation will ever take its rightful place globally as a digital powerhouse and home of innovation.

It will also humbly offer a few basic suggestions to resolve the situation.

At times during Renai's career he was a thorn in the side of those in power; at times he was seen as a laughing stock even by his most loyal supporters. The most common thing people said about Renai's writing was that they didn’t always agree with it; but that it was worth reading anyway.]]> 317 Renai LeMay 064825951X Nick 0 currently-reading 3.80 The Frustrated State: How terrible tech policy is deterring digital Australia
author: Renai LeMay
name: Nick
average rating: 3.80
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2018/11/09
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]]> <![CDATA[Nikola Tesla: Imagination and the Man That Invented the 20th Century]]> 17835351
If you want to learn about one of history’s most fascinating minds and uncover some of his secrets of imagination—secrets that enabled him to invent machines light years ahead of his time and literally bring light to the world—then you want to read this book.

Imagination amplifies and colors every other element of genius, and unlocks our potential for understanding and ability.

It’s no coincidence that geniuses not only dare to dream of the impossible for their work, but do the same for their lives.]]> 47 Sean Patrick 1938895177 Nick 0 currently-reading 3.88 2013 Nikola Tesla: Imagination and the Man That Invented the 20th Century
author: Sean Patrick
name: Nick
average rating: 3.88
book published: 2013
rating: 0
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date added: 2018/10/19
shelves: currently-reading
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]]> Sourdough 36074553 Lois becomes the unlikely hero tasked to care for it, bake with it and keep this needy colony of microorganisms alive. ?Soon she is baking loaves daily and taking them to the farmer's market, where an exclusive close-knit club runs the show.
When Lois discovers another, more secret market, aiming to fuse food and technology, a whole other world opens up. But who are these people, exactly?]]> 237 Robin Sloan 1925626237 Nick 5 3.79 2017 Sourdough
author: Robin Sloan
name: Nick
average rating: 3.79
book published: 2017
rating: 5
read at: 2018/10/19
date added: 2018/10/19
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]]> <![CDATA[Fluent Forever (Revised Edition): How to Learn Any Language Fast and Never Forget It]]> 22304017 At thirty years old, Gabriel Wyner speaks six languages fluently.? He didn’t learn them in school -- who does? -- rather, he learned them in the past few years, working on his own and practicing on the subway, using simple techniques and free online resources. In Fluent Forever Wyner reveals what he’s discovered.? ?The greatest challenge to learning a foreign language is the challenge of memory; there are just too many words and too many rules. For every new word we learn, we seem to forget two old ones, and as a result, fluency can seem out of reach.?Fluent Forever?tackles this challenge head-on. With empathy for the language-challenged and abundant humor, Wyner deconstructs the learning process, revealing how to build a foreign language in your mind from the ground up.??Starting with pronunciation, you’ll learn how to rewire your ears and turn foreign sounds into?familiar?sounds. You'll retrain your tongue to produce those sounds accurately, using?tricks from opera singers and actors.?Next, you'll?begin to tackle words, and connect sounds and spellings to imagery, rather than translations, which will enable you to?think?in a foreign language.? And with the help of sophisticated spaced-repetition techniques, you'll be able to memorize hundreds of words a month in?minutes?every day. Soon, you'll gain the ability to learn grammar and more difficult abstract words--without the tedious drills and exercises of language classes and grammar books. ?This is brain hacking at its most exciting, taking what we know about neuroscience and linguistics and using it to create the most efficient and enjoyable way to learn?a foreign language in the spare minutes of your day.]]> 387 Gabriel Wyner 038534810X Nick 0 currently-reading 4.19 2014 Fluent Forever (Revised Edition): How to Learn Any Language Fast and Never Forget It
author: Gabriel Wyner
name: Nick
average rating: 4.19
book published: 2014
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2018/05/28
shelves: currently-reading
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]]> <![CDATA[Mr Penumbra's 24-hour Bookstore (Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore, #1)]]> 19046132 A charming and hilarious adventure that has it all: secret societies, unbreakable codes, underground lairs, cutting-edge technology, the googleplex...and lots of books!

Clay Jannon, twenty-six and unemployed, reads books about vampire policemen and teenage wizards. Familiar, predictable books. Books that fit neatly into a section at the bookstore.

But he is about to encounter a new species of book entirely: secret, strange, and frantically sought-after.

These books will introduce him to the strangest, smartest girl he's ever met. They will lead him across the country, through the shadowed spaces where old words hide. They will set him on a quest to unlock a secret held tight since the time of Gutenberg--a secret that touches us all.

But before that, these books will get him a job.

Welcome to Mr Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore.]]> 304 Robin Sloan Nick 5 3.79 2012 Mr Penumbra's 24-hour Bookstore (Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore, #1)
author: Robin Sloan
name: Nick
average rating: 3.79
book published: 2012
rating: 5
read at: 2018/04/05
date added: 2018/04/05
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review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Book of Strange New Things]]> 36684304 594 Michel Faber Nick 0 3.72 2014 The Book of Strange New Things
author: Michel Faber
name: Nick
average rating: 3.72
book published: 2014
rating: 0
read at: 2018/04/04
date added: 2018/04/04
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]]> <![CDATA[The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet]]> 7141642
But Jacob’s original intentions are eclipsed after a chance encounter with Orito Aibagawa, the disfigured daughter of a samurai doctor and midwife to the city’s powerful magistrate. The borders between propriety, profit, and pleasure blur until Jacob finds his vision clouded, one rash promise made and then fatefully broken. The consequences will extend beyond Jacob’s worst imaginings. As one cynical colleague asks, “Who ain’t a gambler in the glorious Orient, with his very life?”

A magnificent mix of luminous writing, prodigious research, and heedless imagination, The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet is the most impressive achievement of its eminent author.]]> 479 David Mitchell 1400065453 Nick 0 currently-reading 4.01 2010 The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet
author: David Mitchell
name: Nick
average rating: 4.01
book published: 2010
rating: 0
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date added: 2018/04/02
shelves: currently-reading
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]]> Dance Dance Dance 17800 Alternate cover edition here.

High-class call girls billed to Mastercard. A psychic 13-year-old dropout with a passion for Talking Heads. A hunky matinee idol doomed to play dentists and teachers. A one-armed beach-combing poet, an uptight hotel clerk and one very bemused narrator caught in the web of advanced capitalist mayhem. Combine this offbeat cast of characters with Murakami's idiosyncratic prose and out comes Dance Dance Dance.]]> 393 Haruki Murakami 0099448769 Nick 0 to-read 4.06 1988 Dance Dance Dance
author: Haruki Murakami
name: Nick
average rating: 4.06
book published: 1988
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2012/12/12
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]]> After Dark 17803 In After Dark—a gripping novel of late night encounters—Murakami’s trademark humor and psychological insight are distilled with an extraordinary, harmonious mastery.

Nineteen-year-old Mari is waiting out the night in an anonymous Denny’s when she meets a young man who insists he knows her older sister, thus setting her on an odyssey through the sleeping city. In the space of a single night, the lives of a diverse cast of Tokyo residents—models, prostitutes, mobsters, and musicians—collide in a world suspended between fantasy and reality. Utterly enchanting and infused with surrealism, After Dark is a thrilling account of the magical hours separating midnight from dawn.]]> 191 Haruki Murakami 0307265838 Nick 0 to-read 3.75 2004 After Dark
author: Haruki Murakami
name: Nick
average rating: 3.75
book published: 2004
rating: 0
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date added: 2012/12/12
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]]> 1Q84 (1Q84, #1-3) 10357575 The year is 1984 and the city is Tokyo.

A young woman named Aomame follows a taxi driver’s enigmatic suggestion and begins to notice puzzling discrepancies in the world around her. She has entered, she realizes, a parallel existence, which she calls 1Q84 —“Q is for ‘question mark.’ A world that bears a question.” Meanwhile, an aspiring writer named Tengo takes on a suspect ghostwriting project. He becomes so wrapped up with the work and its unusual author that, soon, his previously placid life begins to come unraveled.

As Aomame’s and Tengo’s narratives converge over the course of this single year, we learn of the profound and tangled connections that bind them ever closer: a beautiful, dyslexic teenage girl with a unique vision; a mysterious religious cult that instigated a shoot-out with the metropolitan police; a reclusive, wealthy dowager who runs a shelter for abused women; a hideously ugly private investigator; a mild-mannered yet ruthlessly efficient bodyguard; and a peculiarly insistent television-fee collector.

A love story, a mystery, a fantasy, a novel of self-discovery, a dystopia to rival George Orwell’s — 1Q84 is Haruki Murakami’s most ambitious undertaking yet: an instant best seller in his native Japan, and a tremendous feat of imagination from one of our most revered contemporary writers.]]> 944 Haruki Murakami 0307593312 Nick 0 to-read 3.94 2009 1Q84 (1Q84, #1-3)
author: Haruki Murakami
name: Nick
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2009
rating: 0
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date added: 2012/12/12
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]]> The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle 11275
In a Tokyo suburb a young man named Toru Okada searches for his wife's missing cat. Soon he finds himself looking for his wife as well in a netherworld that lies beneath the placid surface of Tokyo. As these searches intersect, Okada encounters a bizarre group of allies and antagonists: a psychic prostitute; a malevolent yet mediagenic politician; a cheerfully morbid sixteen-year-old-girl; and an aging war veteran who has been permanently changed by the hideous things he witnessed during Japan's forgotten campaign in Manchuria.

Gripping, prophetic, suffused with comedy and menace, The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle is a tour de force equal in scope to the masterpieces of Mishima and Pynchon.]]> 607 Haruki Murakami 0965341984 Nick 0 to-read 4.16 1994 The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle
author: Haruki Murakami
name: Nick
average rating: 4.16
book published: 1994
rating: 0
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date added: 2012/12/12
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]]> Norwegian Wood 11297
A magnificent blending of the music, the mood, and the ethos that was the sixties with the story of one college student's romantic coming of age, Norwegian Wood brilliantly recaptures a young man's first, hopeless, and heroic love.]]> 296 Haruki Murakami 0375704027 Nick 0 to-read 4.01 1987 Norwegian Wood
author: Haruki Murakami
name: Nick
average rating: 4.01
book published: 1987
rating: 0
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date added: 2012/12/12
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]]> Kafka on the Shore 4929 Kafka on the Shore, a tour de force of metaphysical reality, is powered by two remarkable characters: a teenage boy, Kafka Tamura, who runs away from home either to escape a gruesome oedipal prophecy or to search for his long-missing mother and sister; and an aging simpleton called Nakata, who never recovered from a wartime affliction and now is drawn toward Kafka for reasons that, like the most basic activities of daily life, he cannot fathom. Their odyssey, as mysterious to them as it is to us, is enriched throughout by vivid accomplices and mesmerizing events. Cats and people carry on conversations, a ghostlike pimp employs a Hegel-quoting prostitute, a forest harbors soldiers apparently unaged since World War II, and rainstorms of fish (and worse) fall from the sky. There is a brutal murder, with the identity of both victim and perpetrator a riddle—yet this, along with everything else, is eventually answered, just as the entwined destinies of Kafka and Nakata are gradually revealed, with one escaping his fate entirely and the other given a fresh start on his own.]]> 467 Haruki Murakami 1400079276 Nick 5 4.14 2002 Kafka on the Shore
author: Haruki Murakami
name: Nick
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2002
rating: 5
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date added: 2012/12/12
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]]> Black Swan Green 14316
Black Swan Green tracks a single year in what is, for thirteen-year-old Jason Taylor, the sleepiest village in muddiest Worcestershire in a dying Cold War England, 1982. But the thirteen chapters, each a short story in its own right, create an exquisitely observed world that is anything but sleepy. A world of Kissingeresque realpolitik enacted in boys’ games on a frozen lake; of “nightcreeping” through the summer backyards of strangers; of the tabloid-fueled thrills of the Falklands War and its human toll; of the cruel, luscious Dawn Madden and her power-hungry boyfriend, Ross Wilcox; of a certain Madame Eva van Outryve de Crommelynck, an elderly bohemian emigré who is both more and less than she appears; of Jason’s search to replace his dead grandfather’s irreplaceable smashed watch before the crime is discovered; of first cigarettes, first kisses, first Duran Duran LPs, and first deaths; of Margaret Thatcher’s recession; of Gypsies camping in the woods and the hysteria they inspire; and, even closer to home, of a slow-motion divorce in four seasons.

Pointed, funny, profound, left-field, elegiac, and painted with the stuff of life, Black Swan Green is David Mitchell’s most subtlest and effective achievement to date.]]> 296 David Mitchell 0812974018 Nick 0 to-read 3.97 2006 Black Swan Green
author: David Mitchell
name: Nick
average rating: 3.97
book published: 2006
rating: 0
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date added: 2012/12/12
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]]> Ghostwritten 6819
A writer of pyrotechnic virtuosity and profound compassion, a mind to which nothing human is alien, David Mitchell spins genres, cultures, and ideas like gossamer threads around and through these nine linked stories. Many forces bind these lives, but at root all involve the same universal longing for connection and transcendence, an axis of commonality that leads in two directions—to creation and to destruction. In the end, as lives converge with a fearful symmetry, Ghostwritten comes full circle, to a point at which a familiar idea—that whether the planet is vast or small is merely a matter of perspective—strikes home with the force of a new revelation. It marks the debut novel of a writer with astonishing gifts.]]> 426 David Mitchell 0375724508 Nick 0 to-read 4.07 1999 Ghostwritten
author: David Mitchell
name: Nick
average rating: 4.07
book published: 1999
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2012/12/12
shelves: to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers (Red Dwarf, #1)]]> 349090
Nominated for the Audiobook Download of the Year, 2008.

When Lister got drunk, he really got drunk!

After celebrating his birthday with a Monopoly-board pub crawl around London, he came to in a burger bar on one of Saturn's moons, wearing a lady's pink crimplene hat and a pair of yellow fishing waders, with no money and a passport in the name of "Emily Berkenstein."

Joining the Space Corps seemed a good idea. Red Dwarf, a clapped out spaceship, was bound for Earth. It never made it, leaving Lister as the last remaining member of the human race, three million light years from Earth, with only a dead man, a senile computer, and a highly evolved cat for company.

They begin their journey home. On the way, they'll break the light barrier. They'll meet Einstein, Archimedes, God, and Norman Wisdom...and discover an alternative plane of reality.]]> 298 Grant Naylor 0451452011 Nick 5 4.08 1989 Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers (Red Dwarf, #1)
author: Grant Naylor
name: Nick
average rating: 4.08
book published: 1989
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2012/12/12
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]]> <![CDATA[The Diamond Age: Or, a Young Lady's Illustrated Primer]]> 827 The Diamond Age: Or, a Young Lady's Illustrated Primer is a postcyberpunk novel by Neal Stephenson. It is to some extent a science fiction coming-of-age story, focused on a young girl named Nell, and set in a future world in which nanotechnology affects all aspects of life. The novel deals with themes of education, social class, ethnicity, and the nature of artificial intelligence.]]> 499 Neal Stephenson 0553380966 Nick 0 to-read 4.17 1995 The Diamond Age: Or, a Young Lady's Illustrated Primer
author: Neal Stephenson
name: Nick
average rating: 4.17
book published: 1995
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2012/12/12
shelves: to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[Altered Carbon (Takeshi Kovacs, #1)]]> 40445
]]> 526 Richard K. Morgan 0345457692 Nick 3 4.07 2002 Altered Carbon (Takeshi Kovacs, #1)
author: Richard K. Morgan
name: Nick
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2002
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2012/12/12
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]]> Animal Farm 7613
The book tells the story of a group of farm animals who rebel against their human farmer, hoping to create a society where the animals can be equal, free, and happy. Ultimately, however, the rebellion is betrayed, and the farm ends up in a state as bad as it was before, under the dictatorship of a pig named Napoleon.

One night, all the animals at Mr. Jones' Manor Farm assemble in a barn to hear old Major, a pig, describe a dream he had about a world where all animals live free from the tyranny of their human masters. Old Major dies soon after the meeting, but the animals — inspired by his philosophy of Animalism — plot a rebellion against Jones.

Two pigs, Snowball and Napoleon, prove themselves important figures and planners of this dangerous enterprise. When Jones forgets to feed the animals, the revolution occurs, and Jones and his men are chased off the farm. Manor Farm is renamed Animal Farm, and the Seven Commandments of Animalism are painted on the barn wall...]]> 129 George Orwell Nick 4 3.90 1945 Animal Farm
author: George Orwell
name: Nick
average rating: 3.90
book published: 1945
rating: 4
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date added: 2012/12/12
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]]> The Minority Report 581125 112 Philip K. Dick 0375421874 Nick 0 to-read 3.85 1956 The Minority Report
author: Philip K. Dick
name: Nick
average rating: 3.85
book published: 1956
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2012/12/12
shelves: to-read
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]]> A Brief History of Time 3869
Told in language we all can understand, A Brief History of Time plunges into the exotic realms of black holes and quarks, of antimatter and “arrows of time,” of the big bang and a bigger God—where the possibilities are wondrous and unexpected. With exciting images and profound imagination, Stephen Hawking brings us closer to the ultimate secrets at the very heart of creation.]]> 226 Stephen Hawking 0553380168 Nick 5 4.22 1988 A Brief History of Time
author: Stephen Hawking
name: Nick
average rating: 4.22
book published: 1988
rating: 5
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]]> Lord of the Flies 7624 182 William Golding 0140283331 Nick 4 3.70 1954 Lord of the Flies
author: William Golding
name: Nick
average rating: 3.70
book published: 1954
rating: 4
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]]> Sophie’s World 10959 An alternative cover for this ISBN can be found here

One day fourteen-year-old Sophie Amundsen comes home from school to find in her mailbox two notes, with one question on each: "Who are you?" and "Where does the world come from?" From that irresistible beginning, Sophie becomes obsessed with questions that take her far beyond what she knows of her Norwegian village. Through those letters, she enrolls in a kind of correspondence course, covering Socrates to Sartre, with a mysterious philosopher, while receiving letters addressed to another girl. Who is Hilde? And why does her mail keep turning up? To unravel this riddle, Sophie must use the philosophy she is learning—but the truth turns out to be far more complicated than she could have imagined.]]> 403 Jostein Gaarder 1857993284 Nick 0 to-read 3.94 1991 Sophie’s World
author: Jostein Gaarder
name: Nick
average rating: 3.94
book published: 1991
rating: 0
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]]> It 18342
The adults, knowing better, knew nothing. Time passed and the children grew up, moved away. The horror of It was deep-buried, wrapped in forgetfulness. Until the grown-up children were called back, once more to confront It as It stirred and coiled in the sullen depths of their memories, reaching up again to make their past nightmares a terrible present reality.]]> 1090 Stephen King 0451169514 Nick 4 4.11 1986 It
author: Stephen King
name: Nick
average rating: 4.11
book published: 1986
rating: 4
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]]> <![CDATA[Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream]]> 7745 Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas is the best chronicle of drug-soaked, addle-brained, rollicking good times ever committed to the printed page. It is also the tale of a long weekend road trip that has gone down in the annals of American pop culture as one of the strangest journeys ever undertaken.]]> 204 Hunter S. Thompson 0679785892 Nick 5 4.08 1971 Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream
author: Hunter S. Thompson
name: Nick
average rating: 4.08
book published: 1971
rating: 5
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]]> <![CDATA[Winnie-the-Pooh (Winnie-the-Pooh, #1)]]> 99107 161 A.A. Milne 0525467564 Nick 5 4.37 1928 Winnie-the-Pooh (Winnie-the-Pooh, #1)
author: A.A. Milne
name: Nick
average rating: 4.37
book published: 1928
rating: 5
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]]> James and the Giant Peach 6689 176 Roald Dahl 0375814248 Nick 5 4.04 1961 James and the Giant Peach
author: Roald Dahl
name: Nick
average rating: 4.04
book published: 1961
rating: 5
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]]> <![CDATA[The Power of One (The Power of One, #1)]]> 122 544 Bryce Courtenay 034541005X Nick 4 4.35 1989 The Power of One (The Power of One, #1)
author: Bryce Courtenay
name: Nick
average rating: 4.35
book published: 1989
rating: 4
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]]> <![CDATA[The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (Chronicles of Narnia, #1)]]> 100915
Lucy is the first to find the secret of the wardrobe in the professor's mysterious old house. At first her brothers and sister don't believe her when she tells of her visit to the land of Narnia. But soon Edmund, then Peter and Susan step through the wardrobe themselves. In Narnia they find a country buried under the evil enchantment of the White Witch. When they meet the Lion Aslan, they realize they've been called to a great adventure and bravely join the battle to free Narnia from the Witch's sinister spell.]]> 206 C.S. Lewis Nick 4 4.24 1950 The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (Chronicles of Narnia, #1)
author: C.S. Lewis
name: Nick
average rating: 4.24
book published: 1950
rating: 4
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]]> <![CDATA[The da Vinci Code (Robert Langdon, #2)]]> 968 The da Vinci Code, The da Vinci Code, The da Vinci Code, and The da Vinci Code

While in Paris on business, Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon receives an urgent late-night phone call: the elderly curator of the Louvre has been murdered inside the museum. Near the body, police have found a baffling cipher. While working to solve the enigmatic riddle, Langdon is stunned to discover it leads to a trail of clues hidden in the works of Da Vinci -- clues visible for all to see -- yet ingeniously disguised by the painter.

Langdon joins forces with a gifted French cryptologist, Sophie Neveu, and learns the late curator was involved in the Priory of Sion -- an actual secret society whose members included Sir Isaac Newton, Botticelli, Victor Hugo, and Da Vinci, among others.

In a breathless race through Paris, London, and beyond, Langdon and Neveu match wits with a faceless powerbroker who seems to anticipate their every move. Unless Langdon and Neveu can decipher the labyrinthine puzzle in time, the Priory's ancient secret -- and an explosive historical truth -- will be lost forever.

The Da Vinci Code heralds the arrival of a new breed of lightning-paced, intelligent thriller utterly unpredictable right up to its stunning conclusion.]]> 489 Dan Brown Nick 3 3.92 2003 The da Vinci Code (Robert Langdon, #2)
author: Dan Brown
name: Nick
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2003
rating: 3
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]]> The Beach 607639
The Khao San Road, Bangkok -- first stop for the hordes of rootless young Westerners traveling in Southeast Asia. On Richard's first night there, in a low-budget guest house, a fellow traveller slashes his wrists, bequeathing to Richard a meticulously drawn map to "the Beach."

The Beach, as Richard has come to learn, is the subject of a legend among young travellers in Asia: a lagoon hidden from the sea, with white sand and coral gardens, freshwater falls surrounded by jungle, plants untouched for a thousand years. There, it is rumoured, a carefully selected international few have settled in a communal Eden.

Haunted by the figure of Mr. Duck -- the name by which the Thai police have identified the dead man -- and his own obsession with Vietnam movies, Richard sets off with a young French couple to an island hidden away in an archipelago forbidden to tourists. They discover the Beach, and it is as beautiful and idyllic as it is reputed to be. Yet over time it becomes clear that Beach culture, as Richard calls it, has troubling, even deadly, undercurrents.

Spellbinding and hallucinogenic, The Beach by Alex Garland -- both a national bestseller and his debut -- is a highly accomplished and suspenseful novel that fixates on a generation in their twenties, who, burdened with the legacy of the preceding generation and saturated by popular culture, long for an unruined landscape, but find it difficult to experience the world first hand.]]> 436 Alex Garland 1573226521 Nick 4 3.97 1996 The Beach
author: Alex Garland
name: Nick
average rating: 3.97
book published: 1996
rating: 4
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]]> Charlotte’s Web 24178 Stuart Little and The Trumpet of the Swan, is a classic of children's literature that is "just about perfect." This high-quality paperback features vibrant illustrations colorized by Rosemary Wells!

Some Pig. Humble. Radiant. These are the words in Charlotte's Web, high up in Zuckerman's barn. Charlotte's spiderweb tells of her feelings for a little pig named Wilbur, who simply wants a friend. They also express the love of a girl named Fern, who saved Wilbur's life when he was born the runt of his litter.

E. B. White's Newbery Honor Book is a tender novel of friendship, love, life, and death that will continue to be enjoyed by generations to come. This edition contains newly color illustrations by Garth Williams, the acclaimed illustrator of E. B. White's Stuart Little and Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House series, among many other books.]]> 184 E.B. White 0064410935 Nick 4 4.20 1952 Charlotte’s Web
author: E.B. White
name: Nick
average rating: 4.20
book published: 1952
rating: 4
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]]> <![CDATA[The Restaurant at the End of the Universe (The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, #2)]]> 8695 alternate edition for ISBN 0345418921/9780345418920

Facing annihilation at the hands of the warlike Vogons is a curious time to have a cosmically displaced Arthur Dent and his curious comrades in arms as they hurtle through space powered by pure improbability - and desperately in search of a place to eat. Among Arthur's motley shipmates are Ford Prefect, a long-time friend and contributor to the The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy; Zaphod Beeblebrox, the three-armed, two-headed ex-president of the galaxy; Tricia McMilan, a fellow Earth refuge who's gone native (her name is Trillian now); and Marvin, who suffers nothing and no one gladly.

Source: douglasadams.com]]> 250 Douglas Adams Nick 5 4.22 1980 The Restaurant at the End of the Universe (The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, #2)
author: Douglas Adams
name: Nick
average rating: 4.22
book published: 1980
rating: 5
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]]> <![CDATA[Life, the Universe and Everything (The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, #3)]]> 8694
“Wild satire . . . The feckless protagonist, Arthur Dent, is reminiscent of Vonnegut heroes.”— Chicago Tribune

The unhappy inhabitants of planet Krikkit are sick of looking at the night sky above their heads—so they plan to destroy it. The universe, that is. Now only five individuals stand between the killer robots of Krikkit and their goal of total annihilation.

They are Arthur Dent, a mild-mannered space and time traveler who tries to learn how to fly by throwing himself at the ground and missing; Ford Prefect, his best friend, who decides to go insane to see if he likes it; Slartibartfast, the indomitable vice president of the Campaign for Real Time, who travels in a ship powered by irrational behavior; Zaphod Beeblebrox, the two-headed, three-armed ex-president of the galaxy; and Trillian, the sexy space cadet who is torn between a persistent Thunder God and a very depressed Beeblebrox.

How will it all end? Will it end? Only this stalwart crew knows as they try to avert “universal” Armageddon and save life as we know it—and don’t know it!

“Adams is one of those rare an author who, one senses, has as much fun writing as one has reading.”— Arizona Daily Star]]> 224 Douglas Adams 0345418905 Nick 5 4.20 1982 Life, the Universe and Everything (The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, #3)
author: Douglas Adams
name: Nick
average rating: 4.20
book published: 1982
rating: 5
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]]> The Hobbit 659469
'The Hobbit' is the story of Bilbo Baggins…a quiet and contented hobbit whose life is turned upside down when he joins the wizard Gandalf and thirteen dwarves on their quest to reclaim the dwarves' stolen treasure. It is a journey fraught with danger – and in the end it is Bilbo alone who must face the guardian of this treasure, the most-dreaded dragon Smaug.

Illustrated in full colour throughout, and accompanied by the carefully abridged text of the original novel, this handsome authorised edition will introduce new generations to a magical masterpiece – and be treasured by Hobbit fans of all ages, everywhere.]]> 133 Chuck Dixon 0345368584 Nick 4 4.52 1989 The Hobbit
author: Chuck Dixon
name: Nick
average rating: 4.52
book published: 1989
rating: 4
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]]> Snow Crash 830 Snow Crash is a mind-altering romp through a future America so bizarre, so outrageous… you'll recognize it immediately.]]> 438 Neal Stephenson 0553380958 Nick 5 4.02 1992 Snow Crash
author: Neal Stephenson
name: Nick
average rating: 4.02
book published: 1992
rating: 5
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]]> Cloudstreet 343881 Cloudstreet exemplifies the brilliant ability of fiction to captivate and inspire.

Struggling to rebuild their lives after being touched by disaster, the Pickle family, who've inherited a big house called Cloudstreet in a suburb of Perth, take in the God-fearing Lambs as tenants. The Lambs have suffered their own catastrophes, and determined to survive, they open up a grocery on the ground floor. From 1944 to 1964, the shared experiences of the two overpopulated clans -- running the gamut from drunkenness, adultery, and death to resurrection, marriage, and birth -- bond them to each other and to the bustling, haunted house in ways no one could have anticipated.

]]> 426 Tim Winton 0743234413 Nick 4 4.02 1991 Cloudstreet
author: Tim Winton
name: Nick
average rating: 4.02
book published: 1991
rating: 4
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]]> How Music Works 13235689
Acting as historian and anthropologist, raconteur and social scientist, he searches for patterns—and shows how those patterns have affected his own work over the years with Talking Heads and his many collaborators, from Brian Eno to Caetano Veloso. Byrne sees music as part of a larger, almost Darwinian pattern of adaptations and responses to its cultural and physical context. His range is panoptic, taking us from Wagnerian opera houses to African villages, from his earliest high school reel-to-reel recordings to his latest work in a home music studio (and all the big studios in between).

Touching on the joy, the physics, and even the business of making music, How Music Works is a brainy, irresistible adventure and an impassioned argument about music’s liberating, life-affirming power.]]> 345 David Byrne 1936365537 Nick 0 to-read 4.00 2014 How Music Works
author: David Byrne
name: Nick
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2014
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[The Hunt for Red October (Jack Ryan, #3)]]> 19691 Somewhere under the Atlantic, a Soviet sub commander has just made a fateful decision. The Red October is heading west. The Americans want her. The Russians want her back. And the most incredible chase in history is on...

]]> 432 Tom Clancy 0425172902 Nick 4 4.11 1984 The Hunt for Red October (Jack Ryan, #3)
author: Tom Clancy
name: Nick
average rating: 4.11
book published: 1984
rating: 4
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]]> <![CDATA[Jurassic Park (Jurassic Park, #1)]]> 7677
Parque jurásico, la novela más célebre de Michael Crichton y una de las más leídas en los últimos a?os, fue adaptada al cine por Steven Spielberg en una película que se convirtió en el gran acontecimiento cinematográfico de 1993 y en el origen del fenómeno de masas llamado ?dinomanía?.]]> 467 Michael Crichton 030734813X Nick 4 3.90 1990 Jurassic Park (Jurassic Park, #1)
author: Michael Crichton
name: Nick
average rating: 3.90
book published: 1990
rating: 4
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]]> <![CDATA[Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World]]> 10374 Lord Jim.

Science fiction, detective story and post-modern manifesto all rolled into one rip-roaring novel, Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World is the tour de force that expanded Haruki Murakami's international following. Tracking one man's descent into the Kafkaesque underworld of contemporary Tokyo, Murakami unites East and West, tragedy and farce, compassion and detachment, slang and philosophy.]]> 400 Haruki Murakami Nick 5 4.14 1985 Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World
author: Haruki Murakami
name: Nick
average rating: 4.14
book published: 1985
rating: 5
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]]> Cloud Atlas 49628 A postmodern visionary who is also a master of styles of genres, David Mitchell combines flat-out adventure, a Nabokovian lore of puzzles, a keen eye for character, and a taste for mind-bending philosophical and scientific speculation in the tradition of Umberto Eco, Haruki Murakami, and Philip K. Dick. The result is brilliantly original fiction as profund as it is playful. Now in his new novel, David Mitchell explores with daring artistry fundamental questions of reality and identity.

Cloud Atlas begins in 1850 with Adam Ewing, an American notary voyaging from the Chatham Isles to his home in California. Along the way, Ewing is befriended by a physician, Dr. Goose, who begins to treat him for a rare species of brain parasite. . . .
Abruptly, the action jumps to Belgium in 1931, where Robert Frobisher, a disinherited bisexual composer, contrives his way into the household of an infirm maestro who has a beguiling wife and a nubile daughter. . . . From there we jump to the West Coast in the 1970s and a troubled reporter named Luisa Rey, who stumbles upon a web of corporate greed and murder that threatens to claim her life. . . . And onward, with dazzling virtuosity, to an inglorious present-day England; to a Korean superstate of the near future where neocapitalism has run amok; and, finally, to a postapocalyptic Iron Age Hawaii in the last days of history.
But the story doesn’t end even there. The narrative then boomerangs back through centuries and space, returning by the same route, in reverse, to its starting point. Along the way, Mitchell reveals how his disparate characters connect, how their fates intertwine, and how their souls drift across time like clouds across the sky.

As wild as a videogame, as mysterious as a Zen koan, Cloud Atlas is an unforgettable tour de force that, like its incomparable author, has transcended its cult classic status to become a worldwide phenomenon.

]]> 509 David Mitchell 0375507256 Nick 5 4.02 2004 Cloud Atlas
author: David Mitchell
name: Nick
average rating: 4.02
book published: 2004
rating: 5
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]]> Number9Dream 6820 Ghostwritten, with a work that is in its way even more ambitious. In outward form, number9dream is a Dickensian coming-of-age journey: Young dreamer Eiji Miyake, from remote rural Japan, thrust out on his own by his sister’s death and his mother’s breakdown, comes to Tokyo in pursuit of the father who abandoned him. Stumbling around this strange, awesome city, he trips over and crosses—through a hidden destiny or just monstrously bad luck—a number of its secret power centers. Suddenly, the riddle of his father’s identity becomes just one of the increasingly urgent questions Eiji must answer. Why is the line between the world of his experiences and the world of his dreams so blurry? Why do so many horrible things keep happening to him? What is it about the number 9? To answer these questions, and ultimately to come to terms with his inheritance, Eiji must somehow acquire an insight into the workings of history and fate that would be rare in anyone, much less in a boy from out of town with a price on his head and less than the cost of a Beatles disc to his name.]]> 401 David Mitchell 0812966929 Nick 5 3.88 2001 Number9Dream
author: David Mitchell
name: Nick
average rating: 3.88
book published: 2001
rating: 5
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]]> <![CDATA[Devil on My Back (Arc One, #1)]]> 1190712 170 Monica Hughes 0862031648 Nick 4 4.15 1984 Devil on My Back (Arc One, #1)
author: Monica Hughes
name: Nick
average rating: 4.15
book published: 1984
rating: 4
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]]> <![CDATA[The Andromeda Strain (Andromeda, #1)]]> 7670
Two years later, seventeen satellites are sent into the outer fringes of space to collect organisms and dust for study. One of them falls to earth, landing in a desolate area of Arizona.

Twelve miles from the landing site, in the town of Piedmont, a shocking discovery is made: the streets are littered with the dead bodies of the town's inhabitants, as if they dropped dead in their tracks.
--back cover]]> 327 Michael Crichton 0060541814 Nick 4 3.92 1969 The Andromeda Strain (Andromeda, #1)
author: Michael Crichton
name: Nick
average rating: 3.92
book published: 1969
rating: 4
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]]> The Time Machine 2493
So begins the Time Traveller’s astonishing firsthand account of his journey 800,000 years beyond his own era—and the story that launched H.G. Wells’s successful career and earned him his reputation as the father of science fiction. With a speculative leap that still fires the imagination, Wells sends his brave explorer to face a future burdened with our greatest hopes...and our darkest fears. A pull of the Time Machine’s lever propels him to the age of a slowly dying Earth.? There he discovers two bizarre races—the ethereal Eloi and the subterranean Morlocks—who not only symbolize the duality of human nature, but offer a terrifying portrait of the men of tomorrow as well.? Published in 1895, this masterpiece of invention captivated readers on the threshold of a new century. Thanks to Wells’s expert storytelling and provocative insight, The Time Machine will continue to enthrall readers for generations to come.

?]]> 118 H.G. Wells Nick 3 3.91 1895 The Time Machine
author: H.G. Wells
name: Nick
average rating: 3.91
book published: 1895
rating: 3
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]]> <![CDATA[Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?]]> 7082 244 Philip K. Dick Nick 0 to-read 4.08 1968 Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
author: Philip K. Dick
name: Nick
average rating: 4.08
book published: 1968
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything]]> 1202
These may not sound like typical questions for an economist to ask. But Steven D. Levitt is not a typical economist. He is a much heralded scholar who studies the stuff and riddles of everyday life -- from cheating and crime to sports and child rearing -- and whose conclusions regularly turn the conventional wisdom on its head. He usually begins with a mountain of data and a simple, unasked question. Some of these questions concern life-and-death issues; others have an admittedly freakish quality. Thus the new field of study contained in this book: freakonomics.

Through forceful storytelling and wry insight, Levitt and co-author Stephen J. Dubner show that economics is, at root, the study of incentives -- how people get what they want, or need, especially when other people want or need the same thing. In Freakonomics, they set out to explore the hidden side of ... well, everything. The inner workings of a crack gang. The truth about real-estate agents. The myths of campaign finance. The telltale marks of a cheating schoolteacher. The secrets of the Ku Klux Klan.

What unites all these stories is a belief that the modern world, despite a surfeit of obfuscation, complication, and downright deceit, is not impenetrable, is not unknowable, and -- if the right questions are asked -- is even more intriguing than we think. All it takes is a new way of looking. Steven Levitt, through devilishly clever and clear-eyed thinking, shows how to see through all the clutter.

Freakonomics establishes this unconventional premise: If morality represents how we would like the world to work, then economics represents how it actually does work. It is true that readers of this book will be armed with enough riddles and stories to last a thousand cocktail parties. But Freakonomics can provide more than that. It will literally redefine the way we view the modern world.
(front flap)]]> 268 Steven D. Levitt 0061234001 Nick 5 4.01 2005 Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything
author: Steven D. Levitt
name: Nick
average rating: 4.01
book published: 2005
rating: 5
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]]> <![CDATA[G?del, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid]]> 24113 777 Douglas R. Hofstadter 0465026567 Nick 5 4.29 1979 G?del, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid
author: Douglas R. Hofstadter
name: Nick
average rating: 4.29
book published: 1979
rating: 5
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]]> The Grand Design 8520362
When and how did the universe begin? Why are we here? Why is there something rather than nothing? What is the nature of reality? Why are the laws of nature so finely tuned as to allow for the existence of beings like ourselves? And, finally, is the apparent “grand design” of our universe evidence of a benevolent creator who set things in motion—or does science offer another explanation?

The most fundamental questions about the origins of the universe and of life itself, once the province of philosophy, now occupy the territory where scientists, philosophers, and theologians meet—if only to disagree. In their new book, Stephen Hawking and Leonard Mlodinow present the most recent scientific thinking about the mysteries of the universe, in nontechnical language marked by both brilliance and simplicity.

In The Grand Design they explain that according to quantum theory, the cosmos does not have just a single existence or history, but rather that every possible history of the universe exists simultaneously. When applied to the universe as a whole, this idea calls into question the very notion of cause and effect. But the “top-down” approach to cosmology that Hawking and

Mlodinow describe would say that the fact that the past takes no definite form means that we create history by observing it, rather than that history creates us. The authors further explain that we ourselves are the product of quantum fluctuations in the very early universe, and show how quantum theory predicts the “multiverse”—the idea that ours is just one of many universes that appeared spontaneously out of nothing, each with different laws of nature.

Along the way Hawking and Mlodinow question the conventional concept of reality, posing a “model-dependent” theory of reality as the best we can hope to find. And they conclude with a riveting assessment of M-theory, an explanation of the laws governing us and our universe that is currently the only viable candidate for a complete “theory of everything.” If confirmed, they write, it will be the unified theory that Einstein was looking for, and the ultimate triumph of human reason.

A succinct, startling, and lavishly illustrated guide to discoveries that are altering our understanding and threatening some of our most cherished belief systems, The Grand Design is a book that will inform—and provoke—like no other.']]> 199 Stephen Hawking 0553805371 Nick 0 to-read 4.07 2010 The Grand Design
author: Stephen Hawking
name: Nick
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2010
rating: 0
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]]> The God Delusion 14743
With rigor and wit, Dawkins examines God in all his forms, from the sex-obsessed tyrant of the Old Testament, to the more benign (but still illogical) Celestial Watchmaker favored by some Enlightenment thinkers. He eviscerates the major arguments for religion, and demonstrates the supreme improbability of a supreme being. He shows how religion fuels war, foments bigotry, and abuses children, buttressing his points with historical and contemporary evidence.

The God Delusion makes a compelling case that belief in God is not just wrong, but potentially deadly. It also offers exhilarating insight into the advantages of atheism to the individual and society, not the least of which is a clearer, truer appreciation of the universe's wonders than any faith could ever muster.]]> 374 Richard Dawkins 0618680004 Nick 0 to-read 3.89 2006 The God Delusion
author: Richard Dawkins
name: Nick
average rating: 3.89
book published: 2006
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency (Dirk Gently, #1)]]> 365
Apparently not much; until Dirk Gently, self-styled private investigator, sets out to prove the fundamental interconnectedness of all things by solving a mysterious murder, assisting a mysterious professor, unravelling a mysterious mystery, and eating a lot of pizza – not to mention saving the entire human race from extinction along the way (at no extra charge).

To find out more, read this book (better still, buy it, then read it) – or contact Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency. ‘A thumping good detective-ghost-horror-whodunnit-time travel-romantic-musical-comedy epic.’ The author]]> 306 Douglas Adams Nick 0 to-read 3.98 1987 Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency (Dirk Gently, #1)
author: Douglas Adams
name: Nick
average rating: 3.98
book published: 1987
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[At Home: A Short History of Private Life]]> 7507825
Bill Bryson and his family live in a Victorian parsonage in a part of England where nothing of any great significance has happened since the Romans decamped. Yet one day, he began to consider how very little he knew about the ordinary things of life as he found it in that comfortable home. To remedy this, he formed the idea of journeying about his house from room to room to “write a history of the world without leaving home.” The bathroom provides the occasion for a history of hygiene; the bedroom, sex, death, and sleep; the kitchen, nutrition and the spice trade; and so on, as Bryson shows how each has figured in the evolution of private life. Whatever happens in the world, he demonstrates, ends up in our house, in the paint and the pipes and the pillows and every item of furniture.
(front flap)]]> 497 Bill Bryson 0767919386 Nick 0 to-read 3.98 2010 At Home: A Short History of Private Life
author: Bill Bryson
name: Nick
average rating: 3.98
book published: 2010
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[A Short History of Nearly Everything]]> 21 544 Bill Bryson 076790818X Nick 0 to-read 4.21 2003 A Short History of Nearly Everything
author: Bill Bryson
name: Nick
average rating: 4.21
book published: 2003
rating: 0
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]]> Dune (Dune, #1) 234225 Dune is the story of the boy Paul Atreides, heir to a noble family tasked with ruling an inhospitable world where the only thing of value is the "spice" melange, a drug capable of extending life and enhancing consciousness. Coveted across the known universe, melange is a prize worth killing for...

When House Atreides is betrayed, the destruction of Paul's family will set the boy on a journey toward a destiny greater than he could ever have imagined. And as he evolves into the mysterious man known as Muad'Dib, he will bring to fruition humankind's most ancient and unattainable dream.

A stunning blend of adventure and mysticism, environmentalism and politics, Dune won the first Nebula Award, shared the Hugo Award, and formed the basis of what is undoubtedly the grandest epic in science fiction.]]> 604 Frank Herbert 0340839937 Nick 5 4.21 1965 Dune (Dune, #1)
author: Frank Herbert
name: Nick
average rating: 4.21
book published: 1965
rating: 5
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]]> <![CDATA[The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, #1)]]> 11
Together this dynamic pair begin a journey through space aided by quotes from The Hitchhiker's Guide ("A towel is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can have") and a galaxy-full of fellow travelers: Zaphod Beeblebrox--the two-headed, three-armed ex-hippie and totally out-to-lunch president of the galaxy; Trillian, Zaphod's girlfriend (formally Tricia McMillan), whom Arthur tried to pick up at a cocktail party once upon a time zone; Marvin, a paranoid, brilliant, and chronically depressed robot; Veet Voojagig, a former graduate student who is obsessed with the disappearance of all the ballpoint pens he bought over the years.

Where are these pens? Why are we born? Why do we die? Why do we spend so much time between wearing digital watches? For all the answers stick your thumb to the stars. And don't forget to bring a towel!]]> 216 Douglas Adams Nick 5 4.21 1979 The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, #1)
author: Douglas Adams
name: Nick
average rating: 4.21
book published: 1979
rating: 5
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]]> <![CDATA[The Fellowship of the Ring (The Lord of the Rings, #1)]]> 34
One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them, One Ring to bring them all and in the darkeness bind them

In ancient times the Rings of Power were crafted by the Elven-smiths, and Sauron, The Dark Lord, forged the One Ring, filling it with his own power so that he could rule all others. But the One Ring was taken from him, and though he sought it throughout Middle-earth, it remained lost to him. After many ages it fell into the hands of Bilbo Baggins, as told in The Hobbit.

In a sleepy village in the Shire, young Frodo Baggins finds himself faced with an immense task, as his elderly cousin Bilbo entrusts the Ring to his care. Frodo must leave his home and make a perilous journey across Middle-earth to the Cracks of Doom, there to destroy the Ring and foil the Dark Lord in his evil purpose.
--back cover]]> 398 J.R.R. Tolkien 0618346252 Nick 5 4.36 1954 The Fellowship of the Ring (The Lord of the Rings, #1)
author: J.R.R. Tolkien
name: Nick
average rating: 4.36
book published: 1954
rating: 5
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]]> Memoirs of a Geisha 930
In "Memoirs of a Geisha," we enter a world where appearances are paramount; where a girl's virginity is auctioned to the highest bidder; where women are trained to beguile the most powerful men; and where love is scorned as illusion. It is a unique and triumphant work of fiction - at once romantic, erotic, suspenseful - and completely unforgettable.]]> 434 Arthur Golden 0739326228 Nick 4 4.07 1997 Memoirs of a Geisha
author: Arthur Golden
name: Nick
average rating: 4.07
book published: 1997
rating: 4
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]]> <![CDATA[The Ultimate Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, #1-5)]]> 13
"The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy"

Seconds before the Earth is demolished for a galactic freeway, Arthur Dent is saved by Ford Prefect, a researcher for the revised Guide. Together they stick out their thumbs to the stars and begin a wild journey through time and space.

"The Restaurant at the End of the Universe"

Facing annihilation at the hands of warmongers is a curious time to crave tea. It could only happen to the cosmically displaced Arthur Dent and his comrades as they hurtle across the galaxy in a desperate search for a place to eat.

"Life, the Universe and Everything"

The unhappy inhabitants of planet Krikkit are sick of looking at the night sky- so they plan to destroy it. The universe, that is. Now only five individuals can avert Armageddon: mild-mannered Arthur Dent and his stalwart crew.

"So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish"

Back on Earth, Arthur Dent is ready to believe that the past eight years were all just a figment of his stressed-out imagination. But a gift-wrapped fishbowl with a cryptic inscription conspires to thrust him back to reality. So to speak.

"Mostly Harmless"

Just when Arthur Dent makes the terrible mistake of starting to enjoy life, all hell breaks loose. Can he save the Earth from total obliteration? Can he save the Guide from a hostile alien takeover? Can he save his daughter from herself?

Also includes the short story "Young Zaphod Plays It Safe".]]> 815 Douglas Adams 0345453743 Nick 5 4.38 1996 The Ultimate Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, #1-5)
author: Douglas Adams
name: Nick
average rating: 4.38
book published: 1996
rating: 5
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]]> 1984 5470 328 George Orwell Nick 5 4.15 1949 1984
author: George Orwell
name: Nick
average rating: 4.15
book published: 1949
rating: 5
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]]> <![CDATA[The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (Oz, #1)]]> 236093 Come along, Toto, she said. We will go to the Emerald City and ask the Great Oz how to get back to Kansas again.

Swept away from her home in Kansas by a tornado, Dorothy and her dog Toto find themselves stranded in the fantastical Land of Oz. As instructed by the Good Witch of the North and the Munchkins, Dorothy sets off on the yellow brick road to try and find her way to the Emerald City and the Wizard of Oz, who can help her get home. With her companions the Scarecrow, the Tin Woodman and the Cowardly Lion, Dorothy experiences an adventure full of friendship, magic and danger. A much-loved children's classic, The Wizard of Oz continues to delight readers young and old with its enchanting tale of witches, flying monkeys and silver shoes.

]]> 154 L. Frank Baum 0140621679 Nick 5 4.00 1900 The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (Oz, #1)
author: L. Frank Baum
name: Nick
average rating: 4.00
book published: 1900
rating: 5
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]]> Alice in Wonderland 13023 This is an adaptation. For the editions of the original book, see here .

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (commonly shortened to Alice in Wonderland) is an 1865 novel written by English mathematician Charles Lutwidge Dodgson under the pseudonym Lewis Carroll. It tells of a girl named Alice falling through a rabbit hole into a fantasy world populated by peculiar, anthropomorphic creatures. The tale plays with logic, giving the story lasting popularity with adults as well as with children. It is considered to be one of the best examples of the literary nonsense genre. Its narrative course and structure, characters and imagery have been enormously influential in both popular culture and literature, especially in the fantasy genre.]]> 96 Jane Carruth 0517223627 Nick 4 4.03 1865 Alice in Wonderland
author: Jane Carruth
name: Nick
average rating: 4.03
book published: 1865
rating: 4
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]]> Brave New World 5129 Brave New World is a searching vision of an unequal, technologically-advanced future where humans are genetically bred, socially indoctrinated, and pharmaceutically anesthetized to passively uphold an authoritarian ruling order–all at the cost of our freedom, full humanity, and perhaps also our souls. “A genius [who] who spent his life decrying the onward march of the Machine” (The New Yorker), Huxley was a man of incomparable talents: equally an artist, a spiritual seeker, and one of history’s keenest observers of human nature and civilization. Brave New World, his masterpiece, has enthralled and terrified millions of readers, and retains its urgent relevance to this day as both a warning to be heeded as we head into tomorrow and as thought-provoking, satisfying work of literature. Written in the shadow of the rise of fascism during the 1930s, Brave New Worldd likewise speaks to a 21st-century world dominated by mass-entertainment, technology, medicine and pharmaceuticals, the arts of persuasion, and the hidden influence of elites.

"Aldous Huxley is the greatest 20th century writer in English." —Chicago Tribune]]> 268 Aldous Huxley 0060929871 Nick 5 3.99 1932 Brave New World
author: Aldous Huxley
name: Nick
average rating: 3.99
book published: 1932
rating: 5
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]]> <![CDATA[The Hobbit, or There and Back Again]]> 5907 Written for J.R.R. Tolkien’s own children, The Hobbit met with instant critical acclaim when it was first published in 1937. Now recognized as a timeless classic, this introduction to the hobbit Bilbo Baggins, the wizard Gandalf, Gollum, and the spectacular world of Middle-earth recounts of the adventures of a reluctant hero, a powerful and dangerous ring, and the cruel dragon Smaug the Magnificent. The text in this 372-page paperback edition is based on that first published in Great Britain by Collins Modern Classics (1998), and includes a note on the text by Douglas A. Anderson (2001).]]> 366 J.R.R. Tolkien Nick 5 4.29 1937 The Hobbit, or There and Back Again
author: J.R.R. Tolkien
name: Nick
average rating: 4.29
book published: 1937
rating: 5
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