en-US Sat, 07 Apr 2012 07:50:33 -0700 60 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg 4985 Welcome to the Monkey House is a collection of Kurt Vonnegut’s shorter works. Originally printed in publications as diverse as The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction and The Atlantic Monthly, these superb stories share Vonnegut’s audacious sense of humor and extraordinary range of creative vision.

Alternative cover edition here ]]> 331 Kurt Vonnegut Jr. 0385333501 Mpc1 0 currently-reading 4.14 1968
author: Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
name: Mpc1
average rating: 4.14
book published: 1968
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]]> 3876 The Sun Also Rises (Fiesta) is one of Ernest Hemingway's masterpieces and a classic example of his spare but powerful writing style. A poignant look at the disillusionment and angst of the post-World War I generation, the novel introduces two of Hemingway's most unforgettable characters: Jake Barnes and Lady Brett Ashley. The story follows the flamboyant Brett and the hapless Jake as they journey from the wild nightlife of 1920s Paris to the brutal bullfighting rings of Spain with a motley group of expatriates. It is an age of moral bankruptcy, spiritual dissolution, unrealized love, and vanishing illusions. First published in 1926, The Sun Also Rises helped to establish Hemingway as one of the greatest writers of the twentieth century.]]> 189 Ernest Hemingway Mpc1 0 currently-reading 3.81 1926
author: Ernest Hemingway
name: Mpc1
average rating: 3.81
book published: 1926
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date added: 2012/02/05
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Throughout history, poets have felt the ancient pull of the sea, exploring the full range of mankind’s nautical fears, dreams, and longings. The colorful legends of the sea–pirates and mermaids, phantom ships and the sunken city of Atlantis–have inspired as many imaginations as have the realities of lighthouses and shipwrecks, of icebergs and frothing foam and seaweed.

This marvelous collection includes classics old and new, from Homer and Milton to Plath and Merwin. Here are Tennyson’s seductive sea-fairies next to Poe’s beloved Annabel Lee. Here is Coleridge’s darkly brooding “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner� alongside the grandeur of Shakespeare’s “Full Fathom Five.� And here is Masefield’s “I must go down to the seas again� alongside Cavafy’s “Ithaka� and Stevens’s “The Idea of Order at Key West.� In the wide variety of lyrics collected here–sonnets and sea chanteys, ballads and hymns and prayers–we feel the encompassing power of our planet’s restless waters as metaphor, mystery, and muse.

Everyman's Library pursues the highest production standards, printing on acid-free cream-colored paper, with full-cloth cases with two-color foil stamping, decorative endpapers, silk ribbon markers, European-style half-round spines, and a full-color illustrated jacket.]]> 256 J.D. McClatchy 0375413294 Mpc1 0 currently-reading 4.00 2001
author: J.D. McClatchy
name: Mpc1
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2001
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date added: 2011/09/11
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]]> 81884 208 Martin J. Rees 0465036732 Mpc1 0 currently-reading 3.98 1999
author: Martin J. Rees
name: Mpc1
average rating: 3.98
book published: 1999
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date added: 2011/01/09
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]]> 225111 Ten laws of simplicity for business, technology, and design that teach us how to need less but get more.

Finally, we are learning that simplicity equals sanity. We're rebelling against technology that's too complicated, DVD players with too many menus, and software accompanied by 75-megabyte "read me" manuals. The iPod's clean gadgetry has made simplicity hip. But sometimes we find ourselves caught up in the simplicity paradox: we want something that's simple and easy to use, but also does all the complex things we might ever want it to do. In The Laws of Simplicity, John Maeda offers ten laws for balancing simplicity and complexity in business, technology, and design—guidelines for needing less and actually getting more.

Maeda—a professor in MIT's Media Lab and a world-renowned graphic designer—explores the question of how we can redefine the notion of "improved" so that it doesn't always mean something more, something added on.

Maeda's first law of simplicity is "Reduce." It's not necessarily beneficial to add technology features just because we can. And the features that we do have must be organized (Law 2) in a sensible hierarchy so users aren't distracted by features and functions they don't need. But simplicity is not less just for the sake of less. Skip ahead to Law 9: "Failure: Accept the fact that some things can never be made simple." Maeda's concise guide to simplicity in the digital age shows us how this idea can be a cornerstone of organizations and their products—how it can drive both business and technology. We can learn to simplify without sacrificing comfort and meaning, and we can achieve the balance described in Law 10. This law, which Maeda calls "The One," tells us: "Simplicity is about subtracting the obvious, and adding the meaningful."]]> 128 John Maeda 0262134721 Mpc1 0 currently-reading 3.91 2006
author: John Maeda
name: Mpc1
average rating: 3.91
book published: 2006
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date added: 2010/11/27
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]]> 5486460 176 Isabel Kuhl 3791340433 Mpc1 0 currently-reading 3.70 2008
author: Isabel Kuhl
name: Mpc1
average rating: 3.70
book published: 2008
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date added: 2010/11/27
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]]> 974343 400 Robert K. Morgan 0451205944 Mpc1 0 currently-reading 4.16 1992
author: Robert K. Morgan
name: Mpc1
average rating: 4.16
book published: 1992
rating: 0
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date added: 2010/02/23
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