Matthew's bookshelf: all en-US Tue, 22 Oct 2024 17:22:45 -0700 60 Matthew's bookshelf: all 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg <![CDATA[A Desolation Called Peace (Teixcalaan, #2)]]> 45154547 WINNER OF THE 2022 HUGO AWARD FOR BEST NOVEL
Now a USA Today bestseller!
Publishers Weekly's Best Books of 2021
Amazon's Best Science Fiction & Fantasy of 2021
Bookpage's Best Science Fiction & Fantasy of 2021
ŷ Choice Awards Nominee for Best Science Fiction Book of 2021

A Desolation Called Peace is the spectacular space opera sequel to Arkady Martine's genre-reinventing, Hugo Award-winning debut, A Memory Called Empire.

An alien armada lurks on the edges of Teixcalaanli space. No one can communicate with it, no one can destroy it, and Fleet Captain Nine Hibiscus is running out of options.

In a desperate attempt at diplomacy with the mysterious invaders, the fleet captain has sent for a diplomatic envoy. Now Mahit Dzmare and Three Seagrass—still reeling from the recent upheaval in the Empire—face the impossible task of trying to communicate with a hostile entity.

Their failure will guarantee millions of deaths in an endless war. Their success might prevent Teixcalaan’s destruction—and allow the empire to continue its rapacious expansion.

Or it might create something far stranger . . .
]]> 496 Arkady Martine 125018648X Matthew 5 4.31 2021 A Desolation Called Peace (Teixcalaan, #2)
author: Arkady Martine
name: Matthew
average rating: 4.31
book published: 2021
rating: 5
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date added: 2024/10/22
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]]> <![CDATA[A Memory Called Empire (Teixcalaan, #1)]]> 37794149
Now, Mahit must discover who is behind the murder, rescue herself, and save her Station from Teixcalaan's unceasing expansion—all while navigating an alien culture that is all too seductive, engaging in intrigues of her own, and hiding a deadly technological secret—one that might spell the end of her Station and her way of life—or rescue it from annihilation.]]> 448 Arkady Martine 1529001587 Matthew 5 4.08 2019 A Memory Called Empire (Teixcalaan, #1)
author: Arkady Martine
name: Matthew
average rating: 4.08
book published: 2019
rating: 5
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date added: 2024/10/22
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]]> <![CDATA[Sherlock Holmes: The Complete Novels and Stories: Volumes I and II]]> 4937197
Volume I includes the early novel A Study in Scarlet, which introduced the eccentric genius of Sherlock Holmes to the world. This baffling murder mystery, with the cryptic word Rache written in blood, first brought Holmes together with Dr. John Watson. Next, The Sign of Four presents Holmes’s famous “seven percent solution� and the strange puzzle of Mary Morstan in the quintessential locked-room mystery. Also included are Holmes’s feats of extraordinary deception in such famous cases as the chilling “The Adventure of the Speckled Band,� the baffling riddle of “The Musgrave Ritual,� and the ingeniously plotted “The Five Orange Pips.�

Volume II begins with The Hound of Baskervilles, a haunting novel of murder on eerie Grimpen Moor, which has rightly earned its reputation as the finest murder mystery ever written. The Valley of Fear matches Holmes against his archenemy, the master of imaginative crime, Professor Moriarty. In addition, the loyal Dr. Watson has faithfully recorded Holmes’s feats of extraordinary detection in such famous cases as the thrilling “The Adventure of the Red Circle,� Holmes’s tragic and fortunately premature farewell in “The Final Problem,� and the twelve baffling adventures from The Case Book of Sherlock Holmes.

Conan Doyle’s incomparable tales bring to life a Victorian England of horse-drawn cabs, fogs, and the famous lodgings at 221 B Baker Street, where for more than forty years Sherlock Holmes earned his undisputed reputation as the greatest fictional detective of all time.]]> 1796 Arthur Conan Doyle 0553897446 Matthew 5 4.56 1927 Sherlock Holmes: The Complete Novels and Stories: Volumes I and II
author: Arthur Conan Doyle
name: Matthew
average rating: 4.56
book published: 1927
rating: 5
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date added: 2024/09/28
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]]> <![CDATA[Being Logical: A Guide to Good Thinking]]> 721564
Logic is synonymous with reason, judgment, sense, wisdom, and sanity. Being logical is the ability to create concise and reasoned arguments—arguments that build from given premises, using evidence, to a genuine conclusion. But mastering logical thinking also requires studying and understanding illogical thinking, both to sharpen one’s own skills and to protect against incoherent, or deliberately misleading, reasoning.

Elegant, pithy, and precise, Being Logical breaks logic down to its essentials through clear analysis, accessible examples, and focused insights. D. Q. McInerney covers the sources of illogical thinking, from naïve optimism to narrow-mindedness, before dissecting the various tactics—red herrings, diversions, and simplistic reasoning—the illogical use in place of effective reasoning.

An indispensable guide to using logic to advantage in everyday life, this is a concise, crisply readable book. Written explicitly for the layperson, McInerny’s Being Logical promises to take its place beside Strunk and White’s The Elements of Style as a classic of lucid, invaluable advice.

Praise for Being Logical

“Highly readable . . . D. Q. McInerny offers an introduction to symbolic logic in plain English, so you can finally be clear on what is deductive reasoning and what is inductive. And you’ll see how deductive arguments are constructed.� � Detroit Free Press

“McInerny’s explanatory outline of sound thinking will be eminently beneficial to expository writers, debaters, and public speakers.� � Booklist

“Given the shortage of logical thinking,
And the fact that mankind is adrift, if not sinking,
It is vital that all of us learn to think straight.
And this small book by D.Q. McInerny is great.
It follows therefore since we so badly need it,
Everybody should not only but it, but read it.�
—Charles Osgood]]> 160 D.Q. McInerny 0812971159 Matthew 5 3.72 2004 Being Logical: A Guide to Good Thinking
author: D.Q. McInerny
name: Matthew
average rating: 3.72
book published: 2004
rating: 5
read at: 2013/11/11
date added: 2023/08/02
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]]> <![CDATA[Bhagavad-Gita: The Song of God]]> 581621
Here is a distinguished translation that can be read by every person, not as an archaic monument to an ancient culture, but as a living contemporary message that touches the most urgent personal and social problems.]]> 176 Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa 0451528441 Matthew 5 4.20 -400 Bhagavad-Gita: The Song of God
author: Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa
name: Matthew
average rating: 4.20
book published: -400
rating: 5
read at: 2017/01/14
date added: 2019/01/04
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]]> Bhagavad Gita 99945 Mahabharata incorporates Bhagavad-Gita, a sacred Hindu text that takes the form of a philosophical dialogue in which Krishna instructs Arjuna, the prince, in ethical matters and the nature of God.

Krishna expounds the nature and the way that humans can come to know God to Arjuna, the warrior prince in the Bhagavad-Gita.

Mahabharata, a Sanskrit epic, contains the text of the Bhagavad-Gita.

This early epic poem recounts the conversation between the warrior and his charioteer, the divine manifestation. It sets out the important lessons to learn to change the outcome of the war in the moments before a great battle that the warrior fights, and culminates in revealing the true cosmic warrior and counselling him to search for the universal perfection of life. This most important work ranges from yoga postures to dense moral discussion and serves as a practical guide to living well.]]> 224 Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa 0609810340 Matthew 5 4.27 -400 Bhagavad Gita
author: Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa
name: Matthew
average rating: 4.27
book published: -400
rating: 5
read at: 2015/07/29
date added: 2018/08/11
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]]> <![CDATA[The Book: On the Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are]]> 60551
In The Book, Alan Watts provides us with a much-needed answer to the problem of personal identity, distilling and adapting the Hindu philosophy of Vedanta.

A revelatory primer on what it means to be human, from "the perfect guide for a course correction in life" (Deepak Chopra)—and a mind-opening manual of initiation into the central mystery of existence.]]> 163 Alan W. Watts 0679723005 Matthew 0 currently-reading 4.22 1966 The Book: On the Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are
author: Alan W. Watts
name: Matthew
average rating: 4.22
book published: 1966
rating: 0
read at: 2016/04/26
date added: 2018/07/27
shelves: currently-reading
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]]> Island 7036191
Inevitably, this island of bliss attracts the envy and enmity of the surrounding world. A conspiracy is underway to take over Pala, and events are set in motion when an agent of the conspirators, a newspaperman named Faranby, is shipwrecked there. What Faranby doesn't expect is how his time with the people of Pala will revolutionize all his values and—to his amazement—give him hope.]]> 354 Aldous Huxley 0061561797 Matthew 5 3.79 1962 Island
author: Aldous Huxley
name: Matthew
average rating: 3.79
book published: 1962
rating: 5
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date added: 2018/07/08
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]]> Robots and Empire (Robot, #4) 76688 512 Isaac Asimov 0586062009 Matthew 0 4.22 1985 Robots and Empire (Robot, #4)
author: Isaac Asimov
name: Matthew
average rating: 4.22
book published: 1985
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[Einstein's Moon: Bell's Theorem and the Curious Quest for Quantum Reality]]> 211172 Book by Peat, F. David 170 F. David Peat 0809239655 Matthew 0 3.96 1990 Einstein's Moon: Bell's Theorem and the Curious Quest for Quantum Reality
author: F. David Peat
name: Matthew
average rating: 3.96
book published: 1990
rating: 0
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date added: 2018/07/08
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]]> <![CDATA[The Oedipus Plays of Sophocles: Oedipus the King - Oedipus at Colonus - Antigone]]> 1537
William Carlos Williams called the Roche translation of Antigone“brilliantly successful...as spirited and powerful as the original must have been.� Roche's versions of the Oedipus plays are both stunning and sympathetic, awe-inspiring and intimate, and bring the elemental myths of ancient Greece to life for modern readers.

Included in this edition are a glossary of classical names, notes on pronunciation and meter, suggestions for production and acting, and historical material, which offer the reader a greater appreciation of Sophocles' dramatic genius.]]> 288 Sophocles 0452011671 Matthew 0 3.78 -450 The Oedipus Plays of Sophocles: Oedipus the King - Oedipus at Colonus - Antigone
author: Sophocles
name: Matthew
average rating: 3.78
book published: -450
rating: 0
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]]> The Web of Belief 931301 156 Willard Van Orman Quine 0075536099 Matthew 5 3.83 1978 The Web of Belief
author: Willard Van Orman Quine
name: Matthew
average rating: 3.83
book published: 1978
rating: 5
read at: 2018/06/05
date added: 2018/07/05
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]]> The Problems of Philosophy 31799 116 Bertrand Russell 1421903679 Matthew 5 3.92 1912 The Problems of Philosophy
author: Bertrand Russell
name: Matthew
average rating: 3.92
book published: 1912
rating: 5
read at: 2018/06/05
date added: 2018/07/05
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]]> <![CDATA[Existentialism from Dostoevsky to Sartre]]> 26415
Existentialism from Dostoevsky to Sartre provides basic writings of Dostoevsky, Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Rilke, Kafka, Ortega, Jaspers, Heidegger, Sartre, and Camus, including some not previously translated, along with an invaluable introductory essay by Walter Kaufmann.]]> 384 Walter Kaufmann 0452009308 Matthew 0 currently-reading 4.09 1956 Existentialism from Dostoevsky to Sartre
author: Walter Kaufmann
name: Matthew
average rating: 4.09
book published: 1956
rating: 0
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date added: 2018/07/05
shelves: currently-reading
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]]> <![CDATA[The Tao of Philosophy: The Edited Transcripts (The Love of Wisdom Library)]]> 60560 Alan Watts (1915 � 1973)—noted professor, graduate-school dean, Harvard University research fellow, and Episcopal priest—examines these fundamental questions from a Taoist perspective, learning to appreciate not just the bowl but the empty space within it. With down-to-earth writing he reveals our direct connection to the natural world and reminds us that we are not so much born into this world as grown out of it. This collection of eight of Watts' unique philosophical essays and an early piece written in 1953 has a brief introduction by Alan's son, Mark Watts, which gives the background of these pieces and their place in Alan Watts' life and work.]]> 96 Alan W. Watts 0804832048 Matthew 5 4.12 1995 The Tao of Philosophy: The Edited Transcripts (The Love of Wisdom Library)
author: Alan W. Watts
name: Matthew
average rating: 4.12
book published: 1995
rating: 5
read at: 2018/05/05
date added: 2018/07/05
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]]> <![CDATA[Religion in the Making: Lowell Lectures, 1926]]> 851542 256 Alfred North Whitehead 0823216462 Matthew 5 3.91 1926 Religion in the Making: Lowell Lectures, 1926
author: Alfred North Whitehead
name: Matthew
average rating: 3.91
book published: 1926
rating: 5
read at: 2018/04/05
date added: 2018/07/05
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]]> Think on These Things 13470
‘Krishnamurti’s observations and explorations of modern man’s estate are penetrating and profound, yet given with a disarming simplicity and directness. To listen to him or to read his thoughts is to face oneself and the world with an astonishing morning freshness.� -- Anne Marrow Lindbergh]]> 258 J. Krishnamurti 0060916095 Matthew 5 4.22 1964 Think on These Things
author: J. Krishnamurti
name: Matthew
average rating: 4.22
book published: 1964
rating: 5
read at: 2018/05/05
date added: 2018/07/05
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]]> The Left Hand of Darkness 18423 The Left Hand of Darkness tells the story of a lone human emissary to Winter, an alien world whose inhabitants spend most of their time without a gender. His goal is to facilitate Winter's inclusion in a growing intergalactic civilization. But to do so he must bridge the gulf between his own views and those of the completely dissimilar culture that he encounters.

Embracing the aspects of psychology, society, and human emotion on an alien world, The Left Hand of Darkness stands as a landmark achievement in the annals of intellectual science fiction.]]> 304 Ursula K. Le Guin Matthew 5 4.11 1969 The Left Hand of Darkness
author: Ursula K. Le Guin
name: Matthew
average rating: 4.11
book published: 1969
rating: 5
read at: 2017/05/05
date added: 2017/05/05
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]]> <![CDATA[Tao Te Ching: Annotated & Explained]]> 21448523 Tao Te Ching can become a companion for your own spiritual journey.

Reportedly written by a sage named Lao Tzu over 2,500 years ago, the Tao Te Ching is one of the most succinct and yet among the most profound spiritual texts ever written. Short enough to read in an afternoon, subtle enough to study for a lifetime, the Tao Te Ching distills into razor-sharp poetry centuries of spiritual inquiry into the Tao the "Way" of the natural world around us that reveals the ultimate organizing principle of the universe.

Derek Lin's insightful commentary, along with his new translation from the original Chinese a translation that sets a whole new standard for accuracy will inspire your spiritual journey and enrich your everyday life. It highlights the Tao Te Ching s insights on simplicity, balance, and learning from the paradoxical truths you can see all around you: finding strength through flexibility (because bamboo bends, it is tough to break); achieving goals by transcending obstacles (water simply flows around rocks on its way to the sea); believing that small changes bring powerful results (a sapling, in time, grows into a towering tree).

Now you can experience the wisdom and power of Lao Tzu s words even if you have no previous knowledge of the Tao Te Ching. SkyLight Illuminations provides insightful yet unobtrusive commentary that describes helpful historical background, explains the Tao Te Ching s poetic imagery, and elucidates the ancient Taoist wisdom that will speak to your life today and energize your spiritual quest.

"]]> 208 Lao Tzu 1594733554 Matthew 5 4.42 -350 Tao Te Ching: Annotated & Explained
author: Lao Tzu
name: Matthew
average rating: 4.42
book published: -350
rating: 5
read at: 2016/07/05
date added: 2017/03/16
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]]> The Function of Reason 1102620 0 Alfred North Whitehead 0807015733 Matthew 5 3.78 1929 The Function of Reason
author: Alfred North Whitehead
name: Matthew
average rating: 3.78
book published: 1929
rating: 5
read at: 2017/03/04
date added: 2017/03/04
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]]> Tao: The Watercourse Way 196329 A lucid discussion of Taoism and the Chinese language . . . profound, reflective, and enlightening. --Boston Globe

According to Deepak Chopra, Watts was a spiritual polymatch, the first and possibly greatest. Drawing on ancient and modern sources, Watts treats the Chinese philosophy of Tao in much the same way as he did Zen Buddhism in his classic The Way of Zen. Critics agree that this last work stands as a perfect monument to the life and literature of Alan Watts.

Perhaps the foremost interpreter of Eastern disciplines for the contemporary West, . . . Watts begins with scholarship and intellect and proceeds with art and eloquence to the frontiers of the spirit.--Los Angeles Times
]]> 160 Alan W. Watts 0394733118 Matthew 5 4.17 1975 Tao: The Watercourse Way
author: Alan W. Watts
name: Matthew
average rating: 4.17
book published: 1975
rating: 5
read at: 2017/02/19
date added: 2017/02/19
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]]> Science and the Modern World 253801 224 Alfred North Whitehead 0684836394 Matthew 5 3.99 1926 Science and the Modern World
author: Alfred North Whitehead
name: Matthew
average rating: 3.99
book published: 1926
rating: 5
read at: 2017/02/09
date added: 2017/02/09
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]]> <![CDATA[The Second Penguin Krishnamurti Reader]]> 1465733 J. Krishnamurti 0140036873 Matthew 5 4.00 1973 The Second Penguin Krishnamurti Reader
author: J. Krishnamurti
name: Matthew
average rating: 4.00
book published: 1973
rating: 5
read at: 2017/01/27
date added: 2017/01/27
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]]> Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám 86560 52 Omar Khayyám 1905432453 Matthew 5 4.10 1120 Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám
author: Omar Khayyám
name: Matthew
average rating: 4.10
book published: 1120
rating: 5
read at: 2016/08/24
date added: 2016/12/27
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]]> Thus Spoke Zarathustra 51893 Thus Spoke Zarathustra is translated from the German by R.J. Hollingdale in Penguin Classics.

Nietzsche was one of the most revolutionary and subversive thinkers in Western philosophy, and Thus Spoke Zarathustra remains his most famous and influential work. It describes how the ancient Persian prophet Zarathustra descends from his solitude in the mountains to tell the world that God is dead and that the Superman, the human embodiment of divinity, is his successor. Nietzsche's utterance 'God is dead', his insistence that the meaning of life is to be found in purely human terms, and his doctrine of the Superman and the will to power were all later seized upon and unrecognisably twisted by, among others, Nazi intellectuals. With blazing intensity and poetic brilliance, Nietzsche argues that the meaning of existence is not to be found in religious pieties or meek submission to authority, but in an all-powerful life passionate, chaotic and free.]]> 327 Friedrich Nietzsche Matthew 5 4.10 1883 Thus Spoke Zarathustra
author: Friedrich Nietzsche
name: Matthew
average rating: 4.10
book published: 1883
rating: 5
read at: 2016/12/19
date added: 2016/12/19
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]]> <![CDATA[Critique of Religion and Philosophy]]> 253624 453 Walter Kaufmann 0691020019 Matthew 5 4.16 1958 Critique of Religion and Philosophy
author: Walter Kaufmann
name: Matthew
average rating: 4.16
book published: 1958
rating: 5
read at: 2016/12/15
date added: 2016/12/14
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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 Matthew 5 4.21 1965 Dune (Dune, #1)
author: Frank Herbert
name: Matthew
average rating: 4.21
book published: 1965
rating: 5
read at: 2016/12/11
date added: 2016/12/11
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]]> <![CDATA[The End of Time: The Next Revolution in Our Understanding of the Universe]]> 476017 371 Julian Barbour 0297819852 Matthew 5 4.15 1999 The End of Time: The Next Revolution in Our Understanding of the Universe
author: Julian Barbour
name: Matthew
average rating: 4.15
book published: 1999
rating: 5
read at: 2016/10/29
date added: 2016/10/29
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]]> <![CDATA[A History of Western Philosophy]]> 243685 A History of Western Philosophy has been universally acclaimed as the outstanding one-volume work on the subject—unparalleled in its comprehensiveness, its clarity, its erudition, its grace and wit. In seventy-six chapters he traces philosophy from the rise of Greek civilization to the emergence of logical analysis in the twentieth century. Among the philosophers considered are: Pythagoras, Heraclitus, Parmenides, Empedocles, Anaxagoras, the Atomists, Protagoras, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, the Cynics, the Sceptics, the Epicureans, the Stoics, Plotinus, Ambrose, Jerome, Augustine, Benedict, Gregory the Great, John the Scot, Aquinas, Duns Scotus, William of Occam, Machiavelli, Erasmus, More, Bacon, Hobbes, Descartes, Spinoza, Leibniz, Locke, Berkeley, Hume, Rousseau, Kant, Hegel, Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, the Utilitarians, Marx, Bergson, James, Dewey, and lastly the philosophers with whom Lord Russell himself is most closely associated -- Cantor, Frege, and Whitehead, co-author with Russell of the monumental Principia Mathematica.]]> 906 Bertrand Russell 0671201581 Matthew 5 4.12 1945 A History of Western Philosophy
author: Bertrand Russell
name: Matthew
average rating: 4.12
book published: 1945
rating: 5
read at: 2016/09/18
date added: 2016/09/18
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]]> The Anti-Christ 18304 126 Friedrich Nietzsche 1421270536 Matthew 4 3.97 1895 The Anti-Christ
author: Friedrich Nietzsche
name: Matthew
average rating: 3.97
book published: 1895
rating: 4
read at: 2016/09/15
date added: 2016/09/15
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]]> <![CDATA[Time Reborn: From the Crisis in Physics to the Future of the Universe]]> 15816556
Lee Smolin, author of the controversial bestseller The Trouble with Physics, argues that a limited notion of time is holding physics back. It's time for a major revolution in scientific thought. The reality of time could be the key to the next big breakthrough in theoretical physics. What if the laws of physics themselves were not timeless? What if they could evolve? Time Reborn offers a radical new approach to cosmology that embraces the reality of time and opens up a whole new universe of possibilities. There are few ideas that, like our notion of time, shape our thinking about literally everything, with huge implications for physics and beyond, from climate change to the economic crisis. Smolin explains in lively and lucid prose how the true nature of time impacts our world.]]> 352 Lee Smolin 0547511728 Matthew 5 3.86 2013 Time Reborn: From the Crisis in Physics to the Future of the Universe
author: Lee Smolin
name: Matthew
average rating: 3.86
book published: 2013
rating: 5
read at: 2015/08/28
date added: 2016/09/12
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]]> <![CDATA[Eldritch Tales: A Miscellany of the Macabre]]> 10835170 Necronomicon, its companion volumebrings together Lovecraft’s remaining major stories plus hisweird poetry, a number of obscure revisions, and some notable nonfiction, including the seminal critical essay Supernatural Horror in Literature.

Gathering together in chronological orderthe rest of Lovecraft's rarely seen but extraordinary short fiction, this collection includes theentirety of the long-out-of-print collection of 36 sonnets"Fungi from Yoggoth." Howard Phillips Lovecraft died at the age of 47, but in his short life he turned out dozens of stories which changed the face of horror. His extraordinary imagination spawned both the Elder God Cthulhu and his eldritch cohorts, and the strangely compelling town of Innsmouth, all of which feature within these pages. Stephen Jones, one of the world's foremost editors of dark fiction, will complete the Lovecraft story in his extensive afterword, and award-winning artist Les Edwards will provide numerous illustrations for this must-have collection.]]> 540 H.P. Lovecraft 0575099356 Matthew 5 4.08 2011 Eldritch Tales: A Miscellany of the Macabre
author: H.P. Lovecraft
name: Matthew
average rating: 4.08
book published: 2011
rating: 5
read at: 2016/09/10
date added: 2016/09/10
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]]> <![CDATA[The Singular Universe and the Reality of Time: A Proposal in Natural Philosophy]]> 22505318 566 Roberto Mangabeira Unger 1107074061 Matthew 5 currently-reading 3.79 2014 The Singular Universe and the Reality of Time: A Proposal in Natural Philosophy
author: Roberto Mangabeira Unger
name: Matthew
average rating: 3.79
book published: 2014
rating: 5
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date added: 2016/08/24
shelves: currently-reading
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]]> The Way of Zen 514210 The Way of Zen begins as a succinct guide through the histories of Buddhism and Taoism leading up to the development of Zen Buddhism, which drew deeply from both traditions.It then goes on to paint a broad but insightful picture of Zen as it was and is practiced, both as a religion and as an element of diverse East Asian arts and disciplines.Watts's narrative clears away the mystery while enhancing the mystique of Zen.

Since the first publication of this book in 1957, Zen Buddhism has become firmly established in the West.As Zen has taken root in Western soil, it has incorporated much of the attitude and approach set forth by Watts in The Way of Zen, which remains one of the most important introductory books in Western Zen.]]> 236 Alan W. Watts 0375705104 Matthew 5 4.17 1957 The Way of Zen
author: Alan W. Watts
name: Matthew
average rating: 4.17
book published: 1957
rating: 5
read at: 2016/08/05
date added: 2016/08/05
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]]> <![CDATA[Tao Te Ching: A New English Version]]> 439655
Stephen Mitchell's bestselling version has been widely acclaimed as a gift to contemporary culture.]]> 128 Lao Tzu 0060955430 Matthew 5 4.44 -350 Tao Te Ching: A New English Version
author: Lao Tzu
name: Matthew
average rating: 4.44
book published: -350
rating: 5
read at: 2016/07/05
date added: 2016/07/05
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]]> Stranger in a Strange Land 350 NAME: Valentine Michael Smith
ANCESTRY: Human
ORIGIN: Mars

Valentine Michael Smith is a human being raised on Mars, newly returned to Earth. Among his people for the first time, he struggles to understand the social mores and prejudices of human nature that are so alien to him, while teaching them his own fundamental beliefs in grokking, watersharing, and love.]]> 525 Robert A. Heinlein Matthew 5 3.93 1961 Stranger in a Strange Land
author: Robert A. Heinlein
name: Matthew
average rating: 3.93
book published: 1961
rating: 5
read at: 2016/07/05
date added: 2016/07/05
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]]> The Dispossessed 25773811 386 Ursula K. Le Guin 0062421077 Matthew 0 4.26 1974 The Dispossessed
author: Ursula K. Le Guin
name: Matthew
average rating: 4.26
book published: 1974
rating: 0
read at: 2016/04/12
date added: 2016/04/12
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]]> Become What You Are 60553
It has been said that the highest wisdom consists in detachment—not regretting the past nor fearing the future, letting life take its course without attempting to interfere with its movements and changes, without seeking to prolong pleasant things or hasten the end of unpleasant ones. To do this is to enter time with life and be in complete harmony with its changing melody, which is called enlightenment. In short, it means detaching yourself from both the past and the future and living in the eternal now. Life exists only in this single moment, and it is precisely in this moment that it is infinite and eternal.

Alan Watts is one of the foremost authorities on Eastern wisdom. It was he who, in the middle of the last century, built a bridge between the West and the East, introducing the Western reader to Eastern philosophy and culture. Alan Watts is a scholar of both Zen Buddhism and Indian and Chinese spiritual traditions.]]> 144 Alan W. Watts 1570629404 Matthew 5 4.06 1955 Become What You Are
author: Alan W. Watts
name: Matthew
average rating: 4.06
book published: 1955
rating: 5
read at: 2016/03/13
date added: 2016/03/13
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]]> Living Buddha, Living Christ 228928
Nominated by Martin Luther King, Jr. for a Nobel Peace Prize, Thich Nhat Hanh is one of today’s leading sources of wisdom, peace, compassion and comfort.

The 20th anniversary edition of the classic text, updated, revised, and featuring a Mindful Living Journal.

Buddha and Christ, perhaps the two most pivotal figures in the history of humankind, each left behind a legacy of teachings and practices that have shaped the lives of billions of people over two millennia. If they were to meet on the road today, what would each think of the other's spiritual views and practices?

Thich Nhat Hanh has been part of a decades-long dialogue between two great contemplatice traditions, and brings to Christianity an appreciation of its beauty that could be conveyed only by an outsider. IN lucid, meditative prose, he explores the crossroads of compassion and holiness at which the two traditions meet, and he reawakens our understanding of both. "On the altar in my hermitage," he says, "are images of Buddha and Jesus, and I touch both of them as my spiritual ancestors."]]> 218 Thich Nhat Hanh 159448239X Matthew 4 4.31 1997 Living Buddha, Living Christ
author: Thich Nhat Hanh
name: Matthew
average rating: 4.31
book published: 1997
rating: 4
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date added: 2016/03/13
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]]> Total Freedom 19252510 390 J. Krishnamurti Matthew 5 4.60 1996 Total Freedom
author: J. Krishnamurti
name: Matthew
average rating: 4.60
book published: 1996
rating: 5
read at: 2015/07/21
date added: 2016/03/01
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]]> Cat's Cradle 11828537 Same ISBN as this.

Cat’s Cradle is Kurt Vonnegut’s satirical commentary on modern man and his madness. An apocalyptic tale of this planet’s ultimate fate, it features a midget as the protagonist, a complete, original theology created by a calypso singer, and a vision of the future that is at once blackly fatalistic and hilariously funny. A book that left an indelible mark on an entire generation of readers, Cat’s Cradle is one of the twentieth century’s most important works—and Vonnegut at his very best]]> 287 Kurt Vonnegut Jr. Matthew 5 4.01 1963 Cat's Cradle
author: Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
name: Matthew
average rating: 4.01
book published: 1963
rating: 5
read at: 2016/02/24
date added: 2016/02/24
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]]> <![CDATA[War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning]]> 27502
Drawing on his own experience and on the literature of combat from Homer to Michael Herr, Hedges shows how war seduces not just those on the front lines but entire societies, corrupting politics, destroying culture, and perverting the most basic human desires. Mixing hard-nosed realism with profound moral and philosophical insight, War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning is a work of terrible power and redemptive clarity whose truths have never been more necessary.

Listening Length: 6 hours and 27 minutes]]> 224 Chris Hedges 1400034639 Matthew 5 4.12 2002 War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning
author: Chris Hedges
name: Matthew
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2002
rating: 5
read at: 2016/02/17
date added: 2016/02/17
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]]> Krishnamurtis Notebook 143881 392 J. Krishnamurti 1888004630 Matthew 5 4.34 1976 Krishnamurtis Notebook
author: J. Krishnamurti
name: Matthew
average rating: 4.34
book published: 1976
rating: 5
read at: 2016/02/15
date added: 2016/02/15
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]]> The Great Gatsby 4671 The only edition of the beloved classic that is authorized by Fitzgerald’s family and from his lifelong publisher.

This edition is the enduring original text, updated with the author’s own revisions, a foreword by his granddaughter, and with a new introduction by National Book Award winner Jesmyn Ward.

The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s third book, stands as the supreme achievement of his career. First published by Scribner in 1925, this quintessential novel of the Jazz Age has been acclaimed by generations of readers. The story of the mysteriously wealthy Jay Gatsby and his love for the beautiful Daisy Buchanan is an exquisitely crafted tale of America in the 1920s.]]> 180 F. Scott Fitzgerald 0743273567 Matthew 5 3.93 1925 The Great Gatsby
author: F. Scott Fitzgerald
name: Matthew
average rating: 3.93
book published: 1925
rating: 5
read at: 2016/02/13
date added: 2016/02/13
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]]> <![CDATA[The Heart of the Buddha's Teaching: Transforming Suffering into Peace, Joy, and Liberation]]> 209574
“Thich Nhat Hanh shows us the connection between personal, inner peace, and peace on earth.� —His Holiness the Dalai Lama

In The Heart of the Buddha’s Teaching , now revised with added material and new insights, Nhat Hanh introduces us to the core teachings of Buddhism and shows us that the Buddha’s teachings are accessible and applicable to our daily lives.

Covering such significant teachings as the Four Noble Truths, the Noble Eightfold Path, the Three Doors of Liberation, the Three Dharma Seals, and the Seven Factors of Awakening, The Heart of the Buddha’s Teaching is a radiant beacon on Buddhist thought for the initiated and uninitiated alike.]]> 294 Thich Nhat Hanh 0767903692 Matthew 4 4.32 1998 The Heart of the Buddha's Teaching: Transforming Suffering into Peace, Joy, and Liberation
author: Thich Nhat Hanh
name: Matthew
average rating: 4.32
book published: 1998
rating: 4
read at: 2015/11/09
date added: 2015/11/09
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]]> The Prophet (A Borzoi Book) 394424
The Prophet is a collection of poetic essays that are philosophical, spiritual, and, above all, inspirational. Gibran’s musings are divided into twenty-eight chapters covering such sprawling topics as love, marriage, children, giving, eating and drinking, work, joy and sorrow, housing, clothes, buying and selling, crime and punishment, laws, freedom, reason and passion, pain, self-knowledge, teaching, friendship, talking, time, good and evil, prayer, pleasure, beauty, religion, and death.

Each essay reveals deep insights into the impulses of the human heart and mind. The Chicago Post said of The Prophet: “Cadenced and vibrant with feeling, the words of Kahlil Gibran bring to one’s ears the majestic rhythm of Ecclesiastes . . . If there is a man or woman who can read this book without a quiet acceptance of a great man’s philosophy and a singing in the heart as of music born within, that man or woman is indeed dead to life and truth.�

With twelve full-page drawings by Gibran, this beautiful work makes an incredible gift for anyone seeking enlightenment and inspiration.]]> 130 Kahlil Gibran 0394404289 Matthew 5 4.25 1923 The Prophet (A Borzoi Book)
author: Kahlil Gibran
name: Matthew
average rating: 4.25
book published: 1923
rating: 5
read at: 2015/07/22
date added: 2015/07/22
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]]> Siddhartha 52036 152 Hermann Hesse Matthew 5 4.07 1922 Siddhartha
author: Hermann Hesse
name: Matthew
average rating: 4.07
book published: 1922
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2015/07/08
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]]> S. 17860739 One book. Two readers. A world of mystery, menace, and desire.

A young woman picks up a book left behind by a stranger. Inside it are his margin notes, which reveal a reader entranced by the story and by its mysterious author. She responds with notes of her own, leaving the book for the stranger, and so begins an unlikely conversation that plunges them both into the unknown.

THE BOOK: Ship of Theseus, the final novel by a prolific but enigmatic writer named V. M. Straka, in which a man with no past is shanghaied onto a strange ship with a monstrous crew and launched onto a disorienting and perilous journey.

THE WRITER: Straka, the incendiary and secretive subject of one of the world’s greatest mysteries, a revolutionary about whom the world knows nothing apart from the words he wrote and the rumours that swirl around him.

THE READERS: Jennifer and Eric, a college senior and a disgraced grad student, both facing crucial decisions about who they are, who they might become, and how much they’re willing to trust another person with their passions, hurts, and fears.

S. , conceived by filmmaker J. J. Abrams and written by award-winning novelist Doug Dorst, is the chronicle of two readers finding each other in the margins of a book and enmeshing themselves in a deadly struggle between forces they don’t understand. It is also Abrams and Dorst’s love letter to the written word.
]]> 469 J.J. Abrams 0316201642 Matthew 5 3.86 2013 S.
author: J.J. Abrams
name: Matthew
average rating: 3.86
book published: 2013
rating: 5
read at: 2015/04/06
date added: 2015/04/06
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]]> Frankenstein 18490 This is an alternate cover edition for ISBN 9780141439471

'Now that I had finished, the beauty of the dream vanished, and breathless horror and disgust filled my heart ...'

Obsessed with creating life itself, Victor Frankenstein plunders graveyards for the material to fashion a new being, which he shocks into life with electricity. But his botched creature, rejected by Frankenstein and denied human companionship, sets out to destroy his maker and all that he holds dear. Mary Shelley's chilling Gothic tale was conceived when she was only eighteen, living with her lover Percy Shelley near Byron's villa on Lake Geneva. It would become the world's most famous work of horror fiction, and remains a devastating exploration of the limits of human creativity.

Based on the third edition of 1831, this volume contains all the revisions Mary Shelley made to her story, as well as her 1831 introduction and Percy Bysshe Shelley's preface to the first edition. This revised edition includes as appendices a select collation of the texts of 1818 and 1831 together with 'A Fragment' by Lord Byron and Dr John Polidori's 'The Vampyre: A Tale'.]]> 288 Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley Matthew 5 3.77 1818 Frankenstein
author: Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
name: Matthew
average rating: 3.77
book published: 1818
rating: 5
read at: 2014/06/10
date added: 2014/09/12
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]]> The Story of Philosophy 1826200 There are nine chapters each focused on one philosopher & two more chapters each containing briefer profiles of three early 20th century philosophers. The book was published in 1926, with a revised 2nd edition released in 1933. The work was originally published in the Little Blue Books series of inexpensive worker education pamphlets. Popular, they were assembled into a single book & published in hardcover form by Simon & Schuster in 1926.
Philosophers profiled are, in order: Plato, Aristotle, Francis Bacon, Baruch Spinoza, Voltaire (with a section on Rousseau), Immanuel Kant (with a section on Hegel), Arthur Schopenhauer, Herbert Spencer & Friedrich Nietzsche. The final two chapters are devoted to European & then American philosophers. Henri Bergson, Benedetto Croce & Bertrand Russell are covered in the 10th. George Santayana, William James & John Dewey are covered in the 11th.]]> 592 Will Durant Matthew 5 4.05 1926 The Story of Philosophy
author: Will Durant
name: Matthew
average rating: 4.05
book published: 1926
rating: 5
read at: 2014/08/31
date added: 2014/08/31
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]]> <![CDATA[In Search of Schrödinger's Cat: Quantum Physics and Reality]]> 513367
John Gribbin tells the complete story of quantum mechanics, a truth far stranger than any fiction. He takes us step-by-step into an ever more bizarre and fascinating place—requiring only that we approach it with an open mind. He introduces the scientists who developed quantum theory. He investigates the atom, radiation, time travel, the birth of the universe, superconductors and life itself. And in a world full of its own delights, mysteries and surprises, he searches for Schrödinger's Cat—a search for quantum reality—as he brings every reader to a clear understanding of the most important area of scientific study today—quantum physics.]]> 320 John Gribbin 0553341030 Matthew 5 4.06 1984 In Search of Schrödinger's Cat: Quantum Physics and Reality
author: John Gribbin
name: Matthew
average rating: 4.06
book published: 1984
rating: 5
read at: 2014/07/19
date added: 2014/07/19
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]]> <![CDATA[The Hobbit: Or There and Back Again]]> 70533
J.R.R. Tolkien's own description for the original edition: "If you care for journeys there and back, out of the comfortable Western world, over the edge of the Wild, and home again, and can take an interest in a humble hero (blessed with a little wisdom and a little courage and considerable good luck), here is a record of such a journey and such a traveler. The period is the ancient time between the age of Faerie and the dominion of men, when the famous forest of Mirkwood was still standing, and the mountains were full of danger. In following the path of this humble adventurer, you will learn by the way (as he did)—if you do not already know all about these things—much about trolls, goblins, dwarves, and elves, and get some glimpses into the history and politics of a neglected but important period. For Mr. Bilbo Baggins visited various notable persons; conversed with the dragon, Smaug the Magnificent; and was present, rather unwillingly, at the Battle of the Five Armies. This is all the more remarkable, since he was a hobbit. Hobbits have hitherto been passed over in history and legend, perhaps because they as a rule preferred comfort to excitement. But this account, based on his personal memoirs, of the one exciting year in the otherwise quiet life of Mr. Baggins will give you a fair idea of the estimable people now (it is said) becoming rather rare. They do not like noise."]]> 317 J.R.R. Tolkien 0395177111 Matthew 5 4.60 1937 The Hobbit: Or There and Back Again
author: J.R.R. Tolkien
name: Matthew
average rating: 4.60
book published: 1937
rating: 5
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]]> Underworld 11761
Underworld opens with a breathlessly graceful prologue set during the final game of the Giants-Dodgers pennant race in 1951. Written in what DeLillo calls "super-omniscience" the sentences sweep from young Cotter Martin as he jumps the gate to the press box, soars over the radio waves, runs out to the diamond, slides in on a fast ball, pops into the stands where J. Edgar Hoover is sitting with a drunken Jackie Gleason and a splenetic Frank Sinatra, and learns of the Soviet Union's second detonation of a nuclear bomb. It's an absolutely thrilling literary moment. When Bobby Thomson hits Branca's pitch into the outstretched hand of Cotter—the "shot heard around the world"—and Jackie Gleason pukes on Sinatra's shoes, the events of the next few decades are set in motion, all threaded together by the baseball as it passes from hand to hand.

"It's all falling indelibly into the past," writes DeLillo, a past that he carefully recalls and reconstructs with acute grace. Jump from Giants Stadium to the Nevada desert in 1992, where Nick Shay, who now owns the baseball, reunites with the artist Kara Sax. They had been brief and unlikely lovers 40 years before, and it is largely through the events, spinoffs, and coincidental encounters of their pasts that DeLillo filters the Cold War experience. He believes that "global events may alter how we live in the smallest ways," and as the book steps back in time to 1951, over the following 800-odd pages, we see just how those events alter lives. This reverse narrative allows the author to strip away the detritus of history and pop culture until we get to the story's pure elements: the bomb, the baseball, and the Bronx. In an epilogue as breathless and stunning as the prologue, DeLillo fast-forwards to a near future in which ruthless capitalism, the Internet, and a new, hushed faith have replaced the Cold War's blend of dread and euphoria.

Through fragments and interlaced stories—including those of highway killers, artists, celebrities, conspiracists, gangsters, nuns, and sundry others—DeLillo creates a fragile web of connected experience, a communal Zeitgeist that encompasses the messy whole of five decades of American life, wonderfully distilled.]]> 827 Don DeLillo 0330369954 Matthew 3 3.95 1997 Underworld
author: Don DeLillo
name: Matthew
average rating: 3.95
book published: 1997
rating: 3
read at: 2012/03/09
date added: 2014/04/08
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]]> <![CDATA[The Poincaré Conjecture: In Search of the Shape of the Universe]]> 319016 304 Donal O'Shea 080271532X Matthew 5 3.90 2007 The Poincaré Conjecture: In Search of the Shape of the Universe
author: Donal O'Shea
name: Matthew
average rating: 3.90
book published: 2007
rating: 5
read at: 2014/03/30
date added: 2014/03/30
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]]> <![CDATA[General Relativity from A to B]]> 236659
"An imaginative and convincing new presentation of Einstein's theory of general relativity. . . . The treatment is masterful, continual emphasis being placed on careful discussion and motivation, with the aim of showing how physicists think and develop their ideas."� Choice]]> 233 Robert Geroch 0226288641 Matthew 5 4.06 1978 General Relativity from A to B
author: Robert Geroch
name: Matthew
average rating: 4.06
book published: 1978
rating: 5
read at: 2014/03/10
date added: 2014/03/10
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]]> <![CDATA[Relativity: The Special and General Theory]]> 6696414 125 Albert Einstein 0760759219 Matthew 5 4.18 1916 Relativity: The Special and General Theory
author: Albert Einstein
name: Matthew
average rating: 4.18
book published: 1916
rating: 5
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date added: 2014/03/09
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]]> <![CDATA[The Singularity is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology]]> 83518
“Artfully envisions a breathtakingly better world.”� Los Angeles Times

“Elaborate, smart and persuasive.”� The Boston Globe

“A pleasure to read.”� The Wall Street Journal

One of CBS News ’s Best Fall Books of 2005 •� Among St Louis Post-Dispatch ’s Best Nonfiction Books of 2005 •� One of Amazon.com’s Best Science Books of 2005

A radical and optimistic view of the future course of human development from t he bestselling author of How to Create a Mind and The Singularity is Nearer who Bill Gates calls “the best person I know at predicting the future of artificial intelligence�

For over three decades, Ray Kurzweil has been one of the most respected and provocative advocates of the role of technology in our future. In his classic The Age of Spiritual Machines , he argued that computers would soon rival the full range of human intelligence at its best. Now he examines the next step in this inexorable evolutionary the union of human and machine, in which the knowledge and skills embedded in our brains will be combined with the vastly greater capacity, speed, and knowledge-sharing ability of our creations.]]> 652 Ray Kurzweil 0143037889 Matthew 5 3.92 2005 The Singularity is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology
author: Ray Kurzweil
name: Matthew
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2005
rating: 5
read at: 2014/03/04
date added: 2014/03/04
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]]> The Prince 364539 126 Niccolò Machiavelli 0192833979 Matthew 5 3.76 1513 The Prince
author: Niccolò Machiavelli
name: Matthew
average rating: 3.76
book published: 1513
rating: 5
read at: 2014/02/17
date added: 2014/02/17
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]]> Animal Farm 529943 128 George Orwell 0451524667 Matthew 5 3.95 1945 Animal Farm
author: George Orwell
name: Matthew
average rating: 3.95
book published: 1945
rating: 5
read at: 2014/02/10
date added: 2014/02/10
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]]> The Republic 30289 416 Plato 0140449140 Matthew 5 3.97 -400 The Republic
author: Plato
name: Matthew
average rating: 3.97
book published: -400
rating: 5
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]]> The Lord of the Rings 33 One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them, One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness 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 by chance into the hands of the hobbit Bilbo Baggins.

From Sauron's fastness in the Dark Tower of Mordor, his power spread far and wide. Sauron gathered all the Great Rings to him, but always he searched for the One Ring that would complete his dominion.

When Bilbo reached his eleventy-first birthday he disappeared, bequeathing to his young cousin Frodo the Ruling Ring and a perilous quest: to journey across Middle-earth, deep into the shadow of the Dark Lord, and destroy the Ring by casting it into the Cracks of Doom.

The Lord of the Rings tells of the great quest undertaken by Frodo and the Fellowship of the Ring: Gandalf the Wizard; the hobbits Merry, Pippin, and Sam; Gimli the Dwarf; Legolas the Elf; Boromir of Gondor; and a tall, mysterious stranger called Strider.]]> 1216 J.R.R. Tolkien 0618640150 Matthew 5 4.52 1954 The Lord of the Rings
author: J.R.R. Tolkien
name: Matthew
average rating: 4.52
book published: 1954
rating: 5
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]]> Utopia 415899 An alternative cover edition for this ISBN can be found here.

16th-century classic by English ecclesiastic and scholar envisioned a tolerant, patriarchal island kingdom free of private property, violence, bloodshed and vice. Forerunner of many later attempts.]]> 154 Thomas More 0140441654 Matthew 5 3.46 1516 Utopia
author: Thomas More
name: Matthew
average rating: 3.46
book published: 1516
rating: 5
read at: 2014/01/27
date added: 2014/01/27
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]]> <![CDATA[QED: The Strange Theory of Light and Matter]]> 56153 192 Richard P. Feynman 0691125759 Matthew 5 4.42 1985 QED: The Strange Theory of Light and Matter
author: Richard P. Feynman
name: Matthew
average rating: 4.42
book published: 1985
rating: 5
read at: 2014/01/25
date added: 2014/01/25
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]]> Les Misérables 24280 1463 Victor Hugo 0451525264 Matthew 5 4.19 1862 Les Misérables
author: Victor Hugo
name: Matthew
average rating: 4.19
book published: 1862
rating: 5
read at: 2014/01/17
date added: 2014/01/17
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]]> Where Is Science Going? 1421036 Book by Planck, Max 224 Max Planck 0918024226 Matthew 5 4.43 1932 Where Is Science Going?
author: Max Planck
name: Matthew
average rating: 4.43
book published: 1932
rating: 5
read at: 2014/01/13
date added: 2014/01/13
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]]> <![CDATA[Div, Grad, Curl, and All That: An Informal Text on Vector Calculus]]> 703104 176 Harry M. Schey 0393925161 Matthew 5 4.22 1973 Div, Grad, Curl, and All That: An Informal Text on Vector Calculus
author: Harry M. Schey
name: Matthew
average rating: 4.22
book published: 1973
rating: 5
read at: 2013/12/22
date added: 2013/12/22
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]]> <![CDATA[Anti-Semite and Jew: An Exploration of the Etiology of Hate]]> 26417
Jean-Paul Sartre's book is a brilliant portrait of both anti-Semite and Jew, written by a non-Jew and from a non-Jewish point of view. Nothing of the anti-Semite either in his subtle form as a snob, or in his crude form as a gangster, escapes Sartre's sharp eye, and the whole problem of the Jew's relationship to the Gentile is examined in a concrete and living way, rather than in terms of sociological abstractions.]]> 153 Jean-Paul Sartre 0805210474 Matthew 5 3.84 1944 Anti-Semite and Jew: An Exploration of the Etiology of Hate
author: Jean-Paul Sartre
name: Matthew
average rating: 3.84
book published: 1944
rating: 5
read at: 2013/12/04
date added: 2013/12/04
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]]> Gödel's Proof 695429 Principia Mathematica and Related Systems." This revolutionary paper challenged certain basic assumptions underlying much research in mathematics and logic. Gödel received public recognition of his work in 1951 when he was awarded the first Albert Einstein Award for achievement in the natural sciences--perhaps the highest award of its kind in the United States. The award committee described his work in mathematical logic as "one of the greatest contributions to the sciences in recent times."

However, few mathematicians of the time were equipped to understand the young scholar's complex proof. Ernest Nagel and James Newman provide a readable and accessible explanation to both scholars and non-specialists of the main ideas and broad implications of Gödel's discovery. It offers every educated person with a taste for logic and philosophy the chance to understand a previously difficult and inaccessible subject.

New York University Press is proud to publish this special edition of one of its bestselling books. With a new introduction by Douglas R. Hofstadter, this book will appeal to students, scholars, and professionals in the fields of mathematics, computer science, logic and philosophy, and science.]]> 125 Ernest Nagel 0814758169 Matthew 5 4.18 1958 Gödel's Proof
author: Ernest Nagel
name: Matthew
average rating: 4.18
book published: 1958
rating: 5
read at: 2013/11/23
date added: 2013/11/23
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]]> The Communist Manifesto 818875 of errors made in earlier versions. Regarded as one of the most influential political tracts ever written, The Communist Manifesto serves as the foundation document of the Marxist movement. This summary of the Marxist vision is an incisive account of the world-view Marx and Engels had evolved during
their hectic intellectual and political collaboration of the previous few years.]]> 68 Karl Marx 0192834371 Matthew 4 3.37 1848 The Communist Manifesto
author: Karl Marx
name: Matthew
average rating: 3.37
book published: 1848
rating: 4
read at: 2013/11/19
date added: 2013/11/19
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]]> The Joy of Pi 125073 The Joy of Pi is a book of many parts. Breezy narratives recount the history of pi and the quirky stories of those obsessed with it. Sidebars document fascinating pi trivia (including a segment from the 0. J. Simpson trial). Dozens of snippets and factoids reveal pi's remarkable impact over the centuries. Mnemonic devices teach how to memorize pi to many hundreds of digits (or more, if you're so inclined). Pi-inspired cartoons, poems, limericks, and jokes offer delightfully "square" pi humor. And, to satisfy even the most exacting of number jocks, the first one million digits of pi appear throughout the book.
A tribute to all things pi, The Joy of pi is sure to foster a newfound affection and respect for the big number with the funny little symbol.]]> 144 David Blatner 0802775624 Matthew 4 3.81 1997 The Joy of Pi
author: David Blatner
name: Matthew
average rating: 3.81
book published: 1997
rating: 4
read at: 2013/11/09
date added: 2013/11/09
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]]> <![CDATA[Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions]]> 433567 [sic � ed.], a mathematician and resident of the two-dimensional Flatland, where women-thin, straight lines-are the lowliest of shapes, and where men may have any number of sides, depending on their social status.
Through strange occurrences that bring him into contact with a host of geometric forms, Square has adventures in Spaceland (three dimensions), Lineland (one dimension) and Pointland (no dimensions) and ultimately entertains thoughts of visiting a land of four dimensions—a revolutionary idea for which he is returned to his two-dimensional world. Charmingly illustrated by the author, Flatland is not only fascinating reading, it is still a first-rate fictional introduction to the concept of the multiple dimensions of space. "Instructive, entertaining, and stimulating to the imagination." � Mathematics Teacher.]]> 96 Edwin A. Abbott 048627263X Matthew 5 3.82 1884 Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions
author: Edwin A. Abbott
name: Matthew
average rating: 3.82
book published: 1884
rating: 5
read at: 2013/11/08
date added: 2013/11/08
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]]> <![CDATA[The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich: A History of Nazi Germany]]> 767171 No other powerful empire ever bequeathed such mountains of evidence about its birth and destruction as the Third Reich. When the bitter war was over, and before the Nazis could destroy their files, the Allied demand for unconditional surrender produced an almost hour-by-hour record of the nightmare empire built by Adolph Hitler. This record included the testimony of Nazi leaders and of concentration camp inmates, the diaries of officials, transcripts of secret conferences, army orders, private letters—all the vast paperwork behind Hitler's drive to conquer the world.

The famed foreign correspondent and historian William L. Shirer, who had watched and reported on the Nazis since 1925, spent five and a half years sifting through this massive documentation. The result is a monumental study that has been widely acclaimed as the definitive record of one of the most frightening chapters in the history of mankind.

This worldwide bestseller has been acclaimed as the definitive book on Nazi Germany; it is a classic work.

The accounts of how the United States got involved and how Hitler used Mussolini and Japan are astonishing, and the coverage of the war-from Germany's early successes to her eventual defeat-is must reading

]]> 1147 William L. Shirer 0671728687 Matthew 5 4.20 1960 The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich: A History of Nazi Germany
author: William L. Shirer
name: Matthew
average rating: 4.20
book published: 1960
rating: 5
read at: 2013/10/13
date added: 2013/10/13
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]]> <![CDATA[The Robots of Dawn (Robot, #3)]]> 41810
Detective Elijah Baley is called to the Spacer world Aurora to solve a bizarre case of roboticide. The prime suspect is a gifted roboticist who had the means, the motive, and the opportunity to commit the crime. There's only one catch: Baley and his positronic partner, R. Daneel Olivaw, must prove the man innocent. For in a case of political intrigue and love between woman and robot gone tragically wrong, there's more at stake than simple justice. This time Baley's career, his life, and Earth's right to pioneer the Galaxy lie in the delicate balance.]]> 435 Isaac Asimov 0553299492 Matthew 5 4.16 1983 The Robots of Dawn (Robot, #3)
author: Isaac Asimov
name: Matthew
average rating: 4.16
book published: 1983
rating: 5
read at: 2013/10/03
date added: 2013/10/03
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]]> The Naked Sun (Robot, #2) 30016
Reacting in fear of the technological superiority of the Outer Worlds, the people of Earth have hidden themselves in vast underground cities, nursing a hatred for Spacers. The fifty Outer Worlds of the Spacers together are home to fewer people than planet Earth. And home to many, many more robots. Earthmen hate Spacer robots, too...

But Baley doesn't. He once had a robot partner, R. Daneel � and when the authorities of the planet Solaria request terrestrial assistance in investigating a murder, Baley is once again teamed with Daneel. He is the first Earthmen in a millennium to travel to the Outer Worlds... and he must endure the glare of a sun far more deadly than Earth's.]]> 204 Isaac Asimov Matthew 5 4.17 1958 The Naked Sun (Robot, #2)
author: Isaac Asimov
name: Matthew
average rating: 4.17
book published: 1958
rating: 5
read at: 2013/09/29
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]]> <![CDATA[The Caves of Steel (Robot, #1)]]> 41811 206 Isaac Asimov Matthew 5 4.19 1953 The Caves of Steel (Robot, #1)
author: Isaac Asimov
name: Matthew
average rating: 4.19
book published: 1953
rating: 5
read at: 2013/09/25
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]]> I, Robot (Robot, #0.1) 41804
I, ROBOT

They mustn't harm a human being, they must obey human orders, and they must protect their own existence...but only so long as that doesn't violate rules one and two. With these Three Laws of Robotics, humanity embarked on perhaps its greatest adventure: the invention of the first positronic man. It was a bold new era of evolution that would open up enormous possibilities—and unforeseen risks. For the scientists who invented the earliest robots weren't content that their creations should ' remain programmed helpers, companions, and semisentient worker-machines. And soon the robots themselves; aware of their own intelligence, power, and humanity, aren't either.

As humans and robots struggle to survive together—and sometimes against each other—on earth and in space, the future of both hangs in the balance. Human men and women confront robots gone mad, telepathic robots, robot politicians, and vast robotic intelligences that may already secretly control the world. And both are asking the same questions: What is human? And is humanity obsolete?

In l, Robot Isaac Asimov changes forever our perception of robots, and human beings and updates the timeless myth of man's dream to play god. with all its rewards—and terrors.
--front flap]]> 224 Isaac Asimov 0553803700 Matthew 5 4.22 1950 I, Robot (Robot, #0.1)
author: Isaac Asimov
name: Matthew
average rating: 4.22
book published: 1950
rating: 5
read at: 2013/09/24
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]]> No Country for Old Men 12497 Alternate Cover Edition for ISBN 9780375706677

In his blistering new novel, Cormac McCarthy returns to the Texas-Mexico border, the setting of his famed Border Trilogy. The time is our own, when rustlers have given way to drug-runners and small towns have become free-fire zones.

One day, Llewellyn Moss finds a pickup truck surrounded by a bodyguard of dead men. A load of heroin and two million dollars in cash are still in the back. When Moss takes the money, he sets off a chain reaction of catastrophic violence that not even the law–in the person of aging, disillusioned Sheriff Bell–can contain.

As Moss tries to evade his pursuers–in particular a mysterious mastermind who flips coins for human lives–McCarthy simultaneously strips down the American crime novel and broadens its concerns to encompass themes as ancient as the Bible and as bloodily contemporary as this morning’s headlines.
No Country for Old Men is a triumph.]]> 309 Cormac McCarthy Matthew 5 4.15 2005 No Country for Old Men
author: Cormac McCarthy
name: Matthew
average rating: 4.15
book published: 2005
rating: 5
read at: 2013/09/19
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]]> Philosophical Fragments 3627073


The central issue of Johannes Climacus is doubt. Probably written between November 1842 and April 1843 but unfinished and published only posthumously, this book was described by Kierkegaard as an attack on modern speculative philosophy by "means of the melancholy irony, which did not consist in any single utterance on the part of Johannes Climacus but in his whole life. . . . Johannes does what we are told to do--he actually doubts everything--he suffers through all the pain of doing that, becomes cunning, almost acquires a bad conscience. When he has gone as far in that direction as he can go and wants to come back, he cannot do so. . . . Now he despairs, his life is wasted, his youth is spent in these deliberations. Life does not acquire any meaning for him, and all this is the fault of philosophy." A note by Kierkegaard suggests how he might have finished the "Doubt is conquered not by the system but by faith, just as it is faith that has brought doubt into the world!."]]> 371 Søren Kierkegaard 0691072736 Matthew 5 4.50 1844 Philosophical Fragments
author: Søren Kierkegaard
name: Matthew
average rating: 4.50
book published: 1844
rating: 5
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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 Matthew 5 4.38 1996 The Ultimate Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, #1-5)
author: Douglas Adams
name: Matthew
average rating: 4.38
book published: 1996
rating: 5
read at: 2013/09/16
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]]> The People of Paper 43603 256 Salvador Plascencia 0156032112 Matthew 5 4.06 2005 The People of Paper
author: Salvador Plascencia
name: Matthew
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2005
rating: 5
read at: 2013/09/09
date added: 2013/09/16
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]]> The Canterbury Tales 2696 The procession that crosses Chaucer's pages is as full of life and as richly textured as a medieval tapestry. The Knight, the Miller, the Friar, the Squire, the Prioress, the Wife of Bath, and others who make up the cast of characters -- including Chaucer himself -- are real people, with human emotions and weaknesses. When it is remembered that Chaucer wrote in English at a time when Latin was the standard literary language across western Europe, the magnitude of his achievement is even more remarkable. But Chaucer's genius needs no historical introduction; it bursts forth from every page of The Canterbury Tales.

If we trust the General Prologue, Chaucer intended that each pilgrim should tell two tales on the way to Canterbury and two tales on the way back. He never finished his enormous project and even the completed tales were not finally revised. Scholars are uncertain about the order of the tales. As the printing press had yet to be invented when Chaucer wrote his works, The Canterbury Tales has been passed down in several handwritten manuscripts.

]]> 504 Geoffrey Chaucer 0140424385 Matthew 5 3.51 1400 The Canterbury Tales
author: Geoffrey Chaucer
name: Matthew
average rating: 3.51
book published: 1400
rating: 5
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]]> <![CDATA[Three Roads To Quantum Gravity]]> 132695
In Three Roads to Quantum Gravity , Lee Smolin provides an accessible overview of the attempts to build a final "theory of everything." He explains in simple terms what scientists are talking about when they say the world is made from exotic entities such as loops, strings, and black holes and tells the fascinating stories behind these the rivalries, epiphanies, and intrigues he witnessed firsthand.

"Provocative, original, and unsettling." -- The New York Review of Books

"An excellent writer, a creative thinker." -- Nature]]> 256 Lee Smolin 0465078362 Matthew 5 4.20 2000 Three Roads To Quantum Gravity
author: Lee Smolin
name: Matthew
average rating: 4.20
book published: 2000
rating: 5
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]]> <![CDATA[The Lost World (Jurassic Park, #2)]]> 8650
There are rumors that something has survived....]]> 448 Michael Crichton 0752224417 Matthew 4 3.85 1995 The Lost World (Jurassic Park, #2)
author: Michael Crichton
name: Matthew
average rating: 3.85
book published: 1995
rating: 4
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]]> Mother Night 9592 Librarian note: Alternate cover edition for this ISBN can be found here.

Mother Night is a daring challenge to our moral sense. American Howard W. Campbell, Jr., a spy during World War II, is now on trial in Israel as a Nazi war criminal. But is he really guilty? In this brilliant book rife with true gallows humor, Vonnegut turns black and white into a chilling shade of gray with a verdict that will haunt us all.]]> 282 Kurt Vonnegut Jr. 0385334141 Matthew 5 4.23 1961 Mother Night
author: Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
name: Matthew
average rating: 4.23
book published: 1961
rating: 5
read at: 2013/09/01
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]]> Fahrenheit 451 4381 158 Ray Bradbury 0307347974 Matthew 5 3.96 1953 Fahrenheit 451
author: Ray Bradbury
name: Matthew
average rating: 3.96
book published: 1953
rating: 5
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]]> <![CDATA[Necronomicon: The Best Weird Tales]]> 1335019
H.P. Lovecraft's tales of the tentacled Elder God Cthulhu and his pantheon of alien deities were initially written for the pulp magazines of the 1920s and '30s. These astonishing tales blend elements of horror, science fiction and cosmic terror that are as powerful today as they were when they were first published.

This handsome tome collects together the very best of Lovecraft's tales of terror, including the complete Cthulhu Mythos cycle, just the way they were originally published. It will introduce a whole new generation of readers to Lovecraft's fiction, as well as being a must-buy for those fans who want all his work in a single, definitive, highly attractive volume.

Contents:
� Night-Gaunts
� Dagon
� The Statement of Randolph Carter
� The Doom The Came to Sarnath
� The Cats of Ulthar
� The Nameless City
� Herbert West - Reanimator
� The Music of Erich Zann
� The Lurking Fear
� The Hound
� The Rats in the Walls
� Under the Pyramids
� The Unnamable
� In the Vault
� The Outsider
� The Horror at Red Hook
� The Colour Out of Space
� Pickman’s Model
� The Call of Cthulhu
� Cool Air
� The Shunned House
� The Silver Key
� The Dunwich Horror
� The Whisperer in Darkness
� The Strange High House in the Mist
� The Dreams in the Witch-House
� From Beyond
� Through the Gates of the Silver Key
� At the Mountains of Madness
� The Shadow Over Innsmouth
� The Shadow Out of Time
� The Haunter of the Dark
� The Thing on the Doorstep
� The Case of Charles Dexter Ward
� The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath
� To a Dreamer
� Afterword: A Gentleman of Providence by Stephen Jones

See also: Eldritch Tales.]]> 878 H.P. Lovecraft 0575081562 Matthew 5 4.24 2008 Necronomicon: The Best Weird Tales
author: H.P. Lovecraft
name: Matthew
average rating: 4.24
book published: 2008
rating: 5
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]]> The Reawakening 6175 The Reawakening is Primo Levi's bestselling sequel to his classic memoir of the Holocaust, Survival in Auschwitz. The inspiring story of Primo Levi's liberation from the German death camp in January 1945 by the Red Army, it tells of his strange and eventful journey home to Italy by way of the Soviet Union, Hungary, and Romania. Levi's railway travels take him through bombed-out cities and transit camps, with keen insight he describes the former prisoners and Russian soldiers he encounters along the way. An extraordinary account of faith, hope, and undying courage, The Reawakening was praised by Irving Howe as "a remarkable feat of literary craft."]]> 231 Primo Levi 0684826356 Matthew 5 4.31 1963 The Reawakening
author: Primo Levi
name: Matthew
average rating: 4.31
book published: 1963
rating: 5
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]]> We 76171 The exhilarating dystopian novel that inspired George Orwell's 1984 and foreshadowed the worst excesses of Soviet Russia

Yevgeny Zamyatin's We is a powerfully inventive vision that has influenced writers from George Orwell to Ayn Rand. In a glass-enclosed city of absolute straight lines, ruled over by the all-powerful 'Benefactor', the citizens of the totalitarian society of OneState live out lives devoid of passion and creativity - until D-503, a mathematician who dreams in numbers, makes a discovery: he has an individual soul. Set in the twenty-sixth century AD, We is the classic dystopian novel and was the forerunner of works such as George Orwell's 1984 and Aldous Huxley's Brave New World. It was suppressed for many years in Russia and remains a resounding cry for individual freedom, yet is also a powerful, exciting and vivid work of science fiction. Clarence Brown's brilliant translation is based on the corrected text of the novel, first published in Russia in 1988 after more than sixty years' suppression.]]> 256 Yevgeny Zamyatin 0140185852 Matthew 5 3.91 1924 We
author: Yevgeny Zamyatin
name: Matthew
average rating: 3.91
book published: 1924
rating: 5
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]]> <![CDATA[Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland / Through the Looking-Glass]]> 24213
When Alice sees a white rabbit take a watch out of its waistcoat pocket she decides to follow it, and a sequence of most unusual events is set in motion. This mini book contains the entire topsy-turvy stories of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass, accompanied by practical notes and Martina Pelouso's memorable full-colour illustrations.]]> 239 Lewis Carroll Matthew 5 4.07 1871 Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland / Through the Looking-Glass
author: Lewis Carroll
name: Matthew
average rating: 4.07
book published: 1871
rating: 5
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]]> The English Patient 11713 320 Michael Ondaatje 0771068719 Matthew 5 3.88 1992 The English Patient
author: Michael Ondaatje
name: Matthew
average rating: 3.88
book published: 1992
rating: 5
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]]> And Then There Were None 16299
"Ten little boys went out to dine; One choked his little self and then there were nine. Nine little boys sat up very late; One overslept himself and then there were eight. Eight little boys traveling in Devon; One said he'd stay there then there were seven. Seven little boys chopping up sticks; One chopped himself in half and then there were six. Six little boys playing with a hive; A bumblebee stung one and then there were five. Five little boys going in for law; One got in Chancery and then there were four. Four little boys going out to sea; A red herring swallowed one and then there were three. Three little boys walking in the zoo; A big bear hugged one and then there were two. Two little boys sitting in the sun; One got frizzled up and then there was one. One little boy left all alone; He went out and hanged himself and then there were none."

When they realize that murders are occurring as described in the rhyme, terror mounts. One by one they fall prey. Before the weekend is out, there will be none. Who has choreographed this dastardly scheme? And who will be left to tell the tale? Only the dead are above suspicion.]]> 264 Agatha Christie 0312330871 Matthew 5 4.28 1939 And Then There Were None
author: Agatha Christie
name: Matthew
average rating: 4.28
book published: 1939
rating: 5
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]]> Dracula 17245 You can find an alternative cover edition for this ISBN here and here.

When Jonathan Harker visits Transylvania to help Count Dracula with the purchase of a London house, he makes a series of horrific discoveries about his client. Soon afterwards, various bizarre incidents unfold in England: an apparently unmanned ship is wrecked off the coast of Whitby; a young woman discovers strange puncture marks on her neck; and the inmate of a lunatic asylum raves about the 'Master' and his imminent arrival.

In Dracula, Bram Stoker created one of the great masterpieces of the horror genre, brilliantly evoking a nightmare world of vampires and vampire hunters and also illuminating the dark corners of Victorian sexuality and desire.

This Norton Critical Edition includes a rich selection of background and source materials in three areas: Contexts includes probable inspirations for Dracula in the earlier works of James Malcolm Rymer and Emily Gerard. Also included are a discussion of Stoker's working notes for the novel and "Dracula's Guest," the original opening chapter to Dracula. Reviews and Reactions reprints five early reviews of the novel. "Dramatic and Film Variations" focuses on theater and film adaptations of Dracula, two indications of the novel's unwavering appeal. David J. Skal, Gregory A. Waller, and Nina Auerbach offer their varied perspectives. Checklists of both dramatic and film adaptations are included.

Criticism collects seven theoretical interpretations of Dracula by Phyllis A. Roth, Carol A. Senf, Franco Moretti, Christopher Craft, Bram Dijkstra, Stephen D. Arata, and Talia Schaffer.

A Chronology and a Selected Bibliography are included.]]> 488 Bram Stoker 0393970124 Matthew 5 4.02 1897 Dracula
author: Bram Stoker
name: Matthew
average rating: 4.02
book published: 1897
rating: 5
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]]> The Road 6288
A father and his son walk alone through burned America. Nothing moves in the ravaged landscape save the ash on the wind. It is cold enough to crack stones, and when the snow falls it is gray. The sky is dark. Their destination is the coast, although they don’t know what, if anything, awaits them there. They have nothing; just a pistol to defend themselves against the lawless bands that stalk the road, the clothes they are wearing, a cart of scavenged food—and each other.

The Road is the profoundly moving story of a journey. It boldly imagines a future in which no hope remains, but in which the father and his son, “each the other’s world entire,� are sustained by love. Awesome in the totality of its vision, it is an unflinching meditation on the worst and the best that we are capable of: ultimate destructiveness, desperate tenacity, and the tenderness that keeps two people alive in the face of total devastation.]]> 241 Cormac McCarthy 0307265439 Matthew 5 3.99 2006 The Road
author: Cormac McCarthy
name: Matthew
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2006
rating: 5
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]]> 1984 5470 328 George Orwell Matthew 5 4.15 1949 1984
author: George Orwell
name: Matthew
average rating: 4.15
book published: 1949
rating: 5
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]]> <![CDATA[The Science Before Science: A Guide to Thinking in the 21st Century]]> 390607 412 Anthony Rizzi 1418465046 Matthew 5 3.96 2004 The Science Before Science: A Guide to Thinking in the 21st Century
author: Anthony Rizzi
name: Matthew
average rating: 3.96
book published: 2004
rating: 5
read at: 2011/10/26
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]]> <![CDATA[The Trouble with Physics: The Rise of String Theory, the Fall of a Science and What Comes Next]]> 108939
"The Trouble with Physics" is a groundbreaking account of the state of modern physics: of how we got from Einstein and Relativity through quantum mechanics to the strange and bizarre predictions of string theory, full of unseen dimensions and multiple universes.

Lee Smolin not only provides a brilliant layman's overview of current research as we attempt to build a "theory of everything," but also questions many of the assumptions that lie behind string theory. In doing so, he describes some of the daring, outlandish ideas that will propel research in years to come.]]> 392 Lee Smolin 0618551050 Matthew 5 4.05 2006 The Trouble with Physics: The Rise of String Theory, the Fall of a Science and What Comes Next
author: Lee Smolin
name: Matthew
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2006
rating: 5
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]]> Survival in Auschwitz 6174
In 1943, Primo Levi, a twenty-five-year-old chemist and “Italian citizen of Jewish race,� was arrested by Italian fascists and deported from his native Turin to Auschwitz. Survival in Auschwitz is Levi’s classic account of his ten months in the German death camp, a harrowing story of systematic cruelty and miraculous endurance. Remarkable for its simplicity, restraint, compassion, and even wit, Survival in Auschwitz remains a lasting testament to the indestructibility of the human spirit.]]> 187 Primo Levi 0684826801 Matthew 5 4.20 1947 Survival in Auschwitz
author: Primo Levi
name: Matthew
average rating: 4.20
book published: 1947
rating: 5
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]]> <![CDATA[The Confessions of Saint Augustine]]> 1683 290 Augustine of Hippo 1591094003 Matthew 5 3.95 400 The Confessions of Saint Augustine
author: Augustine of Hippo
name: Matthew
average rating: 3.95
book published: 400
rating: 5
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]]> Slaughterhouse-Five 4981 Slaughterhouse-Five, an American classic, is one of the world’s great antiwar books. Centering on the infamous World War II firebombing of Dresden, the novel is the result of what Kurt Vonnegut described as a twenty-three-year struggle to write a book about what he had witnessed as an American prisoner of war. It combines historical fiction, science fiction, autobiography, and satire in an account of the life of Billy Pilgrim, a barber’s son turned draftee turned optometrist turned alien abductee. As Vonnegut had, Billy experiences the destruction of Dresden as a POW. Unlike Vonnegut, he experiences time travel, or coming “unstuck in time.�

An instant bestseller, Slaughterhouse-Five made Kurt Vonnegut a cult hero in American literature, a reputation that only strengthened over time, despite his being banned and censored by some libraries and schools for content and language. But it was precisely those elements of Vonnegut’s writing—the political edginess, the genre-bending inventiveness, the frank violence, the transgressive wit—that have inspired generations of readers not just to look differently at the world around them but to find the confidence to say something about it.

Fifty years after its initial publication at the height of the Vietnam War, Vonnegut's portrayal of political disillusionment, PTSD, and postwar anxiety feels as relevant, darkly humorous, and profoundly affecting as ever, an enduring beacon through our own era’s uncertainties.]]> 275 Kurt Vonnegut Jr. Matthew 5 4.10 1969 Slaughterhouse-Five
author: Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
name: Matthew
average rating: 4.10
book published: 1969
rating: 5
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]]> The Catcher in the Rye 5107 It's Christmas time and Holden Caulfield has just been expelled from yet another school...

Fleeing the crooks at Pencey Prep, he pinballs around New York City seeking solace in fleeting encounters—shooting the bull with strangers in dive hotels, wandering alone round Central Park, getting beaten up by pimps and cut down by erstwhile girlfriends. The city is beautiful and terrible, in all its neon loneliness and seedy glamour, its mingled sense of possibility and emptiness. Holden passes through it like a ghost, thinking always of his kid sister Phoebe, the only person who really understands him, and his determination to escape the phonies and find a life of true meaning.

The Catcher in the Rye is an all-time classic in coming-of-age literature- an elegy to teenage alienation, capturing the deeply human need for connection and the bewildering sense of loss as we leave childhood behind.

J.D. Salinger's (1919�2010) classic novel of teenage angst and rebellion was first published in 1951. The novel was included on Time's 2005 list of the 100 best English-language novels written since 1923. It was named by Modern Library and its readers as one of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century. It has been frequently challenged in the court for its liberal use of profanity and portrayal of sexuality and in the 1950's and 60's it was the novel that every teenage boy wants to read.]]> 277 J.D. Salinger 0316769177 Matthew 5 3.81 1951 The Catcher in the Rye
author: J.D. Salinger
name: Matthew
average rating: 3.81
book published: 1951
rating: 5
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]]>