The View From Down Here

Ever seen these meme games?

I don’t normally do them, but since Gwen and Yvonne asked so nicely (see www.gwenworld.com and www.yvonnesfishbowl.com respectively), I thought I would go along with it.

Books owned...
Dear me, where to start with that one? Perhaps it will be easier to list the books that I do not own…

I do not own any books on six sigma concepts. This is a bogus theory, but perhaps I’ll tell you why another day…
I do not own a physical chemistry book. Thankfully, I never had to take this class.
I do not own any “political” books, either conservative or liberal. No Ann Coulter, no Al Franken. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
I do not own any “pulp” fantasy novels from series that should have ended with their original trilogies such as the Dragonlance drudgery... oops… I’m sorry, series.
I do not own any books with titles like ‘The Year’s Best Sci-fi/Fantasy/Mystery”, because I find they always contain the year’s worst Sci-fi/Fantasy/Mystery, and that makes me sad.
I do not own any cookbooks by skinny chefs. Never trust a skinny person to tell you how to cook good food.

All other books, yes, I own them or I want them. Soon I will need a larger house. A much larger house.

Last book I bought . . .
…has not been read yet.

Oh, all right, it is The Wind-up Bird Chronicle by Murakami.


Five books that mean a lot to me . . .
I find this question leaves a lot open to interpretation. I see three possibilities for interpreting “mean a lot to me…”

1. Effect
Since each man’s heart is a creation, not only of himself but, of the world in which he lives, I have a hard time divorcing the effect a book has had on me from the effect it has had on the world around me.

Considering this, five books I think have most affected the world around me are:
The Bible (a bunch of Hebrews)
Republic (Plato)
Principa Mathematica (Newton)
An Inquiry into the Wealth of Nations (Smith)
The Prince (Machiavelli)
Two Treatises on Government (Locke) or The Spirit of Laws (Montesquieu)

2. Impression
I love language. The creation, preservation, and interpretation of ideas is what sets us all apart from other animals. In that, all books are impressive achievements. However, some works stand above others for their scope, others for their focus, and some for their beauty. These five come to mind:

Dandelion Wine (Bradbury)
Cannery Row (Steinbeck)
Atlas Shrugged (Rand)
Dune (Herbert)
Ulysses (Joyce)

3. Knowledge
Books are vehicles for ideas. Fair enough, but which books did I find truly instructive?
Overcoming Law (Posner)
The Existential Pleasures of Engineering (Florman)
Pragmatism (Ed. Menand)
Complete Conservatory Method for Trumpet (Arban)
Electronic Gadgets for the Evil Genius (Iannani)

Yeah, but what about escapism? What books would I read on a rainy day?
Another Fine Myth (Asprin)
Jack Aubrey novels (O’Brian)
And Then There Were None (Christie)
A book by Heinlein
Stories by Ellison

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