a tribute to the books i've read - and their authors! i've started this in july 2005, and it will sadly be accurate only from this date.
La terribile vicenda di Marco Prato e Manuel Foffo.
Che cosa ci insegna la caccia persistence.
Psycholinguistics, especially the coexistence of multiple languages in a person’s mind, with a very personal touch.
Book 2. Mahit, Yskandr, Three Seagrass, Lsel Station, Teixcalaan. People with a rich inner life, establishing credible and complex interpersonal connections, in a wonderfully strange yet relatable world. What’s not to like?
Book 1
Una donna, forse cinquantenne, forse negli anni sessanta o settanta, va in pensione e muore subito dopo da un cancro che aveva ignorato consciamente. Non ha amici, guarda sopratutto la televisione e legge riviste. Odia in modo spaventoso ragazzi che si divertono rumorosamente in centro città, dove vive in un piccolo appartamento. Fantastica spesso dai genitori. Assecondiamo alla sua morte solitaria a casa, e alle sue allucinazioni ostili.
Una storia senza fascino e piena di odio e frustrazione.
Una decina di capitoli che affrontano temi su cui padre a figlia potrebbero avere punti di vista diversi, come veganismo, ambiente e politica. Ogni capitolo presenta il consenso su un tema, risultato del dibattito tra i due autori.
I dibattiti stessi sarebbero stati molto più interessanti dei consensi raggiunti.
Una orrenda meditazione sulla violenza, svolgendosi a Lucca in una una famiglia benestante di medici.
Shows how contemporary popular “memory” in Italy of fascism and Mussolini is shaped more by the regime’s past propaganda than by historical facts. Reminds us of some of the central aspects of fascism: systematic domestic violence and lawlessness; class bias in favour of landed proprietors and the lower middle class; constant bellicosity; cruel military campaigns in Ethiopia and other parts of Africa, in Greece and Yugoslavia; bombardment of civilians in support of Franco; and so on. Dissects the reality of fascist “achievements” like law and order, pensions, land reclamation, and others.
Psychologie und Soziologie des “Westens” im Jetzt im Vergleich zu “früher”: neoliberale Anrufung statt eingehegter Kapitalismus oder traditionelle Gesellschaftsformen; unerreichbares Ich-Ideal statt wachsames Über-Ich; daraus resultierend Antrieb und Frustration; individualiserte Ethik aus Regeln und persönlichen “gut-schlecht”-Schemata statt gesellschaftlichsweit akzeptierte Moral aus Verboten und “gut-böse”-Einordungen; die Bedeutung dieses narzisstischen Zugangs zum Ich für die Gesellschaft. Aufbauend auf de La Boétie, Spinoza, Freud, Foucault, Lacan, Weber, Sloterdijk, Žižek, Hegel und anderen.
Stimmt das alles? Es ist immerhin eine plausible und kohärente Erklärung und Interpretation “unseres” Befindens.
Un matrimonio in un paesino vicina a Bari, e la moltitudine, complessità e varietà di relazioni tra i protagonisti e non solo. Non rimane semplicemente alla superficie.
Last part of the Wayfarer series. The chance encounter, caused by an accident, of five aliens of different races and cultures, their getting to know each other, establishing mutual understanding and ultimately becoming friends. Sweet, even saccharine at times.
Vlad der Pfähler, die frankophile Malerin als Erzählerin, der Ort B., und überhaupt Rumänien und sein kultureller und wirtschaftlicher Niedergang: unqualifizierte Auswanderung nach Italien und Spanien, Entvölkerung und Verwahrlosung der Dörfer, Korruption, Brutalität, Hässlichkeit, allgegenwärtige Bereicherung. Großbürgerliche Familie in ihrer Villa in B. zurückgezogen und vom Umfeld angewidert und abgekapselt. Poetische Sprache in teils traumartigen Sequenzen, böser Sarkasmus, harte Korruptionskritik (überraschend explizit auch an der Firma Schweighofer), etwas Geschichte zu Vlad.
As a novel this is a mess: the only characters worthy of that deignation are Mary and Frank, but their story can’t carry the book. Most chapters are written from the perspectives of other, mostly unidentified people, usually in the first person. The prose is terse and clipped. It seems that the main purpose of the book is to show off the author’s ideas and theories about climate change-related topics.
The title is a quote from Foucault, and, like him, the author brings power relationships centre stage. Sadly, this also means that sexual assault is an important element of her analysis. She carefully lays bare the limits of consent and of conceptualising desire and self-knowledge as pre-existing and ready to be verbalised. Instead, she argues that sex is like a conversation, which unfolds and charts a course that is not necessarily known beforehand. It demands vulnerability from the participants, so that the continuous interaction can unfold freely. In this way, consent is also continuously being given or denied in infinitesimal amounts. Precisely yet succinctly and beautifully argued, building on many examples from literature and film.
Kurdenfrage, Nahostpolitik, Freundschaft, Lebensfreude, Beziehungen und viel Sex in der Laimgrubengasse im Sechsten. Das alles sehr dicht und schlüssig auf wenigen Seiten.
L’adolescenza di una ragazza in relativa povertà in un sobborgo di Roma. Poca gioia su un sottofondo di aggressione fisica e psicologica.
The evolution of human vehicles and how - and by what power struggles - they have influenced the layout of our cities. Addresses this subject from a diverse set of perspectives: historical, technological, political, sociological. Very enjoyable as a result.
Der Autor ist stark von Walter Benjamin und Martin Heidegger beeinflusst, kann sich scheinbar mit der Naturauffassung von Novalis und Hölderlin identifizieren, und arbeitet sich konsequent an Hannah Arendt ab. Das Buch ist ein Beispiel für jene Form von Philosophie die viel zitiert und primär feststellt und kommentiert, ohne diese Feststellungen abzuleiten oder zumindest plausibel zu machen. Diese Methode kann erhellend wirken, wenn man das Festgestellte nachvollziehen kann; andernfalls überzeugt sie per definitionem nicht.
Stromboli e Sicilia. Religione; il ruolo tradizionale della donna come moglie, serva e madre; libertà. Giuseppe, marito di Serafina e padre di Anna e Nina lascia la famiglia per ritirarsi su un’isola deserta. Il libro racconta questa storia, e il suo riverbero nella vita di Serafina e Anna, che, come settantenne, lascia il marito Severino. Severino va a cercarla nei posti in cui hanno vissuto insieme e trova alcune tracce della sua lotta psicologica a della sua incapacità di dimenticare il padre e amare il marito.
Skurile Kurzgeschichten, einige wirklich entzückend.
How I looked forward to this book: the evolution of music on earth, from prehistoric times to now, from animals to most human cultures. Alas, it’s a misshapen and vain affair: pointless namedropping, idle word games, vague allusions to prior knowledge, countless trees that made me lose interest in the wood. Even the summary chapter has to introduce new ideas, quotes, stories, detail. It’s not that none of this is interesting, but this is no way of telling such a vast story - which therefore, sadly, ends up not being told.
From 1989, just wonderful.
Non sono così contemporanee.
Un killer italiano a Parigi degli anni ’60 o ’70.
Un libro complesso come le relazioni dei protagonisti: Teresa, Bern, Nicola, Tommaso, Cesare. Una esperienza compiutissima.
Un vecchio scorbutico impara a diventare socievole.
Feel-good folk psychology with a bit of help from multiverse nonsense.
La protagonista ha una vivace vita interiore, rifletta, si dubita, si interroga. E interagisce con il mondo in modo credibile, coerente con le sue sensibilità, a volte confusa, sorprendendosi se stessa, umana. Non c’è molto meglio da dire su un romanzo.
Il racconto forte e impressionante di una raggazza di 13 anni che viene restituita dalla sua benestante madre adottiva alla sua proletaria madre biologica in un povero paese del Sud.
Una narratrice-protagonista racconta brevi episodi, pieni di malinconia, della sua vita in una cittá anonima, vagamente mediterranea. Pensavo che fossero sconnessi, ma in realtà conducono tutti al fatto che lascerà la città per andare a vivere all’estero. Un libro molto personale, quasi intimo: spero che non sia autobiografico.
Functional but a bit annoying prose that breathlessly tells the story of the companies, people, and vaccine types dominant in the Covid-19 pandemic: BioNTech, Pfizer, Moderna, Oxford University, AstraZeneca, Novavax, their founders and guiding researchers; mRNA vaccines, adenovirus vector vaccines, insect-virus expression systems. A bit fuzzy on the scientific background - and it takes 200+ pages for Covid-19 to make an appearance.
An experimental and theoretical neuroscientist explains the current state of consciousness science. He discusses the quantitative overall level of consciousness (as opposed to wakefulness), the content of consciousness, and the self as a multi-faceted special consciousness content. He ends with a few thoughts on consciousness in animals and AIs. His central ideas are predictive perception, prediction error minimisation, Bayesian best guessing, controlled hallucination, and active inference.
Being a researcher, he stresses the scientific method and the central goals of any comprehensive scientific theory: to explain, to predict, and to control.
The book is a powerful reminder that most philosophy remains little more than idle talk until its object becomes amenable to experimental scientific investigation: only then is insight and understanding being generated - and consciousness science has now entered this next phase.
A very short introduction to epistemology, its central ideas and main philosophical schools.
Il tono distaccato e ironico fa sopportabile un racconto tanto triste quanto fuori tempo: un mondo in cui regole e comportamenti sociali si definiscono soprattutto secondo il sesso degli attori, in cui amori e matrimoni escludono amicizia, in cui invecchiare può essere o noioso o triste.
A dazzling and charming adventure story inspired by Arabian Nights, Indian imagery and Hindustani names, and a heart-felt declaration of love for diversity and freedom.
L’autore racconta la sua vita dopo la nascita del suo fratello Down Giovanni. Ricordi affascinanti, anche se alcuni sono meno simpatici. Fabio Geda era il tutor dell’autore, e lo si riconosce dallo stile diretto, positivamente semplice e piacevole.
Un ragazzo di Ferrara si trasferisce a Trieste per studiare all’università. Più una collezione di episodi brevi che un romanzo. Ma innanzitutto un libro miracolosamente spiacevole, con episodi di grottesca ostilità verso anziani e con ricordi vividi di una educazione maschilista che quasi cancellavano la madre.
Il libro con la copertina più sbagliata che abbia mai visto.
Die Biographie von Anne Beaumanoir als Gedicht.
Alcuni modi di essere infedeli.
L’amore nel mondo freddo e opportunistico della moda.
Fundamentally this is a book about the genetic basis of evolution that emphasizes the interactions of genes and gene products. It covers a wide terrain, from the origins of life (briefly) and eukaryotes to the mechanisms of cancer and the immune system, drawing on many examples, often also from bacteria and viruses.
The book aims to be suitable for a lay audience, and to achieve this it often uses an alternative, non-scientific terminology: “managers” for promotors and/or transcription factors, “society of genes” for the genome, “members” for genes, “read me signals” for promotors. I found this mostly confusing, and i’m not sure it makes for a more approachable book and argument. After all, the mechanisms and concepts don’t change by giving them “simpler” names.
Le due vite sono quelle di Rocco Carbone e Pia Pera, che Trevi racconta con tanta sensibilità. Ma le due vite sono anche, in un altro senso, la vita vissuta quasi in prima persona e la vita riccordata dagli altri, come in questo libro.
A timely refresh of the Scala bible, updated for Scala 3, and showing Scala 3’s new quiet syntax throughout. Some very valuable material - such as opaque type aliases and, strangely, for comprehensions - has been extract into an as-yet-unreleased follow-up volume. But type classes, givens and using are thankfully all covered in this volume.
Jasanoff argues from the perpective of a practicing experimental neuroscientist that the brain is not some soul-like entity but a flesh-and-blood organ that is inextricably linked to the body to which it belongs and the environment with which the human being interacts.
In the first part of the book he examines the different ways in which what he calls the “cerebral mystique” ignores essential aspects of brain and mind. In the second part he explores expressions of that misunderstanding in society, and what it would mean for society to view the brain more realistically. The last chapter is a wonderful fictional story about how it would feel like if the cerebral mystique were true and the author’s brain could exist detached from physical body and environment in a mere simulation thereof.
The chair of Harvard’s Astronomy department explains what is known about the Oumoumua anomaly of 2017 and argues that the least improbable hypothesis is that it was an extraterrestrial artefact: its reflectivity, rotation, likely disk-shape, and acceleration away from the Sun without visible outgassing are compatible with it being an extraterrestrial light-sail - and not much else. Along with making this argument he likes to tell anecdotes about his life, summarise his past scientific contributions, and philosophise about the scientific process and the significance of detecting extraterrestrial life and intelligence.
An exploration of interesting corner cases of “being alive”: birth and death; metabolism; nervous systems; self-replication; heredity via DNA and RNA; the beginnings of life on earth; exobiology/astrobiology; non-biological life.
Zimmer is “an observer of science and of scientists”: when those scientists are contemporary ones and work in the USA then he likes to visit them and describe their encounters and personal stories. Otherwise, a large section of the book tells the history of cellular biology, molecular biology, biochemistry, and genetics - again through stories of the protagonists.
Ein Schelmenroman wie ein mäandernder Fluss, in den Worten des Autors selbst, in einer der zahllosen verschachtelten Metaaussagen des Romans.
Budapest, Wien, Vorarlberg, Liechtenstein, DDR-Berlin und ein bisserl Ostende, Norditalien, Paris und Mexiko. Von den 50-ern bis in’s 21. Jahrhundert. Hin und her, vor und zurück, durchsetzt von grotesken Szenen mit Phantasietieren. Hochstaplertum, absurder Erfolg und sympatisch-achtlose Geldverschwendung in einem permanenten materiellen Auf und Ab. Und immer wieder Moral und richtiges Leben nach Meister Eckhart. Mehr Forrest Gump als L’amica geniale.
La simpatica protagonista col nome della autrice indaga sull’omicidio di una vicina a Genova e nei dintorni.
Episodi brevi nelle vite di un gruppo di amici cinquantenni a Catania, senza filo rosso, un insieme vuoto invece di un romanzo.
Describes the Operator Framework, specifically the Operator SDK and, to a lesser extent, the Operator Lifecycle Manager. Does a good job of explaining the concept and idea of operators, but doesn’t look at ways of implementing operators that are not based on the Operator Framework. Published in March 2020, many specifics, such as how to interact with the SDK CLI, are already outdated.
Sponsored by Red Hat, hence available for free as a PDF, yet outrageously expensive when bought as a print edition.
Machineries of Empire book three.
A significant progression from the first to the third book: battle descriptions recede a bit into the background, personalities take shape, descriptions of society and social arrangements become richer, more diverse, and consequently more interesting. But it still remains a weird and largely incomprehensible universe that’s being depicted, with central concepts that never make any real sense: calendrical warfare, exotic effects, formations, the black cradle, … . A bit too much politics for my taste, and way to much war. Interestingly, teaching turns out to be the solution that brings some semblance of peace to both Cheris and Jedao.
Cheris, Jedao, Shuo Mikodez, Kujen.
Adolescenza nella periferia napoletana tra scuola, fumo, noia, calcio, criminalità e il primo amore. Un costante sottofondo di tristezza con attimi di leggerezza e speranza che però, ovviamente, non possono durare e vanno bruscamente interrotti.
Ultimo paragrafo: “La vita non è altro che un’inconsapevole attesa. Poi arriva, e fa male.” Davvero?
Machineries of Empire book two.
Machineries of Empire book one.
Netter Krimi in dem der Protagonist, ein Anwalt, das Maximum aus seinem mindfulness coaching macht.
L’epilogo di “Nel mare ci sono i coccodrilli”: altrettanto commuovente e simpatico.
Eddie, la 27-enne figlia dell’autrice, va a combattere per i curdi nel Siria del Nord prima contro Daesh e poi contro l’invasione turca. Il racconto è in forma di un diario, con tantissimi estratti da WhatsApp e Facebook. È testimonianza di un periodo di angoscia debilitante per la madre.
Il vero scandalo è la condanna di Eddie da un tribunale italiano, dopo il suo ritorno, ad una durissima forma di “sorveglianza speciale”, senza di avere commesso alcun reato.
Come un piccolo gruppo di italiani di origine cinese hanno trascorso nel nord d’Italia l’epidemia di Covid-19. Personale, interessante, importantissimo raccontarlo.
I temi del regista in un racconto lento e affascinante: l’Istanbul, l’Italia, il passato, la malinconìa, l’amore perduto.
Kriminalkurzgeschichten in Wien der zu Ende gehenden Monarchie und der Zwischenkriegszeit. Glaubwürdiges, selbstverständliches Wienerisch, nach sozialer Schicht des Sprechers plausibel moduliert und niemals derb.
Maria Celeste Sommariva, detta Cielo, di Genova, Pietro Giudici di Milano e Francesco Esposito, detto Cesco, di Napoli. Un viaggio negli anni cinquanta del ottocento, nel mezzo della liberazione dagli Austriaci, da Milano tramite Genova e New York a San Francisco.
Concepito come fine della serie di Montalbano, scritto e riscritto già anni fa, e definitivamente l’ultimo Montalbano che leggerò, perché il Vigatese è una tortura di vocali sbagliati e sillabe o tagliate o aggiunte. Il libro ha un elemento meta nel senso che l’autore stesso (l’Autore) fa parte del racconto. Basta.
Ambientato a Milano, con la città addirittura personaggio, nella sottocultura degli autori di fumetti. Un giallo, con osservazioni e azioni del personaggio molto humane, simpatiche e divertenti. Una lettura gratificante su molti livelli.
Due racconti, il primo di cui su un scrittore fallito che diventa Faust.
Zwei Autostopper irgendwo in den USA vertreiben sich die Zeit mit einer Geschichte über den Sandler Leo, die schöne Rita und den Dünnen in Los Angeles.
La filosofia morale e la capacità del avvocato di raccontare storie plausibili.
Un racconto complesso, con Milano come protagonista importante, ma sopratutto l’amore tra Naima e Stefano, contro tutti gli ostacoli: Naima, kickboxer, italiana di origine marocchina, la cui madre viene uccisa in un incidente. Stefano, combattente MMA e neofascista, il padre di cui ha causato questo incidente. Tanti osservazioni devastanti sulla diffusione del fascismo nella borghesia milanese.
The sequel to Revenger, similar setting, same style: set in the far future yet strangely conservative, even vaguely rassist; people who have an inner life but no intimacy or even sexuality; charming use of antiquated language; but for my taste simply too close to the atmosphere of a 19th century adventure novel for adolescents, sailor’s slang included.
Again: Portia, Viola, Fabian, Helen; then the terraformers: Disra Senkovi, Yusuf Baltiel, Lante; and finally the octopuses: the ambassador, Noah. Most surprisingly: a story about an infection, an alien parasite: how appropriate in these times! And it must be said: Tchaikovsky really has a talent for awe-inspiring endings - even if the whole story is desperately lacking in fulfilling inter-personal exchanges and emotional warmth.
Kurt O’Reilly, inglese di origine italiana, è inspiegabilmente, smisuratamente fortunato da più di 3 mesi, e va in cerca della fonte di questa benevolenza cosmica. Alla fine la trova a casa sua, in uno strano legame karmico.
Linguaggio fantasticamente ironico e distaccato. Protagonista simpaticamente confuso e vagante in una Londra un po’ apocalittica.
A wonderfully personal, insightful book about contemporary Japan, written by a journalist of the Financial Times. Because of that latter fact it is, for my taste, a bit too heavy on economics and national politics. The book shines when the author recounts his interviews with a wide range of people from many strata of Japanese society, letting them do the talking, almost a bit like a sociologist would. And just enough history to appreciate the present: perfect.
Si traveste da giallo, ma il dramma non è affatto poliziesco. Invece è un romanzo politico, ironico, intelligente, sensitivo, agghiacciante ma anche molto divertente sulla questione del ruolo e valore degli intellettuali nel presente.
Eva und Bernhard in Steinhof, Doktor Korb, die Mutter, Mordgelüste am Vater.
Eine zutiefst österreichische Geschichte: Kindheit im verlogenen Dorf, Kerzenschleckerei, Alkoholismus, Missbrauch durch den Vater, Bildungsferne, das alles aufgearbeitet aus der Psychiatrie im ungeliebten fernen Wien von einer zynischen und rücksichtslos manipulativen Protagonistin.
Eine deprimierende Geschichte also - aber erzählt mit unglaublich präzisen Mikrobeobachtungen, zarten Freundschaftsbekundungen, wunderbar stimmigen umgangssprachlichen Dialogen und herrlicher Frechheit, so dass diese entsetzliche Handlung fast erträglich wird.
Una storia d’amore semplice, ambientata nella campagna spagnola del tardo ottocento, tra la giovane nobildonna Alba ed il botanico tedesco Heinrich, da cui Alba esce matura, serena ed a suo agio con il proprio futuro, nonostante le batoste che sostiene. Riferimenti sottili al femminismo.
The far future, but after millennia of technological regression; society living off its predecessors, dispersed over the thousands of worlds of the Congregation; a common, unspecified language for humanity, with artificial elements not completely unlike “A Clockwork Orange”; superficial sketches of non-humans; the personal development of Fura Ness and her sister, psychologically well-intended but somewhat crude and unconvincing, not in the same league as Becky Chambers, whose “A Closed and Common Orbit” shares many themes with “Revenger”; a well-crafted cyclic finish.
Napoli e la difficoltà di lasciarla; le invadenti famiglie napoletane; la comunicazione tra gli strati sociali; l’adolescenza e la nascita dell’istinto sessuale; Giuliana, i genitori, zia Vittoria, Roberto.
What a peculiar book, what a strange world, what a weird story. It’s mostly interesting because of the inner world of the characters and their complex, rewarding interaction.
Speculazione immobiliare e un antico incidente stradale a Matera: che noia.
Pearl, Dr Sorle/Kisi Sorle, the pterosaur/quetzlcoatlus, Austen Stevens, Alison. Molecular structure, higher dimensions, scanning/launching of waveforms. None of that makes any sense, and the author doesn’t even try to explain this strange setting in any meaningful way. The result is language that often feels hallucinatory, even comical, but also, at the best of times, poetic.
An extraordinary book - and I had no idea!: structured symmetrically like a piece of music (3 parts of 7 chapters each, starting and ending in the Milkbar, …); an invented, artificial sociolect used by the youth gangs; detached from the atrocities central to the story by that artificial language; timeless in its portrayal of imaginary fashion, popular music and politics; the emotive power of classical music; and crucially the question of free will to decide for or against moral behaviour.
I regret not having read this book closer to its publication in July 2016: now the many topics it very ably scratches the surface of feel rather mainstream. That doesn’t make them less important, of course!
Poggio alle Ghiande in Toscana, due morti, paragrafi che iniziano con le parole della fine del paragrafo precedente, digressioni distraenti in mezzo ai dialoghi, e - com’è usuale per Malvaldi - stereotipi offensivi da nazionalista.
Daily life in the Fleet, as told through the slightly intertwined stories of Tessa, Isabel, Eyas, Kip, Sawyer and Ghuh’loloan. Convincing, satisfying, but not thrilling.
Lovelace come Sidra, Pepper, Blue, Tak, and Owl. Two deep and deeply moving, artfully interwoven storylines about becoming a person, a sentient socialised being.
For a long time this feels like a shallow teeny adventure, like Harry Potter in space, but it gets more personal and more fulfilling as the story unfolds and the characters strengthen their bonds, and in the end turns out to be carefully orchestrated and perfectly paced.
Seven generations of settlers on Pax, their constitution and struggles with local sentient beings from fippokats to rainbow bamboo and Glassmakers. Emotionally rich, credible, engaging and fulfilling - and not just the human side of it. How to communicate, convey meaning and reach understanding in the absence of a shared language and culture?
Maria Vittoria, trentenne di formazione elementare diventa badante di un anziano insegnante di filosofia, detto il professore. Lei cresce nella atmosfera intellettuale della casa sua, mentre lui indebolisce sempre di più.
Sol, Astrid und Elliot, die Außerirdischen (oder auch nicht): eine knochentrockene und umso eingehendere Studie über das Abgleiten einer modernen Gesellschaft in die faschistische Barbarei. Und vor allem über die zahllosen Formen von Schuld und Mitschuld.
Nina Apin von der “tageszeitung” meint am Umschlag dies sei “Eine böse und unterhaltsame Gesellschaftssatire.” Entweder sie hat das Buch nicht gelesen oder die Empathie eines Ziegels. Und warum druckt der Verlag so eine Fehlcharakterisierung ab? Vielmehr war es mir zwischendurch immer wieder unmöglich weiterzulesen, weil die fürchterliche Entwicklung sich entweder klar abgezeichnet hat, oder in ihrer konsequenten und letztlich banalen Unmenschlichkeit kaum zu ertragen war. Soviel zur “unterhaltsamen Satire”.
A novel about the plight of South American refugees, apparently in Mexico. Strangely poetically repetitive language, a bit like a song. Almost completely devoid of information or facts, just impressions and descriptions of terrible acts of exploitation, set against quotes from Dante’s Inferno and real interviews with refugees. Not a single meaningful dialogue.
A simple story with wonderful little twists, told in a simple and engaging way. Interesting, intricately painted characters. See 3/2011.
Das opus magnum des Philipp Weiss: 4 Bücher und ein Manga, alle 5 aus der Perspektive eines anderen Protagonisten erzählt, wobei jeder aus einem anderen Kulturkreis stammt und - natürlich - eigene Ausdrucksweisen und Fixierungen zeigt. Überschneidungspunkte: Begegnungen, Atomkraft, Kilmawandel, Japan. Das Ergebnis ist jedenfalls so ziellos und verwirrend wie frei assoziierendes surfen im internet: immer wieder interessant, oft sinnlos, jedenfalls aber zwecklos und ohne natürliches Ende. Sehr unerfreulich.
A book of rare quality: targeted squarely at Java practicioners and quite obviously informed by highly relevant real-world experience, yet at the same time rooted in sound computer science and deep knowledge of computing on the JVM. At times showing a nerdy sense of humour. My favourite is the part on enhanced Java concurrency in Java 8 and 9.
Pisa nel inverno, un omicidio degli anni sessanta e uno nel presente, gli eventi del 68 in Italia e gli anziani del BarLume, parlando in un dialetto che non ho presente.
Young girl moves with parents from remote Greek island of the Dodekanes to Athens. While the small community on the island was close-knit and engaged in rich customs and religious practices, Athens is obviously different. She and her parents struggle to adapt - or rather don’t clearly see the need to adapt. This provides for many interesting explorations of island life, which the author invariably portrays as positive and superior to whatever Athenians do instead, if anything. Then, on the last two pages, completely out of the blue, she is raped by a neighbour. Depressing stuff overall and a pointlessly devastating ending.
Short stories about various forms of homoerotic hallucinations in a meandering, imaginative prose, full of allusions and little thoughts i can’t quite make sense of.
Short stories, mostly about aspects of the Greek fascist regime of the 70s, putting ordinary people and their day-to-day concerns centre stage. Many nice ideas and story lines, with an unfortunate tendency to dwell on nervous breakdowns.
C’è un omicidio nel centro, ma non si tratta di un giallo. Invece è una storia complessa come il matrimonio di Vito e Carla.
La morte di Cecilia De Santis, la presunta carcerazione di una diciottenne e una serie di suicidi sospetti: casi che occupano il nuovo commissariato di Pizzofalcone. Tutto questo si svolge a una Napoli anonima: senza dubbio è Napoli, ma non viene mai nominata.
Rachel and Elazar have been living for 2000 years, forever 18.
A peculiar book: characters, setting, back story and line of philosophical reasoning are all pronouncedly Jewish. First in the historic Roman-occupied Jerusalem, then in modern New York and Israel. In essence it is a study of “go forth and multiply”. And this is also the answer the author gives to the question of what makes eternal life worth living - at least for women, because the book is unashamedly non-egalitarian when it comes to gender roles.
Un libro che fa troppa pena, con la mala sorte presente in ogni pagina: Ida torna a Messina e confronta la sparizione del padre 30 anni fa e le sue emozioni negative. La fine è liberativa, ma l’atmosfera fino a quel punto è descritta perfettamente da questa citazione: “Nessuno è vivo - tutti noi siamo soltanto: ancora vivi. Abitiamo il tempo del ‘per ora’.”.
The music teacher and composer traces the evolution of Western classical music from the Middle Ages to the end of the 20th century through the lives and most important works of essential composers. He writes with passion and insight, not hiding his personal views and preferences, but by necessity only scratches the surface.
Familie und Fatum: Vater Arthur der Schriftsteller, Zwillinge Eric der Spekulant und Iwan, Maler und Kunsthändler, Halbbruder Martin der Priester und Eric’s Tochter Marie. Der Hypnotiseur und spätere Wahrsager, Zufall, hirnlose Geschäftigkeit und notwendiges, kunstvolles Nichtstun, Verantwortung und Sorglosigkeit.
Lo scrittore napoletano scrive di Napoli e di piccole osservazioni sulla quotidianità napoletana in brevi testi prima usciti nella “Repubblica”.
Rosita Mulé cresce, sotte le manipolazioni misogine del anziano avvocato Ludovico Lepore, da una studentessa timida a una donna sicura di se stessa, liberandosi anche della madre passivo-aggressiva.
Kurze Episoden aus dem Leben von Julian Passauer, die sich fast zu einer Lebensgeschichte zusammenfügen, im 1. Teil die der Kindheit in Wien, im 2. jene des Lebens im Süden, primär am Gardasee. Poetische Prosa, reichlich durchzogen vom Wienerischen, inspiriert von freier Assoziation, undefinierter Religiösität, mindfulness und einer dezidiert egozentrischen Lebensauffassung.
The extent to which people feel bound by rules and cultural norms varies along a continuum, the extremes of which Gelfand - a US professor of Psychology - calls “loose” and “tight”. Based on observations or self-reports one can even calculate a numerical tightness score. Gelfand apparently has made a career out of correlating tightness scores of individuals and groups of people (nations, social classes, students, organisations, …) with every other imaginable characteristic (suicide rates, racism prevalence, happiness scores, the number of wars, …). And where she hasn’t done so quantitatively, she uses the loose-tight dichotomy to qualitatively explain every social phenomenon that crosses her mind: the Arab Spring, the disintegration of the Soviet Union, birth control, climate change, you name it. Ridiculous.
An excellent piece of discourse analysis: it puts the utterings of Brexiteers and the Europhopic British press in a historical and sociological context, thereby explaining the great English (not British) nationalistic project that is Brexit.
O’Toole’s analysis exposes the meaning and purpose of seemingly inexplicable Brexit phenomena such as: the baffling hostility and war rhetoric of (only) the British side (with ample references to WWII, Hitler, the Nazis, Dunkirk, Waterloo, Agincourt and so on); the blatant and comical lies about EU influence, regulations and excesses; the language of Empire (“colony”) and medieval feudal conditions (“vasal state”) used by Brexiteers; the decidedly class-dependent perspective on Brexit; the apparent pleasure with which the negative effects of Brexit are invited.
An insightful and important book.
The multiverse (again!), the UN/China culture, Romans, Brikanti (fairly crude British exceptionalism), Xin, Inkas, Per Ardua and the Proxima Centauri system, and The End of Time.
Bold, convincing and quite satisfying sweeps across astrophysics and extraterrestrial biology, realised with a cast of characters that remain shallow, devoid of inner life and without credible psychology, expressed in childish, repetitive, somewhat caricatural prose.
Napoli negli anni ’30, una struttura sociale ancora rigorosamente conservatore, donne che cucinano piatti tipici napoletani della Pasqua, il fascismo in pieno svilupo, e Ricciardi che risolve l’omicidio della prostituta con nome d’arte Vipera nel “Paradiso”.
A throwback to the olden days of UML and OOA&D, not unpleasant.
The story of Archi’s life in 4 diverging variants: if everything is equally possible and plausible then nothing is of interest. A failed experiment, in my mind.
Volume quarto
Come si parla di un racconto di 1600 pagine? C’è dentro quasi tutta la vita di Elena Greco e Lila Cerullo, la storia dell’Italia dagli anni cinquanta fino al presente, la quotidianità di una madre divorzata con tre figlie, la violenza e il degrado comune della periferia napoletana e di Napoli stessa, e molto di piu. Non è un racconto semplicistico e lineare, anche se il tempo passa linearmente, i personaggi non sono bianchi o neri, quello che succede non necessariamente serve a uno scopo narrativo - altro che dipingere un quadro vivace e convincente di com’è vivere in questi varii contesti.
The author is a journalist in New Delhi and provides absolutely fascinating insight into the lives of young, predominantly male, Indians from rural regions. The recurring themes are: the will to power, celebrity and riches; boundless ambition and drive, often tragically incongruent with their context; self-confidence, even cockiness, rooted in little other than identity; desperation to escape the poverty and traditional lifestyles they grew up in; and violence, motivated by religion, gender, cast. Not a pretty picture, but an essential one to look at.
A popular science book about Quantum Physics, that starts with the early days of Schrödinger, Heisenberg, Einstein, Bohr et al. and the Copenhagen interpretation, but then quickly moves on to discuss important newer theoretical results, experiments and interpretations, right up to 2017: various versions of the double slit experiment, entanglement also of “large” quantum systems, the meaning of superposition, coherence and decoherence, quantum physics as information exchange and other projects of quantum reconstruction.
Challenging yet approachable throughout: precise in its language, as clear as can be when putting theories into words, humorous and enjoyable, unpretentious, always informed by a deep understanding of physics and its current research directions, and never losing sight of what it’s all about: understanding nature.
Volume terzo
Volume secondo
Volume primo
I think DeFrancis wanted to write a popular science book about reforming the Chinese script, in particular through Latinization and the creation of Pinyin. In order to do so, he found himself having to explain the nature of the Chinese script, the genealogy of (traditional) Chinese characters and the relationship of the script to the Chinese (spoken) language, in particular Mandarin. He does so in a very thorough and comprehensible way, always illustrating linguistic concepts through comparison with other languages and scripts, including Japanese, Vietnamese and English.
Ethan Rosen, Rudi Klausinger, Wien, Tel Aviv, der Tod des Vaters Felix, und über Allem immer wieder der Holocaust und sein Erbe, nicht zuletzt in den komplexen Beziehungen der vertriebenen Juden zu ihren Herkunftsländern.
Protagonist Ingray Aughskold is an unlikely heroine: she fiddles all too often with her skirts, permanently looses hair pins and seemingly can’t get through a scene without breaking into tears. But thankfully Ann Leckie still knows how to graft intricate stories in complex - often overly politized - settings. This one is more a crime novel than anything else, but it does involve two planets and four civilizations. And Ingray plays her part masterfully, solving the case, rescuing her world - and she even gets the girl. Not overly exciting but certainly a nice novel.
The book gently and with copious amounts of empathy describes the life of the members of a few Indian families. At the centre is a retired judge who now (in the late 1980s) lives in West Bengal. We learn about his granddaughter Sai who went to a catholic private school, her boyfriend Gyan who hails from a poor Nepali family, the judge’s cook and his son Biju who has emigrated to the USA, and several others related to them. Descriptions of the cultural, political and geographical context are rich, witty and often beautiful. The judge is tortured by memories of his upbringing, his time in Oxford studying for the Indian Civil Service, his arranged marriage and the nature of his later work as a judge. Step by step the life of these people in past and present, India, the USA and the UK, their outwardly visible actions and their motiviations and believes are laid open before us with wonderfully evocative and enlithening observations. But also, equally step by step, disaster strikes, atrocities are committed, and meanness and cruelty reign. In other words: the book is an emotional trap: those we get to know well become the victims of hardship and injustice. Hardly anyone escapes - only Sai is spared the worst and allows us a shimmer of hope. The dominating and lasting feelings and impressions are ones of loss, desolation and despair, the reliable injustice of life and the savagery of men (and here it is mostly men).
The book covers many complex topics in Indian society in a low-key, offhand way: the relationships between the poor and the wealthy, upper class and servants, anglicized and patriotic Indians, husband and wife, the life of Indian emigrants abroad, the Nepalese insurgency in West Bengal, racism in Indian society, and, throughout, the ubiquity of psychological and physical violence.
A book about the processes that give rise to creativity, the core hypothesis being that humans bend, break and blend sensory input to create endless variants of imaginary realities. Although Eagleman is a neuroscientist, the book doesn’t argue from a scientific viewpoint (although it does cite a large number of life science papers) but rather uses an avalanche of largely independent examples to make its point. Those examples that come from the field of music seem the most insightful, probably owing to the fact that Brandt is a composer. The book ends with a rallying cry to fund and support arts and sciences as the places where creativity most directly shapes the future.
It’s a vast, imaginative but mostly bleak affair, certainly for the humans. The spiders are at least making civilisational progress, but that progression is told in terms of war, disease and schisms, with the emotional warmth and depth of a history book - while having the significant disadvantage of being entirely fictional. The stuttering, frustrating love affair between Holsten and Lain provides at least some point of identification with the humans’ story. Thankfully the ending provides some desperately needed optimism.
The more than colourful life story of Mumbai’s notorious don and member of the D-Company Abu Salem.
Essentially Bollywood on paper, hence amorous in a squeaky clean way, predictable and unbearably stereotype-laden. But on the other hand a contemporary popular novel written by a quite famous Indian author, in (presumably) authentic Indian English and set in the Delhi of the 80s - all of which make it fascinating to read for an outsider.
The numerous Hindi expressions, cultural references and allusions sadly mean that the book is impossible to comprehend in all its fine detail for the non-initiated. Plus there are quite a few eccentric English words and phrases (“only” at the end of a sentence with a meaning that escapes me; “incomepoop”; “ruddy” in the sense of “bloody”; “higgledy-piggledy”; etc.).
The novel does have a very interesting side story about the pogrom against the Sikhs following the assassination of Indira Gandhi in 1984.
And then there is the slight fact that the narrative is essentially racist: all desirable individuals - all of them from the English-speaking Delhi elite - unfailingly have a “fair” complexion, while the only people described as “dark” are the manual labourers at the construction site next door and the false witness who almost brings to fall our romantic hero.
Because of all of this cultural insight it is an absolutely worthwhile read.
Ten years ago this book won the Booker Prize, and it’s not hard to see why:
A monologue by the protagonist, Balram “Munna” Halwai, it tells his life story and transformation from a “country mouse” of the Darkness to a successful shuttle service business owner in Bangalore - via the murder of his employer in Delhi and the theft of 7 lakh rupees from him.
The narration is wonderfully misleading, seemingly naive yet full of cruel insights into a servant’s life in India and the ubiquitous inequality in Indian society. A ruthless critique dressed up as an entertaining late night story (the monologue is written as letters to China’s Wen Jiabao over the course of 7 nightly sessions).
The author grew up in Mumbai, left India as a teenager and returned 21 years later for a couple of years with his family to research and write this book. It is not a novel, but portrays a loosely connected group of Bombayites and their very colourful lives with such insight and sensitivity that it feels like they are all part of one story. And the author even makes that idea explicit when he talks about the super-organism that all Bombayites are cells of - “individually multiple” as he calls it.
Having been written 20 years ago, the description of Mumbai’s city life now seems somewhat dated, but the general urban fabric apparently has not changed that much: it still is predominantly a city of rural immigrants who come here for the economic opportunities and often live in squalor. Hindu nationalism and the Shiv Sena - even the Thackerays - are now an even more important political factor. And the upper class in places like Cuffe Parade has now been complemented by hipsters in Kala Ghoda.
A wonderfully insightful book, full of vivid detail, enriched with an exquisite sense of humour. Without it i feel i would have understood Mumbai even less.
Jayd and Zan, Katazyrna, Bhavaja and Mokshi: What a terrible story - gruel, disgusting, shocking, claustrophobic. Imaginative and with a happy end, to be sure, but that’s really a small consolation.
The classic of resilient enterprise software development in a new edition, upgraded with AWS wisdom. Still excellent, even more relevant in a cloud world.
Another O’Reilly mini-book, essentially part 2 to “Kubernetes: Up and Running”. It says a lot about Brendan Burns and probably also the state of contemporary IT that a book that is exclusively about patterns in the use of Docker and Kubernetes mentions neither technology anywhere on its title page.
The discussion of single-node and serving patterns is excellent, concise, practical and insightful, while the section about batch computation patterns seems like an afterthought.
Una vecchia storia di famiglia, situato in un palazzo in Sicilia.
In fondo è una brutta storia di prostituzione forzata nella periferia milanese, ma l’umanità dell’ispettore Annalisa Consolati, della sua compagna Minerva e del senile padre Patrizio la rendono sopportabile.
The authors present three main techniques as essential for malleable, agile, evolutionary architectures: low coupling of system components, DevOps and (typically automated) tests that measure and assert architecturally significant characteristics of a system. These tests they call “fitness functions” (biological metaphors are popular with the authors). The book’s introduction to fitness functions is actually slightly more careful than that, linking the concept to genetic algorithms and optimisation - but to call an automated test a “fitness function” is about as precise as calling a thermometer a “weather”. Nevertheless, the authors’ perspective on automated tests as validating essential architectural characteristics of a system during the execution of a deployment pipeline is an enligthening one.
For the most part, the book addresses fascinating topics in architecture - but sadly in a way that is frustratingly hand-waving, superficial and adds very little to their understanding. It doesn’t help that this new breed of O’Reilly books is apparently limited to 150 pages.
La caccia persistente degli ominidi come fonte biologico del nostro comportamento ed allo stesso tempo come paradigma della condizione umana.
Lea, la protagonista, racconta in modo intimo dalla sua chemioterapia, la relazione matura ma difficile con suo marito Shlomo, la distrazione piacevole ma ultimamente irrilevante di essere corteggiata da un bell’uomo giovane. Ma soprattutto parla della responsabilità di ognuno per se stesso - individualismo che nego decisamente.
The perfect technical book: written by an author intimately familiar with and obviously enthusiastic about the topic; detailed yet never tedious and always to the point; informed by and oriented towards practical concerns but not lacking in conceptual discussions and background information; well-structured with a clear common thread that ties the separate discussions together; far more than a tutorial yet at the same time fluent and logical in its progression, both within chapters and overall, like good tutorials are. And of course: Kubernetes itself is just exhilarating!
Erard illuminates from various perspectives the “neural tribe” of hyperpolyglots, i.e., people who “have” 6 or more - sometimes significantly more - languages. He discusses in detail the different forms of “having” a language, explores the neuroscience of the phenomenon, discusses learning methods, and, most importantly, tells the hyperpolyglots’ individual stories, starting with Giuseppe Mezzofanti.
Written in the 1950s, this is a quite entertaining parody of a group of inept Brits “conquering” the highest mountain on Earth - Rum Doodle.
The author explores the four pillars of a meaningful life - belonging, purpose, storytelling and transcendence - through a combination of i) results from contemporary psychological and sociological research and ii) numerous individual stories that exemplify these research results and one or more of the pillars. Most of the stories are engaging in their own right, but taken together they paint a colourful and fascinating picture of the landscape of human life and its quest for meaning.
It’s ironic that given the author’s origins, and the start of the book in her parents’ Persian Sufi meetinghouse in Montreal, the remainder of the book is so exclusively focused on the USA. At least it ends with Victor Frankl.
Due giorni e notti senza sonno a Marseille, come test medico, del figlio epilettico accompagnato dal padre divorziato, che risultano in una serie di esperienze sorprendenti e fiabesche.
Part 3 of the Southern Reach trilogy.
The actual novel to the introduction and scene-setting of parts 1 and 2. Intricately interwoven strands of basically the same story, leading up to a carefully prepared anti-climax. Even some sort of explanation of the events around Area X. But most importantly, finally, some complex, credible and not just frustrating human interaction: The Lighthouse keeper and his partner, the Seance and Science Brigade, Lowry, Control and Ghost Bird, adding Grace into the mix for the showdown.
All-in-all a very interesting approach to constructing a trilogy: re-visiting the same events, from different viewpoints, with ever-deeper insight.
Part 1 of the Southern Reach trilogy.
Area X, the psychologist and most importantly the biologist, the Tower and the Lighthouse, the Crawler.
A claustrophobic mystery tale set in the wilderness of Area X, quite imaginative, with awfully few explanations. Hoping for parts 2 and 3.
Lo scrittore italiano racconta brevemente i cento anni del Südtirol in Italia “partendo dai fatti e con spirito di verità” - e ci riesce ammirabilmente, in un modo che mi permette di capire da quale spirito nazista nasce l’idea del nostro nuovo governo di offrire la cittadinanza austriaca agli altoatesini di lingua tedesca e ladina.
Gedankensplitter und Aphorismen primär zur Problematik der Identitätsfindung von Geflohenen. Sehr persönlich geprägt, mit Sprache - Muttersprache, Neusprache - als einem zentralen Faktor.
Una storia d’amore a Milano tra Gabriele e Silvia, anche abbastanza romantica, situata però in quel strano mondo stereotipo di Fabio Volo.
Thin and approachable but very much a tutorial instead of a thorough discussion of Kubernetes.
Part 3 of the Broken Earth trilogy.
Orogeny and the Stillness.
Part 2 of the Broken Earth trilogy.
Part 1 of the Broken Earth trilogy.
Three slightly intertwined magical stories. How could i have not known about the Iberian rhinoceros!
Un’avvocato simpatico - chi l’avrebbe mai pensato?
Una contribuzione abbastanza deprimente al corpus dei libri sul fenomeno della immigrazione. Un bel testo lo stesso.
Protagonisti che non riescono a comunicare, con delle conseguenze prevedibili.
A listing of generically applicable non-functional requirements for individual microservices and the infrastructure on which they are developed and operated. The author speaks from her experience at Uber, and the way she writes shows that she has completely internalised the characteristics of the large-scale microservice architecture at Uber. Her writing is suberbly concise, no-nonsense, practical and down-to-earth. This includes her excellent short introductory description of the essential elements of a microservice architecture, and the advantages and enormous complications that this way of designing software-intensive enterprise systems entails.
The book gives a detailed appreciation of what is required of a production-grade microservice and microservice system (Fowler calls it, quite appropriately, ecosystem) - but it doesn’t explain how to realise these non-functional requirements: it states that microservices must guard against the failure of the microservices they depend on, through fallbacks or caching, but doesn’t explain how to do that; it states that service registration, discovery, health-checks and load-balancing are essential, but doesn’t go into any detail about the options for the realisation thereof; it states that metrics about the operation of microservices and the infrastructure they run on must be collected, collated and displayed in dashboards, but doesn’t give any hint about how to go about that.
The direction given by this book is extremely important - but it doesn’t tell how to move in that direction. Rarely has “easier said than done” been such an appropriate response to a book about software architecture.
A group of business consultants gives a high-level overview of and introduction to the most important aspects of architecting software systems with microservices. Best when it addresses organisational concerns; includes a decidedly confused explanation of event sourcing and CQRS and a surprising re-definition of technical debt.
A tour de force of functional and reactive concepts and techniques in Scala: monoid, monad, applicative, Kleisli, free monads, Scalaz, Akka actors and persistence, Akka Streaming, CQRS and event sourcing, property-based testing with ScalaCheck. All of that is held together by examples from the domain of personal (and a bit of investment) banking, and the wisdom and language of Domain Driven Design.
The book is most thorough when introducing functional domain modeling and compositionality, slowly building up to the use of more involved abstractions like Kleisli and free monads and their usage in domain models. In contrast, the treatment of reactive approaches seems a bit of an afterthought and is not as well argued and detailed, often referring the reader to other sources.
This is an intense book, which is clear about the author’s perspectives and preferences and uses the power of non-trivial code examples to bridge the gap between theory, concepts and implementation. Overall it’s probably fair to say that this is an important book at this particular point in the evolution of programming languages and software architecture.
Written in a style somewhere between a self-help book and a marketing flyer for the author’s other books and services offerings, this short book provides a helpful introduction to the most important DDD concepts.
A novel based on the biography of Dmitri Shostakovich, narrated in short paragraphs of free association. Claustrophobic but quite arresting.
What a wonderful idea: sketch the history of a country - Singapore - through extracts from literary works dealing with seminal events in its history. Each extract is preceded by a paragraph introducing the event and sketching its historic context.
La triste cronologia della pena e delle conseguenze causate dal fatto che un uomo lascia sua moglie e sui figli per vivere con un’altra, a Roma. Poi cambia idea, si riuniscono, ma senza convinzione e pieni di amarezza.
Omicidi orribili nel quartiere Coppedè. Una concatenazione di sciocchezze - ma letto a Roma non è così male.
Una brilliante riscrittura del romanzo di Jane Austen, situato nel presente a Torino.
Claims to be a science fiction novel but is instead almost exclusively about life in England during WWII. Despite its 600 pages the book doesn’t even try to bring the long-winded and circuitous story to any sort of conclusion - this is what the follow-up novel is for - if one can muster the willpower to drudge through it.
Storie personali dell’autore su Pisa che risultano in una piccola guida originale e simpatica - se non ci fosse quel sciovinismo insopportabile: “Turisti di tutte le specie - americani in pantaloncini con due autobotti di lardo al posto delle gambe, giapponesi mingherlini a coppie o a frotte, tedeschi in libera uscita con una lattina di birra in mano e otto in corpo…”
Luo Ji is still around, but Cheng Xin is the main protagonist of this final part. The plot gets progressively more imaginative - even wildly so - and therefore interesting. But for all its scientific and technical credibility, the characters remain colourless and the story therefore as captivating as reading a history book. Incidentally, that’s also the narrative style that Liu (or his translator?) prefers. When the relationships of the last few survivors of humanity are described with “she looked at him amorously” - end of story - while the activation of the curvature drive warrants countless pages of detailed description then you know where the author’s focus is.
Part 2 of Liu’s trilogy. A global crisis seen with Chinese eyes: there is China - almost exclusively - and a bit of Japan, North America and Europe, but South Asia, the Middle East, South America and Africa and not even mentioned. Interestingly, the UN plays an important and almost noble role.
Not so much science fiction but fiction about science, from a very Chinese point of view, which is probably the most interesting aspect of this book.
The story of the 50-odd year scientific endeavour that led to the first detection of gravitational waves in September 2015 by two LIGO sites in the USA - just in time for the centennial anniversary of the publication of Einstein’s general theory of relativity and the theoretical prediction of gravitational waves. What’s more, the event that produced the gravitional waves was the collision of two black holes and the detection therefore constitutes arguably the hitherto most direct observation of black holes.
Ein nostalgisches Heimspiel: die junge Marie, aus ärmlicher ländlicher Familie, nimmt eine Stelle als Kindermädchen für Arthur Schnitzlers Sohn Heinrich und Tochter Lili in Währing an, findet dort ein neues Zuhause, und verliebt sich in den Buchhändler Oskar. Eine einfache, leicht süßliche Geschichte, die aber Armut und soziale Ungerechigkeit nicht ganz ausklammert, und atmosphärisch plausibel erscheint. Währinger Straße, Türkenschanzpark, das Cottage Christkindlmarkt am Hof, Wien im Schnee, Theater, aufgeklärtes jüdisches Bürgertum.
Gli ingredienti dei romanzi di Izzo combinati in modo puro e duro: la gente povera, i disgraziati, immigranti, l’amore, sopratutto quello passato, il supporto della amicizia, xenofobia e razzismo, e ovviamente Marsiglia ed il mare.
Racconti che di solito hanno qualcosa a che fare con la musica.
Dopo essere stato bandito ad Aosta, Rocco Schiavone racconta gli avvenamenti del 2007 a Roma: il caso dei due ventenni uccisi per avere rubato della droga, ma sopratutto la vicenda di sua moglie.
Herr Köhlmeier erzählt Geschichten mit Tradition und Herr Liessmann erklärt sie uns unter Verweis auf Kierkegaard und in der Regel deutsche Philosophen. Nichts is so verführerisch wie jahrhundertealte Diskurse in wenigen Worten allgemein verständlich erscheinen zu lassen.
American writer with an interest in anthropology gets pregnant, moves to New York’s upper east side with her rich husband and has to come to terms with the social situation she encounters there
The neurologist-writer Sacks talks about his life and - mostly - his work. Full of fascinating little details and insightful remarks, this is also a strangely alienating book: it must be (hopefully!) rare for a doctor to speak of his patients mainly as inspiration for books and case histories instead of as subjects to be cured or, at least, helped.
This booklet introduces Lagom, Lightbend’s application framework that implements the concepts of Reactive Microservices in Java. Most features in Lagom can clearly be traced to the principles outlined by Jonas Bonér in his architecture proposal, yet any deeper discussion of this connection and the important choices made in realising the architectural vision in Lagom (in protocols (synchronous REST and WebSockets) or the nature of the service registry, to name just two) is sadly missing.
A booklet that proposes a certain approach to architecting individual microservices and their collaboration in systems of services. That approach is, unsurprisingly, strongly shaped by the reactive movement, actor systems like Akka, and, in general, message-driven communication patterns. It is an enticing and coherent view - but it is also quite outside the hegemonic discourse on microservices, which is dominated by synchronous REST and containers.
Der Originaltitel “Les marins perdus” ist um einiges treffender: Diamantis, Abdul und Nedim stolpern durch Izzo’s geliebtes Marseilles - verloren, melancholisch, liebenswert, und letztlich gar nicht so absolut hoffnungslos wie man vermuten würde.
Un thriller made in Italy! Ed è anche veramente accattivante, molto psicologico. Forse per ragioni economiche è situato in uno strano ed anonimo paese multiculturale, ma ovviamente nell’ovest, dove i nomi della gente sono vagamente europei ma anche poco autentici e percìo un po’ comici.
Un mix fra testi di alcuni canzoni del omonimo disco del cantautore e racconti sulla storia di queste canzoni. Il tema è sempre l’immigrazione, da diversi punti di vista. Quindi un’idea molto simile a quella di Roberto Vecchioni, ma molto più onesta ed interessante, senza tutta quella egomania di Vecchioni.
A detective story in the near future (why do science fiction authors always overestimate the rate of progress?) when people can fork-off artificial bodies whose memories and experiences can later re-join the original self. Slightly trashy and for my taste too focused on this main topic and story-line, but full of delightful little ideas.
La giornalista italiana racconta la commovente ed informativa storia della ragazzina siriana, conosciuta in un parco a Belgrado, che ha presa la cosidetta rotta balcanica fra Aleppo fino in Olanda. Usa un linguaggio semplice, proprio da ragazza e fortunatamente la politica non c’entra.
Il centesimo libro di Camilleri (oppure addirittura il centesimo giallo con Montalbano?) ed il mio primo. Ma che lingua!
Explains with copious use of scripts and examples Docker and the vast and fluid Docker ecosystem, including the many still-experimental aspects of networking, service discovery and orchestration. Uses a nice, simple yet far from trivial multi-tier web app throughout.
Storielle (vere?, false?, esagerate?) della vita di Vecchioni, narrate in prima persona. Quelle poche che scappano dalla fissazione su lui stesso sono le ottime.
Where to begin?: Feminism; the power fathers, husbands, men can exert over women; pyschoanalysis; life-long friendship; the life-long struggle to escape from the psychological cage erected by early experiences; the unpleasant, unlikeable aspects of an active, inquisitive, probing mind; dignity and pride; recognition; consciousness; artificial intelligence; intellect vs. emotion; self-determination; hunger for experience and life itself; sex and love and the importance of the mind in allowing attraction; the will to live and the will for power; self-reflection and self-hate; the New York art world; success and stardom; what is art and how does it effect the consumer?; authorship; vacuous posing vs. depth of thinking; English and German and Yiddish; a dignified death; and of course Brooklyn, Red Hook, warehouses, Judaism, New York as microcosm: Rarely have i experienced a book so marvellously complex and rich on so many different levels. And in the end Sweet Autumn, of all characters: the naive, good, honest, kind anti-intellectual. Who would have thought.
Un incontro a Atene, le due vite di Caterina e la schizofrenia latente di Daniele, il suicidio dei genitori. Un testo misterioso, lento ed affascinante.
Numerose interviste affascinanti e abbastanza esplicite.
Still an excellent book, still containing many nuggets of precious insight into the intricacies of Scala. Yet the comparisons with Java are now decidedly outdated as they assume (without stating so explicitly) pre-8 Java in all but the one chapter that specifically deals with Scala 2.12 and Java 8.
Il vecchio donnaiolo spiega il suo mondo interno e seduce la ventenne. Spaventoso ma anche avvincente.
L’amore di una trentenne e un ragazzo di ventidue anni, l’amore per il teatro e l’amore della religione intrecciati meravigliosamente in un belissimo racconto sensibilissimo.
Il libraio diventa dirigente: racconta la sua vita, parlando di cose che non mi interessano in un modo che non è interessante, enumerando avvenimenti meno interessanti e introducendo in punti casuali del racconto personaggi che spesso hanno niente a che fare con la trama e che quindi non mi interessano affatto.
Dialoghi sul suicidio.
A fascinating journey into comparative linguistics, and, in particular, the repertoire of morpho-syntactic features employed by the world’s 7000 human languages. Simply mind-boggling to imagine that NLP could one day tame this zoo of creativity.
A tale of stalking, a scientific perspective on life and, ultimately, self-defence.
Una collezione di racconti, alcuni di poche pagine, sul tema della paura, quasi un omaggio a Roald Dahl e Edgar Allan Poe.
The trilogy’s final, yet again fascinatingly psychological and sociological, with elements of a political thriller. Still all-female personal pronouns, tea consumption to the point of caricature, but truly fascinating and engaging.
Second part of Breq’s struggle, mostly an engrossing psychological study.
A classic from 1999 that argued for the need of developing software engineering into a mature profession similar to other engineering disciplines. Explains the SWEBOK in some detail. Strange to see how most developments since then took an entirely different direction.
A strange book, touching on many subjects in NLP, but developing in sufficient depth only very few, such as various Apache Solr configuration topics.
Ein Bilderbuch zu einigen Aikido-Techniken, zu wenig erklärt.
An interesting history of developments in Aikido around the death of O’Sensei, from the point of view of one of his students and the founder of an independent American Aikido school.
Jonas (ein anderer) besteigt in jedem zweiten Kapitel den Mount Evererest und in jedem anderen Kapitel lernen wir chronologisch seine Lebensgeschichte ab der Kindheit kennen: familiäres Unglück, Adoption durch Picco, innigste Verbundenheit mit Werner und Jonas’ geistig behindertem Zwilling Mike, Begabungen, Abenteuer, Reichtum, Übersinnliches, Abenteuer, Sonnenfinsternisse und schließlich Beziehung mit Marie. Spannend mit so jemandem mitzuleben!
Jonas muss damit zurecht kommen dass er, aus ihm unbekannten Gründen, plötzlich der letzte Mensch auf Erden zu sein scheint. In der dritten Person und in einfachen Hauptsatzreihen beschreibt der Autor mit klinischer Distanz die wenig interessanten und zermürbend repititiven Aktionen, mit denen der Protagonist auf diese überraschende Erkenntnis reagiert. Eine Tortur.
Lorenzo viene curato dal egotismo e dalla paura di vivere quando aiuta sua sorrelastra Olivia nella disintossicazione.
After ridiculing Cartesian mind-body dualism, the author explores various mostly psychological aspects of physical exercise, referring to practices and ideals of Greek antiquity, to philosophers of all ages and to modern sports-people.
Argues convincingly for the extension of the locus of cognitive processes to include not just the brain but also the body and environment. Uses numerous enlightening examples from animal behaviour and robotics to make that point. Clearly incluenced by the writings of Clarke and Chalmers and James Gibson’s ecological psychology.
Una novella sulla vendetta.
Leggeri pensieri e brevi racconti.
Towards true globalised existence.
Data scientists guide through analyses of various kinds, using Apache Spark from Scala as their main tool.
La storia, allo stesso momento innocente e sconvolgente, del piccolo Michele, che scoperta il coinvolgimento di quasi tutto il suo paesino del sud in un sequestro, e diventa amico dell’ostaggio.
A couple of skillfully narrated stories, mostly set in the past and at times of war, seemingly unrelated at first sight but with numerous touchpoints where one story’s events remind us of another story. In the end, however, no attempt at a coherent explanation of what has been described, and how it all hangs together, other than a few hints at a vaguely sketched physical theory. Very frustrating and, ultimately, absurd.
Pietro Paladini, romano che vive a Milano, si sta rendendo conto che la sua compagna è morta quando lui salvava la vita di una sconosciuta.
An excellent introduction to the core Spark programming model and its SQL, Streaming and MLLib packages, with code examples in Scala, Java and Python. As an aside, it showcases just how tediously verbose (pre-Lambda) Java is by today’s standards, and how close fully type-checked Scala code is to Python.
The kind of boring, ivory tower programming book that has the potential to spoil the joy in coding in even the most elegant of languages.
An excellent, gentle yet thorough, slightly repetitive and at times quite funny introduction to most things Haskell.
L’amore tra Costantino e Guido, dal inizio saltando strati sociali e per un lungo periodo anche la distanza tra Londra e Roma, viene ultimamente “spiegato” in un modo sporco e deprimente. Una grande delusione.
Delightful, calm and reflective episodes from the working life of Vasantha, a minibus driver in Sri Lanka.
A light introduction to the basics of functional programming with code examples in Groovy, Clojure and Scala. Java 8 lambdas and streams do not get consistent coverage.
Beleuchtet die Situation an Wiener Schulen sorgfältig, hoch informativ und durchaus unterhaltsam von diversen Blickwinkeln - und immer aus der Perspektive des Praktikers, des Lehrers.
Kein schönes Schauspiel: ein überforderter und finanziell unter Druck stehender Ex-Lehrer aus der Provinz kommt nach Wien um an einer polytechnischen Schule zu unterrichten. Alles ist neu, alles ist schlecht, an allem sind Wien und die Schüler - isbesondere jene mit nicht-deutschsprachigen Eltern - Schuld. In diesem Buch arbeitet er seine Erlebnisse in schlechtem Deutsch auf.
Part auto-biography, part popular science book, it ventures far deeper into contemporary pure mathematics and the Langlands programme than what can be expected from a book of this type. Can one understand Kac-Moody algebras or zero-branes from reading it? Of course not, but one can become motivated to study more and in more depth - and Frenkel is certainly motivating.
Marvelous broad-sweep space opera and social critique, not unlike what Ian Banks will sadly never again write.
The vacation of a young couple in Venice turns into a horror trip. Slowly, meticulously narrated in detached, clinical prose - starting from the mundane details of a holiday existence to the surreal aspects of a brutal crime. First published in 1981, it already feels dated and the characters not quite convincing.
La micro-psicologia della vacanza estiva di una professoressa per la letteratura Inglese.
Proposes a functional extremist’s approach to Scala, were object-orientation is not a guiding design principle, all functions are pure, algebraic data-types, monoids and monads rule. Very much in the spirit of scalaz and other typelevel projects. Well written, patiently explained, lots of helpful exercises. The problem is that Haskell will always remain a better Haskell than Scala, even with tyepelevel’s Scala fork.
Quarantenne riconnette alla sua infanzia a Bari. Gli avvenimenti nel passato sono scritto in prima persona, quelli del presente in seconda persona.
Arno Geiger arbeitet die Alzheimer-Erkrankung seines Vaters auf. Verblüffend, dass man diese radikal private Geschichte überhaupt lesen kann, ohne sich dabei als Voyeur zu fühlen.
The expertly interwoven story-lines of Adam Walker, the shy Adonis as a student-poet-lawyer; his beautiful sister Gwyn; the sinister Rudolf Born at the epicentre of the narrative; the Parisian Cecile Juin,; and, of course, a narrator-protagonist. “Spellbinding” describes it best for me.
La vera e forte storia di Samia, ragazza somala, guerriera della corsa, morta durante l’ultima tappa del Viaggio, vicino a Lampedusa.
Sheds light on what translation - and indeed language - is and does from a wide variety of angles, touching along the way on structural linguistics, the EU, film and countless enlightening examples of everyday language use. Written in this very fluent and accessible way in which only true masters of a subject are capable of expressing themselves, it has radically transformed my perspective on translation and the work of translators.
Luo und seine Liebe zur Schneiderin, des Erzählers ergebene Freundschaft und unterdrückten Gefühle für sie, die Faszination verbotener westlicher Literatur, und die rohe Gewalt der chinesischen Landschaft rund um den Phönix-des-Himmels-Berges, die zum Instrument der Maoistischen Kulturrevolution wird.
Come avviene che persone che erano innamorati pazzi si separano nonostante? Il romanzo della Mazzantini è uno studio di questo mistero. La vita di Delia e Gaetano è rivisto tramite piccole scene sullo fondo di una cena dopo la loro separazione. Il lettore si può sperare, me ci sono veramente pochi segni di speranza.
An accessible presentation of the core material of advanced Classical Mechanics: the Newtonian, Lagrangian and Hamiltonian formulations, the least action principle, generalised coordinates, Poisson brackets. In short: a good introduction to Quantum Mechanics, which, incidentally, is the second part of this series.
On the downside, the authors try to keep the mathematics as simple as possible, which makes some formulae less elegant than otherwise possible. Also, quite a few sloppy errors have slipped in (and have apparently been corrected in the 2nd edition).
An analysis of recent political and economic developments in Italy, and what is needed to change the country’s trajectory towards the better.
Dino, Cate, Belbo (il cane ed il villaggio) ma sopratutto Corrado e la sua relazione con la guerra, prima a Torino e sulla collina fuori, dopo in campagna.
Lord Jeremy Stork, später Cigogne, und seine Frau Emily wandern auf die Insel der Linkshänder aus, und erlernen dort die Lebensweise dieser Pioniergesellschaft, die ihr ganzes Gemeinwesen der Erreichung zwischenmenschlichen Glücks unterordnet.
Eine Utopie als Roman, ähnlich Aldous Huxley’s “Island”, mit wunderbaren, denkenswerten Einfällen aber unzähligen störenden und ärgerlichen Schwächen als Roman und als Text.
Die Lebensgeschichte von Allan Karlsson und gleichzeitig die Geschichte eines Großteils des 20. Jahrhunderts, erzählt in abstoßendem norddeutschen Dialekt und simplen Sätzen.
La impressionante e forte storia di un ragazzino che fugge dall’Afghanistan in Italia.
Comprehensive introduction to Mule ESB, its usage, programming paradigm and API.
Come cambiare vita.
A short, pragmatic introduction into Mule flows and the usage of Mule Cloud Connectors for accessing APIs such as those of SalesForce, Twitter and LinkedIn. Also discusses the relevant topics of authentication and authorisation (e.g. via OAuth), connection management and streaming APIs. Very approachable, with many examples of short Mule flows, but does not go very deep on either of these topics.
Die Geschichte von Charly, erzaehlt ausschliesslich unter Verwendung des unpersoenlichen “man”. Charly ist weder Held noch Anti-Held (wenn auch eher letzteres als ersteres), erlebt bis auf ein paar unglueckliche Todesfaelle in seiner unmittelbaren Umgebung nichts wirklich erwaehnenswertes, und doch fesselt sein Leben, vor Allem weil es mit Wunderbar ironischen Forumulierungen und Bildern beschrieben wird.
Features many of the trademark characteristics of a large section of Mieville’s books: a colourful, confusing, industrial world; a society with strange rules and an alien collective consciousness; breathless, harsh, ruthlessly descriptive language; an ambitious, sweeping, carefully and effectively structured story. Stays with you for a long time.
A book that focues religiously on the “how”, often not bothering to even desribe the “what”, and making it abundantly clear that the authors most of the time have no clue of the “why”. An insult to the reader’s intelligence.
The old master of enterprise Java describes in his clear, no-nonsense style the new version of Java EE’s API for RESTful web services and clients. Just perfect.
A forceful argument in favour of designing RESTful APIs around the HATEOAS principle, and an exploration of currently available technologies for doing so, amongst them hypermedia formats like Collection+JSON, AtomPub, microformats/microdata, HAL and Siren. Scattered around this core agenda one finds thoughtful reflections and advice on RESTful API design, HTTP verbs (PATCH, LINK, …), HTTP headers and status codes, and a concise and helpful exegesis of the Fielding dissertation.
If this were not essentially a documentation of an imperfect and fluid status quo (in the area of hypermedia formats) and a futuristic vision (closing the semantic gap through generic hypermedia formats and profiles) it could well become a timeless classic. As it is, it’s “just” a well-written, up-to-date and forward-thinking guide to truly RESTful API design.
La storia del pianista sul Virginian.
Una divertente e informativa storia sulla vita degli immigrati musulmani a Roma.
Il vecchio professore Martin e la bella ragazza Michelle.
Una collezione di testi, alcuni di cui abbastanza personali. Ma come sempre, il suo stile mi fa sentire calmo ed a mio agio.
It seems the authors aimed to write a book that bridges the gap between the classical Java literature and modern-day Java features and software engineering practices. As such it is a curious mixture of practice-informed theory (on contemporary concurrency, dependency injection, …), developers’ guide (on NIO.2, Guice, project Coin features, …) and tutorial (on Scala, Jenkins, …). All-in-all this is an enticing and highly useful cocktail, very well prepared and presented, and one that truly should be digested by every well-grounded Java developer. I certainly thoroughly enjoyed reading every single section of it.
Mathematical notation, techniques and approaches to proving mathematical statements, set theory, functions, integer and modular arithmetic, congruence classes and equivalence relations, prime numbers.
This is a a book about modularity in object-oriented software, somewhat specific to the JVM, with a final part that introduces OSGi and applies the principles introduced in the rest of the book to OSGi. The central part of the book, however, is an OSGi-independent pattern language of software modularity. The patterns presented there provide a rounded discussion of modularity and conscious dependency managment from several viewpoints, and give clear design guidelines for architecting modular software, exemplified by well thought-through sample code.
My only real disagreement is with a woefully inadequate discussion in the introductory part of the book of Java EE as a “failed” modularity approach on the JVM. Given the contribution of Java EE to this topic it is simply not good enough to equate Java EE with old-style entity beans and brush it aside in a few paragraphs.
The book is riddled with small errors that betray a tortured history: it must have undergone fundamental reorganisation and although the result is well thought-through, i do not envy the author for having to go through this process. Also, the discussion is quite repetitive, and i can’t help but wonder whether a different format than a pattern catalogue wouldn’t have been a more appropriate one for the presentation of the fascinating topic of designing modular software.
La ragazza del tram e il suo ammiratore passano un paio di giorni fascinanti a New York.
Esperimentando, ho ascoltato l’audiolibro, letto da Nanni Moretti, e simultaneamente ho seguito il testo del libro. Era un successo, questa idea. Ma anche il libro era piacevole, spesso malinconico, qualche volta, purtroppo, un pochino razzista.
Ha uno stile che trovo molto rilassante perché è calmo, grammaticalmente elegante ed usa un registro abbastanza formale.
Il primo “vero” libro italiano che ho mai letto!
An epic novel that portrays London culture and life-style at the start of the 21st century through the events and people related to Pepys Road. Masterful and thoroughly enjoyable.
Approaches the fascinating and important topic of Akka’s implementation of actor-based concurrency (and related concurrency APIs) from a practical viewpoint, with one fairly complex concurrent software system serving as an example throughout the book. The writing style is meant to be entertaining but was in fact a painful distraction.
Shepherd is a neuroscientist who has worked on aspects of the neural processing of smell in mammals. In this book he gives a rounded description of how humans and other animals deal with the flavour of food and drink.
Central to this book is the concept of the “flavour image”, which is the neural activation pattern in the brain caused by food and drink. Firstly, this activation pattern is triggered by sensory perception: most importantly (retro-nasal) smell and taste, but also other senses such as hearing and vision, and touch originating from the mouth and lips. Secondly, neural processing of sensory perception is performed along pathways and in stages, in the case of smell starting with the smell receptors in the nose, proceeding via the glomerular layer up to the orbito-frontal cortex, contributing to the establishment of the “flavour image” along the way.
Shepherd goes into quite a bit of detail explaining the sensory perception of smell and taste, and briefly outlines that of the other senses. He then explores how the neuronal signals from different senses are processed and integrated, and how they interact with memory and the reward system. He also briefly discusses motor action and relevant behavioural responses informed by these neural processes. The discussion is rounded off with brief excursions into the evolution, sociology and anthropology of cooking and eating.
All-in-all this is a very rewarding book, presenting several insightful perspectives on the topic of the flavour of food and drink, and good explanations of the central working mechanisms of the brain in this context. Yet deciphering the tiny inscriptions on the few central diagrams of the book was more pain than pleasure, and Shepherd’s writing style is certainly more informative than literary.
Analysis is a tricky subject: developed over centuries, yet constantly reformulated to expose its essential characteristics and generalise them to - one is tempted to say - ever more esoteric settings. At the same time, presumably by necessity, the definitions of its central notions and the derivation of its theorems became ever more precise and rigorous. It is challenging to combine that indispensable rigour and the equally necessary intuition in a presentation of Analysis.
Bartle and Sherbert succeed in keeping with the rigour and abstraction of contemporary (standard real) Analysis, yet also set it in a (briefly portrayed but helpful) historical context and succinctly point out important topological generalisations from real intervals to more general (e.g. compact) sets and from the real absolute value to other metrics. Their verbal (as opposed to symbolical) formulations are a bit terse for my taste - and this also explains why the book is a remarkably compact 400 pages. On the other hand, their symbolical formulations make use of more words (as opposed to symbols) than I found necessary. They make very good use of minimal yet complete and very helpful diagrams.
In typical Iain Banks culture novel fashion, this latest incarnation of his extraordinary series of loosely connected books takes the reader on a mind-stretching and vast journey of the small and cosmically large, the personal and galaxy-spanning cultural. Specifically, this book explores the final days of the Subliming of a civilisation, that of the Gzilt. Vyr Cossonant, a Gzilt herself, finds herself at the centre of machinations related to the breakdown of political structures and authority in the wake of that Subliming. For the central part of her adventure she is joined by the Mind of the Culture ship “Mistake Not…”, with a motley assemblage of typically eccentric ships scheming in the background. The rest is vintage Banks: never in the slightest repetitive - though he certainly explores and revisits familiar themes.
Geoffrey and his sister Sunday of the Akinya family, and a construct (computational neurological model) of their grandmother Eunice become entangled in a fascinating treasure hunt around the solar system.
The characters are beautifully fleshed-out, the social and technological setting richly painted, sufficiently explained and, crucially, intelligently and credibly envisioned. For my taste the story has somewhat too many halmarks of a thriller, is slightly too driven, but this hardly distracts from the fact that this is a remarkably balanced book, that winningly combines the detailed and knowledgable exploration of forces at the personal, familial, societal, political and technological level.
Ein Streifzug durch die Grundlagen der reinen Mathematik: mathematische Logik, elementare Algebra, Beweistechniken, Mengenlehre, etwas Zahlentheorie, und lineare Algebra. Exakte Definitionen angereichert mit intuitiv verständlichen Erklärungen und vielen Beispielen.
What starts as a carefully argued book about basic - but certainly not trivial - statistical principles, results and techniques, ultimately descends into a mass of individual examples with little generalisation and exploration of everyday use.
Eine junge Norwegerin sucht und findet Neuorientierung auf einer Reise nach Frankreich.
More about the Hegemony and Hyperion - in fact more than i cared about. Grand scale has its appeal in Science Fiction, but not everything is worth telling. Still, a truly pleasing climax.
A book about moral philosophy of economics. At the same time thorough in its well-reasoned arguments and utterly frustrating in its ignoring of many forces - most importantly the undeniable fact of global competition - that shape contemporary capitalism.
The life stories of seven individuals from across the Hegemony and how they ended up as pilgrims to the Shrike and time tombs on Hyperion.
An accomplished sociologist tries to portray the dominant forces structuring contemporary life on this planet. A daunting and brave undertaking, that leads him to briefly look at the past in order to understand where we are coming from; at waves of globalisation, including the current one; at the impact of religion and family systems on everyday life; at economic and political forces; and at geography and economics. In a fascinating chapter near the end of the book he compares and contrasts the characteristics of the stages in the lives of people under these various influences - how these forces are played-out on the level of the individual. Statistics are Therborn’s main tool, and recounting those does not always make for an engrossing read. But the sheer scope of this project and the insight it gives by exposing structure in the stream of billions of individual lives is truly fascinating.
A science fiction thriller, set mostly on a Mars colony, of epic weirdness and imagination. I wished for much more and far richer detail and accompanying context in the depiction of all those wonderful aspects of this strange world, though.
A sociological and anthropological study of the lives of the people frequenting Chungking Mansions, a large commercial building in the touristic centre of Kowloon. These people are primarily traders from sub-saharan Africa, buying goods and products from stalls in Chungking Mansions run by South Asian immigrants and largely owned by ethnic Chinese. Little hotels in the building cater to those traders and to budget tourists from all over the world. The study thoroughly investigated the daily activities of these people, their background and interactions, and the flow of goods implicated by those activities. By looking in detail, from the inside of this social system - as anthropologists are bound to do - the study offers fascinating insights into the world of these individuals and teaches a lot about so-called low-end globalisation.
Short stories or meditations prompted by the author’s daily life in Hong Kong. A Hong Konger by birth, he moved abroad to study and came back many years later with a necessarily altered perspective on his native city - which prompted him to start a blog about his experiences, and ultimately to write this book. He is an eloquent, funny, concerned liberal, with a gift for observation and introspection. The result is the perfect book to get to know this fascinating city beyond site-seeing and shopping. Since i don’t do either of the latter, i was truly lucky to discover this little treasure of a book early in my trip!
A thorough and rounded discussion of “classical” statistics, mostly related to the general linear model and its offshoots (ANOVA, ANCOVA, single and multiple linear regression, logistic regression, log-linear analysis, …) from the perspective of a psychologist analysing experimental data. Could be slightly less repetitive and a bit more exhaustive in the mathematical treatment of statistical methods.
Herve This is a scientist, food-lover and co-founder of the discipline now called Molecular Gastronomy. He writes from within a French culinary tradition, but sometimes acknowledges aspects of other national cuisines. This book is organised like a meal into appetisers, main courses and desserts, and in each section he discusses two dishes from a scientific (chemical/physical) and cultural perspective. Interspersed are excerpts from a series of interviews he has given on topics related to Molecular Gastronomy.
Near the end of the book he says “It’s better to understand what one is doing and then to decide, in perfect liberty, what one wishes to do.”. This is a fitting motto for this book (as well as to his approach to cooking, I assume. It also strikes me as a fruitful and rewarding approach to life in general, greatly preferably to blindly following cargo cults.). He is a scientist, after all, and wishes to understand and explain. Therefore he often discusses experiments to investigate certain cooking phenomena and dictums, and summarises and explains their outcome in order to instill in the reader curiosity and an appreciation of a rational approach to cooking. He obviously cherishes French culinary tradition and the social aspects of cooking and eating in general, but at the same time he puts a scientists mind and approach to work on the phenomena involved in preparing food. The result is a ruthlessly questioning of what one might call culinary superstition, and a fundamentally positivistic belief in progress and improvement - all of it routed in tradition. Nostalgia is definitely not his thing.
The book to me strikes a perfect balance between, on the one hand, credibly transmitting love and appreciation of food, well-prepared dishes and the important social role that these play, and, on the other hand, employing physical and chemical principles to explain the forces at work in the kitchen. To be sure, this is a small book and therefore cannot and does not discuss chemical phenomena in any great detail, but Herve This is scientifically precise enough to make the reader appreciate the principles and reap benefits in terms of increased understanding.
Der Autor ist Schweizer, der im fortgeschrittenen Alter einer lange gehegten Sehnsucht folgend zuerst nach Rom und nach Umbrien zieht. Das Buch erzaehlt aber nicht seine Lebensgeschichte, sondern ist letztlich eine im Wesentlichen ungeordnete Sammlung von relativ unzusammenhaengenden Eindruecken, Meditationen, Schilderungen und Kurzberichten aus seinem Leben in Italien.
Das Format ist fuer den Leser verwirrend, weil kaum Kontinuitaet besteht. Der Inhalt aber, die Form der Auseinandersetzung mit Italien, ist bewundernswert: hier versucht einer, all die widerspruechlichen Eindruecke und Erfahrungen, die er im Umgang mit einem weiten Spektrum der italienischen Kultur macht, ehrlich zu reflektieren und aufzuarbeiten. Seine Liebe zur italienischen Lebensart, zu Literatur, Film (Fellini!) und natuerlich Essen&Trinken kommt dabei genau so klar zum Ausdruck wie seine Abscheu vor Schlamperei, Umweltverschmutzung und Verbrechen, mit denen er konfrontiert wird. Der Autor versucht ganz klar, diese Zwiespaeltigkeit in fairer und ausgewogener Weise abzuhandeln, und ist dabei nicht unerfolgreich. Allerdings zieht sich ein negativer bis depressiver Grundton durch einen Grossteil des Buches, der bei aller Begeisterung fuer die positiven Aspekte Italiens doch die Ueberhand behaelt. Wenn de Autor zum Beispiel Brandstiftung auf seinem Grundstueck in Umbrien beschreibt, so ist ein gehoeriges Mass an Verbitterung durchaus verständlich; aber weshalb die Beschreibung eines Ausflugs zum Capo Santa Maria di Leuca zu einer Meditation ueber Muellströme verkommen muss, weiss wohl nur der Autor selbst - und ist wohl kaum als faire oder auch nur nachvollziehbare Aufarbeitung des Ausblicks auf das Meer von dort zu bezeichnen.
Das Buch endet mit einem Nachwort in Form eines Dialogs zwischen dem Autor und einem deutschen Soziologen, der seit Jahrzehnten in Italien lebt. Hier kommen tiefes Verständnis für die italienische Kultur zum Vorschein, die die vorhergehenden Schilderungen des Autors in ein milderes Licht tauchen, weil sie sie aus einem groesseren, geschichtlicheren, abgehobeneren Blickwinkel betrachten.
Letztlich bleibt ueber: Akkulturation ist ein langwieriger und fuer das Individuum sehr oft schmerzvoller Prozess, weil sie notwendiger an den Grundfesten des eigenen Wertesystems ruettelt - und mit steigendem Alter wird das nicht leichter.
Über weite Strecken ein unvergleichlich trauriges Buch: der Hikikomori und der gefeuerte Salaryman im Park einer japanischen Großstadt fassen ganz langsam und zart Vertrauen zueinander, und erzählen einander - durchwegs kompromisslos tragische - Geschichten aus ihrem Leben. Zumindest der junge Hikikomori lernt dadurch wieder Anteilnahme am Geschick seiner Mitmenschen, und kann so aus seiner Apathieblase ausbrechen und wieder am Leben teilnehmen. Ein ausgesprochen bewegendes Hohelied auf Empathie und zwischenmenschliche Bande, letztlich erfüllend, aber auch strapaziös aufgrund der hohen emotionalen Anforderungen.
Der unsympathische Kunstjournalist Sebastian Zoellner moechte eine Biographie ueber den alten und in Vergessenheit geratenen Maler Manuel Kaminski schreiben. Das Zusammentreffen der beiden wird zum Katalysator fuer einen glatten Neubeginn von Zoellner’s in allen Aspekten misglueckten Leben. Brutal zynisch, trotzdem oft auch humorvoll, mit reichlich Gelegenheit zum Fremdschaemen.
EIn bemerkenswertes philosophisches Buechlein, das, ausgehend vom nicht naeher argumentierten (unmittelbar?) bevorstehenden Zusammenbruch der staatlichen und herkoemmlichen privatwirtschaftlichen Systeme einen gesellschaftlichen und beruflichen Gegenentwurf skizziert. Dies geschieht in zwei Teilen, erstens einer karikierten Uebersteigerung der jetzigen Lebens- und Arbeitsverhaeltnisse, die dem Leser einen Spiegel vorhalten soll, um ihm die Sinnlosigkeit und Entmenschlichung seines derzeitigen Daseins klar zu machen. Zweitens dem groben Aufzeigen eines Auswegs, der im Wesentlichen aus vier Aspekten besteht: 1. einer Normalisierung des Konsums (auch um die drohende Einkommensreduzierung zu kompensieren); 2. einer Abnabelung von staatlichen Stellen und deren Leistungen; 3. einer Verweigerung der herkoemmlichen Politik und ihrer medialen Inszenierung; und letztlich 4. die selbstaendige berufliche Betaetigung als Ausleben einer Berufung - noetiger Weise schlecht bezahlt, aber postulierter Weise sinnstiftend. Dieser Gegenentwurf wird mit der Metapher des Gartens beschrieben.
Die Sprache der Autoren ist entzueckend: einerseits blumig und poetisch, andererseits direkt und beinahe brutal. Der Inhalt ist in erster Linie polemisch: die Praemisse des Buches, also der nahende Zerfall der westlichen Systeme, wird niemals erklaert oder plausibel gemacht. Der Ausweg wird zwar beschrieben und unter haeufigem Verweis auf die Natur des Menschen als ueberlegen praesentiert, aber auch das bleiben letztlich Behauptungen, von denen, zumindest fuer mich, nicht klar ist, wieso sie eine glaubwuerdige und langfristig taugliche Loesung darstellen. Dies trifft vor Allem auf das Hohelied auf die Selbstaendigkeit zu, das mir so nicht haltbar erscheint, insbesondere wenn man von einem Zerfall der bestehenden System, und folglich doch sicher auch der Nachfrage nach nicht-trivialen Produkten und Leistungen ausgeht. Hingegen ist die Analyse des Konsum- und Schuldenwahns sehr praegnant und die Loesung - weitgehender Konsumverzicht - naheliegend, wenn auch nicht ueberraschend. Ebenso erfrischend ist die Tabulosigkeit mit der das Scheitern der westlichen Auspraegung von Demokratie blossgelegt wird. Hinzugefuegt werden muss, dass die Autoren selbst sagen: “Begruendungen blieben wir schuldig, denn wir wollten kein Buch fuer Gelehrte schreiben”. Insofern freue ich mich auf dieses Buch fuer Gelehrte!
Assorted simple chemical and physical facts with relevance for cooking, food handling and food preparation, narrated in a simplistic, functional prose, augmented with a handful of recipes. Topics covered include acids/bases, oxidation/reduction, heating, cooling, crystallisation, emulsions, foams, and a few more. The book feels very much like an introductory chemistry text that happens to pick examples from the area of food and cooking - rather than a book about food and how to prepare it well using insights from chemistry. Consequently, the recipes (red-white-blue cheese for 4th of July!) are more like chemical experiments with foodstuff rather than culinary explorations. It seems fair to say that Simon Quelling Field is primarily a chemist who happens to enjoy tinkering with food: gourmets write differently about cooking.
Eine wilde G’schicht um den persisch-oesterreichischen Vater des Erzaehlers, der unerwartet verstirbt, und wie dieser Umstand vor seiner in den USA lebenden Mutter verheimlicht werden soll. Ziemlich unterhaltsam, vor Allem aber mit einer g’sunden Portion schwarzem Humor und sehr viel wirklich interessanten Impressionen des Lebens von Exil-Persern im Westen geschmueckt. Und, nicht zuletzt, ein Loblied auf den erfrischenden und bereichernden Einfluss des Multikulturalismus.
An elegantly lean book about Java EE 6 development and architecture: no repetitions, no fluff, no self-aggrandising. A simple yet well-rounded server-side Java EE 6 application is discussed from all angles and in sufficient level of detail (read: code) to appreciate architectural and design decisions and, most importantly, the “Java EE 6 way” of enterprise Java software development. Beautiful!
Ein scheinbar grossteils autobiographisch inspiriertes Buch von Houellebecq, in dem er auf sehr nachvollziehbare und konsequente Art und Weise eine zukuenftige Existenzform der Menschheit schildert. Gepraegt ist diese durch die Moeglichkeiten des Klonens (wenn auch nicht im biotechnologischen Sinn des Wortes) und die daraus erwachsende Einsamkeit, Isolation, und Sinnlosigkeit der “Neo-Menschen”. Ausgangspunkt der Geschichte ist der Lebensweg eines erfolgreichen franzoesischen Kabarettisten und seine Auseinandersetzung mit einer Sekte. Zynisch, boesartig, erbarmungslos - aber sehr oft aus purer Konsequenz des Denkens (und fehlender Hemmung diesen Weg zu beschreiten und die Ergebnisse zu formulieren). Das Ende ist eine Huldigung an das embryonale Dahindaemmern.
Sometimes, events from the outside world resonate so strongly with one’s own current state of mind and awareness, that these events get an eerie significance just because of that. Such was the case with this book: China Mieville has written a book about linguistics, starting from the signifier-signified relationship of structural linguistics, moving on to how “la langue” is nevertheless not a fixed entity but malleable through social action - through the use of language and “la parole”. He managed to embed this in a thrilling, epic science fiction novel that describes the complex relationship between the alien host society on a planet at the edge of the known universe and a small human settlement around an embassy on that planet. By some unexplained accident of nature, the aliens are biologically and socially configured to equate signifier and signified. One is reminded of one of the tenets of discursive psychology, namely that there is no distinction between inner psychological states and those displayed in language use. The central topic of the book is the tensions that arises from two societies - human and alien - with such incongruent conceptions of what it means to use language and construct meaning and reality coming into contact with each other and having to confront and - ultimately - resolve those differences. That Mieville uses German words for the technical terms of futuristic science is just adds to the mystery. A truly remarkable book and an enormously satisfying story.
Grandiose Konstruktion von neun sehr unterschiedlich angelegten Geschichten (Ellipsen?), die manchmal eindeutige, ein ander Mal nur zarte Anknuepfungspunkte an eine gemeinsame Realitaet haben.
Science fiction novel set in post-WWIII Bangkok. Messy politics, competing factions of society, racism, exploitation of minorities and “new humans”; food, fuel and energy shortages. Beautifully and lovingly constructed, epic story design.
Die Lebensgeschichte des (fiktiven) Architekten Silvio Balestri und seines lebensbestimmenden Projektes “Zikkurat”, eines gigantischen Turm-artigen Hochhauses, das nie gebaut wurde. Orte der Handlung sind Rom, wo Balestri aufwuchs und Architektur studierte, New York, wo er sich als Architekt einen Namen machte und beinahe die Verwirklichung von Zikkurat erwirkte, und schliesslich Buenos Aires, wo er mit seiner viel juengeren Frau Anna seinen Lebensabend verbrachte.
A Foucauldian analysis of the meaning fashion (and not just dress), in particular men’s, women’s and children’s fashion and designer label culture. Insightful and accessible, containing reviews of a wide range of related publications.
Ein origineller kleiner Roman mit unglaublich vielen Facetten: Der Besuch eines oberoesterreichischen Paares bei einem befreundeten Ehepaar in der Steiermark; die selbstverstaendlich sexistische Aufgabenverteilung zwischen Maennern und Frauen; die provinzielle Enge der Einheimischen; der unbeholfene Berichtsstil des Erzaehlers, der die sehr amuesante Angewohnheit hat, umgangssprachliche Redewendungen woertlich in’s Hochdeutsche zu uebersetzen; natuerlich der Kriminalfall des Kameramoerders; die knapp unter der Oberflaeche schlummernde und schamlos-naiv kommunizierte Neigung der Einheimischen zur Lynchjustiz; der Umgang der Medien mit dem Verbrechen; die Unfaehigkeit der Polizei. Sehr interessant!
A 1986 book of dreams by Ian Banks: imaginative to the extreme, as always; beautiful and haunting mental pictures conjured by rich prose. But ultimately this is more of a collection of short stories which are loosely held together by the fact that they are all hallucinations of the same mind. I didn’t feel this was enough to make a convincing novel, let alone an enthralling story.
It’s meant to be a popular and entertaining writeup of a sociological study of eating and cooking, but the text and its author come across as arrogant, vacuous, self-important, opinionated, judgmental and denigrating. The book lacks any useful description of the scientific procedure followed; only in a short note at the end do we learn that the author has not actually himself performed the scientific interviews that are referred to throughout the book. You would think that the two interviewers Esther Esnault and Cedric Touquet would deserve more prominent acknowledgement than that! Mr Kaufmann is prone to sweeping generalisations about culture and society, when in fact his data is about a group of 20 Frenchmen and -women. And it is a special breed of sociologist indeed who makes fun of the attitudes and opinions expressed by the subjects of a study, pours scorn on their beliefs and ridicules their convictions and actions. Jean-Claude Kaufmann is a professor of sociology at the Sorbonne. I’m sure he has been entertaining for many years legions of students in introductory sociology courses with his little anecdotes at the expense of what he obviously thinks of as the “little man”. Unfortunately, this approach is a bit of a disgrace in a book.
In the 1950s, Eilis Lacey, a teenage girl from a poor village in Ireland, is pushed by her family into emigrating to New York. She falls in love, has to move back to Ireland as her sister unexpectedly dies, and falls in love there as well. Some tension is derived from the question of whether she will move back to Brooklyn.
Colm Toibin gives the reader privileged insight into the psychological world of Eilis and thereby establishes a strong and intimate bond between the two. His language, in contrast, is strangely detached, as if he were writing an ethnographic report. What i found astonishing is how much in the life of this girl was decided and determined by other people, primarily her family but also the priest, her land-lady and what would seem to be random people who just happened to enter her sphere. Not a strong case for the Cartesian subject!
Truly remarkable, even if not beautiful: less gifted authors (think: Dan Brown) would have spun a thousand novels from the ideas in this one book.
Billy the curator at the Darwin Centre, Dan the Krakenist, Wati the Egyptian slave ghost, Marge the too-old goth, Collingswood the young knacking police officer, Londonmancers, Gunfarmers, and watching over everything, like an organism in its own right, London.
But what language!: Hurried, breathless, cryptic, foul, vague, metaphorical, matter-of-factly, never in the slightest lyrical, but always with a slightly melancholic undertone. And a true challenge to follow.
Worked, annotated discourse analyses following the discourse traditions discussed from a more theoretical perspective in the accompanying study book.
Conversation Analysis, (Critical) Discursive Psychology, Foucauldian Discourse Analysis, Critical Discourse Analysis et al. at the state of 2001.
Ein kurzer Roman ueber Wiese Fink, seine halbseitig gelaehmte Mutter, seinen Hasch rauchenden Hippie-Vater und ein klein wenig ueber seine Freundin und ihre 2 Kinder, bei denen er in Giessen lebt. Den Hauptteil der Erzaehlung macht eine Auto-Reise nach Deutschland aus, die Wiese mit seiner Mutter unternimmt, als der Vater nach einem Herzinfarkt zur Kur faehrt. Die Behinderung der Mutter und wie es zu ihr kam werden in Gespraechen und Erinnerungen aufegearbeitet. Der Roman “endet” in einem merkwuerdigen fade-out.
The life of a ruthless Greek shipping tycoon and his inner circle of friends and family, strangely captivating, an immersion into an utterly unfamiliar life order.
Wie immer bei Simenon ein glaubwuerdiger, nachvollziehbarer Einblick in eine laengst untergegangene Welt - hier die von Muschelzuechtern. Und eine deprimierende, in schmerzvoller Konsequenz dargelegte persoenliche Tragoedie.
Ein rundum grandioses Buch: spannend, mitreissend, menschlich ergiebig und aufschlussreich, flott und facettenreich formuliert, intelligent und witzig.
Die in Athen geborene und nach Muenchen emigrierte Autorin kontrastiert mit viel Witz und Ehrlichkeit diese beiden Kulturen.
Nicht annaehernd so positiv wie der Titel vermuten laesst, ist dies letzlich eine Geschichte ueber Emigration und den persoenlichen Umgang mit Schicksalsschlaegen.
A multi-disciplinary text-book inspired by Blackmore’s consciousness course, updated for this 2010 edition. Presents and introduces many classical problems in consciousness studies, and how a range of theories address them. Always questioning, probing and illuminating, Blackmore’s style presentation is a pleasure to engage with.
The parallel worlds hypothesis - where every eventuality is actually realised in a universe created there and then for that very purpose - as the basis for a non-science fiction novel: The Concern, or L’Expedience, as an organisation with a quasi-monopoly for cross-universe travel, agents who are instructed in that skill and then execute precisely planned interventions across the universes. Excitement is added by an intrigue at the apex of the Concern, that one of the agents becomes entangled in. All a bit vague and opaque, without either an engaging storyline or characters that invite emotional investment on the part of the reader.
Nettes kleines, sensibles Buch ueber ein Medien-Phaenomen der 1930-er Jahre, als die jungen Deutschen Kurt Sandweg und Waldemar Velte einige brutale Bankraube in Deutschland und der Schweiz begehen. Sie beginnen eine zarte Affaire mit einer Basler Verkaeuferin, die sie schliesslich an die Polizei verraet. Das Buch zeichnet soziale, persoenliche und politische Hintergruende nach, ohne Erklaerungen aufzudraengen oder Verstaendnis zu behaupten.
Suddenly people stop dying in just one, unnamed country.
This central question is addressed a bit like a superficial historical account, stating what “the church” did, and “the military”, what actions “the unions” or “neighbouring countries” took. There are no personal stories, people don’t have names and are not identifiable as individuals, so the reader can’t form any personal attachment to any of the characters. In fact, it could probably be said that there are no characters in this book. “The prime minister” occurs a few times, but only as a role, with no personal characteristics beyond that.
If, as has been said, literature helps us understand the world through the specific, then this is not literature.
The development of events is pointed yet plausible, often humorous but hardly ever funny. The machinations of criminal organisations are developed in some detail. From a socio-political perspective the author shows evidence of detached and decidedly cynical insight into how a western country with a strong Catholic tradition would deal with a situation like this, but his ideas never go beyond what any informed citizen with a minimum level of reflective capacities would come up with.
The most interesting aspect is Saramago’s style of writing: endlessly meandering sentences, often beautifully constructed, that force the reader to focus on the text. I could observe myself forgetting the start of a sentence somewhere near the end of it, but strangely the themes addressed in each sentence are much more short-lived than the sentence itself, and so require a shorter attention span.
What at first appears as cynical and witty prose, though, feels, after just a few pages, much more like forced wisecracking.
All-in-all an emotionally non-existent, intellectually underwhelming and humorously ineffective book.
Ich fuehle mich ausserstande, mit ein paar Absaetzen diesem gigantischen Buch gerecht zu werden, darum hier nur dieses: Geschichten rund um das 20. Jahrhundert, aufgehaengt am Leben des Erzaehlers Sebastian Lukasser und seines Wahlonkels Carl Jacob Candoris. Aus der Sicht des deutschen Kulturkreises bestimmende geschichtliche Begebenheiten und Entwicklungen werden als Szenerie und Kontext persoenlicher Erlebnisse praesentiert. Der Aufbau des Buches ist keineswegs chronologisch sondern Koehlmeier spinnt ein immer dichter werdendes Netz von Informationen ueber die handelnden Personen, webt einen Geschichte(n)teppich.
Much ado about a software that allows the visual construction, execution and visualisation of discrete time simulations of systems. Many nice examples of differential equations that model such systems and the interesting behaviour they give rise to.
The definitive guide, mostly a very well-designed reference but also a good introduction. If only i could get the output to look as good as LaTeX’s did out-of-the-box ages ago!
Eine Mafiakomoedie, geschrieben von einem Catanier, und handelt in Catania und Umgebung. Das Zentrum der Handlung ist scheinbar eine lokale Adaption von Shakespeare’s Romeo&Julia - doch dies ist ein wahrhaft italienisches Buch und deshalb stehen natuerlich die Menschen im Mittelpunkt - ihre Eitelkeiten, Liebschaften, Feindseeligkeiten, Verbruederungen, Allianzen und natuerlich Tratsch und Konversation und menschliche Interaktion bis zum Abwinken. Sueffisant gezeichnete Charaktere (der Regisseur Cagnotto und Bobo, Mister Turrisi, Betty und Carmine, die Rampensaeue Caporeale und Cosentino, die Contessa Salieri) und die so typische augenzwinkernde Ernsthaftigkeit, mit der diese durch’s Leben gehen, erzeugen einen schluessigen, abgerundeten und authentischen Eindruck.
Der ca. 20-jaehrige Siggi Jepsen ist Insasse einer Gefaengnis-aehnlichen Anstalt fuer schwererziehbare Jugendliche, die auf einer Elbe-Insel in der Naehe von Hamburg betrieben wird. Eine Strafarbeit des Deutschlehrers, die er in einer Einzelzelle schreiben muss und immer mehr auch will, artet zu einer Aufarbeitung seiner Jugendjahre in Rugbuell bei Hamburg, dem noerdlichsten Polizeiposten Deutschlands, um das Ende des 2. Weltkriegs herum aus. Die Handlung des Buches pendelt zwischen diesen zwei Geschichten hin-und-her, wobei der Schwerpunkt jedenfalls auf den Rueckblicken liegt, und oft aus den Formulierungen dieser Episoden klar wird, dass sie eben in diesem Augenblick von Siggi niedergeschrieben werden. Es ist also immer nur relativ kurzfristig moeglich, die Perspektive des jungen Siggi ungestoert einzunehmen, bevor diese durch die Position des aelteren Siggi jaeh unterbrochen wird.
Seine Spannung bezieht das Buch aus der problematischen Beziehung zwischen Siggis Vaters, des Polizeiposten Rugbuell, und dem expressionistischen Maler Max Ludwig Nansen, dessen “entartete Kunst” von den Nazis verboten und beschlagnahmt wird, und der ein zeitweiliges Malverbot erhaelt, das der Polizeiposten zu ueberwachen hat. Die komplex gelagerte Feindseeligkeit die Siggis Vater zum Maler entwickelt, schwankend zwischen sehr persoenlicher, charakterlicher Inkompatibilitaet und beruflich legitimierter Machtausuebung, bildet den Kern der Erzaehlung. Diese Rivalitaet ist so praegend fuer Siggi weil er eine enge Beziehung zum Maler aufgebaut hat, der Entstehung vieler seiner Bilder beiwohnt, und dabei ein intuitives, inniges Verhaeltnis zur dessen Malerei entwickelt, und die kreative Atmosphaere darum herum geniesst. Der Maler ist ein komplexer Freigeist, waerend Siggis Vater als engstirniges, pflichtergebenes und verschlossenes Gewohnheitstier gezeichnet wird. Siggi leidet zunehmend unter der Versessenheit seines Vaters und dieser Konflikt muendet schliesslich darin, dass er die Bilder des Malers stielt um sie vor seinem Vater in Sicherheit zu bringen - und dafuer letztlich zu der Haftstrafe verurteilt wird, die den Ausgangspunkt fuer das Buch bildet.
Lenz laesst uns intim am Leben der handelnden Personen teilhaben. In minutioeser, Detail-verliebter, aber immer etwas amuesiert-verspielter Sprache beschreibt er absolut alltaegliche, und fuer sich genommen meistens uninteressante Situationen aus dem Leben in dieser laenglichen Region Norddeutschlands. Es dominieren das Meer; das Watt; Moewen; die Weite der Landschaft; die sehr oft bedrueckende Sprachlosigkeit und Kargheit der Menschen; die ganz selbstverstaendliche und schliesslich auch staats-politisch unterstuetzte Verachtung - insbesondere der Mutter - gegen alles kranke, schwache, “unwerte” Leben, gegen Fremdes und Anderes; die Strawanzereien von Siggi und seiner Schwester; die alte Muehle die Siggi als Versteck dient; kleine soziale Ereignisse in der Umgebung. Der Krieg ist im Hintergrund oft spuerbar aber fast nie vorherrschend, und Politik ist niemals ein Thema - was sehr glaubwuerdig die Sichtweise eines jungen Buben widerspiegelt.
Dieses Buch zu Lesen erfordert eine absolute Hingabe an seine ganz eigene Geschwindigkeit: waehrend die Handlung kaum Vortschritte macht, und das Beschriebene fast immer banal ist, ist die Sprache sehr erfrischend und ueberhaupt nicht langsam. Die Gefuehlszustaende der Akteure bekommen dadurch eine unerhoerte Klarheit und Praesenz, und das Erzaehlte wird letztlich doch bewegend und beinahe spannend. Mit anderen Worten: der Leser lebt das grossteils ereignislose aber deswegen natuerlich nicht uninteressante Leben Siggis mit, fuehlt mit - und leidet mit unter dem psychologischen Druck den der in Zeitlupe gefuehrte Zweikampf seiner beiden maennlichen erwachsenen Bezugspersonen in ihm aufbaut.
Mein einziges - und sehr persoenliches - Problem mit diesem Buch ist der Ort der Handlung und seine Kultur: eine kalte, unwirtliche Landschaft, mit Orten wie Rugbuell und Glueserup, bevoelkert von Menschen mit Namen wie Hinnerk Timmsen, Jens Ole Jepsen, Deichgraf Bultjohann und Hilde Isenbuettel, die es nicht schaffen ihre Emotionen zu kommunizieren, und sich ueber weite Strecken einfach nur schweigend angaffen, empfinde ich einfach als Folter. Oder, um es in den Worten von Siegfried Lenz auszudruecken: “Dies Land hier, dein Land, es versteht keinen Spass. […] Immer tief ernst, auch bei Sonne diese Strenge. […] Auch mittags bleibt es unheimlich. Manchmal habe ich gedacht dieses Land hat keine Oberflaeche, nur […] Tiefe, es hat nur seine schlimme Tiefe, und alles, was dort liegt, bedroht dich. […] Ich meine nur, die Oberflaeche hat soviel Menschliches.”
Ein Roman inspiriert vom Leben und den Reisen des Englaenders Richard Francis Burton im 19. Jahrhundert. Der bemerkenswerte Lebenslauf des Autors legt nahe, warum ihn dieser multi-kulturelle Kosmopolit zu einem Roman angeregt hat. Das Ergebnis ist ein faszinierendes Mittelding zwischen Bericht und Fiktion, wobei niemals klar ist, welche Aspekte erfunden sind und welche sich eng an den tatsaechlichen Erfahrungen Burton’s orientieren.
Der Aufbau ist in mehrfacher Hinsicht genial an den Inhalt angepasst: Prolog und Epilog behandeln den Tod Burtons in Triest und die Rolle der katholischen Kirche dabei. Die drei Hauptteile des Buches sind drei grossen Reisen gewidmet: nach Indien und Pakistan als Offizier der East India Company, nach Aegypten und Arabien im Zuge der Hadj, und schliesslich nach Ostafrika und den Viktoriasee um die Quelle des Nil aufzuspueren. Jeder der Hauptteile wird sowohl aus der Sicht eines unbeteiligten Erzaehlers, der allerdings vage aus Burton’s Sicht berichtet, als auch vom Standpunkt eines Involvierten aus dem jeweiligen Kulturkreis erzaehlt. Dadurch kommen immer sowohl die westliche als auch die jeweils lokale Perspektive zum Ausdruck - und die Reibungspunkte zwischen Ihnen werden vom Autor mit teilweise genuesslicher Sueffisanz herausgearbeitet. Nahezu niemals kommt die westliche Sicht dabei gut weg - wenn man einmal davon Absieht, dass der Westen ein neugieriges und wandelbares Geschoepf wie Burton hervorgebracht hat.
Religion spielt eine besondere Rolle in diesem Roman, einerseits weil alle Kulturen in die Burton so intensiv eingetaucht ist ganz wesentlich von religioesem Gedankengut durchdrungen sind, andererseits weil Burton selbst sich so intensiv mit Buddhismus und vor Allem Islam auseinandersetzt, und letztlich weil viele der Standpunkte die Westler in diesem Buch einnehmen christlich motiviert sind.
Wenn man sich auf den Dialog ziwschen verschiedenen Erzaehlern und Sichtweisen einlassen kann, ist dies ein unglaublich fesselndes und erfuellendes Buch - beinahe jeder Absatz bringt einen interessanten und verfolgendswerten Gesichtspunkt in’s Spiel und hilft dem Leser, die beschriebenen Kulturen und die Burtons Rolle darin zu spueren.
Wonderfully versatile and ingenious use of different styles of writing and different narrative positions, put to work on a complex story about the sinking of a ship and the meeting of different people at the seaside. Sensitive and delicate, humorous in a very relaxed way, and at times – and thankfully only rarely – quite savage.
A short philosophical treatise about brain and mind and related topics, devoted to putting the Cartesian subject to rest once-and-for all, and doing so in a manner strongly influenced by Wittgenstein and hence language.
The story of Kemal Bey, his engagement to Sibel and his love for the much younger Fuesuen. Set in the modern Westernized society of Istanbul sometime in the second half of the 20th century, where strong remains of traditional Turkish and Islamic values compete with an orientation towards Europe and France in particular, where women buy Turkish fakes of Parisian fashion but still carefully guard the appearance of chastity, where men drive Western cars and drink imported liquor as well as Raki, commit adultery at the Hilton, but feel compelled to drop their lovers as soon as their reputation is ruined.
As interesting and effective as the book is in portraying that part of Istanbul society at that particular time, as tortuous it is as a novel about love. It tells us in minute detail about the motions that Kemal goes through in falling in love and the suffering from love-inflicted pain, but it didn’t for a moment make me feel any emotions but intellectual curiosity and boredom. In short, it is a painful technical account, not a book of love.
A collection of original but edited papers on the subject of identity production in a structuralist and post-structuralist tradition; object-relational psychoanalysis; and the genealogical approaches of Marcel Mauss, Max Weber and Michel Foucault.
Aphorismen zum Glueck und vor Allem zur Langsamkeit. Banal und trotzdem nicht selbstverstaendlich. Stimmungsvoll und sensibel bebildert.
Eine duestere, deprimierende und brutale Geschichte, wahrhaft “gothic”, nur selten und viel zu kurz von menschlichen Lichtblicken erhellt. Den passenden Hintergrund bilden Kaelte und Regen eines industriellen Barcelonas der 20-er und 30-er Jahre, in dem die faschistischen Horden schon auf ihren Auftritt lauern. Der Epilog ist zwar kompromisslos mystisch, aber wenigstens erholsam langsam und sensibel. Doch im Rueckblick ueberwiegen bei weitem Horror und Gewalt - wenn nicht Zafon der Autor waere haette ich dieses Buch niemals gelesen.
A delightful book on RESTful design principles and JAX-RS because 1. it uses a concise, no-nonsense style that explains and discusses (and this includes stating disadvantages - how old-fashioned is that!) rather than sells or preaches; 2. it is written with the vast background knowledge of someone who knows most of Java EE like his backyard and has written his own JAX-RS implementation (RESTEasy); 3. it uses code-heavy examples throughout for what is best explained through code; 4. it goes beyond the spec to explain the choices for client-side REST APIs; 5. it spares us the WS-* vs. REST debate. JSR 299/CDI has added its bit of magic on top of the release of JAX-RS described in this book, but that’s trivial to learn from the spec. I wish it had given WADL a bit more consideration.
Raimung “Mundus” “Papyrus” Gregorius, ein vertrockneter Berner Altphilologe erwacht durch die Begegnung mit einer mysterioesen Portugiesin. Er bricht sein korrektest geordnetes Leben als Gymnasiallehrer abrupt ab und stuerzt sich in das Erforschen des Lebensweges eines vor 30 Jahren verstorbenen Lissaboner Adeligen und Arztes namens Prado, dessen Aphorismen Gregorius in einer Buchhandlung in Bern zufaellig in die Haende fallen und in seiner hypersensiblen Situation zutiefst bewegen. Der Hauptteil des Buches handelt von seinem Eintauchen in Lissabon und das Leben Prados - und von der Entwicklung die er dabei durchmacht und nachholt.
Prados Buch sind im wesentlichen kurze philosophische Abhandlungen, die Gregorius auf wundersame Weise aus der Seele sprechen und die das Rueckgrat des Buches bilden. Ich kann nicht behaupten dass sie bei mir einen besonderen Eindruck hinterlassen haben. Viel mehr bewegt hat mich die Feinfuehligkeit mit der Gregorius auf seine Entdeckungsreise geht, Beziehungen zu Personen aus Prados Leben aufbaut, und sich dabei veraendert. Diese (Selbst-) Beobachtungen machen dies zum wahrscheinlich sensibelsten Buch dass ich jemals gelesen habe, und sie sind es die mein Interesse wachgehalten haben. Auch ist der Leser sicher interessiert, wie sich Gregorius’ Ausbruch aus seinem alten Leben aufloesen koennte. Doch darueber hinaus funktioniert das Buch als Roman und Geschichte nur relativ bedingt. Merkwuerdig sind auch die unzaehligen Wiederholungen von bereits Gelesenem oder Gehoertem, die wohl Gregorius’ Reflexionen ausdruecken sollen, aber auch schlichtweg Spannung und Fluss aus der Handlung nehmen.
Ferbin and Holse from the shellworld Sursamen seek Ferbin’s sister Anaplian who left many years ago to live with the Culture. Nothing if not imaginative and epic, but over long stretches i simply did not care to hear about yet another “historical” fact about this planet or that society. Although the main actors are drawn in quite a bit of detail, in the main i missed credible and - most of all - engaging emotions and behaviour. Most disturbingly, though, it occurred to me that Banks’ approach must simply be called racist: with the exception of Culture citizens, almost every other being’s attitude, motivation and actions are first-and-foremost determined by his/her/its race. Nariscene do this, Oct have that belief, Morthanveld respond like so, and so on, and so forth. Maybe this is inevitable in a novel that spans such enormous distances in time and space and biological diversity, but if that’s so, then i must say i prefer the close-up view that exposes individual differences.
Teodor, Ion Palatinus, Marius, Elena, Valeria: Ein gebuertiger Rumäne, der als junger Erwachsener von der kommunistischen Diktatur in die Schweiz geflüchtet ist, macht sich 20 Jahre später auf die Suche nach seiner rumänischen Identität - und das scheint für den Romanheld so zuzutreffen wie scheinbar fuer den Autor auch. Die rumänische Gesellschaft wird sehr ernüchternd geschildert: Armut, Korruption, Hinterlist, emotionale Unehrlichkeit und alles durchdringende Geldgier. Hier und da glimmt etwas schwermütige Poesie und Zärtlichkeit auf. Doch das rumänische Leben hat harte Geschöpfe hervorgebracht, und der “Schweizer” ist weich… Ein ernnüchterndes Buch.
Numerous stories and short episodes, all somehow intertwined, and at the centre lies 70-year-old August Brill awake in the dark, mostly also in a dark mood, and - this is Paul Auster, after all - politics. For quite a long time it seems as if this were the somewhat bizarre story of Owen Brick, as imagined by Brill, but then the narrative web becomes more complicated, is enriched by seemingly irrelevant details about a hapless writers life, goes on what seem like tangents about Brill’s daughter Miriam and her daughter Katya, only to gravitate to what happened to Titus, Katya’s former boyfriend, and how he died in Iraq. The actions of a few “fascists” (his words; not that i object) at the helm of political power are contrasted with a stream of intensely personal actions, how the former shapes the latter but can not quite control it, inflicts pain but can not extinguish the positive energy that flows whenever people how love each other interact. The “weird world rolls on”. A very positive message, in the end, despite of the negative preconditions and all the suffering involved.
(How good to read again for the soul and not the intellect.)
(This book provided the much-needed sensuous escape from a recent concentration on neuroscience papers.)
Set amongst artists and scholars of the arts in Manhattan, the plot follows the very personal life of the narrator Leo over several decades. The dominant topic is the relationship between Leo, Bill, Erica and Violet and their children Matt and Mark. The children are an important source of sorrow and pain and Mark’s adventures give the last third of the book a significant tension.But most important to me was the depiction of the very thoughtful, tender yet immensely strong social web that ties the adults together and is woven by a myriad of small, in themselves mostly insignificant events and social interactions.
The book is dedicated to Paul Auster and i can’t help but notice the similarity in style: an incredibly fluent, unassuming and seemingly detached prose that succeeds in being analytical and emotional at the same time.
Lemming “Unter den Ulmen” (Gugging?), nachdem er am Naschmarkt in eine Schiesserei verwickelt wird. Ein wirklich exzellenter, vielseitiger Krimi, mit vor Allem wunderschoenen sprachlichen Bildern. Einige Figuren sind evtl. etwas oberflaechlich gezeichnet. All meine Kritikpunkte am ersten Band sind beseitigt: die Story speilt zwar natuerlich nach-wie-vor in Wien, und betont dies auch durchaus, aber das Touristische ist verschwunden und der Ort gliedert sich harmonisch in die Handlung ein.
Vielseitiger wiener Kriminalroman. Der Protagonist ist natuerlich ein Antiheld - aber nicht in so grotesker Weise wie oft typisch fuer oesterreichische Machwerke sondern eher subtil und sympathisch. Der Roman hat eine humoristische Seite - aber sie ist zart und nicht schenkelklopfend. Er ist gesellschaftskritisch - aber nicht in deprimierend-nihilistischer Weise. Und er ist spannend - aber definitiv kein Thriller. Der einzige Aspekt der mich wirklich gestoert hat ist eine oft in die Sprache der Tourismuswerbung abgleitende Erklaerung wiener Eigenarten.
A collection of mainly transcripts of interviews with and talks by the great physicist. Focuses rather too much on the person than on his work, for my taste. So we read only a tiny bit about high-energy physics and hardly anything at all about quantum electrodynamics, but quite a bit about his relationship with his father and his scientific world view. The latter is really interesting and inspiring, though, as he argues very passionately and with varying degrees of sophistication and eloquence for what one could call an orthodox, personalized scientific approach: internalizing doubt; always questioning, always arguing rationally; categorizing theories and “knowledge” on a scale of (un)certainty that does not include the extremes on that scale; the value of the repeatable, carefully controlled experiment; the power of generalization and the need to look at “enough” detail. The good old-fashioned scientific approach, of course, but without any of the philosophy-of-science self-importance.
There is a small piece on the relationship of science and religion, that contains this quote, which i really liked because it applies so well to many areas, from “best-practices” in software development to the theory and practice of economics and finance over the last decades:
“It is true that if you have a tyranny of ideas, so that you know exactly what has to be true, you act very decisively, and it looks good - for a while. But soon the ship is heading in the wrong direction, and no one can modify the direction anymore.”
(OK - i’m not through with this yet, but then i probably never will be entirely, so this is a good a time as any to jot down my impressions.)
A representative of the astonishing class of absolutely brilliant American text books in the life sciences: a truly great American tradition. This is one of the most important text books on physiological (biological) psychology. It discusses this subject from several perspectives, with copious use of figures and diagrams, and even a CD-ROM with animations. The presentation thus really succeeds in being accessible - which is very welcome given the complexity of the content. The German equivalent would shroud the content in Latin and oh-so-educated language…
Micro-design guidelines in the Software Craftsmanship tradition. Very thorough and well-argued; step-by-step refactorings. Design at this level really matters - but does it matter that much? And does consistency maybe matter more than the actual style that is being aspired to? One may call this the Object Mentor school of micro-design, which is closely related to the Kent Beck school.
A discussion of and framework for enterprise architecture originating at MIT Sloan School. Plausible, based on empirical research - but the problems in enterprise architecture are not in coherently reasoning about it…
Eine Anthologie moderner thailaendischer Autoren mit den vorscherrschenden Themen Rolle der Frau, Armut und (Ueber-) Lebenskampf. Nicht gerade aufbauend. Teilweise recht holpriges Deutsch - man fragt sich wie viel hier “lost in translation” ist…
Comissario Montalbano schlawinert sich durch die Ermittlungen im Fall Luparello.
Ein kleines Buechlein mit sehr kurzen Geschichten in typischer Izzo-Manier: einfache Leute, auf der Suche nach Liebe, mit einer Ueberdosis Melancholie, oft schlichtweg depressiv.
Software craftsmen: are proud of their work and hence sign it; value quality; deliver value to the users; take full responsibility for their work; work in small teams of craftsmen (apprentices/journeymen/masters); interact directly with the users; continuously maintain and develop broad and specific skills; build-up a portfolio that showcases their achievements; focus on the long-term life of applications; chose technologies wisely; are paid according to their skills and paid well.
Ein kleiner Text ueber das verwirrte Leben von Julian. Wunderschoene sprachliche Bilder, leicht dahererzaehlt. Ein Buch ueber verschiedene und inkompatible Sichtweisen auf das Leben, ueber Zwaenge und den vergeblichen Versuch sie zu ueberwinden und aus dem Gefaengnis, das sie um uns herum errichten, auszubrechen, ueber die scheinbare Vorherbestimmtheit allen Tuns. All das vor dem Hintergrund deutscher Kleinstadt-Tristesse, allgegenwaertiger Angepasstheit und Mittelmaessigkeit. Und immer wieder die ueberwaeltigende Schoenheit von Sprache, sei es die von Spinoza oder die von Vetering.
There is so much to say about Scala the language - but this is “just” about the book.
The book outright oozes the huge amount of hard work that has gone into it. I’ve never read a tutorial-style book before that accomplishes to be introductory yet comprehensive: in their (misguided) attempt to be approachable and not “confuse” the reader, most tutorials silently ignore aspects of a subject that are to advanced for the current discussion. This leaves a very bad taste, as one can never be sure as to the understanding one has achieved. There is always some residual “magic” that hasn’t been explained and can not be judged at all by the reader. This book never does that, it never takes anything for granted: every detail is either sufficiently explained or a reference to a later explanation is given. Indeed, the text is extensively cross-referenced and indexed, so that forming a complete picture of a complex topic is relatively easy.
Since this book is a tutorial, it sometimes leaves a residual doubt whether a topic has been discuss in its full breadth and depth. Cross-referencing helps a lot, but related content is still somewhat spread all over the book. However, there is always the Scala language spec to satisfy that need for cohesion and comprehensiveness…
I quite liked the subtle and nerdy (but not too nerdy) humour, especially in the first part of the book. For instance, section 8.9 discusses tail recursion and ends in “If you don’t fully understand tail recursion yet, see Section 8.9.” It gives the text (at least the first half of it) an almost light appearance. Later parts of the book are more dense and definitely more serious, but nevertheless quite accessible.
As an aside, this book contains the best treatment of the mess that is equals() i’ve read so far. And the solution is applicable not only to Scala but also to good old Java.
The only subject that hasn’t been covered exhaustively is annotations: there is a bit about how Java-defined annotations can be used in Scala, but there is nothing on defining annotations in Scala in the first place.
All-in-all my favourite language-book so far!
This is an adaptation of Auster’s City of Glass as a graphic novel. I’ve read the New York Trilogy (including City of Glass) when i was in New York in 1999 and it opened my eyes to Auster’s writing. I’m not into graphic novels at all, but this one is obviously a piece of art: it’s black-and-white throughout and makes good use of shadow effects to underline the surreal aspects of the story. There are several sequences where the images zoom-in or out, starting or ending with some innocuous detail in an image. This is very effective in illustrating the questions of identity that the story explores. The text is obviously strongly based on Auster’s, although it is condensed to fit the new format. It still shows some of the beauty of the original, though. As is so often the case when images are involved, it’s very hard to forget them, and i’m sure that when i re-read the New York Trilogy (as i intend to do soon) i’ll be haunted by the impressions left by this adaptation. A very interesting experience.
The Classic 2.0. Important, comprehensive, carefully argued items ranging from the mundane through the well-known to a few genuinely surprising nuggets. Sheer beauty (constant-specifc method implementations in enums) next to utter ugliness (Cloneable). Reading a book that is just about the Java language itself (rather than about any higher-level frameworks or technologies) exposes what an unholy mess the Java platform has become. A threading model that’s largely obsolete, mutable Dates, ill-conceived Calendar’s, grotesque Cloneable, arrays that don’t work with generics, a type system can can infer some but not all type information … and just the general burden of methods and types that can’t be removed or sanitized for compatibility reasons. It’s amazing how many mistakes were made in the early days of Java (in addition to all the far-sighted decisions, of course) - but what is even more amazing is the increasingly ugly cage this makes for a present-day Java programmers and how we somehow learned to live in it. Scala to the resuce?
Die Geschichte Wiens im 20. Jahrhundert auf gesellschaftlicher und politischer Ebene, erlebt und erzaehlt durch 3 Generationen einer wiener Familie. Alma und Richard; Otto, Ingrid und ihr Mann Peter; Sissi, Phillip und seine Freundin Johanna. Die Erzaehlung geht von Philipp’s ineffizienten Versuchen aus, das grosselterliche Haus auszuruempeln, und erfolgt in Rueckblicken auf einzelne Tage im Leben dieser Leute, von den 30-ern bis jetzt. In erster Linie erhalten wir so Einblick in ganz persoenliche Vorgaenge und Ueberlegungen, die aber natuerlich oft mehr oder weniger stark von den damals vorherrschenden politischen Ereignissen gepraegt sind. So werden die Staatsvertragsverhandlungen neben eitrigen Zaehnen behandelt - und die Zaehne bekommen deutlich mehr Bedeutung. Erfrischend (und dringend noetig) ist eine gehoerige Portion Respektlosigkeit im Umgang mit den Eckpfeilern der oesterreichischen Nachkriegsgeschichte. Immer praesent und bestimmend sind die gesellschaftlichen Zwaenge der Zeit - vom konservativen Patriarchat der Grosseltern ueber die beginnende aber frustrierende Emanzipation der Eltern bis zur Sorglosigkeit, Freizuegigkeit und teilweise auch Orientierungslosigkeit der Kinder. Viele Bilder sind amuesant oder skurril, vor allem wenn sie Philipp betreffen, immer wieder jedoch sind sie von zarter und dezenter Schoenheit, ganz besonders im Umgang der alten Alma mit dem greisen Richard.
The book uses an interesting and original approach: the text is without exception the transcript of one half of the dialogue between a Pakistani and an American in a cafe in Lahore. It is the Pakistani’s words that we read, but he is explicit enough about the American’s actions and reactions that we nevertheless get a good understanding of the dynamics of the interaction. There are 3 levels to the story: one is an account of the time the Pakistani spent in the USA, first as a student in Princeton and then as a consultant in New York. This is the primary topic of the discussion. The second level is the environment in the Lahore cafe that the two people experience together: the meal they’re sharing; the observations they make and discuss. The third level is the question of why this conversation takes place at all. The Pakistani introduced himself to the American and is obviously directing the evening towards an aim that we are beginning to glimpse as the discussion unfolds. But we are never actually sure of the motivation of the Pakistani and what it will lead to. It turns out to be a very cleverly constructed web of allusions of the Pakistani and reactions of the American that play with the reader’s preconceptions, prejudices and the nascent ideas that he forms about the nature of the interchange.
The heart of the story is the transformation of the Pakistani from a well-oiled wheel in the machinery of American capitalism to an enemy of American imperialism and military aggression. That transformation took place while he was in the states, working as a consultant for a boutique valuation business in New York, and was precipitated by the 9/11 attacks and, most importantly, by the American reaction to it. In short, the Pakistani was politicized by these events and has made the conscious decision to break with his education, career and lifestyle and fight the Americans. The month leading to that personal crisis, and its resolution are recounted in enough detail to be believable. But the whole idea would be more realistic if the Pakistani where a bit less intelligent, successful and popular before he took the decision to change his life. The author overshoots in his obvious attempt to show that turning against the USA is possible even when one starts from a position of strength.
The language of the Pakistani is forcefully educated and British. Very pleasant to read but also a bit comic in its exaggeration.
I find the title strangely wrong and helpful at the same time: it is helpful because it clearly signposts (together with the cover image) that the book is somehow about the struggle of a Muslim against the USA. However, it is also plainly wrong because religion does not seem to have any part in this man’s decision. He is not by any means an Islamic fundamentalist. Nor does he seem to take a fundamentalist’s approach (religious or otherwise) to any questions that are raised in the book. On the contrary, his state of mind is that of an enlightened man that synthesizes the experiences he has made in Pakistan and the USA and draws the sober and conscious conclusion to fight the USA. Nor is he reluctant as the title seems to suggest. His acceptance of his personal transformation process was a reluctant one, but once he has made the step he seems to be fully behind it, without lingering doubts.
All in all a wonderfully elegant and engaging book.
The backdrop for this story is nothing less than the development of humanity from 2057 to the most distant future. The foreground is a sociological study of a group of some 100 settlers and the epic struggle of their 2 leaders, Bella and Svetlana. The motives of these 2 women are quite different, but the results of their deeds often look very much alike. The end surprises with an ingenious idea for reconciliation that is truly worthy of a science fiction novel of this scale.
Holk, Drimmel und Drue vom Glorf erkunden die Welt mithilfe einer Kuh, des Bauern Fladnitzer, des pensionierten Volksschullehrers Bemmerl und des Papstes. Slupetzky haelt uns mit viel Wortwitz einen rabenschwarzen Spiegel vor. Einsprengsel von 5 deprimierenden Kurzgeschichten - Produkte des schiffseigenen Prosagenerators - verstaerken die vorherrschenden Themen: Zwietracht, Selbstsuechtigkeit, Gier.
Arthur Lieberman’s and Jason Archer’s alleged death in a plane crash; Jason’s wife Sidney’s and FBI agent Lee Sawyer’s struggle to unearth the events that led there. Ridiculously outdated use of computers. Complicated story, not entirely convincing in retrospect. Too many cliches about gender and profession to be really enjoyable: wincing every half-hour somewhat destroys the immersion in a plot.
Amir and Hassan; Kabul, Peshawar, California; 1970s to today. Few short sections of beautiful, sensitive descriptions; mostly though hurried and over-engineered for effect: there is hardly any person or event that doesn’t serve any specific purpose later in the text. It’s really an adventure novel with an almost unbearable emotional density.
Not a typical Koontz novel, rather a fast-paced espionage thriller with a healthy dose of romance. Quite enjoyable. I’d stopped reading Koontz a while ago but now i realize it’s mostly the Germany translation that’s unbearable.
A book on the surface about repeating worlds, but really about the inadequacy of humankind and the primacy of the personal sphere and of love. Here it’s mostly homosexual love, Spike and Billie, again and again. Very poetic but also a bit frustrating because repeating worlds only provide variations of a theme. The part about Wreck City was a bit to hallucinatory for my taste.
Lieb. Aufwendig gedruckt und illustriert.
Eine etwas muehsame Milieustudio einer flaemischen Kleinstadt in den spaeten 30-ern, erzaehlt anhand einer Episode aus dem Leben des Industriellen und Buergermeisters Joris Terlinck.
Die Lebensgeschichte des Zauberkuenstlers (Magiers?) Arthur Beerholm, chronologisch erzaehlt, mit einigen kleinen Bemerkungen ueber den zukuenftigen Verlauf eingestreut um die Spannung zu steigern. Wunderbar sensible Sprache, nie praetentioes, immer passend zur Situation.
This is a book about non-functional properties in enterprise-class software, especially Java EE web applications. The author covers stability, capacity and availability in great detail and gives a very readable introduction into several operation and infrastructure topics such as data center networking, administration, monitoring and transparency. The book covers an interesting and important area where software architecture, system architecture and IT operations meet. The author also obviously tries to bring the mindset of IT operations and system administration closer to the hearts of software developers and architects, so that they may be better able to understand and appreciate how their software will be used once it has gone live, and architect/design/code it accordingly.
I think this is an excellent book: it covers these topics with both a sufficient amount of intellectual depth and a healthy dose of anecdotes and metaphors, which makes it rewarding and very enjoyable to read. The organisation of about two thirds of the book is in the form of patterns and antipatterns (although without using the typical pattern presentation template) which i find not very appropriate. I ended up reading the patterns first, because most of the antipatterns refer to the patterns. Often i wished the discussion had been more concrete in terms of technical solution rather than just intent.
Ricardo Cupido, grossgewachsener, gutaussehender, melancholischer spanischer Privatdetektiv ermittelt im Fall des angeblichen Selbstmordes eines hohen Militaers. Detailierte Schilderungen von Persoenlichkeitsmerkmalen, einige schmerzhaft-grobe Cliches (z.B. Frauen und Bodybuilder betreffend), aber ein spannender und origineller Handlungsverlauf.
A collection of 20-odd witty, humorous essays about nothing in particular - just everyday experiences harvested from the life of the author, but packaged up in light, beautiful prose with mild punchlines.
My primary grudge is about the fact that the book is not marked at all as an essay collection. On the back, right above the barcode, it says “Autobiography”. Only when you look at the 4th page do you find a note, hidden between the copyright statement and the ISBN that “Acknowledgment is made to the following, in which the stories in this collection first appeared…”. So after the first few essays, when i discovered that these seemingly unrelated “chapters” will never add up to a true autobiography or novel, i’ve learned to appreciate the stories in a new way…
I had seen so many references to this authoritative (and one might say: defining) work on REST that i just had to read it myself. It’s obvious that the REST evangelists have done an excellent job of explaining this architectural style, because hardly anything in Fielding’s discussion of REST itself comes as a surprise. What did surprise me, though, was his enlightening and eye-opening comparison of network-based architectural styles using a set of architectural properties (such as performance, scalability, visibility, reliability, etc. - in short: non-functional properties relevant for distributed applications), in particular since he also included messaging (pipes-and-filters) in that comparison. What was also new to me is the role that REST has apparently played for some time in the reasoning about proposals for later web standards (in which Fielding was involved) such as HTTP/1.1 and URIs.
Drei Romane um die Hauptfigur Fabio Montage, zuerst Polizist, spaeter Arbeitsloser. Viele kulinarische Eindruecke von Marseille und seinen Bewohnern aus der Gegend und den ehemaligen franzoesischen Kolonien. Sehr eindringliche Schilderungen der sozialen und politischen Umstaende in Marseille und Frankreich: Zuwanderung, wirtschaftliche Hoffnungslosigkeit, steigende Unterstuetzung des Front National, zunehmende Globalisierung und Europaeisierung. Aber vor Allem: das Leben der “kleinen Leute”, mit viel Einfuehlungsvermoegen und expressionistischer Sprache sehr effektiv beschrieben, aus einer links-liberalen und stark regional verankerten Position heraus.
Letztlich jedoch vermitteln die 3 Buecher auf viel zu glaubhafte und spuerbare Weise ein zunehmendes Abgleiten in die Tristesse und Lustlosigkeit, sowohl bei Fabio Montale persoenlich als auch bei der Marseiller Gesellschaft (zumindest in den Kreisen die er beschreibt). Koennen die ersten beiden Buecher noch mit einem unerwarteten aber glaubhaften happy end aufwarten, so deprimiert das dritte Buch fast ausschliesslich - inklusive dem Ende. Beinahe unertraeglich, aber natuerlich eben dadurch besonders kraftvoll.
Consisting of several of Rogers’ essays compiled in one volume in the early 1960s, this is supposedly his most popular book. Not long ago i didn’t even know who Rogers was, which seems ridiculous now. It has definitely been one of the most thought-provoking reads i can recall. Although, after having studied approximately the first half of the book, i found myself becoming very familiar indeed with his attitudes and approaches. His style of writing is captivating in its own right, so even just as a literary text the second half of the book was worthwhile. Although it definitely wouldn’t be fair to say the he repeated himself over and over again. Rather, he has developed a certain perspective on how interpersonal relationships can and should be constructed in order to be helpful (integrated, acceptant and empathic), and he applied this viewpoint to increasingly broader situations (such as education and society) in a consistent but somewhat predictable way. Still, measured by the having-to-put-book-aside-to-ponder-a-thought metric this has been a wonderful book.
The protagonist, a man in his late 30-ies living in an isolated village in Scotland, tells us about how he recently ran off with a 14 year old girl who he suspected might be his daughter. We also learn about his and his parent’s life, and the extraordinary events that shaped their fate. It is a wonderfully narrated story, that meanders through present and past and kept me utterly captivated. Burnside’s style reminds me of Ian M. Banks: a very calm and elegant prose, that tells the most astonishing details in a seemingly detached and yet at the same time deeply moving way.
Florenz im Herbst - welch unpassende Lektuere in Griechenland im Fruehling! Gut gemacht.
Dan Sylveste’s exploration of the alien species and culture of the Amarantin. At times truly breathtaking in its imaginative and believable use of physical concepts. Mostly frustratingly cold in its depiction of the main characters, although it turns out that in the some cases that’s actually a repercussion of the mental manipulations these people suffered. Nevertheless, it makes for a less rounded experience because of that emotional shallowness. The book with the grandest and most awe-inspiring ending i can recall!
The adventures of the floating pirate city of Armada told mostly from the perspective of Bellis Coldwine, a linguist who had to flee New Crobuzon. A fantastically rich book in all respects, always engaging, never dull, never predictable.
Quite imaginative, but a bit too old-fashioned as a story and at times too surreal for my taste.
Very promising and very frustrating because hardly any of the promises are kept. We are supposed to be enlightened about “XML, Web services, ESB, and BPEL in real-world SOA projects” yet hardly anything of substance is said and the treatment of some topics is outright weird. Take the section on “Using XSL for Transformation” as a case in point, which choses to talk exclusively about the differences between xsl:import and xsl:include. Having said that, chapter 5 is a nice and useful BPEL tutorial and the discussion of transaction strategies and semantics in chapter 6 shows abundant insight into this topic.
Einigermassen amuesant, zeitweise recht muehsam, virtuoses Finale.
Ein fuer die italienische Zeitschrift “liberal” mitte der 90-er Jahre inszenierter Briefwechsel zwischen Eco und dem Mailaender Kardinal, angereichert um ein paar Nachworte italienischer Intellektueller. Eco darf in 3 Beitraegen Fragen zu gesellschaftlichen und religioesen Themen stellen, auf die Martini in jeweils einer Replik eingeht. Zuletzt drehen sie den Spiess um und Martini fragt zur Moral von Nichtglaeubigen und Eco antwortet darauf.
In Summe auesserst unbefriedigend: Eco kann der Versuchung nicht widerstehen, seine religioese Bildung zur Schau zu stellen und bricht vollkommen sinnlose theologische Diskussionen vom Zaun. Anstatt die grundsaetzlichen Fragen zur Existenz Gottes und der Plausibilitaet von Religion zu stellen bewegt er sich also aus simpler Geltungssucht fast ausschliesslich innerhalb der christlichen Glaubenskonstrukte. Martini kann dementsprechend grossherzig antworten, und tut dies auch in durchaus sympathischer Weise. Der letzte Beitrag Martinis ist schlicht die Behauptung dass nur Religion einen absoluten Moralmassstab anbieten kann, und alle Alternativen von Nichtglaeubigen im Vergleich dazu minderwertig weil nicht kategorisch genug sind. Eine naheliegende Sichtweise fuer einen Christen, die allerdings auch eine wesentliche Problematik von Religion offenlegt: (auf der Grundlage von Erfundenem!) eine absolute Moral zu schaffen, die als kategorischer Imperativ zu befolgen ist, muss zwangslaeufig zu Intoleranz gegenueber allen anderen Ansaetzen von Moral fuehren: Es kann nur einen geben…
A brilliant story about a young family who travel to Calcutta to meet a poet who had been thought dead but has recently circulated new work. There are very dense and captivating descriptions of life in Calcutta. The story has a mystical undercurrent that remains believable at all times and also allows alternative, more conventional explanations. The eventual meeting with the poet seems to be the climax of the book but turns out to be only a prelude to the personal catastrophe of the couple that follows when their daughter is kidnapped.
Ein “Kriminalroman aus Wien”, d.h. es darf natuerlich in diesem Buch keine einzige handelnde Person geben, die nicht schwere psychische oder moralische Defekte hat, die sich so benimmt, dass man sich mit ihr identifizieren kann, oder die auch nur ansatzweise sympathische Charakterzuege aufweisst. Die Geschichte selbst ist originell, wenn auch alles andere als naheliegend. Die Details der Geschichte sind durchwegs ekelhaft. So bald werde ich mich nicht mehr ueber ein “Wiener” Buch trauen.
As an atheist i didn’t expect this book to be particularly interesting, but it turned out to be very thorough and enlightening in the way it puts the “god hypothesis” under a magnifying class. The book tells us about different types of religiosity, arguments for and against god (not entirely conclusive, as can be expected) and possible evolutionary explanations for the existence of religions. It goes into great detail on what it means to lead an atheistic life and why it would be preferable to a religious life in most of the dimensions (such as moral) that are usually considered a forte of religion.
(By the way: Ian McEwan wrote the cover-praise for this.)
A doctor is involved in a traffic accident and is too socially handicapped and self-centered to realize that his way of dealing with it is gravely insulting to the other party. Consequently, the other party tries to take revenge. Told in very slow, meticulous language, the book portrays an appalling specimen of the English upper-middle class. If you can overcome the nausea it is a very arresting story indeed, particularly because of the meanderings of the protagonists mind, which are laid open in all detail in front of us.
Einfach gut: liebevoll detailiert, aber nicht uebertrieben, mutig phantasievoll, aber nicht absurd, spannend, sensibel. Erzaehlt das grosse Abenteuer der Kratze Echo ohne viele Mythenmetz’sche Abschweifungen.
Ein Text wie ein Fiebertraum: emotional, die Details oft ueberdeutlich im Fokus, dafuer im Grossen meist verschwommen; keiner Logik folgend und manchmal richtiggehen absurd. Und wie ein Traum beduerfte dieses Buch fuer mich auch einer Deutung durch einen Wissenden, den obwohl die einfuehlsame Sprache durchaus mitreissend ist, weiss ich doch letztlich nicht, was Peter Handke damit sagen will.
A book about low-level (= close to the code) design decisions in object-oriented software development, discussed in terms of Java. Kent Beck’s style is to carefully and honestly argue and discuss, without ever being chatty or pretentious or self-important. A wonderfully satisfying book because it discusses issues that most experienced software developers know are crucial to high-quality software, yet few have the honesty to delve into “in public”, because these issues are neither fashionable nor visionary. To me this is an excellent example of what one might call an artisan approach to software development: driven by knowledge, experience, passion and attention to detail; rather than hype and the business interests that need that hype.
A man and his small boy travel south in an attempt to flee winter in a world that has become inhabitable. A torturous, painful text, full of despair, only the flickers of empathy between the two protagonists gave me the strength to continue. Unadorned language to tell a story without hope.
Unterhaltsam, langsam, schlechtes Deutsch.
(Up until now, when i wrote about a book on this page, i did so in English. Why? Probably because of my deep-felt believe that the language of the internet is English. However, it doesn’t feel right any more: a German book wants to be discussed in German, not the least because a German note is more likely to trigger authentic recollections of the book in the future. So that’s what i will do from now on.)
Der Autor spannt einen weiten Bogen ueber die Essenz der europaeischen Geschichte und Tradition (und inkludiert dabei auch die USA als europaeischen Ableger). Letztlich ist das Buch ein sehr maechtiges Plaedoyer fuer die Notwendigkeit jeder einzelnen Person und der Gesellschaft als Ganzes sich ihrer geschichtlichen Wurzeln bewusst zu sein. Das ist wichtige Voraussetzung fuer eine Standortbestimmung des status quo einer Gesellschaft im Strom der geschichtlichen Entwicklung. Und diese wiederum ist Voraussetzung fuer Verstehen und adaequat Reagieren auf die Herausforderungen des Jetzt.
Three carefully arranged narrative strands and their protagonists (the ex-pop star, the criminal, the junkie), edging closer over the course of the story, briefly meet at the climax of the book and then separate again. Dense, visually evocative language.
I’m not at all sure what this book is about. It seems to discuss beauty, yet it’s language is certainly not beautiful but, although educated, frighteningly cold. It seems to put forward rational arguments, yet I couldn’t follow any of them: each one seems to have made a leap that was completely unexpected and the best I could do was thinking “now where did that come from?” and just accept it.
An unusual novel that is indeed about what the title suggests. Full of excellently observed broadsides against (British) politics. Starts off very humoristic and light but develops into an increasingly sinistre and sobering direction.
Written 10 years ago, the book convincingly argues why the current organisation of paid labour contradicts the needs of the individual and society. Sketches alternative solutions, which sadly seem today even more far-fetched and without hope of realisation than at the end of the 20th century.
A mind-boggling fusion of ideas and pictures ranging from from history to religion to science. If only the end didn’t leave such a stale taste.
We accompany a 30-something man as he is drawn into family matters and along the way gains new insight into his past and his personality. Looking back the book is very carefully composed: it all comes together at the end and is very fulfilling. While reading it, though, this was not at all apparent and I actually lost my patience to some degree with a story that appeared at times rather shallow.
A tedious little novella, full of micro-observations about the non-events occuring during a day in an old man’s life. Nice idea for the resolution at the very end, granted, but quite annoying all the same.
Sensitive and imaginative story about a young gay photographer who picks up a little troll baby and keeps him in his appartment in Finnland.
Three generations of Russian men in the thrall of war and violence. The only escape are love and friendships - if they get a chance to blossom. Quiet moments amidst the madness.
Published in 1978, this is a very fulfilling and frustrating text at the same time. It is fulfilling because William Kent is a very careful and thorough thinker how explores from first principles the relationship between 1) the “real world”, 2) our perception(s) thereof and communication about it, 3) ways of modelling it and 4) how to implement those models in database systems. There are no trivialities or platitudes - he “simply” tries to grasp and capture the nature of these issues as honestly as possible. On the other hand the book is frustrating because it would have been much more interesting to see it explore more recent techniques and achievements in IT such as object orientation and the UML meta-model.
Set in late 16-th century Istanbul, the book has two main threads: a love story and a murder investigation among miniaturists (= book illustrators). It gives fascinating insight into the way of living, loving and thinking in that culture at that time - and told me more about arabic, persian and turkish schools of painting than i ever wanted to know. Strangely, the characters remained incomprehensible and opaque until the very end of the book, but that may just be because their culture is so very different than mine.
Cyber-punk-like science-fiction thriller around a mutant private detective, containing numerous original ideas and images.
Describes the hero’s adolescent years in Barcelona as a backdrop to a wonderfully mystic adventure amidst an array of colourful and charming book lovers. A magnificently rewarding book.
Cold-war political thriller, sensitive love-story and powerful humanistic statement in one excellent book about a young colonel who is sent to a secret army hospital in Greenland.
Comprehensive yet practical discussion of Java5 generics, giving a good appreciation of the design decisions for this new language feature and clear advice on how to use it.
A nice idea or two about society after the welfare state - but otherwise complete trash.
A triangle of three young jewish Amsterdamers tries to live their dream of becoming actors - and ultimately fails.
A damning cirtique of so-called university reforms and the role of knowledge and education in our society.
A homage to the pioneers of the railway, disguised as a fantasy epic. Almost too much to digest for that limited imagination of mine. Extremely dense language.
Russian science-fiction from the 60s, translated into a strange technocratic East-German.
Collection of short texts by Stephen Fry from the 90s. Intelligent, witty, humorous prose at it’s very best.
Boring, pretentious account of the well-known mechanisms of evolution.
A novel around the historic events that brought together Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and George Edalji. Why have your imagination constrained by historic facts when writing a novel?
A bit repetitive but thorough and quite convincing discussion of the merits of SOA thinking and its implementation with the WS-* stack.
Contains two particularly notable papers: “Modularizing Design Patterns with Aspects: A Quantitative Study” by A. Garcia et al. applies aspect-aware metrics to the AspectJ implementations of the GoF patterns by Hannemann and Kiczales. “Towards a Catalogue of Refactorings and Code Smells for AspectJ” by M.P. Monteiro et al. presents some refactorings and code smells for Java and AspectJ code.
A science thriller that does not sacrifice scientific rigour and is clever and rewarding until the very end - brilliant!
Thorough and rounded presentation of the rationale for and practice of AOP. Strangely, none of the many AOP examples is really convincing but they do provide plenty of inspiration…
How very appropriate and chilling to re-read this book at exactly this time! How can these sentences not strongly resonate with the politically interested reader in 2006?:
On the arch-enemy: “All subsequent crimes [..], acts of sabotage, heresies, deviations sprang directly out of his teaching. Somewhere or other he was still alive and hatching his conspiracies: perhaps somewhere beyond the sea, under the protection of his foreign paymasters [..]. [H]is influence never seemed to grow less. Always there were fresh dupes waiting to be seduced by him. A day never passed when spies and saboteurs acting under his directions were not unmasked [..]. He was the commander of a vast shadowy army, an underground network of conspirators dedicated to overthrow the State. [..] [He is] capable by the mere power of his voice of wrecking the structure of civilisation.”
On state and war: “In the vast majority of cases there was no trial, no report of arrest. People simply disappeared [..] The enemy of the moment always represented absolute evil, and it followed that any past or future agreement with him was impossible. [..] And at the same time the consciousness of being at war, and therefore in danger, makes the handing-over of all power to a small caste seem the natural, unavoidable condition of survival. [..] [I]t helps to preserve the special mental atmosphere that a hierarchical society needs.”
On society: “The whole climate of thought will be different. In fact there will be no thought, as we understand it now. Orthodoxy means not thinking - not needing to think. Orthodoxy is unconsciousness. [..] But it was also clear that an all-round increase in wealth threatened the destruction - indeed, in some sense was the destruction - of a hierarchical society. [..] In the long run, a hierarchical society was only possible on a basis of poverty and ignorance. [..] The citizen [..] is not allowed to know anything of the tenets of the other [..] philosophies, but he is taught to execrate them as barbarous outrages upon morality and commons sense. [..] The essence of oligarchical rule is not father-to-son inheritance, but the persistence of a certain world-view and a certain way of life, imposed by the dead upon the living. A ruling group is a ruling group as long as it can nominate its successors. [..] Who wields power is not important, provided that the hierarchical structure remains always the same. [..] [He] tolerates present-day conditions because he has no standards of comparison. He must be cut off from the past, just as he must be cut off from foreign countries, because it is necessary for him to believe that he is better off than his ancestors and that the average level of material comfort is constantly rising.”
An inspirational, positive little book that encourages the software developer to look beyond his/her favourite paradigms. The problem is just that I don’t accept his core assumption, which is that dynamically typed languages are superior to statically typed languages in terms of productivity. Frustratingly, Tate also never attempts to argue about this issue, but rather offers a series of interviews with people who provide their personal opinion on this and related topics. This provides valuable insight and is entertaining, but is just not thorough and convincing enough.
60-ish loner moves to Brooklyn and gradually becomes drawn into a wonderful mess of social interactions. A beautiful and powerful call to embrace life with all its ups and downs. Austers prose reads so fluently, yet is never trivial - a modern, urban humanism.
CTO-level introduction to the the ESB concept, and yet not so vague as to be entirely useless. Instead, gives quite a good understanding of what feature-set makes an an ESB nd how it can be employed in integration projects. Could have all been said in 50 pages, though.
Excellent analysis of the history (briefly) and status quo of capitalism and how it shapes society and democracy. Concentrates on the large (globalised) public limited company.
Magnificent science fiction, although this one is a bit long-winded.
Science fiction at it’s best: imaginary, literary, rewarding.
Read (finally) after seeing the film - found both rather lame.