134/365: Reading List

This is one of my reading stacks -- The papers on top are the Google Big Three (MapReduce/GFS/BigTable) papers. There are three other stacks on my desk -- one consisting mostly of photographic greats, one of pure fiction, and a few reference texts on Computational Theory. Then there's the SF & Horror anthologies on on my Nook and the audio books queued up for driving. Oh, and the otherwise useless Laurell K. Hamilton book that elevates my monitor by a few inches.

As Thomas Jefferson so eloquently stated, "I cannot live without books; but fewer will suffice where amusement, and not use, is the only future object."

This is why my shelves are creaking under the weight of ever more reference tomes. Even in this age of the internet, it's hard to argue with a the qualities of a well-edited pile of dead tree.

The visual design books have been responsible for the incremental improvements I've been making to my web presence and the eventual guerilla action on my employer's document templates. The computational theory books (and research papers) are loosely work-related. The photography books are for inspiration and technical know-how. The network books are so I can read up on the nitty-gritty details about IPv6 and to re-acquaint myself with the general state-of-the art.

Meanwhile, the fiction is to keep my brain from melting down from all this serious stuff and to remind me that there are worlds outside of my own.

...And Laurell K. Hamilton's books do indeed have a use. Well, two if you include kindling.

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