Samara Beach

Arenal Volcano

The summit was covered in clouds most of our visit, but cleared just as we were leaving.

Quetzal in the MonteVerde Cloud Forest

Credit to our guide Bernal for setting up this shot.

Related Posts: What We Tour 2, What We Tour, What We Hike 3

12/30/08
The Man Who Invented Christmas
Les Standiford

Rather than attempt a general biography of Dickens, the book wisely focuses on one particular turning point in the famous author’s life, when his writing career appears to be faltering and he decides to publish, at his own risk, a small volume just before the holidays to ease his debts. Threads are traced back to key events in his earlier life, with a father in debtor’s prison and young Dickens forced to work filling boot black to help get him released. After the publication, we take joy in the writer’s success and acclaim.

12/24/08
Coincidence, Chaos, and All That Math Jazz
Edward B Burger and Michael Starbird

A random walk through mathematical topics, including public key codes, spirals in nature, fractal origami, Mobius strips, and the fourth dimension. Particularly good treatment of the golden ratio.

12/20/08

Anita Blake– Vampire Hunter: Guilty Pleasures, Volume one
Laurell K Hamilton, Stacie Ritchie, and Jess Ruffner-Booth
(graphic novel)

12/18/08
Pete & Pickles
Berkeley Breathed

Pete the pig lives a very settled life– until the elephant Pickles crashes in and leads him into many hilarious adventures. Over-the-top comic body language, lovingly rendered, great fun.

12/14/08
Good As Lily
Derek Kirk Kim and Jesse Hamm
(small-format graphic novel)

Grace, a senior in high school with a good circle of friends, is surprised on her birthday by three more Graces at different ages, each with unresolved issues. Grace must not only deal with her own teen angst, but keep the extra Graces hidden and help with their problems.

12/12/08
Wishful Drinking
Carrie Fisher

An autobiographical version of her one-woman show, describing with much humor and exuberance the life as daughter of “Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston” of their day, her struggles with bipolar disorder and substance abuse, and geek heart-throb. Recommended.

12/9/08
The Plain Janes
Cecil Castellucci and Jim Rugg
(small-format graphic novel)

Jane’s parents flee with her to the suburbs after her brush with senseless violence in the big city. Rather than join the popular kids, she makes friends with an outsider crowd of individuals, also coincidentally named Jane. They embark on a highly secret program of guerilla art to make people think, which threatens the establishment. Intriguing plot.

12/5/08
Golden Fool
Robin Hobb

Fitz poses as Tom Badgerlock, bodyguard to Lord Golden, the Fool. Secretly he must assemble a coterie of Skilled for Prince Dutiful, while keeping hidden from his daughter Nettle. He must also be concerned with conflicts between the Witted and Piebalds, some who know his true identity. Dutiful is betrothed to Narcheska Elliana of the Out Islands, but some hidden motives must be uncovered. Ultimately many secrets are revealed about the Changer and the Catalyst, when a second White Prophet is revealed.

11/30/08
Goodnight Bush
Erich Origen and Gan Golan

Parody mixing the Bush administration with beloved children’s book Goodnight Moon.

11/26/08
Sly Mongoose
Tobias S. Buckell.

11/21/08
Backyard Ballistics
William Gurstelle

11/20/08
Nation
Terry Pratchett

While young Mau returns from a long journey by canoe a gigantic wave destroys his tiny island village. Daphne is a very British young lady who is sole survivor of Sweet Judy, wrecked on the same island. Together they are forced to grow and lead, as refugees straggle in from even smaller islands, to form a nation to defend against pirates and cannibals.

Mau struggles with loss of faith, while still hearing the voices of the “Grandfathers”. Daphne struggles against a very specific voice in her head: Grandmother. “Octopus arbori” means we are in a Pratchett world. And what a world! A sweet blend of profound and comic, utterly inspiring.

11/16/08
Half a Crown
Jo Walton

In this final installment of a trilogy, Peter Carmichael is commander of the Watch, with a dreaded secret putting him under control of the prime minister, who indeed he knows was part of the Farthing set that did overthrow the government by a key assassination. Peter’s ward is Elvira, staying with the Maynards to be “finished”, soon to debut and, with other young ladies of the season, be presented to the Queen.

It is 1960 and a world peace conference in London will decide the boundaries of the new powers, now that Russia has collapsed, the US has lost its way, and Japan and Germany are left standing. Carmichael is in charge of security, and Hitler will be on British soil. Elvira is observing a fascist rally that turns violent, is picked up by police, and finds herself a pawn in a struggle between the Watch and Scotland Yard.

Each chapter alternates between POV of Peter and Elvira.

11/9/08
The Hungry Scientist Handbook
Patrick Buckley and Lily Binns

Make root beer with dry ice, sourdough bread, liquid nitrogen ice cream. Build a coaster that changes color with drink temperature (challenging). Each chapter presents cool kitchen-related projects for the growing movement of Makers.

11/5/08
Very Bad Deaths
Spider Robinson

1st person POV with 60s flashbacks Russell Walker, still mourning the loss of his wife, is approached by an old friend from college. “Smelly” has become aware of a serial killer somewhere near Vancouver, and needs Russell to convince the police to investigate with no evidence.

Starts as soft-SF, slides into police procedural, with a truly frightening villain.

11/1/08
The Wordy Shipmates
Sarah Vowell

History nerds rejoice. Massachusetts Bay Colony governor John Winthrop, Rhode Island founder Roger Williams, rebel Anne Hutchinson, the Pequod War, and 1630s are probed with dry wit and wisdom, reflecting light on modern America.

10/30/08
The Annotated Wizard of Oz
L Frank Baum, edited by Michael Patrick Hearn
illustrated by W W Denslow

Silver shoes, not ruby slippers. Glinda is good witch of South, not North. More plot after Oz disappears in balloon. Baum wrote with an economy of words, bounty of unusual creatures, good helping of action with limited violence.

10/28/08
A Lion Among Men
Gregory Maguire

Orphaned, growing up alone, perpetually on the outside, Brrr the Lion had a knack for living in the wrong place at the wrong time. With no good moral example, he sought inclusion by compromise with authority, becoming a collaborator, despised by all sides. Now, working for the Emperor of Oz, he interviews the oracle Yackle for news of Elphaba and Liir, and may find answers and a new direction.

Maguire paints a richly dismal Oz of deception, tyranny, and genocide, with anti-heroes struggling against destiny and past mistakes.

10/24/08
Snake Agent
Liz Williams

Detective Inspector Chen teams with the demonic  Zhu Irzh to stop illegal soul trade into Hell.

How refreshing to read contemporary fantasy without vampires and werewolves! Williams draws a richly detailed mythos of the Orient, where hell is nothing if not bureaucratic, and inter-departmental infighting turns deadly.

10/20/08
Zoe’s Tale
John Scalzi

“The Last Colony” is retold from the point of view of seventeen year old Zoe, biological daughter of Charles Boutin, adopted by former Colonial Union soldiers John Perry. While living on the new colony of Roanoke, Zoe is joined by aliens Hickory and Dickory to record every detail of her life for the Obin. Zoe’s father gave the Obin consciousness, and the entire planet watches her life to learn how to exist with self-awareness.

10/16/08
The Last Theorem
Arthur C Clarke, Frederik Pohl

10/13/08
Shooting War
Anthony Lappe and Dan Goldman (graphic novel)

In the near future a video blogger stumbles onto a major story, is recruited by giant mainstream media, subverted to fit the company’s storyline for a failing war, is a pawn in conflict between freedom fighters and counterinsurgents, and finally forced to return to roots. Gritty, flashy, with atmosphere of the authentic from a real freelance journalist.

10/10/08
Bonk : the curious coupling of science and sex
Mary Roach

10/7/08
Math Curse
Jon Scieszka + Lane Smith (youth picture book)

Mrs Fibonacci says that almost everything can be thought of as a math problem. The next day the young narrator wakes up and everything IS math to be solved.

10/3/08
Saturn’s Children
Charles Stross

Humans created androids and then disappeared. An aristo class of androids control most of the populace with slave chips. Inexperienced Freya Nakamichi-47 flees the wrath of an aristo by becoming a courier within the solar system, and becomes entangled with schemes and plots.

Pity about the cover.

9/30/08
An Irish Country Village
Patrick Taylor

Barry Laverty wants to join Doctor Fingal O’Reilly’s GP practice in the tiny Ulster village of Ballybucklebo, circa 1960s, but the death of a patient threatens his reputation with the possibility of a lawsuit. While waiting for autopsy tests, he provides moral support for true-love Patricia Spence as she competes for an engineering scholarship that would take her to far-away Cambridge for three years. Councillor Bertie Bishop is scheming to take over the Mucky Duck pub, and it will take the cleverness of Fingal and Barry to thwart his plans. And will Bishop ever finish building a certain slate roof so ancient lovebirds Maggie and Sonny can finally have a wedding.

Immerse yourself in the lives of this country village, and after a few pages you will smile.

9/27/08
Web Marketing for Dummies
Jan Zimmerman

This New Mexico web designer provides several web site examples from local companies to illustrate her points. A reference book with many lists of links, useful to read with a browser nearby.

9/25/08
The Cartoon Guide to Statistics
Larry Gonick and Woollcott Smith

Illustrated in the same style of “Cartoon History of the Universe”, mixes equations and humorous illustrations to illuminate the main concepts of statistics, including distributions, confidence intervals, hypothesis testing, and experimental design. Suprisingly effective way to make abstract mathematical concepts clear with drawings and humor. Recommended for mathephiles to expand and renew statistical concepts.

9/21/08
Daemons Are Forever
Simon R Green

Shaman Bond, once a field agent, is now stuck as leader of the Drood clan. Without their golden armor the family is struggling to keep check on the many dark magic entities and organizations threatening the world, while conspiracies within the Droods threaten Shaman and his companion Molly.

9/18/08
Implied Spaces
Walter Jon Williams

Aristide was present at the Singularity 1400 years ago, helping create the nine orbital AIs that make possible the pocket universes connected to our reality by wormholes, and where anyone can download to a new body in a “pool of life”. Aristide has spent the past few hundred years in a pre-tech pocket universe Midgarth as swordsman scholar, accompanied by AI avatar Bitsy in cat form, and discovers an utterly fiendish plot that threatens every universe.

The writer deftly executes Really Big Ideas. It would be a spoiler to say more, but believe me, Really Big. Battles both low-tech and far-far-future tech, clever plot twists, talented villain, are all well executed.

9/16/08
Victory of Eagles
Naomi Novik

In the last book Captain Will Laurence did a right and noble act for the benefit of his dragon Temeraire and all dragon-kind, but at terrible price: he is branded as traitor by the British government, imprisoned, while Temeraire is exiled to breeding grounds, and the French recover strength to make a daring invasion of British soil. Captain and dragon are too vital to remain unused, and bargain with General Wellesley to fight, while gaining some concessions for dragon rights.

9/11/08
Infoquake
David Louis Edelman

Although many police, detective, and medicine procedural stories are present in books and TV, rarely does one find business procedural. Add to that a science fiction business procedural, with a fully imagined economy and software product sector, which considers the effect of disruptive technology break-through, and you have Infoquake.

Natch, with help of talented programmer Horvil and product manager Jara, has built his fiefcorp from nothing to a leading developer of bio/logics: nano-software that enhances human ability, from the mundane change of eye color, to control of facial expression, adjustment of sleep and mood. Natch is driven, ruthless, not entirely ethical, not above spreading false messages to delay a competitor’s product release. Just the sort of young upstart to be approached by the head of a venerable memecorp to bring to market a technology that could change human ability to unimaginable heights. Now Natch must fight industrial espionage and government military action to release 1.0 on time or lose everything.

9/6/08
Starcross
Philip Reeve

While Larklight is undergoing renovation the Mumbys journey newly opened Grand Hotel Starcross in the asteroid belt advertised as a bathing resort, served by a rail line I rather think might be hard to engineer. Among the guests they meet Delphine Beauregard, a rival for the attentions of Jack Havock. Soon the youths are battling deadly starfish, giant clams, and sinister top hats.

As with Larklight, some of the best bits are in excerpts from Myrtle’s diary, with a difficult reconciling of teenage adventurer with the ideals of innocent female genteel beauty.

8/28/08
The Willoughbys
Lois Lowry

In many youth fiction series the heroes deal with thoroughly despicable villains, but the young adventurer’s parents are good and pure. Think Series of Unfortunate Events, Harry Potter, and so on. Enter the Willoughbys. Timothy, age 12, the twins Barnaby and Barnaby, and young Jane. Their parents decide they really do not like their children, and concoct a diabolical plan to rid themselves of the kids. With the help of a nanny, a foundling, and an eccentric neighbor, the Willoughby children build the family they deserve.

8/22/08
The Amber Spyglass
Philip Pullman

Scientist Mary Malone travels to a world of friendly wheeled sentients in a close symbiosis with giant trees that are dying, and fashions a spyglass that sees Dust to find out the reason. Will and Lyra, with aid of the Subtle Knife, travel to the world of the dead to visit Roger and end up changing the system of afterlife. In a suitable conclusion to a vast story line, Lord Asriel battles the Consistoral Court and Heaven itself in a vast war involving many worlds. Mrs. Coulter continues her career of deception and seduction. We are introduced to the Gallivespians, tiny short-lived humanoids that ride on large dragonflies, with leg spurs that can stun or kill.

Christian concerns about the challenge to church doctrine might be ignored in previous books of the series, but Pullman uses allegory to challenge the idea of afterlife and an active deity in this final volume.

8/15/08
Passionate Minds
David Bodanis

If you appreciated Neal Stephenson’s Quicksilver, then run, don’t walk, to the nearest bookstore/libary for this true story of affair between two brilliant minds at the dawn of the Enlightenment– Voltaire and Emilie du Chatelet. Sword fights, narrow escapes, political intrigue, and financial schemes, oh joy! At Chateau de Cirey they would alternately compete and collaborate in scientific inquiries. Emilie, talented in mathematics, could understand and explain Newton, and made further progress in the nature of energy. Voltaire took the path of the experimentalist, weighing matter at different temperatures, not so fortunate in his scientific exploration, finally falling back to his true calling of literature and challenging the authority of King and Church.

8/10/08
The Edge of Reason
Melinda Snodgrass

Albuquerque police officer Richard Oort rescues Rhiana from magical creatures, and becomes involved in a vast struggle between magic and reason. Recruited for the Lumina by Kenntnis, an Old One, Richard struggles to prevent a new Dark Age.

Authentic settings of Albuquerque area.

7/25/08
An Irish Country Doctor
Patrick Taylor

Barry Laverty is a brand new MD, undecided about a career path. He joins Doctor Fingal Flahertie O’Reilly in the small fictional community of Ballybucklebo, gradually learning from this irascible eccentric character the real art of medicine. Delightful tales, full of wisdom and memorable characters, well deserving a standing ovation.

7/19/08
The Anubis Gates
Tim Powers

Coleridge as a character in genre fiction. Brilliant!

7/15/08
Matter
Iain M. Banks

Mixes mega-high tech and low tech cultures seamlessly in a vast story.

7/6/08
The Subtle Knife
Philip Pullman

Lyra travels to another world and meets Will, eventual wielder owner of the titular object, so sharp it can slice holes into the barriers between worlds. They bide in a world ravaged by Specters that eat souls of adults, leaving children alone. The stunningly grandiose plan of Lord Asriel is revealed.

7/1/08
Eight Lives Down
Chris Hunter

Chris Hunter leads a unit that disarms IEDs in Shia-dominated Basra in a deadly cat-and-mouse game where the enemy is constantly changing tactics and targeting Captain Hunter personally. Transcends the war memoir genre with uncanny you-are-there realism, inspiration, and humor.

6/29/08
Storm Front
Jim Butcher

Harry Dresden, wizard, is special consultant to the Chicago PD, called in by Lt Murphy when evidence points to the wyrd. Harry must track down a powerful but inexperienced black mage, while on probation with the White Council, dealing with racketeer Marcone, and keeping too many secrets from Lt Murphy.

6/25/08
Victory Conditions
Elizabeth Moon

In the final book of the Vatta series, Ky Vatta must lead a fleet against Turek’s pirate forces.

6/21/08
Fool Moon
Jim Butcher

Brutal killings point to werewolves, but which kind? We have classic werewolves, like wizards that only know one spell. Hexenwolves use a magic belt. Loup-garous are wolf-like monsters cursed to transform at the full moon. All varieties are involved in a grand bloody melee. As usual, the wizard Harry (hmmm) keeps Murph in the dark, destroying her trust.

Related Posts: What We Have Read 8, 7, 6, 5, 4

Even as the program creator, I wasn’t sure how to change this behavior without digging deep into the source code. Like most coders, I use a framework, a wrapper around the Windows API (Applications Programming Interface) to ease programming tasks. Delving in the framework source code, we discover the MRU menu item uses the Windows API GetFileTitle function.

GetFileTitle returns the string that the system would use to display the filename to the user. The display name includes an extension only if that is the user’s preference for displaying file names. This means that the returned string may not accurately identify the file if it is used in calls to file system functions.

Getting closer. How do we turn on display of file extensions? The answer is not exactly obvious. In Windows Explorer, click on menu Tools -> Folder Options -> View, and look under Advanced settings for “Hide extensions for known file types“. Un-select this item. MRUs for our application will now show extensions. (check for xp)

Here is how our MRU menu looks with file extensions displayed:

I notice that some other applications always display MRU file extensions, no matter the user preference setting. Should we change this behavior for our programs?

[flash http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RaSCByd0UtM]

Enjoy  some Pi-ku.

System Start

The plumbing is all connected and leak-free. Now let’s put coolant in the system and see if we get heat! Ordinarily we might use equal parts propylene glycol (not the more poisonous ethylene glycol) and water, about 4 gallons in all. However, we turned this system on in early autumn with no freezing nights possible, so we use tap water in the coolant loop. Once we gain confidence in the system we can refill with glycol/water mixture after a few days.

First we connect a hose from a nearby faucet to the upper boiler drain valve, and another hose from the lower boiler drain valve to a drainage area out in the yard. We run the water for several minutes to flush out any flux and solder and other junk from the coolant loop.

Now we connect two short hoses, actually “washing machine hoses”, to a drill-powered pump and large bucket like so:

Following the directions in The article in Home Power magazine “DWHW Installation Basics Part 2” from June 2003 we run the pump with both valves open, and keep running until no air bubbles appear in the bucket. Then slowly close the lower valve and keep pumping until the pressure in the coolant loop reads about 20 PSI, then close the upper valve.

We keep the bucket and hoses and pump together as a dedicated kit for possible future maintenance.

One final task is to connect the pump to the PV panel on the roof. (We angle this panel a bit West of direct South, so in winter the solar water panel has a chance to warm up before sun hits the PV panel and starts the pump starts circulating. Otherwise cold coolant from the panel might cool the water in the storage tank enough to cause the auxiliary electric water heater to turn on each winter morning.)

With the pump running, take a trip to the roof to purge any air from the coin vent. Be careful: hot coolant might spray out and scald if you turn the vent valve too far too fast.

With the pump running, we feel the pipes in the heat-exchange loop get warm, and then hot. I expected  the storage tank to take several days to heat, but hot showers were available after only one-half day of system operation.

Later we insulate the pipes exposed on the roof, secured with wire-ties. These pipes might get too hot for the insulation used to insulate regular home hot water plumbing; we used insulation rated for this temperature sold by our solar heating supply vendor.

Go back onto the roof in a day or so and purge any air from the coin vent that might have collected.

Lessons Learned

1. We would change the placement of the mounting board with pump and expansion tank to be more accessible for later repairs: lower and not as far in the corner. This is in an area where people pass by frequently and I thought the equipment would get in the way, but there was enough room.
2. We would change the routing of the pipes going to and from the storage tank heat exchanger to first turn towards the wall and then make a right angle bend up to the mounting board. Once reaching the wall the pipes could be fastened with clamps for better support.
3. We would attach components to the mounting board prior to attaching the board to the wall. We would follow more closely the example shown in “DWHW Installation Basics Part 2”, Home Power Magazine.
4. Too many trips to the big-box home store for extra pipe fittings was caused by not carefully sketching in detail the plumbing for the entire coolant loop system, indicating every single fitting required– and then buying a few extra for last-minute changes.
5. We added temperature gauges at both the inlet and outlet of the heat exchanger. In practice the difference in temperature is very small almost all the time. The heat exchanger relies on many trips around the coolant loop to get enough heat transfer to the storage tank.
6. We learned this project is indeed possible for someone with a technical bent and little experience. If you have ever dabbled in car repair or significant home repair project then this is well within your grasp– at least if you have a flat roof.
7. Our solar storage tank includes an auxiliary electric heater. If we had hooked up this electrical connection just after connecting the hot and cold water pipes, we would not need to be in a hurry to complete the coolant loop connections.

Regular Operation

Here is a graph from our gas bill in winter.

See how much less gas we burn than last year? We are now paying much more for “access fee”, taxes, and fees than per/therm gas usage. If we could stop using natural gas for the stove and clothes dryer, we could unhook from the utility. We really like a gas range, but propane might do. We have ideas about the clothes dryer that might appear in a later post.

After running for several months, we are encountering no problems. It just works!

During winter months we do encounter winter storms with several consecutive days of no sun, and then the auxiliary electric heating element in the storage tank does turn on. During non-winter months we can turn off electricity to the tank altogether.

Our March magnetic drive DC circulating pump might tend to be noisier than other type pumps, according to Home Power November 2007 article “Pick the Right Pump“. We live in a quiet neighborhood, and my office is located not far from the pump, and my personal preferences tolerate very little ambient noise. Our noise- meter measured 53dB at a distance of one meter during regular operation, not much louder than our refrigerator when the compressor is running. Somewhat more noticeable is the variation in pitch of the pump during semi-cloudy days, but nothing too objectionable.

Future

What will it take for solar hot water system panels and other system components to be sold in big-box home-improvement stores? Should light-weight solar thermal panels be used, or heavier but very durable panels such as ours? Should flexible copper tubing be used to ease the process of installation, or some sort of temperature-resistant plastic pipe? What diameter tubing still gives reasonable coolant flow and heat transfer? What components can sold in pre-assembled form for faster and easier installation? We welcome your thoughts.

Related Posts: Solar 1, Solar 2, Solar 3

6/16/08
Fortune’s Formula
William Poundstone

John Kelly at Bell Labs develops a strategy of risk management, applied at blackjack by MIT mathematician Edward O Thorp. Later he applies the same concept to hedge fund Princeton-Newport. A colorful cast of characters appear and re-appear like a Stephenson novel: Claude Shannon, Rudy Giulani, Michael Milken, Warren Buffet, mobsters, Wall Street inside trader Ivan Boesky, LTCM, and more. Truth really is stranger than fiction in this lively twisted story. Highly cogent and revelatory.

6/11/08
The Numbers Behind Numb3rs
Keith Devlin, Gary Lorden

Did you ever suspect the mathematical basis of the CBS crime show “Numb3rs” was occasionally bogus? Certainly not, according to Devlin (NPR “Math Guy”) and Gary Lorden (show math consultant). We are introduced to graph theory of social networks of terrorists, distance functions in multi-variables that include eye color and hair length, applications of wavelets for fingerprints, and a host of other real-world applications.

Of particular note is the CAPPS analysis in the “Prisoner’s Dilemma” chapter. Two MIT grad students analyze the system for selecting passengers for screening before airline flights. Since the terrorists are free to conduct multiple dry runs, the students show that any screening system can do little better than random chance.

6/7/08
The Sharing Knife: Passage
Lois McMaster Bujold

Dag and his young bride Fawn are no longer welcome at Hickory Lake Camp, having violated the taboo of relations between Lakewalkers and farmers. The pair decide to travel among normals, spreading the word about “blight” areas caused by “malices”, so farmers can better avoid the dangerous places and avoid capture by the deadly creatures. The pair decide to take passage down the river, accompanied by Fawn’s brother Whit, where they meet a young riverboat captain searching for her father and fiance. Join the group on a wonderfully drawn journey on the river.

6/2/08
1602
Neil Gaiman

Many characters from Marvel are placed in 1602, with Queen Elizabeth’s rein fated to end, succeeded by James in Scotland. Sir Nicholas Fury is spymaster, Doctor Strange is mystical advisor to the Queen, Matthew Murdock is a blind troubador with a secret life, and so on. Several characters are better disguised from the reader, and it may take a few hints before you place the character with the familiar superhero/villain.

Several mutants are tolerated in the realm by the Queen, but are likely to be persecuted by James, with a suspicious alliance with the Inquisition.

Great fun with the Marvel mythological universe. The writer is even able to plausibly explain the appearance of these characters from the future into an earlier time.

5/27/08
The Yiddish Policemen’s Union
Michael Chabon

After the defeat of Israel in 1948, millions of Jewish refugees live in the temporary federal district of Sitka, Alaska, now only two months from reversion back to state control. Homicide detective and barely-functioning alcoholic Meyer Landsman discovers a body in the same cheap hotel where he lives, and investigates with partner Berko Shemets. We enter a gritty vibrant world of refugees, gangsters, spies, and fanatics, utterly engrossing.

5/21/08
World War Z
Max Brooks

The Zombie War is told as oral history by multiple individuals, describing the rapid collapse of civilization across the world (accelerated by initial secrecy and denial by governments), isolated hold-outs, massive refugee movement to islands, and eventual struggle to take back the world. The book reads as a novel composed of short stories.

The beginning stories are set in varied locations such as Greater Chongqing, Barbados, and Meteora, Greece, drawn with detail adding to the sense of authenticity. Characters are allowed to tell their own stories in their own words, particularly effective in capturing the sense of defeat and desperate struggle in the early stages.

5/15/08
The Man with the Golden Torc
Simon R Green

Eddie Drood (told as first-person) is part of the highly secretive Drood clan that has quietly protected the world from demons, evil geniuses, monsters, and assorted magical beings for generations Each Drood is equipped with a torc that expands to full-body-armor loaded with features. Eddie is on the outs with his family, falsely accused, and must join fate with a witch to uncover secrets and clear his name. Each page reveals some new magical being or artifact or plot twist for a many-layered action-filled ride.

5/6/08
The Ten Most Beautiful Experiments
George Johnson

Today published scientific experiments might list a hundred collaborators, but back in the early days of science, a few particularly elegant demonstrations were accomplished by a lone individual, and are capable of being understood by non-scientist reader how the results are significant. Michelson’s measurement of the speed of light, Newton and his elegant experiment with prisms on the nature of color, Pavlov’s salivating dog, and Millikan’s cloud chamber for measuring the charge of an electron are among the experiments included here.

You might quibble about the choice of experiments, but that is a good thing– we techies should all give thought to our own top ten list. The writer does a fine job in explaining the historical context for each experiment, allowing us to understand why each result is so important as to be worth remembering.

This reader would like to see a web site or wiki to accompany the book, to allow the reader to reproduce these experiments (perhaps not Pavlov’s) and see photos of working equipment.

4/29/08
Grammar Snobs Are Great Big Meanies
June Casagrande

This former copy editor and word enthusiast skewers well known grammar authorities such as Chicago Manual of Style, William Safire, and Associated Press Stylebook, by noting their lack of agreement on key word issues. She uses this as a hook to keep the reader entertained while providing a refresher in grammar concepts underlying particular questions of word usage.

4/23/08
Farewell, My Subaru
Doug Fine

Join the journalist as he moves to a remote ranch in southern New Mexico with the goals of living sustainably and locally without giving up key perks such as Netflix and Internet. With considerable wit and energy he documents acquiring goats (escape artists with fur), adding solar panels, converting his truck to burn veggie oil, and growing a vegetable garden. With each adventure he frankly relates mistakes made, so we can learn from his efforts and try these projects ourselves. This reader can hope for a sequel.

4/18/08
The Fortune Cookie Chronicles
Jennifer Lee

The writer explores the world of Chinese restaurants in America, so much unlike traditional food in China, where fortune cookies, chow mein, and egg foo yung, and General Tso’s chicken is unknown. Using the story of the fortune cookie as a foundation, each chapter covers some aspect of this world, including the mass migration of Chinese workers from the province of Fuzhou, take-out boxes, soy sauce (with no soy), Kosher Chinese scandal in DC area, delivery menu wars in Manhattan. Intelligent and lively, this book is a delight for foodies.

4/12/08
Rolling Thunder
John Varley

In previous books Mars had thwarted a sneak attack from powerful interests on Earth, and now has space supremacy with exclusive control of the squeezer propulsion device invented by shy genius Jubal. Podkayne, third generation from one of the first families on Mars, is starting her mandatory military service, lead singer in a small band, part of the entertainment division of the Martian Navy. On a visit to an outpost on Europa, the ground shifts under Poddy, and life gets interesting real fast.

Homage to  Heinlein juvenile fic, this novel is fun and stands on its own. A young person, not yet beaten down by The Man and The System, discovers hidden strengths, nobility of spirit, and fame and success beyond any expectation.

4/4/08
The Lady Tasting Tea
David Salsburg

The development and application of statistics in the twentieth century is traced, by telling the lives of key mathematicians involved and the particular problems they were trying to solve. We start with Galton and the journal Biometrika, Pearson and his skew measurements, Gosset’s measurement of brewing beer, Fisher and “Statistical Methods for Research Workers”, Jerzy Neyman and hypothesis testing, Cornfield and economics modeling, and so on. Many personal anecdotes are related. No equations appear to scare readers, but key statistics concepts are explained with enviable clarity lacking in many textbooks.

3/27/08
The Man in the High Castle
Philip K Dick

Germany and Japan have won the war. Childan lives in the Japan-controlled Rocky Mountain States, selling fake historical American artifacts to wealthy Japanese collectors. Mr. Tagomi, an official in the Japanese embassy in San Francisco, undertakes to guide Childran subtly without the reciprocal social obligations overt advice would entail in Japanese culture. Frank Frink is an artisan intent on creating something new and American, and approaches Childran to sell his creations. Frink’s ex-wife Juliana goes to see the author of Grasshopper, a banned book describing an alternate history where the Axis powers lost the war. Several characters use the I-Ching for advice, and become intertwined. With superior rocket technology, Germany has gone to the moon much earlier than our history, electronics lags far behind, and Germany faces succession struggles and potential conflict with Japan.

3/21/08
Golden Compass
Philip Pullman

After listening to the audio book and seeing the movie, we were glad to finally read the book.

3/17/08
Undercover Economist
Tim Harford

Similar to the style of Freakonomics, this Financial Times Magazine columnist and blogger/columnist for Slate uses economic theory to explain why Starbucks has so many choices, why popcorn costs so much in movie theaters and other questions for the individual, and then moves to issues for larger organizations such as how to structure an auction for wireless spectrum, health care, and development in China. You may disagree with his view on sweatshops or globalization, but be prepared to gain insights to the workings of the economy affecting us all.

3/14/08
Heart of Whitenesse
Howard Waldrop

Another collection of short stories by the creative eccentric, filled with obscure cultural references to challenge the reader. Begin by reading the afterwords first, then read the story with Google nearby, and don’t miss the “Explication and Glossary” at the end of “The Other Real World” while reading that story of the Cold War. “D=RxT” is an existential James Dean style tale of pedal car racing.

3/10/08
The Accidental Time Machine
Joe Haldeman

Matt is a a failed grad student with no social life, toiling long hours and barely clinging to a job as technician in an MIT lab, when he accidentally builds a time machine that seems to only move forward in time with increasingly large time intervals. With visions of fame and fortune he experiments on himself, beginning a series of challenges beginning with felony charges and growing exponentially more difficult.

Similar structure to Forever War.

3/7/08
The Spiderwick Chronicles: The Field Guide
Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black

Twins Jared and Simon and older sister Mallory move to an ancient family home, find a secret room and secret journal and secret creatures. Much shorter than a Hogwarts novel, charming, with effective illustrations, this is a good start to a new series.

3/5/08
Black Bodies and Quantum Cats
Jennifer Ouellette

A series of essays of science history in chronological order, including several technology developments such as Velcro, Reddi-Wip, and roller coasters not often found in similar collections. The writer delights in citing modern cultural references, such as a plot point in movie “Addams Family Values” when discussing gravity and the laws of motion.

3/2/08
Moon Flights
Elizabeth Moon

Short stories include several of the Ladies Aid & Armor Society, one Vatta trading tale, and various sword and military plots. Most memorable is “Tradition”, an alternate history story of Admiral Christopher Cradock’s pursuit of German ships in the Med (as opposed to actual engagement off Chile).

Unlike many collections of short stories, these include no introduction or postscript.

2/29/08
Born Standing Up
Steve Martin

This memoir of comedian Steve Martin’s arc from rope tricks at Disneyland and vaudeville at Knott’s Berry Farm to runaway comic success appearing before thousands of screaming fans night after night, succeeds in presenting a sober account of years of striving and a healthy amount of lucky timing ultimately resulting in unexpected wondrous success. Photos and documents add extra spice.

2/27/08
The Rejection Collection vol 2: Cream of the Crap
editied by Matthew Diffee

This second volume of cartoons rejected by the New Yorker (specifically cartoon editor Bob Mankoff) includes for each cartoonist a one-page photo spread, two pages of questionnaire creatively answered, and sadly only three to five cartoons one per page. While we appreciate the large format reproduction of cartoons, we are hungry for more.

2/25/08
The Logic of Life
Tim Harford

The writer of the Undercover Economist blog explores the rational economics explanation for seemingly illogical situations: racism, stubborn pockets of poverty in cities, highly paid CEOs. Game theory as applied to economics is used to explore the dating scene and poker competition. Lively and lucid, much in the style of Freakonomics.

2/23/08
Iron Kissed
Patricia Briggs

Mercy Thompson book 3.

2/19/08
Blood Bound
Patricia Briggs

In Moon Called, Mercedes Thompson needs a favor from vampire friend Stefan, and he has come to ask her help in return, as a secret witness when he meets another. What can be more evil than a vampire or even sorcerer: combo plate. The vampires play a deep and subtle game, and vamp leader Marsilia believes Mercedes poses a special threat to her kind.

2/14/08
Moon Called
Patricia Briggs

Mercedes Thompson, VW mechanic trained by an ancient fae, is a coyote shape-shifter with native-American heritage, raised by a clan of werewolves. Werewolf packs are complex, with dominance politics of wolves blended with human instincts. She becomes deeply involved with the local were pack after a surprise attack.

2/10/08
Breath and Bone
Carol Berg

2/6/08
How to Buy, Sells, and Profit on eBay
Adam Ginsberg

Explains the basics of running an eBay-based business, with many ideas for items to sale, and an enthusiasm which will spur the reader to overcome doubts and take first steps.

2/5/08
Embroideries (graphic novels)
Marjane Satrapi

After lunch, the men go off to nap while the women clean up and gather around the samovar for tea and talk. Hear the stories of these individuals as they talk about their sex lives. Arranged marriages, virginity and faking, old men after young girls, satisfaction and frustration. A remarkable blend of humor and revelation.

2/2/08
Moon Called
Patricia Briggs

Mercy Thompson is a shape-shifting coyote caught up in deadly struggle among werewolves.

1/28/08
Orange Cheeks
Jay O’Callahan, illustrated by Patricia Raine (children)

Four and a half year old Willie loves to visit Grandma in Cambridge, and he was trying his best to be extra good. In spite of his best efforts he gets into trouble– what will happen?

Told by a master story-teller.

1/24/08
Things Will Never Be the Same
Howard Waldrop

Waldrop researches obscure subjects in depth, and then writes unique short stories which are real gems. My favorite in this collection is “Wild, Wild Horses”, about a special equine in ancient Rome.

1/20/08
Benjamin Franklin’s Numbers
Paul C Pasles

Benjamin Franklin is recognized for many key contributions in science, but not so much in mathematics, aside from some magic squares mentioned in his autobiography. The writer explores the mathematical side of Franklin, from his paper on population growth that influenced Malthus, to problems included in Poor Richard’s Almanac, to his moral algebra claimed to influence the utilitarianism of Bentham. Pasles does a neat bit of historical research to find improved magic squares created by Franklin overlooked for generations, and explores the many wonderful symmetries of his magic squares and magic circles, and delves into how they were created.

1/17/08
Persepolis 2
Marjane Satrapi

The author escapes the turmoil of Iran to become a student in Austria in 1984. Without family and friends near, she must work out living arrangements and find friends among people of very different backgrounds than her own. She finds some kindness, but also false friends that ultimately cause great harm. After a particularly bad episode she returns to Iran, and discovers how her brief experience in the West creates a chasm with family and friends.

1/14/08
Three Men in a Boat
Jerome K Jerome

A tale of three buffoons on a trip up the Thames written with a dry elegant turn of phrase, with many flashbacks and twisty turns of narration. Must inevitably be compared with Wodehouse today.

1/10/08
Crooked Little Vein
Warren Ellis

Michael McGill, barely surviving as a Manhattan detective and bad luck magnet, is approached by the Chief of Staff to the President to obtain a Constitution written in secret by founding fathers, which will grant special powers to the owner. Accompanied by Trix, a doctoral student of kinkiness, McGill journeys from one depraved character to another in search of his goal.

Funny, snort-whiskey-out-the-nose hilarity in places, a commentary on alternative lifestyles and so-called majorities. Echoes of Hunter S Thompson.

1/7/08
Privilege of the Sword
Ellen Kushner

Alec, now Duke Tremontaine, avoids appearance of politics like his mentor the late Duchess, adopting a public air of decadence and unpredictable behavior earning the appellation Mad Duke. He secretly thwarts Lord Ferris and other foes with a plentitude of schemes. The Duke arranges his niece Katherine to be trained in the sword and take her place in society uniquely prepared to defend her own honor, unlike her friend Lady Artemesia who must rely upon family.

1/3/08
Fires of the Faithful
Naomi Kritzer

Eliana studies violin at a music conservatory, sheltered from the conflicts resulting from the Circle imposing a new religion, violently suppressing any traces of the old. When she discovers a terrible secret about the mage abilities available in small part to anyone, and concentrated in certain powerful individuals, she embarks on a path that holds many perils.

12/31/07
The Good Husband of Zebra Drive
Alexander McCall Smith

Mma Ramotswe’s husband Mr JLB Matekoni investigates his own case, Mma Makutsi has a falling-out with her employer, and the investigator resolves a case at a hospital by using mercy.

12/29/07
The Dord, the Diglot, and an Avocado or Two
Anu Garg

Light-hearted tour of nifty words. Chapters include words derived from Dickens novels, people, and myths. Humor is key. Scattered throughout are word-related riddles: “What is the longest word that doesn’t repeat a letter?”

12/28/07
Pontoon
Garrison Keillor

Keillor expands his familiar pontoon tale into a full novel. When Evelyn dies, her will specifies her ashes should be placed in a bowling ball and dropped in the middle of Lake Wobegon. Her daughter Barbara is determined to honor her wishes, setting the stage for an eventful day.

We were delighted to hear a shorter version of the story at a fundraising show at Popejoy: thirty minute monolog, no notes, no teleprompter, just Garrison’s deep voice.

12/26/07
Flesh and Spirit
Carol Berg

Valen is a pureblood mage, with a learning disorder misunderstood by his imperious family, causing him to escape and hide for years disguised as a normal.

12/23/07
The Thief youth fic
Megan Whalen Turner

Gen is a young thief languishing in prison, until the King’s magus has him released for a secret mission to steal an ancient treasure linked to the fate of nations. The magus and Gen journey with Pol, faithful experienced professional soldier, his charge Saphos, and the mage’s student Ambiades.

Gen is mouthy and proud, appealing to a young reader, and in a surprise twist we discover all is not as it appears.

12/21/07
Postsingular
Rudy Rucker

Jeff Luty wants to convert the matter of Earth into “nants”, running a simulation of virtual Earth. He is thwarted by Ond Lutter, who deploys an ophid mesh network every few mm apart, which allows a ubiquitous network and enhances abilities of the individual. Everything changes. The singularity causes unforeseen side-effects, such as the discovery of a parallel universe, or brane, some of whose inhabitants have been secretly traveling to our Earth. Teleportation and ophid spam and emergent intelligences also arise. A band of homeless young counter-culture drifters, the Big Pig Posse, including meta-novelist Thuy, amateur physicist Jayjay, and physics gamer Sonic, get drawn into the center of action to thwart Luty’s plans to hack the orphidnet and release his nants.

Major characters in Rucker novels tend towards precipitous actions, unrequited loves, self-destructive behavior, at the expense of in-depth characterization with subtle nuance. Sometimes one notices the writer’s puppet strings. Big original ideas make this a must-read in spite of character quirks.

12/17/07
The Sandbox
Intro by G B Trudeau, edited by David Stanford

Collects some of the best USA soldier mil-blog entries of the Iraq and Afghan conflicts.

12/14/07
Persepolis
Marjane Satrapi

Deeply personal memoir of a teenager growing up during the Iranian Revolution of early 1980s. The stories of friends and family bring the vast events into proximity, telling of Ramin in school whose father worked for the Savak, two friends of the family released from the Shah’s prisons only to be persecuted by revolutionaries, her own encounter with the Guardians of the Revolution, Women’s Branch, after buying bootleg rock cassettes. The powerful conclusion to this set of stories will stay with reader.

Black and white illustrations are remarkably effective, with clean minimalist form, almost iconic, good use of white lines on black, crowd scenes often using tiled images with a nod to ancient Islamic art.

12/11/07
Alcatraz versus the Evil Librarians
Brandon Sanderson

Drifting through various foster homes, Alcatraz Smedry discovers on his thirteenth birthday that he is a powerful occulator, and that he really lives in Hushland controlled by an organization of tyrannical librarians intent on keeping the truth from citizens. With Grandpa Smedry and young warrior Bastille, Alcatraz takes on the Dark Occulator.

Similar to Series of Unfortunate Events.

12/9/07
Empire of Ivory
Naomi Novik

Captain Laurence and his dragon Temeraire must travel to a distant colony in search of a cure for an illness incapacitating all British dragons, before Napoleon discovers the island is undefended by air. They discover why no explorer has returned from the heart of Africa. Finally, the duo must make a difficult choice between country and dragonkind.

Reads very much like the Master and Commander series.

12/6/07
The End of America
Naomi Wolf

Democracy has a “failure-mode” (my term) to a fascist shift to a closed society. Ten steps for a fascist shift include:

• Invoke an external and internal threat,
• establish secret prisons,
• develop a paramilitary force,
• surveil ordinary citizens,
• infiltrate citizens groups,
• arbitrarily detain and release citizens,
• target key individuals,
• restrict the press,
• cast criticism as “espionage” and dissent as “treason”,
• subvert the rule of law.

The writer explores this process in a historical context, particularly Germany in 1930s and Italy in 1920s, and gives many examples how the Bush administration is using the same tactics, often with hauntingly similar rhetoric.

12/2/07
The Quitter
Harvey Pekar, art by Dean Haspiel

A working-class Jewish kid in Cleveland stumbles through life, alternating between insecurity and goofing off and angry outbursts, floating from job to crummy job. Finally Pekar understands his mind works differently from others, and lands a stable if unchallenging job, giving him time to pursue writing. Gritty, honest, real.

Related Posts: What We Have Read 7, 6, 5, 4

Man frustrated with converter box shoots TV, in police standoff [Giz]

How We Bungled Transition [Wired]

High-Def Television Promises Sharper Crap [The Onion]

Converter Box Scam Websites [KSDK/NBC]

Hidden Camera in DTV Converter Box is a Hoax [Wired]

[flash http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQ4iIM8Eljc]

Related Posts: Requiem For Analog TV, Lurching Toward Digital

• The Sagebrush Variety Show, audio theater with political satire and commentary
• The Nevada Sagebrush, student voice of University of Nevada, Reno
• Parsley & Sagebrush Band, bluegrass combo
• Sagebrush & Serendipity, personal blog of artemisia
• Sagebrush Wisdom, “common sense thoughts from the country”
• Sagebrush Valentine, 6 artists with 1 title create 6 songs in 1 hour
• Sagebrush Strokes, Nevada landscape prints online store
• The Sage Brush from Montana, a memoir of a youngster studying art with western muralist Bernard Preston Thomas.
• Sagebrush Spinoni, puppy pictures from a dog breeder.
• Sagebrush Bob, political diary on dKos.

Related Post: Hello, World!

[flash http://vimeo.com/3069388] [video link]

kudos boingboing

Previously: Analog TV Shutdown Delayed, Lurching Toward Digital, Switching to Digital TV