Mitch tagged me with his book meme.
- What is the last book you read, the book you are currently reading and the next book you plan to read:
Last: Why Business People Speak Like Idiots, Fugere et. al.
Currently: Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking – Malcom Gladwell
Next: Breads from the La Brea Bakery – Nancy Silverton’s - In no particular order, what are your five favorite works of fiction:
- 1984, George Orwell
- Starship Troopers, Robert Heinlein
- Illusions, Richard Bach
- 2001: A Space Odyssey, Arthur C. Clarke
- My Father’s Dragon, Ruth Stiles Gannett
- In no particular order, what are your five favorite non-fiction books:
- Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion, Robert Cialdini — see also sales parable
- Trust Us, We’re Experts, Stauber and Rampton — I’ve been a skeptic of the news ever since reading this and Toxic Sludge is Good For You.
- Fermat’s Enigma, Simon Singh
- Fannie Farmer Cookbook, Marion Cunningham et al.
- The Miles From Nowhere, Barbara Savage
- Who are your five favorite fiction writers:
- William Shakespeare — Same comment about longevity. In contrast, I can’t stand any of Tom Clancy’s older stuff.
- John Grisham — though the guy can’t write an ending, he’s great at hooking me in for 2/3 of the book
- Arthur C. Clarke, before Cradle. Nearly everything since feels like it’s Gentry Lee.
- Robert Heinlein
- Max Barry — writes marketing fiction for the sake of writing fiction
- Who are your five favorite non-fiction writers
- Michael Palin
- Simon Singh
- Christopher Kimball — I like the Cook’s Illustrated series for the humor and research. He also wrote
The Kitchen Detective - John Stauber and Sheldon Rampton — I don’t agree with all their stuff, but their research is a good model for journalists.
- Philip Greenspun — arrogant and self-absorbed, but his text is entertaining; funniest technical book ever.
- What books have you read more than once:
I have kids; therefore, the list is infinitely long. Favorites include the books above. I’ve also started rereading a lot of the western “classics” from high school, finding that most are actually enjoyable now that I don’t have to write a book report on them. - What autographed books do you own, and who signed them:
Lance Armstrong’s “It’s Not About the Bike.” Al Franken’s “Lying Liars” (when he spoke at Amazon). David Gautschi’s “Net Markets.” Robert Malmgren’s “Land Buyer’s Guide”
Terry Pratchett’s “Eric.”
You mean to tell me that you own autographed Terry Pratchett volumes and you [gasps in horror] don’t know exactly where they are right this minute and who might be breathing on them, let alone dripping toxic kid sludge (I saw those potatoes…)on them?!?!?!?!
😉
The only autographed books I have are two copies of Star Wars: Episode I and one copy of Star Wars: Episode III. The most “valuable” books I have would be a 2nd edition boxed set of the Lord of Rings trilogy. Personally, my favorite sci-fi series is the “Childe Cycle” by the late Gordon R. Dickson and on the fantasy side I stick to the original Dragonlance titles by Weis & Hickman.
“Breads From The La Brea Bakery” is a favorite of mine. The other two bread books in the top three are Peter Reinhart’s, “The Bread Baker’s Apprentice,” and Maggie Glezer’s, “Artisan Baking.”
All three of them are beautiful and well-thought out, but the photographs in the back of Glezer’s book are breathtaking whether you’re a bread geek (like me!) or not.
Ooh! I also noticed too late that you like Christopher Kimball! You really are into all the right books! I hope that you also watch Alton Brown if and when you view the Food Network. As a professional, it’s nice to know that not everyone is out there lapping up books by Emeril and Bobby Flay, and that some people really know the difference.
Yay!