Category Archives: Book Reviews

The Honored Guest

With the 4th of July rolling around, here is my tribute to one of our lesser-known Founding Fathers: Thomas Paine. Like a good father, he suggested names for the new baby he was creating. In Common Sense, he used phrases … Continue reading

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Book Review of The Secret Lives of Codebreakers

Book Review Title: The Secret Lives of Codebreakers Author: Sinclair McKay Published: Penguin Group 2010 Recently I saw the 2014 film The Imitation Game about British Intelligence’s codebreaking of German communications during World War II. The movie was interesting enough … Continue reading

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Book Review of Henry Adams’ The Education of Henry Adams

Book Review Title: The Education of Henry Adams Author: Henry Adams Published: Modern Library 1931. Originally published 1918. Privately circulated 1907 Last December I wrote about Adams’ earlier work, Mont-Saint-Michel and Chartres, which I recommended for its rich blend of … Continue reading

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Charles Dickens 203

Let us take a moment to remember Charles Dickens today, his 203rd Birthday. When you read novels by Charles Dickens, and then read true accounts of mid-1800s London and look at photographs of the period, you’ll find his descriptions match … Continue reading

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Poe 206

Edgar Allan Poe is not considered a top literary figure by many critics. He was considered even less during his lifetime. He was a critic himself, and his creative works did not earn him much of a living.

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Book Review of Henry Adams’ Mont Saint Michel and Chartres

Book Review Title: Mont-Saint-Michel and Chartres Author: Henry Adams Publisher: Penguin Classics; Reprint edition (June 3, 1986). Originally published 1904. Henry Adams toured French mediæval gothic architecture, and apparently took a lot of notes, focusing on the Grande Cathedrals of … Continue reading

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Shakespeare 450

William Shakespeare’s 450th birthday is today, born 23 April 1564. Or at least it is traditionally celebrated on 4/23. He was baptized 4/26 so his birth date would be a few days earlier. Being born 450 years ago today adds … Continue reading

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Book Review of Brian Murphy’s Root of the Wild Madder

Book Review Title: The Root of the Wild Madder Author: Brian Murphy Publisher: Simon & Schuster Paperbacks, New York, 2005 There are plenty of dry histories of Persian carpet making, and sterile picture books of Persian carpets, but too often … Continue reading

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The Albert Effect

People have all kinds of mentors and role models. Here is a good one from the nineteenth century.

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Book Review of Pearls from Sand

Book Review Title: Pearls from Sand Author: Karl Wiegers Publisher: Morgan James Publishing (August 1, 2011) People in the software industry know that Karl Wiegers has a wealth of experience in software engineering, quality assurance, and SDLC in general. But … Continue reading

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Book Review of Peer Reviews in Software: A Practical Guide

Book Review Title: Peer Reviews in Software: A Practical Guide Author: Karl Wiegers Publisher: Addison-Wesley Professional; 1 edition (November 2, 2001) Karl draws from his wealth of experience to give examples of productive peer review process in action. He talks … Continue reading

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Jay McInerney’s 1990s Masterpiece Brightness Falls

Brightness Falls By Jay McInerney Paperback 432 pp. Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. (New York) 1992 In his novel Brightness Falls, Jay McInerney pieces together all the important elements that make a great novel. The accuracy with which he depicts the … Continue reading

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Oscar Wilde: After Hard Labor

Although for some fifteen years Wilde enjoyed celebrity and critical acclaim, he became anathema to the world before his death—and posterity has been only a little kinder. Wilde’s development of Walter Pater’s aestheticism was discredited, just as Wilde was relegated … Continue reading

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Book Review of Michael Holroyd’s Revised Biography of Lytton Strachey

Lytton Strachey: The New Biography By Michael Holroyd Illustrated. 780 pages. New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux. Also available in paperback from Farrar, Straus & Giroux’s Noonday Press. Holroyd has at least two good reasons for rewriting Strachey’s biography. (The … Continue reading

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