Books

Books completed under my 'book-a-week' regime:

Gravity's Rainbow
Though I was biased towards this result before I read the book, this is one of the best books I've ever read.  Incredible language and very thought provoking.  Also lurid and perverse.

The Crying of Lot 49
I wish there were more Pynchon novels of this length, it was great.  A friend just gave me Against the Day which I do want to read, but 900 or so pages of Pynchon takes the equivalent of 3,000 pages or more of a standard book (based on my reading speed).

Moby Dick
Very good, and very thematic.  I got less of it than a smarter reader would've I'm sure but I did enjoy it.  However, I have to say that I did get bogged down by the continual distractions into whaling lore and technology.  I think I would've preferred something a bit more direct.  But who am I to criticize a classic?

The Alvin Maker Series
Actually six books by OSC that I haven't read in a while, and quite enjoyable to go over again.

Chaos
Fascinating.  I think anyone would be greatly benefited by reading this book scientifically inclined or not.  Though I doubt anyone not so inclined would read it I found it incredibly mind-expanding (whatever that means).

Big Trouble
Another re-read, this is Dave Barry's first novel and quite hilarious.  It isn't as good this time through already knowing pretty much what will happen, but still funny.

The Age of Entanglement
A book on the formation of quantum theory and the advent of Bell's inequality with non-local hidden variables.  It was well told through conversations of the great minds of the 20th century: the whole book being made up of mostly just dialogue.  I felt its approach could be a bit scatter shot but overall I liked it and certainly learned from it.