Books I Like

When people list books that they like, they usually talk about the fictional ones. That makes sense. There's a lot of nonfiction books that I feel approach a subject well, but they're still more boring than books with a good story. No one but mad dogs and Englishmen list the textbooks that influence them.

Nonfiction

Some might be surprised that I don't actually read many tech books. Watson was surprised to find that Sherlock Holmes didn't know or didn't care that the earth revolves around the sun. He considered it useless information, which it sort of is to a detective in Victorian London. Likewise code books and whatnot are pretty useless because tech changes rapidly. It's all, like, sooo last week. You do better reading magazines and gleaning snippets from the web than whole books. And boring!

No, I like nonfiction books that think about thinking rather than those that think about ____. I figure that if I have a pretty good mode of thought, I can apply that to any subject, or as Holmes would say, it's more useful than a specific fact. Along those lines, I read a lot of books that talk about how to mash-up different ideas, even those that might seem polar opposites like science and religion, into something you can use. Integrating two subjects that didn't seem to have a connection is a great approach to operate under, and it's no surprise that the basic concept is being applied to life everywhere and, sure, tech too.

Fiction

That's the boring stuff : ) Let's talk fiction!

I love stories! I love any and all stories because something, anything, is happening. There's always something unfolding. We may not know what it is at first, but by the end of the book we can look back and say something happened, and we can even say it all happened for a reason. You know, a meaning. I mean, even ideas about how meaningless everything is still have meaning when they're put into a story because, if anything, it's a series of events that show there is no meaning. The meaning of the series of events is that there is no meaning. It's great! There's always a meaning when it's put into a story book.

I don't really have the time, nor am I obsessed with, staying on top of the literary world and knowing what's the best of the best, or what different literary movements are coming about, or anything like that. But speaking generally I like the books that have a perennial message. In other words, it doesn't matter what context the story is put in, the message of the story is the same whether it was written 400 years ago or if it's a new release. Old, old classics that I like are still relevant in our times. They've drifted up through the years, and though in many ways are out of touch with today's culture, the message, meaning, or whatever still applies. It's perennial.

That's not to say it's all been done or all been written. New ideas come all the time. But those, or rather the good ones that I like, either have stood the test of time as well or can be expected to stand the test of time. Plus new voices have new perspectives on old ideas and that's new too.

So, to recap, I like nonfiction books that think about thinking, fictional books that have a plot, and like fictional books that are relevant more than those that aren't. Guess I really narrowed that down, huh? : )

What can I say, I love everything. Do I discriminate at all? Sure. I don't like the stuff that sucks.

Here's a specific: I absolutely love-love On The Road by Jack Kerouac.