Usually, museums vigorously guard their exponents under the glass, allowing the visitors just to "look, do not touch". Surprisingly American Airpower Museum offers to take it cherished historical aircrafts into the air, (for a significant fee, of course). But how cool would it be to enter the skies on 1940s Waco UPF-7?
A stag, in the clear mirror of a stream,
Was considering his appearance. His self-esteem
Was gratified by his fine antlers, but his spindling
Shanks, whose image he saw dwindling.
Unimpressive away
Filled him with pained dismay.
Dolefully eyeing his reflection, he said:
‘What disproportion between feet and head!
My branched head overtops
The branches of the highest copse,
But my legs do me no credit.’
Scarceky had he said it
Than a bloodhound appeared and forced him to make
A dash to the woods for safety’s sake
There his antlers, those splendid
Ornaments, hindering every step, denied
The help his legs were eager to provide,
Upon which his life depended.
Now he unsaid those words, regretting dearly
The gifts which Nature renewed on his brow yearly.
What is beautiful we prize;
What is merely useful we despise;
Yet what is beautiful is often our destruction
The stag scorned the legs which lent him speed
And cherished the horns which in his hour of need
Were a dire obstruction”
“The stag who saw himself in the water” By Jean de la Fontaine
“the bookworm” by Carl Spitzweg (1850)
The question “What is your favorite book” always seemed nonsensical to me. How can one pick a favorite when each book (yes, even the bad one) can edify. We need different books at different periods of our lives. Sometimes we need books that challenge our beliefs and sometimes we need the ones that shore-up them. Sometimes we need books that will take us away from reality and sometimes we need the ones that will take us too close to familiar. And we also change our opinions over time: a book that seemed inspiring, in retrospect can feel banal; a book that seemed dry can be reclassified as rousing upon further re-examination. How can there be “the one”? I aspire to be an intellectual polygamist.
However this week I have preoccupied myself with buckets of favorites - the reading lists. I have an obsession with reading lists. The first list that I have ever followed was “20 books to read before you are 20”. Yes, it might be a little silly, but this list has exposed me to world literature that my school teachers, unfortunately, could not have. By reorganizing my “reading bucket list”, I have decided to compile the books that have impacted me to date. While my reading tastes and preferences have evolved (and hopefully will continue in doing so), this list reflects the up to now personal journey. In my opinion, few things are as personal as our reading choices. The book piles on nightstands inadvertently reflect our interests, aspirations, and current frame of life. Whether it is stories of escape, self-help advice to, or information-dense non-fiction, it does captures what is on top of our minds.
So here is my list of favorite books(to date). There is no particular order - just a list. I wanted to cap it at 10, just because the top 10 lists are so popular. Yet, as I wandered around my library, I could not exclude some treasures just because of an arbitrary number. Some books I have read recently and some books have stayed with me for a while. I am curious if this list will withstand years and how it will evolve. This is a written down time-capsule of one’s exploration of literature. The intention to write it down similar to that one of journaling - to time-capsule our experiences. Or maybe, it will help someone to accidentally stumble on their next “favorite”.
Anything by Richard Halliburton. The daring adventurer chronicled his adventures (highly embellished, some claimed) in eight books, including his most famous one, /The Royal Road to Romance./ Highbrows dismissed him as a dilettante and his audience as garden-club housewives, but he sold millions, lectured to packed houses around the country, and was billed as “the World’s Most Popular Non-Fiction Writer.” He practically invented the modern travel-adventure genre. Whether truth or invention, I feel it takes guts, imagination, and style to write the way Richard Halliburton does.
“Code” by Charles Petzold. It is my perception that in general people are intimidated by computer code. This book is an approachable guide to the world of computers. Charles Petzold exposes the readers to the inner workings of hardware and software through very intuitive scenarios and well-summarized history. I think this should be mandatory reading for computer literacy in every high school around the world.
“You and Your Research” by Richard Hamming. What is the meaning of life? This book is extremely inspirational without trying to be a traditional genre. R. Hammings is trying to make paints vivid images of greatness and it’s unapologetic pursuit. Not only it allowable to aim for greatness, it is cowardly not to. The book is made extra special as he frequently refers in the book to the year 2020, trying to anticipate marvelous inventions. While he has missed the mark on a lot of his forecasts, I find the foundations that he cites to be timeless.
“Critical Path” by Buckminster Fuller. It is very easy to get bogged down by human-invented concepts of normalcy - ideologies, clubs, believes. But this book abstracts from common conventions and in a way zooms out to the “Spaceship Earth” scale to remind us what matters to us as human civilization. Bucky Fuller invites you to make up your mind and look at things without the blinkers on. Some might consider this techno-utopian madness, but I’ll take it any time over pragmatic reality reported in the news.
“Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions” by Edwin A Abbott. The importance of a multitude of world views, the difficulty to explain scientific concepts (or even different) to somebody whose world view is different, dogmatism, empiricism; importance to constantly challenge our conventions and believes, the relativity of perspective; the absurdity of those unwilling to admit their ignorances; class divergence. All these complex concepts and issues have managed to fit in 100 pages in a language accessible to a five-year-old child. The brilliance and Edwin Abbott is hard to describe, just can be experienced by reading and rereading his novel multiple times.
“Mount Analogue” by Renee Dumal - It’s a miracle that this book even exists. The book is not even half-finished as Rene Daumal has passed away at the age of 36. He literally ends mid-sentence, which seems appropriate for this type of book. Yet even the first couple of chapters showcase the possibility of this literary work. I find it delightful that the book was published and is inactive circulation, despite containing barely five chapters ( my paperback was printed in 2019 by the publishing house Exact Change). This short allegorical novel neatly synthesizes the exploratory experiences of the search for the meaning of human existence. Mountains are one of the most popular analogies for perseverance, self-discovery, wisdom, enlightenment, hardship, and Rene Deumal uses it to showcase our search for meaning. The tone of the book is of a hybrid between spiritualist/occult tract and mountaineering adventure diary. It feels like a child’s adventure tales with a mature cosmic purpose.
“Society of Mind” by Marvin Minsky - As AI (artificial intelligence) is all the rage these days, it is essential to read musings on artificial intelligence by one of its pioneers written at the dawn of the discipline. “The father of AI” and co-founder of MIT’s artificial intelligence labs, Marvin Minksy spent his life figuring out how to make machines that are intelligent, “whatever that means,” as he liked to say. This is a framework for thinking about thinking. I would summarize this book as the “AI hype solvent”.
“Power Broker” by Robert Caro. When I try to recommend or advertise the books by Robert Caro to my friends I frequently say that he has spoiled the biography genre for me. Impeccably researched, the book tells the hidden story behind the shaping (and misshaping) of New York by Robert Movses. The book teaches invaluable lessons about the acquisition and ramifications of power. But not only the content is impressive, but also how it’s written. I recommend complimenting this book with Robert Caro’s shorter book “Working” where he describes his working process and the process of how he wrote “Power Broker” - which is a story in itself.
“Mariage and Morals” by Bertran Rusell. There are plenty of great books written by Bertran Russell, but this one had the most impact on outlook on the construction of family and love relationships. This book challenges conventional understanding of the relationship between men and women, gender roles and concepts of family. The book gave me comfort in personal choices in love and family affairs.
“Merchants and Masterpieces” by Calvin Tomkins I have always been fascinated with museums, and spend a significant time running around them. Yet before reading this book it seems that I knew so little. How did collections get formed? Who decides which pieces should be acquired by the museum? How museums can afford expansions? What is the origin of blockbuster exhibits? Who appoints curators? The book is the history of MET museum but also investigates the purpose of the existence of museums in general, it’s operational management rules, and politics. Crucial guide for lovers of museums and MET in particular.
“Obedience to Authority” by Stanley Milgram. Before popsci (pop-science genre ) books have adopted a fashion of quoting psychological studies to support their arguments, Stanley Milgram was one of the first scientists to design experiments to research human psychology in lab conditions. This controversial book describes his famous and controversial experiments to test the boundaries of people’s obedience to authority and determine how far normal people would go in inflicting pain on others just because they were told to.
“Chinese Pleasure Book” by Michael Nylan. I have attended Michael’s talk on pleasure in a small bookstore in New York. I don’t think that the cover or the name would have ever picked up my interest in passing (yet another lesson not to judge books by covers), but her talk in that bookstore changed my viewpoint on leisure and pleasure. This book is based on very rigorous research in Chinese literature and philosophy and investigates how to seek and take pleasure. The word “pleasure” currently has a strange perception in our culture, yet is essential for human existence. Friendship, music, reading, sharing - life is full of delights, Michael Nylan just reminds us that they are wonderful and should be taken daily.
“Coding Freedom” by Gabriela Coleman. While our history museums are mostly filled with works of anthropologists who study ancient societies, Gabriela Coleman is a contemporary anthropologist, who has been investigating the subculture of hackers. The book is an introduction into the world of the community that produces free and open-source software. The study is her ethnography of the underworld of computers and a great resource to understand what hacking is and the technical, aesthetic, and moral sides of hacking.
“Hardware Hacker” by Bunny - This is a great book of the sublime art of how things are really made. Inventive hacker Bunny takes you on a journey of how our daily devices come into being. In the book, he provides insight for anyone who aspires to manufacture things at scale. While the world of manufacturing keeps evolving, I think this book will stay relevant as a reminder of the importance of disassembling and building things.
“Prophet” by Khalil Gibran. “The Prophet has been recited at countless weddings and funerals. It is quoted in books and articles on training art teachers, determining criminal responsibility, and enduring ectopic pregnancy, sleep disorders, and the news that your son is gay. Its words turn up in advertisements for marriage counsellors, chiropractors, learning-disabilities specialists, and face cream.” I found myself in multiple situations when I have encountered some of the very simple sermons when encountering difficult life situations.
** /Vaclav Smil this is a recent discovery. I have read his only complete guide to energy but I am looking forward to expanding more of his books. this one will be a new addition for the next “list of favorites” **
“Fantastic Work” by Andre Martins de Barros
“Who doesn’t build castles in Spain?
Which of us isn’t mildly insane?
Pichrochole, Pyrrhus, the dairymaid,
Wise men and fools alike , we all daydream
(No pleasure in life is so sweet)
And each of us is betrayed
By flattering self-deceit -
The world’s riches and honors seem
Ours then, and all lovely women at our feet.
Whenever I’m alone
My imagination rambles, I browbeat
Heroes, topple the great Shaw from his throne,
The adoring populace hail me instead
And diadems are showered on my head
Until some little mishap ends my reign
And I’m my old fat self again.”
“The dairymaid and the milk-can” By Jean de la Fontaine
“The Great Wall” by Guy Laramee,
To stem the spread of #covid19 , the CDC recommends social distancing, or as I like to call it, a career in computer science.
“boy reading adventure story” by Norman Rockwell