Bookshelf

The Merchant of Venice

by William Shakespeare
Second Foundation (Foundation #3)

by Isaac Asimov

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

Second Foundation (Foundation #3)

by Isaac Asimov

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

Continuing my journey through Asimov’s Foundation series, this one continues adding complexity and questions onto the original premise. And it’s just so readable, with a plot that twists and turns.
New York City Transit Authority Graphic Standards Manual

by Massimo Vignelli
Drunk: How We Sipped, Danced, and Stumbled Our Way to Civilization

by Edward Slingerland

★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆
Consider Phlebas (Culture, #1)

by Iain M. Banks

★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆

Consider Phlebas (Culture, #1)

by Iain M. Banks

★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆

This one was rather disappointing, and I confess that I didn’t make it quite all the way to the end. Too episodic. Too cartoony. Not enough depth.
The Comedy of Errors

by William Shakespeare

★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

The Comedy of Errors

by William Shakespeare

★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

I don’t know if I wasn’t in the mood or if maybe this kind of comedy plays better on stage than on the page, but this quintessential Shakespearian farce of lookalikes and mistaken identities just didn’t land for me.
Design Elements: A Graphic Style Manual

by Timothy Samara
Buddhism without Beliefs: A Contemporary Guide to Awakening

by Stephen Batchelor

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

Buddhism without Beliefs: A Contemporary Guide to Awakening

by Stephen Batchelor

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

Sometimes you read a book that restates a lot of what you already believe and know, but it’s still worthwhile because you needed to have it brought to the forefront of your thoughts afresh.
Pericles

by William Shakespeare

★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆

Pericles

by William Shakespeare

★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆

A minor Shakespeare work for a reason. This one is thought to likely be a collaboration and it shows in its lack of Shakespearean depth of character and interiority. Still, interesting for a completionist like myself.
The Forever War

by Joe Haldeman

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

The Forever War

by Joe Haldeman

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

A Hugo Award winner for a reason, Joe Haldeman’s military sci-fi epic takes one character skipping across the surface of time through a thousand year interstellar war. It’s grim, it’s episodic, and it’s brilliant. The book portrays the futility of war with a sharpness that is just as relevant now as it was in the Viet Nam era during which it was written.
Richard III

by William Shakespeare

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Richard III

by William Shakespeare

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

I love Shakespeare’s great villains and Richard III is one of the greatest of them all. Unapologetically evil, it’s a joy to watch him scheme, lie, and murder his way to the top (though his subsequent downfall feels a bit rushed and perfunctory, as if the bard knew he had gotten past the juicy bits and was eager to wrap it up). On this read I really noticed how much House of Cards and even A Song of Ice and Fire draw elements from it.
Foundation and Empire (Foundation #2)

by Isaac Asimov

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

Foundation and Empire (Foundation #2)

by Isaac Asimov

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

The second book in Asimov’s famed Foundation series. It’s clear that he’d grown quite a bit as a writer by this one, with a plot more intricate, subtle, and less predictable. A classic for a reason. (In case you’re wondering, I have no interest in Apple’s new TV series based on the books. It’s not the kind of thing that can be done properly on screen.)
The Brothers Karamazov

by Fyodor Dostoevsky

★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆

The Brothers Karamazov

by Fyodor Dostoevsky

★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆

My book club chose this one to read and I was relatively interested to see how Dostoyevsky’s work stands up to my high school memories of Crime and Punishment and fragments of The Grand Inquisitor section of this book. The answer is not so good. The book is rambling in the extreme and most of the plot involves around a quasi-incestuous, middle school style game of he-said-she-said romance melodrama. It does explore philosophical themes, but the central question of whether a person can be moral without faith seems to me (as a humanist atheist) to be pretty well answered and not particularly germane to contemporary readers.
Antony and Cleopatra

by William Shakespeare

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Antony and Cleopatra

by William Shakespeare

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Continuing my Shakespeare reading project, this particular play has always been a personal favorite. The titular characters are so fully realized, mercurial and tragic, that I really love them for all their flaws. Reading it this time, I kept picturing it filmed as a space opera with larger than life production design!
The Best of Greg Egan

by Greg Egan

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

The Best of Greg Egan

by Greg Egan

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

A brilliant imagination, full of big ideas!
Atomic Design

by Brad Frost

★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

Atomic Design

by Brad Frost

★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

I think this book would have been mind blowing if I had read it when it was new. But so many of its ideas are now mainstream in the design and development world that it feels very old hat. Something of a victim of its own success as far as the reading experience goes.
The Winter's Tale

by William Shakespeare

★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

The Winter's Tale

by William Shakespeare

★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

This is an interesting one. The first half is almost all drama and the second half mostly comedy, with a big time jump in the middle. I prefer the former, a portrait of someone mad with jealousy destroying himself and all he holds dear.
The Sign of Four (Sherlock Holmes, #2)

by Arthur Conan Doyle
King Henry VI, Part 3

by William Shakespeare
Invisible Kingdom, Vol. 1: Walking the Path

by G. Willow Wilson

★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆
Parable of the Sower: A Graphic Novel Adaptation

by Damian Duffy

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆
The Anthropocene Reviewed

by John Green

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆
Letterforms: Typeface Design from Past to Future

by Timothy Samara

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆
Measure for Measure

by William Shakespeare