The Bible Book by DK (2018, ISBN 978-1-4654-6864-2)

 

Covers the Bible, Jewish and Christian, from Genesis to Revelation. 

The book covers each "Book" of the Bible separately. First the Old Testament books, which are sacred to both Jews and Christians. Then it covers the New Testament which is used by Christians only. The Apocrypha (or Pseudepigrapha) are mentioned but not really expanded upon.

The coverage is glossy from a perspective of various traditions. Some time Jewish perspective is given and sometime Christian. Also, Islam is mentioned a few times.

Sometimes ideas about the Bible from a secular view point are presented. This is not a book meant for believers. Rather this book is for people who have little knowledge of the Bible and want to learn more. Believers might also benefit from this book as it covers the whole bible in an easy to read format, but they must remember this book isn't trying to proselytize but rather just be informative. 

This book was purchased from Amazon Marketplace (AtolyeWish) on November 24, 2020 for 18.26$

 

Mona Lisa Overdrive by William Gibson (1988, ISBN  978-1-473-21742-3)

 Wikipedia says-  Mona Lisa Overdrive is a science fiction novel by American-Canadian writer William Gibson, published in 1988. It is the final novel of the cyberpunk Sprawl trilogy, following Neuromancer and Count Zero, taking place eight years after the events of the latter.

Purchased at Powell's on 2020-01-24 for 8.98$
 

Count Zero by William Gibson (1986, ISBN 978-0-441-11773-4)
 

Wikipedia says-  Count Zero is a science fiction novel by American-Canadian writer William Gibson, originally published in 1986. It is the second volume of the Sprawl trilogy, which begins with Neuromancer and concludes with Mona Lisa Overdrive, and is an example of the cyberpunk subgenre.

 A good read. I think of this as a dystopian vision of the future.

Purchased at Powell's on 2020-02-24 for 7.99$

 Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens (1867, Signet Classics CT512)

Here.

Wikipedia says- The story centers on orphan Oliver Twist, born in a workhouse and sold into apprenticeship with an undertaker. After escaping, Oliver travels to London, where he meets the "Artful Dodger", a member of a gang of juvenile pickpockets led by the elderly criminal Fagin. 

aka the Male Cinderella.

Dickens description of London is so dismal, one wonders how people could live there.

I liked this book.  Intend to read more Dickens.

Purchased-- was given to me as a Christmas present in the 1960s.

The Color of Magic by Terry Pratchett (1983, ISBN 978-0-06-085592-5)
 

 Wikipedia says-- The Colour of Magic is a 1983 fantasy comedy novel by Terry Pratchett, and is the first book of the Discworld series.

 

Further--  The story takes place on the Discworld, a planet-sized flat disc carried through space on the backs of four gargantuan elephants – Berilia, Tubul, Great T'Phon and Jerakeen – who themselves stand on the shell of Great A'Tuin, a gigantic star turtle. The surface of the disc contains oceans and continents, and with them, civilizations, cities, forests and mountains. 

 

This is a fun novel. I enjoyed it very much. Hope to read more in the series.

Purchased at Powell's on (unknown ) for 6.98$

Consider Phlebas by Iain M. Banks (1987, ISBN 978-0-316-00538-8)

 Wikipedia says-- Consider Phlebas, first published in 1987, is a space opera novel by Scottish writer Iain M. Banks. It is the first in a series of novels about an interstellar post-scarcity society called the Culture. 

 About some actions that take place in distant future involving humans, aliens and machines. There was at least one part that I found gross, but in general a good read. Lots of stuff to fire the imagination and ponder.

Purchased from Powell's on 2020-1-12 for 10.95$

The Epic of Gilgamesh by (unknown) tr. Andrew George (1999, ISBN 978-0-140-44919-8)

The Epic of Gilgamesh is a very old story. Copies of it have been found on clay tablets (cuneiform) that are 4000 years old. The copies of the Epic that have been found are incomplete. This book presents the Epic as it is, i.e., using the tablets that have been found and deciphered. Places where the text are incomplete are indicated.

This edition if the Epic is probably more difficult to read, but if you are interested you will get a better understand of what is known about the Epic.

Purchased from Amazon on 2010-12-19 for 9.60$
 

The World Of Odysseus by M.I.Finley (1954, 1979, ISBN 0 1401 3686 X)

This book is an older paperback edition, it is the second edition from Penguin.

This book discusses the world described by the Iliad and the Odyssey.

Conveys a lot of information about the Greek world around the time of Odysseus, around 700 BC.

Purchased at Powell's on 2018-1-10 for 5.95$

 

The Motion Paradox by Joseph Mazur (2007, ISBN 978-0-525-94992-3)

Subtitle- The 2,500 year old puzzle behind all the mysteries of time and space.

The book is about Zeno's paradoxes of motion.

Zeno's paradoxes are discussed and then a variety of physics topics are discussed and related back to the paradoxes.

 I enjoyed this book.

Purchased at (unknown) on 2008-7-1 for (amount unknown, possibly 24.95$.)
 

The Compleat Discworld Atlas by Terry Pratchett (2015, ISBN 9780857521309)

This book is an Atlas of Discworld. It has one big map of Discworld and several smaller maps of different Discworld regions. Associated with each region is a description of the geography, politics, religions and the people in the region.

Discworld is a fantasy place, based on the novels written by Terry Pratchett.

I read this book from cover to cover, but it could also be used as a reference.

Purchased from SuperBookDeals (via Amazon) on 2020-7-5 (received 2020-7-23) for 35.94$
 

The New Discworld Companion by Terry Pratchett and Stephen Briggs (2003, ISBN 0 575 07467 1)

This an encyclopedia of everything (well many things) related to Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels. The book is laid out A-Z  from Abbot, the to Zweiblumen, Jack.

I read the book cover to cover, not sure if it is meant to be read this way or just used as a reference. I found it interesting and funny.

Might be useful for those people looking for an overview of Discworld.

Purchased from Powell's (unknown date) for 9.98$
 

 The Math Book by DK (2019, ISBN 978-1-4654-8024-8)

This book provides an overview of Mathematics. The coverage is historical, it basically describes mathematics in terms of its history. The first entry is Positional Numbers (how numbers are represented, with a discussion of Babylonians and Cuneiform numbers, etc.) The last entry is about the Poincare Conjecture.

If you know nothing about mathematics, then this book provides a good overview. Even if you know a lot about mathematics, you might enjoy the brief historical sketches.

Purchased from Amazon on 2020-11-28 for 19.29$

 The History Book by DK (2016, 978-1-4654-4510-0)

This book discusses human history from prehistoric times to recent events.

There are many books on history, but if you want an overview of the subject I think this book is good.

The book covers many individuals and events from many cultures.

The choice of who to include and what events to cover must have been difficult.

For some reason the authors choose not to cover Jesus of Nazareth. Seems like he would have been a figure worthy of mention. Christianity is a very large world wide religious movement.  I guess the authors wanted to show how "cool" they were by having a section on Siddhartha Gautama (the Buddha) and a section on Muhammad (the Prophet of Islam.)

Purchased from Amazon 2020-11-28 for 19.35$