The Odyssey by Homer Translated with Introduction by Emily Wilson (2018, ISBN 9780393089059)

I enjoyed reading this book. The introduction was very informative and the translation was easy to read.

When I think of the Odyssey I always think of the adventures with the Cyclops or Sirens, but actually a lot of the story is about his home and what happens when he gets home.



Purchased new on 2018-01-10 from Powells for 39.95$

 The Theoretical Minimum by Leonard Susskind and George Hrabovsky (2013, ISBN 978-0-465-07568-3)

Subtitle: What You Need To Know To Start Doing Physics.

The one thing I learned from this book was-- There is No Royal Road to Physics.

In 227 pages the books covers a lot of territory!  Mathematics-- Spaces, Trigonometry, Vectors, Differential Calculus, Integral Calculus, Partial Derivatives, Vector Fields-- DIV, GRAD & CURL. That is a lot and doesn't include the Physics!

Physics-- Introduction, Motion, Dynamics, Energy, Lagrangian, Hamiltonian Mechanics, Poisson Brackets, Electric and Magnetic Forces, Newton's Laws and Kepler's Laws. And a whole lot more!

I doubt you can do Physics after reading this book, unless you are a genius. But you might get a feeling for whether or not this stuff interests you. If you are interested I suggest you get a proper College Physics book (for example Theoretical Physics by Georg Joos ISBN 978-0-486-65227-6) and study for real.  The book Classical Mechanics by H.C.Corben and Philip Stehle (ISBN 978-0-486-68063-7) covers many of the same topics (not the Math, they assume you know that) but it isn't for people who don't know the basics. Another book is Classical Mechanics with Calculus of Variations and Optimal Control, An Intuitive Introduction by Mark Levi (ISBN 978-0-8218-9138-4)

Classical Mechanics, The Theoretical Minimum by the same authors is just the UK version of the above book. (ISBN 978-0-141-97622-8)

I got these books for Christmas 2019.

A Companion to the Iliad by Malcolm M. Willcock.obit (1976, ISBN 0-226-89855-5)

Based on the translation by Richmond Lattimore.

What would be really useful would to have this book embedded in the Lattimore translation as notes.

The commentary goes Book by Book (Iliad is divided into 24 books) and somewhat line by line. If you are interested in understand the Iliad better this book provided a lot of information about ancient Greek culture.

Not sure when I obtained this book, probably within the last ten to fifteen years from Powells.

Pickwick Papers By Charles Dickens (1837, this edition 1964, Signet Classic CY 443)

Originally published in serial format and when completed was published as a complete book.

From the back cover--

"The adventures of the immortal Pickwick Club, headed by the good Mr. Pickwick himself, abetted by his faithful manservant, Sam Weller..."

Received this book as Christmas present sometime in the late 1960s, Signet Classic CY443 1.25$

Saint Luke by G. B. Caird (1963, ISBN 0-1402-0490-3)
Subtitle- The Pelican New Testament Commentaries.

This book is a commentary of the Gospel Of Luke from the Christian New Testament.

 The books consists of a series of sections, each covering a part of the Gospel Of Luke. Each section contains text from the Gospel Of Luke. The text is taken from the Revised Standard Version of the Bible. The text also includes any variations that the translators might have noted. Next is the commentary. It explains the text, what it is trying to convey, the context of the time of the events of the text, the context of the time that the author wrote the text and also modern ideas concerning the events and time period being discussed. Following the commentary are often technical notes concerning the text. Many different versions of the text are extant and because they were written by hand by individuals that might have had different opinions about the text or the events it describes, there are differences that the translators had to choose from. The commentary also discusses the text and how it compares to the other Gospels, which parts are in common and which are unique to Luke.

This book was purchased a long time ago,

Neuromancer by William Gibson (1984, ISBN 0-441-56959-5)

This is the first part (of three) of what became known as the Sprawl series. I am not sure but this novel may have introduced the term cyberpunk.

I have been hearing about this novel for years and I decided to read it (probably around 2006) but have just now read it.

I enjoyed the book, but some of the imagery was difficult. The story involves a small number of people who go on a quest, but the objective of the quest is hidden from them and the reader until the end. The main character Case was someone who could enter into computers and somehow get them to do things or reveal things. It wasn't clear to me if he did this with programs or what he used.

I didn't like the drug references in the novel. Since this novel was written some of the futuristic ideas seem less futuristic. While "Big Data" and AI will probably come to have a large affect on our lives it seems unlikely to me that they will be free to roam around "cyberspace" doing what they want, more likely is that they will be tools used by corporations to control people.

The vision of the future presented in the novel is dystopian.

Purchased probably at Powell's books sometime in 2006 for 7.99$

Gates of Stone by Angus Macallan (aka Angus Donald) (2019, ISBN 978-0-4514-9027-8) Subtitled- A Lord of the Islands Novel.

This is a fantasy novel that takes place in alternate version of Asia. Most of the action takes place in an area that might be similar to Java sea. The characters move about on foot or in sailing ships. They fight with swords and muskets and sometimes cannons. Magic is present and some characters can do magical things. There are several threads of story line that are followed in alternate chapters until the end when several of the threads merge. While the stories are concluded there is much more to be told and so this novel may be the first of a series.

Received as Christmas present 2019 (purchased at Powells books for 16.00$ on 2019-12-23.)

Empire Of Silence by Christopher Ruocchio (2018, ISBN 978-0-7564-1301-9) Book One of the Sun Eater Series.

Fantasy Science Fiction. About a human empire 17,000 years in the future. Sort of like Roman Empire meets Star Wars. Some have compared it to Dune.

I found it easy to read, well written.

Received as Christmas present 2019 (was purchased at Powells books for 8.99$ on 2019-12-23.)