"The Elements of Computing Systems"

 

Not as intimidating as it sounds.

As a kid, I always liked museums: paintings, sculptures, dinosaur fossils, natural history: they were all fun, and science museums were my favorite. "The Elements of Computing Systems" (ECS) is a bit like a science museum in a book, and in conjunction with the author's free online class is also one of the best courses I've ever taken.

Art Spiegelman on "Maus"

 

A few times each year, the Chicago Public Library chooses a book reflecting some societal theme, sets up programming and events, and presumably procures a bunch of extra copies. This season's pick is Art Spiegelman's "Maus," a graphic novel depicting his father's experiences during the Holocaust. I saw Spiegelman speak last week in Chicago¹ about the case for comics, his relationship with his father, and more, and it was fantastic.

"Middlemarch"

 

Definitely looks like the Victorian era.

"Middlemarch" is widely considered to be George Eliot's greatest work. It follows the people of the fictional town of Middlemarch through years of their lives, including marriages, births, deaths, and the occasional scandal and dispute over the terms of a rich relative's will. This is English historical fiction, after all!

"Ancient Greece"

Urn art: so pretty!

One of my favorite books as a child was an illustrated collection of Greek myths. There was something fantastic and evocative in imagining those people and times: the fierce gods, mountain palaces, extravagant feasts, sleek ships, sun-dappled olive groves, secluded riverbanks, valleys echoing with Pan's mournful flute melodies.

Thomas Martin's "Ancient Greece: From Prehistoric to Hellenistic Times" surveys the history and culture of the land and people who told those tales. Surprisingly, it also convinced me to add two additional works to my one-day reading list. A few takeaways follow.

"War and Peace"

...and Love and Feuds and
Ironic Money Troubles and
Tolstoy's Philosophy of History, etc.

When I tell people I've read Tolstoy's War and Peace, the two most common reactions are "The whole thing?" and "Eh, I liked Anna Karenina." I think a few things make this a difficult read: the length¹, that the recommended translations use overly florid language², and the subject matter. It's a novel that reads a bit like history, or perhaps more like philosophy wrapped in a parable about, well, war and peace.

"Spiritual Enlightenment: The Damnedest Thing"

My most offbeat book group read yet

"Spiritual Enlightenment: The Damnedest Thing" is at least as odd as implied by its title. The book is structured as a fictional autobiography, irreverently describing guru Jed McKenna's time leading a Zen-inspired retreat in, wait for it, rural Iowa.