Tag Archives: books

Another amusing IRC conversation

<rik> i thought you were writing a generic Apache2 book!
<DrBacchus> rik: Oh. No. Just mod_rewrite.
<rik> well then.
<DrBacchus> I’ve done the generic apache books. they’re not fun any more.
<DrBacchus> So I’m writing books that a much smaller number of people will care about. 😉
<DrBacchus> Paring down my market, you might say.
<DrBacchus> My next book will be of interest to me and like 2 other people.
<DrBacchus> The next one, even I won’t care about.

Signed books

A while back, O’Reilly gave me a large stack of book plates.

In case you don’t know, a book plate is a sticker that you put in the front of a book. The idea is that I sign one, send it to you, and you stick it in your book. Then, you have a signed copy of that book. Serious book collectors, I’m sure, value book plates far less than a book that was actually signed by the author. But I don’t know how much that affects actual value.

Anyways, I still have this large stack of book plates, and they aren’t doing anybody much good. Someone mentioned on IRC the other day that they wanted a signed copy of my book, and so I sent them a signed book plate. It cost me $0.37 and made someone a tiny bit happier.

So, all of this is just to say, if you want a signed copy of my book, please send a self-addressed, stamped envelope to the address in my whois record, and I’ll send you a signed book plate. Or ask me on IRC.

Oh, and, somewhere, there are a bunch of them that are signed by both Ken and myself, but I’ve never actually seen any of those, so I’m not sure if there are any left.

Parked in the garage

Since coming back from San Diego, I’ve been working like a mule, and this evening – about 5 minutes ago, actually – I was finally able to pull my Jeep into the garage. This is a major milestone, but it certainly doesn’t mean that I’m all settled in. It does mean, however, that all the heavy furniture is moved.

Well, except for the washer and dryer. And I’m really unsure what I’m going to do with them. Probably hang on to the dryer, and get rid of the washer. Anyone need an almost-new washer?

I’m discovering some things.

First, just in case I didn’t know this already, I’m finding that I have a LOT of books. Yeah, I already knew I had somewhere around 500 or so, but apparently that was only a partial inventory. I’m not quite sure where I’m going to put all these bookcases. I think maybe the couch was a poor investment, in that it consumed wall space where I could have put two book shelves.

Also, I’m discovering that I have a lot more computers than I had any idea of. So far, I have located 10 working computers, as well as the 5 or so not-working ones. Why do I keep the not-working ones, you ask? Well, one of them is an end-table, and another is a stool. Really. No kidding. I’ll post pictures later. The others, well, I keep them because, you never know, I might need them some day.

And I’ve found 9 monitors. Yes, that’s nine. And I honestly have no idea where they all came from. They all work, so no duds in there. And they are all reasonably nice. A couple 17″ ones in there, that I’m actually using. The rest are 15″s.

I might put one computer downstairs, in which case I’d have a use for, total, 5 computers (*maybe* 6) and 4 monitors (the stuff on the server rack is on a KVM). I’m not sure what I’m going to do with the rest of the stuff, but I don’t think I’m going to hang onto it for much longer. (No, please don’t bother asking for it. I’ll let you know when I’ve decided to let folks pick over it.)

Oh, and did I mention I have a lot of books? Sheesh.

Whuffie

(Written on Palm on the plane, Sunday)

I just got done reading “Down and out in the Magic Kingdom,” by Cory Doctorow. Highly recommended. Thanks, Chris.

I’m fascinated by the notion of a prestige-based economy, and by the continual re-emergence of the idea through the ages. 19th Century England aristocracy was, to an extent, a prestige-based economy, and it is interesting to read “Pride and Prejudice” and “David Copperfield” at the same time as this.

Of course, in any culture thus far, money has still been a necessity to, as Dickens puts it, “keep body and soul together.” But some of these folks in the 1800s could run up astronomical debts, but still continue to live in (relative) opulence because the were a “better sort of people.”

Anyways, back to “Down and out” …

I gotta say, for all the sci fi stuff in there, the thing that I found the hardest to believe was that, after all that advance, person-to-person private conversation would *STILL* be on a clear unencrypted public channel. Don’t people ever learn?

Books

I don’t actually know who Prash is, but he/she/it tracked back to one of my postings, and, several hops away, there was the book meme. So …

How many books do I own

A couple months ago, I got Delicious Library, and have been in the process of inventorying my books since then. I’m right at 500, and it looks like there’s perhaps half that left to go. I had no idea.

Last books bought

I just bought Baudolino by Umberto Eco. It came highly recommended by Clint and Clay, and I haven’t started it yet. It’s for the flight to ApacheCon.

Last books read

I just got done reading (listening to) “Lord Jim” by Joseph Conrad. I am still in the process of reading (on Palm) “ride and Prejudice” by Jane Austen. I am listening to “David Copperfield” by Charles Dickens (from Audible.com). I am reading “Now and Then in Kenya Colony” by Hotchkiss. (No link is provided because this book was self-published and is not available to the general public. You have to know the producers. Very unfortunate.)

The last major book that I read on dead tree was “Of Human Bondage“, by Somerset Maugham. I’m also sort of reading “Eragon” by Christopher Paolini, and “War psalms of the prince of peace” by James Adams, although the former of these is too big and bulky to take on trips, and the latter is just a trifle less than exciting.

Five books that mean a lot to me

1. Well, you had to know that the first would be one of two possibilities. I’ll go with Dandelion Wine, by Ray Bradbury as the first one. My favorite book, with #2 following very close behind, and changing with the seasons. If you haven’t read it, or if you haven’t read it as an adult, you should read it. Amazing book. Wonderful. I read it almost every summer.

2. A Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens. This book is alternately inspiring, encouraging, depressing, and funny. I read it every year – most years more than once. I also have about 25 different editions of it, as well as 10 different movie renditions of it. My favorite edition to read is the Bantam Classics edition. My favorite edition to look at is the Hearn and Leach Annotated edition. My favorite movie is the 1999 Patrick Stewart version.

3. The Razor’s Edge by Somerset Maugham. Probably had more to do with when I read it than the book itself. But a great book, nevertheless. Don’t let your life be constrained – do the things that you are inspired to do, whatever the cost.

4. The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy by Douglas Adams. Almost certainly the funniest book I ever read. No, I haven’t seen the movie. I probably will, eventually, but I’m always reluctant to watch movies of books that I really love. Of course, I never heard the radio show either. I had the honor of meeting Douglas Adams twice, and on one of those occasions he signed my copy of “The More Than Complete” edition of the guide. Absolutely brilliant.

5. The Hobbit, by J. R. R. Tolkien. This book, read to me by a teacher at Turi, one chapter a week for a term, introduced me to the world of fantasy literature, including the rest of Tolkien’s work, Eddings, Brooks, and thence to Bradbury, Adams, Pratchett, and so many others. Say what you will about The Hobbit – I know many folks don’t care for it at all – but it is one of the most important books in my literary growing-up.

Remarks

Ok, so the “five books” thing is *so* unfair. Trying to pick just five was amazingly hard, and there are so many others that should have been in there. Honorable mentions go to most things by Dahl, as well as “I, Robot” by Isaac Asimov, which is another one of those “if you just saw the movie, you completely missed out” books. And I suppose I would also really want to mention my own books, which, although I can’t claim that they are great and towering works of literature, are certainly very important ones to me.

I think, at this point, I’m supposed to pass this on to someone else. I’d really like to see what Bert would say, but I’m concerned that it would take he years and years to respond. 😉