Books
The long emergency
Score: 9An engaging read from start to finish in which Kunstler describes the domination of artificially cheap fossil fuels on our lives and how this party is about to end as we ride over the global production peak. He argues our dependency on cheap and plentiful energy is too pervasive (think about it: it's everywhere) to be replaced by any alternatives unless there's an immediate quantum leap. Add factors such as climate change, depletion of other critical resources, probable conflicts, population explosion and what you get is the recipe for a difficult future to say the least. What's most likely required is a massive downscaling of energy use right now, which will take one hell of an effort in this individualistic world we live in. Kunstler sees a return to "old" values once things get difficult: small towns based on the agrarian and localised economies we once knew. A lot of that is wishful thinking, he has a bone to pick with suburbia. Despite a number of weaknesses and an overly alarmist tone at times, this is an important book that everyone should read. [link]
Everything bad is good for you
Score: 6Interesting book in which Steven Johnson argues that popular culture is making us smarter, not dumbing us down as is generally believed. Today's television series have you following several plots in parallel, keeping all kinds of social networks in mind while constantly cross-referencing it all. Miss an episode and you're lost. Compare that to Starsky and Hutch or Dallas which featured 5 characters and simple stand-alone linear plots and you realise the mind does indeed have to put in more work to keep up with everything. The same thinking can also be applied to video games: that kid with the blank stare doesn't have his brain in standby mode, he's immersed in an enormously complex universe (think Zelda now vs Pacman then). I completely buy his arguments but I believe we're getting smarter at other things due to popular culture. The question is: at the expense of more "traditional" forms of learning or not? [link]
The Design of Everyday Things
Score: 8A classic I finally got round to reading. After going through this book, you'll stop blaming yourself for failing to understand your phone, your car or that door you keep pulling instead of pushing; you'll put the blame where it belongs: on the design. [link]
Blink
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Getting things done
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Free prize inside
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Falling out of cars
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Invasion de Paris
Score: 9[link]
Sonic
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Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation
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Smart Mobs: The Next Social Revolution
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Quicksilver
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On Brand
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Faster: The Acceleration of Just About Everything
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Pattern Recognition
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Fear and Loathing in America
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deadkidsongs
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Number 9 Dream
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Merrick
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Shampoo Planet
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Girlfriend in a coma
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Fruits
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Design for dying
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The Shockwave Rider
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Pixel Juice
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Nymphomation
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No Logo
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Exquisite corpse
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The end of manhood, a book for men of conscience.
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My gender workbook
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