November 2010
13 posts
Amusing Ourselves to Death, by Neil Postman →
It would not be an overstatement to say that this book, along with Postman’s other book, Technopoly, completely changed many things about how I saw the world when I first read them at…
The Half-Made World, by Felix Gilman →
It’s a little hard to describe this novel — a sort of alternate history, Western, war, kinda steampunk, fantasy story, set about 120 years ago. It took a little while to gain steam, but by the…
Next Generation Democracy, by Jared Duval →
I read this book on my way to the UK last week, and it really helped inform my remarks at the House of Commons. With an introduction by Tim O’Reilly, it’s a look at how open source ideas and…
Nothing to Envy, by Barbara Demick →
I’ve been interested in understanding a little bit more about North Korea for a while — have read a couple of books about it that were both good (Pyongyang and North Korea: Another…
Chronic City, by Jonathan Lethem →
Honestly, I have no idea what this book is about. I love Lethem — some of his books are my very favorites. But it was a real struggle to get through this novel, and I’m pretty sure it wasn’t…
Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk, by David Sedaris →
A short collection of folk tales by Sedaris — he heard some African folks tales a while back and thought to himself “I can do better than that!”
They’re modern, snarky, sometimes hilarious,…
Last Day at Mozilla →
I’ve always been bad at leaving.
Today’s my last day at Mozilla (as a full time employee — I’ll continue to be on the Board of Directors), so I wanted to write down a bit of what I’m feeling as I…
My Talk at the House of Commons →
I’m currently in the middle of an extremely interesting trip called Silicon Valley Comes to the UK, which Sherri Coutou and Reid Hoffman have organized for several years. it’s a fantastic trip so…
CS198 →
I’ve made countless decisions in my career since first arriving at Stanford in 1989, but one of the top 5 specific decisions that I’ve made was to become a section leader for introductory…
Endings & Beginnings →
In the next few weeks, we’re planning to move from the house we’ve lived in for 7 years in Sunnyvale, into a neighborhood in Palo Alto, motivated by a couple of public school options that we’re…
Kill the Dead, by Richard Kadrey →
The 2nd book in the Sandman Slim series — I liked it, but not as much as the first book, which I thought was really fun. This was a good continuation of the characters, but it felt a little…
How to Life Safely in a Science Fictional... →
Once I saw the title, how could I not get this book, honestly? And the ray guns on the cover sealed the deal, if the title hadn’t.
I think, ultimately, that the book itself didn’t totally…
Room, by Emma Donoghue →
This book is on a lot of “best of the year” lists, for good reason. While it reminds me a bit of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime, in that it’s narrated from the point of view…
