Books Of The Year

..that is, the books I am currently reading this year. The problem I have with reading books is that I have a strong tendency not to finish them. I've begun reading several books from my personal library covering a myriad of interesting topics, yet only a handful of them have ever known the satisfaction of being read cover to cover. I become distracted by a few pages of another book and put them aside, thinking I'd get back to them later. The only viable solution I have come up with is to read several different books at once.

For someone with a short literary attention span and only a few hours here and there to devote to the indulgence of bookish escapism, this has proven to be an ideal solution. It still takes me several months, if not a year or so, to finish the books, but I finish them. Moreover, the resulting assortment of books piled onto the coffee table (usually a novel, a software development book or two, and a couple of antiquated works) leaves the impression of a well-read intellectual to the casual onlooker who doesn't know me that well.

The current regiment of printed works is as follows:

• Practical Perforce by Laura Wingerd - A delightful romp through the world of Perforce, The Fast Software Configuration Management System, and it's effective use in your software development environment. For more information, visit www.perforce.com
• The Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy by Douglas Adams - This is a re-read. I just really enjoy the story and it serves as a refreshing change of pace (or rather, a sudden introduction of any pace) from the inevitable monotonousness of the aforementioned text.
• A Short History Of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson - Ever gazed at the starry expanse above us and marveled at how unimaginably huge the universe is? Read this book to find out that it is in fact unimaginable, so don't bother trying. You'll also be introduced to every Tom, Dick and Harry that ever had a significant impact (positive or farcical) on the whole of scientific thought.
• Alcoholica Esoterica by Ian Lendler - A self-proclaimed "Cliff Claven" style history book covering the history of alcohol in all of its splendid forms and fraught with frivolous facts and quippy quotes that are sure to entertain your friends and annoy your girlfriend. And yes, this is where I got the idea for the name of this blog.

Books on the horizon:

• Tobacco by Ian Gately - How the worlds most beloved cancer agent shaped the world as we know it. I couldn't resist this one.
• The Art Of War by Sun-tzu - While I'm learning how parts of the world were developed, I might as well learn how they were subsequently conquered by the neighboring barbarian hordes.
• The World Is Flat by Thomas L. Friedman - This book was lent to me (which means I have to finish reading this one within the year) and I believe it is about the effects of technology on globalization and world economies in these first years of the twenty-first century, otherwise known as the "flattening of the Earth". It could be interesting to read about how the ludicrousness I hear in the news every day has profoundly impacted the world I live in as I remain steadfastly oblivious to it.
• Software Configuration Management Patterns by Stephen P. Berczuk with Brad Appleton - More software development process stuff. I really don't have the strength to elaborate any further on this.