Books

Tag, I'm it. There's this book meme going around, where bloggers pass along a set of related questions to one another. On one hand, it's like a chain letter, clogging up the Intraweb with useless personal information. On the other hand, it's nice to get to know something more about the folks whose blogs you're reading.

On the gripping hand, it's also fun. So, here goes.

1. How many books have I owned?
2,374, no wait, it's 2,378. Including textbooks. Actually, that's a lie. I have no idea how many books I've owned. It's a large number. Most of the boxes in my attic are filled with books, and every available horizontal surface in the house has a stack.

I like to buy books almost as much as I like to read them. And I do not get rid of books. So I have several hundred books that I've bought but never read and probably never will. Honestly, one of the things I most look forward to in Heaven is being able to talk to people about the books they wrote so that I won't have to read them.

My wife also has a large amount that she contributed to the family. So we have more than 1,000, easily.

2. What was the last book you bought.
Let me check Amazon. [time passes . . .]

I bought these for work and read all but the last one:

• User Interface Design for Programmers - Joel Spolsky
• Don't Make Me Think: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability - Steve Krug
• Code - Charles Petzold
• Design of Everyday Things - Donald A. Norman
• The Pragmatic Programmer: From Journeyman to Master - Andrew Hunt, David Thomas
  

3. The last book that you've read.
I can't remember. How about what I'm reading now? Let me check around the house. I keep different books in various places. Did I mention that I'm ADD? [time passes . . .]

• Design of Everyday Things - Donald A. Norman - a great book, even if you're not designing anything. It explains why the things around you cause you so much frustration. Hint: it's not your fault.
  
• Life as a Vapor - John Piper - my wife got it for me for Father's Day. I'm not normally into devotional books, but this one looks nice and easy.
• The Machine That Changed The World: The Story of Lean Production - James P. Womack, Daniel T. Jones, Danial Roos - I'm re-reading the first few chapters that deal with the change of the automobile industry from craftwork to mass production. Why? Because I'm a nerd.
  
• 50 Simple Steps You Can Take to Sell Your Home Faster and for More Money in Any Market - Ilyce R. Glink - because we're selling our house.

No fiction on the list, which is odd. We're in a bit of a fasting period right now, waiting for the new Harry Potter book. Frequent readers please note, there will be no blogging the week of July 16.

4. List 5 books that have meant a lot to you.

1. The Bible - duh. It only gets better with each read-through. I have an NIV Study Bible and the cheater notes are very, very helpful. To date the only books I have not read are Isaiah and Jeremiah, but I try to re-read Romans once a year.
   
2. The Collected Works of Craig R. Higgins, which doesn't really exist. But 5 years of weekly conversations ought to count for something.
3. Mere Christianity - C.S. Lewis - good, basic theology that is readable and memorable.
4. The Vision of The Anointed - Thomas Sowell - helped me understand why I'm a conservative and why liberals think and act the way they do.
   
5. The Lord of The Rings - J.R.R. Tolkien - good clean fun.
   

Honorable mention:

• Starship Troopers - Robert A.( for Anson) Heinlein - ridiculously quotable. The guys in my Bible study always look at me weird when I use examples from it, but it works.
• Excluded Americans - William Tucker - Great book on how intrusive government policies screw up people's lives. Helped me realize just how much of a free-marketeer I really was.
  

5. Tag five people that haven't played yet.
Hmmmm. Since 5 is an arbritrary number, I'll arbitrarily change it to 6. Out of sheer, selfish curiosity, I hereby tag the following:
BoyGrandmother
PigInAPen
Georgia On My Mind
DAW
Splitcat Chintzibobs
Curt

However, why stop there? Let's twist this meme around. How about you, dear reader? Post in the comments section and leave your name and/or a link to your blog.