The Half Blood Prince

Slightly behind the curve I realise, but I have finally read Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. I was very close to not bothering with it as I found the last two books in the series very boring. But given that there were only two more books to go, I decided I’d give it… Continue reading The Half Blood Prince

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Cultural Consumption

Long time readers might remember how I was going to read fifty books in 2005 and review each one as I finished it. I was going pretty well until the middle of March when I got rather ill and lost all interest in reading. After a few weeks I started reading again, but I never… Continue reading Cultural Consumption

Tube Books

My Amazon wish list took quite a battering (but in a good way) over christmas so I needed to find some new things to put on it. Luckily a shopping trip to buy presents for other people gave me plenty of inspiration. A new (ish – well I can’t remember seeing it before) Books etc… Continue reading Tube Books

Book Review: Database in Depth

I’ve written a review of Chris Date’s book Database in Depth. All in all I thought it was rather good – tho’ in places it reminded me a bit too much of some of my college higher maths lectures. I’ve got a bit behind on book reviews. I have a large pile of books here.… Continue reading Book Review: Database in Depth

Blackwells vs Foyles

I’ve been meaning to mention this for about a year. I remember it every time I go shopping for books on Charing Cross Road, but then forget it by the time I get to a computer. What happened to Blackwell’s computer books department? When Blackwell’s first opened their branch on Charing Cross Road (some time… Continue reading Blackwells vs Foyles

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Unreliable Authors

Have you ever been reading something that you are enjoying when suddenly you come across something which is so stupid that you lose all confidence in the author and can no longer take anything they write seriously? It happened to me this morning as I was reading the introduction to Open Source 2.0. In the… Continue reading Unreliable Authors

Interesting Open Source Books

A couple of interesting books on Open Source Software that I’ve read recently. Karl Fogel’s Producing Open Source Software should be essential reading for anyone involved in an Open Source project (or planning to get involved in an Open Source project). Fogel has been an important contributer to a number of major Open Source projects… Continue reading Interesting Open Source Books

Strange and Norrell

Ov er the last couple of weeks I’ve been reading Susanna Clarke’s Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell. It’s a good book, but far too big. Every day as I was trying to read it on a rush hour tube I couldn’t help wondering why it needed to be over a thousand pages long. It’s divided… Continue reading Strange and Norrell

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Giving Books Away

Interesting piece by Ian McEwan about what happened when he tried to give away books to strangers in a park near his house. Every young woman we approached – in central London practically everyone seems young – was eager and grateful to take a book. Some riffled through the pile murmuring, “Read that, read that,… Continue reading Giving Books Away

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