What am I Reading This Month?

I haven't done one of these in a while...it's only recently that I've been able to squeeze some pleasure reading into my chaotic schedule. Here goes:

How to be a Villain: Evil Laughs, Secret Lairs, Master Plans and More by Niel Zawaki It's a step-by-step guide to joining the forces of Evil and Darkness. This book is a humorous look at every cliche of villainy in literature. After all, you need the catchy name, the flashy costume, the secret lair, the evil henchman, and the Plot to Destroy the World, right?

Aitchison's Linguistics by Jean Aitchison. This is part of the Teach Yourself (R) series. It's an introduction to basic concepts in the field of language and linguistics. There are many different sub-specialities (such as computational linguistics, sociolinguistics, historical linguistics and applied linguistics) that describe the many different branches of study. For the record, a philologist is a person who speaks many languages, while a linguist is interested in the structure and reason for languages (but does not necessarily need to speak all of them). Many start out as one and end up as the other.

The Art of War by Sun Tzu I had a smaller version of this classic treatise on the art of war, but lost it, so I got myself this particular version, printed by Arcturus Press (UK). I like this illustrated version, and I like how this is easily indexed and arranged by chapter and verse.

Lost Languages by Andrew Robinson I've read this one before, but I've decided to re-read it. It focuses on the linguistic puzzles of all time, including the Egyptian hieroglyphs, the Mayan glyphs, and ones that are still a mystery, like the Etruscan writing.


All original writing and art copyright A. Dameron 2000-2011

What am I Reading This Month? October 2010

I haven't done one of these in a while...

The Godfather by Mario Puzo. Yeah, the original one.

The Last Don by Mario Puzo. This one is definitely different from the original. Most of the action takes place in Las Vegas and Hollywood, as opposed to New York and New Jersey. But the manipulations of the Mafia members don't change a bit.

The Art of War by Sun Tzu This is no way connected with the above two books, and to the fact that I have The Book of Five Rings by Miyamoto Musashi lined up after this. Or the fact I just finished The Sword and the Mind, translated by Hiroaki Sato.

Hyperspace by Michio Kaku. I also have his Physics of the Impossible. I'll say it again: I like physics, but I hate math. With a passion.

The New Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain by Betty Edwards (I'm part of a group doing the exercises from this book. We post our drawings and observations for each assignment.)

And last, but not least (yes, this is a writing reference book): FUBAR, F**ed up Beyond Recognition: Soldier Slang of World War II It's amazing how many familiar words come from this era of history.

All original writing and art copyright A. Dameron 2000-2010

Quotes about Books

"Where is Human Nature so weak as in the bookstore?" - Henry Ward Beecher, Star Papers


"Any man with a moderate income can afford to buy more books than he can read in a lifetime."- Henry Holt


"There are 10,000 books in my library, and it will keep growing until I die. This has exasperated my daughters, amused my friends, and baffled my accountant. If I had not picked up this habit in the library long ago, I would have more money in the bank today; I would not be richer." -Pete Hamill, "D'Artagnan on 9th Street: A Brooklyn Boy at the Library."


"Early to bed and Early to rise, Work like hell and advertise." -A distorted proverb from an agent.


"I cannot live without books." -Thomas Jefferson


"I have always imagined that Paradise will be a kind of library." -Jorge Luis Borges


"Where books are burned, in the end, people will be burned too." -Heinrich Heine


"An effective minor character is a well-made bundle of ideas, and an effective major character is a well-made bundle of ideas to whom we are asked to pay more attention." --Eric Maisel, "Deep Writing".

Ben Franklin's Epitaph

(1729- he wrote it, but it's not on his gravestone)

The Body

of

Benjamin Franklin, Printer

(Like the cover of an old book,

its contents torn out,

and stript of its letter and gilding,)

Lies food for worms:

Yet the work itself shall not be lost,

for it will (as he beleived) appear once more

In a new

and more beautiful edition,

Corrected and amended

by

The Author

All writing and art copyright A. Dameron 2000-2010

More Books on the Reading List

A few more books on the summer reading list:


1) The Curved Planks, Poems: A Bilingual Edition, by Yves Bonnefoy, Translated by Hoyt Rogers A set of poems by French poet Yves Bonnefoy, with the original French alongside the English. Yeah, my French is pretty rusty right now.


2) Working IX to V: Orgy Planners, Funeral Clowns, and other Prized Professions of the Ancient World by Vicki Leon This is by the author of the "Uppity Women Series".  It outlines the more *ahem* interesting jobs in the ancient world, including something called astercorarius, also known as a "manure entrepreneur". Seriously.


3) Nim Chimpsky: The Chimp who would be Human by Elizabeth Hess. Nim was a chimpanzee, who was involved with an experiment by Herbert S. Terrace at Columbia University. Can chimps learn ASL (American Sign Language) and prove that language "isn't just for humans"? (Ironically, his last name is a play on Chomsky, a linguist who believed that language is only found among humans.) But when the experiment ended, what became of Nim?


As my sister once asked, "Don't you read anything for fun?" I do, but my idea of fun's a little different from hers.

All writing and art copyright A. Dameron 2000-2010