forked from nimbupani/nimbupani.github.com
/
book-reviews-for-jan-2010-part-2.html
187 lines (113 loc) · 11.1 KB
/
book-reviews-for-jan-2010-part-2.html
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
<!doctype html>
<!--[if lt IE 9]> <html class="no-js oldie" lang="en"> <![endif]-->
<head>
<meta charset="utf-8">
<meta http-equiv="X-UA-Compatible" content="IE=edge,chrome=1">
<title>Book Reviews for Jan 2010 â Part 2 | Divya Manian</title>
<meta name="author" content="Divya Manian">
<meta name="description" content="I spent a lot of time this month trying to get through Good Money: Birmingham Button Makers, the Royal Mint, and the Beginnings of Modern Coinage, …">
<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
<link rel="canonical" href="http://nimbupani.github.com/book-reviews-for-jan-2010-part-2.html">
<link href="/stylesheets/screen.css" rel="stylesheet">
<link href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/nimbupani" rel="alternate" title="Subscribe" type="application/atom+xml">
<link href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/nimbu" rel="alternate" title="Subscribe to Web Development updates" type="application/atom+xml">
</head>
<body >
<div class="container">
<div class="content">
<header role="banner"> <h1><a href="/">Divya Manian</a></h1>
<h2><a class="twitter" href="https://twitter.com/divya">twitter</a> <a class="rss" href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/nimbupani">RSS Feed</a> <a class="youtube" href="http://youtube.com/nimbupani">Youtube Channel</a> <a class="github" href="https://github.com/nimbupani">Github</a></h2>
</header>
<nav class="sitenav"><a href="/">Home</a>
<a href="/archives">Archives</a>
<a href="/about.html">About</a>
</nav>
<article>
<nav class="article">
<a class="previous" href="/theme-nodes-with-closed-comments-in-drupal-6.html" title="Theme nodes with closed comments in Drupal 6">❬</a>
<a class="next" href="/what-web-designers-need-to-know-about-epub.html" title="What Web Designers need to know about EPUB ">❭</a>
</nav>
<header>
<time datetime="2010-01-28T00:00:00-08:00" pubdate><span class='month'>Jan</span> <span class='day'>28</span> <span class='year'>2010</span></time>
<h1 class="entry-title"><a href="/book-reviews-for-jan-2010-part-2.html">Book Reviews for Jan 2010 â Part 2</a></h1>
</header>
<div class="entry-content"><p>I spent a lot of time this month trying to get through <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0472116312?ie=UTF8&tag=nimbupani-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0472116312">Good Money: Birmingham Button Makers, the Royal Mint, and the Beginnings of Modern Coinage, 1775-1821</a>, but I just <em>cannot</em> read academic books. The book covers a very interesting era before the rise of paper currency when coins of small denominations were in short supply and how private corporations tried to mitigate that (rich people melted the higher denomination gold/silver to create smaller denomination coins). Unfortunately, it meanders through the years with no clear progression and is quite boring to read. It is a miracle I got through the first few chapters. Onwards with the reviews!</p>
<p></p>
<ul>
<li><h3>Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things</h3>
<p><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0865475873?ie=UTF8&tag=nimbupani-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0865475873">Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things</a> is written by designer William McDonough and chemist Michael Braungart talks about how complex and chemical-induced the environment around us has become. It astounded me know an average shampoo contains 22 chemicals including some used to offset the side-effects of other harmful ones.</p>
<p>They ask, why we have no problem using things that contain some of the most harmful chemicals which are not even allowed in the vicinity of human life in their raw form. Why does the “packaging” makes it harmless?</p>
<p>They also mention how “recycling” is usually misguided as it only utilizes more chemicals than normal to make these things fit for reuse.</p>
<p>The authors advocate the philosophy of waste = food, something that would ring true for people who still follow old cultural traditions. They suggest using things that can biodegrade and be consumed by other living organisms. This strongly underscores for me the use of cow manure in Hindu traditions as fuel, fertilizer, and disinfectant, among others.</p>
<p>The book does not advocate eliminating all chemicals but judicious use of them in ways that can make the environment richer.</p>
<p>Everyone needs to read this book, just to understand how industries are disrupting nature.</p>
</li>
<li>
<h3>Vagabonding: An Uncommon Guide to the Art of Long-Term World Travel</h3>
<p><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0812992180?ie=UTF8&tag=nimbupani-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0812992180">Vagabonding: An Uncommon Guide to the Art of Long-Term World Travel</a> is not a travel book but a book that advocates taking things slowly, travelling to gain an experience and not to tick off “must-see” places from the list. I am guilty of “weekend” and holiday trips done hurriedly to just see a place with a bit of “experience” thrown in at some three-star hotel. I would love to do this when I take a sabbatical.</p>
</li>
<li><h3>The Art of Herge, Inventor of Tintin: Volume 1: 1907-1937 (The Art of Herge)</h3>
<p>This is a better book than <a href="http://nimbupani.com/book-reviews-for-jan-2010-–-part-1.html">The Adventures of Herge</a>, with lots of pictures of Herge’s advertising, illustration works and sketches right from childhood. <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0867197064?ie=UTF8&tag=nimbupani-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0867197064">The Art of Herge, Inventor of Tintin: Volume 1: 1907-1937</a> seems to be written for a younger audience and contains a sanitised biography of Herge as compared to the other book.</p>
</li>
<li>
<h3>Sagramanda: A Novel of Near-future India</h3>
<p>This is a poor man’s version of <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1591025958?ie=UTF8&tag=nimbupani-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=1591025958">River of Gods</a>, and a terrible one at that. Avoid.</p>
</li>
<li>
<h3>“The Sandman” by Jack Kirby and Joe Simon</h3>
<p><a href="http://www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/1848563299/178-1446862-9831354">The Sandman</a> has great artwork as usual. Reading this, I realise what Neil Gaiman did with this franchise is quite radical.</p>
</li>
<li>
<h3>Hellboy Volume 1: Seed of Destruction</h3>
<p><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1593070942?ie=UTF8&tag=nimbupani-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=1593070942">Hellboy, Vol. 1: Seed of Destruction</a> is just brilliant. I now see the appeal of Hellboy (did not think much of Hellboy when I saw the movies). It is so absurd on so many levels that it is good (and I develop love-at-first-read with such stories). If you like comics and Terry Pratchett, you will love Hellboy.</p>
</li>
</ul>
<p></p>
<p>Any books you have read recently that you recommend? Do comment!</p>
</div>
<footer>
<p class="meta">This post was posted by
<a href="/about.html">Divya Manian</a>
on
<time datetime="2010-01-28T00:00:00-08:00" pubdate><span class='month'>Jan</span> <span class='day'>28</span> <span class='year'>2010</span></time> in
. If you would like to update this post, <a href="https://github.com/nimbupani/nimbupani.github.com/blob/source/source/_posts/2010-01-28-book-reviews-for-jan-2010-part-2.md">please send a pull request</a>.
</p>
</footer>
</article>
<section>
<h1>Comments</h1>
<div id="disqus_thread" aria-live="polite"><noscript>Please enable JavaScript to view the <a href="http://disqus.com/?ref_noscript">comments powered by Disqus.</a></noscript>
</div>
</section>
</div>
</div>
<aside id="articles">
<p><img class="avatar" src="/assets/divya.png" height=50> <a href="http://twitter.com/divya">Divya Manian</a> is a Web Developer in Seattle. <a href="/about.html">More about me ❭</a></p>
<h2>Posts on Web Development</h2>
<ul><li><a href="/html5please.html">html5please</a></li><li><a href="/mustache.html">mustache, hogan, handlebars</a></li><li><a href="/redesign-notes.html">Redesign Notes</a></li><li><a href="/summary-of-various-exciting-css-drafts-and-proposals.html">Summary of various exciting CSS drafts and proposals</a></li><li><a href="/this-revolution-needs-new-revolutionaries.html">This revolution needs new revolutionaries</a></li><li><a href="/some-css-transition-hacks.html">Some CSS Transition hacks</a></li><li><a href="/safe-css-defaults.html">Safe CSS Defaults</a></li><li><a href="/unplugged-2011.html">Unplugged 2011</a></li><li><a href="/bokeh-with-css3-gradients.html">Bokeh with CSS3 Gradients</a></li><li><a href="/making-pure-css3-demos-better.html">Making "Pure CSS3" demos better</a></li><li><a href="/web-opener-at-opera.html">Web Opener at Opera</a></li><li><a href="/current-color-in-css.html">Current Color in CSS</a></li><li><a href="/css-vocabulary.html">CSS Vocabulary</a></li><li><a href="/active-web-development.html">Active Web Development</a></li><li><a href="/sexy-css3-buttons.html">Sexy CSS3 Buttons</a></li><li><a href="/accessible-css-barcharts.html">Accessible CSS Barcharts</a></li><li><a href="/svg-is-coming.html">SVG is coming!</a></li><li><a href="/wee-marquee.html">Wee! Marquee</a></li><li><a href="/vignettes-with-css3-box-shadows.html">Vignettes with CSS3 Box Shadows</a></li><li><a href="/drop-shadows-with-css3.html">Drop Shadows with CSS3</a></li><li><a class="btn" href="/categories/web-development/">More</a></li></ul>
</aside>
<footer role="contentinfo"><p>
Copy to your heart’s content 2012 - Divya Manian -
<span class="credit">Powered by <a href="http://octopress.org">Octopress</a></span>
</p>
</footer>
<script type="text/javascript">
var disqus_shortname = 'nimbublog';
var disqus_developer = 1;
var disqus_url = 'http://nimbupani.com/book-reviews-for-jan-2010-part-2.html';
var disqus_identifier = 'http://nimbupani.com/book-reviews-for-jan-2010-part-2.html';
(function () {
var dsq = document.createElement('script'); dsq.type = 'text/javascript'; dsq.async = true;
dsq.src = 'http://' + disqus_shortname + '.disqus.com/embed.js';
(document.getElementsByTagName('head')[0] || document.getElementsByTagName('body')[0]).appendChild(dsq);
}());
</script>
<script src="/javascripts/octopress.js"></script>
<script>
var _gaq=[['_setAccount','UA-97188-1'],['_trackPageview']];
(function(d,t){var g=d.createElement(t),s=d.getElementsByTagName(t)[0];
g.src=('https:'==location.protocol?'//ssl':'//www')+'.google-analytics.com/ga.js';
s.parentNode.insertBefore(g,s)}(document,'script'));
</script>
</body>
</html>