Why? Who Cares?
Well, the main reason is that is has gotten stuck in my brain, and the main way to get it out is to put it somewhere like a 90s-themed website. This is more for me than the Information Superhighway. This isn't some literary criticism -- one of the reasons I chose to put it on Neocities. Don't take it seriously. Also, who doesn't miss Angelfire/Geocities? All links are directly to The Storygraph (if there is a link at all).
All Time Favorites (in no particular order)
- The Cuckoo's Egg - Clifford Stoll (Non-fiction)
- It's old school cat-and-mouse hacker-vs-system but from the perspective of Stoll. A must read for those interested in cybersecurity or the history of computing culture.
- A Psalm for the Wild-Built - Becky Chambers (Fiction)
- It's just good vibes. It felt good to read. Becky Chamber's is so good at this aesethic, while also teaching you about gender and what it can mean to different people. Beautiful read.
- A Closed and Common Orbit - Becky Chambers (Fiction)
- Jesus Christ, I can't tell you the last time a book drew such strong feelings out of me. It is so fantastically written. Reading the first book in the Wayfarers series helps a lot, but ultimately, you're looking inward more than anything. This book is what books are all about.
- Cryptonomicon - Neal Stephenson (Fiction...?)
- There's an entire chapter dedicated to eating cereal "properly". It effortlessly flies back and forth between the present day and WWII. Also, it taught me that UHT milk exists.
- Underground: The Tokyo Gas Attack and the Japanese Psyche - Haruki Murakami (Non-fiction)
- I didn't know much about the Tokyo Subway attacks or Aum, and this book taught me about both from the perspective of the people who lived it (and those who didn't make it)
- Piranesi - Susanna Clarke (Fiction)
- It is one of those rare books that feels like stepping into a dream. You can’t help but get lost in the beauty of its quiet halls and shifting tides. It’s a story that lingers. It is gentle, eerie, and full of wonder in a way few books manage.
Random Rabbithole Non-Fiction
- Arriving Today: From Factory to Front Door -- Why Everything Has Changed About How and What We Buy - Christopher Mims
- How Infrastructure Works: Inside the Systems That Shape Our World - Deb Chachra
- Frostbite: How Refrigeration Changed Our Food, Our Planet, and Ourselves - Nicola Twilley
- The Last Yakuza: A Life in the Japanese Underworld - Jake Adelstein
- The Yugo: The Rise and Fall of the Worst Car in History - Jason Vuic
- The Skies Belong to Us: Love and Terror in the Golden Age of Hijacking - Brendan I. Koerner
Aviation
- 747: Creating the World's First Jumbo Jet and Other Adventures from a Life in Aviation -- Joe Sutter
- Concorde -- Mike Bannister
- Sky Gods -- Robert Gandt
- Skyfaring: A Journey with a Pilot -- Mark Vanhoenacker
- Imagine a City: A Pilot's Journey Home -- Mark Vanhoenacker
Computer History - Early(ish) Computing
- The Soul of a New Machine- Tracy Kidder
- Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution - Steven Levy
- The Idea Factory: Bell Labs and the Great Age of American Innovation - Jon Gertner
- This one covers a lot more than Computer History, but I feel it's important reading if you're looking at the period and how we got here. Or how anyone got anywhere.
- The Friendly Orange Glow: The Untold Story of the Rise of Cyberculture - Brian Dear
- The Chip: How Two Americans Invented the Microchip and Launched a Revolution - T.R. Reid
Computer History - Working In Tech (+Game Industry)
- Almost Perfect: How a Bunch of Regular Guys Built WordPerfect Corporation -- W.E. Pete Peterson
- We Were Yahoo!: From Internet Pioneer to the Trillion Dollar Loss of Google and Facebook -- Jeremy Ring
- IBM: The Rise and Fall and Reinvention of a Global Icon -- James W. Cortada
- Significant Zero: Heroes, Villains, and the Fight for Art and Soul in Video Games -- Walt Williams
- Doom Guy: Life in First Person -- John Romero
- Show Stopper!: The Breakneck Race to Create Windows NT and the Next Generation at Microsoft -- G. Pascal Zachary
- Sid Meier's Memoir!: A Life in Computer Games -- Sid Meier
Japanese Lit - Not Surreal
- Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage -- Haruki Murakami
- Convenience Store Woman -- Sayaka Murata
- The Kamogawa Food Detectives -- Hisashi Kashiwai
- The Setting Sun -- Osamu Dazai
- Terminal Boredom -- Izumi Suzuki
- Days at the Morisaki Bookshop -- Satoshi Yagisawa
Japanese Lit - A Bit Surreal
- There's No Such Thing as an Easy Job -- Kikuko Tsumura
- The Tatami Time Machine Blues -- Tomihiko Morimi
- Before the Coffee Gets Cold -- Toshikazu Kawaguchi
- The Restaurant of Lost Recipes -- Hisashi Kashiwai
- I Am A Cat -- Natsume Sōseki
Japanese Lit -
"'Give me all the surreal you have!' 'No, that's too surreal'"
- Life Ceremony -- Sayaka Murata
- The Woman in the Dunes -- Kōbō Abe
- First Person Singular: Stories -- Haruki Murakami
- The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle -- Haruki Murakami
- 1Q84 -- Haruki Murakami