My short review of Prometheus Rising. Prometheus Rising by Robert Anton Wilson


Very interesting book. I will most likely go back and read some of his other work. The author is well-versed in many areas and makes some compelling arguments. However, there is much to make you go "Wha?". Still it was a fun read and I would recommend it.

View all my reviews

The Scientific 100: A Ranking of the Most Influential Scientists, Past and Present

This is a fun "porcelain library" read, with 100 short entries for each scientists. While the rankings are subjective, the choice of the 100 is good. I am endlessly amazed at what has been done and forgotten by most as the world-changing discoveries of these individuals.

Books about famous programmers

I just finished one and in the processing of finishing another book about legendary programmers. The first is "Mastermnds of Programming" and the second is "Coders at Work". I have a fascination with the early pioneers of programming. I work in a field of science (some would argue that computer science is not really a science, but that is for another blog post) where a great deal of the seminal work was done in my lifetime. The pioneers are starting to die off, but most are still around. These two books are both done in interview style. I find it most interesting to learn how others got started, how they matured as programmers and how the see the state of computer programming these days. I am particularly impressed with the Bell Labs guys that invented UNIX, C and myriad innovative and useful programming technologies. I would recommend both. My only complaint is that many of the interviews were obviously through email and were not edited for grammar and typos. It's a pet peeve of mine and shouldn't deter one from exploring these page-turning interviews.

Learning Processing

Processing is a Java-inspired language designed to make creating interactive, animated graphics applications simple. Learning Processing assumes no previous programming experience. The basics of programming are presented in a light-hearted manner including illustrations that show how data structures and algorithms are combined to solve graphics processing problems. This information is useful not only for graphics but also as a basic introduction to computer programming in general. Readers who follow the chapters examples and work through the exercises will finish the book knowing they can do some basic object-oriented programming (OOP) and communicate intelligently about modern computer programming issues. And hey, graphics programming is just so darn cool to show your friends!

Complexity: A Guided Tour

Complex systems are characterized by many interacting agents following simple rules that can exhibit complicated behavior. Melanie Mitchell provides an excellent survey of the emerging field of complexity, much like her Introduction to Genetic Algorithms. Math is relegated to end notes, so the read is one any educated person can enjoy without being bogged down with equations.

My Links, Or Free as in Beer

Looks like my Amazon affiliate links were stripped out of all my posts, thus rendering the blog effectively "Guess What Bill Is Reading." Haha, well, I guess a "free" blog means as in beer (that is if your only choice is Pabst), not as in freedom. I can't blame them though.

Web 2.0 Required Reading

I'm enjoying this book very much, as it outlines and provides a good bit of detail about the technologies involved (acronyms galore!!!).