HCIC 2009 Book Club
Dinner at Devil’s Thumb Ranch Restaurant
Each year a bunch of HCI folks meet at Snow Ranch, CO; talk a lot about HCI and have good food, a little wine, some skiing, and a nice dinner at the Devil's Thumb Ranch Restaurant. Aside from the ambiance of the place, it's a good chance to swap our latest books reviews and recommendations.
This is the list from the group in Feb, 2009. (People attending and suggesting: Don Norman, Gina Venolia, Bonnie John, Scott Klemmer, David Millen, Dan Russell, Ed Chi, Robin Jeffries, Judy Olson, Gary Olson, Wendy Kellogg, Bob Kraut, Stu Card, danah boyd, John Thomas, Clayton Lewis)
Because we sat at two different tables, I'm relying here on Wendy's notes about what the other table enjoyed. And because there were so many books recommended, the reviews are somewhat shorter than usual.
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Don Norman: Deyan Sudjic The language of things.
Don says, “How do I summarize this book?” A deep penetrating look at the ever-perilous battle among the competing forces of art, fashion, and practicality that designers face. Sudjic examines the role of design in culture, society, and its continuing battle with art, neatly sandwiching in a marvelous treatment of luxury and fashion. Difficult to read because I was laughing so much, I kept losing my place.
Gina Venolia: Studs Terkel Giants of Jazz.
Marvelous personal stories. The idiosyncratic lives of jazz musicians
Bonnie John: Norman Mailer Castle in the Forest
“I got it because he died and felt I should read something by him.” A former SS officer is actually an agent of the devil, assigned to Hitler, to bring him up as an agent of evil…
Scott Klemmer: Malcolm Gladwell Outliers.
“Although it’s the weakest of his three books, Outliers has three great stories worth reading.” Scott says everyone should read: (1) hockey player story, (2) “culture of honor” leads to increased suicide rates in the American South, (3) power relationships in the cockpit as expressed in language. (But be sure to read the back-and-forth debate between Gladwell and Steven Pinker in the New York Times Book Review. They clearly have different opinions about this work.)
David Millen: Michael Ruhlman Making of a chef: Mastering heat at the Culinary Academy of America
This is a superb example of “journalist ethnography,” the capturing of a slice of reality and portraying it in all it’s richness and subtlety. David is generally interested in this kind of writing. (Don suggests looking at the HBR article “My week at the Ritz-Carlton.” )
Dan Russell: Geoffrey Nunberg The way we talk now.
Geoff's collection of short essays about our language. These were originally from his Fresh Air spoken radio pieces, and maintain their vibrancy on the page.
Ed Chi: Davie James Duncan, The river why.
A bit like “Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance,” but a bit more of a page turner.
Robin Jeffries: Laurie King Touchstone.
A wonderful mystery set in aristocratic England (~1920)
Judy Olson: Tim Farrington The Monk Downstairs and The Monk Upstairs
"The hero's mom is struggling with dementia..."
Stu Card: Alexander McCall Smith Portuguese Irregular Verbs
"All about the antics of German academics; their escapades are absolutely hilarious."
Stu Card: Alexander McCall Smith The Number One Ladies Detective Agency
"The fact that the same person could write this and Portuguese Irregular Verbs is just amazing."
Wendy Kellogg: Steven Johnson The Invention of Air: A Story of Science, Faith, Revolution and the Birth of America.
"Another offering in the genre of 'scientific historical narrative' which, like his previous book, The Ghost Map, is very satisfying. Tells the story of Joseph Priestly, his role in 'recognizing' oxygen and the composition of air, the role of plants in the atmospheric ecosystem, and influence on the Founding Fathers and the US constitution."
Bob Kraut: Alan Furst The Foreign Correspondent, Series of espionage stories (this is the first)
Bob says: "These are great stories set in Europe when Germany has just taken over the world."
danah boyd: Scott Westerfield Uglies series b(4 books: Uglies, Pretties, Specials, Extras)
"Teen-oriented sci-fi. At age 16 teens get to have any plastic surgery they want, but if you choose to be pretty, there are consequences for your 'mental acuity.' In the last book, people get a kind of "page rank" based on their online behavior -- blogging, etc. Pretty interesting." [ ed. These books are often used in middle schools to teach about relationships between kids and what superficiality means. ]
John Thomas: Fyodor Dostoevsky The Brothers Karamazov
Been listening to this on books on tape and it's really good. Gee... maybe there's a reason this is a classic!
Clayton Lewis: Franco Moretti Graphs, Maps, Trees: Abstract Models for a Literary History.
"A data-driven view of literary genres. He can say when the genre was invented and when it peaked. Claims literary genres reflect a society's way of dealing with its issues."
Wendy Kellogg: Matt Mason The Pirate's Dilemma: How Youth Culture is Reinventing Capitalism
"Starts with a characterization of the punk rock movement, where it's not necessary to be actually good at a musical instrument to start a band, and blossoms into a discussion of "do it yourself" culture."
The description on amazon from publisher's weekly is pretty good: Music journalist Mason, a former pirate radio and club DJ in London, explores how open source culture is changing the distribution and control of information and harnessing the old system of punk capitalism to new market conditions governing society. According to Mason, this movement's creators operate according to piratical tactics and are changing the very nature of our economy. He charts the rise of the ideas and social experiments behind these latter-day pirates, citing the work of academics, historians and innovators across a multitude of fields. He also explores contributions by visionaries like Andy Warhol, 50 Cent and Dr. Yuref Hamied, who was called a pirate and a thief after producing anti-HIV drugs for Third World countries that cost as little as $1 a day to produce. Pirates, Mason states, sail uncharted waters where traditional rules don't apply. As a result, they offer great ways to service the public's best interests. According to Mason, how people, corporations and governments react to these changes is one of the most important economic and cultural questions of the 21st century. Well-written, entertaining and highly original, Mason offers a fascinating view of the revolutionary forces shaping the world as we know it. (Jan. 8)
Bob Kraut: Louise Erdich The Plague of Doves
"A novel set in North Dakota that describes the murder of the protagonist's half-uncles and how family members were blamed. It uses multiple voices/perspectives to tell the story."
danah boyd: Robert Fisk The Great War for Civilization: The Conquest of the Middle East
Journalist and war correspondent in the Middle East. Walks through all these amazing moments in which he has participated: interivew with bin Laden; Armenian genocide, etc.
danah boyd: Benjamin R. Barber
Consumed: How Markets Corrupt Children, Infantilize Adults, and Swallow Citizens Whole
"About market predictions that went wrong. Waaay wrong... and how we might think about market predictions differently. "
danah boyd: Alicia Erian Towelhead
"A 13-year old girl whose mother has kicked her out goes to live with her dad in Texas, where she faces an abusive neighbor and more. The most disturbing book I've read in the last year."
John Thomas: Jim Collins Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap... and Others Don't
"He has a methodology to compare companies that have turnarounds and tries to distill the difference between successful and unsuccessful companies. The successful company's CEO's, for example, are humble; taking the blame for mistakes or poor outcomes, but giving credit to employees for successes."
Clayton Lewis: David Kynaston Austerity Britain: 1945-1950 (Tales of a New Jerusalem)
"A history of Britain from something to the 1950's and end of socialism. Genius writer; so much of the exposition is in the language of the times."
Stu Card: Fareed Zakaria The Post-American World
"Brilliant, with the idea that other countries are rising, not that the US is sinking."
Judy Olson: Michael Pollan The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals
Superb analysis of our modern way of eating, where our food comes from, and what we should be doing about it.
Wendy Kellogg: Oliver Sacks Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain
"Starts with cases of people who experienced near-death experiences or surgery for grand mal epilepsy, and who in recovery became obsessed with music -- hearing it, enjoying it, creating it. Fascinating."
John Thomas: Stephen King Duma Key
Story set in Florida about a builder in a bad accident and a change in his mental state.
Clayton Lewis: Michael E. Porter The Competitive Advantage of Nations by Michael E. Porter
Clayton Lewis: Roy Jenkins Churchill: A Biography
Churchill is woefully under-valued in contemporary history. This book will help you evaluate him properly.
..Gary not only agreed with Clayton, but also offered the following as additional required reading...
Gary Olson: Christopher Catherwood
Churchill's Folly: How Winston Churchill Created Modern Iraq.
Gary Olson: Maurice Isserman
Fallen Giants: A History of Himalayan Mountaineering from the Age of Empire to the Age of Extremes
"A well-written book by two academics." [Go figure!!]
William James The Varieties of Religious Experience: A Study in Human Nature
Everyone has to read this at least once.
Neal Gabler Walt Disney: The Triumph of the American Imagination.
"Walt Disney was not the overnight success that you might have thought."
Rick Perlstein Nixonland: The Rise of a President and the Fracturing of America
"Starts with the 1964 election when people thought it was the end of the conservative movement, but it
was really just the start of a conservative movement that dominated for the next 30 years."
Judy Olson: David Michaelis Schulz and Peanuts: A Biography
To people of a certain age, Schulz was the Scott Adams and Gary Trudeau in one soft/fuzzy blanket. But Schulz was a complicated man.. making this a fascinating bio.
Wendy Kellogg: Greg Mortensen
Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace... One School at a Time
Great story of a mountain climber who gets into trouble and spends a month recovering in an uncharted small village on the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan. When he recovers and leaves, he vows as repayment to build schools for girls. This is the story of how he succeeded in what became his life's work. The Pakistani villagers told him "The first cup of tea, we are strangers. The second cup of tea we are friends. The third cup of tea we are family, and would do anything for each other."
Round 2: Unexpected Vacations—where have you been that was surprising or unexpected
Scott—Cuba. Turns out that US citizens CAN visit Cuba (you just can’t officially spend money there). But Scott found a 230 page PDF that describes the conditions under which Americans CAN visit. So they went.
Gina—Mongolia. 35 days of travel in the back of a Russian van, usually with half a sheep in a box below the seat. 2400 km over no roads, no bridges. Visit the Gobi desert; visiting people that you don’t normally hear about (e.g., the Tsatn, who live in the taiga).
Profound moments: listening to the local music (2-string fiddles, throat singing).
Robin—Japan. An amazing place, especially if you’re young and unaware of the local protocols (such as when the check is delivered to your table).
Bonnie—Japan. Bonnie tells her story of dragging her daughter up the slopes of Mt. Fuji, then stopping 30 minutes from the top, in the snow, with her 10-year-old asleep in her lap at a noodle shop.
David Millen—Plum Island. "We went there and reveled in the serenity..."