{"id":257,"date":"2006-02-07T17:29:38","date_gmt":"2006-02-07T17:29:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/plan.thewoottons.com\/?p=257"},"modified":"2006-02-07T17:29:38","modified_gmt":"2006-02-07T17:29:38","slug":"book-list","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/plan.thewoottons.com\/?p=257","title":{"rendered":"Book List"},"content":{"rendered":"

My birthday is coming up, eventually<\/a>, and I thought I’d get a jump on my wants and needs (ok, my wants). Besides, I love lists. Just love them. Here are some of the books I’d like to read sometime after<\/em> my birthday, ahem, assuming I ever finish this one<\/a>. Thank God the others won’t require a quiz afterwards.<\/p>\n

The Progress Paradox<\/a> by Gregg Esterbrook<\/div>\n

I’ve been a reader of Gregg Easterbrook’s Tuesday Morning Quarterback<\/a> column for a few seasons. I like his writing enough that I’ve followed that particular column from ESPN to its current resting spot, NFL.com<\/a>. It’s good, exhaustive, quirky stuff and it sets him up well for writing about subjects like is life getting any better. Doesn’t it?<\/p>\n

Beside Still Waters: Searching for Meaning in an Age of Doubt<\/a> by Gregg Easterbrook<\/div>\n

Since the life questions are apparently easy, I’m glad this book gave Mr. Easterbrook a chance to tackle some tough subjects, like religion. You’d think that I’d be wary to read a book about religion from a football columnist. You’d be wrong. After all, what football columnist berates supporters of intelligent design while leaving the concept open, all in an article about the Super Bowl<\/a>? Well, I know one that does.<\/p>\n

(Search for “No Higher Power” for the whole snippet. Here’s a taste: “But please, science illiterates, stop attempting to enact rules about intelligent design; you are ruining the idea.”)<\/p>\n

Old Man’s War<\/a> by John Scalzi<\/div>\n

I’ve already read this one, which probably makes it my most interesting choice. Of course, when I did so, it was in electronic form<\/a>. It’d be nice to get the paper equivalent and it’d be nice to freshen my memory for it’s sequel.<\/p>\n

The Ghost Brigades<\/a> by John Scalzi<\/div>\n

Hey, the sequel. Imagine that. In addition to being a sequel to a book that I really enjoyed, I think this choice makes a pattern apparent. Maybe I’ll talk about that pattern at the bottom. Hint, all the links to Amazon are not involved.<\/p>\n

Attack of the Bacon Robots (Penny Arcade, Vol. 1)<\/a> by Jerry Holkins, Mike Krahulik<\/div>\n

I’ve been following the Penny Arcade<\/a> strip for years, long enough that I’m sure I’ve seen a lot of work found between the covers of this book. That doesn’t mean I don’t need something for my (theoretical) coffee table and that doesn’t mean I won’t enjoy reading all the additional commentary.<\/p>\n

So what do all these choices have in common? They all came from writers that I discovered and followed on the web. In the case of Mr. Easterbrook, I’ve been following his articles in official channels for a couple of years. In the case of Mr. Scalzi, I’ve been following his blog for longer than I’ve been writing my own. Penny Arcade is actually kind of a mix of the two, a site that generates money directly but provides blog-like content in the form of long form text that accompanies each comic.<\/p>\n

10 years ago, I would have been surprised at the source of my interests. As recently as 7 years ago, I might have been little uneasy justifying actual purchases based on such unscrupulous places as the internet. Today, I don’t bat an eye. The authors above are writers that I actively follow. I can’t think of a better way to spend my entertainment dollars (or someone else’s if my birthday just so happens to pass). I can think of a better question, though.<\/p>\n

How did I find something good to read before the internet?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My birthday is coming up, eventually, and I thought I’d get a jump on my wants and needs (ok, my wants). Besides, I love lists. Just love them. Here are some of the books I’d like to read sometime after my birthday, ahem, assuming I ever finish this one. Thank God the others won’t require […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[10],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/plan.thewoottons.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/257"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/plan.thewoottons.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/plan.thewoottons.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/plan.thewoottons.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/plan.thewoottons.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=257"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/plan.thewoottons.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/257\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/plan.thewoottons.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=257"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/plan.thewoottons.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=257"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/plan.thewoottons.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=257"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}