davidgagne.net

I took a detour on the way home from the office tonight and hit the Westwood Borders book store. My half-step-sister-in-law gave me a gift card for Christmas that’s been burning a hole in my wallet, and I’ve got a long weekend of reading ahead of me. Here’s what I grabbed:

• The Drunkard’s Walk: How Randomness Rules Our Lives – Leonard Mlodinow
  I’ve seen this on the shelf in every airport bookstore for a few months and it looks like it might be interesting.
• bonk: the curious coupling of science and sex – Mary Roach
  I liked (but didn’t love) her previous book, Stiff. This topic looks more interesting than cadavers and morgues.
• Why Do Men Have Nipples? Hundreds of Questions You’d Only Ask a Doctor After Your Third Martini – Mark Leyner and Billy Goldberg
  This is another one I keep seeing while standing in line waiting for coffee in the airport …
• The Last Fish Tale – Mark Kurlansky
  Kurlansky is — along with Simon Winchester — just about my favorite author right now. I absolutely loved his books Cod, The Big Oyster, and Salt, so this one was a no-brainer.
• Ender’s Game – Orson Scott Card
  People have been telling me I should read this for years …
• Back Story – Robert B. Parker
  I love Spenser and have been a huge fan since my first year of college. (One of my favorite Spenser quotes is, “Sometimes I get distracted by food; but mostly all I think about is women and baseball.”)
• the latest copy of Wired magazine
• The Elements of Style – Strunk and White
  I bought this because I was looking for it a few nights ago and couldn’t find it anywhere. I must have owned a dozen copies of this book over the years; I seem to loan it to everyone I know that’s in the middle of writing a dissertation …

I’m going to have to start doing some serious writing soon. It seems like lately I’ve just been posting list after list!