Dan Stutzbach’s blog

My favorite books include:

• How to Read a Book by Charles Van Doren and Mortimer J. Adler
• The Tao of Pooh by Benjamin Hoff
• A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle
• Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
• The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas
• The Dreaming Jewels by Theodore Sturgeon (also published as The Synthetic Man)
• More Than Human by Theodore Sturgeon
• To Marry Medusa by Theodore Sturgeon (also published as The Cosmic Rape)
• The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran. Available online

My To-Read List, in no particular order:

• The Adventures of Pinocchio
• Buckets of Money by Ray Lucia
• The Intelligent Investor by Benjamin Graham
• All Things are Light by Robert Shea
• Freakonomics by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner
• A Small Rain by Madeleine L’Engle
• Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
• His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman
• Towing Jehovah by James Morrow
• Godbody by Theodore Sturgeon
• Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
• The Humane Interface by Jef Raskin
• The Visual Display of Quantitative Information by Edward Tufte
• The Autobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr.
• Gandhi, An Autobiography: The Story of My Experiments With Truth
• Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse
• Winning the Insurance Game: The Complete Consumer’s Guide to Saving Money by Ralph Nader
• Good Words: A Guide to Careers in Social Change by Donna Colvin
• The Good Fight: Declare Your Independence and Close The Democracy Gap by Ralph Nader
• Zen in the Art of Writing: Essays on Creativity: Expanded by Ray Bradbury
• Zen in the Art of Archery by Eugen Herrigel
• The Inner Game of Tennis by W. Timothy Gallwey
• Free as in Freedom: Richard Stallman’s Crusade for Free Software by Sam Williams
• Unlocking the Clubhouse: Women in Computing by Jane Margolis
• Argyll by Theodore Sturgeon
• Thunder and Roses: Volume 4 of the collected short stories of Theodore Sturgeon
• The Perfect Host: Volume 5 of the collected short stories of Theodore Sturgeon
• Baby Is Three: Volume 6 of the collected short stories of Theodore Sturgeon
• The Saucer of Loneliness: Volume 7 of the collected short stories of Theodore Sturgeon
• Bright Segment: Volume 8 of the collected short stories of Theodore Sturgeon
• The Art of War by Sun Tzu, translated by Lionel Giles
• Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O’Dell
• The Clan of the Cave Bear by Jean M. Auel
• Shade’s Children by Garth Nix
• The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey

This book should really be called “How to be Outgoing and Why You should like meeting New People”. All that stuff about winning friends and influencing people are just side effects that the author is using to convince people that being outgoing and friendly is a good idea. The title makes the book sound Machiavellian, but that’s just not the case. I wish I had read this in high school.

A quote from the book:

“Every human being, of whatever origin, of whatever station, deserves respect. We must each respect others even as we respect ourselves.”

Books I’ve finished reading in 2005 (goal: 50, read: 16):

• 11/29: Hold ‘Em Poker by David Sklansky
• 10/19: Knife of Dreams by Robert Jordan
• 8/2: The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
• 7/27: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J. K. Rowling
• 6/25: A Severed Wasp by Madeleine L’Engle
• 4/27: The Theory of Poker by David Sklansky
• 4/18: The Morning Star: In Which the Extraordinary Correspondence of Griffin & Sabine Is Illuminated by Nick Bantock
• 4/14: Digital Fortress by Dan Brown
• 4/11: The Museum at Purgatory by Nick Bantock
• 3/8: American Gods by Neil Gaiman
• 2/11: Alexandria: In Which the Extraordinary Correspondence of Griffin & Sabine Unfolds by Nick Bantock
• 2/11: The Gryphon: In Which the Extraordinary Correspondence of Griffin & Sabine Is Rediscovered by Nick Bantock
• 1/16: The Golden Mean:In Which the Extraordinary Correspondence of Griffin & Sabine Concludes by Nick Bantock
• 1/16: Sabine’s Notebook: In Which the Extraordinary Correspondence of Griffin & Sabine Continues by Nick Bantock
• 1/16: Griffin & Sabine: An Extraordinary Correspondence by Nick Bantock
• 1/15: Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman

Books I’ve finished reading in 2006 (goal: 25, read: 6):

• Eldest by Christopher Paolini
• Spin by Robert Charles Wilson
• Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden
• Eragon by Christopher Paolini
• How I Fell in Love with a Librarian and Lived to Tell About It by Rhett Ellis
• Small Stakes Hold’em: Winning Big with Expert Play by Ed Miller, David Sklansky, and Mason Malmuth
• The Odyssey by Homer, translated by Robert Fitzgerald

I like to read.

• Books I’m currently reading
• Books I’m planning to read
• My list of favorite books
• Books I finished in 2006
• Books I finished in 2005
• Books I finished in 2004

Having time to read is one of the many benefits of commuting via public transportation. I recently finished reading The Da Vinci Code. Many months ago, my mother told me that as she read the book, she almost felt like I was talking to her. I had assumed the book would be heavy on cryptography with many technical explanations, but instead the book was heavy on the history of religions and symbols. While set in the present, the book is essentially historical fiction, tying together facts, legends, and original fiction in fast-paced thriller. Overall, I enjoyed the book and can definitely see why it has been a best seller.

The book explores a history in which the Catholic Church seizes power, stamping out matriarchal religions in the process. While there is some truth in this, the history in The Da Vinci Code is largely fictitious, and in some places the “expert” characters treat oddball conspiracy-theories as if they were proven fact. I found this a little disappointing. The other problem I had with the book was the ending, which I felt was anti-climatic.

Books I’m currently reading:

• Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, translated by John Rutherford
• Classical Rhetoric for the Modern Student. This book I’m slowly, on-again off-again, reading. It’s dense, but it systematically outlines the different techniques that people use to win others to their point of view. I wish this was a standard high school text.
• Grimms’ Tales For Young and Old by the Brothers Grimm, translated by Ralph Manheim
• The Art of the Cocktail Party by Leslie Brenner
• Windows of the World Complete Wine Course: 2005 Edition by Kevin Zraly
• The Well-Educated Mind: A Guide to the Education You Never Had by S. Wise Bauer

Books I’ve finished reading in 2004 (partial list):

• 12/18: A Game of You (Sandman, Book 5) by Neil Gaiman
• 12/17: The Lathe of Heaven by Ursula K. LeGuin
• 12/13: The Word for World is Forest by Ursula K. LeGuin
• 12/12: Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
• 12/07: Season of Mists (Sandman, Book 4) by Neil Gaiman
• 12/04: The Watchmen by Alan Moore
• 12/03: Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World by Haruki Murakami
• 11/10: The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin. Available online,
• Hold’em Poker: For Advanced Players by David Sklanksy and Mason Malmuth
• Killdozer!, Volume 3 of the collected short stories of Theodore Sturgeon
• Planet of the Apes by Pierre Boulle
• The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan (second reading)
• Microcosmic God: Volume 2 of the collected short stories of Theodore Sturgeon
• The Ultimate Egoist, Volume 1 of the collected short stories of Theodore Sturgeon
• Preludes and Nocturnes (Sandman, Book 1) by Neil Gaiman
• The Doll’s House (Sandman, Book 2) by Neil Gaiman
• Dream Country (Sandman, Book 3) by Neil Gaiman
• Death: The High Cost of Living by Neil Gaiman
• The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown, my thoughts
• How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie, my thoughts