Persepolis

* Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi. Among lot of books i've read this was the one that pushed me towards questioning my beliefs. Although i can't say this book made me irreligious it certainly was a gateway to a whole new world. * Calvin and Hobbes. this is one of those things that completely changed my perspective on creativity, oh and not to mention all the things about life and philosophy in there, its in good spirit. * Animal Farm This is arguably the best piece of satire I've read that is also fun and easy on the brain. It flows like water. * The Little Schemer. I hold this book dear. I've tried reading SICP twice and given up. And thought LISP was not for me. The environment was horrible, all those parens it was just confusing. This book changed that, what it encouraged me to do is grab a pen and paper and try to work everything out myself[1]. It was such a fun read and i owe most of my understanding of functional programming to this book. Few days after finishing this book, i introduced this book to my friend and we spent all our days discussing life listening to sufjan stevens and working through this book, it was a sweet time. ====…

This Saturday as a birthday present for a 14 year old friend of mine, who haven't been reading so much lately: * Persepolis, first version * Dark Angel, by David Klass I've just started reading "Flowers for Algernon", I guess this can also be a good birthday present. I think gifting books is something very difficult, in my experience I never wanted to get books for present.

"The Magicians", "The Magician King", "The Magician's Land" - Lev Grossman. 4/5 "Inside Job" - Connie Willis. 4/5 "Norwegian Wood (Tokio Blues)" - Haruki Murakami. 4/5 "Old Man's War" - John Scalzi. 5/5 "Persepolis" - Marjane Satrapi. 5/5 Non fiction: "The 10,000 year explosion" about recent evolution. 3/5 ton of evidence for their thesis, but lacks predictions. "What if" well known by HN. 5/5 "The nurture assumption" about education, 2/5. Maybe a 4/5 when it was published, but now their ideas are in the water supply. "The man who mistook his wife for a hat", by Oliver Sacks 4/5. Several stories about neurological deficits.

Palace Walk, by Naguib Mahfouz A family drama set in Cairo during and after World War I. It's a long book, but the going is easy. The variety of characters of different ages and temperaments, each with their own preoccupations in a turbulent time, provide a fascinating glimpse of what to me was an entirely unknown society and culture. It's the first book in a trilogy, so if you like it, there are more books waiting. Never Let Me Go, by Kazuo Ishiguro Very sad. It ripped me up the first time I read it. Anybody who grew up feeling different and somehow deficient should read it. Talking to Strange Men, by Ruth Rendell An easy and fast-paced kind-of-mystery by a well-known mystery writer. There are two stories related in a crucial but indirect way. Each story has mysteries and twists that could stand on their own for suspense, but they play second fiddle to the development of several interesting characters. Persepolis and Persepolis 2, by Marjane Satrapi Graphic memoirs about growing up in Iran and Europe.