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2000 Reading List
Books I have read this year
Michael Dean
Weaving the Web by Tim Berners-Lee.
Inventor of the World Wide Web humbly shares his vision and views on this strange new world that spun out of a simple solution he synthesized to link up different scientists at his research facility.
Crossing the Chasm by Geoffery A. Moore.
Learn what mistakes not to make in your Internet start-up venture.
When Things Start to Think by Neil Gershenfeld
M.I.T visionary tells us why it is time to move beyond the infantile "pointing at windows and mice" metaphor and truly interact intuitively with our machines.
ENIAC by Scott McCartney
True props are given to the folks who actually invented the first digital computer over 50 years ago. By the way, the first transistor was made from a paper clip.
(also, the last two books and the Tim-Berners Lee book were read sitting in Borders without reading the book. This is partly out of poverty and partially because Borders is my library and only two blocks away.)
Startup by Jerry Kaplin
How a smart guy with nothing more than a smart idea (pen-based computing) got 10 million in funding, expanded it into a 75 million dollar empire, and was subsequently driven into the ground by fate (and Bill Gates.)
In The Beginning Was The Command Line by Neal Stephenson
Cheeky and spiritual hacker gives history, anecdote and hope for the universality of computing, and a bid for open source permeation. Sample of his dart-shape humor: comparing Microsoft's inelegance yet ubiquitousness to the Beverly Hillbillies (Microsoft) and their banker, Mister Dryesdale (Silicon Valley). ..."Mr. Dryesdale knows that when Jethro is 70, he will still be talking like a hillbilly, and still way richer than the banker."
The Screenwriter Within : How to Turn the Movie in Your Head into a Salable Screenplay By D. B. Gilles
Introductory text for normal people thinking, "That might be sorta nifty to write a screenplay."
Screenwriting for Film and Television By William Miller
Serious nuts-and-bolts guide to writing movies. Much more usable than the above book. Describes and discusses all the attributes and ingredients in classic storytelling form. This book and a pen (and imagination, drive and intelligence) are all you need.