Books I read in 2007¶

I saw Ricky Spears' list of books he read in 2007 and thought "such a list is a great idea. So I delved into my memory and came up with a reasonably complete list of books I read in 2007. I didn't include the ones I re-read in 2007 :-)

L.E. Modesitt is easily my favorite author. So I read a couple of new paperbacks that came out this year and bought a few of his older works that I had not read yet. He writes both SF and fantasy, both with a good eye for human nature, practicality and, within bounds of course, realism.

• alector's choice, part 4 of a series. Insight in a culture that was only hinted at in 1-3.
• cadmian's choice, part5. Some heavy action. Who says all-powerful beings cannot be defeated?
• soarer's choice, part 6. The culture sizzles out misserably and disappears off the face of the earth. Modesitt outdid himself by making the end so miserable and seemingly pointless. Appropriate.
• Eternity artifact. Stand-alone book. A nice read, nothing spectacular. Attractive through the multiple (6 or so) main personae.
• Archform: beauty. Politics, media, art. Nice. Get into the atmosphere of the current US presidential race.
• flash. Builds on archform: beauty. More action. Very well thought out: recommended! And in-between attacks on him and by him, the main persona needs to feed kids and get them to school.
• Hammer of darkness. This is a weird one. Weird. I read it in two days, but it was quite some work to get through. Weird. At the end it is all wrapped up amazingly well.

I like history. Apart from the first book, none of them are recent, either.

• Norman Davies' Europe at war (I read it in Dutch: oorlog in Europa). World war two history that's much more centered on the eastern front. I'd consider it recommended reading when you want to get a better feel for the second world war. A good number of data, too, to put common misperceptions into perspective (in man-months, the western front from D-Day to the end in 1945 doesn't compare to several of the offensives in the east at all, for instance).
• It never shows in September. Surprising account from the German side of things about the Market Garden airborn assault in 1944. Highly recommended!
• I was a stranger by British airborn general Hackett. Severely wounded at Arnhem, he was hidden away at the house of three dear older ladies. He recounts his stay there and, at the end, his escape to freedom.
• Kenneth Macksey: invasion. About a fictional early (and thus succesful) invasion of England by the Germans in July 1940. Well worked out.
• Alfred Duggan: count Bohemond. Well-readable book about one of the crusaders in the first crusade. Well-described battle scenes. A good insight into the mood and the morals of those days.

Assorted fiction.

• Harry potter and the deathly hallows. A fitting closure.
• Tom Holt, faust among equals. Hard to get started, but was reasonably funny after the first hurdles.

Technology and personal development

• Kuestenmacher/Seiwert: simplify your life. I read the book in the original German language. Great, practical book for improving yourself and get yourself more on track.
• Von Weitershausen: web component development with Zope 3

Web Component Development with Zope 3

• Brooks: The mythical man-month. A classic!
• Strengthsfinder 2.0. See a separate blog post with my results .
• Niven: The 100 simple secrets of successful people. Not that good.
• Seth Godin: the dip. Finished it off in about 35 minutes. A good one.
• Levine: cut to the chase. Good tips.
• Jim Loehr, Tony Schwartz: the power of full engagement. I've really got to put this into a separate blog post. Valuable insights!

That's it for 2007 :-)