Books I've read

Periodically I read quite a lot of books. Other periods I don't read much at all. I maintain this list of the books I've read, mainly to keep the books in my memory, but also since I think it is a good presentation of who I am. The order of the list is approximately the reverse order in which I read the books. The end of the list is probably very scrambled, and misses several books. I guess none of my favourites are missing, though.

I include a comment to each book. This comment probably doesn't reflect the author's intention with the book, but rather my thoughts when I read it. I also give each book a rating from 0 to 3 with the following meaning:

Note that I don't rate the books according to how strongly I sympathise with ther message, but rather how much I think they are worth reading. I actually sometimes enjoy reading books that I completely disagree with, and if so I tend to give them good ratings.

Title Author Rating My comments
2010
Catch 22 Joseph Heller
Tid för två Maria Ölwe 2 A book about how to raise twins (yes, the topic is very relevant to me). Not the kind of book you read for leisure, but I guess it's a good preparation. Others have said it, and I agree: most written material about twins seem to focus on the problems instead of the good sides. But maybe being a pessimist is better; one will not be disappoined.
2009
Morden i Oxford (The Oxford Murders) Guillermo Martinez 1 Ok, but not much more.
Born Fundamentalist, Born Again Catholic David Currie 2 I borrowed this book from a catholic colleague of mine to learn more about the catholic church from an evangelical perspective. I found it very interesting, and it answered lots of the questions I had about catholicism. I think it's important to understand my fellow christians, so therefore I enjoyed reading the book. Though I now understand more, the book also confirmed that I don't agree with everything, so I'm not planning to convert to catholocism as Currie did. Maybe one reason for this is that I don't really recognize the slightly appalling evangelical movement he describes.
Big Bang Simon Singh 3 This book describes the long process that led to the Big Bang theory. Very interesting book, that gives insight both into the theory, its background, and how science often works. Singh is really a master of popular science books.
Apollo 13 Jim Lovell, Jeffrey Kluger 2 Since I'm very fascinated by space flight, I found this book interesting. It describes many details of the apollo program, which may be of interest to the general geek. Other people should probably just watch the movie, to get the essentials of the story.
The Bug Ellen Ullman 2 I have never before seen a novel that so accurately describes life in software industry. It's obvious that Ullman has worked as a programmer. This made it quite amusing to read for a programmer like myself, and I may even persuade my wife to read it. But it's not one of my absolute favourite books.
The Golden Compass Philip Pullman 3 I initially became interested in this trilogy because I ran into a filming set for The Golden Compass in Oxford. Reading more about it, I learned that this trilogy is often described as the "atheist's Narnia", which of course made me more curious. I just had to read it.
I enjoyed it a lot! Pullman is certainly an excellent writer, and the story is really exciting. And of course, my personal Oxford history adds to it as well (I used to run past the hole between Oxford and Cittàgazze when I exercised). 3 is an obvious rating for this trilogy.
I can certainly see why some Christians hate it. The books say that God is actually not the creator (He was just the first angel and took power over the rest of them), that the fall of man was really the best that could happen, that there is no heaven but only a hell (where God captures the dead for no apparent reason). And as a final insult, it turns out that God has become senile (instead his angels has since long siezed control) and his mostly accidental death is a very minor event in the story.
So what do I think? I think different world views are good for discussion. Christians should read more books like this as a way of refining their own faiths - it kind of forces you to consider what you actually believe. For some reason, I don't care much about blasphemy aspects - when one's faith is questioned, I think it's more important to hear the underlying questions or statements rather than to feel threatened. Regarding the negative depiction of people of the church I don't feel concerned - the church in the books does not seem to be the church that I know.
The Subtle Knife
The Amber Spyglass
2008
Sluta bråka med barnen: lyssna på vad de egentligen säger Michael P. Nichols 2 A book about how to talk to kids and actually listen to them while keeping an parental authority. Seems good.
The Complete Robot Isaac Asimov 1-3 Lots of short stories by Asimov. Some of them extremely good. In general very readable.
Tidernas största bedrägerier Gunnar Wall 1-2 Fascinating read about a number of famous frauds. It is amazing how gullible people are. Me included, probably.
The Language of God Francis S. Collins 3 Finally a book about science from a christian viewpoint that I really like! Collins, who led the HUGO project that mapped the human genome, is a christian, and here shares his views on christianity and biology. He describes thoroughly why evolution is the best theory from a scientific point of view, and why it does not contradict the bible. In the end, he also outlines a few current ethical problems associated with genetic sciences. Really interesting stuff!
Syskon Mia Coull 2 Describes what usually happens to families when the second child enters. Seems like a good preparation.
Våga vara förälder Alf B Svensson 2 A short book about raising children. Seems very good, but it'll take a couple of decades before I know for sure...
Elvis som hötorgskonst. (Velvet Elvis: Repainting the Christian Faith) Rob Bell 3 Another great book about the core of christianity. Has some similarities with e.g. McLaren's books, but this one focuses more on the church. Good stuff!
13 dygn i rymden efter 14 år på jorden Christer Fuglesang 2 Christer Fuglesang is Sweden's only astronaut. He spent 14 years in training for a task that he may never be given the opportunity to perform (Swedish media has often ridiculed him during the past decades). However, the story has a happy ending, and about a year ago he went with the space shuttle Discovery to the international space station, where he did three space walks. In this book, he descibes both the 13 days he spent in orbit, and the 14 preceeding years spent in training. Since I've always been fascinated by space travel, I thought the book was interesting. If I got an opportunity to go on the space shuttle (or even the Russian Soyuz) I wouldn't hesitate, but I'd never have the patience to go through the training that Fuglesang describes.
2007
A Clergyman's Daughter George Orwell 2 I hate this book. It describes a legalistic, lifeless, and apathic version of Christianity, that gives me the creeps. I actually don't know if this is how Orwell percieve Christians in general; if so, I think he is very wrong. But there are certainly Christians like this, and that is what makes the book so scary. I hate the book, but I'm glad that I read it.
JPod Douglas Coupland 2 This is the most bizarre novel I've ever read. The description I found emphasized that it is about a group of programmers, and that's why I got it (together with Microserfs, which is kind of similar but not at all that weird). The book totally lacks moral, and most of the characters are heavily into drugs and other sorts of crime. However, I still like the book, since I percieve it as ironic, rather than glorifying immoral lifestyles. The book is entertaining in all its eccentricity, and probably portrays programmers accurately in some ways (including that we are all slightly autistic). An amusing detail is the author's presence in the novel.
Microserfs Douglas Coupland 2 A book from the mid ninetees about a bunch of programmers that give up their safe and boring job at Microsoft to join a startup. A decade later, most of the book still feels accurate, while sometimes it made me a bit nostalgic. I found it entertaining, but perhaps you need to be a geek to really enjoy it.
Jack George Sayer 2 This biography about C.S.Lewis has been sitting on my shelf for a while. I finally opened it now, thinking that it would appropriate to read while living in Oxford. Lewis is certainly a great author, and therefore it is interesting to learn more about the man behind the name. Generally, I found the book interesting and well written, although I thought some passages were quite boring.
Foundation Isaac Asimov 1+ I picked up this book because it is generally considered to be one of the real classics of the SF genre. I'm sad to say that I only found the book somewhat interesting. In contrast to how I felt reading the last book, I hardly cared at all about what happened to the people in this one. Maybe it is because there are many gaps of several decades, so the reader doesn't have time to get to know the characters. Or, maybe I'm simply getting tired of SF.
Burmese Days George Orwell 3- Orwell's books keep impressing me. I don't know why I like this book so much; in some ways it even resembles soap opera. But Orwell has a very capturing way of writing, and managed to make me really care about what happens to the characters. This book is set in Burma, and deals with the relationships between English and Burmese people in an English colony. Althoug this book is certainly worth to read, it is not as good as Animal Farm or Nineteen Eighty-Four.
Animal Farm George Orwell 3 In many ways, Animal Farm is related to Orwell's later masterpiece Nineteen Eighty-Four. However, while the latter is set in a society that is already totalitarian, Animal Farm portraits the development of one. The book is in the form of a fable, where the animals of a farm revolt against their farmer, and take over the farm. While the animals' new society starts out in a democratic way, it soon develops into a corrupted military despotism. This book may actually be more important than Nineteen Eighty-Four, since it more clearly depicts the fall of a vital society (which last century saw happen several times). Given its short length, there is no excuse not to read it.
Nineteen Eighty-Four George Orwell 3 Having recently moved to England where surveillance cameras are ubiquitous, I finally read this book (I got it in a George Orwell omnibus, so more of his books will follow). You are expected to know at least some details of this book, and there is a reason for it: it's a very good book. It's not always a pleasant read (some passages are really disturbing), but very insightful. It gives a good view of living in a totalitarian society, and deals with subjects such as propaganda, manipulation, brainwashing, and rebellion. And the survellance cameras? Well, they're already everywhere here in Britain (well, luckliy not in our living rooms yet); the main difference compared to the book is what kind of crimes they are supposed to stop.
Grabben i kuvösen bredvid Jonas Helgesson 3 A book about living with cerebral palsy, written by an old acquaintance of mine. Jonas is a really fascinating person, who seems to succeed with anything he tries, despide lousy odds. Ok, maybe I assigned this book highest rating because I'm biased, but I definitely found it worth for anybody to read.
Ringworld Larry Niven 2- Sci Fi book about a group of people/aliens that are sent out to explore a ring shaped world, orbiting a distant star. Although the ring is obviously contstructed by intelligent beings, its inhabitants turn out to be very primitive. What might have happened? In general I liked the book, but some of the technologies felt a bit too implausible. I think I prefer SF stories that use ideas that feel like they could be realized within my lifetime, or at least have a plausible explanation. It somehow feels too cheap when the author just throws in teleportation, time freezing capsules, or similar things into a story, without real motivation.
The Dead of Jericho Colin Dexter 2 Having recently moved to Oxford, Inspector Morse is a new favourite of mine. The TV series is great, and I thought I'd check how the books are. Indeed, I enjoyed reading The Dead of Jericho, and will probably read some more of the Morse books. The story is interesting, and the fact that it is set close to where I live makes it even more enjoyable. Oh, and the book is better than the movie, but on the other I didn't like this episode as much as the other I've seen.
Kodboken (The Code Book) Simon Singh 2 The Code Book is an essay about cryptography through the ages, written for a very broad audience. Since I'm generally interested in computing and math, I found the book quite interesting. I never took a course on cryptography, so this book gave me some insight about how various encryption techniques work, and how they can be broken.
Jesus och jag (Jesus: Safe, Tender, Extreme) Adrian Plass 3 It is hard to pinpoint exactly what this book is about, as it ranges over very diverse topics. However, I would say that a central theme is genuine faith, untainted by traditions and stress. The book dares to ask questions that are often avoided, about e.g. evangelism, salvation, and healing. In some sense, this book conveys ideas similar to the ones in McLaren's book (see below), and I found them both inspiring. This "new kind of christianity" doesn't come with all the easy answers included, but certainly feels more honest.
2006
Kristen på nytt sätt (A New Kind of Christian) Brian D McLaren 3 This book discusses christianity in a postmodernistic setting. It claims that christians usually have a quite modernistic view of their faith, believing that theology holds all the answers. This book raises more questions than it answers. I think the most important question is: what is really the core of the christian faith, and what is just traditions that we have picked up the last few centuries (or even decades). I found the book highly interesting, and like many of the ideas in it. My only objection is against the presentation: I don't like how McLaren invents a "super human" to explain his ideas, rather than to express them from his own mouth.
2010: Andra rymdodyssén (2010: Odyssey Two) Arthur C Clarke 2- The day after I finished reading 2001, I happened to stumble upon 2010 (in the very same bookstore where I found 2001), and bought it by impulse. I didn't like 2010 as much as 2001, but it's still pretty good. There are more humans in this story, so more things happen. On the other hand, I liked how 2001 managed to convey a feeling of loneliness. One detail that bugs me is that 2010 is a continuation of the movie 2001 and not of the book. I think books should follow books. Anyway, that's a minor issue, and a few chapters into the book I accepted that the expedition was bound for Jupiter instead of Saturn. The expedition goal in this book is to make contact with the monolith that Bowman found by Saturn Jupiter in 2001, and to revive HAL and bring back Discovery.
2001: Ett rymdäventyr (2001: A Space Odyssey) Arthur C Clarke 2 Kubrick's famous movie with the same name consists of four parts: the ape part, the moon part, the spaceship part, and the incomprehensible part (not official titles). Even though I found the last part completely obscure, and the first two only vaguely interesting, I always liked the spaceship part, and maybe that's why I didn't dismiss the story after seeing the movie the first time. So, when I found the book in a used book store, I just had to buy it.
Kubrick and Clarke jointly developed the story, and therefore the movie and book follow each other relatively closely (although some details differ). Having reseen the movie after reading the book, I can see that the movie quite faithfully shows most of the events in the book (even the hotel room and the baby in the end), although it gives no clue about what they mean, or even how the spaceship part relates to the earlier parts. So if you're also puzzled by the movie, then I'd recommend reading this book. If you just want a good book, then it is still quite interesting - provided that you like stories with much astronomy and little social interaction.
Utflykt från tyst planet (Out of the Silent Planet) C.S. Lewis 2-3 Having read a few other books by Lewis, I've wanted to read his science fiction trilogy for a while. These books were as good as I hoped. The stories of all books are interesting, and are relevant for ethical and religious discussion. As SF, these books are quite original; they were written before the space program, and are thereby not influenced by the engineering solutions used today. Back then, half of the moon's surface was really a mystery.
The first book (Out of the Silent Planet) deals with human nature, the second book (Perelandra) with the creation, and the last book (That Hideous Strength) with the battle between good and evil in the end of times.
The last book is my favourite among the three. Being set on earth, it is not a typical SF book. Most of the characters in the book work at different universities, and I think that Lewis (who was a professor himself) manages to capture university life very well (luckily, I haven't seen much of NICE here at Chalmers).
Perelandra (Perelandra)
Vredens tid (That Hideous Strength)
Koka makaroner Johan Nilsson 2 A short book about fatherhood. Or, rather, about the author's experiences as a father. Pretty emotional, and not much practical advice, but I guess it serves as some kind of preparation.
Uppdrag: pappa Hannes Dükler (ed.) 1 Another book about fatherhood. This one consisting of a number of short pieces written by various journalists who are fathers themselves. Pretty interesting, although most of them basically just say that fatherhood is a tough job, but it's certainly worth it. True.
2005
Du ska bli pappa Dick Sundevall 2 Yes, I'm about to become a father. This is a book about what that means. It is always good to read different views from people who have been there before. This book contains quite a lot of practical information, that can be useful. I've seen opinions about this book in other books, which seems to suggest that this is the most well known book about the subject. I'd recommend it to any father-to-be. You don't have to like Sundevall's macho style (which seem to be other sources' number one complaint about the book) to find useful advice in the book.
The War of the Worlds H.G. Wells 1 Having seen the recent movie based on this book, I finally decided to read it. It is really a classic science fiction book, and even one of the first books in this genre. Therefore, it's interesting for anybody interested in sci fi to read this book, but it also means that it is old fashioned. I found the story quite uninteresting, but a bit more interesting when viewed as a historical document.
Shadow of the Hegemon Orson Scott Card 1 Ok, Ender's Game and Ender's Shadow were brilliant, and Speaker for the Dead was good, but this book didn't impress me. No matter what the kids of battle school accomplished in earlier books, the story of Achilles controlling several of the largest countries of the world is just too unbelievable for me.
Speaker for the Dead Orson Scott Card 2 Card continues to write capturing stories, that empasize social and ethical issues in a science fiction setting.
Things a Computer Scientist Rarely Talks About Donald Knuth 2 Donald Knuth is one of the world's most famous computer scientists. I've come across his work several times during my years at Chalmers. A while ago I found Knuth's homepage, and found out that he is a Christian, and has even written this book, where he discusses the relationship between computer science and christianity. I just had to order the book and read it. It's really an interesting testimony to read, although I think Knuth focuses too much on how he wrote his previous christian book, 3:16 Bible Texts Illuminated, and too little of what his faith really means to him. Anybody who recognize the name Knuth, and wants to know more about the man behind the name will probably enjoy this book.
Diaspora Greg Egan 1 This is indeed science fiction. If you like multidimensional geometry, quantum mechanics, the theory of relativity, and computer programming, then you might like this book. If you don't like (or know about) these things, don't even consider reading Disapora. I don't think the story in itself is particularly interesting, but these technical issues were a bit amusing to read about, although they also made the book quite hard to follow.
Fahrenheit 451 Ray Bradbury 2 A classical science fiction story, written more than fifty years ago but still relevant. Bradbury describes a future where a revolution has led to the banning of books. The main character in the story is a fireman, i.e. somebody who burns down houses where books have been found. Certain events in his life makes him reconsider his viewpoints.
Stories of Your Life and others Ted Chiang 3 This is a book containing several shorter science fiction stories. In general they are well written, and offer interesting viewpoints. Chiang has a degree in computing science, and that's apparent in some of the stories. I really enjoyed finding references to Gödel, Gentzen, Russell, and a few others, in a good fictious story! If I have to pick one favourite of the short stories in this book, it would have to be Division by Zero, which is about a mathematician who happens find a contradiction in standard mathematics, and starts to doubt most of the things she believes in.
Ender's Shadow Orson Scott Card 2 This book is not a successor to Ender's Game, but rather a parallel book. The main character of Ender's Shadow is Bean, who serves under Ender for some time in Battle School. Ender and Bean meet a few times, and these meetings are described in both books, but viewed from different perspectives. Still, Ender's Shadow is a story on its own, which begins in the streets of Rotterdam, where Bean grows up. Being an orphan, he has to struggle to survive each day. At low age he manages to show some extraordinary talents, and because of that he is noticed and put in Battle School. But his great intelligence also makes some people suspicious about him. The style of Ender's Shadow is obviously similar to that of Ender's Game, and similar topics are covered (and enhanced). Although there is no particular order between Ender's Game and Ender's Shadow, I would recommend reading Ender's Game first.
Ender's Game Orson Scott Card 3 Science fiction doesn't get any better than this (please tell me if you know of a counter example)! Ender's Game is set in a future where mankind is at war with (and severely outnumbered by) an alien species known as buggers. The only hope is to identify children who are suited to go through military training at early age, transforming them into efficient leaders. Ender Wiggins turns out to have extraordinary talents, and is put through special training to finally be able to lead the entire human army in the inevitable final battle. Apart from this story, Ender's Game covers many aspects of leadership (good as well as bad), responsibility, manipulation, and friendship. It is interesting to see how Ender grows into his task as commander, and to read about his feelings of loneliness and how responsibilities are weighing him down.
Permutation City Greg Egan 2 Science fiction. Raises questions about mind altering technology, and the relationship between mankind and God. It's apparent that Egan knows a lot about programming, which makes the book better in the eyes of programmers like myself. I especially like the end, where (select hidden text below to read spoiler)
Kärlekens fem språk (The Five Love Languages) Gary Chapman 2 About the most common ways that couples communicate love. Might help you to communicate your love better to your spouse, and to understand your spouse better. Interesting to read together and discuss.
Strömmar av levande vatten (Streams of Living Water) Richard Foster 2 Investigates the main traditions in which christians express their faith. Shows how each of them are according to God's will. Interesting.
2004
Vem är Björn och vem är Benny? Fredrik Lindström, Hasse Pihl 0 I expected this book to be similar to Lindström's earlier books about language, where he investigates common phenomena in an insightful and entertaining way. However, it turns out that this book is only an attempt to be funny (which fails IMHO). There may be a few interesting facts in it, but they are impossible to distinguish from the jokes.
På västfronten intet nytt (All Quiet on the Western Front / Im Westen nichts Neues) E.M. Remarque 3 Brilliant and disgusting about the horrors of war. Set in Germany during WWI.
Jesus on Leadership C. Gene Wilkes 2 Leadership through servantship. To be a successful leader, you must focus less on your own needs, and more on the needs of the people you're leading. Washing people's feet is not the same thing as kissing their asses (Wilkes would never put it so bluntly).
Idioten (The Idiot / Idiot) Fjodor Dostojevskij 1 A real classic. "The idiot", who has spent most of his time together with children (and therefore acts like one) gets involved with a number of upper class people, that are into lots of lies and plots. His way of naively telling the truth, and his inability to keep any secrets stirs up the society. Very interesting setting, but I thought it felt too much like soap opera after a while. Takes some effort to read, due to the numerous russian names.
Tio tankar om tid Bodil Jönsson 1 Some thoughs about how to avoid a stressful lifestyle. For example, Jönsson claims that things that are supposed to make us more efficient (such as cell phones) actually makes us more stressed.
Bilbo (The Hobbit) J.R.R. Tolkien 2 Prequel to the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Not as strong message as the trilogy (indeed, this book is intended for children), but an exciting story about heroes, dragons, and wizards.
Fem filosofiska frågor Folke Tersman 3 Tersman (who is a professor of practical philosophy) describes five controversial issues in modern philosophy, in an accessible way. Very interesting stuff, which shows how complicated fairly trivial things can become when you start to think hard about them. Perhaps logical reasoning doesn't give the answer to everything?
Jag kommer för att tillbe (Passion for Your Name) Tim Hughes 2 Practical stuff about worship, written by one of the more well known writers of contemporary christian worship songs.
Alkemisten (The Alchemist / O Alquimista) Paulo Coelho 0 New age crap. I thought that the pseudo-science of alchemy was abandoned hundreds of years ago. Turns out that there still are people who believe in it, and Coelho is one of them. The leading character's positive spirit and refusal to give in to setbacks is inspiring, though.
Den himmelske mannen (The Heavenly Man) Brother Yun, Paul Hattaway 2 About the prosecution of christians in modern China.
Tillbedjaren som vägrar ge upp (The Unquenchable Worshipper) Matt Redman 2 Some important thoughts for worship leaders.
Stora drakfloden Ruth Asp-Odlander 2 Ruth was the child of Swedish missionaries in China, and was also raised there. When she was young, her father was executed, and the remaining family became refugees, struggling to get back to Sweden. Good description of a civilian's life in the middle of war, and the long way back to an ordinary life afterwards.
The Salmon of Doubt Douglas Adams 3 Miscellaneous texts by Douglas Adams (author of The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy), published after his unexpected death. Ranges over very different topics, such as technology, diving, religion, evolution, and music. I agree with some of the stuff as strongly as I disagree with other things (most noticeable religion, which is not surprising, given that I'm a die hard christian, while Adams was a die hard atheist). However, Adam's thougts are very interesting and insightful. Besides, he was a brilliant writer, which makes reading this book a pleasure. Rest in peace, Douglas Adams!
Just for Fun Linus Torvalds 1 Torvalds (the guy behind Linux) describes how Linux was developed, and how he views life and technology (with an emphasis on open source software). Interesting reading for a computer nerd like myself, but nothing extraordinary. Torvalds thoughts about the meaning of life (Survive, be social, and have fun) don't give any deep insights.
Äktenskapsboken (Marriage Book) Nicky & Sila Lee 2 About being (and staying) married. Written by a married couple, who do marriage counseling. Interesting for anybody who's married, or is about to be.
Bodily Healing and the Atonement T.J. McCrossan 1 What does the bible say about healing? Quite theoretical, but concerns issues relevant to any christian.
Gränslös lovsång (Extravagant Worship) Darlene Zschech 1 Darlene Zschech is a big name in contemporary christian worship songs, and has lots of experience in this area. The book covers some topics that are important for any worship leader to think about. I give this book a low rating, since it is quite unstructured, and a bit hard to follow. Zschech definitely writes songs better than books.
Världens dåligaste språk och Jordens smartaste ord Fredrik Lindström 2 Two entertaining books about language (and Swedish in particular), written by Sweden's only combined linguist and entertainer. Very interesting if you think language is fun. This is actually two books, but I got an edition containing both of them.
Den stora skilsmässan (The Great Divorce) C.S. Lewis 2 Lewis' thoughts on heaven and hell - probably more applicable to this life than to the next. By Lewis own words: There are only two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, "Thy will be done"; and those to whom God says, in the end, "Thy will be done".
Från helvetets brevskola (The Screwtape Letters) C.S. Lewis 3 Written as a series of letters, that a demon sends to his nephew to guide him in the process of leading a person away from everything that is good. Entertaining as well as thought provoking. Lewis is brilliant, as usual.
2003 (and earlier in some cases)
Kristen på goda grunder Stefan Gustavsson 2 Before reading this book I was critical against it, due to its title (approx: Christian on a Firm Foundation). It deals with logical issues in relation to christianity, and I thought the title suggested that logical reasoning and scientific findings constitute a good foundation for christian faith (which I disagree with - your faith should be based on your relationship with God, since He's choosen to give us the opportunity to meet Him in person). However, I changed my mind about the book after reading it. Essentially, the book opposes the idea that christianity defies common sense, historical findings, etc. Lots of good stuff, with references to back it up, but also some stuff with which I don't agree completely.
Framgångsrikt Ledarskap (genom 12-grupper) (Successful Leadership through the Government of 12) Cesar Castellanos 1 The so called G12 model is a trend in modern christianity, dealing with growth of churches and individual christians. Castellanos is the leading figure behind the model. Some of his thoughts are very interesting and well worth considering. However, I think he takes it too far (for instance he argues that it has to be groups of exactly 12; groups of 11 or 13 will certainly fail), and some of it probably works better in South America than in Sweden. Additionally, the Swedish translation is horrible: awkward language and obvious misses, such as the word duplication being translated with four different Swedish words on the same page (duplicering, duplisering, duplication, and duplikation, where actually only the first is correct).
Ett utsökt universum (The Elegant Universe: Superstrings, Hidden Dimensions and the Quest for the Ultimate Theory) Brian Greene 2 The English title says it all. Interesting popular scientific stuff, and most importantly the theory of super strings. Also contains short introductions to relativity (the most accessible introduction to general relativity I've seen so far) and quantum mechanics.
Paradoxen som försvann (Where Does the Weirdness Go?) David Lindley 2 A popular scientific book about quantum mechanics, which is actually a lot more fun than it sounds. Since I hadn't studied quantum mechanics before, I was in for a few surprises. Very accessible, in spite of its complicated subject.
Glädjen att veta hur det faktiskt hänger ihop Jorge de Sousa Pires 1 Sousa Pires writes about everything he has ever been vaugely interested in. Fun to read, and lot's of interesting technical stuff, but I get the impression that he doesn't really know many of the things he writes about. Lots of personal opinions (which are often thought provoking). His contribution in the Apple vs. PC debate reminds me of the naive arguments I used to have with my friends when I was a teenager. A perfect book to store at the toilet, so people can browse it for a few minutes at a time.
Neuromancer William Gibson 0 I actually didn't finish this book. I enjoy reading science fiction that raises interesting questions related to the ordinary world, but I can't find that in Neuromancer. I thought the story itself was quite boring, so not even the fact that this is the book where the word cyberspace was invented could make me finish it.
Var det bra så? Lena Andersson 2 A book about social problems in the suburbs. Definitely not a typical book for me. If I recall correctly, Elin (my wife) literally threw it at me when I complained about being bored one afternoon. It turned out that I actually liked it.
E=mc2 David Bodanis 2 An entire book about the most famous equation in the world. Bodanis thoroughly explains what each letter in the equation means, and describes the life and findings of many of the scientists who contributed to the research leading up to the equation. He also shows the implications of the equation (most noticeable nuclear bombs), and tells some exciting stories (e.g. how close the nazis were to constructing a nuclear bomb during WWII).
The Lord of the Rings trilogy J.R.R. Tolkien 3 A real masterpiece. Exciting story with lots of struggle between good and evil, where it's not always clear which is which. Lots of references to christian every day life.
Sofies Värld (Sofies Verden) Jostein Gaarder 2 An entertaining and very accessible introduction to western philosophy, all the way back to ancient Greece.
The Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy Douglas Adams ? I read this five part trilogy many years ago and instantly fell in love with it. Back then I would definitely have given it a 3 rating (or even more). However, I recently saw the movie (which is mostly harmless, at best) which made me reconsider - I usually don't judge books by their movies, but upon seeing the movie I realized that it was boring, that it reminded me a lot about the book, and thus the book should be as boring. But maybe Adams' first-rate writing makes the book good, even though an interesting story is painfully lacking. It was too long since I read it to decide, and I don't feel like reading it a third time, just to find out if I still like it. Therefore, I cowardly rate it as ?.
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