Filmmaker and Siggraph/SigKids organizer Coco Conn claims she's most interested in "ideas we can't see on paper." Nevertheless, she is also a voracious reader. (See "Coco's Channel," Wired 2.04, page 58.)
A Pattern Language: Towns, Buildings, Construction, by Christopher Alexander et alia. "This book is about building and architecture, but it's also very much about who we are and how we live with each other. Historically and across cultures, almost all communities have included public places where people can relax, places of holy ground, places where people congregate - like a town square. But our society mainly builds shopping malls, which shelter us from our community's problems like homelessness and pollution. And now we're rushing off to build cyberspace when so few people recognize the problems of our real spaces."
A fellow at Interval Research, Brenda Laurel has been at the forefront of the virtual reality field since the early '80s.
The Silence Now, by May Sarton. "I've been a die-hard fan of May Sarton since a lover introduced me to her novel Mrs. Stevens Hears the Mermaids Singing in the late '70s. I'm impressed by her personal courage, her embrace of solitude, and her ability to be both vigorously present in a moment and to simultaneously engage in contemplation of it. Reading her poetry is an excellent form of meditation."
Into the Nebula, by Gene de Weese. "This was not one of the best, with a very predictable plot and not much character development. I have read every Star Trek novel and have a complete collection of first editions."
New Yorker staff writer John Seabrook writes about technology, from bioengineered tomatoes to his e-mail correspondence with Bill Gates. His first book, a personal narrative of his travels in the world of computer networks, will be published by Simon & Schuster in 1996.
The Journals of Lewis and Clark, by Meriwether Lewis and William Clark. "Lately, I have been reading personal narratives of 19th-century Americans in the West. These books provide an interesting perspective on the promises of the digital frontier and help me pick out what it is about my experience that's universal, or at least American."
The Well. "Probably half my reading time is spent reading threads on The Well. These tend to be nonlinear with lots of feedback loops and often end up eating their own tails. It's like reading modernist works such as Italo Calvino's The Castle of Crossed Destinies."
Scientist and comedian Bill Nye stars in the award-winning TV show Disney Presents Bill Nye the Science Guy. Tune in weekly to learn about magnetism, wind, and what Aretha Franklin has to say about garbage. Or surf over to www.seanet.com/vendors/billnye/nyelabs.html.
Pale Blue Dot, by Carl Sagan. "I loved this. It's about the future of the human species. His theory is that eventually the sun is going to explode, which is probably true. He questions whether or not humans will be around then. Sagan points out that humans are always trying to look over the next hill, go across the ocean and to the Moon."
Team Roping, by Leo Camarillo. "Camarillo is a champion calf roper. Like a shortstop, he has to throw very accurately and very quickly - and he's on horseback. But I love knots."
STREET CRED
Smut BlockerCD Jukebox
REAdME On the bookshelves of the digerati
