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One of the many books I’ve read over the years simply because of the title. I don’t remember it too well, but do remember it was good.

A paranoid, secretive national government controls its citizens through intense media manipulation, complete disregard for civil rights, and manufactured warfare. But enough about US politics, let’s talk about the book.

Orwell’s novel depicts a society in which technology and other measures have been used to completely submerge individuals and individuality into a uniform beaurocracy. And if you liked the book, you’ll love the movie.

Fussel, or Captain Cranky Pants, takes a fiercly honest look at the US social caste system, including the ‘uppers’, the ‘middles’, and the ‘proles’. He concludes by offering a template for escaping the prison of social class.

A thorough, well-written reference from the Nolo Press about the legal and financial implications of self-employment. If you haven’t read anything from Nolo you should check them out.

A good and thick reference to this crufty, crufty language.

Another fine O’Reilly book.

An excellent story about a fictional South American country. Funny, sad, and violent in turns.

Another big book (900 pages). Some good stuff, but a lot of it will already be known to anyone who has already done a lot of work in web development.

A thorough, detailed, and extra large guide to the MySQL open source relational database system. I was quite happy with it, except for the occasional fits of MySQL cheerleading the book occasionally descends into. When you plunk down for a 1200 page book on something, you probably don’t need to be convinced to use it. And despite the book’s rah-rahs, I still prefer Postgres.