Geeks like to read – and not only programming books. Most of
us read incessantly. Whether it’s popular science, sci-fi or fantasy, a good
thriller or an occasional popular history book or biography, it’s a rare geek
who isn’t in love with books. And I am no exception, although I have to confess
I am rather an extreme case since my love of books and eclectic tastes borders
on the “gentle madness” aka “bibliomania.”
What I am going to do in this regular column is feed my
habit by highlighting some of the books I am reading, and (mostly) enjoying. (I
will only rarely write negative reviews; it’s a rare book that I “do not put
down gently but throw across the room with great force” after all.)
Finally, since I remain involved with Apress
(www.apress.com), the publishing company for IT professionals I helped found,
is there any potential for a conflict of interest? I don’t think so nor do the
kind people at SYS-CON; the type of books I will be reviewing are the books I
read “non-professionally” –for fun – in my spare time. It is only these books,
rather than professional books, that I will review.
Title: Value Averaging: The Safe and Easy Strategy for Higher
Investment Returns Author: Michael E. Edleson Publisher: Wiley Investment Classics;
Rev Ed edition,(October
27, 2006),ISBN: 0470049774 Price: $19.95
There are 8,909 books listed on Amazon.com with the word
“Investing” in the title; there are(!) 27,146 books with the word investment in
the title. Without having looked at a representative sample, I can be confident
that Sturgeon’s Law applies – I suspect if I sampled enough of them I would
find that 90% greatly underestimates the amount of junk in this particular
area.
About Gary Cornell Gary Cornell has a PHD in mathematics from Brown University. At various times and among other things he has been a professor, a program director at the National Science Foundation, and a visiting scientist at IBM's Watson Labs. He has written or co-written numerous best-selling and award-winning computer books. Most recently he co-founded Apress (www.apress.com), which under his leadership became one of the largest publishers of books for IT professionals in the world. And he did all this while simultaneously having a truly serious case of the 'gentle madness,' AKA bibliomania.
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Geeks like to read – and not only programming books. Most of
us read incessantly. Whether it’s popular science, sci-fi or fantasy, a good
thriller or an occasional popular history book or biography, it’s a rare geek
who isn’t in love with books. And I am no exception, although I have to confess
I am rather an extreme case since my love of books and eclectic tastes borders
on the “gentle madness” aka “bibliomania.”
reviewing are the books I
read “non-professionally” –for fun – in my spare time. It is only these books,
rather than professional books, that I will review. 
