Don''t Make Me Think: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability

A great common sense approach to smart web site design. A good read with lots of suggestions and examples.

Endless Frontier: Vannevar Bush, Engineer Of The American Century

In 1945, Vannevar Bush wrote an article for Atlantic Monthly entitled "As We May Think" - basically outlining what scientists were going to do now that the war had ended. Remarkable vision of the future (and foresees the WWW). This text describes the man.

XML for the World Wide Web

Web-maven Elizabeth Castro, who has penned Peachpit books on HTML, Perl and CGI, and Netscape, now tackles XML--an indispensable tool for creating personalized, updated content for each. The format is interesting, instruction on the left page and detailed coded examples on the right page.

The XSL Companion

The XSL Companion -covers both XSLT and XSL_FO.

XSLT

This compact, relevant, updated version reflects recent changes in the XSLT specification and developments in XSLT parsers. A key XSLT text. I liked the first edition more since it had better NAV features. Still - essential reading.

XSLT and Xpath on the Edge, Unlimited Edition

Extensible Stylesheet Language Transformations, along with the XML Path Language, give you the power to transform XML documents into HTML documents, or to other XML documents that you can use. Especially good on grouping.

Definitive XSL-FO

Ken Holman's definitive text on XSL-FO.

Core CSS

This text along with "Cascading Style Sheets - Designing for the Web" by Lie and Bos have been my main reference texts.

SVG Programming: The Graphical Web

SVG Programming: The Graphical Web, authored by leading XML expert Kurt Cagle, is a complete guide to creating, using, and accessing the powerful elements of Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG)...

The Road to Reality

In a single work of colossal scope one of the world’s greatest scientists has given us a complete and unrivalled guide to the glories of the universe. This not for the faint hearted, and will require some math and science background, but the breadth is breathtaking.

Shadows of the Mind: A Search for the Missing Science of Consciousness

The bestselling author of The Emperor''s New Mind offers another exhilarating look at modern science as he mounts an even more powerful attack on artifical intelligence...

The Emperor''s New Mind: Concerning Computers, Minds, and the Laws of Physics

Dispelling the fear that robots and computers will one day take over the world, Sir Roger Penrose illuminates why machine-thinking will never replace human thought...

What Is Life? With Mind And Matter And Autobiographical Sketches

What Is Life? With Mind And Matter And Autobiographical Sketches. I haven't read this one yet - yet I see it referenced all over. Erwin Schrodinger and Roger Penrose take a look at the number one question.

How The Mind Works

This groundbreaking new work by Steven Pinker discusses the forces of evolution that have brought the human brain to its current state and how it enables people to do the simplest of tasks and the most complex...

Theatre of the Mind

Can we be conscious of our consciousness? What doesconsciousness feel like? Is it really a stream of steadily flowing thoughts,images and feelings, or something else ...

I Am a Strange Loop

Douglas Hofstadter''''s long-awaited return to the themes of Godel, Escher Bach--an original and controversial view of the nature of consciousness and identity.

Godel Escher Bach - 20th Anniversary Edition: An Eternal Golden Braid

The relationships between art and math are not always apparent. That is, until you read Douglas Hofstadter''s brilliant, Pulitzer prize-winning Godel Escher Bach...

The Mind''s I

The Mind''s I

Metamagical Themas: Questing for the Essence of Mind & Pattern

Translating Eugene Onegin from Russian to English while retaining the author’s original ...

Fluid Concepts & Creative Analogies: Computer Models of the Fundamental Mechanisms of Thought

Since 1977, Hofstadter, the author of Godel, Escher, Bach, and his students have been developing computer models of discovery, creation, and analogical thought. I haven't read this one, but Hofstadter recommended this to me in an email exchange about "I Am a Strange Loop".

On Intelligence

From the inventor of the PalmPilot comes a new and compelling theory of intelligence, brain function, and the future of intelligent machines Jeff Hawkins, the man who created the PalmPilot, ...

The Dance Of Molecules: How Nanotechnology Is Changing Our Lives

What if a doctor could stop cancer by targeting a single malignant cell before it multiplied? Imagine a paper-thin power suit that could keep you warm on a winter day...

Matter & Consciousness

A great little read by Paul Churchland.

Singularity Is Near

The great inventor and futurist Ray Kurzweil is one of the best-known and controversial advocates for the role of machines in the future of humanity...

Fabric of Reality: The Science of Parallel Universe & Its Implication

Deutsch''s pioneering and accessible book integrates recent advances in theoretical physics and computer science to explain and connect many topics at the leading edge of current research and ...

The Demon-Haunted World: Science As a Candle in the Dark

Disturbingly, in our so-called information age, pseudoscience is burgeoning, with alien abduction, channeling past lives, and communal hallucinations commanding growing attention and respect. Carl Sagan's book is a must read for those who want to separate real science from "cargo cult science".

Entanglement

Einstein was wrong: God does play dice with the universe. This groundbreaking book is an introduction to the weird world of the quantum, via the bizarre phenomenon called entanglement - one of the key mysteries revealed by quantum physics.

Geons Black Holes And Quantum Foam

This impressive book tells readers about the fascinating life of physicist John Archibald Wheeler. Great introduction to the notion that "empty space" is really a seething "quantum foam" where particles spring into existence from nowhere.

Genius: The Life & Science of Richard Feynman

From the author of the national bestseller Chaos comes an outstanding biography of one of the most dazzling and flamboyant scientists of the 20th century that not only paints a highly attractive portrait of Feynman but also ...makes for a stimulating adventure in the annals of science" (The New York Times). 16 pages of photos

Tesla

Although I was aware of Tesla - it was a play at the National Arts Centre - "Brilliant - The blinding enlightenment of Nikola Tesla" tha tawoke my interest anew in him. The play starts with his death and the oonfiscation by the FBI off all his papers and notes. See what Tesla's involvement with your home AC lines, robotics, submarines, beam particle weapons, and much much more was.

Coming of Age in the Milky Way

Excellent read - just what IS our place in the Universe? From the second-century celestial models of Ptolemy to modern-day research institutes and quantum theory, this classic book offers a breathtaking tour of astronomy and the brilliant, eccentric personalities who have shaped it. From the first time mankind had an inkling of the vast space that surrounds us, those who study the universe have had to struggle against political and religious preconceptions. They have included some of the most charismatic, courageous, and idiosyncratic thinkers of all …

Surely You''re Joking, Mr. Feynman: Adventures Of A Curious Character

The life of one Nobel Prize winning physicist - from childhood through Princeton, Cornell and Caltech - great fun.

What Do You Care What Other People Think?: Further Adventures Of A Curious Character

Further Adventures Of A Curious Character - following the adventures of Richard Feynman.

The Pleasure Of Finding Things Out: The Best Short Works Of Richard P. Feynman

A magnificent treasury of the best short works of Feynman--from interviews and speeches to lectures and printed articles--presents a fascinating view of a life in science like no other.

Six Easy Pieces: Essentials Of Physics, Explained By Its Most Brilliant Teacher

The six easiest chapters from Feynman's celebrated lectures on physics, which the Nobel Prize-winning scientist delivered from 1961 to 1963 at the California Institute of Technology, have been ...

Six Not So Easy Pieces

Six not-quite-so-easy chapters from Feynman's celebrated lectures on physics. Richard Feynman, an American theoretical physicist, received his Ph.D. from Princeton University in 1942 and worked at Los Alamos, New Mexico, on the atomic bomb during World War II...

Feynman's Rainbow

Subtitled - " A Search for Beauty in Physics and in Life", this small volume by one of Feynman's students is enchanting.- FEYNMAN'S RAINBOW was published in Warner hardcover in 5/03, winning praise from publications including Publishers Weekly and Kirkus Reviews and was a Discover magazine bestseller...

The Long Tail

What happens when the bottlenecks that stand between supply and demand in our culture go away and everything becomes available to everyone? The Long Tail is a powerful new force shaping the future of marketing.

Grapevine

Balter, the founder of BzzAgent, reveals how businesses can tap into the power of everyday conversation--otherwise known as word-of-mouth marketing. Our surveys while we had a retail store in Perth showed that word of mouth was the number one way people found Perth and our store.

Contact

What will man's first contact with another civilization be like? Carl Sagan presents one possible scenario. Great read - even if you have seen the film.

Wonderful Wizard of Oz

I was totally enthralled with this book when I read it as a youngster, with it's marvelous illustrations by W W Denslow. Maybe it was responsible for my interest in science fiction from then on. I was disappointed in the movie when I first saw it - it didn't even begin to match the adventures in this book (I thought at the time).

The Lord of the Rings

How many times have I re-read this set of books? I lost count. A friend recommended this to me back in school days. When he told me it was about wizards, and elves and dwarves, I said "no thanks" - and didn't get to read it until adulthood - but from then on I was hooked.

The World Of Mathematics

Ever since I discovered these books in the library as a child, I have been fascinated with them. I finally got to own a copy that I can dive into anytime and still enjoy the read. A monumental four-volume reference 15 years in the making, The World of Mathematics was specially designed to make mathematics more accessible to the inexperienced...