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BIBLES

                                                          January 21, 2003     
There are a number of books I keep prominent on my                            
shelves that I call "my bibles", though that's            
possibly misleading because my level of commitment to     
them is much less than most Christians claim for their    
Bible (though perhaps greater than most really have).     
                                                          
These are books that strike me as having at least a      
glimmer of some deep illumination; they're not just      
books that I like, but books that have contributed to    
my bedrock understanding of the world.                   
                                                         
I've noticed a trend in some of the titles:             
                                    
   "Engines of Creation" by Eric Drexler                    NANOTECH 
                                               HYPER                 
   "Literary Machines" by Ted Nelson                        NELSON 
                                               
   "Evolution of Cooperation" by Robert Axelrod         TITFORTAT
                                               
   "The Selfish Gene" by Richard Dawkins                INTOLERANCE
                                                        
   "The Machinery of Freedom" by David Friedman
                                                        And from my 
                                                                        
It appears that I'm a                                     APOCRYPHA  
sucker for the "two                                                     
cultures" cross-over.      TWO_CULTS                      "Steps Toward an    
Take a techy sounding                        BATESON     Ecology of Mind"   
term, and a humanities                                   by Gregory Bateson
sounding term, glue them                         
together into a book                                    "Soul of a New     
title, and you've sold a                                 Machine" by       
copy to me.                                              Tracey Kidder     
                                                                           
                   When I was a kid I                   "Zen and the Art   
                   independently discovered              of Motorcycle     
                   the term "scientology".               Maintenance" by   
  Though not                                             Robert Pirsig 
  all of my           I've skirted the edge of 
  "bibles"            many an abyss, without                 ZAMM 
  fit that            quite falling in... 
  pattern:                                               "The Existential 
                                    FLORID               Pleasures of 
  Jane Jacobs,                                           Engineering" by 
  "Death and Life of                                     Samuel Floriman 
  Great American Cities"     THE_GREAT_CITY 
                                                         CONSILIENCE_PRIZE 
 
 
 
 
  Samuel R. Delany,              SAMUEL 
  "The Jewell-Hinged Jaw" 
 
  H.G. Wells, 
  "The Outline            WELLS 
  of History" 
 
  Thomas Sowell,               
  "A Conflict             UNCONSTRAINED     
  of Visions" 
 
  Freeman Dyson, 
  "Infinite in            DYSON
  All Directions"
 
  Stanley Milgram, 
  "Obedience to 
  Authority"
 
 









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