I think I just got tagged by mnenyver

[michiexile]

And this is the meme that results

1. One book that changed your life: Boy. I think Douglas Hofstadter's Gödel Escher Bach, an Eternal Golden Braid may qualify. It certainly did change my way of thinking. Other than that, my life hasn't really had these huge changes that weren't in some way foreseeable; but on the other hand books have played rôles in these premonitions - such as the Sigma book series as an early indication I would end up in mathematics...

2. One book that you’ve read more than once: There are quite a few, y'know. But I'll go with the Illuminati! trilogy by the two Roberts for the insanity value.

3. One book you’d want on a desert island: I'm joining in the "Nothing's gonna not be boring after the fifth read through, so a survival guide is a good idea" chorus.

4. One book that made you laugh: Anything from the Discworld series. And Good Omens. I like absurdist humour - there are MANY books to bring under this.

5. One book that made you cry: I think Anne Frank's diary was pretty wrenching. But it was loooong ago, so I don't really remember.

6. One book that you wish had been written: Right now, I'm rooting for Functional programming in Haskell for homological algebraists with a strong computational and computational algebra background - but I think I may be a very significant part of the readership of such a book, so it'll probably never appear.

7. One book that you wish had never been written: Goooood question. I cannot recall really hating a book enough to wish for that; though some of the bile Mats Wahl has been writing certainly made me throw the books away.

8. One book you’re currently reading: Should I be geeky? I probably can outgeek a lot of you. But I guess non-fiction is cheating. So ... On a pale horse by Piers Anthony

9. One book you’ve been meaning to read: The Book of Mormon

10. Now tag eight people: Nope. I don't do taggings. But if you like the meme, please do it.

Comments

[pozorvlak.livejournal.com]

Haskell (and functional programming in general) is a headfuck. One book that helped me was Hudak's The Haskell School of Expression. Also, please send me any questions you may have: if I can't help, I can pass them on to people who can (but most of them are permanently logged in to #haskell, so you could ask them yourself...)

I'd like to find a book called "Homological algebra for category theorists with a strong Haskell background", myself... I'm told May has written a book that gives a very categorical presentation of homological algebra, but it's low priority right now.