Secrets & Lies, subtitled "Digital Security in a Networked World", is Bruce Schneier's electronic security guide for all seasons. Whether you're a security expert, a system administrator, a software developer, a manager, or simply a computer user, you'll learn something that you can use from this book. It's basic message is that electronic security isn't a problem that can be solved once and for all, but a risk space that can be managed. If you only read one book on computer security, this should be it.

In Blood and Thunder Hampton Sides relates the life and times of Kit Carson in the context of the westward expansion of the United States. From the time he left his native Missouri at sixteen on the Santa Fe Trail until his death four decades later, Carson played key roles in many pivotal events. His exploits were sensationalized in the popular dime novels called ''blood and thunders''. Carson's career ran the gamut of western experience: camp cook, fur trapper, buffalo hunter, expeditionary guide, Indian fighter, rancher, army officer, Indian agent, and diplomat.

Sides combines an engaging narrative with well documented research, giving a perspective of the old west that you won't find in dry history texts or popular fiction. It's well worth the read.

Flow Based Programming is the second edition of Paul Morrison's book describing his data flow centric progamming methodology. FBP is a coordination language Paul developed at IBM well suited for connecting components to model and implement business processes. It lends itself to graphical representation, an FBP flow chart really is the program and tools exist to transform the graph into a list of components and links that an FBP engine can execute. Non-programmer domain experts may develop and maintain applications with appropriate component collections. Morrison's claim that FBP makes business applications easier to maintain seems plausible.

The flow of data from one component to the next resembles the Unix shell use of pipes to link the output of one utility to the input of another or tacit programming in J. Where these are linear, FBP supports tree and looping constructs. The components may be realized loosely coupled processes distributed across multiple cores or computers. FBP promises a path to take advantage of the proliferation of cheap, multi-core computers that challenges conventional development methods and languages.

Primitive components may be written in any language convenient for providing the necessary functionality, often assembler or PL/1 at IBM, but C/C++, Java, Python, and others have also been used. While components may be written in any language, their essentially functional nature seems to be a good fit for Erlang, Haskell, and the Lisp family of languages. I may experiment with FBP in Racket, since it seems to be a good environment for building domain specific languages.

I'd recommend this book for those interested in software development alternatives, multi-core, or distributed processing. While useful and readable as it is, new material for the second edition is appended to that of the first with insufficient integration of the text.

In Fooled by Randomness Nassim Nicholas Taleb shows the importance of chance and how it is often unrecognized. People tend to attribute their successes to their skill or wisdom and their failures to bad luck when in fact chance plays a role in both success and failure.

An interesting point is that history represents one possible sequence of events out of many possible outcomes. Historical analyses should therefore be taken with a grain of salt.

It's good to read the classics from time to time. Cybernetics: or Control and Communication in the Animal and the Machine describes the seminal work that forms the basis for toady's understanding complex systems. Applications range from biology to robotics to economics. Highly recommended.

In Good Calories, Bad Calories science writer Gary Taubes looks at the carbohydrate hypothesis as an explanation for the obesity epidemic and the chronic diseases of civilization that accompany it. The diseases of civilization include Alzheimer's, diabetes, heart disease, and cancer. They may be partly attributable to greater longevity, but diets high in refined carbohydrates are implicated as well. The conventional wisdom blaming obesity on gluttony and sloth doesn't adequately explain the facts. There is substantial biochemical and physiological evidence implicating the insulin response to sugars and starches as a possible causal factor. More research needs to be done to test this hypothesis, but I know that in my case, restricting refined carbohydrates has controlled my weight and blood sugar.

Esther Gokhale's 8 Steps to a Pain Free Back presents her method to achieve better back and shoulder health through postural exercises that may be done in the course of your normal day. I've found them to be helpful.

In How the Scots Invented the Modern World Arthur Herman recounts Scots history from the 16th through the 20th centuries. While the Scots didn't create the modern world by themselves, they certainly played a key role. They rapidly transformed their martial feudal/tribal clan society into the first modern literate one.

The Scottish Enlightenment championed the voice of reason and inspired the framers of the Constitution of the United States. Scottish engineers, entrepreneurs, and soldiers powered the expansion of the British Empire. While embracing the world of science and commerce, Scots thinkers were aware of the dangers of forgetting the virtues of war which include courage, honor, loyalty, and perseverance and promoted citizen militias to counter this.

Today Scottish culture is celebrated in festivals and Highland Games around the world. While the Scottish people and culture are popularly considered Celtic, they were also shaped by Scandinavians, Anglo Saxons, and Normans. The surge of Scottish influence had subsided by the mid 20th century, but the effects permeate western civilization.

In The Gluten Connection Shari Lieberman surveys the gluten sensitivity issue. Celiac Disease is the most severe form of gluten sensitivity and once thought to be rare, is now known to be rather common with an estimated global occurrence of almost 1% of the population. Celiac is not curable, but symptoms are relieved by avoiding gluten from wheat, barley, and rye.

Less serious sensitivity seems to be more common, but the data is ambiguous. It's been associated with many gastrointestinal and autoimmune ailments and there are many anecdotal accounts of such ailments improving once the sufferer adopted a gluten free diet. Research provides some support for this but looks inconclusive. Still, a gluten free diet may be worth trying for those suffering from chronic ailments which have been associated with gluten.

After taking another look at JavaScript, I'm still not inclined to use it for server side or command line scripting. When I do need to use it, I'll keep JavaScript: The Good Parts handy. This slim volume tells you what you really need to know to write good programs with the language. In addition to showing you how to use the good parts of JavaScript, it provides guidance for avoiding or working around the bad parts. Since JavaScript has more than its share of warts, this is invaluable.

In Small Worlds: The Dynamics of Networks between Order and Randomness Duncan Watts explores the effects of network connections on system behavior. Network effects are evident in the spread of epidemics, the function of the brain, the adoption of new technologies, and other disparate areas.

Small World networks are non-random and sparsely connected. They tend to contain clusters of closely connected notes with a few shortcuts to distant ones. The "six degrees of separation" from urban lore is an example of the small world phenomenon. Watts raises more questions than he answers concerning this emerging research topic.

Gates of Fire is a novelization of the Battle of Thermopylae. There 300 hundred Spartans under King Leonidas held the pass against an overwhelming Persian force long enough for the Greek city states to rally their forces for a successful defense. Their heroism was an inspiration to their fellow Greeks and has continued to be an inspiration down through the ages.

Steven Pressfield brings to life both the harsh realities and the nobility of the ancient Greeks. Life was hard, but there was also beauty, gentless, and compassion. His dramatization of events leading up to the battle, the battle itself, and it's aftermath shows how ordinary people can come to do extra-ordinary things.

In Entering Space Robert Zubrin describes how humanity could graduate from being a planet bound species to an interplanetary, and eventually interstellar one. He categorizes civilizations by the extent of their mastery of local resources. Type I civilizations exploit the resources of their native planet. Type II civilizations achieve control of the resources of their home star system. Type III civilizations expand to multiple star systems.

As founder of the Mars Society, it's no surprise that Zubrin sees Martian colonization and development to be key, though he acknowledges the potential of Lunar and asteroidal resources. He believes that governments will lead the way to space with private enterprise following and providing support services. I'm more optimistic that private efforts will play a leading role.

Zubrin looks at potential technologies consistent with our current knowledge of physics that might enable humans to travel, live, and prosper in the inner solar system, the outer solar system, and interstellar space. The most striking point in his analysis is that relatively fast interstellar spacecraft that could carry humans would expend an enormous amount of energy. They could easily become weapons of mass destruction, a sobering thought.

Return of the Kettlebell is Pavel Tsatsouline's latest book. It focuses on building muscle mass while maintaining or improving strength and conditioning. The tools of choice are double kettlebell exercises organized in alternating two week blocks. One block is devoted to slow grinding movements: the Double Kettlebell Press, the Double Kettlebell Front Squat, and the Double Kettlebell Deadlift. The alternate block is devoted to explosive movement, specifically the long cycle double Kettlebell Clean and Jerk.

This looks like fun, but it's a pretty intense program, not something I want to do during the throwing season. Pavel suggests that you shouldn't start it until you've reached the "Enter the Kettlebell" Rite of Passage goals of a half bodyweight Clean and Press, and 200 Kettlebell Snatches with the 24 kg implement as used by the U.S. Secret Service. I'm some way from that, so I'll work on the Rite of Passage until the end of throwing season and see where I am then.

This program in this book is really intended for elite athletes who want to add lean body mass. I found it interesting though I don't think it's the right thing for me at this point in time. I'll practice the double kettlebell movements on some of my "variety" days which can be considered a kind of active rest. Good book, but not for everyone.

Never Let Go is a collection of Dan John's writings on strength and conditioning training. Subtitled "A Philosophy of Lifting, Living, and Learning", it provides a pragmatic approach to navigating the tangled web of information about health, fitness, and athletic training. A certain amount of strength and conditioning is necessary for good health and is fundamental to fitness and athletic performance. How much and what kind depends on your goals, and Dan emphasizes that you need to need to stay focused on your goals.

The main points of Dan's strength and conditioning philosophy are:

1. The Body is One Piece.
2. There are three kinds of strength training:
   • Putting weight overhead
   • Picking it off the ground
   • Carrying it for time and distance
3. All training is complementary.

Each chapter is a lesson in the guise of an entertaining and enlightening story told by a master practitioner of the strength arts. Reading and rereading these stories will help you in your own strength practice, whether as a coach, athlete, or fitness enthusiast. As you read it you will sometimes think "I knew that", while realizing that you've just reached a better understanding. Dan teaches movements rather than muscles and you need to train the full spectrum of normal movement. However, if you try to emphasize everything, you end up emphasizing nothing, so he recommends a warm up that works a variety of movements which allows you to focus on specific goals in the main workout.

Since the body adapts to novel stresses, everything works but nothing works forever. Combined with everyone's unique genetics and history, this implies that you should try different things long enough to see how they work for you. If they don't work, move on to something else. If they do, continue with them until you stop progressing, then try something else. Keep a training log so you'll know what has worked in the past and can profitably be repeated.

"Never Let Go" is a worthwhile and enjoyable read for just about anyone. It's a great book on the pursuit of althleticism that should be read and re-read by anyone with more than a passing interest in health, fitness, and/or sports performance.

In The Purposeful Primitive Marty Gallagher presents his strength and conditioning philosophy with the stories of notable strength and endurance athletes with his own experiences as a world champion powerlifter and coach.

While focusing on strength, Marty also recognizes the importance of cardiovascular conditioning and diet. He describes simple programs that have proven effective for both world class athletes and couch potatoes getting into shape. This book deserves a place in the library of all serious fitness enthusiasts, athletes, and coaches.

Mark Lutz is an outstanding trainer and writer. His Programming Python is the most most comprehensive Python text that I've found, weighing in at 1552 pages. It's not just long though, The detailed examples solving many real world problems in both desktop and server programming make it ideal for those who learn best by seeing how things are done.

While LSD (Long Slow Distance) type training is most popular for cardio, research has shown that sprint intervals like the Tabata Protocol are more effective for developing VO2 max. In Viking Warrior Conditioning, Kenneth Jay presents interval training protocols that he's developed using kettlebell snatches. I enjoyed the book though it's a bit pricey for the amount of material presented.

I'm using his basic protocol of 15 seconds of snatches with the left arm followed by 15 seconds of rest, then 15 seconds of snatches with the right arm followed by 15 seconds of rest and find it to be a nice challenge. In addition to the cardiovascular conditioning, this develops the explosive power needed for the Highland Games Heavy Athletics events.

In The Wealth and Poverty of Nations, David Landes asks why some nations are very rich and others very poor. He examines the economic history of Earth in search of answers. He concludes that a combination of freedom, the rule of law, and competing interests have tended to generate the most wealth. Along the way he recounts many interesting historical episodes. Seems our government is heading the wrong way.

I just finished reading Michael Crichton's Eaters of the Dead, an entertaining retelling of the Beowulf saga as it might have happened. It was originally published as The 13th Warrior and a movie with that name was based upon it. I feel a kinship to Beowulf as the old king who calls for Beowulf's help is named Rothgar, a name which has evolved into Rogers.