penalba's books from LibraryThing

The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable by Nassim Nicholas Taleb

Wed, 06 Aug 2008 16:33:22 -0400

Random House (2007), Edition: 1, Hardcover, 400 pages

Names on the Land: A Historical Account of Place-Naming in the United States (New York Review Books Classics) by George R. Stewart

Wed, 06 Aug 2008 16:32:46 -0400

NYRB Classics (2008), Paperback, 432 pages

The Holy Grail: Imagination and Belief by Richard Barber

Thu, 31 Jul 2008 12:36:52 -0400

Harvard University Press (2004), Hardcover, 488 pages

The Ecology of the Rocky Shores of Sherkin Island: A Twenty-Year Perspective by Gillian Bishop

Sat, 05 Jul 2008 20:25:03 -0400

Sherkin Island Marine Station (2003), Hardcover, 305 pages

Languages of the Himalayas: An Ethnolinguistic Handbook of the Greater Himalayan Region (Handbook of Oriental Studies / by George Van Driem

Fri, 04 Jul 2008 12:57:29 -0400

Brill Academic Publishers (2002), Hardcover, 1412 pages

Two Bits: The Cultural Significance of Free Software by Christopher M. Kelty

Fri, 04 Jul 2008 12:56:34 -0400

Duke University Press (2008), Paperback, 378 pages

Trans-Himalayan Caravans: Merchant Princes and Peasant Traders in Ladakh by Janet Rizvi

Sat, 14 Jun 2008 05:21:08 -0400

Oxford University Press, USA (2000), Hardcover, 392 pages

A Time of Gifts: On Foot to Constantinople: From the Hook of Holland to the Middle Danube (New York Review Books… by Patrick Leigh Fermor

Fri, 11 Apr 2008 16:10:24 -0400

NYRB Classics (2005), Paperback, 344 pages

The Golden String: An Autobiography by Bede Griffiths

Mon, 07 Apr 2008 20:35:52 -0400

Templegate Publishers (1980), Edition: New Ed, Paperback, 192 pages

From the Holy Mountain: A Journey among the Christians of the Middle East by William Dalrymple

Mon, 07 Apr 2008 20:34:01 -0400

Holt Paperbacks (1999), Paperback, 496 pages

Dreaming in Code: Two Dozen Programmers, Three Years, 4,732 Bugs, and One Quest for Transcendent Software by Scott Rosenberg

Thu, 03 Apr 2008 04:38:30 -0400

Three Rivers Press (2008), Edition: Reprint, Paperback, 416 pages

The Big Switch: Rewiring the World, from Edison to Google by Nicholas Carr

Thu, 27 Mar 2008 18:45:01 -0400

W. W. Norton (2008), Hardcover, 276 pages

The Ajanta Caves: Ancient Paintings of Buddhist India by Benoy K. Behl

Thu, 27 Mar 2008 01:44:21 -0400

Thames & Hudson (2005), Edition: 1st Pbk. Ed., with Revisions, Paperback, 256 pages

Wandering With Sadhus: Ascetics of the Hindu Himalayas (Contemporary Indian Studies) by Sondra L. Hausner

Thu, 27 Mar 2008 01:43:17 -0400

Indiana University Press (2007), Paperback, 247 pages

Bound Together: How Traders, Preachers, Adventurers, and Warriors Shaped Globalization by Nayan Chanda

Thu, 27 Mar 2008 01:42:41 -0400

Yale University Press (2007), Edition: 1, Hardcover, 416 pages

Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing Without Organizations by Clay Shirky

Thu, 27 Mar 2008 01:41:51 -0400

Penguin Press HC, The (2008), Hardcover, 336 pages

Alexander the Great Failure: The Collapse of the Macedonian Empire (Hambledon Continuum) by John D. Grainger

Thu, 27 Mar 2008 01:41:31 -0400

penalba's review: "Competent kings-and-battles survey of Phillip, Alexander and their successors, especially the first generation (Antigonos, Seluekos, Ptolemy, etc.). But this is deeply plowed earth already. The "failure" part is obvious -- Alexander was a great general but a poor administrator, who was more interested in conquest than governance. Good bibliography. I was especially interested in the brief mentions of the settlement of Bactria. There's discussions on pp. 120 - 124 and 135 about the establishment of military garrisons during Alexander's lifetime and then colonial cities afterwards. Seluekos pursued this policy successfully in Asia Minor and the northern Levant; the independent rulers of Bactria apparently did as well. But until the modern discovery of Ai Khanoum all we had were histories, coins and sculpture -- "The Bactrian Mirage." Grainger writes (p. 191) that "many thousands of Greek colonists/settlers" moved to Bactria."
Hambledon & London (2008), Hardcover, 236 pages

The Great Bear Rainforest: Canada's Forgotten Coast by Ian McAllister

Mon, 10 Mar 2008 19:00:21 -0400

Sierra Club Books (1998), Hardcover, 143 pages

Al-Andalus: The Art of Islamic Spain by Jerrilynn Denise Dodds

Mon, 10 Mar 2008 19:00:03 -0400

Metropolitan Museum of Art (1992), Hardcover, 480 pages

Chasing Rickshaws by Tony Wheeler

Mon, 10 Mar 2008 18:59:46 -0400

Lonely Planet Publications (1998), Hardcover, 192 pages