Books I Like
  • A Short History of Nearly Everything - Bill Bryson
    A superbly written stroll through what in most anyone else's hands would be dry, boring science, in Bill Bryson's embrace becomes a funny, interesting, delightful experience that just happens leave you understanding a lot more about space, the universe, the earth, rocks, atoms, people, and, well, nearly everything. It's a thoroughly enjoyable read. 30 seconds after finishing it, I turned back to page one and started again.
  • Genius: The Life and Science of Richard Feynman - James Gleick
    I'm not sure which is better, the content or how well this book is written. The science is a bit too heavy a times, at least for me, but the book is otherwise so interesting that those few pages are worth it.
  • Barbarians at the Gate - Bryan Burrough & John Helyar
    It's hard to believe that a subject that sounds as boring as this (the corporate takeover of RJR Nabisco) can make such a compelling, interesting read. Riveting.
  • Den of Thieves - James Stewart
    It's hard to believe that a subject that sounds as boring as this (Wall Street's junk bond scandal of the 1980s) can make such a compelling, interesting read. Riveting.
  • Mastering Regular Expressions - Jeffrey Friedl
    It's hard to believe that a subject that sounds as boring as this (regular expressions) can make such a compelling, interesting read. Riveting. 🙂
  • Making The “Terrible” Twos Terrific - John Rosemond
    I found this book to be an absolute Godsend. Most of it just “clicked” with me (that is, I instinctively agreed with much of what he presented), and it made a lot of things about handling a toddler much more clear. If nothing else, it reminds you that your toddler is normal when he's doing all the things that drive you crazy -- it's you who can influence whether those “things that drive you crazy” actually do drive you crazy (and lead the kid into being a brat), or are faced with a calm that can only come from really understanding the situation. A must-have for anyone with a kid between 18 months and, say, three years. I would not recommend reading before 18 months, though, as none of the book applies before about then, and you've got enough on your plate w/o having to read stuff that is, at the moment, irrelevant.

All 6 comments so far, oldest first...

Hi Jeffrey, How are you? It has been a long time. I really enjoyed your Holiday card. Michael sent me your Blog. Good stuff. What have you been doing with yourself?

— comment by Marie A. Moore on May 18th, 2007 at 6:54am JST (17 years, 5 months ago) comment permalink

Hello Jeffrey,

I’ve just bought RegExp3 and looked at all the pictures already(joke), and now I am on page xxiii.

If you liked Bill Bryson’s A Short History…. then you are probably on the right wavelength to enjoy Life on a Young Planet by David Knoll.

I like your Scruffy Bird.

Regards,

Clive Williams.
7 mile North of Southampton, UK.

— comment by Clive Williams on August 9th, 2007 at 1:26am JST (17 years, 2 months ago) comment permalink

Hello Jeffrey
I’m reading your book, translated in chinese.
^_^!
best regards
kenny(china,hangzhou)

— comment by kenny on February 2nd, 2008 at 11:34pm JST (16 years, 8 months ago) comment permalink

Jeffey,
I’d like to include mention of your plug ins in the next DAM Book. You okay with that?
Also, if there is anything coming up that would be advantageous to include, let me know.
Peter

— comment by Peter Krogh on November 11th, 2008 at 12:26pm JST (15 years, 11 months ago) comment permalink

I’ve begun reading your book Mastering Regular Expressions and I absolutely love what a great teacher you are Mr. Friedl, especially to someone as unlettered as I am. Practically more valuable than a diamond in the rough, your work and the effort of your practical and efficient teaching is much highly coveted and very much personally appreciated. Just as I am about to barely finish the 2nd chapter, I was compelled to find out who the wonder of this man,”Jeffrey Friedl” could be (flipping to “About the Author” to find out…and, hence this blog comment). I was hoping to have more to read from you. =) So, when is the next book coming? Any topic will do. A very sincere ‘thank you’ Mr. Friedl! May God’s good graces follow you and yours.
Humbly,
JMichael

— comment by JMichael on November 20th, 2008 at 1:55am JST (15 years, 11 months ago) comment permalink

Hey Jeffrey, my wife and I love your photoshop plug in and Flickr plugin. (we donated!) I’m inspired to make one myself for summitpost.org, thanks for your amazing information here. I’m writing on your books page because I like a lot of the same books, and really think you’d like Collapse by Jared Diamond. Kind of a different disaster than RJR Nabisco, but even more thrilling.

All the best,
Michael S.
Munich, Germany

— comment by Michael Stanton on November 7th, 2009 at 6:58pm JST (14 years, 11 months ago) comment permalink
Leave a comment...


All comments are invisible to others until Jeffrey approves them.

Please mention what part of the world you're writing from, if you don't mind. It's always interesting to see where people are visiting from.

IMPORTANT:I'm mostly retired, so I don't check comments often anymore, sorry.


You can use basic HTML; be sure to close tags properly.

Subscribe without commenting