{"id":1236,"date":"2002-12-05T08:02:56","date_gmt":"2002-12-05T14:02:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ericsiegmund.com\/gazette\/2002\/12\/05\/20021205-treeware\/"},"modified":"2022-05-28T21:50:37","modified_gmt":"2022-05-29T02:50:37","slug":"20021205-treeware","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ericsiegmund.com\/fireant\/2002\/12\/05\/20021205-treeware\/","title":{"rendered":"Consuming Treeware"},"content":{"rendered":"

Do you find that you’re reading less nowadays? I know I don’t read like I once did; I do less <\/span>serious<\/strong> reading than I used to. I read constantly but it’s bits and pieces: technical documentation; web-based articles and news items, mostly related to my work; headlines on <\/span>WSJ.com<\/a> and <\/span>CNNSI.com<\/a>; and, more often, blogs like <\/span>Lileks.com<\/a> and <\/span>Meryl.net<\/a>. I tend to make a distinction between these sorts of short-attention items vs. books (aka treeware) that are made to be read from cover-to-cover.<\/span><\/p>\n

Don’t misunderstand. My reading habits are no less rewarding now, but I must confess to a sense of inadequacy when someone asks about the last book I read. (OK, it was Cascading Style Sheets: The Definitive Guide<\/em>,<\/a> by Eric Meyer…great plot but not much character development.) I can’t name any of the books on the NYT Bestseller lists<\/a> although now that I’ve followed my own link I can’t say that I feel like I’m missing much: Who Moved My Cheese<\/a><\/em> is still on the non-fiction list (how many years has it been?), and I see that John Grisham’s Skipping Christmas<\/a><\/em> is back on the fiction list (perhaps it’s the Director’s Cut).<\/p>\n

So, in order to salvage a bit of my reading reputation I offer for your consideration brief looks at a few “real books” that I’ve read and which might have escaped your attention. I was going to write some witty and insightful mini-reviews, until I realized that I have absolutely no credentials for doing so, other than having read the books. So, let’s just make a list, shall we, and let you decide how to proceed.<\/p>\n