Baffling guide to a paralell but familiar world, told through surrealistic short passages that are sort of semi-coherent. It is like the world that you experience in a half dream. There’s no obvious narrative; it reads like a guidebook to an imaginary culture.

It’s unusual to encounter a book with positive quotes in the blurb from Francis Fukushima and David Graeber. But Scott’s entertaining and accessible look at how the world appears with an "anarchist squit" has. And they are deserved, he covers the terrain in a way that is insightful but never preachy. Best thing I’ve read on anarchism for a general audience for some time.

Such an unusual idea for a book. I bought it in the legendary Shakespeare and Co. shop in Paris during my recent sojourn in that city. The story of Modernist and some postmodern architecture told through the lens of kids construction toys, from Richter blocks to Mecano. Hugely fun and with some interesting insights into architecture. And some really fascinating stuff about kids toys.

A pressie from my sister, this is an hilarious satirical account of the various towns of these isles, very much modelled after the Crap Towns book.

I was disappointed in how frequently this guide to effective presentations slipped into irritating corporate speak. Which is a shame, because the core idea of learning the language of visual communication is a strong one and well presented. But the useful material struggles to peek out between the horrendously earnest stories of TED talks, life coaches and other such bullshit.

Pure escapist entertainment this one, courtesy of nor’s dad. The story is about the Olympic contest between genetically engineered gladiators and how the US team’s computer designed entry is a bit more hardcore than anyone can have imagined. Read it in one go on the megabus to France!

Picked this up from our review pile at work because the typography was beautiful. It is a collection of short stories of modern life, energetic, poetic, satirical and occasionally poignant.

I downloaded password incorrect from feedbooks on a bit of a whim. It kind of reminds me of a near-futuristic and more silly Kafka. The author plays with the types of technologies that might be covered in Wired magazine but with a cynical and piss-taking eye. Recommended.

It’s pretty easy to find a copy of Wadler’s seminal paper on monads. I actually found it a lot clearer than much of the subsequent explanetory literature. More science papers should be written in such unpretentious and accessible prose.