The reading list...

You're buying me brewskies for making me do this, aren't you sriramb? ;-)

1) Total number of books owned?

I'd guess my personal cache is about 400++. I have about 450 non-technical books on my laptop (not including audio-books), and about 2 GB of technical books (45,506 files, 1,393 folders) - that's I'd say about 1,000 or so technical / quasi-technical books.

2) The last book bought?

'Piece of Cake' by Derek Robinson - a very realistic look at the young lives of RAF pilots in a fictional RAF bomber squadron maturing through the course of WWII.

( See more on 'Piece of Cake' )

3) The last book you read?

His Dark materials trilogy by Philip Pullman - enthralling read about a little girl who travels between many worlds, and challenges the creator.

( See more on 'His Dark Materials' )

4) 5 books that mean a lot to me

i) The Cuckoo's Egg: Tracking a Spy Through the Maze of Computer Espionage, by Clifford Stoll.

A review and excerpts from this book that appeared in a Reader's Digest issue more than a decade ago implanted the idea of the cyber age in my head.

I greatly admire the hacker lifestyle of Cliff Stoll's generation - when technology was still complex enough to be geeky, and yet computers were far removed and obscure enough to not be burdened with bureaucracy. Sort of like the Wild West!

I'm still so in love with the 80's computer geek lifestyle, when computers were just for the geeks!

( See more on 'The Cuckoo's Egg' )

ii) Open Sources: Voices from the Open Source Revolution

I'm trying hard to find a single book or source that stands for The open source revolution. This comes the closest. One of the many books that convinced me that I was on the right path.

( See more on 'Open Sources' )

iii) The Wooden Horse, by Eric Williams

Absolutely the best prison-breakout story ever, and it all happened. I remember this book mainly because it was among the earliest books I can remember reading. It was my sister's copy. It was my favorite form of procrastination, along with 'The Count of Monte Cristo'. I would read it everytime I was supposed to be in my room working on my homework, or preparing for a test. I guess I was about 10 or 12 then.

( See more on 'The Wooden Horse' )

iv) The Great Indian Novel, by Shashi Tharoor

Shashi Tharoor is one of my favorite writers. This is a nifty description of modern India via the Mahabaratha, and I find myself gifting this book to many friends. It's not easy to choose among his books, but I'm trying to align my favorite books with my interests, and this wins.

( See more on 'The great Indian novel' )

v) Swami and Friends, by R.K. Narayan

The book is a well written funny account of the heavy burdens that are carried by a 10 year old boy in 1930's India. This book won't win any prizes, but Narayan is a good story teller. Another book that I remember reading as a kid; this time from my father's collection.

( See more on 'Swami and friends' )

5) Passed on to

Since I enjoyed this so much, I will pass this on; with no strings attached:
madrasi
dleed
sunson
vigneshvg
skarra
karbak
yogini
crabbycool