Current Reading List

Here are the books that currently holding down my bedstand:

• Siberia Bound: Chasing the American Dream on Russia's Wild Frontier, Alexander Blakely
• Six Red Months in Russia: An Observer's Account of Russia Before and During the Proletarian Dictatorship, Louise Bryant
• The Siberians, Farley Mowat
• Ice Station, Matt Reilly
• From a Buick 8, Stephen King
• My Samoan Chief, Fay Calkins
• Get Your War On, David Rees and Colson Whitehead
• Steeltown, USSR: Soviet Society in the Gorbachev Era, Stephen Kotkin
• Fleeting Memories: Cognition of Brief Visual Stimuli, Veronika Coltheart
• Visual Intelligence: How We Create What We See, Donald D. Hoffman

Interesting notes about the above books: Blakely, who wrote Siberia Bound, was the business development manager at KnowNow, where a bunch of people I know work or have worked. Bryant's book was written in 1919, but much of what she writes about Russia is still relevant today. Matt Reilly's book is pure "trash fiction". As long as you can sustain your suspension of disbelief to the end of the book, you'll finish it - it reads like a bad Hollywood blockbuster movie plot. The Coltheart book (Fleeting Memories) is beautifully printed and stuffed full of excellent essays about cognitive psychology and is a must-read for any designer who wants to understand the psychology behind why logos and typography work the way they do.