Guus Bosman

software engineering director


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Here I keep track of some of the books that I've read, often with a short review and some personal thoughts. These are only a selection since I read a lot more books for work.

I like to read book in their original languages where possible: French, German, Dutch, English and I even read three books in Bulgarian. Here is the list of books I'd like to read. See also books about technology or management, and my all-time favorite books.

I'm an engineer, and enjoy science fiction novels. Some of my favorite authors are Vernor Vinge, Terry Pratchett and LE Modesitt Jr. No overview of my reading habits would be complete without mentioning The Economist -- I love that magazine.

Books below are in order of date read; this overview starts in October 2002.


Murder in Amsterdam - The Death of Theo van Gogh and the Limits of Tolerance

I ordered this book from Amazon.com based on a review in The Economist. I'm really interested in the he relationship between Islamic fundamentalism and Western liberal values, and to get more insight in the background of the brutal murder on Theo van Gogh in November 2004.

Ian Buruma
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English

The House - the History of the House of Representatives

The House is a great book about the great story of the U.S. House of Representatives. Robert Remini has done a marvelous job bringing to live the history and development of politics and culture in the House, from its early days in the late 1700s until today.

Robert V. Remini
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English

De wereld volgens Maarten van Rossem

My parents sent me a very nice book by Maarten van Rossem, one of my favorite Dutch pundits. He is a historian and a frequent guest in many TV shows. He's a specialist on U.S. history and politics, but in his latest book he puts the Netherlands and world politics in the spotlight. It's titled De wereld volgens Maarten van Rossem, the world according to Maarten van Rossem, in his gently arrogant style.

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Dutch

A People's History of the United States

Initially I was disappointed with this book. I started reading the last chapter, on 9/11 and the war on terror, because I was curious what a historician would write about this recent events. However, the left-wing partisanship of the author showed very clearly and was annoying. There is nothing wrong with being against a war, but I was not expecting such obvious activism in a history book. This was, looking back, my own mistake -- the back of the book clearly states that this is a book written by someone with a mission.

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English

Fahrenheit 451

What struck me most in the book, especially in the first chapters, was the total desolateness of the main character. Everything around him goes wrong: his marriage is falling apart, his society , he starts doubting everything in life and becomes a refugee. The second part of the book offers a small glimpse of hope that life might be better in the future and the story became less gloomy.

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English

Guns, Germs And Steel

This book, a Pulitzer Price winning publication by Jared Diamond, has gotten a lot of attention in the media. Recently the author wrote a book on the collapse of civilizations so Guns, Germs and Steel got some new publicity as well. I bought a hard cover version at Barnes & Nobles, because it's a book that I want to keep.

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English

The Secret Life of Bees

This is a wonderful book. The story starts out sad but becomes a beacon of hope and love in the later chapters -- the book is sad, funny, melancholic and deeply touching. The main subject of the book is female power, and strength that women can give to each other, situated against a back-drop of the civil rights movement in the 1960's in America's South.

Sasha read this book first after a very good review in The Economist and recommended the Secret Life of Bees to me.

Sue Monk Kidd
0-14-200174-0
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English

The Five People You Meet In Heaven

"This is a story about a man named Eddie and it begins at the end, with Eddie dying in the sun." The first sentence of this book is a good example of the beautiful writing style of the author, Mitch Albom, who became famous with her book "Tuesdays with Morrie".

It's a story about the life of Eddie, written in a dreamily and poetic way. A book that nurtures the heart and gives you a warm feeling inside.

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English
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It Was on Fire When I Lay Down on It

When I arrived in Middenmeer after moving from Haarlem, I discovered a small book in the attic. It was a very quick book to read; I was done in three hours but certainly very nice. The book has a very optimistic tone, humoristic and with faith in humanity.

I specifically liked the articles on the weddings the author describes. Very funny and I'm looking forward to read the other bestseller by this other, "Everything I need to know I learned in kindergarten".

Robert Fulghum
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English

An Introduction To American English

As a sort of preparation for my moving to the U.S. I borrowed this nice book from the library. It is a very entertaining read on the differences between American English and British English. Not only on the grammatical differences and differences in vocabulary (which are interesting enough), but also on the cultural differences and different metaphors used in the two languages (such as many sport-based metaphors).

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English

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