Review: How the Irish Invented Slang: The Secret Language of the Crossroads

How the Irish Invented Slang: The Secret Language of the Crossroads by Daniel Cassidy

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



Personally, I think Cassidy goes to far and puts forward probably cognates as actual etymology, such as actually bothering to try and say we say "Mommy" and "Daddy" due to the Irish. But, the book is fun and convincing that he has actually cleared up a lot of "derivation unknown" slang, like "case the joint", "Dead Rabbit", "jazz", etc. Regardless of how valid the linguistics, the plethora of period quotes, newspaper excerpts, etc. and underworld details make this a fun read, even the dictionary portion.

A fun, whimsical assault on language history, this has the cartoonish appeal that could be make it a light, opening featurette to one of my fave books, John McWhorter's "Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue: The Untold Story of English".



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Review: How the Irish Invented Slang: The Secret Language of the Crossroads

How the Irish Invented Slang: The Secret Language of the Crossroads by Daniel Cassidy

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



Personally, I think Cassidy goes to far and puts forward probably cognates as actual etymology, such as actually bothering to try and say we say "Mommy" and "Daddy" due to the Irish. But, the book is fun and convincing that he has actually cleared up a lot of "derivation unknown" slang, like "case the joint", "Dead Rabbit", "jazz", etc. Regardless of how valid the linguistics, the plethora of period quotes, newspaper excerpts, etc. and underworld details make this a fun read, even the dictionary portion.

A fun, whimsical assault on his, it has the cartoonish appeal that could be make it a light, opening featureet to one of my fave books, John McWhorter's "Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue: The Untold Story of English".



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Review: America (The Book): A Citizen's Guide to Democracy Inaction

America (The Book): A Citizen's Guide to Democracy Inaction by Jon Stewart

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



This book has parts that are wildly funny, The Daily Show now rates with only 2 other authors that have made me LOL. (The others are [a:Woody Allen|10356|Woody Allen|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1198641626p2/10356.jpg] and [a:Hunter S. Thompson|5237|Hunter S. Thompson|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1206560814p2/5237.jpg] with [b:Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas|1319758|Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas |Hunter S. Thompson|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1182727882s/1319758.jpg|1309111].)

However well before half the book I was saddened and could only laugh at off-topic jokes like the news anchorman name generator gag. Why? Because the topical jokes are how sad, confused, muddled, unfair, and ridiculous the American political system and political discourse is. And, it is so true, too true to laugh at...



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Review: Ghost in the Wires: My Adventures as the World's Most Wanted Hacker

Ghost in the Wires: My Adventures as the World's Most Wanted Hacker by Kevin D. Mitnick

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



Along with [b:Catch Me If You Can|6139393|Catch Me If You Can|Frank W. Abagnale|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1266533813s/6139393.jpg|985716], Frank [a:Abagnale|5659606|Abagnale|http://www.goodreads.com/images/nophoto/nophoto-U-50x66.jpg] Jr.'s autobiography, and the classic [b:The Cuckoo's Egg: Tracking a Spy Through the Maze of Computer Espionage|18154|The Cuckoo's Egg Tracking a Spy Through the Maze of Computer Espionage|Clifford Stoll|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1166885571s/18154.jpg|19611] by [a:Clifford Stoll|30891|Clifford Stoll|http://www.goodreads.com/images/nophoto/nophoto-M-50x66.jpg], this is an amazing and exciting tale of pioneering social engineering, identify theft and evasion of the authorities. I really enjoyed this stroy of audacious crime and the author apparently never really trying to outrun his own eagerness to get over, as well as outrun the authorities.

Mitnick seems to accelerate from getting phone services unpaid, tapping into phone coversation, stealing proprietary code, other person's identities not to mention the work time and shipping costs of countless gullible marks without a twinge of guilt.

His ability to social engineer is the real skill, along with luck and an amazing memory, that every security administrator and anyone that answers a phone at work should be aware of. This book is a cautionary tale on many levels: not patching systems, trusting anyone that calls especially if they seem to be a colleague in need and the general pointlessness of trying to run from The Man.



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Review: Catch Me If You Can

Catch Me If You Can by Frank W. Abagnale

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



An amazing and exciting tale of pioneering check fraud, identify theft and evasion of the authorities. I really enjoyed this stroy of audacious crime and the author apparently trying to outrun his own eagerness to get over, as well as outrun the authorities.



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Review: An Introduction to Functional Programming Through Lambda Calculus

An Introduction to Functional Programming Through Lambda Calculus by Greg Michaelson

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



Probably, imperative programming is the inevitable professional path of the budding programmer that picks up this book. However, the career programmer can benefit from seeing how “the other half lives”. As one who has trained and hired software engineers over the years, I have seen that a mindset of iteration and conditional statements can often lead to inefficient designs. Someone with only an introductory knowledge of LISP or Haskell or general declarative principles as outlined here often can come up with more compact and efficient designs in object-oriented programming (OOP). The excellent chapter here on recursion highlights a key concept I find taught better through functional programming. I recommend that those serious about OOP read this as a “mind hack” to spark innovation and a fresh assessment of the tools at hand.

(Look for my full review to appear in MAA Reviews: http://mathdl.maa.org/mathDL/19/)



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Review: Destiny of the Republic

Destiny of the Republic by Candice Millard

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



A really amazing tale of the technology and times of Garfield's presidency and assassination. As it look like the GOP heads to their Tampa convention and a state as indecisive as they were in Garfield's time, the convention portion of the book that tells the story of how the office was thrust upon Garfield is relevant. (It is also interesting how the office was then thrust upoin Chester Arthur who was reviled as Garfield was loved, but apparently rose to the occasion. On love, the respect and adoration given by the press and people to Garfield is hard to believe in these days and recalls what I have about how FDR was treated and to a certain extent JFK.)

Millard weaves in two important subtexts: how American surgeons and particularly Garfield's attending doctors ignored Lister's sterilization techniques to Garfield's peril. Another story is that of Alexander Graham Bell. The Scottish inventory went to great trouble to invent the metal detector just to find Garfield's bullet only to frustrated at every turn.



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