Kevin Lawver

The Best Joker Story

I know, I know, there are so many, but it's really that good.

Read it and witness the greatness.

Seriously.

One of the shortest, but hardest to get through, books I've ever read. If you read this and aren't changed by the end, you're either perfect or beyond saving.

So much fun. It feels like reading a television show. Each chapter moves the main story along, but they each have their own distinct set of influences.

It's a fascinating story made better by where it's set and the main characters. It's a little slow to start, but check it out. The ride is worth it.

A Good Intro

Don't know where to start with Baldwin? Start here and then keep going. It's as if he's sitting right next to us and watching current events unfold.

It's a collection of unrelated essays. There are some that are great, and some that aren't. The great ones far outweigh the others though, so... FOUR STARS!

I love this book. One of the best pieces about writing and what it means to be a capital “W” writer.

I gave it five stars for the stuff I didn't write...

It's not normally bad that a book has a point of view, but when it ignores all evidence that disputes its perspective, something's wrong. The first half of the book is pretty engaging and does a good job of telling the story of how the internet developed, but the second half is both dense and sometimes hard to read.

Of all the stuff he wrote after Kindergarten, this one is my favorite. It's a great examination of the rituals we go through in our lives, and how we can get through them - without a lot of moralizing or preaching.

It doesn't hold up over time, and as I've grown up and experienced a lot of the stuff he writes about, but I looooved this book when I first read it.

This is a fantastic book to go to for inspiration - when you need that perfect quote for a presentation, or anywhere else you need to illustrate a point. Good, good stuff.

This book is a good one to give to young kids getting married. My wife and I read it some time in the first year of our marriage, and it really helped get over some rocky spots.

It's a great desk reference, but not something to rely on to learn Ruby.

One of the funniest, stupidest, blokeyest, craziest things I've ever heard of, and written with a fantastic wry sense of humor, this book is a classic. I won't spoil it, but this is what happens when friends let friends get carried away...

This one's crazy. It's a good read, but won't stick with you. It's no classic, but it'll keep you glued to it. I love books like this for long plane rides. I was taken out of my uncomfortable seat on my flight to Bangalore to a corrupt and broken Arkansas and didn't leave it until the wheels hit the runway.

A great introduction to the concepts behind DOM scripting, the basics of progressive enhancement and a lot of good use cases and examples, in a great conversational tone.

A great mind-expander.

This is a good crossover book - a little bit of CSS for designers and a little bit of design for nerds trying to understand the concepts. No great revelations to be had, but it is pretty.

I don't read a lot of history, because it's usually really boring. But, this book is an amazing chronicle of dedication, ingenuity and perseverance - the 60+ year story of the making of the Oxford English Dictionary. I know, I didn't think it was going to be a good read either when someone recommended it to me, but it is. It's intelligent without being stuffy, and brings a wonderful human face to the people who worked so hard for so long to produce the dictionary. A real classic.

I used to call this book “The Orange Bible”. I made my company buy dozens of copies to hand out to developers, managers and executives. If you're still building web sites with tables and font tags, you need to go out right now and get this book (well, get the second edition - it's green). It's a great introduction to web standards for folks at every level of an organization, and has some great tips and tricks.

I don't know if this or Garp is my favorite Irving novel. This is a little book, but I love it. The easy sense of adventure, and the wonderful characters make this a must-read. I think I've read it four times...

It's not as good as Them, but there are parts of this book that are just as funny and just as chilling. It just doesn't hold the same quality throughout.

This book is amazing. It effortlessly switches between funny and chilling, serious and silly. A great look at the dark underworld of extremists and the people who follow them. A great read.

One of the best mini-series ever. It's an eye-opening, and totally different comics experience. It takes the superhero mythos and turns it on its head. The art by Duncan Fegredo is gorgeous and the overall look of the book will stick with you long after you've finished the last page.