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Netsurfer Recommendations

Don Quixote
Miguel de Cervantes, Edith Grossman (Translator)
Ecco; ISBN: 0060188707

Every literary historian will tell you that this 16th-century work is the first modern novel. Cervantes used just about every modern literary trick to tell his tale of the elderly knight errant and his faithful companion, Sancho Panza. The book is many things: a great adventure; a funny parody of knightly valor; a poignant look at gentle madness; a love story. Edith Grossman, an award-winning translator of modern Hispanic authors, spent two years producing this work. Her translation is thoroughly modern but faithful to the original tone and wit. It is a perfect introduction to Cervantes for the modern reader who might be put off by trying to read cumbersome 500-year-old text. No, there's nothing cumbersome about this story, a sprawling and funny adventure as entertaining today as the day it was written. Highly recommended, and required reading for - well, for anybody who reads.

Quantum Computation and Quantum Information
Michael A. Nielsen, Isaac L. Chuang
Cambridge University Press; ISBN: 0521635039

The field of quantum computation has only formally existed since the mid-1980s although of course it relies on the seminal work in quantum physics and classical computing carried out in the first half of the 20th century. While the vast majority of quantum-computing science has appeared primarily in the pages of scientific journals, this book is the first major attempt to produce a college-level textbook about the subject. The authors suggest that newcomers to the field can use their book as a basis for a course of study, and current researchers can keep it as a broad work of reference. While the authors make a good effort at developing the theory of quantum computing from first principles, the book will be most useful to people who have at least an undergraduate understanding of computer science and mathematics. The book has one major flaw - and it's a big one. It lacks answers to the practice exercises in each chapter. Nevertheless, this is a first-rate resource for anybody who wishes to learn the serious guts of quantum-computing theory. We should also note the enthusiastic and informal tone of the writing. These guys are really excited about the subject and dispense with the dry-as-dust presentation of "serious" textbooks.

Gridlinked
Neal Asher
Tor Books; ISBN: 0765307359

Space opera with a James Bondian flavor, and a bit of shredded cyberpunk thrown in - how's that for a description? Ian Cormac is a burned-out special agent in a far future interstellar culture that features the technology of matter transmitters, called "runcibles". Cormac's mission is to investigate a runcible-related disaster that wiped out an entire human planetary colony. Because the runcible on the formerly colonized planet was destroyed, Cormac must travel there by ship. Meanwhile, a terrorist with a grudge and his pet killer android are pursuing Cormac, who spends much of the time shaking off the debilitating effects of overindulgence on the future AI Net. At the ex-colony, a shadowy, possibly alien intelligence is lurking and plotting. All in all, it makes for a gritty, satisfying, futuristic hard-SF thriller by a writer worth watching.

The Snowflake: Winter's Secret Beauty
Patricia Rasmussen (Photographer), Kenneth George Libbrecht
Voyageur Press; ISBN: 0896586308

Sometimes, we just toss out a beautiful book strictly on the principle that eye candy is fun. Thus we give you this work, a beautiful look at snowflakes. In any bookstore, Patricia Rasmussen's many huge and finely detailed photos of various snow crystals will make you pick up this book and start you browsing. As you flip through the pages, you'll get sucked into the science of snow and snowflakes as elucidated by Cal Tech professor Kenneth Libbrecht. It's a neat book with a timely topic, either for your coffee table or for the kid in your life who likes science. If you're really hardcore about snow crystals, you'll need to check out " Snow Crystals", with its over 2,000 photographs of individual snowflakes.