Book Tag from The Emirates Economist

Having been tagged by John Chilton, here are my responses to the five questions:

1. Total number of books I have owned
   
   Assuming that the questions means the number books that I have owned throughout my life, I'm going to guess somewhere between 1500 and 2000. Since I'm getting ready to move to the UAE, I have been getting rid of books like crazy. I figure I'm down to about 200 or so.



2. Last book I bought
   
   Microsoft Windows 2000 Scriping Guide. Like all programmer types, I'm lazy.
   Any task I can automate I will, even if I have to read 1500 pages to learn how ;).



3. Last book I read
   
   Heretic by Bernard Cornwell. My library got the first book of Cornwell's Grail Quest series, The Archer's Tale (or Harlequin, it's UK title) in our new popular reading collection and I got hooked. I had to request the other two books, Vagabond and Heretic through ILL.



4. Five books that mean a lot to me
   
   
   
   
   • The Bible. My favorite translation for reading is the New King James Version that my wife bought me for my birthday 11 years ago, but I have about 10 different translations.
   
   
   • When Wish Replaces Thought: Why So Much of What You Believe Is False. I am a contrarian by nature, so Steven Goldberg's book, which questions so many things that modern society holds dear or refuses to discuss or consider, was fascinating to me.
   
   
   • Ender's Game. This book introduced me to Orson Scott Card, who is now my favorite Sci-Fi writer.
   
   
   • The Noblest Triumph: Property and Prosperity Through the Ages by Tom Bethell. This book taught me the value of private property and introduced me to the concept of the "tragedy of the commons".
   
   
   • The Wisdom of Crowds: Why the Many Are Smarter Than the Few and How Collective Wisdom Shapes Business, Economies, Societies and Nations. This book helped (I hope) me overcome my elitist disdain for the "common people".
   
   
   
   



5. Tag five people and have them do this on their blog
   
   This is the toughest one for me, since I don't know five bloggers to tag. So I'm tagging Ben, Henry, Kendall, Kevin and Sheri. Now you all have to start blogs and answer these questions.