Your Gateway to Packet Radio by Stan Horzepa, WA1LOU

A book about packet radio for amateurs. I'm not sure how current it is, because it was first published in 1989, with a second edition in 1992. The age of the book is no better indicated than by the picture of a IBM PC-XT on the cover. I was surprised to find a section on TCP/IP.

I don't know enough about the subject to judge this book, but I did find it a revealing introduction. If nothing else, it gave me a grounding in the history of radio amateur packet radio.

Alpha Beta: How or Alphabet Changed the Western World by John Man

A chatty and readable history of the alphabet, the set of letters used to put the languages of Western Europe into writing. There are plenty of interesting aside, in particular the story of the Korean alphabet. The progress of alphabet development is discussed in terms of the theory of memes. It was pleasant to learn that languages that uses clicking sounds are only found in Southern Africa.

Appendices to the book contains a family tree of the alphabet and tables of alphabets.

A DNA sequence that produces a protein that goes to make eyes blue is a long way from those blue eyes that you can't get out of your mind since you saw them across a crowded room at a party last Thursday

The Radio Amateur's Satellite Handbook by Martin Davidoff, K2UBC

A book filled with information for anybody who wants to communicate with or using satellites, even tough it is exclusively about amateur satellites. The historic significance of all the satellites in the history of amateur radio is shown troughout.

Like many of the ARRL publications it belongs on the bookshelf of any professional.