The Man in the High Castle

A PKD book. Its an excellent read, like most PKD books. The pessimism doesnt run as deep here as in the other books. Its an alternate history novel, with Germany and Japan winning WWII, and Italy turning traitor, the breakup of the USA, continent scale genocide in Africa, and German ambitions of expansion in space.
The Japanese life is very nicely depicted, especially the use of the I Ching, which becomes a core part of the culture of native americans living in the Japanese controlled Pacific States of A. Much like the current US influence over Japan.
The ending left many questions, but like most PKD novels and some short stories, the story lies in the meat, rather than in the ending.

Great read, dont miss it.

What are the chances?

Another popular reading probability book. Why do I keep reading these when I know all this stuff?
Its worth a skip. While examples are well-used etc, you're better off reading Coincidences, Chaos and all that Math Jazz, which itself isnt the best.
The treatment on climate change is quite outdated too, though it was only written in the current decade.

My personal favorite Mathematics books were from Mir publishers. There was this Yakob Perelman or some such person who wrote "Mathematics can be fun". Do read it if you can find it.

Lies Inc

The story, begins with the protagonist realizing that he's the victim of subliminal dreams implantation carried out by the police-state. In the dreams, he's a rat, competing with other rats for pieces of days old cheeseburger, or pieces of string.
Now who else could have written this, but PKD.
Despite the melancholy beginning, the plot is quite impressive. Set a few decades in the future, it tells the story of an heir of interstellar ferries, trying to compete with the newly harnessed teleportation industry. A three-way deadlock between the police(Lies, Inc), the UN and the teleportation company(THL for Trails of Hoffman Ltd., i think) forms the background.
Rachmael Von Applebaum, the heir, is convinced there's something fishy about the whole teleportation setup. the  offered scientific explanation for one-way(outward bound) teleportation does not convince him. and perhaps driven by inability to compete with the much cheaper and faster teleportation and his impending bankruptcy, he decides to visit the fomalhaut system to verify the facts for himself.

PKD meanders the story through several twists and turns, making it hard for Rachmael(and us readers) to distinguish between reality and hallucinations.
Its definitely a good read, and I suggest you do read it. the first half was published earlier as "The unteleported  man". Its not tough to imagine that that would have made an excellent book too.

Tomb Raider comics

Games are way better, although the comic does have more visual appeal. I'd been looking for these comics for a while, and when I finally did find them, they were a wee bit disappointing. And by that - I mean they werent much greater than the X-Men, Justice League and other DC and Marvel  junk.
The reason my expectations were high to begin with is that I'd had this image of Lara Croft as a real hero, an ordinary person but with extraordinarily quick thinking and reflexes, coupled with a devil-may-care attitude while not actually truly rash.

Amongst the Tomb Raider games, my favorites to this day remain The Last Revelation and the Tomb Raider Chronicles, in that order. The newer ones sport nicer graphics, they indeed have become somewhat diluted now.

Bahamian Blue Seas

National Geographic August issue, another exciting issue. I believe Nat Geo magazines are the second most perfect thing to let kids read(after Tintin, of course). It helps them understand the scale of human civilization. Thats exactly what happened to me when I was knee-high.
This issue talks about Bahamian blue holes, of whose existance I was incognizant. The tri-country railroad in the caucasus that will link Far East Europe to the rest of the European Union, Rhinos of Kaziranga were run-of-the-mill Nat Geo articles. That is not a negative connotation, mind you.
As usual articles are crisp and to the point, yet succeed in providing a snippet of lives in these dioramas.
Also featured are Egyptian whales, one of the stronger pieces of evidence that undermine intelligent design as a means of explaining whale evolution.
Reminds me to read the Selfish Gene soon, I bought it about 3 years ago, still havent read it!