- Edward Johnston, Lessons in Formal Writing. If I remember correctly (and apparently I do), Johnston has been described as “the father of modern calligraphy”. All right, more or less. This is probably the last calligraphy-related purchase for a while… unless something else beautiful falls in my lap.
- Stephen Potter, The Complete Upmanship. This one (or one of the volumes it contains) was on my wishlist. I have on idea why. I’m very curious to see what sort of book it is, and why I wanted it. (There are benefits to having a memory like mine — you really can send yourself a surprise gift!)
- Merlijn Sevenster, Branches of imperfect information: logic, games, and computation. One lovely thing about working at a research institute is that every now and then, somebody comes knocking on your door and says “I’ve just written a book, would you like a copy?” Merlijn is becoming Dr. Merlijn early next month. Although it’s not precisely my thing, I’m quite looking forward to reading his thesis. With chapter titles like “Scotland Yard formalized” and “Appendix A: The boring parts of Chapter 6”, how could I not?