Getting Programming/IT Books in Karachi (and Pakistan)

When I tell my folks that I buy books from amazon.com, some of them look very surprised for two reasons: firstly, they are surprised to know that those guys deliver in Pakistan, and secondly, they ask me in wonder, "You spend $30 to $50 for a book?" Well, yes, I do. Most of the books I get from amazon.com are worth more than their cost.

Usually anything related to Computer Science or Logic with more than 4 stars rating is a must have for me. See, for example, My Wishlist on amazon.com. But I do agree that buying this way is not a nice thing to do if I can get the same books from a local vendor, specially considering the low priced Asian editions.

So, I fired up my browser this weekend and thoroughly went through Liberty Books and Paramount Books. By the way, I have never liked the collection at Liberty Books. On the other hand, I was surprised to see that Paramount Books has cataloged their complete collection on the web.

Now, Paramount Books has rented a house near Tariq Road acting as a big bookstore. I went there yesterday and asked if they could arrange books for me. The guy at the reception was happy to oblige. You can also write to them at info AT paramountbooks dot com dot pk if you want some specific book which they don't have; address the email to Mr. Nabeel. I bought the below mentioned books (the table shows the price of the same book at amazon.com, and no, I didn't buy pirated copies):

	Price at amazon.com	Paramount Books
Dynamic Logic (MIT Press)	$59	Rs. 355
Integration Patterns (Patterns and Practices) (MS Press)	$30	Rs. 475
Rebel Code: Linux and the Open Source Revolution (Penguin Books)	$12	Rs. 395
Unix Application Migration Guide (MS Press)	$50	Rs. 595

Needless to mention that you get 2 days shipping within Pakistan if you buy from Paramount Books. Shipping within Pakistan is free, and of course, you can visit them yourself as well.

On the programming magazines side, its funny that Liberty Books' website says that they deal in MSDN and Dr. Dobbs Journal. I wrote them a few days back but the response was negative. Paramount Books doesn't deal in magazines.

Apart from these, some booksellers (non-IT specific) are covered here and here. Some libraries are covered here.

Alice in Wonderland

There are good chances that you already know about Alice and her Wonderland. Perhaps, you saw the cartoon movie or read the book itself. Or perhaps you were made to read an excerpt from it as part of your textbook.

I read some part of the story during my school days (perhaps in 6th grade). I found it very stupid as it made no sense to me. There was no "moral of the story" that you learn at the end, like other stories for children. But years later I came to know about the author: Lewis Carroll (pen name). He was a mathematician!

I couldn't believe that somebody good at logic could write a story like this. More years passed and I happened to come across a few passages from the story. Here is one for your reading pleasure:

"Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?"

"That depends a good deal on where you want to get to," said the Cat.

"I don't much care where --" said Alice.

"Then it doesn't much matter which way you go," said the Cat.

"--- so long as I get somewhere," Alice added as an explanation.

"Oh, you're sure to do that," said the Cat, "if only you walk long enough."

I think this is a very well written anecdote. Some more years passed and I faced an interesting question in my Software Engineering Using Formal Methods course:

Given that

Some pillows are soft.
No sticks are soft.

Which one of these can you conclude?
(a) Some pillows are not sticks.
(b) Some sticks are not pillows.

It's a slightly modified form of a puzzle by Lewis Carroll. It's a very interesting exercise to solve this puzzle. I'll tell the answer in comments and some hints on how to solve such things.

Now, I was pretty sure that though Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (that's the original name) is for children but it's not that stupid. Fortunately, the complete work is available as part of Project Gotenburg.

Lastly, here is another excerpt from the story:

"I couldn't afford to learn it." said the Mock Turtle with a sigh. "I only took the regular course."

"What was that?" inquired Alice.

"Reeling and Writhing, of course, to begin with," the Mock Turtle replied; "and then the different branches of Arithmetic-- Ambition, Distraction, Uglification, and Derision."

"I never heard of Uglification," Alice ventured to say. "What is it?"

The Gryphon lifted up both its paws in surprise. "What! Never heard of uglifying!" it exclaimed. "You know what to beautify is, I suppose?"

What baffles me is, "how on earth do children enjoy this story?" It's really for grown up people who can understand the satire, the logic and the paradox referred to. Now, I really want to meet those kids who like this story and ask them what's interesting in it for them.

Or perhaps, it's the parents who don't understand anything out of it and then think that it might be very funny for their children.