Now all I need is an app to find where I left my phone! ....has anyone seen it?

by Dave Ramsey...or a similar book about how to create a budget, how to stick to it, and some common sense answers about debt, credit, loans, and investing (I don't really care if you pick Ramsey's book, or a different one on the same subject, but his is very straight-forward, and easy to understand the key points). I'm sure it's not a popular subject with most of the Slashdot crowd, but the OP did say books "everyone should read". Everyone really doesn't need to read the Hobbit, but everyone should know how to manage their money: it's an essential life skill in 1st world countries.

I used to work for a company that made technology for railroads. Some of the engineers, that didn't mind the travel, spent a lot of time flying out to customer field sites to do all sorts of various work that didn't involve standing at a desk. Collecting field data, climbing into locomotives to install new software or hardware, giving demos, or just going out into the field to test new ideas. Yes, there was certainly a fair share of sitting down involved, but that was sometimes balanced out by spending an hour or two walking around a rail yard or similar activity.

You have an IP, you have a vague location, and you have an e-mail address that the perp is likely reading. If you can't get law enforcement to do anything about it, and all else fails, they don't have to know that. Send an e-mail telling them that the laptop they are using is stolen property, you have the IP address, which can be used to track their exact location, then give them the location info that you have been able to track. Tell them that you are giving them one chance to respond personally and arrange for return of the stolen property before you contact the authorities to have them arrested. Remind them of the severe criminal penalties for such a theft, and you can even throw in some digital crime mumbo-jumbo (which may or may not actually be prosecutable), to trump up the charges to felony.

The ability to communicate with the possible thief (or eventual owner) is a powerful thing, so if you can't find any other route, don't waste that chance. If it's already been resold, then the new owner may be more than willing to negotiate a return. I had my laptop stolen early last year, and after endlessly calling pawn shops, scouring Craigslist and Ebay for months, we finally gave up. I was perfectly willing to take matters in to my own hands if I saw it turn up on ebay or craigslist, knowing full well that the local Police as much as admitted there was little they could do about it.