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Topic Starter Topic: Re: currently reading....
MKJ
Messatsu Ko Jy-ouu
Messatsu Ko Jy-ouu

Joined: 24 Nov 2000
Posts: 39787
PostPosted: 09-23-2008 05:54 AM           Profile   Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


oh, no. wasnt implying such

daniel tammet, that savant guy whose able to describe how his mind works.
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Ryoki
Karot!
Karot!

Joined: 31 Jul 2001
Posts: 17717
PostPosted: 09-23-2008 05:56 AM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


Ow, ok. :)



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seremtan
Etile
Etile

Joined: 19 Nov 2003
Posts: 26776
PostPosted: 09-23-2008 09:04 AM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


am reading through iain m. banks's culture novels in more or less order of publication; up to 'excession' now

they're a decent enough read
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Grudge
Approaching the singularity
Approaching the singularity

Joined: 28 Jan 2002
Posts: 13393
PostPosted: 09-23-2008 09:53 AM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


I've read them all, good stuff.

Now reading The Road by Cormac McCarthy, it's depressing as hell, so I'm taking turns with that and The Moral Animal by Robert Wright.
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R00k
straight at you
straight at you

Joined: 18 Dec 2000
Posts: 27930
PostPosted: 09-23-2008 11:00 AM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


I finished The Road recently. I thought it was excellent. I may be biased, because I love his writing style, but I also thought the story was great.

Currently reading: Bangkok 8, by John Burdett. Great book, it's very refreshing for the mystery genre. Set in Thailand, and loaded with bits of Thai culture and personalities. If you like mysteries at all, you should check it out.
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Ryoki
Karot!
Karot!

Joined: 31 Jul 2001
Posts: 17717
PostPosted: 09-29-2008 03:54 AM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


Macchiavelli - Il Principe

I've always wanted to read this. Now i have it, muhaha! Too bad i need to apparently know all the ins and outs of rennaissance era Italian politics to even begin to understand what the man speaks about. Or so claims the extremely lengthy and dry foreword.

also:

In Praise of Barbarians - Mike Davis

I liked Buda's Wagon so i got another book by the same guy. Mostly fierce anti-imperialist essays with a severely depressed undertone. I figure it's good reading for when i'm angry at the world or something.



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R00k
straight at you
straight at you

Joined: 18 Dec 2000
Posts: 27930
PostPosted: 09-29-2008 08:00 AM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


I finished Bangkok 8, and it just got better the more I read. It seems that most mystery novels these days are just more of the same churned-out pulp to give addicts to the genre something to buy, which is why I never do read any of it -- though I've always loved Sherlock Holmes stories. This one came highly recommended so I picked it up, and I wasn't disappointed.

John Burdett has a gift. There will be some people who don't like this due to some of the anti-western sentiments, but if you're able to read between the lines you'll realize that it's just an honest expression of cultural differences, and also that it's more of a love/hate thing with the characters that's more subtle (and people who get bothered by that should take the stick out of their ass anyway).

The dialog is strong for this type of novel, and makes for interesting and entertaining reading. But the best part about the book is the twisted, sordid plot and the author's skill in unfolding it. Be prepared to learn about the Thai sex and drug trades and some of the police corruption that goes with them as well.
For fiction, I can't recommend this book enough.
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werldhed
EYE gee EM!
EYE gee EM!

Joined: 07 May 2004
Posts: 4196
PostPosted: 11-17-2008 11:49 AM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


bump...

Started reading Atlas Shrugged.

About 230 pages in so far and I'm about to give it up. Terrible, terrible book.
I picked it up because it was at the top of a list of "Greatest novels" I saw. This is the same list that suggested reading "A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man", so I guess I shouldn't be surprised. Maybe I misread "Worst" as "Greatest". :dork:

Seriously, though. Anyone else read this crap? Does it improve at all? Or should I just cut my losses and pick up something untainted by Ayn Rand? I made the mistake of sticking with "Portrait" to the end, hoping it would get better. I don't want to make that mistake again. :disgust:
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Underpants?
Elite
Elite

Joined: 21 Oct 2001
Posts: 6430
PostPosted: 11-17-2008 12:11 PM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


well, well, speaking of Atlas,
reading a novel of a famous debate peer of Rand's:
Alan Greenspan Age of Turbulence
actually pretty good. Have a lot of respect for the guy--much more so than Bernanke, at least.
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Peenyuh
Madman Philosophy
Madman Philosophy

Joined: 02 Jan 2008
Posts: 3782
PostPosted: 11-17-2008 01:34 PM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


Just cracked open.

Shit I Think About - Eddy Lepp



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Hannibal
Rationalis
Rationalis

Joined: 26 Nov 2000
Posts: 5927
PostPosted: 11-17-2008 02:03 PM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


werldhed wrote:
I should just cut my losses and pick up something untainted by Ayn Rand?


win



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HM-PuFFNSTuFF
Canadian Shaft
Canadian Shaft

Joined: 01 Mar 2001
Posts: 17303
PostPosted: 11-17-2008 04:16 PM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


werldhed wrote:
bump...

Started reading Atlas Shrugged.

About 230 pages in so far and I'm about to give it up. Terrible, terrible book.
I picked it up because it was at the top of a list of "Greatest novels" I saw. This is the same list that suggested reading "A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man", so I guess I shouldn't be surprised. Maybe I misread "Worst" as "Greatest". :dork:

Seriously, though. Anyone else read this crap? Does it improve at all? Or should I just cut my losses and pick up something untainted by Ayn Rand? I made the mistake of sticking with "Portrait" to the end, hoping it would get better. I don't want to make that mistake again. :disgust:

Ayn Rand is utter tripe.
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l0g1c
Don't be koi
Don't be koi

Joined: 06 May 2002
Posts: 2693
PostPosted: 11-17-2008 04:37 PM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


Uhm, you guys should be my friend. :paranoid:

http://www.goodreads.com/profile/blue_l0g1c
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werldhed
EYE gee EM!
EYE gee EM!

Joined: 07 May 2004
Posts: 4196
PostPosted: 11-17-2008 06:07 PM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


Hannibal wrote:
win


HM-PuFFNSTuFF wrote:
Ayn Rand is utter tripe.


Awesome. That's all I need to hear. I'll go find something else to read. Thanks. :)
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HM-PuFFNSTuFF
Canadian Shaft
Canadian Shaft

Joined: 01 Mar 2001
Posts: 17303
PostPosted: 11-17-2008 07:53 PM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


http://www.amazon.com/Bebop-Nothingness ... 0028704711
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Ryoki
Karot!
Karot!

Joined: 31 Jul 2001
Posts: 17717
PostPosted: 11-18-2008 04:44 AM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


Just finished Atilla the Hun by John Man

More chaotically written than his book on Ghengis Khan, but it's forgivable since there's so few reliable sources on Atilla (the Huns didn't have an alphabet, so everything about Atilla was written by his enemies). I just love how this guy paints a picture of a world that was so incredibly different from ours. He takes the time, for instance, to explain in detail what horseback archery means in terms of training and military significance, how it ends up altering the way you look when it's all you do from childhood, how mindbogglingly difficult it is to actually hit a target, let alone accomplish the feet of firing six arrows in ten seconds whilst in a gallop, the near-impossibility of the Parthian shot, etc.

He's a good writer, one of those historians with a wild imagination - but he remains very credible throughout his books.

Gonna hunt for his book on Kubalai Khan next :up:


Mao, The Unknown Story - Jung Chang & John Halliday

A sort of expose on Mao, where the two authors managed to speak to people in the know who had never spoken about Mao before and dove into archives only recently opened. The result is an incredible book, just incredible. Must read!


The Great Derangement - Matt Taibbi

Funny, tragic, makes you angry, makes you laugh. This guy can write.



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Last edited by Ryoki on 11-18-2008 04:59 AM, edited 1 time in total.
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busetibi
Necro
Necro

Joined: 02 Apr 2000
Posts: 8525
PostPosted: 11-18-2008 04:59 AM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


Lenin in Zurich-Solzhenitsyn.
bit of a disappointment after August 1914, but it is a second edition :)
and Willetts as a translator is a complete and utter twat



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Gaza's Shirt:
Sayyid Iman Al-Sharif (aka Dr Fadl)
Part 1.
http://www.aawsat.com/english/news.asp? ... 3&id=16980
Part 2.
http://www.asharq-e.com/news.asp?section=3&id=17003
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Ryoki
Karot!
Karot!

Joined: 31 Jul 2001
Posts: 17717
PostPosted: 11-18-2008 06:39 AM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


l0g1c wrote:
Uhm, you guys should be my friend. :paranoid:

http://www.goodreads.com/profile/blue_l0g1c


Hmm, funny site *mucks around with it*



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werldhed
EYE gee EM!
EYE gee EM!

Joined: 07 May 2004
Posts: 4196
PostPosted: 11-19-2008 12:09 PM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


After giving up on Atlas Shrugged, I picked up A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson.

I realized I didn't get a chance to finish it when I started about a year ago. Pretty good so far; have had a few chuckles. As an avid hiker myself, though, I'm already familiar with most of what he talks about. So I think it loses some the awe I imagine he's going for.
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Grudge
Approaching the singularity
Approaching the singularity

Joined: 28 Jan 2002
Posts: 13393
PostPosted: 11-19-2008 12:38 PM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


So I read "The God Delusion" by Richard Dawkins. Interesting, but not really anything new. I doubt any religious fanatics are "turned around" by reading it, so it's basically just preaching to the choir. That, plus the retoric gets a bit annoying at times left me a bit disappointed.

Then I read "The Moral Animal" by Richard Wright. A spirital successor to Dawkin's "The Selfish Gene" it offers very interesting evolutional take on human psychology. Plus, you learn a lot about the life of Charles Darwin, as the book is written around his life, comparing Victorian England to primitive societies and and the modern day. Very nice read, strongly recommended.

Now I'm reading "Nonzero" by the same author, which focuses on cultural evolution (as opposed to biological evolution in The Moral Animal), and it's main driving force - non-zero sum interactions. Not as solidly scientifically grounded as The Moral Animal, but still very interesting. It starts out with hunter-gatherer societies and moves on through history to the present day, and the last part of the book even goes into the future, and becomes rather speculative regarding the "purpose" of evolution and other teleological questions (he even talks at length about Teilhard de Chardain, which is a bit surprising, but entertaining nonetheless). I still have one chapter to go, but all in all it's a very interesting book, also strogly recommended, although I do recommend reading The Selfish Gene and The Moral Animal first.
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werldhed
EYE gee EM!
EYE gee EM!

Joined: 07 May 2004
Posts: 4196
PostPosted: 12-31-2008 06:50 PM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


Finished "A Walk in the Woods" (B. Bryson) awhile ago -- nice, interesting read; grossly disappointing ending for someone who's been on top of Mt. Katahdin.

Started and finished "Kim" (Rudyard Kipling) -- Great storytelling; colorful language; interesting characters. A bit obtuse, but in a way that makes you want to explore what's happening... makes you want to read more -- and rewards you for diligence. Mystique and heavy prose done right (unlike, for instance, Atlas Shrugged). Ending is a bit abrupt, but I found myself still contemplating the characters after I put it down, which was probably Kipling's goal.

Started and finished "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Universe" (D. Adams) -- Always wanted to read it, but never did, despite urgings from a friend all through middle and high school. I'm glad I finally found a copy. Great book; made me laugh. Didn't like his style of writing conversations, though. And again with the abrupt ending. I don't have a copy of "Restaurant" on me to just continue reading. :mad:

Hoping to find The Restaurant or King's Dark Tower series soon. Otherwise I'll start on "Slaughterhouse 5". Until then, I guess I'll see what else is in my Kipling collection...
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r3t
the watching eye
the watching eye

Joined: 08 Feb 2005
Posts: 683
PostPosted: 01-01-2009 06:05 AM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


werldhed wrote:
Hoping to find The Restaurant or King's Dark Tower series soon.


If you start with the Dark Tower, make sure you have all 8 books on hand; once you start there is no stopping :)
I'm currently reading Eon by Greg Bear, and have the other parts of the Thistledown series as well. Good stuff! I also managed to track down hardcover copies of Bear's Forge of God and Anvil of Stars, which are pretty hard to find.
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Foo
Timed Out
Timed Out

Joined: 02 Aug 2000
Posts: 37834
PostPosted: 01-01-2009 06:28 AM           Profile   Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


Found a 1897 copy of Sartor Resartus and a 1940 edition of 'A Programme for Progress'.

I found the combination ironic so I picked them up.
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Unisaw
The Afflicted
The Afflicted

Joined: 16 Aug 2005
Posts: 657
PostPosted: 01-01-2009 01:39 PM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


Outliers

Successful people are a product of luck and opportunity (and above average intelligence). Good read. Won't change your life (you're too old) but if you have kids it will give some insights.
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Therac-25
Linux Version
Linux Version

Joined: 04 Dec 1999
Posts: 2515
PostPosted: 01-01-2009 05:23 PM           Profile   Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


Just got Culture of Narcissism by Lasch with some xmas gift cards. Whenever I get time to actually read something, it should be worthwhile.
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Deathshroud
!Berserker!
!Berserker!

Joined: 22 Feb 2005
Posts: 1986
PostPosted: 01-01-2009 06:10 PM           Profile   Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


Anathem by Neal Stephenson
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Grudge
Approaching the singularity
Approaching the singularity

Joined: 28 Jan 2002
Posts: 13393
PostPosted: 01-02-2009 01:40 AM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


Just finished 'House Solar', Alastair Reynolds' latest. Unfortunately not as good as I had hoped, but entertaining none the less.

I just ordered 'Anathem' by Neal Stephenson and 'Saturn's Children' by Charles Stross, so I guess they are up next.
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Underpants?
Elite
Elite

Joined: 21 Oct 2001
Posts: 6430
PostPosted: 01-19-2009 11:52 AM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


Daemon, good book.
Rick (of feedburner and now google fame) Klau's review says it all, pretty much
http://tins.rklau.com/2007/04/daemon.html
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Grudge
Approaching the singularity
Approaching the singularity

Joined: 28 Jan 2002
Posts: 13393
PostPosted: 01-19-2009 12:03 PM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


sorry, but referencing and comparing it to the Matrix like that more or less automatically disqualifies it in my view
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Underpants?
Elite
Elite

Joined: 21 Oct 2001
Posts: 6430
PostPosted: 01-19-2009 12:49 PM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


k, I see the fanboyism there, too but mind that a lot of people were pretty much blown away by the first movie, Grudgey. Myself included.




Last edited by Underpants? on 01-19-2009 12:51 PM, edited 1 time in total.
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xer0s
Digital Nausea
Digital Nausea

Joined: 10 Feb 2001
Posts: 19002
PostPosted: 01-19-2009 12:51 PM           Profile   Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


Disqualifies it from what?
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Underpants?
Elite
Elite

Joined: 21 Oct 2001
Posts: 6430
PostPosted: 01-19-2009 12:52 PM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


from being lofty enough to greet Grudgey's eyebrows, would be my guess.
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Therac-25
Linux Version
Linux Version

Joined: 04 Dec 1999
Posts: 2515
PostPosted: 01-19-2009 12:56 PM           Profile   Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


The guy who wrote Daemon gave a talk last year, summary here. mp3 of talk.
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Grudge
Approaching the singularity
Approaching the singularity

Joined: 28 Jan 2002
Posts: 13393
PostPosted: 01-19-2009 01:20 PM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


ok, maybe it's unfair to judge a book based on the movie taste of a reviewer, but come on, the Matrix has to be one of the most overrated movies ever

it's not exactly bad, but it's not really that good either
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Mr.Sparkle!
Elite
Elite

Joined: 23 Nov 2000
Posts: 7553
PostPosted: 01-20-2009 07:00 AM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


I Hope They Serve Beer In Hell - Tucker Max.

So far so funny. :olo:
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