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duffman91
oh yeah!
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PostPosted: 01-30-2011 10:06 AM           Profile   Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


Harper Lee - To Kill A Mockingbird
Never read it in HS (lazy). I picked it up again on a hunch and have been enjoying it.

Other than that, tons of Microsoft Certification Material. Project Management bullshit.
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Captain
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PostPosted: 01-30-2011 11:42 AM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


duffman91 wrote:
Harper Lee - To Kill A Mockingbird


The movie's better.
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xer0s
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PostPosted: 01-30-2011 12:21 PM           Profile   Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


No.
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GONNAFISTYA
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PostPosted: 01-30-2011 02:45 PM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


"The Elegant Universe"

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I had only seen the NOVA shows (about five times) but hadn't read the book. The book is mucho bene. Read it after you've watched the show to get a deeper understanding of the concepts.

I tried (again) to read "The Reality Dysfunction" but it's simply written in a way that makes an interesting story fucking horrible and tedious to read. In a book with roughly 10,000 pages it feels as if the author introduces 10 new characters every single page and yet takes 5 pages to introduce each of them, while adding gibberish such as "nanoneucleonic substrate quantum-flopperinski fulstrom vector inducers" onto every second page.

Image




Last edited by GONNAFISTYA on 01-30-2011 03:21 PM, edited 1 time in total.
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Mat Linnett
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PostPosted: 01-30-2011 03:12 PM           Profile   Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


Made a start on The Prince by Machiavelli, but it's heavy going, so lightened the load with some Charles Stross. The one I'm currently reading is Halting State, a near-future geek-fi novel about a heist in an MMO. I've read his "Laundry" series, and he just keeps getting better.
Most of my reading is now done on Kindle; it's an excellent device, and I think Amazon have finally cracked it, although the button layout could do with some work.
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Eraser
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PostPosted: 01-31-2011 01:28 AM           Profile   Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


Image
:shrug:
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Mat Linnett
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PostPosted: 01-31-2011 01:36 AM           Profile   Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


That's one Pratchett I haven't read Eraser.
Any good?
I recently read Nation, which was a fantastic book, and it was good to see Pratchett writing something that wasn't Discworld for once.
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Eraser
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PostPosted: 01-31-2011 01:44 AM           Profile   Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


It's a kind of special Disc World novel. It's a fully illustrated book. It's pretty short. Only 170 or so pages with some full pages illustrations in there.

It's about Cohen the Barbarian trying to blow up Cori Celesti (home of the gods) and Rincewind having to stop him. It's a funny one. Doesn't nearly have the depth of some other books like Nightwatch or Going Postal but as a short tale it's pretty enjoyable.
The illustrations are very nice as well.
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werldhed
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PostPosted: 01-31-2011 04:24 AM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


Lots of classics lately:

The Nibelungenlied - Anon.
The Decameron - Boccaccio
Canterbury Tales - Chaucer
The Secret Life of Words - Henry Hitchings
The Mabinogion - Trans. by Charlotte Guest
Oliver Twist - Dickens

Currently reading: At Home, A Short History of Private Life - Bill Bryson




Last edited by werldhed on 01-31-2011 05:45 AM, edited 1 time in total.
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Mat Linnett
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PostPosted: 01-31-2011 05:13 AM           Profile   Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


e-books readers really opened up classic literature for me. Having so much available for free is a real treat, and being able to get it in seconds just makes it that much easier.

Saying that though, the Kindle has made a larger dent in my pocket than my Sony Reader ever did, purely because the free wi-fi makes it so easy to buy a new book wherever I am.
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Eraser
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PostPosted: 01-31-2011 06:47 AM           Profile   Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


If the hacking community gets the Nook Color completely up to speed, it might be an interesting investment:

http://mobile.slashdot.org/story/11/01/ ... omb-Tablet
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Mat Linnett
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PostPosted: 01-31-2011 07:07 AM           Profile   Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


Not really interested in the Nook Color's screen for reading to be honest; I like the look and feel of e-ink.
Now if someone gets colour e-ink cracked, I'll be in like Flynn.
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plained
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PostPosted: 01-31-2011 07:22 AM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


i read keith richards book - life

yea it was ok



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Eraser
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PostPosted: 01-31-2011 07:26 AM           Profile   Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


Watch the Pixel Qi screens. They're not color e-ink but full-color LCD screens that can switch to (black and white) reflective (e-ink) mode. The Notion Ink ADAM is a tablet that will have such a screen. It's really nice.

edit:
here's a video of a laptop with a Pixel Qi screen in reflective mode, compared to the iPad:
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Therac-25
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PostPosted: 01-31-2011 06:20 PM           Profile   Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


Image

I just got a kobo from Chapters, and I'm now catching up on hundreds of books I've been meaning to read over the last decade.

Reading on this thing is damn addictive.
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U4EA
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PostPosted: 01-31-2011 06:38 PM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


Just recently finished Unweaving the Rainbow, fantastic book :up:
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Therac-25
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PostPosted: 02-01-2011 05:02 AM           Profile   Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


Going through this series that I've never gotten around to reading, despite how much I've been told I have to read it.

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Eraser
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PostPosted: 02-01-2011 11:48 PM           Profile   Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


Dark Tower series... I should read it as well. My brother was really enthusiastic about it.
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Therac-25
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PostPosted: 02-02-2011 05:05 PM           Profile   Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


Before I got very far in that book, I got distracted by The Inverted World. Back to Stephen King now.

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Getting an eBook reader makes reading novels addictive. News at 11.
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Therac-25
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PostPosted: 02-20-2011 06:34 PM           Profile   Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


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xer0s
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PostPosted: 02-21-2011 01:24 PM           Profile   Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


"On Liberating The Earth From Civilization"

Anything like Ishmael?
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xer0s
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PostPosted: 02-21-2011 01:25 PM           Profile   Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


werldhed wrote:
Canterbury Tales - Chaucer


One of my favorites. :up:
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Therac-25
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PostPosted: 02-21-2011 03:03 PM           Profile   Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


xer0s wrote:
"On Liberating The Earth From Civilization"

Anything like Ishmael?


Never read that. They appear to be on the same page in terms of ideas, but I don't really know. The book above is put together by Derrick Jensen, who is much more forward about his feelings about the need to do something about civilization. Probably his best work (that I've read) is Endgame (official site). (Endgame has no relation to the Alex Jones "thing").
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U4EA
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PostPosted: 02-21-2011 06:51 PM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


Image

Just finished, it's quite a fun read if you're a fan of the show. He does go on a bit about some para-military training he went through, but there's a lot of fun stuff as well. I especially enjoyed the part where he talks about training the blind guy to race around the track.

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Just started this. It's written by a couple of British journalists from The Guardian but evidently Assange disagrees with some of their accounts.
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menkent
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PostPosted: 02-21-2011 07:40 PM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


werldhed wrote:
The Nibelungenlied - Anon.


in zee german? haven't read (ie, skimmed) that since college. i remember liking it better than Parzival, but that may just be because it's a good deal shorter... and bloodier... and has a cameo appearance of Attila the Hun.

currently reading Hunger Games. i know it's very book-of-the-moment, but it's fun. like Ender's Game for girls.
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bam!
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PostPosted: 02-21-2011 07:51 PM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


Haven't had time to read a book in a while, but the last two were biographies on Count Basie and Jaco Pastorius.



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werldhed
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PostPosted: 02-22-2011 04:18 AM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


xer0s wrote:
werldhed wrote:
Canterbury Tales - Chaucer


One of my favorites. :up:


Yeah, I was surprised at how good it was. I hadn't read it before, and was expecting it to be similar to Le Morte d'Arthur, but it was actually quite witty. The Miller's Tale is comedy gold.

"This Nicholas had risen for a piss,
And thought that it would carry on the jape
To have his arse kissed by this jack-a-nape.
And so he opened window hastily,
And put his arse out thereat, quietly,
Over the buttocks, showing the whole bum;
And thereto said this clerk, this Absalom,
"O speak, sweet bird, I know not where thou art."
This Nicholas just then let fly a fart
As loud as it had been a thunder-clap,
And well-nigh blinded Absalom, poor chap"


That's quality literature right there. :olo:

menkent wrote:
in zee german? haven't read (ie, skimmed) that since college. i remember liking it better than Parzival, but that may just be because it's a good deal shorter... and bloodier... and has a cameo appearance of Attila the Hun.


nein. ich spreche kein deutsch. My wife speaks it though, so she's probably read it. It is pretty ridiculously bloody, and a couple of characters go Rambo on everyone, it's still pretty good. It does suffer from that medieval storytelling where much of the characters' actions make no logical sense. Attila (Etzel in my translation) was pretty awesome, though. But again, his action at the end of the book are sort of a big, "wait...wut?"


I'm now reading:

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Nightshade
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PostPosted: 02-22-2011 05:51 AM           Profile   Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


Studying for Professional Engineer license exam, so:

Image

Image

Image

Etc., etc. Pretty much anything on flow, level, pressure, or temperature measurement, PID control loops, tuning, blah, blah, blah.

Also finishing up this:

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and this:

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andyman
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PostPosted: 02-23-2011 05:32 AM           Profile   Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


Nightshade wrote:


Image



Little history lesson for ya: http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/ef668c ... pin-glover

"tesla was the electric jesus"
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menkent
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PostPosted: 02-23-2011 07:00 PM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


werldhed wrote:
It does suffer from that medieval storytelling where much of the characters' actions make no logical sense.


allegedly it all makes complete sense from the medieval point of view. sort of a "well, they killed my bro so i gots ta kill everyone else. no, really. everyone. it's a rule."

funnily enough, i recently tried to listen to a german audiobook of name of the rose... total shit. the book is probably fine, but the dramatization was lollercopters. i quit after the first cd.
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U4EA
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PostPosted: 02-24-2011 11:05 PM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


WoW-bot, ur trolling the wrong forumz lewl!
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Tsakali
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PostPosted: 02-24-2011 11:30 PM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


lol
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Tsakali
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PostPosted: 02-25-2011 01:43 AM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


Image

Good general introduction with some sprinkles of wtf due (do?) to lack of any explanation on the ideas being presented...yet, somewhat lacking fresh content but that's probably my fault for misunderstanding the audience intended. Also a little too short, but I can imagine an undertaking like writing a book is not such a trivial matter for him.
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werldhed
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PostPosted: 03-20-2011 07:49 PM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


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Ryoki
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PostPosted: 03-21-2011 01:09 AM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


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<3 barbara tuchman, she awesome



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