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Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?

Started by Thurnez Isa, December 03, 2006, 04:11:35 PM

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Thurnez Isa

Quote from: LMNO on March 18, 2009, 11:57:51 AM
More on line with the original post, I'm reading The God Delusion, and I have to say that Dawkins is kind of a jackass.

To sum up the first 20 pages or so:

1. "When mystics and sages use the word "God", they are describing something different than when the everyday person uses the word "God".  So we're going to ignore and deride the people who have spent their lives studying their own spirituality, and go with the definition of the regular spag on the street."

2.  "When scientists use the word "religion," they mean something different than when the everyday person uses the word "religion".  So, out of respect to these great men of science, we are going to carefully parse and respect their use of the word, and show that their definition is far superior to the regular spag on the street's."

Blind Watchmaker is much better... It's basically got one attack, on topic and it's clear and rational
God Delusion was too encompassing, and kind of simplistic in it's view... I actually didn't get all the way through it though. I lost interest
Also The Selfish Gene is better, though it's a little out dated when dealing with genetics, but gave us the word "meme"
Through me the way to the city of woe, Through me the way to everlasting pain, Through me the way among the lost.
Justice moved my maker on high.
Divine power made me, Wisdom supreme, and Primal love.
Before me nothing was but things eternal, and eternal I endure.
Abandon all hope, you who enter here.

Dante

LMNO

Found it.

"Determining a word's number is only the beginning of the fun... Turning to one of  our number texts we find that "31" has several entries.  The two most important , in my opinion, are AL (אל) which is the simplest way to say God in Hebrew, and LA (לא) which means "not".  This reminds us of the first two [principles of my Kaballah teachings]; All is One, and All is Nothing.  Say what you want about Islam, but Allah is a great name for God!"

Thurnez Isa

Quote from: Thurnez Isa on March 18, 2009, 03:47:54 PM
Quote from: LMNO on March 18, 2009, 11:57:51 AM
More on line with the original post, I'm reading The God Delusion, and I have to say that Dawkins is kind of a jackass.

To sum up the first 20 pages or so:

1. "When mystics and sages use the word "God", they are describing something different than when the everyday person uses the word "God".  So we're going to ignore and deride the people who have spent their lives studying their own spirituality, and go with the definition of the regular spag on the street."

2.  "When scientists use the word "religion," they mean something different than when the everyday person uses the word "religion".  So, out of respect to these great men of science, we are going to carefully parse and respect their use of the word, and show that their definition is far superior to the regular spag on the street's."

Blind Watchmaker is much better... It's basically got one attack, on topic and it's clear and rational
God Delusion was too encompassing, and kind of simplistic in it's view... I actually didn't get all the way through it though. I lost interest
Also The Selfish Gene is better, though it's a little out dated when dealing with genetics, but gave us the word "meme"

also The Devil's Chaplain (which is collection of essays) and The Ancestor's tale
Ancestor's tale is one of the most amazing things you'll ever read
They are more science books but leads me to the conclusion that it's unfortunate that God Delusion has become his most well known book
Through me the way to the city of woe, Through me the way to everlasting pain, Through me the way among the lost.
Justice moved my maker on high.
Divine power made me, Wisdom supreme, and Primal love.
Before me nothing was but things eternal, and eternal I endure.
Abandon all hope, you who enter here.

Dante

That One Guy

Over the weekend I finally got around to reading Starship Troopers (Robert Heinlein) and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. I'd seen the (really, really, REALLY bad) movie for Starship Troopers, so I was prepared for the book to be pretty different.

I wasn't prepared for the overall arc of the plot/story being as good as it was, though. The description of boot camp, officer's training, etc. and the role of a future-Marine mechanized infantry in interstellar war were all presented in a way that kept the human/emotional element much more in the fore than I had expected. As a Heinlein fan I figured I'd enjoy it, but after seeing the movie I was expecting something more in line with Time Enough for Love or The Cat Who Walks Through Walls. I'd say it's on par with Moon is a Harsh Mistress, and only slightly less than Stranger in a Strange Land. Good stuff.

F&L in LV was, of course, excellent. I also picked up The Great Shark Hunt (collected works), and am currently on the F&L at Watergate section, which is a great follow-up to F&L on the Campaign Trail '72. I love reading about the Nixon era from HST's perspective, so it's been a great read so far.
People of the United States! We are Unitarian Jihad! We can strike without warning. Pockets of reasonableness and harmony will appear as if from nowhere! Nice people will run the government again! There will be coffee and cookies in the Gandhi Room after the revolution.

Arguing with a Unitarian Universalist is like mud wrestling a pig. Pretty soon you realize the pig likes it.

Suu

Deadpool: Games of Death One Shot. I also picked up the 1st 5 Deadpool comics in hardcover form, but I'm saving that for my trip to Florida.
Sovereign Episkopos-Princess Kaousuu; Esq., Battle Nun, Bene Gesserit.
Our Lady of Perpetual Confusion; 1st Church of Discordia

"Add a dab of lavender to milk, leave town with an orange, and pretend you're laughing at it."

Corvidia

Terry Pratchett's Feet of Clay. One of the very best of his works, along with Small Gods.
One for sorrow,
Two for joy,
Three for a girl,
Four for a boy,
Five for silver,
Six for gold,
Seven for a secret never to be told.

Dr Goofy

The Empowered Manager

Somebody shoot me!

Lyris_Nymphetamine

City of Bones by some random crappy teenage fiction writer.
i have a feeling this book will be worse than twilight.

Bu🤠ns

Quote from: Dr Goofy on March 24, 2009, 12:52:24 AM
The Empowered Manager

Somebody shoot me!

Join them.   JOIN THEM.  ... for the greater good.

Dr Goofy

Join the empowered mangers of the world? That is the plan but IDK how long i will last with my crazy ideas.

Corvidia

Quote from: Lyris_Nymphetamine on March 24, 2009, 04:12:07 AM
City of Bones by some random crappy teenage fiction writer.
i have a feeling this book will be worse than twilight.
Probably. It's by Cassandra Claire, right? She's a big-name fan in the fan ficition world and she's been accused of plagiarizing at least four characters in that book from the Harry Potter series (Harry, Hermione, Draco Malfoy and Ron, I think).

Passionate Declarations by Howard Zinn
One for sorrow,
Two for joy,
Three for a girl,
Four for a boy,
Five for silver,
Six for gold,
Seven for a secret never to be told.

Cain

The Age of the Warrior: Selected Essays by Robert Fisk.
Confronting the New Conservatism: The Rise of the Right in America, edited by Michael J. Thompson.

Kai

A Feeling for the Organism: The life and work of Barbara McClintock -- Evelyn Fox Keller

It includes the essay that bears the title, one that I've been waxing about for a while now. McClintock was the Charles Darwin of the 20th century, more or less, albeit much more focused than Darwin was. She caused a genetic revolution by cementing the chromosome as the gene holding unit, and discovering crossing over and transposition; all of this was found working on corn.
If there is magic on this planet, it is contained in water. --Loren Eisley, The Immense Journey

Her Royal Majesty's Chief of Insect Genitalia Dissection
Grand Visser of the Six Legged Class
Chanticleer of the Holometabola Clade Church, Diptera Parish

A.N. Other

Haunted by Chuck Palahniuk. Not as disgusting as everyone says it is, but it isn't as good as everyone says, either.

After that, Darkness At Noon by Arthur Koestler, which I have somewhere.
"Wow, for an asshole, everyone loves you, honey." -My wife

Richter

Quote from: Eater of Clowns on May 22, 2015, 03:00:53 AM
Anyone ever think about how Richter inhabits the same reality as you and just scream and scream and scream, but in a good way?   :lulz:

Friendly Neighborhood Mentat