Principia Discordia

Principia Discordia => Literate Chaotic => Topic started by: Thurnez Isa on December 03, 2006, 04:11:35 PM

Title: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Thurnez Isa on December 03, 2006, 04:11:35 PM
surpised we didnt have a thread like this
unless im going blind in my old age

"Doomsday 50 Visions of the end of the world"

Nigel Cawthorne

kind of mediocre but interesting in a way
only cost me 5 dollars though  :-)
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: East Coast Hustle on December 03, 2006, 04:16:53 PM
we did.

it died a merciful death long ago during the schism.

I'm reading Robert Greene's Laws of Power again.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on December 03, 2006, 04:27:12 PM
I moved the original to the library after some thread diving a while back.  If you want, I can combine.  And I'm reading Glaser and Kaufmann "What is the offense defense balance and how can we measure it?"
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on December 04, 2006, 01:14:45 PM
Sadly, I don't really have much time to read anymore.

But the last thing I read was Will Self's "Cock and Bull".

Kafka-esque satire, ftw.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on December 04, 2006, 01:21:12 PM
Self's a good chap.  He's put alot of the Rush Limbaugh wannabe's in this country firmly in their place.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Suu on December 04, 2006, 03:22:36 PM
I've started reading A Booke of Days again by Stephen J. Rivele. It's a chronicle of a knight during the 1st Crusade and is an actual translation of an existing journal.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: P3nT4gR4m on December 04, 2006, 10:15:17 PM
Quote from: kaousuu on December 04, 2006, 03:22:36 PM
I've started reading A Booke of Days again by Stephen J. Rivele. It's a chronicle of a knight during the 1st Crusade and is an actual translation of an existing journal.

No it's not.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Thurnez Isa on December 04, 2006, 10:23:58 PM
Quote from: kaousuu on December 04, 2006, 03:22:36 PM
I've started reading A Booke of Days again by Stephen J. Rivele. It's a chronicle of a knight during the 1st Crusade and is an actual translation of an existing journal.

this site has a ton of letters and such
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/sbook1k.html#The%20First%20Crusade
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Thurnez Isa on December 04, 2006, 10:29:53 PM
http://history.hanover.edu/project.html#ma
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Suu on December 04, 2006, 10:33:24 PM
Quote from: SillyCybin on December 04, 2006, 10:15:17 PM
Quote from: kaousuu on December 04, 2006, 03:22:36 PM
I've started reading A Booke of Days again by Stephen J. Rivele. It's a chronicle of a knight during the 1st Crusade and is an actual translation of an existing journal.

No it's not.

I thought it was? The Prologue certainly makes it seem like it is.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Thurnez Isa on December 04, 2006, 11:03:24 PM
http://history.hanover.edu/texts/1stcrusade2.html

its great to read stephen count of blois letters
i cant find his other letters online though
their great
this baffoon fucked a lot of things up
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen%2C_Count_of_Blois
He was minor count
who was pressured by his wife (the daughter of the norman duke william the conqueror) to go on the 1st crusade
he writes a ton of rather goofy letters back throughout
the one above is the most famious where he makes the claim

QuoteYou may know for certain, my beloved, that of gold, silver and many other kind of riches I now have twice as much your love had assigned to me when I left you. For all our princes with the common consent of the whole army, against my own wishes, have made me up to the present time the leader, chief and director of their whole expedition.

:lol:
in fact after writing that he decides to hightail it back home while the crusaders siege Antioch
the left over Crusaders take the city and are surrounded by Turks
but no help comes from Byzantium cause Stephen told the Emperor of Byzantium that all the crusaders were dead
:lol:
anyways his wife isnt too happy with cowardness and pressure him to join another crusader, which resulted in his death
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Suu on December 04, 2006, 11:45:59 PM
Medieval humor ftw. Wives like that had a lot of nerve though. They weren't allowed to read or write, just pop out kids and order their husbands to an armed pilgrimage.

I think that's why my SCA persona is Italian Renaissance. I couldn't stand the idea of playing the part of a woman kept on a too-tight leash. Not that the Renaissance was much better, but it allowed women to at least become educated and perhaps run a business, and not just the Veronica Franco type of business, (though she was also a very accomplished writer).
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Thurnez Isa on December 05, 2006, 12:10:42 AM
well she was the daughter of william the first conqueror of the anglo-saxons
she probably expected a lot of her men
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Suu on December 05, 2006, 12:51:09 AM
Well a lot of people believed that since the Crusades were a Holy Pilgrimage, that they would be forgiven of all sins among other things. Stephen may have been a bit...unfaithful. Which was normal of course. You didn't love your wives, they were baby factories that you signed a treaty for. You fucked someone else's wife or raped peasant girls for pleasure.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Bhode_Sativa on December 05, 2006, 02:16:58 PM
Umberto Eco's Foucault's Pendulum

A convoluted mess of Wikipedia cross-links.

Nutrition Facts on a bottle of water...Why?
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on December 05, 2006, 02:24:05 PM
I've heard that its quite good, from a couple of people, but extremely convoluted and with more obscure occult references than an entire Rosicrucian and OTO combination catalogue.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on December 05, 2006, 02:38:02 PM
If Illuminatus! was well-written (though a bit dry), it might look like Pendulum.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Bhode_Sativa on December 05, 2006, 02:41:52 PM
The occult references are prolific, and sometimes the prose drags, but so far the basic ideas have been worth my time.  It just doesn't suck me in like my favorite fictions.  I do get the feeling, though, of layers of hidden messages and meanings a la the David Blaine Quest book thingy found here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%24100%2C000_Challenge

The funny thing is that one of the characters in the book talks about the ability of people that look hard enough to find connections between anything, but it doesn't guarantee validity.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on December 05, 2006, 02:44:09 PM
LMNO: Yeah, thats kind of how BMW described it to me.  I'm trying to see if I can make a relative buy it for me for Christmas.

Bhode:  Thats pretty cool.  I looked at Wikipedia for the esoteric references for Foucalt's Pendulum - good god it never stops.  Hundreds of links.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on December 05, 2006, 02:44:38 PM
I love the basic premise, that a joke randomizer program comes up with one of the great Freemason Secrets.

But yeah, it often reads more like a history textbook than a novel.

But that's Eco for you.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Triple Zero on December 06, 2006, 11:17:39 AM
i still wanna read pendulum as well.

currently reading:
- PPK on Javascript (awesome book, if you care about javascript ;-) )
- Neil Gaiman - Anansi Boys (ok i still have to start, but I will this weekend)
- Mystical Qabalah (printed off a PDF link i got months ago from mang @ EB&G)
- The Act of Will (some obscure esoteric stuff i picked up in a 2nd hand bookshop for cheap, i suppose it's trash)
- Bill Clifford by Godfried Bomans (a classic Dutch semishort funny detective story)
- Goedel Escher Bach (must-read for anybody ever who wants to think some thoughts about the "meaning" of anything. my 2nd time, going a bit slower this time)

Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Bhode_Sativa on December 06, 2006, 02:26:48 PM
Anansi Boys was a good read.  I like all of Gaiman's stuff that I've read so far.  I really got a kick out of this http://www.neilgaiman.com/exclusive/shortstories/chulthhustory
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Sepia on December 06, 2006, 04:07:13 PM
Turingmachines!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turing_machine

Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Thurnez Isa on December 06, 2006, 04:26:02 PM
http://www.mindfully.org/GE/GE4/Feed-The-World-GMOs.htm

I found it while looking for an article for another thread
its not the most well writen essay the author jumps all over the place, in reguards to tons of different topics which have nothing to do with the orginal premise and has an obvious
but he makes some good points about what hes talking about
expecially when he says that most of the western world thinks hunger is caused by a lack of food and in fact we have eough food on this planet to feed everyone comfortably
havent read it all cause i have to go to work in like 20 minutes
but will read the rest when i get back
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Thurnez Isa on December 07, 2006, 01:43:30 AM
Cicero - Politacal Speeches -bought for my dad for christmas so gotta read it now
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Bhode_Sativa on December 18, 2006, 03:52:39 PM
I just finished Daniel Quinn's The Story of B.  It was excellent.  The ideas presented blew my mind in a historical way, and answered a couple of questions that I had about evolution, such as "If humans in various forms have been around for two to three million years, and in the modern version for two hundred thousand years, why are we only now as technologically advanced?"

It also got me to think about Eris/chaos through a lens of Animism/Natural Selection.  The random interconnections of innumerable individuals producing what works over time and eliminating failures as parts of (and) the whole.  Recommended reading, by Me.

Right now I'm reading Derrick Jensen and George Draffan's Welcome to the Machine.  I'm only three chapters in, but it's fairly interesting so far in its discussion of surveillance and power/control. 

Also on my list are Gilles Deleuze:  An Introduction, some John Zerzan, more Derrick Jensen, Christopher Boehm's Hierarchy in the Forest:  The Evolution of Egalitarian Behavior, and Society Against the State by Pierre Clastres. 

Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Bob the Mediocre on December 23, 2006, 03:37:34 AM
Let's see, I'm in the middle of The Master and Margarita, really should get back to reading that soon (It's a good thing the college library lets us renew things indefinately), I'm in the middle of Undoing Yourself by Christopher Hyatt, and I'm rereading a few Terry Pratchett books.

And this topic, of course.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on January 06, 2007, 11:56:38 PM
Being and Nothingness by Satre.

Damn this is a tough read. I'm not really up on Husserl or Heidegger, who he references constantly and the obtuseness of the translation makes Satre sound more German than French (and I find German philosophers incredibly hard and boring to read).

Still, if I can ever make sense of it, it could be promising.  I'm quite interested in the idea of how bad faith relates to acting and freedom.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Jasper on January 07, 2007, 06:55:00 PM
"Wicked- The Life And Times Of The Wicked Witch Of The West"
Greg Maguire
"The Last Continent"
Terry Pratchett
"Chaos"
James Gleick
"Wraeththu"
Storm Constantine

All at the same time.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on January 07, 2007, 07:36:33 PM
Just ordered Camus' The Rebel and The Stranger and Jared Diamond's Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Survive and his masterpiece, Guns Germs and Steel.

I less than three Amazon, to the depths of my soul.

(http://dl6.glitter-graphics.net/pub/69/69086d0aekgwgm9.jpg)
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Jasper on January 09, 2007, 12:16:21 AM
Dunno how you stomach all that Camus, man.  He just gets me down worse than Poe.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Thurnez Isa on January 09, 2007, 12:18:52 AM
Quote from: Cain on January 07, 2007, 07:36:33 PM
and his masterpiece, Guns Germs and Steel.


that was really good
see the doc.
he actually did a really good job throughout
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on January 09, 2007, 12:19:32 AM
Camus = teh win.  Much better than Satre, the jumped up little prick.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: AFK on January 09, 2007, 02:50:43 PM
Currently reading The Gospel of the Flying Spaghetti Monster.

Despite my wife constantly telling me how strange I am she is only encouraging it by buying me these books for Xmas. 

I have to say it is quite interresting and amusing so far.  I'm less interested in the so-called "religion" than how Mr. Henderson deconstructs both evolution and intelligent design. 
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Bhode_Sativa on January 15, 2007, 03:55:25 AM
Guns, Germs, and Steel.  It's going a long way to help me get past the whole "take to the wild" bent.  It's good to understand the factors that led to various stages of development for different kinds of societies, and how those factors influenced the outcomes of clashes throughout history.  I'm only about half-way through, but I'm digging it so far.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Idem on January 15, 2007, 06:59:07 AM
Hiya bhode!
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Bhode_Sativa on January 15, 2007, 07:08:07 AM
Howdy, Idem!
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: The Good Reverend Roger on January 15, 2007, 06:45:23 PM
LOL!  FREAD RUINT!
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on January 15, 2007, 06:48:17 PM
Quote from: Bhode_Sativa on January 15, 2007, 03:55:25 AM
Guns, Germs, and Steel.  It's going a long way to help me get past the whole "take to the wild" bent.  It's good to understand the factors that led to various stages of development for different kinds of societies, and how those factors influenced the outcomes of clashes throughout history.  I'm only about half-way through, but I'm digging it so far.

Funnily enough, thats the book I probably would have suggested, if asked.

I'm about Chapter 4 in it.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Thurnez Isa on January 15, 2007, 06:49:54 PM
is it much better then the doc?
i can't seem to find it anywhere in town...
and i maxed my credit cards so i cant order it online
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: B_M_W on January 15, 2007, 09:29:30 PM
Quote from: Cain on January 15, 2007, 06:48:17 PM
Quote from: Bhode_Sativa on January 15, 2007, 03:55:25 AM
Guns, Germs, and Steel.  It's going a long way to help me get past the whole "take to the wild" bent.  It's good to understand the factors that led to various stages of development for different kinds of societies, and how those factors influenced the outcomes of clashes throughout history.  I'm only about half-way through, but I'm digging it so far.

Funnily enough, thats the book I probably would have suggested, if asked.

I'm about Chapter 4 in it.

Diamond FTW.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Hypnos_childe on January 22, 2007, 03:06:41 PM
hello I'm new
I'm reading Neil Gaiman's Sandman comics
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on January 22, 2007, 03:23:11 PM
Them's good reads.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Triple Zero on January 22, 2007, 04:14:41 PM
too bad i only got them digitally .. sucks to read it off the screen, even with the amazing CDisplay viewer.

i wanna sit outside in the park under a tree in the cold winter-sun while reading

what the fuck is keeping those Philips bastards with their e-InkTM hm!
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cramulus on January 22, 2007, 04:39:08 PM
Welcome, Hypnos! Sandman's really good stuff. As far as I'm concerned, Neil Gaiman can do no wrong. You might like the movie Mirrormask, which was written by Gaiman. The art director is Dave McKean, who did a lot of art for Sandman.

Right now I'm reading some anthology of short stories published in 2006.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Triple Zero on January 22, 2007, 05:25:13 PM
i did read Good Omens and Anansi Boys, but i'll keep an eye out for that movie, thanks.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Jasper on January 22, 2007, 10:11:45 PM
"the curious incident of the dog in the night-time" Mark Haddon.  Very funny, and I reccomend it to anyone who likes lit fiction and minds.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Thurnez Isa on January 23, 2007, 05:20:41 PM
The First Man In Rome - Colleen McCullough
rereading
This series is my guilty little pleasure
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: The Littlest Ubermensch on January 25, 2007, 07:59:19 PM
Just finished Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson. Really great book, though a little abrupt with the ending.

(By the way, how's the board doing? It's definitely been a while since I've been here.)
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on January 25, 2007, 08:00:06 PM
New burst of creativity.

Check the BIP sub forum.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: AFK on January 25, 2007, 08:07:13 PM
currently reading:  From Binge to Blackout

good book.  It's been making me think alot about TGRR's "False Slack" rant. 
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: The Littlest Ubermensch on January 25, 2007, 08:12:21 PM
Quote from: LMNO on January 25, 2007, 08:00:06 PM
New burst of creativity.

Check the BIP sub forum.

Cool.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Jenne on January 25, 2007, 08:14:54 PM
Still reading Middlesex--it's pretty good.  About a guy who was born androgynous.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Jasper on January 25, 2007, 09:36:54 PM
Quote from: The Littlest Ubermensch on January 25, 2007, 08:12:21 PM
Quote from: LMNO on January 25, 2007, 08:00:06 PM
New burst of creativity.

Check the BIP sub forum.

Cool.

Oddly, I was thinking about you the other day and wondering where you'd been.  Welcome back.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: The Littlest Ubermensch on January 26, 2007, 05:05:26 PM
Quote from: Felix Mackay on January 25, 2007, 09:36:54 PM

Oddly, I was thinking about you the other day and wondering where you'd been.  Welcome back.

Thanks. (I'm not sure how long its been since I've been here. I've been somewhat more busy lately, and right around now things are cooling off, so I figured it would be good to come back.)
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mourning Star on January 30, 2007, 09:10:02 AM
Quote from: The Littlest Ubermensch on January 25, 2007, 07:59:19 PM
Just finished Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson. Really great book, though a little abrupt with the ending.

(By the way, how's the board doing? It's definitely been a while since I've been here.)

I just started this.  It's really good so far.

I was feeling a lack of cyberpunk in my recent literary diet, so a B&N gift card from the mother unit of my Fiance' was spent entirely on William Gibson, Neal Stephenson, and Bruce Sterling.

Also, finished re-reading "The Picture of Dorian Gray" by Oscar Wilde

Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Triple Zero on January 31, 2007, 04:48:04 PM
sumarai sword wielding pizza delivery guy calling himself "the deliverator" FTW!!1
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on January 31, 2007, 04:49:20 PM
Best part:  His name is Hiro Protagonist.


Srsly.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Triple Zero on January 31, 2007, 04:53:06 PM
protagonist i get.. is "hiro" part of a wordjoke as well that went past me?
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on January 31, 2007, 04:54:14 PM
Say it out loud.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Triple Zero on January 31, 2007, 04:56:06 PM
just checked wikipedia (it's got spoilers :) )

seems i was pronouncing it in my head as "high row", not as "here row"
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on January 31, 2007, 05:00:43 PM
Ah.  I hadn't thought of that.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on January 31, 2007, 09:08:12 PM
Yeah.  I caught the joke, but given the traditional Japanese pronunciation...well it could have been done better.

Anyway, I'm reading The Last Transition

pdf linkie
http://homepage.mac.com/magnant/.Public/TheLastTransition.pdf

Not sure what to make of it yet....
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: rygD on February 16, 2007, 03:08:55 PM
It's good to know I am not the only Neal Stephenson fan (or at least reader) here.

At the moment I am reading the words that I am typing.

I am currently reading The Confusion by Mr. Stephenson and Accelerando by Charles Stross.  Maybe some other stuff I can't recall right now, also.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on February 23, 2007, 10:02:06 PM
Anti-Semitism in Britain by Orwell.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mourning Star on February 24, 2007, 01:59:02 AM


Re-reading the Sprawl trilogy

by Mr. William Gibson

Neuromancer
Count Zero
and
Mona Lisa Overdrive

until further notice...

;)
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: The Littlest Ubermensch on February 25, 2007, 10:07:19 PM
On a William Gibson related note: has anyone here read All Tomorrows Parties? I just picked it up and haven't gotten around to reading it yet.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mourning Star on February 25, 2007, 11:21:40 PM
Quote from: The Littlest Ubermensch on February 25, 2007, 10:07:19 PM
On a William Gibson related note: has anyone here read All Tomorrows Parties? I just picked it up and haven't gotten around to reading it yet.

if I'm not mistaken that's book 3 in the Bridge Trilogy

Virtual Light, Idoru, and All Tommorow's Parties

I've not read it yet, but have heard that it is really freakin' good...

but much like Virtual Light and Idoru, it's not the same future as the Sprawl Trilogy...

Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: The Littlest Ubermensch on February 27, 2007, 06:07:09 AM
Quote from: Mourning Star on February 25, 2007, 11:21:40 PM

if I'm not mistaken that's book 3 in the Bridge Trilogy

Virtual Light, Idoru, and All Tommorow's Parties

I've not read it yet, but have heard that it is really freakin' good...

but much like Virtual Light and Idoru, it's not the same future as the Sprawl Trilogy...



Excellent. Now to get Virtual Light + Idoru. Compulsive book buyer, away! *rides off into a rainbow* :hosrie:
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mourning Star on February 27, 2007, 06:17:24 AM
Quote from: The Littlest Ubermensch on February 27, 2007, 06:07:09 AM
Quote from: Mourning Star on February 25, 2007, 11:21:40 PM

if I'm not mistaken that's book 3 in the Bridge Trilogy

Virtual Light, Idoru, and All Tommorow's Parties

I've not read it yet, but have heard that it is really freakin' good...

but much like Virtual Light and Idoru, it's not the same future as the Sprawl Trilogy...



Excellent. Now to get Virtual Light + Idoru. Compulsive book buyer, away! *rides off into a rainbow* :hosrie:

Virtual Light provides a really interesting interpretation to the phrase "God is in the TV"

you'll like it I think...
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on March 01, 2007, 12:23:08 PM
The Revolutionary Catechism by Nechayev

http://www.spunk.org/texts/places/russia/sp000116.txt
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: The Littlest Ubermensch on March 02, 2007, 02:06:51 AM
Quote from: Cain on March 01, 2007, 12:23:08 PM
The Revolutionary Catechism by Nechayev

http://www.spunk.org/texts/places/russia/sp000116.txt

*reads*

:lulz:

I take it Nechayev wasn't a fan of romantics?
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Jasper on March 02, 2007, 02:37:40 AM
Tommorrow I pick up my first copy of Macbeth.

Also my first time really giving shakespeare a try.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on March 02, 2007, 09:07:54 AM
Quote from: The Littlest Ubermensch on March 02, 2007, 02:06:51 AM
Quote from: Cain on March 01, 2007, 12:23:08 PM
The Revolutionary Catechism by Nechayev

http://www.spunk.org/texts/places/russia/sp000116.txt

*reads*

:lulz:

I take it Nechayev wasn't a fan of romantics?

I don't think he was a fan of anything, except killing people.  I've only ever seen one mental profile anywhere near his and it belonged to that arch-psychopath Carlos the Jackal, and even he has the shame to retreat into denial when pushed about it.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: P3nT4gR4m on March 02, 2007, 10:14:47 AM
Brilliant! Who the hell was this twat? Change the word "revolutionary" for "goth" and it gets even funnier.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on March 02, 2007, 10:33:42 AM
 :lol:

Nechayev was a contemporary of Mikhail Bakunin, a Russian nihilist/anarchist who set up revolutionary cells over Russia, killed a guy for disagreeing with him, went on the run over Europe and spent the rest of his life in a Russian labour camp.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Suu on March 02, 2007, 06:06:50 PM
...I'm posting this for the lulz, because seriously at this moment I'm reading Star Wars X-Wing : Rogue Squadron. The first in Michael Stackpole's series.

We have a library between a few of us here at work, so I was looking for some fast entertainment. I first read this one in high school.

In addition to that though I picked up a copy of 1984 from my parents while in Florida who didn't have a clue that they even had it. It's a bit too deep for at-work/commute reading, but the presence of it at my desk makes me look intelligent.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on March 02, 2007, 06:12:21 PM
I have an int0n3t version of 1984, if you want it.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Suu on March 02, 2007, 06:24:09 PM
Why? I have it in print right in front of me. I can't read on the screen anyway because after a while it makes my eyes jump really bad.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on March 02, 2007, 06:32:41 PM
Because then you dont have to look from book to screen.  Its easier.

Plus you can copy and paste slogans from the book and randomly IM them to people.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Suu on March 02, 2007, 06:45:51 PM
*opens novel to random page*

"Doublethink means the power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one's mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them."

...Wow. I kinda like that.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: P3nT4gR4m on March 02, 2007, 10:25:02 PM
double plus ungood book that orwell one. Animal farm was teh l4me tho

My former flatmate is a star wars addict. He forced me at blasterpoint to read 'Tales from Jabbas Palace' It turned out to be a really cool read, anthology of short stories, each revolving around a different assassination attempt, made upon Jabba during the scene in the second film.

Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Suu on March 03, 2007, 02:50:38 AM
Well, The X-Wing books are fucking awesome. Stackpole is probably one of the best SW authors, I'd say even better than Zahn. The first book gives me a horrid toothache with the annoying Corellian happy cakes and shit.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Jasper on March 06, 2007, 01:00:08 AM
Quote from: Kaou Suu on March 02, 2007, 06:45:51 PM
*opens novel to random page*

"Doublethink means the power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one's mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them."

...Wow. I kinda like that.

That's a good name for what I do to piss my friends off.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on March 08, 2007, 02:28:21 PM
Went on a book buying spree.

Carl Schmitt's Concept of the Political, a couple of ideology textbooks (mostly for reference purposes) and The Grooves of Change by JF Brown, about Eastern Europe from the 80s to today.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Suu on March 08, 2007, 03:32:45 PM
I've heard good things about the latter, keep me posted. :)
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Thurnez Isa on March 08, 2007, 03:58:37 PM
huge hardcover collection of Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes with the orginal Strand Magazine illustrations by Sidney Paget
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on March 29, 2007, 09:38:25 AM
William Cooper, Behold, A Pale Horse (classic conspiracy stuff, UFOs, Illuminati etc)
Guy Debord, The Society of the Spectacle
Mussolini, the Doctrine of Fascism
Hitler, Mein Kampf

The last two are for a paper.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on March 29, 2007, 02:02:12 PM
Quote from: Cain on March 29, 2007, 09:38:25 AM
William Cooper, Behold, A Pale Horse (classic conspiracy stuff, UFOs, Illuminati etc)
Guy Debord, The Society of the Spectacle
Mussolini, the Doctrine of Fascism
Hitler, Mein Kampf

The last two are for a paper.



Sure they are.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mourning Star on March 29, 2007, 09:19:32 PM
Quote from: LMNO on March 29, 2007, 02:02:12 PM
Quote from: Cain on March 29, 2007, 09:38:25 AM
William Cooper, Behold, A Pale Horse (classic conspiracy stuff, UFOs, Illuminati etc)
Guy Debord, The Society of the Spectacle
Mussolini, the Doctrine of Fascism
Hitler, Mein Kampf

The last two are for a paper.



Sure they are.

I tried Reading Mein Kampf

Hitler was long winded as hell...  The first 2 chapters bored me to tears...

never finished...
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: guest7654 on March 30, 2007, 11:08:52 AM
Just finished The Fingerprints of the Gods -Graham Hancock
Starting   Our Endangered Values  -Carter
               
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on March 30, 2007, 07:26:21 PM
Edward Said, Orientalism
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Jenne on April 23, 2007, 04:04:31 PM
Roald Dahl's Omnibus--dude wrote some awesome adult fic.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on April 29, 2007, 02:04:59 AM
The Reptoid Hypothesis: Utopian and Dystopian Representational Motifs in David Icke,Äôs Alien Conspiracy Theory by Tyson Lewis and Richard Kahn

Its good actually, I'll upload it in a bit.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Thurnez Isa on April 29, 2007, 02:05:56 AM
cool id be interested
i saw his doc a while back
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Jasper on April 29, 2007, 02:22:49 AM
Currently reading Nanotechnology for Dummies, just finished the WH40K Ravenor trilogy.  Good sci-fi, to my tastes.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Fearless Freep on May 01, 2007, 02:21:49 AM
World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War by Mel Brooks' son.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Thurnez Isa on May 06, 2007, 03:39:26 PM
Quote from: Cain on April 29, 2007, 02:04:59 AM
The Reptoid Hypothesis: Utopian and Dystopian Representational Motifs in David Icke’s Alien Conspiracy Theory by Tyson Lewis and Richard Kahn

Its good actually, I'll upload it in a bit.

did you ever finish that?
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on May 06, 2007, 06:09:43 PM
Yeah, sorry.  Its not very long, only 30 odd pages.  Go to http://getvegan.com/blog/ickereptoid.pdf for a download.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Thurnez Isa on May 06, 2007, 06:21:52 PM
thanks
:D
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Jasper on May 07, 2007, 12:22:41 AM
Been mainly reading forums lately, but still reading Nano for dummies sometimes.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: bubz_the_troll on May 07, 2007, 03:38:44 AM
I've just finished The Chronicles of Narnia today.  I've ever read the full series before.

Here's what's on my plate currently.

- Weird Tales April/May Issue
- Analog June Issue
- Realms of Fantasy June Issue
- The Illuminatus Trilogy (because I've never read it.  Don't hate)
- Celtic Myths and Legends - T.W. Rolleston
- Bunch of other coffee table books about mythology and archeology.
- All of those PDF Discordian books
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: tyrannosaurus vex on May 07, 2007, 05:42:30 AM
Quote from: bubz_the_troll on May 07, 2007, 03:38:44 AM
I've just finished The Chronicles of Narnia today.  I've ever read the full series before.

Here's what's on my plate currently.

- Weird Tales April/May Issue
- Analog June Issue
- Realms of Fantasy June Issue
- The Illuminatus Trilogy (because I've never read it.  Don't hate)
- Celtic Myths and Legends - T.W. Rolleston
- Bunch of other coffee table books about mythology and archeology.
- All of those PDF Discordian books

It counts if you stop reading Illuminatus! after it starts to suck about halfway through.  Just saving you some time.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Jasper on May 07, 2007, 05:43:57 AM
It counts if you just read the sex scenes.

Even more time saved.

edit: though not a lot more.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Triple Zero on May 07, 2007, 04:56:16 PM
you can at the very least skip the three pages of band names. nothing interesting there.

there was some cool stuff in the second half, but yeah, it's okay if you just skim it from there.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on May 07, 2007, 04:58:19 PM
Also, the acid-trip homage to Joyce's "Anna Belle Liffey" chapter can pretty much be skimmed over, too.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Triple Zero on May 07, 2007, 05:03:52 PM
which is that?

also, the bit about the guy shooting the last eagle can be skipped (it's the very last page)

and the book seems really complicated at first and confuses you a lot, thinking you might need to take notes and re-read certain parts, but that's really not the case, it tries to confuse you on purpose and in the end there's not really much you'll miss if you just keep pushing the reading onwards. and it turns out only one guy is actually another guy in real (except of course that All Is One)
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on May 07, 2007, 05:09:35 PM
"NoIsaidNoIsaidNo," etc .
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cramulus on May 07, 2007, 06:15:29 PM
well I reread Illuminatus a few months ago and I still love the whole fuckin' book.

When I first read it at age 17 it blew my brain apart and opened the floodgates for all sorts of cool stuff in my life.

Less brain-blowing now (at 25), but I caught a lot more of the references.

Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on May 07, 2007, 06:17:47 PM
Hey, I've still got my thumb-worn copy kicking around.

But I tend to re-read Quantum Psychology more often.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on May 07, 2007, 06:19:16 PM
I keep meaning to get that.

Also, Prometheus Rising pwns almost everything else RAW has done.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on May 07, 2007, 06:20:14 PM
The two books mentioned above are really the only RAW books you need.  The rest are just commentary.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: That One Guy on May 07, 2007, 06:26:47 PM
Quote from: Cain on May 07, 2007, 06:19:16 PM
I keep meaning to get that.

Also, Prometheus Rising pwns almost everything else RAW has done.

Troof. If you only read ONE RAW book, make it Prometheus Rising. Illuminatus! is fun, Schroedinger's Cat trilogy is entertaining, the Cosmic Trigger stuff can be amusing, but Prometheus Rising ... pure quality.

Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: bubz_the_troll on May 08, 2007, 02:15:07 AM
I'll make my own assessments about the book.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Jasper on May 08, 2007, 03:30:02 AM
That'll be my next Wilson book. 

Bubz, don't take our word.  See for yourself that Illuminatus! was a raw deal. ;)
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: bubz_the_troll on May 08, 2007, 04:34:43 AM
Okay LeVar.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Triple Zero on May 08, 2007, 09:31:53 AM
read illuminatus once, blew my brain
second time, less so, but it was funny
third time i really got enough of it halfway through and stopped.

prometheus rising .. i read it a few months ago when Cram (or someone) posted the pdf:

1) i STILL haven't found my 20 eurocent coin in the first exercise i had been imagining so VIVIDLY (in fact i lost 2 euros the evening after i read that exercise)
2) really liked the first chapter, nonetheless.
3) it's probably that i read most of the other ideas from other sources already (deoxy.org etc) that i wasn't that impressed with the rest of the book.

this, incidentally was the reason why illuminatus was such a mindfuck to me, all the stuff i had encountered and been looking for in my life, all the weird stuff, even up to discordianism and much much more (http://www.maths.qmul.ac.uk/~ade/sld/), came together in illuminatus. it was sorta like time reversed, i can imagine someone reading illuminatus and start looking up all those things out of interest. to me it was the other way around. i just stumbled on all these weird fringe philosophy crazy shit myself, didn't even know a large part of it was written by RAW, and suddenly it came together in illuminatus. that was the weirdest summer ever.

4) i'd like you guys thoughts about the thing he says somewhere further in the book, about that mass religious experience that 100.000 people saw and was some sort of 5th or 6th circuit mass illumination that was supposedly well-documented and explain by carl sagan as "100.000 people hallucinating the same thing" .. if it is true what he says, it's quite amazing. what exactly happened?
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: cyberus on May 08, 2007, 10:02:00 AM
Quote from: triple zero on May 08, 2007, 09:31:53 AM
prometheus rising .. i read it a few months ago when Cram (or someone) posted the pdf:

Link, anyone?

EDIT:

http://www.rawilsonfans.com/downloads/prometheus.pdf

Thanks, 000.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Triple Zero on May 08, 2007, 10:42:18 AM
1 - http://www.principiadiscordia.com/forum/index.php?action=search (keyword "prometheus")

2 - http://www.principiadiscordia.com/forum/index.php?topic=11870.msg368787#msg368787

3 - http://www.rawilsonfans.com/downloads/prometheus.pdf
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on May 08, 2007, 10:48:31 AM
It was also in my psychology rar download, in the Library.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on May 08, 2007, 01:33:31 PM
Quote from: triple zero on May 08, 2007, 09:31:53 AM
4) i'd like you guys thoughts about the thing he says somewhere further in the book, about that mass religious experience that 100.000 people saw and was some sort of 5th or 6th circuit mass illumination that was supposedly well-documented and explain by carl sagan as "100.000 people hallucinating the same thing" .. if it is true what he says, it's quite amazing. what exactly happened?


No one knows.  That's the point.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on May 08, 2007, 01:34:30 PM
That was Fatima, right?
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on May 08, 2007, 01:36:48 PM
Either that, or something much like it.


Personally, I think RAW's point was, "the EXPERTS can't possibly know everything that goes on in this world."
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on May 08, 2007, 01:42:29 PM
True, but that also doesn't mean we should take the word of a sexually frustrated bigot who believes he is the representative of an imaginary Jewish superhero that lives in the sky and his adoring cultists as to the events, either.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on May 08, 2007, 01:45:05 PM
Unless that person is ME, of course.






[edit: of course not.  I don't think he was saying that, either.  "I dunno" seems to be the closest he gets.]
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Triple Zero on May 08, 2007, 02:53:35 PM
Quote from: LMNO on May 08, 2007, 01:33:31 PM
Quote from: triple zero on May 08, 2007, 09:31:53 AM4) i'd like you guys thoughts about the thing he says somewhere further in the book, about that mass religious experience that 100.000 people saw and was some sort of 5th or 6th circuit mass illumination that was supposedly well-documented and explain by carl sagan as "100.000 people hallucinating the same thing" .. if it is true what he says, it's quite amazing. what exactly happened?


No one knows.  That's the point.

no, but what sorta happened?

was there really 100.000 people believing something with bright lights and ecstacy and stuff?

when was this again?

he keeps on going on about how well-documented this event is, but i never heard of it.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on May 08, 2007, 02:55:00 PM
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Our_Lady_of_Fatima
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cramulus on May 08, 2007, 03:22:25 PM
I dug Prometheus Rising as well. I'd been listening to a lot of Wilson's mp3s about the 8-circuit model and Prometheus summed it up very well. But to compare it with Illuminatus is kind of an apples/oranges comparison since one is fiction and one is nonfiction.

I'm still looking for that damn quarter.

Incidentally, I had been a Discordian for about 6 months when I randomly picked up Illuminatus at the bookstore because I thought it had a cool cover. When it turned out to be about Discordians, I pretty much freaked out.

I just finished reading Phillip K Dick's Flow My Tears the Policeman Said, which is the first PKD I've ever read. Very enjoyable, but I'm still not comfortable with his explanation of what was really going on. Next: Do Androids Dream Electric Sheep?
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on May 08, 2007, 03:29:13 PM
You really can't go wrong with PKD.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on May 08, 2007, 03:30:01 PM
Unless you allow his thinking to infect you and you have a mental breakdown.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on May 08, 2007, 03:30:44 PM
You mean ZEBRA isn't real??????????
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: That One Guy on May 08, 2007, 03:47:20 PM
Man in the High Castle is a great PKD read (one of the first ones by him I read). Ubik and Time out of Joint are fascinating reads regarding the perception of time, and The Transmigration of Timothy Archer (while a bit tough to get through at points) is a great religio-philosophical book. Although, as LMNO said, you really can't go wrong with any of his stuff  :mrgreen:
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cramulus on May 08, 2007, 03:50:28 PM
Okay - opinion poll
I'm borrowing both The Man in the High Castle and Do Androids Dream Electric Sheep right now. Which do you think I should read first?
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Thurnez Isa on May 08, 2007, 03:57:39 PM
Androids

My opinion
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: That One Guy on May 08, 2007, 04:00:15 PM
Hmmm ... tough call. I'd say go with The Man in the High Castle, although they're both excellent. However, if you've seen Blade Runner, I'd go with Androids, since you're missing out on about half the story from the (admittedly excellent) movie version and deserve to get all the interesting bits   8)
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on May 08, 2007, 04:18:40 PM
A Scanner Darkly is cool, too.

So is Ubik.

http://www.pkdickbooks.com/ if you please.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mangrove on May 08, 2007, 08:41:52 PM
DMT - The Spirit Molecule by Rick Strassman

(almost done...book report for Prof Cram if he still wants one)
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Thurnez Isa on May 08, 2007, 08:47:46 PM
Quote from: LMNO on May 08, 2007, 04:18:40 PM
A Scanner Darkly is cool, too.

So is Ubik.


the man who japed is underrated
very interesting read
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on May 13, 2007, 06:52:27 AM
I just restarted Snow Crash.

Its been a long time.  11 years, if I'm not mistaken.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on May 14, 2007, 04:26:01 PM
I'm now reading something else LMNO may like: Battlefield Earth, by Mr $cientology himself.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on May 14, 2007, 04:33:57 PM
Gah!


Did you know that's Mitt Romney's favorite book?

Let me know if you make it past the first 50 paes.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on May 14, 2007, 04:44:25 PM
Really?  I thought he was a Mormon?  Or was it a Moron?  Anyway, this is awful. I got it off of 4chan for a laugh, but its a word file and I hate having to read those.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: AFK on May 14, 2007, 04:45:21 PM
He is a Mormon.  Of course, he does tend to waffle so he could very well be a Pastafarian now for all we know. 
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on May 14, 2007, 04:47:55 PM
Quote from: Cain on May 14, 2007, 04:44:25 PM
Really?  I thought he was a Mormon?  Or was it a Moron?  Anyway, this is awful. I got it off of 4chan for a laugh, but its a word file and I hate having to read those.


Yup.  Mormon.


I can't tell which is worse:

A President who's a Mormon.
A President that reads Scientologist Science Fiction.
A President who's favorite book, ever, is Battlefield Earth.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on May 14, 2007, 04:48:09 PM
You'd think the even wackier Sci-Fi series, the Book of Mormon, would be his favourite, then...
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mangrove on May 14, 2007, 06:23:50 PM
The Tibetan Book of The Dead (Evans-Wentz translation)
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: That One Guy on May 14, 2007, 06:26:35 PM
Quote from: Mangrove on May 14, 2007, 06:23:50 PM
The Tibetan Book of The Dead (Evans-Wentz translation)

I need to re-read that. Haven't touched it since high school.

I'm currently re-reading Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson, having just finished re-reading his Baroque Cycle.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on May 14, 2007, 06:31:24 PM
Fucking hell, you re-read that?

I could hardly make it through Quicksilver.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mangrove on May 14, 2007, 06:32:14 PM
I've not read any Neal Stephenson, even though a good friend of mine is a big fan and is certain that I'd get into it.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: That One Guy on May 14, 2007, 06:41:11 PM
Quote from: LMNO on May 14, 2007, 06:31:24 PM
Fucking hell, you re-read that?

I could hardly make it through Quicksilver.

Hehe - read it all the way through maybe 4 times. It's a great story that just happens to take up, oh, 3000 or so pages. I tend to re-read things a few times as I usually pick up different bits and pieces along the way. I go through books VERY quickly - the whole Baroque Cycle takes me about 2 weeks unless I have more free time than usual. I love character development, and the way everything flows around in the Cycle is great. I know it recently got re-released as 9 or 10 separate books, breaking the larger ones up into smaller, more manageable chunks - might help to deal with it that way. However, I can definitely understand why it might not be everyone's (even Stephenson fans') proverbial cup of tea.

Quote from: Mangrove on May 14, 2007, 06:32:14 PM
I've not read any Neal Stephenson, even though a good friend of mine is a big fan and is certain that I'd get into it.

I love Stephenson. I'd recommend starting with Snow Crash, then the Diamond Age if you're interested.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on May 14, 2007, 06:49:00 PM
Snow Crash is very accessible as a book.  Zodiac is meant to be OK too, from what I hear.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on May 14, 2007, 06:50:00 PM
Zodiac, Diamond Age, Snow Crash, Cryptonomicon.  I liked all of those.

I could not really begin to care about Quicksilver.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on May 14, 2007, 07:00:21 PM
Also, the excerpts from In the Beginning...was the Command Line make it seem pretty good, even if OS geek wars do not interest you (and probably mean it is now the Bible of Slashdot posters, too).
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: That One Guy on May 14, 2007, 07:04:44 PM
Quote from: LMNO on May 14, 2007, 06:50:00 PM
Zodiac, Diamond Age, Snow Crash, Cryptonomicon.  I liked all of those.

Indeed - great stuff all. Zodiac is especially fun for Bostonians, since it's full of weird little tidbits unique to our weird city. I haven't read In the Beginning ... yet - heard it was excellent though. Also, there's an early novel of his, Interface written under the pen name Stephen Bury, that's all about a presidential election and the making of the leading candidate that gets a chip placed in his head after a stroke that allows him to be "run" by his campaign manager. Some great stuff on the nature of media in campaigns in that one.

QuoteI could not really begin to care about Quicksilver.

I can understand that. I really like historical fiction, though, so that definitely makes it easier for me to get into the Baroque Cycle. After reading all of it, I generally re-read Cryptonomicon right after to see the threads that run from one to the other - some very entertaining bits carry over from Cryptonomicon into the Cycle. I love that sort of thing  :mrgreen:
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mangrove on May 20, 2007, 06:30:50 PM
Almost done with Tibetan Book Of The Dead

Currently working on 'The Closing Of The Western Mind' (Charles Freeman). A ripsnorting trip through history, explaining how the Dark Ages came to be.

What hooked me in, was the author's premise that we have been led to believe that Religion was a dominant paradigm later challenged by Science. He posits that, in fact, it was the other way 'round. The Greek philosophical tradition (before the popularity of Plato & spread of Chrisitanity) was based on rationalism, logic and the necessity of evidence.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Thurnez Isa on May 20, 2007, 06:42:24 PM
Quote from: Mangrove on May 20, 2007, 06:30:50 PM

Currently working on 'The Closing Of The Western Mind'. A ripsnorting trip through history, explaining how the Dark Ages came to be.

What hooked me in, was the author's premise that we have been led to believe that Religion was a dominant paradigm later challenged by Science. He posits that, in fact, it was the other way 'round. The Greek philosophical tradition (before the popularity of Plato & spread of Chrisitanity) was based on rationalism, logic and the necessity of evidence.


one thing that comes to mind immediately is that pagan romans activitly surpressed parts of greek and more importantly Persian philosophy and abstract science that they felt would challenge the status of the state (something that got much much worse when they adapted a pro-state version of Christianity and this was seen in morale terms)

I am so going to track down that book
it sounds fasinating
the period of the Holy Roman Empire and its decline ie. roughly 350 to 470 AD, is my favorite historical period
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on May 20, 2007, 06:43:19 PM
Compare

Lucretius
vs
Anselm

on who was more scientific.  Then look how far they were apart in history from each other.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mangrove on May 20, 2007, 10:07:23 PM
TI:

"When the Emperor Constantine converted to Christianity in the fourth century AD and declared it the official religion of the Roman empire, he initiated a change that would thrust the Western world into a dark age. The Closing of the Western Mind is Charles Freemans' enthralling account of this pivotal point in Western history.

Drawing on his encyclopedic knowledge of the ancient world, Freeman shows how the first alliance of church and state resulted in the abandonment of the Greek intellectual tradition. He explains how the efforts of Christian leaders to establish orthodoxy and solidify their position within the state led them to stifle debate and dissent and to paper over doctrinal contradictions. And he examines early church councils, writings, art, and such personalities as Augustine and Ambrose of Milan in a fascinating chronicle of the church's expanding influence, the origins of its uneasiness with sexuality, its profound opposition to science, and the development of anti-Semitism. With brilliance, clarity, and an eye for the vital detail, Freeman has made a signal contribution to our understanding of the early church and the legacy of faith's subjugation of reason."

(from the back cover blurb)
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on May 20, 2007, 10:20:39 PM
Does he go much into the effects of the end of the Republic?  Because when I studied Roman Republican history, one of the things I noticed was almost everyone who had been part of a broader cultural movement against the end of the Republic had been Greek influenced.  Or the other way around, that many of those who had been Greek influenced also happened to be the staunchest defenders of the Republic in its last years.  You can ask Roger about Cicero...Catullus tried to salvage some of the Greek classical nobility and preserve it in Roman poetry, Lucretius was influential in philosophy and metaphysics, Cornelius Nepos wrote a scathing attack against Caesar disguised as historical essays....so on and so forth.

Also, I'm reading The Dark Legacy by R. A. Salvatore.  Its looking good, actually, so far.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Thurnez Isa on May 20, 2007, 11:57:54 PM
wow that book sounds at the least really interesting
Im going to have to call the universtiy library to see if they have or get a copy..
cause Im a distance from the university and not aloud to take books off campus (being a non-student) I can hopefully finish it in one sitting
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mangrove on May 21, 2007, 12:45:26 AM
Cain - I'll have to get back to you on the Roman republic stuff. I'm about 100+ pages in.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on May 21, 2007, 10:40:21 AM
Thats OK.

I got the name of the book I was reading wrong, so you're doing better than me right now.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mangrove on May 21, 2007, 01:04:07 PM
Quote from: Cain on May 21, 2007, 10:40:21 AM
Thats OK.

I got the name of the book I was reading wrong, so you're doing better than me right now.

Go to see OB. You need moar gin fountain.  :wink:
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on May 21, 2007, 04:19:38 PM
The OB needs a Time of Troubles.  The alcohol spirits should be cast down to walk the forums in mortal form.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Thurnez Isa on May 26, 2007, 08:20:18 PM
rereading "Why Must a Black Writer Write About Sex" - (english translation) by Dany Laferriere for the 3rd time
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mangrove on May 28, 2007, 03:06:57 PM
"the end of faith" - sam  harris
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on May 29, 2007, 03:13:22 PM
Quote from: Cain on May 21, 2007, 04:19:38 PM
The OB needs a Time of Troubles.  The alcohol spirits should be cast down to walk the forums in mortal form.


I don't know what this means, but it sounds pretty fucking cool.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on May 29, 2007, 03:20:19 PM
Quote from: LMNO on May 29, 2007, 03:13:22 PM
Quote from: Cain on May 21, 2007, 04:19:38 PM
The OB needs a Time of Troubles.  The alcohol spirits should be cast down to walk the forums in mortal form.


I don't know what this means, but it sounds pretty fucking cool.

*dons nerdly looking D&D hat*

The Time of Troubles was when all the gods were cast to the prime material plane (ie; the fantasy earth) because a couple of them were raving kleptomaniacs and cutting their hands off tends not to work on abstract concepts masquerading as humans.  So all their priests lost their spells and if you killed a god, you got to steal their portfolio and place in the heavens.

Cain,
will kill Scotch if this comes to pass.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on May 29, 2007, 03:21:00 PM
Also, I'm now reading The Stand.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on May 29, 2007, 03:49:29 PM
Dibs on killing Rye.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on May 29, 2007, 03:53:10 PM
If you kill multiples, you can become a cocktail god. 8)
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on May 29, 2007, 03:54:19 PM
Then Gin and Vermouth are on my hitlist, too.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on May 29, 2007, 03:55:07 PM
I pity the fool who kills Appletini.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Triple Zero on May 29, 2007, 04:08:44 PM
*quickly claims Beer before anyone else does*
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: bubz_the_troll on May 30, 2007, 03:26:49 AM
I have now begun reading The Illuminatus! Trilogy.  Early thoughts:  WHERE THE FUCK ARE THE TRIPLE SPACES BETWEEN NARRATIVE ELEMENTS?!?!  Thank you that is all!
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Triple Zero on May 30, 2007, 02:36:27 PM
no see, he can change mid-paragraph the point of view, narrator, location AND time

because um

i guess if you can get past that, it gets you in the mood to accept the other stuff as well
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on May 30, 2007, 02:45:48 PM
It's, like, non-linear post-modernism.

If you can do a jump cut in a film or a video, why can't you do it in a book?
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Jasper on May 30, 2007, 03:24:40 PM
Because it's pretentious as fuck and doesn't really add anything meaningful.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Triple Zero on May 30, 2007, 04:30:52 PM
no man,

because it's like an example, of like the relavitiy and non-localness of time and space, man

and that it's all subjective

you know
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on May 30, 2007, 04:33:18 PM
You wouldn't, like, understand.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cramulus on May 30, 2007, 05:45:27 PM
Illuminatus opens talking about the Ringmaster. The Ringmaster (narrator) is everybody at once, throughout time, including that squirrel. Waaaaay later in the book he comes back to that idea when the narrative really starts to come apart.

As I recall, the Shrodinger's Cat trilogy delves a lot deeper into that idea of simultaneously nonlocality.

I recall it being really frustrating and confusing the first time I read it, but really cool and beautiful when I came back to it knowing what he was going for.


As for me, right now I'm reading PKD's The Man in the High Castle, which I am borrowing from Darth Cupcake.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on May 30, 2007, 06:34:27 PM
Currently reading Foucault's Pendulum, because I finally bothered to order it off of Amazon.  So far, so good.  A little slow, in the start, but I do like the dialogue.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on May 30, 2007, 06:38:14 PM
It's a little slow in the middle and the end, too.

After all, it's Eco.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on May 30, 2007, 06:46:26 PM
True.  Still, its nice to read while I wait for my computer (not my mega-fast laptop but the other one) to load its shit.  Or recover from a crash.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on May 30, 2007, 06:47:58 PM
Oh, I agree, it's not a bad read, it's just not like, say, Pratchett.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on May 30, 2007, 06:52:59 PM
Yeah.  It actually reminds me of a lot of my tutorials, unsurprisingly I suppose.  meandering, vaguely academic, but pretty interesting and occasionally humourous.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: P3nT4gR4m on May 30, 2007, 07:29:26 PM
Quote from: LMNO on May 30, 2007, 06:47:58 PM
Oh, I agree, it's not a bad read, it's just not like, say, Pratchett.

you really got the bug then? Good luck finding time to do things like eat and sleep for the next couple of months  :lulz:
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: bubz_the_troll on May 30, 2007, 09:26:20 PM
Quote from: triple zero on May 30, 2007, 02:36:27 PM
no see, he can change mid-paragraph the point of view, narrator, location AND time

because um

i guess if you can get past that, it gets you in the mood to accept the other stuff as well
Strangely enough I find the mid paragraph POV changes easier to understand than when they switch after a new paragraph.  It's only when there is no obvious cue that the POV has changed that I get confused.  The multiple "I"'s are the most confusing.
Quote from: LMNO on May 30, 2007, 02:45:48 PM
It's, like, non-linear post-modernism.

If you can do a jump cut in a film or a video, why can't you do it in a book?
Actually this is exactly what the writing reminds me of.  However RS and RAW keep breaking the 180¬? rule.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: That One Guy on May 30, 2007, 09:38:38 PM
Breaking rules and altering from the expected (even the expected "unexpected") is pretty much the point of the whole thing. RS and RAW managed to work that into every little weird angle at many, many levels of the books.

All in all a fun read  :mrgreen:
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Jasper on May 31, 2007, 11:39:42 PM
It impressed a 16 year old Felix, at any rate.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on June 01, 2007, 02:03:43 PM
Yeah.

I know we like to slam it now, but when I read it, all those years ago, i really got into it.


But we grow, and move on.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on June 04, 2007, 09:40:25 PM
Lukyanenko, The Night Watch.

Big in Russia, both the film and the book.  And most of E. Europe, IIRC.

Not bad.  Bit, well, standard action fare-ish, but mixed with some genuinely interesting stuff.  And vampires.  Can't forget the vampires.  First 2 chapters are good hooks, too.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mangrove on June 05, 2007, 12:21:08 AM
what i am not reading:

a dead tree version of 'complete golden dawn'. why? because i ordered it, got charged, was told it 'shipped' and then weeks later, told that the book didn't exist and thus i was left to go fuck myself.

so double thanks to cain for the PDF because now that's the only version i have.

otherwise reading: 'supernatural' by graham hancock.



Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Deepthroat Chopra on June 05, 2007, 12:40:31 AM
I'm just finishing John Pilger's "Freedon next Time". There's chapters on American/British treatment of the Chagos Islanders, a critique of the "new" India, a deconstruction of the New South Africa, and more on Palestine/Israel. I'm just starting the chapter on Afghanistan.

A problem I have with Pilger is that I tend to agree with bloody everything he writes just about. Does anyone know a good place that critiques him? Most critiques I've read are hollow, and don't address the substance.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Payne on June 05, 2007, 12:46:22 AM
I haven't found anything that offers a good critique on the substance of pilgers work, but if I come across something, I'll let you know.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on June 05, 2007, 01:46:04 PM
Quote from: Mangrove on June 05, 2007, 12:21:08 AM
what i am not reading:

a dead tree version of 'complete golden dawn'. why? because i ordered it, got charged, was told it 'shipped' and then weeks later, told that the book didn't exist and thus i was left to go fuck myself.

so double thanks to cain for the PDF because now that's the only version i have.

otherwise reading: 'supernatural' by graham hancock.





Damn.  You getting your money back, then?  If so, its probably a good stroke of luck.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on June 05, 2007, 01:47:25 PM
Quote from: Deepthroat Chopra on June 05, 2007, 12:40:31 AM
I'm just finishing John Pilger's "Freedon next Time". There's chapters on American/British treatment of the Chagos Islanders, a critique of the "new" India, a deconstruction of the New South Africa, and more on Palestine/Israel. I'm just starting the chapter on Afghanistan.

A problem I have with Pilger is that I tend to agree with bloody everything he writes just about. Does anyone know a good place that critiques him? Most critiques I've read are hollow, and don't address the substance.

I can't think of many.  I know some of the stuff he has written is....off, somehow, but I cannot remember why.  With the Chagos Islanders though, he is dead on.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mangrove on June 05, 2007, 05:48:36 PM
Quote from: Cain on June 05, 2007, 01:46:04 PM
Quote from: Mangrove on June 05, 2007, 12:21:08 AM
what i am not reading:

a dead tree version of 'complete golden dawn'. why? because i ordered it, got charged, was told it 'shipped' and then weeks later, told that the book didn't exist and thus i was left to go fuck myself.

so double thanks to cain for the PDF because now that's the only version i have.

otherwise reading: 'supernatural' by graham hancock.





Damn.  You getting your money back, then?  If so, its probably a good stroke of luck.

i got my money back. abebooks then sent me a questionnaire about my buying experience. problem was that i didn't actually have one.  :sad:

serves me right though, i'm not likely to get this book for less than $100-200+. this is the second time i've tried to get a cheap copy online and it's ended in tears. meh.

Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on June 05, 2007, 06:13:06 PM
All works out well in the end though, doesn't it?  8)
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on June 08, 2007, 01:24:50 PM
Finished Foucault's Pendulum.

Now reading James Adams, The Next World War.  Pretty much the best English language book on Information Warfare outside of Pentagon texts.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: SBCU on June 08, 2007, 02:23:12 PM
Finished War and Peace by Tolstoy.

Started Youth by Joseph Conrad.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Darth Cupcake on June 08, 2007, 02:35:53 PM
Just starting in on Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace. I haven't slept enough this week so I keep going face down in the book when I start it, so hopefully this weekend + beach will see me make more progress.

I absolutely adore DFW's short story collection Girl With Curious Hair. His writing is great, if admittedly very much dark humor.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on June 08, 2007, 03:20:14 PM
The only good thing about Infinite Jest is the list of movies.


Man, that book sucked.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Darth Cupcake on June 08, 2007, 03:23:16 PM
Quote from: LMNO on June 08, 2007, 03:20:14 PM
The only good thing about Infinite Jest is the list of movies.


Man, that book sucked.

This is what I am told. I am told that his short fiction is much, much better--and as I said, I really enjoyed a book of his short fiction.

So we'll see how it turns out. I really enjoy books that can double as self-defense mechanisms, though, so carrying around the cinderblock that is Infinite Jest is kind of fun, so I'll probably end up getting all the way through it pretty soon.

-DC
Also has Gravity's Rainbow on her shelf for similar roommate-smacking purposes
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on June 08, 2007, 03:24:33 PM
Private Eye, Issue 1186.  Just got the letters page.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Bebek Sincap Ratatosk on June 08, 2007, 06:28:29 PM
1. The Sling and The Stone (Nice discussion of 4GW tactics)
2. Smoke and Mirrors - Neil Gaiman
3. The Bobinomicon
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on June 08, 2007, 06:37:01 PM
Who wrote The Sling and the Stone?  I just ordered Brave New War by John Robb, and could do with more 4GW stuff for my library.  Especially if it includes systems analysis style thinking.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Bebek Sincap Ratatosk on June 08, 2007, 07:55:51 PM
Colonel Thomas X. Hammes (Active Duty) his book does a fantastic job of following the development of 4GW from Mao through Iraq with stopovers in most of the conflicts since WWII ;-)
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: SBCU on June 08, 2007, 09:18:11 PM
 :argh!: Read War and Peace by Tolstoy and you will also get a description of 4GW.

Oh yeah, sorry, doesn't fit in the US time line.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: bubz_the_troll on June 12, 2007, 02:50:50 AM
I've just begun reading Book of Lies The Disinformation Guide to Magick and the Occult.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: SBCU on June 12, 2007, 11:07:16 AM
Finished Youth and Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
Begun reading The end of the Tether by... Joseph Conrad
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on June 12, 2007, 11:31:52 AM
Quote from: SBCU on June 08, 2007, 09:18:11 PM
:argh!: Read War and Peace by Tolstoy and you will also get a description of 4GW.

Oh yeah, sorry, doesn't fit in the US time line.

Sorry, I'd rather kill myself than read War and Peace.

Oh, and I'm an Australian, jackass.  Sorry that doesn't fit into your petty insult slinging.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: SBCU on June 12, 2007, 05:00:31 PM
Quote from: Cain on June 12, 2007, 11:31:52 AM
Oh, and I'm an Australian, jackass.  Sorry that doesn't fit into your petty insult slinging.

It's not you who thought up the 4GW:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/4GW (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/4GW)
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on June 12, 2007, 05:08:53 PM
Actually, I've pretty much talked about 4GW on this board for the last couple of years, to inform my thinking on certain aspects of Discordian ideas.

And while its not Americans who came up with it, the Pentagon are the only people putting money into researching it thoroughly (and letting people look at the results without kidnapping them or slitting their throats) and I'd rather read an academic/military text than a piece of fiction on this subject, any day of the week.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: SBCU on June 12, 2007, 05:26:03 PM
Quote from: Cain on June 12, 2007, 05:08:53 PM
Actually, I've pretty much talked about 4GW on this board for the last couple of years, to inform my thinking on certain aspects of Discordian ideas.

And while its not Americans who came up with it, the Pentagon are the only people putting money into researching it thoroughly (and letting people look at the results without kidnapping them or slitting their throats) and I'd rather read an academic/military text than a piece of fiction on this subject, any day of the week.

I fully understand the interest in 4GW and of course it benefits the Pentagon to have people research this way of waging war. And it can also benefit us that they are doing research on this subject, so we can learn something about a certain type of warfare. Though I think that the idea that 4GW is a new tactic within modern warfare can and ought to be challenged. I mentioned War and Peace, because Tolstoy describes within this book a 'new' type of warfare, that can be described as 4GW. Of course War and Peace is mostly fiction, but there is a lot of tactical and historical philosophy within the book (in the end the history rules the tactical, but that's up to Tolstoy).

I disagree with the strict 4 steps that are the basis of the 4GW thesis. Even though they show a certain development of tactics (mostly because of technical developments), they focus on how to fight against tactics that bother the US army at that given time. Right now it is against terrorism, because the US army is mostly fighting against... terrorism. While I believe that during 1, 2 and 3 GW, there was also 4GW at work, but it didn't have such a priority in the US army agenda. I could agree with different types of warfare, but not with strict generations like the 4GW thesis gives us.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on June 12, 2007, 05:38:36 PM
Oh certainly, its not a totally accurate representation.  You could easily say 4GW is the same as the third stage in Martin van Creveld's method of dividing the history of modern warfare, as well as a bunch of other comparisons.  But its a conceptually helpful way of thinking about it, just like Information Warfare is another useful divide.

And I'm not sure anyone has actually posited that 4GW is a new method of fighting.  There is plenty of historical precedent, its just as firepower for the individual soldier increases, war becomes non-existential for western states, the arms trade, communications and globalization give advantages to non-state actors, its going to become much more popular - as guerrilla warfare become in the last century.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Bebek Sincap Ratatosk on June 12, 2007, 05:50:52 PM
4GW is a model or map... the Map is not the Territory.

Sure people have always engaged in some aspects of insurgency when at War, however 4GW usually references the more modern concept of:

A) Insurgency as the major piece of warfare, versus insurgency as a subset of a larger war.
2) The Insurgency is not managed by any State.
III) The insurgency has an active PR arm to manage recruitment of local civilians and to win international support.

Before Mao, insurgency was a much different concept, and really, before the Sandinista the concept of local PR wasn't well understood. During the First Intifada, the use of PR for International support was proven to be very effective.

Just like any other product of evolution, I don't think 4GW is brand new and unique, but we can model it as having evolved from earlier similar methods of war and it seems to have become refined enough to garner its own label for the purpose of discussion.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: SBCU on June 13, 2007, 01:12:46 PM
Nice book on the 'modernity' of terrorism: Al Qaeda and what it means to be Modern. by John Gray.
Nice book on the defense of the US: Surprise, Security and the American Experience. by John Lewis Gaddis.

An example of 4GW: The third phase of the Second Boer War.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: SBCU on June 14, 2007, 11:49:35 AM
Finished The end of the Tether. by Joseph Conrad.
Begun The Writer and the World. by V.S. Naipaul.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Darth Cupcake on June 20, 2007, 08:20:08 PM
Just picked up on lunch break:

Female Chauvinist Pigs: Women and the Rise of Raunch Culture by Ariel Levy. I've actually already read this, but it was a borrowed copy. It's really, really good, so I wanted to pick up my own copy to mark up/loan out to people.

Girl, Interrupted by Susanna Kaysen. I've read snippets of it and I really like her narrative voice. So we'll see how the whole thing goes.

MOAR BOOKS! My shelves will never be full enough!
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on June 21, 2007, 11:25:16 AM
Finished The Consolations of Travel by Alain de Botton, The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins and Brave New War by John Robb.  A review on the last one will go up on the blog, once I get my laptop back.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: The Littlest Ubermensch on June 21, 2007, 05:18:52 PM
Just finished Survivor by Chuck Palahniuk, getting started on Diary.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on June 21, 2007, 05:19:33 PM
Chuck's starting to get a little formulaic, if you ask me.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: The Littlest Ubermensch on June 21, 2007, 05:29:32 PM
Quote from: LMNO on June 21, 2007, 05:19:33 PM
Chuck's starting to get a little formulaic, if you ask me.

I've been noticing that a little bit myself, but they're still good books.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Triple Zero on June 21, 2007, 05:52:07 PM
how many of you need to resist the urge to reply "this forum" every time they see it marked with a new message in it?

every time.

my subconscious is killing me with bad attempts at humour.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on June 21, 2007, 05:54:52 PM
If you look through the old pages on this, you'll see it's been done.

and done.



and done.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cramulus on June 21, 2007, 05:55:51 PM
 :cheers:

just like every time I see a new post in the "what are you listening to right now" thread I must resist replying "tapping on the keyboard, my coworker's mouthbreathing"
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Triple Zero on June 21, 2007, 06:01:12 PM
Quote from: LMNO on June 21, 2007, 05:54:52 PM
If you look through the old pages on this, you'll see it's been done.

and done.



and done.

i know. that's why i don't.

(this is one of those jokes that had already been done before they were invented)

it just surprises me that everytime:

1. new message at unofficial what are you reading thread?
2. "hm good question, what am i reading, anything good lately? some more pratchett .. oh wait i'm reading this forum -- wait let's not post that."

- 000
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: AFK on June 22, 2007, 02:00:46 PM
I'm re-reading all of my reports and spreadsheets for this grant that ends next Saturday.  I need to combine all of this shit into a couple of shiny reports for the State.  Oh, and I just got an e-mail this morning from the evaluation firm the State is using letting all of the grantees know that they are going to be "graded" on the final products.  Nothing like heaping pressure onto pressure.  I hate them muchly this morning. 
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mangrove on June 23, 2007, 06:53:30 PM
FINALLY!

I am reading The Complete Golden Dawn System Of Magic.

It arrived after 3 attempts in 4 months. I now have a nice hardback 1994 edition of this tome.

[phew]
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Sweety on June 23, 2007, 10:45:58 PM
I heard that that (regardie GD book) is good (or god or whatever), still I think its slow old paradigm CM, anyway do as thou wilt or even as you will...

right now Im reading the dada manifestos, a book on poetry, something about mutational alchemy, some stories by clark ashton smith and the latest book on single malt by michael jackson...
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mangrove on June 26, 2007, 05:45:01 PM
the Regardie book is good and occasionally a lot funnier than you'd might expect from a book of that nature.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: avatar on June 27, 2007, 04:52:52 PM
Well, because I've read this forum... I won't post the tired old hackneyed phrase... 

Instead... I'm reading We by Yevgeny Zamyatin, and re-reading The Name of The Rose- Umberto Eco

Avatar
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cramulus on June 27, 2007, 04:54:07 PM
welcome Avatar!

I'd seen you lurking, wondered when you'd come out and play

I was eagerly anticipating a good avatar...
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Bebek Sincap Ratatosk on July 06, 2007, 01:46:37 AM
Quote from: Sweety on June 23, 2007, 10:45:58 PM
I heard that that (regardie GD book) is good (or god or whatever), still I think its slow old paradigm CM,

Well, Thelema and GD did (I think) influence Carroll, Hine and other Chaos Magicians, but to me the GD stuff, like Crowley's Thelemic stuff are systems, whereas Chaos magic tends to appear more as a metasystem.

Anyway, I'm just finishing up "Smoke and Mirrors" by Neil Gaiman, also recently finished 'Neverwhere' by the same author. Excellent Short stories in Smoke and Mirrors, excellent fantasy in Neverwhere.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Slarti on July 06, 2007, 03:24:24 AM
Tarot: A Key to the wisdom of the ages by paul foster case. pretty good so far.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Forteetu on July 06, 2007, 03:59:33 AM
Quote from: Slarti on July 06, 2007, 03:24:24 AM
Tarot: A Key to the wisdom of the ages by paul foster case. pretty good so far.

Just printed and started reading the BIP.

Open question to the BIP crew ...
Any thought to puting this in a page1 to page 27 (top to bottom) format in pdf? Would be nice to not be forced to print it and make it into a booklet just to read it thru.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: AFK on July 06, 2007, 02:04:56 PM
Think of it as Creative Disorder.   :fnord:
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on July 06, 2007, 02:14:48 PM
Quote from: Forteetu on July 06, 2007, 03:59:33 AM
Quote from: Slarti on July 06, 2007, 03:24:24 AM
Tarot: A Key to the wisdom of the ages by paul foster case. pretty good so far.

Just printed and started reading the BIP.

Open question to the BIP crew ...
Any thought to puting this in a page1 to page 27 (top to bottom) format in pdf? Would be nice to not be forced to print it and make it into a booklet just to read it thru.


If you want to go ahead and do it, go ahead and do it.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Darth Cupcake on July 06, 2007, 02:34:10 PM
I recently finished Girl, Interrupted and found it to be good, though I have some mixed feelings on it. One of the best parts of it is that she intersperses the chapters with photocopies of the actual documents from when she was hospitalized. It's pretty interesting to see what people considered "valid science/psychiatry" in the late 60s.

The other day I picked up Virgin: The Untouched History which is a study of virginity and its cultural significance. Sounds pretty interesting, and I will be starting that any time now.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Forteetu on July 06, 2007, 03:29:13 PM
Quote from: LMNO on July 06, 2007, 02:14:48 PM

If you want to go ahead and do it, go ahead and do it.

Ah ... I'm beginning to see how this works now, suggestive volunteerism

if you suggest it, vis a vis, you have volunteered to do it
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on July 06, 2007, 03:31:23 PM
More like:  If you have an idea of what you'd like to see, don't rely on some anonymous random stranger on the internet to do it for you.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Forteetu on July 06, 2007, 03:42:34 PM
Quote from: LMNO on July 06, 2007, 03:31:23 PM
More like:  If you have an idea of what you'd like to see, don't rely on some anonymous random stranger on the internet to do it for you.

well, not to be a smart ass or nothin' ... but

You have removed yourself from being "some anonymous stranger on the internet" by deciding to be part of a group of publishers of a document, the BIP. As a customer of your document, I have made a query with regards to the user-friendly features of your product. Rather than "some anonymous stranger" you are in fact, one of the most likely people to which a query like this should be made.

Just sayin'
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: AFK on July 06, 2007, 03:47:35 PM
of course it is free.

get what you pay for, etc., etc., 
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on July 06, 2007, 03:52:11 PM
Quote from: Forteetu on July 06, 2007, 03:42:34 PM
Quote from: LMNO on July 06, 2007, 03:31:23 PM
More like:  If you have an idea of what you'd like to see, don't rely on some anonymous random stranger on the internet to do it for you.

well, not to be a smart ass or nothin' ... but

You have removed yourself from being "some anonymous stranger on the internet" by deciding to be part of a group of publishers of a document, the BIP. As a customer of your document, I have made a query with regards to the user-friendly features of your product. Rather than "some anonymous stranger" you are in fact, one of the most likely people to which a query like this should be made.

Just sayin'



Pick me out of a crowd.

Just sayin.


And hey, it's all kopyleft, not to mention Open Source.  Every person who reads it becomes a part of the project.

Lastly, if you're gonna wait for me to make a coherent PDF of the BIP pamphlet, you'd better make yourself comfortable.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Forteetu on July 06, 2007, 03:59:01 PM
Quote from: LMNO on July 06, 2007, 03:52:11 PM

Pick me out of a crowd.

Just sayin.

Fair enough

Quote
And hey, it's all kopyleft, not to mention Open Source.  Every person who reads it becomes a part of the project.

Lastly, if you're gonna wait for me to make a coherent PDF of the BIP pamphlet, you'd better make yourself comfortable.

Yeh, yeh, I hear ya ....  so I'm guessing there's no 1-800 complaints department number either, eh?
Man I dunno about this. Even the Unitarians have got better customer service.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on July 06, 2007, 03:59:54 PM
PD.com:  YUO ARE YOUR OWN CUSTOMER SERVICE.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: That One Guy on July 06, 2007, 04:05:15 PM
Because I was bored and forced to deal with Acrobat all morning, I added to the pain and sorted the pages into 1-28 order, saved it, and need somewhere to host. I was a little speedy on the cropping of the pages so the margins are a bit off but everything's readable.

I'll be happy to PM the file to any interested parties or people willing/able to host the (320k PDF) file  :mrgreen:
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: AFK on July 06, 2007, 04:06:27 PM
Go to www.poee.co.uk
You can sign up for an account and upload it to their site. 
Or just ask Syn to do it, that is, if you aren't in a hurry.   :wink:
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: That One Guy on July 06, 2007, 04:23:34 PM
I can't link to the file from where it is currently (IE work) - POEE seems like it needs an external link to add a document (at least via the "Add Document" link there), and since it's not currently hosted anywhere, I have nowhere to link the PDF FROM, which is a problem. If I'm going about this incorrectly then any helpful hints would be appreciated, but right now all I have is the PDF and nowhere to host it   :sad:
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cramulus on July 06, 2007, 04:34:14 PM
You RULE, TOG

this totally makes up for being stuck in traffic for HOURS behind license plate 287-TOG last month


hate revoked!
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: AFK on July 06, 2007, 04:41:58 PM
Oh you're right.  For some reason I though I was able to upload from the computer.  In that case you'll have to find a hosting site.  This is a good one, I've used it and LMNO has used it as well as others:  http://mihd.net/
You can upload it there and then submit that information to POEE, then you'll have it in a couple of places.  You could also just e-mail the file to admin@poee.co.uk and save yourself all that trouble.  He'll put it up for you. 
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Frenzied Destruction on July 06, 2007, 04:45:12 PM
currently reading ''shadows over bakersfield'' awesome h.p. lovecraft meets sherlock home short story collection. And i finished reading illuminatus(wtf) a week ago.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cramulus on July 06, 2007, 04:47:30 PM
Quote from: Frenzied Destruction on July 06, 2007, 04:45:12 PM
currently reading ''shadows over bakersfield'' awesome h.p. lovecraft meets sherlock home short story collection. And i finished reading illuminatus(wtf) a week ago.

what did you think of Illuminatus?
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: That One Guy on July 06, 2007, 04:54:31 PM
http://mihd.net/k7v4w8

There it is, and I just submitted the link to POEE | UK for their linkage. Enjoy!  8)
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: AFK on July 06, 2007, 05:02:30 PM
:mittens:
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Forteetu on July 06, 2007, 05:30:22 PM
Quote from: That One Guy on July 06, 2007, 04:54:31 PM
http://mihd.net/k7v4w8

There it is, and I just submitted the link to POEE | UK for their linkage. Enjoy!  8)

:news:
YOU ROCK! Thanks man.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on July 07, 2007, 12:54:27 PM
The Game - Neil Strauss

Pretty interesting, especially since I had heard of a few of the main personalities in there before now.

I will upload later, for those who want it.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Slarti on July 07, 2007, 03:43:01 PM
that'd be nice, i read part of it but lost it due to my computer getting a bad case of the HIV, and i haven't been able to find it since.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Payne on July 07, 2007, 10:16:41 PM
Quote from: Cain on July 07, 2007, 12:54:27 PM
The Game - Neil Strauss

Pretty interesting, especially since I had heard of a few of the main personalities in there before now.

I will upload later, for those who want it.

DO want. Seeing as I finished reading that scary alien thingy you recomended...
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on July 08, 2007, 12:46:46 PM
Well, its going to have to be whenever I get my laptop returned by PC World.

Apparently they are shipping the parts from Shanghai.   :roll:  Either way, I can't see myself getting it back for at least another coupe of weeks.  If you can't wait that long, try the backpages of Bookchan, I think that was where I found it.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Payne on July 08, 2007, 03:22:40 PM
Quote from: Cain on July 08, 2007, 12:46:46 PM
Well, its going to have to be whenever I get my laptop returned by PC World.

Apparently they are shipping the parts from Shanghai.   :roll:  Either way, I can't see myself getting it back for at least another coupe of weeks.  If you can't wait that long, try the backpages of Bookchan, I think that was where I found it.

Righty! Thanks man.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Triple Zero on July 08, 2007, 05:03:21 PM
Quote from: Cain on July 07, 2007, 12:54:27 PM
The Game - Neil Strauss

Pretty interesting, especially since I had heard of a few of the main personalities in there before now.

I will upload later, for those who want it.

read that one too. the dutch translation was HORRIBLE :)

it's a good read, i especially enjoyed the bit where they set up that house and it all blows up because everybody is trying to out-alphamale the others  :lulz:

i had heard of some of the names in the book as well .. only thing i do not understand is why he completely fails to mention maniac_high. all the big names are in there, but maniac isn't even in the acknowledgements. probably some kinda grudge thing perhaps.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on July 14, 2007, 01:10:19 PM
Yeah, that house towards the end...well, to be honest, it kind of reminded me of this forum at its worst.

I never heard of Maniac High however.  Mystery, Jefferies and DeAngelo, sure, but not him.  Could be a time thing, Style was only really playing for a couple of years, as far as I can see
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Triple Zero on July 14, 2007, 05:55:30 PM
Quote from: Cain on July 14, 2007, 01:10:19 PM
Yeah, that house towards the end...well, to be honest, it kind of reminded me of this forum at its worst.

heh.

yep. guess we got quite a few too many "alpha males" not wanting to share their territory with eachother as well  :)

QuoteI never heard of Maniac High however.  Mystery, Jefferies and DeAngelo, sure, but not him.  Could be a time thing, Style was only really playing for a couple of years, as far as I can see

someone from tokyo, afaik. he wrote pickupguide.com, which was the first thing i saw of this whole "scene", years and years ago, which was indeed before Style appeared.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Slarti on July 15, 2007, 04:34:47 AM
just started reading the tree of life by israel regardie. pretty interesting stuff so far.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on July 15, 2007, 11:02:29 AM
http://mihd.net/jwvp2c

As promised.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mangrove on July 15, 2007, 10:48:50 PM
Lapham Rising by Roger Rosenblatt.

Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on July 16, 2007, 03:46:25 PM
Just finished Pratchett's "Small Gods".  Took about 2 days, max.


Damn, I like his writing style.  Will probably pick up another of his this week.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: That One Guy on July 16, 2007, 03:52:15 PM
They're a great, fast read - low-key but cerebral and entertaining. I have yet to read any of them and NOT enjoy it. The books ARE addictive, however, so just be aware that now that you've caught the bug it'll run you $7 a pop till you have them all  :mrgreen:
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on July 16, 2007, 04:02:39 PM
I know.  But luckily, I have a job that pays me to work for 4 hours, and spend 4 hours on the Intertrucks, and still have enough to buy Pratchett books to read during lunch.



...

...

...




I think I just figured out why I haven't quit my job and tried to become a full-time music producer.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Jasper on July 16, 2007, 09:00:35 PM
Quote from: That One Guy on July 16, 2007, 03:52:15 PM
They're a great, fast read - low-key but cerebral and entertaining. I have yet to read any of them and NOT enjoy it. The books ARE addictive, however, so just be aware that now that you've caught the bug it'll run you $7 a pop till you have them all  :mrgreen:

True.  I read everything he had over the course of a high school semester.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: hunter s.durden on July 20, 2007, 04:04:52 AM
American Shaolin by Matthew Polly.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mangrove on July 25, 2007, 09:19:31 PM
Quote from: hunter s.durden on July 20, 2007, 04:04:52 AM
American Shaolin by Matthew Polly.

Lemme know how that pans out. I"ve heard good stuff about it and I keep seeing it at the bookstore saying "For god's sake Mang' won't you just buy me already?'
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: B_M_W on July 25, 2007, 09:53:42 PM
Chaos Curse, last book of RA Salvatore's Cleric Quintet. Finally bummed it off Cain, after looking for years.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on July 25, 2007, 10:27:12 PM
The Management of Savagery, by Obvious Fake Arabic Name.

The things I do to keep the Carlyle Group off my back.....
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: tyrannosaurus vex on July 25, 2007, 10:57:31 PM
this thread
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Thurnez Isa on August 14, 2007, 05:09:30 AM
A brief History of the Future How visionary thinkers changed the world and tommorrow's trends are "made" and marketed by Oona Strathern

Im seriously hoping the rest of the book is as good as the first chapter was
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Darth Cupcake on August 14, 2007, 07:20:13 PM
LMNO-PI.

It's a slow day at work, so it's about time I got versed in this majestic classic of modern literature. 8)
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on August 14, 2007, 07:43:34 PM
OSHI-
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Bebek Sincap Ratatosk on August 14, 2007, 08:09:06 PM
 - Katherine Kerr's new Deverry trilogy. Fantasy that isn't just a repeat of the old memes. ;-)
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Darth Cupcake on August 14, 2007, 08:19:35 PM
LMNO, plz don't let your editors remove the sex scene.

I feel so denied. :cry:

I hope the next one isn't replaced with italics about unnecessary sex.

NO SEX IS UNNECESSARY. NEVAR.

Otherwise, I am riding high on roflcopters and speeding around on lollerskates. It is pretty great.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on August 14, 2007, 08:20:33 PM
DC, the sex scene will be included for a nominal, one-time fee.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Darth Cupcake on August 14, 2007, 08:48:58 PM
I will consider my payment to be waived in exchange for A) you ditching us for the Boston invasion last month and B) the fact that I didn't hunt you down on whitepages.com and plaster your house with propaganda while I was in your 'hood this weekend. :D

That seems quite fair, I do believe!
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on August 14, 2007, 08:50:24 PM
Fine.


How strong is your stomach?
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Darth Cupcake on August 14, 2007, 08:53:12 PM
Strong enough for you, little man! :lol:
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on August 14, 2007, 08:54:44 PM
Heh.



It's in my archives at home.  I'll see if I can find it.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Darth Cupcake on August 14, 2007, 08:56:17 PM
There's one scene you can leave out, though, cause I just don't need that. Eeee.

I only want the GOOD sex scenes. :p

-DC
Likes to live in a world where sex is only happy, dammit!
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on August 14, 2007, 10:39:15 PM
Francis Fukuyama - After the NeoCons

You know as a kid, when you were caught red handed, doing something absolutely wrong which you cannot in any way dodge or deny?  So instead of passing off your actions as something else, you instead try to make it look like you were doing something because you thought it would help someone.  And do you remember how that little story in your head sounded fine to you, but whoever it was who caught you didn't buy it for a second?

Thats essentially this book, applied to US foreign policy.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Payne on August 14, 2007, 11:21:20 PM
Quote from: LMNO on August 14, 2007, 08:50:24 PM
Fine.


How strong is your stomach?

HATESECKS!
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on August 15, 2007, 01:00:17 PM
Quote from: Cain on August 14, 2007, 10:39:15 PM
Francis Fukuyama - After the NeoCons

You know as a kid, when you were caught red handed, doing something absolutely wrong which you cannot in any way dodge or deny?  So instead of passing off your actions as something else, you instead try to make it look like you were doing something because you thought it would help someone.  And do you remember how that little story in your head sounded fine to you, but whoever it was who caught you didn't buy it for a second?

Thats essentially this book, applied to US foreign policy.

Best book review EVAR.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Triple Zero on August 19, 2007, 06:34:59 PM
Quote from: LMNO on August 14, 2007, 08:50:24 PM
Fine.


How strong is your stomach?

poutine.

just sayin'
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Darth Cupcake on August 20, 2007, 03:24:23 PM
Quote from: triple zero on August 19, 2007, 06:34:59 PM
Quote from: LMNO on August 14, 2007, 08:50:24 PM
Fine.


How strong is your stomach?

poutine.

just sayin'

Don't knock poutine! I had some at the diner the other night while playing Scattergories. :D
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: the dreadful hours on August 20, 2007, 06:29:35 PM
a take out menu
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Triple Zero on August 20, 2007, 09:20:43 PM
Quote from: Darth Cupcake on August 20, 2007, 03:24:23 PM
Quote from: triple zero on August 19, 2007, 06:34:59 PM
Quote from: LMNO on August 14, 2007, 08:50:24 PM
Fine.


How strong is your stomach?

poutine.

just sayin'

Don't knock poutine! I had some at the diner the other night while playing Scattergories. :D

that's what i say. that's how strong your stomach is!
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on September 06, 2007, 01:26:04 PM
Robert Graves, The Greek Myths.

I had a choice.  I could either buy this, or Cosmic Trigger by RAW.  Naturally, Greek epics won out.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cramulus on September 06, 2007, 01:35:38 PM
I ordered my copy of Black Swan like a week and a half ago and it still hasn't arrived. CURSE YOU AMAZON.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on September 06, 2007, 01:39:47 PM
They're bastards for that.  Took me 6 weeks to get Brave New War, for example.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Richter on September 06, 2007, 01:58:11 PM
Recently Diverted by Suu's printout of LMNO - PI

Back to oscillating from Black Swan to a book on Buddhism.

Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on September 06, 2007, 02:42:45 PM
I finished Pratchett's "Pyramids".


That was a good one.  Anyone who gets a kick out of Egypt, Berocracy, and space-time geometry should check it out.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Suu on September 06, 2007, 08:59:31 PM
Outlining Renaissance Girl more than reading an actual novel. Been doing all sorts of gnarly researchness though.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on September 29, 2007, 12:49:12 AM
The Belgariad by David Eddings.

A friend of mine keeps saying I'm like one of the characters in this, but refuses to elaborate.  So I am forced to read, if only to see if I owe him a pint or a slip of tabasco in his next meal.

I also have a new translation of The Iliad I want to look over.  So far, its ranking fairly highly, certainly better than most Greek to English dictionary jobs that are out there.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: DarkStar on September 29, 2007, 12:53:16 AM
I great series Cain.  I hope you enjoy it.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on September 29, 2007, 01:43:18 AM
Thankyou, I certainly am so far.  And welcome to the forum, btw.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: DarkStar on September 29, 2007, 02:05:14 AM
I am very glad to be here. When you figure out which character you may be, please present it. 

eta.  Thank you for the welcome Cain.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on September 29, 2007, 02:59:14 AM
Cool.  Feel free to introduce yourself in Apple Chat, we've got a thread up there specially for it.

I suspect my friend meant Silk.  I'm noting a certain similar type of humour....or my affinity for (when posting pictures of myself on the internet) being mostly in the shadows.  One reason or the other.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: DarkStar on September 29, 2007, 03:42:00 AM
I will go visit Apple chat.

For whatever it's worth, Silk is probably my favorite character.  Certainly, the most resourceful, and a wonderful whit.

Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: The Good Reverend Roger on September 29, 2007, 04:13:53 AM
Quote from: DarkStar on September 29, 2007, 02:05:14 AM
I am very glad to be here. When you figure out which character you may be, please present it. 

eta.  Thank you for the welcome Cain.

(http://icanhascheezburger.files.wordpress.com/2007/03/its-a-trap.jpg)

Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: DarkStar on September 29, 2007, 02:30:26 PM
Again, thanks for the warning TGRR. 
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: That One Guy on October 03, 2007, 05:50:10 PM
Philip K. Dick, Man in the High Castle

I love this book. While so much of PKD's stuff is amazing, this one is far and away my favorite, although that's probably in large part due to my love of "what if" fiction.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mother John Frumm on October 04, 2007, 02:19:30 PM
Reading Cultures of Secrecy by Andrew Lattas and Dune: House Harkonnen, (reading the whole series)
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Triple Zero on October 04, 2007, 03:44:10 PM
holy fuck that is a scary fucking avatar
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mother John Frumm on October 04, 2007, 10:23:39 PM
Ha Ha. From an old Italian movie, Lucio Fulci's Demonia. Nunsploitation all the way.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Triple Zero on October 04, 2007, 10:46:47 PM
it kinda ranks up there with the think davedim used to have

good job :)
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mother John Frumm on October 04, 2007, 11:56:55 PM
thanks   I've been into the nunsploitation lately
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mangrove on October 05, 2007, 01:01:10 AM
it can be a tough habit to break.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mother John Frumm on October 05, 2007, 01:23:54 AM
oh the addiction of good(bad) movies
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: on October 06, 2007, 07:01:47 AM
I'm working on a Poe costume for Halloween, so I've been getting into his poetry lately.
Although, I think I'm going to drop that in favor of reading August Derleth in preparation for NANOWRIMO.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: DarkStar on October 06, 2007, 03:14:17 PM
Have you read the entire series Dune?  That is a damn scary avatar.......
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mother John Frumm on October 06, 2007, 06:21:20 PM
I've read a few of them sporadically, however I just bought 9 of them at once so I'm re-reading all of them in chronological order, in the time line of the story. I'm done with 5 of them so far
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on October 30, 2007, 04:32:06 PM
I'm reading the second Wheel of Time book, The Great Hunt.  Apart from his occasional vice of stealing names from mythology (sa'angreal, Shai'tan), I'm really liking these books.  Jordan has a very descriptive style that appeals, even if it takes him several chapters to progress the plot any.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cainad (dec.) on October 30, 2007, 04:47:30 PM
I'm currently finishing re-reading The Prince of Nothing trilogy (The Darkness That Comes Before, The Warrior-Prophet, and The Thousandfold Thought) by R. Scott Bakker. I was totally wowed the first time I read it, and the second time around it's even better because I'm wise to the books' single flaw, which is a tendency to frequently "introduce" secondary characters for a few scenes, all with strange, nigh-unpronounceable names.

The historical parallels are pretty obvious to anyone well-acquainted with European history, but the real yuks come from the few details that don't fit into the historical mould.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Darth Cupcake on October 30, 2007, 05:55:07 PM
Quote from: Cain on October 30, 2007, 04:32:06 PM
I'm reading the second Wheel of Time book, The Great Hunt.  Apart from his occasional vice of stealing names from mythology (sa'angreal, Shai'tan), I'm really liking these books.  Jordan has a very descriptive style that appeals, even if it takes him several chapters to progress the plot any.

They can get really slow at times, I'm afraid, but they are really great books. I am a very big addict/nerd about them. They are incredibly trite fantasy, and yes, often very slow moving, but he writes them so well that all of that is entirely forgivable, in my opinion.

I'm finally reading Good Omens (Pratchett/Gaiman). I've been getting through it in leaps and bounds on the trolley in and out of work, and it is HILARIOUS. I am so delighted with it! Unfortunately, I think I'll be finished tonight. :cry: I will miss the fun of giggling hysterically in a train full of grumpy commuters and/or BU kids at 8:30 AM.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Triple Zero on October 30, 2007, 06:21:11 PM
i just finished re-reading Gibson's Neuromancer, cause i finally got it back from a friend who had borrowed it, claimed the version he had was borrowed from a different friend, lost it in a move, got corrected by me and the other friend about the ownership of the book and was found back by me on his bookshelves, at eye-level.

and, just like last time, i can't make heads nor tails of what the fuck happens at the end.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Sepia on October 30, 2007, 08:12:34 PM
Quote from: Cain on October 30, 2007, 04:32:06 PM
I'm reading the second Wheel of Time book, The Great Hunt.  Apart from his occasional vice of stealing names from mythology (sa'angreal, Shai'tan), I'm really liking these books.  Jordan has a very descriptive style that appeals, even if it takes him several chapters to progress the plot any.

WoT is kosher up untill about halfways in book 5. After that it's like reading a 6000 paged version of the silmarillion with parts of at the mountains of madness, like when hpl describes the drill that's going to be used which is a technological marvel because this gizmo drives this turbine and it was professor X at miskatonic that etc.

At the moment I'm up to my ears in schoolstuff so I'm reading DDK5, the fifth revision of Deweys rules for catalogues and classifications.

As an aside, I'm reading a chapter here and there of a short story collection by ray bradbury - the October Country and when taking the tram to school I marvel in cormac mccarthys The Road, which is thus far almost more depressing than Bjørneboe but incredibly easy to read due to the formatting.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mangrove on November 06, 2007, 06:52:16 PM
Currently, I'm jumping between:

Giordano Bruno & The Hermetic Tradition (sadly, not the name of a band) by Frances Yates and

History Of The End Of The World by Jonathan Kirsch - This is a history of the Book Of Revelation and its impact on Western culture. Essential reading if you want to understand the mindset of fundamentalists and how their ridiculous interpretations of 'The Apocalypse of John' is shaping the world. Well written, flows nicely and is occasionally quite funny given the subject mater.


Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: tyrannosaurus vex on November 07, 2007, 01:17:25 PM
Currently: God is Not Great by Christopher Hitchens

next: I Am America (And So Can You!) by Stephen Colbert
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on November 07, 2007, 01:29:12 PM
I wonder how drunk Hitchens was when he wrote that?  I'd love to see the first draft, with the typos and beer fuelled ranting intact.

As for me, I'm flipping between Robert Jordan's The Shadow Rising and Move Under Ground by Nick Mamatas.  Only just started the latter, but the cover says "the American dream turns out to be a Lovecraftian nightmare" and I was already sold.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: the dreadful hours on November 07, 2007, 06:58:35 PM
want ads
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on November 14, 2007, 10:26:26 AM
Illicit: How smugglers, traffickers and copycats are hijacking the global economy, by Moses Naim.

This is THE book to read if you want an up to date and concise insight into the global black market economy, from drugs to guns to people to goods.  Naim describes how these networks, like everything else, are becomming more decentralized, more corporate in their outlook and their long term effects on society.  Also, for those of you who have perhaps other reasons to be interested in such books, he also names people still free and influential in the global black market too (such as Victor Bout, who sold over $50 million in arms to the Taliban and Al-Qaeda, and whose company is now helping the US occupation of Iraq) and how all these intersect in a market so powerful it covers 10% of the entire global GDP.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Darth Cupcake on November 20, 2007, 06:22:11 PM
I really wanna pick up Colbert's book. It looks snazzy.

Currently, though, I am reading Snow Crash, by Neal Stephenson. Loaned to me by my sister, who wanted me to read Cryptonomicon but could not find her copy, so I'm getting started on this first.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on November 20, 2007, 07:18:53 PM
Snow Crash is an easier read, TBH.


Zodiac is pretty good, too.

And The Diamond Age is very cool.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on November 20, 2007, 07:28:16 PM
Also Quicksilver, even if it does take forever to read.

I'm a seriously fast reader and pretty much know about many of the topics he touched on, at least in the first third of the book, and even then it took a good couple of months to do.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: That One Guy on November 20, 2007, 07:35:29 PM
Cain is right about the Baroque Cycle (Quicksilver, The Confusion, System of the World) - it's excellent and incredibly well written, but so dense that it just takes a long time to get through it all. Admittedly, it's a great journey of a series, but it just has so much going on that it takes time to get through it all. I still think it's his best writing to date, well worth the time if you have any interest at all in the Enlightenment phase of western europe.

Zodiac has a TON of local Boston flavor too now that you're living in the land of the bean. It's a pretty quick read and a lot of fun in addition to addressing practical environmental activism (and, yes, some eco-terrorism).
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on November 20, 2007, 07:37:08 PM
The baroque cycle bored the piss out of me.

Just one opinion.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on November 20, 2007, 07:38:57 PM
Depends where it was in the story.  The stuff on the ship was dull, I agree.

Also, I have both the Diamond Age and Snow Crash in e-book formats.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: That One Guy on November 20, 2007, 07:50:15 PM
Meh - I happen to really enjoy long, meandering historical fiction. The Baroque Cycle certainly wouldn't be everyone's cup of tea, but I sure enjoy it. As always, YMMV  :mrgreen:
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on November 20, 2007, 10:08:45 PM
I just started reading Godel, Escher, Bach. It seems pretty interesting so far.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on November 22, 2007, 01:18:17 AM
Also, I'm on the sixth Wheel of Time book and Just and Unjust Wars (4th ed) by Michael Walzer.

The second is a very good read.  Some of the old timers around here might know of Walzer from his anti-Vietnam days...but this book is pretty much the modern, moral arguement for and against war.  Its an easy read, but philosophically and historically complex in its subject matter, a mix I really like.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on November 26, 2007, 05:00:19 PM
I'm finally reading the Black Swan.


Everyone I know will be getting it for the holidays.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: rygD on December 02, 2007, 10:19:35 AM
D-Cup,
I really like everything I have read by Stephenson so far.  I have yet to read some of his older stuff and nonfiction.  You may want to check out In the Beginning...was the Command Line.  It is a bit dated, but still interesting.  Also there is to be a miniseries made of Diamond Age.  I am hoping for the best with that (it seems it will have George Clooney involved as a producer).


el minnow,
It sounds like a decent read.  I will make sure to at least flip through it should I come across it anytime soon.  How does Taleb write?  There are many books I have never finished due to getting bored with the writing style of the author.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on December 03, 2007, 08:48:53 PM
I've read extracts from In The Beginning.... and intend to buy it sometime in the new year.  Looks very promising.

Also, reading Networks, Terrorism and Global Insurgency, edited by Robert J Bunker.  ECH, you should probably pick this up.  Its kind of a cross between the Global Guerrillas stuff and Robert Greene.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on December 03, 2007, 09:04:40 PM
I'm about halfway through The Golden Compass, and it really is good.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Epistemologicus Boobicon on December 04, 2007, 07:40:01 PM
I'm reading How To Fart On Your Nuts (And Other Practical Time-Savers) by Lars Jugnuts. I highly recommend it.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mother John Frumm on December 06, 2007, 01:46:52 AM
I just ordered "Black Swan", I'm looking forward to reading it.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Suu on December 10, 2007, 03:23:13 PM
D-Cup and I saw it at the bookstore in South Station Saturday.


Then we both agreed that catching up on our Star Wars books was more important.

Now Reading: Star Wars - Legacy of the Force: Betrayal

Hellooooo Jacen Solo becoming Sith Lord ftw. Now that I'm 6 books behind, I guess I should probably start reading them.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on December 15, 2007, 02:49:22 PM
I'm reading the first Left Behind book.  I'm on page 5 right now. 

I have to say, this start is quite unusual.  The portayal of the wife, that is.  Its almost like a Bin Laden communique decrying all those terribly sensitive and touchy Islamic types.  You don't quite like it, yet you feel compelled to agree with it, which makes you expect a trick is coming.

That trick (which is probably only the Rapture anyway) remains to happen, however.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on December 17, 2007, 02:56:54 PM
I've been meaning to read those.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on December 17, 2007, 03:10:07 PM
Several free downloads on Bookchan, if you don't want to contribue money towards the Overthrow the Constitution and Replace the Presidency with a Protestant Papacy Fund.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on December 17, 2007, 03:17:18 PM
Mmmm, good point.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: rygD on December 17, 2007, 04:26:17 PM
I have yet to read the books (doubt I ever will),  but I have seen the first 2 films.  Anyone know how they compare to the books?
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Subtract Eight! on December 21, 2007, 11:37:55 AM
i went t the bookstore

i want an ayn rand bok im curioous about it ill prolly get the fountainead because its shorter than atlas shrugged and that other one thats somewhat of an autobiography of a WOMAN dont want that

also i want shalimar the clown by salmon rushdie i looked at a bit of it and i really wanted t get engrosssed in his writing, the satanic verses was for me an almost spiritual ascetic eperience to plow through

i want to read te golden compass again and see it in theaters, i want to read it not an audiobook as i could be into frm waffles, its was so magical, an unforgettable experience from my childhod, so majestic, impressing the novel elegant way of breaking existence with a spiritual overlord or something or the other :-]

also i want t read thomas pynchn ive heard good things
i wish t find some great sci fi also
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: That One Guy on December 21, 2007, 03:57:50 PM
I'm on book 2 of the Chung Kuo series by David Wingrove. It's set in the 23rd century and its "what if" premise is that the chinese have taken over the entire earth and erected a 300-story structure over all non-farming lands. Earth's population is about 36 billion, and the (7-book) series is all about the introduction of the change and chaos of revolution in its many forms to the City, 100 years after its creation.

The first book takes a bit to get going, and Wingrove's writing style is a bit bland (his characters are a bit flat, but the world he created is pretty interesting), but it's a really fascinating story-line.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on December 21, 2007, 04:47:35 PM
Quote from: Cain on December 03, 2007, 08:48:53 PMAlso, reading Networks, Terrorism and Global Insurgency, edited by Robert J Bunker.  ECH, you should probably pick this up.  Its kind of a cross between the Global Guerrillas stuff and Robert Greene.

Actually, I'd say its better than that.  This is THE book to own if you want a good grip on current thinking about networked warfare and the evolution of terrorism and organized crime.  Very pricey in the US though, especially the hardback version.  You'd be better off ordering it from the UK Amazon store and getting it shipped, unless Amazon US has more paperbacks in.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on December 27, 2007, 09:40:50 PM
For Xmas I got Fooled by Randomness by Nassim Taleb, Charlie Wilson's War, Imperial Life in the Emerald City: Inside Iraq's Green Zone, Cryptonomnicon and Black Mass by John Gray.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Bebek Sincap Ratatosk on December 27, 2007, 09:48:29 PM
Quote from: Cain on December 27, 2007, 09:40:50 PM
For Xmas I got Fooled by Randomness by Nassim Taleb, Charlie Wilson's War, Imperial Life in the Emerald City: Inside Iraq's Green Zone, Cryptonomnicon and Black Mass by John Gray.

W00t Cryptonomicon!!!
... also the others, but I haven't read them.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on December 27, 2007, 10:22:01 PM
Imperial Life in the Emerald City is fairly righteous.  He explains the overlapping authorities, groups and political rivalries very well, and he has  wry, almost Catch-22 take on life in the Green Zone.  I have to say, I was amazed at how cut off they are there, both from Iraqi culture and reality.  Obviously, you hear stories, but when you hear about pork being served in the Republican Palace, and how the soldiers spend a lot of time either eating American food or else watching bad Hollywood movies, it is quite a jolt.

Funnily enough, the guy from Halliburton, Cole, who is the de facto commander of the Green Zone, comes out best so far.  The guy is only 22, for starters, and he's actually at least trying to keep everyone happy while at the same time dealing with the disconnect the troops have with the average Iraqi.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on January 01, 2008, 10:53:52 PM
I just started reading Inkheart, and the Illuminatus trilogy.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: The Littlest Ubermensch on January 02, 2008, 12:52:21 AM
Read about 120 pages into Gravity's Rainbow, finally got around to reading Fight Club, and now I'm debating whether to finish Gravity's Rainbow or get started on The Diamond Age.

Quote from: Cain on December 27, 2007, 10:22:01 PM
Imperial Life in the Emerald City is fairly righteous.

Sounds cool. I'll have to check that out.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on January 02, 2008, 03:22:04 PM
The sheer shamelessness in giving anything of any importance to Republican supporters is incredible (I read a hundred or so more pages on the train back from London).  I mean, you expect it, to a degree, sure, but this is shocking.  They would ask people which party they belonged to, who they voted for, their views on economics, abortion and the death penalty.  The idea is to make sure everyone who isn't in the (overly Republican, if only in name) military is 100% behind "Bush's vision for Iraq."

I'm worried now.  If TeH sUrGe! "succeeds" (its not, contracting out security to local level tribes who hate the government is, but since when do facts matter?), then we could well see a generation of newly confirmed NeoCons, absolutely enured of the righteousness of their original mission.

I also finished Black Mass, which I will review later.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on January 02, 2008, 03:49:39 PM
As far as I understand it, the idea of the surge was to throw American bodies into the line of fire to give the Iraqi government time to... um... legislate, or something.


So, even if the troops now die with less frequency than they used to, the whole surge thing is a failure if the Iraqi government can't get their shit together.



Someone should do one of those "Epic Fail" jpegs on this.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on January 02, 2008, 03:58:51 PM
I heard that story as well.

It sounds better than "we armed a bunch of thugs who hate Al-Qaeda as much as we do, and then they turned around and cut the tongues out of nearly everyone helping them, then they delivered us the intel and we found them and ran them out of the country (sometimes drove them out, because its hard to run when you have no legs).  And for their debut act, they're going to to do it to al-Sadr's boys and anyone working with the scum Shi'ite government."

So it was a PR exericise, done with copious amounts of AQ blood, to cover up the fact that the civil war has only halted for a temporary and short lived alliance against AQ in Iraq.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Darth Cupcake on January 03, 2008, 06:53:20 PM
My dad has subscribed to Car & Driver for as long as I can remember, and read to me from it when I was a child (a good bed-time story: can the American take on the German? ...well, no, actually). After stealing his copies for years, he finally got me a subscription for xmas. Woo!

I got my first copy last night, read it from end to end. I am fairly convinced that we need to recruit the editor that responds to their letters section. Because I don't think that guy says one even remotely friendly thing to anyone in his answers, rarely even responding to their letters. Half the time, he'll respond to one letter just to use it as a springboard from which to leap into mocking another letter (that was already mocked, but why not do it again for fun?).

It was hilarious, yet done with clever, short answers. I want to study that man's ways.

Although tonight I will be rereading some of the 10Best cars a bit more thoroughly, as I was awfully drowsy last night.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: AFK on January 03, 2008, 07:46:02 PM
I will be reading the Principia again.  That is Syn's new hard-cover version of it, as soon as Amazon decides to ship it to me. 
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cramulus on January 03, 2008, 07:50:32 PM
They took forever to ship it to me, too. Was worth the wait. Especially since a lot of your names are printed in the Thanks appendix.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: AFK on January 03, 2008, 07:51:55 PM
NOw that I think about it, I think Syn mentioned it was going to be a "print-on-demand" deal, that may be why I have to wait so long. 
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Triple Zero on January 03, 2008, 08:13:49 PM
Quote from: Professor Cramulus on January 03, 2008, 07:50:32 PM
They took forever to ship it to me, too. Was worth the wait. Especially since a lot of your names are printed in the Thanks appendix.

i was surprised to find that even i was in it, under the name of "R Orange" (which was the name i signed up with at poee.co.uk)
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: AFK on January 03, 2008, 08:17:03 PM
I'm mostly interested in the extra materials, that and ditching my SJGames version.  I feel icky owning it. 
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on January 04, 2008, 01:39:47 AM
Someone seems to have permanently borrowed my Loompanics yellow edition, and that makes me sad.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Triple Zero on January 04, 2008, 12:55:32 PM
i use my hardcover mostly as a surface to roll joints on.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: AFK on January 04, 2008, 01:34:05 PM
Plant Your Seeds.   :fnord:
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: hunter s.durden on January 07, 2008, 03:48:14 PM
Gonzo by Jann S. Wenner and Corey Seymour

Why the Allies Won by Richard Overy

It was a good reading week.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on January 07, 2008, 03:51:46 PM
Overy is meant to be one of the best WWII historians.  We studied some extracts of his in History A level.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: AFK on January 07, 2008, 09:23:09 PM
I've been re-reading The Book of the SubGenius. 
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: hunter s.durden on January 08, 2008, 01:32:11 PM
Quote from: Cain on January 07, 2008, 03:51:46 PM
Overy is meant to be one of the best WWII historians.  We studied some extracts of his in History A level.

Despite his hilarious name, I was thoroughly impressed. Highly reccomended.

I'm going to be mining the library for his work.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on January 09, 2008, 03:40:20 AM
Still reading Inkheart, except basically not really because I don't have time to read.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Richter on January 09, 2008, 02:00:21 PM
"Blood Germs and Steel", with occasional chapters from Salvatore's "Cleric Quintet" for pulp fun.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on January 09, 2008, 02:07:36 PM
Finished Black Swan.

Clearing my head with "Feet of Clay" (Discworld series)

Also reading "The 36 Strategies" at work, as part of Cain's reading assignments.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on January 09, 2008, 04:07:00 PM
:thanks:

Incidentally, I named that file wrong.  It should be named The 36 Strategems.  Small difference, but a strategem is a trick applied to try and keep a strategy working, and not a wider modus operandi.  Usually.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Jasper on January 10, 2008, 03:51:31 AM
My travel bag contains Algebra Demystified, Calculus Demystified, Dark Tower III, the Eisenhorn omnibus, Man And His Symbols, The World Is Flat, Chaos, and What Is Intelligence?

It is a big travel bag.

It also holds Transmetropolitan 0-5

PPS several notebooks and journals and sketchpads
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Triple Zero on January 10, 2008, 02:36:58 PM
i finished the black swan during my christmas holidays, my opinion is still that i like the book and agree with the ideas it brings, but that i think it's a real shame the author has been so careless with his examples and facts (i discovered many more errors, it's mostly annoying if you just happen to know something about it, maybe he did it on purpose to keep those damned statisticians away?)

i am currently reading snow crash for the second time.

i'm halfway through "the language instinct"

i have dawkins's "god delusion" borrowed from a friend, on my to-read stack. do you guys know if it's any good? cause i dont really care about either atheism or christianity :-P

and a french novel (translated to dutch) by Michel Houellebecq, "The Possibility of an Island", "a novel that alternates between three characters' narratives, Daniel 1 (a current day comedian) and Daniel 24 and 25, neo-human clones of the Daniel 1." [wikipedia] -- weird, so probably good :)
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on January 10, 2008, 06:26:18 PM
The God Delusion is....alright.  Its not a very philosophically deep book however.  Its hardly a modern version of Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion, a much superior book by David Hume.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Triple Zero on January 10, 2008, 06:35:25 PM
in some discussion about religion (a guy that wasn't really sure if he quit being christian or not) this guy started quoting Hume and managed to bore the fuck out of me fairly quickly.

so, you say dawkins is worse? ;-)
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on January 10, 2008, 06:38:43 PM
Hume was hilarious, in context.  You have to get to the parts where his dialogues start parodying Christian rationalist views about the Universe.  Dawkins may be smart, but he never accurately used Christian theology to make an analogy of a blind carrot maker.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: That One Guy on January 10, 2008, 08:18:19 PM
I just started reading "The World Without Us" by Alan Weisman. Pretty interesting so far. It postulates what the earth would be like if humanity suddenly (whether via disease/rapture/whatever) disappeared but all of our infrastructure was still intact. How long would everything last? What would last the longest? What would go first?

I'm on the second chapter, where he's focusing on Manhattan (bridges would last a couple centuries, structures like Grand Central Station 5 or 600 years, most other housing maybe a few decades). Good stuff, and so far there hasn't been any real moralizing about things.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Deepthroat Chopra on January 11, 2008, 05:26:08 AM
Just finishing off "Jonestown" by Chris Masters. It mightn't seem of much value to readers outside of Australia, being a bio on Australia's most powerful "shock jock". However, it does show how highly dysfunctional and unhappy bastards, such as Jones, can shape public policy through narcissism and exaggerating their own power.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Diseris on January 27, 2008, 12:04:47 AM
The Dance of Time by Michael Judge

A nice time-line of the origin of the standard calendar. A bit light on references, but I remember a lot of the stories from college and its nice to see them in print.

Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Triple Zero on January 27, 2008, 12:08:27 AM
Fooled by Randomness - Nassim Nicholas Taleb

i forgot if this one came before or after the Black Swan, but he mentions black swans a lot, so i guess after.

i have a bit less trouble reading it than the Black Swan, this time he's mostly telling stories and actually partially acknowledging he's not gonna be scientific about it (but just skeptical empirical or something).
also i have the idea that he will come with a bit more practical info than just broadly outlining the problem, but i have only just begun reading the book.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on January 27, 2008, 03:59:53 PM
I believe it came before.  He's used the term Black Swan alot, but the actual book came only very recently.  I've barely thumbed through my copy, but apparently the original version was printed in 2004.  Original Black Swan was 2006.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Triple Zero on January 27, 2008, 06:52:01 PM
*looks inside*

yep you're right.

i temporarily swapped it with a friend after i told him about the Black Swan. something tells me i should probably plunder more of his bookshelves ... :)

i'll withhold judgement until i finish the book but it kinda puzzles me why Taleb would write two books about pretty much the same subject matter. cause so far (pg 38/262) i've read nothing that i didnt also get out of the Black Swan.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on January 27, 2008, 06:55:57 PM
From what I can tell, this is for people in the market, you know, your stock exchange traders etc and the latter was meant to be more philosophical, explaining the underpinning of the theory.

Also, I'm just about finishing Life in the Emerald City: Inside Baghdad's Green Zone by Rajiv Chandrasekaran, so I'll make a start on The Closing of the American Mind by Alan Bloom.  Time to get my NeoCon on.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Diseris on January 28, 2008, 01:43:11 AM
Just picked up Colbert, off to read it, have a nice night.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: hunter s.durden on January 28, 2008, 02:33:59 AM
Good luck putting that book down.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cramulus on January 28, 2008, 05:00:39 AM
Quote from: triple zero on January 27, 2008, 06:52:01 PM
i'll withhold judgement until i finish the book but it kinda puzzles me why Taleb would write two books about pretty much the same subject matter. cause so far (pg 38/262) i've read nothing that i didnt also get out of the Black Swan.

well according to Taleb
the best way to get your idea out / get paaaaid
isn't to write one really awesome book. Instead, write a bunch of books about the same thing and hope one of them takes off.



Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on January 28, 2008, 10:53:58 AM
lol, point.

I have Colbert's book (pdf'd), but I'm saving it for a special occasion.

Flitting between Bloom and an essay by Eris Davis in The Book of Lies (Disinfo guide, not the Crowley one, obviously) on HP Lovecraft and Cthulhu cults in an occult context.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Triple Zero on January 28, 2008, 12:03:21 PM
Quote from: Professor Cramulus on January 28, 2008, 05:00:39 AM
Quote from: triple zero on January 27, 2008, 06:52:01 PM
i'll withhold judgement until i finish the book but it kinda puzzles me why Taleb would write two books about pretty much the same subject matter. cause so far (pg 38/262) i've read nothing that i didnt also get out of the Black Swan.

well according to Taleb
the best way to get your idea out / get paaaaid
isn't to write one really awesome book. Instead, write a bunch of books about the same thing and hope one of them takes off.

ah right, now that you say it, i seem to recall him literally admitting this in the one i'm reading now.

he HAS to be a discordian, really. even if he doesn't realize he fits the picture perfectly.

up to and including jaking/pranking people for the sheer lulz of it.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on January 28, 2008, 12:24:20 PM
Exactly.

Broke out my copy of NATO's Secret Armies: Operation Gladio & Terrorism in Western Europe by Daniele Gasner, which is a fascinating read. 

If you don't know about Gladio and are European, shame on you.  Gladio was the code name for the stay-behind, secret anti-Communist forces in Italy, but is widely applied to the entire operation, which spanned over every NATO power.  Secret armies, usually made up of a mix of NeoFascists, intelligence officers, rogue Masonic lodges, organized crime and military personnel were prepared to form a critical core of resistance, in case of Soviet invasion or the election of Communist parties in Western Europe.

In the 70s and 80s, they changed tack and instead of acting as a shadow government, started to engage in the Strategy of Tension, essentially false flag bombings blamed on Communist terrorist groups to cause them to lose support.  Suspected attacks include the kidnap and murder of Italian PM Aldo Moro and the Bologna massacre.

It sounds crazy, but there is as much evidence for Gladio as there is for Iran-Contra.  Its been subject to various investigations by the Italian government, and high ranking individuals in many NATO countries have openly admitted it did once exist.  Whether it still does is a matter of debate, but the discovery of the parallel counter-terrorism unit in Italy in 2004, the Department of Anti-Terrorism Strategic Studies, suggest it has been reworked for the War on Terror.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Diseris on January 28, 2008, 03:52:03 PM
Thanks for the inspiration Colbert...possible GASM to follow...
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on January 29, 2008, 04:21:57 PM
Alternating between Colbert, Pratchett's Wyrd Sisters, and Cain's PDF's regarding strategy.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Jasper on February 02, 2008, 02:53:50 AM
Has anyone here read "Down and out in the magic kingdom"?  It's supposed to be good.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mangrove on February 03, 2008, 03:12:57 AM
The Devil's Doctor - (Paracelsus, Science & Magic in the Renaissance world) by Phillip Ball
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on February 03, 2008, 05:18:44 PM
Leo Strauss - On Tyranny
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Darth Cupcake on February 04, 2008, 10:05:42 PM
"Comeback Cities: A blueprint for urban neighborhood revival" - Paul S. Grogan and Tony Proscio

Had to read a chapter of it for my city planning class and it's really interesting. Felt compelled to buy the whole book to check it out further.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on February 08, 2008, 04:41:50 PM
Naomi Klein - The Shock Doctrine

Reading this pretty much right after NATO's Secret Armies is rather...disturbing.  Klein provides the rationale behind Glasner's academic dissertation on the coups and terrorism carried out by Operation Gladio, and links it directly to the present.  Her understanding of torture's role in all of this is fascinating too, both as a metaphor and as political reality.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Triple Zero on February 08, 2008, 08:18:21 PM
naomi klein!!

you remember that madonna-worshipper i told you about? he's borrowed "no logo" from me years ago, and always forgets to give it back!!!

GRR
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on February 08, 2008, 08:55:31 PM
Kill him.  He'll never borrow things forever again, after that.

No Logo wasn't bad, I felt, but this is shaping up to be much better.  Plus its like 4 times the size of No Logo as well.  Its huge.  And yellow.  Bright yellow.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Triple Zero on February 08, 2008, 09:37:32 PM
Quote from: Cain on February 08, 2008, 08:55:31 PMKill him.  He'll never borrow things forever again, after that.

:lulz:

i never even finished No Logo

cause it just went ooonnn and onnnnn and onnnn

the first couple of chapters about the history of brands was interesting, though.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on February 11, 2008, 01:15:45 PM
I cant actually remember that much of it.

Also, reading John Mearsheimer's The Tragedy of Great Power Politics.  Its a course text, but I've been meaning to read it anyway.  Mearsheimer recently wrote a book with Stephen Walt about the "Israel Lobby" in the United States which got him a lot of flak, considering he went out his way to show that it was perfectly normal and acceptable for special interest groups to lobby the US on its foreign policy.  This, on the other hand, is his Grand Theory text, his iconoclastic attack on the optimists on Globalization, so it should be interesting.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Jasper on February 11, 2008, 04:42:19 PM
I got my eReader back, (YYYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYY!!!!) and I'm reading Stephenson's 'Command Line' book.  It's brilliant.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Kurt Christ on February 12, 2008, 10:27:00 PM
I'm reading Homage to Catalonia by Orwell.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Eve on February 13, 2008, 04:36:58 PM
Petersburg by Andrei Bely
Next up: Мастер и Маргарита (The Master and Margarita) by Bulgakov

I sure do love me some Russian lit..
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on February 13, 2008, 04:46:08 PM
THE SEVENTH PROOF!
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on February 14, 2008, 06:52:06 PM
Zodiac by Neal Stepehnson.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Richter on February 14, 2008, 07:51:18 PM
Warren Ellis + Others - Transmetropolitan
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Jasper on February 15, 2008, 12:52:08 AM
Quote from: Richter on February 14, 2008, 07:51:18 PM
Warren Ellis + Others - Transmetropolitan

There are some really good lines from that one.  I occaisionally fail at trying to mimic the style of imprecations.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Richter on February 15, 2008, 01:25:39 PM
Yeah, that kind of rolling psychological analysis is only really possible in print, failing in person unless you really know your mark. 
Alternating questioning of someone's genetic / moral / genital / intellectual capactiy interspersed with properly declined forms of "Fuck" is about as close as IRL can get.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Jasper on February 16, 2008, 06:27:23 AM
Example?
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Epimetheus on February 19, 2008, 05:15:29 PM
I'm reading The Stranger.

Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on February 19, 2008, 05:20:57 PM
I decided to re-read Goedel Escher Bach, as it's been a few years, and I might pick up some new stuff with another go-around.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on February 19, 2008, 10:59:09 PM
"Extermination Zone" by Dr. Randall Phillips.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Thurnez Isa on February 20, 2008, 02:16:49 PM
THEM: adventures with extremists

Jon Ronson
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Jasper on February 20, 2008, 05:44:09 PM
Dracula, by Bram Stoker
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mangrove on February 21, 2008, 09:43:21 PM
Just finished: The White Brother by Michael Juste

Arrived in the mail this afternoon: What you should know about the Golden Dawn (Regardie) and Rudolf Steiner by Gary Lachman.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Jasper on February 22, 2008, 02:51:42 AM
I just checked out a copy of Java Demystified, so I at least feel like I have a grasp of what java programmers are talking about.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cainad (dec.) on February 22, 2008, 04:06:03 AM
Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis.

Any help in identifying and describing bollocks in this book would be greatly appreciated. My friend who practically worships this book needs mindfucking.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Doktor Loki on February 22, 2008, 07:53:29 PM
Tucker Max, "I Hope They Serve Beer In Hell."

One of  the funniest books I've ever read.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Triple Zero on February 24, 2008, 10:45:40 PM
Quote from: Dr. Felix Mackay on February 22, 2008, 02:51:42 AMI just checked out a copy of Java Demystified, so I at least feel like I have a grasp of what java programmers are talking about.

if i can give you a tip, i'm assuming that you're not really familiar with computer programming yet? the tip is, learn Python instead of Java :)

when you start learning to program, the most important bit is to develop and practice the "coders mindset", which is just a certain way of looking at problems, so that you can easily transcribe them into computer code. it is probably best compared with writing down a cooking recipe, only in much, much smaller steps because computers are generally more dumb than cooks.

once you got that down, the language you're writing in kind of becomes irrelevant. it's easy enough to pick up a new computer language, they're more like dialects of eachother anyway, and also when compared to natural languages, have a ridiculously small vocabulary to learn (about 50-100 keywords for your average computer language).
the selection criterium for using Java instead of Python or PHP or whatever, should optimally be made as a "right tool for the right job" choice, not because "everybody is talking about java".

the reason why i'm suggesting Python is because it is easy to learn and extremely powerful. i learned to program in BASIC myself, which is also very easy, but not extremely powerful, and to be honest, kind of outdated in current times.
another thing is that it's a reasonably new programming language (1991), and in the case of programming languages, newer usually means better, because it allows for more elegant, easy, understandable and clean programming.

on the other hand, Java is fine too. it's not very hard, and also extremely powerful, and a good general all-purpose solid language (which explains its popularity). the only problem, which can be especially annoying if you're just starting out, in Python your program can say print "hello world" and that's one line, and it's a complete program. you can start coding right away :) in Java, you first need a class definition, a main module, and 10-15 lines of code later, you're ready to say System.out.println("hello world").
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Jasper on March 03, 2008, 04:53:51 PM
Ok, I'm reading

Elixir of Life, by Balzac

The Public orations of Demosthenes

Grimm's Fairy Tales

The Prince, Macchiavelli

The Writings Of Thomas Paine

The oddessey

The Iliad

The Sun Tsu

Dracula, Bram Stoker

Tractacus Logico

and a lot of other ones.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on March 03, 2008, 05:19:36 PM
Reading Trickster Makes This World for the MLA course.

Still reading The Tragedy Of Great Power Politics by Mearsheimer.

Am about to finish Dying to Kill by Mia Bloom.

And I'll be starting Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army by Jeremy Scahill very soon.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Jasper on March 03, 2008, 05:27:50 PM
Quote from: triple zero on February 24, 2008, 10:45:40 PM
Quote from: Dr. Felix Mackay on February 22, 2008, 02:51:42 AMI just checked out a copy of Java Demystified, so I at least feel like I have a grasp of what java programmers are talking about.

if i can give you a tip, i'm assuming that you're not really familiar with computer programming yet? the tip is, learn Python instead of Java :)

when you start learning to program, the most important bit is to develop and practice the "coders mindset", which is just a certain way of looking at problems, so that you can easily transcribe them into computer code. it is probably best compared with writing down a cooking recipe, only in much, much smaller steps because computers are generally more dumb than cooks.

once you got that down, the language you're writing in kind of becomes irrelevant. it's easy enough to pick up a new computer language, they're more like dialects of eachother anyway, and also when compared to natural languages, have a ridiculously small vocabulary to learn (about 50-100 keywords for your average computer language).
the selection criterium for using Java instead of Python or PHP or whatever, should optimally be made as a "right tool for the right job" choice, not because "everybody is talking about java".

the reason why i'm suggesting Python is because it is easy to learn and extremely powerful. i learned to program in BASIC myself, which is also very easy, but not extremely powerful, and to be honest, kind of outdated in current times.
another thing is that it's a reasonably new programming language (1991), and in the case of programming languages, newer usually means better, because it allows for more elegant, easy, understandable and clean programming.

on the other hand, Java is fine too. it's not very hard, and also extremely powerful, and a good general all-purpose solid language (which explains its popularity). the only problem, which can be especially annoying if you're just starting out, in Python your program can say print "hello world" and that's one line, and it's a complete program. you can start coding right away :) in Java, you first need a class definition, a main module, and 10-15 lines of code later, you're ready to say System.out.println("hello world").

Cool, I'll look into Python.  I do plan to learn many languages though, I'm really just waiting on getting my own computer to do it with since right now it's tug-o-war for a shitty laptop.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Bebek Sincap Ratatosk on March 03, 2008, 05:54:28 PM
Trickster Makes the World
Pranks 2
On Virtue Ethics
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Reeducation on March 05, 2008, 08:51:49 AM
Satan Speaks! By Anton LaVey.
Fun to read.  :)
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on March 05, 2008, 06:17:40 PM
Oh, I want to get that! I am working on too many books right now.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: GlompChomp on March 05, 2008, 10:54:19 PM
Culture Warrior by Bill O'reilly. For the lulz of course. He should have called the book "1,000 reasons why the ACLU suck".
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Reeducation on March 07, 2008, 10:51:56 AM
Just finished the Satan Speaks! Next one: Devils Notebook by Anton LaVey.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: aestetix on March 07, 2008, 02:54:26 PM
War and Peace.

One of the longest and most meticulously developed books I've ever encountered. However, digging into Tolstoy's philosophy on life makes it completely worth it. I'm about halfway through right now, hoping to have it finished in a month or two.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Faust on March 12, 2008, 07:23:32 PM
Finished Isabel allenade's The House Of Spirits last night, the writing style is simple enough, possibly because its translated or something, but the story is well crafted.
I have cosmic trigger lined up next and maybe then i will go back and give american gods another chance.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Jasper on March 12, 2008, 10:17:56 PM
Quote from: aestetix on March 07, 2008, 02:54:26 PM
War and Peace.

One of the longest and most meticulously developed books I've ever encountered. However, digging into Tolstoy's philosophy on life makes it completely worth it. I'm about halfway through right now, hoping to have it finished in a month or two.

I never could get past page 100 or so.  How do you stay interested?
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: aestetix on March 13, 2008, 04:01:03 AM
Quote from: Dr. Felix Mackay on March 12, 2008, 10:17:56 PM
Quote from: aestetix on March 07, 2008, 02:54:26 PM
War and Peace.

One of the longest and most meticulously developed books I've ever encountered. However, digging into Tolstoy's philosophy on life makes it completely worth it. I'm about halfway through right now, hoping to have it finished in a month or two.

I never could get past page 100 or so.  How do you stay interested?

The first 200 pages or so is all character development, so it can be boring at times. Once you get through that, things start picking up. I'm currently at ~750 and can't put it down.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on March 13, 2008, 04:07:07 PM
George Crile - Charlie Wilson's War

Most recent version, with additional material.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: AFK on March 25, 2008, 07:24:06 PM
My annual re-reading of The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury.  I think Arthur C Clarke's passing got my head into space stuff again and decided to start it early this year. 
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Triple Zero on March 25, 2008, 08:13:01 PM
i'm about 2/3rd into the Language Instinct now

i can recommend this book to anyone.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on March 25, 2008, 08:24:32 PM
Pinker's The Blank Slate is a fascinating read as well.

Only got to read it through once, sadly.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Bu🤠ns on March 31, 2008, 08:48:14 AM
Dogma Daze --hyatt and slaughter
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Reeducation on March 31, 2008, 09:15:36 AM
Beyond good and evil, by that Niiitzschehzezeze. Nietsche? Niezsche?
And i'm reading a book about human anatomy, and stuff, from the year 1951. (It has good pictures.)
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cainad (dec.) on March 31, 2008, 09:18:12 AM
Quote from: Disorder on March 31, 2008, 09:15:36 AM
Beyond good and evil, by that Niiitzschehzezeze. Nietsche? Niezsche?

"Nietchszhquzecoatlphrnf"
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Triple Zero on March 31, 2008, 11:28:41 AM
I write it Nietzschke, to differentiate from the false Nietzsche.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on March 31, 2008, 01:46:31 PM
If you like Beyond Good and Evil, I highly recommend The Geneaology of Morals.

I'm reading The Art of Memetics, and The Closing of the American Mind.  The latter is going to be useful camoflage, I'm thinking.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: The Littlest Ubermensch on April 01, 2008, 10:34:22 PM
Currently reading Gravity's Rainbow. Love it so far.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Payne on April 01, 2008, 10:49:15 PM
Wryd Sister: Terry Pratchett

For light relief from that;

Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire: Edward Gibbon
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Eve on April 02, 2008, 04:00:34 AM
The Master and Margarita. Finally got around to buying Good Omens, so will probably start that soon too.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Reeducation on April 02, 2008, 12:53:19 PM
Still reading Beyond Good and Evil. In english language.
Many difficult words here, i dont even know what they mean. :) This may take some time.
Same thing as with the Thus Spoke Zarathustra!
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on April 02, 2008, 05:02:43 PM
Quote from: Anonymously Evil on April 02, 2008, 04:00:34 AM
The Master and Margarita. Finally got around to buying Good Omens, so will probably start that soon too.

Awesome fucking book.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Churro the Viscous on April 06, 2008, 08:01:29 PM
As I Lay Dying - Faulkner
The Eye In The Pyramid - RAW
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: e on April 07, 2008, 03:34:14 AM
I recently finished reading "As I Lay Dying", it was great fun.

Disorder:

  Nietzsche liked to coin a lot of words that aren't real, so those in there will also throw you off in addition to the normal cons of reading old stuff: outdated syntax and weird words that aren't around any more.

My favourite Nietzsche word is "ipsissimosity" which essentially means "Self-referential"  That one is actually in "Good and Evil" too.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on April 07, 2008, 04:12:59 AM
Quote from: LMNO on April 02, 2008, 05:02:43 PM
Quote from: Anonymously Evil on April 02, 2008, 04:00:34 AM
The Master and Margarita. Finally got around to buying Good Omens, so will probably start that soon too.

Awesome fucking book.

I just bought it, I'm looking forward to it.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on April 07, 2008, 06:01:10 PM
Still reading The Art of Memetics.  Just started on an odd little download I was directed to by a friend.  Its called Unholy Spirits - Occultism and New Age Humanism, and is a look at the role of the occult in the American counterculture.  Its written by a Christian, and he makes no attempt to hide his background, but it is, so far (20 pages in) sober and reserved in its observations.  The writer seems intelligent enough, I suspect he will either reserve judgement for later, or make it implicit only.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on April 07, 2008, 09:10:52 PM
I read a bit more of Illuminatus! Last night. I am enjoying it on some levels, but man, what is up with the obsession almost all "progressive" male writers of that era have with sex as some sort of gateway to enlightenment?

Is it that they were doing it wrong before, and when they suddenly realized that sex can be a meaningful connection between two people they were all "Holy shit I'd better tell everyone!"

Also, the descriptions of female orgasm are pure retarded fantasy.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: e on April 07, 2008, 09:12:34 PM
Quote from: Nigel on April 07, 2008, 09:10:52 PM
what is up with the obsession almost all "progressive" male writers of that era have with sex as some sort of gateway to enlightenment?
......
Also, the descriptions of female orgasm are pure retarded fantasy.

I think that pretty much sums it up.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cainad (dec.) on April 08, 2008, 03:47:18 AM
Quote from: Nigel on April 07, 2008, 09:10:52 PM
Is it that they were doing it wrong before, and when they suddenly realized that sex can be a meaningful connection between two people they were all "Holy shit I'd better tell everyone!"

That motorcycle... it's the correct one, I think.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: The Littlest Ubermensch on April 08, 2008, 06:15:30 AM
Quote from: Nigel on April 07, 2008, 09:10:52 PM
I read a bit more of Illuminatus! Last night. I am enjoying it on some levels, but man, what is up with the obsession almost all "progressive" male writers of that era have with sex as some sort of gateway to enlightenment?

Because sex is fun. If you can get it by selling it as "a gateway to enlightenment", men will do so.
Or maybe it's just a part of getting caught up in the backlash towards puritanical ideas about sex. Probably both.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on April 08, 2008, 10:34:04 AM
OTO/Crowley/Summer of Love/Yoga/Tantra etc 
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on April 08, 2008, 10:35:50 AM
Quote from: Cain on April 07, 2008, 06:01:10 PM
Still reading The Art of Memetics.  Just started on an odd little download I was directed to by a friend.  Its called Unholy Spirits - Occultism and New Age Humanism, and is a look at the role of the occult in the American counterculture.  Its written by a Christian, and he makes no attempt to hide his background, but it is, so far (20 pages in) sober and reserved in its observations.  The writer seems intelligent enough, I suspect he will either reserve judgement for later, or make it implicit only.

OK, this changed very fast.  He's way more explicit now in what he thinks, but he is still being intelligent about it.  Disconcertingly so, he seems to be very well read and at least competent in dealing with some high level philosophical thinking.  I'm going to copy certain fragments out later today, because I think they draw some interesting divides between Christian and Discordian ideas.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on April 08, 2008, 03:36:10 PM
Quote from: Nigel on April 07, 2008, 09:10:52 PM


Is it that they were doing it wrong before, and when they suddenly realized that sex can be a meaningful connection between two people they were all "Holy shit I'd better tell everyone!"



Yeah, pretty much.

If you take into consideration that the prevailing attitudes regarding sex at the time were "good girls don't" and "just let him do his business", add to the fact that they were still arguing about whether or not the clitoral orgasm existed, and tie it all up in a bow with men not giving a damn about the women's physical need... well, a 30-minute fuck session with plenty of oral and simultaneous orgasm was revolutionary.


We kind of take it for granted these days.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on April 08, 2008, 08:44:23 PM
Quote from: LMNO on April 08, 2008, 03:36:10 PM
Quote from: Nigel on April 07, 2008, 09:10:52 PM


Is it that they were doing it wrong before, and when they suddenly realized that sex can be a meaningful connection between two people they were all "Holy shit I'd better tell everyone!"



Yeah, pretty much.

If you take into consideration that the prevailing attitudes regarding sex at the time were "good girls don't" and "just let him do his business", add to the fact that they were still arguing about whether or not the clitoral orgasm existed, and tie it all up in a bow with men not giving a damn about the women's physical need... well, a 30-minute fuck session with plenty of oral and simultaneous orgasm was revolutionary.


We kind of take it for granted these days.

Yeah but... Kinsey! I mean, really.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on April 08, 2008, 08:47:46 PM
QuoteAverage length of time between penetration and orgasm for a man: 7.3 minutes

Kinsey, yes.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: e on April 08, 2008, 09:35:45 PM
Honestly I'm surprised it's that long.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on April 08, 2008, 10:24:04 PM
Quote from: LMNO on April 08, 2008, 08:47:46 PM
QuoteAverage length of time between penetration and orgasm for a man: 7.3 minutes

Kinsey, yes.

That sounds about right. I don't really go for extended periods of in-out; it gets boring, and chafey. However, there's usually a lot more going on before the in-out.

Kinsey was an advocate of good sex; that's why he started studying human sexuality.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on April 12, 2008, 02:16:19 PM
God's War - A New History of the Crusades by Christopher Tyerman.

Needs moar Is'maili's.  Other than that, good so far.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Anch on April 12, 2008, 04:29:09 PM
Casanova's memoirs
Fyodor Dostoevsky "The Brothers Karamazov"
Duerrenmatt's "The Pledge: Requiem for the Detective Novel" and "Suspicion"
Sartre's "Le Mots"

Yay for book jumble sales!
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on April 22, 2008, 08:56:23 PM
Casanova's memoirs are the shit.  One of my favourite pieces of reading, ever.

I'm reading Reich of the Black Sun, a book that tries to make the case that Nazi Germany was ahead of the Allies in nuclear technology, actually made nukes in 1945 and tested them, but had no delivery system to drop them on London or New York.  It would certainly explain some irrational behaviour on troop placements as the Allies advanced on Germany (excessive protection given to Thuringia and the area around Prague), as well as Hilter's raving about a super-weapon, but....on the other hand, I don't know.  Its a very extraordinary claim, and the science seems a little shakey in places.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: BootyBay on April 22, 2008, 11:50:50 PM
10 Days That Shook the World by John Reed
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Triple Zero on April 22, 2008, 11:53:45 PM
The Pirates! In an Adventure with Whaling, by Gideon Defoe
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: ShoobyDB on April 23, 2008, 08:12:57 AM
I just finished the His Dark Materials trilogy by Phillip Pullman.
I am currently (slowly) reading Ulysses by James Joyce and Gargantua and Pantagruel by François Rabelais.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on April 23, 2008, 08:14:30 AM
Quote from: ShoobyDB on April 23, 2008, 08:12:57 AM
I just finished the His Dark Materials trilogy by Phillip Pullman.
I am currently (slowly) reading Ulysses by James Joyce and Gargantua and Pantagruel by François Rabelais.

I keep meaning to read the His Dark Materials trilogy.  Recommended?
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: ShoobyDB on April 23, 2008, 08:45:18 AM
I highly recommend. The movie doesn't really do the book any justice, but they never do. It has a lot of stuff in it that you can take for more than just fiction. I'd like to tell you more, but I don't want to ruin it.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on April 23, 2008, 08:50:18 AM
Cool, thanks.  I havent seen the film yet, but I may download it one day, once I've finished reading the series.  I find doing it other way around is usually a bad idea.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: ShoobyDB on April 23, 2008, 09:07:18 AM
Agreed. I read the first two books and then saw the movie while reading the third. Although, if you watch the movie first, then the story line gets better when you read the book instead of the movie just being dissapointing.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Reeducation on April 23, 2008, 09:17:32 AM
I'm reading the Kalevala. Again. Damn hard to read, even when it is written in finnish. These poems, poems... (Beyond Good and Evil is on pause)

"The Kalevala is a book and epic poem which the Finn Elias Lönnrot compiled from Finnish and Karelian folklore in the 19th century. It is held to be the national epic of Finland and is traditionally thought of as one of the most significant works of Finnish language literature. Karelians in the Republic of Karelia and other Balto-Finnic speakers also value the work. The Kalevala is credited with some of the inspiration for the national awakening that ultimately led to Finland's independence from Russia in 1917."  Wikipediaaa.....

Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on May 08, 2008, 01:51:59 PM
The Changing Images of Man - The Standford Research Institute
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Bu🤠ns on May 08, 2008, 07:36:42 PM
Mahanirvana Tantra
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cramulus on May 08, 2008, 10:40:54 PM
At Mangrove's advice,
I'm reading Chicken Qabalah
by Lon Milo Duquette



I'd tried to read up on Qabalah about a half dozen times prior to this. This is the first writer I've come across that's explained in a way which doesn't make me want to reach through the book and punch him in the vau.




ETA: right in the zain? right in the samekh? right in the ayin?

there's too many letters which might be a cock.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cainad (dec.) on May 09, 2008, 02:50:11 AM
Quote from: Professor Cramulus on May 08, 2008, 10:40:54 PM
At Mangrove's advice,
I'm reading Chicken Qabalah
by Lon Milo Duquette



I'd tried to read up on Qabalah about a half dozen times prior to this. This is the first writer I've come across that's explained in a way which doesn't make me want to reach through the book and punch him in the vau.




ETA: right in the zain? right in the samekh? right in the ayin?

there's too many letters which might be a cock.

ITT, Cram learns the secret of all Hebrew symbolism.

Jews,
Making penis jokes for as long as people have been using them
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Iason Ouabache on May 09, 2008, 07:12:21 AM
Just finished "The Art and Science of Cold Reading". Interesting read.  Not sure if I'm ready to do any psychic readings yet though.  Probably going to try reading "Cosmic Trigger" over the weekend since I'll be stuck at work with almost nothing to do on Friday and Saturday.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Triple Zero on May 09, 2008, 12:49:30 PM
Quote from: IasonOuabache on May 09, 2008, 07:12:21 AM"The Art and Science of Cold Reading"

now that sounds really interesting.

i always wanted to read up on that.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: fomenter on May 09, 2008, 04:26:25 PM
fight club, loved the movie thought i would give the book a try
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: e on May 09, 2008, 05:35:06 PM
Quote from: fnord mote eris on May 09, 2008, 04:26:25 PM
fight club, loved the movie thought i would give the book a try

The book was much more interesting.  The movie blew the "lol men fighting each other" thing out of all proportion compared to the book, which discussed it for about 10 pages and then moved on.  Also, the book's ending was about 2,000,000 times better.  Seriously.

Currently I'm reading and enjoying Aleister Horne's Seven Ages of Paris and Donald Keene's Yoshimasa and the Silver Pavilion
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: fomenter on May 10, 2008, 12:12:29 AM
 enjoyed the book fight club and the ending as well i would rate it a good read
  i may start buried my heart at wounded knee next
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Micro Ice on May 10, 2008, 12:17:55 AM
Nothing fancy for me, just more sci fi.

Currently reading "Descent of Angels" by someoneorother. Cant remember his name because the great people making the Horus Heresy decided to have a different person write each novel in the thus far 8 book series. Although the change in authors seems to work really well.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Suu on May 10, 2008, 12:48:12 AM
I've finally caved and moved onto the 2nd book in the Star Wars: Legacy of the Force Series, Bloodlines...even though THE ENTIRE FUCKING SERIES HAS BEEN SPOILED FOR ME. AND THE AUTHOR, KAREN TRAVISS, IS A TOP CHOICE GRADE A DOUCHENOZZLE.

But it has Boba Fett. (http://www.empirecitygarrison.com/forum/images/smiles/icon_cool.gif)
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Bu🤠ns on May 11, 2008, 07:07:44 AM
Quote from: fnord mote eris on May 10, 2008, 12:12:29 AM
enjoyed the book fight club and the ending as well i would rate it a good read
  i may start buried my heart at wounded knee next

Chuck Palahniuk said the movie was better. although i have to disagree.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: vosti on May 12, 2008, 01:04:19 AM
Consciousness Explained, by Daniel Dennett
Finite and Infinite Games, by James P. Carse

both great
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: e on May 12, 2008, 08:03:50 PM
Quote from: burnstoupee on May 11, 2008, 07:07:44 AM
Quote from: fnord mote eris on May 10, 2008, 12:12:29 AM
enjoyed the book fight club and the ending as well i would rate it a good read
  i may start buried my heart at wounded knee next

Chuck Palahniuk said the movie was better. although i have to disagree.

Really?  That's interesting.  I mean, I loved both, but the book was more interesting to me.  Maybe he just got to have sex with Brad Pitt as part of the movie deal.  And actually, I bet he's only saying that because the movie made him zillions of dollars and firmly established his fame, and he got paid a "We don't really want to publish this, but..." pittance for the book at first. 
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: fomenter on May 13, 2008, 04:13:10 AM
tough call for me - i thought they were both real good , most book / movies i will all ways pick the book but on this one i am giving it a draw  - a rare level of quality for this movie..
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on May 13, 2008, 04:19:22 AM
Quote from: vosti on May 12, 2008, 01:04:19 AM
Consciousness Explained, by Daniel Dennett
Finite and Infinite Games, by James P. Carse

both great

Dennett's written some very interesting stuff on consciousness.  I may have that book somewhere, I should check it out.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Dr. Pataphoros, SpD on May 13, 2008, 02:30:07 PM
House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski.  I highly recommend it--it is a spectacularly twisted read.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mangrove on May 13, 2008, 07:29:56 PM
Quote from: Professor Cramulus on May 08, 2008, 10:40:54 PM
At Mangrove's advice,
I'm reading Chicken Qabalah
by Lon Milo Duquette



I'd tried to read up on Qabalah about a half dozen times prior to this. This is the first writer I've come across that's explained in a way which doesn't make me want to reach through the book and punch him in the vau.




ETA: right in the zain? right in the samekh? right in the ayin?

there's too many letters which might be a cock.

Yes, you've found out. Most of the qabalah is a series of increasingly complex, esoteric dick jokes.
Welcome aboard!  :fap:
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: hooplala on May 13, 2008, 08:39:14 PM
Just saw this now.

I LOVE THAT FUCKIN BOOK!



I think someone stole my copy.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on May 13, 2008, 10:35:43 PM
Cram and I have pdf's, if you want an electronic version.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: hooplala on May 13, 2008, 10:40:44 PM
I may need that.  Thanks.


On a different note, I am currently reading "Mr. B. Gone" by Clive Barker:  and it fucking SUCKS.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cainad (dec.) on May 13, 2008, 10:43:21 PM
Catcher in the Rye

It kind of blows, but I'm sure I would have considered the best thing evar if I was around when it was a cult classic. It makes me sad to think of all the shitty writers who must have tried to imitate Salinger.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: e on May 13, 2008, 10:45:07 PM
Quote from: Hoopla on May 13, 2008, 10:40:44 PM
I may need that.  Thanks.


On a different note, I am currently reading "Mr. B. Gone" by Clive Barker:  and it fucking SUCKS.

At least it's not Dan Brown.

Quote from: Cainad on May 13, 2008, 10:43:21 PM
Catcher in the Rye

It kind of blows, but I'm sure I would have considered the best thing evar if I was around when it was a cult classic. It makes me sad to think of all the shitty writers who must have tried to imitate Salinger.

At least it's not Dan Brown.

(this can be said about almost everything)
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on May 13, 2008, 10:51:36 PM
But not about Angels and Demons, sadly.

Also, Hoopla http://mihd.net/ytsfj48 (8.35 MB)
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: hooplala on May 13, 2008, 10:52:19 PM
I read Catcher when I was about 18 and loved it... and yeah, my writing was pure Salinger for quite a few years.

I haven't read it in a while, but my memories are fond.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Dido on May 13, 2008, 11:04:27 PM
I just tried reading Jane Eyre (dealing with matrices appears to have  afflicted my brain ) and I think I never appreciated how right John Dolan is about everything in general and great English writers in particular.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: hooplala on May 13, 2008, 11:08:46 PM
Please elaborate for us ignant foo's.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Dido on May 13, 2008, 11:27:40 PM
I am inclined to find find a love story that ends with the heroine  explaining that she loves her intended more now that he is crippled and blind because now she can be useful to him a little daunting. Actually it does not end there. It ends with her rapture that her missionary friend is about to die a violent death and finally meet his maker.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Dido on May 13, 2008, 11:34:28 PM
Jane Eyre is dedicated to Thackerey, a writer whom Dolan loves to hate, which is why I decided spontaneously that he must be right. And yes, I know that I am not viewing the matter from the correct historical perspective.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: e on May 14, 2008, 12:10:18 AM
Thackeray is fun because he's a total jerk. 

I mean come on, Becky Sharp!  Best character ever.  Except I think she reformed in the end, the bitch.

(Obviously I never read the entire 900 pages of Vanity Fair)
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Dido on May 14, 2008, 01:15:56 PM
I adored Becky, unfortunately Thackerey didn't. But I am not sure if he liked anybody at all or was just making some kind of point about society and the world at general. Oh, and Dolan loves bitching about Wordsworth. But as he loves bitching about anybody who is not Byron I could argue that I was not totally off the mark.

Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on May 14, 2008, 01:21:39 PM
Yeah, Dolan is a fan of the Byronic heroes and artists, to say the least.  For example, his article in the eXile on Eddie Little.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on May 14, 2008, 01:30:57 PM
Ah, here is his excellent biography on Byron: http://www.exile.ru/articles/detail.php?ARTICLE_ID=8068&IBLOCK_ID=35

"Polidori once asked Byron what, besides scribble verses, he could do better than Polidori himself. Byron icily replied: 'Three things. First, I can hit with a pistol the keyhole of that door. Secondly, I can swim across that river to yonder point. And thirdly, I can give you a damned good thrashing.'"

OK, somebody go find a black goat somewhere, sharpen me a steak knife, and buy us some spray paint for a pentagram, 'cause we're gonna resurrect us a champion who can kick the necessary ignorant Protestant ass and make it look easy.

And lucky for you, folks, I've pre-selected us a perfect demon: George Gordon, Lord Byron. He's dead at the moment, but that's a minor problem. Like his avatar, Prometheus, Byron can die and come back as often as you need him. Hell, he likes getting killed; he was a fighter. Single-handed, he took on the Wordsworth gang and kicked the sticks they had jammed up their asses right up through their teeth.

Byron's time was like ours, a scared time, a period of reaction and retreat. His England ran the world without knowing or wanting to know a thing about it, just like our America. Our climate is in fact the same nasty Wordsworthian weather Byron fought all his life: humorless, sanctimonious, xenophobic, factional, and cruel. He spent his life firing back at that world in a long fighting retreat that saw him always heading South and East, away from "the moral North" where the Wordsworthian consensus was metastasizing.

And that, of course, is why Byron was adored in Europe but snubbed in England and America. He was everything Wordsworth's gang was not. They were utterly humorless-a Romanticist once told me that "there are three jokes in Wordsworth, or so they say...but I can't recall them."
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on May 14, 2008, 03:37:16 PM
PS - thanks for the Duquette PDF, Cain.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on May 14, 2008, 11:37:06 PM
Not a problem.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: e on May 14, 2008, 11:41:00 PM
Quote from: Dido on May 14, 2008, 01:15:56 PM
I adored Becky, unfortunately Thackerey didn't. But I am not sure if he liked anybody at all or was just making some kind of point about society and the world at general. Oh, and Dolan loves bitching about Wordsworth. But as he loves bitching about anybody who is not Byron I could argue that I was not totally off the mark.

Probably that.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: e on May 14, 2008, 11:43:04 PM
Quote from: Cain on May 14, 2008, 01:30:57 PM
Ah, here is his excellent biography on Byron: http://www.exile.ru/articles/detail.php?ARTICLE_ID=8068&IBLOCK_ID=35

"Polidori once asked Byron what, besides scribble verses, he could do better than Polidori himself. Byron icily replied: 'Three things. First, I can hit with a pistol the keyhole of that door. Secondly, I can swim across that river to yonder point. And thirdly, I can give you a damned good thrashing.'"

OK, somebody go find a black goat somewhere, sharpen me a steak knife, and buy us some spray paint for a pentagram, 'cause we're gonna resurrect us a champion who can kick the necessary ignorant Protestant ass and make it look easy.

And lucky for you, folks, I've pre-selected us a perfect demon: George Gordon, Lord Byron. He's dead at the moment, but that's a minor problem. Like his avatar, Prometheus, Byron can die and come back as often as you need him. Hell, he likes getting killed; he was a fighter. Single-handed, he took on the Wordsworth gang and kicked the sticks they had jammed up their asses right up through their teeth.

Byron's time was like ours, a scared time, a period of reaction and retreat. His England ran the world without knowing or wanting to know a thing about it, just like our America. Our climate is in fact the same nasty Wordsworthian weather Byron fought all his life: humorless, sanctimonious, xenophobic, factional, and cruel. He spent his life firing back at that world in a long fighting retreat that saw him always heading South and East, away from "the moral North" where the Wordsworthian consensus was metastasizing.

And that, of course, is why Byron was adored in Europe but snubbed in England and America. He was everything Wordsworth's gang was not. They were utterly humorless-a Romanticist once told me that "there are three jokes in Wordsworth, or so they say...but I can't recall them."

Don't forget that he was also (reputedly) into incest!
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Dido on May 15, 2008, 07:57:19 AM
QuoteThe Victorian sensibility repaid the compliment by smearing Byron as well as Karl Rove himself could have done it. If you know only one thing about Byron, it's probably that quote about him: "mad, bad, and dangerous to know"-or the story that he had an affair with his sister.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on May 15, 2008, 01:39:39 PM
John Perkins - Confessions of an Economic Hit-Man
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: hooplala on May 15, 2008, 01:49:56 PM
I finished Clive Barker's "Mr. B. Gone"... what a piece of crap.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Jasper on May 15, 2008, 06:55:00 PM
I should be reading my SAT training book and math textbook.

Instead I read forums.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Darth Cupcake on May 21, 2008, 04:19:20 PM
I recently finished "Springer's Progress" by David Markson and loved it like crazy. It is full of bizarre and sex. A good combination.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Raphaella on May 21, 2008, 04:32:40 PM
I have just now got down to reading Schrodinger's cat.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Dido on May 21, 2008, 06:32:40 PM
Warrior Queens by Antonia Frazer

Awfull
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Micro Ice on May 22, 2008, 01:02:39 AM
Due to fausts insistence im about halfway through The Illuminatus Trilogy.

My head now hurts. 
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cainad (dec.) on May 22, 2008, 02:46:25 AM
Quote from: Micro-Ice on May 22, 2008, 01:02:39 AM
Due to fausts insistence im about halfway through The Illuminatus Trilogy.

My head now hurts. 

It won't go away. Ever.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Raphaella on May 22, 2008, 01:31:07 PM
I have been touting the benefits of the Illuminatus Trilogy for years! Taken with large doses of T.H.C. and properly meditated upon, it shall bring you one step closer to illumination! (Also the T.H.C. should knock out the head ache, but only if used responsibly.)

I am reading Ultraculture Journal one in PDF and now I too have a head ache! Man, I cant wait for reasonable digital paper.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on May 22, 2008, 03:32:27 PM
I suggest Kindle or whatever its called.

Reading Researching Terrorism: Trends, Achievements and Failures by Andrew Silke.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Raphaella on May 22, 2008, 03:53:17 PM
Good lord! Where did you get that? (I want one!)
Terrorism: Trends, Achievements and Failures, I mean. I don't have the cash to order it, any torrents?
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on May 22, 2008, 03:59:05 PM
Uh no, afraid not.  It was for my course.  Put me back $50 too.  I have Bruce Hoffman's Understanding Terrorism in pdf though, if you're interested.  Its not so researched orientated, but still fairly good.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Raphaella on May 22, 2008, 04:06:30 PM
I would be most interested! The Amazon list price for Research into Terrorism: Trends, Achievements and Failures has risen sharply! It's going used for $162. (I'll have to wait till rush dies down they'll knock the price down a bit then) 
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on May 22, 2008, 04:33:02 PM
Really? Damn.  I bought mine a year ago, I wouldn't expect that fast a price-rise, especially for a text book.  Maybe its a UK/USA thing?

http://mihd.net/dfgqz6p

Its 12.6 MB in total, I left a few other papers I had in the folder in there as well, in case you wanted anything else on terrorism too.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: fomenter on May 22, 2008, 10:47:23 PM
just finished the valis trilogy
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on May 23, 2008, 11:48:18 AM
Switching between Terrorism vs Democracy: The Liberal State Response by the mac-daddy of terrorism research, Paul Wilkinson, and The Golden Compass by Phillip Pullman.

Because if I cant get through this exam by methodical application of knowledge, I'll get through it by appealing to the Atheist Conspiracy that apparently runs our liberal institutions and media.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Raphaella on May 23, 2008, 11:59:13 AM
The Golden Compass was not all as Atheist as it's cracked up to be. (Sadly, I went out and bought all three of those books when I heard there was controversy over them) Not nearly as Atheist, or as unsettling as Harry Potter.
:fnord: And I don't know how it's done over there, but here in Amerika our liberal institutions and media are run by Nabisco. That Conspiracy is too frightening to delve into here though.   :fnord:
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on May 23, 2008, 12:04:35 PM
I'm picking up hints and there, but I'm not expecting it to be obvious until at least the end of the first book.  To be honest, its probably preferable that way.  In your face atheism a la Richard Dawkins, for 3 novels, wouldn't be very much fun.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on May 23, 2008, 04:06:02 PM
It's not Atheist, it's Anti-Church.

There's a subtle difference.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on May 23, 2008, 04:12:23 PM
NO THERE'S NOT.  SECULARISTS HATE OUR RELIGIOUS FREEDOM, THE VATICAN AND MELANIE PHILLIPS SAY SO.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on May 23, 2008, 04:32:26 PM
Ah.  Right.


Sorry, I don't know what I was thinking...







:lol:
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on May 23, 2008, 04:34:26 PM
Quote from: LMNO on May 23, 2008, 04:32:26 PM
Ah.  Right.


Sorry, I don't know what I was thinking...







:lol:

http://www.ministryoftruth.me.uk/2007/11/29/no-one-expects-the-secular-inquisition/

Quotehe full force of the secular inquisition will not hesitate in pronouncing its anathema upon him [Blair] for committing this heresy of religious belief.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Triple Zero on May 23, 2008, 05:21:14 PM
i finished the art of memetics, and i figured out how to read PDFs comfortable on my Vario phone (without pictures, but meh), so i'm slowly digesting the load of PDFs i have on my computer.

currently going through Liber Null. just started, i have no idea what to expect, any good bits i need to be on the lookout for?
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Jasper on May 23, 2008, 10:51:45 PM
Just picked up a copy of Godel, Escher, Bach by Hofstader.  It's pretty brilliant so far.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Triple Zero on May 24, 2008, 03:02:52 PM
Quote from: Felix on May 23, 2008, 10:51:45 PM
Just picked up a copy of Godel, Escher, Bach by Hofstader.  It's pretty brilliant so far.

only just now? dude you're in for a wild ride, enjoy! ;-)
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Iason Ouabache on May 25, 2008, 07:23:05 AM
Quote from: triple zero on May 09, 2008, 12:49:30 PM
Quote from: IasonOuabache on May 09, 2008, 07:12:21 AM"The Art and Science of Cold Reading"

now that sounds really interesting.

i always wanted to read up on that.

Sorry, I completely forgot about this thread.  If you want that book, I found it in one of Cain's links:  http://docquan.com/lib_dead.html  It's in the NeuroLinguistic Programming section.

I'm still working my way through "Chaos: Making a New Science" by James Glieck.  I almost put it down when he started talking about fluid mechanics and differential equations, two of my least favorite subjects in college.  Thankfully he quickly moved to astronomy and piqued my interest again.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on May 25, 2008, 07:35:21 AM
I just started reading "Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers" by Mary Roach

It's totally good.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: e on May 25, 2008, 09:52:23 AM
I am currently reading the "Age of Unreason" series.

It's sort of "Alchemypunk."  Amusing frippery and silliness, mostly.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: The Good Reverend Roger on May 25, 2008, 09:53:03 AM
Quote from: TheStripèdOne on May 25, 2008, 09:52:23 AM
I am currently reading the "Age of Unreason" series.

It's sort of "Alchemypunk."  Amusing frippery and silliness, mostly.

Nobody cares what the fuck emo garbage you're reading.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: e on May 25, 2008, 09:53:45 AM
Very true, I have no doubt.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: The Good Reverend Roger on May 25, 2008, 09:54:50 AM
Quote from: TheStripèdOne on May 25, 2008, 09:53:45 AM
Very true, I have no doubt.

:pukka:
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: e on May 25, 2008, 09:55:13 AM
Quote from: TheStripèdOne on May 25, 2008, 09:53:45 AM
Very true, I have no doubt.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Raphaella on May 25, 2008, 12:57:47 PM
Quote from: Nigel on May 25, 2008, 07:35:21 AM
I just started reading "Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers" by Mary Roach

It's totally good.

This one is very funny! I hope you enjoy it.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Jasper on May 27, 2008, 07:57:12 AM
Quote from: triple zero on May 24, 2008, 03:02:52 PM
Quote from: Felix on May 23, 2008, 10:51:45 PM
Just picked up a copy of Godel, Escher, Bach by Hofstader.  It's pretty brilliant so far.

only just now? dude you're in for a wild ride, enjoy! ;-)

Dude, I'm only 21 and I'm just finishing my first semester of community college.

Why does everyone think I'm supposed to be experienced?
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Micro Ice on May 27, 2008, 01:56:14 PM
Reading "Legion" Book 7 of the Horus Heresy
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Darth Cupcake on May 27, 2008, 06:06:28 PM
A Kaplan GMAT study book. :cry:

I am going to take over the world shortly. This whole legwork thing is kinda a pain in the ass, though. (No, srsly, once I have a degree, fear me.)

Oh, also the Star Wars book Suu lent me. I figure one ridiculous book deserves another. :D

Soon it will be my vacation and I'll be able to lounge in the sun actually reading books that require brain power. It'll be super.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Suu on May 27, 2008, 06:17:21 PM
...I'm wondering if I should take a week off and do the same.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: M.K on May 27, 2008, 06:27:36 PM
Terry Pratchett's Carpe Jugulum. Besides another great story contains some dialogue concerning religion. The people talking are Quite Reverend Oats and Granny Weatherwax. Granny + any topic = usually great text.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Jasper on May 27, 2008, 07:36:18 PM
Quote from: M.K on May 27, 2008, 06:27:36 PM
Terry Pratchett's Carpe Jugulum. Besides another great story contains some dialogue concerning religion. The people talking are Quite Reverend Oats and Granny Weatherwax. Granny + any topic = usually great text.

Agreed.  I wish there was a book on Esme Weatherwax's youth.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Triple Zero on May 27, 2008, 09:01:04 PM
Quote from: Felix on May 27, 2008, 07:57:12 AM
Quote from: triple zero on May 24, 2008, 03:02:52 PM
Quote from: Felix on May 23, 2008, 10:51:45 PM
Just picked up a copy of Godel, Escher, Bach by Hofstader.  It's pretty brilliant so far.

only just now? dude you're in for a wild ride, enjoy! ;-)

Dude, I'm only 21 and I'm just finishing my first semester of community college.

Why does everyone think I'm supposed to be experienced?

oh i didnt mean it like that, more that i think this book is probably really right up your alley.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Jasper on May 27, 2008, 09:35:12 PM
Quote from: triple zero on May 27, 2008, 09:01:04 PM
Quote from: Felix on May 27, 2008, 07:57:12 AM
Quote from: triple zero on May 24, 2008, 03:02:52 PM
Quote from: Felix on May 23, 2008, 10:51:45 PM
Just picked up a copy of Godel, Escher, Bach by Hofstader.  It's pretty brilliant so far.

only just now? dude you're in for a wild ride, enjoy! ;-)

Dude, I'm only 21 and I'm just finishing my first semester of community college.

Why does everyone think I'm supposed to be experienced?

oh i didnt mean it like that, more that i think this book is probably really right up your alley.

Oh, sorry I snapped.  Lately I've been putting up with a lot of "OMG you haven't read/seen X?  I question your humanity/geek cred/cultural knowledge!!!"
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Raphaella on May 28, 2008, 02:38:19 PM
QuoteOh, sorry I snapped.  Lately I've been putting up with a lot of "OMG you haven't read/seen X?  I question your humanity/geek cred/cultural knowledge!!!"

You should see the blunder I stepped into. I'm now reading The Invisibles...
And doing research in PiHKAL and The Teachings of Don Juan. Please anyone who would like to share with me the physical conditions brought on by Mescaline, send me a PM. Thanks.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Dido on May 28, 2008, 11:06:30 PM
I haven't read the Invisibles but Castaneda is funny and occasionally inspiring. And I should like that PM, too.

Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Dido on May 28, 2008, 11:07:45 PM
Finished rereading Half asleep in Frog Pajamas.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Raphaella on June 02, 2008, 11:12:31 AM
Still researching, but I may have gone off on a bit of a whim. Reading Holotropic Mind and Life after Life. 
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Jasper on June 03, 2008, 06:20:26 PM
Now reading Ciaphas Cain: Hero of the Imperium by Sandy Mitchell

It's funny how like Episkopos Cain the main character is.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Micro Ice on June 05, 2008, 03:01:58 AM
Quote from: Felix on June 03, 2008, 06:20:26 PM
Now reading Ciaphas Cain: Hero of the Imperium by Sandy Mitchell

It's funny how like Episkopos Cain the main character is.

Ahaha i freaking love those books. Im now reading the Eisenhorn series myself.
I love my warhammer novels way too much.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Jasper on June 05, 2008, 08:13:50 AM
Quote from: Micro-Ice 5th on June 05, 2008, 03:01:58 AM
Quote from: Felix on June 03, 2008, 06:20:26 PM
Now reading Ciaphas Cain: Hero of the Imperium by Sandy Mitchell

It's funny how like Episkopos Cain the main character is.

Ahaha i freaking love those books. Im now reading the Eisenhorn series myself.
I love my warhammer novels way too much.

Eisenhorn is the best 40K novel, ever, including unwritten ones, presumably.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: M.K on June 05, 2008, 04:28:21 PM
Now reading Guards! Guards! again. Hell's bells, I didn't remember the amount of great shit in this one. Also, Sam Vimes fucking owns.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: That One Guy on June 05, 2008, 06:31:52 PM
"Commander, I always used to consider that you had a definite anti-authoritarian streak in you. ... It seems you have managed to retain this even though you are authority. ... That's practically Zen."

-Lord Vetinari to Captain Vimes, Feet of Clay

Lu-Tze: "...one day it seemed to me that everyone else had decided that wisdom can only be found a long way off. So I went to Ankh-Morpork. They were all coming here, so it seemed only fair."
Lobsang: "Seeking enlightenment?"
Lu-Tze: "No. The wise man does not seek enlightenment, he waits for it. So while I was waiting, it occurred to me that seeking perplexity might be more fun."

-Thief of Time

Vimes and Lu Tze should both be Discordian saints. Hell, damn near everyone in that world should be a Discordian saint  :lulz:
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: BADGE OF HONOR on June 06, 2008, 09:58:22 PM
I'm reading Generation and Degeneration:  Tropes of Reproduction in Literature and History from Antiquity to Early Modern Europe.  It's a little uneven, but I've learned a whole hell of a lot more about male menstruation than necessary.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Bu🤠ns on June 07, 2008, 07:35:04 AM
WTF? i can't even understand that title.

(alan moore's writing for comics, for me)
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: u4!k on June 12, 2008, 11:54:12 PM
Carlos Castaneda's
The Art oF Dreaming.

its really good so far

i intend on pratcticing lucid dreaming every night...
i know how hard it can be/seem though...
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: hooplala on June 13, 2008, 04:29:36 AM
Quote from: Rabid Badger of God on June 06, 2008, 09:58:22 PMmale menstruation

wut
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on June 13, 2008, 04:39:00 PM
I'm reading "Stiff" by Mary Roach. It's really, really good, like laugh out loud good. Plus, informative!
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mangrove on June 13, 2008, 06:55:10 PM
Quote from: Nigel on June 13, 2008, 04:39:00 PM
I'm reading "Stiff" by Mary Roach. It's really, really good, like laugh out loud good. Plus, informative!

Mrs Mang' just finished reading 'Spook' by the same author. Much lulz were had.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: BADGE OF HONOR on June 13, 2008, 07:42:50 PM
Quote from: HOOPLA! on June 13, 2008, 04:29:36 AM
Quote from: Rabid Badger of God on June 06, 2008, 09:58:22 PMmale menstruation

wut

Up until a couple centuries ago, it was thought that not only could certain men experience monthly blood loss (through the anus or other, more unusual ways) but that it was beneficial, encouraging fertility and longevity.

:)
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mangrove on June 13, 2008, 07:50:26 PM
Quote from: Rabid Badger of God on June 13, 2008, 07:42:50 PM
Quote from: HOOPLA! on June 13, 2008, 04:29:36 AM
Quote from: Rabid Badger of God on June 06, 2008, 09:58:22 PMmale menstruation

wut

Up until a couple centuries ago, it was thought that not only could certain men experience monthly blood loss (through the anus or other, more unusual ways) but that it was beneficial, encouraging fertility and longevity.

:)

Well, you do indeed learn something new every day. I was under the impression that if a man bleeds regularly from his anus, he just might be carrying around some colon cancer.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on June 13, 2008, 09:14:17 PM
Empire by Antonio Negri and Michael Hardt (ECH recommendation).  Very interesting, might post more on this later once I've had the time to assimilate it.

Categories by Aristotle.  Getting my philosophy on.

Computer Security and Cryptography by Wiley.  Inspired by Cory Doctorow's Little Brother to make sure my computer wont be used against me (come the revolution).
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: u4!k on June 14, 2008, 06:13:17 AM
Quote from: Cain on June 13, 2008, 09:14:17 PM
Empire by Antonio Negri and Michael Hardt (ECH recommendation).  Very interesting, might post more on this later once I've had the time to assimilate it.

Categories by Aristotle.  Getting my philosophy on.

Computer Security and Cryptography by Wiley.  Inspired by Cory Doctorow's Little Brother to make sure my computer wont be used against me (come the revolution).

i just acquired some Aristotle myself. A translation of ON MAN IN THE UNIVERSE.

It has a really interesting part on metaphysics.

really cool!
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: The Good Reverend Roger on June 14, 2008, 07:27:55 AM
Aristotle was a rube.

Cicero is where it's at.

TGRR,
Knows Romans pwn Greeks.  169%.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on June 14, 2008, 02:51:57 PM
Hume > everyone.

That said, I haven't read any Aristotle in ages, so I may as well give it a go over again.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: u4!k on June 14, 2008, 07:04:39 PM
reading is thinking

and either way...

thinking is thinking.

(its ALL good!)
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on June 14, 2008, 11:26:53 PM
Quote from: Mangrove on June 13, 2008, 06:55:10 PM
Quote from: Nigel on June 13, 2008, 04:39:00 PM
I'm reading "Stiff" by Mary Roach. It's really, really good, like laugh out loud good. Plus, informative!

Mrs Mang' just finished reading 'Spook' by the same author. Much lulz were had.

I will have to read the rest of her books. She's great!
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Micro Ice on June 15, 2008, 12:10:45 AM
Peace and War By: Joe Haldeman

Great book i recommend it.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: rong on June 15, 2008, 12:41:39 AM
Quote from: u4!k on June 14, 2008, 07:04:39 PM
reading is thinking

and either way...

thinking is thinking.

(its ALL good!)

i don't think so
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Iason Ouabache on June 16, 2008, 10:37:39 PM
Reading "Unholy Spirits" by Gary North at the suggestion of Cain. I dove into it knowing absolutely nothing about Mr. North and his crazy beliefs.  This thing is like a massive trainwreck.  I'm only on page 26 and I've already busted 3 Irony Meters. 

His overall thesis so far seems to be: the damned-dirty hippies (especially The Beatles) are to blame for the rise of both occultism and humanism in the United States, the occultism has started to corrupt our universities and is harming science and OUR VERY WAY OF LIFE!!!, the best way to save Western Civilization is to reject occultism and go back to the old mythology of Christianity. 

I don't think that there is any way I'll be able to finish this thing because the amount of horrormirth has been overwhelming so far.  Damn you, Cain!!!   :argh!:
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mangrove on June 17, 2008, 07:09:51 PM
Quote from: Iason Ouabache on June 16, 2008, 10:37:39 PM
Reading "Unholy Spirits" by Gary North at the suggestion of Cain. I dove into it knowing absolutely nothing about Mr. North and his crazy beliefs.  This thing is like a massive trainwreck.  I'm only on page 26 and I've already busted 3 Irony Meters. 

His overall thesis so far seems to be: the damned-dirty hippies (especially The Beatles) are to blame for the rise of both occultism and humanism in the United States, the occultism has started to corrupt our universities and is harming science and OUR VERY WAY OF LIFE!!!, the best way to save Western Civilization is to reject occultism and go back to the old mythology of Christianity. 

I don't think that there is any way I'll be able to finish this thing because the amount of horrormirth has been overwhelming so far.  Damn you, Cain!!!   :argh!:

This book sounds ridiculous. I think I want to read it!
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Iason Ouabache on June 18, 2008, 08:16:09 AM
Quote from: Mangrove on June 17, 2008, 07:09:51 PM
Quote from: Iason Ouabache on June 16, 2008, 10:37:39 PM
Reading "Unholy Spirits" by Gary North at the suggestion of Cain. I dove into it knowing absolutely nothing about Mr. North and his crazy beliefs.  This thing is like a massive trainwreck.  I'm only on page 26 and I've already busted 3 Irony Meters. 

His overall thesis so far seems to be: the damned-dirty hippies (especially The Beatles) are to blame for the rise of both occultism and humanism in the United States, the occultism has started to corrupt our universities and is harming science and OUR VERY WAY OF LIFE!!!, the best way to save Western Civilization is to reject occultism and go back to the old mythology of Christianity. 

I don't think that there is any way I'll be able to finish this thing because the amount of horrormirth has been overwhelming so far.  Damn you, Cain!!!   :argh!:

This book sounds ridiculous. I think I want to read it!

Ok, but don't say I didn't warn you:

http://www.entrewave.com/freebooks/docs/21ea_47e.htm
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Raphaella on June 21, 2008, 05:23:33 PM
I saved a copy for later perusal, it cant be as insufferable as The Politics at Gods Funeral, or can it?

Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Triple Zero on June 22, 2008, 03:55:52 PM
Cryptonomicon

Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on June 22, 2008, 04:35:31 PM
Quote from: Iason Ouabache on June 18, 2008, 08:16:09 AM
Quote from: Mangrove on June 17, 2008, 07:09:51 PM
Quote from: Iason Ouabache on June 16, 2008, 10:37:39 PM
Reading "Unholy Spirits" by Gary North at the suggestion of Cain. I dove into it knowing absolutely nothing about Mr. North and his crazy beliefs.  This thing is like a massive trainwreck.  I'm only on page 26 and I've already busted 3 Irony Meters. 

His overall thesis so far seems to be: the damned-dirty hippies (especially The Beatles) are to blame for the rise of both occultism and humanism in the United States, the occultism has started to corrupt our universities and is harming science and OUR VERY WAY OF LIFE!!!, the best way to save Western Civilization is to reject occultism and go back to the old mythology of Christianity. 

I don't think that there is any way I'll be able to finish this thing because the amount of horrormirth has been overwhelming so far.  Damn you, Cain!!!   :argh!:

This book sounds ridiculous. I think I want to read it!

Ok, but don't say I didn't warn you:

http://www.entrewave.com/freebooks/docs/21ea_47e.htm

STFU, Gary North is teh awesome.

He goes on about psychics and Carlos Castenada and stuff later on in the book too.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on June 23, 2008, 08:18:30 PM
Now reading The Eternal Hermes by Antoine Faivre.  Between this and Trickster Makes the World, I am fairly convinced that Hermes is a viable Discordian deity in his own right.  Possibly more on that later.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Reeducation on June 25, 2008, 10:47:04 AM
The Illuminatus! Trilogy, at page 296.
Any other good books from these/this guys/guy?

(beyond good and evil, is still on pause. i'll have to start it again)
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Dido on June 25, 2008, 03:40:29 PM
Quote from: Cain on June 23, 2008, 08:18:30 PM
Now reading The Eternal Hermes by Antoine Faivre.  Between this and Trickster Makes the World, I am fairly convinced that Hermes is a viable Discordian deity in his own right.  Possibly more on that later.

That's the second Hermes in five minutes. Hm.

Now reading Modest_Witness@Second_Millenium by Haraway.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cainad (dec.) on June 29, 2008, 03:42:49 AM
The Religious Case Against Belief by James P. Carse

Very interesting; so far I'm pretty captivated by his arguments about the nature of belief systems. I highly recommend it.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Iason Ouabache on June 29, 2008, 07:22:10 AM
"Breaking the Spell" Daniel Dennett.  Basically about the memetics of religion.  Pretty interesting so far.

I'm still trying to finish "Chaos: Making a New Science".  It's a hard subject to get your head wrapped around though.

Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Thurnez Isa on July 13, 2008, 05:11:44 PM
Geobbels speach on propaganda

http://ics.leeds.ac.uk/papers/vp01.cfm?outfit=pmt&folder=715&paper=2159
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on July 15, 2008, 03:58:20 AM
"Veronika Decides to Die" by Coelho. So far so good.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Honey on July 17, 2008, 12:52:12 PM
I started reading the Illuminatus! Trilogy & while I like certain parts, some of it is starting to annoy me.  I'm taking a break to re-read the chapter about the Mind's Eye in How the Mind Works by Steven Pinker
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: singer on July 17, 2008, 03:00:03 PM
Quote from: Honey on July 17, 2008, 12:52:12 PM
I started reading the Illuminatus! Trilogy & while I like certain parts, some of it is starting to annoy me. 
The first time I read it I was so irritated I tossed it to a friend and said "You have to wade through 700 pages of dreck to get to one good joke about how Catholics earned Bingo"... since then I have revised some of my opinion.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: hooplala on July 17, 2008, 06:52:20 PM
Quote from: Honey on July 17, 2008, 12:52:12 PM
I started reading the Illuminatus! Trilogy & while I like certain parts, some of it is starting to annoy me.  I'm taking a break to re-read the chapter about the Mind's Eye in How the Mind Works by Steven Pinker

I skip parts now, if I pick it up again, but I really loved it the first time I read it.  It touched on so many things I was interested in.  I guess that helped, for me.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on July 17, 2008, 08:40:15 PM
I'm reading The Pirate's Dilemma by Matt Mason, and A Game of Thrones by George RR Martin (Fire and Ice series, apparently an amazing series of books according to most of my friends).

I'm doing a review of The Pirate's Dilemma for Liberal Conspiracy, so once I've done it, I'll add it here as well.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Eve on July 20, 2008, 05:31:40 PM
Letters to a Young Poet by Rainer Maria Rilke
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mangrove on July 22, 2008, 08:04:41 PM
Secret Agent 666 by Richard B Spence.

Spence's previous book on espionage lead to many parallels & overlaps with Crowley. Seems that AC's claims to have worked for Intelligence services were, for once, based on fact and not the product of his drug addled mind.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cainad (dec.) on July 22, 2008, 11:33:37 PM
The Chanur Saga by C.J. Cherryh
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Kurt Christ on July 23, 2008, 11:15:57 PM
Temporary Autonomous Zone by Hakim Bey, and Foundation by Isaac Asimov.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: BADGE OF HONOR on July 24, 2008, 12:23:59 AM
Quote from: Cainad on July 22, 2008, 11:33:37 PM
The Chanur Saga by C.J. Cherryh

C. J. Cherryh is my favorite author.

I'm reading Freedom and Necessity by Stephen Brust and Emma Bull.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Honey on July 24, 2008, 01:38:19 AM
Wittgenstein's Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus. 

& thanks for the insights about the Illimunatus! Trilogy - I realized why I was getting annoyed with certain parts.  Living through the hippy parties when I was in high school just about did me in for conspiracy theories.  The people at that time were abut 10 - 15 years older than I was, smoking weed in their living rooms, passing it from person to person using roach clips attached to car antennas.  It just got old & tired after a while, listening to them spout their home-grown conspiracy theories.  It really wasn't very funny at the time, it was kinda desperate.  Also I could get better weed at half the price at my high school, & that made me wonder?  Unless they grew it themselves & then it was really bad (usually)

I did read the Principia Discordia tho & preferred that writing style & humor.  Although I still prefer the BIP for cultural relevance & the fact that it's still evolving (what could be more relevant?) 
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cainad (dec.) on July 24, 2008, 01:51:41 AM
Quote from: Rabid Badger of God on July 24, 2008, 12:23:59 AM
Quote from: Cainad on July 22, 2008, 11:33:37 PM
The Chanur Saga by C.J. Cherryh

C. J. Cherryh is my favorite author.

I'm reading Freedom and Necessity by Stephen Brust and Emma Bull.

What a coincidence, Stephen Brust is one of my favorite authors.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: The Littlest Ubermensch on July 24, 2008, 02:47:11 AM
I have pretty much stopped reading entirely. I love books, but my ability to maintain a narrative has disappeared (admittedly, it's been in a steady decline since I was 12). Last thing I read was Whipping Girl by Julia Serano, which is a very intelligent examination of transsexuality, feminism, and a bit of the author's life. I recommend it to pretty much everyone (mostly because the more people that are understanding and accepting of transsexuality, the better.)
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on July 24, 2008, 07:19:33 AM
I am in favor of acceptance of transsexuality, but not so much of surgical gender reassignment, because I believe that perception of transsexuality as a "disorder" is a result of our constrictive society and the development of gender reassignment surgery is a symptom of that constriction.

But I'm just a bloody primitive.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: BADGE OF HONOR on July 24, 2008, 08:32:49 AM
I don't know, if I were a man I think I'd be annoyed at having breasts and would be happy to get rid of them.  My best friend is a FtM, and he wants to take down his chest a few notches.  I don't know if he wants to do anything about his uterus though.  I would say that surgery is less about treating a disorder, than making the owner of the body happier. 
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: The Littlest Ubermensch on July 24, 2008, 08:42:03 AM
Sexual Reassignment Surgery isn't a symptom of society viewing being trans as a disorder. Srsly. A lot of transgirls (and transmen, even though they're pretty fucked when it comes to getting a penis*) really can't stand their given genitalia, and it's not because they're trying to conform to some constrictive gender role. And there's lots of transwomen who really aren't too emphatic about getting a fancy new vagina, but would like to anyways, just because it's more fulfilling than having an annoying reminder of your chromosomes swinging in between your legs. There's even some trans people trying to make it seem more "normal" by just saying that being trans is a birth defect, and nothing more, so it and attempts to transition should be treated like any other birth defect and attempts to correct it. (But I'm all for delivering a big "fuck you" to the "let's all try to be really normal" community.)


*phalloplasty, the surgery that gives transmen dicks, is still a not so great alternative to having a vagina, which is why there's more non op FtMs than MtFs. While vaginoplasty can create very natural looking genitalia, phalloplasty tends towards some really weird looking pen0rz.

Fake edit: RBG's post reminded me that I completely forgot about top surgery, but then I remembered that essentially the same argument applies, except transwomen grow them naturally with hormones and transmen need a mastectomy.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on July 24, 2008, 09:18:25 AM
Gotta agree with TLU here.  I have a transsexual friend from University who was exactly as he described, and as I understand it, her feelings on the matter are pretty much the norm within the transsexual community.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Voodoo on July 24, 2008, 04:38:59 PM
I have read that a lot of transmen (am I using this correctly?) have the top done but never actually finish the bottom.  i wonder if that is because phalloplasty seems like a nasty business or for other reasons.  Only transman i have know didn't finish bottom. 
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on July 24, 2008, 06:27:50 PM
I understand all of the arguments for GRS in modern Western society, but transgendered people have existed for the entirety of human existence, and in cultures which accepted trans people as a third or fourth gender, there are no such reports of disgust with one's natural body, and to me that speaks volumes.

From my perspective, and I don't want to get all woo-woo on you here but it's not an uncommon view from people raised in native American religions, it's sad and a waste when people feel they have to destroy such a rare gift by changing their outside bodies.

I say this despite knowing many trans people and supporting their decision to choose surgery in order to make them happy in the here and now... I just feel that requiring surgery for this happiness is something that our society has coerced.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on July 24, 2008, 06:40:39 PM
In the "history" you speak of, Nigel, it was impossible to physically change yourself.

Now it's possible, and some people want to do something about it.

I dunno about the body being a "rare gift" -- it can be a pretty ugly sack of meat and pain, sometimes.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on July 24, 2008, 06:56:03 PM
Right, but I guess what my point is, is that the self-loathing and overwhelming desire to change our bodies seems to go hand in hand with the culture of vanity in which external appearances are valued above internal humanity. You are free to disagree, but I myself have had the thought that I "should" get a nose job or a tummy tuck, and having that thought led me to hatred... literal hatred and disgust... at the saggy belly and big nose biology has given me.

But does that make the loathing and disgust natural and inherent? I personally don't think so.

We live in a society where the drive toward medical intervention now kills more infants than it saves every year, and yet most people in the medical community refuse to recognize it. Just because something is medically or surgically possible does not make it good, yet for many it DOES make it desirable. See how that works?
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on July 24, 2008, 06:58:34 PM
Yeah, but a tummy tuck and a nose job doesn't change a fundamental aspect of your identity.

Gender is sliiiiightly more all-encompassing than that.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on July 24, 2008, 06:59:17 PM
QuoteWe live in a society where the drive toward medical intervention now kills more infants than it saves every year, and yet most people in the medical community refuse to recognize it.

:cn:
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: The Littlest Ubermensch on July 24, 2008, 06:59:26 PM
QuoteI have read that a lot of transmen (am I using this correctly?) have the top done but never actually finish the bottom.  i wonder if that is because phalloplasty seems like a nasty business or for other reasons.  Only transman i have know didn't finish bottom.

It's also expensive as hell and there's a somewhat high possibility of things going wrong (like, "omg i can't pee or feel anything" wrong).

Quote from: Nigel on July 24, 2008, 06:27:50 PM
I understand all of the arguments for GRS in modern Western society, but transgendered people have existed for the entirety of human existence, and in cultures which accepted trans people as a third or fourth gender, there are no such reports of disgust with one's natural body, and to me that speaks volumes.

From my perspective, and I don't want to get all woo-woo on you here but it's not an uncommon view from people raised in native American religions, it's sad and a waste when people feel they have to destroy such a rare gift by changing their outside bodies.

I say this despite knowing many trans people and supporting their decision to choose surgery in order to make them happy in the here and now... I just feel that requiring surgery for this happiness is something that our society has coerced.

The thing is, most trans people aren't a third gender. Androgynous/neutrois people are quite happy with that state of being, which is why they don't tend towards bottom surgery (though I know one neutrois person who recently had surgery to turn their penis into a blank spot with a place to pee + a clit, which they were pretty happy with.) Transsexuals, however, just want to be seen as a man or a woman. While you're right in that there definitely is something of a gift in being able to experience aspects of both sexes/genders, it's not a gift to have the wrong set of genitals, nor is it a gift to be viewed as something you're not. Adding a bit of personal perspective here: I don't want to be seen as a part of some "third gender." I'm a girl. I'm not feminine/female in every respect, and I'm comfortable with bending genders, but I'm still a pretty normal, everyday girl. Being treated like some special, mythical door number 3 isn't going to make me happy, but will just encourage me feeling singled out and marginalized as either an object of pity or scorn.

And most therapy related to gender identity issues these days aims to make people happy and comfortable with their own bodies before they try to change anything. In fact, the medical "gatekeepers" tend to view anxiety/depression resulting from gender dysphoria as a sign of mental illness and enough reason to delay/prevent treatment. Generally if things work out right, SRS isn't being done "to make them happy" so much as it's just a way to make it easier to get comfortable in their own body.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: The Littlest Ubermensch on July 24, 2008, 07:07:43 PM
Quote from: Nigel on July 24, 2008, 06:56:03 PM
Right, but I guess what my point is, is that the self-loathing and overwhelming desire to change our bodies seems to go hand in hand with the culture of vanity in which external appearances are valued above internal humanity. You are free to disagree, but I myself have had the thought that I "should" get a nose job or a tummy tuck, and having that thought led me to hatred... literal hatred and disgust... at the saggy belly and big nose biology has given me.

But does that make the loathing and disgust natural and inherent? I personally don't think so.

Tummy tuck/nosejob = purely cosmetic alteration of something which isn't very significant.

SRS = alteration of something our culture, since the very beginning, sees as THE symbol of one's gender identity. It's a little more fulfilling than getting a different nose or belly.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on July 24, 2008, 07:11:18 PM
Quote from: LMNO on July 24, 2008, 06:59:17 PM
QuoteWe live in a society where the drive toward medical intervention now kills more infants than it saves every year, and yet most people in the medical community refuse to recognize it.

:cn:

"The American Way of Birth" by Jessica Mitford

Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on July 24, 2008, 07:12:34 PM
Quote from: The Littlest Ubermensch on July 24, 2008, 07:07:43 PM
Quote from: Nigel on July 24, 2008, 06:56:03 PM
Right, but I guess what my point is, is that the self-loathing and overwhelming desire to change our bodies seems to go hand in hand with the culture of vanity in which external appearances are valued above internal humanity. You are free to disagree, but I myself have had the thought that I "should" get a nose job or a tummy tuck, and having that thought led me to hatred... literal hatred and disgust... at the saggy belly and big nose biology has given me.

But does that make the loathing and disgust natural and inherent? I personally don't think so.

Tummy tuck/nosejob = purely cosmetic alteration of something which isn't very significant.

SRS = alteration of something our culture, since the very beginning, sees as THE symbol of one's gender identity. It's a little more fulfilling than getting a different nose or belly.

I understand that and I'm not trying to trivialize reassignment surgery. I'm just pointing out that often the desire for something corresponds to it's availability, as well as the cultural perception of it's appropriateness.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on July 24, 2008, 07:13:11 PM
Anyway, I'm not that interested in arguing this, because I don't care about changing anyone's mind. I shared my perspective, that's all I wanted to do.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cainad (dec.) on July 24, 2008, 07:15:51 PM
Quote from: LMNO on July 24, 2008, 06:59:17 PM
QuoteWe live in a society where the drive toward medical intervention now kills more infants than it saves every year, and yet most people in the medical community refuse to recognize it.

:cn:

Indeed.


However, to be fair, my mom told me of an incident in which she had to tell a pregnant woman to GTFO of the hospital because the greedy-ass surgeon wanted to perform the cesarean section before he went on vacation... never mind that the baby wasn't due for weeks.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on July 24, 2008, 07:20:19 PM
Quote from: Nigel on July 24, 2008, 07:11:18 PM
Quote from: LMNO on July 24, 2008, 06:59:17 PM
QuoteWe live in a society where the drive toward medical intervention now kills more infants than it saves every year, and yet most people in the medical community refuse to recognize it.

:cn:

"The American Way of Birth" by Jessica Mitford

I couldn't find anything relevant with a quick google search, just a wikipedia article on other books by her, and a review calling her a "communist muckraker".

So, uh... anything else?
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cainad (dec.) on July 24, 2008, 07:23:14 PM
http://www.amazon.com/American-Way-Birth-Plume/dp/0452270685
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on July 24, 2008, 07:26:48 PM
Yes, I know where to go to buy it, but the Amazon site doesn't give details, stats, graphs, or any of the rest of it.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on July 24, 2008, 07:27:38 PM
There's actually been a lot written about this, Dr. Bradley, the Sears', etc.

The US has the highest infant mortality rate of the first world, and the main correlation, which many doctors and health experts believe is also causation, is the highest rate of C-section and other medical interference to the birth process. Poor nutrition is also a heavy contender, though.

As they say, give a small boy a hammer and everything looks like a nail.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on July 24, 2008, 07:28:41 PM
Quote from: LMNO on July 24, 2008, 07:26:48 PM
Yes, I know where to go to buy it, but the Amazon site doesn't give details, stats, graphs, or any of the rest of it.

I'm sorry, I didn't get my information online, I got it from books when I was studying to be a childbirth coach.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on July 24, 2008, 07:33:56 PM
Is that in comparison to historical mortality rates, or to "developing nations" or just to other "first world" countries?
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Voodoo on July 24, 2008, 07:37:01 PM
Quote from: Nigel on July 24, 2008, 06:27:50 PM
I understand all of the arguments for GRS in modern Western society, but transgendered people have existed for the entirety of human existence, and in cultures which accepted trans people as a third or fourth gender, there are no such reports of disgust with one's natural body, and to me that speaks volumes.

From my perspective, and I don't want to get all woo-woo on you here but it's not an uncommon view from people raised in native American religions, it's sad and a waste when people feel they have to destroy such a rare gift by changing their outside bodies.

I say this despite knowing many trans people and supporting their decision to choose surgery in order to make them happy in the here and now... I just feel that requiring surgery for this happiness is something that our society has coerced.

agreed
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on July 24, 2008, 11:19:24 PM
Quote from: LMNO on July 24, 2008, 07:33:56 PM
Is that in comparison to historical mortality rates, or to "developing nations" or just to other "first world" countries?

Only other "first world" countries. If this is something that interests you, it's not hard to research, and all of the obvious statistical adjustments and arguments you might be thinking of off the top of your head have been explored pretty thoroughly. It's old news for me, so I'm not particularly interested in discussing it more, but may be an area of interest if you wanted to pursue it. Dr. Sears addresses it in his book on childbirth, as does Sheila Kitzinger.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on July 25, 2008, 07:13:38 PM
No arguments just yet, only questions.


So, US is last among 1st world countries.

How do we rank against developing counrtries, and against the US 50 years ago?

How does the US compare with 1st world countries 50 years ago, while we're at it?
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Rev. St. Syn, KSC (Ret.) on July 26, 2008, 12:18:03 AM
I'm reading John Brunner's Stand on Zanzibar.

One of those relevant books.

Phew.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on July 26, 2008, 03:32:42 AM
Quote from: LMNO on July 25, 2008, 07:13:38 PM
No arguments just yet, only questions.


So, US is last among 1st world countries.

How do we rank against developing counrtries, and against the US 50 years ago?

How does the US compare with 1st world countries 50 years ago, while we're at it?

I don't know about 50 years ago, but currently we're at #28 globally. The US has been dead last among first world countries, and we had a very dramatic increase in infant and maternal mortality, at the time when most states passed laws against midwifery in order to foster the newly-developed medical branch called "obstetrics".
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cainad (dec.) on July 26, 2008, 03:52:35 AM
Quote from: Nigel on July 26, 2008, 03:32:42 AM
Quote from: LMNO on July 25, 2008, 07:13:38 PM
No arguments just yet, only questions.


So, US is last among 1st world countries.

How do we rank against developing counrtries, and against the US 50 years ago?

How does the US compare with 1st world countries 50 years ago, while we're at it?

I don't know about 50 years ago, but currently we're at #28 globally. The US has been dead last among first world countries, and we had a very dramatic increase in infant and maternal mortality, at the time when most states passed laws against midwifery in order to foster the newly-developed medical branch called "obstetrics".

I believe there is a long and cherished tradition of discrediting midwives in favor of medical practitioners who are not necessarily any better at the job.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on July 26, 2008, 05:49:09 AM
There sure is, and recent decriminalization of midwifery in many states has brought with it an astonishing level of violence against midwives, much of it from disgruntled doctors. For a while in Oregon, midwives were traveling to births with police escorts.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cainad (dec.) on July 26, 2008, 02:18:32 PM
And before some smartypance strokes their e-penis by posting a :cn: in response to my previous post: I will get your damned citation when my books come in. Freaking shipping taking a million years...
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: fomenter on July 26, 2008, 04:01:26 PM
movie on the topic of birth in America " the business of being born " 2007

"Director Abby Epstein's controversial documentary takes a hard look at America's maternity care system, juxtaposing hospital deliveries against the growing popularity of at-home, natural childbirths that many expectant parents are now opting for. Former talk show host Ricki Lake was inspired to produce this compelling expose after a dissatisfying birthing experience with her first child left her with many unanswered questions."

good documentary...
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on July 29, 2008, 12:34:18 AM
An Encyclopedia of Toxicology.

For real.  This is fascinating.  Kai, if you want a copy, drop me a line.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: That One Guy on August 08, 2008, 03:07:42 PM
I just finished up The Difference Engine by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling (decent but not amazing steampunk, and it's REALLY obvious as to who wrote what bits, although I still enjoy about 85% of the book), and am just starting in on Illusions, the Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah by Richard Bach.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Buddha's Ghost Penis on August 09, 2008, 03:19:59 AM
WE ARE READING THE POST BELOW US!
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Buddha's Ghost Penis on August 09, 2008, 03:20:33 AM
WE ARE READING THE POST ABOVE US!
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Iason Ouabache on August 10, 2008, 10:35:00 AM
Still reading Daniel Dennett's "Breaking the Spell".  Maybe the single most important book I've ever read (besides the PD).  Religious beliefs make a whole lot more sense when you view it in memetic terms.  About once a chapter I have to stop and say, "Holy shit! That finally makes sense!"  May have to do a summary/review of the book when I'm done.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: BADGE OF HONOR on August 10, 2008, 08:54:04 PM
I'm reading To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis.  It is my most favorite book ever and I read it about once every six months. 
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: nurbldoff on August 16, 2008, 12:11:47 AM
Relating to the previous discussion of child mortality, I recommend http://graphs.gapminder.org (http://graphs.gapminder.org). It's a neat toy for exploring tons of data about the world in an accessible way. Plot child mortality rate against e.g. income per capita and then watch what happens through the last 50 years...

I'm reading "The Rosicrucian Enlightenment" by Yates.

Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Iason Ouabache on August 16, 2008, 10:41:55 AM
Reread about half of Watchmen at work tonight. I'm really curious how they are going to pull off the movie now.  Such a huge chunk of the story is told in flashbacks. I'm still geeked about it though. 
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Richter on August 19, 2008, 12:20:21 AM
"Master and commander", "The Blind watchmaker"
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Nast on August 20, 2008, 06:48:51 AM
I've been thinking about reading Simulacra and Simulation by Jean Baudrillard, but the use of language in that book is so outlandishly postmodern that I'm wondering how I'd ever get through it without jamming something unpleasant into somewhere equally as unpleasant.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: BADGE OF HONOR on August 20, 2008, 07:23:51 AM
Postmodernism:  Not Worth The Effort.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Nast on August 20, 2008, 07:37:52 AM
My thoughts exactly, but the lulz aspect of it is tantalizing. I find anyone who can string together such pretentious words like "eschalon", "matrices" "simulacra", "imagen" and pass it off as a coherent sentence, let alone thought, highly hilarious. I can only hope to one day be that full of shit.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on August 20, 2008, 07:55:22 AM
I just started reading "Nation" by Terry Pratchett, which my daughter insists is an "immortal book". There are only three books which she proclaims to be "immortal"; one of them is "The Little White Horse" and I can't remember the other one.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on August 20, 2008, 07:56:22 AM
Oh yeah, it was "Island of the Blue Dolphins".
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: BADGE OF HONOR on August 20, 2008, 07:57:01 AM
(http://img172.imageshack.us/img172/8437/sealpf5.gif) (http://imageshack.us)
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on August 20, 2008, 07:57:42 AM
Quote from: Rabid Badger of God on August 20, 2008, 07:57:01 AM
[img=http://img172.imageshack.us/img172/8437/sealpf5.gif] (http://imageshack.us)


You want me to upload an image?
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: BADGE OF HONOR on August 20, 2008, 07:58:15 AM
Shut up.

The Little White Horse is unqualified best children's book EVER.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on August 20, 2008, 08:11:59 AM
It's on my nightstand; I plan to read it after Nation if the serial killer novel I'm supposed to review next is too bad to read.


Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on August 20, 2008, 08:59:07 AM
Quote from: Nasturtiums on August 20, 2008, 06:48:51 AM
I've been thinking about reading Simulacra and Simulation by Jean Baudrillard, but the use of language in that book is so outlandishly postmodern that I'm wondering how I'd ever get through it without jamming something unpleasant into somewhere equally as unpleasant.

Its actually not too bad, when compared to the likes of Lacan, for example.  I suggest reading The Society of the Spectacle first, however.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on August 21, 2008, 05:55:29 PM
The Open Society and Its Enemies - Karl Popper

OK, but a bit simplistic and naive in places.  Camus did this much better, and with much fewer words, though his smackdown of Plato promises to be amusing.

Also, The Cambridge Companion to Critical Theory, since so many people have so many divergent takes on the Critical Theorists, so I should probably learn something about them.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on August 21, 2008, 08:19:15 PM
Over the vacation I read "Crooked Little Vein" by Warren Ellis.


Yes, that Warren Ellis.


A good read, but not much of a story arc.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: A.N. Other on August 27, 2008, 04:02:35 AM
I just picked up a book called "Language In Thought And Action" by S.I. Hayakawa and Alan R. Hayakawa that I shall begin reading sometime tonight.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on September 03, 2008, 03:56:10 PM
I've been reading "Fear and Loathing On the Campaign Trail 1972", HST.

That's some good shit, right there.  Eerily relevant, too.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: That One Guy on September 03, 2008, 06:14:40 PM
Quote from: LMNO on September 03, 2008, 03:56:10 PM
I've been reading "Fear and Loathing On the Campaign Trail 1972", HST.

That's some good shit, right there.  Eerily relevant, too.

I read that every campaign season to get in the proper perspective. So much quality in that book  :mrgreen:
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Iason Ouabache on September 11, 2008, 09:25:07 PM
"Why Darwin Matters" - Michael Shermer.  First thing I've actually read anything by Shermer but I've seen a few of his lectures and interviews online.  He does a great job of destroying Intelligent Design from a philosophical point of view. I'm more used to seeing it destroyed from the science side of things so it's been an interesting read.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on September 12, 2008, 04:37:18 PM
I'm reading "Fragile Things" by Gaiman.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Reeducation on September 25, 2008, 10:00:22 PM
Prometheus Rising by you know.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: fomenter on September 25, 2008, 10:14:00 PM
Dexter just finished "dearly devoted" and "darkly dreaming" waiting for the next one to show in the mail.. yay
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Professor Mu-Chao on September 26, 2008, 01:36:23 AM
Does anyone here use Librarything.com?
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on September 26, 2008, 04:50:17 PM
I unpacked my Transmetropolitans out of storage, so I started that while finishing up Fear & Loathing '72.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Bu🤠ns on September 27, 2008, 01:57:34 AM
the control book  by Peter Masters (lol silly name)
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on September 27, 2008, 05:08:48 AM
"The Great Mortality"
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on September 28, 2008, 01:00:45 PM
Slavoj Žižek, In Defence of Lost Causes.

An interesting book.  Žižek is one of the few Continental non-postmodern philosophers, and it shows in his writings (mainly because they are comprehensible and seem to align, at least in part, to reality).  His use of Lacanian psychoanalysis and critical questioning, as opposed to trying to answer questions, take him down some very odd roads.

Anyhow, this book is about how the age of grand narratives may not be quite as over as it seems.  He wants to go back and pick at the corpses of 'failed' ideologies to see what they brung to the table and make it harder to dismiss them out of hand.  Whether he fails or succeeds remains to be seen, but he already goes through some interesting side arguments in order to make his point.

The Times has a review of his book here http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/the_tls/article3800980.ece
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on September 28, 2008, 01:29:34 PM
I started reading "Winesburg, Ohio" tonight and it is murdering me with beauty.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: BADGE OF HONOR on September 29, 2008, 12:51:43 AM
I picked up a couple free books.  right now I'm reading The Longest Street by Louis Sobol, who was a reporter for Broadway crap for a long ass time waaay back when.  Like, he started in 1929.  So far it's been an endless namedrop of people I haven't even heard of, with the occasional person I recognise (ie Fred Astaire).  It's hilarious.  SEriously hilarious.  I opened it to a random page and found a tirade about how the future of the "back-stage johnny" is doomed because girls these days have too much ambition. 
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Requia ☣ on September 29, 2008, 01:52:46 AM
Damn you for taking the cat orgasm quote for your sig first Badger.  Damn you. :argh!:
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: BADGE OF HONOR on September 29, 2008, 04:58:07 AM
There, I changed it to something even funnier.   :lulz:
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Richter on September 29, 2008, 03:29:51 PM
http://www.fredvanlente.com/cthulhutract/pages/index.html

(Potential counter - missionary marterial.)
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Jasper on September 29, 2008, 06:33:26 PM
I like that a lot.  Favorite line was "sanity-blasting truths of the greater cosmos". :lulz:
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Richter on September 29, 2008, 07:45:14 PM
It gets funny whenever I read it. :)

"It isn't a proper CoC game / fiction / etc. unless 'put the gun in your mouth' is an option."
-paraphrased Tim the Necromancer, former coworker.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Iason Ouabache on October 05, 2008, 03:33:29 AM
FINALLY finished "Breaking the Spell".  May or may not do some writing on it.  The beginning and end sections were kinda boring but the middle section was absolutely fascinating.  Still one of the most important books I've ever read.

Anyways, now reading "Don't Panic: Douglas Adams & The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" by Neil Gaiman. 
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Reeducation on October 09, 2008, 10:51:39 AM
I'll start reading Wilhelm Reich in Hell today
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Darth Cupcake on October 10, 2008, 02:44:16 PM
When on public transit, I am currently reading The Best American Non-Required Reading 2008. It's a great smattering of fiction and nonfiction, along with some hilarious ephemera at the front (such as "Best American Newspaper Headlines, 1907"--I nearly shat myself from laughing). I don't like some of it, but some of it is so brilliant that I'm laughing out loud in the T. I don't think it's particularly diverse in the selections--you can really tell exactly what the selections board was into, and it's a little fatiguing sometimes, because it feels like this group of high schoolers is trying to proselytize to me through what they put into the book--but overall, I'm enjoying it and would recommend it, if only for the ephemera.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Bu🤠ns on October 14, 2008, 06:38:23 AM
The Blue Equinox.. :mrgreen:
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on October 14, 2008, 09:51:41 AM
A Game of Thrones by George RR Martin.

I think I guessed the plot about 100 pages too early.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Payne on October 14, 2008, 10:40:43 AM
Quote from: Cain on October 14, 2008, 09:51:41 AM
A Game of Thrones by George RR Martin.

I think I guessed the plot about 100 pages too early.

I was completely unable to read his books. Just couldn't get into them at all.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on October 14, 2008, 10:47:38 AM
It takes about 100 pages or so to get into this.  But once you do, it becomes much more interesting.  Assassination, intrigue, the games of great houses, uncertain and uncomfortable alliances...its all there.

I left it alone for a while for the same reason.  But I decided to give it another go, because so many people had told me it was worth it.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Payne on October 14, 2008, 10:53:25 AM
Quote from: Cain on October 14, 2008, 10:47:38 AM
It takes about 100 pages or so to get into this.  But once you do, it becomes much more interesting.  Assassination, intrigue, the games of great houses, uncertain and uncomfortable alliances...its all there.

I left it alone for a while for the same reason.  But I decided to give it another go, because so many people had told me it was worth it.

I think what did it for me was reading through the first book, then buying the second to find there was a printing error, and the first 150 pages or so were just repeated 5 or 6 times.

Then I just couldn't work up the motivation to buy a proper copy and finish the series.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on October 14, 2008, 11:06:59 AM
Ah.

Well yes, that would be annoying.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Darth Cupcake on October 14, 2008, 03:19:45 PM
I love those books.

But I am about ready to give up on them because stupid George RR Martin keeps promising that he's going to finish the next book, but he's been promising for YEARS (it was supposed to be released by the end of 2004, to give you context) and we're still seeing nothing. I understand that writing can't be rushed, but FOUR YEARS LATE? I'm not patient enough for this crap. Not when there's supposed to be something like seven or eight books and there's only four out and he can't even keep to his schedule.

He's an amazing writer and the books become darker and more ridiculous and more amazing the further in you get (though sometimes a bit over the top), but this is just absurd.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Payne on October 14, 2008, 03:23:17 PM
He's going to do a Robert Jordan.

And I laugh at all you fuckers.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on October 14, 2008, 03:25:17 PM
Quote from: Darth Cupcake on October 14, 2008, 03:19:45 PM
I love those books.

But I am about ready to give up on them because stupid George RR Martin keeps promising that he's going to finish the next book, but he's been promising for YEARS (it was supposed to be released by the end of 2004, to give you context) and we're still seeing nothing. I understand that writing can't be rushed, but FOUR YEARS LATE? I'm not patient enough for this crap. Not when there's supposed to be something like seven or eight books and there's only four out and he can't even keep to his schedule.

He's an amazing writer and the books become darker and more ridiculous and more amazing the further in you get (though sometimes a bit over the top), but this is just absurd.

Yes, but you know what this means?

Slashfic.

Naturally, Tyrion/Jon Snow slash will feature highly.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Darth Cupcake on October 14, 2008, 03:49:14 PM
 :x :x :x
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on October 14, 2008, 03:51:10 PM
Tyrion is at a perfect height for giving blow jobs!
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on October 14, 2008, 03:52:09 PM
Consider yourselves lucky that I have never read those books.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Darth Cupcake on October 14, 2008, 03:56:07 PM
Quote from: LMNO on October 14, 2008, 03:52:09 PM
Consider yourselves lucky that I have never read those books.

When I saw you had posted in this thread, my first thought was of panic that maybe you had.

The sense of relief that I felt when I saw that you have not read them is really borderline orgasmic.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on October 14, 2008, 03:57:39 PM
Quote from: LMNO on October 14, 2008, 03:52:09 PM
Consider yourselves lucky that I have never read those books.

You can download them from http://www.anonib.com/bookchan/index.php?t=632
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on October 14, 2008, 03:58:36 PM
Quote from: Darth Cupcake on October 14, 2008, 03:56:07 PM
Quote from: LMNO on October 14, 2008, 03:52:09 PM
Consider yourselves lucky that I have never read those books.

When I saw you had posted in this thread, my first thought was of panic that maybe you had.

The sense of relief that I felt when I saw that you have not read them is really borderline orgasmic.

Wow.  Either way then, I win.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on October 14, 2008, 03:58:54 PM
Quote from: Cain on October 14, 2008, 03:57:39 PM
Quote from: LMNO on October 14, 2008, 03:52:09 PM
Consider yourselves lucky that I have never read those books.

You can download them from http://www.anonib.com/bookchan/index.php?t=632


MUA-HA-HA-HA!
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on October 14, 2008, 03:59:37 PM
They're .lit files, so you will need the ABC LIT Converter.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Darth Cupcake on October 14, 2008, 04:00:06 PM
And an absurd quantity of time on your hands.

They are long. Very long.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on October 14, 2008, 04:03:51 PM
True.  The first book is 527 pages long, on my screen.

And that is A4 size pages.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on October 14, 2008, 04:08:36 PM
Gah.


Your innocent brains are safe.  For now.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Eve on October 14, 2008, 04:12:26 PM
Why is this thread unofficial, btw?
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cainad (dec.) on October 14, 2008, 06:54:02 PM
Quote from: Eve on October 14, 2008, 04:12:26 PM
Why is this thread unofficial, btw?

To protest the official one, because we're Really Real Discordians who bite our thumbs at the "officials."
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Jasper on October 14, 2008, 08:02:44 PM
That, and we couldn't get it sanctioned by anybody worth asking.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on October 16, 2008, 10:58:16 AM
Now reading Against the Masses: Varities of Anti-Democratic Thought since the French Revolution, by Joesph Femia.

I found a ton of very excellent academic texts uploaded to a torrent site recently.  I might upload some for people here later.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: dr retard on October 16, 2008, 01:25:11 PM
SATAN, his psychotheraphy and cure. By Jeremy Leven.

I like very much..
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on October 16, 2008, 02:25:52 PM
I'm re-reading On Bullshit by Harry Frankfurt.  A philisophical inquiry into what bullshit is, and why it exists.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on October 16, 2008, 02:43:55 PM
You make John Dolan cry when you read that book:

Here, get a pen - I'll give it to you, in case any of you aspire to a career in "moral philosophy." There are only four little steps to follow:

1. Come up with a title mixing academic and populist diction, like "On Bullshit." The rubes love a cheap oxymoron. They'll giggle and blush: "Oooo, Professor Frankfurt said 'bullshit'!"

2. Then mention other professors, sound like you know what you're talking about. You don't actually have to know anything about your field. In fact it's probably better if you don't. For example, Frankfurt writes 80,000 words on the notion of truth and sincerity in language without so much mentioning Nietzsche's name. Don't worry; your audience is so pig-ignorant they won't even notice.

3. Amplify, amplify, amplify! Pad your little sermon as if it were an offensive lineman with gout, till your little sermon can fill a book. There's a whole genre of rhetoric, Copia, devoted to ways of turning short utterances into grand, meandering sermons. Frankfurt combines two closely related, equally disreputable branches of rhetoric: the ars predicandi, the art of preaching, and de copia. For a man who explicitly excludes rhetorical considerations from his inquiry early on, he has a strange familiarity with the art's most seedy sub-genres.

4. End the book with an attack on that old familiar straw man, Moral Relativism. This line of attack is so familiar to America's militant hicks that they won't even ask for evidence. So Frankfurt is able to discuss "the contemporary proliferation of bullshit" without bothering to prove that the level of bullshit is in fact greater than it was in the past. He actually admits that his historical argument about language cannot be proven: "Of course, it is impossible to be sure that there is relatively more of it now than at other times."

That's all he says. It amounts to saying, "I have no idea whether my argument has any basis at all, but never mind, let's continue with it." It's typical of Anglo-American philosophy to discuss "the past" without ever mentioning what past you mean. When Frankfurt makes this contrast between present and past, what past is he using?

http://www.exile.ru/articles/detail.php?ARTICLE_ID=7690&IBLOCK_ID=35
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on October 16, 2008, 02:46:18 PM
Wow.

Uh, ok, I'm now reading Carpe Jugulum by Terry Pratchett.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on October 16, 2008, 02:47:54 PM
 :lulz:
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on October 16, 2008, 05:48:24 PM
I am reading "My Custom Van" by some comedian whose last name is Black.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on October 19, 2008, 12:39:21 PM
Reading the second Fire and Ice novel by George R R Martin now.

Actually, you know who I really like in these books?  Sandor Clegane, the King's 'Hound'.  Sure he's a bastard and a murderer, but he doesn't pretend he's anything else.  His hatred of knights is refreshing, compared to every other idiot who seems to think a Knight will save them, or even be chivalrous.  Plus he despises his brother, which puts a lot of points in the plus column, and I suspect he's no fan of Joeffry either.  And he seems oddly protective of Sansa, though I doubt that will last.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on October 19, 2008, 04:49:45 PM
I am reading "The Ghost in Love" by some guy. It's really good! I am surprised, as I did not expect it to actually be GOOD.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Xirian on October 20, 2008, 01:43:08 AM
I am reading "D-Day with the Screaming Eagles" by George Koskimaki and after that I'll be reading the second of the trilogy, "Hell's Highway: A Chronicle of the 101st Airborne in the Holland Campaign, September-November 1944" and then the third book "The Battered Bastards of Bastogne: The 101st Airborne and the Battle of the Bulge, December 19,1944-January 17,1945".  I've read the third one already, but I want to read it again.  I want to understand positions and follow along with maps, so I can have a better understanding of their actions.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mangrove on October 20, 2008, 09:30:41 PM
Currently reading: Triumph Of The Moon - a history of modern pagan witchcraft by Ronald Hutton

This book is so good, I almost want to pee myself. Inspite of the small type face and monolithic paragraphs, Hutton's writing is intelligent & clear. The author systematically teases out the various historical & cultural strands that lead to the foundations of the modern pagan movement over the course of 200 years.

Sacred cow body count: very high.

This book covers so many areas that it's hard to encapsulate, but the general thrust is this:

That the neo-pagan movement is not a reconstruction of 'old ways' so much as a reconstruction of discredited Victorian era scholarship.




Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cainad (dec.) on October 20, 2008, 09:36:19 PM
Quote from: Mangrove on October 20, 2008, 09:30:41 PM
Currently reading: Triumph Of The Moon - a history of modern pagan witchcraft by Ronald Hutton

This book is so good, I almost want to pee myself. Inspite of the small type face and monolithic paragraphs, Hutton's writing is intelligent & clear. The author systematically teases out the various historical & cultural strands that lead to the foundations of the modern pagan movement over the course of 200 years.

Sacred cow body count: very high.

This book covers so many areas that it's hard to encapsulate, but the general thrust is this:

That the neo-pagan movement is not a reconstruction of 'old ways' so much as a reconstruction of discredited Victorian era scholarship.


I've read books like that! :lol:

And that's a very interesting view of neo-paganism. I'd love to hear a few tidbits, if you're interested in offering them.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mangrove on October 20, 2008, 10:21:23 PM
Cainad,

My head is buzzing with this book right now, but some stuff that leaps off the top of my head is:

a) That the word 'pagan' probably doesn't have anything to do with 'country dwellers'. More modern etymology suggests that it refers to a civillian that is, someone who is not a member of Holy Roman Emperors army. Another suggestion is that of the form of administration known as a 'pagus'.

b) That William Wordswith, while more known for his 'daffodils' schtick actually wrote poems about violent, bloody, 'pagan' sacrifices which was oddly enough, something of a literary trend in his day.

c) The triple goddess view of antquity is a Victorian/Edwardian fantasy.

d) Same goes for much of what was written about Pan.

e) Dennis Wheatley wrote 'the Devil Rides Out' after recieving a complimentary copy of 'Magick' from Aleister Crowley.

etc etc. Great book. Even better if you want to troll pagan sites...
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Xirian on October 20, 2008, 10:29:49 PM
Quote from: Mangrove on October 20, 2008, 09:30:41 PM
Currently reading: Triumph Of The Moon - a history of modern pagan witchcraft by Ronald Hutton

I started reading that book, but since I'm a slow reader, I had to take it back to the library unfinished.  However, I read something about medieval witchcraft that was really interesting.  Any way, about Ronald Hutton, I should probably buy that book and read it fully.  There are many issues regarding witchcraft and paganism that I think his book will address for me.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cainad (dec.) on October 21, 2008, 01:48:05 AM
Mang,

That sounds really neat. I never would have thought of neo-paganism as something that someone would take the time to research.

May need to get myself a copy if I ever feel like jumping in at MysticWicks.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Jenne on October 21, 2008, 03:15:28 AM
Quote from: Cainad on October 21, 2008, 01:48:05 AM
Mang,

That sounds really neat. I never would have thought of neo-paganism as something that someone would take the time to research.

May need to get myself a copy if I ever feel like jumping in at MysticWicks.

Careful, that place will give you a case of internet herpes.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mangrove on October 21, 2008, 04:25:33 AM
Quote from: Jenne on October 21, 2008, 03:15:28 AM
Quote from: Cainad on October 21, 2008, 01:48:05 AM
Mang,

That sounds really neat. I never would have thought of neo-paganism as something that someone would take the time to research.

May need to get myself a copy if I ever feel like jumping in at MysticWicks.

Careful, that place will give you a case of internet herpes.

Reading Hutton is like one gigantic, super thick, neo pagan internet condom.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on October 21, 2008, 12:43:17 PM
Quote from: Cainad on October 21, 2008, 01:48:05 AMThat sounds really neat. I never would have thought of neo-paganism as something that someone would take the time to research.

Neither do most neo-pagans.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Xirian on October 21, 2008, 12:46:34 PM
Quote from: Jenne on October 21, 2008, 03:15:28 AM
Quote from: Cainad on October 21, 2008, 01:48:05 AM
Mang,

That sounds really neat. I never would have thought of neo-paganism as something that someone would take the time to research.

May need to get myself a copy if I ever feel like jumping in at MysticWicks.

Careful, that place will give you a case of internet herpes.

So that's what's wrong with me. :facepalm:

If you do go there, pray that you get banned. :aww:
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Xirian on October 21, 2008, 12:48:51 PM
Quote from: Cain on October 21, 2008, 12:43:17 PM
Quote from: Cainad on October 21, 2008, 01:48:05 AMThat sounds really neat. I never would have thought of neo-paganism as something that someone would take the time to research.

Neither do most neo-pagans.

:lulz:
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on October 21, 2008, 01:00:45 PM
Quote from: Cain on October 21, 2008, 12:43:17 PM
Quote from: Cainad on October 21, 2008, 01:48:05 AMThat sounds really neat. I never would have thought of neo-paganism as something that someone would take the time to research.

Neither do most neo-pagans.

:potd:
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on October 21, 2008, 01:05:53 PM
:thanks:
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cramulus on October 22, 2008, 03:22:05 PM
From "Foop!" (a novel)
by Chris Genoa


(http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3142/2963690297_11e9a96bcd_b_d.jpg)


hilarious book. Here's the description from the back cover.

QuoteThere are strange happenings going on at Dactyl, Inc., the world's first and only time travel tourism company. So strange that Joe, a tour guide, is promoted to the new position of Chief of Probes. His first probe: find out who's been traveling back in time and torturing his boss in rather disturbing ways.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Eve on October 22, 2008, 03:36:39 PM
:mittens: I'm delighted that you found this book.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Xirian on October 22, 2008, 05:12:09 PM
Chief of Probes.  That's a great title.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Jenne on October 23, 2008, 12:35:21 AM
Quote from: Xirian on October 21, 2008, 12:46:34 PM
Quote from: Jenne on October 21, 2008, 03:15:28 AM
Quote from: Cainad on October 21, 2008, 01:48:05 AM
Mang,

That sounds really neat. I never would have thought of neo-paganism as something that someone would take the time to research.

May need to get myself a copy if I ever feel like jumping in at MysticWicks.

Careful, that place will give you a case of internet herpes.

So that's what's wrong with me. :facepalm:

If you do go there, pray that you get banned. :aww:
:lulz: 

Yeah.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Jenne on October 23, 2008, 12:36:14 AM
Quote from: Cramulus on October 22, 2008, 03:22:05 PM
From "Foop!" (a novel)
by Chris Genoa


(http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3142/2963690297_11e9a96bcd_b_d.jpg)


hilarious book. Here's the description from the back cover.

QuoteThere are strange happenings going on at Dactyl, Inc., the world's first and only time travel tourism company. So strange that Joe, a tour guide, is promoted to the new position of Chief of Probes. His first probe: find out who's been traveling back in time and torturing his boss in rather disturbing ways.

Ooh, sounds intriguing.  Never heard of it.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on October 23, 2008, 07:05:38 PM
After Authority: War, Peace and Global Politics in the 21st Century, by Ronnie D. Lipschutz.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Raphaella on October 24, 2008, 01:04:06 AM
Reading: Sarah Palin A New Kind of Leader   :x  Last time I buy books from the discount rack at the supermarket.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Eve on October 24, 2008, 07:29:23 AM
cunt, by Inga Muscio
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Raphaella on October 28, 2008, 04:25:57 AM
I found this today at the thrift store: The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds. It's a play by Paul Zindel, pretty cool so far.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on October 28, 2008, 09:48:25 AM
I'm reading The Re-emergence of Emergence: The Emergent Hypothesis from Science to Religion, edited by Phillip Clayton and Paul Davies
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Manta Obscura on October 28, 2008, 12:49:54 PM
I'm about 90 pages into "World War Z" by Max Brooks, the bloke that did the zombie guide. So far its entertaining, but hardly an intellectual masterpiece.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Iason Ouabache on October 28, 2008, 03:11:24 PM
Quote from: Cain on October 28, 2008, 09:48:25 AM
I'm reading The Re-emergence of Emergence: The Emergent Hypothesis from Science to Religion, edited by Phillip Clayton and Paul Davies
Uh, would this happen to be an e-book or a paper book?
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on October 28, 2008, 03:27:37 PM
Quote from: Iason Ouabache on October 28, 2008, 03:11:24 PM
Quote from: Cain on October 28, 2008, 09:48:25 AM
I'm reading The Re-emergence of Emergence: The Emergent Hypothesis from Science to Religion, edited by Phillip Clayton and Paul Davies
Uh, would this happen to be an e-book or a paper book?

E-book

http://mihd.net/xkozme
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Jenne on October 28, 2008, 03:32:17 PM
A Lion Among Men, the new sequel to the Wicked series.  I needs me something light-ISH.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Iason Ouabache on October 28, 2008, 03:58:38 PM
Quote from: Cain on October 28, 2008, 03:27:37 PM
Quote from: Iason Ouabache on October 28, 2008, 03:11:24 PM
Quote from: Cain on October 28, 2008, 09:48:25 AM
I'm reading The Re-emergence of Emergence: The Emergent Hypothesis from Science to Religion, edited by Phillip Clayton and Paul Davies
Uh, would this happen to be an e-book or a paper book?

E-book

http://mihd.net/xkozme
SWOTE!  Grassy-ass.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: BADGE OF HONOR on November 07, 2008, 07:53:57 AM
I'm reading Anathem by Neil Stephenson.  I'd say it's not as entertaining as his other books, but I'm only 100 pages in and he usually takes a while to pick up. 

The setting is like a mix between a zen school, a catholic church, and an ancient greek philosophers' club.  I keep getting A Canticle For Leibowitz vibes off it for no real reason.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on November 07, 2008, 12:34:41 PM
I have heard Anathem starts off quite slow, and makes up for it later (so like you say, comparable with his other books, though apparently you really have to stick with this one).

I'm finishing off After Authority, which is taking forever.  At turns it is interesting and both mind-numbingly boring in the way only an IR academic could be.  After that, I intend to read Breeding Bin Laden's by Zachary Shore.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Professor Mu-Chao on November 10, 2008, 12:22:17 AM
Good to know about Anathem, going to tackle that next. Currently reading Clive James' Cultural Amnesia which is very engaging (but very large).
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Reeducation on November 10, 2008, 07:38:55 AM
I'm reading Schrödinger's Cat trilogy.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: BADGE OF HONOR on November 10, 2008, 01:16:23 PM
Quote from: Professor Mu-Chao on November 10, 2008, 12:22:17 AM
Good to know about Anathem, going to tackle that next. Currently reading Clive James' Cultural Amnesia which is very engaging (but very large).

I'm a lot farther now and it definitely picked up.  I've marked out some passages I'm going to quote here, when it's not late as fuck.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Payne on November 10, 2008, 02:37:40 PM
Finally picked up a copy of The Black Swan, in dead-tree format.

So much more readable.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on November 10, 2008, 05:27:55 PM
I think I'm reading a terry Pratchett book, but I can't remember which one.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on November 10, 2008, 05:53:12 PM
No reading.  There is only writing.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on November 10, 2008, 06:35:57 PM
I missed a day, and said fuck it.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on November 10, 2008, 07:11:16 PM
Heh.  I missed a few.  My daily required totals went from 1600 words a day to 2000.

But Mrs LMNO is actually encouraging me, so i persevere.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: BADGE OF HONOR on November 10, 2008, 08:41:14 PM
Here are some interesting bits from Anathem.

QuoteSline: (1) In Fluccish of the late Praxic Age and early Reconstitution, a slang word formed by the truncation of baseline, which is a Praxic commercial bullshytt term.  It appears to be a noun that turned into an adjective meaning "common" or "widely shared".  (2) A noun denoting an extramurous person with no special education, skills, aspirations, or hope of acquiring same.  (3) Derogatory term for stupid or uncouth person, esp. one who takes pride in those very qualities.  Note: this sense is deprecated because it implies that a sline is a sline because of inherent personal shortcomings or perverse choices; sense (2) is preferred because it does not convey any such implication.
-The Dictionary, 4th Edition, A.R. 3000.

QuoteProtas, the greatest fid of Thelenes, had climbed to the top of a mountain near Ethras and looked down upon the plain that nourished the city-state and observed the shadows of the clouds, and compared their shapes.  He had had his famous upsight that while the shapes of the shadows endeniably answered to those of the clouds, the latter were infinitely more complex and more perfectly realized than the former, which were distorted not only by the loss of spatial dimensions but also by being projected onto terrain that was of irregular shape.  Hiking back down, he had extended his upsight by noting that the mountain seemed to have a different shape every time he turned around to look back at it, even though he knew it had but one absolute form and that these seeming changes were mere figments of his shifting points of view.  From there he had moved on to his greatest upsight of all, which was that these two observations--the one concerning the clouds, the other concerning the mountain--were themselves both shadows cast into his mind by the same greater, unifying idea.  Returning to the Periklyne he had proclaimed his doctrine that all the things we thought we knew were shadows of more perfect things in a higher world.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: BADGE OF HONOR on November 10, 2008, 08:42:56 PM
I think it's so slow to start because you have to learn about 20 new words before things start making sense.  Fortunately there is a glossary in the back.  Also a large chunk of mathy stuff that I'm not interested in.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Iason Ouabache on November 11, 2008, 11:02:36 PM
"Saving Darwin: How to Be a Christian and Believe in Evolution" by Karl W. Giberson.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Manta Obscura on November 12, 2008, 03:23:49 PM
Quote from: Iason Ouabache on November 11, 2008, 11:02:36 PM
"Saving Darwin: How to Be a Christian and Believe in Evolution" by Karl W. Giberson.

From the first and only page:

"Don't be a dumbass who believes that all of the land-bound animals in the world were within walking distance of a crazy desert-dwelling boat-builder. The End."
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Iason Ouabache on November 12, 2008, 05:40:04 PM
Quote from: Manta Obscura on November 12, 2008, 03:23:49 PM
Quote from: Iason Ouabache on November 11, 2008, 11:02:36 PM
"Saving Darwin: How to Be a Christian and Believe in Evolution" by Karl W. Giberson.

From the first and only page:

"Don't be a dumbass who believes that all of the land-bound animals in the world were within walking distance of a crazy desert-dwelling boat-builder. The End."
Yeah, that's the basic idea but he fleshes it out quite a bit.  The intro section where he talks about going from a hardcore Young Earth Creationists in high school to a Theistic Evolutionist after just 2 years of college was really interesting.  It's really strange having your entire worldview tossed on its head in such a short time.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Sister_Gothique on November 13, 2008, 06:38:06 PM
Just finished:
   Black Sun Rising-C.S. Friedman
   The Black Company-Glen Cook

Starting back up on Through The Looking Glass (forgot who does it...most likely Ringo). I'm trying to muscle through it for a friend who wants me to read it. ech
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on November 14, 2008, 12:56:30 PM
George RR Martin - A Storm of Swords (third Fire and Ice novel.  Requires more unexpected deaths).
The Routledge Companion to Phenomenology and Existentialism
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Eve on November 17, 2008, 08:44:09 PM
 :lol: Twilight. Because I can get it free from work, and because I apparently hate myself a lot. Looks as though I'll be done with it before dinner.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cainad (dec.) on November 17, 2008, 09:55:49 PM
The World Without Us by Alan Weisman.

What happens if all humans suddenly disappeared off the planet but left everything else intact? Read to find out!
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Iason Ouabache on November 17, 2008, 09:58:17 PM
Quote from: Eve on November 17, 2008, 08:44:09 PM
:lol: Twilight. Because I can get it free from work, and because I apparently hate myself a lot. Looks as though I'll be done with it before dinner.
The Wife went through the entire series in a little over a week. She loved it, but that wasn't too surprising.  Her reading habits are like that of a teenage girl.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: BADGE OF HONOR on November 17, 2008, 10:57:04 PM
Quote from: Cain on November 14, 2008, 12:56:30 PM
George RR Martin - A Storm of Swords (third Fire and Ice novel.  Requires more unexpected deaths).
The Routledge Companion to Phenomenology and Existentialism

I started the first George RR Martin book and I tossed by page 100, there was already too much incest, pedophilia, and rape for me to handle.  No wonder nerds like it so much.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cainad (dec.) on November 18, 2008, 03:24:59 AM
Quote from: BADGE OF HONOR on November 17, 2008, 10:57:04 PM
Quote from: Cain on November 14, 2008, 12:56:30 PM
George RR Martin - A Storm of Swords (third Fire and Ice novel.  Requires more unexpected deaths).
The Routledge Companion to Phenomenology and Existentialism

I started the first George RR Martin book and I tossed by page 100, there was already too much incest, pedophilia, and rape for me to handle.  No wonder nerds like it so much.

:lulz:
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: shadowfurry23 on November 26, 2008, 09:12:18 PM
Myths to Live By - Joseph Campbell

I've had the damn thing laying around for years, finally getting around to reading it.  Neat stuff.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on November 26, 2008, 10:43:25 PM
I'm still reading Illuminatus!, Stiff, The Great Mortality, Pyramids, Winesburg Ohio, Fragile things, Beowulf, and John Dies at the End.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: hooplala on November 27, 2008, 08:03:40 PM
Right now I am reading 'At Swim Two Birds' and 'the Psychopath's Bible'.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Iason Ouabache on November 27, 2008, 10:29:13 PM
World War Z by Max Brooks which I received as an early Xmas present.  Best fiction book I've read in a long time.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on November 28, 2008, 08:31:35 PM
Cultural Populism - Jim McGuigan
Deconstruction in Theory and Practice
The Routledge Companion to Critical Theory
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Bu🤠ns on November 29, 2008, 03:19:20 AM
i finally started illuminatus ... ON AUDIO!! yeah..
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mangrove on November 30, 2008, 11:04:09 PM
In the middle of 'Abramelin' (new translation of ye olde 14th century German grimoire)
Just started 'Reclaiming History' by Bugliosi.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: VIDEODROME on December 01, 2008, 04:01:11 AM
Daywatch by Sergio Lukyanenko
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Requia ☣ on December 01, 2008, 05:45:17 AM
Quote from: BADGE OF HONOR on November 17, 2008, 10:57:04 PM
Quote from: Cain on November 14, 2008, 12:56:30 PM
George RR Martin - A Storm of Swords (third Fire and Ice novel.  Requires more unexpected deaths).
The Routledge Companion to Phenomenology and Existentialism

I started the first George RR Martin book and I tossed by page 100, there was already too much incest, pedophilia, and rape for me to handle.  No wonder nerds like it so much.

Hmm, I don't remember any pedos till the second book...
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: BADGE OF HONOR on December 01, 2008, 06:27:33 AM
Quote from: Requiem on December 01, 2008, 05:45:17 AM
Quote from: BADGE OF HONOR on November 17, 2008, 10:57:04 PM
Quote from: Cain on November 14, 2008, 12:56:30 PM
George RR Martin - A Storm of Swords (third Fire and Ice novel.  Requires more unexpected deaths).
The Routledge Companion to Phenomenology and Existentialism

I started the first George RR Martin book and I tossed by page 100, there was already too much incest, pedophilia, and rape for me to handle.  No wonder nerds like it so much.

Hmm, I don't remember any pedos till the second book...

some 13 year old girl gets married to some dude and on their wedding night she gets all wet on his dick (cause yeah that's real believable, of course, any girl who is petrified the entire day is naturally going to suddenly become warm and willing after getting macked on for a few minutes)
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: BADGE OF HONOR on December 01, 2008, 06:29:47 AM
By the way, I'm reading Les Liaisons Dangereuses (Choderlos de Laclos) in the original french, which also contains pedophilia, but at least that 15 year old chick doesn't enjoy getting raped.


for fuck's sake.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on December 01, 2008, 06:53:12 PM
I prefer my rapes be entirely consensual.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Manta Obscura on December 01, 2008, 06:55:57 PM
Quote from: Iason Ouabache on November 27, 2008, 10:29:13 PM
World War Z by Max Brooks which I received as an early Xmas present.  Best fiction book I've read in a long time.

I just finished that, Iason. It's really, really good.

We'll have to nerd out about zombies, lobos and the Shield Society when you get done.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on December 02, 2008, 11:41:37 AM
Dark Medecine: rationalizing unethical medical research.

This is fascinating.  I'm familiar with Unit 731 and the Nazi experiments but this is a book about how doctors in particular supported genocide programs, eugenics and medical torture.  Most interestingly, many were far from cranks and sadists and were willing to turn a blind eye to the methods of procurement in order to get their hands on exotic tissues - such as metally damaged children's brains in large numbers.  There is a good chapter which suggests bioterrorism was used by US forces in the Korean War as well.

At the end it also raises the sinister possibility of modern eugenics programs being launched, and where 'Baconian' scientists (in the sense of scientists who believe the rule of sciece should be the bedrock of social organization) could lead.

And before anyone jumps in, the book was written and contributed to by numerous scientists, so its not one of those crank Christian/Scientologist "zomg the psychiatrists are fascists" type books.  It just raises....disturbing possibilities.  Especially in conjunction with the New Atheist crowd, some of whom may be receptive to such a message of enlightened scientific rule.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Richter on December 03, 2008, 04:42:49 PM
The Epic of Gilgamesh
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Manta Obscura on December 03, 2008, 04:56:41 PM
Quote from: Richter on December 03, 2008, 04:42:49 PM
The Epic of Gilgamesh

Cool. What translation are you reading, Richter?
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Richter on December 03, 2008, 05:49:32 PM
The Stephen Mitchell.  Finished it last night, and now I'm chewing through the notes and commentary.

Today's office read is various essays by the Dalai Lama.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Reeducation on December 04, 2008, 06:07:31 AM
Guards! Guards! by Terry Pratchett.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on December 04, 2008, 01:27:58 PM
Foucault, Freedom and Sovereignty by Sergei Prozorov (very good, must discuss this with you all later)
The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich by William L. Shirer
Alexander the Great: In his world by Carol G Thomas
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Manta Obscura on December 04, 2008, 01:48:41 PM
Quote from: Cain on December 04, 2008, 01:27:58 PM
The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich by William L. Shirer

I read a chunk of that for my final Bachelor's thesis project. It's really good information, but a hell of a lot of it. The sections on the war crimes/crimes against humanity (and the tribunals against them) of Nazi scientists are especially interesting.

I'm curious, are you reading all three of those books at once for some type of writing project in which you connect them? It would be interesting to see the connections between Foucault, Alexander and the Third Reich.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on December 04, 2008, 01:54:03 PM
I'm actually just reading for pleasure, although noting the connections could be interesting.

Shirer seems very interesting, and full of information, but I hear elements of his analysis (especially the idea that German history predestined the country with a totalitarian, anti-semitic government) are somewhat flawed, to say the least.  Still, he has a lot of first hand resources and documents to call upon, which more than makes up for any mistakes in his reasoning.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Manta Obscura on December 04, 2008, 02:13:54 PM
Quote from: Cain on December 04, 2008, 01:54:03 PM
I'm actually just reading for pleasure, although noting the connections could be interesting.

Shirer seems very interesting, and full of information, but I hear elements of his analysis (especially the idea that German history predestined the country with a totalitarian, anti-semitic government) are somewhat flawed, to say the least.  Still, he has a lot of first hand resources and documents to call upon, which more than makes up for any mistakes in his reasoning.

Wow. I applaud your dedication, especially in reading just for pleasure. When I read just for pleasure, I tend to gravitate towards a lot of Cro-Magnon level lit although, I'll admit, I'm running out of excuses to do so now, what with all the e-book links that have been posted on here recently. At the very least I should pick up one of those David Icke books you mentioned in another thread, just for the lulz.

I had noticed with Shirer (and other intellectuals who do case studies of Reich III) that he subscribes to the "history is destiny" mentality. That seems to be the case with a lot of critics of various totalitarian, imperial or fascist regimes, seemingly moreso than any other type of state government. I cringe to think of all the half-baked treatises I had to read in my Philosophy and History Interplay classes which tried to connect the ravings of Caligula with the British imperial expansion.  :vom:

Anyway, you're right, at least Shirer includes some good sources and references, which is what the book is best for, IMO. Well that and the look of admiration/amorousness that it elicits from opposite-gendered History/Philosophy majors if they see you reading it in a university library. Given the right audience, Shirer and the Third Reich can be an excellent conversation starter or date motivator.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on December 04, 2008, 02:35:22 PM
Well, I've read pretty much every Terry Pratchett, Robert Ludlum, JRR Tolkein, Robert Rankin etc book in existence, so really I have little choice in the matter!  Plus, I was, before I fell into politics, a history student, and always enjoyed history.  I have books on the Mongols, the Roman Empire, Renaissance Italy...I also studied Nazi Germany for two years, and consider it an area of particular expertise.  For some reason, probably the reason that teachers are smarter than politicians, the history of Nazi Germany is something that must be taught at schools here, and I was lucky enough to do it at A Level, where you actually get a taste of advanced historical methods.  In the aftermath of WWII, there was a particular paranoia that it "could happen here", and so they place a lot of emphasis on the rise of Hitler and the systems of control in Germany at the time.

There is a far easier link between British and Roman imperialism.  British upper class students studied Classical Literature.  I mean, if Homer isn't glorifying aggressive warfare, then no-one is.  And Tacitus, read by the wrong sort of personality (ie; the sort of one caused by incessant inbreeding and unjustied feelings of entitlement), well...

It seems to be a very good overview, as it were.  I'd really read more by Mason or Overy for deep analysis, but as to relating the events of what happened, I think few can be better than a journalist with his sort of access and first hand experience.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Manta Obscura on December 04, 2008, 03:11:08 PM
Quote from: Cain on December 04, 2008, 02:35:22 PM
Well, I've read pretty much every Terry Pratchett, Robert Ludlum, JRR Tolkein, Robert Rankin etc book in existence, so really I have little choice in the matter!  Plus, I was, before I fell into politics, a history student, and always enjoyed history.  I have books on the Mongols, the Roman Empire, Renaissance Italy...I also studied Nazi Germany for two years, and consider it an area of particular expertise.  For some reason, probably the reason that teachers are smarter than politicians, the history of Nazi Germany is something that must be taught at schools here, and I was lucky enough to do it at A Level, where you actually get a taste of advanced historical methods.  In the aftermath of WWII, there was a particular paranoia that it "could happen here", and so they place a lot of emphasis on the rise of Hitler and the systems of control in Germany at the time.

There is a far easier link between British and Roman imperialism.  British upper class students studied Classical Literature.  I mean, if Homer isn't glorifying aggressive warfare, then no-one is.  And Tacitus, read by the wrong sort of personality (ie; the sort of one caused by incessant inbreeding and unjustied feelings of entitlement), well...

It seems to be a very good overview, as it were.  I'd really read more by Mason or Overy for deep analysis, but as to relating the events of what happened, I think few can be better than a journalist with his sort of access and first hand experience.

I had guessed from some of your posts that you were probably a history student at one time or another. Tangentially, it's interesting seeing the differences in educational background shape one's writing style.

We had a lot - and by a lot, I mean a shit ton - of exposure to Nazi Germany historical studies over here, too, except I think we whitewash the subject way too much (an unfortunate, almost criminal, aspect of American historical education). We got the whole "Rah rah rah, U.S. rocks, Nazis were all evil, every one of them!" message, or at least I did. Historical studies from 1776 through the Reagan administration are complete crap over here until you get to the collegiate level.

Example: the connections between Rome and British Imperialism. The sources that I was referring to, which I think were from one of the ancillary sources cited in Jackson J. Spielvogel's text on Nazi Germany, didn't have the intellectual fortitude to mention the impact of historical and philosophical literature on the British mindset. Instead, they tried to make wide-reaching, Rube Goldberg (sp?) domino-effect claims that Caligula/Nero/Diocletian's Policy X caused this, which caused that, which led to this, which led to that, ad infinitum until, voila! Direct causation. I sure as hell wish I could remember some of those causation-theory authors, if only to warn people away from them. I almost failed a few of my classes because I refused to read/believe/subscribe to the idea that vast historical milestones resulted from a single, butterfly-effect source, rather than being the coalescence of a variety of factors.

Wow . . . I got off on a bit of a rant there. Sorry about that.

Anywho, so as not to hijack or derail the conversation:

I'm now re-reading "Arcana Mundi" by an author whose name I can't recall at the moment. It's a really cool book that deals with how the Greeks and Romans practiced various aspects of magic/occultism, astrology, demonology, and alchemy.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cramulus on December 04, 2008, 03:42:47 PM
I'm reading "The Minotaur Takes a Cigarette Break"

(http://146.74.224.231/archives/minotaur.jpg)
http://www.amazon.com/Minotaur-Takes-Cigarette-Break-Novel/dp/0312308922

It's fiction about the minotaur (the same one from greek legend, 5000 years later) living in the American South, working as a chef at a resteraunt. He's really lonely. It's a kind of sad book, but you end up really rooting for this pityable hulk.

The Minotaur is my favorite mythological character, and I've always enjoyed the juxtaposition of realism and the absurd. I am really enjoying this book.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mangrove on December 04, 2008, 08:34:51 PM
Cram,

I can't remember the exact title of this book....it was 'the bear came over the mountain' or 'the bear came down from the mountain' (something like that). It was about a bear that could play the saxophone really well and left the wilds to move into the city and make it as a professional jazz player. I never read it but it sounds not unlike the Minotaur book.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on December 05, 2008, 03:15:58 PM
I added "Memory" by Linda Nagata to my pile of books.

I will never finish any of them.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on December 07, 2008, 05:48:38 PM
Blundering to Glory : Napoleon's Military Campaigns by Owen Connelly.

Probably the most obvious display of sour grapes ever.  Even in the introduction he acknowledges Napoleon was a military genius without equal at the time, which kind of undermines the whole thesis of the book,namely that Napoleon owed a lot more to luck and the incompetence of his enemies than anything else. 
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on December 11, 2008, 05:53:03 PM
Comandante Che: Guerrilla Soldier, Commander and Strategist 1956-1967 -

Basically a book about Che Guevara's contributions to guerrilla theory and practice.  Quite good.

Crepuscular Dawn by Paul Virilio and Sylvere Lotringer.  A book about warfare, architecture and time, mainly by the noted architect Paul Virilio.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Sister_Gothique on December 12, 2008, 09:23:44 PM
Well I gave up on Into The Looking Glass by Ringo a while back, due to it being a horrible read. I'm finding that I'm not a huge Ringo fan.

I finally got to finish the Transmet books (THANK YOU, ROGER! They were amazing!)

aaaannd now I'm continuing with the Black Company series (Glen Cook), this one being Shadows Linger. It was a bit harder to get into than the first. Whereas the first has the story presented from Croaker(the annalist/main character), the second switches off in a way I just don't find appealing....I understand it's to tie in/keep you informed about certain characters that broke off into a side-plot, but the manner in which they do it is a little off to me. I suppose we'll see. I loved the first one so much that I'll sure as hell give it a shot. At least it's not unbearable, like Ringo.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on December 15, 2008, 06:44:28 PM
The Mind of the Terrorist - Jerrold Post

Started off well, with quite a bit of new information I did not know, but ended up doing the weary trail of the history of XYZ terrorist groups (well, a bit more than that.  I'll give him this much, with the PLO, ETA, the IRA, PKK, Tamil Tigers, Red Brigades, Red Army Faction, Shining Path, FARC, Hamas, Hezbollah, Al-Qaeda and lesser well known religious terrorists all getting a chapter, he is comprehensive).  Could have been better by focusing on the statements of such organizations, their structure, personalities and group psychology.  History is fun and all, but if you're going to call your book what you called it, well...

Also, David Liss - The Whiskey Rebels

Blurb time.  "Ethan Saunders, once among General Washington's most valued spies, now lives in disgrace, haunting the taverns of Philadelphia. An accusation of treason has long since cost him his reputation and his beloved fiance, Cynthia Pearson, but at his most desperate moment he is recruited for an unlikely task - finding Cynthia's missing husband. To help her, Saunders must serve his old enemy, Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton, who is engaged in a bitter power struggle with political rival Thomas Jefferson over the fragile young nation's first real financial institution: the Bank of the United States.

Meanwhile, Joan Maycott is a young woman married to another Revolutionary War veteran. With the new states unable to support their ex-soldiers, the Maycotts make a desperate gamble: trade the chance of future payment for the hope of a better life on the western Pennsylvania frontier. There, amid hardship and deprivation, they find unlikely friendship and a chance for prosperity with a new method of distilling whiskey. But on an isolated frontier, whiskey is more than a drink; it is currency and power, and the Maycotts' success attracts the brutal attention of men in Hamilton's orbit, men who threaten to destroy all Joan holds dear."
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cainad (dec.) on December 15, 2008, 06:46:56 PM
The Geographical Dimensions of Terrorism

I have no idea why I picked this out, and it's not exactly riveting, but I'm slowly plowing through it anyway.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on December 15, 2008, 06:50:52 PM
I'm pretty sure it picks up as you go along, IIRC.  Izzat an e-book?
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: VIDEODROME on December 15, 2008, 07:23:08 PM
Weaveworld by Clive Barker
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cainad (dec.) on December 15, 2008, 07:33:40 PM
Quote from: Cain on December 15, 2008, 06:50:52 PM
I'm pretty sure it picks up as you go along, IIRC.  Izzat an e-book?

Sadly, not. Paper library copy.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: BADGE OF HONOR on December 15, 2008, 09:39:32 PM
City of Glass by Paul Auster.

I'm a little...suspicious of it so far.  It's a bit excessively artsy and profane.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on December 15, 2008, 09:43:06 PM
Quote from: Cainad on December 15, 2008, 07:33:40 PM
Quote from: Cain on December 15, 2008, 06:50:52 PM
I'm pretty sure it picks up as you go along, IIRC.  Izzat an e-book?

Sadly, not. Paper library copy.

Ah well.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Eve on December 16, 2008, 01:29:25 AM
An Unquiet Mind by Kay Redfield Jamison.

Only about 20 pages in, but seems to be an interesting account of a psychiatrist's history with bipolar patients while 'battling' the disorder herself.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on December 16, 2008, 11:56:14 AM
On Killing by David Grossman.

Some of you might have heard of this, as it was a rather controversial book.  Grossman's thesis is that it used to be very hard to actually get soldiers to kill in combat, for a number of psychological and evolutionary reasons.  He goes through shooting rates and death tallies in certain conflicts to drive home the point that in reality, very few soldiers were capable, in combat, of just upping and shooting the enemy.  He then goes on a much longer tangent as to the group psychology which may help overcome such inhibitions, and I think the upcoming part of the book is that on Pavlovian conditioning and overcoming the desire not to kill the enemy.  Because, as he points out himself, while the shooting percentages were shockingly low in WWII (~40%), by the time of the Korean war that was up to 55% and by Vietnam it was over 75%.

Grossman also has a thing about media and video violence essentially breaking down the inhibitions to killing.  Its not exactly the zomg vidya gaems make people violent!!12! routine, its (blessedly) somewhat more complex and subtle than that.  He thinks the media can transmit what it essentially a violence immunency disease which makes people "vulnerable to violence-enabling factors, such as poverty, discrimination, drug addiction (which can provide powerful motives for crime in order to fulfill real or perceived needs), or guns and gangs (which can provide the means and "support structure" to commit violent acts)."

But I haven't got to that part so far.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Sister_Gothique on December 16, 2008, 08:17:33 PM
Quote from: Eve on December 16, 2008, 01:29:25 AM
An Unquiet Mind by Kay Redfield Jamison.

Only about 20 pages in, but seems to be an interesting account of a psychiatrist's history with bipolar patients while 'battling' the disorder herself.
Sounds different...I may have to look into that one.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Brotep on December 17, 2008, 01:35:26 AM
Rereading the beginning of Journey to the West, a long Chinese folktale comprised of smaller folktales that was gathered together centuries ago.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Manta Obscura on December 17, 2008, 01:50:44 PM
Quote from: Anton LaGay on December 17, 2008, 01:35:26 AM
Rereading the beginning of Journey to the West, a long Chinese folktale comprised of smaller folktales that was gathered together centuries ago.

Ah, I love that story. Never been able to find a great English translation, though.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Brotep on December 17, 2008, 04:22:17 PM
Not speaking Chinese, I cannot attest to the quality of my copy's translation.

However, I can tell you I get a good sense of what's going on, and that the translator is one W.J.F. Jenner.

I can also tell you that Journey to the West inspired the original Dragonball cartoon.   :lulz:
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Manta Obscura on December 17, 2008, 05:01:13 PM
Quote from: Anton LaGay on December 17, 2008, 04:22:17 PM
Not speaking Chinese, I cannot attest to the quality of my copy's translation.

However, I can tell you I get a good sense of what's going on, and that the translator is one W.J.F. Jenner.

I can also tell you that Journey to the West inspired the original Dragonball cartoon.   :lulz:

Ah, thanks, I'll have to check out that translator. I had to read some sections of it a long while back in Spanish, loved it, and then made the mistake of picking it up in English by some translator who had the intellectual equivalent of Tourette's, peppering the manuscript with context-less phrases.

The monk dude from J2tW also appears in some television show called "Read or Die," btw.

Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Brotep on December 17, 2008, 10:14:02 PM
Quote from: Manta Obscura on December 17, 2008, 05:01:13 PM
Ah, thanks, I'll have to check out that translator. I had to read some sections of it a long while back in Spanish, loved it, and then made the mistake of picking it up in English by some translator who had the intellectual equivalent of Tourette's, peppering the manuscript with context-less phrases.
Haha, how'd you end up reading it in Spanish?

QuoteThe monk dude from J2tW also appears in some television show called "Read or Die," btw.
Never seen it, but that's a great name for a TV show.


Oh, I'm also reading (read: started half a year ago and haven't lately picked up) Haruki Murakami's Hardboiled Wonderland and the End of the World.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Sister_Gothique on December 19, 2008, 03:47:20 PM
Finished Shadows Linger (surprisingly..it got a lot better... )

and onto The White Rose, continuing the Black Company series by Glen Cool....I probably won't be getting very far into this any time soon, seeing as I'm moving and I've got shit to do....bah.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Kai on December 19, 2008, 04:30:48 PM
Quote from: Antonymous on December 17, 2008, 10:14:02 PM
QuoteThe monk dude from J2tW also appears in some television show called "Read or Die," btw.
Never seen it, but that's a great name for a TV show.

You'd think that, but the series is actually HORRIBLE. The OVA is much better, but doesn't include a "monk dude".

Kai,

Wapanese.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on December 19, 2008, 08:19:28 PM
I finished The Whiskey Rebels, which was enjoyable.  The ending a little brief, maybe, but I suspect Liss is leaving an opening for Captain Ethan Saunders to return in a sequel of sorts, which could be good.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: ternechto on December 19, 2008, 09:42:44 PM
I'm looking for a good librivox recording. I was going to listen to Nietschze but most of them are in German. Tried listening to The Antichrist but I think it would take me a while to not be distracted by her high pitched voice.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cainad (dec.) on December 20, 2008, 01:29:45 AM
Quote from: Sister_Gothique on December 19, 2008, 03:47:20 PM
Finished Shadows Linger (surprisingly..it got a lot better... )

and onto The White Rose, continuing the Black Company series by Glen Cool....I probably won't be getting very far into this any time soon, seeing as I'm moving and I've got shit to do....bah.

I really liked that series, but my dad told me that after the third book the series just kinda went lame. Still, they were fun books.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on December 22, 2008, 03:35:27 PM
I'm Reading Neil Gaiman, "The Graveyard Book."

He's such a good writer, it makes me sick.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on December 22, 2008, 05:27:11 PM
The Political Philosophy of Michael Foucault.  Intriguing.  Also may help me rethink aspects of 5GW.
Masters of War: Classical Strategic Thought.  Interesting, but limited.  Mostly about Clausewitz and Sun Tzu.
No Tech Hacking: A Guide to Social Engineering, Dumpster Diving and Shoulder Surfing by Johnny Long.  Very useful, common sense ideas about security, hacking and data protection.
Anarchy for the Masses: The Disinfo Guide to The Invisibles.  Nice fluff reading to kick back with.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Brotep on December 23, 2008, 04:12:02 AM
Quote from: Cain on December 22, 2008, 05:27:11 PM
No Tech Hacking: A Guide to Social Engineering, Dumpster Diving and Shoulder Surfing by Johnny Long.  Very useful, common sense ideas about security, hacking and data protection.

That sounds pretty cool.  Have you read Kevin Mitnick's Art of Deception?
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: VIDEODROME on December 23, 2008, 06:57:04 AM
Quote from: Antonymous on December 23, 2008, 04:12:02 AM
Quote from: Cain on December 22, 2008, 05:27:11 PM
No Tech Hacking: A Guide to Social Engineering, Dumpster Diving and Shoulder Surfing by Johnny Long.  Very useful, common sense ideas about security, hacking and data protection.

That sounds pretty cool.  Have you read Kevin Mitnick's Art of Deception?

Name sounds familiar.  Wasn't he one of the first Hackers to get in deep shit for computer crimes and later switched sides?
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on December 23, 2008, 12:23:12 PM
Quote from: Antonymous on December 23, 2008, 04:12:02 AM
Quote from: Cain on December 22, 2008, 05:27:11 PM
No Tech Hacking: A Guide to Social Engineering, Dumpster Diving and Shoulder Surfing by Johnny Long.  Very useful, common sense ideas about security, hacking and data protection.

That sounds pretty cool.  Have you read Kevin Mitnick's Art of Deception?

Yeah.  He wrote an intro for this as well, so its pretty similar.

QuoteName sounds familiar.  Wasn't he one of the first Hackers to get in deep shit for computer crimes and later switched sides?

Pretty much.  He mostly relied on social engineering to get into various systems instead of technical expertise.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Brotep on December 24, 2008, 12:26:28 AM
Nice, what else you got in that library of yours (on this subject)?
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on December 24, 2008, 01:20:24 PM
Social engineering generally or hacking?

On the latter, I have:

Disruptive Security Technologies with Mobile Code and Peer-to-Peer networks by R. R. Brooks.
Computer Security. Privacy and Politics by Ramesh Subramanian
Dangerous Google: Searching for Secrets by Johnny Long (again)
Hacker Culture by Douglas Thomas
Hackers: Heroes of the computer revolution by Stephen Levy
The Strategy Behind Breaking into and Securing Networks by Susan Young and David Aeital
Best of 2600: A Hacker's Odyssey by Emmanuel Goldstein
TCP/IP Network Administration - O'Reilly
Essential System Administration - O'Reilly
Network Study Guide, 4th Edition
Teach Yourself Shell Programming for UNIX in 24 Hours
Demystifying Penetration Testing
Cyberwarfare: An analysis of the means and motivations of selected nation states by the Institute for Security Technology Studies at Dartmouth College
The Art of Intrusion - John Wiley
and a ton of papers on SQL injections, botnets, worms, trojans etc

As for social engineering, I prefer

CIA Human Resource Exploitation Manual
Army Field Manual 34-52 (Intelligence and Interrogation)
The User's Manual for the Brain by Richard Bandler
Absolute Magic by Derren Brown
Tricks of the Mind by Derren Brown
Pure Effect by Derren Brown
Billion Dollar Bunko: How to cheat at everything by Simon Lovell
The Art of Seduction by Robert Greene
Get Anyone to Do Anything by David J Lieberman
The Mystery Method by Mystery
Rules of The Game by Neil Strauss
The Book of Tells by Peter Collet
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Brotep on December 24, 2008, 04:09:12 PM
Derren Brown is great.  Not only is he really fun to read, he has some excellent insights.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: VIDEODROME on January 01, 2009, 10:04:58 PM
Finished Weaveworld.  I did enjoy the ironic end to Shadwell. 


Now I'm reading "Paycheck and other stories" by Philip K. Dick

Also reading a How to Write Stories of Horror, Fantasy and Science Fiction book. 
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Triple Zero on January 05, 2009, 07:34:37 PM
i read Art of Deception from a textfile, it was a pretty good read. techniques are a bit outdated, especially the technical ones (old phone switching hardware etc, new ones are just as leaky but differently so), for the social scams maybe i'm too skeptical that people nowadays wouldn't buy the "hello this is tech support we need your password" scam anymore, but on the other hand, people prove to be more stupid than i expect, always.
but the anecdotes are entertaining and compelling either way.

cain, if you think No Tech Hacking is good, could you set me up a copy? [or, you said something about england checking more on uploaders, so if that's trouble, that's okay, i could probably find it myself too right]
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on January 06, 2009, 12:20:10 PM
I don't mind individual files, I'm just not going to do any collections for a while.

Also, I have one that someone else prepared earlier.

http://rapidshare.com/files/178566994/NoTechHack.rar

Also also, you may want to throw this on an RSS feed http://avaxhome.ws/ebooks/security_info/hacking_hackers
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on January 06, 2009, 12:39:46 PM
Also, while I'm posting here:

Paul Kennedy, The Rise and Fall of Great Powers
Dan Simmons, Hyperion
The Cambridge Companion to Hannah Arendt
Phillip Bobbit, Achilles Shield
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: BADGE OF HONOR on January 07, 2009, 09:20:13 AM
Quote from: Cain on January 06, 2009, 12:39:46 PM
Dan Simmons, Hyperion

Have you read his latest two books?  They're...odd.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on January 07, 2009, 10:50:20 AM
Quote from: RANDIAN AGENDA on January 07, 2009, 09:20:13 AM
Quote from: Cain on January 06, 2009, 12:39:46 PM
Dan Simmons, Hyperion

Have you read his latest two books?  They're...odd.

No, can't say I have.  I've heard mixed things about Simmons, mainly that when he is on form he kicks ass, but when he isn't he sucks donkey balls, and that he can switch between the two with disturbing speed.  Also this is the first book of his I have read, despite having meant to start reading him for 3 years now.

I have a lot of backed up fiction on my waiting list.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Triple Zero on January 07, 2009, 12:25:46 PM
Quote from: Cain on January 06, 2009, 12:20:10 PM
I don't mind individual files, I'm just not going to do any collections for a while.

Also, I have one that someone else prepared earlier.

http://rapidshare.com/files/178566994/NoTechHack.rar

Also also, you may want to throw this on an RSS feed http://avaxhome.ws/ebooks/security_info/hacking_hackers

thanks!
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Brotep on January 08, 2009, 12:32:49 AM
Nice.  Forgot about this thread...

Quote from: Cain on December 24, 2008, 01:20:24 PM
CIA Human Resource Exploitation Manual
Army Field Manual 34-52 (Intelligence and Interrogation)
The User's Manual for the Brain by Richard Bandler
Absolute Magic by Derren Brown
Tricks of the Mind by Derren Brown
Pure Effect by Derren Brown
Billion Dollar Bunko: How to cheat at everything by Simon Lovell
The Art of Seduction by Robert Greene
Get Anyone to Do Anything by David J Lieberman
The Mystery Method by Mystery
Rules of The Game by Neil Strauss
The Book of Tells by Peter Collet

Bandler, really?
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Pariah on January 08, 2009, 04:20:30 AM
Dress Your Family In Corduroy and Denim
The Chosen (for school)
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on January 08, 2009, 11:05:17 AM
Quote from: Antonymous on January 08, 2009, 12:32:49 AM
Nice.  Forgot about this thread...

Quote from: Cain on December 24, 2008, 01:20:24 PM
CIA Human Resource Exploitation Manual
Army Field Manual 34-52 (Intelligence and Interrogation)
The User's Manual for the Brain by Richard Bandler
Absolute Magic by Derren Brown
Tricks of the Mind by Derren Brown
Pure Effect by Derren Brown
Billion Dollar Bunko: How to cheat at everything by Simon Lovell
The Art of Seduction by Robert Greene
Get Anyone to Do Anything by David J Lieberman
The Mystery Method by Mystery
Rules of The Game by Neil Strauss
The Book of Tells by Peter Collet

Bandler, really?

Alot of his stuff is pure bullshit, I will admit.  But the fact it is pure bullshit which has sold large suggests its worth studying, since anyone who can sell bullshit must have some ability at manipulation.  Also, NLP has had a massive impact on self-help/management, and while I doubt its effectiveness at what it claims to solve, I don't doubt its effectiveness in getting New Age idiots with lots of money to hand their hard-earned cash over to you.

Its more a contextual thing, than useful in and of itself.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Brotep on January 08, 2009, 02:39:06 PM
Quote from: Cain on January 08, 2009, 11:05:17 AM
Alot of his stuff is pure bullshit, I will admit.  But the fact it is pure bullshit which has sold large suggests its worth studying, since anyone who can sell bullshit must have some ability at manipulation.
It doesn't take much, though.  If you paint it yellow and call it a banana, the monkeys will buy it.

QuoteAlso, NLP has had a massive impact on self-help/management, and while I doubt its effectiveness at what it claims to solve, I don't doubt its effectiveness in getting New Age idiots with lots of money to hand their hard-earned cash over to you.
Oh oh, another problem...New Age idiots don't have any hard-earned cash--they gave it all to "Ramtha"  :wink:

QuoteIts more a contextual thing, than useful in and of itself.
...k.  Well anyway, you don't need to defend your reading choices to me, but I'm just not seeing it.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Dr Goofy on January 08, 2009, 10:29:18 PM
How to break a terrorist by Matthew Alexander
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: ñͤͣ̄ͦ̌̑͗͊͛͂͗ ̸̨̨̣̺̼̣̜͙͈͕̮̊̈́̈͂͛̽͊ͭ̓͆ͅé ̰̓̓́ͯ́́͞ on January 09, 2009, 09:51:31 AM
Quote from: Cain on January 08, 2009, 11:05:17 AM
Quote from: Antonymous on January 08, 2009, 12:32:49 AM
Nice.  Forgot about this thread...

Quote from: Cain on December 24, 2008, 01:20:24 PM
CIA Human Resource Exploitation Manual
Army Field Manual 34-52 (Intelligence and Interrogation)
The User's Manual for the Brain by Richard Bandler
Absolute Magic by Derren Brown
Tricks of the Mind by Derren Brown
Pure Effect by Derren Brown
Billion Dollar Bunko: How to cheat at everything by Simon Lovell
The Art of Seduction by Robert Greene
Get Anyone to Do Anything by David J Lieberman
The Mystery Method by Mystery
Rules of The Game by Neil Strauss
The Book of Tells by Peter Collet

Bandler, really?

Alot of his stuff is pure bullshit, I will admit.  But the fact it is pure bullshit which has sold large suggests its worth studying, since anyone who can sell bullshit must have some ability at manipulation.  Also, NLP has had a massive impact on self-help/management, and while I doubt its effectiveness at what it claims to solve, I don't doubt its effectiveness in getting New Age idiots with lots of money to hand their hard-earned cash over to you.

Its more a contextual thing, than useful in and of itself.

NLP has a lot of bullshit associated with it, but not of the New Age variety. I'd like to see evidence of where you're making that connection to New Age, Cain.

Also, what claims do NLPtards make that you doubt?
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on January 09, 2009, 12:57:33 PM
The New Age connection is that of aim, mostly.  The whole self-help and actualization vibe is very prevalent among the New Age movement, and while one could claim that in and of itself that is not evidence, that it also makes grandiose claims (I swear one of Bandler's flunkies compared him to Socrates and Plato.  For real, not even in a joking context) and little in the way of testable evidence suggests a connection. 

There is also the business connection.  Several clever post-Marxist types have often noted a link between New Age thinking and what they would call Late Stage Capitalism, and NLP does seem to be marketed strongly to management types, with a heavy focus on sales (both on the "teacher" selling the program to you, and the utility of the program in sales).  There are also strong links with the Human Potential Movement.

As for claims, I doubt, for example:

That if one person can do something, anyone else can learn it (Roger Dilts is a main culprit here)
That the emphasis on non-verbal behaviour in the singular is testable or useful (obviously there will be some universal and localized body language, based in biology and culture, but that is not exactly what is claimed)
That primary representational systems actually exist

Its also interesting to note that no Neuropsychologists I am aware of cite NLP as an influence on how they believe the brain works, which casts a fair bit of their claims into doubt.  Several other scientific, peer-reviewed studies have also said that NLP is based on outmoded psychological models and crude, simplistic ideas of the brain and is full of factual errors.

This is not to suggest that NLP does not have useable techniques or methods, only that when they do work, it is extremely unlikely that they are due to the model of the brain that NLP proposes
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on January 16, 2009, 10:24:24 PM
Baron Antoine Henri de Jomini - The Art of War (2008 restored edition)

Jomini based his Art of War upon the methods of Napoleon.  Though his manual is lesser known than Clauswitz, Sun Tzu or even Machiavelli, its still good and highly original reading.  Also, perhaps unsurprisingly, he was one of the best French generals during the Napoleonic Wars, serving in Austerlitz, Spain, Russia and Prussia.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Manta Obscura on January 17, 2009, 03:37:59 PM
I just finished reading "The Schrodinger's Cat Trilogy" by R.A.W., "The Graveyard Book" by Neil Gaiman, "Santa vs. Satan" by Jake Kalish, and "The Lost Sayings of Abraham Nopfziger" by Dallas Wiebe. They were interesting (but unnecessarily self-referential), fun (but juvenile), funny (but crude), and inspiring (but dogmatic), respectively.

I am now reading "Skyblue's Essays" by Dallas Wiebe, "Everything is Under Control" by R.A.W., and a collection of stories by Lovecraft titled "Waking Up Screaming." So far I like "Skyblue" the best.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on January 17, 2009, 06:53:03 PM
I'm reading a book about a Nigerian refugee, called "Little Bee".
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Kai on January 18, 2009, 04:06:52 PM
reading two books, Alien Ocean, and still trying to push through Principles of Biological Systematics.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Xooxe on January 19, 2009, 06:02:13 AM
Erich Fromm - The Fear of Freedom

I'm liking it but I prefered Wilhelm Reich's The Mass Psychology of Fascism which was released a few years later in 1944. Besides the differences in their ideas about authoritarianism, it's pretty obvious to me that they were influenced by each other to a slight extent.

Fromm makes the case that since the transition from merchantilism in the middle-ages - where people mostly knew and were certain about their relationship with society - capitalism, along with the freedom it brings, has severed our sense of belonging to something greater. He details the emergence of Lutherism and Calvinism as reactions to this shift and then looks at sadism and masochism in the authoritarian character.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on January 19, 2009, 07:10:21 AM
Sounds similar to Hannah Arendt as well, who claimed atomized, modern society is what allowed fascism and communism to become totalitarian dictatorships (to massively oversimplify).

Not reading them yet, but I just placed orders for The Romance of the Three Kingdoms with money from my birthday and Xmas.  The Romance is essentially the Chinese version of the Iliad, a hugely influential work filled with larger than life figures set against the backdrop of a massive war.  Starting with the disintegration of the Han Dynasty, it follows the breakup of China and the scheming and battles from various factions that arose during the time. 
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Richter on January 21, 2009, 07:47:13 PM
God's Demon by Wayne Barlowe.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: VIDEODROME on January 23, 2009, 12:26:55 AM
John Keel's The Mothman Prophecies.   

The book is a lot different then the movie and has even more weird shit going on.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: on January 23, 2009, 12:44:09 AM
Quote from: VIDEODROME on January 23, 2009, 12:26:55 AM
John Keel's The Mothman Prophecies.   

The book is a lot different then the movie and has even more weird shit going on.

I've been looking for a copy of this book for quite some time, nice Tetsuo avatar btw.

For me, Time Enough for Love by Robert Heinlein.
I feel I've neglected Heinlein long enough, and this is the only one I have laying around the house.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Iason Ouabache on January 23, 2009, 07:38:03 AM
"Time Enough for Love" was the second Heinlein book I read.  I don't really remember the plot very much but I know that there was incest involved.  Heinlein really liked incest for some reason.

I've finally reading through "Black Swan" by Nassim Nicholas Taleb. Pretty interesting so far.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: indigoblade on January 23, 2009, 09:03:42 AM
The  Eragon series by Christopher Paolini (got it for christmas) currently Elder is the book I'm on. The kids a pretty good writer for his age and, what can I say, I'm a fantasy/Sci-Fi buff. Also Howling Moon from the sazi series by C.T. Adams & Cathy Clamp. I hope you may find these to be good reads.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: the last yatto on January 23, 2009, 09:11:01 AM
http://www.mirc.com/khaled/books.html
QuoteI'm currently reading Tank Girl: The Gifting by Martin and Wood, Galileo's Finger by Peter Atkins, Deschooling Society by Ivan Illich, Empire by Hardt and Negri, Darwin by Desmond and Moore, and By The Sword by Richard Cohen.
Next on my list: Dreams from my Father by Barack Obama. Freakonomics by Levitt and Dubner.
One of my favourite authors is  Stanislaw Lem, his works, classed as science fiction, are an intelligent and dazzling study of the effects of technology on humanity.
I recently finished reading Diary of a Genius by Salvador Dali, Changing Planes by Ursula Le Guin, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll, Shroedinger's Cat Trillogy by Robert A. Wilson, The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins, Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer, A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway, The Bridge by Iain Banks, Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick, The New Feminism by Natasha Walter, and Six Easy Pieces by Richard P. Feynman, and re-read The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy trilogy by Douglas Adams (pay no attention to the fish stuck in my ear).
May I recommend:
   Deterring Democracy by Noam Chomsky
Orientalism by Edward W. Said

The Palace of Wisdom by Robert Marshall-Andrews
I, Claudius by Robert Graves
Searching for the Emperor by Roberto Pazzi
Galapagos by Kurt Vonnegut

Memoirs Found in a Bathtub by Stanislaw Lem
The Embedding by Ian Watson
Mostly Harmless by Douglas Adams
Neuromancer by William Gibson
Nothing Sacred by Elizabeth Ann Scarborough
Ringworld by Larry Niven

Cosmogenesis by David Layzer
The Last Centuries of Byzantium, 1261-1453 by Donald M. Nicol
What is Life? by Erwin Schroedinger
The Structure of Scientific Revolutions by Thomas S. Kuhn
Signifying Nothing: The Semiotics of Zero by Brian Rotman
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on January 23, 2009, 05:44:08 PM
Quote from: Cain on January 19, 2009, 07:10:21 AM
Not reading them yet, but I just placed orders for The Romance of the Three Kingdoms with money from my birthday and Xmas.  The Romance is essentially the Chinese version of the Iliad, a hugely influential work filled with larger than life figures set against the backdrop of a massive war.  Starting with the disintegration of the Han Dynasty, it follows the breakup of China and the scheming and battles from various factions that arose during the time. 

Arrived today.  So far so good.  I'm actually reminded in part of Fire and Ice, simply for the level of backstabbing side-swapping nastiness that has gone on so far.

Turns out the complete novel is 1300 pages, too.  This may take a while...
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: whatc on January 25, 2009, 01:23:04 PM
Maurice Merleau-Ponty: Eye and Mind
Crazy beautiful text. Im devouring this almost mindlessly.

Crudely translated excerpt:

"..while working on his favourite problem, wether velvet or wool, a real painter sets even unwillingly all solutions to every other problem questionable. His research is always all-encompassing, no matter how limited it might seem. When a painter has reached a new level of skill and knowledge, He will perceive a new area, where everything that, which He has been able to express earlier must be stated in other ways. He will find, that He had not found what He thought He had and so, He must keep on searching. The thought, that Painting could be universal and total, that all Painting has been completed, is insane. Even if the world would exist for millions of years, painters should, if they existed, keep painting it. That painting of a world can never become finished."
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on January 25, 2009, 01:27:24 PM
He was a great philosopher, I hear.  Very influential in existentialism and postmodernism.  I have some stuff of his, but haven't gotten around to it yet.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: whatc on January 25, 2009, 02:19:41 PM
Inspirational ~60 page afternoon snack :)
I took a few aesthetics courses last year and when we got to phenomelogy His name came up.
From my very limited knowledge of philosophy, He strikes as the most "discordian" thinker so far.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on January 25, 2009, 02:30:21 PM
He was Foucault's philosophy teacher at one point, as well.  That was where I first heard of him, and since then I snagged a couple of e-book downloads about his work.  Its more of an introduction and explanation, though I'm sure if I dug around I could find the actual books as well.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: on January 26, 2009, 06:58:24 PM
Quote from: Iason Ouabache on January 23, 2009, 07:38:03 AM
"Time Enough for Love" was the second Heinlein book I read.  I don't really remember the plot very much but I know that there was incest involved.  Heinlein really liked incest for some reason.

I've finally reading through "Black Swan" by Nassim Nicholas Taleb. Pretty interesting so far.

I just got done with this, and yeah, there is a lot of incest. In fact, its about a six hundred page long joke, and the punchline is incest.
If Heinlein is considered to be worth reading, I'm pretty damn sure its not because of 'Time Enough For Love'.

I'm at the local library atm,  I'll see if they have Black Swan. If not, I will find something else and probably edit this post.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: the last yatto on January 27, 2009, 09:28:50 AM
http://www.eriswerks.org/steal.html this book
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Payne on January 28, 2009, 06:13:00 AM
'The Holy Blood and The Holy Grail'

I read it a few years back and thought it was an awesome book. Re-reading it with all that I have learnt and experienced in that time, it's still awesome, but for completely different reasons.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on January 28, 2009, 09:52:31 AM
There are some interesting facts in there.  You just have to remember that the Priory of Sion exists now, but never existed in the past.

And Henry Lincoln wrote Doctor Who scripts.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Payne on January 28, 2009, 10:05:17 AM
The Priory of Sion was a complete hoax, said Plantard in the 90's.

The mindset of someone who basically created such an elaborate hoax with no obvious immediate benefit is quite fascinating, even if it's not something I feel I could emulate.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on January 28, 2009, 04:27:15 PM
I'm not sure there was no benefit.  He got to hobnob with some fairly interesting and rich people.  Not to mention he apparently had links with the Grand Alpina lodge, who had fingers in lots of dubious business.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: indigoblade on February 03, 2009, 06:39:37 AM
metamorphosis again yay :mrgreen:
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on February 04, 2009, 08:44:39 PM
My mom has announced she is about to read "Black Swan".

More as the situation develops.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Xooxe on February 04, 2009, 09:00:56 PM
Quote from: Cain on January 23, 2009, 05:44:08 PM
Quote from: Cain on January 19, 2009, 07:10:21 AM
Not reading them yet, but I just placed orders for The Romance of the Three Kingdoms with money from my birthday and Xmas.  The Romance is essentially the Chinese version of the Iliad, a hugely influential work filled with larger than life figures set against the backdrop of a massive war.  Starting with the disintegration of the Han Dynasty, it follows the breakup of China and the scheming and battles from various factions that arose during the time. 

Arrived today.  So far so good.  I'm actually reminded in part of Fire and Ice, simply for the level of backstabbing side-swapping nastiness that has gone on so far.

Turns out the complete novel is 1300 pages, too.  This may take a while...

I don't read much fiction, but I was always interested in this. When you've finished tell us your thoughts.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on February 05, 2009, 03:15:44 PM
Well, so far I have learnt a few things.

1. Cao-Cao really is the series butt-monkey.  If you need someone to take a fall, without dying, he is your man.  He'll always bounce back.
2.  Lu-Pu must've had a really bad childhood, to grow up with chronic backstabbing disorder.
3.  Zhuge Liang ain't nothing to fuck with.  Ever. 
4.  Lu Pei is alignment Stupid Good, and I'm almost certain his high minded idiocy will end up getting him killed at some point.  Even with Zhuge Liang at his back.

Its a good book, and very readable, but there are LOTS of characters.  I would highly suggest reading it with a notebook, just so you can keep up with who is meant to be on what side.  It doesn't help that with transliterated Chinese names, most people who don't speak the language tend to glaze over after a while.  The plot tends to switch between distressing speed (several rebellions in the first few chapters) and strange slowness.

Also, have currently been reading:

Sheppard, Ben, The Psychology of Strategic Terrorism, New York, Routledge, 2009
Held, Virginia, How Terrorism Is Wrong: The Morality of Political Violence, New York, Oxford University Press, 2008
Rinehart, James, Apocalyptic Violence and Political Violence, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, 2006
Coker, Christopher, The Warrior Ethos: Military Culture and the War on Terror, New York, Routledge, 2007
Lutz, James M. and Brenda J, Terrorism: Origins and Evolution, New York, Palgrave Macmillan, 2005
Thompson, Janice E, Mercenaries, Pirates and Sovereigns: State-Building and Extraterritorial Violence in Early Modern Europe, Princeton, Princeton University Press, 1994
Horgan, John, The Psychology of Terrorism, New York, Routledge, 2003
Post, Jerrold, The Mind of the Terrorist: The Psychology of Terrorism from The IRA to Al-Qaeda, New York, Palgrave Macmillan, 2007
Sageman, Marc, Understanding Terror Networks, University of Pennsylvania Press, 2004
Chaliand, Gerard and Bin, Arnaud, The History of Terrorism: From Antiquity to Al-Qaeda, Berkeley and Los Angeles, University of California Press, 2007
Soeters, Joseph L., Ethnic Conflict and Terrorism: The Origin and Dynamics of Civil Wars, New York, Routledge, 2005
Bobbitt, Philip, Terror and Consent: The Wars for the 21st Century, Allen Lane Publishing, 2008
G. E. Kelly, Mark, The Political Philosophy of Michel Foucault, New York, Routledge, 2009
Odysseos, Louiza and Petito, Fabio, The International Political Thought of Carl Schmitt: Terror, liberal war and the crisis of global order, New York, Routledge, 2007
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: the last yatto on February 11, 2009, 01:35:03 AM
added to wish list: http://www.amazon.com/Crimes-Against-Logic-Politicians-Journalists/dp/0071446435
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: That One Guy on February 11, 2009, 04:24:20 PM
I just started re-reading Anathem (Neal Stephenson). I read it over the holiday/new year's stretch, but now I'm looking to get a bit more into the small details of the story that I tend to miss the first time through any book as I'm concentrating more on broad plots and character development than the little details that foreshadow later developments.

I really liked the book the first time through, so I'm looking forward to catching all those little things I missed  :mrgreen:
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Jasper on February 11, 2009, 05:08:35 PM
I'll read Mind Performance Hacks at the gym today.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on February 12, 2009, 03:51:10 PM
Got bored of terrorism.  So I chucked all that aside and went for War, Diplomacy and the Rise of the Savoy 1690-1720, by Christopher Storrs. 
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on February 13, 2009, 09:52:41 AM
Done with the Savoy, for now.

Just downloading Zizek's Violence which will hopefully be very interesting.  Some of his thoughts on political violence in Lost Causes looked interesting, and I had hoped he would pursue something along those lines more at a later date.  Of course, knowing Zizek, it will no doubt end up in a dizzying array of diverging and interesting, if somewhat unrelated, points and observations, but I can deal with that.  And also, since Zizek has a tendency to take the longer view, hopefully there will be some material on the historical construction of various violent crimes that I can use...or at least an interesting framework I can contrast my own research with.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Jasper on February 14, 2009, 06:48:16 PM
Mind Performance Hacks was a good read.  Would people be interested in a recap thread?
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Bu🤠ns on February 14, 2009, 06:52:09 PM
Quote from: Felix on February 14, 2009, 06:48:16 PM
Mind Performance Hacks was a good read.  Would people be interested in a recap thread?

actually yes... i think i read it a couple months ago. maybe it was just 'Mind Hacks'...regardless go ahead.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Jasper on February 14, 2009, 07:01:39 PM
Quote from: Burns on February 14, 2009, 06:52:09 PM
Quote from: Felix on February 14, 2009, 06:48:16 PM
Mind Performance Hacks was a good read.  Would people be interested in a recap thread?

actually yes... i think i read it a couple months ago. maybe it was just 'Mind Hacks'...regardless go ahead.

Mind Hacks was the more theoretical precursor.  This one involves practical examples of brain improvement.  I'll do one today.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Bu🤠ns on February 14, 2009, 07:03:07 PM
i think i might have both.  i'll get them out if you do.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Jasper on February 15, 2009, 04:32:02 AM
On second thought, this book, upon reflection, is probably a troll.  It wants me to talk to myself and learn morse code.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Xooxe on February 18, 2009, 05:13:04 AM
Quote from: Cain on February 05, 2009, 03:15:44 PMThompson, Janice E, Mercenaries, Pirates and Sovereigns: State-Building and Extraterritorial Violence in Early Modern Europe, Princeton, Princeton University Press, 1994

Now THAT sounds fascinating.

I've just started reading Human Action by Ludwig von Mises. I don't class myself as libertarian or anything, I'm just curious.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: zen_magick on February 18, 2009, 06:51:51 PM
For some reason I seem to be reading a lot of erotica at the moment.  People keep giving it to me.

Alan Moore's Lost Girls - freakin' awesome

The Best Bi-sexual Women's Erotica - good stuff very spank worthy

and last night a friend handed me Georges Bataille's Story of the Eye so far so good, hehehe

Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Iason Ouabache on February 18, 2009, 10:14:57 PM
I have found an e-book copy of Lee Strobel's "The Case for a Creator".  I really need someone to talk me out of reading it.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Jasper on February 18, 2009, 10:18:05 PM
Quote from: Iason Asshat on February 18, 2009, 10:14:57 PM
I have found an e-book copy of Lee Strobel's "The Case for a Creator".  I really need someone to talk me out of reading it.

Read it and die.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: zen_magick on February 18, 2009, 10:41:45 PM
three chapters into Bataille's "Story of the Eye" and I'm begining to think there's just NOT ENOUGH urine in my sex life!!  :eek:
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Iason Ouabache on February 19, 2009, 01:20:43 AM
Quote from: Felix on February 18, 2009, 10:18:05 PM
Quote from: Iason Asshat on February 18, 2009, 10:14:57 PM
I have found an e-book copy of Lee Strobel's "The Case for a Creator".  I really need someone to talk me out of reading it.

Read it and die.
Is this a threat or a dare?

I've made it halfway through the first chapter and I can already tell that it's going to an army of strawmen and the teleological argument repeated about a dozen times.  Why am I wasting my time on this?
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Jasper on February 19, 2009, 01:24:48 AM
Quote from: Iason Asshat on February 19, 2009, 01:20:43 AM
Quote from: Felix on February 18, 2009, 10:18:05 PM
Quote from: Iason Asshat on February 18, 2009, 10:14:57 PM
I have found an e-book copy of Lee Strobel's "The Case for a Creator".  I really need someone to talk me out of reading it.

Read it and die.
Is this a threat or a dare?

I've made it halfway through the first chapter and I can already tell that it's going to an army of strawmen and the teleological argument repeated about a dozen times.  Why am I wasting my time on this?

You asked for someone to talk you out of it, don't get all offended. :)

Why are you wasting your time on it?
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Iason Ouabache on February 19, 2009, 01:35:31 AM
Quote from: Felix on February 19, 2009, 01:24:48 AM
Quote from: Iason Asshat on February 19, 2009, 01:20:43 AM
Quote from: Felix on February 18, 2009, 10:18:05 PM
Quote from: Iason Asshat on February 18, 2009, 10:14:57 PM
I have found an e-book copy of Lee Strobel's "The Case for a Creator".  I really need someone to talk me out of reading it.

Read it and die.
Is this a threat or a dare?

I've made it halfway through the first chapter and I can already tell that it's going to an army of strawmen and the teleological argument repeated about a dozen times.  Why am I wasting my time on this?

You asked for someone to talk you out of it, don't get all offended. :)

Why are you wasting your time on it?
It's the same reason I read the first chapter of Ann Coulter's "Godless".  I'm a glutton for punishment. 

I'm already bailing out of this book because in chapter 2 because he mentioned micro vs. macro evolution and Haeckel's drawing.  If this is just the standard Creationist bullshit then I already know how the story ends.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Jasper on February 19, 2009, 01:54:29 AM
Success.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on February 19, 2009, 10:01:13 PM
Quote from: Xooxe on February 18, 2009, 05:13:04 AM
Quote from: Cain on February 05, 2009, 03:15:44 PMThompson, Janice E, Mercenaries, Pirates and Sovereigns: State-Building and Extraterritorial Violence in Early Modern Europe, Princeton, Princeton University Press, 1994

Now THAT sounds fascinating.

I've just started reading Human Action by Ludwig von Mises. I don't class myself as libertarian or anything, I'm just curious.

Its alright.  Lots of world system/critical theory talk about the shop, but once you get past that, it has some meat.  Could have been better though.

Ah, Von Mises.  So crazy even Hayek thought he was scary.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Phineas T. Poxwattle on February 21, 2009, 03:20:03 PM
Quote"The generation of North Americans born between 1965 and 1980-- in Canadian writer Hal Nietdzviecki's coinage, the "Malaise Generation"-- seems to have pretty much given up hope that any good will come of this place called Earth. Taken as a group (and there are of course some exceptional overachievers within this group--exceptions which prove the rule), this generation represents the biggest waste of potential energy, passion, creativity and intellect in our time. This generation, which in primitive societies would have done the bulk of the tribe's work, has voluntarily removed itself from the collective effort because . . . Hey, waht's the point?

Slackers spend days on end sharpening their sardonic edge on the whetstone fo apathy. They philosophize on the maening of a Kraft Dinner, they fish Hush Puppies from the discount bins of Wal Mart, or, in a birst of inspiration, they issue zines with names like A.d.i.d.a.s. (All Day I dream About Suicide). To slackers, the worst crime is to admit to being committed to anything, becasue then you appear earnet, and earnest ain't ironic. It ain't cool. So maybe it's just better to drift down to Santa Monica, to "sit beside the ocean and watch the world die."

Culture Jam, Kalle Lasn
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Pariah on February 21, 2009, 06:33:57 PM
Do androids dream of electric sheep?

...


Again.
I need some more books.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on February 21, 2009, 06:41:33 PM
Pariah, if you do not object to theft and ebooks:

http://thepiratebay.org/browse/601
http://avaxhome.ws/ebooks/
http://gigapedia.com/ (register here)
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Pariah on February 21, 2009, 07:09:57 PM
Quote from: Cain on February 21, 2009, 06:41:33 PM
Pariah, if you do not object to theft and ebooks:

http://thepiratebay.org/browse/601
http://avaxhome.ws/ebooks/
http://gigapedia.com/ (register here)

Thanks!
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Pariah on February 21, 2009, 07:11:27 PM
First new book

(http://pixhost.ws/avaxhome/cb/45/000b45cb.jpeg)

:lulz:

Fairly interesting looking.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on February 21, 2009, 07:20:00 PM
That and the other one you showed me via PM looked interesting.  As do the ones on the US=Mexico border conflicts, smuggling in SE Asia, War and Punishment, Thicker than Oil, The Rise of Eurocentrism and The Right War?: The Conservative debate on Iraq.

Among others.  They also all tend to update daily, so be sure to check back.  And the archives as well, since you can easily go back 50 or so pages and find working links.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Xooxe on February 21, 2009, 08:26:05 PM
Quote from: Cain on February 19, 2009, 10:01:13 PMAh, Von Mises.  So crazy even Hayek thought he was scary.

So far it's not particularly crazy. I've just about finished volume 1 which is geared more towards philosophy than economics. It's not brilliant, plenty of naive assertions. There's a lot in there which I agree with, but I'm not getting where he's trying to go with it most of the time.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on February 21, 2009, 08:41:26 PM
Quote from: Xooxe on February 21, 2009, 08:26:05 PM
Quote from: Cain on February 19, 2009, 10:01:13 PMAh, Von Mises.  So crazy even Hayek thought he was scary.

So far it's not particularly crazy. I've just about finished volume 1 which is geared more towards philosophy than economics. It's not brilliant, plenty of naive assertions. There's a lot in there which I agree with, but I'm not getting where he's trying to go with it most of the time.

His non-economic philosophy was just standard Austrian rationalism and empiricism, wasn't it?  I'm more familiar with his economic thinking, which was die-hard laissez faire.  Even Hayek conceded that things like the minimum wage, laws to protect the environment and legislation to protect people from dangerous working conditions might be needed, and that markets were contingent human constructions, not facts of nature.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Pariah on February 21, 2009, 09:36:28 PM
http://avaxhome.ws/ebooks/history_military/Walking_Ghosts.html

This is the one I'm reading right now.
Really really interesting.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: BADGE OF HONOR on February 24, 2009, 11:08:56 PM
I just finished Seven Days in the Art World, an ethnographical study of the contemporary art market.  It was fascinating.  Now I'm reading Empires of Time, a rather old but still interesting look at how people deal with time, from clocks to calendars.  I learned the significance of the dropping of the ball at Times Square: 
QuoteUp until the twentieth century, every respectable harbor city had its own time ball that fell every day at noon to send ocean navigators a precise visual time signal by which to adjust their chronometers...The famous New Year's ball in Manhattan's Times Square is a distinct survivor.

Awesome.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Xooxe on February 26, 2009, 06:30:29 AM
Quote from: Cain on February 21, 2009, 08:41:26 PMHis non-economic philosophy was just standard Austrian rationalism and empiricism, wasn't it?  I'm more familiar with his economic thinking, which was die-hard laissez faire.  Even Hayek conceded that things like the minimum wage, laws to protect the environment and legislation to protect people from dangerous working conditions might be needed, and that markets were contingent human constructions, not facts of nature.

I don't believe his philosophy was based upon empiricism. I had quite a hard time understanding his overview of praxeology, which was a major part of volume 1, but he seemed to contrast it with the way in which history collects evidence and builds a world-view.

To be completely honest, most of it has left my memory. Volume 2 goes into the economics, and I was aware of his die-hard laissez faire stance. That was the reason why I was curious to read it.

But for now, I've started reading The Chemistry of Life by Steven Rose. I thought I'd take a little detour away from the biochemistry text books.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Jasper on February 26, 2009, 06:41:51 AM
Quote from: Alamaris on February 24, 2009, 10:49:42 PM
Currently reading:

Guns, Germs, And Steel by Jared Diamond, which is a really interesting look at why advanced cultures developed faster in different areas of the world -- highly recommended.

I keep hearing it's a yawn.  Agree/Disagree?
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on February 26, 2009, 01:49:41 PM
Quote from: Xooxe on February 26, 2009, 06:30:29 AM
Quote from: Cain on February 21, 2009, 08:41:26 PMHis non-economic philosophy was just standard Austrian rationalism and empiricism, wasn't it?  I'm more familiar with his economic thinking, which was die-hard laissez faire.  Even Hayek conceded that things like the minimum wage, laws to protect the environment and legislation to protect people from dangerous working conditions might be needed, and that markets were contingent human constructions, not facts of nature.

I don't believe his philosophy was based upon empiricism. I had quite a hard time understanding his overview of praxeology, which was a major part of volume 1, but he seemed to contrast it with the way in which history collects evidence and builds a world-view.

To be completely honest, most of it has left my memory. Volume 2 goes into the economics, and I was aware of his die-hard laissez faire stance. That was the reason why I was curious to read it.

But for now, I've started reading The Chemistry of Life by Steven Rose. I thought I'd take a little detour away from the biochemistry text books.

Ah, I just read now. Yeah, synthetic a priori arguments.  Urgh. 

QuoteI keep hearing it's a yawn.  Agree/Disagree?

It can be, in places.  On the other hand, if you find prehistory interesting, its worth a read.  There are ebooks, if you want to check it out before committing cash.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on February 26, 2009, 01:52:41 PM
Oh, I forgot to add, I'm reading The Sun and the Moon: The Remarkable True Account of Hoaxers, Showmen, Duelling Journalists and Lunar Man-Bats in Nineteenth Century New York, by Matthew Goodman, and Waiter Rant - Thanks for the tip: The confessions of a cynical waiter, by "The Waiter".
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Xooxe on February 26, 2009, 02:09:56 PM
Quote from: Cain on February 26, 2009, 01:49:41 PM
Ah, I just read now. Yeah, synthetic a priori arguments.  Urgh. 

Yep, that's the one. Sometimes I wonder if me not understanding something is actually a case of the argument being bullshit instead of my comprehension taking a nose-dive.


Also...

Sweet buggery Christmas-tits! Lunar Man-Bats?!
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on February 26, 2009, 02:14:11 PM
I remember doing something on it, a long time ago.  A very long time ago...I never cared much for my logic classes, though.

And yes, its the greatest name for a book ever.  Doubly so since its a real book, in print.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: on March 04, 2009, 11:30:47 PM
I just finished with The Jokes Over: Bruised Memories: Gonzo, Hunter S. Thompson, and Me. By Ralph Steadman.

Worthwhile read for any fan of the good doctor, but very much tainted by Ralph Steadmans many personal biases both for and against Dr. Thompson. There are quite a few parts where Ralph comes off as overly accusatory, even whiny, but he does tell the story from his own point of view. Its a pretty quick read.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: fomenter on March 08, 2009, 12:07:20 AM
"48 laws of power",
i am finally getting around to it because i found this http://btjunkie.org/torrent/pdflrfwin-0-99-PDF-to-LRF-Converter-for-Sony-Reader-pdflrf/448665a738cec7e413e4773deb94f5098b19787e58e7
there may be better pdf to lrf converters out there  (Sony 500-505 format) but they are hard to find or need programing expertise to use.
i will be reading "Darren brown tricks of the mind" next, another book who's pdf format needed conversion to be readable.

Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: fomenter on March 09, 2009, 04:00:37 PM
i am still looking for a working pdf to text converter... so far the freeware i have tried doesn't work and the demo versions of commercial software either don't work or are so restricted it is impossible to tell if they work, if any body knows of a good program i would love to hear it, i am tired of seizing up my computer testing junk freeware and wasting my time testing commercial software that is to restricted to test..
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on March 09, 2009, 04:21:40 PM
Have you tried Stanza?

It's what I use to make PDFs readable on the Kindle.

http://www.lexcycle.com/
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Jasper on March 10, 2009, 08:05:33 AM
I'm in the middle of rereading "Eisenhorn", some WH40K fic.

Even though it's from 40K, I've come to really appreciate it.  It's got great pulp themes like detective work, the wild west, and individualistic heroism, but it's written in the British sci-fi tradition of using the setting as a vehicle for intelligent social commentary.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Reeducation on March 12, 2009, 09:30:15 PM
I'm reading the Tibetan Book of The Dead, The Gospel of the Flying Spaghetti Monster and Doors of Perception.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Thurnez Isa on March 16, 2009, 05:43:33 AM
"Protoevangelium of James"

now the church can officially call me a heretic
:thumb:
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on March 16, 2009, 09:28:25 AM
Slavoj Zizek - Welcome to the Desert of the Real: Five Essays on September 11th and Similar Dates
David Campbell - Writing Security: United States Foreign Policy and the Politics of Identity.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Xooxe on March 16, 2009, 10:00:18 PM
The Rough Guide to The Brain - Barry J Gibb
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on March 17, 2009, 12:47:28 PM
Finished The Chicken Cabala.

Just loaded The Trial, You Are Being Lied To, The Hagakure, The God Delusion, and The Mass Psychology of Fascism onto my Hitchhiker's Guide.



Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on March 17, 2009, 12:50:18 PM
Although all things are not to be judged in this manner, I mention it in the investigation of the Way of the Samurai. When the time comes, there is no moment for reasoning. And if you have not done your inquiring beforehand , there is most often shame. Reading books and listening to people's talk are for the purpose of prior resolution. 
Above all, the Way of the Samurai should be in being aware that you do not know what is going to happen next, and in querying every item day and night. Victory and defeat are matters of the temporary force of circumstances.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on March 17, 2009, 12:52:46 PM
Are you implying the Hagakure is written in Engrish?
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on March 17, 2009, 12:53:58 PM
No, but some of its translations certainly come across that way, on the first read.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cramulus on March 17, 2009, 01:31:02 PM
Quote from: LMNO on March 17, 2009, 12:47:28 PM
Finished The Chicken Cabala.

Mangrove pointed that out to me last year. I was quite curious about Cabalah and picked it up. (okay fine I pirated it and printed out the pdf)
Would you say that was a good intro?

I found it very interesting, but found it difficult to see to the various numeric concordances as much more than pattern-finding exercises. I was unable to glean much from this past the lessons of the Law of 5s. Am I doing it wrong?
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cramulus on March 17, 2009, 01:34:49 PM
Second Question:

You've posted about your dislike for Castaneda. Something about him selling fiction as mysticism I gather? The search function did not reveal any postings on the matter. Anyway, how is that different from Lon Milo using his fictional Rabbi Lamed Ben Clifford, even if Lon Milo is a bit more tongue-in-cheek about it?
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on March 17, 2009, 01:57:38 PM
I'd say it was a good intro for Discordians and their ilk.  It's a friendly way to describe a new model for arranging the way you look at the universe/yourself.

The number correspondences are indeed Lo5, but the Tree of Life is surprisingly resiliant when it comes to structuring different aspects of thought or existence. 

I must add, however... have you ever taken Lo5 as deeply as he suggests?  The main point he's trying to make is that (in this model) there are 4 states of existence, with Intelligent Rational thought (Rauch) only being the second highest, just above Animal Thought.  But your brain is so powerful it gets in the way of seeing the next two states.  So you use high volumes of highly concentrated Lo5, and overload Rauch completly. 

It's like the classic musical example of Eno versus Fripp.  Eno decided to try not to learn, and to even unlearn anything about music theory, or what songs "should" sound like, so he could create from a blank slate; it took him years to get to that point.  Fripp decided to learn every single thing he could about music theory, so the entirety of options were available to him.  They both reached the same goal, but went about it in different ways.

So, you could say that some kinds of "Zen" meditation are aimed at emptying the mind, which when stilled, allows for enlightenment.  Conversley, Kaballah mounts a DOS attack on the rational parts of the brain, which collapses, allowing for enlightenment.

As to your second question, Lon never really tried to pass Rabbi Clifford off as a real person.  The tongue-in-cheek-ness points to Lon using LBC as a device rather than a hoax.  Add to that Lon actually being a scholar and adept in esoteric mysticism rather than a hack trying to create a pastiche of new-age Noble-Savageness, and I think you'll understand why I don't really equate the two.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on March 17, 2009, 02:03:45 PM
Didn't Castaenda also use Don Juan as part of his Ph.D thesis?

Slightly different things, IMO.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cramulus on March 17, 2009, 02:13:01 PM
Castaneda was awarded both his bachelors and doctorate based on his first three books, which he wrote while he was an anthro student at UCLA. I agree that Don Juan probably wasn't a real dude, and yeah Castaneda made some scratch and prestige from book sales. But I still think that's kind of immaterial, sort of like the validity of the new testament being contingent on the physical reality of Jesus' existence.

Anyway, I'm really intrigued by the notion of zen and cabalah as opposite ends of the spectrum. Zen is unloading, Cabalah is overloading. Maybe it's time to quest through that stuff again - but I still feel kind of rationally anchored. Will have to think on this further.

Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on March 17, 2009, 02:19:42 PM
Does that mean that you'd put the Celestine Prophecy on the same footing as Ashtanga Yoga?
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on March 17, 2009, 02:24:39 PM
Lets put it this way.  When we had to submit proposals for our M.A. thesis', I suggested a paper called The Neorealism of Mordor: Balancing and Bandwagoning in Middle Earth.  My submission tutor told me "no, just no."  I argued that while the setting was, of course, invented, Neorealism and bandwagoning and so on were real phenomena.  To which he replied "do you want me to fail you for this course right now?  Because I could do that."

So, yeah.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cramulus on March 17, 2009, 02:28:12 PM
Quote from: LMNO on March 17, 2009, 02:19:42 PM
Does that mean that you'd put the Celestine Prophecy on the same footing as Ashtanga Yoga?

I haven't read either, so I'm likely missing some nuance.

But if I felt both had a positive effect on my life, or stirred me into thinking in a new way, then yes.


Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on March 17, 2009, 02:29:23 PM
Anyway, I don't want to get into a shouting match over a Brazilian fraud.  I'd rather keep talking about Kaballah.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cramulus on March 17, 2009, 02:36:35 PM
fair enough. I think we're gonna have to agree to disagree anyway. I'm glad to have heard your opinion in a less flippant dismissive manner.  :p


Anyway, what's a good way to begin towards this overload? Does it require memorizing all the numeric correspondences? Should I get a thick cabalah dictionary and reference all the time? Is it something like how with tarot you need to start with a question and then build from there?
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on March 17, 2009, 02:50:21 PM
Well, if you really want to do it, it takes a fair amount of work.  I'd pretty much follow Lon's book:

1. Learn the hebrew alphabet
2. Learn the numbers associated
3. Learn the correspondences of the letters
4. Learn the correspondences of the Tree of life (both the spheres and the paths)
5. Learn the correspondences of the Tarot to the Tree, the alphabet, the zodiac, etc
6. Memorize them all
7. Start making connections

Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: 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."
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: P3nT4gR4m on March 18, 2009, 01:25:28 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."

Could it be, as I've suspected for some time, that this man is single-handedly responsible for the whole attitude of the modern atheist movement?
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on March 18, 2009, 01:34:34 PM
Probably.

It's funny; most of the "enlightened" sages, prophets, seers, and saints, when you boil down their rantings and explanations, say something to the effect of "God is all; it is the Universe, and the laws of the Universe; All is One, and that is God." Dawkins rejects this.

He then goes on to defend the scientist's use of the word "religion", in that they are invariably describing their "religion" as the wonderment of the Universe as a whole, the stunning idea that we are all connected, at the simplicity and beauty of the laws that govern Nature, etc.


From where I'm standing, they're talking about the same thing, pretty much.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cramulus on March 18, 2009, 02:35:10 PM
did you see the South Park where Eric goes into the future to discover that religion has been crushed, and now all the wars are about which sect of Atheism is better?

I love how they celebrate the teachings of Richard Dawkins:  "It's not enough to be right. You also have to be a dick about it."

Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on March 18, 2009, 02:43:10 PM
No shit?

I swear, those infantile morons are fucking geniuses.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Xooxe on March 18, 2009, 03:30:08 PM
Quote from: LMNO on March 18, 2009, 11:57:51 AMMore on line with the original post, I'm reading The God Delusion, and I have to say that Dawkins is kind of a jackass.

I'm generally ignoring his moral crusade. Love his biology books though.

Quote from: LMNO on March 18, 2009, 01:34:34 PMIt's funny; most of the "enlightened" sages, prophets, seers, and saints, when you boil down their rantings and explanations, say something to the effect of "God is all; it is the Universe, and the laws of the Universe; All is One, and that is God." Dawkins rejects this.

I've got a bunch of friends who are pretty much hardcore muslim. They're really bright and it's brilliant having conversations about philosophy with them, until it comes to putting a name to the subject and they're like "NO, it's called ALLAH!"

:lulz: "Finnnnnnne, we'll stick with Allah then."
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on March 18, 2009, 03:34:06 PM
Duquette has a line about this.  I'll see if I can find it.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: 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"
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on March 18, 2009, 03:48:59 PM
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!"
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Thurnez Isa on March 18, 2009, 03:53:51 PM
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
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: That One Guy on March 18, 2009, 05:34:30 PM
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.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Suu on March 24, 2009, 12:33:42 AM
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.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Corvidia on March 24, 2009, 12:41:52 AM
Terry Pratchett's Feet of Clay. One of the very best of his works, along with Small Gods.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Dr Goofy on March 24, 2009, 12:52:24 AM
The Empowered Manager

Somebody shoot me!
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: 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.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Bu🤠ns on March 24, 2009, 04:15:51 AM
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.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Dr Goofy on March 24, 2009, 02:17:31 PM
Join the empowered mangers of the world? That is the plan but IDK how long i will last with my crazy ideas.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Corvidia on March 24, 2009, 08:59:21 PM
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
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on March 24, 2009, 09:24:53 PM
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.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Kai on March 24, 2009, 11:40:52 PM
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.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: A.N. Other on March 25, 2009, 03:49:11 PM
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.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Richter on March 25, 2009, 06:24:59 PM
Intro to I Ching
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Reeducation on March 26, 2009, 12:11:15 PM
Ayn Rand : Atlas Shrugged

Huxley : The Doors of Perception and Heaven and Hell
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: VIDEODROME on March 27, 2009, 08:06:11 AM
Philip K. Dick     A Scanner Darkly
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on March 27, 2009, 01:55:28 PM
I just started Reich's "Mass Psychology of Facism."

Another good model to incorporate. 
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on March 27, 2009, 02:10:10 PM
You should read Anti-Oedipus by Deleuze and Guattari after that.  Its a critique of Freudo-Marxism that builds on Reich and R.D. Laing to try and explain the appeal of fascism, among many other things.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on March 27, 2009, 02:13:01 PM
I really need to find a copy of "listen, little man!"  I had a copy once, and of course I lent it to a friend...



Now I have no friends, and my books are safe.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on March 27, 2009, 02:25:02 PM
Canada provides

http://wikilivres.info/wiki/Listen,_Little_Man!
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on March 27, 2009, 02:31:46 PM
"There is currently no text in this page, you can search for this page title in other pages or edit this page. "



CANADAAAAAA!
  \
:argh!:
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on March 27, 2009, 02:36:33 PM
The exclamation mark is meant to be part of the URL  :argh!:
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on March 27, 2009, 02:38:16 PM
OFUK!



Cain just gave me a boner.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on March 27, 2009, 02:42:17 PM
Copied, and soon to be Kindled.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Honey on March 28, 2009, 11:10:32 PM
I like Listen, Little Man.  Timely to re-read now.  Thanks.

QuoteYou knew better how to win your freedom than how to safeguard it for yourself and others.

The less you understand, the more ready you are to give reverence.

This is why I am afraid of you Little Man, deadly afraid. For on you depends the fate of humanity I am afraid of you because there is nothing you flee as much from as yourself. You are sick, very sick, Little Man. It is not your fault. But it is your responsibility to rid yourself of this sickness. You would have long since shaken off your oppressors had you not tolerated oppression and often actively supported it. No police force in the world would be powerful enough to suppress you if you had only a mite of self-respect in practical everyday living, if you knew, deep down, that without you life would not go on for even an hour. Did your liberator tell you that? No. He called you the 'Proletarian of the World', but he did not tell you that you, and only you, are responsible for your life (instead of being responsible for the 'honor of the fatherland')
-Listen, Little Man! written by Wilhelm Reich, translated by Theodore P. Wolfe 
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mangrove on March 31, 2009, 09:47:59 PM
Cosmos & Psyche by R. Tarnas
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Iason Ouabache on March 31, 2009, 10:26:16 PM
"Your Inner Fish: A Journey into the 3.5-Billion-Year History of the Human Body" by Neil Shubin.  It's dry but interesting, like a fine brandy.  I now know more about tetrapod anatomy than I ever cared to.  It's still a good book though. 
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: on April 01, 2009, 01:23:49 AM
Just finished Neil Stephensons Baroque Trilogy.

Moving on to God Emperor of Dune.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Xooxe on April 01, 2009, 06:28:33 PM
Quote from: LMNO on March 18, 2009, 03:48:59 PM
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!"

That makes a lot of sense. Do you know if that's pretty well known to muslims in general?

Quote from: Cain on March 27, 2009, 02:10:10 PM
You should read Anti-Oedipus by Deleuze and Guattari after that.  Its a critique of Freudo-Marxism that builds on Reich and R.D. Laing to try and explain the appeal of fascism, among many other things.

I'll have to give this a read too. Thank you.

Quote from: LMNO on March 27, 2009, 02:13:01 PM
I really need to find a copy of "listen, little man!"  I had a copy once, and of course I lent it to a friend...

Now I have no friends, and my books are safe.

I lent mine to my girlfriend and she ran away with it. I hope they're happy together.

At least she read it. I hate lending books if no one bothers and then keeps them.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on April 01, 2009, 06:54:23 PM
Quote from: Xooxe on April 01, 2009, 06:28:33 PM
Quote from: LMNO on March 18, 2009, 03:48:59 PM
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!"

That makes a lot of sense. Do you know if that's pretty well known to muslims in general?


I do not know the stats on how many Muslims also study Jewish Kaballah.  Offhand, I'd say "very few".
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Jasper on April 02, 2009, 05:51:19 PM
Holy fucking shit.  I just got the latest Sony e-Reader, and it is so god damn excellent.

I already have a dozen or two of Roger's rants on it.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cainad (dec.) on April 02, 2009, 06:57:06 PM
So the e-reader has good PDF support?

I may have to get one of these things.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Jasper on April 02, 2009, 07:06:05 PM
It does.  They're hard to read unformatted, but when you increase the magnification, the eReader just parses the text and displays it as magnified plaintext for you.  There are some instances where the word formatting doesn't work perfectly, so instead I can just use the zoom feature and get an actual closeup. 

So, yeah, it does PDFs pretty well.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: fomenter on April 02, 2009, 07:51:35 PM
Quote from: fomenter on March 16, 2009, 06:42:24 PM
i have a Sony 505 and love it, it does have some problems with certain pdf's and i am still looking for the conversion tricks to fix them, but so far i have been able to read W/o converting or convert 98% of the books i have tried.

if you find a good solution for the small % that is tough to convert let me know...

this will convert most troublesome pdfs easily and make them readable http://btjunkie.org/torrent/pdflrfwin-0-99-PDF-to-LRF-Converter-for-Sony-Reader-pdflrf/448665a738cec7e413e4773deb94f5098b19787e58e7
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Richter on April 02, 2009, 07:53:29 PM
I just got PDF viewing going on the iPod touch.  I could do with a slightly larger screen / device, but it's still good though.  
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Pariah on April 02, 2009, 08:27:41 PM
The Gunslinger.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Bebek Sincap Ratatosk on April 02, 2009, 08:58:33 PM
Someone just bought me a gift book :)

It's The Prankster and the Conspiracy, the biography of Kerry Thornley. I'm about 5 chapters in and I can say:

Kerry was bonkers.

(at least in some sense ;-) )



Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Triple Zero on April 02, 2009, 11:18:33 PM
Quote from: fomenter on March 09, 2009, 04:00:37 PM
i am still looking for a working pdf to text converter... so far the freeware i have tried doesn't work and the demo versions of commercial software either don't work or are so restricted it is impossible to tell if they work, if any body knows of a good program i would love to hear it, i am tired of seizing up my computer testing junk freeware and wasting my time testing commercial software that is to restricted to test..

this is what I did for two books to read on my mobile thingy:

- mailed the PDF to my gmail account
- "view attachment as HTML"
- saved the HTML
- transfer to device
- read with any kind of proper browser thing on the device

but, YMMV.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: -Kel- on April 02, 2009, 11:22:43 PM
I'm actually only reading text books right now and could use some good ficton. Any suggestions?
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Kai on April 04, 2009, 12:39:25 AM
Reading How to Watch Television News by Neil Postman and Steve Powers.

Cf. 4 Arguments for the Elimination of Television by Jerry Mander
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Corvidia on April 04, 2009, 02:19:55 AM
Man in the High Castle--Philip K. Dick
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Kai on April 04, 2009, 02:49:22 PM
Finished How to Watch TV News.

Synopsis: This book is about watching news in the same way that How to Read Comics is about reading comics. Its so much more than that. My earlier comparison to 4 Arguments was apt. This is the book Jerry Mander would have wrote, had he written it today, with a good sense of humor and satire, and with the understanding that television is not going away.

Conclusion: Read it, if not to be informed, then for its similarity to how people talk around here. Powers and Postman put the issue in a frame that discordian-leaning people can identify with.

Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: BADGE OF HONOR on April 05, 2009, 10:08:25 AM
Just started Regenesis by CJ Cherryh and it's already fantastic.  I don't understand how nobody's heard of her, she's definitely the best sci fi writer I've ever read.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on April 05, 2009, 02:43:25 PM
I'm reading The Runaway : The Chronicles of a Spy in Medieval Europe during the Reign of Louis XI of France by Thierry Bontoux.  Its research for my own fantasy deconstruction story I've mentioned before.  I only hope he put as much research into espionage as he seems to have of the political situation in France at the time.

Quote from: BADGE OF HONOR on April 05, 2009, 10:08:25 AM
Just started Regenesis by CJ Cherryh and it's already fantastic.  I don't understand how nobody's heard of her, she's definitely the best sci fi writer I've ever read.

Sounds like a recommendation to me.  A few of her books seem to be on Demonoid, though I cannot see Regenesis among them.  Either way, I'll certainly check her stuff out
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: fomenter on April 05, 2009, 07:02:06 PM
just finished - the easy way to stop smoking    by allen carr

Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: BADGE OF HONOR on April 05, 2009, 10:21:10 PM
Quote from: Cain on April 05, 2009, 02:43:25 PM
I'm reading The Runaway : The Chronicles of a Spy in Medieval Europe during the Reign of Louis XI of France by Thierry Bontoux.  Its research for my own fantasy deconstruction story I've mentioned before.  I only hope he put as much research into espionage as he seems to have of the political situation in France at the time.

Quote from: BADGE OF HONOR on April 05, 2009, 10:08:25 AM
Just started Regenesis by CJ Cherryh and it's already fantastic.  I don't understand how nobody's heard of her, she's definitely the best sci fi writer I've ever read.

Sounds like a recommendation to me.  A few of her books seem to be on Demonoid, though I cannot see Regenesis among them.  Either way, I'll certainly check her stuff out

It's a sequel, you have to read at minimum Cyteen and ideally Downbelow Station and Merchanter's Luck to really understand what's going on.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on April 05, 2009, 10:48:27 PM
Amazingly, I have downloaded...none of those books at all.

All I've found is:

Forty Thousand in Gehenna
Hestia
Rider at the Gate
The Goblin Mirror
Finity's End
Serpent's Reach
Tripoint
The Sword of Knowlegde - Omnibus

Oh, and the Foreigners series, which I'll download if I like the above.  If I ever get around to reading them.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: BADGE OF HONOR on April 06, 2009, 03:15:01 AM
Forty Thousand in Gehenna: part of Cyteen universe, very good
Hestia: never heard of it
Rider at the Gate: not part of that universe, but good
The Goblin Mirror: haven't read it, probably bad
Finity's End: part of that universe, good, will help you understand what's happened
Serpent's Reach: can't remember if I've read it
Tripoint: part of Cyteen universe
The Sword of Knowlegde - Omnibus: I think I've read some of it, it's bad

She's not a very good fantasy author, unfortunately.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: BADGE OF HONOR on April 06, 2009, 03:16:29 AM
Actually when I said Merchanter's Luck I actually meant Finity's End.  I'm not sure how much you'd be able to understand without reading Downbelow Station though.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: on April 07, 2009, 07:28:39 PM
Fucking trashed God Emperor of Doom.

Just finished:

Hells Angels by Hunter S. Thompson (my favorite of his so far)

&

American Gods by Neil Gaiman (much much better than Neverwhere)

Working up the balls to start on Gravity's Rainbow
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Corvidia on April 09, 2009, 09:28:12 AM
Quote from: Z³ on April 07, 2009, 07:28:39 PM

American Gods by Neil Gaiman (much much better than Neverwhere)
Agreed.
Quote from: Z³ on April 07, 2009, 07:28:39 PM
Working up the balls to start on Gravity's Rainbow
:lol: GOOOD LUCK! I got halfway through it and I haven't ballsed up enough again to finish it. It's pretty daunting.

Slogging through Twilight again.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on April 09, 2009, 08:11:46 PM
Quote from: BADGE OF HONOR on April 06, 2009, 03:15:01 AM
Forty Thousand in Gehenna: part of Cyteen universe, very good
Hestia: never heard of it
Rider at the Gate: not part of that universe, but good
The Goblin Mirror: haven't read it, probably bad
Finity's End: part of that universe, good, will help you understand what's happened
Serpent's Reach: can't remember if I've read it
Tripoint: part of Cyteen universe
The Sword of Knowlegde - Omnibus: I think I've read some of it, it's bad

She's not a very good fantasy author, unfortunately.

Yeah, I decided to check her via TVTropes and they said her sci-fi stuff is certainly better.  Apparently she does the whole "aliens who are actually alien, not humans with silly names and special powers" thing quite well.

Looks like I'll be starting with the Cyteen universe stuff then.  Thanks!

QuoteSlogging through Twilight again.

Damn, I really need to get on with this as well.  Difficult, when I have books on fascism and political psychology begging to be read.  Argh.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on April 10, 2009, 01:14:03 AM
I just started The Emperor of Scent and then Pride, Prejudice, and Zombies arrived! Now I'm so torn.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Corvidia on April 11, 2009, 07:01:58 AM
I've dropped it for the time being. There's only so many times I can deal with sparkling vampires before I want to pluck my own eye balls out.


Swapped to The Essential Rumi. I loooove Rumi so it's a fantastic change.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Pariah on April 11, 2009, 08:03:57 PM
Cold Mountain
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cainad (dec.) on April 12, 2009, 07:12:38 AM
Quote from: Cain on April 09, 2009, 08:11:46 PM
Quote from: BADGE OF HONOR on April 06, 2009, 03:15:01 AM
Forty Thousand in Gehenna: part of Cyteen universe, very good
Hestia: never heard of it
Rider at the Gate: not part of that universe, but good
The Goblin Mirror: haven't read it, probably bad
Finity's End: part of that universe, good, will help you understand what's happened
Serpent's Reach: can't remember if I've read it
Tripoint: part of Cyteen universe
The Sword of Knowlegde - Omnibus: I think I've read some of it, it's bad

She's not a very good fantasy author, unfortunately.

Yeah, I decided to check her via TVTropes and they said her sci-fi stuff is certainly better.  Apparently she does the whole "aliens who are actually alien, not humans with silly names and special powers" thing quite well.


Indeed. In the Chanur Saga, one species of alien has a multipart brain and only speaks in seven-part matrix sentences, so even when the words are translated it's still barely intelligible. Another species can't be communicated with at all, but still engages in trade.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Requia ☣ on April 14, 2009, 05:56:15 PM
Quote from: BADGE OF HONOR on April 06, 2009, 03:15:01 AM
Forty Thousand in Gehenna: part of Cyteen universe, very good
Hestia: never heard of it
Rider at the Gate: not part of that universe, but good
The Goblin Mirror: haven't read it, probably bad
Finity's End: part of that universe, good, will help you understand what's happened
Serpent's Reach: can't remember if I've read it
Tripoint: part of Cyteen universe
The Sword of Knowlegde - Omnibus: I think I've read some of it, it's bad

She's not a very good fantasy author, unfortunately.

Started reading Cyteen, (along with The Prince and Learning Perl), its good, if a tiny bit dry (though given my other reading habits right now...).
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Sister_Gothique on April 15, 2009, 10:55:00 PM
Let's see..since I last posted: Finished the third book in the White Rose series (I actually liked it a lot)....Good Omens (LOVED it)...poked at Dune and am probably going to move onto End Of The Century by Chris Roberson.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Epimetheus on April 18, 2009, 04:11:35 AM
I'm reading Stranger in a Strange Land, and also reading Slaughterhouse-Five. I am loving both.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Bu🤠ns on April 18, 2009, 05:29:12 PM
Aghora: At the Left Hand of God - Robert Svoboda - first volume.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Xooxe on April 19, 2009, 02:01:13 AM
I'm going to read Romance of the Three Kingdoms soon (Cain kind of set the ball rolling by talking about it before.)

I bumped into a two-part Chinese film called Red Cliff which is based on part of the book. Both are on youtube (watch in HD to see subs), and I didn't think they were too bad. The music was pretty crap in places and it gets too sentimental but it was actually alright.

Can't wait to read the books.

http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=DC1978DBF9202E54 (http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=DC1978DBF9202E54)
http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=4DFB0C4AA203A507 (http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=4DFB0C4AA203A507)
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: leonard koan on April 19, 2009, 06:40:33 PM
i'm reading the first part of michael moorcock's pyat series of books, Byzantium Endures  :? in the wake of a failed attempt at reading Pynchon's exhaustive and exhausting Gravity's Rainbow, i like his (pynchon's) style and a lot of his humour ("a SNAFU for Rocketman"), but after 5 weeks of trundling through it, i decided it wasn't for me (sometimes i still pick it up from where i left off and read a few pages- maybe in a year i'll have actually finsihed it, if the book hasn't fallen apart). though the crying of lot 49 was fucking ace, which i read previously, and which was the impetus for me picking up gravity's rainbow :? which is about a writer who compiles the writings of an unreliable and opnionated russian expat, up to and (in the other books i hear) during the war.

Drew

Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: leonard koan on April 19, 2009, 06:56:46 PM
i'm actually looking for a good modern british writer who deals with esoteric knowledge much in the style of umberto eco or pynchon, i know moorcock deals with this sort of stuff, but he seems to be the only one. good modern british writers are few and far between. please don't mention will self...he's not my tea, he really doesn't do taste for me.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: on April 22, 2009, 07:24:18 PM
Well, i 'm maybe a quarter of the way through Gravitys Rainbow and I have to take a break, I has job now, and also my local library has a couple books on hold for me. So for now I'm going to read Grimscribe, His Lives and Works by Thomas Ligotti, and I'll try to pick up on Gravitys Rainbow in a couple weeks (the annual Berkshire Hathaway stockholders meeting is coming up, and its a pretty busy time for all the restaraunts downtown here, so next week is going to be fucking crazy for me.)

So far, I like Gravitys Rainbow, but I DO see what all the fuss is about.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Pariah on May 03, 2009, 12:59:53 AM
Kingdom of Fear-Hunter S Thompson
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on May 04, 2009, 03:29:34 PM
Quote from: Felix on June 03, 2008, 06:20:26 PM
Now reading Ciaphas Cain: Hero of the Imperium by Sandy Mitchell

It's funny how like Episkopos Cain the main character is.

As my change in name suggests, I have managed to locate and download some of those books.

Oh dear.  This may result in me being even more me-like than I was before.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: popjellyfish on May 04, 2009, 11:15:14 PM
Accelerado by Charles Stross, and Jingo by Pratchett. It's been awhile since I've read a novel... enjoying.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: megatron on May 09, 2009, 05:08:52 AM
The Master and Margarita. It's super fantastic, at least the forty pages I've gotten through. My attention span has been dwindling.

Quote from: leonard koan on April 19, 2009, 06:40:33 PM
in the wake of a failed attempt at reading Pynchon's exhaustive and exhausting Gravity's Rainbow, i like his (pynchon's) style and a lot of his humour ("a SNAFU for Rocketman"), but after 5 weeks of trundling through it, i decided it wasn't for me (sometimes i still pick it up from where i left off and read a few pages- maybe in a year i'll have actually finsihed it, if the book hasn't fallen apart). though the crying of lot 49 was fucking ace, which i read previously, and which was the impetus for me picking up gravity's rainbow :? which is about a writer who compiles the writings of an unreliable and opnionated russian expat, up to and (in the other books i hear) during the war.
I loved the Crying of Lot 49! A friend of mine and I had a challenge of sorts to finish Gravity's Rainbow by the end of the year but I think we both kind of forgot.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: BADGE OF HONOR on May 09, 2009, 05:12:31 AM
The Madness Season by CS Friedman.  It has vampires and aliens and yet still works.   :?
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on May 12, 2009, 06:43:39 PM
The Modern Prince - Carnes Lord
Nietzsche's Machiavellian Politics - Don Dombowsky
Mercenaries: The History of an International Norm - Sarah Percy
Plan Like a Grandmaster - Alexei Seutin
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: AFK on May 20, 2009, 03:10:05 PM
I've been reading the Book of Subgenius again.  It was initially thereputic reading while I was going through the turmoil surrounding my job.  I almost wish there was a book that split the difference between that and the PD.  The Book of Subenius is great until it goes into all of that stuff about the aliens and 1998.  The PD is great when it isn't so obsessed with being jokey. 
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on May 20, 2009, 04:55:59 PM
I think that book is called "The Thief of Time"
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on May 20, 2009, 05:01:03 PM
Quote from: Rev. What's-His-Name? on May 20, 2009, 03:10:05 PM
I've been reading the Book of Subgenius again.  It was initially thereputic reading while I was going through the turmoil surrounding my job.  I almost wish there was a book that split the difference between that and the PD.  The Book of Subenius is great until it goes into all of that stuff about the aliens and 1998.  The PD is great when it isn't so obsessed with being jokey. 
Quote from: Cain on May 20, 2009, 04:55:59 PM
I think that book is called "The Thief of Time"

:potd:
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Rococo Modem Basilisk on May 20, 2009, 06:27:47 PM
I'm rereading Mona Lisa Overdrive for the nth time. I'm also partway through Flow My Tears the Policeman Said.

I have taken to the habit of making copious yet cryptic notes in my books while reading, because for one thing, I occasionally pick up on something subtle in one reading that I may not get at all in another (especially word choice trends), and for another, occasionally I pick up on something that ends up on later readings to seem to be an entirely illusitory connection. By making notes and making them cryptic, I benefit from both. In this rereading of Mona Lisa Overdrive, I've taken this to the next step, colour coding words with coloured pencils on my hardcopy categorizing by metaphor system.

I intend to get back to reading Games People Play and Blood Music (which I was nearly finished with when I stopped reading it... I just never got back to it).
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cramulus on May 20, 2009, 06:44:20 PM
that's a cool idea. I'm a notorious note-taker in margins. That's why I often prefer printouts to actual books - you feel less bad about marking them, crossing stuff out, getting in arguments in the margins.

I'm a big fan of Flow My Tears. I read it on a PKD binge that DCup set me on two years ago.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on May 20, 2009, 06:45:43 PM
The Kindle has a keyboard where you can type your notes out.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Rococo Modem Basilisk on May 20, 2009, 07:32:23 PM
I'm not particularly far in Flow My Tears. PKD's writing style gets on my nerves a lot... It is very much early-60s scifi style, which is one of the two things I usually try very hard to avoid in sci fi (the other being post-singularity stuff so out there that it more closely resembles fantasy -- nanomachines that do everything or become everything being one of the staples). PKD's stuff is awesome if you can get through it, though.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on May 24, 2009, 04:40:52 PM
I'm downloading copes of "Republic", which is apparently "the Patriot Movement magazine" (obviously got tired of the Ron Paul Survival Report).

Hilarity will no doubt ensue, as I read page after page blaming "international bankers" of a certain ethnicity being the source of all our woes, and how trust in the Lord Jesus Christ can restore a racially pure America.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Rococo Modem Basilisk on May 24, 2009, 05:10:30 PM
Downloaded and read The Filth yesterday, in one sitting. Needless to say, my dreams were pretty fucked up last night.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Bu🤠ns on May 24, 2009, 05:34:18 PM
Was it the black sperms?  Or the Giant ones? 
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Rococo Modem Basilisk on May 24, 2009, 05:38:03 PM
Actually, it was the space monkeys and the garbage trucks with teeth. And Tony, the dying cat.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Epimetheus on June 07, 2009, 11:18:58 PM
Quote from: Enki-][ on May 24, 2009, 05:10:30 PM
Downloaded and read The Filth yesterday, in one sitting. Needless to say, my dreams were pretty fucked up last night.

Nice! I didn't get to experience that after reading... :sad:
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Epimetheus on June 07, 2009, 11:19:46 PM
Anyway, I just starting reading Steppenwolf by Hesse.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: The Wizard on June 08, 2009, 03:59:48 AM
I'm reading Imajica by Clive Barker.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: The Good Reverend Roger on June 08, 2009, 04:03:51 AM
Fucking users manual for this new "Zune" thingie.

All this shit for a fucking walkman?  WTF?
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: The Wizard on June 08, 2009, 04:15:49 AM
Don't bother with the User's manual. Just figure it out as you go along. Much easier and much, much more interesting.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: The Good Reverend Roger on June 08, 2009, 04:24:26 AM
Quote from: Dr. James Semaj on June 08, 2009, 04:15:49 AM
Don't bother with the User's manual. Just figure it out as you go along. Much easier and much, much more interesting.

I'm STILL waiting for the fucking laptop software to download.  And I have a fucking CABLE MODEM.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: The Wizard on June 08, 2009, 04:24:56 AM
Them's the breaks.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Rococo Modem Basilisk on June 08, 2009, 04:29:43 AM
I finished Thud, and tried Hyperion again. Found out why it was so hard to get into: it's based on canterbury tales, which not only cannot I read the original (I don't speak middle english), but I have found almost all the modern-day adaptations I've come across horribly difficult to get into as well.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: The Good Reverend Roger on June 08, 2009, 04:35:57 AM
Quote from: Dr. James Semaj on June 08, 2009, 04:24:56 AM
Them's the breaks.

Them's the asswipes at Microsoft who decided not to fucking zip the file.

They are the FIRST bastards against the wall, come the revolution.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Rococo Modem Basilisk on June 08, 2009, 04:41:01 AM
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on June 08, 2009, 04:35:57 AM

Them's the asswipes at Microsoft who decided not to fucking zip the file.

They are the FIRST bastards against the wall, come the revolution.

I'm pretty sure Microsoft employees are among the primary targets for most revolutionary efforts. You may do well to make an alliance.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: The Wizard on June 08, 2009, 04:51:25 AM
QuoteI'm pretty sure Microsoft employees are among the primary targets for most revolutionary efforts. You may do well to make an alliance.

True. Everyone wants them dead. Call my dad, he'll do the deed himself.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: The Good Reverend Roger on June 08, 2009, 04:56:58 AM
Quote from: Dr. James Semaj on June 08, 2009, 04:51:25 AM
QuoteI'm pretty sure Microsoft employees are among the primary targets for most revolutionary efforts. You may do well to make an alliance.

True. Everyone wants them dead. Call my dad, he'll do the deed himself.

21 minutes remaining.

5 minutes ago, it had 7 minutes remaining.  Those bastards are taking the piss.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: The Wizard on June 08, 2009, 04:58:32 AM
My response is a question mark. ???
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: The Good Reverend Roger on June 08, 2009, 05:04:53 AM
Quote from: Dr. James Semaj on June 08, 2009, 04:58:32 AM
My response is a question mark. ???

KILL THEM!  KILL THEM ALL!
\
:jihaad:
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: The Wizard on June 08, 2009, 05:13:08 AM
Ah. Understood
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on June 08, 2009, 09:18:34 AM
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on June 08, 2009, 04:03:51 AM
Fucking users manual for this new "Zune" thingie.

All this shit for a fucking walkman?  WTF?

Don't you have to pay monthly for that thing?  Some of the features, like being able to buy songs off the radio, seem pretty damn cool, but I have to say, the subscription fee is, for me, a big incentive to not bother.  I'm a pay-as-you-go kinda guy.

Oh yeah, reading.  Um, Andrew J Bacevich's The New American Militarism.

Pretty good, actually.  Bacevich reminds me of that guy who writes for the American Conservative, Daniel Larison.  Seem to have very similar viewpoints on the overreliance on military force as a tool of diplomacy, ie; that it is stupid.  Also doesn't really get caught up in the partisan bullshit that surrounds most foreign policy debates (he disparages both Carter and Reagan, and supported Obama in the last election, and considers himself a Catholic conservative). 
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Triple Zero on June 08, 2009, 12:58:27 PM
Software? That sucks, if you can't simply plug it into your computer just like it's a USBstick or external HD to simply copy MP3s on it, I dont care what features it has but I doesnt need it :)

myself I'm looking at one of these Iriver thingies by Samsumg, as long as they meet this requirement, they're the only ones I've seen that have support for OGG audio (which is what I decided to rip the larger part of my CD collection to, for better quality and because of patent issues with MP3 encoding back in the days)
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on June 08, 2009, 01:11:47 PM
Most of them seem to come with software.  Naturally, the industry giants are the most guilty here.  My Zen player wasn't too bad...install the CD software, plug in the device and the rest is pretty intuitive and obvious to get the music on.  But it could have been less.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Rococo Modem Basilisk on June 08, 2009, 08:58:54 PM
Quote from: Triple Zero on June 08, 2009, 12:58:27 PM
Software? That sucks, if you can't simply plug it into your computer just like it's a USBstick or external HD to simply copy MP3s on it, I dont care what features it has but I doesnt need it :)

On *nix and macs, nearly everything shows up as a USB drive, even if it won't run without software on windows. The exception seems to be anything made by sony and (probably) the zune. That said, Microsoft would have been better off just making the zune show up as a USB drive everywhere except windows -- they are just regulating the market to windows users only, now, and non windows users aren't likely to pay monthly charges so they are just out the potential cash from sales.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Triple Zero on June 09, 2009, 01:25:09 AM
I thought the iPod required a bunch of extra stuff to install as well on *nix, no?
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Rococo Modem Basilisk on June 09, 2009, 02:53:46 AM
I dunno. I've never connected an iPod to any of my machines. That said, even relatively expensive name brand stuff (aside from the Sony one) tends to register as a thumbdrive. I know that the iPod requires some software to do the DRM and iTunes music store crap, but I have no idea whether or not it will play music that hasn't been run through that. Presumably, since the whole thumbdrive thing is quick and easy and pretty standard (and thus, really cheap to design and develop around as a core -- you can have whatever formfactor and interface you want, and just use firmware for rendering the stuff on the flash chip in the desired manner, so my $99 mp3/video/ebook/watch had a system like that despite all the junk that went around it) anybody who doesn't do it is either dumb or has a lot to gain by not being compatible. Microsoft probably believes itself to fall into the latter category. Sony, IMO, falls into the former (hence the otherwise beautiful machine being effectively scrapped and barely heard of these days).
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Iason Ouabache on June 09, 2009, 05:17:10 AM
Quote from: Cain on June 08, 2009, 09:18:34 AM
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on June 08, 2009, 04:03:51 AM
Fucking users manual for this new "Zune" thingie.

All this shit for a fucking walkman?  WTF?

Don't you have to pay monthly for that thing?  Some of the features, like being able to buy songs off the radio, seem pretty damn cool, but I have to say, the subscription fee is, for me, a big incentive to not bother.  I'm a pay-as-you-go kinda guy.
There are options to either download an unlimited* number of songs per month or you can buy them individually for about $.99.  I have never bought a song off of the Zune software ever though. I just download mp3s the usual way and never have any problems putting them on my Zune.


*- You don't get to keep the songs permanently. If you stop your subscription then the songs go bye-bye.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on June 09, 2009, 09:44:30 AM
Quote from: Iason Ouabache on June 09, 2009, 05:17:10 AM
Quote from: Cain on June 08, 2009, 09:18:34 AM
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on June 08, 2009, 04:03:51 AM
Fucking users manual for this new "Zune" thingie.

All this shit for a fucking walkman?  WTF?

Don't you have to pay monthly for that thing?  Some of the features, like being able to buy songs off the radio, seem pretty damn cool, but I have to say, the subscription fee is, for me, a big incentive to not bother.  I'm a pay-as-you-go kinda guy.
There are options to either download an unlimited* number of songs per month or you can buy them individually for about $.99.  I have never bought a song off of the Zune software ever though. I just download mp3s the usual way and never have any problems putting them on my Zune.


*- You don't get to keep the songs permanently. If you stop your subscription then the songs go bye-bye.

Ah.  Yeah, that was what I was thinking of.  Well, so long as the other way is also an option.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Kai on June 16, 2009, 07:22:50 PM
Angel Tech - A Alli
The Sacred Depths of Nature - U Goodenough
Religion is Not About God - L Rue
Dancing With the Sacred - K E Peters
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Thurnez Isa on June 16, 2009, 10:45:02 PM
Death from the Skies by Philip Plaint

just exploring astronomical doomsday scenarios, including alien invasion  :lulz:
only a little in, so far more entertaining then Bad Astronomy, which I enjoyed, so I guess that's kind of an endorsement
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Iason Ouabache on June 17, 2009, 03:08:18 AM
Phil Plaitt is awesome. I haven't had a chance to read "Death from the Skies" yet. I'm waiting to find it in paperback.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Spork on June 17, 2009, 03:38:24 AM
The Loving Dominant (http://www.amazon.co.uk/LOVING-DOMINANT-John-Warren-Libby/dp/1890159727) by John and Libby Warren.

They didn't have BDSM for Idiots at my local love shack, so this was the next best thing.  I figure with the stakes in this scene as high as they are, I'd be better off (and so will she) if I RTFM first.

Details another time...






maybe.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on June 17, 2009, 08:49:55 AM
A Cultural Theory of International Relations by Richard Ned Lebow (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Cultural-Theory-International-Relations/dp/0521691885)

David Kilcullen's Accidental Guerrilla (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Accidental-Guerrilla-Fighting-Small-Midst/dp/1850659559/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1245081486&sr=1-1)

And Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: That One Guy on June 17, 2009, 02:07:22 PM
I just started reading Nixonland, and so far I'm definitely impressed. Should be a good read :mrgreen:
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Xooxe on June 24, 2009, 05:33:55 PM
Months ago, Cain briefly mentioned that the three writers who truly understood the twentieth century were Nietzsche, Foucault, and Kafka.

I've read the first two, but not Kafka, so I've just started reading The Trial. So far it's pretty good.  :)
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Rococo Modem Basilisk on June 24, 2009, 05:37:46 PM
I'm about halfway through Pattern Recognition. I had been avoiding it, since Gibson plus present-day appeared likely to equal fail, but it's not half bad now that I've gotten into it. It seems that he's getting much closer to his roots as an english major trained in postmodern lit-crit as his career as a novelist progresses. That said, I found his prose to actually take a downturn here, but my taste in writing style is apparently very unusual (particularly with the type of critics who review the type of books Gibson writes).
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on June 24, 2009, 05:55:59 PM
Its one of his weaker works, but I like it.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Spork on June 24, 2009, 08:45:08 PM
Revised Plants of the Pacific Northwest Coast (http://www.amazon.com/Plants-Pacific-Northwest-Coast-Washington/dp/1551055309/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1245872320&sr=1-1) by Pojar and Mackinnon, commonly referred to as "Pojar".  I love this book.  I use it as a reference, and also as an escape, remembering flowers I've seen, and noting flowers I will see.

Today, I identified three beautiful white flowers:  Dwarf Dogwood, Coast Boykinia, and Bear-Grass.  I'll try to organize a link to the pictures.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Iason Ouabache on June 24, 2009, 10:08:39 PM
"Saving Darwin: How to Be a Christian and Believe in Evolution" (http://gigapedia.com/items:description?id=133961) By Karl Giberson.  Despite the title, there is very little Christian apologetics. It is mostly about the history of Young Earth Creationism. Interesting facts so far: modern Young Earth Creationism didn't exist until 1961. Before then almost no one disputed the age of the earth, including evangelical Christians. It wasn't until Philip Johnson Henry Morris dusted off an obscure Seventh Day Adventist text that YEC as we know it was born.

Edited for the getting the idiot's name wrong.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Kai on June 24, 2009, 11:17:13 PM
Quote from: Iason Ouabache on June 24, 2009, 10:08:39 PM
"Saving Darwin: How to Be a Christian and Believe in Evolution" (http://gigapedia.com/items:description?id=133961) By Karl Giberson.  Despite the title, there is very little Christian apologetics. It is mostly about the history of Young Earth Creationism. Interesting facts so far: modern Young Earth Creationism didn't exist until 1961. Before then almost no one disputed the age of the earth, including evangelical Christians. It wasn't until Philip Johnson dusted off an obscure Seventh Day Adventist text that YEC as we know it was born.

I've heard of this book, its actually on my reading list. Thanks for sharing.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Requia ☣ on June 25, 2009, 10:08:14 AM
Quote from: Enki-][ on June 08, 2009, 04:41:01 AM
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on June 08, 2009, 04:35:57 AM

Them's the asswipes at Microsoft who decided not to fucking zip the file.

They are the FIRST bastards against the wall, come the revolution.

I'm pretty sure Microsoft employees are among the primary targets for most revolutionary efforts. You may do well to make an alliance.

I have a list of said employees i want to deal with personally.

Unfortunately they're all in fucking India.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: the last yatto on July 03, 2009, 06:35:19 AM
today's book buys
necronomicon (ONLY A FUCKING DOLLAR TOO)
raw- everything is under control (7 bucks)
Douglas Adams- dirk gently's holistic detective agency (bbc radio broadcast)
Sayings of Confucius
Phillip k Dick - Dr. Bloodmoney or, How we got along after the Bomb first in reading que
Steven King- drawing of the three, DTV: Wolves of the Calla, the regulators & the stand (uberlong edition)
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on July 03, 2009, 12:01:01 PM
I preferred the longer version of The Stand.  It added a lot to some of the characters.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on July 03, 2009, 07:49:12 PM
And better written.
Title: (missing post was replaced by picture)
Post by: the last yatto on July 03, 2009, 07:53:02 PM
the stand is bigger then the new international version of the bible (on top)
(http://img197.imageshack.us/img197/7051/img0532quc.jpg) (http://img197.imageshack.us/i/img0532quc.jpg/)

Quote from: Cain on July 03, 2009, 07:49:12 PM
And better written.
:lulz:
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: the last yatto on July 03, 2009, 07:56:57 PM
even better apond showing wip the necronomicon
she goes all "THATS DARKSIDED" and rants about it
after about the 3rd your going to hell, i let her know about ZALGO

ps also got a copy of alice's adventures in wonderland (with illustrations by Jason Alexander) :fap:
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Messier Undertree on July 04, 2009, 09:39:32 PM
The Songs of Distant Earth by Arthur C. Clarke.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: BigBadCalla on July 05, 2009, 06:06:27 AM
"I Am a Strange Loop" by Douglas Hofstadter
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Eater of Clowns on July 05, 2009, 06:20:00 PM
I just started The Sandman by Neil Gaiman.  I was given the unbelievably gorgeous The Absolute Sandman Volume I for my birthday a few months ago, but I've been avoiding opening it because when I finish it the next three volumes are like $90 each.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Rococo Modem Basilisk on July 06, 2009, 07:50:48 PM
I finished Pattern Recognition, and I am nearly finished with The Difference Engine. Both turned out better than expected.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: That One Guy on July 06, 2009, 09:41:53 PM
I'm in the middle of Gravity's Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon. Fascinating book, so many threads, subtexts, paranoias, characters, etc. that it can be ... interesting to keep track of everything on the first read-through. Good stuff, though.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Rococo Modem Basilisk on July 06, 2009, 11:59:17 PM
I started that several times. I should consider getting a dead tree copy.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Telarus on July 07, 2009, 11:29:28 AM
Halfway through Colbert's I'm America, and So Can You.

Idea- wire a fairly loud speaker into a copy (I would try to go slim-line or you'll end up cutting out paper) which you could preload some good expressive Colbertisms, set the book out in public in a strange location or situation, say upright in the middle of the sidewalk. Make it loud enough that someone standing next to it would feel self conscious at the attention.

Play loud Colbertisms whenever someone reaches for the book or picks it up until they put it down again.


?????

Profit.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Bu🤠ns on July 07, 2009, 02:02:49 PM
 :lulz:




The Book of Pleasure - AOS

Let's paraphrase the Tao Te Ching and other eastern texts into the western tradition and the most unintelligible victorian language imaginable and expand 3 or 4 basic ideas into 30 some odd pages.  :argh!:
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Scribbly on July 09, 2009, 03:16:32 PM
Science and Sanity by Alfred Korzybski.

It's pretty heavy going. But I think I'm starting to get into it. His writing style really doesn't help his message though.

Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Rococo Modem Basilisk on July 09, 2009, 08:00:36 PM
I finished The Difference Engine and now I'm working on The Tao of Physics.

Squid, where did you find Science and Sanity? I really want to read it.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Scribbly on July 09, 2009, 08:24:27 PM
I bought it... cost me an arm and a leg too.  :x

There might be a way to get it, though, but I'm not sure about that so if anyone wants a link I'll PM it to them.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Bu🤠ns on July 09, 2009, 09:25:11 PM
I have it i'll send it ask for it via pm's.....I must warn....it's like 900 some page that could probably be condensed down into like 30.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Kai on July 10, 2009, 06:37:34 PM
Still working through Angel Tech. Also, went back and picked up B Frantzis - Opening the Energy Gates of Your Body. I'm doing an analytical read this time, with the 8-circuit system in mind and seeing chi work as psychosomatics. Still working through L Rue - Religion is not about God.

Also reading:

Spinoza - Works
J Lockwood - Six-Legged Soldiers: Using Insects as Weapons of War
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Bu🤠ns on July 10, 2009, 08:20:15 PM
Quote from: Kai on July 10, 2009, 06:37:34 PM
Still working through Angel Tech. Also, went back and picked up B Frantzis - Opening the Energy Gates of Your Body. I'm doing an analytical read this time, with the 8-circuit system in mind and seeing chi work as psychosomatics. Still working through L Rue - Religion is not about God.

Also reading:

Spinoza - Works
J Lockwood - Six-Legged Soldiers: Using Insects as Weapons of War

Do you have anything to add about Angel Tech?
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Kai on July 10, 2009, 10:08:47 PM
Quote from: B_R|S on July 10, 2009, 08:20:15 PM
Quote from: Kai on July 10, 2009, 06:37:34 PM
Still working through Angel Tech. Also, went back and picked up B Frantzis - Opening the Energy Gates of Your Body. I'm doing an analytical read this time, with the 8-circuit system in mind and seeing chi work as psychosomatics. Still working through L Rue - Religion is not about God.

Also reading:

Spinoza - Works
J Lockwood - Six-Legged Soldiers: Using Insects as Weapons of War

Do you have anything to add about Angel Tech?

One of the most useful books "I've ever read" (as I'm still reading it). Based on Leary's 8-circuit system of consciousness, it aims to provide a system for reprograming your robotic nature and selecting your reality. I should also say that Ratatosk actually went to the trouble of purchasing it for me, and I subsequently suggested it to Richter and several other people.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Bu🤠ns on July 10, 2009, 10:14:26 PM
Quote from: Kai on July 10, 2009, 10:08:47 PM
Quote from: B_R|S on July 10, 2009, 08:20:15 PM
Quote from: Kai on July 10, 2009, 06:37:34 PM
Still working through Angel Tech. Also, went back and picked up B Frantzis - Opening the Energy Gates of Your Body. I'm doing an analytical read this time, with the 8-circuit system in mind and seeing chi work as psychosomatics. Still working through L Rue - Religion is not about God.

Also reading:

Spinoza - Works
J Lockwood - Six-Legged Soldiers: Using Insects as Weapons of War

Do you have anything to add about Angel Tech?

One of the most useful books "I've ever read" (as I'm still reading it). Based on Leary's 8-circuit system of consciousness, it aims to provide a system for reprograming your robotic nature and selecting your reality. I should also say that Ratatosk actually went to the trouble of purchasing it for me, and I subsequently suggested it to Richter and several other people.

Oh i read it twice. :) i was just wondering if you had any opinions about it.  I'm also curious as to how it works within your model of emergence.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Kai on July 11, 2009, 07:51:06 PM
Quote from: B_R|S on July 10, 2009, 10:14:26 PM
Quote from: Kai on July 10, 2009, 10:08:47 PM
Quote from: B_R|S on July 10, 2009, 08:20:15 PM
Quote from: Kai on July 10, 2009, 06:37:34 PM
Still working through Angel Tech. Also, went back and picked up B Frantzis - Opening the Energy Gates of Your Body. I'm doing an analytical read this time, with the 8-circuit system in mind and seeing chi work as psychosomatics. Still working through L Rue - Religion is not about God.

Also reading:

Spinoza - Works
J Lockwood - Six-Legged Soldiers: Using Insects as Weapons of War

Do you have anything to add about Angel Tech?

One of the most useful books "I've ever read" (as I'm still reading it). Based on Leary's 8-circuit system of consciousness, it aims to provide a system for reprograming your robotic nature and selecting your reality. I should also say that Ratatosk actually went to the trouble of purchasing it for me, and I subsequently suggested it to Richter and several other people.

Oh i read it twice. :) i was just wondering if you had any opinions about it.  I'm also curious as to how it works within your model of emergence.

Oh lol. Consciousness is a system emergent from biology, thus based in biology and not violating biological rules but also a completely different system and following other rules as well. Angel Tech's first four circuits are survival circuits, required for humans as aspects of the consciousness system to continue (in the same way that metabolism is required to continue Life). These cover the physical, emotional, symbolic and social aspects of consciousness. The higher circuits are just extentions of these basic ones, expanding them as far as they (1-4) will go. So, Angel Tech over all seeks to understand and explain the consciousness emergence system from within it, and provide tools for the participant to exploit it through the improvement of your ability to absorb understand and communicate information and/or energy. It fits in just fine with Emergence.

I also need to remember that the 8-circuit system is only one map of many, and to really exploit the circuits I should be able to switch maps around at will, suited to the situation.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Bu🤠ns on July 11, 2009, 10:01:34 PM
That's pretty cool...would you agree with Leary's space migration ideas as a possibility for the continued process of emergence or do you see it going in a different direction?
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Rococo Modem Basilisk on July 11, 2009, 10:28:21 PM
For what it's worth (and I don't plan to derail the thread, but I figured I'd mention this since it fits in the discussion ATM) I think the idea that RAW has occasionally mentioned offhand that circuits 5-8 are caused by the interaction of circuits 1-4 on different levels of self-referentiality or self-awareness is interesting, and that it makes more sense to me than the canon interpretation expoused by both RAW and Leary (which Angel Tech may or may not subscribe to) that these are in some sense pre-scripted or in explicit preparation for some future phenomena.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on July 12, 2009, 02:45:25 PM
Deleuze's Philosophical Lineage by Graham Jones and Jon Roffe
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on July 12, 2009, 03:53:43 PM
Its not too bad, actually.  It was also on the top of the pile of my imported library, so I read it last evening while everything else was being done.  The joys of a new computer means I have plenty to install.   Sample of the text:

QuoteIn Aristotle's schema, difference, in the form of specific difference, delineates identities within larger, indeterminate genera. The specific differentiae 'rational' and 'winged', for example, define the species 'man' and 'bird' within the genus 'animal'. These differentiae literally 'cut up' the genus, 'making the difference' between its various species by constituting their respective essences. As Deleuze says, 'genera are not divided into differences but divided by differences which give rise to corresponding species' (DR 31). Furthermore, differentia are all positive – negative predicates such as 'not-winged' cannot specify, as 'being not-winged' leaves completely open what a thing actually is – and so their relation to one another is a relation of contrariety. These contraries, functioning as specifying differences, demarcate the extreme forms that various species can take while remaining within the common identity of their genus: an animal can be bipedal, quadrupedal, winged, etc. For this reason, Aristotle declares contrariety to be the greatest and most perfect difference (DR 30–2).

As Deleuze notes, this is an entirely relative maximum, contrariety being maximal only with respect to the requirements Aristotle sets out for substantial identity (DR 31–2). Strictly speaking, contradiction – the relation between, say, 'existing' and 'not existing', where the second term cannot be given positive formulation and is the absolute negation of the first – is a greater difference than contrariety. But as contradictories cannot both be predicated of species within the same genus, they are imperfect and extraneous to defi nition and essence (DR 31–2).

A certain kind of modern 'orgiastic' or 'infinite representation', exemplified by Hegelian dialectics, goes beyond Aristotle's formulation, holding that contradiction or opposition is compatible with identity and is therefore the greatest difference (DR 44–6, 49–50). For Hegel, a thing's identity is indeed constituted by its negative or contradictory relations to what it is not. Yet because both organic and orgiastic  representation analyse difference in terms of its compatibility with identity, Deleuze holds both approaches to stand convicted of never
reaching 'difference in itself'.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Rococo Modem Basilisk on July 12, 2009, 07:38:48 PM
Quote from: Cain on July 12, 2009, 03:53:43 PM
Its not too bad, actually.  It was also on the top of the pile of my imported library, so I read it last evening while everything else was being done.  The joys of a new computer means I have plenty to install.   Sample of the text:

QuoteIn Aristotle's schema, difference, in the form of specific difference, delineates identities within larger, indeterminate genera. The specific differentiae 'rational' and 'winged', for example, define the species 'man' and 'bird' within the genus 'animal'. These differentiae literally 'cut up' the genus, 'making the difference' between its various species by constituting their respective essences. As Deleuze says, 'genera are not divided into differences but divided by differences which give rise to corresponding species' (DR 31). Furthermore, differentia are all positive – negative predicates such as 'not-winged' cannot specify, as 'being not-winged' leaves completely open what a thing actually is – and so their relation to one another is a relation of contrariety. These contraries, functioning as specifying differences, demarcate the extreme forms that various species can take while remaining within the common identity of their genus: an animal can be bipedal, quadrupedal, winged, etc. For this reason, Aristotle declares contrariety to be the greatest and most perfect difference (DR 30–2).

As Deleuze notes, this is an entirely relative maximum, contrariety being maximal only with respect to the requirements Aristotle sets out for substantial identity (DR 31–2). Strictly speaking, contradiction – the relation between, say, 'existing' and 'not existing', where the second term cannot be given positive formulation and is the absolute negation of the first – is a greater difference than contrariety. But as contradictories cannot both be predicated of species within the same genus, they are imperfect and extraneous to defi nition and essence (DR 31–2).

A certain kind of modern 'orgiastic' or 'infinite representation', exemplified by Hegelian dialectics, goes beyond Aristotle's formulation, holding that contradiction or opposition is compatible with identity and is therefore the greatest difference (DR 44–6, 49–50). For Hegel, a thing's identity is indeed constituted by its negative or contradictory relations to what it is not. Yet because both organic and orgiastic  representation analyse difference in terms of its compatibility with identity, Deleuze holds both approaches to stand convicted of never
reaching 'difference in itself'.

Is that something like:
(http://namcub.accela-labs.com/pics/hegelvsaristotle.png)
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cainad (dec.) on July 13, 2009, 08:31:40 PM
Sway: the Irresistible Pull of Irrational Behavior by Ori and Rom Brafman.

This is a very accessible, very easy read on a whole bunch of things most of us are already aware of. For the most part, it reinforces the idea that our preconceived notions strongly influence the way we perceive just about everything (big surprise, right?) by giving a bunch of examples. Loss aversion, value attribution, diagnostic bias, etc.

Not much new material here, but chock full of good examples of people's BIPs having a drastic effect on what they think is real and it's an easy read for people who don't enjoy wading through heavy jargon.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Ratonderio on July 15, 2009, 11:29:34 PM
Conversations on the Edge of Apocalypse - David Jay Brown  Contains RAW, Noam Chomsky, Ram Dass, George Carlin etc.
http://www.amazon.com/Conversations-Edge-Apocalypse-Contemplating-Sheldrake/dp/1403965323

Also Man's Search for Meaning - Viktor Frankl because Poker Without Cards told me to.
http://www.amazon.com/Mans-Search-Meaning-Viktor-Frankl/dp/0671023373
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on July 17, 2009, 08:33:48 AM
Undress Me in the Temple of Heaven by some chick

It's pretty funny. She tries too hard to set up anticipation/apprehension though.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on July 20, 2009, 09:50:01 PM
Bayou of Pigs.

ECH might find this interesting, its about the attempted Neo-Nazi coup on Dominica in 1981.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Brotep on July 21, 2009, 07:05:44 AM
Mimesis - The Representation of Reality in Western Literature
by Erich Auerbach

like a boss
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Kai on July 23, 2009, 04:03:36 PM
Still rolling through Angel Tech.

I've just about decided I'm done with Loyal Rue - Religion is not about God. I really like his deconstruction process (central myth with historical context, emotional appeals, and ancillary strategies, as well as religion being an evolutionary inducer of social cohesion and individual fullfillment) but his conclusions at the end are fatalistic and frankly not that interesting.

About halfway through Six Legged Soldiers. A good read, if you're into warfare and insects (for me, the latter much more than the former). The coverage of Shiro Ishii's entomological warfare in China during WWII is extensive.

Just started:

The Mind Map Book - T Buzan
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Thurnez Isa on July 23, 2009, 05:46:39 PM
Jesus, Interrupted by Bart Ehrman

basically a blooper book of things Jesus said that are complete contradictions, or just doesn't make sense

Only have like three chapters, but will be purchasing it sometime
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Iason Ouabache on July 24, 2009, 03:28:06 AM
*cough* hxxp://gigapedia.com/items:links?id=303976 *cough*

Ehrman is awesome.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on July 24, 2009, 02:02:44 PM
The Lucifer Principle, by Phillip Zimbardo.

Yes, that Zimbardo, of the Stanford Prison Experiment.  Great book actually, I'm going to build on several of his observations, once I've had enough sleep to be able to write well.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on July 26, 2009, 05:07:42 PM
The Family, by Jeff Shartlet.

Well, this is creepy.

Quote"Hey," David said, "let's talk about the Old Testament." His voice was like a river that's smooth on the surface but swirling beneath.
"Who"—he paused—"would you say are its good guys?"

"Noah," suggested Ruggi, a  shaggy-haired guy from Kentucky with a silver loop on the upper ridge of his right ear.

"Moses," ofered Josh, a lean man from Atlanta more interested in serving Jesus than his father's small empire of shower door manufacturing.

"David," Beau volunteered.

"King David," David Coe said. "That's a good one. David. Hey. What would you say made King David a good guy?" He giggled, not from nervousness but from barely containable delight.

"Faith?" Beau said. "His faith was so strong?"

"Yeah." David nodded as if he hadn't heard that before. "Hey, you know what's interesting about King David?" From the blank stares of the others, I could see that they did not. Many didn't even carry a full Bible, preferring a slim volume of New Testament Gospels and Epistles and Old Testament Psalms, respected but seldom read. Others had the whole book, but the gold gilt on the pages of the first two-thirds remained undisturbed.

"King David," David Coe went on, "liked to do really, really bad things." He chuckled. "Here's this guy who slept with another man's wife—Bathsheba,  right?—and then basically murdered her husband. And this guy is one of our heroes."  David shook his head. "I mean, Jiminy Christmas, God likes this guy! What," he said, "is that all about?"

"Is it because he tried?" asked Bengt. "He wanted to do the right thing?" Bengt knew the Bible, Old Testament and New, better than any of the others, but he offered his answer with a question mark on the end. Bengt was dutiful in checking his worst sin, his fierce pride, and he frequently turned his certainties into questions.

"That's nice, Bengt," David said. "But it isn't the answer. Anyone else?"

"Because he was chosen," I said. For the first time David looked my way.

"Yes," he said, smiling. "Chosen. Interesting set of rules, isn't it?"

He turned to Beau. "Beau, let's say I hear you raped three little girls. And now here you are at Ivanwald. What would I think of you, Beau?"
Beau, given to bellowing Ivanwald's daily call to sports like a bull elephant, shrank into the cushions. "Probably that I'm pretty bad?"

"No, Beau." David's voice was kind. "I wouldn't." He drew Beau back into the circle with a stare that seemed to have its own gravitational pull. Beau nodded, brow furrowed, as if in the presence of something profound.  "Because," David continued, "I'm not  here to judge you. That's not my job. I'm  here for only one thing. Do you know what that is?"

Understanding blossomed in Beau's eyes. "Jesus?" he said.

David smiled and winked. "Hey," he said. "Did you guys see Toy Story?" Half the room had. "Remember how there was a toy cowboy, Woody? And then the boy who owns Woody gets a new toy, a spaceman? Only the toy spaceman thinks he's real. Thinks he's a real spaceman, and he's got to igure out what he's doing on this strange planet. So what does Woody say to him? He says, 'You're just a toy.' " David sat quietly, waiting for us to absorb this. "Just a toy. We're not really spacemen. We're just toys. Created for God. For His pleasure, nothing  else. Just a toy. Period."

He walked to the National Geographic map of the world mounted on the wall. "You guys know about Genghis Khan?" he asked. "Genghis was a man with a vision. He  conquered"—David stood on the couch under the map, tracing, with his hand, half the northern hemisphere—"nearly everything. He devastated nearly everything. His enemies? He beheaded them." David swiped a finger across his throat. "Dop, dop, dop, dop."

Genghis Khan's genius, David went on, lay in his understanding that there could be only one king. When Genghis entered a defeated city, he would call in the local headman. Conversion to the Khan's cause was not an option, as Genghis was uninterested in halfhearted deputies. Instead, said David, Genghis would have the man stufed into a crate, and over the crate's surface would be spread a tablecloth, on which a wonderful meal would be arrayed.

"And then, while the man suffocated, Genghis ate, and he didn't even hear the man's screams." David stood on the couch, a inger in the air. "Do you know what that means?"

To their credit, my brothers did not. Perhaps on account of my earlier insight, David turned to me.

"I think so," I said. "Out with the old, in with the new."

Yes, he nodded. "Christ's parable of the wineskins. You can't pour new into old." One day, he continued, some monks from Europe show up in Genghis Khan's court. Genghis welcomes them in the name of God. Says that in truth, they worship the same great Lord. Then why, the monks ask, must he conquer the world?  "I don't ask," says Genghis. "I submit."

David returned to his chair. "We elect our leaders," he said. "Jesus elects his."  He reached over and squeezed the arm of Pavel. "Isn't that great?" David said. "That's the way everything in life happens. If you're a person known to be around Jesus, you can go and do anything. And that's who you guys are. When you leave  here, you're not only going to know the value of Jesus, you're going to know the people who rule the world. It's about vision. Get your vision straight, then relate. Talk to the people who rule the world, and help  them obey. Obey Him. If I obey Him myself, I help others do the same. You know why? Because I become a warning. We become a warning. We warn everybody that the future king is coming. Not just of this country or that but of the world." Then he pointed at the map, toward the Khan's vast, reclaimable empire.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on July 27, 2009, 03:02:21 PM
I find it hard to believe that's non-fiction.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Brotep on July 27, 2009, 04:17:21 PM
QuoteHis voice was like a river that's smooth on the surface but swirling beneath.

:lulz:
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on July 27, 2009, 06:33:48 PM
Yeah, fortunately Sharlet's flowery prose is dying off, in the later chapters.  Maybe its a religious writer thing?  Being around people who quote scripture all day has to rub off on you somehow.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on July 27, 2009, 06:47:49 PM
It would really suck if someone posted an hxxp link to a PDF of "The Family".


Because that would be wrong.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on July 27, 2009, 07:14:39 PM
http://gigapedia.com/redirect?hash=2fc1de9f5e68c8672e0f9c1640853328 or http://dl1.s25.ifile.it/xep4b9rm/0060559799.zip should do the trick.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on July 28, 2009, 04:30:53 PM
So, I'm now reading both "Dead in Dallas", and "The Family".


I also have a dead tree re-issue of "House of Leaves" which I'll probably dig into after "The Family".
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Dimocritus on July 29, 2009, 08:11:27 PM
Not sure if some one has posted this. The Third Police Man by Flan O'Brien. I'm sure many of you have read it, but I just came across it and it's still fresh in my mind. Please don't ridicule me.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on July 29, 2009, 08:13:27 PM
I read At Swim Two Birds, and that was enough for me.

Is Third Policeman just as fucked up?

Also, did you pick it up because of Lost?
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Dimocritus on July 29, 2009, 08:44:40 PM
Quote from: LMNO on July 29, 2009, 08:13:27 PM
I read At Swim Two Birds, and that was enough for me.

Is Third Policeman just as fucked up?

Also, did you pick it up because of Lost?

Haven't read that particular book, is that by O'Brien as well? Either way, it was fucked up. It tweaked my crazy-head without LSD :aaa:. And, no, it was actually suggested to me by my English professor, but it's weird that you ask that because, while I usually avoid television, LOST happens to be the only T.V. series that I have followed in years. What is the connection?
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on July 29, 2009, 08:46:17 PM
There was a shot of the cover in the bunker, or something.  I don't watch it, so this is only hearsay.

And yeah, same author.  Those fucking Irish writers...
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Dimocritus on July 29, 2009, 09:01:11 PM
Quote from: LMNO on July 29, 2009, 08:46:17 PM
There was a shot of the cover in the bunker, or something.  I don't watch it, so this is only hearsay.

And yeah, same author.  Those fucking Irish writers...

I hadn't heard of that one. I'll have to take a look at it if it's fikkin' crazy. He has some other stuff that he wrote about a fictional philosopher/idiot named deSelby that I haven't checked out yet but sounds really interesting. But, yeah, if you can get a copy of it, I highly suggest it. Preferably an old copy, so you can smell it. 
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Requia ☣ on July 30, 2009, 12:36:06 AM
Psychology of the Internet
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Iason Ouabache on July 30, 2009, 12:48:21 AM
Small Gods - Terry Pratchett. 

Only about a third of the way through but it's already my favorite Discworld novel. There are some extremely interesting concepts in it.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Requia ☣ on July 30, 2009, 12:59:14 AM
Ok, this author is pissing me the hell off.  Pushing the renaissance as some magic time when everyone in europe was discussing new ideas (never mind that half of the couldn't read, and less could afford paper).  A basic lack of understanding about the history of the internet.  She even mangles Descartes,

Oh, apparently the word 'Jeeves' means something completely different now, thanks to a dead search engine mostly famous for its annoying ads.  Oh! and the general public knows what 'worm' means (I really fucking wish they did, but they don't).

I'm gonna have to come back to this chapter and tear it apart some other time.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Rococo Modem Basilisk on July 30, 2009, 01:44:15 AM
Quote from: Requia ☣ on July 30, 2009, 12:59:14 AM
Ok, this author is pissing me the hell off.  Pushing the renaissance as some magic time when everyone in europe was discussing new ideas (never mind that half of the couldn't read, and less could afford paper).  A basic lack of understanding about the history of the internet.  She even mangles Descartes,

Oh, apparently the word 'Jeeves' means something completely different now, thanks to a dead search engine mostly famous for its annoying ads.  Oh! and the general public knows what 'worm' means (I really fucking wish they did, but they don't).

I'm gonna have to come back to this chapter and tear it apart some other time.

If you want a book on more or less that subject that doesn't appear to be quite so unresearched, I suggest Protocol by Alexander Galloway. I never finished it, because it was terribly dry, but the premise was interesting and I don't think it hung up so much on specifics.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Requia ☣ on July 30, 2009, 02:24:15 AM
Its actually really good so far except for the first chapter (each chapter has a different author).
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Captain Utopia on July 30, 2009, 06:16:06 AM
Quote from: Cain on July 26, 2009, 05:07:42 PM
The Family, by Jeff Shartlet.

Well, this is creepy.
... snip convoluted justifications for shirking personal responsibilities and investing them into a doomsday fairytale ...
I find it less creepy and more of a call to war - :argh!:
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on July 30, 2009, 12:43:11 PM
The Tragic Vision of Politics by Richard Ned Lebow

In short, a book about how realists are idiots who have misread and mangled Thucydides, Clausewitz and Hans Morgenthau to fit their own ideologically blinkered and ethically bankrupt viewpoint.  Also, Lebow is fast becoming my favourite Constructivist author...far more readable than Wendt, too.

A Very Short Introduction to the Roman Empire by Christopher Kelly

From the Oxford printing press' VSI series, which are great if you want an informed, but not overly academic or complex text on a particular topic.

Critical Practices in International Theory: Selected Essays by James Der Derian.  I'd never heard of this guy before, but apparently he's some hot-shot Rhodes Scholar who combines the English School and aspects of postmodernism to IR, so he's likely worth a read.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on July 30, 2009, 02:44:44 PM
Quote from: Iason Ouabache on July 30, 2009, 12:48:21 AM
Small Gods - Terry Pratchett.  

Only about a third of the way through but it's already my favorite Discworld novel. There are some extremely interesting concepts in it.


Yeah, that's one of my faves, too.





















....yes, I just said "faves".  I expect to be on Richter's language List any minute now.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Dimocritus on July 30, 2009, 04:49:22 PM
One of my personal favorites which, again, I'm sure most of you have read: Thus Spoke Zarathustra by Nietzsche. That book is almost like my personal bible. 
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Brotep on July 31, 2009, 08:10:05 PM
Quote from: Dimo1138 on July 30, 2009, 04:49:22 PM
One of my personal favorites which, again, I'm sure most of you have read: Thus Spoke Zarathustra by Nietzsche. That book is almost like my personal bible. 

What a coincidence, I'm reading the Bible!
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Roaring Biscuit! on July 31, 2009, 11:33:48 PM
I read some of the Bible recently.  it was fucking ace.   I actually just read Revelations

Dragons and "the wine-press of god's wrath"

complete and utter win.

right now i am just about to start "friends like these" by danny wallace, expect me to be full of blind optimism for the next few weeks
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on August 01, 2009, 04:09:01 PM
Finished the Stackhouse book. An a rare occurrence where the show is better than the book.

Anyway, digging into "The Family", and it's scary as hell, if it's as true as it sounds.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on August 06, 2009, 07:26:03 AM
Anne Norton - Leo Strauss and the Politics of American Empire

An interesting look into American political philosophy and life at University, as well as something of an insight into the self-proclaimed "Straussian" aspect of the NeoConservative movement.  Some people claim its gossipy (which it sort of is) and shows the author is working outside of her area of expertise (I'm not sure how, since she is a Professor in Political Science and Chicago school graduate), but it is nonetheless interesting, if for nothing more than highlighting the intellectual climate and history of political philosophy in America, as well as the ideological quirks of many of Strauss' students.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Triple Zero on August 06, 2009, 08:44:58 AM
Quote from: Iason Ouabache on July 30, 2009, 12:48:21 AM
Small Gods - Terry Pratchett. 

Only about a third of the way through but it's already my favorite Discworld novel. There are some extremely interesting concepts in it.

it's awesome, one of the best. I like Thief of Time slightly better but this one is a very close second.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Kai on August 07, 2009, 07:00:08 PM
Finally finished angel tech not too long ago. I swear, this must be one of those books Adler and van Doren would say is at the top of my book pyramid, that every time I go back the book has grown with information.

Did a brief inspectional read of J Gribbin - Deep Simplicity and Amsier - The Languages of Creativity. The former was notable in having a chapter mostly on Emergence and Stuart Kauffman, though from his earlier works and not Reinventing the Sacred. Also read Preston and Child - Cemetery Dance, the new Pendergast novel. Was quite good (one of the classic main characters is killed off in the first few pages; these guys don't fuck around with plot).

Reading Currently:

Close - The Void
Six Legged Soldiers
RAW - Prometheus Rising
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Bu🤠ns on August 12, 2009, 12:22:07 AM
Quantum Psycholoy- RAW
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Kai on August 13, 2009, 06:45:51 PM
Reading RAW - Prometheus Rising, now.

Soon to be starting:

E Abby - Desert Solitare (something a very dear friend recommended last year when I was still reeling from Childs - The Secret Knowledge of Water)
Homer - Odyssey (Sing to me, O Muse...)
CR Hyde - Pay it Forward (saw the movie, never read the book)
EL Doctorow - City of God (I think H Bloom has this on his reading list in the back of The Western Cannon)
J London - Call of the Wild (Read it years ago, don't remember)
J Grisham - The Street Lawyer (probably my favorite lawyer novel, after The Client)
D Koontz (some throwaway thriller I can't remember the title. should be entertaining.)

The last five were all in a package from me mum.

Classes start next Wednesday.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on August 13, 2009, 08:32:41 PM
In Their Own Words: Voices of Jihad, compiled by David Aaron (Jihadist statements on a number of issues, helpfully catergorised)
Fiasco, by Thomas E. Ricks (the Iraq war, a behind the scenes examination of a clusterfuck)
The Virtuous Life in Greek Ethics, by Burkhard Reis, editor (self-explanatory)
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Pariah on August 14, 2009, 12:29:44 AM
Quote from: Kai on August 13, 2009, 06:45:51 PM
E Abby - Desert Solitare (something a very dear friend recommended last year when I was still reeling from Childs - The Secret Knowledge of Water)

That's the next on my list. Right now I'm reading The Fool's Progress, also by Abbey
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Kai on August 14, 2009, 01:21:00 AM
Quote from: Pir Pariah on August 14, 2009, 12:29:44 AM
Quote from: Kai on August 13, 2009, 06:45:51 PM
E Abby - Desert Solitare (something a very dear friend recommended last year when I was still reeling from Childs - The Secret Knowledge of Water)

That's the next on my list. Right now I'm reading The Fool's Progress, also by Abbey

I just started [Desert Solitaire] this afternoon. It's seriously an orgasmic read, just, mmmmmmmmmmmm. Just something about his description that gets me breathing faster and giggling to myself. Very pleasurable.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Pope Pixie Pickle on August 14, 2009, 01:31:04 AM
Quote from: Triple Zero on August 06, 2009, 08:44:58 AM
Quote from: Iason Ouabache on July 30, 2009, 12:48:21 AM
Small Gods - Terry Pratchett. 

Only about a third of the way through but it's already my favorite Discworld novel. There are some extremely interesting concepts in it.

it's awesome, one of the best. I like Thief of Time slightly better but this one is a very close second.

Thief of Time is brilliant. Im partial to anything of his containing the Nac Mac Feegle.. "Nae Laird, Nae Master, Nae King, Nae Quin.. We'll nae be fooled agin!" 

They kinda remind me of Payne.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Pariah on August 14, 2009, 04:56:01 AM
Quote from: Kai on August 14, 2009, 01:21:00 AM
Quote from: Pir Pariah on August 14, 2009, 12:29:44 AM
Quote from: Kai on August 13, 2009, 06:45:51 PM
E Abby - Desert Solitare (something a very dear friend recommended last year when I was still reeling from Childs - The Secret Knowledge of Water)

That's the next on my list. Right now I'm reading The Fool's Progress, also by Abbey

I just started [Desert Solitaire] this afternoon. It's seriously an orgasmic read, just, mmmmmmmmmmmm. Just something about his description that gets me breathing faster and giggling to myself. Very pleasurable.

This book is the same sort of way. I hardly ever laugh out loud at reading but shit this guy is funny.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Iason Ouabache on August 14, 2009, 07:30:02 AM
Bruce M. Hood - Supersense: Why We Believe in the Unbelievable

Pretty good so far. Reminds me a lot of "Breaking the Spell" which I loved to death. The difference in them is that with "Breaking the Spell" I learned why people believe in stupid shit. With "Supersense" I'm realizing that I believe in stupid shit too, there's probably no way to avoid believing in stupid, and life would probably suck if you did.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Richter on August 14, 2009, 04:52:43 PM
Thanks to work my brain has enough seriousness at the end of each day.  Comparison / annotation of PR / Angel Tech is getting sidelined in favor of Eisenhorn.  (For the Emperor!)
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Eater of Clowns on August 15, 2009, 11:40:01 PM
Thief of Time - Terry Pratchett

Picked it up today after resounding recommendation.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on August 17, 2009, 08:50:30 AM
Government of the Shadows: Parapolitics and Criminal Sovereignty by Eric Wilson and Tim Lindsey

Apparently, parapolitics is now an actual academic discipline, which I must admit finding interesting.  Apparently, with the fallout of the whole Gladio thing in the 90s, and more info on MK-Ultra, Mafia informants etc coming to light, academics wanted to study it, but didn't have the conceptual and analytic tools to go about it.  This book seems to show some progress on getting those, and putting them into practice.  Its actually very good, I will likely quote from it and build on it later.

Nomads, Empires, States: Modes of Foreign Relations and Political Economy, Volume 1 by Kees van der Pijl

IR theoretical text, you know the drill.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: the last yatto on August 20, 2009, 05:17:51 AM
almost done with TCI, WOW just wow i need to reread it again

and next is
Gods in the global village
or the world's religions in sociological perspective
by Lester Kurtz

wip is finally reading tao of pooh
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Pope Pixie Pickle on August 20, 2009, 11:22:27 AM
 Crooked Little Vein by Warren Ellis.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on August 20, 2009, 01:29:56 PM
That one kind of disappointed me.  I guess I was looking for something more.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Kai on August 20, 2009, 02:00:27 PM
J London -Call of the Wild-White Fang
Doctorow- City of God
The Complete Cladist
Animal Behavior
Insect Behavior
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Rococo Modem Basilisk on August 23, 2009, 03:59:45 AM
Over the week+ that I was away from the intertubes, I ended up reading a lot. Here's my list:

- John A Keel - The Mothman Prophecies
- Chris Hyatt - Undoing Yourself with Energized Meditation
- Jacques Vallee - Confrontations
- Jacques Vallee - Passport to Magonia
- Jacques Vallee - Revelations
- parts of:
-- Charles Fort - Parade of the Damned
-- Agent 139 - Join My Cult
-- Peter Carrol - Liber Null
-- Anarchy for the masses: The Disinfo guide to The Invisibles
- Pop Magic Zero! by Grant Morrison
- Jacques Vallee - The Physics of High Strangeness
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Corvidia on August 23, 2009, 05:25:52 AM
Writing Women's Worlds, Bedouin Stories by Lila Abu-Lughod. Pretty good so far.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Iason Ouabache on August 23, 2009, 05:38:21 AM
I just picked up Daniel Dennett's "Freedom Evolves" today. Don't know when I'll actually have a chance to read it. He has some interesting theories on free will, it seems. Conversations about free will typically either bore me or make me feel extremely paranoid so there is a good possibility that I will never finish it.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on August 23, 2009, 12:40:50 PM
Quote from: Iason Ouabache on August 23, 2009, 05:38:21 AMConversations about free will typically either bore me or make me feel extremely paranoid

I'm pretty much the same, though usually the former because most people seem to take a simple binary position of "YOU HAVE ABSOLUTE FREE WILL" or "EVERYTHING IN YOUR LIFE IS DETERMINED, INCLUDING YOUR NEGATIVE REACTION TO THIS.  YOU ARE A COG IN A MACHINE, WITH SELF-AWARENESS AND NOTHING MORE", and there is no nuance at all.  Everything I've read on neuroscience and so on suggests it is a hell of a lot more complex than that, which also meshes well with my general rule of thumb: the world is more complex than we think it is.

But I haven't done too much reading on free will in the past 5 years or so, maybe things have improved.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Rococo Modem Basilisk on August 23, 2009, 12:46:47 PM
Meh. I have been more irritated by the idea that these two binary positions are somehow at odds. You may be fully deterministic from the POV of a full understanding of physics, but that doesn't mean it makes sense to think of yourself that way. Determinism is a valid model for physics, but not for vacation planning. The other side is that as soon as you take into account your own deterministic actions, they immediately become more complex since you start feeding into yourself on a higher level of abstraction.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: MMIX on August 23, 2009, 02:34:54 PM
Quote from: Cain on August 23, 2009, 12:40:50 PM

[snip]

But I haven't done too much reading on free will in the past 5 years or so, maybe things have improved.

I love the implication in your reply that they may be able to come up with a cure . . . [/only partly tongue in cheek]
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: That One Guy on August 27, 2009, 03:03:57 PM
Currently reading The Crying of Lot 49 by Pynchon. So far it's a damn good time (I'm only about 30 or 40 pages into it and it's just starting to get rolling), and I just picked up almost all of his books other than the newest one, so I'll be working my way through them in the next couple weeks.

As much as I liked Gravity's Rainbow (which I really liked), this one is much more accessible. GR needed a pretty sizable effort to stay on top of the characters and underlying motivations (which made it so good), and it's really interesting to get that same writing style in a story that's much more straightforward than GR in Lot 49 while still keeping that sense of the absurd-as-normal that wound through the narrative in GR. WASTE, indeed!
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: dr retard on September 09, 2009, 09:31:09 AM
Currently reading: Jean Ferry, Le mécanicien et autres contes.
in a swedish translation, translations are very unreliable.
I dont trust them at all.

The book it pretty nice, but i cant stop wondering how it would
be if i could read french. Irritating.

AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Rococo Modem Basilisk on September 09, 2009, 11:33:46 AM
I'm a quarter of the way through Forbidden Science. I have been on a Vallee/Keel kick recently, and got through Our Haunted Planet on top of the stuff listed earlier in the thread.

One of these days, though, I plan to handwrite margin notes in my dead tree copy of the Illuminatus trilogy, because the references seemed far more obvious when I looked through last night to figure out what RAW had gotten when he translated "serpent power" into german.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Corvidia on September 10, 2009, 12:51:07 AM
A Pirate of Exquisite Mind: The Life of William Dampier by Diana and Micheal Preston. After three years of sitting on a bookshelf, it's finally aired out enough I can read it (my grandparents both smoke like chimneys and I hate the smell of stale smoke).
Very, very good so far.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Halfbaked1 on September 10, 2009, 09:50:19 AM
I recently read Collapse, I forget who wrote it, but it was a riveting good read about the collapse of civilizations in general.  I am terrible at remembering authors these days, but if someone would point me at some good material I would certainly appreciate it.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cainad (dec.) on September 11, 2009, 03:52:59 PM
Quote from: Halfbaked1 on September 10, 2009, 09:50:19 AM
I recently read Collapse, I forget who wrote it, but it was a riveting good read about the collapse of civilizations in general.  I am terrible at remembering authors these days, but if someone would point me at some good material I would certainly appreciate it.

Jared Diamond, of Guns, Germs, and Steel fame. I have yet to read Collapse though.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: AFK on September 15, 2009, 02:51:43 PM
For once I have something to contribute to this thread.

I am starting to read The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell

It's kinda work related.  I'm going on this retreat/excursion thing out on one of the Maine islands with a local health coalition.  We're going to have a mini book-club where we discuss the introduction and 1st chapter with the author. 

Anyway, the book is centered around this idea of "Tipping Points", where a concurrence of events on the margins combine to enact a large scale and sudden change on something.  In the intro the two examples given are the crime rate in a couple of Brooklyn neighborhoods and the resurgence of the Hush Puppies shoe brand.  Back in the mid/late 90s the Hush Puppy shoe brand was on the way out.  Nobody but a few die-hards in their 50s wore them.  But, some kids from SoHo started wearing them.  A couple of clothing designers picked up on this and had models wear them as accessories to compliment their clothing lines.  It picked up from there and all of a sudden Hush Puppies were the rage with the couture crowd. 

It's a pretty interesting book and I'll share any other pertinent nuggets as I move through the book. 
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Captain Utopia on September 15, 2009, 03:15:59 PM
My impression of Malcolm Gladwell is that he writes interesting stories about coincidence and correlation and sprinkles some pseudo-science on top to make the reader feel smart and empowered. Readers like feeling smart and empowered.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: AFK on September 15, 2009, 03:18:35 PM
I'll be sure to share that with him when I see him on Thursday. 
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on September 15, 2009, 03:30:27 PM
I just finished The Family.  Now I have fundamentalist insanity in my memories, and it wont go away.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on September 15, 2009, 03:53:29 PM
That book is still shaping my thoughts.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cainad (dec.) on September 23, 2009, 02:32:19 AM
Quote from: Rev. What's-His-Name? on September 15, 2009, 02:51:43 PM
For once I have something to contribute to this thread.

I am starting to read The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell

It's kinda work related.  I'm going on this retreat/excursion thing out on one of the Maine islands with a local health coalition.  We're going to have a mini book-club where we discuss the introduction and 1st chapter with the author. 

Anyway, the book is centered around this idea of "Tipping Points", where a concurrence of events on the margins combine to enact a large scale and sudden change on something.  In the intro the two examples given are the crime rate in a couple of Brooklyn neighborhoods and the resurgence of the Hush Puppies shoe brand.  Back in the mid/late 90s the Hush Puppy shoe brand was on the way out.  Nobody but a few die-hards in their 50s wore them.  But, some kids from SoHo started wearing them.  A couple of clothing designers picked up on this and had models wear them as accessories to compliment their clothing lines.  It picked up from there and all of a sudden Hush Puppies were the rage with the couture crowd. 

It's a pretty interesting book and I'll share any other pertinent nuggets as I move through the book. 

Jesus Monkeybutt Crisco, I just opened this thread to say I'm reading the same book, and this was the first new post I read.

There is distinct overlap with some of the stuff dealt with in Art of Memetics, but without the brain-straining jargon. This pleases me.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Pariah on September 23, 2009, 03:54:23 AM
Desert Solitaire
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on September 23, 2009, 02:03:42 PM
Quote from: Broken AI on September 23, 2009, 07:02:43 AM
everything I can lay my hands on about goldfish & Betta fish.

They go well with white wine and garlic butter.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Jenne on September 23, 2009, 02:08:56 PM
Quote from: Cain on September 15, 2009, 03:30:27 PM
I just finished The Family.  Now I have fundamentalist insanity in my memories, and it wont go away.

fuckit.  I'm buying this book today, reading it, and then passing it around to my whole famdamily.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on September 23, 2009, 02:12:22 PM
You can probably find a pdf of it on a torrent somewhere.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Jenne on September 23, 2009, 02:28:06 PM
I have folks that are allergic to reading on a computer.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on September 23, 2009, 03:38:46 PM
You make Baby Jesus-plus-Nothing cry when you undermine capitalism, anyway.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Jenne on September 23, 2009, 03:54:33 PM
Well, I want to eventually send it to my dad...so getting an actual physical book is necessary on that front...
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on September 23, 2009, 03:57:40 PM
Quote from: Cain on September 23, 2009, 03:38:46 PM
You make Baby Jesus-plus-Nothing cry when you undermine capitalism, anyway.


That phrase will haunt me for weeks.


It's like a summary of everything I find badwrong about those fuckers.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Dimocritus on September 24, 2009, 02:27:39 AM
"Rappacinni's Daughter" a short story by Nathaniel Hawthorne.

"Resistance, Rebellion and Death" Albert Camus.

Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on September 27, 2009, 01:28:17 PM
David Weber - On Basilisk Station

The first of his Honor Harrington series, which is meant to be pretty good military sci-fi, at least according to TV Tropes.  Also all the books except the most recent one are legally available for free download by the author, which is a plus.  Can be a little strawman political at times (conservatives = bad, liberals = bad, concerned and noble centrists = good) but otherwise not bad, so far.

Nuclear Risk Reduction in South Asia - Henry L Stimson

Pertinent reading, considering recent events.  Goes into a lot of detail about how political insecurity between India and Pakistan is fuelling the likelihood of nuclear war breaking out.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Telarus on September 27, 2009, 09:14:44 PM
Quote from: Cainad on September 23, 2009, 02:32:19 AM
Quote from: Rev. What's-His-Name? on September 15, 2009, 02:51:43 PM
For once I have something to contribute to this thread.

I am starting to read The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell

It's kinda work related.  I'm going on this retreat/excursion thing out on one of the Maine islands with a local health coalition.  We're going to have a mini book-club where we discuss the introduction and 1st chapter with the author. 

Anyway, the book is centered around this idea of "Tipping Points", where a concurrence of events on the margins combine to enact a large scale and sudden change on something.  In the intro the two examples given are the crime rate in a couple of Brooklyn neighborhoods and the resurgence of the Hush Puppies shoe brand.  Back in the mid/late 90s the Hush Puppy shoe brand was on the way out.  Nobody but a few die-hards in their 50s wore them.  But, some kids from SoHo started wearing them.  A couple of clothing designers picked up on this and had models wear them as accessories to compliment their clothing lines.  It picked up from there and all of a sudden Hush Puppies were the rage with the couture crowd. 

It's a pretty interesting book and I'll share any other pertinent nuggets as I move through the book. 

Jesus Monkeybutt Crisco, I just opened this thread to say I'm reading the same book, and this was the first new post I read.

There is distinct overlap with some of the stuff dealt with in Art of Memetics, but without the brain-straining jargon. This pleases me.

I'm reading through Outliers right now. He has an interesting writing style.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on September 28, 2009, 08:37:22 AM
Oh, I forgot to add: Honor Harrington is basically Horatio Hornblower IN SPACE!

Which explains quite a lot, actually.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on October 26, 2009, 07:04:50 PM
I'm reading Neal Stephenson's "Anathem", thanks to Cain.

It's another huge book of speculative (science-ish) fiction, but I feel it's much better written than "Quicksilver".  Maybe I just like the subject matter better.


Anyway, I'd reccomend it.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: The Good Reverend Roger on October 26, 2009, 07:06:11 PM
Nothing at the moment.

But I just spent $320 buying everything ever done by Warren Ellis that I don't already have.  Amazon better get on the fucking stick, too.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on October 26, 2009, 07:07:04 PM
Feel free to skim "Crooked Little Vein".  Interesting descriptions, but not much guts behind it.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: The Good Reverend Roger on October 26, 2009, 07:07:18 PM
Quote from: Cain on September 28, 2009, 08:37:22 AM
Oh, I forgot to add: Honor Harrington is basically Horatio Hornblower IN SPACE!

Which explains quite a lot, actually.

I tried that series, but it involves a telepathic cat, so it gets the TGRR Dented Wall Award.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: The Good Reverend Roger on October 26, 2009, 07:09:08 PM
Quote from: LMNO on October 26, 2009, 07:07:04 PM
Feel free to skim "Crooked Little Vein".  Interesting descriptions, but not much guts behind it.

Already read it.  You're right...the word play is amazing, but the story is as thin as Karen Carpenter.

But again, the writing style buys a lot.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Eater of Clowns on October 26, 2009, 08:26:00 PM
Read recently:

Stardust by Neil Gaiman

Thud! by Terry Pratchett

Rabbit, Run by John Updike

Now reading Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on October 27, 2009, 09:12:41 AM
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on October 26, 2009, 07:07:18 PM
Quote from: Cain on September 28, 2009, 08:37:22 AM
Oh, I forgot to add: Honor Harrington is basically Horatio Hornblower IN SPACE!

Which explains quite a lot, actually.

I tried that series, but it involves a telepathic cat, so it gets the TGRR Dented Wall Award.

I'm surprised the political strawmen didn't do you in first.  David Weber really, really, REALLY likes centrists.  And really hates liberals, progressives, conservatives, republicans and any sort of welfare state.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on October 27, 2009, 09:14:15 AM
Oh, forgot to add, reading:

The Invisible Hook: Economics of Piracy
A Very Short Introduction to Dada and Surrealism
The Encyclopedia of Psychology and Religion
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: rygD on October 27, 2009, 10:42:38 AM
Cain, are those last two worthwhile for someone already familiar with the material covered?  Looking at amazon  says The Encyclopedia of Psychology and Religion is not out, but seems I may enjoy it, however for that price There are some other books I have wanted that are in very limited supply.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on October 27, 2009, 10:58:24 AM
The VSI series always makes good introductory material, but if you're already familiar with the subject it is covering, then chances are it will be merely enjoyable reading.

Are you sure it's not out yet, the Religion and Psychology Encyclopedia?  It's the Springer version.  I'm only a little way through, but it seems interesting enough, contrasting religious themes like the sacrafice of Abraham, or Adam and Eve, with psychoanalytic, Jungian and (sometimes) other psychological explanations.  I'm not entirely convinced by those particular schools as bodies of thought, but when thinking about religious symbology and themes I suppose they are useful enough.  It's also fairly lengthy, with over a thousand pages.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on October 27, 2009, 10:14:56 PM
Oops, dropping everything.  Slavoj Zizek has a new book out called "First As Tragedy, Then As Farce".  And its about the economic crisis, too.  Should be good, if a little pretentious (but then, that goes with the territory.  I mean, he even approvingly uses the New Republic quote about him being the most dangerous philospher in the west on the book cover).
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Iason Ouabache on October 28, 2009, 12:22:05 AM
I'm about halfway through Jerry Coyne's "Why Evolution is True". It's mostly stuff I already knew but he goes into good detail on everything. The sections on biogeography and natural selection are particularly good.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Rococo Modem Basilisk on October 28, 2009, 12:46:45 AM
I'm about halfway through PKD' The Martian Time-Slip, and I think I'm catching onto the foreshadowing.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on October 28, 2009, 02:58:34 PM
Quote from: Cain on October 27, 2009, 10:14:56 PM
Oops, dropping everything.  Slavoj Zizek has a new book out called "First As Tragedy, Then As Farce".  And its about the economic crisis, too.  Should be good, if a little pretentious (but then, that goes with the territory.  I mean, he even approvingly uses the New Republic quote about him being the most dangerous philospher in the west on the book cover).

This was good.  I need to read it again.  It also reminded me that we need to saint Chairman Mao.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: rygD on October 28, 2009, 03:34:27 PM
Are you saying you already finished reading it?  With just work, edumacation and looking for the best prices on things with which to arm my family before my Commander in Chief takes away our ability to buy them, I currently have almost no time to read.  How the fuck do you find time and money for books like you do?
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on October 28, 2009, 03:45:57 PM
Well, money-wise, I pirate ebooks, so that is not a problem.

Time-wise, I am an insomniac, which helps (sometimes, when not too exhausted to read) and also, thanks to the recession, work about 20 hours a week, give or take.  Given I'd only be spending any extra money I made on books anyway, most likely, this arrangement works out well.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: The Wizard on October 29, 2009, 12:19:02 AM
Currently reading:

Illuminatus (well re-reading)

The Eternal Prison by Jeff Somers (good piece of SF noir)

Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson (also re-reading)

And finally Fear and Loathing in Los Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson (my personal hero)
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Eater of Clowns on October 29, 2009, 12:26:31 AM
Comics and Sequential Art - Will Eisner
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Xooxe on October 30, 2009, 12:45:47 PM
I ordered Wetware: A Computer In Every Living Cell and I can't wait for it to arrive. Here's the product blurb from Amazon:

QuoteHow does a single-cell creature, such as an amoeba, lead such a sophisticated life? How does it hunt living prey, respond to lights, sounds, and smells, and display complex sequences of movements without the benefit of a nervous system? This book offers a startling and original answer.

In clear, jargon-free language, Dennis Bray taps the findings of the new discipline of systems biology to show that the internal chemistry of living cells is a form of computation. Cells are built out of molecular circuits that perform logical operations, as electronic devices do, but with unique properties. Bray argues that the computational juice of cells provides the basis of all the distinctive properties of living systems: it allows organisms to embody in their internal structure an image of the world, and this accounts for their adaptability, responsiveness, and intelligence.

Guessing it will go into gene expression and protein signaling.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: rygD on October 30, 2009, 01:13:15 PM
Quote from: Cain on October 28, 2009, 03:45:57 PM
Well, money-wise, I pirate ebooks, so that is not a problem.

Time-wise, I am an insomniac, which helps (sometimes, when not too exhausted to read) and also, thanks to the recession, work about 20 hours a week, give or take.  Given I'd only be spending any extra money I made on books anyway, most likely, this arrangement works out well.

So it is the work thing.  I also steal ebooks, although I frequently purchase many of them.   I also decided to invest in one of the previous generation ebook readers from Sony to make it more convenient to read.  Now if only I had more time to read.

"And the best thing, the very best thing of all, is there's time now.  There's all the time I need and all the time I want.  Time, time, time.  Ahhhh, there's time enough at last!"
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cainad (dec.) on October 30, 2009, 06:30:39 PM
How the Mind Works by Steven Pinker
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: rygD on October 30, 2009, 08:22:53 PM
Oh, by the way, sent a message to the gentleman who mentioned ebooks.  Not sure if he saw it or not...
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: emu_luver on October 31, 2009, 01:56:44 AM
Currently reading Moby-Dick...... :fap:
promised myself I wouldn't read anything else until I was done with it.
Next I'll probably read Breakfast of Champions (Vonnegut) or some Raymond Chandler stuff.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Prelate Diogenes Shandor on October 31, 2009, 06:11:04 AM
Lately I've been reading various selections from the biblical Apocrypha. (btw. Has anybody else noticed the paralells between the events of chapter fourteen of the First Infancy gospel of Jesus Christ (http://www.pseudepigrapha.com/LostBooks/infancyall.htm) and the testimony given by David Berkowitz (http://www.nndb.com/people/278/000025203/) regarding his motives for committing the "Son of Sam" killings?)
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on November 02, 2009, 07:02:23 PM
Quote from: rygD on October 30, 2009, 08:22:53 PM
Oh, by the way, sent a message to the gentleman who mentioned ebooks.  Not sure if he saw it or not...

Seen and replied.  Hope that was all useful?

I'm going to do a commentary on "First As Tragedy, Then As Farce", with lots of excerpts.  This, along with Nano and another piece of writing for the site, is why I'm not on here too much of late.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on November 04, 2009, 10:53:12 AM
BTW, the new Wheel of Time book is a noticeable improvement on, well, every book after the first six of the series.  It actually feels like the plot might be moving somewhere, and he doesn't take entire pages to describe peoples clothing or the expression on their face, or their entire personal history from the day they were born up until the present.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on November 04, 2009, 05:03:15 PM
Just read Franny and Zooey, now I'm reading a collection of short stories called "Love is a Four-Letter Word".
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cainad (dec.) on November 04, 2009, 05:09:17 PM
Lately I've been trying to keep myself from buying books until I finish a few of the ones I already have, but I read the first three pages of Human Smoke in the bookstore and was compelled to part with $17.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Dimocritus on November 06, 2009, 11:11:04 PM
"Watch-men" graphic novel.

"Harrison Bergeron," a real short story by Vonnegut (out of my ethics text-book, no less), but it's freakin' awesome.

And trying to get a friend to lend me "House of Leaves" on the basis of the fucked up format alone.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Chief Uwachiquen on November 07, 2009, 01:21:30 AM
I'm currently reading the Belgariad series by David Eddings. I'm still on book one though, just haven't quite made it through the last quarter of the book. >_<
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Rococo Modem Basilisk on November 07, 2009, 01:25:17 AM
Just finished The Enticing Madness of Metamind.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on November 07, 2009, 12:25:02 PM
Quote from: Chief Uwachiquen on November 07, 2009, 01:21:30 AM
I'm currently reading the Belgariad series by David Eddings. I'm still on book one though, just haven't quite made it through the last quarter of the book. >_<

You might find this site helpful in reading the book: tvtropes.org

The whole series was written after Eddings and his wife attended a creative writing course, with the aim of including as many fantasy tropes and cliches as possible.  It certainly succeeds, once you realize this.

Also, the Voice Of Prophecy is wonderfully sarcastic.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Dimocritus on November 07, 2009, 08:46:07 PM
Quote from: Chief Uwachiquen on November 07, 2009, 01:21:30 AM
I'm currently reading the Belgariad series by David Eddings. I'm still on book one though, just haven't quite made it through the last quarter of the book. >_<

The Belgariad was one of my favorite series as a kid. I haven't read it in a while and I was recently thinking about picking it up again. There is a second series that isn't as good, but worth a look. There's also a few stand-alone side books, too. The way they use magic in those books was really interesting, "The Will and the Word." Good stuff.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on November 08, 2009, 08:41:04 PM
Smells Like Dead Elephants: Dispatches from a Rotting Empire By Matt Taibbi
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: ñͤͣ̄ͦ̌̑͗͊͛͂͗ ̸̨̨̣̺̼̣̜͙͈͕̮̊̈́̈͂͛̽͊ͭ̓͆ͅé ̰̓̓́ͯ́́͞ on November 08, 2009, 11:04:53 PM
Where the Suckers Moon - The Life and Death of an Advertising Campaign by Randall Rothenberg

it's about how Subaru got established in the US.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: That One Guy on November 10, 2009, 06:49:42 PM
Unseen Academicals, the latest from Terry Pratchett. This one is going after soccer/football hooligans via Unseen University and has been very entertaining so far in the first 70 or so pages.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on November 10, 2009, 06:51:04 PM
Damn.  And I had just finished arranging my bookcase in order to get all my Pratchett on one shelf...
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on November 10, 2009, 06:54:48 PM
Some of the reviews I've read said it was kinda middling ground for Pratchett.  Don't get me wrong, I'm going to read it, and probably enjoy it a lot, but the impression I got was that it was one of his more generic, messing around books and so lacked some of the clarity and biting wit of his more focused stories.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on November 10, 2009, 06:55:42 PM
So... download instead of purchase, then?
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on November 10, 2009, 06:57:29 PM
Incidentally, the kindle version of this on Amazon is actually MORE than the hardcover.


Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on November 10, 2009, 06:59:31 PM
I've put on my Xmas list (along with: E.H. Carr's The Twenty Year Crisis, Unfinest Hour by Brendan Simms, Voltaire's Bastards by John Ralston Saul, Stanley Hoffman's Chaos and Violence and The Breaking of Nations by Robert Cooper), but if it appears in the meantime I'll likely download it, too.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: That One Guy on November 10, 2009, 07:15:51 PM
Yeah, so far I'd say it's middle-ground for Pratchett. Certainly not on par with, say, Night Watch or Thief of Time, but it's also using mostly new-to-the-book characters, which can put some people off as they're not getting another, say, Rincewind or Vimes story.

At this point, it just seems like Pratchett REALLY wanted to spoof soccer hooligans, and this is the story he came up with. Not terrible, not amazing, but a fun read so far. Admittedly, I'm just seeing the new-character development and the UU wizards are always fun to me, and the plot hasn't really started to kick in yet - the main pieces are just in place so things should start picking up shortly.

Quote from: LMNO on November 10, 2009, 06:51:04 PM
Damn.  And I had just finished arranging my bookcase in order to get all my Pratchett on one shelf...

Yeah, my Pratchett shelf is already overflowing, with Making Money (which I thought was excellent) sitting on top of all the paperbacks. And I'm still missing a few!  :D
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: -Kel- on November 28, 2009, 11:04:08 PM
I finally got around to reading American Psycho and I hate it!!! hate hate hate. And i usually love Bret Easton Eillis. But this sucks. The book would be great if he didn't repeat over and over what each character Bateman interacts with clothing, clothing fabric, color, designer, blah blah blah over and over. I know he's driving to hammer in the whole "this is all surface, i only care about surface, Bateman is nothing but a shell and therefor only sees the shells of other people." BUT FOR FUCKS SAKE, THE READER GETS THE POINT!!!  Get on with the violence and other humor pointing out things like that. I don't need it every bloody time. ugh. It has taken me three months to read this damn thing and im only half way threw it. When he's not going on and on about...."Libby is blond and wearing black grosgrain high-heeled evening shoes with exaggerated pointed toes and red stain bows by Yves Saint Laurent. daisy is....." there is actually some good writing, good black humor, and great violence. The book has now become a bathroom reader as it is the only time i can stand to open the stupid thing.  :argh!:

</RANT>
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Freeky on November 28, 2009, 11:18:43 PM
Quote from: That One Guy on November 10, 2009, 07:15:51 PM
Yeah, my Pratchett shelf is already overflowing, with Making Money (which I thought was excellent) sitting on top of all the paperbacks. And I'm still missing a few!  :D

Oooo, I loved Making Money. My Pratchett collection was downsized by me going stir crazy in my old apartment and taking a lot of books to Bookmans (a store taht takes your crap and gives either money or credit for it). Have you read Nation? Didn't read the thread.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on November 30, 2009, 02:29:59 PM
Quote from: -Kel- on November 28, 2009, 11:04:08 PM
I finally got around to reading American Psycho and I hate it!!! hate hate hate. And i usually love Bret Easton Eillis. But this sucks. The book would be great if he didn't repeat over and over what each character Bateman interacts with clothing, clothing fabric, color, designer, blah blah blah over and over. I know he's driving to hammer in the whole "this is all surface, i only care about surface, Bateman is nothing but a shell and therefor only sees the shells of other people." BUT FOR FUCKS SAKE, THE READER GETS THE POINT!!!  Get on with the violence and other humor pointing out things like that. I don't need it every bloody time. ugh. It has taken me three months to read this damn thing and im only half way threw it. When he's not going on and on about...."Libby is blond and wearing black grosgrain high-heeled evening shoes with exaggerated pointed toes and red stain bows by Yves Saint Laurent. daisy is....." there is actually some good writing, good black humor, and great violence. The book has now become a bathroom reader as it is the only time i can stand to open the stupid thing.  :argh!:

</RANT>


Are you kidding?  If the book didn't have that, it wouldn't be half as creepy as it is.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: fomenter on November 30, 2009, 04:02:34 PM
"the road" by cormac mccarthy  good post apocalyptic story, the movie is about to be released
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on December 05, 2009, 01:23:36 PM
The Post-human Dada Guide: Tzara and Lenin Play Chess by Andrei Codrescu

QuoteThis is a guide for instructing posthumans in living a Dada life. It is not advisable, nor was it ever, to lead a Dada life. It is and it was always foolish and self-destructive to lead a Dada life because a Dada life will include by defnition pranks, buffoonery, masking, deranged senses, intoxication, sabotage, taboo breaking, playing childish and/or dangerous games, waking up dead gods, and not taking education seriously.

On the other hand, the accidental production of novel objects results occasionally from the practice of Dada. During times of crisis like wars and plagues, some of these objects can be truly novel because they sabotage prevailing sentiments. At other times, Dada objects are merely interesting, by virtue of an added layer of irony, an extra punch line, or a new twist to an already-consecrated object. In such times Dada objects amuse everybody, and since these objects are (mostly) made collectively, they are a strong community bond. Amusement (of oneself and others)and the making of art communities are the goals of Dada. Dada is a priori against everything, including goals and itself, but this creative negation is very amusing and is meant to be shared.

For one whole century, Dada has delighted in uncovering and using contradictions, paradoxes, and negations, the most important of which are: 1. most people read signs, Dadas make signs, and 2. most people are scared of scary faces, Dada makes scary faces. No one should go Dada before 1. considering whether one would rather be a. amused or b. grim; one must weigh in the balance childishness and seriousness; both a and b have a history; both affect everyone in the world; both are possible at any moment, but the difference is that being childlike (a) is pleasing to creatures lighter than air (with or without wings), angels, St. Francis, and Candide, while being serious (b) is a weight, like the cross, and heavy as a lead ball (see hugo, ball) and iron chains; and 2. understanding that art is life and vice-versa and Dada is against both, except on the road to ecstasy when it stops for exceptions. It is the thesis of this book that posthumans lining the road to the future (which looks as if it exists, after all, even though Dada is against it) need the solace offered by the primal raw energy of Dada and its inhuman sources.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Rococo Modem Basilisk on December 05, 2009, 02:24:02 PM
Quote from: Cain on December 05, 2009, 01:23:36 PM
The Post-human Dada Guide: Tzara and Lenin Play Chess by Andrei Codrescu

QuoteThis is a guide for instructing posthumans in living a Dada life. It is not advisable, nor was it ever, to lead a Dada life. It is and it was always foolish and self-destructive to lead a Dada life because a Dada life will include by defnition pranks, buffoonery, masking, deranged senses, intoxication, sabotage, taboo breaking, playing childish and/or dangerous games, waking up dead gods, and not taking education seriously.

On the other hand, the accidental production of novel objects results occasionally from the practice of Dada. During times of crisis like wars and plagues, some of these objects can be truly novel because they sabotage prevailing sentiments. At other times, Dada objects are merely interesting, by virtue of an added layer of irony, an extra punch line, or a new twist to an already-consecrated object. In such times Dada objects amuse everybody, and since these objects are (mostly) made collectively, they are a strong community bond. Amusement (of oneself and others)and the making of art communities are the goals of Dada. Dada is a priori against everything, including goals and itself, but this creative negation is very amusing and is meant to be shared.

For one whole century, Dada has delighted in uncovering and using contradictions, paradoxes, and negations, the most important of which are: 1. most people read signs, Dadas make signs, and 2. most people are scared of scary faces, Dada makes scary faces. No one should go Dada before 1. considering whether one would rather be a. amused or b. grim; one must weigh in the balance childishness and seriousness; both a and b have a history; both affect everyone in the world; both are possible at any moment, but the difference is that being childlike (a) is pleasing to creatures lighter than air (with or without wings), angels, St. Francis, and Candide, while being serious (b) is a weight, like the cross, and heavy as a lead ball (see hugo, ball) and iron chains; and 2. understanding that art is life and vice-versa and Dada is against both, except on the road to ecstasy when it stops for exceptions. It is the thesis of this book that posthumans lining the road to the future (which looks as if it exists, after all, even though Dada is against it) need the solace offered by the primal raw energy of Dada and its inhuman sources.

I don't suppose you could score me a PDF of that?
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on December 05, 2009, 02:30:27 PM
http://ifile.it/g4z3swb

Found it on Gigapedia, registering gives you full access to the site.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Rococo Modem Basilisk on December 05, 2009, 09:07:58 PM
Thanks :-)
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cainad (dec.) on December 06, 2009, 08:05:59 PM
The Professor and The Madman

So apparently a large portion of the Oxford English Dictionary was written by a criminally insane American Civil War veteran staying in a British asylum. :lulz:
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Dimocritus on December 06, 2009, 08:34:49 PM
Ughh... Trying to read "House of Leaves" but, while it may be interesting at points, there are some seriously tedious "foot-notes" by the "author" that make it really difficult to motivate myself to keep going. I think I may just put it down for a while and start reading the Decameron...
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cainad (dec.) on December 06, 2009, 08:41:47 PM
Quote from: dimo on December 06, 2009, 08:34:49 PM
Ughh... Trying to read "House of Leaves" but, while it may be interesting at points, there are some seriously tedious "foot-notes" by the "author" that make it really difficult to motivate myself to keep going. I think I may just put it down for a while and start reading the Decameron...

Skip the ones that are lists of irrelevant names and places. The footnotes written by the guy compiling Zampano's notes are half the story (the weaker half, in retrospect, but half nonetheless).
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Iason Ouabache on December 08, 2009, 10:34:54 PM
Making Up the Mind, How the Brain Creates our Mental World by Chris Frith. Interesting read so far and looks pretty short. He sorta reminds me of Oliver Sacks in a roundabout way.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Dimocritus on December 10, 2009, 02:14:51 PM
Quote from: Cainad on December 06, 2009, 08:41:47 PM
Quote from: dimo on December 06, 2009, 08:34:49 PM
Ughh... Trying to read "House of Leaves" but, while it may be interesting at points, there are some seriously tedious "foot-notes" by the "author" that make it really difficult to motivate myself to keep going. I think I may just put it down for a while and start reading the Decameron...

Skip the ones that are lists of irrelevant names and places. The footnotes written by the guy compiling Zampano's notes are half the story (the weaker half, in retrospect, but half nonetheless).

Yeah, I've ignored the (literally) pages of names. I really enjoy Zampano's notes, but fuckin' Johnny Truant is a predictable, self absorbed prick that thinks I should give a fuck about his stupid psychological shortcomings. I have a feeling that the Johnny Truant character is based off the actual author, which also kinda' makes me want to not read it.

Anyhow, Just read a short story called "At the Rialto" by Connie Willis. I thought it was really good and I think a lot of folk here would get a kick out of it.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on December 10, 2009, 02:21:11 PM
Well, I finished "Anathem", and I'd recommed it to any of the math/philosophy geeks out there.


I suppose I need to start reading stuff like "Pregnancy for Dummies".
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Richter on December 10, 2009, 02:54:18 PM
"Crooked little Vein" by Warren Ellis - A horromirth a minute
Dan Abnett's "Ravenor" trilogy of books - Scifi pulp, fewer casualties and different quality of badass characterization then his Eisenhorn books.

Quote from: dimo on December 10, 2009, 02:14:51 PM
Quote from: Cainad on December 06, 2009, 08:41:47 PM
Quote from: dimo on December 06, 2009, 08:34:49 PM
Ughh... Trying to read "House of Leaves" but, while it may be interesting at points, there are some seriously tedious "foot-notes" by the "author" that make it really difficult to motivate myself to keep going. I think I may just put it down for a while and start reading the Decameron...

Skip the ones that are lists of irrelevant names and places. The footnotes written by the guy compiling Zampano's notes are half the story (the weaker half, in retrospect, but half nonetheless).

Yeah, I've ignored the (literally) pages of names. I really enjoy Zampano's notes, but fuckin' Johnny Truant is a predictable, self absorbed prick that thinks I should give a fuck about his stupid psychological shortcomings. I have a feeling that the Johnny Truant character is based off the actual author, which also kinda' makes me want to not read it.

Anyhow, Just read a short story called "At the Realto" by Connie Willis. I thought it was really good and I think a lot of folk here would get a kick out of it.

I read that a few years ago.  Certainly was something.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on December 12, 2009, 03:05:42 PM
Vassilis Fouskas - Zones of Conflict - good realist overview of US grand strategy in Eurasia.  I'm going to post some extracts in AD.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Freeky on December 13, 2009, 06:51:18 AM
I started reading Transmetropolitan about 12 hours ago.


I'm about to start Vol. 6.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: -Kel- on December 14, 2009, 03:12:34 AM
Quote from: Mistress Freeky on December 13, 2009, 06:51:18 AM
I started reading Transmetropolitan about 12 hours ago.


I'm about to start Vol. 6.

Spider Jerusalem approves of this!!

(http://gallery.sicksadworld.us/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=75261&g2_serialNumber=1)
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Freeky on December 14, 2009, 03:31:58 AM
Dude has the tatoo on the wrong side.

And I'm on part three of volume 10!!!!!!! OH MY FUCKING GOD!!!!!!

*spazplode*
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Freeky on December 14, 2009, 03:55:05 AM
Fucking pimp ass. That was the best ending evar!
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Captain Utopia on December 15, 2009, 07:09:09 PM
Quote from: LMNO on December 10, 2009, 02:21:11 PM
I suppose I need to start reading stuff like "Pregnancy for Dummies".
Meh, just do what comes naturally, you'll be fine. Bear in mind that you'll likely get more advice than you want, or can use due to contradictions, anyway.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cainad (dec.) on December 15, 2009, 08:45:01 PM
Quote from: FP on December 15, 2009, 07:09:09 PM
Quote from: LMNO on December 10, 2009, 02:21:11 PM
I suppose I need to start reading stuff like "Pregnancy for Dummies".
Meh, just do what comes naturally, you'll be fine. Bear in mind that you'll likely get more advice than you want, or can use due to contradictions, anyway.

Ahem:

(http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/natural_parenting.png)
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on December 15, 2009, 08:48:11 PM
Steven Erickson - Gardens of the Moon (by recommendation from TV Tropes)
Sarah Palin - Going Rogue (still)
Samuel P Huntingdon - The Clash Of the Civilizations (lol)
International Law (6th edition) - numerous authors (kill me now)
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Jasper on December 15, 2009, 09:47:09 PM
Just finished reading Social Psychology 6th ed.  by Aronson, Wilson, and Akert.   Recommended very much, if textbooks on human behavior are your thing.

In my spare time I'm reading some Robert Rankin.  Fandom of the Operator. :D
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Brotep on December 16, 2009, 09:44:05 AM
I am currently strapped into the audiobook of Why Beautiful People Have More Daughters, by Miller and Kanazawa.  It's a pop evolutionary psych book.  A little simplistic at times, but deliciously iconoclastic.

Quote from: Iason Ouabache on December 08, 2009, 10:34:54 PM
Making Up the Mind, How the Brain Creates our Mental World by Chris Frith. Interesting read so far and looks pretty short. He sorta reminds me of Oliver Sacks in a roundabout way.

Checking out the intro right now, it's kinda cute.  The bit about the hierarchy of science is so true...Physicists think they're sooooo cool.   :argh!:
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on December 16, 2009, 02:23:37 PM
I'm reading another one of the Stackhouse Mysteries, to pass time until after Xmas, when I may be getting more books.  If I haven't gotten anything interesting, I'll be starting "House of Leaves".


It will be weird going back to paper, I think.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Dimocritus on December 16, 2009, 08:05:23 PM
Quote from: LMNO on December 16, 2009, 02:23:37 PM
I'm reading another one of the Stackhouse Mysteries, to pass time until after Xmas, when I may be getting more books.  If I haven't gotten anything interesting, I'll be starting "House of Leaves".


It will be weird going back to paper, I think.

Are you using something like a kindle, or just plain old internets? I'm just curious because I, personally, would rather have an actual bound copy of what ever I'm reading, but this kindle thing seems interesting and I was wondering if it was worth the investment.

Also, I can't imagine reading House of Leaves any other way. That guy does some really interesting things with the formatting, even if the content is a little tedious at times.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on December 16, 2009, 08:07:57 PM
Kindle, I like it, and I'm reading HOL exactly because of the formatting.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Dimocritus on December 16, 2009, 08:33:06 PM
Quote from: LMNO on December 16, 2009, 08:07:57 PM
Kindle, I like it, and I'm reading HOL exactly because of the formatting.

That's the only reason I picked it up, myself. As a gimmick, it's great, but I don't feel that it's written all that well. I'd be curious to hear your opinion. I'd say that there's a pretty good chance you may find something likable in there that I am overlooking.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: on December 16, 2009, 09:20:25 PM
Quote from: dimo on December 16, 2009, 08:33:06 PM
Quote from: LMNO on December 16, 2009, 08:07:57 PM
Kindle, I like it, and I'm reading HOL exactly because of the formatting.

That's the only reason I picked it up, myself. As a gimmick, it's great, but I don't feel that it's written all that well. I'd be curious to hear your opinion. I'd say that there's a pretty good chance you may find something likable in there that I am overlooking.

I didn't care for House of Leaves over-much, but it was hyped up a lot to me before I read it.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Dimocritus on December 16, 2009, 10:40:17 PM
Quote from: Z³ on December 16, 2009, 09:20:25 PM
Quote from: dimo on December 16, 2009, 08:33:06 PM
Quote from: LMNO on December 16, 2009, 08:07:57 PM
Kindle, I like it, and I'm reading HOL exactly because of the formatting.

That's the only reason I picked it up, myself. As a gimmick, it's great, but I don't feel that it's written all that well. I'd be curious to hear your opinion. I'd say that there's a pretty good chance you may find something likable in there that I am overlooking.

I didn't care for House of Leaves over-much, but it was hyped up a lot to me before I read it.

It's a great concept, I just think it was implemented poorly.

It kinda' reminds me of a book I read called "Manifesto"(it had a blank white cover, no text whatsoever) that a friend insisted that I read. It starts off making you wonder how the whole thing was going to turn out, but before you even get to the end, you realize that it's just a bunch of self-absorbed, whiny tripe written by a rich kid that keeps throwing away opportunities that regular poor folk like myself would murder for.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Pariah on December 17, 2009, 03:06:15 AM
Quote from: dimo on December 16, 2009, 10:40:17 PM
It kinda' reminds me of a book I read called "Manifesto"(it had a blank white cover, no text whatsoever) that a friend insisted that I read. It starts off making you wonder how the whole thing was going to turn out, but before you even get to the end, you realize that it's just a bunch of self-absorbed, whiny tripe written by a rich kid that keeps throwing away opportunities that regular poor folk like myself would murder for.

I was wondering if anyone here had read that too. I was getting the same impression which is a shame because I kind of liked the writing style.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Dimocritus on December 17, 2009, 04:27:12 AM
Quote from: Pariah? on December 17, 2009, 03:06:15 AM
Quote from: dimo on December 16, 2009, 10:40:17 PM
It kinda' reminds me of a book I read called "Manifesto"(it had a blank white cover, no text whatsoever) that a friend insisted that I read. It starts off making you wonder how the whole thing was going to turn out, but before you even get to the end, you realize that it's just a bunch of self-absorbed, whiny tripe written by a rich kid that keeps throwing away opportunities that regular poor folk like myself would murder for.

I was wondering if anyone here had read that too. I was getting the same impression which is a shame because I kind of liked the writing style.

Same here. S'too bad. The complaining wouldn't have been so bad if it had an actual ending. 
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Iason Ouabache on December 17, 2009, 08:15:34 AM
Quote from: Brotep on December 16, 2009, 09:44:05 AM
Quote from: Iason Ouabache on December 08, 2009, 10:34:54 PM
Making Up the Mind, How the Brain Creates our Mental World by Chris Frith. Interesting read so far and looks pretty short. He sorta reminds me of Oliver Sacks in a roundabout way.

Checking out the intro right now, it's kinda cute.  The bit about the hierarchy of science is so true...Physicists think they're sooooo cool.   :argh!:
It is a pretty good book so far (I'm about halfway through). Just like "Why Evolution is True", I keep getting the feeling that he is just repeating stuff I already knew but it would be a great entry point for anyone who wants to know what has happened in cognitive science during the last 50 years.

I think I need to pick something more challenging to read next time.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on December 17, 2009, 02:35:25 PM
(http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/purity.png)
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Wondering Monk on December 20, 2009, 09:33:37 PM
im just about to start reading "Johnny the Homicidal Maniac" although im not sure reading is the right term for a comic? idk :s
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on December 21, 2009, 02:47:19 PM
Quote from: Wondering Monk on December 20, 2009, 09:33:37 PM
im just about to start reading "Johnny the Homicidal Maniac" although im not sure reading is the right term for a comic? idk :s


Is good.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Iason Ouabache on December 22, 2009, 09:22:25 AM
Quote from: Iason Ouabache on December 17, 2009, 08:15:34 AM
Quote from: Brotep on December 16, 2009, 09:44:05 AM
Quote from: Iason Ouabache on December 08, 2009, 10:34:54 PM
Making Up the Mind, How the Brain Creates our Mental World by Chris Frith. Interesting read so far and looks pretty short. He sorta reminds me of Oliver Sacks in a roundabout way.

Checking out the intro right now, it's kinda cute.  The bit about the hierarchy of science is so true...Physicists think they're sooooo cool.   :argh!:
It is a pretty good book so far (I'm about halfway through). Just like "Why Evolution is True", I keep getting the feeling that he is just repeating stuff I already knew but it would be a great entry point for anyone who wants to know what has happened in cognitive science during the last 50 years.

I think I need to pick something more challenging to read next time.
I spoke too soon. Chapter five kicked all kinds of ass. The title is pretty awesome by itself: "Our Perception of the World Is a Fantasy That Coincides with Reality" He managed to cover information theory, artificial intelligence, neuron doctrine, Bayes' theorem, the Ideal Bayesian Observer, "the map is not the territory", hard wiring, optical illusions, visual perception, and color constancy pretty well in just 28 pages. The book would probably be better if he had just taken that section and expanded it.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Rococo Modem Basilisk on December 25, 2009, 05:26:16 PM
Reading Chronic City by Jonathan Lethem. I've been a fan of Gun, with Occasional Music for several years, and Chronic City is excellent thus far -- the first chapter has several memebomb-worthy lines.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on December 26, 2009, 09:23:41 PM
John Ralston Saul - Voltaire's Bastards.

Over a decade old now, but rings still oh so true.  I'm going to have to write up notes on this, he's made a number of awesome points already, and I'm not even a fifth of the way through.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: phi on December 27, 2009, 07:33:06 PM
Snowcrash is being read to me. The reading his helping a sick friend keep her sanity. And I get to not be harassed for not having read it!

Because if I heard "You should read Snowcrash! The main character's name is Hero, Protagonist" one more time, I would have flipped.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Freeky on December 27, 2009, 09:31:26 PM
I just read Fell, and now I'm going to read Armageddon: The Musical.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Rococo Modem Basilisk on December 28, 2009, 01:43:16 AM
I'm about halfway through Chronic City, and it looks like I might finish it tonight. It's the most PKDish book I've read -- more PKDish than anything I've read by PKD. I feel like writing a blog post analyzing it, but I should probably wait until I finish it first.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: NotPublished on December 28, 2009, 08:06:37 AM
Finished Jennifer Fallon's Tide Lords not long ago .. that was epic, and I fell in love with one of the characters.

Now I'm reading; Leopard Auer - Violin Playing as I teach it
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on December 28, 2009, 01:47:10 PM
I got Plato and a Platypus Walk Into a Bar for xmas.  A survey of major philosophies, each punctuated by jokes, ranging from awful to pretty good.

Fast reading.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Dimocritus on December 28, 2009, 05:07:33 PM
I just picked up the Tao Te Ching, Don Quixote, and Machiavelli's The Prince (Buy two get one free, woot!).

As a small aside, my mother got me and my brothers each a book published on the year we were born, and I got an interesting little childrens book called Masquerade by an artist named Kit Wiliams. It contains crazy visual riddles that all point the way to an honest-to-goodness buried treasure. Obviously, it's been found by now, but the book is still really interesting. The artwork is pretty cool and apparently it's a bit of a rare collectors item. It's a neat concept but unfortunately the people that "found" the treasure were big cheaters and ruined it for everybody. Either way, it's still really cool to look at and try to figure out the riddle.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Reeducation on December 29, 2009, 07:22:59 AM
Little book of calm - Paul Wilson  :lulz:
South of the Pumphouse - Les Claypool
The Cthulhu Mythos Encyclopedia - Daniel Harms
Everything Is Under Control - Roope Antti Wilperi
Godel, Escher, Bach - Douglas Hofstadter
The Greatest Show on Earth - Richard Dawkins

Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Iason Ouabache on December 29, 2009, 04:32:41 PM
Quote from: dimo on December 28, 2009, 05:07:33 PM
I just picked up the Tao Te Ching, Don Quixote, and Machiavelli's The Prince (Buy two get one free, woot!).

All three of those are in the public domain, so you could have bought none and got three free.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Dimocritus on December 30, 2009, 06:38:38 PM
Quote from: Iason Ouabache on December 29, 2009, 04:32:41 PM
Quote from: dimo on December 28, 2009, 05:07:33 PM
I just picked up the Tao Te Ching, Don Quixote, and Machiavelli's The Prince (Buy two get one free, woot!).

All three of those are in the public domain, so you could have bought none and got three free.

:sad: Buy two stacks of paper, get the third free...
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Iason Ouabache on December 31, 2009, 06:53:23 AM
I finished "Making Up the Mind". Fairly good book. I liked his digressions more than the actual meat of the book. Because of that I was going to ask someone if they could suggest a good book on the essentials of game theory... then I opened up The Discordian Intellectual package and found a book called "Essentials of Game Theory".

Cain: Not only a genius, but a psychic genius!
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on December 31, 2009, 03:53:25 PM
 :magick:
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Kai on December 31, 2009, 10:10:04 PM
Just finished The Other - David Guterson

I think many people would find it too slow, and too wordy, with little dialogue and loads of description. I found it wonderful, the characters portrayed with all their flaws intact, and the description was quite wonderful. The story centers around the friendship of the narrator Neil Countryman with his psychological opposite, John William Barry, and how he comes to help his friend try to escape from reality living as a hermit in the mountains. Guilt is well portrayed, characters have depth (even when they are shallow) and the overall portrait the story paints is of choices that lead to both tragedy and gain for the narrator and friend, but yet no regrets. I had trouble getting through the first 50 pages but then I sunk deep into the prose and finished it within a day. Recommended if you're into that sort of wilderness dependent coming of age story; some of it feels very similar to My Side of the Mountain to me.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on January 02, 2010, 04:23:42 PM
Steve Erikson - Memories of Ice

I was a little unsure about the Malazan Book of the Fallen series, but I think its growing on me.  That it is quickly heading into Thirty Xanatos Pileup territory doesn't hurt, nor that its set in a crapsack world. 
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Lord Quantum on January 02, 2010, 06:34:34 PM
I just finished reading Why Evolution is True and now I'm reading a Very Short Introduction to the Philosophy of Science and the Essential Calvin and Hobbes. I'm thinking about starting a calvinball cabal in my area.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Reginald Ret on January 02, 2010, 10:04:26 PM
Quote from: Cain on January 02, 2010, 04:23:42 PM
Steve Erikson - Memories of Ice

I was a little unsure about the Malazan Book of the Fallen series, but I think its growing on me.  That it is quickly heading into Thirty Xanatos Pileup territory doesn't hurt, nor that its set in a crapsack world. 
DO NOT read out of order, that way it quickly stops making sense.
still good books though.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on January 02, 2010, 10:42:40 PM
Oh God, I could imagine.  Even in sequence, keeping up is a little hard.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: on January 03, 2010, 08:55:05 AM
Just finished reading Uncle Sam, stumbled on it on /co/ because I'm looking for a new comic to read.
It was so good, I almost cried.

picture is kinda big (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v145/zombiezombiezombie/1262499852793.jpg)

I've been on a comic binge, in the couple weeks I finished:
Promethea
Bone
Deadpool/Cable&Deadpool (just to read some trashy comics)
The Invisibles

Currently I'm working on:
Hellboy/BPRD
100 Bullets

I'm trying to go back and finish out a lot of the comics that I've read only partially, most of which I'm done with now. Pretty soon I want to read Cerebus in its entirety, as well as get caught up with Fables, and maybe try out Y the Last Man. I'll probably also read Tom Strong and V for Vendetta just so I can say that I've read pretty much everything Alan Moore has written (I'll have to include his issues of Swamp Thing as well.) I suppose I'll also read those six or so issues of Spawn towards the beginning that all had guest writers (IE:the good issues of Spawn).

Anyway, Uncle Sam was fucking amazing, I strongly recommend it to this board. I'll be going to the comic shop to get a physical copy of that book soon. If anyone has further suggestions for me, even things as low as trashy superhero comics, chances are I'll probably entertain them and even let you know what I think.

Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Rococo Modem Basilisk on January 04, 2010, 03:19:03 PM
I finished Chronic City. Looking for something new. Also, I am temporarily in love with Lethem.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Eater of Clowns on January 07, 2010, 01:49:06 AM
Quote from: Z³ on January 03, 2010, 08:55:05 AM
If anyone has further suggestions for me, even things as low as trashy superhero comics, chances are I'll probably entertain them and even let you know what I think.



Well, you read Bone, which is probably my favorite graphic novel.  Check out Will Eisner if you haven't.  The Spirit is his take on the superhero genre (way different from the movie).  Into the Heart of the Storm is an autobiographical look at a soldier heading into WWII.  A Contract with God and other Tenement Stories is the first graphic novel if you're interested in that, but it's not his best work.  They aren't as polished as modern comics, but he's a god damn master.  I started seeing people as he drew them after a few weeks of reading his stuff.

A good site is Read Yourself Raw (http://www.readyourselfraw.com) - it has a lot of authors listed and recommendations they've made for other comics.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on January 11, 2010, 06:35:14 PM
Peter Levenda - Sinister Forces: A Warm Gun

I was expecting the first of this trilogy to arrive, but I cannot be bothered to wait for The Nine to arrive, and so have started with this.  Levenda, for those who don't know, is the real author of the "Simon Necronomicon" and is also something of an expert of the intersection of occult beliefs and politics.  He has a highly regarded previous book called Unholy Alliance about Nazi occultism in particular, but Sinister Forces is subtitled "A Grimoire of American Political Witchcraft" and deals with more recent, and well known events, from the Manson murders up to Bush and Al-Qaeda.  Levenda is quite open that he considers this a factual counterpart to the Illuminatus! Trilogy, so I expect much High Weirdness awaits me over the coming weeks.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cainad (dec.) on January 12, 2010, 04:00:09 AM
I just read the whole of Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas in six hours. I think my head is going to explode.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Jasper on January 12, 2010, 04:48:16 AM
Quote from: Cainad on January 12, 2010, 04:00:09 AM
I just read the whole of Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas in six hours. I think my head is going to explode.

Fact:  If too much awesome is in your mind at once, you will pass out and someone else will wake up.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cainad (dec.) on January 12, 2010, 05:01:46 AM
Quote from: Felix on January 12, 2010, 04:48:16 AM
Quote from: Cainad on January 12, 2010, 04:00:09 AM
I just read the whole of Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas in six hours. I think my head is going to explode.

Fact:  If too much awesome is in your mind at once, you will pass out and someone else will wake up.

I must try this some day.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Epimetheus on January 12, 2010, 05:30:30 AM
In the middle of a collection of Jorge Luis Borges' fictions, and RAW's Quantum Psychology.

I think I need to add some humor in there. I mean, Wilson has humor but not the right kind I'm talking about.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Nast on January 12, 2010, 05:37:34 AM
Quote from: Epimetheus on January 12, 2010, 05:30:30 AM
In the middle of a collection of Jorge Luis Borges' fictions, and RAW's Quantum Psychology.

I think I need to add some humor in there. I mean, Wilson has humor but not the right kind I'm talking about.

I'm reading Borges' fictions too, but in Spanish. I don't think I'm good enough to comprehend a fair share of it, though.  :sad:
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Jasper on January 12, 2010, 05:44:19 AM
Has anyone here read that book "How to teach your dog physics"?  I was considering getting it for someone's birthday present.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Bu🤠ns on January 12, 2010, 07:19:43 AM
Quote from: Cainad on January 12, 2010, 04:00:09 AM
I just read the whole of Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas in six hours. I think my head is going to explode.

oh man! OH hell yeah.  I'll have to do this some day....ooohh...out LOUD even....bring along "accessories".
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cainad (dec.) on January 12, 2010, 11:26:32 AM
Quote from: Burns on January 12, 2010, 07:19:43 AM
Quote from: Cainad on January 12, 2010, 04:00:09 AM
I just read the whole of Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas in six hours. I think my head is going to explode.

oh man! OH hell yeah.  I'll have to do this some day....ooohh...out LOUD even....bring along "accessories".

For those six hours, and a few hours afterwords, I felt something very much akin to 20mg of Adderall, but without the unpleasant side effects. My synapses were full of gonzo. I thought I would finish it later today, but the effect it had on me meant there was no way I was getting to sleep without finishing it.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on January 12, 2010, 02:49:30 PM
OK, got the first Sinister Forces book today.  Anyone who mentions Lovecraft, Columbus and Islamic imperialism in the first two pages of their book is alright by me.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Pope Pixie Pickle on January 12, 2010, 11:33:00 PM
Quote from: Cainad on January 12, 2010, 11:26:32 AM
Quote from: Burns on January 12, 2010, 07:19:43 AM
Quote from: Cainad on January 12, 2010, 04:00:09 AM
I just read the whole of Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas in six hours. I think my head is going to explode.

oh man! OH hell yeah.  I'll have to do this some day....ooohh...out LOUD even....bring along "accessories".

For those six hours, and a few hours afterwords, I felt something very much akin to 20mg of Adderall, but without the unpleasant side effects. My synapses were full of gonzo. I thought I would finish it later today, but the effect it had on me meant there was no way I was getting to sleep without finishing it.

:lulz:
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: The Fundamentalist on January 13, 2010, 12:33:58 AM
Just finished The King in Yellow and The Gods of Pegāna.  I can see why they've had so much influence, although the former has a lot less of the horror aspect than I expected.  The latter is somewhat gnostic.

Next is Slaughterhouse-Five to finish, and then I'm going to see if The Republic is worth its reputation.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Epimetheus on January 13, 2010, 01:02:16 AM
Quote from: Nasturtiums on January 12, 2010, 05:37:34 AM
Quote from: Epimetheus on January 12, 2010, 05:30:30 AM
In the middle of a collection of Jorge Luis Borges' fictions, and RAW's Quantum Psychology.

I think I need to add some humor in there. I mean, Wilson has humor but not the right kind I'm talking about.

I'm reading Borges' fictions too, but in Spanish. I don't think I'm good enough to comprehend a fair share of it, though.  :sad:

Even reading it in English there are so many references to Argentinian places and history (I guess, maybe other Spanish countries too) that you have to read tons of footnotes to get it.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on January 13, 2010, 01:11:00 AM
I have a collection of Borges' fiction that a friend bought for me, but it's been sitting on my bedside table for six years and I've never opened it.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: The Johnny on January 13, 2010, 02:16:17 AM

Im not too fond of Borges... but i love Cortazar.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on January 13, 2010, 02:19:09 PM
Quote from: The Right Reverend Nigel on January 13, 2010, 01:11:00 AM
I have a collection of Borges' fiction that a friend bought for me, but it's been sitting on my bedside table for six years and I've never opened it.


I like Borges.  Short, to the point, good writing, an occasional mindfuck.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cainad (dec.) on January 19, 2010, 06:06:21 PM
I have started The Great Shark Hunt, but I put it on hold to read Columbine by Dave Cullen. Hell of a read, and clarifies a lot of the rumors and misinformation surrounding the tragedy, and just as importantly covers how that misinformation became so widespread so quickly. It's a recent release, too; the author spent nine years researching this shit.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: The Good Reverend Roger on January 19, 2010, 06:10:57 PM
Quote from: Cainad on January 19, 2010, 06:06:21 PM
I have started The Great Shark Hunt,

HST's second worst book. 
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cainad (dec.) on January 19, 2010, 06:11:45 PM
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on January 19, 2010, 06:10:57 PM
Quote from: Cainad on January 19, 2010, 06:06:21 PM
I have started The Great Shark Hunt,

HST's second worst book.  

It's certainly not nearly as gripping as Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. What's the worst one? And, for that matter, what are a few of the better ones?
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: The Good Reverend Roger on January 19, 2010, 06:17:03 PM
Quote from: Cainad on January 19, 2010, 06:11:45 PM
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on January 19, 2010, 06:10:57 PM
Quote from: Cainad on January 19, 2010, 06:06:21 PM
I have started The Great Shark Hunt,

HST's second worst book. 

It's certainly not nearly as gripping as Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. What's the worst one?

Screwjack.

His last book is pretty good "Hey Rube".

I have everything he ever wrote, and only three of his books suck.  "The Rum Diaries" (not BAD, but not what I expect from him), Screwjack (utter shit), and The Great Shark Hunt.

Songs of the Doomed is tolerable.

Good stuff:  "Hells Angels", "Better Than Sex", "A Generation of Swine", "The Curse of Lono", "The Kentucky Derby is Decadent and Depraved", "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas", "Hey Rube", "Kingdom of Fear".

AMAZING stuff:  "Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail, 1972".

Might have forgotten one or two; put them in the "good" column.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cainad (dec.) on January 19, 2010, 06:20:04 PM
Thanks, I was curious about Screwjack. I will keep this list in mind.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: The Good Reverend Roger on January 19, 2010, 06:24:27 PM
Quote from: Cainad on January 19, 2010, 06:20:04 PM
Thanks, I was curious about Screwjack. I will keep this list in mind.

If Screwjack was given away for free, you'd still be getting robbed.  I have written better in the throes of cactus binges.

Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail 72, though, is probably the best book on politics ever written.  It is analogous to a layman's book on physics that leaves you with a complete understanding of string theory.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on January 19, 2010, 06:27:27 PM
Campaign 72 was amazing.  I reccomend everyone read it at least once every four years.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: -Kel- on January 19, 2010, 07:05:11 PM
Still stuck on American Psycho, at least its starting to pick up, only after 200 or so pages. :mad:
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Iason Ouabache on January 27, 2010, 09:49:01 PM
"The Red Queen, Sex, & the Evolution of Human Nature" by Matt Ridley.  (Found in the Operation Mindfuck Pack)

Extremely interesting read. Definitely a good mindfuck. This book combined with me starting the Game Theory lecture series on Academic Earth has given me some great ideas for an anti-libertarian rant. Hopefully I can get all of my ideas wrapped together at some point.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: BluTakDuck on January 28, 2010, 12:35:34 AM
Quote from: -Kel- on January 19, 2010, 07:05:11 PM
Still stuck on American Psycho, at least its starting to pick up, only after 200 or so pages. :mad:

I honestly only remember one bit of that book. And it's only because it's the bit someone recommended the book to me with. I own it, but i can;t say i'd ever read it again. It does tail off again at the end.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Jasper on January 28, 2010, 12:36:51 AM
Consciousness Explained, Dan Dennett

Just started it today, and my reading habits suck lately.  Seems good so far.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Rococo Modem Basilisk on January 28, 2010, 12:47:01 AM
I'm about halfway through A Fire Upon the Deep, again. When I finish, I will try to get through V. by Thomas Pynchton.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on January 28, 2010, 01:12:57 AM
This is a semi-local story that I found highly amusing... my apologies if it's already been all over the Internet.

"Fist-size space rock crashed through roof of Lorton doctors' office."

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/nation-world/bal-md.meteor23jan23,0,7482858.story

Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on January 28, 2010, 03:45:28 PM
Unholy Alliance by Peter Levenda. 

Probably one of the three books it is necessary to own if you want to research the connections between occultism and Nazism (the other two having being written by Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke).  Also the intro by Norman Mailer is an unexpected bonus.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on January 28, 2010, 03:48:09 PM
Hey, that sounds good.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on January 28, 2010, 03:55:41 PM
I can provide the Goodrick-Clarke books in PDF, but this one exists only in meatspace as far as I can see.  And yeah, a quick persual seems to suggest it is a lot meatier and less speculative than his Sinister Forces books, which are sort of a follow-on from this.  The final third of the book promises to be of particular interest, since it deals with Nazi occultism after the war, a topic which it is hard to find good material on.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on January 28, 2010, 03:57:41 PM
I did the "I request this book to be made into a Kindle edition" thing, but I doubt anyone pays attention to that.

Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on January 28, 2010, 04:04:04 PM
Oh, there is one other part of this I really want to read.  Levenda himself was detained for a while at the infamous Colonia Dignidad, a Germany colony in Chile, founded by a very pro-Nazi Luffwaffe officer called Paul Schafer.  He ran the place as a cult, with him as effective Fuhrer, and also did torture work on the side for Pinochet.  Its hard to dig up more than that on the internet though, so I want to see his impressions of the place.

Yeah, its been in print for quite a while, but given its more of a fringe topic, and from someone who isn't an academic or with academic backing, I suspect if they ever make an ebook version, it might take a while.  There could well be pirate copies out there...but I haven't seen them.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Rococo Modem Basilisk on January 28, 2010, 04:23:00 PM
Quote from: Cain on January 28, 2010, 03:55:41 PM
I can provide the Goodrick-Clarke books in PDF

Please do. I will look out for any potential pirate copies of the other as well.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on January 30, 2010, 01:13:08 AM
"Your Disgusting Head: the Darkest, Most Offensive -- and Moist -- Secrets of Your Ears, Mouth and Nose" by Dr. and Mr. Doris Haggis-On-Whey.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: . on January 30, 2010, 01:15:43 AM
Just started reading "The Throne of Bones." Pretty interesting so far.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on January 31, 2010, 09:04:08 PM
Quote from: Horrendous Foreign Love Stoat on January 30, 2010, 12:39:46 AM
Johnny The Homicidal Maniac. ranges from  :?  :sad:  :| to :horrormirth:  :lol:

Yeah, I've heard that can be pretty hit or miss.  I imagine its a case of when its funny, its very funny (in a black humour way) and when it sucks, it really fucking sucks.

Also my current reading is the highly interesting Special Operations in the Age of Chivalry 1100-1500

QuoteAlongside the familiar pitched battles, regular sieges, and large-scale manoeuvres, medieval and early modern wars also involved assassination, abduction, treason and sabotage. These undercover operations were aimed chiefly against key individuals, mostly royalty or the leaders of the opposing army, and against key fortified places, including bridges, mills and dams. However, because of their clandestine nature, these deeds of `derring-do' have not been studied in any detail, a major gap which this book fills. It surveys a wide variety of special operations, from the eleventh to the sixteenth century. It then analyzes in greater depth six select and exciting operations: the betrayal of Antioch in 1098; the attempt to rescue King Baldwin II from the dungeon of Khartpert in 1123; the assassination of Conrad of Montferrat in 1192; the attempt to storm Calais in 1350; the 'dirty war' waged by the rulers of France and Burgundy in the 1460s and 1470s; and the demolition of the flour mill of Auriol in 1536.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Rococo Modem Basilisk on February 01, 2010, 02:37:05 PM
I finished A Fire Upon the Deep and I'm starting V.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on February 02, 2010, 01:18:51 PM
If you put yourself in the mind-state of a pre-emo teenage goth-punk with delusions of existential nihilism, it makes more sense.


LMNO
-don't ask how I know that.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: on February 02, 2010, 08:42:02 PM
Just started on the Temple of the Golden Pavilion by Yukio Mishima.
I like it a lot so far.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: E.O.T. on February 12, 2010, 04:02:31 AM
Quote from: Cain on January 28, 2010, 03:45:28 PM
Unholy Alliance by Peter Levenda. 

Probably one of the three books it is necessary to own if you want to research the connections between occultism and Nazism (the other two having being written by Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke).  Also the intro by Norman Mailer is an unexpected bonus.

WHAT'S

          Levenda's particular focus? More like turn-of-the-century or during World War II? I guess I could google this but you're probably a better resource than Wikipedia.

GOODRICK-CLARKE

          Certainly opened some crazy shit up when he came out with "The occult roots..", a lot of which had an effect opposite to his ambition. It does remain to be the most comprehensive 'one-stop' source for the topic as an intro. His follow up, "Black Sun" is disappointingly a poorly researched pile of crap. Again however, "Black Sun" serves as an intro, this time to post-Third Reich Nazi-isms, but here G-Clarke at best lays out a rough map of key influences but mostly misappropriated their relationships or simply got shit completely wrong. Still, young satan-worshipping-aspiring-nazi-occultists will find it a useful quick guide to get turned onto things they hadn't heard of before.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Jasper on February 12, 2010, 04:07:22 AM
Ravenor, the omnibus. 

What a great goddamned sci-fi/action novel.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Rococo Modem Basilisk on February 12, 2010, 11:47:20 AM
A Calculus of Angels by J. Gregory Keyes
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on February 12, 2010, 01:50:25 PM
Quote from: Horrendous Foreign Love Stoat on February 12, 2010, 02:03:54 AM

Would I need to do that for the Squee series also? They're up next on my reading list.



No, Squee! is just funny and awesome.

Roman Dirge's Lenore is also pretty great.



I'm finally reading House of Leaves, and I'm digging it.  Even though it deliberately and broad-handedly breaks formal conventions, it's not as pretentious as Infinite Jest, and creepier, too.  My kind of book, really.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Requia ☣ on February 12, 2010, 11:22:03 PM
I started on Discourses of the first decade of titus livy by Machiavelli
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Bella on February 17, 2010, 08:35:43 PM
I just started working my way through the entire works of Terry Pratchett because my father-in-law sent us his latest book and HFLS says it won't make any sense to me unless I read most of the earlier books. I finished the Wyrd Sisters mini-trilogy, Nightwatch, Strata, and a couple of others, and now I'm reading Monstrous Regiment.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Freeky on February 17, 2010, 08:37:16 PM
Quote from: Bella on February 17, 2010, 08:35:43 PM
I just started working my way through the entire works of Terry Pratchett because my father-in-law sent us his latest book and HFLS says it won't make any sense to me unless I read most of the earlier books. I finished the Wyrd Sisters mini-trilogy, Nightwatch, Strata, and a couple of others, and now I'm reading Monstrous Regiment.

i love Terry Pratchett. My favorite books in the Discworld series are the Rincewind books, followed closely by the Vimes ones.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Bella on February 18, 2010, 12:56:54 AM
Quote from: Mistress Freeky on February 17, 2010, 08:37:16 PM
Quote from: Bella on February 17, 2010, 08:35:43 PM
I just started working my way through the entire works of Terry Pratchett because my father-in-law sent us his latest book and HFLS says it won't make any sense to me unless I read most of the earlier books. I finished the Wyrd Sisters mini-trilogy, Nightwatch, Strata, and a couple of others, and now I'm reading Monstrous Regiment.

i love Terry Pratchett. My favorite books in the Discworld series are the Rincewind books, followed closely by the Vimes ones.

Me, too. I haven't read any Rincewind books yet, but I've watched a couple of movies with that character, and he's great! Vimes is in the book I'm reading right now, and he also appears to be awesome.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Freeky on February 18, 2010, 01:42:57 AM
Which one are you reading now? Goddammit, I'm a tard.

Monstrous Regiment was pretty good.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Bella on February 18, 2010, 02:29:33 AM
Quote from: Mistress Freeky on February 18, 2010, 01:42:57 AM
Which one are you reading now? Goddammit, I'm a tard.

Monstrous Regiment was pretty good.

thanks. I haven't gotten very far into it, and I'm glad to hear it's a good one.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Jasper on February 18, 2010, 02:30:16 AM
As far as Terry Pratchett, I thought Wee Free Men was his best work, but Thief of Time was his funniest work.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Bella on February 18, 2010, 04:56:53 AM
Quote from: Sigmatic on February 18, 2010, 02:30:16 AM
As far as Terry Pratchett, I thought Wee Free Men was his best work, but Thief of Time was his funniest work.

Cool, those are next on the list, then.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Jasper on February 18, 2010, 04:57:56 AM
Quote from: Bella on February 18, 2010, 04:56:53 AM
Quote from: Sigmatic on February 18, 2010, 02:30:16 AM
As far as Terry Pratchett, I thought Wee Free Men was his best work, but Thief of Time was his funniest work.

Cool, those are next on the list, then.

Enjoy.  Did I mention I've read almost every single one?  :lulz:

Sigma,
I am a nerd
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Muir on February 18, 2010, 09:59:27 AM
Terry Pratchett is fantastic!  I listened to some radio shows of a couple of his books a month ago on BBC radio.  Sadly, my easily distracted mind won't allow me to read much anymore.  10-15 minutes at a time is my limit lately.  Used to read a 400 page book everyday back when I was in high school and college.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Pope Pixie Pickle on February 18, 2010, 05:18:19 PM
Just bought Porno by Irvine Welsh in futile attempt to wean myself off the crackberry for moar than 10 minutes. And for the therapeutic effect of reading in dialect. When I had an episode after my birthday Payne read me bits of Trainspotting to get me to sleep. <3
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Jasper on February 19, 2010, 08:09:01 AM
Quote from: Horrendous Foreign Love Stoat on February 18, 2010, 07:05:55 PM
QuoteI thought Wee Free Men was his best work

hehe. yeah. it is pretty damn great. that and the amazing maruirce and his educated rodents, followed by anything about the witches I think are my top three(seven).

I've always identified more with the wizards because they're ridiculous old fools who think power is hilarious.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Iason Ouabache on February 22, 2010, 07:51:44 AM
Bought "Liars For Jesus: The Religious Right's Alternate Version of American History" by Chris Rodda for my Kindle. You know, cuz I don't have enough reasons to be pissed off right now.  On the plus side, I'm learning things about early American History like the Newburgh Conspiracy.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Rococo Modem Basilisk on February 22, 2010, 11:31:32 AM
I finished A Calculus of Angels, and now I'm onto Empire of Unreason. It's terribly cheesy alt-history fantasy, but it's basically the reductio-ad-absurdam of steampunk: steampunk before steam. Oh, and they just introduced Euler as a character (the main characters for a good chunk of the series have been Ben Franklin and Isaac Newton, and for a while, Tsar Peter and Louis XIV).
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: t.x. helot on February 22, 2010, 07:38:01 PM
I'm in part 4 of 5 of Robert Bolano's 2666. It's great (kind of hard to describe), but a very slow read, and sometimes emotionally grueling (part 4 is loosely based on the hundreds of (still unsolved) murders that have taken place in Cuidad Juarez of female factory workers). All the parts fit together, but just barely. Still, worth checking out.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on February 22, 2010, 07:49:19 PM
I like this guy, Roberto Bolano, and I've only read his bio.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2009/jan/11/roberto-bolano-2666 has a review of the book which seems pretty good, too.

I'm still on my Malazan Book of the Fallen binge.  Midnight Tides, the fifth book, to be exact.  Three things strike me:

1) this is the funniest book in the series by far.  The dialogues between Tehol and Bugg are hilarious.
2) archeology is probably the single most dangerous profession in the Malazan Book of the Fallen Universe.  There is no telling what sort of evil horror from before the ascent of man you might dig up.
3) its very obvious this was written in 2002-3. Parts of it are an author tract against the Iraq War.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: . on February 24, 2010, 11:34:57 PM
Just started "Nightwatch" by Sergei Lukyanenko. So far the writing is very good considering someone translated it from Russian. Watched both the movies and can't wait to get to the third book. Been looking forward to this for a while. :D
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: -Kel- on March 03, 2010, 05:53:19 AM
AAARRRGGGHHHHH!!!! Still struggling to finish American Psycho. It became a bathroom reader. And today the author went from 1st person to 3rd person mid paragraph and mid sentence. WTFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Rococo Modem Basilisk on March 03, 2010, 02:05:27 PM
Quote from: -Kel- on March 03, 2010, 05:53:19 AM
AAARRRGGGHHHHH!!!! Still struggling to finish American Psycho. It became a bathroom reader. And today the author went from 1st person to 3rd person mid paragraph and mid sentence. WTFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF.

By accident? Or to be 'clever'?
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on March 03, 2010, 02:40:14 PM
Because it's narrated by the titular "Psycho".
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: St. Everblaze the Badikal on March 03, 2010, 03:53:26 PM
It's funny, I actually started reading Illuminatus a few days before finding this hellish place.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Doktor Howl on March 03, 2010, 04:05:04 PM
Oh, dear.   :lulz:
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Muir on March 03, 2010, 04:20:33 PM
I've been reading a book called Bite: A Vampire's Handbook.  It's pretty good so far.  Very amusing. :3
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on March 04, 2010, 02:32:16 AM
I just finished "My Abandonment", which is a beautifully-written piece of based-on-reality about a little girl and her dad who lived in Forest Park here in Portland for four years, and started on "Bloodroot", which is about some Appalachian chick.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Iason Ouabache on March 05, 2010, 01:44:40 AM
Forgot to mention that I'm also skimming through Mark Twain's "The Mysterious Stranger" and reading "Alice in Wonderland" to my daughter. She has the attention span of a three year old so it is taking forever.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Juana on March 05, 2010, 07:35:37 AM
Lev Grossman's The Magicans (Harry Potter/Narnia meet Catcher in the Rye) and For God and Country, which is about American history and terrorism. Exxxxxcellent.


Going back to Pratchett, I felt the Watchmen series was his best. Well, that and Small Gods, I think.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Pope Pixie Pickle on March 05, 2010, 02:48:58 PM
Seamus Heaney anthology of poetry called "Death Of A Naturalist", a bio of Caravaggio by Patrick Hunt, and still keeping plenty of Irvine Welsh handy for when the psychosis becomes too much.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Bella on March 11, 2010, 12:18:43 AM
Still working my way through the works of Terry Pratchett. I'm currently reading Good Omens, which was co-written by Neil Gamen. It reads like a giant poem on my Kindle because the spacing came out kind of funky when it downloaded. But that only makes it more fun.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Jasper on March 11, 2010, 12:50:37 AM
Ahhh.  Whenever that happened to me I would start reading lines rhythmically, and eventually the words would stop making sense and I'd have this weird tune stuck in my head.

I am basically useless, you see. :x
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Bella on March 11, 2010, 01:00:34 AM
Quote from: Sigmatic on March 11, 2010, 12:50:37 AM
Ahhh.  Whenever that happened to me I would start reading lines rhythmically, and eventually the words would stop making sense and I'd have this weird tune stuck in my head.

I am basically useless, you see. :x

Oh no! I read this post, then picked up the kindle and now I can't stop reading the lines rhythmically. 
Waiting for the weird tune to start.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Jasper on March 11, 2010, 01:02:13 AM
Make that worse than useless. :lol:
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Iason Ouabache on March 11, 2010, 01:03:47 AM
Also reading "Despoilers of the Golden Empire" by David Gordon thanks to TV Tropes. Would have been better if I hadn't figured out the Tomato Surprise by Chapter 3.  :kingmeh:
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Juana on March 11, 2010, 01:05:10 AM
Neil Gaiman's American Gods for the umpteenth time.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: whatnotery on March 11, 2010, 01:10:15 AM
Quote from: Demon Sheep on March 11, 2010, 01:05:10 AM
Neil Gaiman's American Gods for the umpteenth time.

that was a hell of a book! I should prolly read it again.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on March 11, 2010, 01:30:00 AM
American Gods is Gaiman's best novel as far as I'm concerned.

I'm still on my Malazan Book of the Fallen binge, which isn't hard when each book averages out at about 700 A4 pages, and its a nine book series (tenth still to be published).  Now up to book six, The Bonehunters.  I think I've more or less figured out which side everyone falls on in the up and coming war now, but where Amannas and Laseen are going to fall once its over should be amusing, assuming they don't try and assassinate each other beforehand.  Also, Erickson really REALLY loves the obsfucating stupidity trope.  He's used it in every book so far, and usually with his most entertaining characters (Krupp, Iskaral Pust, Tehol, Bugg and those two ghosts who keep stalking Apsalar for no apparent reason).
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Pariah on March 11, 2010, 01:46:05 AM
Quote from: t.x. helot on February 22, 2010, 07:38:01 PM
I'm in part 4 of 5 of Robert Bolano's 2666. It's great (kind of hard to describe), but a very slow read, and sometimes emotionally grueling (part 4 is loosely based on the hundreds of (still unsolved) murders that have taken place in Cuidad Juarez of female factory workers). All the parts fit together, but just barely. Still, worth checking out.

Based off this suggestion bought the book.

So far just finished the 1st part but the writing is great.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Rococo Modem Basilisk on March 11, 2010, 11:39:19 AM
Finally got around to reading Cryptonomicon.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Juana on March 11, 2010, 05:22:56 PM
Quote from: whatnotery on March 11, 2010, 01:10:15 AM
Quote from: Demon Sheep on March 11, 2010, 01:05:10 AM
Neil Gaiman's American Gods for the umpteenth time.

that was a hell of a book! I should prolly read it again.
Definitely one of my favorites. I liked it a lot better than Neverwhere, though Anasi Boys comes in a close second.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Brotep on March 11, 2010, 07:55:50 PM
Currently reading Dan Ariely's Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions.

So far it's alright. Like much of the current generation of books on social psychology etc. aimed at a general audience, the ideas are interesting, but some things are dumbed down too much.

I'm always looking for reading material that is richer than lab write-ups but doesn't shy away from the technical details. If anyone has any recommendations, I'd love to hear them.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on March 17, 2010, 03:29:19 PM
I've got that book, but haven't had the time to read it fully yet.  It came across pretty much as you describe, however, a bit Malcolm Gladwell-ish.  At least on my brief reading.

I'm now reading No-One Would Listen by Harry Markopolos.  This is about the guy who warned the SEC repeatedly that Madoff was running a scam, only to be ignored and dismissed.  He put in an appearance on the Daily Show about a week back, and he seemed very happy to have been vindicated.  The book is a bit over the place, but it's early days yet.  He mercifully stays away from the complex financial jargon and concentrates on telling the story, as well as describing the culture of Wall Street in general.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Triple Zero on March 17, 2010, 03:48:10 PM
Quote from: Enki v. 2.0 on March 11, 2010, 11:39:19 AM
Finally got around to reading Cryptonomicon.

It's very good. It got Alan Turing flirting with the main character's grandfather and such!
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Rococo Modem Basilisk on March 17, 2010, 04:15:41 PM
Quote from: Triple Zero on March 17, 2010, 03:48:10 PM
Quote from: Enki v. 2.0 on March 11, 2010, 11:39:19 AM
Finally got around to reading Cryptonomicon.

It's very good. It got Alan Turing flirting with the main character's grandfather and such!

Yes. And Turing's Nazi ex-boyfriend angle is making the reading intense.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Jasper on March 18, 2010, 06:13:45 AM
My copy of "Phantoms in the Brain: Probing the Mysteries of the Human Mind" is in the mail.  I can't wait! 
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Triple Zero on March 20, 2010, 12:06:15 PM
Quote from: Enki v. 2.0 on March 17, 2010, 04:15:41 PM
Quote from: Triple Zero on March 17, 2010, 03:48:10 PM
Quote from: Enki v. 2.0 on March 11, 2010, 11:39:19 AM
Finally got around to reading Cryptonomicon.

It's very good. It got Alan Turing flirting with the main character's grandfather and such!

Yes. And Turing's Nazi ex-boyfriend angle is making the reading intense.

And I suppose you already knew what the Perl script did before you even opened the book right?

if not I won't spoil it for you, I had the misfortune of not getting the big reveal because of reading too much crypto/security blogs :)
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Rococo Modem Basilisk on March 20, 2010, 02:50:11 PM
Quote from: Triple Zero on March 20, 2010, 12:06:15 PM
Quote from: Enki v. 2.0 on March 17, 2010, 04:15:41 PM
Quote from: Triple Zero on March 17, 2010, 03:48:10 PM
Quote from: Enki v. 2.0 on March 11, 2010, 11:39:19 AM
Finally got around to reading Cryptonomicon.

It's very good. It got Alan Turing flirting with the main character's grandfather and such!

Yes. And Turing's Nazi ex-boyfriend angle is making the reading intense.

And I suppose you already knew what the Perl script did before you even opened the book right?

if not I won't spoil it for you, I had the misfortune of not getting the big reveal because of reading too much crypto/security blogs :)

Nope. I can't parse the perl, either. It's not something lame like rot13, is it?
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Juana on March 20, 2010, 02:52:49 PM
Oneupsmenship: a Guide to Creative Intimidation by Steven Potter
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Rococo Modem Basilisk on March 20, 2010, 04:07:46 PM
I just finished reading the complete archives of Girl Genius. Does that count?
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Triple Zero on March 20, 2010, 06:01:07 PM
Quote from: Enki v. 2.0 on March 20, 2010, 02:50:11 PM
Nope. I can't parse the perl, either. It's not something lame like rot13, is it?

I couldn't really parse the Perl as well, I'm not that well-versed in Perl. But yeah, it's pretty cool. No obfuscated rot13 or anything like that :) Lemme know what you think when you get to the reveal.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: PeregrineBF on March 24, 2010, 04:47:50 AM
On cryptonomicon: note that the Solitaire/Pontifex cypher used isn't really that secure, the CPRNG is quite biased. It's probably possible to memorize and use XXTEA on paper, if rather difficult. That would be a much more secure way to do hand encryption.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Iason Ouabache on March 26, 2010, 08:21:43 AM
Quote from: Iason Ouabache on January 27, 2010, 09:49:01 PM
"The Red Queen, Sex, & the Evolution of Human Nature" by Matt Ridley.  (Found in the Operation Mindfuck Pack)

Extremely interesting read. Definitely a good mindfuck.
STILL reading through this. Still being mindfucked. The chapter on polygamy has been especially enlightening. I really need to start taking notes.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Rococo Modem Basilisk on March 26, 2010, 01:44:41 PM
Got through Cryptonomicon. Apparently my university library carries no novels, so I picked up a book on game theory and a book on information theory.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on March 26, 2010, 06:35:39 PM
I'm reading "Shrimp: The Quest For Pink Gold".
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Triple Zero on March 26, 2010, 09:23:56 PM
Quote from: PeregrineBF on March 24, 2010, 04:47:50 AM
On cryptonomicon: note that the Solitaire/Pontifex cypher used isn't really that secure, the CPRNG is quite biased. It's probably possible to memorize and use XXTEA on paper, if rather difficult. That would be a much more secure way to do hand encryption.

:|

I tried not to spoil it. In the book it is called Pontifex, not Solitaire, to hide the fact that it involves playing cards. But you had to show off your smarts! Good for you.

Let alone you're just regurgitating something you read elsewhere. The CPRNG being biased is still quite a long shot from actually devising a viable attack for the type of message Solitaire is intended for.

Additionally, yes, memorizing the XXTEA algorithm is rather easy, as it's just a few lines of C-code. But carrying out the algorithm on paper is incredibly tedious, and most importantly error-prone. How many rounds were you thinking of? :lol:
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on March 28, 2010, 02:03:30 PM
PBF can't not be a pedant.  It's logically impossible, like a round square.

Also, reading The Changing Images of Man by the Stanford Research Institute, Chaos and Violence by Stanley Hoffman and Steven Erikson's Toll The Hounds.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Juana on March 29, 2010, 04:17:59 AM
"American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War on America" by Chris Hedges  :x
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Harper on March 29, 2010, 06:42:59 AM
Eff.

I've had eleven or eight too many martinis tonight and posted this in the wrong thread:

http://www.principiadiscordia.com/forum/index.php?topic=18201.0

I am currently reading The Big Necessity. It is eye-opening and personal in a way that only shit can be.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: BadBeast on March 29, 2010, 10:48:27 PM
Just re-read "Milk, Sulphate, and Alby Starvation" by Mark Millar. When people say "amphetamines make you paranoid" they obviously never considered a scenario like Alby's. The Milk Marketing Board really do want to kill him. And his new girlfriend by pure chance, happens to be a reknowned international assassin. But the person who wants to buy his treasured comic collection, is not who Alby thinks he is. Add a magic healing crown to the mix, a Zen meditating video game savant, and a Burmese Druglord, set it in 1980's Brixton, from the surreal point of view of a small scale speed dealer, who (for a large part of the story) thinks it's 
all a plot to steal his comic book collection, and you've got one of the paciest books I've ever read. (And one of the unlikeliest plots)
About to start Gene Wolfe's "Soldier of the Mists". (Again)
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on March 30, 2010, 03:05:02 PM
Finished Guns, Germs, and Steel and am now reading You Are Being Lied To.

I'll make it through Cain's Discordian Library someday.  I swear.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: -Kel- on March 31, 2010, 05:44:28 AM
Quote from: LMNO on November 30, 2009, 02:29:59 PM
Quote from: -Kel- on November 28, 2009, 11:04:08 PM
I finally got around to reading American Psycho and I hate it!!! hate hate hate. And i usually love Bret Easton Eillis. But this sucks. The book would be great if he didn't repeat over and over what each character Bateman interacts with clothing, clothing fabric, color, designer, blah blah blah over and over. I know he's driving to hammer in the whole "this is all surface, i only care about surface, Bateman is nothing but a shell and therefor only sees the shells of other people." BUT FOR FUCKS SAKE, THE READER GETS THE POINT!!!  Get on with the violence and other humor pointing out things like that. I don't need it every bloody time. ugh. It has taken me three months to read this damn thing and im only half way threw it. When he's not going on and on about...."Libby is blond and wearing black grosgrain high-heeled evening shoes with exaggerated pointed toes and red stain bows by Yves Saint Laurent. daisy is....." there is actually some good writing, good black humor, and great violence. The book has now become a bathroom reader as it is the only time i can stand to open the stupid thing.  :argh!:

</RANT>


Are you kidding?  If the book didn't have that, it wouldn't be half as creepy as it is.

finally finished it, finally. And i got your point when i read this...

"Favorite group: Talking Heads. Drink J&B or Absolute on the rocks. TV show: Late Night with David Letterman. Soda: Diet Pepsi. Water: Evian Sport: Baseball.
The conversation follows its own rolling accord - no real structure or topic or internal logic or feeling...Just words..."

Maybe I've just been to consumed with the fact that we're all surrounded by fluff and material bullshit and we all have the capacity to be horrific monsters while keeping up the facade.

Book was okay but the repeated over detail still annoyed me.





Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on March 31, 2010, 04:35:47 PM
Conservative Victory: Defeating Obama's Radical Agenda by Sean Hannity (for the lulz)
The Black Company by Glen Cook

And I've just picked up Alan Moore's Voice of the Fire, though I haven't read any yet.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on March 31, 2010, 04:40:47 PM
Often, I am jealous that you read as much as I used to, i.e. two or more books sumultaneously.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on March 31, 2010, 04:44:40 PM
I often have several books on the go, but sometimes I find switching between them hard.  Especially fiction and non-fiction, since with the former, if I'm getting drawn into the plot, it can be very hard to go back to (for example) Hannity's histrionic ranting.  No matter how funny it is.  But yeah, I consider myself "reading it" if it is still incomplete and I haven't given up out of disgust or boredom, which could include books I haven't actually read in several days.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Rococo Modem Basilisk on April 01, 2010, 02:03:40 AM
By that definition, I have books I'm reading that I haven't picked up for years <_<. I tend to just 'not get around to' finishing one book or another and eventually get to the point where I lose my place and need to start over.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on April 01, 2010, 10:32:35 AM
Except I don't have ADHD, and so can actually finish a book if I'm interested in it, without years going by.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cainad (dec.) on April 01, 2010, 04:16:10 PM
I've been training myself to read the way I did when I was like 13. These days there's an incredibly annoying nagging sense that I ought to be doing something else with my time, and it takes some mental discipline to shut it up and actually enjoy the darn book.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on April 01, 2010, 05:21:11 PM
The Protest Psychosis: How Schizophrenia Became a Black Disease by Jonathan Metzl

From the blurb:

Revolution was in the air in the 1960s. Civil rights protests demanded attention on the airwaves and in the streets. Anger gave way to revolt, and revolt provided the elusive promise of actual change. But a very differentcivil rights history evolved at the Ionia State Hospital for the Criminally Insane in Ionia, Michigan. Here, far from the national glare of sit-ins, boycotts, or riots, African American men suddenly appeared in the asylum's previously white, locked wards.Some of these men came to the attention of the state after participating in civil rights demonstrations, while others were sent by the military, the penal system, or the police. Though many of the men hailed from Detroit, ambulances and paddy wagons brought men from other urban centers as well. Once at Ionia, psychiatrists classified these men under a single diagnosis: schizophrenia. In The Protest Psychosis, psychiatrist and cultural critic Jonathan Metzl tells the shocking story of how schizophrenia became the diagnostic term overwhelmingly applied to African American men at the Ionia State Hospital, and how events at Ionia mirrored national conversations that increasingly linked blackness, madness, and civil rights. Expertly sifting through a vast array of cultural documents—from scientific literature, to music lyrics, to riveting, tragic hospital charts—Metzl shows how associations betweenschizophrenia and blackness emerged during the 1960s and 1970s in ways that directly reflected national political events. As he demonstrates, far from resulting from the racist intentions of individual doctors or the symptoms of specific patients, racializedschizophrenia grew from a much wider set of cultural shifts that defined the thoughts, actions, and even the politics of black men as being inherently insane. Ultimately, The Protest Psychosis provides a cautionary tale of how anxieties about race continue to impact doctor-patient interactions, even during our current, seemingly post-race era of genetics, pharmacokinetics, and brain scans.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Brotep on April 01, 2010, 08:24:04 PM
^Damn, sounds like quite a read.


Picked up some more short stories by Neil Gaiman, and I've just started Lakoff & Johnson's Metaphors We Live By
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Freeky on April 02, 2010, 02:09:15 AM
The Fifth Elephant - Terry Pratchett. Again.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Jasper on April 02, 2010, 06:06:41 PM
Quote from: Professor Freeky on April 02, 2010, 02:09:15 AM
The Fifth Elephant - Terry Pratchett. Again.

That's a good one, but, as with 1/3 of his books since I read them all in a two month period, I've forgotten most of what happens.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Freeky on April 02, 2010, 06:09:04 PM
You should read it again, in that case. :D
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Juana on April 02, 2010, 07:29:16 PM
Quote from: Cain on April 01, 2010, 05:21:11 PM
The Protest Psychosis: How Schizophrenia Became a Black Disease by Jonathan Metzl

From the blurb:

Revolution was in the air in the 1960s. Civil rights protests demanded attention on the airwaves and in the streets. Anger gave way to revolt, and revolt provided the elusive promise of actual change. But a very differentcivil rights history evolved at the Ionia State Hospital for the Criminally Insane in Ionia, Michigan. Here, far from the national glare of sit-ins, boycotts, or riots, African American men suddenly appeared in the asylum's previously white, locked wards.Some of these men came to the attention of the state after participating in civil rights demonstrations, while others were sent by the military, the penal system, or the police. Though many of the men hailed from Detroit, ambulances and paddy wagons brought men from other urban centers as well. Once at Ionia, psychiatrists classified these men under a single diagnosis: schizophrenia. In The Protest Psychosis, psychiatrist and cultural critic Jonathan Metzl tells the shocking story of how schizophrenia became the diagnostic term overwhelmingly applied to African American men at the Ionia State Hospital, and how events at Ionia mirrored national conversations that increasingly linked blackness, madness, and civil rights. Expertly sifting through a vast array of cultural documents—from scientific literature, to music lyrics, to riveting, tragic hospital charts—Metzl shows how associations betweenschizophrenia and blackness emerged during the 1960s and 1970s in ways that directly reflected national political events. As he demonstrates, far from resulting from the racist intentions of individual doctors or the symptoms of specific patients, racializedschizophrenia grew from a much wider set of cultural shifts that defined the thoughts, actions, and even the politics of black men as being inherently insane. Ultimately, The Protest Psychosis provides a cautionary tale of how anxieties about race continue to impact doctor-patient interactions, even during our current, seemingly post-race era of genetics, pharmacokinetics, and brain scans.
I need to get my hands on this book.

Unseen Academicals--Terry Pratchett
and
Swords and Deviltry--Fritz Leiber
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on April 03, 2010, 03:11:06 PM
Shavenwolf and Hover Cat

http://avaxhome.ws/ebooks/history_military/43654dfgsdfdsf.html
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on April 06, 2010, 06:38:33 PM
Finally onto the Dust of Dreams, the most recently published (and second last) book in the Malazan Book Of The Fallen Series.  Once I finish this, I can get back to srs bizness reading.  Only 830 A4-sized pages to go...
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Pope Pixie Pickle on April 06, 2010, 10:44:56 PM
I am reading The Sacred Art Of Stealing by Christopher Brookmyre. I just finished Boiling A Frog. The blurb on The Sacred Art Of Stealing mentions a dadaist bank robbery, so I am looking forward to this.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Jasper on April 07, 2010, 12:15:17 AM
Quote from: Professor Freeky on April 02, 2010, 06:09:04 PM
You should read it again, in that case. :D

I actually might, but I gave away/got rid of all my fiction that wasn't particularly good sci-fi.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Freeky on April 07, 2010, 01:25:25 AM
For shame, Sig! :eek:
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Brotep on April 07, 2010, 02:15:04 AM
Zoomed through the latest Dresden Files, and Robert Greene's Art of Seduction--again
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Jasper on April 18, 2010, 07:59:35 AM
Quote from: Professor Freeky on April 07, 2010, 01:25:25 AM
For shame, Sig! :eek:

Oops, that post belonged in the shame thread.  :lol:

I was, in my defense, not collecting books seriously at the time.  I've made up for it since then by inheriting a few different smart people's libraries.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Rococo Modem Basilisk on April 18, 2010, 02:54:44 PM
Finished Anathem, so I'm reading Proven Guilty, one of the Dresden Files books I skipped the first time.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Freeky on April 18, 2010, 05:17:42 PM
I'm reading An Old Man's Toy By A. Zee (  :lol:  ). It's about Einstein's theory of relativity.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Doktor Howl on April 18, 2010, 05:38:02 PM
Quote from: Professor Freeky on April 18, 2010, 05:17:42 PM
I'm reading An Old Man's Toy By A. Zee (  :lol:  ). It's about Einstein's theory of relativity.

That's the book that got me into physics.

How do you like it so far?
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Freeky on April 18, 2010, 05:53:32 PM
Quote from: Doktor Howl on April 18, 2010, 05:38:02 PM
Quote from: Professor Freeky on April 18, 2010, 05:17:42 PM
I'm reading An Old Man's Toy By A. Zee (  :lol:  ). It's about Einstein's theory of relativity.

That's the book that got me into physics.

How do you like it so far?

It's really good!  i don't have much time to read it, but it's interesting. :D
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Brotep on April 18, 2010, 05:59:13 PM
Just finished The Borderlands of Science: Where Sense Meets Nonsense by Michael Shermer and reread The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Doktor Howl on April 18, 2010, 05:59:50 PM
Quote from: Chryselephantine Shavenwolf on April 18, 2010, 05:59:13 PM
Just finished The Borderlands of Science: Where Sense Meets Nonsense by Michael Shermer and reread The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell

I still have Shermer's Why People Believe Weird Things.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on April 18, 2010, 07:04:24 PM
I think I'm still reading "Shrimp: The Quest for Pink Gold" and a collection of short stories and a novel called "Bloodroot" but it's been a while since I've gone to the bar.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Richter on April 19, 2010, 12:35:54 AM
Quote from: Enki v. 2.0 on April 18, 2010, 02:54:44 PM
Finished Anathem, so I'm reading Proven Guilty, one of the Dresden Files books I skipped the first time.

Good series.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: h-town on April 19, 2010, 07:08:18 AM
I'm reading Coming of Age in the Milky Way by timothy ferris. Really good pop cosmology stuff so far.

I just picked up Jane Austin's Emma and The Crying of Lot 49. Emma is for a book club I do with my friends and I'm putting together a miracle fruit tasting party for the meeting. Should be fun.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Placid Dingo on April 19, 2010, 08:40:53 AM
Love Tipping Point. Blink is also good.

I have limited attention span and an Ipod Touch: Meaning that at any one time I'm going through 16 books simultaniously (because they all fit on the one screen together).

Now: Moby Dick, Atlas Shrugged, Grimm Tales, Wealth of Nations, Fairy Tales (Anderson), Last of the Mohoccans, Dracula, The Illiad, Autobiography of a Yogi, All's Well that ends well, Little Women, His Last Bow (Sherlock Holmes), The Bible, Herodotus: The Histories, The Secret Sharer and The Three Musketeers.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Iason Ouabache on April 19, 2010, 06:31:35 PM
I'm also skimming through "Nice Ways to Say Bad Things in English". It is amusing and very pretty on the Kindle.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Sister_Gothique on April 24, 2010, 10:41:54 AM
I'm onto the 5th book in the Black Company series(Glen Cook)...It's getting a little dry, but I'm determined to power through it. I hear there's cake at the end....

I'm also going the The Watchmen again...well, because I like it.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Rococo Modem Basilisk on April 24, 2010, 04:44:36 PM
About halfway through The Diamond Age. On a Stephenson kick still, I guess.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Hoser McRhizzy on April 27, 2010, 02:30:30 AM
Just starting "Anti-Oedipus: capitalism & schizophrenia," and I've been looking forward to it for awhile now.  Also rereading Pattern Recognition (Gibson is my comfort fluff).  Really appreciating the lull between semesters, atm.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: BadBeast on April 27, 2010, 11:59:47 PM
About two thirds of the way through my third, or fourth reading of Moby Dick. Moby Dick is one of the few American books, that I (As British) would consider as a truly peerless example of how to write prose. Every time I read it, I find levels of meaning that I had perhaps not seen, or understood, (Or maybe forgotten) the previous time. Melville's talent for seeing the nobility in his characters, and settings really sets him apart from all of his contemparies, and into a very exclusive genre, consisting of only himself.
His singular style, and uncompromising, (and not ever particularly popular, or fashionable) style mean that it will (indeed, did) stand the test of time, without ever being faddy. And I think I will never be at a point in my life where I don't need to read it again.

Also dipping back into Frank Herbert again. But not Dune this time. I finished "Whipping Star" last week, and as soon as I'm through with that briny, pale ghost of the oceans, I'm going to crack on with "The Dosadi Experiment". These two books showed me that Herbert wasn't just a one trick pony, as my disillusionment at the third and fourth parts of Dune, had hinted. I think Dune was fantastic, but he left too many unexplored avenues in the original, to ever tie up neatly. But it's still probably one of my all time favourite "Genre" Sci-Fi books. That and  "The Skinner"
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Freeky on April 28, 2010, 01:48:21 AM
Just finished Thieves' World (thanks Dok, so far my favorite character is Lythande :D ) and next I'm starting Tales from the Vulgar Unicorn. And then whatever book I just got from the library. :D
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: BadBeast on April 28, 2010, 03:26:53 AM
Quote from: LMNO on May 08, 2007, 03:29:13 PM
You really can't go wrong with PKD.
I always loved his writing, but the titles of his books almost seem like he got someone else to write them. Someone about four years old.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Rococo Modem Basilisk on April 28, 2010, 06:04:28 PM
Rereading The Difference Engine.

It's quite possible to go wrong with PKD. A couple of his short stories are awful. Novel-length stuff is typically a mindfuck, particularly anything written prior to A Scanner Darkly, but I'm not sure how much of that was intentional and how much of it was the product of trying to write a novel in the middle of an amphetamine binge, and continually forgetting about the continuity prior to the last few chapters.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Faust on April 28, 2010, 06:33:38 PM
I'm starting the great Gatsby.

I just finished The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, its a good mystery despite the formal writing style (translation from Swedish probably tamed it a bit).
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Brotep on April 30, 2010, 11:55:25 PM
Neil Postman's Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Placid Dingo on May 03, 2010, 05:47:01 AM
Quote from: BadBeast on April 27, 2010, 11:59:47 PM
About two thirds of the way through my third, or fourth reading of Moby Dick. Moby Dick is one of the few American books, that I (As British) would consider as a truly peerless example of how to write prose. Every time I read it, I find levels of meaning that I had perhaps not seen, or understood, (Or maybe forgotten) the previous time. Melville's talent for seeing the nobility in his characters, and settings really sets him apart from all of his contemparies, and into a very exclusive genre, consisting of only himself.
His singular style, and uncompromising, (and not ever particularly popular, or fashionable) style mean that it will (indeed, did) stand the test of time, without ever being faddy. And I think I will never be at a point in my life where I don't need to read it again.

I Want to enjoy Moby Dick, but it annoys me that three out of four chapters are writing an encyclopedia instead of extending the action. I 'get' what's good about it (and when its good its great) but I just want to hear the story without all the diversions.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Reeducation on May 03, 2010, 07:35:32 AM
For Whom the Bell Tolls by Hemingway and The Complete Short Stories of Ambrose Bierce.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Rococo Modem Basilisk on May 03, 2010, 02:15:23 PM
About halfway through The Andromeda Strain.

Brotep, I have a copy of Postman's Technopoly and I can get a copy of the book you are reading for about fifty cents. Is it worth reading either? I was hoping to balance out my technoutopian attitude, but there's a tendency for books that counter it written by nontechnical people to be mostly bullshit.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on May 03, 2010, 03:31:06 PM
Quote from: Placid Dingo on May 03, 2010, 05:47:01 AM
Quote from: BadBeast on April 27, 2010, 11:59:47 PM
About two thirds of the way through my third, or fourth reading of Moby Dick. Moby Dick is one of the few American books, that I (As British) would consider as a truly peerless example of how to write prose. Every time I read it, I find levels of meaning that I had perhaps not seen, or understood, (Or maybe forgotten) the previous time. Melville's talent for seeing the nobility in his characters, and settings really sets him apart from all of his contemparies, and into a very exclusive genre, consisting of only himself.
His singular style, and uncompromising, (and not ever particularly popular, or fashionable) style mean that it will (indeed, did) stand the test of time, without ever being faddy. And I think I will never be at a point in my life where I don't need to read it again.


I Want to enjoy Moby Dick, but it annoys me that three out of four chapters are writing an encyclopedia instead of extending the action. I 'get' what's good about it (and when its good its great) but I just want to hear the story without all the diversions.


Read only the even numbered chapters.  Srsly.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Hoser McRhizzy on May 05, 2010, 06:23:23 PM
currently reading: BIP and Principa Discordia.  I came across PD bits on a subgenius site 5 or 6 years back.  I skimmed or scrolled, thought it was clever, copied a few quotes and ideas down in a notebook, but never spent any time with it.  When I found this place a few months ago, I read the BIP, but was in a heavy semester and didn't have the headspace to take it in the way I want to now.

I'm enjoying reading them together.  They compliment each other, although BIP 'speaks to me' a little more.  But I'm a Welcome to the Machine kinda chick, so that makes sense.  And knowing some of what goes down here, having spent some good times going through the intermittens series and faust's link page for noobs prior to getting noddy with ye olde sacred orthodox discordianisms (j/k) is really interesting.

... very glad I took my time getting to this.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on May 05, 2010, 07:32:54 PM
Have you read the Machine™ (http://www.blackironprison.com/index.php?title=What_is_The_Machine%28tm%29%3F) pamphlet?
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Salty on May 05, 2010, 07:41:53 PM
Just finished The Jungle by Upton Sinclair, which was amazingly awesome until the last chapter or so, where it was magically transformed into a (large) pamphlet advocating the miracle of socialism.

Now it's The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Hoser McRhizzy on May 05, 2010, 09:01:00 PM
Quote from: LMNO on May 05, 2010, 07:32:54 PM
Have you read the Machine™ (http://www.blackironprison.com/index.php?title=What_is_The_Machine%28tm%29%3F) pamphlet?

:fap:

I hadn't.  & Thanks!  Currently reading the 2006 thread linked at the bottom of the page.  Love thinking about how these ideas built on each other...
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Brotep on May 05, 2010, 10:55:56 PM
William S. Burroughs audio...Hilarious shit. Just finished listening to Apuk
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Jasper on May 06, 2010, 12:54:34 AM
Quote from: Brotep on May 05, 2010, 10:55:56 PM
William S. Burroughs audio...Hilarious shit. Just finished listening to Apuk

Every time I listen to him talking, he breaks my fucking heart.

Sigmatic,
Just listened to "A Thanksgiving Prayer"
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Brotep on May 06, 2010, 03:47:00 AM
Quote from: E. A. Waterhaus II on May 03, 2010, 02:15:23 PM
Brotep, I have a copy of Postman's Technopoly and I can get a copy of the book you are reading for about fifty cents. Is it worth reading either? I was hoping to balance out my technoutopian attitude, but there's a tendency for books that counter it written by nontechnical people to be mostly bullshit.

Hmm...I haven't gotten into McLuhan's stuff yet, so I couldn't give much of a comparison. You seem to have more exposure to the subject matter than I do, so you might find AOTD a bit boring. It was also written during the eighties, and is primarily aimed at television.

For me it was a solid introductory text. I will dig into some McLuhan and get back to you on the comparison in the next couple days.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Rococo Modem Basilisk on May 06, 2010, 04:49:42 AM
I think I missed something. Where did I mention McLuhan?

(Sorry. I'm not running on all five cylinders today)
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Brotep on May 06, 2010, 01:06:44 PM
Quote from: E. A. Waterhaus II on May 06, 2010, 04:49:42 AM
I think I missed something. Where did I mention McLuhan?

(Sorry. I'm not running on all five cylinders today)

In the McLuhan thread. Postman drops McLuhan's name quite a bit in AOTD, which is why I brought it up ITT.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Rococo Modem Basilisk on May 06, 2010, 06:11:08 PM
Oh, ok :-). McLuhan says a lot of stuff in very non-straightforward ways, so I might make the argument that things credited to McLuhan are a whole different bag of pears than things McLuhan actually said.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Faust on May 06, 2010, 11:26:13 PM
Quote from: Brotep on May 05, 2010, 10:55:56 PM
William S. Burroughs audio...Hilarious shit. Just finished listening to Apuk
Is that the same as  Ah Pook? He played with the name of the mexican god to make it sound silly... er.

Finished the great Gatsby, thoroughly depressed now. Starting on Middlemarch on a friends suggestion, he says its good but its like a million pages long.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Sister_Gothique on May 07, 2010, 07:07:54 PM
Just starting Cries Unheard: The Story Of Mary Bell by Gitta Sereny...
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Brotep on May 08, 2010, 02:21:32 AM
Quote from: Faust on May 06, 2010, 11:26:13 PM
Quote from: Brotep on May 05, 2010, 10:55:56 PM
William S. Burroughs audio...Hilarious shit. Just finished listening to Apuk
Is that the same as  Ah Pook? He played with the name of the mexican god to make it sound silly... er.

Yes, I think that is the spelling he uses...Only saw it briefly when I queued up the track.

Quote from: E. A. Waterhaus II on May 06, 2010, 06:11:08 PM
Oh, ok :-). McLuhan says a lot of stuff in very non-straightforward ways, so I might make the argument that things credited to McLuhan are a whole different bag of pears than things McLuhan actually said.

Yeah, I am beginning to see what you mean. You should probably skip Amusing Ourselves to Death--again, it's a great intro text, but not so great on the in-depth analysis.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Iason Ouabache on May 19, 2010, 08:35:18 AM
I finally decided that I needed to read some Lovecraft. Amazon had the "ultimate collection" of his short stories fairly cheaply for the Kindle so I got that. Starting on "The Colour Out of Space" and will probably read "The Call of Cthulu" next. Any suggestions for after that?
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: BadBeast on May 19, 2010, 08:54:06 AM
Quote from: Sigmatic on May 06, 2010, 12:54:34 AM
Quote from: Brotep on May 05, 2010, 10:55:56 PM
William S. Burroughs audio...Hilarious shit. Just finished listening to Apuk

Every time I listen to him talking, he breaks my fucking heart.

Sigmatic,
Just listened to "A Thanksgiving Prayer"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uXJN2_Btofc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RCGs0jHiEVE&feature=related

Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Triple Zero on May 19, 2010, 10:22:02 AM
Quote from: Iason Ouabache on May 19, 2010, 08:35:18 AM
I finally decided that I needed to read some Lovecraft. Amazon had the "ultimate collection" of his short stories fairly cheaply for the Kindle so I got that. Starting on "The Colour Out of Space" and will probably read "The Call of Cthulu" next. Any suggestions for after that?

I liked Nyarlathotep (very short one) and Shadow over Innsmouth too.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: BadBeast on May 19, 2010, 10:33:25 AM
Quote from: Triple Zero on May 19, 2010, 10:22:02 AM
Quote from: Iason Ouabache on May 19, 2010, 08:35:18 AM
I finally decided that I needed to read some Lovecraft. Amazon had the "ultimate collection" of his short stories fairly cheaply for the Kindle so I got that. Starting on "The Colour Out of Space" and will probably read "The Call of Cthulu" next. Any suggestions for after that?

I liked Nyarlathotep (very short one) and Shadow over Innsmouth too.


Before you read "Shadow over Innsmouth"  it's probably best to watch this little cautionary video first.
I wish I'd paid attention to that crazy, drunken man.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3tTHn2tHhcI

Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Triple Zero on May 19, 2010, 11:12:24 AM
Oh, wow that was awesome!! :lol:

Not sure if you really should watch it before or after you read the story because of spoilers, but it's been a while since I read it so I forgot if these are spoilers?
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on May 19, 2010, 03:14:47 PM
"At the Mountains of Madness"
"Pickford's Model"
"The Lurking Fear"
"The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath"
"The Statement of Randolph Carter"
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Jasper on May 21, 2010, 03:57:09 AM
The dark tower series. 

A bunch of TTC lectures.  Psych, cosmology, physics, history.  Good stuff.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Brotep on May 22, 2010, 08:59:10 PM
Amusing Ourselves to Death, again. I went through it too fast last time, and it's been worth the second look so far.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Hoser McRhizzy on June 03, 2010, 07:47:44 PM
Anathem - Neal Stephenson

Just a note - If you love sci-fi and wanted to read this, but were putting it off because of reviews saying it's difficult to figure out or get into?  IGNORE the reviewers!  It's fucking awesome.

[mid-way-through-the-book spoiler alert]

Quote
    "Give me an adventure."
    In the moment that followed, Cord realized that this sounded weird, and lost her nerve.  She held up her hands.  "I'm not talking about some massive adventure.  Just something that would make getting fired seem small.  Something I might remember when I'm old."
    Now for the first time I reviewed everything that had happened in the past twelve hours.  It made me a little dizzy.
    "Raz?" she said, after a while.
    "I can't predict the future," I said, "but based on what little I know so far, I'm afraid it has to be massive adventure or nothing."
    "Great!"
    "Probably the kind of adventure that ends in a mass burial."
    That quieted her down a bit.  But after a while, she said: "Do you need transportation?  Tools?  Stuff?"
    "Our opponent is an alien starship packed with atomic bombs," I said.  "We have a protractor."
    "Okay, I'll go home and see if I can scrounge up a ruler and a piece of string."
    "That'd be great."
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on June 03, 2010, 08:00:00 PM
I've read it.  I enthusiastically endorse it.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Juana on June 03, 2010, 08:41:40 PM
That sounds very funny and I might have to read it.


Re-reading Polgara the Sorceress for the umpteenth time.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: noir on June 04, 2010, 06:06:37 PM
Just finished American Gods- Neil Gaiman
Fucking coolest novel i've read in a long time
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Jasper on June 04, 2010, 10:21:53 PM
Quote from: Hover Cat on June 03, 2010, 08:41:40 PM
That sounds very funny and I might have to read it.


Re-reading Polgara the Sorceress for the umpteenth time.

I read that.  And some of the sequels. 

Kinda samey.  First one was fun, the rest were all sort of....  the same?
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: the last yatto on June 05, 2010, 01:55:22 AM
Let Your Mind Alone by James Thurber


dont know if i can look at a card table the same way again :fap:
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Freeky on June 06, 2010, 08:39:21 AM
PDCOM
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: bds on June 06, 2010, 01:12:57 PM
I just finished Charlie Brooker's The Hell of It All and am now re-reading the 5 part Hitchhiker's Guide thingy.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on June 07, 2010, 03:27:37 PM
Dad gave me a copy of The Code Book: The Science of Secrecy from Ancient Egypt to Quantum Cryptography, by Simon Singh.  He's a good enough writer to keep the subject moving forward; plus, it's a pretty interesting subject.


Also, what I want to find next is a book called A Void, which is a translation of a French book called La Disparition.  The French book is a 200-page story that does not use the letter "E" in any way.

Amazingly enough, the english translation also doesn't use the letter "E".  I find this incredibly difficult to believe, and I have to see it for myself.  An excerpt:

QuoteNoon rings out. A wasp, making an ominous sound, a sound akin to a klaxon or a tocsin, flits about. Augustus, who has had a bad night, sits up blinking and purblind. Oh what was that word (is his thought) that ran through my brain all night, that idiotic word that, hard as I'd try to pun it down, was always just an inch or two out of my grasp - fowl or foul or Vow or Voyal? - a word which, by association, brought into play an incongruous mass and magma of nouns, idioms, slogans and sayings, a confusing, amorphous outpouring which I sought in vain to control or turn off but which wound around my mind a whirlwind of a cord, a whiplash of a cord, a cord that would split again and again, would knit again and again, of words without communication or any possibility of combination, words without pronunciation, signification or transcription but out of which, notwithstanding, was brought forth a flux, a continuous, compact and lucid flow: an intuition, a vacillating frisson of illumination as if caught in a flash of lightning or in a mist abruptly rising to unshroud an obvious sign - but a sign, alas, that would last an instant only to vanish for good.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: the dreadful hours on June 07, 2010, 08:16:58 PM
the joy of cooking
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Nephew Twiddleton on June 08, 2010, 05:01:44 PM
Persepolis. Pretty interesting.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on June 22, 2010, 10:02:46 PM
Science of Coercion: Communication Research and Psychological Warfare 1945-1960 by Christopher Simpson.

Been looking for this for forever, fills in certain interesting gaps in terrorism studies which might form a skeletal theory of state terrorism that I'm working on.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on June 24, 2010, 08:22:02 PM
Common Nonsense: Glenn Beck and the Triumph of Ignorance by Alexander Zaitchik (former editor of The eXile and investigative reporter).

What kind of disc jockey would telephone the wife of a competitor and, over live radio, belittle her and her husband about her recent miscarriage? What kind of patriot would con his listeners into donating $450,000 to finance a series of Rally for America events that turned out to be nothing but a personal promotional tour? What kind of talk-radio host would falsely describe the president of the United States as a communist and black nationalist out to enslave Americans? The purveyor of such tactics—and worse—can only be America's newest household conservative name: Glenn Beck.

In Common Nonsense, investigative reporter Alexander Zaitchik traces Beck's personal history, from his troubled childhood through his years as a "morning zoo" DJ to his sudden and meteoric rise to the top of the conservative media heap. He pays special attention to Beck's transformation from alcoholic, cocaine-snorting, failed disc jockey without a political thought in his head to wealthy, bile-spewing, right-wing demagogue whose radio and television shows form the core of a multimillion-dollar media empire.

Drawing on interviews with Beck's childhood friends, radio coworkers, and TV colleagues as well as Beck's own published accounts of his life, Zaitchik reveals the cracks in Beck's personal creation myth. He pinpoints the moment when Beck, then working in Tampa and about to be fired from his first-ever talk-radio job, discovered right-wing rabble-rousing as his route to long-sought fame and fortune. He shows how Beck adapted the timeworn gags and manipulations of radio hucksterism—including the audience donation drive—into powerful tools for propaganda and personal enrichment. He also demonstrates how Beck's screeds about ACORN, czars, and socialists are carefully honed to intensify his listeners' fears and spur them to action at a time and place of his choosing.

Beck's manipulations are not aimed exclusively at conservative Tea Party activists. One of his favorite gambits, Zaitchik reveals, is to make outrageous statements—such as calling President Obama a racist—to provoke angry and overwrought reactions from the Left. He knows that nothing burnishes his reputation as a right-wing hero victimized by political correctness more effectively than a barrage of scoldings from the "liberal elite."

You can laugh at his crocodile tears, shake your head at the "facts" out of which he spins his wild theories, gape in wonder at his abrupt transitions from cheap sentiment to vicious attack and back again—but do not underestimate Glenn Beck. Read Common Nonsense and discover how this smart, ambitious self-promoter and his devoted flock poison our political discourse and weaken our democracy.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on June 24, 2010, 08:24:48 PM
That book wouldn't happen to be in a format of ones and zeroes, would it?
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on June 24, 2010, 08:25:58 PM
 :fap:
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on June 24, 2010, 08:26:44 PM
Goodness gracious!  Whatever is that doing there!?






Thanks, man. 
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Richter on June 25, 2010, 05:07:45 PM
"Better than Sex" by Hunter S. Thompson, courtesy of Dok.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: rygD on June 26, 2010, 01:01:51 AM
A Void sounds very interesting.  Thank you for mentioning it, el minnow.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: rygD on June 26, 2010, 01:12:55 AM
Also, according to the Wikipedia article on Gadsby, it may have inspired La Disparition.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Iason Ouabache on June 29, 2010, 06:55:18 AM
I'm reading "American Fascists" by Chris Hedges thanks to HoverCat's mind rays. Excellent book so far. I was afraid that he was going to over-generalize everything but he makes a point to say that he's not talking about liberal or moderate Mainline Christians but the hardcore, Rapture Ready, "fuck everyone but God" right wing assholes that use their religion as a club to bash other people over the head.

I actually had to stop reading in the middle of the chapter on conversion because it was giving me weird flashbacks of churches I attended when I was a teenager.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Jasper on July 05, 2010, 07:35:13 PM
Reading Anathem.

AAAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUUGGHBRBBRGRBGGRBG AAAAAAAGGH MADE UP WOOORRDDDSSS
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on July 06, 2010, 01:50:42 PM
Suck it up, you sissy.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Jasper on July 06, 2010, 08:05:51 PM
And finished.

Christ, what an asshole.  :lulz:

(No I actually loved it.)
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on July 06, 2010, 08:09:18 PM
You must have been reading it for quite a while before you posted that.



Also, I just finished Common Nonsense, and I wouldn't have belived it possible, but I hate Glen Beck even more now than I did before.  He more or less truly defines what I consider "a waste of carbon".
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Jasper on July 06, 2010, 08:11:37 PM
I was mostly finished by the time I mentioned that I was reading it.  I find that whenever I announce that I'm starting something just as I start, I almost always leave it unfinished.  Awful habit.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Nephew Twiddleton on July 06, 2010, 08:18:07 PM
Quote from: LMNO on July 06, 2010, 08:09:18 PM
You must have been reading it for quite a while before you posted that.



Also, I just finished Common Nonsense, and I wouldn't have belived it possible, but I hate Glen Beck even more now than I did before.  He more or less truly defines what I consider "a waste of carbon".

I honestly am unsure of what to think about him. I want to think that he hams it up to boost his ratings and book sales.

Not that that makes it any better.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Rev. St. Syn, KSC (Ret.) on July 06, 2010, 08:24:09 PM
Quote from: LMNO on September 26, 2008, 04:50:17 PM
I unpacked my Transmetropolitans out of storage, so I started that while finishing up Fear & Loathing '72.
RAH! I've read vols 1 and 2. This is a keeper, so I've bought 'em. (yep I quoted from two years ago - get over it.)

Also reading a few other sci-fi books: Can't get enough Dick (Philip K. ;) ) - Man in the High Castle is up next. Dune - YES, FOR THE FIRST TIME! Read the Graphic novel(s) of The Surrogates. Well written except for a few nerve jarring stupid statements and dumb grammatical errors. I'm no grammar Nazi, but fucking hell. Some William Gibson; Just finished Virtual Light.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on July 06, 2010, 08:39:07 PM
Been considering re-reading Dune at some point myself.  Honestly though, of late, the most interesting thing I've read is a French phrase book.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: the last yatto on July 06, 2010, 09:53:28 PM
John Hinterberger's 47th snail


its about a snail eating contest... :lulz: well so far
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mangrove on July 07, 2010, 10:07:42 PM
Quote from: LMNO on July 06, 2010, 08:09:18 PM
You must have been reading it for quite a while before you posted that.



Also, I just finished Common Nonsense, and I wouldn't have belived it possible, but I hate Glen Beck even more now than I did before.  He more or less truly defines what I consider "a waste of carbon".

I downloaded a sample chapter to my Nook the other day. Just from reading in the introduction I want:

a) to watch his show
b) something really really bad to happen to him.....(more than once)
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: BadBeast on July 16, 2010, 09:53:33 PM
Just finished Robert Rankin's 'Necrophenia'. It's ok, but a bit weak compared to some of his other stuff.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Juana on July 16, 2010, 09:57:31 PM
Quote from: Iason Ouabache on June 29, 2010, 06:55:18 AM
I'm reading "American Fascists" by Chris Hedges thanks to HoverCat's mind rays. Excellent book so far. I was afraid that he was going to over-generalize everything but he makes a point to say that he's not talking about liberal or moderate Mainline Christians but the hardcore, Rapture Ready, "fuck everyone but God" right wing assholes that use their religion as a club to bash other people over the head.

I actually had to stop reading in the middle of the chapter on conversion because it was giving me weird flashbacks of churches I attended when I was a teenager.
I developed paranoia after reading it. But it's good, isn't it?


The Sun and the Moon by Matthew Goodman and the Green Fairy Tail Book.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: DiscoUkulele on July 18, 2010, 09:39:03 PM
This weekend, I read Quantum Psychology in about a day, and now I'm tearing through Poker Without Cards. My brain can't handle anymore.

:memnoch2:
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: BadBeast on July 18, 2010, 09:47:22 PM
Started Robert Rankins "Da da de da da Code" Fucking Hilarious.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Apikoros II on July 20, 2010, 02:03:57 PM
I just finished the biography of Larry Flynt, which was quite intriguing... Unrecognized genius in my opinion. I am now reading The man who ate the World by Jay Rayner...
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Jasper on July 20, 2010, 08:26:54 PM
I just checked an old gift card and ordered "I am a strange loop" with the remaining money.

Got if for a fiver, too. :D
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Iason Ouabache on July 21, 2010, 07:23:07 AM
Quote from: Hover Cat on July 16, 2010, 09:57:31 PM
Quote from: Iason Ouabache on June 29, 2010, 06:55:18 AM
I'm reading "American Fascists" by Chris Hedges thanks to HoverCat's mind rays. Excellent book so far. I was afraid that he was going to over-generalize everything but he makes a point to say that he's not talking about liberal or moderate Mainline Christians but the hardcore, Rapture Ready, "fuck everyone but God" right wing assholes that use their religion as a club to bash other people over the head.

I actually had to stop reading in the middle of the chapter on conversion because it was giving me weird flashbacks of churches I attended when I was a teenager.
I developed paranoia after reading it. But it's good, isn't it?
Great read but I'm not sure if paranoia is the exact feeling it gave me. I would be more paranoid if Bush was still in office. I laughed inappropriately way too often.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on July 21, 2010, 09:54:18 AM
Political Ponerology by Andrew M Lobaczewski (about the political implications of psychopathy)
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Jasper on July 21, 2010, 06:07:31 PM
Sounds...relevant.  :lol:
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Telarus on July 21, 2010, 07:56:27 PM
Drop City - T.C. Boyle (2003)


He mentions "the Keristans, or the Keristian" in the first chapter (with their tenants shown darkly through an ego driven character). As discovered by Johnny Brainwash, "Kerista" was brother Judd's sect focused around "Consensual Free Love", and Kerry Thornley hung out with the South Cal Kerista Collective during the beginnings of the Discordian Society. Camden Benares was also a major player in Kerista, and most of the sexual stuff in Zen Without Zen Masters is "pretty much direct Kerista propaganda ".

Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Iason Ouabache on July 27, 2010, 07:40:33 AM
"It Can't Happen Here" - Sinclair Lewis

It took me forever to find it.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Faust on July 29, 2010, 02:03:57 PM
Just finished M/F by Anthony Burgess, its bizarre and leaves a load of stuff unanswered, challenging the reader to decipher it.
I've now started The Magus on a recommendation from a friend, the writing style is pretty, haven't gotten far into it yet so I cant really say more.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Freeky on July 30, 2010, 03:48:28 AM
Quote from: Faust on July 29, 2010, 02:03:57 PM
Just finished M/F by Anthony Burgess, its bizarre and leaves a load of stuff unanswered, challenging the reader to decipher it.
I've now started The Magus on a recommendation from a friend, the writing style is pretty, haven't gotten far into it yet so I cant really say more.

YOUR AVATAR IS BLOOOOOO!!!!!  :fap: <---- nearest equivalent to a heart we have.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Juana on July 30, 2010, 05:53:31 AM
I miss Foster's Home.


Job adverts.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Nast on July 30, 2010, 06:45:38 AM
Quote from: Hover Cat on July 30, 2010, 05:53:31 AM
I miss Foster's Home.


Job adverts.

Ditto and ditto.  :sad:

Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on July 30, 2010, 08:36:20 AM
Quote from: Faust on July 29, 2010, 02:03:57 PM
Just finished M/F by Anthony Burgess, its bizarre and leaves a load of stuff unanswered, challenging the reader to decipher it.
I've now started The Magus on a recommendation from a friend, the writing style is pretty, haven't gotten far into it yet so I cant really say more.

It gets really interesting from about halfway in, and yes, Fowles has a wonderful writing style.

Also, reading the first Artemis Fowl book, since I've heard good things about Eoin Colfer, and Drugs, Oil and War by Peter Dale Scott.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Faust on July 31, 2010, 11:19:26 AM
Quote from: Cain on July 30, 2010, 08:36:20 AM
Quote from: Faust on July 29, 2010, 02:03:57 PM
Just finished M/F by Anthony Burgess, its bizarre and leaves a load of stuff unanswered, challenging the reader to decipher it.
I've now started The Magus on a recommendation from a friend, the writing style is pretty, haven't gotten far into it yet so I cant really say more.

It gets really interesting from about halfway in, and yes, Fowles has a wonderful writing style.

Also, reading the first Artemis Fowl book, since I've heard good things about Eoin Colfer, and Drugs, Oil and War by Peter Dale Scott.
He manages to make the relationship stuff incredibly interesting, possibly because some of his experiences feel like they overlap with mine (though as a writer he probably designed it to overlap with everyone's relationship experiences).
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Xooxe on August 04, 2010, 02:00:56 PM
The Grand Chessboard - American Primacy and Its Geostrategic Imperatives.

I like stalking books that Cain takes interesting quotes from.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Faust on August 15, 2010, 11:53:53 PM
Quote from: Cain on July 30, 2010, 08:36:20 AM
Quote from: Faust on July 29, 2010, 02:03:57 PM
Just finished M/F by Anthony Burgess, its bizarre and leaves a load of stuff unanswered, challenging the reader to decipher it.
I've now started The Magus on a recommendation from a friend, the writing style is pretty, haven't gotten far into it yet so I cant really say more.

It gets really interesting from about halfway in, and yes, Fowles has a wonderful writing style.

Just finished it now. Goddamn that's a fine book. Saw lots of references to this in Burroughs Cities of the red night, and the ending to the prisoner was basically lifted from this. The very end of the book kind of bothered me at first.... Spoilers incoming for those who haven't read it.


... I thought she would definitely have gone to meet him but then there's an equal amount of evidence to say she wont. I thought about it for a little while and then I got that that was unimportant: That just confronting her had given him back his freedom and finally removed him from the trappings of the masque, whether or not she meets up with him again and lives happily ever after is up the the reader and their disposition.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on August 16, 2010, 09:01:50 AM
I need to read it again, actually, it's been at least 5 years now, and I'd probably get a lot more out of it, especially since I wont be reading it inbetween exams and papers.  For reasons which are fairly obvious, it's the scenes with Conchis that stand out most in my mind.

Now reading A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century by Barbara W. Tuchmann.  Spoiler: the 14th century sucked.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Pariah on August 17, 2010, 12:18:56 AM
The Savage Detectives by Roberto Bolaño.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: BadBeast on August 17, 2010, 12:54:40 AM
"The Secret History of EverythingAll Ages" by Manly P Hall.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Disco Pickle on August 17, 2010, 01:23:44 AM
Quote"The Secret History of Everything" by Manly P Hall.

I loved The Secret Teachings of All Ages..  fucking phenomenal..  lost my copy in Mexico, need to search for a new one..

thanks for reminding me.

Also, I'm half way through Illuminatus Trilogy and decided to take a break from it.. 

Just started Coldheart Canyon by Clive Barker today.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Prince Glittersnatch III on August 17, 2010, 09:54:39 PM
I just got The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch in the mail.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: BadBeast on August 24, 2010, 04:35:06 AM
This week I have been on a mad Pratchett catch up. Wintersmith, Thief of Time, Night Watch, and
Unseen Academicals.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Reeducation on August 24, 2010, 07:36:16 AM
I have been reading Food of the gods by Terence McKenna. Quite "out there" but it has had pretty interesting points about coffee and alcohol.

I'm also reading Stiff: The curious lives of human cadavers by Mary Roach. A book about dead bodies and what you can do with the dead bodies (plastic surgery practice, guillotine testing, transplants and so on).
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: DeusExMachina on August 24, 2010, 03:29:50 PM
My friend got me Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch for my birthday.  I am awaiting Lost Technologies of Ancient Egypt: Advanced Engineering in the Temples of the Pharaohs and H. P. Lovecraft Omnibus (1) - At the Mountains of Madness and Other Novels of Terror.  Not decided which i will start first maybe the Philip K Dick one because it is quite short.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Don Coyote on August 24, 2010, 04:35:23 PM
Three Stigmata was a fucking head trip. I should probably track down another copy since I think I was in high school when I read it.

Reading Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, everything is better with zombies, ninjas and katana swords. :lulz:
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Iason Ouabache on August 30, 2010, 01:00:19 PM
Quote from: Iason Ouabache on July 27, 2010, 07:40:33 AM
"It Can't Happen Here" - Sinclair Lewis

It took me forever to find it.
I'm about a quarter of the way through this now (I'm a slow reader, dammit! plus I've been busy). It's an interesting book. Very dated though. I keep having to look up words and politician's name because I can't tell which are real and which ones he made up. Plus he has a habit of writing really long rambling Yankee spun sentence that have to be diagrammed before you can figure out what he was trying to say. I'm seeing stuff that could be compared to Obama but it's stuff that is true of any successful presidential candidate in the last 100 years.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Stelpa on August 30, 2010, 02:06:34 PM
Still never read any Lovecraft, any suggestions on a good place to start?

I am reading Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy for the 200th time, love that book  :D
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cainad (dec.) on August 31, 2010, 05:47:56 PM
Quote from: nekk on August 30, 2010, 02:06:34 PM
Still never read any Lovecraft, any suggestions on a good place to start?

I am reading Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy for the 200th time, love that book  :D

If you like paper, get the Penguin Classics edition edited by S.T. Joshi. There's three volumes, so get the one subtitled "Call of Cthulhu and other Weird Stories". Joshi put an ungodly amount of effort into annotating Lovecraft's work, and published all the stories in as close to their original form as you can get (so you get all of the archaic spellings and racism present in the originals :lol: ). It makes for a pretty rich reading experience, considering Lovecraft wrote for pulp sci-fi magazines.

Of course, HPL's work is all public domain now, so if you want an edition made out of glowing pixels look here: http://www.dagonbytes.com/thelibrary/lovecraft/index.html

Try "Dagon" for a pretty quintessential, very short example of what HPL liked to write. "Cool Air" is a personal favorite of mine, and "Nyarlathotep" and "The Call of Cthulhu" are both very classic HPL. "Azathoth" is not a finished story, but it is an example of how good HPL's writing style can be when he isn't being racist or nondescriptive.

"At The Mountains of Madness" and "The Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath" are more like novellas than short stories, and develop HPL's cosmology pretty well (they are also both examples of his "science-fiction/Edgar Allen Poe" phase and his "Lord Dunsanay/dreamlike fantasy" phase, respectively).

These are just my recommendations, though. You might find your tastes completely different from mine.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on August 31, 2010, 06:14:49 PM
I'd agree with those.  However, if you want some lesser known, but quite disturbing Lovecraft stories, try The Music of Erich Zann, Pickman's Model and Ex Oblivione.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cainad (dec.) on August 31, 2010, 06:18:26 PM
Quote from: Cain on August 31, 2010, 06:14:49 PM
I'd agree with those.  However, if you want some lesser known, but quite disturbing Lovecraft stories, try The Music of Erich Zann, Pickman's Model and Ex Oblivione.

This is also a personal favorite of mine. All the eldritch horror, sans tentacles.

I don't remember Ex Oblivione, guess I should go read it.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on September 06, 2010, 04:09:31 AM
It's a bit different, for Lovecraft.

I'm reading Pratchett's latest, I Shall Wear Midnight and re-reading Negri and Hardt's infamous 2000 political philosophy book Empire
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: BadBeast on September 08, 2010, 09:05:38 AM
This weeks Angling Times.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: dontblameyoko on September 08, 2010, 09:53:23 PM
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

and

Robert Kennedy: His Life by Evan Thomas
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: eighteen buddha strike on September 09, 2010, 07:22:57 AM
Just got done with some light reading.

THUD! by Terry Pratchett
and The Thief of Always by Clive Barker.

I had never read Pratchett before, and have to say, judging by that one book... I would read more.
As for Barker, well maybe, Thief of Always was OK but nothing special really.

Now, I'm starting on Watership Down, which is absolutely charming.

after this, I think I'll hunt down a copy of Lord of the Flies.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: eighteen buddha strike on September 09, 2010, 07:30:37 AM
Quote from: nekk on August 30, 2010, 02:06:34 PM
Still never read any Lovecraft, any suggestions on a good place to start?

I am reading Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy for the 200th time, love that book  :D

As long as you don't try to start with At the Mountains of Madness or Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath, you should be ok. Just pick up any random collection, start with the shorter stories, you need not worry about any particular order really.

I usually suggest that people save his Dream stories until they're a bit more familiar with him, and At the Mountains of Madness is a great story, but it was written as a serial and it revisits itself A LOT, kinda drags on way more than it should as a result.

Oh, and avoid the Rats in the Walls and the Crawling Chaos as well, except for the lulz.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on September 09, 2010, 01:18:54 PM
Pratchett is well worth reading, though his earlier books are more a satire of the fantasy genre than anything else (especially The Colour of Magic and The Light Fantastic, with plenty of friendly nods to Lovecraft, Fritz Leiber and other).  After about book five, Sourcery, he starts making the series more coherent, and tackling more difficult subjects with a weightier approach.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Faust on September 09, 2010, 05:27:31 PM
I've started the man in the high castle. Honestly I hate his writing style but his ideas are interesting.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cramulus on September 09, 2010, 05:29:40 PM
Quote from: Faust on September 09, 2010, 05:27:31 PM
I've started the man in the high castle. Honestly I hate his writing style but his ideas are interesting.

I couldn't get into that one for some reason. alternate history post WWII drama doesn't really strike my fancy.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Stelpa on September 09, 2010, 08:05:25 PM
Quote from: eighteen buddha strike on September 09, 2010, 07:30:37 AM
Quote from: nekk on August 30, 2010, 02:06:34 PM
Still never read any Lovecraft, any suggestions on a good place to start?

I am reading Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy for the 200th time, love that book  :D

As long as you don't try to start with At the Mountains of Madness or Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath, you should be ok. Just pick up any random collection, start with the shorter stories, you need not worry about any particular order really.

I usually suggest that people save his Dream stories until they're a bit more familiar with him, and At the Mountains of Madness is a great story, but it was written as a serial and it revisits itself A LOT, kinda drags on way more than it should as a result.

Oh, and avoid the Rats in the Walls and the Crawling Chaos as well, except for the lulz.


I have just started reading Lovecraft, and I already realize one thing: He was a racist prick  :eek:
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Don Coyote on September 09, 2010, 08:12:11 PM
Guess which lucky spag just got his kindle in the mail.

fuck it. it's me. Now to download shit from projectgtuenberg and reread Lovecraft and Lord Dunsany.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on September 09, 2010, 09:28:56 PM
I'm jealous.  The Kindle WiFi is on my Xmas list though.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Jasper on September 09, 2010, 09:30:06 PM
Quote from: nekk on September 09, 2010, 08:05:25 PM
Quote from: eighteen buddha strike on September 09, 2010, 07:30:37 AM
Quote from: nekk on August 30, 2010, 02:06:34 PM
Still never read any Lovecraft, any suggestions on a good place to start?

I am reading Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy for the 200th time, love that book  :D

As long as you don't try to start with At the Mountains of Madness or Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath, you should be ok. Just pick up any random collection, start with the shorter stories, you need not worry about any particular order really.

I usually suggest that people save his Dream stories until they're a bit more familiar with him, and At the Mountains of Madness is a great story, but it was written as a serial and it revisits itself A LOT, kinda drags on way more than it should as a result.

Oh, and avoid the Rats in the Walls and the Crawling Chaos as well, except for the lulz.


I have just started reading Lovecraft, and I already realize one thing: He was a racist prick  :eek:

Well, yeah.  But still, he had a lot to say about literary style and writing in general. Have you read Miscellaneous Writings?  
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Don Coyote on September 10, 2010, 12:06:20 AM
Quote from: Cain on September 09, 2010, 09:28:56 PM
I'm jealous.  The Kindle WiFi is on my Xmas list though.

Good stuff.
Several of Lord Dunsany's works are for free on the Amazon kindle store. So bam I have 4-5 published works of his.

Bad stuff.
None of Lovecraft's is.

Which means tonight I get to pillage Project Gutenberg.  :evil:


ETA: I am now reading Gods of Pegana by Lord Dunsany. I have also downloaded enough free old books that I believe my kindle just paid for itself.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Faust on September 15, 2010, 01:59:59 PM
Quote from: Cramulus on September 09, 2010, 05:29:40 PM
Quote from: Faust on September 09, 2010, 05:27:31 PM
I've started the man in the high castle. Honestly I hate his writing style but his ideas are interesting.

I couldn't get into that one for some reason. alternate history post WWII drama doesn't really strike my fancy.
I gave up on it ntoo bland for me I've started Prometheus rising and it seems interesting even if it's very dated.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Disco Pickle on September 15, 2010, 02:38:06 PM
Quote from: eighteen buddha strike on September 09, 2010, 07:22:57 AM
Just got done with some light reading.

THUD! by Terry Pratchett
and The Thief of Always by Clive Barker.

I had never read Pratchett before, and have to say, judging by that one book... I would read more.
As for Barker, well maybe, Thief of Always was OK but nothing special really.

Now, I'm starting on Watership Down, which is absolutely charming.

after this, I think I'll hunt down a copy of Lord of the Flies.

I'm a Barker fanatic.  I have nearly everything he's ever written.  Still one or two to add to my library.

I think he really shines with his short stories, though there's more than one novel of his that I recommend.  Any of the Books of Blood short story collections are great, and The Inhuman Condition is my favorite of the series.

Weaveworld would have to be my favorite novel of his.  Amazing imagery.

His latest book, Mr. B. Gone wasn't terribly impressive, but interesting in it's narrative for breaking the 4th wall.  It's written with the main character speaking directly too the reader.

alright, enough Barker gushing.

I just finished Steven King's "Under the Dome" and I have to say, it was pretty damn good.  Full on action from page 2 until the end.  Even the plethora or characters didn't bother me as much as say, The Stand did.

Not sure what I'm going to read next, but I'm taking recommendations if anyone has them.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Disco Pickle on September 15, 2010, 02:39:23 PM
Quote from: eighteen buddha strike on September 09, 2010, 07:30:37 AM
Quote from: nekk on August 30, 2010, 02:06:34 PM
Still never read any Lovecraft, any suggestions on a good place to start?

I am reading Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy for the 200th time, love that book  :D

As long as you don't try to start with At the Mountains of Madness or Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath, you should be ok. Just pick up any random collection, start with the shorter stories, you need not worry about any particular order really.

I usually suggest that people save his Dream stories until they're a bit more familiar with him, and At the Mountains of Madness is a great story, but it was written as a serial and it revisits itself A LOT, kinda drags on way more than it should as a result.

Oh, and avoid the Rats in the Walls and the Crawling Chaos as well, except for the lulz.


Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath was my first Lovecraft book.

wasn't sure I was going to make it through it.  Glad I did.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on September 21, 2010, 01:45:26 PM
Not reading it just yet, but I just ordered MI6: The History of the Secret Intelligence Service 1909-1949.  The author had full access to the SIS Archive for that period.  Every file, every success and failure...turns out a similar book on MI5 was released recently as well, so I better order that too.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Pope Pixie Pickle on September 21, 2010, 03:26:39 PM
Suburban Book of the Dead, Robert Rankin.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Freeky on September 21, 2010, 05:16:38 PM
Transmet again.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Jasper on September 22, 2010, 12:12:53 AM
I read Rankin's "da da de da da code" last week.  It was pretty good.

Love all his running gags and writerly indulgences.  

ETA currently reading The Diamond Age.  It's hard to stay interested in the protagonist though, I'm used to heroes that are clever and observant.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Brotep on September 24, 2010, 04:22:19 PM
The Fine Art of Erotic Talk
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: BadBeast on September 26, 2010, 01:41:06 AM
Just read Kurt Vonnegut's ''Slaughterhouse 5'' for the first time. In one sitting. Never read him before.

Fucking why the fucking fuck not??  I can't believe I never read him before. It's like  literary Hawkwind.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Requia ☣ on September 26, 2010, 02:21:59 AM
I've been reading Shinji and Warhammer 40k.  Which I think people here are familiar with?
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Jasper on September 26, 2010, 04:09:17 AM
Quote from: BadBeast on September 26, 2010, 01:41:06 AM
Just read Kurt Vonnegut's ''Slaughterhouse 5'' for the first time. In one sitting. Never read him before.

Fucking why the fucking fuck not??  I can't believe I never read him before. It's like  literary Hawkwind.


Vonnegut's writing is some of the most gripping and accurate commentary on the human condition, period.

You might enjoy "Breakfast of Champions" next, when you're ready for more.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on September 27, 2010, 07:43:47 AM
Currently reading Neuropath by R Scott Bakker which is, by turns, annoying and terrifying.

Basic premise: In the near future (I'm guessing 2035-50 or so), a former neurosurgeon for the NSA, tasked with experimenting on terrorist suspects to get them to tell the truth, goes rogue.  He starts kidnapping people at random and performing dangerous, experimental brain surgery on them, and killing them.  His former best friend, a professor of psychology, is contacted by the FBI and asked for help in trying to figure out what he is doing and track him down.  Meanwhile, there is a serial killer in New York who is not only murdering people in horrific ways, but also extracing their spines...

The annoying: the first couple of chapters are disjointed, and seem to be trying to portray the professor as a deadbeat, hopeless dad too much.  It's jarring in how it is done, and irrelevant to the plot (so far, at least).

The terrifying: where the FBI reveals to the psychologist how the neurosurgeon attached an implant to the spinothalamic and spinoreticular pathways to one of his victims, to induce uncontrollable pleasure, and then handed her a piece of broken glass....
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Jasper on September 27, 2010, 08:16:27 AM
OH AUGH

So not reading that.  Cheers for the advance warning. 


Just cracking into "An INvitation to Cognitive Science", a book I bought because I am getting bored with the prereqs I'm taking so I can finally learn this stuff.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cainad (dec.) on September 27, 2010, 04:19:41 PM
Quote from: Cain on September 27, 2010, 07:43:47 AM
Currently reading Neuropath by R Scott Bakker which is, by turns, annoying and terrifying.

Basic premise: In the near future (I'm guessing 2035-50 or so), a former neurosurgeon for the NSA, tasked with experimenting on terrorist suspects to get them to tell the truth, goes rogue.  He starts kidnapping people at random and performing dangerous, experimental brain surgery on them, and killing them.  His former best friend, a professor of psychology, is contacted by the FBI and asked for help in trying to figure out what he is doing and track him down.  Meanwhile, there is a serial killer in New York who is not only murdering people in horrific ways, but also extracing their spines...

The annoying: the first couple of chapters are disjointed, and seem to be trying to portray the professor as a deadbeat, hopeless dad too much.  It's jarring in how it is done, and irrelevant to the plot (so far, at least).

The terrifying: where the FBI reveals to the psychologist how the neurosurgeon attached an implant to the spinothalamic and spinoreticular pathways to one of his victims, to induce uncontrollable pleasure, and then handed her a piece of broken glass....

Yeah, that sounds like Bakker. If he follows the pattern of his Prince of Nothing series, the deadbeat dad professor will ultimately redeem himself, despite all his flaws (okay, flaw, singular, that one flaw being his status as a despairing sadsack), as one of the most humane and sympathetic characters.

And, again, if he follows the pattern, the story will come together and become compelling enough to prompt a re-read at some point in the future just to make sense of the jumbled first few chapters.


I'm telling you this so you can let me know whether or not he follows said pattern, basically. :lol:
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Disco Pickle on September 27, 2010, 04:50:31 PM
My sister, ever keen on my tastes, gave me The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, which includes The Body-Snatcher, Markheim and The Bottle Imp.

some of RLS's best, in my opinion..  I'm taking my time.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on September 27, 2010, 07:34:17 PM
Quote from: Cainad on September 27, 2010, 04:19:41 PM
Quote from: Cain on September 27, 2010, 07:43:47 AM
Currently reading Neuropath by R Scott Bakker which is, by turns, annoying and terrifying.

Basic premise: In the near future (I'm guessing 2035-50 or so), a former neurosurgeon for the NSA, tasked with experimenting on terrorist suspects to get them to tell the truth, goes rogue.  He starts kidnapping people at random and performing dangerous, experimental brain surgery on them, and killing them.  His former best friend, a professor of psychology, is contacted by the FBI and asked for help in trying to figure out what he is doing and track him down.  Meanwhile, there is a serial killer in New York who is not only murdering people in horrific ways, but also extracing their spines...

The annoying: the first couple of chapters are disjointed, and seem to be trying to portray the professor as a deadbeat, hopeless dad too much.  It's jarring in how it is done, and irrelevant to the plot (so far, at least).

The terrifying: where the FBI reveals to the psychologist how the neurosurgeon attached an implant to the spinothalamic and spinoreticular pathways to one of his victims, to induce uncontrollable pleasure, and then handed her a piece of broken glass....

Yeah, that sounds like Bakker. If he follows the pattern of his Prince of Nothing series, the deadbeat dad professor will ultimately redeem himself, despite all his flaws (okay, flaw, singular, that one flaw being his status as a despairing sadsack), as one of the most humane and sympathetic characters.

And, again, if he follows the pattern, the story will come together and become compelling enough to prompt a re-read at some point in the future just to make sense of the jumbled first few chapters.


I'm telling you this so you can let me know whether or not he follows said pattern, basically. :lol:

Well so far, he's definitely the most humane and sympathetic character, but that's because all the others are either

insane neurosurgeons who tortured people for the NSA
some guy who can't remember anyone's faces anymore and consequently hates humanity
hardass FBI agents
his bratty kids
his ex-wife, who cheated on him with his former best friend (see person #1 in this list)
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: BadBeast on September 27, 2010, 08:28:34 PM
Quote from: Sigmatic on September 26, 2010, 04:09:17 AM
Quote from: BadBeast on September 26, 2010, 01:41:06 AM
Just read Kurt Vonnegut's ''Slaughterhouse 5'' for the first time. In one sitting. Never read him before.

Fucking why the fucking fuck not??  I can't believe I never read him before. It's like  literary Hawkwind.


Vonnegut's writing is some of the most gripping and accurate commentary on the human condition, period.

You might enjoy "Breakfast of Champions" next, when you're ready for more.
I will certainly be reading more of him, whenever the opportunity arises. I can't remember being more impressed with any Author new to me. (Except perhaps Hesse)
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Jasper on September 27, 2010, 08:33:28 PM
Breakfast of Champions is beautiful and sad and true and hilarious.

QuoteI will come to a time in my backwards trip when November eleventh, accidentally my birthday, was a sacred day called Armistice Day. When I was a boy, and when Dwayne Hoover was a boy, all the people of all the nations which had fought in the First World War were silent during the eleventh minute of the eleventh hour of Armistice Day, which was the eleventh day of the eleventh month.
It was during that minute in nineteen hundred and eighteen, that millions upon millions of human beings stopped butchering one another. I have talked to old men who were on battlefields during that minute. They have told me in one way or another that the sudden silence was the Voice of God. So we still have among us some men who can remember when God spoke clearly to mankind.
Armistice Day has become Veterans' Day. Armistice Day was sacred. Veterans' Day is not.
So I will throw Veterans' Day over my shoulder. Armistice Day I will keep. I don't want to throw away any sacred things.
What else is sacred? Oh, Romeo and Juliet, for instance.
And all music is.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: BadBeast on September 27, 2010, 08:37:58 PM
Quote from: Sigmatic on September 27, 2010, 08:33:28 PM
Breakfast of Champions is beautiful and sad and true and hilarious.

QuoteI will come to a time in my backwards trip when November eleventh, accidentally my birthday, was a sacred day called Armistice Day. When I was a boy, and when Dwayne Hoover was a boy, all the people of all the nations which had fought in the First World War were silent during the eleventh minute of the eleventh hour of Armistice Day, which was the eleventh day of the eleventh month.
It was during that minute in nineteen hundred and eighteen, that millions upon millions of human beings stopped butchering one another. I have talked to old men who were on battlefields during that minute. They have told me in one way or another that the sudden silence was the Voice of God. So we still have among us some men who can remember when God spoke clearly to mankind.
Armistice Day has become Veterans' Day. Armistice Day was sacred. Veterans' Day is not.
So I will throw Veterans' Day over my shoulder. Armistice Day I will keep. I don't want to throw away any sacred things.
What else is sacred? Oh, Romeo and Juliet, for instance.
And all music is.
Breakfast of Champions it is then. Thanks Sig.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Jasper on September 27, 2010, 08:42:46 PM
:D
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Doktor Howl on September 27, 2010, 08:46:39 PM
Quote from: BadBeast on September 27, 2010, 08:37:58 PM
Quote from: Sigmatic on September 27, 2010, 08:33:28 PM
Breakfast of Champions is beautiful and sad and true and hilarious.

QuoteI will come to a time in my backwards trip when November eleventh, accidentally my birthday, was a sacred day called Armistice Day. When I was a boy, and when Dwayne Hoover was a boy, all the people of all the nations which had fought in the First World War were silent during the eleventh minute of the eleventh hour of Armistice Day, which was the eleventh day of the eleventh month.
It was during that minute in nineteen hundred and eighteen, that millions upon millions of human beings stopped butchering one another. I have talked to old men who were on battlefields during that minute. They have told me in one way or another that the sudden silence was the Voice of God. So we still have among us some men who can remember when God spoke clearly to mankind.
Armistice Day has become Veterans' Day. Armistice Day was sacred. Veterans' Day is not.
So I will throw Veterans' Day over my shoulder. Armistice Day I will keep. I don't want to throw away any sacred things.
What else is sacred? Oh, Romeo and Juliet, for instance.
And all music is.
Breakfast of Champions it is then. Thanks Sig.

Mother Night is better.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Jasper on September 27, 2010, 09:00:51 PM
Haven't read it yet, myself
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: BadBeast on September 27, 2010, 09:15:10 PM
I'm planning on reading everything I can find of his.  Although when I tried that with Terry Pratchet, I needed a seven year break after "The Hogfather". I've got KV nominated for a place in my Top 5 Authors of all time already though.
His style is so easy to read, it's almost like some kind of telepathy. Billy Pilgrim is so easy to identify with, powerless, and a victim of the most horribly farcical turns of fate, but you don't feel sorry for him, largely, I think, because his character is so utterly pragmatic and somehow, optimistic, that he carries the whole tale as a kind of example of how to not let life break you.
Great stuff.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Doktor Howl on September 27, 2010, 09:25:10 PM
Quote from: Sigmatic on September 27, 2010, 09:00:51 PM
Haven't read it yet, myself

Best thing he ever wrote.

Ends badly, but that's pretty much standard for Vonnegut.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Jasper on September 27, 2010, 09:49:40 PM
You mean badly for the characters or badly written?
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Doktor Howl on September 27, 2010, 09:50:27 PM
Quote from: Sigmatic on September 27, 2010, 09:49:40 PM
You mean badly for the characters or badly written?

Badly for the characters.  It's the best writing Vonnegut's ever done.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Jasper on September 27, 2010, 09:51:49 PM
He is known for his advice to writers, "Abuse your protagonists." or words to that effect.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Doktor Howl on September 27, 2010, 09:53:12 PM
Quote from: Sigmatic on September 27, 2010, 09:51:49 PM
He is known for his advice to writers, "Abuse your protagonists." or words to that effect.

Yeah, and it works.  Of course, I've most often been my own protagonist.

Dok,
Self abuser. :boring:
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Jasper on September 27, 2010, 09:54:17 PM
:choke, cackle:
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Reeducation on September 28, 2010, 07:07:39 AM
I'm reading:

John Dies at the End by David Wong.
House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski.
Fuck It: The Ultimate Spiritual Way by John C. Parkin.
Anti-Oedipus: Capitalism and Schizophrenia by Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari

Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on October 04, 2010, 04:28:01 PM
I've started The Man Who Was Thursday (PBU Cain), and it's pretty funny1.  I'm interested in seeing how it will all play out.








1LOL, organized anarchists.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: eighteen buddha strike on October 04, 2010, 05:38:46 PM
Quote from: Doktor Howl on September 27, 2010, 08:46:39 PM
Quote from: BadBeast on September 27, 2010, 08:37:58 PM
Quote from: Sigmatic on September 27, 2010, 08:33:28 PM
Breakfast of Champions is beautiful and sad and true and hilarious.

QuoteI will come to a time in my backwards trip when November eleventh, accidentally my birthday, was a sacred day called Armistice Day. When I was a boy, and when Dwayne Hoover was a boy, all the people of all the nations which had fought in the First World War were silent during the eleventh minute of the eleventh hour of Armistice Day, which was the eleventh day of the eleventh month.
It was during that minute in nineteen hundred and eighteen, that millions upon millions of human beings stopped butchering one another. I have talked to old men who were on battlefields during that minute. They have told me in one way or another that the sudden silence was the Voice of God. So we still have among us some men who can remember when God spoke clearly to mankind.
Armistice Day has become Veterans' Day. Armistice Day was sacred. Veterans' Day is not.
So I will throw Veterans' Day over my shoulder. Armistice Day I will keep. I don't want to throw away any sacred things.
What else is sacred? Oh, Romeo and Juliet, for instance.
And all music is.
Breakfast of Champions it is then. Thanks Sig.

Mother Night is better.

Breakfast of Champions is my favorite so far, but I haven't read Mother Night yet. Curiously, you're the second person I've seen suggest Mother Night this week, so its going on my list, but I have to knock out City of Thieves by David Benioff (obligated to, since it was a gift), and I'm planning on starting on A Game of Thrones, which I still haven't read.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Juana on October 04, 2010, 07:21:50 PM
Sandman Slim by Richard Kadrey. General atmosphere: Bruce Campbell has a baby with a punk goddess + B-movie grit + the occult

QuoteLife sucks, and then you die. Or, if you're James Stark, you spend eleven years in Hell as a hitman before finally escaping, only to land back in the hell-on-earth that is Los Angeles.

Now Stark's back, and ready for revenge. And absolution, and maybe even love. But Stark discovers that the road to absolution and revenge is much longer than you'd expect, and both Heaven and Hell have their own ideas for his future. Resurrection sucks. Saving the world is worse.

A really good book. I picked it up for Christmas, started it on New Year's Eve after I got back from a late-night party, and couldn't put it down. It's a relatively quick read - the sun was just beginning to rise when I finished it.

Obviously, I'm re-reading it.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Freeky on October 04, 2010, 07:23:43 PM
Just finished reading all of Transmet. :) Dunno what to read next, maybe Hey Rube by HST.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Jasper on October 04, 2010, 09:27:36 PM
The "Planetary" series is pretty good, if you want more awesome speculative-fic comics.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Doktor Howl on October 04, 2010, 09:28:52 PM
Quote from: Sigmatic on October 04, 2010, 09:27:36 PM
The "Planetary" series is pretty good, if you want more awesome speculative-fic comics.

I loaned her Planetary for 6 weeks and she never read it.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Freeky on October 04, 2010, 09:32:07 PM
Quote from: Doktor Howl on October 04, 2010, 09:28:52 PM
Quote from: Sigmatic on October 04, 2010, 09:27:36 PM
The "Planetary" series is pretty good, if you want more awesome speculative-fic comics.

I loaned her Planetary for 6 weeks and she never read it.

:( Sorry. I was on a not-reading binge. As long as I can KEEP reading now, I won't get back in that habit.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Disco Pickle on October 04, 2010, 09:34:23 PM
I started Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke, but meh..  maybe Im just not far enough into it to hold my attention.

About halfway through The Art of War as translated by Ralph D. Sawyer.  It has a different focus from one Ive previously read and is pretty decent.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Jasper on October 04, 2010, 09:34:35 PM
It's a good one.  Along the same lines of investigative journalism, except with less journalism and more Weirdness.  A lot more.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Don Coyote on October 05, 2010, 06:25:02 AM
The Jungle Book
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on October 07, 2010, 01:36:48 PM
Quote from: Cain on September 27, 2010, 07:34:17 PM
Quote from: Cainad on September 27, 2010, 04:19:41 PM
Quote from: Cain on September 27, 2010, 07:43:47 AM
Currently reading Neuropath by R Scott Bakker which is, by turns, annoying and terrifying.

Basic premise: In the near future (I'm guessing 2035-50 or so), a former neurosurgeon for the NSA, tasked with experimenting on terrorist suspects to get them to tell the truth, goes rogue.  He starts kidnapping people at random and performing dangerous, experimental brain surgery on them, and killing them.  His former best friend, a professor of psychology, is contacted by the FBI and asked for help in trying to figure out what he is doing and track him down.  Meanwhile, there is a serial killer in New York who is not only murdering people in horrific ways, but also extracing their spines...

The annoying: the first couple of chapters are disjointed, and seem to be trying to portray the professor as a deadbeat, hopeless dad too much.  It's jarring in how it is done, and irrelevant to the plot (so far, at least).

The terrifying: where the FBI reveals to the psychologist how the neurosurgeon attached an implant to the spinothalamic and spinoreticular pathways to one of his victims, to induce uncontrollable pleasure, and then handed her a piece of broken glass....

Yeah, that sounds like Bakker. If he follows the pattern of his Prince of Nothing series, the deadbeat dad professor will ultimately redeem himself, despite all his flaws (okay, flaw, singular, that one flaw being his status as a despairing sadsack), as one of the most humane and sympathetic characters.

And, again, if he follows the pattern, the story will come together and become compelling enough to prompt a re-read at some point in the future just to make sense of the jumbled first few chapters.


I'm telling you this so you can let me know whether or not he follows said pattern, basically. :lol:

Well so far, he's definitely the most humane and sympathetic character, but that's because all the others are either

insane neurosurgeons who tortured people for the NSA
some guy who can't remember anyone's faces anymore and consequently hates humanity
hardass FBI agents
his bratty kids
his ex-wife, who cheated on him with his former best friend (see person #1 in this list)

The ending of this is pretty intense.  It's like three Wham moments crammed into less than 50 pages.

Now reading Pandemonium by Daryl Gregory.  The basic conceit of this story is an alternate Universe where "demonic possession" happens.  No-one is quite sure why, various psychological schools have differing opinions and may be even actual demonic possession.  All that is known is that certain "personalities" can take over human bodies for a while and control them.  Some of these actions, like those of the personality known as The Painter, are harmless.  Some, like the Hellion or Fat Boy,are selfish, but not intended to harm others (as the name suggests, the Fat Boy likes to eat...a lot.  Like, 10 pounds of chocolate in a single sitting).  And some, like the Truth and the Piper, are dangerous and sadistic.

The main character was possessed by the Hellion, a kind of Dennis the Menace personality, as a kid.  However, since then the Hellion has never been confirmed to be possessing others.  And since then, on and off, he's being hearing sounds in his head, and sleepwalking.  He thinks the Hellion is somehow trapped inside him, struggling to get out, and he is looking for a way to do that.

Also the book features Phillip K Dick.  Well, Valis actually, who is possessing Phillip K Dick.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on October 07, 2010, 03:14:29 PM
Wow.  That sounds like a pretty cool book.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on October 07, 2010, 04:53:53 PM
It's not bad, though the format makes it hard to read.

Other interesting things about the alternate Universe: the US has invaded Kashmir instead of Iraq, Eisenhower was assassinted by Japanese nationalists, O. J. Simpson claimed he was possessed when he killed his wife (the demon Truth, who kills people who tell lies, turned up at his trial and tried to kill him for that - maybe) and Nixon probably wasn't possessed, but some people like to imagine that maybe he was. 

Valis also has a little speech about the difference between science fiction and fantasy somewhere in the book which sounds like it could've been repeated word for word by Elizier Yudowsky.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on October 07, 2010, 04:58:32 PM
Amazon offers a kindle edition.

Hmm...  Maybe after I crank through some of the LessWrong Sequences.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Don Coyote on October 09, 2010, 07:26:53 AM
Jousts and Tournaments: Charny and the Rules for Chivalric Sport in Fourteenth Century France Steven Muhlberger

This is what I get for wandering around in the post library while my Kindle downloads all the free books I had 'purchased' this week.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Reginald Ret on October 09, 2010, 11:41:23 AM
I'm re-reading  Olympos by Dan Simmons.
Its the sequal to Illium and both books are crammed full of references to pretty much all the great literary works(The work of Homer, Shakespeare, Proust to name a few) and has a scarily high information density. Also, lots of quantum, timetravel and creatures from other dimensions done in proper form.
I can best describe it as High Sci-Fi.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on October 09, 2010, 01:24:36 PM
Finished Pandemonium.  Wasn't bad, especially for a first novel, but I did guess the outline of the plot about a quarter of the way through.  This could just be down to obsessive reading of TV Tropes, though.

Now reading Kraken by China Mieville, who I've been meaning to read for forever but have only just got around to yesterday.  Kraken is pretty good.  The start is fairly routine, the main character a curator at the Natural History Museum specializing in molluscs, giving a tour.  But then, a fully preserved giant squid  - Architeuthis dux - is somehow stolen from the museum.  And then Scotland Yard's Fundamentalist and Sect Related Crime Unit, are put on the case....
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Don Coyote on October 09, 2010, 06:14:20 PM
ZOMBIE SQUID!!!!!!!!!!! :lulz:
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Sister_Gothique on October 10, 2010, 05:22:15 AM
Machiavelli-The Prince
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Jasper on October 10, 2010, 05:31:53 AM
I just got my hands on a copy of John Dies At The End.  Goanna read it soon!
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Placid Dingo on October 10, 2010, 08:01:20 AM
Quote from: Sister_Gothique on October 10, 2010, 05:22:15 AM
Machiavelli-The Prince

One of the most brain popping books I've read, this.

Also, now reading Thomas Payne's 'The American Crisis'. Blah blah, England sucks, blah blah America wants peace.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on October 10, 2010, 09:23:42 AM
I think his Discourses on Livy are better than The Prince.  Remember, the latter is a satire of Vatican claims to godliness masquerading as a job application, and the former he had far greater lattitude on, and deals with subjects which fall outside the remit of acquiring and controlling absolute princely states.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Placid Dingo on October 10, 2010, 09:39:08 AM
Quote from: Cain on October 10, 2010, 09:23:42 AM
I think his Discourses on Livy are better than The Prince.  Remember, the latter is a satire of Vatican claims to godliness masquerading as a job application, and the former he had far greater lattitude on, and deals with subjects which fall outside the remit of acquiring and controlling absolute princely states.

I've heard the idea before that it's a parody, which had occoured to me at points. I'll hunt down those suggestions if i ever feel I'm making a dent on my reading list. Which I'm not.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on October 10, 2010, 09:53:30 AM
Machiavelli was most noted as a satirist in his own time, with several plays of his taking direct aim at the hypocrisy of the Church, which was at the time threatening to make even the Avignon Papacy look like a cleanly run charity by comparison (Alexander VI sold cardinal roles in order to finance Cesare Borgia's wars of expansion in central Italy, for example).  Of course, like all the best satires, it works because it makes so much use of the truth.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Brotep on October 10, 2010, 07:14:34 PM
Fearful Symmetry - A Study of William Blake, by Northrop Frye
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Juana on October 10, 2010, 09:44:02 PM
Rereading Making Money by Terry Pratchett
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on October 11, 2010, 08:46:58 PM
Something about an apocalypse that Dok gave me.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Doktor Howl on October 11, 2010, 08:47:20 PM
Quote from: The Lord and Lady Omnibus Fuck on October 11, 2010, 08:46:58 PM
Something about an apocalypse that Dok gave me.

WELL, IT'S ABOUT TIME!
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Freeky on October 11, 2010, 09:47:41 PM
Gonna start reading 101 Arabian nights fairly soon, if I can find my copy.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cuddlefish on October 11, 2010, 09:55:43 PM
Quote from: Cain on October 10, 2010, 09:53:30 AM
Machiavelli was most noted as a satirist in his own time, with several plays of his taking direct aim at the hypocrisy of the Church, which was at the time threatening to make even the Avignon Papacy look like a cleanly run charity by comparison (Alexander VI sold cardinal roles in order to finance Cesare Borgia's wars of expansion in central Italy, for example).  Of course, like all the best satires, it works because it makes so much use of the truth.

Y'know, I had heard some things about The Prince being satire, but no one I ever mentioned it to gave the theory any credit. It's currently on my list of books to read, so I haven't actually read it yet. Is there a good critique or analysis anywhere that gives plausibility to the claim of satire? I just want some ammo for class...



Anyhow, books I am currenty reading: Voltaire-Candide (hilarious) Camu-The Stranger (existentialist lulz) Cervantes-Don Quixote (Still. Fucking book is huge. But, funnier to me now that I understand it was a critique of Spains fail-parade of the times) Kate Chopin-The Awakening (feminism fail) David Hume-The Natural History of Religion (Good, but could have been said in a third of the words) Shakespeare-Othello: The Moor of Venice (Iago FTW) and Hamlet (Chistian-existentialism and the First Emo) and various works of short fiction.

Books on the short-term "to read" list: Machiavelli-The Prince, Zhuangzi-Essential Writings, Dante Alighieri-The Inferno (read parts, but never the whole thing), and probably a handful of others I'm forgetting...
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on October 11, 2010, 10:30:05 PM
Diderot, Voltaire and many of the French Encyclopedists gave a lot of credence to the theory.  I would say that perhaps "satire" isn't the right word, it was a serious political study, one of the first pieces of political science ever done, however it also made a mockery of the Vatican's claims to divine rulership and put it on a level with the "lesser" Kings and temporal Princes it despised and, in theory but not in actuality, held control over.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cuddlefish on October 11, 2010, 10:52:10 PM
Quote from: Cain on October 11, 2010, 10:30:05 PM
Diderot, Voltaire and many of the French Encyclopedists gave a lot of credence to the theory.  I would say that perhaps "satire" isn't the right word, it was a serious political study, one of the first pieces of political science ever done, however it also made a mockery of the Vatican's claims to divine rulership and put it on a level with the "lesser" Kings and temporal Princes it despised and, in theory but not in actuality, held control over.

I see. Maybe "Critique" would be a better word than satire in this case? Anyhow, I should probably stop talking about it 'till I've finished reading it.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on October 11, 2010, 10:53:41 PM
Polemic works for me.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cuddlefish on October 11, 2010, 10:57:49 PM
Quote from: Cain on October 11, 2010, 10:53:41 PM
Polemic works for me.

Cool beans. Cheers.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Faust on October 12, 2010, 01:05:48 AM
Read most of 20,000 leagues under the sea today on trains and the bus. Quite enjoyable, even if its very simplistic.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on October 12, 2010, 02:05:23 PM
Finished "The Man Who Was Thursday," and I have to admit I was a bit underwhelmed, especially when it became Christian allegory at the end.  I guess I have no stomach for the classics sometimes.

Now diving into the Complete Less Wrong Sequences (Praise Be Unto Cain).
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: eighteen buddha strike on October 12, 2010, 07:46:56 PM
Quote from: Cain on October 09, 2010, 01:24:36 PM
Finished Pandemonium.  Wasn't bad, especially for a first novel, but I did guess the outline of the plot about a quarter of the way through.  This could just be down to obsessive reading of TV Tropes, though.

Now reading Kraken by China Mieville, who I've been meaning to read for forever but have only just got around to yesterday.  Kraken is pretty good.  The start is fairly routine, the main character a curator at the Natural History Museum specializing in molluscs, giving a tour.  But then, a fully preserved giant squid  - Architeuthis dux - is somehow stolen from the museum.  And then Scotland Yard's Fundamentalist and Sect Related Crime Unit, are put on the case....

I've been meaning to read this for a while. China Meiville comes highly recommended to me. Although I've only read Perdido Street Station, I get the impression that he basically took Neverwhere and said "This is a new fantasy genre" and ran with it. I thought it was a nice break from traditional fantasy, though it kind of felt like the book may have been someones table-top RPG for a minute.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Jasper on October 12, 2010, 07:48:33 PM
Unofficially, what I am reading is "John Dies At the End" starting tonight.  

Also BIG NEWWSSSS

I bought a Nook just because of Cain's upload of the Sequences in book form.  Been reading the shit outta that.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Don Coyote on October 12, 2010, 08:13:13 PM
The Player of Games by Iain M. Banks.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cuddlefish on October 14, 2010, 04:28:16 AM
Kushner- Angels in America

I think we should claim him as "one of us." You can Lo5 the shit out of these plays...
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Nast on October 14, 2010, 05:30:10 AM
Franz Kafka's The Castle.

I think the sentences are too long.

Nast,
Eminent literary critic.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Eater of Clowns on October 14, 2010, 05:32:22 AM
Walden - Thoreau

Never really even considered reading it.  Woke up two days ago, thought "I'm going to read Walden."  Taking my time with it and enjoying it early in.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on October 14, 2010, 12:52:29 PM
Quote from: eighteen buddha strike on October 12, 2010, 07:46:56 PM
Quote from: Cain on October 09, 2010, 01:24:36 PM
Finished Pandemonium.  Wasn't bad, especially for a first novel, but I did guess the outline of the plot about a quarter of the way through.  This could just be down to obsessive reading of TV Tropes, though.

Now reading Kraken by China Mieville, who I've been meaning to read for forever but have only just got around to yesterday.  Kraken is pretty good.  The start is fairly routine, the main character a curator at the Natural History Museum specializing in molluscs, giving a tour.  But then, a fully preserved giant squid  - Architeuthis dux - is somehow stolen from the museum.  And then Scotland Yard's Fundamentalist and Sect Related Crime Unit, are put on the case....

I've been meaning to read this for a while. China Meiville comes highly recommended to me. Although I've only read Perdido Street Station, I get the impression that he basically took Neverwhere and said "This is a new fantasy genre" and ran with it. I thought it was a nice break from traditional fantasy, though it kind of felt like the book may have been someones table-top RPG for a minute.

This book is kinda more like Neil Gaiman and RAW meet in a London pub, and have squid for lunch.  There's more of an Urban Fantasy feel as well.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on October 14, 2010, 02:50:08 PM
Quote from: Cuddlefist on October 14, 2010, 04:28:16 AM
Kushner- Angels in America

I think we should claim him as "one of us." You can Lo5 the shit out of these plays...

Incidentally, sorry for the stilted phone call.  I was being polite, but in truth I was in the middle of cooking dinner, after all.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cuddlefish on October 14, 2010, 09:29:53 PM
Quote from: Doktor Alphapance on October 14, 2010, 02:50:08 PM
Quote from: Cuddlefist on October 14, 2010, 04:28:16 AM
Kushner- Angels in America

I think we should claim him as "one of us." You can Lo5 the shit out of these plays...

Incidentally, sorry for the stilted phone call.  I was being polite, but in truth I was in the middle of cooking dinner, after all.

No apologies needed. You have just as much right to enjoy your dinner as I do to disrupt it with a fanatical phone-call. Next time, tell me outright to STFU and go away. I don't become offended easily (obviousy. I hang out here...).
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Prince Glittersnatch III on October 15, 2010, 09:08:28 AM
I just finished Poker Without Cards in one sitting.
My brain hurts now.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Eater of Clowns on October 15, 2010, 02:36:16 PM
Quote from: Lord Glittersnatch on October 15, 2010, 09:08:28 AM
I just finished P*ker W*thout C*rds in one sitting.
My brain hurts now.

YOU FOOL!  You know not what you've done.

We speak not of the works of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named! (http://www.principiadiscordia.com/forum/index.php?topic=21524.0)
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Prince Glittersnatch III on October 15, 2010, 09:19:24 PM
Quote from: Eater of Clowns on October 15, 2010, 02:36:16 PM
Quote from: Lord Glittersnatch on October 15, 2010, 09:08:28 AM
I just finished P*ker W*thout C*rds in one sitting.
My brain hurts now.

YOU FOOL!  You know not what you've done.

We speak not of the works of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named! (http://www.principiadiscordia.com/forum/index.php?topic=21524.0)

Que?  :?
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on October 15, 2010, 09:21:24 PM
Quote from: Lord Glittersnatch on October 15, 2010, 09:19:24 PM
Quote from: Eater of Clowns on October 15, 2010, 02:36:16 PM
Quote from: Lord Glittersnatch on October 15, 2010, 09:08:28 AM
I just finished P*ker W*thout C*rds in one sitting.
My brain hurts now.

YOU FOOL!  You know not what you've done.

We speak not of the works of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named! (http://www.principiadiscordia.com/forum/index.php?topic=21524.0)

Que?  :?

DO NOT READ THIS THREAD. (http://www.principiadiscordia.com/forum/index.php?topic=21524.0)


Or, do.  It explains a lot.  Just don't say that fuckers name.  He has search bots look for people who write about him.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Prince Glittersnatch III on October 15, 2010, 09:27:22 PM
Quote from: Doktor Alphapance on October 15, 2010, 09:21:24 PM
Quote from: Lord Glittersnatch on October 15, 2010, 09:19:24 PM
Quote from: Eater of Clowns on October 15, 2010, 02:36:16 PM
Quote from: Lord Glittersnatch on October 15, 2010, 09:08:28 AM
I just finished P*ker W*thout C*rds in one sitting.
My brain hurts now.

YOU FOOL!  You know not what you've done.

We speak not of the works of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named! (http://www.principiadiscordia.com/forum/index.php?topic=21524.0)

Que?  :?

DO NOT READ THIS THREAD. (http://www.principiadiscordia.com/forum/index.php?topic=21524.0)


Or, do.  It explains a lot.  Just don't say that fuckers name.  He has search bots look for people who write about him.

That seems very... Orwellian. I guess it will all make sense once I read the thread.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: the dreadful hours on October 16, 2010, 12:53:47 PM
the joy of cooking

and

how to paint happy little trees
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on October 16, 2010, 04:47:37 PM
The Defence of the Realm: The Authorized History of MI5 by Christopher Andrew, The Strategy of Conflict by Thomas C Schelling and Ratcatcher by James McGee.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Prince Glittersnatch III on October 16, 2010, 11:51:28 PM
Quote from: Lord Glittersnatch on October 15, 2010, 09:27:22 PM
Quote from: Doktor Alphapance on October 15, 2010, 09:21:24 PM
Quote from: Lord Glittersnatch on October 15, 2010, 09:19:24 PM
Quote from: Eater of Clowns on October 15, 2010, 02:36:16 PM
Quote from: Lord Glittersnatch on October 15, 2010, 09:08:28 AM
I just finished P*ker W*thout C*rds in one sitting.
My brain hurts now.

YOU FOOL!  You know not what you've done.

We speak not of the works of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named! (http://www.principiadiscordia.com/forum/index.php?topic=21524.0)

Que?  :?

DO NOT READ THIS THREAD. (http://www.principiadiscordia.com/forum/index.php?topic=21524.0)


Or, do.  It explains a lot.  Just don't say that fuckers name.  He has search bots look for people who write about him.

That seems very... Orwellian. I guess it will all make sense once I read the thread.

Holy crap. The Author is a douchebag. That thread just ruined the entire book for me.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Triple Zero on October 19, 2010, 09:01:11 PM
Join the club ;-)

... the BOOK CLUB
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Jasper on October 19, 2010, 09:03:38 PM
Ung...

An Invitation To Cognitive Science: Language is a hard book to crack.  Making me feel stupid.

I WILL CRUSH IT WITH BRUTE FORCE.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Disco Pickle on October 19, 2010, 09:51:31 PM
A book of Poe's short stories.

and I just have to say..  maybe it was the times, but this fucker was racist as hell.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Prince Glittersnatch III on October 19, 2010, 10:43:22 PM
Quote from: The Dancing Pickle on October 19, 2010, 09:51:31 PM
A book of Poe's short stories.

and I just have to say..  maybe it was the times, but this fucker was racist as hell.

More evidence that Lovecraft was Poe reincarnated.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Jasper on October 20, 2010, 12:11:32 AM
Quote from: The Dancing Pickle on October 19, 2010, 09:51:31 PM
A book of Poe's short stories.

and I just have to say..  maybe it was the times, but this fucker was racist as hell.

Because people make up their minds about prejudice completely absent of any prevailing ideologies that they might have grown up being fed. 

It's the same attribution error as racism itself.  It is unlikely that Poe had some kind of inherent 'racism' behavior beyond what you and I have, but it is highly likely that he simply grew up with a mindset that was appropriate to the times.

Contemporary belief holds that A.  If, in some far flung decade, A is not accepted, hopefully they will not give us too much shit in the history books because we didn't know.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on October 20, 2010, 12:14:50 AM
I find your speciest insensitivity to the plight of molluscs to be on a par with Hitler's own genocidal program.

Yours sincerely,
the 24th century (barring a few reactionary bigots)
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Juana on October 20, 2010, 12:53:02 AM
re-reading The Magicians by Lev Grossman.

Narnia + Catcher in the Rye + Harry Potter + grimy bar
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Jasper on October 20, 2010, 01:03:03 AM
finished John Dies at the End a few days ago.  It is a good comedy, even if it is troperific at times.  I didn't know the editor of Cracked.com wrote it until afterwards.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Prince Glittersnatch III on October 20, 2010, 01:13:37 AM
Starting The Ginslinger today.
Wish me luck
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Jasper on October 20, 2010, 01:17:30 AM
You mean gunslinger?  King's "magnum opus"?

I liked it, except for the books that go into backstory.  Those kinda fell flat.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Eater of Clowns on October 20, 2010, 01:24:46 AM
Quote from: Sigmatic on October 20, 2010, 01:17:30 AM
You mean gunslinger?  King's "magnum opus"?

I liked it, except for the books that go into backstory.  Those kinda fell flat.

Really?  I thought Wizard and Glass (Book 4, primarily about Roland's backstory) was second only to The Gunslinger itself.  But books 5-7 were pretty awful.  Song of Susannah I try not to even speak of.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Jasper on October 20, 2010, 01:30:38 AM
Yeah, don't anybody read that one.  I couldn't finish it, and I will never try to again.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Jasper on October 20, 2010, 01:31:55 AM
Wizard and Glass was just...  I got what he was trying to DO, but after all the excitement of the previous books, it just felt too much like a different book that I didn't intend to start rearing.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Prince Glittersnatch III on October 20, 2010, 03:29:16 AM
Quote from: Sigmatic on October 20, 2010, 01:17:30 AM
You mean gunslinger?  King's "magnum opus"?

I liked it, except for the books that go into backstory.  Those kinda fell flat.

Ive been told similar things, that the books start out good but toward the end they go to shit but its all worth it because of the ending.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Doktor Howl on October 20, 2010, 03:35:09 AM
Quote from: Lord Glittersnatch on October 20, 2010, 03:29:16 AM
Quote from: Sigmatic on October 20, 2010, 01:17:30 AM
You mean gunslinger?  King's "magnum opus"?

I liked it, except for the books that go into backstory.  Those kinda fell flat.

Ive been told similar things, that the books start out good but toward the end they go to shit but its all worth it because of the ending.

I especially liked the back story parts. 

In fact, I was furious when he didn't tell the story of Cuthbert & Alain's deaths.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Eater of Clowns on October 20, 2010, 03:37:41 AM
Quote from: Doktor Howl on October 20, 2010, 03:35:09 AM
Quote from: Lord Glittersnatch on October 20, 2010, 03:29:16 AM
Quote from: Sigmatic on October 20, 2010, 01:17:30 AM
You mean gunslinger?  King's "magnum opus"?

I liked it, except for the books that go into backstory.  Those kinda fell flat.

Ive been told similar things, that the books start out good but toward the end they go to shit but its all worth it because of the ending.

I especially liked the back story parts. 

In fact, I was furious when he didn't tell the story of Cuthbert & Alain's deaths.

I think the whole Jericho Hill story is now available in the comics, but those aren't written by King.  The first series retold the same story as Wizard and Glass but managed to make it infinitely less compelling.  Given Jericho Hill was the most interesting event hinted at in the whole fucking series, I can't imagine it being anything but disappointing.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Doktor Howl on October 20, 2010, 03:42:42 AM
Quote from: Eater of Clowns on October 20, 2010, 03:37:41 AM

I think the whole Jericho Hill story is now available in the comics, but those aren't written by King. 

:madbanana:
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Disco Pickle on October 20, 2010, 12:47:10 PM
Quote from: Lord Glittersnatch on October 20, 2010, 01:13:37 AM
Starting The Ginslinger today.
Wish me luck

while it's not necessary to have read all of his other works that tie in to the Dark Tower, it is pretty cool seeing things pop up in the series that come from other books outside the main story.

I read the first one a very long time ago, and didn't finish the series until he finally released the last one.  I had read nearly every book that ties into the Tower somehow.  Made the series much better IMO.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Prince Glittersnatch III on October 20, 2010, 05:42:56 PM
Quote from: The Dancing Pickle on October 20, 2010, 12:47:10 PM
Quote from: Lord Glittersnatch on October 20, 2010, 01:13:37 AM
Starting The Ginslinger today.
Wish me luck

while it's not necessary to have read all of his other works that tie in to the Dark Tower, it is pretty cool seeing things pop up in the series that come from other books outside the main story.

I read the first one a very long time ago, and didn't finish the series until he finally released the last one.  I had read nearly every book that ties into the Tower somehow.  Made the series much better IMO.

So far I have read:

Cell
Carrie
The Tommyknockers
Bag of Bones
The Green Mile
IT(unfortunatly)
Eyes of the Dragon
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Disco Pickle on October 20, 2010, 06:04:01 PM
Quote from: Lord Glittersnatch on October 20, 2010, 05:42:56 PM
Quote from: The Dancing Pickle on October 20, 2010, 12:47:10 PM
Quote from: Lord Glittersnatch on October 20, 2010, 01:13:37 AM
Starting The Ginslinger today.
Wish me luck

while it's not necessary to have read all of his other works that tie in to the Dark Tower, it is pretty cool seeing things pop up in the series that come from other books outside the main story.

I read the first one a very long time ago, and didn't finish the series until he finally released the last one.  I had read nearly every book that ties into the Tower somehow.  Made the series much better IMO.

So far I have read:

Cell
Carrie
The Tommyknockers
Bag of Bones
The Green Mile
IT(unfortunatly)
Eyes of the Dragon

you almost HAVE to read The Stand before you dive in to The Dark Tower.  Insomnia less so because it's just another level of the tower, but still a good read.

From a Buick 8 and the first two short stories of Hearts in Atlantis are  fast reads that directly tie in to the Tower.

also, as a bit of interesting synchronicity that may have already been mentioned on this board in the past, but which you may not know.

From the wikipedia page for The Dark Tower:

QuoteDiscordia

December 7, 2009 saw the release of a spin-off online game entitled Discordia,[1] available to play for free on the official Stephen King website. The game is a continuation of the original Dark Tower story, following the war between the Tet Corporation and Sombra/NCP in New York, and it has been supervised by both Stephen King and Robin Furth. From the website: "Exploring the behind-the-scenes conflict between the two companies, Discordia introduces long-time Dark Tower fans to new characters and numerous mechanical/magical items developed by Mid-World's Old Ones. Over the course of our adventure we will visit many locations, both those familiar to Dark Tower fans and others which we only glimpsed in the Dark Tower novels. While we may not see Roland and his ka-tet in this adventure, the development team has remembered the faces of its fathers. We have done our best to honor the original Dark Tower series while simultaneously mapping new and exciting Dark Tower territory."


[EDIT]:also, you didn't like IT?
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Prince Glittersnatch III on October 20, 2010, 07:43:52 PM
the It book ruined the movie for me.
What with the kiddy gang bang and all.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Jasper on October 20, 2010, 07:45:14 PM
Tried to read that when I was young enough to let it scare me.  At that age, though, I was too young to finish such a damned thick book.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Disco Pickle on October 20, 2010, 07:57:07 PM
Quote from: Lord Glittersnatch on October 20, 2010, 07:43:52 PM
the It book ruined the movie for me.
What with the kiddy gang bang and all.

yeah, bit of a shocker that part.

Quote from: Sigmatic on October 20, 2010, 07:45:14 PM
Tried to read that when I was young enough to let it scare me.  At that age, though, I was too young to finish such a damned thick book.

read it in the 4th grade I think.  it was my first King book.  scared the piss out of me.

also, my teacher took me aside and told me she didn't really think that book was appropriate for a kid my age.

:lulz:
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Prince Glittersnatch III on October 20, 2010, 07:59:42 PM
Quote from: The Dancing Pickle on October 20, 2010, 07:57:07 PM
Quote from: Lord Glittersnatch on October 20, 2010, 07:43:52 PM
the It book ruined the movie for me.
What with the kiddy gang bang and all.

yeah, bit of a shocker that part.


I still cant figure out why it was in there in the first place. WHAT DID IT ADD TO THE PLOT? You could cut the entire section out of the book without any problems.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Jasper on October 20, 2010, 08:04:35 PM
I read it sometime in late elementary, I think.  It was scary at times, but I think I stopped because I'm generally not into horror novels, and I'm always getting distracted away from the books I'm reading by shinier books.  It's a pattern of mine.  I've got ten books on my desk right now, all of them at some point of having started but not finishing.  Hmm.

Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Disco Pickle on October 20, 2010, 08:06:44 PM
Quote from: Lord Glittersnatch on October 20, 2010, 07:59:42 PM
Quote from: The Dancing Pickle on October 20, 2010, 07:57:07 PM
Quote from: Lord Glittersnatch on October 20, 2010, 07:43:52 PM
the It book ruined the movie for me.
What with the kiddy gang bang and all.

yeah, bit of a shocker that part.


I still cant figure out why it was in there in the first place. WHAT DID IT ADD TO THE PLOT? You could cut the entire section out of the book without any problems.

fuck if I know.  I suppose he was using it as a way to bring the characters together, take away The Feartm so they could face the clown, but damn you'd think he could have done it some other way than having 6 guys run a train on one girl.  

and what were they, 12? 13?

that part always weirded me out.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Placid Dingo on October 21, 2010, 07:11:08 AM
Quote from: Lord Glittersnatch on October 20, 2010, 05:42:56 PM
Quote from: The Dancing Pickle on October 20, 2010, 12:47:10 PM
Quote from: Lord Glittersnatch on October 20, 2010, 01:13:37 AM
Starting The Ginslinger today.
Wish me luck

while it's not necessary to have read all of his other works that tie in to the Dark Tower, it is pretty cool seeing things pop up in the series that come from other books outside the main story.

I read the first one a very long time ago, and didn't finish the series until he finally released the last one.  I had read nearly every book that ties into the Tower somehow.  Made the series much better IMO.

So far I have read:

Cell
Carrie
The Tommyknockers
Bag of Bones
The Green Mile
IT(unfortunatly)
Eyes of the Dragon

Read Green Mile. Saw movie. Preffered movie. Did not return to Steven King.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Disco Pickle on October 21, 2010, 10:44:41 PM
someone recommended the Mistborn Trilogy to me..  Im about 100 pages into the first book.  S'ok so far.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: slothrop23 on October 22, 2010, 08:56:13 PM
i think im going full circle from 5 years ago.  re reading a life inside by erwin james and now american gods.  in the middle of a book called mobius dick and about to start 'stop smoking you twat' by alan carr (not the british toothy comedian)
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Hanni on October 22, 2010, 10:18:56 PM
Right now- I'm rereading 'The Left Hand of Darkness' by Ursula Le Guin, worth a read if you get the chance and like to have to think a bit*.




*I have to think a bit anyway, I blame my age for that.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Disco Pickle on October 22, 2010, 10:22:55 PM
Quote from: Hanni on October 22, 2010, 10:18:56 PM
Right now- I'm rereading 'The Left Hand of Darkness' by Ursula Le Guin, worth a read if you get the chance and like to have to think a bit*.




*I have to think a bit anyway, I blame my age for that.

we do as little of that as possible here. 

the last time the place nearly burned to the ground.

I'll look it up next time Im in the book warehouse in town.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Hanni on October 22, 2010, 10:28:05 PM
Quote from: The Dancing Pickle on October 22, 2010, 10:22:55 PM
Quote from: Hanni on October 22, 2010, 10:18:56 PM
Right now- I'm rereading 'The Left Hand of Darkness' by Ursula Le Guin, worth a read if you get the chance and like to have to think a bit*.




*I have to think a bit anyway, I blame my age for that.

we do as little of that as possible here. 

the last time the place nearly burned to the ground.

I'll look it up next time Im in the book warehouse in town.

I don't really get along with thinking. When I 'read' the Principia I thought for the first 10 pages and tried to understand, my head hurt and then I just read the words and nodded in a knowing way.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: slothrop23 on October 22, 2010, 11:27:51 PM
Quote from: Liam on October 22, 2010, 10:28:24 PM
Cannot find 'Stop Smoking You Twat' mentioned online, on amazon or in the isbn catalogue, so I'm guessing its a self published?

I'd pick a copy up for my mate who's constantly trying to quit as a fun prezzy if I could find one, as I think the title alone would do it :D Do you have a linky please Slothrop?  

hi Liam, its not called that i just couldn't remember the title.  i have tried a few times too. hard work. it is however called easy way to stop smoking by allen carr.  i apologise for my rubbish brain.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: slothrop23 on October 23, 2010, 12:09:21 AM
 :lulz:

it is tough.  my ladyfriend is the force behind the latest quit attempt, and where the book came from.  basically came home and its on the table.  i'm sure it wont work because im going to leave it on the table.  smoking is tasty
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Juana on October 27, 2010, 02:01:49 AM
Re-reading Night Watch by Terry Pratchett. And I caught a shout-out to him from Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality - the password is always swordfish!
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on October 27, 2010, 03:49:38 AM
Actually, that trope is much older (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swordfish_%28password%29) than you think.  Terry was just lampshading it.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Doktor Howl on November 01, 2010, 06:17:46 PM
Just started on Terry Pratchett...Read Thud yesterday.  Freeky loaned me a bunch of his stuff, and I'm going to the used bookstore to get all of the rest of it.

How have I managed to not read this guy for all this time?  He's a fucking GENIUS.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Freeky on November 01, 2010, 06:35:06 PM
Quote from: Hover Cat on October 27, 2010, 02:01:49 AM
Re-reading Night Watch by Terry Pratchett. And I caught a shout-out to him from Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality - the password is always swordfish!

I love that one. My favorite Vimes book is "Guards, Guards!" followed closely by "Jingo" and "The Fourth Elephant."


Pretend that the quotes are actually underlining. i feel lazy.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Juana on November 01, 2010, 06:53:38 PM
Thud! is one of my favorites by him. I can see you liking the Night Watch series, and perhaps Moist von Lipwig's books, Dok.

Quote from: Mistress Freeky, HRN on November 01, 2010, 06:35:06 PM
Quote from: Hover Cat on October 27, 2010, 02:01:49 AM
Re-reading Night Watch by Terry Pratchett. And I caught a shout-out to him from Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality - the password is always swordfish!

I love that one. My favorite Vimes book is "Guards, Guards!" followed closely by "Jingo" and "The Fourth Elephant."


Pretend that the quotes are actually underlining. i feel lazy.
"Feet of Clay", "The Lost Continent", "Small Gods", "Men at Arms", and "Jingo" are my favorites, in that order. I think I'll re-read "The Fifth Elephant" soon. It's been a while.

Quote from: Cain on October 27, 2010, 03:49:38 AM
Actually, that trope is much older (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swordfish_%28password%29) than you think.  Terry was just lampshading it.
The more you know. :D


Re-reading Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Jasper on November 01, 2010, 06:54:25 PM
Quote from: Doktor Howl on November 01, 2010, 06:17:46 PM
Just started on Terry Pratchett...Read Thud yesterday.  Freeky loaned me a bunch of his stuff, and I'm going to the used bookstore to get all of the rest of it.

How have I managed to not read this guy for all this time?  He's a fucking GENIUS.

Careful.  He's prolific.  When I caught onto him in high school, I spent an entire month doing almost nothing other than read his stuff.   It was ill.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Juana on November 01, 2010, 07:07:01 PM
Quote from: Sigmatic on November 01, 2010, 06:54:25 PM
Quote from: Doktor Howl on November 01, 2010, 06:17:46 PM
Just started on Terry Pratchett...Read Thud yesterday.  Freeky loaned me a bunch of his stuff, and I'm going to the used bookstore to get all of the rest of it.

How have I managed to not read this guy for all this time?  He's a fucking GENIUS.

Careful.  He's prolific.  When I caught onto him in high school, I spent an entire month doing almost nothing other than read his stuff.   It was ill.
Yep. A book every year or so. Though there are a couple you can skip because they're not all that great (Equal Rites, Sourcery, and Soul Music are the three I can think of off the top of my head. Other Pratchett fans might disagree, though).
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Jasper on November 01, 2010, 07:44:39 PM
I disagree on those points, because Equal Rites introduces Weatherwax, who I think Dok would like.  And soul music is about rock and roll, which might also resonate with him.  Sourcery?  Either way.  I like most of the things that have Rincewind, just because he's fun to read about. 
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Freeky on November 01, 2010, 08:07:40 PM
Quote from: Sigmatic on November 01, 2010, 07:44:39 PM
I disagree on those points, because Equal Rites introduces Weatherwax, who I think Dok would like.  And soul music is about rock and roll, which might also resonate with him.  Sourcery?  Either way.  I like most of the things that have Rincewind, just because he's fun to read about. 

I almost forgot about those. The ones I listed, those were my favorites out of the ones i have. I like Sourcery, since Rincewind is my favorite character. Also Death is my favorite too, and he shows up in just about every book Pratchett writes. The Witches ones aren't my favorites, but the one with the girl and the blue guys, I forget who they are, they're fun books too.

NEED so many of these books. I regret trading the ones I had in to Bookmans for new books to read. (
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Juana on November 01, 2010, 08:16:56 PM
I agree that Dok would like Granny Weatherwax. I just didn't care for Equal Rites - the ending felt tacked on and then we never see her again. Soul Music just didn't do it for me, and neither did Sourcery despite that Rincewind is there (who is just about my favorite character, too - he ties with Vimes, the Librarian, and Vetinari).
I regret lending mine out to friends! I've lost The Light Fantastic and one or two others that way.

Freeky, if you have a debit card, you can pick up books for like a dollar on Alibris.com, and shipping is free on a lot of 'em. \

edited for spelling fail
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Jasper on November 02, 2010, 04:08:40 AM
That's dangerous.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on November 02, 2010, 11:26:06 AM
Actually, Eskarina is seen again.

I would suggest reading the books in their order, or else things may not may sense.  And also to ignore minor points of the first two books, like the Pratician being fat, or Death killing someone.

Truthfully, I actually enjoy the earlier books, with their rough and tumble approach to life in Ankh-Morpork, the city being burnt down for in-sewer-ants, Barbarians inevitably trying to invade the city only to get invited in, become roaringly drunk and have their horses nicked, Things from the Dungeon Dimensions trying to break into reality and all that entails...Pratchett has done too good a job of taming the city, a fact he himself bemoans sometimes (he has said it is now nearly impossible for him to do a book set in the city without the Watch getting involved, for example.  And of course Vetinari has taken on an increasingly central role, obvious by the time of Going Postal and subsequent Ankh-Morpork based books).

Of course, he does seem to have rather forgotten the magic-powerful and very violent nations that seem to comprise much of the Rim and Outer Disc mentioned in his earlier books, like Krull and the Wyrmberg...or even Genua, which would be an excellent main setting for a story.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Iason Ouabache on November 04, 2010, 08:42:29 AM
General rule of Discworld is that anything with DEATH or Vimes is going to be brilliant. I only made it halfway through the series though. Only one I didn't like was Moving Pictures.  Make sure you read Hogfather before Christmas gets here, Dok.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: eighteen buddha strike on November 04, 2010, 01:25:35 PM
Quote from: Doktor Howl on November 01, 2010, 06:17:46 PM
Just started on Terry Pratchett...Read Thud yesterday.  Freeky loaned me a bunch of his stuff, and I'm going to the used bookstore to get all of the rest of it.

How have I managed to not read this guy for all this time?  He's a fucking GENIUS.

I just read that last month, It was my first Pratchett and coincidentally the only one I have lying around the house.

I have to concur with your statement as well, after reading that I feel I've been missing out.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Bella on November 06, 2010, 01:32:28 AM
Quote from: Doktor Howl on November 01, 2010, 06:17:46 PM
Just started on Terry Pratchett...Read Thud yesterday.  Freeky loaned me a bunch of his stuff, and I'm going to the used bookstore to get all of the rest of it.

How have I managed to not read this guy for all this time?  He's a fucking GENIUS.

Yup, he's a genius, alright. I can't believe I managed not to read his books until recently, either!
I'm slowly working my way through the entire Pratchett library  via the kindle, which, as Liam said, has flown off to Germany with Sara.
Gutted! Until I figured out we could download our entire kindle library to the laptops. So it's back to reading Prachett again.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Jasper on November 06, 2010, 04:08:47 AM
I want to read Unseen Academicals.  Anyone read it yet?  Good?  Bad?
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cuddlefish on November 06, 2010, 05:48:15 AM
Just ordered the Schroedinger's Cat trilogy. Should get here by next Teusday or so. Any one here know whether or not I just wasted my money?
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Jasper on November 06, 2010, 08:05:58 AM
Depends on what you expect.  If you wanted a RAW fiction trilogy, then no.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Bella on November 06, 2010, 08:40:44 AM
Quote from: Sigmatic on November 06, 2010, 04:08:47 AM
I want to read Unseen Academicals.  Anyone read it yet?  Good?  Bad?
We have that one on the bookshelf, but I'm waiting until I've read all the others first. My husband says that's the only way it will make sense to me. I'll be interested to hear what you have to say after you've read it, though.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on November 06, 2010, 12:27:09 PM
Quote from: Sigmatic on November 06, 2010, 04:08:47 AM
I want to read Unseen Academicals.  Anyone read it yet?  Good?  Bad?

Not his best, but pretty readable still.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Triple Zero on November 06, 2010, 01:38:04 PM
Quote from: Cuddlefist on November 06, 2010, 05:48:15 AMJust ordered the Schroedinger's Cat trilogy. Should get here by next Teusday or so. Any one here know whether or not I just wasted my money?

It's basically, a really really really long inter-dimensional parallel dick-joke ;-)

Apart from that, while not as good as ]The Illuminatus!, but I did enjoy reading it.

Printed out the PDF when I was still in uni and could print for free--I'd rather have spend a few euros on a proper bunch of paperbacks [cause when I print for free it seems stupid to spend money on properly binding them, but a stack of papers is still annoying]. Actually, IIRC I found (and bought) the second part of the trilogy in a 2nd hand bookstore, I suppose it sits in one of my boxes full of smoked things I never got around to sorting out after the fire last year. I might as well online order the other two. Just for having them. And giving them a re-read.

It does feature Markov Chaney again, and Josephine Malik who is apparently a female counterpart of Joe Malik in another parallel universe. And a bunch of other characters from I3.

The Discordians and (I think) the Illuminati get a short mention, but do not play a big part in the story.

From what I remember, it may be slightly more developed theories by RAW (but lot of them still way out there), in the sense that he blames the state of humanity no longer on a shadowy conspiracy organisation of authoritarian neophobes (the Illuminati), but rather the fact that we're all evolved from a bunch of territorial monkeys that lived in hierarchical tribes and like to prove their status by flinging shit at eachother. Quite a lot of our "we're all a bunch of monkeys" arguments and ideas are described in that book--though they probably didn't originate there, afaik.

Typing this up makes me think I should re-read it, and perhaps, I dunno, discuss it? Cause we might have discussed I3 to death, SC3 not yet so much.

Hey, and once you get there, I think it's in the third part, maybe even in one of the final chapters, he goes on about the letters H and C again ... You know how in I3 he said you couldn't trust anybody with those initials--Harry Coin, Hagbard Celine--there's now a character named Hugh Crane, and somewhere in the final chapters one of the main characters has an epiphany about the water taps in his shower marked with "H" and "C". And I dunno. He plays it as if there's something for the reader to get. Even just something in a made-up occult numerological law of fives sort of way. But I can't figure it out. When you get there, I like to hear your thoughts on it. It's just a very minor (maybe even irrelevant) detail in the story, btw.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cuddlefish on November 06, 2010, 06:36:06 PM
Quote from: Triple Zero on November 06, 2010, 01:38:04 PM
Quote from: Cuddlefist on November 06, 2010, 05:48:15 AMJust ordered the Schroedinger's Cat trilogy. Should get here by next Teusday or so. Any one here know whether or not I just wasted my money?

It's basically, a really really really long inter-dimensional parallel dick-joke ;-)

Apart from that, while not as good as ]The Illuminatus!, but I did enjoy reading it.

Printed out the PDF when I was still in uni and could print for free--I'd rather have spend a few euros on a proper bunch of paperbacks [cause when I print for free it seems stupid to spend money on properly binding them, but a stack of papers is still annoying]. Actually, IIRC I found (and bought) the second part of the trilogy in a 2nd hand bookstore, I suppose it sits in one of my boxes full of smoked things I never got around to sorting out after the fire last year. I might as well online order the other two. Just for having them. And giving them a re-read.

It does feature Markov Chaney again, and Josephine Malik who is apparently a female counterpart of Joe Malik in another parallel universe. And a bunch of other characters from I3.

The Discordians and (I think) the Illuminati get a short mention, but do not play a big part in the story.

From what I remember, it may be slightly more developed theories by RAW (but lot of them still way out there), in the sense that he blames the state of humanity no longer on a shadowy conspiracy organisation of authoritarian neophobes (the Illuminati), but rather the fact that we're all evolved from a bunch of territorial monkeys that lived in hierarchical tribes and like to prove their status by flinging shit at eachother. Quite a lot of our "we're all a bunch of monkeys" arguments and ideas are described in that book--though they probably didn't originate there, afaik.

Typing this up makes me think I should re-read it, and perhaps, I dunno, discuss it? Cause we might have discussed I3 to death, SC3 not yet so much.

Hey, and once you get there, I think it's in the third part, maybe even in one of the final chapters, he goes on about the letters H and C again ... You know how in I3 he said you couldn't trust anybody with those initials--Harry Coin, Hagbard Celine--there's now a character named Hugh Crane, and somewhere in the final chapters one of the main characters has an epiphany about the water taps in his shower marked with "H" and "C". And I dunno. He plays it as if there's something for the reader to get. Even just something in a made-up occult numerological law of fives sort of way. But I can't figure it out. When you get there, I like to hear your thoughts on it. It's just a very minor (maybe even irrelevant) detail in the story, btw.

Yeah, there is a fair amount of Illuminatus discussion, but very little SC talk. That's sort of what piqued my curiousity.

Is SC done in the same confusing style as Illuminatus (ie: first to third person jumps, jumps to different character narrations and such)?

Anyhow, within the next few years (well, it's the plan, anyhow) I should be teaching at the community college out here. My goal is to get a Modern Literature class, and put Illuminatus on the docket.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Triple Zero on November 06, 2010, 10:48:09 PM
Quote from: Cuddlefist on November 06, 2010, 06:36:06 PM
Is SC done in the same confusing style as Illuminatus (ie: first to third person jumps, jumps to different character narrations and such)?

As far as I remember, a littlebit, but not nearly as much as I3. Someone correct me if I'm wrong, it's been years, and I read it on loooong train trips when I was very sleepy.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Telarus on November 07, 2010, 12:20:17 AM
Quote from: Triple Zero on November 06, 2010, 10:48:09 PM
Quote from: Cuddlefist on November 06, 2010, 06:36:06 PM
Is SC done in the same confusing style as Illuminatus (ie: first to third person jumps, jumps to different character narrations and such)?

As far as I remember, a littlebit, but not nearly as much as I3. Someone correct me if I'm wrong, it's been years, and I read it on loooong train trips when I was very sleepy.

Most of the weird pacing and verbiage (i.e. the Joycean meaning-blending and fractal echoing) happens when the characters jump universes.

I enjoyed the SC trilogy, but I also felt that it was kinda a parallel setup (parallel with the "Historical Illuminatus" books, of which I haven't read much of) for "Masks of the Illuminati", which is the RAW book with Crowley, Einstein, and Joyce as central protagonist figures. I likes Masks, it really felt like an occult initiation.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on November 07, 2010, 10:27:22 AM
I used to have audio files of the Historial Illuminatus books.  They seemd pretty good, though I always lose concentration when listening to audio books after a while, so it may have gotten crap further on.  It is much more linear than most of RAW's work.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on November 07, 2010, 03:48:40 PM
Reading

Empires of the Silk Road by Christopher Beckwith (a history of Central Eurasia from prehistory to present...very good)
Bayes Theorem and the Philosophy of Science by Curtis Brown (Bayes for people who suck at maths)
Towers of Midnight by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson.  Still think Brandon Sanderson > Robert Jordan, if only for tying up several dozen loose ends in the previous book and not spending 50+ pages on unnecessary descriptions of peoples clothing and background.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Disco Pickle on November 09, 2010, 02:16:52 PM
I just finished the Mistborn trilogy by Brandon Sanderson.  If you're looking for a decent fantasy series, I highly recommend this.  The story flows very well from book to book and has a lot of reveals in the second and third book that you would never guess from the start.

The author is a creative writing teacher at Bigham Young, but don't let that color your impression, the story is really very good with a good magic system and believable world.

looks like it's been optioned for a movie deal too, and it would make a bad ass movie.

check it out spags, I never recommend bad books.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on November 09, 2010, 02:34:19 PM
I've had another person, who I was working with over the summer, also recommend that series.  It's something I definitely intend to get around to, at some point.  I was really frustrated with the way the Wheel of Time series went (in fact, a lot about the series as whole frustrates me, but at this point I'm labouring under the irrational esclation bias (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irrational_escalation) due to the amount of time I've spent reading the books) but he's actually made them somewhat enjoyable again, not least by massively downplaying Jordan's, uh, quirks in portraying many female characters.  So I'm definitely feeling well disposed to him at the moment.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Bella on November 09, 2010, 11:25:59 PM
I'm currently reading "The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest" by Stieg Larsson. It's the third in the series and I'm liking it much better than the first and second, although they were also excellent.  Unfortunately, there won't be any more books by this author because he died soon after submitting the manuscripts for publication.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Disco Pickle on November 11, 2010, 01:52:12 PM
Quote from: Subetai on November 09, 2010, 02:34:19 PM
I've had another person, who I was working with over the summer, also recommend that series.  It's something I definitely intend to get around to, at some point.  I was really frustrated with the way the Wheel of Time series went (in fact, a lot about the series as whole frustrates me, but at this point I'm labouring under the irrational esclation bias (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irrational_escalation) due to the amount of time I've spent reading the books) but he's actually made them somewhat enjoyable again, not least by massively downplaying Jordan's, uh, quirks in portraying many female characters.  So I'm definitely feeling well disposed to him at the moment.

I hadn't heard of either author until this series was recommended to me.  Now the same guy is telling me I should read Wheel of Time.  He says it's something like 13 parts..  not sure I have the staying power for that.  The last series I finished that was close to that long was Brian Lumley's Necroscope series.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on November 11, 2010, 02:00:34 PM
It gets really tough around the middle, as well.  Robert Jordan had an annoying habit of describing everything in as much detail as possible, from the clothes people were wearing to the complete and accurate history of minor characters who die in the next scene.  This reached it's zenith of stupidity in the tenth book, which detailed the events of pretty much a single day, which was the reactions to a pivotal event in the previous book.  And each book is a doorstopper, it's true.

The first six books are pretty good, I would say and I would recommend them.  It then goes massively downhill for a while...and then Brandon made the series readable again.  Jordan had a terrible habit though, of writing women as either bitches, or sluts, or slutty bitches.  Apparently this was a "thing" for him, and is evident in his other writings.  Its at least justified in the case of one character, but for the others...Also there is an element of stupidity driven plot in many cases, where characters keep critical information from each other on the flimsiest of pretexts.  And the "Dragon Reborn is going insane" subplot drags on for ever and ever and ever (one of the reasons I am so grateful to Brandon is that he gave said subplot its long overdue death).
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on November 11, 2010, 02:03:14 PM
If you want a much more consistently decent, long fantasy series on the other hand, I recommend the Malazan Books of the Fallen series by Steve Erickson.  Tenth and final book should be out sometime next year, and it veers away from many standard fantasy tropes hard, unlike Wheel of Time, hews way too closely to Tolkein at times, and without the skill Tolkein had.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Disco Pickle on November 11, 2010, 02:37:11 PM
Quote from: Subetai on November 11, 2010, 02:03:14 PM
If you want a much more consistently decent, long fantasy series on the other hand, I recommend the Malazan Books of the Fallen series by Steve Erickson.  Tenth and final book should be out sometime next year, and it veers away from many standard fantasy tropes hard, unlike Wheel of Time, hews way too closely to Tolkein at times, and without the skill Tolkein had.

I think Im going to stay away from Wheel of Time.  I'll check out the Books of the Fallen next time Im at the local book warehouse.

That Brian Lumley series I mentioned, Necroscope, is a good read, btw.  It's the only vampire story Ive ever enjoyed, and it's a real good twist on the origin mythos.  Lumley's vampires don't sparkle or slink around new orleans all depressed like..  they fashion creatures from human flesh. 

There's a lot of books in the series, but you can sink your teeth into the first 5 pretty easy without feeling compelled to keep going, as it wraps up the first main story arc.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Don Coyote on November 11, 2010, 06:40:54 PM
Ugh...the Wheel of Time...the Whell of failing failure of crap....Stay away from it if you can.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Telarus on November 11, 2010, 11:25:19 PM
Hey thanks Cain. My Girl and I were debating getting the last few WoT books. We loved the opening books of the series, but you've pretty much nailed the problems with the last few books. We were pretty "meh" about it, but that was a pretty good capsule review, so we'll be finishing the series (if only to, as you said, kill of the dangling plotlines in our memory).
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Placid Dingo on November 12, 2010, 06:49:45 AM
Started Opening Skinners Box, accessible book on psychology. It over-sentementalises everything, but it's forgivable as its conciously avoiding the clinical language of psychology.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on November 12, 2010, 01:18:39 PM
I'm actually remembering more and more why I dislike them, now I'm reading them again.  The ridiculous reasoning for why Rand is banging three chicks at once, and none of them especially care about it (I mean, seriously?  This is like fanfiction level failure here.  Bad fanfic).  That people of the age of twenty or so are: the Messiah God Emperor, in charge of a tower full of (mostly) good witches, a Queen (semi-justified), in charge of a band of militant religious fundamentalists and a seasoned military leader (again, semi-justified).  And they all know each other from way back.  The idiot ball constantly being held by every member of the Forsaken simultaneously, which involves them spending more time trying to kill each other than the guy who might put their boss back in limbo.  I mean, yes, a certain amount of cut-throat infighting is expected, but come on.  If you really want to get the Dark One's favour, how about you kill the fucking Dragon Reborn and scatter his armies?  Srsly.

So far the only smart character seems to be the deceased Pedron Niall, who was convinced the Dark One and the Forsaken would sit back and swamp the world with endless hordes of Trollocs.  Sadly, he vastly overestimated the intelligence of his opponents.

Actually, you know what would've been a really awesome idea for this series?  If they'd concentrated on Aludra, the chick making the cannons.  But that would involve forsaking the quasi-fascist fantasy aesthetic (decline from the old times, races of entirely evil people who can be slaughtered without mercy, a messiah-hero-leader who will save all the "good" people) and doing some original thinking
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Don Coyote on November 12, 2010, 06:20:35 PM
I just hated the stupid retarded way he had the men and women interacting, and the stupid long chapters, with each chapter jumping another character in some other ricokulous situation.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Telarus on November 12, 2010, 09:57:42 PM
Quote from: Subetai on November 12, 2010, 01:18:39 PM
I'm actually remembering more and more why I dislike them, now I'm reading them again.  The ridiculous reasoning for why Rand is banging three chicks at once, and none of them especially care about it (I mean, seriously?  This is like fanfiction level failure here.  Bad fanfic).  That people of the age of twenty or so are: the Messiah God Emperor, in charge of a tower full of (mostly) good witches, a Queen (semi-justified), in charge of a band of militant religious fundamentalists and a seasoned military leader (again, semi-justified).  And they all know each other from way back.  The idiot ball constantly being held by every member of the Forsaken simultaneously, which involves them spending more time trying to kill each other than the guy who might put their boss back in limbo.  I mean, yes, a certain amount of cut-throat infighting is expected, but come on.  If you really want to get the Dark One's favour, how about you kill the fucking Dragon Reborn and scatter his armies?  Srsly.

So far the only smart character seems to be the deceased Pedron Niall, who was convinced the Dark One and the Forsaken would sit back and swamp the world with endless hordes of Trollocs.  Sadly, he vastly overestimated the intelligence of his opponents.

Actually, you know what would've been a really awesome idea for this series?  If they'd concentrated on Aludra, the chick making the cannons.  But that would involve forsaking the quasi-fascist fantasy aesthetic (decline from the old times, races of entirely evil people who can be slaughtered without mercy, a messiah-hero-leader who will save all the "good" people) and doing some original thinking


:lol: Aludra was the character that sparked a RPG idea I had for Earthdawn (Therans with Steampunk tech vs anti-slaver rebels with early "elemental powder weapons"), and was one of the best "what happens when we throw _this_ into a fantasy world" character ideas I've run across.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: dontblameyoko on November 14, 2010, 01:24:18 AM
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.

almost done with it, actually.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Bella on November 14, 2010, 03:52:34 AM
Quote from: dontblameyoko on November 14, 2010, 01:24:18 AM
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.

almost done with it, actually.

I liked that book.


Ur by Steven King on kindle for the pc, and it's freaking me out a little bit because the plot is built around a kindle.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on November 14, 2010, 12:30:24 PM
Quote from: Sir Coyote on November 12, 2010, 06:20:35 PM
I just hated the stupid retarded way he had the men and women interacting, and the stupid long chapters, with each chapter jumping another character in some other ricokulous situation.

I read about a quarter of the new book in one sitting, and lots of the old plot stupidities came flooding back, or were referenced (Sanderson seems to be trying to put a lid on them as much as possible, but there is only so much you can do without creating a Discontinuity).  So I needed to rant a little.  Still gonna read it though.  Invested too much time to back out of the series now.

Quote from: Telarus on November 12, 2010, 09:57:42 PM
:lol: Aludra was the character that sparked a RPG idea I had for Earthdawn (Therans with Steampunk tech vs anti-slaver rebels with early "elemental powder weapons"), and was one of the best "what happens when we throw _this_ into a fantasy world" character ideas I've run across.

There is absolutely no reason why you can't have gunpowder and firearms in a fantasy setting, and it's only High Medieval Western Europe fetishization by fantasy writers that makes this otherwise.  That's another trope Erickson averts to a degree, with his Moranth munitions.  As a potential game-changer when it comes to warfare, gunpowder is great for building a plot around.  Everyone is going to want a piece of that action, and it will lead to intrigue, fighting and lots of running away from heavily armed people.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cuddlefish on November 14, 2010, 05:13:18 PM
Got my copy of SC Trilogy yesterday. Already about a third of the way through. I really enjoy this brand of fiction, the type where there's more than just a fictional story going on... you know what I mean. Like Thus Spoke Zarathustra: Technically fiction, but whith a lot of actual value... whatever...

I'm also reading Margaret Atwood's "The Handmaid's tale" for my modern lit class. So far, it's pretty terrible. "Oh noes, shocking view of what possibly, in another universe, could have happened, but totally didn't!" I dunno. I have a hard time getting emotionally involved in shit like that. It's like getting emotionally attatched to a character in Marvel's "What If" series...
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Don Coyote on November 14, 2010, 07:08:45 PM
Quote from: Subetai on November 14, 2010, 12:30:24 PM
Quote from: Sir Coyote on November 12, 2010, 06:20:35 PM
I just hated the stupid retarded way he had the men and women interacting, and the stupid long chapters, with each chapter jumping another character in some other ricokulous situation.

I read about a quarter of the new book in one sitting, and lots of the old plot stupidities came flooding back, or were referenced (Sanderson seems to be trying to put a lid on them as much as possible, but there is only so much you can do without creating a Discontinuity).  So I needed to rant a little.  Still gonna read it though.  Invested too much time to back out of the series now.
And that is why I am glad I stopped reading around book 4.

Quote
Quote from: Telarus on November 12, 2010, 09:57:42 PM
:lol: Aludra was the character that sparked a RPG idea I had for Earthdawn (Therans with Steampunk tech vs anti-slaver rebels with early "elemental powder weapons"), and was one of the best "what happens when we throw _this_ into a fantasy world" character ideas I've run across.

There is absolutely no reason why you can't have gunpowder and firearms in a fantasy setting, and it's only High Medieval Western Europe fetishization by fantasy writers that makes this otherwise.  That's another trope Erickson averts to a degree, with his Moranth munitions.  As a potential game-changer when it comes to warfare, gunpowder is great for building a plot around.  Everyone is going to want a piece of that action, and it will lead to intrigue, fighting and lots of running away from heavily armed people.
Considering the only difference betwixt firearms and fireball majiks in fantasy is one can be given to quickly trained conscripts and the other requires years of soul bending study. Can't be stealing the limelight from the leet majikians.

And I agree, gun powder being introduced or discovered in a pre-gunpowder world can cause all kinds of fun. There is a short story about a civilization that while possessing firearms, the manufacturing of arms and powder are solely in the hands of a corrupt priest hood. Gun powder gods by H. Beam Piper.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on November 16, 2010, 12:12:56 PM
Yeah, but wizards suck for the most part.  It's really an aesthetic thing with me, but if an author is going to include magic I prefer to be the more subtle style, like Tolkein or even George RR Martin, where sometimes you even doubt it's anything more than coincidence, than the Walking WMD approach which was, presumably, inspired by D&D.  Every strengthening of the side of the protagonist needs to be matched by more overwhelming power on the side of the bad guys (otherwise you have a Mary Sue/Marty Stu plot going down), and if you've got someone who can freeze time, blow apart regiments and summon demons, that means you need to give the Big Bad the power to reverse time, blow apart armies and summon Cthulhu.  In which case they should have already won.

I will find a copy of Gun Powder Gods and throw it on the pile.  Which is currently rivalling that tower in Dubai for the world's largest man made structure.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cuddlefish on November 16, 2010, 04:15:16 PM
I also had finished reading August Wilson's play "Joe Turner has Come and Gone." Incredible ending.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Disco Pickle on November 21, 2010, 05:12:21 PM
went out yesterday and picked up Gaiman's Anansi Boys, Clive Barker's Sacrament, and Terry Pratchett's The Color of Magic and The Light Fantastic

starting with Anansi Boys
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Triple Zero on November 21, 2010, 05:30:27 PM
Anansi Boys is cool. I liked American Gods better, but this one has a bit more humour in it. It's set in the same "universe" btw.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Kai on November 21, 2010, 05:49:12 PM
Just finished Darwin and the Barnacle - Rebecca Scott. Excellent biographical account of Darwin's early interest in marine invertebrates and the 10 years before publication of On the Origin of Species, which he spent writing four books on all barnacles, fossil and extant, just so he could place one strange species he found on a beach in Chile. His works on barnacles would be in use still today, even if hadn't gone on to publish his research on transmutation/descent with modification.

I'm /still/ in the process of reading Iliad for the second time. I read little bits and pieces here and there, mostly out loud. That story was designed to be spoken, and it's really epic listening to myself read it. Once I'm done with that I'll go back and read Odyssey again, then on to the TaNaKh, which I've been both anticipating and dreading simultaneously. And if I actually ever get through that, it's on to Aeschylus's plays, which are already sitting on my shelf, gathering dust.

On my bedside, I've got The Best American Science Writing 2009, the first volume/half of On the Descent of Man, the aformentioned Darwin and the Barnacle, the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature (which makes for much more interesting reading than I thought, albeit slow), and multiple books on speciation, insect wing morphology and mult-level selection theory.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Kai on November 21, 2010, 05:51:31 PM
And I agree with what the above people have said about WoT. The political maneuvering is well done, yet the characters have ended up so one dimensional, as has the plot. Not to mention, the ridiculous gender portrayals.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Disco Pickle on November 21, 2010, 06:12:42 PM
Quote from: Triple Zero on November 21, 2010, 05:30:27 PM
Anansi Boys is cool. I liked American Gods better, but this one has a bit more humour in it. It's set in the same "universe" btw.

wasn't aware of that, but makes me want to read American Gods again.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Triple Zero on November 21, 2010, 07:59:12 PM
Well, I think the only thing that shows it, is that Mr Anansi himself makes a short appearance. I think it was somewhere near the end when all the gods gather at that place.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Epimetheus on November 21, 2010, 09:16:14 PM
Finally got around to the Illuminatus! Trilogy. Started today.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Juana on November 21, 2010, 09:27:34 PM
"Blood and Rage" by Michael Burleigh.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Bella on November 22, 2010, 12:42:33 AM
Quote from: Triple Zero on November 21, 2010, 05:30:27 PM
Anansi Boys is cool. I liked American Gods better, but this one has a bit more humour in it. It's set in the same "universe" btw.

That's how I felt about Anansi Boys, too. It was great fun and had a lot of humor, but American Gods is a tough act to follow.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Eater of Clowns on November 22, 2010, 01:55:36 AM
I'll agree with the consensus here about Anansi Boys and American Gods, with two points.

1.  Following Gaiman's description of the raven woman in Anansi Boys, I have never been able to look at a bird's eyes the same way.  He is deadly accurate about them being wild, hungry, crazed, and merciless, and I see it in every god damn bird I encounter now.

2.  Neither of them had as powerfully disaffecting an ending as Neverwhere.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Don Coyote on November 22, 2010, 03:10:42 AM
Quote from: Eater of Clowns on November 22, 2010, 01:55:36 AM
I'll agree with the consensus here about Anansi Boys and American Gods, with two points.

1.  Following Gaiman's description of the raven woman in Anansi Boys, I have never been able to look at a bird's eyes the same way.  He is deadly accurate about them being wild, hungry, crazed, and merciless, and I see it in every god damn bird I encounter now.

2.  Neither of them had as powerfully disaffecting an ending as Neverwhere.

Have you ever looked into the eyes of a raven? It's a life changing experience.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Telarus on November 22, 2010, 03:33:23 AM
Quote from: Sir Coyote on November 22, 2010, 03:10:42 AM
Quote from: Eater of Clowns on November 22, 2010, 01:55:36 AM
I'll agree with the consensus here about Anansi Boys and American Gods, with two points.

1.  Following Gaiman's description of the raven woman in Anansi Boys, I have never been able to look at a bird's eyes the same way.  He is deadly accurate about them being wild, hungry, crazed, and merciless, and I see it in every god damn bird I encounter now.

2.  Neither of them had as powerfully disaffecting an ending as Neverwhere.

Have you ever looked into the eyes of a raven? It's a life changing experience.


:lulz: :lulz: :lulz:
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Placid Dingo on November 22, 2010, 06:47:31 AM
Quote from: ϗ on November 21, 2010, 05:49:12 PM
Just finished Darwin and the Barnacle - Rebecca Scott. Excellent biographical account of Darwin's early interest in marine invertebrates and the 10 years before publication of On the Origin of Species, which he spent writing four books on all barnacles, fossil and extant, just so he could place one strange species he found on a beach in Chile. His works on barnacles would be in use still today, even if hadn't gone on to publish his research on transmutation/descent with modification.

I'm /still/ in the process of reading Iliad for the second time. I read little bits and pieces here and there, mostly out loud. That story was designed to be spoken, and it's really epic listening to myself read it. Once I'm done with that I'll go back and read Odyssey again, then on to the TaNaKh, which I've been both anticipating and dreading simultaneously. And if I actually ever get through that, it's on to Aeschylus's plays, which are already sitting on my shelf, gathering dust.

On my bedside, I've got The Best American Science Writing 2009, the first volume/half of On the Descent of Man, the aformentioned Darwin and the Barnacle, the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature (which makes for much more interesting reading than I thought, albeit slow), and multiple books on speciation, insect wing morphology and mult-level selection theory.

I read Illiad and liked some of it, but it felt a bit repetitious for personal reading.

Currently reading the Oddessy though, and love it. It's very funny in places too.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Kai on November 22, 2010, 03:41:09 PM
Quote from: Placid Dingo on November 22, 2010, 06:47:31 AM
Quote from: ϗ on November 21, 2010, 05:49:12 PM
Just finished Darwin and the Barnacle - Rebecca Scott. Excellent biographical account of Darwin's early interest in marine invertebrates and the 10 years before publication of On the Origin of Species, which he spent writing four books on all barnacles, fossil and extant, just so he could place one strange species he found on a beach in Chile. His works on barnacles would be in use still today, even if hadn't gone on to publish his research on transmutation/descent with modification.

I'm /still/ in the process of reading Iliad for the second time. I read little bits and pieces here and there, mostly out loud. That story was designed to be spoken, and it's really epic listening to myself read it. Once I'm done with that I'll go back and read Odyssey again, then on to the TaNaKh, which I've been both anticipating and dreading simultaneously. And if I actually ever get through that, it's on to Aeschylus's plays, which are already sitting on my shelf, gathering dust.

On my bedside, I've got The Best American Science Writing 2009, the first volume/half of On the Descent of Man, the aformentioned Darwin and the Barnacle, the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature (which makes for much more interesting reading than I thought, albeit slow), and multiple books on speciation, insect wing morphology and mult-level selection theory.

I read Illiad and liked some of it, but it felt a bit repetitious for personal reading.

Currently reading the Oddessy though, and love it. It's very funny in places too.

Iliad at this point is definitely one of my favorite books of all time. Odyssey is shorter, but I don't think quite as excellent reading. Both demand being read out loud, though.

I went to a party last night and in addition to aquiring a beautiful cognac glass, the host was giving away part of her library. So I now have Godel Escher Bach and Kuhn's The Structure of Scientific Revolutions added to the stack.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Eater of Clowns on November 22, 2010, 03:41:53 PM
The Walking Dead series.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on November 22, 2010, 03:50:53 PM
Quote from: ϗ on November 22, 2010, 03:41:09 PM
Quote from: Placid Dingo on November 22, 2010, 06:47:31 AM
Quote from: ϗ on November 21, 2010, 05:49:12 PM
Just finished Darwin and the Barnacle - Rebecca Scott. Excellent biographical account of Darwin's early interest in marine invertebrates and the 10 years before publication of On the Origin of Species, which he spent writing four books on all barnacles, fossil and extant, just so he could place one strange species he found on a beach in Chile. His works on barnacles would be in use still today, even if hadn't gone on to publish his research on transmutation/descent with modification.

I'm /still/ in the process of reading Iliad for the second time. I read little bits and pieces here and there, mostly out loud. That story was designed to be spoken, and it's really epic listening to myself read it. Once I'm done with that I'll go back and read Odyssey again, then on to the TaNaKh, which I've been both anticipating and dreading simultaneously. And if I actually ever get through that, it's on to Aeschylus's plays, which are already sitting on my shelf, gathering dust.

On my bedside, I've got The Best American Science Writing 2009, the first volume/half of On the Descent of Man, the aformentioned Darwin and the Barnacle, the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature (which makes for much more interesting reading than I thought, albeit slow), and multiple books on speciation, insect wing morphology and mult-level selection theory.

I read Illiad and liked some of it, but it felt a bit repetitious for personal reading.

Currently reading the Oddessy though, and love it. It's very funny in places too.

Iliad at this point is definitely one of my favorite books of all time. Odyssey is shorter, but I don't think quite as excellent reading. Both demand being read out loud, though.

I went to a party last night and in addition to aquiring a beautiful cognac glass, the host was giving away part of her library. So I now have Godel Escher Bach and Kuhn's The Structure of Scientific Revolutions added to the stack.

GEB's on my immediate reading list as well, once I'm done with The Rise and the Fall of the Third Reich by Shirer.  Again.  But taking notes this time.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Suu on November 22, 2010, 04:54:54 PM
http://www.amazon.com/Year-1000-First-Millennium-Englishmans/dp/0316511579/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1290444870&sr=8-1

The Year 1000: What Life Was Like at the Turn of the First Millennium, An Englishman's World.


Dirty dirty middle ages!
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Disco Pickle on November 22, 2010, 05:29:33 PM
Quote from: ϗ on November 22, 2010, 03:41:09 PM
Quote from: Placid Dingo on November 22, 2010, 06:47:31 AM
Quote from: ϗ on November 21, 2010, 05:49:12 PM
Just finished Darwin and the Barnacle - Rebecca Scott. Excellent biographical account of Darwin's early interest in marine invertebrates and the 10 years before publication of On the Origin of Species, which he spent writing four books on all barnacles, fossil and extant, just so he could place one strange species he found on a beach in Chile. His works on barnacles would be in use still today, even if hadn't gone on to publish his research on transmutation/descent with modification.

I'm /still/ in the process of reading Iliad for the second time. I read little bits and pieces here and there, mostly out loud. That story was designed to be spoken, and it's really epic listening to myself read it. Once I'm done with that I'll go back and read Odyssey again, then on to the TaNaKh, which I've been both anticipating and dreading simultaneously. And if I actually ever get through that, it's on to Aeschylus's plays, which are already sitting on my shelf, gathering dust.

On my bedside, I've got The Best American Science Writing 2009, the first volume/half of On the Descent of Man, the aformentioned Darwin and the Barnacle, the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature (which makes for much more interesting reading than I thought, albeit slow), and multiple books on speciation, insect wing morphology and mult-level selection theory.

I read Illiad and liked some of it, but it felt a bit repetitious for personal reading.

Currently reading the Oddessy though, and love it. It's very funny in places too.

Iliad at this point is definitely one of my favorite books of all time. Odyssey is shorter, but I don't think quite as excellent reading. Both demand being read out loud, though.

I went to a party last night and in addition to aquiring a beautiful cognac glass, the host was giving away part of her library. So I now have Godel Escher Bach and Kuhn's The Structure of Scientific Revolutions added to the stack.

damn, that's an awesome party favor.  I lent out my hard bound copy of Godel Escher Bach and the girl moved to Gainesville with it two weeks later.  I'll probably never see it again.  >=/
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Kai on November 24, 2010, 10:31:43 PM
Just finished the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature. This is like the constitution for zoologists; it works as a set of rules and guidelines about primary taxonomy of animals (including protozoans). It's a pretty important document, and it isn't that long, about 100 pages including the glossary. But since it reads like a legal document, with articles and sections, very few biologists actually go through the trouble of reading it.

So, after a couple days of working through it, and actually understanding it, I feel quite satisfied. I now understand, for example, why the International Commission of Zoological Nomenclature recently denied the change of type of the genus Drosophila from D. funibries to D. (Sopophora) melanogaster. It violates the Principle of Typification, in MULTIPLE ways. Not to mention all the hassle that would occur with a change of subgenera containing hundreds of species. The Code wasn't written for the comfort of molecular biologists, as much as they would like to think so. So they have to teach their students to search both Sopophora melanogaster and Drosophila melanogaster when the revision finally comes...IS THAT REALLY THAT HARD? REALLY?!? It's like those people who got upset about Pluto being "demoted". I bet the ICZN and IAU are on good terms for the shit they both deal with, shit like this.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Disco Pickle on December 01, 2010, 01:35:32 AM
finished Anansi Boys last week.  not my favorite Gaiman book, but a really funny book.

diving into Clive Barker's Sacrament this week.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Triple Zero on December 01, 2010, 11:23:17 AM
I got myself the new sequel to THHGTTG written by the other not-Adams guy.

Except my gf took it from me and hid it somewhere to gift-wrap and give it back to me on Sinterklaas this Saturday.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: dontblameyoko on December 07, 2010, 02:08:57 AM
Quote from: The Dancing Pickle on December 01, 2010, 01:35:32 AM
finished Anansi Boys last week.  not my favorite Gaiman book, but a really funny book.

diving into Clive Barker's Sacrament this week.

what's Sacrament about?




i'm now reading Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on December 07, 2010, 02:12:50 AM
A Simple Act of Violence by RJ Ellory

Looks like crime thriller at first, but looks are deceptive.  Especially when the "serial killer" being hunted may be nothing of the sort...
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Disco Pickle on December 23, 2010, 01:12:10 PM
Quote from: dontblameyoko on December 07, 2010, 02:08:57 AM
Quote from: The Dancing Pickle on December 01, 2010, 01:35:32 AM
finished Anansi Boys last week.  not my favorite Gaiman book, but a really funny book.

diving into Clive Barker's Sacrament this week.

what's Sacrament about?




It's been sitting on my coffee table for weeks and I finally got past page ten last night.

Starts out normal enough, about a nature photographer, one of the best apparently.  Shooting Polar Bears up close.  Ends up getting mauled and then cuts to memory for back story, with the photographer meeting two main characters who seem to be spirits or gods of some sort.

Then the obligatory Barker extremely descriptive sex scene between the earthbound spirits that also seem to be brother and sister in a way. 

I fell asleep after that.

It's never taken me this long to get into a Barker book.  I'm hoping the story picks up a bit.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on December 29, 2010, 06:05:19 PM
Finished The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson.  Highly approve of it.  Gonna read the next two after I finished Ian C. Esslemont's Stonewielder.  Seems like Mallick Rel is every bit as cunning as his predecessor, but whether or not he can make it stick once the events of The Crippled God are revealed remain to be seen.  Hints have been dropped throughout the book that Kellanved has ended up biting off more than he can chew with his scheming, and with everything else going on, the whole thing is likely to go to hell very soon...
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Lenin McCarthy on December 30, 2010, 02:14:06 AM
Ringdrotten, the Lord of the Rings translated into rural Norwegian dialects.  8)
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Telarus on December 30, 2010, 03:33:19 AM
Quote from: Lenin McCarthy on December 30, 2010, 02:14:06 AM
Ringdrotten, the Lord of the Rings translated into rural Norwegian dialects.  8)

Whoa, that must be literally epic.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Jasper on December 30, 2010, 06:23:17 AM
I went to Powell's today!  Muahaha. 

Singularity Sky - Stross
The Life and Times of HST
The User Illusion - Norretranders
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Epimetheus on December 30, 2010, 09:08:21 AM
Angel Tech.

Really have to get off my ass, figuratively speaking, and finish Illuminatus!, which I am mostly through with. But to be honest it's kinda boring me.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Placid Dingo on January 02, 2011, 09:33:42 AM
Just finished Atlas Shrugged.

Working through Wealth of Nations.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: BadBeast on January 04, 2011, 12:04:52 AM
"To Kill a Mockingbird" (For the first time)

Thanks, Rog.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Prince Glittersnatch III on January 04, 2011, 01:02:44 AM
"The God Delusion"
Might as well see what all the hype was about.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: dontblameyoko on January 04, 2011, 02:00:08 AM
Quote from: The Dancing Pickle on December 23, 2010, 01:12:10 PM
Quote from: dontblameyoko on December 07, 2010, 02:08:57 AM
Quote from: The Dancing Pickle on December 01, 2010, 01:35:32 AM
finished Anansi Boys last week.  not my favorite Gaiman book, but a really funny book.

diving into Clive Barker's Sacrament this week.

what's Sacrament about?




It's been sitting on my coffee table for weeks and I finally got past page ten last night.

Starts out normal enough, about a nature photographer, one of the best apparently.  Shooting Polar Bears up close.  Ends up getting mauled and then cuts to memory for back story, with the photographer meeting two main characters who seem to be spirits or gods of some sort.

Then the obligatory Barker extremely descriptive sex scene between the earthbound spirits that also seem to be brother and sister in a way. 

I fell asleep after that.

It's never taken me this long to get into a Barker book.  I'm hoping the story picks up a bit.


Why is it called Sacrament?
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on January 05, 2011, 07:40:34 AM
This weekend I finished "Dress Your Family In Corduroy & Denim", and "Chop Suey", which was excellent. I just started "Luka and the Fire of Life" and "Blood Meridian". I have three or four others in progress but those are the ones I'm likely to actually finish in a timely fashion.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Pope Pixie Pickle on January 05, 2011, 04:27:29 PM
David Eddings- Queen Of Sorcery.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Disco Pickle on January 05, 2011, 04:52:17 PM
Quote from: dontblameyoko on January 04, 2011, 02:00:08 AM
Quote from: The Dancing Pickle on December 23, 2010, 01:12:10 PM
Quote from: dontblameyoko on December 07, 2010, 02:08:57 AM
Quote from: The Dancing Pickle on December 01, 2010, 01:35:32 AM
finished Anansi Boys last week.  not my favorite Gaiman book, but a really funny book.

diving into Clive Barker's Sacrament this week.

what's Sacrament about?




It's been sitting on my coffee table for weeks and I finally got past page ten last night.

Starts out normal enough, about a nature photographer, one of the best apparently.  Shooting Polar Bears up close.  Ends up getting mauled and then cuts to memory for back story, with the photographer meeting two main characters who seem to be spirits or gods of some sort.

Then the obligatory Barker extremely descriptive sex scene between the earthbound spirits that also seem to be brother and sister in a way. 

I fell asleep after that.

It's never taken me this long to get into a Barker book.  I'm hoping the story picks up a bit.


Why is it called Sacrament?

I'm nearly at the end and should have it finished this evening.  Really, that paltry intro does the book no justice at all and I'll write a bit about it here for anyone interested.

It took a bit to really get a grasp on the meaning of the book.  It deals heavily with extinction.  The two protagonists are seemingly ageless, have forgotten their true nature and are separated from what I think is their creator (I'm just now getting to some explanation of that part and the book's almost over.)  The female is unable to have children that live longer than a day, and the male has made it is purpose to travel the planet and bring extinction to each and every species, after which he chronicles it in journals.  He says it's to bring silence to the planet so that he might be able to once again hear god's voice.

The main character is the photographer.  He's gay and lived in San Francisco before, during and after the "plague" hit.  It's the second time Barker's touched on this time period in a novel of his (Imajica) and talks about the effect it had on the gay community there.  I can't believe I didn't know he was gay until about two years ago, and now that I know I see the evidence everywhere in his writing.  This story taken with the other I mentioned leads me to believe he lost many friends to the virus.

I was initially disappointed with it, and it's probably still my least favorite of his, but I'll hold off until I finish to get a true picture of the story he is telling.

I'm still unclear about the reason for the title Sacrament.  Maybe it will be clear when I'm done.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Prince Glittersnatch III on January 05, 2011, 08:33:46 PM
Quote from: Placid Dingo on January 02, 2011, 09:33:42 AM
Just finished Atlas Shrugged.

Working through Wealth of Nations.

Jesus Christ, you read ALL of Atlas Shrugged?
Are you now a rugged individualist commie-punching entrepreneur?
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Epimetheus on January 05, 2011, 08:39:50 PM
Quote from: Lord Glittersnatch on January 05, 2011, 08:33:46 PM
a rugged individualist commie-punching entrepreneur?

Just like Jesus.
                     \
:teabagger1:
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Lenin McCarthy on January 05, 2011, 10:54:34 PM
I'm reading an interview in a local Norwegian newspaper with a friend of mine, where he explains why drugs should be legalized, why the offshore drilling plans in vulnerable sea areas off the Norwegian coast should be stopped, and why removing civil liberties and increasing government surveillance to fight terrorism just makes the terrorists win.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Sister Fracture on January 06, 2011, 12:09:21 AM
Brittania Ruled. Can any of you britspags tell me what "making a leg" at someone means? I get the general gist, but can you actually get a boner on command?
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Placid Dingo on January 06, 2011, 12:26:43 AM
Quote from: Lord Glittersnatch on January 05, 2011, 08:33:46 PM
Quote from: Placid Dingo on January 02, 2011, 09:33:42 AM
Just finished Atlas Shrugged.

Working through Wealth of Nations.

Jesus Christ, you read ALL of Atlas Shrugged?
Are you now a rugged individualist commie-punching entrepreneur?

I am honestly, probably now a little less antagonistic towards corporations.

It kind of protects you from itself though; every time it sounds like making sense it throws in something painfully stupid just to make sure you don't take it to heart.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Epimetheus on January 06, 2011, 12:49:14 AM
Quote from: Sister Fracture on January 06, 2011, 12:09:21 AM
Brittania Ruled. Can any of you britspags tell me what "making a leg" at someone means? I get the general gist, but can you actually get a boner on command?

Um, Google tells me it means to bow to someone.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Phox on January 06, 2011, 01:02:20 AM
Quote from: Sister Fracture on January 06, 2011, 12:09:21 AM
Brittania Ruled. Can any of you britspags tell me what "making a leg" at someone means? I get the general gist, but can you actually get a boner on command?

I can get a boner on command.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: The Good Reverend Roger on January 06, 2011, 01:03:27 AM
Quote from: Doktor Phox on January 06, 2011, 01:02:20 AM
Quote from: Sister Fracture on January 06, 2011, 12:09:21 AM
Brittania Ruled. Can any of you britspags tell me what "making a leg" at someone means? I get the general gist, but can you actually get a boner on command?

I can get a boner on command.

I can give a woman a fake orgasm from across the room.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Disco Pickle on January 06, 2011, 12:47:10 PM
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on January 06, 2011, 01:03:27 AM
Quote from: Doktor Phox on January 06, 2011, 01:02:20 AM
Quote from: Sister Fracture on January 06, 2011, 12:09:21 AM
Brittania Ruled. Can any of you britspags tell me what "making a leg" at someone means? I get the general gist, but can you actually get a boner on command?

I can get a boner on command.

I can give a woman a fake orgasm from across the room.

I can get a woman pregnant from across the room. 

that's some black magic there.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on January 06, 2011, 02:48:54 PM
Finished The Girl Who Played With Fire by Stieg Larsson.

Guess all I need to do now is read the third book and complete the trilogy.  And then watch the subbed films, after downloading them.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Prince Glittersnatch III on January 08, 2011, 11:36:23 PM
I just Infinite Jest in the mail.

Sweet Jesus, I have medical texts thinner than this.

My body is ready...
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on January 09, 2011, 04:17:12 PM
You'll be bitterly disappointed.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Prince Glittersnatch III on January 09, 2011, 04:31:44 PM
Quote from: Cain on January 09, 2011, 04:17:12 PM
You'll be bitterly disappointed.

Why, bad ending or just bad book in general?
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on January 09, 2011, 04:42:25 PM
If you've read enough postmodern fiction, you'll likely find the book tedious in its wordplay, "ironic" stance and other hallmarks of the genre.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Bwana Honolulu on January 09, 2011, 08:52:12 PM
Quote from: The Dancing Pickle on January 06, 2011, 12:47:10 PM
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on January 06, 2011, 01:03:27 AM
Quote from: Doktor Phox on January 06, 2011, 01:02:20 AM
Quote from: Sister Fracture on January 06, 2011, 12:09:21 AM
Brittania Ruled. Can any of you britspags tell me what "making a leg" at someone means? I get the general gist, but can you actually get a boner on command?

I can get a boner on command.

I can give a woman a fake orgasm from across the room.

I can get a woman pregnant from across the room. 

that's some black magic there.
I knew a guy who was able to do that, too. Unfortunally he killed himself (http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/84/Martin_Van_Maele_-_La_Grande_Danse_macabre_des_vifs_-_10.jpg). :horrormirth:

BTW I'm reading Otherland.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on January 10, 2011, 02:21:27 PM
Quote from: Cain on January 09, 2011, 04:42:25 PM
If you've read enough postmodern fiction, you'll likely find the book tedious in its wordplay, "ironic" stance and other hallmarks of the genre.

That, and every recognizable plot arc is never resolved.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on January 10, 2011, 02:24:55 PM
Well, to be honest, that is pretty much postmodern fiction defined.  But yeah.  This is strictly for the masochistic Lit Theory students with too much time which, as far as I can see, is all of them.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on January 10, 2011, 02:26:26 PM
The best section of IJ, to me, was the 10-page footnote that summarized every film Himself ever made.


Which reminds me, Lord G: Be prepared to have at least three bookmarks on hand -- one for the current place in the story, one for the footnotes at the end, and one to track the various narratives going on simultaneously.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Prince Glittersnatch III on January 10, 2011, 04:38:55 PM
Quote from: LMNO, PhD on January 10, 2011, 02:21:27 PM
Quote from: Cain on January 09, 2011, 04:42:25 PM
If you've read enough postmodern fiction, you'll likely find the book tedious in its wordplay, "ironic" stance and other hallmarks of the genre.

That, and every recognizable plot arc is never resolved.

So its Lost in book form?
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Jasper on January 10, 2011, 04:42:21 PM
I normally can't enjoy it when a writer starts with that shit, but I make an exception for Robert Rankin. 
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cramulus on January 10, 2011, 05:57:40 PM
I finally got around to starting Master and Margareta. I'm only like 40 pages in, but I'm loving it!
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cainad (dec.) on January 10, 2011, 06:05:12 PM
The Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove by Christopher Moore

If the title alone doesn't make you want to check it out, WAYSA?
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on January 10, 2011, 06:16:19 PM
Cainad outs himself as a reptilian yiffer ITT
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cainad (dec.) on January 10, 2011, 06:18:20 PM
:banana:

Loud and proud!
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on January 10, 2011, 06:49:07 PM
Quote from: Cramulus on January 10, 2011, 05:57:40 PM
I finally got around to starting Master and Margarita. I'm only like 40 pages in, but I'm loving it!


Love that book.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Eater of Clowns on January 10, 2011, 07:04:06 PM
Started A Game of Thrones yesterday.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on January 10, 2011, 07:06:06 PM
Quote from: Eater of Clowns on January 10, 2011, 07:04:06 PM
Started A Game of Thrones yesterday.

Spoiler: Snape kills Robert Baratheon.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Eater of Clowns on January 10, 2011, 07:07:48 PM
Quote from: Cain on January 10, 2011, 07:06:06 PM
Quote from: Eater of Clowns on January 10, 2011, 07:04:06 PM
Started A Game of Thrones yesterday.

Spoiler: Snape kills Robert Baratheon.

:argh!:
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Disco Pickle on January 10, 2011, 09:06:20 PM
Started The Colour of Magic Saturday.  Almost done. 
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: The Good Reverend Roger on January 10, 2011, 09:30:29 PM
Quote from: The Dancing Pickle on January 10, 2011, 09:06:20 PM
Started The Colour of Magic Saturday.  Almost done. 

Not a big fan of that series.  More of a Sam Vimes guy, myself.

Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: The Good Reverend Roger on January 10, 2011, 09:31:00 PM
Quote from: Eater of Clowns on January 10, 2011, 07:04:06 PM
Started A Game of Thrones yesterday.

Outstanding.  The last 3 books should be out by 2050.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on January 10, 2011, 09:34:15 PM
It gets better.  Interesting Times and The Last Continent in particular are amazing.  Sadly, Rincewind eventually gets absorbed into the more general Unseen University stories which, while they make good side characters to a series, do not really have what it takes to pull off a book on their own (see: Unseen Academicals for more, where Vetinari and Mr Nutt are needed to carry the story).

I also have a soft spot for Moist von Lipwig and William de Worde.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Disco Pickle on January 10, 2011, 10:34:12 PM
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on January 10, 2011, 09:30:29 PM
Quote from: The Dancing Pickle on January 10, 2011, 09:06:20 PM
Started The Colour of Magic Saturday.  Almost done. 

Not a big fan of that series.  More of a Sam Vimes guy, myself.



somewhere in a fog of authors over the years Terry Pratchett just didn't get any of my attention.

went and bought the first two in the series to see if I take a liking to them.  got the first one in hardback too, which is nice. 
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Disco Pickle on January 10, 2011, 10:35:46 PM
Quote from: Eater of Clowns on January 10, 2011, 07:04:06 PM
Started A Game of Thrones yesterday.

I loved them all but Feast for Crows.  Storm of Swords is the best one so far IMO.

Waiting for that damn HBO series to come out now.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Triple Zero on January 10, 2011, 11:22:53 PM
Quote from: LMNO, PhD on January 10, 2011, 02:26:26 PM
Which reminds me, Lord G: Be prepared to have at least three bookmarks on hand -- one for the current place in the story, one for the footnotes at the end, and one to track the various narratives going on simultaneously.

Might pay off to try and dig up a digital copy of the book, preferably plain text, so you can just ctrl-F and search around then?

I mean, if he already bought the book in hardcopy, that's practically legal, right?
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Xooxe on January 11, 2011, 06:35:01 AM
I was clearing out loads of old crap and found Discworld books. Guess I'm joining in.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on January 11, 2011, 12:58:08 PM
Quote from: The Dancing Pickle on January 10, 2011, 10:35:46 PM
Quote from: Eater of Clowns on January 10, 2011, 07:04:06 PM
Started A Game of Thrones yesterday.

I loved them all but Feast for Crows.  Storm of Swords is the best one so far IMO.

Waiting for that damn HBO series to come out now.

Same.  According to HBO, it should premiere April 17th
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on January 11, 2011, 01:24:59 PM
Quote from: Triple Zero on January 10, 2011, 11:22:53 PM
Quote from: LMNO, PhD on January 10, 2011, 02:26:26 PM
Which reminds me, Lord G: Be prepared to have at least three bookmarks on hand -- one for the current place in the story, one for the footnotes at the end, and one to track the various narratives going on simultaneously.

Might pay off to try and dig up a digital copy of the book, preferably plain text, so you can just ctrl-F and search around then?

I mean, if he already bought the book in hardcopy, that's practically legal, right?


Oh, gods.  I couldn't even imagine how specific you'd need to be to do a search on a 1000 page postmodernist text.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Triple Zero on January 11, 2011, 11:24:29 PM
Oh, okay, I just used the trick for reading a fat fantasy book once, when I read about a character that was described as if he/she had already been introduced, but I completely forgot about. Searching for a fantasy name is much easier of course.

However, personally, with some effort I can usually dig up a part of a particular phrase or something from my memory and use that.

Unrelated to text file searching, when leafing backwards through a book to re-read something, I usually also have a fairly clear idea to where the text appeared on the page spread (left page/right page, top/bottom).
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cuddlefish on January 12, 2011, 04:50:22 PM
Just about done with RAW's "Quantum Psychology." It wasn't terrible, but it didn't have any information in it that you couldn't get from Illuminatus!/Schroedinger's Cat with a far more interesting presentation (though, it's a touch more clear in the non-fiction).

I think, though, you have to look at the concept of "quantum psychology" in a metaphorical sense to get anything meaningful out of the book. Because otherwise, you'll get suckered in to the quantum mysticism thing, which is unsafe footing.

This is the first RAW book, outside the above mentioned, that I've read, and, well, it was alright. I have a copy of "Prometheus Rising" that I'm going to tackle soon, so I'll suspend judgement until I've read it.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on January 12, 2011, 04:54:16 PM
They're kind of companion books, so expect some repetition.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cuddlefish on January 12, 2011, 05:00:26 PM
Quote from: LMNO, PhD on January 12, 2011, 04:54:16 PM
They're RAW books, so expect some repetition.

Fixxor'd?

But seriously, I'm expecting it. Cram gave me a heads up.

But, curious, LMNO, what did you think of "Quantum Psychology?"
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on January 12, 2011, 05:06:16 PM
I liked it.  Then again, I preferred the non-fiction style where you could really break down the concepts and learn what he was talking about.  Though I killed that idol a while back, those two books did help shape my outlook, and heavily influenced my BIP contributions.

My favorite RAW fictions have been Masks of the Illuminati (Joyce, Einstein, and Crowley, oh my!) and the first two of the historical illuminati trilogy (Earth Will Shake and Widow's Son).
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cuddlefish on January 12, 2011, 05:18:45 PM
Quote from: LMNO, PhD on January 12, 2011, 05:06:16 PM
I liked it.  Then again, I preferred the non-fiction style where you could really break down the concepts and learn what he was talking about.  Though I killed that idol a while back, those two books did help shape my outlook, and heavily influenced my BIP contributions.

My favorite RAW fictions have been Masks of the Illuminati (Joyce, Einstein, and Crowley, oh my!) and the first two of the historical illuminati trilogy (Earth Will Shake and Widow's Son).

I generally prefer non-fiction, as well. However, every once in a while, someone will bang out a fiction peice that, for me, illustrates the concepts of thier other works in a way that is superior (IMO) to the non-fiction book covering the same/similar subject matter. F'rinstance, "Thus Spoke Zarathustra" spoke to me louder than any other single Nietzsche volume.

I think, if done correctly, "didactic fiction" can be a better place to begin and continue understanding certain concepts and, to coin a phrase, "reality tunnels." I think the human tendancy (imprinted or not) to be receptive to verse and "fairy-tale" presentation really makes "didactic fiction" (when done correctly) a better learning tool than, say, a text-book, simply because, as people, we are already geared towards interperting analogy and metaphor to find the "deeper meaning." Sure, I s'pose a didactic fiction presentation leaves room for, we'll say, "creative" interpertaion, but the people that are going to be more "creative" in thier interpertation are going to be that way, fiction or not.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Epimetheus on January 13, 2011, 06:23:05 PM
Quote from: LMNO, PhD on January 12, 2011, 05:06:16 PM
I liked it.  Then again, I preferred the non-fiction style where you could really break down the concepts and learn what he was talking about.  Though I killed that idol a while back, those two books did help shape my outlook, and heavily influenced my BIP contributions.

My favorite RAW fictions have been Masks of the Illuminati (Joyce, Einstein, and Crowley, oh my!) and the first two of the historical illuminati trilogy (Earth Will Shake and Widow's Son).

I might try those...I'm in Illuminatus!, almost finished, but I haven't picked it up in a couple weeks. It's not exciting enough, frankly. Did you feel that way about it too?
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on January 13, 2011, 07:13:47 PM
There were parts of it where I was just turning the pages, waiting to get to something interesting.

In fact, whenever I re-read it, those sections get larger...

"Masks" is a detective story, which gives the readers clues as to the solution, if they're paying attention, and the "historical"s, especially "Widow's Son" (all three of which can be read independently of each other) is a breezy clever descent into mindfuckery, similar to I3! but with less gimmickery.  Because of Quantum.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Triple Zero on January 13, 2011, 11:17:54 PM
I should order those two LMNO recommended, haven't come across them anywhere in a bookstore yet.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Eater of Clowns on January 17, 2011, 05:15:26 AM
Quote from: Cain on January 11, 2011, 12:58:08 PM
Quote from: The Dancing Pickle on January 10, 2011, 10:35:46 PM
Quote from: Eater of Clowns on January 10, 2011, 07:04:06 PM
Started A Game of Thrones yesterday.

I loved them all but Feast for Crows.  Storm of Swords is the best one so far IMO.

Waiting for that damn HBO series to come out now.

Same.  According to HBO, it should premiere April 17th

So that has some of the best characterization I've ever read.  The best way I could describe how well fleshed out each role is that I feel like I could gossip about them.

AND I'm really psyched to see that Peter Dinklage is playing Tyrion Lannister.  While I was reading it I was thinking he'd be good for it (forgetting, actually, that they were intending to even make that series), then found out on IMDB he would be.  Sean Bean is also a good choice for Eddard Stark, and the girl they chose for Daenarys is gorgeous (she is not 14, as in the book).

Anyway, I'll be reading the Preacher series while I wait for the my hold on the next book to come into the library.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Jasper on January 17, 2011, 06:46:23 AM
Singularity Sky starts out really good.  Just cracked it open today. 

And when I say good, I mean "rain of cell phones from aliens" good.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Reeducation on January 17, 2011, 07:08:32 AM
Reading I, Lucifer by Glen Duncan.
On page 80 or something. I like it so far.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on January 17, 2011, 02:11:23 PM
Finished Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn trilogy, which was my breaktime reading at working.

Quite a twisty writer, is Sanderson.  The series is deceptively simple at first, but as time goes on...he either planned this down to the last detail before he committed pen to paper, or he is hellishly good at seeing his own inconsistencies in his writing and then formulating plausible explanations.

And I've started Iain M Banks' Culture series.  Too early to say what I think so far.  Reading it by recommendation from Less Wrong, and because I haven't read any sci-fi in ages.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Placid Dingo on January 17, 2011, 03:59:25 PM
Quote from: Reeducation on January 17, 2011, 07:08:32 AM
Reading I, Lucifer by Glen Duncan.
On page 80 or something. I like it so far.

Enjoyed that.

Recently hammered through 'Work Hard. Be Nice.' Fantastic, energising read.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Reeducation on January 19, 2011, 12:13:29 PM
Just read the I Lucifer. It was good! So good, in fact, that I'm going to get more books from the author (Weathercock, Death of an Ordinary Man and Love Remains).

Now reading Phantoms in the Brain by V. S. Ramachandran.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Jenne on January 22, 2011, 04:09:20 AM
The 19th Wife (http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=19th+wife) by David Ebershoff.  Just finished it, actually.  I thoroughly recommend it.  Awesome STORY that was based on real-life historical shit, and plus you learn a shit-ton of stuff about LDS, the "Firsts" that are still inhabiting the compounds even to this day, and how it all started way back with Joe Smith his damned self.  I DL'd on my Kindle along with Charley's book around Christmastime and just got to reading.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Disco Pickle on January 23, 2011, 07:08:28 PM
finished The Colour of Magic

funny, but not laugh out loud funny.  continuing on to The Light Fantastic to decide if I want to invest more time or money into this series.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Jasper on January 23, 2011, 09:13:26 PM
The series changes after the first five novels, which are but if you don't like Equal Rites, you probably won't like the rest.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on January 24, 2011, 03:06:04 PM
Quote from: Pickled Starfish on January 23, 2011, 07:08:28 PM
finished The Colour of Magic

funny, but not laugh out loud funny.  continuing on to The Light Fantastic to decide if I want to invest more time or money into this series.

Rincewind isn't my favorite character in the series, though he did grow on me eventually.

The Vimes stories are my favorite.  That and DEATH.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Triple Zero on January 24, 2011, 09:15:12 PM
Quote from: Sigmatic on January 23, 2011, 09:13:26 PM
The series changes after the first five novels, which are but if you don't like Equal Rites, you probably won't like the rest.

I suppose who likes which ones best is kind of personal, because I didn't enjoy Equal Rites that much :)
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Lenin McCarthy on January 24, 2011, 10:16:14 PM
Foucault's Pendulum by Umberto Eco. <3
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: the last yatto on January 25, 2011, 05:02:01 AM
Ment to put this here...

I Am Not A Man, I Am Dynamite! examines the historical, political and philosophical linkages between Nietzsche's transgressive thought and the transformative political vision of anarchism
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on January 25, 2011, 10:49:40 AM
Karl Popper and the Social Sciences - William A Gorton

A highly useful account of Popper's situational analysis method and how it could be used to improve social science theory.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Disco Pickle on January 28, 2011, 12:52:58 AM
Shelved The Light Fantastic..  just not enjoying it at the moment.

picked up Gravity's Rainbow for another chapter and shelved it again, wondering why I torture myself with Pynchon.

now reading This is Not a Book by Michael Picard.  no relation to this guy:


:facepalm:

but may be related to the emote.

Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Eater of Clowns on January 30, 2011, 05:30:47 AM
Quote from: Eater of Clowns on January 17, 2011, 05:15:26 AM
Quote from: Cain on January 11, 2011, 12:58:08 PM
Quote from: The Dancing Pickle on January 10, 2011, 10:35:46 PM
Quote from: Eater of Clowns on January 10, 2011, 07:04:06 PM
Started A Game of Thrones yesterday.

I loved them all but Feast for Crows.  Storm of Swords is the best one so far IMO.

Waiting for that damn HBO series to come out now.

Same.  According to HBO, it should premiere April 17th

So that has some of the best characterization I've ever read.  The best way I could describe how well fleshed out each role is that I feel like I could gossip about them.

AND I'm really psyched to see that Peter Dinklage is playing Tyrion Lannister.  While I was reading it I was thinking he'd be good for it (forgetting, actually, that they were intending to even make that series), then found out on IMDB he would be.  Sean Bean is also a good choice for Eddard Stark, and the girl they chose for Daenarys is gorgeous (she is not 14, as in the book).

Anyway, I'll be reading the Preacher series while I wait for the my hold on the next book to come into the library.

As if to prove my point, I was talking to my sister earlier and said "So...Gregor Clegash," and she yelled immediately "Oh my god, FUCK Gregor Clegash."   
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: The Wizard on January 31, 2011, 03:30:43 AM
L.A. Confidential by James Ellroy
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: ñͤͣ̄ͦ̌̑͗͊͛͂͗ ̸̨̨̣̺̼̣̜͙͈͕̮̊̈́̈͂͛̽͊ͭ̓͆ͅé ̰̓̓́ͯ́́͞ on January 31, 2011, 11:28:56 AM
Quote from: Cain on January 25, 2011, 10:49:40 AM
Karl Popper and the Social Sciences - William A Gorton

A highly useful account of Popper's situational analysis method and how it could be used to improve social science theory.

That sounds good.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: *GrumpButt* on January 31, 2011, 05:46:24 PM
A Feast for Crows.  George R.R. Martin <3
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Reeducation on February 03, 2011, 06:44:34 AM
The Immortalization Commission, Science and the Strange Quest to Cheat Death by John Gray.

"Science is like religion, an effort at transcendence that ends by accepting a world that is beyond understanding. All our enquiries come to rest in groundless facts. Just like faith, reason must at last submit; the final end of science is a revelation of the absurd."
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Luna on February 03, 2011, 11:12:10 AM
Next up, digging up a copy of "At the Mountains of Madness."  Guillermo del Toro apparently is in preproduction, I'm going to have to catch this in the theater.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Faust on February 03, 2011, 11:49:11 AM
Has anyone a copy of Wittgenstein's mistress? I'd be willing to give em a few bob for a copy, I cant find the download file.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on February 03, 2011, 12:58:10 PM
Quote from: ☄ · · · N E T · · · ☄ on January 31, 2011, 11:28:56 AM
Quote from: Cain on January 25, 2011, 10:49:40 AM
Karl Popper and the Social Sciences - William A Gorton

A highly useful account of Popper's situational analysis method and how it could be used to improve social science theory.

That sounds good.

It is.  The concept was always a little fuzzy in Popper's own work, because of his own changing ideas on how social laws compare to scientific laws, but Gorton has a good crack at expanding on it, based on Popper's own work and the philosophy of science in general.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Sister Fracture on February 03, 2011, 06:05:19 PM
Night of Dissolution, a Ptolus campaign supplement for characters from level 4 to level 9. Monte Cook is a good storyteller, but his encounters are FUCKED. Just about every single one of the mini boss fights are epic difficulty (4-5 CR above the party's APL), and the bosses are fucking grossly unwinnable, so I have to rewrite most encounters to make them survivable, not just because they are in 3.5 format and I am running Pathfinder rules.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Prince Glittersnatch III on February 04, 2011, 04:52:36 AM
Just started Freakonomics.

Its been pretty interesting so far. I especially liked the part about asymmetrical information and the anecdote about the KKK and Superman.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Don Coyote on February 04, 2011, 04:59:52 AM
Quote from: Sister Fracture on February 03, 2011, 06:05:19 PM
Night of Dissolution, a Ptolus campaign supplement for characters from level 4 to level 9. Monte Cook is a good storyteller, but his encounters are FUCKED. Just about every single one of the mini boss fights are epic difficulty (4-5 CR above the party's APL), and the bosses are fucking grossly unwinnable, so I have to rewrite most encounters to make them survivable, not just because they are in 3.5 format and I am running Pathfinder rules.

Go to Monte's forum and kick him in the junk?
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Placid Dingo on February 04, 2011, 06:02:17 AM
Quote from: Lord Glittersnatch on February 04, 2011, 04:52:36 AM
Just started Freakonomics.

Its been pretty interesting so far. I especially liked the part about asymmetrical information and the anecdote about the KKK and Superman.

What was the Assymetrical info bit? I remember Superman vs the Klan.

Reading 1001 Nights (Arbian Nights).
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Prince Glittersnatch III on February 04, 2011, 06:21:25 AM
Quote from: Placid Dingo on February 04, 2011, 06:02:17 AM
Quote from: Lord Glittersnatch on February 04, 2011, 04:52:36 AM
Just started Freakonomics.

Its been pretty interesting so far. I especially liked the part about asymmetrical information and the anecdote about the KKK and Superman.

What was the Assymetrical info bit? I remember Superman vs the Klan.

Reading 1001 Nights (Arbian Nights).

He talked about how people use their amount of information to their advantage against those who have little(asymmetrical information). The example he gives are insurance agents who use to great advantage the fact that you have no idea what the fuck is going on. He then points out how after the invention of the internet(thank you Al Gore) the price of Life Insurance plummeted. The reason? People could compare prices online, the real estate companies could no longer profit off of asymmetrical information.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Verbal Mike on February 04, 2011, 01:19:19 PM
A few days ago, I ordered both Freakonomics and One Country (http://www.amazon.com/One-Country-Proposal-Israeli-Palestinian-Impasse/dp/0805080341) and have just started the latter. Judging by the introduction, I'm going to love it.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Juana on February 06, 2011, 04:32:07 AM
"Lies my Teacher Told Me" by James Lowen

I can't decide if I should laugh or scream about how fucking bad our history education is.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Prelate Diogenes Shandor on February 11, 2011, 11:56:27 PM
I recently read the novel Warghoul (http://www.oderus.com/timewasters/whargoul/index.html) by heavy-metal singer Dave Brockie (aka Oderus Urungus (http://www.gwar.net/)). It was really good.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Jasper on February 13, 2011, 07:48:15 AM
Glanced at that a couple years ago.  Recall liking it somewhat.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Placid Dingo on February 13, 2011, 11:34:56 PM
Quote from: Hover Cat on February 06, 2011, 04:32:07 AM
"Lies my Teacher Told Me" by James Lowen

I can't decide if I should laugh or scream about how fucking bad our history education is.

I read the blurb a while ago and got really excited about the ideas here.

I'm one of those whose knowledge of Helen Keller was, 'oh the disabled girl who wrote books or something' so that whole segment was fascinating.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Juana on February 13, 2011, 11:39:33 PM
Quote from: Placid Dingo on February 13, 2011, 11:34:56 PM
Quote from: Hover Cat on February 06, 2011, 04:32:07 AM
"Lies my Teacher Told Me" by James Lowen

I can't decide if I should laugh or scream about how fucking bad our history education is.

I read the blurb a while ago and got really excited about the ideas here.

I'm one of those whose knowledge of Helen Keller was, 'oh the disabled girl who wrote books or something' so that whole segment was fascinating.
It's really good so far. Unlearning some of what I was taught through the years and learning a whole lot more.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: The Wizard on February 15, 2011, 10:59:26 PM
Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.

Not that bad so far.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on February 16, 2011, 11:14:50 AM
Quote from: Dr. James Semaj on February 15, 2011, 10:59:26 PM
Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.

Not that bad so far.

It gets fairly brutal later on.

Now reading The Way of Kings.  The thing I like most about this book, so far, is the position of "King's Wit" that Sanderson has invented.  Since a king cannot just go around insulting people in his court, leading to bad feelings and aminosity, that is what the Wit is for.  He deflates egos that need to be deflated and mocks those whose actions inspire mockery.  In short, he is Court's very own internet troll.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: The Wizard on February 16, 2011, 12:49:27 PM
QuoteNow reading The Way of Kings.  The thing I like most about this book, so far, is the position of "King's Wit" that Sanderson has invented.  Since a king cannot just go around insulting people in his court, leading to bad feelings and aminosity, that is what the Wit is for.  He deflates egos that need to be deflated and mocks those whose actions inspire mockery.  In short, he is Court's very own internet troll.

So like a fusion of King and Jester?
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on February 16, 2011, 04:12:49 PM
Kinda, though this is the sort of jester who makes other people laugh at you, instead of himself.

An example:

Quote"Brightlord Sadeas" Wit said, taking a sip of wine.  "I'm terribly sorry to see you here."

"I should think," Sadeas said dryly, "that you would be happy to see me.  I seem to always provide you with so much entertainment."

"That is unfortunately true" Wit said.

"Unfortunately?"

"Yes.  You see, Sadeas, you make it too easy.  An uneducated, half-brained serving boy with a hangover could make a mock of you.  I am left with no need to exert myself, and your very nature makes a mockery of my mockery.  And so it is through sheer stupidity you make me look incompetent."

"Really, Elhokar," Sadeas said, "Must we put up with this...creature?"

"I like him," Elhokar said, smiling.  "He makes me laugh."

"At the expense of those who are loyal to you."

"Expense?" Wit cut in.  "Sadeas, I don't believe you've ever paid me a sphere.  Though no, please, don't offer.  I can't take your money, as I know many others you must pay to get what you wish of them."

Sadeas flushed, but kept his temper.  "A whore joke, Wit?  Is that the best you can manage?"

Wit shrugged.  "I point out truths where I see them, Brightlord Sadeas.  Each man has his place.  Mine is to make insults.  Yours is to be in-sluts."

Sadeas froze, then grew red-faced.  "You are a fool."

"If the Wit is a fool, then it is a sorry state for men.  I will offer you this, Sadeas.  If you can speak, yet say nothing ridiculous, I will leave you alone for the rest of the week."

"Well, I think that shouldn't be too difficult..."

"And yet you failed" Wit said, sighing.  "For you said 'I think' and I can imagine nothing so ridiculous as the concept of you thinking.  What of you, young Prince Renarin?  Your father wishes me to leave you alone.  Can you speak, yet say nothing ridiculous?"

Eyes turned towards Renarin, who stood just behind his brother.  Renarin hesitated, eyes opening wide at the attention.  Dalinar grew tense.

"Nothing ridiculous," Renarin said slowly.

Wit laughed.  "Yes, I suppose that will satisfy me.  Very clever.  If Brightlord Sadeas should lose control of himself and finally kill me, perhaps you can be King's Wit in my stead.  You seem to have the mind for it."
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: The Wizard on February 16, 2011, 08:58:43 PM
Ha! Lovely. What's the author's name?
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Luna on February 16, 2011, 09:24:31 PM
Crap.  120 pages to go through to compile a reading list...  This is gonna take awhile...
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on February 17, 2011, 02:23:54 PM
Quote from: Dr. James Semaj on February 16, 2011, 08:58:43 PM
Ha! Lovely. What's the author's name?

Brandon Sanderson.  His Mistborn trilogy is worth a read if you have the time, as well.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: The Wizard on February 18, 2011, 01:21:59 AM
QuoteBrandon Sanderson.  His Mistborn trilogy is worth a read if you have the time, as well.

Thanks. Will definitely check out next time I'm in a bookstore.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Suu on February 18, 2011, 03:08:38 AM
The Decameron at the same time as The Homeric Hymns.
:kingmeh:
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Faust on February 23, 2011, 12:03:13 AM
I've started Wittgenstein's mistress, It has an interesting concept. Something about a woman who has either convinced herself that she is the last person in the world, or that it is in fact reality.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on February 23, 2011, 12:09:25 AM
Quote from: Faust on February 23, 2011, 12:03:13 AM
I've started Wittgenstein's mistress, It has an interesting concept. Something about a woman who has either convinced herself that she is the last person in the world, or that it is in fact reality.

Author, please.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Prelate Diogenes Shandor on February 25, 2011, 05:54:32 AM
Did I mention that I'm reading " The School of Licentiousness (http://supervert.com/elibrary/marquis_de_sade/)" (Aka. " The One-Hundred-and-Twenty Days of Sodom (http://supervert.com/elibrary/marquis_de_sade/)") by His Excellancy the Most Honorable Donatien Alphonse Francois,  Marquis De Sade (http://supervert.com/elibrary/marquis_de_sade/)
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Prelate Diogenes Shandor on February 25, 2011, 06:05:38 AM
Quote from: Prelate Diogenes Shandor on February 25, 2011, 05:54:32 AM
Did I mention that I'm reading " The School of Licentiousness (http://supervert.com/elibrary/marquis_de_sade/)" (Aka. " The One-Hundred-and-Twenty Days of Sodom (http://supervert.com/elibrary/marquis_de_sade/)") by His Excellancy the Most Honorable Donatien Alphonse Francois,  Marquis De Sade (http://supervert.com/elibrary/marquis_de_sade/)

Its a really fascinating read, by the way. Especially the last three chapters, which describe acts* so bizarre in their perversity, that, so far as I can tell, not even the Urban Dictionary (http://www.urbandictionary.com/) has names for them


* Such as the Forty-forth criminal passion, in which (squick warning) a man confines a monkey to a basket and engages in anal sex with it while the monkey is donkey-punched** by a prostitute. :horrormirth:

** Ordinary donkey-punching is the twenty-seventh criminal passion, btw :roll:.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Juana on February 25, 2011, 06:30:10 AM
Burning Chrome by William Gibson
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Faust on February 25, 2011, 10:35:20 AM
Quote from: LMNO, PhD on February 23, 2011, 12:09:25 AM
Quote from: Faust on February 23, 2011, 12:03:13 AM
I've started Wittgenstein's mistress, It has an interesting concept. Something about a woman who has either convinced herself that she is the last person in the world, or that it is in fact reality.

Author, please.
David Markson. I couldn't pirate it, had to amazon.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on February 28, 2011, 04:58:28 PM
Reading The Crippled God, the final part of the Malazan Books of the Fallen series.

The only problem is that its been so long since I've read the series, I've forgotten who at least half of the (incredibly large list of) characters are.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Kai on March 02, 2011, 01:27:20 AM
Reading Naming Nature: the clash between instinct and science by Carol Yoon.

And I can only put it down long enough to write this. Seldom does a book simultaneously infuriate and inspire me so well that I read it in one sitting. Best systematics popular science book out there, to be taken with both a grain of salt as all pop sci books should be. READ IT.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on March 02, 2011, 01:10:26 PM
THIS ONE'S GOING OUT TO KAI!

(http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/herpetology.png)
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on March 02, 2011, 01:20:10 PM
Quote from: Cain on February 28, 2011, 04:58:28 PM
Reading The Crippled God, the final part of the Malazan Books of the Fallen series.

The only problem is that its been so long since I've read the series, I've forgotten who at least half of the (incredibly large list of) characters are.

This part made me lol

Quote'Still nervous?' Hedge asked him. 'I'd be, if I was you. Khundryl like their horses. A lot. Between a warrior's horse and his mother, it's even odds which one he'd save, if it came down to choosing. Then you just went and killed 'em.'

'They were dying anyway, sir. In a single day, a horse needs more water than four soldiers, and those Khundryl were running out. Try bleeding a dehydrated animal, sir – it isn't easy.'

'Right, so now they got undead horses and still no water, meaning if you'd done that a week ago, why, all that sacrifice wouldn't have been necessary. They want to kill you, alchemist – it took me half a day to talk 'em out of it.'

Bavedict glared at Hedge. 'You just said, between horses and their mothers—'

'They'd save their mothers, of course. What are you, an idiot?'

The alchemist sighed.

'Anyway,' Hedge continued after a moment, 'we're all Bridgeburners now. Now it's true, we killed a few officers every now and then, if they was bad enough. Who wouldn't? Get a fool in charge and they're likely to get you all killed, so better top 'em first, right? But you ain't done nothing to earn that. Besides, I need you and so do they. So it's simple and all – nobody's gonna cut your throat.'

'I am most relieved, Commander.'

Hedge moved closer, dropping his voice. 'But listen. It's all about to fall apart – can you see that? The Bonehunters – those regulars – they're losing it.'

'Sir, we're not much better off.'

'So we don't want to get caught up in the slaughter, right? I already told my captains. We're gonna pull out hard as soon as it starts up – I want a hundred paces between us before they start looking for somebody new to kill.'

'Sir, do you think it will get that bad?'

Hedge shrugged. 'Hard to say. So far, the marines are holding 'em all in check. But there's gonna come a scrap, any time now, when a marine gets taken down. And the smell of blood will do it, mark my words.'

'How would the Bridgeburners have handled this, sir? Back in the day?'

'Simple. Sniff out the yappers and kill 'em. It's the ones who can't stop bitching, talking it up, egging on the stupider ones to do something stupid. Hoping it all busts out. Me' – he nodded to the column walking beside them – 'I'd jump Blistig and drag him off into the desert – and for a whole damned day nobody'd be sleeping, 'cause of all the screaming.'

'No wonder you all got outlawed,' Bavedict muttered

And this is why the Bridgeburners are one of my favourite fictional regiments.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: pharmakon on March 02, 2011, 08:02:38 PM
Chaos, Territory, Art by Elizabeth Grosz
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Disco Pickle on March 03, 2011, 04:01:13 PM
finally finished This is Not a Book and I have to say, it's not as bad as I thought it would be.  Makes a good bathroom book.  That being said: really condensed philosophy book =  :lulz:
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Subtract Eight! on March 09, 2011, 04:35:28 AM
New Rushdie novel, Luka and the Fire of Life

plus a smattering of others that I'm reading very very slowly, multitasking.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Reeducation on March 09, 2011, 08:04:19 AM
Run Faster from the 5K to the Marathon: How to Be Your Own Best Coach

Perhaps the best there is when it comes to these advice/selfhelp books about running.
I've been running for fun (I really like it) for my whole life (well almost, there were few years when I was too "cool" to exercise) but now it's even more fun!

Books rule.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: tyrannosaurus vex on March 09, 2011, 04:45:41 PM
Mary Shelley's Frankenstein.

I'm on page 6. Oh god, this is horrible. I'm pretty sure I won't make it to page 7.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Jasper on March 10, 2011, 12:17:54 AM
What?  I've read excerpts, and thought well of it.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Don Coyote on March 10, 2011, 12:19:33 AM
I've read the whole thing. I need to read it again. After finish reading the bulk of Lovecraft's work.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Placid Dingo on March 10, 2011, 03:15:22 AM
Quote from: postvex™ on March 09, 2011, 04:45:41 PM
Mary Shelley's Frankenstein.

I'm on page 6. Oh god, this is horrible. I'm pretty sure I won't make it to page 7.

I didn't mind it at all. It's not gripping particularly but the sense of horror is very real.

Right now I'm moving through the old testament of the bible. It's surprisingly readable.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: The Wizard on March 10, 2011, 03:17:53 AM
Please Kill Me by Legs McNeil and Gillian McCain.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: tyrannosaurus vex on March 10, 2011, 04:57:12 AM
Quote from: aedh on March 10, 2011, 12:19:33 AM
I've read the whole thing. I need to read it again. After finish reading the bulk of Lovecraft's work.

Maybe I'm not old school enough, but I just don't get why it should take you 6 pages to say "I'm going to North Pole. I hear it's pretty there, and I might even figure out what makes compasses work."
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Placid Dingo on March 10, 2011, 05:31:40 AM
Quote from: postvex™ on March 10, 2011, 04:57:12 AM
Quote from: aedh on March 10, 2011, 12:19:33 AM
I've read the whole thing. I need to read it again. After finish reading the bulk of Lovecraft's work.

Maybe I'm not old school enough, but I just don't get why it should take you 6 pages to say "I'm going to North Pole. I hear it's pretty there, and I might even figure out what makes compasses work."

I've been hitting the classics hard for a while now and have gotten used to the wordiness. Just one of those things.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Don Coyote on March 10, 2011, 06:26:02 AM
Quote from: postvex™ on March 10, 2011, 04:57:12 AM
Quote from: aedh on March 10, 2011, 12:19:33 AM
I've read the whole thing. I need to read it again. After finish reading the bulk of Lovecraft's work.

Maybe I'm not old school enough, but I just don't get why it should take you 6 pages to say "I'm going to North Pole. I hear it's pretty there, and I might even figure out what makes compasses work."

I have this really weird feeling I have never read Frankenstein. It's really disturbing to me. I think I need to it now, it's bugging that much.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Luna on March 10, 2011, 10:41:18 AM
Quote from: aedh on March 10, 2011, 06:26:02 AM
Quote from: postvex™ on March 10, 2011, 04:57:12 AM
Quote from: aedh on March 10, 2011, 12:19:33 AM
I've read the whole thing. I need to read it again. After finish reading the bulk of Lovecraft's work.

Maybe I'm not old school enough, but I just don't get why it should take you 6 pages to say "I'm going to North Pole. I hear it's pretty there, and I might even figure out what makes compasses work."

I have this really weird feeling I have never read Frankenstein. It's really disturbing to me. I think I need to it now, it's bugging that much.


Very simple solution, that.  (More so if it were me, since it's old enough to be public domain, and I have a Kindle. 

http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Main_Page
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/84

I get a LOT of my classics for free.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Don Coyote on March 10, 2011, 04:21:30 PM
Quote from: Luna on March 10, 2011, 10:41:18 AM
Quote from: aedh on March 10, 2011, 06:26:02 AM
Quote from: postvex™ on March 10, 2011, 04:57:12 AM
Quote from: aedh on March 10, 2011, 12:19:33 AM
I've read the whole thing. I need to read it again. After finish reading the bulk of Lovecraft's work.

Maybe I'm not old school enough, but I just don't get why it should take you 6 pages to say "I'm going to North Pole. I hear it's pretty there, and I might even figure out what makes compasses work."

I have this really weird feeling I have never read Frankenstein. It's really disturbing to me. I think I need to it now, it's bugging that much.


Very simple solution, that.  (More so if it were me, since it's old enough to be public domain, and I have a Kindle. 

http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Main_Page
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/84

I get a LOT of my classics for free.

It's been on my kindle. I went and downloaded a crap load of classics when I got. I need to finish reading H.P. Lovecraft first.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Luna on March 10, 2011, 04:31:43 PM
Oh, definitely.  I went through a Lovecraft phase in October, read a lot of it around the time we took the Lovecraft walk in Providence.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Freeky on March 22, 2011, 07:53:42 PM
I have just finished Wizard and Glass of the Dark Tower series.  So far what I have to say on it is "OFUKINJESUS."  It's amazingly good, but sooooo fucked up. :(
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Luna on March 22, 2011, 07:55:24 PM
Quote from: Nurse Freeky on March 22, 2011, 07:53:42 PM
I have just finished Wizard and Glass of the Dark Tower series.  So far what I have to say on it is "OFUKINJESUS."  It's amazingly good, but sooooo fucked up. :(

I'd avoided starting that series (mostly due to "yay, I have a Kindle, I can read ANYFING!"), worth the time?
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Eater of Clowns on March 22, 2011, 08:19:25 PM
Quote from: Luna on March 22, 2011, 07:55:24 PM
Quote from: Nurse Freeky on March 22, 2011, 07:53:42 PM
I have just finished Wizard and Glass of the Dark Tower series.  So far what I have to say on it is "OFUKINJESUS."  It's amazingly good, but sooooo fucked up. :(

I'd avoided starting that series (mostly due to "yay, I have a Kindle, I can read ANYFING!"), worth the time?

The first and fourth books are actually very, very good.  Second and third are decent.  Fifth and seventh not terrible.  Sixth book is atrocious.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Luna on March 22, 2011, 08:24:09 PM
Quote from: Eater of Clowns on March 22, 2011, 08:19:25 PM
Quote from: Luna on March 22, 2011, 07:55:24 PM
Quote from: Nurse Freeky on March 22, 2011, 07:53:42 PM
I have just finished Wizard and Glass of the Dark Tower series.  So far what I have to say on it is "OFUKINJESUS."  It's amazingly good, but sooooo fucked up. :(

I'd avoided starting that series (mostly due to "yay, I have a Kindle, I can read ANYFING!"), worth the time?

The first and fourth books are actually very, very good.  Second and third are decent.  Fifth and seventh not terrible.  Sixth book is atrocious.

Thanks, I'll toss the series on the list. 
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Disco Pickle on March 23, 2011, 12:06:37 PM
Quote from: Eater of Clowns on March 22, 2011, 08:19:25 PM
Quote from: Luna on March 22, 2011, 07:55:24 PM
Quote from: Nurse Freeky on March 22, 2011, 07:53:42 PM
I have just finished Wizard and Glass of the Dark Tower series.  So far what I have to say on it is "OFUKINJESUS."  It's amazingly good, but sooooo fucked up. :(

I'd avoided starting that series (mostly due to "yay, I have a Kindle, I can read ANYFING!"), worth the time?

The first and fourth books are actually very, very good.  Second and third are decent.  Fifth and seventh not terrible.  Sixth book is atrocious.

I really enjoyed the first 4 books.  The next 2 less so but still good.  I wanted to find King and run him over again after reading 7.  Now that the fucker has the balls to stick another book right into the middle of the series, forcing me to reread the entire thing, I'm thinking being run over is too good for him.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Luna on March 23, 2011, 12:11:38 PM
I liked pretty much all of King's stuff, up through It.

Tommyknockers was...  Well, sucked is too kind a word for it.

There was some decent stuff after that, but nothing I read that made me go "oooh."
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Disco Pickle on March 23, 2011, 12:19:07 PM
Quote from: Luna on March 23, 2011, 12:11:38 PM
I liked pretty much all of King's stuff, up through It.

Tommyknockers was...  Well, sucked is too kind a word for it.

There was some decent stuff after that, but nothing I read that made me go "oooh."

It was my first King book, in the 4th grade.  My teacher asked my to leave the book at home because she felt I was too young to be reading King.  It scared the shit out of me and to this day, I don't like getting close to sewer grates, but I always keep my eye out for balloons stuck in them.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Luna on March 23, 2011, 12:26:02 PM
Quote from: Pickled Starfish on March 23, 2011, 12:19:07 PM
It was my first King book, in the 4th grade.  My teacher asked my to leave the book at home because she felt I was too young to be reading King.  It scared the shit out of me and to this day, I don't like getting close to sewer grates, but I always keep my eye out for balloons stuck in them.

4th grade?  Ah, fuck, you make me feel old.

My kindergarten teacher thought it was cute I came to school the first day lugging a hardcover copy of Jaws...  Then she realized that when I was looking at it, my eyes were moving...  And, upon request, I started reading it out loud for her.  She turned a little green, ran up to the 5th grade classroom (the highest grade in the building), borrowed one of their reading texts, and told me I could read THAT when everyone else was plodding through "Dick and Jane."
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Disco Pickle on March 23, 2011, 12:37:59 PM
Quote from: Luna on March 23, 2011, 12:26:02 PM
Quote from: Pickled Starfish on March 23, 2011, 12:19:07 PM
It was my first King book, in the 4th grade.  My teacher asked my to leave the book at home because she felt I was too young to be reading King.  It scared the shit out of me and to this day, I don't like getting close to sewer grates, but I always keep my eye out for balloons stuck in them.

4th grade?  Ah, fuck, you make me feel old.

My kindergarten teacher thought it was cute I came to school the first day lugging a hardcover copy of Jaws...  Then she realized that when I was looking at it, my eyes were moving...  And, upon request, I started reading it out loud for her.  She turned a little green, ran up to the 5th grade classroom (the highest grade in the building), borrowed one of their reading texts, and told me I could read THAT when everyone else was plodding through "Dick and Jane."

I'm no spring chicken.  The parents encouraged lots of reading when I was very young.  I went from Seuss to Roald Dahl to Kipling pretty quickly.

The love affair with reading has never left the honeymoon stage even to this day.  I read anything I can get my hands on.  Except Twilight.  I refuse to read that shit on principal.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Luna on March 23, 2011, 12:44:03 PM
Quote from: Pickled Starfish on March 23, 2011, 12:37:59 PM
The love affair with reading has never left the honeymoon stage even to this day.  I read anything I can get my hands on.  Except Twilight.  I refuse to read that shit on principal.

I read the whole bloody series so I could shit on them with a clear conscience.

That, and my brother often asks my advice on what he should or shouldn't let my niece read.  He doesn't read, he knows I do.  That series got a, "it'll rot her brain, but if she wants to go through the whole series, it deserves to be rotted."
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Disco Pickle on March 23, 2011, 12:52:43 PM
Quote from: Luna on March 23, 2011, 12:44:03 PM
Quote from: Pickled Starfish on March 23, 2011, 12:37:59 PM
The love affair with reading has never left the honeymoon stage even to this day.  I read anything I can get my hands on.  Except Twilight.  I refuse to read that shit on principal.

I read the whole bloody series so I could shit on them with a clear conscience.

That, and my brother often asks my advice on what he should or shouldn't let my niece read.  He doesn't read, he knows I do.  That series got a, "it'll rot her brain, but if she wants to go through the whole series, it deserves to be rotted."

girl I've been friends with since highschool let her 9 year old read the entire series but her husband (also old friend, but bit of a nut job) called me and bitched when I lent his daughter The Hitchhikers Guide series.  Said I was treating her like a teenager and the book was too mature for her.   :lulz:

We had a falling out over that little bit of fuckery.  No great loss.  Feel sorry for the girl though.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Luna on March 23, 2011, 12:55:38 PM
Quote from: Pickled Starfish on March 23, 2011, 12:52:43 PM
Quote from: Luna on March 23, 2011, 12:44:03 PM
Quote from: Pickled Starfish on March 23, 2011, 12:37:59 PM
The love affair with reading has never left the honeymoon stage even to this day.  I read anything I can get my hands on.  Except Twilight.  I refuse to read that shit on principal.

I read the whole bloody series so I could shit on them with a clear conscience.

That, and my brother often asks my advice on what he should or shouldn't let my niece read.  He doesn't read, he knows I do.  That series got a, "it'll rot her brain, but if she wants to go through the whole series, it deserves to be rotted."

girl I've been friends with since highschool let her 9 year old read the entire series but her husband (also old friend, but bit of a nut job) called me and bitched when I lent his daughter The Hitchhikers Guide series.  Said I was treating her like a teenager and the book was too mature for her.   :lulz:

We had a falling out over that little bit of fuckery.  No great loss.  Feel sorry for the girl though.

Yeesh.  The only time my parents ever kicked about anything I read was when Mom caught me with one of Heinlein's more adult books when I was 11 or so.  She made dad reorganize the shelves, but the ones I COULD read on one shelf, the ones I couldn't on another.  (That made them the "living room" books, and the "sneak in the bedroom and read under the covers" books.)
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Faust on March 23, 2011, 01:31:25 PM
The only good books connected to the dark tower series are Rose Madder, Black house and Hearts in Atlantis. In the main series the first book was good and the second had good ideas if not a well portrayed story. Everything else is shit
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Disco Pickle on March 23, 2011, 01:45:09 PM
Quote from: Faust on March 23, 2011, 01:31:25 PM
The only good books connected to the dark tower series are Rose Madder, Black house and Hearts in Atlantis. In the main series the first book was good and the second had good ideas if not a well portrayed story. Everything else is shit

I really enjoyed The Stand, it was just a chore to get through some of the character building IMO.  From a Buick 8 was decent, if loosely tied in, and Eyes of The Dragon was a quick and fun read.  Also liked Insomnia, and really hoped the Docs would show up in TDT.  Black House came out so long after The Talisman that I should really re-read them back to back.  Both great books.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Jenne on March 23, 2011, 03:21:51 PM
Ayaan Hirsi's Infidel.  Reads a lot like A Thousand Splendid Suns.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Jasper on March 23, 2011, 08:20:31 PM
Cartoon Guide to Chemistry.

It's awesome.  I didn't like the cartoon guide to the history of the universe as much, but this is great.  :D
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: AliceTheProfessional on March 23, 2011, 11:49:45 PM
Visions of Cody by Jack Kerouac

Beyond Chutzpah: On the Misuse of Anti-Semitism and the Abuse of History by Norman Finkelstein
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Shatterbrain on March 24, 2011, 06:35:16 PM
Taking a second crack at Gravity's Rainbow.

The first time I tried to read it, I got about 200 pages in then met a 8-page 1-paragraph solid brick wall of text. So I started reading Perdido Street Station instead.

I think Gravity's Rainbow's writing and characters are really quite good, just that the pacing is a bit grating sometimes. I could see it coming off as pretentious if it isn't your thing.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on March 24, 2011, 06:44:27 PM
I have a feeling it's pretentious even if it is your thing.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Disco Pickle on March 24, 2011, 07:00:05 PM
I've completely given up on that book.  The Crying of Lot 49 was more than enough Pynchon for a lifetime.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Shatterbrain on March 27, 2011, 06:43:12 PM
Quote from: LMNO, PhD on March 24, 2011, 06:44:27 PM
I have a feeling it's pretentious even if it is your thing.

Maybe. I'd consider that a matter of opinion.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Disco Pickle on March 31, 2011, 04:38:46 PM
Just started Best Served Cold by Joe Abercrombie on recommendations from two separate friends.  Should keep me busy until Game of Thrones starts on HBO and I feel compelled to reread the entire series.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Freeky on April 01, 2011, 11:53:09 PM
I am on the last chapter of the last Dark Tower book.  My brain and eyes feel like they are fried.   :zombie:
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Jasper on April 02, 2011, 12:00:16 AM
Good series.  I liked King's self-mocking use of DEM.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Laughin Jude on April 02, 2011, 01:03:17 AM
Quote from: Jenkem and Bubble Baths on April 01, 2011, 11:53:09 PM
I am on the last chapter of the last Dark Tower book.  My brain and eyes feel like they are fried.   :zombie:
Prepare to throw the book across the room if it's your first time!

...Actually, I kinda liked the ending once I figured out why he stuck the poem after the last chapter.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Luna on April 02, 2011, 10:36:04 AM
Between books at the moment.  Scanning the library to see what I've actually GOT.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: E.O.T. on April 02, 2011, 03:56:01 PM
Quote from: Sigmatic on March 23, 2011, 08:20:31 PM
Cartoon Guide to Chemistry.

It's awesome.  I didn't like the cartoon guide to the history of the universe as much, but this is great.  :D

YOU MEAN

          this one leaves out the heavy, heavy mind programming social political bent?

LEAVE IT

          to science!
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: El Sjaako on April 03, 2011, 01:42:20 PM
Just finished The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test by Tom Wolfe.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Juana on April 07, 2011, 05:13:29 PM
In the Name of God and Country: Reconsidering Terrorism in American History by Micheal Fellman. Pretty good so far.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Eater of Clowns on April 07, 2011, 05:15:56 PM
Well in studying for my Holy Quest I finished up Men at Arms, Feet of Clay, and Night Watch.

Then immediately went into Rabbit, Redux.  Pratchett to Updike is a hell of a mood whiplash.  :sad:
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Reeducation on April 08, 2011, 07:12:29 AM
Now reading The Tell-Tale Brain: A Neuroscientist's Quest for What Makes Us Human by V. S. Ramachandran.
Great stuff. A little repetitive now and then, but that does not bother much. I can read about mirror-neurons all the time. :)
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Laughin Jude on April 08, 2011, 08:20:17 AM
I'm most of the way through The Men Who Stare At Goats by Jon Ronson. Picked it up on a whim when I saw a cheap used copy at Powell's the other day. I have a feeling I'm going to end up looking a bunch of the names from this book up on the internet to try and sort through what's bunk and what isn't once I'm done reading it.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Jenne on April 13, 2011, 04:55:56 PM
So, from Ali's Infidel I went to Donoghue's Room.  
-------------SPOILER ALERT-------------------------





It's the tale of a 19 year old woman who was kidnapped and held hostage in a garden shed...and how she escaped later on with her 5 year old son, 7 years later.

Told from the 5 year old's point of view.

:x

Yeah, it's true, my head's just a WEE bit fucked up right now.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Don Coyote on April 17, 2011, 02:19:38 AM
Catch-22- Joesph Heller
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Placid Dingo on April 17, 2011, 02:25:42 AM
Quote from: Don Quixote on April 17, 2011, 02:19:38 AM
Catch-22- Joesph Heller

This is a huge favourite of mine.

Read the sequel also, which was all kinds of weird.

Currently reading a bunch including Little Women and Scarlet Letter.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Laughin Jude on April 17, 2011, 03:23:42 AM
QuoteCatch-22- Joesph Heller
This is one of those classics I didn't get around to reading for years and thought was excellent when I did. It's the kind of thing they should have kids reading in high school instead of four hundred year old plays.

Just plowed through Candide again as I hadn't read it since my early twenties. Still funny, still a way too accurate depiction of the realities of life for comfort.

Now I'm on to Michael Foucalt's Madness and Civilization: A History of Insanity in the Age of Reason. It seems to be about the way our ideas concerning "madness" have changed over the past few centuries, from something (he seems to be arguing) that was just accepted as a part of life to being something we have to fear and lock people away for. I've heard Foucalt mentioned time and again in other stuff I've read and in classes I've taken, but I never read anything by him. I was in the market for a new philosopher to read and, as a self-identified crazy person, the subject matter popped out at me. I guess I'll see if he strikes my fancy or not.

I have a feeling I'm going to end up re-reading what's published of A Song of Ice and Fire with the TV series and the next book both coming out soon. I still need to get around to reading Justine by the Marquis de Sade as well; I read Philosophy in the Bedroom last summer and more Sade's just been sitting there on my bookshelf untouched ever since.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: El Sjaako on April 17, 2011, 10:14:25 AM
Quote from: Laughin Jude on April 17, 2011, 03:23:42 AM
QuoteCatch-22- Joesph Heller
This is one of those classics I didn't get around to reading for years and thought was excellent when I did. It's the kind of thing they should have kids reading in high school instead of four hundred year old plays.

Yeah, I recently read it, and kicked myself for not reading it earlier.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Jenne on April 18, 2011, 06:55:38 PM
Reading Ayaan Hirsi Ali's follow up to Infidel, called Nomad.  I'm finding the reviews that criticized this work are pretty much right-on.  She's a bit one-sided and less credible in this book than she was in her first.

And reading her stuff is driving my husband nuts, it seems.  :lulz:  Which makes plowing through it worth it.

He has a few barstools.

Anyway, I'm moving on to A Dance at the Slaughterhouse by Lawrence Block afterward.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Eater of Clowns on April 18, 2011, 07:11:06 PM
Jimmy Corrigan the Smartest Kid on Earth
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Diogenes on April 18, 2011, 08:37:16 PM
Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell

Not far from the end. It's a cool book.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Disco Pickle on April 19, 2011, 12:45:38 PM
Quote from: Diogenes on April 18, 2011, 08:37:16 PM
Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell

Not far from the end. It's a cool book.

I picked it up a few months ago and just couldn't seem to get into it.  I'll give it another shot after i finish the ones I'm in now.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Luna on April 19, 2011, 01:03:50 PM
Quote from: Pickled Starfish on April 19, 2011, 12:45:38 PM
Quote from: Diogenes on April 18, 2011, 08:37:16 PM
Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell

Not far from the end. It's a cool book.

I picked it up a few months ago and just couldn't seem to get into it.  I'll give it another shot after i finish the ones I'm in now.

I recognize the title, I remember I read it... but it just didn't stick with me.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Diogenes on April 19, 2011, 03:04:50 PM
Quote from: Pickled Starfish on April 19, 2011, 12:45:38 PM
Quote from: Diogenes on April 18, 2011, 08:37:16 PM
Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell

Not far from the end. It's a cool book.

I picked it up a few months ago and just couldn't seem to get into it.  I'll give it another shot after i finish the ones I'm in now.

I was sceptical at first, but it won me over. There are a lot of "I must know what happens next!" moments, and I love the deadpan humour, deep characters/character development, and varying settings. I also like the feel of it with its historical/alternative history setting and archaic spellings, since I have a lot of old books between 100 and 300 years old I instantly dug the vibe the author tries to create.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Jenne on April 20, 2011, 01:28:10 AM
It was a good book, I liked it.  But yes, it drags rather in places.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Chairman Risus on April 23, 2011, 04:00:09 AM
Quote from: Canis latrans securis on April 17, 2011, 02:19:38 AM
Catch-22- Joseph Heller


I'm thee with Placid Dingo, great book. I'd also suggest the sequel, though it does have a very different feel to it.

Just finished Hesse's Steppenwolf. Really enjoyed it.

If I'm picking from Pratchett or Gaiman next, any suggestions?
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Juana on April 23, 2011, 05:35:35 AM
Which ones have you read?

Pratchett: Small Gods, Feet of Clay, one of the Moist von Lipwig books.
Gaiman: American Gods, one of his short story anthologies, or Ananzi Boys.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Diogenes on April 23, 2011, 06:53:57 PM
You could also try Good Omens which was written by them both!
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Eater of Clowns on April 23, 2011, 07:17:24 PM
I'll second Feet of Clay and the Moist von Lipwig books (but especially Going Postal).  Really the wonderful thing about Pratchett is that you can't go wrong.

For Neil Gaiman, it's a short read but The Graveyard Book is very good, and of course the standards of Neverwhere, Anansi Boys, and American Gods.



Just finished reading No Country for Old Men.  If The Road and Blood Meridian hadn't convinced me, I love Cormac McCarthy.  The movie for this one is probably the most faithful adaptation I've seen.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on April 23, 2011, 07:46:51 PM
Quote from: Diogenes on April 23, 2011, 06:53:57 PM
You could also try Good Omens which was written by them both!

That was a good one.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Igor on April 23, 2011, 08:48:21 PM
I think they're making a TV series of it.
With Terry Jones writing/directing? I forget.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Faust on April 23, 2011, 09:39:09 PM
I'm reading pale fire by Nabukov. Cool idea for a book and a really good use of unreliable narrator, He's always been good at that though, at least he was in Lolita.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: dontblameyoko on April 26, 2011, 12:05:04 AM
"All the Girls Love Bobby Kennedy" (play) by Kristen Palmer
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Lord Cataplanga on May 01, 2011, 03:14:27 AM
1Q84 by Haruki Murakami. Wich reminds me I should get around to reading Tokyo Blues sometime soon.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Anna Mae Bollocks on May 01, 2011, 03:35:38 AM
Life, Letters and Epicurian Philospohy of Ninon L'Enclos. She's a trip.  :D
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Jasper on May 01, 2011, 03:40:49 AM
It's taken me half a decade to bother with it, but I've almost finished reading all of the Discworld novels.  All that remains is a few chapters of The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents.

Next stop: Get around to all those cognitive neuroscience books I keep buying on impulse.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Eater of Clowns on May 04, 2011, 02:24:10 AM
The Mysteries of Pittsburgh by Michael Chabon

QuoteAnd then we hit the Checkpoint, as Cleveland called it-the bane of his career as one who always tried to push things; and at that inevitable one-way Checkpoint of Too Much Fun, our papers were found in order and we crossed into the invisible country of Bad Luck.  Teddy's mother - whoops, Teddy was only fifteen years old, after all - came looking for her son and found Mr. Genteel, Evil Incarnate, her unretarded, badly coiffed boy, and myself lying on the floor of the Bellwethers' salon, surrounded by empty green cans of Rolling Rock and four exhausted dogs, two of which were still linked in the midst of a painful-looking dance of extraction.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Faust on May 04, 2011, 09:22:15 AM
I'm reading the spy who came in from the cold. It's supposedly one of the best written spy novels, the writing is very basic so far but there is a good sense of dry humor throughout so it doesn't feel bland to read.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Freeky on May 04, 2011, 09:29:50 AM
I'm rereading The Dark Tower Sersise. I wish I was reading the inside of my eyelids though, I'm all loopy and tired.`
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Prince Glittersnatch III on May 05, 2011, 05:37:25 AM
Im reading, the original Power of Positive Thinking.

For some reason I keep spending money pirating(Kindle Bitches) all sorts of books on media, philosophy, biology ect. yet I put all those off in favor of a musty old self help paperback I found in my grandmas attic.

Thats ADD for you.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on May 05, 2011, 02:17:17 PM
Finished The Hunger Games Trilogy.

Darker and Edgier (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/DarkerAndEdgier), indeed.  A lot of good themes, plus a shitload of Black and Gray Morality (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/BlackAndGrayMorality).
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on May 06, 2011, 01:35:19 PM
Read the first one of those.  Will try the second and third later, as I am currently reading Makers of Modern Strategy, edited by Peter Paret.  For those wondering, "modern strategy" apparently started with Machiavelli.  So, taking a rather broad view of the subject material.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Luna on May 07, 2011, 03:13:15 PM
Rereading Transmetropolitan.

All of it.  Beginning to end.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: tyrannosaurus vex on May 08, 2011, 07:26:48 AM
Fingerprints of the Gods
Graham Hancock.

I already read this a couple years ago, but I was bored.

This guy is more full of shit than a dump truck would be if it was also full of shit.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Anna Mae Bollocks on May 08, 2011, 07:40:00 AM
Quote from: postvex™ on May 08, 2011, 07:26:48 AM
Fingerprints of the Gods
Graham Hancock. :pI already read this a couple years ago, but I was bored.

This guy is more full of shit than a dump truck would be if it was also full of shit.
I can beat that.
I got AIDS: The End Of Civilization by William Campbell Douglass for a buck.
He says you can get it from towels and what he seems to be leading up to is WE'RE ALL GONNA GET IT AND GET REAL SKINNY AND DIEEEEEEE.
Can't say I totally disbelieve that it was created on purpose, but other than that, the book is pure-d shit.  :D
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Luna on May 10, 2011, 12:49:17 AM
Finished Transmetropolitan in 36 hours.

On to Preacher.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on May 10, 2011, 01:58:32 AM
Everything I am reading is boring because it is mostly self-help books about relationships and boundaries.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Luna on May 10, 2011, 02:01:53 AM
Quote from: Nigel on May 10, 2011, 01:58:32 AM
Everything I am reading is boring because it is mostly self-help books about relationships and boundaries.

Take the occasional break to rest your brain.  Stuff all that shit in there straight and your brain will beat your eyeballs out just to make an escape route.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on May 10, 2011, 02:24:51 AM
Quote from: Luna on May 10, 2011, 02:01:53 AM
Quote from: Nigel on May 10, 2011, 01:58:32 AM
Everything I am reading is boring because it is mostly self-help books about relationships and boundaries.

Take the occasional break to rest your brain.  Stuff all that shit in there straight and your brain will beat your eyeballs out just to make an escape route.

Oh, it's going OK. I just thought momentarily about posting my reading list and then realized it wouldn't be of interest to ANYONE.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Luna on May 10, 2011, 02:28:09 AM
Quote from: Nigel on May 10, 2011, 02:24:51 AM
Quote from: Luna on May 10, 2011, 02:01:53 AM
Quote from: Nigel on May 10, 2011, 01:58:32 AM
Everything I am reading is boring because it is mostly self-help books about relationships and boundaries.

Take the occasional break to rest your brain.  Stuff all that shit in there straight and your brain will beat your eyeballs out just to make an escape route.

Oh, it's going OK. I just thought momentarily about posting my reading list and then realized it wouldn't be of interest to ANYONE.

Might be if you ranked 'em in order of usefulness when you're done with 'em.  Rate 'em on a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being "taught me about shit I didn't know existed," and 1 being "use this book as a room divider for your gerbil."
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Prelate Diogenes Shandor on May 10, 2011, 06:23:43 PM
GYLFAGINNING (http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/pre/pre04.htm)
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Prince Glittersnatch III on June 06, 2011, 09:13:49 AM
Im going to be reading Noam Chomskys, Media Control then Im going to move on to The Stand.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Laughin Jude on June 06, 2011, 09:55:27 AM
I tend to alternate between fiction and non-fiction. Recently I've been plugging away at Madness and Civilization by Michael Foucalt, though I was distracted last weekend when I found a copy of Quantum Psychology by RAW (and studying how physics leads to human psychology via evolution/biology/chemistry is exactly what I'm going to college for). Both are interesting reads.

As far as fiction goes, the girl I'm crazy over has gotten me reading comic books again after a dozen year hiatus, so right now I've been tearing through Ultimate Spider-Man and trying to find trades of the Mirage TMNT...
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Jasper on June 06, 2011, 03:50:38 PM
Rereading Stross' Accelerando.  It is such a cool sci-fi book.  I mean damn. 

Manfred MacX is my favorite fictional genius.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Don Coyote on June 06, 2011, 08:12:30 PM
Divine Misfortune
Imagine a world were all the gods were real, and you could link up with them through internet based matchmaking services.  :lulz:
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Prelate Diogenes Shandor on June 07, 2011, 12:59:03 AM
i have repeatedly attempted to muddle through the English translation of Macchiavelli's "Discourses on the First Ten Books of Titus Livy" but always seem to get distracted and wind up reading webcomics instead.

There's this one really good webcomic called "Goats (http://www.goats.com/archive/050105.html)" that I'm reading  through now (having already finished Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal (http://www.smbc-comics.com), Something Happens (http://somethinghappens.keenspot.com/), Jack (http://www.pholph.com/strip.php?id=5), Twokinds (http://twokinds.keenspot.com/), Slightly Damned (http://www.sdamned.com/), Guinea Tech (http://www.guinea-tech.com/), Ballerina Mafia (http://ballerinamafia.net/), One Small Step (http://www.osscomic.com/), Chainroaker on a Budget (http://chainroaker.comicgenesis.com/), Cuore Voodoo (http://www.drunkduck.com/CuoreVoodoo/index.php), Hard-Boiled Horror Tales (http://www.dreadcentral.com/news/36750/hard-boiled-horror-tales-im-coming-get-you-myra), and the Goats spinoff "Scenes From A Multiverse (http://amultiverse.com/)")
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: on June 11, 2011, 07:41:34 AM
I just finished with Mason & Dixon, and now I'm onto either Burr by Gore Vidal, or Nova Express by W. Burroughs.

Probably both.

Well, it'll take me a week or so to pick up Burr in earnest, but I'll be done with it shortly thereafter.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Prelate Diogenes Shandor on June 15, 2011, 03:27:16 AM
Now I'm reading through the archive of Housepets (http://www.housepetscomic.com/)
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Placid Dingo on June 15, 2011, 08:47:47 AM
Finished 'The Scarlet Letter,' which is fairly readable and tightly paced as far as classics go.

Reading Old Testement and I'm sure that any time now there's going to be something more interesting than excessive details of what the church should look like. But, they just gave instructions of how to sacrifice doves, so we're getting to it.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Luna on June 15, 2011, 10:44:19 AM
Once I get through the Game of Thrones series, next up:  Alice in Zombieland.

http://www.amazon.com/Alice-in-Zombieland-ebook/dp/B004MME6XY/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=digital-text&qid=1308131029&sr=1-1
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Triple Zero on June 15, 2011, 12:44:12 PM
I only ever read Magic:The Gathering novels.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Luna on June 15, 2011, 01:10:56 PM
Quote from: Triple Zero on June 15, 2011, 12:44:12 PM
I only ever read Magic:The Gathering novels.

You're a bad, bad man, and will come to an evil end.   :fap:
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Luna on June 15, 2011, 11:28:39 PM
My new favorite audiobook:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CFuyE_VBeO8&feature=player_embedded#at=12
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Pope Pixie Pickle on June 16, 2011, 11:04:05 AM
yoinked for facebook!
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Don Coyote on June 16, 2011, 03:08:46 PM
Quote from: Triple Zero on June 15, 2011, 12:44:12 PM
I only ever read Magic:The Gathering novels.

I choked on my phlegm.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Disco Pickle on June 16, 2011, 05:18:49 PM
Finally finished Henry Kissinger's Does America Need a Foreign Policy?: Toward a Diplomacy for the 21st Century. and while I disagree with a lot of his conclusions, he definitely presents them clearly and thoroughly.

Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on June 21, 2011, 11:12:58 AM
Quote from: Disco Pickle on June 16, 2011, 05:18:49 PM
Finally finished Henry Kissinger's Does America Need a Foreign Policy?: Toward a Diplomacy for the 21st Century. and while I disagree with a lot of his conclusions, he definitely presents them clearly and thoroughly.

That tends to be Kissinger all over.  He's wrong, but he's wrong comprehensively and with clarity.

Reading Abdul Salam Zaeef's My Life With the Taliban.  Zaeef was the Taliban envoy to Pakistan, before he got thrown in a bunch of American black sites and was made to carry buckets of shit and piss for a decade (http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2008/06/19/38888/day-5-taliban-ambassador-wielded.html).
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cramulus on June 21, 2011, 09:37:07 PM
Colbert interviewed Kissinger this week. Colbert's shtick was that he was a huge fan of Kissinger and loved everything he did. You could tell that Colbert was actually pretty humbled to talk to the guy though - he kept asking real interview questions, not joke questions.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Iason Ouabache on June 22, 2011, 04:40:59 AM
Finished "Religion Explained" by Pascal Boyer not too long ago. Good summary of religion from the anthropological point of view. Spent too long on inferences and native religions though. There were some gems in the latter half of the book.

Also read "Fight Club" in less than a week. Tyler's words were coming out of my mouth. It was a trip.

Currently flipping through too many book. (CURSE YOU, KINDLE!!!  :argh!:) About a quarter of the way through The Handmaid's Tale. Interesting but I can guess how it will end. Probably going to try and reread "Chaos: Making a New Science" by James Gleick since I only made it about halfway through the first time.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Chairman Risus on June 22, 2011, 08:34:39 AM
I've been burning through the free book collection for kindle, but I'd particularly recommend The Man Who Was Thursday: A Nightmare.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on June 22, 2011, 03:05:58 PM
Quote from: Risus on June 22, 2011, 08:34:39 AM
I've been burning through the free book collection for kindle, but I'd particularly recommend The Man Who Was Thursday: A Nightmare.

It helps if you try to throw yourself fully into the story, and suspend your disbelief and genre savvy-ness.  Also, it helps to skim the last chapter or so.

Apropos of OP, finished Game of Thrones, moving on to Clash of Kings.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on June 22, 2011, 03:11:57 PM
All I'm going to say is Tyrion absolutely shines in this book. 
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Jasper on June 22, 2011, 09:03:15 PM
I'm getting ready to read Eastern Standard Tribe by Doctorow.  I read the first page in the bookstore and I was sold.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Captain Swampass on June 23, 2011, 05:27:31 AM
Probably the Neuromancer novels.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Rumckle on June 25, 2011, 01:22:18 PM
Collapse by Jarred Diamond
It reads as smoothly as Guns, Germs and Steel, and is almost as interesting. It is pretty interesting to draw parallels between past societies and current times.

I'm also halfway through Natural-Born Cyborgs by Andy Clark, I really like Andy's stuff, and this book is just as well worded, and interesting as his journal articles, but it is a bit repetitive (though I just may find that because I've read several of his articles). It is pretty cool if you are into modern philosophy of mind or transhumanism, also he mentions Transmetropolitan.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on June 25, 2011, 05:40:55 PM
Jared Diamond made a point in interview shortly after the Lehman Brothers collapse that is worth keeping in mind:

"Any society where the elite are entirely seperated from the concerns and pressures of the majority of that society will eventually collapse".  He didn't qualify "under it's own stupidity", but I believe it was implied.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on June 29, 2011, 09:41:57 AM
Andrew Roberts - The Storm of War: A New History of the Second World War.

Not seen anything to justify the tagline yet, but it's a relatively decent read.  This is not surprising, since Robert seems to believe he is still living in the Second World War (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Roberts_%28historian%29#Support_for_Iraq_War.2C_the_.22Fourth_World_War.22_and_Islamofascism).
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on July 02, 2011, 10:46:09 AM
Still making my way through The Storm of War, but I've also started on Maury Terry's The Ultimate Evil.

Terry's thesis is that David Berkowitz alone was not responsible for the "Son of Sam" killings, as is popularly believed.  Instead, there was at least three killers involved in the crimes, and while Berkowitz is certainly guilty of some of the killings, he was performing them under coercion (Berkowitz's bizarre behaviour during the killings, including numerous arson attacks designed to draw attention to himself and land him in prison on a lesser charge, are indicative of this).  Furthermore, the group killings have a cult undertone to them, and are related to the Process Church of the Final Judgement (or their Four P splinter group...or both) and a number of murders on the West Coast, including possibly those of the Zodiac Killer.

I have it on good authority from someone who has read the book, and is well connected in the New York occult scene (indeed, he was in New York during the murders and went to the same school as Berkowitz, albeit at a different time) that while Terry's analysis is poor, due to his lack of knowledge of the occult and the complications that arise from Berkowitz's testimony, Berkowitz having converted to a fundamentalist form of Christianity while in prison, his raw data is unassailable and, if taken on that evidence alone, makes for compelling reading.

I'm also inclined to believe some elements of this, if only for the reason that, as serial killing, the Son of Sam murders are so damn odd.  Serial killers almost never use guns, especially not in their more mature "cycling" phases of violence.  The literature on this is quite clear...speaking of which, Berkowitz was remarkably well read on the psychology of serial killers, including a book written by the psychologist who examined him after his arrest.  And the murder of several people involved in the case after Berkowitz was already in prison is pretty much concrete proof that, if nothing else, he had accomplices.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Thurnez Isa on July 02, 2011, 04:29:52 PM
Wait till you get to the point that Maury claims the cult try to recruit the Rolling Stones and the Beatles.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on July 02, 2011, 05:44:09 PM
Quote from: Thurnez Isa on July 02, 2011, 04:29:52 PM
Wait till you get to the point that Maury claims the cult try to recruit the Rolling Stones and the Beatles.

Heh, the killer cult?  I somehow doubt it.  The Stones did, as far as I'm aware, hang with people very close to the Process Church, and I believe some of their more regular groupies belonged to the group.  But then I'm not convinced that the Process Church itself are the culprits.  "Four P" is a creepy as fuck offshoot, but there is so little real evidence I find any talk about them suspect.  Plus there is the whole "dead dog" thing.  Lots of dead dogs...but the Process, as far as I can tell, loved dogs.

I know the Process were also involved with Manson, so along with their frankly bizarre theology they're good fodder for conspiracy theories and talk about satanism.  But this is exactly the kind of thing my friend warned me about with the book, so I'm kinda expecting it.  Hell, even only a couple of hundred pages in it seems quite obvious he has a stick up his arse about "satanism".  But so far, concentrating as he is on the description of the killer(s) at each scene and the ballistics, he's on fairly solid ground.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Brotep on July 02, 2011, 07:20:37 PM
Rereading Northrop Frye's Fearful Symmetry: A Study of William Blake, and if I can get my Kindle working again I'll be able to finish Artaud's The Theatre and Its Double
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: BadBeast on July 03, 2011, 09:44:53 AM
"Shot in the Heart" by Mikal Gilmore. I haven't read a good biography for ages. And this is pretty good. It's written by the brother of a notorious killer, and it's about where those murders began.
Heartbreak, hatred, poverty, madness and abuse. From 180 years ago, the stains of religious intolerance reach down through the generations, culminating in unavoidable toxicity.

I never knew that much about the Mormons either, this book's quite an eye opener on more than just the murders. (They were pretty well covered in Mailer's "Executioner's Song" anyway) But it's really interesting as a piece of American History. Well written too.   
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Prelate Diogenes Shandor on July 25, 2011, 02:01:21 AM
Now I'm alternating between The 1001 Arabian Nights, Mark Twain's What Is Man, and Other Essays, Charles Darwin's On The Origin of Species, and Nietzsche's The Antichrist.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Placid Dingo on July 25, 2011, 03:13:20 AM
Finished some GREAT stuff recently. Voltaire's Candide is now a favorite, and the Chekov short story Ward 6 is right up there with it.

On top of my usual mass reading list, I'm on Chrome Yellow by Huxley and a piece called This is Mohummad.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Bu🤠ns on July 26, 2011, 02:13:21 AM
Mastery: The Keys to Success and Long-Term Fulfillment - George Leonard
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Rumckle on July 26, 2011, 01:03:42 PM
Quote from: Cain on June 25, 2011, 05:40:55 PM
"Any society where the elite are entirely seperated from the concerns and pressures of the majority of that society will eventually collapse".  He didn't qualify "under it's own stupidity", but I believe it was implied.

Just finished Collapse, and that seems to be the gist of it. Also, societies that refuse to disband harmful traditions are likely to collapse (though the two are probably closely related).

Also recently finished Geekspeak by Graham Tattersall, which is a nice little book on Fermi calculations (aka Back-of-the-envelope calculations). It is pretty easy to read, and is mostly based around examples, but it gets you into a good mindset of doing similar calculations for yourself.

Just about to start reading Psychogeography by Will Self, looks pretty interesting.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on July 27, 2011, 12:50:01 PM
But we've dumped toxic waste on farmland and allowed corporations to flood rivers with their waste product for generations now!  You will offend the Animal Spirits of our Capitalist Ancestors if you force them to change their ways.

Ahem.

Now reading Politics Among Nations by Morgenthau, since it's been two years.  Morgenthau = teh win.  Liberal Jew who fled Nazi Germany, practically founded modern international political science and was put on Nixon's enemies list for all of the above (and opposing the Vietnam War).
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: navkat on July 27, 2011, 02:57:15 PM
My Kindle's top five in-progress reads (in order):
Paranormaility: Why We See What Isn't There - Richard Wiseman
Chao-te-Ching - Cram+
Kitchen Confidential - Anthony Bourdain
The Unincorporated War - Dani Kollin
The Ethical Slut - Dossie Easton/Janet Hardy
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Juana on July 27, 2011, 08:49:21 PM
In the Name of God and County: Reconsidering Terrorism in American History by Michael Fellman. Excellent so far. Starts with John Brown and ends with the Philippine War.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on July 28, 2011, 06:12:04 AM
I have a copy of that, I've been intending to read it, but, well...

*looks meaningfully at the 10,000 or so books on the "to read really soon list*
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Telarus on August 05, 2011, 10:57:41 AM
Terry Pratchet - Unseen Academials

It's already been mentioned that Strife is essential to life (by Vetinari no less). Also, Vetinari muses on about how if there is a Creator which made everything, it must be a right bastard and it's up to every sentient creature to attempt to become its Moral Superior.

And you get lines like this:

The rising sun managed to peek around the vast column of smoke that forever rose from Ankh-Morpork, City of Cities, illustrating almost up to the edge of space that smoke means progress or, at least, people setting fire to things.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Placid Dingo on August 05, 2011, 12:42:53 PM
Quote from: navkat on July 27, 2011, 02:57:15 PM
My Kindle's top five in-progress reads (in order):
Paranormaility: Why We See What Isn't There - Richard Wiseman
Chao-te-Ching - Cram+
Kitchen Confidential - Anthony Bourdain
The Unincorporated War - Dani Kollin
The Ethical Slut - Dossie Easton/Janet Hardy


The Chao is right up there with my favourite discordian works.

And bourdein, I read one chapter of and loved it.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Pæs on August 05, 2011, 12:43:51 PM
The Glass Bead Game - Hesse
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Disco Pickle on August 05, 2011, 12:49:26 PM
Best Served Cold - Joe Abercrombie

really enjoying it
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on August 05, 2011, 04:26:54 PM
Quote from: Telarus on August 05, 2011, 10:57:41 AM
Terry Pratchet - Unseen Academials

It's already been mentioned that Strife is essential to life (by Vetinari no less). Also, Vetinari muses on about how if there is a Creator which made everything, it must be a right bastard and it's up to every sentient creature to attempt to become its Moral Superior.

And you get lines like this:

The rising sun managed to peek around the vast column of smoke that forever rose from Ankh-Morpork, City of Cities, illustrating almost up to the edge of space that smoke means progress or, at least, people setting fire to things.

It wasn't his best book, but there were some very good lines in it, true.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Telarus on August 06, 2011, 03:31:28 AM
I found a lot of echos of the BIP memes. The 'crab bucket' metaphor, and when the Night Kitchen cook realizes that "there is no hammer(so stop wincing at authority and get on with it)", and starts to get away with things just because she's the only one with the balls to do them. It was also  an interesting look at the City he's leaving us (I can't help but feel he's trying to nail things down into writing while he still can).
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Juana on August 06, 2011, 04:14:15 AM
Quote from: Cain on July 28, 2011, 06:12:04 AM
I have a copy of that, I've been intending to read it, but, well...

*looks meaningfully at the 10,000 or so books on the "to read really soon list*
Worth the wait, I have to say.


Picking Lev Grossman's The Magicians back up in anticipation of the sequel, which comes out the fifteenth. I'm a little wary of it, and not entirely thrilled with what I've heard so far. But I'm going to give it a chance anyway.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Chairman Risus on August 07, 2011, 10:10:30 PM
Quote from: Hover Cat on August 06, 2011, 04:14:15 AM
Quote from: Cain on July 28, 2011, 06:12:04 AM
I have a copy of that, I've been intending to read it, but, well...

*looks meaningfully at the 10,000 or so books on the "to read really soon list*
Worth the wait, I have to say.


Picking Lev Grossman's The Magicians back up in anticipation of the sequel, which comes out the fifteenth. I'm a little wary of it, and not entirely thrilled with what I've heard so far. But I'm going to give it a chance anyway.

I'm in the same boat, have been reticent to actually go through with purchase. Let me know how it goes.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on August 08, 2011, 11:41:28 AM
I've heard it is "Harry Potter for grownups".

Unfortunately, there is already a Harry Potter for grownups, and it is called Lord of the Rings and/or Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Epimetheus on August 09, 2011, 09:03:38 AM
Starting Pratchett's Small Gods. Recently completed most of Asimov's Foundation trilogy and I, Robot, and Gaiman's Anansi Boys. Foundation was interesting but a bit tedious after a while. I, Robot was good; the last chapter was great.

Quote"But you are telling me, Susan, that the 'Society for Humanity' is right; and that Mankind has lost its own say in its future."
   "It never had any, really. It was always at the mercy of economic and sociological forces it did not understand -- at the whims of climate, and the fortunes of war. Now the Machines understand them; and no one can stop them, since the Machines will deal with them as they are dealing with the Society, -- having, as they do, the greatest of weapons at their disposal, the absolute control of our economy."
   "How horrible!"
   "Perhaps how wonderful! Think, that for all time, all conflicts are finally evitable. Only the Machines, from now on, are inevitable!"
   And the fire behind the quartz went out and only a curl of smoke was left to indicate its place.

I can't say any of the three are among my favorite books. But I'm glad I finally read those famous Asimovs.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Juana on August 09, 2011, 09:18:40 AM
Quote from: Risus on August 07, 2011, 10:10:30 PM
Quote from: Hover Cat on August 06, 2011, 04:14:15 AM
Quote from: Cain on July 28, 2011, 06:12:04 AM
I have a copy of that, I've been intending to read it, but, well...

*looks meaningfully at the 10,000 or so books on the "to read really soon list*
Worth the wait, I have to say.


Picking Lev Grossman's The Magicians back up in anticipation of the sequel, which comes out the fifteenth. I'm a little wary of it, and not entirely thrilled with what I've heard so far. But I'm going to give it a chance anyway.

I'm in the same boat, have been reticent to actually go through with purchase. Let me know how it goes.
Will do. It shipped today, so I should know before long.

Quote from: Cain on August 08, 2011, 11:41:28 AM
I've heard it is "Harry Potter for grownups".

Unfortunately, there is already a Harry Potter for grownups, and it is called Lord of the Rings and/or Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality.
I suppose. It's Harry Potter + Narnia + the modern novel, essentially. I still enjoyed it, though HPMoR is much, much funnier.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on August 09, 2011, 07:05:44 PM
Just started reading Helen Fisher's "Anatomy of Love" last night. It's pretty interesting.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Juana on August 10, 2011, 12:30:30 PM
Risus - got the sequel yesterday, whipped through most of it in the last couple hours and it's pretty good! Bits are kind of annoying (Julia at first, but that's explained), but mostly it's good.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Prelate Diogenes Shandor on August 25, 2011, 11:29:52 PM
The indecipherable Codex Seraphinianus (http://www.mediafire.com/?nnynjgynoio)
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on August 26, 2011, 12:17:56 AM
Jon Ronson's Them: Adventures With Global Extremists.

The first chapter is utterly hilarious, with Ronson following around Omar Bakri.  Some of the things he came out with were genuine LOL moments, such as the Koran even commanding which direction a devout Muslim must fart in ("in the direction of the unbeliever, ha ha!" was Bakri's response).

The second chapter, with an interview of Randy Weaver's daughter, Rachel, is less so.  In fact, it is incredibly sad and it is almost impossible not to feel angry when reading about it.  Alex Jones provides some light relief, but not much.

Onto the third chapter now, with Ronson attempting to gatecrash the Bilderberger meeting in Portugal.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cainad (dec.) on August 26, 2011, 12:28:47 AM
Quote from: Cain on August 26, 2011, 12:17:56 AM
Jon Ronson's Them: Adventures With Global Extremists.

The first chapter is utterly hilarious, with Ronson following around Omar Bakri.  Some of the things he came out with were genuine LOL moments, such as the Koran even commanding which direction a devout Muslim must fart in ("in the direction of the unbeliever, ha ha!" was Bakri's response).

The second chapter, with an interview of Randy Weaver's daughter, Rachel, is less so.  In fact, it is incredibly sad and it is almost impossible not to feel angry when reading about it.  Alex Jones provides some light relief, but not much.

Onto the third chapter now, with Ronson attempting to gatecrash the Bilderberger meeting in Portugal.

I loved that book. And I agree, the Randy Weaver case is... ugh. :argh!:
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Prelate Diogenes Shandor on August 26, 2011, 05:21:42 AM
The Book of Imaginary Beings (El libro de los seres imaginarios) by Jorge Luis Borges
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Placid Dingo on August 26, 2011, 09:02:13 AM
Quote from: Cain on August 26, 2011, 12:17:56 AM
Jon Ronson's Them: Adventures With Global Extremists.

The first chapter is utterly hilarious, with Ronson following around Omar Bakri.  Some of the things he came out with were genuine LOL moments, such as the Koran even commanding which direction a devout Muslim must fart in ("in the direction of the unbeliever, ha ha!" was Bakri's response).

The second chapter, with an interview of Randy Weaver's daughter, Rachel, is less so.  In fact, it is incredibly sad and it is almost impossible not to feel angry when reading about it.  Alex Jones provides some light relief, but not much.

Onto the third chapter now, with Ronson attempting to gatecrash the Bilderberger meeting in Portugal.

This book is fucking PHENOMENAL. I really really loved it, and the stuff about Bilderberg is probably the most down to Earth account I've heard of.

I'm back onto reading Three Musketeers and LOVING it. Very funny.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on August 26, 2011, 04:05:19 PM
I have an academic account of the Bilderberger's role in international politics somewhere (its from a critical theorist and the author is a legit professor) which I intend to read one day, but yeah.  Ronson goes deeply into the Weird, but he tries not to get sucked into all the crazy surrounding it, for which I am grateful.

But, in the meantime, I shall be reading The Doubter's Companion: A Dictionary of Aggressive Common Sense by John Ralston Saul.  I loved Saul's other major book, Voltaire's Bastards, so this should also be good.  He's a humanist at heart, Saul, but a very witty, educated and skeptical one, and so makes excellent and enjoyable reading.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Prelate Diogenes Shandor on August 27, 2011, 02:03:02 AM
The expurgated version (couldn't find the complete one) of Jorge Luis Borges' "Book of Imaginary Beings"
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Epimetheus on August 27, 2011, 09:08:01 AM
Just got The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Heinlein and Star Maker by Stapledon. Looking forward to the next few weeks.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Stelpa on August 28, 2011, 04:04:03 AM
Quote from: Prelate Diogenes Shandor on August 25, 2011, 11:29:52 PM
The indecipherable Codex Seraphinianus (http://www.mediafire.com/?nnynjgynoio)
This is incredibly interesting... For some reason, it reminds me of "The Humument" (http://humument.com/), a very interesting, stylistic, surrealist book :)
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on August 28, 2011, 05:16:45 AM
Smashed through A Doubter's Companion during a slow shift at work.  Utterly fantastic.  I especially liked the bit on how existentialism and democracy are linked, philosophically, while some of the bits of comedy (such as explaining how European royalty intermarrying spread dessert recipes throughout Europe) were both educational and funny.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Epimetheus on August 28, 2011, 07:00:05 AM
Quote from: Prelate Diogenes Shandor on August 25, 2011, 11:29:52 PM
The indecipherable Codex Seraphinianus (http://www.mediafire.com/?nnynjgynoio)

A thousand thanks for the link! I been wanting to read this fo'eva!
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Prelate Diogenes Shandor on August 30, 2011, 04:22:55 AM
I also read a lot of clopfics and stuff.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Prelate Diogenes Shandor on August 30, 2011, 04:46:24 AM
I've also been re-reading The Joy Of Work by Scott Adams (the creator of Dilbert). The chapter on office pranks, and the chapter with his theory of humor are both awesome!
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cramulus on August 30, 2011, 02:55:13 PM
any office pranks you'd like to share?

Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Scribbly on August 30, 2011, 04:08:35 PM
"Kraken" by China Mieville is my current read, after The City & The City

I absolutely love this guy's style. The City & The City is particularly awesome for being a surreal novel based on the limits of perception and how people can convince themselves not to see things they do not want to see - at least, to a point.

Kraken is a bit less engaging to me (the mystery isn't as compelling), but both are very enjoyable. Highly recommend this guy, and I think I'll be working my way through his books for a while.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Prelate Diogenes Shandor on August 30, 2011, 04:17:46 PM
Quote from: Cramulus on August 30, 2011, 02:55:13 PM
any office pranks you'd like to share?



None that I've tried personally, as I'm currently unemployed, but there were a couple that struck me as particularly clever, such as:

1.) Call a co-worker's home phone number during the day; WHen the amswering machine picks up, transfer the call to that co-worker, so that it seems like their answering machine has somehow called them at work

2.) Remove the music chip from one of those greeting cards and hide it somewhere in a co-worker's office or cubicle, possibly affixed to a ceiling tile or the underside of their chair or somewhere out of the way like that so that there will be an annoying song playing over and over again coming from a source small enough that it is extremely difficult to locate.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on August 30, 2011, 05:13:18 PM
Quote from: Cramulus on August 30, 2011, 02:55:13 PM
any office pranks you'd like to share?



Hey, where's that thread with all the office pranks? That was a good thread.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Triple Zero on August 30, 2011, 08:19:00 PM
Quote from: Prelate Diogenes Shandor on August 30, 2011, 04:22:55 AM
I also read a lot of clopfics and stuff.

... I only learned yesterday what those are ... :x
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Lenin McCarthy on August 30, 2011, 09:55:53 PM
The saga of Gísli Súrsson. Things I've learned from it so far: Mortally wounded vikings always had time to recite a poem before they died.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Prelate Diogenes Shandor on August 31, 2011, 05:50:18 AM
Quote from: Triple Zero on August 30, 2011, 08:19:00 PM
Quote from: Prelate Diogenes Shandor on August 30, 2011, 04:22:55 AM
I also read a lot of clopfics and stuff.

... I only learned yesterday what those are ... :x

[TMI]Not just clopfics of course, (http://www.sofurry.com/page/228919/groups?gid=347) those are rather conventional. Also similar stuff based on Dragon Tales, (http://www.sofurry.com/page/21488/search?contentlevel=extreme) and a Land Before Time fanfic where the sassy triceretops girl gets gangbanged by everybody in the Great Valley. (http://www.sofurry.com/page/280085?contentlevel=all)[/TMI]
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Prelate Diogenes Shandor on August 31, 2011, 06:00:04 AM
"'Would You Rather...?' 's Mind F*cks" (BTW, The asterisk in the middle of the word "Fuck" is part of the title as it is referred to on the cover and throughout the book) Is another book that I've been flipping back through again. They've got a few good prank ideas, unfortunately they're all either so off the wall that I can't do them in any place that I ever plan to go back to again or where I don't wanna completely fuck shit up, or else mundane enough that they would be indistinguishable from my 'regular' idiosyncrasies.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Prelate Diogenes Shandor on August 31, 2011, 06:04:01 AM
I double post to draw attention away from the horrible and deeply disturbing things I say in the first post in a given sequence.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on August 31, 2011, 12:31:22 PM
/purposefully ignoring all of the above

I've been going through Francis Fukuyama's The End of History and the Last Man, taking notes.  I'm about a third of the way through, and although I'm sold on parts of his thesis (history does progress, from a certain point of view - Ian Morris' comparison of eastern and western civilizations shows certain standards which, when reached, nations never fall below - even in the event of supposed civilizational collapse or total war) but other parts of it are still highly contentious (that liberal democracies actually allow for the thymotic impulses of their citizens, that there will never be a theoretical model which will supersede liberal democracy, that Fukuyama's managerial technocrat approach to democracy is in fact democracy as widely imagined by the population at large etc etc).

I still think Universal History is retarded though, have no fear.  Contradictions will arise ultimately from all forms of government, and there will never be one which resolves them for forever, in theory or fact.  Solutions of pre-existing contradictions create new contradictions which are in turn only resolved to create yet more.

Apart from that, I'm also browsing Richard Overy's Russia's War.  I'm sure I've previously mentioned how I hate most WWII history, because I'm an elitist snob and most WWII histories take the form of Churchill wanking and pulp fiction.  And if I haven't, well, now you know.  This is an exception for two reasons: Overy is a brilliant historian, and it deals with the real theatre of conflict against Nazi Germany - the Eastern Front/the Great Patriotic War.  The Commonwealth (barely) contained Germany to the Continent, and American entry did spell the ultimate endgame for the regime - but without the Soviet Union, it probably would've taken closer to a decade, or involved the use of nuclear weapons in Europe.  By contrast, the Soviet Union crushed the Nazi war machine, absorbing everything it could throw at them and then steadily turning the tide.  It was truly terrible as well, especially when contrasted with western Europe.  The Nazis gave no quarter and the Soviets expected none.  The Nazis saw their enemies as subhuman, and the Soviets saw their own troops in more or less the same light - no cost was too high to stem the German advance. 

The most amazing thing is how much information on that theatre of the war is still missing.  Successive Russian governments have released military documents, and unedited versions of biographies from the generals were (eventually) released, but intelligence files remain "lost".  We also know almost nothing about Stalin's thinking either, other than the letters he wrote, which cannot ultimately be trusted.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Prelate Diogenes Shandor on August 31, 2011, 02:29:20 PM
Quote from: Cain on August 31, 2011, 12:31:22 PM
/purposefully ignoring all of the above

Yes, I think that's probably the wise thing to do.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Anna Mae Bollocks on August 31, 2011, 07:51:32 PM
For once, I am reading nothing but the interbutts.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: dontblameyoko on September 02, 2011, 03:29:54 AM
Hildegard von Bingen's Mystical Visions
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Placid Dingo on September 02, 2011, 09:44:26 AM
Read Daisy Miller. Was tolerable until a shit ending.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on September 06, 2011, 04:23:46 PM
Got my copy of The Long Twentieth Century: Money, Power and the Origins of our Times by Giovanni Arrighi in the post today.

Ippy and Pickles might find this of interest in particular.  As I understand it, his basic thesis is that "financialization" of the economy is not an end-stage or further stage of capitalist development, but a reoccuring event throughout history, which tends to undermine the pre-eminent economic powers and create a new system whereby challengers depose that power and become a new hegemon.

Though there is more to it than just that.  As Arrighi says in the introduction, the book is essentially about the two interdependent master processes of the modern era - the creation of a national state system and the formation of a worldwide capitalist system".

So, should be fun.  Arrighi's prose is quite readable as well, which always helps.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Luna on September 07, 2011, 12:01:44 AM
Have acquired all but a few of the books on this list for my kindle:

http://www.npr.org/2011/08/11/139085843/your-picks-top-100-science-fiction-fantasy-books

Going to tidy 'em up, load them up, and start going through the ones I haven't read, yet.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Juana on September 07, 2011, 04:07:12 AM
(https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-GkDkbxAUVh8/TmbfTQvRoMI/AAAAAAAAAWo/WwlWwMLCs84/s912/IMAG0003.jpg)
Which, so far, is not nearly as boring as Dr. Cave Guy claimed it would be.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on September 07, 2011, 12:19:07 PM
Both the Oxford and Cambridge Medieval Europe histories are surprisingly well written and engaging.

If you want another well written, if somewhat more focused book on medieval history, I highly recommend A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous Fourteenth Century by Barbara Tuchman, of the Guns of August fame.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Disco Pickle on September 07, 2011, 01:16:33 PM
Quote from: Cain on September 06, 2011, 04:23:46 PM
Got my copy of The Long Twentieth Century: Money, Power and the Origins of our Times by Giovanni Arrighi in the post today.

Ippy and Pickles might find this of interest in particular.  As I understand it, his basic thesis is that "financialization" of the economy is not an end-stage or further stage of capitalist development, but a reoccuring event throughout history, which tends to undermine the pre-eminent economic powers and create a new system whereby challengers depose that power and become a new hegemon.

Though there is more to it than just that.  As Arrighi says in the introduction, the book is essentially about the two interdependent master processes of the modern era - the creation of a national state system and the formation of a worldwide capitalist system".

So, should be fun.  Arrighi's prose is quite readable as well, which always helps.

It just so happens I was holding out for a good recommendation before starting another book.  That sounds like a good one.  Thanks for the tip Cain.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on September 08, 2011, 12:34:45 PM
You might find he's a little Marxist influenced in places...not massively so, most historical sociologists like Arrighi do borrow from Marx, but they also borrow from practically everyone else.  His actual theorizing and history seems to divert from any sort of easily definable political position, as a history book ultimately should.

Plus, it's interesting.

Also just got Nir Rosen's Aftermath: Following the bloodshed of America's Wars in the Muslim World.

And fuck me it's huge.  It's over 550 pages long, and that's the hardback version.  Rosen's got a very good rep as a journalist, thoroughly deserved, so I'm hoping this will live up to expectations.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Iason Ouabache on September 10, 2011, 07:19:19 AM
Recently read American Juggalo (Kindle Single). It is a not-quite-gonzo story by a journalist who went to The Gathering in southern Illinois and somehow survived. Could have been better but he had some interesting insights into their culture.  The publisher of that, N+1, also has a book called What Was the Hipster?: A Sociological Investigation which I'm dying to read sometime soon.

Also read The Game from Where I Stand by Doug Glanville. I'm sure it wouldn't interest anyone here but it's good as far as baseball books go.

Also read The Stranger by Camus. I'm not ready to discuss it yet.  :|
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: the last yatto on September 10, 2011, 07:26:25 AM
Dmz vol 1 - brian wood
Chaos monkey - jaq d hawkins
Thus spoke zarathustra - nietzsche
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Eater of Clowns on September 10, 2011, 02:09:49 PM
I went to the library to pick up the much hailed The Name of the Wind and right next to it in the new fiction section I saw a copy of A Dance with Dragons!

I grabbed it immediately and had a chat with the librarian about how excited I was and how shocked that it was there.  The wait list was 50 people long last time I checked it.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: the last yatto on September 12, 2011, 04:12:09 PM

(http://img689.imageshack.us/img689/9585/nextamericanwar.jpg) (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/689/nextamericanwar.jpg/)

DMZ reminds me a bit of children of men, with its phishes and government forces battling it in in the not so distant future except this one is set in america and instead of filthy hippies as the rebels its heavily influenced from the  tea party... and this one includes a neutral third party whos just trying to survive in the middle of a war zone...

the author  is cool enough to give you issue one for free http://www.brianwood.com/downloads/dmz_1.pdf
as well as a cool promo http://www.brianwood.com/downloads/Take_a_Break_DMZ_Magazine.pdf
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: dontblameyoko on September 16, 2011, 03:42:22 AM
Just Kids by Patti Smith
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: El Sjaako on September 16, 2011, 01:44:25 PM
I'm currently struggling through Quantum Psychology by RAW, but I found I had enough criticism that I'm annotating it. So now the margins are filled with notes like "ost scolars translate the first line of the Tao te Ching differenly" and "Qualifiers can be added in normal English too".

I've also got The Meaning of Liff by Douglas N. Adams on the side, for when I get enough of Wilson.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on September 16, 2011, 05:39:53 PM
Still reading "In the Temple of My Familiar" and it's hurting my soul

damn you, Alice Walker!
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Placid Dingo on September 17, 2011, 01:40:41 PM
Finished A Room With a View. Just brilliant. It's an older work but it's still quite subversive (in attitudes to religion, if not to women). The story is engaging, the characters well drawn and believable. Would reccomend.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Luna on September 18, 2011, 06:46:49 PM
Oooh, guilty pleasures...

Just got my filthy little hands on a near-complete run of the Destroyer series.

Remo Williams.

They're just...  incredibly awful.

I am going to rot my brain right out of my skull.  (http://www.smiley-faces.org/smiley-faces/smiley-face-bouncing-003.gif)
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Don Coyote on September 18, 2011, 06:57:39 PM
The Goblin Corps

It has such wonderful lines.

"Why don't you come and try to kill us the hard way, and I'll shove you up that horse's ass and feed him beans"


"You really want to know Craeosh? I had to relieve myself. That enough detail for you, or did you want shape, color and texture?"
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Juana on September 19, 2011, 01:40:46 AM
Kill the Dead by Richard Kadry. Absolutely fucking hilarious.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cramulus on September 19, 2011, 04:34:38 PM
Reading The Big Book of Pain, which Richter recommended to me. It's excellent nightmare fuel. Seriously. Disturbing as hell.

What really sticks out about it, in my mind: (repost warning)

one of the points they repeatedly make in the book is that in the history of public executions, it's often not the case that the leaders were these twisted sadistic fucks... it's that the CROWDS demanded the worst possible punishments for lawbreakers.

If a magistrate was seen as being too light on crime, it was very possible for the unruly mob to turn on him. The pillory, the breaking wheel, the ducking stool ... these weren't purely a tool of fear to keep the commoners from rising up. They were used to slake the public's demands for torture and death.

So having read that, I get quite a chill watching all these people cheering for the death penalty...




Also reading a book about ARGs which is too hung up on defining "what is a game" and other academic masturbation to say anything of meaning.




Hey jason --
Quote from: Iason Ouabache on September 10, 2011, 07:19:19 AM
Also read The Stranger by Camus. I'm not ready to discuss it yet.  :|

so are you ready yet? :P what did you think?
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Faust on September 19, 2011, 10:43:19 PM
I read warren ellis's SVK there, its a indie thing and comes with a weird blacklight that adds stuff into each page. I'd call it gimmicky but the story is genuinely good enough that it creates a good sense of immersion in the story and builds on it.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Luna on September 19, 2011, 10:51:32 PM
Shit.

I have this tradition, see...  When there's a new book in a series coming out, I re-read the series.  (I read stupid fast, so, for most new novels coming out, this is doable.) 

There's a new Discworld novel coming out.  This one would be...  Book...   39...

:horrormirth:

Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Jasper on September 20, 2011, 02:20:48 AM
Luckily I have reread almost all of them in the last year.  My brain has a big appetite for absurd British humor, I guess.

Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cramulus on September 21, 2011, 09:53:29 PM
that's crazy talk

I know I'm missing out on lots of great literature, but I just plain do not have the patience to wade through that much text.

A few years ago some friends finally convinced me to read the first book of Wheel of Time. When I finished it, I felt frustrated... the author didn't resolve any of the conflicts he put on the table. Everything was left hanging.

My friend said, "Ah yeah, you've gotta read another 8000 pages before they even START to wrap any of that shit up."

fuck that noise! I don't even like fantasy. A thousand pages is pushing it, if I knew the whole series was gonna be like Lost (ie, a tease with an extremely delayed payoff), I never would have picked it up to begin with!


/rant
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on September 21, 2011, 09:59:12 PM
I would say the only reason to read that series is for the incredible breath of fresh air Brandon Sanderson brings to the series after 500,000,000 interminable pages about insanely aggressive women and intricately detailed life stories of minor characters who then die five minutes later.

Gotta give the dude props - he's readable.  Enjoyable, even.  Robert Jordan had mastered some kind of Epic Boredom - a grand, wordy and ultimately mind-numbing style of writing that makes you want to beat yourself to death with the book in question (a very real possibility, given how wordy such authors can be).
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cramulus on September 21, 2011, 10:12:11 PM
Quote from: Cain on September 21, 2011, 09:59:12 PM
Robert Jordan had mastered some kind of Epic Boredom - a grand, wordy and ultimately mind-numbing style of writing that makes you want to beat yourself to death with the book in question (a very real possibility, given how wordy such authors can be).

fucking troof

Most of Eye of the World is like the beginning of Fellowship - nothing happens except a bunch of boring characters prancing around in circles. It took me four tries before I got to anything cool happening. I'm not the kind of guy who needs an instant payoff, but if you read 100 pages and nothing interesting happens, then an editor needs to take a machete to the manuscript. Are there any redeeming female characters in that series? The ones in Eye of the World were all annoying as fuck. I have a hard time sympathizing with anybody whose only dialog is scowling and shrewish screeching noises.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on September 21, 2011, 10:16:56 PM
All of Jordan's female characters are like that.  Not just in the series - in everything he ever wrote, I am reliably informed.

And there was more than just a bit of LOTR around the start of the book, wasn't there?  In some ways, Sanderson was an inspired choice for his replacement, as Sanderson can write good female characters and writes less...orthodox fantasy series.  And he doesn't have a stick up his arse about what a genius writer he is, like Jordan was (reputed) to.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Disco Pickle on September 22, 2011, 03:46:18 AM
Just finished re-reading Swan Song, because I remember it being a pretty decent post apocalyptic horror story from my youth.

I really did forget the overtly christian undertones to the entire thing, which soured me on it forever.

But hell, it was fantasy fiction and it was nice to revisit a book I did really like when I was but a wee lad.

Starting Joe Abercrombie's "The First Law" tomorrow to fill my fiction spot. 

Cain, you are recommending too many god damned books for me to keep up in my non-fiction requirements.

But keep it up sir.  Keep it up. 

It just means I am falling behind.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Luna on September 23, 2011, 12:03:40 AM
Okay, break from EVERYTHING.

Just got my hands on a copy of the original Harlan Ellison script of the City on the Edge of Forever.  Including the forwards and afterwords with Ellison discussing how Roddenberry and Shatner screwed him over.  Had a copy of this, ages ago, and I think an old boyfriend swiped it.   :argh!:
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Jasper on September 23, 2011, 11:28:43 PM
Rereading Phantoms In The Brain because it is the best popular cog-neuroscience book I've ever read or heard of.

I want to meet someone with Cotard's Syndrome. 
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Prelate Diogenes Shandor on September 26, 2011, 06:32:39 AM
MSPA Problem Sleuth (http://www.mspaintadventures.com/?s=4), an extremely surreal film-noir and videogame themed webcomic where objects belligerently change into other objects, windows and doors only lead outside when they are plugged in, the mob kingpin's only weaknesses are romance novels and diabetes, and women's underwear can change your height.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on September 26, 2011, 06:37:36 AM
I just started reading "Intimacy & Desire".
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Luna on September 28, 2011, 04:10:59 PM
Back to Discworld.

I want a Feegle!

http://www.pjsmprints.com/badges/index.html
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: kingyak on September 28, 2011, 05:01:02 PM
Fool by Christopher Moore and a book about the Hatfield/McCoy feud.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Placid Dingo on October 05, 2011, 07:34:10 AM
Finished Tale of Two Cities. Loved loved loved it.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Xooxe on October 09, 2011, 06:54:11 PM
The Hansa Towns by Helen Zimmern. It's the only book about the Hanseatic League - a north European maritime trade alliance that did fun things like declaring war on Denmark - that I could get hold of or afford that isn't in German.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Prelate Diogenes Shandor on October 13, 2011, 02:57:13 AM
Quote from: Luna on September 28, 2011, 04:10:59 PM
Back to Discworld.

I want a Feegle!

http://www.pjsmprints.com/badges/index.html

Discworld is AWESOME!
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on October 13, 2011, 09:08:30 AM
Got Pratchett's new book today.

Will review when not exhausted.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Luna on October 13, 2011, 10:49:41 AM
Quote from: Cain on October 13, 2011, 09:08:30 AM
Got Pratchett's new book today.

Will review when not exhausted.

Oooh!  Gottagetgottaget...
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on October 14, 2011, 03:18:51 AM
About three quarters of the way through.  Willikin's expanded role is very welcome in this book, as is Young Sam's constant ruminations on the subject of poo.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: kingyak on October 14, 2011, 03:24:09 AM
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.

Never read it before or seen the movie. Enjoying it so far.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on October 14, 2011, 04:05:32 AM
Just started Brom's "Child Thief". So far it's readable.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Luna on October 14, 2011, 04:35:14 AM
Quote from: Cain on October 14, 2011, 03:18:51 AM
About three quarters of the way through.  Willikin's expanded role is very welcome in this book, as is Young Sam's constant ruminations on the subject of poo.

I'm liking it.   :)  About halfway through.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on October 14, 2011, 02:47:55 PM
Finally started "Dance of Dragons".  Already it's more interesting than "Feast for Crows".  Sweet merciful fuck, that book was a downer.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Disco Pickle on October 14, 2011, 02:53:22 PM
Quote from: LMNO, PhD (life continues) on October 14, 2011, 02:47:55 PM
Finally started "Dance of Dragons".  Already it's more interesting than "Feast for Crows".  Sweet merciful fuck, that book was a downer.

Best book in the series IMO. 

I didn't think he could top Swords.  I was pleasantly surprised.

Still, don't think he can wrap this up in two more books.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on October 14, 2011, 05:39:08 PM
"Child Thief" is getting less readable as I go on. Holy mother fuck, this guy is an unimaginative writer! The storyline is imaginative enough, but the writing is telly and predictable.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Luna on October 14, 2011, 06:57:15 PM
Quote from: Disco Pickle on October 14, 2011, 02:53:22 PM
Quote from: LMNO, PhD (life continues) on October 14, 2011, 02:47:55 PM
Finally started "Dance of Dragons".  Already it's more interesting than "Feast for Crows".  Sweet merciful fuck, that book was a downer.

Best book in the series IMO. 

I didn't think he could top Swords.  I was pleasantly surprised.

Still, don't think he can wrap this up in two more books.

Given that, by the time that bastard gets two more books out, I'll likely be dead of old age, it really doesn't matter.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on October 14, 2011, 07:02:55 PM
Quote from: Nigel on October 14, 2011, 05:39:08 PM
"Child Thief" is getting less readable as I go on. Holy mother fuck, this guy is an unimaginative writer! The storyline is imaginative enough, but the writing is telly and predictable.

Never heard of it.  How was it recommended to you?
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on October 14, 2011, 07:12:11 PM
I'm also re-reading the Malazan Books of the Fallen.  I'm up to the Bonehunters, in just over 2 months, so that is pretty decent progress.

I'm also harvesting quotes from the series, because some of it is quite quotable.  Especially anything said by Kellanved, the most magnificent of Magnificent Bastards since, uh, ever, really.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on October 15, 2011, 01:38:48 AM
Quote from: LMNO, PhD (life continues) on October 14, 2011, 07:02:55 PM
Quote from: Nigel on October 14, 2011, 05:39:08 PM
"Child Thief" is getting less readable as I go on. Holy mother fuck, this guy is an unimaginative writer! The storyline is imaginative enough, but the writing is telly and predictable.

Never heard of it.  How was it recommended to you?

I'm supposed to review it. Theoretically I ought to read the whole thing in order to give it a proper review, but I'm less than 1/4 of the way through and I don't know if I'll make it that far. If he mentions that Peter fucking Pan has pointy ears ONE MORE TIME I'm going to throw the fucking book. After mentioning the pointy ears 45 times in the first three chapters I can't imagine why  the stupid fucker didn't think his readers would maybe possibly KNOW THE FUCKING EARS ARE POINTY.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on October 15, 2011, 02:03:53 AM
Psh, I only read halfway through a book, and I reviewed it.  Got a bonus payment for my troubles.

Admittedly, my book was much more interesting than this sounds.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Disco Pickle on October 16, 2011, 08:05:47 AM
A comic book store that was located across town for the last 20 years relocated to within 5 miles of me last February, but I just discovered it.  It's fairly impressive, but still out of my way considering I can walk to the one I've frequented since I was a teenager.

Two things I did pick up:

The Hedge Knight by GRR Martin.  The complete, collected stories, $15 and well worth it.  Set 100 years before Thrones, the Targaryans are rulers of the kingdoms.  It's first person from the view of a hedge knight who gets in a bad situation with one of Aegon's brothers.  If you're a fan, it belongs in your library.  Makes me want to reread the first book because I'm now a bit fuzzy on the lineage all of a sudden.

The other one is a graphically illustrated, shortened version of Shut Up, Stop Whining & Get a Life by Larry Winget. 

I won't comment more than to say that I agree with the entire thing.  Some funny panels in it too.

Oh, and I went to my first estate auction tonight with the GF and her GF.  I saw a very poorly kept box of papers that looked like a book that had been well worn, and had The Complete Works of Shakespeare (including 100 unique lithographs) as the top piece of paper.  Never done an auction, but decided I wanted it and would spend at least $50 for it.

After sitting there an hour and a half, I asked someone if they could move it up.  They did, I bid $20, no one out bid me and I came home with a box of papers.

Looked it up and found it here: http://www.abebooks.com/book-search/author/shakespeare-william-cullen-bryant-ed/

printed in 1886 in NY.  Printed in 25 volumes, 4 lithographs per volume.  It's in very poor condition unfortunately, none of the original leather covers and most of the binding is gone, and I haven't determined if I have every volume but I definitely have at least 9 and every lithograph I've found in it has been pristine, despite the serious wear on the edges of the paper.

I'm in love with it and will keep it forever, and may have developed a "thing" for estate auctions.  They were GIVING shit away.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Rumckle on October 18, 2011, 08:24:03 AM
I'm reading Fooled by Randomness by Taleb at th moment, it is pretty interesting. I especially like how he talks about monte carlo engines, as I've just learnt about them in physics.

Also, my copy of Feynman by Ottaviani and Myrick just arrived (I ordered it over a month ago  :argh!:), it looks pretty cool, it is written in graphic novel form.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: BadBeast on October 18, 2011, 11:51:40 AM
Quote from: Nigel on October 15, 2011, 01:38:48 AM
Quote from: LMNO, PhD (life continues) on October 14, 2011, 07:02:55 PM
Quote from: Nigel on October 14, 2011, 05:39:08 PM
"Child Thief" is getting less readable as I go on. Holy mother fuck, this guy is an unimaginative writer! The storyline is imaginative enough, but the writing is telly and predictable.

Never heard of it.  How was it recommended to you?

I'm supposed to review it. Theoretically I ought to read the whole thing in order to give it a proper review, but I'm less than 1/4 of the way through and I don't know if I'll make it that far. If he mentions that Peter fucking Pan has pointy ears ONE MORE TIME I'm going to throw the fucking book. After mentioning the pointy ears 45 times in the first three chapters I can't imagine why  the stupid fucker didn't think his readers would maybe possibly KNOW THE FUCKING EARS ARE POINTY.
That sounds like a good, honest review right there.  :lulz:
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on October 20, 2011, 12:17:41 AM
NET I HOPE YOU READ THIS

I was looking for those two books you were going to borrow today, and I am sadly forced to conclude that I left them at ML's house. :( Which means that I will never see them again.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Prelate Diogenes Shandor on October 20, 2011, 01:24:25 AM
Chess: MSPA Edition (http://mspfanventures.com/?s=87&p=3) and about a dozen other MS Paint Fan Adventures (http://mspfanventures.com/?page=all).
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Salty on October 20, 2011, 05:31:50 AM
Quote from: Cain on October 14, 2011, 03:18:51 AM
About three quarters of the way through.  Willikin's expanded role is very welcome in this book, as is Young Sam's constant ruminations on the subject of poo.

Ooh those are my favorite Pratchett books. Must acquire.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: BadBeast on October 20, 2011, 06:40:43 AM
Willikins is a bit of a double hard bastard on the quiet.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Salty on October 20, 2011, 07:05:11 AM
Well, yeah. He's a badass motherfucker. Didn't he bite a man's nose off in Jingo?
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: BadBeast on October 20, 2011, 09:31:17 AM
I know he used to run with the Shamlegger St Rude Boys. Wore a Cap with a brim full of razor sharp pennies. The Rope St Hookies still remember him as that right double hard bastard who left at least half of their OG Fathers with less teeth and more nose than they had previous to meeting him up a dark alley.  And the other half still glance around nervously at the sound of his name. I heard that he effortlessly took out six unlicensed snaggers who jumped him in the Shades one night, and casually one of their faces right away from the bone. The Dolly Sisters had to suggest a different career for him,  because the even paid up Guild members were too nervous to work the Shades for a week after seeing what that poor snagger was left to smile with.  He was co opted into the Old Duke's Household Service, where he's been ever since. A most capable man by all accounts. Wears  Ladies Lacy underwear according to Rosie Palm. Who isn't given to making gossip up. Much.
In the same Guildmason's Lodge as Vetinari too, so he must be well connected.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on October 20, 2011, 10:55:46 AM
His finest moment, before those in Snuff, was his one in Thud, where he took down a dwarven assassin with an ice knife, then hung the other one on a meat hook.

As Vimes remarks in Snuff, he'd make a damn good copper, if he didn't make such a fine assassin.  I think his reply was something along the line that he had considered the Assassins Guild, but they had rules.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Juana on October 20, 2011, 06:14:54 PM
Snuff is currently sitting on my desk, but I haven't started it yet. I really need to, from the sounds of it.

The South vs. The South: How Anti-Confederate Southerners Shaped the Course of the Civil War by William Freehling. It's a for-class book, but I'm quite enjoying it.

Re-reading American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War on America by Chris Hedges. I know I've said it before, but I highly recommend it.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Xooxe on October 21, 2011, 03:29:52 AM
WAIT WHY IS THIS THREAD UNOFFICIAL? WHERE ARE THE CORRECT CHANNELS?
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Disco Pickle on October 21, 2011, 03:38:28 AM
Quote from: Xooxe on October 21, 2011, 03:29:52 AM
WAIT WHY IS THIS THREAD UNOFFICIAL? WHERE ARE THE CORRECT CHANNELS?

The proper channels require an order, signed in triplicate, sent in, sent back, queried, lost, found, subjected to public enquiry, lost again, and finally buried in soft peat for three months and recycled as firelighters.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Placid Dingo on October 21, 2011, 06:55:56 AM
Quote from: Xooxe on October 21, 2011, 03:29:52 AM
WAIT WHY IS THIS THREAD UNOFFICIAL? WHERE ARE THE CORRECT CHANNELS?

It's there in LC. All four pages or so of it. I think it says something about us as a community.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: kingyak on October 21, 2011, 04:51:45 PM
About halfway through Supergods by Grant Morrison. Fucking excellent.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Faust on October 29, 2011, 11:07:44 PM
Just finished every issue of hell blazer to date. The series never dips in quality and it has been running for 31 years. Definitely recommend this to anyone who found the character in swamp thing interesting.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on October 30, 2011, 01:55:56 AM
Just started the Wind-Up Bird Chronicles. It's pretty compelling so far.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Eater of Clowns on November 07, 2011, 11:31:24 PM
I picked up House  of Leaves.

It's been a while since a book captured my interest to this degree.  I knew from the first page that this would be one I'd fall in love with, but it wasn't until this morning that I actually read a bit of it.  And I did nothing else but sit with this big beautiful book in the sun and nothing else mattered; I could piece together a quick lunch, the dishes could be done later.  This moment, with this book, is perfect and fleeting and reminded me so much of being a kid, the wonder books could bring.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Faust on November 07, 2011, 11:44:42 PM
Quote from: Eater of Clowns on November 07, 2011, 11:31:24 PM
I picked up House  of Leaves.

It's been a while since a book captured my interest to this degree.  I knew from the first page that this would be one I'd fall in love with, but it wasn't until this morning that I actually read a bit of it.  And I did nothing else but sit with this big beautiful book in the sun and nothing else mattered; I could piece together a quick lunch, the dishes could be done later.  This moment, with this book, is perfect and fleeting and reminded me so much of being a kid, the wonder books could bring.

I'd like to talk to you about this after your done, I wont say anything now because you are clearly enjoying it but I had a few things nag me about that book.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Eater of Clowns on November 08, 2011, 12:15:44 AM
Quote from: Faust on November 07, 2011, 11:44:42 PM
Quote from: Eater of Clowns on November 07, 2011, 11:31:24 PM
I picked up House  of Leaves.

It's been a while since a book captured my interest to this degree.  I knew from the first page that this would be one I'd fall in love with, but it wasn't until this morning that I actually read a bit of it.  And I did nothing else but sit with this big beautiful book in the sun and nothing else mattered; I could piece together a quick lunch, the dishes could be done later.  This moment, with this book, is perfect and fleeting and reminded me so much of being a kid, the wonder books could bring.

I'd like to talk to you about this after your done, I wont say anything now because you are clearly enjoying it but I had a few things nag me about that book.


Hah, I'm only 61 pages into it and I think I'll be taking this one slowly.  I have five or six hundred pages to find things that nag me.  Let's see if I can remember this conversation in a few weeks and I'll pick your brain.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on November 09, 2011, 05:32:47 PM
Quote from: Faust on November 07, 2011, 11:44:42 PM
Quote from: Eater of Clowns on November 07, 2011, 11:31:24 PM
I picked up House  of Leaves.

It's been a while since a book captured my interest to this degree.  I knew from the first page that this would be one I'd fall in love with, but it wasn't until this morning that I actually read a bit of it.  And I did nothing else but sit with this big beautiful book in the sun and nothing else mattered; I could piece together a quick lunch, the dishes could be done later.  This moment, with this book, is perfect and fleeting and reminded me so much of being a kid, the wonder books could bring.

I'd like to talk to you about this after your done, I wont say anything now because you are clearly enjoying it but I had a few things nag me about that book.


I'd like to discuss it as well, once you're done with it.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Freeky on November 09, 2011, 07:29:54 PM
I just finished reading 1-6 of Preacher.

First I was like  :eek: :D and then I  :eek: :x :cry: and then  :D and then  :eek: :cry: . 
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: The Good Reverend Roger on November 09, 2011, 07:54:08 PM
Quote from: Science me, babby on November 09, 2011, 07:29:54 PM
I just finished reading 1-6 of Preacher.

First I was like  :eek: :D and then I  :eek: :x :cry: and then  :D and then  :eek: :cry: .  

The whole thing with Cassidy and Jesse's GF kind of ruined it for me.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Freeky on November 09, 2011, 07:58:18 PM
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on November 09, 2011, 07:54:08 PM
Quote from: Science me, babby on November 09, 2011, 07:29:54 PM
I just finished reading 1-6 of Preacher.

First I was like  :eek: :D and then I  :eek: :x :cry: and then  :D and then  :eek: :cry: .  

The whole thing with Cassidy and Jesse's GF kind of ruined it for me.

I think that that was more a combination of God fucking with Jesse and the voodoo guy trying to curse Cassidy, also a "protagonist vs. stabbed in the back" sort of plotline.  And it isn't like Tulip was into it, or at least not that I interpreted.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Freeky on November 09, 2011, 07:59:50 PM
But yeah, that kind of devastated me in a way that is hard to describe.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Eater of Clowns on November 09, 2011, 08:33:02 PM
Cassidy with Jesse's GF, and Cassidy's relationships with women in general, were one of the biggest fridge brilliance moments I had throughout that series.

Spoilers ahoy for those who intend to read Preacher.

He's a departure from the typical vampire, highlighted by his interaction with that other vampire in New Orleans.  But he still sucks the life out of people.  What he did to his exes, what he did to Jesse's GF, it's vampirism without the blood.  When I realized that, I could move past it.

What bothered me the most about the series was just the loads and loads of author tract.  Just pages and pages of what was clearly Ennis speaking instead of his characters.  Still an entertaining series, though.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: EK WAFFLR on November 09, 2011, 11:03:16 PM
Just finished Good Omens.

Thought I'd either re-read Prime Chaos by Phil Hine, or Steppenwolf by Herman Hesse.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Placid Dingo on November 10, 2011, 06:50:36 AM
Really want to read good omens.

I've started Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, and Talib's Black Swan.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Prelate Diogenes Shandor on November 12, 2011, 01:33:22 AM
Just finished reading Alice's Adventures In Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass. (I'd read parts of them before, but I'd never read them straight through from cover to cover)
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Placid Dingo on November 12, 2011, 01:58:01 AM
Quote from: Prelate Diogenes Shandor on November 12, 2011, 01:33:22 AM
Just finished reading Alice's Adventures In Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass. (I'd read parts of them before, but I'd never read them straight through from cover to cover)

Love them both. There's a BBC adaptation that stays very close and keeps a lot of the beautiful wordplay intact.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Eater of Clowns on November 17, 2011, 08:55:50 PM
Quote from: LMNO, PhD (life continues) on November 09, 2011, 05:32:47 PM
Quote from: Faust on November 07, 2011, 11:44:42 PM
Quote from: Eater of Clowns on November 07, 2011, 11:31:24 PM
I picked up House  of Leaves.

It's been a while since a book captured my interest to this degree.  I knew from the first page that this would be one I'd fall in love with, but it wasn't until this morning that I actually read a bit of it.  And I did nothing else but sit with this big beautiful book in the sun and nothing else mattered; I could piece together a quick lunch, the dishes could be done later.  This moment, with this book, is perfect and fleeting and reminded me so much of being a kid, the wonder books could bring.

I'd like to talk to you about this after your done, I wont say anything now because you are clearly enjoying it but I had a few things nag me about that book.


I'd like to discuss it as well, once you're done with it.

My first few thoughts here.

http://www.principiadiscordia.com/forum/index.php?topic=30800.0 (http://www.principiadiscordia.com/forum/index.php?topic=30800.0)
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: EK WAFFLR on November 20, 2011, 12:11:14 AM
Now reading: Double Dexter by Jeff Lindsay.
Next on list: Re-reading of Joyce's Ulysses
Then I plan on re-reading the Mistborn trilogy.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Rococo Modem Basilisk on November 23, 2011, 05:26:37 PM
Just finished As She Climbed Across the Table by Jonathan Lethem. It's closer to Chronic City than Gun With Occasional Music in style. I rather like that style.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Luna on November 24, 2011, 04:21:32 PM
Rummaging through the pile of "gonna read this someday" books I've got lined up for the Kindle.  Where to start...
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Prelate Diogenes Shandor on December 04, 2011, 09:17:57 PM
IDK Comics (http://easiersaid.net/?p=1351)
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: ñͤͣ̄ͦ̌̑͗͊͛͂͗ ̸̨̨̣̺̼̣̜͙͈͕̮̊̈́̈͂͛̽͊ͭ̓͆ͅé ̰̓̓́ͯ́́͞ on December 07, 2011, 05:13:28 AM
Microstyle by Christopher Johnson

It's about pleasing women with a micropenis.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on December 07, 2011, 08:15:07 PM
Quote from: Net on December 07, 2011, 05:13:28 AM
Microstyle by Christopher Johnson

It's about pleasing women with a micropenis.

You are shitting me.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on December 07, 2011, 08:28:36 PM
Quote from: Nigel on December 07, 2011, 08:15:07 PM
Quote from: Net on December 07, 2011, 05:13:28 AM
Microstyle by Christopher Johnson

It's about pleasing women with a micropenis.

You are shitting me.

No, that's a different book, called The Cleaveland Steam Engine That Could.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on December 07, 2011, 08:38:59 PM
Quote from: LMNO, PhD (life continues) on December 07, 2011, 08:28:36 PM
Quote from: Nigel on December 07, 2011, 08:15:07 PM
Quote from: Net on December 07, 2011, 05:13:28 AM
Microstyle by Christopher Johnson

It's about pleasing women with a micropenis.

You are shitting me.

No, that's a different book, called The Cleaveland Steam Engine That Could.

:horrormirth:
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: ñͤͣ̄ͦ̌̑͗͊͛͂͗ ̸̨̨̣̺̼̣̜͙͈͕̮̊̈́̈͂͛̽͊ͭ̓͆ͅé ̰̓̓́ͯ́́͞ on December 08, 2011, 04:51:26 AM
Quote from: LMNO, PhD (life continues) on December 07, 2011, 08:28:36 PM
Quote from: Nigel on December 07, 2011, 08:15:07 PM
Quote from: Net on December 07, 2011, 05:13:28 AM
Microstyle by Christopher Johnson

It's about pleasing women with a micropenis.

You are shitting me.

No, that's a different book, called The Cleaveland Steam Engine That Could.

:lulz:

Yeah, I was being an asshat.

It's about "the art of writing little".
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on December 08, 2011, 04:55:05 AM
Quote from: Net on December 08, 2011, 04:51:26 AM
Quote from: LMNO, PhD (life continues) on December 07, 2011, 08:28:36 PM
Quote from: Nigel on December 07, 2011, 08:15:07 PM
Quote from: Net on December 07, 2011, 05:13:28 AM
Microstyle by Christopher Johnson

It's about pleasing women with a micropenis.

You are shitting me.

No, that's a different book, called The Cleaveland Steam Engine That Could.

:lulz:

Yeah, I was being an asshat.

It's about "the art of writing little".

Thank god, because I think my brain would explode.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Prelate Diogenes Shandor on December 09, 2011, 04:32:04 AM
Quote from: Waffle Iron on November 09, 2011, 11:03:16 PM
Just finished Good Omens.

That's a great book.

Have you read The Thief of Time. Its another Pratchett book focusing heavily on the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (although, unlike Good Omens, Pratchett wrote it by himself and its set in Discworld)
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: EK WAFFLR on December 09, 2011, 11:00:22 AM
Quote from: Prelate Diogenes Shandor on December 09, 2011, 04:32:04 AM
Quote from: Waffle Iron on November 09, 2011, 11:03:16 PM
Just finished Good Omens.

That's a great book.

Have you read The Thief of Time. Its another Pratchett book focusing heavily on the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (although, unlike Good Omens, Pratchett wrote it by himself and its set in Discworld)

I've read the entire Discworld series. :)
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Luna on December 09, 2011, 11:02:17 AM
Quote from: Waffle Iron on December 09, 2011, 11:00:22 AM
Quote from: Prelate Diogenes Shandor on December 09, 2011, 04:32:04 AM
Quote from: Waffle Iron on November 09, 2011, 11:03:16 PM
Just finished Good Omens.

That's a great book.

Have you read The Thief of Time. Its another Pratchett book focusing heavily on the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (although, unlike Good Omens, Pratchett wrote it by himself and its set in Discworld)

I've read the entire Discworld series. :)

Fantastic series.  It's in my purse.  (I LOVE my kindle...)
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Lenin McCarthy on December 09, 2011, 12:14:02 PM
De nasjonale strateger by Rune Slagstad. A political-cultural history of Norway from 1814 to the 1990s. My grandfather gave it to me as a Christmas present when I was about thirteen, I read two pages and then put it down for four years.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Triple Zero on December 09, 2011, 02:36:08 PM
Thief of Time is my favourite Discworld novel, but it's also one of the last ones in the series I read, I think I read all of them up to The Last Hero, which comes right after that, I don't recognize having read any of the later titles.

Unlike many people here, I actually didn't enjoy the Vimes stories that much (like Night Watch), but that might also have been the mindset + much younger me, as I read them many years ago. Always preferred Rincewind and the wizards (I really like Pratchett's take on magic, it's so ... tangible in his stories) and the "isolated" stories that are just about some part of the world with recurring characters only playing a minor role, if any, such as Pyramids and Small Gods (two of my other favourites).

I did like one of the very early ones, where the City Watch battled the dragon and they messed with that "one in a million chance" thing :)
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: EK WAFFLR on December 09, 2011, 03:04:46 PM
Quote from: Triple Zero on December 09, 2011, 02:36:08 PM
Thief of Time is my favourite Discworld novel, but it's also one of the last ones in the series I read, I think I read all of them up to The Last Hero, which comes right after that, I don't recognize having read any of the later titles.

Unlike many people here, I actually didn't enjoy the Vimes stories that much (like Night Watch), but that might also have been the mindset + much younger me, as I read them many years ago. Always preferred Rincewind and the wizards (I really like Pratchett's take on magic, it's so ... tangible in his stories) and the "isolated" stories that are just about some part of the world with recurring characters only playing a minor role, if any, such as Pyramids and Small Gods (two of my other favourites).

I did like one of the very early ones, where the City Watch battled the dragon and they messed with that "one in a million chance" thing :)


Vimes is one of my favorite characters in the series, actually. The best Discworld novels, in my not very humble opinion, are Going Postal and Men At Arms.
And re: the dragon. I find Pratchett's quote on that book absolutely hilarious: Pu in one LOUSY dragon, and they call you a Fantasy writer!
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Placid Dingo on December 11, 2011, 12:54:15 AM
Dream Psychology - Sigmund Freud

Surprisingly, it's all to do with sex.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Prelate Diogenes Shandor on December 11, 2011, 04:43:51 AM
Quote from: Triple Zero on December 09, 2011, 02:36:08 PM
Thief of Time is my favourite Discworld novel, but it's also one of the last ones in the series I read, I think I read all of them up to The Last Hero, which comes right after that, I don't recognize having read any of the later titles.

Thief of Time also has the advantage of dealing with blatantly Discordian/SubGenius themes. Its all chaos and pseudo-zen-like statements, and yetis, and time-control.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Rococo Modem Basilisk on December 12, 2011, 08:24:21 PM
Supergods demonstrates that Grant Morrison is actually literate, and not just pretending. It's not nearly as batshit crazy as you might think, but it's also not much of a straightforward history of superhero comics. It's about superheroes the same way that Cosmic Trigger is about UFOs. Totally worth the $20.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Juana on December 12, 2011, 09:48:57 PM
Blood and Rage: a Cultural History of Terrorism by Michael Burleigh, and American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House by Jon Meacham
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Freeky on December 12, 2011, 09:55:12 PM
Quote from: Triple Zero on December 09, 2011, 02:36:08 PM
Thief of Time is my favourite Discworld novel, but it's also one of the last ones in the series I read, I think I read all of them up to The Last Hero, which comes right after that, I don't recognize having read any of the later titles.

Unlike many people here, I actually didn't enjoy the Vimes stories that much (like Night Watch), but that might also have been the mindset + much younger me, as I read them many years ago. Always preferred Rincewind and the wizards (I really like Pratchett's take on magic, it's so ... tangible in his stories) and the "isolated" stories that are just about some part of the world with recurring characters only playing a minor role, if any, such as Pyramids and Small Gods (two of my other favourites).

I did like one of the very early ones, where the City Watch battled the dragon and they messed with that "one in a million chance" thing :)

Ricewind is my favorite recurring character, though I do like the Vimes stories equally much as the Rincewind ones.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: The Good Reverend Roger on December 12, 2011, 09:58:20 PM
Quote from: Science me, babby on December 12, 2011, 09:55:12 PM
Quote from: Triple Zero on December 09, 2011, 02:36:08 PM
Thief of Time is my favourite Discworld novel, but it's also one of the last ones in the series I read, I think I read all of them up to The Last Hero, which comes right after that, I don't recognize having read any of the later titles.

Unlike many people here, I actually didn't enjoy the Vimes stories that much (like Night Watch), but that might also have been the mindset + much younger me, as I read them many years ago. Always preferred Rincewind and the wizards (I really like Pratchett's take on magic, it's so ... tangible in his stories) and the "isolated" stories that are just about some part of the world with recurring characters only playing a minor role, if any, such as Pyramids and Small Gods (two of my other favourites).

I did like one of the very early ones, where the City Watch battled the dragon and they messed with that "one in a million chance" thing :)

Ricewind is my favorite recurring character, though I do like the Vimes stories equally much as the Rincewind ones.

Blarg.  Vimes is amazing, as is Death, etc, but Rincewind just isn't funny for some reason.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on December 12, 2011, 10:04:47 PM
I just started "The Epicure's Lament" and I really like it.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Freeky on December 12, 2011, 10:39:58 PM
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on December 12, 2011, 09:58:20 PM
Quote from: Science me, babby on December 12, 2011, 09:55:12 PM
Quote from: Triple Zero on December 09, 2011, 02:36:08 PM
Thief of Time is my favourite Discworld novel, but it's also one of the last ones in the series I read, I think I read all of them up to The Last Hero, which comes right after that, I don't recognize having read any of the later titles.

Unlike many people here, I actually didn't enjoy the Vimes stories that much (like Night Watch), but that might also have been the mindset + much younger me, as I read them many years ago. Always preferred Rincewind and the wizards (I really like Pratchett's take on magic, it's so ... tangible in his stories) and the "isolated" stories that are just about some part of the world with recurring characters only playing a minor role, if any, such as Pyramids and Small Gods (two of my other favourites).

I did like one of the very early ones, where the City Watch battled the dragon and they messed with that "one in a million chance" thing :)

Ricewind is my favorite recurring character, though I do like the Vimes stories equally much as the Rincewind ones.

Blarg.  Vimes is amazing, as is Death, etc, but Rincewind just isn't funny for some reason.

Your face is blargh.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Triple Zero on December 12, 2011, 10:40:34 PM
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on December 12, 2011, 09:58:20 PM
Quote from: Science me, babby on December 12, 2011, 09:55:12 PM
Quote from: Triple Zero on December 09, 2011, 02:36:08 PM
Thief of Time is my favourite Discworld novel, but it's also one of the last ones in the series I read, I think I read all of them up to The Last Hero, which comes right after that, I don't recognize having read any of the later titles.

Unlike many people here, I actually didn't enjoy the Vimes stories that much (like Night Watch), but that might also have been the mindset + much younger me, as I read them many years ago. Always preferred Rincewind and the wizards (I really like Pratchett's take on magic, it's so ... tangible in his stories) and the "isolated" stories that are just about some part of the world with recurring characters only playing a minor role, if any, such as Pyramids and Small Gods (two of my other favourites).

I did like one of the very early ones, where the City Watch battled the dragon and they messed with that "one in a million chance" thing :)

Ricewind is my favorite recurring character, though I do like the Vimes stories equally much as the Rincewind ones.

Blarg.  Vimes is amazing, as is Death, etc, but Rincewind just isn't funny for some reason.

Oh of course DEATH!! Been so long since I read them and I was racking my brain "Rincewind's pretty good but there was another recurring character I liked even better ...". I take it back, DEATH is my favourite character, Rincewind's mostly funny because of the way Pratchett describes magic and the places and situations RIncewind finds himself in (I don't like him so much as a character as the stuff that happens around him, the character's pretty annoying in fact when he really gets the spotlight).
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Freeky on December 12, 2011, 10:45:47 PM
Quote from: Triple Zero on December 12, 2011, 10:40:34 PM
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on December 12, 2011, 09:58:20 PM
Quote from: Science me, babby on December 12, 2011, 09:55:12 PM
Quote from: Triple Zero on December 09, 2011, 02:36:08 PM
Thief of Time is my favourite Discworld novel, but it's also one of the last ones in the series I read, I think I read all of them up to The Last Hero, which comes right after that, I don't recognize having read any of the later titles.

Unlike many people here, I actually didn't enjoy the Vimes stories that much (like Night Watch), but that might also have been the mindset + much younger me, as I read them many years ago. Always preferred Rincewind and the wizards (I really like Pratchett's take on magic, it's so ... tangible in his stories) and the "isolated" stories that are just about some part of the world with recurring characters only playing a minor role, if any, such as Pyramids and Small Gods (two of my other favourites).

I did like one of the very early ones, where the City Watch battled the dragon and they messed with that "one in a million chance" thing :)

Ricewind is my favorite recurring character, though I do like the Vimes stories equally much as the Rincewind ones.

Blarg.  Vimes is amazing, as is Death, etc, but Rincewind just isn't funny for some reason.

Oh of course DEATH!! Been so long since I read them and I was racking my brain "Rincewind's pretty good but there was another recurring character I liked even better ...". I take it back, DEATH is my favourite character, Rincewind's mostly funny because of the way Pratchett describes magic and the places and situations RIncewind finds himself in (I don't like him so much as a character as the stuff that happens around him, the character's pretty annoying in fact when he really gets the spotlight).

Your face is annoying.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on December 13, 2011, 01:45:43 PM
I'm really liking Moist Von Lipwig.  And Susan Sto Helit.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Scribbly on December 13, 2011, 02:12:55 PM
My favourite is Tiffany Aching.

This might partly be because I grew up in a tiny little village in the middle of nowhere, and her stories hit that small village vibe much better than the other Witches stories, IMO. Plus the Wee Free Men are fantastic.  :D
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on December 13, 2011, 02:18:17 PM
Shit.  I forgot about Granny Weatherwax.  She's awesome.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Scribbly on December 13, 2011, 02:20:08 PM
I recently dug out my old videos of the Wyrd Sisters cartoon.

The woman they got to do Granny Weatherwax's voice is perfect.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Luna on December 13, 2011, 03:02:51 PM
Feegles are AWESOME.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Hoser McRhizzy on December 15, 2011, 05:07:15 AM
Reading Discord's Apple by Carrie Vaughn.  It's nudge-nudge clever, the writing is decent and it makes the hour ride every morning on public transit fly.  I've caught myself smiling IN PUBLIC at this thing, and it's my second time reading it.


... completely off-topic, but if you were wanting to get a <10$ gift referencing eris mythology stuff for a mainstream-inclined someone and you know the principia might turn them way the fuck off, this book would not go awry.  Main character reads like the main character in Pattern Recognition (aimless and driven, always thinking, not hateable).  Also, if they liked American Gods, this'd go over wonderfully.

What have I reduced your thread to?  Terrible, terrible...  :lol:
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Prelate Diogenes Shandor on December 15, 2011, 06:09:24 AM
Quote from: Demolition_Squid on December 13, 2011, 02:20:08 PM
I recently dug out my old videos of the Wyrd Sisters cartoon.

The woman they got to do Granny Weatherwax's voice is perfect.

Have you seen any of the Mob Film Company live-action Discworld films? They're really good, (not counting the ill advised decision to cut the Temple of Bel-Shamharoth scene from Colour of Magic in favor of higher production values and more thorough exploration in the inherently weaker Wyrmburg scene)
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Scribbly on December 15, 2011, 11:23:15 AM
Quote from: Prelate Diogenes Shandor on December 15, 2011, 06:09:24 AM
Quote from: Demolition_Squid on December 13, 2011, 02:20:08 PM
I recently dug out my old videos of the Wyrd Sisters cartoon.

The woman they got to do Granny Weatherwax's voice is perfect.

Have you seen any of the Mob Film Company live-action Discworld films? They're really good, (not counting the ill advised decision to cut the Temple of Bel-Shamharoth scene from Colour of Magic in favor of higher production values and more thorough exploration in the inherently weaker Wyrmburg scene)

I actually disliked most of the live-action films, though I have seen them all. I enjoyed Going Postal, but for the most part I felt like they had to cut too much, and some of the casting choices were questionable at best. I'm generally not a fan of adaptations of books, though, so take that how you will.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Prelate Diogenes Shandor on December 16, 2011, 04:53:29 AM
getting back on topic,
I'm currently rereading "The Real Festivus (http://www.amazon.com/Real-Festivus-Daniel-OKeefe/dp/0399532293)" by Seinfeld writer Daniel O'Keefe Jr.

Its a very intriguing read. Apparently Festivus was largely based on a tradition in O'Keefe's family that mutated out of his parents' anniversary celebrations.

Assuming this is true, I this has, I recently realized, some very interesting implications. According to the book, O'Keefe's parents got married in 1962, which would mean that Festivus actually predates Kwanzaa by three years, and refute the only claim that Kwanzaa has to supposedly greater legitimacy than Festivus.

EDIT: I just looked at the price listed for this book in that amazon link earlier in this post, and HOLY SHIT! I've gotta start taking better care of my copy! $30-$350!? WTF!?
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on December 16, 2011, 05:02:33 AM
Quote from: Prelate Diogenes Shandor on December 16, 2011, 04:53:29 AM
getting back on topic,
I'm currently rereading "The Real Festivus" by Seinfeld writer Daniel O'Keefe Jr.

Its a very intriguing read. Apparently Festivus was largely based on a tradition in O'Keefe's family that mutated out of his parents' anniversary celebrations.

Assuming this is true, I this has, I recently realized, some very interesting implications. According to the book, O'Keefe's parents got married in 1962, which would mean that Festivus actually predates Kwanzaa by three years, and refute the only claim that Kwanzaa has to supposedly greater legitimacy than Festivus.

Check your reasoning... that assumes that they commenced the proto-Festivus anniversary celebrations on their first anniversary in 1963, which may or may not be true.

Not that I think it matters at all, I just wanted to check the logic there. Maybe the book has details that indicate that proto-Festivus was celebrated on their first anniversary.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Prelate Diogenes Shandor on December 16, 2011, 05:12:21 AM
Quote from: Nigel on December 16, 2011, 05:02:33 AM
Quote from: Prelate Diogenes Shandor on December 16, 2011, 04:53:29 AM
getting back on topic,
I'm currently rereading "The Real Festivus" by Seinfeld writer Daniel O'Keefe Jr.

Its a very intriguing read. Apparently Festivus was largely based on a tradition in O'Keefe's family that mutated out of his parents' anniversary celebrations.

Assuming this is true, I this has, I recently realized, some very interesting implications. According to the book, O'Keefe's parents got married in 1962, which would mean that Festivus actually predates Kwanzaa by three years, and refute the only claim that Kwanzaa has to supposedly greater legitimacy than Festivus.

Check your reasoning... that assumes that they commenced the proto-Festivus anniversary celebrations on their first anniversary in 1963, which may or may not be true.

Not that I think it matters at all, I just wanted to check the logic there. Maybe the book has details that indicate that proto-Festivus was celebrated on their first anniversary.

Good catch. I just looked back through the book to check, and it seems that didn't begin to turn into anything approximating its eventual form until their fourth anniversary.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on December 16, 2011, 05:22:40 AM
Quote from: Prelate Diogenes Shandor on December 16, 2011, 05:12:21 AM
Quote from: Nigel on December 16, 2011, 05:02:33 AM
Quote from: Prelate Diogenes Shandor on December 16, 2011, 04:53:29 AM
getting back on topic,
I'm currently rereading "The Real Festivus" by Seinfeld writer Daniel O'Keefe Jr.

Its a very intriguing read. Apparently Festivus was largely based on a tradition in O'Keefe's family that mutated out of his parents' anniversary celebrations.

Assuming this is true, I this has, I recently realized, some very interesting implications. According to the book, O'Keefe's parents got married in 1962, which would mean that Festivus actually predates Kwanzaa by three years, and refute the only claim that Kwanzaa has to supposedly greater legitimacy than Festivus.

Check your reasoning... that assumes that they commenced the proto-Festivus anniversary celebrations on their first anniversary in 1963, which may or may not be true.

Not that I think it matters at all, I just wanted to check the logic there. Maybe the book has details that indicate that proto-Festivus was celebrated on their first anniversary.

Good catch. I just looked back through the book to check, and it seems that didn't begin to turn into anything approximating its eventual form until their fourth anniversary.

Interesting to know... and still, that means that as a holiday it's pretty much contemporary with Kwanzaa.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Faust on December 18, 2011, 11:20:41 PM
I don't suppose anyone has come across a digital copy of The Place of Dead roads or The Western Lands?

I've searched and yet to find anything.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Rumckle on December 22, 2011, 08:19:45 AM
I just finished reading Anathem by Neal Stephenson, it is a one of the best novels I've read in a while, and I would say that anyone who likes physics, philosophy and mathematics would enjoy it, as it is pretty heavy on that stuff. It also reminded me how awesome geometry is.

I just started reading Them by Jon Ronson, after reading some people mentioning it here, it is both hilarious and slightly disturbing.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on December 22, 2011, 10:42:49 AM
Wait until you get to the final chapter, where Ronson and Alex Jones infiltrate Bohemian Grove.

Alex is slightly....excitable.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Placid Dingo on December 22, 2011, 01:22:05 PM
I should read 'Them' again, having a bit better concept of the political world now.

Reading, and loving The Trial. Also Three Musketeers, and The Moonlit Mind which is a freebie novella from Dean Koontz.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Triple Zero on December 22, 2011, 10:07:54 PM
Quote from: Rumckle on December 22, 2011, 08:19:45 AM
I just finished reading Anathem by Neal Stephenson, it is a one of the best novels I've read in a while, and I would say that anyone who likes physics, philosophy and mathematics would enjoy it, as it is pretty heavy on that stuff. It also reminded me how awesome geometry is.

I just started reading Them by Jon Ronson, after reading some people mentioning it here, it is both hilarious and slightly disturbing.

Except it goes all QUANTUMZ! near the end and frankly I thought it was kind of longwinded. I never bothered to read the final chapter after I asked the friend I borrowed it from if anything interesting was gonna happen except for "and the Hobbits return to the Shire", so I gave it back.

It had some interesting bits though and he obviously spent a lot of effort in thinking up that world.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Rumckle on December 22, 2011, 11:52:05 PM
Yeah, the entire ending was kinda weak. Also, I guess after listening to so many people misuse quantum theory I've kinda become immune to it now, especially in fiction works.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on December 23, 2011, 02:09:39 PM
From what I understand, it wasn't all that misused.  He simply decided to make the Multiple Universes theory the correct answer to the quantum problem, and extrapolated from that.

And the realization that Arbe and the other planets the Geometers are from are alternate copies of Earth Prime is pretty damn cool.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Igor on December 23, 2011, 03:01:28 PM
Quote from: LMNO, PhD (life continues) on December 23, 2011, 02:09:39 PM
From what I understand, it wasn't all that misused.

Yeah, Lee Smolin for instance said it was the only thing he'd ever read that almost made him believe the many-worlds interpretation.
It's one of the least quantum-abusing stories I've ever read.

To be honest, I had more trouble with the Platonism bits.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on December 23, 2011, 03:16:21 PM
It amused me that he takes a centuries-old philosophy, and applies it to modern quantum theory; as I understood it, our earth was the Platonic Ideal, and every iteration from there to Arbe were imperfect copies.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Igor on December 23, 2011, 03:48:41 PM
Really? What I got from it was that Arbe was more Platonic than Earth. (And Earth more Platonic than the other two worlds)
Although that may have just been the ideology of one of the groups on the spaceship; that they were on a continuous journey towards more perfection.

He did make the two ideas (Platonism and Quantumz) fit together really well though.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Triple Zero on December 23, 2011, 05:38:14 PM
Ok then I guess my judgement of the QUANTUMZ was heavily coloured by not liking the longwinded tedious descriptions of architecture in the writing style. I had a really hard time dealing with that, from visualizing the layout of the monastery to inside the spaceship, I sometimes had to re-read that stuff 3x to make sense of it and I didn't even like it, but it seemed necessary for the story.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on December 23, 2011, 05:39:57 PM
I'll agree that the writing was often the biggest challenge.  But for some reason, I didn't mind (though I usually do).
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Rumckle on December 23, 2011, 10:32:34 PM
Quote from: LMNO, PhD (life continues) on December 23, 2011, 02:09:39 PM
From what I understand, it wasn't all that misused.  He simply decided to make the Multiple Universes theory the correct answer to the quantum problem, and extrapolated from that.

And the realization that Arbe and the other planets the Geometers are from are alternate copies of Earth Prime is pretty damn cool.

Yeah, it wasn't so much the multiple universe theory of quantum mechanics that I had a problem with (though in general I think there are problems with it), rather it was:

SPOILERS

The quick changing between worlds at the end, when Raz and Ja went into the other universe where everybody was all dead. But because that bit was so confusing and multiple world quantum physics is also confusing, maybe it did make sense and I just had trouble understanding it.


As for the writing, I didn't have too much of a problem with it, probably because lately I've only been reading non-fiction, plus I'm used to reading philosophy works.


Quote from: Igor on December 23, 2011, 03:48:41 PM
Really? What I got from it was that Arbe was more Platonic than Earth. (And Earth more Platonic than the other two worlds)
Although that may have just been the ideology of one of the groups on the spaceship; that they were on a continuous journey towards more perfection.

I thought that was implied by the talk about how information can only flow down through the multiverse flow (or whatever it was called), and that implied that the spaceship could only go up the flow
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Triple Zero on December 24, 2011, 12:48:33 AM
Ah yes now I remember, it was the Quantum Ex Machina stuff (when the people were/weren't dead) that really bothered me. Maybe it all adds up scientifically, but then the old guy could shift realities with his mind and through chanting, and really that's just magic.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: El Sjaako on January 10, 2012, 01:54:07 PM
Just finished The great cat massacre and other episodes in French cultural history. It was not as good as the title suggests, but much better than you would expect from a scholarly work about 18th century French people.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Rumckle on January 25, 2012, 02:16:54 PM
Quote from: Cain on December 22, 2011, 10:42:49 AM
Wait until you get to the final chapter, where Ronson and Alex Jones infiltrate Bohemian Grove.

Alex is slightly....excitable.

Haha, that was pretty great, an interesting insight into how the minds of crackpots like Jones work.


Since that I've read The Wall Street Money Machine, which is a collection of three articles about the lead up to the banking collapse, and CDOs and all the bullshit that went on there. I found it fascinating, and it explained what happened rather clearly, definitely made more sense than when I was trying to piece together what happened through random newspaper articles.

I read Superfreakonomics, it is pretty much the same stuff as Freakonomics, so if you liked that you'll like this one, but don't expect any ground breaking revelations of thought. Though if you haven't read Freakonomics I'd suggest reading that instead, this one seemed slightly less complete/more rushed.


I've started reading The Prince, it's pretty cool, but can be a tough going at times with regard to some of the historical references.

I've also started Cat's Cradle as a bit of fiction reading, I really like the writing style, though at the start I was wondering if it was really Sci-Fi at all, because there wasn't anything in the way of amazing futuristic technology. Also, the short chapters make it easy to read in short bursts.

I also just picked up Relativity: A very short guide, mainly for the general relativity section, as while I've studied special relativity a few times, I am yet to look at general relativity (plus I'm also watching the Stanford Uni lectures on youtube).
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Jasper on January 25, 2012, 03:47:04 PM
I recently went to the El Cerrito free book exchange.

Came back feeling like that scene in Baron Munchausen where they steal all the gold.  I think my spinal discs compacted carrying those books to the car.

Now I don't know what to read next.  :(
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Placid Dingo on January 26, 2012, 02:29:44 AM
Nice choices Rum!

The Prince and Cats Cradle are two of my absolute favourites. Bokonism did a lot to shape my own personal brand of Discordia. I remember hearing Richard Kelly was thinking about making a Cats Cradle film.

I'm still reading the Old Testament. Up to Job. Also, Don Quixote.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Rumckle on January 26, 2012, 07:26:29 AM
Yeah, I'm kinda digging Vonnegut's writing style, I may have to get some more of his work once I finish Cat's Cradle. Do you have any suggestions?
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Placid Dingo on January 26, 2012, 09:27:55 AM
Ive only read Cats Cradle but Slaughterhouse Five is meant to be phenomenal.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Prince Glittersnatch III on January 28, 2012, 02:22:57 AM
Just got done reading On Writing and now Im reading The Reactionary Mind.
Im going to have to re-read The Authoritarians after it, they have a very nice synergy.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Placid Dingo on January 28, 2012, 03:35:51 AM
By Stephen King? My writing teacher worshipped that book.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on January 29, 2012, 03:09:24 AM
Quote from: Placid Dingo on January 28, 2012, 03:35:51 AM
By Stephen King? My writing teacher worshipped that book.

Best writing book I've ever read. Bar none.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: BadBeast on January 30, 2012, 06:31:30 AM
Tacitus. "The Madness of Nero"
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Juana on January 30, 2012, 06:34:21 AM
A biography of Andrew Jackson called "American Lion" by Jon Mecham
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Reeducation on February 01, 2012, 11:38:38 AM
Just read (again) Cosmic Trigger 1-3, Quantum Psychology and Prometheus Rising by RAW.
When I first read these, my english was not so good and things were new and interesting, but now I get the message:
8-circuits in my ass.

It's like when you take psychedelics and you go all WOAH, this is real, but then after a while you understand it's not.

Right now, I'm:   :sad: :eek: :lulz:

And if somebody is offended, I'm sorry, but it's time to wake up. Again.

edit: I never believed that there were 8-circuits or any circuits, but like many I believed I could "use" that model to "improve something". But it's impossible to "use" models, because they do not exist. All you can do, is to spin them around inside your head. That's about it. With every model.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Reeducation on February 01, 2012, 11:43:25 AM
Now reading Death of an Ordinary Man by Glen Duncan.
It's been a good read so far. On page 100.

It's about this dude who is dead, who then tries to solve what killed him and so on.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on February 01, 2012, 08:22:52 PM
Quote from: Reeducation on February 01, 2012, 11:38:38 AM
Just read (again) Cosmic Trigger 1-3, Quantum Psychology and Prometheus Rising by RAW.
When I first read these, my english was not so good and things were new and interesting, but now I get the message:
8-circuits in my ass.

It's like when you take psychedelics and you go all WOAH, this is real, but then after a while you understand it's not.

Right now, I'm:   :sad: :eek: :lulz:

And if somebody is offended, I'm sorry, but it's time to wake up. Again.

edit: I never believed that there were 8-circuits or any circuits, but like many I believed I could "use" that model to "improve something". But it's impossible to "use" models, because they do not exist. All you can do, is to spin them around inside your head. That's about it. With every model.

I'd disagree, but you seem like you've made a decision.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cramulus on February 01, 2012, 09:36:34 PM
Quote from: Reeducation on February 01, 2012, 11:38:38 AM
Just read (again) Cosmic Trigger 1-3, Quantum Psychology and Prometheus Rising by RAW.
When I first read these, my english was not so good and things were new and interesting, but now I get the message:
8-circuits in my ass.

It's like when you take psychedelics and you go all WOAH, this is real, but then after a while you understand it's not.

Right now, I'm:   :sad: :eek: :lulz:

And if somebody is offended, I'm sorry, but it's time to wake up. Again.

edit: I never believed that there were 8-circuits or any circuits, but like many I believed I could "use" that model to "improve something". But it's impossible to "use" models, because they do not exist. All you can do, is to spin them around inside your head. That's about it. With every model.

Shame that you did all that reading and still couldn't figure out how to make use of it.

Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Brotep on February 01, 2012, 09:39:46 PM
lol

well said, lmno


Aaaaaaanyway, almost finished with Paul Veyne's Did the Greeks Believe in Their Myths? which tackles its titular question as well as the more general question of what it means to believe in contradictory "programs of truth" simultaneously. Really cool book, do recommend.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cramulus on February 01, 2012, 09:42:25 PM
that sounds really interesting.

So tell us - did the Greeks believe their myths?
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Brotep on February 01, 2012, 09:51:37 PM
Quote from: Cramulus on February 01, 2012, 09:42:25 PM
that sounds really interesting.

So tell us - did the Greeks believe their myths?

Don't want to spoil it--has a surprise ending.

Just kidding. The average Greek would profess belief but be completely weirded out if you told them Athena had just gotten married, because it was implicit to the myths and unconsciously understood by the Greeks that mythic time was different from ordinary time. Typically historians didn't believe in the gods, but they had this notion that utter crap cannot erupt out of nowhere, so if a myth was too fantastic to believe, they would attempt to discern the kernel of truth it was based on. Interestingly, they often still doubted the stories they collected but felt a duty as historiographers to report the tales as they found them. This "objectivity" lent them a peculiar authority.


By the way, happy birthday.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: The Good Reverend Roger on February 01, 2012, 10:04:14 PM
Quote from: Reeducation on February 01, 2012, 11:38:38 AM
Just read (again) Cosmic Trigger 1-3, Quantum Psychology and Prometheus Rising by RAW.
When I first read these, my english was not so good and things were new and interesting, but now I get the message:
8-circuits in my ass.

It's like when you take psychedelics and you go all WOAH, this is real, but then after a while you understand it's not.

Right now, I'm:   :sad: :eek: :lulz:

And if somebody is offended, I'm sorry, but it's time to wake up. Again.

edit: I never believed that there were 8-circuits or any circuits, but like many I believed I could "use" that model to "improve something". But it's impossible to "use" models, because they do not exist. All you can do, is to spin them around inside your head. That's about it. With every model.

Yes, I know.  All those maps we had in the army were just used as modern art.

UNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNG!

1.  You're a fucking idiot.  Which model do you think advertisers and political action groups use?  Do you dispute that they are in fact effective?

2.  You're a fucking idiot.  If you were "sorry for offending people", you wouldn't have followed the apology with a fucking condescending remark.

Now fuck off.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Placid Dingo on February 01, 2012, 10:09:34 PM
I've read some of the histories of herodotus and that's definitely a recurring theme.

"now I think this is bullshit but what they tell me is..."
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: The Good Reverend Roger on February 01, 2012, 10:10:23 PM
Quote from: Placid Dingo on February 01, 2012, 10:09:34 PM
I've read some of the histories of herodotus and that's definitely a recurring theme.

"now I think this is bullshit but what they tell me is..."

I heard it from my brother's girlfriend's cousin, who knew a guy that was there.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: EK WAFFLR on February 02, 2012, 04:12:07 AM
Quote from: Placid Dingo on January 26, 2012, 09:27:55 AM
Ive only read Cats Cradle but Slaughterhouse Five is meant to be phenomenal.

Slaughterhouse 5 IS phenomenal,
Actually most his books are great.

I'm into a "read different stuff in different places" mood. I have the bible by my computer, I'm rereading Illuminatus! on the john, Down Under by Bill Bryson on the sofa, The Garden of the Righteous, a collection of stories about Mohammed the prophet by Muhyi al-Din al-Nawawi, written in the 13th century, while in bed, and Philip Kerr's Field Grey on the bus/train. 
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: DiscoRadio on February 02, 2012, 04:47:44 AM
Right now I'm reading the sixth Hitchhikers' Guide to the Galaxy Book. Douglas Adams not being the author is still a serious drawback, but I found it for 4 bucks and Colfer manages to be funny and insightful enough.

Hoping to pick up the second Hunger Games book soon (actually what I was looking for when I bought And Another Thing) since the first one was a pretty thrilling romp with decent themes and popular YA novels are great for making small talk.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on February 02, 2012, 05:03:48 AM
I started reading The Hunger Games, and it was quite interesting, as far as I made it. I hope to eventually finish it
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: EK WAFFLR on February 02, 2012, 05:37:41 AM
Quote from: DiscoRadio on February 02, 2012, 04:47:44 AM
Right now I'm reading the sixth Hitchhikers' Guide to the Galaxy Book. Douglas Adams not being the author is still a serious drawback, but I found it for 4 bucks and Colfer manages to be funny and insightful enough.

I found ...And Another Thing to be a respectful and worthy end to the Hitchiker's trilogy of five.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Reeducation on February 02, 2012, 08:25:40 AM
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on February 01, 2012, 10:04:14 PM
Quote from: Reeducation on February 01, 2012, 11:38:38 AM
Just read (again) Cosmic Trigger 1-3, Quantum Psychology and Prometheus Rising by RAW.
When I first read these, my english was not so good and things were new and interesting, but now I get the message:
8-circuits in my ass.

It's like when you take psychedelics and you go all WOAH, this is real, but then after a while you understand it's not.

Right now, I'm:   :sad: :eek: :lulz:

And if somebody is offended, I'm sorry, but it's time to wake up. Again.

edit: I never believed that there were 8-circuits or any circuits, but like many I believed I could "use" that model to "improve something". But it's impossible to "use" models, because they do not exist. All you can do, is to spin them around inside your head. That's about it. With every model.

Yes, I know.  All those maps we had in the army were just used as modern art.

UNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNG!

1.  You're a fucking idiot.  Which model do you think advertisers and political action groups use?  Do you dispute that they are in fact effective?

2.  You're a fucking idiot.  If you were "sorry for offending people", you wouldn't have followed the apology with a fucking condescending remark.

Now fuck off.

I think you misunderstanded something.
I meant psychological/mental models. Ones like 8-circuit, ego/id, shadow, gods and that kind of stuff. I thought it was obvious, because I was talking about the 8-circuit model. And the 8-circuit model is only in your head, not out there and you can't bring it out from your head and put it to use except in words. Unlike maps and other concrete things like a plan to invade some country. Those things can be put to action and that's a different thing.

Also english is my second language. Just saying.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: DiscoRadio on February 02, 2012, 12:53:04 PM
Quote from: Reeducation on February 02, 2012, 08:25:40 AM
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on February 01, 2012, 10:04:14 PM
Quote from: Reeducation on February 01, 2012, 11:38:38 AM
Just read (again) Cosmic Trigger 1-3, Quantum Psychology and Prometheus Rising by RAW.
When I first read these, my english was not so good and things were new and interesting, but now I get the message:
8-circuits in my ass.

It's like when you take psychedelics and you go all WOAH, this is real, but then after a while you understand it's not.

Right now, I'm:   :sad: :eek: :lulz:

And if somebody is offended, I'm sorry, but it's time to wake up. Again.

edit: I never believed that there were 8-circuits or any circuits, but like many I believed I could "use" that model to "improve something". But it's impossible to "use" models, because they do not exist. All you can do, is to spin them around inside your head. That's about it. With every model.

Yes, I know.  All those maps we had in the army were just used as modern art.

UNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNG!

1.  You're a fucking idiot.  Which model do you think advertisers and political action groups use?  Do you dispute that they are in fact effective?

2.  You're a fucking idiot.  If you were "sorry for offending people", you wouldn't have followed the apology with a fucking condescending remark.

Now fuck off.

I think you misunderstanded something.
I meant psychological/mental models. Ones like 8-circuit, ego/id, shadow, gods and that kind of stuff. I thought it was obvious, because I was talking about the 8-circuit model. And the 8-circuit model is only in your head, not out there and you can't bring it out from your head and put it to use except in words. Unlike maps and other concrete things like a plan to invade some country. Those things can be put to action and that's a different thing.

Also english is my second language. Just saying.

I see what you mean here. Personally, I derive some use from esoteric "facts" and figures. If a paradigm seems to apply to a situation, and I haven't dismissed said paradigm as totally fucking retarded, I tend to use it for metaphorical guidance.

What's your first language?
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: The Good Reverend Roger on February 02, 2012, 01:43:58 PM
Quote from: Reeducation on February 02, 2012, 08:25:40 AM
I think you misunderstanded something.
I meant psychological/mental models.

I fail to see any difference at all.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: moose on February 02, 2012, 04:27:53 PM
I have a bad habit of reading multiple books at once until I get really sucked into one. Right now I have several up in the air, including Walt Whitman complete works, Complete works of HP Lovecraft, retracing the King in Yellow, been reading Foucault History of Madness and The Order of Things. Anybody know of any genuinely good horror stuff? Im on a bit of a kick there.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Jasper on February 02, 2012, 04:35:25 PM
Reeducation, if you'd said that the 8 circuit theory was bad based on it not making predictions, or being unfalsifiable, or made some kind of argument based on its quality as a theory like that, then maybe people would have responded better.  Instead, you gave them "8 circuits in my ass".

We all have fun making fun of RAW, but still many people here do respect him.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: The Good Reverend Roger on February 02, 2012, 04:37:11 PM
Quote from: Jasper on February 02, 2012, 04:35:25 PM
Reeducation, if you'd said that the 8 circuit theory was bad based on it not making predictions, or being unfalsifiable, or made some kind of argument based on its quality as a theory like that, then maybe people would have responded better.  Instead, you gave them "8 circuits in my ass".

We all have fun making fun of RAW, but still many people here do respect him.

RAW didn't come up with that.  Timothy Leary did...But after he was turned into a clown, RAW decided to popularize it, with Leary's full permission. 
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Jasper on February 02, 2012, 05:03:44 PM
Oops.  I just skimmed the wiki as I was posting that, and one of the facts got mixed up in my head. 



Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: The Good Reverend Roger on February 02, 2012, 05:32:08 PM
Quote from: Jasper on February 02, 2012, 05:03:44 PM
Oops.  I just skimmed the wiki as I was posting that, and one of the facts got mixed up in my head.

Nobody would have known who Socrates was, if it wasn't for Plato.

Just saying.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Reeducation on February 02, 2012, 06:57:22 PM
Quote from: Jasper on February 02, 2012, 04:35:25 PM
Reeducation, if you'd said that the 8 circuit theory was bad based on it not making predictions, or being unfalsifiable, or made some kind of argument based on its quality as a theory like that, then maybe people would have responded better.  Instead, you gave them "8 circuits in my ass".

We all have fun making fun of RAW, but still many people here do respect him.

Yes I worded the thing badly. And don't get me wrong, I respect the dude as well, but I just see his books as a one long zen koan.
I can't really explain it better.

edit: Of course I could be wrong. I don't know. :)



Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: The Good Reverend Roger on February 02, 2012, 07:53:00 PM
Quote from: Reeducation on February 02, 2012, 06:57:22 PM
Quote from: Jasper on February 02, 2012, 04:35:25 PM
Reeducation, if you'd said that the 8 circuit theory was bad based on it not making predictions, or being unfalsifiable, or made some kind of argument based on its quality as a theory like that, then maybe people would have responded better.  Instead, you gave them "8 circuits in my ass".

We all have fun making fun of RAW, but still many people here do respect him.

Yes I worded the thing badly. And don't get me wrong, I respect the dude as well, but I just see his books as a one long zen koan.
I can't really explain it better.

edit: Of course I could be wrong. I don't know. :)

This is exactly why I barge into churches and synagogues every week and screech that they're wrong about everything.  Because I personally don't believe their model is effective.

It makes me lots and lots of friends.  For a given value of "friend".
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: BadBeast on February 02, 2012, 11:07:09 PM
Didn't Leary use the 8 circuit model to 'cure' paedophiles?
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Jasper on February 03, 2012, 01:33:56 AM
I've heard stories where he used small doses of LSD to cure smoking and alcohol addiction.  (That's cure without quotation marks.)
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on February 04, 2012, 05:47:47 AM
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on February 02, 2012, 07:53:00 PM
Quote from: Reeducation on February 02, 2012, 06:57:22 PM
Quote from: Jasper on February 02, 2012, 04:35:25 PM
Reeducation, if you'd said that the 8 circuit theory was bad based on it not making predictions, or being unfalsifiable, or made some kind of argument based on its quality as a theory like that, then maybe people would have responded better.  Instead, you gave them "8 circuits in my ass".

We all have fun making fun of RAW, but still many people here do respect him.

Yes I worded the thing badly. And don't get me wrong, I respect the dude as well, but I just see his books as a one long zen koan.
I can't really explain it better.

edit: Of course I could be wrong. I don't know. :)

This is exactly why I barge into churches and synagogues every week and screech that they're wrong about everything.  Because I personally don't believe their model is effective.

It makes me lots and lots of friends.  For a given value of "friend".

:lulz: And you wonder why you have so many stalkers.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: The Good Reverend Roger on February 04, 2012, 05:38:28 PM
Quote from: Nigel on February 04, 2012, 05:47:47 AM
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on February 02, 2012, 07:53:00 PM
Quote from: Reeducation on February 02, 2012, 06:57:22 PM
Quote from: Jasper on February 02, 2012, 04:35:25 PM
Reeducation, if you'd said that the 8 circuit theory was bad based on it not making predictions, or being unfalsifiable, or made some kind of argument based on its quality as a theory like that, then maybe people would have responded better.  Instead, you gave them "8 circuits in my ass".

We all have fun making fun of RAW, but still many people here do respect him.

Yes I worded the thing badly. And don't get me wrong, I respect the dude as well, but I just see his books as a one long zen koan.
I can't really explain it better.

edit: Of course I could be wrong. I don't know. :)

This is exactly why I barge into churches and synagogues every week and screech that they're wrong about everything.  Because I personally don't believe their model is effective.

It makes me lots and lots of friends.  For a given value of "friend".

:lulz: And you wonder why you have so many stalkers.

I don't wonder at all.  It's my smashing good looks that does it.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on February 04, 2012, 05:40:27 PM
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on February 04, 2012, 05:38:28 PM
Quote from: Nigel on February 04, 2012, 05:47:47 AM
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on February 02, 2012, 07:53:00 PM
Quote from: Reeducation on February 02, 2012, 06:57:22 PM
Quote from: Jasper on February 02, 2012, 04:35:25 PM
Reeducation, if you'd said that the 8 circuit theory was bad based on it not making predictions, or being unfalsifiable, or made some kind of argument based on its quality as a theory like that, then maybe people would have responded better.  Instead, you gave them "8 circuits in my ass".

We all have fun making fun of RAW, but still many people here do respect him.

Yes I worded the thing badly. And don't get me wrong, I respect the dude as well, but I just see his books as a one long zen koan.
I can't really explain it better.

edit: Of course I could be wrong. I don't know. :)

This is exactly why I barge into churches and synagogues every week and screech that they're wrong about everything.  Because I personally don't believe their model is effective.

It makes me lots and lots of friends.  For a given value of "friend".

:lulz: And you wonder why you have so many stalkers.

I don't wonder at all.  It's my smashing good looks that does it.

:lol::1fap:
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Juana on February 04, 2012, 07:49:27 PM
American Gods (Author's Perfered Text) by Neil Gaiman
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: EK WAFFLR on February 04, 2012, 09:35:36 PM
Finished the Kerr book. Now reading a book by Norwegian author Per Petterson (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Per_Petterson), I Curse the River of Time.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Lord Cataplanga on February 06, 2012, 02:46:16 AM
Now reading 1Q84 book three, by Haruki Murakami. I like it a lot, so far, which was surprising because I really didn't like book two.
A lot of the side characters in book two are turning up to be very interesting people in the third book, which is fortunate because the protagonists were getting more and more boring.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Rococo Modem Basilisk on February 16, 2012, 10:52:32 PM
Just finished Distrust That Particular Flavour. The only problem I found with it is that I had already read most of the essays in it, just because I occasionally look for things written by William Gibson and read them (and have been for several years). I strongly recommend it for anyone who isn't quite as obsessed with William Gibson as I am.

Today I also finished The Knowable Future by David Loye. It's supposed to be a psychologist's take on futurism with a political science bent. I was slightly bothered by his obsession with ESP, and I suspect that at the time he was writing it he felt alienated from his field and blamed it on creeping rationalism. Several times he suggested that psychologists pretend behaviorism never happened and return to freudianism. On the other hand, he lays out a fairly straightforward system for performing predictions, and in the last chapter he gives a pair of predictions for the year 2000 (this was written in 1977), one optimistic and one pessimistic, and both more or less accurate.

The other day, I finished War and Peace in the Global Village by Herbert Marshal McLuhan. It was pleasant and interesting as any McLuhan book should be, and it was full of PD-style clip-art juxtapositions and memebombs. There were (surprisingly relevant) Joyce quotes in the margins. On the flipside, he doesn't appear to have gotten the memo that the Iron Mountain Report is a satire and spends a whole chapter drawing conclusions from it, which is a little like finding someone you respect blogging about what the Protocols of the Elders of Zion tells us about the Ruling Elite.

Earlier this week I read Millennium People by J. G. Ballard. I recommend it if you identify as a discordian, a poetic terrorist, an activist, or anything like that, on account of being (oddly enough) a cautionary tale. I recommend it also if you want an excuse to make fun of Occupy, or if you want to call Ballard a visionary for predicting Occupy, or if you just like tight prose.

I finished Amnesia Moon by Jonathan Lethem last week, and it's an interesting treatment of reality tunnels. If the barstool defense isn't doing it for you, give that a try. Give it a try if you find the barstool defense working too well for you, too.

I'm about a quarter of the way through Lethem's release of PKD's Exegesis. It's about half Cosmic Trigger and half Time Cube. The footnotes are great, though. Erik Davis and a handful of other 'big names' contribute.

I am likewise halfway through Psychological Warfare by Paul Linebarger. This is considered the original and standard treatment of the topic, which Linebarger wrote for the US Army. I'm not sure if the Army still uses it, or if the Army is still involved with psyops programs itself. Nevertheless, it's surprisingly accessible -- much more so in my opinion than the fiction the author wrote as Cordwainer Smith. Moreover, it's actually funny in places -- which is unexpected for a nonfiction book about psyops written for distribution by the US Army.

A while ago (several weeks at least, but probably closer to a month) I read Mirage Men by Mark Pilkington, which I recommend as a follow-up to Psychological Warfare on account of being about current, recent, or on-going US military psyops campaigns on domestic groups. If you look at contactee culture as an information system being experimented upon by outsiders as Vallee does (and Keel seemed to), Mirage Men makes a good argument that at least some of the parties involved are different branches of the US government, for reasons that at one point involved creating chaffing for legitimate operations (such as spy planes).

Reading Right Where You Are Sitting Now and recently read Reality Is What You Can Get Away With. I have Cosmic Trigger II and Cosmic Trigger III coming soon. I have a sneaking suspicion that at a certain point RAW stopped saying original and interesting things and started mostly phoning it in and repeating things he said in previous books, but those are all things I was unable to pirate so it's worth a try.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on February 17, 2012, 09:23:05 AM
Mirage Men sounds like it is worth a read.  I definitely find there is more meat to Vallee's understanding of the UFO/contactee phenomenon than, say, Budd Hopkins, though I'm not sure it would be necessarily a smokescreen for experimental and secret planes, given the disturbing tendency towards cult-like behaviour such contactees tend to show.  But I'm sure you can already guess my thoughts on that (Jeff Wells minus Lovecraft and occultism, which is to say psyops directed domestically for other political purposes).

Loye's book also sounds interesting, could you expand on his method any?  I'm about to read Bruce Bueno de Mesquita's The Predictioneer's Game: Using the Logic of Brazen Self-Interest to See and Shape the Future.  Mesquita uses a game theory approach, but I understand it differs slightly in how it understands rational self-interest, or so I am led to believe.  Nevertheless, that the CIA use him as a consultant suggests his work is worth examining, IMO, even if his success rate is lower than he states (90% correct sounds implausibly high to me, but then anything above 80% in the social sciences automatically invites my skepticism), because the CIA brief the President, and so their beliefs invariably shape the understanding of the man in office.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Rococo Modem Basilisk on February 17, 2012, 12:25:43 PM
Loye proposes something called the "Ideology Matrix". It sounds nuanced, but really he's just breaking down particular major groups by tendency and counting which side they are on (he breaks liberals from conservatives, but then he breaks radicals of any stripe from centrists of any stripe, for instance). It feels like it should be less effective than, say, delphi pools.

I did a quick search on the author and his idea, and didn't see any mention on wikipedia, so it must have faded into obscurity. His method was something like this:





xforagainst
conservatives01
liberals10
radicals10
weak01
young10
old01
=3-3

Then, he says if the absolute value of either number is high but the total is close to zero, there will be a lot of violent disagreement about it (on the extremes, riots &c). Nothing so nuanced as to use game theory.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on February 17, 2012, 12:43:51 PM
A bit simple, but it does make sense.  Probably more useful at a state or local level and to do with policy arguments, but still potentially useful.  I could see several ways to tinker with it and calibrate outcome more effectively... Thanks.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Scribbly on February 21, 2012, 08:28:22 AM
The Hunger Games Suzanne Collins.

I really enjoyed Battle Royale. The Hunger Games has a similar basis (kids thrown together to kill each other for political reasons) in a different setting. Post-apocalyptic North America.

I started reading this on the way to work this morning, and I was absolutely struck. I almost missed my change on the train because I was so engrossed in it. The lead is absolutely compelling. I'm not sure what it is about it, but it had me alternately starting to tear up and chuckling on the tube. Now I'm sitting at work and just wish I could crack it open and finish it. I think I will probably do that tonight.

When a book makes you look like a weirdo on public transport and you can't wait to get back to it, I figure that's a pretty good endorsement.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: EK WAFFLR on February 21, 2012, 08:42:17 AM
On Writing by Stephen King.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on February 21, 2012, 11:00:49 AM
I enjoyed the first book of the Hunger Games trilogy, but I can recall almost nothing about the second one, which I may have abandoned part way through.  It's probably very good as well, but I think I just got distracted by stuff.

I was actually recommended them by a Poli Sci professor who I converse with sometimes, though I cannot remember her reasoning why at the time.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Scribbly on February 21, 2012, 11:06:41 AM
Quote from: Cain on February 21, 2012, 11:00:49 AM
I enjoyed the first book of the Hunger Games trilogy, but I can recall almost nothing about the second one, which I may have abandoned part way through.  It's probably very good as well, but I think I just got distracted by stuff.

I was actually recommended them by a Poli Sci professor who I converse with sometimes, though I cannot remember her reasoning why at the time.

I mentioned it at work and my editor said the first one was very good, but the second two were disappointing in comparison (not bad, just, not as good).

There's a brutal cynicism which comes through really strongly.

There was one line describing the purpose: "Look at how we take your children, look at how you cannot stop us." Words to that effect. Sent chills down my spine.

I was surprised to note on Amazon that it is classified as 'Teenage Fiction'.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on February 21, 2012, 11:12:46 AM
Yeah, its definitely at the higher end of teenage fiction, at the very least.

In fact, I'm not actually sure I know of any teenagers who have read it, it seems to be pretty much adults.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: kingyak on February 21, 2012, 03:14:58 PM
I read the Hunger Games books last week, and my only complaint about the second and third were about the pacing, but I'm not sure I would have noticed if the first book weren't so well paced. The second one takes a while to get moving but moves along pretty quickly once it does. The third one drags in a few places.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: kingyak on February 21, 2012, 03:18:43 PM
Quote from: Waffle Iron on February 21, 2012, 08:42:17 AM
On Writing by Stephen King.

I've read maybe 3 or 4 of King's novels and a handful of his short stories in my life, but find him really interesting when he just talks/writes about shit. I could have done with a little less autobiography, but really enjoyed the second half of this one.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: EK WAFFLR on February 21, 2012, 05:28:52 PM
Quote from: kingyak on February 21, 2012, 03:18:43 PM
Quote from: Waffle Iron on February 21, 2012, 08:42:17 AM
On Writing by Stephen King.

I've read maybe 3 or 4 of King's novels and a handful of his short stories in my life, but find him really interesting when he just talks/writes about shit. I could have done with a little less autobiography, but really enjoyed the second half of this one.

I like the autobiography part of it.

I've never been a big Stephen Kingh fan, but this is good!
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on February 21, 2012, 05:36:28 PM
Quote from: Waffle Iron on February 21, 2012, 05:28:52 PM
Quote from: kingyak on February 21, 2012, 03:18:43 PM
Quote from: Waffle Iron on February 21, 2012, 08:42:17 AM
On Writing by Stephen King.

I've read maybe 3 or 4 of King's novels and a handful of his short stories in my life, but find him really interesting when he just talks/writes about shit. I could have done with a little less autobiography, but really enjoyed the second half of this one.

I like the autobiography part of it.

I've never been a big Stephen Kingh fan, but this is good!

It's by far his best book.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on February 21, 2012, 08:00:39 PM
Quote from: Cain on February 21, 2012, 11:12:46 AM
Yeah, its definitely at the higher end of teenage fiction, at the very least.

In fact, I'm not actually sure I know of any teenagers who have read it, it seems to be pretty much adults.

I gave my 11-year-old nephew the trilogy; he was really excited to get it.  I thought it was a good idea to instill a bit of anti-authoritarianism to counteract the scientology training.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Scribbly on February 21, 2012, 08:18:27 PM
Finished the first one ten minutes ago.

It was pretty great, but I am now hungry (har har) for more. Really looking forward to seeing where it is taken from here, though if my instinct is right I can see how the next couple of books would be much harder to pace.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Placid Dingo on February 22, 2012, 07:47:01 AM
Just finished Agnes Gray. Pretty standard romance, but gains some extra brownie points for a handful of gloriously revolting children and teenagers popping in to make hell for the titular governess.

Moving onto Anna Kariena. Also starting Seneca's letters about Stoicism.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on February 22, 2012, 09:21:12 AM
Reading

Bruce Bueno de Mesquita - The Predictioneer's Handbook (how to use game theory to make political predictions)
David Graeber - Debt: the First 5000 Years
Edward Luttwak - The Art of Coup d'Etat
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Scribbly on February 23, 2012, 10:30:11 AM
Just finished book two of the Hunger Games - Catching Fire. I didn't really intend to but again, once I started, I didn't want to put it down. Because I'm at home today, I didn't!

The first one was much better, and there are some elements which bugged me a little bit about where this story has gone. The villains are obviously fairly transparent, but their actions seem far more difficult to justify in the second story than the first.

Then again, it isn't meant to be utterly realistic, and it is still a pretty good thriller IMO.

Got a long train journey and a lot of sitting around for appointments this afternoon. Looking forward to book three!
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on February 23, 2012, 02:16:28 PM
Let me know what you think of the ending to Book Three when you get there.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Scribbly on February 23, 2012, 06:07:06 PM
Quote from: LMNO, PhD (life continues) on February 23, 2012, 02:16:28 PM
Let me know what you think of the ending to Book Three when you get there.

Just finished it.

It'll take a little while to formulate a response that isn't 'holy fuck' I think. There were a couple of points I was worried that it was going to veer suddenly in tone, but the ending was pretty much perfect. I saw some elements coming but overall I enjoyed it.

I think you were absolutely right to give the series to your nephew. This is the sort of fiction I'd have loved to have read as a teenager.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Eater of Clowns on February 23, 2012, 07:01:46 PM
I read the first book of Hunger Games and I"ll be getting around to the 2nd and 3rd eventually.  I just had a serious problem with the writing.  I thought it was pretty bad.  The storytelling is great, it's very compelling and I had fun reading it, but it's just not good writing.

I'd heard a lot of talk about the Kingkiller Chronicles as well, which so far is The Name of the Wind and The Wise Man's Fear.  Again they're good stories that are, with some glaring exceptions, well told, but the writing just bothers me.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Scribbly on February 23, 2012, 07:08:56 PM
Quote from: Eater of Clowns on February 23, 2012, 07:01:46 PM
I read the first book of Hunger Games and I"ll be getting around to the 2nd and 3rd eventually.  I just had a serious problem with the writing.  I thought it was pretty bad.  The storytelling is great, it's very compelling and I had fun reading it, but it's just not good writing.

I'd heard a lot of talk about the Kingkiller Chronicles as well, which so far is The Name of the Wind and The Wise Man's Fear.  Again they're good stories that are, with some glaring exceptions, well told, but the writing just bothers me.

The quality of writing does not improve, but it really clicked with me. It might be partly because it is told from the perspective of a teenager, and I found the style helped paint that atmosphere. I can see how it isn't for everyone though. I will say that book 2 was weaker than book 3, but it is a 'bridging' book IMO. Book 3, the last third or so I was completely caught.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: kingyak on February 23, 2012, 08:40:07 PM
I didn't really notice the writing one way or the other. It definitely wasn't inspired use of language, but on the other hand it wasn't like a Dan Brown book where the writing is so bad that it's actively distracting. (Other advantage over Dan Brown: the characters weren't less two-dimensional than most characters in porn movies).
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: EK WAFFLR on February 24, 2012, 07:06:14 PM
Quote from: Nigel on February 21, 2012, 05:36:28 PM
Quote from: Waffle Iron on February 21, 2012, 05:28:52 PM
Quote from: kingyak on February 21, 2012, 03:18:43 PM
Quote from: Waffle Iron on February 21, 2012, 08:42:17 AM
On Writing by Stephen King.

I've read maybe 3 or 4 of King's novels and a handful of his short stories in my life, but find him really interesting when he just talks/writes about shit. I could have done with a little less autobiography, but really enjoyed the second half of this one.

I like the autobiography part of it.

I've never been a big Stephen Kingh fan, but this is good!

It's by far his best book.

Easily. I loved the Garret Addams story at the end of it as well.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Oysters Rockefeller on February 29, 2012, 03:08:45 AM
At any given moment, I am on the precipice of reading Charles Yu's "How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe," as it is probably the greatest american work since they stopped finding Kerouac's unfinished "novels."
Also The Amazing Spiderman, because The Amazing Spiderman.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Q. G. Pennyworth on February 29, 2012, 04:24:55 AM
Is this the place to ask for recommendations for books, or should I separate thread?

7 year old girl with a spectacular vocabulary and attention span, but still seven-year-old emotional fragility. She's devoured all the books in the house again.  :argh!:
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cainad (dec.) on February 29, 2012, 04:33:03 AM
Quote from: Queen Gogira Pennyworth, BSW on February 29, 2012, 04:24:55 AM
Is this the place to ask for recommendations for books, or should I separate thread?

7 year old girl with a spectacular vocabulary and attention span, but still seven-year-old emotional fragility. She's devoured all the books in the house again.  :argh!:

The Phantom Tollbooth
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Q. G. Pennyworth on February 29, 2012, 04:38:24 AM
Quote from: Cainad on February 29, 2012, 04:33:03 AM
Quote from: Queen Gogira Pennyworth, BSW on February 29, 2012, 04:24:55 AM
Is this the place to ask for recommendations for books, or should I separate thread?

7 year old girl with a spectacular vocabulary and attention span, but still seven-year-old emotional fragility. She's devoured all the books in the house again.  :argh!:

The Phantom Tollbooth
Done it.

She's blown through most of the Warriors series, all of the Dealing with Dragons one, some of Narnia, first two Harry Potters, most of the Dragon Fire series, all the Wayside School and Ramona I could find, and a smattering of Roald Dahl. Also the dictionary.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Don Coyote on February 29, 2012, 04:40:23 AM
Quote from: Queen Gogira Pennyworth, BSW on February 29, 2012, 04:38:24 AM
Quote from: Cainad on February 29, 2012, 04:33:03 AM
Quote from: Queen Gogira Pennyworth, BSW on February 29, 2012, 04:24:55 AM
Is this the place to ask for recommendations for books, or should I separate thread?

7 year old girl with a spectacular vocabulary and attention span, but still seven-year-old emotional fragility. She's devoured all the books in the house again.  :argh!:

The Phantom Tollbooth
Done it.

She's blown through most of the Warriors series, all of the Dealing with Dragons one, some of Narnia, first two Harry Potters, most of the Dragon Fire series, all the Wayside School and Ramona I could find, and a smattering of Roald Dahl. Also the dictionary.

Get a bigger dictionary and some encyclopedias.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cainad (dec.) on February 29, 2012, 05:02:35 AM
Quote from: Queen Gogira Pennyworth, BSW on February 29, 2012, 04:38:24 AM
Quote from: Cainad on February 29, 2012, 04:33:03 AM
Quote from: Queen Gogira Pennyworth, BSW on February 29, 2012, 04:24:55 AM
Is this the place to ask for recommendations for books, or should I separate thread?

7 year old girl with a spectacular vocabulary and attention span, but still seven-year-old emotional fragility. She's devoured all the books in the house again.  :argh!:

The Phantom Tollbooth
Done it.

She's blown through most of the Warriors series, all of the Dealing with Dragons one, some of Narnia, first two Harry Potters, most of the Dragon Fire series, all the Wayside School and Ramona I could find, and a smattering of Roald Dahl. Also the dictionary.

Fuck, I'm probably out of my depth. :lulz:

Umm... T.A. Barron's "The Lost Years of Merlin" series? The Hobbit? The Earthsea Trilogy?

Maybe Cainad should have read more books outside the fantasy genre when he was a kid? :lulz:
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Q. G. Pennyworth on February 29, 2012, 05:24:44 AM
she's hella into fantasy right now :D

I remember Earthsea being a little too adult for tiny brains, but maybe the Merlin one?
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cainad (dec.) on February 29, 2012, 05:48:39 AM
Merlin is definitely pretty kid-friendly, IMO. Earthsea... well it is a bit dark, no doubting that, but it's not too far out of her league if she's already through Harry Potter 1 & 2. Maybe in another year or two.

How about The Riddle-master of Hed? I'm trying to mentally visualize the books on my shelf at home that I read years ago and somehow drawing a blank for most of them.

Too young for Mythago Wood (Robert Holdstock), but as soon as she's like 10 or so that's a definite requirement. Probably in my personal top 5 favorite novels.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: hirley0 on February 29, 2012, 09:24:00 AM
u have been banned fo

Next Post :fnord: physics forum  (http://www.physicsforums.com/) :fnord: #7 1st (http://www.physicsforums.com/showpost.php?p=3790358&postcount=7)

http://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?t=135265&highlight=ANTHROPOLOGY

Prior post :fnord: #27 (http://www.principiadiscordia.com/forum/index.php/topic,31783.msg1151908.html#msg1151908) :fnord: P2 (http://www.principiadiscordia.com/forum/index.php/topic,31783.15.html)


Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Triple Zero on February 29, 2012, 10:05:23 AM
The Neverending Story?

Crusade in Jeans (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crusade_in_Jeans) (ok the main character is 14, but she's gonna learn a shitload of history)

Maybe I'm aiming too high for her age, as I don't really remember what I read when I was 7--A lot of Roald Dahl, I think. And of course a lot of really awesome Dutch stuff that probably hasnt been translated (http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joke_Van_Leeuwen).

Or maybe you can take her to a public library and let her pick out stuff by herself?

Otherwise, go with Hirley0's suggestion and print out a physics forum. Ought to keep her busy for a while.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on February 29, 2012, 10:38:44 AM
Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus.

It's only 75 pages.  And written by a children's author!
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Placid Dingo on February 29, 2012, 12:10:12 PM
Quote from: Queen Gogira Pennyworth, BSW on February 29, 2012, 04:24:55 AM
Is this the place to ask for recommendations for books, or should I separate thread?

7 year old girl with a spectacular vocabulary and attention span, but still seven-year-old emotional fragility. She's devoured all the books in the house again.  :argh!:

My housemate says Storm Boy.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on February 29, 2012, 01:05:58 PM
Have you tried the Moomin (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moomin) series?  I recall enjoying them.

Also, you really can't go wrong with Roald Dahl (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roald_Dahl#Children.27s_stories).

And I seem to remember with fondness A Cricket in Times Square (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cricket_in_Times_Square).
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Freeky on February 29, 2012, 04:49:27 PM
Ooo, ooo!  Has she read anything by Meredith Ann Pierce?  Those are VERY kid friendly, although maybe not the Dark Angel trilogy, I think it might get a little suggestive or really dark in places, but the Firebringer trilogy was a good one. Then again, maybe not, because some of the supporting characters die.

Why not the third Harry Potter one?  The series doesn't get serious until book four.

The discworld series, too.  The Rincewind books would especially appeal to her right now, especially since everything always turns out okay. 

Ummmmm....

Tamora Pierce does good stuff, too. Song of the Lioness is the one I would reccommend over the others, The Immortals quarter I would maybe hold off on for a year or two.

However, you might want to read through them yourself first, because I don't know what is normal for 7yo fragility...
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cainad (dec.) on February 29, 2012, 05:10:16 PM
SHEL SILVERSTEIN OR GTFO
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Q. G. Pennyworth on February 29, 2012, 05:29:47 PM
Quote from: Cainad on February 29, 2012, 05:10:16 PM
SHEL SILVERSTEIN OR GTFO
She has the Giving Tree, we need to get some of the poetry collections.

Thanks for all the suggestions!

Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Placid Dingo on March 01, 2012, 06:22:30 AM
paul Jennings too.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: EK WAFFLR on March 01, 2012, 06:00:51 PM
Now reading: The History of Bestiality (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_History_of_Bestiality) by Jens Bjørneboe.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on March 02, 2012, 03:34:10 PM
Quote from: Waffle Iron on March 01, 2012, 06:00:51 PM
Now reading: The History of Bestiality (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_History_of_Bestiality) by Jens Bjørneboe.

Ooooh, I looked it up and that sounds interesting!
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Prince Glittersnatch III on March 02, 2012, 07:15:36 PM
Quote from: Waffle Iron on March 01, 2012, 06:00:51 PM
Now reading: The History of Bestiality (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_History_of_Bestiality) by Jens Bjørneboe.

BRB learning Norwegian.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: EK WAFFLR on March 02, 2012, 09:46:37 PM
Quote from: Prince Glittersnatch III on March 02, 2012, 07:15:36 PM
Quote from: Waffle Iron on March 01, 2012, 06:00:51 PM
Now reading: The History of Bestiality (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_History_of_Bestiality) by Jens Bjørneboe.

BRB learning Norwegian.

All three books in the trilogy is listed under the Frequently Bought Together part here.  (http://www.amazon.com/Powderhouse-Scientific-Postscript-Last-Protocol/dp/0802313310) In English.  :aaa:
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Nephew Twiddleton on March 02, 2012, 10:01:13 PM
A whole books worth? I didnt know peoples indiscretions with other species were common enough to be that well documented.

Though i do remember in my american lit class we came across an account of someone in massachusetts bay colony getting caught and making a rather.... Long list of his confession before being executed.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: EK WAFFLR on March 02, 2012, 10:08:05 PM
Quote from: An Twidsteoir on March 02, 2012, 10:01:13 PM
A whole books worth? I didnt know peoples indiscretions with other species were common enough to be that well documented.

Though i do remember in my american lit class we came across an account of someone in massachusetts bay colony getting caught and making a rather.... Long list of his confession before being executed.

It's a trilogy, and Bestiality isn't about sheepshagging, actually.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Nephew Twiddleton on March 02, 2012, 10:11:42 PM
Ill have to look up the trilogy later then
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Juana on March 02, 2012, 10:23:24 PM
BAAAAA! still means no.


Re-reading Men At Arms.

Quote from: The Freeky of SCIENCE! on February 29, 2012, 04:49:27 PM
Ooo, ooo!  Has she read anything by Meredith Ann Pierce?  Those are VERY kid friendly, although maybe not the Dark Angel trilogy, I think it might get a little suggestive or really dark in places, but the Firebringer trilogy was a good one. Then again, maybe not, because some of the supporting characters die.

Why not the third Harry Potter one?  The series doesn't get serious until book four.

The discworld series, too.  The Rincewind books would especially appeal to her right now, especially since everything always turns out okay. 

Ummmmm....

Tamora Pierce does good stuff, too. Song of the Lioness is the one I would reccommend over the others, The Immortals quarter I would maybe hold off on for a year or two.

However, you might want to read through them yourself first, because I don't know what is normal for 7yo fragility...
Pratchett's got a couple kid's series - the Wintersmith books and a couple others. I've heard good things about them.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on March 02, 2012, 11:56:58 PM
Quote from: An Twidsteoir on March 02, 2012, 10:11:42 PM
Ill have to look up the trilogy later then

QuoteThe first novel in the acclaimed ""History of Bestiality"" trilogy. Living high in the Alps in a German principality, our narrator tells us he's dutifully fulfilling his obligations as a Servant of Justice and acting as a daily witness to injustice masquerading as a court of law. One day he notices that the judge is much too engrossed in looking at pornographic photographs showing various other pillars of the town engaged in a variety of sexual activities with minors. The incident propels him on a mental journey back through his life: black-humor fantasies and suicidal drinking binges; the Roman catacombs, warm summer nights in Brooklyn; brothels in Stockholm, his childhood in Norway, and wanderings in Germany. But aside from court records he has been keeping his own long and detailed account of man's cruelty to man in a massive twelve-volume study he calls his History of Bestiality. Acknowledging his Germanic past, the narrator realizes that all his attempts to perceive order in life lead only to his acceptance of the chaos of life. We see him striving to live uncoerced by power, unpersuaded by friends, to take for himself the liberty of stating his critique in order to live in his own moment of truth, to stand ""far out at the edge of the abyss."" ""Harshly comic and richly disturbing fiction."" Kirkus Reviews
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Nephew Twiddleton on March 03, 2012, 12:03:08 AM
Hmm. My interest is piqued.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: EK WAFFLR on March 03, 2012, 12:11:22 AM
It's one of the greatest Norwegian literary works in history. I place Bjørneboe (his entire body of work) next to Knut Hamsun and Henrik Ibsen.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Rococo Modem Basilisk on March 05, 2012, 11:28:50 PM
Recently finished Revolution and Tradition, a collection of lectures at either York University or New York University (the book attributes each lecture to York University, but the introduction consistently says New York University) in 1970. Crazy mindfuck for me, because it feels like it comes out of a parallel universe; clearly all these people come from some academic tradition, but it's nothing I'm familiar with.

Moved onto Norstrilia by Cordwainer Smith. Aside from the introduction claiming that this is the only science fiction novel by Cordwainer Smith (it's not; I own a first edition of The Journey of Three Worlds to prove it), it's amusing, and it holds my attention better than most Cordwainer Smith short fiction has -- I was able to focus on The Rediscovery of Man only during lectures on data structures from a math teacher.

I recently finished Cosmic Trigger II and III, and Right Where You Are Sitting Now. The latter two Cosmic Trigger books are mostly a repeat of ideas covered in other books (along with a lot of shit about P2 and the Priory of Sion which appear to have been copied word-for-word into his conspiracy encyclopedia), but they have some fresh biographical information (and a lot of biographical information I've only heard in Robert Anton Wilson Explains Everything), so they are worth getting if you are interested in the man moreso than his ideas. He also talks at length about Orson Welles (or maybe I hallucinated that...), which led me to watch some films for what really shouldn't be the first time.

I'll probably be done with Norstrilia tomorrow, at which point I'll have to pick something else off the to-read stack. Currently it contains Liars and Outliers by Bruce Schneier, Life, Inc. by Douglas Rushkoff, Motherless Brooklyn and Fortress of Solitude by Jonathan Lethem, Empire of the Sun and Crash by J. G. Ballard. Alternately, I could finish A Canticle for Leibowitz, which I stopped at the second or third chapter a week ago, V or Gravity's Rainbow by Pynchon, both of which I stopped halfway-through more than a year ago, or The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco, which I stopped halfway-through in December. Any recommendations, from that group?
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Oysters Rockefeller on March 06, 2012, 02:44:30 AM
Gravitys Rainbow has such a cool concept(s), but is entirely too difficult to read. I quit about half way through about three or so years ago.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Rococo Modem Basilisk on March 08, 2012, 09:12:39 PM
Finished Norstrilia. It didn't feel "kiddy" like a lot of the other Cordwainer Smith stuff.

Also finished Motherless Brooklyn, which wasn't at all what I thought it was.

Working through Liars and Outliers now.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: dontblameyoko on March 13, 2012, 03:16:51 AM
today finished A Wizard of Earthsea
tomorrow will (re)start The Princess and the Goblin
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Oysters Rockefeller on March 13, 2012, 08:16:11 PM
In the middle of Jose Saramgo's "Death With Interruptions"
About the UK not having any more deaths, and how immortality would be shit. Also death is a nervous human woman within the context of the book. Its pretty good, but his style has this weird flow that makes it entirely too difficult to read at times.

Also reading this: http://nedroid.com/2010/01/relax-dont-do-it/
Excellent webcomic.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Lenin McCarthy on March 16, 2012, 01:34:03 PM
Quote from: Waffle Iron on March 01, 2012, 06:00:51 PM
Now reading: The History of Bestiality (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_History_of_Bestiality) by Jens Bjørneboe.

Read that at about the same time as you. Great stuff.

Currently reading The Family, the book Cain recommended in the Kony thread not long ago.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: hirley0 on March 18, 2012, 02:41:10 AM
(Read 101007 times)7:40-7:42PM pdt  ordia > Literate Chaotic  4got read part SoRRy
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Juana on March 18, 2012, 04:19:11 AM
The Borgias by Ivan Cloulas


edited for html fail
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on March 18, 2012, 04:09:46 PM
I just picked up where I left off reading "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" because for some reason it seems to have a pressing and ever-increasing relevancy.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Arim the Backwards One on March 18, 2012, 08:07:59 PM
Reading 'The End of Mr. Y' at the moment, and it's pretty interesting. Even though the plot seems pretty cliché at the first glance.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Rococo Modem Basilisk on March 21, 2012, 04:47:30 PM
I've been reading The Sirius Mystery, and thinking to myself that Mr. Temple is not doing a very good job of supporting his argument -- most of which depends upon multilingual puns in dead languages. Finally, he ducked his head into Sumerian, with which I have a passing knowledge. In the offending passage, he took a section of the enumerated names of Marduk, claimed that nobody knew what "Nibiru" means, then claimed that because the count is 51 instead of 50, "Nibiru" should be merged with the next entry, "lord of the lands". Of course, the following entry is "Enki", which (as anyone who has looked at the ETCSL, read Sitchin, or glanced over the Simon Necronomicon, or read anything by Samuel Noah Kramer knows) means "lord of the earth". As anyone with a passing knowledge of Sumerian knows, "nibiru" is translated as "crossing place". Mr. Temple then goes on to claim that "nibiru" is a loan word from Egyptian "neb-heru", which he claims means "the ram of Horus", and uses this to "prove" that the legend of the golden fleece has its roots in Egyptian sun-worship. At this point, I said "fuck Robert K. G. Temple and fuck his broken etymologies" and stopped reading.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: dontblameyoko on March 23, 2012, 03:47:58 AM
Quote from: Phosphatidylserine on March 21, 2012, 04:47:30 PM
thinking to myself that Mr. Temple is not doing a very good job of supporting his argument -- most of which depends upon multilingual puns in dead languages.

sounds a little like Graves' The White Goddess
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: EK WAFFLR on March 23, 2012, 03:01:31 PM
As soon as I finish The History of Bestiality, I'm going to read one of my favorites. Bill Bryson. I haven't read DOwn Under yet, but I'm sure it'll be a hoot and a holler.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Rococo Modem Basilisk on March 25, 2012, 07:23:17 PM
I've been working my way through The ARRL Handbook, 71st ed., and trying to teach myself electronics from it. (I can handle digital electronics, because that's straightforward, but analog circuits and I have never gotten along.) The math in it is making my head spin (not because the math itself is difficult -- the most complicated thing in the equations thus far was a square root -- but because the chapter is written with the assumption that it is intended as a review rather than an introduction, as though plotting impedance on a polar coordinate plane and taking the imaginary term as radius was an entirely natural and intuitive thing to do...) Maybe I should supplement this with other materials...
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cainad (dec.) on March 26, 2012, 04:39:24 PM
The White-Luck Warrior by R Scott Bakker

An excerpt that I think we can all appreciate:

"The masses will always be mired in falsehood. Always. Each man will think he believes true, of course. Many will even weep for the strength of their conviction. So if you speak truth to their deception, they will call you a liar and cast you from power. The ruler's only recourse is to speak oil, to communicate in ways that facilitate the machine. Sometimes this oil will be truth, perhaps, but more often it will be lies."
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on March 26, 2012, 05:37:35 PM
I have decided, on your pimping of him, that I will actually get around to reading Bakker at some point.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cainad (dec.) on March 26, 2012, 06:09:52 PM
 :lulz:  Victory! My years-long viral campaign/fanboyism has come to fruition!

Seriously though, I think you'll appreciate it. The overall plot of the first trilogy is transparently based on the Crusades, but the philosophical and psychological asides are very pithy.

Looking back now, after reading it as a teenager, I think it's actually pretty remarkable that a philosopher wrote a work of fiction that doesn't have an author insert protagonist who's sole purpose is to expound the author's worldview and how correct it is.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Doktor Howl on March 26, 2012, 06:10:47 PM
Quote from: Cainad on March 26, 2012, 06:09:52 PM
Looking back now, after reading it as a teenager, I think it's actually pretty remarkable that a philosopher wrote a work of fiction that doesn't have an author insert protagonist who's sole purpose is to expound the author's worldview and how correct it is.

That's gotta be damn near unique.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cainad (dec.) on March 26, 2012, 11:17:15 PM
(had to abort earlier attempt at a reply due to typing on a phone and imminent class)

Quote from: Doktor Howl on March 26, 2012, 06:10:47 PM
Quote from: Cainad on March 26, 2012, 06:09:52 PM
Looking back now, after reading it as a teenager, I think it's actually pretty remarkable that a philosopher wrote a work of fiction that doesn't have an author insert protagonist who's sole purpose is to expound the author's worldview and how correct it is.

That's gotta be damn near unique.

I think it might very well be. :lol:  There is one character who comes out on top of everyone around him basically all the time. But it's because he really is that much more clever than the superstitious and keenly religious (i.e. medieval european/modern american) people around him, for reasons that would be kind of boring to explain here. The philosophical asides themselves are not the means by which he achieves victory.

Basically, the author didn't let his asides get in the way of things like characterization, plot, and vivid writing. Instead, they serve as a distinct sort of flavoring to the writing and provide a lot of "ah-ha! that's clever" moments when he turns out a particularly wry turn of phrase.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on March 26, 2012, 11:41:18 PM
So in other words, it's the exact opposite of The Sword of Truth?

I'm intending to start on The Prince of Nothing once I finish up with The Malazan Book of the Fallen series.  I'm harvesting it for quotes, which I will post on the forum.  The series might appeal to people who like the idea of reading George RR Martin on crack.  Imagine a Martinesque story, set in a rapidly expanding empire, against the backdrop of a war going back at least 300,000 years, and involving everyone from Elder Gods to lowly soldiers plotting and scheming against each other for advantage.

And then the author doesn't even bother to go with a conventional set-up, he instead throws you directly into the action, and makes you figure out the back-story on your own.  Oh, and characters you may know of under one name could well be operating under another, and faking your death seems to be an everyday activity.  The first book introduces a plot within a plot within a plot, and things only get more complex from there.  That one of the main characters of the series is a man who essentially schemed his way into becoming the God of Magnificent Bastardry explains a lot of this, but not all of it.

It gets a little preachy towards the end, concerning environmentalism, but it's otherwise pretty good, and is especially good when it comes to deconstructing fantasy archetypes.  The author's anthropological, archeological and historical digressions are also quite good - he himself has a background in this area, and so he includes a few historians as characters, and often has quite detailed observations on the tribal structure and religious beliefs of various societies he invents.  Almost none of which are the typical fantasy races, either.  The Titse are somewhat similar to elves...but the Jaghut, T'lan Imass, Forkrul Assail and the rest are quite different.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cainad (dec.) on March 27, 2012, 12:30:29 AM
From what I've heard about Sword of Truth, yes. Very different indeed.


Looks like I need to pick up the Malazan series next. Steven Erikson has an endorsement right on the cover of The White-Luck Warrior, and I've heard more than one person also compare Prince of Nothing to GRR Martin.

It's difficult for me to tell if Bakker is pushing any kind of personal agenda, which is probably a good sign. If anything, one might argue that he's got an anti-war slant, but even that is arguable because he's simply describing, in gruesome detail, the horrors of war and violence and how much it fucks people up.

Bakker definitely also does the layered plots and schemes thing, enough so that when I read it the first time around it took my 15-year-old brain about 2/3ds of the first book to really process what was going on.

Each chapter opens with an excerpt or two from a historian or famous scholar, many of whom are referenced by the characters at some point. I'd say the various cultures (all-human setting, not counting monsters and the mostly-extinct Nonmen) are pretty transparent palette-swaps of actual historical cultures, with some key differences. The true weirdness of the setting is actually very subtle and only unfolds from the limited perspective of the main characters. It turns out to be disturbing on several levels.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Placid Dingo on March 27, 2012, 05:41:08 AM
Just polished off the Old Testament.

Have started to enjoy Don Quixote, though it gets a bit repetitive at times.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on March 27, 2012, 08:50:35 AM
Quote from: Cainad on March 27, 2012, 12:30:29 AM
From what I've heard about Sword of Truth, yes. Very different indeed.


Looks like I need to pick up the Malazan series next. Steven Erikson has an endorsement right on the cover of The White-Luck Warrior, and I've heard more than one person also compare Prince of Nothing to GRR Martin.

It's difficult for me to tell if Bakker is pushing any kind of personal agenda, which is probably a good sign. If anything, one might argue that he's got an anti-war slant, but even that is arguable because he's simply describing, in gruesome detail, the horrors of war and violence and how much it fucks people up.

Bakker definitely also does the layered plots and schemes thing, enough so that when I read it the first time around it took my 15-year-old brain about 2/3ds of the first book to really process what was going on.

Each chapter opens with an excerpt or two from a historian or famous scholar, many of whom are referenced by the characters at some point. I'd say the various cultures (all-human setting, not counting monsters and the mostly-extinct Nonmen) are pretty transparent palette-swaps of actual historical cultures, with some key differences. The true weirdness of the setting is actually very subtle and only unfolds from the limited perspective of the main characters. It turns out to be disturbing on several levels.

Yeah, you'd likely enjoy the series, in that case.  A lot of the action in the books centres on an elite unit of soldiers, the Bridgeburners, who are....not entirely sane.  They're a mashing together of the likes of the SAS and the Engineering Corps (even with the slogan of the latter "first in, last out"), and in a world where most people prefer to use magic to explosives, that makes them relatively deadly in unexpected ways.  However, having been fighting in a decade long-campaign, where they've been shoved into every worst fight that is going, for what essentially amount to political reasons...they're on edge.  Officers sent to serve with them have the highest fatality rate in the entire Empire.

One of the books in particular is a very obvious protest against the Iraq War (you can easily figure out which by looking at the publishing dates, then reading it), but apart from that, it is harder to pin down a single theme.  One of the more gradually emerging one is that the god's are bastards who do not understand the burderns of their worshippers, but then, in a classic reversal, Erikson goes on to show the gods, lamenting the horror and bloodshed mortals inflict on each other in their name.

The main problem is the sheer ambition of the series.  10 books, with a storyline that contains probably a thousand or so named characters, that reaches back at the very least 300,000 years, spread over several different dimensions and at least four continents in the main reality...it leads to a lot of loose ends, some of which are never tied up.  It also means paying really close attention to everything, because things which get a passing mention early on can then appear amazingly relevant several books later.

Anyway, I'll type up the quotes sometime today, and throw them in a thread.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: hirley0 on March 28, 2012, 01:00:15 PM
9tooth 0 UAYEB (POISONED) Maybe i should & maybe i should not
My guess? is to get a calculator such as the ti-83 that i got for $10 & the instruction book$10


Quote from: Phosphatidylserine on March 25, 2012, 07:23:17 PM
The ARRL Handbook, 71st ed.,

oh i see it was not aarl its ARRL Radio Relay | get A Ti
11:19 TI 83 EMULATOR? ->  :fnord:  (http://www.principiadiscordia.com/forum/index.php/topic,15072.msg1159825.html#new)
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Rococo Modem Basilisk on March 30, 2012, 10:16:33 PM
Just finished John Carter's Sex and Rockets, which is remarkably scholarly for a book named Sex and Rockets.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Oysters Rockefeller on March 31, 2012, 04:29:47 AM
Quote from: Phosphatidylserine on March 30, 2012, 10:16:33 PM
Just finished John Carter's Sex and Rockets, which is remarkably scholarly for a book named Sex and Rockets.

I'm pretty sure I'm gonna need to read that.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on March 31, 2012, 05:51:11 AM
Quote from: Phosphatidylserine on March 30, 2012, 10:16:33 PM
Just finished John Carter's Sex and Rockets, which is remarkably scholarly for a book named Sex and Rockets.

Was good?
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Rococo Modem Basilisk on April 01, 2012, 12:56:05 AM
A little too much history of schisms in occult movements for my taste. But, it is difficult to write a boring book about a rocket scientist sex magician who killed himself with explosives after failing to impregnate two different women with god semen. It seems like Carter tried very hard to write a boring book and failed miserably. Even the pages upon pages of GALCIT org charts couldn't keep it from being interesting.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on April 01, 2012, 12:58:09 AM
Quote from: Phosphatidylserine on April 01, 2012, 12:56:05 AM
A little too much history of schisms in occult movements for my taste. But, it is difficult to write a boring book about a rocket scientist sex magician who killed himself with explosives after failing to impregnate two different women with god semen. It seems like Carter tried very hard to write a boring book and failed miserably. Even the pages upon pages of GALCIT org charts couldn't keep it from being interesting.

Wow.  :lulz:
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on April 01, 2012, 12:58:41 AM
I finally finished reading "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" (it was excellent!) and started "Black Like Me".
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: MMMW on April 02, 2012, 12:16:50 AM
This thread is huge. I have a lot of reading to do. I just read Lynda Barry's "What It Is" and loved it. It's about finding your own inner creativity and tapping into the place where stories come from. She touches on unconscious creativity, memories, imagination, play and all that good stuff in a free-spirited yet focused kind of way. I recommend it to anyone who wants to stir up their creative juices. Here's a taste...

(http://archivingthecity.files.wordpress.com/2011/01/barry_2.jpg)
(http://archivingthecity.files.wordpress.com/2011/01/barry_3.jpg)
(http://www.vulture.com/14_whatitis_1.jpg)
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Pope Pixie Pickle on April 02, 2012, 02:56:03 PM
I just finished "Hard Work" by Polly Toynbee, in which affluent Guardian journalist lived on the Minimum Wage for Lent, back in the early 2000's. It was a pretty accurate reflection of living in a bad area on shitty wages, I would recommend it to anyone.

I was also wondering if Cain had read it and to get his opinions of the book.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on April 02, 2012, 03:24:19 PM
I unfortunately have a strong aversion to Polly Toynbee - she's probably fine on anything which doesnt directly have to do with party politics, but on the latter...eurgh.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Rococo Modem Basilisk on April 04, 2012, 06:00:38 PM
Now reading Hermes the Thief: The Evolution of a Myth  by Norman O. Brown. It's surprisingly readable for a 1947 work on Greek mythology. The thesis seems to be that Hermes (and by analogy, other trickster deities) has within his domain commerce, theft, technology, and magic as a direct result of the changing patterns of social interaction that emerge from a shift from a widely distributed pastoral society dominated by families of small farmers to a society of large cities dominated by independent merchants. I'm not sure I'm necessarily convinced by the etymological arguments, though they are far superior to those used in The Sirius Mystery.

Next up is a book by Samuel Noah Kramer on Sumerian mythology -- because my knowledge of it is dominated by reading the Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature (ETCSL) (http://etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk/) and so I lack the broad view that comes out of reading summaries. After that, I have a book about John Dee in the queue, with a nice 8-pointed star gilded on the spine.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on April 04, 2012, 06:56:14 PM
That is pretty much accepted to be the case in Classical circles, nowadays.  The evolution and social reasons behind it, probably not the etymological arguments
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Prince Glittersnatch III on April 06, 2012, 08:52:37 PM
Just started "The Anglo-American Establishment".

Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Anna Mae Bollocks on April 08, 2012, 07:57:32 PM
Quote from: Nigel on April 01, 2012, 12:58:41 AM
I finally finished reading "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" (it was excellent!) and started "Black Like Me".

I googled "Black Like Me" to make sure it was the book I was thinking of, where the white guy takes the vitiligo pills and found this on wikipedia:
"Griffin became a national celebrity for a time. In a 1975 essay included in later editions of the book, he described the hostility and threats to him and his family which emerged in his Texas hometown. He was forced to move to Mexico for a number of years."  :x
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on April 08, 2012, 08:05:12 PM
Quote from: Anna Mae Bollocks on April 08, 2012, 07:57:32 PM
Quote from: Nigel on April 01, 2012, 12:58:41 AM
I finally finished reading "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" (it was excellent!) and started "Black Like Me".

I googled "Black Like Me" to make sure it was the book I was thinking of, where the white guy takes the vitiligo pills and found this on wikipedia:
"Griffin became a national celebrity for a time. In a 1975 essay included in later editions of the book, he described the hostility and threats to him and his family which emerged in his Texas hometown. He was forced to move to Mexico for a number of years."  :x

Yeah, I'm almost done with it and it's an excellent book.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Anna Mae Bollocks on April 08, 2012, 08:07:00 PM
Quote from: Nigel on April 08, 2012, 08:05:12 PM
Quote from: Anna Mae Bollocks on April 08, 2012, 07:57:32 PM
Quote from: Nigel on April 01, 2012, 12:58:41 AM
I finally finished reading "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" (it was excellent!) and started "Black Like Me".

I googled "Black Like Me" to make sure it was the book I was thinking of, where the white guy takes the vitiligo pills and found this on wikipedia:
"Griffin became a national celebrity for a time. In a 1975 essay included in later editions of the book, he described the hostility and threats to him and his family which emerged in his Texas hometown. He was forced to move to Mexico for a number of years."  :x

Yeah, I'm almost done with it and it's an excellent book.

Yes, it is, or I wouldn't have remembered it all these years. Now I want to read it again.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Rococo Modem Basilisk on April 18, 2012, 05:58:31 PM
Just finished The Idea Factory, Jon Gertner's history of Bell Labs. I recommend it, despite the fact that it seems to be a late entry in the boom on books about mathematical history that birthed some much superior books (The Information by Gleick, and Stephen Johnson's Where Do Good Ideas Come From) and some much inferior books (Kevin Kelly's What Technology Wants). My only major complaint about it is that it glossed over all of the software end entirely. The author goes into great detail about the mechanism of action of vacuum tubes, junction transistors, and waveguides, and then mentions UNIX all of twice (and in one of those two instances refers to it as "a programming language"). Nevertheless, it provides biographical details of people like Claude Shannon conspicuously missing from the other accounts I've read.

I also finished You Know Nothing of My Work, Douglas Coupland's biography of McLuhan. It's very much in the Coupland style, and it has an odd focus on neurology. It's very short (about 120 pages) and although it's worth reading, I wouldn't argue that it's worth dishing out $20 for a hardback.

I got through The Mad Professor, an anthology of short stories written by Rudy Rucker that have not been published elsewhere (ostensibly). I was pleasantly surprised. Everything I had read about Rucker made me expect him to write like a more hippie-ish Bruce Sterling. Instead, he seems more like what would happen if Jonathan Lethem tried to write stories based on Cory Doctorow plots (and had something resembling WSB's sense of humour). His writing is much weirder than I expected, and he has this kind of rambling morbid whimsy. One story, for instance, revolves around a man's penis turning into Edgar Allan Poe, and then giving birth to sea cucumbers. Another revolves around a thought experiment wherein a weird pseudo-christian UFO cult ends up being entirely correct about their eschatology.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Placid Dingo on April 19, 2012, 12:41:44 AM
Finished 'Think and Grow Rich', 'Game of Thrones' and 'Sense and Sensibility' recently.

Loved Thrones. TAGR was good but a bit new-agey at points. S&S was a bit painful at points but was decent for a Jane Austin work (unlike say, Emma.)
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Juana on April 19, 2012, 02:34:35 AM
"The Late Homecomer" by Kao Kalia Yang, which a memoir of a Hmong (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hmong_people) woman and her family's life in Thailand and America (though it starts with her parents meeting in the jungles of Laos and their flight to one of the refugee camps in Thailand). Gorgeously written and sad so far.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: EK WAFFLR on April 19, 2012, 11:58:54 PM
Just finished Down Under by Bill Bryson. Excellent as always. I have a man-crush on the man.

Next on my list: a rereading of Victoria by Knut Hamsun and Something Wicked this Way Comes by Ray Bradbury.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on April 20, 2012, 12:28:58 AM
Quote from: Waffle Iron on April 19, 2012, 11:58:54 PM
Just finished Down Under by Bill Bryson. Excellent as always. I have a man-crush on the man.

Next on my list: a rereading of Victoria by Knut Hamsun and Something Wicked this Way Comes by Ray Bradbury.

Bryson is awesome!

I just started "Garbage Land" by Royte.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Oysters Rockefeller on April 20, 2012, 04:52:26 AM
Quote from: Waffle Iron on April 19, 2012, 11:58:54 PM
Just finished Down Under by Bill Bryson. Excellent as always. I have a man-crush on the man.

Next on my list: a rereading of Victoria by Knut Hamsun and Something Wicked this Way Comes by Ray Bradbury.

Something Wicked is an interesting one. I always fall in love with Bradbury's concepts, and am subsequently disappointed by his actual stories. But I was a lot younger when I read it, so it might have just gone over my head. Definitely let me know what you think.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Eater of Clowns on April 21, 2012, 05:22:14 PM
Quote from: Waffle Iron on April 19, 2012, 11:58:54 PM
Just finished Down Under by Bill Bryson. Excellent as always. I have a man-crush on the man.

Next on my list: a rereading of Victoria by Knut Hamsun and Something Wicked this Way Comes by Ray Bradbury.

I loved A Walk in the Woods, but when I read I'm a Stranger Here Myself I just felt like the whole book was a series of "why can't people be more like me" essays.  It really annoyed me.  I'd love to read more of his stuff, but which is more representative of his style, the former or the latter?
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: EK WAFFLR on April 21, 2012, 05:48:45 PM
Quote from: Eater of Clowns on April 21, 2012, 05:22:14 PM
Quote from: Waffle Iron on April 19, 2012, 11:58:54 PM
Just finished Down Under by Bill Bryson. Excellent as always. I have a man-crush on the man.

Next on my list: a rereading of Victoria by Knut Hamsun and Something Wicked this Way Comes by Ray Bradbury.

I loved A Walk in the Woods, but when I read I'm a Stranger Here Myself I just felt like the whole book was a series of "why can't people be more like me" essays.  It really annoyed me.  I'd love to read more of his stuff, but which is more representative of his style, the former or the latter?

I haven't read Stranger , but none of his other books reads like what you describe it as. A Short History of Nearly Everything & The Lost Continent are my current favourites.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: ñͤͣ̄ͦ̌̑͗͊͛͂͗ ̸̨̨̣̺̼̣̜͙͈͕̮̊̈́̈͂͛̽͊ͭ̓͆ͅé ̰̓̓́ͯ́́͞ on April 23, 2012, 10:09:43 PM
Finished "Get Up, Stand Up" by Bruce E. Levine a few weeks ago. It was pretty good, and he makes a decent case for the value of protesting. The most insightful nugget I got from the book is that these gatherings/rallies/protests are a way of recognizing a group's strength, which is important in terms of evaluating what it can reasonably accomplish. My own retarded spin on this is that a collective consciousness that continually fluxes in size and morale needs a level of collective self-awareness to navigate through the world. We take our individual self-awareness for granted—we know about how strong we are and where we sit in space. When we don't connect with people with shared values we get a sense of alienation and helplessness that doesn't accurately represent our actual numbers or collective power.

Protests may not cause immediate change, but the social bonds and collective self-assessment can be instrumental in selecting goals that do result in meaningful accomplishments.

Recently I've been slogging through "The Quants: How a New Breed of Math Whizzes Conquered Wall Street and Nearly Destroyed It" by Scott Patterson. I'm halfway deep and not feeling like I've learned much useful information. To his credit, he lists many dates, organizations and names of people I wouldn't be able to track down easily, but he doesn't quite cut to the point or heart of the matter like Matt Taibbi. Patterson seems like he might be setting up a bunch of red herrings and scapegoats over an almost apologetic undercurrent.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Rococo Modem Basilisk on April 24, 2012, 07:24:49 PM
Just finished book one of John Shirley's trilogy A Song Called Youth. The writing is good, but it's a bit preachy. One of the things I tend to like most about cyberpunk is the moral ambiguity, and a story written in the cyberpunk style with the enemies being neonazis therefore breaks some of the draw. However, the writing is beautiful, so I'll probably finish it.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Bu🤠ns on April 25, 2012, 05:53:32 AM
http://robertgreene.net/the-descent-of-power-ebook.pdf

Robert Greene: The Descent of Power ebook
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on April 27, 2012, 05:15:17 PM
Daniel Kahneman's Slow and Fast Thinking.

If you're a fan of Less Wrong, Nassim Nicholas Taleb or learning about how people think and the cognitive defects that can arise from certain modes of thinking, then you will enjoy this book.  If you are not already aware, Kahneman has a Noble Laureate in Economics, precisely for his work on decision making and psychological biases.  His work is spread among a number of papers and lectures, in fields such as business and political science, but this book brings them all together for the first time.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Placid Dingo on April 28, 2012, 01:34:33 AM
Finished Don Quixote. Part two was a lot better but it didn't quite meet the hype I think I'd built up fr it. It was still very good.

Moving onto Shakespeare's sonnets.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Triple Zero on April 28, 2012, 03:05:45 AM
Quote from: Cain on April 27, 2012, 05:15:17 PM
Daniel Kahneman's Slow and Fast Thinking.

If you're a fan of Less Wrong, Nassim Nicholas Taleb or learning about how people think and the cognitive defects that can arise from certain modes of thinking, then you will enjoy this book.  If you are not already aware, Kahneman has a Noble Laureate in Economics, precisely for his work on decision making and psychological biases.  His work is spread among a number of papers and lectures, in fields such as business and political science, but this book brings them all together for the first time.

I think I need to acquire this book, then.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on April 28, 2012, 10:38:29 AM
If you do, you'll notice I used the representative heuristic in order to convince you to buy it.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: hirley0 on April 28, 2012, 12:08:50 PM
5:30PMpdT  5:30pm (http://www.buenosairesherald.com/article/99427/president-urges--unity-%E2%80%98nothing-is-forever%E2%80%99)

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5PMpdT The LiBraRY had No, So even though input "is"
AVAILABLE  i did not FIND ACCESS TO THE fINE DETAILS { sad  :sad:

I GUESS IT MEANS?  an unwanted trip to the LiBraRY
26/04/2012 | Argentina Argentina in brief
The content you are trying to view is only available for paid subscriptions.
16:16- http://www.buenosairesherald.com/article/99236/argentina-in-brief

u might have accidentally double clicked  {sum times i /-/Appens
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Triple Zero on April 28, 2012, 07:07:27 PM
Quote from: Cain on April 28, 2012, 10:38:29 AM
If you do, you'll notice I used the representative heuristic in order to convince you to buy it.

:lulz:
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: EK WAFFLR on April 28, 2012, 08:03:54 PM
I postponed Victoria and Something Wicked.. for The Castle by Franz Kafka.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Lenin McCarthy on April 28, 2012, 10:26:52 PM
Under the Frangipani by Mia Couto. Very surreal. Very... African. I really liked it, but I'm afraid a lot got lost in translation from the Portoguese original.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: ñͤͣ̄ͦ̌̑͗͊͛͂͗ ̸̨̨̣̺̼̣̜͙͈͕̮̊̈́̈͂͛̽͊ͭ̓͆ͅé ̰̓̓́ͯ́́͞ on April 30, 2012, 01:52:40 AM
Quote from: Cain on April 27, 2012, 05:15:17 PM
Daniel Kahneman's Slow and Fast Thinking.

If you're a fan of Less Wrong, Nassim Nicholas Taleb or learning about how people think and the cognitive defects that can arise from certain modes of thinking, then you will enjoy this book.  If you are not already aware, Kahneman has a Noble Laureate in Economics, precisely for his work on decision making and psychological biases.  His work is spread among a number of papers and lectures, in fields such as business and political science, but this book brings them all together for the first time.

Hell yeah, I'm bumping this to the top of my reading list.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: dontblameyoko on May 03, 2012, 05:18:10 AM
The Hobbit.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Rococo Modem Basilisk on May 03, 2012, 02:47:03 PM
Starting on Lovecraft's Dream Cycle. It's been collected along with some fragments in a volume with a nice introduction from Neil Gaiman.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: wlfjstr on May 04, 2012, 06:28:24 PM
Just finished a collection of the Sagas of Icelanders.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Don Coyote on May 12, 2012, 02:36:08 AM
Finished Elric of Melinbone by that Moorcock bloke. I rather liked it.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Rococo Modem Basilisk on May 13, 2012, 12:20:47 AM
Finished the Dream Cycle. Working through the Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus, but I'm having a hard time getting past 3.333 wherein he tries to solve Russel's paradox by claiming that no predicate that takes another predicate as an arg can take itself as an arg without becoming an entirely different predicate. I have absolutely no idea why Wittgenstein would think this is necessary, nor why he would think it could solve Russel's paradox. Everything prior to that borders on common sense (there are things that exist and things that don't exist; logic should be capable of representing all relationships that can exist between things that can exist and should not try to represent incomprehensible nonsense; we should try to give everything exactly one name; no logical assertion of a relationship between non-predicates should depend upon any other predicate given known values of the atomics involved)
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on May 16, 2012, 05:34:25 PM
Cainad, I finished The Prince of Nothing Trilogy.  My response is: wat

Seriously, I'm happy to have discovered that the trilogy is not, in fact, the end of the series, because the end of book three is, well, unsatisfactory at the very least.

I also didn't realise until I had finished the entire series that I had read Bakker before - a few years back, I read Neuropath, which was both scary and quite good.  I knew I recognised that name from somewhere.

Based on the ending to Neuropath, I predict a terrible ending for the Second Apocalypse.

Kellhus is....interesting.  In some ways he reminds me of HPMoR's Harry Potter, minus the sense of humour.  Which of course, one would expect.  He is Dunyain, Conditioned a student of the Logos, which is the Shortest Path.  Everyone and everything is a chess piece towards his goals, which remain unknown.

Logos is of course contrasted with Achaiman's Gnosis - when taken literally especially.  Logos is the principle of rationality, whereas gnosis is the principle of spiritual enlightenment through direct knowledge of the metaphysical world. 

The Prophecy, whatever that might be, is clearly fucked up and incorrect.  Achaiman is missing a vital piece of knowledge - Kellhus' father is an Anasurimbor as well, and preceded his journey to the south.  Either the Second Apocalypse takes a really long fucking time to materialize, or the Prophecy itself highly misguided.  The Mandate seem correct about most other things, but they clearly missed the mark on that.

I also couldn't help but notice similarities between this series and Joe Abercrombie's The Blade Itself trilogy.  I don't know if there was a definite level of inspiration there, but the Empire is similar to the Union, and the Cishaurim with the Eaters, and a few other things besides.

It could also just be me, but the No-God does not seem to be the principle threat here.  Well, it's existence is a threat to everyone, of course, but the No-God is nothing more than a weapon in the hands of the Inchoroi and the Consult.  Speaking of which, I'm surprised Kellhus hasn't already figured out that the Chishaurim need to be brought on board if he intends to counter the Consult - that they are working behind the scenes to ensure the success of the Holy War should be troubling, at the very least, as well as their manipulation of the Red Spires to go to war.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cainad (dec.) on May 16, 2012, 08:09:20 PM
Nice breakdown! I'll give a more full response once I get home and can type on something other than a phone. It's been a long time since I read the first trilogy, and I just recently finished the second book of the second trilogy.

I will say that's an interesting point about the Cishaurim; could it be that Khellus disregards them because he thinks that they are only a tool of his father, whom he has bested? I'll admit I didn't think much about that when I read it.

And "wut" is totally an appropriate reaction to this series.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cainad (dec.) on May 17, 2012, 12:42:15 AM
I'll definitely check out Neuropath and The Blade Itself at some point.


Khellus really is interesting...you'd almost think he was a Mary Sue character if I'd tried to describe him out of context. He becomes more of a background character in the second trilogy; you stop getting narration from his perspective.

Mog-Pharau the No-God as a weapon rather than as the principal threat is an interesting way to put it, and I think you're right about that. I completely forget if the origin and goals of the Inchoroi and Consult are revealed at all in the first trilogy, so I'll hold back to avoid the risk of spoilers, but considering what they want to accomplish it shows that the No-God is really a means to an end. It cannot come into the world by itself anyway; the Consult has to bring it into the world.


There's a lot of things that appeal to me about the setting and how Bakker presents his fantasy 'verse. When Achamian teaches Khellus about magic, the whole trope of "arcane magic requires intellect" totally makes sense; you have to speak one set of incantations while thinking a completely different one. Talk about a brain-bending exercise, especially under stressful circumstances.

The whole idea of the Nonmen is excellently creepy. They got immortality, but lost the ability to reproduce and didn't account for the fact that their brains only have so much room for memory, so the only things they remember in the long term are the most painful memories. No wonder they're batshit.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on May 17, 2012, 12:54:34 PM
I would say The Blade Itself is somewhat inferior to The Prince of Nothing.  The major difference is there is no Kellhus like character and the plot - while not terrible - is not as complex.  Essentially Union = Empire, the North = Scalvendi, the Fanim = Gurkhul Empire, Cnauir = Logen Ninefingers, Sranc = Shanka and the Consult = Eaters.

Speaking of which, what a character Cnauir was.  Complete and utter badass, and sharp to boot.  He was my favourite in the series by far.

Kellhus is something of a Mary Sue, it's true.  In a way, at least.  On the other hand, it is justified, not only by the Logos and Dunyain Conditioning, but also by Cnauir's suspicions about the Dunyain breeding program, and given he's no longer a protagonist in the story, but possibly even an antagonist, it might make things much more interesting.  I mean, Achaiman's no slouch, all appearances and self-doubt to the contrary, but I don't see him walking away from a fight with Kellhus - either one on one, or at a larger level.  Equally, the Consult's skin-spies are no match for him.  They may have some tricks hidden up their sleeve though, I doubt I've seen anything near the full extent of their power as of yet.

The other thing of interest about the magic system is...well, have you noticed the three most powerful forms of magic?  Logos, Tekne and Gnosis.  All Greek words for different applications of intelligence and knowledge.  It could be argued Logos is not so much magic as something that can make magic more powerful to grasp - The Shortest Way - but I still suspect this will have something to do with how everything gets resolved.

I don't believe the goals of the Inchoroi and Consult have been expanded upon, no.  The way in which Bakker described their psychology though, briefly, at the end of the third book, is very reminsicent of some of the themes of Neuropath though - the equation of sexuality and violence in particular.

It is possible the Chishaurim are disregarded for that reason, yes.  Also, given Kellhus had to usurp the Holy War to further his plan, making nice with them could threaten his position as Aspect-Emperor.  On the other hand, it could be that he is keeping them in reserve, for a future use - to use the Malazan term, they are his "shaved knuckle in the hole", his last gamble should things not go according to plan.  On the one hand, having no eyes does make them fairly visible, but on the other hand, especially in a battlefield scenario, where they can hide among troop formations, they would be utterly deadly.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cainad (dec.) on May 17, 2012, 04:59:25 PM
Oh yeah, Cnaiur was definitely the chief badass of them all. The only one to resist Khellus's charm by deliberately making himself too insane to read. And his decision to reveal what he knew about the Dunyain to Achamian is a cornerstone of the development of the plot.


That's a good point about the forms of magic all being words for intellect and knowledge, and it possibly sheds light on why Khellus seems to disregard the Cishaurim. In his conversation with Moenghus, it is revealed that the Fanim sorcerer-priests' magic is rooted in passion and emotion. Dunyain emotional faculties are practically atrophied in comparison to their intellectual capacity, which is part of why Khellus easily overcomes him. (That may also be why Moenghus didn't seem to trigger the prophecy; he might have just plain fucked up and picked the wrong form of magic to pursue, and lost his eyes in the process.)

If this is all accurate, then Khellus may simply try to squash the Cishaurim rather than bring them to heel. Their invisibility to the magical sight of the Few and his inability to grasp their form of magic makes them a variable that he might simply not want to deal with in his future plans. Seems almost too crude for Khellus, but after winning a Holy War and bringing half the world under his theocratic control he might think he has the ability to pull it off.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Prelate Diogenes Shandor on May 18, 2012, 06:25:56 PM
I've been rereading Terry Pratchett's Discworld series over the past few months. I just finished rereading The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents.

I've also become addicted to reading Wikipedia articles, and furthermore I also have a backlog of several thousand (no exaggeration) additional articles that I'd like to read saved to my computer.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Bu🤠ns on May 20, 2012, 12:30:24 AM
Narrative of the life of frederick douglass (autobiography) starting it .... .NOW
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Juana on May 20, 2012, 01:18:18 AM
Re-reading Kill the Dead by Richard Kadrey.

(http://www.eathorror.com/images/ash.jpg)-style protagonist + Kabbalah-influenced setting + an interesting twist on zombies + a professional zombie killer Roma porn star = the book.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Bu🤠ns on May 21, 2012, 02:34:25 AM
Quote from: Secret Agent GARBO on May 20, 2012, 01:18:18 AM
Re-reading Kill the Dead by Richard Kadrey.

(http://www.eathorror.com/images/ash.jpg)-style protagonist + Kabbalah-influenced setting + an interesting twist on zombies + a professional zombie killer Roma porn star = the book.

woah...wait...how can...all those things.....together?  REALLY?
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Anna Mae Bollocks on May 21, 2012, 02:45:36 AM
Quote from: Placid Dingo on April 19, 2012, 12:41:44 AM
Finished 'Think and Grow Rich', 'Game of Thrones' and 'Sense and Sensibility' recently.

Loved Thrones. TAGR was good but a bit new-agey at points. S&S was a bit painful at points but was decent for a Jane Austin work (unlike say, Emma.)

IMHO Austen's ok for orchestrating amusing clusterfucks, but her characters have a stick up their asses.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Juana on May 21, 2012, 03:57:43 AM
Quote from: Bu☆ns on May 21, 2012, 02:34:25 AM
Quote from: Secret Agent GARBO on May 20, 2012, 01:18:18 AM
Re-reading Kill the Dead by Richard Kadrey.

(http://www.eathorror.com/images/ash.jpg)-style protagonist + Kabbalah-influenced setting + an interesting twist on zombies + a professional zombie killer Roma porn star = the book.

woah...wait...how can...all those things.....together?  REALLY?
Really. :D And it's pretty amazing.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Rococo Modem Basilisk on May 21, 2012, 02:59:49 PM
Reading George Dyson's Turing's Cathedral. True to form, the book has a picture of Turing as the front cover, and Turing never appears in the text proper (or hasn't yet except in passing, and I'm more than halfway through). I suppose if he had named it Von Neumann's Cathedral people would have been confused and he would get fewer sales, but it would be more accurate: the whole thing is about the development of the MANIAC, which could be considered to be the first solid-state electronic digital stored-program computer. The book is entertaining, though remarkably disorganized (after a chapter on the legal war with the creators of the ENIAC, he skips over to a chapter about the imprisonment of William Penn, only because both things were tangentially related to New Jersey). The technical details of the MANIAC are kind of incredible: this machine from the 1940s had 40-fold parallelism and used cathode ray tubes for RAM, and it was built using wire wrap and had no boards.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on May 21, 2012, 06:34:20 PM
Cainad, R Scott Bakker has a blog, I thought you would like to know.

http://rsbakker.wordpress.com/

It's quite good reading, too.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Placid Dingo on May 21, 2012, 10:26:04 PM
Quote from: Anna Mae Bollocks on May 21, 2012, 02:45:36 AM
Quote from: Placid Dingo on April 19, 2012, 12:41:44 AM
Finished 'Think and Grow Rich', 'Game of Thrones' and 'Sense and Sensibility' recently.

Loved Thrones. TAGR was good but a bit new-agey at points. S&S was a bit painful at points but was decent for a Jane Austin work (unlike say, Emma.)

IMHO Austen's ok for orchestrating amusing clusterfucks, but her characters have a stick up their asses.

Yeah, agree.

When she decides to thrown in a horrible asshole, her work is really readable, but there's not enough of those characters in her work.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cainad (dec.) on May 22, 2012, 02:32:10 PM
Cain: sweet, bookmarked.


Just picked up Christopher Moore's new book, Sacre Bleu. Have I mentioned that I love Christopher Moore? Well, I love Christopher Moore.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on May 26, 2012, 03:25:39 PM
Just wanted to thank Cain. I've started "Thinking, Fast and Slow", and it's a GREAT read. Easily readable in an engaging, conversational tone, packed full of verifiable information about how the brain seems to work.

So, thanks.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on May 26, 2012, 03:52:55 PM
You're welcome.

And I agree with all of the above.  I'm taking notes on my Kindle, perhaps when we've both finished, we should throw up a discussion thread?  Oh so much of this has major O:MF potential.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on May 26, 2012, 06:32:08 PM
Agreed.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Faust on May 26, 2012, 08:17:50 PM
I recently read Grant morrisons Supergods and it really is a book with some excellent and awful material.

They good side of it is he goes into detail about his meticulous research into comic book and shares most of it.

The other side of it is the self congratulatory wank, how he insinuates inspiring such titles as the dark knight returns and watchmen while agreeing they are among the best comics while at the same time attacking them and calling them the dark age of comics.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on May 27, 2012, 08:19:23 PM
Cainad, it occurs to me: Kellhus is an AI, the Inchoroi are transhumanists.

Not literally, but you know what I mean, yes?
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Juana on May 27, 2012, 08:25:57 PM
Just started Delusions of GenderHow Our Minds, Society, and Neurosexism Create Difference by Cordelia Fine. Very good so far and I'm enjoying how it nails to the wall the female brain/male brain dichotomy. I always thought that was a little fishy.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on May 27, 2012, 08:45:34 PM
Quote from: Secret Agent GARBO on May 27, 2012, 08:25:57 PM
Just started Delusions of GenderHow Our Minds, Society, and Neurosexism Create Difference by Cordelia Fine. Very good so far and I'm enjoying how it nails to the wall the female brain/male brain dichotomy. I always thought that was a little fishy.

Ooh, that sounds really promising!
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Juana on May 27, 2012, 11:26:16 PM
It is, so far. It's in that link I posted for ya - did you ever get it or did you want a quick torrent?
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on May 28, 2012, 12:05:51 AM
Quote from: Secret Agent GARBO on May 27, 2012, 11:26:16 PM
It is, so far. It's in that link I posted for ya - did you ever get it or did you want a quick torrent?

I never could get any of those to download for me, so if you wanted to hook me up, I would be in your debt.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: EK WAFFLR on May 28, 2012, 12:29:33 AM
I bowed to the pressure and started reading House of Leaves.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on May 28, 2012, 12:31:16 AM
I just cracked open "The Coming Plague".
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Juana on May 28, 2012, 01:25:44 AM
PMing it you.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on May 29, 2012, 01:58:58 AM
WhoooO!
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Rococo Modem Basilisk on May 30, 2012, 03:27:05 PM
Quote from: Faust on May 26, 2012, 08:17:50 PMThe other side of it is the self congratulatory wank, how he insinuates inspiring such titles as the dark knight returns and watchmen while agreeing they are among the best comics while at the same time attacking them and calling them the dark age of comics.

I didn't catch that at all while reading it. I remember that he said he gave Watchmen a terrible review, and then Alan Moore turned around and gave Arkham Asylum a terrible review. However, I got the impression that he was claiming that comics of that era were dark for the sake of dark (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/NotADeconstruction), and that he was a part of the problem. In other words, I interpreted Supergods as the comic book equivalent of the Heiroglyph Project announcement (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Hieroglyph), and his work on All Star Superman appears to be in-line with that.

Speaking of comic books, has anyone else seen GM's work on that other franchise named 'The Avengers' (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Avengers_(TV_series))? I scored the first issue, but it finished while I wasn't looking and so far as I can tell it hasn't been released as an anthology yet.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Lenin McCarthy on May 30, 2012, 06:11:45 PM
The Uncertain Mind: Individual Differences in Facing the Unknown. Should be an interesting read.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cainad (dec.) on May 30, 2012, 08:45:56 PM
Quote from: Cain on May 27, 2012, 08:19:23 PM
Cainad, it occurs to me: Kellhus is an AI, the Inchoroi are transhumanists.

Not literally, but you know what I mean, yes?


Oh shit, yeah! An intellect that can wholly comprehend and optimize itself, and people that are focused entirely on transcending the mortal condition. Good catch.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: EK WAFFLR on June 06, 2012, 10:56:35 PM
Finished House of Leaves.

Reading Focault's Pendulum.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Don Coyote on June 06, 2012, 11:44:10 PM
Finished The Unicorporated Man
It half way read like some kind of weird Libertarian wet dream. This novel takes a billionaire from the early 21st century, cryogenically suspends him for 3 centuries, to be revived in a world with a universal government that spans the solar system but is extremely weak. Everything the government is considered to be the primary supplier of, police, utilities and the like, is open for competition from corporations, of which there are a lot, in a weird turn of events. However the oddest thing is this social norm of EVERYONE being an incorporated person, with the government having 5%, and the parents starting with 20% of the shares of the individual, and gaining education and the like by selling shares of yourself to corps, universities and other people. You are free to do what you want, provided you have a majority of your shares.
The future seems very uptopian, and made me question the validity of not doing things that way. When you look at it from a social standpoint, it makes other people financially invested in your well being, and like wise makes you financially invested in other people. There is also no government central currency, instead the corporations issue their currencies. And in the end it doesn't seem to be a Libertarian wank book.

There is also emergent AIs, and cheap nanotech.

I also read Someone Come to Town, Someone Leaves Town. It was weird. The protagonist is the son of a mountain and a washing machine.

Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Freeky on June 07, 2012, 03:06:32 AM
You have to sell yourself off to corporations in order to get educated?  How does that seem reasonable in the current light of day?
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Don Coyote on June 07, 2012, 03:12:20 AM
Quote from: The Freeky of SCIENCE! on June 07, 2012, 03:06:32 AM
You have to sell yourself off to corporations in order to get educated?  How does that seem reasonable in the current light of day?

Did I say it was?
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Don Coyote on June 07, 2012, 03:23:06 AM
FUck, That was flippant. And I apologize.

Ok, from my viewpoint, everyone in society is invested in one way or the other in other people in their society, and many of the people you are invested in have ties to you that they can use to push you around. The only difference is in the novel makes it a blatant (mostly) financially motivated system.

Now I don't want to spoil the book, but while it shows all the positives that came about through this incorporated person idea, there is the obvious contrast of the horrible downsides of not having a control of your life, and the extent that those in power (wealthy) will go to secure a share in someone's life and earnings, as well as the invasiveness of some of the laws regarding incorporation. It actually serves to illustrate how bad things could get under Libertarians, while still seeming all roses.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Anna Mae Bollocks on June 07, 2012, 03:53:22 AM
I saw an actual theory something like that, it say that when you're issued a birth certificate or social security number, I don't remember which, there's a corporation created in your name but you don't own it. I think it was Alex Jones or David Icke or one of those guys, so I didn't pay rapt attention but in some ways it's semi-plausible.

And who was on top, the washing machine or the mountain?  :lol:
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Don Coyote on June 07, 2012, 04:01:25 AM
Quote from: Anna Mae Bollocks on June 07, 2012, 03:53:22 AM
I saw an actual theory something like that, it say that when you're issued a birth certificate or social security number, I don't remember which, there's a corporation created in your name but you don't own it. I think it was Alex Jones or David Icke or one of those guys, so I didn't pay rapt attention but in some ways it's semi-plausible.

And who was on top, the washing machine or the mountain?  :lol:

The washing machine lived inside the mountain  :fap:
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Anna Mae Bollocks on June 07, 2012, 03:30:16 PM
Quote from: Guru Quixote on June 07, 2012, 04:01:25 AM
Quote from: Anna Mae Bollocks on June 07, 2012, 03:53:22 AM
I saw an actual theory something like that, it say that when you're issued a birth certificate or social security number, I don't remember which, there's a corporation created in your name but you don't own it. I think it was Alex Jones or David Icke or one of those guys, so I didn't pay rapt attention but in some ways it's semi-plausible.

And who was on top, the washing machine or the mountain?  :lol:

The washing machine lived inside the mountain  :fap:

Nassssstaaaaaaay.  :lol:
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Rococo Modem Basilisk on June 10, 2012, 09:25:50 PM
Finishing Conjuring Up Phillip, a book written in the 70s trying to make the case that at least some accounts of hauntings are likely to instead be the result of psychokinesis (an idea that became popular later), based on two experiments wherein a group created a fake historical character (with intentional inconsistencies so that such a person could not have actually existed) and then summoned this character (who proceeded to, according to the book, do things like levitate tables). Once I finish it, I'll see if I can find anything trying specifically to debunk it, since the book is kind of a single-point-of-failure. Tangentially, I was considering the similarities with PKD's 2374 experience (from the perspective of questioning whether one could be the result of the other).

Starting Metamagical Themas, which is generally interesting (and more approachable than Godel Escher Bach). I ran into a couple major WTF moments, about which I will rant later.

Rereading the collected works of Charles Fort. Starting on Zamyatin's We. Later, I plan to attack House of Leaves again, now that I have it in dead tree.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Faust on June 10, 2012, 10:47:35 PM
Quote from: Phosphatidylserine on May 30, 2012, 03:27:05 PM
Quote from: Faust on May 26, 2012, 08:17:50 PMThe other side of it is the self congratulatory wank, how he insinuates inspiring such titles as the dark knight returns and watchmen while agreeing they are among the best comics while at the same time attacking them and calling them the dark age of comics.

I didn't catch that at all while reading it. I remember that he said he gave Watchmen a terrible review, and then Alan Moore turned around and gave Arkham Asylum a terrible review. However, I got the impression that he was claiming that comics of that era were dark for the sake of dark (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/NotADeconstruction), and that he was a part of the problem. In other words, I interpreted Supergods as the comic book equivalent of the Heiroglyph Project announcement (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Hieroglyph), and his work on All Star Superman appears to be in-line with that.

Speaking of comic books, has anyone else seen GM's work on that other franchise named 'The Avengers' (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Avengers_(TV_series))? I scored the first issue, but it finished while I wasn't looking and so far as I can tell it hasn't been released as an anthology yet.
He insinuates it repeatedly for several different writers not just Moore. Though his "negative review" was pretty funny in that it comes across as a terrified fear that it nearly destroyed superhero comics forever. He describes it as an intricate cold perfectly constructed attack on superheros which to be honest seems like a misconception of both it and Miracle man.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Salty on June 11, 2012, 09:28:52 PM
Mike Meyers' COMPTIA A+ Certification Tomb. 

I strongly suspect he writes these with the intention of keeping people OUT of the tech world. There's no other reason for setting up an education book in this fashion. 

"No rule says how many USB ports a single host adapter may use." pg. 689

"Each USB host controller supports up to 127 USB devices..." pg. 691

:nuke2:

That's pretty fucking indicative of how many ports it can have DOESN'T IT?
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: minuspace on June 11, 2012, 09:35:26 PM
Quote from: Phosphatidylserine on June 10, 2012, 09:25:50 PM
Later, I plan to attack House of Leaves again, now that I have it in dead tree.

Late summer nights vacation reading House of Leaves in dead tree is excellent.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Pope Pixie Pickle on June 14, 2012, 12:46:52 AM
Quote from: PROFOUNDLY RETARDED CHARLIE MANSON on May 27, 2012, 08:45:34 PM
Quote from: Secret Agent GARBO on May 27, 2012, 08:25:57 PM
Just started Delusions of GenderHow Our Minds, Society, and Neurosexism Create Difference by Cordelia Fine. Very good so far and I'm enjoying how it nails to the wall the female brain/male brain dichotomy. I always thought that was a little fishy.

Ooh, that sounds really promising!

woah, I just got the delivery for that yesterday, I ordered it literally the day after Garbo posted and just recommended it to Nigel in another fread. :D
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Don Coyote on June 14, 2012, 01:09:38 AM
Re-re-re-started Don Quixote.
Started the Unincorporated War.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Placid Dingo on June 14, 2012, 02:12:27 AM
Quote from: Guru Quixote on June 14, 2012, 01:09:38 AM
Re-re-re-started Don Quixote.
Started the Unincorporated War.

Yeah, first half of book one is a bit challenging. I found the rest good, and it's certainly a work that sticks with you.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Juana on June 15, 2012, 08:35:42 PM
While offline, I finished Cows, Pigs, Wars, and Witches: the Riddles of Culture by Marvin Harris. Although there are a few sort of problematic things, I still learned a ridiculous amount, from why big men and potlaches make sense to the reasonings for messanic cults that Palestine was riddled with around the time of Christ (and why, even though he absolutely was not, Jesus seems different than his contemporary charismatic cult leaders).
Coyote, I think you might be particularly interested, since I recall you saying something about how you thought that misogyny is to some extent linked to who militaristic a group is, which is pretty much 100% backed here.

Also annihilated Between XX and XY: Intersexuality and the Myth of the Two Sexes by Dr. Gerald N. Callahan. He constantly uses sex and gender interchangibly even though he recognizes they're different, which is annoying, but otherwise it's an excellent book.

Quote from: Pixie on June 14, 2012, 12:46:52 AM
Quote from: PROFOUNDLY RETARDED CHARLIE MANSON on May 27, 2012, 08:45:34 PM
Quote from: Secret Agent GARBO on May 27, 2012, 08:25:57 PM
Just started Delusions of GenderHow Our Minds, Society, and Neurosexism Create Difference by Cordelia Fine. Very good so far and I'm enjoying how it nails to the wall the female brain/male brain dichotomy. I always thought that was a little fishy.

Ooh, that sounds really promising!

woah, I just got the delivery for that yesterday, I ordered it literally the day after Garbo posted and just recommended it to Nigel in another fread. :D
I haven't finished it 'cause I'm ADHD like that, but apparently there's some ridiculous shit. Read it critically.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Don Coyote on June 16, 2012, 08:25:33 AM
Quote from: Secret Agent GARBO on June 15, 2012, 08:35:42 PM
While offline, I finished Cows, Pigs, Wars, and Witches: the Riddles of Culture by Marvin Harris. Although there are a few sort of problematic things, I still learned a ridiculous amount, from why big men and potlaches make sense to the reasonings for messanic cults that Palestine was riddled with around the time of Christ (and why, even though he absolutely was not, Jesus seems different than his contemporary charismatic cult leaders).
Coyote, I think you might be particularly interested, since I recall you saying something about how you thought that misogyny is to some extent linked to who militaristic a group is, which is pretty much 100% backed here.

Also annihilated Between XX and XY: Intersexuality and the Myth of the Two Sexes by Dr. Gerald N. Callahan. He constantly uses sex and gender interchangibly even though he recognizes they're different, which is annoying, but otherwise it's an excellent book.

Quote from: Pixie on June 14, 2012, 12:46:52 AM
Quote from: PROFOUNDLY RETARDED CHARLIE MANSON on May 27, 2012, 08:45:34 PM
Quote from: Secret Agent GARBO on May 27, 2012, 08:25:57 PM
Just started Delusions of GenderHow Our Minds, Society, and Neurosexism Create Difference by Cordelia Fine. Very good so far and I'm enjoying how it nails to the wall the female brain/male brain dichotomy. I always thought that was a little fishy.

Ooh, that sounds really promising!

woah, I just got the delivery for that yesterday, I ordered it literally the day after Garbo posted and just recommended it to Nigel in another fread. :D
I haven't finished it 'cause I'm ADHD like that, but apparently there's some ridiculous shit. Read it critically.

I'll check that book out.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on July 05, 2012, 01:10:29 PM
Going through Daniel Hopsicker's Welcome to Terrorland at a good rate.

Hopsicker is an independent investigative journalist who, in the immediate aftermath of 9/11, went to Florida to find out what he could about the hijackers, and in particular about Mohammed Atta.  While a pretty skeptical guy, I don't think he was quite prepared to go that far down the rabbit-hole...

Hopsicker gets some real scoops in this book.  For instance, he is the only person I know of who managed to interview Amanda Keller, Atta's American girlfriend.  He interviews Atta's ex-landlords, people who worked at the bars he attended, students who attended flight-school with him, and a very odd picture of Atta emerges.

He's a nasty bastard, no doubt about that.  Keller tells how after she broke up with him, he killed her kittens and left their dismembered body parts around the apartment.  But she also tells how he was a party animal, into expensive drinks and drugs.  She saw him doing coke more than once. He seemed to have an inexhaustible income, from unknown sources.  Expensive suits, expensive drinks, expensive living arrangements.  He also had a lot of German friends, who have gone unidentified to this day.

Much more disturbingly, Hopsicker shows the FBI timeline for Atta's movements in Florida to be completely and utterly wrong.  He also investigates the flight schools that he attended, and finds some serious discrepancies.  For instance, both the schools were bought by Dutch nationals, only a couple of months before Atta arrived and trained there.  One of the school "owners" had no experience as a pilot...but plenty of experience in smuggling high-tech goods, for which he was investigated by various US agencies.  It also turned out he wasn't the actual owner of the school...and the man who was had been investigated by the DEA, because his planes were bringing in massive amounts of heroin from Venezuela.

Neither of the flight schools, nor the man backing them, was making any money.  Yet they lived extremely lavish lifestyles.  They also moved in odd company.  A Portland-area Mafioso who helped bilk a mafia-union linked to Bill Clinton's campaign, with help from a company linked to Bush Jr's campaign.  An ex-CIA, native Russian pilot.  And a whole cast of Iran-Contra extras, inexplicably in the vicinity of Venice, Florida, during the period when Atta was training there.

And this is just the cliff notes version of what Hopsicker unconvered.  Given he cut his teeth in investigating drugs, organised crime and political figures in the US, he goes into much greater detail.

I'm about two thirds of the way through, but I'm fairly convinced, regardless of the known events of 9/11, something dodgy as hell was going on in Florida during Atta's time there, and that he is connected to all these corrupt, criminal figures is probably not just coincidence.  And also that the Saudis are up to their neck in this as well.  Hopsicker mentions how the House of Saud have links with certain American crime groups, and some of his suspicions seem to match up with the more recent revelations that some US senators suspected Saudi Arabia helped sponsor the 9/11 attacks.  At the very least, there appear to be two overlapping operations here: the drugs operation, and then the terrorist operation.  The question is, how do these two interact, and what the hell went wrong? Atta seems to have been protected at least in part by someone in the US - he shares a name with a Palestinian terrorist, which should have, at the very least, gotten him flagged on his first entry into the US.  Except....those checks are often waived for Saudi or Saudi-affiliated nationals.  The flight schools Atta attended were reported to the FAA a ridiculous amount of times for so many violations of good practice, of corruption...and yet, those who lodged complaints were told to drop them, that those involved were protected.

And then you have the FBI driving around Florida, seizing documents (not just copying them, taking them) and telling all witnesses to shut up and not talk to anyone.  Not to mention the several witnesses who then went missing...
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on July 05, 2012, 04:06:35 PM
What are the chances of two parallel plots going on here?  One for drug running/tech smuggling, one for terrorism?
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on July 05, 2012, 04:22:09 PM
Hard to say.  Smuggling routes aren't just useful for smugglers, after all. On the other hand, dealing with terrorists is certainly a good way to end up in the wrong sort of reports, and being looked at by the wrong sort of people.

I'm struggling to come up with a plausible, coherent theory which accounts for all of this, but at the moment I don't have all the data.  It looks like Mohammed Atta may have been acting as a pilot for a protected number of individuals smuggling drugs into Florida (Amanda Keller said he had certification to be a pilot in other countries, and he at least once took another student out on a flight with him supervising).  He may have gotten into the USA via one of Bin Laden's brothers, who had pilots for the Saudi airforce sent specifically to the company in Venice where Atta "trained", but that only partially explains the Saudi connection.

How it went from that to a terrorist plot is a very, very good question.  And the same goes for the gold, which an unidentified but obviously wealthy Saudi man brought to a friend of Atta's, who has since (unsurprisingly) gone missing.

Gold.  Drugs.  Oil (money).  Organized crime.  Terrorism.  That's a dangerous and complex situaiton wherever those things come together. 
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Rococo Modem Basilisk on July 17, 2012, 12:56:26 AM
I am 94 pages into Slajov Zizek's Did Somebody Say Totalitarianism?! (yes, that's actually the title), and thus far he has told me that:
When I have to stop reading a book and go back to House of Leaves for lack of sense, that's a bad sign, but Zizek remains entertaining in long form.

Meanwhile, I'm still reading Zamatayin's We, Hofstadter's Metamagical Themas, Fort's New Lands, and The I Ching. I recently finished The Apocalypse Codex, which is about as expected for an entry in Stross's Laundry series, and I bought a biography of Mad King Ludwig (which is surprisingly hagiographic).
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: minuspace on July 19, 2012, 11:32:13 PM
In lieu of formal debriefing, I'm skimming travel documents to alien worlds.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Reeducation on August 31, 2012, 10:23:56 PM
Some books written by Julius Evola, Rene Guenon and Frithjof Schuon.



Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Placid Dingo on September 01, 2012, 02:35:40 AM
Finished The Prankster and the Conspiracy as part of my research.

Reading Tess of the D'Urbervilles.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on September 01, 2012, 04:17:09 AM
Finished Stiff, am starting War Dances and Part Wild.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Anna Mae Bollocks on September 01, 2012, 06:40:31 AM
Quote from: Placid Dingo on September 01, 2012, 02:35:40 AM
Finished The Prankster and the Conspiracy as part of my research.

Reading Tess of the D'Urbervilles.

Somehow I never got around to reading ol' Tess. Got her on my kindle (free, no less) but from what I gather, her life is world-o-suck. So no hurry.

I'm a sucker for old books, though.  :) Reading "At Last" by Marion Harland.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Placid Dingo on September 01, 2012, 07:41:01 AM
Quote from: TEXAS FAIRIES FOR ALL YOU SPAGS on September 01, 2012, 06:40:31 AM
Quote from: Placid Dingo on September 01, 2012, 02:35:40 AM
Finished The Prankster and the Conspiracy as part of my research.

Reading Tess of the D'Urbervilles.

Somehow I never got around to reading ol' Tess. Got her on my kindle (free, no less) but from what I gather, her life is world-o-suck. So no hurry.

I'm a sucker for old books, though.  :) Reading "At Last" by Marion Harland.

Yeah I'm going through the classics. Tess isn't the fastest moving I've read, but it's nice prose and dryly humourous.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on September 01, 2012, 08:09:06 AM
Reading Kill Decision by Daniel Suarez.

Suarez is always a good read.  While his characters are typically "meh" (he's a techno-thriller writer) his ideas are usually interesting and at least somewhat grounded in reality.  His previous two books, Daemon and Freedom were about what you could do with a self-replicating system, lots of money, access to the internet and a desire to wreck the system.

Kill Decision is about drones.  In particular, drone attacks on the USA, using autonomous targeting.  That's drones with simple AI.  It also touches on the "swarming" behaviour that has been studied in the military, with the fear that drones would start using swarm attacks, though that has not occured so far in the book.

Drones are cheap, easy to build and with the right materials can be almost undetectable.  Throw in a sophisticated targeting system and you have the perfect weapon for assassinations, covert bombing campaigns and simulating terrorist attacks.  Anonymity and firepower are generally a bad combination.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Rococo Modem Basilisk on September 09, 2012, 08:50:53 PM
In the past couple weeks, I blew through Asimov's Foundation (just the first one), three books by Jon Ronson (Them, The Psychopath Test, and The Men Who Stare At Goats), Neal Stephenson's recent nonfiction compilation Some Remarks, and all but the last book in Charles Stross's Family Trade series, because I'm a slacker. Asimov was not as painful as I remember him being, and Ronson always pleases. Stephenson and Stross I've ranted about before.

If my bad reading habits continue, I plan to go through the cross-section of foundational science fiction I bought at great cost from the used bookstore. A couple Heinlein things I haven't read, a couple Dune books, a Bradbury book that was never recommended to me in school (hard to find -- turns out he wrote The Toynbee Convector, presumably in 2001 to ressurect dead on planet Jupiter), a Brunner book (The Sheep Look Up), and Breakfast of Champions. The thing about the Zamatayin book (and a couple others I picked up) is that it was very much mined by later works and had almost nothing to offer except stylistically -- sort of like if Alphaville actually had an original plot when it was made. This is totally the opposite experience from what I had with Non-Stop and Solaris, so I completely expected upon reading this book whose plot had been rehashed endlessly to see something fresh that no adaptation had taken. Apparently, no. Maybe it's the translator's fault.

Tangentially, if you want some really mind-blowing science fiction, I recommend the Semiotext(e) SF collection, and anything by either Cordwainer Smith or Rudy Rucker. There are reality tunnels so strange that I couldn't project myself into them without becoming pretty warped, and while Semiotext(e) SF is the whirlwind tour (plus a couple entries by Sterling or by RAW that didn't really do much for me), the other two corpora are just pure crazy. Cordwainer Smith is the pseudonym of Paul Linebarger, who wrote the book on psychological warfare and was the domain expert in world war two and immediately afterward. I don't know what Rucker's excuse is. Maybe it's because he's a mathematician and did a lot of acid.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: dontblameyoko on September 11, 2012, 01:47:23 AM
Finally finished The Hobbit, now reading American Gods.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Reeducation on September 11, 2012, 08:52:01 PM
Flex Mentallo! Might be good? :) Just got it.

Goner - The Final Travels of UG Krishnamurti. Very funny stuff.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Rococo Modem Basilisk on September 12, 2012, 03:30:19 PM
Flex Mentallo is fucking excellent. I cried at the end.

I keep thinking that Flex Mentallo and The Filth are similar, but then I try to figure out how and I come up blank.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on September 16, 2012, 05:37:37 AM
Just started "Invisible Man".
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Murmur on September 16, 2012, 06:09:34 AM
Working my way through "The Mammoth Book of True Crime."

I'm on the (alphabetical) Dismembered Bodies chapter.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on September 16, 2012, 06:11:55 AM
As an illustration of just how tired I am, I read that as "Disembodied bodies", and immediately wondered how that would work.

Reading a bunch of terrorism studies stuff, prepping for (hopefully) going back into studies next year or so.

Given how this job is changing, I want to give myself a way to get the qualifications I actually want before leaving.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: MMMW on November 30, 2012, 09:41:49 PM
I just started reading "Beautiful Trouble". It's a pretty well organized guide of tactics, principles, theories, case studies and practitioners of culture jamming that you don't need to read in any particular order. Seems relevant!

Read it here http://beautifultrouble.org/all-modules/ (http://beautifultrouble.org/all-modules/) for free.


Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on December 01, 2012, 01:19:15 AM
Quote from: MMMW on November 30, 2012, 09:41:49 PM
I just started reading "Beautiful Trouble". It's a pretty well organized guide of tactics, principles, theories, case studies and practitioners of culture jamming that you don't need to read in any particular order. Seems relevant!

Read it here http://beautifultrouble.org/all-modules/ (http://beautifultrouble.org/all-modules/) for free.

That looks like fun!
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Rococo Modem Basilisk on December 01, 2012, 01:21:19 AM
In the middle of chewing through Harlan Ellison's collection The Beast that Shouted Love at the Heart of the World. Next up is Jose Farmer's To Your Scattered Bodies Go.

Read PKD's The Solar Lottery. It's not like Valis or Radio Free Albemuth or any of the acclaimed ones, but in terms of fun I think it takes the cake. It has fewer gags than Ubik, but (uncharacteristically for a PKD book) it isn't actually all that depressing. He seems to really have no idea what minimax means, though.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Juana on December 02, 2012, 12:13:11 AM
Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and bin Laden, from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001 (http://www.amazon.com/Ghost-Wars-Afghanistan-September-ebook/dp/B000P2A43Q/ref=tmm_kin_title_0) by Steve Coll. It's on the foreign service's recommended reading list.

Radicals of the Worst Sort, on women's role in the 1912 Lawrence Mill strike.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on December 03, 2012, 02:36:33 PM
I started reading Shine a Light, the Bob Mould (Husker Du, Sugar) autobiography.  It's a little clumsy, but quite a fun and quick read.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on December 03, 2012, 06:29:09 PM
American Tabloid by James Ellroy.  It's the way history is meant to be read - like a crime novel, hardboiled and gritty.  Alas, lacking in fedora hats, but it was the 60s.  Drugs, sex, rock and roll, the Mafia, the Teamsters, Kennedy fucking everything that moved, police agent provocateurs, Hoover's all encompassing paranoia and assassinations.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on December 11, 2012, 02:04:48 PM
Quote from: Cain on December 03, 2012, 06:29:09 PM
American Tabloid by James Ellroy.  It's the way history is meant to be read - like a crime novel, hardboiled and gritty.  Alas, lacking in fedora hats, but it was the 60s.  Drugs, sex, rock and roll, the Mafia, the Teamsters, Kennedy fucking everything that moved, police agent provocateurs, Hoover's all encompassing paranoia and assassinations.

Just got up to the 1959 Cuba Revolution.  Lots of fun, especially the whole doublecross Castro pulled on the Mafia.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Rococo Modem Basilisk on December 11, 2012, 08:14:37 PM
Working through book one of The Mongoliad, which (although some really good writers are involved) is more or less as you might expect. It's possibly the most boring historical fiction I've tried to drudge through. Somehow, both Neal Stephenson and Greg Bear manage to be tedious. But, for a collaboration between speculative fiction authors whose only other connection is a love of hitting each other with fake swords in historically-accurate ways, there is surprisingly little swordplay or even swordplay-discussion (less than there was in Snow Crash or in The Baroque Cycle). It might be because the main character of every other chapter is a binder/druid girl who (thus far) has not wielded a blade bigger than a dagger, and spends most of her internal monologue talking about how dreamy one of the celibate knights is and how lame and stupid a different one is.

On the flip side, I finished The Beast that Shouted Love at the Heart of the World and I'm considering obtaining more Ellison.

I also finished Zodiac, and it is not the abortion that Stephenson sometimes makes it out to be (although I suppose I might be misinterpreting some of his vitrol, and that it may be directed at Big U). Zodiac is at least as entertaining as Snow Crash or The Diamond Age, and I suspect that I'd get more out of it if I had a background in organic chemistry. It's certainly more entertaining than I expected a book about monkeywrenchers to be.

I'm partway through The Immanence of Myth, of which I finally scored a copy. It's not bad, although I'm almost certainly not the intended audience (I read the editor/author's blog religiously and own several of his books, and this one in particular spends a lot of time elucidating a model of myth and narrative that had simply been a prerequisite assumption for the blog). My main complaint is that it is extremely tall and flat, and so it won't fit on a shelf upright but is too floppy to put horizontally above a row of shorter books.

I'm also partway through Brain Children by Daniel Dennett, and Body of Secrets by Bamford. Dennett's book bothers me a bit because it constantly veers off topic and makes non-sequitor arguments (although Dennett's arguments are much more lucid than that classic of the genre, the Chinese Room Experiment... he spends a long time talking about how the original Turing Test is a really good measure of general intelligence, how nearly all modifications weaken it, &c., and then claims that nobody will ever pass it anyway, because expert systems suck and robots don't have hands). Bamford's book seems in places overly specific or detailed, and it jumps around in time constantly; I may be too unfamiliar with the details of the early Cold War period to easily follow it, or I may be having trouble because I keep reading it during complicated and interesting lectures about cryptography and getting distracted. I'll continue with both.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Don Coyote on December 11, 2012, 10:59:34 PM
Quote from: Phosphatidylserine on December 11, 2012, 08:14:37 PM
Working through book one of The Mongoliad, which (although some really good writers are involved) is more or less as you might expect. It's possibly the most boring historical fiction I've tried to drudge through. Somehow, both Neal Stephenson and Greg Bear manage to be tedious. But, for a collaboration between speculative fiction authors whose only other connection is a love of hitting each other with fake swords in historically-accurate ways, there is surprisingly little swordplay or even swordplay-discussion (less than there was in Snow Crash or in The Baroque Cycle). It might be because the main character of every other chapter is a binder/druid girl who (thus far) has not wielded a blade bigger than a dagger, and spends most of her internal monologue talking about how dreamy one of the celibate knights is and how lame and stupid a different one is.

I've read two excerpts of The Mongoliad, the first I read was a rather detailed accounting of a young man fighting in an arena using supposedly historically accurate arms, armor and techniques. I was not impressed by the use of armor that was several centuries too early, or the use of fighting techniques intended for use against an unarmored foe being used against an armored foe.
It's one thing to write fight scenes knowing you are not being accurate for reasons of drama or because the average person doesn't know or wouldn't accept certain techniques, it is an entirely different matter to claim to be attempting a more historically accurate adventure epic with much more realistic fight scenes and use the entirely wrong subset of techniques.
Also, that sound horribly tedious.


I'm about to start reading The Bane of the Black Sword.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Rococo Modem Basilisk on December 12, 2012, 03:23:12 AM
It gets worse. I'm not even into fiction about that period; I'm just reading it for the inevitable Neal Stephenson moments, none of which have come yet.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Dildo Argentino on December 12, 2012, 06:25:10 AM
Quote from: Phosphatidylserine on December 12, 2012, 03:23:12 AM
It gets worse. I'm not even into fiction about that period; I'm just reading it for the inevitable Neal Stephenson moments, none of which have come yet.

In my estimation, the last one happened in Anathem (at the end, of course). Reamde was deeply disappointing, particularly on account of the Hungarian character and the bits and pieces of dropped information about Hungary - which were all off - but also in general. Very long and somehow quite pointless. And this coming from me, who actually read the Baroque Cycle twice. The Mongoliad: no thanks after two pages.

If you like that sort of thing though, and if you don't know him, I recommend Charles Stross. He even has a book up for free, Accelerando, which is quite a good place to start. And he's been prodigious. I can't speak about the Merchant Princes series, but the Eschaton, the Halting State and the Laundry books, and in particular the stand-alone novel Glasshouse, are all excellent. His blog is a good place to hang out, too.

I'm still reading "Why Love Matters" by Sue Gerhardt. I don't get enough time to read. Once I'm done with that, I'll probably dive straight into Sex, Time and Power by Leonard Shlain.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on December 12, 2012, 01:03:37 PM
I think Neal is best when he's in his crypto/physic/philosophy/adventure mode, rather than his "I read a lot of history books" mode.  So I can't really deal with his Baroque cycle (except for the parts with Newton), but I absolutely adore The Diamond Age.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Rococo Modem Basilisk on December 12, 2012, 02:52:32 PM
Quote from: holist on December 12, 2012, 06:25:10 AM
Quote from: Phosphatidylserine on December 12, 2012, 03:23:12 AM
It gets worse. I'm not even into fiction about that period; I'm just reading it for the inevitable Neal Stephenson moments, none of which have come yet.

In my estimation, the last one happened in Anathem (at the end, of course). Reamde was deeply disappointing, particularly on account of the Hungarian character and the bits and pieces of dropped information about Hungary - which were all off - but also in general. Very long and somehow quite pointless. And this coming from me, who actually read the Baroque Cycle twice. The Mongoliad: no thanks after two pages.

I thought Reamde was passable. As a Neal Stephenson novel, it was shit. As a generic no-name thousand-page technothriller, it was excellent. I also thought there were some Stephenson moments in the stuff about simulating geology, and in the description of the strange word processor/exercise machine device.

QuoteIf you like that sort of thing though, and if you don't know him, I recommend Charles Stross. He even has a book up for free, Accelerando, which is quite a good place to start. And he's been prodigious. I can't speak about the Merchant Princes series, but the Eschaton, the Halting State and the Laundry books, and in particular the stand-alone novel Glasshouse, are all excellent. His blog is a good place to hang out, too.
I have read every Charles Stross book in existence (except for Wireless, which I'm partway through). I also hang out on the blog constantly, and post on his mailing list. I think you hit the nail on the head with that suggestion.

Merchant Princes is strange in a very Strossian way. What the Laundry series did with cosmic horror, Merchant Princes did with the traditional someone-finds-a-magic-amulet-and-is-transported-to-a-feudal-society kind of fantasy book. In other words, he took the basic premise and made everything SCIENCE out, so it's a lot more depressing and a lot less escapist and nearly everyone dies.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on December 12, 2012, 04:35:27 PM
I've never read his Merchant Princes series...I've been meaning too, but my book collection is bad enough as is, and is only going to get worse after Christmas.  I've seen mixed reviews, but if it's as depressing as you say, that could explain a lot.  I notice reviewers tend not to like writers who make them unhappy, unless it's done in such a baroque and epic scale that they can safely ignore said feelings.

I'm actually more interested to read it now, as I'm imaginging what happens when someone with even basic knowledge of modern technology and/or military tactics is put into a feudal society.  Upheaval, revolutions and essentially a gigantic bloodbath.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Dildo Argentino on December 12, 2012, 06:05:38 PM
Quote from: Phosphatidylserine on December 12, 2012, 02:52:32 PM
I thought Reamde was passable. As a Neal Stephenson novel, it was shit. As a generic no-name thousand-page technothriller, it was excellent.

I agree entirely. And to be honest, I ploughed through it like a good boy. But I kept thinking about how much better Cryptonomicon had been and how it was not an excellent no-name technothriller that I'd signed up for.

Quote from: Phosphatidylserine on December 12, 2012, 02:52:32 PM
I have read every Charles Stross book in existence (except for Wireless, which I'm partway through). I also hang out on the blog constantly, and post on his mailing list. I think you hit the nail on the head with that suggestion.

Oh well. :) I've not had time to do much on Charlie's blog due to a certain other message board...

Do you like Iain M. Banks, too? How about Bruce Sterling? (Islands in the Net, especially for the year, blew my head off a bit...)

And while thinking about authors... Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials is definitely my favourite fantasy novel. Unless it's Gormenghast, by Mervyn Peake... What are your other favourites?
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Rococo Modem Basilisk on December 12, 2012, 09:26:22 PM
Quote from: Cain on December 12, 2012, 04:35:27 PM
I've never read his Merchant Princes series...I've been meaning too, but my book collection is bad enough as is, and is only going to get worse after Christmas.  I've seen mixed reviews, but if it's as depressing as you say, that could explain a lot.  I notice reviewers tend not to like writers who make them unhappy, unless it's done in such a baroque and epic scale that they can safely ignore said feelings.

I'm actually more interested to read it now, as I'm imaginging what happens when someone with even basic knowledge of modern technology and/or military tactics is put into a feudal society.  Upheaval, revolutions and essentially a gigantic bloodbath.
As a Stross series, it's not the best. (I don't think it holds up to Halting State, for instance.) However, it is very political. A lot of it has to do with how a feudal attitude interferes with the application of modern tech and tactics. It gets more interesting again near the end. However, it's quite firmly tied to the Bush administration (and some plot points have to do specifically with Dick Cheney), in ways that are surprisingly un-generalizable. However, if you're interested in Stross's ideas about political intruigue, all of it is neatly condensed in this series, along with far more physics-wankery and bio-wankery than you would expect to be able to put into a novel about a feudal society with modern firearms.

Quote
Do you like Iain M. Banks, too? How about Bruce Sterling? (Islands in the Net, especially for the year, blew my head off a bit...)
Haven't read any Banks. I read a Bruce Sterling story collection (Visionary In Residence or something) and a technothriller by him (whose name was some astronomical term I have forgotten). Both were entertaining, though I liked the collection better because of the overlap with Rucker.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on December 12, 2012, 09:42:18 PM
I'll be sure to give it a go then.  Thanks for the summation.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Eater of Clowns on December 13, 2012, 03:53:05 AM
I'm reading All the Pretty Horses and, like every time I read Cormac McCarthy I'm stunned.

QuoteWhile inside the vaulting of the ribs between his knees the darkly meated heart pumped of who's will and the blood pulsed and the bowels shifted in their massive blue convolutions of who's will and the stout thighbones and knee and cannon and the tendons like flaxen hawsers that drew and flexed and drew and flexed at their articulations and of who's will all sheathed and muffled in the flesh and the hooves that stove wells in the morning groundmist and the head turning side to side and the great slavering keyboard of his teeth and the hot globes of his eyes where the world burned.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: McMegaDeff on December 13, 2012, 04:38:31 AM
I started reading Donald Trump's "How to think big and kickass" like it was my new bible. I kicked so much ass I quit my job...not sure how that's gonna work out yet.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Dildo Argentino on December 13, 2012, 05:30:16 AM
Quote from: Phosphatidylserine on December 12, 2012, 09:26:22 PM
Haven't read any Banks.

Lucky you! :)

Quote from: Phosphatidylserine on December 12, 2012, 09:26:22 PM
I read a Bruce Sterling story collection (Visionary In Residence or something)

He has a collection called A Good Old-Fashioned Future which, I think, has some of his best writing in it.

Quote from: Phosphatidylserine on December 12, 2012, 09:26:22 PM
Rucker.

Now you're talkin'!  :)
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Prelate Diogenes Shandor on December 23, 2012, 06:05:24 AM
As of the beginning of the month I finally finished reading The 120 Days of Sodom all the way through
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on December 23, 2012, 06:34:47 AM
I'm still reading The Elements and I'm almost finished with Freakonomics, which I'm fairly certain I've read before. I just started a chemistry textbook and I'm halfway through Electrified sheep.

BOOKS: YOU CAN'T EAT JUST ONE.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Lenin McCarthy on December 26, 2012, 01:55:08 AM
From the Christiania Boheme, by Hans Jæger.

Jæger was part of the Christiania Boheme, a group of infantile anarchist artists in Norway in the late 1890s, and he was very opposed to the conservative sexual morals of the time, probably because he was tired of screwing working class girls.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Prelate Diogenes Shandor on December 29, 2012, 04:37:14 AM
I'm reading Bloodsucking Fiends by Christopher Moore. One of the characters is based on Emperor Norton.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Dildo Argentino on December 29, 2012, 08:11:14 AM
Erich Fromm, Escape from Freedom. A fascinating book, especially considering it is 70 years old. The author asks all the right questions, then struggles with the answers, largely on account of the conceptual apparatus not being in place. Quotes:

"Modern European and American history is centered around the effort to gain freedom from the political, economic, and spiritual shackles that have bound men. The battles for freedom where fought by the oppressed, those who wanted new liberties, against those who had privileges to defend. While a class was fighting for its own liberation from domination, it believed itself to be fighting for human freedom as such and thus was able to appeal to an ideal, to the longing for freedom rooted in all who are oppressed. In the long and virtually continuous battle for freedom, however, classes that were fighting against oppression at one stage sided with the enemies of freedom when victory was won and new privileges were to be defended."

"Man, the more he gains freedom in the sense of emerging from the original oneness with man and nature and the more he becomes an "individual," has no choice but to unite himself with the world in the spontaneity of love and productive work or else to seek a kind of security by such ties with the world as destroy his freedom and the integrity of his individual self."
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: EK WAFFLR on January 21, 2013, 12:19:43 PM
Shit Magnet by Jim Goad.
I disagree with almost everything the man has to say, but he is a brilliant wordsmith.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: minuspace on January 24, 2013, 10:05:30 AM
I got like 3/8ths through The Filth, the comic thingie.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Juana on January 24, 2013, 06:59:55 PM
Still reading Ghost Wars, which is about the CIA's adventures in Afghanistan during and after the Soviet war with the Saudis and Pakistan's intelligence organizations. Also reading The Peace to End All Peace, which is about the creation of the modern Middle East.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on January 24, 2013, 07:56:40 PM
I don't even know what I'm reading anymore. Mind Over Ship by Marusek, and Beyond Oz by somebody, and some other books.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Rococo Modem Basilisk on January 25, 2013, 02:16:40 AM
Quote from: LuciferX on January 24, 2013, 10:05:30 AM
I got like 3/8ths through The Filth, the comic thingie.

The Filth is so good. It's hard to push through, though; it just sort of compounds upon itself in disgust. Like Eraserhead. But, the ending is in good Grant Morrison style.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Prelate Diogenes Shandor on January 28, 2013, 02:26:25 AM
Now I'm taking a second shot at reading Godel, Escher, Bach
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Sano on January 28, 2013, 01:19:53 PM
Every time I read this thread I feel like I know nothing about fiction. I'm probably going to use it as a reading list. It's been a looong time since I read fiction books, sadly.

Anyway, the books I'm reading at the moment for college are Deleuze's Cinema 1 (which is kinda dull if you don't get much of the movie references, which actually sounds obvious in retrospect - his bits about Bergson are actually nice though), Foucault's The order of things (which I should have started reading, but I still haven't), bits and pieces of something by Duns Scotus, and something by Ayer which I completely forgot the name now.

Not for college, but I really should finish reading Guns, Germs and Steel soon (so I can start reading Collapse, which I already bought). I also managed to buy a nice detailed annotation of Confucius' Analects, which I should start reading soon. Will probably start reading Homo Ludens soon as well. I am rereading the first book of Euclid's Elements, just for fun. And I think that's basically it.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Eater of Clowns on January 28, 2013, 04:34:50 PM
Quote from: Sano on January 28, 2013, 01:19:53 PM
Every time I read this thread I feel like I know nothing about fiction. I'm probably going to use it as a reading list. It's been a looong time since I read fiction books, sadly.

Anyway, the books I'm reading at the moment for college are Deleuze's Cinema 1 (which is kinda dull if you don't get much of the movie references, which actually sounds obvious in retrospect - his bits about Bergson are actually nice though), Foucault's The order of things (which I should have started reading, but I still haven't), bits and pieces of something by Duns Scotus, and something by Ayer which I completely forgot the name now.

Not for college, but I really should finish reading Guns, Germs and Steel soon (so I can start reading Collapse, which I already bought). I also managed to buy a nice detailed annotation of Confucius' Analects, which I should start reading soon. Will probably start reading Homo Ludens soon as well. I am rereading the first book of Euclid's Elements, just for fun. And I think that's basically it.

Have you seen this thread?

http://www.principiadiscordia.com/forum/index.php/topic,19988.0.html (http://www.principiadiscordia.com/forum/index.php/topic,19988.0.html)

It's a good one for fiction suggestions that a lot of people here agreed on.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Sano on January 28, 2013, 09:56:39 PM
Quote from: Eater of Clowns on January 28, 2013, 04:34:50 PM
Quote from: Sano on January 28, 2013, 01:19:53 PM
Every time I read this thread I feel like I know nothing about fiction. I'm probably going to use it as a reading list. It's been a looong time since I read fiction books, sadly.

Anyway, the books I'm reading at the moment for college are Deleuze's Cinema 1 (which is kinda dull if you don't get much of the movie references, which actually sounds obvious in retrospect - his bits about Bergson are actually nice though), Foucault's The order of things (which I should have started reading, but I still haven't), bits and pieces of something by Duns Scotus, and something by Ayer which I completely forgot the name now.

Not for college, but I really should finish reading Guns, Germs and Steel soon (so I can start reading Collapse, which I already bought). I also managed to buy a nice detailed annotation of Confucius' Analects, which I should start reading soon. Will probably start reading Homo Ludens soon as well. I am rereading the first book of Euclid's Elements, just for fun. And I think that's basically it.

Have you seen this thread?

http://www.principiadiscordia.com/forum/index.php/topic,19988.0.html (http://www.principiadiscordia.com/forum/index.php/topic,19988.0.html)

It's a good one for fiction suggestions that a lot of people here agreed on.

Wow, I really didn't. Thanks!
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Lenin McCarthy on January 30, 2013, 09:23:18 PM
A Feast of Lapithae (http://www.sacred-texts.com/cla/luc/wl4/wl428.htm) by Lucian of Samosata (125-180 AD)
Lucian's version of Plato's Symposium, where the philosophers get too drunk to actually manage to discuss anything. Also references Eris.

This passage from the end sounds like a normal night out in my hometown:
QuoteSo the party came to an end, tears being resold in the laughter at Alcidamas, Dionysodorus and Ion. The wounded were borne off in sad case, especially old Zenothemis, holding one hand on his nose and the other on his eye, and bellowing out that the agony was more than he could bear. Hermon was in poor condition himself, having lost a couple of teeth; but he could not let this piece of evidence go; 'Bear in mind, Zenothemis,' he called out, 'that you do not consider pain a thing indifferent.' The bridegroom, who had been seen to by Dionicus, was also taken off with his head in bandages--in the carriage in which he was to have taken his bride home. It had been a sorry wedding-feast for him, poor fellow. Dionicus had done what he could for the rest, they were taken home to bed, and very ill most of them were on the way. Alcidamas stayed where he was; it was impossible to get rid of him, as he had thrown himself down anyhow across a couch and fallen asleep.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cainad (dec.) on February 14, 2013, 04:42:35 PM
Quote from: Phosphatidylserine on January 25, 2013, 02:16:40 AM
Quote from: LuciferX on January 24, 2013, 10:05:30 AM
I got like 3/8ths through The Filth, the comic thingie.

The Filth is so good. It's hard to push through, though; it just sort of compounds upon itself in disgust. Like Eraserhead. But, the ending is in good Grant Morrison style.

Good to hear. I got about 3/4ths of the way through several months ago, and haven't looked at it since. I read The Invisibles, so I knew I was getting into some truly weird shit, but apparently even I can only gorge myself on so much weird at once.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on February 14, 2013, 05:04:29 PM
Just ordered the Milkweed Trilogy for my Kindle.

Nazi occultists and British necromancers fighting it out in WWII?  Sure, why not?
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on February 14, 2013, 05:07:02 PM
Ok, gonna have to check that out.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on February 14, 2013, 05:15:21 PM
Last book won't be out until April, but the first two are available right now.  Seal of endorsement from Charlie Stross, author of a series of "modern day British intelligence agents battling Lovecraftian horrors" themed books.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on February 14, 2013, 07:45:40 PM
Quote from: Cain on February 14, 2013, 05:15:21 PM
Last book won't be out until April, but the first two are available right now.  Seal of endorsement from Charlie Stross, author of a series of "modern day British intelligence agents battling Lovecraftian horrors" themed books.

Note: this is a lie.  Amazon's servers are being laggy as fuck today....I don't know what is going on, but it took nearly 3 hours to get an email for confirmation of purchase, and they still haven't downloaded onto my Kindle.

They'll probably still get here faster than they would by mail, but, srsly Amazon.  Srsly.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Rococo Modem Basilisk on February 18, 2013, 01:11:37 PM
Quote from: Cain on February 14, 2013, 05:04:29 PM
Just ordered the Milkweed Trilogy for my Kindle.

Nazi occultists and British necromancers fighting it out in WWII?  Sure, why not?

I have the first one of these coming, as well. Stross is kind of compulsive about verisimilitude, so if he recommends the series, it must be very good.

In other news, I finished The Forever War (which was excellent, and I would recommend it to everyone who doesn't mind occasionally reading some not-very-detailed offhand references to organ ruptures). I started The Unincorporated Man, which reads a bit like a high-end fanfiction: clearly written by fairly intelligent people with very little fiction-writing experience. If it doesn't become a lot more intellectually arresting, I'll probably ditch it, because the naiive style peeves me (not that I write any better myself).

I'm also simultaneously half-way through: The Black Swan (which was better than I expected), Jon Ronson's Lost At Sea (which was only slightly worse, and still worth the money), At the Mountains of Madness (which I for some reason expected to move a little faster), and A Deepness in the Sky (which makes me realize why Vinge has a Queng Ho series instead of setting one in the world in which A Fire Upon the Deep is set).

In the queue are: Hallucinations by Oliver Sacks, American Psycho, Sleights of Mind, Rasputin's Bastards (about soviet supermen, but otherwise apparently similar to the Milkweed trilogy), Stanislaw Lem's The Cyberiad, Thinking Fast and Slow, & books 3-5 of the Dune series.

Quote from: Cainad
Good to hear. I got about 3/4ths of the way through several months ago, and haven't looked at it since. I read The Invisibles, so I knew I was getting into some truly weird shit, but apparently even I can only gorge myself on so much weird at once.
I had to get through it by reading the whole thing in one sitting. Likewise with We3. It's like pulling off a band-aid (especially since, so far as I can tell, every GM comic has a happy ending and a middle that is both sickening and depressing).
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Don Coyote on February 18, 2013, 05:23:16 PM
gotta be careful with the forever war. there are 3different editions ome of wgich is a terrible hack job which poorly added parts that had been removed.
the unincorporated series is good but ends in a really shitty way imo.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on February 18, 2013, 05:43:05 PM
Which The Forever War are we talking about here?  The science fiction novel or the war reporter memoir by Dexter Filikins, of Afghanistan and Iraq?
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Rococo Modem Basilisk on February 19, 2013, 12:18:09 PM
Hadelman version (science fiction). He says in the foreword to my edition that it's the definitive (or, I guess, the author's cut), and that it's the version that he was sending to publishers before Analog started chopping it up.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on February 20, 2013, 10:40:22 AM
Ah, good.  Because that conversation suddenly became rather confusing for me.  I read the Filikins version, which is very, very good.  It deals with the politics, to a degree, but what it really focuses on the tragedy of war - the broken and divided families, the senseless killings and sectarian hatred, the waste of life in both in general and up close and particular.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Rococo Modem Basilisk on February 21, 2013, 01:59:40 AM
Quote from: Cain on February 20, 2013, 10:40:22 AM
Ah, good.  Because that conversation suddenly became rather confusing for me.  I read the Filikins version, which is very, very good.  It deals with the politics, to a degree, but what it really focuses on the tragedy of war - the broken and divided families, the senseless killings and sectarian hatred, the waste of life in both in general and up close and particular.
Certainly not my kind of book. The science fiction one wasn't exactly rosy, but it focuses on the farsical elements.

In other news, the Invisibles Omnibus is fucking huge:
(https://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/581205_10151275363982967_775983074_n.jpg)
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Salty on March 09, 2013, 10:11:29 PM
The Complete Yoga Book by James Hewitt.

This is hands down the best singular resource on yoga I've found. It is actually three books:
The Yoga of Breathing
The Yoga of Posture
The Yoga of Meditation

It was written in 77, but its also very well written and includes a great deal of information I've never come across. I take that back, from what I can tell fucktons of Newage garbage is a complete and utter bastardization of cherry-picked Yoga principles and techniques. Which does not surprise me but is extremely gratifying to know.

ETA: I'm not sure how accurate the science in it is, or how outdated, but better than most of the zinc deficient, veganaise chugging assholes who usually write about such things.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mr. Presley on March 09, 2013, 10:18:51 PM
the professional chef. so much info I'll be shocked if the last recipe listed inst my own brain. step one try and study for your exam.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Rococo Modem Basilisk on March 10, 2013, 01:12:03 AM
Bitter Seeds (first book of the Milkweed Trilogy) is well written but really bleak. If you're sensitive to that kind of stuff (clinical descriptions of people dying in horrible ways, lots of stuff about people developing various drug addictions, life tragedies) stay away from that book. (I liked it, but it was just sort of on the borderline of enjoyability; I won't be reading the others because I suspect they will be too much.)

Currently half-way through Oliver Sacks' Hallucinations, which is excellent. I highly recommend it for anyone interested in neuroscience.

Finished The Prankster and the Conspiracy (and I'm probably the last guy on this forum to do so). Is there something going on between Adam Gorightly and Sondra London that I'm missing? He dedicated practically a whole chapter (albeit at the end) to how she wouldn't return his emails.

The Unincorporated Man and At the Mountains of Madness are on hold, the former because of the poor writing and the latter because Lovecraft is a little too bleak for me at the moment. Still in the queue are: Rasputin's Bastards, Thinking, Fast and Slow, Sleights of Mind, American Psycho, & The Cyberiad. I'm partway through both A Deepness in the Sky and The Black Swan.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Aucoq on March 10, 2013, 05:48:58 AM
I'm currently reading Ernest Hemingway On Writing.  Hemingway himself didn't believe in teaching others how to write, but he did leave little comments of how he viewed writing and his methods in his works and other written material.  So Larry W. Phillips, the man who created the book, went through literally everything Hemingway ever wrote or contributed to (his short stories, novels, interviews, personal letters, etc) and took out every little gem of knowledge on writing Hemingway had written/said.  It's a pretty good book if you're into writing or like Hemingway.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on March 10, 2013, 10:15:28 AM
I still haven't read Bitter Seeds, but now I'm looking forward to it even more.

In regards to Sondra London...well, based on my personal interaction with her, she can be a bit....strange.  Lady does like to date serial killers after all.  Sends odd emails at times.  I haven't read that either, though, so perhaps I shouldn't comment.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Doobie on March 11, 2013, 03:50:30 AM
I'm currently reading several manuals on suggestion and hypnosis.

I love the Illuminatus! Trilogy so much.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Juana on March 11, 2013, 06:10:50 PM
Inventing the enemy: Denunciation and Terror in Stalin's Russia by Wendy Z. Goldman. It's assigned class reading, but I love the shit out of it.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Gorightly on March 14, 2013, 04:04:35 PM
Quote from: Phosphatidylserine on March 10, 2013, 01:12:03 AM


Finished The Prankster and the Conspiracy (and I'm probably the last guy on this forum to do so). Is there something going on between Adam Gorightly and Sondra London that I'm missing? He dedicated practically a whole chapter (albeit at the end) to how she wouldn't return his emails.


I don't exactly remember devoting a whole chapter to Sondra's lack of emails, but nowadays we have good relations. She and I chat on facebook now and then. Interesting lady and my view of her has changed drastically since I penned the Prankster.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Rococo Modem Basilisk on March 14, 2013, 10:58:38 PM
Quote from: Gorightly on March 14, 2013, 04:04:35 PM
Quote from: Phosphatidylserine on March 10, 2013, 01:12:03 AM


Finished The Prankster and the Conspiracy (and I'm probably the last guy on this forum to do so). Is there something going on between Adam Gorightly and Sondra London that I'm missing? He dedicated practically a whole chapter (albeit at the end) to how she wouldn't return his emails.


I don't exactly remember devoting a whole chapter to Sondra's lack of emails, but nowadays we have good relations. She and I chat on facebook now and then. Interesting lady and my view of her has changed drastically since I penned the Prankster.

It was a bit of an exaggeration. I think being frustrated when writing a book is a sufficient explanation.

In other news, I finished Hallucinations, which was very rewarding and my recommendation of it stands. The Cyberiad is a lot sillier than I had expected it to be (the humour is reminiscent of Douglas Adams, but closer to Young Zaphod Plays it Safe level than Resturant at the End of the Universe level), and Sleight of Mind is a lot looser and more hyperbolic than I expected from a pair of actual neuroscientists.

I've been reading Hacking the Xbox, and it is everything people say it is. Bunnie has recently released it free, and I strongly recommend downloading it. It's a wonderful introduction to hardware hacking, and manages to cover a lot of topics I inexplicably missed during my years of experience plugging random things into PC motherboards.

I've also been reading A Field Guide to Genetic Programming, which is also released free, and is also very good. (As a clarificaiton, 'genetic programming' refers to using genetic algorithms to write pieces of code, as opposed to composing novel sequences of DNA or RNA, which is also done but is called something else.)

Since I've been having terrible luck with fiction recently (the last four fiction books I started were The Unincorporated Man (which was written in such an awkward way that I had to stop reading it), Bitter Seeds (which was far too bleak for me), The Cyberiad (which works as light humorous fare but can't compete with Goats for narrative coherence or emotional catharsis), and At the Mountains of Madness (which was characteristically Lovecraftian in its bleakness but uncharacteristically not very scary)), the next book I'll probably start is The Art of Electronics.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Juana on March 15, 2013, 04:18:49 AM
Sandman Slim series by Richard Kadrey, dude. Read it. The protagonist is like Ash from Army of Darkness had a baby with a punk rock goddess, and the kid is on permanent godmode. Four books are out, number five is due in June, and he's working on number six already.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Lenin McCarthy on March 20, 2013, 08:48:06 PM
If I get to the library in time, I'll be reading the new Norwegian translation of Ibn Khaldun's 14th century work Al-Muqaddimah over Easter break. This should be exciting. I've seen him being described as the Arab Machiavelli, the Arab Descartes and the founder of umpteen social scientific disciplines.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on March 20, 2013, 08:57:37 PM
He did define government as "an institution which prevents injustice other than such as it commits itself", so he cannot have been all bad.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on March 20, 2013, 11:19:05 PM
That's probably one of the better definitions I've read.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on March 21, 2013, 01:25:52 PM
Reading Gianfranco Sanguinetti's On Terrorism and the State.  Interesting, how hobbies and professional interests can overlap. Sanguinetti was a member of the Situationist International, which as you know are an ongoing interest of mine.

In 1975, Sanguinetti wrote a mischevious tract (http://www.notbored.org/censor.html) claiming to be the work of a powerful Italian industralist, explaining how the strategy of tension in Italy was devised to maintain the status quo against Communist subversion through a campaign of false flag attacks and bombings.  This phamplet was mailed to powerful Italian business and political leaders, who praised its contents and made many attempts to guess at the identity of its author.

When his true identity was revealed, they were...not so impressed.

Sanguinetti then wrote this tract as a followup.  It's not an easy book to find.  My copy was printed in 1982, and pretty delicate besides.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on June 07, 2013, 02:49:11 PM
My nightly reading at the moment is The Rise and the Fall of the Third Reich by Shirer.

I've never actually managed to finish this book.  Not because it's a bad book, but because it's about 2000 pages long.  At the moment, I've made it up to 1939, the dissolution of Czechoslovakia and the crisis over Danzig.  I think that's the 40% point, according to Kindle.  Also interesting to read alongside Cadogan's diary, for the inside scoop at the Foreign Office 
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on June 07, 2013, 03:00:05 PM
"Haunted" by Chuck Palahniuk. I finished all my school reading for the term, time for something light!

This book is fucking disturbing as fuck.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Rococo Modem Basilisk on June 07, 2013, 03:08:32 PM
Recently finished We Can Build You by Philip K Dick (which I consider far better than Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, which he wrote around the same time), and Confessions of a Crap Artist, which was not as bad as I expected.

I also read Pratchett's The Color of Magic, which confirmed my gut instinct that I consider Pratchett to be a little overrated -- I've read six of the Diskworld books now, and although they're not bad books (I find them amusing), I don't find them to be significantly better than an episode of Star Trek TNG chosen at random (TNG fans will know what I mean by this), or a random episode of the new Doctor Who. In other words, I consider them worth reading, and worth buying at second-hand prices, but not worth fanning about.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on June 07, 2013, 03:16:58 PM
It's a bit unfair to judge Pratchett on The Colour of Magic - it was his first Discworld novel, and lots of things in the setting were not really thought out except as cheap gags or to progress the plot, such that it is.

I would judge him more from Wyrd Sisters onwards, and in particular on the Ankh-Morpork Watch series of books (Guards Guards, Men at Arms, Feet of Clay, Jingo, The Fifth Elephant, Night Watch, Thud!, Snuff).  He tends to save his more polished writing and more serious themes for those particular novels.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on June 07, 2013, 05:28:54 PM
What Cain said. I don't really like the Rincewind arc, except for "Interesting Times".
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Rococo Modem Basilisk on June 07, 2013, 06:09:02 PM
Quote from: Cain on June 07, 2013, 03:16:58 PM
It's a bit unfair to judge Pratchett on The Colour of Magic - it was his first Discworld novel, and lots of things in the setting were not really thought out except as cheap gags or to progress the plot, such that it is.

I would judge him more from Wyrd Sisters onwards, and in particular on the Ankh-Morpork Watch series of books (Guards Guards, Men at Arms, Feet of Clay, Jingo, The Fifth Elephant, Night Watch, Thud!, Snuff).  He tends to save his more polished writing and more serious themes for those particular novels.

The ones I've read are: The Color of Magic, Equal Rites, Thief of TIme, Sourcery, The Light Fantastic, and Thud!. It's not that I think they're bad or anything; I just don't think I'm going to pay ten dollars a volume for them anymore. They're good airport reading, so long as the layover isn't too long.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Doktor Howl on June 07, 2013, 06:11:49 PM
Quote from: Phosphatidylserine on June 07, 2013, 06:09:02 PM
Quote from: Cain on June 07, 2013, 03:16:58 PM
It's a bit unfair to judge Pratchett on The Colour of Magic - it was his first Discworld novel, and lots of things in the setting were not really thought out except as cheap gags or to progress the plot, such that it is.

I would judge him more from Wyrd Sisters onwards, and in particular on the Ankh-Morpork Watch series of books (Guards Guards, Men at Arms, Feet of Clay, Jingo, The Fifth Elephant, Night Watch, Thud!, Snuff).  He tends to save his more polished writing and more serious themes for those particular novels.

The ones I've read are: The Color of Magic, Equal Rites, Thief of TIme, Sourcery, The Light Fantastic, and Thud!. It's not that I think they're bad or anything; I just don't think I'm going to pay ten dollars a volume for them anymore. They're good airport reading, so long as the layover isn't too long.

Well, sorry he doesn't live up to your exacting standards.  Did he, too, tell jokes that sucked because they weren't 169% canon?
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Doktor Howl on June 07, 2013, 07:01:36 PM
Long layovers require books concerning French experimental music.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on June 08, 2013, 05:52:16 PM
Quote from: Doktor Howl on June 07, 2013, 06:11:49 PM
Quote from: Phosphatidylserine on June 07, 2013, 06:09:02 PM
Quote from: Cain on June 07, 2013, 03:16:58 PM
It's a bit unfair to judge Pratchett on The Colour of Magic - it was his first Discworld novel, and lots of things in the setting were not really thought out except as cheap gags or to progress the plot, such that it is.

I would judge him more from Wyrd Sisters onwards, and in particular on the Ankh-Morpork Watch series of books (Guards Guards, Men at Arms, Feet of Clay, Jingo, The Fifth Elephant, Night Watch, Thud!, Snuff).  He tends to save his more polished writing and more serious themes for those particular novels.

The ones I've read are: The Color of Magic, Equal Rites, Thief of TIme, Sourcery, The Light Fantastic, and Thud!. It's not that I think they're bad or anything; I just don't think I'm going to pay ten dollars a volume for them anymore. They're good airport reading, so long as the layover isn't too long.

Well, sorry he doesn't live up to your exacting standards.  Did he, too, tell jokes that sucked because they weren't 169% canon?

They weren't funny because they were illogical. Beep beep boop.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cainad (dec.) on June 08, 2013, 11:26:46 PM
Pratchett has also written something like 2,732 freaking books. It would be a miracle if they were all golden.

Incidentally, I liked the Rincewind books I've read quite a lot, but I suppose it was just new to me back in high school.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Freeky on June 09, 2013, 05:45:34 AM
Rincewind is my favorite character, and the arc in general is my favorite.  In terms of the stories themselves, I think some of the Rincewind stuff and some of the Vimes stuff are his best.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cainad (dec.) on June 09, 2013, 03:50:41 PM
Just picked up the first book of the Malazan series. This should tide me over until R.S. Bakker finally cranks out The Unholy Consult and finishes his series.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on June 09, 2013, 04:59:18 PM
Quote from: Cainad on June 09, 2013, 03:50:41 PM
Just picked up the first book of the Malazan series. This should tide me over until R.S. Bakker finally cranks out The Unholy Consult and finishes his series.

Let me know what you think.

IMO, the series doesn't really pick up until Memories of Ice.  I do like the first two novels, but the third and fourth ones put it into proper context, and illustrate just how conniving and cunning the gods, ascendants, generals, mages and rulers of the series really are.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cainad (dec.) on June 09, 2013, 05:22:10 PM
Quote from: Cain on June 09, 2013, 04:59:18 PM
Quote from: Cainad on June 09, 2013, 03:50:41 PM
Just picked up the first book of the Malazan series. This should tide me over until R.S. Bakker finally cranks out The Unholy Consult and finishes his series.

Let me know what you think.

IMO, the series doesn't really pick up until Memories of Ice.  I do like the first two novels, but the third and fourth ones put it into proper context, and illustrate just how conniving and cunning the gods, ascendants, generals, mages and rulers of the series really are.

Thanks for the tip. I'll try to stick it out until then if the first two don't really grab me.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on June 09, 2013, 05:25:52 PM
They may do anyway, if you read the intro from Steven Erikson, which I do recommend, he says:

QuoteIn writing Gardens, I quickly discovered that 'back story' was going to be a problem no matter how far back I went. And I realized that, unless I spoon-fed my potential readers (something I refused to do, having railed often enough at writers of fantasy epics treating us readers as if we were idiots), unless I 'simplified', unless I slipped down into the well-worn tracks of what's gone before, I was going to leave readers floundering. And not just readers, but editors, publishers, agents...

But, you know, as a reader, as a fan, I never minded floundering – at least for a little while, and sometimes for a long while. So long as other stuff carried me along, I was fine. Don't forget, I worshipped Dennis Potter. I was a fan of DeLillo's The Names and Eco's Foucault's Pendulum. The reader I had in mind was one who could and would carry the extra weight – the questions not yet answered, the mysteries, the uncertain alliances.

History has proved this out, I think. Readers either bail on the series somewhere in the first third of Gardens of the Moon, or they're still sharing the ride to this day, seven going on eight books later.

I have been asked, would I have done it any differently in hindsight? And I honestly don't have an answer to that. Oh, there are elements of style that I'd change here and there, but ... fundamentally, I'm just not sure what else I could have done. I am not and never will be a writer happy to deliver exposition that serves no other function than telling the reader about back story, history, or whatever. If my exposition doesn't have multiple functions – and I do mean multiple – then I'm not satisfied. Turns out, the more functions in it, the more complicated it gets, the more likely it will quietly shift into misdirection, into sleight of hand, and all the back story elements, while possibly there, end up buried and buried deep.

This was fast-paced writing, but it was also, bizarrely and in ways I still can't quite figure, dense writing. So, Gardens invites you to read rip-roaringly fast. But the author advises: you'd best not succumb to the temptation.

Here we are, years later now. Should I apologize for that bipolar invitation? To what extent did I shoot myself in the foot with the kind of introduction to the Malazan world as delivered in Gardens of the Moon?. And has this novel left me dancing on one foot ever since? Maybe. And sometimes, on midnight afternoons, I ask myself: what if I'd picked up that fat wooden ladle, and slopped the whole mess down the reader's throat, as some (highly successful) Fantasy writers do and have done? Would I now see my sales ranking in the bestseller's lists? Now hold on – am I suggesting that those ultra popular Fantasy writers have found their success in writing down to their readers? Hardly. Well, not all of them. But then, consider it from my point of view. It took eight years and a move to the UK for Gardens of the Moon to find a publisher. It took four more years before a US deal was finalized. The complaint? 'Too complicated, too many characters. Too ... ambitious.'

I could take the fish-eyed retrospective angle here and say how Gardens marked a departure from the usual tropes of the genre, and any departure is likely to meet resistance; but my ego's not that big. It never felt like a departure. Glen Cook's Dread Empire and Black Company novels had already broken the new ground, but I'd read all those and, wanting more, I pretty much had to write them myself (and Cam felt the same). And while my style of writing did not permit imitation (he's a terse one, is Cook), I could certainly strive for the same tone of dispirited, wry cynicism, the same ambivalence and a similar sense of atmosphere. Maybe I was aware of the swing away from Good versus Evil, but that just seemed a by-product of growing up – the real world's not like that, why persist in making Fantasy worlds so fundamentally disconnected with reality?

Well, I don't know. It's exhausting just thinking about it.

Gardens is what it is. I have no plans on revision. I don't even know where I'd start.

Better, I think, to offer the readers a quick decision on this series – right there in the first third of the first novel, than to tease them on for five or six books before they turn away in disgust, disinterest or whatever. Maybe, from a marketing position, the latter is preferred – at least in the short term. But, thank God, my publishers know a false economy when they see one.

Gardens of the Moon is an invitation, then. Stay with it, and come along for the ride. I can only promise that I have done my best to entertain. Curses and cheers, laughter and tears, it's all in here.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cainad (dec.) on June 09, 2013, 05:31:49 PM
Nice, sounds like my kind of read. Drawing inspiration from The Black Company is a good sign.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on June 09, 2013, 07:42:53 PM
Personally, I'm waiting for the final novel by the co-creator of the series, Ian C. Esselmont.

http://www.booklounge.ca/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780593064481

QuoteTens of thousands of years of ice is melting, and the land of Assail, long a byword for menace and inaccessibility, is at last yielding its secrets. Tales of gold discovered in the region's north circulate in every waterfront dive and sailor's tavern and now countless adventurers and fortune-seekers have set sail in search of riches. All these adveturers have to guide them are legends and garbled tales of the dangers that lie in wait -- hostile coasts, fields of ice, impassable barriers and strange, terrifying creatures. But all accounts concur that the people of the north meet all trespassers with the sword. And beyond are rumoured to lurk Elder monsters out of history's very beginnings. Into this turmoil ventures the mercenary company, the Crimson Guard. Not drawn by contract, but by the promise of answers: answers to mysteries that Shimmer, second in command, wonders should even be sought. Arriving also, part of an uneasy alliance of Malazan fortune-hunters and Letherii soldiery, comes the bard Fisher kel Tath. And with him is a Tiste Andii who was found washed ashore and who cannot remember his past life, yet who commands far more power than he really should. Also venturing north is said to be a mighty champion, a man who once fought for the Malazans, the bearer of a sword that slays gods: Whiteblade.

And lastly, far to the south, a woman guards the shore awaiting both her allies and her enemies. Silverfox, newly incarnated Summoner of the undying army of the T'lan Imass, will do anything to stop the renewal of an ages-old crusade that could lay waste to the entire continent and beyond. Casting light on mysteries spanning the Malazan empire, and offering a glimpse of the storied and epic history that shaped it, Assail is the final chapter in the epic story of the Empire of Malaz.

IOW, it's gonna be a clusterfuck.  An epic clusteruck.  Assail's the final great mystery of the series...there are still many lesser ones, but Assail is the big one, that has been built up to over the course of 16 different books.  All we know about it is that it's so bad the Crimson Guard and T'lan Imass got absolutely slaughtered there, and neither group are known for being easy to kill.  And that there are Tyrants there, but the Tyrants are apparently human, not Jaghut.  Beyond that...nothing.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: McGrupp on August 08, 2013, 04:42:39 PM
Finally got around to reading Machiavelli's 'The Prince' (been on my reading list for a while) Also someone stole my first copy of it off my porch one night. At the time I thought it was hilarious and ironic that it got stolen but now that I've read the thing I see it really wasn't.

I have to say that for all its reputation as an 'evil scheming' book, I don't really see it that way. It certainly lends itself to that but it seems more of a 'this is how the world really is and works, ugly though it may be, and this is what you can do to manipulate things to your benefit.'  To be sure it's full of amoral stuff but I view it more as a look at politics once preconcieved notions of morality are removed, which reveals a very familiar landscape.

I'm still mulling it over and may reread it (it's actually a pretty fast read) but I can't help thinking that there are ideas and concepts in here that can be harnessed for other purposes. After all if 'The Prince' is considered an 'instruction manual' for the machine, there should be some good information on where to put the monkey wrench. If my thoughts congeal I'll try to make a post about it.

Also reading The Drunkard's Walk: How Randomness Rules Our Lives by Leonard Mlodinow. It's about randomness, probability and how our misconceptions of them can skew our way of thinking. Pretty interesting so far.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cramulus on August 08, 2013, 04:47:12 PM
Finally got around to reading VALIS, by Phillip K Dick. That's the book from whence the term "Black Iron Prison" originated.

Really fantastic read. Enjoyed every word of it. It's one of those books that will make you a little bit crazy if you let it get into your head.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on August 08, 2013, 04:53:09 PM
I still have that sitting in my stacks of "to read" books. Made some headway on "An anthropologist on Mars", which is pretty good but kind of old news by now.

Finished one of the focus group books, started another one. I'll probably read Babbie's "The Practice of Social Research" next.

Now that I've decided I don't want to double major because of the time factor, I've been really torn between majoring in psych and majoring in molecular bio. I still have a while to decide, but this morning I woke up with this idea; I finish the psych degree with a bio minor and a focus on neurobiology, and then winter 2015 I apply to the bio graduate program at PSU AND the neuroscience graduate program at OHSU. I'll probably get into the bio program if I don't get into the neuropsych program, and then I can re-apply as a Bio grad.

Backup plan: Made. Maybe. I need to talk to an advisor so I can stop obsessing.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on August 08, 2013, 05:51:29 PM
Quote from: McGrupp on August 08, 2013, 04:42:39 PM
Finally got around to reading Machiavelli's 'The Prince' (been on my reading list for a while) Also someone stole my first copy of it off my porch one night. At the time I thought it was hilarious and ironic that it got stolen but now that I've read the thing I see it really wasn't.

I have to say that for all its reputation as an 'evil scheming' book, I don't really see it that way. It certainly lends itself to that but it seems more of a 'this is how the world really is and works, ugly though it may be, and this is what you can do to manipulate things to your benefit.'  To be sure it's full of amoral stuff but I view it more as a look at politics once preconcieved notions of morality are removed, which reveals a very familiar landscape.

I'm still mulling it over and may reread it (it's actually a pretty fast read) but I can't help thinking that there are ideas and concepts in here that can be harnessed for other purposes. After all if 'The Prince' is considered an 'instruction manual' for the machine, there should be some good information on where to put the monkey wrench. If my thoughts congeal I'll try to make a post about it.

Well, in the context of the time it was written, it was.  Most books on leadership from that period or before tended to say "if you want to be a good leader, be a good Christian.  God will sort out the rest."

Machiavellia purposefully sets himself against Christian tradition, not only in his choices (note the large amounts of references to Classical figures, ie; Pagans), but also in terms of understanding what a good ruler is, and how a good ruler may not necessarily be a good person by Christian standards of morality, and may even have to "enter into evil" to achieve the greater good.

There is also the problem that the book is full of praise for Cesare Borgia...which lends credence to the idea that is possibly a satire of some sort, making a point about the Medici, to whom the book is obstensibly dedicated.  Given Cesare's historical reputation, the Medici would hardly see that as flattering, and Machiavelli was noted even before the publication of The Prince as being a satirical playwright, with a biting and even black sense of humour.

It is definitely worth re-reading, though.  While, as you say, it is a very slim volume and thus easy to read in some ways, Machiavelli is very good at condensing complex concepts into short, easily read passages.  His historical analogies and examples are also complex, and likely chosen for that reason (Machiavelli's other writing job was as a historian of Florence).

And, of course, The Prince must be contrasted with the longer Discourses on Livy, which is his book on politics in republics.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: MMMW on August 08, 2013, 06:23:53 PM
I bought "Spinfluence: The Hardcore Propaganda Manual for Controlling the Masses" because it looked flashy and I'm a big dupe. Irony. I guess when something self-proclaims to be hardcore, it's because it's not.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on August 08, 2013, 06:39:55 PM
Hardocre propaganda?  With XXX-rated memes.  Hawt disinformation on generality action.  Barely legal Big Lies!
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: McGrupp on August 08, 2013, 08:17:39 PM
Quote from: Carlos Danger on August 08, 2013, 05:51:29 PM
And, of course, The Prince must be contrasted with the longer Discourses on Livy, which is his book on politics in republics.

Added to my list. Still have History of the Peloponesian War on there too from way back in february. Though I'm reading much more these days. Not smoking pot is like having magical powers of reading comprehension.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Rococo Modem Basilisk on August 09, 2013, 12:42:56 AM
Quote from: Cramulus on August 08, 2013, 04:47:12 PM
Finally got around to reading VALIS, by Phillip K Dick. That's the book from whence the term "Black Iron Prison" originated.

Really fantastic read. Enjoyed every word of it. It's one of those books that will make you a little bit crazy if you let it get into your head.

Between VALIS and Radio Free Albemuth, I think I might prefer Radio Free Albemuth. But, VALIS is a bit more mindfucky.

I did end up buying the Exegesis (or, at least, the most recent thousand-page subset of it). It's not as interesting as VALIS, because it's precisely what you sort of expect it to be: a thousand pages of an intelligent, creative, well-read paranoid schizophrenic on amphetamines trying to analyze and come to grips with a particularly strange hallucination. I got about half-way through it, and had to stop.


I've recently been reading Steven Pinker's The Language Instinct. It bothers me a bit that he doesn't do a good job trying to support his arguments. Mostly, it bothers me because I know a bit about the subject matter and I know that he's describing things more or less correctly (although at one point he gives a set of 'words' generated by 'neural nets', and not only is word-generation through ANNs a pretty strange thing to do, but they actually look like they've been generated by letter-tokenized markov chains instead) rather than bullshitting about things with which he is only vaguely familiar (like Kevin Kelly does in every fucking thing), but he writes in this breezy disorganized way like Kevin Kelly and doesn't use footnotes. There are good, readable science writers who do justice to their subject matter but write in such a way that you can find well-rounded and well-supported arguments upon a re-reading (such as James Gleick does in The Information), and it disappoints me that Pinker isn't doing this -- seemingly by choice. Perhaps he's gotten better; this was his first book for a general audience.

I've also been working my way through Wireless, a collection of short stories by Charles Stross. The quality varies, but the overwhelming sense of ambient dread does not. If it wasn't so science fiction it'd all be horror, instead of just the stuff that imports ideas from Lovecraft's circle. It's good for reading in line at the DMV, and it's passable as a substitute for Neptune's Brood, which came out a month ago but I still can't afford.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on August 09, 2013, 09:53:58 AM
Quote from: McGrupp on August 08, 2013, 08:17:39 PM
Quote from: Carlos Danger on August 08, 2013, 05:51:29 PM
And, of course, The Prince must be contrasted with the longer Discourses on Livy, which is his book on politics in republics.

Added to my list. Still have History of the Peloponesian War on there too from way back in february. Though I'm reading much more these days. Not smoking pot is like having magical powers of reading comprehension.

Yead, reading that stoned would....not be a fun experience.  Thucydides is wonderfully precise, but if there is ever an analogue to "academic German" in any other language in the world, it might be his dry, analytical, writing style in Ancient Greek.

Hell, I don't recommend reading it on a deadline, like I originally had to.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Random Probability on August 09, 2013, 08:34:34 PM
Lately I've been reading Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson.  While thoroughly a work of fiction, Stephenson sketches in broad strokes the problems with data privacy and freedom (i.e., encryption and interception) that are more true today than when he wrote it a dozen years ago.

I'm only about half-way through it since I only bother reading during long flights as there are far to many distractions around the house.  And it's about a thousand pages, give or take.  What I've read so far is intriguing.  I'll leave it to the laymen to decide how good a job he's done toning some of the concepts down for non-technical readers, but I think he's made it reasonably accessible.  Maybe.  At the very least it's fun to read a story that uses historical figures as characters.

It should be noted that this is the first book in the Baroque Cycle.  The other two books occur in previous centuries, but this one is the one to start with.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cramulus on August 09, 2013, 08:48:36 PM
Quote from: Polyethyline Glycol on August 09, 2013, 12:42:56 AM
Quote from: Cramulus on August 08, 2013, 04:47:12 PM
Finally got around to reading VALIS, by Phillip K Dick. That's the book from whence the term "Black Iron Prison" originated.

Really fantastic read. Enjoyed every word of it. It's one of those books that will make you a little bit crazy if you let it get into your head.

Between VALIS and Radio Free Albemuth, I think I might prefer Radio Free Albemuth. But, VALIS is a bit more mindfucky.

what I liked about it is something that Dick does very well in his books ---

there are all these nested layers of narrative, and the narrator is on a different one than the character (even though they're the same person)

and since ultimately the book is about spreading a certain piece of information, it gradually dawns on you that your awareness of the narrative is also one of the layers


When I encountered the term "Black Iron Prison" in the book, I had totally forgotten that this was the book from whence the term originated... So it gave me a bit of a gnostic jolt, like, this book was talking to me personally. Reminding me what was really going on. Very surreal.

QuoteI've recently been reading Steven Pinker's The Language Instinct. It bothers me a bit that he doesn't do a good job trying to support his arguments. Mostly, it bothers me because I know a bit about the subject matter and I know that he's describing things more or less correctly (although at one point he gives a set of 'words' generated by 'neural nets', and not only is word-generation through ANNs a pretty strange thing to do, but they actually look like they've been generated by letter-tokenized markov chains instead) rather than bullshitting about things with which he is only vaguely familiar (like Kevin Kelly does in every fucking thing), but he writes in this breezy disorganized way like Kevin Kelly and doesn't use footnotes. There are good, readable science writers who do justice to their subject matter but write in such a way that you can find well-rounded and well-supported arguments upon a re-reading (such as James Gleick does in The Information), and it disappoints me that Pinker isn't doing this -- seemingly by choice. Perhaps he's gotten better; this was his first book for a general audience.

That's a bummer to hear! It's funny, The Language Instinct was probably the main book which made me want to study psychology, it was my first brush with how the mind is actually studied. And Pinker started the Luxuriant Hair Club for Scientists, so he always ranked high in my book.

But in the last few months I keep running into quite articulate critiques of him. (Cain recently pointed out an interesting one by IOZ but I can't find it) And I am recalling a psych student friend of mine taking a "philosophy of the mind" class in college, and was severely annoyed by Pinker's How The Mind Works. I had attempted to hack through The Blank Slate a few years back but also found it kind of .. I'm not sure how to put it - it didn't draw me in. So maybe it's time to revise my opinion.

If I recall correctly, the footnotes / biblio for The Language Instinct were pretty extensive though, no? Are you spotting a lot of places where he's talking out his ass or wrong?
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Rococo Modem Basilisk on August 09, 2013, 08:49:15 PM
Cryptonomicon is lovely. I was unable to read the Baroque Cycle until I finished Cryptonomicon.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Rococo Modem Basilisk on August 09, 2013, 09:04:18 PM
Quote from: Cramulus on August 09, 2013, 08:48:36 PM
Quote from: Polyethyline Glycol on August 09, 2013, 12:42:56 AM
Quote from: Cramulus on August 08, 2013, 04:47:12 PM
Finally got around to reading VALIS, by Phillip K Dick. That's the book from whence the term "Black Iron Prison" originated.

Really fantastic read. Enjoyed every word of it. It's one of those books that will make you a little bit crazy if you let it get into your head.

Between VALIS and Radio Free Albemuth, I think I might prefer Radio Free Albemuth. But, VALIS is a bit more mindfucky.

what I liked about it is something that Dick does very well in his books ---

there are all these nested layers of narrative, and the narrator is on a different one than the character (even though they're the same person)

and since ultimately the book is about spreading a certain piece of information, it gradually dawns on you that your awareness of the narrative is also one of the layers


When I encountered the term "Black Iron Prison" in the book, I had totally forgotten that this was the book from whence the term originated... So it gave me a bit of a gnostic jolt, like, this book was talking to me personally. Reminding me what was really going on. Very surreal.

VALIS does do the thing with the characters better. It's one of the few instances where PKD characters seem like real people, probably because they were heavily based on his close friends. However, VALIS seemed very much to be a vehicle for exegesis quotes (much moreso than Radio Free Albemuth, or even the heavily theological Divine Invasion). It's a very nice vehicle, and he managed to tack on a plot after about fifty pages, but it's still not really the same as a story and it isn't Neal Stephenson length so he can't get away with putting a bunch of infodumps in everywhere and expecting not to interrupt the pacing.

Quote
QuoteI've recently been reading Steven Pinker's The Language Instinct. It bothers me a bit that he doesn't do a good job trying to support his arguments. Mostly, it bothers me because I know a bit about the subject matter and I know that he's describing things more or less correctly (although at one point he gives a set of 'words' generated by 'neural nets', and not only is word-generation through ANNs a pretty strange thing to do, but they actually look like they've been generated by letter-tokenized markov chains instead) rather than bullshitting about things with which he is only vaguely familiar (like Kevin Kelly does in every fucking thing), but he writes in this breezy disorganized way like Kevin Kelly and doesn't use footnotes. There are good, readable science writers who do justice to their subject matter but write in such a way that you can find well-rounded and well-supported arguments upon a re-reading (such as James Gleick does in The Information), and it disappoints me that Pinker isn't doing this -- seemingly by choice. Perhaps he's gotten better; this was his first book for a general audience.

That's a bummer to hear! It's funny, The Language Instinct was probably the main book which made me want to study psychology, it was my first brush with how the mind is actually studied. And Pinker started the Luxuriant Hair Club for Scientists, so he always ranked high in my book.

But in the last few months I keep running into quite articulate critiques of him. (Cain recently pointed out an interesting one by IOZ but I can't find it) And I am recalling a psych student friend of mine taking a "philosophy of the mind" class in college, and was severely annoyed by Pinker's How The Mind Works. I had attempted to hack through The Blank Slate a few years back but also found it kind of .. I'm not sure how to put it - it didn't draw me in. So maybe it's time to revise my opinion.

If I recall correctly, the footnotes / biblio for The Language Instinct were pretty extensive though, no? Are you spotting a lot of places where he's talking out his ass or wrong?

The bibliography is fine. My issue with the footnotes is that there aren't many, and when they exist they contain an aside or a joke, instead of support for the point.EDIT: I flipped through just now, and there is exactly one footnote in the first 350 pages of my copy. It's in chapter two. It's not a bad one (it points people toward the glossary), but unless I missed some it's the only one in more than half the book.

The things that are bothering me aren't where he's wrong or talking out of his ass, but instead where he is right and totally justified but is making a really shoddy argument (or makes a good argument but leaves big gaping holes in it). It bothered me as a programmer, because whenever I see a hole in an argument I see it as an exploitable surface. He's clearly going through the motions of supporting all his arguments and filling in all the holes, but then he misses some inexplicably or glosses over some very important step in reasoning.

He's at his best when he's explaining Chomsky's sentence diagramming rules. He does a damned good job of explaining markov chains, too. But, when he walks through an argument diagnostically, he walks through it from the perspective of somebody who already knows the answer, and he walks through it as though he assumes the reader also already knows the answer (and believes him). He rushes through the argument while keeping the general language of a properly supported argument, but doesn't bother to close the loopholes where alternate explanations can lay (even in passing), except in a handful of situations, where he often covers it in a later chapter without mentioning it in the earlier one.

I get the impression that he had initially written a much longer, much better book, and that the editor asked him to chop out about half of the technical stuff, then asked him to add a quarter of it back in later after he had dutifully sewed up the wounds.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cramulus on August 12, 2013, 11:48:02 PM
adroitly said! I definitely recognize what you're referring to
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on August 23, 2013, 10:00:40 AM
Been blasting through Greg Bishop's Project Beta while organizing my files on my laptop.

Project Beta is the amusing, true-life story of how Air Force intelligence infiltrated the UFO community in the 1980s and drove one particular man, Paul Bennewitz, to the brink of insanity - all in the name of national security.

Essentially, the Air Force, NSA etc was worried that UFO enthusiasts would stumble upon elements of top-secret projects, and then be pumped by Soviet intelligence for the data.  So the idea was to infiltrate the UFO community and steer it down the paths of inquiry that it desired, which was away from the top secret programs.

This meant the Air Force and NSA helped, inadvertantly, spawn the "Dulce Base (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dulce_Base)" conspiracy theory and associated topics.  By beaming nonsense at Bennewitz's equipment, which Bennewitz faithfully decoded according to his own mythology/psychosis, the theory grew that there was a secret base under Dulce, New Mexico, where humans were kidnapped for genetic experimentation, despite the many, obvious problems with that theory.

And of course, the UFO nuts are convinced that the Air Force was doing this to cover up the "real truth" about aliens on Earth...helpfully aided by a former AF counterintelligence officers statements.

While morally reprehensible, you have to admire the sheer ingenuity of what occured.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Junkenstein on August 23, 2013, 10:33:32 AM
Would I be right in considering the above an example of Cognitive infiltration? If so, that concept has probably got a lot to answer for regarding the outright crazy conspiracy theories.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on August 23, 2013, 10:59:59 AM
Yes and no.  I mean, it's certainly not what Sunstein would recommend, since it meant actively courting and propagating crazy conspiracy theories.  But in terms of infiltrating a society or group and subverting its information flow and outlook...yeah, it's definitely a model.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Junkenstein on August 23, 2013, 11:22:28 AM
I see. Will have to look more into this in general. The book sounds like it's worth a read too.

How stable was Bennewitz before the fuckery? I'd guess there were already underlying problems and this just helped tip him into full blown crazy?
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on August 23, 2013, 11:37:26 AM
He wasn't the most stable personality, no.  He was a successful businessman and family man, so he wasn't just some loon gibbering away in a basement somewhere...but when he met and took part in sessions with a supposed abductee, who also wasn't a very stable personality, they sort of entered a shared psychosis - enabled and abetted by the Air Force's own (purposefully) schizophrenic attitude towards him.

That Bill Moore, a noted UFOlogist, was passing on disinformation directly from Air Force intelligence into the community, via Bennewitz, did not help matters.  The Air Force said they wanted the inside scoop on the UFO community and, in return, they'd give Bill the good stuff.  In my opinion, they paid for disinformation with disinformation.  Hence part of the brilliance of the operation.

Also, the story about the Soviet agent in the book is a total rip off of a story about British intelligence in Africa in WWI.  Which itself is probably a rip-off from some awful 1890s pulp-espionage thriller.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Rococo Modem Basilisk on August 23, 2013, 05:14:35 PM
ATS has a (mostly sane) thread about this subject (specifically, UFO mythos as a psyop) with a lot of very good research. It derails in the middle for about three pages when someone gets pissed off that ATSers don't believe that tai chi cures cancer, but it's still worth reading: http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread876881/pg1
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on September 12, 2013, 08:02:01 AM
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Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Junkenstein on September 12, 2013, 08:30:40 AM
How plausible have you found it so far? Seems like some tenuous links but crazier things have been proven, I guess.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on September 12, 2013, 08:53:00 AM
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Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Junkenstein on September 12, 2013, 09:08:01 AM
I know rather little about the Unification church, I'll have to look into that. And a shitload of other things. Sounds interesting though, I'll try and grab a copy.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Kai on September 12, 2013, 07:25:32 PM
Right now: A paper on silver nanoparticle toxicity and in vitro versus in vivo testing with liver tissue/cells.

Next week it will be my turn to present, a paper on rice stress physiology in relation to salicylic acid production, a topic I know absolutely nothing about, which I will be grilled on after the presentation. This is how PhD level courses seem to work.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on September 12, 2013, 07:32:55 PM
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Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Kai on September 12, 2013, 07:41:32 PM
Quote from: Cain on September 12, 2013, 07:32:55 PM
They get so angry they cook themselves.  Trust me, I'm an expert.

Grilled by my own colleagues, I mean, not by faculty. Though, they know if they grill too hard they'll get it back when /they/ present.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Rococo Modem Basilisk on October 03, 2013, 04:11:28 PM
I recently finished Blindsight by Peter Watts, which was much better than I expected -- kind of a hard sf run-down of modes of human self-delusion with a basic plotline not entirely unlike a cross between Charlie Stross's Missile Gap and Colin Wilson's Space Vampires. I strongly recommend it.

I also finished The Authoritarians, a social-psychology book by Dr. Robert Altemeyer about authoritarian follower and authoritarian leader personalities. I'm not sure how much respect Altemeyer has in his field; it's a worthwhile book, and his arguments are based on experiment (albeit with smaller sample sizes than would make me comfortable, as someone who is used to sample sizes on the order of ten thousand points) and he clearly understands the statistics; the book is very informal in style, but the substance seems to be backed up by his studies and those of others. However, his is the only perspective I have seen; I have no idea how mainstream his ideas are.

I'm working my way through Colin Wilson's A Criminal History of Mankind, which is interesting despite many flaws. He tries to draw a model of 'the criminal personality', but his source for case studies is back-issues of Detective Magazine (practically a tabloid), his references on animal behavior are pop-science books by Desmond Morris and A.E. Van Vogt, he is under the impression that all psychology is either freudian or adlerian, and he relies heavily on a model of 'hypnosis' that is literally victorian (i.e., he seems unaware of serious, important studies on the subject from the 20th century and appears to accept the ideas about it that were current circa 1890, despite writing this sometime in the 1980s). It's a bit like reading McLuhan, but the writing is more accessible. Nevertheless, some of the ideas are interesting, and in his discussion of what Van Vogt called 'the Right Man' he provides what appears to be a spot-on description of borderline personality disorder.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on October 03, 2013, 04:13:45 PM
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Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Don Coyote on October 03, 2013, 06:55:56 PM
I'm reading Consolations of Philosophy. It feels just chock full of the kind of rhetoric that gets used to justify why people without power deserve to be without power, even though I know that is not its intent.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on October 03, 2013, 07:02:23 PM
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Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Don Coyote on October 03, 2013, 07:51:23 PM
Quote from: Cain on October 03, 2013, 07:02:23 PM
Well, there is a lot of Montaigne, Schopenhauer and Nietzsche in it.

I find it better to think of the book as an introduction to philosophy and nothing more.
Are we talking about the same book? The one I'm reading was written circa 522 CE. Or is that since I am only passingly familar with Nietzsche and not really at all with Montaigne or Schopenhauer that I am missing some strong connection between them and Boethius?

Horrible thing is that I am reading this as the first book in my class on Medieval Quests, and so far all I can really think of this work is that the prisoner is a whiny child and Philosophy is some agent of the Abrahamic god. And it seems to be just filled with circular reasoning on the nature of Good and God and good and evil.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on October 03, 2013, 07:58:08 PM
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Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Rococo Modem Basilisk on October 03, 2013, 08:10:38 PM
Colin Wilson's book just defended an argument by referencing morphogenic fields. I think I might drop it.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Don Coyote on October 03, 2013, 08:13:32 PM
Quote from: Cain on October 03, 2013, 07:58:08 PM
Ah, probably not.  I was thinking of Alain de Botton's book.

I just looked him up, and I think I have to add his book to my list of post-quarter reading.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Demolition Squid on October 04, 2013, 06:40:44 PM
Recently read Brother to Dragons, Companion to Owls by Jane Lindskold.

One of my friends recommended it to me. I was sceptical because the description sounded really, really cheesy. 'Its cyberpunk but the crazy girl can talk to objects and also there's homeless children who take after the Jungle Book'.

Actually it was surprisingly good. Not exactly highbrow, but the writing was solid, and the main character's verbal tic makes for a very interesting read. I also failed to see one of the plot twists coming, which gave me a pleasant surprise given how I thought things were going to pan out.

Next up on my list is Extreme Rambling: Walking Israel's Separation Barrier. For Fun. by Mark Thomas. I'm expecting this one to include far fewer talking stuffed animals, but I'm prepared to be wrong.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Rococo Modem Basilisk on October 04, 2013, 08:58:54 PM
Quote from: Demolition Squid on October 04, 2013, 06:40:44 PM
Recently read Brother to Dragons, Companion to Owls by Jane Lindskold.

One of my friends recommended it to me. I was sceptical because the description sounded really, really cheesy. 'Its cyberpunk but the crazy girl can talk to objects and also there's homeless children who take after the Jungle Book'.

Actually it was surprisingly good. Not exactly highbrow, but the writing was solid, and the main character's verbal tic makes for a very interesting read. I also failed to see one of the plot twists coming, which gave me a pleasant surprise given how I thought things were going to pan out.

This sounds really cool.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on October 04, 2013, 11:09:10 PM
Working on "The Trouble With Testosterone" by Robert Sapolsky.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: minuspace on October 11, 2013, 09:17:47 AM
Quote from: Roko's Modern Basilisk on October 03, 2013, 08:10:38 PM
Colin Wilson's book just defended an argument by referencing morphogenic fields. I think I might drop it.

Wait, you mean to admit being influenced by reference to a field, the effect of which you also purport to deny...  Wow ! (Sheldrake was not available for comment :) ?
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Don Coyote on October 11, 2013, 05:09:30 PM
on to The Quest for the Holy Grail for me.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Junkenstein on October 16, 2013, 02:49:02 PM
Quote from: Demolition Squid on October 04, 2013, 06:40:44 PM
Recently read Brother to Dragons, Companion to Owls by Jane Lindskold.

One of my friends recommended it to me. I was sceptical because the description sounded really, really cheesy. 'Its cyberpunk but the crazy girl can talk to objects and also there's homeless children who take after the Jungle Book'.

Actually it was surprisingly good. Not exactly highbrow, but the writing was solid, and the main character's verbal tic makes for a very interesting read. I also failed to see one of the plot twists coming, which gave me a pleasant surprise given how I thought things were going to pan out.

Next up on my list is Extreme Rambling: Walking Israel's Separation Barrier. For Fun. by Mark Thomas. I'm expecting this one to include far fewer talking stuffed animals, but I'm prepared to be wrong.

Excellent book, are his other books. It's a shame the stage show appears not to be coming to DVD anytime soon.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Bu🤠ns on October 17, 2013, 07:37:34 AM
Started reading American Gods by Neil Gaiman.  The way this guy writes is so ....  almost musical.  It flows so nicely.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Salty on October 19, 2013, 02:34:40 AM
It is very rare that fiction holds me anymore, it's been years since I've been enamoured with any writer. The last one to really hold me was Upton Sinclair, you just don't put the line down so neatly and sharply, in such deep horror, without tugging at my mishappen heart

Anyhow, I just started in on DH Lawrence's Sons and Lovers and two things:

1. Damn that dude can put down the word.
2. JESUS FUCKING CHRIST
3.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: The Good Reverend Roger on October 22, 2013, 10:06:46 PM
:tldr2:
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: minuspace on October 23, 2013, 07:15:37 AM
Given to alienation inherent of "independent self-determined resolve", our subject failed to recognize the full extent to which it was informed by misunderstanding its relation to the other.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Salty on October 25, 2013, 04:04:42 AM
Man, fuck D.H. Lawrence!
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Salty on October 25, 2013, 04:09:17 AM
SRSLY, what a fucking waste.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: minuspace on October 26, 2013, 10:58:36 AM
"The reason I Jump"
/The Inner Voice of a Thirteen-Year-OldbBoy with Autism
_Naoki Higashida

The man is a post-deconstructuralist Genius
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Prelate Diogenes Shandor on October 28, 2013, 02:06:11 AM
I'm reading Cold Print
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on November 28, 2013, 11:43:31 AM
Reading Lawrence Wright's The Looming Tower.

Definitely one of the best books on the history of Al-Qaeda out there.  Dispels a lot of myths, especially the self-serving ones spread by Bin Laden of his involvement in certain terrorist attacks (Black Hawk Down, the Khobar Towers etc), the Arab Mujahideen in Afghanistan (mostly worthless rabble) and of his wealth...most of which was confiscated by the Saudis when he was expelled.

It also illustrates in great detail the amorphous and mostly imaginary status of Al-Qaeda before 1998, and the key role of Ayman al-Zawahiri as the "brains" of the jihadist alliance.

And most interestingly, it paints Michael Scheuer, the head of the CIA's Alec Station and author of Imperial Hubris as a complete fucking lunatic.  He was arguing for using cruise missiles to eliminate Bin Laden while he was staying with donors in the Emirates.  The CIA and FBI estimated there would be upwards of 300 civilian casualties, but Scheuer didn't care.  He wanted Bin Laden dead, no matter how much collateral damage was caused.

Of course, this was the man who has subsequently said America needs to be nuked by terrorists to be saved from being nuked by terrorists, so this isn't entirely unsurprising.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Bu🤠ns on November 29, 2013, 06:34:30 PM
Ghost in the Wires --  My Adventures as the World's Most Wanted Hacker by Kevin Mitnick

It's fun--it's kinda of a How-to-Social-Engineer-the-phone-company-in-autobiography form...but it's fun.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Rococo Modem Basilisk on November 30, 2013, 03:09:47 AM
Quote from: Bu☆ns on November 29, 2013, 06:34:30 PM
Ghost in the Wires --  My Adventures as the World's Most Wanted Hacker by Kevin Mitnick

It's fun--it's kinda of a How-to-Social-Engineer-the-phone-company-in-autobiography form...but it's fun.

That's a pretty good one. Mitnick isn't a bad writer (although I realize it was coauthored). My only problem with it was that it repeated a lot of stories found elsewhere, and didn't add a whole lot of 'new' / unpublished content.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Wisa1 on December 02, 2013, 11:02:37 PM
Finally attacking Jung in the flesh via the "Modern Man in Search of a  Soul"  collection.
Barely a dozen pages left however, any suggestions as to which of old CeeGee's books I should attack next?
or maybe I should just head straight for The Collected Works.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Lenin McCarthy on December 18, 2013, 12:24:43 AM
Reading The Philosophy of Boredom by Lars Fr. H. Svendsen.
A pretty interesting and witty essay. It doesn't really come up with any solutions to escape boredom, but it provides some insight and a vocabulary to discuss it with and that is pretty neat.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on December 18, 2013, 02:07:48 AM
I just started "When It All Comes Down To Dust" and "You Say Tomato, I Say Shut Up".
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Bu🤠ns on December 20, 2013, 01:27:46 AM
Quote from: Roko's Modern Basilisk on November 30, 2013, 03:09:47 AM
Quote from: Bu☆ns on November 29, 2013, 06:34:30 PM
Ghost in the Wires --  My Adventures as the World's Most Wanted Hacker by Kevin Mitnick

It's fun--it's kinda of a How-to-Social-Engineer-the-phone-company-in-autobiography form...but it's fun.

That's a pretty good one. Mitnick isn't a bad writer (although I realize it was coauthored). My only problem with it was that it repeated a lot of stories found elsewhere, and didn't add a whole lot of 'new' / unpublished content.

I started Art of Deception and quickly found that out also.  Personally I preferred hearing the techniques in a narrative form rather than in the 'how to' form.  It flows much better that way.

GitW was a good story--I enjoyed it a lot :)
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Bu🤠ns on December 20, 2013, 03:49:28 PM
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://inktank.fi/10-sci-fi-novels-thatll-change-look-world-forever/&strip=1

of all the books in this list, what would PD recommend?

1. Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell (1949)
2. Solaris, Stanislaw Lem (1961)
3. Never Let Me Go, Kazua Ishiguru (2005)
4. The Passage, Justin Cronin (2010)
5. I, Robot, Isaac Asimov (1950)
6. The Handmaid's Tale, Margaret Atwood (1985)
7. Starship Troopers, Robert A. Heinlein (1959)
8. Flowers for Albergon, Daniel Keyes (1966)
9. Flatland, Edwin A. Abbott (1882)
10. Blindness, Jose Saramago (1995)






Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on December 20, 2013, 03:50:23 PM
I, Robot.

Asimov's the best writer in that list who I've read.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on December 20, 2013, 04:07:57 PM
Solaris is a bit dry, but has some pretty good stuff in it.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: hooplala on December 20, 2013, 04:18:00 PM
Flatland gave me strange ideas of how to imagine space in the universe(s).
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Junkenstein on December 20, 2013, 06:26:08 PM
Subject matter of "A handmaids tale" was interesting, but I couldn't stand the style.

I'd second Asimov, and Orwell naturally. Both have tons worth reading.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Bu🤠ns on December 20, 2013, 08:31:11 PM
Thanks, folks!
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: minuspace on December 21, 2013, 04:01:46 AM
Never let me go - great creeper, sometimes more subtly menacing, to some, less apparently sci-fi to others.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Reginald Ret on December 21, 2013, 12:40:43 PM
Flatland; 1984; and Asimov, Though i prefer his foundation books to his robot books.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Payne on December 21, 2013, 10:58:07 PM
Flatland, and A Handmaids Tale
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Rococo Modem Basilisk on December 26, 2013, 12:16:01 PM
Go with Solaris. It's more dry than Gibson, but less dry than typical (Foundation- or Robots- era) Asimov.


I recently finished Rx: A Tale of Electronegativity. It's probably one of the best cyberpunk novels I've read -- it's up there with Altered Carbon and Count Zero, at least. It seems like my decision to read novels written by Cracked columnists is continuing to pay off. And, unlike John Dies at the End, the narrative twists and turns are both unexpected (but understandable in retrospect) and satisfying. There's a little bit of first-novel-itis in the first couple chapters, but that's to be expected.

I'm a few pages away from the end of Moonwalking with Einstein. It was great, but I'm kind of disappointed because I seem to have already essentially read the whole book in exerpt form. I usually end up having this problem with books that are collections of articles written for other sources (Gibson and Stephenson's essay books, for instance, and occasionally a Ronson book), but this is the first time it's happened with a book that has a solid narrative. I suspect that he adapted several of his articles covering memory competitions into parts of the book, and that most of the remaining passages made their way into articles advertising the book (the way passages from non-fiction books by journalists for popular audiences often do).
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Odibex Grallspice on December 26, 2013, 03:34:20 PM
I don't read anymore (pity that, hope I don't get ousted for it) but the last couple of good books I read were by Graham Greene.. The Confidential Agent and, I think, The Man Within.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on December 26, 2013, 04:07:40 PM
Graham Greene is always a good choice.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Odibex Grallspice on December 26, 2013, 04:19:01 PM
Yeah, good stuff. I pursued him on the advice of Burroughs.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Bu🤠ns on January 03, 2014, 02:33:56 PM
So I ended up picking up Crooked Little Vein by Warren Ellis.  I know, not on the list...but that's sort of how things happen with me....I did pick up copies of the recommendations though so they're on the queue. 

Also...um...dinosaur fetishists and that silicone thing?? WTF WARREN ELLIS....oh right...warren ellis
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Junkenstein on January 14, 2014, 09:33:45 AM
About 50 pages into "Raising Steam", the most recent Pratchett Discworld. Not entirely sure how I feel about it so far. Making any kind of negative comment seems like, well, criticizing someone's writing for suffering under Alzheimers. That said, the change of voice and the way it reads in general is quite odd. A bit like someone doing an impression of him. At times, a very good one but there's still something missing.

Will finish it, I only find it worth commenting on as I'd usually finish a Pratchett in a few hours. I hope it's just me being overly critical.

ETA - Fixed idiot typos.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on January 14, 2014, 12:29:06 PM
Yes, I found that to be the case when I read it as well.

I understand his daughter is helping him write the books now, which is what I felt might account for the slightly different tone.  It's not bad, just...different.  It's not quite as crisp as, say, Reaper Man or Feet of Clay was, but having two authors often causes there to be less focus.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on January 14, 2014, 12:29:45 PM
As does having Alzheimers.  Oh snap!


....



I'm going to hell, aren't I?
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on January 14, 2014, 01:00:41 PM
Most likely.  But that'll be one of the lesser charges.

Mainly, it'll be because of "The Incident."
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: The Good Reverend Roger on January 14, 2014, 01:42:53 PM
Quote from: Bu☆ns on January 03, 2014, 02:33:56 PM
So I ended up picking up Crooked Little Vein by Warren Ellis.  I know, not on the list...but that's sort of how things happen with me....I did pick up copies of the recommendations though so they're on the queue. 

Also...um...dinosaur fetishists and that silicone thing?? WTF WARREN ELLIS....oh right...warren ellis

Now read Gun Machine.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Bu🤠ns on January 14, 2014, 07:41:26 PM
Quote from: Dirty Old Uncle Roger on January 14, 2014, 01:42:53 PM
Quote from: Bu☆ns on January 03, 2014, 02:33:56 PM
So I ended up picking up Crooked Little Vein by Warren Ellis.  I know, not on the list...but that's sort of how things happen with me....I did pick up copies of the recommendations though so they're on the queue. 

Also...um...dinosaur fetishists and that silicone thing?? WTF WARREN ELLIS....oh right...warren ellis

Now read Gun Machine.

10-4
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Reginald Ret on January 18, 2014, 12:56:18 AM
Well shit. I was really looking forward to reading a new discworld novel. Now i will still read and enjoy it but i will have a continous sad while doing so.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Rococo Modem Basilisk on January 18, 2014, 05:31:52 PM
About halfway through The Clockwork Man by E. V. Odle. It's arguably the first book about time-travelling cyborgs (it was written in the 1920s), and it's aged remarkably well -- it's still amusing, and the style isn't overly wordy (as novels from the first half of the twentieth century often are). It's been out of print for many years (being overshadowed by Capek's RUR, the other big science fiction story that was released that year), and out of copyright, but I got the reprint that HiLoBrow did as part of its Radium Age Science Fiction series, and I'm very impressed -- the layout and arrangement is beautiful in that subtle modern way that you only really see in slick magazines, books about typography from the 60s, and apple stores. Over all, I expect to get more books from that series, if this one is any indication. The plot of the book surrounds a man from a far future world where women and super-advanced alien nudists have conspired to lock all the overly aggressive males in a virtual reality world where time and space are highly mutable, who (due to a glitch in his clockwork brain implant) accidentally lands in the middle of a Cricket game in the British countryside in the 1920s and can't get back.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Junkenstein on January 20, 2014, 09:27:08 AM
Quote from: :regret: on January 18, 2014, 12:56:18 AM
Well shit. I was really looking forward to reading a new discworld novel. Now i will still read and enjoy it but i will have a continous sad while doing so.

Less than 50 pages left. Cain's on the money with "not bad, just different" to an extent. It's pretty clear by halfway that it's at least co-written. Once you get past the change in voice it gets somewhat better.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on January 20, 2014, 08:12:41 PM
Weird. I looked for it on Amazon, but they say it'll be released in a few months. 

Is this some sort of Belgian fuckery?
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on January 20, 2014, 08:53:56 PM
Yup.  Now you know how we feel, when we inexplicably have to wait for things that should be readily available in this digital age.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Eater of Clowns on January 20, 2014, 08:55:11 PM
[This post by EoC is not currently available in your region.]
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Salty on January 28, 2014, 03:54:45 AM
 Rereading Women by Bukowski.

I first read it about 8 years ago, and I still love it.

I admit he is probably my favorite writer, which shames me a bit for reasons that are unclear.

He writes ugly shit, yeah. But it never seems to me to be glorification, or penance.

Just watercolors in words that seek to show the world as it is for some.

Now, this book was set in the 70s, but I really dig Ham on Rye and Factotum and all that earlier shit. Especially Han on Rye, it showed me how the world and the people in it have been more or less the same for, oh, forever.

This notion that People Were Proper way back when always stunk to me as bullshit. The only difference now, I think, is businesses have managed to shape people's view with greater efficiency.

Also, his flow is exceptional. He does not delay or cheapen anything with flowery prose, YET I find it hypnotic and rhyhmic all the same. Much like Carson McCullers, who I also love, as did Bukowski.

He loved DH Lawrence as well, but I cannot stand the repressed homosexuality in evey damned line that fucker wrote, beautiful or no.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on January 28, 2014, 04:17:49 AM
Quote from: Alty on January 28, 2014, 03:54:45 AM
Rereading Women by Bukowski.

I first read it about 8 years ago, and I still love it.

I admit he is probably my favorite writer, which shames me a bit for reasons that are unclear.

He writes ugly shit, yeah. But it never seems to me to be glorification, or penance.

Just watercolors in words that seek to show the world as it is for some.

Now, this book was set in the 70s, but I really dig Ham on Rye and Factotum and all that earlier shit. Especially Han on Rye, it showed me how the world and the people in it have been more or less the same for, oh, forever.

This notion that People Were Proper way back when always stunk to me as bullshit. The only difference now, I think, is businesses have managed to shape people's view with greater efficiency.

Also, his flow is exceptional. He does not delay or cheapen anything with flowery prose, YET I find it hypnotic and rhyhmic all the same. Much like Carson McCullers, who I also love, as did Bukowski.

He loved DH Lawrence as well, but I cannot stand the repressed homosexuality in evey damned line that fucker wrote, beautiful or no.

I wish that you could know my friend Seanniepants. He loves Bukowski, spent a fair amount of time in Alaska, and just sort of has a similar sensibility to you.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Bu🤠ns on January 28, 2014, 04:23:20 AM
Quote from: Bu☆ns on January 14, 2014, 07:41:26 PM
Quote from: Dirty Old Uncle Roger on January 14, 2014, 01:42:53 PM
Quote from: Bu☆ns on January 03, 2014, 02:33:56 PM
So I ended up picking up Crooked Little Vein by Warren Ellis.  I know, not on the list...but that's sort of how things happen with me....I did pick up copies of the recommendations though so they're on the queue. 

Also...um...dinosaur fetishists and that silicone thing?? WTF WARREN ELLIS....oh right...warren ellis

Now read Gun Machine.

10-4


Completed.  This was great recommendation--Thank you, Roger!  As nasty as the Hunter was, I was left with this strange sort of sympathy for him.  And, along those lines, with Detective Tallow with that theme about how those who remembered history, in a sense, redeemed the present....to a certain extent.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Salty on February 15, 2014, 07:46:06 AM
Stardust, which I have owned for a year or two but never read. It is amazingly perfect.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: EK WAFFLR on February 15, 2014, 05:40:05 PM
Sam Cutler's You Can't Always Get What You Want:: My Life with the Rolling Stones, the Grateful Dead and Other Wonderful Reprobates.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Rococo Modem Basilisk on February 16, 2014, 12:41:12 AM
Finished The Clockwork Man. My only complaint with it is that the ending didn't really feel like an ending; there wasn't much of a pattern in terms of dramatic tension in the book. Of course, I write things that are similarly flat.

Currently about halfway through Exploding the Phone, a history of phone phreaking by Phil Lapsley. It's interesting (and more readable than Mitnick's Ghost in the Wires), although the early chapters spend a great deal of time talking about the early history of Bell Telephone (which may be better covered by The Idea Factory). The one thing that's mentioned in this book that I haven't heard about from other histories of Bell is the Strowger switch -- a primarily mechanical piece of equipment for handling pulse dialing (and thus an entertaining anachronism... what is now done in solid state with a simple multiplexer was at one time done with a device resembling a spring-loaded combination lock). I'm not entirely sure that somebody uninterested in the history of phone phreaking and its culture in the abstract would find this book entertaining, but in many places it's highly introductory (so someone with only a casual interest in the subject would find it accessible), and it's quite readable compared to more formal histories. The style is at least as easy-breezy as Kevin Kelly's, but (unlike Kelly) the author knows what he's talking about, checks his sources, and doesn't spout page after page of bullshit.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on February 16, 2014, 03:29:10 PM
Reading Karmeron Hurley's God's War: The Bel Dame Apocrypha, with my usual approach of allowing Charles Stross's guest bloggers to determine what to put on my Kindle.

Or what was on my Kindle, until it suddenly seized up. 

Anyway, not sure how I feel about the book yet.  Probably because my reading of it was so rudely interrupted by said Kindle failure.  Also, despite being a sci-fi setting, there are certain fantasy elements which are, IMO, a bit incongruous. 

That's my light reading, anyway.  On the heavy side, I've been hitting books like:

Michael Mann (2008), The Dark Side of Democracy: Explaining Ethnic Cleansing
James Ron (2003), Frontiers and Ghettoes: State Violence in Serbia and Israel
Jeffrey A. Sluka (2000), Death Squad: An Anthropology of State Terror
Vivek Chadha (2005), Low Intensity Conflict In India, An Analysis
Navnita Chadha Behera (2006), Demystifying Kashmir
Deepa M. Ollapally (2008), The Politics of Extremism in South Asia
Philip Zelikow et al (2004), The 9/11 Commission Report
Daniel Byman (2005), Deadly Connections: States that Sponsor Terrorism
Alex P. Schmid and Albert J. Jongman, Political Terrorism
Lisa Stampnitzsky, Disciplining Terror: How Experts Invented "Terrorism"
Bruce Hoffman (2006) Inside Terrorism
M.L. Sondhi (2000), Terrorism and Political Violence: A Sourcebook

You know, fun stuff.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Rococo Modem Basilisk on February 16, 2014, 03:48:37 PM
Quote from: Cain on February 16, 2014, 03:29:10 PM
Reading Karmeron Hurley's God's War: The Bel Dame Apocrypha, with my usual approach of allowing Charles Stross's guest bloggers to determine what to put on my Kindle.

I usually put anything that's mentioned favorably in Stross's blog entries or comment threads into my cart. It's worked pretty well thus far, but I've run out of reading time.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on February 16, 2014, 04:31:07 PM
Yeah, it's normally a good rule of thumb.  It could just be me in this case...being snowed under with everything certainly doesn't help.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Junkenstein on February 17, 2014, 12:33:51 AM
Quote from: Cain on February 16, 2014, 03:29:10 PM

That's my light reading, anyway.  On the heavy side, I've been hitting books like:

Michael Mann (2008), The Dark Side of Democracy: Explaining Ethnic Cleansing
James Ron (2003), Frontiers and Ghettoes: State Violence in Serbia and Israel
Jeffrey A. Sluka (2000), Death Squad: An Anthropology of State Terror
Vivek Chadha (2005), Low Intensity Conflict In India, An Analysis
Navnita Chadha Behera (2006), Demystifying Kashmir
Deepa M. Ollapally (2008), The Politics of Extremism in South Asia
Philip Zelikow et al (2004), The 9/11 Commission Report
Daniel Byman (2005), Deadly Connections: States that Sponsor Terrorism
Alex P. Schmid and Albert J. Jongman, Political Terrorism
Lisa Stampnitzsky, Disciplining Terror: How Experts Invented "Terrorism"
Bruce Hoffman (2006) Inside Terrorism
M.L. Sondhi (2000), Terrorism and Political Violence: A Sourcebook

You know, fun stuff.

Well that's my reading list topped up for the forseeable. Regarding the bold, those two caught my eye. Promising titles, is the content up to scratch? Comparisons between Serbia and Israel sounds interesting, quite a few parallels now I come to think of it. "State violence" is pretty broad and there's certainly enough done by both to see what conclusions get drawn. 
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Pæs on February 17, 2014, 01:43:29 AM
Quote from: Bu☆ns on November 29, 2013, 06:34:30 PM
Ghost in the Wires --  My Adventures as the World's Most Wanted Hacker by Kevin Mitnick

It's fun--it's kinda of a How-to-Social-Engineer-the-phone-company-in-autobiography form...but it's fun.

I made the mistake of following Mitnick on Twitter, reading GitW, The Art of Deception and The Art of Intrusion all around the same time, the effect of which was that every time I read his words it sounded like "*nudge nudge* hey, remember how I was awesome haxor? Do you remember the whistling down phone lines things? Remember that?".

The moral of the story is not to follow Mitnick on Twitter, or in fact use Twitter at all.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Rococo Modem Basilisk on February 17, 2014, 04:28:41 AM
Quote from: Pæs on February 17, 2014, 01:43:29 AM
Quote from: Bu☆ns on November 29, 2013, 06:34:30 PM
Ghost in the Wires --  My Adventures as the World's Most Wanted Hacker by Kevin Mitnick

It's fun--it's kinda of a How-to-Social-Engineer-the-phone-company-in-autobiography form...but it's fun.

I made the mistake of following Mitnick on Twitter, reading GitW, The Art of Deception and The Art of Intrusion all around the same time, the effect of which was that every time I read his words it sounded like "*nudge nudge* hey, remember how I was awesome haxor? Do you remember the whistling down phone lines things? Remember that?".

The moral of the story is not to follow Mitnick on Twitter, or in fact use Twitter at all.

Mitnick has, like, five stories that he tells over and over again. And, when he's not telling them, Emmanuel Goldstein is telling them for him (every wednesday since 1988).

They're entertaining stories, but no story is that entertaining.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on February 17, 2014, 06:58:03 AM
Quote from: Roko's Modern Basilisk on February 17, 2014, 04:28:41 AM
Quote from: Pæs on February 17, 2014, 01:43:29 AM
Quote from: Bu☆ns on November 29, 2013, 06:34:30 PM
Ghost in the Wires --  My Adventures as the World's Most Wanted Hacker by Kevin Mitnick

It's fun--it's kinda of a How-to-Social-Engineer-the-phone-company-in-autobiography form...but it's fun.

I made the mistake of following Mitnick on Twitter, reading GitW, The Art of Deception and The Art of Intrusion all around the same time, the effect of which was that every time I read his words it sounded like "*nudge nudge* hey, remember how I was awesome haxor? Do you remember the whistling down phone lines things? Remember that?".

The moral of the story is not to follow Mitnick on Twitter, or in fact use Twitter at all.

Mitnick has, like, five stories that he tells over and over again. And, when he's not telling them, Emmanuel Goldstein is telling them for him (every wednesday since 1988).

They're entertaining stories, but no story is that entertaining.

True story.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on February 17, 2014, 09:47:52 AM
Quote from: Junkenstein on February 17, 2014, 12:33:51 AM
Well that's my reading list topped up for the forseeable. Regarding the bold, those two caught my eye. Promising titles, is the content up to scratch? Comparisons between Serbia and Israel sounds interesting, quite a few parallels now I come to think of it. "State violence" is pretty broad and there's certainly enough done by both to see what conclusions get drawn.

The book focuses more on why violence was so severe outside Serbia while remaining controlled within Serbia and the similar parallels with the West Bank and Gaza versus Lebanon for Israel.  The core thesis is that both states divide the world into "ghetto" territories, where violence takes the form of brutal police action but goes no further, and "frontiers", where mass slaughter is considered to be fine because it's outside of a core territory in which they exercise full control.

Stampnitzsky's book is OK, but a little dry.  It essentially involves her showing how a bunch of academics changed the definition of terrorism in the 1970s, shown by exceedingly boring means of conferences, academic networks and so on.

I'd recommend Michael Mann's book, after Ron's.  Mann's approach is one I like, generally speaking, and he's an engaging writer with a broad, but focused historical view.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Junkenstein on February 17, 2014, 09:59:17 AM
Duly noted, thanks.

Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Salty on February 17, 2014, 07:43:53 PM
Quote from: Alty on February 15, 2014, 07:46:06 AM
Stardust, which I have owned for a year or two but never read. It is amazingly perfect.

Finished this last night, amazing. So damned perfect. That's all I can really say.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Bu🤠ns on February 18, 2014, 06:54:23 PM
Quote from: Alty on February 17, 2014, 07:43:53 PM
Quote from: Alty on February 15, 2014, 07:46:06 AM
Stardust, which I have owned for a year or two but never read. It is amazingly perfect.

Finished this last night, amazing. So damned perfect. That's all I can really say.

Now I"m going to have to do this.  Dammit you guys...plz don't jump off a bridge anytime soonm, mkay?


Quote from: Pæs on February 17, 2014, 01:43:29 AM
Quote from: Bu☆ns on November 29, 2013, 06:34:30 PM
Ghost in the Wires --  My Adventures as the World's Most Wanted Hacker by Kevin Mitnick

It's fun--it's kinda of a How-to-Social-Engineer-the-phone-company-in-autobiography form...but it's fun.

I made the mistake of following Mitnick on Twitter, reading GitW, The Art of Deception and The Art of Intrusion all around the same time, the effect of which was that every time I read his words it sounded like "*nudge nudge* hey, remember how I was awesome haxor? Do you remember the whistling down phone lines things? Remember that?".

The moral of the story is not to follow Mitnick on Twitter, or in fact use Twitter at all.

I dig.  I REALLY enjoyed these stories but once was totally enough.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Salty on March 03, 2014, 05:18:38 AM
Bear Attacks - Their Cause and Avoidance by Stephen Herrero

He's a Biology PhD who researched the hows and whys of brown and black bear attacks. Apparently there were few to none recorded until the 60s, and they increased a great deal in since then. The direction he's heading in is that the prevalence of bear attacks corresponds with the amount of garbage and food left behind by humans.

He also details the attacks heavily. Just horrifying. Apparently, playing dead does have significant advantages, but is also pretty difficult when a bear has sunk its teeth into your shoulder blade, cracking it open like an eggshell.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Salty on March 03, 2014, 06:52:38 PM
All right, I am not saying that when you return to your moose carcass WITHOUT YOUR GUN a day after leaving in bear country that you deserve the horrific mauling that follows, I am just saying.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: The Good Reverend Roger on March 04, 2014, 12:16:35 AM
Quote from: Alty on March 03, 2014, 06:52:38 PM
All right, I am not saying that when you return to your moose carcass WITHOUT YOUR GUN a day after leaving in bear country that you deserve the horrific mauling that follows, I am just saying.

Well, not "deserve", but you sorta handed shit to Darwin on a plate.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on March 04, 2014, 01:39:12 AM
Quote from: Alty on March 03, 2014, 06:52:38 PM
All right, I am not saying that when you return to your moose carcass WITHOUT YOUR GUN a day after leaving in bear country that you deserve the horrific mauling that follows, I am just saying.

Who leaves a carcass unattended for a day???
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Salty on March 04, 2014, 01:41:50 AM
Quote from: Nigel on March 04, 2014, 01:39:12 AM
Quote from: Alty on March 03, 2014, 06:52:38 PM
All right, I am not saying that when you return to your moose carcass WITHOUT YOUR GUN a day after leaving in bear country that you deserve the horrific mauling that follows, I am just saying.

Who leaves a carcass unattended for a day???
Ah, I should said, it was only the guts amd skin, he went back for the skin.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on March 04, 2014, 01:44:11 AM
Quote from: Alty on March 04, 2014, 01:41:50 AM
Quote from: Nigel on March 04, 2014, 01:39:12 AM
Quote from: Alty on March 03, 2014, 06:52:38 PM
All right, I am not saying that when you return to your moose carcass WITHOUT YOUR GUN a day after leaving in bear country that you deserve the horrific mauling that follows, I am just saying.

Who leaves a carcass unattended for a day???
Ah, I should said, it was only the guts amd skin, he went back for the skin.

Oh, that makes sense.

Dumb to not bring a gun. And be covered in bells. And put the skin in two layers of Hefty bags and cache it properly some distance away from the guts. All of these things are basic.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: The Good Reverend Roger on March 04, 2014, 01:47:34 AM
Or "don't live in a place which has both moose and bears."
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on March 04, 2014, 01:53:11 AM
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on March 04, 2014, 01:47:34 AM
Or "don't live in a place which has both moose and bears."

No such place!

At least, not that's inhabitable.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: The Good Reverend Roger on March 04, 2014, 02:00:07 AM
Quote from: Nigel on March 04, 2014, 01:53:11 AM
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on March 04, 2014, 01:47:34 AM
Or "don't live in a place which has both moose and bears."

No such place!

At least, not that's inhabitable.

We have very skinny bears.  There isn't a whole lot more dangerous than a skinny bear.

A fat bear, well, he already ate.  The skinny fucker isn't feeling picky.


But we don't have moose, which is kind of awesome, because moose are fucking homicidal bastards who will kill you and then not even eat you.

And I see no point in trying to argue the inhabitable part, because you're clearly correct.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on March 04, 2014, 10:47:06 AM
I read Mirage Men based on a recommendation from Enki.

It's a great complement/followup to Poject Beta by Greg Bishop, which I mentioned a while back.  As you may recall, Project Beta dealt with the Air Force essentially feeding the delusions of Paul Bennewitz, a scientist and military contractor to the US military who came to believe that there existed a conspiracy which involved aliens and the US government carrying out genetic experiments in a secret base below Dulce (this later formed the core story of the Dulce Base conspiracy theory, which informed future successors such as The X Files).

The book details how elements of US intelligence have not only been involved in the UFO story since the start but, if anything, have been helping to propagate and disseminate the idea that UFOs exist, that the US government has knowledge of alien life and that the US is somehow in partnership with these lifeforms.

Why is a good question.  The authors suspect, with good evidence, that there are elements of multiple psychological warfare and deception programs being undertaken by the US military and, for whatever reason, the "UFO story" is one of their go-to covers for whatever they really hope to achieve.  Although the religious angle is not dealt with in the book directly, it is also hinted at that UFO contactee cults were promoted in order to understand the dynamics of New Age religious movements (an area that the CIA psywar division in particular had a lot of interest in).

Richard Doty, who was the AFOSI officer who played such a large role in Project Beta also makes more than just a brief appearance.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Bu🤠ns on March 04, 2014, 07:40:19 PM
Just finished Christopher Moore's "The Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove"  Quite silly actually.  Will read more.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on March 04, 2014, 08:07:07 PM
Just finished "Edible" and started on "The Psychopath Whisperer".
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on March 04, 2014, 08:07:34 PM
OH HEY THAT REMINDS ME!

<off to shipping-land>
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Salty on March 04, 2014, 08:41:38 PM
Quote from: Bu☆ns on March 04, 2014, 07:40:19 PM
Just finished Christopher Moore's "The Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove"  Quite silly actually.  Will read more.

Love that guy.

Island of the Sequined Love Nun and Bloodsucking Fiends, the latter featuring Emperor Norton and his dogs, are probably my favorites. The sequals to the latter were pop garbage, IMO, but hey, gotta make that money.

Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Bu🤠ns on March 05, 2014, 03:24:05 AM
Quote from: Alty on March 04, 2014, 08:41:38 PM
Quote from: Bu☆ns on March 04, 2014, 07:40:19 PM
Just finished Christopher Moore's "The Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove"  Quite silly actually.  Will read more.

Love that guy.

Island of the Sequined Love Nun and Bloodsucking Fiends, the latter featuring Emperor Norton and his dogs, are probably my favorites. The sequals to the latter were pop garbage, IMO, but hey, gotta make that money.



HAAH i just started Island... OOOhhh i'll check out Bloodsucking Fiends next.  I'm kinda hooked on Christopher Moore at the moment.  There's a weird kind of 'innocence in the face of the absurdity of life' quality about his characters that I can really relate to.  It seems really....smooth...if that makes any sense.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Salty on March 05, 2014, 03:53:11 AM
Yes it does.

I read once that he doesn't really do drafts or preplan his novels. He just sits and types out a few paragraphs, gets up and thinks a bit, sits back down and repeats until the thing is done. No rewrites, really.

I also read an interview when his book The Stupidest Angel came out. It's a Christmas themed book set in the same town as Lustlizard. Definitely worth a read.

His dad was a State Trooper and he said a bad day of work included pulling multiple bodies out of wrecks, so the man had a fairly dark sense of humor. One christmas eve, Moore was 7 or so, he had stayed up waiting for Santa. His dad came home at midnight, saw him peaking though the window, pulled his gun and fired several rounds in the general direction of their roof.

His dad came inside and said, "Santa is dead now. Go to bed."

:lulz:


I really disliked..uh the whale book...Fluke. The ending was very meh. Thought the whale penis attack was pretty choice.

I dunno if he still does it, but he used to respond to every single fan email he got. I sent him one and he replied very, very snarkily and with little patience. But he did reply.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: minuspace on March 05, 2014, 09:33:02 AM
Quote from: Cain on March 04, 2014, 10:47:06 AM
I read Mirage Men based on a recommendation from Enki.

It's a great complement/followup to Poject Beta by Greg Bishop, which I mentioned a while back.  As you may recall, Project Beta dealt with the Air Force essentially feeding the delusions of Paul Bennewitz, a scientist and military contractor to the US military who came to believe that there existed a conspiracy which involved aliens and the US government carrying out genetic experiments in a secret base below Dulce (this later formed the core story of the Dulce Base conspiracy theory, which informed future successors such as The X Files).

The book details how elements of US intelligence have not only been involved in the UFO story since the start but, if anything, have been helping to propagate and disseminate the idea that UFOs exist, that the US government has knowledge of alien life and that the US is somehow in partnership with these lifeforms.

Why is a good question.  The authors suspect, with good evidence, that there are elements of multiple psychological warfare and deception programs being undertaken by the US military and, for whatever reason, the "UFO story" is one of their go-to covers for whatever they really hope to achieve.  Although the religious angle is not dealt with in the book directly, it is also hinted at that UFO contactee cults were promoted in order to understand the dynamics of New Age religious movements (an area that the CIA psywar division in particular had a lot of interest in).
...
I suspect it has something to do with the leading reference to Project Beta and the compelling power of delusions in the theatre of thought control.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Bu🤠ns on March 05, 2014, 03:23:47 PM
Quote from: Alty on March 05, 2014, 03:53:11 AM
Yes it does.

I read once that he doesn't really do drafts or preplan his novels. He just sits and types out a few paragraphs, gets up and thinks a bit, sits back down and repeats until the thing is done. No rewrites, really.

I also read an interview when his book The Stupidest Angel came out. It's a Christmas themed book set in the same town as Lustlizard. Definitely worth a read.

His dad was a State Trooper and he said a bad day of work included pulling multiple bodies out of wrecks, so the man had a fairly dark sense of humor. One christmas eve, Moore was 7 or so, he had stayed up waiting for Santa. His dad came home at midnight, saw him peaking though the window, pulled his gun and fired several rounds in the general direction of their roof.

His dad came inside and said, "Santa is dead now. Go to bed."

:lulz:


I really disliked..uh the whale book...Fluke. The ending was very meh. Thought the whale penis attack was pretty choice.

I dunno if he still does it, but he used to respond to every single fan email he got. I sent him one and he replied very, very snarkily and with little patience. But he did reply.

That's very cool!  I'll check out the Xmas themed story closer to the holidays I think.  I like those lustlizard people.  Thanks for the tip
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Sita on March 05, 2014, 03:38:11 PM
Just started reading Ten Days in a Madhouse by Nellie Bly
I've only got to where she's arrived on the island, but it's amazing how easy it was for women to just be thrown to the asylums at that time. And a few (perhaps quite a number) perfectly sane but those around them didn't want to put up with them anymore.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on March 12, 2014, 10:11:35 PM
Because of "True Detective", I finally started reading "The King in Yellow". It's got that old-horror-obviousness-and-kinda-boring-but-some-cool-narrative-ideas thing going on.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Eater of Clowns on March 12, 2014, 10:28:25 PM
I'm slowly working my way through 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami. It was a gift. Giving someone a 1000+ page book by a Japanese author seemed strange to me, but the story is, if not exciting, then at least interesting enough to continue reading.

While at home, I have the Collected Works of Shirley Jackson, specifically reading We Have Always Lived in the Castle. The girl who sent it to me has a tattoo based on the story and she's told me that the few pieces of my own that she's read remind her of Shirley Jackson (Little Lucy Goes to Build-a-Bear, Trivia Notes). From what I've read so far, that is an enormous compliment.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on March 12, 2014, 10:35:15 PM
Quote from: Scilon Agent on March 12, 2014, 10:25:51 PM
Quote from: LMNO, PhD (life continues) on March 12, 2014, 10:11:35 PM
Because of "True Detective", I finally started reading "The King in Yellow". It's got that old-horror-obviousness-and-kinda-boring-but-some-cool-narrative-ideas thing going on.

As with Lovecraft, Poe and other pioneers of the early 'romantic' and later macabre movement what you have to understand is that their intent was different than the modern horror author's intent. They were also some of the early practitioners of the short story as a medium.

In some ways, modern viewers fail to appreciate the artistry involved as even the project of writing itself was such a rare and difficult task at that time what with no electricity, things were still done by oil lighting or maybe, MAYBE by gas light.

So please, have some consideration for the Genre ^_^

As someone who wrote 30 short-form horror stories in 30 days in the spirit of Poe and Lovecraft, you can go shit in your hat.

Did you know you come off preachy and elitist when you post an opinion? Because you do, in case you weren't aware.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Scilon Agent on March 12, 2014, 10:40:11 PM
Did you know you come off preachy and elitist when you post an opinion? Because you do, in case you weren't aware.[/quote]

So what I hear you saying is I sound preachy and elitist in my last post addressing you. And it probably makes you feel talked down to and disrespected. Is that how you felt? I can remember a time when I felt the same way, I was trying to make a poster for work and a co-worker kept chiming in with unwanted advice.

In the future I'll be more careful of how I approach you. Would that be okay?
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on March 12, 2014, 10:41:27 PM
We need a :pledge: emoticon.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Eater of Clowns on March 12, 2014, 10:45:19 PM
Quote from: LMNO, PhD (life continues) on March 12, 2014, 10:41:27 PM
We need a :pledge: emoticon.

We need a link to 30 Days of Eris because I can't seem to find it.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on March 12, 2014, 10:47:05 PM
Something something "Faith" something.

Like Spiders was "Hey Jim"
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Scilon Agent on March 12, 2014, 10:52:46 PM
I have an urge to read one of your 30 stories. Make that happen
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Eater of Clowns on March 12, 2014, 10:54:46 PM
Found it. (http://www.principiadiscordia.com/forum/index.php/topic,24245.0.html)

It'll take some scrolling to get to LMNO's stuff.

Also this is what I'm reading now.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on March 12, 2014, 10:57:29 PM
Thanks, man. Your Google fu is impressive.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Eater of Clowns on March 12, 2014, 11:00:26 PM
Quote from: LMNO, PhD (life continues) on March 12, 2014, 10:57:29 PM
Thanks, man. Your Google fu is impressive.

I remembered it was in Principia Discussion and that I'd replied to it to, so I just scrolled through a few pages of the board, skimming for large topics that I'd replied to.

Your bit starts here. (http://www.principiadiscordia.com/forum/index.php/topic,24245.285.html)
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on March 12, 2014, 11:02:17 PM
Yeah, page 20.


Though, for those of you who want to know where that all came from, reading the first 20 pages will really set the tone.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: The Good Reverend Roger on March 12, 2014, 11:57:34 PM
Quote from: Scilon Agent on March 12, 2014, 10:25:51 PM
Quote from: LMNO, PhD (life continues) on March 12, 2014, 10:11:35 PM
Because of "True Detective", I finally started reading "The King in Yellow". It's got that old-horror-obviousness-and-kinda-boring-but-some-cool-narrative-ideas thing going on.

As with Lovecraft, Poe and other pioneers of the early 'romantic' and later macabre movement what you have to understand is that their intent was different than the modern horror author's intent. They were also some of the early practitioners of the short story as a medium.

In some ways, modern viewers fail to appreciate the artistry involved as even the project of writing itself was such a rare and difficult task at that time what with no electricity, things were still done by oil lighting or maybe, MAYBE by gas light.

So please, have some consideration for the Genre ^_^

:kojak:
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: The Good Reverend Roger on March 12, 2014, 11:58:52 PM
Quote from: Scilon Agent on March 12, 2014, 10:40:11 PM
Did you know you come off preachy and elitist when you post an opinion? Because you do, in case you weren't aware.

So what I hear you saying is I sound preachy and elitist in my last post addressing you. And it probably makes you feel talked down to and disrespected. Is that how you felt? I can remember a time when I felt the same way, I was trying to make a poster for work and a co-worker kept chiming in with unwanted advice.

In the future I'll be more careful of how I approach you. Would that be okay?

You may have noticed that your approach isn't working.  If you are not curious about this, I'll just leave you to it.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on March 17, 2014, 09:04:42 PM
Currently reading The Artist, the Philosopher, and the Warrior: The Intersecting Lives of Da Vinci, Machiavelli, and Borgia and the World They Shaped by Paul Strathern.

The title is a bit oversold, as Da Vinci is, by Strathern's own admission, something of a ghost in this history, whose feelings and ideas can only be inferred, never verified.  Nevertheless, it's an engaging portrait of Renaissance Italy, the scheming and treachery of the Italian city-states and how Cesare Borgia nearly outwitted them all.

It also does a lot to bring Machiavelli's character into a better light.  Although it's well known among scholars of Machiavelli's life and work, his reputation rather overshadows a man known for his quick wit and ribald jokes, his erudition and precision with the written word, than as the arch-philosopher of amoral political power.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Bu🤠ns on March 18, 2014, 12:57:23 AM
Bloodsucking Fiends, A Love Story by christopher moore....again...

I was told this and the sequels are some of his best.


Also that's interesting, Cain, at one point I've wondered if there was more of a non-biased profile of Machiavelli than the one that's mostly sold.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on March 18, 2014, 09:23:02 AM
There's a few out there.  That's one, Machiavelli, Philosopher of Power by Ross King would be another.

He had a pretty rough life, actually.  Not least while he was the Florentine Ambassador to the court of Cesare Borgia.  Strathern recounts from his letters how the city was refusing to pay his expenses, leaving Machiavelli virtually destitute. And, of course, the Medici were not his biggest fans either, once they ended the Republic and seized power again.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Faust on March 18, 2014, 11:02:24 AM
Quote from: Eater of Clowns on March 12, 2014, 10:54:46 PM
Found it. (http://www.principiadiscordia.com/forum/index.php/topic,24245.0.html)

It'll take some scrolling to get to LMNO's stuff.

Also this is what I'm reading now.

We need a better way of organising this stuff, be it it's own page like the book, or a list of links like the reading list.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on March 18, 2014, 11:38:35 AM
Or, I could get off my ass and just publish the damn thing already...
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on March 18, 2014, 02:24:58 PM
Well, the new Pratchett is out in the states.  Should I pause The King In Yellow for now to go for something breezier?
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Faust on March 18, 2014, 03:28:48 PM
Quote from: LMNO, PhD (life continues) on March 18, 2014, 02:24:58 PM
Well, the new Pratchett is out in the states.  Should I pause The King In Yellow for now to go for something breezier?
Maybe I'm a philistine but I think The King in yellow isn't breezy. I'm not enjoying it very much, I only really liked the marble story so far, It's not really as timelessly gripping as lovecrafts writing
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on March 18, 2014, 04:13:01 PM
Exactly. Pratchett would be the breezier.

I put aside the rather-dated-timeless-horror-of-the-19th-century for now.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on March 18, 2014, 04:13:49 PM
True Detective punked out on that angle, anyway.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: The Good Reverend Roger on March 18, 2014, 04:24:44 PM
Quote from: Faust on March 18, 2014, 03:28:48 PM
Quote from: LMNO, PhD (life continues) on March 18, 2014, 02:24:58 PM
Well, the new Pratchett is out in the states.  Should I pause The King In Yellow for now to go for something breezier?
Maybe I'm a philistine but I think The King in yellow isn't breezy. I'm not enjoying it very much, I only really liked the marble story so far, It's not really as timelessly gripping as lovecrafts writing

The King in Yellow sucked a metric ton of ass, in my opinion. 
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on March 18, 2014, 04:25:43 PM
Finishing up "The Psychopath Whisperer", debating whether to start on "The Undiscovered Mind" or "Without Conscience" next.

I wish someone would write a really good overview of personality disorders and the current state of research. I'm thinking more and more that what I'd like to get into is the neurobiology of personality disorders.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Faust on March 18, 2014, 05:01:59 PM
Quote from: LMNO, PhD (life continues) on March 18, 2014, 04:13:49 PM
True Detective punked out on that angle, anyway.

Without derailing too much, I mentioned on crams thread, I disagree, I believe they showed everything they could have without blatantly confirming the existence of supernatural forces. It's just subtle enough that it doesn't take away from the actual horror of the show, which is that of child abuse and murder for absurd or nihilistic reasons. Rusts whole thing is he lost everything in a meaningless tragedy.

Anything more than that and I would have lost interest instantaneously.

All of the references are to Carcosa are to being in a state of mind. They even make light of it by talking about a man with green ears and tentacles for his chin. It would have killed it for me.

They may expand on that in subsequent seasons and confirm it considering the blurb for the next season is along the lines of a pair of female detectives investigate occult links in the United states transport system.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on March 18, 2014, 05:14:23 PM
Yeah.  The killer at the end went down way too hard...that wasn't natural strength, resilience or speed.

And yes, why are people struggling with Carcosa?  That's why I made that post on FB last week, before I even saw the finale.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on March 18, 2014, 05:22:55 PM
We'll probably go in the same circle on this one as we did last time, but i'm guessing that in the end, it was just another buddy-cop police procedural... and the casual misogyny in the scriptwriting that people were trying to defend as a statement piece turned out to be... simply casual misogyny.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: The Good Reverend Roger on March 18, 2014, 05:34:40 PM
Quote from: LMNO, PhD (life continues) on March 18, 2014, 05:22:55 PM
We'll probably go in the same circle on this one as we did last time, but i'm guessing that in the end, it was just another buddy-cop police procedural... and the casual misogyny in the scriptwriting that people were trying to defend as a statement piece turned out to be... simply casual misogyny.

Maybe, just MAYBE, the real King in Yellow writes this drek, to numb our minds and prepare us for whatever horrible food processing the Old Ones prefer.

I'd like a Stars are Right Hotdog™ please!
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on March 18, 2014, 05:36:27 PM
 :lulz:
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on March 18, 2014, 05:37:37 PM
Quote from: LMNO, PhD (life continues) on March 18, 2014, 05:22:55 PM
We'll probably go in the same circle on this one as we did last time, but i'm guessing that in the end, it was just another buddy-cop police procedural... and the casual misogyny in the scriptwriting that people were trying to defend as a statement piece turned out to be... simply casual misogyny.

Well yes.  It was definitely middlebrow entertainment, with some flaws, that people built up into the Best Thing Ever.

But given this, or another series of, lets say, The Mentalist...well, I'd still prefer this.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on March 18, 2014, 05:51:56 PM
"Better than Network TV" just doesn't cut it anymore.

Especially after Orange is the New Black.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on March 18, 2014, 06:35:06 PM
I disagree.  For the genre, it definitely does.  Cop procedural is by far the laziest, painting-by-numbers cliche-ridden mess type of television program in existence currently.

True Detective is certainly not immune to that.  Rust's new-found belief in the power of good and pretty stars was butt-clenchingly horrible, as was the complete lack of explanation as to what was in fact going on with regards to the aristocratic conspiracy and how it interacted with the killer himself, and it reeks of X Files/Lost-esque attempts to keep the viewer engaged by an ever increasing number of unresolvable mysteries.

That said.

Go back to the first three episodes and watch them again.  The cinematography, the dialogue, the character studies of Rust and Hart.  There is definitely something in that which was worthwhile, even if the rest of the series couldn't decide what it wanted to be or how to resolve its outstanding issues (or to engage in them at all).

It's also worth noting that Pizzolatto is still fairly early into a screenwriting career.  This is the first show he wrote by himself, despite his former success as an academic and fiction writer.  Meaning there is definitely room for him to refine and improve what he can offer.  Season One definitely fell short of the hype, but I'm willing to see if he can step up his game, or if he's willing to just sit on his laurels and not bother to do any more for the second season.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Faust on March 18, 2014, 06:41:09 PM
Yeah, same. I'll try not to fanboy kneejerk, but I really liked it.

I wouldn't call it a procedural. It is a buddy cop show but it's long timespan, focussed case and branching family life made each episode quite unexpected to me, it didn't follow the procedure or follow the awful formula of cop shows (or when it did it, it did so in weird ways).

There are only three cop programs I have ever liked. The wire, Twin peaks and this.

It's uneasy tension and pacing and utterly unlikable protagonists made it stand out as very unusual in my mind.

The women are mysoginistic portrayals, they are cheating or vindictive, that's basically all they do. Otherwise they are brutalised or consumed (sexually by the main characters, murdered by the villains).

I'm not sure how much of it is genuine misogyny or pulpy dark themes (there are no nice characters in this and certainly no good people). But if you are going to portray people at their worst why associate women with nothing more than nagging, capricious or vindictive.

It's over hyped, but
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on March 18, 2014, 06:43:08 PM
I have a feeling he started writing it, and then had no idea how to finish it, and just threw tropes at the thing until it was done.

I will agree with you, the first few episodes, and the tracking cam escape from the meth house were all really great.  I probably should have stopped watching at the penultimate episode, and written my own ending.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Faust on March 18, 2014, 06:44:54 PM
Quote from: LMNO, PhD (life continues) on March 18, 2014, 06:43:08 PM
I have a feeling he started writing it, and then had no idea how to finish it, and just threw tropes at the thing until it was done.

I will agree with you, the first few episodes, and the tracking cam escape from the meth house were all really great.  I probably should have stopped watching at the penultimate episode, and written my own ending.

It is also only the end of the first season, Rust and Mart are gone but the next season is currently canvassing for two female detective leads an wont be set in Louisiana.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on March 18, 2014, 06:55:19 PM
Well, seasons two and three of American Horror Story were complete resets*, so I'm not betting that the story arc will continue.








*and got progressively worse.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Faust on March 18, 2014, 07:08:08 PM
Quote from: LMNO, PhD (life continues) on March 18, 2014, 06:55:19 PM
Well, seasons two and three of American Horror Story were complete resets*, so I'm not betting that the story arc will continue.








*and got progressively worse.

Yeah, different strokes for different folks I suppose. Anyway I've derailed too much of this thread with fanboying about mah tv stories.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: hooplala on March 19, 2014, 11:19:40 AM
Quote from: LMNO, PhD (life continues) on March 18, 2014, 06:55:19 PM
Well, seasons two and three of American Horror Story were complete resets*, so I'm not betting that the story arc will continue.


I actually prefer both seasons 2 and 3 of AHS... Though I thought all 3 seasons fizzled out in the last few episodes.




Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on March 19, 2014, 12:12:34 PM
I thought season 1 was pretty solid, though it may have been because of the new format.

Season two had some creepy as fuck moments, but suffered some drawbacks, such as:
- Adam Levine (though it was nice to see his arm get ripped off)
- What the hell happened to the aliens?

Season three was pure camp, with Myrtle Snow killing it all over the place.  But that ending.  Sheesh.
(http://www.paperdroids.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/dontbeahater.gif)
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Sita on March 19, 2014, 01:31:21 PM
Season 2 was the best so far for me. Myrtle Snow however made the 3rd season, would not have been as enjoyable without that character.

I agree that the endings do feel a bit rushed and I hate how there is always a few story threads that seem interesting but go nowhere.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Faust on March 19, 2014, 01:32:37 PM
Is it good, I watched the first three episodes and the acting was awful so I kind of lost interest. Does it pick up?
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on March 19, 2014, 01:49:25 PM
Not for the young witches.  But Jessica Lange and Francis Conroy's scenes are delicious.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Faust on March 19, 2014, 02:14:06 PM
Quote from: LMNO, PhD (life continues) on March 19, 2014, 01:49:25 PM
Not for the young witches.  But Jessica Lange and Francis Conroy's scenes are delicious.
I'll give it another chance at some point so.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Salty on April 17, 2014, 08:35:50 PM
Oil! by Upton Sinclair

Just as with The Jungle, he starts with a smooth flow technical horror and emotional investment. I love the clear way he describes horrible things, and you can see him smirking.

But then he wanders off into Socialist La La land by the end.

It isn't the subject matter, it is the way he presents it. It's just so...cheap. I don't think its age is excuse enough for the hamfisted wayhe shoves his best loved political ideas into his stories like so much spam.

His endings SUCK A CAN OF MEAT.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on April 17, 2014, 11:14:57 PM
Just started "The Undiscovered Mind" and also "The Telltale Brain". There's a book I'm lusting after, "Population Neuroscience", but it's some ridiculous price so eventually I'll probably just do the 7-day download from the library and read it on my tablet.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: ñͤͣ̄ͦ̌̑͗͊͛͂͗ ̸̨̨̣̺̼̣̜͙͈͕̮̊̈́̈͂͛̽͊ͭ̓͆ͅé ̰̓̓́ͯ́́͞ on April 17, 2014, 11:53:36 PM
I'm reading old Novell CNE training manuals from the early 90's.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Eater of Clowns on April 17, 2014, 11:59:50 PM
Quote from: Alty on April 17, 2014, 08:35:50 PM
Oil! by Upton Sinclair

Just as with The Jungle, he starts with a smooth flow technical horror and emotional investment. I love the clear way he describes horrible things, and you can see him smirking.

But then he wanders off into Socialist La La land by the end.

It isn't the subject matter, it is the way he presents it. It's just so...cheap. I don't think its age is excuse enough for the hamfisted wayhe shoves his best loved political ideas into his stories like so much spam.

His endings SUCK A CAN OF MEAT.

Have you seen There Will Be Blood? It was based on Oil! and I've been curious since I first saw it how close an adaptation it is. I really enjoyed the movie.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Salty on April 18, 2014, 08:26:11 AM
Quote from: Eater of Clowns on April 17, 2014, 11:59:50 PM
Quote from: Alty on April 17, 2014, 08:35:50 PM
Oil! by Upton Sinclair

Just as with The Jungle, he starts with a smooth flow technical horror and emotional investment. I love the clear way he describes horrible things, and you can see him smirking.

But then he wanders off into Socialist La La land by the end.

It isn't the subject matter, it is the way he presents it. It's just so...cheap. I don't think its age is excuse enough for the hamfisted wayhe shoves his best loved political ideas into his stories like so much spam.

His endings SUCK A CAN OF MEAT.

Have you seen There Will Be Blood? It was based on Oil! and I've been curious since I first saw it how close an adaptation it is. I really enjoyed the movie.

That is what prompted me to read it. The movie was excellent. They did a good job of taking one idea and ignoring the rest. It was pretty perfect and visually engrossing.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Bu🤠ns on April 18, 2014, 04:24:29 PM
Just finished Daemon by Daniel Suarez where a computer daemon takes over when it scans and finds the original coder's obituary...then it takes over the world.  It was really good, imo.  Some parts are a bit of a stretch...like someone coding this thing was bug free.  there's no such thing as bug free....but I was able to suspend my disbelief because the rest of it was pretty good

Something from the Nightside was also decent...just finished that as well.  It had a bit of a pulp feel but was WAAAAAY better than the first book of The Dresden Files....that bland piece of shit ...I can't believe I finished it.

Now I'm reading Damed by Chuck Palahniuk.  Still not sure about this....it reads a bit like lousy teenage fanfic.  plowing ahead though.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: ñͤͣ̄ͦ̌̑͗͊͛͂͗ ̸̨̨̣̺̼̣̜͙͈͕̮̊̈́̈͂͛̽͊ͭ̓͆ͅé ̰̓̓́ͯ́́͞ on April 18, 2014, 09:40:53 PM
Quote from: Bu☆ns on April 18, 2014, 04:24:29 PM
Just finished Daemon by Daniel Suarez where a computer daemon takes over when it scans and finds the original coder's obituary...then it takes over the world.  It was really good, imo.  Some parts are a bit of a stretch...like someone coding this thing was bug free.  there's no such thing as bug free....but I was able to suspend my disbelief because the rest of it was pretty good

Something from the Nightside was also decent...just finished that as well.  It had a bit of a pulp feel but was WAAAAAY better than the first book of The Dresden Files....that bland piece of shit ...I can't believe I finished it.

Now I'm reading Damed by Chuck Palahniuk.  Still not sure about this....it reads a bit like lousy teenage fanfic.  plowing ahead though.

Think I'm gonna have to check out this Daemon book. Sounds great.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on April 18, 2014, 09:46:28 PM
Daemon is interesting, but essentially posits the way to solve humanity's woes is to SPOILER ALERT:






















turn reality into one giant MMO, with the AI as our benign, neutral overlord.  That's in the sequel, Freedom.  It's a problem with Suarez. He comes up with interesting ideas about hi-tech advancements, warfare and society, but fails on delivering an even slightly believable answer to the problems posed.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: ñͤͣ̄ͦ̌̑͗͊͛͂͗ ̸̨̨̣̺̼̣̜͙͈͕̮̊̈́̈͂͛̽͊ͭ̓͆ͅé ̰̓̓́ͯ́́͞ on April 19, 2014, 08:41:54 PM
Quote from: Cain on April 18, 2014, 09:46:28 PM
Daemon is interesting, but essentially posits the way to solve humanity's woes is to SPOILER ALERT:






















turn reality into one giant MMO, with the AI as our benign, neutral overlord.  That's in the sequel, Freedom.  It's a problem with Suarez. He comes up with interesting ideas about hi-tech advancements, warfare and society, but fails on delivering an even slightly believable answer to the problems posed.

Well, that's disappointing.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Bu🤠ns on April 21, 2014, 03:42:30 AM
Quote from: Cain on April 18, 2014, 09:46:28 PM
Daemon is interesting, but essentially posits the way to solve humanity's woes is to SPOILER ALERT:






















turn reality into one giant MMO, with the AI as our benign, neutral overlord.  That's in the sequel, Freedom.  It's a problem with Suarez. He comes up with interesting ideas about hi-tech advancements, warfare and society, but fails on delivering an even slightly believable answer to the problems posed.
Quote from: Cain on April 18, 2014, 09:46:28 PM
Daemon is interesting, but essentially posits the way to solve humanity's woes is to SPOILER ALERT:






















turn reality into one giant MMO, with the AI as our benign, neutral overlord.  That's in the sequel, Freedom.  It's a problem with Suarez. He comes up with interesting ideas about hi-tech advancements, warfare and society, but fails on delivering an even slightly believable answer to the problems posed.

That's a little different interpretation than what I got from his authors at google lecture. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=deoi50AQEUE)  From what I understood, it was more about speculating about the different ways new technology automation work into our society.  or something. I was working at the time.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: ñͤͣ̄ͦ̌̑͗͊͛͂͗ ̸̨̨̣̺̼̣̜͙͈͕̮̊̈́̈͂͛̽͊ͭ̓͆ͅé ̰̓̓́ͯ́́͞ on April 21, 2014, 05:47:13 AM
Quote from: Bu☆ns on April 21, 2014, 03:42:30 AM
Quote from: Cain on April 18, 2014, 09:46:28 PM
Daemon is interesting, but essentially posits the way to solve humanity's woes is to SPOILER ALERT:






















turn reality into one giant MMO, with the AI as our benign, neutral overlord.  That's in the sequel, Freedom.  It's a problem with Suarez. He comes up with interesting ideas about hi-tech advancements, warfare and society, but fails on delivering an even slightly believable answer to the problems posed.

That's a little different interpretation than what I got from his authors at google lecture. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=deoi50AQEUE)  From what I understood, it was more about speculating about the different ways new technology automation work into our society.  or something. I was working at the time.

I'm still going to check it out (my library surprisingly even has his newest book already). I can see that he's clearly got some interesting takes on technology from that google lecture.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on April 21, 2014, 07:49:04 AM
He does, and he is worth reading on that basis alone.  His book on autonomous drones is also worth checking out.

I'm just saying, don't expect a convincing resolution to the issues posed.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: meed0k on April 21, 2014, 12:48:20 PM
What was the problem with the AI system in Daemon/Freedom?

~~semi spoiler~~







I feel the biggest point was that the AI system took direct feedback from the USERS of the system. Which is technically how 'representatives' are supposed to work anyway, this system would just make that idea actually more viable as human decision makers (usually with degrees in economics, political science, or law) do not really have the skills required for making instant/intelligent decisions regarding feedback from the environment.

Maybe not as over-the-top as in Suarez's books (it was a fiction and a thriller after-all) but AI systems seem like one of the few things that can actually make society work on a large scale.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Bu🤠ns on April 21, 2014, 05:31:32 PM
Quote from: Cain on April 21, 2014, 07:49:04 AM
He does, and he is worth reading on that basis alone.  His book on autonomous drones is also worth checking out.

I'm just saying, don't expect a convincing resolution to the issues posed.

Ah okay--understood
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Junkenstein on April 22, 2014, 08:05:22 AM
Quote from: meed0k on April 21, 2014, 12:48:20 PM
What was the problem with the AI system in Daemon/Freedom?

~~semi spoiler~~







I feel the biggest point was that the AI system took direct feedback from the USERS of the system. Which is technically how 'representatives' are supposed to work anyway, this system would just make that idea actually more viable as human decision makers (usually with degrees in economics, political science, or law) do not really have the skills required for making instant/intelligent decisions regarding feedback from the environment.

Maybe not as over-the-top as in Suarez's books (it was a fiction and a thriller after-all) but AI systems seem like one of the few things that can actually make society work on a large scale.

Why have I got this horrible feeling that someone has basically ripped and expanded on the "Helios" ending from Deus Ex?
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Faust on April 22, 2014, 11:38:54 AM
Quote from: Junkenstein on April 22, 2014, 08:05:22 AM
Quote from: meed0k on April 21, 2014, 12:48:20 PM
What was the problem with the AI system in Daemon/Freedom?

~~semi spoiler~~







I feel the biggest point was that the AI system took direct feedback from the USERS of the system. Which is technically how 'representatives' are supposed to work anyway, this system would just make that idea actually more viable as human decision makers (usually with degrees in economics, political science, or law) do not really have the skills required for making instant/intelligent decisions regarding feedback from the environment.

Maybe not as over-the-top as in Suarez's books (it was a fiction and a thriller after-all) but AI systems seem like one of the few things that can actually make society work on a large scale.

Why have I got this horrible feeling that someone has basically ripped and expanded on the "Helios" ending from Deus Ex?
And the matrix etc.

For an otherwise broken game, invisible war had a great Helios ending: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EF4Y-sxyBiE&t=0m5s
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Junkenstein on April 22, 2014, 11:54:15 AM
There's a disturbingly large part of me that would actually be OK with such a situation.

I would also pay alarming sums to be able to use the Helios voice for various things. Yes. It's probably been written about to death, but the 3(4 really) main AI's in the original DX were excellently written characters. If you're not familiar with them have a look at the "Morpheus" interactions. You won't get that kind of dialogue in many games today.


Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Bu🤠ns on April 23, 2014, 12:24:49 AM
Gave up on Damned.  It just kept feeling like 'forced edgy'.  I felt like Palahniuk used to have something to say but now he doesn't (or at least in this book).  I couldn't finish it.

And i'm glad I couldn't.  I picked up Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency and have been loving the hell out of it from page 1.  I started it Sunday  and am almost done...it's one of those kinds of books.  Like I don't even care how it ends, I still feel like it was time worth spent.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on April 25, 2014, 05:13:54 PM
'bout halfway through "Ghosts From The Nursery". It's depressing. But it was written in the 90's, and I keep wanting to find the authors and ask how they think their ideas hold up in light of the last 20 years.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Rococo Modem Basilisk on April 27, 2014, 03:58:20 AM
I'm about halfway through Memoirs Found in the Bathtub. I was a little surprised that it's absolutely hilarious -- having read Solaris and about half of The Cyberiad (the latter being Lem's supposedly funny book). It's a little like Brazil meets The Prisoner. It has a few sequences where people shout numbers at each other with no explanation -- which I've seen in a couple soviet-era Russian movies but never before in Lem's books (if I recall, it was in the film version of Stalker -- I.E., Strugatsky's Roadside Picnic). Is this a reference to some very popular work, or to something in Soviet law enforcement?
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Reginald Ret on April 28, 2014, 01:16:47 PM
Quote from: meed0k on April 21, 2014, 12:48:20 PM
What was the problem with the AI system in Daemon/Freedom?

~~semi spoiler~~







I feel the biggest point was that the AI system took direct feedback from the USERS of the system. Which is technically how 'representatives' are supposed to work anyway, this system would just make that idea actually more viable as human decision makers (usually with degrees in economics, political science, or law) do not really have the skills required for making instant/intelligent decisions regarding feedback from the environment.

Maybe not as over-the-top as in Suarez's books (it was a fiction and a thriller after-all) but AI systems seem like one of the few things that can actually make society work on a large scale.
Also, it was not AI. Just ridiculously many very simple scripts that could theoretically be made now backed by a billionaire's budget.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on April 28, 2014, 03:31:21 PM
That's true.

And it makes the concept even more implausible.  You know how many online multiplayer games come onto the market perfectly balanced and without any unintended glitches or exploits?  Exactly none.  Shit, my favourite waste of time, Mass Effect 3, had balance changes EVERY SINGLE WEEK over a two year period, in addition to a number of patches.

No-one balance changes the daemon-script thingie.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Reginald Ret on April 28, 2014, 09:10:44 PM
To be fair, The Daemon goes off the rails eventually but at that point most of the questlines are crowdsourced.
I consider the main storyline a fun bit of silly entertainment and kept reading for the small glimpses of how regular people integrated this new paradigm into their normal lives. The simple farming communities that used low-tech highly-engineered techniques to improve their quality of life without raping the environment by using this shadow-economy/culture-thingy without really caring about levelling up or doing lots of quests or anything gamerelated other than using it as a social medium were the coolest thing about the sequel.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on April 29, 2014, 07:11:14 AM
True.

I just think he missed out on an amazing opportunity to show South Korean geeks running rapmant all over the world because someone miscoded the decimal place when it came to the market value for wheat or something.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Reginald Ret on April 29, 2014, 01:22:19 PM
Quote from: Cain on April 29, 2014, 07:11:14 AM
True.

I just think he missed out on an amazing opportunity to show South Korean geeks running rapmant all over the world because someone miscoded the decimal place when it came to the market value for wheat or something.

:lol:
That would have been hilarious!
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Bu🤠ns on April 29, 2014, 02:27:01 PM
Quote from: Cain on April 29, 2014, 07:11:14 AM
True.

I just think he missed out on an amazing opportunity to show South Korean geeks running rapmant all over the world because someone miscoded the decimal place when it came to the market value for wheat or something.

:lulz:

" Mundane details "
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Rococo Modem Basilisk on April 29, 2014, 06:59:49 PM
I haven't read it yet, but -- there are plenty of self-adjusting / self-balancing software ecosystems (since it's just a matter of implementing a feedback loop). You often don't see them in practice only because they typically get gamed immediately after someone figures out how they work.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Bu🤠ns on May 09, 2014, 06:06:50 PM
I just finished Christopher Moore's Practical Demonkeeping. It was pretty good but then I read the reviews.  Apparently a lot of people didn't like this one of his.  I'm not sure why as I tended to prefer it over Love Nun and Bloodsucking Fiends.  Lust Lizard is still my favorite though.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on July 03, 2014, 11:06:27 AM
The Rheusus Chart (http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00FLY3XP4/ref=TE_M1T1DP) has been released today. 

If you're not already reading The Laundry Files series, WAYSA?  It's got everything you need, the British Civil Service, techno-geekery and eldiritch horrors from dimensions with recurved space and backwards time invading our reality.

And if you're still not convinced, you can read the first chapter here (http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/2014/06/the-rhesus-chart-chapter-one.html#rssowlmlink).
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cainad (dec.) on July 03, 2014, 12:32:45 PM
Quote from: Cain on July 03, 2014, 11:06:27 AM
The Rheusus Chart (http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00FLY3XP4/ref=TE_M1T1DP) has been released today. 

If you're not already reading The Laundry Files series, WAYSA?  It's got everything you need, the British Civil Service, techno-geekery and eldiritch horrors from dimensions with recurved space and backwards time invading our reality.

And if you're still not convinced, you can read the first chapter here (http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/2014/06/the-rhesus-chart-chapter-one.html#rssowlmlink).

I barely have time for the reading I'm already trying to do, and then you go and get me interested in this :argh!:
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Bu🤠ns on July 03, 2014, 01:08:22 PM
Quote from: Cain on July 03, 2014, 11:06:27 AM
The Rheusus Chart (http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00FLY3XP4/ref=TE_M1T1DP) has been released today. 

If you're not already reading The Laundry Files series, WAYSA?  It's got everything you need, the British Civil Service, techno-geekery and eldiritch horrors from dimensions with recurved space and backwards time invading our reality.

And if you're still not convinced, you can read the first chapter here (http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/2014/06/the-rhesus-chart-chapter-one.html#rssowlmlink).

This  seems rather interesting.  I will check out the first book in the series.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Bu🤠ns on July 03, 2014, 01:10:28 PM
Currently reading "The Untold History of the United States".  It's not really UNTOLD but...well...I guess maybe in terms of school.  It's not bad...The Pro-JFK comes through a little but all in all I'm able to pick up a bunch of things i missed from studying history--so it's worth it.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on July 03, 2014, 03:11:04 PM
Quote from: Cainad (dec.) on July 03, 2014, 12:32:45 PM
Quote from: Cain on July 03, 2014, 11:06:27 AM
The Rheusus Chart (http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00FLY3XP4/ref=TE_M1T1DP) has been released today. 

If you're not already reading The Laundry Files series, WAYSA?  It's got everything you need, the British Civil Service, techno-geekery and eldiritch horrors from dimensions with recurved space and backwards time invading our reality.

And if you're still not convinced, you can read the first chapter here (http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/2014/06/the-rhesus-chart-chapter-one.html#rssowlmlink).

I barely have time for the reading I'm already trying to do, and then you go and get me interested in this :argh!:

If it makes you feel better, I'm reading this, re-reading The Prince of Nothing trilogy (and Aspect Emperor once I finish that, in ancticipation of The Unholy Consult) and about 60+ feeds to do with military capabilities in SE Asia for a paper.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cainad (dec.) on July 03, 2014, 03:29:00 PM
:lulz: And here I was proud of myself for managing to get back in the habit of reading semi-regularly. I also re-read PoN and have started The Judging Eye again, because I've got a big feeling that The Unholy Consult is gonna be hell to follow if I don't have the plot fresh in my mind.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on July 03, 2014, 03:36:12 PM
I read some of the speculation on the Second Apocalypse forums...and I was lost on the references in many cases.  I think I may have read parts of The White-Luck Warrior too quickly, because I don't remember pieces at all.  So this time I've been taking notes. 

I may start a thread to discuss the bits I've picked out, a sort of scrapbook/book club thing, if anyone else wants to join in.  I've not gotten any amazing insights thus far, though I'm only half way through The Warrior-Prophet, but I did notice Kellhus basically makes a mention of the Judging-Eye even that far back (though not by name).
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cainad (dec.) on July 03, 2014, 03:48:41 PM
Quote from: Cain on July 03, 2014, 03:36:12 PM
I read some of the speculation on the Second Apocalypse forums...and I was lost on the references in many cases.  I think I may have read parts of The White-Luck Warrior too quickly, because I don't remember pieces at all.  So this time I've been taking notes. 

I may start a thread to discuss the bits I've picked out, a sort of scrapbook/book club thing, if anyone else wants to join in.  I've not gotten any amazing insights thus far, though I'm only half way through The Warrior-Prophet, but I did notice Kellhus basically makes a mention of the Judging-Eye even that far back (though not by name).

Oh shit. Three times and that still slipped by me.

There's a lot to be gained from the Atrocity Tales on the website, I recall. There's only one mention of the Inverse Fire I can recall in the first trilogy, and it seems to be central to why the Consult exist. It is explained a little more in one of the Atrocity Tales.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on July 03, 2014, 03:52:13 PM
Also, OMGWTFLOLBBQ VAMPIRES!!1212! 

Remember, Bob Howard.  Silver, fire and decapitation.  Preferably all three.  Trust me, I've killed at least a hundred vampires in Skyrim, and these are the scary mod-improved ones, who are probably similar to eldiritch-abombination created ones.

Actually, I've felt the latest novel was moving a little too quickly, so the twist about a third of the way in wasn't as huge a surprise as it probably could've been.  I'm glad it was there, because I was starting to think "well, this is moving to the end-game pretty fast".  Not much on the Sleeper in the Pyramid or similar thus far, aside from possibly in the first chapter (I suspect that breach was a deliberate probe), but since Mo's been on another wetwork op, we might get something nasty following her home again.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on July 03, 2014, 04:01:26 PM
Quote from: Cainad (dec.) on July 03, 2014, 03:48:41 PM
Quote from: Cain on July 03, 2014, 03:36:12 PM
I read some of the speculation on the Second Apocalypse forums...and I was lost on the references in many cases.  I think I may have read parts of The White-Luck Warrior too quickly, because I don't remember pieces at all.  So this time I've been taking notes. 

I may start a thread to discuss the bits I've picked out, a sort of scrapbook/book club thing, if anyone else wants to join in.  I've not gotten any amazing insights thus far, though I'm only half way through The Warrior-Prophet, but I did notice Kellhus basically makes a mention of the Judging-Eye even that far back (though not by name).

Oh shit. Three times and that still slipped by me.

There's a lot to be gained from the Atrocity Tales on the website, I recall. There's only one mention of the Inverse Fire I can recall in the first trilogy, and it seems to be central to why the Consult exist. It is explained a little more in one of the Atrocity Tales.

I think it was, anyway.  I'm just checking my highlights now...

I can't find it, but I'm pretty sure it was around the part he talked about witnessing, with the soldier :

Quote"Guilt and shame wrack you by day," Kellhus said, "the feeling that you've committed some mortal crime. Nightmares wrack you by night . . . She speaks to you."

The man's nod was almost comical in its desperation. He hadn't, Achamian realized, the nerve for war.

"But why?" he cried. "I mean, how many dead have we seen?"

"But not all seeing," Kellhus replied, "is witness."

"I don't understand . . ."

"Witness is the seeing that testifies, that judges so that it may be judged. You saw, and you judged. A trespass had been committed, an innocent had been murdered. You saw this."

"Yes!" the man hissed. "A little girl. A little girl!"

"And now you suffer."

"But why?" he cried. "Why should I suffer? She's not mine. She was heathen!"

"Everywhere . . . Everywhere we're surrounded by the blessed and the cursed, the sacred and the profane. But our hearts are like hands, they grow callous to the world. And yet, like our hands even the most callous heart will blister if overworked or chafed by something new. For some time we may feel the pinch, but we ignore it because we have so much work to do." Kellhus had looked down into his right hand. Suddenly he balled it into a fist, raised it high. "And then one strike, with a hammer or a sword, and the blister breaks, our heart is torn. And then we suffer, for we feel the ache for the blessed, the sting of the cursed. We no longer see, we witness . . ."

I think it's a strong hint in that direction, at least.

And yeah, I really need to read the Atrocity Tales again. 
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on July 04, 2014, 05:48:23 PM
Just finishing up Hallucinations by Oliver Sacks, and starting Paul Glimcher's Decisions, Uncertainty, and the Brain.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: BadBeast on July 07, 2014, 02:38:38 PM
I've just finished "Skinner" by Neal Asher. (re-read) Man, this is what "Science fiction" is really about. I've always been a bit . . . . . yanno, reluctant (?) to invest my time in "Science fiction", purely because so many people have got away with the most abominable shite under the genre, "Science/speculative fiction"  but this transcends genre in the way that all good fiction does. It's quite a beefy read, but once you get a couple of chapters in, it's effortless, flowing, and easy to digest. And on the re-read, there's a whole other subtext that makes it almost like a completely different book. Asher really knows how to lay a subtext, in the manner of Gene Wolfe (but not so stodgy) and the underlying dynamic (as in all good fiction) is redemption. The thing that makes it stand out from other good fiction is the fact that the redemption in question, is worked into a peripheral character, rather than the main protagonist. It also just opens a whole new set of different questions to each of the main characters.

There are a couple of sequels to this book, but I haven't read them yet. I'm almost reluctant to read them, because I've been too let down (I know, *sobs) by other good first novels, that rapidly descend into a pile of titwank, so if any of you have read the sequels, please let me know whether it's worth risking another shoplifting charge at W.H.Smiths :evil:.     
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Bu🤠ns on July 15, 2014, 02:14:18 PM
Quote from: Bu☆ns on July 03, 2014, 01:08:22 PM
Quote from: Cain on July 03, 2014, 11:06:27 AM
The Rheusus Chart (http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00FLY3XP4/ref=TE_M1T1DP) has been released today. 

If you're not already reading The Laundry Files series, WAYSA?  It's got everything you need, the British Civil Service, techno-geekery and eldiritch horrors from dimensions with recurved space and backwards time invading our reality.

And if you're still not convinced, you can read the first chapter here (http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/2014/06/the-rhesus-chart-chapter-one.html#rssowlmlink).

This  seems rather interesting.  I will check out the first book in the series.

Okay this is fucking WONDERFUL.  It's cheeky too! I was disenchanted with occult detective/horror after reading the first Dresden files but this is just great.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Rococo Modem Basilisk on July 15, 2014, 11:14:17 PM
Quote from: Bu☆ns on July 15, 2014, 02:14:18 PM
Quote from: Bu☆ns on July 03, 2014, 01:08:22 PM
Quote from: Cain on July 03, 2014, 11:06:27 AM
The Rheusus Chart (http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00FLY3XP4/ref=TE_M1T1DP) has been released today. 

If you're not already reading The Laundry Files series, WAYSA?  It's got everything you need, the British Civil Service, techno-geekery and eldiritch horrors from dimensions with recurved space and backwards time invading our reality.

And if you're still not convinced, you can read the first chapter here (http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/2014/06/the-rhesus-chart-chapter-one.html#rssowlmlink).

This  seems rather interesting.  I will check out the first book in the series.

Okay this is fucking Mildly Decent.  It's cheeky too! I was disenchanted with occult detective/horror after reading the first Dresden files but this is just great.
Finished this the other day, and it really did wonders for my disenfranchisement with the series. I've historically liked the Laundry series the least out of Stross's books because it has historically had so much reliance on tired/uninspired techie jokes for humor and because of how repetitive the prose was -- the narrator can make exactly the same lame joke referencing some now out of date technical/nerd thing six times in the same book (mostly about apple, microsoft, or everquest), and the complicated and rewarding plot is the only thing keeping me interested. In this book, he put away the techie humour and basically just make all the shit go down at once in a wonderful clusterfuck, and what gags there were were essentially buried in the plot structurally rather than being quips made by the narrator. It seems like this is more representative of how the rest of the series will go, and that (furthermore) Bob is going to stop being the narrator pretty soon.

I've been reading Dennet's Intuition Pumps and Other Tools for Thinking, which is both useful and entertaining. It feels like a cross between You Are Not So Smart and the BIP, but focused on distinguishing good rhetorical/metaphorical devices (intuition pumps) from shitty ones (boom crutches).
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on August 18, 2014, 10:50:52 AM
Read Assail.  Was bitterly disappointed at the "secret" of the Crimson Guard.  I mean, they were hardly subtle about it.  I'm pretty sure I figured that out the moment I realised that a) Avowed cannot die except by direct decapitation, and b) the Crimson Guard made a Vow, capital letters included.  You don't need a deep understanding of the lore to see how that exactly mirrors the T'lan Imass Vow.

Was also rather disappointed that the 4th Crimson Guard Company got their arses handed to them by just some group of mages, and that Assail is mostly dangerous because it's really, really cold and really hard to get to, rather than, because, say, Forkrul Assail still live there, and the T'lan Imass/Jaghut war/ongoing genocide hasn't apparently heard about the ceasefire on Genabackis.

Not impressed, I'm sorry to say.

Edit: However, Fall of Light should be out come....the end of next year.  Urgh.  That should sate some need for decent Malazan-based novels.  Still, Erikson is a better writer, so long as he keeps the long, omniscient rambling speeches in check.  Which he did with the first book. 

In fact, The Forge of Darkness was pretty damn good full stop.  It did a wonderful job of showing how all of these ancient and mysterious people and powers, the Titse Andii, the Jaghut, the Azathani...were all just people once upon a time as well.  People who lived in cities, schemed against each other and didn't know as much about the world as they thought.  I mean, Anomander Rake, who is a titan of a figure in the main series, he's still recognizably Anomander...but less so. 

Gothos, Hood and Draconus also have some significant roles to play, which is nice to see. 
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on August 18, 2014, 05:52:33 PM
Just finished Decisions, Uncertainty, and the Brain (it was terrible BTW), currently reading Dog Sense, finishing up Silas Marner, and just started American Gods.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Bu🤠ns on August 19, 2014, 12:59:17 PM
I enjoyed American Gods.  It was on to-read list for a while and I finally got around to it last year.  I wasn't disappointed.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on August 19, 2014, 04:18:48 PM
Yeah, I bought it years ago on recommendation, possibly from someone here, and just never got around to it until  my boyfriend was like "WHAT? This has been sitting on your nightstand for how long and you  haven't read it?? It's amazing!"

So far it seems good. I get a lot of book recommendations from people who insist that I will just love something, and after I read it I find myself wondering who they think I am. I'm hoping that doesn't turn out to be the case with this.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on August 19, 2014, 04:31:58 PM
American Gods is very worthwhile.  I don't actually think I've met anyone who has read it and was disappointed, and felt like their time was wasted.

Certainly not on PD, anyway.  I know I got the recommendation to read it from here.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on August 19, 2014, 04:37:01 PM
So far, so good... I am enjoying it. I'll probably take it to the beach today. I do need to finish the last few pages of Silas Marner but I have a feeling I'll cry, so I've been avoiding reading it in public.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on August 19, 2014, 05:41:58 PM
I just went on a small fantasy binge on the Kindle.

Got Brandon Sanderson's Stormlight Archives 2...even though I can barely remember the first book.  That's OK though - Sanderson's a top notch writer, IMO truly underappreciated even after rescuing the trainwreck of a series The Wheel of Time had become.  I'll remember it in time, and if I don't...well, it just means reading more Sanderson.  Which is hardly a terrible thing, as he is such an easy writer to read.

Also picked up Daniel Polansky's Lowtown novel sequels.  The original Lowtown was my kind of story - the fantasy setting was window-dressing for something much closer to noir or a hardboiled detective novel.  If you like Joe Abercrombie, you'll probably like Polansky.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Reginald Ret on August 20, 2014, 07:56:38 PM
Quote from: Cain on August 19, 2014, 05:41:58 PM
I just went on a small fantasy binge on the Kindle.

Got Brandon Sanderson's Stormlight Archives 2...even though I can barely remember the first book.  That's OK though - Sanderson's a top notch writer, IMO truly underappreciated even after rescuing the trainwreck of a series The Wheel of Time had become.  I'll remember it in time, and if I don't...well, it just means reading more Sanderson.  Which is hardly a terrible thing, as he is such an easy writer to read.

Also picked up Daniel Polansky's Lowtown novel sequels.  The original Lowtown was my kind of story - the fantasy setting was window-dressing for something much closer to noir or a hardboiled detective novel.  If you like Joe Abercrombie, you'll probably like Polansky.
Alright, I'll keep an eye out for Polansky then. :D
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on August 20, 2014, 08:06:51 PM
He's worth the time.  No surprises, the author is from Baltimore.  I thought his depiction of slum life was a little bit too accurate to just be a vivid imagination and writing ability.

And his main character, Warden, is like Sam Vimes only without the redeeming features (yet just as strangely endearing for it).  He's definitely not as attached to the rule of law...or not killing people.  I mean, the first novel isn't called "The Straight-Razor Cure" for nothing.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on August 26, 2014, 02:06:38 PM
Attempted reading the second Stormlight Archives book.  Failed miserably, as I could remember almost nothing about the setting or the characters.  So I'm back in the first book, about a quarter of the way in now.  I remembered Kaladin's tale, but not much else.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on September 02, 2014, 03:57:18 PM
OK, finished The Way of Kings, now onto Words of Radiance.

The Way of Kings was well worth the re-read.  IMO Sanderson has excellent prose - I never get bored from reading his books, even when very little is happening.

The first book ends of a hell of a cliffhanger, and the pace has not halted so far in the second book.  One main character has snuffed it thus far, and Sanderson's usual tropes - how history is an imprecise art, no-one sees themselves as evil and what you don't know certainly can get you killed - are rearing their heads once again.

If this series is on a par with his Mistborn books, I'll be satisfied.  But I think they definitely have the potential to be even better.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Bu🤠ns on September 06, 2014, 01:53:37 AM
I had to take a detour after Cram recommended The City & the City by China Miéville.  I'm not reading that book in particular but ended up getting fully absorbed into Kraken by the same author.  This "New Weird" style is really cool and I really enjoy Miéville's style. I haven't enjoyed this kind of genre since John Dies at the End--although it's slightly different. 
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on September 06, 2014, 04:17:36 AM
Finished American Gods & give it a solid "That was pretty OK". I love Gaiman's stories, but the way they're executed -- his writing -- can be intrusive at times, with a few too many cliched phrases that jerk me suddenly out of the story and make me conscious that I'm reading it. He's certainly a better-than-average writer, though. Oddly, I'm also reading George Eliot and although it takes me longer to forget I'm reading with her due to linguistic differences, once I'm in I'm in solid and it takes an external distraction to deport me from the story.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: minuspace on September 07, 2014, 01:50:06 AM
Quote from: Bu☆ns on September 06, 2014, 01:53:37 AM
I had to take a detour after Cram recommended The City & the City by China Miéville.  I'm not reading that book in particular but ended up getting fully absorbed into Kraken by the same author.  This "New Weird" style is really cool and I really enjoy Miéville's style. I haven't enjoyed this kind of genre since John Dies at the End--although it's slightly different.

I like the sound of that, IIRC, John Dies... was toxically twisted :lulz:
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Bu🤠ns on September 07, 2014, 04:31:04 AM
Quote from: LuciferX on September 07, 2014, 01:50:06 AM
Quote from: Bu☆ns on September 06, 2014, 01:53:37 AM
I had to take a detour after Cram recommended The City & the City by China Miéville.  I'm not reading that book in particular but ended up getting fully absorbed into Kraken by the same author.  This "New Weird" style is really cool and I really enjoy Miéville's style. I haven't enjoyed this kind of genre since John Dies at the End--although it's slightly different.

I like the sound of that, IIRC, John Dies... was toxically twisted :lulz:

yeah...i can't wait for his next book.  Just don't see the movie--even after reading the book.  Like do something better with your time like punching yourself in the chubbins
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: minuspace on September 07, 2014, 08:19:42 AM
Quote from: Bu☆ns on September 07, 2014, 04:31:04 AM
Quote from: LuciferX on September 07, 2014, 01:50:06 AM
Quote from: Bu☆ns on September 06, 2014, 01:53:37 AM
I had to take a detour after Cram recommended The City & the City by China Miéville.  I'm not reading that book in particular but ended up getting fully absorbed into Kraken by the same author.  This "New Weird" style is really cool and I really enjoy Miéville's style. I haven't enjoyed this kind of genre since John Dies at the End--although it's slightly different.

I like the sound of that, IIRC, John Dies... was toxically twisted :lulz:

yeah...i can't wait for his next book.  Just don't see the movie--even after reading the book.  Like do something better with your time like punching yourself in the chubbins

Yea...  I watched "Feuchtgebiete" instead.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: EK WAFFLR on September 07, 2014, 01:58:31 PM
Quote from: Cain on September 02, 2014, 03:57:18 PM
OK, finished The Way of Kings, now onto Words of Radiance.

The Way of Kings was well worth the re-read.  IMO Sanderson has excellent prose - I never get bored from reading his books, even when very little is happening.

The first book ends of a hell of a cliffhanger, and the pace has not halted so far in the second book.  One main character has snuffed it thus far, and Sanderson's usual tropes - how history is an imprecise art, no-one sees themselves as evil and what you don't know certainly can get you killed - are rearing their heads once again.

If this series is on a par with his Mistborn books, I'll be satisfied.  But I think they definitely have the potential to be even better.

I've been finding myself not wanting to read the Stormlight Archives stuff, since I'm so find of Mistborn, but now I may have to give them a try.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on September 07, 2014, 02:35:35 PM
In the intro, Sanderson talks about how he's been planning this particular series for years - if not decades.  From the sounds of it, this is the series he always wanted to write.

And it is different enough from Mistborn that one shouldn't detract from the other.  Mistborn had that almost steampunk fantasy-Victorian quality to it...the Stormlight Archive is definitely more in the classic high fantasy genre.

The second book is, so far, surpassing the first.  Obviously, the first was setting the scene, the character and so on, so that is to be expected.  The second is getting a lot more intricate, the plots and intersections between the character are getting quite complex, and I'm fairly sure at least three characters are masquerading under another identity.

Plus, the Stormlight Archive has Wit. 

QuoteThe King's Wit was not a silly court fool such as one might find in other kingdoms. He was a sword, a tool maintained by the king. Insulting others was beneath the dignity of the king, so just as one used gloves when forced to handle something vile, the king retained a Wit so he didn't have to debase himself to the level of rudeness or offensiveness.

QuoteKilling the King's Wit was legal. But by so doing, Sadeas would forfeit his title and lands. Most men found it a poor enough trade not to do it in the open. Of course, if you could assassinate a Wit without anyone knowing it was you, that was something different.

Quote"Brightlord Sadeas," Wit said, taking a sip of wine. "I'm terribly sorry to see you here."
"I should think," Sadeas said dryly, "that you would be happy to see me. I seem always to provide you with such entertainment."
"That is unfortunately true," Wit said.
"Unfortunately?"
"Yes. You see, Sadeas, you make it too easy. An uneducated, half-brained serving boy with a hangover could make mock of you. I am left with no need to exert myself, and your very nature makes mockery of my mockery. And so it is that through sheer stupidity you make me look incompetent."
"Really, Elhokar," Sadeas said. "Must we put up with this...creature?"
"I like him," Elhokar said, smiling. "He makes me laugh."
"At the expense of those who are loyal to you."
"Expense?" Wit cut in. "Sadeas, I don't believe you've ever paid me a sphere. Though no, please, don't offer. I can't take your money, as I know how many others you must pay to get what you wish of them."
Sadeas flushed, but kept his temper.
"A whore joke, Wit? Is that the best you can manage?"
Wit shrugged. "I point out truths when I see them, Brightlord Sadeas. Each man has his place. Mine is to make insults. Yours is to be in-sluts."
Sadeas froze, then grew red-faced.
"You are a fool."
"If the Wit is a fool, then it is a sorry state for men. I shall offer you this, Sadeas. If you can speak, yet say nothing ridiculous, I will leave you alone for the rest of the week."
"Well, I think that shouldn't be too difficult."
"And yet you failed," Wit said, sighing. "For you said 'I think' and I can imagine nothing so ridiculous as the concept of you thinking. What of you, young Prince Renarin? Your father wishes me to leave you alone. Can you speak, yet say nothing ridiculous?"
Eyes turned toward Renarin, who stood just behind his brother. Renarin hesitated, eyes opening wide at the attention. Dalinar grew tense. "Nothing ridiculous," Renarin said slowly.
Wit laughed. "Yes, I suppose that will satisfy me. Very clever. If Brightlord Sadeas should lose control of himself and finally kill me, perhaps you can be King's Wit in my stead. You seem to have the mind for it."

Any society that has publically sanctioned trolling cannot be all bad.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Raz Tech on September 07, 2014, 02:41:43 PM
I have a new unattainable dream job.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: The Good Reverend Roger on September 07, 2014, 05:53:18 PM
Currently finishing David Drake's RCN series.  I have only his 2014 addition yet to read, and it is safely ensconced in my Nook.

Then I have to find something else, unless Eric Flint has gotten off his ass.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Reginald Ret on September 07, 2014, 08:55:07 PM
I may have said this before but both Sanderson and Miéville are great writers.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: EK WAFFLR on September 07, 2014, 09:28:24 PM
Just finished The Shining by Stephen King. It was better than the movie, something I  never thought I would mean, considering I haven't liked King's stuff very much in the past. Currently reading the sequel, Doctor Sleep, which is also good.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on September 10, 2014, 08:00:47 PM
Last night  started Being Wrong by Katherine Schultz, and so far it is excellent. You wouldn't think that a book about wrongness would be LOL-funny, but it is.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: EK WAFFLR on October 23, 2014, 10:46:14 AM
Now reading XTRM by Jan Kallevik. It's about the antifascists who went into the streets of Oslo to rid them of neo-nazis in the 90's. fascinating read.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: The Wizard Joseph on October 23, 2014, 10:47:31 PM
About to begin reading
"Sifting through the madness for the word, the line, the way"
Poetry by a fella named Charles Bukowski.

Recommended by and on loan from friend. He warned me not to read it in a good mood I don't want spoiled. Know nothing about it or the author. Can't wait!
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on October 24, 2014, 03:11:46 AM
Quote from: a somewhat wiser Joe. on October 23, 2014, 10:47:31 PM
About to begin reading
"Sifting through the madness for the word, the line, the way"
Poetry by a fella named Charles Bukowski.

Recommended by and on loan from friend. He warned me not to read it in a good mood I don't want spoiled. Know nothing about it or the author. Can't wait!

Oh my.  :lol:
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on October 24, 2014, 12:54:51 PM
Quote from: Your Mom on October 24, 2014, 03:11:46 AM
Quote from: a somewhat wiser Joe. on October 23, 2014, 10:47:31 PM
About to begin reading
"Sifting through the madness for the word, the line, the way"
Poetry by a fella named Charles Bukowski.

Recommended by and on loan from friend. He warned me not to read it in a good mood I don't want spoiled. Know nothing about it or the author. Can't wait!

Oh my.  :lol:

Doubled.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: The Wizard Joseph on October 26, 2014, 03:38:40 AM
Quote from: LMNO, PhD (life continues) on October 24, 2014, 12:54:51 PM
Quote from: Your Mom on October 24, 2014, 03:11:46 AM
Quote from: a somewhat wiser Joe. on October 23, 2014, 10:47:31 PM
About to begin reading
"Sifting through the madness for the word, the line, the way"
Poetry by a fella named Charles Bukowski.

Recommended by and on loan from friend. He warned me not to read it in a good mood I don't want spoiled. Know nothing about it or the author. Can't wait!

Oh my.  :lol:

Doubled.


When it is truly time,
And if you have been chosen,
It will do it by
Itself and it will keep on doing it
Until you die or it dies in
You.

There is no other way.

And there never was.

So you want to be a writer?
By Charles Bukowsi


I like this Charles Bukowski.

Said in the copyright notice that this work is from an archive of his that he had reserved for publication after his death. Here we go then.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on October 26, 2014, 04:04:33 PM
You go read that Bukowski. You go read it, and you love it.




Bukowski understands you.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: The Wizard Joseph on October 26, 2014, 08:16:18 PM
Hm... maybe I should finish the book before I get cheeky.



But I REALLY thought about getting cheeky just then.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: EK WAFFLR on November 12, 2014, 07:46:53 PM
Going to re-read Secret Agent 666: Aleister Crowley, British Intelligence and the Occult.

I read it once, when it came out.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on November 13, 2014, 02:18:09 AM
I'm still reading Being Wrong, because I got derailed by reading other, more required things.

I'm on page 401 of my 1286 page bio textbook. That's the only one I'm reading straight through cover to cover because my instructor is so shitty, the rest I'm just using for reference. Just finished The Fifth Discipline by Senge. That was some dry-ass corporatese, man, that guy worked in business consulting for WAY too long. Good concepts but dude. About 2/3 done with Organic Chemistry as a Second Language. Started Candide because it's small and doesn't add much weight to my backpack.

Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on November 13, 2014, 07:33:05 AM
Is the Fith Discipline related to the 4th Political Theory (http://4pt.su/) in the sense that it also utilises the Third Way (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_Way)?

I'm reading Jonathan Powell's book on negotiating with terrorists.  Powell is most infamous for being one of Tony Blair's special advisors but, unlike Alistair Campbell, the man has had a successful career in politics before going party political (as a diplomat) and is actually something of an intellectual.  Politically one can still find him disagreeable, but he's far more personable than most SpAds.

Powell was also one of the chief architects of the Good Friday Peace Agreements, and so actually has more than a little bit of expertise in the whole "negotiating with terrorists" deal.  He's remarkably sensible about the whole thing too - it's a wonder he ever survived high office in this country.

Then again, he also wrote a book about Machiavelli, which well could explain how he managed that feat...
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on November 13, 2014, 05:05:52 PM
Quote from: Cain on November 13, 2014, 07:33:05 AM
Is the Fith Discipline related to the 4th Political Theory (http://4pt.su/) in the sense that it also utilises the Third Way (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_Way)?

I'm reading Jonathan Powell's book on negotiating with terrorists.  Powell is most infamous for being one of Tony Blair's special advisors but, unlike Alistair Campbell, the man has had a successful career in politics before going party political (as a diplomat) and is actually something of an intellectual.  Politically one can still find him disagreeable, but he's far more personable than most SpAds.

Powell was also one of the chief architects of the Good Friday Peace Agreements, and so actually has more than a little bit of expertise in the whole "negotiating with terrorists" deal.  He's remarkably sensible about the whole thing too - it's a wonder he ever survived high office in this country.

Then again, he also wrote a book about Machiavelli, which well could explain how he managed that feat...

So many numbers!  :horrormirth: I find that kind of naming system as annoying as the One Woman's Journey approach.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on November 13, 2014, 05:07:00 PM
The Third Way: Both these systems are wrong, so lets combine them and do it some more.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: EK WAFFLR on November 14, 2014, 10:54:03 AM
Isn't Third Way sometyhing like: Both these systems are wrong, so lets combine them and do it some more, Hitler style?
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on November 14, 2014, 11:06:42 AM
Quote from: Sexy St. Nigel on November 13, 2014, 05:05:52 PM
So many numbers!  :horrormirth: I find that kind of naming system as annoying as the One Woman's Journey approach.

Books: One Woman's Journey into 17,000 One Woman's Journeys.

Quote from: Hello Waffles on November 14, 2014, 10:54:03 AM
Isn't Third Way sometyhing like: Both these systems are wrong, so lets combine them and do it some more, Hitler style?

You may be thinking of Third Positionist, which is similar, but not exactly the same.  It's basically left-leaning neoliberalism - capitalism and a welfare state.

Though the 4th Political Theory was invented by a man many see, not unfairly, as as mystical fascist (http://www.academia.edu/1539198/How_to_become_Russia_s_leading_neo-Eurasianist_the_case_of_Alexandr_Dugin).
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: EK WAFFLR on November 14, 2014, 02:55:16 PM
Quote from: Cain on November 14, 2014, 11:06:42 AM
Quote from: Sexy St. Nigel on November 13, 2014, 05:05:52 PM
So many numbers!  :horrormirth: I find that kind of naming system as annoying as the One Woman's Journey approach.

Books: One Woman's Journey into 17,000 One Woman's Journeys.

Quote from: Hello Waffles on November 14, 2014, 10:54:03 AM
Isn't Third Way sometyhing like: Both these systems are wrong, so lets combine them and do it some more, Hitler style?

You may be thinking of Third Positionist, which is similar, but not exactly the same.  It's basically left-leaning neoliberalism - capitalism and a welfare state.

Though the 4th Political Theory was invented by a man many see, not unfairly, as as mystical fascist (http://www.academia.edu/1539198/How_to_become_Russia_s_leading_neo-Eurasianist_the_case_of_Alexandr_Dugin).

Ah yes. My bad. Many years ago I was approached by a CD-r label called Third Positionist Records. I politely declined.

Dugin, he was a posterboy for the AltRight crew a while, wasn't he?
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on November 14, 2014, 03:01:49 PM
I don't know for sure, but having a quick look at their interests, it wouldn't surprise me.  He's also in deep with the European Nouvelle Droit, as you might expect.  Russia, for all its crowing about its anti-fascist history, has one of the largest, most violent and well connected Neo-Nazi undergrounds in the world, and most of their fellow travellers in western Europe look to them for guidance.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: EK WAFFLR on November 14, 2014, 08:59:51 PM
A few of the Russian neo nazis visited Norway last year and performed random acts if violence, and were promptly sent back.

Dugin is also popular among the neo-masculinity people/Jack Donovan groupies. As is Putin, of course.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on December 05, 2014, 08:46:15 AM
I think Roger would really enjoy the book I've been reading recently.

If you have the time, I strongly recommend Andrew Feinstein's The Shadow World: Inside the Global Arms Trade.  If Smedley Butler made the moral case against the arms trade, Feinstein provides the legal one.  Even better, Feinstein also speaks from personal experience - he was formerly an MP in South Africa, working as an economic advisor and anti-corruption official in government, and was one of the most vocal voices in pressing for an investigation into the supremely corrupt South African Arms Deal scandal.

His book deals with his own experience in an almost incidental way, though, which is good.  Because that scandal was just a drop in the ocean when it comes to the corruption of the arms trade, as Feinstein makes abundantly clear.

I'm only about 2/3rds of the way through the book, but there seems to be three main strands thus far.

The first is BAE.  Obviously with BAE, the big one is Al-Yamanah, the massive and ongoing arms deal to Saudi Arabia, marked by so much corruption that when the UK Serious Fraud Office attempted to investigate it, the Saudi government threatened to cut all diplomatic and political ties with the UK, specifically and disturbingly emphasizing counter-terrorism intelligence, in retaliation (yes, Prince Bandar made the threat, and yes, Prince Bandar was the point man for the deal).  Feinstein also has a very worthwhile digression into the life of Prince Bandar and the influence of Saudi lobbying on American arms sales in the 1970s and 80s.

BAE's corruption in the Czech Republic, Hungary and their whole financial structure also get a good look in.  BAE doesn't merely facilitate corruption - it's entire corporate set up is designed to take advantage of and process corruption in the most efficient and difficult to uncover manner, utilising a number of front companies set up in the British Virgin Islands.

The next strand is Merex, the deeply dubious, Nazi-founded, arms supplier to third world dictatorships and warlords.  Merex was, for a while, an American and European intelligence source, but was eventually cut loose due to its disturbing tendency to sell arms to anyone, regardless of ideology.  Like Soviet-leaning nations, for instance.  Merex's representatives also had a fairly common trait of being completely untrustworthy, but the Nazi reputation was of certain benefit in the Middle East, and so the company survived the ire of American and European intelligence.  Merex also played pretty much every side of the Yugoslav breakup, first supplying arms to Croations, then to Bosnian Serbs, then to Bosnian Muslims.  It even provided Radovan Karadžić with a Russian WMD.

Merex's work in Africa also proves a fruitful digression into Liberia, and the nightmare that is Charles Taylor's regime.  Also associated characters, such as Viktor Bout.

Then Feinstein turns his attention to America.  And this section is simply staggering in its detail.  Did you know it's not illegal for a Pentagon official to use their position to get their family members positions within a company whose weapons they may be procuring?  That the Pentagon hasn't been audited in 20 years?  That at one point, the B-1 bomber was going to bring down the entire US military due to its extremely high costs, yet the military was just going to keep on procuring it?  That Robert Gates threatened to eat a General's lunch if he didn't STFU about the F-22?

But yes.  If this sounds at all interesting, to anyone, I definitely recommend.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on December 05, 2014, 04:50:54 PM
I'm reading "Ha!" by Scott Weems and it's really, really good. A quick read, too. If you're interested in the neurobiology of humor, you should read it.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Rococo Modem Basilisk on December 13, 2014, 04:23:46 PM
I finished Starfish by Peter Watts, and I'm almost finished with Behemoth. I was about halfway through that book when I realized that I accidentally transposed the second and third book in the series -- I should have read Maelstrom before Behemoth. Anyhow, Watts produces dense, high-quality, cerebral hard-SF, and I'd recommend anyone with any interest in SF to at least pick up all the books that he's released for free on his site (so, Blindsight and the whole Rifters trilogy) and give them a go -- unless you have a predisposition toward suicidal depression (in which case, maybe stay far away from his site in general).
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on December 13, 2014, 04:37:20 PM
Sounds interesting.  Might read them sometime after Xmas, as I'll actually have free time then.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Prelate Diogenes Shandor on January 08, 2015, 06:46:25 AM
Erratically alternating between Terry Pratchett's The Long Earth, books of Dilbert and Pearls Before Swine comics, and rulebooks from old editions of Dungeons and Dragons

Edit:
Also Wikipedia articles, especially (for the time being) ones on the topics of grammar, particle physics, B-movies, and historical comedic art forms

EDIT:
What I've read so far of The Long Earth seems very good.

EDIT:
Also got some good leads on b-movies to check out from the wikipedia articles. "The Conquerer" and "Caligula" seem especially promising.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on January 08, 2015, 07:08:08 AM
Mostly Ramachandran's "Phantoms in the Brain" interspersed with other stuff about brains and genetics.

I have been promised that by the end of this term I will have the knowledge to make my own phosphorescent pig.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Rococo Modem Basilisk on January 10, 2015, 06:43:02 PM
I recently finished William Gibson's The Peripheral. I think it lived up to the hype.

I also read Stephen Johnson's How We Got to Now, which was certainly worthwhile but was somewhat diminished by the fact that I had somehow managed to read about a quarter of the book in the form of excerpts in magazines already. It's a good book with a great idea -- pick a vague topic and then follow the history properly (thus avoiding lingering on larger than life mythic figures), producing a story about the topic rather than a story about the people who interacted with the topic during a particular period of its development. The book was a little too short for my taste. I look forward to seeing the TV show that goes with the book, as soon as it gets stuck on netflix.

I started Richard Kadrey's Metrophage, but I think I'm going to need to put it down and read something else for a while, because it seems like it's going to require more intense focus to follow than the other things I've been reading.

In the queue, I have:
- Shovel Ready by Adam Sternberg
- The Six-Gun Tarot by R. S. Belcher
- The last three books in the Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya series, by Nagaru Tanigawa -- these three came out in Japan after the first book got published in the United States, and so they are the only ones I haven't read in unofficial translations.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: minuspace on May 01, 2015, 03:10:51 AM
Just nearly finished Flowers For Algernon, taking a break, something's got stuck in my eye. *clears throat*
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: BeaArthurDent on May 03, 2015, 05:04:11 AM
Currently reading Starry Speculative Corpse: Horror of Philosophy Volume 2 by Eugene Thacker. He often references the concept of the world without relation to human ideas or darkness as that beyond human comprehension in a way that reminds me of the concept of Chaos beyond order and disorder.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on May 03, 2015, 11:06:37 PM
Just wanted to say your screen name is awesome.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on May 04, 2015, 04:08:45 PM
Quote from: LMNO, PhD (life continues) on May 03, 2015, 11:06:37 PM
Just wanted to say your screen name is awesome.

Seconded. That's great.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Prelate Diogenes Shandor on May 07, 2015, 03:48:55 AM
Ready Player 1, which is basically a cyberpunk retelling of the golden ticket contest portion of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Vanadium Gryllz on May 07, 2015, 08:54:20 AM
Quote from: Prelate Diogenes Shandor on May 07, 2015, 03:48:55 AM
Ready Player 1, which is basically a cyberpunk retelling of the golden ticket contest portion of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

I really enjoyed that book.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Nephew Twiddleton on May 07, 2015, 02:50:05 PM
Took out my first book from a library in years yesterday. Carl Sagan's Demon-Haunted World. I also ordered Why Evolution Is True, which I'll be taking out today.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Q. G. Pennyworth on June 19, 2015, 05:48:45 PM
So, I know some other folks mentioned upthread they'd read Collapse by Jared Diamond, and this is my second attempt at the dead tree version after doing the audiobook, so who knows if I've mentioned it here before, too, but I fucking love this book. The stories about the vanished civilizations trigger a lot of the feels that visual ruinporn does, and the author does a fantastic job of explaining how a civilization can collapse because of its people's actions without those people being stupid.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Rococo Modem Basilisk on June 19, 2015, 11:01:07 PM
Just finished Seveneves. Stephenson is consistently great, but it's bugging me that every book he's written aside from Zodiac has this huge thematic component of "when is racism OK?", and Seveneves spends 600 pages setting up a premise wherein there are eleven different races of human beings with different cultures and physical features between whom interbreeding is taboo, and then spends the remaining 400 pages setting up the introduction of two more distinct races of humans with distinct cultures and physical features.

I'm now starting on The Cornelius Chronicles, a collection of all 4 of Moorcock's Jerry Cornelius books.

I'm still working my way through the story collection The Weird, edited by Jeff & Ann VanderMeer.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: BeaArthurDent on June 20, 2015, 03:25:08 AM
Quote from: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on May 04, 2015, 04:08:45 PM
Quote from: LMNO, PhD (life continues) on May 03, 2015, 11:06:37 PM
Just wanted to say your screen name is awesome.

Seconded. That's great.

Let me tell you a quick story. A man got got drunk one day and made an account on an internet forum. Made a couple posts and forgot about it. Ages and eons later he had a rough work week, got drunk again and through some fluke of drunk mind-happenings remembered this site he'd went to once or twice. Pulled it up and saw people were kind enough to compliment the screen name he'd made. He then vowed to remember his password somehow and thank them for it. After 15 minutes of frustration he reset the password and started typing this post, got distracted then came back to his computer and started typing again.

Thanks. It was a Steam user name once-upon-a-time.

And to stay on the topic of this thread, I recently started reading "The Chicken Qabalah of Rabbi Lamed Ben Clifford". I don't know why, somebody mentioned it once and I figured I'd give it a read.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on June 20, 2015, 06:23:01 PM
I'm reading "The Mind's Eye" by Oliver Sacks, and a GRE prep book.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on June 20, 2015, 08:17:21 PM
Quote from: Q. G. Pennyworth on June 19, 2015, 05:48:45 PM
So, I know some other folks mentioned upthread they'd read Collapse by Jared Diamond, and this is my second attempt at the dead tree version after doing the audiobook, so who knows if I've mentioned it here before, too, but I fucking love this book. The stories about the vanished civilizations trigger a lot of the feels that visual ruinporn does, and the author does a fantastic job of explaining how a civilization can collapse because of its people's actions without those people being stupid.

It's a good book, though I understand a lot of anthropologists have issues with it.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on June 20, 2015, 09:51:19 PM
Quote from: Cain on June 20, 2015, 08:17:21 PM
Quote from: Q. G. Pennyworth on June 19, 2015, 05:48:45 PM
So, I know some other folks mentioned upthread they'd read Collapse by Jared Diamond, and this is my second attempt at the dead tree version after doing the audiobook, so who knows if I've mentioned it here before, too, but I fucking love this book. The stories about the vanished civilizations trigger a lot of the feels that visual ruinporn does, and the author does a fantastic job of explaining how a civilization can collapse because of its people's actions without those people being stupid.

It's a good book, though I understand a lot of anthropologists have issues with it.

A lot of real scientists of various disciplines have issues with everything Jared Diamond writes. He essentially applies evo psych principles to human history, ie. "if I can make up an explanation that sounds convincing, it's probably true!".
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on June 20, 2015, 09:51:54 PM
But I do hear he's an entertaining read.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Q. G. Pennyworth on June 20, 2015, 10:16:33 PM
Quote from: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on June 20, 2015, 09:51:54 PM
But I do hear he's an entertaining read.

He does a very good job being convincing on his points. Is there something else I should be reading to get a more complete picture of these things? I have a really bad habit on building my whole worldview on one or two sources for a given topic.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on June 20, 2015, 10:35:31 PM
Quote from: Q. G. Pennyworth on June 20, 2015, 10:16:33 PM
Quote from: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on June 20, 2015, 09:51:54 PM
But I do hear he's an entertaining read.

He does a very good job being convincing on his points. Is there something else I should be reading to get a more complete picture of these things? I have a really bad habit on building my whole worldview on one or two sources for a given topic.

I think just being aware of the general academic perspective on his writing would be helpful.

http://www.columbia.edu/~lnp3/mydocs/ecology/JaredDiamond1.htm
http://savageminds.org/2005/07/24/anthropologys-guns-germs-and-steel-problem/
http://www.livinganthropologically.com/anthropology/guns-germs-and-steel/
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/01/30/savaging-primitives-why-jared-diamond-s-the-world-until-yesterday-is-completely-wrong.html
http://louisproyect.org/2009/04/24/jim-blaut-on-jared-diamond/
http://www.npr.org/sections/13.7/2013/01/14/169374400/why-does-jared-diamond-make-anthropologists-so-mad
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on June 21, 2015, 12:37:02 PM
Quote from: BeaArthurDent on June 20, 2015, 03:25:08 AM
Quote from: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on May 04, 2015, 04:08:45 PM
Quote from: LMNO, PhD (life continues) on May 03, 2015, 11:06:37 PM
Just wanted to say your screen name is awesome.

Seconded. That's great.

Let me tell you a quick story. A man got got drunk one day and made an account on an internet forum. Made a couple posts and forgot about it. Ages and eons later he had a rough work week, got drunk again and through some fluke of drunk mind-happenings remembered this site he'd went to once or twice. Pulled it up and saw people were kind enough to compliment the screen name he'd made. He then vowed to remember his password somehow and thank them for it. After 15 minutes of frustration he reset the password and started typing this post, got distracted then came back to his computer and started typing again.

Thanks. It was a Steam user name once-upon-a-time.

And to stay on the topic of this thread, I recently started reading "The Chicken Qabalah of Rabbi Lamed Ben Clifford". I don't know why, somebody mentioned it once and I figured I'd give it a read.

That's a very good nuts-and-bolts introduction to the basics of Qabalah.  it almost makes the whole thing coherent, in it's own special way. As in, it has a stable internal logic, whether or not it connects to reality.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: zarathud the junger on June 22, 2015, 10:34:45 AM
Quote from: Roko's Modern Basilisk on June 19, 2015, 11:01:07 PM

I'm now starting on The Cornelius Chronicles, a collection of all 4 of Moorcock's Jerry Cornelius books.


I collected as many of the Eternal Champion books as I could find but the only JC stuff in that series was a collection of short stories so the main books passed me by. I'd love to hear a review once your done  :) Moorcock at his best is amazing- Dancers at the End of Time & Elric in particular.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Rococo Modem Basilisk on June 22, 2015, 11:40:46 PM
Quote from: zarathud the junger on June 22, 2015, 10:34:45 AM
Quote from: Roko's Modern Basilisk on June 19, 2015, 11:01:07 PM

I'm now starting on The Cornelius Chronicles, a collection of all 4 of Moorcock's Jerry Cornelius books.


I collected as many of the Eternal Champion books as I could find but the only JC stuff in that series was a collection of short stories so the main books passed me by. I'd love to hear a review once your done  :) Moorcock at his best is amazing- Dancers at the End of Time & Elric in particular.

I've seen this particular collection around before. Amazon has it starting at $0.02 used (http://www.amazon.com/Cornelius-Chronicles-Programme-Assassin-Condition/dp/0380008785/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1435012799&sr=1-1&keywords=the+cornelius+chronicles).
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Bu🤠ns on June 23, 2015, 10:23:03 PM
Quote from: LMNO, PhD (life continues) on June 21, 2015, 12:37:02 PM
Quote from: BeaArthurDent on June 20, 2015, 03:25:08 AM
Quote from: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on May 04, 2015, 04:08:45 PM
Quote from: LMNO, PhD (life continues) on May 03, 2015, 11:06:37 PM
Just wanted to say your screen name is awesome.

Seconded. That's great.

Let me tell you a quick story. A man got got drunk one day and made an account on an internet forum. Made a couple posts and forgot about it. Ages and eons later he had a rough work week, got drunk again and through some fluke of drunk mind-happenings remembered this site he'd went to once or twice. Pulled it up and saw people were kind enough to compliment the screen name he'd made. He then vowed to remember his password somehow and thank them for it. After 15 minutes of frustration he reset the password and started typing this post, got distracted then came back to his computer and started typing again.

Thanks. It was a Steam user name once-upon-a-time.

And to stay on the topic of this thread, I recently started reading "The Chicken Qabalah of Rabbi Lamed Ben Clifford". I don't know why, somebody mentioned it once and I figured I'd give it a read.

That's a very good nuts-and-bolts introduction to the basics of Qabalah.  it almost makes the whole thing coherent, in it's own special way. As in, it has a stable internal logic, whether or not it connects to reality.

I imagine that's probably the best you can get with any book of that kind of nature.  Although DuQuette's more lighthearted approach is rather refreshing and preferable, imo.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Freeky on June 27, 2015, 10:37:09 PM
Black Company series by Glen Cook.  Nearly finished.

CAN'T TALK.  MUST READ.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on July 02, 2015, 08:45:19 PM
Quote from: Choppas an' Sluggas on June 27, 2015, 10:37:09 PM
Black Company series by Glen Cook.  Nearly finished.

CAN'T TALK.  MUST READ.

Once you're done with that, you really should read The Malazan Books of the Fallen.  It's the Black Company cranked up to 11.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Freeky on July 02, 2015, 09:28:58 PM
Quote from: Cain on July 02, 2015, 08:45:19 PM
Quote from: Choppas an' Sluggas on June 27, 2015, 10:37:09 PM
Black Company series by Glen Cook.  Nearly finished.

CAN'T TALK.  MUST READ.

Once you're done with that, you really should read The Malazan Books of the Fallen.  It's the Black Company cranked up to 11.

I shall do that as soon as I get to a connection that I don't care about torrenting things over. 
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Bu🤠ns on July 02, 2015, 11:24:18 PM
Perdido Street Station - China China Miéville -- need a break from history and biographies.  I've been working my way down the president line. I last read John Adams but thought i'd take a break at Madison. 

Although, I'm also nearly done with vol 1 of Battlecry of Freedom by James McPhearson. My old man's a civil war buff and I thought it'd be good to get better acquainted for better conversation.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Reginald Ret on July 03, 2015, 09:17:35 AM
Quote from: Bu☆ns on July 02, 2015, 11:24:18 PM
Perdido Street Station - China China Miéville -- need a break from history and biographies.  I've been working my way down the president line. I last read John Adams but thought i'd take a break at Madison. 

Although, I'm also nearly done with vol 1 of Battlecry of Freedom by James McPhearson. My old man's a civil war buff and I thought it'd be good to get better acquainted for better conversation.
Mieville is fantastic, one of my favourite writers.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cainad (dec.) on July 05, 2015, 08:10:48 PM
Quote from: Cain on July 02, 2015, 08:45:19 PM
Quote from: Choppas an' Sluggas on June 27, 2015, 10:37:09 PM
Black Company series by Glen Cook.  Nearly finished.

CAN'T TALK.  MUST READ.

Once you're done with that, you really should read The Malazan Books of the Fallen.  It's the Black Company cranked up to 11.

I never thought of it that way, but it totally is. I suppose the glowing endorsement by Glen Cook on the cover of the Malazan paperbacks should have made me realize that.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on July 05, 2015, 10:15:21 PM
Quote from: Cainad (dec.) on July 05, 2015, 08:10:48 PM
Quote from: Cain on July 02, 2015, 08:45:19 PM
Quote from: Choppas an' Sluggas on June 27, 2015, 10:37:09 PM
Black Company series by Glen Cook.  Nearly finished.

CAN'T TALK.  MUST READ.

Once you're done with that, you really should read The Malazan Books of the Fallen.  It's the Black Company cranked up to 11.

I never thought of it that way, but it totally is. I suppose the glowing endorsement by Glen Cook on the cover of the Malazan paperbacks should have made me realize that.

That and Erikson basically admitting much the same in the intro to Gardens of the Moon.

Alternatively, if you want a "shorter" series, you could always try Joe Abercrombie's First Law trilogy (The Blade Itself, Before They Are Hanged and The Last Argument of Kings).  It's intensely cynical, grim and hilarious as a series, with a pretty decent plot to boot.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on July 06, 2015, 04:16:38 AM
I just started reading a book about thinking styles called "Collaborative Intelligence", and I'm not even a chapter in and can already tell that it's complete bullshit.

So far, the author has talked about her father, a high-powered Chicago CEO who was also completely illiterate and would pay her a quarter to record readings of the documents he had to read every day after school, and also, in the 1970's, spending a semester working in a classroom for special-needs children in Harlem, "many of whom" came to school with rat bites on their cheeks. Even when the rat problem in Harlem reached epidemic proportions in the 1970's, the number of annual rat bites was estimated less than 1000 per year for the entire city of New York, with facial bites making up about ten percent of non-work-related bites but occurring almost entirely in children below the age of five. While she never says what age these allegedly rat-bitten Harlem children were, she does mention that she tested them using written material, which indicates they were of reading age, or at least second grade. The statistical probability that she saw more than one child in a classroom of 40 7+ year olds with facial rat bites in the 1970's is VERY SMALL, let alone that she saw "many".

Her actual theories about attention and learning styles seem equally to be made-up bullshit.

Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on July 06, 2015, 12:29:48 PM
Is that the Dawna Markova one?

I'm instantly suspicious of anyone who puts "Ph.D" on the cover of their book.  That suspicion is reconfirmed when it appears all she does is peddle "self-actualization" bullshit at CEOs.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on July 06, 2015, 03:20:28 PM
Quote from: Cain on July 06, 2015, 12:29:48 PM
Is that the Dawna Markova one?

I'm instantly suspicious of anyone who puts "Ph.D" on the cover of their book.  That suspicion is reconfirmed when it appears all she does is peddle "self-actualization" bullshit at CEOs.

Yep, that's the one. She has all this bullshit about learning that appears to be backed up by nothing but wishful thinking and a sales pitch, and her entire argument for why it's valid seems to be "because lots of people use my method".
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on July 06, 2015, 05:31:36 PM
IIRC, SlateStarCodex did a bit on something like that. I'll see if I can find it.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on July 10, 2015, 12:46:12 AM
Recent reads:

Galverston by Nic Pizzolatto.  It's like a story of cliches, but because Pizzolato a) is very aware of the tropes he is deploying and b) can actually write it doesn't feel that way at all. 

Half a King and Half the World by Joe Abercrombie.  Classic Abercrombie, with bastards, scheming and guile "heroes" galore.  Not set in his First Law universe, and intended for a young adult audience (didn't realise until buying) but still worthwhile if you like his stuff.  Yarvi, the main character, is a more likeable, less crippled Sand dan Glotka, which is never a bad thing.

The Annihilation Score by Charles Stross.  Another Laundry Files novel.  Interestingly, the first one to focus on Mo, aka Agent CANDID rather than Bob Howard.  Seems like the CASE GREEN NIGHTMARE is continuing to build up steam, and as a consequence, reality is starting to get really frayed at the seams.  Includes a team of superheroes, a sentient violin which thirsts for blood, and a marital breakdown.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on July 10, 2015, 08:28:55 PM
I just picked up Cloud Atlas, but have not begun reading it.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on July 10, 2015, 08:42:12 PM
I was wrong; SSC did a series on "Growth Mindset":

...the belief that people who believe ability doesn't matter and only effort determines success are more resilient, skillful, hard-working, perseverant in the face of failure, and better-in-a-bunch-of-other-ways than people who emphasize the importance of ability. Therefore, we can make everyone better off by telling them ability doesn't matter and only hard work does.

Spoiler alert: He doesn't approve.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Reginald Ret on July 10, 2015, 10:05:51 PM
Quote from: LMNO, PhD (life continues) on July 10, 2015, 08:42:12 PM
I was wrong; SSC did a series on "Growth Mindset":

...the belief that people who believe ability doesn't matter and only effort determines success are more resilient, skillful, hard-working, perseverant in the face of failure, and better-in-a-bunch-of-other-ways than people who emphasize the importance of ability. Therefore, we can make everyone better off by telling them ability doesn't matter and only hard work does.

Spoiler alert: He doesn't approve.
Can I just say: False dichotomy.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on July 12, 2015, 10:30:47 PM
Quote from: LMNO, PhD (life continues) on July 10, 2015, 08:42:12 PM
I was wrong; SSC did a series on "Growth Mindset":

...the belief that people who believe ability doesn't matter and only effort determines success are more resilient, skillful, hard-working, perseverant in the face of failure, and better-in-a-bunch-of-other-ways than people who emphasize the importance of ability. Therefore, we can make everyone better off by telling them ability doesn't matter and only hard work does.

Spoiler alert: He doesn't approve.

That's such a gross oversimplification of the performance and cortical processing differences that have been measured in growth vs. fixed mindsets that I'm not even sure what to say. I would have to read his whole article to really refute it, but from  that quote it sounds like he's badly misinterpreting/misrepresenting the actual research into the effect of mindset on learning. Nobody, at least nobody credible in learning & memory research, believes that "only effort determines success" or that "ability doesn't matter".
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on July 13, 2015, 03:53:38 PM
Quote from: Reginald Ret on July 10, 2015, 10:05:51 PM
Quote from: LMNO, PhD (life continues) on July 10, 2015, 08:42:12 PM
I was wrong; SSC did a series on "Growth Mindset":

...the belief that people who believe ability doesn't matter and only effort determines success are more resilient, skillful, hard-working, perseverant in the face of failure, and better-in-a-bunch-of-other-ways than people who emphasize the importance of ability. Therefore, we can make everyone better off by telling them ability doesn't matter and only hard work does.

Spoiler alert: He doesn't approve.
Can I just say: False dichotomy.

I didn't see your post yesterday, but yes. This.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on July 13, 2015, 04:09:15 PM
Quote from: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on July 12, 2015, 10:30:47 PM
Quote from: LMNO, PhD (life continues) on July 10, 2015, 08:42:12 PM
I was wrong; SSC did a series on "Growth Mindset":

...the belief that people who believe ability doesn't matter and only effort determines success are more resilient, skillful, hard-working, perseverant in the face of failure, and better-in-a-bunch-of-other-ways than people who emphasize the importance of ability. Therefore, we can make everyone better off by telling them ability doesn't matter and only hard work does.

Spoiler alert: He doesn't approve.

That's such a gross oversimplification of the performance and cortical processing differences that have been measured in growth vs. fixed mindsets that I'm not even sure what to say. I would have to read his whole article to really refute it, but from  that quote it sounds like he's badly misinterpreting/misrepresenting the actual research into the effect of mindset on learning. Nobody, at least nobody credible in learning & memory research, believes that "only effort determines success" or that "ability doesn't matter".

There's a series of posts on it, fairly thorough from what I can gather.  I don't have enough background on it to make a strong decision either way.

Here's the series.  Posts are fairly long, for blogposts.

http://slatestarcodex.com/2015/04/08/no-clarity-around-growth-mindset-yet/
http://slatestarcodex.com/2015/04/10/i-will-never-have-the-ability-to-clearly-explain-my-beliefs-about-growth-mindset/
http://slatestarcodex.com/2015/04/22/growth-mindset-3-a-pox-on-growth-your-houses/
http://slatestarcodex.com/2015/05/07/growth-mindset-4-growth-of-office/
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on July 15, 2015, 12:08:49 AM
Quote from: LMNO, PhD (life continues) on July 13, 2015, 04:09:15 PM
Quote from: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on July 12, 2015, 10:30:47 PM
Quote from: LMNO, PhD (life continues) on July 10, 2015, 08:42:12 PM
I was wrong; SSC did a series on "Growth Mindset":

...the belief that people who believe ability doesn't matter and only effort determines success are more resilient, skillful, hard-working, perseverant in the face of failure, and better-in-a-bunch-of-other-ways than people who emphasize the importance of ability. Therefore, we can make everyone better off by telling them ability doesn't matter and only hard work does.

Spoiler alert: He doesn't approve.

That's such a gross oversimplification of the performance and cortical processing differences that have been measured in growth vs. fixed mindsets that I'm not even sure what to say. I would have to read his whole article to really refute it, but from  that quote it sounds like he's badly misinterpreting/misrepresenting the actual research into the effect of mindset on learning. Nobody, at least nobody credible in learning & memory research, believes that "only effort determines success" or that "ability doesn't matter".

There's a series of posts on it, fairly thorough from what I can gather.  I don't have enough background on it to make a strong decision either way.

Here's the series.  Posts are fairly long, for blogposts.

http://slatestarcodex.com/2015/04/08/no-clarity-around-growth-mindset-yet/
http://slatestarcodex.com/2015/04/10/i-will-never-have-the-ability-to-clearly-explain-my-beliefs-about-growth-mindset/
http://slatestarcodex.com/2015/04/22/growth-mindset-3-a-pox-on-growth-your-houses/
http://slatestarcodex.com/2015/05/07/growth-mindset-4-growth-of-office/

That is a tremendous amount of writing, and the kernel of it seems to essentially be that if people misunderstand growth mindset research implications in the way that he is presenting, then the consequences could be to blame people for their own failure. He also seems to be saying that some of the results are unspectacular and difficult to interpret. And he's right.

However, what he is objecting to is a misrepresentation. I have a hard time telling whether he really misunderstands the research and implications on the profound level on which he is presenting them, or whether he is hyperbolizing in order to illustrate the potential for misinterpretation. I started formulating a rebuttal, but then noticed that your last link is where one of the researchers already has, which he was kind enough to post on his blog.

I also have to add, in response to one of his commenters, that it annoys the fuck out of me when people say things like "That is a bad study, I can hardly believe it was even published" with zero justification, when the only issue with the study is that the results aren't exactly clear-cut. Ambivalent or negative results don't make a study "bad". Design flaws or falsification make a study "bad". Honest presentation of the actual results is just science. It may be inconclusive science, but it simply acts as a roadmap for others who wish to research the same topic.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on July 15, 2015, 12:25:12 AM
I will say this for Abercrombie - he has a formula, and he sticks with it.  Been reading Best Served Cold by him.

- Horribly crippled protagonist?  Check (after chapter 1).
- Betrayed?  Oh hell yes.
- A bit of a bastard themselves?  Undeniably.
- Reliant on smarts instead of brawn due to aforementioned crippled status?  Check.
- Assembles team of bastards to take revenge?  Check and then some.

Monzcarro "Monza" Murcatto is the captain of the Thousand Swords - a notorious and quite competent mercenary army.  Too competent in fact, an inconvenient fact which leads to her attempted assassination and being thrown off the top of a building.  Her brother is killed as well.  She's saved by an....experimental doctor of sorts, who through months of surgery manages to mostly put her mangled body back together again.  Downsides - walks with a limp, cannot use her right hand, her mercenary army is led by a traitor complicit in the plot to kill her, her former employer is close to winning his war and being crowned King.

Cue epic plan of revenge, involving a possibly autistic and extremely competent killer by the improbable name of Mr Friendly, an arrogant poisoner and his lovely assistant, a former torturer for the Inquisition, a Northman warrior meant to be seeking a better life, and an old drunk by the name of Nicomo Cosca - the former leader of the Thousand Swords until he was betrayed by...Monza.

And that's just the first quarter of the book.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Reginald Ret on July 15, 2015, 10:56:41 PM
Cain, the things you read in books I've read always make me feel like I missed something.
It is motivating.
Not to read like you do, but to read a book again to see if I can see what you see.
If that makes any sense.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on July 16, 2015, 04:00:52 PM
Thanks, but how so?  What have I picked on that you've missed?
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Rococo Modem Basilisk on July 22, 2015, 12:26:32 AM
Finished The Annihilation Score a few weeks ago. It's, in my opinion, the best Laundry books -- for reasons I've elucidated at length in the (http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/2015/07/that-annihilation-score-spoile.html#comment-1974674) spoiler  (http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/2015/07/that-annihilation-score-spoile.html#comment-1974902)thread (http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/2015/07/that-annihilation-score-spoile.html#comment-1975045) and won't paste here.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on July 22, 2015, 12:42:06 AM
Good comments.  It was indeed nice to get outside of Bob's head for once, and see things from another POV, especially with regards to how he has changed over the course of the series.

It was also interesting to see Stross saying that the protagonist for some of the future planned books with be neither Bob or Mo, and that Case Nightmare Green is going to have an....interesting impact on the government's workings.  He did say the Laundry themselves could not undertake a coup, but if there are parallel paranormal branches of the British secret state or even overseas actors like the Black Chamber, they are not bound by the same rules, well... I could forsee a situation where the American paranormal services are sufficiently disturbed by a lack of seriousness on the part of the British government that they take matters into their own hands.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Meunster on August 05, 2015, 05:10:33 AM
(http://acommonreader.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/look-whos-backc.jpg)
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on August 05, 2015, 05:50:14 AM

I just got Churchland's "Braintrust" in the mail, so now I have to decide between that and Ariely's "Predictably Irrational".

BTW if anyone wants a really enjoyable, accessible introduction to the current state of the research in neuroscience, Churchland's "Touching A Nerve" is a good read.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: themanwhocreatedjazz on August 13, 2015, 06:00:03 PM
I recently finished Confessions of an English Opium Eater by Thomas De Quincey, I highly recommend it, along with Humor by Stanley Donwood.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Rococo Modem Basilisk on August 14, 2015, 12:36:49 PM
I'm working my way through the 'Core Sequences', also called From AI to Zombies -- this is the shit they encourage you to read before posting on LessWrong, and it's longer than Lord of the Rings. My complain with it thus far is that it's largely a shitty re-phrasing of stuff about biases that's explained more clearly elsewhere, interleaved with Yudkowsky cheerleading for nu-atheism and going on tangents about his childhood that ultimately don't support his points very well. My other complaint is that he keeps on making up new names for well-known phenomena, and weirdly misinterpreting existing names for existing things. (He has an essay about how 'emergence' doesn't mean anything. He misrepresents phlogiston as this straw-man version of shitty chemistry by pretending that it was much less of a coherent model than it really was. He claims that he has no idea why 'rationalization' is called that, after two essays about writing that looks rational but isn't. All these things sort of conspire to make him seem uninformed and kind of dumb.) Basically, I wouldn't encourage anybody to read it unless they want to understand the terminology used in LW posts; I have several completely different books to recommend if you want to understand the material Yudkowsky thinks he's teaching.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on August 14, 2015, 07:47:24 PM
I think because of LW's general disdain for philosophy, there is a lot of reinventing the wheel that goes on there.  Not to mention Elizier putting forward some questionable or still highly debatable theories as if they were fact.  I'd be interested in seeing what alternatives you recommend.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Rococo Modem Basilisk on August 14, 2015, 09:49:10 PM
Quote from: Cain on August 14, 2015, 07:47:24 PM
I think because of LW's general disdain for philosophy, there is a lot of reinventing the wheel that goes on there.  Not to mention Elizier putting forward some questionable or still highly debatable theories as if they were fact.  I'd be interested in seeing what alternatives you recommend.

Thus far, most of what Yudkowsky has discussed has been covered better in Dennett's Intuition Pumps and in Kahneman's Thinking Fast and Slow. For some of the other stuff (like the Robber's Cave experiment and similar), I've seen better coverage in You are Not So Smart (although I haven't read the *books* -- my understanding is that the books are just selected blog posts, but I don't know if they contain those particular ones). He also covers material that RAW covers better, and material that is better covered by shit in the BIP. There are a handful of things Yudkowsky covers that I haven't seen covered elsewhere (such as the tendency to protect beliefs by arguing against them the same way fights happen in bad kung-fu movies -- by attacking them with one argument at a time and allowing them to heal between battles ;-) ). But, Yudkowsky has a bunch of severe rhetorical problems that really negatively impact how seriously you can take even his best essays.

For one thing, he has a lot of really good advice early on in the sequences about avoiding applause lights and avoiding using examples that fall along political lines, because certain subjects tend to make people think about things from the perspective of supporting their partisan positions rather than questioning themselves. And then he immediately proceeds to fill his essays with references to 9/11 and illustrate his examples with 'this kind of reasoning is almost as stupid as religious people are'. In other words, despite his position that religious people and neoconservatives, were they thinking rationally, would naturally come to the same conclusions as he does, he repeatedly phrases his essays in such a way that those people are discouraged from reading anything else he writes (and encouraged to see him as an arrogant ideologue with pretentions of rationality).

So much of his writing is based on the (naive) assumption that literally everyone who is reading the sequences is already a scientifically trained white male left-libertarian-leaning nu-atheist with poor self-awareness. And he proceeds to call people with those qualities 'enlightened' and 'deeply wise' while making fun of anyone who disagrees with some of his (essentially political) positions. Which means that, basically, even when he's right it's kind of disgusting (and I'm saying this from the position of a white male left-libertarian-leaning agnostic in a STEM field with such poor self-awareness that it's literally been diagnosed as a pathology). I half-expect an essay to be randomly about the superiority of trilbys over all other hats.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Eater of Clowns on August 14, 2015, 10:24:54 PM
:lulz: great closing line
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on August 15, 2015, 03:19:09 AM
Ugh yeah, Yudowsky does tend to treat nu-atheist Silicon Valley libertarianism with more than a dash of transhumanism as a kind of "political default".  Throw in the meta-contrarianism and what is essentially hipster ideological reasoning and it quickly goes beyond trite and into annoying and hypocritical.

I did like Thinking Fast and Slow, but I've not read Intuition Pumps yet.  That will definitely go on the list.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Rococo Modem Basilisk on August 15, 2015, 03:57:26 AM
Of the various things I've read focusing on heuristics, biases, etc., Intuition Pumps is the best.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on August 24, 2015, 06:32:06 AM
So, apparently, all of Brandon Sanderson's books are actually located in the same metaverse.

Ugh.  This means I'm going to have to read them all.  Again.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Prelate Diogenes Shandor on August 25, 2015, 05:34:10 AM
I'm reading The Golem and the Jinni, a novel about two supernatural creatures making their way in early 20th century New York City
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on September 19, 2015, 09:26:25 PM
I read a bunch of books while I was gone, but nothing particularly worth talking about except that they all had threads of "dysfunctional parental relationship" which pushed all sorts of emotional buttons for me and made me do a bunch of introspection about why I tend to be super paranoid about being clingy, and pre-emptively push people away when I get an inkling of possible impending rejection. In short, I tend to start to distance myself as soon as I feel a strong attachment, which sends a mixed signal to the person I am attached to, which generally serves as some kind of sabotage mechanism for the relationship. Basically because my mom rejected me a lot, and played a whole bunch of fucked-up emotional games with me, and so as an adult I am afraid of being vulnerable and showing my emotional needs because I'm conditioned to think that intimacy will come with a price blah blah blah.

I also read Euclid's Window, which was pretty good but disappointing in some ways after reading God's Equation. I really think that all  things considered, if you're going to read a book about the geometry of space, God's Equation is the better book, even though it really doesn't go into string theory at all and Euclid's Window does, albeit in a very unsatisfying way.

Now I'm pondering whether to start Schumm's Deep Down Things, or Churchland's Braintrust.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Bu🤠ns on September 21, 2015, 03:21:10 AM
About to wrap up Mieville's The Scar....in love with this seris so damn much.  I also have a side book called The Worst Hard Time -- about the Dust Bowl with stories by the few remaining survivors who remembered.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Rococo Modem Basilisk on September 23, 2015, 12:34:52 AM
Finished The Unnoticables by Robert Brockway. A lot of interesting ideas in that, and it supported my general position that it is never a waste of time to read a horror novel written by a Cracked columnist. It's about angels -- sort of. It takes the Madoka Magica angle on angels.

About halfway through Ian Banks' Consider Phlebias, which is billed as the first Culture novel but centers almost exclusively around non-Culture-societies and only really has a handful of Culture characters, most of whom appear only once. Maybe Banks expected them to be a bit player for a one-off novel and then later on decided they were the most interesting thing about that universe? I'm looking forward to The Player of Games, since that's billed as the second and seems to actually feature the Culture. (The writing is competent -- not Gibson-level stunning prose, but not PKD-level drudge either -- and what we get to see of the universe is generally interesting; the plot is twisty enough to be interesting too. But it feels like we're not looking at the most interesting thing going on in that universe at that time, which has to be at least the second or third rule of storytelling.)
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on September 23, 2015, 01:05:54 AM
The Player of Games isn't bad at all.  I personally preferred Use Of Weapons, though I did read the series a while ago.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Nast on September 23, 2015, 01:23:40 AM
My favorite Culture story was The State of the Art, because it features the planet Earth and lols were had. Followed by Player of Games, and then Excession. Player of Games of good; I read it twice.

I really like Banks' ideas, but sometimes his writing style gives me a headache.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Da6s on September 25, 2015, 10:09:58 AM
I bought ready player one in the Chicago airport before my flights back from basic. Binged it in 2 days, something that hasn't happened with a book since Snowcrash.

Reading meditations by Marcus Aurelius currently. I had planned to read it in boot (friend had sent me it printed off in a letter), but that didn't really pan out as intended. Also found a nifty website chock-full of public domain books for download in any format your heart desires. Going to make my way through a lot of older stuff on my quest to be moderately well read.

I'll also add an obligatory plug for the foundation series by asimov. Finished it a few months ago, easily secured itself a place in my top 5 of all time. Can't recommend enough.

I tried to finish mists of avalon again, but goddammit do I loathe Guinevere chapters. Can't finish that book . it's more of a feat than cryptonomicon was. Dunno when I'll ever go back to it.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on September 25, 2015, 07:21:37 PM
Quote from: Da6s on September 25, 2015, 10:09:58 AM
I bought ready player one in the Chicago airport before my flights back from basic. Binged it in 2 days, something that hasn't happened with a book since Snowcrash.

Reading meditations by Marcus Aurelius currently. I had planned to read it in boot (friend had sent me it printed off in a letter), but that didn't really pan out as intended. Also found a nifty website chock-full of public domain books for download in any format your heart desires. Going to make my way through a lot of older stuff on my quest to be moderately well read.

I'll also add an obligatory plug for the foundation series by asimov. Finished it a few months ago, easily secured itself a place in my top 5 of all time. Can't recommend enough.

I tried to finish mists of avalon again, but goddammit do I loathe Guinevere chapters. Can't finish that book . it's more of a feat than cryptonomicon was. Dunno when I'll ever go back to it.

I tried to read that once, but it was so boring that I actually died.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on September 27, 2015, 06:07:09 PM
Hey now, writing conventions have changed quite a bit since Marcus Aurelius' time.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Meunster on September 27, 2015, 07:10:25 PM
Im reading more Camus. Call me a pleb but hes one if my favorites.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Da6s on September 28, 2015, 05:57:25 PM
Quote from: Da6s on September 25, 2015, 10:09:58 AM
Also found a nifty website chock-full of public domain books for download in any format your heart desires. Going to make my way through a lot of older stuff on my quest to be moderately well read.

For anyone curious, here's the site mentioned above: http://manybooks.net/authors.php (http://manybooks.net/authors.php)
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on September 28, 2015, 10:42:32 PM
Quote from: Meunster on September 27, 2015, 07:10:25 PM
Im reading more Camus. Call me a pleb but hes one if my favorites.

Camus is pretty dope, even if he can't quite compete with Heidegger, Satre et al when it comes to the theoretical philosophy.

I recommend Kierkegaard next.  Similar ideas, even better writer.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Don Coyote on October 09, 2015, 03:49:51 AM
I'm reading Hammer's Slammers and for some reason I want to punch Jerry Pournelle in the face for his introduction. I'm also reading Piers Plowman. That promises to be an entertaining read.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: minuspace on October 09, 2015, 07:31:30 AM
I finally get to finish The Finders, once the whole real-estate lesson ends, hopefully soon.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Rococo Modem Basilisk on October 09, 2015, 12:58:58 PM
Just read Save the Cat, which is a book on screenwriting by the guy who wrote the screenplay for Blank Check. To be honest, it's really excellent -- it pretty clearly describes the structure you'll find in almost every big mainstream hollywood movie (down to literally how many minutes in certain events happen in order to get the pacing right), and also describes common failures and the ways they negatively impact the story. It's not really applicable to non-feature-length film or stupidly experimental film, but it accurately describes and explains the structure of everything from Alien to The Sandlot .
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: thewake on October 20, 2015, 08:02:33 AM
currently have a few books with markers in them

Coming Apart by Charles Murray
Wealth, Poverty and Politics: An International Perspective by Thomas Sowell
Thus Spoke Zarathustra by Nietzsche
Parliament of Whores by P.J. O'Rourke

as for camus, I can highly recommend his fiction.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: themanwhocreatedjazz on October 20, 2015, 06:07:04 PM
I highly recommend Will Self, especially Shark.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on October 21, 2015, 12:49:28 AM
Microbes
Developmental Biology
Ecology
Selected excerpts from some shit book on thesis writing.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: The Good Reverend Roger on October 21, 2015, 04:19:29 AM
Quote from: thewake on October 20, 2015, 08:02:33 AM
currently have a few books with markers in them

Coming Apart by Charles Murray
Wealth, Poverty and Politics: An International Perspective by Thomas Sowell
Thus Spoke Zarathustra by Nietzsche
Parliament of Whores by P.J. O'Rourke

as for camus, I can highly recommend his fiction.

Charles Murray.  He doesn't like Those People, I gather.

What are your feelings on the subject?
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: thewake on October 22, 2015, 03:51:39 AM
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on October 21, 2015, 04:19:29 AM
Quote from: thewake on October 20, 2015, 08:02:33 AM
currently have a few books with markers in them

Coming Apart by Charles Murray
Wealth, Poverty and Politics: An International Perspective by Thomas Sowell
Thus Spoke Zarathustra by Nietzsche
Parliament of Whores by P.J. O'Rourke

as for camus, I can highly recommend his fiction.

Charles Murray.  He doesn't like Those People, I gather.

What are your feelings on the subject?

Murray's book is interesting. He's decrying the growing gap between the lowest class in American society and the elites. According to his argument, since the 1960s, American culture has lost a type of commonality across all income levels that used to exist. Instead, the elite and the rest of us really do have different cultures, values, ways of life. They live in different zip codes and have quite a bubble built around themselves. He says it's unAmerican, that we're losing (or have lost) something that was a defining part of the USA for a long time.  Basically, we never were a classless society, but we all had commonalities that tied us together across class. Now, he argues, we don't. The lower class has largely declined in religiosity, marriage, employment, civic engagement, trust in their neighbors, etc. I'm not finished with it yet but he hasn't really given any concrete prescriptions for how to "fix" it and explicitly said his primary aim with the book was just to define the problem, but I assume some token effort will be made as always is in these types of books that identify complex problems (real or imagined) in society.

I probably wouldn't have chosen to read the book on my own (it's for a book club) but it's definitely worth it and within my interests that range through economics and social science, political philosophy, and philosophy in general. 
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on October 22, 2015, 01:33:39 PM
Am I reading that right, or is his argument homogeneity as virtue?
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on October 22, 2015, 02:59:32 PM
Quote from: thewake on October 22, 2015, 03:51:39 AM
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on October 21, 2015, 04:19:29 AM
Quote from: thewake on October 20, 2015, 08:02:33 AM
currently have a few books with markers in them

Coming Apart by Charles Murray
Wealth, Poverty and Politics: An International Perspective by Thomas Sowell
Thus Spoke Zarathustra by Nietzsche
Parliament of Whores by P.J. O'Rourke

as for camus, I can highly recommend his fiction.

Charles Murray.  He doesn't like Those People, I gather.

What are your feelings on the subject?

Murray's book is interesting. He's decrying the growing gap between the lowest class in American society and the elites. According to his argument, since the 1960s, American culture has lost a type of commonality across all income levels that used to exist. Instead, the elite and the rest of us really do have different cultures, values, ways of life. They live in different zip codes and have quite a bubble built around themselves. He says it's unAmerican, that we're losing (or have lost) something that was a defining part of the USA for a long time.  Basically, we never were a classless society, but we all had commonalities that tied us together across class. Now, he argues, we don't. The lower class has largely declined in religiosity, marriage, employment, civic engagement, trust in their neighbors, etc. I'm not finished with it yet but he hasn't really given any concrete prescriptions for how to "fix" it and explicitly said his primary aim with the book was just to define the problem, but I assume some token effort will be made as always is in these types of books that identify complex problems (real or imagined) in society.

I probably wouldn't have chosen to read the book on my own (it's for a book club) but it's definitely worth it and within my interests that range through economics and social science, political philosophy, and philosophy in general.

May I offer you a word of caution? In social sciences particularly, do not allow yourself to be wooed by a convincing argument. Just because his explanation of "the problem" is logical and plausible does not mean it's correct, and ironically, people in the social sciences and philosophy are particularly prone to forgetting how extraordinarily susceptible to error explanations derived from behavioral observation are.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: thewake on October 22, 2015, 04:52:51 PM
Quote from: LMNO on October 22, 2015, 01:33:39 PM
Am I reading that right, or is his argument homogeneity as virtue?

In a way, but that's not the main point of the argument. He's mostly trying to get at how the cultures have diverged in a bad way, from his point of view. Most of us can agree these problems he's describing are just that. Problems.

Quote from: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on October 22, 2015, 02:59:32 PM
May I offer you a word of caution? In social sciences particularly, do not allow yourself to be wooed by a convincing argument. Just because his explanation of "the problem" is logical and plausible does not mean it's correct, and ironically, people in the social sciences and philosophy are particularly prone to forgetting how extraordinarily susceptible to error explanations derived from behavioral observation are.

Yes I'm aware of the pitfalls of empirical study in the social sciences. The world is too complex to ever control for every variable, get all the relevant information, etc. Empirical study is useful but shouldn't serve quite the same purpose as in the natural sciences. Especially since we usually can't do controlled experiments and have to rely on observational data and natural experiments.

Not that it wouldn't be fun to do those experiments... ;)
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Prelate Diogenes Shandor on October 29, 2015, 07:07:58 AM
Long-ass encyclopedia articles on things like comb-jellies, nerve-nets and the cambrian explosion.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: themanwhocreatedjazz on November 08, 2015, 01:37:04 PM
I'm not reading, but currently listening to this https://audioboom.com/boos/3721532-an-evening-of-short-stories-with-will-self
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Meunster on November 08, 2015, 09:31:41 PM
Any philosophers that i can listen to for like 30 mintues then pick up later?  Tired of music during my car rides
Thinking that maybe some of the stoics with their bullet point listness would be good.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on November 08, 2015, 10:03:04 PM
Quote from: Meunster on November 08, 2015, 09:31:41 PM
Any philosophers that i can listen to for like 30 mintues then pick up later?  Tired of music during my car rides
Thinking that maybe some of the stoics with their bullet point listness would be good.

If Zizek doesn't have an audio book already, I will eat my Kindle.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Vanadium Gryllz on November 09, 2015, 10:34:37 AM
Quote from: Meunster on November 08, 2015, 09:31:41 PM
Any philosophers that i can listen to for like 30 mintues then pick up later?  Tired of music during my car rides
Thinking that maybe some of the stoics with their bullet point listness would be good.

Not a specific philosopher, but historyofphilosophy.net (History of philosophy without any gaps) has a shedload of short podcasts with each one covering a different philosopher/school of thought starting from the very early Greek philosophers.

Listening while driving is a good idea. I may have to try it out myself on the way to/from work.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on November 09, 2015, 03:06:46 PM
I don't have time to read right now, but last night on the way to the store I found a copy of Spook in a library box. I love Mary Roach.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: EK WAFFLR on November 10, 2015, 09:44:50 PM
I finally started reading Harry Potter.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on November 10, 2015, 11:09:06 PM
I'm so, so sorry.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: sarah on November 10, 2015, 11:12:56 PM
Why Harry Potter?
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: EK WAFFLR on November 15, 2015, 01:11:26 PM
Quote from: LMNO on November 10, 2015, 11:09:06 PM
I'm so, so sorry.

Eh, adverbs notwhitstanding, I quite like it.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: themanwhocreatedjazz on November 15, 2015, 04:04:31 PM
I read a bit of Food of the Gods yesterday and found it pleasantly surprising. I had semi written Terence Mckenna off when he said something like 'UFO's are the human sub-consciousness masquerading in a form not to alarm us.' However I listened to some of him today and he comes across as a lot more intelligent, maybe he was having an off day when he said the UFO bollocks.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on November 15, 2015, 06:17:01 PM
Quote from: themanwhocreatedjazz on November 15, 2015, 04:04:31 PM
I read a bit of Food of the Gods yesterday and found it pleasantly surprising. I had semi written Terence Mckenna off when he said something like 'UFO's are the human sub-consciousness masquerading in a form not to alarm us.' However I listened to some of him today and he comes across as a lot more intelligent, maybe he was having an off day when he said the UFO bollocks.


I don't know, the UFO comment sounds about right to me. It sure as fuck isn't real alien abductions, so it must be some form of explanation people are coming up with for experiences or thoughts they don't know how to recognize or acknowledge for what they are.

Although it COULD be medical anthropologists from the future, here to steal our gut microbes.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on November 15, 2015, 07:37:36 PM
So anal probing mysterious visitors in the night aren't meant to alarm me?

Terrence McKenna has led a fucked up life.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on November 15, 2015, 08:17:37 PM
Quote from: Cain on November 15, 2015, 07:37:36 PM
So anal probing mysterious visitors in the night aren't meant to alarm me?

Terrence McKenna has led a fucked up life.


Hey, one  man's meat, you know?
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Nast on November 15, 2015, 08:20:31 PM
Quote from: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on November 15, 2015, 08:17:37 PM
Quote from: Cain on November 15, 2015, 07:37:36 PM
So anal probing mysterious visitors in the night aren't meant to alarm me?

Terrence McKenna has led a fucked up life.


Hey, one  man's meat, you know?

Or multiple men's meat, if you're into that sort of thing.  :fap:
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on November 15, 2015, 08:25:29 PM
Quote from: Nast on November 15, 2015, 08:20:31 PM
Quote from: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on November 15, 2015, 08:17:37 PM
Quote from: Cain on November 15, 2015, 07:37:36 PM
So anal probing mysterious visitors in the night aren't meant to alarm me?

Terrence McKenna has led a fucked up life.


Hey, one  man's meat, you know?

Or multiple men's meat, if you're into that sort of thing.  :fap:

If we're talking about me, it's all of the above and it ends in tears.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: EK WAFFLR on November 20, 2015, 02:03:09 PM
The Collector Collector by Tibor Fischer.
"To a small flat in South London comes a Sumerian bowl: but the bowl is the Collector Collector, clay with something to say, an object d'art who will offer Rosa, its owner, vast swathes of unrecorded history from the last 5, 000 years. Meanwhile, Rosa tries to centre her life and settle the disturbances caused by an uninvited guest, Nikki. 1001 Nights meets the inner city, The Collector Collector is a comic masterpiece and unquestionably the finest novel ever narrated by a bowl."
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on November 20, 2015, 06:32:37 PM
That sounds quite, uh, literary.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: EK WAFFLR on November 20, 2015, 11:35:47 PM
It's hilarious. The bowl is one of my favourite characters in novels I've read the last few years.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on November 21, 2015, 05:42:54 PM
That's how it starts.  Then you're reading Infinite Jest and anything by Martin Amis.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Rococo Modem Basilisk on November 22, 2015, 03:47:28 PM
Finally finished Consider Phlebas, after a very extended period. My analysis of it stands: as a space opera, really good, but as a Culture novel, not nearly enough Culture in it.

Not sure whether to move on to Player of Games or the third Dune book.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Bu🤠ns on November 23, 2015, 02:37:35 PM
"It's Even Worse than it Looks" Thomas E. Mann and Norman J. Ornstein
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: themanwhocreatedjazz on December 31, 2015, 03:00:59 PM
I recently finished reading Exploits and Opinions of Dr. Faustroll, Pataphysician by Alfred Jarry, which is something I wholeheartedly recommend. I plan on reading Watt by Samuel Beckett next.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on December 31, 2015, 07:57:15 PM
I recently started "Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers", but I haven't gotten nearly as much reading done this break as I thought I would. It's pretty good so far, though.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Brother Mythos on January 03, 2016, 10:06:11 AM
After seeing this thread I realized I haven't read anything of  'literary merit', or 'philosophical', in quite some time, other than the Principia Discordia and related texts, of course. So, I started Notes from the Underground by Dostoyevsky.

Wikipedia states that this book is considered by many to be the first existentialist novel. But, since it's also very short by Dostoyevsky standards, I decided to read it anyway.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Rococo Modem Basilisk on January 11, 2016, 12:10:48 AM
I'm about half-way through Player of Games, and we haven't actually gotten to the planet with the titular games yet. This author really likes to stretch out the beginning of every book.

About half-way through David Wong's Futuristic Weapons and Fancy Suits, which comes off like a slightly more gonzo version of The Peripheral thus far, with some satire over California Ideology folks on top of it.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on January 11, 2016, 11:55:44 PM
Now that the term h as started again, I have no time for reading anything but the plethora of textbooks for my classes. However, the text for Behavioral Endocrinology is pretty interesting.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Vanadium Gryllz on February 05, 2016, 01:40:40 PM
I'm just starting Cosmic Trigger. I don't know what to make of it so far, but then again i'm only a few pages in.

I presume that many of you here have read it - what did you think? Does it still hold up?

It's been quite a long time since I have read anything longer than can be fitted into a comment form or a blog post so just committing to such a read feels a little daunting.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Rococo Modem Basilisk on February 07, 2016, 01:43:49 AM
Cosmic trigger is, in large part, Robert Anton Wilson's autobiography with swollen appendices. It documents what he did and what he was interested in during various points in his life. As a result, it's structurally different from his other nonfiction. (For instance, Cosmic Trigger II and III are basically essay collections, along with a lot of his later work, and Prometheus Rising is structured like a tutorial or textbook.) It generally works, in my opinion. Because it's an early work, it avoids a lot of the repetition that later works engaged in. It also seems to have mostly aged well -- the worst things about it that I can remember are related to treating a couple different academic works (The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind and The Sirius Mystery) with more respect than would even have been afforded them in the early 70s.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Ziegejunge on March 11, 2016, 12:06:20 AM
I recently finished reading Barry Sanders' (the professor, not the football player) Sudden Glory: Laughter as Subversive History.

Link: https://books.google.com/books/about/Sudden_Glory.html?id=w9VZAAAAMAAJ&hl=en (https://books.google.com/books/about/Sudden_Glory.html?id=w9VZAAAAMAAJ&hl=en)

I felt like the following excerpt belonged here, what with the chaos, the disruption of closed systems, and the farting.

(http://i.imgur.com/v10988C.jpg?1)

It's an excellent book that contextualizes laughter from both historical and mythological standpoints, and it contains some great etymology to boot. Highly recommended if you're into that sort of thing.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: DeusExMachina on March 11, 2016, 01:14:15 AM
Flot faulk
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Brother Mythos on March 11, 2016, 06:10:02 AM
Quote from: Ziegejunge on March 11, 2016, 12:06:20 AM
I recently finished reading Barry Sanders' (the professor, not the football player) Sudden Glory: Laughter as Subversive History.

Link: https://books.google.com/books/about/Sudden_Glory.html?id=w9VZAAAAMAAJ&hl=en (https://books.google.com/books/about/Sudden_Glory.html?id=w9VZAAAAMAAJ&hl=en)

I felt like the following excerpt belonged here, what with the chaos, the disruption of closed systems, and the farting.

(http://i.imgur.com/v10988C.jpg?1)

It's an excellent book that contextualizes laughter from both historical and mythological standpoints, and it contains some great etymology to boot. Highly recommended if you're into that sort of thing.

Your book sounds interesting. But, I had no idea what the word 'spirant' meant. So, I looked it up and found this:

n.   See fricative.

adj.   Fricative.

Spirant ... fricative ... thanks, English majors. I mean, why did they stop there? Why didn't they make 'fricate' a verb?
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on March 11, 2016, 09:39:09 PM
I finally got back around to picking up Patricia Churchland's "Braintrust", a treatise on the neurobiological roots of morality. Pretty cool, I love Churchland and her proper, reserved methods or tearing apart bad arguments.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Freeky on March 16, 2016, 05:56:39 AM
The Story of Stuff for my neighbor's college class about sustainability and social justice or something like that.  It's got some good points, some amusing anecdotes, and a lot of fallacies.  Even then, it's a learning opportunity, because I get to look up what kind of fallacy it is. 
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: DeusExMachina on March 17, 2016, 04:08:35 PM
The Tibetan book of the Dead - I was explaining my theory on life after death/life before death and they asked me if I had read it because it was really similar to the book/collection so I thought I should give it a read and I heard a lot about it.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on March 17, 2016, 05:33:43 PM
Continuing my obsession with human error, I picked up "On Being Certain: Believing you are right even when you are not".
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Freeky on March 18, 2016, 01:50:13 AM
Quote from: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on March 17, 2016, 05:33:43 PM
Continuing my obsession with human error, I picked up "On Being Certain: Believing you are right even when you are not".

That sounds pretty interesting.  Is it?
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on March 18, 2016, 03:06:01 AM
Quote from: Choppas an' Sluggas on March 18, 2016, 01:50:13 AM
Quote from: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on March 17, 2016, 05:33:43 PM
Continuing my obsession with human error, I picked up "On Being Certain: Believing you are right even when you are not".

That sounds pretty interesting.  Is it?

So far, so good. I just started it though.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Lenin McCarthy on May 16, 2016, 07:18:15 PM
I've realized I know very little about economics, so now I've just started reading Anwar Shaikh's Capitalism - Competition, Conflict, Crises. It's huge (nearly 1000 pages), but interesting thus far.
Quote from: Introduction, page 14The profit motive is inherently expansionary: investors try to recoup more money than they put in, and if successful, can do it again and again on a larger scale, colliding with others doing the same. Some succeed, some just survive, and some fail altogether. This is real competition, antagonistic by nature and turbulent in operation. It is the central regulating mechanism of capitalism and is as different from so-called perfect competition as war is from ballet.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: minuspace on May 16, 2016, 10:36:33 PM
Quote from: Lenin McCarthy on May 16, 2016, 07:18:15 PM
I've realized I know very little about economics, so now I've just started reading Anwar Shaikh's Capitalism - Competition, Conflict, Crises. It's huge (nearly 1000 pages), but interesting thus far.
Quote from: Introduction, page 14The profit motive is inherently expansionary: investors try to recoup more money than they put in, and if successful, can do it again and again on a larger scale, colliding with others doing the same. Some succeed, some just survive, and some fail altogether. This is real competition, antagonistic by nature and turbulent in operation. It is the central regulating mechanism of capitalism and is as different from so-called perfect competition as war is from ballet.
I really like that metaphor of it being "turbulent in operation".  Because turbulence is inefficient, I would have originally expected that it be designed/engineered out of the system.  In practice, however, I suspect that large corporations can navigate that turbulence with greater ease than the small fish.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Rococo Modem Basilisk on May 17, 2016, 12:37:49 PM
Being a fan of Mind Hacks, I picked up Mind Performance Hacks and its sequel Mindhacker -- both by the pair behind mentatwiki (meaning that there's an overlap here with Moonwalking with Einstein). A lot of the stuff in both is familiar to people who have been paying attention to the intersection of memorysport, GTD/productivity, lateral thinking/creativity games, and behavioral economics -- because the 'hacks' are taken from those domains -- but some of them surprised me by being unfamiliar and others surprised me by being much more nuanced and interesting takes on ideas I had previously dismissed. It helps that one of the authors is involve in board game design: this kind of thinking is at play in how he constructs and explains the hacks, particularly when the hacks are in the form of a game.

I'm about half-way through Dataclysm, which is kind of a series of social science essays by the guy who used to run OKCupid's analytics dept (and their awesome analytics blog), based on mostly OKCupid data but also some samples from twitter, facebook, and competing dating sites. It's interesting in that it supports with hard evidence some things we might believe casually while demolishing other things and adding some nuance; however, the main reason it's interesting is that the author is skilled at statistics, interpreting data, and writing, and manages to do a very good job of explaining how he's pulling insight from data (while explaining ideas like Zipf's law and TFIDF along the way) -- while covering taboo subjects with a great deal of sensitivity. I suspect that I'll end up giving it five stars when I finish.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Ziegejunge on May 18, 2016, 06:37:42 PM
Quote from: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on March 17, 2016, 05:33:43 PM
Continuing my obsession with human error, I picked up "On Being Certain: Believing you are right even when you are not".

This title piqued my curiosity. Once you've finished the book, I hope you'll share your impressions of it! I'm going to add it to my bloated "to-read" list, but if it ends up being a dud I'll remove it.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Brother Mythos on July 28, 2016, 11:28:23 PM
In order to try to understand Acuddle's Moe Philosophy I'm reading Spinoza's The Ethics.

And, in order to try to understand Spinoza's The Ethics, I'm skimming through and reading parts of Beth Lord's Spinoza's Ethics – An Edinburgh Philosophical Guide.

I was surprised to find The Ethics written in the style of a geometry textbook, with formal definitions, axioms, propositions, proofs, corollaries, lemmas, etc. But, once you get used to the style, it's not so bad a read.

I was also surprised to find Spinoza wrote his version of 'The Laws of Motion', at an earlier date than Isaac Newton. It appears 'The Laws of Motion' were a popular subject for philosophers in the 17th century.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Ziegejunge on August 15, 2016, 09:48:04 PM
I'm allllllmost done reading Lewis Hyde's Trickster Makes This World. I did a quick forum search, and I see a reference to this work by Cain. I thought maybe I'd seen a reference to the book here and that's why I picked it up, but it must have been elsewhere.

All I can say is that I wish I had read this book years ago. Not only is its prose beautiful, many of it's themes reinforce my understanding of Discordianism.

...the loser is that person who chooses a single side of a contradiction. The sign of such singlemindedness is contradiction without humor rather that contradiction with a smile. Here it may help to resurrect the old meaning of "humor": the word once referred to fluids (this the bodily "humors") and comes ultimately from a Latin root (umor) having to do with moisture, liquid, dampness. To treat ambivalence with humor is to keep it loose; humor oils the joint where contradictions meet. If humor evaporates, then ambiguity becomes polarized and conflict follows.

Absolutely stellar. Recommended reading for all. My closest friends will probably be getting a copy of this book from me for Christmas this year.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on August 15, 2016, 10:24:10 PM
I'm a bit more than two-thirds through Mary Roach's "Gulp" and it is, like all her books, a fun, quirky, informative read.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cainad (dec.) on August 21, 2016, 03:34:50 PM
I got the book a month ago, but I'm digging into R Scott Bakker's The Great Ordeal in earnest now.

As always, Bakker treads the line between "absurdly overwrought" and "lovingly crafted" writing. I can see a lot of people getting into this series and wanting to smash Bakker's keyboard. I'm a fan.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on August 21, 2016, 05:40:11 PM
I don't know what to read now. I still have five weeks and I feel like I should be using it to read things that are 100% unrelated to science and academia during this brief window when I CAN. But what would those things even be?
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: trix on August 22, 2016, 07:14:47 AM
Quote from: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on August 21, 2016, 05:40:11 PM
I don't know what to read now. I still have five weeks and I feel like I should be using it to read things that are 100% unrelated to science and academia during this brief window when I CAN. But what would those things even be?

I recommend The Black Company series by Glen Cook.

To everyone.  All the time.

Until they beg me to stop.

Pure entertainment though, in contrast to much of the... heavier stuff ITT.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on August 22, 2016, 09:20:59 AM
Quote from: Ziegejunge on August 15, 2016, 09:48:04 PM
I'm allllllmost done reading Lewis Hyde's Trickster Makes This World. I did a quick forum search, and I see a reference to this work by Cain. I thought maybe I'd seen a reference to the book here and that's why I picked it up, but it must have been elsewhere.

All I can say is that I wish I had read this book years ago. Not only is its prose beautiful, many of it's themes reinforce my understanding of Discordianism.

...the loser is that person who chooses a single side of a contradiction. The sign of such singlemindedness is contradiction without humor rather that contradiction with a smile. Here it may help to resurrect the old meaning of "humor": the word once referred to fluids (this the bodily "humors") and comes ultimately from a Latin root (umor) having to do with moisture, liquid, dampness. To treat ambivalence with humor is to keep it loose; humor oils the joint where contradictions meet. If humor evaporates, then ambiguity becomes polarized and conflict follows.

Absolutely stellar. Recommended reading for all. My closest friends will probably be getting a copy of this book from me for Christmas this year.

It's a great book.  I think it was actually part of the recommended reading by R U Sirius on his Maybe Logic course on pranks and hoaxes throughout history
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on August 22, 2016, 09:22:10 AM
Quote from: Cainad (dec.) on August 21, 2016, 03:34:50 PM
I got the book a month ago, but I'm digging into R Scott Bakker's The Great Ordeal in earnest now.

As always, Bakker treads the line between "absurdly overwrought" and "lovingly crafted" writing. I can see a lot of people getting into this series and wanting to smash Bakker's keyboard. I'm a fan.

I need to get the Kindle version.  I have the hardback, but since I read all the others on the Kindle, it feels...wrong.  I can't highlight things or compare notes easily.

That said, eating Sranc was a fucking terrible idea.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on August 22, 2016, 09:24:18 AM
Quote from: trix on August 22, 2016, 07:14:47 AM
Quote from: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on August 21, 2016, 05:40:11 PM
I don't know what to read now. I still have five weeks and I feel like I should be using it to read things that are 100% unrelated to science and academia during this brief window when I CAN. But what would those things even be?

I recommend The Black Company series by Glen Cook.

To everyone.  All the time.

Until they beg me to stop.

Pure entertainment though, in contrast to much of the... heavier stuff ITT.

If you like The Black Company, you really need to give The Malazan Books of the Fallen a read.  Though it does get somewhat heavy in places (Midnight Tides was clearly penned in the lead up to the Iraq War, and it really shows, and Toll the Hounds is about as depressing a book as you can get)
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on August 22, 2016, 10:27:29 PM
I've been re-reading Joe Abercrombie's First Law trilogy and the First Law world novels.

My personal favourite is without a doubt Best Served Cold, but perhaps his overall best is Red Country.  After deconstructing staple fantasy tropes in some very brutal ways for the previous few books, he finally starts deconstructing his own work.  Nicomo Cosca's mask, as an affable if somewhat unscrupulous and completely untrustworthy mercenary finally falls away to reveal what should've been obvious from the very start - that Cosca is a man who would trample over an army of corpses to make money, so long as those corpses were in no position to fight back in the first place.  The Company of the Gracious Hand make the Thousand Swords look like a well behaved, professional outfit by comparison.

A lot of the story seems to be about the tales people tell themselves to justify their own cruelty.  Papa Ring thinks his cruelty and violence is justified because he always keeps his word.  He may employ a small army of thugs, killers and child-snatchers, may use threats against loved ones to make someone throw a bout, but he keeps his word.  Cosca, by contrast, thinks because he acts like he's above it all, and that he is upfront about his dishonesty, treachery and lust for coin, that makes him superior than the "hypocrites" within the Inquisition.  The Dragon People justify their kidnapping on driving out the outlanders and defending their "way of life" (which mostly seems to revolve around kidnapping and brainwashing children in preparation to wage war against the outlanders).

But Best Served Cold...ah, a tale of revenge and betrayal and how, once you start killing people, it's hard to keep it to a set number. 

Quote'Revenge. If you could even get it, what good would it do you? All this expenditure of effort, pain, treasure, blood, for what? Who is ever left better off for it?'  His sad eyes watched her slowly stand. 'Not the avenged dead, certainly. They rot on, regardless. Not those who are avenged upon, of course. Corpses all. And what of the ones who take vengeance, what of them? Do they sleep easier, do you suppose, once they have heaped murder on murder? Sown the bloody seeds of a hundred other retributions?' She circled around, trying to think of some trick to kill him with. 'All those dead men at that bank in Westport, that was your righteous work, I suppose? And the carnage at Cardotti's, a fair and proportionate reply?'
'What had to be done!'
'Ah, what had to be done. The favourite excuse of unexamined evil echoes down the ages and slobbers from your twisted mouth.'  He danced at her, their swords rang together, once, twice. He jabbed, she parried and jabbed back. Each contact sent a jolt of pain up her arm. She ground her teeth together, forced the scowl to stay on her face, but there was no disguising how much it hurt her, or how clumsy she was with it. If she'd had small chances with her left, she had none at all with her right, and he knew it already.
'Why the Fates chose you for saving I will never guess, but you should have thanked it kindly and slunk away into obscurity. Let us not pretend you and your brother did not deserve precisely what you received.'
'Fuck yourself! I didn't deserve that!' But even as she said it, she had to wonder. 'My brother didn't!'
Ganmark snorted. 'No one is quicker to forgive a handsome man than I, but your brother was a vindictive coward. A charming, greedy, ruthless, spineless parasite. A man of the very lowest character imaginable. The only thing that lifted him from utter worthlessness, and utter inconsequence, was you.' He sprang at her with lethal speed and she reeled away, fell against a cherry tree with a grunt and stumbled back through the shower of white blossom. He could surely have spitted her but he stayed still as a statue, sword at the ready, smiling faintly as he watched her thrash her way clear.
'And let us face the facts, General Murcatto. You, for all your undeniable talents, have hardly been a paragon of virtue. Why, there must be a hundred thousand people with just reasons to fling your hated carcass from that terrace!'
'Not Orso. Not him!' She came low, jabbing sloppily at his hips, wincing as he flicked her sword aside and jarred the grip in her twisted palm.
'If that's a joke, it's not a funny one. Quibble with the judge, when the sentence is self-evidently more than righteous?' He placed his feet with all the watchful care of an artist applying paint to a canvas, steering her back onto the cobbles. 'How many deaths have you had a hand in? How much destruction? You are a bandit! A glorified profiteer! You are a maggot grown fat on the rotting corpse of Styria!'

That said, Monza, like Glotka, like Caul Shivers, like Logen Ninefingers (when he's not caught up in the battle frenzy) and like a few other characters, isn't anywhere near as dark as she makes out, or her reputation suggests:

QuoteYou could forget about revenge. You could compromise. You could . . . be merciful.'
'Mercy and cowardice are the same,' she growled, narrow eyes fixed on the black gate at the far end of the blasted gardens.
Cosca gave a sad smile. 'Are they indeed?'
'Conscience is an excuse not to do what needs doing.'
'I see.'
'No use weeping about it. That's how the world is.'
'Ah.'
'The good get nothing extra. When they die they turn to shit like the rest of us. You have to keep your eyes ahead, always ahead, fight one battle at a time. You can't hesitate, no matter the costs, no matter the—'
'Do you know why I always loved you, Monza?'
'Eh?' Her eyes flickered to him, surprised.
'Even after you betrayed me? More, after you betrayed me?' Cosca leaned slowly towards her. 'Because I know you don't really believe any of that rubbish. Those are the lies you tell yourself so you can live with what you've done. What you've had to do.'
There was a long pause. Then she swallowed as though she was about to puke. 'You always said I had a devil in me.'
'Did I? Well, so do we all.' He waved a hand. 'You're no saint, that much we know. A child of a bloody time. But you're nothing like as dark as you make out.'
'No?'
'I pretend to care for the men, but in truth I don't give a damn whether they live or die. You always did care, but you pretend not to give a damn. I never saw you waste one man's life. And yet they like me better. Hah. There's justice. You always did the right thing by me, Monza. Even when you betrayed me, it was better than I deserved. I've never forgotten that time in Muris, after the siege, when you wouldn't let the slavers have those children. Everyone wanted to take the money. I did. Faithful did. Even Benna. Especially Benna. But not you.'
'Only gave you a scratch,' she muttered.
'Don't be modest, you were ready to kill me. These are ruthless times we live in, and in ruthless times, mercy and cowardice are entire opposites. We all turn to shit when we die, Monza, but not all of us are shit while we're alive. Most of us are.' His eyes rolled to heaven. 'God knows I am. But you never were.'
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Q. G. Pennyworth on August 22, 2016, 10:53:28 PM
We got the kids The Time Traveller's Almanac (a short story anthology) and I've been digging through it bit by bit. The following from Adrian Tchaikovsky's "The Mouse Ran Down" stuck out as very relevant:
QuoteThere had indeed been a war. Did we win? The question has no meaning. It was a cold war. Nobody was actually fighting, because that would have been boorish and uneconomic. Instead, competing commercial and ideological interests -- one of them ours -- were spinning the wheels frantically behind the scenes to find a way to beat the others without ever having to fight.
You heard about all sorts, from those who remembered those lost, last years. There were gene bombs and attack memes. There were viral ideas gone feral, adverse mental programming on a vast scale. You didn't know what to believe, they said, and even when you did, you didn't trust your own faith because someone might have slipped it into your drink. It was a strange war. It killed ideas but left people standing. Every day our society was written and rewritten.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Freeky on August 22, 2016, 11:40:06 PM
Quote from: trix on August 22, 2016, 07:14:47 AM
Quote from: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on August 21, 2016, 05:40:11 PM
I don't know what to read now. I still have five weeks and I feel like I should be using it to read things that are 100% unrelated to science and academia during this brief window when I CAN. But what would those things even be?

I recommend The Black Company series by Glen Cook.

To everyone.  All the time.

Until they beg me to stop.

Pure entertainment though, in contrast to much of the... heavier stuff ITT.

I've got the first three compilation books of that series.  I concur, it is good, but there is some depressing/weird/fucked up shit in it, but then it is the chronicles of a mercenary outfit so...
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on August 23, 2016, 03:16:59 AM
Quote from: trix on August 22, 2016, 07:14:47 AM
Quote from: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on August 21, 2016, 05:40:11 PM
I don't know what to read now. I still have five weeks and I feel like I should be using it to read things that are 100% unrelated to science and academia during this brief window when I CAN. But what would those things even be?

I recommend The Black Company series by Glen Cook.

To everyone.  All the time.

Until they beg me to stop.

Pure entertainment though, in contrast to much of the... heavier stuff ITT.

I'll give it an eyeball!

I feel like I should stop buying books and start reading some of the piles I have backed up around here, but...
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cainad (dec.) on August 25, 2016, 04:52:42 AM
Quote from: Cain on August 22, 2016, 09:22:10 AM
Quote from: Cainad (dec.) on August 21, 2016, 03:34:50 PM
I got the book a month ago, but I'm digging into R Scott Bakker's The Great Ordeal in earnest now.

As always, Bakker treads the line between "absurdly overwrought" and "lovingly crafted" writing. I can see a lot of people getting into this series and wanting to smash Bakker's keyboard. I'm a fan.

I need to get the Kindle version.  I have the hardback, but since I read all the others on the Kindle, it feels...wrong.  I can't highlight things or compare notes easily.

That said, eating Sranc was a fucking terrible idea.

:horrormirth:

I am formulating hypotheses. In a world where morality is physics, none of these hypotheses work out well for our heroes.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on August 25, 2016, 12:56:05 PM
Well, at least Sorweel should come out of things OK.  Unless he literally runs into the No-God or goes on to kill Kelhus, that boy's unstoppable.

Or, if the theories are correct at least, he runs into Kelmonas.  The fan theory is that Kel's a narindar of Ajokli, and thus stands outside the sight of the gods, including Yatwer and her White Luck Warrior.  He sacrified that beetle as an offering, a murder done for no other reason than "because". 

Ajokli is the god of tricksters, thieves and assassins...a description that fits Kel to a t.  I also wonder if Ajokli can see the No-God and Consult..."He only seems such [the Fool] because he sees what the others do not see... What you do not see ... The blindness of the sighted".  Which also makes me wonder if there is a link between Ajokli and the Solitary God of the Cishaurim...the reference to the blindness of the sighted, the fact that the Psukhe is undetectable by other magi and even unknown to the Consult, and that the Cishaurim wage war against the followers of the Tusk.  Ajokli, via the nameless narindar in the White Luck Warrior notes that his cult alone is persecuted by the Tusk. 

I'm also somewhat amused by the many parallels one can draw between Ajokli, narindar and our favourite inscrutable trickster god, the Anticipation of Mephala himself, Vivec.  Narindar are holy assassins the gods send, but narindar of Ajokli are ritual assassins for whom the act is holy, and are asked to kill without reference to their own cares.  Of course, Vivec is the Tribunal replacement for Mephala, whom the Morag Tong assassins (and maybe the Dark Brotherhood, if the Night Mother is Mephala.  Of course, one reading of the 36 sermons suggests Vivec is in fact the Night Mother).  Assassins remove the act of emotion from murder, which in turn makes it an act of destruction...and destruction is another form of creation.  Murder and enlightenment, combined.

Incidentally, narindar = narinder = narendra = "lord of men" in Sanskrit.  Just putting that out there. 
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Freeky on August 25, 2016, 11:11:38 PM
Daedric Princes are fucking weird, man.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cainad (dec.) on August 26, 2016, 11:00:00 PM
Quote from: Cain on August 25, 2016, 12:56:05 PM
Well, at least Sorweel should come out of things OK.  Unless he literally runs into the No-God or goes on to kill Kelhus, that boy's unstoppable.

Or, if the theories are correct at least, he runs into Kelmonas.  The fan theory is that Kel's a narindar of Ajokli, and thus stands outside the sight of the gods, including Yatwer and her White Luck Warrior.  He sacrified that beetle as an offering, a murder done for no other reason than "because". 

Ajokli is the god of tricksters, thieves and assassins...a description that fits Kel to a t.  I also wonder if Ajokli can see the No-God and Consult..."He only seems such [the Fool] because he sees what the others do not see... What you do not see ... The blindness of the sighted".  Which also makes me wonder if there is a link between Ajokli and the Solitary God of the Cishaurim...the reference to the blindness of the sighted, the fact that the Psukhe is undetectable by other magi and even unknown to the Consult, and that the Cishaurim wage war against the followers of the Tusk.  Ajokli, via the nameless narindar in the White Luck Warrior notes that his cult alone is persecuted by the Tusk. 

I'm also somewhat amused by the many parallels one can draw between Ajokli, narindar and our favourite inscrutable trickster god, the Anticipation of Mephala himself, Vivec.  Narindar are holy assassins the gods send, but narindar of Ajokli are ritual assassins for whom the act is holy, and are asked to kill without reference to their own cares.  Of course, Vivec is the Tribunal replacement for Mephala, whom the Morag Tong assassins (and maybe the Dark Brotherhood, if the Night Mother is Mephala.  Of course, one reading of the 36 sermons suggests Vivec is in fact the Night Mother).  Assassins remove the act of emotion from murder, which in turn makes it an act of destruction...and destruction is another form of creation.  Murder and enlightenment, combined.

Incidentally, narindar = narinder = narendra = "lord of men" in Sanskrit.  Just putting that out there.

Now THERE'S some food for fucking thought.

The themes of sight and blindness are rampant in this series and especially in this trilogy. Khellus's children are constantly described as having inherited their father's sight to varying degrees. One of them had to be chained up because he could see deeply but lacked the dispassionate conditioning. Minor spoiler: Serwa in The Great Ordeal makes a statement to the effect of "light is our birthright."

The entire Dunyain philosophy revolves around the eponymous Darkness that comes before, and the Logos is the way to be able to "see" the origin of one's own thoughts. Plus, the Probablity Trance.

The Few have their own form of sight, and Mimara's Judging Eye represents a kind of sight that perhaps no other living person possesses, except perhaps Khellus during the Circumfixion. What little we know about Cishaurim sorcery revolves around themes of sight and blindness.

Then there was that guy in the cave, with the heart.

The various asides about how the Nonmen perceive the world comes to mind as well: they can't "see" two-dimensional images, so they sculpt. I forget if it was a character or in one of the pre-chapter quotes, but it's stated that Men fear and hate the darkness because it is ignorance made visible, while the Nonmen see it as holy.

The No-God is, apparently, invisible to Heaven. And, it seems, somehow invisible to itself ("WHAT DO YOU SEE?")

I don't have a real thesis here, but it will surprise me greatly if the conclusion of this series is not somehow related to sight and blindness.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: minuspace on August 27, 2016, 10:03:55 PM
Quote from: Cainad (dec.) on August 26, 2016, 11:00:00 PM
Quote from: Cain on August 25, 2016, 12:56:05 PM
Well, at least Sorweel should come out of things OK.  Unless he literally runs into the No-God or goes on to kill Kelhus, that boy's unstoppable.

Or, if the theories are correct at least, he runs into Kelmonas.  The fan theory is that Kel's a narindar of Ajokli, and thus stands outside the sight of the gods, including Yatwer and her White Luck Warrior.  He sacrified that beetle as an offering, a murder done for no other reason than "because". 

Ajokli is the god of tricksters, thieves and assassins...a description that fits Kel to a t.  I also wonder if Ajokli can see the No-God and Consult..."He only seems such [the Fool] because he sees what the others do not see... What you do not see ... The blindness of the sighted".  Which also makes me wonder if there is a link between Ajokli and the Solitary God of the Cishaurim...the reference to the blindness of the sighted, the fact that the Psukhe is undetectable by other magi and even unknown to the Consult, and that the Cishaurim wage war against the followers of the Tusk.  Ajokli, via the nameless narindar in the White Luck Warrior notes that his cult alone is persecuted by the Tusk. 

I'm also somewhat amused by the many parallels one can draw between Ajokli, narindar and our favourite inscrutable trickster god, the Anticipation of Mephala himself, Vivec.  Narindar are holy assassins the gods send, but narindar of Ajokli are ritual assassins for whom the act is holy, and are asked to kill without reference to their own cares.  Of course, Vivec is the Tribunal replacement for Mephala, whom the Morag Tong assassins (and maybe the Dark Brotherhood, if the Night Mother is Mephala.  Of course, one reading of the 36 sermons suggests Vivec is in fact the Night Mother).  Assassins remove the act of emotion from murder, which in turn makes it an act of destruction...and destruction is another form of creation.  Murder and enlightenment, combined.

Incidentally, narindar = narinder = narendra = "lord of men" in Sanskrit.  Just putting that out there.

Now THERE'S some food for fucking thought.

The themes of sight and blindness are rampant in this series and especially in this trilogy. Khellus's children are constantly described as having inherited their father's sight to varying degrees. One of them had to be chained up because he could see deeply but lacked the dispassionate conditioning. Minor spoiler: Serwa in The Great Ordeal makes a statement to the effect of "light is our birthright."

The entire Dunyain philosophy revolves around the eponymous Darkness that comes before, and the Logos is the way to be able to "see" the origin of one's own thoughts. Plus, the Probablity Trance.

The Few have their own form of sight, and Mimara's Judging Eye represents a kind of sight that perhaps no other living person possesses, except perhaps Khellus during the Circumfixion. What little we know about Cishaurim sorcery revolves around themes of sight and blindness.

Then there was that guy in the cave, with the heart.

The various asides about how the Nonmen perceive the world comes to mind as well: they can't "see" two-dimensional images, so they sculpt. I forget if it was a character or in one of the pre-chapter quotes, but it's stated that Men fear and hate the darkness because it is ignorance made visible, while the Nonmen see it as holy.

The No-God is, apparently, invisible to Heaven. And, it seems, somehow invisible to itself ("WHAT DO YOU SEE?")

I don't have a real thesis here, but it will surprise me greatly if the conclusion of this series is not somehow related to sight and blindness.

Lacking all context for the above, let me miopically state how awesome that sounds. :lulz:  "circumfixion" :lulz:
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on August 28, 2016, 01:38:22 AM
Quote from: Cainad (dec.) on August 26, 2016, 11:00:00 PM
Quote from: Cain on August 25, 2016, 12:56:05 PM
Well, at least Sorweel should come out of things OK.  Unless he literally runs into the No-God or goes on to kill Kelhus, that boy's unstoppable.

Or, if the theories are correct at least, he runs into Kelmonas.  The fan theory is that Kel's a narindar of Ajokli, and thus stands outside the sight of the gods, including Yatwer and her White Luck Warrior.  He sacrified that beetle as an offering, a murder done for no other reason than "because". 

Ajokli is the god of tricksters, thieves and assassins...a description that fits Kel to a t.  I also wonder if Ajokli can see the No-God and Consult..."He only seems such [the Fool] because he sees what the others do not see... What you do not see ... The blindness of the sighted".  Which also makes me wonder if there is a link between Ajokli and the Solitary God of the Cishaurim...the reference to the blindness of the sighted, the fact that the Psukhe is undetectable by other magi and even unknown to the Consult, and that the Cishaurim wage war against the followers of the Tusk.  Ajokli, via the nameless narindar in the White Luck Warrior notes that his cult alone is persecuted by the Tusk. 

I'm also somewhat amused by the many parallels one can draw between Ajokli, narindar and our favourite inscrutable trickster god, the Anticipation of Mephala himself, Vivec.  Narindar are holy assassins the gods send, but narindar of Ajokli are ritual assassins for whom the act is holy, and are asked to kill without reference to their own cares.  Of course, Vivec is the Tribunal replacement for Mephala, whom the Morag Tong assassins (and maybe the Dark Brotherhood, if the Night Mother is Mephala.  Of course, one reading of the 36 sermons suggests Vivec is in fact the Night Mother).  Assassins remove the act of emotion from murder, which in turn makes it an act of destruction...and destruction is another form of creation.  Murder and enlightenment, combined.

Incidentally, narindar = narinder = narendra = "lord of men" in Sanskrit.  Just putting that out there.

Now THERE'S some food for fucking thought.

The themes of sight and blindness are rampant in this series and especially in this trilogy. Khellus's children are constantly described as having inherited their father's sight to varying degrees. One of them had to be chained up because he could see deeply but lacked the dispassionate conditioning. Minor spoiler: Serwa in The Great Ordeal makes a statement to the effect of "light is our birthright."

The entire Dunyain philosophy revolves around the eponymous Darkness that comes before, and the Logos is the way to be able to "see" the origin of one's own thoughts. Plus, the Probablity Trance.

The Few have their own form of sight, and Mimara's Judging Eye represents a kind of sight that perhaps no other living person possesses, except perhaps Khellus during the Circumfixion. What little we know about Cishaurim sorcery revolves around themes of sight and blindness.

Then there was that guy in the cave, with the heart.

The various asides about how the Nonmen perceive the world comes to mind as well: they can't "see" two-dimensional images, so they sculpt. I forget if it was a character or in one of the pre-chapter quotes, but it's stated that Men fear and hate the darkness because it is ignorance made visible, while the Nonmen see it as holy.

The No-God is, apparently, invisible to Heaven. And, it seems, somehow invisible to itself ("WHAT DO YOU SEE?")

I don't have a real thesis here, but it will surprise me greatly if the conclusion of this series is not somehow related to sight and blindness.

Well, the gods are literally "the darkness that comes before".

The nonmen call themselves the ji'cûnû roi, "the People of Dawn".
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cainad (dec.) on August 31, 2016, 12:05:02 AM
And they, particularly the Quya mages, seek to make their souls invisible to the gods (or something to that effect, I think it's covered in The False Sun).
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: EK WAFFLR on October 05, 2016, 02:32:56 PM
I'm on my third or fourth attempt at Wheel of Time. Finally made it through book 1 (well, almost, I've about 100 pages left). I'm liking it more this time around. I think Sanderson's Stormlight Archive has gotten me ready for the slow pace fantasy.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on October 05, 2016, 07:17:44 PM
Quote from: The All-Seeing Waffle on October 05, 2016, 02:32:56 PM
I'm on my third or fourth attempt at Wheel of Time. Finally made it through book 1 (well, almost, I've about 100 pages left). I'm liking it more this time around. I think Sanderson's Stormlight Archive has gotten me ready for the slow pace fantasy.

IMO the series does quite well up until about book 6 or 7, then it slows down dramatically in term of plot until Sanderson takes over for the final three books.  Not to say the latter books are bad...but there's an awful lot of padding going on.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Vanadium Gryllz on October 05, 2016, 11:59:02 PM
*tugs braid*
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on October 06, 2016, 09:17:03 AM
Quote from: Xaz on October 05, 2016, 11:59:02 PM
*tugs braid*

If it's not a 10 page description of braid-tugging and weird sexual politics, it's not a Robert Jordan novel.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Eater of Clowns on October 06, 2016, 02:09:56 PM
I have to say I've come around to Sanderson. Mistborn left me with a giant case of literary blueballs and I had all but sworn him off. A friend gifted me Way of Kings and I'm thoroughly hooked. Words of Radiance was an impressive follow up.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on October 06, 2016, 04:23:26 PM
I should be finishing "How To Write a Lot" today, and then I'm not really sure what to read next. Probably just endless papers about deiodinases.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on October 06, 2016, 06:24:05 PM
Quote from: Eater of Clowns on October 06, 2016, 02:09:56 PM
I have to say I've come around to Sanderson. Mistborn left me with a giant case of literary blueballs and I had all but sworn him off. A friend gifted me Way of Kings and I'm thoroughly hooked. Words of Radiance was an impressive follow up.

He's about 70% done on the 3rd book I believe.  Another good thing about Sanderson - unlike some authors we could name, he is actually pretty prolific.

Also it's going to focus on Dalinar, so it's going to be fucking amazing.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: EK WAFFLR on October 09, 2016, 08:46:08 PM
I'm constantly checking his site to see how far he's come with it. Since I finished book 2, I've read everything of Sanderson's Cosmere stuff. He's really, really good. I'm also eagerly awaiting the fourth Wax and Wayne book. 
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on October 14, 2016, 09:34:45 PM
Quote from: The All-Seeing Waffle on October 09, 2016, 08:46:08 PM
I'm constantly checking his site to see how far he's come with it. Since I finished book 2, I've read everything of Sanderson's Cosmere stuff. He's really, really good. I'm also eagerly awaiting the fourth Wax and Wayne book.

Man loves his really complex magical systems.  You can just tell he used to powergame his D&D characters as a kid, to try and become a literal god before hitting level 10.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on October 15, 2016, 12:53:11 AM
I picked up an interesting book on statistics called "The Lady Tasting Tea".
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Rococo Modem Basilisk on October 15, 2016, 05:51:42 PM
Finally getting to read Echopraxia, Peter Watts' newest. It's a good follow-up to Blindsight. Where Blindsight used vampires and space ships to ask the question of "what is the benefit of consciousness at evolutionary scale, and does it still exist?", Echopraxia uses hive minds, bioengineered plagues, and sun-adjacent power plants to ask the question of "what is the benefit of faith at an evolutionary scale, and does it still exist?".
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on October 21, 2016, 12:06:56 AM
I'm reading "Death in the City of Light: The Serial Killer of Nazi Occupied Paris", a historical account of Dr. Marcel Petiot, possibly one of the most prolific serial killers of the 20th century (I believe only the Green River Killer, Gary Ridgway, has anything approaching a credible higher number, Petiot's victims may number in the 60s, Ridgway's in the 80s).

I'm only about a third of the way through, but it's already a fascinating account not just of murder, but the tensions and tangled politics of the time - Paris was Vichy France, so the French police had authority to catch him.  But Petiot had been involved both with the Resistance and the Gestapo, and had come to the attention of both the anti-Jewish and military intelligence wings of said secret police. 
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Rococo Modem Basilisk on October 22, 2016, 03:52:18 PM
Finished Echopraxia last night -- it's a bit denser than Blindsight or any of the Rifters books, and I think I'll probably need to re-read it in order to really understand all of what went on.

Last night I also read A Brief History of Vice, Robert Evans' summary of the ways that vice (mostly drugs, but also gossip, trolling, and prostitution) affected the course of history. As a history, it's not great -- it's short & written like a Cracked article without the links, and contains a lot of typos; it breezes over ideas that could profitably be covered in more depth and spends a lot of time on ideas that are familiar to people who read a lot about these subjects, along with repeating a lot of material from Evans' Cracked articles. In the end, with the exception of a section on Stonehenge, I had either already read his sources, read a slightly modified version of the chapter on Cracked, or had read most of the details he covers elsewhere. I still recommend grabbing the book because of its recipes: it serves as a sort of cook-book for legal (in the United States) drugs, and contains information about preparation that I haven't seen elsewhere. Recipes I intend to try include: bappir (a kind of cookie made as the basis for mash in Sumerian beer, as described in The Hymn to Ninkashi), bhang (an indian pot milkshake), soma (specifically: Evans read the part of the Hindu scriptures describing the way that Shiva liked to prepare soma, operated on the assumption that the drug in question was Fly Agaric, and followed the directions), and power balls (a kind of calorie-rich trail mix made by mixing roasted coffee cherries with ghee and wearing it in a leather sack around your neck while exercising).

I'm currently reading Hard-Boiled Anxiety, which is basically somebody doing Freudian psychoanalysis of three early authors of pulp detective fiction. It would have been better had it been written by Zizek -- it's pretty dry, all things considered -- but it's sort so I'll probably finish it.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: NeonWytch on October 24, 2016, 11:18:41 PM
As a recently out-of-high-school college freshman who's pretty much only taking easy pre-req classes, I've found that I finally have enough free time to read again (Something something, Mark Twain, something, something Schooling getting in the way of education) so I've been reading Damned by Palahniuk.

So far it's been a fairly hamfisted look at how grossly evil and wasteful the progressive viewpoint looks from the viewpoint of a world where the fundamentalists are all completely correct, while also making fun of celebrity-excess culture I guess?  I'm about a quarter in, and sometimes it's interesting, but I'm kinda banking on it getting better when it finally decides what it's point is.

After this I'm thinking Rushdie's Satanic Versus or maybe Everything is Illuminated.

Quote from: Roko's Modern Basilisk on October 22, 2016, 03:52:18 PM
Finished Echopraxia last night -- it's a bit denser than Blindsight or any of the Rifters books, and I think I'll probably need to re-read it in order to really understand all of what went on.
I have mixed feelings on Watts, I loved Blindsight, but I guess I misunderstood a lot of what Watt's was trying to say. I interpreted a lot of Blindsight as an attack or even a parody of the concept of p-zombies and the whole qualia problem, but then
I heard this interview with him on auticulture where he's kinda supporting Chalmer and all that dualism stuff.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Rococo Modem Basilisk on October 29, 2016, 05:39:41 PM
Quote from: NeonWytch on October 24, 2016, 11:18:41 PM
Quote from: Roko's Modern Basilisk on October 22, 2016, 03:52:18 PM
Finished Echopraxia last night -- it's a bit denser than Blindsight or any of the Rifters books, and I think I'll probably need to re-read it in order to really understand all of what went on.
I have mixed feelings on Watts, I loved Blindsight, but I guess I misunderstood a lot of what Watt's was trying to say. I interpreted a lot of Blindsight as an attack or even a parody of the concept of p-zombies and the whole qualia problem, but then
I heard this interview with him on auticulture where he's kinda supporting Chalmer and all that dualism stuff.

I think I heard the same interview -- and I was also totally shocked that Watts was supporting qualia. But later on, I heard *another* interview Watts did, with somebody who was into zany conspiracy theories about satanic ritual abuse, and I realized that Watts seems to sort of avoid disagreeing with his interviewers or something. Chalmers, despite his blind spots, is not a stupid person & plenty of very intelligent and worldly people buy into the qualia stuff, but Watts certainly *doesn't* believe that this interviewer was actually being ritually abused by nazi clown aliens in order to release his ESP, so he was probably just being polite.

Both Blindsight and Echopraxia basically come down to Watts trying to steelman ideas that he finds really dubious. The firefall universe, as hard-SF as it is, is full of as-realistic-as-possible versions of pretty wacky philosophical ideas. (He seems to do this a lot: Starfish is about the idea that in some situations the most appropriate person for a job is an anti-social psychopath; he did a conference presentation about the idea that the world should be destroyed; plenty of his blog posts are basically just considering the end results of what some really dubious one-off journal article was correct.)
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on November 05, 2016, 07:55:48 PM
Going back to The Great Ordeal:

So, I was looking up something completely unrelated when I came across this extraordinary segment in The Thousandfold Thought, when Kellhus finally confronts his father:

QuoteFor the Dûnyain, it was axiomatic: what was compliant had to be isolated from what was unruly and intractable. Kellhus had seen it many times, wandering the labyrinth of possibilities that was the Thousandfold Thought: The Warrior-Prophet's assassination. The rise of Anasûrimbor Moënghus to take his place. The apocalyptic conspiracies. The counterfeit war against Golgotterath. The accumulation of premeditated disasters. The sacrifice of whole nations to the gluttony of the Sranc. The Three Seas crashing into char and ruin. The Gods baying like wolves at a silent gate.

Bakker, R. Scott. The Thousandfold Thought (The Prince of Nothing Book Three) (Kindle Locations 8351-8355). Little, Brown Book Group. Kindle Edition.

Which is exactly what has happened with Kellhus as Aspect Emperor.  The only thing that hasn't occured thus far is the Three Seas falling into complete ruin, and that's only because Kellhus returned in the nick of time to defeat Meppa and the Bandit Pandirajah.

So, I suppose the question is, what is Kellhus up to?  Does he accept the Consult's aims and wants to avoid being one of the Damned?  Is he perpetrating some kind of grand deception on them, to make them think he is with them, only to betray them (perhaps to obtain the Heron Spear and/or knowledge of the No God).  Or is something else entirely going on?
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: axod on December 12, 2016, 09:37:56 PM
Lullabye for Thunderstorms.

I know one of /you/ wrote it, admit it, very much obliged.  Having a good time wit it.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: The Wizard Joseph on December 13, 2016, 01:44:30 AM
An old copy of Grimm's fairy tales.

After a bit of selecting I'm to be reading some for the board and post the audio files in a new thread.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on December 13, 2016, 02:55:40 AM
I'm reading The Mismeasure of Woman by Carol Tavris; she co-wrote Mistakes were made (but not by me) with Aronsen, and it was really good, so I picked this up and so far it is also very good. Basically, at this point, she is just talking about all the research that has been conducted in an attempt to find concrete neurobiological differences between men and women, and how that research has been interpreted.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: xXRon_Paul_42016Xxx(weed) on December 13, 2016, 07:24:19 AM
Quote from: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on December 13, 2016, 02:55:40 AM
I'm reading The Mismeasure of Woman by Carol Tavris; she co-wrote Mistakes were made (but not by me) with Aronsen, and it was really good, so I picked this up and so far it is also very good. Basically, at this point, she is just talking about all the research that has been conducted in an attempt to find concrete neurobiological differences between men and women, and how that research has been interpreted.

LOL didnt Mistakes Were Made push False Memory Syndrome?
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Sung Low on December 13, 2016, 02:36:10 PM
Quote from: xXRon_Paul_42016Xxx(weed) on December 13, 2016, 07:24:19 AM
Quote from: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on December 13, 2016, 02:55:40 AM
I'm reading The Mismeasure of Woman by Carol Tavris; she co-wrote Mistakes were made (but not by me) with Aronsen, and it was really good, so I picked this up and so far it is also very good. Basically, at this point, she is just talking about all the research that has been conducted in an attempt to find concrete neurobiological differences between men and women, and how that research has been interpreted.

LOL didnt Mistakes Were Made push False Memory Syndrome?

Yes yes Ron. You be the cleverest.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on December 13, 2016, 03:17:43 PM
Quote from: Sung Low on December 13, 2016, 02:36:10 PM
Quote from: xXRon_Paul_42016Xxx(weed) on December 13, 2016, 07:24:19 AM
Quote from: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on December 13, 2016, 02:55:40 AM
I'm reading The Mismeasure of Woman by Carol Tavris; she co-wrote Mistakes were made (but not by me) with Aronsen, and it was really good, so I picked this up and so far it is also very good. Basically, at this point, she is just talking about all the research that has been conducted in an attempt to find concrete neurobiological differences between men and women, and how that research has been interpreted.

LOL didnt Mistakes Were Made push False Memory Syndrome?

Yes yes Ron. You be the cleverest.

Also, it did the exact opposite.

Why does he respond to anything I post? Does he think I'm reading his posts? I only see them when people quote him, which I really don't understand why people bother to do. He doesn't have anything to say.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: xXRon_Paul_42016Xxx(weed) on December 13, 2016, 04:02:07 PM
Quote from: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on December 13, 2016, 03:17:43 PM
Quote from: Sung Low on December 13, 2016, 02:36:10 PM
Quote from: xXRon_Paul_42016Xxx(weed) on December 13, 2016, 07:24:19 AM
Quote from: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on December 13, 2016, 02:55:40 AM
I'm reading The Mismeasure of Woman by Carol Tavris; she co-wrote Mistakes were made (but not by me) with Aronsen, and it was really good, so I picked this up and so far it is also very good. Basically, at this point, she is just talking about all the research that has been conducted in an attempt to find concrete neurobiological differences between men and women, and how that research has been interpreted.

LOL didnt Mistakes Were Made push False Memory Syndrome?

Yes yes Ron. You be the cleverest.

Also, it did the exact opposite.

Why does he respond to anything I post? Does he think I'm reading his posts? I only see them when people quote him, which I really don't understand why people bother to do. He doesn't have anything to say.

Quote from: xXRon_Paul_42016Xxx(weed) on December 13, 2016, 06:18:54 AM
WOW SON,                                                                                                                                                                                                       (http://i0.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/000/926/928/aa0.jpg)  (http://i3.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/000/927/249/517.jpg) (http://i2.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/facebook/000/778/308/c1d.jpg) (http://i2.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/000/931/196/698.png) (http://40.media.tumblr.com/1c537c31d79cc16476e95d4bf8febc8e/tumblr_mt0vezBAGd1r2g7mto2_500.png) (https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CVS1xGXWcAA5A3V.png)                                    (http://data.whicdn.com/images/100482335/large.jpg)


U BUT ANGREY I hav neer seen sum1 so pooper peeved u ned to tak chilpil and stop raping your ownasswit with husband you are the gayest fgt in fgtopia, no u r the mayor lol u troled so fukin hard u wan sum ice for the ASSBURN? U cry tears of blud and cum ur mom's penis out your angry butthole gb2 pussybaby land where u git own3d by dick "omg i love sukin dicks and crying to link park"-You ur butt is evaporating cum bcuz it is steaming wit angr SUMBUDY IS ANALLY ANGUISHED its lik u r seeding wit raeg

Also thats interesting. I might have to pick that book up since its so rare for mainstream scientists to call out False Memory creeps on their bullshit. Especially related to sacred cows of the "it couldnt happen here" consensus like McMartin.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: xXRon_Paul_42016Xxx(weed) on December 13, 2016, 04:11:09 PM
Quote from: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on December 13, 2016, 03:17:43 PM
Why does he respond to anything I post? Does he think I'm reading his posts? I only see them when people quote him, which I really don't understand why people bother to do. He doesn't have anything to say.

Of course you dont sweatheart. Thats why you post consistently in every one of my threads.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Sung Low on December 13, 2016, 04:54:17 PM
Charming

/sarc/~~~~~~#######
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: themanwhocreatedjazz on December 18, 2016, 07:14:19 PM
I've been reading a lot of the poetry in Ratio 3: Media shamans - especially the Ira Cohen pieces.


Good stuff.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on December 20, 2016, 09:22:47 PM
I'm not reading it yet, but I just discovered this exists and I WANTS IT:

(https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51NA%2BKpqGfL._SX348_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg)
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Rococo Modem Basilisk on December 21, 2016, 02:51:49 PM
So, Hardboiled Anxiety is unbearably dull (I am not a hardboiled-author-biography nerd, and I suspect the only people who would enjoy this book are the kind of folks who would write fanfiction about Hammett and Chandler running into each other in a shrink's office & discovering their forbidden love).

I switched to bolo'bolo, which is interesting but just a bit too dense: it's the first anarchist tract I've read that really manages to drive home the whole "the system is made of people" thing and put forward a clear model of how parts of the global economic/political system could be subverted long enough to provide stable alternatives. That said, the author really likes him some neologisms (along with reappropriation of existing terminology: he has some simple infographics describing political ideas, but he calls them "yantras"), and it makes the otherwise short and interesting read drag a bit: I'm about half-way through this book, even though it's less than 200 pages long, because every few sentences I have to wrack my brain trying to remember what the author means by some term.

So, as a result, I started reading Thomas Rid's Rise of the Machines, a history of concepts from cybernetics as they impact culture. I'm not very far in, but thus far it's pretty readable (compared to other books I've read on the subject, which tend to be more technical and less eclectic); I've read some excerpts from later in the book that really convinced me it would be a good read. The main thing I worry about is that it might lean too far toward a general audience, and avoid actually addressing important ideas like shannon entropy or self-organizing systems. There's also one weird glitch in the introduction, wherein the author says that he, "like other people working in cybersecurity", always assumed that the "cyber" prefix originated with Neuromancer's coinage of "cyberspace", which seems kind of absurd -- who hasn't at least heard of cybernetic feedback, even though they call it systems theory now? -- but hopefully it'll turn out to be a strange one-off problem, like Gertner calling UNIX a "programming language" in his otherwise wonderfully well-researched history of Bell Labs, The Idea Factory.

Since I last posted in this thread, I also read two Warren Ellis books: Gun Machine and NORMAL. Gun Machine borders on standard police-procedural, and is probably the most mainstream Ellis has ever been, but it retains some of his trademark oddness and occultic ideas; it would probably be more accessible to a New Yorker with an interest in NYC history, because it sort of centers around geographically- and historically-themed events around NYC (sort of like Ghostbusters 2016 sets itself up to do). NORMAL is very entertaining, but most of the ideas in it aren't super new to me, and Ellis does less than usual to make them interesting; it's also very short.

I also read John Higgs' history of the KLF, KLF: Chaos, Magic, and the Band that Burned a Million Pounds. Higgs is always entertaining, and this book makes a good pairing with Gorightly's various histories of discordianism. It's sort of a strange parallel to Cosmic Trigger, insomuch as it follows a couple of guys who embrace their very minimal exposure to discordian ideas and get sucked in: one of the KLF members read only the first book of Illuminatus! (though he briefly worked on sets for Ken Campbell's stage play), and the other hadn't read any at all; both though discordianism was something made up for Illuminatus rather than something anyone actually practiced; as a result, when they became super famous with a discordian-themed musical group, they were jaked by various parties & took the jakes seriously, leading to The White Room, among other things. When they finally burned a million pounds, they didn't realize that they were performing an act that occurs in Illuminatus, & that chaos magicians have discussed at length as a very potent ritual.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Brother Mythos on January 31, 2017, 04:34:34 AM
I'm reading Walden by Henry David Thoreau.

And, I learned a new word: 'trumpery.' Thoreau uses it several times in first the chapter.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Brother Mythos on February 14, 2017, 06:07:16 PM
I'm now reading The Antichrist by F. W. Nietzsche.

According to the book's 'Introduction,' this is the last thing that Nietzsche ever wrote.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on February 14, 2017, 08:00:03 PM
I just started reading "Complications" by Atul Gawande. So far it's very engaging.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: tyrannosaurus vex on February 17, 2017, 02:50:33 PM
"Magicians of the Gods", by Graham Hancock. Yeah yeah, I know it's bunk, but I'm a sucker for this stuff. And he's abandoned some of the more ridiculous theories (which he does admit to, not just quietly sweep away) from the last book in this series 20 years ago. In this book he presents quite a bit of actual real science from geology, including points from critiques and counterpoints to those -- from scientific papers published in journals, not just his own conjecture. Anyway as unlikely as his hypotheses are, it's a fun way to tour some ancient megalithic sites.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cainad (dec.) on February 17, 2017, 04:46:50 PM
Quote from: Cain on November 05, 2016, 07:55:48 PM
Going back to The Great Ordeal:

So, I was looking up something completely unrelated when I came across this extraordinary segment in The Thousandfold Thought, when Kellhus finally confronts his father:

QuoteFor the Dûnyain, it was axiomatic: what was compliant had to be isolated from what was unruly and intractable. Kellhus had seen it many times, wandering the labyrinth of possibilities that was the Thousandfold Thought: The Warrior-Prophet's assassination. The rise of Anasûrimbor Moënghus to take his place. The apocalyptic conspiracies. The counterfeit war against Golgotterath. The accumulation of premeditated disasters. The sacrifice of whole nations to the gluttony of the Sranc. The Three Seas crashing into char and ruin. The Gods baying like wolves at a silent gate.

Bakker, R. Scott. The Thousandfold Thought (The Prince of Nothing Book Three) (Kindle Locations 8351-8355). Little, Brown Book Group. Kindle Edition.

Which is exactly what has happened with Kellhus as Aspect Emperor.  The only thing that hasn't occured thus far is the Three Seas falling into complete ruin, and that's only because Kellhus returned in the nick of time to defeat Meppa and the Bandit Pandirajah.

So, I suppose the question is, what is Kellhus up to?  Does he accept the Consult's aims and wants to avoid being one of the Damned?  Is he perpetrating some kind of grand deception on them, to make them think he is with them, only to betray them (perhaps to obtain the Heron Spear and/or knowledge of the No God).  Or is something else entirely going on?

I need to log into this damn forum more than once a month and actually read shit.

If I'm understanding this correctly, The Thousandfold Thought means Khellus knew the Narindar would be a thing, even though Yatwer's gift to Sorweel was explicitly to make him invisible to Khellus?

So who is outwitting who? I feel like I'm taking crazy pills!
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cainad (dec.) on February 17, 2017, 04:50:59 PM
Since my current job task requires about as much work from me as a deli-counter ticket dispenser, I've been tearing through (relative to my usual reading speed) Malazan Book 5, Midnight Tides.

Lots more Weird Sex Stuff in this book than the previous ones.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on February 17, 2017, 06:25:01 PM
Maybe not the Narindar specifically, but he knew the gods would intervene.  And he may have even realised that since the Gods exist outside the Logos, indeed Outside reality, that he could not predict their methods, even if he could count on their oppostion.

And yeah, Midnight Tides is a bit of a weird one.  In addition to the weird sex stuff, you may get the impression that Erikson isn't a fan of the Iraq War.  Just maybe.  A little, tiny bit.  But it's necessary, because it's the next one, The Bonehunters, where things really start happening, and everything starts to come together.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: minuspace on February 25, 2017, 03:14:34 AM
Nothing fantastic to report.  I was looking forward to Foggs Persuasive Technology: Using Computers to Change What We Think and Do, reading it however failed to provide traction.  Maybe cause not fully committed to read (skimming), or the fact that it was written in '02 makes approach feel dated w.r.t. current applications of said technology.  Blah.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: The Wizard Joseph on February 25, 2017, 05:05:29 AM
Galapagos by Vonnegut. I'm not very far into it, and woefully ignorant of the author, but it's really awesome writing! He manages to be concise without sacrificing one bit of wit.

I'm also becoming painfully aware of how out of the habit of reading actual books I've fallen. I take it as a sign that I will have quite the challenge getting into school after so many years. I kind of just also realized that my problem with writing goes deeper than just discomfort. I'm in for quite the struggle to recondition my mind and body both. One step at a time I guess.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cainad (dec.) on February 25, 2017, 01:31:27 PM
Quote from: The Wizard Joseph on February 25, 2017, 05:05:29 AM
Galapagos by Vonnegut. I'm not very far into it, and woefully ignorant of the author, but it's really awesome writing! He manages to be concise without sacrificing one bit of wit.

I'm also becoming painfully aware of how out of the habit of reading actual books I've fallen. I take it as a sign that I will have quite the challenge getting into school after so many years. I kind of just also realized that my problem with writing goes deeper than just discomfort. I'm in for quite the struggle to recondition my mind and body both. One step at a time I guess.

If you find you can't get back into the groove, find an easy page-turner that requires minimal brain effort to follow along. I read a pulpy short novel recently, and that seems to have been a good warm-up for reading things that require more conscious attention.

Also, Vonnegut's novels, in my experience, translate very well into audiobook format. Breakfast of Champions in particular was a delight to listen to.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on February 25, 2017, 03:01:38 PM
I was just gifted a delightful-looking book my the outgoing PhD in my lab, called "Promiscuity".
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on February 25, 2017, 03:07:30 PM
Quote from: Cainad (dec.) on February 25, 2017, 01:31:27 PM
Quote from: The Wizard Joseph on February 25, 2017, 05:05:29 AM
Galapagos by Vonnegut. I'm not very far into it, and woefully ignorant of the author, but it's really awesome writing! He manages to be concise without sacrificing one bit of wit.

I'm also becoming painfully aware of how out of the habit of reading actual books I've fallen. I take it as a sign that I will have quite the challenge getting into school after so many years. I kind of just also realized that my problem with writing goes deeper than just discomfort. I'm in for quite the struggle to recondition my mind and body both. One step at a time I guess.

If you find you can't get back into the groove, find an easy page-turner that requires minimal brain effort to follow along. I read a pulpy short novel recently, and that seems to have been a good warm-up for reading things that require more conscious attention.

Also, Vonnegut's novels, in my experience, translate very well into audiobook format. Breakfast of Champions in particular was a delight to listen to.

Vonnegut's writing is beautiful. I was having a conversation about the difference between a competent and a good writer the other day, and Vonnegut was one of my examples of a good writer. Stephen King describes himself as a solid example of a competent one.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: The Wizard Joseph on February 25, 2017, 05:05:12 PM
Quote from: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on February 25, 2017, 03:07:30 PM
Quote from: Cainad (dec.) on February 25, 2017, 01:31:27 PM
Quote from: The Wizard Joseph on February 25, 2017, 05:05:29 AM
Galapagos by Vonnegut. I'm not very far into it, and woefully ignorant of the author, but it's really awesome writing! He manages to be concise without sacrificing one bit of wit.

I'm also becoming painfully aware of how out of the habit of reading actual books I've fallen. I take it as a sign that I will have quite the challenge getting into school after so many years. I kind of just also realized that my problem with writing goes deeper than just discomfort. I'm in for quite the struggle to recondition my mind and body both. One step at a time I guess.

If you find you can't get back into the groove, find an easy page-turner that requires minimal brain effort to follow along. I read a pulpy short novel recently, and that seems to have been a good warm-up for reading things that require more conscious attention.

Also, Vonnegut's novels, in my experience, translate very well into audiobook format. Breakfast of Champions in particular was a delight to listen to.

Vonnegut's writing is beautiful. I was having a conversation about the difference between a competent and a good writer the other day, and Vonnegut was one of my examples of a good writer. Stephen King describes himself as a solid example of a competent one.

In this particular book he does a great job of messing with perspective on causation just by simply and clearly describing how certain characters came to be involved. I'm about 1/10th through by page number. He also has a certain taste for mindfuckery with equally simple description of the setting as "a million years ago in 1986" and the narrator's occasional asides leaving you unsure of where in that time range the story is being related from.

That and he illustrates the undue power opinion has over reality thanks to our over engineered "big brains". It feels at this point like he's leading up to something like Idiocracy, but entirely different in satiric style... we'll see. I have a nice quiet day today and a pot of coffee. Going to try getting to halfway without diverting to the Internet or other easy distractions.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on February 26, 2017, 01:35:34 AM
Quote from: The Wizard Joseph on February 25, 2017, 05:05:12 PM
Quote from: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on February 25, 2017, 03:07:30 PM
Quote from: Cainad (dec.) on February 25, 2017, 01:31:27 PM
Quote from: The Wizard Joseph on February 25, 2017, 05:05:29 AM
Galapagos by Vonnegut. I'm not very far into it, and woefully ignorant of the author, but it's really awesome writing! He manages to be concise without sacrificing one bit of wit.

I'm also becoming painfully aware of how out of the habit of reading actual books I've fallen. I take it as a sign that I will have quite the challenge getting into school after so many years. I kind of just also realized that my problem with writing goes deeper than just discomfort. I'm in for quite the struggle to recondition my mind and body both. One step at a time I guess.

If you find you can't get back into the groove, find an easy page-turner that requires minimal brain effort to follow along. I read a pulpy short novel recently, and that seems to have been a good warm-up for reading things that require more conscious attention.

Also, Vonnegut's novels, in my experience, translate very well into audiobook format. Breakfast of Champions in particular was a delight to listen to.

Vonnegut's writing is beautiful. I was having a conversation about the difference between a competent and a good writer the other day, and Vonnegut was one of my examples of a good writer. Stephen King describes himself as a solid example of a competent one.

In this particular book he does a great job of messing with perspective on causation just by simply and clearly describing how certain characters came to be involved. I'm about 1/10th through by page number. He also has a certain taste for mindfuckery with equally simple description of the setting as "a million years ago in 1986" and the narrator's occasional asides leaving you unsure of where in that time range the story is being related from.

That and he illustrates the undue power opinion has over reality thanks to our over engineered "big brains". It feels at this point like he's leading up to something like Idiocracy, but entirely different in satiric style... we'll see. I have a nice quiet day today and a pot of coffee. Going to try getting to halfway without diverting to the Internet or other easy distractions.

If you haven't read Mother Night yet, I recommend it after you finish Galapagos.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: The Wizard Joseph on February 26, 2017, 02:05:59 AM
Quote from: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on February 26, 2017, 01:35:34 AM
Quote from: The Wizard Joseph on February 25, 2017, 05:05:12 PM
Quote from: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on February 25, 2017, 03:07:30 PM
Quote from: Cainad (dec.) on February 25, 2017, 01:31:27 PM
Quote from: The Wizard Joseph on February 25, 2017, 05:05:29 AM
Galapagos by Vonnegut. I'm not very far into it, and woefully ignorant of the author, but it's really awesome writing! He manages to be concise without sacrificing one bit of wit.

I'm also becoming painfully aware of how out of the habit of reading actual books I've fallen. I take it as a sign that I will have quite the challenge getting into school after so many years. I kind of just also realized that my problem with writing goes deeper than just discomfort. I'm in for quite the struggle to recondition my mind and body both. One step at a time I guess.

If you find you can't get back into the groove, find an easy page-turner that requires minimal brain effort to follow along. I read a pulpy short novel recently, and that seems to have been a good warm-up for reading things that require more conscious attention.

Also, Vonnegut's novels, in my experience, translate very well into audiobook format. Breakfast of Champions in particular was a delight to listen to.

Vonnegut's writing is beautiful. I was having a conversation about the difference between a competent and a good writer the other day, and Vonnegut was one of my examples of a good writer. Stephen King describes himself as a solid example of a competent one.

In this particular book he does a great job of messing with perspective on causation just by simply and clearly describing how certain characters came to be involved. I'm about 1/10th through by page number. He also has a certain taste for mindfuckery with equally simple description of the setting as "a million years ago in 1986" and the narrator's occasional asides leaving you unsure of where in that time range the story is being related from.

That and he illustrates the undue power opinion has over reality thanks to our over engineered "big brains". It feels at this point like he's leading up to something like Idiocracy, but entirely different in satiric style... we'll see. I have a nice quiet day today and a pot of coffee. Going to try getting to halfway without diverting to the Internet or other easy distractions.

If you haven't read Mother Night yet, I recommend it after you finish Galapagos.

I'm something like a quarter through Galapagos after about a 3-4 hour stint. This isn't so much because it's a hard read, though my attention span needs improvement. It's because every few paragraphs I find myself THINKING about the story and its implications as he yanks my cognition around.

I do believe I shall in fact get me this Mother Night after I manage to finish this off.  I was just handed this to read by one of my friends like it was some nice, entertaining Harry Potter or some shit. Though I remain a nominal theist, I take the cosmos as exactly as old as it would appear and natural selection for one of it's laws of nature. It's messing with me as such in addition to the more obvious social commentary. The good news is I like that shit! :)

... so I mentioned this to my friend before I posted this. Not only does she have a copy of Mother Night she's behaving rather excitedly and recommending Cat's Cradle and has showcased to me her considerable collection before just now heading upstairs to find more. I kind of don't blame her, though I'm not quite so enthusiastic. I suspect I shall be reading him quite a lot in my time here in LaX. I have Mother Night in hand and it's next on muh list!
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on February 26, 2017, 02:27:15 AM
Oh yeah, Vonnegut is not light entertainment reading. :lol: It's definitely pretty thinky. I recommend giving it a year or so, and then giving it another read-through; you'll be surprised at what you see the second time around. I don't usually read books more than once, but for Vonnegut I'll make an exception. Enjoy!
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Rococo Modem Basilisk on February 26, 2017, 07:17:02 PM
Recently read The Russian Cosmists by George Young, on account of Warren Ellis mentioning it in a newsletter months ago. It's a bit dry but worth reading if you have an interest in modern Russian philosophy, nineteenth century western occult movements, or transhumanism. It ties together all the people conventionally considered cosmists (with brief biographical sketches), along with De Chardin, Scriabin, Tolstoy, Steiner, & others whose ideas are similar but whose connection seemed historically tenuous, by showing how the ideas of Federov circulated and mutated within late 19th century Russian intellectual circles. It makes the case that there's a characteristically Russian stance toward philosophy that privileges community, praxis, and the rehabilitation of unpopular ideas, and that this position better represents cosmist thought than any particular details (which would change between thinkers). It also indirectly makes an argument for the potential for librarians (and other intellectual gatekeepers) to have an out-sized influence on history.

Also recently read Track Changes by Matthew Kirschenbaum, a literary history of word processing. Lots of interesting details in it. Mostly it focuses on the cultural impact that the mechanisms behind word processors had on the way literary authors thought of themselves and their own work (as opposed to distant readings of how the use of word processors might have concretely caused stylistic changes). Unexpectedly, there are almost as many evocative passages and turns of phrase in here as in The Russian Cosmists.

Finally, today I finished Transreal Cyberpunk, a collection of short stories co-written by Bruce Sterling and Rudy Rucker. Despite the name, it doesn't contain much that would be called cyberpunk. It's mostly gonzo/bizarro fiction. I had read many of the pieces previously, but because this collects all of the pieces the two co-wrote in chronological order (and because it contains explanations by each of the authors about how each story was composed), I found this collection much more enjoyable than the individual stories within it. This collection contains some of the strangest stories I've ever read -- and I take care to seek out and read particularly strange stories. If you read and liked Semiotext(e) SF, this is a good companion piece. Also, if you're interested in Grant Morrison's concept of the hypersigil, transreal SF will probably be of interest: Rucker believes that by combining arbitrary particulars of one's own life with "SF power chords", he can produce significantly more gnarly & interesting stories. (I'm not sure to what degree I agree; Rucker is usually too daffy for me, though in this collection Sterling reigns him in.)
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Brother Mythos on March 02, 2017, 05:04:10 PM
I've finished The Antichrist by F. W. Nietzsche, and found it to be an enlightening read. Now, I'm moving on to his Thus Spake Zarathustra - A Book for All and None.

I started reading this book years ago, but had to set it aside because of hellacious working hours, and other IRL commitments. So, I've started it again, from the beginning, and intend to finish it this time around. 
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Salty on March 02, 2017, 05:21:53 PM
I just finished reading The Conjure Man Dies, which is the first published detective novel written by a black man, Rudolph Fisher.

It's awful. It was written in 1932, so it is naturally rough since that genre hadn't quite had time to mature. It is certainly very interesting, especially from a cultural perspective. The plot itself is relatively interesting, if hackneyed and weird.

The problem with the book is shit like the scene where a woman is dancing in a club and the narrator points out that, "this young lady was proving beyond question the error of reserving legs for mere locomotion"

BLECH.

Fisher was a doctor, and his book reads like it. He uses way too many $10 dollar words where a $0.10 word will do, and he really likes to show off his keen intellect. It just comes off showboaty, especially for genre fiction. It was painful to read and I am glad I am done. Fisher might have gotten somewhere with a lot more time and effort, but he died from a botched stomach surgery two years after publishing.

Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on March 02, 2017, 06:05:48 PM
That's one thing I always admired about Chandler's prose - it was simplistic on vocabulary, but clever as hell on imagery and simile. 
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on March 02, 2017, 06:24:12 PM
Quote from: Salty on March 02, 2017, 05:21:53 PM
I just finished reading The Conjure Man Dies, which is the first published detective novel written by a black man, Rudolph Fisher.

It's awful. It was written in 1932, so it is naturally rough since that genre hadn't quite had time to mature. It is certainly very interesting, especially from a cultural perspective. The plot itself is relatively interesting, if hackneyed and weird.

The problem with the book is shit like the scene where a woman is dancing in a club and the narrator points out that, "this young lady was proving beyond question the error of reserving legs for mere locomotion"

BLECH.

Fisher was a doctor, and his book reads like it. He uses way too many $10 dollar words where a $0.10 word will do, and he really likes to show off his keen intellect. It just comes off showboaty, especially for genre fiction. It was painful to read and I am glad I am done. Fisher might have gotten somewhere with a lot more time and effort, but he died from a botched stomach surgery two years after publishing.

I feel this way reading a lot of published journal articles from 40, 50 years ago. I'm like WHAT ARE YOU DOING WHERE ARE YOUR CONTROLS THIS ISN'T EVEN SCIENCE DAMMIT.

But, as painful as it is, there is value in reading pioneering work. Helps you know where your intellectual forbears were coming from.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Salty on March 02, 2017, 06:26:15 PM
Quote from: Cain on March 02, 2017, 06:05:48 PM
That's one thing I always admired about Chandler's prose - it was simplistic on vocabulary, but clever as hell on imagery and simile.

Never read him, I will do so!
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Salty on March 02, 2017, 06:27:41 PM
Quote from: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on March 02, 2017, 06:24:12 PM
Quote from: Salty on March 02, 2017, 05:21:53 PM
I just finished reading The Conjure Man Dies, which is the first published detective novel written by a black man, Rudolph Fisher.

It's awful. It was written in 1932, so it is naturally rough since that genre hadn't quite had time to mature. It is certainly very interesting, especially from a cultural perspective. The plot itself is relatively interesting, if hackneyed and weird.

The problem with the book is shit like the scene where a woman is dancing in a club and the narrator points out that, "this young lady was proving beyond question the error of reserving legs for mere locomotion"

BLECH.

Fisher was a doctor, and his book reads like it. He uses way too many $10 dollar words where a $0.10 word will do, and he really likes to show off his keen intellect. It just comes off showboaty, especially for genre fiction. It was painful to read and I am glad I am done. Fisher might have gotten somewhere with a lot more time and effort, but he died from a botched stomach surgery two years after publishing.

I feel this way reading a lot of published journal articles from 40, 50 years ago. I'm like WHAT ARE YOU DOING WHERE ARE YOUR CONTROLS THIS ISN'T EVEN SCIENCE DAMMIT.

But, as painful as it is, there is value in reading pioneering work. Helps you know where your intellectual forbears were coming from.

Yeah, that's definitely why I took the class. I thought of all the often unnoticed Black roots of nearly all American art and realized there are probably a lot of literary roots as well that just don't get taught or talked about.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on March 02, 2017, 06:41:37 PM
Quote from: Salty on March 02, 2017, 06:26:15 PM
Quote from: Cain on March 02, 2017, 06:05:48 PM
That's one thing I always admired about Chandler's prose - it was simplistic on vocabulary, but clever as hell on imagery and simile.

Never read him, I will do so!

You should, Raymond Chandler is about the biggest influence on hardboiled detective fiction there is (only possibly being beaten out by Dashiell Hammett).  His literary style is interesting too - it's the written equivalent of a punch to the gut.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on March 02, 2017, 06:47:39 PM
Quote from: Salty on March 02, 2017, 06:27:41 PM
Quote from: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on March 02, 2017, 06:24:12 PM
Quote from: Salty on March 02, 2017, 05:21:53 PM
I just finished reading The Conjure Man Dies, which is the first published detective novel written by a black man, Rudolph Fisher.

It's awful. It was written in 1932, so it is naturally rough since that genre hadn't quite had time to mature. It is certainly very interesting, especially from a cultural perspective. The plot itself is relatively interesting, if hackneyed and weird.

The problem with the book is shit like the scene where a woman is dancing in a club and the narrator points out that, "this young lady was proving beyond question the error of reserving legs for mere locomotion"

BLECH.

Fisher was a doctor, and his book reads like it. He uses way too many $10 dollar words where a $0.10 word will do, and he really likes to show off his keen intellect. It just comes off showboaty, especially for genre fiction. It was painful to read and I am glad I am done. Fisher might have gotten somewhere with a lot more time and effort, but he died from a botched stomach surgery two years after publishing.

I feel this way reading a lot of published journal articles from 40, 50 years ago. I'm like WHAT ARE YOU DOING WHERE ARE YOUR CONTROLS THIS ISN'T EVEN SCIENCE DAMMIT.

But, as painful as it is, there is value in reading pioneering work. Helps you know where your intellectual forbears were coming from.

Yeah, that's definitely why I took the class. I thought of all the often unnoticed Black roots of nearly all American art and realized there are probably a lot of literary roots as well that just don't get taught or talked about.

So true. And the really good ones are shamelessly ripped off without acknowledgement.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Salty on March 02, 2017, 08:10:11 PM
It seems The Conjure Man Dies was also an elegant deconstruction of different racial issues such as power acquired through Black people taking advantage of their own community, the exclusion of the working class, and the freedom that comes with bucking the dominant paradigm.

Who knew?!*













*Black people.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Salty on March 15, 2017, 06:04:50 PM
My last reading for African American Literature was "Black No More". It was incredible.

George Schuyler, the author, was a fascinating person. During his hey-day he was often referred to as "the Black Mencken" and he certainly exemplified what Mencken referred to as "the man who is able to think things out for himself, without regard to the prevailing superstitions and taboos"

In the book, a doctor creates a procedure by which Black people can be transformed into White people. Skin, hair, and facial features are made White. It costs $50.

It is a satire with sci-fi aspects. It is easily one of the best sci-fi stories from the 30's I have ever read.

The main character seeks a White woman who spurned him, Helen. He goes through the process and after he find she is the daughter of the leader of what passes for the KKK, he becomes it's leader. You sort of have to be familiar with figures of the Harlem Renaissance to get all the brutal jabs he delivers to people like WEB Du Bois and Marcus Garvey.

What I love about Schuyler is, he pulls no punches, gives no fucks. A deeply principled contrarian and Discordian, IMO.

His solution to the race problems of America is miscegenation, which is amazing all by itself considering it was basically illegal.

Also, the book points out an often forgotten fact: few Americans have zero Black of Native American ancestry. The beginnings of this country was, uh, mingled. Can't wait to bring that up on FB some time soon.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on March 16, 2017, 04:10:11 PM
Quote from: Salty on March 15, 2017, 06:04:50 PM
My last reading for African American Literature was "Black No More". It was incredible.

George Schuyler, the author, was a fascinating person. During his hey-day he was often referred to as "the Black Mencken" and he certainly exemplified what Mencken referred to as "the man who is able to think things out for himself, without regard to the prevailing superstitions and taboos"

In the book, a doctor creates a procedure by which Black people can be transformed into White people. Skin, hair, and facial features are made White. It costs $50.

It is a satire with sci-fi aspects. It is easily one of the best sci-fi stories from the 30's I have ever read.

The main character seeks a White woman who spurned him, Helen. He goes through the process and after he find she is the daughter of the leader of what passes for the KKK, he becomes it's leader. You sort of have to be familiar with figures of the Harlem Renaissance to get all the brutal jabs he delivers to people like WEB Du Bois and Marcus Garvey.

What I love about Schuyler is, he pulls no punches, gives no fucks. A deeply principled contrarian and Discordian, IMO.

His solution to the race problems of America is miscegenation, which is amazing all by itself considering it was basically illegal.

Also, the book points out an often forgotten fact: few Americans have zero Black of Native American ancestry. The beginnings of this country was, uh, mingled. Can't wait to bring that up on FB some time soon.

That's one of the things I love about all the people getting 23 and me tests. Surprise! You're Black!
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: tyrannosaurus vex on March 17, 2017, 02:15:59 AM
So I've just started The Hero with a Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell. I remember watching The Power of Myth on PBS a lot of years ago so picked this up to reacquaint myself. It's well written, and it does a much better job than a lot of similar books at covering material from outside the western European traditions... BUT so far (I'm only into the second part) it seems almost comically male-centric, to the point of treating women as little more than props. I assume a few people from PD have also read this, so if you have -- does it continue this way or does it get better? If that's just how it is, do you think this outdated approach to the subject mortally wounds its conclusions?
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on March 18, 2017, 04:01:14 PM
I haven't read that... now I'm interested in what people have to say about it.

I just started "Promiscuity", and so far it's pretty good. In chapter 2 the author ruthlessly excoriates evolutionary psychologists, which pleases me.

He has also made some really wholly unsupported statements about reproductive conflict and success, so I'm taking it all with a grain of salt. It was written in 2000, so it's still a bit mired in "The Selfish Gene" level thinking.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: tyrannosaurus vex on March 18, 2017, 04:18:17 PM
I'm little farther along and the myopic male-centricity has subsided a little. He has given examples of female heroes, though not nearly as in depth. Most of the women presented in the book are archetypal. He relies way too much of Freud, but having written the book in 1948-49, I guess that's as close to modern psychoanalysis as he could reasonably be expected to get. I do find the overall direction compelling at least as a subset of historical/mythical storytelling, if not to the degree Mr. Campbell seems to think it applies universally. And even if the author himself is mired in sexism by default, he is able to convey his conclusions in a way that are [mostly] applicable to characters gendered otherwise. I mean, the "everything is a veiled Oedipus complex" nonsense only accounts for maybe 10% of the points.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: tyrannosaurus vex on March 23, 2017, 03:00:05 AM
Disclaimer: wow, this turned out to be a lot longer than I thought it would...

Finished The Hero with a Thousand Faces today. My first reaction is that I will have to give this another two or three reads before I catch most of it, because it's incredibly dense. Also, it's a few parsecs beyond my level of education in ancient cultures, myths, and psychology (even if it is outdated on the psychological front). That said, it's a decent introduction on its own to those concepts and for me anyway has been pretty enjoyable.

To my initial hesitation on the question of whether it was ridiculously male-centric, I am sure the case can be made that it is. The book is a deep dive into the history, purpose, and various forms of ancient mythology and how it relates to the human psyche and personal development. It is fixated on duality as the myths see it, the devolution from the divine One to the mundane 'everything else', so it treats gender as a fundamental pair of opposites for that reason. Although it goes to some length to insist on the necessary equality of the sexes, it still assumes there are fixed roles and attributes of each gender. To be honest, though, I'm not educated enough to know whether this stems from Campbell being some kind of chauvinist, or because the majority of mythologies around the world treat gender in that way. Do most mythologies and cosmologies assume such roles? (I'm not asking rhetorically -- I don't know).

I actually began reading the book because I read somewhere else that it has been a strong motivator for modern storytelling, especially in movies. Campbell's theory of "The Hero's Journey" is believed by some (now waning numbers of) people to describe a universal story formula that is followed by many of the most famous and influential stories from prehistory to the present. Allegedly, this has been boiled down to such a science by modern screenwriters that there are computer algorithms that can predict how successful a film will be based on how well its script adheres to this formula. So I was expecting a fairly straightforward description of that formula, with a bunch of examples for each station in the basic plot.

LUCKILY, the book's scope is much bigger than that. The Hero's Journey is certainly part of, and inseparable from, the soul of this book, but Campbell's aim isn't just to spill the beans on some formulaic method of writing stories. He is concerned with the genesis of myth itself and its effects on the human psyche through each stage of civilization's development. He follows a winding path through the stations of The Hero's Journey as a way of avoiding a long-winded treatise in historical order (I think). He ties many of the points to corresponding bits of psychology, which is where he gets into trouble with a few haphazard Freudisms.

The most succinct and useful part of the book (for me anyway) comes in the epilogue, after the end of all the tours through various creation myths. It was almost synchronicity for me because it hit the nail of my recent philosophical meandering right on the head as it described the loss of cosmic and mythological wonder through the maturation of organized religion and the rise of science and hard materialism to the top tier of modern thinking. The ultimate conclusion of the book is that the good purposes served by mythology and religion in the past -- to bind a people together in order to thrive in an often hostile world, first against nature, and then against competing tribes -- is no longer useful because we have now built a global community. Those old beliefs and superstitions now serve to divide us and keep us from recognizing the humanity in the Other. So what is needed, according to Campbell, is a new mythology and the plight of a new "Hero" that functions with respect to modern society, technology, and the self-centric way we now think of ourselves.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cramulus on March 23, 2017, 04:39:15 AM
:mittens:

that's a really good review
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on March 23, 2017, 03:55:46 PM
I haven't read much Campbell, but I loved the Power of Myth series. Your review makes me want to add him to my reading list!
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: tyrannosaurus vex on March 23, 2017, 04:40:48 PM
Quote from: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on March 23, 2017, 03:55:46 PM
I haven't read much Campbell, but I loved the Power of Myth series. Your review makes me want to add him to my reading list!

I don't think you would go wrong to put him in your list. As a bonus, beyond the interesting subject matter, the writing itself is eloquent and even poetic, without being needlessly flowery or pretentious like some spoofs of "letters home from the Civil War". It's almost depressing because it presents a higher version of the English language that has been almost completely lost, even in the formal academic writing of today.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on March 23, 2017, 08:05:45 PM
Quote from: tyrannosaurus vex on March 23, 2017, 04:40:48 PM
Quote from: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on March 23, 2017, 03:55:46 PM
I haven't read much Campbell, but I loved the Power of Myth series. Your review makes me want to add him to my reading list!

I don't think you would go wrong to put him in your list. As a bonus, beyond the interesting subject matter, the writing itself is eloquent and even poetic, without being needlessly flowery or pretentious like some spoofs of "letters home from the Civil War". It's almost depressing because it presents a higher version of the English language that has been almost completely lost, even in the formal academic writing of today.

Hahaha, formal academic writing... don't get me started. It was never meant to be beautiful, and the recent shift toward making it READABLE is a vast improvement over the shitty vocabulary vomit of most late-20th-century science writing.

A truly beautiful writer has always been a rarity, and it's encouraging to hear that Campbell was one.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: tyrannosaurus vex on March 23, 2017, 08:25:30 PM
Next on my plate: Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue (http://www.audible.com/pd/History/Our-Magnificent-Bastard-Tongue-Audiobook/B002V1OF16), by John McWhorter. (Thanks to QGP for the recommendation). It's an audiobook because a) I only read audiobooks & idgaf, and b) in an etymology book it's helpful to actually hear the language. So far it's entertaining, even though the author likes to go on tirades against The Etymology Establishment and the grammar police. It's sort of adorable to hear someone have such strong feelings over a subject so thoroughly nerdy.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on March 24, 2017, 04:04:31 AM
Quote from: tyrannosaurus vex on March 23, 2017, 08:25:30 PM
Next on my plate: Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue (http://www.audible.com/pd/History/Our-Magnificent-Bastard-Tongue-Audiobook/B002V1OF16), by John McWhorter. (Thanks to QGP for the recommendation). It's an audiobook because a) I only read audiobooks & idgaf, and b) in an etymology book it's helpful to actually hear the language. So far it's entertaining, even though the author likes to go on tirades against The Etymology Establishment and the grammar police. It's sort of adorable to hear someone have such strong feelings over a subject so thoroughly nerdy.

That sounds like a lovely one. I read a Bill Bryson book ages ago, Mother Tongue, that really made me appreciate the vagaries of English.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on March 24, 2017, 01:40:39 PM
I'm reading "The New Jim Crow" by Michelle Alexander, about how mass incarceration is the modern caste system of white supremacy.

Interestingly, it was given to me by my septuagenarian mother, who is trying to become Woke in the wake of this election. I mean, she was always a "liberal democrat", but she was also born a WASP in Pasadena CA during the 40s, so...

It's really fun to watch.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cramulus on March 24, 2017, 02:33:31 PM
The best book I read last year was Aurora by Kim Stanley Robinson.

Kim Stanley Robinson writes hard-sci-fi. In the tradition of Arthur C Clark, he wants to explore the question, "If we <went to another planet>, what would it actually be like?" His books contain no science-fantasy: there is no faster than light travel. There are no anthropomorphic aliens. The universe is what it is.

Aurora follows the journey of a generation ship on its way to Tau Ceti, a journey that will span multiple centuries. The book is told from the POV of the ship's AI. This is a clever device, as it allows the narrative to comment on a lot of stuff happening on the ship while still focusing on a few characters. In the beginning of the book, the AI doesn't really know how to tell a narrative story, so the writing is a little clumsy. At some point, its told to research literature and educate itself - and after that point, it starts using metaphors and more poetic language. The writing style shifts subtly as the book goes on - this is a tiny detail but it helps the whole thing come to life.

The book doesn't really have an antagonist - it's part of the Man Vs Nature sci-fi tradition where a lot of the book is spent troubleshooting the various unanticipated and INTERESTING problems that come up on a multiple-century space flight. Like for example, you've basically created an island ecosystem. And in the real world, that accelerates evolution. Humans aren't reproducing fast enough to experience this, but the microorganisms we coexist with - stomach bacteria, etc - reproduce on a much faster schedule. After centuries, they start to fall out of symbiosis. What the hell do you do about that?

The ship is really imaginative. On a journey this long, they need a ship which creates its own oxygen, food, etc. So they try to create, essentially, a mini-earth. The ship has a bunch of giant spinning cylinders, each one is analogous to an earth biome. So there's a desert biome, a taiga biome, an evergreen forest biome, etc... Within these biomes there are 2-3 villages where people live off the land. There is also an assumption that "wilderness" plays an important role in the ecosystem, even though we still don't really understand it, so there are parts of this world which are off limits. This means that every so often, somebody gets killed by a pack of wild wolves. On a space ship.

I don't want to spoil too much - but it was definitely the most imaginative and engrossing book I read in 2016. Highly recommended.




Here's a video of Robinson talking about the book: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3T1-lE5i98M (with mild spoilers, about the same level as this post)
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on March 24, 2017, 03:03:14 PM
I read one of KSR's previous books - 2312.  Definitely the gold standard for hard science fiction, that guy.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cramulus on March 24, 2017, 03:21:29 PM
Yeah KSR is the standard bearer for hard-sci fi today.  He thinks of sci-fi writers as modern shamans - the people whose imagination really does become the reality of tomorrow.

The real-life Flag of Mars (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_Mars) is actually a reference to his martian terraforming trilogy - red mars, blue mars, green mars.

I'm meaning to read 2312, if I ever get through all the nonfic that's on the top of the pile. It was good?
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on March 24, 2017, 03:25:54 PM
It was, though I read it quite a while ago - I can't actually remember how it ends.  I do remember enjoying it though. Speaking of hard science, The Expanse on Syfy is quite fun.  The books are meant to be pretty good as well.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on March 24, 2017, 09:11:25 PM
Quote from: LMNO on March 24, 2017, 01:40:39 PM
I'm reading "The New Jim Crow" by Michelle Alexander, about how mass incarceration is the modern caste system of white supremacy.

Interestingly, it was given to me by my septuagenarian mother, who is trying to become Woke in the wake of this election. I mean, she was always a "liberal democrat", but she was also born a WASP in Pasadena CA during the 40s, so...

It's really fun to watch.

That's pretty awesome! A hell of a book, too. Good for your mom!
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: tyrannosaurus vex on April 03, 2017, 03:31:48 PM
Cloud Atlas

Excerpt:
Quote
"Witty homily, that." My sarcasm disgusted me. "You must be a genius in Scotland."
"No, in Scotland a genius is an Englishman who gets himself accidentally imprisoned in a retirement home."

Idk, maybe you need more context. It made me laugh.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Vanadium Gryllz on April 03, 2017, 03:36:25 PM
I have started "The Attention Merchants" by Tim Wu.

So far it's covered the history of advertising (and by extension the ideas behind the capture and sale of attention) from organised religions (OG attention merchants) to snake oil salesmen, newspapers supported by ad revenue, propaganda posters etc. to the evolution of adverts themselves and the different techniques employed as the public and markets changed.

I don't know where the book is going yet but hopefully it's somewhere interesting. Having a bit more of an idea behind the principles behind the demands on one's attention makes me feel like i've gotten some worth from the book already.

I am also reading "How to fail at everything and win big" by Scott Adams.
It has a core theme of keep trying at shit and don't get bogged down by failure. I think this is a reasonable point but for me the whole message is diluted a bit when you consider that the one thing that 'stuck' for the author in particular was writing Dilbert comics. A lot (though not all) of the examples of his failures that he writes about are post-dilbert success and as such he has a lot less to lose than many that are perhaps reading his book for inspiration.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: tyrannosaurus vex on April 03, 2017, 03:57:12 PM
Quote from: Xaz on April 03, 2017, 03:36:25 PM
I have started "The Attention Merchants" by Tim Wu.

So far it's covered the history of advertising (and by extension the ideas behind the capture and sale of attention) from organised religions (OG attention merchants) to snake oil salesmen, newspapers supported by ad revenue, propaganda posters etc. to the evolution of adverts themselves and the different techniques employed as the public and markets changed.

I don't know where the book is going yet but hopefully it's somewhere interesting. Having a bit more of an idea behind the principles behind the demands on one's attention makes me feel like i've gotten some worth from the book already.

That sounds super cool, I'll add it to my list. Thanks for mentioning it.

Quote
I am also reading "How to fail at everything and win big" by Scott Adams.
It has a core theme of keep trying at shit and don't get bogged down by failure. I think this is a reasonable point but for me the whole message is diluted a bit when you consider that the one thing that 'stuck' for the author in particular was writing Dilbert comics. A lot (though not all) of the examples of his failures that he writes about are post-dilbert success and as such he has a lot less to lose than many that are perhaps reading his book for inspiration.
Scott Adams is also an asshole of mythic proportions. just one taste (https://wonkette.com/608032/weird-dilbert-guy-scott-adams-cruelly-persecuted-by-hillbullies-continues-descent-into-madness)
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on April 03, 2017, 04:21:05 PM
Still slowly making my way through "Promiscuity". It's a fun read but I've  barely been reading lately so it's taking ages. Much to my delight, in chapter 6 he talks about dens where "investigators must at times stand knee-deep in snakes", and since there is only one spot on Earth that fits that description, my heart was thrilled at the mention of the snake mines, being myself one of said investigators.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Junkenstein on April 03, 2017, 06:00:26 PM
Hey v3x, not looked at Adams in years, seems to have gone from minor who (affirmations etc) into full cretin. Any good summary or reason for the slide into idiocy?
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Vanadium Gryllz on April 03, 2017, 07:56:45 PM
Quote from: tyrannosaurus vex on April 03, 2017, 03:57:12 PM
Quote from: Xaz on April 03, 2017, 03:36:25 PM
I have started "The Attention Merchants" by Tim Wu.

So far it's covered the history of advertising (and by extension the ideas behind the capture and sale of attention) from organised religions (OG attention merchants) to snake oil salesmen, newspapers supported by ad revenue, propaganda posters etc. to the evolution of adverts themselves and the different techniques employed as the public and markets changed.

I don't know where the book is going yet but hopefully it's somewhere interesting. Having a bit more of an idea behind the principles behind the demands on one's attention makes me feel like i've gotten some worth from the book already.

That sounds super cool, I'll add it to my list. Thanks for mentioning it.

Quote
I am also reading "How to fail at everything and win big" by Scott Adams.
It has a core theme of keep trying at shit and don't get bogged down by failure. I think this is a reasonable point but for me the whole message is diluted a bit when you consider that the one thing that 'stuck' for the author in particular was writing Dilbert comics. A lot (though not all) of the examples of his failures that he writes about are post-dilbert success and as such he has a lot less to lose than many that are perhaps reading his book for inspiration.
Scott Adams is also an asshole of mythic proportions. just one taste (https://wonkette.com/608032/weird-dilbert-guy-scott-adams-cruelly-persecuted-by-hillbullies-continues-descent-into-madness)

You are welcome!

Huh I didn't know that about Scott Adams. I remember watching the Dilbert cartoons as a kid.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: tyrannosaurus vex on April 04, 2017, 01:53:29 AM
I don't know the whole story with Adams. I've loved Dilbert since forever, and was surprised last year when it because apparent the man is a gung-ho Trump supporter with the whole "snowflakes" and "safe places" bag of brainless epithets. I haven't bothered to find out why. I assume it's something to do with his being a comfortable middle-class white guy who has few occasions in his life to ponder the idiocy or heartlessness of his political leanings (see also William Shatner).
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Brother Mythos on April 04, 2017, 10:46:17 AM
I've finished reading Thus Spake Zarathustra - A Book for All and None by Friedrich W. Nietzsche.

Although I have a "Cambridge Texts in the History of Philosophy" version of this book, I had never finished, I chose to begin reading this work again with a downloaded version from www.gutenberg.org. Fortunately, the gutenberg.org version has a lengthy appendix, written by a contemporary of Nietzsche, that is lacking from my printed version. And, without that lengthy appendix, I would have had no idea WHO Nietzsche was often writing about, as he used pseudonyms, metaphors, parables, and pseudonyms and metaphors within parables throughout this work.

In the Introduction of the gutenberg.org version, Nietzsche's sister wrote, "Even the reception which the first part met with at the hands of friends and acquaintances was extremely disheartening: for almost all those to whom he presented copies of the work misunderstood it. 'I found no one ripe for many of my thoughts; the case of "Zarathustra" proves that one can speak with the utmost clearness, and yet not be heard by any one.'"

Unfortunately, in my humble opinion, the first part of this four part book is the easiest to understand. Again, if not for the appendix provided in the gutenberg.org version, I would have had no idea 'The Magician' was Nietzsche's pseudonym for Richard Wagner, or that 'The Soothsayer' was his pseudonym for Arthur Schopenhauer.

Nevertheless, there are many passages where Nietzsche's did make his thoughts perfectly clear, such as the following:

'When Zarathustra was alone, however, he said to his heart: "Could it be possible! This old saint in the forest hath not yet heard of it, that GOD IS DEAD!"'

Or, when Nietzsche wrote:

"Everything in woman is a riddle, and everything in woman hath one solution--it is called pregnancy.

"Man is for woman a means: the purpose is always the child. But what is woman for man?

Two different things wanteth the true man: danger and diversion. Therefore wanteth he woman, as the most dangerous plaything.

Man shall be trained for war, and woman for the recreation of the warrior: all else is folly."

I often found, however, that when Nietzsche did undertake the effort to make a particular idea understandable, he then proceeded to beat the idea to death in subsequent chapters.   

While struggling through the third part of this book, it occurred to me that a better title for this work might have been Thus Spake Zarathustra - A Book for All Who Have Already Read Everything Else I Have Ever Written and None. In my humble opinion, this is not the book to begin one's reading/studying of Nietzsche, if one is not already familiar with his life, times, and philosophy.

Now, as I'm currently feeding a philosophy habit, I'm going on to read Discourse on the Method of Rightly Conducting One's Reason and of Seeking Truth in the Sciences, by René Descartes.




Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: tyrannosaurus vex on April 08, 2017, 08:02:11 PM
Just finished Isaac Asimov's Foundation.

I don't know where to begin really. I read it because I was looking for an enormous exercise in world building, of which the book does a capable job. It nearly completely lacks character development, which is probably something that a lot of people would find unattractive but doesn't bother me since I wasn't really looking for "human" stories as much as epic historical fiction. But... I still wouldn't call it "good".

For starters, Foundation was written in the 1950s I think, and it's approach to science fiction hasn't aged very well. All the technology is based on "atomics", showing the era's expectation that the atom would revolutionize human civilization forever. Everything from blaster guns to shaving razors are based on atomic energy somehow. It's somewhat adorable, but mostly just... ridiculous.

As far as characters go, the first thing to know is that they are all men. Women are present as caricatures and described invariably as either bumbling bimbos or conniving witches (a queen is nothing but a nag and an agent of her hostile father, for example). Also, I'm not really sure how this book is considered one of the best sci-fi stories ever written. Standards must have been a lot different in the 50s and 60s. All the dialog is written in the same voice as the narration, and all the characters speak with the same nuance and vocabulary. Sometimes it can be hard to keep track of who's saying what. Meh.

The historical arc is interesting, but suffers from a little too much exposition and some ideas presented as insightful are just silly. There's very little depth to concepts like religion vs. commerce, and everyone in the universe seems to behave as if programmed by an amateur psychologist. The book revolves around the notion that the future can be predicted by applying mathematical theory to psychology, but then it presents such a one-dimensional version of psychology that every character behaves exactly as expected. Every episode follows the same basic formula: The Antagonist sets up a scheme to undo the Protagonist, then the Protagonist outwits the Antagonist by way of some "psychological" trick that shows up at the end of the episode, leaving the Protagonist on top and the Antagonist out in the cold (or dead).

Seriously, how is this a genre-defining work? There's a whole series in this universe, but I don't think I'm going to bother with it. It's a disappointment because the concept is interesting. The execution just hasn't survived the years since writing. If anyone knows better and would suggest the later books, let me know.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on April 09, 2017, 01:32:40 AM
As I recall, the series became much more polished with the subsequent releases.  It's been many, many years since I read the whole thing, but Second Foundation was reasonably good, and the last two books, written after a 30 year hiatus from the series, are noticeably better.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on April 09, 2017, 08:17:07 PM
Just received Kuhn's The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. It looks pretty good.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Brother Mythos on April 11, 2017, 01:52:47 PM
I've finished reading Discourse on the Method of Rightly Conducting One's Reason and of Seeking Truth in the Sciences, by René Descartes. This is the work where he first stated "Cogito ergo sum," "I think, therefore I am."

This book is short, and not altogether what I expected. In it, Descartes published the four laws of his "scientific method," and the four maxims of his "moral code." And, although he made his famous "I think, therefore I am" statement, he did not describe how he arrived at that conclusion, or a number of other significant metaphysical/philosophical conclusions. He defended his lack of "proofs" by writing that he did not want to upset established authority, i.e., the church.

Descartes also went on, at length, to describe his scientific findings on the heart and blood circulation. (Students of the history of science, and the history of the scientific method might find this to be of interest.) It was Descartes conclusion that the heart moved blood through the circulatory system, not by muscle/mechanical pumping, but by "heating" the blood so that it "expanded" into the arteries. Reading that, I had to remind myself that Descartes published his book in 1637, and the study of physiology has come a long way in the three hundred and eighty years since his time.       

I suspect this book might not be the best one start with for reading/studying Descartes. But again, Discourse on the Method is a short read. In any case, I'm moving on to Descartes's Meditations on First Philosophy.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on April 13, 2017, 12:03:47 AM
Descartes anatomical works are quite useful. His physiology... not so much.  :lol:
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: tyrannosaurus vex on April 21, 2017, 03:43:31 AM
(https://s.faketrumptweet.com/j1r87gnz_10nze3j_rdfj23.png)
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cainad (dec.) on May 23, 2017, 01:02:58 AM
I am about a third of the way through Dictionary of the Khazars (https://www.amazon.com/Dictionary-Khazars-Lexicon-Novel-Words/dp/0679724613/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1495497580&sr=8-2&keywords=Khazars). I bought it because of the back-cover blurb, which I will share with you here:

QuoteA national bestseller, Dictionary of the Khazars was cited by The New York Times Book Review as one of the best books of the year. Written in two versions, male and female (both available in Vintage International), which are identical save for seventeen crucial lines, Dictionary is the imaginary book of knowledge of the Khazars, a people who flourished somewhere beyond Transylvania between the seventh and ninth centuries. Eschewing conventional narrative and plot, this lexicon novel combines the dictionaries of the world's three major religions with entries that leap between past and future, featuring three unruly wise men, a book printed in poison ink, suicide by mirrors, a chimerical princess, a sect of priests who can infiltrate one's dreams, romances between the living and the dead, and much more.

Now, at this point you might be thinking, "what the fuck," and you would be correct.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: The Good Reverend Roger on May 23, 2017, 02:16:07 AM
Quote from: Cainad (dec.) on May 23, 2017, 01:02:58 AM
I am about a third of the way through Dictionary of the Khazars (https://www.amazon.com/Dictionary-Khazars-Lexicon-Novel-Words/dp/0679724613/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1495497580&sr=8-2&keywords=Khazars). I bought it because of the back-cover blurb, which I will share with you here:

QuoteA national bestseller, Dictionary of the Khazars was cited by The New York Times Book Review as one of the best books of the year. Written in two versions, male and female (both available in Vintage International), which are identical save for seventeen crucial lines, Dictionary is the imaginary book of knowledge of the Khazars, a people who flourished somewhere beyond Transylvania between the seventh and ninth centuries. Eschewing conventional narrative and plot, this lexicon novel combines the dictionaries of the world's three major religions with entries that leap between past and future, featuring three unruly wise men, a book printed in poison ink, suicide by mirrors, a chimerical princess, a sect of priests who can infiltrate one's dreams, romances between the living and the dead, and much more.

Now, at this point you might be thinking, "what the fuck," and you would be correct.

I think I need this in my life.   :lol:
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cainad (dec.) on May 23, 2017, 03:12:50 AM
Parts of it read like a very dry, academic rendering of a TGRR dream. It's kind of amazing.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: The Good Reverend Roger on May 23, 2017, 03:37:15 AM
Quote from: Cainad (dec.) on May 23, 2017, 03:12:50 AM
Parts of it read like a very dry, academic rendering of a TGRR dream. It's kind of amazing.

Roger Waldo Emerson?
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cainad (dec.) on May 23, 2017, 05:24:09 AM
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on May 23, 2017, 03:37:15 AM
Quote from: Cainad (dec.) on May 23, 2017, 03:12:50 AM
Parts of it read like a very dry, academic rendering of a TGRR dream. It's kind of amazing.

Roger Waldo Emerson?


Let's see if this attachment goes through...
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cainad (dec.) on June 09, 2017, 04:02:34 PM
A little over halfway through Dictionary of the Khazars, and I think I've identified what I like so much about it (other than being premium-quality High Weirdness):

It reads like a historical fantasy book written by someone who doesn't read fantasy books. Which, if you consume as much fantasy trash as I do, is incredibly refreshing.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Chucklemaster on June 10, 2017, 12:38:09 AM
Reading all sorts of stuff from the Black Wings of Cthulhu anthologies collected and edited by S.T. Joshi. Full of great weird fiction stories. Really inspiring stuff, and the little introductions by Joshi at the beginning of each book are great too.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cainad (dec.) on June 10, 2017, 03:08:26 PM
Quote from: Chucklemaster on June 10, 2017, 12:38:09 AM
Reading all sorts of stuff from the Black Wings of Cthulhu anthologies collected and edited by S.T. Joshi. Full of great weird fiction stories. Really inspiring stuff, and the little introductions by Joshi at the beginning of each book are great too.

I should get back to that collection, it didn't really click for me at the time I was reading it.

Joshi is a excellent Lovecraft historian though; the Penguin Classics collections of HPL's stories are LOADED with annotations that made the stories much more enjoyable for a modern reader to appreciate.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: tyrannosaurus vex on June 12, 2017, 01:30:58 AM
The History of the Ancient World: From the Earliest Accounts to the Fall of Rome
by Susan Wise Bauer

Just now starting it, but it's engaging enough so far. I wanted a more human understanding of history and a better idea of the order of events. Right now covering a chapter about China's Yellow Emperor. There are two more of these that I know of, covering the Classical and Medieval periods. Soon I'll practically have a PhD.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Chucklemaster on June 12, 2017, 03:57:06 AM
Quote from: Cainad (dec.) on June 10, 2017, 03:08:26 PM
the Penguin Classics collections of HPL's stories are LOADED with annotations that made the stories much more enjoyable for a modern reader to appreciate.
ooh, nice. I should check those out. There have always been a couple lovecraft stories I could never get fully into because, while his writing sometimes manages to transcend it, his racism gets in the way and pulls things back to mundanity, but reading it with Joshi's commentary would probably help.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Bird Daughter on June 25, 2017, 11:27:03 PM
I'm going to read Foucault's Pendulum by Umberto Eco. Its about some bored editors who create a hoax conspiracy theory.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on July 02, 2017, 04:00:19 AM
4 days until The Unholy Consult is released.

Given the last book ended with a nuke going off, I can't wait to see what happens in this one.  I'm expecting the kind of wham ending we saw with The Thousandfold Thought.  As to what that will be...who can say? 
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cainad (dec.) on July 02, 2017, 03:16:40 PM
Quote from: Cain on July 02, 2017, 04:00:19 AM
4 days until The Unholy Consult is released.

Given the last book ended with a nuke going off, I can't wait to see what happens in this one.  I'm expecting the kind of wham ending we saw with The Thousandfold Thought.  As to what that will be...who can say?

SHIT I FORGOT IT'S JULY

Well I guess I know what I'm doing when I get back from vacation. I already have bookmarks in three other books that I'm dead-set on finishing soon, but some things are more important.

Huh, on Amazon it says it comes out the 25th? Happy Birthday to me, in any case.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cainad (dec.) on July 02, 2017, 03:21:16 PM
Quote from: Cainad (dec.) on July 02, 2017, 03:16:40 PM
Quote from: Cain on July 02, 2017, 04:00:19 AM
4 days until The Unholy Consult is released.

Given the last book ended with a nuke going off, I can't wait to see what happens in this one.  I'm expecting the kind of wham ending we saw with The Thousandfold Thought.  As to what that will be...who can say?

SHIT I FORGOT IT'S JULY

Well I guess I know what I'm doing when I get back from vacation. I already have bookmarks in three other books that I'm dead-set on finishing soon, but some things are more important.

Huh, on Amazon it says it comes out the 25th? Happy Birthday to me, in any case.

BTW, have you encountered any good sum-ups or analyses of the series so far, especially including the ending of the last book? I need a refresher since I've been filling my brain with Malazan while waiting for these books to come out.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on July 02, 2017, 10:44:06 PM
Maybe the Kindle edition is different?  But I'm looking at the order here, and it definitely says July 6th.  Either that or this is a rare case of the UK getting something first...oh, according to this, the publisher is Orbit.  That could make sense, Orbit are UK-based.

For a recap, /r/bakker was doing a chapter by chapter discussion of the series, but when I last checked they were only up to The Thousandfold Thought.  You could always try the official forums as well http://www.second-apocalypse.com/index.php?board=4.0
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on July 06, 2017, 02:18:30 AM
Also there is the whole "What Came Before..." roundup at the start of the book.  It hits most of the major based, looking at it.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on July 06, 2017, 05:59:21 AM
Speaking of which...I'm about a quarter of the way through the book already.  The whole "eating Sranc" thing has ended roughly how I suspected it would.  And the reasons for breaking Proyas have finally become clear.  Sorweel's interaction with the Nonman Amiolas has given him some much needed steel at long last, which is nice to see.  Kelomonas is still inexplicably alive, and though I'm generally opposed to child violence I would not be sad to see him fed to a Inchoroi.

No sign of Meppa yet, which makes me sad.  Meppa is without a doubt the most badass character of the second trilogy.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on July 07, 2017, 10:15:59 AM
OK, so, The Unholy Consult.  Wow.  That was an ending.  And then some. 

I really can't say anything without spoilering the shit out of what happened, except I will say Meppa was nowhere to be seen.  So I can only assume he has been secreted away somewhere by Kelhus and has a role to play in the final trilogy.  And as the Last Cishaurim, with power enough to even wow Kelhus, I can't imagine his role being minor.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cainad (dec.) on July 07, 2017, 12:07:33 PM
Quote from: Cain on July 07, 2017, 10:15:59 AM
OK, so, The Unholy Consult.  Wow.  That was an ending.  And then some. 

I really can't say anything without spoilering the shit out of what happened, except I will say Meppa was nowhere to be seen.  So I can only assume he has been secreted away somewhere by Kelhus and has a role to play in the final trilogy.  And as the Last Cishaurim, with power enough to even wow Kelhus, I can't imagine his role being minor.

Yeah, given what Khellus intuited about the Cishaurim at the end of TTT and how the Dunyain couldn't master the Psukhe, I'd expect Meppa to be SOMEONE'S ace in the hole. Either Khellus's or someone else's.

Seeing Khellus having truly run out of Fucks To Give about the crapsack world he lives in is... well, I guess I should have seen it coming, but it's so at odds with the unstoppable force he's painted as in the first trilogy that it's hard to imagine him at the end of his rope, as he seems to be by the end of The Great Ordeal.

TUC is gonna have to wait until I'm back from China and recovered from jet lag, but I am excite.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: tyrannosaurus vex on July 07, 2017, 05:21:01 PM
Thanks to Cain, I have been forced to start this series from the beginning (meaning the first book of the Prince of Nothing series) and now I have a lot of reading ahead of me so I don't appreciate that and Cain should feel bad (and subsidize the cost of these books). But at least I don't have to worry about what I'm going to read next for the next eight years or so.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cainad (dec.) on July 07, 2017, 05:34:09 PM
Quote from: tyrannosaurus vex on July 07, 2017, 05:21:01 PM
Thanks to Cain, I have been forced to start this series from the beginning (meaning the first book of the Prince of Nothing series) and now I have a lot of reading ahead of me so I don't appreciate that and Cain should feel bad (and subsidize the cost of these books). But at least I don't have to worry about what I'm going to read next for the next eight years or so.

I pulled the first book off a bookstore shelf when I was in 9th grade because the cover looked cool. It is no exaggeration to say that this series has influenced my development into a horrible person. I think you'll have a great time with it.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on July 07, 2017, 06:46:19 PM
Cainad started me on it, so he's totally to blame.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on July 07, 2017, 06:55:21 PM
Also have fun spending the next 8 years figuring out if Kelhus is mankind's saviour or mankind's doom.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Elder Iptuous on July 07, 2017, 09:42:16 PM
Just finished cryptonomicon.  I love stephenson, but his endings are always so unsatisfying.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: tyrannosaurus vex on July 22, 2017, 05:41:23 AM
Quote from: Cain on July 07, 2017, 06:55:21 PM
Also have fun spending the next 8 years figuring out if Kelhus is mankind's saviour or mankind's doom.

So far (just finished The Thousandfold Thought) it seems like he's either a well-meaning guy who nevertheless sees a need to put human civilization through the grinder in order to save it, a la Leto Jr.; a person who has succumbed to the temptation of using his overblown intellect and conditioning for nefarious ends; are actually a god who is just beyond such petty distinctions. Stealing Esmenet was a dick move, though. No way around that, really.

Bakker has an annoying tendency to make his characters behave in a completely absurd way in what seems to be nothing more than a way to force the reader into feeling suspense. Luckily the episodes haven't lasted very long so far (with the exception of Kehlus...). The world building is pretty awesome, and the strong threads of philosophy and metaphysics are pretty neat also.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on July 22, 2017, 11:30:07 PM
With regards to Kellhus, he ceases to be a POV character in the next series, so discerning the intent behind his actions is so much harder. 

However, the Thousandfold Thought definitely revealed one correct thing: the gods have a role to play in what happens next.  They cannot see the No-God and so cannot understand the threat.  In fact, the only threat they see is Kellhus...
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: tyrannosaurus vex on July 23, 2017, 01:54:03 AM
Trying to convince my band to change our name to Mog-Pharau

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cainad (dec.) on July 23, 2017, 09:52:23 AM
Quote from: tyrannosaurus vex on July 23, 2017, 01:54:03 AM
Trying to convince my band to change our name to Mog-Pharau

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

I once generated a Minecraft map using "Mog-Pharau" as the seed string. It generated a giant ocean, with nothing except a half-dozen small mushroom-covered islands scattered about in the emptiness.

Bakker scores points in my fantasy trope book for totally nailing the "Blessed With Suck" trope for the Nonmen. Immortality blows ASS, and the full extent of how much ass it blows gets loads of detail in The Great Ordeal.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on July 23, 2017, 03:25:49 PM
Ishterebinth is actually more horrifying than anything else I think we've seen in the series, including the topos on the Mengedda Plains.

It's not as horrifying as the climax of The Unholy Consult, though...
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Hagtard Celine Dion Mustard on July 24, 2017, 10:27:23 AM
I'm still making my way through Phillip K. Dick's Exegesis while on the shitter. I wish I'd started reading it with a highlighter, because every once in a while his devolution into rambling insanity takes a pit-stop at philosophical profundity, and the chances of me starting over after getting to the halfway point of a hardback that's two-inches thick are pretty nil.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: maphdet on August 16, 2017, 03:56:04 AM
"The Alchemist"
also- I now have to wear glasses to read..
wtf is this shite about
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: tyrannosaurus vex on August 19, 2017, 05:25:45 PM
I'm taking a break from R. Scott Bakker, because it's intense and depressing.

So, like an idiot, I started Song of Ice and Fire, which is even more depressing.

I'm done with Game of Thrones and just starting A Clash of Kings. Also, I refuse to watch the TV adaptation until the books are done. Christ, this series should have been called "Everything Gets Worse".
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on August 20, 2017, 10:14:05 AM
You haven't even gotten to the most depressing part yet: reading A Feast For Crows and finding out, after going through 11 million pages, that almost nothing has happened.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Bu🤠ns on August 20, 2017, 04:37:38 PM
Quote from: Cain on August 20, 2017, 10:14:05 AM
You haven't even gotten to the most depressing part yet: reading A Feast For Crows and finding out, after going through 11 million pages, that almost nothing has happened.

That sounds like the REAL spoiler
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on August 20, 2017, 06:19:50 PM
No, but this is the real spoiler:

Joffrey is such a cunt.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Bu🤠ns on August 21, 2017, 12:29:20 AM
Quote from: Cain on August 20, 2017, 06:19:50 PM
No, but this is the real spoiler:

Joffrey is such a cunt.

:lulz: i remember starting the first book on audiobook.  IIRC it was like listening to the book of genesis blohard stormborn begat greenapple highstep begat...

I also remember thinking, nope...can't do this shit right now lol
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Brotep on August 30, 2017, 04:24:13 AM
Finished His Master's Voice by Stanisław Lem recently, and currently wrapping up Solaris. Good shit, though I liked HMV better.

Reading Lem, I imagine us to be the same kind of cerebral doofus. His work is helping me find some of the things I want to say about life.

HMV is great because he takes the usual first contact story and really unpacks what a universal signal or the closest possible thing to it would have to be. I didn't care about the story--there almost wasn't one--but the reasoning process he sets about in reverse-engineering the supposedly intentional is some quality brain jockeying. Do recommend.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Vanadium Gryllz on August 30, 2017, 03:08:51 PM
So I finished The Attention Merchants. I think it was interesting and seemingly pretty comprehensive as a history of advertising right back from the first newspapers through radio, cinema, TV and up to the internet. It could have done with a bit more of a conclusion perhaps but I guess just knowledge about what's assaulting your brain is valuable enough.

I have started trying to read Cradle to Cradle, a book about the circular economy in manufacturing. So far it's been saying the current 'harm reduction' methods introduce too much guilt and not enough action and then spends pages going on about how everything we make is slowly killing us and the planet. Pretty depressing.

Taking a break from that i've started Three Dangerous Magi which I guess you could call a primer on Crowley, Gurdjieff and Osho.. it's well written and I didn't know much about the three men before I started so i've been enjoying it.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on September 01, 2017, 08:02:14 AM
Cainad, have you finished TUC yet?  Because I want to drop spoilers.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cainad (dec.) on September 13, 2017, 02:33:05 PM
Quote from: Cain on September 01, 2017, 08:02:14 AM
Cainad, have you finished TUC yet?  Because I want to drop spoilers.

Whoops, missed this!

No, I haven't finished but I can easily avoid this thread until I do. Spoil away!
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on October 04, 2017, 12:01:52 AM
No problem.  In that case....

WHAT

THE

FUCK

JUST

HAPPENED

Everything fell logically into place, as far as I can see.  It all makes a terrifying amount of sense, the end of The Unholy Consult.  That the Consult would take Dunyain alive was incredibly foolish, but once they did, it sealed their own fate.  The tekne and the Dunyain philosophy are too close...that's assuming the Mutiliated are still Dunyain, and not Shaeonara possessing them. 

Proyas was being set-up all along.  He was the scapegoat, the fall-man designed to take the blame for the decision to eat Sranc.  His breaking was necessary, to make that step possible, and once it was done, he served the purpose of dying to redeem the Great Ordeal.

Kellhus was trying to save the world, and his plan was actually quite brilliant.  The gods could not see the threat, so he used the daimos to travel to the Outside, and made pacts with the pit.  Ajokli's summoning at the topos that is Golgotterath completely negated the advantages of the Consult and their chorae-armed skin spies, and is one of the most chilling scenes in a series full of them.

And then, Kelmomnas ruins it all, as he ruins everything.  Of course he's the No God.  No wonder the Narindar couldn't see him, couldn't react to him.  Once he was on the path to becoming the No-God, he was always the No-God, and so always invisible to the Hundred.  Ajokli intended to use the Consult as the lash to drive nations to despair, but he very conveniently abandons Kellhus at a key moment (very conveniently indeed, considering he cannot see the No-God).  Whether Kellhus had a contingency for this it's hard to say, but at the very least he is now a Ciphrang in the Outside, which means his part may not be over just yet.  And then of course, Ajokli is now also loose in the world, in the body of Cnauir, which makes a terrifying amount of sense.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on October 04, 2017, 12:13:05 AM
Anyway, I'm now reading the preview chapters for Oathbringer, the third book in Brandon Sanderson's Stormlight Archive series.

So far, Kaladin's depression is not making him repeat the same mistakes over and over again, which is nice to see after the last two books.  The depiction of Kaladin and his depression may be one of the best I've ever read, but going down that road a third time would've been completely unnecessary.

Adolin doesn't seem to be turning to the dark side or anything after his entirely justified murder of Sadeas.  It is complicating things, but thus far it doesn't seem to be causing him any major distress. 

Dalinar's flashbacks are showing just how much of a complete dick the younger Blackthorn was.  It's actually hard to believe they're the same men, the difference is that great.  The implied murder of a noble child to claim his shardplate in the wars of unification is the worst thing so far, but we've also had scenes where Sadeas appears to be picking out women to rape, with Dalinar not commenting, and an awful lot of glee taken in killing his enemies. 

Shallan's courting multiple personality disorder to not deal with the memories of killing her mother while training in using the shardblade with Adolin.  I'm sure this will have no negative repurcussions whatsoever, given Shallan's already fragile mental state. 

Voidbringers can play cards.  Who knew?
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: The Wizard Joseph on October 06, 2017, 08:03:10 PM
Finished Mother Night in a little over 4 hours. It's the first time I've binge-read in longer than I can accurately estimate. I'm looking for suggestions for my next book. Fuck sake not Vonnegut again. I feel as though I have a sort of mental indigestion.

Felt good to read again though. I'll take it as a sign of recovery.  :)
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Eater of Clowns on October 07, 2017, 06:22:27 PM
Quote from: Cain on October 04, 2017, 12:13:05 AM
Anyway, I'm now reading the preview chapters for Oathbringer, the third book in Brandon Sanderson's Stormlight Archive series.

So far, Kaladin's depression is not making him repeat the same mistakes over and over again, which is nice to see after the last two books.  The depiction of Kaladin and his depression may be one of the best I've ever read, but going down that road a third time would've been completely unnecessary.

Adolin doesn't seem to be turning to the dark side or anything after his entirely justified murder of Sadeas.  It is complicating things, but thus far it doesn't seem to be causing him any major distress. 

Dalinar's flashbacks are showing just how much of a complete dick the younger Blackthorn was.  It's actually hard to believe they're the same men, the difference is that great.  The implied murder of a noble child to claim his shardplate in the wars of unification is the worst thing so far, but we've also had scenes where Sadeas appears to be picking out women to rape, with Dalinar not commenting, and an awful lot of glee taken in killing his enemies. 

Shallan's courting multiple personality disorder to not deal with the memories of killing her mother while training in using the shardblade with Adolin.  I'm sure this will have no negative repurcussions whatsoever, given Shallan's already fragile mental state. 

Voidbringers can play cards.  Who knew?

I've been impressed with that series so far. I'd all but given up on Sanderson after the 2nd and 3rd Mistborn books, but a friend gifted me Way of Kings and I really enjoyed it. There's still something about his style that bothers me and I can't quite put my finger on it. It's probably best exemplified in Stormlight Archive by the axehounds. You have a creature that's for all intents and purposes a dog. It acts like a dog, it's trained like a dog. It's called a fucking hound. But it has a shell. Some of those worldbuilding choices are distracting, like they're just different for the sake of being different without really adding anything. It's okay, man, you can write about dogs.

Based on this thread I started reading the Prince of Nothing books. I just started Warrior Prophet the other day. The Darkness that Comes Before was a really refreshing take on fantasy, and Bakker's writing is incredibly confident.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: tyrannosaurus vex on October 08, 2017, 04:35:40 AM
Quote from: Cain on October 04, 2017, 12:13:05 AM
Anyway, I'm now reading the preview chapters for Oathbringer, the third book in Brandon Sanderson's Stormlight Archive series.

So far, Kaladin's depression is not making him repeat the same mistakes over and over again, which is nice to see after the last two books.  The depiction of Kaladin and his depression may be one of the best I've ever read, but going down that road a third time would've been completely unnecessary.

Adolin doesn't seem to be turning to the dark side or anything after his entirely justified murder of Sadeas.  It is complicating things, but thus far it doesn't seem to be causing him any major distress. 

Dalinar's flashbacks are showing just how much of a complete dick the younger Blackthorn was.  It's actually hard to believe they're the same men, the difference is that great.  The implied murder of a noble child to claim his shardplate in the wars of unification is the worst thing so far, but we've also had scenes where Sadeas appears to be picking out women to rape, with Dalinar not commenting, and an awful lot of glee taken in killing his enemies. 

Shallan's courting multiple personality disorder to not deal with the memories of killing her mother while training in using the shardblade with Adolin.  I'm sure this will have no negative repurcussions whatsoever, given Shallan's already fragile mental state. 

Voidbringers can play cards.  Who knew?

This is the book I'm waiting for. I recently finished books 1 & 2. I didn't expect to care that much, I picked them up because someone mentioned it to me and I had nothing else to read at the moment (I'm still delaying TUC for some reason).  My main anxiety about Oathbringer is that I really, really hate flashbacks. I want to know what happens next, I don't give a shit what happened 20 years earlier. That probably makes me a bad reader or whatever, but it just isn't compelling for me. I'll probably still read it anyway, though.


Quote from: Eater of Clowns on October 07, 2017, 06:22:27 PM
I've been impressed with that series so far. I'd all but given up on Sanderson after the 2nd and 3rd Mistborn books, but a friend gifted me Way of Kings and I really enjoyed it. There's still something about his style that bothers me and I can't quite put my finger on it. It's probably best exemplified in Stormlight Archive by the axehounds. You have a creature that's for all intents and purposes a dog. It acts like a dog, it's trained like a dog. It's called a fucking hound. But it has a shell. Some of those worldbuilding choices are distracting, like they're just different for the sake of being different without really adding anything. It's okay, man, you can write about dogs.

Based on this thread I started reading the Prince of Nothing books. I just started Warrior Prophet the other day. The Darkness that Comes Before was a really refreshing take on fantasy, and Bakker's writing is incredibly confident.

100% agree on Sanderson doing shit to be weird for weirdness' sake. Grass that retreats if you walk too close to it is another example. Horses still eat it so what's the difference? Just weird for no real reason at all. It doesn't bother me too much though, except when he goes off on some weird tangent for half a page explaining the behavior or history of some completely unimportant odd thing. Overall, his worldbuilding is enormous and ambitious, and those are both points in his favor. He just spends too much time shading in the areas I don't care about sometimes.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on October 10, 2017, 08:30:39 PM
In that specific case, it's meant to show that humans are not native to Roshar.  Which I suspect will tie into the plot somehow, other than other Cosmere characters popping up constantly (human invaders caused the Parshendi to side with Odium?), but it is kinda clunky, yeah. 
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Rococo Modem Basilisk on October 22, 2017, 01:34:51 AM
Having finished the third of David Wong's John Dies At the End books & noting that that trilogy is a good candidate for a more modern equivalent to The Illuminatus Trilogy (having the same mix of heady psychological and philosophical ideas, crude humor, and genuine empathy), I acquired the one Robert Anton Wilson trilogy I haven't read yet (the Historical Illuminatus Chronicles). I just finished the first two books & need a break from immersion in that headspace, but I have to say that this series is almost as underrated as Masks of the Illuminati. Aside from the constant references to his other books, the first book feels more like a cross between Foucault's Pendulum and The Baroque Cycle than a normal RAW book; the second is a good follow-up but is a little more indulgent, with a lot of references to the P-2 conspiracy that RAW got obsessed with in the 80s and seemingly remained obsessed with through the turn of the century.

Also reading Scott Alexander's Unsong, which is simultaneously intellectually stimulating and hilarious. It can be read as a political and religious farce or as a satire about silicon valley or as a source of genuinely interesting kaballistic connections. The premise: Apollo astronauts trying to go to the moon instead collide with the celestial spheres, proving that medieval religious cosmology is literally true and causing reality to begin glitching out; fifty years later, the world is run by a handful of megacorporations dealing in the sale of DRM-protected names of god (magic spells based on hermetic associations) and political and economic life has been warped by the existence of literal hell, fallen angels who are confused about how time works and can't imagine anybody ever saying anything that wasn't absolutely true, and the archangel Uriel in the center of a permanent hurricane playing the frustrated sysadmin and trying to prevent people from boiling goats in their mother's milk lest he need to restore new zealand from backups again.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cainad (dec.) on October 23, 2017, 02:56:03 PM
Quote from: Cain on October 04, 2017, 12:01:52 AM
No problem.  In that case....

WHAT

THE

FUCK

JUST

HAPPENED

Everything fell logically into place, as far as I can see.  It all makes a terrifying amount of sense, the end of The Unholy Consult.  That the Consult would take Dunyain alive was incredibly foolish, but once they did, it sealed their own fate.  The tekne and the Dunyain philosophy are too close...that's assuming the Mutiliated are still Dunyain, and not Shaeonara possessing them. 

Proyas was being set-up all along.  He was the scapegoat, the fall-man designed to take the blame for the decision to eat Sranc.  His breaking was necessary, to make that step possible, and once it was done, he served the purpose of dying to redeem the Great Ordeal.

Kellhus was trying to save the world, and his plan was actually quite brilliant.  The gods could not see the threat, so he used the daimos to travel to the Outside, and made pacts with the pit.  Ajokli's summoning at the topos that is Golgotterath completely negated the advantages of the Consult and their chorae-armed skin spies, and is one of the most chilling scenes in a series full of them.

And then, Kelmomnas ruins it all, as he ruins everything.  Of course he's the No God.  No wonder the Narindar couldn't see him, couldn't react to him.  Once he was on the path to becoming the No-God, he was always the No-God, and so always invisible to the Hundred.  Ajokli intended to use the Consult as the lash to drive nations to despair, but he very conveniently abandons Kellhus at a key moment (very conveniently indeed, considering he cannot see the No-God).  Whether Kellhus had a contingency for this it's hard to say, but at the very least he is now a Ciphrang in the Outside, which means his part may not be over just yet.  And then of course, Ajokli is now also loose in the world, in the body of Cnauir, which makes a terrifying amount of sense.

Finished. The appendices tricked me into thinking I had farther to go than I did.

So, in conclusion


Um.


what?


So What Comes After always did rule What Comes Before. But if Mog-Pharau does its work and the goal of Ark/The Consult is realized, then that will cease to be true once the World is shut against the Outside... I think?
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cainad (dec.) on October 23, 2017, 05:29:33 PM
Khellus grasped the Gnosis, literally a knowing of the Divine. He assumed it could all fall within the scope of the Logos, that the Dunyain were not fundamentally wrong about Cause and Effect, merely lacking the necessary knowledge to grasp it in totality. He worked on the assumption that the Outside could be manipulated by intellect, the same way that the World could be. That the Outside could be made to "walk Conditioned ground," as they say. But I think that in gaining the perspective of the Gods, he gained their very same blindness: he couldn't perceive the No-God.

Up until the end I had assumed that Kelmomas and his dickery was the work of Ajokli. Oops.

I read the first book back in high school, I think the same year it was published. 2005-ish? I'm 27 now. R.S. Bakker is a sonovabitch and I think I love him.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on October 24, 2017, 12:47:03 AM
You're right, the No-God essentially collapses all metaphysical categories. You can even see hints of that in how even before becoming the No-God, he couldn't be seen by the Hundred...what comes after should not affect what becomes before, but that's just one of the many rules the No-God breaks.

It was amazing ending though.  Kellhus had already apprehended the Inverse Fire and outplayed the Consult's trump card from the very start.  He took advantage of Golgotterath's unique situation as a topos to remove the "Dunsult" advantage and make them walk Ajokli's conditioned ground.  They were completely negated, every move anticipated...except for Ajokli's betrayal and the No-God himself.

And I think everyone assumed that Kelmomas and Ajokli were linked, after that beetle scene.  I know I did.  But upon re-reading, the hints were there.  Even in The Warrior Prophet, Kellhus had visions of a "horned being" while upon the Circumfix.  How much of the Empire was built on the works of a daimotic pact?
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Rococo Modem Basilisk on October 24, 2017, 01:25:40 AM
Quote from: Elder Iptuous on July 07, 2017, 09:42:16 PM
Just finished cryptonomicon.  I love stephenson, but his endings are always so unsatisfying.
Have you noticed that every sex scene he writes involves premature ejaculation? I feel like there's a deep metaphysical connection there.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: tyrannosaurus vex on October 25, 2017, 02:51:09 AM
Done with the 3 in-between-trilogies Mistborn novels starring Wax and Wayne. Some people were disappointed, I thought they were were good, if a little smaller in scope (didn't even involve the end of the world, pfffft). Anyway I'm taking a break from Brandon Sanderson for now.

On to The White Tree/Cycle of Arawn book 1. So far I like the writing style, even if it jumps around in time a little too much.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: tyrannosaurus vex on November 19, 2017, 04:49:53 PM
Ok, done with all the Cycle of Arawn and Cycle of Galand books. The last one drove me all the way up the wall and back down again 6 times. Robertson insists on spending 3 chapters in a row saying "the party is having a hard time advancing to the next level of skill". To his credit, he manages to do so without repeating the same words in the same order too often, but it's still annoying. Also, he has a tendency to traipse off on rabbit trails in the middle of battle sequences to reiterate recent events or explore the inner philosophical meandering of characters who are about to be sliced into bits by magic or swords. I get the feeling he does it on purpose to force the reader into a sense of impatience and suspense, but that feels like cheating.

ETA: There are parts where it's clearly evident what the protagonists need to do in order to solve some puzzle or problem in order to advance the story, but a third of the book is spent waiting for them to figure it out. That seems to happen more frequently the farther in the series you go, and it's intensely frustrating. Hopefully, Robertson fixes this bug in his program.

Anyway, next is Oathbringer, which looks like it's about 900 pages long so maybe it'll wash enough of the taste of this one out of my brain to let me read the next one when it arrives next spring.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on November 22, 2017, 05:50:09 AM
I liked Oathbringer, but I think the whole reveal about the Recreance was way too...neat for my liking.  But Dalinar's backstory more than made up for that, so I'll let it pass...for now.

Also the Szeth-Nightblood team seems to be working out surprisingly well, even though that sword is a goddamn menace.  You. Do. Not. Make. Sentient. Magic. Swords. That. Kill. On. Every. Plane. Of. Existence. And. Tell. Them. To. "Destroy Evil." Without. Specifying. What. Evil. Is.  Goddamnit Vasher.  Still, I reckon Nightblood might be able to kill a Shard, so having it around might be useful.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: tyrannosaurus vex on December 02, 2017, 09:42:16 PM
Oathbringer should have been titled "Things could be worse -- wait, nevermind." But it was alright. Now to wait 4 years for #4. Maybe I'll do the Riyria books next.

I tried to switch gears and take on The American War, about the 2nd American Civil War, but I couldn't cope with the author's cloyingly purple prose and torturously avoiding ending any phrase with a preposition. Shame on me, I know, but I can't help it. Plus, I don't need the overly optimistic assumption that America will stave off collapse until 2074.

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: hooplala on December 04, 2017, 02:35:59 PM
I'm working my way through the Black Company series. I didn't care for the first book too much at the start, but I'm halfway through the second book now and quite enjoying it all.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on December 11, 2017, 04:19:22 AM
Quote from: Cain on August 25, 2016, 12:56:05 PM
Well, at least Sorweel should come out of things OK.  Unless he literally runs into the No-God or goes on to kill Kelhus, that boy's unstoppable.

Well that was fucking prophetic.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cainad (dec.) on December 14, 2017, 04:53:25 AM
Quote from: Cain on December 11, 2017, 04:19:22 AM
Quote from: Cain on August 25, 2016, 12:56:05 PM
Well, at least Sorweel should come out of things OK.  Unless he literally runs into the No-God or goes on to kill Kelhus, that boy's unstoppable.

Well that was fucking prophetic.

:lulz: Fucking hell.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Fin on January 07, 2018, 06:41:32 AM
Read "Empty Space....a haunting" by M. John Harrison. Third in a trilogy, along with "Light" and "Nova Swing". Funny, surreal, and ultimately very disturbing. Highly recommended.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: tyrannosaurus vex on June 03, 2018, 05:03:50 AM
The Demon Cycle series is good.

I also tried a string of Ray Kurzweil books, but that guy is a hopeless optimist and I couldn't take it.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: tyrannosaurus vex on July 12, 2018, 07:35:32 PM
Finally reading The Unholy Consult after almost a year of putting it off, and after the other series I've read in the intervening time I've decided this guy is garbage who thinks everything should be phrased in poem form because he spent too much time in grad school.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: minuspace on July 13, 2018, 04:45:28 AM
Something about how the law of small numbers is not that of the bigger ones
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cainad (dec.) on July 13, 2018, 09:15:52 AM
Quote from: tyrannosaurus vex on July 12, 2018, 07:35:32 PM
Finally reading The Unholy Consult after almost a year of putting it off, and after the other series I've read in the intervening time I've decided this guy is garbage who thinks everything should be phrased in poem form because he spent too much time in grad school.

:lulz: Maybe. I think TUC goes really far in that direction, I don't recall the writing style being like that in the previous books. Ultimately I think it suits the themes and events of the book, but YMMV.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: tyrannosaurus vex on July 14, 2018, 07:18:07 PM
Quote from: Cainad (dec.) on July 13, 2018, 09:15:52 AM
Quote from: tyrannosaurus vex on July 12, 2018, 07:35:32 PM
Finally reading The Unholy Consult after almost a year of putting it off, and after the other series I've read in the intervening time I've decided this guy is garbage who thinks everything should be phrased in poem form because he spent too much time in grad school.

:lulz: Maybe. I think TUC goes really far in that direction, I don't recall the writing style being like that in the previous books. Ultimately I think it suits the themes and events of the book, but YMMV.
I'm going to finish it, but it feels like a chore. The most annoying thing is the constant shifting between scenes with no warning and using flowery purple prose to say even the most simple things. It's a great story, though, and his use of abstract language and building every statement out of metaphors is effective in some ways. I'm mostly just complaining about how much attention it demands.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cainad (dec.) on July 16, 2018, 08:27:26 PM
Yeah even for me I think the prose gets too purple in some spots (and I'm shamelessly into the style of the earlier books, which influenced my writing for several years and gawd I can't stand to read some of my old shit for that reason).

I think the intent is to generate a dreamlike sense, where nothing is literal. It works best when he's setting scenes with lurid descriptions of things like smells and textures, but gets kinda hard to follow when it's supposed to be a character's inner thoughts.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: tyrannosaurus vex on July 17, 2018, 09:42:41 PM
I take it back what I said about it being a great story.

Who the fuck ends an epic like that.

Seriously, who

ETA: If that's what I wanted, I would have just stayed home and watched America collapse with no hope for redemption whatsoever.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cainad (dec.) on July 17, 2018, 11:17:41 PM
 :lulz: Glad you enjoyed.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Doktor Howl on July 17, 2018, 11:21:33 PM
TUC?
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Pope Skidoo on July 17, 2018, 11:37:27 PM
 - The Arthurian Legend (1162 pages! )
- Antonin Artaud - L'ombilic des Limbes.

  ''The truth is that this world is false, & that whose who live in it have another one in their pocket, wich they use to carry this one & not to suffer from this one''Antonin Artaud
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cainad (dec.) on August 18, 2018, 03:41:04 AM
Quote from: Doktor Howl on July 17, 2018, 11:21:33 PM
TUC?

The Unholy Consult, seventh and final book in Bakker's The Second Apocalypse series. It has... an ending. It definitely fucking ends.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Doktor Howl on August 18, 2018, 03:43:12 AM
Quote from: Cainad (dec.) on August 18, 2018, 03:41:04 AM
Quote from: Doktor Howl on July 17, 2018, 11:21:33 PM
TUC?

The Unholy Consult, seventh and final book in Bakker's The Second Apocalypse series. It has... an ending. It definitely fucking ends.

Everything is properly fucked, then?
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cainad (dec.) on August 18, 2018, 03:44:57 AM
Should probably mention that I finished reading Peter Coffin's Custom Reality and You a few weeks back. I'm gonna go ahead and recommend it generally, although it goes pretty far-out in a lot of places.

It will come off as very reminiscent of the BIP, but viewed specifically through a political lens. The gist of it is that neoliberal capitalism (a shorthand for whatever fucked up oligarchy of corporations and puppet states we have running the world is) has found lots of ways to extract value from people, and one of the most important ways is via what we here would recognize as the BIP.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cainad (dec.) on August 18, 2018, 03:47:00 AM
Quote from: Doktor Howl on August 18, 2018, 03:43:12 AM
Quote from: Cainad (dec.) on August 18, 2018, 03:41:04 AM
Quote from: Doktor Howl on July 17, 2018, 11:21:33 PM
TUC?

The Unholy Consult, seventh and final book in Bakker's The Second Apocalypse series. It has... an ending. It definitely fucking ends.

Everything is properly fucked, then?

Fucked on the ontological level.

It's the biggest middle finger to traditional epic fantasy that I have ever experienced. I thought it ruled, but I am a bit of a literary masochist.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cramulus on August 21, 2018, 02:08:49 PM
That Peter Coffin book sounds interesting. I really enjoyed the Coffin talks you linked me to. he has the right melange of commentary-about-culture while not coming off like some preachy beardo sitting on a mountain judging everybody.

Speaking of Melange, I'm finally reading Dune.


it fuckin pwns


started off slow, but I'm about halfway through and I'm loving it

Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Faust on August 21, 2018, 03:06:55 PM
We have always been at war with Arrakis. The first book was epic and had so many of the awesome sci-fi concepts that are used in so many things since.

I hate recommending films after people read books but "Jodorowsky's Dune" is an amazing documentary on what might have been ""Dali as the emperor", H.R Giger and Moebius doing the art design, Pink Floyd doing the score. I want to be in the timeline where it got made and off of this one.

I liked the sequel books also, (God emperor was the weirdest and my favorite). I wasn't a fan of the books by his son and X-files guy though.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Ziegejunge on August 21, 2018, 03:58:30 PM
"Jodorowsky's Dune" is pure joy from start to finish, IMHO.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cramulus on August 21, 2018, 06:16:35 PM
Loved Jodorowsky's Dune! (enjoyed Lynch's dune too)


I do not intend to read any more of the series. I mean it might be great, but I read fiction sparingly and really don't have time for a 10k page saga.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cainad (dec.) on August 21, 2018, 06:35:54 PM
Quote from: Cramulus on August 21, 2018, 02:08:49 PM
That Peter Coffin book sounds interesting. I really enjoyed the Coffin talks you linked me to. he has the right melange of commentary-about-culture while not coming off like some preachy beardo sitting on a mountain judging everybody.

Speaking of Melange, I'm finally reading Dune.


it fuckin pwns


started off slow, but I'm about halfway through and I'm loving it

I'll lend you Coffin's book next time we see each other. The one biggest drawback I see in it is that it's Extremely Online. A lot of the references and examples pulled require a fair amount of awareness of the state of the Internet in 2017-2018. So like, PD people would get it but many others I know wouldn't.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: tyrannosaurus vex on August 21, 2018, 07:43:07 PM
Quote from: Cainad (dec.) on August 18, 2018, 03:47:00 AM
Quote from: Doktor Howl on August 18, 2018, 03:43:12 AM
Quote from: Cainad (dec.) on August 18, 2018, 03:41:04 AM
Quote from: Doktor Howl on July 17, 2018, 11:21:33 PM
TUC?

The Unholy Consult, seventh and final book in Bakker's The Second Apocalypse series. It has... an ending. It definitely fucking ends.

Everything is properly fucked, then?

Fucked on the ontological level.

It's the biggest middle finger to traditional epic fantasy that I have ever experienced. I thought it ruled, but I am a bit of a literary masochist.

I didn't expect flowers and unicorns and what not, but fuck. It isn't so much the ending as how it ends, as a book. Just sort of "go go go go stop."
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on August 23, 2018, 04:36:42 PM
I'll admit padding it out with the appendices wasn't so cool.  I was expecting maybe another couple of chapters.  Maybe a segue to Zeum discussing how to counter the threat of the No-God, since they're basically the only kingdom worth a damn left standing.  Meppa maybe showing up.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Doktor Howl on August 23, 2018, 11:53:06 PM
Light reading:

Just finished Alice and then The Red Queen by Alice Liddel. 

Good reading if you want your Wonderland with 50% extra murder and crimes against humanity.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on August 31, 2018, 07:21:11 PM
Started Steve Coll's "Directorate S", which I would call "yet another book on the War on Terror and Afghanistan" if it were not from Steve Coll, who actually knows his stuff.

I'm more convinced than ever that our biggest mistake in the War on Terror was not razing the ISI headquarters to the ground and shipping everyone in the so-called Directorate S (the US intel community nickname for the Pakistani infrastructure that supports terrorism and the Taliban) off to Guantanamo for enhanced interrogation.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on August 31, 2018, 07:38:09 PM
Splitting my time between:

Seveneves by Neal Stephenson (about a plausible apocalypse)

Statistics Done Wrong by Alex Reinhart (about how scientists don't understand p values)

Making Money by Terry Pratchett (re-reading)

White Fragility by Robin DiAngelo (a white woman talking about structural white supremacy)

Bioshock: Rapture by John Shirley (suggested by Dok Howl)

Mercy On Me by Reinhard Kleist (graphic novel about Nick Cave)
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: hooplala on August 31, 2018, 07:40:43 PM
Splitting my time between Farewell My Lovely by Chandler (more racist than I remember most of his novels to be), and Illuminations by Rimbaud. All in all, I prefer Cummings.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on September 01, 2018, 10:12:05 AM
Farewell My Lovely is probably his weakest novel IMO, and the racial characterisations in it definitely don't help.  I believe it was originally a mix of a number of earlier unpublished short stories which were subsequently re-edited together, which might explain why the prose felt stilted to me, in comparison with his other novels.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: EK WAFFLR on September 05, 2018, 01:03:28 AM
Currently reading
Red Country by Abercrombie, and How to Read a Book by Adler and Van Doren (reread)

Abercrombie's book is good, but so far, Heroes is the best of the standalone First Law novels.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on September 05, 2018, 06:25:45 PM
I preferred Best Served Cold, but all 3 are pretty good...arguably better than the original trilogy (which is also still pretty good).
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: EK WAFFLR on September 14, 2018, 09:47:03 PM
Best served cikd was great too.


I also liked the first book from Luke Scull, Grim Company. Haven't gotten around to read the rest yet.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: EK WAFFLR on September 20, 2018, 09:17:04 AM
Just started "Endurance- Shackleton's Incredible Voyage" by Alfred Lansing

Seems like a fun book.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: tyrannosaurus vex on September 22, 2018, 12:50:22 AM
Recently finished "The Science Delusion" by Rupert Sheldrake. Now, before you go all "but that guy's a charlatan and his books ought to be burned" on me, you Fact Nazis, let me explain.

Yes, the guy is probably wrong about everything.

But, I don't care. I will never be pushing the boundaries of science, so it doesn't really matter what I think either way. That fact, plus the fact that I'm, like, colossally tired of living in a boring, mechanistic universe, means I can believe what I want and you can't stop me.

So I choose to live in a universe where science has proven dogs are psychic. There, I said it.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: chaotic neutral observer on September 22, 2018, 03:18:22 AM
Quote from: tyrannosaurus vex on September 22, 2018, 12:50:22 AM
But, I don't care. I will never be pushing the boundaries of science, so it doesn't really matter what I think either way. That fact, plus the fact that I'm, like, colossally tired of living in a boring, mechanistic universe, means I can believe what I want and you can't stop me.
The universe I live in is mechanistic, but there are billions of unknown variables and unexpected interactions and undomesticated marketing weasels, so that even though I believe there are Inviolable Rules*, it's still almost impossible to figure out what's going to happen next.

It's not boring, it's terrifying.

Quote
So I choose to live in a universe where science has proven dogs are psychic. There, I said it.
I once thought I had a telepathic link with my intestinal bacteria, but it turned out it was just gas.


*If there weren't Rules, it would be much harder to do physics.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on October 06, 2018, 02:14:52 PM
Currently reading Rules for Rebels: The Science of Militant Success by Max Abrahms (at the request of the author).

Not going to lie, I like Max.  He's controversial, because he stands against a lot of the conventional wisdom in terrorism studies and is quite outspoken about it, but he's usually got the data to back it up.  In this book, he argues that militant groups only succeed when they avoid civilian casualties, when they have a command structure that not only enforces that targeting but can appropriately deal with elements that choose to do otherwise, and have the marketing/PR skill to condemn those actors while not implicating themselves.

Conversely, terrorist groups like ISIS and Al-Qaeda and Hamas are never going anywhere, because all they do is attack civilians, which makes any kind of political resolution impossible.  As he quite rightly points out, from a strategic viewpoint terrorism is a failing strategy.  While pundits were claiming ISIS was creating a new state in the Middle East, all they did was unite an alliance against them, which smashed their fake caliphate (which looked impressive on a map, but mostly ruled empty desert and half a dozen key cities) and sent them running.  Even the IRA, who are often seen as a successful terrorist group, completely failed in their aims to reunite Northern Ireland with the rest of the country - the Good Friday agreement and Stormont Assembly was a consolation prize at best.

I do think Max tends to overstate how un-strategic terrorists are (I like to use the concept of bounded rationality here - terrorists do select their targets and go about planning their attacks with a reasonable amount of rational behaviour.  However the larger, strategic behaviour of "how does this actually advance our cause" is often heavily constrained by a number of factors), but given the strangehold that Rational Actor Terrorism Theory has, I can understand why he might feel he has to.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Doktor Howl on October 13, 2018, 04:59:30 PM
Quote from: Cain on October 06, 2018, 02:14:52 PM
Currently reading Rules for Rebels: The Science of Militant Success by Max Abrahms (at the request of the author).

Not going to lie, I like Max.  He's controversial, because he stands against a lot of the conventional wisdom in terrorism studies and is quite outspoken about it, but he's usually got the data to back it up.  In this book, he argues that militant groups only succeed when they avoid civilian casualties, when they have a command structure that not only enforces that targeting but can appropriately deal with elements that choose to do otherwise, and have the marketing/PR skill to condemn those actors while not implicating themselves.

Conversely, terrorist groups like ISIS and Al-Qaeda and Hamas are never going anywhere, because all they do is attack civilians, which makes any kind of political resolution impossible.  As he quite rightly points out, from a strategic viewpoint terrorism is a failing strategy.  While pundits were claiming ISIS was creating a new state in the Middle East, all they did was unite an alliance against them, which smashed their fake caliphate (which looked impressive on a map, but mostly ruled empty desert and half a dozen key cities) and sent them running.  Even the IRA, who are often seen as a successful terrorist group, completely failed in their aims to reunite Northern Ireland with the rest of the country - the Good Friday agreement and Stormont Assembly was a consolation prize at best.

I do think Max tends to overstate how un-strategic terrorists are (I like to use the concept of bounded rationality here - terrorists do select their targets and go about planning their attacks with a reasonable amount of rational behaviour.  However the larger, strategic behaviour of "how does this actually advance our cause" is often heavily constrained by a number of factors), but given the strangehold that Rational Actor Terrorism Theory has, I can understand why he might feel he has to.

Where can I find this?
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on October 14, 2018, 11:48:12 AM
Oxford Univeristy Press, I got mine via Amazon.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on April 07, 2019, 06:13:41 PM
I've been re-reading the entire Malazan Books of the Fallen series because the news is that Erikson is in the final stages of finishing a new trilogy based on everyone's favourite Conan the Barbarian deconstruction, Karsa Orlong.

Naturally, since this is Erikson, he is of course writing a trilogy about a character who will not appear for one or two books. The prologue also suggests that Karsa Orlong's long term ambition of destroying civilization, all of it, everywhere, may have been put on a hiatus (that or he realised there was no need to push himself, when the rising sea levels will do the work for him).

Nevertheless, I am ready to WITNESS.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Fujikoma on April 26, 2019, 10:40:49 PM
"Seveneves" by Neal Stephenson was REALLY good, hoping there's a sequel, weird as it was.

Cram's thread about spiritual exploration had me thinking of a very entertaining, captivating, and thought provoking piece of webfiction for reasons beyond my understanding. "Unsong", imagine a universe where God is proven to exist, some time in the 1960s when the moon race results in a spacecraft slamming into the machinery that projects the heavens onto the earth, and it all goes downhill from there.

http://unsongbook.com/chapter-1-dark-satanic-mills/
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Juana on May 02, 2019, 05:41:32 PM
The Mushroom at the End of the World: on the Possibility of life in Capitalism Ruins by Anna Lowenhaput Tsing. Pretty good, though i find some of her conclusions a wee sketchy so far (idk if resource management can be called restoration, for example) but it's been really interesting.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Al Qədic on June 18, 2019, 10:42:57 PM
Well now that the quarter's over and I have time to read these books and not just vomit out an essay about them;

Julia Angwin's Dragnet Nation is really interesting. She starts off a bit too tech-cynical for my tastes (the woman was worried about the dangers of Google Glass), but this quickly melts in favor of the bigger picture; technology is powerful, and sketchy as hell. Companies regularly do shady shit. Laws are lax and almost counterintuitive. Big Brother is shockingly bad at creating an oppressive police state, if the Stasi are any indication, yet people are still scared shitless by their spooky bumbling cops. Well-meaning anonymization services and tech startups can be infested by pedophiles and drugs (see: some cryptocurrencies and markets via Tor), and when the good ones flop, the people just wanting a little extra privacy are left in the cold. I think it really speaks volumes to how bad the modern tech situation is when the best rule of thumb for effectiveness of these services is the mud puddle test; "If I were to use this service on my phone, go for a walk, slip in a mud puddle, and lose my memory, would I be able to access my information again? If no, then I'm realistically safe but theoretically fucked. If yes, then I'm realistically and theoretically fucked." Admittedly, I didn't finish the book, but I look forward to maybe doing so once I'm back home.

Another book I haven't had the time to actually read is Jill Lepore's The Secret History of Wonder Woman. Bill Marston, her creator, had an interesting life from what I've read so far. As a kid, he was a bit of a wanker (grew up jaded in a castle with an extensive family history, and wanted to kill himself as a college freshman because he couldn't play sports anymore and hated his required classes), but he grew into an early 1900s academic, writing scenarios for them newfangled "movies", inventing the lie detector test and struggling to get it accepted into court, and getting dropped smack into the middle of the burgeoning women's rights movement by association with his lovers. Speaking of lovers (this is where my reading of the book ends thus far but) he had a kinky poly dynamic going on, and because this is the 30s and onward, even kinky people don't know shit about kink, so his ideas about it and women are bittersweet at best, but that and his other life experiences (including his actual multiple lovers) are a lot of what shaped Wonder Woman early on; the bondage, the lie detector, the lasso, the affinity for Greek feminine icons in her swear words. The vial of hydrocyanic acid he almost offed himself with became Doctor Posion, and the psychologist whose lab he conducted experiments in became Doctor Psycho. Holliday College is a portmanteau of names of a couple of the first women's colleges. Super neat book so far, it even has panels from handfuls of comics in it.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: chaotic neutral observer on October 09, 2019, 12:37:32 AM
Just read "Stranger in a Strange Land", by Heinlein.  I generally like Heinlein, but this book was kinda... well... dumb.

Space Jesus was a twit, and "grok" was actively annoying.  95% of the time it could have been replaced by "know" or "understand" without any loss in meaning.

I think the only reason this had any degree of popularity was because it was published in the '60s.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Doktor Howl on October 09, 2019, 04:14:04 AM
Quote from: chaotic neutral observer on October 09, 2019, 12:37:32 AM
Just read "Stranger in a Strange Land", by Heinlein.  I generally like Heinlein, but this book was kinda... well... dumb.

Space Jesus was a twit, and "grok" was actively annoying.  95% of the time it could have been replaced by "know" or "understand" without any loss in meaning.

I think the only reason this had any degree of popularity was because it was published in the '60s.

All Heinlein sucked.

Farnham's Freehold was an atrocity, both as a racist screed and as a novel in general.

But yes, "grok" brings instant ridicule from me.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: chaotic neutral observer on October 09, 2019, 05:07:12 AM
Quote from: Doktor Howl on October 09, 2019, 04:14:04 AM
All Heinlein sucked.
Eh.  Admittedly, some of the things I like are of doubtful objective quality, and it's not like I'm going to jump to Heinlein's defense after "Stranger".
I recently picked up a stack of his books cheap at a thrift store, and I've read through a few of them.  This was easily the worst so far, although "The Puppet Masters" wasn't much, either.

Quote
Farnham's Freehold was an atrocity, both as a racist screed and as a novel in general.
That one wasn't in the stack.  If it's worse yet than "Stranger", then that's just as well.

Quote
But yes, "grok" brings instant ridicule from me.
Quite.  Now, let's never mention it again, except perhaps as a cautionary example.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Al Qədic on October 10, 2019, 03:27:04 AM
I'm procrastinating my way through The Canterbury Tales and will likely do the same with Sir Gawain And the Green Knight to come. At least Beowulf was neat to reread, and I have Paradise Lost to look forward to.


In terms of shit I actually want to read? ...I have the Et Cetera and Metaclysmia Discordias and the Chao Te Ching collecting virtual dust among the 33 tabs open on this browser, if that counts for anything.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Fujikoma on October 12, 2019, 05:42:27 PM
As far as Heinlein is concerned I really liked "The Dosadi Experiment". "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress" I found a good read as well. While at least "Moon" had some political undertones, if you ditch that and take it for just a story then it's entertaining, though I'd take some William Gibson or Neal Stephenson any day over that.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: chaotic neutral observer on October 12, 2019, 07:59:25 PM
"The Dosadi Experiment" was Herbert, not Heinlein. I didn't care for it; most of its ideas were recycled from Dune, but not nearly as well executed.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Doktor Howl on October 12, 2019, 08:38:00 PM
Quote from: chaotic neutral observer on October 12, 2019, 07:59:25 PM
"The Dosadi Experiment" was Herbert, not Heinlein. I didn't care for it; most of its ideas were recycled from Dune, but not nearly as well executed.

Frank Herbert should be chucked out the airlock.  He wasn't a science fiction writer, he was more of an Ann Rice with space worms thing.

Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Al Qədic on October 15, 2019, 05:18:14 AM
Welp, just went to Barnes&Noble since the weekly meeting of the gay agenda fell through.


I grabbed...
Some book about symbols and shit in different cultures.
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (now with a fancy new cover)
The Complete Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy
House of Leaves (because even though I yoinked a PDF a few months back, its just more satisfying to hold the lump of dead trees in my own two hands, you know?)
A cute pocket version of The Satanic Bible (because even though LaVey is old and dead and some of his ideas were shit and his immediate followers got up their own asses, modern Satanists are interesting at least and lovely assets in the endeavour to befuddle the conservative masses at best. Also their statues are cool.)
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on October 15, 2019, 01:45:05 PM
Quote from: Al Qədic on October 15, 2019, 05:18:14 AM
Welp, just went to Barnes&Noble since the weekly meeting of the gay agenda fell through.


I grabbed...
Some book about symbols and shit in different cultures.
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (now with a fancy new cover)
The Complete Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy
House of Leaves (because even though I yoinked a PDF a few months back, its just more satisfying to hold the lump of dead trees in my own two hands, you know?)
A cute pocket version of The Satanic Bible (because even though LaVey is old and dead and some of his ideas were shit and his immediate followers got up their own asses, modern Satanists are interesting at least and lovely assets in the endeavour to befuddle the conservative masses at best. Also their statues are cool.)

I don't even see HOW that could work in PDF form.  Some of the layout tricks practically demand dead-tree format.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: on October 27, 2019, 10:48:54 PM
I'm partway through about a dozen books, at various points. I'm finishing Chaos and Beyond, and then will take another run-thru of the Illuminatus! Trilogy (this time, probably starting with Leviathan, since it's seemed like an anticlimax the three times I've read it already).
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Bu🤠ns on November 04, 2019, 03:24:12 AM
just about done with The New Jim Crow. I knew it was bad* but damn it's even worse than it seems... Not sure what to read next but i'm leaning toward The Monkeywrench Gang at the mention by monad from the irc chat. Also considering Alice from Dok's mention earlier in this thread.

Also i've always wondered how most of you can read so often so quickly...like wtf ... you HAVE that kind of time?



ETA: *Not the book the system
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: altered on November 04, 2019, 07:12:07 AM
I can't speak for everyone else (I tried and they shot me for my crimes) but I at least can read a decent sized book in 3 days using only part of my lunch breaks

I re-read the whole of Laird Barron's output, the Annihilation/Authority/cant ever remember the other one trilogy, Stephen Graham Jones' Demon Theory, and Simon Strantzas' Burnt Black Suns collection over the course of my time since beginning work (so since August) without using any off days and actually only reading maybe a third of the days I've worked

I assume PDers are just all crazy fast readers like me, we read the giant text walls here constantly, we have practice
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Bu🤠ns on November 04, 2019, 02:32:11 PM
Quote from: nullified on November 04, 2019, 07:12:07 AM
I can't speak for everyone else (I tried and they shot me for my crimes) but I at least can read a decent sized book in 3 days using only part of my lunch breaks

I re-read the whole of Laird Barron's output, the Annihilation/Authority/cant ever remember the other one trilogy, Stephen Graham Jones' Demon Theory, and Simon Strantzas' Burnt Black Suns collection over the course of my time since beginning work (so since August) without using any off days and actually only reading maybe a third of the days I've worked

I assume PDers are just all crazy fast readers like me, we read the giant text walls here constantly, we have practice

Good point about the practice. And while I *can* read quickly enough to get the basic idea (short of skimming), I just don't find I retain the info as well as I do if I were to take my time. I found the spritz-type apps good for articles (specifically reedy for also bypassing paywalls) but when there's something as spread out as a book or even an indepth article, there's just no way I'll get all of the content. Even spritz style I find i have to take a break to collect my thoughts.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Doktor Howl on November 04, 2019, 03:06:04 PM
Currently reading The Grand Dark by Richard Kadrey.

I am about 1/3rd of the way through.  Unlike most of his novels, this is not a book that is meant to be funny on any level.  It reads more like his Butcher Bird than his Sandman Slim or Coop novels.  What it really reminds me of, flavor-wise, is his early Metrophage and maybe Warren Ellis's Electrograd.

It's slow going, but not a bad read overall.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: altered on November 04, 2019, 03:26:09 PM
The title of that book alone screams to me that I must read it.

So, you know, maybe I will.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Doktor Howl on November 07, 2019, 06:52:41 PM
Finished The Grand Dark by Khadrey.  It is a tale of fantasy dystopia in a somewhat distorted version of today.  The tech is different, not absent, but it is definitely not science fiction.

The first 200 pages are slow, he's building a world that is all too horribly familiar.  Then the next 200 pages are berserk.  The story is completed, but with an obvious out for a sequel.

Cain would really enjoy this book.  LMNO would probably not really enjoy this book.

Overall, I give it an 8.

By comparison, I give most Black Mirror episodes a 6.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on November 07, 2019, 08:30:24 PM
I will give it a look. I found the Amazon Kindle page for it
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: altered on November 07, 2019, 09:20:36 PM
Quote from: Doktor Howl on November 07, 2019, 06:52:41 PM
Finished The Grand Dark by Khadrey.  It is a tale of fantasy dystopia in a somewhat distorted version of today.  The tech is different, not absent, but it is definitely not science fiction.

The first 200 pages are slow, he's building a world that is all too horribly familiar.  Then the next 200 pages are berserk.  The story is completed, but with an obvious out for a sequel.

Cain would really enjoy this book.  LMNO would probably not really enjoy this book.

Overall, I give it an 8.

By comparison, I give most Black Mirror episodes a 6.

I just inserted it into my budget for next paycheck.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Doktor Howl on November 07, 2019, 09:24:44 PM
Quote from: nullified on November 07, 2019, 09:20:36 PM
Quote from: Doktor Howl on November 07, 2019, 06:52:41 PM
Finished The Grand Dark by Khadrey.  It is a tale of fantasy dystopia in a somewhat distorted version of today.  The tech is different, not absent, but it is definitely not science fiction.

The first 200 pages are slow, he's building a world that is all too horribly familiar.  Then the next 200 pages are berserk.  The story is completed, but with an obvious out for a sequel.

Cain would really enjoy this book.  LMNO would probably not really enjoy this book.

Overall, I give it an 8.

By comparison, I give most Black Mirror episodes a 6.

I just inserted it into my budget for next paycheck.

Oh, YOU are gonna LOVE this, for totally different reasons.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Bu🤠ns on November 10, 2019, 03:27:22 PM
Quote from: Doktor Howl on November 04, 2019, 03:06:04 PM
Currently reading The Grand Dark by Richard Kadrey.

I am about 1/3rd of the way through.  Unlike most of his novels, this is not a book that is meant to be funny on any level.  It reads more like his Butcher Bird than his Sandman Slim or Coop novels.  What it really reminds me of, flavor-wise, is his early Metrophage and maybe Warren Ellis's Electrograd.

It's slow going, but not a bad read overall.

Hey Dok, what is your take on the Sandman Slim series? I got the first book a while back for reasons I can't remember but just haven't picked it up yet.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Doktor Howl on November 11, 2019, 02:04:22 AM
Quote from: Bu☆ns on November 10, 2019, 03:27:22 PM
Quote from: Doktor Howl on November 04, 2019, 03:06:04 PM
Currently reading The Grand Dark by Richard Kadrey.

I am about 1/3rd of the way through.  Unlike most of his novels, this is not a book that is meant to be funny on any level.  It reads more like his Butcher Bird than his Sandman Slim or Coop novels.  What it really reminds me of, flavor-wise, is his early Metrophage and maybe Warren Ellis's Electrograd.

It's slow going, but not a bad read overall.

Hey Dok, what is your take on the Sandman Slim series? I got the first book a while back for reasons I can't remember but just haven't picked it up yet.

Jenn and I are fiends for it.  I know Richard Khadrey on Facebook, and I have told him on more than one occasion "STOP POSTING HERE AND WRITE MORE SLIM."

It's that good.

So is everything else he's written.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Bu🤠ns on November 11, 2019, 02:26:50 AM
 :lulz: Damn lolll..point taken
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Doktor Howl on November 11, 2019, 02:43:12 AM
Quote from: Bu☆ns on November 11, 2019, 02:26:50 AM
:lulz: Damn lolll..point taken

The Coop series is also good (The Everything Box, The Wrong Dead Guy).  Funny, not very dark.

Sandman Slim:  Dark and often funny.

The Grand Dark:  Dark as fuck and not even slightly funny.

Butcher Bird:  Somewhat dark, no attempt to be funny.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Doktor Howl on November 11, 2019, 04:35:10 PM
Just finished reading the newest David Drake "Lt Leary" novel, To Clear Away the Shadows.

1.  It was like watching paint dry.  There was no conflict and therefore no resolution.
2.  Leary wasn't in it.  He robbed his own previous book for characters (read, the same exact characters with different names.).
3.  This is two books past Death's Bright Day, and he still hasn't finished that story, which ended as a cliff hanger.  Three years ago.

I give this book one star out of five.

Title: Viagra
Post by: KristineSi on November 16, 2019, 05:26:24 PM
We are reading Coup d'Etat for Idiots by Not A HIMEOBS Contractor.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: altered on November 16, 2019, 05:56:23 PM
HIMEOBS is slacking off these days.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Doktor Howl on November 16, 2019, 06:44:28 PM
Quote from: nullified on November 16, 2019, 05:56:23 PM
HIMEOBS is slacking off these days.

That one had a legit looking email addie.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on November 16, 2019, 09:25:13 PM
Yeah, that one's tricky.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: altered on November 16, 2019, 09:34:42 PM
You guys exist. You're fine, doing the best job meaty beasts full of puke and bones can do.

HIMEOBS does not exist, and is being lazy. Otherwise this bot would have filled the forum with ass before anyone noticed.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cramulus on November 22, 2019, 01:46:41 PM
I'm just wrapping up Red Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson. I really enjoy this guy's perspective -- on the surface, it's about colonizing mars, but really it's a novel about political ideas. Robinson loves asking "Why is it easier for us to imagine the apocalypse than the end of capitalism?" And more materially, how could you begin a society without capitalism? How do you keep it from being subsumed and transformed into capitalism?

Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Juana on November 27, 2019, 12:02:18 AM
Reading Making Thinking Visible for work. Possibly the only book I've ever gotten from a professional development meeting that was worth a damn.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: altered on November 27, 2019, 12:31:10 AM
Quote from: Juana on November 27, 2019, 12:02:18 AM
Reading Making Thinking Visible for work. Possibly the only book I've ever gotten from a professional development meeting that was worth a damn.

I like the title. Got a quick summary of the concepts?
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Juana on November 27, 2019, 12:53:59 AM
Quote from: nullified on November 27, 2019, 12:31:10 AM
Quote from: Juana on November 27, 2019, 12:02:18 AM
Reading Making Thinking Visible for work. Possibly the only book I've ever gotten from a professional development meeting that was worth a damn.

I like the title. Got a quick summary of the concepts?
We don't even think about *how* we think, but we need to, because learning follows thinking about concepts WITH material. It's got a bunch of different activities for kids to do that involves making the way they think visible (think pair share, etc.). I used a lot of what I read for an activity Thursday and Friday, and I think it worked? Time will tell
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: altered on December 15, 2019, 10:47:24 PM
I finally got the time, energy, and opportunity to start to read The Grand Dark.

It’s weird, reading it. It smells like interwar Poland. There’s a certain atmosphere to it that hovers in the space between the Strugatskys, Laird Barron at his most insightful and restrained, and (of all things) a piece of web-fiction called Twig. Some films that keep coming to mind are Inland Empire, Dark City, Brazil, but it’s doing something VERY different.

There’s a wound that won’t close hovering just beneath the surface, and I have only just started the fucking thing. I would still be reading it but I hit an early point that made me sit back and think whether I liked it or not. Fuck.

This is probably going to be one of my all time favorite works, up there with Laird Barron’s Swift to Chase.

EDIT: Hair past the midpoint and I think that THAT is it for tonight. What the good golly fuck. Good thing I have tomorrow off as well.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on December 16, 2019, 01:08:52 AM
That's about where I am. I'm hoping with the upcoming holidays I'll have the time to finish the rest of it off.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on December 16, 2019, 09:22:01 AM
I would have gotten further, but I got distracted by Forge of Darkness.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Doktor Howl on December 16, 2019, 02:45:13 PM
Quote from: nullified on December 15, 2019, 10:47:24 PM
I finally got the time, energy, and opportunity to start to read The Grand Dark.

It's weird, reading it. It smells like interwar Poland. There's a certain atmosphere to it that hovers in the space between the Strugatskys, Laird Barron at his most insightful and restrained, and (of all things) a piece of web-fiction called Twig. Some films that keep coming to mind are Inland Empire, Dark City, Brazil, but it's doing something VERY different.

There's a wound that won't close hovering just beneath the surface, and I have only just started the fucking thing. I would still be reading it but I hit an early point that made me sit back and think whether I liked it or not. Fuck.

This is probably going to be one of my all time favorite works, up there with Laird Barron's Swift to Chase.

EDIT: Hair past the midpoint and I think that THAT is it for tonight. What the good golly fuck. Good thing I have tomorrow off as well.

It's a slog at first, but right about page 200 it starts to take off.  Cain is going to like this as well.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: altered on December 16, 2019, 03:24:59 PM
I woke up and finished it.

Nothing prepared me. Nothing could have.

I have to reread this a few times I think. Fuck.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Doktor Howl on December 16, 2019, 03:31:38 PM
Quote from: nullified on December 16, 2019, 03:24:59 PM
I woke up and finished it.

Nothing prepared me. Nothing could have.

I have to reread this a few times I think. Fuck.

Yeah, the scene from the factory raid forward was the cat's ass. 
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on December 31, 2019, 03:33:28 PM
So I finally finished Fall of Light, meaning I can get back to The Grand Dark.

I will say, despite the uncertain start with the potential return of the omnipresent judging voice from Toll the Hounds, it quickly became a lot better. As a prequel there is of course an inevitability to the course of events, but things still keep changing in often unexpected ways. Draconus' legendary cruelness is anything but. Urusander's inability to control his own Legion's crimes while trying to embody a principle of justice. Hood is still himself, but before he took the Throne of Death, younger and brash. Ardata and T'riss were lovers. K'rul is coming across as a more coherent version of Shadowthrone, with a reluctant Cotillion in Skillen Droe.

About the only character who hasn't really changed much at all is Anomander, which is probably fair given the kind of character he is.

For my part, the absolute best bit of the book is where Mother Dark is confronted by her own high priestess about her silence, her reluctance to speak and guide her followers. The smackdown given is incredibly brutal, incredibly forthright:

Quote'I offered you all an empty vessel, or so you imagined it. I was witness, then, to your varied ways of filling it. Yet what was hidden within, which none of you chose to see, is now displaced, and now, perhaps, must be considered dead.' She raised a thin hand. 'Are you eager for a list of prohibitions? For prescribed positions and holy ordinances? Am I to tell you the way to live your life? Am I to lock doors, draw close shutters? Am I to guide you like children, with all the maternal needs of a mother upon whose tit you will all feed, until your dying day? What words do you wish from me, Emral Lanear? A list of all the deeds that will earn the slap of my hand, or my eternal condemnation? What crimes are acceptable in the eyes of your goddess? Whose murder is justified by your faith in me? Whose suffering shall be considered righteously earned, by virtue of what you judge a failing of faith, or indeed sacrilege? Describe to me the apostate, the infidel, the blasphemer – for surely such accusations come not from me, but from you, High Priestess, you and all who will follow you, in your appointed role of speaking for me, deciding for me, acting in my name, and justifying all that you would do in your worship of your goddess.'

'From faith,' replied Emral Lanear, 'do we not seek guidance?'

'Guidance, or the organized assembly and reification of all the prejudices you collectively hold dear?'

'You would not speak to us!'

'I grew to fear the power of words – their power, and their powerlessness. No matter how profound or perceptive, no matter how deafening their truth, they are helpless to defend themselves. I could have given you a list. I could have stated, in the simplest terms, that this is how I want you to behave, and this must be the nature of your belief, and your service, and your sacrifice. But how long, I wonder, before that list twisted in interpretation? How long before deviation yielded condemnation, torture, death?' She slowly leaned forward. 'How long, before my simple rules to a proper life become a call to war? To the slaughter of unbelievers? How long, Emral Lanear, before you begin killing in my name?'

'Then what do you want of us?' Lanear demanded.

'You could have stopped thinking like children who need to be told what's right and what's wrong. You damned well know what's right and what's wrong. It's pretty simple, really. It's all about harm. It's about hurting, and not just physical, either. You want a statement for your faith in me? You wish me to offer you the words you claim to need, the rules by which you are to live your lives? Very well, but I should warn you, every deity worthy of worship will offer you the same prescription. Here it is, then. Don't hurt other people. In fact, don't hurt anything capable of suffering. Don't hurt the world you live in, either, or its myriad creatures. If gods and goddesses are to have any purpose at all, let us be the ones you must face for the crimes of your life. Let us be the answer to every unfeeling, callous, cruel act you committed, every hateful word you uttered, and every spiteful wound you delivered.'
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: minuspace on December 31, 2019, 04:44:56 PM
I made it about half way through the "Three Body Problem" trilogy. Must say I kinda preferred the first book: maybe the translator, or the conditions under which I was reading it. It's Dantesque, trying to get through something like "The Dark Forest" with someone called "No Brain" practicing their beats and rhymes right next to you all day long. I am now however well versed on the exploits of one "Nipsy Hustle"
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Juana on January 11, 2020, 10:35:25 AM
The Mushroom at the End of the World: On the Possibility of Life in Capitalist Ruins by Anna Tsing. Dense in places and there's a few things I'm sort of side eyeing, but overall it's very good. Also re reading these two as an adult: Man's Search for Meaning by Victor Frankl for work and picked up Susan Cooper's Dark is Rising series over break. So far, both books are holding up well.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on January 13, 2020, 01:15:54 PM
I'm reading "Lovecraft Country", which is like "Cuthulu in Jim Crow Chicago", and it's great.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: altered on January 13, 2020, 04:07:47 PM
I might break my rule on Mythos related stuff (namely, chucking it out the airlock) for this one. Thanks!
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: tyrannosaurus vex on February 01, 2020, 01:38:01 PM
Donald Hoffman, "The Case Against Reality"

Apparently, human (or any other kind of) perception isn't just a filtered down and encoded representation of Objective Reality, but in fact evolutionary pressures conspire to endow us with perceptive faculties that entirely occlude Objective Reality and present us instead with an interactive interface that doesn't resemble it at all.

He promises lots of maths and game theory and citations from leading physicists and mathematicians on top of his own work (he has a PhD in cognitive science or something) as the foundation of this theory.

So far my position is "okay but how is this not just mucking about with the words we use to describe things". I assume at some point he will propose some specific practical technologies or something that would be impossible to achieve without this theory or something like it, because it would be rude to waste a reader's time without that.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: altered on February 01, 2020, 07:11:09 PM
Quote from: tyrannosaurus vex on February 01, 2020, 01:38:01 PM
Donald Hoffman, "The Case Against Reality"

Apparently, human (or any other kind of) perception isn't just a filtered down and encoded representation of Objective Reality, but in fact evolutionary pressures conspire to endow us with perceptive faculties that entirely occlude Objective Reality and present us instead with an interactive interface that doesn't resemble it at all.

He promises lots of maths and game theory and citations from leading physicists and mathematicians on top of his own work (he has a PhD in cognitive science or something) as the foundation of this theory.

So far my position is "okay but how is this not just mucking about with the words we use to describe things". I assume at some point he will propose some specific practical technologies or something that would be impossible to achieve without this theory or something like it, because it would be rude to waste a reader's time without that.

This sounds like high-on-his-own-ass wankery, yeah.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on February 02, 2020, 02:46:30 PM
QuoteI assume at some point he will propose some specific practical technologies or something that would be impossible to achieve without this theory or something like it, because it would be rude to waste a reader's time without that.

Do you think people would do that? Just write a popular science book and lie?
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: altered on February 02, 2020, 10:00:18 PM
The problem I have is that this is all very self-defeating. Photographs, screens, and projectors all show that EXTREMELY basic optics can reproduce a close-enough-to-not-matter example of what we see with our eyes, while utterly destroying any subtle data that could be hidden in the mix and which evolutionary pressure would have existed for.

(Flat screens are literally still on release day in evolutionary time, and photography hasn't been out one week. Evolutionary pressure from these is nonexistent.)

This means that either The Eyeball Contains Magic, given that it can perform object distinction within a flat image with unpolarized light, or what we see is almost indistinguishable from basic reality, for most purposes.

I want to hear if I'm wrong, of course. But this man sounds as if he's full of shit. The two not bullshit options are he's talking about how our brains tie visuals to concepts as a sort of shorthand (e.g. shiny stuff is wet or metallic), or he's overly focused on perceptual failure modes (optical illusions).

The first is not related to how close we are to base level reality at all.

The second is not an adequate reason to say we never see something close to reality, on account of that issue being brainmeat post processing to detect motion and such, rather than an issue of perception.

(Provided you are relatively sane, you can usually actually tell the difference between the two, also. Most optical illusions look distinctly unnatural, like your brain is actively announcing that it has failed to process input correctly. There's a term for it but I can't recall it off hand.)
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: tyrannosaurus vex on February 03, 2020, 02:52:21 AM
Quote from: altered on February 02, 2020, 10:00:18 PM
The problem I have is that this is all very self-defeating. Photographs, screens, and projectors all show that EXTREMELY basic optics can reproduce a close-enough-to-not-matter example of what we see with our eyes, while utterly destroying any subtle data that could be hidden in the mix and which evolutionary pressure would have existed for.

(Flat screens are literally still on release day in evolutionary time, and photography hasn't been out one week. Evolutionary pressure from these is nonexistent.)

This means that either The Eyeball Contains Magic, given that it can perform object distinction within a flat image with unpolarized light, or what we see is almost indistinguishable from basic reality, for most purposes.

I want to hear if I'm wrong, of course. But this man sounds as if he's full of shit. The two not bullshit options are he's talking about how our brains tie visuals to concepts as a sort of shorthand (e.g. shiny stuff is wet or metallic), or he's overly focused on perceptual failure modes (optical illusions).

The first is not related to how close we are to base level reality at all.

The second is not an adequate reason to say we never see something close to reality, on account of that issue being brainmeat post processing to detect motion and such, rather than an issue of perception.

(Provided you are relatively sane, you can usually actually tell the difference between the two, also. Most optical illusions look distinctly unnatural, like your brain is actively announcing that it has failed to process input correctly. There's a term for it but I can't recall it off hand.)

That's also my position and experience. I picked this book from a long list of more or less similar titles specifically because this author is, according to all available information, specifically not one of those "DMT introduced you to God" types. I've already lost some interest in the book though because it just seems like his premise is either too fantastic to be worth serious consideration, or just splitting semantic hairs.

That said, the reason I picked it up was because of the way he introduced his work. It pertains to AI and the failure (so far) of science not only to reproduce a conscious experience but to even approach a functional theory of how to understand it. His argument is that although we have a mountain of correlations between reported experiences and brain activity, there's nothing in any of that data that allows us to map conscious experience with the resolution required to, for example, distinguish between the taste of vanilla and the smell of garlic. Which is probably true, but I'm not educated there so I can't speak to whether or not it's a matter of a fundamental misunderstanding of consciousness or just a lack of tools and experience to map it that accurately.

Anyway, where he gets into the whole "perception doesn't remotely resemble objective reality" is in his lab experiments and evolution game theory computer simulations which (he claims) show that organisms that perceive "reality" accurately never have an evolutionary advantage over animals of comparable complexity whose perceptions mask that reality. I haven't actually gotten to the content part of this argument because his writing is dry as fuck, he keeps repeating the same slightly dumb metaphors, and I'm also finishing another Graham Hancock book which while also ridiculous and impossible, is at least well-written.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: tyrannosaurus vex on February 03, 2020, 02:55:27 AM
Quote from: Cain on February 02, 2020, 02:46:30 PM
QuoteI assume at some point he will propose some specific practical technologies or something that would be impossible to achieve without this theory or something like it, because it would be rude to waste a reader's time without that.

Do you think people would do that? Just write a popular science book and lie?

But this guy talks like a boring Bill Nye, so I have no choice but to assume he would never do this to me.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cramulus on February 03, 2020, 12:55:26 PM
When he talks about the gap between perception and reality, is he talking about the map/territory problem?

Like how colors do not exist in "reality", but are produced by our perceptive organs' interpretation of light-wavelengths?

and how our conception that light is visible, sound is audible, radio waves are invisible -- that's all based on human hardware and not "real"?

that the whole human concept of "things" -- distinct, quantifiable objects -- falls apart at certain levels of magnification?




if so, it sounds like a hand on the elephant of Chaos--of one of the great Discordian Mysteries

Quote from: The Chao Te Ching25
There is Something that exists,
beyond the Illusions of Order and Disorder.
It is all things, and unknowable in full.
We only see small parts of It,
but are convinced what we see is the entire Universe.

For lack of a better name, I call It "Chaos".
At dinner parties, I claim It is everything Possible and
Impossible.
When asked why not call It "god",
I point out that their head is too fucking small.

Because we create the Illusions in which we live,
we are more creative than Chaos.
Because we believe in the Illusions we create,
our heads are too fucking small.

In this way, we reflect our creations.



SEE ALSO: The Robert Anton Wilson meditation on the question "Who is the Master that makes the Grass Green? (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yY5r_zox-a8)"
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: tyrannosaurus vex on February 03, 2020, 01:55:37 PM
Quote from: Cramulus on February 03, 2020, 12:55:26 PM
When he talks about the gap between perception and reality, is he talking about the map/territory problem?

Like how colors do not exist in "reality", but are produced by our perceptive organs' interpretation of light-wavelengths?

and how our conception that light is visible, sound is audible, radio waves are invisible -- that's all based on human hardware and not "real"?

that the whole human concept of "things" -- distinct, quantifiable objects -- falls apart at certain levels of magnification?




if so, it sounds like a hand on the elephant of Chaos--of one of the great Discordian Mysteries

Quote from: The Chao Te Ching25
There is Something that exists,
beyond the Illusions of Order and Disorder.
It is all things, and unknowable in full.
We only see small parts of It,
but are convinced what we see is the entire Universe.

For lack of a better name, I call It "Chaos".
At dinner parties, I claim It is everything Possible and
Impossible.
When asked why not call It "god",
I point out that their head is too fucking small.

Because we create the Illusions in which we live,
we are more creative than Chaos.
Because we believe in the Illusions we create,
our heads are too fucking small.

In this way, we reflect our creations.



SEE ALSO: The Robert Anton Wilson meditation on the question "Who is the Master that makes the Grass Green? (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yY5r_zox-a8)"

I haven't made it far enough to say what his position is precisely except that he insists he isn't just talking about the ways we encode sensory input, but some fundamental disconnect between what we perceive and reality-as-it-is. His favorite metaphor that he keeps going back to over and over again is that the difference between the way we perceive and real reality is like the difference between playing a VR game and the circuits and data structures inside your computer.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Doktor Howl on February 03, 2020, 02:12:25 PM
Quote from: tyrannosaurus vex on February 01, 2020, 01:38:01 PM
Donald Hoffman, "The Case Against Reality"

Apparently, human (or any other kind of) perception isn't just a filtered down and encoded representation of Objective Reality, but in fact evolutionary pressures conspire to endow us with perceptive faculties that entirely occlude Objective Reality and present us instead with an interactive interface that doesn't resemble it at all.

He promises lots of maths and game theory and citations from leading physicists and mathematicians on top of his own work (he has a PhD in cognitive science or something) as the foundation of this theory.

So far my position is "okay but how is this not just mucking about with the words we use to describe things". I assume at some point he will propose some specific practical technologies or something that would be impossible to achieve without this theory or something like it, because it would be rude to waste a reader's time without that.

I would.  I totally would.  I have in fact done so with the carrot/hypermass theory of the Earth's shape.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: chaotic neutral observer on February 03, 2020, 02:39:00 PM
Quote from: tyrannosaurus vex on February 03, 2020, 01:55:37 PM
I haven't made it far enough to say what his position is precisely except that he insists he isn't just talking about the ways we encode sensory input, but some fundamental disconnect between what we perceive and reality-as-it-is. His favorite metaphor that he keeps going back to over and over again is that the difference between the way we perceive and real reality is like the difference between playing a VR game and the circuits and data structures inside your computer.
I'm generally dismissive of analogies that try to explain reality as a type of video game.  Of course there's a resemblance; video games are designed to mimic reality.
If the VR is a sufficiently accurate representation of reality, it doesn't matter what the computer program is doing, or how it's implemented.
A better analogy is a closed circuit video feed.  You can't see everything, and maybe the picture is fuzzy or the colours are distorted, but you can't point at the cable and claim that you're actually disconnected because "the cable is not the picture".
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: tyrannosaurus vex on February 03, 2020, 02:53:03 PM
Quote from: chaotic neutral observer on February 03, 2020, 02:39:00 PM
Quote from: tyrannosaurus vex on February 03, 2020, 01:55:37 PM
I haven't made it far enough to say what his position is precisely except that he insists he isn't just talking about the ways we encode sensory input, but some fundamental disconnect between what we perceive and reality-as-it-is. His favorite metaphor that he keeps going back to over and over again is that the difference between the way we perceive and real reality is like the difference between playing a VR game and the circuits and data structures inside your computer.
I'm generally dismissive of analogies that try to explain reality as a type of video game.  Of course there's a resemblance; video games are designed to mimic reality.
If the VR is a sufficiently accurate representation of reality, it doesn't matter what the computer program is doing, or how it's implemented.
A better analogy is a closed circuit video feed.  You can't see everything, and maybe the picture is fuzzy or the colours are distorted, but you can't point at the cable and claim that you're actually disconnected because "the cable is not the picture".

I watched an interview he did with Skeptic's Michael Shermer, and that's the same counter that Shermer used, more or less. It's fine to say that, for example, whatever pops up in your brain as "an apple" isn't really what the apple "is", but it's a useless declaration because every method we have for determining the apple's properties and existence just confirms that image of it anyway.

I'll get back to the book and maybe I'll have a better idea of why Hoffman's insistence that consciousness is fundamental is supposed to be useful.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Doktor Howl on February 03, 2020, 02:57:39 PM
Quote from: tyrannosaurus vex on February 03, 2020, 02:53:03 PM
Quote from: chaotic neutral observer on February 03, 2020, 02:39:00 PM
Quote from: tyrannosaurus vex on February 03, 2020, 01:55:37 PM
I haven't made it far enough to say what his position is precisely except that he insists he isn't just talking about the ways we encode sensory input, but some fundamental disconnect between what we perceive and reality-as-it-is. His favorite metaphor that he keeps going back to over and over again is that the difference between the way we perceive and real reality is like the difference between playing a VR game and the circuits and data structures inside your computer.
I'm generally dismissive of analogies that try to explain reality as a type of video game.  Of course there's a resemblance; video games are designed to mimic reality.
If the VR is a sufficiently accurate representation of reality, it doesn't matter what the computer program is doing, or how it's implemented.
A better analogy is a closed circuit video feed.  You can't see everything, and maybe the picture is fuzzy or the colours are distorted, but you can't point at the cable and claim that you're actually disconnected because "the cable is not the picture".

I watched an interview he did with Skeptic's Michael Shermer, and that's the same counter that Shermer used, more or less. It's fine to say that, for example, whatever pops up in your brain as "an apple" isn't really what the apple "is", but it's a useless declaration because every method we have for determining the apple's properties and existence just confirms that image of it anyway.

I'll get back to the book and maybe I'll have a better idea of why Hoffman's insistence that consciousness is fundamental is supposed to be useful.

This is the classic example of the bar stool analogy.  The bar stool may or may not be as represented, but the pain certainly will be.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cramulus on February 03, 2020, 03:40:20 PM
yeah, but I also find it a little reductionist to insist that the perceptible qualities of reality are the only ones that matter

if we're talking about the useful properties of the apple, yeah, we can deal in human perception - but we can never call that "objective", either


as for how it's "useful" --



and not to get too esoteric, but to me,
the most useful thing isn't "what we can do" with this information, but that the experience of pondering it actually opens us, in certain ways.

It's the Hunchback ("?") and the Soldier ("!") --- the most alive and awake part of us is the questioning part, the curious part --- not the simple answer that bludgeons the question and halts its curiosity.

Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Doktor Howl on February 03, 2020, 04:00:32 PM
Quote from: Cramulus on February 03, 2020, 03:40:20 PM
yeah, but I also find it a little reductionist to insist that the perceptible qualities of reality are the only ones that matter

if we're talking about the useful properties of the apple, yeah, we can deal in human perception - but we can never call that "objective", either


as for how it's "useful" --


  • at some point in science history, invisible things like radio waves and radiation and disease were first described by people who understood that objective reality is not entirely presented by the senses
  • Just the knowledge that our personal reality is generated by querying objective reality using our local and often dodgy perceptual tools -- this can help build an attitude of skepticism and distance (from your own percpetions) which helps deter you from swallowing the menu
  • it's a really handy thing to wrap your head around if you enjoy contemplating bigass cosmic nosebleed questions like "how does dead stupid matter give rise to a phenomenon like awareness, selfhood?", and "what is the cosmos and what role does organic life on earth play in it?"


and not to get too esoteric, but to me,
the most useful thing isn't "what we can do" with this information, but that the experience of pondering it actually opens us, in certain ways.

It's the Hunchback ("?") and the Soldier ("!") --- the most alive and awake part of us is the questioning part, the curious part --- not the simple answer that bludgeons the question and halts its curiosity.

Thing is, radio waves are in fact detectable, and looking at the underlying mechanics was a result of having phenomena that we didn't understand (eliminating the placeholder "aether" when it was realized that radio travels in a vacuum), rather than us going out to find something we couldn't detect.

So the analogy is somewhat connected, but is backwards.

Also, disease is apparent.  Germ theory is, too, once we learned to stop listening to woo meisters who insisted that disease was carried by "miasmas" that had no basis in, and in fact directly contradicted, the available data.

Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: chaotic neutral observer on February 03, 2020, 05:07:23 PM
"Perceptible" includes "perceptible only with the aid of instrumentation."

Taking off my glasses does not make reality go away.

Things which are imperceptible either directly or indirectly do not matter, for practical purposes.  (This does not include things which are not perceptible just yet, because they indeed might matter.  There are doubtless many hidden interesting things in the world just waiting for someone to develop the right test equipment.)

Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Doktor Howl on February 03, 2020, 05:09:16 PM
Quote from: chaotic neutral observer on February 03, 2020, 05:07:23 PM
"Perceptible" includes "perceptible only with the aid of instrumentation."

Taking off my glasses does not make reality go away.

Things which are imperceptible either directly or indirectly do not matter, for practical purposes.  (This does not include things which are not perceptible just yet, because they indeed might matter.  There are doubtless many hidden interesting things in the world just waiting for someone to develop the right test equipment.)

Yep.  For a tool-using species, instruments are as valid as your own eyeballs.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on February 03, 2020, 06:51:29 PM
I'm trying to see how this isn't another swing at something Korzybski did back in 1933.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Doktor Howl on February 03, 2020, 07:02:35 PM
Quote from: LMNO on February 03, 2020, 06:51:29 PM
I'm trying to see how this isn't another swing at something Korzybski did back in 1933.

You're correct.  It isn't.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Korzybski

Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Doktor Howl on February 03, 2020, 07:03:08 PM
I mean, assuming my senses are accurately interpreting the written word.  :lol:
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: tyrannosaurus vex on February 03, 2020, 08:39:37 PM
a few chapters later: Hoffman has invoked evolution simulations where the data (apparently) indicates that sensory systems evolve to help organisms detect the "fitness payoffs" (in terms of survival and procreation) present in the environment, not the environment per se. Moreover, organisms which perceive the environment accurately and directly (can directly detect the presence of necessary resources) have a distinct evolutionary disadvantage with comparable organisms that perceive it only indirectly (can only detect variances in availability of those resources). I think the gist here is that the additional computation required to calculate the fitness payoffs from direct information about the environment is a waste of resources, so evolution has taken the load off by building such calculation directly into the mechanisms we use for perception. Or something.

Then he goes on to enumerate numerous experiments in physics which disprove local realism, but rather than invoking quantum woo he presents various additional experiments, calculations, and theories that reinforce these findings at macro (as opposed to only quantum) scales. It is, tbh, hard to follow on account of I'm not a theoretical physicist. Eventually he concludes that one can banish the apparent contradictions between quantum mechanics and general relativity by not assuming spacetime to be fundamental at all, but rather by treating spacetime and everything it contains as arising from (or simultaneously with) our observation of it. Cue appeals to more experiments that show observation and measurement of a system determine not only its present state but also its history. This leads to a sort of "it's like solipsism but not really because I promise it isn't" conclusion.

Anyway, I think where he's going with this in a practical sense is a theory of conscious experience where the reason the solution to the Hard Problem is so elusive is because we assume consciousness is either identical to or an emergent property of physical processes in neurons, when in reality consciousness is fundamental. So the question of whether or not we can create conscious systems is sort of moot, because literally everything is consciousness anyway (like panpsychism), so what we should be doing is trying to make artificial systems that can relate to us in terms of how they perceive, not in terms of how they think. [this paragraph is 100% conjecture tho, I haven't actually read anything like this here, I'm just extrapolating - probably badly]
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: minuspace on February 03, 2020, 08:41:47 PM
Quote from: Cramulus on February 03, 2020, 03:40:20 PM
[...]
and not to get too esoteric, but to me,
the most useful thing isn't "what we can do" with this information, but that the experience of pondering it actually opens us, in certain ways.
[...]


This Disclosive model of truth-seeking kinda jives with me more than correspondence theories, generally. Granted, that might be because the language also evokes coitus but who's to say there's anything wrong with that. Objectively, the surface upon which I press for any purchase is almost entirely empty space, so... much barstool, very hard problem.

[yes, I am an episode of existential constipation: remember Korzybski]
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: altered on February 03, 2020, 09:09:39 PM
Quote from: tyrannosaurus vex on February 03, 2020, 08:39:37 PM
a few chapters later: Hoffman has invoked evolution simulations where the data (apparently) indicates that sensory systems evolve to help organisms detect the "fitness payoffs" (in terms of survival and procreation) present in the environment, not the environment per se. Moreover, organisms which perceive the environment accurately and directly (can directly detect the presence of necessary resources) have a distinct evolutionary disadvantage with comparable organisms that perceive it only indirectly (can only detect variances in availability of those resources). I think the gist here is that the additional computation required to calculate the fitness payoffs from direct information about the environment is a waste of resources, so evolution has taken the load off by building such calculation directly into the mechanisms we use for perception. Or something.

Then he goes on to enumerate numerous experiments in physics which disprove local realism, but rather than invoking quantum woo he presents various additional experiments, calculations, and theories that reinforce these findings at macro (as opposed to only quantum) scales. It is, tbh, hard to follow on account of I'm not a theoretical physicist. Eventually he concludes that one can banish the apparent contradictions between quantum mechanics and general relativity by not assuming spacetime to be fundamental at all, but rather by treating spacetime and everything it contains as arising from (or simultaneously with) our observation of it. Cue appeals to more experiments that show observation and measurement of a system determine not only its present state but also its history. This leads to a sort of "it's like solipsism but not really because I promise it isn't" conclusion.

Anyway, I think where he's going with this in a practical sense is a theory of conscious experience where the reason the solution to the Hard Problem is so elusive is because we assume consciousness is either identical to or an emergent property of physical processes in neurons, when in reality consciousness is fundamental. So the question of whether or not we can create conscious systems is sort of moot, because literally everything is consciousness anyway (like panpsychism), so what we should be doing is trying to make artificial systems that can relate to us in terms of how they perceive, not in terms of how they think. [this paragraph is 100% conjecture tho, I haven't actually read anything like this here, I'm just extrapolating - probably badly]

Regarding those experiments... they're exactly what I thought they'd be.

Thing is, evolution isn't a fitness maximizer. It's a fitness minimum avoider. Yes, having your environment lie to you is most fit, probably. No, having that is not necessary to survive. Anywhere.

Furthermore, evolution tends to require that all prior steps in its development aren't actively detrimental to the fitness of the organism. Hallucinating non physical objects WITHOUT any strong correlation to reality is actively detrimental. It's also far easier than evolving a new Augmented Reality apparatus of the fucking brain.

The simulated organisms would have died out from psychosis before they developed his fitness maximized solution.

If the data contradicts me, I'm cool with that, but I was actually guessing it was "augmented reality is the Most Fit sensory modality!!!! Here's a directed "find best fit" system that evolves it!!!!!!" while totally ignoring that there is no guiding hand but death and destruction here in the real world... So, yknow.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Doktor Howl on February 03, 2020, 09:22:37 PM
Quote from: altered on February 03, 2020, 09:09:39 PM

Thing is, evolution isn't a fitness maximizer. It's a fitness minimum avoider. Yes, having your environment lie to you is most fit, probably. No, having that is not necessary to survive. Anywhere.

Furthermore, evolution tends to require that all prior steps in its development aren't actively detrimental to the fitness of the organism. Hallucinating non physical objects WITHOUT any strong correlation to reality is actively detrimental. It's also far easier than evolving a new Augmented Reality apparatus of the fucking brain.

The simulated organisms would have died out from psychosis before they developed his fitness maximized solution.


Boom.  Boom, I say.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: minuspace on February 03, 2020, 10:48:47 PM
Quote from: tyrannosaurus vex on February 03, 2020, 08:39:37 PM

[...]

Anyway, I think where he's going with this in a practical sense is a theory of conscious experience where the reason the solution to the Hard Problem is so elusive is because we assume consciousness is either identical to or an emergent property of physical processes in neurons, when in reality consciousness is fundamental. So the question of whether or not we can create conscious systems is sort of moot, because literally everything is consciousness anyway (like panpsychism), so what we should be doing is trying to make artificial systems that can relate to us in terms of how they perceive, not in terms of how they think. [this paragraph is 100% conjecture tho, I haven't actually read anything like this here, I'm just extrapolating - probably badly]

Consciousness may be a back of tricks, but its still above my pay grade.

I clearly also can't see the big picture but there are various interfaces I find compelling, perception being one of them. With perception, without too many reductions or Husserlian suspensions, I can at least approximate a grasp of what it means to be conscious of something. Still, even if I train some CNN or Reverse Boltzmann Machine to recognize and identify objects by way of various weighted rewards for the fitness of their predictions, we still only have a glorified number cruncher, not a "computer of quality" for which differences were intentional or meaningful in the way we pretend to understand consciousness.

So, for one, I suppose I feel like some kind of a dualist today maintaining that not everything is conscious, at least especially the models I trained werent.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: tyrannosaurus vex on February 04, 2020, 05:31:22 PM
Well. I finished the book and all I can say is I want both my money and the 10 or so hours I spent on it back.

After pages and pages of pained and overly complicated arguments and appeals to quantum hocus pocus, his ultimate conclusion on AI is, more or less verbatim: "it is a mistake to try and reproduce a conscious agent by increasing complexity of circuitry, because consciousness isn't created that way. instead we should use circuitry to open a portal into the realm of conscious agents." I mean. What... what the fuck does that even mean.

I knew what I was getting myself into, but after hitting me over the head with painfully dumb metaphors about computer desktops and VR video games, I was hoping at least for a perspective on AI that wasn't just making alphabet soup from the words we use to think about it. Oh well, that's what I get for delving into popular science, I guess.

At least I have a somewhat better idea of what theoretical physicists mean when they talk about the 3D universe as a "simulation". Even though I still think that's bollocks, it's nice to know there's some math that goes into describing it and it isn't just lazy science fiction. Entirely.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Doktor Howl on February 04, 2020, 05:32:03 PM
Quote from: tyrannosaurus vex on February 04, 2020, 05:31:22 PM
Well. I finished the book and all I can say is I want both my money and the 10 or so hours I spent on it back.

After pages and pages of pained and overly complicated arguments and appeals to quantum hocus pocus, his ultimate conclusion on AI is, more or less verbatim: "it is a mistake to try and reproduce a conscious agent by increasing complexity of circuitry, because consciousness isn't created that way. instead we should use circuitry to open a portal into the realm of conscious agents." I mean. What... what the fuck does that even mean.

I knew what I was getting myself into, but after hitting me over the head with painfully dumb metaphors about computer desktops and VR video games, I was hoping at least for a perspective on AI that wasn't just making alphabet soup from the words we use to think about it. Oh well, that's what I get for delving into popular science, I guess.

At least I have a somewhat better idea of what theoretical physicists mean when they talk about the 3D universe as a "simulation". Even though I still think that's bollocks, it's nice to know there's some math that goes into describing it and it isn't just lazy science fiction. Entirely.

I went into the wrong line of work, really.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: tyrannosaurus vex on February 04, 2020, 05:34:52 PM
Quote from: Doktor Howl on February 04, 2020, 05:32:03 PM
I went into the wrong line of work, really.

The title of the Appendix is literally "the right to be wrong".
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Doktor Howl on February 04, 2020, 05:42:47 PM
Quote from: tyrannosaurus vex on February 04, 2020, 05:34:52 PM
Quote from: Doktor Howl on February 04, 2020, 05:32:03 PM
I went into the wrong line of work, really.

The title of the Appendix is literally "the right to be wrong".

Mine would be "the right to be stupid."
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: chaotic neutral observer on September 03, 2020, 05:03:15 AM
Escape From Colditz (P.R. Reid)

During World War II, the castle at Colditz served as a German high-security prisoner-of-war camp.  It was reserved for officers who had escaped from other camps, been recaptured, and were considered at high risk for escaping again.  Later in the war it was also used for high-profile prisoners (relatives of politicians, and such) whom the Germans thought would make good hostages, if the war were to go badly.

The Germans considered the castle to be inescapable; it had tall, sheer walls, was located on a steep hill, and the guards outnumbered the prisoners.  But putting so many escape-prone officers in one place had predictable effects.  Many attempted escape, a few were shot, several managed to get away, and some even managed to make it all the way home.

It's a true account, but it reads like something out of a Hollywood movie.

Everyone here knows how to pick locks, how to make disguises.  Hacksaws are made from old razor blades, radios are constructed from smuggled parts.  If a civilian contractor enters the prison, and removes his coat for any reason, he'll leave without it.  If he leaves his truck unattended on the grounds, he might find it missing a wheel bolt, or two.

The different contingents--English, French, Polish--need to appoint Escape Officers, who coordinate activities so that different groups don't interfere with each other in their attempts.

There are diversions, tunnels, feigned illnesses, hidden compartments, secret passageways.  The Germans, to educate themselves, create an "Escape Museum", containing artifacts of past attempts.

Guards' movements are carefully monitored and recorded; one escape is coordinated with split-second timing.

One prisoner resembles a high-ranking German closely, and is disguised to look like him, so he can deflect suspicion during his escape attempt.  He even seems about to pull it off, until the original appears.

A section of an attic is walled off to make a workshop.  A glider is constructed, with the object of a rooftop escape; but, the war ends before they get to test it.

This book is more concerned with the art of escape, rather than the war itself, but there are a few reminders.  A number of French Jews who were interred in the camp for a time have no motivation to escape; if they were to be recaptured, it would mean death.  The S.S. executes four hundred slaves in the nearby town.  The involvement of the Gestapo means torture.  The Wehrmacht, who operate the prison, seem comparatively civilized, but they'll still shoot at you if you run.

This is an entertaining read, and an easy recommendation.  "Escape from Colditz" is actually comprised of two earlier publications, "The Colditz Story" and "Men of Colditz"; the first is an account of the author's personal experiences, up until his escape; the second is a compilation of later events in the prison, which he learned of after the war.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on September 03, 2020, 09:58:42 AM
Oh yeah, escapes from Colditz were something else. "Hmmm...we seem to have a problem with POW escapees. I know, lets put all of the worst examples of this together in a single camp, so they can learn from and coordinate with each other."
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Doktor Howl on September 03, 2020, 07:33:02 PM
That's where they stored Jack Churchill, IIRC, with the whole "silent man falling" incident.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: chaotic neutral observer on September 03, 2020, 08:23:22 PM
Quote from: Doktor Howl on September 03, 2020, 07:33:02 PM
That's where they stored Jack Churchill, IIRC, with the whole "silent man falling" incident.
Winston Churchill's nephew, Giles Romilly, was at Colditz, but I don't recall any other Churchill connections.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cain on September 03, 2020, 09:07:34 PM
Jack Churchill wasn't related to the other Churchill, though the Germans certainly thought he was. He was kept at Sachsenhausen, then transferred to Tyrol.

You should read up on Jack, CNO, he was...quite the character. The only other person in the war who could even compare with him was Adrian Carton de Wiart.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Rococo Modem Basilisk on September 17, 2020, 06:21:45 PM
I haven't posted in this thread in years, so this is going to be a long update (even though I'm going to limit what I mention).

I recently finished The Psychology of Man's Possible Evolution by P. D. Ouspensky (and, I guess, edited by his students). It's a great deal more accessible than the comparable material in his other book on the subject, the posthumous In Search of the Miraculous, and much shorter -- I read it in two sittings, and could have read it in one. Ouspensky brings up some interesting ideas (some of which look familiar because they influenced RAW), but is extremely dogmatic & says a bunch of things that are major red flags for cultishness (like, if I was at a lecture and somebody told me "in order to become conscious, you must join a school and follow directions without question or even thinking", I'd get the hell out of there). This book omits the weird planet & numerology stuff that In Search of the Miraculous focuses so much on (and that Beezlebub's Tales to his Grandson jumps right into).

I also recently finished Stephen King's Firestarter. The book reads like a spy thriller, and is intensely 70s in the way that most of King's 70s and early-80s books are. It has none of the bloat we normally associate with King's work, up until the denoument, where he spends about 25 pages dicking around with uninteresting stuff before getting to the stinger. If he cut it down to five pages, it would be a basically perfectly-paced book.

Richie Billings' Thoughts on Writing was a freebie, and I didn't expect much from it, but it delivered an awful lot of good advice & theory. The author had the interesting idea to crowdsource his subjects: basically, he distributed polls to facebook writer's groups about what frustrated or mystified them, and then focused on those frustrations. There's a little fluff here and there, but mostly he is summarizing and synthesizing ideas from other writing manuals -- however, he picks ones that are relatively obscure, so it was mostly new information for me. (He leans a lot on this particular book on dramaturgy...)

Daphne DuMaurier's Rebecca hits a lot harder than Hitchcock's film adaptation, and also has a great deal of interesting commentary on class and gender. We spend most of the book inside the unnamed protagonist's head, keeping her anxieties company, and so we get an extremely rich sense of exactly what she fears.

Mondo 2000: A User's Guide to the New Edge is in a rough encyclopedia style, and much of the material in it we have heard before (this came out prior to the break between the Mondo and Wired crew, and in particular, Kevin Kelly has recycled a lot of this for his own, substantially worse books), but there are a few gems here and there that have not been endlessly retold. It's a nice snapshot of a particular moment in cyberculture, much like the Cyberpunk Fakebook that Mondo released later.

I picked up the first three volumes of the Castle of Horror Anthology because one of my stories is in the upcoming fourth volume. The first volume, which I have finished, is not very good: a bunch of big names contributed stories, but those stories would not have been out of place in a high schooler's fictionpress account. The second volume is more cohesive (due to a theme -- holidays) and the quality is on average much better. (I have read a bit of the ARC for volume 4, and I'm glad to see that the stories in it are actually quite good: after reading volume 1, I worried that I, a previously unpublished and basically amateur writer, would be bringing the average quality up too much!)

Gothic Tales of Terror, edited by Peter Haining, is interesting mostly for historical reasons. It's a survey of short stories from the first wave of gothic literature (starting with Walpole's Castle of Otranto) -- during which the movement was mostly in novels. So, he dug out what he could from chapbooks. There's a smattering of well-known figures (Horace Walpole himself, "Monk" Lewis, Percy Shelley & the rest of Byron's slumber party crew), but I was unfamiliar with most of the authors. I didn't much like the stories, but they were certainly interesting insomuch as the distribution of subjects was unexpected: first-wave gothic had a lot of orientalism (Shelley's contribution is basically a straight history of the Assasins) and a lot of straight medieval romances bordering on arthuriana, Byron and Polidori's stories (though generally implicated in inspiring Dracula) are very focused on the idea of a friend-of-a-friend being hoodwinked during a grand tour of europe into performing a ritual in Greece to renew the vampire's hold on life, and about half the stories are essentially Faust fanfiction.

On the other hand, on the subject of what we tend to assume gothic literature involves, the first two Vampire Hunter D books are fantastic. A lot of words are wasted on describing the brooding hero's sex appeal, which is occasionally distracting, but the author also paints a dense and lurid world, deeply strange, with a complex history, and combines it with interesting plots and relatively well-rounded characters. I intend to read the rest of the series (which, if I recall, has something like 20 books).

Carl Abrahammson's Occulture had glowing blurbs on the back from Erik Davis, Mitch Horowitz, and Gary Lachmann, but I was disappointed in it. It's a collection of lectures the author previously gave, which is usually fine, but the distribution of subjects is not great: he repeats himself from chapter to chapter, veers off-topic, spends whole chapters without actually saying anything, and about 25% of the book by volume is off-topic off-handed cracks about how millenial SJWs have ruined the magick community with their memes and short attention spans. I spent twenty dollars on this book -- ten cents a page -- and it was not worthwhile.

The Compleat Enchanter is a collection of four novellas by L. Sprague de Camp and Fletcher Pratt about a group of experimental psychologists who discover that they can physically enter the worlds of mythology and literature by encoding the laws of those worlds into formal logic and meditating on those logical elements. They're charming swashbuckling adventures, without a great deal of intellectual content but with plenty of fan service for folks who habitually read norse mythology and the like, and I enjoyed them thoroughly. Aside from the treatment of women, they've aged remarkably well.

Hyenas by Michael Sellars is an inventive and philosophically interesting zombie novel. I got it as a freebie, but it would have been worth full price. It's also a fast read.

American Cosmic is Dr Diana Walsh Pasulka's foray into UFO books, and unfortunately, she didn't do her due diligence. She spends an awful lot of time reminding her readers that in religious studies, you aren't supposed to make judgements about the factualness of religious beliefs -- which any reader ought to already know -- and she then promptly gets herself hooked by an obvious con artist (Mr Startup Guy who claims to receive multimillion dollar quantum space prosthetic patents from aliens telepathically but only when he drinks pure spring water and sunbathes, and who at the end of the book has a dramatic and clearly-staged conversion to catholicism inside the vatican's library). She repeatedly claims that she's deepy familiar with Jacques Vallee's work, but then she shows her ignorance of that work by claiming he was ignorant of subjects and events that he wrote at length about in his most famous books, makes claims she contends to be original that were put forth by Vallee, et cetera. She says that she's interested in making UFO study more scientific, but she simply doesn't have comparable rigour to the most slapdash of the well-known ufologists. Another short, expensive book that I wanted to love but ended up hating, simply because it couldn't pass my extremely low bar of "say something interesting".

Jason Heller's Strange Stars is a well-researched and entertaining history of the intertwining of science fiction and pop music in the 70s. My one complaint is that he focuses on Star Wars and treats it as a positive force. Star Wars basically annihilated the market for philosophically interesting science fiction for years, and set science fiction's own literary merit back decades, because it repopularized the kind of kitchsy turn-your-brain-off style-over-substance space-adventure bullshit that all the big literary movements in science fiction had been trying to distance themselves from since the 40s. Before Star Wars, science fiction was Foundation or Left Hand of Darkness or The Beast that Shouted Love at the Heart of the World, and after Star Wars science fiction was fucking Buck Rodgers again.

Reading Like a Writer by Francine Prose has a great book inside of it (basically the middle half), but it's marred at the beginning because the editor failed to remove the author's long, off-topic rants about an imaginary PC brigade ruining literature by demanding to find meaning in it, and it's marred at the end because she just pastes long paragraphs from the middle of unfamiliar works and fails to explain why they are relevant to the subject she's ostensibly illustrating or provide context for understanding them. She's a professor of literature, but shows basic misunderstandings of literary theory that ought to embarass an undergraduate in an entirely different field. This book made me angry, because it's clear that the author could write a good book on this subject, and chose instead to waste my time.

Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cramulus on September 17, 2020, 07:31:55 PM
Quote from: Rococo Modem Basilisk on September 17, 2020, 06:21:45 PM
I recently finished The Psychology of Man's Possible Evolution by P. D. Ouspensky (and, I guess, edited by his students). It's a great deal more accessible than the comparable material in his other book on the subject, the posthumous In Search of the Miraculous, and much shorter -- I read it in two sittings, and could have read it in one. Ouspensky brings up some interesting ideas (some of which look familiar because they influenced RAW), but is extremely dogmatic & says a bunch of things that are major red flags for cultishness (like, if I was at a lecture and somebody told me "in order to become conscious, you must join a school and follow directions without question or even thinking", I'd get the hell out of there). This book omits the weird planet & numerology stuff that In Search of the Miraculous focuses so much on (and that Beezlebub's Tales to his Grandson jumps right into).

Ouspenky is an interesting character... in Gurdjieff circles, everybody kinda acknowledges that Ouspensky only kinda got what Gurdjieff was putting down. He thought of himself as the Most Special Student. He was always angry that Gurdjieff only tried to decrease his feeling of specialness.

The planet/numerology stuff is the worst part of that book, IMO -- its useful to understand in an abstract sense, but Ouspensky is hyper literal. Like that whole section towards the end of the book where he starts doing math to calculate how long a "breath" is for a tree, an insect, etc... he just did a bunch of literal calculations about a mostly symbolic topic, and then expected Gurdjieff to say "Oh you advanced both of our knowledge!" except Gurdjieff was actually like "the fuck are you talking about"

Ouspensky, most notably, thought that you could develop yourself just by thinking. He didn't really buy into the PHYSICAL PRACTICE.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cramulus on September 17, 2020, 08:10:13 PM
btw I'm actually going to be hosting a book club where we read In Search of the Miraculous at the rate of 1 chapter per week, followed by a Wednesday night discussion (around 8pm). Anybody's welcome to come, shoot me a message if interested.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Doktor Howl on September 18, 2020, 01:08:21 AM
Re-reading the entire 1632 series.

Which should keep me busy for a few months.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Rococo Modem Basilisk on September 18, 2020, 02:32:55 PM
Quote from: Cramulus on September 17, 2020, 07:31:55 PM
Quote from: Rococo Modem Basilisk on September 17, 2020, 06:21:45 PM
I recently finished The Psychology of Man's Possible Evolution by P. D. Ouspensky (and, I guess, edited by his students). It's a great deal more accessible than the comparable material in his other book on the subject, the posthumous In Search of the Miraculous, and much shorter -- I read it in two sittings, and could have read it in one. Ouspensky brings up some interesting ideas (some of which look familiar because they influenced RAW), but is extremely dogmatic & says a bunch of things that are major red flags for cultishness (like, if I was at a lecture and somebody told me "in order to become conscious, you must join a school and follow directions without question or even thinking", I'd get the hell out of there). This book omits the weird planet & numerology stuff that In Search of the Miraculous focuses so much on (and that Beezlebub's Tales to his Grandson jumps right into).

Ouspenky is an interesting character... in Gurdjieff circles, everybody kinda acknowledges that Ouspensky only kinda got what Gurdjieff was putting down. He thought of himself as the Most Special Student. He was always angry that Gurdjieff only tried to decrease his feeling of specialness.

The planet/numerology stuff is the worst part of that book, IMO -- its useful to understand in an abstract sense, but Ouspensky is hyper literal. Like that whole section towards the end of the book where he starts doing math to calculate how long a "breath" is for a tree, an insect, etc... he just did a bunch of literal calculations about a mostly symbolic topic, and then expected Gurdjieff to say "Oh you advanced both of our knowledge!" except Gurdjieff was actually like "the fuck are you talking about"

Ouspensky, most notably, thought that you could develop yourself just by thinking. He didn't really buy into the PHYSICAL PRACTICE.

It's a shame, because Ouspensky knew how to write clearly & accessibly! (Though Gurdjieff claimed to be writing more densely and inaccessibly on purpose to weed out the insufficiently-dedicated, right?)

I haven't read a LOT of Gurdjieff, but it seems like Ouspensky shares about half of what bugs me about Gurdjieff, and they have their own irritations & red flags. Good on you, Cram, for actually joining the cult so the rest of us don't have to ;)

Maybe now that I've gotten through Psychology I'll join your reading group for [u[In Search Of...[/u]; I ground to an utter halt around 150 pages in, a year ago, and had to really labor to put in a couple pages, basically because of the numerology shit, but I might be able to stomach it better now.

---

I've also got a bunch of books I'm currently reading (to various degrees of activity). (Half the time, when a book is hard to get through or is making me angry, it's really because of my mood so I put it aside until I feel in the mood to finish it, so this leads to situations where my currently-reading list is 50+ books and some of them haven't been touched in 5+ years, but I have a good track record of eventually coming back & finishing all of them.) Selection of interesting ones below:

Seeing Like a State by James C. Scott is a meme in political & rationalist circles for a reason: like On the Origin of Species, it exhaustively illustrates a powerful but counterintuitive idea in such a way that it's borderline irrefutable and unignorable. Scott is also a very lucid and entertaining writer, which helps a lot, because this is absolutely an academic work. The reason people reference it instead of actually reading it is that the basic idea is understandable from a couple chapters in, and the rest of the time he's aggressively showing his work: prepare to learn more than you ever wanted to know about the history of scientific forestry, russian agricultural zoning, important philosophical figures in modernist and brutalist architecture, the internal structure of bolshevic vanguard organizing, and a bunch of other shit I haven't gotten to because I'm only halfway through. (The basic premise, by the way, is that centralized authority not only is incapable of fully understanding all the details of the things it ostensibly manages, but also because of this tends to modify the conditions on the ground in order to more closely map to the abstractions it uses to understand the world, with unexpected and ultimately unpredictable results -- basically a synthesis of RAW's 'communication is only possible between equals' & Ashby's law of requisite variety, but with a focus on the concrete ways our models of the world end up affecting the world itself in situations of power asymmetry.)

The Talisman combines the strengths of Peter Straub (absolutely beautiful language) and Stephen King (well-drawn and believable characters), along with some of their flaws (they both love 'magical negro' characters & if you have a sensistivity to that, you'll have a hard time with the first 100+ pages of this book) into an extremely horrific take on the visitation-narrative / portal fantasy. The 12 year old protagonist is well drawn, and sometimes this feels like an exceptionally well-written middle-grade book until something really horrible happens & you realize this is definitely aimed at adults. That said, thus far (~200 pages in) this is a lot more in the fantasy realm than the horror realm. In some ways it feels like a test run for both Straub's Shadowland (which I've read & loved) and King's The Dark Tower (which I haven't read). It's notable for being the first book cowritten over computer network: Straub and King were both writing on (different brands of) word processor, and they set up a mechanism to dump nightly revisions on each others' machines by modem. (Details of this are covered in the book Track Changes, a compelling history of word processing technologies that I recommend anybody interested in tech history to pick up.)

Foucault's Discipline and Punish is pretty dense & I'm wondering if maybe I don't need to read it, itself, having already been familiar with his ideas second-hand. He gets really deep into the history of specific laws, trends, and punishments in early modern France. I've run into a couple interesting ideas in it that usually don't make their way into summaries (for instance, the idea that breaking the law is a personal insult to the sovergn because the law is an extended part of the sovergn's body, or the idea -- now common in folk-ideas about american law but actually present in france in the time of the inquisition -- that multiple kinds of evidence need to overlap to form a conviction, which underlies the use of torture to produce confessions at that time), but I got it at the cost of reading a few hundred pages of twisty prose about arguments dead people had in letters about 500 year old french legal precedent. Foucault is less inaccessible than his reputation would have you believe, but he tends to write sentences long enough that it is easy to forget the beginning by the time you get to the end (and unlike with McLuhan or Deluze or Zizek, you can't just float along: his style is very straightforward and informational, so if you miss what one sentence means you will not understand the next at all & neither will you get a poetic kick from reading it!)

Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke's Black Sun: Aryan Cults, Esoteric Naziism, and the Politics of Identity is a deeply researched & at times surprising history of various far-right groups and their internal disagreements. If you like Robert Evans' Behind the Bastards podcast, you'll find this book fascinating. I've been saying for a while that the alt-right's "right unity" is extremely fragile -- this is an alliance between folks who normally would literally want to kill each other because their ideologies, in many important ways, do not align -- and this book illustrates in detail some of these schisms (specifically in the esoteric neonazi sector). The big schisms thus far seem to be christian nazis vs hindu nazis vs heathen/generic-pagan nazis and populist american-style neonazis vs elitist british-style neonazis. Julius Evola is in there somewhere too.

J. Allen Hyneck's The UFO Experience, while historically important for introducing the taxonomy of close encounters (and also various other taxonomies, including sighting types) is extremely dull for somebody used to reading better writers like Vallee and Keel.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cramulus on September 18, 2020, 03:38:48 PM
Quote from: Rococo Modem Basilisk on September 18, 2020, 02:32:55 PM
Foucault's Discipline and Punish is pretty dense & I'm wondering if maybe I don't need to read it, itself, having already been familiar with his ideas second-hand. He gets really deep into the history of specific laws, trends, and punishments in early modern France. I've run into a couple interesting ideas in it that usually don't make their way into summaries (for instance, the idea that breaking the law is a personal insult to the sovergn because the law is an extended part of the sovergn's body, or the idea -- now common in folk-ideas about american law but actually present in france in the time of the inquisition -- that multiple kinds of evidence need to overlap to form a conviction, which underlies the use of torture to produce confessions at that time), but I got it at the cost of reading a few hundred pages of twisty prose about arguments dead people had in letters about 500 year old french legal precedent. Foucault is less inaccessible than his reputation would have you believe, but he tends to write sentences long enough that it is easy to forget the beginning by the time you get to the end (and unlike with McLuhan or Deluze or Zizek, you can't just float along: his style is very straightforward and informational, so if you miss what one sentence means you will not understand the next at all & neither will you get a poetic kick from reading it!)

yeah, I found that Discipline & Punish really changed my whole worldview


But reading the the wikipedia entry on it, and a few other essays... is basically as good as reading the whole book.


those summaries boil down a lot of complexity into their essential guts---which is almost more powerful than reading the long, detailed construction of those arguments.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Rococo Modem Basilisk on September 18, 2020, 04:17:26 PM
Quote from: Cramulus on September 18, 2020, 03:38:48 PM
Quote from: Rococo Modem Basilisk on September 18, 2020, 02:32:55 PM
Foucault's Discipline and Punish is pretty dense & I'm wondering if maybe I don't need to read it, itself, having already been familiar with his ideas second-hand. He gets really deep into the history of specific laws, trends, and punishments in early modern France. I've run into a couple interesting ideas in it that usually don't make their way into summaries (for instance, the idea that breaking the law is a personal insult to the sovergn because the law is an extended part of the sovergn's body, or the idea -- now common in folk-ideas about american law but actually present in france in the time of the inquisition -- that multiple kinds of evidence need to overlap to form a conviction, which underlies the use of torture to produce confessions at that time), but I got it at the cost of reading a few hundred pages of twisty prose about arguments dead people had in letters about 500 year old french legal precedent. Foucault is less inaccessible than his reputation would have you believe, but he tends to write sentences long enough that it is easy to forget the beginning by the time you get to the end (and unlike with McLuhan or Deluze or Zizek, you can't just float along: his style is very straightforward and informational, so if you miss what one sentence means you will not understand the next at all & neither will you get a poetic kick from reading it!)

yeah, I found that Discipline & Punish really changed my whole worldview


But reading the the wikipedia entry on it, and a few other essays... is basically as good as reading the whole book.


those summaries boil down a lot of complexity into their essential guts---which is almost more powerful than reading the long, detailed construction of those arguments.

I get why he did it that way, though. Until these ideas got assimilated into the culture, in order to defend them you gotta really show your work. It's not like McLuhan, though, where the cultural-osmosis version is super simplified & lacks most of the explanitory power.

I've got one of his more obscure books, Power/Knowledge (a collection of his late lectures), on my to-read pile for once I finish D&P, & maybe that'll contain more that's new. He's clearly a compelling thinker & I doubt that all his interesting ideas have gained saturation.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: minuspace on September 18, 2020, 07:48:53 PM
I keep on trying to read Marx, currently mulling over the Third Economic and Philosophic manuscript, on The Power of Money, specifically. Very condensed good.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Rococo Modem Basilisk on September 21, 2020, 02:22:07 PM
Quote from: minuspace on September 18, 2020, 07:48:53 PM
I keep on trying to read Marx, currently mulling over the Third Economic and Philosophic manuscript, on The Power of Money, specifically. Very condensed good.

I'll have to give that one a try.

Have you read Critique of the Gotha Programme? I hear it's unusually direct for Marx, because he was dying at the time and didn't have the energy to give a damn about propriety anymore.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Fomalhaut on October 07, 2020, 04:55:38 PM
Most recent Thriftbooks buys were 'High Weirdness' and 'Techgnosis' by Erik Davis. I haven't gotten deep into them, but his writing flows well and didn't bore me to death in the excerpts I've read so far.

Anybody read these titles / have any opinions on that guy and his work?
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Cramulus on October 07, 2020, 07:59:02 PM
I LOVE Erik Davis. I haven't actually read any of his stuff but I've listened to tons of podcasts which interview him.


Here's a link to his incredible Gnosis Now! series, about gnosticism: https://www.principiadiscordia.com/forum/index.php/topic,38598.msg1425999.html#msg1425999


Here's a presentation where he talks about Philip K Dick
https://www.facebook.com/watch/live/?v=263803811610504&ref=watch_permalink

I enjoyed the whole thing, but if you were only gonna listen to 5 minutes of it, the stuff right after 1:05 is nice and chewy


His appearances on the Aeon Byte podcast are good too
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Fomalhaut on October 08, 2020, 06:33:05 PM
Quote from: Cramulus on October 07, 2020, 07:59:02 PM
I LOVE Erik Davis. I haven't actually read any of his stuff but I've listened to tons of podcasts which interview him.


Here's a link to his incredible Gnosis Now! series, about gnosticism: https://www.principiadiscordia.com/forum/index.php/topic,38598.msg1425999.html#msg1425999


Here's a presentation where he talks about Philip K Dick
https://www.facebook.com/watch/live/?v=263803811610504&ref=watch_permalink

I enjoyed the whole thing, but if you were only gonna listen to 5 minutes of it, the stuff right after 1:05 is nice and chewy


His appearances on the Aeon Byte podcast are good too

Sweet! Thanks for the links. I didn't know about any of these.

Started  listening to the Gnosis Now! Series. Pairs well with having read the Nag Hammadi scriptures this past weekend (still have the library book too, so I can follow along with the readings like a good nerd).

Will give the other podcasts a listen at some point when my son's nappin'. (Or otherwise, sometimes he's oddly entertained by stuff like that. He can't talk yet, but has watched some lectures and interviews with me and giggles at the dudes talking about stuff. He thinks Philip K Dick is especially funny. Possibly just funny looking, but still, makes momma proud).
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Rococo Modem Basilisk on November 25, 2020, 08:57:44 PM
I recently read High Weirdness and thought it was fantastic. I've been really into both RAW and PKD for a long time (and read about half of the published Exegesis), and I've read a couple McKenna books, so it was sort of surprising to me how much in HW was new. If HW feels too straightlaced for you, I recommend Davis's Nomad Codes, which is a collection of articles he's written for various publications over the past 30 years. He draws on some ideas developed in Nomad Codes in HW without actually really explaining them, so reading the one certainly casts light on the other.

Right now I'm almost finished with McLuhan: Hot and Cool, an anthology of reviews of/essays about McLuhan's three major works. For something targeted at McLuhan fans, it contains a whole lot of critical perspectives. Some of them are awfully petty or seem to seriously miss the point (or simply claim that they don't want to live in a world where McLuhan's points have any validity and that McLuhan is therefore a bad person), but a lot of them mirror my own perspective on him: that he's brilliant but sloppy, and that it's very useful to read him in order to challenge your own thought, so long as you don't simply take his claims as true. (I feel this way about Zizek as well.) Some folks spent a lot of time ragging on McLuhan's prose style, claiming that he is a "bad writer", which I don't understand at all -- unless it's part of this tendency McLuhan himself described where Literary Men consider wordplay to be below them (a tendency that seems to have died out at least in popular treatments by the 70s or 80s).
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on December 22, 2020, 07:25:38 PM
I'm reading A Libertarian Walks Into a Bear: The Utopian Plot to Liberate an American Town (And Some Bears) (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/50358538-a-libertarian-walks-into-a-bear).  It's about how a bunch of Libertarians took over a small New Hampshire town in order to create a Free Market utopia, with predicable (and hilarious) results.  It's really well written, and a lot of fun.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: LMNO on February 18, 2021, 12:05:58 AM
I'm finally reading "How to Be an Anti-Racist", and it's really great.  He shifts the POV in such a way that really shows how "racism" is a verb, not a noun.  It's a shift that reminds me of the old days when I still had RAW on a pedestal.  Even if you believe you aren't racist, you should read it anyway, because it's a really wonderful new way of understanding and communicating.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Brother Mythos on July 01, 2023, 12:13:10 PM
I've just finished reading 1177 B.C. - The Year Civilization Collapsed, by Eric. H. Cline.

Professor Cline was, obviously, not above giving his book a catchy title. But even so, I think it's a worthwhile read for those with an interest in ancient history. The book describes the declines and downfalls of the interconnected civilizations in the Eastern Mediterranean, Near East, and Middle East during the Late Bronze Age. The many economic and cultural interconnections between the Minoan/Mycenaean Greeks, Hittites, Egyptians, Mitanni, Mesopotamians, and others are brought to light. And, the multiple causes of the breakdowns of their interconnections are covered in detail.

Overall, the book illuminates a period of greater interdependence and "globalization" in the ancient world than I realized existed.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Brother Mythos on July 26, 2023, 09:24:27 AM
I'm currently reading The Forever War by Joe Haldeman.

I can understand why this science fiction novel has won so many awards, as I'm finding it hard to put the book down late in the evening. It's also clear to me that the author based many of the experiences of his protagonist, a young, educated draftee, on his own time spent in the military during the Vietnam War/Hippie Era.

If you're a science fiction fan, and have not read this book, I recommend that you consider adding it to your reading list.
Title: Re: Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?
Post by: Brother Mythos on August 18, 2023, 06:10:09 AM
I just started reading The Hero With a Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell. I've had the book lying around for quite some time, and finally decided to see what's inside.

In one of the book's early chapters, the author brings up C. G. Jung's "trickster" archetype. This reminded me of St. Gulik/Hermes in our Sacred Principia Discordia, as he has long been identified as a trickster god, as is Loki in the heathen Asatru faith. I then realized Our Blessed Goddess Eris is also a trickster. And, since St. Gulik/Hermes is the messenger of Our Blessed Goddess, it is actually Eris who is the apex trickster in the Greek pantheon.

I'm sure many longer practicing Discordian ecclesiastics already know this to be true. But, steps in illumination and enlightenment come to us when we are ready.     

Hail Eris!