I'd like to say that The Confessions of Nat Turner is amazing! I've never read the book, but then again, I'm a professional philosopher and say it's good.

Changing gears a little, I recommend riding on the back right section of the space shuttle the next time you're in space to enhance the space flying experience.

Oh and, LeBron James, if you're reading - you need to come to my house so I can give you some pointers on how to dunk.

Talking to yourself in a Flame Wars thread. This is a pathetic new low even for you.

Hey, we're not all born with two personalities to keep us company like you are. (IMG:../forums/style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif)

i hear good things about The Forever War.

I intend to read it as soon as classes stop killing me.


Then again, i probably could be reading it right now rather than talking to you savages.

Oh, I'm going to have to not recommend that one. I'm also going to give it a B-. In fact, I might even not read it.

That's completely contrary to the point of the thread. How dare you.

I haven't heard of it, so it must be good.

Well, I would then recommend to you to read War and Peace, but seeing as how I've read it, I'm unqualified to recommend it.

hijacking this thread: i can't stand movies anymore. Not like disgusted "can't stand", more like my atttention span has been throughly shattered. I just wander off in the first 10 minutes of pointless dialogue.

So I've decided to read every book that won the hugo award.

1. The Forever War: I would not describe it as a "rebuttal" to Starship Troopers, but definately another perspective on it. Like, pretty much everything the soliders do that in the novel is pretty pointless. I'd say what it deals with much more is the cultural shock of soliders. Also, the main character is likable enough.

2. A canticle for leibweitz: just got done with first 1/3. Ridicolously good so far. Post-apoclyptic setting, with people who don't think in boring little modern patterns? yes please!

(IMG:http://128.97.251.217:8080/img/photos/2008/03/04/web.ae.bookreview.picA_t820.jpg)

surprisingly, it's a pretty good read itself

finished Canticle. Great book. Much better than the genre. A+

Transcends the genre, so i suppose it deserve an A+


The Moon is A harsh mistress:

Heinlein is a sucky author. Okay book, the computer was funny. B+

EDIT: after reading The doomsday book, i realized how bad regular scifi actually is, bumping this up to a B+


Next Book:

Neuromancer

This post has been edited by Urquhart: Mar 20 2009, 10:31 AM

Awesome book.

Indeed

neuromancer:

at first glance, i was dumbfounded by its excessive use of jargon. Yet now, i still remeber vividly some of its details. Interesting book, and one i'm reluctant to put a grade to. Its like 2001 Space odysessy, in a way.


the left hand of darkness:

decent book, fun times were had, B.


I think i forgot one in between, but currently reading:

The Doomsday Book:

it lacks depth, style, or interesting ideas. F. F, in the worst way, as I can see how modern seculars would relish it's bizarre juxtapositions.


edit:
'
by a quater of the way,i found myself skimming through the "real time line" subplot. Like, reading 3 lines a page to get back to the medieval period. Thats how bad it is. Writer should focus on romance novels.

This post has been edited by Urquhart: Mar 20 2009, 10:30 AM

Door in the Wall: Very good children's book. Read it in a used bookstore while rummaging. (hey, i bought it then, so don't glare at me!)

Stim: read this book http://www.amazon.com/Knots-Surfaces-N-D-G...t/dp/0198514905

It's a little light on the rigor (many definitions and proofs are delayed for a few chapters so the authors can focus on developing geometric and intuitive arguments, and the authors are content to just throw in theory (e.g. groups) as they go along instead of developing the subject from a list of 3 axioms or whatever), but it presents a geometric approach to topology, where the motivation and focus are on knots and surfaces and our spatial intuition w/r/t them. I found that the topics and exercises are much more interesting (and straighforward, imo) than the "Prove that every compact subspace in a Hausdorff space is closed" bullshit that is point set topology.

Basically, topology owns, sci fi kinda doesn't


edit: i've skipped/skimmed a number of the chapters because they talk about boring shit like graph theory and i didn't need the algebra review they provided, so i'm recommending a book i haven't read (IMG:../forums/style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

This post has been edited by Deus Ex Machina: Mar 23 2009, 09:20 AM

List Price: $164.99


topology is gay but also kind of awesome. It's hard for me to ever be comfortable without metrics and or any of that other crap. Like, i always have to stop and think "hurrmmm is this necessarily true" for a while after every step. But it does give you some tools to do proofs in other classes (like real analysis) a helluva lot easier.


besides, i'm reading sci fi for escapism, because i have seen every good movie (i finally watched Gone with the Wind, so now i am complete). No, i wont' watch your artsy fartsy bullshit euro-trash flick.

This post has been edited by Urquhart: Mar 23 2009, 05:38 PM

actually, i just noticed, topology has been getting more interesting after got done with the really generalized crap. Don't knock on hausdorff, shit was like a buoy to me. First thing i could slap down and say "YES I KNOW THIS MUCH IS TRUE". And compactness makes so many proofs much easier in real analysis.

in the spirit of this thread, i advise you all to read every post milty has made.

----------------


stim: try the 'mars' trilogy by kim stanley robinson, and if you liked 'the forever war' (personally i thought it was one of his weakest), then the Dorsai series by him is superior.

and of course, the Dune series is still head above all other competitors... but NOT the goddawful trekkie shite of his son.

and if you enjoy authors who take you upon intense emotional experiences (of their characters), i would recommend stephen donaldsons "gods"* series.

Still have the last chapter but Quentin Meillasoux's After Finitude is seeming pretty good. I think both Necro and Stim could stand to read it... It's a nice take on the theological tendency of contemporary discourse... (trying to get past both inane assertions of dogma and inane ambivalence towards any dogmatic assertion, if you catch my drift...) Quick read too.

stranger in a strange land: was reading it, read like heinlenn, got tired of it. Did not finish. Found out what gnuneo was babbling about when he was all "thou art god!" . "grok" is a useful phrase though, as different than knowing. For example

Ringworld; Writing was clunky, but a fun read. Also, 10x less obnoxious than Heinlenn.

___________________


The Civil War (Shelby Foote). This is not sci fi, but sort of a run through of the entire Civil War and everything involved. 2400 pages. Very entertaining, not dry. Also if reading the wiki on the Civil war will cause you to know it, reading this will cause you to grok it. Completely. Sort of get the impression that the south was full of jackasses; the north was full of idiots.

The Gulag Arcipelago. Kind of depressing, but kind of light hearted in a weird way at the same time. I enjoyed it. It made me think: maybe stoners and losers like commies, since under commie regimes only the wicked and incomptent are safe?

Mysteries of the Middle Ages. Fun read, I enjoy Cahill just because he is aggressive yet reasonable. And he keeps at moving along at a good pace. Has got me interested in late medieval art, which i'm currently reading two books on.

All creatures great and small, / " " bright and beautiful,/ " " wise and wonderful,/ and the lord made them all: semi-autiography series of a english vet in early 30's, . Starts out sweet, to sentimental, to mawkish, to sacchrine.

It came from the silent planet: C.S Lewis is not fond of subtley. You might get a kick out of it if you like the Silmarillion. Its like that (never-ending-catholic-symbology) , but minus the raging bad asses, settings... just the whole epic air of the Silmarillion.

I should dig that out and reread Fingolfins duel with Morgoth. Fingolfin is the biggest literary bad ass ever. He could pee on Leonaidases face.



Year of Living Biblically: Crap. Something that is designed for women or men who think like women.

This post has been edited by Urquhart: Jun 9 2009, 04:18 AM

Solzhenitsyn and Foote wrote cool books for cool dudes.


Road to Reality (penrose) : I'm only like 1/2 way done w/ this thing, but it's pretty good. A nice easy (if long!!) pop science book for the summer. Most of the math and a lot of the physics is pretty familiar to me, but Penrose manages to throw in enough trivia in addition to his usually interesting insights to make the book worthwhile.

In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex (philbrick) : Book about a whaling ship which was attacked by a whale, inspiring Moby-dick. Well researched and a fast read, highly recommended.

Into the Wild (krakauer) : Way better than the movie, as McCandless is painted in a less cheesily romantic light. Under the Banner of Heaven is sitting next to my bed, and I'm looking forward to starting it.

Im currently reading mostly history books, and of this mostly argentine history. But i grab a fiction every now and then.

A nice surprise was Abril Rojo/Red April (Santiago Roncagliolo). Its set in Perú in the 2000 holy week celebration, where a series of brutal murders occur and a small time naive district attorney decides to investigate. The book gives a good insight of how fucked up the war was in the most isolated parts of the country with the constant terror of Sendero Luminoso and the crimes of the military.

great books. there was not much left in the fourth book, but the first two were excellent.

Currently indulging my uber-geek. Just read Star Trek: Enterprise "Kobiashi Maru". One thing I like is that it doesn't have a particularly happy ending (rare for Star Trek), though it's not exactly a doom-and-gloom ending.

Also reading the Dresden Files books (Jim Butcher). Professional wizard working in modern-day Chicago; the books are a cross between magic/fantasy and detective genres. Nice to see a magic/fantasy author try put magical ability in a realistic way, as opposed to "all magic, all the time" and magic can fix anything. That and you've got to love a wizard/private eye who carries a .44 for the times when he's too tired to use magic (or when magic won't work on his target).

Not sure what I'll read next. Probably some books on EMS/Ambulance administration in hopes of brown nosing my way into management at the ambulance company I work for.




I think that's the first time I've seen "C.S. Lewis" and "subtlety" used in the same sentence. I might look it up; but the whole "hosts of heaven, creation of the world" stuff (1st book of Silmarillion) was my least favorite part.




QFT. A single elf (granted their High King) rides alone to the enemy stronghold, challenges a god/archangel, and does a shitload of damage before getting stomped (literally).





I've read "Into Thin Air", as well as some articles that came out to revisit the Everest disaster after 10 years. Not bad.

reread his dark materials trilogy. Good stuff. Gets weird on last book. Will is the biggest freakin badass 12 year old ever. Lyra is my favourite example of feminine heroine, rather than a character who is essentially a dude who happens to have a vagina.

Ivanhoe: Full of anti-semintic stuff. Its funny like, the author is embarrassed about it. He's like "oh boy those ancient english were really ignorant! Thats what MADE the jews so awful (back then)!". Has the excessive detail of the period. Ivanhoe is a dummy. But still, decent read just for its attention to detail. The fool is a pretty good a character.

Devils: Amazing. Spot on, dostovesky is pretty much the author worth exhausting every written piece from.

Currently Reading: A hero for our time: so far, has the flavour of enlightment literature- which sucks.





TRIED TO READ:

A game of thrones? or whatever. One of those books. Tons of incest. Got bored. Couldn't seem to decide on a tone to set, and couldn't lay down a plot properly. I classify it as some sort of weird nerd-porn.

I'm reading Foucault's Pendulum right now, it is really sweet. It has all the elements of a good book: wit, satire, namedrops, hugeass words, jews. The Illuminatus! trilogy is up next for me, we'll see if it compares.

Foucault's Pendulum is on my top ten books list, and is my favorite Umberto Eco book. I would have read it more than twice had it not vanished. Might get it again next paycheck.

Actually fuck this I'm reading Moby-Dick.