It is time once again to pretend that we have education and class. Our one chance of getting invited to cocktail parties… Although I don’t know anyone who invites trashlit, science books, or self-improvement tomes to cocktail parties. We also want to know what you’re reading. Library Scientist or not, SF is going to run out of books to feed us some day.
SugarFree
October means I’m reading horror.
Given the hype over the new movie (which I haven’t found a good copy to pirate seen yet,) I felt compelled to read It, probably for the 12th time since high school. It really is too bad about, ahem, that scene, because, without it, the huge novel could be pushed on anyone who ever wondered what Stephen King’s success was all about. It combines pretty much everything good King ever had to say with some of his best writing–even if a ruthless editor could have improved it by trimming away 100,000 words and a squicky sewer gangbang.
On the other end of the scale, I also read Cujo. For such a King fan, I just never got around to Cujo, I think because someone warned me off of it. Whoever you were, you were totally right. Cujo is It as seen through a mirror darkly. At best a novella, the simple premise of Cujo is stretched kicking and screaming and biting and pissing itself to an unnecessary novel length with a boring cast of stock Maine characters who add nothing to the core conflict between mother, child and monster dog. The husband’s failing ad agency, the abusive father of the family that owns the dog, the hacky lottery ticket that sets up the deserted farm for the Cujo attack, the foul-mouthed drunk down the way who is Cujo’s first victim, and even the shithead who the mother had an affair with all mean nothing to the overall story. And the ham-fingered way King tries to tie a rabid dog back to Frank Dodd, the Castle Rock serial killer from The Dead Zone, only reminds the reader that they are reading a far, far inferior book (as does the attempt to bring back the third-person omniscient and time-bending narration from Carrie as an attempt at world-weariness.) Stephen King has admitted to being so out-of-his-mind drunk during this period that he has no conscious memory of writing the book whatsoever. He’s either lying to save face or alcoholism has a rare blessing after all.
And since I was on a roll, I read two more 1970s books-to-movies (watching the movies again, of course, just like It and Cujo.) The Howling by Gary Brandner, the source novel for the 1981 movie of the same name–you know, the one where Elliot’s mom from E.T. turns into a Lhasa Apso–and Falling Angel by William Hjortsberg, made into 1987’s Angel Heart, where De Niro peels an egg while badly in need of a manicure and Mickey Rourke gives the second oldest Huxtable girl the Hottest Cosby of them all. The Howling is fairly mediocre, a they shouldn’t have gone there combined with man, rednecks are pretty creepy; the movie is far superior, with a kinky edge that the book couldn’t find even though it features much more werewolf sex. Falling Angel is very, very well written, and would have been a revelation to read in 1978, but decades of hard-boiled wizards has taken the punch out of its early fusion of Raymond Chandler and Dennis Wheatley.
Brett L.
I really don’t seem to have read much this month. Other than a couple of RFPs that included 180 page appendices on the unsuitability of their current system. Holy crap. Whoever did the consulting work on that study must have had a 2 page per thousand dollar rule. I’m sure they were aiming for exhaustive, but only reached exhausting. I did work my way through three of Tim Dorsey’s Serge Storms novels: The Big Bamboo, Hurricane Punch, and Atomic Lobster, because the Apple book store thingy had a collection and I had credits from some class action lawsuit. Anyhow, I enjoy the billion and one Florida facts Dorsey manages to cram into each book, and with several books taking place or passing through the Tampa Bay area, I’ve learned a lot of trivia about my local area. Also, in the last two, Dorsey took Serge back to doing what he does best: killing Florida Man inventively. These are fun leisure reading with all of the Florida and none of the sanctimony of that other Florida novelist from Miami.
I also read The Skinner by Neal Asher, on SF’s recommendation. Not to steal any of Riven’s thunder, I’ll just say that Spatterjay is a fucked up universe. I’ll probably work my way through the whole thing eventually, but disembodied heads that skitter and giant killer space crabs are merely two of a host of violent and difficult to kill denizens. I will eventually work my way through more. Its good space opera that seems to center on “how can I buff these characters so I can kill them at least twice?” Which is actually a hell of a way to build a universe.
I am listening to Never Split the Difference by Chris Voss based on a recommendation out of the comments (someone gave RC Dean credit, but if I’m wrong please correct me). Since everything is a hostage crisis negotiation when you have two toddlers, this may be the most helpful book I’ve ever read. The unfortunate downside is that I don’t have a SWAT team to bail me out when I make a mistake. Sometimes, I wish there was.
jesse.in.mb
Joe Abercrombie – The Blade Itself, so Brett read it last month and I largely agree with his assessment. I noticed several of you came to Abercrombie’s defense and I may be willing to pick up the next book in the series based on that, but there was some interesting world building and by the end of the book I wasn’t excited to see where the grand adventure would take me.
Marie Kondo – Spark Joy is more practical than her declutterer’s manifesto The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, but I’m not entirely sure that I got that much more out of it than the first book. My book collection is now about 1/4 of what it was previously (Salvation Army ended up with just shy of 200 used books this weekend), and I can actually find clothes in my cabinet and closet, so I’m kinda digging the philosophy.
Tom Merritt – Pilot X seems to be very much a play on Doctor Who plot and themes and a few times dropped some Easter Eggs related to the show “Spoilers sweeties” and the like. The story is fun and the narrator, Kevin T. Collins does a great job of bringing the story to life. The one down side is that I couldn’t stop thinking about how much the story reminded me of a Who arc.
JW
JW has been reading the back of a box of Post Toasties. Did you know they have thiamine, niacin, and riboflavin?
Old Man With Candy
I will make two confessions: first, the most interesting book I read this month was Handbook of Ring-Opening Polymerization. From the title, I thought it would be about anal sex, but I was mistaken. Nonetheless, excellent content if you’re into this sort of thing. I am tempted to experiment with microemulsification…
Second, I never actually did read Primary Colors when it came out. I have corrected this. It’s certainly a good cynical look inside the Clinton campaign of 1996, surprisingly so for a liberal author. But my main complaint was, not nearly cynical enough.
Riven
So, I’m still working through The Skinner by Neal Asher, a SugarFree recommendation. I’m only about a quarter of the way through it so far as my free time this last month has definitely been on the short side. Additionally, it took me a while to “get into” this book. I was probably 10% in before things started to click into place, and the confusion surrounding the universe in which the book is set cleared to the point I could read it enjoyably. Not to say that Asher isn’t still introducing new creatures, concepts, etc., just that I think I finally have a basic grasp of the characters (and there are a lot of them) and how they relate to each other. So far the bulk of the action has taken place on one specific world, but there are references to other characters on other worlds and there have been a few scenes set off this main world, as well. It’s making for an interesting universe so far, to say the least. There are a lot of different plots all happening at the same time, and it’s sometimes difficult to see how one or another are going to tie in together. There’s still plenty of the book left for it all to come together and make some sense, though, and I can be patient.
SugarFree here… I made this handy chart to Neal Asher’s Polity Universe that should easily clear up any questions about continuity or reading order:
Comments
299 responses to “What are we reading? October 2017”
First?
You done did it!
Yeah?
I am reading “The Fall” by Albert Camus
★★★☆☆
While I appreciate Just Say’n’s skills for brevity, I did not come away from his review feeling like I had gotten much of a sense of the content of the book.
Ha! I still got three stars, though, so above average.
It would’ve been 2.5, but I couldn’t find a UTF Lokai-star and was feeling generous.
Well, I appreciate it
It’s Camus
Think a couple hundred pages of unlikable and unrelatable characters whining about alienization and the pointlessness of existance while doing pointless boring things.
I just finished Economic Facts and Fallacies and Black Rednecks and White Liberals, both by Thomas Sowell. Still chipping away at Shattered (embarrassed to say I still haven’t finished it). I’ve also got Warbreaker by Brandon Sanderson on audiobook, so I’m working at that when I’m driving. I also recently reread the Agatha Heterodyne series by Phil and Kaja Foglio, a steampunk victorian series set in an alternate universe where mad scientists rule Europe (poorly). Right now I’m looking at reading War Before Civilization by Lawrence Keeley.
Man, look at you go! I have a hard time reading more than one book at a time. Even when they’re totally separate subjects, I sometimes have trouble with crossing the streams. Wah wah.
I have the opposite problem. I can easily pick up a bunch of books, but I bounce back and forth between them so much that I have a hard time focusing down and finished any one of them (notice how I cleverly left out how long it took me to read those books).
The exception was Black Rednecks and White Liberals. I had to do yardwork the whole day, so I just started the audiobook and listened while I worked. But then I was basically forced to focus on one book.
Mr. Riven listens to a lot of audiobooks and podcasts… but I find I can’t do that, either. My mind wanders too much. I guess from years of doing homework with the TV on in the background, maybe?
Audible had some short fiction channels that were free (they seem to be in the process of deprecating them) and they actually got me comfortable listening to audiobooks. 10 minute to 3 hour long stories. Channels in Lit, Mystery or True Crime, Sci-Fi/Fantasy, etc. I keep an eye out for Audible sales with interesting titles now because Audiobooks tend to be spendy.
I will do check that out! I do agree that audiobooks tend to be rather spendy, and I’m not necessarily likely to listen to one more than once.
I cant do audiobooka pr podcasts either. I like to read in my own rythm and to use my imagination for characters without the readers own interpretation. Also i loose focus just listening. Thats why i dont really listen to music for which the lyrics are important.
“Still chipping away at Shattered”
Oh man, how? I schaedenbonered my way through that in like a day. My girlfriend kept asking me what was so hilarious. I loved every bit of it.
Haven’t read shattered but just looked up its Wikipedia page. It included a quote from some NPR reviewer: “The Clinton we see here seems uniquely qualified for the highest office and yet acutely ill-suited to winning it. Something about her nature, at its best and its worst, continually inhibits her. Her struggle to escape her caricature only contributes to it.”
I suggest the reviewer may want to meditate on his final sentence for therein lies the truth he seeks.
When I started “Shattered” it was as a grudge read but it quickly became a a howling great time and I zoomed through it. Just seeing how the chosen authors of the Clinton hagiography become disillusioned and are forced to change the tone as she lost brought forth an almost textbook case of schadenfreude in me.
You’ve just sold me on it.
Purchasing now.
Amazon’s Kindle App still doesn’t have the ability to purchase books in-app so went with the sample.
Hopefully it gets better. Too much, Clinton is a policy wonk and the email server scandal just fell out of the air. BS. She’s a lying power hungry psychopath who hasn’t had to answer to anyone for years. Marie Antoinette was more humble and in touch with the common folk than Hillary is. The email server is just the chickens coming home to roost because she wanted to have her communications under her control, regardless of any piddling laws for little people.
How was Black Rednecks? I own it but haven’t gotten around to it yet.
I liked it. It had an interesting argument of how African American culture* is really just an extension of old Southern culture, which itself came from the Scottish highlands, and that this cultural attitude that’s holding African Americans as a whole back. Further, this culture is unproductive and violent, but is being artificially preserved by welfare programs and an intelligentsia who refuse to hold actors accountable.
The book’s written for laypeople, not as an academic tome, so it’s a fairly easy read, but this comes at the expense of harder evidence. It has its facts and figures, but it also uses a bit more anecdotal evidence than I was comfortable with.
All in all though, I would recommend it. At the very least it provides an interesting thesis with enough evidence to make you seriously think and, dare I say it, start a real discussion on the issue rather than a “shut up while I lecture you” discussion.
*One thing Sowell is clear about is specifically distinguishing African American culture from blacks as a whole, citing the radically different cultural attitudes of antebellum northern blacks, Jamaicans, and other such groups as evidence of a cultural problem rather than biological or history of racism problem. He goes on to say treating African American culture as part of all black American’s lived experience is not only false, but actively hold them back and serves to ostracize those not from the culture, usually from the Caribbean or recent African immigrants.
Based on my own observations of these things over the decades I have to conclude he’s spot-on.
It took me FOREVER to get through Shattered. I got it from the library and they wouldn’t let me renew it because other people had requested it, so I quickly skimmed the last half and mostly just read the last chapter and chuckled.
I just finished a high fantasy book by a Romanian author. Went to a local scifi fantasy fest and bought a few books in romanian by romanian authors just to.check em out.
All the signs were there. It was about assasins in a industrial dystopic world. It was called the seazon of daggers. The cover art was cheesy. The main character was.named Aendo Assermore. But i bought it anyway. The characters were generic and barely sketched. The prose was purple. I rarely read so many bad metephors and conparisons pere page. At a point a chapter started with a description of a neoghborhood and it was 3 pages of metaphors and conparison. The writing style was tell not show. I dunno if it exists in english because i would.totally recomend it.
Do you like reading badly written fantasy books? If so, I dare you to get through the first chapter of this without breaking out into laughter.
OMG I can’t get past the first sentence.
That just made me angry.
That reads like something Brian Griffin wrote while high on Ritalin.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xuKk8nKNwEA
It’s like the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre reenacted with adjectives.
His eyes glimmered like hot coals in ashes while he crouched in the corner. A cloak of cold darkness, like a wheelbarrow of black dirt thrown over a wooden coffin was lingering close to the concave ceiling of the cave. Aendo wanted to say something, but the words were hiding behind an explainable feeling in his gut. He suddenly got up and glided through the shadows with soft step, attracted by the fire like a primordial human by the mysteries of the universe.
This is not the worst bit, just one i came upon randomly opening the book.
I got two sentences in before laughing. That was done so terribly on purpose, right?
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25190338-anotimpul-pumnalelor
No bloody clue what these people.read. apparently the author was first published in english sp maybe you can read his works
Yup
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17293464-crux
In English, this sounds like a fake porn name. Does it mean something like that in Romanian, or is it just a translation fluke?
I also started The Foundations of Morality by Henry Hazlitt but it is to utilitarian for my taste so slow going. I doubt i will agree to it
More anoyingly the guy dislikes utilitarian as unecessarily long and uses utilist
Copypasta from the Mourning Lynx as I didn’t realize the lynx thread was dead.
Alright everyone. I have some news:
I received a job offer this morning–from a legitimate employer.
https://www.starrcompanies.com/
It is a similar role that I have now at the VA (compliance) it’s just not in health care. Predictably, they are offering to pay me slightly less than I make now.
Can you counter offer to at least your present salary?
Is the commute better? Less travel?
Is the job title better? I.e. Not just “Compliance Guy”, but “Compliance Executive “?
Also congrats.
https://youtu.be/MsE5NAAU39k
I have not given a counter-offer yet but I think they were offering by my base salary since I had to explain the .gov locality. The commute is better. I don’t travel at all in my current role and I don’t think that will change too much here.
Job title? Compliance Analyst (offered) vs. Compliance & Business Integrity Specialist (current). The biggest perk here is that I don’t have explain how to myself how I am libertarian and work for the federal government. There has to be something beyond, “when the revolution comes, you guys will need me to leave the back door open.”
Yeah, but look at that webpage!
Yeah, I thought that was needlessly elaborate.
Just finished Columbine by Dave Cullen, which somebody here recommended. Enjoyed it a lot, lot of good stuff in there about media mythmaking. One of the few times I read a book from a clearly leftwing writer who was able to rein in his prog impulses and just tell the truth, with sources, and not harp on prog hobby horses. For example, he very fairly covered the evangelical churches response to Columbine, and did not spend a lot of time harping about gun control.
Now reading FDR’s Folly, which is pretty good so far. Then next on the stack I have the new book from Brian McClellan, who wrote the Powder Mage books, which I recommend. Also just raced through John Ringo’s Black Tide Rising series (Zombies! AT SEA!!!!!!!!) along with another zombie book which was basically a World War Z ripoff, but enjoyable, called This is The Way the World Ends by Keith Taylor. Good popcorn read.
Black Tide Rising series was fun. Makes you start planning.
Based on a recommendation I saw here for “Riders of the Purple Wage” I have started “The Best of Philip Jose Farmer” and am enjoying it. I had never heard of Farmer until that Glib pointed him out. A big “Mahalo” to you.
Semi work related is “The Endgame” by Michael Gordon and Bernard Trainor. This volume follows the Iraq war from Iraqi sovereignty until the US forces left, It focuses on the big picture and is interesting to see how the Bush crew and Obama gang both traded periods of pure delusion and clarity. It also has interest to me to see how outsiders looking in evaluate when I was there and to busy to see the big picture at times.
Since I have a series of long airplane rides in a few days to go elk hunting I grabbed some books. “The Mandibles: A Family 2029-2047” by Lionel Shriver which follows a family as the SJW utopia collapses. Initially set in NYC. It is both a fun read and points toward liberty and not the hive for a livable future. The other is a classic of the genre (good hard copy staying at home and cheap paperback coming with me) “Give your Heart to the Hawks” by Winfred Blevins. This volume is a great introduction to the mountain man era and a good read for rainy nights in a tent with some whiskey after I have to clean my .54 Plains rifle because of yet another soaking rain.
Farmer wins for Best Title Ever: Jesus On Mars.
It was actually quite a good book.
As a kid I loved his riverworld series.
https://twitter.com/JoshuaMound/status/923950281561436160
No, progressives aren’t just reheated socialists. What would make you think that?
To be honest i was sure progressive was just a socialist that does not want revolutoon but to bring socialism progressively a bit ot a time. Salami tactics. I though progs admit they are socialists?
There are a few other differences.
Primarily that Socialists tend to be fairly conservative in the social realm, at best tolerating things like alternative sexualities and racial minorities.
Modern socialists are something new marrying the social views of classical liberals with collectivist economics
That hits all the stereotypes for me.
A millennial “academic” who still lives with his parents.
I am hoping that it’s a parody account because that is waaaaaay too spot on all the way around.
No. That is a real person who has real beliefs and other real people take him real seriously. The half-wit writes for Jacobin and Salon
Water is wet.
The account has the blue check mark, whatever the fuck that means.
Josh Mound — PhD in History & Sociology
Wow, those credentials are so intimidating.
1. Failure at life
2. Believes he’s entitled to other people’s stuff, it’s not HIS fault his career path isn’t lucrative
3. Likely Bern Victim
How much do you want to bet he calls other people greedy?
I was unfortunate enough to stumble upon this.
Is it any surprise that David Weigel is a socialist?
To be fair, I hate that rhetoric. People use it against libertarians all the time. “You oppose government, yet you use public services! Checkmate”
me too, at least in that picture.
now when sanders has a store to sell his wares…
or when antifa sells t shirts.
Falling Angel is one of my favorite books. Highly recommend it.
I just finished “Concrete Construction Methods and Costs”, and have now started Baylen Linneken’s “Biting the Hands That Feed Us”.
“Concrete Construction Methods and Costs”
Maybe you could lend that to Playa?
I learned my lesson.
Was there… an incident?
Yeah. I watched a youtube video and attempted something I should not have.
It was compounded by the fact that the sun went down and I was stuck working in the dark.
It was an… expensive mistake.
And why are you copying P. Brooks? Get your own style, bro.
Goofy glitch when I try to add italics to an empty post, yo. It doesn’t enumerate my post as a top level post–EDG is 10 and Regicidal Maniac is 11–but it places it all the way to the left.
That’s a pretty cool little bug. Wonder if it’s a known issue.
I was wondering yesterday why sometimes there’s a number and sometimes not. Thought I was going nuts.
To be fair, you might still be going nuts, comment enumeration just isn’t a factor.
Just finished A Day in the Life of Ivan Dennisovich at the recommendation of someone here (Raven? I can’t remember, unfortunately), and I’m trying to decide if I should get Gulag Archipelago or find something pulpy and stupid to read as a break.
I really liked Ivan Denisovich, but yeah, it’s probably a good idea to read something fun and dumb before jumping into Archipelago. It gets pretty heavy and after one gulag story you might get burnt out on the sheer shittiness. Both are really good though.
I’m reading Economics in One Lesson by Henry Hazlitt. That’s a great book. It’s amazing how it was written in 1948, but still applies today. Or put differently, in all this time economists and politicians still haven’t learned shit and are still making the same mistakes.
I’m also reading a collection of Sherlock Holmes novels. I really liked the BBC series, so now reading the books it’s fun to see what the writers of the show did to each story. So far I’m giving them a lot of credit for being creative and updating the stories without completely butchering them. I also think they were pretty faithful to the characters.
Economics in One Lesson pushed my fiancèe out of her traditional liberal bubble very effectively. Something about how he lays out each chapter really helps communicate the concepts.
Maybe I should pick Sherlock Holmes back up. Those are fun stories.
Agreed. Doyle was a great writer with an incredible sense of pace.
I enjoyed the begining of the blade itself, found the style entertainig, but by the end it kinda got less so and I wasn’t inclined to read the next one
I hate phone typing without spell check. Civilized languages are phonetic and need no.fancy spelling.
한국어로 쓰읍시다!
Same to you buddy
I’m starting a competing column called “What are we eating?”
Who’s with me?
What am I eating now or later?
Now: Fish tacos.
Later: Um. Fish taco.
Hmmm…. what kind of fish tacos?
The best kind.
OK. So the kind that are beer battered and deep fried, served with chipotle crema and white sauce.
The place in walking distance to work has that kind. They also have shrimp and pretty decent carne asada for cultural appropriating hipsters.
Awesome. Whats her name? Can we meet her?
Hmm….No.
I had steak, potatoes, and Red Bull for breakfast, so maybe fish tacos would be a good lunch choice.
Ciorba. And Riven can’t have any
(╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻
Yeah buddy. I’m in.
Speaking of tacos above reminded me: I went to that place you recommended a few years ago, Mariscos Guillen. I pretty much had one of everything on the menu, and it was all good.
There was some sand in one of the ceviche tostadas, but I just attribute that to freshness.
I never trust ceviche unless I made it. Never know how long that has been out…
The first time I had ceviche was at a charity thingy where one of the Iron Chefs (Garces) made the dish. It was so good that I was licking the plate.
They always make extra, so they were nice enough to bring me a few more plates.
I’m not denying that its pretty good. I’m more worried about food poisoning.
No condoms, no sunscreen, no regrets.
Normally I’d agree, but I got a stomach virus from my son. I’ve grown rather weary of the toilet over the past couple days.
I think we have our Spring Break 2018 T-shirt slogan. Let’s make some cash.
A Chicago FM radio station had a Friday feature at night “What You Grubbin’ On?’
Anything is better than “Chicago’s Best” that features that douchey Australian (?) hipster with Brittany Peyton. Oh, how I loathe him
I had Bob Evans’ Broasted Chicken for lunch. Usually don’t eat lunch but my hangover insisted.
Fucking nothing. That’s what I’m eating until tonight, basically.
Ok, not totally accurate. Protein coffee, more coffee, some smoked sausage and cheese for lunch, more coffee, and then finally a Chinese feast* in the evening.
*General Tso’s chicken, fried rice, and pork curry rice noodles.
Restaurant or Krazy Kuisine?
Restaurant. They deliver to our home just about every Friday…
Oh yeah, the place over by Hansen’s Music. Of course, Hansen’s is moving locations on Nov. 1.
I had no idea! Also, I don’t really play any instruments anymore, so I guess my ignorance shouldn’t be too surprising.
Chinese Fridays!
You bet! And tonight is going to be especially magnificent thanks to Ass Creed O and season two of Stranger Things.
Gonna be a good weekend, I’m thinking.
Tonight? Going out to one of the Christmas ale releases at a brewery run by someone I know. They have pizza there, and to add to the confusion, they refer to it as New Haven style pizza (or apizza). Tomorrow, I’ll be busy brewing an American Stout and helping the girlfriend learn how to make sourdough bread.
Now that’s a euphemism.
+ 1 yeast infection?
Someone already tried that. I don’t think that one made it to market, but I know Rogue did release their Beard Beer, made with yeast harvested from the brewer’s beard.
The kung pao pizza is “new haven style”??? Sheesh.
I would love to see such a column.
I do all my fancy cookery on the weekends. I just picked up a big chicken from the meat market, and I’m going to prepare it my usual way: in a mortar and pestle (or a small soup bowl and a cocktail muddler) mash up garlic cloves with kosher salt until you have a paste. Add black pepper, red pepper, cumin, thyme, and whatever else you want, then mash it up a little more. Add some olive oil and stir it in. Slice the chicken’s skin under the breasts and put in a spoonful or two of the garlic-oil-spice mixture and massage it into the meat a little bit. Do the same with the thighs. Try to get as much of the meat covered as possible. Take a little bit of the mixture and rub it on the outside of the skin, too. Roast it in a cast iron skillet until it’s done, then make a sauce in the pan.
I cheated and bought a 12 pack of bone-in skin-on thighs. I’m doing it street Mexican style.
I also have a vacuum tumbler and injector, so I’ll be cheating there as well.
Using Science & Technology isn’t cheating – it’s smart cooking.
I’ve been reading the antifederalist papers, All art is propaganda by Orwell and I just read the new John Green book Turtles all the way down because my wife is a fan. I liked parts of it but his stuff definitely is intended for teens who think they are smart and can induce much eye rolling.
I’m reading all of the following books right now:
– Tom Jones by Henry Fielding
– Human Action by some guy named Ludwig von Mises (he’s pretty obscure; you guys have probably never heard of him)
– Shadowbosses: How Government Unions Control America and Rob Taxpayers Blind by Mallory Factor. I’m about 1/5 through it. So far, it hasn’t really told me anything I didn’t already know, but it’s good for getting my blood pressure up.
I read human action in parallel with jonathan strange and mr norell so to huge books at once. Human action is one of my favourites although not an.easy read an i do not agree with everyrthing there
I was reading an ebook of Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell and kept getting frustrated that I wasn’t making any progress. Then I was hanging out with a friend who was reading the dead-tree version of it and I realized why.
I actually liked the tv show. Not bad. Jonathan strange that is not human action
Liked the tv show but could not get through the book. And the only other book I ever gave up before finishing was Battlefield Earth.
I have to admit i stopped.hald way into the tin drum by Günter Grass but i plan to finish it one day
I started the show, and realized I’d probably want to read the book, then struggled through (I liked it, but it was just sooo long) the book, and haven’t gone back to finish the show.
I read It early in high school and I learned two things most people probably did not finish that book and Stephen King needs an editor who he listens to so badly. See also the long version of the stand. In that case it wasn’t even an editor telling him to cut stuff it was the publisher/printer.
Second. The ‘gang bang compass’ in IT threw me completely out of the story.
http://freebeacon.com/issues/man-down-syndrome-congressional-committee-my-life-worth-living/
Man with down syndrome tells Congress that his life is ‘worth living’. Planned Parenthood begs to differ
You know who else thought the handicapped weren’t fit to live?
Jack Kevorkian?
The Spartans?
The Handicapable?
Anybody that went up against Handi-Man and the Tiny Avenger?
Play Now Sports?
The glue factory?
I finished the Shadowboy series, loved it, then read The Secret of Ventriloquism, loved it, then moved on to The Technician by what seems like everybody’s favorite author today, which confused the hell out of me after 10 or 20 pages so I put that down and picked up Hyperion instead for the 3rd time. *shrug*
Asher is very in your face. Did you get that copy of The Skinner I sent to your email?
I have no idea what this means but now I’m afraid.
You were complaining last month that you couldn’t find one of Neal Asher’s books on Kindle, so I sent you a copy. It was to the email address you signed up with for here and didn’t bounce back.
Oh. I forgot you have the power.
It probably went to junk and I don’t generally check junk before I delete it.
Finished up a collection of essays by Simon Leys titled The Hall of Uselessness. That got me started on a book-buying binge that included Hugo, Simenon, Balzac, Samuel Johnson, GKC, his translation of the Analects and a few other volumes that I really seriously will probably not get around to reading for months oh please someone help me.
Decided to start on Don Quixote, which I didn’t realize was 900 effing pages long before I ordered it last week. Gonna take me a couple weeks of whiskey-and-reading sessions before I finish it.
I started and pretty quickly put down Don Quixote. I know a little about the time period, but don’t have enough of the cultural background to get the satire. It was a little like being someone’s date at a party where everyone knows each other from HS and you’re only picking up 1/50 of the in-jokes and you’re finding that one in 50 funny for the wrong reason.
No kidding. I’m about 200 pages in and determined to finish it, but it’s going to be a slog. I get that Cervantes really had a bone to pick with all those fancy tales of knighthood and chivalry, but come on, you dead Spaniard, give it a rest and leave poor Don Quixote alone. I will add that the translator’s notes are pretty helpful in getting the context across but damn.
The Divine Comedy is similar. Apparently lots of 14th Century celebrities were alluded to in the various levels of hell.
You know its two books mashed together, right? The first book I enjoyed thoroughly. The second book, which, it seems like was the majority of it is less good and written later. You can tell Miggy wants to cash in.
The Worst Hard Time by Tim Egan – a history of the dust bowl and completely heart wrenching. He also doesn’t back away from putting some blame on New Deal policies making it worse. They had wheat rotting in the fields because the cost of harvest was more that the market price due to government imposed cost controls, while people were starving in neighboring states.
Also finishing up the Dresden Files by Jim Butcher. Good, consistent stories throughout all 15 novels.
Have you read Codex Alera? If you like Dresden they’re about on the same quality.
Yep, I liked those pretty well. They had a more “young adult” type vibe to them though.
I thing 6 or 7 dresden books were enough for me
I understand stopping at 6 or 7. I’m kind of compulsive about finishing series though, even when the quality really starts to tank, like it did for Terry Goodkind.
A busy work/travel month so picked-up an oldie, but a goodie – You Know Me Al, by Ring Lardner (1916). Written as a series of letters by a rube baseball player to his friend “Al” – the book is LOL hilarious and classic Lardner.
You guys are erudite as fuck.
Or we pretend well. We can also deadlift 5 times bodyweight
Recently finished the Tufa novels by Alex Bledsoe, starting with The Hum and The Shiver. Pretty good stuff, especially since it is set in northeast Tennessee where I grew up.
BTW: My library has downloadable audiobooks and I go through about 10-15hrs a week, depending on how much tractor time I have. I am often looking for something new and these “What are you reading” posts are very helpful.
What am I reading? I have to get through 100+ pages of an annual report by the end of the day that’s written in the worst possible style imaginable. It’s almost like they wrote it in English, sent it into google translate, and then google translated it back into English.
This is definitely going to be a 3 beer lunch.
I read several preliminary offering statements each week all written in the most convoluted legal jargon stretched over 200 pages a piece. The accounting statement is usually the most exciting part. I feel your pain.
This one has conflicting statements, one by the chairman, and the other by the managing director. It’s fucking atrocious.
I had to spend hours on the phone with people who’ve worked both of them personally. I think I have a good idea of which one to believe now, but it’s been an incredible waste of time.
Do you work in equities? Or private placements/ corporates?
In this particular case, I’m a substantial shareholder and my name is in the annual report. In spite of that, they did not contact me for the last and final round of private placement, which really pissed me off. 3x price increase since then.
You got to take care of that shit. Bust some heads
I don’t mind, as long as they’re consistent about it. I’m not going to hold as long as the institutional funds, which is what they’re looking for.
But Sean Parker sold a bunch of his shares to pay for his weird ass Hobbit wedding, and they still invited him back for the next round. Hypocrisy.
Oh well.
-not for the purpose of legal advice, just curious-
What state? Any agreements (or anything in the Articles or Bylaws) that’d give you preemptive rights?
Not an American company. No SEC filings, although they do business here.
That’s why it’s so frustrating.
We’re going to vote on redomiciling in the US at the annual meeting. If it happens, I expect things to change.
I write those things for a living. They’re supposed to be in “plain english”. Unfortunately there’s a ton of securities lawyers out there who don’t know what the hell that means because they haven’t written anything other than legal documents for decades.
I’ve been re-reading Harry Turtledove’s Southern Victory series. It’s… interesting.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_Victory
I’ll also add that ages ago, back at the other joint, a couple glibs (HM? Playa? Maybe Gilmore) had some excellent recommendations, namely V.S. Naipaul (A Bend in the River & A House for Mr. Biswas) and Yukio Mishima (The Temple of the Golden Pavillion & Runaway Horses). Excellent picks. I read them a while back and forgot to thank whoever it was for the heads-up on some good reading.
Where’s Hugh so we can rehash a professor’s Post Colonial Novel course. Maybe Michael Ondaatje’s Anil’s Ghost set in Sri Lanka? He was the author that did The English Patient, but I understand Anil’s Ghost is pretty different.
Highly recommend!
I also liked Naipaul’s “Enigma of Arrival.”
In honor of Amanda Marcotte’s latest twitter idiocy, I’ve been re-reading “We The Living” by Ayn Rand. It’s one of two Rand books I can stand to read (along with The Fountainhead).
To be honest, I’ve been avoiding reading Rand. I dislike fiction that basically a political screed disguised as a story, especially since fiction cannot prove anything in real life. Why would I read Randian fiction about free markets when I can just read Milton Friedman, Ludwig von Mises, or F. A. Hayak?
Give the Fountainhead a try. That’s my favorite and it doesn’t really bludgeon your over the head so much as present characters that clearly represent certain archetypes that personify the good, the bad, and the ugly of what her philosophy entails. There are certain ideas that I saw presented therein that made me understand things that I had experienced in my life in new ways.
I’m the opposite. I’d rather read the fiction if it was done well.
We The Living is way less ranty than say, Atlas Shrugged. Most of the philosophical and political stuff is more in response to Soviet politics and how it affects the character and their friends/family (i.e. how it affected teenage Ayn) than anything else. I think a lot of it has to do with Rand being way more into Nietzsche than her later personal philosophy at a younger age. Most of it is just about how the Soviet way of life kills the human ‘soul’, for lack of a better term.
Nonfiction asserts.
Fiction demonstrations.
Neither prove.
“JW has been reading the back of a box of Post Toasties. Did you know they have thiamine, niacin, and riboflavin?”
Stay away from those racist Kelloggs cereal boxes.
I’m reading Norman Mailer’s The Naked and the Dead (1948). It is so-so.
Worst erotic zombie novel ever.
At least the teenagers in it have something to pout about.
Read that back in college. I thought it was good.
It seems a bit formulaic, but back in 1948 I guess the formula was more fresh.
Well, I read it around 77 or 78. So it played as a metaphor for Vietnam.
ERHMAHGERD! WHERT MERLES!!
https://www.propublica.org/article/white-hate-group-campaign-of-menace-rise-above-movement
Looks like they’re desperately trying to deflect away from antifa at this point. Bonus points for constantly tying Trump to it.
Sigh. They found 2 participants from my area. It’s on the front page of the local paper.
That’s right. There were 2 redneck high school dropouts from a metropolitan area of 17 million people, and it’s front page news. They didn’t hit anyone or DO anything. They were just there.
That’s it? I’m shaking in my boots.
Wow, if I had to choose one picture to encapsulate the dangers of deeply repressed homosexuality, this would be it. And I’d probably watch the sex tape even if there are too many blond guys in the group.
Did you see the latest issue of the Beach Reporter?
Nah, I usually barely glance at the front page before tossing it. I’m looking at this article now and the third photo in there seems like he might not be so deeply repressed.
The article…. man.
What about it?
the quoted dispensing beatings made me laugh a little too hard.
You know who else dispenses beatings near public parks?
Hitler?
“who owns a South Bay tree trimming business.”
Why do they hate small business owners?
RAM? C’mon, this has to be a joke, right?
Their mortal enemy is ROM
Ok, I’ll see myself out now.
You see that you do…
They should come out with custom printed beer mugs with their logo on them. They can call them RAM steins.
*Kiff sigh*
Well, Rohm and the a lot of the SA were homosexuals.
This was in response to Jesse remarking about their pseudo-tough guy bare chested picture. It’s not some bizarre non-sequitur.
I had no idea!
*senses sarcasm*
Yeah, I’m pretty much just hear to repeat stuff that people already know. Hey, did you know that candy tastes good?
Eh, I get a little touchy about it just because it comes up as an interesting fact and as “incontrovertible proof of how all homosexuals are a secret cadre of homofascists that are coming for you” with pretty equal frequency (in my experience).
LOL gay nazis coming for da breeders! Run for your lives!!!
I actually didn’t know that people made that association. I always thought more like: “see, gays can be Nazis too. Don’t just blame us straight people”.
My apologies
Wait, that’s a thing? Is this one of those ‘being raised in Jesusland’ stories?
I actually didn’t know that people made that association.
Normal people don’t. It’s an objectively ridiculous position to take, but if you have a bone to pic with homos, are trying to prove a point about how evil they are, or are generally conspiracy-minded you do. And my childhood was bracketed by a surprising number of those people. Once you’ve been exposed to it overtly and repeatedly, the way people wedge it into conversations about Nazis (not saying that’s what you were doing there, but I used to see it at TOS occasionally), looks suspiciously like an attempt to link the two for bad faith argument reasons.
*edited slightly for clarity
I remember a gay guy who came on to crash the TOS comments for while that claimed he wanted most industries nationalized and wealth redistributed to benefit ‘the people who could help us forward’. I then called him a Rohmite and he got really confused.
Tony?
No it was some guy even dumber than Tony, wrote like some idiot first-year university student who thought their politics were the most obvious and rational thing in the world (despite utterly failing to articulate any reasons for them). Flat out said that ‘business should be strictly forced to do things for the benefit of society’ which is textbook fascism.
This is the best typo I’ve seen here this month. Glibs should create an annual ceremony where awards are given out for solid typos. It can be called The Johnnys.
Sorry again, Jesse. I meant no offense. For future reference, all my bigoted statements are directed toward Canadians and godless Protestants. And most of those are in jest.
So then……only most homosexuals then, not all?
All Canadians are problematic, regardless of sexual orientation
Just Say’n keeps burning maple leafs on our lawns and littering in our public parks, we keep telling your State Department to take away his passport but they just laugh.
Didn’t Underzog call all the non-trolls at TOS ‘Rohmites’?
Why Do All These Homosexuals Keep Sucking My Cock?
O
M
G
head for the hills
Right? Time to stock up!
https://www.luckygunner.com/#rid=LRTM
Make ’em count.
https://www.luckygunner.com/labs/self-defense-ammo-ballistic-tests/
You Know Me Al, by Ring Lardner
Nice.
Have you read the kid’s (John Lardner) stuff? It’s superb..
I haven’t read anything by John – I’ll definitely check him our. Fascinating that Ring Jr was one of the Hollywood 10.
I’m finishing up a re-read of Inheritance by Malinda Lo (second book in Adaptation duology). I’m not enjoying it as much this time as I did the first time. The first book is still one of my favorite sci-fis, but the second one is way too long and spends more time on identity politics than on the mystery/sci-fi plot. I think it didn’t bother me as much when the book first came out (2012 I think?) because we weren’t mired in the Bog of LGBTQQIP2SAA the way we are now.
It does crack me up when known progs say very libertarian-ish things in their dystopian books. It makes me wonder if they hear themselves. One of the big themes in this book is the right to free speech and the ways in which that can be restricted. There were some good quotes in the first half that definitely didn’t sound like they came from a pussy hat-wearing Hillary supporter. What a difference five years makes.
Finished the Lives of Tao series by Wesley Chu. Cool world-building premise and best alien visitors concept I’ve heard of, but the grammatical errors bugged. Starting on his Time Salvager series – not as impressed, but again, great premise.
Still working on Legacy of Ashes an excellent history of how shitty the CIA is/was, it huge and it keeps expiring before I finish listening
Still on my mystery/noir kick.
Per Mike S, I read a collection of detective stories from Lois L’Amour, The Hills of Homicide. They were originally published in pulp mags so they are short, but I enjoyed them very much.
I read the first three DC Smith novels from Peter Grainger. Still looking for a worth successor to Ian Rankin’s Rebus series. These were decent, but didn’t fill the bill for me.
Finally, I re-read Ross Macdonald’s The Blue Hammer. The last of the Lew Archer series, I’ve read complaints about it but I can assure you those people are full of shit. It’s a terrific story by a great author.
I’m glad you liked the L’Amour.
Jeff Bezos has me well and truly in his web. I ordered pair of snow tires from Amazon a little while ago.
I just thought I’d share that with you.
Which ones? Was it cheaper than tire rack?
tire rack pissed me off a month ago when they changed their site. you can’t see the sizes of tire in the tire page. “you can search by size!” customer service said. I don’t have one size option I can fit. I want to look at a tire that would do well, and then see the sizes they make them in. then the price of that size. Do I want the KO2? the KM2? well, I have to already know the size they make them in to be able to find it now.
or i can search by car! which doesn’t work. so I add 14 years to my land cruiser to get a result. its the stock 30x10x15. great.
Cry me a river. My Triumph tires are 13s.
13’s
If you can fit 12’s could you use mini stuff? that site has a good list of rubber for 10-13.
it’s mostly a bitch on tire rack because my main criteria for a tire isn’t size on this truck. if I had to run 35’s instead of my 33’s I will, and Tire rack decided that I don’t exist.
Those actually look like they might work. Thanks, Doom!
Time for you to get some rims, son.
Fuck that. I have some gorgeous minilites that are perfect.
But yeah, it may come to that.
There’s a “Sizes” tab on the tire page. Here’s an example for the tires on run on the track.
maybe they kept it on some
that top right tire “size” button brings you to a new page PDF. it’s a lot harder to find what I’m looking for, copy that sku, go back to tirerack, seach, add to cart, just to see $129.
and that was the link to actual BFG.
further digging. It’s still ok on the web page, but mobile has entirely shit the bed.
You’re doing your tire shopping on a smart phone like some MILLENIAL!?
Get off my lawn!
you don’t stay up in bed looking at car parts?
weirdo.
Of course I do. That’s what Summit catalogs are for.
https://m.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireMake=BFGoodrich&tireModel=All-Terrain+T%2FA+KO2
https://m.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireMake=Yokohama&tireModel=Geolandar+A%2FT-S
Been running these on my old Xterra (now my daughter’s Xterra) and my wife’s Forrester for years. Great snow traction. And remarkably quiet on the highway. Pretty cheap too from what I recall.
I like the geolander. They are probably tied with the KO2 for good tire to run on an SUV that sees dirt and snow along with pavement.
instead of something like this
I buy gun parts from Amazon. I also use amazon smile and donate the proceeds to the second amendment foundation. I hope it hurts Jeff just as much as it hurts me.
I ordered Magnesium ribbon from Amazon 2 months ago, and they still aren’t here.
It’s bullshit.
I’ll share mine with you if you’ll promise to stop pimping that disgusting watermelon beer.
I saw regular Dorado the other day. I made a note of it, and then forgot where.
Anyone read 1Q84? Any good?
There’ve been good reviews of it in past WAWRs
Q Continuum says nyet
While straffinrun says da
It’s a point of shame that it’s been on my shelf unread for so long.
Thanks.
cheaper than tire rack?
I believe so. General Altimax Arctic, I think they’re called. A nice directional snow tread, not that “all season” crap.
I ran those on my Tacoma. They did great.
I have Blizzacks for 2 of my cars, but they are expensive as hell. I’ll look at the Generals for the Tahoe.
The blizzacks might be a little better on ice. not much, and well within driver skill.
My favorite winter is still the hakkapeliitta studless I had on my subaru.
Nokian makes a great tire. Used to run those on the Volvos.
I buy gun parts from Amazon.
I should keep that in mind. I have a 1911 frame and a bag of parts lying over there that need to be assembled. I suspect I’ll need a few miscellaneous bits before it’s done. I’m going to let the .22 top end live on it, to start. Maybe go with .45 officer style later.
I am listening to Never Split the Difference by Chris Voss based on a recommendation out of the comments (someone gave RC Dean credit, but if I’m wrong please correct me).
Not me. My advice on negotiations runs more toward getting pictures of their children leaving for school, mysterious fires on their property, that kind of thing.
I ran those on my Tacoma. They did great.
These are going on the Honda. I already have a pair on the front, which I’ll cycle to the rear. The most charitable thing which can be said about the tires on the back right now is that they hold air.
Currently Reading – The Better Angels of Our Nature. This book was so influential, I realize that there is a cottage industry of just restating everything in here. But I’ve never read it, so I’m glad to get it from the original source. Recommended
Currently Reading – Coming Apart by Charles Murray. White American is, of course, chronically understudied these days. As a guy who grew up in Jesusland and now lives a conventional life in The United States of Canada, this book goes back and forth from illuminating to validating my biases. A few interesting tidbits that I never picked up on even while living in Jesusland. For example, while crime is down, and crime is down in the, lets say cocktail party environs of right thinking libertarians, crime in lower-class white neighborhoods is just as bad now as when Charlie Bronson and Berny Goetz were gunnig down fools. Kind of explain’s Trumps success on law-and-order policies. Recommended
The Aeronaut’s Windlass and Furies of Calderon – Jim Butchers other, not Dresden, novels. Couldn’t finish Furies. Finished Aeronaut’s but won’t be picking up the next ones when they come out. Aeronaut’s was Horneblower + Steampunk, which is fine as far as it goes. You have to cover your eyes, stick your fingers in your ears, and hum whenever young women are shown to have equal hand-to-hand combat abilities with trained men. But given that it was just “fine as far as it goes” with one quirk that keeps breaking my suspension of disbelief, I give it two Gen-X meh’s out of two.
Working for Bigfoot – Jim Butchers Dresden Files. Much better. Not his best, and trying to remember where on the powerscale he was in each story is difficult, since he goes from “shlub with a stick” to “Demigod” over the course of the novels. But not bad.
Imbeciles – The story behind Kerry Buck, the victim of the Buck vs Bell decision that said yeah you can sterilize undesirables. Gut wrenching upsetting. If this was fiction, you’d call it over the top and melodramatic. But Its just an awful, painful read. Kudos to the author from not flinching away from drawing the connections between US progressives and Nazi eugenics, though. The note about a defendant at Neurenburg citing to Buck vs Bell was, again, gut wrenching. If you ever need to be reminded that progressivism on its own is an unmitigated force for evil in this world, this book will remind you. Recommended, possibly on an empty stomach
Raising Steam – I read all of Pratchet up to.. whatever came before this book and called it a day. He died shortly there after, and I assumed there was no more diskworld left. I was really excited to see that i was wrong. But this book was very meh. There was no good conflict. I don’t know what Pratchet called himself, but he has classical liberal sensibilities. And in this book, every single character has classical liberal sensabilities. The politicians want to take over the world and leave you alone. The capitalists want to raise capital, employ people, and leave you alone. The inventors want to invent and leave you alone. Good for utopia. bad for rong>Only for completists
Hyperion by Dan Simmons (I can’t remember if I’ve already reported this in the last WAWR post) – Space Opera + Canterbury Tales. Not a bad book, but you kind of have to be in love with poetry, or more precisely poets, to really groove on it. I am not, so I didn’t, but if you like poetry and you like space opera, Recommended.
Damn you. I was starting to get caught up 😉
Raising Steam was way better than I expected, as I thought the last few books were meh as well. I don’t regret the time spent reading it. You could tell, though, that Pratchett was struggling to fit everything together – I wouldn’t be surprised if he had some assistance finishing it up.
Rumors are that his daughter helped to finish up Raising Steam. One of the key components of this is we get to see into Vetinari’s mind, which had never been done in any other book. I still read Hogfather at least once a year, and Night Watch is probably my favorite of all of the novels.
I have very high hopes for the Good Omens show, as Gaiman is involved, and has said getting it done was one of the requests of Pterry near the end.
GO is one of my favorite books. I will be very happy if it turns out well.
I’ll try to read more bad books so you won’t have anything to add to your list next month.
I think you are right about having trouble tying everything together, and it probably just bothers me more than you. I remember getting halfway through and realizing there was no central narrative. One could tell a narrative about technological victory (see the Primitive Technology youtube channel) but you need to really understand the technology to do so. And Pratchett is a literary type, not a grease monkey or an engineer. To me it felt like the coup attempt was bolted on.
I appreciate it!
Yeah, I am ver nostalgic about the guy and his work, so I’m certainly not going to be a harsh critic.
Speaking of Pratchet, have you read his book on Alzheimer’s Disease, A Slip of The Keyboard. The book consists of a few of his articles and speeches, as well as a few things written by him for the book. I finished it about a month before my mom was diagnosed with ALzheimer’s. This is the worst disease I can think of. Losing your mind and knowing it absolutely sucks!
No, and I doubt I will. I have the same fear.
“”Jesusland “”
(ponders)
Kansas?
I was referencing this meme.
Add in Wisconsin (Need more beer) and Jesusland would be perfect.
But I can never go back.
*sob*
I just love my fancy beer and food trucks too much!
We have both.
I haven’t been reading lately, but recently finished re-reading The Revolution Betrayed. Trotsky may have been a murderous madman but man his criticism of Soviet bureaucracy is great ammunition to throw at modern leftists.
And the way he was killed was pretty bad ass too
tire rack pissed me off a month ago when they changed their site. you can’t see the sizes of tire in the tire page.
I looked at tire rack not long ago, and I thought it seemed different (and NOT better) than the previous time.
ICO white papers.
(hangs self)
Oof. If you had any real friends, they’d hang on your feet for you.
my realest friend is the one making me read them. he’s a vc, and i’m helping him winnow his big pile of possible investments down to a handful
Finished The Book Thief. B-. Wish he woukd have drawn out the other characters’ deaths.
Radio Player One. C-
I was excited at the beginning since I am 51 and my first computer was a TRS-80 Color Computer. But after the protagonists’ underwhelming reaction to almost getting murdered, I lost interest and sped read through the rest.
Sorry for those shiity reviews. At work on a shitty phone
Ready Player One – I can’t remember a book that was more of a let down that this one. So much hype, so little follow through.
I vaguely remember enjoying it – although I admit I had to refresh my memory.
“the world has been gripped by an energy crisis from the depletion of fossil fuels and the consequences of global warming, causing widespread social problems and economic stagnation”
?
Anybody recommend F.Paul Wilson’s stuff?
Yes, very much so. Tons of fun. Look up the series on Wikipedia and read them in order (the 2 series are sort of intertwined).
Just finished The Children of the Sky, the direct sequel to A Fire Upon the Deep. Definitely not as good as the first book, though the Tines continue to fascinate. It feels very much like the middle book of a series, but was published six years ago, so who knows if the story will ever be completed.
Also just started Wizard’s First Rule, the first book of the Sword of Truth series. I know it sold like a bazillion copies, but… so far it’s been kind of meh. Very melodramatic, with short bursts of action interspersed with lots of hand holding, hugs, meaningful looks, dramatic mood shifts, and spoon sharing.
I was wondering about Children, as I love Fire and Deepness. But the other Vinge I have read, not so much. Need to get it now.
Sword of Truth takes a while to build up, but it’s worth it. Good series until after the 6th book.
Which one is it where the main character is hanging out in the southern end of the continent and lecturing everyone Ayn Rand style? That was the one that lost me. No forward movement at all.
I didnt finish Children as it didnt seem to be going anywhere.
WFR was ok enough that I slogged through the first 3 books before I quit the series.
I just looked up Children and don’t remember actually reading it already. I too love Fire.
I just started to read Antifragile by Nassim Nicholas Taleb. It’s interesting so far. Focused on the concept of making you, your company, or system the opposite of fragile. He goes along way defining that resilient is not the opposite of fragile. Anti fragile is when you thrive or improve when stressed, not just resist injury or damage. He uses examples from biology, business, history, and personal experiences to describe what he means. Still haven’t gotten to the meat of the book or the in depth analysis.
I wonder how this applies to software development. My tendency has always been to aim for resilience, so I wonder how “antifragile” would differ in practical terms.
Hold regular port-mortems. Examine flaws (bugs, scheduling hiccups, miscommunication) with a dispassionate eye. Implement tools and procedures that will prevent the flaw from recurring. Don’t allow blame to enter the discussion, stick to causes.
Software was one of the big examples. This guy is a math/ financial dude.
+1 Mithradates
A Disgrace to the Profession edited by Mark Steyn. A compendium of scientists talking trash about climate change charlatan Michael Mann.
Recently read “Lincoln in the Bardo” by George Saunders. It won the Booker but it was a big ole meh, in my opinion. His short story collection “10th of December” was pretty good Just finishing up “An Iron Wind” which documents life under Nazi rule in the occupied countries. Understandably bleak but not as cookie cutter as most histories of the period. When all else fails I have my three volume Gibbons at my bedside as a soporific. Open any of them at random and sleep is guaranteed within twenty minutes.
Since the Afternoon Lynx are out, this thread is probably dead, but I’ll go ahead and just mention my current reading: I’m bouncing between continuing the Tony Hillerman kick the hubby and I have been on since our return from a Colorado/New Mexico vacation in July – I just started Sacred Clowns – and some Willa Cather. I’ve finished O Pioneers! and I’m a little over halfway through Part II of Song of the Lark . Alternating between mysteries and novels, I’m noticing what seems to be the lack of “plot” in Cather, especially Song of the Lark , which seems to be primarily a “coming of age” story. Enjoying both, though.