What are you...reading?

[Quailman]

[jesternl]

[Johny*]

Lepton,

You would likely enjoy reading Collapse, another of Jared Diamond's books. It is drier than Guns, Germs..., but very interesting, and very well researched.[/i]

[Hitchhiker]

I second Blink. Malcolm Gladwell's Tipping Point and Outsiders were good too.

I highly recommend Predictably Irrational by Dan Ariely and Quirkology by Richard Wiseman. Both well-written, both full of fascinating information.

Mistakes Were Made (But Not By Me) by Carol Tavris and Eliot Aronson was about why people have such a hard time admitting when they're wrong. Should be required reading in the GL.

[Suspence]

The Drunkard's Walk: How Randomness Rules Our Lives by Leonard Mlodinow.

About half-way through and really enjoying it.
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I hate people who try to write interesting things in their signature.

[Hitchhiker]

A People's History of the United States, by Howard Zinn, was recently recommended to me. Haven't read it yet.

I highly recommend A History of the World in Six Glasses, by Tom Standage, which explains why the world would be dramatically different without beer, wine, liquor, coffee, tea, and soda.

[Samadhi]

A good counterpoint to Zinn would be Levin.
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And he lived happily ever after. Except for the dieing at the end and the heartbreak in between.

[Poisonium]

Currently I'm reading Pleading Guilty by Scott Turow. I got Presumed Innocent for my birthday, and enjoyed it. And I randomly stumbled across this one while looking through my parents' book collection.

Otherwise I've been reading Tom Clancy's Clear and Present Danger, and a bunch of Agatha Christie novels.

I should read something modern sometime.
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I tried apt-get install lifebut it only returned E: Couldn't find package life

[Fried Egg]

H.P. Lovecraft's "Dreams of the Witch House and other weird stories".

[wordcross]

Speaking of Lovecraft, I've been reading this game:

http://armorgames.com/play/4287/silent-conversation

an interesting medium, I must say
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Has anyone really been far even as decided to use even go want to do look more like?

[Samadhi]

And speaking of lovecraft (again) one of my fav games is Arkham Horror.

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And he lived happily ever after. Except for the dieing at the end and the heartbreak in between.

[Scurra]

I like both versions of Arkham (the original and the sparkly new one); I think my only complaint is that although the sense of overwhelming doom is well-evoked, it does seem possible to win just that little bit too often. (Although to be fair, it's usually a pretty close-run thing, which is great.)

Not that I want the world taken over by something with more than the usual number of tentacles, you understand.
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_{still Quiz Olympiad champion. Must get a life.
New definitions: COFFEE - someone who is coughed upon}

[Johnny_Fake*]

I just finished Terry Pratchett's Discworld series.

Can anyone recommend anything even close in terms of quality? It's the comedy and character development that make this fantasy series so good. The "fantasy" world is mostly a set-up for the satire.

[Scurra]

Alas, no. There have been many attempts* but nothing can really touch Discworld.
Having said that, I recommended Jasper Fforde in another thread, and he's got a similar slightly off-beat and very English sensibility.

I'm currently reading Christopher Brookmyre's A Tale Told in Blood and Hard Black Pencil which is the cleverest and funniest thing I've read since... well, probably the last Pratchett, actually.


* I personally love Asprin's Myth Adventures series, which have equally compelling characters but much broader comedy. And in private I will admit to being a fan of Piers Anthony's Xanth series. <oops. Did I say that out loud? >
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_{still Quiz Olympiad champion. Must get a life.
New definitions: COFFEE - someone who is coughed upon}

[Thok]

[Zag]

The Myth books, like the Xanth books, suffer from a high variation of quality. Some are quite good, but some are simply dreadful. The Discworld stuff is pretty consistent throughout. But I also like all three series, too. The only other series I know with a similar self-aware sort of humor are both sets by Douglas Adams (Hitchhiker's Guide and Dirk Gently).

A fantasy series of a completely different style (that is, not intended to be humorous, especially), but that I really like are those by Robin Hobb: Assassin's trilogy, Mad Ship trilogy, and the Tawny Man trilogy (in that order). The final book of the Tawny Man made me so happy. It wrapped up some unresolved issues from "Assassin's" that you didn't even realize needed wrapping up.

[Lepton*]

I second the Fforde nomination, but try to read the Thursday Next novels in order. They're literature humor for lit geeks, so your mileage may vary.

Once and Future King had a lot of subtle humor, which is my favorite part of Pratchett's writing.

I've been reading a lot of Shakespeare lately (my school is going to have a Shakespeare drama festival in the fall) and I am continuously amazed at the degree of humor (double entendres and that sort of thing) in some of his lighter plays.

In the past week or so, I've read: the aforementioned Blink, The Time Traveler's Wife, On the Road and Cory Doctorow's Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom and Little Brother (read it online freely) and I'm currently into Gravity's Rainbow, Name of the Rose and a couple others. I'd recommend all those in the first list, and advise against those in the second for anyone who doesn't have the rest of the month free.

[jesternl]

The name of the rose is great, I very much enjoyed that one. As a mater of fact, I may have to check Audible for it...
Other than that I am currently reading:
The 3rd part of The Baroque Cycle, by Neal Stephenson. It's a little hard to describe in a few words.. it's a 3-part, nearly 3000 pages long story about the origins and history of modern science, mixed with a whole lot of swash-buckling pirate adventures, and some economy, religion and romance.. It's absolutely masterful, quite humorous at times, lots of interesting asides.

I've read Snow Crash by the same author, more of a cyberpunk novel, which was also good. His other stories are still on my to read/listen list.

Other than that I'm sure it's been mentioned before, but I need the sequel to The Name of the Wind to be released....NOW!

[jesternl]

OK, finally made it to signing up on Goodreads.com.. who else is there?

[RSA*]

Samadhi is on there, looks like you've found everyone else that I know about.

[Pablo]

The Art of Racing in the Rain

My favorite book of all time.
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All religions are the same - Guilt....just with different holidays.

[mith]

[jesternl]

Hehe, Cryptonomicon is sitting on my nightstand, waiting to be read after I'm done with the Baroque Cycle v3 Unless I get Under the Dome sooner than I expect.
the Baroque Cycle does take a little time to get into it

[Lepton*]

Cryptonomicon has swallowed whole the last couple days.

I've been illegally downloading a 5GB torrent of sci-fi and fantasy novels , which is awesome. I read a Lem translation last week, Memoirs Found in a Bathtub.

Spoilered so the lawyers won't see.

[JFake*]

I'm listening to Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell. It is a very convincing argument that success is more circumstance than hard work and intelligence. In fact, it's primarily circumstance. Examples include Bill Joy, Bill Gates, the Robber Barons of the 19th century, Jewish lawyers in NY, and I'm still only halfway through.

Good read, or listen. I give it three out of four smileys.

[Pablo]

Just finished Where Men Win Glory, the story of Pat Tillman, by Jon Krakauer.

Just starting Liberty and Tyranny, by Mark Levin.

Halfway through Think and Grow Rich, by Napoleon Hill.
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All religions are the same - Guilt....just with different holidays.

[Samadhi]

I thought Levin's book was very good.

I just read Animal Farm

and I'm halfway through Nineteen Eighty Four
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And he lived happily ever after. Except for the dieing at the end and the heartbreak in between.

[Green Crayons]

Doing the 52 Book Challenge as my New Years' Resolution. 1 Year. 52 books. Gotta read 'em.

Started off with, and just finished, The Book of Joby. A classic God v. Lucifer wager with a mix of Arthurian legend mixed in but set in modern times. A good fantasy read, if nothing else. There were some flaws but I wasn't expecting Wordsworth.

Starting up The Subterraneans today, but I'm not expecting it to take more than a day or two, depending on the time I have to devote to it.

[jesternl]

Hmm let's see.. finished The Baroque Cycle, at last. took me long enough. Very entertaining mix of ye olde england and the origins of science. I did find myself longing for the end, and feeling a bit let down. I guess there really is no good climax to a 3000 page book.

Also finished Grisham's the Rainmaker, entertaining like all his books.

Last one done is Khaled Hosseini, The Kite Runner. I thought it was interesting, but with a lot of unnecessary Farsi. I can write a whole boek set in The Netherlands as well without throwing in a bunch of Dutch woorden, and still tell a good story.

Currently reading / listening to The Partner, also Grisham, and Stephen King's Under the Dome.

not having to read text books certainly opens up a lot of reading time

[Fried Egg]

Currently reading "Demons by Daylight", a short story collection by Ramsey Campbell published originally in 1972 and "The Sword of the Lictor" by Gene Wolfe, part 3 of the Book of the New Sun quartet.

[Samadhi]

The Armchair Economist.
Delightful. Some refreshingly contrarian viewpoints. I particularly enjoyed Why I Am Not an Environmentalist.
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And he lived happily ever after. Except for the dieing at the end and the heartbreak in between.

[Scurra]

Thank you for pointing me to that. I may well have to get a copy of the book now, because that extract made me laugh a lot. I assume he's writing a parody, right?


(No, I'm not being serious. And I realise that he is being serious. But I do like the way he deploys what I always think of as the Dawkins argument - it's wrong for anyone else to proclaim that they are Right because as it happens I am Right and therefore they must be Wrong.)


I am reading: The School for Scandal by Richard Sheridan. Hard to believe this was written over 200 years ago. Then again, since human nature hasn't changed in several thousand years, perhaps it shouldn't be...
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_{still Quiz Olympiad champion. Must get a life.
New definitions: COFFEE - someone who is coughed upon}

[Chuck]

The Marne, 1914: The Opening of World War I and the Battle That Changed the World by Holger H. Herwig

[Samadhi]

Scurra: "it's wrong for anyone else to proclaim that they are Right because as it happens I am Right and therefore they must be Wrong."

Did you read something completely different from what I did?

Read the link I provided, read that sentence of yours. Retract.
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And he lived happily ever after. Except for the dieing at the end and the heartbreak in between.

[Scurra]

I did read the link, which is exactly why I posted what I did. Considering that he actually uses the argument that "the discipline of economics is fertile ground for the growth of values like tolerance and pluralism", he displays an amazing lack of it in various places. As I said, I call this the Dawkins argument - a claim to be tolerant that upon investigation turns out to be just as fundamentalist as anyone else. Note - I was not using the quoted phrase about myself, to claim that *I* was Right and therefore he was Wrong, although I accept that, like everyone else, I'm just as prone to resorting to it on too many occasions. I was simply using it as a generalisation that seemed to me to apply here.

For example, in the piece he says "I have no doubt that the teachers were good and honest people who had no intent to indoctrinate, only a certain naïveté derived from a provincial upbringing." Of course, the writer suffers from no such issues of naivete or provincial upbringing, and can therefore hold what sounds like a horribly morally smug position. Please understand that I am not saying whether I think he is Right or Wrong; I was merely wondering if he could appreciate how high-handed and superior it comes across. (Or at least came across like that to me.)

But I also accept that I have only read the linked extract, and I would need to read the whole book to get a proper perspective.
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_{still Quiz Olympiad champion. Must get a life.
New definitions: COFFEE - someone who is coughed upon}

[Fried Egg]

I'm reading "Cosmicomics" by Italo Calvino and "To Ride Hell's Chasm" by Janny Wurts.

[jesternl]

FlashForward by Robert J.Sawyer.

The TV series is (apparently loosely) based on this book. I can't comment on the series, having not watched it, but the book is intriguing. The writing is easy, though not very complex, the characters are not all that well drawn out.
The idea however is very well done, and well researched. There is some interesting debate on free will vs. predetermination, and the question of how much knowing (part of) your future influences one's getting to that particular future.

[JDTAY]

I read the manual for Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth. Didn't tell me anything I didn't already know though.
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Prohibit nothing. Disclose everything.

[Poisonium]

It has been a good summer for reading for me.

Yacoubians House by Alaa al-Aswany
I want to write a book like this. Great.
And the sun also rises... by Ernest Hemingway
Perhaps a bit of a drag at times, but it has one of the best endings of perhaps any book I've read.
The Bookseller of Kabul by Åsne Seierstad
I loved this. Gives a fabulous insight in an unusual family in an unusual place.
Kiss the Girls by James Patterson
Easily the worst book of the summer yet. Average, and terribly unrealistic serial killer crime fiction.
Les Misérables by Victor Hugo
Poor Eponine
Oyster Blues by Michael McClelland
I never thought I'd read a Florida crime story, but I did. I could even recognize a few of the places. Also, it's very sexy, and that's a good thing when the reader is a 16-year-old male.
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I tried apt-get install lifebut it only returned E: Couldn't find package life

[jesternl]

The Lies of Locke Lamora - Scott Lynch
Very good so far, one of the best I've read in a long time. the adventures of a conman, set in a strange, medieval (ish) world), with cities erected by some unknown previous civilization (I am very curious if that aspect will be explained, or if it is only there for atmosphere)