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JOJOsc2news
3000 Posts
On January 18 2013 18:28 Roe wrote: haha same  so much research to do, so little time for fun reading :\The thing is, most of it is online as well. I really miss having the time to read an actual book that feels nice, that makes a sound when you turn the page and has this distinct book smell. | ||
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kafkaesque
Germany2006 Posts
At first glimps it looks extremely interesting. | ||
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Dr.PeterKien
Denmark4 Posts
On January 18 2013 15:45 sam!zdat wrote: Kafka on the Shore is great  What's the one with the sheep man? That's probably my favorite, just because of the sheep man I read The Name of the Rose and Baudolino, both pretty sweet Are you asking which Eco book this sheep man is in? I don't remember a particular sheep man (sheep herder? man in sheeps disguise?) in any of Eco's books that I have read... if you are talking about one of Murakami's books I'm afraid that my memory doesn't serve me right on this occasion With regards to Herbert Marcuse, he wrote what was then the bible of the left-wing movement in western civilization: One-dimensional Man. I have this on my bookshelf but have never finished it, lazy louse that I am, but what I did read was rather mindblowing with regards to an accurate critique of contemporary society and how we remain trapped in limited ways of thinking about said society and how to act/react politically. Along this line could be mentioned the 'new' bible of the left-wingers: Negri & Hardt's Empire. Amazing book, not for the faint hearted, and not without its flaws, but certainly a groundbreaking book and a must read for anybody interested in understanding modern society imo - in this book they also have the academic balls to include a reference to Gibson's Neuromancer! | ||
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sam!zdat
United States5559 Posts
Yeah, I'll likely read One Dimensional Man in the near future. iirc I decided to read EAC first because it was written early (?). I need to get a copy of Negri, good reminder, Harvey talks about him occasionally. And I wrote my thesis on Gibson, so I'm glad to hear I'm in good company edit: @kafkaesque - house of leaves is definitely worth a read. | ||
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Exoteric
Australia2330 Posts
On January 18 2013 18:48 kafkaesque wrote: Has anyone read House of Leaves? At first glimps it looks extremely interesting. Reading through it right now, it's great. | ||
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PVJ
Hungary5215 Posts
Mariusz Szczygieł: Zrób sobie raj (Make Your Own Paradise) ![[image loading]](http://polinst.hu/sites/default/files/imagecache/program/hir_image/szczygiel_teremts_magadnak.jpg) Pretty funny, with anecdotes on why and how they are "atheists" how the counterculture after '68 worked, all this embodied into funny stories and interviews with contemporary, or modern artists, photographers, etc. Everything is precisely documented and there's a lot of neat background work, which makes the stories not only more valid but also more amazing. The only part I feel negative towards is the nice but too long report on how the Czech people reacted to Benedict XVIs visit. In general, I would say it's a light, quick but entertaining read and would recommend it to anyone who's okay with some historical quirks, and niche anecdotes. I marked it as a "7/10" in my notebook. Before that I read Hyperion, The Fall of Hyperion, and Endymion from Dan Simmons. I'm waiting for the final chapter to be released in Hungarian but I might not be able to wait much longer and just go for an English copy. It's an incredible treat, and I must say that I was most pleased by the first book, marking it a "10/10". Truly spectacular. The second one was a bit weaker in themes, and symbolism and got a mark of "8/10" then the third was around the same ("8/10"), I think it is just me having a problem with the shift of the tone, and plot. In the meanwhile I picked up Philip Roth's Nemesis which I am half way through. It's a bit weaker but I feel it's still exceptionally better both in style and premise than other contemporaries who are bestselling nowadays. He's a classic, of course, and even though I feel he's gradually getting more and more exhausted (I guess he feels that too, with announcing a retirement), I still only wish every book I read could touch so gently upon the intimate problems, and fears the middle class man suffers from when things on a bigger scale he can't fight with demolishes every little nice thing he had left to cherish for. On January 18 2013 19:01 sam!zdat wrote: I need to get a copy of Negri, good reminder Oh man, I might just be me having a really different worldview but Negri's Books for Burning was so boring, and evident in most of it's remarks (although I know it might have been relevatory to read a pamphlet like that in the seventies) that I couldn't get myself to read after, like, the first 4 I think? It was a really dissappointing experience | ||
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Lann555
Netherlands5173 Posts
I don't get the love for this series. First book was good, but sooo slow. Second was one of the worst fantasy-books I've read to date. Go read Prince of Nothing if you can stomach it (it makes Game of Thrones look like Harry Potter in many ways). If not, go for Lies of Locke Lamora, which is nothing too deep, but a fun read | ||
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adwodon
United Kingdom592 Posts
![[image loading]](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/9/95/Zero_History.jpg/193px-Zero_History.jpg) Really good and weird sci-fi ish, not crazy off the wall futuristic stuff though. About fashion, brands and covert ops, great characters all round. Well worth picking up to anyone who enjoys a fun but still challenging read. Currently finishing: ![[image loading]](http://www.iain-banks.net/lib/TheWaspFactory.jpg) This book is a modern classic for a reason really, its quite haunting being in Frank's mind. Also slowly making my way through: ![[image loading]](http://files.list.co.uk/images/2011/09/15/arguably-lst090367.jpg) Collection of essays, not going to pound my way through, its more a nice one to pick up if you fancy some Hitch, its making me want to read biographies of some of the founding fathers though. Really worth checking out to anyone who's interested in serious but very insightful opinion. | ||
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YoucriedWolf
Sweden1456 Posts
Finished Battle hymn of the tiger mother - Amy Chua /regardin raising children by the "asian" model primarily in western countries Interesting take, I enjoyed the broadened perspective. I also enjoyed that it upset sensitive people. But I found it to be a more applicable tool to motivate myself rather than raising my children (that I don't have). There are tricky passages with both models for sure, but I feel like the neglect of social development particularly in the younger ages in Chuas' model is more probably to have a 'negative' (who really knows what negative means?) outcome. Keep in mind that we are talking about raising children in western countries only. The art of war - Steven Pressfield "Break through the blocks and win your inner creative battles". About how to stop dicking around and become a PRO. Very motivating, but should have been waaaay longer, because I was only motivated while I was reading it ): Starship troopers - Robert A. Heinlein Okay/10 A whole book just to make five pages worth of (interesting) philosophical points. I don't know if you had to do that man.. I still have Stranger in a Strange Land so I will give Heinlein another shot through that at some point since he's considered so important. Endymion - Dan Simmons A let down, after two of my favorite books of all time (Hyperion cantos). I didn't feel it for this one. More hocus pocus less sci-fi. Less of everything actually.. I hope he has something grand planned for the ending of this series as I will be reading that too. And I gotta tell you, after all this dissapointing sci-fi reading (namely 1100 pages worth of Peter Hamilton) I'm starting to see Giorgio Tsoukalos face everytime I read the word architects. Currently Reading Thus spake Zarathustra - Friedrich Nietzsche I don't wanna get to pretentious, best just say I like it so far. Excited about picking up some books of Lem! What would you recommend of him other than Solaris? I already have a ton of books so it's likely gonna have to wait, but it's comforting to know that you are banking on some solid books if I I'm having a bad streak. | ||
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julianto
2292 Posts
On January 18 2013 18:28 Roe wrote: haha same so much research to do, so little time for fun reading :\Yayyyyy, textbooks and galore for me! | ||
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Deleuze
United Kingdom2102 Posts
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/UYFVh.jpg) Orc Stain Stokoe My wife bought this for me for Xmas. I asked her for something as I hadn’t read a new comic in ages and wanted something cool and colourful. So I ended up with this AWESOME comic. It was chosen fairly casually and I really lucked out with it, it’s the story of a world populated by orcs and whose existence is one of perpetual violence, mob uprisings and wars – the typical orc fare across most fantasy, though what makes it different is that the orcs are stylised far beyond the scope of traditional depictions: thin, gangly, sometimes blue, heavy on the irony, something that harks back to early 90s Warhammer, a nice departure from the goblins that dominate contemporary LoTRs inspired media. Did I also mention that orc society revolves solely around the ‘gronch,’ the name for the orc member; a severed gronch sliced up into disks is orc currency. Double awesome! ![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/dyZtQ.jpg) The New Ghost Hunter This is published by a UK based indie publisher called NoBrow Press. I see them regularly at comic festivals, their house style is one of heavy bold block colouring, much like paper cut outs – print quality is fantastic. It is only a comic short and tracks the experience of a new ghost's interaction with the living world and its meeting with an astronomer. A bit too sentimental for my liking, lacking the fire and power I desire from independent work but nice nonetheless. Current: ![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/6Odec.jpg) Portrait of an Artist as a Young %@~x! Spiegelman Around about this time last year I was working on a (still unfinished) paper on Maus and a philosophical concept developed by Giorgio Agamben . Re-reading Maus reminded me the attention that Spiegelman paid to the craft of comics and narrativity itself, the reflexivity of his style is subtle and there is a very high degree of fragmentation to the narrative sequence. I got this collection of early shorts (plus a typically self-referential autobiography) for only £2, his comics are so simple yet beneath there are layers and layers of reflexive content, all crammed neatly into a page or two. ![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/CIYre.jpg) Existence Brin I picked this book up in Leeds when my wife wanted another on a two for one offer (I always have difficulty in choosing books under pressure – yet I couldn’t let the opportunity of a marginal discount pass me by). I also have a difficulty in engaging in new books that come out so I rarely visit large book stores, but I ended up taking a gamble on it and it really paid off. The basic premise is that in the mid-2050s humanity has reached a point where it has muddled through the various catastrophes that have been thrown at it (economic meltdown, nuclear war, natural and cosmic disasters) and now, in a world laced with AI, just as the human race is getting back on its feet possibly its greatest challenge appears in the form of an alien artefact discovered in orbit around the Earth. The whole environment of the book is great for anyone that spends a lot of time on the Internet and will definitely appeal to posters here. It reminds me of the world of Transmetropolitain minus the irony (and bowel disruptor). ![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/eiDVT.jpg) Intensive Science and Virtual Philosophy Delanda This is another book I got for Xmas and is my current project for the coming months. This is essentially an exposition on the work of French philosopher Gilles Deleuze, paying particular attention to the role that dynamical systems theory and set theory have influenced his work. This is without a doubt the BEST introductory work on Deleuze I have ever read and will appeal to students and academics alike wishing to develop their understanding of both Deleuze and poststructuralist thought in general. The first chapter on Multiplicities is astounding and Delanda’s style is free from the obscurity that has dogged (somewhat unwarrantedly imo) the reputation of Deleuze. There are no generalisations, scientific misconceptions or sophistry here, it will interest those in both philosophical and scientific communities, and anyone with an interest in systems theory from either discipline. I can’t recommend this work enough. ![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/m9Qtv.jpg) Mathematics: The Core Course for A-Level Bostock and Chandler This old book has been following me around for quite some time, and with the (fairly) advanced mathematical theory in the above I wanted to improve my mathematical knowledge a degree or two in order to better judge what I am reading. While this is only a ground work it is proving very useful in setting me on a trajectory where I can begin getting to grips with more advanced concepts. ![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/jZKWX.jpg) Politics of Truth Barrett I was prompted to check this book out at the Bodleian by the UK to legalise gay marriage, religious exemptions. I was discussing the matter with a few TL users and the topic centred on the right of state to influence individual freedoms, the way the freedoms were being discussed reminded me of the Marxist concept of ‘false consciousness’ or a critical concept of ideology – eventually I stumbled upon this text. Broadly the thesis is that any sense of ‘ideology’ is significantly weakened by developments in modern theory. It’s a good reference book for the various interpretation of Marx and his usages for the term ideology in his work. Forthcoming: ![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/d3lCG.jpg) An Introduction to Narratology Fludernik In literary studies and critical theory there has been a ‘narrative turn’ which, far from a return to conservative liberal humanism as I suspected, is a consolidation of the position in which critics find themselves in the wake of postmodernism. Fludernik is a German forerunner in the field currently and I am interested in applying her ideas to comics studies and seeing where I go (another scholar was doing something similar with regards to ‘depiction’ and the ‘synoptic view’ in the field so it seems a fairly current line of inquiry). ![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/teANh.jpg) In Defense of Lost Causes Zizek I picked this up in the library last year but had to return it before I really got into it. Zizek posits a nice analogue to the work of Deleuze, so I am interested in seeing what kind of dialectic I can establish. Something along the lines of ‘the fold’ and ‘the split’ perhaps. | ||
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Zachris
Sweden26 Posts
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IamaGrapeMan
Canada165 Posts
![[image loading]](http://collider.com/wp-content/uploads/a-confederacy-of-dunces-book-cover.jpg) if you're looking for a laugh, here's your book. i laughed out loud numerous times while reading it. next for me is narcissus and goldmund by the hermann hessie since i enjoyed his steppenwolf ![[image loading]](http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_k7n_46ebBAA/TEHmObOjMvI/AAAAAAAABMs/QmxAl5QRrhU/s1600/hesse_narcissus.jpg) | ||
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Dirkzor
Denmark1944 Posts
On January 18 2013 22:29 Zachris wrote: I just finished the Mistborn trilogy by Brian Sanderson due to this thread and I have to thank you! Havn't had a good read in quite some time! Thanks! *Brandon Sanderson. Now read his other books. While not being equally good they are still worth a read. | ||
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ugene1980
6 Posts
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sam!zdat
United States5559 Posts
On January 18 2013 21:42 YoucriedWolf wrote: Starship troopers - Robert A. Heinlein Okay/10 A whole book just to make five pages worth of (interesting) philosophical points. I don't know if you had to do that man.. I still have Stranger in a Strange Land so I will give Heinlein another shot through that at some point since he's considered so important. You'll find SIASL to be a much different style. You should also read The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, after that you can probably leave ol Robert Heinlein alone. On January 18 2013 22:14 Deleuze wrote: Broadly the thesis is that any sense of ‘ideology’ is significantly weakened by developments in modern theory. Oh no That is an optimistic thesis indeed In literary studies and critical theory there has been a ‘narrative turn’ which, far from a return to conservative liberal humanism as I suspected, is a consolidation of the position in which critics find themselves in the wake of postmodernism. Are you familiar at all with Greimas? edit: sometimes we can wear a "conservative liberal humanist" hat but it's sort of like putting on grandaddy's old suit to go to the masquerade ball  edit: also, I have to say the idea of a "narrative turn" in literary studies makes me giggle a little bit. To me this is just a correction of the mystifying state of affairs in which people stopped thinking about narrative! | ||
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itkovian
United States1763 Posts
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WikidSik
Canada382 Posts
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Genjimaru
Canada515 Posts
Not sure where to go now thinking of maybe keeping the sci fi going or back to some fantasy novels I need to finish. | ||
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farvacola
United States18826 Posts
On January 19 2013 08:15 itkovian wrote: Just got Ulysses. I saw at the top of a lot of "top 100" lists, and I've never read anything by Joyce before so I figured I should go at it. Looks dense though, and long... I highly recommend you warm up for Ulysses with A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man or Dubliners, ideally both. That is not to say that you cannot read Ulysses straight up, only that the odds of finishing the book and being satisfied with your read through improve dramatically with at least some prior familiarity in regards to Joyce's prose. | ||
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