|
![[image loading]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51CwUCbfFJL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg)
360 Degrees of Influence. Its an instructional book on personal goal settings, knowing your destination, how to achieve it by yourself and getting help along to boost your way up there. I think so far by flipping around, it contains some very sound advice on how to carry yourself in public in climbing that social ladder. Will certainly write a summary in about a week or so.
|
On February 21 2013 05:42 silynxer wrote:Show nested quote +On February 20 2013 03:22 sam!zdat wrote:On February 20 2013 02:06 silynxer wrote: I can only urge everyone to read anthropology books. The variety of human societies is simply mind-boggling and it really helps you to put your own values in perspective. Also it's a good antidote for most arguments using human nature. oh good, maybe you can help explain to these Dawkins kids that morality isn't reducible to evolution. they all seem to think that there's a natural human ethics which we're all born with, and any sort of "evil ideology" like "big bad religion" is just corrupting people away from their natural propensity to be good and get along. edit: whoa that books sounds crazy I'm afraid no. Once you have reached a certain stage of enlightenment you will not learn anything from "primitive cultures" whatsoever (just look at their life expectancy!)
"no" about what?
and to be honest buddy, I think that is a stage of enlightenment that neither you nor I has reached yet, if it exists. I don't see what life expectancy has to do with it.
|
On February 21 2013 09:15 sam!zdat wrote:Show nested quote +On February 21 2013 05:42 silynxer wrote:On February 20 2013 03:22 sam!zdat wrote:On February 20 2013 02:06 silynxer wrote: I can only urge everyone to read anthropology books. The variety of human societies is simply mind-boggling and it really helps you to put your own values in perspective. Also it's a good antidote for most arguments using human nature. oh good, maybe you can help explain to these Dawkins kids that morality isn't reducible to evolution. they all seem to think that there's a natural human ethics which we're all born with, and any sort of "evil ideology" like "big bad religion" is just corrupting people away from their natural propensity to be good and get along. edit: whoa that books sounds crazy I'm afraid no. Once you have reached a certain stage of enlightenment you will not learn anything from "primitive cultures" whatsoever (just look at their life expectancy!) "no" about what? and to be honest buddy, I think that is a stage of enlightenment that neither you nor I has reached yet, if it exists. I don't see what life expectancy has to do with it. Urg, sarcasm translates badly (over the internet or into other languages). No about "maybe you can help...". If you try to make any point by using tribal cultures in any discussion with people who have bought into progress they will always tell you about life expectancy (and variations of "famine is common", "do you want to die from a cold?" etc.) as if it invalidates everything we can learn from those cultures. Even if your point is about very abstract terms like human nature it is dismissed along the lines of "we're past that".
|
oh sorry man I'm a bit thick sometimes ^.^
|
England2661 Posts
I've just finished by non-fiction and fiction books.
The Four Hour Body by Timothy Ferriss was really interesting all around and I may well use some of what's in the book. It's a good look at self-experimentation more than anything else. Some fun facts about nutrition in there and how to learn. The super scientific fan may want to ignore.
The Shadow of the Soul by Sarah Pinborough was almost exactly as I thought it'd be. It's good fun and ends on a clear cliff-hanger. For a trilogy, this second book still seems to still be an introduction which can bug some people. Essentially, nothing gets resolved, you just learn more about what's going on.
For non-fiction, I'm reading How to be Free by Tom Hodgkinson which I bought about seven years ago. It's essentially a simple philosophy book about how to stop worrying, stop consuming and so on. It's interesting so far and I can see myself applying some of what's in here.
For fiction, I've got The Lies of Locke Lamora as recommended by this thread (I've forgotten the author). Excited to start it as the last recommendations from this thread have been great.
|
Currently reading:
'IT' by Stephen King
'Neverwhere' by Neil Gaiman
'A Feast for Crows' by George R. R. Martin
Next book will probably be:
'The Talisman' by Stephen King,
'A Dance with Dragons' by George R. R. Martin
|
I'm trying to read a book a week this year. So far i got: 1. The Dark Tower 1 by Steven King 2. The Dark Tower 2 by Steven King 3. Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk 4. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald 5. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury 6. A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess 7. The Dark Tower 3 by Steven King 8. and what i am reading this week: The Colour of Magic by Terry Pratchett
Next up after that will probably some more Dark Tower. I made a break after the second cause i had my finals in university and can't read a 500 page book while learning. The books up to the seventh are only about 150 pages :D
|
I just finished Tad William's Shadowplay (Shadowmarch #2). The stroy is picking up speed in this one but I am still not really comfortable with how slow it is told. So I'll make a pause before part 3 & 4.
Reading now: The Women Who Died a Lot by Jasper Fforde. Love the Thursday Next series! Funny and greatly entertaining. If you like books read this! It is set in a world where literarure is king. And lots of other wired stuff is going on! First one is "The Eyre Affair". + Show Spoiler +
Also reading: Speaking from Among the Bones by Alan Bradley. Flaviar de Luce is a almost 12 year old witty girl that loves chemistry and stumbels into murder cases. I love how it is written. Flaviar is super intelligent but then completely misreads a situation because she is 11 years old. Very entertaining read. + Show Spoiler +
Next up: + Show Spoiler +
|
On February 21 2013 19:39 Corak wrote:I just finished Tad William's Shadowplay (Shadowmarch #2). The stroy is picking up speed in this one but I am still not really comfortable with how slow it is told. So I'll make a pause before part 3 & 4. Reading now: The Women Who Died a Lot by Jasper Fforde. Love the Thursday Next series! Funny and greatly entertaining. If you like books read this! It is set in a world where literarure is king. And lots of other wired stuff is going on! First one is "The Eyre Affair". + Show Spoiler +Also reading: Speaking from Among the Bones by Alan Bradley. Flaviar de Luce is a almost 12 year old witty girl that loves chemistry and stumbels into murder cases. I love how it is written. Flaviar is super intelligent but then completely misreads a situation because she is 11 years old. Very entertaining read. + Show Spoiler +Next up: + Show Spoiler +
I had the same problem with Shadowmarch. I finished book 3 and it didn't get any better so I never read book 4. I was at the point where I didn't care about any of the characters or the story. It was so slow and so draining. Also it was a bit to much magic and fantasy for me. I prefer the dark gritty realistic fantasy kinda stuff
|
what you guys think about "The great Gatsby" i want to read this but i would like some comments 1st
|
Sweden1456 Posts
On February 22 2013 00:10 Topin wrote:what you guys think about "The great Gatsby" i want to read this but i would like some comments 1st  Just read it
|
On February 22 2013 00:10 Topin wrote:what you guys think about "The great Gatsby" i want to read this but i would like some comments 1st  It's really good.
|
|
+ Show Spoiler +On February 08 2013 15:04 packrat386 wrote:Just Finished: ![[image loading]](http://www.john-howe.com/portfolio/gallery/data/media/55/HME-3-LAYS-BELERIAND-port.jpg) I thought the poetry was really beautiful. Apparently tolkein discarded the works to write LotR (since the general public wanted more action) and I find that really tragic. I'm in the middle of: which is a really amazing book. As the author walks you through, you essentially start from batteries, wires, and electromagnets, and you end up building an entire computer. Its really crazy and I can't wait to finish it.
Just finished
And I must say its one of the best books I've ever read. I'm now going to go back to reading
![[image loading]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41mgJAVETTL._SL500_AA300_.jpg)
which I was about halfway through when I inexplicably stopped it. Its a very interesting book about how the practice of wargaming has developed from its inception in the 1950s to the time the book was written (I believe '85). Its a bit dated, but still a pretty insightful look at how predictions and foreign policy go hand in hand.
|
On February 22 2013 00:10 Topin wrote:what you guys think about "The great Gatsby" i want to read this but i would like some comments 1st 
The Great Gatsby is a really good classic book. Its the kind of thing you would likely read in english class, but it does have a well formed story and a few really cool twists throughout. I would definitely recommend it.
|
On February 22 2013 02:33 packrat386 wrote:Show nested quote +On February 22 2013 00:10 Topin wrote:what you guys think about "The great Gatsby" i want to read this but i would like some comments 1st  The Great Gatsby is a really good classic book. Its the kind of thing you would likely read in english class, but it does have a well formed story and a few really cool twists throughout. I would definitely recommend it. What is that but about ? oO
|
Just finished The Ox-Bow Incident by Walter Van Tilburg Clark. This is a really overlooked classic, it's brilliant, so vivid and so good at capturing human interaction and also by far the most compelling portrait of the American west I've gotten.
Starting for real this time A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. My version isn't annotated, not sure whether I'll need that or not. Or I'll just have to sit by a dictionary.
Also I've been reading The Russians by Hedrick Smith as bathroom reading a couple pages at a time. Very interesting. Especially since I've gotten really into The Americans on FX.
|
On February 22 2013 02:43 corumjhaelen wrote:Show nested quote +On February 22 2013 02:33 packrat386 wrote:On February 22 2013 00:10 Topin wrote:what you guys think about "The great Gatsby" i want to read this but i would like some comments 1st  The Great Gatsby is a really good classic book. Its the kind of thing you would likely read in english class, but it does have a well formed story and a few really cool twists throughout. I would definitely recommend it. What is that but about ? oO Many people believe that books read in English classes = boring, dense, not well-written, etc.
|
On February 22 2013 02:43 corumjhaelen wrote:Show nested quote +On February 22 2013 02:33 packrat386 wrote:On February 22 2013 00:10 Topin wrote:what you guys think about "The great Gatsby" i want to read this but i would like some comments 1st  The Great Gatsby is a really good classic book. Its the kind of thing you would likely read in english class, but it does have a well formed story and a few really cool twists throughout. I would definitely recommend it. What is that but about ? oO
you would normally assume that if you read it in english class, it isn't very good
|
On February 22 2013 03:20 sam!zdat wrote:Show nested quote +On February 22 2013 02:43 corumjhaelen wrote:On February 22 2013 02:33 packrat386 wrote:On February 22 2013 00:10 Topin wrote:what you guys think about "The great Gatsby" i want to read this but i would like some comments 1st  The Great Gatsby is a really good classic book. Its the kind of thing you would likely read in english class, but it does have a well formed story and a few really cool twists throughout. I would definitely recommend it. What is that but about ? oO you would normally assume that if you read it in english class, it isn't very good It seems really strange to me oO I mean I've been asked to read not that great books in French class at the beginning of middle school, but later the quality of what we read was simply outstanding. I mean the only book I've been asked to read in high school and disliked was the first book of Rousseau's Confessions, which is pretty telling I think. What in the hell do they make you read ?
|
|
|
|