EPTWhat Are You Reading 2018 - Page 12
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Plansix
United States60190 Posts
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Flicky
England2668 Posts
Inherent Vice by Thomas Pynchon. It's pretty great. Nice to have the Pynchon style but easier to follow. He's a great author. | ||
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Silvanel
Poland4736 Posts
On April 26 2018 06:40 Plansix wrote: I've been told to try The City & the City. ![[image loading]](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51TDieWsrQL._SX332_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg) Which I hear is more focused on narrative, while also keeping Miéville's signature weirdness that people like him for. I'm willing to give him another swing, since he is a good writer doing original stuff is hard to find. And I like my fantasy to not make complete sense or obey "rules", so that part of his writing never bothered me. It was not giving a shit about anyone in that book that bothered me more. But Perdido Street Station was his first book and came out in 2000, which was long before steam punk was steam punk of Etsy we know today. I would rate City & City similiar to Perdido. Decent but not great book, with this Mievielle "weirdness" (although this is not general weirdness like in Perdidio but it all stems from one thing) and more action focused. With some additional work that book could be read as a commentary on comunist authoritarian states. The book i liked the most from him is Embassytown but that might be because it touches the topic that i love, namely langauge and comunnication barriers. | ||
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MarcoJ
Germany146 Posts
![[image loading]](https://50specialbooks.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/elliott_50books.jpg) Although Im quite far already, probably will finish it with beginning of may. Already have the next book lined up. I like it so far, the new german edition as alot of referenced annotations for the french parts, some translations that are more literate to the Russian version and explaining references to other authors and their work. | ||
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Flicky
England2668 Posts
![[image loading]](https://i.imgur.com/qsr0qA4.jpg) ![[image loading]](https://i.imgur.com/J9TQVhn.jpg) | ||
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Silvanel
Poland4736 Posts
![[image loading]](https://powergraph.pl/uploads/catalog/product/cover/86/large_170712_Rozaniec_front_proba_1500.jpg) Its like a crossover between Matrix and Minority Report and little bit of Nonstop vibe. Its ok i guess but nothing spectacular. ![[image loading]](https://panmacmillan.azureedge.net/pml/panmacmillancorporatesite/media/panmacmillan/cover-images/china-mieville/__thumbnails/9781447296553the%20last%20days%20of%20new%20paris_4_jpg_278_400.jpg) This books depicts Germand occupied Paris after some sort of weird bomb awaken all kinds of surrealist artwork to wreck havoc. Germs reponds with waking to life their own art pieces. Short and easy to read. With a whole lot of references to surrealist works (with explanations at the end of book). Good read i would say. ![[image loading]](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51ZG62X58FL.jpg) I read Rushdie books for near magical descriptions of Persia, India, the world i dont know much of. The stories for me are secondary. I guess this one is ok, but nothing great. I have found most primary characters off-puting (particulary Bunji, India and Salimar) still i read them mostly as vehicule to showcase the world and style of thinking so its ok. Decent Read. | ||
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The_Red_Viper
19533 Posts
![[image loading]](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/9/9f/Wind-up_Bird_Chronicle.jpg/220px-Wind-up_Bird_Chronicle.jpg) I started with The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami and quite like it so far. I am about a fourth into it and the usual mysterious atmosphere alongside the mundane daily life works wonderfully for me here. It's about Toru Okada who lives together with his wife Kumiko, he is currently jobless and their cat disappeared. While searching for it he meets quite a lot of peculiar people and it obviously doesn't end with the cat mystery. I cannot really say much about the themes yet, but a big one is relationships between people, the perception of knowing them truly which might just be an illusion in the end. | ||
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Silvanel
Poland4736 Posts
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MajuGarzett
Canada635 Posts
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goody153
44236 Posts
![[image loading]](https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1444774354l/11753829.jpg) They're Made Out of Meat by Terry Bisson I smiled all the time reading it. It's exactly how the title states the story. A very short story | ||
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Plansix
United States60190 Posts
![[image loading]](https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1516128292l/37903770.jpg) Just started this as some light reading. It is a pleasant, well written retelling of the best known Norse myths. Which are basically action movies in story myth form. | ||
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Dark_Chill
Canada3353 Posts
![[image loading]](https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1388180776l/17290.jpg) Really interesting read, easy to understand science by a pretty damn good author. If you enjoy cooking, I'd definitely recommend it. | ||
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The_Red_Viper
19533 Posts
On May 08 2018 22:19 Plansix wrote: Just started this as some light reading. It is a pleasant, well written retelling of the best known Norse myths. Which are basically action movies in story myth form. I read that recently as well, it's a good start for anyone interested in norse mythology. After reading it one surely wants more though. | ||
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Plansix
United States60190 Posts
On May 09 2018 00:22 The_Red_Viper wrote: I read that recently as well, it's a good start for anyone interested in norse mythology. After reading it one surely wants more though. Yeah, I am hoping to find a second, more detailed book on the subject. But it is a great book to recommend to people who might not be interested in the more historical, scholarly books on the subject. | ||
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IgnE
United States7681 Posts
On May 09 2018 01:08 Plansix wrote: Yeah, I am hoping to find a second, more detailed book on the subject. But it is a great book to recommend to people who might not be interested in the more historical, scholarly books on the subject. the problem is that there just arent very many primary sources. i dont think there will ever be much "more" to norse myth than what youve apparently already read | ||
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Plansix
United States60190 Posts
On May 09 2018 01:26 IgnE wrote: the problem is that there just arent very many primary sources. i dont think there will ever be much "more" to norse myth than what youve apparently already read Of course. There are still books that lean into the anthropological origins of the myths surrounding Norse culture and how those are also reflected in other cultures. Like how the concept of burning realm of Muspelheim may have originated from a over arching cultural fear of fire. Specifically forest fires, which would have seemed apocalyptic to most accent cultures living it temperate regions, forest covered regions. But those books being something the layperson wants to read for pleasure is another matter all together. | ||
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mantequilla
Turkey781 Posts
especially physics, astronomy, electronics or computer science. All I can find is either too diluted or straight up textbook. Looking for something in between. I realize when I recall subjects that I know well, I never remember the exact math behind it, but recall it as knowledge. But many books just dump math on you to teach. I think many technical subjects can be understood without delving into tidbits of math. Am I thinking wrong? Grabbed an artificial intelligence book but it starts at page 1 with vague equations which I don't even understand what symbol represents what. At least explain what denotes what first ffs. | ||
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Dead9
United States4725 Posts
if the former i liked: Algorithms to Live By: The Computer Science of Human Decisions How Not to Be Wrong: The Power of Mathematical Thinking Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything | ||
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{CC}StealthBlue
United States41117 Posts
![[image loading]](https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1441642325l/26240788.jpg) | ||
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123Gurke
France154 Posts
On May 09 2018 04:18 mantequilla wrote: can you recommend some non fiction books? especially physics, astronomy, electronics or computer science. All I can find is either too diluted or straight up textbook. Looking for something in between. I realize when I recall subjects that I know well, I never remember the exact math behind it, but recall it as knowledge. But many books just dump math on you to teach. I think many technical subjects can be understood without delving into tidbits of math. Am I thinking wrong? Grabbed an artificial intelligence book but it starts at page 1 with vague equations which I don't even understand what symbol represents what. At least explain what denotes what first ffs. If you are interested in the foundations of mathematics that were studied at the beginning of the 20th century, I recommend Logicomix: An Epic Search for Truth. It is a comic, but very well-done. Papadimitriou, one of the authors, is a very well-known theoretical computer scientist who really cares about these questions and it shows in the book. If you want something less light, I also recommend his book on computational complexity which in my opinion is still the best introduction into the field. Since I fell a little in love with Le Guin, I read this last week: ![[image loading]](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51je5fycATL._SX323_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg) It's a book for kids or teenagers and according to wikipedia "Le Guin allows young readers to sympathize with Ged [the main character], and only gradually realize that there is a price to be paid for his actions". The problem for me as an adult is that the decisions of the main character are obviously stupid and it is clear that they will bite him in the ass later. So I could not relate to him at all. Maybe I am just to old, but at several points in the book I found myself wanting to scream at the main character because he is just so dense (despite being described as an extremely talended prodigy). Apart from that, I quite liked the book. In particular, I really (as usual) liked Le Guin's world building. One thing that I found a little disappointing is that there are no strong female characters throughout the book, but I guess that was early on in her career (or simply due to marketing). I am planning to read the next book in the series soon. I have also bought a pile of Lupin paperbacks from the sixties at a book-sale which I am planning to read. | ||
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