my woman just bought me "shakey" the neil young biography.
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my woman just bought me "shakey" the neil young biography.
read everything I could find of his too.Quote:
Originally posted by Twoplanker
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Another of my favorite authors - Stephen Jay Gould (especially the Mismeasure of Man). No one makes reading about anthropology, paleontology, geology, and several other -ologies more fun that that guy, may he rest in peace. He was even on the Simpsons.
best part of high school ( educationally;) ) was being turned on to him & Ed Abbey
If you guys haven't read any John McPhee, you should pick up one of the "John McPhee Readers" (there are two). Excellent writer who combines a journalist's eye with a butter-smooth style.
I think the problem that people have with evolution is that they think it necessarily implies a belief system or is incompatible with their own. There are many biologists and scientists who have no trouble integrating their theological perspectives and their scientific, evolutionary perspectives into their view on the universe. Many people also think that evolution is a belief and not a scientific "fact" and that if this is the case than other competing beliefs (such as creationism) should be taught as the same time. This represents a fundamental misunderstanding of the scientific method and science in general.Quote:
Originally posted by tonghands
Well, I sort of agree and sort of disagree. I'm absolutely in the Richard Dawkins camp, I'm no creationist. I think teaching Creationism in the schools is crap. However, should a person who does not believe in evolution be forced by the government to have their children be taught evolution? I'm not so sure. It comes down to what role you think the government should have in people's lives. Certainly one can believe in Creationism and have a happy and productive life. On the other hand, I do believe that kids whose parents do not believe in Creationism might feel justifiably annoyed having to listen to it.
One simple way out of this is home schooling, If a parent feels strongly on the issue, they could pull their kids out of school for an hour or whatever and teach whatever they want on the subject at home. All I really mean to say here is that while I do not agree with most religious people's beliefs, I don't think that they're insane, and I think that this is their country as well, and I think that the government needs to respect that.
Ice: I read "A Sense of Where You Are" and I wasn't really bowled over. Kind of dissapointing considering I really like (and am interested in) Politics, New York, and basketball. What say you about that book compared to his other writings?Quote:
Originally posted by iceman
If you guys haven't read any John McPhee, you should pick up one of the "John McPhee Readers" (there are two). Excellent writer who combines a journalist's eye with a butter-smooth style.
I would say it's well below par. That and "Basin And Range" (which is interesting but FAR too long) are my least favorite works. I think the problem with "A Sense of Where You Are" is that he was too close to the subject. He and Bradley are friends, they're practically neighbors in - dammit, what's the name of the town where Princeton is? - and they socialize. I think it affected the book for the worse.Quote:
Originally posted by shamrockpow
Ice: I read "A Sense of Where You Are" and I wasn't really bowled over. Kind of dissapointing considering I really like (and am interested in) Politics, New York, and basketball. What say you about that book compared to his other writings?
Try "The Second John McPhee Reader" (The Noonday Press,1996), which contains excerpts from eleven other books, to get a better feel for the guy. I still highly recommend him.
Airport reading: Anything by Carl Hiaasen. If I'm stuck in the crummy airport bookstore, I'll grab one of his books about stupid people committing crimes in Miami, and several hours will go by a lot faster than they would otherwise.
Ding!Quote:
Originally posted by Twoplanker
This represents a fundamental misunderstanding of the scientific method and science in general.
"Science" isn't guys in white coats, your physics teacher, or expensive machines that go "ping". Science is an *iterative process* by which we learn, test, and verify new information.
-Make a hypothesis
-Design a test for it
-Run the test
-Submit results for peer and public review
-See if others' tests produce the same result
-Go back to square 2 with new information in hand
This process has been proven to reliably produce new, useful knowledge over centuries. As a result, we have things like electricity, air conditioning, cars, planes, telephones, CD players, computers, and the Internet.
No other process has done so.
The Bible doesn't contain the laws of thermodynamics. The Koran doesn't contain Maxwell's equations. The Torah doesn't contain Newtonian physics. And they don't tell you how to get them, either, because applying scientific process to Holy Writ could result in Holy Writ changing -- and if it could change, it wouldn't be Holy Writ, would it?
Therefore, I think the question of "should schools teach religion" is clear. Unless you are willing to give up electricity, printed books, air conditioning, cars, planes, telephones, CD players, computers, and the Internet, you cannot teach religion as an alternative to science.
To stay on topic, here's another vote for the Hitchhiker's Guide series.
I'll follow it with a quote from Douglas Adams:
"Now, the invention of the scientific method is, I'm sure we'll all agree, the most powerful intellectual idea, the most powerful framework for thinking and investigating and understanding and challenging the world around us that there is, and it rests on the premise that any idea is there to be attacked. If it withstands the attack then it lives to fight another day and if it doesn't withstand the attack then down it goes. Religion doesn't seem to work like that. It has certain ideas at the heart of it which we call sacred or holy or whatever. What it means is, "Here is an idea or a notion that you're not allowed to say anything bad about; you're just not. Why not?--because you're not!" If somebody votes for a party that you don't agree with, you're free to argue about it as much as you like; everybody will have an argument but nobody feels aggrieved by it. If somebody thinks taxes should go up or down you are free to have an argument about it. But on the other hand if somebody says 'I mustn't move a light switch on a Saturday,' you say, "I respect that."
The odd thing is, even as I am saying that, I am thinking "Is there an Orthodox Jew here who is going to be offended by the fact that I just said that?" But I wouldn't have thought "Maybe there's somebody from the left wing or somebody from the right wing or somebody who subscribes to this view or the other in economics" when I was making the other points. I just think "Fine, we have different opinions." But, the moment I say something that has something to do with somebody's (I'm going to stick my neck out here and say irrational) beliefs, then we all become terribly protective and terribly defensive and say "No, we don't attack that; that's an irrational belief but no, we respect it."
Why should it be that it's perfectly legitimate to support the Labor party or the Conservative party, Republicans or Democrats, this model of economics versus that, Macintosh instead of Windows--but to have an opinion about how the Universe began, about who created the Universe . . . no, that's holy? What does that mean? Why do we ring-fence that for any other reason other than that we've just got used to doing so? There's no other reason at all, it's just one of those things that crept into being and once that loop gets going it's very, very powerful. So, we are used to not challenging religious ideas but it's very interesting how much of a furor Richard [Dawkins] creates when he does it! Everybody gets absolutely frantic about it because you're not allowed to say these things. Yet when you look at it rationally there is no reason why those ideas shouldn't be as open to debate as any other, except that we have agreed somehow between us that they shouldn't be. "
The argument goes like this:
`I refuse to prove that I exist,' says God, `for proof denies faith, and without faith I am nothing.'
`But,' says Man, `The Babel fish is a dead giveaway, isn't it? It could not have evolved by chance. It proves you exist, and so therefore, by your own arguments, you don't. QED.'
`Oh dear,' says God, `I hadn't thought of that,' and promptly disappears in a puff of logic.
`Oh, that was easy,' says Man, and for an encore goes on to prove that black is white and gets himself killed on the next pedestrian crossing.
Most leading theologians claim that this argument is a load of dingo's kidneys, but that didn't stop Oolon Colluphid making a small fortune when he used it as the central theme of his best-selling book, "Well, That about Wraps It Up for God."
bwaaaaahaaaaahaaaaaahaaaaahaahaahaaaa
and the Hilarious Book Title of the Day Award goes to...(drumroll please)...Fox News personality Sean Hannity for his new book Deliver Us from Evil : Defeating Terrorism, Despotism, and Liberalism
This thread got me to thinking about how I'd been in between good books for a while, so when I was driving through Bishop on my way to the DMV I saw a bookstore and decided I'd stop on my way back and check it out, that just happened to be the first book that jumped out at my eyes right in front on the "best sellers: 25% off" rack
Ohhh, so what I did end up picking up was
"Downhill Slide: why the corporate ski industry is bad for skiing, ski towns, and the environment" by Hal Clifford
should provide some interesting food for thought, I know someone on this board mentioned it once before
and
"The Best Democracy Money Can Buy: the truth about corporate cons, globalization, and high-finance fraudsters" by Greg Palast
but I haven't started either one yet so I'll have to get back to you on exactly how good they are
One of the last really good books I read was
"Lame Deer Seeker of Visions: the life of a sioux medicine man" by John (Fire) Lame Deer and Richard Erdoes
any of the 3 "The Boondocks" comic strip compilations is excellent. Aaron McGruder's a pretty funny guy (maybe not as funny as Sean Hannity, but still...)
and one of my all-time favorite novels is "Things Fall Apart" by Chinua Achebe... such a great writer, his other books are good too
Chalk up another disgruntled reader who quit the World of Time series by book 5. Good story, but if I want to read 100s of pages of women bitching I'll turn on daytime TV instead.
Just read the Royal Robbins biography. A bit too short of a read, but it gives some insight into how big of balls those guys had.
Next on the list is Food Politics. For some reason I can't get enough of how f'ed up modern society is.
what like Fast Food Nation? Haven't read it, but I've heard about itQuote:
Originally posted by Mountain Junkie
Next on the list is Food Politics. For some reason I can't get enough of how f'ed up modern society is.
Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks..........quite simply one of the best novels ever written. Get through the first fifty pages and this book will move you.
Ummm, most of us are Americans, got anything that might grab us within the first ten words?Quote:
Originally posted by Hayduke
Get through the first fifty pages and this book will move you.
I mean, that's the window.
Ok. Well how about one of those kids books about a helicopter that battered ex-princess Fergie wrote for you guys? One of the UK's finest exports.
Start with that, then go and read Birdsong, but definately read Birdsong. Did I mention you should read Birdsong?
Most of my reading tends to be guidbooks.
Staying Alive in Avalanche Terrain, by Bruce Tremper... good shit
I just bought Mario Puzo's The Godfather the other day and am about halfway through that. I have never seen the movie, but so far the book is pretty good, I love all that mafia shit.
Today I bought Stephen Kings Different Seasons. It contains long story's/short novels, called novellas. I just read the one that Shawshank Redemption is based on. Pretty good. Next up, The Body, which is what Stand By Me was based on. Should be good also.
I have a habit of reading two or three things at once.
I've mostly been reading kids books these days, but have managed to squeeze out the Da Vinci Code, Angels and Demons, The Life and Death of Great American Cities, and For Whom the Bell Tolls. Need to make a trip to the bookstore for a new book. I enjoyed the DaVinci Code, but struggled with Angels and Demons.
I was waaaaaayyyy too young when I read that book. Apt Pupil is brutal.Quote:
Originally posted by PaSucks
I just bought Mario Puzo's The Godfather the other day and am about halfway through that. I have never seen the movie, but so far the book is pretty good, I love all that mafia shit.
Today I bought Stephen Kings Different Seasons. It contains long story's/short novels, called novellas. I just read the one that Shawshank Redemption is based on. Pretty good. Next up, The Body, which is what Stand By Me was based on. Should be good also.
I have a habit of reading two or three things at once.
Quote:
Originally posted by PaSucks
I just bought Mario Puzo's The Godfather the other day and am about halfway through that. I have never seen the movie, but so far the book is pretty good, I love all that mafia shit.
Today I bought Stephen Kings Different Seasons. It contains long story's/short novels, called novellas. I just read the one that Shawshank Redemption is based on. Pretty good. Next up, The Body, which is what Stand By Me was based on. Should be good also.
I have a habit of reading two or three things at once.
Haha, those were two of the first adult themed books I read a long long time ago. I was amazed that you could cuss in books after reading Stephen King, and things only got better reading the Godfather. PEOPLE ACTUALLY HAVE SEX IN BOOKS! Who woulda thunk?