anybody reading a good book??

[James Carvile]

Nick Hornby "How to Be Good"
A definitely twisted and humorous way to look at the world.

Irvine Welsh "Filth"
A great book to read aloud to women that liked to talked dirty to.

Will Rhode "Paperback Original"
Author gets involved in drugs and the mafia in India to get his inheritance.

Harvey Oxenhorn "Tuning the Rig"
Searching for humpback whales on a tall ship in the arctic guarunteed to hook in those crunchy granola beach types.


The only thing you're going to realize one day is you could have saved yourself $150,000 on an education with a dollar fifty in late charges at the public library.

[DINMS]

I'm going thought voggnegut right now. (Yes I read, alot in fact.)

Slaughterhouse-Five - Kurt Vonnegut right now. Also, Eldridge clevers autobiography, Soul on Ice

Just finsished his sons book too. The Eden Express. Great book.

[Spats]

And people wonder why Americans have no facility for planning or critical thinking, and why our white-collar jobs are being exported to India as fast as companies can train the new workers.

People look at the Taliban and cluck their tongues about how horrible it is that religious extremists keep their population ignorant by burning Western books and teaching the Koran as the only law.

But somehow this is different than Christians wanting to ban books because they're a "corrupting influence on our young", and ban the teaching of evolution because it's against the Bible.

You can have a functioning technology-based economy, or you can have religious fundamentalism, but you can't have both. God won't tell you the proper laminar flow equations to shape an airplane wing or a combustion chamber.

Originally posted by Twoplanker
The Dawkins book is a great read. Although I still have no hope of understanding people, or anything at all really.



At the time I read that book, I was living in Alabama. The schools had just decided to put a sticker on the inside cover of high school biology textbooks explaining that evolution was just a theory, and as such, deserved to be considered on par with other theories, such as Creationism.

[Woodsy]

but GWB knows good & bad cuz Gawd tells him so we are OK!

[tonghands]

Originally posted by Spats

People look at the Taliban and cluck their tongues about how horrible it is that religious extremists keep their population ignorant by burning Western books and teaching the Koran as the only law.

But somehow this is different than Christians wanting to ban books because they're a "corrupting influence on our young", and ban the teaching of evolution because it's against the Bible.

I disagree. The difference is that the Taliban controlled which books were available to the entire country. You were not allowed to read these books. Here we've just got a few goofballs acting like morons.

I'm an atheist Libertarian. I do not believe in any Religion, not even a little bit, and I do not want any laws based on religion (which is not the same thing as having a religious person in office, which I don't care about either way). But the bad rap religion gets in this country is out of proportion. Most religious people in this country (and probably every country) are good, decent people. Just because they have different world view than you or me does not mean that they're bad people, or that somehow their views represent some real threat.

That said, a small percentage of religious people are real wack jobs, but they're powerless. People go on about the threat that the religious right represents. They represent no threat whatsoever. They're total and complete failures. Look at our society 30 years ago versus today.

Abortion is now legal, it wasn't 30 years ago (Ok, maybe 32 years or so). Yes some changes on the fringes have occurred, but it's legal and it's going to stay legal, because the American people want it to be legal. If it were to be made illegal, I would expect riots on the streets and that whoever was behind the change would be recalled immediately and their party would not see the inside of the White House for years to come. The real battle here is for what American's believe in, and the Religious right has lost in what turned out to be a landslide.

Look at what's available on TV or the Radio. Sitcoms starring gay characters. More T&A than you can shake a stick at. Radio goofballs trying to be as outrageous as possible. The Religious Right loathes all of this and yet is powerless to stop it. Yes, Stern is under pressure, but you watch, he's not going anywhere.

The Religious Right has lost every single battle of consequence over the last 30 years or so. Because by and large the American people don't want what they're selling, not because the government is protecting us.

As far as our lack of critical thinkers goes, I don't see this at all. Did the pace of innovation suddenly stop in this country? The evidence seems to say no. Look at the internet, biotech, a million other things. Heck, look at the critical thinkers on this board. Look at the news in all of it's various forms, I do not see people standing in line accepting what the government says, especially now.

It has become a trusim that Americans are stupid and lazy. We are not. We would not have the economy we do or create the things we if we were stupid. One is always hearing that Americans are stupid, but the person who says this never includes themselves in the stupid group. I would guess that this says more about human nature than about Americans. What the speaker usually means is that on some topic of interest to the speaker, many people don't agree with the speaker's opinion, or are simply uninterested in the topic.

Hating religion has become sport in this country. And for many people, they hate religion because the people who practice it are different than themselves (not aiming this at Spats, who's presenting a well reasoned argument). Which is supposedly the reason that they hate religion in the first place. Most of the Founding Fathers were deeply religious men, and yet they founded a country based on the rule of law, not the rule of god. Which I take as proof that religion, like most other things, is what you make of it.

Now where's that bourbon?

(sorry for the long post, work is dull today)

[jstead]

Originally posted by Twoplanker
Just read all of the Dan Brown stuff:

Da Vinci Code
Angels & Demons

I read both of these. What is up with this guy and wheel chairs? He also needs to go shopping. No more tweed coats for him or any one else in the book.

I just started reading the Celistine Prophecy.{sp?}
Any one else read this? What did you think?

[frozenwater]

I read to accomplish two purposes, to learn and to escape. I try and juggle both objectives by reading one book for pure pleasure, then reading a book more for the educational value.

so, the last book I just put down for education - but is a hellu good read as well is

"A Vietcong Memoir" by Truong Hhu Tang

Great read if you want an insiders perspecitve on the vietcong, the reason they fought, the inside scoop on how even the vietcong were dupped by the communist party.

For pleasure I am tackling the Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan, currently on the fifth book in the series; the fires of heaven.

The series started of nice, but I am bogging down in this last book.

It is your basic fantasy book.

Speaking of fantasy, for such a strong market segment I am a little suprised to see no one else admitting to reading the genre. I wonder if most of us are too busy dredging up works we think might be impressive to others? "shrug"

[warthog]

My favorite books come out of the travel section of the book store.

A.C. Weisbecker-

In Search of Captain Zero
This is a link to reviews and a photo journal with clips from the book- check it out.
I loved this book. He also wrote Cosmic Banditos- which was good, but not better than Capt. Zero.

This is the book I can most highly recommend. It is about surfing, road trips, dogs, sharks, drugs, and Costa Rica. Great beach/hammock read.

Also check out-

Nickel and Dimed- Barbara Ehrenreich
about how tough it is for people to climb out of poverty, and why.

Following the Equator- Mark Twain
Travel around the world on a steamship.

The Proud Highway- Hunter S. Thompson.
A collection of his letters from 1955-1967- a really cool glimpse into the state of affairs during those years. He is a great writer, if not sheriff.

[Mulletizer]

Originally posted by James Carvile
Will Rhode "Paperback Original"
Author gets involved in drugs and the mafia in India to get his inheritance.

That was published as Paperback Raita over here. I wasn't that impressed. IMO It had a reasonable narrative but the story wasn't actually totally epic and the writing was not great either. I guess that makes it ideal beach material through. I felt the author was just trying to appeal to slightly ethno traveller types who had bought Alex Garland's books but didn't write as well.

For a cool book about India I recommend Hari Kunzri's (sp?) The Impressionist. It is actually set in the colonial days but is a fantastic piece of writing and deals, I think, with the Anglo/Indian aspect much better, albeit from a slightly different viewpoint. Looking forward to reading his new book which is, if the reviewers are to be believed, even better.

Other stuff I really like:

- most Orwell stuff (although not the metaphorical stuff like Animal Farm). I find that his essays are cool and love the autobiagraphical stuff he wrote stuff like Down and Out in Paris and London. Simple, clear writing style so good beach material, although the comment is a bit political.

- all Evelyn Waugh. Basically satirical or social comment of 1930s England. Some of his stuff (eg Decline and Fall ) is hilarious. Other stuff is really quite dark (eg Bright Young Things ). Crafts his writing really well yet also very simple - great use of language.

- Alexander McCall Smith's books about a woman detective in Botswana. Also very simplistic writing (there's a theme here ) , very easy reading but nice stories, charmingly told.

- Stuff by Guy Birt. A young British author, writes some dark psychological stuff. Beautiful description, good plots although they don't always follow a strict narrative. The Dandelion Clock about a youth spent in Italy and the repercussions of this in adulthood is great as is The Hole a dark thriller about rich kids that was made into a mediocre film a couple of years ago.

Authors that are way over-rated IMO:
- Paul Theroux
- Zadie Smith
- Bill Bryson

[Woodsy]

frz,
I read A LOT of fantasy when i was younger
all of the Lord of the Rings books repeatedly, Whell of time (like you loved the first 3 dealt with the 4th & quit on the 5th), Piers Anthony Xanth series, all the Shannarra books, Dragonlance, & a few others.

I found no one in the genre held a candle to Tolkien.
I have not picked one up in years.

Also used to read a grip of Sci Fi Herbert, Clarke!, Asimov, Niven, Heinlein (sp?!!?) also dont read that much any more either unless I come across a Heinlein book I have yet to read. hes great.

but you are right there seems to be some intellectual posturing although a lot of Brown & Clancy fans disprove that.

when Nic worked @ the book store i got turned on to a lot of good readable contemporary authors like McKewan how I am devouring now.

also wish everyone here could read
Charles Bowden and Scott Carrier

[iceman]

Just chiming in to give Tonghands some props for an interesting essay.

[Clack]

For a pure pleasure read with no redeeming educational value, Harry Potter wins right now. Came in late to work becuase I couldn't put the stupid thing down.

[Spats]

The Iron Dragon's Daughter: Michael Swanwick. If you like fantasy, even a little bit, but wonder why every successful series since 1979 is a bad Tolkien ripoff, go read this book. Strange, dark, wonderful, and so damn good.

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: Hunter S. Thompson. No one is exactly sure how much of this book is real, but it will make you laugh out loud. Often. Unless you're really uptight, in which case you'll be very, very uncomfortable. The movie is actually quite good, and a nearly literal recounting of the book version.

tonghands: People can believe whatever they want, but they don't have the right to make the school system force those beliefs on others.

The role of school is to teach knowledge and methods of inquiry, which includes science, languages, math, history, and all that other good stuff. Even teaching *about* religion is fair game, especially since most US teenagers will have no idea what Buddhism, Zoroastrianism, Islam, Hinduism, or even Coptic Christianity actually are. But you don't get to make the kids *follow* a religion, that's your job and duty as a parent.

And if your religion comes into conflict with basic scientific knowledge, then that's your own problem to resolve. The sun doesn't revolve around the earth, no matter what the Pope said or how many people the Church killed or tortured.

[hopped]

Unfortunately, frozen, it goes downhill from there. I actually went through the 6th, 7th, and 8th books, and they just get more and more political manuevering, droll, and boring. The 8th book encompasses a period of 7 days and still manages to be 900 someodd pages long. Stop now, you won't regret it.

I just finished Breakfast of Champions for the third time last week, and it's still extremely weird, but very entertaining. I'm going to admit that The Recruit is what inspired me to pick up my first Vonnegut, Cat's Cradle, but I enjoyed it, as well as his series of short vignettes about being killed and resuscitated by Dr. Jack Kevorkian, and in the space between, his experiences at the Pearly Gates.

I'll probably catch hell for this, but I'm reading Jesus the Christ by Talmage right now, and I find it really interesting. It's essentially a believer's breakdown of the scripture regarding the life of Christ, birth to death.

I recall reading a captivating novella titled "A Deadly Kind of Paradise" a while back. Maybe ice knows who wrote it? Or where I could get a copy to read it again?

edit: I go to Collage! We make posters out of pictures from magazines!

[fridge]

I've just spent the last 12 hours reading Thermodynamics: An Engineering Approach. To tell the truth, I just couldn't put it down.

I used to read a lot when I was younger, but I actually haven't been able to read much lately because I usually don't feel like it after staring at a textbook all day. But many of these books are going on my list to read as soon as I get a break.

For some reason my favorite book has always been Vertical Run by Joseph Garber. It's just the typical action type novel, but I've read it about 10 times and have never gotten sick of it.

[supercastor]

I didn't read the whole thread, but two books worth reading in this time of warm weather :

The ski bum, by Romain Gary - Lenny, skibum in summer, drags his skis in geneva, longing for the winter to come and passing gold with the daughter of an american diplomat.

Into thin air, by Jon Krakauer - "personnal account of mount everest disaster", the story of the 1996 Rob Hall's expedition to everest.

Plus all the book of Russel Banks (Cloudsplitter, Trailerpark, ...), Boulgakov (The Master and Margarita, one of my favourite books) , Alan Duff's "once were warriors"...

[FNG]

Currently reading:
The Vampire Lestat - book #2 of Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles.

Next in Line:
The Da Vinci Code

Reccomendations:
Prey - Crichton
Tourist Season & Lucky You - Hiassen

[iceman]

Originally posted by hopped
I recall reading a captivating novella titled "A Deadly Kind of Paradise" a while back. Maybe ice knows who wrote it? Or where I could get a copy to read it again?

Heh, thanks for remembering it. I'm such a slacker it is really unbelievable, but I plan to put it on Cafepress soon so I can send copies to agents instead of sending piles of looseleaf. When I do I'll let you know, I'll sell copies at cost.

[sandytheskier]

Just finished :
.The Beckoning Silence (liked it alot)
.The Face (Koontz?, good)

Working on:
.Annapurna, A womens place (interesting)
.Colorado 14ers (I have alot of studying ahead of me)

[Twoplanker]

Originally posted by jstead
I read both of these. What is up with this guy and wheel chairs? He also needs to go shopping. No more tweed coats for him or any one else in the book.

I just started reading the Celistine Prophecy.{sp?}
Any one else read this? What did you think?

I think wheelchairs are cool - it's an easy, cheap way to add something very solid and imaginable to a character.

I read the Celestine Prohpecy. I thought it was cool, although at the end I felt a bit like I was trying to be sold a religion or at least a new age philosophy. There's a second book out too...

[Twoplanker]

Originally posted by frozenwater
For pleasure I am tackling the Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan, currently on the fifth book in the series; the fires of heaven.

The series started of nice, but I am bogging down in this last book.

It is your basic fantasy book.

I read the first 5 books in the Wheel of Time. Since each book is about 600 pages, I figure that's about 3000 pages. It started to feel a little too much like work, reading those giant texts, so I'm not reading them anymore. I do like the mythology created, the wheel metaphor, etc.

[Twoplanker]

Originally posted by Woodsy
frz,
I read A LOT of fantasy when i was younger
all of the Lord of the Rings books repeatedly, Whell of time (like you loved the first 3 dealt with the 4th & quit on the 5th), Piers Anthony Xanth series, all the Shannarra books, Dragonlance, & a few others.

I found no one in the genre held a candle to Tolkien.
I have not picked one up in years.

Also used to read a grip of Sci Fi Herbert, Clarke!, Asimov, Niven, Heinlein (sp?!!?) also dont read that much any more either unless I come across a Heinlein book I have yet to read. hes great.

but you are right there seems to be some intellectual posturing although a lot of Brown & Clancy fans disprove that.

when Nic worked @ the book store i got turned on to a lot of good readable contemporary authors like McKewan how I am devouring now.

also wish everyone here could read
Charles Bowden and Scott Carrier

Dude, you've got an illness and I share the same affliction. I've read everything you mentioned above:

every fantasy book, trilogy, series, Shannara, Tolkien, DL, etc. (Now, I wish i had been reading something important or educational)

All the SF titles you listed.

Did you know that Arthur Clarke's Rendevous With Rama is going to be a movie starring Morgan Friedman? The entire movie, except the actors, will be ditigal.

http://www.rendezvouswithrama.com/img003.jpg

[Cosmic Bandito]

Originally posted by frozenwater
Speaking of fantasy, for such a strong market segment I am a little suprised to see no one else admitting to reading the genre. I wonder if most of us are too busy dredging up works we think might be impressive to others? "shrug"

When I was an adolescent, I was a voracious reader of Conan and Doc Savage, which is funny because I am not that old. Titillating to a 12-year-old mind, but never delivering the goods. If they had only delivered what the covers promised.

Well anyhoo, I was reading the Riverworld series by Philip Jose Farmer, and had asked my mom to get me a few more of the books for Christmas. She bought me PJF’s A Feast Unkown. Hot tamales, I had finally hit the motherlode! The story of Tarzan if a Penthouse Letters’ writer had written it. My Dad picked the book up to read one weekend and I never saw it again. That was a tough blow for a young man. Funny how I started to get Jules Verne and Robert Heinlein novels for the next few years.

[Twoplanker]

Originally posted by Cosmic Bandito
When I was an adolescent, I was a voracious reader of Conan and Doc Savage,

Oh, that's funny. I read all the Conans when I was a kid and remember being disappointed that the Barbarian didn't get his pole waxed more often by the heathen women clinging to his leg.

I grew up reading "trash" - fantasy, comic books, scifi, horror, whatever I could get my hands on that was cool. When you're young, the important thing is to be reading - a lot- regardless of what it is. Once kids get the bug, then they can be turned onto more "enlightened" reading and the skills they develop from reading all that trash will translate directly into doing better in school.

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.

[tonghands]

Originally posted by Spats

tonghands: People can believe whatever they want, but they don't have the right to make the school system force those beliefs on others.

The role of school is to teach knowledge and methods of inquiry, which includes science, languages, math, history, and all that other good stuff. Even teaching *about* religion is fair game, especially since most US teenagers will have no idea what Buddhism, Zoroastrianism, Islam, Hinduism, or even Coptic Christianity actually are. But you don't get to make the kids *follow* a religion, that's your job and duty as a parent.

And if your religion comes into conflict with basic scientific knowledge, then that's your own problem to resolve. The sun doesn't revolve around the earth, no matter what the Pope said or how many people the Church killed or tortured.

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.