Consider Phlebas was pretty bleh, I don't know that I want to read anything else by him because of it.
Consider Phlebas was pretty bleh, I don't know that I want to read anything else by him because of it.
We're stuck in a bloody snowglobe.
I saw David Eagleman speak a few days ago, right as I was reading a sample eBook of Incognito.
I don't think I've ever walked away from seeing a smart guy speak feeling less secure about a guy's intellect, but I think he just needs to burnish his speaking skills. I just bought the book, having read Sum a few weeks ago.
I think he's the latest pop-science writer. Not metrics heavy, but really readable and thought-provoking.
Just come out, and am half-way through. Can't put it down.
Crap title for a book. But it does exactly what it says on the tin.
Eerie, creepy, SkyNet-esque (August 4th, 1997, SkyNet becomes selfaware), kinda book, set in the very near future.
Last edited by Wraith; 11-21-2011 at 07:50 PM. Reason: Removed apparently malware-related image. Sorry, Tim.
Originally Posted by Steely Glint
The internet is a playground
Seems like a good collection of articles and events that the author gathered from his website, 27bslash6.com, (totally wasted reference to Orwell's 1984). Including the famous spider payment. Guy is a class A asshole, but the stories are short and worth a good laugh.
"In a field where an overlooked bug could cost millions, you want people who will speak their minds, even if they’re sometimes obnoxious about it."
Finished ' the last town on earth', was good! now, should I read the catcher in the rye or one flew over the cuckoo's nest next?
Ghost Story by Jim Butcher. A nice change of pace from the ever growing climatic battles of doom, already can't wait for the next one.
As you may know, I am not a reader.
But I found two books that intrigued me enought to buy them.
The Fountainhead ~Ayn Rand
and
The Devil in the White City ~Erik Larson
I think Ayn Rand might be a bit challenging for me, but I am enjoying "The Devil..." very much.
While here in Louisville Kentucky, I learned that it's parks were designed by Frederick Olmsted. He is involved in the "The Devil...." book. Olmsted designed New Yorks Central Park. One park here in Louisville was created for a worlds fair, and the houses surrounding it were built as, and dubbed, "the city of tomorrow". Which is funny to look at the old victorian and edwardian homes and put your self in a frame of mind that they were the cutting edge of the time. Research of this info lead me to "the devils..." book "Murder, Magic and Madness at the Worlds Fair " which took place in Chicago. I was never much for history, but this is neat stuff, and both these books are about architects.
I am sure many of you book worms have read "The Fountain Head" but has anyone read the other one?
Neuromancer.
No idea how I stayed ignorant of this book, and author, for so long. Only discovered it because it came up in a discussion around the latest Deus Ex game.
Even for a cyberpunk novel thats 25 years old, I still thought it was really good (especially the subtle ways he washed away anysort of American presence in the future). Makes me want to watch Blade Runner again.
"In a field where an overlooked bug could cost millions, you want people who will speak their minds, even if they’re sometimes obnoxious about it."
Huh, I remember trying to read Neuromancer when I was in High School, but the behavior of the characters struck me as absurd and I couldn't get into it.
I'm currently going through my one of my old fantasy collections for nostalgia, but after that I'm reading the new biography of Deng Xiaoping that just came out of Harvard. All my prior reading on the PRC has either been getting the historical perspective arising from the decades under Mao or has been centered on activities in this new century. Well, and Tiananmen of course. The gap in my reading is inexcusably Deng-shaped.
Last night as I lay in bed, looking up at the stars, I thought, “Where the hell is my ceiling?"
The first sex scene was so random I thought my book was missing a few pages, but I came to realize it was the author's attempt to make these people absurd enough that predicting their actions was pointless, even though the story itself didn't include any special gotcha moments and unseen twists.
The Space Rustas were easily the best part (also had no idea dub music was as old as it was).
"In a field where an overlooked bug could cost millions, you want people who will speak their minds, even if they’re sometimes obnoxious about it."
Finished a couple of Holocaust survivor memoirs last, about halfway through The Black Book of Communism and also paging through a research on ValPo-Gestapo collaboration and another one about the Gulag mostly viewed through the Kazakh area.
In the future, the Berlin wall will be a mile high, and made of steel. You too will be made to crawl, to lick children's blood from jackboots. There will be no creativity, only productivity. Instead of love there will be fear and distrust, instead of surrender there will be submission. Contact will be replaced with isolation, and joy with shame. Hope will cease to exist as a concept. The Earth will be covered with steel and concrete. There will be an electronic policeman in every head. Your children will be born in chains, live only to serve, and die in anguish and ignorance.
The universe we observe has precisely the properties we should expect if there is, at bottom, no design, no purpose, no evil, no good, nothing but blind, pitiless indifference.
Heaven's Devils. Its a Starcraft II book, focused around Raynor. I've only played the first campaign in Starcraft and only the demo of Starcraft II, but the book was really easy to get into. Author did a very nice job of making Raynor feel human and describing the universe without expecting the reader to already understand what certain terms, units, or locations were supposed to mean.
"In a field where an overlooked bug could cost millions, you want people who will speak their minds, even if they’re sometimes obnoxious about it."
Most recently read Children of the Sky by Vernor Vinge. Haven't actually had much time for reading lately. Didn't even really have time for that one, but read it anyways.
Have I recommended singularity sky here yet?
Can't remember.
It's a good book!
Gods...I love Butcher. When a book makes me laugh out loud...it's a winner for me.
Now that he is done with his Aleria series...I'm hoping he cranks out Dresden a bit faster...(not that he was sluggish in his writing, but I'm just greedy)
Brevior saltare cum deformibus viris est vita
Currently Reading The Hedge Knight prequel story to A Song of Ice and Fire. Also going to read one of Robert E. Howards Conan novels.
After that I've been recommend The Black Company by Glen Cook.
Eargely waiting for "The Discovery of Freedom: Man's Struggle Against Authority" by Rose Wilder Lane to arrive at my door step
The present state of the world is not the proof of philosophy's impotence, but the proof of philosophy's power. It is philosophy that has brought men to this state-it is only philosophy that can lead them out.
-Ayn Rand
I started reading Game of Thrones, figuring I would eventually make it over to the TV show. Its not an easy read for someone who is used to reading 10-15 minutes at a time. So many interlacing storylines, fabricated names, locations etc. If the author manages to keep all this shit together, I can see why its so popular, but holy shit is it a bitch to follow along with.
Only on page ~80 out of ~700, and they already threw the happiest character out a fucking window, so I have no idea what to expect from it at this point.
Last edited by Ominous Gamer; 11-17-2011 at 04:08 PM.
"In a field where an overlooked bug could cost millions, you want people who will speak their minds, even if they’re sometimes obnoxious about it."
I think you did at some point. At least, I finally decided to get it off my list and actually read the thing because of someone in this community.
So I read Towers of Midnight. Holy crap. Sanderson did goodand he really had great material to work with
"One day, we shall die. All the other days, we shall live."
There's a sequel to that one: Iron Sunrise.
Equally quirky and nice
I for myself have to admit that I've fallen prey to Space Opera and I'm currently working myself through the Honor Harrington series. I blame reading Horatio Hornblower as a little kid which probably made me susceptible to this kind of "Ye olde English navy in space!"
When the stars threw down their spears
And watered heaven with their tears:
Did he smile his work to see?
Did he who made the lamb make thee?
I enjoy space opera and loved Harrington when I was younger but IMO the quality of the writing declines after the fifth or sixth book. Weber became too successful at that point for the editors to properly manage. There was and still is a bunch of good stuff in the anthologies though, and in Crown of Slaves which is a book he and Eric Flint, someone Weber's done a number of collaborations with, spun out of one of the anthology stories. I also rather liked the first book in a fantasy series he wrote, Oath of Swords, though the books he wrote after it were fairly derivative.There's a sequel to that one: Iron Sunrise.
Equally quirky and nice
I for myself have to admit that I've fallen prey to Space Opera and I'm currently working myself through the Honor Harrington series. I blame reading Horatio Hornblower as a little kid which probably made me susceptible to this kind of "Ye olde English navy in space!"
Last night as I lay in bed, looking up at the stars, I thought, “Where the hell is my ceiling?"
Funny, I never could get into the Honor Harrington stuff. That first novel just didn't do it for me, and I didn't bother after that. A shame, that.
Finishing Reamde. Not what I expected, but definitely a fun (if slightly ridiculous, as usual for Stephenson) read. I find it odd that both Gibson and Stephenson have shifted from their early writing about the future to more contemporary (or near-future) stories that have more in common with spy/crime thrillers (albeit with a dash of technology) than cyberpunk. Still enjoyable to read, but a definite shift. Curious how the themes remain similar, though.
What'd you think of it?
I just read 22.22.1963 by Stephen King. I used to think of him as a crap writer but after being stuck with one of his novels one weekend I thought of him as a great story teller. This new book is yet another good story. It has a bit of a Dark Tower feel, and it draws you into the main premiss of the book in a way that you barely notice. In the end it all makes sense, and you understand why no happy endings sometimes is the better choice.
Congratulations America
Reamde struck me more as popcorn fiction than his more recent fare, which actually feels like a return to his roots, (Zodiac and The Big U springing immediately to mind). Generally I prefer his more weighty writing, but ended up enjoying Reamde more than I thought I would.
It wasn't nearly as engrossing as Anathem, (which I appreciate more every time I read it) or The Baroque Cycle was, but enjoyable never-the-less.
Universal Principles of Design by William Lidwell, Kritina Holden, and Jill Butler. Not just aesthetics, but principles of design in everything from the perspective of engineering, through psychology, usability, etc. Very informative, and condensed information. Even if you're outside of a field that involves design of any sort, it might be worth a read to gain some insight into why things are being designed for your usage or consumption in a certain way, or how they are designed to manipulate you, in both good and bad ways.
. . .
Haven't read Anathem yet, and to be honest I own all of the Baroque Cycle but never could get more than halfway through the second book. My favorites are still Snow Crash and Diamond Age, with Cryptonomicon coming in a distant third. The Big U and Zodiac do remind me of Reamde a bit, though his writing is a lot more sophisticated now, and he's gotten far more verbose.
I've found a similar trend with Gibson - I loved his old school cyberpunk - Johnny Mnemonic, Neuromancer, Mona Lisa Overdrive, etc. But his latest stuff - Pattern Recognition, Spook Country, etc. - are much more 'near term technothriller' and far less cyberpunk. His books aren't really bad, they're just kinda disappointing. I appreciated his ingenuity in presenting his themes, and that seems to have been lost somewhere along the line. Oh, well.
It's clear somewhere along the way he lost his editor, but with Stephenson I rarely mind.
I'd recommend finishing the Baroque Cycle if you ever get the opportunity. Stephenson will never be known for his endings, but the ride along the way is fantastic.
I liked it. Read the sequel too, Iron Sunrise. Also good.
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