The Book/Reading Thread!

[owheelj]

Originally Posted by Mjt

Who got Terry Ps "Snuff" for chrissy? I did Lucky Fishie

I read it a few weeks ago Entertaining story, although I think I'm starting to find Pratchett a little formulaic. I have read, as far as I know, every book he's written though, some multiple times, so perhaps I just know his writing too well.


I'm currently reading The Choice Guide to Food by Rosemary Stanton. Parts are interesting, but it really annoys me that the book is completely unreferenced, especially when she talks about scientific studies that appear to contradict claims made in other books about food related issues that I've read in the last year or so. Not that I think she's making things up, it's just seems better that she give the reference when she talks about particular studies then I have to look it up, not knowing any details other than the findings. Even just listing the authors and year would make things amazingly easier.

I think the most interesting thing in the book so far, even though I have a bit of a dogmatic opposition to artificial sweeteners, is that it turns out (and I realise this should have been obvious to me), that the viral emails/facebook posts claiming that aspartame being some kind of dangerous toxin are rubbish, and it's actually safe (in the quantities that it is eaten, which is what you'd have to say about all food). This does help confirm my general rule that any "serious" viral message spread on the internet is wrong.

[Worldslaziestbusker]

Greg Egan: The Clockwork Rocket
"The Clockwork Rocket," is the first book in the "Orthogonal" trilogy, set in a Reimannian universe in which the relationship between space and time is different to that which Einstein described in our own realm. I won't pretend to understand the physics of our universe well enough to describe the alterations Greg Egan made to propel the story he tells in his latest book, and luckily, I don't have to. As with "Incandescence," the author has made web pages available to help readers understand what's going on. I am getting there, but am not yet ready to try to put my understanding into words. That I would one day like to be able to do so is testament to this author's skill, as he once again makes the scientific method the star of the show in a compelling tale of discovery and struggle against adverse physical and politico/social conditions.
The biology of the protagonists and their social mores are rendered in sufficient detail to give the story a context alien enough to be interesting and familiar enough that their ambitions and behaviour make sense to a human audience. The first book focuses on the life and work of Yalda, an inquisitive solo from a family of co-s, content with their life and the level of knowledge required to farm. The journey from learning to read to understanding her world enough to recognise the dangers posed by mysterious lights in the sky takes in a broad range of developmental milestones, with humorous nods to the work of other authors and issues of enfranchisement and dignity that echo a range of historical and current concerns in human societies.
One of the most satisfying things about this book was that it got me excited about a rocket launch in a way I haven't been since the early days of the Space Shuttle programme. Sequences in which characters face the challenges of space flight, including a space walk that goes dangerously awry, reminded me a lot of Destination Moon , which still works for me as both a story and as a means to explore ideas, over sixty years after it was made.
This first step into an alternate universe manages to explore scientific concepts thoroughly while telling an interesting story in a compelling and satisfying manner. While "The Clockwork Rocket" stands on its own as a complete tale, I am now invested in Greg Egan's survival, at least until the second and third volumes are published, in a way I have never been before regarding anyone other than family and close friends*. If Greg Egan dies before I know how the whole story resolves, my imagination is insufficiently muscular to make up a satisfying ending on its own. "The Clockwork Rocket" wouldn't have to share shelf space with "The Salmon of Doubt," or "Sunset at Blandings," because it is self contained, but I do want to know what happens next.

* I don't know how to make this sentence make sense, which may help explain why I am not writing fiction for a living despite a desire to do so.

On low dimensional characters:
I have read some reviews complaining that Greg Egan writes one, or at best two dimensional characters, but I don't consider the criticism valid. The characters are given as much flesh as is needed to explore the ideas at hand. They are alien and we shouldn't expect them to be as realised or recognisable as Elizabeth Bennet or Marcel (who should just eat the damn cake and do something interesting, like a car chase). Anyone who expects real people in their fiction should spend more time talking to real people and less time reading, though my experiences talking to strangers on public transport are enough to see me prefer fictional characters over fully realised humans seven times out of ten.

[Worldslaziestbusker]

Max Wallace: The Purple Economy
This took me a long time to get through. While the topic is very interesting to me, the writing is heavy and could have benefited from a final read-through to check for those tricksy subtle things which spell chequers miss but which can thoroughly up-end the meaning of a sentence.
As with Geoffrey Robertson's "The Case of the Pope," the parade nature of the information takes on an hypnotic feel and I found myself wishing it was over, both as a book and as a societal problem the book seeks to alert the public to.
A valuable resource. This book brings together a huge quantity of information and must represent many thousands of hours of research.


Carl Sagan: The Demon Haunted World
Underwhelming. Perhaps reading this for the first time so long after I already learnt a lot of what this book offers made it less important to me than it is to others, but I found the writing less exciting than the levels of enthusiasm that friends and correspondents have for this book suggested I would.
Sagan is not always crystal clear. I find myself only slightly more confident that Sagan was warning people to be alert to baloney rather than criticising attempts to use absence as evidence against an idea when he quoted Martin Rees' "Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence," after having read the quoted words in the context he gave them. This bug bear, a regular frustration to me as theists, woo merchants, and even atheists so often quote Sagan on the matter in a way I think misrepresents his Sagan's intended meaning, was the main reason I bought my copy.
I will pass it along to a friend who might gain more from it than I, as I trust the opinions of some people who have recommended it as an introduction to critical thinking, but I am insufficiently familiar with introductory skeptical literature to be sure this is the best place to start someone.

Barry Heard: Well Done Those Men
Good. Another book read in hopes of gaining some insight into my father's experiences as a conscript, but the author's life before and after Vietnam was too far removed from Dad's to give me much. Interesting in its own right and written quite well for being part of the the one-off war memoir canon.


Pratchett fans: Did you watch "Going Postal" on ABC in recent weeks? I thought it was a good interpretation of the story and that the casting, costumes and scenery were spot on. Tod Sampson, formerly my mental model for Moist Von Lipwig, has been replaced.

[sjd3]

haven't been on for soooo so long
here's what i've read when i've been able to:

-Allies and Enemies by Ann Maczulak
-up to the 6th book in the Gotrek and Felix series
-tons of books for school
-Journey to the ants by E.O.Wilson and Bert Holldobler
apart from that, that's about all i've had time to read, I sort of broke my challenge (not to buy any more books until I finish all the ones I already have) by getting myself some more books for christmas :P

so right now i'm reading:
-Naturalist by E.O.Wilson
-New life stories by David Attenborough

[fataardvark]

Devoured Terry Pratchett "Snuff" and Iain M. Banks "Surface Detail". Snuff I picked up at an airport and kindled Surface Detail.

I think I'm falling out of love with the Kindle. Great for stuff you've already read or for popcorn books that I'd toss in the Vinnies box when I'm done, but not for anything else. Also, can't lend books to anyone from the Kindle, most annoying.

My reading has been suffering recently, I usually read a lot. A few long flights has helped, though. Recently:

"I am Ozzy" - Ozzy Osborne. I think War Pigs may have been the last Sabbath I listened to, but a great book. Easy reading and laugh out loud funny (for the wrong reasons, probably).

"Why We Believe in God(s): A Concise Guide to the Science of Faith" - J. Anderson Thomson Interesting introduction to the survival traits that make us susceptible to religion. One of those books where the footnotes have added a stack more "must reads" to my list.

"How wide the divide?: A Mormon & an Evangelical in Conversation": Craig L. Blomberg and Stepehn E Robinson. Quite a large chunk of my family are Mormons, and I've found it difficult to find references that aren't at one "extreme" or the other. I found this useful at seeing how (a liberal, based on my experience) Mormon presents his faith. The joint wibble made my brain hurt but illuminating, regardless.

"The Missionary Position: Mother Theresa in Theory and Practice" - Christopher Hitchens. This arrived the day Hitch died. Catholics make me angry. I need to work on that.

Currently reading "The Case of the Pope" by Geoffrey Robertson. I enjoyed The Tyrannicide Brief, appreciate Robertson's style and objective approach. It seems he may be being less objective in this, but given the subject matter I cannot blame him. So far this book is making me feel a great deal of impotent anger.

Also, just started, "Laughing Gas" by P.G. Wodehouse. My aunt thought I needed to add some light reading to my current list, though I might find another copy, her first edition seems about to fall apart. Just the first chapter so far...

[owheelj]

I don't know what the rules are about posting this kind of thing, but I couldn't find anything in particular saying it was against them.

Anyway regarding kindles and the inability to lend books. On many websites you can illegally download huge amounts of ebooks in a variety of formats, that are easily transferable across computer devices. You can then email them to friends if you should so choose. I would think every book available on kindle is available in this manner. Of course there are questions of law and ethics to consider.

I'm currently reading Mostly Harmless by Douglas Adams, having recently read the preceding books. I had read the first 2 before, but never the complete series, and thought I should (although I get the impression most people have only read the first one). I'll read Eoin Colfer's addition to the series as well.

[TEVW]

Lesseee... according to my list over on Shelfari I've read 174 books this year... I've actually read more but I don't always remember to enter them (or they're cookbooks, picture books or I'm too lazy to list one that's not already in the system.) Nevertheless, that's a lot of insomnia.

Although insomnia is something I don't worry about so much these days, especially after reading Wide Awake: a Memoir of Insomnia by Patricia Morrisoe. And I've been doing a lot of reading (and some practice) around the psychological idea of Mindfulness - the most helpful book in this regard is The Happiness Trap by Dr Russ Harris (which I have re-read a number of times and continue to dip into as necessary) but for a good layperson's understanding of the neurology behind the psychology I think The Buddha's Brain: The Practical Neuroscience of Love Happiness and Wisdom by Rick Hanson and Richard Mendius is remarkably helpful and surprisingly free of woo. (Or maybe I'm just getting better at ignoring the woo and taking the parts that are useful.)

Another "dip into" book that I'm enjoying is You Are Not So Smart: Why You Have Too Many Friends on Facebook, Why Your Memory Is Mostly Fiction, and 46 Other Ways You're Deluding Yourself by David McRaney. Simple explanations of many of the logical fallacies and psychological traps everyone can get caught up in.

In fiction, I finally gave in and read the much hyped Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins. I read a lot of YA fiction because there's some interesting writing going on there, and the borders between genres are more flexible, I think. In any case, The Hunger Games is well worth reading - a haunting vision of a near-future post-apocalyptic world with division between the privileged and the 99% even stronger than it is today.

A new-to-me series is the wonderful Peculiar Crimes Unit books by Christopher Fowler - police procedurals set in London but always with a clever and unexpected turn. The lead characters, Bryant and May, (yes, like the matches) are grumpy old men of the first water. I'm only up to the 4th book (The Ten Second Staircase) and I'm looking forward to the remaining 4.

And of course I read lots of silly cozy mysteries, paranormal romance, and paranormal comedy/mystery - things which Mr Black tends to dismiss (not entirely unfairly) as "Chocolate-eating, Manolo-wearing rollerskating vampire nuns searching for luuuurve".

I haven't read as much non-fiction as usual this year - possibly because I've needed reading as an escape. But I'm (very tentatively) thinking of starting (very part time) university study in 2012, so my reading habits could change significantly...

Anyway, may your bookshelves always be full,
TEVW

[Sir Patrick Crocodile]

Originally Posted by TEVW

But I'm (very tentatively) thinking of starting (very part time) university study in 2012, so my reading habits could change significantly...

Yeah... I'd also recommend earplugs, because universities (particularly the large ones) tend to be noisy. Especially them lecture theaters, where it is impossible to concentrate due to fumbling an rustling of papers, the "Eh-hem" which has echoed from the guy 500m across, and the pongtastic pong of ponginess from the pongy people (also note the special brand of Ultimate Pong™ [Public Transport Edition] 10:1 Concentrate on buses) whose armpits may be classified as toxic by the EPA or those who use so much perfume that police would consider them to be viable crowd control devices.

Earplugs, and some anti-pong agents (eg. them eucalyptus thingies) are advised when entering lectures and/or tutorials.

I have dark glasses for the job too, because universities love "environmentally friendly" fluorescent lighting, which have a bit of Hg in them.

On to reading... still finding where the books went. I had a few but I seem to have lost them.

[Sir Patrick Crocodile]

I see. No worries then Black - all sorted out I presume. Good luck to TEVW then.

(I gotta get me some of dat Strong Cheese...)

[AUSloth]

Last entry for me before the gong on 2011. In between chapters of Hitch-22 (fini next year) is the Skeptical Blog Anthology- Kyle Sturgess. A couple of highlights in it for me were a very funny Quackometer with 10 tips for creating your own alt-med and 3 tiers of religious belief by the Amateur Scientist. The latter is more or less a ranking system for beliefs according to their societal danger that leads to thoughts about which should be tackled first.