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Hey there poindexter. Read any good books lately?
- Thread starter BigBooper
- Start date
Hakiroto
Member
I have, yeah. I really liked it. Somehow, I wasn't aware of the book before picking it up so maybe the lack of expectation was a factor. Be sure to comment again once you've finished and let us know what you thought. Enjoy!Anyone read Flowers For Angernon? Considered to be a classic. I’m about halfway through and I like it so far but now blown away. This might be the first book that came highly recommended (in terms of being a highly regarded piece of literature from a wide variety of sources) that I’m slightly disappointed in. Of course, the book could finish strong in the second half and I could change my mind.
CloudNull
Banned
I just ordered this and Project Hail Mary. Stoked to learn more about the history of Crispr.
Not done yet, but legit excellent. Can't recommend enough.
IDKFA
Member
I'll be honest. This book has been sat in my library for years. It's always been one that I've said I'll get around to, but something else always takes my fancy.
Today is the day that I'm now going to start it. I'm not sure how up to date this still is, but it's still interesting. I'm not sure if it's still relevant to say that Male and Female brains are different, or that we're not shaped by our environment. Guess I'll also need to read opposite views to come to my own conclusions. Anyway, can't wait to get stuck in.
Today is the day that I'm now going to start it. I'm not sure how up to date this still is, but it's still interesting. I'm not sure if it's still relevant to say that Male and Female brains are different, or that we're not shaped by our environment. Guess I'll also need to read opposite views to come to my own conclusions. Anyway, can't wait to get stuck in.
Collete
Member
4/12 books finished. Absolutely Music is horribly hard to read if you don't know any of the maestros, but I still had a fun time reading something I'm not well versed in. I definitely will reread the book when I bookmark all the music tracks online and listen along to the book
Now, we're on this:
Now, we're on this:
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Shai-Tan
Banned
I'll be honest. This book has been sat in my library for years. It's always been one that I've said I'll get around to, but something else always takes my fancy.
Today is the day that I'm now going to start it. I'm not sure how up to date this still is, but it's still interesting. I'm not sure if it's still relevant to say that Male and Female brains are different, or that we're not shaped by our environment. Guess I'll also need to read opposite views to come to my own conclusions. Anyway, can't wait to get stuck in.
It came out originally in 2002, responding to the 1990s cultural zeitgeist. I had a look at it again when he reissued it in 2015 and I don't think it holds up that well beyond the broad strokes. While there is still a political divide in common views of human nature (listen to this for example) there has been a convergence away from "blank slate" positions, and Pinker himself has become less Hobbesian (in the course of writing The Better Angel's of Our Nature) than he was when he wrote The Blank Slate. His views about evolution and genetics (late 20th c modern synthesis) in that book are also a bit outmoded. Some of the controversy at the time is a consequence of bad framing around nature vs nurture (in the absence of a well developed dual inheritance theory), bad arguments about heritability around twin studies, etc
Toots
Member
Orwell or the horror of politics
By Simon Lays (better know as Pierre Rickmans, the guy who had the courage to write President Mao's new clothes in 1971, at a time when every intellectual was greedily sucking Mao and the CPR's tiny dongs)
A short essay on a great writer by a great academic.
A quick excerpt about fascism past, present, and to come :
"I remembered tellling Arthur Koestler :"History stopped in 1936" to which he nodded, instantly understanding what i was talking about. We were thinking about totalitarism in general, and particularly the Spanish civil war. I had noticed previously how the press is never capable of accurately report an event, but in Spain for the first time, I saw newspaper articles who had absolutely no relation to reality of the facts. Not even the kind of relation that an ordinary lie keeps with reality.
I saw reports of great battles at places where no fight occured, whereas engagements that cost the life of hundreds of men where simply ignored. I saw troops who fought courageously accused of treason and cowardise, and other who never even heard a shot fired celebrated for their supposed victories. And i saw London newspapers peddle those lies, and zealous intellectuals building a whole superstructure of emotions on events that never did happen. What i saw was in fact History writing itself not according to what happened but according to what should have happened, according to offical outlines."
It's a quote from Orwell's Collected Essays vol. 2 transcribed in the notes of this book.
I won't talk about it because i know we don't talk politics here, but the book is great and the quote is great too, especially in context of the "truth over facts" era we live in.
Collete
Member
5/12 books completed!
So.....Throne of Glass is apparently a high fantasy romance instead of what I thought it was a high fantasy novel series. The book was like 70% romance and 30% adventure, fights, court politics etc. Kind of disappointed because I was interested in the world and what lies in the skills of our protagonist which pretty much never came to light in this book.
Have to keep in mind if I continue this book series that it is mostly just romance.
Now to the 6th book I....don't know what to read!... Want to take a break with fantasy like I usually do and go to fiction or some interesting non-fiction. (I'm usually not a non-fiction fan until I found Absolutely Music) For this, I usually go to Murakami and enjoyed Wind-up Bird Chronicles , Killing Commendatore, Absolutely Music, etc. If anyone has any suggestions, please fire away!
So.....Throne of Glass is apparently a high fantasy romance instead of what I thought it was a high fantasy novel series. The book was like 70% romance and 30% adventure, fights, court politics etc. Kind of disappointed because I was interested in the world and what lies in the skills of our protagonist which pretty much never came to light in this book.
Have to keep in mind if I continue this book series that it is mostly just romance.
Now to the 6th book I....don't know what to read!... Want to take a break with fantasy like I usually do and go to fiction or some interesting non-fiction. (I'm usually not a non-fiction fan until I found Absolutely Music) For this, I usually go to Murakami and enjoyed Wind-up Bird Chronicles , Killing Commendatore, Absolutely Music, etc. If anyone has any suggestions, please fire away!
BadBurger
Is 'That Pure Potato'
Still on my fantasy kick but I am ready to hop off this train soon, I think I've had enough .....
Easily Greenwood's worst Forgotten Realms novel. It is slow, boring, and is kind of a bait and switch for the first third
And it never recovered from it. It could have been a fascinating twist I suppose, but Greenwood bungled it. Next up is something I bought years and years ago but never started:
Titled S. . Part novel, part weird-ish mystery akin to an alternate reality game. It comes with excerpts and "evidence" as if it were some researcher's book the reader came across. Here's a quick look at my copy with a little bit of the "evidence":
Easily Greenwood's worst Forgotten Realms novel. It is slow, boring, and is kind of a bait and switch for the first third
The goddess of magic, Mystra, before taking Elminster on as one of her Chosen first transforms him into a woman so he can learn what it is like to live as one. It is in this form he first learns to wield magic. It lasts a good third of the book and the entire time he is acting wildly, wildly out of character from how we've learned to know Elminster from a dozen previously published books either featuring him or with him as a supporting character
And it never recovered from it. It could have been a fascinating twist I suppose, but Greenwood bungled it. Next up is something I bought years and years ago but never started:
Titled S. . Part novel, part weird-ish mystery akin to an alternate reality game. It comes with excerpts and "evidence" as if it were some researcher's book the reader came across. Here's a quick look at my copy with a little bit of the "evidence":
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Guileless
Temp Banned for Remedial Purposes
IDKFA
Shai-Tan
It's been a long time since I read The Blank Slate but I would think its central insights would hold up well. Has the ideological resistance to evolutionary insights vis-à-vis human behavior decreased in the last 20 years? That would be hard to argue. Wasn't Pinker himself cancelled from some professional group(s) during the moral panic last summer?
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Guileless
Temp Banned for Remedial Purposes
Toots
Member
The "arg book" looks interesting and really fun, but what a nightmare for the publisherStill on my fantasy kick but I am ready to hop off this train soon, I think I've had enough .....
Easily Greenwood's worst Forgotten Realms novel. It is slow, boring, and is kind of a bait and switch for the first third
The goddess of magic, Mystra, before taking Elminster on as one of her Chosen first transforms him into a woman so he can learn what it is like to live as one. It is in this form he first learns to wield magic. It lasts a good third of the book and the entire time he is acting wildly, wildly out of character from how we've learned to know Elminster from a dozen previously published books either featuring him or with him as a supporting character
And it never recovered from it. It could have been a fascinating twist I suppose, but Greenwood bungled it. Next up is something I bought years and years ago but never started:
Titled S. . Part novel, part weird-ish mystery akin to an alternate reality game. It comes with excerpts and "evidence" as if it were some researcher's book the reader came across. Here's a quick look at my copy with a little bit of the "evidence":
Toots - just came across this funny Cyril Connolly quote about Arthur Koestler right after I read your post - “Like everyone who talks of ethics all day long one could not trust him (Koestler) half an hour with one’s wife, one’s best friend, one’s manuscripts or one’s wine merchant.”
well he was a dreamboat, and Conolly looked like an ugly fat bald baby
Shai-Tan
Banned
The attempted "cancelling" of Pinker was interpretation of some of his old tweets as sexist/racist along with guilt by association (tenuous connections to Epstein and some scientistic racists like Steve Sailer and Ron Unz). There are different intuitions about human nature that can't be resolved with current science, even within fields like evolutionary psychology and biological anthropology. Retrospectively looking back at some of the solid seeming positions from the 2000s when Pinker was most active suggests that there is often an unwarranted level of confidence in positions that get ahead of the data, spun into rhetoric about science denial or pseudoscience, within and between fields. And there are always popularizers like Rutger Bregman (linked in previous post) who take sides in ways that tell a subset of the general public what they want to hear, inviting skepticism from others, including experts.
It's been a long time since I read The Blank Slate but I would think its central insights would hold up well. Has the ideological resistance to evolutionary insights vis-à-vis human behavior decreased in the last 20 years? That would be hard to argue. Wasn't Pinker himself cancelled from some professional group(s) during the moral panic last summer?
Guileless
Temp Banned for Remedial Purposes
I'm with you on evolutionary biology overreaching about what it can explain. But some insights like the ideological denial of sex differences, for example, has definitely been borne out and shows no signs of stopping. Entire academic fields are being created to deny reality about sex differences.
nightmare-slain
Member
i don't know what to read next. i'm happy to buy a new book but was thinking maybe i should get around to books i've already got.
the book i wanted to buy was The Great Hunt (2nd book in the Wheel of Time series). the first book had me hooked but it felt overwhelming at times with the amount of names (of characters/places) thrown at me. it probably didn't help i was listening to the audiobook most of the time. the plot kinda dragged for a while where Rand is going from village to village to village to village and then the ending feels kinda rushed and underwhelming. i've heard that the 2nd book is meant to be better so i'm willing to give it a shot. not saying i will read all 14 books but i'm up for book 2.
books i have already that i might be interested in attemping again or starting:
The Simarillion - bought it in 2012 lol but read only a few pages. i've read the hobbit/lotr of course. also have Unfinished Tales but that's for after whenever i ever finish Silmarillion lol.
H.P Lovecraft Collection - i've read majority of the short stories but not read any of the actual novels like Shadow over Innsmouth, Shadow out of Time, At the Mountains of Madness, The Whisperer in Darkness.
Shakespeare - i bought MacBeth, Hamlet, Romeo & Juliet a while back. I tried Hamlet but was totally lost.
A Song of Ice & Fire - if i remember right I read the first and maybe the second book. Not sure if i should go back to it knowing it will likely never be completed which leads me to....
Kingkiller Chronicles - bought them about 6 years ago thinking book 3 would be out by the time i finished them.... i read about half of the first book.
Neuromancer - couldn't get into it first time
the book i wanted to buy was The Great Hunt (2nd book in the Wheel of Time series). the first book had me hooked but it felt overwhelming at times with the amount of names (of characters/places) thrown at me. it probably didn't help i was listening to the audiobook most of the time. the plot kinda dragged for a while where Rand is going from village to village to village to village and then the ending feels kinda rushed and underwhelming. i've heard that the 2nd book is meant to be better so i'm willing to give it a shot. not saying i will read all 14 books but i'm up for book 2.
books i have already that i might be interested in attemping again or starting:
The Simarillion - bought it in 2012 lol but read only a few pages. i've read the hobbit/lotr of course. also have Unfinished Tales but that's for after whenever i ever finish Silmarillion lol.
H.P Lovecraft Collection - i've read majority of the short stories but not read any of the actual novels like Shadow over Innsmouth, Shadow out of Time, At the Mountains of Madness, The Whisperer in Darkness.
Shakespeare - i bought MacBeth, Hamlet, Romeo & Juliet a while back. I tried Hamlet but was totally lost.
A Song of Ice & Fire - if i remember right I read the first and maybe the second book. Not sure if i should go back to it knowing it will likely never be completed which leads me to....
Kingkiller Chronicles - bought them about 6 years ago thinking book 3 would be out by the time i finished them.... i read about half of the first book.
Neuromancer - couldn't get into it first time
Collete
Member
This may sound redundant, but have you tried Discworld? It's still fantasy but satirical in nature and helps (me anyway) take a break from serious fantasy works and dive into something a bit silly.
If you want to stick with books you already have, the only one I can advocate is Kingkiller! I'm not sure how accurate this is but apparently Rothfuss detangled one problem with Doors of Stone so...Maybe we'll get the last novel?...ETA someday
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BadBurger
Is 'That Pure Potato'
For those who use Audible, Neil Gaiman's Sandman is free for those in the US right now. Pretty star-studded narrative cast:
www.audible.com
The Sandman
Check out this great listen on Audible.com. Please note: This content is not for kids. It is for mature audiences only. Just like the original graphic novels, this audio adaptation contains explicit language and graphic violence, as well as strong sexual content and themes. Discretion is...
www.audible.com
nightmare-slain
Member
don't think i've read any of discworld. maybe when i was in high school but definitely not finished any of them.
where would i even start with those books?
Ballthyrm
Member
I think the Rocky and Grace bromance is so well done, I didn't how much I needed a proper friendship in a book that much
It's really earnest and the sci-fi elements makes it even more endearing.
The end of the books feel a little more earned that what we had in the Martian.
The inverted structure of the book is really a stroke of genius IMHO as it keeps delivering good new revelation that really push the story forward.
It's really earnest and the sci-fi elements makes it even more endearing.
The end of the books feel a little more earned that what we had in the Martian.
The inverted structure of the book is really a stroke of genius IMHO as it keeps delivering good new revelation that really push the story forward.
The book has been picked up by Phil Lord and Chris Miller for adaptation with Ryan Gosling as Grace.
The same guy who did the screenwriting for The Martian is the same and It's looks like all the stars are aligned.
I really wonder how they are going to sell the general public on a giant Rock Spider as the friendly side kick but colored me intrigued
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CatsGamesWhatever
Member
I read the Cyrstal Shard, Streams of Silver and The Halfing's gem by R.A. Salvatore this summer so far. Good books and I wish I would have read them a long time ago.
Hoping to finish Homeland/Exile/Sojourn by September.
Hoping to finish Homeland/Exile/Sojourn by September.
Just finished. Highly recommend.
I thought about this too. I just hope it talks with music instead of having Rocky learn English.
apocaliptic
Member
Aldobrando from Gipi.
Collete
Member
Start with "Thief of Time" and "Small Gods" then Google where to start certain storylines (for instance, books on Death start in a particular order)
Sorry I forgot to reply to this ages ago lol
Mossybrew
Member
So just read Gideon the Ninth and the sequel Harrow the Ninth and this shit is the real deal, best weird sci fi/fantasy mashup I've read since Jemisin's bomb-drop Broken Earth trilogy which set the standard a few years back. Tamsyn Muir is the new shit folks, these books are super entertaining, though a bit demanding on the reader so if you think something like Dune is a "challenging read" don't even go here, you haven't leveled up enough.
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I collect VHS tapes
Member
IDKFA
Member
Really looking forward to start this tonight.
John of Gaunt isn't a particularly well known figure to the average Joe. The main reasons for this is because he wasn't direct heir to the throne of England, plus lived in the shadow of his older Brother, Prince Edward of Woodstock, AKA the Black Prince.
Really looking forward to see what new information Helen Carr brings to the table with this one.
John of Gaunt isn't a particularly well known figure to the average Joe. The main reasons for this is because he wasn't direct heir to the throne of England, plus lived in the shadow of his older Brother, Prince Edward of Woodstock, AKA the Black Prince.
Really looking forward to see what new information Helen Carr brings to the table with this one.
BadBurger
Is 'That Pure Potato'
It's a bog-standard sci-fi horror that's not nearly as good as the reviews on Goodreads would lead one to believe IMO, but it does have a cool twist. It's narrated by the protagonist and while he's quirky and likeable, the author makes the mistake of having the young protag drop numerous pop culture references from his age range (40's) and not anyone who is 27 (age of the protag) would probably ever casually make - especially outside of their own head to characters even younger than himself. The guy even makes a reference to the early 80's movie Krull, which I mean, even many 40-somethings might not even be aware of that one.
But it's short and sweet, inoffensive, with a smattering of laughs. I don't know if I would recommend it to anyone who isn't a fan of horror fiction, but I liked it well enough.
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NotMyProblemAnymoreCunt
Member
I'm been reading Hyperion by Dan Simmons. I got to page 244 and I have to say it's one of the best Sci Fi novels I ever read. The book is so strange and wonderful to get through. I'm gonna to be reading the others books in this series.
IDKFA
Member
I'm two chapters deep in this one, so still a long way to go. It's part two of a historical epic series that tells the story of Genghis Khan and his descendants. I really enjoyed book one, but there is one thing that almost puts me off.
In the current book and the first book, Genghis is the main character and the protagonist. Yet, it's hard to like him when I know he was probably the biggest mass murderer in human history.
However, this is still an action packed historical epic. Hopefully Mr Iggulden doesn't gloss over the mass murderer and makes Genghis out to be the hero throughout the series.
In the current book and the first book, Genghis is the main character and the protagonist. Yet, it's hard to like him when I know he was probably the biggest mass murderer in human history.
However, this is still an action packed historical epic. Hopefully Mr Iggulden doesn't gloss over the mass murderer and makes Genghis out to be the hero throughout the series.
NotMyProblemAnymoreCunt
Member
Finished Hyperion recently. Overall great book. Loved all 6 tales from the pilgrims. Been reading The Fall of Hyperion. I'm around 30 pages into it
Ozzy Onya A2Z
Member
Currently reading this one -
I'm a few chapters in and it's a unique book alright, I agree with the authors this model is applicable to daily life and business.
I'm a few chapters in and it's a unique book alright, I agree with the authors this model is applicable to daily life and business.
IDKFA
Member
I'm two chapters deep in this one, so still a long way to go. It's part two of a historical epic series that tells the story of Genghis Khan and his descendants. I really enjoyed book one, but there is one thing that almost puts me off.
In the current book and the first book, Genghis is the main character and the protagonist. Yet, it's hard to like him when I know he was probably the biggest mass murderer in human history.
However, this is still an action packed historical epic. Hopefully Mr Iggulden doesn't gloss over the mass murderer and makes Genghis out to be the hero throughout the series.
Still reading my target of at least a book a week, but the books I picked up after the above were pure academic tomes and really not worth posting here.
I'm now onto nonfiction and have picked this up. Apologies if this book offends anyone. I understand it's very a controversial book and the author has been called a bigoted Terf (the store assistant in Waterstones tried to put me off buying it), but I'm approaching it with an open mind.
Has anybody else read it yet
Elpidio Valdés
Member
I just bought "Darkness At Noon" by Arthur Koestler. This is the book that Ray Bradbury cited as pretty much his sole inspiration for Fahrenheit 451. Not Orwell, not Huxley but Koestler. I'm excited to dig in, the Stalin purges of the 1930's are a pretty interesting topic in my opinion.
SirTerry-T
Member
Think it's about time I pull my all time favourite fantasy novel off the shelf for another read....
YoshiMadness
Member
I recently got back into reading, and I've been loving it!
Re-reads:
Roald Dahl- George's Marvelous Medicine, Matilda (one of the absolute best Dahl books)
Maurice Sendak- Where The Wild Things Are
New read:
Lewis Carroll- Alice In Wonderland (yes, it took me nearly 28 years of my life to finally read this classic, but it was great)
Currently reading:
Ursula K. Le Guin- A Wizard Of Earthsea (also a new read, and I'm loving it so far)
And yes, even as an adult, I still love a lot of children's and young adult literature, often more than adult literature to be honest with you.
Re-reads:
Roald Dahl- George's Marvelous Medicine, Matilda (one of the absolute best Dahl books)
Maurice Sendak- Where The Wild Things Are
New read:
Lewis Carroll- Alice In Wonderland (yes, it took me nearly 28 years of my life to finally read this classic, but it was great)
Currently reading:
Ursula K. Le Guin- A Wizard Of Earthsea (also a new read, and I'm loving it so far)
And yes, even as an adult, I still love a lot of children's and young adult literature, often more than adult literature to be honest with you.
Nameless King
Member
I'm currently working my way through Stephen King's IT
I only ever watched the films of it. It's nice to be able to experience the real deal. Very much enjoying it so far.
I only ever watched the films of it. It's nice to be able to experience the real deal. Very much enjoying it so far.
JimmyRustler
Member
Currently reading "Noise" from Daniel Kahneman.
Just like "Thinking Fast and Slow" not an easy read to say the least, however once more a fascinating book on how human judgement works.
Just like "Thinking Fast and Slow" not an easy read to say the least, however once more a fascinating book on how human judgement works.