What Book Are You Reading XV - The Pile Keeps Growing!

[Valka D'Ur]

Maybe.

It's kinda like some of the Star Trek shows... I love the show itself, but can't stand the main character (and the actress as well, in this case).

 

[Terxpahseyton]

I would like to come back to a couple of reading recommendations I used to have in my sig, while adding a bit of context. And as Goebbels knew, repetition ingrains.

(1) The Prophet by Khalil Gibran
Gives a decent idea of what life on the other side will be like.

(2) Nathan the Wise by Gotthold Ephraim Lessing
Makes a good case for how no book or tradition should divide us.

(3) Total Freedom by Jiddu Krishnamurti
As a less dense introduction I also recommend his small book on true meditation. He did a fantastic job to point out how easily spirituality can lead to delusions and nonsense. And had his finger right on how to beware such traps. How to truly stop spinning the wheel, instead of merely continuing to spin it in a more "clever" (dumber) way.
However, I must stress that he was a bit full of himself. And rather limited in his outlook. But that did provide him with much clarity. Still, his radical approach denies a lot of the magic and wonder of the ways of God. Wrongfully so. And while his decry of rituals was intelligent, rituals still can be helpful, particularly on this world. A world of illusions and lies and deceits. But yes, certainly also just as harmful.

(4) Dante's Divine Comedy
On the one hand, this is a kind of satirical slander of prominent historical figures. On the other, it plays with a genuine path. For oneself. Or a whole world. One may not exactly learn much from it. But it may, perhaps, illustrate the urgency of a path or help to get a feel for certain things.

(5) God speaks by Meher Baba
A legit Avatar of God. A second Jesus, in a way. And someone I consider to be my better. But not something I inspire to be. For I am perfectly fine, just the way I am. And I am no Jesus. And he had the luxury of being a romantic. I don't.

 

[Josu]

Ended Origins: How earth's history shaped human history by Lewis Dartnell
Interesting, enjoyable, instructive but does not give any conclusive data.

Started Gardens of the Moon (Malazan book of the fallen #1) by Steven Erikson

 

[Narz]

Lies of Locke Lamora

Sloggy in the middle but good end. Good but not good enuf to read all the sequels.

 

[thetrooper]

Killing Moon by Nesbø

@Kyriakos complaining in 9 - 8 - 7...

 

[Snerk]

Lies of Locke Lamora

Sloggy in the middle but good end. Good but not good enuf to read all the sequels.

I liked it well enough too. The sequels less so so I've abandoned the series.

 

[Takhisis]

Heinlein grew up in a time when that era's equivalent of a "nerd" always carried a slide rule around, and before everyone had computers (whether on a tabletop or in their pocket). I was never good at math, so I opted for the middle stream of math in high school. The math class I took in Grade 10 was geared toward those with problems in certain areas, and was a go-at-your-own-pace setup. You could do a unit in two days or two weeks - however long it took, in any order you wanted, as long as you completed all of them by the end of the trimester and passed the tests.

So I learned where my strengths and weaknesses were, and could get extra help if needed. One of the units we had was on the slide rule. I still have mine, though I haven't used it in many years.

Oh, I know all that! I think there might even be one here somewhere, because I know we had one before we last moved house.

But specifically slide-rules are very much a period piece. Five to ten years after some of Heinlein's books came out slide rules were a thing of the past because of miniaturisation.
And also I've remembered Asimov ranting in one of his books about how he'd written a book on how to use slide rules just before pocket calculators came out.

 

[Valka D'Ur]

Oh, I know all that! I think there might even be one here somewhere, because I know we had one before we last moved house.

But specifically slide-rules are very much a period piece. Five to ten years after some of Heinlein's books came out slide rules were a thing of the past because of miniaturisation.
And also I've remembered Asimov ranting in one of his books about how he'd written a book on how to use slide rules just before pocket calculators came out.

It's not only Heinlein's characters who used slide rules. I have most of the hardcover Tom Swift Jr. series, and you'd never catch Tom without his handy slide rule.

Do you happen to remember which Asimov book that was in?

Mind you, people still write about how to start fires, even though that was discovered in prehistoric times. The average Survivor contestant still isn't smart enough to learn how to start a fire from scratch even they know that getting to the final 2 may depend on it (or at least being able to cook food and boil water if their tribe loses their flint as the penalty for losing an immunity challenge).

 

[EnglishEdward]

Yesterday I finished reading a brand new paperback
I treated myself to from the Norwich Waterstones store:

The Unlikely Escape of Uriah Heep

by

H G Parry

It is a literary fantasy located in Wellington (NZ) with the duke, but not the bomber or boots; and
Victorian London as encapsulated in the writings of Charles Dickens and Arthur Conan Doyle.

The premise is that a prodigy has the ability to read fictional characters into well down under real life.

It was well worth paying full price for it.

 

[Birdjaguar]

I'm halfway through Locklands, the third in the series that began with Foundryside by Robert Jackson Bennett. It i building towards a a climax. Great trilogy!

 

[Takhisis]

It's not only Heinlein's characters who used slide rules. I have most of the hardcover Tom Swift Jr. series, and you'd never catch Tom without his handy slide rule.

I don't remember reading Tom Swift.

Do you happen to remember which Asimov book that was in?

I remember that it was in the intro/commentary to one of the anthologies which he edited. Might have been an anthology of his works or of other people's.

Mind you, people still write about how to start fires, even though that was discovered in prehistoric times. The average Survivor contestant still isn't smart enough to learn how to start a fire from scratch even they know that getting to the final 2 may depend on it (or at least being able to cook food and boil water if their tribe loses their flint as the penalty for losing an immunity challenge).

I've never started a fire without at least matches, but if I were to enter survivor I'd damn well learn that kind of thing because it's sort of a given.

 

[EgonSpengler]

I'm halfway through Locklands, the third in the series that began with Foundryside by Robert Jackson Bennett. It i building towards a a climax. Great trilogy!

I liked Foundryside (as well as his previous trilogy, if you haven't read those). I haven't read Shorefall yet. I don't have it at my fingertips, but I read an article a few years ago that made an interesting case that Foundryside is actually a cyberpunk novel in disguise, and I think I agreed.

 

[Birdjaguar]

I liked Foundryside (as well as his previous trilogy, if you haven't read those). I haven't read Shorefall yet. I don't have it at my fingertips, but I read an article a few years ago that made an interesting case that Foundryside is actually a cyberpunk novel in disguise, and I think I agreed.

It certainly has disguised cyberpunk aspects. It's key element, scriving, is an interesting take on an alternative approach to manipulating objects. I have enjoyed all three books.

 

[Valka D'Ur]

I don't remember reading Tom Swift.

They were hardcovers by Victor Appleton, and geared more for teenage boys (it never failed to dumbfound my mother, grandmother, and teachers in junior high school that I insisted on reading "boys' books"). Of course they're out of date now, but are still okay for mental junk food. I never did complete my collection (annoying since stuff like that is usually priced pretty steep online).

I remember that it was in the intro/commentary to one of the anthologies which he edited. Might have been an anthology of his works or of other people's.

Well, that narrows it down to a few hundred books - at least.

I've never start a fire without at least matches, but if I were to enter survivor I'd damn well learn that kind of thing because it's sort of a given.

I just had an idea for a Harry Potter/Survivor crossover. Hermione becomes a Survivor contestant, discovers she knows zip-all about starting fires manually, but is such a rule-follower that she refuses to cast a simple incendio spell.

 

[Birdjaguar]

I liked Foundryside (as well as his previous trilogy, if you haven't read those). I haven't read Shorefall yet. I don't have it at my fingertips, but I read an article a few years ago that made an interesting case that Foundryside is actually a cyberpunk novel in disguise, and I think I agreed.

Locklands is a grand finale! Very satisfying.

 

[tjs282]

Finished Provenance (a couple of weeks ago), started NK Jemisin's The City We Became. I guess it could be called urban fantasy, liking it very much so far.

 

[EgonSpengler]

Finished Provenance (a couple of weeks ago), started NK Jemisin's The City We Became. I guess it could be called urban fantasy, liking it very much so far.

For some reason I couldn't connect with Leckie's writing style. I started Ancillary Justice years ago and never finished it. It still feels like some kind of character flaw, on my part, given the way people rave about her. (I bought The Raven Tower too, because it was 99¢, but I haven't even cracked it open.) Jemisin, otoh, I love. Have you read anything else of hers? I was thinking about rereading The Fifth Season recently, but haven't steered back around to it yet. The sequel to City is out next month, I believe, if you like this one. As I mentioned in yonder comments about The Expanse, I haven't been to a sci-fi con in many years, but in my small corner of the world, Jemisin isn't given the attention she deserves. But who knows, maybe she's crowned Empress of any room she walks into and I just haven't been in any of those rooms.

All of this led me to think I should check out the upcoming sci-fi cons around here, which I did, and found that I didn't recognize a single name among the featured speakers. So, yeah, it would seem that I am completely out of touch.

---

In other news, I'm currently re-reading Andy Wier's Project Hail Mary from last year.

 

[EvaDK]

Arturo Perez-Reverte is a writter with really good prose in Spanish, but IMHO the stories he writes are nothing to write home about. They are OK, but just OK.
In the same vein from this author, you can read The Flanders Panel or The Fencing Master

I'm a sucker for mystery thrillers, so I'll take it. Oh, I have The Flanders Panel as well.

 

[Takhisis]

They were hardcovers by Victor Appleton, and geared more for teenage boys (it never failed to dumbfound my mother, grandmother, and teachers in junior high school that I insisted on reading "boys' books"). Of course they're out of date now, but are still okay for mental junk food. I never did complete my collection (annoying since stuff like that is usually priced pretty steep online).

Hey, you've reminded me: Have you ever read the Tom Playfair books?

Well, that narrows it down to a few hundred books - at least.

Well, we should narrow it further to those of such books which I or my immediate family own.

I just had an idea for a Harry Potter/Survivor crossover. Hermione becomes a Survivor contestant, discovers she knows zip-all about starting fires manually, but is such a rule-follower that she refuses to cast a simple incendio spell.

If you ever write it, give me a heads-up.

 

[Josu]

I'm a sucker for mystery thrillers, so I'll take it. Oh, I have The Flanders Panel as well.

There are better mystery thrillers by Spanish authors IMHO, you can try Red Queen by Juan Gomez-Jurado, The Silence of the White City by Eva García Sáenz de Urturi or The Invisible Guardian by Dolores Rendondo, this last two are Basque writters and are set in the Basque Country (not going to start a political flame in book's threath) and have some basque folklore inside.