Which book are you reading now? Volume X

[Kan' Sharuminar]

All finished with Winston Churchill's Second World War at last. Germany lost.

Working my way through the entire Calvin and Hobbes collection now, which is very fun when it's been condensed into three books and each one is bloody heavy. Also started Brandon Sanderson's Way of King's, which looks interesting.

 

[Cheezy the Wiz]

All finished with Winston Churchill's Second World War at last. Germany lost.

What a surprise ending! They were doing so well, what happened? I can't help but feel this was a cop-out ending by the author intending to appeal to modern audiences...

 

[Kan' Sharuminar]

What a surprise ending! They were doing so well, what happened? I can't help but feel this was a cop-out ending by the author intending to appeal to modern audiences...

Tell me about it - he honestly seemed bored by the last two books. I have a feeling his publishers asked him to lengthen the story beyond what he originally wanted.

 

[Verarde]

Finished all that Feds versus Anti-Feds stuff. On to more exciting things, like

A Tale of Two Cities (never read the unabridged; read abridged when younger)
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (hundreds of times, but covering it in school)
Chosen by God - R.C. Sproul (excellent if you have questions about predestination and free will)

 

[Antilogic]

Currently, I'm reading Noam Chomsky's Failed States on a recommendation from whats-his-face or someone (I don't remember). You'd think for a professor in linguistics he'd know how to write in an interesting and coherent manner, but it's scatter-brained as all hell.

 

[ParkCungHee]

Johnathan Spence - Mao Zedong.
Figured I should get around to reading a decent biography of Mao, and I'm going to have to do a lot of reading on this stuff for my thesis.

 

[Terxpahseyton]

Brandon Sanderson's Way of King's, which looks interesting.

I think the writing style to be crappy at times, kind of clumsy. But it is interesting! I think what I enjoyed most is how the fantasy world introduced here totally stands on its own feet and isn't just another version of the usual high fantasy motives. Intriguing concepts.

 

[Dachs]

You'd think for a professor in linguistics he'd know how to write in an interesting and coherent manner, but it's scatter-brained as all hell.

insert anarchism joke here

 

[_random_]

Johnathan Spence - Mao Zedong.
Figured I should get around to reading a decent biography of Mao, and I'm going to have to do a lot of reading on this stuff for my thesis.

What's your thesis on?

 

[Kan' Sharuminar]

I think the writing style to be crappy at times, kind of clumsy. But it is interesting! I think what I enjoyed most is how the fantasy world introduced here totally stands on its own feet and isn't just another version of the usual high fantasy motives. Intriguing concepts.

Yeah, I can see that. I read his Mistborn series and absolutely loved it, mainly due to the world he created and the characters (particularly when it came to the Lord Ruler). I can quite quickly and easily get into his books, which is nice.

 

[bombshoo]

Bossy Pants by Tina Fey.

This is a book I would have never picked up on my own, but my sister left it in my car and I grabbed it just to have something to read while waiting to be seen at the eye doctor's office. It's a semi-autobiographical book and very funny. The lightness of it makes it real page turner. It's also sort of interesting to hear about the behind-the-scenes dramas of SNL and other NBC shows.

 

[Antilogic]

Currently, I'm reading Noam Chomsky's Failed States on a recommendation from whats-his-face or someone (I don't remember). You'd think for a professor in linguistics he'd know how to write in an interesting and coherent manner, but it's scatter-brained as all hell.

Finally finished that one, now I'm starting on a book I picked up, maybe as a gift, from years ago that I never got around to reading: The World Without Us. The dust jacket describes it as a thought experiment where humanity disappears, and all the stuff we have made is left behind and decays.

We'll see how it goes.

 

[Smellincoffee]

Physics of the Future, Michio Kaku. Essentially it's a prediction of where technological trends may take us in the next 100 years. Fascinating in parts, but sometimes disappointing, especially in the energy section. All of his predictions point to an world that will need even more energy than we do -- it seems like a discussion of energy should fundamental, foundational, but instead he takes a batteries not included attitude..."And yeah, we'll need energy for this. Fusion should be available by 2050.." I found the section on medicine encouraging, though. Not quite done yet..at the moment I'm reading about the future of space travel.

 

[ParkCungHee]

What's your thesis on?

Hopefully the Chinese Intevention in Korea, and how much MacArthur was a failure as a general, and Truman was a failure as a president in that regard.

 

[mayor]

Hopefully the Chinese Intevention in Korea, and how much MacArthur was a failure as a general, and Truman was a failure as a president in that regard.

why; hopefully?
and
'MacArthur was a failure as a general' that's quite.... controversial (as far as I can tell), isn't it?

 

[Lillefix]

Hopefully the Chinese Intevention in Korea, and how much MacArthur was a failure as a general, and Truman was a failure as a president in that regard.

Aren't you supposed to make the conclusion AFTER you finished the thesis?

 

[aelf]

How do you test a hypothesis if you don't have one?

 

[ParkCungHee]

Aren't you supposed to make the conclusion AFTER you finished the thesis?

You're supposed to be familiar with the topic before your write the thesis. If you don't have a conclusion in mind, it's not a good thesis topic, because you don't want to put in a few months of work to come to the conclusion "IDK lol"

'MacArthur was a failure as a general' that's quite.... controversial (as far as I can tell), isn't it?

Not really, among people who work on that kind of thing.

 

[Antilogic]

why; hopefully?
and
'MacArthur was a failure as a general' that's quite.... controversial (as far as I can tell), isn't it?

I thought it was fairly accepted that he was a pompous blow-hard with a few moments of brilliance thrown in over the years (i.e. the Landing at Inchon, which was tactically successful and strategically important victory).

 

[ParkCungHee]

He didn't come up with the Landing at Inchon though.
Contrary to the legend that he built up, MacArthur didn't have to push hard for his Cunning Plan, but that was in fact the plan already constructed by staff officers before the North Koreans launched their invasion.