Which book are you reading now? Volume XIV

[Arakhor]

Jude Law in AI probably did.

 

[Kyriakos]

Jude Law in AI probably did.

I have to report your post - I thought the joke was whether androids dream of Philip K. Dick.
I must remind you that this is a family forum

 

[Arakhor]

Well, of course that's what I meant. How could you assume otherwise?!

 

[Kyriakos]

Well, of course that's what I meant. How could you assume otherwise?!

My account was hacked in my previous post.

 

[Kyriakos]

Reading Lem's Chain of Chance.

Can't say I like it. And I already know the plot-twist. Just doing this for the seminar...

 

[Cutlass]

Burning Water by Mercedes Lackey. An older urban fantasy novel that I had lost and bought a new copy from a used book store.

 

[Josu]

Ended El último arpón (The last harpoon in English) by Gaizka Arostegi.
It is what a friend of mine calls summer reading, I call this kind of books Fast Food readings. Simple story, good guys, bad guys, easy reading, I liked it, like a burger or a kebab, but I won't be eating burgers or kebabs evry week.

Started The three body problem by Liu Cixin

 

[EgonSpengler]

The Coming of the Third Reich, by Richard J. Evans (2005)

This is a re-read. I read it the first time shortly after it was published, so I don't remember it in any detail. 460 pages, pretty well written. iirc, it covers the period up to 1933, starting with an overview of the late 19th-Century origins of antisemitism and Bismarck and the modernizing of Germany into an industrial powerhouse. That's where I'm at right now, reading about Kaiser Wilhelm II around the turn of the century, so I've barely started. Still, I'm already reading things that echo current events. Granted, one sees patterns, based on what's going on around you at the moment.

For the disaffected and the unsuccessful, those who felt pushed aside by the Juggernaut of industrialization and yearned for a simpler, more ordered, more secure, more hierarchical society such as they imagined had existed in the not-too-distant past, the Jews symbolized cultural, financial and social modernity.

I think you could easily replace "industrialization" with "globalization" today without altering the meaning. The phrase, "such as they imagined existed in the not-too-distant past" really struck me as relevant today, with the modern American Right-Wing seeming to invoke some vague, halcyon days of yore. "Make American Great Again." The haziness of their nostalgia I think hints that they themselves don't quite know what it is they're yearning for, they just know they were better off before something changed. However, I don't think there's a discrete, easily-identifiable group that could take the place of Jews as the scapegoat in an attempt to draw parallels between then and now, and so the analogy wavers, as analogies often do. Still, history may not repeat, but it does rhyme. I think that was Mark Twain.

 

[SS-18 ICBM]

The Upanishads is a translation by Vernon Katz and Thomas Egenes of 9 of the principal titular Indian philosophical texts, seeking to balance clarity with accuracy. The endnotes include thoughts from Shankara, one of the codifiers of Hindu principles through his commentary on the Upanishads, and Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, a more recent commentator and developer of transcendental meditation. Two main concepts include Atman, the Self composed of pure consciousness which lives in the heart, and Brahman, the totality of all things. The ultimate goal is to realize the latter through direct experience and cutting off attachments through austerity, celibacy, faith, and knowledge. These ancient concepts are fundamental to the Indian philosophical tradition founded by Hindu and Buddhist thinkers.

 

[yung.carl.jung]

The Upanishads is a translation by Vernon Katz and Thomas Egenes of 9 of the principal titular Indian philosophical texts, seeking to balance clarity with accuracy. The endnotes include thoughts from Shankara, one of the codifiers of Hindu principles through his commentary on the Upanishads, and Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, a more recent commentator and developer of transcendental meditation. Two main concepts include Atman, the Self composed of pure consciousness which lives in the heart, and Brahman, the totality of all things. The ultimate goal is to realize the latter through direct experience and cutting off attachments through austerity, celibacy, faith, and knowledge. These ancient concepts are fundamental to the Indian philosophical tradition founded by Hindu and Buddhist thinkers.

Very nice. I just recently finished a commented version of the Gita.

 

[Synobun]

I'm trying to read more books with "neurodivergent" leads but am facing the issue where they are extremely unlikable people. It makes me feel judgemental and ableist.

 

[Birdjaguar]

Just what we need: more labels.

 

[hobbsyoyo]

I'm trying to read more books with "neurodivergent" leads but am facing the issue where they are extremely unlikable people. It makes me feel judgemental and ableist.

That's how I felt about that Netflix drama about the kid with autism.

 

[Takhisis]

From my experience going to class with people with autism I remember that they had none of the usual Hollywoodland problems (or at least not as deep/severe as portrayed) while having some that are never part of the stereotype yet were very much there. So films and series with totally-not-autists e.g. Sheldon Cooper are not watchable for me. I just cannot watch them.

 

[SS-18 ICBM]

The Best of The Best Rice Cooker Cookbook by Beth Hensperger and Julie Kaufman has 100 recipes that can be made in the aforementioned piece of kitchen equipment. It starts off by showing off the principles and varieties of rice cookers, followed an introduction to the different varieties of rice with charts for water proportions. Further chapters with full-color, styled photographs include recipes for pilafs, risottos, sushi, other grains and cereals, vegetables, whole meals, and finishes off with desserts. My only criticism is the slight tendency to suggest expensive ingredients like saffron.

 

[Josu]

Ended The three body problem by Liu Cixin. Best Sci-fi book I have read on years and one of the beste books I have read this year. I really enjoyed it.

Started Fuego sobre San Juan (Fire over San Juan) a short uncrony in which Spain wins the Spanish-American war.

 

[Birdjaguar]

Ended The three body problem by Liu Cixin. Best Sci-fi book I have read on years and one of the beste books I have read this year. I really enjoyed it.

There are more in the series IIRC, All quite good.

 

[Josu]

There are more in the series IIRC, All quite good.

I know, I will read them in the future, but usually I like giving a time between books in series.

 

[Josu]

Ended Fuego sobre San Juan (Fire over San Juan) an uncrony in which Spain wins the Spanish-American war. I told you it was short.
Well, is one of those books with an excellent idea which is not performed properly.
It includes time travel, parallel universes and an agency which is reponsible of avoinding changes of Jonbar points. It has interesting views but being so short they are not developed. Last chapters are an attemp to explain how the wolrd would be in this universe and they seem to be written in a hurry. 3 out of 5.

Starting Childhood's End, by Arthur C. Clark

 

[Takhisis]

Well, is one of those books with an excellent idea which is not performed properly.

Reminds me about some book I read a long time ago about our universe meeting a parallel one in which Neanderthals were the dominant (modern-day technological) human race and they lived in advanced single-gender communes and the males and female only got together for mating and otherwise everyone was homosexual and everybody was peaceful because since Neanderthals are/were so much stronger than Homo sapiens then they knew the fruits of violence and the terrible price of taking human life and they all had minicomputers grafted onto their bodies and so on and on…
Between that and the cringeworthy translation into Españish it was on ‘So bad it's good’ territory.