MoonShine Posted May 17, 2009 Report Share Posted May 17, 2009 & Usually not much into poetry because most of it just sucks IMO but this stuff is really good and is read well. Figured this belonged here rather than the listening to thread. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HeadphoneAddict Posted May 17, 2009 Report Share Posted May 17, 2009 Peter F. Hamilton The Temporal Void (book two of the Void trilogy, after the Dreaming void) and this trilogy follows the Padora's Star and Judas Unchained books, but takes place about 1,000 years later. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
postjack Posted May 17, 2009 Report Share Posted May 17, 2009 Neal Stephenson - Anathem I wanted to read "A Canticle for Leibowitz" first, since I heard Anathem echoes it a bit, but I couldn't not start Anathem once I got it in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
diebenkorn Posted May 17, 2009 Report Share Posted May 17, 2009 Breaking Open the Head: A Psychedelic Journey into the Heart of Contemporary Shamanism Daniel Pinchbeck Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ojnihs Posted May 18, 2009 Report Share Posted May 18, 2009 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hopstretch Posted June 4, 2009 Report Share Posted June 4, 2009 To and from CanJam: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cankin Posted June 4, 2009 Report Share Posted June 4, 2009 writing my exam in 1 hr. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grahame Posted June 4, 2009 Report Share Posted June 4, 2009 Just finished post Can Jam Was lucky enough to catch him at our local independent bookstore ... and so can you! FORA.tv - Christopher Moore: Fool Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hopstretch Posted June 4, 2009 Report Share Posted June 4, 2009 It's a Moore-athon! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dusty Chalk Posted June 4, 2009 Report Share Posted June 4, 2009 Argh! He was here in February! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jinp6301 Posted June 5, 2009 Report Share Posted June 5, 2009 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dusty Chalk Posted June 5, 2009 Report Share Posted June 5, 2009 Bunch of fucking web pages -- jarsync, librsync, rdiff-backup, rsync, &c. Going blind, going to call it a night in a moment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
malldian Posted June 5, 2009 Report Share Posted June 5, 2009 Finishing Outliers, not that great. Probably reading "Behavioral Game Theory: Experiments in Strategic Interaction" by Camerer. Some light summer time reading! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
en480c4 Posted June 5, 2009 Report Share Posted June 5, 2009 Jumping around a bit in: Amazon.com: Seagalogy: A Study of the Ass-Kicking Films of Steven Seagal: Vern: Books Hilarious. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
malldian Posted June 5, 2009 Report Share Posted June 5, 2009 How is that book only 352 pages? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catscratch Posted June 7, 2009 Report Share Posted June 7, 2009 Wow, lots of Stephenson action going on. And speaking of Stephenson... just finished Cryptonomicon. Pretty typical work for him really - 1100 pages of entertaining and occasionally insightful rambling. Some weak plotting, some good and believable characters together with some not so good ones. The book is definitely more consistent than Snow Crash and more entertaining than The Diamond Age, worth reading but he still has a long way to go to catch up to Gibson and other people at the top of the game. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dusty Chalk Posted June 7, 2009 Report Share Posted June 7, 2009 Yugh -- I much prefer Stephenson to Gibson. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grawk Posted June 8, 2009 Author Report Share Posted June 8, 2009 I definitely prefer Gibson, especially recently. Stephenson has great ideas, but needs an editor badly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dusty Chalk Posted June 8, 2009 Report Share Posted June 8, 2009 Pattern Recognition is the first thing by him I can say I fully enjoyed. I don't understand the ending to most of his novels. I disagree with Stephenson needing an editor. Tad Williams needs an editor, Stephenson is...well, one needs to just pace oneself differently, reading his work. I wouldn't pass up a two-page detailed nerdy analysis of how to eat Cap'n Crunch for anything, and I guarantee you, most editors would screw that up. Ditto the bug-feeding scene from the Baroque Cycle. I just wouldn't want to give up reading the smallest paragraph by him. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hopstretch Posted June 8, 2009 Report Share Posted June 8, 2009 To-may-to, to-mah-to. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catscratch Posted June 8, 2009 Report Share Posted June 8, 2009 Those nerdy paragraphs as you call them aren't the reason why Stephenson needs an editor. All that stuff is great, and is what makes him so enjoyable. But he does need work on some characters as well as pacing/storytelling and maintaining tension throughout. Snow Crash is a perfect example - very good tense buildup but tension evaporates in the end and the resolution is a major letdown. Gibson has his problems too but his main strength is his multi-layered surrealistic and almost psychedelic narrative. He has a tone quite unlike just about anyone. And yes, Pattern Recognition was the last Gibson book I read and I liked it quite a bit too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dusty Chalk Posted June 8, 2009 Report Share Posted June 8, 2009 Are you kidding? I loved the climax of Snowcrash. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DigiPete Posted June 9, 2009 Report Share Posted June 9, 2009 I was sufring AVS forum and ran into this post concerning a rear projection TV, I thought it was hilarious Well, last Friday my Sony KDS60A3000 had similar symptoms before the HID lamp imploded, turning my cat into a clawing, flying ninja (and my legs into blood donors) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
postjack Posted June 9, 2009 Report Share Posted June 9, 2009 Wow, lots of Stephenson action going on. And speaking of Stephenson... just finished Cryptonomicon. Pretty typical work for him really - 1100 pages of entertaining and occasionally insightful rambling. Some weak plotting, some good and believable characters together with some not so good ones. The book is definitely more consistent than Snow Crash and more entertaining than The Diamond Age, worth reading but he still has a long way to go to catch up to Gibson and other people at the top of the game. Really? I love Stephenson's characters, and find them totally believable. Moreso in the Baroque Cycle and Anathem, but I loved my Cryptonomicon folks as well. I admit I didn't have any fond attachments to the characters in The Diamond Age, though I loved the book. The only Gibson I've read was Pattern Recognition, and I have to be honest, it was a snoozer to me. Not just boring, but fucking boring. Definitely put me off the rest of his work. I wouldn't pass up a two-page detailed nerdy analysis of how to eat Cap'n Crunch for anything, and I guarantee you, most editors would screw that up. Ditto the bug-feeding scene from the Baroque Cycle. I just wouldn't want to give up reading the smallest paragraph by him. Love the cereal eating analysis. Those nerdy paragraphs as you call them aren't the reason why Stephenson needs an editor. All that stuff is great, and is what makes him so enjoyable. But he does need work on some characters as well as pacing/storytelling and maintaining tension throughout. Snow Crash is a perfect example - very good tense buildup but tension evaporates in the end and the resolution is a major letdown. I've already addressed the character thing, but in regards to the pacing/storytelling criticism, I agree with Peter that the burden here is more on the reader. Though this will make me come off like the Stephenson fanboy I am, he's fracking brilliant, and if his brilliance pours out in a manner that isn't exactly Great Gatsby-readable, thats OK. It makes it a harder read, sure, but more rewarding. Gibson has his problems too but his main strength is his multi-layered surrealistic and almost psychedelic narrative. He has a tone quite unlike just about anyone. And yes, Pattern Recognition was the last Gibson book I read and I liked it quite a bit too. can you recommend me a Gibson book? This sounds cool and I'd like to give him a second chance. Any M. John Harrison/Viriconium fans here? Anyway, I'm continuing on with my building Tim Powers obsession with: The Anubis Gates, a present I received from a Mr. H. Stretch at Canjam. Absolutely loving it! Fantastical but still frighteningly real. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dusty Chalk Posted June 9, 2009 Report Share Posted June 9, 2009 Well, Neuromancer is considered by many to be his best, though I'll let catscratch speak to the "...multi-layered surrealistic and almost psychedelic narrative", as I'm not sure I understand nor necessarily agree with that statement. When I saw Stephenson speak the first time, he talked some about Cryptonomnomnomicon, and he realized (I forget whether it was part way through writing it or afterwards) that it didn't have any girls in it, so he threw one in, and realized afterwards that it sure came off as an afterthought. So if the criticism is against the girl, then I'd have a hard time arguing that that character was a bit...er...one-dimensional. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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