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What are you reading now?


grawk

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11 hours ago, Dusty Chalk said:

Seriously thinking about reading Napoleons Buttons —anyone recommend/disrecommend?

I bought a copy for my dad a few years ago (and I read it last year) – it's one of his favorite books. It's well written and full of those anecdotal science/history stories that stick in your mind. My takeaway from the book is that science can change humanity, but it doesn't do much for scientists, sometimes. Many of the inventors/discovers were considered failures in their lifetimes and they suffered through enormous hardship.

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We were also intrigued by the role serendipity has been accorded in numerous chemical discoveries. Luck has often been cited as crucial to many important findings, but it seems to us that the ability of the discoverers to realize that something unusual has happened—and to question why it occurred and how it could be useful—is of greater importance. In many instances in the course of chemical experimentation an odd but potentially important result was ignored and an opportunity lost. The ability to recognize the possibilities in an unexpected result deserves to be lauded rather than dismissed as a fortuitous fluke. Some of the inventors and discoverers of the compounds we discuss were chemists, but others had no scientific training at all. Many of them could be described as characters—unusual, driven, or compulsive. Their stories are fascinating.

 

Oh, yeah, definitely reading this.

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  • 4 weeks later...

https://www.zdnet.com/article/us-cell-carriers-selling-access-to-real-time-location-data/

This is pretty disgusting. The cell phone carriers are selling their user's real time location data to anyone who wants it.

It is supposed to require the consent of the user, but we all know there are plenty of slimy ways of getting consent, like say burying it into a lengthy TOS contract that no one is ever going to read.

The state of privacy in the 21st century is just sickening.

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  • 4 weeks later...

i liked the first and third book better then the second.

i think part of it might be related to the translation by Ken Liu, which just felt better/more natural to me then joel martinsens work.

i didn't think about it when reading the dark forest, but something just felt a bit off.

when i started reading death's end it became immediately apparent though, as it recaptured that missing essence from the dark forest.

 

Edited by bjarnetv
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DarkForest.jpg
The Dark Forest (Three Body Problem Book 2). 
Just outstanding! I liked it even more than the first book. 
Consider it an absolute must read if you enjoyed the Three Body Problem. 
Never heard of it looks cool.

Out if curiosity the cover says it's grounded in cutting edge science. I love Michael Crichton books for that vreason books like Prey and Sphere and Jurassic Park.

Would this be something for a Crichton fan?

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Gravitys_rainbow_cover.jpg

Finally finished this monster after struggling to get through it for nearly two years. It is the most challenging book I've ever read. I went though it with a plot guide and character map and still got lost all the time.

That all being said, I think its the best work of fiction I've ever read by an American author. It is stunningly brilliant. Time and time again I was left in utter awe of Pynchon's writing ability. IMO he is without equal in his mastery of prose, humor, depravity, and esoteric postmodern deep-dives.

It is a slog to get through but it rewards those who invest the time and mental energy and accept the challenge.

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What the fuck kind of books are you guys reading that require study guides and devoting years of your lives to?

I am reading Russka by Edward Rutherford and I have not had to hire a support staff to get me through it.

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I'd like to read it as well. The most challenging book I've read was called Consciousness Explained by Daniel Dennett. I needed a dictionary to look up a few words per page and a note pad to pull together sentences that had many commas in them, causing me to get lost at times.

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On 6/14/2018 at 11:43 PM, VPI said:

What the fuck kind of books are you guys reading that require study guides and devoting years of your lives to?

I am reading Russka by Edward Rutherford and I have not had to hire a support staff to get me through it.

Lollers.  Tell them what you said about that Tim Powers book...The Stress of Her Regard, was it?  Or was it Hide Me Among the Graves?  

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  • 2 weeks later...
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B9C51F46-8280-449F-908E-6D71CA04AA7D.thumb.jpeg.4a3afb3adeb80255edb889884c8849c1.jpeg
Wow. Steven Pinker. Thanks for the reminder. He wrote The Language Instinct.

My mind was blown from reading that learning g about how lNguage works and where it comes from. I also just learned tons of random tidbits dropped in that book regarding every day Life.

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  • 2 months later...
297857662

 

Well this is fun

I listened to Alec Baldwins podcast with guest Michael Wolff, the author of Fire & Fury: Trump in the White House. Real eye opener. He says no one listens to Trump. Everyone in his staff since day one saw this as a netbliss for all of them and their individual businesses.

 

I'll buy the book soon. Great funny podcast episode.

 

https://castbox.fm/vb/65705235

 

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