So what is everyone reading?

[sanctus]

Irisheyes, try to read american psycho (by ellis something) it's the only book of my life which I throw away; just so that you once encountered a fiction book that you didn't like.

 

At the moment I'm reading Kerson-Huang's statistical mechanics, to prepare for my exams as well as many books about QM(group theory an QM by tinkham, Mécanique Quantique by Cohen.tanoudji and another I forgot of who). Due to this exams I've got no time to read other books. But on my list are:

 

1984,Rama III (by C.Clarke), all the books of Greg Bear I haven't read yet (one of my favorite SF-writer),all the books of Stanislav Lem I haven't read yet (my favorite writer, mainly for the books-my translation to english- "the voice of the master", "and so spoke Golem" and "the futurological worldcongress"), anything be the Strugatzky-brothers,the dead souls (by Nikolaj Gogol), the continuation of "the ants" (by Bernard Weber) and all the other good SF-novels you suggest.

[Tormod]

I began wondering why nobody ever installed windmill-like turbines under the water.

 

Oh, but they do. There are numerous experiments with tide turbines.

 

Here is one example:

http://www.darvill.clara.net/altenerg/tidal.htm

 

As for books about electricity...that's a good question. I particularly liked Patricia Fara's book "An Entertainment For Angels - Electricity in the Enlightenment", which is about the early years of electricity and into the modern age. Very well written, short, concise, and funny...

 

Amazon.com: An Entertainment for Angels: Electricity in the Enlightenment (Revolutions in Science): Patricia Fara: Books http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0231131488/qid=1106488697

[infamous]

I get a page not found on that link dude. Ahh to smell the ether again! :) :)

 

Sorry about that Turtle; try this attachment:

[Turtle]

Wow! Ether is good. Further on the original question "What are you reading"; why Hypography of course! I only just realized I restricted myself to thinking of books, which put me to thinking of dematerializing, which put me not thinking about what I was reading. Yes... I'm reading Hypography right now Tormod. ;)

[Fishteacher73]

I guess I,m a bit of a book whore....I have usually four or five books going on at once. A little bit of everything. Lets see I'm reading:

 

Richard Ellis's The Search for the Giant Squid A history of the mythology and natural history of the giant squid.

 

Bill Bryson's A Short History of Nearly Everything A summation of our current state in science and how it got there.

 

David Foster Wallace's Infinate Jest A tome of random bits of story set in the near future. Odd. Haven't yet figured this one out. Lots of footnotes that just kind of ramble on about other stories. I can not put it down though.

 

Bill Bass's Death's Acre An autobiography of forensic anthropologist Bill Bass and his "body farm".

 

Albert Camus'Exile and the Kingdom A set of short stories by the master Camus. Heavy reading but fantastic.

[Drakon1323]

I must say, i definitely dont read as much as i would like to.;) Alot of my free time goes towards either 'flushing' friends computers or and learning and thrashing about my own XP registry.(trial and error, of course)

I spend more time thinking about things than anything else, a kind of theoretical/philosophical scientist.

Not to stray too far, my current reading material, as of now, consists of 'Three Roads To Quantum Gravity' by Lee Smolin, 2600 and Blacklisted 411 (magazines) and 'The Twelveth Planet' by Zecharia Sitchen, which is very interesting for anyone who thinks about abstract theories on a new age level. Although, i dont necessarily subscribe to all of his views, he does paint an intriguing story of ancient civilization.

 

BTW,

...I am currently reading Sojourn: Book 3 of The Dark Elf Trilogy by R. A. Salvatore...

I read that trilogy many, many years ago and loved it !;)

[neoplasma]

umm.... maby i would to say that i read many of oldbook in america or europe, because those book is write in my language country recently, since my english is totally worst:D ..yeah my lovely indonesia is verry2 late in science, including me:D

 

1sti like COSMOS by Carl Sagan,this book has made me more interested in universe and hunggry of knowledge.

and the 2nd is Paul Davis (god, mind and matter) this is very good book about religion, philosopy and science in modern life and a lot of physic explanation

3rd is Richard Dawkins (Selfish Gene) i like his words when sometimes attack our religion in general concept

and the last book is Michel Tabolt (Mysticism and modrern physic) maybe my brain can't handle content in this book,i think it is verry weird book like Tao of Physi(Fritjof Capra) and Dancing Wu Li Masters(Garry Zukaf) but still interested for me because i want to know

 

btw guys please give me ur input bout my english, just bad or worst hehe

 

Thx....

i like this forum:)

[Tormod]

1sti like COSMOS by Carl Sagan,this book has made me more interested in universe and hunggry of knowledge.

 

Say no more, say no more. Welcome to the club. :)

[Tormod]

By the way, I'm just about to start reading Alastair Reynold's sci-fi novel "Revelation Space".

[IrishEyes]

I just started "As We Remember Her", about Jackie O... reading it in my "free" time...lol

[Buffy]

Just finished "*A Short History Of Nearly Everything" it is a MUST read, even if you know everything in it. Bill is ESPECIALLY good at pointing out the conflicts in some contentious areas like Evolution, since he has no vested interest in one side or the other (something that almost no science authors seem to be able to do).

 

"The Newtonian Moment": This thing is unreadable, although interesting. So Newton reversed Descartes views on Natural Philosophy. If I hadn't taken a course on the history of science, I would have NO idea what this means from reading this book. Whatever.

 

"A Series of Unfortunate Events": NOT a (series of) kids book(s)! If your kid is reading this and you don't, then 1) you don't know what you're missing, and 2) you'd better be ready to deal with the consequences if they're bipolar or manic-depressive! I know a few parents who were "Shocked! Shocked, I say!" when they went to see the movie. They had no idea....

 

"Pandering" Best coffee table book ever!

 

 

Cheers,

Buffy

[IrishEyes]

"A Series of Unfortunate Events": NOT a (series of) kids book(s)! If your kid is reading this and you don't, then 1) you don't know what you're missing, and 2) you'd better be ready to deal with the consequences if they're bipolar or manic-depressive! I know a few parents who were "Shocked! Shocked, I say!" when they went to see the movie. They had no idea....

I quite agree. My friend's daughter was reading them and suggested them for my daughter. I bought the first three, but my daughter wasn't all that interested. So I figured "I spent the money, might as well read them..." Finished the first one the same day, couldn't put it down, didn't get anything done that day (this was, of course, WAY before I found Hypography!)... Started the next one the next day and exhibited only slightly more self-control... My daugher heard me laughing too many times to count, asked what was so funny, I told her to read the first chapter and find out... Worked like a charm... she was hooked too. Then my son started reading them as well. Decent books. Can't really find anything wrong with them. Much better than the movie, though Jim Carey was fabulous...

[Buffy]

<snip /> Decent books. Can't really find anything wrong with them. <snip />

 

Oh I agree. These are GREAT--a word which in this case means "fabulous"--books for kids, cuz they're so good for their vocabulary as this self-referential sentance makes a point of emphasizing.

 

I have a friend with a bipolar child though who has half-in-jest said she wouldn't let her kid near these books, thus the warning above, but the funny thing has been to see the reactions of the parents who had no idea what the books were about...."Shocked! Shocked, I say!"

 

Cheers,

Buffy

[IrishEyes]

...."Shocked! Shocked, I say!"

Ok, that's twice... what gives? Is that supposed to be cute, or pop-culture, or what? Why does it seem ridiculous that everyone seems to be quoting a line from a 50 year old movie NOW??? Sorry, not enough caffeine today, and way too much psych stuff, I guess my humor toggle is turned to off or something. Please feel free to explain...

[Buffy]

Ok, that's twice... what gives? Is that supposed to be cute, or pop-culture, or what? Why does it seem ridiculous that everyone seems to be quoting a line from a 50 year old movie NOW???

What's amazing to me, and why I think its coming up more often, is that its gone from being used in its original ironic Casablanca-sense, to being taken as a serious conservative position! More than half of the 36 instances of "indecency on television" reported to the FCC by the Parents Resource Council were merely references to the pejorative "dick" which is not one of the Seven Deadly Words, although people named Dick (do we know any of those?), probably aren't too thrilled.

 

Its definitely gotten too much airplay recently, so I'll avoid using it anymore. :)

 

Cheers,

Buffy

[IrishEyes]

the Seven Deadly Words

is there a list? must have missed that one too... or do you mean the Carlin thing???

 

Its definitely gotten too much airplay recently, so I'll avoid using it anymore.

Not a problem, use it at will (or harry, or dick, for that matter)... i just felt like i was missing a joke, since it was prominently used twice, and i guess i think it's rather silly; well, that and the 'no idea' thing. c'mon, gimme a break.

however, taken in its original context, it was one of the better lines in a movie... ever.

[Buffy]

Yah, its the "The Seven Words You Can't Say on Television" on George Carlin's "Operation: Foole" album, from waaay back in 1972....

 

Trendsetters can't use even pre-neo-cliches. You're not shutting me up. I am! :) No need to be sorry!

 

Cheers,

Buffy