So what is everyone reading?

[Chaos]

The Inflationary Universe By: Alan H. Guth

The Overspent American By: Juliet B. Schor

The Psychology of Persuasion By: Kevin Hogan

The Fabric of the Cosmos By: Brian Greene

[Turtle]

___My friend Ooda brought me a 1988 edition of "The Dictionary of Cultural Literacy" by E.D. Hirsch, Jr., Joseph F. Kett, & James Trefil. The primary author is Hirsh, & the dictionary takes its lead from his 187 book "Cultural Literacy".

___Quoting Hirsh, " The novelty that my book introduced into this discussion is its argument that true literacy depends on a knowledge of the specific information that is taken for granted in our public discourse."

___I note newer editions of this Dictionary of Cultural Literacy have come out, but as nearly as I can tell, the one I have is a first edition. :friday:

[learnin to learn]

Pandora by Anne Rice is an awsome book!!! If you like books about Vampires, checkout Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles!!!!!!! I read a couple of them and they are awsome... Does any1 know where I can pickup a copy of Einstein's theory of relativity????

[IrishEyes]

Pandora by Anne Rice is an awsome book!!! If you like books about Vampires, checkout Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles!!!!!!! I read a couple of them and they are awsome... Does any1 know where I can pickup a copy of Einstein's theory of relativity????

I've read almost all of her vampire books, very fun stuff, easy on the brain. But I've got to say that I really enjoyed her "Beauty" triology more. Rather dark in some spots, and very edgy, but kinda makes you wonder if this world we live in is a bit stodgy about sex sometimes :wave: . Then again, not sure that I wouldn't fall over laughing if I ever saw even a fraction of what she described actually happening! :shrug:

 

On a different note, I love reading Tom Robbins books. I was first hooked by Jitterbug Perfume, years ago. Since then I have read almost everything he's written, with the notable exception of Fierce Invalids Home from Hot Climates. It got ruined on my recent trip to Florida during a very nasty rain storm, and I haven't gotten around to replacing it yet. Bummer too, as I was halfway through it.

[Queso]

i just finished Survivor by Chuck Palahniuk (possibly misspelled his last name, oh well) and wow it was really, really good.

[IrishEyes]

Gret and I just re-read the HP series, so we'd be ready for the new one. And she finally finished the new one today, so I can finally talk to her about it! Geez, took her long enough!! So we've been on the HP sites most of the day, to see if her guesses about the next one are close to what others are saying. And would you believe that both of my guesses were there? Kinda cool though.

[Buffy]

Vacation reading:

 

Bob Dylan Chronicles: If you ever felt "betrayed" by Bob Dylan, don't read this book: he'll betray you again. For those of us who were really glad he invited us along for the ride to all those crazy places he went--from Guthrietown to road tales to the Country to out-stoning-the-stones to true religion to ... --you'll love it.

 

Tom Friedman's The World is Flat: the kind of common sense manifesto that drives conservatives and liberals alike up the wall. He's good at telling you what you really don't want to hear. There are quibbles I have with a few of his conclusions, but its 99.9% spot on...

 

Cheers,

Buffy

[Tormod]

My vacation reading so far:

 

Moondust - The Search for the Men Who Fell to Earth by Andrew Smith

A non-fiction book in which the author interviews the remaining 9 of the 12 astronauts who actually walked on the moon. Incredible read. Possibly the best book about the Apollo program, ever.

 

Double Star by Robert Heinlein

Time for some sci-fi classics, this one is rather good, from 1955 or something.

 

Have Space Suit, Will Travel by Robert Heinlein

Written around the same period, this is a marvellous book on account of how well Heinlein writes about space travel. It's a bit of a tedious adventure, though.

 

Slaughterhouse 5 by Kurt Vonnegut, jr.

I have wanted to read this for ages and am finally getting to it. Amazing stuff.

 

As for other stuff...how about Ableton Live 4 Power! and User Guide to Reaktor 5...

[alxian]

title

spinstate

--

silent wars trilogy

--

enders game: shadow puppets (shadow of the giant, maybe)

 

author

chris moriarty

--

ben bova

--

orson scott card

 

gist

in the far future when man has colonized the far reaches of space, a scarce resource, one required for instantaneous travels supply chain is endangered. an investigator strickingly similar to GITS main character the "major" is sent in to bust some skulls and get the bose einstein flowing once more.

--

the saga of dan randolph continues. (and arguably is concluded since he dies and is barely mentioned as an after thought later on). he dream of saving the earth by mining the asteroids is realized, however his old rival martin "the humper" humpries, forever a thorn in his side, is their to make sure there is a high profit exacted, randolph leaves the reings in the capable hands of priscilla "pancho" lane, along with an odd bunch of roughnecks she ensures the earth gets the resources it desparatly needs without allowing humpries to control everything and achieving ultimate power.

--

not sure yet, haven't started reading it.

 

worth?

the authors weight in gold. most of its critics say its plagiarized from many other works, but given that its the authors first novel i give her full credit for keeping the story flowing and very convincing, interesting and ultra ambitious despite its laser beam narrow focus on the main plot line. i highly anticipate the sequel in the next few months.

--

also and awesome read, brings fragile allegiance vividly to life, if only somewhat shoestring in its execution (no starship enterprise here), it has tons of tech and interesting uses for it. would have been more impressive had it been written in the 60-70s not very recently. to the technologically inclind the story seems to be written at gun point (a corporate accountant at the fun end of the weapon). the story beyond the tech, the human side is what keeps it fresh, at some points when the tech makes you sigh or yawn the plot twists snap you awake and help "keep the pages turning".

--

i'm falling behind... 2 more and i've not even finished silent wars.. i know i will adore giant since it talks about anton (my hero)(besides julian and petra) but i must read shadow puppets i've held it off for far too long. the story of ender is very straightforward, boy is created by the government to fight a war they knew they'd already lost too soon. too soon in that they want to hit the ennemy before the adapt too much to our battle techniques and grow their forces to even more ridiculous numbers. julians story is far more rich dark and complex. stunning considering the first few books felt like virtual light (william gibson).. which if you survive the first few chapters without dropping it like hot excriment you prolly end up enjoying. julian essentially is ender but an even more specific tool created by even more unscrupulous men. they join forces and grow into soldiers together (saving the world) returned to earth though the children are sought after in the power struggled for the now saved world. of course they want no part of it, having been raped of their childhoods already man wishes to use these progidies no doubt till they are so much crushed lemon rind... well only 100 pages of silent wars left i'll find out soon enough if i'll be dropping 40$ on my second ever hard cover.

[Monomer]

I've read a couple of Joe Haldeman books recently, The Forever War and Camouflage, both science fiction, which have interesting concepts.

 

Currently I'm reading Mind Wide Open by Steven Johnson, which is quite an interesting look at the workings of the brain.

[NeoTwin]

I found a debut author's science fiction novel on Amazon.com about artificial intelligence and nanotechnology and figured I would take a chance.. Man what a ride! Topics that have been done before, but paced just right with action and enough hard science (combined with a dash of philosophy) to keep the pages turning. I was definitely thinking of everyone here while reading it. Oh I almost for got its called Human Interface by Jason Giacchino. I'm going to try to find the link I used to order it:

 

Amazon.com: Human Interface: Jason Giacchino: Books http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1413783376/qid=1123058947/sr=8-1/ref=pd_bbs_1/103-9507638-5827006?v=glance&s=books&n=507846

[alxian]

156 pages?!?!?!

 

after 600 odd pages of spinstate that read would seem like fanning myself with saturday paper flyer

[myspip90]

Harry Potter is teh rofl0l0l0l0lz00rz33z x434 = n00b

[Buffy]

Harry Potter is teh rofl0l0l0l0lz00rz33z x434 = n00b

Was that l33t or am I a Muggle?

 

Cheers,

Buffy

[Dark Mind]

Harry Potter is teh rofl0l0l0l0lz00rz33z x434 = n00b

Uhhhh... Welcome to Hypography.

 

You might want to post an Introduction in the Introductions Forum :angel:.

 

Or else we'll ban you :rolleyes:.

 

Just kidding :naughty:.

 

 

...But seriously.

 

:friday:

[Turtle]

___I have started re-reading Buckminster Fuller's Synergetics; I found an online edition here:

http://www.rwgrayprojects.com/synergetics/synergetics.html

 

___I originaly read it not long after it came out & I don't just now remember how I came back to the subject. ;) Something here at Hypography no doubt. ;)

___If you've never read it, or otherwise, here's an easy way to have a look into the mind of one of the last centuries preiminent geometers, philospohers, architects, mathematicians, & all around eccentric guys. ;)

[jerryo]

The Dancing Wu Li Masters by Gary Zukav