Whatcha readin' right now?

Narvi said:
I like how the golems managed to fill in one of my major nitpicks about the clacks; how were they powering the mechanisms? Then they told us about the donkey treadmills and it was an illuminating moment. Of course, the golems will make things that much more efficient.

I loved how there is an entire ward full of people who think they're Vetinari. And Topsy Turvy! Nice old bat.

It was nice to have a reminder that Ankh-Morpork still has rivals in other cities though. We haven't had one since Jingo. I wonder how Vetinari plans to keep the golems under his control, now that the secret is out. True, they can't be used for war anymore, but any government can confiscate them for their own use.

The description of the Post Office rather balanced that out. I'm surprised you noticed though. The Truth used pretty much the same description.
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Well, is he writing another Tiffany Aching book now? Or is he continuing with the Moist series?

If he does, the next stage of civic development seems to be a working transportation system...

/EDIT Oh, and the book I'm about to start is either Portrait of a Lady for English 2 or The Snows of Killamanjaro, by Hemmingway, as research for English 4.

I also recently read The Man Who Was Thursday by GK Chesterton. That was ace.
 
Now i am reading the story "Alice in wonderland' . It is very good story. I read this story twice. I like the character Alice very much.
 
Aarathi, you are my favorite new member. Alice is one of the greatest characters ever written...the original, and all her iterations. My greatest treasure is a rare copy of Alice in Wonderland I searched three continents for, over eight long years (I finally got it last year).

When you're done reading Alice in Wonderland, you might want to read "The Looking Glass Wars." It's a retelling; I mentioned it earlier in this thread. The second one just came out.
 
sinkoman said:
Jesus christ, my astigmatism has gotten bad.

I used to be able to finish a book a day like it was nobodies business. Now i'm struggling to get past 13 pages without falling asleep.
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I have astigmatism too. Why not just wear glasses?
 
aarathi said:
Now i am reading the story "Alice in wonderland' . It is very good story. I read this story twice. I like the character Alice very much.
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theotherguy said:
The Extended Phenotype- Richard Dawkins
Started reading this one after reading the selfish gene. The beginning is rather disappointing. It's mostly just Dawkins dealing with criticisms of his earlier books. The rest though, about the actual extended phenotypes is quite interesting.

Darwin's Dangerous Idea- Daniel C. Dennet
Wonderfully written, but I've only gotten around to reading the first couple of pages.
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Approved by Polaris Publishing, Inc. :thumbs:

I'm reading again The Fabric of the Cosmos by Brian Greene. Excellent book, best introduction to the string theory and other modern subjects of theoretical physics.
 
repiV said:
I'm surprised to hear that from you without some kind of revelation attached, since 1984 is about as anti-communist as literature comes.
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You're wrong actually.

Orwell was a socialist too who, like me, believed Lenin to be a good man who tried to do a good thing which was taken over and turned into a monster by Stalin.

When he wrote animal farm it was based on the soviet union, they tried to do a good thing until that evil pig who was supposed to be Stalin turned on snowball (trotsky) and twisted the revolution for himself.
 
Solaris said:
You're wrong actually.
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He is best known for two novels critical of totalitarianism in general, and Stalinism in particular: Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-Four.

Communism is statist and totalitarian by definition. You can't sit there and say that we have to learn lessons from 1984 about the role of the state one minute, and then cheer oppressive dictators the next. That's completely absurd.

Orwell was a socialist too who, like me, believed Lenin to be a good man who tried to do a good thing which was taken over and turned into a monster by Stalin.

When he wrote animal farm it was based on the soviet union, they tried to do a good thing until that evil pig who was supposed to be Stalin turned on snowball (trotsky) and twisted the revolution for himself.
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Doesn't that tell you anything about the worthlessness of "good intentions"? Anything at all?
 
aarathi said:
Now i am reading the story "Alice in wonderland' . It is very good story. I read this story twice. I like the character Alice very much.
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The animated movie was one of my favourites as a child
 
repiV said:
He is best known for two novels critical of totalitarianism in general, and Stalinism in particular: Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-Four.

Communism is statist and totalitarian by definition. You can't sit there and say that we have to learn lessons from 1984 about the role of the state one minute, and then cheer oppressive dictators the next. That's completely absurd.



Doesn't that tell you anything about the worthlessness of "good intentions"? Anything at all?
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How many times do I have to say this. I am not a Stalinist, I do not support Stalinism. There is a big difference between Stalinism and Leninism. I know it and Orwell knew it and wrote about it.

He was very critical of Stalinism, as I am. Stalin was an evil bastard.
 
Animal Farm and 1984 were amazing.

Anyway, I'm reading Hawaii by James A. Michener.
Amazing so far. SECKS SCEEENEZ!
 
Solaris said:
How many times do I have to say this. I am not a Stalinist, I do not support Stalinism. There is a big difference between Stalinism and Leninism. I know it and Orwell knew it and wrote about it.

He was very critical of Stalinism, as I am. Stalin was an evil bastard.
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It's irrelevant, because Leninism will always turn into Stalinism. That's how totalitarian regimes work. There's no such thing as a benevolent dictator.

And even then I still fail to see how you can support a regimented society of universal poverty and misery (Leninism).
 
repiV said:
It's irrelevant, because Leninism will always turn into Stalinism. That's how totalitarian regimes work. There's no such thing as a benevolent dictator.

And even then I still fail to see how you can support a regimented society of universal poverty and misery (Leninism).
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I do not support totalitarian regimes.

Leninism failed becuase the revolution did not spread to more advanced countries; Lenin knew if this did not happen the SU would be ****ed, but he used every tool in his power to keep Russia socialist until the international revolution came. Then Stalin came along and used these tools Lenin had created for a different goal.
 
This is a thread about books, people, not Russia!
Go move to the politics forums!
 
Solaris said:
I do not support totalitarian regimes.
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How can you not make the inherent connection between communism and totalitarianism?
For communism to function, basic freedoms we take for granted must be completely eradicated. Self-reliance disappears. Everyone is completely dependent on the state to survive and cannot make their own way in life.
Under communism, you have no freedom - only a series of choices provided by the state. You are eternally supplicant - maybe you want to live out your existence as someone else's slave, but not me and not any man of any worth in this world.

Communism is totalitarian by DEFINITION. Even in a heavily authoritarian, statist country like Singapore, you can still make your own way.

Leninism failed becuase the revolution did not spread to more advanced countries; Lenin knew if this did not happen the SU would be ****ed, but he used every tool in his power to keep Russia socialist until the international revolution came. Then Stalin came along and used these tools Lenin had created for a different goal.
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It didn't spread to more advanced countries because most sane people living in these more advanced countries knew that they were more advanced because of capitalism, not communism. Seems some people never learn, though.
 
repiV said:
How can you not make the inherent connection between communism and totalitarianism?
For communism to function, basic freedoms we take for granted must be completely eradicated. Self-reliance disappears. Everyone is completely dependent on the state to survive and cannot make their own way in life.
Under communism, you have no freedom - only a series of choices provided by the state.

Communism is totalitarian by DEFINITION. Even in a heavily authoritarian, statist country like Singapore, you can still make your own way.



It didn't spread to more advanced countries because most sane people living in these more advanced countries knew that they were more advanced because of capitalism, not communism. Seems some people never learn, though.
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I don't want to discuss this here.

Needless to say, your original assertion was wrong. Being a socialist and a Lenninist is perfectly compatible with 1984 becuase Orwell was both of these.
 
Solaris said:
I don't want to discuss this here.

Needless to say, your original assertion was wrong. Being a socialist and a Lenninist is perfectly compatible with 1984 becuase Orwell was both of these.
Click to expand...

It's not compatible because being a socialist and a Leninist is a statist position, and 1984 is anti-statism. 1984 is a warning about the power of the state, not just the power of the state when misused by the people who have power.
Orwell's delusions about some kind of benign socialism are quite irrelevant.
 
Jintor said:
Well, is he writing another Tiffany Aching book now? Or is he continuing with the Moist series?

If he does, the next stage of civic development seems to be a working transportation system...

/EDIT Oh, and the book I'm about to start is either Portrait of a Lady for English 2 or The Snows of Killamanjaro, by Hemmingway, as research for English 4.

I also recently read The Man Who Was Thursday by GK Chesterton. That was ace.
Click to expand...

Another Tiffany Aching book was next, I believe, but after that, Moist. Oh, and the next Moist book is going to be about him becoming the Taxmaster. You've got to have somebody to get the money for all the civic development.
 
Slash's autobiograpy "Slash"

Well writen, interesting, somewhat inspiring and very funny in some parts.

One of these days I might get myself to buy some music theory book, but I don't know if I'm capable of reading one of those and really learn
 
Communism is inarguably rooted in totalitarianism but the ultimate goal (in Marxist theory anyway) is very much not totalitarian, it's more anarchism really. Of course, that's never been achieved in the real world.

I am reading The Heart of the World: A Journey to the Last Secret Place by Ian Baker. Look it up, it's interesting as hell.
 
Jintor said:
Well, is he writing another Tiffany Aching book now? Or is he continuing with the Moist series?
Click to expand...
I hope it's the former. Even though they're written more for children than his other books I love the Tiffany Aching books. Especially Hat Full of Sky. You get to see much more of Granny Weatherwax than you'd expect in a book that she isn't actually the main character of.
 
Currently lying unfinished somewhere around the house are...

My Boring-Ass Life - Kevin Smith
The Selfish Gene - Richard Dawkins
Hyperspace - Michio Kaku
A Brief History of Time - Stephen Hawking
Genesis Machines - Martyn Amos
The Code Book - Simon Singh
Our Final Century - Martin Rees


I reeeaaly need to finish some of these soon
 
Narvi said:
Another Tiffany Aching book was next, I believe, but after that, Moist. Oh, and the next Moist book is going to be about him becoming the Taxmaster. You've got to have somebody to get the money for all the civic development.
Click to expand...

I hope he gets out another City Watch book sooner or later. There are a few, I know, but if anyone could take it to new places it'd be it's very creator.
 
Man... this Algebra Demystified book really sucks. I came off reading Pre-Algebra demystified, and this new one is by a completely different author, and her approach is TERRIBLE. I completely and one hundred percent understood the first book, but the second one I am sort of at a loss.

Any other recommendations for math books concerning stepping up from basic concepts of elementary algebra(I guess it's called that) into more complex algebra?

This guy on amazon.com has the same experience as me.

The only reason I am bothering to give this book two stars is because it has so many problems you can work through...... if you already know algebra. I did not know any algebra, bought demystified's pre-algebra book, and even though I had read the first one all the way through, I was still completely lost in this one. This book jumps right into problems, takes you through the steps of how to solve them, but does not do any explaining along the way. You are left to wonder at and figure out the problem on your own. It's ridiculous. It almost assumes you already know what you're doing before you have read the book. I am trying to get a job as an electrical construction worker, which you need to know trig., algebra and geometry to get into, and this book did not help me at all. I almost gave up, but then I found the "dummies" books. I opened up Algebra II for Dummies, found the type of problem that was taking me hours to figure out in this book and understood it in less than a minute. This book is full of problems for you to work out on your own, but NO explanations on how they're done. You cannot learn anything from this book without a tutor to explain it. If you want to learn math on your own and from a book with no prior experience (or exp. that is forgotten) buy one of the dummies books. Simply put, they are uncomparable.
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I need a book, maybe two. The one I asked for as a x-mas present isnt available in the bookstore, and they asked me to pick something else (since i dont feel like having it ordered).

The last real book I read was then entire released portion of A Song of Ice and Fire. I cant read books that are based on movies, or have movies based off them... because I just loose interest and watch the movie instead. I have all the lotr books, band of brothers, flags of our fathers and a few others that I never got past the first few chapters.

So, helplife.net, I need help. I have to answer by tomorrow, so ill probably just run with the first few suggestions.
 
I also recommend phillip K. Dick Novels to anyone.

Do Andriods Dream of Electric Sheep?

A Scanner Darkly

Paycheck

etc.
 
Raziaar said:
Man... this Algebra Demystified book really sucks. I came off reading Pre-Algebra demystified, and this new one is by a completely different author, and her approach is TERRIBLE. I completely and one hundred percent understood the first book, but the second one I am sort of at a loss.

Any other recommendations for math books concerning stepping up from basic concepts of elementary algebra(I guess it's called that) into more complex algebra?

This guy on amazon.com has the same experience as me.
Click to expand...

Algebra for Dummies? =p
 
I just finished reading Train Man... the manga. :p
 
Krynn72 said:
I need a book, maybe two. The one I asked for as a x-mas present isnt available in the bookstore, and they asked me to pick something else (since i dont feel like having it ordered).

The last real book I read was then entire released portion of A Song of Ice and Fire. I cant read books that are based on movies, or have movies based off them... because I just loose interest and watch the movie instead. I have all the lotr books, band of brothers, flags of our fathers and a few others that I never got past the first few chapters.

So, helplife.net, I need help. I have to answer by tomorrow, so ill probably just run with the first few suggestions.
Click to expand...
The Name Of The Rose by umberto eco was good, one of the few medieval based books Ive actually given time to. I hate fantasy shit like lotr, but this is more like a cross between sherlock holmes and "The Thing From The Crypt" in a medieval setting. Good stuff, very philosophical from what I remember as well.
 
Just finished the Teutonic Poker, amazing book. In a completely alternative 20th century.

I need to restart reading Mika Valtari's Mikael. And no, I didn't take my nick from that book.
 
Tonight it will be Becaria's Of Crime And Punishment, in full this time.
 
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