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Book Thread. I have nothing good to read.

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dobrojim
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Re: Book Thread. I have nothing good to read. 

Post#141 » by dobrojim » Thu Aug 26, 2010 6:36 pm

FWIW

I read Andrew Bacevich's latest book, finishing it while on vacation.

Great read - highly recommended - takes no prisoners from either
party.

Washington Rules

On a personal note - Dr Bacevich included at one point the same
quote I am using as my sig, but I had first read the quote in
A People's History of the US.
A lot of what we call 'thought' is just mental activity

When you are accustomed to privilege, equality feels like oppression

Those who are convinced of absurdities, can be convinced to commit atrocities
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Re: Book Thread. I have nothing good to read. 

Post#142 » by pancakes3 » Thu Aug 26, 2010 6:47 pm

looks interesting. i'll probably pick it up, or borrow it from the 'brary.

read "when the game was ours" the book about magic and bird. interesting, but not really eye-opening. looking for a good book about Wilt to read now. also read "why black people tend to shout" by wiley. he was probably the ONLY black sportswriter that pulled off the angry black man successfully IMO. it was just so believable when he talked/wrote. stephen a smith, scoop johnson, and ::shudder: jason whitlock? they just irks me.

RIP wiley.
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Re: Book Thread. I have nothing good to read. 

Post#143 » by dobrojim » Thu Aug 26, 2010 6:49 pm

as one might guess from the number of times I referred to or recommended him,
I find Bacevich highly readable as well as forceful and compelling in presenting
his case. He also wrote what I again felt was a great piece in the Huff Post

http://tinyurl.com/39qhsal

fav quote from near the end of the Huff Post piece
Nearly 20 years ago, a querulous Madeleine Albright demanded to know: “What's the point of having this superb military you're always talking about if we can't use it?” Today, an altogether different question deserves our attention: What’s the point of constantly using our superb military if doing so doesn’t actually work?

Re Wilt
I'd still like to find out how fast Wilt finished the Honolulu marathon
which I read that he ran some years after retiring. I was never able
to find the official results for whatever year it was he ran it.
A lot of what we call 'thought' is just mental activity

When you are accustomed to privilege, equality feels like oppression

Those who are convinced of absurdities, can be convinced to commit atrocities
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Re: Book Thread. I have nothing good to read. 

Post#144 » by lupin » Fri Aug 27, 2010 1:15 pm

anyone bought one of the new Kindles or using any of the ebook readers? i've pre-ordered, but it won't ship until Sep 10.
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Re: Book Thread. I have nothing good to read. 

Post#145 » by Ed Wood » Fri Aug 27, 2010 5:26 pm

I'm currently mostly done with the first book of Javier Marias' espionagy Your Face Tomorrow series and I'm in it to win it at this point, though I know dramatically more about the strained relationship between the main character and his estranged wife than I do about espionage to this point, and probably as much about the crazy man across the street who dances in his spare time as well. On the other hand I look forward to whatever spyin' is in my literary future and I don't think I'd be too brokenhearted if I had to settle for more of the rest. Marias is a great if unusual writer, this one gets a strong buy recommendation.
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Re: Book Thread. I have nothing good to read. 

Post#146 » by w dumseld » Sat Aug 28, 2010 1:20 am

Don't know if this has been posted about before, but if not, highly recommend Shantaram. Awesome book and I think it would be found highly enjoyable in these slow months as we wait for the season to start.
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Re: Book Thread. I have nothing good to read. 

Post#147 » by pancakes3 » Sun Nov 28, 2010 5:13 pm

bump, just got lords of finance, 13 bankers, and washington rules e-books with hopes to be finished with all 3 by new year's. probably won't happen because i'm still mucking my way through the new jared diamond - rise and fall of the 3rd chimpanzee.
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Re: Book Thread. I have nothing good to read. 

Post#148 » by doclinkin » Mon Jul 11, 2011 4:00 am

Enjoying the heck out of the first book of Neal Stephenson's Baroque cycle (Quicksilver). I'm not sure if I'll commit to all three books ( I hear the quality of the next two tails off a bit) but in book one NS manages to resurrect the era of Isaac Newton as a vivid comical adventure series of braided adventure stories. Politics, plague, syphillus, vagabond kings, at the dawn of modern physics. There are a few off notes here and there, but they're merely flotsam in the current of the story. He manages a few chuckles per chapter, and drops metaphors that pulse with animation.

Recent excellent Graphic Novels:
Lewis and Clark
(The Annotated) Northwest Passage
I Kill Giants

Comics for the kiddies:
G-Man (vols 1 and 2). by Chris Giarusso (Image Comics)
Franklin Richards, Son of a Genius. (Marvel)
Ghostopolis, by Doug TenNapel
The Unsinkable Walker Bean, by Aaron Reiner
Zita the Space Girl, by Ben Hatke
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Re: Book Thread. I have nothing good to read. 

Post#149 » by Zonkerbl » Mon Jul 11, 2011 4:49 pm

Finally got some reading in over the July 4th holiday. Read Paolo Bacigalupi's "The Windup Girl," which wasn't bad. Am reading China Mieville's "The Scar" now.
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Re: Book Thread. I have nothing good to read. 

Post#150 » by daSwami » Mon Jul 11, 2011 8:56 pm

For humor enthusiasts check out "This is a Book" by Demetri Martin. Dude cracks me up. If you've caught his stand up act or watched his TV Show then you have a pretty good idea of what you're in for: a lot of word play, silly drawings, etc... This is, afterall, the guy who wrote the following 224-word palindrome poem:

“Dammit I’m Mad”

Dammit I’m mad.
Evil is a deed as I live.
God, am I reviled? I rise, my bed on a sun, I melt.
To be not one man emanating is sad. I piss.
Alas, it is so late. Who stops to help?
Man, it is hot. I’m in it. I tell.
I am not a devil. I level “Mad Dog”.
Ah, say burning is, as a deified gulp,
In my halo of a mired rum tin.
I erase many men. Oh, to be man, a sin.
Is evil in a clam? In a trap?
No. It is open. On it I was stuck.
Rats peed on hope. Elsewhere dips a web.
Be still if I fill its ebb.
Ew, a spider… eh?
We sleep. Oh no!
Deep, stark cuts saw it in one position.
Part animal, can I live? Sin is a name.
Both, one… my names are in it.
Murder? I’m a fool.
A hymn I plug, deified as a sign in ruby ash,
A Goddam level I lived at.
On mail let it in. I’m it.
Oh, sit in ample hot spots. Oh wet!
A loss it is alas (sip). I’d assign it a name.
Name not one bottle minus an ode by me:
“Sir, I deliver. I’m a dog”
Evil is a deed as I live.
Dammit I’m mad.
:banghead:
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Re: Book Thread. I have nothing good to read. 

Post#151 » by Liverbird » Mon Jul 11, 2011 10:28 pm

pancakes3 wrote:bump, just got lords of finance, 13 bankers, and washington rules e-books with hopes to be finished with all 3 by new year's. probably won't happen because i'm still mucking my way through the new jared diamond - rise and fall of the 3rd chimpanzee.


How did you like the Diamond book? I read the first two (enjoyed the first one better) and was considering "Chimpanzee"

Cheers
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Re: Book Thread. I have nothing good to read. 

Post#152 » by Severn Hoos » Tue Jul 12, 2011 12:05 am

Swami, I just had to give a shout out to my man Weird Al based on your quote. (I know it may belong in the music thread vs. the book thread, but it's the offseason, who's being picky?)

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nej4xJe4Tdg[/youtube]

I, man, am regal a German am I
Never odd or even
If I had a hi-fi
Madam, I'm Adam
Too hot to hoot
No lemons, no melon
Too bad I hid a boot
Lisa Bonet ate no basil
Warsaw was raw
Was it a car or a cat I saw?

Rise to vote, sir
Do geese see God?
"Do nine men interpret?" "Nine men," I nod
Rats live on no evil star
Won't lovers revolt now?
Race fast, safe car
Pa's a sap
Ma is as selfless as I am
May a moody baby doom a yam?

Ah Satan sees Natasha
No devil lived on
Lonely Tylenol
Not a banana baton
No "x" in "Nixon"
O, stone, be not so
O Geronimo, no minor ego
"Naomi", I moan
"A Toyota's a Toyota"
A dog, a panic in a pagoda

Oh, no! Don Ho!
Nurse, I spy gypsies -- run!
Senile felines
Now I see bees I won
UFO tofu
We panic in a pew
Oozy rat in a sanitary zoo
God! A red nugget! A fat egg under a dog!
Go hang a salami, I'm a lasagna hog
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Re: Book Thread. I have nothing good to read. 

Post#153 » by KiNgSbOi » Tue Jul 12, 2011 6:02 am

Anybody have some recommendations for a first time book reader? I want to start reading some good books, I prefer horror novels, sci-fi and mystery. Anything along those lines will grasp my attention, so if you could throw some suggestions my way that would be greatly appreciated!
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Re: Book Thread. I have nothing good to read. 

Post#154 » by Ruzious » Tue Jul 12, 2011 11:28 am

KiNgSbOi wrote:Anybody have some recommendations for a first time book reader? I want to start reading some good books, I prefer horror novels, sci-fi and mystery. Anything along those lines will grasp my attention, so if you could throw some suggestions my way that would be greatly appreciated!

I'd recommend early Stephen King books - page-turners that will grab your attention right away. He's a great story teller - as opposed to a literary genius. Night Shift or Different Seasons might be the best to start with - since they're both collections of shorter stories. The Shining, Carrie, The Dead Zone, Firestarter, Cujo, Christine are all captivating novels, and he's got a bunch more. I'd recommend The Stand, but it's very long to start with.
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Re: Book Thread. I have nothing good to read. 

Post#155 » by pancakes3 » Tue Jul 12, 2011 4:22 pm

Liverbird wrote:
pancakes3 wrote:bump, just got lords of finance, 13 bankers, and washington rules e-books with hopes to be finished with all 3 by new year's. probably won't happen because i'm still mucking my way through the new jared diamond - rise and fall of the 3rd chimpanzee.


How did you like the Diamond book? I read the first two (enjoyed the first one better) and was considering "Chimpanzee"

Cheers


good golly was that book comprehensive. it ran the gamut from chimps to aliens. it can almost be viewed as 4-5 separate books, each an offshoot of human nature. it broke humans down to nothing more than a glorified animal and explores why we do the things we do. as with all diamond books, it gets repetitive after a while since his hypotheses are generally pretty easy to grasp and the various cites he uses are more or less the same.

all in all, it's very interesting with some particularly unique views on dating. the bit of our genetic link to chimps is actually only one small part of the book and the rest delves back to more anthropologic roots as to how we humans became the way we are.

so... in summary - a good read but it'll take you a few weeks/months to read because it's too dry to read at once. a good "good-night" book or a book for the crapper that you can take in a few pages at a time and let the ideas marinate.


edit: kingsboi, i'd also recommend Michael Crichton books. very interesting stuff. he's the one who came up with Congo, Jurassic Park, Timeline, and some other pretty interesting tech-fiction.
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Re: Book Thread. I have nothing good to read. 

Post#156 » by dobrojim » Tue Jul 12, 2011 6:22 pm

13 Bankers and Washington Rules are both good reads and timely as well.

I recently finish The Long Summer - scary book, a comprehensive look at
climate change over the past ~15,000 years.
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Re: Book Thread. I have nothing good to read. 

Post#157 » by hands11 » Wed Jul 13, 2011 12:04 am

Some of my favorites.

Way of the Peaceful Warrior. It is a serious. The I read was " The Journey of Socrates " Very good.
Celestine Prophecy. Again, it is a serious. All of them are good.
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Re: Book Thread. I have nothing good to read. 

Post#158 » by Nivek » Wed Jul 13, 2011 2:18 pm

Recently read "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close" by Jonathan Foer. About a 9-year old boy whose dad was killed in the Twin Towers collapse on 9/11. Sort of. It's really about the effect that trauma can have on people. Terrific read, although the ending was disappointing.

Just read the first Harry Potter book at my daughter's urging. Enjoyable enough for a kids' book, but the writing was meh. My daughter says the books get better, although (she says) the 2nd one sucks.

Also been reading the Reacher novels by Lee Child. Every one of them has been a good read so far. Just started The Enemy.
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Re: Book Thread. I have nothing good to read. 

Post#159 » by Ruzious » Wed Jul 13, 2011 2:56 pm

Niv, I'd also recommend "Everything is Illuminated". It's not quite as polished as "Incredibly Loud...", but it's a good read.
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Re: Book Thread. I have nothing good to read. 

Post#160 » by fishercob » Wed Jul 13, 2011 3:22 pm

hands11 wrote:Some of my favorites.

Way of the Peaceful Warrior. It is a serious. The I read was " The Journey of Socrates " Very good.
Celestine Prophecy. Again, it is a serious. All of them are good.


I thought Celestine Prophecy was serious when I was 21 and smoked a lot of weed. But it's complete drivel, albeit mildly entertaining.
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