Books discussion

[sur.nhm]

Hmm, reading Timeline for school (You can basically read any book, since they use "AR" so they get computer tests for almost every book that's still around). (And yes, I'm planning to read all the Crichton books. A shame there won't be anymore.)

I dunno about his other books, but I've read both Jurassic Park and The Lost World quite a few times, and they were really disappoining books: they weren't written will, the characters were flat and the story waas so-so. Augh.

[anakayub]

I read the Lost World once.

I decided to only read non-fiction since.

[Rigor]

i also read jurassic park but stopped somewhere near page 250+ i dont even know if i really finished it, as surnhm said, it was really just so-so. i know that this guy in peculiar has been using his scientific background to write about high tech stuff but in a very menacing and frightening way. i dont like how many ppl believe genetics or nanotech is all bad because they have read books which have quotes like "and it is happening right now" references in it. you turn a neutral person in a slightly if not fully converted one from the second they have the book in their hands, because its so negatively biased (because those guys want their books to be somewhat realistic to stirr up controversy and therefore create a huge echo and thus selling them better than other books).

thats what i think. i think i read 2 or 3 crichton books.

[HomerJ]

Was "Prey" also by Crichton? If so, most of what has been said also applies, the idea however was genuine.


Greetz
HomerJ

[Hulavuta]

Hmm, I have to agree on most of the points. One of the main reasons why I like his books is because they have some kind of science or something written into the story, which is more fun than reading the same stuff out of a textbook or something.


On another note, has anyone read/liked Animal Farm? (Has this been brought up already? Sorry, I can't remember.)

[thespaceinvader]

A long while ago, but yes. Animal Farm is a very good book.

[sur.nhm]

A long while ago, but yes. Animal Farm is a very good book.

I've read it, and it is indeed good, but mildly depressing. Doesn't get to 1984's level, though.

[Hulavuta]

Yeah. The biggest issue is that it's an allegory, so that really happened. Although, everything's freakier with anthro-animals. Especially at the end, when they turn into humans.

[Rigor]

1984 was a fast read for me. i was reading it in my native language and i was finished really soon. i pretty much flew over the depressing monologues from the main villain in new-speak and didnt want to get too much in touch with the protagonist who was done for from the beginning. knowing a book has a very bad ending (not the way it is written, but what you can expect), i simply cant propagate to read this book, because books where the protagonist doesnt achieve anything and ultimately fails feels like a waste of time to me.

there are exceptions where you know about the historic setting like the nazi time where u know whats gonna happen, but the protagonist should be the guy who kicks ass, undergoes a metamorphosis from *whatever bad traits u can think of* into a new, *good attribute here* person, finds his luck in doing something unusual (epic win), or simply manages to get out of the mess unscathed because he outsmarted everybody else. a book where you are in a kind of hell you cannot escape from is simply no worth my while (in contrast, huis clos (english title no exit) in which u can find the memorable quote « l’enfer, c’est les Autres. » is something i found rather funny, and not stupid at all). the author of the book (1984) was depressed while he was writing it, and died of his illness very soon afterwards. i wonder why it was so successful.

[lmelior]

Timeline is my favorite Michael Crichton novel, although the horrendous movie with quite possibly the worst actor ever as the lead kind of ruins my memory of it.

The Runelords series by David Farland, beginning with the Sum of All Men http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sum-All-Men-Run ... 1841495603 - good books, with a long game story-wise and an interesting magic system (though I can't help but feel that sticking with the Endowment magic alone, rather than tacking on the Four-Elements system too, would have made the book feel a little less busy, albeit the Earth King storyline would have had to be rethought), but by no means perfect. However, there are a lot of them, so there's plenty of time to improve. The characters are well-thought out and offer a lot of development, and the real villains seem well-foreshadowed, as does the (still potential as of the early part of book two) heel-face-turn of Raj Ahten. Overall, well worth your time.

Did you find that on your own or did you remember it from my post back on page 40? I read the third but stalled on reading the fourth even though a lot of interesting things are going on. One things for sure, you will certainly not see what's coming after only one book.

Still working through the 1000+ page The Way of Kings, and just got The Grand Design by Stephen Hawking from the library.

[thespaceinvader]

Found it entirely on my own, there was a copy of the Sum of All Men on sale used from the library, and it turns out that same library has all the other books in the series.

I need to get hold of Way of Kings. Really, really need to. But I need a job first >.<

Currently I'm reading Small Gods by Pratchett. Good as I remembered it.

[Limabean]

Hmm, I have to agree on most of the points. One of the main reasons why I like his books is because they have some kind of science or something written into the story, which is more fun than reading the same stuff out of a textbook or something.

I'd say that applies to any good sci-fi . Crichton isn't my favorite, probably for the opposite reason that you like him. He seems to start with some science premise, but before long the science fades out and is replaced with a thriller (not necessarily bad, but meh...)

I just started Ringworld, by Larry Niven. High hopes so far...

[Rigor]

today ive been stumbling over some pretty strange sounding books: namely, having more fun than you

http://www.amazon.com/Having-More-Fun-T ... pd_sim_b_4

"So, Married Person, I have said my peace. Now please leave. I suggest you peruse Amazon’s tremendous selection of baby monitors and lawn care equipment ideal for those who have given up on fun. This book, on the other hand, is strictly for those for whom the party has just begun."

men are better than women

http://www.amazon.com/Men-Are-Better-Th ... 1416953817

"...any woman reading this are cautioned to put the book down and walk away...you women are delicate creatures and dont have the stomachs or the brains to look into the supernova of raw and uncensored man-logic that comprises this book. your fragile woman-psychos cannot stand the depths of sophomoric intellect this book conjures on every page. woman, feel free to go broaden your horizons with healing crystals, feng shui wheels, or any other new-age monkey [censored]..."

of course this is in no way my personal opinion, i just wondered that those books exist, and i wanted to share this knowledge with you and maybe have u have some free laughs (because u can read some of the best jokes the book provides for free). dont take it too seriously, its just fun to read something politically incorrect for once

and i just finished my big luggage for many, many months:

The Great Arab Conquests: How the Spread of Islam Changed the World We Live in The Great Arab Conquests: How the Spread of Islam Changed the World We Live in

http://www.amazon.com/Great-Arab-Conque ... 851&sr=8-1

jeez that was a really long read. so much detailed information, so compact, so well written. now i finally understand how it was possible for a nomadic army to conquer so many ancient cities without problems! antioch, carthage, alexandria, all well known places and long time in the hands of rome. religious inter-christian conflicts and the recent sasanid-byzantinian war led to a very unstable and weak superpower where a lot have had been won with diplomacy. an extremely interesting read but took a very long time to finish it because not every region of the book was interesting for me, for instance i was having problems reading the middle part where i had a head full of names which i couldnt recall anymore. thats why i started some other books in the meantime and finished 3 of them during this marathon session,some of them in german and some in english.

[Velensk]

men are better than women

http://www.amazon.com/Men-Are-Better-Th ... 1416953817

There exists somewhere on the internet a many-multipage manifesto which reads as the inverse of what that book sounds like (though definitely not the opposite). Having read it I feel absolutely no inclination to try that book even though in theory it should favor me better. A certain kind of naivety is required to write something like that which bothers me a ton more than what is actually being said. To rephrase: it bothers me more that a person could acquire the life experience to think that men are supremely evil than that someone would stand on the metaphorical corner and yell it at whomever passes. I imagine that I would be no less bothered by the fact that someone could come to believe all women are mostly useless and fragile.

To be on topic: I have recently read A Midsummer Nights Tempest. The book postulates that everything Shakespear wrote was fact and reads as an alternate history with magic. If you pay attention you can notice that all of the nobility talk in Iambic Petameter but the commoners do not. I cannot say that I enjoyed it that much but it wasn't bad.

[thespaceinvader]

I continue to enjoy the Runelords series by David Farland. I just finished the Lair of Bones, which was an excellent culmination to the first quadrilogy in the larger series. There are still a lot of unanswered questions, but there are at least 4 more books to come. It answered the major questions it set up early in the series, however, and feels a lot more integrated at this point that it did in the middle of the first book.

Once more, heartily recommend this series. When I have some money again, I'll probably be buying the rest of the books I don't currently own.

Also recently reread Equal Rites by Pratchett. As good as I remember it, but reading very early Discworld is a very different experience from the later books. Pratchett was a lot more parodical and less satirical in the early days, and tended to play a lot faster and looser with the fourth wall, making direct comparisons with modern things which you wouldn't see in his current books so explicitly. That's not to say he doesn't refer to modern things any more - in fact, he does so far more. But he satirises them, rather than mentioning them.

Anyway. Onwards.