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The Book Thread
Well, finals are over, so I've been delving into my pile. Here are some thoughts on my most recent completions:
NONFICTION:
The Code Book by Simon Singh. Fantastic. Really manages to make math dramatic and exciting. I think everybody shares a little bit of that childlike fascination with logical info-puzzles, especially when they can have dramatic consequences like potentially winning (or losing,) World War 2, or bringing down a 400 year hereditary rule, or opening up an entire ancient language. Very engagingly written, with a real flair for story-telling, but enough of a technical bent that I also felt I learned something about the science of cryptography.
Freakonomics by Steven Levitt. Pretty good. Interesting topics addressed from interesting angles, but nothing is discussed in enough depth to be satisfying. Its main virtue is in getting across the basic world view of this economist, but doesn't really do much to cast light on any specific issue it looks at. Interesting, but not a must-read.
The Third Chimpanzee by Jard Diamond. A mixed bag. It's pretty comprehensive, and at times very engagingly written. On the other hand, it's also very basic. A much larger problem, however, is that Diamond is so rabid in his political beliefs that he allows them to cloud his evaluation of scientific ideas. As an example, when rating the reliability of a number of competing theories on human sexual behavior, Diamond dismisses out of hand one of the more popular theories, because he thinks it offensively downplays the role of women. While I actually agree that the theory has rather sexist implications, that doesn't mean it's not true. Diamond doesn't seem too concerned with little details like truth, if they don't play nice with his preexisting moral stances. Also, he's kind of a nut, who advocates (seemingly seriously,) that men should undergo gene therapy so they can breast feed children, to better understand the female perspective on infants.
A Brief History of Time by Steven Hawking. I don't get why people liked this book so much. I thought it sucked. It oscillated between boringly simple to unreadably technical with absolutely no in-between. It is meandering and nothing is ever related to any sort of practical point. He speaks with no insight on any historical issue brought up. And he seems like kind of a dick. I am bewildered.
FICTION:
Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said by Philip K. Dick. PKD is my favorite science fiction author, but this is one of his weaker books. Some interesting studies in human psychology and behavior, but the book doesn't seem to have much of an overall point, and the ending is a non-sequitor that's unsatisfying and needlessly wierd.
For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemmingway. There's a reason he's a legend. This books is amazing. It's written in his trademark style of prose, and the dialogue could be criticized in that people speak more plainly, honestly and poetically than they really would, but it's still a revelation of war, human nature and love. His best book, IMO.
Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency by Douglas Adams. Douglas Adams is and will for some time be, the English language's premiere humourist. The Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy is still collectively his best work, but Dirk Gently is a very, very funny book as well. I'm looking forward to the second book in the series. i <3 Douglas Adams.
Your turn. Don't tell me you boys and girls don't read! :D
NONFICTION:
The Code Book by Simon Singh. Fantastic. Really manages to make math dramatic and exciting. I think everybody shares a little bit of that childlike fascination with logical info-puzzles, especially when they can have dramatic consequences like potentially winning (or losing,) World War 2, or bringing down a 400 year hereditary rule, or opening up an entire ancient language. Very engagingly written, with a real flair for story-telling, but enough of a technical bent that I also felt I learned something about the science of cryptography.
Freakonomics by Steven Levitt. Pretty good. Interesting topics addressed from interesting angles, but nothing is discussed in enough depth to be satisfying. Its main virtue is in getting across the basic world view of this economist, but doesn't really do much to cast light on any specific issue it looks at. Interesting, but not a must-read.
The Third Chimpanzee by Jard Diamond. A mixed bag. It's pretty comprehensive, and at times very engagingly written. On the other hand, it's also very basic. A much larger problem, however, is that Diamond is so rabid in his political beliefs that he allows them to cloud his evaluation of scientific ideas. As an example, when rating the reliability of a number of competing theories on human sexual behavior, Diamond dismisses out of hand one of the more popular theories, because he thinks it offensively downplays the role of women. While I actually agree that the theory has rather sexist implications, that doesn't mean it's not true. Diamond doesn't seem too concerned with little details like truth, if they don't play nice with his preexisting moral stances. Also, he's kind of a nut, who advocates (seemingly seriously,) that men should undergo gene therapy so they can breast feed children, to better understand the female perspective on infants.
A Brief History of Time by Steven Hawking. I don't get why people liked this book so much. I thought it sucked. It oscillated between boringly simple to unreadably technical with absolutely no in-between. It is meandering and nothing is ever related to any sort of practical point. He speaks with no insight on any historical issue brought up. And he seems like kind of a dick. I am bewildered.
FICTION:
Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said by Philip K. Dick. PKD is my favorite science fiction author, but this is one of his weaker books. Some interesting studies in human psychology and behavior, but the book doesn't seem to have much of an overall point, and the ending is a non-sequitor that's unsatisfying and needlessly wierd.
For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemmingway. There's a reason he's a legend. This books is amazing. It's written in his trademark style of prose, and the dialogue could be criticized in that people speak more plainly, honestly and poetically than they really would, but it's still a revelation of war, human nature and love. His best book, IMO.
Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency by Douglas Adams. Douglas Adams is and will for some time be, the English language's premiere humourist. The Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy is still collectively his best work, but Dirk Gently is a very, very funny book as well. I'm looking forward to the second book in the series. i <3 Douglas Adams.
Your turn. Don't tell me you boys and girls don't read! :D
Comments
Books I'm going to read / in the process of reading:
Everything is Illuminated by Jonathon Foer - recommended by my friend. Lots of tongue-in-cheek humour.
Commissariat of Enlightenment by Ken Kalfus - chilling novel about the Russian revolution (fictional)
Catch -22 by Joseph Heller - heard tons of great things about this book, but I'm still trying to find it at my local bookstore
The Company - Robert Littell l - about the CIA and its shady operations. Follows the morals and journeys of a couple CIA agents and how they're pushed to the edge of crossing the line between good and evil. Very intriguing, but hard to finish when the book is 900+ pages.
There are a couple books that I've read in the past, but most of them aren't worth mentioning.
Books I hope to read:
A Russian Diary: A Journalist's Final Account of Life, Corruption, and Death in Putin's Russia by Anna Politkovskaya - i'm a russophile and i've heard this is a must-read. Politkovskaya was an investigative journalist, and a critic of Putin, who was murdered in cold-blood in 2005--on Putin's birthday. She was one of the few fearless journalists that had the courage to report without the Kremlin angles...and the book chronicles her unraveling corruption, scandal, etc. under Putin's Russia..
The Accidental Investment Banker: Inside the Decade that Transformed Wall Street by Jonathan A. Knee - a look inside this multi-billion dollar industry during the 90s...don't know too much about it but i hear it's good.
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz - i've just heard SO many good things about this book so i have to check it out. the author just won the pulitzer for this i think.
The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje -- it was good. It really went into the theme of people's identities and blurred the lines between races. But i didn't like the ending. I still have to watch the movie and make comparisons between that and the book.
Monkey Beach by Eden Robinson -- it was ok. A pretty easy read and it had a few confusing ambiguous parts with ghosts and what not. Interesting tho, but not the best i've ever read.
Candide by Voltaire -- This is one of those books that everyone should read at some point. Such an easy read! But it had so many things going on within it tho....a little too much. The concept of blind optimism was definitely overplayed, but i'm sure that was Voltaire's intention in order to show the absurdity of it.
I have too many books i want to read, so I'm not gonna list them all. I'll just come back to post more when i've finished my next book (which I'm not even sure what it'll be yet).
Catch-22 is one of my favourites. It was funny enough to cause me to laugh out loud. Yeah, I lol'd.
jPod by Douglas Coupland is a good read too. It's set in Vancouver and definitely has a very "BC" feel to it. The CBC filmed a TV show of it lasting 13 episodes (filmed at SFU too) but then they canceled it. Meh, it just reaffirms my theory that CBC sucks. (I mean, they put out shows like "little mosque on the prairie".. gimme a break) Anyways, the book is hilarious and the show was better than most of the crap on tv these days.
Don't read Digital Fortress by Dan Brown. It was awful.
Cryptonomicon by Neil Stephenson
and
The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals by Michael Pollan.
Anyone have experience with either of these? Thoughts?
And it wasn't even related to the course so i dont know why he did that.
Anyways, just thought i'd say cuz other people brought the book up, cuz that book is on my list too....even after knowing what happens i still want to read it. :)
Anyways I've read three books so far this year, Next by Michael Chricton, Voyage of Slaves by Brian Jacques and some other book which I cannot remember at this moment.
And ive read 2 dan brown books (davinci code & Angels and Demons). They were both decent books (not great, davinci code is way too overrated), but the thing that annoyed me is they were both based on the same formula of writing. Ive never picked up another one of his books after i realized he recycles the same formula for his books. If ur a fan of davinci code tho, i suggest u get the "illustrated" edition. Has pics form all the historical sites in the bike.
Also a book to avoid at all costs, The Ruins, a movie based on this book is being released this summer i think, one of the worst i have ever read.
- Blackwater: The Rise of a Mercenary Organisation; this book is pretty intriguing so far. It does have me on the edge of my seat.
- Wicked: I hear great things about this book. And since its inspired a play... also, because I enjoyed (yes, enjoyed) Confessions of an Ugly Step-sister, an autobiography of mine obviously.
Suggestions:
- The Time-Traveler's Wife: looking for a good time? Suky suky fie dorra? This book makes love to anyone who reads it. I'm actually not kidding or being completely moronic. It actually felt like a long session of sex, the one where you aren't really sure when you climaxed because there were so many climaxes. Then it is over before you realise it and you just can't wait to do it all again. Sickening, I know. But HOT.
- Ender's Game: this is like Star Wars without the underlying message of homosexuality. Oh. And Harry Potter makes a cameo as a dead guy who never showed up in the book at all.
- The Bernestein(sp?) Bears: whichever one in the series, they're just good. I actually haven't read any of them, but I hear them bears get it on pretty good.
Will have more suggestions to add later, as I claw my memory for good books that I have slept with.
I can't wait to read it again! Amazing.
Definitely.
Dude, you know they're making a movie of The Time Traveler's Wife?
Eric Bana and Rachel McAdams.
Crazy.
The first book in the series is called [b]Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone[b] and it was written by [b]J.K. Rowling[b]
such a good book.
Oh wait it's that guy from Korn.
Angels and Daemons was probably Dan Brown's best book, followed by the DaVinci Code, the others wern't all that great.
uhm...
His Dark Materials trilogy by Pullman was a great read, it's kind of out-of-there so I had to read it a second time to understand everything.
The Foundation series by Asimov is simply awesome if you like sci-fi.
Getting Away with Murder by Paciocco is an amazing discussion of the canadian criminal justice system...
what else...yea i think that's about it for now.
Wuthering Heights Emily Bronte
Nonfiction
The Weather Makers : How Man Is Changing the Climate and What It Means for Life on Earth
are all of them worth buying?
anyone read watchman?