Bibliophile Thread

Freddy Rumsen
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Postby Freddy Rumsen » Mon Jan 15, 2018 12:19 pm

Totally buying that thanks for the heads up

eddy
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Postby eddy » Thu Jan 18, 2018 8:54 am

Shadowbahn by Steve Erickson. What a **** head trip of a novel. It took me a while until it clicked (and I don't know if it's possible for it to all click), this post apocalyptic examination of Americas history and who we are and have become after the twin towers fell and reappeared in the Badlands 20 years later through the partial eyes of Elvis's stillborn twin Jesse. And on top of that it's all done to a soundtrack running parallel to the story in a country where music has stopped (I listened to the music along while reading the book and it strangely works). I personally loved it and would probably say it's not the best jumping in point to a Steve Erickson book (zeroville probably being the best from what I've read). This is a weird book that is wonderfully written and quite fitting to where America is today.

shafnutz05
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Postby shafnutz05 » Thu Jan 18, 2018 12:07 pm

Just finished Stardust...can't wait to see the movie.

eddy
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Postby eddy » Thu Jan 18, 2018 12:30 pm

https://www.amazon.com/Annihilation-Nov ... 00EGJ32A6/

Annihilation is 3.99 on kindle today if anyone wants a good read

Gaucho
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Postby Gaucho » Sun Jan 21, 2018 7:07 pm


MrKennethTKangaroo
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Postby MrKennethTKangaroo » Mon Jan 22, 2018 9:05 am

Finished hillbilly elegy. Pretty good memoir type book with a bit of actual research behind it. Not sure exactly what the overall theme was, but if you are looking for good insight on rural poverty, the rest belt, decay in the family unit, etc. I would recommend it.

Picked up Thinking Fast and Slow from the library today too.

columbia
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Postby columbia » Mon Jan 22, 2018 9:19 am

Picked up Thinking Fast and Slow from the library today too.
Looking over a summary of the book on Wiki, that's pretty close to my freshman psychology class. CMU now offers the first PhD in behavioral economics, so it all makes sense.

Enjoy the heuristics talk!

Troy Loney
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Postby Troy Loney » Mon Jan 22, 2018 9:21 am

I found that book to be very insightful. I also felt it could be a bit redundant at times and probably could have been done in half the pages.

MrKennethTKangaroo
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Postby MrKennethTKangaroo » Mon Jan 22, 2018 9:23 am

I've read about 10 pages and there have been multiple paragraphs (and sentences) that could have been slashed in half.

DigitalGypsy66
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Postby DigitalGypsy66 » Mon Jan 22, 2018 9:31 am

I finished listening to Double Cross by Ben Macintyre over the weekend. It chronicles the elaborate deception operation to trick the Germans into thinking the main invasion of Europe would be at the Pas De Calais or Belgium.

I highly recommend any of Alan Furst's novels, which draw along the same storylines and have the same feel as the true-life Double Cross story. These various European playboys/low level aristocrats get recruited to spy for the Allies and feed bad intelligence back to the Germans.

Macintyre even briefly chronicles MI6's attempt to send carrier pigeons to infiltrate the German pigeons' lofts with false information. :lol: They had hundreds of people - on both sides - working on homing pigeons.

I don't recommend listening to history books (especially with a lot of different characters) via audiobook. I had difficulty keeping track of all of the characters (spies, handlers for both sides). The voice actor was great - switching between multiple accents with frequency - but it was tough to keep up. One such paragraph, a spy from the Balkans was working for the British against the Germans in the United States, required the narrator to go from Yugoslavian accented English, to German accented English, back to his standard British accent, to an American accent - all within about a paragraph or two. That's really cool.

DigitalGypsy66
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Postby DigitalGypsy66 » Thu Jan 25, 2018 2:39 pm

Finished up Andy Weir's follow up to The Martian, called Artemis. It's basically a caper story on the moon city of Artemis (obviously in the future). I enjoyed the premise, but
Weir is a good writer, but he's not talented enough to write a character's voice other than a middle aged white guy. The main character of this novel is a 26 year old Saudi woman, but she often sounds like a 15 year old kid from the suburbs. It was off putting, until I just imagined her as a dude. :lol:

I read an interview where he had originally told this same caper story from two other characters' perspective, with the eventual main character playing a minor supporting role. He rewrote it after liking that character better.
He's entertaining other books written in this city, with the same characters, which would be pretty cool.

Gaucho
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Postby Gaucho » Thu Jan 25, 2018 5:30 pm

Julian Barnes, The Only Story - C+ (not his best)
Denis Johnson, The Largesse of the Seas Maiden - B+ (posthumous, short stories; two outstanding, three so-so)
James Lee Burke, Robicheaux - B+ (his best in years, imo)
Francis Spufford, Golden Hill - B (so far)

eddy
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Postby eddy » Wed Feb 14, 2018 2:45 pm

@AuthorTony

have you ever read A Head Full of Ghosts by Paul Tremblay?

https://www.amazon.com/Head-Full-Ghosts ... 0062363247

robbiestoupe
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Postby robbiestoupe » Wed Feb 14, 2018 3:24 pm

I enjoyed Blake Crouch's Wayward Pines trilogy. Now onto some John Muir writings.

AuthorTony
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Postby AuthorTony » Wed Feb 14, 2018 3:42 pm

@AuthorTony

have you ever read A Head Full of Ghosts by Paul Tremblay?

https://www.amazon.com/Head-Full-Ghosts ... 0062363247
It's been on my kindle for a couple years, but I haven't had a chance to actually read it yet. For some reason, the plot doesn't sound too exciting to me. Tremblay's second book actually sounds better. It has great reviews though so I want to read it eventually.

shafnutz05
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Postby shafnutz05 » Wed Feb 14, 2018 4:26 pm

I am just over halfway through Bag of Bones. I am enjoying it thus far, but it's a sloooooow burn.

dodint
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Postby dodint » Wed Feb 14, 2018 5:24 pm

I am just over halfway through Bag of Bones. I am enjoying it thus far, but it's a sloooooow burn.
I read that a long time ago and gave it to my Mom to read. I kept asking her how she liked it, and she said "I don't think this guy is ever going to get up the driveway." Which about sums it up.

I didn't really understand the movie either.

AuthorTony
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Postby AuthorTony » Wed Feb 14, 2018 10:25 pm

It's definitely slow. I still really enjoyed it though. Maybe my favorite King book of the 2000s.

The movie was a steaming pile of crap.

Shyster
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Postby Shyster » Wed Feb 14, 2018 10:40 pm

Rutgers University Press is issuing a new paperback printing of Ignition!: An Informal History of Liquid Rocket Propellants by the late John D. Clark. It's been out of print for decades and is hard to find. I've read an online PDF version, and despite the name it's actually a really interesting book. Mr. Clark was a capable and witty writer, and if anyone is a bit of a geek and has an interest in rocketry or the history of rocketry and related chemistry, it's a really entertaining read. Endorsed by Elon Musk, who called it “a good book on rocket stuff ... that’s a really fun one.”

If you like the following passage, seriously consider ordering a copy of the new printing:
Chlorine trifluoride, ClF3 , or "CTF" as the engineers insist on calling it...is also quite probably the most vigorous fluorinating agent in existence - much more vigorous than fluorine itself...All this sounds fairly academic and innocuous, but when it is translated into the problem of handling the stuff, the results are horrendous. It is, of course, extremely toxic, but that's the least of the problem. It is hypergolic with every known fuel, and so rapidly hypergolic that no ignition delay has ever been measured. It is also hypergolic with such things as cloth, wood, and test engineers, not to mention asbestos, sand, and water - with which it reacts explosively. It can be kept in some of the ordinary structural metals - steel, copper, aluminum, etc. - because of the formation of a thin film of insoluble metal fluoride which protects the bulk of the metal, just as the invisible coat of oxide on aluminum keeps it from burning up in the atmosphere. If, however, this coat is melted or scrubbed off, and has no chance to reform, the operator is confronted with the problem of coping with a metal-fluorine fire. For dealing with this situation, I have always recommended a good pair of running shoes.

shafnutz05
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Postby shafnutz05 » Thu Feb 15, 2018 6:18 am

she said "I don't think this guy is ever going to get up the driveway." Which about sums it up.
:lol:

robbiestoupe
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Bibliophile Thread

Postby robbiestoupe » Thu Feb 15, 2018 8:16 am

Rutgers University Press is issuing a new paperback printing of Ignition!: An Informal History of Liquid Rocket Propellants by the late John D. Clark. It's been out of print for decades and is hard to find. I've read an online PDF version, and despite the name it's actually a really interesting book. Mr. Clark was a capable and witty writer, and if anyone is a bit of a geek and has an interest in rocketry or the history of rocketry and related chemistry, it's a really entertaining read. Endorsed by Elon Musk, who called it “a good book on rocket stuff ... that’s a really fun one.”

If you like the following passage, seriously consider ordering a copy of the new printing:
Chlorine trifluoride, ClF3 , or "CTF" as the engineers insist on calling it...is also quite probably the most vigorous fluorinating agent in existence - much more vigorous than fluorine itself...All this sounds fairly academic and innocuous, but when it is translated into the problem of handling the stuff, the results are horrendous. It is, of course, extremely toxic, but that's the least of the problem. It is hypergolic with every known fuel, and so rapidly hypergolic that no ignition delay has ever been measured. It is also hypergolic with such things as cloth, wood, and test engineers, not to mention asbestos, sand, and water - with which it reacts explosively. It can be kept in some of the ordinary structural metals - steel, copper, aluminum, etc. - because of the formation of a thin film of insoluble metal fluoride which protects the bulk of the metal, just as the invisible coat of oxide on aluminum keeps it from burning up in the atmosphere. If, however, this coat is melted or scrubbed off, and has no chance to reform, the operator is confronted with the problem of coping with a metal-fluorine fire. For dealing with this situation, I have always recommended a good pair of running shoes.
Don't know if I'd be into it, but I've written the title down for my FIL. He's a retired chemical engineer and book nerd, so will probably gobble this stuff up.

DigitalGypsy66
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Postby DigitalGypsy66 » Thu Feb 15, 2018 9:04 am

Ordered for my library. :fist: :thumb:

Thanks for the heads up.

I'm currently reading the Manchester/Reid Churchill biography. It's 1200 pages, covers only the last 25 years of his life, and took two authors over 20 years to write. It's great so far.

eddy
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Postby eddy » Thu Feb 15, 2018 9:26 am

The Sky Is Yours by Chandler Klang Smith is up next for me. I've been stuck in this weird literary fiction kick for some time and am having a tough time getting out.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/04514 ... UTF8&psc=1

Gaucho
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Postby Gaucho » Tue Feb 20, 2018 1:14 pm

'Ebooks are stupid', says head of one of world's biggest publishers

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/ ... are_btn_tw

columbia
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Postby columbia » Tue Feb 20, 2018 1:23 pm

'Ebooks are stupid', says head of one of world's biggest publishers

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/ ... are_btn_tw
I don’t care for ebooks, but we’ve seen a 50% use increase in each of the last two years, for the broad based (140,000 titles) academic collection we license for the students.

I know that because I’m the stats collector and analyst for about $500,000 worth of online resources and databases. :)

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