Summer reading (BOOK THREAD - KRACUS BEWARE)

Post by **Jackal** » Thu Jun 23, 2005 3:29 pm

I don't know if anybody has ever read "Ishmael" or "My Ishmael" or "The Story of B" but they're pretty good reads. There's definately a fair bit of rubbish in them but overall they're fairly enlightening.

Post by **HM-PuFFNSTuFF** » Thu Jun 23, 2005 3:31 pm

first of all he revolutionized linguistics

second of all, Manufacturing Consent and Deterring Democracy are must reads

Post by **tnf** » Thu Jun 23, 2005 3:54 pm

What a bunch of literate bastards we have here.

Post by **tnf** » Thu Jun 23, 2005 3:55 pm

This thread has turned out better than I thought...lots of shit to check into now.

Post by **Jackal** » Thu Jun 23, 2005 3:58 pm

HM-PuFFNSTuFF wrote:first of all he revolutionized linguistics

second of all, Manufacturing Consent and Deterring Democracy are must reads

yeah, but he's not cool on tv. so I think he's gay.

Post by **4g3nt_Smith** » Thu Jun 23, 2005 4:36 pm

Working on Brave New World right now as well, then its on to Lord of The Flies. God I hate mandatory reading assignments.

Post by **Nightshade** » Thu Jun 23, 2005 4:44 pm

HM-PuFFNSTuFF wrote:first of all he revolutionized linguistics

second of all, Manufacturing Consent and Deterring Democracy are must reads

A friend summarized the gist of Manufacturing Consent for me, and as I though about the concept, I realized that it's an absolutely perfect description of the way things work.

*fires up amazon.com*

Post by **saturn** » Thu Jun 23, 2005 4:51 pm

I just finished: "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time" by Mark Haddon.

Absolutely great novel about an autistic boy who tries to solve the murder on the neighbour's poodle and discovers much more. Entire novel is written in this boy's perspective and his autistic mind can't cope with the chaotic stimuli from the outer world like the way we do. His mind is pure logic and functions with pure reason.

Actually, it's brilliant.

Post by **Massive Quasars** » Thu Jun 23, 2005 4:55 pm

A savant?

Post by **Nightshade** » Thu Jun 23, 2005 4:58 pm

Gesundheit.

Post by **HM-PuFFNSTuFF** » Thu Jun 23, 2005 5:00 pm

Nightshade wrote:
HM-PuFFNSTuFF wrote:first of all he revolutionized linguistics

second of all, Manufacturing Consent and Deterring Democracy are must reads
A friend summarized the gist of Manufacturing Consent for me, and as I though about the concept, I realized that it's an absolutely perfect description of the way things work.

*fires up amazon.com*

it's an incredibly prescient work

Post by **HM-PuFFNSTuFF** » Thu Jun 23, 2005 5:00 pm

saturn wrote:I just finished: "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time" by Mark Haddon.

Absolutely great novel about an autistic boy who tries to solve the murder on the neighbour's poodle and discovers much more. Entire novel is written in this boy's perspective and his autistic mind can't cope with the chaotic stimuli from the outer world like the way we do. His mind is pure logic and functions with pure reason.

Actually, it's brilliant.

this book sounds amazing

Post by **saturn** » Thu Jun 23, 2005 5:04 pm

Massive Quasars wrote:A savant?

he's an autitistic savant with excellent numerical and mathematical abilities. Throughout the whole book you'll find mathematical puzzles which are explained. The chapters are numbered as prime numbers :icon32:

Post by **werldhed** » Thu Jun 23, 2005 5:05 pm

saturn wrote:I just finished: "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time" by Mark Haddon.

Absolutely great novel about an autistic boy who tries to solve the murder on the neighbour's poodle and discovers much more. Entire novel is written in this boy's perspective and his autistic mind can't cope with the chaotic stimuli from the outer world like the way we do. His mind is pure logic and functions with pure reason.

Actually, it's brilliant.

Fucking great book, in the most interesting sense of the phrase. :icon14:

*edit: for those interested, it reads kind of like a children's book -- very simple. Nevertheless, very insightful.

Post by **saturn** » Thu Jun 23, 2005 5:08 pm

HM-PuFFNSTuFF wrote:
saturn wrote:I just finished: "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time" by Mark Haddon.

Absolutely great novel about an autistic boy who tries to solve the murder on the neighbour's poodle and discovers much more. Entire novel is written in this boy's perspective and his autistic mind can't cope with the chaotic stimuli from the outer world like the way we do. His mind is pure logic and functions with pure reason.

Actually, it's brilliant.
this book sounds amazing

Read it, it's only 240 small pages so you'll read through it in one day.
Intriguing when you enter the mind of someone who doesn't understand complex facial expressions or who cannot do small talk. "I'm Christopher and I'm 15 years, 9 months and 3 days old. I like doing maths."

Post by **werldhed** » Thu Jun 23, 2005 5:13 pm

I'm interested in reading The Mind Tree, by this guy.

Apparently he's a severe autistic who learned to write.

Post by **Massive Quasars** » Thu Jun 23, 2005 5:13 pm

saturn wrote:
Massive Quasars wrote:A savant?
he's an autitistic savant with excellent numerical and mathematical abilities. Throughout the whole book you'll find mathematical puzzles which are explained. The chapters are numbered as prime numbers :icon32:

cool

Post by **saturn** » Thu Jun 23, 2005 5:16 pm

werldhed wrote:
Fucking great book, in the most interesting sense of the phrase. :icon14:

*edit: for those interested, it reads kind of like a children's book -- very simple. Nevertheless, very insightful.

I heard that Mark Haddon works with autistic children.

Post by **werldhed** » Thu Jun 23, 2005 5:17 pm

Yeah, he does. Or, that's what I've heard as well. It definitely shows.

Post by **sliver** » Thu Jun 23, 2005 7:07 pm

saturn wrote:I just finished: "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time" by Mark Haddon.

Absolutely great novel about an autistic boy who tries to solve the murder on the neighbour's poodle and discovers much more. Entire novel is written in this boy's perspective and his autistic mind can't cope with the chaotic stimuli from the outer world like the way we do. His mind is pure logic and functions with pure reason.

Actually, it's brilliant.

I don't really remember why, but i didn't like it that much. The autism stuff was interesting, and well done, but i seem to recall an abrupt ending that didn't properly follow what had come so far.

Post by **ajerara** » Thu Jun 23, 2005 8:40 pm

Frankenstein is a bit boring, eh? Well, I may skip a few parts, then. Make my own condensed version. What do you guys recommend by Ray Bradbury? That's another author whose work I've only seen on TV and film. I saw him speak at the Comic-con in San Diego last year, really has a great mind. He speaks like he writes, it's almost poetic. I'm going again this year, probably see him lecture again.

Post by **R00k** » Thu Jun 23, 2005 10:01 pm

ajerara wrote:Frankenstein is a bit boring, eh? Well, I may skip a few parts, then. Make my own condensed version. What do you guys recommend by Ray Bradbury? That's another author whose work I've only seen on TV and film. I saw him speak at the Comic-con in San Diego last year, really has a great mind. He speaks like he writes, it's almost poetic. I'm going again this year, probably see him lecture again.

You haven't read Fahrenheit 451?

Post by **mik0rs** » Thu Jun 23, 2005 10:08 pm

saturn wrote:I just finished: "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time" by Mark Haddon.

Absolutely great novel about an autistic boy who tries to solve the murder on the neighbour's poodle and discovers much more. Entire novel is written in this boy's perspective and his autistic mind can't cope with the chaotic stimuli from the outer world like the way we do. His mind is pure logic and functions with pure reason.

Actually, it's brilliant.

Top notch book, bought it a few months ago :icon14:

Post by **saturn** » Thu Jun 23, 2005 10:11 pm

sliver wrote:
I don't really remember why, but i didn't like it that much. The autism stuff was interesting, and well done, but i seem to recall an abrupt ending that didn't properly follow what had come so far.

The ending wasn't totally on a par with the rest of the book, but adequate without diminishing the story.

Post by **saturn** » Thu Jun 23, 2005 10:12 pm

mik0rs wrote:
Top notch book, bought it a few months ago :icon14:

:icon14: