feed your head

[godfry n. glad]

So...I went this past weekend to the far side of town to introduce my new girlfriend to my favorite restaurant (Swagat - Indian buffet) and my favorite bookstore (Annie Bloom's - a local outfit). I, of course, was having a major jones for book buying...and I entered my favorite book store...and I hadn't been there for months...

I brought home:

Sex, Time and Power: How Women's Sexuality Shaped Human Evolution, by Leonard Shlain.

History as Mystery by Michael Parenti.

The Little Ice Age: How Climate Made History, 1300-1850by Brian Fagan.

Measuring America: How the United States Was Shaped by the Greatest Land Sale in History by Andro Linklater.

Baudolino by Umberto Eco.

Along with the girlfriend...

Does that sound like fun or what?

godfry

[livius drusus]

Oh wow those look kick-ass. I'm adding The Little Ice Age to the list right up front. I myself just got the gigantor lesbians and vampires unabridged version of The Count of Monte Cristo on a tip from Adora.

[godfry n. glad]

I just finished Elaine Pagels' Beyond Belief: The Secret Gospel of Thomas.

I enjoyed her presentation of the problems in early Christianity and the development of the "canon" and the subsequent dogma....second to fourth centuries. Well done for the lay reader.

Her post-text acknowledgements are enticing, to say the least. She mentions one of my favorites in Bart Ehrman, whose work is in the same era and material as hers. And her footnotes are exhausting. (I gotta love a woman who gives good footnotes.)

Anybody else reading anything of note?

godfry

[wade-w]

Unfortunately not. I can't afford to buy books right now (hell, I can't even afford to pay my own rent as far as that goes) and there's not much of a library here.

When I saw the thread title I thought this was going to be about The Jefferson Airplane.

[Beth]

Unfortunately not. I can't afford to buy books right now (hell, I can't even afford to pay my own rent as far as that goes) and there's not much of a library here.

When I saw the thread title I thought this was going to be about The Jefferson Airplane.Um, I am not sure about your county's system, but I am pretty sure they are all pretty similar. You can go on the library's computers, search for books and place orders for them. If they are not on hold, you should get a call in about 4-7 days, sometimes I got them the next day. This way you do not need money to buy the books, well, if you have late fines, then that is an expense.

[Ymir's blood]

When I saw the thread title I thought this was going to be about The Jefferson Airplane.
Yeah! :mouse:

[wade-w]

Um, I am not sure about your county's system, but I am pretty sure they are all pretty similar. You can go on the library's computers, search for books and place orders for them. If they are not on hold, you should get a call in about 4-7 days, sometimes I got them the next day. This way you do not need money to buy the books, well, if you have late fines, then that is an expense.

Beth, I live in a very rural county. The only library around here is the one in the county seat. And that's not run by the county, but by the city (and I use the word "city" very loosely!). No other locations, etc. And their computers only list the books they have; there doesn't seem to be listings for other systems. Oh, and there are no late fines at this library. The only penalty for having an overdue book is that you can't check out more until you return what you have.

It's not really all that bad for such a small, rural area. In fact, I was surprised at how good it is. But I've been here long enough to have exhausted it's resources.

[Dingfod]

It's the same for my local library, it's not interconnected with any library system. When I went there to look for Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance I found two whole shelving units full of bibles and Christian books, but not one book on Zen of any kind, fiction or non-fiction.

[godfry n. glad]

Wow... I'd heard (and seen) of very small local libraries, but never any that weren't connected to a wider interlibrary loan system, at minimum.

I work in a library. It's rather specialized in that it is a support library for the education of physicians, nurses, emergency technicians, radiologists, and other allied health care professions. Not really my reading selection. We are, however, connected to three other libraries, with which we share our catalogs...all even more specialized than the one in which I work. We do, however, subscribe to bibliographic and online access for several different portals that, in sum, gives me online full-text access to over 9000 journal titles (most of them science, bioscience and medicine). We also are connected to a cooperative library system that includes 47 college and university libraries throughout Oregon and Washington, including the large state universities in both states. Within three days, I can have in my hands a copy of any available circulating title within that system....that's hundreds of thousands of titles. That's the service we provide to our students, staff and faculty.

Do I use it? Well, yeah... But I still buy books. It's a sickness.

godfry

[Dingfod]

I am in Oklahoma, rural Oklahoma. Enough said? The local library in my town of 600 odd people in Colorado was in the Middle School and yet they could get any book I asked for. I read many a book ordered in from Denver back then. I do live close enough to Tulsa to use their library system. In fact, I have a library card for the Tulsa County Library. It's just not convenient.

[livius drusus]

Wow. I didn't know there were still totally isolated libraries anywhere in the US in this day and age, even in rural Oklahoma. My only experience with small-town libraries was in Connecticut, and it's such a tiny (and rich) state that pretty much anything is accessible.

How about school libraries, Warren? Could Roxy find Zen in her HS library or is their selection just as limited as the public one?

[JoeP]

Anybody else reading anything of note?

godfry
Words and Rules by Steven Pinker, because I mentioned it in another thread.

I'd like to hear what you think of those history books you bought, when you read them.

joe

[wade-w]

Wow. I didn't know there were still totally isolated libraries anywhere in the US in this day and age, even in rural Oklahoma. My only experience with small-town libraries was in Connecticut, and it's such a tiny (and rich) state that pretty much anything is accessible.


I'm in New Mexico. I've been in third world countries that were more modern than rural New Mexico. They just got DSL access in the county seat this year.

[livius drusus]

I'm in New Mexico. I've been in third world countries that were more modern than rural New Mexico. They just got DSL access in the county seat this year.

But surely an inter-library loan systems doesn't require high tech modernity? It seems to me that all it really requires are inventory lists and a postal system, no?

[wade-w]

I'm in New Mexico. I've been in third world countries that were more modern than rural New Mexico. They just got DSL access in the county seat this year.

But surely an inter-library loan systems doesn't require high tech modernity? It seems to me that all it really requires are inventory lists and a postal system, no?

I mentioned the DSL thing as an example of how backward it is here. As far as the local USPS, while I'm sure they do deliver to the local library, they do not deliver to all addresses. I can't get mail at home, for example. This caused quite a problem when I first moved here, and didn't realize I had to have a P.O. Box, or I wouldn't get my gas or electric bills, etc. I suppose even this wouldn't necessarily be a bar to an inter-library loan system, since they could always send someone to the post office to pick up the mail on a daily basis. I think the main problem is how isolated it is here. The nearest city is Las Cruces, which isn't much of a city by most standards (consider that there are well over twice as many people in Atlanta alone as there are in this entire state), at about 100 miles away. El Paso and Tucson are the closest real cities, and are 200-250 miles or so.

But then again, the postal system argument still trumps that. So I don't know why, they're just a bit backwards here in many ways. It may be a monetary issue. There isn't much of a tax base here, and frankly I'm amazed that the social services are as good as they are.

[Dingfod]

Wow. I didn't know there were still totally isolated libraries anywhere in the US in this day and age, even in rural Oklahoma. My only experience with small-town libraries was in Connecticut, and it's such a tiny (and rich) state that pretty much anything is accessible.

How about school libraries, Warren? Could Roxy find Zen in her HS library or is their selection just as limited as the public one?You betcha, maybe worse. You know what's bad? I may live in a rural area, but it's not but 20 minutes from downtown Tulsa. Amazingly, the local library does have a webpage (http://www.cityofsapulpa.net/Sapulpa%20Library/Welcome%20to%20the%20Bartlett-Carnegie%20Sapulpa%20Public%20Library.htm).

Like I said, in Colorado, even the smallest town, even back in the mid-1980s could access the state-wide library system. Not an option at my local turn-of-the-century library. On the plus side, they have over 52,000 books (http://www.librarybug.org/library-OK0085.html), not bad for a town this size. So far as I know, and I've searched throughout their computer system, they are are not interconnected to any larger library system at all.

[Dingfod]

DSL? Hahahahaha! Not where I live yet. However, I do have cable internet. Bwahahahaha, it's faster than DSL and has been like 99.99% reliable.

[wade-w]

DSL? Hahahahaha! Not where I live yet. However, I do have cable internet. Bwahahahaha, it's faster than DSL and has been like 99.99% reliable.

No cable internet, and the DSL is only in town. Where I live, all that's available is a shitty dialup. Compare that to when I was living in Atlanta. There, I lived in an apt complex where one of the amenities was a 10 mbs wireless LAN that was connected to the 'net via a T-1. Made cable modems look slow :)

[pescifish]

When I saw the thread title I thought this was going to be about The Jefferson Airplane.Heh. Having just watched about a gazillion episodes of JAG repeats, a couple NCISs and the myriad of FF members professing to be hungover this morning, I was thinking along different lines. However, The Jefferson Airplane tune has been nagging at my consciousness.

The book currently occupying my little book cover (it is so not a bible cover, get real!) is an anthology of H.P.Lovecraft short stories. He cracks me the hell up. But I stalled out on it a few weeks back. I think this is because, in the written medium, unspeakable horrors really do need to be spoken, if only just a little bit, to keep my interest.

I think I'm gonna follow it up with some P.G.Wodehouse, 'cuz it's been a long time since I've been entertained by the antics of Bertie Wooster and Jeeves.

[squian]

pesci, I'm such a fan of Lovecraft! The common thread in his work is the notion that some things are better left unknown. There are a few events in my life that make me think, "I wish I never knew that." Because forgetting is just not powerful enough.

Anyway, if unspeakable horrors amuse you, maybe the source of my new avatar (http://www.toyvault.com/cthulhu/plush_cthulhu.html) will amuse you as well.

[pescifish]

pesci, I'm such a fan of Lovecraft! The common thread in his work is the notion that some things are better left unknown.
I know! He really does get going with the indirect imagery when he wants to. I end up talking like he writes after reading for a while.

There are a few events in my life that make me think, "I wish I never knew that." Because forgetting is just not powerful enough.I think he captures that feeling very well!

Anyway, if unspeakable horrors amuse you, maybe the source of my new avatar (http://www.toyvault.com/cthulhu/plush_cthulhu.html) will amuse you as well.OH dear, now don't get us started!

http://www.pescifish.net/images/cthulhu-ani.gif and Baby and BoneKnee friend (http://www.pescifish.net/images/miniCthulhu.jpg)

Another excellent avatar (I loved the Little Prince), I know I'm not the only one who has been lusting after the plush Nyarlethotep for a good long while now.

[Adora]

Cthulhu for President 2004. Why Settle For A Lesser Evil?

[copiae]

Anybody else reading anything of note?

godfry


Currently, I am reading Beyond Good & Evil, by Nietzsche.

and by currently, I mean for the past two months. :)

After that, I will be reading the full unabridged Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, by Edward Gibbon. If the abridged version is anything to go by... that should keep me occupied for about another year or so.

[Ymir's blood]

I have the medium Cthulhu plush as well as the Summer Fun Cthulhu. At some point, I will have a Nyarlethotep plush!

Oh livius, Cthulhu smilie!