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  #26  
Old 04-23-2005, 01:55 AM
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Default Re: What are you reading?

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Originally Posted by viscousmemories
Freethinkers - A History of American Secularism, by Susan Jacoby
This is worth finishing. :1thumbup:

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He is postulating that the rise of alphabetic...
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Old 04-23-2005, 02:01 AM
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Default Re: What are you reading?

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Originally Posted by koan
I've only read Siddhartha, Demian and Magister Ludi. I should probably look for new ones instead of rereading. Can you recommend another that stands out?

After Magister Ludi (the first time) I became obsessed for about a month trying to figure out how to invent the game. There are online groups who have tried to simulate it. :giggle:
I actually haven't read Magister Ludi, but I loved Steppenwolf and Gertrude.
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Old 04-23-2005, 02:03 AM
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Default Re: What are you reading?

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This is worth finishing. :1thumbup:
Thanks for the encouragement! I'll try. :)
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  #29  
Old 04-23-2005, 05:23 AM
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Default Re: What are you reading?

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Originally Posted by viscousmemories
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Originally Posted by koan
I've only read Siddhartha, Demian and Magister Ludi. I should probably look for new ones instead of rereading. Can you recommend another that stands out?

After Magister Ludi (the first time) I became obsessed for about a month trying to figure out how to invent the game. There are online groups who have tried to simulate it. :giggle:
I actually haven't read Magister Ludi, but I loved Steppenwolf and Gertrude.
I forgot about Steppenwolf! I saw the movie but haven't read the book. I'll read that if you read Ludi(The Glass Bead Game). Actually, I'll read it either way. Then we can discuss which was better. Anyone who has read both...opinions welcome. I think Ludi was his ultimate novel but I haven't read them all so it's an uneducated guess.
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Old 04-23-2005, 06:37 AM
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Default Re: What are you reading?

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Originally Posted by viscousmemories
Freethinkers - A History of American Secularism, by Susan Jacoby
This is worth finishing. :1thumbup:
I read most of it a couple months ago. I mostly liked it, but was in a hurry to move on.

I just finished What's The Matter With Kansas by Thomas Frank. Now I need something lighter, and may finish the Angels & Demons by Dan Brown (of Davinci Code fame) a friend loaned me. Or I may read Sophie's World by Jostein Gaarder.... picked it up for 99 cents today at Goodwill.
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Old 04-23-2005, 10:03 AM
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Default Re: What are you reading?

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Originally Posted by freemonkey
... Now I need something lighter, and may finish the Angels & Demons by Dan Brown (of Davinci Code fame) a friend loaned me. Or I may read Sophie's World by Jostein Gaarder.... picked it up for 99 cents today at Goodwill.
I keep expecting the Vatican to blow up [spoiler=I suppose you might not want to know this yet]or the new pope to rip open his cassock and reveal an ambigram branded on his chest.[/spoiler]

Sophie's World is worth reading; I think it's good given the limitations of messing about with levels of reality. But on reflection that might be a philosophical position of mine...
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Old 04-23-2005, 10:18 AM
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Default Re: What are you reading?

vm, if you are looking for more votes count me as a high recommendation for Hesse's Magister Ludi (The Glass Bead Game). Excellent book.

I was reading two books:
anthology of short stories by P.G.Wodehouse (just now finished), and
anthology of short stories by Robert Heinlein

I think I have an Orson Scott Card book waiting in the wings when I finish the Heinlein.
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  #33  
Old 04-23-2005, 10:46 AM
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Default Re: What are you reading?

Quote:
Originally Posted by koan
I'm rereading The Magister Ludi (Glass Bead Game) by Hermann Hesse.
oooo...something I have to do again. Are you enjoying it?
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  #34  
Old 04-23-2005, 10:54 AM
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Default Re: What are you reading?

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Originally Posted by koan
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Originally Posted by viscousmemories
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Originally Posted by koan
I'm rereading The Magister Ludi (Glass Bead Game) by Hermann Hesse and plodding my way through The Life and Times of Nikola Tesla.
I've read several of Hesse's books. He really had an amazing command of language.
I've only read Siddhartha, Demian and Magister Ludi. I should probably look for new ones instead of rereading. Can you recommend another that stands out?

After Magister Ludi (the first time) I became obsessed for about a month trying to figure out how to invent the game. There are online groups who have tried to simulate it. :giggle:
I read a whole slew of his books thirty years ago. Magister Ludi is, in my estimation, the best of the lot. It's a Nobel winner and it's obvious why. Steppenwolf is a nice read, but much of the rest is excessively melancholic and troubled.
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  #35  
Old 04-23-2005, 03:35 PM
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Default Re: What are you reading?

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Quote:
Originally Posted by freemonkey
... Now I need something lighter, and may finish the Angels & Demons by Dan Brown (of Davinci Code fame) a friend loaned me. Or I may read Sophie's World by Jostein Gaarder.... picked it up for 99 cents today at Goodwill.
I keep expecting the Vatican to blow up
If it weren't for some of the interesting tidbits of historical information (hopefully they're accurate), I'd have probably given up on this book.
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  #36  
Old 04-23-2005, 04:11 PM
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Default Re: What are you reading?

Quote:
Originally Posted by godfry n. glad
I read a whole slew of his books thirty years ago. Magister Ludi is, in my estimation, the best of the lot. It's a Nobel winner and it's obvious why. Steppenwolf is a nice read, but much of the rest is excessively melancholic and troubled.
I didn't realise Ludi won the Nobel prize though not surprised. I'm still in the opening chapter. It's a big commitment as I know I won't be able to put it down again once I get to the point of no return. I might stop and read Steppenwolf first. You found Siddhartha melancholic? I think it's one of the most charming short novels I've ever read. I lend it out all the time.
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  #37  
Old 04-23-2005, 04:16 PM
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Default Re: What are you reading?

Thinking of short stories. A friend gave me a tiny book called "The Dot and the Line (a romance in lower mathematics)" by Norton Juster. Takes 15 minutes to read and explains the frustration of a man in love and what he will go through to win a woman's heart...mathematically speaking of course.
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  #38  
Old 04-23-2005, 04:23 PM
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Default Re: What are you reading?

I am reading Swan Song

and I think it would make an awesome movie. :yup:
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  #39  
Old 04-23-2005, 04:47 PM
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Default Re: What are you reading?

Quote:
Originally Posted by koan
Quote:
Originally Posted by godfry n. glad
I read a whole slew of his books thirty years ago. Magister Ludi is, in my estimation, the best of the lot. It's a Nobel winner and it's obvious why. Steppenwolf is a nice read, but much of the rest is excessively melancholic and troubled.
I didn't realise Ludi won the Nobel prize though not surprised. I'm still in the opening chapter. It's a big commitment as I know I won't be able to put it down again once I get to the point of no return. I might stop and read Steppenwolf first. You found Siddhartha melancholic? I think it's one of the most charming short novels I've ever read. I lend it out all the time.
No, I don't call Siddhartha meloncholic. It's basically a retelling of the life of the Buddha. You asked about other Hesse works.
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Old 04-23-2005, 04:58 PM
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Default Re: What are you reading?

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Originally Posted by godfry n. glad
No, I don't call Siddhartha meloncholic. It's basically a retelling of the life of the Buddha. You asked about other Hesse works.
Copy that. Just checking. Thanks for your input.
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  #41  
Old 04-23-2005, 08:22 PM
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Default Re: What are you reading?

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Weirdos From Another Planet by Bill Watterson (for about the 353rd time)

CH
Okay, everybody....

I want to note here that anybody who posts something like this can't be all bad.
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  #42  
Old 04-23-2005, 08:31 PM
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I think I have an Orson Scott Card book waiting in the wings ...
Which one?
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  #43  
Old 04-23-2005, 10:52 PM
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Default Re: What are you reading?

Quote:
Originally Posted by koan
Thinking of short stories. A friend gave me a tiny book called "The Dot and the Line (a romance in lower mathematics)" by Norton Juster. Takes 15 minutes to read and explains the frustration of a man in love and what he will go through to win a woman's heart...mathematically speaking of course.
Actually, there's a very good (longish) short story by Kim Stanley Robinson, which uses geometry well, in a storyline involving crime and finding love.
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  #44  
Old 04-24-2005, 01:24 AM
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Default Re: What are you reading?

Just started Terry Pratchett's "Small Gods." I've never read any of his (her?) books before, and I picked that one to start with for no particularly good reason. So far, it's sort of putting me to sleep. I like his choice of names for his characters, "Brother Nhumrod" made me laugh. Might as well have called him "Brother Numnuts." One line (paraphrasing) I remember, something like: "In his mind a butterfly of doubt flapped it's experimental wings, unaware of what chaos theory has to say about such things." Kind of pukey-profund.ity, but it stuck in my mind, something to be said for that. So far, it reminds me a bit of Douglas Adams, but, but a bit more blunt, and less able to keep me awake.
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  #45  
Old 04-24-2005, 01:44 AM
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Default Re: What are you reading?

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Originally Posted by Ensign Steve
Quote:
Originally Posted by pescifish
I think I have an Orson Scott Card book waiting in the wings ...
Which one?
(Had to go get it from under the rubble on the pass-through counter)

Orson Scott Card, Enchantment
I'm a big fan of Card's writing, but this cover blurb put it over the top for me:

Anne McCaffrey quote"Orscon Scott Card is a master storyteller... Enchantment is the ultimate proof."


McCaffrey isn't so bad at storytelling herself, of course.


I recently went into a Barnes & Noble actual store, which is not something I do very often. I didn't find what I was looking for, but I did buy two paperbacks. The OSC is one of them, the other was devoured soon after purchase: William Gibson's Pattern Recognition. This Gibson book was mainline fiction (i.e., non-science fiction) and I enjoyed it very much.

The biggest problem I have with buying paperbacks is that they are not the right size for my ubiquitous bible-study-like book bag/cover which is ...erm... bible-sized.
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  #46  
Old 04-24-2005, 02:45 AM
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Default Re: What are you reading?

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The biggest problem I have with buying paperbacks is that they are not the right size for my ubiquitous bible-study-like book bag/cover which is ...erm... bible-sized.
Boy, that must keep them away in droves. :D
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  #47  
Old 04-24-2005, 06:32 AM
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Default Re: What are you reading?

Now reading...
The Founding Fathers and the place of religion in America, Frank Lambert (great historic overview of the conditions that lead to the Enlightnment and the US constitution's secularism... and abundant evidence that the more things change...)
and
Secret Origins of the Bible, Tim Callahan (hard to get through because it packs in enough detail to set the hardest core fundie on fire in 5 seconds flat)

Just finished
11 minutes, Paulo Coelho
Yellow Dog, Martin Amis
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  #48  
Old 04-24-2005, 06:41 AM
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Default Re: What are you reading?

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Now reading...
Secret Origins of the Bible, Tim Callahan (hard to get through because it packs in enough detail to set the hardest core fundie on fire in 5 seconds flat)
That one's sitting not 5 feet from me as I type. I got it around the holidays and have barely looked at it yet.

I have more books than I can possibly keep up with. :(
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  #49  
Old 04-24-2005, 06:05 PM
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Default Re: What are you reading?

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I have more books than I can possibly keep up with. :(
Yup, damn amazon and one click ordering... I have "Good Moslem Bad Moslem" and "Good and Evil" waiting for me... :glare: staring me down...
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  #50  
Old 04-24-2005, 06:33 PM
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Default Re: What are you reading?

The older I get... the more 'light' reading I pick - I just want to be transported and engrossed in what I am reading, so I can't put it down.

Gone are the days I want to be challenged, metamorphosized... and have a headache after reading something complex.

My next two books waiting in line are River God (Wilbur Smith) and The Last Juror (John Grisham)

I'm not deep, dammit :wink:
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