[Welly Wu]

Okay, so what are YOU reading so far?

1. What are you favorite readings (i.e., short stories, poetry, novels, science fiction, biographies, periodicals including magazines, etc.)?

2. Why did you choose to read it?

3. What did you learn that was exciting or entertaining?

4. Would you recommend it to others?

My June 2004 Reading List:

Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen, and Les Hewitt, The Power of Focus: How to Hit your Business, Personal, and Financial Targets With Absolute Certainty

Suze Orman, The 9 Steps to Financial Freedom

John Le Carre, Absolute Friends

George Bradley, The Yale Younger Poets Anthology

The Navy SEAL Nutrition Guide

A question for all Head-Fi members: what books or periodicals should I read immediately to help me polish my resume writing, cover letter writing, and interviewing skills?

There are so many resources available and I am wary to try out all of them!

Seriously, one book tells you to do a,b,c and the other says that a,b,c, will screw up your career while x,y,z are better. Please help!

 

[ipodstudio]

Nevermind, I misread your post..

 

[minya]

I'm currently waiting on "Oblivion" by David Foster Wallace at our local library. Hopefully I'll be able to read it soon.

I'd also like to read the graphic novel "Y: The Last Man" (I forget the author).

- Chris

 

[Braver]

recenty read two great post-WW2 novels, both way weird and totally brilliant:

Kurt Vonnegut - Slaughterhouse 5 (bought on a HeadFi rec actually)
Joseph Heller - Catch 22 (haven't finished yet to be honest...it's a big one)

recommend for those looking for something totally different and funny (but with serious context and meaning).

thinking of going for some classic Raymond Chandler next, like a four-in-one with The Big Sleep and The Long Goodbye. or perhaps re-reading William Gibson's Neuromancer.

 

[TrevorNetwork]

The coming generational storm : what you need to know about America's economic future / Laurence J. Kotlikoff and Scott Burns

and

The Mechanical Mind: A Philosophical Introduction to Minds, Machines and Mental Representation

Both excellent books. Highly recommended reading.

 

[Big D]

Dave Gorman's Googlewhack! Adventure is the funniest one man comedy show I have ever seen. The book is just as good and I'd highly recommend it.

Catch the stage show if you can though - he's in Montreal between 13th and 25th July.

Dave Gorman's Website

 

[Welly Wu]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Braver recenty read two great post-WW2 novels, both way weird and totally brilliant: Kurt Vonnegut - Slaughterhouse 5 (bought on a HeadFi rec actually) Joseph Heller - Catch 22 (haven't finished yet to be honest...it's a big one) recommend for those looking for something totally different and funny (but with serious context and meaning). thinking of going for some classic Raymond Chandler next, like a four-in-one with The Big Sleep and The Long Goodbye. or perhaps re-reading William Gibson's Neuromancer.

Braver:

For Raymond Chandler, you might want to check out Farewell, My Lovely and perhaps Dashiell Hammet's, Nightmare Town. It is extremely rare and out of print but if you search hard enough, then you will be rewarded with twenty outstanding pulp fiction, hardboiled detective stories that basically define the boundaries of the genre and movement. Also, check out The Maltese Falcon which not only is one of THE CLASSICS but it sparked a wave of Hollywood renditions of the hard boiled detective story genre films.

 

[Dusty Chalk]

I've been on an Orson Scott Card kick, myself, lately. Just finished Treasure Box (not his best, would recommend Songmaster or Enchantment first [and, of course, the Ender serieses])

What did I like about it? Well, other than the rich part, I could really relate -- I think Orson Scott Card really understands "humanity" and captures it well in the written word. All his characters in all of his books are very "human"...and yet they are all different, have strengths and weaknesses. Plus, he's just a very charismatic writer (and by that, I mean, when you're reading him, you want to read more by him).

I learned nothing -- it's fiction.

 

[h3nG]

[size=medium]A Song of Ice and Fire, by George R. R. Martin[/size]

haha, i love that series. it's a fantasy. the series is not complete yet, 4/7 done. and he's pretty slow with his writing, but i highly recommend it for those who are just bored sick with reality...

 

[Figo]

Stranger in a Strage Land - Robert Heinlein



Never was a fan of science fiction, but this just blew me away. Absolutely with 100% certainty my favorite book of all time. read 20 pages, then finished the other 480 in less than 5 days because I just could not stop.

Slaughterhouse-five , Cat's Cradle, Timequake - Kurt Vonnegut


just plain amazing. Love everything about them


El Principito - antoine de saint-exupery

french book I read in my spanish school, very enjoyable and extremely short. deep and very metaphorical. I believe it is the little prince in english.


also anything by dostoyevsky, kafka, other strange writings

 

[ooheadsoo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by h3nG [size=medium]A Song of Ice and Fire, by George R. R. Martin[/size] haha, i love that series. it's a fantasy. the series is not complete yet, 4/7 done. and he's pretty slow with his writing, but i highly recommend it for those who are just bored sick with reality...

My favorite.

Did not enjoy Stranger by Heinlein all that much.

 

[halcyon]

- Colin Wilson: Criminal History of Mankind (Picked this up on a dear friend's recommendation and was not disappointed. Sometimes rambling treatise of development of human cultures use of violence, dissolution of ties in modern society and rapid rise of arbitrary violence. Makes you think about systemic influences. Highly recommended)

- Robert Axelrod: Evolution of Co-Operation (Another one recommended by a friend. A mini classic from game theory popular literature. Tries to analyze both computationally and in plain English words with examples why do we co-operate and what strategies work for individuals, groups of people and societies at large. Hint: ripping others off doesn't pay. Thin and fast read. Recommended)

- Stephen Baxter: Manifold - Time (My sci-fi buff friend raved about this. I'm not a huge sci-fi fan, but the ideas in this will blow your head off. Time span in the novel is so huge and the ideas so inventive, that for those alone this is one imaginative ride. Easy read. Recommended for sci-fi enthusiasts, who haven't tried this)

- Reg Morrison: Spirit in the Gene (Picked this up from Amazon on a whim. The first half was very interesting short crash course into history of ecology on earth: very insightful opinions in that half. The second was less easy to swallow, but interesting nevertheless. Again, if you like to think about "big issues", this is an interesting book about ecology, the prevailing illusions in human cultures and the possible future that lies ahead).

Alfred Bester: The Stars My Destination (another friend's recommendation. The best sci-fi book ever? Don't know about that, but it is a gripping story and again, a space for refletion about hate, revenge, purpose in life and choices one make. Highly recommended).

Having been reading too many math/stat/engineering/psychology books lately... Let the recommendations roll, I also need new tips!

 

[tennisets]

In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex by Nat Philbrick. This is the true story of the whaleship Essex, the ship which was rammed and sunk by a whale in the 1820s. Herman Melville based Moby Dick on this story, but where his (fictional) book ends with the sinking of the ship, this book follows the crew in their attempt to reach safety. Truly gripping, entertaining book. Just written in 2000, it draws on all information available to accurately portray the story. It also explains in a very intersting, continuous way the life of a whaleman and life on Nantucket. Highly recommended.

 

[DanG]

I just finished Homage to Catalonia by Orwell a few days ago. Orwell describes his time in Spain as a combatant in the civil war. It's simply written without stylistic prose (was a welcome refreshment after reading my first -- and last -- Pynchon novel) and gives a very personal account of a conflict about which I knew next to nothing. It's a story told by a very impressionable man but one who is aware of his prejudices. I can't recommend it highly enough.

My favorite book remains Huxley's Eyeless in Gaza. Everywhere I turn people tell me they "can't get into Huxley". He's a thinking writer and his more typical work (thus excluding Brave New World) depends on the strength of its ideas rather than characters or story. Eyeless -- which, by the way, has nothing to do with the Middle East -- is a thinly-veiled loose autobiographical account of what Huxley considered his own most shaping and important periods. Perhaps it's because he is so intimate with the characters almost all develop into real people rather than apostrophei and the development of Huxley's protagonist coagulates into a sort of story as well. I identified with most facets of the Huxley character and so the novel spoke to me as no other has, save for Huxley's Antic Hay, much in the same vein but also much shorter and easier to read.

 

[KJ869]

I am just going to re-read/re.reading few book's

"Bulkagov: Master and Margaret"
Excelent book, very hilarious and still has good point, I like bulkagovs jesus theory.

"William Blake: Complete illuminated books"
Willaim Blakes illuminated books as 1:1 prints. The Books im going to re-read are "The Marriage of heaven and hell" and "Jerusalem". Im translating both to finnish, because the finnish translation of "The marriage of heaven and hell" was crap. realy realy crap. Blakens ideas, visions and theorys are brilaint. I like hes Theory about the mistake, that he introduces in " The marriage of heaven and hell"