Author Topic: What books are you reading? (Read 737795 times)

MilesAhead · « **Reply #1025 on:** June 11, 2020, 09:14 AM »

For us, the living : a comedy of customs by Robert A. Heinlein

Xanthodont · « **Reply #1026 on:** June 28, 2020, 11:32 AM »

I am currently reading A Pocketful of Herbs by Jekka McVicar.

panzer · « **Reply #1027 on:** July 10, 2020, 11:54 PM »

Semiosis and Interference by Sue Burke.

ich thys · « **Reply #1028 on:** July 18, 2020, 04:31 PM »

Found an online full-text book site;
https://www.you-books.com/

panzer · « **Reply #1029 on:** July 19, 2020, 02:54 AM »

The Book of Koli

MilesAhead · « **Reply #1030 on:** October 07, 2020, 01:12 PM »

I am taking a break from Science Fiction. I am reading the Jack Reacher
novels by Lee Child. The closer to the start of the serirs the longer the wait to get them from the library. It does not seem to take anything away by reading them out of order. Currently I am reading Bad Luck and Trouble.

Unlike the Tom Cruise movies Reacher does not beat up a half dozen guys every other day. The suspense builds to a showdown. Pretty entertaining stuff.

rjbull · « **Reply #1031 on:** October 24, 2020, 03:42 PM »

Tales of the Dying Earth by Jack Vance

An omnibus edition of The Dying Earth, The Eyes of the Overworld, Cugel's Saga and Rhialto the Marvellous. Although Vance's two SF short stories The Gift of Gab and The Potters of Firsk stuck in my mind, I hadn't read much of his other work before, and didn't realise that The Dying Earth was a foundational work for twentieth-century fantasy. Nobody else I know of has his baroque intoxication with language and with colours.

Penric's Progress by Lois McMaster Bujold
resized_Penric's_Progress.jpg

The first three "Penric" novellas, finally available in dead tree form (hardback now, paperback due in January 2021). Set in the "World of the Five Gods" (same world as The Curse of Chalion and others). Terrific! Don't miss this series!

panzer · « **Reply #1032 on:** October 24, 2020, 03:57 PM »

Tales of the Dying Earth by Jack Vance

I own a paper version, but with different cover:

rjbull · « **Reply #1033 on:** October 25, 2020, 05:13 PM »

Tales of the Dying Earth by Jack Vance

I own a paper version, but with different cover:
-panzer (October 24, 2020, 03:57 PM)

Mine's paperback too, but it's quite old, a UK edition published in 2000. Publishers seem to have a habit of changing the artwork when they re-publish, as well as by country.

tomos · « **Reply #1034 on:** January 26, 2021, 04:47 PM »

Mort by Terry Pratchett. A nice (and not too big) hardback.

What books are you reading?

about 70 pages in -- a very easy and entertaining read so far. My first book by Pratchett. I used be more of a novels reader, but just kind of gave up a few years back. Read an occasional non-fiction, not much else.

40hz · « **Reply #1035 on:** February 09, 2021, 06:44 AM »

Mastering Ubuntu Server 3rd Edition by Jay LaCroix.

What books are you reading?

Jay has a decent YouTube channel covering various server topics. I figured I’d buy his book to help support him and his channel. And it’s actually a good read. I was familiar with most but not all it covered. So it’s a handy refresher/reference for a server geek, and an excellent how-to for someone just getting into servers - or interested in setting up their first home lab. Highly recommended.

Requiem for the American Dream - The Principals of Concentrated Wealth and Power - Noam Chomsky

What books are you reading?

MIT professor of linguistics needs no introduction to the world of intelligent discussion and debate. This book was compiled from a series of talks, and might have been titled: “a blueprint for tyranny” just as easily. An uncomfortable read. Especially in the wake of the political and social dumpster fire we’ve lived through over the previous four years.

YouTube made a full video of it. It’s worth watching - and thinking about - if you’re not into reading books.

tomos · « **Reply #1036 on:** February 18, 2021, 04:34 AM »

Mort by Terry Pratchett. A nice (and not too big) hardback.

about 70 pages in -- a very easy and entertaining read so far. My first book by Pratchett.
-tomos (January 26, 2021, 04:47 PM)

enjoyed that to the end and went for the second in the series -- "Reaper Man". It's a bit all over the shop (almost halfway through). Definitely not as good as the first

What books are you reading?

Fwiw they do make nice covers in the last hardback series (and they relatively cheap too)

MilesAhead · « **Reply #1037 on:** February 19, 2021, 09:09 AM »

Finally reading something by William Gibson. Pattern Recognition

tomos · « **Reply #1038 on:** February 19, 2021, 01:45 PM »

Finally reading something by William Gibson. Pattern Recognition
-MilesAhead (February 19, 2021, 09:09 AM)

I remember really enjoying a couple of his books before I ever had a computer -- or had much understanding of the internet (the reality was pretty boring in comparison).

(Fwiw I only started using computers -- for work -- in 1999.)

rjbull · « **Reply #1039 on:** February 19, 2021, 04:21 PM »

Mort by Terry Pratchett. A nice (and not too big) hardback.

about 70 pages in -- a very easy and entertaining read so far. My first book by Pratchett.
-tomos (January 26, 2021, 04:47 PM)
enjoyed that to the end and went for the second in the series -- "Reaper Man". It's a bit all over the shop (almost halfway through). Definitely not as good as the first
-tomos (February 18, 2021, 04:34 AM)

Don't overlook that there are sub-series within the series. The ones I enjoyed most are the ones featuring the Guards (Vimes, Carrot, Nobby, Colon et al.) , and the ones featuring the Witches (mostly Granny Weatherwax, Nanny Ogg, Magrat, and later on, Tiffany Aching).

Discworld Monthly is a great source for all things Pratchett. You can sign up for their monthly email newsletter. It's such a shame that there won't be any more Discworld novels...

MilesAhead · « **Reply #1040 on:** February 20, 2021, 01:26 PM »

I remember really enjoying a couple of his books before I ever had a computer -- or had much understanding of the internet (the reality was pretty boring in comparison).
-tomos (February 19, 2021, 01:45 PM)

Yeah. I never had Halle Berry distracting me while I was trying to write a program.. unfortunately.

It always cracks me up when somebody sits in front of a computer with no IDEs, compilers or software tools installed and types furiously and boom! They are into the Fort Knox gold reserves.

In the old Dos days debug.com was there so you could do some Hello World kinds of things. But not much else.

mouser · « **Reply #1041 on:** April 17, 2021, 01:23 AM »

The Emperor of Scent:
https://www.amazon.c...ession/dp/0375759816

What books are you reading?

"The Emperor of Scent tells of the scientific maverick Luca Turin, a connoisseur and something of an aesthete who wrote a bestselling perfume guide and bandied about an outrageous new theory on the human sense of smell. Drawing on cutting-edge work in biology, chemistry, and physics, Turin used his obsession with perfume and his eerie gift for smell to turn the cloistered worlds of the smell business and science upside down, leading to a solution to the last great mystery of the senses: how the nose works."

cranioscopical · « **Reply #1042 on:** April 17, 2021, 06:08 AM »

how the nose works
-mouser (April 17, 2021, 01:23 AM)

Don't forget Turin's archenemy, Nobody Nose.

MilesAhead · « **Reply #1043 on:** April 20, 2021, 09:01 AM »

how the nose works
-mouser (April 17, 2021, 01:23 AM)
Don't forget Turin's archenemy, Nobody Nose.
-cranioscopical (April 17, 2021, 06:08 AM)

I hear he was a prowd individual.

MilesAhead · « **Reply #1044 on:** April 20, 2021, 09:07 AM »

Having exhausted the available Jack Reacher novels I have been going through the Mitch Rapp series.

Seems like a weird name for a hero. Perhaps it has to do with character ownership rights. I do not imagine very many character name collisions with that moniker.

wraith808 · « **Reply #1045 on:** April 20, 2021, 10:52 AM »

Having exhausted the available Jack Reacher novels I have been going through the Mitch Rapp series.

Seems like a weird name for a hero. Perhaps it has to do with character ownership rights. I do not imagine very many character name collisions with that moniker.
-MilesAhead (April 20, 2021, 09:07 AM)

I like those and have read all of them. Never thought it was a weird name, though. Rapp is a relatively known if not overly so last name.

MilesAhead · « **Reply #1046 on:** April 20, 2021, 11:41 AM »

Having exhausted the available Jack Reacher novels I have been going through the Mitch Rapp series.

Seems like a weird name for a hero. Perhaps it has to do with character ownership rights. I do not imagine very many character name collisions with that moniker.
-MilesAhead (April 20, 2021, 09:07 AM)

I like those and have read all of them. Never thought it was a weird name, though. Rapp is a relatively known if not overly so last name.
-wraith808 (April 20, 2021, 10:52 AM)

I am enjoying them also. On the name thing it would have helped if first and last names were not a single syllable. Maybe I am sensitive to this because my real name has two syllables for first and last name. Not only that but the end of the first name has the same two consonant sounds as the start of the second. When people ask my name the end of the first kind of runs into the start of the second and they always ask what it is again. Kind of annoying. No wonder the hero is an assassin! Having a single syllable for both first and last name must generate anger management issues.

Deozaan · « **Reply #1047 on:** April 20, 2021, 12:06 PM »

No wonder the hero is an assassin! Having a single syllable for both first and last name must generate anger management issues.
-MilesAhead (April 20, 2021, 11:41 AM)

I suspect that the only problem John Doe has with his name is that people often confuse him with someone else.

wraith808 · « **Reply #1048 on:** April 20, 2021, 02:00 PM »

Having a single syllable for both first and last name must generate anger management issues.
-MilesAhead (April 20, 2021, 11:41 AM)

I guess I should be a lot angrier than I am then. Maybe I should try to be an assassin!

MilesAhead · « **Reply #1049 on:** April 21, 2021, 03:12 PM »

Having a single syllable for both first and last name must generate anger management issues.
-MilesAhead (April 20, 2021, 11:41 AM)

I guess I should be a lot angrier than I am then. Maybe I should try to be an assassin!
-wraith808 (April 20, 2021, 02:00 PM)

Speaking of assassins and books read, I read Sammy "The Bull" Gravano's Underboss a few years ago. Hollywood makes Button Men seem cool but Sammy describes in detail how killing the target is just the start. The real work is using a chain saw on the corps to make the pieces easier to dispose. A good read. I got a few laughs especially Sammy's early encounters with the Justice System.