What are you reading right now?

ohnonot · 2019-05-17 04:25:07

^ Haven't you known Ursula K. Le Guin before?
I must have read ALL her novels,what, a decade ago (before I started watching too many films on my computer) - both fantasy and sci-fi. (I think the Earthsea novels also exist as an animated film.)
I always liked the social part of Sci-fi (because the development of a society and human interaction in the future is a science, too) and surely enjoyed her way.
BUT all her sci-fi novels are based on the idea that aliens are basically human, too.
Even though this fact is well explained in her alternate history, it's still a bit of a stretch for me.
But then again, the same could be said for most sci-fi...

CanadianClubXXX · 2019-05-17 07:21:47

The dispossessed (Ursula K. Le Guin) is a must read. It has a few years (written in 1974) but the ideas (political ones, basically) are absolutely of value nowadays. Very very interesting. I'm not a big fan of sci-fi, but this book was recommended to me and I enjoyed it. I read it two months ago.

Salut,

Jimbo_G · 2019-05-17 09:16:18

I'm reading a new book by one of my favourite SF authors, Alain Damasio, called Les Furtifs.

I don't think his most famous novel (in France) has ever been translated into English - it's called La Horde du Contrevent, or The Windwalkers in English.

brontosaurusrex · 2019-05-17 09:31:06

Memory Machines - The Evolution of Hypertext (Belinda Barnet)

Engelbart believes that human beings live within an existing technical and cultural system, an ‘augmentation’ system. We are born with a particular set of genetic capabilities, and then we build on these innate capabilities using tools, techniques, skills, language and technology. There is no ‘naked ape’; from the moment we are born we are always already augmented by language, tools and technologies. This augmentation system defines the limits of what is possible for us as a species.

Nobody saw the world reaching net as it is now.

Last edited by brontosaurusrex (2019-05-17 09:31:54)

twoion · 2019-05-26 20:07:23

ohnonot wrote:

^ Haven't you known Ursula K. Le Guin before?

No. I can't know every good author … I'm expanding my knowledge one piece at a time smile

So, now I have finished The Dispossessed. Very good and in the end, I understood a little bit more how Le Guin built her Hainish cycle; after all the core aspects of this book in the cycle are the emergence of the Cetians as intellectual leaders and the discovery of the principles that made the Ansible possible.

Speaking of which, rather short but not less well written is Le Guin's The Word for World Is Forest, which is fantastic in a dimension that is more similar to The Left Hand of Darkness, in fact the settings are structurally similar but of course the topic and color the topic is painted in are different. The book reads like an example of how the Ansible revolutionizes communications (a point often raised in both of the novels I've read so far). Great expansion also on the strange mixture of barbarian and intellectual behaviours that us Terrans display to this day.

Anyhow, after these two, I've now started the recently published The Expanse – Tiamat's Wrath and the book pretty much matches what you'd expect from the 7 previous installments in terms of setting, storytelling and development. It got me hooked – currently on page 70.

ohnonot · 2019-05-27 18:05:28

^ glad you're enjoying le Guin.
you recapitulations bring back memories... in retrospect The Dispossessed left the greatest impact, maybe because it was the last one I read, in at least two attempts, because it wasn't an easy read for me.
But the description of a colonisation of a planet without infinite resources, without interstellar war but the constant fight for breathable air, water, food - yet it's all about moral, not survival - deep, serious, fascinating.

You might also like the Earthsea animated film, and possibly the novels too though they're definitely fantasy, not sci-fi.

glittersloth · 2019-06-04 05:13:37

https://www.justice.gov/opa/press-relea … 1/download

ohnonot · 2019-06-06 04:50:00

^ interesting:

Beginning in or about April 2016 and continuing to present, one or more targets have engaged in an extensive, multi-faceted campaign of computer hacking, online harassment, and privacy intrusions targeting a 23-year-old former Massachusetts resident named Jennifer Smith and her family. This pattern of behavior is referred to as "cyberstalking."

what's the context for you?

glittersloth · 2019-06-09 13:57:57

ohnonot wrote:

what's the context for you?

None. I just found it interesting how easily someone could be traced even with all the precautions taken.

clusterF · 2019-06-09 14:15:40

Im currently reading this beast. Essentials of Geology by Frederick K. Lutgens,
Dennis G. Tasa

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/265 … of-geology

twoion · 2019-06-29 19:07:05

twoion wrote:

Anyhow, after these two, I've now started the recently published The Expanse – Tiamat's Wrath and the book pretty much matches what you'd expect from the 7 previous installments in terms of setting, storytelling and development. It got me hooked – currently on page 70.

I've finished Tiamat's Wrath a while ago. Naturally, the book ends on a cliffhanger again and makes you want to read the sequel - old dealer's tricks.

All in all, an adequate successor to book VII which pushes story development forward in good pace and with appropriate detail. I like how Elvi is smoothly being promoted from a random encounter on Ilus to semi-main character (no further spoilers, I promise!) - very good wordsmanship to pull that off without breaking things. Looking at the pacing, we're set up pretty well for the final installment, and I'm still wondering how they will pull the story together since the material they have built so far feels like it has at least 1-3 more books in them, depending on what you focus on and develop further -- though it seems since they started to kill off main characters (whoops, another spoiler, sorry), the finale is in sight… I'm definitely staying tuned for the sequel.

No truly epic and shining masterpiece that will last through time, but a very good continuation of the nonalogy with masterful storytelling and still some imagination left. Highly recommended if you read the previous books already.

Next, I've got here a copy of Neil Stephenson's Anathem which I'm looking forward to. In 2018 I was thoroughly impressed by his The Diamond Age: Or, A Young Lady's Illustrated Primer which had phantastic ideas and execution so I'm having high hopes for this next book!

clusterF wrote:

Im currently reading this beast. Essentials of Geology by Frederick K. Lutgens,
Dennis G. Tasa
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/265 … of-geology

Nice! Geology, mining, mineralogy etc are a phantastic hobby to have. I loved to go out and around my hometown, carrying a blowtorch, and heating up random stones, ores and crystals I found -- books on the topic, that is: how to identify minerals by the colour of their flames or oxidation behaviours using a blowtorch are still quite popular around Germany. So much to learn from your immediate environment and what one could do with it that a layperson would just gloss over or be entirely ignorant of.

ohnonot wrote:

You might also like the Earthsea animated film, and possibly the novels too though they're definitely fantasy, not sci-fi.

You'd be surprised how difficult it is to get good editions of the first earthsea novels in new around here (untranslated). I think I'll be looking to buy those used first.

ohnonot · 2019-06-30 07:07:45

twoion wrote:

around here

Is that Germany again?
_______

Michal Viewegh - Bliss Was it in Bohemia
Almost finished now.
For a long time I was put off by the arrogance displayed both by the writer's main character and the writer himself, but couldn't put the book down nevertheless.
Now I understand: the detached arrogance and sarcasm are necessary to present a very painful and claustrophobic topic in a humorous and entertaining way: the socio-emotional and psychological pressures of unwillingly living under a totalitarian regime.
I also happen to know that his descriptions are realistic; he just has a way of pointing out the abstruse in it.

I was told that the title of the book is untranslatable.
In any case "Bliss Was it in Bohemia" is total crap.
The word-correct translation would be "Wonderful Years Under the Dog"
I read it in German, they made it "Wonderful Years for Dogs" - not precise either.
Also in the text there's lots of details where you sense that the translator was struggling to translate a play on words without using any extra meaning. Nevertheless enjoyable. A fun book about a difficult topic.

jdonaghy · 2019-07-16 03:39:18

Pretty Little Dead Girls by Mercedes M. Yardley. Great writer and delightful human being. Her prose can be quite poetic. I tend to like the darker stuff.

clusterF · 2019-07-31 15:18:08

"The Way Home" Tales from a life without technology by Mark Boyle.

It was 11pm when I checked my email for the last time and turned off my phone for what I hoped would be forever.
No running water, no car, no electricity or any of the things it powers: the internet, phone, washing machine, radio or light bulb. Just a wooden cabin, on a smallholding, by the edge of a stand of spruce.

https://www.bookdepository.com/Way-Home … 1786076007

Last edited by clusterF (2019-07-31 15:18:42)

MALsPa · 2019-08-03 13:52:10

Eastward to Tartary: Travels in the Balkans, the Middle East, and the Caucasus by Robert D. Kaplan.

clusterF · 2019-08-03 15:19:02

MALsPa wrote:

Eastward to Tartary: Travels in the Balkans, the Middle East, and the Caucasus by Robert D. Kaplan.

That would be a very interesting read. Some reviews on goodreads speak highly.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/336 … to_Tartary

hhh · 2019-08-04 05:06:30

Madonna

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLFWRDsx5AI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xW3UXwmNezg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GsVcUzP_O_8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sdz2oW0NMFk

-edit- Oops, wrong thread. Leaving it, I'm reading Madonna.

ohnonot · 2019-08-04 15:54:45

I was in the woods for real...
did have my smartphone with me though, and read Summerland on it.
Almost as good as his Jean le Flambeur Series - and an easier read, steampunk spy story style.

Then Radicalized on real paper.
Definitely an easy read, but warmly recommended nevertheless. "Unauthorized Bread" says it all. Dystopian visions that are uncomfortably close to our current lives.

MALsPa · 2019-08-10 00:30:08

I've read some of this guy's books in the past: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/08/book … nberg.html

Samuel R. Delaney. I saw this article and thought immediately of "dhalgren", a member of these forums!

ohnonot · 2019-08-11 07:13:45

^ I started listening to Dhalgren as an audiobook.
Utterly amazing.
It seemed to be a contemporary audiobook (ripped from a cassette) with a very distinctive voice.
Unfortunately the rip was so broken that I had to give it up; but now I'm somehow fixated on this version and don't want to read it or listen to another voice...

Bridouz · 2019-08-16 22:07:50

For now I'm into The Dark Tower by Stephen King. Just finished the 5th book and can't wait to start the 6th.

King is a true plot king.

eight.bit.al · 2019-08-16 22:24:30

Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress

by Steven Pinker for the second time. So good I went right back and started reading it again.

See also: Enlightenment Wars: Some Reflections on ‘Enlightenment Now,’ One Year Later

8bit

"The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who cannot read them."
- Mark Twain (1835-1910)

misko_2083 · 2019-11-02 01:41:46

Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, Dee Brown

ohnonot · 2019-11-02 07:27:14

Reading Harry Bosch. Four books into the series, it's still very good. More than just a nod to the "classics" of L.A. hard-boiled crime fiction, and serioulsy twisted & evolving plots that well warrant the 400+ pages each book has.

clusterF · 2019-11-02 15:20:42

https://www.kobo.com/ca/en/ebook/recce-2

Recce by Koos Stadler
Small Team Missions Behind Enemy Lines

Synopsis
Shrouded in secrecy due to the covert nature of their work, the legendary Recces have fascinated South Africans for years. Now one of these elite soldiers has written a tell-all book about the extraordinary missions he embarked on and the nail-biting action he experienced in the Border War. Shortly after passing the infamously gruelling Special Forces selection course in the early 1980s, Koos Stadler joined the so-called Small Teams group at 5 Reconnaissance Regiment. This subunit was made up of two-man teams and was responsible for numerous secret and highly dangerous missions deep behind enemy lines. With only one teammate, Stadler was sent to blow up railway lines and enemy fighter jets in the south of Angola. As he crawled in and out of enemy-infested territory, he stared death in the face many times. A gripping, first-hand account that reveals the near superhuman physical and psychological powers these Special Forces operators have to display.

#501 2019-05-17 04:25:07

Re: What are you reading right now?

#502 2019-05-17 07:21:47

Re: What are you reading right now?

#503 2019-05-17 09:16:18

Re: What are you reading right now?

#504 2019-05-17 09:31:06

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#505 2019-05-26 20:07:23

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#506 2019-05-27 18:05:28

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#507 2019-06-04 05:13:37

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#508 2019-06-06 04:50:00

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#509 2019-06-09 13:57:57

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#510 2019-06-09 14:15:40

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#511 2019-06-29 19:07:05

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#512 2019-06-30 07:07:45

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#513 2019-07-16 03:39:18

Re: What are you reading right now?

#514 2019-07-31 15:18:08

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#515 2019-08-03 13:52:10

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#516 2019-08-03 15:19:02

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#517 2019-08-04 05:06:30

Re: What are you reading right now?

#518 2019-08-04 15:54:45

Re: What are you reading right now?

#519 2019-08-10 00:30:08

Re: What are you reading right now?

#520 2019-08-11 07:13:45

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#521 2019-08-16 22:07:50

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#522 2019-08-16 22:24:30

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#523 2019-11-02 01:41:46

Re: What are you reading right now?

#524 2019-11-02 07:27:14

Re: What are you reading right now?

#525 2019-11-02 15:20:42

Re: What are you reading right now?

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