Readers?

[think]

I am currently reading Alan Greenspan's new book, The Age of Turbulance and Marvin Minsky's The Emotion Machine. Zero, Minsky is a contemporary of Hofstadter, just as accessible, if not more so. It's the continuation of the theories he proffered in The Society of Mind (another great book).

I just had to put down rereading the Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan. Speaking of epic fantasy, I don't think it gets any more epic than this. Sadly, Robert Jordan passed away before finishing the 12th and supposedly final book in the series. Many called Jordan our time's Tolkien. I will continue to reread these books due to their power and depth, but I do so knowing I will never have the ending the author intended.

[Zero]

I'd like to hear your thoughts on Greenspan's book - been considering reading it as well, probably as soon as I finish Keynes' theory. Been meaning to dig into Minsky as well... so much to read, so little time!

[think]

I'd like to hear your thoughts on Greenspan's book - been considering reading it as well, probably as soon as I finish Keynes' theory.

Give me another week and I'll let you know.

Been meaning to dig into Minsky as well... so much to read, so little time!

I feel you there...

[jmcphail]

Dunno if any Pynchon fans here have found this Wiki yet - http://pynchonwiki.com/.

I'm just digging into it myself. Trying to be careful not to spoil Against The Day, though, I made a choice and jumped into Gravity's Rainbow again, and now I have to finish it before starting Against The Day. I minor miscalculation on my part!

[Soft Morning, City!]

The wiki pages for Pynchon are really great. I've used them myself, mostly when I'm curious about the plethora of obscure historical references that go right over my head when reading GR. They're very helpful.

No worries about going into GR again, mate. It's a great read.

I was thinking about doing Lot 49 again after Rainbow, but I've lent it to a friend and I don't know when I'll get it back.

Let me know when you start Against The Day. The sheer size and weight of the book itself is daunting. I like to read books very slowly, so it would probably take me a good number of months to finish it. I'm just not sure I have the time for that right now. Especially considering that I'm still reading Finnegans Wake. To read the two in tandem would probably drive me to madness.

[Xobeloot]

books are good

[Soft Morning, City!]

It's funny. That was posted almost two years ago and I'm currently reading Gravity's Rainbow again. It still rules, two years later!

[slartie]

I've been reading E. A. Poe lately - pretty much everything he ever made. He was one productive fellow.

Others .. Joyce, Clancy, Grisham, Koontz, King, Steinbeck, Gibson, Clarke, Tolkien, Goodkind, Pratchett. What can I say? I love reading.

[Soft Morning, City!]

Poe is some of the only rhyming poetry that I actually enjoy reading. His sense of rhythm is tremendous. Prolific and very much worth reading.

Joyce is also the man. Difficult, but fascinating. I know it's literary merit is often debated, but I absolutely adore Finnegans Wake.

[sgreger1]

Re: Readers?

Any bookworms on here? If so, what are some of your favorites and what are you currently reading?

I'm big on Charles Bukowski, William S. Burroughs (Sr. & Jr.), Allen Ginsberg, James Joyce, Richard Brautigan, Thomas Pynchon, and a number of others.

Right now I'm smack in the middle of Gravity's Rainbow by Pynchon. What a wonderful and frenetic book it is.

I also make it a point to read a few poems on any given day. Today I read some from Loading Mercury With A Pitchfork by Brautigan and Love Is A Dog From Hell by Bukowski.

So what are you guys into?

I used to be real into science fiction but now I tend to like reading more real world stories, like "Lone Survivor" by that navy seal who lost all his team members.

Im re-reading Ayn Rand's Atlas shrugged right now, a ****ing clssic, expecially given the writers history. the John Gault rant on the radio he did was like a million pages long though lol.


Some favorites -

Science Fiction:

*The Ringworld series
*anything by Isaac Asimoth

Non Fiction:

*freakanomics
*Lone Survivor
*Atlas shrugged
*Huckleberry Fin
*To Kill a Mockingbird
The 5,000 year leap

Science:

*The holgraphic universe
* The elegant universe

Oh, and the best ****ing book ever written, it all supposed to be true but I have a feeling a lot of it was made up but still amazingly funny:

I HOPE THEY SERVE BEER IN HELL. - Max Tucker

[sgreger1]

Hey what is Gravity's rainbow, it sounds familiar, whats it about?

[Soft Morning, City!]

Gravity's Rainbow is a massive conspiracy/adventure story primarily concerning a guy named Tyrone Slothrop's journey through mid-WWII Europe on a quest to find a mysterious rocket called the Schwarzgerät (or the 00000). He gets in A LOT of trouble on this journey and the results are often hilarious. The narrative is at times surreal, at others hyper-realistic. It's a strange beast.

That is the simplest explanation I can offer. A lot goes on in the book. There are tons and tons of characters, all of them with their own strange motivations, many of them involved in the massive wartime conspiracy. We follow Slothrop a majority of the time, but the narrative frequently digresses from following him to following the many other characters.

You kind of just have to read it. It isn't nearly as difficult as people would like you to believe, but it's still quite a mind ****. I had an easier time keeping track of the plot on my second and third readings. The first reading was just a blur of comedy, horror, and lots of technical language.

Read it.