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-- What Are You Reading? Part Deux.
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quote:

Originally posted by Ted Promo hrrrm, recently The Elegant Universe The Hidden Reality In Search of Schroedinger's Cat: Quantum Physics and Reality The Black Hole War: My Battle With Stephen Hawking to Make the World Safe for Quantum Mechanics Incognito: The Secret Lives of the Brain The Selfish Gene One Nation Under Contract: Outsourcing of American Power and the Future of Foreign Policy The History of Freemasonry Currently reading The Post-American World 2.0. And looking at my penis.

Heavy reading.

How was The Elegant Universe?

I thought about getting it, but it's like 10 years old and I worry about reading Science books older than a few years old

Just finished The Butlerian Jihad and started on The Machine Crusade.

I'm reading the original right now for the first time lol

How was The Butlerian Jihad?

Its actually better than I expected from those writers, they develop the characters fairly well early on. It also beats working.

quote:

Originally posted by R.j. DeLillo - White Noise

I tried reading this, could not finish it. Badly written, pretentious (hate using this word, but fits here), shallow crap imo...

Maybe I missed something, and as I said I didn't finish it, but it was just so ham-fisted...

what did you think?

http://www.amazon.com/Resistance-Ye...d/dp/0879515864

quote:

Originally posted by EgosXII I tried reading this, could not finish it. Badly written, pretentious (hate using this word, but fits here), shallow crap imo... Maybe I missed something, and as I said I didn't finish it, but it was just so ham-fisted... what did you think?

It had its moments. I would have liked it a lot were it shorter than it is. I would have liked it a lot more if the author did not feel as though he had to belabor the point about Consumer Land in the most tedious way, did not use his protagonist as tool like Ayn Rand usually does, if this character was not so goddamn detached from the story, or if everybody, kids included, did not speak and act like the 'protagonist'. But, I suppose, 'there was point' to this mode of storytelling, or so it felt like that was his way of 'making a point'. Only, I am neither buying it nor am I going to check out another book of his.

But like I said, for all its 'intended' shallowness and pretentiousness, it had its moments, meaning some of the 'humor' appealed to me. This last book, V., is the last bigwig post-modernist book that I am going to put myself through. So, once that one is read, I shall move on to something with a compelling and coherent plot that is not purposely fragmented so that it supposedly 'reflects our lives in a post-modern world', something with at least one sympathetic character, and something that is not self-consciously written for academics and suckers like me.

Just finished Dune. Awesome, as I expected. I'll buy the second one next time I buy some more books, but still have a stack to go through right now.

Next up:

quote:

Originally posted by Lews Heavy reading. How was The Elegant Universe? I thought about getting it, but it's like 10 years old and I worry about reading Science books older than a few years old

It's still incredibly interesting imo. I actually used it to brush up on string theory since I wasn't entirely familiar. His use of simile and metaphor was impeccable throughout and he keeps it entertaining. It gets all the way up to M-Theory toward the end so it's not terrrribly outdated yet. And besides, that Schoedinger's Cat book is from 1984

quote:

Originally posted by Ted Promo It's still incredibly interesting imo. I actually used it to brush up on string theory since I wasn't entirely familiar. His use of simile and metaphor was impeccable throughout and he keeps it entertaining. It gets all the way up to M-Theory toward the end so it's not terrrribly outdated yet. And besides, that Schoedinger's Cat book is from 1984

Alright, cool. I'll add it to my wantlist after all, then, especially since I know hardly anything about string theory. I noticed that about the Cat book, but it still looked cool so I added it to my list after all

I'm just getting interested in learning more about Physics and stuff myself lately, so always on the look out for good books

Are you a Physics major/professional or is this just free-reading because you damn smart and shit?

quote:

Originally posted by R.j. It had its moments. I would have liked it a lot were it shorter than it is. I would have liked it a lot more if the author did not feel as though he had to belabor the point about Consumer Land in the most tedious way, did not use his protagonist as tool like Ayn Rand usually does, if this character was not so goddamn detached from the story, or if everybody, kids included, did not speak and act like the 'protagonist'. But, I suppose, 'there was point' to this mode of storytelling, or so it felt like that was his way of 'making a point'. Only, I am neither buying it nor am I going to check out another book of his. But like I said, for all its 'intended' shallowness and pretentiousness, it had its moments, meaning some of the 'humor' appealed to me. This last book, V., is the last bigwig post-modernist book that I am going to put myself through. So, once that one is read, I shall move on to something with a compelling and coherent plot that is not purposely fragmented so that it supposedly 'reflects our lives in a post-modern world', something with at least one sympathetic character, and something that is not self-consciously written for academics and suckers like me.

indeed, can't believe you managed to get through more than one book like that

I'm a big fan of american literature, but this is not it imo... Back to the classics I go

been really slacking in the READING department lately, but started picking through this.



<3 CYBERPUNKZ

After I read the Dune series, I want to get into Gibson

i want to read this!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFsY7Vf74mE

Started reading this yesterday.

i want to get this book after my current digs

http://www.amazon.com/Angry-Black-W...l/dp/1400054877

I'm not even surprised. When are you getting your negroplasty?

quote:

Originally posted by woscar Started reading this yesterday.

I am reading this, about halfway through (he actually quotes that hilarious / cringe-worthy Wendy Wright interview in here, lol):



And this:

quote:

Originally posted by Lews I'm not even surprised. When are you getting your negroplasty?

Right after the dickectomy, I guess...

quote:

Originally posted by Lews After I read the Dune series, I want to get into Gibson

Just stop right now and move straight onto him. Gibson is a class above Frank Herbert.

I love Gibson so much.

quote:

Originally posted by SYSTEM-J Just stop right now and move straight onto him. Gibson is a class above Frank Herbert.

But I'm deeply invested in the story already!

I'll try to read Dune 2 and 3 very quickly


I'm guessing I should start with Neuromancer?


Dammit, and Dance of Dragons is coming out in July. And I want to read more Physics books. Too many damn things to read at once. Shit is going to get complicated very soon.

I started with Neuromancer. It's the beginning of the sprawl trilogy:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sprawl_trilogy

I liked Count Zero, but I thought it was a bit weaker than Neuromancer. Like I said, recently picked up Mona Lisa Overdrive.

I've also read Idoru and All Tomorrow's Parties, which I thought were both superb. They are both part of the Bridge Trilogy:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bridge_trilogy

Still some other stuff of his I'd like to go through. Neuromancer is certainly a good starting point though.

quote:

Originally posted by woscar Right after the dickectomy, I guess...

it's a vaginoplasty + labiaplasty.

i had the trans-racial discussion with someone once before. it's quite a lot different because race is a very complex and highly divisible genetic phenomenon that's also very dependent on dominant cultural perception (eg in the 1800s america, if you had one black great grandfather you'd be considered 'black', whereas today people are both claiming and rejecting barack obama as black) there are no specific race body organs or hormones, etc. sex is more often than not only limited to two options, with the exception of course of intersex people and people who have had their sexual organs removed deliberately. there are two distinct hormones which account for differentiation among male and female sexual characteristics. both males and females have these to different degrees, but the difference in most cases is extreme. whereas you can fuck anyone and have a baby of mixed race.

as far as trans-cultural goes, I think also this is more of a moot point in contemporary society because culture is a lot more fluid than gender at this point. But I would definitely consider myself trans cultural in a broad sense, in that count myself as a member of many other cultural groups that aren't what I was raised as (white, straight, italian american, catholic) I think many of us can say that about ourselves.

you don't need a vagina to appreciate famous feminist authors anymore than don't need a 'negroplasty' (ugh) to appreciate black musicians.

as far as my transgender identity goes, it's quite personal for everyone. it comes down to self image. some transgender people don't need surgeries or hormones to balance their presentation/self image with their subconscious sex. others do - I have felt this way as long as I remember.

however, at no point have I ever felt like i have a subconscious race or experienced feelings beyond admiring great people of other races and being curious about the experiences of others different to me.

i do know some people in the transgender community though that actually want to transition races.

quote:

Originally posted by Lews Are you a Physics major/professional or is this just free-reading because you damn smart and shit?

Free reading. But I'm not all that smart :/

Books are fun!

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