I just finished World War Z. Since it's the book club book I won't comment here.

I'm going to be starting Monster Island (David Wellington) or A Simple Plan (Scott Smith) next. I figure I'll do plenty of "heavy" reading over the summer. I'm going to get some fluff in while I'm easing out of the semester.

Just finished "Brave New World" by Aldous Huxley. At first his style, with all the comma splices and sentence fragments and whatnot, was a bit off-putting, but he uses it very effectively and creatively later on. It was excellent, imo.

I've now started "The Selfish Gene" by Richard Dawkins. It looks pretty interesting, but I think I already know most of what he's going to say, and it seems, at least from the first chapter, that he's going to avoid extrapolating on most of the really interesting philosophical questions. But whatever, still seems like a good read and shouldn't take that long.

Also one of my favorite History books, and I was a History Major. You should suggest it for the Book Club thread. It should generate a lot of interesting discussion. Once I find my copy, I'm going to reread it.

You go ahead and make the nomination tsearcher. I just made a literary one but if they select this history book it'll be good too.

good book, and the final chapter, about 'memes' spawned a whole new scientific study - memetics.


I once studied this book so heavily, that during my final exams for a BSc (Hons), I found myself in the horrible position of having like 10 minutes of exam left and one essay question to answer.

So instead of writing out the answer, I wrote the equivalent of summaries of the points and referenced the book at the page/paragraph level to support these points (eg "see p.76 from 2nd paragraph to p82, to the end of the first full paragraph, of The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins (second Edition) to get a fuller explanation"). I could even quote whole sections verbatim (and did with the dying seconds of the exam).


I got a 1st Class Honors Degree.


True story.

Db you might be interested in this. While I'm not an expert at all on memetics I came across some claims that a field known as semiotics preceded memetics. It may be of interest to you or it may not. Anyways here's the link just to get your feet wet:

http://www.unlv.edu/centers/cdclv/pr..._memetics.html

One of the few books which I have read more then once. I'm always annoyed when right wingers in the politics forum choose to quote 1984 as some kind of argument against stronger government rather then the more apposite Brave new world.

I think I liked BNW better than 1984. I'd have to reread them both again to decide. BNW has such a distinct feel to it. I don't think I've read anything quite like it.

Having that kind of memory of a book is awesome. I have had lots of odd bits of shakespeare, carver, hemingway, nietzsche, and other people memorized and occasionally surprised people by using direct quotes instead of paraphrases whenever that kind of thing came up(like almost never). Read stuff enough and it really sticks with you. But for me, that's very very hard unless I actually like it. Otherwise I don't want to carry it around in my mind.

Don't know if anyone is interested but this is a thread on another message board that is similar to this one. I believ eit is mostly British chaps.

http://www.barbelith.com/topic/26397

Ken

I just started [b]"The Good War" An Oral History of World War II[b] by Studs Terkel. After reading World War Z I decided to read an oral history of something that actually happened.

I'm reading Brainiac by Ken Jennings. Kind of disappointing so far.

i just started Daemon by Leinad Zersaus...sort of a cyber-punk novel without the literary pedigree of a Stephenson or a Gibson. Very entertaining so far.

fnished blind watchmaker on monday...started "death by black hole" by neil degrasse tyson (astrophysicist and head of new york planetarium) yesterday...its a series of his articles/essays over the last 10 years regarding physics/cosmology/astronomy/science in general...i love this guys lectures and am enjoying the few articles i've read so far...

a short segment from a lecture he gave in 06
http://youtube.com/watch?v=Weu7Rh6dYrM

Please for somebody to be telling me a good starter book (fiction) to read by Solzhenitsyn.

I'm halfway through a book called HOMEWARD BOUND. It's about the notions of family and gender roles during the 1950s and how American society responded to the threat of nuclear annihilation.

For an academic book, it's a pretty smooth read and there is actually some humor in it.

One thing I've taken away from the book is a better understanding of the links between female promiscuity and containment during the Cold War. Sounds absurd, but it's true: American fighter pilots would adorn their b52s with pin-up chicks and women were described as "bombshells." There were a ton of examples like this where symbolism in the popular culture linked the explosiveness and danger of the atomic threat with the "danger" and seduction of promiscuous women.

It was a truly sick time. One Harvard-educated nutritionist advised that there would be a 1000% increase in venereal diseases after the bomb detonated and the resulting sexual chaos ensued.

Reading HOMEWARD BOUND has renewed my appreciation for Kubrick for composing some of those unforgettable images from Dr. Strangelove. All the jokes I remembered from that flick are a thousand times funnier now that I understand all these connections better.

I recommend it.

It sounds like you might like The Rape of the A.P.E. by Allan Sherman. A.P.E. stands for "American Puritan Ethic." It's about the same sort of thing and time period and often quite funny. Sherman is a comic songwriter probably best known for the song that goes "Hello muddah, hello Faddah/Here I am at/Camp Granada..." and goes on to recite the horrors a little kid encounters at summer camp.

I started the Dalai Lama's book "The Art of Happiness" and so far its an enjoyable read. Its a good thing this time I bought the books cause I bounce around between them like a rubber ball and if they were library books its hard to keep up with all the renewals.

Over the last two nights read the just released paperback version of Mark Steyn's controversial best seller America Alone.

From his frequent talk radio and TV appearances I was already familiar with Steyn's world-view; those who aren't can get the gist of it reading a few of the 445 Amazon reviews in the link above.

I'd love to hear my friend's Andy Fox and John Cole's opinion on this one with one condition - they have to actually read the book (I'd suggest they do it privately out of sight of neighbors and associates).

I'll reserve my opinion except to say it's a very fast and easy read no matter where your politics reside.

~ Rick

He writes very nicely on American popular music. See his Song of the Week column on his website.

I wasn't one of the people asked for a comment, but I'll do so anyway. I read this book about a year ago. Despite some very loose reliance on fact, Steyn raises some very startling demographic possibilities. At points I found myself cringing at his right wing bias, but I must say the book makes you wonder about what the future will hold for some countries.

Also Steyn is a Canadian and is often an embarrassment to us. When he visited Guatanemo Bay and wrote an article about how the detainees should be happy that they got waterboarded because they were allowed to stay in such fabulous conditions that it was like a spa. Nice.

I'm reading at the moment:

On the Road by Jack Kerouac

The Van by Roddy Doyle

Rotten English (a collection of non-standard English writing, including vernacular poetry and prose)

Good stuff considering he's "an un-educated former disc jockey".

~ Rick

I won't argue the "loose reliance on fact" but in large part it appears to me his mis-statements are on the margins. For example, Steyn wrote the Italian birth rate as 1.2 births per woman; someone countered that it was really 1.25. Looking at this wiki chart I'd say he's close enough (and the rest of the chart is certainly alarming considering the replacement rate is about 2.1 children per woman).

Well he lives in New Hampshire now so any embarrassment is shared among a much larger population so perhaps Canadians shouldn't feel so bad.

Obviously he uses rhetoric designed, to put it mildly, to get ones attention. But based on my recent reading of The Case Against Steyn is appears the so called "slurs" or "outrageous statements" attributed to Steyn read in full and in context aren't quite as inflammatory.

Bottom line is I'd like to read the exact column/essay where he said what you attributed to him as opposed to a possibly loose and/or out of context paraphrase (which I admit is common on the right and the left). Perhaps someone can find the link; I can't at least today.

~ Rick

PS Didn't mean to mention Andy Fox and John Cole to be exclusionary; rather they are old friends who I think would at least get a rise from Steyn. Once you get our age any rise is welcome

One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich

I liked "The Oak and the Calf", myself.

( never cared much for Aldous Huxley. too much of a nihilistic, narcissist nerd. )