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What books are you reading now?


Anoebis

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I disagree. Determinism is realistic, unlike the superstition of choice-making.

but since we can't know all the circumstances, we can not rely on some apparent determinism. Those gaps undermines whole determinism idea and therefore indeterminism is much more real and touchable. At least on personal level, but .... get there in time
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  • 2 weeks later...

Of course we know all the circumstances, for there are only two: one's structure and one's environment, both of which are entirely apparent and touchable, necessarily. "Choice" is superfluous and can very easily be discarded by basic reason alone. Only the fearful and indoctrinated cling to superstition, whereas one would find oneself vastly more enriched by metaphor and poetry.

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And How is Descarte's rationalism responsible for devastation of the west culture?

He contributed to the rift between mind and body - spirituality and materialism - forcing individuals in the Western world to affiliate with either one or the other when both are required for healthy, constructive thinking, not only for individuals but for societies in general.
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Currently reading Valis by Philip K. Dick. I've read other books by him, and this one came highly recommended, but to be honest... I kind of think it's garbage

 

Not total crap of course, but it has a very meandering plot (an autobiography of sorts about Philip K. Dick going insane and his beliefs in Gnostic Christianity). Right now I am reading it with the intention of just finishing it and getting it out of my life... :rolleyes:

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  • 3 weeks later...

I just Read Geomancer for the second time.

William Gibson is a genius

I prefer him better than Phillip k. Dick

although i've only read two books by Dick.

 

I'm in the midst of reading Hitchhikers guide to the galaxy which i feel has a very distinct charm, i love how Douglas Adams? / Adam Douglas? writes, it has his humour and i feel that you're feeling the thoughts of the protagonist. I love it.

it's a very alternative way to view your world, accepting that species can hold an intelligence greater than yours and still wont be able to determine an outcome better than those with less, if you catch my drift?

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Currently reading Valis by Philip K. Dick. I've read other books by him, and this one came highly recommended, but to be honest... I kind of think it's garbage

 

Not total crap of course, but it has a very meandering plot (an autobiography of sorts about Philip K. Dick going insane and his beliefs in Gnostic Christianity). Right now I am reading it with the intention of just finishing it and getting it out of my life... :rolleyes:

 

Weird. That book totally transported me. A top ten fiction experience for me, and I've read a lot of books.
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  • 2 weeks later...

Alessandro Baricco- "Castelli di rabbia"

 

Fine novel. Well thought out, written with skill and a clear sense of direction. Nothing revolutionary, just plain ol' novel writting done the good way. Damn, I missed that!

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  • 4 weeks later...

I don't remember the name, but it's the history of how western music arrived at the 12-tone equal temperament tuning we use today. It kind of goes off on tangents a lot, but with the purpose of relating the changes in tuning systems to the other social changes going on during those times. It's pretty interesting.

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I don't remember the name, but it's the history of how western music arrived at the 12-tone equal temperament tuning we use today. It kind of goes off on tangents a lot, but with the purpose of relating the changes in tuning systems to the other social changes going on during those times. It's pretty interesting.

 

That does sound intriguing, let me know if you find the name.

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It's Temperament: How Music Became a Battleground for the Great Minds of Western Civilization by Stuart Isacoff.

 

I read that.

Now I'm reading Renewable Energy Policy, Paul Komor and The Scientist as Rebel, Dyson.

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  • 1 month later...

I am in the middle of reading all the foundation books. On Foundation and Earth now...I am at this point wondering whether I should go on to Asimov's prequels or the other Authors who continued the timeline and then go back in time & read the prequels :huh:

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Finished reading The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy the other day.

 

Now I started reading Dune. ^_^

 

hahahah oh lol, i read those in the same order not so long ago.

also now i'm reading some random w40 novel, about the souldrinkers whilst trying to concentrate reading the kite runner again.

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I feel I must slag off the utter shite I am reading now.

 

I am reading the Foundation series by Asimov and I am not onto the ones written by other authors.

 

 

The first one, by Gregory Benford is complete and utter garbage. I have never hated an author so much probably because if they are a crap author they are merely writing crap stories but this guy is ruining the Asimov "foundation" universe and he should be ashamed of himself

 

Things that piss me off

 

1. Gregory Benford thinks it's cool for sci-fi to have cool futuristic words which are just bastardised modern words that don't sound futuristic at all. He uses Mathist instead of of Mathematician. He introduced a class of people called the Meritocracy which are like the aristocracy except they have gotten a higher status through merit :roll:

 

2. He ignores Asimov's portrayal of characters changing them into the opposite of what Asimov wrote. One character in Forward the Foundation was a complete work-a-holic with no life outside Psychohistory & not even thinking there could be anything else to life. In this he is whining about not going to a party and fauning over women.

 

3. He ignores facts stated by Asimov. Asimov said one character never went back to his home sector and almost straight away in this book he is going back there :mad:

 

4. Asimov wrote the foundation series as 20,000+ in the future but still always wrote things like the basics had never changed. We still drank alcohol, exercised by sports or running etc. Benford feelis the need to shout LOOK IT'S THE FUTURE FUTURE!!!!!!

 

FUTURE!!!!!!

 

We exercise in our sleep, we drink stims, we do all manner of crappy sci-fi cliches :(

 

5. He's dumb

 

6. He fills in blanks that were blank for a good reason, it is boring to go into too much detail. This is just not adding to the story in anyway.

 

7. He's like a dumbass PE teacher with a word-of-the-day calender, using overly complicated words not entirely in the right context and just sounds dumb because of it rather than more intellectual which he was probably going for.

 

8. His English is not so good. Apart from the above example he also sometimes fails with grammar.

 

That was from about a third of the way through, now three quarters in I can say....

 

Oh my god, this book just gets worse and worse the more I read of it!

 

I really feel like this Author had never read the original Asimov books in which he is supposed to be following. He completely and totally ruins everything! He changes character's personalities. Seldon has gone from being a Mathematician whose hobby was a martial art to James Bond in space! He spells Seldon's wife's name wrong throughout the book. Asimov had hyperspace ships that could jump through hyperspace from and to anywhere as long as they were far enough from a huge gravity well to avoid complications. Bentford (that's right I'm spelling it wrong on purpose) has decided that's not good, let's have wormholes, EVERYWHERE. The whole hyperspace thing totally out the window. Ohhhhh I am groaning but I am determined to finish this train wreck of a book.

 

I feel like maybe (if he did read the original foundation series) that he has just changed everything to his liking (maybe he secretly hates the series). It's too inside on the world with 40bn people, lets move it to an ape farm. There is not enough references to christianity so I'll bring back some simulated characters from good old christian days. I hated how Asimov had no aliens in this series, I'll just create some. Asimov was such a pussy hating violence and wanting to write books intellectually. I'll have everyone blood thirsty in this book. Why didn't Asimov go into excessively boring detail about how cool the FUTURE is? I'll make up for his 7 books of story with just pages and pages of innane crap about technology of which (even though I am a physics professor or something) I seem to be very unknowledgable about.

 

I don't mean to harp on but this guy needs shooting. Oh and looking at his wikipedia page, he looks like an arrogant twat that just needs punching!

 

Urgh

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