I need to read more books for personal enjoyment. Last night I finished "The Pregnancy Instruction Manual: Essential Information, Troubleshooting Tips, and Advice for Parents-to-Be" which was an enlightening read that educated me on the husbandly duties I should be performing, but was only slightly more informative than Dave Barry's "Babies and Other Hazards of Sex" and Thomas Hill's "What to Expect When You're Wife is Expanding."
I need to read more books for personal enjoyment. Last night I finished "The Pregnancy Instruction Manual: Essential Information, Troubleshooting Tips, and Advice for Parents-to-Be" which was an enlightening read that educated me on the husbandly duties I should be performing, but was only slightly more informative than Dave Barry's "Babies and Other Hazards of Sex" and Thomas Hill's "What to Expect When You're Wife is Expanding."
I haven't read it, and I can't vouch for it. It could work, it could be bullshit. However, if this book lives up to the hype, it will probably be the most valuable book you have ever read. If not, you wasted $12.
Twelve Hours' Sleep by Twelve Weeks Old: A Step-by-Step Plan for Baby Sleep Success
Chloroform?
I'll have to keep that book in mind. I'm sure sleep cycles is one of those problems that is off my radar at the moment but going to hit me like a sack of bricks. As for chloroform, I thought you used that to help maky the baby, not raise it? And the Brandy, I'll be saving that for dad.
Am about 3/4 through Foundation. Can't wait to hear your book club. It's very different. I haven't read a TON of Sci-fi but this book seems quite unique. The way it jumps through time makes my head spin. Very interested to know what exactly attracted you to this book.
***Spoilers??????****
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Hard to get my head around that they mention there are a Bazillion people in the empire, yet within just a few centuries, JUST the Foundation has the science? I love the idea, don't get me wrong... But give humanity some credit. 40 billion humans, we gona FIGURE THAT SHIT OUT! Kinda frustrating actually. Really? No one can read books? Nothing has a freaken operations manual? It all just deteriorates into uselessness? With a metric Quintillion people in the empire? OK...
Maybe if the population was ONLY a few billion, dispersed across the universe. Or if 1000+ years had passed.
Anyway, awesome story so far, just... really? Everyone just resigned themselves to coal? Really???? Where are all the nerds? The inquisitive minds? The curious?
I finished reading a WoW Manga for review....it wasn't the best for someone who is not into the lure of the game. Also read Foundation and did not get into it, maybe it is me but I do see the ideas but something about it I can not put a finger on did not make me go and latch onto this story. Also finished Ender's Game for a book club, I am noting that anyone who recommends a YA book for this club has an ending that pisses me off to no end. Gearing up for some deals for Free Comic Book Day at least.
I love the idea, don't get me wrong... But give humanity some credit. 40 billion humans, we gona FIGURE THAT SHIT OUT!
More humans plus less science equals more contention for scarce resources. This reduces the ability to specialize in anything but food production and warfare. The rise of civilization and science has much to do with the fact that a select few in ancient times could list without having to actively make food or war.
I love the idea, don't get me wrong... But give humanity some credit. 40 billion humans, we gona FIGURE THAT SHIT OUT!
More humans plus less science equals more contention for scarce resources. This reduces the ability to specialize in anything but food production and warfare. The rise of civilization and science has much to do with the fact that a select few in ancient times could list without having to actively make food or war.
Yes, the *rise* of civilization, to make that initial tech leap is very difficult. But this (atomic power being one example) was all fully functioning and stock standard tech for billions of people. Did the millions of science teachers that must have formed part of this society all just disappear? Did all the schools and universities just stop? Sure, the empire might fall, but life goes on.
Could you engineer a modern nuclear power plant without access to the current Internet?
Not exactly sure what you are asking.
Are you asking whether someone is capable of designing a new plant without the Internet as a resource or are you asking whether or not the plant itself would have Internet access?
Look to every dark age in history to date, and you see a period of stability (but no progress) until the existing, now poorly if at all maintained, infrastructure collapses. You also rapidly lose access to trade or information sharing as centralized authority gives way to lawless zones and opportunistic raiding.
Look to every dark age in history to date, and you see a period of stability (but no progress) until the existing, now poorly if at all maintained, infrastructure collapses. You also rapidly lose access to trade or information sharing as centralized authority gives way to lawless zones and opportunistic raiding.
Yeah, I think that's the angle that Clark was going for. But the problem is, this is not one isolated event. It's the whole freaken universe. Surely some, if not the majority of these planets could quite easily function if they were instantly cut off from the rest of the universe. Hydroponics, Atomic power, a thriving civilisation of academics, workers, middle class. Basically how our planet, Earth, is right now! We don't rely on or care about some galactic empire and we are doing just fine (debatable i suppose... :P ) so could not ANY of the thousands of worlds out there not just carry on if the umbilical cord was cut?
Yes, a lot of worlds WOULD go mad max styles. Most likely any that relied heavily on a specific trade good. Say, food, or water or even raw materials. But any well off planet with self sufficiency and a good range of academic and worker classes should really just carry on without too much effort?
But any well off planet with self sufficiency and a good range of academic and worker classes should really just carry on without too much effort?
Would it? Most industrial societies (and even pre-industrial powers) relied extremely heavily on foreign trade. Rome couldn't feed itself without grain imports from Egypt.
But any well off planet with self sufficiency and a good range of academic and worker classes should really just carry on without too much effort?
Would it? Most industrial societies (and even pre-industrial powers) relied extremely heavily on foreign trade. Rome couldn't feed itself without grain imports from Egypt.
We are talking about an entire planet! Just look at earth as a whole. Right now. We doing OK? Yup..
Surely not every single planet was reliant on trade? If so, I missed that part. Or perhaps haven't read it yet, I'm just up to the part where they have overcome the second crisis.
Planets such as Earth might be rare, but they would be out there. A planet that can function independently. ESPECIALLY with tech. Desalination, hydroponics...
But the story won't work without a total collpase, so lets just go with it.
The Imperium in Foundation is meant to mirror the Roman Empire more than anything else.
While the Imperium does stretch accross the galaxy, it is almost entirely governed and planned centrally and even then not very well. Its implied that over time the very existence of the Imperium as a whole has been largely a fiction for centuries, with toothless treaties that basically granted total autonomy to the more distant sectors but also cutting those provinces off from the technologies of the Imperium.
Most of the atomic technology utilized by the remnants of the Imperium are colossal and ancient compared to the tech used by the Foundation and is maintained by secretive guilds and quasi religions who horde their secrets to either gain power over the local government. There is no interest in disseminating technologies and sharing knowledge or even progressing forward. The general populace also demonstrates a profound lack of curiosity and initiative outside of their own extremely narrow interests, traits demonstrated by even the highest ranking dignitaries and diplomats. The governments are also pretty much entirely warlords and autocratic dictators who prefer to ban technologies and trade instead of risking losing their own grips on power.
Reading The Years of Rice and Salt by Kim Stanley Robinson.
It's an alternate history asking what if 99% of Europe's population was wiped out by the Black Death instead of 60% and showing what the world may have been like without the influence of Christianity.
I described it to a friend the other day as, "all the best parts of Dune, LotR, and HP Lovecraft, scrap anything remotely bad or boring, and sprinkle with the more horrifyingly dark elements of Warhammer 40k and Berserk." So far, my description hasn't failed, and it's probably one of the best books I've ever read. Can't wait to finish it so I start the next one.
I really like how insidious the Tusk is, and how fucking awesome the Gnosis is. Bakker is an amazing worldbuilder.
Brave New World - I love Cold War literature and all of the "What if everything changed to be like this" books.
Frankenstein - It's a classic for a reason.
Mistborn - Written by Brandon Sanderson, it is the first fantasy novel I have read in about 2 years. The novel does take some unexpected turns, and is, overall, a good read.
I am currently reading Fountainhead by Ayn Rand, and it is an interesting, long, hard read. It's going to take me another month to finish.
Just finished Foundation. I'll wait for that thread before I get *too* into it.
Suffice to say, it was nice to read 4 little mini stories that were vaguely related by the thread of the Foundation.
The court case, the first crisis, the second crisis and the third crisis (the traders).
Lol, god damn, this book is like Might and magic: Clash of Heroes. You finally get to know one character quite well and then, BOOM, all new characters, new people... reset. Then you follow them, get to know them and BOOM, new hero... lol.
I think its an OK book, but am VERY interested as to exactly why Scott picked it. I much preferred Locke Lamora. Whats the deal? Bring on the book club and enlighten me as to what I have missed, apart from four small mini stories that interlink.
Comments
Twelve Hours' Sleep by Twelve Weeks Old: A Step-by-Step Plan for Baby Sleep Success
***Spoilers??????****
...
...
...
Hard to get my head around that they mention there are a Bazillion people in the empire, yet within just a few centuries, JUST the Foundation has the science? I love the idea, don't get me wrong... But give humanity some credit. 40 billion humans, we gona FIGURE THAT SHIT OUT! Kinda frustrating actually. Really? No one can read books? Nothing has a freaken operations manual? It all just deteriorates into uselessness? With a metric Quintillion people in the empire? OK...
Maybe if the population was ONLY a few billion, dispersed across the universe. Or if 1000+ years had passed.
Anyway, awesome story so far, just... really? Everyone just resigned themselves to coal? Really????
Where are all the nerds? The inquisitive minds? The curious?
Anyway...
Book club asap!
Teachers gona teach.
Are you asking whether someone is capable of designing a new plant without the Internet as a resource or are you asking whether or not the plant itself would have Internet access?
Yes, a lot of worlds WOULD go mad max styles. Most likely any that relied heavily on a specific trade good. Say, food, or water or even raw materials. But any well off planet with self sufficiency and a good range of academic and worker classes should really just carry on without too much effort?
Surely not every single planet was reliant on trade? If so, I missed that part. Or perhaps haven't read it yet, I'm just up to the part where they have overcome the second crisis.
Planets such as Earth might be rare, but they would be out there. A planet that can function independently. ESPECIALLY with tech. Desalination, hydroponics...
But the story won't work without a total collpase, so lets just go with it.
The Imperium in Foundation is meant to mirror the Roman Empire more than anything else.
While the Imperium does stretch accross the galaxy, it is almost entirely governed and planned centrally and even then not very well. Its implied that over time the very existence of the Imperium as a whole has been largely a fiction for centuries, with toothless treaties that basically granted total autonomy to the more distant sectors but also cutting those provinces off from the technologies of the Imperium.
Most of the atomic technology utilized by the remnants of the Imperium are colossal and ancient compared to the tech used by the Foundation and is maintained by secretive guilds and quasi religions who horde their secrets to either gain power over the local government. There is no interest in disseminating technologies and sharing knowledge or even progressing forward. The general populace also demonstrates a profound lack of curiosity and initiative outside of their own extremely narrow interests, traits demonstrated by even the highest ranking dignitaries and diplomats. The governments are also pretty much entirely warlords and autocratic dictators who prefer to ban technologies and trade instead of risking losing their own grips on power.
It's an alternate history asking what if 99% of Europe's population was wiped out by the Black Death instead of 60% and showing what the world may have been like without the influence of Christianity.
I really like how insidious the Tusk is, and how fucking awesome the Gnosis is. Bakker is an amazing worldbuilder.
Brave New World - I love Cold War literature and all of the "What if everything changed to be like this" books.
Frankenstein - It's a classic for a reason.
Mistborn - Written by Brandon Sanderson, it is the first fantasy novel I have read in about 2 years. The novel does take some unexpected turns, and is, overall, a good read.
I am currently reading Fountainhead by Ayn Rand, and it is an interesting, long, hard read. It's going to take me another month to finish.
Suffice to say, it was nice to read 4 little mini stories that were vaguely related by the thread of the Foundation.
The court case, the first crisis, the second crisis and the third crisis (the traders).
Lol, god damn, this book is like Might and magic: Clash of Heroes. You finally get to know one character quite well and then, BOOM, all new characters, new people... reset. Then you follow them, get to know them and BOOM, new hero... lol.
I think its an OK book, but am VERY interested as to exactly why Scott picked it. I much preferred Locke Lamora. Whats the deal? Bring on the book club and enlighten me as to what I have missed, apart from four small mini stories that interlink.