I can totally dig have some more existential literature on the forum. Maybe Rym and Scott should read L'etranger by Albert Camus (not really existential though) or The Trail also by Kafka for the book club. They definitely changed the way that I read books, moving me away from just saying "that's cool I guess", to really looking into books.
Making my way through the Steve Jobs bio. As I assumed, his greatest strength was his attention to detail and his greatest weakness was being batshit insane.
I re-read "House of Suns" recently. It's a great Science Fiction book written by an author with an amazing imagination that is also good at writing believable, unique characters. I especially like this story since it has a romantic vibe to it, something which most SF writers don't seem to do well.
"The Working Stiff's Manifesto" is a funny and depressing POV of one guy's attempts to scrape by in different menial jobs. He works as a commercial fisherman, in a grocery store, as a moving guy, as a trucker... all because his English degree is useless for anything else.
"The Working Stiff's Manifesto" is a funny and depressing POV of one guy's attempts to scrape by in different menial jobs. He works as a commercial fisherman, in a grocery store, as a moving guy, as a trucker... all because his English degree is useless for anything else.
What I don't get is people who don't realize a boring liberal arts degree is useless until afterwards. Anyone other than the college that wants your money can tell you that going in.
"The Working Stiff's Manifesto" is a funny and depressing POV of one guy's attempts to scrape by in different menial jobs. He works as a commercial fisherman, in a grocery store, as a moving guy, as a trucker... all because his English degree is useless for anything else.
I'm going to have to read that...
What I don't get is people who don't realize a boring liberal arts degree is useless until afterwards. Anyone other than the college that wants your money can tell you that going in.
But the process of getting the degree isn't boring, if you like literature. There is a benefit to having a class of people who have a perspective on how narratives developed through history, how narratives define our humanity, how even the most pulpy story can contain some deep insights into the time it was written.
Granted, the only way for that class of people to make money is in academia.... and yes I am defending my English degree while I sit in a go nowhere IT job thinking about getting my Masters in a technology field. I still wouldn't trade my undergraduate experience for anything. I wouldn't be the same person if I had spent that time learning networking calculations instead of writing essays about Macbeth.
The percentage of arts majors I know who are inherently awesome people that I love being around is around 85%. The percentage of science majors I know that meet the same criteria is closer to 20%.
And guess what? The arts kids are usually happier, better adjusted, know their degrees aren't going to be worth a lot, and don't care because they're doing what they love. I'd rather hang out with a room full of English majors over a room full of pre-meds any day. With the notable exceptions of several of my close friends, the latter group tends to be a cult of insufferable assholes who do nothing but fret over acceptance rates and brag about their GPAs. The former group tends to throw parties where it's okay to get riotously drunk, form a circle, and tell The Aristocrats. They're just better company.
The arts kids are usually happier, better adjusted, know their degrees aren't going to be worth a lot, and don't care because they're doing what they love.
Until they get out of school and realize blogging about anime isn't going to be a rocket ship to success.
Just finished Robopocalypse and Ready, Player One. RPL was much, much better.
One of the most enjoyable bits of RPL for me was when there was a long exposition about The Dungeons of Daggorath. Odly, enough, I've never, ever played D & D, or any other tabletop RPG. In high school, there wouldn't have been anyone to play with. However, I DO remember Daggorath for all the ads that were in contemporaneous comics and magazines. Wow, that made for an interesting book.
I didn't fail to recognize one bit of 80s trivia, but I have a little, sniggling objection to the fictional timeline surrounding Halliday. As far as I remember, he was supposed to have been born in the early 70s and went to high school around the mid-80s. If this is true, I really believe that he would have missed to window of opportunity to be really impressed with things like SchoolHouse Rock!, Zork, and most early games like Tempest. He might have been aware of them, but I don't think they would have impacted him in such a major way. So, I think the timeline for Halliday should be set back just a few years so he could have been going to high school around 79-83, or so. That makes much more sense, time-wise.
One chapter away from finishing the first book of the The Prince of Nothing series. Going to buy the next two for super cheap on Amazon. I just need to figure out how to get it up to $25 for free shipping. I'm thinking "Spot It" as a Christmas gift for someone, but it's a little short.
Also glad more people are reading Ready Player One.
Alright ... I enjoy short stories, and am particularly fond of Philip K. Dick's writings. Does anyone here have a good suggestion for that sort of dark&dry humor?
Just finished Reamde by Neal Stephenson. It's a modern day thriller about a bunch of hackers and game developers who get pulled into an insane Russian mob boss's scheme to get revenge on a gold farmer who unwittingly fucks with the mob's money. And then, quite suddenly and permanently, it isn't. It's almost as if Stephenson abandoned the book he was writing to write something else, which kind of sucks since most of the world building he does and characters he's developed up to that point take a total backseat. They do end up playing into the plot later but not in the capacity you were expecting.
In many ways, even through it is set in the modern world, Reamde, it is like Snowcrash 2.0. You have your Metaverse, in this case, a fictional MMO called T'Rain and the lame name is explained in exhaustive detail (as if Stephenson is able to detail something any other way). You have your nerd/hero with nonstandard ethnicity. You have your take no guff tough chick with strange speech patterns. You have your hacker with a shady past who invented the internet. There are other parallels but going into them would spoil the book.
Reamde is well written and there is tons of tension and excitement and good characters. Stephenson is one an author who's works I will continue to buy and read sight unseen but Reamde is probably my least favorite book he's written in the last decade.
Comments
Just finished: Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse (http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/2500)
Reading: The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka (http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/5200)
Great success!
Granted, the only way for that class of people to make money is in academia.... and yes I am defending my English degree while I sit in a go nowhere IT job thinking about getting my Masters in a technology field. I still wouldn't trade my undergraduate experience for anything. I wouldn't be the same person if I had spent that time learning networking calculations instead of writing essays about Macbeth.
And guess what? The arts kids are usually happier, better adjusted, know their degrees aren't going to be worth a lot, and don't care because they're doing what they love. I'd rather hang out with a room full of English majors over a room full of pre-meds any day. With the notable exceptions of several of my close friends, the latter group tends to be a cult of insufferable assholes who do nothing but fret over acceptance rates and brag about their GPAs. The former group tends to throw parties where it's okay to get riotously drunk, form a circle, and tell The Aristocrats. They're just better company.
...that might just be me...
Honor the Niol.
One of the most enjoyable bits of RPL for me was when there was a long exposition about The Dungeons of Daggorath. Odly, enough, I've never, ever played D & D, or any other tabletop RPG. In high school, there wouldn't have been anyone to play with. However, I DO remember Daggorath for all the ads that were in contemporaneous comics and magazines. Wow, that made for an interesting book.
I didn't fail to recognize one bit of 80s trivia, but I have a little, sniggling objection to the fictional timeline surrounding Halliday. As far as I remember, he was supposed to have been born in the early 70s and went to high school around the mid-80s. If this is true, I really believe that he would have missed to window of opportunity to be really impressed with things like SchoolHouse Rock!, Zork, and most early games like Tempest. He might have been aware of them, but I don't think they would have impacted him in such a major way. So, I think the timeline for Halliday should be set back just a few years so he could have been going to high school around 79-83, or so. That makes much more sense, time-wise.
Also glad more people are reading Ready Player One.
Since Nuri posted that trailer for The Hunger Games, that has me quite interested in the books.
$5 for the first one is such a great price.
Has anyone else read the series? Thoughts?
In many ways, even through it is set in the modern world, Reamde, it is like Snowcrash 2.0. You have your Metaverse, in this case, a fictional MMO called T'Rain and the lame name is explained in exhaustive detail (as if Stephenson is able to detail something any other way). You have your nerd/hero with nonstandard ethnicity. You have your take no guff tough chick with strange speech patterns. You have your hacker with a shady past who invented the internet. There are other parallels but going into them would spoil the book.
Reamde is well written and there is tons of tension and excitement and good characters. Stephenson is one an author who's works I will continue to buy and read sight unseen but Reamde is probably my least favorite book he's written in the last decade.