what are you reading?

Jimmy T. @ · Post by **Jimmy T. @** » Thu Jun 02, 2005 9:17 am 0

Saint Sandy wrote: Stalingrad by Antony Beevor

That's a belter that one, in fact all of his are; I'm about half way through "Berlin the Downfall" at the moment, harrowing stuff and not exactly 'light bedtime' reading!

I'm just about to finish off "Jimmy the Hand" by Feist and someone else who's name I forget; in fact, that's probably why it's been a bit disappointing compared to his earlier stuff

, then swiftly on to "Consider Phlebas" by Ian M. Banks, which I've had lying around for a while now.

Just don't seem to get the time for reading now, since my commuting time got halved last year.

Foozwah · Post by **Foozwah** » Thu Jun 02, 2005 9:18 am 0

Just finished re-reading The Scar by China Mieville this morning.

I originally read it before Perdido Street Station, and while a knowledge of that book isn't a pre-requisite to enjoy Scar, as there are no important plot connections, it certainly helps to have read the earlier book in order to understand the world and some of the references.

I have to say that I definitely enjoyed it more the second time, which I couldn't say about many books I've read in the last couple of years.

20thCenturyBoy · Post by **20thCenturyBoy** » Thu Jun 02, 2005 9:25 am 0

Cryptonomicon, and finding it hard going.

alexmcchesney · Post by **alexmcchesney** » Thu Jun 02, 2005 9:27 am 0

"Lake Wobegon Days" by Garrison Keiller at the moment. It's only ok. I'm nibbling at it.

Before that "The Remains of the Day" by Kazuo Ishiguro, which I expected to be dry and stuffy but actually loved and wolfed down in record time.

grue · Post by **grue** » Thu Jun 02, 2005 9:39 am 0

The player of games - Ian Banks

Everything I've read of him is pure genius, stunning Sci-Fi

offyoutoddle · Post by **offyoutoddle** » Thu Jun 02, 2005 9:46 am 0

20thCenturyBoy wrote:Cryptonomicon, and finding it hard going.

It is hard going at first - several hundred pages before I got into it iirc- it actually took an effort of will to keep going for me, but when you finally get there, you will look back on it as a very rewarding review.

lazerwalker · Post by **lazerwalker** » Thu Jun 02, 2005 9:46 am 0

betamax wrote:The Emperor's New Mind- Roger Penrose. An argument about mind, conciousness and the difficulties of creating true AI with our limited understanding of how an actual mind works.

That's a really interesting book to read, with some good explanations of QM and good in that he still keeps a bit of the maths in there, however, as with most pop science books, many of the conclusions he draws are far from the present scientific consensus.

In particular, his collapse of the wavefunction via gravity is far from mainstream, and his views on consciousness having to be intrinsically QM are i think even further from it.

Another interesting QM book is The fabric of reality by David Deutsch. This is about QM and covers some quantum computing as well. He favour the 'many-worlds' QM interpretation, completely different from Penrose's ideas. This is also not the mainstream interpretation.

The problem with these sorts of book is they rarely indicate the line between what is viewed by the scientific community as 'correct' and their own personal prejudices about how they think the world should work. I'd still recommend the Deutsch book as interesting reading though.

Foozwah wrote:Just finished re-reading The Scar by China Mieville this morning.

I read Perdido St station a few months ago. Wow, brilliant book. The Scar is sitting in my to read pile.

I've just finished Singularity Sky by Charlie Stross. A really fun space opera with lots of nice little humorous touches and a few geeky in-jokes.

Count Drunkula · Post by **Count Drunkula** » Thu Jun 02, 2005 9:49 am 0

Genghis Khan : Life, Death and Resurrection by John Man.

Before that,

New Rulers of the World by John Pilger.

betamax · Post by **betamax** » Thu Jun 02, 2005 9:53 am 0

Oh and here's an additional one for the list:

I am Legend- Richard Matheson. A classic Vampire tale, raising interesting questions about the morality of Vampire hunting and the nature of monstrosity.

Jon · Post by **Jon** » Thu Jun 02, 2005 10:00 am 0

I am currently reading 'The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat' by Oliver Sacks, which is a very interesting book about neurology and some of the weird and werider things that can occur with the brain.

And also, 'Wing Chun - Bil Jee: The Deadly Art Of Thrusting Fingers' by William Cheung, which is a Kung Fu reference book.

betamax · Post by **betamax** » Thu Jun 02, 2005 10:05 am 0

Jon wrote:I am currently reading 'The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat' by Oliver Sacks, which is a very interesting book about neurology and some of the weird and werider things that can occur with the brain.

Comes recommended (by me) to anyone who wants a handle on perceptual theory. It approaches the horror of perceptual faliure in an incredibly compassionate and human way while retaining enough objectivity to be a useful reference book. Some of the case studies will have you fighting back the tears.

Also, it's title is the inspiration behind the Travis albumn "The Man Who". FACTOID!

MrSnrub · Post by **MrSnrub** » Thu Jun 02, 2005 10:10 am 0

"The Book of Ultimate Truths" by Robert Rankin.

After that, I'll probably be tackling "Godel Escher Bach" by Douglas Hofstadter, and then "The Well of Lost Plots" by Jasper Fforde.

gilesgoat · Post by **gilesgoat** » Thu Jun 02, 2005 10:16 am 0

.. hmm ..

.. several OLD Byte magazines, Graphic Gems, Knuth the art of programming, the Scheme language, DirectX 9 advanced tecniques, lot
of Retrogamer UK, some The Edge, the physics of waves ..

.. for some strange reason the only two "books" on my desk there are "The Three Billy Goats Gruff" and
a Sensei catalog

.. under the table there's a "Directx 9 programming the graphic pipeline" and
behind my back a C++ book ...

Post by **Jedburgh** » Thu Jun 02, 2005 10:18 am 0

betamax wrote:
Jon wrote:I am currently reading 'The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat' by Oliver Sacks, which is a very interesting book about neurology and some of the weird and werider things that can occur with the brain.
Comes recommended (by me) to anyone who wants a handle on perceptual theory. It approaches the horror of perceptual faliure in an incredibly compassionate and human way while retaining enough objectivity to be a useful reference book. Some of the case studies will have you fighting back the tears.

Read it the other week. Found it interesting but somewhat dated and I didn't take to Sacks' style. Possibly because I'd already read Phantoms in the Brain, a much more recent work by V. S. Ramachandran that manages to be both more accessible and more in-depth.

GeeZa · Post by **GeeZa** » Thu Jun 02, 2005 10:21 am 0

Reading a lot just now, currently on: Everything Bad is Good for You by Steven Johnson. Includes lots of excellent passages on the benefits of video gaming.

Just finished: Straw Dogs: Thoughts on Humans and Other Animals by John Gray. There's a mini review on my blog as it's a mostly excellent if utterly disturbing piece of philosophy.

Also finished one of the greatest works of literature ever written a few weeks back:
Fictions by Jorge Luis Borges. Words cannot describe the absolute enormity of these short stories. It's definitely not an easy read though, you have been warned.