Thursday, March 06, 2008

Dawgz Canz Read

Sometimes it is more important to know what people are listening to rather than waste time listening to them. Examples of books I've read recently. Probly no insights but it might motivate suggestions.
West of Eden - Harry Harrison
Ten Thousand Light-Years from Home - James Tiptree, Jr.
the explorers - C. M. Kornbluth
A Choice of Destinies - Melissa Scott
Starships - Asimov, Greenberg, et al
Fallen Angel - Niven, Pournelle, Flynn
Overlooked In America - Ketchum

17 comments:

Bob said...

You read a lot for someone who isn't unemployed. Suggestions based on your list: Miller's Canticle for Leibowitz, Gibson & Sterling's The Difference Engine, and Dick's The World Jones Made.

Recent read: Levitin's This is Your Brain on Music. Currently working on the new edition of Hayek's The Road to Serfdom ($10.20 on Amazon).

Akubi said...

Excellent choices Lex.
My non-updated reading list (thanks to spending far too much time hating on Shillary, Exxon and Iraq) can be found here. Essentially I've always read too much for my own good

Akubi said...

Dita sure looks/reads hot - gotta remember to respond to her before Hegre does.

r said...

Kage Baker's Mendoza in Hollywood.

Casey Serin said...

Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert T. Kiyosaki ... :)

spooq said...

The Republic by Plato
The Player of Games by Iain Banks (addicted to SF, even the not-so-good stuff)
Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith
The Undercover Economist by Tim Harford
Life of Pi by Yann Martel
A political/foreign policy history of the British Empire between 1870 and 1905, can't remember the title right now, found it in a junkshop.
Beowulf (thought I was going to see the movie, so had to reread this one last time before that, but the ads looked so dire I never bothered watching it)
OpenGL Red and Orange books (yes I actually read these as opposed to using them for reference, sad I know)

I have two books in my to-read pile on Indian economic protectionism, and a book with the text of major declarations from both sides of the Israeli/Arab conflict. I may never end up opening that one though. I also still have a long way to go on Knuth's The Art of Computer Programming. That's a long-term project.

spooq said...

I looked at dita's shelf and Steppenwolf was there. I enjoyed a collection of short stories by Hesse that I found last year, so I started Steppenwolf. It ended up on the "pile o crap" with Nausea. I'm clearly not Continental enough for those kind of books, give me Hemingway any day.

Also read Gargantua and Pantagruel around the same time. It reminded me I never got more than halfway through The Canterbury Tales, so I'll find a copy of that next.

Bill in NC said...

Coincidentally, I just bought Kornbluth's "Not This August", though right now I'm reading "Warday"

Are those of you out west ready for this again?:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Maximum_Speed_Law

spooq said...

So Ambac was given 1.5B, which surprised even them. According to JPMorgan estimates, they only need another 10B and they'll be covered. This sounds like a job for the PPT.

Northern Renter said...

I'm in the middle of "Eats, Shoots and Leaves."

NR

Rob Dawg said...

I thought it was "Eats Shoot and Leaves." [ducks]

w said...

last book read: re-read Foundation, Asimov

Currently re-reading Neuromancer, William Gibson.

Book I want to read next: Master and Commander, Patrick O'Brian

Northern Renter said...

Actually, Rob, there is a comma in the title but one of the two pandas on the cover is painting it out. Am I safe in assuming that you know the joke associated with the title?

NR

Adam said...

The book is a pretty painless guide to style, meaning that it is one that will get read rather than one that collects dust on the teacher's desk. The title refers to a sentance in an essay with a reference to panda bear, which eats shoots and leaves but it contains a comma so it looks more like the panda eats something, then shoots something else, and finally leaves the location (some styles omit the latter comma in a list).

w said...

Ford dealership in Santa Paula closing. Sales way down the last 6 months. I can only imagine that the new boat dealership in Fillmore will be gone by summer.

http://www.venturacountystar.com/news/2008/mar/06/slow-sales-shutter-ford-dealer-in-santa-paula/

Rob Dawg said...

They are... were... clients of mine and clients of some of my other clients. The first raindrops of a big storm.

Rob Dawg said...

Yes to all. I know the joke. A panda walks into a bar...