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Post by mervinswerved on Dec 1, 2020 13:06:08 GMT -5
I'll check those out; thanks for the recs! (Didn't even realize there was a sequel to Children of Time.) Sentient spacefaring octopi! If you haven't KSR, he's one of the finest scifi writers ever and probably right up there with Le Guin (whom he studied under) with greatest American scifi author. The Mars Trilogy is a masterpiece. He's a fan of utopian fiction, which is a nice change.
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Post by joetrinsey on Dec 1, 2020 13:19:36 GMT -5
I'll give him another chance. I have "Years of Rice and Salt," which I picked up because I thought it had a fantastic premise, and I actually enjoyed reading it, but... I just haven't been sparked to pick it up. I read a lot and I really prefer to binge read: to finish a whole book in as short a time period as possible. I don't like to pick through things a chapter at a time. So I tend to buy 10-15 books at a time, pick through them a bit, and then I'll find the one(s) that catch my attention and I'll fly through it/them. For whatever reason Years of Rice and Salt hasn't quite grabbed me, but I'll check out The Mars Trilogy on your rec.
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Post by mikegarrison on Dec 1, 2020 15:57:12 GMT -5
I'll give him another chance. I have "Years of Rice and Salt," which I picked up because I thought it had a fantastic premise, and I actually enjoyed reading it, but... I just haven't been sparked to pick it up. I read a lot and I really prefer to binge read: to finish a whole book in as short a time period as possible. I don't like to pick through things a chapter at a time. So I tend to buy 10-15 books at a time, pick through them a bit, and then I'll find the one(s) that catch my attention and I'll fly through it/them. For whatever reason Years of Rice and Salt hasn't quite grabbed me, but I'll check out The Mars Trilogy on your rec. RGB Mars are books you never forget reading. I didn't know KSR had a new book out. mervinswerved, have you ever read Escape From Kathmandu?
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Post by c4ndlelight on Dec 1, 2020 16:12:41 GMT -5
I've been reading reading 1177 BC: The Year Civilization Collapsed based on a recommendation. The subject matter is really interesting generally, and to me personally so I've enjoyed the information. I feel like the archaeologist author is failing because he's trying to stride writing for an academic and popular audience and appears to be failing to hit the mark on both counts. The structure is off-putting. Disappointing but not regretting the read.
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Post by mervinswerved on Dec 1, 2020 17:27:24 GMT -5
I'll give him another chance. I have "Years of Rice and Salt," which I picked up because I thought it had a fantastic premise, and I actually enjoyed reading it, but... I just haven't been sparked to pick it up. I read a lot and I really prefer to binge read: to finish a whole book in as short a time period as possible. I don't like to pick through things a chapter at a time. So I tend to buy 10-15 books at a time, pick through them a bit, and then I'll find the one(s) that catch my attention and I'll fly through it/them. For whatever reason Years of Rice and Salt hasn't quite grabbed me, but I'll check out The Mars Trilogy on your rec. RGB Mars are books you never forget reading. I didn't know KSR had a new book out. mervinswerved, have you ever read Escape From Kathmandu? I have not, but it's on my list. I try and spread out my unread KSR, sort of like Iain M. Banks' back catalog. I have one Banks book on my shelf that I can't read because he died a couple years ago and it's the last "new" one for me.
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Post by mikegarrison on Dec 1, 2020 18:08:44 GMT -5
RGB Mars are books you never forget reading. I didn't know KSR had a new book out. mervinswerved, have you ever read Escape From Kathmandu? I have not, but it's on my list. I try and spread out my unread KSR, sort of like Iain M. Banks' back catalog. I have one Banks book on my shelf that I can't read because he died a couple years ago and it's the last "new" one for me. I have never read anything by Iain M. Banks. Anyway, I first read Escape From Kathmandu because it was included in an anthology of climbing fiction. It's a funny story, about some climbing bums and ex-pats trying to sneak a yeti out of a hotel in Kathmandu when the President of the USA is staying at the same hotel. (IIRC, the President in question was Carter. It's an old story.) But I guess maybe I'm dragging us off-topic for a "nonfiction" thread.
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Post by nowhereman on Aug 24, 2021 14:33:18 GMT -5
This thread has been dormant for awhile. Anyways, just finished "Leo Durocher: Prodigal Son" by Paul Dickson and started "Oscar Charleston" by Jeremy Beer. I think the book on Charleston won the CASEY award for best baseball book of 2020.
I don't read too much baseball nowadays but considering I lived and breathed it for many years, it's still the easiest subject for me. That stuff doesn't just disappear from the brain.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 24, 2021 16:06:13 GMT -5
The Premonition by Michael Lewis, mentioned in the COVID thread.
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Post by ned3vball on Aug 24, 2021 16:20:39 GMT -5
Physics for Future Presidents: The science behind the headlines by Richard A. Muller
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Post by mikegarrison on Aug 24, 2021 17:15:46 GMT -5
I recently read The Data Detective. Pretty good.
It was pretty much all stuff I already knew, but I've spent 30 years being paid to analyze complex data. I liked the way he rejected the approach of warning about How To Lie With Statistics and instead was more interested in "how to find valuable truth from statistics".
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Post by mikegarrison on Aug 24, 2021 19:42:14 GMT -5
And speaking of data analysis:
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