Sunday Morning Book Thread 01-25-2015: Science! [OregonMuse]

Paris - France National Library (Bibliothèque Nationale de France)

(library photo stolen from the HuffPo who got it from this guy)

Good morning morons and moronettes and welcome to AoSHQ's stately, prestigious, and high-class Sunday Morning Book Thread. The only AoSHQ thread that is so hoity-toity, pants are required. Or kilts. Kilts are OK, too. But not tutus. Unless you're a girl.

Quote Of The Week

If you only read the books that everyone else is reading, you can only think what everyone else is thinking.

-Haruki Murakami

Man's Search for Knowledge

Younger book thread readers might not know, and hence find it hard to believe, that there once was a time in America wen those who spoke to the public at large in the name of science weren't a bunch of smug, arrogant jerks. In particular, Bell Laboratories (yes, the old monopoly phone company) produced a series of educational movies on topics such as blood, the sun, heredity, the weather. They were originally broadcast on TV between 1957 and 1964, but then Bell made 16mm copies freely available for educational purposes, so they became science class staples in primary and secondary schools all over the country. If you're old like me, you're probably remember the AV club setting up the film projector in your classrooms so the science teacher could show the class films such as Hemo the Magnificent, or Our Mr. Sun, or maybe even The Unchained Goddess. I think they actually hold up pretty well, all things considered, they're entertaiing and yes, they're a bit hokey, but not as much as you might think.

Of course you can read about all of this, the history, the personalities, the films themselves, and more, in the book Sonnets & Sunspots: "Dr. Research" Baxter And The Bell Science Films by Eric Niderost.

And I'd much rather listen to Dr. Frank Baxter than Neill DeGrasse Tyson any day.

For more "man's search for knowledge" type stuff for a general audience, you might want to look into Daniel Boorstin's trilogy The Discoverers, followed up by The Creators: A History of Heroes of the Imagination and The Seekers: The Story of Man's Continuing Quest to Understand His World.

Mean Girls

You know 'em, you hate 'em, you love to hate 'em, they're 30 literary 'mean girl' characters, although I don't think some of them really qualify as mean girls, so caveat lector.

And Susan Pevensey from the Narnia stories isn't a "hussy". I think the word Lewis would use to describe her would be "worldly", which is quite different.

What The Boss Is Reading

A while back, Congress established the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission (FCIC) to look into the whys are wherefores of the 2008 housing crisis. But:

In a just-released book, former FCIC member Peter Wallison says that a Democratic Congress worked with the commission's Democratic chairman to whitewash the government's central role in the mortgage debacle. The conspiracy helped protect some of the Democrats' biggest stars from scrutiny and accountability while helping justify the biggest government takeover of the financial sector since the New Deal.

...The final FCIC report put the blame squarely on Wall Street.

In 2009, then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi appointed her California pal Phil Angelides, a long-time Democrat operative, to lead the commission. The fix seemed to be in, and Wallison's account of the inner workings of the 10-member body confirms it.

The book referred to is this one, Hidden in Plain Sight: What Really Caused the World's Worst Financial Crisis and Why It Could Happen Again, which ace mentioned earlier this week. What's interesting to me is that, since the Jan 13th release date, the book has picked up 59 one-star reviews (out of 89 total as of this writing) on Amazon, a venue where reviews tend to skew positive. So either (a) this is a really crappy book, or (b) the book has struck a nerve among progressives who are spontaneously rising up in progressively righteous wrath, or (c) this is what a fully operational Democrat/Alinskyite astroturf operation looks like.

I would like to think I'm not one who is given over to conspiracy theories, but given the targets of the book, the allegations and malfeasance described therein, and the Democrat Party machine's adroitness in trolling social media, I'm kind of tending toward (c).

And what exactly is David Axelrod up to these days, anyway?

Is There Such A Thing As A Liberal Muslim?

Well, maybe there is. Tarek Fatah is a Canadian Muslim who argues that Muslims shouldn't pray to defeat non-Muslims. Actually, I don't have much of a problem with this. After all, if that's all the jihadis did, the world would be a much more peaceful place, and tens of thousands of those who are now dead would still be alive.

And by way of explicating and expounding upon his beliefs that Muslims should be more about personal devotion and not so much blowing people up, Fatah has authored a couple of books, the titles of which pretty much explain their contents, Chasing a Mirage: The Tragic Illusion of an Islamic State, and also this one, The Jew is Not My Enemy: Unveiling the Myths that Fuel Muslim Anti-Semitism, which should get him into a lot of trouble:

Fatah uses extensive research to trace how literature from as early as the seventh century has fueled the hatred of Jews by Muslims. Fatah debunks the anti-Jewish writings of the Hadith literature, takes apart the Arab supremacist doctrines that lend fuel to the fire, and reinterprets supposed anti-Jewish passages in the Quran. In doing so he argues that hating Jews is against the essence of the Islamic spirit and suggests what needs to be done to eliminate the agonizing friction between the two communities.

Good luck with that. I mean, it's a noble goal and all, and I wish Mr. Fatah success in his efforts, but I would think that preaching against Jew hatred to radical, jihadi Muslims would be a bit of a hard sell, rather like explaining the virtues of chastity and modesty to Lena Dunham.

Plus, the bit about Jews being turned into monkeys and rats, that comes from one of the Hadiths, right? I wonder how Fatah squares that circle?

Reading Is Oppressive

Thanks to moron commenter The Political Hat I learned that "millenials" don't read books because they consider books to be a luxury item and you're a classist if you own them. And a privileged member of the oppressive class to boot.

On the other hand, the good news is that there is a gratifyingly large number of negative comments directed at the whiny emo twit who authored the screed in question, so there's that

The Best of George Orwell

Here is a brief introduction to the works of English novelist/essayist/critic George Orwell that provides links to a number of his shorter writings, including his famous essay Politics and the English Language.

For more Orwell reading, go here.

___________

So that's all for this week. As always, book thread tips, suggestions, bribes, rumors, threats, and insults may be sent to OregonMuse, Proprietor, AoSHQ Book Thread, at the book thread e-mail address: aoshqbookthread, followed by the 'at' sign, and then 'G' mail, and then dot cee oh emm.

What have you all been reading this week? Hopefully something good, because, as you all know, life is too short to be reading lousy books.

Posted by: Open Blogger at 09:09 AM

Comments

(Jump to bottom of comments)

1 I followed Tarek on twitter for quite a while. He's mostly good, but I was disappointed by his rx to the Saudi king's death. Kind of Blamed Booosh for how backwards the Saudis are.

Posted by: Y-not at January 25, 2015 09:04 AM (9BRsg)

2
"millenials" don't read books because they consider books to be a luxury item and you're a classist if you own them.

Quote:

"PEOPLE KEEP TEARING MY PHYSICAL POSSESSIONS FROM ME"!

Posted by: Laurie David's Cervix at January 25, 2015 09:14 AM (kdS6q)

3 Currently reading '41'. It reminds one of Bush The Elders accomplishments. A pretty interesting read. I would recommend it.

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at January 25, 2015 09:15 AM (F2IAQ)

4 Not only was Susan not a "hussy" (maybe not even "worldly" so much as "typical bobby-soxer with her priorities muddled"), she was never anywhere close to being as spiteful as Edmund and Eustace were before their redemptions. And I don't think Lewis ever definitively kicked her out of Aslan's Country--she just couldn't get there through Narnia.

(I'd still rather be Lucy, all things considered.)

Posted by: Elisabeth G. Wolfe at January 25, 2015 09:16 AM (iuQS7)

5 Oh. Finally finished 'A Soldier of the Great War'. Better than some Pulitzer Prize winners that I have read.

A reminder, here is link to ABE Books 'Free Shipping' search list. Some real bargains can be found: http://tinyurl.com/me9wvuw

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at January 25, 2015 09:18 AM (F2IAQ)

6 Papa Bush's lasting legacy is the squandering of the Reagan legacy.

Nice Family, uniformly bad for the country.

Posted by: Kreplach at January 25, 2015 09:19 AM (DDFkt)

7 "millenials" don't read books because they consider books to be a luxury item and you're a classist if you own them
--

Sounds like an excuse to hide the real reason: they have the attention spans of gnats.

Posted by: Y-not at January 25, 2015 09:22 AM (9BRsg)

8 Tarek better watch his back (and neck).

Posted by: EC at January 25, 2015 09:23 AM (pJs3P)

9 Books are luxury items. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to play with my $600 phone and get a $7 latte. The trust fund won't spend itself.

Posted by: Millennial at January 25, 2015 09:23 AM (yxw0r)

10 I'm a much bigger fan of George W than of George HW. Flaws and all, he was leaderly during a moment of crisis.

His dad always gave off a strong whiff of diplomat to me. I doubt he'd have handled 9/11 as well as his son did.

Posted by: Y-not at January 25, 2015 09:25 AM (9BRsg)

11 GDI PIXY I AM NOT A SPAMMER

/starts throwing things

Posted by: Brother Cavil, by the Pale Moon light at January 25, 2015 09:26 AM (m9V0o)

12 Was glad to see this covered over at the FreeBeacon.com this past week.

Patrick Rothfuss's World
Review: Patrick Rothfuss' 'Kingkiller Chronicles'

http://freebeacon.com/culture/patrick-rothfusss-world/

sci-fi for me all the time now

I need the balance.

Posted by: artisanal 'ette at January 25, 2015 09:26 AM (IXrOn)

13 Eff it. This 'spammer' isn't going to bother with his cleverness this thread.

Posted by: Brother Cavil, by the Pale Moon light at January 25, 2015 09:26 AM (m9V0o)

14 * checks *
Yup. Book Thread. I speak only of the book..., not the man.

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at January 25, 2015 09:27 AM (F2IAQ)

15
An interesting deep read over at the Centauri Dreams space blog:

Can a universal library exist, once that contains all possible books? Nick Nielsen takes that as just the starting point in his latest essay, which tracks through Borges memorable thoughts on the matter to Carl Sagan, who brought the idea of an Encyclopedia Galactica to a broad audience.

But are the two libraries one and the same? Nielsen takes the longest possible view of time, exploring a remote futurity to ask when an Encyclopedia Galactica would ever be complete, and who, when civilizations as we know them have ceased to exist, would evolve to read them.

http://www.centauri-dreams.org/?p=32425

Posted by: Laurie David's Cervix at January 25, 2015 09:27 AM (kdS6q)

16 Are you trying to paste something, Brother? Or typing the word b l a z e r ?

Posted by: Y-not at January 25, 2015 09:28 AM (9BRsg)

17 "millenials" don't read books because they consider books to be a luxury item and you're a classist if you own them. And a privileged member of the oppressive class to boot.

Cambodia, here we come!

Posted by: rickl at January 25, 2015 09:28 AM (sdi6R)

18 Thanks to moron commenter The Political Hat I learned that "millenials" don't read books because they consider books to be a luxury item and you're a classist if you own them. And a privileged member of the oppressive class to boot.

lulz

They take the lazy way out of storytelling, and watch the movie based on the book.

Posted by: artisanal 'ette at January 25, 2015 09:29 AM (IXrOn)

19 Good morning.

I need a book.

I was looking over some advice for helping the teen work on prepping for tests in his future (PSAT, etc.).

Essay questions are on the tests now.

He has a good vocabulary...as in understanding words...but he doesn't use the important big words in his writing.

And neither do I. Between keeping my vocab basic when the kids were little and talking slowly to you peop--I mean, commenting quickly here, my words are simple these days.

There are a ton of SAT Prep increase your vocabulary books. I don't know if any of them are better than others.

I also am more interested in ones that will help us use the words, rather than just learn the meaning.

And they don't have to be specifically for SAT words....

Thoughts? Suggestions?

Appreciate it, even the ones thrown at my head!

I'll be in and out this morning, but will check back.

Posted by: Mama AJ at January 25, 2015 09:29 AM (0xTsz)

20 *reads Mean Girl link*

Margaret Atwood does not know how to write her own name.

Why that hacktastic hack of a hacky hack hack pathetic worthless BORING excuse for womyn's empowerment yay has any kind of success, not to mention critical acclaim, is beyond me.

The feminism and sexual politics of the Twilight books are deeper than any single work that Atwood has ever vomited out.

Not that. I have an opinion. Or anything.

Also it is pointless to look at the Amazon reviews for any kind of political book since the reviews, sadly both positive and negative, have not one thing to to with the work itself and rather are just vicious attacks or outrageous praise of the political position being espoused.

Posted by: alexthechick - Oh save us mighty SMOD at January 25, 2015 09:29 AM (IrByp)

21 Are you trying to paste something, Brother? Or typing the word b l a z e r ?

Never had this particular result with pasting--500 errors yeah, but getting called a GD spammer?

I even did the Notepad Shuffle and the same.

And no the word bl'z'r was not involved.

Posted by: Brother Cavil, by the Pale Moon light at January 25, 2015 09:30 AM (m9V0o)

22 Again, Bush 43 was a good man but was incredibly bad for the country and the GOP.

He ushered in the era of compassionate conservatism and expanded the size scope and reach of the federal government and was the main driving force for amnesty.

Nice family, uniformly bad for the country.

Next up from Americas royal family - JEB BUSH.

Posted by: Kreplach at January 25, 2015 09:31 AM (DDFkt)

23 I'm confused, am I classiest b/c I can read or is that racist and am I racist b/c I have a dwelling or is that classist?

I will admit I am "too poor" to have a TV bigger than 42 inches b/c I can't bring myself to buy a big tv stand....

Posted by: Sven10077 at January 25, 2015 09:36 AM (/4AZU)

24 19 Mama AJ,

I'd suggest reading the Thesaurus or incorporate playing a game of dice with the Thesaurus....

Worked for me anyway.

Posted by: Sven10077 at January 25, 2015 09:38 AM (/4AZU)

25 Boorstin's trilogy is great, at least the first 150 pages of the first book that I've read so far. It's very interesting to learn about the discovery and measurement of time, and to read about older thinkers who found form and pattern in mere perpetuation of existence.

Posted by: .87c at January 25, 2015 09:39 AM (ZIG9G)

26 >>Thoughts? Suggestions?

Do you know if "big words" is actually something they factor into scoring the essays? They might be more concerned with proper sentence (and paragraph) construction and how effectively the ideas are developed more than straight-up vocabulary.

I think one of the best ways to improve one's writing is by reading a wide array of writers.

Another key is learning how to write an outline.

The first thing I'd do is see if you can confirm the criteria they use to grade the essays.

Posted by: Y-not at January 25, 2015 09:39 AM (9BRsg)

27 Cambodia, here we come!

Yeah, next it'll be all those wearing eye glasses who will be driven out of the cities to fend for themselves in the countryside.

Posted by: OregonMuse at January 25, 2015 09:40 AM (I/aey)

28 No, no, no Sven, you are a privileged oppresser,

Posted by: Infidel at January 25, 2015 09:40 AM (7GLRQ)

29 "millenials" don't read books because they consider books to be a luxury item and you're a classist if you own them.

Who knew that I was sitting in the lap of luxury and decadence? I make it a point to buy books. Should I start focusing on hiding them, so there's nothing for the Gestapo to burn?

Sometimes, I hate belonging to this generation. Grr.

Posted by: right wing whippersnapper at January 25, 2015 09:41 AM (ThxKk)

30 If I didn't have a car I would not have time to read much for pleasure. Audiobooks are my lifeline

Posted by: Tmitsss at January 25, 2015 09:41 AM (Pa9vP)

31 Who knew that I was sitting in the lap of luxury and decadence? I make it a point to buy books. Should I start focusing on hiding them, so there's nothing for the Gestapo to burn?

Oh great! Something else to lose in boating accidents!

Posted by: EC at January 25, 2015 09:41 AM (pJs3P)

32 In the last few years I have been buying more how-to and piano books than anything else.

Posted by: Kreplach at January 25, 2015 09:42 AM (DDFkt)

33 Why that hacktastic hack of a hacky hack hack pathetic worthless BORING excuse for womyn's empowerment yay has any kind of success, not to mention critical acclaim, is beyond me.

Hey, just because this is the book thread, there's no need to hold back, so why don't you just let it all out and tell us what you REALLY think?

Posted by: OregonMuse at January 25, 2015 09:42 AM (I/aey)

34 MomaAJ - One very strong suggestion. As he makes his way through whatever book you select, make flashcards for every word not known. Word on front, definition on the back. Easy to pick up and run through. It works.

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at January 25, 2015 09:43 AM (F2IAQ)

35 MamaAJ:

This looks useful:

http://www.collegeboard.com/html/
scorewrite_guide.html

(Link also in nick.)

Posted by: Y-not at January 25, 2015 09:43 AM (9BRsg)

36 27 Oregon Muse,

We'll be lucky to be as benign ruled as the Money Khmer were...

The Khmer Rouge God help me at least believed in the worthiness of "properly trained" Cambodians....

here in America our Democrat Rouge want Americans to be eradicated and scattered to the 4 winds based on our starring in their doctrine of original sin.

Posted by: Sven10077 at January 25, 2015 09:44 AM (/4AZU)

37 Oh great! Something else to lose in boating accidents!

Posted by: EC at January 25, 2015 09:41 AM (pJs3P)

Only if they're in leak-proof containers. Don't want the ink to run, you know.

Posted by: right wing whippersnapper at January 25, 2015 09:44 AM (ThxKk)

38 Yeah, next it'll be all those wearing eye glasses who will be driven out of the cities to fend for themselves in the countryside.

Given the state of the cities, that would be doing 'em a favor.

Posted by: Brother Cavil, by the Pale Moon light at January 25, 2015 09:46 AM (m9V0o)

39 28 Infidel,

We'll that's a given...

No matter how poor I've gotten...and I lived in a cardboard recycling dumpster I had books....

I was unaware that I was living a life of luxury when I was using a candle to read and warm myself.

These millenials are bat-shit crazy.

Posted by: Sven10077 at January 25, 2015 09:47 AM (/4AZU)

40 38 Yeah, next it'll be all those wearing eye glasses who will be driven out of the cities to fend for themselves in the countryside.

Given the state of the cities, that would be doing 'em a favor.
Posted by: Brother Cavil, by the Pale Moon light at January 25, 2015 09:46 AM (m9V0o)

It's hipster season!!!

Posted by: EC at January 25, 2015 09:48 AM (pJs3P)

41 38 Brother Cavil,

Imagine what punishments the PETA types would visit on folks eating 'possum...

Posted by: Sven10077 at January 25, 2015 09:48 AM (/4AZU)

42 On a Moron's recommendation on this fine book thread, i just finished "Memoir from Antproof Case" by Mark Helprin. It was a kickassingly fun read. I was bummed when it ended.

Posted by: fastfreefall at January 25, 2015 09:50 AM (pqOzY)

43 Sven, They are. I love my books. I even trade with my millenial kids.

Posted by: Infidel at January 25, 2015 09:52 AM (7GLRQ)

44
Know where is a super place to pick up interesting books cheaply?
Estate sales. On Sundays the sales are 50% off.

Posted by: Justamom at January 25, 2015 09:53 AM (Sptt8)

45 Very pleased to have been introduced to Matthew Dunn's "Dark Spies" by a guest review on Blackfive.

A first rate spy thriller. Best I've read in years. I will be looking for his earlier work.

Unlike Eisler (ex-CIA) and Le Carre (ex-SIS), there were no lefty "sucker punches" from Dunn (ex-SIS). Unlike Silva, Thor, and Flynn, Dunn is essentially apolitical. Also, none of the moral equivalency of some spy thrillers. Just excellent plotting and interesting characters.

Posted by: doug at January 25, 2015 09:53 AM (cS95V)

46 MamaAJ.
Have had four sons go through same. Unfortunately taking the test is not about "learning", it is about test taking and skills thereof. Lots and lots of practice tests, until he can't stand to take anymore.

Posted by: Edmund Burke's Shade at January 25, 2015 09:54 AM (cmBvC)

47
Answering the musical question, "what should I read?", I've long found it useful to make note of the publishers of books you enjoy, then looking at their websites to see what else they have out. Not much use for a faceless publishing behemoth like Random House, but works well for smaller imprints who tend to cover a certain restricted subject area or have a common editorial eye. Serves as a useful adjunct to Amazon's increasingly quirky search and recommendations tools.

Two sites I check every few months are:

Specialty Press - for military books

http://www.specialtypress.com/

And Taschen - for art and popular culture

http://www.taschen.com/

I own a lot of their books and have read many more, so it's good to know what else they have. Then if you find a title that looks interesting, off to the bookseller or library.

Posted by: Laurie David's Cervix at January 25, 2015 09:57 AM (kdS6q)

48 42 Fastfreefall,

One could do far worse than dust off Richard Stark's "Parker" series...

30 tmitsss,

Amen brother,

There's a nook audiobook app out now....

The prices on it are surprisingly good in some cases, "Civil War a marrative" by Shelby Foote is a 75 dollar rather than 300 dollar endeavor I suspect b/c there are not 32 CDS required per part of the trilogy....

I'm going to use that trilogy (which together clocks in at ~97 hours) to drive to Butte if we get that billet.

Posted by: Sven10077 at January 25, 2015 09:57 AM (/4AZU)

49 I just read a book I meant to get when it came out, several (er, 20) years ago: Jonathan Lethem's _Gun, With Occasional Music_. It's really good: a kind of Phil Dick meets Raymond Chandler science fiction noir mystery. He gets points for it being actual science fiction, with the plot actually based on a plausible technology we don't have yet.

Posted by: Trimegistus at January 25, 2015 09:58 AM (/eOcU)

50
OK, I have one recommendation and one request.

My kids and I are getting a big kick out of Mo Willems books. Not your typical kid books. His humor and illustrations are unique. Seriously, if you read to any kids I strongly recommend these. Library.

Now for my request. What can I get for my hubby to read when he finished the last of his Brad Thor books? He had previously read only owners manuals. Thanks.

Posted by: Justamom at January 25, 2015 09:58 AM (Sptt8)

51 Consider: Marx proposed an economic system where goods and services would be produced without reference to prices, to supply and demand, and to the scarcity of resources. In other words, he proposed economics without economics. This would like someone who proposed a geometric system without points and lines, without definitions and without common notions. In order to answer his critics, Marx told them that to minds conditioned by bourgeoisie means of production, the results of the material dialectic once the dictatorship of the proletarian had ended the exploitation of private property forever was unimaginable to them. For those of you who don't speak Leftist, Marx merely proposed that oldest and most favorite of Leftist counter-arguments: he told them to shut up.

A close study of Marx will show that he was not an economist at all, he was someone making up a plethora of windbaggy excuses, slurs, counter-attacks, and slanders to deconstruct, that is, to destroy economics. Economics led to a conclusion that Marx did not like, namely, that there ain't no such thing as a free lunch; you cannot eat your cake and save it, too. So rather than accept the conclusion, he rejected the art of reasoning. Keynes followed in his footsteps, and used a more convoluted terminology.

These terminologies are word-fetishes. A fetish is a magic token you use in order to get a magic effect in the world, and, when the effect does not take place, instead of throwing the fetish away, you adore it and implore it all the more.

A word-fetish is when you have a bit of language which you hope will have a magical effect on the world, turning gold into lead.

Posted by: Guy Fawkes at January 25, 2015 10:00 AM (e8kgV)

52 43 Infidel,

That's good my boy reads... I get the feeling I'll be glad when I shed this mortal coil at the rate US society is devolving.

Posted by: Sven10077 at January 25, 2015 10:00 AM (/4AZU)

53 Now for my request. What can I get for my hubby
to read when he finished the last of his Brad Thor books? He had
previously read only owners manuals. Thanks.

Posted by: Justamom at January 25, 2015 09:58 AM (Sptt

Tom Clancy books are a hit with most men. Steve Berry is also a decent author, though he gets a little political (lefty) at times.

Posted by: right wing whippersnapper at January 25, 2015 10:02 AM (ThxKk)

54 >>Do you know if "big words" is actually something they factor into scoring the essays?

I did read that somewhere....but it may not have been the official site, so maybe it's true, maybe not.

I'll poke around more.

He and I both tend to keep it simple, which is useful for explaining things to people, but unfortunately, that's not always the best goal when you are writing to impress people.

Thanks for the suggestions, y'all, I'll be back in a bit.

Posted by: Mama AJ at January 25, 2015 10:02 AM (0xTsz)

55 What's with millenials anyhow?

Is there nothing that holds value for them which extends beyond proving that they are not elitists?

Personally, I'm not reading near as much as I used to.
But I have to admit, there is a beauty to the old libraries that can not be reproduced by being in an Apple store, nor surfing Barnes and Noble online for an e-book.

Posted by: Village Idiot's Apprentice at January 25, 2015 10:04 AM (fL+1V)

56 40 38 Yeah, next it'll be all those wearing eye glasses who will be driven out of the cities to fend for themselves in the countryside.

Given the state of the cities, that would be doing 'em a favor.
Posted by: Brother Cavil, by the Pale Moon light at January 25, 2015 09:46 AM (m9V0o)

It's hipster season!!!
Posted by: EC at January 25, 2015 09:48 AM (pJs3P)

Is there a bag limit?

Posted by: Insomniac at January 25, 2015 10:05 AM (mx5oN)

57 The essays do not need big words, but PSAT and SAT essay graders follow an algorithm for grading so the essays must be in the correct format (thesis, topic sentence, conclusion, etc.).

Posted by: Edmund Burke's Shade at January 25, 2015 10:05 AM (cmBvC)

58 55 Village Idiot's Apprentice,

Part of the problem is Gen X's slackers are teaching them.

Posted by: Sven10077 at January 25, 2015 10:06 AM (/4AZU)

59 58 55 Village Idiot's Apprentice,

Part of the problem is Gen X's slackers are teaching them.
Posted by: Sven10077 at January 25, 2015 10:06 AM (/4AZU)

Hey now. I'm a Gen Xer and am no slacker. Then again, I'm not a teacher either...

Posted by: Insomniac at January 25, 2015 10:07 AM (mx5oN)

60
RW Whippersnapper-
Thanks, I'll check out Tom Clancy. Seems as if he might have had one of his a long time ago.
He enjoys the Thor novels so much he just might start rereading them after he's all done.

Posted by: Justamom at January 25, 2015 10:07 AM (Sptt8)

61 Yep, from that link:

>>exhibits skillful use of language, using a
varied, accurate and apt vocabulary

That's the top score, compared to the next one:

>>exhibits facility in the use of language, using
appropriate vocabulary

Okay, now I'm really late...

Posted by: Mama AJ at January 25, 2015 10:08 AM (0xTsz)

62 What's with millenials anyhow?

Is there nothing that holds value for them which extends beyond proving that they are not elitists?

Posted by: Village Idiot's Apprentice at January 25, 2015 10:04 AM (fL+1V)

Not this millenial. Elitist and proud of it.

Posted by: right wing whippersnapper at January 25, 2015 10:09 AM (ThxKk)

63 The essays do not need big words, but PSAT and SAT essay graders follow an algorithm for grading so the essays must be in the correct format
---

That was my assumption.

I'd have my child read a lot of quality non-fiction, essays and such.

Posted by: Y-not at January 25, 2015 10:09 AM (9BRsg)

64 62 What's with millenials anyhow?

Is there nothing that holds value for them which extends beyond proving that they are not elitists?

Posted by: Village Idiot's Apprentice at January 25, 2015 10:04 AM (fL+1V)

Not this millenial. Elitist and proud of it.
Posted by: right wing whippersnapper at January 25, 2015 10:09 AM (ThxKk)

You really are a whippersnapper, aren't you? Now get off my lawn!

Posted by: Insomniac at January 25, 2015 10:10 AM (mx5oN)

65 Something tells me these "books are classist" idjits have no clue how expensive books were prior to the invention of the printing press. Even for a century or two afterward, they weren't exactly cheap, but many more people would have been able to afford Shakespeare's First Folio (list price one pound, or about 160 pounds/$250 now) in 1623 than could have bought a comparable volume in 1423, when one pound had more than twice the purchasing power but still probably wouldn't have paid for the materials for a single copy, never mind the labor.

Posted by: Elisabeth G. Wolfe at January 25, 2015 10:10 AM (iuQS7)

66 I assume that vocabulary testing is still part of the multiple choice part of the PSATs... ?

Posted by: Y-not at January 25, 2015 10:10 AM (9BRsg)

67 Is there a bag limit?

Posted by: Insomniac at January 25, 2015 10:05 AM (mx5oN)
Snort. Just be careful you don't use eyeglasses as your sole identification criteria. I wear glasses sometimes, and you can't find a less hipster person outside of the military.

Posted by: right wing whippersnapper at January 25, 2015 10:11 AM (ThxKk)

68 59 Insomniac,

I'm an Xer, am stunt doubling as slacker and was training to be a teacher....

Take a time machine to "schools of education" back in 93 and you'll understand...

It's like a generation of Holden Caulfield types thought "yeah...teach"

Posted by: Sven10077 at January 25, 2015 10:12 AM (/4AZU)

69 I finished the umpty-umph annual reading of LOTR and have started on CS Lewis. Abolition of Man to begin with then on to the sci-fi trilogy. Haven't read them since college and the particulars are, shall we say, hazy with age. It will be interesting to see my reactions now vs. then.

Posted by: JTB at January 25, 2015 10:12 AM (FvdPb)

70 I'd say the ultimate literary mean girls are Medea and Lady Macbeth. I'd give Medea the prize. Devising a horrible death for your husband's girlfriend and then killing your own children and riding off in a chariot pulled by dragons, all in revenge for hubby's cheating - you know, that seems a little more drastic than Nellie Olson making snotty comments about Laura's bonnet.

Posted by: Donna &&&&&& V. (brandishing ampersands) at January 25, 2015 10:12 AM (+XMAD)

71 Now get off my lawn!

Posted by: Insomniac at January 25, 2015 10:10 AM (mx5oN)
*Trundles off of Insomniac's lawn to write a prepper thread*

Posted by: right wing whippersnapper at January 25, 2015 10:12 AM (ThxKk)

72 Mama AJ,

I second the flashcard suggestion, and add this: have him keep a few index cards on hand when reading -- he can use them as bookmarks. When he encounters in his reading a word he doesn't know, put on the flashcard his educated guess as to the meaning in context. When he's done reading, have him look up the word and write down the dictionary definition on the flashcard as well. To really cement the word in his memory he should try to use it in conversation while it's still fresh.

For essay practice, have him read editorials and opinion pieces in newspapers and magazines. These are short enough to pass for the type of essays needed on the standardized tests. How does the author build his argument, what are the underlying assumptions, how does he utilize examples, how does he build to a conclusion -- all these are skills that can be picked up through looking at examples.

Posted by: Darles Chickens at January 25, 2015 10:13 AM (fPO8+)

73 Well if books are a tool of the oppressor then I have a f*cking armory and I'll be sent down to the countryside for reform through labor.

I don't know if I buy that theory about the Millenials. Sounds like old folks complaining about Kids These Days. They've grown up in the e-reader and iPhone era and don't need to lug around a dead trees version to stay occupied. It's automatic for me to tuck a book into my purse on any trip to The Outside to avoid eye contact, uh, boredom. That's just the medium I've grown attached to because I like the tactile quality of real books, but some people are actually turned off by it. I see lots of eReaders on the subway in the paws of teens and twenty-somethings.

Posted by: All Hail Eris at January 25, 2015 10:13 AM (KH1sk)

74 I tried reading Asbridge's Authoritive History of the Crusades but only made it a hundred pages or so. It was reviewed as an apolitical historical work. Don't bother, he is an Islam apologist. In fact, he tries so hard to whitewash Jihad that it is actually funny. He says things like (paraphrase) "The call by pope Urban to come to the aid of Christian pilgrims being slaughtered by Muslims in the holy land makes no sense as the holy land had been occupied by Muslims at that point for hundreds of years. There are reports that Christians and Jews lived happily under Muslim rule and only had to pay a tax. Sure there may have been some slaughter but Urban increased power by calling for an army. There has been no clash of civilizations, it is hard to see why there were crusades." And it goes on like that. The man is an idiot. He seems to be saying there was no Muslim expansion but wait maybe there was but then that is no reason for the West to go to war but then again maybe some misguided souls just wanted to for some unknown reason though it certainly has nothing to do with religion.... Really, it was almost funny.
Something really really funny and hard scifi at the same time is, "The Martian" I think by Andy Weir. About an astronaut accidently left for dead on a Mars mission and how he survives at least for a while---I have not finished it yet. It would make a hilarious movie if made in the Nichols/MASH style with multiple action and dialogue going on at the same time. The dialogue by supporting characters is a scream. I laughed out loud many times. I highly recommend some rich movie moron option this and film it as written. It really is funny.

Posted by: New Phone at January 25, 2015 10:14 AM (robIy)

75 Some of the comments responding to the lazy brained millennial are quite amusing in an x rated language sort of way.

Posted by: Tuna at January 25, 2015 10:14 AM (JSovD)

76 67 Is there a bag limit?

Posted by: Insomniac at January 25, 2015 10:05 AM (mx5oN)
Snort. Just be careful you don't use eyeglasses as your sole identification criteria. I wear glasses sometimes, and you can't find a less hipster person outside of the military.
Posted by: right wing whippersnapper at January 25, 2015 10:11 AM (ThxKk)

Heh. I stalk carefully and look for definitive signs: ironic facial hair, age-inappropriate hats, skinny jeans, tats, the like. The body odor is usually a dead giveaway. Oh, and ear gauges.

Posted by: Insomniac at January 25, 2015 10:16 AM (mx5oN)

77 ironic facial hair, age-inappropriate hats, skinny
jeans, tats, the like. The body odor is usually a dead giveaway. Oh, and
ear gauges.

Posted by: Insomniac at January 25, 2015 10:16 AM (mx5oN)
I think I'm safe, then.

Posted by: right wing whippersnapper at January 25, 2015 10:18 AM (ThxKk)

78 If you're going to buy a thesaurus, make sure it's a cromulent thesaurus.

Posted by: The Great White Snark at January 25, 2015 10:18 AM (LImiJ)

79 Millenials are sitting on the shoulders of giants, and have no concept of how they got there. They demand a perfect society and have no appreciation for the path of human struggle. Anything that fails to meet their standards is not tolerated or even inspected. Borrowing from RFK, they ask 'Why not?" in their pouty, immature viewpoint.

Posted by: goatexchange at January 25, 2015 10:18 AM (ctMwg)

80 It's like a generation of Holden Caulfield types thought "yeah...teach"

It's probably been that way for a while. My mom knew someone in college who was just dumb as a stump. From the stories she'd tell you'd think this gal belonged in some kind of home for the mentally disabled. Her major? Yep, education.

Posted by: Insomniac at January 25, 2015 10:19 AM (mx5oN)

81 Lovely library.

That place is so gonna burn one day.

Posted by: That Muslim down the street, eyeballin' you at January 25, 2015 10:19 AM (bGLSw)

82 77 ironic facial hair, age-inappropriate hats, skinny
jeans, tats, the like. The body odor is usually a dead giveaway. Oh, and
ear gauges.

Posted by: Insomniac at January 25, 2015 10:16 AM (mx5oN)
I think I'm safe, then.
Posted by: right wing whippersnapper at January 25, 2015 10:18 AM (ThxKk)

*breathes sigh of relief*

Posted by: Insomniac at January 25, 2015 10:20 AM (mx5oN)

83 75
On reddit that is. Should have made that clear. I know no one here would ever use an x rated word, genteel souls that we are.

Posted by: Tuna at January 25, 2015 10:24 AM (JSovD)

84 If you've got Orwell essays on your to-read list, be sure to include 'Such, Such were the Joys', (why was Orwell a socialist? Here's your answer!) 'The Prevention of Literature' (which is along the same lines as Politics and the English Language), 'Reflections on Gandhi', and 'The Benefit of Clergy', his truly epic second-asshole tearing of Salvador Dali.

Posted by: Secundus at January 25, 2015 10:26 AM (COeS5)

85 Um...pants? PJs OK?

Books are so very cheap at the library! And many more are free in the internet. So why is that millenial whining????

Posted by: Lizzy at January 25, 2015 10:26 AM (ABcz/)

86 It's probably been that way for a while. My mom knew someone in college who was just dumb as a stump. From the stories she'd tell you'd think this gal belonged in some kind of home for the mentally disabled. Her major? Yep, education.
-------
I shacked up with a teacher many years ago. Not the brightest gal but honestly, she was a sex machine.

I denounce myself.

Posted by: New Phone at January 25, 2015 10:26 AM (uz/LF)

87 Regarding millennials-- their attitude on books at school "why read if you can just sparknote it?"

Pleasure reading? Social media and gaming killed it for them.

Posted by: Far Post at January 25, 2015 10:27 AM (BdLob)

88 83 Tuna,

Indeed, we're far too sophisticated and mindful of our extant duty to posterity here for any simple vulgarity.

Posted by: Sven10077 at January 25, 2015 10:27 AM (/4AZU)

89 I know no one here would ever use an x rated word, genteel souls that we are.

Posted by: Tuna at January 25, 2015 10:24 AM (JSovD)
Well, this is the book thread. We're too elitist for x rated language 'round here. Yeah, that's it. Sure.

Posted by: right wing whippersnapper at January 25, 2015 10:28 AM (ThxKk)

90 88
Indeed!

Posted by: Tuna at January 25, 2015 10:28 AM (JSovD)

91 I finished the Baen anthology Foreign Legions, based on David Drake's Ranks of Bronze short story.
I take away from this that Drake is a fantastic writer, his timing, word usage, plotting, progress of action and interaction of the characters makes his prose like a clear stream tumbling over a bed of smooth pebbles (to push an analogy further: with deep thoughts hiding like trout in the eddies). The other writers make this obvious by the way the prose and plotting felt like a junk drawer filled with unsorted thoughts in comparison.

Posted by: Kindltot at January 25, 2015 10:28 AM (t//F+)

92 85 Lizzy,

Why does the fish swim, the bird fly, the bee bee?

It's what they are.

Posted by: Sven10077 at January 25, 2015 10:28 AM (/4AZU)

93 I'm reading Mira Grant, who is Seanan McGuire when she's writing zombie-killing SF instead of urban fantasy. _Feed_, _Deadline_ and _Blackout_. First two books were pretty nifty, but then she committed to a personal detail about her protagonists in the third book that I kind of suspected (I watch too damn much anime to not be sensitive to *that* particular trope) but didn't want to be the truth. I *guess* I'm dealing with it, but it ups the sketchiness of the books by at least half. Which is kind of a shame, since normally I dislike zombie apocalypse stories, and I was digging her "zombies come, and the world doesn't quite end" tack.

Although now that I'm on the subject, I find her future anti-zombie world somewhat economically and technologically improbable. No future built by paranoid, germ-phobic shut-ins should be nearly this prosperous and efficient.

I've also dipped my toe into Popkin's _The Rational Peasant_, although I haven't gotten further than the preface yet. I've had someone tell me it's a corrective for some of the peasant-economy idealism of Scott's _Seeing Like A State_. Kind of interesting - he calls the peasant-culture idealizers "moral economists" in opposition to the traditional "political economists" that everyone's familiar with.

Posted by: Mitch H. at January 25, 2015 10:29 AM (NKVm/)

94 90 Tuna,

Now complex, or multi-level vulgarity on the other hand...

Posted by: Sven10077 at January 25, 2015 10:30 AM (/4AZU)

95 If you're open to alternative vocabulary building, consider getting Peter Bowler's hilarious "The Superior Person's Book of Words" and its follow-ons.

Posted by: All Hail Eris at January 25, 2015 10:30 AM (KH1sk)

96 Still don't know why I am considered a baby boomer, even by definition. I don't believe in any of the same things they do or think.

Guess maybe since I was born at the end of it.

Posted by: Infidel at January 25, 2015 10:30 AM (7GLRQ)

97 justamom... Try the Matt Helm books by Donald Hamilton, preferably in order. Although they started around 1960, they have held up well to time. I believe they are back in print but are certainly available used. Some of my all time favorite action/adventure books.

Posted by: JTB at January 25, 2015 10:30 AM (FvdPb)

98 Peter J Bowler provides an interesting perspective on Darwin's theories. The Eclipse of Darwinism is good and there are others as well. His books examine the flaws of the theory and proposed counter theories, especially in the time where a mechanism for evolution was not coherent.

Posted by: Edmund Burke's Shade at January 25, 2015 10:31 AM (cmBvC)

99 Books are so very cheap at the library! And many more are free in the internet. So why is that millenial whining????

Posted by: Lizzy at January 25, 2015 10:26 AM (ABcz/)
I think he/she/it is referring to owning paper copies of books, not getting them from the library or off the internet. And it is a valid point: books can be expensive to buy and you have to store them. But it's worth it for the chance to pass on information to the next generation. It's all about keeping the fire of intellect burning, even through the worst of times, which these idiots don't seem to understand.

Posted by: right wing whippersnapper at January 25, 2015 10:32 AM (ThxKk)

100 I shacked up with a teacher many years ago. Not the brightest gal but honestly, she was a sex machine.

I denounce myself.
Posted by: New Phone at January 25, 2015 10:26 AM (uz/LF)

^^^^What this guy said. Never lived with her, though, thank God. She mixed Chantix and antidepressants (of course) at one point, with results that could be described as "Interesting".

P.J. O'Rourke once said that anyone who doesn't know what's wrong with American education has obviously never screwed an El Ed major...

Posted by: Secundus at January 25, 2015 10:33 AM (COeS5)

101 Paper books can be quite cheap used, .50 for paperbacks and $1-2.00 for hardbacks in my small town. Less expensive than a latte and can be sold back.

Posted by: Edmund Burke's Shade at January 25, 2015 10:35 AM (cmBvC)

102 In The Fall of the Roman Empire by Peter Heather, he discusses the theory of education in the late empire. They believed that an uneducated man is not only a lesser man but not a true man at all. An uneducated man is not only incapable of understanding but also incapable of feeling.

Reminds me of the SJWs and millenials. They can think only in slogans, sympathise with wrong people and teach when they should learn.

Posted by: The Great White Snark at January 25, 2015 10:35 AM (LImiJ)

103 Passing along a recommendation for Peter Tsouras' alternate military histories from spousal unit: "not implausible". Also, from my observation, quite addicting.

Posted by: sinmi at January 25, 2015 10:35 AM (OxBs7)

104 Trimegistus, thanks for mentioning Gun with Occasional Music, I read it back when it was new and unwisely loaned it out. Been trying to remember author, title, or anything sufficient for search engines to find it, ever since .

Woot !

Posted by: sock_rat_eez at January 25, 2015 10:37 AM (go6ud)

105 Eh, I read part of the books are a luxury millennials can't afford whine and it was more "we move so much we can't deal with dead tree books so all you oldsters saying you prefer the feel of reading real books are classists." The e-readers are awesome for making classic works accessible and very portable. And there are plenty of older libs who buy books for displaying the right titles rather than for reading.

Posted by: PaleRider at January 25, 2015 10:37 AM (7w/kf)

106 Still working away on two books about Fred Harvey's restaurant chain ... a business model which he seems to have invented and perfected. Of course, he had the support of a railway, which supplied him with premises rent-free as well as transportation for goods and personnel.

And working on the first few chapters of the next-but-one book, which will feature a heroine who goes west as one of his employees. One of the unusual things about his workforce, is that he paid the waitresses in his restaurant chain extremely generously for the time ... it's rather fascinating to me, actually.

Posted by: Sgt Mom at January 25, 2015 10:37 AM (95iDF)

107 Justamom,
Try Lee Child. His Reacher series is light and fun-though for some an acquired taste. Raymond Chandler and Elmore are very good. There is always "The Raiders of Gor" series if he is a purist.

Posted by: New Phone at January 25, 2015 10:38 AM (gr+2X)

108 >>Heh. I stalk carefully and look for definitive signs: ironic facial
hair, age-inappropriate hats, skinny jeans, tats, the like. The body
odor is usually a dead giveaway. Oh, and ear gauges.

Don't forget the knit beanie or straw fedora!

- - - -
OK, I struggle to get mys son to read fiction. He just doesn't like it. Tried history but it didn't work unless it was very specific, such as a book about military helicopters over the years. The current solution get meet his 100 min/week quota is back issues of National Geographic. Meets his love of geography w/a little civilization and history slipped in (shhhhh).

So...he may grow up to not read fiction. I'm just trying to ensure he never tires of learning about new things.

Posted by: Lizzy at January 25, 2015 10:38 AM (ABcz/)

109 Still don't know why I am considered a baby boomer, even by definition. I don't believe in any of the same things they do or think.

Guess maybe since I was born at the end of it.
Posted by: Infidel at January 25, 2015 10:30 AM (7GLRQ)
---------
Me too. I was born at the tail end of the Boom and while I have the influence of WWII/Depression-era parents, culturally I have more in common with either my parent's generation (their literature, movies, and music) or with Gen-Xers (the rise of computers and the great analog-to-digital shift).

Posted by: All Hail Eris at January 25, 2015 10:39 AM (KH1sk)

110 P.J. O'Rourke once said that anyone who doesn't know what's wrong with American education has obviously never screwed an El Ed major...

When I was in college, the ed majors always got to take the easy courses, the 'math for non-majors', 'physics for non-majors', 'chem for non-majors', etc.

Whilst I, as an engineering major had to take the hard sequence in every discipline.

And the ed majors were going to be the ones doing the teaching.

The senselessness of this didn't occur to me until many years later.

Posted by: OregonMuse at January 25, 2015 10:39 AM (I/aey)

111 For those interested:

NYT Bestselling author Larry Correia (Monster Hunter, Grimnoir) is going to be appearing live on Geek Gab, my YouTube radio show, tonight at 7pm EST.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1CP9IbbYUg

All play, no work, plus we take questions from the chat.

If you wanna hear Larry, please tune in. : )

Posted by: Daddy Warpig at January 25, 2015 10:40 AM (10CXM)

112 Hadith of the Gharqad Tree: "Book 041, Number 6985: Abu Huraira reported Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) as
saying: The last hour would not come unless the Muslims will fight
against the Jews and the Muslims would kill them until the Jews would
hide themselves behind a stone or a tree and a stone or a tree would
say: Muslim, or the servant of Allah, there is a Jew behind me; come
and kill him; but the tree Gharqad would not say, for it is the tree of
the Jews."

This Hadith is quoted in the Hamas Charter as justification for slaughtering Israelis.

Posted by: Df82 at January 25, 2015 10:40 AM (QqNO+)

113 Millenials are sitting on the shoulders of giants,

-
Or sitting on the limbs they're sawing off.

Posted by: The Great White Snark at January 25, 2015 10:41 AM (LImiJ)

114 >>If you wanna hear Larry, please tune in. : )

Oooh, sound good! Love his Monster Hunter books.

Posted by: Lizzy at January 25, 2015 10:42 AM (ABcz/)

115 I have a complete set of the Narnia books but never read them. Always assumed they were kiddie books.

Serious question: Are they for kids basically or, like LOTR, for adults as well or even mostly for adults.

Posted by: JTB at January 25, 2015 10:42 AM (FvdPb)

116 100 I shacked up with a teacher many years ago. Not the brightest gal but honestly, she was a sex machine.

I denounce myself.
Posted by: New Phone at January 25, 2015 10:26 AM (uz/LF)

^^^^What this guy said. Never lived with her, though, thank God. She mixed Chantix and antidepressants (of course) at one point, with results that could be described as "Interesting".

P.J. O'Rourke once said that anyone who doesn't know what's wrong with American education has obviously never screwed an El Ed major...
Posted by: Secundus at January 25, 2015 10:33 AM (COeS5)

----
I believe the medical term you are searching for is "tripolar".
I feel your pain.

Posted by: New Phone at January 25, 2015 10:43 AM (yjTxB)

117 By the way-- my Christmas present to my brother was a book called "What If?" which was written by the guy who draws the xkcd comic strip. It's billed as 'Scientific answers to absurd hypothetical questions', and I thought it was pretty engaging and funny.

The questions are indeed absurd, covering things like "What would happen if you built a periodic table model out of cubes of each of the elements" (Short answer: Boom) and "How much Force power is Yoda able to generate", which the author attempts to answer. There's one very small nod to the Church of AGW at one point, but apart from that I didn't notice any howlers of that kind.

Posted by: Secundus at January 25, 2015 10:44 AM (COeS5)

118 I gave up on Mira Grant after the first book when I noticed that the root of all evil in her story was religion. The Big Bad was a religious fanatic and the trusted friend who betrays the heroes does so because she is manipulated through her faith.

I'm an atheist by practice and it quickly became apparent as I heard more about McGuire that she is the sort of person who gives atheists a collective reputation as assholes. She is also the person responsible for getting Jonathan Ross disinvited as MC for last year's WorldCon because of her stark teror that he might make a fat joke about her.

There is far too much reading material out there to give support to her kind of SJW jerk.

Posted by: Epobirs at January 25, 2015 10:44 AM (IdCqF)

119 Serious question: Are they for kids basically or, like LOTR, for adults as well or even mostly for adults.

Not either/or, more like both/and. Meaning, kids can read them, but there's stuff in there for adults, too.

Posted by: OregonMuse at January 25, 2015 10:45 AM (I/aey)

120 Want to go to college for free? Not a govt program. Study engineering, in Canada. Free.
http://pointsandfigures.com/2015/01/25/want-to-go-to-college-and-study-engineering-for-free/

Posted by: Jeffrey Carter (@pointsnfigures) at January 25, 2015 10:46 AM (LnE5F)

121 Serious question: Are they for kids basically or, like LOTR, for adults as well or even mostly for adults.
Posted by: JTB at January 25, 2015 10:42 AM (FvdPb)

They're kids books that adults can appreciate. Not as GrimDark as LOTR, but there's talking animals and people get killed.

Posted by: Secundus at January 25, 2015 10:47 AM (COeS5)

122 There are big holes in my early edumacashun. Philosophy mostly but classics also so I'm into War and Peace and thoroughly enjoying it.

Also trying to learn the basics of reading music as I am completely hooked on playing the ukulele.

Posted by: Badda Bing at January 25, 2015 10:48 AM (klaU/)

123 I have a complete set of the Narnia books but never read them. Always assumed they were kiddie books.

Serious question: Are they for kids basically or, like LOTR, for adults as well or even mostly for adults.

Posted by: JTB at January 25, 2015 10:42 AM (FvdPb)
Narnia is- to me, anyway- written for adults and kids. Kids will read the surface layer and see a fun story. Adults will read on a deeper level and pick up on the religion and philosophy that Lewis put in there. Definitely worth reading the whole series.

Posted by: right wing whippersnapper at January 25, 2015 10:48 AM (ThxKk)

124 Sven, i will check it, thanks. Yall pcs'ing soon?

Posted by: fastfreefall at January 25, 2015 10:49 AM (pqOzY)

125 JTB, I'd say more like The Hobbit--children's reading level, but more in them to mine out as an adult. But I say this as someone who read them first as a child and was astonished to run across the medieval source of one of the images as a PhD student.

Posted by: Elisabeth G. Wolfe at January 25, 2015 10:49 AM (iuQS7)

126 115 I have a complete set of the Narnia books but never read them. Always assumed they were kiddie books.

Serious question: Are they for kids basically or, like LOTR, for adults as well or even mostly for adults.
Posted by: JTB at January 25, 2015 10:42 AM (FvdPb)

Read them. You won't regret it. They're accessible to kids (at least those who can read well) but you will understand the allegory better as an adult.

Posted by: Insomniac at January 25, 2015 10:50 AM (mx5oN)

127 "What's with millenials anyhow? Is there nothing that holds value for them which extends beyond proving that they are not elitists?"

I am an old Millennial, and cannot stand my younger comrades because I find them to be helpless, whiny, lazy little punks who are full of arrogance but crumble at the first hint of failure.

That said, their sad state is not their fault. It's their teachers' and parents' fault. They were raised by televisions and computers, on a diet of self-esteem inflation. They were protected, coddled, and spoiled. And most of them are smart enough to know this.

I think the hipster bullshit and conspicuous avoidance of 'luxury' is a half-assed attempt to show that they aren't REALLY spoiled and useless. But they don't actually make real sacrifices. The point is posturing, not genuine self-flagellation.

$.10 psych eval.

Posted by: Df82 at January 25, 2015 10:51 AM (QqNO+)

128 Spoiler ahead.

On impulse, I picked up "The Black Box" by Michael Connelly at Walmart for $7.

Enjoyable. But damn. Can't Connelly write something that doesn't involve rape?

Posted by: Grampa Jimbo at January 25, 2015 10:53 AM (V70Uh)

129 I'm proud, proud I say, that I have read NONE of those books with the examples of mean girls in them.

Not even Archie comics. (always thought comics were duller than books as they were simplistic and had not the detail you can get in a book. Lots of pictures but I've never had trouble imagining those in my head.

All those books with conniving women in them. Are they the FPS video games for why women are like they are? Or are they just a fictionalized overdramatized version of the truth. (or what we think the truth could be, should be)

We are shaped in our youth by the things we read and I sometimes wish I hadn't read certain authors and spent more time outside.

Posted by: Bitter Clinger and All That at January 25, 2015 10:53 AM (RZzX3)

130 Serious question: Are they for kids basically or, like LOTR, for adults as well or even mostly for adults.

Posted by: JTB at January 25, 2015 10:42 AM (FvdPb)

Also: Don't know if you're religious, but Lewis was and the books are. If you don't want Jesus reskinned as a lion, don't bother.
The Big Bads in at least one of the books are basically Arabs who worship Satan.

Posted by: Secundus at January 25, 2015 10:53 AM (COeS5)

131 118 Epobirs,

Lad10077 and I were just discussing how SJWS always invent the dragons they are after and that said dragons often have their own face.

Posted by: Sven10077 at January 25, 2015 10:55 AM (Fzqfj)

132 Libraries are free to the masses. And books cost next to nothing at thrift stores and garage sales. I have a massive amount of books and have bought maybe five of them brand new.

Posted by: katya the designated driver at January 25, 2015 10:55 AM (o4G8O)

133 124 fastfreefall,

Wife is trying to lock in her assignment...we *can* leave here in Augustish...and by God I pray it is so.

Posted by: Sven10077 at January 25, 2015 10:57 AM (Fzqfj)

134 Kids will read the surface layer and see a fun story. Adults will read on a deeper level and pick up on the religion and philosophy that Lewis put in there.

-
I read that Huckleberry Finn is an extraordinary book because a kid can read it and understand all of it and an adult can read it and understand much more.

Posted by: The Great White Snark at January 25, 2015 10:57 AM (LImiJ)

135 $.10 psych eval.
Posted by: Df82 at January 25, 2015 10:51 AM (QqNO+)

My response to Our Elders and Better pissing and moaning about Millenials is as follows:

What would you say if I thought of a car, designed it, engineered it, built the tooling and the factory, borrowed the money to start the business, put it into production...

...And then sat around bitching that the car was no good?

Posted by: Secundus at January 25, 2015 10:57 AM (COeS5)

136 I'm a boomer, but I don't slag on millennials. Every generation has its share of geniuses and idiots, heroes and parasites. In recent years, I've noticed many clean-cut, very polite young people working in retail and fast food. They're obviously not making much money and probably live with their parents, but they seem to have good attitudes.

This is a contrast from what I remember ten years or so ago, from young people I encountered back then.

And it's also millennials who are veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan.

Remember, some boomers went off to fight in Vietnam, and when they came back home were spat upon by other boomers.

Posted by: rickl at January 25, 2015 10:57 AM (sdi6R)

137 The Big Bads in at least one of the books are basically Arabs who worship Satan.

Correction: they could be Persians. Or Turks.

Posted by: OregonMuse at January 25, 2015 10:57 AM (I/aey)

138 We are shaped in our youth by the things we read and I sometimes wish I hadn't read certain authors and spent more time outside.
Posted by: Bitter Clinger and All That at January 25, 2015 10:53 AM (RZzX3)
-----
Well said.
It also explains why I unconsciously think I'm Spiderman fighting with Starship Troopers for The Foundation.

Posted by: New Phone at January 25, 2015 10:57 AM (RiAq9)

139 Currently reading Renaissance writer Camillo Agrippa's 'Treatise on the Science of Arms'. Either Ken Monschein, the translator, is amazingly gifted or Agrippa's writing style is amazingly modern, direct and readable, or both, but I can't put it down.

Even if you're not interested in the history and theory of classical fencing, I recommend it just so you can hear Agrippa's 'voice'. That long-dead wop had it going on.

Posted by: troyriser at January 25, 2015 10:59 AM (ptcFO)

140 Libraries are free to the masses.

-
Libraries are like gyms. The people who need them the most use them the least.

Posted by: The Great White Snark at January 25, 2015 10:59 AM (LImiJ)

141 Scarlett O'Hara was not mean for having slaves. She actually treated them very well (not defending her ownership of other people). She was mean for her abuse of the prisoners she leased to use in her saw mill. She didn't like or approve of her managers' treatment of them but she allowed and rationalized it to attain her goal of financial security.

Posted by: katya the designated driver at January 25, 2015 11:00 AM (o4G8O)

142 The millennials will never feel the joy and triumph of reading "Debbie Does Dallas".

Posted by: Soona at January 25, 2015 11:01 AM (j0WXm)

143 Correction: they could be Persians. Or Turks.
Posted by: OregonMuse at January 25, 2015 10:57 AM (I/aey)

They live in a desert, wear chainmail and pointy helmets, are swarthy, have names like Rabadash and can be aggressively expansionist.

So.... Perhaps a distinction without a difference, in the context?

Posted by: Secundus at January 25, 2015 11:03 AM (COeS5)

144 Finished up Cryptonomicon What a chunk of book! Ya gotta love a tale of WWII crypto and math geeks that ends with a molten river of gold :-D

So then I went to my pile of accumulated "looks interesting" books.
- Goliath: tale of crashed 1930's zeppelin in Africa with a Big Seekrit. Seekrit remains undiscovered, due to characters that one day aspire to be as thick as cardboard and some of the dumbest plot contrivances outside of a long-running soap opera. Avoid, do not make eye contact.
-Never Say Spy: Actually funny, ordinary lady with just a *few* coincidences ends up having to constantly say "no I am NOT a special agent, I'm an accountant!" (pace Larry Correia). The sudden, uh, insertion of graphic sex was a surprise at the end.

Need. Moar. Books.

And may I just say, looking at vast fancy libraries affects me much like a dragon surveying a hoard of gold, or a pirate assessing a ginormous chest full of jewels (either kind of chest, you perverts). I want to pet all the lovely, lovely booooooks....

Posted by: Sabrina Chase at January 25, 2015 11:03 AM (2buaQ)

145 New thread up.

Posted by: PabloD at January 25, 2015 11:03 AM (roESk)

146 The Chronicles of Narnia are readable by Children, but they are so deep it's unlikely most adults will understand all of it on a single readthrough.

Posted by: .87c at January 25, 2015 11:04 AM (ZIG9G)

147 Completely OT but fun. Next Sunday (Superbowl Sunday) Hallmark Channel is showing The Kitten Bowl at noon eastern. At 3 eastern Animal Planet is showing The Puppy Bowl. They are delightful, usually better than the game itself, and even clever. We never miss them. If you can deal with several hours of ultimate cuteness, they are a treat.

Posted by: JTB at January 25, 2015 11:05 AM (FvdPb)

148 Currently reading Solomon's Temple: Myth and History by William Hamblin and David Seely. Profusely illustrated, it is a scholarly introduction into the historical building of the temple and the significance of the temple to the Jewish, Christian and Muslim religions.

It is quite interesting and I had not realized how often the ancient Hebrew peoples would adopt the religious rites of the Canannites. There were a couple of century-long cycles where a Hebrew king would have to clear Solomon's Temple and suppress the worship of Baal and Asherah.

Posted by: Retired Buckeye Cop is now an engineer at January 25, 2015 11:06 AM (wQYNW)

149 Correction: they could be Persians. Or Turks.
Really, the Calormenes are just a fantasy culture of brown-skinned desert dwellers sort of based on an Arabian Nights-style pre-Islamic Middle East. And unless that culture was founded by a specific group of Middle Easterners who, like the pirates that founded Telmar, blundered into Narnia from our world (of which Lewis gives no hint anywhere)... they're actually descended from the very English King Frank and Queen Helen of Narnia.

Posted by: Elisabeth G. Wolfe at January 25, 2015 11:06 AM (iuQS7)

150 So.... Perhaps a distinction without a difference, in the context?

Yeah, I think probably so. The point is, they had brown skin and that's one of the reasons why the SJWs hate Lewis, him being a member of the white oppressor class and all.

Posted by: OregonMuse at January 25, 2015 11:07 AM (I/aey)

151 Not really liking this slagging on Millenials. The ones I work with are some of the most disciplined and hard-working individuals in the office. They also have very nimble spherical modes of thinking, understandably considering they grew up in the internet era.

I think the kids are all right.

Posted by: All Hail Eris at January 25, 2015 11:07 AM (KH1sk)

152 And may I just say, looking at vast fancy libraries affects me much like a dragon surveying a hoard of gold, or a pirate assessing a ginormous chest full of jewels (either kind of chest, you perverts). I want to pet all the lovely, lovely booooooks....
Posted by: Sabrina Chase at January 25, 2015 11:03 AM (2buaQ)
------------
And like Smaug, I can tell if ONE tiny item is missing.

Posted by: All Hail Eris at January 25, 2015 11:09 AM (KH1sk)

153 Justamom, I see that you've already gotten several recommendations, but I'll put my two cents in and say that Vince Flynn's Mitch Rapp books will definitely appeal to someone who likes Brad Thor.

Posted by: Emmett Milbarge at January 25, 2015 11:10 AM (nFdGS)

154 Secundus @ 135: I like that. It clearly delivers the point in story-form, which makes it memorable.

Rickl @ 136: Yes. I'm an early Millennial. I and my friends were all young adults on 9/11. We heard the call and we signed up for war. Almost half the men in my graduating class joined the military.

But a few years after us, when Iraq and the military were being slandered in the press? I dunno. The fire went out. I was in the Army until 2008 and I remember a very clear qualitative difference in recruits starting about 2006. They were lazier, more disrespectful of authority, and lacked spine. When I was in basic and the drills smoked us in the mud, it made us mad. But those kids, it made them cry.

As for the better class of employees, I think that's a natural result of the shitty economy. Weak labor market means high-quality personnel are working even in low-end jobs and are happy to have them. The truly useless fuckwits like were prevalent in the 90s are all unemployed, having lost out to the more industrious. I truly hope that will cultivate some virtues (work ethic, thrift, gratitude) among my generation. Most of them need it.

Posted by: Df82 at January 25, 2015 11:10 AM (QqNO+)

155 Speaking of Larry Correia, I recently finished his first "Monster Hunters" novel _Monster Hunter International_. Fun, funny in the right places, plenty of kabooms. I enjoyed it . . .

. . . but I don't think I'm going to read the rest of the series. Unless the later books go in new directions, I kind of feel like I've heard the punch line already and don't really need to listen to the joke again.

Posted by: Trimegistus at January 25, 2015 11:11 AM (/eOcU)

156 Sorta on topic, local rag has an article about 13 yo Shubham Banerjee in CA who has started a company with his invention of a braille printer from a lego robotics kit. Pretty cool.

Posted by: Infidel at January 25, 2015 11:12 AM (7GLRQ)

157 My students and I are working through Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein." And to their dismay, the Creature is way better read than they are!

In conjunction with that, I'm reading "Frankenstein: Prodigal Son," by Dean Koontz; and Asimov's "I, Robot." Oh, and I'm making the students watch "Young Frankenstein" for kicks. Dean Koontz is a decent writer, and he sells an enormous number of books. AND, he's some kind of mugged-by-reality libertarian-conservative type, which makes him pretty unusual for a contemporary writer.

Posted by: Smallish Bees at January 25, 2015 11:16 AM (YPgXi)

158 It's probably been that way for a while. My mom knew
someone in college who was just dumb as a stump. From the stories she'd
tell you'd think this gal belonged in some kind of home for the
mentally disabled. Her major? Yep, education.

Posted by: Insomniac at January 25, 2015 10:19 AM (mx5oN)

No surprise. It's long been known that those with the lowest SAT scores gravitate to just two college schools, Journalism and Education. And does it ever show...
Oh, and the dating/sleeping with a teacher. Been there, done that. And the previously posted descriptions are accurate. She was truly hot in the sack, but 1. not that bright, although she sure thought she was; 2. rabid leftist (every time she'd spout one of the usual SJW memes, I would crush it logically/factually and such a deer-in-the-headlights look I'd get); 3. and an even more rabid atheist. I'm neither a bigtime religionist nor an atheist, being a firm believer in pretty much everyone to keep their opinions to themselves unless asked. But not this bitch. Thanks to her, ever since I've had a real negative attitude towards atheists, right up there with my opinion on Muzzies. Needless to say, I avoided school teachers like the plague after her, regardless of how good they are in the sack.

Posted by: The Oort Cloud - SMOD is missing at January 25, 2015 11:18 AM (yTMXB)

159 I'm always struck by how much effort libs put into attacking CS Lewis. They mine the Narnia books down to the individual letters, looking for something -- anything -- they can use to brand him a racist/sexist/whateverphobe and thus disregard him and get his books pulled from the shelves.

From this one concludes that he scares the shit out of them. They can't argue with him, because I don't know of any atheist with the logical and theological training to do so (and because any atheist who acquired such training probably wouldn't want to).

And his images and ideas are so compelling. They terrify the libs. He cuts off all their favorite power fantasies at the ankles. No one can listen to "transhumanists" with a straight face after reading Lewis's _The Abolition of Man_. No one can take Randian social darwinism seriously after reading the climactic scene in _Out of the Silent Planet_.

He's poison to them, so they flee him like the White Witch running from a lion.

Posted by: Trimegistus at January 25, 2015 11:22 AM (/eOcU)

160 Thanks for all the responses about the Narnia books. They will go on the "to be read this year" list.

The bad guy Middle Eastern types don't bother me. Anyone who has read the Conan stories dealing with Hyrcanians is used to the idea.

Posted by: JTB at January 25, 2015 11:23 AM (FvdPb)

161 Anybody here read the books mo Kindle by fellow moron David Dubrow? Very entertaining well-written and even deep sci fi horror stuff. I highly recommend his books.

Posted by: katya the designated driver at January 25, 2015 11:24 AM (o4G8O)

162 Read Lone Star Sons by Celia Hayes, a reimagining of the Lone Ranger and Tonto without the mask or Hi Ho Silver! It's six short stories showing the origin of their partnership and various missions and mysteries they investigate in 1840's Texas.

It's targeted for YA but I enjoyed it too. There's a coda where the author compares events in the stories to historical reality which was pretty cool.

Posted by: waelse1 at January 25, 2015 11:27 AM (7a6fv)

163 Anyone know of any good modern sci-fi or fantasy books? I've gone though GRRM, Sanderson, Rothfuss, Mark Lawrence, a ton of Stephenson and the classics like Asminov, etc.

Any recommendations would be appreciated.

Posted by: NJRob at January 25, 2015 11:29 AM (pejrF)

164 1 I followed Tarek on twitter for quite a while.
--

I follow him on twitter. He seems solidly anti head chopping, which is a good thing.

I'm going to borrow Dark Skies from my library. Thanks for the rec.

Posted by: votermom at January 25, 2015 11:29 AM (fD87G)

165 #159 Trimegistus.

Very well put, sir. Do you have a newsletter I could subscribe to?

Posted by: OregonMuse at January 25, 2015 11:31 AM (I/aey)

166 Checked those 59 one-star reviews for Hidden In Plain Sight, only one had purchased it. Guess they got bored waiting for the next Ann Coulter book.

Posted by: waelse1 at January 25, 2015 11:32 AM (7a6fv)

167 Da book thread. Now I will have to read all that.

Posted by: Vic at January 25, 2015 11:40 AM (wlDny)

168 Thanks, as always to OM for the book thread and those magnificent library photos. Some, like today's, rival the Library of Congress which has the most beautiful interior in DC. If you come to Washington, it is worth stopping at the LoC just to look around.

Posted by: JTB at January 25, 2015 11:40 AM (FvdPb)

169 163
" How Dark the World Becomes" by Frank Chawick

Posted by: Tuna at January 25, 2015 11:43 AM (JSovD)

170 Well, since this is the book thread and we've gotten onto the topic of generations, it's time for my periodic plug of "The Fourth Turning" by William Strauss and Neil Howe.

https://tinyurl.com/m9lv42d

They have an interesting theory that history moves in roughly 20-year cycles, and that the different generations have different characteristics and outlooks based on when they came of age during the cycle. In the beginning of the book they show that ancient cultures also had similar ideas.

The four parts of the cycle, or "turnings", are High, Awakening, Unraveling, and Crisis. The four generational archetypes are Hero, Artist, Prophet, and Nomad.

The book was published in 1997, when the millennials were teenagers. The authors said that we were in a Unraveling period at the time, and predicted a Crisis starting sometime in the 2000s. While it can be debated precisely when it started (9/11/01 was too early on their timeline; but the 2008 economic crash and Obama's election may be better fits), there can be no doubt that we are in it now.

As for the millennials? They're the Hero archetype. The last such generation was the WWII generation.

So I'm paying attention to these kids. They have their work cut out for them.

Posted by: rickl at January 25, 2015 11:43 AM (sdi6R)

171 So, after 4 (?) years and a number of near misses I have finally managed to shatter the screen of my Kindle Fire. Amazingly the device still work, but I don't think large-scale "screen swiping) is likely to be very safe.

How hard is it likely to be to transfer my books/music/games to another Kindle device?

Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette at January 25, 2015 11:44 AM (GDulk)

172 They have an interesting theory that history moves in roughly 20-year cycles

Whoops. Make that 80-year cycles, divided into four seasons or "turnings" of 20 years each.

Of course these are only approximations, and not hard and fast dates.

Posted by: rickl at January 25, 2015 11:47 AM (sdi6R)

173 @163,
Assassin's Apprentice trilogy by Robin Hobb
Wizard Of Earthsea by Ursula LeGuin
Dies The Fire by S. M. Stirling
Grimnoir Chronicles by Larry Correia
Ubik by Philip K Dick
Leviathan Wakes by James Corey
Honor Harrington and Empire Of Man series by David Weber
The Last Policeman series by Ben Winters
- some of my favorites I've read in the last couple of years.

Posted by: waelse1 at January 25, 2015 11:47 AM (7a6fv)

174 In response to breaking my Kindle I did manage to find Libra Vox (audio books) and YouVersion (audio Bible) editions for my desktop. That just leaves my alarm clock and the various logic games on my Kindle without any alternative. Downside is that I can no longer listen to books *away* from home unless I use my phone and I *don't* want to do that because the battery dies more than fast enough already.

Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette at January 25, 2015 11:55 AM (GDulk)

175 Any recommendations would be appreciated.
Posted by: NJRob at January 25, 2015 11:29 AM (pejrF)

Anything by David Drake but the Igniting the Reaches trilogy specially
Anything by H. Beam Piper
Unwound Way by Bill Adams and Cecil Brooks
Anything by Doris Egan (one trilogy, only , which makes me sad)
Anything by Delia Marshall Turner (ok, apparently there are only two books)
Anything by The International Lord of Hate, Larry Correia
Anything mostly by Michael Z Williamson
Anything by Lois Bujold, including her shopping lists
And then there is Tom Kratman, who writes books that make my head feel like it has been thrown in a cement mixer half filled with cinderblocks.

I will think of more but I have to go.

Posted by: Kindltot at January 25, 2015 11:58 AM (t//F+)

176 Polliwog, anything that you got thru amazon should be on your amazon account (Cloud) and can be easily downloaded to any other kindle fire device.
If you have stuff on your kindle that you downloaded from other sources ( not amazon) you will probably need to get those another way. One way would be with a usb cable to your computer and a program that lets you access your kindle harddrive. The kindle fire community forum on amazon is quite helpful.
Also, I rec calling amazon support about your kindle to ask if they will give you a discount on a replacement. They are quite nice and sometimes they have good deals on refurbished ones.

Posted by: votermom at January 25, 2015 12:00 PM (b1at0)

177 Vic:

Read 3rd of 4 of John Ringo's zombie apocalypse. Much better than 2nd, not repetitive, moves story forward. There's a lot of story left to tell so I expect 4 to be busy and have a (20 years later) chapter foreward. Worth a read but only full retail if you're a hard core fan.

Posted by: DaveA at January 25, 2015 12:03 PM (DL2i+)

178 I don't think Gwendolyn from Daniel Deronda is a mean girl either. Yes, she is shallow,but she does have a redemption by the end of the novel.

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at January 25, 2015 12:05 PM (DXzRD)

179 Sorta OT: Just started watching "The Man in the High Castle" on Amazon Prime, and I already has a nitpick: would a defeated U.S. still have had classic finned bulgemobiles, which seemed to me to be a wonderful manifestation of the gaudy optimism of a victorious postwar America?

And now back to viewing. Jazzed that a Phillip K. Dick novel made it to the screen, large or small.

Posted by: All Hail Eris at January 25, 2015 12:10 PM (KH1sk)

180 173
I second Empire of Man series. Enjoyed those.

Old Man's War series by John Scalzi. Also, his "Agent to the Stars" was funny. Since then I understand he's gone to the dark lib side.

Alan Dean Foster's " Taken" triology is fun if you're in the mood for something light

Posted by: Tuna at January 25, 2015 12:10 PM (JSovD)

181 And now back to viewing. Jazzed that a Phillip K. Dick novel made it to the screen, large or small.

Posted by: All Hail Eris at January 25, 2015 12:10 PM (KH1sk)

'The Man in the High Castle' is Dick's best book, in my opinion. It has all of his strengths--fascinating ideas, page-turning storyline-- without degenerating into rambling, verbose, metaphysical incoherence.

Posted by: troyriser at January 25, 2015 12:15 PM (ptcFO)

182 Posted by: All Hail Eris at January 25, 2015 12:10 PM (KH1sk)

Actually, I didn't find that necessarily out of place. The Germans weren't against style.

BTW, I thought they did a decent job with it. The PKD purists are up in arms. However, it is the best of the non-kids pilots that Amazon did. I started to watch the Civil War one but it started off so cheesy I couldn't continue. The rest seem to think that nudity, violence, crudity, and foul language are required for adult shows. Meanwhile, plot, dialogue, and real characters are optional.

Posted by: Better Feared than Loved at January 25, 2015 12:18 PM (nRvEn)

183 Kencyrath Chronicles by P.C. Hodgell is great fantasy series.

Posted by: Tuna at January 25, 2015 12:19 PM (JSovD)

184 I'm technically a boomer--born 1962--but i never really felt like one, and all the adults around me when i was growing up were WW2 and Korean vets. When I say "adults", that's what I mean. They were men (and women) who just did things and didn't get caught up in their "feelings" about what they were doing. I'm sure some of them were plagued by self-doubts, but they didn't "express" them openly.
This is what we are losing. The ranks of all the generations since-beginning with the boomers--are filled with many fine people. "Millenials" are often smart and hard-working but most of them have been ill-educated and too many not raised properly. And more than a few are quite fragile mentally. As long as things are going well for them, it's all good. But as soon as something upsets their world?. They crumble....

Posted by: Sandra Fluke at January 25, 2015 12:24 PM (So+r6)

185 Posted by: waelse1 at January 25, 2015 11:47 AM (7a6fv)
Posted by: Kindltot at January 25, 2015 11:58 AM (t//F+)
Posted by: Tuna at January 25, 2015 12:10 PM (JSovD)
Posted by: Tuna at January 25, 2015 12:19 PM (JSovD)

Thanks for the recommendations. Time to spend some money. My Kindle makes it way too easy.

Posted by: NJRob at January 25, 2015 12:51 PM (pejrF)

186 I recommend a timely paperback, retribution, by a marine col, anderson harp, which features a jihadist plot, set sometime around 2011, funded by members of the allegiance council, like that which is going on now in the kingdom, the bin laden wannabe isbased onareal person,
as are anumber of other real details, and i second the review of dark spies

Posted by: admiral marcus at January 25, 2015 12:53 PM (0u/CC)

187 Murakami simply rocks. Love, love, love him. Great quote.

Just about done with "A Wild Sheep Chase."

His stuff is so original- sort of Ray Bradbury meets Roald Dahl in Japan.

Maybe even Japanese Magical Realism.

IMHO, one of the best modern writers alive.

Posted by: shibumi who is awaiting SMOD at January 25, 2015 01:07 PM (trX1O)

188 86
It's probably been that way for a while. My mom knew someone in college
who was just dumb as a stump. From the stories she'd tell you'd think
this gal belonged in some kind of home for the mentally disabled. Her
major? Yep, education.

-------

I shacked up with a teacher many years ago. Not the brightest gal but honestly, she was a sex machine.

I think That's what Instapundit's been trying to tell us

Posted by: GoCougsGo at January 25, 2015 01:12 PM (V1ecw)

189 I finished The Marriage Plot, by Jeffrey Eugenides, which I liked quite a bit. Eugenides is best known for his first novel, The Virgin Suicides, and Middlesex, which I haven't read. The Marriage Plot didn't end the way I thought it would or wanted it to, but the characters were very believable and I wanted to know what happened to them after the end of the book, so all-in-all, a good book.

This week I also read one of my favorite authors, Robertson Davies. I think I've read all of his novels except his first three, the Salterton Trilogy, so this week I got started on that. I've finished the first novel, Tempest-Tost, about an amateur theatrical group in a provincial Canadian city staging a production of Shakespeare's The Tempest. Now I'm half-way through the second novel, Leaven of Malice, which features many of the same characters. Davies is a genius at revealing his characters' little vanities, while still making you care about them, and his writing is so sly and witty. Here, for example, is a paragraph introducing a minor character:

Matthew Snelgrove presented, in himself, one of those interesting and not infrequent cases in which Nature imitates Art. In the nineteenth century it appears that many lawyers were dry and fusty men, of formal manner and formal dress, who carried much of the deportment of the courtroom into private life. Novelists and playwrights, observing this fact, put many such lawyers into their books and upon the stage. Actors deficient in observation and resource adopted this stock character of the Lawyer, and he was to be seen in hundreds of plays. And Matthew Snelgrove, whose professional and personal character was being formed about the turn of the century, seized upon this lawyer-like shell eagerly, and made it his own. Through the years he perfected his impersonation until, as he confronted Professor Vambrace, he was not only a lawyer in reality, but also a lawyer in a score of stagey mannerisms; a lawyer who joined the tips of his fingers while listening to a client; a lawyer who closed his eyes and smacked his lips disconcertingly while others talked; a lawyer who tugged and polished at his long nose with a very large handkerchief; a lawyer who coughed dryly before speaking; a lawyer who used his eyeglasses not so much as aids to vision as for peeping over, snatching from the nose, rubbing on the lapel, and wagging in his listener's face. He was a master of legal grimace - the smile of disbelief, the smile of I-pity-your-ignorance, the smile of that-may-safely-be-left-in-my-hands, as well as a number of effective frowns, signifying disapproval, impatience and disgust. Like many another professional man, Mr. Snelgrove had become the prisoner of a professional manner, and as his legal skill was by no means extraordinary, it was often impossible to tell whether he was really a lawyer or an indifferent character actor playing the part of a lawyer. Whatever the truth of the matter, his life-long performance had brought him great respect and no small measure of wealth.

Now that is some pretty good writing!

Posted by: biancaneve at January 25, 2015 01:18 PM (6Turu)

190 Ugh, just went to the Free Beacon article re:Rothfuss and saw that Book 3 has been pushed bak, again.

I hope book 3 of Sandrrson's Stirmlight Archive isn't getting pushe back as well.

Posted by: Garrett at January 25, 2015 01:25 PM (81OM+)

191 Ugh, just went to the Free Beacon article re:Rothfuss and saw that Book 3 has been pushed bak, again.

I hope book 3 of Sanderson's stormlight Archive isn't getting pushed back as well.

As for SciFi to read, Gene Wolfe.

Posted by: Garrett at January 25, 2015 01:34 PM (81OM+)

192 Ugh, just went to the Free Beacon article re:Rothfuss and saw that Book 3 has been pushed bak, again.

I hope book 3 of Sanderson's stormlight Archive isn't getting pushed back as well.

As for SciFi to read, Gene Wolfe.

Posted by: Garrett at January 25, 2015 01:34 PM (81OM+)

193 Damn. I went for 3!?

Posted by: Garrett at January 25, 2015 01:35 PM (81OM+)

194 On Librivox I started listening to The Illiad since that was what I had started on my Kindle. Some of the readers are good but one with a Scottish accent (which I wanted to like just on general principal) was painful enough that I was glad I had already listened to that part on the Kindle and could just skip it.

I also started listening to Sense and Sensibility because I enjoyed reading it several years ago. There have been about three readers so far and they've all done a good job. One thing I was surprised about was how often I've been laughing out loud during the reading. Something about hearing the lines instead of seeing them is bringing a lot of the humor to the forefront.

Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette at January 25, 2015 01:43 PM (GDulk)

195 117: Honestly, I can't be surprised that McGuire holds politics I'd find noxious and might be a horrible person in, well, person. All apologies to any writers or artists on the thread, but I assume that any given artist is a terrible person, in hopes of being occasionally, pleasantly surprised. And the politics of the artist is almost always noxious - especially the author's politics. Your active fascist is often a frustrated artist, and your successful artist a budding fascist diverted into more productive purposes.

I mean, look at GRRM, Scalzi, or even Steve Gould, who has been apparently a proper jack-boot in the SFWA, but his books are pleasant diversions. And I read a lot of superhero novels, whose writers are almost inevitably card-carrying fascists - costumed vigilantism, you know.

As for the Grant zombie books - the Republican candidate for president is portrayed as both religious and well-intentioned, while the eventual big bads are an institutional conspiracy of progressive heroes - the Inquisitor General in a labcoat, beaker in hand. That's about the best I could hope out of a San Francisco hippie chick author. That & the vociferous if implicit endorsement of the Second Amendment throughout the text.

Posted by: Mitch H. at January 25, 2015 01:44 PM (NKVm/)

196 Polliwog and the books on tape got me wondering. I'm usually a slow reader because I get caught up in the writing, for good or bad, as well the story. I hear the voices of the characters and narrator in my head as I read. I wonder if others read like that.

Posted by: JTB at January 25, 2015 01:55 PM (FvdPb)

197 Thanks to moron commenter The Political Hat I learned that "millenials" don't read books because they consider books to be a luxury item and you're a classist if you own them. And a privileged member of the oppressive class to boot.

On the other hand, the good news is that there is a gratifyingly large number of negative comments directed at the whiny emo twit who authored the screed in question, so there's that

Being able to read words is also ableist oppression...

Posted by: The Political Hat at January 25, 2015 02:11 PM (0Ew3K)

198 50

OK, I have one recommendation and one request.

My kids and I are getting a big kick out of Mo Willems books. Not
your typical kid books. His humor and illustrations are unique.
Seriously, if you read to any kids I strongly recommend these. Library.

Now for my request. What can I get for my hubby to read when he
finished the last of his Brad Thor books? He had previously read only
owners manuals. Thanks.

Justamom,
I would C.J. Box to the list. I would not have thought I would like a series of books about a game warden in the Midwest, but good writing and plotting beats everything else. Combination of mystery and thriller. Written some other books as well: Blue Heaven was excellent and Highway was spooky.

Posted by: Charlotte at January 25, 2015 03:10 PM (JxrIk)

199 Some Jews are turned into monkeys in sura 7, but that's for abandoning a Jewish law (the sabbath) - which law the Muslims either never followed in the first place or (more likely) have abandoned since then. Probable subtext is that sura 7 went out, in part, to support the Sabbath among Muslims. Which means it has failed.

It's embarrassing for Islam's internal consistency that this sura is still *in* the Qur'an, in my opinion.

As for the Jew-hatred in suras 4, 5 etc, yeah, that's real and I don't think it's possible for Muslims to abandon those suras.

Posted by: boulder terlit hobo at January 25, 2015 03:49 PM (shX3T)

200 Check out the review count and distribution on the "Hidden in Plain Sight" book now. Pretty spectacular change since first noted here last week.

Posted by: Rolf at January 25, 2015 07:29 PM (H+WqQ)

201 NJRob:

A little late, but I recommend anything by John C. Wright, especially Count to a Trillion, The Silent Lands, and Tales of the Metachronopolis.

Also Northworld by David Drake and Grimnoir by Larry Correia (it's much better than Monster Hunter).

Posted by: .87c at January 25, 2015 08:14 PM (Syc3P)

202 163 Anyone know of any good modern sci-fi or fantasy books? I've gone though GRRM, Sanderson, Rothfuss, Mark Lawrence, a ton of Stephenson and the classics like Asminov, etc.

Any recommendations would be appreciated.
Posted by: NJRob at January 25, 2015 11:29 AM (pejrF)

Larry Correia's Grimnoir Chronicles, starting with "Hard Magic"

John Ringo's Troy Rising series, starting with "Live Free or Die"

Roger Zelazny's "Creatures of Light and Darkness"

Guy Gavriel Kay's "Under Heaven"

Tim Powers' "Declare"

Posted by: BornLib at January 26, 2015 07:47 AM (zpNwC)

203 169 163
" How Dark the World Becomes" by Frank Chawick
Posted by: Tuna at January 25, 2015 11:43 AM (JSovD)

That one was good too. But his name is spelled Chadwick.

Posted by: BornLib at January 26, 2015 07:50 AM (zpNwC)

204 177 Vic:

Read 3rd of 4 of John Ringo's zombie apocalypse. Much better than 2nd, not repetitive, moves story forward. There's a lot of story left to tell so I expect 4 to be busy and have a (20 years later) chapter foreward. Worth a read but only full retail if you're a hard core fan.
Posted by: DaveA at January 25, 2015 12:03 PM (DL2i+)

Oh yes, book three was much better. I'm reading book four right now and it's awesome as well.

Posted by: BornLib at January 26, 2015 07:54 AM (zpNwC)

205 Alan Dean Foster's " Taken" triology is fun if you're in the mood for something light

Posted by: Tuna at January 25, 2015 12:10 PM (JSovD)

I really liked Alan Dean Foster's "The Damned" series

Posted by: BornLib at January 26, 2015 07:57 AM (zpNwC)

206 Escort girls http://REGMODELS.RU

Posted by: Tina at January 26, 2015 07:16 PM (95udX)

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