Former player
Joined: 4/16/2004
Posts: 1276
Location: Uppsala, Sweden
I just finished reading The Ruins of Scott Smith (there's also a movie). Quite good actually! I saw the movie first, so I had the scenery installed already, but the book is better. And if you haven't read it yet I can strongly recommend Joe Abercrombie and his First Law trilogy. It's fantasy, but very different with.. odd heroes.
/Walker Boh
Joined: 5/14/2007
Posts: 525
Location: Pisces-Cetus filament
Life of Pi is the last book that I have read. It is about a shipwrecked child who struggles for survival. Some chapters are boring, but it is a great book overall.
AzumaK wrote: I swear my 1 year old daughter's favorite TASVideo is your R4MI run :3 xxNKxx wrote: ok thanks handsome feos :D Help improving TASVideos!
Player (121)
Joined: 2/11/2007
Posts: 1522
I would suggest Extra Lives by Tom Bissell. It is a book about video games so I'm not sure anyone here would be that interested in it but it is well written.
I make a comic with no image files and you should read it. While there is a lower class, I am in it, and while there is a criminal element I am of it, and while there is a soul in prison, I am not free. -Eugene Debs
Joined: 5/30/2005
Posts: 98
Stumbling on Happiness One Jump Ahead: Challenging the Human Supremacy in Checkers The Singularity is Near A New Kind of Science These are some of my favorite books. You can find many previews of them on google books. I hope you like them.
arflech
He/Him
Joined: 5/3/2008
Posts: 1120
Rename this file so it ends in .rar and enjoy: http://i52.tinypic.com/2viqyq0.jpg
i imgur com/QiCaaH8 png
Joined: 11/22/2004
Posts: 1468
Location: Rotterdam, The Netherlands
The Hacker Crackdown by Bruce Sterling. This book explores hacker culture (mostly of the 90s), the public's view of hackers, and the LEA's dealing with them. It's centered around a large sting operation and ensuing court circus and explores how this affected politics and civil libertarianism in particular. Available online http://www.mit.edu/hacker/hacker.html or on eBay. I'm reading the paper version. Excerpt from the first page:
On January 15, 1990, AT&T's long-distance telephone switching system crashed. This was a strange, dire, huge event. Sixty thousand people lost their telephone service completely. During the nine long hours of frantic effort that it took to restore service, some seventy million telephone calls went uncompleted. Losses of service, known as "outages" in the telco trade, are a known and accepted hazard of the telephone business. Hurricanes hit, and phone cables get snapped by the thousands. Earthquakes wrench through buried fiber-optic lines. Switching stations catch fire and burn to the ground. These things do happen. There are contingency plans for them, and decades of experience in dealing with them. But the Crash of January 15 was unprecedented. It was unbelievably huge, and it occurred for no apparent physical reason. The crash started on a Monday afternoon in a single switching- station in Manhattan. But, unlike any merely physical damage, it spread and spread. Station after station across America collapsed in a chain reaction, until fully half of AT&T's network had gone haywire and the remaining half was hard-put to handle the overflow. Within nine hours, AT&T software engineers more or less understood what had caused the crash. Replicating the problem exactly, poring over software line by line, took them a couple of weeks. But because it was hard to understand technically, the full truth of the matter and its implications were not widely and thoroughly aired and explained. The root cause of the crash remained obscure, surrounded by rumor and fear. The crash was a grave corporate embarrassment. The "culprit" was a bug in AT&T's own software -- not the sort of admission the telecommunications giant wanted to make, especially in the face of increasing competition. Still, the truth was told, in the baffling technical terms necessary to explain it. Somehow the explanation failed to persuade American law enforcement officials and even telephone corporate security personnel. These people were not technical experts or software wizards, and they had their own suspicions about the cause of this disaster. The police and telco security had important sources of information denied to mere software engineers. They had informants in the computer underground and years of experience in dealing with high-tech rascality that seemed to grow ever more sophisticated. For years they had been expecting a direct and savage attack against the American national telephone system. And with the Crash of January 15 -- the first month of a new, high-tech decade -- their predictions, fears, and suspicions seemed at last to have entered the real world. A world where the telephone system had not merely crashed, but, quite likely, been crashed -- by "hackers."
Former player
Joined: 1/17/2006
Posts: 775
Location: Deign
I like reading Deathlands. It's an easy read, it's a cheesy read, it's a group of badasses wandering around in a post nuclear war earth being badasses. It's like reading plotline for bonus quests left out of the fallout videogame series. I probably have read half of them or so over the years. I have not read Outlanders, but maybe I will someday. Architects of Emortality. On the one hand, I don't regret taking the time to read it. On the other, I feel like I should. It's a thriller, and a bit thought provoking, although if you read many thrillers or thought provoking books it's probably pretty basic as they go, I don't really know as most books I read aren't that. (See Deathlands above :P). One of the things I did like about it was the idea of genetics as an artform, which would be really cool, and something I daydream about a lot, making designer organisms or private gardens etc. And since the most important characters were genetic artists, that was kind of neat to give fodder to my daydreams. So I guess this is only a suggestion to read this book if you are into weird plotline stories (decorative plant (erokky) as murder weapon wat). If you already have books lined up that you know you'll like, skip this one. If you don't, give it a shot and maybe you'll be as confused about whether or not you should like the book as I am.
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Player (117)
Joined: 5/13/2009
Posts: 700
Location: suffern, ny
I am currently reading The Secret Adversary by Agatha Christie. Recommended for people who like espionage and mysteries.
[19:16] <scrimpy> silly portuguese [19:16] <scrimpy> it's like spanish, only less cool
Player (117)
Joined: 5/13/2009
Posts: 700
Location: suffern, ny
I just finished American Gods, By Neil Gaiman. READ IT.
[19:16] <scrimpy> silly portuguese [19:16] <scrimpy> it's like spanish, only less cool
Player (117)
Joined: 5/13/2009
Posts: 700
Location: suffern, ny
So I know this going to sound a bit cliched with the success of the movies, but I just finished the fellowship of the ring. For those of you who like fantasy, you should pick this up, its a good read. There is A LOT of character development though. That is all for now, am I the only with books to recommend anymore?
[19:16] <scrimpy> silly portuguese [19:16] <scrimpy> it's like spanish, only less cool
Skilled player (1098)
Joined: 8/26/2006
Posts: 1139
Location: United Kingdom
Curiously, I also recently finished rereading the Fellowship of the Ring. I read the series back in high school and hoped to refamiliarise myself with them. So far I am finding it rather dry for a reread and am wondering if my time would be better spent elsewhere (I do not normally read fantasy novels), but hopefully I will get through the other two. Speaking of movies I recently finished reading No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy. I enjoyed the Coen Brothers' movie during its release and would recommend the novel to anyone who found the various issues/dilemmas interesting as they are more fleshed out. Personally, I didn't think it was as good as The Road, but it has certainly added to my appetite for his work and have since added Blood Meridian and his trilogy to my reading list.
Former player
Joined: 4/16/2004
Posts: 1286
Location: Finland
funnyhair: be sure to pick up The Silmarillion once you finish the LOTR. For me it was even better than the original trilogy. Children of Hurin was also surprisingly good. Christopher Tolkien is very faithful to his father's writing style. I'm sure most of you have at least heard about The Song of Ice and Fire by George R. R. Martin, so I'll just say that yes, it does live up to the hype. The series has been going a little downhill with the last two books but they're still great and definitely worth your time. About American Gods: meh, it was OK. The premise is great but the book is just too long. Nothing Gaiman has done has gotten even close to the awesomeness and ingenuity of the Sandman graphic novels. Check them out if you haven't already.
Banned User
Joined: 3/10/2004
Posts: 7698
Location: Finland
If you like doorstopper-sized high fantasy novels, I'd recommend the Dragonlance book series. I liked them when I read them (although I haven't read them all).
Player (117)
Joined: 5/13/2009
Posts: 700
Location: suffern, ny
Kyrsimys wrote:
funnyhair: be sure to pick up The Silmarillion once you finish the LOTR. For me it was even better than the original trilogy. Children of Hurin was also surprisingly good. Christopher Tolkien is very faithful to his father's writing style. I'm sure most of you have at least heard about The Song of Ice and Fire by George R. R. Martin, so I'll just say that yes, it does live up to the hype. The series has been going a little downhill with the last two books but they're still great and definitely worth your time. About American Gods: meh, it was OK. The premise is great but the book is just too long. Nothing Gaiman has done has gotten even close to the awesomeness and ingenuity of the Sandman graphic novels. Check them out if you haven't already.
Thanks for the recommendations! Also to warp: Thanks for the recommendation for the long fantasy series, I shall keep it in mind the next time I go to the book store! EDIT: Mukki, sounds interesting, I shall have to pick up that one too!
[19:16] <scrimpy> silly portuguese [19:16] <scrimpy> it's like spanish, only less cool
Joined: 2/26/2007
Posts: 1365
Location: Minnesota
I did not enjoy Fellowship of the Ring. I hated Two Towers enough to put the book down and walk away; too much time was taken to describe the trek through the Dead Marshes. Anyways, the Hobbit is his most interesting book for me. I read that one in two days, tops. On my list of to reads is the Song of Fire and Ice. I still have four books in the Wheel of Time series to finish before starting that one. Of course, by the time I finish the next four WoT books the last one will be out.
adelikat wrote:
I very much agree with this post.
Bobmario511 wrote:
Forget party hats, Christmas tree hats all the way man.
Joined: 10/24/2005
Posts: 1080
Location: San Jose
Kyrsimys wrote:
funnyhair: be sure to pick up The Silmarillion once you finish the LOTR. For me it was even better than the original trilogy. Children of Hurin was also surprisingly good. Christopher Tolkien is very faithful to his father's writing style.
Agreed on all fronts. I just cry when I realize how miniscule all the LOTR battles are in comparison to the Silmarillion. I mean you have a freaking Balrog army fight against Gondolin with Ecthelion and Glorfindel (arguably the same Glorfindel from LOTR) slaying boatloads of them (and Gothmog, who was arguably as powerful as Sauron). Then you have such violent fighting that half a CONTINENT gets sunk because of Melkor? Battle of Pelennor Fields?! Such a minute battle in comparison. More like Battle of Pussy Fields. The etymology is a bit cumbersome, but the book is practically an anthology, so I can understand why it's tough to pick up.
<agill> banana banana banana terracotta pie! <Shinryuu> ho-la terracotta barba-ra anal-o~
Former player
Joined: 1/17/2006
Posts: 775
Location: Deign
I couldn't get past about the first chapter of the silmarillion.
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Former player
Joined: 1/17/2006
Posts: 775
Location: Deign
I finished reading the main storyline for the Malazan series. Overall I thought it was incredibly well done, perhaps the best fantasy series I've read. It's something like 12,000 pages or so, but it didn't really seem to drag on like some do (Wheel of time for example). There are lots of storylines and "main" characters to keep track of though, so if that bothers you then meh. I didn't feel like in this series there were many characters where you could say "this is the good guy, he does good stuff, that is the bad guy and he does bad stuff". They are more dynamic than that. There wasn't really even a good vs evil thing going on, because often neither side of a conflict was clearly more good/evil than the other. One criticism I have seen of the series is the power creep as you go on through the books; the super important mains get like "oh you thought what I did last time was badass, watch this!" over and over etc. I think that's pretty typical of sci-fi and fantasy stuff in general though, so overall if that's the biggest complaint I'd say it did a good job. I'll be looking to get the novellas and novels to read at some point as well. I just started reading Mistborn and it seems pretty decent so far. Will update with more when I finish the trilogy (or book, if it turns out bad). I'm surprised I haven't noted Name of the Wind yet. That was a book that I couldn't put down. All in all though, it's probably pretty typical of the "poor boy goes to magic school" type books. Book two of the trilogy is out now. For those of you who like LoTR, there was a trilogy I read about 1800 pages where book one had the entire plot of the LoTR trilogy, and then books two and three had similar "unlikely hero goes on quest to save the world" stories. One of them had demons from another world invading through a rift and unlikely hero had to go on quest + unite the races to save the world, and the other all I remember is a magical forest. I'll edit back if I remember the name of it, or maybe someone else knows it. I didn't think much of it, but I also didn't think much of LoTR.
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Player (117)
Joined: 5/13/2009
Posts: 700
Location: suffern, ny
Going Back to movies, I just picked up The Maltese Falcon, By Dashiell Hammett. Its not bad, and the movie is a pretty good adaption of what is in the book so far, I am about a quarter of the way through though
[19:16] <scrimpy> silly portuguese [19:16] <scrimpy> it's like spanish, only less cool
Editor, Player (69)
Joined: 1/18/2008
Posts: 663
Has nobody mentioned Dune simply because it's assumed everyone has read it already?
true on twitch - lsnes windows builds 20230425 - the date this site is buried
Joined: 5/30/2007
Posts: 324
When I first heard the name Master and Margarita, I thought it was one of the coolest names for a book ever. When I heard what it was about, it sounded like one of the most interesting premises imaginable. When I saw this cover, I thought it was the best cover illustration I had ever seen. From the time I started reading, it has matched or surpassed any expectation I have had. Now that I'm about to finish it, it's easily one of the best 15-20 books I have ever read. It ranks right up there with some of the best masterpieces from my four favorite writers ever; Steinbeck, Conrad, Kundera, and Murakami.
Player (117)
Joined: 5/13/2009
Posts: 700
Location: suffern, ny
True wrote:
Has nobody mentioned Dune simply because it's assumed everyone has read it already?
I read Dune a while back, It was long an difficult but a well written novel. The problem with dune is that people assume its the best thing ever written in terms of Sci-fi. While I would not hesitate to put it on a top ten list, I would certainly would not put it in number one. The problem with dune, is that it is related to the ten- thousand sequels that follow, and I am surprised anyone still reads that crap. I once heard from a friend not to read past the third book, he had read six. I still think it is a good suggestion though and I am surprised no one else had read it.
[19:16] <scrimpy> silly portuguese [19:16] <scrimpy> it's like spanish, only less cool
Joined: 5/30/2007
Posts: 324
funnyhair wrote:
I read Dune a while back, It was long an difficult but a well written novel. The problem with dune is that people assume its the best thing ever written in terms of Sci-fi. While I would not hesitate to put it on a top ten list, I would certainly would not put it in number one. The problem with dune, is that it is related to the ten- thousand sequels that follow, and I am surprised anyone still reads that crap. I once heard from a friend not to read past the third book, he had read six. I still think it is a good suggestion though and I am surprised no one else had read it.
I don't think there is anyone who seriously considers "Dune" the best sci-fi book ever. Rather, it's rightly considered a high masterpiece because it essentially created the modern sci-fi genre. In terms of pioneering sci-fi works, "Frankenstein" is the only thing higher than it.
Joined: 2/26/2007
Posts: 1365
Location: Minnesota
I tried to read Dune. I got bored.
adelikat wrote:
I very much agree with this post.
Bobmario511 wrote:
Forget party hats, Christmas tree hats all the way man.
Player (117)
Joined: 5/13/2009
Posts: 700
Location: suffern, ny
IronSlayer wrote:
I don't think there is anyone who seriously considers "Dune" the best sci-fi book ever. Rather, it's rightly considered a high masterpiece because it essentially created the modern sci-fi genre. In terms of pioneering sci-fi works, "Frankenstein" is the only thing higher than it.
Just out of Curiosity what do you consider pioneering?
[19:16] <scrimpy> silly portuguese [19:16] <scrimpy> it's like spanish, only less cool