P&N Book Club

[Vic]

Originally posted by: yllus
Starship Troopers by Robert A. Heinlein.

Please, please forget about the horrendous movie of the same name that utterly destroyed the entire spirit of the novel. I consider this to be Heinlein's finest work and a must-read for both politicos and sci fi aficionados. I believe it's also required reading for all U.S. Marines.

Indeed. Great book. The movie had Heinlein spinning in his grave, I am sure. Did you know he wrote it in only 3 weeks?
Also by Heinlein, I would also recommend Stranger in a Strange Land and The Moon is a Harsh Mistress. I'm a big Heinlein fan as well. I doubt there is any book or short story that he published that I have not read.

For judasmachine , I recommend Ayn Rand's Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal. A collection of essays, most written in Rand's well-known condescending tone (along with a couple by Alan Greenspan), it provides a highly intelligent, logical, and rational argument as to why capitalism is the only economic system possible in a truly free society, why it would only be to the betterment of humankind, and why we've never tried it. Her argument against the Vietnam War may help educate some of the liberals here about how and why the so-called "conservatives" of this country are not actually capitalists.

Socialism may have its merits (though I would contest that), but (to paraphrase Heinlein) There Aint No Such Thing As A Free Lunch. If a people would be free, they must live free, with all the rewards and consequences that come with it. If safety and security and the "social welfare" are a people's only desire, there are countless would-be despots waiting in line to accomodate them to ensure they get nothing.

And yes, I am a completely unabashed Capitalist and Libertarian. Proud of it in fact. Those are the principles our nation was founded and what made it great.

 

[Forsythe]

Originally posted by: Vic

Originally posted by: yllus
Starship Troopers by Robert A. Heinlein.

Please, please forget about the horrendous movie of the same name that utterly destroyed the entire spirit of the novel. I consider this to be Heinlein's finest work and a must-read for both politicos and sci fi aficionados. I believe it's also required reading for all U.S. Marines.

Indeed. Great book. The movie had Heinlein spinning in his grave, I am sure. Did you know he wrote it in only 3 weeks?
Also by Heinlein, I would also recommend Stranger in a Strange Land and The Moon is a Harsh Mistress. I'm a big Heinlein fan as well. I doubt there is any book or short story that he published that I have not read.

For judasmachine , I recommend Ayn Rand's Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal. A collection of essays, most written in Rand's well-known condescending tone (along with a couple by Alan Greenspan), it provides a highly intelligent, logical, and rational argument as to why capitalism is the only economic system possible in a truly free society, why it would only be to the betterment of humankind, and why we've never tried it. Her argument against the Vietnam War may help educate some of the liberals here about how and why the so-called "conservatives" of this country are not actually capitalists.

Socialism may have its merits (though I would contest that), but (to paraphrase Heinlein) There Aint No Such Thing As A Free Lunch. If a people would be free, they must live free, with all the rewards and consequences that come with it. If safety and security and the "social welfare" are a people's only desire, there are countless would-be despots waiting in line to accomodate them to ensure they get nothing.

And yes, I am a completely unabashed Capitalist and Libertarian. Proud of it in fact. Those are the principles our nation was founded and what made it great.

HERECY!!!!
Starship Troopers is of fabulous movie, it's so great because it's so horrible. It might not be according to the book, but i love it, for it's stupidity.

DO YOU WANT TO KNOW MORE?

 

[judasmachine]

OK guys, sorry the break took all day. My g/f gets lonely sometimes. Anyway I'll be updating now. Check out the front page for changes to format, now that I've thought about it some more.

 

[Tab]

Originally posted by: Forsythe

Originally posted by: Vic

Originally posted by: yllus
Starship Troopers by Robert A. Heinlein.

Please, please forget about the horrendous movie of the same name that utterly destroyed the entire spirit of the novel. I consider this to be Heinlein's finest work and a must-read for both politicos and sci fi aficionados. I believe it's also required reading for all U.S. Marines.

Indeed. Great book. The movie had Heinlein spinning in his grave, I am sure. Did you know he wrote it in only 3 weeks?
Also by Heinlein, I would also recommend Stranger in a Strange Land and The Moon is a Harsh Mistress. I'm a big Heinlein fan as well. I doubt there is any book or short story that he published that I have not read.

For judasmachine , I recommend Ayn Rand's Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal. A collection of essays, most written in Rand's well-known condescending tone (along with a couple by Alan Greenspan), it provides a highly intelligent, logical, and rational argument as to why capitalism is the only economic system possible in a truly free society, why it would only be to the betterment of humankind, and why we've never tried it. Her argument against the Vietnam War may help educate some of the liberals here about how and why the so-called "conservatives" of this country are not actually capitalists.

Socialism may have its merits (though I would contest that), but (to paraphrase Heinlein) There Aint No Such Thing As A Free Lunch. If a people would be free, they must live free, with all the rewards and consequences that come with it. If safety and security and the "social welfare" are a people's only desire, there are countless would-be despots waiting in line to accomodate them to ensure they get nothing.

And yes, I am a completely unabashed Capitalist and Libertarian. Proud of it in fact. Those are the principles our nation was founded and what made it great.

HERECY!!!!
Starship Troopers is of fabulous movie, it's so great because it's so horrible. It might not be according to the book, but i love it, for it's stupidity.

DO YOU WANT TO KNOW MORE?

HAHA!

Yea, that was pretty damn funny at first.

 

[Steeplerot]

terran sucked, it was all about the protoss..

 

[aidanjm]

shouldn't you give people a bit longer than two weeks to get the book? how about a month? and maybe if you worked out the order of books and made a schedule, then people could look ahead and grab hold of copies of upcoming books. Also, how long will be given to the discussion of each book? A month?

 

[conjur]

Maybe we should get this stickified??

 

[HombrePequeno]

Does anyone want to make a poll for this thread? I would but I'm too lazy.

 

[judasmachine]

OK it's up, start voting! We'll wrap up the voting on Monday or Tuesday, so get at it.

 

[TWills]

Definitely the Bible. Oh, and when is maddox's book coming out?

 

[judasmachine]

Originally posted by: TWills
Definitely the Bible. Oh, and when is maddox's book coming out?

Maddox who? I'm sorry I'm just out of it.

 

[judasmachine]

Hey mods would it be too much to ask for a sticky? I believe we have a pretty good consensus of participants. Either way, thanks for letting make this whole mess in the first place.

 

[aidanjm]

Would most of the books listed be in public or school or university libraries? It might be a bit expensive if people have to buy the books. Maybe the benefit of choosing "classic" texts is they would be in every library, everywhere.

 

[judasmachine]

Originally posted by: aidanjm
Would most of the books listed be in public or school or university libraries? It might be a bit expensive if people have to buy the books. Maybe the benefit of choosing "classic" texts is they would be in every library, everywhere.

yeah that seems to be the biggest problem. i know like the ayn rand, and orwells would be in the library, and bibles are free for the asking most parts of the world, but that's where it ends. do you live near a college, or have friends in college? their libraries are usually chocked full of this stuff.

 

[HombrePequeno]

Originally posted by: aidanjm
Would most of the books listed be in public or school or university libraries? It might be a bit expensive if people have to buy the books. Maybe the benefit of choosing "classic" texts is they would be in every library, everywhere.

I'm sure a lot of them could be found in libraries. The ones that can't be found in your local library can generally be found on places like Half.com for pretty cheap.

 

[judasmachine]

I think we have a splitting of the lib/con vote going on right here with 2 votes for the bible, then the rest spread out amongst all the books.

 

[HombrePequeno]

Originally posted by: judasmachine
I think we have a splitting of the lib/con vote going on right here with 2 votes for the bible, then the rest spread out amongst all the books.

Yeah, maybe there were just too many choices. But hell, I'm fine with the bible. I started it a few months ago but haven't finished it.

 

[judasmachine]

Originally posted by: HombrePequeno

Originally posted by: judasmachine
I think we have a splitting of the lib/con vote going on right here with 2 votes for the bible, then the rest spread out amongst all the books.

Yeah, maybe there were just too many choices. But hell, I'm fine with the bible. I started it a few months ago but haven't finished it.

Oh I'm just kind of trying to drum up voting as it seems to be kind of slow. I'm cool with the Bible too, I've read it in it's entirety twice in my life, one more won't kill me.

 

[kogase]

I nominate "The Painted Bird" by Jerzy Kosinski, for a real look into human nature and the absurdity it entails.

 

[HombrePequeno]

Originally posted by: judasmachine

Originally posted by: HombrePequeno

Originally posted by: judasmachine
I think we have a splitting of the lib/con vote going on right here with 2 votes for the bible, then the rest spread out amongst all the books.

Yeah, maybe there were just too many choices. But hell, I'm fine with the bible. I started it a few months ago but haven't finished it.

Oh I'm just kind of trying to drum up voting as it seems to be kind of slow. I'm cool with the Bible too, I've read it in it's entirety twice in my life, one more won't kill me.

There might have to be a runoff vote if there is a bunch of ties. Or you could always go with the tried and true method of picking the winner out of a hat.

 

[judasmachine]

Originally posted by: kogase
I nominate "The Painted Bird" by Jerzy Kosinski, for a real look into human nature and the absurdity it entails.

I will add it in the next round as we're already voting. I thought of a crapload more too.

 

[kogase]

Originally posted by: judasmachine

Originally posted by: kogase
I nominate "The Painted Bird" by Jerzy Kosinski, for a real look into human nature and the absurdity it entails.

I will add it in the next round as we're already voting. I thought of a crapload more too.

Yeah, I thought of that as I nominated it. That's why I went ahead and voted. I agree with HombrePequeno up there though. It might be better if you go ahead and bypass the democratic machine here... there are too many nominees to make a democratically satisfactory selection.

 

[judasmachine]

Originally posted by: kogase

Originally posted by: judasmachine

Originally posted by: kogase
I nominate "The Painted Bird" by Jerzy Kosinski, for a real look into human nature and the absurdity it entails.

I will add it in the next round as we're already voting. I thought of a crapload more too.

Yeah, I thought of that as I nominated it. That's why I went ahead and voted. I agree with HombrePequeno up there though. It might be better if you go ahead and bypass the democratic machine here... there are too many nominees to make a democratically satisfactory selection.

Yeah I thought about that too. I may change on the next go around. Or at least develop some hybrid manner, like voting a pool of canidates and then pull one of those out of a hat. I just need some idea of what everyone here is into.

 

[judasmachine]

OK I'm going to close voting at 7PM Central time today (6-6-05). It looks like the Constitution may win.

 

[HombrePequeno]

Originally posted by: judasmachine
OK I'm going to close voting at 7PM Central time today (6-6-05). It looks like the Constitution may win.

I hope not. It's a bit boring. Also there isn't much we can discuss on it that hasn't been discussed a million times before.