• We’re currently investigating an issue related to the forum theme and styling that is impacting page layout and visual formatting. The problem has been identified, and we are actively working on a resolution. There is no impact to user data or functionality, this is strictly a front-end display issue. We’ll post an update once the fix has been deployed. Thanks for your patience while we get this sorted.

What book(s) are you reading right now?

Page 17 - Seeking answers? Join the AnandTech community: where nearly half-a-million members share solutions and discuss the latest tech.
pyonir said:
I tend to include classics in my reading as well...haven't read any Dumas though.
Click to expand...

I love 'The Count of Monte Cristo', I've read it three times I think. One thing I saw in it as what I believe to be the origin/inspiration of a lot of other story themes. I don't think any of the rest of my family appreciated it though, and they all like to read 'good stuff'.

I think what got me to read it in the first place was the 2002 movie, and it's miles better than that.
 
Book 3 of The Strain. Getting ready for Sunday night.
I am also powering through Guardians of the Galaxy. Just finished the "old version" and am starting on the Peter Quill odyssey.
 
Pheran said:
I loved Wool, enjoy it. In fact I'm reading Hugh Howey's Sand right now and so far it's very good. It's also a post-apocalyptic novel but it's unrelated to Wool.
Click to expand...

wow, Wool was amazing! i will have to check out Sand. have you read any of the other Wool related books? if so, what do you think?

next on my list to read is The Emperor's Daughter by a fellow ATOTer!
 
Apparently the Count of Monte Cristo is a popular book. Out of 8 copies, none were available when I went to my library.

So to prepare a bit for an upcoming camping trip (interested in bushcraft, living off the land), I got the Peterson Field Guide to Trees and Bushes, and the US Army book on edible plants.
 
pyonir said:
Maybe I'll give Walden another shot in the future.

I tend to include classics in my reading as well...haven't read any Dumas though.
Click to expand...

I try to but I get so distracted by so much new stuff. I feel so much more "cultured" when I read classics, but screw that, I want EXCITEMENT.

<ahem>
 
Currently Limited War by Robert Osgood. Really heavy, but really worth it. I'm really interested in all aspects of war and the surrounding policy.

One Foot in Eden is my other. Southern Gothic, blah blah. Same story told from five different points. Not really into it but have to finish it. Almost done.
 
DainBramaged said:
I try to but I get so distracted by so much new stuff. I feel so much more "cultured" when I read classics, but screw that, I want EXCITEMENT.

<ahem>
Click to expand...

I know what you are saying, but some classics are pretty good. I thought "Picture of Dorian Gray" was great along with "I, Robot". But then I thought "Uncle Tom's Cabin" was terrible and "Great Expectations" was extremely dull.

Kinda depends on what you consider "classic" as well, I think. Is a book like "Slaughterhouse 5" a "classic"? What about "Lolita"?

I'm more of a nonfiction reader though. I'd rather read a good memoir than read a fast paced mystery of fiction.
 
Cisco Press' CCNP TSHOOT Study and Exam Guides, pretty much just the first two chapters for the vocab/multiple choice stuff on this test.
 
1491 ,by Mann. link

(I have the original, but hear there's a better 2nd edition with updates and refinements, so go for that).

Excellent mind food, excellent writer. Extremely easy to read. Really opens doors in imagination.

So yellow corn is a human artifact derived from Maize.

But Maze also is a human artifact of selective breeding thousands of years ago in South America...as are tomatoes, and peppers (bell peppers, various chili peppers).

Ancient Central America merely in the small region now called "Mexico" had over 25.5 million people. Not counting many millions more in South and North America. The Americas had many MILLIONS more people than Europe, but got wiped out to the tune of about 98% by Hepatitis, then Measles, then Smallpox, all gift of Eurpeans and Africans. By the time the authors you read in your high school history class got here, the gigantic teeming population of this Western Hemisphere was ALREADY wiped out by disease so they said it was sparse wilderness. They saw lots of uninhabited wilderness (because the inhabitants mostly all died) and had no clue.

But actually near present Mexico City was a city bigger, more sophisticated, populous, architecturally advanced, stuffed full of art, literature, science, than Paris (the biggest city in Europe then).

As everybody pretty much understands now, the old Louis Leaky "out of Africa" model everybody was taught from elementary school through university has been pretty much been conceded by present scholars for around the last 20 years to have been wrongheaded. Modern scholarship shows humans almost certainly did NOT arise in, and migrate out of Africa. No one really knows, but maybe America? (mitochondrial DNA people claim China)
 
Last edited:
pyonir said:
I know what you are saying, but some classics are pretty good. I thought "Picture of Dorian Gray" was great along with "I, Robot". But then I thought "Uncle Tom's Cabin" was terrible and "Great Expectations" was extremely dull.

Kinda depends on what you consider "classic" as well, I think. Is a book like "Slaughterhouse 5" a "classic"? What about "Lolita"?

I'm more of a nonfiction reader though. I'd rather read a good memoir than read a fast paced mystery of fiction.
Click to expand...

While I'm sure that there'd be a million reasons to disagree with my definition, I think that I view them as pre-1900. There are exceptions here and there, but generally, that's it. I feel like if I were transported to the world of "Slaughterhouse 5," I would have a good understanding of what's going on and how to act. Whereas in "Last of the Mohicans" I'd be more out of place and life would be drastically different. I guess all of this to say that if I can't relate to a book very well, and it's from an older time period, I'd be more likely to consider it a classic.

I have found that I tend to enjoy well-written literature and fiction the most. However, I find there to be less to gain from it so I usually read one memoir/biography/non-fiction for every two fiction. Plus, non-fiction's take me longer whereas I fly through my fiction books.
 
DainBramaged said:
While I'm sure that there'd be a million reasons to disagree with my definition, I think that I view them as pre-1900. There are exceptions here and there, but generally, that's it. I feel like if I were transported to the world of "Slaughterhouse 5," I would have a good understanding of what's going on and how to act. Whereas in "Last of the Mohicans" I'd be more out of place and life would be drastically different. I guess all of this to say that if I can't relate to a book very well, and it's from an older time period, I'd be more likely to consider it a classic.
Click to expand...

Your definition is as valid as any other, IMO. Maybe I shouldn't use the term "classic" and use "literature" instead; or maybe just "popular". They are usually all one in the same, though.

When I think "classic" I just think in general terms as a book that, in general, everyone has read, everyone should read, and it's widely regarded as a top (insert number here) book. If that makes any sense. lol.
 
I'm in the middle of Republic, Lost by Lawrence Lessig. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to understand the principal reason why the US government is so screwed up. It's non-partisan, so anyone can appreciate it.
 
'Unbroken:A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption'

Amazing true story of Louie Zamperini, a WWII bombardier shot down in the Pacific, survived 47 days adrift on a raft, then captured by the Japanese who sent him to POW camps and tortured him for the remainder on the war.

http://www.amazon.com/Unbroken-World-Survival-Resilience-Redemption/dp/1400064163

Currently being made into a movie directed by Angelina Jolie. One of the best books I have ever read.
 
So just finished the Quiet War by Paul McAuley, it was a slow cooker but ohh so heavy and dense, fan-farking-tastic.

I have a lot on my list to read, and have started on Crete by Antony Beevor , I love his other works, and havent yet read Crete, so figured now was tas good a time as any.
 
Anybody have recommendations for non-thinking fiction to read? Wife and I just had a baby and don't have the willpower to think when I read, but would like something trashy to flip through for the next few weeks. Over the years - back a few years - I've read the expanded Star Wars universe stuff as non-thinking fluff. I dig spy thrillers a la Tom Clancy and read Lee Child's stuff. I tried some dude named Brad Thor, but he personal politics came out too much in the books and it annoyed me.

For the record, "The Count of Mote Cristo" is one of my all-time favorite books, but don't think I can push through Dumas between baby feedings right now.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Back
Top