10-17-2013, 06:26 PM
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#261
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wins 10 internets
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: slightly to the left
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Quote:
Originally Posted by puffnstuff
REAmDe by Neal Stephenson
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Could you recommend some stuff for me by Neal Stephenson? So far I've read two (or tried to at least). Snow Crash is one of my favorite books ever, could hardly put it down. But when I tried to get into Cryptonomicon I found it extremely hard to follow what was going on and eventually lost interest completely. Are there other books of his that don't bounce around so much and don't get so deeply involved in technical jargon?
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10-17-2013, 06:32 PM
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#262
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wins 10 internets
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: slightly to the left
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Quote:
Originally Posted by BlackEleven
I'm also a fan of the Ender's Game series as well, and I agree the sequels aren't in the fantasy realm, although they are starkly different that the first. The first one is pretty well pure military/dystopian sci-fi where the sequels deal much less with the military and much more with religion, politics, sociology and philosophy.
For those that don't know, Ender's Game started out as a prologue to Speaker for the Dead, but Card got pretty carried away writing and realized it was enough material for it's own book.
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10-17-2013, 07:23 PM
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#263
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Uncle Chester
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I read Stephenson's Anathem based on a recommendation here on CP. It was way over my head in terms of much of the detail but I loved it. I know it won at least one major award the year it came out too.
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2845024-anathem
Last edited by SportsJunky; 10-17-2013 at 07:29 PM.
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10-18-2013, 12:07 PM
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#264
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Scoring Winger
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Hemi-Cuda
Could you recommend some stuff for me by Neal Stephenson? So far I've read two (or tried to at least). Snow Crash is one of my favorite books ever, could hardly put it down. But when I tried to get into Cryptonomicon I found it extremely hard to follow what was going on and eventually lost interest completely. Are there other books of his that don't bounce around so much and don't get so deeply involved in technical jargon?
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Anathem and Cryptonomicon were over my head too.
If you liked Snow Crash, try The Diamond Age. If you pay very close attention, you might recognize one of the characters from Snow Crash.
I also enjoyed REAMDE.
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10-18-2013, 01:32 PM
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#265
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#1 Goaltender
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: wearing raccoons for boots
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It's funny, the first one of his I read was Cryptonomicom (and my fav)
Anathem was good as well...but I didn't like the ending all that much.
I haven't read Snow Crash or Diamond Age. But his Baroque Cycle trilogy was enjoyable...and is definitely less technical than the others and you'll recognize the names. I saw it as kind of a prequel to the Cryptonomicom.
And I've only read about 50 pages of REAmDe so far.
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11-09-2013, 09:59 AM
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#266
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Franchise Player
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: SW Ontario
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Resolute 14
Also, Scott Lynch's The Republic of Thieves came out this week. Looking forward to that one, as the first in the series, The Lies of Locke Lamora was absolutely brilliant. The follow-up less so.
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I just finished TROT and it a very very good read, if you have not read it yet you are in for a treat.
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11-09-2013, 10:21 AM
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#267
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Crash and Bang Winger
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: Mountains
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If there is any non-fiction fans out there, Ive been reading the Wars of Afhganistan by Peter Tomsen. Its gives a pretty good view into Afghanistan over the last century and how the foreign policy of countries surrounding it and the world powers cant seem to get it right when it comes to it.
__________________
"If you do something the first time, then it's not hard enough" Danny MacAskill
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12-04-2013, 03:41 PM
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#268
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Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer
Join Date: Oct 2002
Location: Winebar Kensington
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Just picked this up. Seems to be right up my alley:
http://www.sfsite.com/10b/yz378.htm
The aliens have heard our music, and they like it. Actually, they love it to the point where the first time they heard human music it caused all listeners to become comatose with rhapsody, disrupting entire societies to the point where, after recovering from the shock, calendars were re-numbered, with all dates now measured by whether they are Pre or Post K.
What the K stands for is one of the underlying jokes of Rob Reid's hilarious first novel, Year Zero. Intergalactic society, it turns out, revolves around cultural competition. Species are not allowed in until showing they aren't a threat to blow up themselves or their neighbors, which so far has kept the human race out. In all of the other cultural pursuits, from theatrical drama to indoor decorating, the aliens are so far beyond us as to create the same kind of overwhelming awe in us as our music does to them. Music is the one thing we do better than anybody else, and we're so much better at it that it isn't even funny.
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12-04-2013, 03:43 PM
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#269
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Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer
Join Date: Oct 2002
Location: Winebar Kensington
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The Following User Says Thank You to troutman For This Useful Post:
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12-06-2013, 04:43 PM
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#270
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First Line Centre
Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: Calgary
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I'm currently reading:
Non-fiction: Checklist Manifesto
Fiction: Republic of Thieves by Scott Lynch
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The Following User Says Thank You to cral12 For This Useful Post:
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12-07-2013, 12:01 AM
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#271
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First Line Centre
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Seems like Conn Igguldens next job is to tackle War of the Roses now he's done with genghis khan and Caesar.
Picked it up for our holiday - looking forward to it.
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04-22-2014, 02:57 PM
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#272
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Franchise Player
Join Date: Apr 2008
Location: Calgary
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I just finished Gardens of the Moon: Book One of The Malazan Book of the Fallen. It was quite entertaining and I just ordered the second book of the series.
I am also reading "The Dresden Files" series, which is awesome light reading for when I travel. I have a hard time reading anything that takes too much attention when I am at the airport or on a short flight.
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04-22-2014, 03:24 PM
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#273
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Franchise Player
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: the dark side of Sesame Street
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I'm re-reading Dune, and should be done it by tomorrow. I've read it a few times, but probably not in 15-20 years, and I'm finding a whole lot that I either missed or it went over my head. It really is a masterpiece.
__________________
"If Javex is your muse…then dive in buddy"
- Surferguy
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04-22-2014, 03:26 PM
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#274
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Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer
Join Date: Oct 2002
Location: Winebar Kensington
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04-22-2014, 03:41 PM
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#275
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Franchise Player
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: in your blind spot.
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I'm reading Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn Series. I'm about half way through The Hero of Ages
__________________
"The problem with any ideology is that it gives the answer before you look at the evidence."
—Bill Clinton
"The greatest obstacle to discovery is not ignorance--it is the illusion of knowledge."
—Daniel J. Boorstin, historian, former Librarian of Congress
"But the Senator, while insisting he was not intoxicated, could not explain his nudity"
—WKRP in Cincinatti
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04-22-2014, 03:45 PM
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#276
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Franchise Player
Join Date: Apr 2008
Location: Calgary
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Bobblehead
I'm reading Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn Series. I'm about half way through The Hero of Ages
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How is it? I really enjoyed the books he did at the end of Wheel of Time but he was following a pretty detailed roadmap from what I understand.
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04-22-2014, 03:45 PM
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#277
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The new goggles also do nothing.
Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: Calgary
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Bobblehead
I'm reading Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn Series. I'm about half way through The Hero of Ages
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Is it good? I've read the first two in The Stormlight Archive and enjoyed them, though I tried to read Warbreaker and couldn't really get into it.
__________________
Uncertainty is an uncomfortable position.
But certainty is an absurd one.
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04-22-2014, 03:50 PM
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#278
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Franchise Player
Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: sector 7G
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Jonah Keri's book on the Montreal Expos. It's excellent.
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The Following 3 Users Say Thank You to habernac For This Useful Post:
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04-22-2014, 05:01 PM
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#279
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Franchise Player
Join Date: Oct 2002
Location: not lurking
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I don't read a lot of non-fiction but just read the new Michael Lewis book, Flash Boys. He does a great job of making a relatively arcane topic (high frequency trading) understandable, and the characters are all fascinating. It seems inevitable that it'll become a movie at some point, and there's a lot of commonality with the movie version of Moneyball (although I never read that book).
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04-23-2014, 09:27 AM
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#280
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Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer
Join Date: Oct 2002
Location: Winebar Kensington
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lost_at...nson_Mysteries
The underlying thread is "Ronson’s desire to report on and attempt to explain human dysfunction in its various, colorful forms."
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