What are you reading?

[OANST]

I was forced at gun point to read "To Kill A Mockingbird" by my english teacher...

Biggest. Load. Of. Horse. Shite. Ever

How could you not love Atticus? He shoots rabid dogs for god's sake. I mean, come on.

[Laser]

With great ease, my dear OANST, with great ease

[used:)]

I was forced at gun point to read "To Kill A Mockingbird" by my english teacher...

Biggest. Load. Of. Horse. Shite. Ever

Are you sure it wasn't your teacher holding you at gun-point that you hated about it?

[Wings of Fire]

The problem I had with the book is that it is the first one in which King obviously forgot the way his world works and what he had previously written. Some of the stuff is small, such as Susan wearing jeans through the whole book while Roland states in The Drawing of the Three that he has never seen the crotch of a woman who wasn't naked before. Other things were major, such as Flagg and the man in black all of a sudden being the same person. Roland has memories of seeing both Flagg and the man in black togethor. Explain that.

When in doubt King has the plot device that he's not just fashioning a universe but a ten dimensional aleph-umptyplexal multiverse. We know from information contained in the books themselves that there are at least three John 'Jake' Chambers's, two Eddie Deans's and one and a half Oys, it is therefore not impossible to imagine that there might be two Flaggs, especially since the man who pushed Jake into the car and gave Susannah MPD is cited as being an otherworldly version of Flagg in the first place, of course this raises even more questions about the nature of King's multiverse such as why an army of Flaggs did not storm Mordred and take him down instead of Flagg receiving the most disappointing death in literary history.

The best reason I can give for Kings' stylistic errors is the twelve years between the publication of The Waste lands and Wolves of the Callah, although this is little more than an excuse and I am reminded in a passage in the old edition of The Green Mile where Percy manages to wipe the sweat off his forehead while in a straightjacket, showcasing Kings mortality and lack of omniscience that most of his diehard fans would steadfastly deny.

Contradictions with previous novels aside, I still stand by my previous statement that Wizard and Glass is a truly superb book. Riddling trains, western romances and cheesy The Stand references all in one book, what more could you ask for?

[OANST]

Contradictions with previous novels aside, I still stand by my previous statement that Wizard and Glass is a truly superb book. Riddling trains, western romances and cheesy The Stand references all in one book, what more could you ask for?

A coherent story?

[Kimon]

How could you not like To Kill a Mockingbird? Atticus Finch is like my own personal Jesus. Or so I vaguely recall.

I just finished Timbuktu yesterday, by the request of my mother and Fionn Regan. It's unbelievable. Five thumbs up, super emotional and well-written. I have to check out the rest of Paul Auster's stuff, he's fucking quality. Also, the book is better if you're a dog person.

[Laser]

I've been reading "The last Hero" By Terry Pratchett, which was recomended by Bullet Magnet, I'm really enjoying it!

[OANST]

I've been reading "The last Hero" By Terry Pratchett, which was recomended by Bullet Magnet, I'm really enjoying it!

For some reason I didn't envision Bullet Magnet recommending something as pedestrian as Terry Pratchett. Sometimes even I can be wrong.

[Bullet Magnet]

Pedestrian? Not at all. Discworld is full of satirical references to highly complex scientific and social theories and histories. Whole books are based on them. In Pyramids, for instance, protagonist Teppic meets all the Discworld's Greek philosopher equivalents as they make all the same mistakes their real counterparts did. The Last Hero chart's the Discworld's first manned space flight (in which arrangements are actually made to return the Chelonauts alive to terra firma) and follows many of mankind's own space faring events.

Why, Discworld magic is clearly based on radiation, general and special relativity, quantum mechanics and particle theory. Even Death keeps running afoul of Heisenberg's Indeterminacy Principle. I could go on.

[Wings of Fire]

Keeping in line with the Pratchett love I've just started to read Nation, rather different from the Discworld books but keeps the same line of humour and satire so far.

[Bullet Magnet]

Wow, I didn't know that was out yet, I thought he was still working on it.

[Wings of Fire]

I just finished reading Oedipus Rex as part of my courses set text list, this play is definitive proof that revelations can be just as awesome and mind blowing when you have full foreknowledge of them. Certainly the best non-Shakespearian play I have ever read.

Thus Spoke Zarathustra next, am anticipating excellence.

[mitsur]

Just finished the Bourne series. All Bourne does is bitch and moan about his terrible life between each killing spree of faceless minions. I didn't really like it.

[Pilot]

I'm reading several books on building a hydrogen generator, which I'm in turn building a prototype to add onto my cars- essentially making them hydrogen-gasoline hybrids. Should get about 70+MPG with this arrangement. You'd be surprised what a simple device this is, basically making a car run on water.

No fiction right at this time, aside from some occasional online fan fiction....

[OANST]

No fiction right at this time, aside from some occasional online fan fiction....

Gross.

[Splat]

Finished 'Wizard and Glass' a few days ago. The section in Mejis did drag on far too long

See, now you've removed my hope for the rest of the series!

[mitsur]

Finished 'Wizard and Glass' a few days ago. The section in Mejis did drag on far too long

See, now you've removed my hope for the rest of the series!

Don't worry. #7 will keep you up at night.

[Mac Sirloin]

I finished going through Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows earlier this week. I grew up with those books, and I love 'em.

Currently reading The Half Blood prince, and enjoying it.

[Nate]

I'm reading several books on building a hydrogen generator, which I'm in turn building a prototype to add onto my cars- essentially making them hydrogen-gasoline hybrids. Should get about 70+MPG with this arrangement. You'd be surprised what a simple device this is, basically making a car run on water.

No fiction right at this time, aside from some occasional online fan fiction....

Except that anyone I know who knows cars assures me that books on hydrogen generators are pure fiction.

Trust me on this one; I used to work in Ford Australia's emission testing lab. If there were an easy fix to improve MPG, the car companies would jump on it and advertise how much cheaper their cars are to run than everyone else.

[Pilot]

Yes, "books" per se, but not e-books. I've got a couple of ebooks on this stuff.

I know a lot of guys here (I'm talking about 4) who have each independently built their own generators. One of them is rigged up on a newer EFI vehicle and runs solely hydrogen- the fuel injectors are basically inoperative and the hydrogen is fed into the intake plenum. He has had to modify the computer though to compensate for the mixture and timing.... biggest drawback is heat- generator runs HOT and engine runs TOO HOT!

Another guy I know (personal friend) is working on his own version to use on carbureted vehicles, which essentially produces gasoline-hydrogen hybrids- this equals the effect of about 30-50mpg on an old car. One of mine in fact, a 1954 chevrolet has gotten about 35 mpg on test runs using his prototype system. Considering the original mileage was about 15MPG, huge improvement.

The main trouble is that hydrogen does not provide a satisfactory amount of upper valve lubrication and really causes a lot of oil consumption problems after only about 15,000 miles of use.

The car companies can not simply 'market' systems like this as these systems have already been patented, the trouble is that the patents are bought up by "interested parties" and essentially 'shelved' so the technology cannot be developed.

It's like there's an entire 'subculture' of people fed up with buying gas and are taking things into their own hands to find a practical alternative- the hydrogen technology has been around since the mid 1930s so this is nothing "new".... it's just, yet again, nothing that you're going to find 'mainstream.' Trust me on this, I was amazed when I first got into this a couple of years ago and now at the increasing number of people building and using these systems. Of course, again, these cannot be 'marketed' to the public for obvious copyright infringements.

What a world.

Nate, I know this is considered off topic (thought it is technically 'what I'm reading ) so if you'd like to discuss it more I think it ought to be moved to a new thread because I think there are lots of points we can explore from our firsthand experiences.......

[used:)]

I just started The Fountainhead.

[OANST]

I just started The Fountainhead.

If you are anything like me, when you get to the section where our male hero rapes our female hero and she realizes that she loves it you will finally realize that Ayn Rand's philosiphies are horrible and disgusting. She really thinks that this rapist is the most pure of all human creation and that he knew best what the woman wanted.

[used:)]

I dunno. I found ED's article on Objectivism to be pretty funny, though. "It was my right as an individual to blow up that building!"

I've never actually read anything of Rand's, but after reading about how Objectivism had a huge influence on Bioshock, I started doing some looking-into of it.

[Leto]

right now I am reading:



I hope to move onto it's sequels within the month. It's far more enthralling than first anticipated.

[Kimon]

Yes, the socio-political subtext in the entire "Clifford" series is really subtle and well-thought out, despite the childish illustrations.

I'd write more, but my shift at the library is over and I'M LEAVING bigreddorg

[Anonyman!]

If you are anything like me, when you get to the section where our male hero rapes our female hero and she realizes that she loves it you will finally realize that Ayn Rand's philosiphies are horrible and disgusting. She really thinks that this rapist is the most pure of all human creation and that he knew best what the woman wanted.

Iknowrite?

Ayn Rand is a she satan whore bitch donkey dick fart. She is one of the few people on this planet that I honestly wish would trip face-first into a puddle of horse semen, drown in it, be brought back to life, then be raped in all of her holes with phallic objects made entirely of fire and acid.

Then shot.

[Leto]

Oh Jesus.

I'd love to rep you further for that post.

[mitsur]

Iknowrite?

Ayn Rand is a she satan whore bitch donkey dick fart. She is one of the few people on this planet that I honestly wish would trip face-first into a puddle of horse semen, drown in it, be brought back to life, then be raped in all of her holes with phallic objects made entirely of fire and acid.

Then shot.

Jesus.





Christ.

[skillyaslig]

I have been reading Eragon and Eldest over and over so many times, I know most of the darn books off by heart. I need to buy MOAR...
Oh, and The Bakers Boy. Strange book it is.
And I wanna read IT....

[Nemo]

I "acquired" the Lord of the Rings books, so I'm going to try to read those.