ThreeWords said:
Ciarang said:
Books?
Bah, who needs them...
=O
You, sir, should be lobotomised, since you're obviously not using your brain. There are children in Africa who would be glad of a proper brain!
You sir, are a gentleman and a scholar.
I have a friend who won't read and the best excuses he can conjure up are "It's boring" and "It's a waste of time."
About four months I lent him Watchmen, a GOD DAMNED COMIC, and he still isn't finished with it. He claims that despite liking it, he can only read a few pages at a time before his mind revolts and he has to do something else.
...
Yes, it does sometimes take a great deal of will to keep myself from just reaching across the table and backhanding him.
Anyway,
As for what I'm reading right now, the book I'm currently the deepest into is 'Qataban And Sheba, Exploring the Ancient Kingdoms on the Biblical Spice Routes of Arabia' by Wendell Phillips.
It's pretty cool, it talks all about the logistical difficulties of trying to do an archeological expedition in that part of the world at the time, interactions with the locals and of course the discoveries they've been making. Really interesting stuff I think. What's all pretty neat is that the book is as best as I can tell out of print and the copy I have is a first edition printed 1955, not bad considering that I found it in a thrift store for $0.50
The other book I've started recently is the 'Handbook for Space Pioneers' [http://www.amazon.com/Handbook-Space-Pioneers-Available-Colonization/dp/0715378279/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1261343309&sr=8-1] by L. Stephen Wolfe and Roy L. Wysack.
I'm not really sure what to make of this one, it's written like a travel guide for potential interstellar colonists and talks about the potential pitfalls of becoming a colonist, what colonial life will be like, etc. It also has profiles for the nine fictional colony worlds you end up on one of, giving all the information about climate, gravity, native life, progress of human colonization and development there and more.
A strange little book overall, complete fiction with no narrative, what it really feels like to me while I'm reading it is a damn role-playing game supplement (And it would actually be a pretty well written one at that) but as far as I can tell it's not. It's just someone's made up futuristic travel guide.
Looking at Amazon, it looks like this book is out of print also and the used copies aren't exactly super cheap, so considering that I got this one from a library sale for $0.25 I'd have to say I got a really good deal.
Finally and on a somewhat less esoteric note, I've been reading The Elegant Universe: Superstrings, Hidden Dimensions, and the Quest for the Ultimate Theory [http://www.amazon.com/Elegant-Universe-Superstrings-Dimensions-Ultimate/dp/0393058581/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1261344176&sr=1-1] by Brian Greene. Pretty interesting stuff, the explanation towards the beginning of the book on how Special Relativity works is probably one of the most coherent and sensible descriptions I've seen yet and I'd almost say the book is worth reading for that alone.
