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What are you reading right now?


diedan
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Yeah it came out two days ago or so. It's on the Kindle Store and in irl book stores, if you're a fan go get one. The beginning is not as hilarious as the first book, but I'll be damned if his creatures aren't terror inducing.

 

To me the most terrifying part of the first book were the parts where you had no idea if they were just insane or not. Hopefully this continues that. They haunt minds.

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I've been reading the Halo books because I AM A TOOL.

 

The Fall of Reach and what not? They were pretty alright books as far as I remember.

 

Yeah, I'm enjoying them. Some are better than others, but that's to be expected.

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  • 5 weeks later...
  • 3 weeks later...

PutYourMindsetToWork_Content_BigImage.png

 

A gift from my mentor. I'm only a couple pages in, seems pretty broken down into simple steps along the way so I guess it's a book you blast through then pull out certain bits to re-read as n when. I've a feeling it won't be a fun book, it combines two things I dislike: self-help books and the concept of secret handshakes to get into work.

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I bought a Kindle Serial called Dis Enchanted by Robert Kroese. I really like having an episodic book, its a fun little adventure. Dis Enchanted is a silly over the top fantasy story about a king who is cursed and bound to his body after death instead of going to the great after life mead hall.

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Just finishing an essay on:

 

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Goddamn great book. Based in a fictional Indian city after an industrial disaster based on the Bhopal disaster (look it up if you ain't heard of it, one of the worst industrial disasters in history, utterly fucked up), it's about a kid who's back is deformed by the disaster from a young age so he has to walk on all fours. Called Animal. All about living in poverty and post-colonial subjugation, about activism and direct action and politics of the developing world under the hand of the Western capitalist world.

 

Also, it's fucking funny, horrific, tragic, intelligent and entertaining. Highly recommended. Really easy to read and compelling, too, despite the intelligent subtext as noted above. Animal's narrative voice is just amazing. Apparently Sinha wrote twelve drafts of it.

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  • 4 weeks later...

The Good, The Bad And The Multiplex by Mark Kermode.

 

I've not always agreed with his reviews (who can say that about any reviewer?) but he sure knows his stuff. This was actually a christmas gift from my sister, who wasn't too sure if I'd like it or not. There was a danger at the start. The first chapter is amusing but sounds too much like a comedy sketch in the way it goes to extremes, which kinda puts me off. Plus, it sounds like Grumpy Old Men (UK TV show) where even minor annoyances are exaggerated/inaccurate. Though, I have learned that he thinks Marlon Brando is severely overrated and that he loves Zac Efron (and his hair) because he reminds him of 'proper' film stars from decades OK (perhaos Battra92 would have liked him). Really though, the anecdote is part of an attack on multiplexes and how a lot of their failures are really their own fault for not showing proper respect to films nor their audiences. And it's a pretty convincing argument.

 

The stuff that follows is very interesting too, and makes the case that if Hollywood follows some fairly simple rules they can't actually lose money on blockbusters in the long-run (using plenty of examples). Which then begs the question as to why they are making so many dumb films (encapsulated in his question 'Why have Michael Bay if you can have Chrisopher Nolan?') when a smarter script does nothing to harm them. It touches on the history of distribution (and the 'theatrical window' thing that Strangelove actually brought up in a status update today).

 

Then he goes on to tear apart 3D for the fad that it is, and points to the numerous occasions, since the invention of cinema, where stereoscopy has failed. The 3D chapter is starting to drag...as you can tell I may have covered all the essentials but am currently still on the chapter, but it's an entertaining read. If you have any interest in film/cinema then I recommend it.

Edited by Hot Heart
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  • 1 month later...

I've been reading the second collection of Witcher short stories (that appear to have been translated really well by fans, for the most part). They didn't seem as good as the first (admittedly, one had the twist 'ruined' by the second game...which was spoiled by Tenshi, for me :P), but I finished 'The Eternal Flame' which was really good and I'm onto the next story, which seems to have a bit of potential.

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This book is about Noah's Flood and how it played in the role of Geology and why it really couldn't happen since well... the rocks don't lie. I'm currently on chap 5/6 and its a very interesting read. Some of the explanations for how Earth got it topography before principles of geology (Not really the term) and such is mind blowing. I'm not calling them bad since they would of made "sense" during their time. One school of thought was that the original perfect Eden of a Earth was smooth and it got its mountains because of underground rivers eroded away the ground underneath thus the ground collapsed during Noah's Flood.

 

Once I'm done with this I'm moving onto:

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This one is going to be interesting and one that I think is relevant to our time. Soil AKA dirt is far more important than most people think.

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When I watch paint dry, I can imagine the actual process of it happening... not really. I can however somewhat do that with rocks and soil.

 

So...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yTOwMeimSl4

 

Edit:

Rocks Don't Lie is a damn good book and is sort of an inspiration to me. The author will be on my campus on April 10th. I'm excited. I wonder if I can slip to him that perhaps the timing of the Mediterranean Sea going into the Black Sea might be able to be solved with studying any submerged soil. I'm not sure how salt water will interact with soil formation/evolution but perhaps the salts like NaCl can help form an entirely sodic profile in the soil or something. BUT. Perhaps a trend can be made between changes in the soil to time in contact and submerged with sea water. If it points to a sudden influx of salt water, then most likely it'll be that. If it points to a gradual intrusion of salt water, then the soil profile should show that. The top horizons will have more sodic development than the lower layers (Unless the salt water infiltrated from below first). There is also the idea of increasing concentration of salts in the system. So sudden flood of salt water or gradual infiltration of salt water.

 

FYI, apparently the idea of Noah's Flood might of originated from the Black Sea is tossed around. The Black Sea wasn't always that big and salty. Up to about 8000 years ago it was actually fresh water and lower. Early humans began agriculture around the Black Sea but then the salt water intruded, slowly or fast, which displaced the people there which might of gave rise of Ag and ancient civilizations in Europe and Mesopotamia (Maybe Egypt? India and Asia might have been separate.). Either way settling if the story of Noah's Flood came from then and figure out when those folks spread.

 

Geology and Soil Science, fuck yeah~

Edited by MaliciousH
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  • 1 month later...

Well since I have an Ethnic American Literature class...

 

I'm currently reading Breath, Eyes, Memory. Finished part one and well... fuck. I suspected it but it still sucks. This might be an interesting read.

 

Anyways, next book is the The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I have a feeling I should have included more soil-related stories. Or a geological sex scene describing the formation of a mountain range. "The Eurasian Plate convulsed as the massive Indo-Australian drove into him. Oh, it was like no orogeny he'd ever known. Too big. Too hard. It shoved him skyward."

 

But really, thanks for reading. :)

 

I just finished Guy Gavriel Kay's Under Heaven. It's historical fantasy based on Tang Dynasty China, and I'm more than pleased with it. Kay really captures the scene of ancient China. Not just that, but he does so while writing a book that reads like something out of classical Chinese literature.

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