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Recommend me a good book!
- Thread starter viperguy
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The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark by Carl Sagan.
Great introduction to scientific method and skeptical thinking, written by one of the world's best scientists. It may not be your warm-hearted fictitious tale, but it's a book you'll be glad you read. Not only can the advice he provides save you money, but it's priceless when applied to the decisions you make on a day to day basis.
A quote: "We've arranged a global civilization in which most crucial elements profoundly depend on science and technology. We have also arranged things so that almost no one understands science and technology. This is a prescription for disaster. We might get away with it for a while, but sooner or later this combustible mixture of ignorance and power is going to blow up in our faces... I worry that, especially as the Millennium edges nearer, pseudoscience and superstition will seem year by year more tempting, the siren song of unreason more sonorous and attractive. Where have we heard it before? Whenever our ethnic or national prejudices are aroused, in times of scarcity, during challenges to national self-esteem or nerve, when we agonize about our diminished cosmic place and purpose, or when fanaticism is bubbling up around us - then, habits of thought familiar from ages past reach for the controls. The candle flame gutters. Its little pool of light trembles. Darkness gathers. The demons begin to stir."
Great introduction to scientific method and skeptical thinking, written by one of the world's best scientists. It may not be your warm-hearted fictitious tale, but it's a book you'll be glad you read. Not only can the advice he provides save you money, but it's priceless when applied to the decisions you make on a day to day basis.
A quote: "We've arranged a global civilization in which most crucial elements profoundly depend on science and technology. We have also arranged things so that almost no one understands science and technology. This is a prescription for disaster. We might get away with it for a while, but sooner or later this combustible mixture of ignorance and power is going to blow up in our faces... I worry that, especially as the Millennium edges nearer, pseudoscience and superstition will seem year by year more tempting, the siren song of unreason more sonorous and attractive. Where have we heard it before? Whenever our ethnic or national prejudices are aroused, in times of scarcity, during challenges to national self-esteem or nerve, when we agonize about our diminished cosmic place and purpose, or when fanaticism is bubbling up around us - then, habits of thought familiar from ages past reach for the controls. The candle flame gutters. Its little pool of light trembles. Darkness gathers. The demons begin to stir."
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I'm a big reader and one of the books that most impressed me in the past few years is "The last Samurai" by Helen De Witt (it's got nothing to do with the movie you're probably all thinking about...)
A brilliant child searching for a father figure through mathematics, samurai virtue, greek poetry and icelandic legends
I swear you'll read it at least twice
A brilliant child searching for a father figure through mathematics, samurai virtue, greek poetry and icelandic legends
I swear you'll read it at least twice
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The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde or anything by Terry Pratchett (I'm currently reading Mort).
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Some of my fav's, though I'm not a 'big' reader. It depends on what your into really though.
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas - Hunter S. Thompson
Catcher in the Rye - J.D. Salinger
The Doors of Perception - Aldous Huxley (non fiction)
The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat - Oliver Sacks (non-fiction)
Call of the Wild - Jack London
Metamorphosis -Franz Kafka
The Electric Kool Aid Acid Test - Tom Wolfe
The Life and Times of The Thunderbolt Kid - Bill Bryson
Songs of the Doomed: More Notes on the Death of the American Dream - Hunter S. Thompson (only if you like HST, if you do some of the pieces of writing are very funny)
On The Road - Jack Kerouac
American Psycho - Bret Easton Ellis (very sick and graphic, be warned, but if you can handle that its one of the few books that have made me laugh out loud several times)
Oryx and Crake - Margaret Atwood
1984 - George Orwell
The Rum Diary - Hunter S. Thompson
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas - Hunter S. Thompson
Catcher in the Rye - J.D. Salinger
The Doors of Perception - Aldous Huxley (non fiction)
The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat - Oliver Sacks (non-fiction)
Call of the Wild - Jack London
Metamorphosis -Franz Kafka
The Electric Kool Aid Acid Test - Tom Wolfe
The Life and Times of The Thunderbolt Kid - Bill Bryson
Songs of the Doomed: More Notes on the Death of the American Dream - Hunter S. Thompson (only if you like HST, if you do some of the pieces of writing are very funny)
On The Road - Jack Kerouac
American Psycho - Bret Easton Ellis (very sick and graphic, be warned, but if you can handle that its one of the few books that have made me laugh out loud several times)
Oryx and Crake - Margaret Atwood
1984 - George Orwell
The Rum Diary - Hunter S. Thompson
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You poop head! I was going to recommend Battle Royale. Its one of my favorite books, and the movie is not that bad either.
I would read the Jurrasic Park books. The second (The Lost World) is MUCH better than the movie, and I am puzzled why they didnt base more of it on the book.
Also, The City of Ember and the People of Sparks are great, but also a little childish. And apparently there is a third one that I didnt know exsisted, so I plan to go and buy that now.
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Interesting. I was just mentioning another Sagan book (Pale Blue Dot) in a different thread. Another good read.
Poophead! You're the poophead!
I liked the movie too, but I hate what they did to the ending. Why'd they have to change it? The book was perfect. Have you read any of the sequels? Are they good?
I read Jurrasic Park and The Lost World too years ago. They were good reads. I think I read TLW in a day and a half. Ah Crichton..... the fast food of authors.
The Long Walk
Seemingly stupid title, but to this day it is the most gripping true story I have ever read.
Seemingly stupid title, but to this day it is the most gripping true story I have ever read.
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- Dune - Frank Herbert
- A Canticle for Leibowitz - Walter M. Miller
- Neuromancer - William Gibson
- The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
- The Eye of the world - Robert Jordan
- Hyperion - Dan Simmons
- The Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
Poophead! You're the poophead!
I liked the movie too, but I hate what they did to the ending. Why'd they have to change it? The book was perfect. Have you read any of the sequels? Are they good?
I read Jurrasic Park and The Lost World too years ago. They were good reads. I think I read TLW in a day and a half. Ah Crichton..... the fast food of authors.
I saw Battle Royale: Requiem, and it wasnt that good. But the Author of the book is writing a new one now, but no one knows if its about BR also.
It took me a while to read them, but thats cause I dont sit and read. I only read while going downtown (30 min) and going to school (20 min). You must be a fast reader!
PS Dont read Next. The end was good, but it jumped around so much, so many of the scenes were unimportant, and it could of been shortened to 200 pages, not 600.
Wow, I love The Acid Test and Oryx and Crake (and a few others on your list). I never thought I would see those 2 books on the same list.
I would really recommend Let There Be Lite by Rupert Morgan. Sarcasm never gets better or funnier