What Are You Reading?

[DudeAsInCool]

I picked up an old copy of Tom Wolf's Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test this morning at a garage sale for a buck. The book is a revisitation of Ken Kesey's psychadelic experiments in the 60s and the true cross-country odyssey of his henchman, The Merry Pranksters. When it first came out, Tom Wolfe was praised for starting a new type of personal journalism. Ken Kesey was already famous, having written "One Flew Over A Cuchoo's Nest."

Since others expounded upon what they read upon below, I have expanded my list to include periodicals. I read the NYTimes, scan the Drudge Report and Salon.com and Fark.com, and then I surf the web for stuff that might work here or at ZP. I also read the New Yorker religously, cover to cover, and sometimes Vanity Fair. (Plus there are some screenplays, Robert Greene's 48 Laws of Power, Jim Marrs Rule by Secrecy, and some metaphysical stuff on my bedstand)

So, Beatkingers what are your reading these days?

[Kooperman]

The Conquerors, by Michael Beschloss. As the dust jacket says, "Roosevelt, Truman and the Destruction of Hitler's Germany, 1941-1945".

I got it for the clearance price of $5.99 yesterday at the book store.

http://query.nytimes.com/search/full-page?...751C1A9649C8B63

Edited April 17, 2004 by Kooperman

[MoonMan]

The last book I finished was Animal Farm.

I'm not a big reader, so it takes me quite a while to finish a book. I recently started Shakespeare's Hamlet though.

[Umma]

nothing fictional has grabbed me for years...

books most handled and browsed these days are usually reference books like

Oleg Polunin- Wild Flowers of Britain and Northern Europe

Richard Maybe - Food For Free

Patrick Moore - Atlas of the Universe

Readers Digest Book of British Birds

etc. etc. etc.

and the dictionary... too keep up with the big words :D

[Ken]

"Programming from the ground-up"

by Jonathan Bartlett

(this is mostly about concepts, and is focused on assembly language)

and

"O.O.P with Visual Basic.NET and Microsoft Visual C# .NET Step by Step"

by Robin A. Reynolds-Haertle

(I have a fairly basic working knowledge of VB.NET, so I thought i'd check this out)

I haven't read a book in a while. The last two books I read were Stephen King's "The Dark Tower" and "Sleepers".

Edited April 17, 2004 by Ken

[DudeAsInCool]

The last two books I read were Stephen King's "The Dark Tower" and "Sleepers".

My favorite Stephen King book was co-written by Peter Straub: The Talisman.

[wingnut2600]

I just read Walden 2 by B.F. Skinner and just started reading Walden by Henry David Thoreau. I just happened to have this lying around, and I thought "is there a better time to read this?"

I have a book of the complete poems of Carl Sandburg that I have to return to the library soon, so I will read some of that, and I read The Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon earlier this month, which I highly recommend to everyone.

Besides these novels, I am poring over news online constantly and reading a variety of psychological journal articles related to motivation in the context of social psychology.

[Kooperman]

So much for the pop stuff wingnut...but what serious stuff do you read? :D

[jipper]

william burroughs - naked lunch

[gorphon]

well, I buy all my books in the bargain bin and closeout sales so Im not exactly reading anything new. lately though, I just finished a book called "Blood and Splendor" by Daniel Myerson. in essence, this book was an overview of four tyrants (nero, ivan grozny, hitler, stalin, and saddam) and what exactly made them tick. an overview as I said- and therefore brief- but it was a good read.

Im currently reading a compilation of the best magazine articles of the year 2000. some good stuff there.

Im also reading a book called "Great Mambo Chicken & The Transhuman Condition: Science Slightly Over The Edge" which deals with hubristic science such as gene manipulation, space colonization, true artificial life (not just intelligence) destructing the sun piece by piece, etc. by an Omni Magazine contributor by the name of Ed Regis.

ok, and Im reading a semiautobiography of Einstein called "God's Equation" too. In addition to all this I have about 1000 fictional books spread between 3 houses and a storage unit that I choose from to read on a whim and as time permits.

Lastly, I read many magazines on a monthly basis. National Geographic, NG adventurer, mental floss, cjr, colors, backpacker, maximumpc, cpu, discover, scientific american, wired and my monthly orchid magazine are the first that comes to mind.

so, if you're wondering why I said I tend to survive on a 36/8 hour cycle in the sleep thread... well... I give you the above.

wingnut dont correct my grammar! I know it is bad! dangit, I mean, I know it is poor!

Edited April 18, 2004 by gorphon

[method77]

I'm a National Geographic subscriber too. I also read a few newspapers everyday, almost all magazines that come out and a lot of comics (mostly Asterix and Obelix). I started reading a book by Clive Barker but it will take me more than a decade to finish lol

[wingnut2600]

wingnut dont correct my grammar! I know it is bad! dangit, I mean, I know it is poor!

Correct your grammar? I would never do such a thing... although I may direct you to a key that you seem to have a pathological aversion to: it is called an apostrophe and it is the key adjacent to the enter key (the non-shifted form of quotation marks). It is often used to note a contracted word (eg. can't).

:frog:

Edited April 18, 2004 by wingnut2600

[gorphon]

hmmm. what is this apostrophe that you speak of wingnut2600? gorphon would hear more of this...

[Kooperman]

Oh, I forgot to mention that I have a complete collection of the Carl Barks Donald Duck and Uncle Scrooge comics in the treasury editions....and the complete EC comic reprints from a decade ago. Now , THAT'S classic literature!

[slum_goddess]

i take it you mean offline? in the middle of 'the wayward bus' (john steinbeck), 'understanding power' (noam chomsky); 'the quincunx' (charles palliser); 'information architecture' (o'reilly) & 'design for community' for the 3rd time (derek powazek). i'd be reading the NYT every day as well but it's like EUR 3 here and more on sundays so i read it online. and subscribe to 20 or so news-y sites via my feed (duh, i'm a news junkie). B)

[Kooperman]

i take it you mean offline? in the middle of 'the wayward bus' (john steinbeck), 'understanding power' (noam chomsky); 'the quincunx' (charles palliser); 'information architecture' (o'reilly) & 'design for community' for the 3rd time (derek powazek). i'd be reading the NYT every day as well but it's like EUR 3 here and more on sundays so i read it online. and subscribe to 20 or so news-y sites via my feed (duh, i'm a news junkie). B)

SG, anything by Steinbeck is great, but i really have a liking of The Wayward Bus.

[Shawn]

I'm somewhat embarrassed to admit I haven't read anything strictly for personal enjoyment in over 6 months.

Finals are wrapping in the next 10 days, then we'll see.

[CTC Command]

Omon Ra by Victor Pelevin

Reminds me of a Russian Kurt Vonnegut. It's short too, you guys could rip through this in a day or so.

Had to read this for next week for my reading seminar, "Culture Shock In Russia." Once in a while you get assigned something good, lol.

Edited April 23, 2004 by CTC Command

[DudeAsInCool]

I think I've read that guy, CTC. By the way, the Russians were ahead of the curve when it came to science fiction stuff... And then of course, there is Bulgakov--he was and still is ahead of everyone

[joeyz]

A Tear and a Smile. by Kahlil Gibran

[grab_grab_the_haddock]

i am reading a treatise of human nature by David Hume. Studied it quite a bit while at uni, so ive read and reread most of it already but its well worth reading again. Very influential skepticism which was light years ahead of its time.

[gorphon]

i am reading a treatise of human nature by David Hume. Studied it quite a bit while at uni, so ive read and reread most of it already but its well worth reading again. Very influential skepticism which was light years ahead of its time.

interesting haddock.... I just started a book called The Ape and the Sushi Master: Cultural Reflections of a Primatologist that deals with anthropomorphism... one of the first footnotes was recommending just the same book as you mentioned. I just started reading it today and now think I will start in on Hume's work as soon as Im done.

[wingnut2600]

hmmmmm...

I finished Walden Two (which was very good BTW) and am about 50 pages into H.D. Thoreau's Walden... I am not yet very excited by this book, and checked out Steinbeck's East of Eden. I am thinking I may just give up Walden and start this book instead (this will probably happen... I am excited to read the latter).

I am also still reading Motivational Social Psychology journal articles as well as stories and info from:

slashdot.org

fark.com

news.google.com

ZP new posts

BK new posts

Hardocp.com

nforcershq.com

games.slashdot.org

science.slashdot.org

aintitcoolnews.com

dailyrotten.com (thanks spud!)

retrogames.com

http://fileforum.betanews.com/

damned updating sites and new shit all the time

[grab_grab_the_haddock]

I just started reading it today and now think I will start in on Hume's work as soon as Im done.

thats a great idea! But its by no means an easy read. Try to get hold of an edition with good explanatory footnotes. The one revised by L.A Selby-Bigge and PH Nidditch is generally reckoned to be the best.

let me know if the ape and the sushi master is worth checking out.

Edited April 23, 2004 by grab_grab_the_haddock

[grab_grab_the_haddock]

hmmmmm...

I finished Walden Two (which was very good BTW) and am about 50 pages into H.D. Thoreau's Walden... I am not yet very excited by this book, and checked out Steinbeck's East of Eden. I am thinking I may just give up Walden and start this book instead (this will probably happen... I am excited to read the latter).

Ive read some of Thoreaus stuff, but not Walden. I picked a collection of his works up from a second hand bookstore a couple of years back but never found time to read the whole thing, because, like you some of his stuff i don't really care for. His essay on civil disobedience is well worth reading though.

I never have read any of Skinner's stuff, although i always meant to read Walden. Some of his ideas on penal reform appeal to me.