Now Reading

  On 9/21/2011 at 5:29 PM, A/D said:

Just finished The Road. Kind of amazed the sun still exists. Good book for some perspective on first world problems.

 

Also, the prose is beautiful.

It's a great novel, one of those rare books that actually deserves most of the popular acclaim it gets. Now, you know what you must do - read some more Cormac McCarthy novels. It's the rules.

Blood Meridian is a similarly bleak journey through the Mexican/American border wars of the 19th century. It has the same kind of stark beauty, tons of violence, and one of the best villains in any novel.

On the other hand Suttree is probably his warmest, funniest book - still very sad in places, though. Both are excellent.

cool, thank you! I loved No Country (in print & on screen), so I'm definitely up for more.

How To Read Lacan (Slavoj Zizek)

Super fun and exciting introduction to the ultra obscure Jacques Lacan. Do you want to know why you hate other people? Why repression brings back the same thing it tries to suppress? Lots of other cool stuff involving Alien, Eyes Wide Shut, terrorism, torture, envy, the nature of the self, sexual drives, etc.

  On 9/24/2011 at 4:31 PM, m u st co n t r ol t h o 4 said:

 

 

How To Read Lacan (Slavoj Zizek)

Super fun and exciting introduction to the ultra obscure Jacques Lacan. Do you want to know why you hate other people? Why repression brings back the same thing it tries to suppress? Lots of other cool stuff involving Alien, Eyes Wide Shut, terrorism, torture, envy, the nature of the self, sexual drives, etc.

what is with the Zizek love lately? dont get me wrong, i love that other people are reading him...but wow, he has sort of exploded hasnt he?

Ive always wanted to read more Lacan...ive only read excerpts.

Although, would it be wise to tak Zizek's analysis of Lacanian theory? My perspective is that Zizek used Lacanian theory for a very, very different end.

The small texts cited in the book are really quite something, Zizek call them oracles. About the popularity, he appeared in my Internet radar like a year ago, I think it's because he doesn't mind getting his hands dirty with current politics / events and the punk-rock style is v attractive.

Oh and I'm not a part of academia I just read stuff for fun / to make use of it. The fact that he doesn't try to summarize all Lacan for you is precisely what makes the book so good. He just offers perspectives on certain passages and tries to ignite your interest in the hopes that you will do the research on your own. Like I said before, there is nothing worse than reading second hand account of thinkers / artists by third rate writers who often distort and ruin the originals (it happens to me all the time). In the end he's like, 'OK did I blow your mind with my little jokes and mindgames? Now you need to act like an adult and read the Ecrits / Seminars'. And then (?).

I'm reading "The Schopenhauer Cure" by Irvin Yalom. Very interesting psychological novel.

happyface

sadface

  On 8/11/2011 at 6:50 PM, Mr Ouija said:

Good book. Currently I'm reading "A Wild Sheep Chase" also by Murakami. Might just be me, but from what I've read, I feel it's somewhat connected to "Dance Dance Dance" if only ever so slightly.

Wind Up Bird Chronicle and Kafka on the Shore were also quite good. I enjoyed Norwegian Wood as well, and watched the movie (which was decent), not sure I liked it as much as the others I've read though.

On a different note, I wanted to add in that I just read "Ghost in the Wires" by Kevin Mitnick. It's a very good read if you have any interest in hacking/cracking/social engineering (whatever you wish to call it).

  On 10/5/2011 at 1:56 AM, dese manz hatin said:

you should go visit Monterey, CA when you finish. You can still smell the ghosts of sardines past (also good aquarium).

Los Detectives Salvajes (Roberto Bolaño)

Bought this because I saw a documentary on the writer that almost made me cry in pure joy. The adventures of a bunch of failed young poets, hope it is as good as that description sounds.

The Question Concerning Technology (Martin Heidegger)

Good programmers are supposed to keep the entirety of the apps they write in their heads so they can work on it as a imaginary machine. This thing is making me work real hard in a similar fashion, but it's fun in the most complicated way, like listening to a Confield that might be able to kill you.

  On 10/3/2011 at 8:17 PM, baph said:

 

happyface

 

 

How is that? I'll probably love it anyways, as I've loved everything he's ever written...

  On 10/5/2011 at 1:48 AM, orochi said:

 

Currently I'm reading "A Wild Sheep Chase" also by Murakami. Might just be me, but from what I've read, I feel it's somewhat connected to "Dance Dance Dance" if only ever so slightly.

 

Wind Up Bird Chronicle and Kafka on the Shore were also quite good. I enjoyed Norwegian Wood as well, and watched the movie (which was decent), not sure I liked it as much as the others I've read though.

That's cause Dance, Dance, Dance is a kind of sequel to A Wild Sheep Chase. Same characters - (unnamed protagonist) and Sheep Man. Of course the story is quite different, so it's only kind of a sequel. I really wish the first two books of the "Trilogy of the Rat" were available in English.

Oh and Murakami's non-fiction is also pretty interesting reading.

  On 10/5/2011 at 7:03 AM, verticalhold said:

 

is that any good? i'm immediately put off by the quote about "a tool for fighting back against the tools that run our lives" ...derp city (perhaps they just need to expand their vocabulary?). if it's actually worth reading, it'd be nice to know. thanks :sup:

  On 10/9/2011 at 11:32 AM, chenGOD said:

Oh and Murakami's non-fiction is also pretty interesting reading.

Indeed!

I was quite taken with Underground. A book of interviews with survivors of the 1995 Tokyo subway Sarin gas attack, and members of the cult that caused it.

too bad the translation has reduced the 62 interviews he originally published to 34, don't really know why, i want to read them all

it also made me look up things about the cult (Aum Shinrikyo). very fascinating, but also scary and disturbing

Really enjoying it, so different from the film; more insight into the individual soldiers and their experiences throughout.

  On 10/9/2011 at 9:01 PM, luke viia said:

  On 10/5/2011 at 7:03 AM, verticalhold said:

Neil Postman - Technopoly

 

 

is that any good? i'm immediately put off by the quote about "a tool for fighting back against the tools that run our lives" ...derp city (perhaps they just need to expand their vocabulary?). if it's actually worth reading, it'd be nice to know. thanks :sup:

well, bear in mind that it's from 1993, so that weighs in on his writing. I think I gravitate towards writers with some level of cynicism and contempt towards society, but I really loved this book, and in his style he takes these theories of technocracy to deeper levels like what is taught in schools, and how we are increasingly distanced from the way technology operates. Rambo posted a great TED video in the youtube thread not long ago, "How Algorithms Shape Our World" ... which ties in pretty well with this. He does have a cranky-man-in-the-attic tone, but it's a fun read

finished foucault's pendulum, just started reading the road. it's a pretty emotionally taxing book, especially after burying myself in it for a two hour bus ride.

  On 10/9/2011 at 11:32 AM, chenGOD said:

  On 10/3/2011 at 8:17 PM, baph said:

 

happyface

 

 

 

How is that? I'll probably love it anyways, as I've loved everything he's ever written...

 

I've only had a few hours with it so far, but it's been an entertaining few hours. Neal said he set out to write a "straightforward" thriller/technothriller, so it's certainly not going to approach the breadth and intensity of Anathem's (or the Baroque Cycle's) Science Content, but it's still mildly geeky and pretty fucking fun. So far it seems like it might fit somewhere in between Cryptonomicon and Interface/The Cobweb, stylistically and thematically.

twoism

100 pages in and loving it

I'm re-reading The Third Policeman

reading Jonathan Lethem's Chronic City. Mostly because the library branch around the corner from me has almost nothing, and I am too lazy to bike up to the main branch.

For a story about people with very few first world problems other than ennui it's surprisingly good. I'm only about 1/3 in and I assume there will be some sadness & death eventually. For now I like the writing and characters.