What’s everybody reading?

[Lo-Tek]

I'm still struggling to make reading part of my daily routine. Started "An Immense World" but moved to this Spanish fiction. Good book.

Gotta get back to Immense World now.
My wife is insisting I read Pam Anderson's bio; back in the day we were kinda fond of her so my wife bought it.
Wife said the book is pretty good but sad.

 

[10kDA]

Yup. The backstory part was interesting, but I'm not sure the monotony of 3 months at sea will keep the interest up.
Also, I saw the film.

I almost blew a bunch of money on a good-size sailboat, but then I spent some time on one. The view was always the same, except for the sky. I gave up on boats and stuck with airplanes for that very reason. I read the book and saw the movie and sure, Kon-Tiki is a great and true adventure story, but the 2 hour version of 3 months at sea covers all the important points.

 

[FutureProf88]

I did read all the 'Empire', 'Robot' and 'Foundation' books in my late teens/early twenties.
But my favourite was a book that separates itself out from the Asimov 'Galactic history', by it's own narrative.
When you have read the '15', try 'The End of Eternity' (1955) and you will see what I mean.
It's the only Asimov I've ever re-read.

Some years back I read one of the Isaac Asimov books - I think it was The Caves of Steel.

 

[Cal Nevari]

I've been there a few times, and to Taliesin East a few times, Price Tower for about 6 years straight when I went to Bartlesville OK for an annual fly-in, SC Johnson HQ a few times, Wingspread a bunch of times and to some private residences once or twice. None of them ever get old, which is the mark of a true genius.

Wow! You’ve been to a lot of his creations. Absolutely. Have you seen the Guggenheim in NYC?

 

[10kDA]

Wow! You’ve been to a lot of his creations. Absolutely. Have you seen the Guggenheim in NYC?

From a bus when I was 11 years old LOL but never inside.

 

[Cal Nevari]

From a bus when I was 11 years old LOL but never inside.

That’s wonderful!

 

[tubes]

Kon-Tiki is interesting but a bit dull, as are many of these so called adventure stories.

My parents had the Kon Tiki book on their shelf for as long as I can recall.
I dipped into it now and then.

In the 70s, in Tahiti, I met Bengt Danielsen (pardon spelling) - Thor Heyerdahl's accomplice.

I knew he was a very interesting person. Alas, I was a scarce-bearded youth: I did not know how to chat with him about interesting matters.

To find the Kon Tiki story engaging a person might need to be interested in those same anthropological questions that Heyerdhal was concerned with. Like, who sailed from where to where else, when and how.
I'm interested in that, being a South Pacific resident.

Sometimes I think that DNA analysis will answer these questions, Then there will be no need for sea-going adventures by anthropologists.

 

[Cal Nevari]

Some years back I read one of the Isaac Asimov books - I think it was The Caves of Steel.

The Caves of Steel and The Naked Sun were the original robot mysteries. Very well written and very interesting. Will have to try The End of Eternity. Thanks for the recommendation.

 

[ITburst]

This thread?

But seriously…..
Killing Commendatore, Haruki Murakami
Snow Country, Yasunari Kawabata
Don Quixote, Miguel De Cervantes

 

[Cal Nevari]

This thread?

But seriously…..
Killing Commendatore, Haruki Murakami
Snow Country, Yasunari Kawabata
Don Quixote, Miguel De Cervantes

Some wonderful authors there! Have always found Murakami brilliant but frustrating as his novels don’t seem to have any plot. Have had a couple of goes at Don Quixote but, like War and Peace, have never been able to finish it.

 

[DreamerDeceiver]

It never gets old , even after 20+ yrs.

 

[ITburst]

Some wonderful authors there! Have always found Murakami brilliant but frustrating as his novels don’t seem to have any plot. Have had a couple of goes at Don Quixote but, like War and Peace, have never been able to finish it.

I know, some of the chapters in Quixote can seem a bit repetitive at times and makes for a difficult read. I'm still struggling to finish it.

 

[Cal Nevari]

I know, some of the chapters in Quixote can seem a bit repetitive at times and makes for a difficult read. I'm still struggling to finish it.

Godspeed, John Glenn…

 

[circles]

How To Write One Song by Jeff Tweedy

also

Hitchikers Guide To The Galaxy. Again.

I tend to have more than one book cooking at any one time.

 

[GibsonMarshallGuy47]

 

[circles]

I just finished The Machine Stops. 1909.

The Machine Stops is a short science fiction story. It describes a world in which almost all humans have lost the ability to live on the surface of the Earth. Each individual lives in isolation in a 'cell', with all bodily and spiritual needs met by the omnipotent, global Machine. Most humans welcome this development, as they are skeptical and fearful of first-hand experience. People forget that humans created the Machine, and treat it as a mystical entity whose needs supersede their own. Those who do not accept the deity of the Machine are viewed as 'unmechanical' and are threatened with "Homelessness". Eventually, the Machine apocalyptically collapses, and the civilization of the Machine comes to an end. --Wikipedia



I did some research on this, apparently it must have been fairly well known, as Mad Magazine parodied it back in the day:

 

[GibsonMarshallGuy47]

I really wanna get that new Geezer Butler book that is coming out soon.

 

[Cal Nevari]

I just finished The Machine Stops. 1909.

The Machine Stops is a short science fiction story. It describes a world in which almost all humans have lost the ability to live on the surface of the Earth. Each individual lives in isolation in a 'cell', with all bodily and spiritual needs met by the omnipotent, global Machine. Most humans welcome this development, as they are skeptical and fearful of first-hand experience. People forget that humans created the Machine, and treat it as a mystical entity whose needs supersede their own. Those who do not accept the deity of the Machine are viewed as 'unmechanical' and are threatened with "Homelessness". Eventually, the Machine apocalyptically collapses, and the civilization of the Machine comes to an end. --Wikipedia

View attachment 131462

I did some research on this, apparently it must have been fairly well known, as Mad Magazine parodied it back in the day:

View attachment 131461

Very interesting! Didn’t realize Forster had written science fiction.

 

[circles]

 

[SkyMonkey]

Started reading Nick Hornby on my Kindle at work breaks.
About a Boy is like the directors cut of the Film, and High Fidelity is actually set in London for the book.
His stuff is really well characterised and flowing to read.
Going to look up more.

At home I read actual paper books when I can.
Just started a Sci-Fi book called 'The Three-Body Problem', bi Liu Cixin.
Translated from Chinese and starts during the Cultural Revolution.
It's a bit harsh to begin with but is supposed to move into Earth future later in the book.
The trilogy of books is being made into a Netflix series. Already started, I think.