Whatcha reading redux.

Everything cultural, pop or otherwise. Books, movies, music, comics, poetry, random cultural geekery.
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Greg
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Re: Whatcha reading redux.

Post by Greg »

Weetabix wrote:
Greg wrote:
Weetabix wrote:I picked up Second Foundation, read just a bit, and when warding off a cat, dropped it on the floor. I don't have enough time in my life already. I think I'll leave it there.
Weird, I remember the original Foundation trilogy as being relatively slender books that were fairly brisk reads, kind of like the three precurser novels. It was the 4th book in the 'trilogy' and beyond, where he went off the rails.
That's how I recalled it from my youth, too, but now it seems to be relatively slender books that are fairly dull reads with lots of meandering description that doesn't contribute. Excluding the first, that is.

From reading his introduction, it seems that he wrote the first book as a series of short stories in the pulps. His editor wanted a book, so they put the stories together and he wrote the necessary links to make it a book. Fans wanted more, so the editor pushed him into writing books he didn't really want to write. I'm guessing that's what made the second two less enjoyable. Perhaps the fans back then were starved for entertainment and didn't notice?
The 4th book and beyond were definitely that way, so much so that it was painfully obvious to teenaged me. The 4th book was bad enough that I stopped part-way.

'Foundation and ... Pants'
'Foundation and ... Um, My Earlier Robot Stories, Somehow'
'Foundation and ... Continued Royalty Checks, Because I Need the Money'
etc
etc
Maybe we're just jaded, but your villainy is not particularly impressive. -Ennesby

If you know what you're doing, you're not learning anything. -Unknown
Sanity is the process by which you continually adjust your beliefs so they are predictively sound. -esr
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Vonz90
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Re: Whatcha reading redux.

Post by Vonz90 »

Greg wrote:
Vonz90 wrote:
toad wrote:I remember reading it as a teenager. Now I probably couldn't stand it because I believe the basic premise of a math that could predict history is flawed. Way too many variables, the butter fly fart effect of Chaos theory seem to be in play. This I believe is a reason centralized control of economies fail
Yeah this. It is basically a paean to mechanical determinism, which is pretty much the been completely destroyed as a scientific concept but still holds lots of sway as a philosophical idea. Ironically many people who claim to be all sciency fall back on some measure of mechanical determinism even though the actual science of it doesn't work.

Paul Krugman is an Asimov fan, that tells you right there where his ideas lead.
Maybe it's been too long since I read them, but I recall that the 'psychohistory' math was presented as working purely on a stochastic level. The core of the entire Foundation trilogy seems to be about unusual individuals blowing up all the math.
Sure, you are probably right on the details. All that comes out to though is a science fiction trick to get past the fact that it doesn't work.

If you look at it big picture though it is just a socialist wish list.
Greg
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Re: Whatcha reading redux.

Post by Greg »

Just finished Warships After Washington.

I've had a strange fascination lately with the development of cruisers from the 1890s to the 1930s, and that book fits right in.
Maybe we're just jaded, but your villainy is not particularly impressive. -Ennesby

If you know what you're doing, you're not learning anything. -Unknown
Sanity is the process by which you continually adjust your beliefs so they are predictively sound. -esr
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Weetabix
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Re: Whatcha reading redux.

Post by Weetabix »

Just finished Monster Hunter Vendetta again.

[spoiler]I feel kind of sorry for Mosh Pitt's necessary career change.[/spoiler]
Note to self: start reading sig lines. They're actually quite amusing. :D
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dfwmtx
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Re: Whatcha reading redux.

Post by dfwmtx »

I'm working my way through Lee Childs' Jack Reacher series. Just started book 4, "Running Blind".
"Arms are honor; slaves have neither."

"I am Chaos, I am alive...and I tell you that you are free!" -Eris Discordia
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Rich
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Re: Whatcha reading redux.

Post by Rich »

Just finished re-reading Footfall by Niven/Pournelle in e-book format. Holds up surprisingly well.
A weak government usually remains a servant of citizens, while a strong government usually becomes the master of its subjects.
- paraphrased from several sources

A choice, not an echo. - Goldwater campaign, 1964
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Weetabix
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Re: Whatcha reading redux.

Post by Weetabix »

Rich wrote:Just finished re-reading Footfall by Niven/Pournelle in e-book format. Holds up surprisingly well.
I love that book. I may need to dig it out again.
Note to self: start reading sig lines. They're actually quite amusing. :D
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Weetabix
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Re: Whatcha reading redux.

Post by Weetabix »

dfwmtx wrote:I'm working my way through Lee Childs' Jack Reacher series. Just started book 4, "Running Blind".
Please give a short review of each. I've read some, not in any order. Some I liked, some were meh. It would be interesting to hear of other good ones to pick up.
Note to self: start reading sig lines. They're actually quite amusing. :D
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Darrell
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Re: Whatcha reading redux.

Post by Darrell »

I'm finishing up 1177 BC-The Year Civilization Collapsed, by Eric H. Cline. Cheerful book about the collapse at the end of the Bronze Age, and whether the Sea Peoples really brought it on. Might have some lessons for modern society.

Not sure what I'm going to read next, maybe another Pratchett Discworld novel. The last couple have been rather meh.
Eppur si muove--Galileo
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dfwmtx
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Re: Whatcha reading redux.

Post by dfwmtx »

Weetabix wrote:
dfwmtx wrote:I'm working my way through Lee Childs' Jack Reacher series. Just started book 4, "Running Blind".
Please give a short review of each. I've read some, not in any order. Some I liked, some were meh. It would be interesting to hear of other good ones to pick up.
Too busy reading. Finished book 4, onto book 5 "Echo Burning".

And anyways, any summary has to start first with "You gotta know Jack." Jack Reacher is what Chuck Norris aspires to be. If the Terminator and Sherlock Holmes had a baby, it would be Jack Reacher. If Jack Reacher were a D&D character, its creator would've just said "fuck dice rolling" and given him max stats in everything. If Jack Reacher were a character in comic books, he'd be essentially Frank Castle, the Punisher without the origin story of his family being killed. With a little bit of the Hulk mixed in. Don't get Jack angry; you'll get hurt bad if you make Jack angry. And you may inadvertently give him your car or donate the contents of your wallet to his walking-around fund. Jack Reacher is the non-super super-human. Dude's body is in top physical condition and ability, as well as his brain. And he's got the training to use both. Only thing is, the dude has some of the worst luck. Too often he's in the wrong place at the right time. The only people who have worse luck are the criminals to get in his way.

That's essentially each book so far. Somehow criminals or crime get in Jack's way, and he starts taking them down. Places change, anems change, crimes change. But each somehow gets Jack entangled in their schemes, and Jack is very adept at taking them down. Book 1: Jack is walking through a small Southern town, and gets arrested & charged with a crime he didn't commit. Jack figures out it must be to cover up some other crime, and then he finds out they also killed his brother. Jack proceeds to take the criminals down. Book 2: Jack Reacher gets kidnapped helping an injured woman out at the dry cleaners. Jack gets angry, proceeds to foil an evil militia dude's plot to revolt against the US. Book 3: Jack gets angry when he finds out scammers ripped off a couple by telling them their Vietnam POW-MIA son was alive, and foils the criminal scheme related to it. Book 4: Jack Reacher gets angry when he seems mobsters running a protection racket on the owner of the Italian place he's eating at, and gets picked up by the watching FBI. They force him to use their expertise to help on a case where ex-Army women are getting murdered. Jack is mightily pissed off, by both the FBI and the fact the killer killed someone he liked. Jack proceeds to find killer. Book 5: Jack gets involved with a woman wed to a Texas tax-dodging wife beater. Still reading it, and Jack is starting to get pissed off.
"Arms are honor; slaves have neither."

"I am Chaos, I am alive...and I tell you that you are free!" -Eris Discordia
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