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Jack the Lad posted:I guess what I'm actually talking about and looking for are books featuring very competent characters solving problems and overcoming adversity with smarts/science in general. Fair warning: this is about the Neal Stephenson-est book he ever wrote. If you're familiar with his work, you'll know what I mean. But if you like The Martian, then maybe infodumps are your thing. It's certainly the closest thing to The Martian that I've personally read.
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Sep 9, 2015 02:14
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Jimbozig posted:Seveneves is this. It's also refreshing in that its main characters are women (except one black man) and not uniformly straight in addition to being kick-rear end scientists who get poo poo done by knowing how things work. In male-dominated SF, this is a very cool thing. I found this book unreadable, and I actually enjoyed Reamde
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Sep 9, 2015 02:36
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Are there any good modern deconstructions or tributes to the swashbuckling planetary romance novels of old? Stuff like Flash Gordon with more thought behind it. (Dune may technically count, but I've read that.)
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Sep 9, 2015 02:39
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Does anyone know of some good nonfiction titles dealing with mental illness? Preferably ones that focus less on individual, uplifting stories and more on the scientific or historical end of things. I'm looking for knowledge, not inspiration.
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Sep 10, 2015 12:13
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ArmadilloConspiracy posted:Does anyone know of some good nonfiction titles dealing with mental illness? Preferably ones that focus less on individual, uplifting stories and more on the scientific or historical end of things. I'm looking for knowledge, not inspiration. Are you familiar with the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders? Or are you looking for something with more of a narrative, like Brain on Fire, An Unquiet Mind, or, like pretty much anything written by Oliver Sacks. There's a woman who has written a couple of great books on mental illness, but I absolutely cannot pull her name right now...
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Sep 10, 2015 13:39
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funkybottoms posted:Are you familiar with the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders? Or are you looking for something with more of a narrative, like Brain on Fire, An Unquiet Mind, or, like pretty much anything written by Oliver Sacks. There's a woman who has written a couple of great books on mental illness, but I absolutely cannot pull her name right now... I refer a lot of people to Crazy: A Father's Search Through America's Mental Health Madness, by Pete Earley, but it's more about how America's modern mental health non-system came to be, rather than mental illness itself. Hiro Protagonist posted:Are there any good modern deconstructions or tributes to the swashbuckling planetary romance novels of old? Stuff like Flash Gordon with more thought behind it. (Dune may technically count, but I've read that.) Oh, good question. I feel like there should be some really good answers for you but I'm having a hard time thinking of what. I want to say Harm's Way by Colin Greenland but it doesn't quite fit.
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Sep 10, 2015 13:43
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ArmadilloConspiracy posted:Does anyone know of some good nonfiction titles dealing with mental illness? Preferably ones that focus less on individual, uplifting stories and more on the scientific or historical end of things. I'm looking for knowledge, not inspiration. Richard Noll's American Madness: The Rise and Fall of Dementia Praecox is the history of attempts to define and diagnose the complex that became known as schizophrenia. It shows how incredibly difficult it is to classify, much less treat psychological diseases.
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Sep 10, 2015 23:48
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dokmo posted:Richard Noll's American Madness: The Rise and Fall of Dementia Praecox is the history of attempts to define and diagnose the complex that became known as schizophrenia. It shows how incredibly difficult it is to classify, much less treat psychological diseases. That sounds like exactly what I'm looking for. Thank you!
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Sep 10, 2015 23:57
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Been feeling kinda' blue lately. Need some recommendations for fiction/poetry that'll make me feel really empty and lonely.
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Sep 13, 2015 16:58
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Mira posted:Been feeling kinda' blue lately. Need some recommendations for fiction/poetry that'll make me feel really empty and lonely. Can you stand hundreds of pages that are literal police reports of hundreds of women killed every year in Juarez? A meta story about some critics in search of an author? An author that may also be a monster. Written by the best Spanish language novelist of the past century? If so, check out Roberto Bolano's 2666.
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Sep 13, 2015 17:08
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Speaking of Juarez, Benjamin Alire Sáenz writes a lot of fiction about that city with depressed, damaged characters trying to escape it years after they've already left, though his stuff usually ends more on the optimistic side. I recently read Butcher's Crossing by John Williams which is a bloody, beautiful narrative about greed and consumerism destroying the buffalo trade in the late 19th century. It's utterly nihilistic and left me feeling pretty empty at the end. Highly recommend.
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Sep 13, 2015 17:21
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mcustic posted:Can you stand hundreds of pages that are literal police reports of hundreds of women killed every year in Juarez? A meta story about some critics in search of an author? An author that may also be a monster. Written by the best Spanish language novelist of the past century? If so, check out Roberto Bolano's 2666. Been meaning to check out Bolaño for a while, but I meant something that's more melancholy than nihilistic.
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Sep 13, 2015 21:48
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Mira posted:Been meaning to check out Bolaño for a while, but I meant something that's more melancholy than nihilistic. I just went through my Goodreads and I seem to have read lots of nihilistic and absolutely no melancholic books. Time to change that. Sorry I can't help you, though.
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Sep 13, 2015 22:10
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How bout pretty much anything by Gabriel Garcia Marquez? 100 years of solitude, Love in the time of Cholera, all very melancholy works.
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Sep 13, 2015 22:14
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Mira posted:Been feeling kinda' blue lately. Need some recommendations for fiction/poetry that'll make me feel really empty and lonely. Maybe The Toy Collector by James Gunn? I remember The gently caress-Up by Arthur Nersesian being about loneliness and melancholy.
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Sep 13, 2015 22:59
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Mira posted:Been meaning to check out Bolaño for a while, but I meant something that's more melancholy than nihilistic. So the Wind Won't Blow It All Away by Richard Brautigan might fit. It's available in a Kindle edition with two other Brautigan books.
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Sep 13, 2015 23:14
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AARP LARPer fucked around with this message at 01:21 on Jan 22, 2016 |
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Sep 14, 2015 02:38
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Mira posted:Been feeling kinda' blue lately. Need some recommendations for fiction/poetry that'll make me feel really empty and lonely. How about Ford Maddox Ford's The Good Soldier? Everything is terrible in relatively normal ways. He wanted to call it The Saddest Story, but once World War I kicked in his publishers made him change it. You could also try The Well of Loneliness by Radclyffe Hall if you're interested in a protagonist dealing with being homosexual in Edwardian England (you might guess by the title that it's no fun). If you're looking for something more modern, you might try Edna O'Brien's House of Splendid Isolation, or Gloria Naylor's Linden Hills.
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Sep 14, 2015 03:25
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hope and vaseline posted:I recently read Butcher's Crossing by John Williams which is a bloody, beautiful narrative about greed and consumerism destroying the buffalo trade in the late 19th century. It's utterly nihilistic and left me feeling pretty empty at the end. Highly recommend. Seconding this recommendation. This book really stuck with me.
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Sep 14, 2015 10:43
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Do Not Resuscitate posted:Oh man. What a strange book. After I finished it, I came away with the feeling I had just run a marathon or something physically taxing. I broke down in tears, which never happened to me before. (I only cry while listening to some episodes of This American Life).
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Sep 14, 2015 16:25
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All those recs look pretty great -- thanks all!
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Sep 15, 2015 14:59
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Are there any good books on Industrial Design. I just got a new phone and was struck with how it was constructed it looks good and feels good in my hand but why is it like that. Pop Science is fine here I just want something interesting about that sort of thing.
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Sep 16, 2015 05:01
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Hiro Protagonist posted:Are there any good modern deconstructions or tributes to the swashbuckling planetary romance novels of old? Stuff like Flash Gordon with more thought behind it. (Dune may technically count, but I've read that.) Jane Carver of Waar by Nathan Long. There's also the Dray Prescot series by Alan Burt Akers (aka Kenneth Bulmer) of which there's 52 books in total, which should keep you busy.
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Sep 17, 2015 01:00
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dokmo posted:I read James Dickey's To the White Sea a few months ago. If you loved Deliverance you'll probably love it. It's about a guy whose bomber gets shot down over Tokyo just before the big firebomb raids in 1945, and he has to make his way out of the city and to safety without attracting attention. The protagonist is resourceful and psychotic. It is a great read. Also you may like Charles Portis, another Southern writer whose deceptively lean prose is a joy to read, who also averaged one novel every ten years or so. Late, but thanks for this. I enjoyed To the White Sea very much and appreciate you recommending it to me.
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Sep 17, 2015 02:05
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Mira posted:Been meaning to check out Bolaño for a while, but I meant something that's more melancholy than nihilistic. The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes. I know you've got other recs already, but it's pretty melancholy, and pretty short, too.
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Sep 17, 2015 11:46
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Oz goons, some Sci Fi and fantasy deals Weaveworld, Fahrenheit 451 and necromancer are 1.99. Assassins apprentice, little brother and the time ships are 4.99 Hammerfall, prodigal sun, shadows heir and magicians guild are 2.99.
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Sep 18, 2015 04:03
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AARP LARPer fucked around with this message at 01:21 on Jan 22, 2016 |
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Sep 19, 2015 01:46
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I've been listening to the Archaeological Fantasies podcast recently, and I really enjoy it. I'm looking for some books that debunk poo poo like Ancient Aliens. I've got a few of the ones that have been specifically mentioned on the podcast on hold at the library, but while I'm waiting for those to get transferred I'm looking for something I can hopefully read on my Nook.
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Sep 19, 2015 13:43
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tentawesome posted:I've been listening to the Archaeological Fantasies podcast recently, and I really enjoy it. I'm looking for some books that debunk poo poo like Ancient Aliens. I've got a few of the ones that have been specifically mentioned on the podcast on hold at the library, but while I'm waiting for those to get transferred I'm looking for something I can hopefully read on my Nook. Isn't the best way to debunk Ancient Aliens to just watch it?
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Sep 19, 2015 21:39
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tentawesome posted:I've been listening to the Archaeological Fantasies podcast recently, and I really enjoy it. I'm looking for some books that debunk poo poo like Ancient Aliens. I've got a few of the ones that have been specifically mentioned on the podcast on hold at the library, but while I'm waiting for those to get transferred I'm looking for something I can hopefully read on my Nook. Ronald Story's The Space Gods Revealed and Clifford Wilson's Crash Go the Chariots are definitive when it comes to beating the crap out of Erich von Daniken and taking his lunch money. I don't think they're available in ebook form, though.
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Sep 21, 2015 02:56
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What are good books about the Peloponnesian Wars? Either Historical Fiction or non-fiction are fine.
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Sep 24, 2015 20:56
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The Vosgian Beast posted:What are good books about the Peloponnesian Wars? Either Historical Fiction or non-fiction are fine. Slightly obvious, but History of the Peloponnesian War by Thucydides. The Penguin Classics translation is quite good if you're looking for a cheap copy. LionYeti posted:Are there any good books on Industrial Design. I just got a new phone and was struck with how it was constructed it looks good and feels good in my hand but why is it like that. Pop Science is fine here I just want something interesting about that sort of thing. Design as Art by Bruno Munari is a short (but good) read. Doesn't necessarily focus on industrial design as such, but a good collection of essays on different aspects of design and the role it plays in contemporary society. Mike Cartwright fucked around with this message at 09:36 on Sep 25, 2015 |
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Sep 25, 2015 09:32
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The Vosgian Beast posted:What are good books about the Peloponnesian Wars? Either Historical Fiction or non-fiction are fine. The Last of the Wine by Mary Renault is your go to classic for Peloponnesian War historical fiction.
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Sep 25, 2015 22:10
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After reading So You've Been Publicly Shamed by Jon Ronson, I went on to read Them, and The Psychopath Test, all of which I really enjoyed. I'm looking for some more authors, or specific books, which are also this kind of adventure/gonzo journalism. I want to be exposed to new ideas and interesting people, but I want them to be shown to me by a engaging guide. Any suggestions?
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Sep 27, 2015 08:29
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Hey, I just finished watching the Knick, and I'd love to know more about ridiculously misguided but well-intentioned old-timey ways of medicine and the rough time early surgeons had with not killing their patients. Audio or text, I listen to a lot of podcasts but will also read a good book.
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Sep 27, 2015 10:16
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Chadzok posted:Hey, I just finished watching the Knick, and I'd love to know more about ridiculously misguided but well-intentioned old-timey ways of medicine and the rough time early surgeons had with not killing their patients. Audio or text, I listen to a lot of podcasts but will also read a good book. It sounds like you would really enjoy listening to the Sawbones podcast, as it focuses primarily on weird medical history stuff, and is relatively entertaining.
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Sep 27, 2015 21:54
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Hocus Pocus posted:After reading So You've Been Publicly Shamed by Jon Ronson, I went on to read Them, and The Psychopath Test, all of which I really enjoyed. I'm looking for some more authors, or specific books, which are also this kind of adventure/gonzo journalism. I want to be exposed to new ideas and interesting people, but I want them to be shown to me by a engaging guide. You should check out Mary Roach's stuff. She takes subjects that people normally think as gross or weird and explores them. I especially enjoyed Gulp! which is about the human digestive system.
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Sep 28, 2015 16:54
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Looking for something that resembles Verner Vinge's Rainbow's End in its exploration of near future augmented / virtual reality type stuff. Or something that resembles Daniel Suarez's Daemon/Freedom duo for real life gamification and, I don't know, I know they weren't the most well written books but I found them incredibly fun. No Neal Stephenson.
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Sep 28, 2015 21:58
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Hocus Pocus posted:After reading So You've Been Publicly Shamed by Jon Ronson, I went on to read Them, and The Psychopath Test, all of which I really enjoyed. I'm looking for some more authors, or specific books, which are also this kind of adventure/gonzo journalism. I want to be exposed to new ideas and interesting people, but I want them to be shown to me by a engaging guide. Not a book, but if you don't know him already, check out Louis Theroux. He's a documentary filmmaker who does exactly those types of stories.
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Sep 28, 2015 22:17
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xian posted:Looking for something that resembles Verner Vinge's Rainbow's End in its exploration of near future augmented / virtual reality type stuff. Halting State by Charles Stross?
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Sep 29, 2015 13:55
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