What are You Reading?

[pstlpkr]

I knew he was quite a character.

Most of that contained in the article was known to me.

I think that the comment about the names on their headstone missed the point.

I think they thought of each other in those terms because Luthien gave up her immortal life for Beren, which can be a directly correlated to her conversion to Catholicism.

At that time for a Catholic to marry outside the faith was unheard of, and since he couldn't convert to Protestantism she had to convert. Meaning that she had to leave her world to live in his.
Tolkien blowing smoke rings:

 

[dudleydipstick]

I checked out the first two books from Terry Pratchett's "Discworld" series today and also "Freakonomics".
I'm undecided on which to read first. I've waited about 3 months for Freakonomics to be available and have wanted to start getting into the Discworld series for a while. I might have to make a sandwich with Freakonomics in the middle.

 

[unclearthur]

Pratchett ROCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Love the Diskworld books! Another good author is Charles de Lint

 

[jonesing]

Freakonomics is good too. I love this way of thinking.
What's the deal?
I read this a few years ago and now I see a big psoter for it in the airport bookstores.
Did the update it?
RJ

 

[python]

I am still reading The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.

Last night I finished up The Adventure of the Speckled Band.

 

[pstlpkr]

He drew a deep breath. 'Well, I'm back,' he said. The End.
I've started in a new direction, in the last few days.
The Six Sigma Way, by Pande, Neuman, and Cavanagh.
and,
The Essential Claude Monet, by Catherine Morris

 

[oppie]

Albert Einstein: A Life

 

[dudleydipstick]

Love the Diskworld books!

It came in handy that the library has internet access. I was sort of overwhelmed by the 30 some-odd books on the shelf and showing up unprepared. Though I managed to figure out what the first book was on my own, doing a search for Discworld +"reading order", was a big help.

I read this a few years ago and now I see a big psoter for it in the airport bookstores.
Did they update it?

Sometime last year a sequel came out called "Superfreakonomics".

 

[unclearthur]

Just started re reading the complete Sherlock Holms

 

[igloo]

The Kid Stays In The Picture, Robert Evans

 

[tpridham]

Right now i am reading "The Dragon Reborn" by Robert Jordan , I read all of them up to the one which just came out already but that was years ago now so i started them again

 

[clovisman]

Mendoza In Hollywood by Kage Baker. The third in a series of SF novels by a "local" author. A resident of Pismo Beach, she died tragically just recently. Possessed of a marvelous wit and great story telling abilities, she will be missed.

 

[pstlpkr]

Here is a string that I thought our new members might enjoy.

It's been a month since anyone has posted to it.

I'm just wondering: did we all suddenly go illiterate?
Not me!
This month, 3 at once:

Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess: about the mind game... you have to read between the lines.

Winning Chess How to see three moves in advance: Irving Chernev and Fred Reinfeld... strictly tactics. Awsome! (To my future oponents... Stand by to stand by!

Winning Chess Openings: Bill Robertie.... Just what the title implies.
No fiction this month just fact.

 

[hobie1dog]

The Shack by Wm. Paul Young.....likely to be the best fictional book I've ever read.

 

[python]

The last book that I read was Confessions of a Pipeman. I finished it up a couple of weeks ago.

 

[cortezattic]

Biocentrism, by Robert Lanza, MD. Asserts that no phenomenon is a real phenomenon until it is cognated by a conscious entity. This is kinda like the old question: "If a tree falls in the forest..."; but it makes the weirdness of quantum phenomena more sensible (no pun intended.)

 

[pstlpkr]

I can follow that reasoning Cortez.

The falling tree question was address in my first Music Theory Class.

It takes a biological mechanism to complete the trinity of necessary conditions and elements for sound to occur. Permit me to continue:

1) A tree falls in the forest: The impact with the ground and other surrounding objects and assuming an atmosphere is present will cause vibrations within the tree and the surrounding objects and the assumed atmosphere.

2) Conductor of vibrations: The surrounding objects and the assumed atmosphere conduct the sympathetic vibrations caused by the falling tree. (at this point there is no sound)

3) The ear: Unless a biomechanical atmospheric vibration sensing devise is functioning and the vibrations detected by said device are changed by the "ear" into an interptable form (e.g. bio-electrical impulses) and are perceived and interpreted by the brain of a conscious living organism as sound. Sound cannot occur.
So,

no phenomenon is a real phenomenon until it is cognated by a conscious entity.

 

[cortezattic]

Yes, I think you've constructed the system pretty clearly. Lanza is coming at the issue from the point of view that the consciousness (I hesitate to say "brain") is the ultimate virtual reality machine. E.g. One photon looks like another -- there is no such thing as a red photon. So, if an apple looks red because the retina and visual cortex use electromagnetic vibrations to create that impression, then what color is the apple when no conscious entity is looking at it?
Lanza goes on to examine many enigmatic results from experiments in quantum research by employing this very Zen-like perspective; even asserting that space and time are products of the conscious, cognating virtual reality machines within our crania.

 

[surfmac211]

Finishing up Angels and Demon by Dan Brown and just got in and about to start Confessions of a Pipeman by Gary B. Schrier. I also got in The Gourmet Guide to Cigars by Paul Garmirian, but I think it will be a couple of months before I get to it. Work is about to get real crazy so reading is kinda getting put on the back burner or before bed for now.

 

[igloo]

The apple is not there .It can only exist if we precive it to be be there .