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Grand unified books thread

Started by Syt, March 16, 2009, 01:52:42 AM

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Gups

Quote from: Syt on January 23, 2013, 07:58:32 AM
[Thanks, Gups, I'll check out Banks instead.

Pretty sure you'll enjoy him. He has big ideas and he knows how to put them into words. He aslo has a great sense of humour.

Recommend that you start with Consider Phlebas or The Player of Games.

Syt

I am, somehow, less interested in the weight and convolutions of Einstein's brain than in the near certainty that people of equal talent have lived and died in cotton fields and sweatshops.
—Stephen Jay Gould

Proud owner of 42 Zoupa Points.

mongers

Quote from: Gups on January 23, 2013, 09:39:44 AM
Quote from: Syt on January 23, 2013, 07:58:32 AM
[Thanks, Gups, I'll check out Banks instead.

Pretty sure you'll enjoy him. He has big ideas and he knows how to put them into words. He aslo has a great sense of humour.

Recommend that you start with Consider Phlebas or The Player of Games.

Good recommendations.

Either 'version' of him is acceptable, though I have been disappointed once or twice; the one set in the East of Scotland commune/cult/church was rather thin. 
"We have it in our power to begin the world over again"

Agelastus

Quote from: Syt on January 23, 2013, 01:38:31 AMI like the setting: England post-global warming, and after a socialist party has nearly ruined the country - it's now being rebuilt by conservatives and benevolent enterpreneurs. Yes, the book was published during the Blair years. :lol: Obvious political message aside, though, he does a good job of giving you a picture of how the country has changed.

Actually, it was published in 1993; John Major and the Tories were in power. :bowler:

It's also his very first book, so if you expect it to be him at his best then somebody misled you.  :P

On the other hand, I still find it enjoyable probably because I first read it when I was at University. :)

As for his best books...well, he's one of those odd authors where the longer the book/concept is, the better his books are.

His stand alones, such as "Fallen Dragon", are pretty dire (note that although it's on my shelf I haven't read his latest stand alone yet.) His absolute worst book is "Misspent Youth" - I've never been able to finish it.

Conversely, probably his best books are the "Night's Dawn" Trilogy, all three of which are 1000 page plus tomes. His second best books are almost certainly his Duology "Pandora's Star" and "Judas Unchained" (which, quite ironically given what I have said above, are set in the future of the "Misspent Youth" universe.)
"Come grow old with me
The Best is yet to be
The last of life for which the first was made."

Josephus

Surprised there's little, if any, talk about Alan Furst on here. By far, imo, the best writer of historical spy novels. I've read many, but just recently finished The Spies of Warsaw and it's his best. It's tailor made for this crowd. It takes place, mostly, in Warsaw in the mid to late 30s. German, Russian and French spies are everywhere. A German engineer in Warsaw to meet his mistress is recruited by the French to pass on tank secrets. We have beautiful seductive women, Russian operatives who want to defect, and leftist Nazis on the run. Amazing stuff. He's very subtle in his writing. evocative. Recommended.
Civis Romanus Sum<br /><br />"My friends, love is better than anger. Hope is better than fear. Optimism is better than despair. So let us be loving, hopeful and optimistic. And we'll change the world." Jack Layton 1950-2011

Syt

#1490
My bedside book at the moment is Martin Gilbert's The Second World War, a chronicle more than an analytical book.

Still, it made me LOL on two occasions so far. About the British leaflet bombing campaign in 1939/40: one pilot dropped a pack of leaflets without opening the bundle first. According to a joke he was reprimanded: "You could have killed someone!"

When the Brits finally decided to drop some bombs on Germany they target the island of Sylt. As Gilbert says, one bomber navigator's skill wasn't matched by his enthusiasm. He directed his pilot to the wrong island, sea and country - they dropped their bombs on Danish Bornholm. :lol:


Bornholm in red. Sylt is in the bottom left.
I am, somehow, less interested in the weight and convolutions of Einstein's brain than in the near certainty that people of equal talent have lived and died in cotton fields and sweatshops.
—Stephen Jay Gould

Proud owner of 42 Zoupa Points.

Syt

Following seeing Django Unchained - are there recommendable books about "the peculiar institution"? U.S. only or broad historic overview (antiquity to modern times) would be fine.
I am, somehow, less interested in the weight and convolutions of Einstein's brain than in the near certainty that people of equal talent have lived and died in cotton fields and sweatshops.
—Stephen Jay Gould

Proud owner of 42 Zoupa Points.

Malthus

Quote from: Syt on January 29, 2013, 06:05:54 AM
Following seeing Django Unchained - are there recommendable books about "the peculiar institution"? U.S. only or broad historic overview (antiquity to modern times) would be fine.

A good one about abolitionism in the UK is Bury the Chains by Adam Hochschild (who wrote the excellent King Leopold's Ghost about slavery in the Congo).
The object of life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane—Marcus Aurelius

Admiral Yi

Quote from: Syt on January 28, 2013, 11:19:36 AM
Still, it made me LOL on two occasions so far. About the British leaflet bombing campaign in 1939/40: one pilot dropped a pack of leaflets without opening the bundle first. According to a joke he was reprimanded: "You could have killed someone!"

Reminds me of the plan to shock Hitler into a heart attack by dropping Kraut animal fucking porn on Berlin.

Supposedly the bomber crews assigned the mission mutinied and refused to do it.

Scipio

Quote from: Syt on January 29, 2013, 06:05:54 AM
Following seeing Django Unchained - are there recommendable books about "the peculiar institution"? U.S. only or broad historic overview (antiquity to modern times) would be fine.

http://www.amazon.com/Roll-Jordan-World-Slaves-Made/dp/0394716523
What I speak out of my mouth is the truth.  It burns like fire.
-Jose Canseco

There you go, giving a fuck when it ain't your turn to give a fuck.
-Every cop, The Wire

"It is always good to be known for one's Krapp."
-John Hurt

Syt

I am, somehow, less interested in the weight and convolutions of Einstein's brain than in the near certainty that people of equal talent have lived and died in cotton fields and sweatshops.
—Stephen Jay Gould

Proud owner of 42 Zoupa Points.

Sheilbh

The Three Musketeers. Loved it.
Let's bomb Russia!

Admiral Yi

Quote from: Sheilbh on January 31, 2013, 05:15:51 PM
The Three Musketeers. Loved it.

Did you notice how the film versions have all sanitized d'Artagnans rape of the servant girl?

Sheilbh

Quote from: Admiral Yi on January 31, 2013, 05:22:23 PM
Did you notice how the film versions have all sanitized d'Artagnans rape of the servant girl?
Kitty? I think my translation interpreted that a bit differently :o

He sleeps with Milady when she thinks he's des Wardes, which is rapey.
Let's bomb Russia!

CountDeMoney

Quote from: Sheilbh on January 31, 2013, 05:15:51 PM
The Three Musketeers. Loved it.

Which one?  There's like 6 of them.