OT: What are you reading these days?

Josh Feltman said:
Wow, I'm a dinosaur. My books are still cellulose-based :D If you liked "The Days of Perky Pat" you should definitely check out The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch. Perky Pat plays an important role in it as well, though in a slightly different context. Not sure which came first--the short story or the novel.
--Josh
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I think perky pat is one in a collection of early short stories that were never published until recently. There's a few of them that seem to be seedlings (some in a very loose sense) of later novels.
 
Yow, reading too much Phil Dick will melt brain into mush like his was. Maybe that is why I'm messed up, I started reading him in high school over 25 years ago.

Can't go wrong with Zelanzy either.

Josh, getting those Dick books for that price was a snag--some places sell his old paperbacks as "collectors" items. I haven't come across any sold as "ordinary" used paperbacks for quite a while.

Coincidentially, I recently read a few of Arthur Machen's short stories posted on the web--He was one of the acknowledged influences of H.P. Lovecraft. The sites have other interesting stuff as well.

"The White People", Throw away that PC crap, the title refers to The Gentry, those seldom-seen beings the old Irish warn about pissing off.
http://gaslight.mtroyal.ca/whtpeopl.htm

"The Great God Pan", From what I can tell, his best known work which caused quite a stir at the time:
http://www.totse.com/en/ego/literary_genius/ggpan10.html

and a couple of very short stories:
http://www.machensoc.demon.co.uk/machtext.html
 
I was lucky enough to come across a 5-volume set of the Collected Stories of Philip K. Dick in Santa Cruz (college towns have the best bookstores!) a few years ago, for a ridiculously low price. Great set and great stories.

Just finished an excellent book called "Freehold" by Michael Z. Williamson. I haven't enjoyed a new author so much since I discovered Andrew Vachss and his wonderful Burke novels about five years ago. Think Robert Heinlein through and through with great adrenaline rushes here and there. Reminded me of Heinleins "Friday" with a lot more interesting political and societal commentary plus action. This guy is a great writer.

Regards,

Norm
 
At the moment I read Frontiersmen by Allan W. Eckert. I`ve read the book "That dark and bloody river" written by him earlier.
Much the same stuff.

Tor
 
The "Cook's Illustrated" July & August 2004 issue on how to make tall fluffy biscuits.


That nonfiction book " Zebra" has never left memory and I find the Budda's comments re:sauntering, right on the mark.

On one occasion, a Brahmin by the name of Anatthapucchaka came to the Buddha and said to him, "Venerable Sir, I think that you know only the practices that are beneficial and not the practices that are unbeneficial." To him, the Buddha answered that he also knew the practices which were unbeneficial and harmful. Then the Buddha enumerated six practices which cause dissipation of wealth; they are: (1) sleeping until the sun has risen, (2) habitual idleness, (3) cruelty, (4) indulgence in intoxicants which causes drunkenness and negligence, (5) sauntering alone in streets at unearthly hours, and (6) sexual misconduct.
 
Until you have read the original Dune series (6 books) You dont know ANYTHING!
Frank Herbert will expand your mind faster than a peyote pizza.
 
I'm another big Philip K. Dick fan. A Scanner Darkly is a great book. I read The Circus of Dr. Lao a loooong time ago and liked it. The last book I read was The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler. I'm a big fan of noir and never read Chandler (I always liked Dashiell Hammett). But Chandler is certainly worth reading. Before that I read Gates of Fire, by Stephen Pressfield... about the Spartans at Thermopylae. Great read.
 
The "Cook's Illustrated" July & August 2004 issue on how to make tall fluffy biscuits.
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Cook's is my favorite, followed closely by Taunton's "Fine Cooking".

Starting reading "The Boats of the 'Glen Carrig'", William Hope Hodgson. Slightly Lovecraftian nautical stories. Old. Good stuff. Read "House on the Borderland" a while ago.
 
Since our power's been out I've been catching up on all the Blade Magazine articles I've just glanced through saying I would get back to them someday. Someday finally arrived.;) I've also started catching up on my Analog's. I started December of 2003 last Thursday. Got a long ways to go to get caught up.
I've been promising myself to reread the Foundation Series by Asimov one of these days again since I've had all the copies for some time now. It's been so long I've pretty much forgotten all about the stories but I'm betting that when I start reading they will all come storming back.:D
Hopefully the power will be back on soon and I can return to my favorite reading full time, mainly this forum.:o ;) :rolleyes: :D
 
I read everything Alan Furst writes - I'd read his laundry list if he published it. Noir novels set in easter Europe on the eve of WWII. Wonderful espionage stories, great writing and wonderful complex characters, historical accuracy, plus always good endings.
Night Soldiers
Dark Star
The World at Night
Red Gold
Kingdom of Shadows
Blood of Victory
 
Good thread, btw.

Work
Peskin and Schroeder. "Introduction to Quantum Field Theory."
Misner, Thorne and Wheeler. "Gravitation."
Goloub and Van Loan. "Matrix Computations."
far, far too many papers from the arXiV (http://www.arxiv.org).

(ain't grad. school grand? :rolleyes: )

Fun
Goddard. "The $50 Knife Shop." -- Just picked it up at BLADE.
Eco. "The Name of the Rose." -- 2nd time. Absolutely amazing novel.
O'Rourke. "Parliament of Whores." -- Amusing as all hell.

It's good to have a few books going at once. I'll second the comments on PKD -- I love his writing, but it makes my head want to explode. "Dune" was a masterpiece; I never found the sequels to be its equal.
 
Baen Books has created an online library that you can either read online or download.

While perhaps not as high browed as some choices, Hopefully there are none of the Ashes series there either.

Library

IF any one is interested there is a pretty decent set of online field manuals available to download and read too. Rather than posting it, email me and I'll gladly share the link
 
)+( Umo

Zebra

"VALIS" an absolute MUST READ

for fun
"Nine Princes in Amber"
"Creatures of Light and Darkness"


If you really want to understand wealth and success:
"Rich Dad, Poor Dad"

"The Millionaire Next Door"
 
A recent re-read, "Man's Search for Meaning" by Viktor E. Frankl.

Another, "A Brief History of Time" by Stephen Hawking.
 
I read the owners manual and operating instructions for my first new lawnmower.(the goats were getting on the neighbors nerves :rolleyes: )

Actually this summer while Karen is visiting hoghead, I'm going to finish the LOTR series and then watch the movies again.
 
It's great to see so many PKD fans.

Firkin-- I was really stoked to find them for that price. I've got a lot of his stuff already, so usually when I find one of his books at all, it's one I already have.

Bill--have you read Radio Free Albemuth ? It deals with the same event covered in Valis. What about In Pursuit of Valis --selections from Dick's exegesis? Or how about Robert Temple's The Sirius Mystery dealing with the fishlike visitors from Siruis B, the Nommos? Valis is a very weird novel, even for Dick, and it's definitely one of my favorites--all the more strange for being loosely autobiographical.

I used to have a copy of Wendelle Stevens's report on the Ummo case, but for some odd reason I sold it to a used book store. Stupid of me.

--Josh
 
Angels & Demons by Dan Brown

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