What are you reading now?

[Charlie]

Enchiridion - Epicetus



More of a pamphlet than a book, if I'm honest, and more a collection of quotes than a detailed work, and that's a bit crappy. That said it's still an interesting, albeit short, look at stoicism and one which shows secular thinkers how sound reasoning can free them from the shackles of absolutism and emotionalism and, in so doing, live a more tranquil and contented life. I do like ancient Greek philosophy, it's so logical that it's almost impossible to read and not agree with. And if you agree with it, then you pretty much have to put it into practise. Because who willingly and knowingly chooses to live unwisely when they have been made aware of a better path?

[Rossco]

I wasn't too fussed about LotR, tbh. Not just the movies spoiled it, but the entire generation of the olde English fantasy setting. Imagine reading it long before we had Warhammer/Warcraft/Gauntlet/Final Fantasy/Orcs/Elves/Wizards so prominent in our cultures though, that would have been immense.

Now it's absolutely everywhere and engrained in our minds and it's all a bit meh.

Not book related but I'm watching Game of Thrones. Same old setting, I hope the story picks up.

I know what you mean. I still wouldn't say it was a bit meh though I imagine the magic of reading the book say 10-15 years ago has dissipated. It is a struggle though, I'm still only a third of the way through it so far but I am enjoying it.

[gamelife]

finally back on to the dark tower series, ive been reading these over the past 2 years and im only just about half way through book 5 (wolves of the calla) been a good read so far : )

also, ive just heard that an 8th book in the series is planned for next march!

[Dogg Thang]

Currently reading the Steve Jobs biography. I'm not a fan of how it is written - the author uses adjectives to insert his own viewpoint all the time. Like, he'll quote somebody and then say, 'they said, unfairly' or 'incorrectly' or whatever. I don't mind an author having a viewpoint at all but the way he does it is a bit rubbish. Why not follow the quote with the story of what actually happened so I can judge myself if something is unfair or not? Guide me, sure, present it in the way you want, no problem, but at least let me feel I'm getting there myself.

Anyway, that annoyance aside, the guy is fascinating and, in spite of the author setting him up to be a genius, Jobs comes across as a big child with absolutely no control over his emotions. Seems he was a total bully, often taking credit for the work of others. An asshole and yet one with a whole other thought process on how to approach technology - always coming at it from the design end, rather than the tech end. And, in his arrogance, it's easy sometimes to see how he got it right, but also where he would get it wrong. Interesting guy.

[Guts]

The City & the City by China Mi?ville.

[Dogg Thang]

So I finished the Jobs biography. A fairly fascinating read. Didn't really have an ending but I guess we all know the end of the story. Didn't like the writing style, as I mentioned above, but still a gripping read just given the subject. In ways, a history of his products though - very little on his personal life but then, from the sounds of it, there wasn't much to tell on that.

Strangely, the AppleTV thing didn't get a mention.

[randombs]

Finished Return of the King finally. Ending was nice and despite the prior boringness, when it started coming to a close I got upset.

Started Lord of the Flies this evening.

[Charlie]

The Tao of Pooh - Benjamin Hoff



An excerpt:

"You see, Pooh," I said, "a lot of people don't seem to know what Taoism is..." "Yes?" said Pooh, blinking his eyes." So that's what this chapter is for - to explain things a bit."

"Oh, I see," said Pooh.

"And the easiest way to do that would be for us to go to China for a moment."

"What?" said Pooh, his eyes wide open in amazement. "Right now?'

"Of course. All we need to do is, lean back, relax, and there we are."

"Oh, I see," said Pooh.

"We see three men standing around a vat of vinegar. Each has dipped his finger into the vinegar and has tasted it. The expression on each man's face shows his individual reaction. Since the painting is allegorical, we are to understand that these are no ordinary vinegar tasters, but are instead representatives of the "Three Teachings" of China, and that the vinegar they are sampling represents the Essence of Life. The three masters are K'ung Fu-tse (Confucius), Buddha, and Lao-tse, author of the oldest existing book of Taoism. The first has a sour look on his face, the second wears a bitter expression, but the third man is smiling.

"To Kung Fu-tse (kung FOOdsuh), life seemed rather sour. He believed that the present was out step with the past, and that the government of man on earth was out of harmony with the Way of Heaven, the government of, the universe. Therefore, he emphasized reverence for the Ancestors, as well as for the ancient rituals and ceremonies in which the emperor, as the Son of Heaven, acted as intermediary between limitless heaven and limited earth. Under Confucianism, the use of precisely measured court music, prescribed steps, actions, and phrases all added up to an extremely complex system of rituals, each used for a particular purpose at a particular time. A saying was recorded about K'ung Fu-tse: "If the mat was not straight, the Master would not sit." This ought to give an indication of the extent to which things were carried out under Confucianism.

"To Buddha, the second figure in the painting, life on earth was bitter, filled with attachments and desires that led to suffering. The world was seen as a setter of traps, a generator of illusions, a revolving wheel of pain for all creatures. In order to find peace, the Buddhist considered it necessary to transcend "the world of dust" and reach Nirvana, literally a state of "no wind." Although the essentially optimistic attitude of the Chinese altered Buddhism considerably after it was brought in from its native India, the devout Buddhist often saw the way to Nirvana interrupted all the same by the bitter wind of everyday existence.

"To Lao-tse (LAOdsuh), the harmony that naturally existed between heaven and earth from the very beginning could be found by anyone at any time, but not by following the rules of the Confucianists. As he stated in his Tao To Ching (DAO DEH JEENG), the "Tao Virtue Book," earth was in essence a reflection of heaven, run by the same laws - not by the laws of men. These laws affected not only the spinning of distant planets, but the activities of the birds in the forest and the fish in the sea. According to Lao-tse, the more man interfered with the natural balance produced and governed by the universal laws, the further away the harmony retreated into the distance. The more forcing, the more trouble. Whether heavy or light, wet or dry, fast or slow, everything had its own nature already within it, which could not be violated without causing difficulties. When abstract and arbitrary rules were imposed from the outside, struggle was inevitable. Only then did life become sour.

"To Lao-tse, the world was not a setter of traps but a teacher of valuable lessons. Its lessons needed to be learned, just as its laws needed to be followed; then all would go well. Rather than turn away from "the world of dust," Lao-tse advised others to "join the dust of the world." What he saw operating behind everything in heaven and earth he called Tao (DAO), "the Way."

"A basic principle of Lao-tse's teaching was that this Way of the Universe could not be adequately described in words, and that it would be insulting both to its unlimited power and to the intelligent human mind to attempt to do so. Still, its nature could be understood, and those who cared the most about it, and the life from which it was inseparable, understood it best.

"Over the centuries Lao-tse's classic teachings were developed and divided into philosophical, monastic, and folk religious forms. All of these could be included under the general heading of Taoism. But the basic Taoism that we are concerned with here is simply a particular way of appreciating, learning from, and working with whatever happens in everyday life. From the Taoist point of view, the natural result of this harmonious way of living is happiness. You might say that happy serenity is the most noticeable characteristic of the Taoist personality, and a subtle sense of humor is apparent even in the most profound Taoist writings, such as the twenty-five-hundred-year-old Tao Te Ching. In the writings of Taoism's second major writer, Chuang-tse (JUANGdsuh), quiet laughter seems to bubble up like water from a fountain."

"But what does that have to do with vinegar?' asked Pooh.

"I thought I had explained that," I said.

"I don't think so," said Pooh.

"Well, then, I'll explain it now."

"That's good." said Pooh.

"In the painting, why is Lao-tse smiling? After all, that vinegar that represents life must certainly have an unpleasant taste, as the expressions on the faces of the other two men indicate. But, through working in harmony with life's circumstances, Taoist understanding changes what others may perceive as negative into something positive. From the Taoist point of view, sourness and bitterness come from the interfering and unappreciative mind. Life itself, when understood and utilized for what it is, is sweet."

"Sweet? You mean like honey?" asked Pooh.

"Well, maybe not that sweet," I said. "That would be overdoing it a bit."

"Are we still supposed to be in China?" Pooh asked cautiously.

"No, we're through explaining and now we're back at the writing table."

"Oh."

"Well, we're just in time for something to eat," he added, wandering over to the kitchen cupboard.

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Best book I've read in many a moon. Being (I think) an adult I had misgivings buying a book based on Winnie-the-Pooh but, oh my, this is a beautiful, illuminating, charming, entertaining and intelligent book and one which spent 49 weeks in the New York Times bestseller list and is so eloquent in explaining a somewhat counter-intuitive and ofen little-understood philosophy that it is required reading in some college courses. A fine read.

[SmokeMeAKipper]

Finished Hyperion by Dan Simmons yesterday - probably the best book I've read this year. The ending was a little abrupt (and leads directly into the sequel) but the individual pilgrim's stories were all excellent and tied together well. The sense of foreboding and the description of the journey reminded me slightly of Conrad's Heart of Darkness / Apocalypse Now and the character of the Shrike ties it all together. Having a quick break with a John Grisham book before hitting the sequel.

[Fader209]

Really confused me of how I had heard of Hyperion yet never read it so I dug around on Amazon and found it was part of the S.F.Matserworks series I had read The Forever War and Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep and had obviously looked further into the series to see what to buy next. May have to pick that up as you liked it so much!

[SmokeMeAKipper]

I still have The Forever War on my to read list! Most of those SF Masterworks come highly recommended (by definition!) so look through the list of them for further classic sci-fi suggestions.


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I am here: http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=53.598173,-2.835587

[EvilBoris]

Funny you should mention Hyperion, I saw it on a list of must read sci-fi books just the other day.

http://blamcast.net/articles/best-science-fiction-books

[Fader209]

I still have The Forever War on my to read list! Most of those SF Masterworks come highly recommended (by definition!) so look through the list of them for further classic sci-fi suggestions.

Shame postage on books is a bit crap or I would send you The Forever War
I have Richard Morgans "Black Man" for anyone who is interested for keeps, not a big fan of his writing so it seems silly to keep it.

Currently reading Blood & Iron by Tony Ballantyne. Very good read and I have been looking forward to it after enjoying Twisted Metal so much. Imagine a world inhabited by robots yet their whole character and emotion is very human: Love, religion and war playing a big part.

[Charlie]

Walden, or Life in the Woods - Henry David Thoreau



A fascinating look at the two years poet, author, philosopher, naturalist, historian and transcendentalist - Henry David Thoreau - spent living in a little log cabin he built in the woods in Concord, Massachusetts in 1845. Regarded as an American classic, the book interweaves his daily life and routine in the woods with his meditations on human existence, society, government, and other topics. Credited with influencing Tolstoy, Ghandi, Martin Luther King and other thinkers, the book's a masterpiece of philosophical reflection full of wisdom and beauty of style.

Some brilliant excerpts:

"A truly good book teaches me better than to read it. I must soon lay it down, and commence living on it's hint.
What I began by reading, I must finish by acting."

"Men sometimes speak as if the study of the classics would at length make way for more modern and practical studies; but the adventurous student will always study classics, in whatever language they may be written and however ancient they may be. For what are the classics but the noblest recorded thoughts of man? They are the only oracles which are not decayed, and there are such answers to the most modern inquiry in them as Delphi and Dodona never gave. We might as well omit to study Nature because she is old. To read well, that is, to read true books in a true spirit, is a noble exercise, and one that will task the reader more than any exercise which the customs of the day esteem."

"A man, any man, will go considerably out of his way to pick up a silver dollar; but here are golden words, which the wisest men of antiquity have uttered, and whose worth the wise of every succeeding age have assured us of;- and yet we learn to read only as far as Easy Reading, the primers and class-books, and when we leave school, the "Little Reading," and story-books, which are for boys and beginners; and our reading, our conversation and thinking, are all on a very low level, worthy only of pygmies and manikins."

"I aspire to be acquainted with wiser men than this our Concord soil has produced, whose names are hardly known here. Or shall I hear the name of Plato and never read his book? We are underbred and low-lived and illiterate; and in this respect I confess I do not make any very broad distinction between the illiterateness of my townsman who cannot read at all and the illiterateness of him who has learned to read only what is for children and feeble intellects. We should be as good as the worthies of antiquity, but partly by first knowing how good they were. We are a race of tit-men, and soar but little higher in our intellectual flights than the columns of the daily paper."

"How many a man has dated a new era in his life from the reading of a book! The book exists for us, perchance, which will explain our miracles and reveal new ones. The at present unutterable things we may find somewhere uttered. These same questions that disturb and puzzle and confound us have in their turn occurred to all the wise men; not one has been omitted; and each has answered them, according to his ability, by his words and his life. Moreover, with wisdom we shall learn liberality. The solitary hired man on a farm in the outskirts of Concord, who has had his second birth and peculiar religious experience, and is driven as he believes into the silent gravity and exclusiveness by his faith, may think it is not true; but Zoroaster, thousands of years ago, travelled the same road and had the same experience; but he, being wise, knew it to be universal."

[Finsbury Girl]

Funny you should mention Hyperion, I saw it on a list of must read sci-fi books just the other day.

http://blamcast.net/articles/best-science-fiction-books

Some duffers in that list, but some pearlers as well. Hyperion is awesome.