Comments on: The Written Word http://disengage.ca/2009/12/the-written-word/ a quest for the technomadic lifestyle Mon, 14 May 2012 04:21:02 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 By: daddymak http://disengage.ca/2009/12/the-written-word/comment-page-1/#comment-32 daddymak Mon, 21 Dec 2009 04:12:20 +0000 http://disengage.ca/?p=452#comment-32 This Summer I read Motherless Brooklyn, it was quite good. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motherless_Brooklyn I also read a couple of Graham Greene novels, The Quiet American, Our Man in Havana. Timothy Findley's collection of short stories Dinner Along the Amazon was another good read. Snowcrash was awesome, I should read the others, but my to-read list is pretty long right now. This Summer I read Motherless Brooklyn, it was quite good.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motherless_Brooklyn

I also read a couple of Graham Greene novels, The Quiet American, Our Man in Havana. Timothy Findley’s collection of short stories Dinner Along the Amazon was another good read.

Snowcrash was awesome, I should read the others, but my to-read list is pretty long right now.

]]> By: haidan http://disengage.ca/2009/12/the-written-word/comment-page-1/#comment-31 haidan Sat, 19 Dec 2009 04:57:30 +0000 http://disengage.ca/?p=452#comment-31 Oh how could I forget, not exactly reading material but definitely an answer your how to survive False Creek in the winter dilemma: Podcasts and Audiobooks their free and take very little power to run even less than books (at night anyway) I highly recommend the radiolab podcast. Oh how could I forget, not exactly reading material but definitely an answer your how to survive False Creek in the winter dilemma: Podcasts and Audiobooks their free and take very little power to run even less than books (at night anyway) I highly recommend the radiolab podcast.

]]> By: Greg Pfeil http://disengage.ca/2009/12/the-written-word/comment-page-1/#comment-30 Greg Pfeil Thu, 17 Dec 2009 14:53:27 +0000 http://disengage.ca/?p=452#comment-30 Don’t forget “The Diamond Age”, which Stephenson wrote between “Snowcrash” and “Cryptonomicon” (and also happens to be between them in length). Philip K. Dick is great – “The Man in the High Castle” practically invented alternative history, and reading the “VALIS” trilogy was frighteningly close to a psychotropic experience. “Cat’s Cradle” and “Welcome to the Monkey House” are great introductions to Vonnegut, but I’m surprised Trent gave you “Breakfast of Champions”. Strictly speaking, it’s not a sequel, but it brings back a number of characters from earlier novels, and I think having those under your belt makes it more digestible. My favorite authors include Dick and Vonnegut, but also Martin Amis, and Graham Greene (those two are pretty far outside the SF genre). Neal Gaiman is also great. And I really enjoyed “Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell” by Susanna Clarke. To move away from fiction a bit, “Gödel, Escher, Bach” by Douglas Hofstadter (as well as some of his other books, like “Le Ton beau de Marot”) and “The Fabric of Reality” by David Deutsch are just mind-blowing. As far as getting rid of books, I went through the same thing when I moved east (and really, I’m still culling). The Kindle (DX – need to be able to read technical PDFs) has helped a lot with preventing further book accumulation. Also, using a site like http://weread.com/ to rate and keep track of what I’ve read/want to read have made it possible for me to stop storing those lists in bulky paperback form. I have one additional category of books I keep – those I’m likely to lend. But I can see how that doesn’t make the grade when you live on a boat. Don’t forget “The Diamond Age”, which Stephenson wrote between “Snowcrash” and “Cryptonomicon” (and also happens to be between them in length). Philip K. Dick is great – “The Man in the High Castle” practically invented alternative history, and reading the “VALIS” trilogy was frighteningly close to a psychotropic experience.

“Cat’s Cradle” and “Welcome to the Monkey House” are great introductions to Vonnegut, but I’m surprised Trent gave you “Breakfast of Champions”. Strictly speaking, it’s not a sequel, but it brings back a number of characters from earlier novels, and I think having those under your belt makes it more digestible.

My favorite authors include Dick and Vonnegut, but also Martin Amis, and Graham Greene (those two are pretty far outside the SF genre). Neal Gaiman is also great. And I really enjoyed “Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell” by Susanna Clarke.

To move away from fiction a bit, “Gödel, Escher, Bach” by Douglas Hofstadter (as well as some of his other books, like “Le Ton beau de Marot”) and “The Fabric of Reality” by David Deutsch are just mind-blowing.

As far as getting rid of books, I went through the same thing when I moved east (and really, I’m still culling). The Kindle (DX – need to be able to read technical PDFs) has helped a lot with preventing further book accumulation. Also, using a site like http://weread.com/ to rate and keep track of what I’ve read/want to read have made it possible for me to stop storing those lists in bulky paperback form. I have one additional category of books I keep – those I’m likely to lend. But I can see how that doesn’t make the grade when you live on a boat.

]]> By: haidan http://disengage.ca/2009/12/the-written-word/comment-page-1/#comment-29 haidan Thu, 17 Dec 2009 02:17:52 +0000 http://disengage.ca/?p=452#comment-29 One of my favourite in the Sci-fi genre is a trilogy written by Mervyn Peake, The Gormenghast Trilogy it's pretty dark and creepy The author sorta built his life around the semi-surreal he did some interesting illustrations for Alice in Wonderland, his books, the first two fit together smoothly but he was slowly dying as he wrote the trilogy and I think the last book was put together by his partner and it's kinda a stand alone book but it's good too. Other sci-fi.... hmm... Ursula LeGuin has written a couple of good books The Disposed, The left hand of darkness. Dorris Lessing also some good books mainly thinking of Mara and Dan which is a post apocalypse thingy. Sailing books.... I found Slocum's book very hard to get into and have yet to continue reading the last 3/4s I liked The Wind is Free by Frank Wightman (Wylo) One Sci-fi author I've always enjoyed is Isaac Asimov, although I have yet to read any of his fiction his essays are awesome tidbits of use-full/less knowledge that are one of those easy to find anywhere and always worth a read type of books he's written some crazy amount o books something like 500 or so. One of my favourite in the Sci-fi genre is a trilogy written by Mervyn Peake, The Gormenghast Trilogy it’s pretty dark and creepy The author sorta built his life around the semi-surreal he did some interesting illustrations for Alice in Wonderland, his books, the first two fit together smoothly but he was slowly dying as he wrote the trilogy and I think the last book was put together by his partner and it’s kinda a stand alone book but it’s good too.
Other sci-fi…. hmm… Ursula LeGuin has written a couple of good books The Disposed, The left hand of darkness. Dorris Lessing also some good books mainly thinking of Mara and Dan which is a post apocalypse thingy.
Sailing books…. I found Slocum’s book very hard to get into and have yet to continue reading the last 3/4s I liked The Wind is Free by Frank Wightman (Wylo)
One Sci-fi author I’ve always enjoyed is Isaac Asimov, although I have yet to read any of his fiction his essays are awesome tidbits of use-full/less knowledge that are one of those easy to find anywhere and always worth a read type of books he’s written some crazy amount o books something like 500 or so.

]]> By: b1alpha http://disengage.ca/2009/12/the-written-word/comment-page-1/#comment-28 b1alpha Thu, 17 Dec 2009 00:48:57 +0000 http://disengage.ca/?p=452#comment-28 Oh and I want to read <a href="http://stackedblog.com/2009/12/11/sense-and-sensibility-and-seamonsters-by-jane-austen-and-ben-winters/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+stackedblog+(Stacked)&utm_content=Google+Reader" rel="nofollow">Sense and Sensibility and Seamonsters by Jane Austen and Ben Winters</a> thanks to Jeff G Oh and I want to read Sense and Sensibility and Seamonsters by Jane Austen and Ben Winters thanks to Jeff G

]]> By: b1alpha http://disengage.ca/2009/12/the-written-word/comment-page-1/#comment-27 b1alpha Thu, 17 Dec 2009 00:45:53 +0000 http://disengage.ca/?p=452#comment-27 I thought <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Rebel_(book)" rel="nofollow">The Rebel by Albert Camus</a> was pretty good I thought The Rebel by Albert Camus was pretty good

]]> By: Shell http://disengage.ca/2009/12/the-written-word/comment-page-1/#comment-26 Shell Wed, 16 Dec 2009 23:18:11 +0000 http://disengage.ca/?p=452#comment-26 I've been reading so much these days that I zone in on friend's bookshelf's, frequent the used book store and will pretty much read anything I can get my hands on. This has led to some utter crap but also widened the styles of books I read. I agree, Tom Robbins is fantastic. When I first tried one of his books, I didn't like the style. I had to get used to it. My favorite of his is Jitterbug perfume. I will reread that one many times. I love how Pan seems to show up in many of his books. Christopher Moore is lots of fun too. All of his books are great, but You suck is especially good. Canadian writer Will Ferguson is one of my favorites. Hitching Rides with Buddha is a great story about when he was in Japan and he decided to hitch from South to North Japan following the Sakura. Max Brooks wrote two books, Zombie Survival Guide and World War Z. Imagine if the world had to deal with a war against zombies. Sounds cheesy and lame but the way he dealt with the subject is brilliant. I also am a fan of Orson Scott Card. I'm sure you are well aware of this author but I love his books. Not just the Ender series but all of them. Hope that helps, I'm going to check out some of the books you mentioned. I've read Stephenson but I really hate the way he ends his books. I get lost in his books but then he ends them like he got bored and just wants it over with. His book, In the beginning was the command line was awesome though! I’ve been reading so much these days that I zone in on friend’s bookshelf’s, frequent the used book store and will pretty much read anything I can get my hands on. This has led to some utter crap but also widened the styles of books I read.

I agree, Tom Robbins is fantastic. When I first tried one of his books, I didn’t like the style. I had to get used to it. My favorite of his is Jitterbug perfume. I will reread that one many times. I love how Pan seems to show up in many of his books.

Christopher Moore is lots of fun too. All of his books are great, but You suck is especially good.

Canadian writer Will Ferguson is one of my favorites. Hitching Rides with Buddha is a great story about when he was in Japan and he decided to hitch from South to North Japan following the Sakura.

Max Brooks wrote two books, Zombie Survival Guide and World War Z. Imagine if the world had to deal with a war against zombies. Sounds cheesy and lame but the way he dealt with the subject is brilliant.

I also am a fan of Orson Scott Card. I’m sure you are well aware of this author but I love his books. Not just the Ender series but all of them.

Hope that helps, I’m going to check out some of the books you mentioned. I’ve read Stephenson but I really hate the way he ends his books. I get lost in his books but then he ends them like he got bored and just wants it over with. His book, In the beginning was the command line was awesome though!

]]> By: kmaki http://disengage.ca/2009/12/the-written-word/comment-page-1/#comment-25 kmaki Wed, 16 Dec 2009 22:22:08 +0000 http://disengage.ca/?p=452#comment-25 Anything by Tom Robbins. I've read three of his books and keep meaning to pick up others. They are rather odd, slightly twisted stories. He even put out his first kids book last year, B is for Beer. Yup a kids bedtime story about beer. Anything by Tom Robbins. I’ve read three of his books and keep meaning to pick up others. They are rather odd, slightly twisted stories. He even put out his first kids book last year, B is for Beer. Yup a kids bedtime story about beer.

]]>