I am Jackie Chan- told by Jackie Chan and For Whom the Bell Tolls- Ernest Hemingway

my name is jon janoson i come from wisconson....

Wade Davis, Passage to Darkness; The Ethnobiology of the Hatian Zombie

Finishing up The Stranger by Camus again... I love this book!

What If? its by multiple authers and I can't remember them right now cool book though.

currently reading American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis.
recently finished reading Invisible Monsters by Chuck Palahniuk, it was by far the greatest book i have ever read and i strongly recommend it to everyone.

Terry Goodkind's Naked Empire.

Jim Harrison - Sundog

Both very good books, but I think they were a little too similar. I'm not sure why, because the plots are completely different, but I think that basically everyone should read those books.

I'll look at it.


I didn't like Catcher much at all. Catch-22, on the other hand, is one of my favorite books. I very much like the dark humor. Most people I've talked about the book with seem to either really like it, or really not like it.

The web needs more of this. Not sure if that book is any good though :P

That book sounds interesting, tell me what you think of it when you are done.

A friend of mine claimed that this was the best book he ever read, and learned Russian primarily to read this book. I intend to read it very soon.

I'm unsure of the <i>Salmon of Doubt</i>, since it was unfinished, I have so far refused to read it. The other books by Douglas Adams were very entertaining though.

A few people mentioned <i>Siddharta</i> by Hesse, should I read this book?

I used to read fantasy books a lot as a kid, and this series, while interesting, didn't seem all that exceptional when I read the first book a few months ago. I'm not sure what people like about it so much.

He wrote another book, <i>An Anthropologist on Mars</i>. The stories were interesting, but I can't say that I enjoyed it <i>that</i> much.

I intend to read this eventually, he also wrote <i>Snow Crash</i>, an entertaining, if cheesy cyberpunk novel. And <i>Diamond Age</i>, a less interetaining book, although I liked the environment it took place in.




And finally, I am reading <i>The Once and Future King</i> by T.H. White, an entertaining if slow book. A much different picture of King Arthur and the Knights than I had seen before.

Pastoralia by George Saunders

Bones of the Moon by Johnathan Carroll



I can't just read one thing at a time.

Harry potter and goblet of fire

I was told I had to read all five this summer

IM just fiished a play yesterday...it was Arthur millers...creation of the world and other business
IM also reading tao of physics

mr. nice by howard marks

The Entire series of "Exalted" RPG Rulebooks and fiction from White Wolf Press.

I'm slowly working thru Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. It was interupted by Harry Potter book 5 and Akria book 6

The Hunt For Bin Laden...Task Force Dagger...Robin Moore

Zen is a great book!

I'm currently reading some kurt vonnegut, Cat's Cradle-after which I'll be reading timequake.

Naked, by David Sedaris. 1/2 way through and still not sure what I think of it. I'll keep you posted.

"Tough guys don't dance" by Norman Mailer. Found it in the attic. Something about reading a old ,yellowing book that makes me have to read it. Good book so far. If your looking for a good american writer of recent years check out Mailer.

What Went Wrong -a book about why the Middle East was the height of civilization a few centuries ago, well ahead of Europe and America in culture and technology and is now- well, having a bit of trouble.

And Summer Camp2 by Scipio

Carter Beats The Devil by Glen David Gold.

Another Harry Potter 5 read here...

Actually, I started it the day it came out, but have been on page 195 ever since...it just sits on my desk :eek:

Maybe I should finish that...

Confederates in the Attic - Tony Horwitz

Thinner by Richard Bachman (aka Stephen KING)

Hagakure: The Book of the Samurai

-- by Yamamoto Tsunetomo,
William Scott Wilson (Translator)

I just finished Flesh and Blood, Jonathan Kellerman (a good no brainer). Next up, either East of Eden or just required school reading, depends on my mood.

Porno by Irvine Welsh

nulltype, what an entertaining post!

This is a cross-post of a message I just left in the Entertainment board.

=========================

I'm wondering if fellow boardmembers have some favourite books.

Here's my top 10 (in no particular order)

Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
Perhaps the world's best anti-war novel. Breath-taking, hilarious, yet full of pathos. This book changed the way I look at life.

The Making of the Atomic Bomb - Richard Rhodes
Truly amazing book on the science, people and events that led to the creation of the most powerful weapon the world had seen. This book is breath taking in scope, extremely well written, covers military history, science, biography and is written in a lucid and very engaging prose.
Winner of the Pulitzer Prize.

The Scramble for Africa - Thomas Pakenham
Another excellent book of great scope. Very much an eye-opener. The way the Europeans "raped" Africa is enough to make the blood boil. Who would have thought, for example, that the Belgians were so rapacious?

Stalingrad - Anthony Beevor
Deservedly a best seller. If this doesn't bring home to you the horrors of war, then you have no soul. :) Well researched, well written and well deserved of its fame and popularity

An Anatomy of Thought - Ian Glynn
The best, single volume, introduction on how the mind works (with apologies to Steven Pinker!) available. Your brain is a wonderful thing. Do yourself a favour, and feed it by reading this book.

In Search of Schrodinger's Cat - John Gribban
Over 10 years old, but still the standard by which all introductions to Quantum Physics are measured. Gribban offers a great history of this amazing area of physics and explains extremely complicated concepts in (usually) an easy to understand manner.

The Civil War Trilogy - Shelby Foote
Magesterial 3 volume history in that most important of America's wars. These books will open a whole new world to you; that of the early Americans and their struggles that nearly resulted in the fall of the US. Perhaps the best written book I've ever read

Cicero - Anthony Everitt
Besides Robert Massie's biography of Peter the Great, this is probably the best study of a famous historical character in print (my opinion of course). Brings the Roman Late Republic truly to life. An amazing man and an amazing life...

Citizens - Simon Schama
Quite astounding revisionist history of the French Revolution. From its first paragraph to the epilogue 800 pages later, this book grabs you and doesn't let go. The quote from Chinese Premier Zhou En-lai, where he was asked "What was the significance of the French Revolution" and he answered after a moments thought "It's too soon to tell" is the kind of scene or anecdote that really makes this book a must read.

Origins Reconsidered - Richard Leakey & Roger Lewin
A superb summary of the evolution of human kind, that starts with Leakey's discovery of the now famous "Turkana Boy" remains in Africa.




Now you may notice a preponderance of non-fiction. I have to admit I prefer factual works, but if I was to add any more fiction books The Life of Pi by Yann Martel and perhaps A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth would have to be included.

I used to read a lot of SF, but to be honest, that's 99.9% crap, with the notable exception of anything by Iain M Banks.


Hope you share with me some of your favourites and the reasons you love them.

PS - What am I reading NOW??

Three books.

Swords against the Senate - Erik Hildinger
A highly entertaining book on how the Roman Army was instrumental in the fall of the Republic during the 1st Century BC

The Nuremberg Trial - Ann and John Tusa
Eye-opening, disturbing, fascinating account of the International War Crimes Tribunal held in Nuremberg after the end of WWII

and

Food - A History - Felipe Fernandez-Armesto
A short, and utterly delightful, history of food. A lot more interesting than it sounds!!


Mr Mephisto

Opengl and C++ books, nothing specific.

i like to read multiple books at the same time...

currently..

ladders to fire by anais nin
dharma punx by levine (thats his last name anyway..)
and some self-help book called "women who think too much" haha :-x

Anais Lin?...

Saucy...

:)

Mr Mephisto

haha i love her journals. so i decided i should try reading her fiction as well ;)

I am currently rereading Anne Rice's witch books. I love her work.

This topic? :P

Nothing really at the moment.

I'm plowing through The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner right now. I haven't gotten into it really but I'm only on page 50...

I've just finished 'harry potter and the order of the phoenix', and I wanted to borrow 'The Hobbit' from a friend of mine.

what an untimely questions.

I'm currently plowing through fantasty crap.

And also finishing up "The Ice Storm" on the side.

The plots are different enough that I don't have to worry about a mixup. ;)

Rotary-Wing Aerodynamics
 

by W.Z. Stephniewski and C.N. Keys

It's hardcore stuff and makes me want to cry at the sheer beauty and sheer difficulty of the material.

'main book' (what i read every night may it be 10 or 100 pages) right now is The Stone of Farewell by Tad williams. its the second book in a series and a pleasure to read.

a book i read in dosses right now is 'the portable voltaire'

and when working the 'javascript pocketbook' is a life saver.


i have 'a game of throwns' waiting.

as soon as i can i plan to hit all f Vachss works..... its just so fucking expensive..