What are you reading?

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Rolos
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Re: What are you reading?

Post by Rolos »

Just finished Reading "The Book of Sand" by Borges. I loved it. There's just something about the way he writes, a feeling of erudite humility, of International nationalism, of simple geniality. A master and an apprentice at the same time. I love that contradiction he imbues in every single one of his stories, a kind of casual depth. It's awesome and, more importantly, he makes you think. That's probably the reason he has been described as "a writer for writers".

Also started reading "American Psycho". It's hilarious, I love the main character.

PS: Funny (if a little inane) article: http://www.cracked.com/article_18529_6- ... -true.html
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Re: What are you reading?

Post by Femto »

Just got done reading The War of the Worlds and The Time Machine by H.G. Wells.

I'm currently plowing through Huxley's Brave New World.

Big science fiction fan here.
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Re: What are you reading?

Post by arke »

Brave New World >>> 1984.

I had to slog through The War of the Worlds. I think I got too caught up in the now grossly inaccurate science and couldn't appreciate it for what it was.
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Re: What are you reading?

Post by Femto »

arke wrote:Brave New World >>> 1984.

I had to slog through The War of the Worlds. I think I got too caught up in the now grossly inaccurate science and couldn't appreciate it for what it was.
I get a chuckle at most when I read dated science.

Doesn't really bother me.

Then again, it's amazing how current the stuff in Brave New World is.

That guy was way ahead of his time.

But yeah, when I finish that I'll probably pick up 1984 and I'll let you know how that goes.

I also have a book on the collected works of Poe that I haven't started and, apparently, A Song of Ice and Fire has some awesome fantasy stuff so I might check that out too.

There's also a bunch of Green Arrow trades I borrowed from a friend and I have the latest Starman Omnibus to plow through.

Wanna check out all the Arthur C. Clarke 2001 sequels as well even though I've heard mostly negative things about them.

But yeah, not a lack of reading material here but I'm also playing catch up with books because I've stuck to comics most of my life.
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Re: What are you reading?

Post by Rolos »

Read "Do androids dream of electric sheep?" a while ago. I liked it, but still consider "Blade Runner" (based on this book) to be way better. I think the whole theme of "Mercerism" could have been handled better. I also didn't like some of the things the author implied, like that societies can only exist because of empathy. Societies, if a little rough around the edges, are rational in nature. Rational creatures, even without empathy, could (and would) organize in societies.

Bought "Plato: the complete works". For 30 dollars. 30 fucking dollars. It's moments like this (and everything else, really, but especially these ones) that make having left Chile worth it.
Currently reading "Theaethetus"

P.S. Also bought Hobbes' "Leviathan" for 98 cents. New, not used.
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Re: What are you reading?

Post by Rolos »

Started reading "Essays Moral, Political, and Literary" by David Hume.
While I consider Empiricism as a whole to be excessively close-minded and fundamentally wrong as a philosophic approach (not that it isn't useful; it is a vital part of the scientific method, after all), most of Hume's attacks against traditional knowledge are extremely well constructed, and pretty much correct in every way. Not only that, they're also hilariously offensive, but only after a little reflection. The man was a pro at insulting peoples, races and genders. Such subtlety, such delicate delivery!
Currently reading "The stoic", one of his essays about epicurean philosophy.
If I had to point one thing I haven't liked about this book, it'd be just how fucking moderate he is about everything. It's like reading "Nicomachean Ethics" all over again. "The middle ground this, the middle ground that, the middle ground is always the best because blah, blah, blah"
Ugh.
(also, he sucks at political theory)

Finished reading "Cultural Shock: Japan". It was funny and educative.

Probably going to start reading "La chute" by Albert Camus now. It's gonna be the first book I read in french! I'm so excited. Feeling like a schoolgirl all over again. Which is weird, me being a guy and all.
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P.S. Is Ubik (the book) any good?
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Re: What are you reading?

Post by Rolos »

Started reading Baruch Spinoza's Theologico-Political Treatise.
I'm loving it. I had never thought much of Spinoza, I mean, his definition of love and hate, as well as all other "active" emotions were pretty fucking awesome, but I had always thought of him as "that other rationalist guy", the "guy who's like Descartes only he's not", etc...
Turns out his work is just as ground-breaking, if not more, than Descartes' method.
The only thing that bothers me is his lack of an "epistemological experiment" thingy, like Descartes did. I mean, how the hell could he answer the "how do you know?" empiricists (and first-year philosophy majors) love so much?
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Re: What are you reading?

Post by DrPepperPro »

Interesting fact: Koike Keiichi, the mangaka who made Ultra Heaven, also has a manga called Spinoza. There's pretty much no info on it though. http://www.mangaupdates.com/series.html?id=44993
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Re: What are you reading?

Post by Aluja »

I started reading "Team Medical Dragon" till chapter 63, but I think they dropped it. Art and all is quite good.

http://www.onemanga.com/Team_Medical_Dragon/

Also a Korean Manga named "The Breaker" it starts off as a Korean GTO, but it's all bout martial arts and that good stuff.

http://www.mangafox.com/manga/the_breaker/
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Re: What are you reading?

Post by Facade19 »

Rolos wrote:Started reading Baruch Spinoza's Theologico-Political Treatise.
I'm loving it. I had never thought much of Spinoza, I mean, his definition of love and hate, as well as all other "active" emotions were pretty fucking awesome, but I had always thought of him as "that other rationalist guy", the "guy who's like Descartes only he's not", etc...
Turns out his work is just as ground-breaking, if not more, than Descartes' method.
The only thing that bothers me is his lack of an "epistemological experiment" thingy, like Descartes did. I mean, how the hell could he answer the "how do you know?" empiricists (and first-year philosophy majors) love so much?

Rolos, when you get a chance, read Leo Strauss' essay on "How to Study the Theologico-Political Treatise."
Maybe you have already read it, but if not, do so. Whatever we might think of Strauss, he is one of the deepest readers I have ever encountered.


Currently I am reading Tolstoy's "War and Peace."
But with the world cup looming large, I have not read for a while.
It is all good.
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Re: What are you reading?

Post by Rolos »

Just finished reading Spinoza's "Ethics". It was...beautiful. Just beautiful.
I'd never read something as delightfully coherent and well structured as this strange little work. The format, if a little dry, was perfect for what it was trying to achieve: creating an entire system of thought based on independently conceived concepts, and their clearly defined relations. Wikipedia tells me that the format is called "Geometric", and that it is modeled after Euclid's "Elements", but that's just a description of the arrangement of the arguments, which doesn't really do any justice to Spinoza's work. The truly remarkable thing about the "Ethics" is how well defined were the concepts used, and how they were all made to fit into each other in one way or another. And the part about thought and extension as mirroring properties of the same fundamental substance (god or/as nature; deus sive natura), that was just genius. I doubt there is a better way to solve the whole dualism problem (if mind and body are completely different things, then why is it that things that affect the body can affect the mind (like a cup of coffee)?).
I'm pretty sure Spinoza's cosmology (as laid down on this book) is almost completely compatible with (information, energy, living) System's theory, which I think is going to be the prevalent system of thought this century.

And since I brought up the subject, I guess I should mention that I started reading "Information: a very short introduction" by Luciano Floridi. I love it!
Epistemology (now called information theory, I suppose, unless you want to ignore all the new developments brought about by the creation of machines capable of dealing with data, information and knowledge, and stick to archaic terminology) has always been the subject I like the most, besides Biology, and this book has opened a whole new world for me.
Just think of the possibilities! A whole new area of knowledge that needs proper framing! And if you lean more to the pragmatic side, there's MTC (Mathematical Theory of Communication), or Programing formats that need a lot more work and developing. What has caught my attention the most, however, are the possibilities open to an enterprising scientist in the fields that deal with the interaction of analogue and digital computers. More specifically, the brain and digital computers.
I need a lot more instruction to properly understand what I'll read on this subject, though, which is why I have to find more books on the subject.
Does anyone happen to know where I could find "The Nature of Information" by Paul Young, at an accessible price?
I also need recommendations of books I could use to learn a)basic programming b)the physics necessary to understand how a computer works (in depth).
Currently studying math using an old copy of Stuart's "Calculus I". (good and bad) Math books are ridiculously expensive.

P.S. Also started reading Osamu tezuka's "Phoenix". It's...less than I expected.
P.S.S. Leo Strauss rules. The one thing I don't like about him is his tendency to assume everyone in power is some sort of malevolent genius. Have you ever read his analysis of Plato's "Republic"?
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Re: What are you reading?

Post by Facade19 »

Rolos, sorry for the very late reply.
Am very busy. Just started law school ( a week ago and had to move).
I have read portions of Strauss on Plato's Republic (In the City and Man).
I did study his 5 lectures on "The Problem of Socrates" as well his essays on the Art of Writing (several).
To be blatantly blunt, I spent 3 years studying political philosophy with a Straussian trained professor.
The last student of Strauss mentored my mentor. But, somewhere along the lines, he read Heidegger and then Derrida and then Foucault. You know what sort of trouble that can lead you to. Personally, I think Strauss was an ardent reader of Nietzsche. For me personally, I would consider myself more of a supporter of a Nietzschean Strauss, than a Platonic Strauss. After all, did not Farabi teach Plato to Strauss?

I think it is better left to a good conversation than a public spectacle to discuss the teachings of Plato.
The mere idea of communicating the thoughts of Plato are in contradiction to Plato's cautionary voice.
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Re: What are you reading?

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Facade19 wrote:Rolos, sorry for the very late reply.
Am very busy. Just started law school ( a week ago and had to move).
I have read portions of Strauss on Plato's Republic (In the City and Man).
I did study his 5 lectures on "The Problem of Socrates" as well his essays on the Art of Writing (several).
To be blatantly blunt, I spent 3 years studying political philosophy with a Straussian trained professor.
The last student of Strauss mentored my mentor. But, somewhere along the lines, he read Heidegger and then Derrida and then Foucault. You know what sort of trouble that can lead you to. Personally, I think Strauss was an ardent reader of Nietzsche. For me personally, I would consider myself more of a supporter of a Nietzschean Strauss, than a Platonic Strauss. After all, did not Farabi teach Plato to Strauss?

I think it is better left to a good conversation than a public spectacle to discuss the teachings of Plato.
The mere idea of communicating the thoughts of Plato are in contradiction to Plato's cautionary voice.

Hahahahah, dude, your post was way over my head. I've read Heidegger (one essay) and Focault (one book), and I have heard of Derrida (I have a friend who loves him), but that's pretty much it. I read those books because it seemed life fun (as I have mentioned before, I am a very boring person), while you seem to have studied them in depth.
If I had to choose a side in terms of political theory, I'd probably lean towards political realism, but I that'd probably be because, from a historical perspective, realists seem to be the ones that are usually right (I'm thinking Metternich, Castleborough and Kissinger), and not because of a deeply held philosophical conviction.
To be honest, I find Hegelian History to be much more entertaining. Have you ever read "The End of History", by Francis Fukuyama? It's a very short essay, very entertaining, if a little close-minded (it didn't take into account trans-humanism, or the eventual impact of the internet on politics).
I recommend "Mein Keimpf", if you haven't read it. It's pretty funny, I laughed my ass off reading it. Poor guy didn't seem to understand Nietzsche.

Oh, and by the way, I started reading "How We Became Posthuman: Virtual Bodies in Cybernetics, Literature, and Informatics" by N. Katherine Hayles and "Does America Need a Foreign Policy? : Toward a Diplomacy for the 21st Century" by Henry Kissinger.
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Re: What are you reading?

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So, yeah, I read Kissinger's books.
See that plural? That means I also read "Diplomacy: A touchstone book".
And I...I am a little disappointed.
Not by "Diplomacy", that one was awesome, but "Does America" was very, well, weak.
The parallels he established between 17th century Europe, the Middle East, 19th century Europe and the Far East, respectively, were simply impeccable. It illustrated the nature of each conflict very well, and brought to light solutions that were actually pretty obvious, but no one would have thought of if it wasn't for the comparisons he made. An egg of Columbus kinda thing.
But that's about all I found remarkable about it. That's quite a weighty statement, I know, but I was seriously surprised at how short-sighted he proved to be on other matters, such as the potential development of a stronger EU-US relation, or how to deal with the new Russia. And the course of action he recommended on Irak? Invasion! How inefficient is that? Pitting Irak against Iran would be much more effective, and far less costly. I know it seems hard, but I'm convinced it was doable.
I've always liked his completely amoral approach to diplomacy, and I, well, I admire the man. I believe he's the Metternich, the Castleborough, the Bismarck of our era. So it was very shocking for me to see that his mind-set is, apparently, still stuck in the 20th century. National interests are irrelevant, or at least viable to be considered secondary, in an era of commonwealths. The time of the countries, even the super-countries, is over. Inter-connectivity is much more important than it was before, and that should be taken into account when defining the overall diplomatic strategy you're going to follow (so commonwealths for the win). Kissinger mentions the Internet, of course, but he passively dismisses its impact.
Aaaah, I got carried away. Point is, it is a good book, if you're looking for a brilliant, if a little obsolete, view of the diplomatic situation of the world today.
And "Diplomacy", well, that one is just great. It's more like one big essay, but it's very good at describing the fundamentals of modern international relations. Must-read.
Oh, and I also read the entire "Dresden Files" collection. Very entertaining.

Kind of an addendum, because it's not much of a reading thing as it is of studying, but I also bought "Let's Learn Kanji", "Let's Learn Katakana", "Let's learn Hiragana" and "Japanese step by step: an innovative way to learn japanese".
If I'm gonna be a polyglot, might as well do it well, right? Wait. That sounded weird. Ah, fuck it.
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Re: What are you reading?

Post by tsubaimomo »

Rolos -- our next translator! Perhaps?
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Re: What are you reading?

Post by War Machine »

tsubaimomo wrote:Rolos -- our next translator! Perhaps?
Careful what you wish for, if you can't understand him when he's speaking one language imagine how it is when he translates.
"Clearly my escape had not been anticipated, or my benevolent master would not have expended such efforts to prevent me from going. And if my departure displeased him, then that was a victory, however small, for me." - Raziel
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Re: What are you reading?

Post by Rolos »

With all due respect, sir, I find that allegation to be unfair and insulting! Why, I might even consider demanding reparations in the near future! And I might do it without nicely asking first if it's ok with you.
...
That was too much, wasn't it? God, I'm so sorry!
Nah, I'm not! Hah! What an ingenious verbal feint! I am such a fiend! (did that sentence just now rhyme? Dude, that was vaguely Lacanian! I think. I never really got that thing with the mirror and the verbal symbolism.)

I hereby issue a challenge in the form of a vaguely related youtube link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fbPdVoQj-DU

Take that! No one doubts my linguistic prowess and gets away with it unscathed!

P.S. Are my posts really difficult to read? If it's because they make no sense then I don't care, but if I have been making glaring grammatical mistakes without noticing, would it be too much to ask you to point them out when I do? (I believe that was a run-on sentence right now. Possibly.)
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Re: What are you reading?

Post by DrPepperPro »

There's no nouns in your sentences, I think. Is that helpful?
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Re: What are you reading?

Post by Starnum »

LMAO, yeah honestly, sometimes they're a little crazy sounding. Though I still can't decide if that's just because you're insane more than lacking the grasp of the language, or not, lol. You're grammar is good enough most of the time, and you do usually make sense in a disturbing kind of way, heh. Who has time to correct your grammar? It's just interwebz posts, meh. Besides, I'm usually too busy proofing my own shit, lol. :P

(Note to self: Always too many damn commas in my sentences! Must kill them, kill them all! *Begins merc'ing commas*)
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Re: What are you reading?

Post by Mail »

I have trouble reading Rolos' posts sometimes, but more because of content. I've yet to notice a grammatical error.
Rolos wrote:Oh, and I also read the entire "Dresden Files" collection. Very entertaining.
Might you be referring to the series by Jim Butcher?
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Re: What are you reading?

Post by tsubaimomo »

I too applaud the fine grammar and word choice that Rolos usually exhibits, even if it can be somewhat ranting at times.

And from now on, I want EVERYONE on the lookout for ANY grammer/spelling errors made by Rolos.
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Re: What are you reading?

Post by Rolos »

Oh...Oh God...What have I done?
I have awakened the most feared creature of the Netherweb, the most vile of Undernet institutions! The Internet Grammar Gestapo lives once again, and it is my fault, and my fault only!
Why? Why did I have to post the forbidden passages of the Forumnomicon Mortis?
I have doomed us all.
Oh well, shit happens.

I just bought (or more accurately, it just arrived) a book titled "How Computers Work -Processor and Main memory-" by Roger Young, and I've been reading it since yesterday. Needless to say, it is awesome.
Before reading this book, I hadn't fully realized just how cool computers are. They're Logic Machines! How awesome is that?
Remember in basic Math, when you had to learn all that boring (or so it seemed at the time) crap about True statements, Tautologies, and formalized relations (OR, AND, IF...THEREFORE, etc...), and those monstrous tables you had to make to prove whether statement A was true or false depending on whether statement B was true or not, but also taking into consideration statements C, D, E, F, ad fucking finitum?
Computers do just that, only they use keys, and loops, and relays (transistors), and the thing that gives value to stuff is electricity!
I know it seems like I'm saying something obvious that everyone knows, but that's (possibly) because you haven't realized the implications of what I'm saying. It means computers can make arguments! Well, not really, because what the machine produces has no semantic content by itself, but the same could be said for mathematics (I'm not even gonna get into the whole deduction scandal thing, way too difficult to discuss and I'm not even entirely sure I get it).
This brings a whole new meaning to this old short story I read a while ago: A Logic named Joe
Anyway, computers are cool. I wonder how the human brain works, compared to that.

Mail wrote:Might you be referring to the series by Jim Butcher?
The very same.
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.....
MAY BE!
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Re: What are you reading?

Post by War Machine »

I wasn't insulting your grammatical prowess, but rather the fact that you go everywhere in each post. I feel like I'm reading a Monty Python sketch when I read your posts.

I'm just joking though, no offense.

Anyway, if you wanna know how computers work take a course in Assembly Language, you write code in very basic statements and get to work directly with the processor's architecture (how a 32-bit line gets interpreted as an instruction, and even figure out which instruction by reading the binary values). Actually, as I was taking a class in assembly language programming, I used what I learned there to write a presentation in "how computers work" for a communications class.
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Re: What are you reading?

Post by Mail »

Rolos wrote:The very same.
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MAY BE!
I'm gonna take that as your version of a simple "Yes"

I'm reading the series too (up to Death Masks right now) and I gotta say it's pretty awesome.
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Re: What are you reading?

Post by Facade19 »

Gone for a few months and the thread already derailed into this...

Anyway, Rolos, I am sorry that I did not reply sooner.
I am busy. Very busy to be honest.

Law School sucks. You become a mechanical, droid.
That is the reality of this.

I read cases, after cases, rules after rules, and I feel dumber with each passing minute.
Yup, the great place of intellectual exchange? A Myth. They just want you to do it one way.
Do not ask questions that delineate from the general path.
A parochial comedy indeed.

I cannot wait till my winter break.
I will throw away all these mindless books, everyone of them.
I will purchase myself a copy of the Gorgias and indulge my lust of reading and thinking.
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