Jump to content

What are you reading?


syn2083

Recommended Posts

Finished off Masters of Doom, was a good quick read while at the barber. Seems very dramatized but it was nice to learn about Carmack and Romero's development at Softdisk then kind of stabbing that company in the back. Carmack does come across as an emotionless ****, but Romero does as well, or just being clueless. So I guess they are two jerks with no sense of loyalty from their portrayal in the book

  • Like 1

Why has elegance found so little following? Elegance has the disadvantage that hard work is needed to achieve it and a good education to appreciate it. - Edsger Wybe Dijkstra

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Now reading The Returned by Jason Mott. This definitely lived up to the hype.

"While it is true you learn with age, the down side is what you often learn is what a damn fool you were before"

Thomas Sowell

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Tried to purchase the "SAS Survival Handbook" mentioned in another thread from the iBooks store but they only offer the "Urban Survival" version. Meh. Of course, I should probably rethink my priorities if Im trying to buy a survival book on a medium that requires power. :lol:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Of course, I should probably rethink my priorities if Im trying to buy a survival book on a medium that requires power. :lol:

 

You are looking into going fully solar powered at home so you can recharge your device? ;)

Unobtrusively informing you about my new ebook (which you should feel free to read and shower with praise).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Tried to purchase the "SAS Survival Handbook" mentioned in another thread from the iBooks store but they only offer the "Urban Survival" version. Meh. Of course, I should probably rethink my priorities if Im trying to buy a survival book on a medium that requires power. :lol:

 

I'm now imagining you stalking through the forest, as civilisation burns in the distance, attempting to creep up on the USB port of a porcupine.

  • Like 2

"It wasn't lies. It was just... bull****"."

             -Elwood Blues

 

tarna's dead; processing... complete. Disappointed by Universe. RIP Hades/Sand/etc. Here's hoping your next alt has a harp.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Just reading this book:

514X5KAY3fL.jpg

Its the war memoirs of a German sergeant commanding a 8.5 cm mortar crew in Russia and east Prussia from 1943 to the end of the war in 1945.
The stuff that happened there every single day is absolutely unimaginable, hundreds and sometimes thousands of soldier slaughtered in battles each day, injured soldiers that were simply left behind, artillery blowing up fellow soldiers next to the author so he gets splattered with body parts and brain mass. 
Never has the use of the word ''apocalyptic'' been more justified than in this book, the wars fought today seem like harmless incidents compared to this hell. 

  • Like 2

I gazed at the dead, and for one dark moment I saw a banquet. 
 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Finished Wonderful Wizard of Oz with the munchkin. They cut out quite a bit in the movie. Started on The Marvelous Land of Oz now. This is making me wonder why, with everyone wanting a franchise like Harry Potter and such, no one has tried starting the Oz books over and adapting the later ones too.

The area between the balls and the butt is a hotbed of terrorist activity.

Devastatorsig.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

After reading the entire Gotrek and Felix I thought I should read something a bit more grown up, so I'm onto the Diary of Anne Frank.

 

It is actually _both_ readably written, and packed with interesting vignettes and facts. Giving a picture of persecution, and occupied Holland, while at the same time being frequently very funny.

 

Previously Holland was pretty much just Herman Giskes and MARKET GARDEN. Now I picture all the tired faces and colourful coats and women 'blown out' by potatoes.

 

I'm only half way through so I can't comment on the ending, but it is already hard to think that the author is going to perish so cruelly.

 

Heartily recommended.

  • Like 1

"It wasn't lies. It was just... bull****"."

             -Elwood Blues

 

tarna's dead; processing... complete. Disappointed by Universe. RIP Hades/Sand/etc. Here's hoping your next alt has a harp.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Finished Wild Cards, out of all the characters they showcased, Yeoman was my favorite.

 

On to book 2 of the Neverwinter trilogy.

  • Like 1
The area between the balls and the butt is a hotbed of terrorist activity.

Devastatorsig.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Stephen King is releasing a sequel to The Shining. It has Danny Torrence later on in life coping with alcoholism and dealing with his psychic abilities with great difficulty. might be worth a look.

  • Like 1

"While it is true you learn with age, the down side is what you often learn is what a damn fool you were before"

Thomas Sowell

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Almost finished with The Name of the Wind

 

Next up is The Wise Man's Fear

 

Man, I've never been so entertained by such a boring story. Rothfuss writes so well that I don't mind he spends his entire time in this beautifully realized fantasy universe having his main character fuss over student loans. Can't wait for book 3 of Kvothe's stressful time in school.

Edited by TrueNeutral
  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

It never snows in September, Op. Market Garden from the German perspective.

 

Easily as good as Cornelius Ryan's A Bridge Too Far but utterly different. It makes you realise that (a) the Allies fought brilliantly to do as well as they did, and (b) The Germans were the masters of military improvisation, even in the face of utter defeat.

 

If you like military history, highly recommended.

  • Like 1

sonsofgygax.JPG

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just reading this book:

 

514X5KAY3fL.jpg

 

Its the war memoirs of a German sergeant commanding a 8.5 cm mortar crew in Russia and east Prussia from 1943 to the end of the war in 1945.

The stuff that happened there every single day is absolutely unimaginable, hundreds and sometimes thousands of soldier slaughtered in battles each day, injured soldiers that were simply left behind, artillery blowing up fellow soldiers next to the author so he gets splattered with body parts and brain mass. 

Never has the use of the word ''apocalyptic'' been more justified than in this book, the wars fought today seem like harmless incidents compared to this hell. 

 

I loved "Blood Red Snow," which was about a machine-gunner who was one of the few to escape from Stalingrad and his time during the long retreat as well as his brief service on the Italian front (predictably, that experience was like a vacation as compared to the Ostfront). 

Quote
“Political philosophers have often pointed out that in wartime, the citizen, the male citizen at least, loses one of his most basic rights, his right to life; and this has been true ever since the French Revolution and the invention of conscription, now an almost universally accepted principle. But these same philosophers have rarely noted that the citizen in question simultaneously loses another right, one just as basic and perhaps even more vital for his conception of himself as a civilized human being: the right not to kill.”
 
-Jonathan Littell <<Les Bienveillantes>>
Quote

"The chancellor, the late chancellor, was only partly correct. He was obsolete. But so is the State, the entity he worshipped. Any state, entity, or ideology becomes obsolete when it stockpiles the wrong weapons: when it captures territories, but not minds; when it enslaves millions, but convinces nobody. When it is naked, yet puts on armor and calls it faith, while in the Eyes of God it has no faith at all. Any state, any entity, any ideology that fails to recognize the worth, the dignity, the rights of Man...that state is obsolete."

-Rod Serling

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It never snows in September, Op. Market Garden from the German perspective.

 

Easily as good as Cornelius Ryan's A Bridge Too Far but utterly different. It makes you realise that (a) the Allies fought brilliantly to do as well as they did, and (b) The Germans were the masters of military improvisation, even in the face of utter defeat.

 

If you like military history, highly recommended.

 

 

I checked today, and if you want this book, you need to order it from anywhere that has copies in stock. The reprint under way is hardback only, and will cost around 24 quid.

"It wasn't lies. It was just... bull****"."

             -Elwood Blues

 

tarna's dead; processing... complete. Disappointed by Universe. RIP Hades/Sand/etc. Here's hoping your next alt has a harp.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

It never snows in September, Op. Market Garden from the German perspective.

 

Easily as good as Cornelius Ryan's A Bridge Too Far but utterly different. It makes you realise that (a) the Allies fought brilliantly to do as well as they did, and (b) The Germans were the masters of military improvisation, even in the face of utter defeat.

 

If you like military history, highly recommended.

 

 

I checked today, and if you want this book, you need to order it from anywhere that has copies in stock. The reprint under way is hardback only, and will cost around 24 quid.

 

 

If you can put up with less maps, I bought mine on Kindle.

sonsofgygax.JPG

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Surviving the extremes, a book written by the famous expedition medic Kenneth Kamler, he writes about the various survival techniques, health issues / injuries and limits of the human body + mind in extreme situations from his first hand experiences and experiences of survivors - and those who failed to make it.
Situations like giving first aid to a Sherpa who fell 24 meters head first into a glacier crevasse on the mount everest in 5000 meter altitude where he gives information about his injuries (severe skull fractures / brain damage), treatments and medical improvising skills. He writes about the brutal diet of shipwrecked people and how to make the sea your alley instead of your enemy, cannibalism etc.

He frequently explains various biological and physiological aspects of the human will to survive and instincts in detail, a highly interesting read, the book is just crammed with invaluable information.   :w00t:

 

 

 

359434.jpg

 

Edited by Woldan

I gazed at the dead, and for one dark moment I saw a banquet. 
 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Wow, Clancy was only 66. I was a big fan of his early works. His later stuff really didn't appeal to me as much.

"While it is true you learn with age, the down side is what you often learn is what a damn fool you were before"

Thomas Sowell

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...