Where there’s a will, there’s an inheritance tax.
Read any great books lately??
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@El:
JustMade the mistake of trying to read the complete Marion Zimmer Bradley Darkover Series. Every book seemed to be about the same thing. People developing a new Talent(e.g., telepathy) and freaking out over it and another cultures way of handling the Talent.
If you’re into this, you might try Midnight’s Children by Salmon Rushdie. I didn’t like it much personally, but he DOES have a style some people enjoy, and the premise was quite interesting.
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I definetly suggest Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit. If you are at all into fantasy books, and sometimes even if you arent, you will enjoy these. Im sure you have heard of them before, if not already read them, but they are worth a reread. Tolkien has an interesting writing style. Its a little too heavy and wordy to sit through an entire book at once, though I wish I could, but when you do read them, you are getting a true literary treat.
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EJ, you have probably read these, but if not try American Ceasar by William Kennedy {I think}. A MacArthur biography, Bruce Catton’s “This Hallowed Ground” -Civil War, or Gore Vidal’s historical novel “Lincoln”.
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Ive just been thinking, and I also highly reccomend the following:
1)Battlefield Earth- possibly the best Sci-fi book ever written (do not substitute the movie)
2)Paradise Lost- one of the best books I have ever read, also one of the most difficult to read. it is written in old english, in a very long, flowing, poetic style. Incredibly difficult to read.
3)The Count of Monte Cristo- an excellent book, Alexander Dumas is a stupendous writer.
Im sure there are more I can reccomend, but right now, I am unable to think of them.
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Anything of Sebastian Haffner, if you are interesting in german history of the last century or want to know on the hows and whys of Hitler.
I also read a nice book book about the solution of Fermat’s last theorem not long ago.
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I think we differ in what type of litterature we like, El. I don´t care too much for biographies (and history books - yawn! Reminds me of going to high school). I prefer books that either have a really good story to tell (Grisham, Clancy) or that are really inventive in their use of the english language (Adams, Rankin, Pratchet).
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Just finishing The Picture of Dorian Gray myself, late bloomer here with the classics. And Jefe I can’t believe you threw out the Dale Brown reference there, I can remember reading Flight of the Old Dog 5 or 6 times right as it came out, you ever pickup Silver Tower? What about Douglas Adams……the “trilogy” is still great fun to pick up and reread.
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Right now I am reading a book on Jackson’s valley campain. I allso have a friend that is going to get me an autographed copy of Newt’s new book.
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WOW. I just finished an amazing book. It’s called Rich Dad, Poor Dad.
It’s definitely worth reading!
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DS is RichDadPoorDad the book were the Oriental guy on TV talks about his Dads and how to get rich and saying Realestate is the best way to get rich?
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Yes, he does talk a lot about investments. More importantly, however, is that he goes into great depth about why the rich are rich, and why the poor are poor. It’s definetely interesting to see his opinion.
I haven’t seen him on TV before. My stockbroker gave the book to me to read.
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OKAY! I’ll try these…
Midnight’s Children (cc)
Hobbit+ (Jan_) -Read them before, but it’s been a ong time…
(guest) -Read Lincoln may try another one.
Reprise of(Guest) -Read them all…great choices, but try a non-SF genre!
Sebastian Haffner (F__) -Please, a little about Fermat’s last theorem…
Rankin, Pratchet (mortie) - Read all of Adams & Clancy, some Grisham.
(hackie_) -PDG is a great one. Only 1 or 2 more Dale Brown’s to go(ST=A+).
(dz) -Who’s the author of the Jackson book?
Rich Dad, Poor Dad (DS)Thank you!! This should get me through the week. :P Ha-ha! Naah, It will take me through the summer. I need some social life, too.
Anyone else? Or more from the gallery?
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I think we differ in what type of litterature we like, El. I don´t care too much for biographies (and history books - yawn! Reminds me of going to high school). I prefer books that either have a really good story to tell (Grisham, Clancy) or that are really inventive in their use of the english language (Adams, Rankin, Pratchet).
keeping in mind that when you’ve read one Grisham, you’ve read them all . . . .
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I knew there was one I was forgetting, A Brief History Of Time, By Stephen Hawking.
First of all, this man is brilliant, easily the smartest man alive (he is widely regarded as just such), and possibly the smartest man ever.
Second, the book tackles such vast topics as the very nature and creation of time and space.
Third, for all those who have been on the thread regarding the existence of god, this book addresses all the topics with regards to god, from a neutral point of view.
Finally, while this man is a brilliant physicist, and almost everything he discusses involves very advanced science, it is written in such a way that even a laymans can understand
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“The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress” by Robert Heinlein
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@El:
-Please, a little about Fermat’s last theorem…
It’s by Simon Singh
(look at http://www.amazon.de/exec/obidos/ASIN/1841157910/qid=1057649064/sr=2-4/ref=sr_aps_prod_4_2/302-8350062-3794462 )
and nicely covers (a part of) the history of maths, as the name says, centering on Fermat, the history of diophantine equations before Fermat, and the history of tries to prove the theorem.
I liked it a lot. If it had been out before i started to study, i might have paid much more attention to maths :)A Brief History Of Time, By Stephen Hawking.
First of all, this man is brilliant, easily the smartest man alive (he is widely regarded as just such), and possibly the smartest man ever.
I think most of his fame stems from the fact that he is severly handicapped and “should have died” from many medics point of view quite some time ago.
I prefer Feynman (who is regarded as the most important physicist of the second half of the 20th century ;) ). He was brilliant, but not only in physics, but also kept in touch with real life problems, and he wrote very well also.
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Ah, yes. Stephen Hawking - I forgot to read anything by him. Must do.
El: If you´re serious about reading all those books, make the following consideration: Terry Pratchett has “invented” Discworld and as such most of his books have to be read in succession (although they can easily be read singly), whereas Robert Rankins books (although also containing a recurring theme) can stand alone. Have a great summer!
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Falk, I dont care at all about Hawking’s fame, and indeed, much of it does stem from his handicap. But he is still one of the most brilliant men on the planet (his IQ has been measured at well over 200) and is widely recognized as the smartest man on the planet.
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Gentlemen, gentlewomen and gentleits,
Peace and long life(or whatever.)
I meant this to be a pleasant sharing of data.
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Jefe,
Just checking in to see if you have tackled any of these books and your thoughts, there were an awful lot of great works thrown out there for you.
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