As a side by side with the Movies I have watched thread, what is everyone reading at the moment and what do you think of it.
I am reading Blink: The power of thinking without thinking. It is about the subconcious and how it affects the way that we make decisions. Interesting so far (about half way through) though some of the examples seem a bit stretched to fit.
Notes from Underground and The Dumbest Generation
On the road by Jack Kerouac. cliche as shit but I’m enjoying it.
Last week was “The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable”
Just finished The Accident Man by Tom Cain…pretty good.About an assasin who takes jobs that are justifiable in his eyes.
I think I have read every book that involves assasins.Can't get enough of em'.
Books suck. WHy read a book when you got the television set sitting right in front of you?
I don’t have a TV in the shitter.
[quote]Cockney Blue wrote:
I am reading Blink: The power of thinking without thinking. It is about the subconcious and how it affects the way that we make decisions. Interesting so far (about half way through) though some of the examples seem a bit stretched to fit.[/quote]
That sounds pretty fascinating. What sorts of things does the author give as examples?
Blink was great. I am currently re-reading Think and Grow Rich.
[quote]Stength4life wrote:
Books suck. WHy read a book when you got the television set sitting right in front of you?[/quote]
Some people have the capacity to think and enjoy thinking, but this obviously doesn’t apply to everyone.
[quote]kylec72 wrote:
Stength4life wrote:
Books suck. WHy read a book when you got the television set sitting right in front of you?
Some people have the capacity to think and enjoy thinking, but this obviously doesn’t apply to everyone. [/quote]
Pretty sure he was just being a wanker for wankers sake … but I agree with your assessment none the less kylec
A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin.
I realized I hadn’t read any good fiction in some time and picked it up the other day. Fantasy buffs might recognize it, as it’s apparently one of the better ones in the genre.
200 pages in thus far (600 more to go). I’d recommend it for anyone who likes fantasy novels but doesn’t want to be reading at a 6th-grade level.
[quote]Stength4life wrote:
Books suck. WHy read a book when you got the television set sitting right in front of you?[/quote]
I’d pick a good book over a good movie any day of the week.
Shit, I’d pick a decent book over a great movie any day of the week.
I’m not much for video games, either.
(I say this believing your tongue was firmly in your cheek with that comment)
Just finished reading “Blindness” very good book, about how quickly society dips into chaos in the face of an epidemic. The movie is a somewhat faithful rendition it doesn’t take too many liberties but it just didn’t capture the true desperation of the situation the way the book did.
Now I am currently looking back to the classics and I’m gonna read “The Prince” by Machiavelli.
[quote]anonym wrote:
A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin.
I realized I hadn’t read any good fiction in some time and picked it up the other day. Fantasy buffs might recognize it, as it’s apparently one of the better ones in the genre.
200 pages in thus far (600 more to go). I’d recommend it for anyone who likes fantasy novels but doesn’t want to be reading at a 6th-grade level.[/quote]
Ohhh yea. I’ve introduced this to almost a dozen of my friends at college now and all of them have gone on to buy and read all 4 books. It’s like crack in literary form.
Right now I’m reading The Gamble, Thomas Rick’s book about General Petraeus and the Iraq War from 2006-2008.
Too soon to review but interesting so far.
[quote]timbofirstblood wrote:
Cockney Blue wrote:
I am reading Blink: The power of thinking without thinking. It is about the subconcious and how it affects the way that we make decisions. Interesting so far (about half way through) though some of the examples seem a bit stretched to fit.
That sounds pretty fascinating. What sorts of things does the author give as examples?
[/quote]
The examples are from a real range of areas from experts being able to spot fake artwork, to US Wargames to the Pepsi Challenge. The basic idea is that a lot of the time when your subconcious brain makes a snap decision, this is as good or even better than a more reasoned decision based on lots of additional evidence however there are times when this snap decision can be fooled and lead to huge issues.
Yeah, I’ll strictly be reading Dos Mundos during the week for my Spanish summer course. Unfortunately no time for personal reading till this class ends in early August. I have quite a few books I would like to finish too.
people still read? what is this the 18th century?
I just finished:
Delusions of Normality: Sanity, Drugs, Sex, Money and Beliefs in America
by J.P. Harpignies
I thought it was pretty decent and an enjoyable read. It even shed a little light on some of the inconsistencies and irrationalities in some of my beliefs.
He goes through and gives a bunch of data that the ‘normal’ idea most people have of the ‘dominant’ cultural is a myth.
He shows that a significant percentage of Americans are seeking help for mental issues, gives some data and commentary on how the data was obtained and some bias in over or underreporting that occur w/ gathering the data.
The drug part was pretty good, and most people at one time or another have used illegal drugs. There is a large study going on that has been going on for awhile, and the most interesting thing is that people start to change their answers as they get older. They might admit it on a college survey, but when their older w/ careers, savings accounts, and kids, they start to change their answers.
There is a very large amount of sexual sub-cultures, fetishes, and perversions, that people don’t really talk about but they are pervasive.
The money and beliefs chapters were excellent as well. I don’t remember much of the money chapter, but I’m going to reread it. The belief chapter was great, and their is a very large amount of sub-cultures in the American populace. Most people have beliefs that are very irrational and inconsistent w/ the rest of their character/identity.
Pretty unbiased book, and the author doesn’t really let his beliefs and ideals bias his research findings. He does give some commentary, which is amusing and intelligent.
Great book overall, and it led me to examine some more of more irrational beliefs/character traits, that I really believed in and felt a great emotional response over and never really questioned.
Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince in honor of the movie release this wednesday(which I have midnight tix!) Yes I am proud to be a nerd, whether I look like one or not. haha
dracula… not a “vamp-kid” or anything. its a classic and its hard to put down