Books The BOOK thread

wr8_utd

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Yep. The next one is written and will be out this November.

The last one will probably be late by a few months, according to the author. He said he needed a break and would only start to work on it in January.
He's starting it on Jan 1st. I think he'll make the end of the year deadline.

We finally get to see TG in the next book. Finally!
 

The_Red_Hope

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Just got A Short History of Nearly Everything. Heard it's really good
Hey, me too ... That's what Im reading as well. Loved the introduction :smirk: and will definitely be reading more Bryson. This is just the kind of book I've been trying to get my hands on. I like Sagan, Dawkins, Feynman but Bryson really does write for the lay-man. Interesting reading.

Does anyone have any recommendations on similar lines?
 

17Larsson

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It's been a while since I read it but the main thing that sticks out for me was the history of Earth condensed into a 24 hour clock and how short a time humans have been here
 

wr8_utd

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Hey, me too ... That's what Im reading as well. Loved the introduction :smirk: and will definitely be reading more Bryson. This is just the kind of book I've been trying to get my hands on. I like Sagan, Dawkins, Feynman but Bryson really does write for the lay-man. Interesting reading.

Does anyone have any recommendations on similar lines?
Talking of Sagan, just started Contact :D
 

MJLD

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Any decent politics books?

I read that a lot of politicians have read an Abe Lincoln book? However, I'm interested in actually understanding a lot more of the UK's political system as it is something I'd quite like to look into in the future. I've got 'Audacity of Hope' but of course that relates to the US rather than the UK.
 

Karel_Poborsky

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Any decent politics books?

I read that a lot of politicians have read an Abe Lincoln book? However, I'm interested in actually understanding a lot more of the UK's political system as it is something I'd quite like to look into in the future. I've got 'Audacity of Hope' but of course that relates to the US rather than the UK.
Tony Blairs autobiography has come out this week. There is a programme on as we speak about it.

Other than that I'd read the Shock Doctrine by Naomi Klien which is about the rise of capitalism. I'd have a look on wiki for it... It changed my mind about the world that book. But it's pure worldwide politics and is a thinking man's book.
 

MJLD

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Yeah I just watched that Andrew Marr interview with Blair, I'll probably get his book this week.

That other one sounds interesting, I'll look it up.
 

MJLD

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Just bought 'You Shall Know Our Velocity' by Dave Eggers. Really enjoying it, he's a very good writer.
Finished this last night after losing it for a while. Really reccommend it.
 

Stick

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Currently reading Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand. Great book.
 

Gambit

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It's been a while since I read it but the main thing that sticks out for me was the history of Earth condensed into a 24 hour clock and how short a time humans have been here
Mine was the size of our solar system.
On a diagram of the solar system to scale, with Earth reduced to about the diameter of a pea, Jupiter would be over a thousand feet away and Pluto would be a mile and a half distant (and about the size of a bacterium, so you wouldn’t be able to see it anyway). On the same scale, Proxima Centauri, our nearest star, would be almost ten thousand miles away. Even if you shrank down everything so Jupiter was as small as the period at the end of this sentence, and Pluto was no bigger than a molecule, Pluto would still be over thirty-five feet away.
 

uae

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Read this a couple of weeks ago and have to say i was pleasantly surprised. Only found out after i'd finished that this book had been promoted the feck out of, with there even being a youtube trailer for it! Anyone i found it to be one of those "just one more chapter" type of books and finished it in no time. Reminded me of Catcher in the Rye for some reason, albeit with a fantasy-ish twist to it. Worth checking out i reckon.
 

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Currently reading "Beyond Chutzpah" by Norman Finkelstein

Where's holyland ?? :D
 

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Oh and whoever didn't read "The Fabric Of the Cosmos" by Dr. Brian Greene should give it a go. It's a Must Read. Relativity, Quantum Mechanics and Inflation explained in an entertaining simple way.
 

wr8_utd

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Read this a couple of weeks ago and have to say i was pleasantly surprised. Only found out after i'd finished that this book had been promoted the feck out of, with there even being a youtube trailer for it! Anyone i found it to be one of those "just one more chapter" type of books and finished it in no time. Reminded me of Catcher in the Rye for some reason, albeit with a fantasy-ish twist to it. Worth checking out i reckon.
Looks like the cover of Assassins Creed :eek:
 

Maajid

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Hey, me too ... That's what Im reading as well. Loved the introduction :smirk: and will definitely be reading more Bryson. This is just the kind of book I've been trying to get my hands on. I like Sagan, Dawkins, Feynman but Bryson really does write for the lay-man. Interesting reading.

Does anyone have any recommendations on similar lines?
I have a few Bryson books in my phone library, would gladly share them if you're so inclined.
 

The_Red_Hope

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Oh and whoever didn't read "The Fabric Of the Cosmos" by Dr. Brian Greene should give it a go. It's a Must Read. Relativity, Quantum Mechanics and Inflation explained in an entertaining simple way.
I've had this for a long time without having actually read it. Thanks, I'll move it up my queue. :yawn:
 

The_Red_Hope

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I have a few Bryson books in my phone library, would gladly share them if you're so inclined.
I most certainly am. :smirk: What would you recommend amongst his other works? I've read bits and pieces from Adventures of the Thunderbolt Kid but nothing else.
 

SCM

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Currently reading the 2nd book in Alastair Reynolds Redemption Space series - Redemption Ark and cracking reads even on a re-read. Got the new Pratchett book to read now as well I Shall Wear Midnight and might dive into that before getting heavily into Redemption Ark again.

Amazon is now doing it's usual tempting of me with new books and currently thinking on ordering the new Terry Brooks and the next Wheel of Time book while they are being silly with the discounts.
 

MJLD

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I'm going to go mental on Amazon on my first pay day of my new job.
 

The_Red_Hope

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Not just up the queue. Start reading it NOW !!
Here's what I'm having trouble choosing between -

1. Michael Chabon - 'The Amazing adventures of Kavalier and Clay'
2. China Mieville - 'Perdido Street Station'
3. Richard Dawkins - 'Unweaving the Rainbow'

And now 'Fabric of the Cosmos' as well.
 

mehro

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Currently reading a collection of essays by Montaigne. Amazing how easy his writing feels even though his works must be the oldest amongst what I have read. Maybe it's just the translation. perhaps someone who's read his originals in French can confirm.

Ed it - Scratch the oldest bit. Forgot about Plato.
 

SirAF

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Hey, me too ... That's what Im reading as well. Loved the introduction :smirk: and will definitely be reading more Bryson. This is just the kind of book I've been trying to get my hands on. I like Sagan, Dawkins, Feynman but Bryson really does write for the lay-man. Interesting reading.

Does anyone have any recommendations on similar lines?
Bryson is brilliant, you should try 'A Walk in the Woods'!
 

iSparky

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Just got Ben Collins book, "the man in the White suit"

Looking forward to this
 

Thoraximus

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Just starting reading one flew over the cuckoo's nest, can't wait, heard great things about it. Haven't seen the film before, but will watch it after i've finished the book. :)
 

sev_franklin

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Just starting reading one flew over the cuckoo's nest, can't wait, heard great things about it. Haven't seen the film before, but will watch it after i've finished the book. :)
Cool book.

Loved that Michael Chabon book the red hope mentioned.

NR: What is the What by Dave Eggers. True story of a guys struggle through Sudan civil war.
 

ruudwho?

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I've just developed a sudden urge to start reading books, i seriously don't know why! I used to read quite a lot when i was younger (10-15 yeas old), but then i kind of grew out of it, and now something just gave me a push to start reading again.

So i picked up the nearest book in the house - Animal farm by George Orwell - it was a top read to be fair. Only a hundred odd pages, and got through it in 2 days!

Although i don't know much about it, i've a keen interest in History and Politics (or anything that half links in with either of them), and i've been recommended The Prince by Niccolo Machiavelli, so i'm going to go and get that tomorrow.

Has anyone else got anything to recommend to me after that..?
 

sev_franklin

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Has anyone else got anything to recommend to me after that..?
Read 1984 if you liked Animal farm. Same author.

Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk, if you are trying to read something quick to get back into reading.

A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole. Very funny.

The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams is a funny sci-fi lite book.

On the Road by Jack Kerouac, if you like pure pleasure and bliss in word form.

Anything by Kurt Vonnegut. All funny.

No doubt this thread has some good books in it.
 

ruudwho?

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Read 1984 if you liked Animal farm. Same author.

Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk, if you are trying to read something quick to get back into reading.

A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole. Very funny.

The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams is a funny sci-fi lite book.

On the Road by Jack Kerouac, if you like pure pleasure and bliss in word form.

Anything by Kurt Vonnegut. All funny.

No doubt this thread has some good books in it.
I've had this suggested to me by someone else. This is probably gonna be next.

I'll check out the blurbs on your other suggestions as well to see what appeals to me. Thanks bud.

By the way, i've started on The Prince.. it's quite a book! Deep stuff, and although written in 1513, it seems like a number of nations still use it as part of their policy making.
 

Red Norse

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Just finished The Agony and the Ecstasy by Irving Stone. It's a biographical novel about Michelangelo Buonarotti. Interesting read and seemed quite well researched as well.

Can anybody recommend similar historical novels? I've read Igullden's books about Caesar and Genghis Khan btw.
 

Count Duckula

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My girlfriend won't stop talking about the new Wheel of Time book coming out. She even bought the prologue she's that obssessed.

Personally, I think the WoT books are absolute tripe. I read the first two and my brain wanted to melt I was so bored.