Best adult funny books according to redditors
We found 9,419 Reddit comments discussing the best adult funny books. We ranked the 2,908 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the top 20.
We found 9,419 Reddit comments discussing the best adult funny books. We ranked the 2,908 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the top 20.
Fun fact: Thomas Midgley, one of the guys who invented tetraethyl lead, also invented and promoted freon and other CFCs (the stuff that wrecked the ozone layer). Between his two "contributions" to commercial chemistry, he is probably the most environmentally-destructive individual organism ever to have lived.
It could be argued that if you had a time machine and a single bullet, you might do more for humanity by going back and killing Midgely instead of Hitler. It's a shame, because he certainly didn't intend for either of his inventions to do so much damage.
Luckily (in a way), he died before we found out what a disaster TEL and CFCs turned out to be. Not so luckily (but perhaps predictably), he was killed by yet another of his own inventions. Partially paralyzed by polio, he devised a complicated arrangement of ropes and pulleys to give him more mobility. He ended up getting tangled in the contraption and was strangled to death by the ropes.
EDIT: Since half a dozen people have suggested Bill Bryson's "A Short History of Nearly Everything" and something called "vsauce" as the potential source for this fun fact, I'm just going to mention here that I first learned this bit of trivia on QI. I have also read A Short History, but my first exposure to the inventive tragedy that is Thomas Midgley's career was courtesy of Stephen Fry. If you find facts like this fun, I strongly encourage you to watch QI (most of it is on youtube). I also encourage you to read Bill Bryson's book.
The submarine would be fine, but the crew would be in trouble.
PICTURE (recommended)
-----
TEXT
The submarine wouldn’t burst. Submarine hulls are strong enough to withstand 50 to 80 atmospheres of external pressure from water, so they’d have no problem containing 1 atmosphere of internal pressure from air.
The hull would likely be airtight. Although watertight seals don’t necessarily hold back air, the fact that water can’t find a way through the hull under 50 atmospheres of pressure suggests that air won’t escape quickly. There may be a few specialized one-way valves that would let air out, but in all likelihood, the submarine would remain sealed.
The big problem the crew would face would be the obvious one: air.
Nuclear submarines use electricity to extract oxygen from water. In space, there’s no water,^[citation ^needed] so they wouldn’t be able to manufacture more air. They carry enough oxygen in reserve to survive for a few days, at least, but eventually they’d be in trouble.
To stay warm, they could run their reactor, but they’d have to be very careful how much they ran it—because the ocean is colder than space.
Technically, that’s not really true. Everyone knows that space is very cold. The reason spacecraft can overheat is that space isn’t as thermally conductive as water, so heat builds up more quickly in spacecraft than in boats.
But if you’re even more pedantic, it is true. The ocean is colder than space.
Interstellar space is very cold, but space near the Sun—and near Earth—is actually incredibly hot! The reason it doesn’t seem that way is that in space, the definition of “temperature” breaks down a little bit. Space seems cold because it’s so empty. Temperature is a measure of the average kinetic energy of a collection of particles. In space, individual molecules have a high average kinetic energy, but there are so few of them that they don’t affect you.
When I was a kid, my dad had a machine shop in our basement, and I remember watching him use a metal grinder. Whenever metal touched the grinding wheel, sparks flew everywhere, showering his hands and clothes. I couldn’t understand why they didn’t hurt him—after all, the glowing sparks were several thousand degrees.
I later learned that the reason the sparks didn’t hurt him was that they were tiny; the heat they carried could be absorbed into the body without warming anything more than a tiny patch of skin.
The hot molecules in space are like the sparks in my dad’s machine shop; they might be hot or cold, but they’re so small that touching them doesn’t change your temperature much.^1 Instead, your heating and cooling is dominated by how much heat you produce and how quickly it pours out of you into the void.
Without a warm environment around you radiating heat back to you, you lose heat by radiation much faster than normal. But without air around you to carry heat from your surface, you also don’t lose much heat by convection.^2 For most human-carrying spacecraft, the latter effect is more important; the big problem isn’t staying warm, it’s keeping cool.
A nuclear submarine is clearly able to maintain a livable temperature inside when the outer hull is cooled to 4°C by the ocean. However, if the submarine’s hull needed to hold this temperature while in space, it would lose heat at a rate of about 6 megawatts while in the shadow of the Earth. This is more than the 20 kilowatts supplied by the crew—and the few hundred kilowatts of apricity^3 when in direct sunlight—so they’d need to run the reactor just to stay warm.^4
To get out of orbit, a submarine would need to slow down enough that it hit the atmosphere. Without rockets, it has no way to do this...
Okay—technically, a submarine does have rockets.
Unfortunately, the rockets are pointing the wrong way to give the submarine a push. Rockets are self-propelling, which means they have very little recoil. When a gun fires a bullet, it’s pushing the bullet up to speed. With a rocket, you just light it and let go. Launching missiles won’t propel a submarine forward.
But not launching them could.**
If the ballistic missiles carried by a modern nuclear submarine were taken from their tubes, turned around, and placed in the tubes backward, they could each change the submarine’s speed by about 4 meters per second. A typical de-orbiting maneuver requires in the neighborhood of 100 m/s of delta-v (speed change), which means that the 24 Trident missiles carried by an Ohio-class submarine could be just enough to get it out of orbit. Now, because the submarine has no heat-dissipating ablative tiles, and because it’s not aerodynamically stable at hypersonic velocities, it would inevitably tumble and break up in the air.
If you tucked yourself into the right crevice in the submarine—and were strapped into an acceleration couch—there’s a tiny, tiny, tiny chance that you could survive the rapid deceleration. Then you’d need to jump out of the wreckage with a parachute before it hit the ground.
If you ever try this, and I suggest you don’t, I have one piece of advice that is absolutely critical: Remember to disable the detonators on the missiles.
^1 This is why, even though matches and torches are about the same temperature, you see tough guys in movies extinguish matches by pinching them but never see them do the same with torches.
^2 Or conduction.
^3 This is my single favorite word in the English language. It means the warmth of sunlight in winter.
^4 When they moved into the Sun, the sub’s surface would warm, but they’d still be losing heat faster than they’d be gaining it.
--------
Courtesy of Randal Munroe's What If?: Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions
The book is "Safe Baby Handling Tips" by david and kelly sopp
http://www.amazon.com/Safe-Baby-Handling-Tips-David/dp/0762424915
Are you familiar with Randall Munroe's (the xkcd guy) What If? project? He explores very similar questions and also published a book.
What differentiates your project?
That is from my Senator, Al Franken, in his book Lies: And the Lying Liars Who Told Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the right. Also available as a video.
A Short History of Nearly Everything. Essentially, Bryson describes the evolution of man through it's scientific advances. I think it will be a little less militarily focused than you want, but it seems pretty close.
A Short History of Nearly Everything
Before he was a senator, Al Franken wrote a book called, "Lies: And the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right".
It destroys Ann Coulter, and it's one of the most hilarious books I've ever read.
Amazon link: https://www.amazon.com/Lies-Lying-Liars-Balanced-Right/dp/0452285216
Here are my personal favorite head-fucks, each one of them did something strange to my whole world when I read them:
But yeah, by far my favorite is the one at the top of the list, The Illuminatus! Trilogy by Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson. There's just so goddamn much going on in that book, it's one helluva wonderful ride.
For those interested in buying it... AMAZON!
Genuine book what scares me more is the other customer views part -https://www.amazon.co.uk/How-Talk-Your-About-Safety/dp/045149492X
I'll stick to recommending science communication books (those that don't require a deep background on biological concepts):
---
For books that everyone studying biology ends up reading, my candidate would be Lehninger's Principles of Biochemistry, by Nelson & Cox but that's a textbook.
I always gift expecting parents: (men, women, and everything in-between):
The Baby Owner's Manual: Operating Instructions, Trouble-Shooting Tips, and Advice on First-Year Maintenance
by Louis Borgenicht M.D.
https://www.amazon.com/Baby-Owners-Manual-Instructions-Trouble-Shooting/dp/1594745978
A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson.
I haven't quite finished it (it's rather long) but so far it is fantastic.
https://smile.amazon.com/How-Talk-Your-About-Safety/dp/045149492X/ref=pd_sbs_14_img_0?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=9TBSQ6PNRGPKQENAN41Q
Bill Bryson is the man. I don't know if he is a "Super Dad" I'm making him out to be, but I hope so. I've only read the one book though..
http://www.amazon.com/Short-History-Nearly-Everything/dp/0767908171
why do i feel this should have been in the what if? book?
Edit: fixed link
> I am a borderline exmuslim who is doubting.
Op be safe. What is the penalty for leaving Islam (Apostasy)? [Hint - it is not a firm handshake and a goodbye wishing you health and long life].
> Would you believe in Islam if there were no scientific errors in the Quran?
> In Islam there are no scientific errors and all have basically been worked around as misinterpretations.
First, no I still would not believe that Islam represented credible and supportable trueness concerning the existence of the God YHWH/Allah, nor the claims of Allah's interventions/revelations.
Why?
For the same reason you (and I) [probably] do not accept the existence of the Flying Spaghetti Monster and His Noodly Appendages just because "The Gospel of the Flying Spaghetti Monster" is shown to be scientifically accurate; or of the Most Holy of Holy's, The Scared Narratives of Harry Potter, are shown to be completely accurate in the science presented.
Secondly, there are scientific errors within the Qur'an, and even though these errors have been apologized to death, a critical assessment of these apologetics... in accordance with the claimed revelation from Allah in The Heavenly Qur'an:
"Produce your proof, if you should be truthful" (Surat Al-Baqarah 2:111) to me; just as Islam requires that the claims of Judaism and Christianity have to be proved, then the same reasoning requires that the claims of Islam must be proved as well. After all, "Indeed, the worst of living creatures in the sight of Allah are the deaf and dumb who do not use reason" (Surat Al-'Anfāl 8:22).
shows that the errors are actually errors and/or non-credible post-hoc reinterpretation of vague and non-precise ayat/ayah. To wit, an example and commentary:
Now here is an actual example of that would be considered scientific
foreknowledge in the Qur'an, if supportable - a candidate for an actual prophetic
miracle.
Al-Mu'minun 23:14 Then We made the sperm-drop into a clinging clot, and
We made the clot into a lump [of flesh], and We made [from] the lump,
bones, and We covered the bones with flesh; then We developed him into
another creation. So blessed is Allah, the best of creators.
So the bones came before the covering flash. Interesting. And not
supported by contemporary medical knowledge.
Without going into the scientific miracle of where the sperm are
produced (i.e., The Qur'an states sperm is made/stored in the small of
the back near the kidneys - and not the testicles), as I do not care to
argue the mental gymnastics required to apologize this "Truth" of the
Qur'an, the embryonic development of the bone first followed by flesh is
completely falsified. Again, in order to spare myself the crapfest of
apologetics to justify this "Prophecy" I will ask the question - Did
this information concerning embryonic growth already exist prior to the
claimed revelation via the Book of the Mother, via the messenger Angel
Gabriel (Jibra'il), via some form of supernatural to natural
communication to the Prophet Muhammad, via spoken voice to various
followers of the Prophet, from various followers spoken to scribes
years/decades after the death of Muhammad?
Why look at that, Aristotle, in the 4th century BCE described embryonic
development (Aristotle, De Generatione Animalium, Book II,
739b20-739b30, as per Jonathan Barnes \(ed.\), The Complete Works of
Aristotle, \(Princeton, 1985\), Vol 1, p.
1148.),
and his treatise also contains the same erroneous idea that the embryo
developed from a formless mass.
Damn, when the Prophet plagiarizes already "known" information, he still
got it wrong by plagiarizing that which was incorrect.
The post-hoc interpretation of Qur'anic ayat/verses using highly
selective imaginative interpretations of the meaning of the various
words to claim support for a scientific miracle represents highly flawed
apologetics.
It is interesting that the claim of miracle of the prophecies of
"scientific miracles" or "scientific foreknowledge" in the Qur'an are
all post hoc interpretations to their discovery by mere mortal humans.
It would be more convincing if the scientific knowledge was identifiable
as usable knowledge prior to human knowledge based development or
confirmation of this knowledge - rather than a post hoc interpretation
of a verse/narrative such that this knowledge is only, somehow, found
after it already becomes known.
Look at these claimed Qur'an miracles and the date that there were
recognized and the claims made - the overwhelming majority were made
after science laid the foundation for interpretation. Rephrased - All of
the claims of scientific miracles are made in hindsight (post hoc) -
all are made following the advancement of knowledge from other sources
and the verbiage within the Qur'an is then interpreted to show that this
knowledge was, somehow, there all along. As a source of scientific
knowledge, then, at best, the Qur'an has little worth.
If you wish to demonstrate that there is value in the scientific
knowledge claimed to be within the Qur'an, please present a scientific
postulation/hypothesis/theory derived from a verse, or from verses, from
the Qur'an that was developed prior to the development of this
knowledge from other sources. Or make prediction(s) of future scientific
knowledge based upon the Qur'an and develop a method of inquiry based
on this claimed scientific knowledge and gathering observable and
measurable evidence subject to specific principles of reasoning and
experimentation and show that this predicted scientific knowledge to be
true to a high level of reliability and confidence. I am willing to wait
a lifetime for a beforehand/foresight version of scientific knowledge
from the Qur'an to be demonstrated in any meaningful way. Otherwise,
post hoc interpretations holds no credibility of the Qur'an as a source
of scientific claims/foreknowledge.
Finally, let us not overlook the numerous scientific errors, with or
without claims of prophecy/scientific foreknowledge, that are present in
the Qur'an:
1
Astronomy
1.1 Geocentricism
1.2 Setting and Rising Place of the Sun
1.3 Stars are Missiles Shot at Devils
1.4 Moon is Further from the Earth than the Stars
1.5 Moon Emits Light
1.6 Moon was Split in Two
1.7 Seven Planets in the Universe
1.8 Seven Heavens
1.9 Earth Created in Six Days
1.10 Earth Created before Stars
1.11 Sun is a Flat Disk
1.12 Sky is a Tent/Dome
1.13 Sky Guards the Earth
1.14 Sky is Made of Solid Material
1.15 Sky can Fall Down on People
1.16 Ignorance of the North and South Poles
2 Biology
2.1 Evolution
2.1.1 Human Creation from Clay
2.1.2 First Humans: Adam and Eve
2.1.3 Humans Created in Paradise and then Brought to Earth
2.2 Embryology
2.2.1 Sperm Originates Between the Backbone and Ribs
2.2.2 Embryo is Formed from Male and Female Fluids
2.2.3 No Mention of Female Ovum
2.2.4 Humans Created from a Clot of Blood
2.2.5 Only Allah Knows the Gender of a Fetus
2.3 All Organisms are Created in Pairs
2.4 Womb has Three Layers
2.5 Bones are Formed before Flesh
2.6 Source and Purity of Milk
3 Geology and Meteorology
3.1 The Earth is Flat
3.1.1 Facing Toward Mecca
3.1.2 Earth is Spread Out and Flat
3.1.3 Earth is Like a Couch
3.1.4 Earth is Like a Carpet
3.1.5 Earth is a Wide Plain
3.1.6 Earth is Level
3.2 Earth has Seven Atmospheric Layers
3.3 The Earth does not Rotate
3.4 Permanent Barrier between Fresh and Salt Water
3.5 Mountains Prevent Earthquakes
3.6 Mountains Cast into the Earth
3.7 Chest Contracts with Altitude
3.8 Earthquakes are a Punishment from God
3.9 Hurricanes and Blizzards are a Punishment from God
3.10 Rainwater is Pure
3.11 No Evaporation in Water Cycle
3.12 Hail Comes from Mountains in the Sky
3.13 Thunder is an Angel
4 Zoology
4.1 Bees Eat Fruit
4.2 Ants Recognize Humans and Speak with Each Other
4.3 Horses Created as Transportation
4.4 Bird Flight is a Miracle
4.5 Classification of Creatures
4.6 Only Eight Types of Cattle
4.7 Birth Defects and Imperfections
4.8 Poisonous Sea Life is Edible
4.9 Birds Fight Elephants
4.10 Sinful Animals
5 History
5.1 Wall of Iron between Two Mountains
5.2 Christians Worship Mary as Part of the Trinity
5.3 Noah's Ark holds Every Species
5.4 Pharaoh or Pharaohs
5.5 Jews call Ezra the Son of God
5.6 Supernatural Destruction of Cities
5.7 Humans can Sleep for Three Hundred Years
5.8 Humans can Live for a Thousand Years
5.9 Non-Existent Mosque in Jerusalem
6 Sociology
6.1 Fasting and Prayer Requirements at the Poles
6.2 People are Protected in Mecca
6.3 Non-Muslims are Deaf, Dumb, and Blind
6.4 All Animals Live in Communities
6.5 Requirement to Learn in Arabic
7 Myths and Legendary Tales
7.1 Humans Transformed into Apes
7.2 Tribe Trapped Behind a Wall
7.3 Supernatural Food
7.4 A Stick Transforms into a Serpent
7.5 Solomon's Army of Genies and Birds
7.6 Jonah Performs Repentance inside a Fish
7.7 Muhammad Flies on a Winged Horse to Heaven
7.8 Body Parts Speak
7.9 The Ocean Split in Half
7.10 Solomon can Control the Wind
7.11 A Dead Man Testified against his Killer
7.12 Animals Speak to Humans
7.13 Mountains and Birds can Sing Songs
8 Others
8.1 Mathematical Error in Hereditary Laws
8.2 People use the Forehead to Lie
8.3 Space Flight is Impossible
I'm gonna follow whatever my zombie survival guide book says...if it's in print its gotta be true right?
If you enjoyed watching Fan Boys (and enjoy reading) you should check out Ready Player One. Both
the movieFan Boys andthe bookReady Player One were written by the same dude.Also, his nerd credentials check out. He uses technological/MMO terms correctly without spewing too much made-up bullshit.
Edit: Sorry for the ambiguous wording, I meant that both Fan Boys the movie and Ready Player One, the book, were written by the same guy. As far as I know, there are no plans for a Ready Player One movie.
Read "A Walk in The Woods" By Bill Bryson
And...Do it.
EDIT: This...http://www.amazon.com/Walk-Woods-Rediscovering-America-Appalachian/dp/0307279464/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1266197998&sr=8-1
Bill Bryson's A Short History of Nearly Everything is a very good read.
I was going to suggest AShort History of Nearly Everything. It's a book I think everyone should read.
You need to read this.
Illuminatus!
I expect the VR community to EXPLODE in participants once this hits the big screen.
If you haven't read the book (or if you have) and like Wil Wheaton... get the book on kindle and add Audible narration ($17.48 USD total). I've listened to it 3 times during my commute to work over the past few months. It's only ~ 13 hrs of audio so it goes by quickly.
https://www.amazon.com/Ready-Player-One-Ernest-Cline-ebook/dp/B004J4WKUQ/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1504549779&sr=8-1
Having already experienced the book, there's a certain expectation...so I'm hoping the movie does the book justice
I would recommend:
Patrick Rothfuss's Name of the Wind
Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn series, or his newest series The Way of Kings (The Stormlight Archive).
If you made it all the way through Sword of Truth series, you probably will enjoy Jordan's Wheel of Time.
Scott Lynch's Lies of Locke Lamora is also very enjoyable.
If you are looking for another big one, enjoy the gritty and dark elements from Martin, Stephen Erikson's Malazan series might be up your alley. The first book is a little difficult to get through, but it picks up after that.
Actual source:
How to Talk to Your Cat About Gun Safety: And Abstinence, Drugs, Satanism, and Other Dangers That Threaten Their Nine Lives https://www.amazon.com/dp/045149492X/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_ee0XDb7M2H58A
> What would happen if you made a periodic table out of cube-shaped bricks, where each brick was made of the corresponding element?
> You could stack the top two rows without too much trouble. The third row would burn you with fire, the fourth would kill you with toxic smoke. The fifth row would do all that stuff plus give you a dose of radiation, while the sixth would explode in a radioactive, poisonous fire. Do not build the seventh row.
-Randall Munroe's, What If?
It really depends on how much you're talking about. Plainly, you're probably going to die if you're close enough, but if you really want an in depth analysis—and just a plain good read/listen—about what will happen I'd recommend either listening to the talk Randall gave that /u/Esmyra mentioned below or getting Randall's book I mentioned, because I couldn't find this one online.
Edit: FOUND IT
My cousin had a shower for every kid. She has four. I was invited to the first one and brought [this] (http://www.amazon.com/dp/0743224450/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_S_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=999UJX39RKF3&coliid=I229DK1OQILYJP), [this] (http://www.amazon.com/dp/0762424915/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=999UJX39RKF3&coliid=I3NVUOR1RXEXLP), and [this'n.] (http://www.amazon.com/dp/0061759570/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pd_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=999UJX39RKF3&coliid=I2S7SJAR3Q9ZWA). For some reason or another, I wasn't invited to any others. Didn't even get a thank you card like everyone else. And she used to be the snarky fun cousin before she had an "accident" to keep her man from leaving.
Easy one. A Short History of Nearly Everything.
It's largely a history of science. It was amazing finding out how long we've known certain things and how recently we found others. If I get wound up this'll turn into a novel. Just read it.
The Gospel of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, a book of Native American languages, Native American Sign Language and the Encyclopedia of Native American Tribes on an Android tablet with a solar charger.
I would aim for the East Coast of North America where I would attempt to bring all of the tribes together as a weak federal Pastafarian Republic. I would unify the languages and write a strong, peaceful constitution with equal rights and literacy for all, to keep the tribes from fighting amongst themselves and would predict the arrival of whitey in 3,800 moons and draw pictures of their boats. It would be ingrained in each and every Native American that whitey's are savages and are only coming there to steal their gold, women and maize.
Once it was established, we would expand into South America and the Caribbean islands, Hispaniola first! I would instruct them to build a large, white cross on the coast of Hispaniola where Columbus will land. Once he lands, they will declare Columbus the Messiah and crucify him on the spot. That should get rid of the Europeans long enough for the Americas to be sovereign.
*Edit for explanation.
Source
Some advice on the indoctrination stuff:
counter it with a copy of the Qur'an (in english) a copy of the Torah and just for kicks a copy of this http://www.amazon.com/The-Gospel-Flying-Spaghetti-Monster/dp/0812976568 .
When asked why, just reply that you're very happy to teach her about religions in equal parts. It will be her decision to choose which of them if any she wants to follow.
The Birth room:
No. In the US might be different, but over here in Australia its up to the mother who is in attendance. Oh and I would suggest that NO ONE gets to visit except the father until you're past the baby blues. (approx 4 days) This is what We did for both our children, and I think that quiet bonding and "coming to grips" time is really important Also it takes away any unneeded stress brought about by the sudden hormone influx you're going to get smashed with.
This is not just off the cuff advice, this is exactly how I have behaved and acted with our family. They wont like it, but they'll get over it... little babies are great for disarming cranky grandparents.
oh and Re: the breastfeeding.
F!#K her. She gets zero say in this (and most the rest). you do what you feel is right, incidentally if for whatever reason you can not breastfeed (it happens), don't feel she "won" and you failed, just own whatever decision you make.
She is a momentary blip in the life of your child, you're her mother and she'll always see you as #1 in her life.
Well, we hit the 10000 limit. Reserving this comment for the misc. section.
FREE TIME/FUN/MISC.
The Art of Deception: Controlling the Human Element of Security
The Art of War
Steal This Computer Book 4.0: What They Won't Tell You about the Internet
How to Disappear: Erase Your Digital Footprint, Leave False Trails, and Vanish without a Trace
The Best of 2600: A Hacker Odyssey
Super Crunchers: Why Thinking-by-Numbers Is the New Way to Be Smart
Casting the Net: From ARPANET to INTERNET and Beyond thanks sjhill
A Quarter Century of UNIX thanks sjhill
A Reading List For the Self-Taught Computer Scientist thanks zinver
How to Talk So Kids Will Listen & Listen So Kids Will Talk thanks segamix
The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable thanks AgonistAgent
Snow Crash thanks AgonistAgent
Cryptonomicon thanks Mirple
I first read about it a couple months ago in a book called "A Short History of Nearly Everything" by Bill Bryerson. https://www.amazon.com/Short-History-Nearly-Everything/dp/076790818X
It's a great book if you like random trivia and it takes a casual conversation tone to just about everything and provides great insight into stuff we normally just don't think about. He talks a lot about various scientist and has a lot of good stories about how odd many of these people were.
If you are interested, some of the other amusing/interesting bits of info from the book include:
"Best remembered for coining the word Dinosaur, Richard Owen also gave us the modern concept of museums as places the common folk can visit and not just scientists. He was also one of the meanest persons in science history and the only person Darwin ever hated."
"Carl Wilhelm Scheele one of the founders of modern chemistry, had a habit of sniffing and tasting any new element or chemical he discovered including poisonous ones. He was found dead at the age of 43, killed by his last discovery."
"In the early days of pump and hose assisted diving, there was a dreaded phenomena called “the squeeze” where the diver’s entire body would be sucked into the hose and diving helmet, leaving just some bones and flesh in the diving suit. Ouch."
“In France, a chemist named Pilatre de Rozier tested the flammability of hydrogen by gulping a mouthful and blowing across an open flame, proving at a stroke that hydrogen is indeed explosively combustible and that eyebrows are not necessarily a permanent feature of one's face.”
Link?
Edit: Link
It was also mentioned in Ready Player One, in a key part of the story. Great read btw.
Yeah, it's a novel. I liked it.
So...a $22 junior-sized machete, a $10 book, a pocket-sized first aid kit, thirty feet of duct tape, a no-name flashlight, and a can of SPAM? And you only have to pay one hundred American dollars (plus $16.59 for ground shipping) for the pleasure of getting it all in a wooden crate? Sign me up!!!
Yep yep. Max Brooks. Also the author of The Zombie Survival Guide
World War Z (the book) is far better, but the survival guide was how I was introduced to it all.
Eh. It's this one. It's decent, but the firearms section is really stupid. An excerpt:
> The U.S. Army M16A1 is considered by many to be the worst assault rifle ever invented. Its overcomplicated mechanism is both difficult to clean and prone to jamming. Adjusting the sight, something that must be done every time the target shifts its range [pfft], requires the use of a nail ballpoint pen, or similar device. What if you don't have one, or lost it as several dozen zombies shambled steadily toward you? The delicate plastic stock of the M16A1 obviates bayonet use, and by attempting to use it as such you would risk shattering the hollow, spring-loaded stock... So poor was its early battle record that during the Vietnam War, communist guerrillas refused to take them from dead Americans [right...]. The newer M16A2, although somewhat of an improvement, is still regarded as a second-class weapon. If given the choice, emulate the Vietcong and ignore the M16 entirely.
> On the opposite end of the spectrum, the Soviet AK-47 is considered the best assault rifle ever made...
ಠ_ಠ
It only goes downhill from there. Other fun bits include calling an M1 Garand the best semi-auto you can get and saying bolt-actions can be more effective than semi designs because they "[force] the user to make each round count".
Some of it isn't exactly correct but it is easy and fun to read and you'll definitely learn something:
A Short History of Nearly Everything
Here is the link to Verily, A New Hope.
The others can be found in the "Customers who viewed this item also viewed" bar down below.
Safe Baby Handling Tips by David and Kelly Sopp, FYI.
Check out Al Franken's Book, Lies: And The Lying Liars Who Tell Them.
The best book I've read in recent years.
Ready Player One
It's the year 2044, and the real world is an ugly place.
Like most of humanity, Wade Watts escapes his grim surroundings by spending his waking hours jacked into the OASIS, a sprawling virtual utopia that lets you be anything you want to be, a place where you can live and play and fall in love on any of ten thousand planets.
And like most of humanity, Wade dreams of being the one to discover the ultimate lottery ticket that lies concealed within this virtual world. For somewhere inside this giant networked playground, OASIS creator James Halliday has hidden a series of fiendish puzzles that will yield massive fortune--and remarkable power--to whoever can unlock them.
For years, millions have struggled fruitlessly to attain this prize, knowing only that Halliday's riddles are based in the pop culture he loved--that of the late twentieth century. And for years, millions have found in this quest another means of escape, retreating into happy, obsessive study of Halliday's icons. Like many of his contemporaries, Wade is as comfortable debating the finer points of John Hughes's oeuvre, playing Pac-Man, or reciting Devo lyrics as he is scrounging power to run his OASIS rig.
And then Wade stumbles upon the first puzzle.
Suddenly the whole world is watching, and thousands of competitors join the hunt--among them certain powerful players who are willing to commit very real murder to beat Wade to this prize. Now the only way for Wade to survive and preserve everything he knows is to win. But to do so, he may have to leave behind his oh-so-perfect virtual existence and face up to life--and love--in the real world he's always been so desperate to escape.
A world at stake.
A quest for the ultimate prize.
Are you ready?
IIRC, there was a threat a while back about it being Star Wars written in Shakespearean iambic pentameter.
Edit: found it on Amazon, here.
Awesome catch. Anyone who doesn't know, it's a reference to this book. I'm guessing the gag is also that Alan gets shot and then immediately leaves in the scene.
New dad to a 1 year old here.
By the way, there's a really good sci-fi book about VR. It's called "Ready Player One"
It's different in the narrative, but also touches upon the topic of people becoming addicted to the virtual world. It also contains a mystery that the characters had to solve, which I found to be pretty intriguing. Also, if you grew up in the 80-ies, you'll love it even more.
Go read the book
If you like this then you'll really like a book by Bill Bryson, A Short History of Nearly Everything, highly recommended. Anything by Bryson, really.
It got bad reviews because it's supposedly a pretty crappy spin-off book from the original FSM book, which has multiple, positive reviews:
http://www.amazon.com/Gospel-Flying-Spaghetti-Monster/dp/0812976568/ref=pd_sim_b_1
Done...?
It's a pretty funny book if anyone is thinking about buying it.
edit: Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation. Sorry, I thought the title was implied from the parent comment.
Looking forward to reading Ready Player One, I've been wanting to read that one, glad it was picked. Amazon has it for sale here for only $8 dollars.
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, No Country for Old Men, and The Princess Bride also all seem to be fairly cheap buys on Amazon.
A short history of nearly everything
While it might not change the way he sees the world it'll definitely help him see it more clearly.
Here are the ebook versions!
Ready Player One
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea - FREE
No Country for Old Men
Princess Bride
If you like xkcd, you might also want to check out his book "What If?"
Not very long, but a very fun read. It's a longform format of the other half of his site: https://what-if.xkcd.com/
Snow Crash by Stephenson is something of a modern classic, and a very fun read. I highly recommend it!
Read Ready Player One.. Great book that was really influenced by gaming in the 80's...well hell all things 80's
http://www.amazon.com/What-If-Scientific-Hypothetical-Questions/dp/0544272994
Check out What If? and Thing Explainer.
Owen wins 1,169,474 more games then eats, shoots, and leaves.
My personal favourites are;
Links to the aforementioned books;
>Lies: And the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right
http://www.amazon.com/William-Shakespeares-Star-Wars-Doescher/dp/1594746370
I don’t think Barney’s toxic masculinity is unironic. That would mean this book is actually offering a code to live by, as opposed to the humor coming from how ridiculous it is.
This episode definitely touched on why toxic masculinity is a bad thing. When you go around getting in fights (in this case taking credit for one they didn’t even participate in) because it’s “manly” bad things happen.
Posting all the content from a book isn't cool.
It’s from Al Franken’s book, Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: a Fair and Balanced Look at the Right.
Bill Bryson made the point, in his very enjoyable 1998 book "A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail", that the Forest Service builds and maintains more miles of roads than any other part of the federal government.
Not directly answering OP's question, but Randall Munroe from xkcd has treated the subject of a "real life periodic table" and its consequences in his What if? book. He also talks about it in a Talk @ Google. I highly recommend to take the time and watch it.
If I might recommend a book, Bill Bryson's A Short History of Nearly Everything sounds like something you'd be interested in.
It's mostly about the origins and stories behind major scientific discoveries and theories that have shaped our view of the world and universe today. He starts at the Big Bang and goes from there. The book is quite accessible to those without formal scientific education (like myself). Bryson dumbs things down just enough so you can understand it while feeling enriched afterwards at the same time. I can definitely say that the book changed me for the better when I read it for the first time back as a teenager. It also has an awesome illustrated edition.
That I exist at all. From A Short History of Nearly Everything:
>If your two parents hadn't bonded just when they did - possibly to the second, possibly to the nanosecond - you wouldn't be here. And if their parents hadn't bonded in a precisely timely manner, you wouldn't be here either. And if their parents hadn't done likewise, and their parents before them, and so on, obviously and indefinitely, you wouldn't be here.
> Push backwards through time and these ancestral debts begin to add up. Go back just eight generations to about the time that Charles Darwin and Abraham Lincoln were born, and already there are over 250 people on whose timely couplings your existence depends. Continue further, to the time of Shakespeare and the Mayflower Pilgrims, and you have no fewer than 16,384 ancestors earnestly exchanging genetic material in a way that would, eventually and miraculously, result in you.
Hoookay.
To start off with, the two mandatory books are:
Neuromancer, by William Gibson: This is the big daddy, the first example of the genre. Especially notable for pre-dating the world wide web, but managing to predict it pretty well. We still use terminology (like cyberspace) coined by him today.
Snow Crash: Snow Crash (in my opinion) is the close to the genre, the book that took everything unseriously enough to lead us into the world of post-cyberpunk. An awesome book, and more readable than Neuromancer.
Movies:
Blade Runner: The visual inspiration for a ton of stuff, Blade Runner is the shit. Make sure you watch the Final Cut, because there are three versions.
The Matrix: Worlds inside computers are huge in cyberpunk, and The Matrix nails it. The aesthetics are pretty good too, given less sci-fi stuff in the computer world.
The Surrogates: Not the greatest movie in the world, and Bruce Willis has hilariously fake hair, but an interesting approach to a cyberpunk world.
Miscellaneous:
Psycho-Pass: The less well-known cyberpunk anime, Psycho-Pass treads interesting philosophical ground, and pairs it with a really fun cyberpunk police procedural. Season 2 is coming out this fall, mark your calendars.
Ghost in the Shell: Standalone Complex: The Ghost in the Shell movie is one of the leading lights of Cyberpunk, but I prefer the TV show for it's more drawn-out, easier to follow narrative. Drop magic into GitS, and you have Shadowrun, straight up and down. This is a must-see for anyone interested in the genre.
Akira: I confess, I haven't actually seen Akira, but it's another classic of the genre. Beware that without having read the manga, there are pretty decent chunks that just won't make sense.
If you're looking for a fun, but enriching read, I highly recommend Bryson's "A Short History of Nearly Everything". It's tough to put down and you're guaranteed to learn some amazing things.
Similarly, Bryson's "A Walk in the Woods" comes to mind, although I haven't read it in some time. Seems fitting for the gaybros since it's about hiking the Appalachian Trail - a dream of mine some day.
Mind need to have a talk with your cat...
If anyone wasn't aware from the artstyle, this is by Randall Munroe, of xckd fame. It's from his new book, "What If?: Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions"
Pages 290-295 if anyone wishes to read it.
^^In ^^the ^^UK ^^edition
>modes of operation
This reminded me of the Baby Owner's Manual by Louis Borgenicht.
One section describing the baby's body parts I find particularly humorous.
"Neck: Upon arrival, this feature may appear 'useless.' This is not a defect. The neck will become more useful in two to four months."
Highly recommended.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1594745978/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awdb_HOrIyb6XKAPWM
This is that book that's going to be turned into a Spielberg movie and that seems to be very well-liked by /r/books. Amazon's Kindle store has it on sale for the same price, too.
If you read one scientific/historical laugh-riot this year, make it:
Bill Bryson's A Short History of Nearly Everything.
easy
My recommendations:
Steven Erikson - Malazan Book of the Fallen
Brandon Sanderson - Mistborn
Brandon Sanderson - The Stormlight Archive
Peter Brett - The Demon Cycle
R. Scott Bakker - The Second Apocalypse
Joe Abercrombie - The First Law
Scott Lynch - The Gentleman Bastard
Patrick Rothfuss - The Kingkiller Chronicle
All excellent. Some slightly more excellent than others.
For general fantasy I've enjoyed Gentleman Bastard, The Kingkiller Chronicle, and The Broken Empire. I listen to Kingkiller Chronicle fairly often due to the amount of commuting I do where I live.
For more urban/fantasy maybe try Lives of Tao, Iron Druid Chronicles, or anything by Neil Gaiman. The anniversary edition of American Gods was really excellent on audio-book. Not sure if the others have audio editions or not.
I've also really enjoyed stuff by Drew Hayes (a webnovelist). His banner series is SuperPowereds. But I though NPCs was a great take on an old fantasy trope. Neither come in audio formats unfortunately.
Good luck.
Sounds like Ready Player One by Ernest Cline.
http://www.amazon.com/Ready-Player-One-A-Novel/dp/0307887448
Ready Player One
I own this book. I got it from here: https://www.amazon.com/How-Talk-Your-About-Safety/dp/045149492X
It was brutal. I wasn't that good. But there were many people who were superb. It was such a pleasure watching them perform.
Here are some sci-fi recommendations (you may have read them already, but I thought I'd offer anyway):
Serious Scifi:
Anathem the "multiverse" (multiple realities) and how all that works
Seveneves feminism meets eugenics—watch out!
The Culture series by Iain Banks, esp Book 2, the Player of Games Banks is dead, but wrote some of the best intellectual scifi ever
Brilliant, Visionary:
Accelerando brilliant and hilarious; and it's not a long book
Snowcrash classic
Neuromancer another classic
Tawdry yet Lyrical (in a good way):
Dhalgren beautiful, poetic, urban, stream of consciousness, and more sex than you can believe
Underrated Classics:
Voyage to Arcturus ignore the reviews and the bad cover of this edition (or buy a diff edition); this is the ONE book that every true scifi and fantasy fan should read before they die
Stress Pattern, by Neal Barrett, Jr. I can't find this on Amazon, but it is a book you should track down. It is possibly the WORST science fiction book ever written, and that is why you must read it. It's a half-assed attempt at a ripoff of Dune without any of the elegance or vision that Herbert had, about a giant worm that eats people on some distant planet. A random sample: "A few days later when I went to the edge of the grove to ride the Bhano I found him dead. I asked Rhamik what could have happened and he told me that life begins, Andrew, and life ends. Well, so it does."
I absolutely love Snow Crash. Very humorous writing without becoming pure comedy. Great plot. Awesome concepts.
> i will have to check out Neuromancer as it seems interesting.
the movie, Johnny Mnemonic, is also based off Neuromancer, but it's not super great at presenting the themes the book develops.
Snow Crash has a lot of Gibson/Neuromancer elements, but also includes some interesting concepts about language and religion.
here's Amazon links for both of them. $20 well spent IMO.
https://www.amazon.com/Neuromancer-William-Gibson/dp/0441569595
https://www.amazon.com/Snow-Crash-Neal-Stephenson/dp/0553380958
I'll read damn near anything I can get my hands on, but I prefer fiction.
Some non-fiction books that I'm currently enjoying though are Godel, Escher, Bach and A Short History of Nearly Everything
On the fiction list right now are Foucault's Pendulum and The Broom of the System.
Sweet, but she's dead when she runs out of ammo. Swords and bats are fairly effective, and if you'd really like her to live a bit longer, check out The Zombie Survival Guide
Take her brother aside and teach him the fundamentals of the Bro Code, bro.
Nay, say I. That which you hath spoken is not the truth, it is contrary to reason.
Edit: Holy shit, it exists
Have you seen the book The Baby Owner's Manual? Your post reminded me of it!
I'm partial to the baby's owner manual. Mostly because it treats it like a car or electronic purchase (ie: troubleshooting, first year maintenance, etc). Keeps the info light and fun.
https://www.amazon.com/Baby-Owners-Manual-Instructions-Trouble-Shooting/dp/1594745978
> "Quality" means nothing without privacy and comfort.
>
> This just feels like separating the rich from the poor even further.
Indeed, just take a standard dystopian sci-fi book and you will notice the poor people living in a container.
Have a little ambition, please.
The Illuminatus Trilogy.
http://www.amazon.com/Illuminatus-Trilogy-Pyramid-Golden-Leviathan/dp/0440539811
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Illuminatus!_Trilogy
How about a copy of How to Talk to Your Cat About Gun Safety: And Abstinence, Drugs, Satanism, and Other Dangers That Threaten Their Nine Lives 😂
And from someone who literally wrote a (great) book called "Lies and the Lying Liars That Tell Them"
Nothing spiked sales of Al Franken's book Lies: And the Lying Liars Who Tell Them, a Fair and Balanced Look at the Right like Bill O'Reilly whining about it.
Snow Crash
Open-world adventure/mystery game split between dystopian west coast and The Metaverse; player gets to move between the two whenever they want. At least two playable characters; Hiro and Y.T., or a new RPG player-character.
Tons of minigames including pizza-delivery, information brokering, skateboard couriering, racing (IRL and Metaverse). Main story could be a sequel to the novel.
Virtual Reality. Swords. Guns. Cars. Skateboards. Italian Mafia. Hackers. Cults. Drugs. Sumerian Myths. Nuclear Powered Robot Dogs. Why aren't you excited yet?
So Monday night the dogs woke me up with a nose to the face during a massive thunderstorm. Having no tornado warnings on my phone and a great appreciation for severe weather, I go to watch the proceedings: lightning doesn't stop flashing before the next bolt goes off, etc, etc. And then a tree lands two inches from my face.
Commence mad dash for the basement. Turns out the university unsubscribed me from severe weather alerts in the past week without telling me. My email and all those printing credits are still active though. Go figure.
So anyways, there is still no power, there is a tree on my house, my neighborhood looks like this and this and this and this, and I'm in Sweden. Very glad that husband was not home for that little escapade or he'd be a gibbering wreck. And I'm still not done compiling survey results.
By strange coincidence though, I was reading (and enjoying) The Lies of Locke Lamora on the plane over, and in downtown Stockholm, I found a little handwritten sign on a bookstore saying that Scott Lynch is going to be doing a signing there in two weeks. I think I may be in Estonia that day though.
...Imgur wouldn't let me make an album. Poo.
And in writing news, I have a hard copy of my MS left with a friend to read while I'm gone, but I haven't had a chance to write as my husband will not leave me alone. I know we've been apart since May, but he keeps following me to the bathroom and generally behaving like a starfish. It's old already.
The Lies of Locke Lamora
Solid book
Highly recommended source: Be Prepared: A Practical Handbook for New Dads
I think I have this book as well. Did it come with the responsibility spinner on the front? It's a wheel you spin that has either a "mom" or "dad" space on it. Whichever it lands on is the person responsible for the current baby incident.
Ninja edit: This is it. http://www.amazon.com/Safe-Baby-Handling-Tips-David/dp/0762424915#
It's from this book
https://www.amazon.com/Safe-Baby-Handling-Tips-David/dp/0762424915
If you are interested in such questions, and science generally, I recommend Bill Bryson's A Short History of Nearly Everything. The book starts off discussing this exact question.
http://www.amazon.com/Short-History-Nearly-Everything/dp/0767908171
The Illuminatus Trilogy by Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson
Thanks, apparently that's reprinted from Al Franken's "Lies: And the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right."
Just ordered!
Check out the Baby Owners Manual. It's informative, funny, and doesn't make any assumptions about what you already know.
We really like this book:
http://www.amazon.com/The-Baby-Owners-Manual-Trouble-Shooting/dp/1594745978
My SO has absolutely zero experience with kids or infants and it has really helped him learn a lot and feel very confident. It is written very much like a techincal manual but humorous. I have looked through it also (LOTS of experience with infants here!) and I find the information to be solid and it gets the point across easily.
Butt paste
Burp cloths
Depending on your friend, a book like Geek Dad might be a good advance purchase.
Takeout gift cards
Cereal bars for snacking
NO BLANKETS; NO STUFFED TOYS. Those things breed and you end up with thousands of them. Possible exception: Ugly Dolls.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Baby-Owners-Manual-Trouble-Shooting/dp/1594745978/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1371970870&sr=8-1&keywords=baby+manual
>I want to make sure that when my SO looks back on her first pregnancy, that she sees me right by her side.
Dude, that was heartwarming AS FUCK. I'd say you're already on a pretty good track just having that mindset.
I had a really tough first trimester and was having a lot of trouble eating/keeping weight on. Any time I had any little craving my SO made it happen like he was a freakin' genie or something. That was pretty nice. I think a big one is never making her feel like she needs to rationalize anything to you, whether it's a craving or a bad mood. Let her complain, be that sounding board.
And here are two books I'm really liking:
http://www.amazon.com/The-Baby-Owners-Manual-Trouble-Shooting/dp/1594745978
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1580054846/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_dp_ss_1?pf_rd_p=1944687662&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=1594745978&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=01MTWYFH3MCT00RNPVJS
Congrats on the upcoming addition to you both. :)
Acutally yes I do know how tiring a real sword fight is. I've been in re-enacted battles in a full harness of plate and mail with padded gambeson and then two layers of woolen clothes.
I can fight pretty well in that situation for a reasonable amount of time. Given that in the proposed scenario I would not be in full plate I should be okay. The whole point about having a melee weapon and using it correctly is that you keep the fucker as far away from you as possible.
This leads me to my defensive armament my mail shirt. Recommended in the very Zombie Survival Guide you appear to be drawing your research from.
You are correct, sprung steel is not as good as tempered steel, for that I'd have to go get this, but as it's in the cupboard and would take longer to get than the 3s the OP mentioned I discounted it.
Dull blades kill just as quickly as sharp ones.
In short sir, I do not speak bullshit, I will not purchase a firearm and if desired could use a fucking mace if I wanted to
I haven't seen the movie, and I'm not much of a book reader, but I do love all things zombies and of all the zombies things I've seen or read I loved World War Z the book.
It's a very easy, light read. But in my opinion it's the best, more realistic and rational zombie book. Hell, it was written by the guy who wrote the Zombie Survival Guide.
The Baby Owner's Manual: Operating Instructions, Trouble-Shooting Tips, and Advice on First-Year. So I haven't read a whole lot of this book yet, but from what I've read so far I really enjoy it. It mixes in some humor with a lot of great information. I saw it recommended in another thread on /r/predaddit and decided to purchase it.
If he's into the outdoors, I'd recommend A Walk In The Woods by Bill Bryson or The Last American Man by Elizabeth Gilbert
Have you read Ready Player One? I think the platform they had in the book is exactly what Zuckerberg sees in the Oculus.
Peter F. Hamilton's Night's Dawn Trilogy is a must read. Also, try The Illuminatus Trilogy not sure if it's considered SciFi, but it's a good read once you get into it.
From Snowcrash
> Gargoyles represent the embarrassing side of the Central Intelligence Corporation. Instead of using laptops, they wear their computers on their bodies, broken up into separate modules that hang on the waist, on the back, on the headset. They serve as human surveillance devices, recording everything that happens around them. Nothing looks stupider; these getups are the modern-day equivalent of the slide-rule scabbard or the calculator pouch on the belt, marking the user as belonging to a class that is at once above and far below human society. They are a boon to Hiro because they embody the worst stereotype of the CIC stringer. They draw all the attention. The payoff for this self-imposed ostracism is that you can be in the Metaverse all the time, and gather intelligence all the time.
It might be helpful if you give us a list of any books you've read that you did enjoy or genres you think you might like.
I have never met a person who didn't love Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy but it may not be your thing if you don't like wacked-out sci-fi so some general idea of your interests could help a ton with suggestions.
A Short History of Nearly Everything is a solid non-fiction
Robot Dreams is a great set of sci-fi short stories
Ender's Game gets a ton of hate but is a pretty great sci-fi
On A Pale Horse is an older series that I'd consider fantasy but with sci-fi elements
Where the Red Fern Grows is well loved fiction
A Zoo in My Luggage is non-fic but about animal collecting trips for a zoo and is hilarious.
In Bill Bryson's "A Short History of Nearly Everything" he makes a pretty good case that it is actually the exact opposite: that South America was settled by the Polynesians.
Obviously the Polynesians are incredible boaters, but what makes the most sense is that they initially sailed into the wind knowing that if they didn't find whatever it was they were looking for, the trip back home downwind would be much easier.
The one true word: https://smile.amazon.com/Gospel-Flying-Spaghetti-Monster/dp/0812976568/
I have a friend who is a biology teacher and ordained Pastafarian. He plans on teaching it as an alternative to evolution.
The Gospel CLEARLY states that global temperatures have risen as the global pirate population decreased. Therefore, climate change is anthropogenic but more economic than environmental.
R'Amen.
Human Rights Tribunal gets it wrong again.
Atheism is not a creed, it is the absence of a creed. Calling athiesm a creed is like calling "Off" a TV channel.
People should not be distributing religious materials in classrooms. It's a stupid idea and it should be stopped because:
The whole thing is foolish. The minute Islamic groups start taking the school up on this offer there is going to be a shit storm.
The problem is that Mr. Choinard chose a book that sounds reasonable. This FSM would have gotten the point across more clearly.
Sure!
Cryptonomicon
Snow Crash
The Electric Church
Neuromancer
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
That should get you started. :)
[1] [Neil Stephenson] (http://www.amazon.com/Neal-Stephenson/e/B000APS8L8/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1?qid=1342151712&sr=8-1) also delves into Cyberpunk. [2] Snow Crash is probably one of my favorite books.
You could check out Ready Player One
Did you really imagine it?
From Bill Bryson's book, A Short History of Nearly Everything (for geographic reference he is talking about an impact that happened in Manson, Iowa some 74 million years ago and left the biggest crater in the US (you couldn't tell if you went there...nothing to see crater-wise anymore without using special equipment to see underground):
>An asteroid or comet traveling at cosmic velocities would enter the earth's atmosphere at such a speed that the air beneath it couldn't get out of the way and would be compressed, as in a bicycle pump. As anyone who has used such a pump knows, compressed air grows swiftly hot, and temperature below it would rise to some 60,000 Kelvins or ten times the surface temperature of the Sun. In this instant of its arrival in our atmosphere, everything in the meteor's path - people, houses, factories, cars - would crinkle and vanish like cellophane in a flame.
>One second after entering the atmosphere, the meteorite would slam into the earth's surface, where the people of Manson (an impact site of such a collision millions of years ago) had a moment before been going about their business. The meteorite itself would vaporize instantly, but the blast would blow out a thousand cubic kilometers of rock, earth, and superheated gases. Every living thing within 150 miles that hadn't been killed by the heat of entry would now be killed by the blast. Radiating outward at almost the speed of light would be the initial shock wave, sweeping everything before it.
>For those outside the zone of immediate devastation, the first inkling of catastrophe would be a flash of blinding light - the brightest ever seen by human eyes - followed an instant to a minute or two later by an apocalyptic sight of unimaginable grandeur: a rolling wall of darkness reaching high into the heavens, filling an entire field of view and traveling at thousands of miles an hour. Its approach would be eerily silent since it would be moving far beyond the speed of sound. Anyone In a tall building in Omaha or Des Moines, say, who chanced to look into the right direction would see a bewildering veil of turmoil followed by instantaneous oblivion.
>Within minutes, over an area stretching from Denver to Detroit and encompassing what had been Chicago, St. Louis, Kansas City, the Twin Cities - the whole of the Midwest, in short - nearly every standing thing would be flattened or on fire, and nearly every living thing would be dead. People up to a thousand miles away would be knocked off their feet and sliced or clobbered by a blizzard of flying projectiles. Beyond a thousand miles the devastation from the blast would gradually diminish.
>But that's just the initial shockwave. No one can do more than guess what the associated damage would be, other than that it would be brisk and global. The impact would almost certainly set off a chain of devastating earthquakes. Volcanoes across the world would begin to rumble and spew. Tsunamis would rise up and head devastatingly for distant shores. Within an hour, a cloud of blackness would cover the planet, and burning rock and other debris would be pelting down everywhere, setting much of the planet ablaze. It has been estimated that 1.5 billion people would be dead by the end of first day. The massive disturbances to the ionosphere would knock out communications systems everywhere, so survivors would have no idea what was happening elsewhere or where to turn. It would hardly matter. As one commentator has put it, fleeing would mean "selecting a slow death over a quicker one. The death toll would be very little affected by any plausible relocation effort, since earth’s ability to support life would be universally diminished."
>The amount of soot and floating ash from the impact and following fires would blot out the sun, certainly for months, possibly for years, disrupting growing cycles. In 2001, researchers at the California Institute of Technology analyzed helium isotopes from sediments left from the later KT impact and concluded that it affected earth’s climate for about 10,000 years. This was actually used as evidence to support the notion that the extinction of dinosaurs was swift and emphatic - and so it was in geological terms. We can only guess how well, or whether, humanity would cope with such an event.
>And in all likelihood, this would come without warning, out of a clear sky.
EDIT: Added geographic info for context.
EDIT2: It is worth noting that there were no extinctions associated with this impact. As devastating as it was it was still not sufficient to completely end any species' time on the planet. Now consider what the one that put a sharp and definitive end to the dinosaurs must have been like!
These:
How to Read the Solar System: A Guide to the Stars and Planets by Christ North and Paul Abel.
A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson.
A Universe from Nothing: Why There is Something Rather than Nothing by Lawrence Krauss.
Cosmos by Carl Sagan.
Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space by Carl Sagan.
Foundations of Astrophysics by Barbara Ryden and Bradley Peterson.
Final Countdown: NASA and the End of the Space Shuttle Program by Pat Duggins.
An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth: What Going to Space Taught Me About Ingenuity, Determination, and Being Prepared for Anything by Chris Hadfield.
You Are Here: Around the World in 92 Minutes: Photographs from the International Space Station by Chris Hadfield.
Space Shuttle: The History of Developing the Space Transportation System by Dennis Jenkins.
Wings in Orbit: Scientific and Engineering Legacies of the Space Shuttle, 1971-2010 by Chapline, Hale, Lane, and Lula.
No Downlink: A Dramatic Narrative About the Challenger Accident and Our Time by Claus Jensen.
Voices from the Moon: Apollo Astronauts Describe Their Lunar Experiences by Andrew Chaikin.
A Man on the Moon: The Voyages of the Apollo Astronauts by Andrew Chaikin.
Breaking the Chains of Gravity: The Story of Spaceflight before NASA by Amy Teitel.
Moon Lander: How We Developed the Apollo Lunar Module by Thomas Kelly.
The Scientific Exploration of Venus by Fredric Taylor.
The Right Stuff by Tom Wolfe.
Into the Black: The Extraordinary Untold Story of the First Flight of the Space Shuttle Columbia and the Astronauts Who Flew Her by Rowland White and Richard Truly.
An Introduction to Modern Astrophysics by Bradley Carroll and Dale Ostlie.
Rockets, Missiles, and Men in Space by Willy Ley.
Ignition!: An Informal History of Liquid Rocket Propellants by John Clark.
A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking.
Russia in Space by Anatoly Zak.
Rain Of Iron And Ice: The Very Real Threat Of Comet And Asteroid Bombardment by John Lewis.
Mining the Sky: Untold Riches From The Asteroids, Comets, And Planets by John Lewis.
Asteroid Mining: Wealth for the New Space Economy by John Lewis.
Coming of Age in the Milky Way by Timothy Ferris.
The Whole Shebang: A State of the Universe Report by Timothy Ferris.
Death by Black Hole: And Other Cosmic Quandries by Neil deGrasse Tyson.
Origins: Fourteen Billion Years of Cosmic Evolution by Neil deGrasse Tyson.
Rocket Men: The Epic Story of the First Men on the Moon by Craig Nelson.
The Martian by Andy Weir.
Packing for Mars:The Curious Science of Life in the Void by Mary Roach.
The Overview Effect: Space Exploration and Human Evolution by Frank White.
Gravitation by Misner, Thorne, and Wheeler.
The Science of Interstellar by Kip Thorne.
Entering Space: An Astronaut’s Oddyssey by Joseph Allen.
International Reference Guide to Space Launch Systems by Hopkins, Hopkins, and Isakowitz.
The Fabric of the Cosmos: Space, Time, and the Texture of Reality by Brian Greene.
How the Universe Got Its Spots: Diary of a Finite Time in a Finite Space by Janna Levin.
This New Ocean: The Story of the First Space Age by William Burrows.
The Last Man on the Moon by Eugene Cernan.
Failure is Not an Option: Mission Control from Mercury to Apollo 13 and Beyond by Gene Kranz.
Apollo 13 by Jim Lovell and Jeffrey Kluger.
The end
http://www.amazon.com/The-Demon-Haunted-World-Science-Candle/dp/0345409469
http://www.amazon.com/Hitchhikers-Guide-Galaxy-Douglas-Adams/dp/0345391802
http://www.amazon.com/A-Short-History-Nearly-Everything/dp/076790818X
A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson is good, but I'm not sure if it's quite what you're looking for.
A Short History of Nearly Everything
I prob need to read this.
Current read: https://www.amazon.com/Gospel-Flying-Spaghetti-Monster/dp/0812976568
That's hilarious but I think it's actually this one
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0812976568/ref=cm_sw_r_awd_Wc9Wub1K72CTY
i'm just going to leave this here:
http://www.brocode.com/
http://www.amazon.com/Bro-Code-Barney-Stinson/dp/143911000X?ie=UTF8&*Version*=1&*entries*=0
Edit: /facepalm - this is a thread killers link, not the actual question link. Woops...
OP needs to read the following:
http://www.amazon.ca/Eats-Shoots-Leaves-Lynne-Truss/dp/1592402038
Whoa there hombre. Serial comma all the way.
Matt Doyle's response to Twellman's "ding-dong" comment:
>Got my xmas shopping for @TaylorTwellman done:
> http://www.amazon.com/Eats-Shoots-Leaves-Tolerance-Punctuation/dp/1592402038 …
> http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41z6w-f6QeL.jpg …
My husband is not much of a reader and likes things straight-forward. So i got him this: https://www.amazon.com/Baby-Owners-Manual-Instructions-Trouble-Shooting/dp/1594745978 and he loves it.
I'd also recommend The Baby Owner's Manual: Operating Instructions, Trouble-Shooting Tips, and Advice on First-Year Maintenance and the Caring for Your Baby and Young Child book by the American Academy of Pediatrics.
Oh... and Happiest Baby on the Block. I didn't read it... we watched the video instead. Really good advice for calming newborns.
How to Talk to Your Cat About Gun Safety: And Abstinence, Drugs, Satanism, and Other Dangers That Threaten Their Nine Lives https://www.amazon.com/dp/045149492X/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_FBVvDbSKF3H4A
Don't forget this important book to ensure the safest home environment for your felines.
Have you talked to your cat about gun safety yet?
Oh, like Al Franken did in his book 11 years ago? http://www.amazon.com/Lies-Lying-Liars-Tell-Them/dp/0452285216/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1425579984&sr=1-1&keywords=al+franken
A really nice, much prettier, redrawing of this, by the same illustrator, from the inside of the dust jacket of his new book (it's really good):
http://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/t_original/875328566035019154.jpg
The book: http://www.amazon.com/What-If-Scientific-Hypothetical-Questions/dp/0544272994
Snow Crash
http://www.amazon.com/Snow-Crash-Bantam-Spectra-Book/dp/0553380958
Snow Crash
I think Salvatore gets sort of a bad rap. His Dark Elf Trilogy was one of the first Fantasy novels I had read and really kickstarted my interest in fantasy. The idea of elves as an evil race was totally groundbreaking for me and made me realize there was more to fantasy than the standard LotR model.
Even if Salvatore isn't your style, don't let it rule out other authors in the "Forgotten Realms" universe. Paul S. Kemp would stand up well against other fantasy authors commonly mentioned in the community. His Erevis Cale Trilogy and Twilight War series are among my favorite books.
Having said that, I'd recommend The Lies of Locke Lamora and The Dresden Files. I'd describe these books as fun, fast-paced, light reading that most folks find hard to put down.
Openings are hard as shit to do in sci-fi/fantasy. You have to basically lecture on the world without it sounding like you're lecturing them on the world: excuse me while I grab my smoke and mirrors. I'm not going to do line edits because it's view only. Instead you get my wall of text that I'm compiling on scifi/fantasy openings as I read more and more piles of it, when I should be reading something like literature (Idk, is that what the cool kids are doing?).
It's view only so my line edits will probably be limited, but I'll start with your opening two sentences.
>The café of 'Morl's Best Cuppa' was odd, green and uncomfortable to look at. It's rough exterior stood out against the trimmed vein of grey that was the rest of the city-block, like a bulb of gum beaten flat under step, ruining an otherwise pristine side-walk
Protag is looking at a building. I'm not as experienced in third person style narratives, but I'll do my best. If I was writing this in first person I'd be extremely leery of writing a description of the building for the begging portion. I do think you have an interesting world set out. There are genuinely funny moments, but it's packaged in a way that makes me want to put it down. I'd say this is due to an incomplete opening. You have characters and setting, but you don't have a problem for these characters to overcome (plot).I'm going to copy paste parts of a post that I did on sci-fi/fantasy openings that I made earlier, with significant modifications/additions (but the core idea is the same). If this is frowned upon, I'll stop. Disclaimer, I'm not saying that you should do any of these things that I suggest. This is merely my own opinions on ways to get over the initial hump that sci/fi fantasy stories face. These are some good resources/books that I've found.
In essence a good opening has three things
This is kind of vague and bullshitty so I'll use some examples.
The openings in fantasty/sci-fi books are notoriously terrible. For instance, Red Rising, an otherwise half decent thriller book has the shittiest opening that I've read in a published work. But that didn't stop him from selling books out the wazoo and getting good blurbs ("Ender, Catniss, and now Darrow"), because he knows how to write a page turner later on (I'd still recommend it even though the opening is questionable, if you enjoy cheap dystopian thrills). But damn, did the opening want to make me throw the book against the wall. It's not that he doesn't do the three things that an opening should do, it's that he switches voices within it and had several narration snaps when it's clearly HIM speaking and not the main character. I'd also say that Patrick Rothfuss' opening is extremely shitty (and he says so himself), as he takes 50 pages before anything substantial happens. Thus he went back and added a prologue so the reader would feel some sort of plot in the story. Prologues are effective in scifi/fantasy for quickly introducing a problem, if your world takes awhile to build. For instance -- Harry Potter also did this to an extent, since it had the scene with his parents dying. Some openings, like the one that I'm about to discuss, have a really solid hook and immediately grab the reader. Am I saying that you should write a prologue? No , I haven't really read enough of your story to figure that out. I'm just offering a few nuggets of advice that I've seen authors use to get over the initial hump of creating the world.
I think a solid example of a good opening in a sci-fi story, that I've read recently, is the story Wool (here's a link, use the look inside function). The hook is one of the better ones I've read, something along the lines of "Holston climbed his stairs to his death." Is it a cheap trick? Yes. Do I really care, and does it add tension to an otherwise monotonous climb up the stairs? You betcha! He explains certain elements of the silo as he gets to the different actions, e.g. "I put my hand on the guardrail, worn down one flake at a time by centuries of use." He doesn't just come out and say "HEY THE SILO IS OLD LEMME TELL YOU ABOUT MY CHILDHOOD IN THE SILO AND THEN GET TO THE PLOT DAMMNIT". In your case we see some characters mostly annoyed, bored, or not really doing much. Sure the setting is engaging, but the characters, in my opinion, aren't. The pro of an exposition opening is that you can fit a lot of information into a relatively small amount of space. The con is that it's hard to present in a way that doesn't create a POV snap, a boring tell instead of show description, and it's hard to create a problem if you're trying to be an omnipotent narrator. Dune does it, but it hasn't set a trend because it's hard as shit to do. Pride and Prejudice does it, but Jane Austen is incredibly good at writing in different tones. I'll stick to my nice comfortable first person narrative right now. I'm not a good mechanical writer, or a good writer at all yet, but I'm working on it. I do worldbuilding half decently (though I'm put to shame by the people on /r/worldbuilding)
Another solid opening is "Mistborn;" (here's a link) a fantastic example of a dialogue driven opening. I'd say that if a dialogue opening is done right, its exponentially more interesting than an exposition opening. The problem is making the characters feel natural. I spent quite some time on my opening hammering out the robotic narration style, but I still had to go back and write a prologue because I didn't introduce the main problem of the story properly. I problem that I had is that my characters seem to stick their fingers up their butts and don't do anything. Basically a dialogue opening is harder to do, but it's well worth the effort if you can pull it off. Dialogue is also a good way to squeeze information out of your world. Want to have an explanation about scientist, well slap a scientist in there and have your protag ask some questions about it. Don't have random flashbacks in the very begging. Think about a movie that had someone fixing breakfast, and every time they did something relatively minor there was a flashback. E.g. poured some orange juice. That reminds me of my mentor who trained me in how to write a good sci-fi opening. Going to eat some Coco puffs, like me mum used to. But me mum beat me so I angrily ate the coco puffs.
The best fantasy opening that I've ever read is Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch. I'd recommend taking a peek at it here. He casually just strolls in, quickly establishes two characters, a problem, and a setting in half a page. It's brilliant. I can't say I've read the rest of it though, but it's on my list of things to read. The only complaints that I've heard about Lies (aside from the usually fantasy grumbling about tropes), is that the heist narrative is too lowly for such a talented writer. I think that's a pretty good sign that hes doing shit right.
In the words of Brian Sanderson "writing is all smoke and mirrors." In fantasy/sci-fi you have to set up scenes that are more or less infodumping segments that feel natural to the reader. E.g. travelling from town to town, "oh theres a ghost thing over there"
"that's not a ghost its your mum!" laughter ensues
On the bright side, it seems like you've done some good world building, so writing the segments shouldn't be too hard. I highly recommend watching Brandon Sanderson's lectures on the youtube channel "Write about dragons." Start with the first lectures he does, because they cover a lot of mistakes that people make.
Also read this article on common mistakes that editors see (link) . Watching and reading just a little bit will help you from falling into a ton of pitfalls, like I did with my first story. I spent far too long on too little words, that were absolute rubbish. Now I've been able to get at least a consistent word count down every week, with mixed reviews (some chapters are better than others.) Basically, write consistently and read often. Potential and inspiration are bullshit. Hammer out some words, get it torn apart on this sub-reddit, pick up the pieces and repeat. Make sure to give back often, this place is awesome. I think one of my better experiences was posting a basically infodumpy chapter, and had some pretty positive reviews (aside from some pseudoscience that I quickly cut, and leapt back into the warm embrace of space opera).
If you get past the opening hump, this article, is a fantastic way to plan how your plot is going to unfold over the course of a novel, in a concise fashion. I wish I'd found this resource sooner, cause my planning would've been much better. (I tend to discovery write, with minimal planning.)
In all honesty, the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings are pretty tough to get into, since they are practically the ur-examples of fantasy, written back when a lot of commercial fiction methodology was still being developed.
When i read a book, I worry first and foremost if I'm entertained, if I am, I'll give it my recommendation, regardless of the flaws. These are the ones I think you'd find best for jumping in with.
YA/Middle Grade Books
Fantasy
Discworld by Terry Pratchet (I'd recommend not starting at the beginning.)
Sci-Fi
Urban Fantasy
Thrillers/Suspense
These were taken from this book: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0762424915
Insert SnowCrash joke here.
Sounds like you might enjoy Neal Stephenson's The Diamond Age. I think Snow Crash is meant to be in the same universe - it's hilarious but not as dense. You might also like his Cryptonomicon, though it's not technically Sci Fi.
Tad Willams' Otherland Series is Epic Sci Fi with a huge amount of detail. Might be right up your alley.
Dune, Neuromancer and The Enderverse if you haven't already read those.
Well, my favorites are
The Moviegoer
The Road
A Confederacy of Dunces
Rendezvous with Rama
Watchmen
Snow Crash
Slaughterhouse-Five
Cat's Cradle
The Big Sleep
The Maltese Falcon
American Gods
A Clockwork Orange
Preacher
Fahrenheit 451
1984
Akira
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Lolita
Love in the Time of Cholera
Naked Lunch
Animal Farm
The Sandman
At the Mountains of Madness
The Call of Cthulhu and Other Weird Tales
The Picture of Dorian Gray
Brave New World
We
Batman: The Dark Knight Returns
How to Build™ : Down Here Buddy(Fighter- Dual Dex Dynamo)
Objective
A dual weilding halfling using a quick wit and even faster blades.
__
Stout Halfling +2 Dex, +1 Con
Background: Criminal
Equipment based off Suggested Quick Build
Stats based off Legal Adventure League Array 15,14,13,12,10,8
Stat | | Stat |
---|---|----|----
Str | 10 | Int | 13
Dex| 14+2 | Wis | 12
Con | 15+1 | Cha | 8
AC 14 (7 more AC possible with higher quality gear)
HP 13 (9 hp/level afterwards)
Level | Class | Gain|Note
---|---|-----|----
1| Fighter | Fighting Style: Two-Weapon Fighting, Second Wind | With every slash you are able to get the needed leverage to drive home the blade.
2| Fighter | Action Surge | Sometimes you just need to do some extra convincing to drive home your point.
3| Fighter | Champion: Critical Strike 19-20 | Every strike digs closer to the threats.
4| Fighter | Feat: Dual Wielder | Your blades move so fast that you can even use them to deflect incoming blows, as well as you have built up strength to wield larger weapon with equal speed (Rapier- 1d8).
5| Fighter | Extra Attack I | Bring the pain.
6| Fighter | +2 Dex | Your blows hit harder and your feet move faster.
7| Fighter | Champion: Remarkable Athelete | Add half your proficiency bonus (round up) to any Strength, Dexterity, or Constitution check you make that doesn't already use your proficiency bonus.
8| Fighter | Feat: Resilient Dexterity | Float like a butterfly, sting like bee.
9| Fighter | Indomitable I| You are able to shrug off attacks and difficulties that those with a smaller heart would crumple to.
10| Fighter | Champion: Fighting Style Defensive | You are able to leverage your armor so that it deflects blows in unexpected ways.
This gets you pretty far progression wise, more beyond this and it can just get too complex as far as flexibility of a guide goes.
Post level 10 I would suggest Feat: Durable, +1 Dex, +1 Con, +2 Con, and even Magic Initiate: Cleric to pick up the spell Shield of Faith or Bless and then Spare the Dying, and Thuamaturgy. These spells augment your team helping their attacks and saves, lets you instantly stop a bleed out, have great RP moments, and are not reliant on having a high wisdom. Also it could work well as your level 19 Feat as you're being blessed by the God of Theives with greater power.
Mayo Clinic Guide to a Healthy Pregnancy
A bit more clinical, and more information (IMO) than "what to expect..."
Be Prepared: A Practical Handbook for New Dads
AWESOME book for dads (me included). Similar info, but much lighter, and easier to read.
Excellent advice from people here. I'd also suggest that you and mom both take a parenting class. Kids are baffling for experienced adults. A good parenting class is extremely helpful for a new parent. Oh, also this book: https://smile.amazon.com/Be-Prepared-Gary-Greenberg/dp/0743251547?sa-no-redirect=1
They are from a book called Safe Baby Pregnancy Tips by David and Kelly Sopp. They make another one for newborns called Safe Baby Handling Tips
I buy these for my friends when they are expecting their first child.
looks like a scan of this book
http://www.amazon.com/Safe-Baby-Handling-Tips-David/dp/0762424915
Easy Choice...
Settle in, hunt, gather, and prepare a defensible structure for the warmer months when the zombies will thaw out and come to attack you again. Preferably one big enough to allow some farming in the warmer periods. Of course, this means no timely return to a normal life as we know it, which is a bummer.
The last few chapters of the ZSG cover exactly this :)
On that note, everyone should read The Zombie Survival Guide by Max Brooks.
It gets better. At 3 months you leave the "OH MY GOD WILL IT BREAK IF I HOLD IT? IS IT BREATHING? I NEED TO CHECK." stage. At that point you don't wake up every 5 minutes to check on them if they don't cry. You think: "Oh thank goodness, they're sleeping for more than 5 minutes"
You should get this book, it's awesome.
Haven’t dug into this yet but I bought it specifically because it is structured like an owner’s manual:
The Baby Owner's Manual: Operating Instructions, Trouble-Shooting Tips, and Advice on First-Year Maintenance (Owner's and Instruction Manual) https://www.amazon.com/dp/1594745978/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_kMH6Cb98YH7AT
The Baby Owner's Manual: Operating Instructions, Trouble-Shooting Tips, and Advice on First-Year Maintenance (Owner's and Instruction Manual) on Amazon
Let's check...
My brother got me this book it's a baby instruction manual.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Baby-Owners-Manual-Trouble-Shooting/dp/1594745978
I ordered the manual separately for my husband. He needed one with pictures.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1594745978
Other parts of it use meter. Longer preview here:
http://www.amazon.com/William-Shakespeares-Star-Wars-Doescher/dp/1594746370
a really good starting book is
A short history of nearly everything
author Bill Bryson (born in Des Moines, Iowa, living in the UK most of his life) discovered he knew next to nothing about how stuff works. How we know things. Not because of a religious upbringing, but just because he was a hardcore linguist and had never studied science subjects. So he did what he does best, research and ask tons of people about everything and then he wrote a book.
And what a book! To quote the first 5 star reviewer in view on amazon: (almost everybody gives it 5 stars)
>" I cannot think of any other single-volume book I have ever read that was as informative, entertaining, and broad in scope as this classic. Not having excelled in science, nor been much interested in it when I was younger, this gem is a massive refresher course on everything I ever learned about science, and then some."
This book is an excellent introduction in every scientific subject you can think of and dozens others you never heard of. After reading it you can select those fields of study that interest you most and find books by scientists in that field that go deeper.
There are many editions of this book, including a fully illustrated one.
Here's an idea I think you'd be good at based on your interests: I'm reading a book now called A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson. It's about how we came to understand the things we know about our planet and our universe. It's absolutely fascinating but it's super long. Condense some of that information down into a format more accessible for high school students. The universe is unfathomably incredible...like pants-wettingly amazing. But high school textbooks are the most boring possible medium ever for conveying that wonder. Turn it into some captivating format that blows kids' minds and makes them fall in love with science. Start a YouTube channel or something.
The way that they are reacting is actually statistically demonstrated by social scientists to be the most effective way for religious parents to influence their wayward children to eventually return to religious practice as they age: http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2013/august-web-only/religion-runs-in-family.html
Also keep in mind the the statistical factor that is most likely to lead to a resuscitation of religious practice for a young adult who has strayed is marriage and children. The younger and less financially and socially stable you are when you have children, the more statistically likely you are to be hooked back into a religious community: http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2013/july-web-only/is-family-decline-behind-religious-decline.html
Just make sure that you don't become a young parent, that you seek out secular communities like the Sunday Assembly etc., and that you do your research on miracles and revelation and philosophy, critical thinking, and science in general
I think he is referring to A Short History of Nearly Everything. It is a good book and very readable, like all Bryson's books.
repay the favor by giving them this next time:
https://www.amazon.com/Gospel-Flying-Spaghetti-Monster/dp/0812976568
Fierce_Fox is right. FM manuals such as FM-217-76 Survival.....may be somewhat outdated but the information is reliable.
As a Medic/EMT my prepping focuses on my skill set with everything else falling close in line. I have a lot of information in digital format; both on USB and a small external drive. I have a small tablet that is in my BoB for reading documents and such.
At a minimum, here are my suggestions:
FM 21-76 Survival - Department of the Army
https://archive.org/details/military-manuals
SAS Survival Guide - https://www.amazon.com/SAS-Survival-Guide-Collins-Gem/dp/0061992860/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1483496552&sr=8-1&keywords=sas+survival+guide
The Pocket Prepper's Guide - Bernie Car
https://www.amazon.com/Preppers-Pocket-Guide-Things-Disaster/dp/1569759294/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1483496827&sr=8-1-fkmr0&keywords=The+Pocket+Prepper%27s+Guide+-+Bernie+Car
The Complete Disaster Home Preparation Guide - Robert Roskind
https://www.amazon.com/Complete-Disaster-Home-Preparation-Guide/dp/0130859001/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1483496881&sr=8-1&keywords=The+Complete+Disaster+Home+Preparation+Guide+-+Robert+Roskind
How To Survive the End of the World As We Know It-James Wesley,Rawles
https://www.amazon.com/How-Survive-End-World-Know/dp/0452295831/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1483496952&sr=8-1&keywords=How+To+Survive+the+End+of+the+World+As+We+Know+It-James+Wesley%2CRawles
Bug Out - Scott B. Williams
https://www.amazon.com/Bug-Out-Complete-Escaping-Catastrophic/dp/156975781X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1483496991&sr=8-1&keywords=Bug+Out+-+Scott+B.+Williams
When There Is No Doctor - Gerard S. Doyle, MD -
https://www.amazon.com/When-There-Doctor-Challenging-Self-reliance/dp/1934170119/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1483497054&sr=8-2&keywords=When+There+Is+No+Doctor
The Ultimate Survival Medicine Guide - Joseph Alton, MD & Amy Alton, ARNP - https://www.amazon.com/Ultimate-Survival-Medicine-Guide-Preparedness/dp/1629147702/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1483497109&sr=8-1-fkmr0&keywords=The+Ultimate+Survival+Medicine+Guide+-+Joseph+Alton%2C+MD+%26+Amy+Alton%2C+ARNP
Last, but not least, The Zombie Survival Guide - Max Brooks
https://www.amazon.com/Zombie-Survival-Guide-Complete-Protection/dp/1400049628/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1483497158&sr=8-1&keywords=The+Zombie+Survival+Guide+-+Max+Brooks
The last one is more humor but it does have many great points and ideas.
A library that covered everything would be very heavy and take up a bit of space. For the minimum, at least 1-2 books on everything one will need to survive will still be a lot. These books should be read, reread, and read again. We can't memorize everything, but having this to go back on when needed is a great addition. There's tons of information online and downloadable for free.
Depending on one's skill set, then they may not need as much. Teach others in a group is a must. Can't have one person be the ONLY one who can do 'this' skill. IMO, research should always be the first step. So much information out there and it's free.
You might even get a kick out of The Hunger Games or Divergent... And of course 1984 :)
The Martian: A Novel - Sci Fi about a man stranded on Mars and his struggle to survive and be rescued.
Ready Player One - Sci Fi about a virtual world/video game scavenger hunt with the winner becoming the new ruler of the virtual world.
Here's a helpful book
http://www.amazon.com/Lies-Lying-Liars-Tell-Them/dp/0452285216
It's a good read. And funny too. The author is now a US senator.
Don't know if it's what you're asking, but the one in the center is What If? by Randall Munroe
A walk in the woods - Bill Bryson. Read this book and randomly met the author on the virginia creeper a few months afterwards. Super nice guy.
The second time I met Victoria (/u/chooter), she recommended Ready Player One and The Room to me. I'm not sure exactly what that says about her, but it's something good, I think :)
Started reading Ready Player One this weekend and am really enjoying it. I often wonder how technology will steer our culture in the next few years...
If you like to read I suggest Ready Player One
It's a bit heavy on the '80s 'members, but otherwise a fantastic adventure story.
Holy shit, this is a real book. LOL!
https://www.amazon.com/How-Talk-Your-About-Safety/dp/045149492X
https://www.amazon.com/How-Talk-Your-About-Safety/dp/045149492X
For a serious suggestion that isn't subversive per se but would be good prep material for more subversive stuff, XKCD's What If book is great. It blends science with the absurd in a way that captures the imagination.
There's not nearly as many characters as Game of Thrones or Tolkien, so it's not that hard to follow the story line. But as TGSICaptain notes, it requires some extra 'commitment'. It's not a series you're going to read through quickly.
Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash is shorter and is lots of fun. The story is absolutely hilarious at times.
> "That bus is full of children Superman!!"
You should read Eats, Shoots and Leaves at some point in your life.
There are formal grammar guides and more 'layman' and humorous guides, but I've found the best success just by learning from context. Read quality books in any field and see how authors write. Read articles in newspapers and magazines that are not sold on supermarket checkout lines, and notice the writing. Learn by osmosis, just by seeing correct grammar and observing it. You'll get a feel for comma placement, apostrophe use, and so forth. Honestly, that's how I learned.
I will say the few sentences you've typed above are pretty decent. Only a couple of minor, nitpicky, errors.
This one is pretty good - it's a good "dad" book, and keeps things pretty straightforward but in a fun way. It's not the most detailed book (I don't think it covered things like sleep regression) but it might be a start? http://www.amazon.com/The-Baby-Owners-Manual-Trouble-Shooting/dp/1594745978
The Baby Owner's Manual:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1594745978/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awd_8EvQwb5MKDQYT
The scary thing is it's actually really well made and has a load of well thought out information.
One of my favorite gifts was The Baby Owner's Manual, which gives practical advice on being a dad to an infant in terms similar to those used in car-repair books. (How to change a diaper, etc)
The Baby Owner's Manual is fun and informative. We have a copy that we both read before our baby arrived.
Is this William Shakespeare's Star Wars? You didn't specify but you said
> the production also includes five scenes from "The Big Lebowksi," also set in Elizabethan English.
which makes it sound like it is.
Edit: I'm guessing this is the Big Lebowski and this is the Star Wars one.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1594746370/
Here are some quick recommendations from my list of favorites for those who are interested (I hope mods are OK with links to make looking easier, otherwise I'll happily remove them). These books engaged and inspired me and my imagination:
The Alchemist:
>The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho continues to change the lives of its readers forever. With more than two million copies sold around the world, The Alchemist has established itself as a modern classic, universally admired.
>Paulo Coelho's masterpiece tells the magical story of Santiago, an Andalusian shepherd boy who yearns to travel in search of a worldly treasure as extravagant as any ever found.
The Three Body Problem is a Chinese Science Fiction novel that has recently become popular in the West thanks to a good translation (I recommend reading my synopsis and not the Amazon one, to avoid spoilers):
>Set against the backdrop of China's Cultural Revolution, a secret military project looks for signals in space from alien civilizations. Meanwhile, in the present day, a physicist joins a grizzled detective to investigate why famous scientists are all committing suicide.
Fahrenheit 451:
>Guy Montag is a fireman. In his world, where television rules and literature is on the brink of extinction, firemen start fires rather than put them out. His job is to destroy the most illegal of commodities, the printed book, along with the houses in which they are hidden.
The Art of Happiness (by the Dalai Lama):
>Nearly every time you see him, he's laughing, or at least smiling. And he makes everyone else around him feel like smiling. He's the Dalai Lama, the spiritual and temporal leader of Tibet, a Nobel Prize winner, and a hugely sought-after speaker and statesman. Why is he so popular? Even after spending only a few minutes in his presence you can't help feeling happier.
Snow Crash:
>Hiro Protagonist delivers pizza for Uncle Enzo’s CosoNostra Pizza Inc., but in the Metaverse he’s a warrior prince. Plunging headlong into the enigma of a new computer virus that’s striking down hackers everywhere, he races along the neon-lit streets on a search-and-destroy mission for the shadowy virtual villain threatening to bring about infocalypse.
The Ender sequels (Speaker for the Dead, Xenocide, Children of the Mind) and The Mote in God's Eye all have a lot of soft science. This is probably true for a lot of stories involving first contact.
Edit - Snow Crash deals a lot with linguistics as well.
Agree with this. Also enjoyed Be Prepared.
Got this for my buddy as a gag gift when he told us they were having a kid.
A Short History of Nearly Everything
SCIENCE.
A short history of nearly everything
http://www.reddit.com/help/faqs/atheism#RecommendedReading
also.. here is my own list of things I've actually personally read and recommend.
http://www.amazon.com/Demon-Haunted-World-Science-Candle-Dark/dp/0345409469
http://www.amazon.com/Letter-Christian-Nation-Sam-Harris/dp/0307265773
http://www.amazon.com/Misquoting-Jesus-Story-Behind-Changed/dp/0060738170
http://www.amazon.com/Some-Mistakes-Moses-Robert-Ingersoll/dp/0879753617
http://www.amazon.com/Short-History-Nearly-Everything/dp/0767908171
http://www.amazon.com/Lies-My-Teacher-Told-Everything/dp/0684818868
http://www.amazon.com/Genome-Autobiography-Species-23-Chapters/dp/0060194979
I love Bill Bryson, A Short History of Nearly Everything
http://www.amazon.com/Short-History-Nearly-Everything/dp/0767908171
Funny, interesting and educating.
A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson
This is super entertaining and interesting. It covers so many topics, that it's almost impossible to get bored with it
A short History of Nearly Everything- http://www.amazon.com/A-Short-History-Nearly-Everything/dp/076790818X
>“Tune your television to any channel it doesn't receive and about 1 percent of the dancing static you see is accounted for by this ancient remnant of the Big Bang. The next time you complain that there is nothing on, remember that you can always watch the birth of the universe.
>It is a slightly arresting notion that if you were to pick yourself apart with tweezers, one atom at a time, you would produce a mound of fine atomic dust, none of which had ever been alive but all of which had once been you
This might be better suited to be asked in /r/books
I would recommend Bill Bryson's A Short History of Nearly Everything for it's very clear writing and great breadth of science/science history.
"A short history of nearly everything" is a really good book where he tells about everything from the beginning of the universe to where we are now through science.
My reccomendation would be The History of Science. Everything is available on YouTube in decent quality.
As a matter of overview, I would suggest Bill Bryson's a A Short History of Nearly Everything. It's a book, which requires reading, but there's an awesome illustrated version that's a good time. The book is as accessible as they come, and it's entertainingly written.
I would also suggest Cosmos, since you seem to be focused more on space. Both the original and the remake are available on Netflix. The original is my favorite, beucase Carl Sagan, but the remake is also a solid show, and probably more what you're looking for. There's also Through The Wormhole with Morgan Freeman, and a Stephen Hawking on the universe series which you might like. Pretty much everything is available on YouTube, just search "<show name>, long, hd".
http://www.amazon.com/A-Short-History-Nearly-Everything/dp/076790818X
I recommend Why People Believe Weird Things and How to Think About Weird Things to start. Also A Short History of Nearly Everything would be good.
A Short History of Nearly Everything - Bill Bryson
Bill Bryson explains this very simply and well in his book A Short History of Nearly Everything. http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/076790818X
The object would be traveling at such massive speed that you would almost certainly be powerless to do anything about it.
Depending on what it was made out of, but almost any substance would vaporize before IT would actually hit you. In fact, something of the dimensions you state would most likely never make it through the atmosphere.
Even if it somehow did, it would be the resulting explosion that would get you rather than the object itself.
Yes.
the website http://www.venganza.org/
the bible http://www.amazon.com/Gospel-Flying-Spaghetti-Monster/dp/0812976568/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1299369194&amp;sr=8-2
This book had a whole chapter about this guy and his two "contributions" and their eventual ban.
It's a great read. It's basically a history book that details the progress of our scientific discoveries. He also talks about the people behind them, and it turns out that many of our famous scientists and inventors were basically crazy people. Genius and insanity are separated by a very fuzzy line.
An excellent starting point is Bill Bryson's A Short History of Nearly Everything. Almost universally praised, this history of scientific thought covers... well, nearly everything. The basics, like physics, biology, chemistry, and then stuff like cosmology, evolution, quantum mechanics, environmental science... the list goes on and on.
Very readable, not aimed at technical audience. Highly recommended.
Once you have finished that (and it is a big book), you can then home in on areas of particular interest. For me, it's evolutionary theory, paleoanthropology, quantum mechanics, primatology and so on. If you have particular interests in those areas, please let me know.
And I simply can't leave without recommending my favourite book that combines wonderful history and science. You simply must pick up and read a copy of the Pulitzer Prize winning The Making of the Atomic Bomb by Richard Rhodes. Not only will you learn about the history of WWII, the amazing feats of the American government in achieving what they did, but also the science of atomic theory and the beginning of quantum mechanics. This is, quite simply, a wonderful book.
Handbanna84 has good recommendations.
It's an easy read, but gives a lot of insight into 3rd-world countries. The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind
A Short History of Nearly Everything - Then what you do is keep a note of things you want to dig into deeper, and you can start to get more granular with your requests and searches.
EDIT: - Just thought, Malcolm - Blink - this book isn't about religion/cults, but gives an interesting insight into how we think and why we do the (stupid) things we do.
Yea, messenger is Bobby Henderson and book is The Gospel of the Flying Spaghetti Monster. As it is known, FSM is quite a tricky god, he loves deceiving humans and causing confusion for his own amusement. That's where all other gods come from, it's Him playing with us.
A few other books you might want to add which fit nicely with the Bible (in no particular order):
> Ok, så er det tid til at tanke op på dåseretter, rippe den lokale jagt-butik, finde et sikkert sted og zombiesikre det.
Du glemte helt at nævne at man lige hiver den obligatoriske guide frem og sikrer sig at man tager de rigtige forholdsregler
Sounds a lot like The Zombie Survival Guide. Awesome book, it pretty much started the recent zombie revival, and it's essential for anyone with a passing interest in the genre.
Jesus christ, have you not read the Zombie Survival Guide? SETTING THEM ON FIRE ONLY MAKES THEM FLAMING ZOMBIES!
The Bro Code
https://www.amazon.com/Bro-Code-Barney-Stinson/dp/143911000X
You could also buy The Playbook and stay in budget
https://www.amazon.com/Playbook-Suit-Score-chicks-awesome/dp/1439196834/
The first thing that I suggest is that you buy a reputable book that will teach you how to write. I'm not saying that you're a bad writer, but I would wager that most people write three times worse than they think they can (I am including myself). On Writing Well is a classic, and you might also want to read this one and this one, although I strongly recommend completing the first one. What's included is:
a) Keep it simple. Don't say it's going to be a turbulent precipitation, say that it's going to rain. A lot.
b) Study each adverb and adjective. Any words that aren't necessary should be cut. Is it really important to say that the violin was wooden? Probably not. What about the sentence "She smiled happily"? The "happily" isn't necessary, that's what "smiled" means.
c) Use specific verbs.
d) Consistency is key. Switching tenses or something similar in the middle of writing is generally a bad move.
e) Proofread. Duh. That goes hand in hand with editing.
So, yeah. You should
reallylook into thatstuffarea. One read-through will help significantly.Ok. So now that I finished preaching to you, let's move on. I didn't find any templates in my quick search, so that's of no use right now. What you can do, though, is study
verywell-written program notes. Are their sentences long or short? When are they longer or shorter, and why? Is the tone active or passive (psst. it's probably active)? What's the tone that they use, and what is your impression at the end? You get the gist. If you write downwhat you thinkyour thoughts for three of these, you'll have a good idea what you're shooting for. Other than that, it's all up to you, so go nuts.Anecdotes are also a nice way to make things entertaining. Search for stories, or impacts on the audience. Did you know there are at least six editions of the Rite of Spring? Why was the one your orchestra's performing (let's assume) created? Many people also don't know about the riot after its premier. Stravinsky escaped out the back entrance to avoid the aristocratic mob. Say fun things, win fun prizes, or something like that.
It's also important to know that stories tend to follow the path of one person. The Odyssey could have had its crew be the focus, instead it was Odysseus. Inside Out could have placed all the emotions front and center, but it was Sadness and Joy that saved the girl. Keep that in mind if you're going down a similar path.
Man, I went all out on this. Good luck with your program.
The Baby Owner's Manual: Operating Instructions, Trouble-Shooting Tips, and Advice on First-Year Maintenance.
S’ok, you can always buy it from Amazon if you’re too tired for the ceremony:
https://www.amazon.com/Baby-Owners-Manual-Instructions-Trouble-Shooting/dp/1594745978
(I have this book, it’s pretty funny, but not sure how much better it really is than flying by the seat of your pants)
Easiest recommendation I've ever made, Dr. Louis Borgenicht. He is a great guy, funny as can be and fits your last criteria by being Jewish. Here is a link to a book he wrote and a video he did for, "Old Jews telling jokes." He is a great doctor and a very good person.
https://www.amazon.com/Baby-Owners-Manual-Instructions-Trouble-Shooting/dp/1594745978
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iTF6dOJmxqw
If you have the mind of an engineer or programmer, this.
How did you react? When my wife woke me up I just replied, "me too thanks." I don't have much of a brain until about noon.
Decent book. Also check out this one. Seems goofy but was super fact heavy and spoke to me in a language i both found humorous and easy to read.
https://www.amazon.com/Baby-Owners-Manual-Instructions-Trouble-Shooting/dp/1594745978
Baby owners manual
Kindle
If you like reading, here are a few other great books:
Bill Bryson's A Walk in the Woods is a hilarious account of his attempt to hike the Appalachian Trail, interspersed with really interesting information/stories about the creation of the trail and other US National Parks.
Not so much a reference but the books title.
http://www.amazon.com/Ready-Player-One-A-Novel/dp/0307887448
I ain't so good at book descriptions but here's some stuff I really enjoyed -
Ready Player One by Ernest Cline: http://www.amazon.com/Ready-Player-One-A-Novel/dp/0307887448
The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi: http://www.amazon.com/The-Windup-Girl-Paolo-Bacigalupi/dp/1597801585
The author would argue with me about this being SF - Atwood prefers the term "speculative history" I believe - but the entire Oryx and Crake trilogy is very good.
http://www.amazon.com/Oryx-Crake-Margaret-Atwood/dp/0385721676/ref=la_B000AQTHI0_1_2?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1397411558&amp;sr=1-2 the first book in Oryx and Crake, followed by Year of the Flood and Madaddam
Have you read Ready Player One? Based on the first part of this post, I think you'd really enjoy it.
Ready Player One
I enjoyed it, sort of a Willy Wonka meets Grand Theft Auto V less the killing.
Just finished, "Ready Player One" and it thoroughly entertained me.
Ready Player One is also required reading if you enjoy this space.
Eco is one of my favorite fiction and non-fiction writer, but if you enjoy conspiracies, I recommend The Illuminatus! Trilogy.
How to Talk to Your Cat About Gun Safety
😆 brb I’ll text them.
Edit: I have not heard back from them yet. They’re probably exhausted from all the moving.
I googled it though. :) https://www.amazon.com/How-Talk-Your-About-Safety/dp/045149492X
https://www.amazon.com/dp/045149492X/
This might be what you're looking for.
It covers a wide variety of topics. For those that the link doesn't work for, it is "How to talk to your cat about gun safety"
Lies: And the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right
He's excellent. Just published a book of What If? thats worth the price.
I got mine signed :)
What If by Randal Munroe. assuming that he does not have it already, this book is absolutely perfect. I own a hardcover copy my mum got me and it is one of my prized possessions. I can absolutely guarantee he will love this. https://www.amazon.com/What-If-Scientific-Hypothetical-Questions/dp/0544272994
I'm a physics teacher, and this is one of my favorite books. She might enjoy it.
What If?: Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0544272994/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_9u9czb74GVC44
the picture is from What If and the question that leads into this is what if you tried to build a periodic table of the elements with each square being a 1x1x1 meter cube of that actual element. so the first 91 pigs would be messing with the first 91 elements. fluorine does not end well.
"Direct friction upon the reentry object is not the main cause of shock-layer heating. It is caused mainly from isentropic heating of the air molecules within the compression wave."
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atmospheric_entry#Real_.28equilibrium.29_gas_model
Also from "What If?" which is an awesome book by Randall Munroe the creator of xkcd http://www.amazon.com/What-If-Scientific-Hypothetical-Questions/dp/0544272994
I think the best way is to suggest a few that got me into reading. One or two are YA, but well-written enough that I find it as worthwhile a read at 28 as it did at 14.
Ender's Game - Earth Has made contact with an alien species, and... It didn't go well. A program is started to teach a new generation of soldiers how to fight this alien threat. Children are not allowed to be children for long when the future of mankind is on the line. Also, it's being adapted into what is shaping up to be a pretty badass movie.
Snow Crash - Written in the 90's, but it essentially pioneered the concept of the online avatar, and predicted the rise of the MMO. Also, pizza-delivering ninjas. Trust me on this. It's good stuff.
Neuromancer Classic cyber-punk. Most sci-fi is like you see in star trek. Clean and sterile. Cyberpunk is the dirtier side of sci-fi. Organized crime, computer hacking, and a heist on a space station. And Molly. This book is the reason I have a thing for dangerous redheads.
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Considered by most to be the very best in sci-fi humor. Lighthearted, hilarious, and I find I can read it in the course of about two days. It is absolutely, completely, and utterly amazing.
American Gods - What happens to the old gods when we start worshiping the new ones? Can the likes of Odin or Anubis compete with our new objects of worship. like television or internet? Remember, Gods only exist as long as folks believe in them. The old Gods aren't going down without a fight, though...
Hope some of these strike your fancy. It's admittedly more sci-fi than anything, but it's all soft sci-fi (Where the science isn't as important as the fiction, so story comes first), and nothing too out there. Please let me know if you decide to try any of these, and especially let me know if you enjoy them. I always like to hear if I help someone find a book they love.
A book. I liked it.
Thanks! I'll check these out... and maybe I'll reread the Dark Tower series, so friggin' great.
<>
Edit:
Amazon links:
The Rational Optimist by Matt Ridley
Abundance Peter H. Diamandis and Steven Kotler
Better Angels of Our Nature by Steven Pinker
Stephen King's Dark Tower Series
Patrick Rothfuss's Name of the Wind (Kingkiller Chronicles)
Scott Lynch's Gentlemen Bastards series
(yeah, these are smile.amazon.com links... if you aren't already supporting some organization with your Amazon purchases, how about my kid's school's PTA?)
The Mayo Clinic Guide to a Healthy Pregnancy was by far my favorite. I thought it was going to be dry and medical, but it had everything I was looking for. I found "What to Expect" to be a little disorganized and kind of scary, but I know a lot of women like it.
We also really like Be Prepared, which is really a dad book but I enjoyed as well. It's lighthearted and easy to read in quick segments, but has a lot of good info.
Online, I really like the Babycenter.com community because it has so many people... almost any question I have has already been asked and answered, so I find lots of answers. If your town has a chapter of the Mommies Network you'll absolutely get great info there, and meet local parents/parents-to-be. Finally, if you're breastfeeding, Kellymom is a must.
Whew! Hope those help!
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0743251547/ref=cm_sw_r_sms_apis_1491009224831
This book is incredible for that! It has step by step how to do everything, and its funny without being demeaning about how useless dads are (like so many others). I bought it for my SO but use it for quick reference myself! Even my MIL wanted a copy!
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0743251547/ref=cm_sw_r_other_apa_UzDIzb2GH5D2E
Have you read A Short History Of Nearly Everything? It's an awesome read about, well a short history of nearly everything. From the beginning of time. It's great and Bill Bryson really does a great job of making light of topics that are usually "too dense" for non-science people.
That's the only book of his I have read.
You can look at basically anything by Gibson if you want the same general setting.
And of course Snow Crash and The Diamond Age are heavily inspired by KWC's culture but the locations are very different.
Yes, we agree, I was satirizing the OP with his "I should take a screenshot"
Someone else is downvoting us.
Snow Crash is a cyberpunk adventure book. It's been a long time since I've read it, but the plot contains (hinges upon, maybe) the idea that an ancient language took the form of forcible memes, words which forced people to act, and then pass the words along. Or something. It's good, regardless.
As opposed to this snow crash?
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0553380958/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?qid=1451837824&amp;sr=1-1&amp;pi=AC_SX110_SY165_QL70&amp;keywords=stephenson+snow+crash
It's usually the first one suggested:
-"The Name of the Wind" by Patrick Rothfuss (Kingkiller Chronicles)
Whilst different in terms of scope and story, the world building is on par with ASOIAF. I was a little skeptic, being in the same position as you are in, when I picked it up, but now I'm anxiously awaiting both Winds of Winter and the third book in the Kingkiller Chronicles.
I've also started Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch (Gentleman Bastards series). So far I'm enjoying it A LOT. I do love having an anti-hero protagonist, and the world so far is pretty engrossing. But I can't officially recommend as I'm not even half way through.
For the social manipulator request, there are a few I can recommend.
(The Lies of Locke Lamora) [https://www.amazon.com/Lies-Locke-Lamora-Gentleman-Bastards/dp/055358894X] is the first novel in a series about con men in a fantasy world. The main characters frequently manipulate people and use their wits to survive, but despite their advantages rarely have total victories. Highly recommended.
(Weaver Nine)[https://forums.spacebattles.com/threads/weaver-nine-worm-fanfic-au-thread-2.304177/] has some social scenes from Jack Slash's Point of view as he navigates conversations with capes. The meat of the story is on an Endbringer battle, but still lots of social manipulation.
There's also (Weighed Down)[https://m.fanfiction.net/s/13083387/1/], a short, incomplete Worm fic using Theo (the son of the charismatic villain Kaiser) as he establishes himself as the leader of a team.
Edit: Did the links using mobile and messed up, but the infos there so not going to worry about it.
Fellow fan of series here! Let me see...
Young Adult
Percy Jackson series is fun (and finished, too, I think).
Artemis Fowl series isn't quite as good as Percy Jackson IMHO, but it's got a following.
Fantasy
Harry Dresden series This is one of my favorites. Harry is Chicago's only professional wizard. There are a ton of these books and they are still going strong.
Game of Thrones These are great...but unfinished. If you watch the show, reading the books does help you get even more out of the story, I think.
Wheel of Time Another good series. There is a LOT of this series and it's finished. (Thank you, Brandon Sanderson!)
Mistborn Speaking of Brandon Sanderson... This one is very good. I highly recommend reading the Mistborn books before trying the Stormlight Archive, but only because as good as Mistborn is, Stormlight Archive is even better.
Stormlight Archive Amazing. Man, these are good. The series isn't finished, but the two books that are available are some of my favorites ever.
Kingkiller Chronicles I loved the first book. I could not freakin' believe I enjoyed the second one even more. The third one is still pending.
Temeraire Dragons in Napoleonic times. Super cool premise! This one is not finished (I don't think, anyway).
Gentlemen Bastards Con men in a fantasy realm. It's pretty light on the fantasy elements. Very light, I'd say. I'd also say that it has some of the very best swearing that I've ever come across. :D
Scifi
Old Man's War I'm almost finished this one--it's amazing!
Horror/Thriller
Passage Trilogy I've heard these described as vampire books...maybe zombie books... It's apocalyptic for sure. Great books!
Mysteries
Amelia Peabody Egyptology + murder mysteries. Super fun, but trust me...go with the audiobooks for these. They are best when they are performed.
Stephanie Plum Total popcorn reads. If that's your thing, shut off your brain and just enjoy.
Walt Longmire These get particularly good as it goes along. The main character is a sheriff in modern day Wyoming. (Side note: The TV show is also great--just don't expect them to stick to the books.)
Graphic Novels (Everything recommended can be gotten in a "book" format instead of only in comic form, in case that matters. I've gotten most of these from my local library.)
Locke & Key Eerie as crap. Love the art! This one is on-going.
Y: The Last Man All the men on the planet drop dead in a day...except for Yorrick. REALLY good. This is the series that got me reading graphic novels. Plus, it's finished!
Walking Dead I am not a zombie fan...but I like these. They're not done, but I've read up through volume 22 and am still enjoying them.
Other
OutlanderI have no idea how to categorize these or even give a description that does them justice. I refused to pick it up for AGES because it sounded like a bodice-ripper romance and that's not my bag. But these are good!
I hope there's something in there that'll do for you. Have fun and read on!
Edit: Apparently, I need to practice formatting. :/
Edit 2: I forgot to add the Lies of Locke Lamora (Gentlemen Bastards #1).
My husband read Be Prepared: A Practical Handbook for New Dads He thought it was very informative without being overly serious.
Friend loaned me this. http://www.amazon.com/Be-Prepared-Practical-Handbook-Dads/dp/0743251547
That's from this book.
A Short History of Nearly Everything.
Yes and yes.
Came here to post this. Bryson's A Short History of Nearly Everything is a great way for the layman to become scientifically literate, and it's entertaining. I like all of Krakauer's works, but would particularly recommend Where Men Win Glory for a perspective on the war in Afghanistan as well as a portrait of Pat Tillman, a complicated man.
I've been on a non-fiction kick myself.
A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson is good. Very funny, very informative.
Packing for Mars and Stiff: The Curious Lives of Cadavers both by Mary Roach were also fun to read.
I recommend Lies My Teacher Told Me or Bryson's Short History of Nearly Everything. If you are looking for something a little more scholarly and drier then I suggest A History of Knowledge by Van Doren. As a world history teacher myself, I loved all of these books.
This is also an excellent book http://www.amazon.com/A-Short-History-Nearly-Everything/dp/076790818X
Can't recommend enough. I got the audio book version and the performance is awesome, I can listen to it while doing other stuff and still follow along, which I love in audio books.
A Short History of Nearly Everything - Bill Bryson
Read "A Short History of Nearly Everything" by Bill Bryson. Best damn science for laymen book I've ever read.
Try this! One of the best books I’ve ever read.
A Short History of Nearly Everything https://www.amazon.com/dp/076790818X/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_pIXACbY3N7CZP
https://www.amazon.com/Short-History-Nearly-Everything/dp/076790818X
A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson.
It sounds like you want to learn more about the great, the wise, the merciful, FSM!
The FSM watches over us with is meaty eyes and every so often, when we are hungry, he touches us with his noodly tentacles.
I'd like to offer you a book that explains more about the FSM. Unfortunately this book isn't free, but you can order it from Amazon.
https://www.amazon.com/Gospel-Flying-Spaghetti-Monster/dp/0812976568
are they also going to require Koran lessons as well? what about the Vedas? will there be daily readings from the Gospel of the Flying Spaghetti Monster?
https://www.amazon.com/Gospel-Flying-Spaghetti-Monster/dp/0812976568
Welcome!
Zombie Survival Guide. It will scare you shitless. World War Z is also good. http://www.amazon.com/Zombie-Survival-Guide-Complete-Protection/dp/1400049628/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;s=books&amp;qid=1252519573&amp;sr=8-1
I found the Zombie Survival Guide to be an interesting one to go to..
Yes it’s about zombies, but take out the zombie aspect and it seems to be a decent book still.
Least the zombie idea makes it interesting more then just survival imo
Altho, it’s the only survival book I’ve read, so I don’t have any comparison
In fact.. I just stumbled in here..
and this is my first post in Reddit!
Here’s a link to see..
https://www.amazon.com/Zombie-Survival-Guide-Complete-Protection/dp/1400049628/ref=asc_df_1400049628/?tag=hyprod-20&amp;linkCode=df0&amp;hvadid=312139954763&amp;hvpos=1o2&amp;hvnetw=g&amp;hvrand=12536411841858454967&amp;hvpone=&amp;hvptwo=&amp;hvqmt=&amp;hvdev=t&amp;hvdvcmdl=&amp;hvlocint=&amp;hvlocphy=9015428&amp;hvtargid=pla-433825695584&amp;psc=1
Books
The Bro Code is the code of conduct that was documented by Barney Stintson (Neil Patrick Harris) on the hit TV show "How I Met Your Mother."
A copy of the Bro Code written by Barney Stintson can be found on Amazon.
I once had a paladin player whose religion was The Bro Code and was a devout follower of Neil’pa Trickharris
http://amzn.com/1592402038 ;)
Congratulations! Welcome to the journey :D. As far as books go, my husband likes The Expectant Father--it's full of good advice and doesn't treat you like a clueless idiot. For after the baby's born, The Baby Owner's Manual takes a humourous approach to the first year of newborn care.
I'm going to make my husband a shirt that says "copy" and a onesie that says "paste" and [The Baby Owner's Manual: Operating Instructions, Trouble-Shooting Tips, and Advice on First-Year Maintenance] (https://www.amazon.com/dp/1594745978/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_mwzmzbKFYZ7Q4)
I got a great instruction manual with my kid.
You can fund it right here.
Sweet! I live right outside of New Haven, CT and knew nothing about it. I've been reading A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson and been getting the itch to do something cool like the AT, but this may be more in my realm.
Awesome post!
Ready Player One
edit: Yeah, it's an angsty teen story, but it does give an interesting glimpse into how the generationally poor may develop a one-sided relationship with commercialized virtual reality.
Nah, I've got a friend who calls herself that. I've also seen it used in Ready Player One, which is a great read, especially if you're old enough to remember the 80s.
Agreed, I also wouldn't want to live in the past, unless your royalty, and even that is fraught with hassles. I want to live in the future on my own Dyson Sphere.
That's why the recent Interstellar movie was so interesting. An ultimately hopeful story written to advance a positive view in Sci-Fi movies, kind of like the Hieroglyph book, yet they still needed a dystopian element to even tell the story. And while there are glaring plot holes in the movie big enough to drive a black hole through, they were needed to advance the story. I still liked both the movie and the book.
Speaking of Star Trek, I wouldn't have my cell phone if some engineer didn't like it so much. Or even the Internet itself if DARPA hadn't been worried about nuclear bombs destroying the infrastructure. What's really interesting his how Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality will change society in the future. Like ReamDe or Ready Player One explore.
I can't vouch for it personally but Ready Player One has been on my to-read list for a while. I've heard from a few different sources that it's really good. Ties in with his interest in video games.
In the year 2044, reality is an ugly place. The only time teenage Wade Watts really feels alive is when he's jacked into the virtual utopia known as the OASIS. Wade's devoted his life to studying the puzzles hidden within this world's digital confines—puzzles that are based on their creator's obsession with the pop culture of decades past and that promise massive power and fortune to whoever can unlock them.
But when Wade stumbles upon the first clue, he finds himself beset by players willing to kill to take this ultimate prize. The race is on, and if Wade's going to survive, he'll have to win—and confront the real world he's always been so desperate to escape.
If you liked this video, you'd probably enjoy the book Ready Player One.
For those wondering how this was made:
(http://www.planetminecraft.com/project/native-trees-of-europe-template-repository-1779952/).
In Conclusion:
These kinds of renders do take time. A user commented:
> Pretty Certain you just imported a 3D model of a head using Binvox..
And that's absolutely correct. However, that doesn't mean this kind of thing is simple to create! Certainly, this wouldn't be what it is without the help of external software- but the use of that software doesn't mean it can't be respected as a build. Don't say I just imported it-- it took a lot of work!
TL;DR: I used a lotta software and it took a lotta time.
http://www.amazon.com/Ready-Player-One-A-Novel/dp/0307887448
I try not to watch anything while I eat, it helps contribute to overeating.
For relaxing, I read. I was never a big reader, so I have to force myself to read a lot of the time. Once I start reading, I enjoy myself. If I'm not enjoying it, I'll find a new book. I'll throw out a recommendation -- Ready Player One was a pretty sweet book.
Jesus, now I have 40-year-old books in my cart.
You're really fucking up my reading list, Reddit.
Hopefully he went over this book with the cats.
Well tell your boy congrats but I think you should read this
How to Talk to Your Cat About Gun Safety: And Abstinence, Drugs, Satanism, and Other Dangers That Threaten Their Nine Lives https://www.amazon.com/dp/045149492X/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_rH6fAbTG7YHJM
Amazon says yes
&#x200B;
https://smile.amazon.com/How-Talk-Your-About-Safety/dp/045149492X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1550612295&sr=8-1
&#x200B;
I need this.
> Lies and the lying liars who lie them.
Lies: And the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right by Al Franken
https://www.amazon.com/Lies-Lying-Liars-Balanced-Right/dp/0452285216
Commercial!
I nominate /u/allergictoapples because this is badass as hell and someone needs to wear it.
Also /u/lessons_learnt because im really interested to see how the plot of this book unfolds
A Walk in the Woods perhaps?
A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson
There's a player on the game called [Player[Bill Bryson]], he wrote a funny user guide about the Appalachian Trail mission. It's more of a blog, really, but you may find it very helpful. I liked it.
Not many people that undertake the mission do it all in one go. But doing it as sectional quests is still great for [INT]. This is a good place to start.
Bill Bryson's A Walk in the Woods. It's not long, but I think it would be perfect for your adventure.
Wear layers, bring way more water than you need/have access to fresh clean water. Pack sufficient food. One of the best things, if you're not too keen on lugging everything around with you is car camping. Have a look at your state's park services, they usually have spots that you can rent for super cheap for the weekend, drive your car up, pitch the tent, and get started on the fire.
Also, heres a great book, kind of on camping.
Anything else that I can think: wet-wipes in a ziploc bag. Ziploc bags. Bug repellent. Lighter fluid. Propane for stove. Lighter. Pocket knife. Hatchet - seriously helpful. ICE. Cooking always takes way longer than you think it will, with set-up, assembly, clean-up. Don't take any unnecessary risks. Man, now I want to go camping.
Have a good time with your "buddy".
If y'all want to read some more of Bryson's thoughts on this, many of his travel books delve very deeply into it. My two favorites are A Walk in the Woods and The Lost Continent.
Read "Ready Player One" ? This is how it starts i bet. I wonder what the future brings. VR-goggles and haptic gloves. Haptic-tech is only in the beginner phase yet, but it will come. Then it's all integrated in some huge corp.
http://www.amazon.com/Ready-Player-One-A-Novel/dp/0307887448
"Ready Player One" is book about a kid world like that.
http://www.amazon.com/Ready-Player-One-A-Novel/dp/0307887448/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1395719764&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=ready+player+one
Can't blame facebook for trying to make the first go at a Metaverse or Oasis. There is like a 90% chance they either ruin the company or drive it straight into irrelevance, but I might be okay with the risk to reward ratio. Especially since other companies are coming out with VR stuff to compete (hopefully).
to anyone really interested in VR and the future you really must read "Ready Player One" - http://www.amazon.com/Ready-Player-One-A-Novel/dp/0307887448
Good hacker/IT/short stories:
Just recently finished "Ready Player One". A really fantastic novel chock full of awesome 80's pop culture references. Definitely an enjoyable read for anyone who loves video games, John Hughes movies, or awesome hair bands. The audio book is also narrated by Will Wheaton which is pretty great.
Just to start the thread of Ready Player One love.
I realize there is a ton of fantastic sci-fi out there, but this book has stuck with me more than any other book in my collection.
https://www.amazon.com/Ready-Player-One-Ernest-Cline/dp/0307887448
I heard about Ready Player One recently, and it sounds very interesting. It's general theme is dystopian reality with a MMO utopia. I was thinking of getting it to read while traveling for the holidays, but my library doesn't have it :(.
I second the Neal Stephenson suggestion, and I've got to add Ernest Cline's Ready Player One. It's as much a sendup to "nerd culture" as it is an exploration of trans-humanist themes, but it's written with much attention to detail. I couldn't put it down.
Ready Player One. It's about a virtual reality game in the future and a contest that takes place when the inventor of the game passes away. It has a lot of 1980s pop culture trivia.
Edit: here's a link to it on Amazon. http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0307887448?pc_redir=1413280970&amp;robot_redir=1
Some are true; some are not true.
Trying to figure out which is which is very entertaining.
If you want to really get a handle on conspiracy theories, read this:
The Illuminatus! Trilogy
Kinda hard to read at the beginning, but if you get through a hundred pages you won't put it down.
It was a great book.
Illuminatus!
>Seeing the fnords
http://www.amazon.com/The-Illuminatus-Trilogy-Pyramid-Leviathan/dp/0440539811
Illuminatus! by Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson
You must read these two books:
The Illuminatus Trilogy
Foucault's Pendulum.
Both are amazing books near to the topic - the first is a huge spoof that's hilarious and heavily popularized Discordianism (All hail Eris!). The second is a seminal piece of literature by one of the best living authors and everybody should read it...it's about some publishers who put together 'the grand conspiracy' of the Illuminati and suddenly are embroiled in what they created.
I wish the Illuminati was real...the world would be a heck of a lot cooler place!
ok, but let's say I respect the flying spaggeti monster religion. I am polite to Pastafarians and I leave them wearing their spaggeti drainers on their head. Or, I respect that Erisians partake of a hotdog every Friday.
Suppose, someone starts to harass me about how I am a bad person because I do not eat spaggeti and meatballs all the time. Or that I am a bad person because I believe what is written and Fernando Po is really Not Really[tm] the Greatest Conspiracy on Earth(c).
And they do it in Public. All the time. Especially when I am in proximity to Lebanese women.
What then?
----
Insert Mandatory Dawkins quote about Religion.
Bicycle/Tricycle, Hodge/Pogde, All Hail Discord, Five Tons of Flax
You have not read the Illuminatus Trilogy and Principia Discordia and that is why you do not understand. Sinner.
It's not for everyone, but the Illuminatus! Trilogy certainly meets those criteria.
I think this is the same one
First off, i have to say that your username is great. Check this one out:
https://www.amazon.com/Guide-People-Nothing-About-Firearms/dp/149280990X/ref=pd_sim_14_2?_encoding=UTF8&amp;pd_rd_i=149280990X&amp;pd_rd_r=DHN4267DBSAW2YVS5ARK&amp;pd_rd_w=5vIDW&amp;pd_rd_wg=cqdIE&amp;psc=1&amp;refRID=DHN4267DBSAW2YVS5ARK
Also i got this DVD at walmart several years ago that explains in depth the history of guns. For most people it's a total bore to watch. But very historical and factual:
https://www.amazon.com/Guns-Evolution-Firearms-Kevin-Hershberger/dp/B00A2XQU54
Added Bonus:
https://www.amazon.com/How-Talk-Your-About-Safety/dp/045149492X/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1522540718&amp;sr=8-4&amp;keywords=gun+safety+book&amp;dpID=512slp93A4L&amp;preST=_SY291_BO1,204,203,200_QL40_&amp;dpSrc=srch
Book
How to Talk to Your Cat About Gun Safety: And Abstinence, Drugs, Satanism, and Other Dangers That Threaten Their Nine Lives https://www.amazon.com/dp/045149492X/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_e4Y9BbN82NJWT
https://www.amazon.com/How-Talk-Your-About-Safety/dp/045149492X
This book will change your life, and all nine of your cat's lives.
It's full of advice on how to talk to your cat about gun safety, the threat of homosexuality, how to identify immigrants, and more!
Just be sure to sit him down and have a serious talk before getting him his own gun. It's not something to be taken lightly.
I am very tempted to buy this book.
This was written during the Bush administration but seems perfectly relevant to what's happening now: https://www.amazon.com/Lies-Lying-Liars-Balanced-Right/dp/0452285216/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1484770195&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=al+franken
Trying to catch stuff that hasn't been mentioned here already:
Films:
Bob Roberts (1992)
Bulworth (1998)
Primary Colors (1998)
Documentaries:
The War Room (1993)
The Century of the Self (BBC)
The Power of Nightmares (BBC)
Books:
Anything by Al Franken
Lies: And the Lying Liars Who Tell Them
The Truth (with Jokes)
Rush Limbaugh is a Big Fat Idiot and Other Observations
Other authors:
Bowling Alone by Robert Putnam
Nixonland: The Rise of a President and the Fracturing of America by Rick Perlstein
Eliminationists: How Hate Talk Radicalized the American Right
by David Neiwert
It's called lying. Reddit admins lie because they are liars.
Here's a classic book of projection that even lies about who the liars are: https://www.amazon.com/Lies-Lying-Liars-Balanced-Right/dp/0452285216
I think that title is already taken.
Same guy - check the table of contents:
https://www.amazon.com/Lies-Lying-Liars-Balanced-Right/dp/0452285216
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_Franken
You can thank the junior US Senator from Minnesota for penning this.
http://www.beliefnet.com/news/2003/09/the-gospel-of-supply-side-jesus.aspx
>Reprinted from Lies: And the Lying Liars Who Tell Them-A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right by Al Franken
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lies_and_the_Lying_Liars_Who_Tell_Them
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fox_v._Franken
>August 7, 2003. Fox News Channel, the plaintiff, sought to enjoin Al Franken from using Fox's trademark phrase "fair & balanced" in the title of his then-forthcoming book, Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right.[1] Judge Denny Chin denied Fox's motion for injunction on August 22, and the network dropped the suit three days later.
https://www.amazon.com/Lies-Lying-Liars-Balanced-Right/dp/0452285216
Lies: And the Lying Liars Who Tell Them
huehuehue
Seriously, I apologize.
6
The author put out a great book, too.
I love this one.
Sorry that I ask, but after seeing tons of these posts recently, is it this book that pictures are from?
I swore the answer to your question ( similar) was in this book. What If?: Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions https://www.amazon.com/dp/0544272994/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_7kyQCbFH0EVZ6
Sorry i don't remember the answer though. Try a library for that book, libraries are free.
I just read the chapter on this in "What If?" (http://www.amazon.com/What-If-Scientific-Hypothetical-Questions/dp/0544272994/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1425600998&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=what+if)
Turns out, you don't want to treat elements like Pokemon. Good luck!
Yes, Diamond Age is such a great spiritual successor to Snow Crash. Where Snow Crash has that frantic pace and hyper compressed events, Diamond Age takes its time and describes every molecule of the beauty in the book's events. These two works are such great testaments to Stephenson's skill because it's obvious he worked really hard to make them describe similar themes, but also compliment each other.
Have you seen the new covers? I like them, they do a good job of presenting them as companion pieces.
Snow Crash
Diamond Age
Transmetropolitan by Warren Ellis (okay, okay, that's 11 books total. But worth every penny)
Or for text book, Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson
Edits: fixed link.
For fiction, you MUST read Daemon and Freedom(TM)
I also enjoyed Snowcrash and Cryptonomicon, though in my opinion the latter was a little bit of a difficult read. Worth it though.
For sheer 'play in the virtual world' stuff, you MUST read Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson. You'll blaze through that, so follow it up with Stephenson's The Diamond Age
Good YA dystopic future stuff:
The Windup Girl
Station Eleven
Finally, get into Neuromancer, by William Gibson. It's a fantastic--some would say genre-defining--cyberpunk novel.
Then go devour everything Stephenson and Gibson put out there. That should get you through at least the first half of the summer. Happy reading!
To know why what you are saying doesn't make sense you need to read a very large amount of physcis books, may i suggest starting at Bill Bryson's a short history of nearly everything then moving on to Stephen Hawking's a short history of time
Even though it's not exclusively about geology, A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson is a fantastic read.
Although it covers everything from the Big Bang to early humans, about 7 of it's 30 chapters are on geologic topics such as paleontology, tectonics, asteroid impacts, ice ages, etc. as well as the history of the development of those fields. It's one of those rare books that is very readable and informative without being too dumbed down.
Bill Brysons "A Short History of Nearly Everything" is a good place to start.
http://www.amazon.com/A-Short-History-Nearly-Everything/dp/076790818X
A Short History of Nearly Everything, A People's History of the United States, Freakonomics, The Botany of Desire, Sun Magazine
If she is interested in science than Bill Bryson's A Short History of Nearly Everything would be great for a summer read.
There are lots! Try Brian Greene's Fabric of the Cosmos series on Amazon. Both Netflix and Amazon have a huge amount of NOVA documentaries which are usually pretty good.
The movie Particle Fever (Netflix) is a great intro to the work of the LHC at CERN
Look up the BBC Christmas Lectures - there are lots of them. Every xmas famous scientists present a layman overview of a topic to kids at the famous Royal Institution. I grew up watching these and still love them today.
Prof Brian Cox is probably the UKs most recognizable face for bringing physics to the public these days. Europe's version of NDT. He's always a joy to watch and you'll be able to find many talks by him, and programs starring him, just by searching his name on Youtube.
For the history of science, you can't get more fun than Bill Bryson's book, A Short History of Nearly Everything. It's wildly entertaining.
Just a word of warning on the layman style documentaries and pop sci books... their very nature makes them have to avoid the math, which is where all of this stuff comes from in the first place. As a result the concepts they share often seem fantastical and speculative and can lead non-scientists to wonder about the veracity of science these days. It's important to remember these things all have a much less dramatic and exciting foundation usually in partial differential equations and other such complex math. If you want to get into that side of things, Leonard Suskind's free online lectures at The Theoretical Minimum are great.
This is also a good read: A Short History of Nearly Everything.
Check out A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson. It's a good start and a humorous read as well.
A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson.
I agree read a lot of great non-fiction books.
You can start with the series and related books of this:
http://www.amazon.com/A-Short-History-Nearly-Everything/dp/076790818X
http://www.amazon.com/Book-General-Ignorance-John-Mitchinson/dp/0307394913#immersive-view_1457311562058
^^ This reminds me of A Short History of Nearly Everything. A good read btw.
I too sometimes worry about dying just when things are getting really good with all the awesome VR stuff that's surely coming. And I'm 50 years old, so I have a valid concern. If I was 21, I'd be feeling pretty good about getting to experience all the really good stuff.
I also somethings feel the "be careful and don't die" thing. In addition to that, I worry about going blind in one or both eyes. That would really suck too!
A short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson.
It's kind of dated now, but still interesting.
A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson
A Short History of Nearly Everything. Anything by Bill Bryson, really.
Yep. I'm in the middle of A Short History of Nearly Everything, and it's pretty astounding reading about it. I just assumed we had known about it forever.
Even more amazing are the intra-plate quakes. They happen all the time almost everywhere and we have literally no idea what causes them.
used from Amazon for $5, which is what i bought when it was $4
The author of this article has clearly done no research on The Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster. The works of His Noodliness are well documented in A Letter from Saint Bobby Henderson to the Kansas State Board of Education. The miracles described in this sacred Epistle include influencing the results of radiometric dating, the increase of global warming, and the decline of piracy. We have pictorial documentation of the moment of creation, created by Bobby after receiving a vision of His Noodliness creating a mountain, some trees, and a midget. More can be found in The Gospel of the Flying Spaghetti Monster
Finally, there are millions of Pastafarians willing to become martyrs for His Noodliness, but we're just so darned likeable that no one has wanted to martyr us.
We Have one already.
This is so blasphemous to his Noodlyness.
It's almost like you've never read The Gospel of the Flying Spaghetti Monster..
I guess you haven't read the Gospel of the Flying Spaghetti Monster.
Read the Gospel and the Loose Canon. Conversion ceremonies can be fun, and you can create your own. They should, of course, include pasta, pirate regalia, and grog.
Our holiday's include fridays, Holiday- a vague celebration around december- and ramendan, where we eat ramen in remembrance of all the college students who survive on it.
Keep the 8 I Really Rather You Didn'tsin mind, and have fun!
> I have heard that Marks Gospel comes from Peters Testimony, so Mark is technically an account from St. Peter.
I have heard that the Gospel of the Flying Spaghetti Monster was dictated to Bobby Henderson directly from the spirit of Edward Teach, in communion with the Messianic Manicotti, and so is technically an account from Blackbeard Himself.
You probably think this is ridiculous (and I agree) -- but keep in mind we know Edward Teach/Blackbeard and Bobby Henderson are/were real people. We have no such assurance with Peter or Mark.
I love books, reading is one of my favorite hobbies and it's much easier now since I recently bought a Kindle Fire :p
My favorite book series is The Dark Tower series by Stephen King because it does traveling between different dimensions pretty well, and when I finished the series it gave me so many feels :(, feels that still stay with me today. Plus Roland is one of my favorite characters ever. My friends got into the Game of Thrones books, while I got into The Dark Tower series, they called me a loser because I 'wasnt reading what other people where' but the series is so worth it.
I've really been wanting to read Ready Player One I've heard great things about it.
Also I hope you have been enjoying The Hunger Games, I read them all in a one month span last summer!
Ready Player One by Ernest Cline.
Red Country by Joe Abercrombie.
I absolutely loved this book. It is set in the Amazon and is jam packed with action and adventure. Amazonia
Also, I just finished this book last night. One of the best books I've read in a while!
Ready Player One
Believe it or not there are quite a few good sci-fi books exploring these ideas already. Here is an incomplete list you may want to check out:
Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash
Since searching wikipedia turned up the Timeline of Non-Sexual Social Nudity(TIL) I'm just going to guess you're you're looking for a more techie true to life rendition of the hacker archetype based on the amazon synopsis.
Based on that I'd recommend:
Cryptonomicon
just.go.read.it.right.now.
It may take a little effort to get into, damn thing is a tomb, but give it a chance. You will not be disappoint.
--------------
Stealing the Network Series
How to Own a Box
How to Own a Continent
How to Own an Identity
How to Own a Shadow
comments
These are told in a chapter/viewpoint style, each chapter is usually written by a different knowledgeable, and sometimes security famous, security dude. Out of those I've only read How to Own an Identity so far, but it was pretty good and and my guess is that the rest hold up to that standard, so dive in. They are a series from what I understand so reading them in order is probably a good idea, but not completely necessary.
_____
And then for flair (these are more scifi/cyberpunk-ish; so if that's not your thing avoid):
Snowcrash
comments
The main character's name is Hiro Protagonist. No seriously. He's a ninja, he's a hacker, he lives in a U-Store-it container, and he delivers pizza for the Mob in a post-collapse USA, can you really not read this book now?
--------------
The Diamond Age
comments
All about the practical social implications of nanotechnolgy told through the eyes of a young girl, her father, and an assortment of disposable associates.
--------------
The Sprawl Trilogy
Neuromancer
Count Zero
Mona Lisa Overdrive
comments
I've only read Neuromancer and Mona Lisa Overdrive, which were both great, so I'm guessing Count Zero is probably good too.
Similar to Snowcrash in the lone gun hacker sense, except with more drugs a little bit more of a scattered tone.
And if all else fails there's always the DEF CON reading list.
ninja edits because I suck at markdown
I started to read more when I was trying to unplug. TV/Netflix/phones can really pull you out of reality, make your brain weak as you begin to lose control of your thoughts. Just try not watching TV/youtube for 3 days...why is it so hard? Are we addicted to screens or are we just lazy. Research neuroplasticity, and how you can make your brain work for you (any how you fall into additive traps when you lose control of your attention). A lot of people on here are recommending meditation, I can't stress how important this is.
Start by reading someting that interests you...check out r/suggestmeabook if you need some help. Also, I can recommend some great books:
Best of luck.
I really liked Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson...
Here you go.
I'm gonna stretch the rules and include some comics on this list:
I just finished reading the Gentleman Bastards series, by Scott Lynch:
After reading The Stormlight Archive, and Mistborn, a friend recommended me the Gentleman Bastards saga and I loved it. I'd say I liked it more than mistborn, and equally than The Stormlight Archive. Scott Lynch is also a great author.
I enjoyed reading the Gentleman Bastards saga. The characters are complex, the fantasy lore is rich, not Brandon Sanderson-rich, but rich. The history is great. But I must say that I think Scott Lynch is very descriptive, I found difficult to get through because so much detail was offered.
PS. Maybe we all could share our goodreads.com profiles. Seeing that we have similar tastes, we could see what others are reading.
I'll post links so you can get an idea of what they're about. Apologies, I'm a bit tired, otherwise I would give you a rough synopsis myself
If you're looking for some good fantasy books I'd highly recommend the following:
1.) The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss - http://www.amazon.com/Name-Wind-Kingkiller-Chronicle/dp/0756404746
2.) Prince of Thorns by Mark Lawrence - http://www.amazon.com/Prince-Thorns-Broken-Empire-Lawrence/dp/1937007685
3.) Gardens of the Moon by Steven Erikson - http://www.amazon.com/Gardens-Moon-Malazan-Book-Fallen/dp/0765348780/ref=pd_sim_14_12?ie=UTF8&amp;dpID=51pDraZRUIL&amp;dpSrc=sims&amp;preST=_AC_UL160_SR99%2C160_&amp;refRID=1H0ZZ7MYMYZGKGQMEKTW
This next one has some fantasy elements, however, it's hard to pigeonhole into an exact genre (low fantasy adventure?), nonetheless, it's one of the better books that I've read recently.
4.) The Lies of Locke Lamora (Gentleman Bastards) by Scott Lynch
http://www.amazon.com/Lies-Locke-Lamora-Gentleman-Bastards/dp/055358894X/ref=pd_sim_14_5?ie=UTF8&amp;dpID=51tpIK8K%2BtL&amp;dpSrc=sims&amp;preST=_AC_UL160_SR98%2C160_&amp;refRID=1H0ZZ7MYMYZGKGQMEKTW
5.) The Way of Shadows: The Night Angel Trilogy: Book 1 by Brent Weeks -
http://www.amazon.com/Way-Shadows-Night-Angel-Trilogy/dp/0316033677/ref=pd_sim_14_4?ie=UTF8&amp;dpID=51tPZPp5dsL&amp;dpSrc=sims&amp;preST=_AC_UL160_SR93%2C160_&amp;refRID=1WERAT21ARWMVZN12V2P
(All books mentioned are the 1st novel of a larger series. If you're already aware and/or read these already than disregard, trying to pass along some great books for anyone who might come across my post)
Some of my favs:
The King Killer Chronicles
Gentlemen Bastard Series
The Dark Tower
Riyria Revelations
The Ender Quartet
Ummmm I know I'm leaving some out, but those are some of my favorite series off the top of my head.
Edit: Stupid formatting on mobile.
Call Me By Your Name for queer book club and Lies of Locke Lamora.
Also, if you like GRRM's style of fantasy, Scott Lynch's Gentleman Bastard series would probably be a good bet to try. The first two books are already out (Lies of Locke Lamora and Red Seas Under Red Skies)and the third is due out this October, with another 4 books still planned after that.
The only "fatherhood" book I could stand: Be Prepared
The only "baby" book I could stand: (and they have a good Toddler one from the same series)
Baby 411: Clear Answers & Smart Advice For Your Baby's First Year
We just picked up Baby Bargains by Denise and Alan Fields. It seems really helpful - lots of product guides, reviews, and suggestions for first time parents. Again, we just picked it up today so take this for what it's worth, but I'm happy we did and already feel like we've gotten our money's worth.
Edit to add I've heard good things about Experimenting with Babies and Be Prepared, but I haven't looked closely at either one.
Don't worry it's super easy. When they hand you the baby make sure it's head is in the crook of your elbow and then just cradle the bottom. You'll get the hang of it real quick. Ditch all those parenting books, this is what you need.
I rather liked this one:
http://www.amazon.com/Be-Prepared-Practical-Handbook-Dads/dp/0743251547/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1324586538&amp;sr=8-2
It's not a kid, it's a baby, and there is a big difference.
The baby is not manipulating them, the baby has only basic needs, at 2 years old they may have some preferences but they don't even realize they can do things to influence others and get what they want. Even a tantrum is usually just having big emotions and no where to go with them.
I'd like to hope that it will be different when it's his own kid, else I'd suggest he starts seeing a therapist now do deal with the trauma of having a newborn at home and a wife that's "on the babies side".
There is a book my husband got that might help? Linky to Amazon
You want this book: https://www.amazon.com/Be-Prepared-Gary-Greenberg/dp/0743251547
My husband and I have both read it at the recommendation of his sister and her husband. It's practical information presented in an entertaining way.
http://www.amazon.com/Be-Prepared-Practical-Handbook-Dads/dp/0743251547/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1344482516&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=be+prepared
This one. End topic. This is the best book out of the many I read, and it was by far the best.
Oh, and congrats!!
I agree that hospital parenting classes are the best way to go. But you can also find some books on Amazon or videos on Youtube just by searching things like "new dad tips" or something. Here's a few links; I'm not sure how many are targeted to single dads, though. You may find a lot of references to "your partner" in the books, but there still is some truth to that -- you're not romantic partners, but you still need to be parenting partners.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0743251547?keywords=new%20fathers%20book&amp;qid=1452471002&amp;ref_=sr_1_3&amp;sr=8-3
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0789212137?keywords=new%20fathers%20book&amp;qid=1452471002&amp;ref_=sr_1_4&amp;sr=8-4
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0316159956?keywords=new%20fathers%20book&amp;qid=1452471002&amp;ref_=sr_1_7&amp;sr=8-7
http://www.amazon.com/The-New-Father-Guide-Series-ebook/dp/B00VPPYEWY/ref=dp_kinw_strp_1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tSfPqgtdmAo
I recommend this book over and over. Reading it was one of the best things I did to settle my nerves and get that peek behind the curtain. I have done many, MANY of the suggestions they outline, and they have never let me down!
I bought my husband Be Prepared, but I'm actually less experienced than him, so I love it too!
Yeah, some of the other subreddits have links to parenting resources, although at a quick glance I did not see anything specifically related to baby proofing, so my bad on that.
I thought the book Be Prepared, A Practical Handbook for New Dads was pretty useful, and it has a good amount of helpful information about what to do before and after the baby arrives through the first year. It's easy to read, with some good humor. Hope that helps.
Im gonna assume its from this book
https://www.amazon.com/Safe-Baby-Handling-Tips-David/dp/0762424915
I saw this online ages ago, then bought the book for my sister when got pregnant (both, of them Safe Baby Handling tips and Safe Baby Pregnancy tips). Who says piracy doesn't sell?
I'd recommend you read A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson. It's a pretty good survey of natural science and very accessible to the layman. I think I've read it twice and each time come away with that "everything in the universe is awesome" feeling. It's probably my favorite non-fiction overall.
Best general science book: A Short History of Nearly Everything, by Bill Bryson.
While it does have its inaccuracies, check out A Short History of Nearly Everything. You'll walk away with a list a mile long of more awesome things you want to read about.
It's more of a general all-about-science book, but Bill Bryson's A Short History of Nearly Everything. It was years ago that I read it but it has some really interesting sections about geology and biology if I recall correctly.
For the machete a Cold Steel kukri is an excellent option.
Field strip the MREs: here's how.
Get the Chinese military shovel instead, it's really awesome. Here's one link to buy it.
Would advise a Camelbak or other mini-backpack style hydration bladder, much better for mobility.
For the rope: get milspec 550 paracord.
Gorilla brand duct tape is advised.
For the multitool either SOG or Leatherman are excellent choices. A couple of good picks from each: SOG PowerAssist and PowerLock as well as the Leatherman MUT and the Charge TTi.
Check out 4Sevens for excellent quality flashlights - really these guys are among the best in the flashlight market.
For the gun I would advise a Ruger 10/22 with a folding stock for compactness. Add some 32 round interlocking magazines and a box or two of ammo (.22LR is cheap, they come in boxes of 500 or so).
I would also recommend a Red Cross multifunction solar/crank radio.
The SAS Survival Handbook and of course the Zombie Survival Guide would make good additions.
Here's the link for the book.
http://www.amazon.com/Zombie-Survival-Guide-Complete-Protection/dp/1400049628
Come on, we all know the only zombie survival guide is this one. http://www.amazon.com/The-Zombie-Survival-Guide-Protection/dp/1400049628
Pure worldbuilding and minimal narrative describes pretty well Expedition and Barlowe's Inferno by Wayne Douglas Barlowe.
Granted, these are books where the framing story (a person exploring the setting in question) is there to provide context for Barlowe's paintings, but you can do pretty much the same thing with words as he does with illustrations- take an explorer, an archaeologist, a historian, or some other sort of researcher, and follow them as they acquire knowledge about the setting. The story will thus focus on their discoveries, rendering exposition and story one and the same.
The SCP Foundation's various exploration logs are the best examples of this that I can name at present, as the characters involved in the framing story are generally anonymous redshirts whose only significance is the strange phenomena they encounter. As far as novels go, I also see the general formula in Jeff Fahy's Fragment.
Another example of an approach that works is the SCP-Foundation. There are traditional narratives on the site, but the main attraction for most of the Foundation's existence has been the collection of fictional documents describing various paranormal phenomena.
A fictional document or fictional documentary strikes me as a perfect method of doing what you seek. You can have an in-universe history book, an in-universe encyclopedia, some other sort of reference work like the Zombie Survival Guide, etc. You could call some of these "stories" by some definition of the word, I guess, but the bottom line is the format and content are quite different from what you typically see in things described as stories.
In that case, I think everyone who wants to write a zombie flick should have Max Brooks' The Zombie Survival Guide as mandatory reading to ensure continuity regarding the capabilities of zombies in future movies. Love that book - it makes me question what the writers were thinking whenever I see a zombie doing something out of the ordinary.
As a man who once read the [Zombie susrvival guide] (http://www.amazon.com/The-Zombie-Survival-Guide-Protection/dp/1400049628) I must say that a prison in rural Canada would be best. Walls, not many zombies and a lot of guns.
Also: [Zombie-killing girls] (http://www.google.se/imgres?imgurl=http://www.gogoanime.com/images/highschool-of-the-dead.jpg&amp;imgrefurl=http://www.gogoanime.com/category/highschool-of-the-dead&amp;h=415&amp;w=300&amp;sz=44&amp;tbnid=C8ZWLbyrh1tnGM:&amp;tbnh=86&amp;tbnw=62&amp;prev=/search%3Fq%3Dhighschool%2Bof%2Bthe%2Bdead%26tbm%3Disch%26tbo%3Du&amp;zoom=1&amp;q=highschool+of+the+dead&amp;docid=ot0XrGinSneWoM&amp;sa=X&amp;ei=80uVT-KKFumk4gSikuXQDw&amp;ved=0CEwQ9QEwAg&amp;dur=4314)
The best way to survive a national disaster is to imagine how you would survive a zombie apocolypse. Stock up on food and water, get tourches with batteries (or better yet, wind ups), block all entrances and wait for help. Depending on the level of outbreak and how much society has broken down, you could be waiting for days, if not weeks for the government to step in.
Your costco idea works in theory except that malls and shops are generally hard to defend. Multiple entrances, concreate stairs, lots of windows. Not to mention you will have to stop every Tom, Dick and Harry from trying to raid the store.
Check out the zombie survival guide. Its ment to be a parody but theres a lot of info that works in any situation.
This remind me of this. My husband was reading this book when we first met. He's educated me a lot in the zombie survival technique.
Interestingly, The Bro Code was written by a character played by a gay person
Rubber Duck Necktie - How I Met Your Mother Barney's Ducky Tie https://www.amazon.com/dp/B008PSV4OA/ref=cm_sw_r_awd_4tVKub0AYK588
The Bro Code https://www.amazon.com/dp/143911000X/ref=cm_sw_r_awd_KuVKub1CQWBVP
Boondock Saints Veritas Aequitas Cross Glass https://www.amazon.com/dp/B006Y07AQW/ref=cm_sw_r_awd_zvVKub0C2WCTR
Boondock Saints 2 Playing Cards https://www.amazon.com/dp/B004A2GEY0/ref=cm_sw_r_awd_5vVKub01WDCYV
PROGRAMMER ~Sign~ parking street code hacker geek gift https://www.amazon.com/dp/B001BZA4MC/ref=cm_sw_r_awd_KzVKub0B05MKF
https://www.amazon.com/Eats-Shoots-Leaves-Tolerance-Punctuation/dp/1592402038
Relevant.
This comment is wonderful, because it shows the importance of situational awareness. While the example below is in relation to commas in a list, it still points out the importance of seeing it through to make your proper point.
Eats, shoots, and leaves.
The panda has a meal, fires it’s pistol then splits.
Eats shoots and leaves.
The panda eats bamboo and plants.
This shows how important this comment is. You need to always take a good look!
(Taken from the wonderful book Eats, Shoots & Leaves: A Zero Tolerance Approach yo Punctuation.
For more info: https://www.amazon.com/Eats-Shoots-Leaves-Tolerance-Punctuation/dp/1592402038
When it's used as part of or in place of a name, capitalize. Otherwise, don't.
"and the king was sad" is correct, because "the king" is not a noun, but "and King John was sad" would be correct because "king" here is the title as part and parcel of the name.
In your blurb above, the capitalization on queen is incorrect.
This book is one I always have nearby somewhere when I'm writing. Definitely worth a few bucks. Grammatical errors will put a lot of people off - even if you make the same grammatical errors consistently through your MS.
I'm pretty obsessed with proper grammar and punctuation, and I love semicolons (even though Kurt Vonnegut would reject me for it). I would give you a long explanation since I love talking, being a teacher and all, but the Oatmeal's comic is much more concise and amusing than I could ever hope to be.
As a grammar nerd, I'd recommend the classics when it comes to grammar and usage: Eats, Shoots & Leaves and The Elements of Style.
There's a whole cheeky book based on this joke.
Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation https://www.amazon.com/dp/1592402038/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_4rwRzbR2Y15QR
Yes, it's [this one] (https://www.amazon.com/Baby-Owners-Manual-Instructions-Trouble-Shooting/dp/1594745978)! It's meant to be humorous, but it has a lot of very practical info written in the store or an instruction manual. It's been quite helpful for us, as I too had zero experience with babies before my own arrived. ☺️👍
You should start learning how to be a Dad. First step is not calling Mom a bitch.
https://www.amazon.com/Baby-Owners-Manual-Instructions-Trouble-Shooting/dp/1594745978/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1469722044&amp;sr=1-3&amp;keywords=new+dad+gifts
Grats!
We're in our 17th week, so I'm right there with you. I picked up all 3 of these from a local used book store, and I like to read at the same pace as the pregnancy is going because these first 2 are broken up by month.
For you, there's The Expectant Father: Facts, Tips, and Advice for Dads-to-Be. Good book from the father's perspective. Covers the often overlooked male emotional issues that you may go through.
For both of you, there's the Mayo Clinic Guide to a Healthy Pregnancy. Covers a lot of medical and physical issues she'll be going through. Almost like a school textbook, but a good one.
And if you're into geeky and funny, there's The Baby Owner's Manual: Operating Instructions, Trouble-Shooting Tips, and Advice on First-Year Maintenance. There is some good tips here, but it is humor first and informational second.
Which stupid? Stupid enough to need those instructions or stupid enough to think they're real?
That looks to be from this book which is actually both really funny in some places and really useful in others. Somebody gave it to us when our first was born.
http://www.amazon.com/Baby-Owners-Manual-Instructions-Trouble-Shooting/dp/1594745978
This, the Baby Owners Manual, was probably the most useful and appealing to me. It is presented like an actual manual but the instructions were very easy to understand, had great pictures to accompany the descriptions and appealed to my witty side.
I read this before my son was born and I learnt how to how him, swaddle him and kept it close by for reference most of the time.
I passed it on to a friend when they were expecting and I recommend it a lot.
My husband really liked the baby owners manual. It's funny, succinct but also lots of practical advice
The Baby Owner's Manual: Operating Instructions, Trouble-Shooting Tips, and Advice on First-Year Maintenance (Owner's and Instruction Manual) https://www.amazon.com/dp/1594745978/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_.BuADbY4NEDGW
Small gift,
The Baby Owner's Manual: Operating Instructions, Trouble-Shooting Tips, and Advice on First-Year Maintenance (Owner's and Instruction Manual) https://www.amazon.com/dp/1594745978/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_05qnDbJA78KJJ
A cool gift could be his own diaper bag even. Maybe something nice leather with a monogram. Just my two cents, but having a second diaper bag for my card would be nice and easy rather than having to switch back and forth between cars.
Or something that can keep him busy while baby is sleeping and you are napping.
Oh and the Baby Owner's Manual was really good, he liked that one.
I received this with my first kid.
https://www.amazon.com/Baby-Owners-Manual-Instructions-Trouble-Shooting/dp/1594745978
If he's super into being a new dad maybe get this book. But maybe something really cool and personal that isn't necessarily baby related.
If all else fails a BJ is the best present a guy could receive.
I got the "baby manual" Funny stuff, but contains lots of useful information
Depends on if you want super serious or not. One that somebody gave me when we found out we were expecting our daughter was this:
The Baby Owner's Manual: Operating Instructions, Trouble-Shooting Tips, and Advice on First-Year Maintenance https://www.amazon.com/dp/1594745978/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_rPM5yb1KDKPRF
My husband is in software so my mom gave him this book: http://www.amazon.com/The-Baby-Owners-Manual-Trouble-Shooting/dp/1594745978
My friend with whom I used to go to happy hour weekly bought me this book: http://www.amazon.com/Moms-Who-Drink-Swear-Loving/dp/045141814X
There is a book called the The Baby Owner's Manual: Operating Instructions, Trouble-Shooting Tips, and Advice on First-Year Maintenance . In it I learned about sleep patterns of babies and we used their method on both of our kids. Basically what you do is during the day you only let them take very short naps. Like 1-1.5 hours at a time. Basically just annoy them a little bit to get them to open up their eyes... Try and entertain them. Maybe change a diaper... offer a boob/bottle... etc.
What this does is make them naturally realize that they get bothered during the day and will make them more tired at night since they didn't get a full 5+ hour stretch. As you slowly push their sleep a little bit each day in about 1-2 weeks they will be getting their longest nap at night when you want them to. I say nap because let's be real here... damn babies don't sleep like we do.
It also helps to make a grid and track their nap times so you get a better understanding about how long each one is. From this you will quickly realize where you have to wake them up to make it adjust.
The Baby Owners Manual: Operating Instructions, Trouble-Shooting Tips, and Advice on First-Year Maintenance
Yes!
The New Dad's Survival Guide
The Baby Owner's Manual
Dad's Playbook
These are all a bit lighter reading, and mind you I do not regret buying them at all. Really useful information in all of them.
You would describe it like Ian Doescher did in his seminal trilogy: https://www.amazon.com/William-Shakespeares-Star-Wars-Doescher/dp/1594746370
The audiobook is pretty good.
The Globe in London. I had a nice experience there. I wish they would play this one time: http://www.amazon.de/William-Shakespeares-Star-Wars-Doescher/dp/1594746370
I need to get up and go to work. I've been on reddit for over an hour, and I'm already late. I should get going, esp. if I want to go to stick time during my lunch break.
Also, I got my copy of the screenplay to The Room, and I now want to give it the Shakespearian treatment that The Big Lebowski and Star Wars have recently received.
https://www.amazon.com/William-Shakespeares-Star-Wars-Doescher/dp/1594746370
There is one glaring omission from the books list!
Ready Player One is the best cyberpunk book I've read since Neuromancer.
Not only does it have a great plot, great characters, and excellent virtual worlds, but it is as much a love letter to the 1980s as it is a cyberpunk novel. Definitely check it out!
[Ready Player One] (http://www.amazon.com/Ready-Player-One-Ernest-Cline-ebook/dp/B004J4WKUQ) by Ernest Cline. One of the most talked about books on r/booksuggestions and a fantastic read. Really easy reading, well written and bucket loads of fun.
Oh if you like dystopian, then check out Ready Player One by Ernest Cline. Awesome fantasy - Patrick Rothfuss The Name of the Wind. And a really cool non-fiction survival story is The Tiger by John Vaillant, about a man-eating tiger terrorizing a village in Russia.
Totally check out the library, most these days do inter-library loans within counties or regions, so if they don't have any of the above, you can request them for free. Enjoy!
Just finished Orwell's 1984 about a month ago and I'm close to finishing Ready Player One. Both have been really great. As far as spiritual reading, I'm always reading something by St. Josemaría and am currently reading Chesterton's St Francis.
Two books that might be interesting reads for you:
More of personal survival than mankind and obviously that's for zombies, not aliens, but you might find some good tips (Remember, you never have to reload a sword!).
Also, the Center for Disease Control has a Zombie Preparedness site
Zombie Survival Guide is always a good read.
This DVD would be nice to have and this physical book will be nice used of course :)
have you not read this?
I'd say a nice bottle of bourbon or cognac would do the trick. Or, if he wouldn't like that (you know better than me), you could build him a zombie survival kit. You can personalize it with his favorite snacks, etc, and then have something like http://www.amazon.com/Zombie-Survival-Guide-Complete-Protection/dp/1400049628 to bring it all together. That seems pretty practical.
I would behead the person. Gather essentials (see reference http://www.amazon.com/Zombie-Survival-Guide-Complete-Protection/dp/1400049628 ) Inform a select few loved ones, set up a rally point and specific time. Then set out on my journey north with whoever arrived at the designated location.
Might I then reccomend......
http://www.amazon.com/Zombie-Survival-Guide-Complete-Protection/dp/1400049628/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&amp;s=books&amp;qid=1217618426&amp;sr=8-1
Max Brooks' Zombie Survival Guide
I'll just leave this here.
Excellent reference: Max Brooks (Mel's son) Zombie Survival Guide
read the book that came before it. [The Zombie Survival Guide] (http://www.amazon.com/Zombie-Survival-Guide-Complete-Protection/dp/1400049628)
Write awesome stuff about zombies including a book entitled "The Zombie Survival Guide". I haven't read that one, but I suggest you check out "World War Z." It approaches a zombie war as it happens on a global level rather than just 8 or so survivors, addressing many sociopolitical issues and showing how different cultures would theoretically react to the outbreak.
[Zombie Survival Guide](http://www.amazon.com/Zombie-Survival-Guide-Complete-Protection/dp/1400049628/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1299938944&amp;sr=8-1 "tooltip text")
I've read Max Brooks' Zombie Survival Guide a few times through, and it's a brilliant manual for any major disaster, really. Good tips on fortifying against rioting masses, stockpiling of food, disposal of bodies and waste, weapon selection, etc.
Read the manual bro
https://www.amazon.com/Zombie-Survival-Guide-Complete-Protection/dp/1400049628
And Max Brooks (Mel Brooks son) published this in like 2003. I'm not trying to split hairs, I'm just trying to say that zombie apocalypse stuff has been around long before vampires had sparkles.
> I can't even remember what made zombies more popular than cat videos.
The Walking Dead pushed them over the top, but the initial groundswell came from The Zombie Survival Guide (which is actually a pretty fun, humorous read.)
The Zombie Survival Guide also by Max Brooks. Didn't see it referenced.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Zombie-Survival-Guide-Protection/dp/1400049628
It's Max Brooks' predecessor to World War Z, The Zombie Survival Guide
http://www.amazon.com/The-Zombie-Survival-Guide-Protection/dp/1400049628/ref=tmm_pap_title_0
Enjoy!
Zombie Survival guide by Max Brookes ----> http://www.amazon.com/The-Zombie-Survival-Guide-Protection/dp/1400049628 (although it looks like you have the same one but with a different cover)
I'll just leave this here
Max brooks covered it already in his howto book. I preferred world war z which was actually stories from the war. Note this all assumes its the slow moving variety of zombies, not the crazy super zombies. But in summary the following items made bikes a better option
Sigh...terrible, just terrible. You guys would all be dead before the day was done.
Chainsaws? Guns? Are you retarded? THEY MAKE NOISE! That will just bring MORE zombies to your location!
The following is what you REALLY need:
As penance, you all must now read, The Zombie Survival Guide
Either that or die.
That's why you need the Zombie Survival Guide
Hurry and buy one before the zombie apocalypse!
This is what I got my little brother for Christmas:
This, this, and this.
The Zombie Survival Guide, by Max Brooks. Awesome lecture!
I say this book is pretty awesome
Alice in Zombieland
Easily this. When I was done, I was thoroughly convinced zombies were real.
Also, zombies in hot regions will dry up and break apart while zombies in cold regions are "at risk" of freezing completely (after all, it is assumed that zombies are cold-blooded and contain at least some water). Also, zombies in areas of extreme heat and humidity (rain forest) will rot very quickly, assuming that decomposition doesn't stop straight-up.
At least that's what the Zombie Survival Guide tells me.
OK, so most people will have the same basic plan: Get out of town, find remote fortifiable location. lay low, gather supplies, hold out til you can rebuild (great basic strategies Here!)
However, most people will be cramming the highways with the same strategy, then you get swarmed in the car on the way out.
SO, you need a contingency plan to hold out until you actually find a safe/quick/Stealthy way to execute the get-the-hell-outta-dodge part.
Supplies
have enough supplies on hand so that you could safely bunker down where (or near to) where you are. This is good advice in general and the same supplies will help you hunker down should a hurricane or a riot sweep through or society falls apart for some other reason.
4)Basic Hurricane Kit - hand-powered flashlight, Radio, signal flares etc. buy at any sporting goods store.
Secure Shelter
Now this part depends greatly on when/where you are when you become aware whats going on. But in general, (unless you are just pants-shittingly unaware of your surroundings) you should have a day or so between your first Zombie sighting and when stuff really starts going to shit.
You need to have a clear idea in your head where you are going to draw the line in the sand across which the Undead shall not cross. For me this is the small section of my apartment complex. 22 units with a high iron fence all the way around. 3 entry points which can all automatically lock. I'd need to first secure and barricade these then begin to make a sweep of the neighboring units. There are 3 possibilities of what you will find. 1) Unoccupied unit - poor bastards were either caught in the initial outbreak or tried to make a run for it. make a not of these and come back for supplies. 2) Survivors - Congratulations you're not alone. enlist their help or have them keep their heads down. 3) Biters - You know what you have to do.
Adapt
Now once you have a safe defensible location for at least the short run, all planning goes out the window. Depending on how situations develop your plans are probably going to get blown to shit. Maybe the government falls faster than anticipated, so they don't have time to firebomb major cities. Maybe you become entrenched and are going to have to survive in place ad infinitum. Maybe you find your escape path and can make for the hills and follow the default plans.
You can never be prepared - only more prepared
TLDR; Have fun feasting on the brains of your loved ones
https://www.amazon.com/Zombie-Survival-Guide-Complete-Protection/dp/1400049628
A mental mind fuck can be nice...
It must feel like Christmas for you to find all your lost books.
I would love this [zombie book] (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1400049628/ref=olp_product_details?ie=UTF8&amp;colid=N9C349SABZ8H&amp;coliid=I3DO792KZU31AY&amp;me=&amp;seller=) to go with my other zombie book, World War Z!
Just buy the book
https://www.amazon.com/Bro-Code-Barney-Stinson/dp/143911000X
http://www.amazon.com/Bro-Code-Barney-Stinson/dp/143911000X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1321386692&amp;sr=8-1
http://www.amazon.com/Playbook-Suit-Score-chicks-awesome/dp/1439196834/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1321386692&amp;sr=8-2
the only written copy i have seen is this, http://www.amazon.ca/Bro-Code-Barney-Stinson/dp/143911000X . And the code is really courtesy to a fellow bro.
Hi /u/SarHavelock, you're not shadowbanned, but 3 of your most recent 100 comments/submissions were removed. They may be removed automatically by spam filters and not necessarily by human moderators.
Comment (1pts) in dankmemes, "Big gay", (31 May 19):
> They furfags now.
Comment (1pts) in dankmemes, "It's time to rebel", (31 May 19):
> Sadly, in the rules it also says that the mods reserve the right to ban anyone for any reason. We should start our own subreddit.
Comment (1pts) in AskReddit, "Ladies of Reddit, what’s a rule of the Bro Code that you...", (29 May 19):
> The definitive Bro Code, my brother.
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I was quoting from the bro code by Barney Stinson.
A book every bro and himym fan should know by heart!
Oh come on, you didn't even look.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Bro-Code-Barney-Stinson/dp/143911000X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1342948794&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=bro+code
It's actually quite good, and hilarious.
enjoy =)
i used to have a pdf version that i uploaded to google docs to share but don't' know where that is anymore. i'll link to it if i can find it again.
When my brother was stationed in Iraq (Air Force as well), I used send him stuff that would make him laugh or take his mind off of things.
The Bro Code book (http://www.amazon.com/The-Bro-Code-Barney-Stinson/dp/143911000X)
A plastic multi-colored slinky
Uncle John's Biggest Ever Bathroom Reader (a huge book of facts)
You Might Be A Zombie (and other bad news)
Along with soooooooo many cookies
The God of Bros and beer....you should probably use this as your holy bible.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Bro-Code-Barney-Stinson/dp/143911000X
[The Bro Code]
http://www.amazon.com/Bro-Code-Barney-Stinson/dp/143911000X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;s=books&amp;qid=1260745331&amp;sr=8-1
or
"I know, it’s not like there’s some list of rules handed down to us from on high."
The Bro Code
Yeah, some books might offer a good read. :D
*Yes, you are right. What do I need to do to improve it?
Here are several links to books that might be helpful:
Link 1
Link 2
Link 3
Read Eats, Shoots & Leaves, you will thank me later.
Eats, shoots and leaves
It's a nice quote, but doesn't really make sense to me. A period does not indicate one is finished speaking. It simply helps us organize our words in a more understandable manner. I would imagine a supreme being doesn't speak in run-on sentences.
I am not an English major, although I did enjoy reading Eats, shoots and leaves, but that quote has one too many commas. The first comma should be a period.
If you want more help read Eats, Shoots, and Leaves. Very quick and funny read that will greatly improve your punctuation.
Some fun books to start with:
Eats, Shoots and Leaves, by Lynne Truss
Sin and Syntax, Constance Hale
https://www.amazon.com/Eats-Shoots-Leaves-Tolerance-Punctuation/dp/1592402038
https://www.amazon.com/Eats-Shoots-Leaves-Tolerance-Punctuation/dp/1592402038
Grammar games now? Oh my. I've a book for you!
http://www.amazon.com/Eats-Shoots-Leaves-Tolerance-Punctuation/dp/1592402038
Have you read Eats, Shoots & Leaves by Lynne Truss? It isn't long, but it is a great, funny book about common grammatical errors. It includes some interesting history about grammar and the context helps cement grammar guidelines into your brain.
Not a website, but rather a book. I would highly recommend Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation. It's incredibly entertaining and very educational.
EDIT: here's a link
Eats Shoots and Leaves
Here.
I'll comment on both content (fact-checking) and writing structure & style. I realize others have corrected some of the data but I'm going through this as a line-edit so you'll see some repetition.
In particular: Even after the fact checking, if I were grading or judging your article (and without giving away details about my true identity, that "if" would hold some authority), I would give you no better than a C because of statements like "Overall the religion is nothing more than a money grab created by a con man," particularly given that it is obvious you have little knowledge of the subject.
If you are reporting, you report, and you do not opine. The essence of journalism (or anything like it) is to explain the facts without your emotional involvement, and to report how both supporters and detractors see the subject. ("Those in favor of this legislation see it as a way to help the disadvantaged; those opposed feel the monies raised would only benefit the military-industrial complex and never help anybody.") The idea is always to present the facts so that the reader can make an informed decision. That is especially true when you find you feel strongly in one direction or another. (Also, it's more interesting.)
Obviously, many of the people here agree with your sentiment that "Overall the religion is nothing more than a money grab created by a con man." But some people do not share that conclusion, and if you were to write an essay well, you'd reflect their world view as well. And in any case, you don't support your assertion that he was a con man. (He wasn't -- he was far more complex than that -- but you're not alone in that conclusion.)
One of the essay's weaknesses is that you can't decide whether to give a timeline of the CofS's history or to describe it. The combination doesn't work. If I were you I'd focus on the description, even though you tried to grasp it yourself by following the timeline. (That's especially so since you got so much of the timeline wrong.)
For context: I am not a member of the Church of Scientology; I left in 1980. But I practice scientology independently, and I'm among those who expand/change auditing technology to improve its workability. That makes the CofS members feel that I'm a heretic. It also means that I examine what I learned in scientology in detail to determine what part I agree with and what I object to. So take my advice with that in mind.
> Scientology is a new age religion founded in 1954 by L. Ron Hubbard.
As others pointed out: not "new-age" (that term was invented far later) and the date was 1953.
>Hubbard was a well-established science fiction writer with some 140 stories published in pulp fiction comics.
Leave out the "with some 140 stories published in pulp fiction comics." It isn't necessary, it has factual errors (never in comics), and it does not add to the description of Scientology. You either go into Hubbard's background in depth or you describe Scientology. The assignment clearly is to do the latter.
> In 1950 he released a book called Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health which became a best seller on the New York Times. Dianetics is not spiritual in itself but actually more of a psychoanalysis book.
Copyedit: Book titles are italicized, so it should be Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health. Also, most people abbreviate long titles like this, and the accepted writing style is to show that abbreviation after the full use of the title, so you'd write "Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health (DMSMH)" and thereafter refer to the book as DMSMH. That's especially important here given that Dianetics refers to the practice or subject, and DMSMH makes it clear when you're writing about the book itself.
> In the book he spoke of finding the “dynamic principal of existence” which is to survive. The book explains that in our mind we have a section regarded as the reactive mind. Our brain records everything in our lives, and the fears and threats that trigger a survival response are placed in our sub conscious reactive mind. This way we can call upon these memories in similar situation to avoid them and survive. The Scientology website gives the example of a person eating a food that later made them sick. Now when they see that food, the reactive mind reminds them of sickness they felt before in an attempt to no experience that reaction again. These bad memories are known as “engrams”.
Copy edit: In the U.S., periods and commas go inside the punctuation. Thus:
not
(For more on improving this writing skill, read the very funny and instructive Eats, Shoots & Leaves.)
> The book then explains that we are all thetans, spirits that are immortal and are simply placed into bodies. They are trillions of years old and the creators of the material world which they willed into existence according to the book(URL1).
Incorrect. DMSMH does not discuss thetans or introduce the topic. It very deliberately does not mention past lives (which was a weird-o topic in the very conservative 1950s). Dianetics (both the subject as theory and the auditing as practiced) focused purely on people addressing engrams to reduce their emotional charge, and not on our spiritual existence. It certainly did not go into "how long we've been around" as spiritual beings.
> We as thetans are not pure however according to the book. All of our past lives engrams as well as all our pre-birth and present experiences also develop engrams that have tainted the thetan. The only way to become a pure thetan is through the process of auditing.
Incorrect data. First, again, nothing about thetans is addresses in DMSMH; that's in other, later books.
Second, there's no discussion of "purity" in any manner. Or rather, the concept is that we are each already immensely powerful (and kinda cool) but have collected some bad crap along the way to be cleaned up. Rather like an adorable little kid who plays in the mud; all you need to do is wash off the mud, to begin with, and then later you help the kid learn new skills and abilities (including how to avoid getting dirty in mud puddles). You aren't trying to become something you are not; you're working to become more of what you are.
The key point here is that scientology sees each of us as immortal spiritual beings, called "thetans," as "spirit" and "soul" have so many meanings that they can confuse the issue. For example, in many religions you "have" a soul; in scientology there is a baseline belief that you are a soul. I am a thetan; I don't have one.
> L. Ron Hubbard use to do shows where he would audit audience members. They would then claim to be able to see past lives and even go so far as to experience something called “exteriorization” which is when someone’s soul is separated from their mind and body.
Copy edit: "used to," not "use to."
Copy edit: "when someone’s soul is separated from their mind and body" is poor grammar because "someone" is singular and "their" is plural. Rephrase. It's up to you whether to write, "is released from his mind and body" or " ...his or her mind and body" or whatnot, but fix that.
Line edit: How is the fact of him doing "shows" relevant to describing what Scientology is? This appears to be a case of, "I read it, and it sounded interesting, so I thought I'd include it." The fact of him doing "shows" was never the issue. (They were fun, but that's irrelevant here.) I think the point you mean to make is that from the earliest, Dianetics and Scientology were addressing topics such as past lives and the separation of the body and soul (what scientology calls a thetan).
Also they were never "shows." They were technology demonstrations, done for the same reason that Apple attracts thousands of people to product announcements. That is, "This is something new and we want to show you how it works." It was never about him showing off in a carnival way. This was training: "Let me show you how it's done," for the same reason people watch videos on YouTube to learn how to crochet. You see how an expert does things and then you go off and do it yourself.
You also imply an inaccurate cause-and-effect when you write, "They would then claim to be able to see past lives and ...". From the earliest experiments with Dianetics, and the number of people practicing auditing after reading DMSMH, people ran into past lives. Initially it was frowned upon to run those (like I said, in the 50s this was really weird), but everyone discovered that the only way to address the emotional charge -- to resolve the incident that might have ended with that case of food poisoning -- was to address whatever came up. Similarly, people were going exterior whether or not Hubbard was around.
Your wording in this section betrays a negative attitude that does not belong. You can easily say that people getting auditing reported experiences from past lives, and some said they went exterior (the spiritual being separating from the body) ...without any judgement.
Scientological comment: Yes, I have plenty of past life memories, and I'm generally pretty damned happy when I go exterior. Neither are the aim of what I'm doing, however.
> In 1952 Hubbard released a second book building off of Dianetics called Scientology: A Religious Philosophy, this is where the religion was born. With the release of the book, Hubbard also established a few churches around America for Scientology. This is how his self-help pseudoscience writings became a religion.
Factually incorrect data. Fix that.
[continued...]
When we were expecting our first, someone gave us the “Baby User Manual”. https://www.amazon.com/Baby-Owners-Manual-Instructions-Trouble-Shooting/dp/1594745978. It can with a poster that had swaddling steps. A bit of practice with it and could start swaddling with my eyes closed. Which was pretty normal after a few weeks of 3AM feedings.
This one is really funny but also has some useful information. Someone gave it to my husband and we loved it
I recommend this (which is about being pregnant, but useful, funny and informative) and this which is about taking care of an infant and all sorts of really useful information. I've read both cover to cover, they were gifts from friends of ours, and invaluable.
The book with no pictures - http://thebookwithnopictures.com/
The baby owners manual - https://www.amazon.com/Baby-Owners-Manual-Instructions-Trouble-Shooting/dp/1594745978
I am reading through: http://www.amazon.com/Heading-Home-With-Your-Newborn/dp/1581104448/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1397573039&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=from+birth+to+reality
which is pretty good with what you need to know about newborns.
I also have http://www.amazon.com/The-Baby-Owners-Manual-Trouble-Shooting/dp/1594745978/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1397573102&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=baby+manual+book which is a quick and easy reference guide and should be more handy when I need to look something up.
I also have what to expect the first year, but I haven't actually looked at it yet. My DH has the Be Prepared book for dads, which he likes.
The Baby Owner's Manual
I don't know if this is "small" enough, but it's relatively cheap and a smaller sized book, and I found it incredibly useful! We were gifted it after the baby was born, and I really wish we had gotten it before I gave birth!
It's funny, concise, and actually really useful. :D
We were given this one. it's great for the tech minded guy.
As mentioned by DangerDance read some books. The What to Expect Book was a pretty good start and reference during the first year. A lot of it is kinda "figuring it out as you go along" but you are going to have a MUCH easier time doing that if you educate yourself first.
Edit: Also, another book I had was The Baby Owner's Manual which is really geared towards fathers and those with a sense of humor.
Edit2: Also, there is /r/Parenting
Here's the one my wife got me.
It reads like a car manual.
I'm a FTM and I have taken absolutely zero childbirth classes or infant care classes. I have done a lot of research on my own when it comes to childbirth, however. The library has been my best friend. I don't plan on doing any infant care classes. I've been around babies with my nieces, nephews and cousin's kids so I'm not worried about that. I did, however, purchase The Baby Owner's Manual for my husband and he loves it. He's never really had any experience with babies at all.
&nbsp;
You are definitely not a bad mom already! You will survive without them. A lot of child care is intuition and with childbirth you will have your doula. I think you'll be absolutely fine. You got this!
Not sure if it'd count, but there's this Baby Owner's Manual that my SO and I got when she was pregnant. Lucked out and found it at a Goodwill while buying some other baby books and whatnot. Anyway, it's actually got some pretty great info and it's presented in a pretty fun way.
Other than that, just have to say, be prepared for poop. Like, I know that you've already braced yourself for dirty diapers, yeah, that's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about how babies will just magically find ways to get poop from their diapers onto everything else. Like there will be that dreaded blowout, and trust me, one of you at least will be sent into this sort of shellshocked mode of just sitting there and shaking your head and just mumbling "I don't know, I just don't know."
What to expect when you're expecting?
Also, Baby Owner's Manual
I agree that most books are broad strokes, but this one really helped out from a new parent perspective. It's also really funny, so that helps:
https://www.amazon.com/Baby-Owners-Manual-Instructions-Trouble-Shooting/dp/1594745978
I'm a genetic counselor so I won't tell you what to do about the genetic testing (though one point you might consider is that blood testing options are something some people do just so that they have some warning ahead of time about what they might be facing, even if they would never terminate the pregnancy. But some of the blood tests have high false positive rates and might lead to stressful situations. Make sure you've discussed all options with the ob).
My husband hated all of the "expecting" books until I bought him this one: https://www.amazon.com/Baby-Owners-Manual-Instructions-Trouble-Shooting/dp/1594745978 It's pretty funny and he likes fixing things and working on cars and stuff so he liked the owners manual approach
https://www.amazon.com/Baby-Owners-Manual-Instructions-Trouble-Shooting/dp/1594745978
Amazing book written like a user manual. The sections are great because they're divided up into maintenance, troubleshooting etc so I can quickly find what I need to.
So much is stressful in preparation mode. You can't forget to laugh. Here is my suggestion. I promise you won't regret getting it.
The Baby Owner's Manual: Operating Instructions, Trouble-Shooting Tips, and Advice on First-Year Maintenance https://www.amazon.com/dp/1594745978/ref=cm_sw_r_awd_g44Jub0CHEY7C
THIS BOOK really helped me out when we had our first. It's beautifully illustrated, full of helpful information, and worded just like a manual which is funny, yet gets right to the point in three easy steps.
Not being sarcastic, and even though the book is funny I highly recommend you pick up the Baby Owners Manual.
It helps the analytical person have a pocket reference for topics they can't rightly plan for. They have a toddler version to buy i can't speak to it.
I found this book funny and informative: The Baby Owner's Manual: Operating Instructions, Trouble-Shooting Tips, and Advice on First-Year Maintenance https://www.amazon.com/dp/1594745978/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_e73Mzb1J9DDF8
I'm 9 weeks into this same thing (a boy and a girl).
One thing I've learned so far is you can't do it all. There is going to be moments where somebody's going to have to sit and cry. For example, you can only change one diaper at a time. They will be okay.
Do some research about babies being in the NICU. Don't let it worry you too much. It seems most twins go to the NICU for at least a little bit. Mine were there 3 weeks
Definitely keep both on the same schedule. If you feed one, feed the other. If you change one diaper, change the other.
There's going to be a moments where you get overly frustrated. Put the babies in a safe place and walk away for a few breaths. Also make sure momma does the same thing.
Always accept help. Don't feel proud and try to be a superhero. Weather it's somebody willing to come help you watch the kids, or someone willing to cook you a meal. If they offer, take advantage.
Some more spacific things would include:
(I may add to this later if I think of more)
A couple of good books I liked:
Be Prepared https://www.amazon.com/dp/0743251547/ref=cm_sw_r_sms_apa_i_tdARDbCCNJJN0
The Baby Owner's Manual https://www.amazon.com/dp/1594745978/ref=cm_sw_r_sms_apa_i_leARDbH84Q31C
Lastly, and most importantly, if you're worried about being good parent, then you are being a good parent.
Good luck my fellow brethren
Deep breath. Everything's alright. Babies just happen sometimes. Remember that we somehow evolved as a species by having babies in the woods, when our best tools were sharpened rocks. Just love, relax, and be compassionate... everything else will play out on it's own. You sound like you are in a better position than I was (in college, delivering pizza, and no savings). I'm sure you can google your specific questions, but here's my opinion:
I recommend:
The Baby Owner's Manual: Operating Instructions, Trouble-Shooting Tips, and Advice on First-Year Maintenance
It's amusing and actually very informative. I found it more readable than the 'What to expect when you're expecting' series. Cheers!
I never read any baby books... Just had a few apps on my phone. Baby is not dead. You'll be OK!
I do recommend this, just because it's handy and kind of funny: http://www.amazon.com/The-Baby-Owners-Manual-Trouble-Shooting/dp/1594745978
We used The Baby Owner's Manual
An an amazing book for beginners.
I'm also a researcher in my professional life and I found just reading a few books and taking a class was the best way to get my basic knowledge of parenting. I like to keep The Baby's Owner Manual around as a nice reference. After that I talk to parents online and in person about parenting, asking questions here and elsewhere as things came up. There are so many products advertised as essential for kids that it can be useful to get feedback from other parents.
I've probably spent the most time researching medications and ingredients in various products. It seems like many things like gas drops or teething soothing medicines fall under homeopathic medicines.
I just ordered my SO this awesome shirt and onesie combo, an epic coloring book, something to help if he's feeling overwhelmed, a book for bedtime, and a shirt to help bring out his inner nerd as a late father's day/early baby day present~ get your hubby something fun that matches his personality, there's plenty of awesome things on amazon for dads-to-be for every kind of dad out there. You just have to look :3
The symptoms that I had in the beginning were far more severe than what I am experiencing now that I’m starting to show. This is totally normal and expected. Your body is going through a ridiculous amount of change and is being absolutely flooded with hormones. I got my husband a few new dad type books and he reads them, It seems to help a lot with getting them to understand what’s going on before you can physically see the changes. I’ll edit in a moment with the books that I purchased
Edit: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0789212137
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1594745978
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0789210770
I got them all used I believe, so picked out a few that had good reviews. He’s been primarily reading the one with the plaid shirt on the cover
For those interested, someone actually made a book series around this.
https://www.amazon.com/William-Shakespeares-Star-Wars-Doescher/dp/1594746370
Has books for up to 7. Not sure about Rogue One or TLJ though.
I've got the first 6, but I haven't gotten around to reading em.
Found a book once where the author had re-written the first movie in Shakespearean dialog. You can find it here
I always pictured R2 and 3P0 as a Dwarf Blacksmith and an Albino English Professor.
He's a writer? How about getting him a videogame/comic book themed notebook with matching stationary? If he's a Star Wars fan and really in to screenplays then he might be interested in Star Wars by William Shakespeare.
http://www.amazon.com/William-Shakespeares-Star-Wars-Doescher/dp/1594746370/ref=tmm_hrd_title_0/178-6144581-1887900
Not my idea, I'm just predicting that at SOME point they'll adapt them to film.
https://www.amazon.ca/William-Shakespeares-Star-Wars-Doescher/dp/1594746370
Hence why it gets chopped from watching the films in Machete Order.
> "Episodes II and III aren’t exactly Shakespeare, but standing next to the complete and utter trainwreck that is Episode I, they sure look like it. At least, III does anyway."
Not to be confused with William Shakespeare's Star Wars.
This is a randomly amazing contest of random amazingness.
Morthy Demands:
Posh Old Englishman in Londontown [Found on "Little Bit of Everything!"]
Oh God! [Found on "Read or GTFO!"]
So phallic right now [Found on "Little Bit of Everything!"]
Akeleie Demands:
Geektastic! [Found on "Read or GTFO!"]
Reach for the Stars! [Found on "Little Bit of Everything!"]
Deserted Island! [Found on Little Bit of Everything!]
This was hilarious to me!
And here's the link if you want a copy from Amazon.
I know you specifically asked for not fiction, but the book Ready Player One is great, and people in the VR industry are working towards building similar worlds.
"Ready Player One" is an awesome book - I couldn't put it down!
This would be my choice!
I'm stuck at work for 10 hours today and 12 hours tomorrow so any extra reading material would pretty much be a god send. Haha. I can only read so many trashy free books at a time. Gotta break up the monotony of it all.
This book was recently suggested to me and I'm really curious to read it. I've heard quite a few good things about it.
I've been dying to read Ready Player One!
I don't think you wanna live through me this weekend, it's pretty boring, I'm probably just gonna play video games all weekend. Happy Friday
Thanks for the contest!
[This book] (http://www.amazon.com/Ready-Player-One-ebook/dp/B004J4WKUQ/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_nC?ie=UTF8&amp;colid=1BGV2L2FWNXQM&amp;coliid=I2OARYCHD7XAVK) looks great. Its "Ready Player One" by Ernest Cline. It looks like a great post apocalyptic novel.
I'd toss in a few plus add links for those who have Kindles
Awaken Online,
Life Reset,
Dungeon Born,
Dodge Tank,
Sufficiently Advanced Magic,
and I believe Ready Player One also fits the LitRPG description.
I'm going to have to recommend Ready Player One. The book was an AWESOME read!
I love this book
Yeah, Mr. White! Yeah, science!
Leviathan Wakes, Ready Player One, and Wool are probably my top 3.
Happy to!
Awaken Online is an awesome example.
You might have heard of Ready Player One - Spielberg is producing the movie. IMO that one is one of the best books (for nerds) ever, but it is only considered to be 'light LirRPG' book.
> ... and totally not known even remotely enough in general.
I think this is one of the reasons I'm so open about recommending his work. He seems to have the ability to take topics that most people may not be exposed to and make them comprehensible. It's similar to the way I feel about Mary Roach in books like Stiff, Bonk, and Gulp.
Along with that, Bryson has some purely entertaining works like A Walk in the Woods, Notes From a Small Island, and The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid: A Memoir that are just a joy to read. I guess I'll stop now because I'm starting to feel like shill.
Edit: spelling is hard.
A Walk in the Woods is about my home hiking trail: the Appalachian Trail. This trail was basically in our backyard and I would hike there often before I went off to school in Idaho. We're now settled in Texas so to go hiking we'll need to trek a bit further.
A great book I read recently was Hawaii and it was marvelous. Its no wonder Michener was awarded the Pulitzer for his work.
For kids, I would recommend The Eleventh Hour. Its a mystery about a birthday party and a delicious meal. Very fun. Young kids will really like the pictures and the older kids will like trying to solve the mystery.
Snickers Bars apparently attract them like mad.
Or so Bill Bryson says.
I'm really bad at reading through just one book at a time, so I'm in the middle of a few at the moment.
-A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson
-Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman (admittedly, it's been a while since I've picked this one up)
-Pale Fire by Vladimir Nabokov
I just finished a great book called The Other Wes Moore, also. It was super interesting.
I'm a big fan of non-fiction books, in case that wasn't immediately apparent by the list.
I'm sure your friend has access to all the recovery literature he can handle, and more. I wouldn't even go there, if you are considering it.
I might go for some light entertainment.
Bill Bryson's A Walk in the Woods is about hiking the Appalachian Trail, it's an easy read and it's hilariously funny.
Cheryl Strayed's Wild is about hiking the PCT and is also a fun read.
For novels, I have to recommend A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan, and Middlesex by Jeffery Eugendes. They are both big huge sprawling books that are also super enjoyable and easy to read. (So they are not a new Moby Dick.) I've never read them, but I hear the Lord of the Rings books are completely absorbing too. They would take up a huge chunk of his time.
You might also send some comfort clothes. Some warm socks or slippers or sweatpants or a hoodie, something like that. (I'm a huge fan of LL Bean's sweats, they are super comfy and well made.) Also maybe an iTunes gift card if he's got an iphone or ipod.
Out of curiosity, what's the scifi book you're sending? I'm a big scifi fan too.
This guy has some good info
Kristen Gates has great info on ultralight gear and has tons of experience.
Bill Bryson's A Walk in the Woods is a good read.
Youtube also has anything you could ever want to learn.
Also since you will be packing around trees. Many long distance hikers have sworn by hammocks, they are good alternative to tents when attempting to save weight.
Hiking socks, you can never have enough cozy socks. For a gag gift, you can get her a Go Girl. There is loads of books on hiking experiences. Here is one my mom seemed to like. Maybe books about going off the grid? Hope i was able to help.
Mandatory reading: A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson
[A Walk in the Woods] (http://www.amazon.com/Walk-Woods-Rediscovering-America-Appalachian/dp/0307279464/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1347030356&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=a+walk+in+the+woods) by Bill Bryson. I'm telling you, it's hilarious and a really good read. Most of his other books are quite funny as well, but this is my favorite.
https://www.amazon.com/Ready-Player-One-Ernest-Cline/dp/0307887448/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1485409240&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=ready+player+one
This is one of my favorite books and I think you would enjoy it.
Shaw is a brilliant actor and makes the film, IMHO. it's a shame he died relatively young. btw, check out this book if you haven't already. it's a quick but fun read. based on your responses here, you'd probably like it.
I would like to enter your contest. Thank you.
Here.
Have you read Ready Player One? It is utterly un-put-down-able. I normally don't read for too long at a time but I couldn't put it down on a road trip!
It's about a dystopian future in which pretty much everyone just plays a virtual reality game. After the creator of the game dies his will says that whoever finds his three easter eggs in the game will inherit his fortune. + lots of 80's references.
Ready Player One! It looks so good and you strike me as the kind of person who would just love it. :)
{I don't have an e-reader but the used-er the merrier!)
Any book in my wishlist pretty much, i love reading so maybe this one.
Thanks for the contest!
It looks like we have a lot in common in terms of what we like to read! I absolutely love Heinlein and have read all of his books. We also have Ready Player One in common on our lists.
I think you would enjoy this book for sure. I think it has a similar feel to Heinlein but a little more modern.
Ready Player One is a novel written by Ernest Cline.
>In the year 2044, reality is an ugly place. The only time teenage Wade Watts really feels alive is when he's jacked into the virtual utopia known as the OASIS. Wade's devoted his life to studying the puzzles hidden within this world's digital confines—puzzles that are based on their creator's obsession with the pop culture of decades past and that promise massive power and fortune to whoever can unlock them.
> But when Wade stumbles upon the first clue, he finds himself beset by players willing to kill to take this ultimate prize. The race is on, and if Wade's going to survive, he'll have to win—and confront the real world he's always been so desperate to escape.
This is how I imagine the stacks look in Ready Player One.
I kind of need to know more about that Ready Player One arcade cabinet, and I'm more than a little disappointed nobody else has asked.
Read the book (Amazon/Google Play/iTunes) before the movie comes out December 2017. (No referral links used.)
I wonder if this will work with Google Cardboard. I guess it depends on if the heavy lifting is done by the PC or the VR headset.
Metagame
Ready Player One
Snow Crash
Tom Clancy's Net Force series
You might like Ready Player One.
I would recommend my two of my favourite books
Ready Player One By Ernest Cline
High Fidelity by Nick Hornby
I hope that you find a book you enjoy. Because Bookworms rule!
Reading The Martian was the most fun I'd had since reading Ready Player One by Ernest Cline so you might try that one if you haven't read it yet.
You could also try Wool by Hugh Howey although not as good as The Martian. Sand also looks interesting but I haven't read it yet.
Ready Player One is a good one if you've got an interest in video games and like pop-culture references. It's a dystopian one, so feel free to ignore if that isn't your thing.
It is seriously badass
Also announced that its going to be a Spielberg film, can't wait to see it come to life.
Has anyone read Ready Player One by Ernest Cline. One part Willy Wonka one part The Matrix mixed with a side serving of John Hughes? If you like hunting for Easter Eggs this book is for you.
Edit: Punctuation
My favorite book would have to be Ready Player One :)
This book is so exciting, as it's about a video game virtual reality 30 years in the future. The creator of the world was single and had no kids, but he was also the richest man on the planet. Since there was no fair way to distribute his money, his will was a contest.
"Three secret keys open three hidden gates,
wherein the errant will be tested for worthy traits.
And if they have the skill to survive these straits,
they will reach the end where the prize awaits."
Halliday(The creator of the game) left this only clue to the world to try to gain his power and money. Six years passed before anyone finally figured out the first clue.
This book touches every gamer's nostalgia and you will want this game as soon as you finish the book. It makes you feel good to be a gamer. :)
Steam ID
Just Cause 2 :D
EDIT: OP, even if I don't win, I highly recommend this book :D
http://www.roadtovr.com/2013/06/03/second-life-oculus-rift-support-ceo-rod-humble-interview-6348
http://www.polygon.com/2013/6/14/4429086/oculus-rift-hd-e3
=
http://www.amazon.com/Ready-Player-One-A-Novel/dp/0307887448
We're watching the future happen here, people.
This book is one I recommend to everyone who reads any non-romance genre of fiction with some regularity.
Looking Good, sweetheart, and so will I if I win ;)
If you have any interest in video games or 80's pop culture I highly recommend the book Ready Player One, it was a really fun and engaging read.
I think you'd like Ready Player One, it's steeped in nostalgia and gaming. It's also nice and light.
Ready Player One by Earnest Cline
There is a stand-alone dystopian novel called ["Ready Player One"](http://www.amazon.com/Ready-Player-One-Ernest-Cline/dp/0307887448/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1426611964&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=ready+player+one_. Recently read it and pummeled through it in under a day (which is rare for me). I can't explain too much without giving a whole lot away and I haven't read the books that you have enjoyed, but I would recommend it!
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0553380958?pc_redir=1404734999&amp;robot_redir=1
Snow crash
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0441569595/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?qid=1404785560&amp;sr=8-1&amp;pi=SY200_QL40
Neuromancer
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0307887448/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?qid=1404785598&amp;sr=8-1&amp;pi=SY200_QL40
Ready Player One
Here
It is called the Eye of Providence and has been used/attributed to a group knows as the Illuminati. A behind the scenes group of rulers bent on world domination and the quest for immortality. A good fiction to read is the Illuminatus Trilogy. Hope this helps out a little.
The Illuminatus Trilogy? Or one of its 3 books, The Eye in the Pyramid, the Golden Apple, Leviathan?
http://www.amazon.com/The-Illuminatus-Trilogy-Pyramid-Leviathan/dp/0440539811
Well obviously there's a physical version as well.
can you see the fnords?
American Gods by Neil Gaiman and The Illuminatus! Trilogy by Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson.
I think its time to talk to your furry friend
Looks like you need to pick up a copy of how to talk to your cat about gun safety
https://www.amazon.com/How-Talk-Your-About-Safety/dp/045149492X
[You need this book] (https://smile.amazon.com/How-Talk-Your-About-Safety/dp/045149492X?sa-no-redirect=1)
In case you were serious about your "Seriously wanting this book" comment... How to Talk to Your Cat About Gun Safety: And Abstinence, Drugs, Satanism, and Other Dangers That Threaten Their Nine Lives https://www.amazon.com/dp/045149492X/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_94vQybWC9KJWG
He may think it's a joke, but make sure you still talk to him about gun safety all the same. https://www.amazon.com/How-Talk-Your-About-Safety/dp/045149492X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1497465386&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=cat+gun+safety
Sounds like she's going to be needing a copy of How to Talk to Your Cat About Gun Safety!
Hey look, an Amazon link. https://www.amazon.com/How-Talk-Your-About-Safety/dp/045149492X
https://www.amazon.com/How-Talk-Your-About-Safety/dp/045149492X
You might want to teach your cat about gun safety!
I think your Cat could benefit from this:
https://www.amazon.ca/dp/045149492X/ref=cm_sw_r_other_apa_i_lZc4DbV7H8S2A
It's only $4...
https://microcosmpublishing.com/catalog/zines/6200
[Edit] or cough up $9 for How to Talk to Your Cat About Gun Safety: And Abstinence, Drugs, Satanism, and Other Dangers That Threaten Their Nine Lives
You might be interested in this, then.
You're honestly going to claim that this strikes you as the work of a man who would rather express his views in a subtle, nonconfrontational manner than go public and go extreme?
Again, FWIW, I really like Franken as a senator. He cares about the right issues. But that doesn't change his past, and his past doesn't make him a bad or unfit senator.
The book in question came out in 2004 iirc?
Link
Not for sure on that, I linked the first imgur album from google. Though a quick google search shows that it comes from Al Franken's book Lies: And the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right.
(Al Franken for 2020)
>One case has pictorial documentation of groping,
Groping does not cast shadows.
> the perp was a sitting United States senator.
The USO tour was in 2006. Franken was not elected until 2009.
>It happened to be an organic development of the #metoo movement.
Leeann Tweeden was a right wing talk radio host who did frequent appearances on Fox News. Al Franken has been an aggressive and effective critic and agitator against Fox News longer than just about anyone. This was an orchestrated hit by the right taking advantage of an organic movement that developed primarily out of the left.
>The other case has a 35+ year accusation from high school, without any corroboration
Dozens of people attempted to contact the FBI with corrobation, but the executive branch limited the scope of the investigation into it's own nominee .
> it’s a politically motivated Democrat hit job
Sez you. change my mind.
>It’s a disgrace to all those who are real victims of sexual assault and rape.
Don't speak for me.
> Both situations make liberals look bad
That's clearly all you and your mind care about. Bye.
Just leaving this here for your readership pleasure. Recall, Fox tried to sue him for skewering their tag line.
Damn, that does feel like a lifetime ago.
Al Franken already wrote a book about it.
Yes. He lies for an agenda discrediting even his valid points. Don't take anything he says as more than just entertainment. Give this a read or just read up on his other lies. http://www.amazon.com/Lies-Lying-Liars-Tell-Them/dp/0452285216
If you don't want them to google the answer, are you giving them open-ended enough questions? Just make sure they don't learn about Wolfram Alpha :) that thing can even solve complicated integrals
Edit: As a "yes but how" you could try finding some examples from Randall Munroe's "What If?: Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions" https://www.amazon.com/dp/0544272994/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_ZcCYxbBM10599
http://www.amazon.com/What-If-Scientific-Hypothetical-Questions/dp/0544272994/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1394474740&amp;sr=1-1&amp;keywords=what+if%3F%2C+munroe
Hello, I'm not Craig nice to meet you.
God.
Yes, here is the Amazon link.
Though it was originally (and still is) a (sporadically updated) blog, available here. The book contains quite a few questions that are not on the blog, though, like for example what would if you fired a bullet as dense as a neutron star at the earth.
I personally love this one
https://www.amazon.ca/What-If-Scientific-Hypothetical-Questions/dp/0544272994/ref=nodl_
This is a little big, but What if by Randall Munroe is a pretty good choice. It's by the same guy that makes the XKCD webcomic, and it's hilarious and informative. Nonfiction absurd scenarios and the application of math/science to the weirdest questions. It's not exactly inconspicuous though, and it is a big book.
https://www.amazon.com/What-If-Scientific-Hypothetical-Questions/dp/0544272994/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1394474740&amp;sr=1-1&amp;keywords=what+if%3F%2C+munroe
<Sry no idea how to format links>
I think you might want What If?, a book by Randall Munroe, xkcd extraordinaire. Hilarious answers to scientific questions!
I just picked up this guy's book, it's fantastic. It's always fun to see really random stuff like this explained in semi lay-man terms.
You can read ch. 1 as a free sample on the amazon page of the book.
Randall Munroe of XKCD.com has a book named "What If" that has this EXACT question along with a step by step of what would happen. I would highly suggest it.
Okay then I'll make some recommendations!
If you're into science: [Death by Black Hole] (https://smile.amazon.com/Death-Black-Hole-Cosmic-Quandaries/dp/039335038X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1491764342&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=death+by+black+hole)
If you like classic mysteries: [A Study in Scarlet] (https://smile.amazon.com/Study-Scarlet-Arthur-Conan-Doyle/dp/1514698854/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1491764421&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=a+study+in+scarlet)
If you want something absurd: [What If?] (https://smile.amazon.com/What-If-Scientific-Hypothetical-Questions/dp/0544272994/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1491764514&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=what+if)
And here's some things I have been looking to get: [The Republic] (https://smile.amazon.com/dp/0141442433/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&amp;colid=226JO509390Q8&amp;coliid=I2FVTI8SC5VCYS)
and
[The No Bullshit Guide to Math and Physics] (https://smile.amazon.com/dp/0992001005/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pd_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&amp;colid=226JO509390Q8&amp;coliid=I1P7W8OMFLADHK)
Hope one of these sparks an idea!
Finished reading Asura: Tale of the Vanquished last week. For anyone interested in anti-hero tales, this is a must-read. Or if you have had questions which you couldn't dare or weren't allowed to ask when reading/hearing/watching Ramayana, this can quench your thirst. I'd love to see a movie adaptation of this book (sigh).
Currently reading What If by Randall Munroe, creator of xkcd. Its one of those not-to-read-just-to-surf kind of books, although very difficult not to categorize it as a serious book. Well, you know xkcd.
[X] Hit physical activity goal
[X] Work 9-5
[X] Read a few chapters of one of the book from the XKCD guy, Randall Munroe
[X] Meet up with some friends at 7
[->] Finish out content pages on revision 1 of a website I'm working on
[X] 3 Meals
[X] Brush 2x Floss 1x
Also, that mashup was fantastic. Thanks for sharing that! And thanks for the contest!! Disney is the best. :D
Every single one of these books has something different to offer you from the genre of scifi. Those three at the top are great entries into the genre. As what I perceive to be "deeper cuts", allow me to suggest my four favorite scifi novels:
Cheers!
Some great history books:
The first and last are not military history but are quite a good and different reads for someone interested in history and facts.
I'm in the middle of Bill Bryson's book, A Short History of Nearly Everything. He spends a lot of time talking about the people behind important scientific discoveries, and how they all intertwine into our current understanding of the universe. There's a great chapter on nuclear physics which my post is a rough and dirty summary of. :-)
I second the reading idea! Ask your history or science teachers for suggestions of accessible books. I'm going to list some that I found interesting or want to read, and add more as I think of them.
A short history of nearly everything by Bill Bryson. Title explains it all. It is very beginner friendly, and has some very entertaining stories. Bryson is very heavy on the history and it's rather long but you should definitely make every effort to finish it.
Lies my teacher told me
The greatest stories never told (This is a whole series, there are books on Presidents, science, and war as well).
There's a series by Edward Rutherfurd that tells history stories that are loosely based on fact. There are books on London and ancient England, Ireland, Russia, and one on New York
I read this book a while ago and loved it- Autobiography of a Tibetan Monk It's about a monk who was imprisoned for 30 years by the Chinese.
The Grapes of Wrath.
Les Misérables. I linked to the unabridged one on purpose. It's SO WORTH IT. One of my favorite books of all time, and there's a lot of French history in it. It's also the first book that made me bawl at the end.
You'll also want the Adventures of Tom Sawyer, To Kill a Mockingbird, The Great Gatsby, The Federalist Papers.
I'm not sure what you have covered in history, but you'll definitely want to find stuff on all the major wars, slavery, the Bubonic Plague, the French Revolution, & ancient Greek and Roman history.
As for science, find these two if you have any interest in how the brain works (and they're pretty approachable).
Phantoms in the brain
The man who mistook his wife for a hat
Alex and Me The story of a scientist and the incredibly intelligent parrot she studied.
For a background in evolution, you could go with The ancestor's tale
A biography of Marie Curie
The Wild Trees by Richard Preston is a quick and easy read, and very heavy on the adventure. You'll also want to read his other book The Hot Zone about Ebola. Absolutely fascinating, I couldn't put this one down.
The Devil's Teeth About sharks and the scientists who study them. What's not to like?
I haven't read any of the typical atheist books as it would be preaching to the choir so to speak, but I really enjoyed these three which are pure awesome.
http://www.amazon.com/Genome-Autobiography-Species-23-Chapters/dp/0060194979
http://www.amazon.com/Demon-Haunted-World-Science-Candle-Dark/dp/0345409469
http://www.amazon.com/Short-History-Nearly-Everything/dp/0767908171
My favorites... the first two are not even talking about religion, but simply pure science and fascinating.... the second starts off about UFOs but then goes into being critical of religion (while barely... it's sagan after all, it's enough to turn off a non-questioning christian).
http://www.amazon.com/Short-History-Nearly-Everything/dp/0767908171
http://www.amazon.com/Genome-Autobiography-Species-23-Chapters/dp/0060194979
http://www.amazon.com/Demon-Haunted-World-Science-Candle-Dark/dp/0345409469
Beyond that, all of Malcom Gladwell's stuff is interesting and about science/sociology so it's a great read and a lot of is down to earth and so will pick at the fundamentalist belief some... eg:
http://www.amazon.com/Outliers-Story-Success-Malcolm-Gladwell/dp/0316017922/
Bill Bryson's A Short History of Nearly Everything is very good and a bit more up-to-date (it's a book not a TV series), and I speak as someone who has read the book of Cosmos several times.
Brian Green's The Elegant Universe is worth reading, even if you think String Theory is "Not Even Wrong" (Greene is not one of the die-hards).
A Short History of Nearly Everything
Sounds like it will be right up your alley.
I suggest Bryson's A Short History of Nearly Everything. He's a travel writer who wanted to know the same things, so he asked every smart person he could find and distilled it into layman's terms, while maintaining a level of brevity that Sagan often lacked.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0767908171
Big Bang: The Origin of the Universe
A Short History of Nearly Everything
Definitely not the biggest, but very impressive is Robert Evans, amateur astronomer, found a record number (42) of supernovae...with his 10” home telescope...in his backyard.
In Bill Bryson’s book, A Brief History of Nearly Everything, he discribes how incredibly hard this feat actually is. “To understand what a feat this is, imagine a standard dining room table covered in a black tablecloth and someone throwing a handful of salt across it. The scattered grains can be thought of as a galaxy. Now imagine fifteen hundred more tables like the first one — enough to fill a Wal-Mart parking lot, say, or to make a single line two miles long — each with a random array of salt across it. Now add one grain of salt to any table and let Bob Evans walk among them. At a glance he will spot it. That grain of salt is the supernova.”
Evans has also been quoted as saying "There's something satisfying, I think, about the idea of light travelling for millions of years through space and just at the right moment as it reaches Earth someone looks at the right bit of sky and sees it. It just seems right that an event of that magnitude should be witnessed."
Bill Bryson's A Short History of Nearly Everything is an extremely readable tour through natural history and scientefic proccess from the very beginning of the planet. Probably my favoruite 'overview' non-fiction book.
If you want to read fiction that will make you more knowledgeable, read anything by Umberto Eco. The research he does on any time period his work is set in is outstanding and it really shows. I finished Prague Cemetery today by him, which is focuses on 19th century conspiracy theories, where every event and character that appears in the book apart from the main character is historically accurate. It's amazing how he blends a fascinating plot with historical accuracy.
A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson is a good overview of the history of science. PDF (or MP3 audiobook) available online if you're OK with torrenting copyrighted stuff, but a hard copy wouldn't be a bad investment.
Bill Bryson - A Short History Of Nearly Everything. Freaking fantastic book.
I find that science history and biography gives a good understanding of scientific methods, and when written for the lay-person, doesn't get so bogged down in technical jargon.
Here are a few of my favorites:
(Also check out his biographies of Isaac Newton and Richard Feynman)
And here are a few on my to read list:
I hope that helps.
Check out "A Short History of Nearly Everything" by Bill Bryson. It's right up your alley. It's a history of science and scientific thought. It discussess almost all of the major scientific thought processes and when, how, and who was involved in their discoveries, the rival thoughts at the time, how it changed our world, and also covers scientists lost to time or scientists whose theories were taken by others. It's also really, really entertaining to read. It's like a really entertaining history book but about science and scientific thought. It's pretty dang accurate and specific, but not so precise as to wear you down or confuse you. Really approachable, REALLY informative, and perfect for someone who feels that their science AND history knowledge is lacking.
A Short History of Nearly Everything
by Bill Bryson
[A Short History of Nearly Everything] (https://www.amazon.com/Short-History-Nearly-Everything/dp/076790818X) by Bill Bryson. Fun, interesting, and informative.
Going through a similar thing right now, while I'm no where near where I want to be, I've made some good improvements. Best tip I can give you from what I've learned is
Focus on one aspect first.
I've found whenever I start to feel like all these things are wrong with me (I'm not smart, I'm not funny, I'm not attractive), I tend to try and change things immediately. My next day will consist of a completely new minute-by-minute routine, new diet, new attitude, new me. However, the "perfect me" starts to cheat a little here and a little there, "I know it's time to exercise, but another 10 minutes on Reddit won't hurt..." Then in no time at all I'm back to just plain old me. The point is, a lot of change at once can be overwhelming.
If you start to feel that things need to be done right now and you feel like making drastic changes, more often that not, the thrill will quickly pass and you'll be left right where you started. Choose one thing you want to improve first and work on making that a routine.
Think of a stream of water pounding against a rock. It takes time before the rock begins to shape and feel the full force of the water, but it does feel it.
As for the learning to do things, I recently asked /r/suggestmeabook/ for recommendations on a book to increase my general intelligence and these were the recommendations. Currently reading through A Short History of Nearly Everything and loving it.
I know this isn't an all inclusive answer to all your problems, but I hope it helps. :)
TLDR: Focusing on changing too many things at once can be discouraging and leave you worse off than when you started. Read A Short History of Nearly Everything for brain power.
Edit:formatting
Here's 3:
"Your Inner Fish" - Neil Shubin
"Why Geology Matters" - Doug MacDougall
"A Short History of Nearly Everything" - Bill Bryson
I actually see a lot of parallels between your situation and where I found myself at your age. It was 14 or 15 that I really developed an interest in science, because before that I hadn't really been properly exposed before that. Fast forward 6 or 7 years, I'm now a third year university student studying physics and I love it; I'll be applying to PhD programs next fall.
Like you, astronomy (by which I broadly mean astronomy, astrophysics, cosmology, etc.) was what really caught my attention. In school, I liked all the sciences and had always been good at math (calculus was by far one of my favorite high school courses because the science can be pretty watered down).
If you're interested in learning more about astrophysics, I would recommend any one of a number of books. The first book on the topic that I read was Simon Singh's Big Bang; I read a couple Brian Greene books, namely The Elegant Universe and Fabric of the Cosmos; I read Roger Penrose's Cycles of Time, and finally Bill Bryson's A Short History of Nearly Everything. Also, I bought a book by Hawking and one by Michio Kaku that, to this day, sit on a shelf at my parents' house unread. I would recommend Singh's book as a nice book that should be at your level, and in fact it was the one recommended to me by some professors who I bugged with questions about the universe when I was around your age. Also, Bryson's book is a good survey look at a lot of different scientific topics, not just astrophysics/cosmology specific; I enjoyed it quite a lot.
As far as reaching out to people, I would recommend trying to connect with some scientists via email. That's what I did, and they were more responsive than I expected (realize that some of the people will simply not respond, probably because your email will get buried in their inbox, not out of any ill-will towards you).
At this point, I'll just stop writing because you've more than likely stopped reading, but if you are still reading this, I'd be more than happy to talk with you about science, what parts interest(ed) me, etc.
I highly recommend science oriented books. Science is no "Maybe, perhaps, whatever", it is clear: facts are true when they are proven as such, and wrong when proven as wrong. There are theories everywhere but no one relies on them before they aren't proven right nowadays.
For a good summary of science, I recommend „A Short History of Nearly Everything". It really is about everything that regards progress in science: From Physics and chemistry, over geology and cosmology to anthropology and evolution. It is a pleasure to read, very well written and researched.
For more detailed, yet very accessible physics and explanations of the universe, there is "Big Bang".
Then there are things that - in my eyes - are beyond anything that TRP touches. Medical conditions which impair your sensory organs or rather the areas of your brain that process those sensations: Complete failure of a brain area, malfunctions in processing, illnesses. Those are very interesting stories and will make you think outside of your box. What would you do if this happened to you? How do people build a life around this? What does it feel and look like inside an affected persons head? Oliver Sacks has written a few books about those conditions/cases. He has a very pleasant and personal style of writing down his stories about the patients or even himself.
Quite analogue to that I recommend the series "Dr. House" if you are interested in that topic.
I can only recall those two from the top of my head. Of course, there are other topics which are interesting as well:
Philosophy (see: Arthur Schopenhauer, Friedrich Nietzsche, Platon), ancient poetry (see: Vergil, Homer, Alighieri) [because this indeed is for the most part fictional, you learn a lot about the spirit of the times], psychology, economy, paleontology, anthropology, etc etc.
Also, you shouldn't miss out on reading up about how cars/car engines are built and how they work (there are great animations of this on Youtube), this can come in handy if you want to repair one or get an idea of what features are worth your money. Same goes for computer technologies, household equipment. Basically I recommend to read up on every technical or even economical topic to be up to date.
As well, you can do researches about daily things. The internet is great at getting you those informations. But be sceptical, everyone on the internet can write articles about anything.
Often times it's the things we don't notice that have the most impact: linguistic (the history of bascially all languages is very exciting), where resources come from (nuclear plants - on this topic I found a well researched article/book on reddit regarding
Chernobyl -, coal power stations, wood clearing, purification plants, oil producers, mining, opencast mining, fishing, farming, animal breeding), the many climate zones of the globe and which one you live in, flora and fauna of the globe, the sea and especially the deep sea.
You get the idea. Turn your head around 360° and look under the surface of things. Lift a rock to see what is underneath, there is a lot to discover.
Get A Short Story of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson. It's a science book, not an atheist one. It covers everything from Geology to Cosmology and Genetics and Evolution, it talks about when and how things were discovered and gives a little biography for many scientists. And it's very easy to pick up and read, no big words but still manages to teach. It also talks a bit about religion and atheism in a way that shows that religion is a force that's almost always for ignorance and how science stands for more knowledge and advances society.
http://www.amazon.com/A-Short-History-Nearly-Everything/dp/076790818X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1335246110&amp;sr=1-1
It depends on what you're interested in.
Great War for Civilisation is full of fascinating stories from a war correspondent covering the middle east; he interviewed Bin Laden several times before 9/11 among other things. The book is long, but it brings the conflicts to your doorstep and takes you behind the scenes where the media is often restricted from going. Be warned of the size and content though. It is gruesome in most places, and provides a very realistic account of what goes on daily over there.
1776 tells the story of the American revolution, concentrating on the battles and the men who fought them. It is written extremely well. If you have any interest whatsoever in the founding fathers, the characters behind the revolution, or even just a good story, read it and you shouldn't be disappointed.
Short History of Nearly Everything basically takes everything you're interested in that is science related, condenses it all into discrete explanations, and combines the whole to present a great reading experience. It's a bit like doing for science what "A People's History of the United States" did for history. It all feels genuine.
Those are a few I have particularly enjoyed.
A good book that is fun to read and has tons of anecdotes about scientific history is A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson
In a similar vein, you can ponder the more mind-bending aspects of our Universe with Stephen Hawkings A Brief History of Time
Other than that you may find some interesting things in the works of Carl Sagan or Richard Dawkins (I personally recommend Dawkins's The Selfish Gene)
If you are sick of scientific titles you can also check out Freakonomics or The Worldly Philosphers
These Books are all written for a general audience so they go down pretty easy.
Deciding which major in College can be tricky - I was lucky since I knew exactly what I wanted to study before I left High School, but maybe some ideas in these books will pique your interest. My parents always told me to go to school to study something I love, and not to train for a job. I'm not so sure this advice carries through in "recovering" economy. You may want to factor in the usefulness of your degree post-college (but don't let that be the only thing you consider!).
Good Luck, and enjoy!
Read. Make sure they are good books. If you want a leg-up on your classmates, make sure they cover topics you will be studying next year. Probably the best books for this off the top of my head are Lies My Teacher Told Me and A Short History of Nearly Everything. The first covers American history (including Columbus), the second covers many of the natural sciences.
For someone who is looking at public school as a failing educational tool, these two books will do a wonderful job of explaining topics in a way that will make them interesting and living subjects, not just a useless series of facts to be memorized.
As far as literature goes, try to read some heavy-hitting classics instead of whatever fantasy/Twilight crap someone your age might be reading. Again, try to keep ahead of the curve, both with what you are going to study and what is intellectually beyond what you are going to study. Something with more than 300 pages, if you need a measuring stick. If you really want to go above and beyond, email teachers and ask for book suggestions that AREN'T on the suggested summer reading list.
> A Short History Of Nearly Everything
I have never read this book, but from the book description on Amazon; it does look like it has similar topics.
http://www.amazon.com/A-Short-History-Nearly-Everything/dp/076790818X
I don't know about physics history books, but I really liked A Short History of Nearly Everything when I read it a couple years ago. It doesn't go into the how too much, but it gets behind the scientists and shows them as real humans? Is that kind of what you're looking for?
http://www.amazon.com/Ready-Player-One-Ernest-Cline/dp/030788743X
The first time in a long time I have been so sucked in that after finishing int in 3 days, I wanted to go right back to it. Every child of the 80s I have shared it with, especially those who were extra-nerdy, loved this book.
http://www.amazon.com/A-Short-History-Nearly-Everything/dp/076790818X/ref=tmm_pap_title_0?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1347860128&amp;sr=1-1
If you want non-fiction, I finished this recently and it is hands down the best non-fiction book I have ever read. History filled with compelling narratives rather than dry dates and facts, Bryson brings the past to life - the story of how Halley convinced Newton to write the Principia even though Newton would rather have been searching for King Solomon's tomb for the dates of Christ's second coming or practicing alchemy is just one example of the wonderful narratives that fill this book.
A Short History of Nearly Everything
Although admittedly, I didn't read it, but listened to the audio version as I drove cross country for a few weeks. I think reddit would really dig this.
Edit: If you're going to check out the audio book, listen to the one narrated by Richard Matthews.
The Psychopath Test by Jon Ronson- Fascinating book about psychology and neuroscience about how psychopathic tendencies are pretty common among us humans. Very readable and entertaining.
A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson- Incredibly wide-ranging look at the developments of the universe and natural sciences from the big bang to today. It's an informative read but also contains Bryson's usual wit. Not my favorite book by Bryson but you will likely learn a lot and it's a worthwhile read.
A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson
And if you want to more obscure but real religions:
And if you want to be very snarky:
http://www.amazon.ca/Gospel-Flying-Spaghetti-Monster/dp/0812976568/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1320472121&amp;sr=1-1
Gospel of the Flying Spaghetti Monster
The Gospel of the Flying Spaghetti Monster is the de facto holy text of FSMism.
Someone hasn't been studying their gospel.
What about this piece of fiction?
Skeptics rejoice in his noodley appendage!
Wikipedia article on the subject
Gospel of the Flying Spaghetti Monster
So yes, there is a text, but really the entire FSM or Pastafarian movement is just to point out that if one religion is made special, then any other must be equally as special even if people deem it ridiculous. Also, strainers are stylish head wear.
The Gospel of the Flying Spaghetti Monster? http://www.amazon.com/Gospel-Flying-Spaghetti-Monster/dp/0812976568/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1292348682&amp;sr=8-1
Holy book
They exist, actually :p
https://www.amazon.com/Gospel-Flying-Spaghetti-Monster/dp/0812976568?ie=UTF8&amp;s=books&amp;qid=1180375352&amp;sr=8-1
Definetely Gospel of the flying spaghetti monster
A journal (book 1) Zombie Survival Guide A magazine that way I can look at the year it was released to keep track of time
I don't have movies
MRE type stuff, insta water added
iPod with 2000's music, if that's not a genre, then pop
Personal items: my iphone, wallet
Survival items: Heavy duty Utility knife, Knife sharpener, rope
Person: My brother
I really liked An Agorist Primer by Konkin. Quite concise.
Complete Liberty is another good one (it's in the sidebar --> ).
I also enjoy the graphic novel Escape From Terra.
One of my favorite books is Snow Crash. It's not really a good book for advocating anarcho-capitalism, but the system in the book is essentially ancap, and it's just a fucking awesome book.
My other favorites have already been mentioned.
Edit: Ah! I forgot No Treason! Spooner dominates the constitution.
> Would you say that a virus is a type of machine?
Yes, I would, though whether it's a living machine (or an agentive one) is much more controversial. This is addressed extensively in the Moreno & Mossio pieces I linked you to before, and I know that Estrada has a paper coming out about it soon as well (I recently reviewed the submission). You may also be interested in looking into Tibor Ganti's concept of the chemoton, the theoretically simplest cell, and its associated literature.
>Would you classify a language as a machine?
I don't think 'machine' is exactly the right word. I think language is a kind of "social technology," intended to scaffold our innate cognitive processes and extend our ability to do information processing, somewhat like how Lev Vygotsky thought of education's role during the zone of proximal development in childhood learning. Language works by piggybacking on our innate (i.e. biological) abilities to reason and work with abstract concepts, allowing us to transform significantly more complicated tasks into the kinds of semantic manipulation tasks we're good at. Andy Clark has a great piece called "Magic Words" that elaborates on this thesis.
>As in, a kind of mind virus that infects homo sapiens, a kind of terminal mental illness?
This sounds a lot like Richard Dawkins' meme theory. Dawkins postulated memes as the mental or cognitive analogue of genes: small units of self-replicating information, responsive to selective pressure, and able to spread from organism to organism. There have been a lot of criticisms of the analogy since Dawkins came up with it in the 70s, and most people don't take it terribly seriously as anything but a metaphor these days. I'm not sure it's quite right to see language as something like this in any case; natural languages are far too complex to be thought of as memes themselves, though they may contain memes, and certain languages may make the spreading of certain memes easier. I certainly don't see any reason to think that language is something like a "terminal mental illness." That is, it seems to me that language is, if anything, a monumentally helpful adaptation: the sort of thing that's let humans be as successful as we have been. This whole line of discussion reminds me a lot of Neal Stephenson's fantastic 1992 cyberpunk novel Snow Crash, in which the plot revolves almost entirely around the idea of a "mind virus" spread through the linguistic manipulation of certain deep pathways in the brain. If you haven't read it, I suggest you do so immediately--it's a really great book, and it touches on a lot of the points that seem to interest you.
As to your point on education, well, I agree in some respects. I'm highly critical of a lot of what goes on in contemporary education, despite (or perhaps because of) the fact that I'm an educator myself. Your critical view isn't as radical as you might think. I get the sense that you're rather young (that's not a criticism!). If you can get your hands on it, I suspect you'd enjoy Jerry Farber's classic piece of educational anarchist literature from 1970, The Student as Nigger. I enjoyed the hell out of it when I was in high school, and it led me to a lot of interests that I still pursue today.
I'm halfway through Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson. I really like it so far! It's set in a not-too-distant future wherein people live both in reality and virtual reality, and everything belongs to or is a corporation, including the US. Hiro Protagonist ["'Stupid name.' 'But you'll never forget it.'"] is a freelance hacker attempting to get to the bottom of a dangerous drug/virus called Snow Crash, which is transmitted virtually but unusually has near-fatal effects in real life. Obviously there's a lot more to the story, but I like it for its unique premise. Stephenson makes some really intriguing intellectual connections, and I love his dry sense of humor. Check out the Amazon reviews, but watch out for spoilers, even in the editorial reviews (seriously though? So unprofessional).
Snow Crash
I reference the character Raven in Snow Crash. He carries with him a nuke set to go off should he die. It's in the best interests of those around him to keep him alive.
As long as the US gov't is more fearful of the contents of that insurance file, they'll do everything they can to keep the nuke from going off. It's pretty safe to assume that Assange's "nuke" will go off if he fails to check-in to something periodically. The US is best letting him check-in.
Snow Crash
Alternatively
It is good but I almost got annoyed by the amount of nostalgia/references it makes. I kind of wonder how much I would have liked it had it not thrown around all the references. It was entertaining though. I think I liked Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson better to be honest (except the ending).
Bonus for some: I got the audio book from audible read by Wil Wheaton...so if you're a nerd that might be your cup of tea.
http://www.amazon.com/Snow-Crash-Bantam-Spectra-Book/dp/0553380958
It'll be easier if I just link you to the collection of message board posts, that have been formatted for easier reading;
http://www.amazon.com/Snow-Crash-Bantam-Spectra-Book/dp/0553380958
I feel like a traitor to George R. R. Martin, but maybe because I have to wait so long between books. But,
The Gentlemen Bastards series, starting with The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch. Starts slow, but stay with it. Well worth it.
I have not read this series (Yet. It is sitting on my Kindle to read next) but I have heard very good things about 'The Lies of Locke Lamora' by Scott Lynch (I actually think it is more thieves but not 100%)
Poison Study by Maria V. Snyder is a pretty nice read but again she is magic-y.
Little OT for /r/Fantasy but does anyone know of any 'Modern Assassins' books. There seems to be a slew of Fantasy stories of children being brought up as Assassins but I have not really had any luck finding any set modern day.
Tough to pick a favorite, but The Lies of Locke Lamora is a pretty good example.
I have bottles of:
Hmmm... Maybe I need to have some friends over soon :-)
A Song of Ice and Fire is a great series, One of my personal favorite and I would say you probably can't go wrong with it.
However, the series I would recommend (if you haven't already read it) is the Gentleman Bastard series by Scott Lynch. I just finished the first book and I'll say it is possibly my favorite fantasy book.
Reminds me a bit of the book "the lies of Locke Lamora". Probably the best book ive ever read...
https://www.amazon.com/Lies-Locke-Lamora-Gentleman-Bastards/dp/055358894X/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1550015147&amp;sr=8-1&amp;pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&amp;keywords=the+lies+of+locke+lamora
The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch is a fantastic book, and if you enjoy it there are two other books currently out, and (four?) more to come!
It's really hard for me to only recommend one book right now, normally when I recommend books I give people huge lists that scare them. :P Bookworms rule!
I have a Books/Movies wishlist, and I'm 100% fine with a used copy.
I can't pick one, so here are a smattering:
E.L. Doctorow has yet to write a disappointing book. He writes fiction stories that are heart-wrenching. The one that gets the best response from people I recommend it to is Homer & Langley.
There's a series by Jonathan L. Howard about this necromancer named Johannes Cabal. It's quite good.
Italian Calvino wrote a book called Cosmicomics that I recommend to everyone, even though technically it's sci-fi.
Scott Lynch wrote a series called The Gentleman Bastards, which is part heist (swashbuckling in the second book), part buddy story, part magic/fantasy. Quite good.
Take a look, it's in a book!
I would recommend The Lies of Locke Lamora.
I will second The Lies of Locke Lamora (part of the Gentleman Bastard series) as an excellent choice.
If you like Percy Jackson because it is fantasy mixed with the real world (i.e. urban fantasy genre) you might like The Dresden Files or the Iron Druid Chronicles
You might also look at branching into historical fiction, maybe? There are a lot of books using real historical military campaigns as backgrounds that are very entertaining - if that is of any interest to you, start with The Gates of Fire by Steven Pressfield.
I am just reading the 'Locke Lamora' series: a gentleman thief in a world with quite mighty magicians but very well balanced.
For those who like a fantastic story I can also recommend Jasper Fforde. In his world the characters of all books have a personal life when nobody reads it at the time (and sometimes even then). Characters in a book that don't have a name are only blurred, also in their personal life ;-)
And of course Niffenegger, "The time traveller's wife'" is excellent.
I would suggest The Lies of Locke Lamora Meets all of your criteria.
You should give the Gentleman Bastard series by Scott Lynch a try.
First one.
You might really enjoy The Lies of Locke Lamora. It's basically nonstop adventure. Any qualms I had about being sympathetic to a con-man/assassin/thief as a protagonist were quickly put to rest with Scott Lynch's rich portrayal of the beguiling Locke Lamora and his city of Camorr in this novel. The vibrant character navigates a story that superbly connects a coming of age tale with gang facets alongside a swashbuckling Three Musketeers-like adventure sprinkled with magic and humor in appropriate places. With dukes, kings, alchemists, spies, thieves and mafia dons as its inhabitants, the city of Camorr feels real and solid as if existing somewhere in medieval or Renaissance Italy or Spain.
Can't recommend this enough for anyone looking for a damn good book about good "bad guys."
Oh god I love this question. I've got some fantastic recommendations:
Fantasy Series:
The Gentleman Bastards Sequence
by Scott Lynch
Book One: The Lies of Locke Lamora
Simultaneously one of my top 5 favorite fantasy novels, and my favorite Heist story of all time.
Suspense, Intrigue, Visceral action, and some of the wittiest, best-written dialog I've ever read in fiction make this series simultaneously dark, tense, and hilarious.
Thank god Lynch was wondering what a swords and sorcery take on Ocean's Eleven would look like, because the thought never occurred to me before this.
The Mistborn Trilogy
by Brandon Sanderson
Get the boxed set. Just do it.
Sanderson is perhaps best known for being chosen to continue the Wheel of Time series after the passing of Robert Jordan; and this is very unfortunate. I would take Mistborn over WoT any day.
The author's passion seems to be exotic settings, and unique magic systems with a solid set of rules. You get so attuned to what Mistborn's Allomancy can and can't do, that it seems as fundamental as gravity by the end. And speaking of endings, this one is Incredibly well thought out.
-----------------------------
I've got stuff to do, so I'll cut it off here for now, but seriously, check them out. And Please don't ask me which I'd recommend more, I don't want my head to explode.
More to come, if I'm not too lazy. I'm full of these.
The Lies of Locke Lamora
Excellent world. Adventure, twists, character growth. This is the first of a series and they are all great.
KIDS ARE AWESOME. I get the fear, nothing to be afraid of but no matter what we tell you, you'll still have it. It goes away though.
My bible.
Seriously, get that book. I swear by it. It helped me out so much. It's humorous but very educational and you can read it while you're on the throne. It's at most one or two subjects per page.
Also - don't be afraid to get in there and wipe that dirty butt. It's way easier than you think. But if it's a boy, cover his junk with a towel when you're changing him. The change in air temperature will make him spray like a freaking ocelot. I got piss in my eyes, ears, nose and mouth before I figured out that trick. You'd think it'd be gross but it's not and we laugh about it to this day.
Also, my oldest is almost 5 and his favorite wrestlers are the Usos, New Day and he just discovered Bayley. Youngest just turned 3 and loves Tyler Breeze and Fandango. So, you know there's always that possibility that you will end up with built in wrestling buddies.
Most governments (for sure in Ontario) have programs to provide information and get you as prepared as you're going to be.
I just sent a detailed email to a friend of mine that is expecting as well and was in the same boat as you. Some of the stuff you probably haven't thought about yet, so take what I say below at face value.
Also, to all in the thread, the obvious disclaimer - these are my opinions. You might not agree with them. Also, my email was based on living in Toronto, but you can change to meet your situation
a) To start, there are a multitude of books available, as well as websites. Not to mention that I'm sure you'll be hearing stuff from friends and family. I've found it best to just filter all of that. I read only one book while my wife was pregnant, and that's because it was a good read - http://www.amazon.com/Baby-Meets-World-Smile-Toddle/dp/0312591349 (it's available at Toronto Library, so no need to buy it).
This book is also a pretty good guide - http://www.amazon.com/Be-Prepared-Gary-Greenberg/dp/0743251547 (again, also at TPL)
Here's what I found with books - Most of them have the same tone when it comes to men - "Dude, no more going out to party, and since you're stupid as hell, here are the basics"
So don't spend too much time reading 1,000,000 different books - it will be repetitive.
b) My wife and I took the prenatal courses at St. Joseph's Hospital. They helped because I learned a lot, and they were great information. Definitely helped put my mind at ease because I really knew nothing about raising a child.
c) Stroller / Car Seat. This is a toughie. Scenarios as follows:
i) Buy a travel system. This is for convenience. It's an infant seat & stroller in one package. You take the infant seat out (with the baby in it) and it locks directly into the stroller. Easy transport, no fuss. Downside - infant seats are only good until they're 6 months old. Then you have to buy another car seat.
ii) Buy the stroller and infant seat separately. Doesn't really make sense to do this, but it's an option.
iii) Buy the stroller and a convertible car seat separately (this is what we did). A convertible car seat covers from 5lb to 70lb, so basically the entire time the child needs a car seat. The downfall with this compared to a travel system is that you have to take your child out of the car seat to bring into the house / put into the stroller / etc. If (s)he's sleeping, there's a chance they'll wake up.
We also bought baby carriers (Ergo Baby, Mobi Wrap) because we live right downtown, so walking around with a baby / taking the TTC with a baby is easier when they're strapped to you.
d) Clothes. Don't spend too much on clothes. There are outfits that cost far too much, and they grow so quick that the item of clothes is only used for 3 - 4 weeks. Plus it's the typical baby shower gift, so expect to get a bunch of clothes.
e) Feeding - know that it will be hard, whatever avenue your wife goes down. Just know that whatever she chooses, you need to support her and remind her to stick through it because whether it's formula or breast, it's hard. (if you don't know, they have milk / formula exclusively until 6 months)
My wife is a big fan of the Boppy pillow. Just one of many items out there. We also got a Pashmama, which is a cover for when my wife wants to feed in public.
f) Sleeping - I made the mistake of buying a crib right away, and I set it up and everything, only to have my wife decide that she wanted a bassinet, and also that she wanted our daughter to co-sleep. You will need a crib, just discuss with your wife what set up you want before you run out and buy one.
g) To elaborate on point F, the same applies for all other baby items. We have a bouncer, a crib, a bassinet, a play pad, and some toys. My appt is suddenly feeling very very small. While my daughter uses most of the items (still doesn't use the crib), I probably didn't have to buy everything at once.
h) Diapers. In our experience, Pampers Swaddlers have been the best. You will have leaks / blowouts / messes, and from there you'll determine what works best for your baby. A good price on diapers is $0.14 - 0.18 / diaper. Amazon.ca now has Amazon Family - http://www.amazon.ca/gp/family/signup/
It's a great service once you find out which diapers work best for you.
The rest of the stuff you'll learn along the way.
You need a diaper bag. Spit rags are essential. If the child's fingers are too small to cut his / her nails, you can file them down. Burp the baby after they eat (note: do this even if they fall asleep). Introduce pacifiers later on in life if breast feeding to avoid "nipple confusion". Etc. Etc.
There are so many things that you can't possibly learn from a book, and every baby is different, so the rest of the stuff you'll learn as you go along.
In the end - congrats and have fun!
I enjoyed Be Prepared: A Practical Handbook for New Dads. Entertaining, yet informative.
I really liked this one. It's super practical and actually funny. The illustrations are great, like from old school men's magazines. Be Prepared by Gary Greenberg et al. http://www.amazon.com/dp/0743251547/ref=cm_sw_r_udp_awd_AUPetb1CM32XA
Congratualtions!
I'm in the home stretch (38 weeks 5 days!) and my husband has loved reading /r/predaddit and /r/daddit
He also got a ton of helpful information from Be Prepared and the Prepared Childbirth class at our local hospital.
As for your wife, just be patient, don't hold anything against her, and try to limit your strongly scented foods if she's feeling nauseous.
There are a bunch of survival guides for new dads, but this one is my favorite. They had me at the illustration of what to do when the baby takes a poo in the bathtub. The caption is something like "10 points if you catch it in the cup".
We liked this book so much we bought it for all of our expecting friends.
Be Prepared: A Practical Handbook for New Dads
I doubt there is a completely non-patronizing pregnancy book available outside of a medical text book. I had the feeling that the authors had purposefully written their books with the idea that the people who needed it the most were those without any prior experience with pregnancy, babies, or children.
There were only two that my wife and I both enjoyed. The first, What to Expect When You're Expecting, was pretty good for straight, factual information.
The other book, Be Prepared, falls into your first category and is more of a bathroom reader joke book, but it was entertaining enough and had some good ideas for the first year.
I'm currently reading Happiest Baby on the Block (really good but a little condescending) and Be Prepared I really like that one, as it's practical, useful info aimed at guys, not condescending and not preachy.
My husband and I both loved Be Prepared, it's a parenting book that covers birth through the first year and it's hilarious. Geared toward dads but it isn't one of those books that assumes dad will be clueless or hopeless.
Actually, for new dads, here's the most useful book I found:
> Be Prepared: A Practical Handbook for New Dads
It's one of those humorous, but actually sort of useful books.
Examples instructions from the book:
Well I have one for after birth and it really helped my husband. It is pretty funny and it accurately describes the changes your body goes through and the baby, it's called Be Prepared
https://www.amazon.com/Be-Prepared-Gary-Greenberg/dp/0743251547/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_14_img_0?_encoding=UTF8&amp;psc=1&amp;refRID=G9XSTNQ1HFWD6MQPCEY6
The first time he was on a trip when I got my BFP so I ran to the bookstore and got him Be Prepared. With a card that said "Congrats Dad!" Or something like that.
This time I just shoved the pee stick in his face when he came home with dinner. I think he liked the first time better.
This "Dad book" is really cool and I love it. I want to get it for my hubby! Figured I'd share.
This helped me out alot, and I suggest it to all new dads.
A fun lighthearted parenting book for men, Be Prepared.
And another, Show Dad How.
Oh and, congratulations :)
If you just use The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding as a reference, it is good. I also liked What to Expect. I kinda split the difference between crunchy SAHM and epidural-loving working mom, though.
My husband LOVED the daddy book I got him called Be Prepared. He ended up bringing it to the hospital with him, and eventually even I read the whole thing.
My friend who is really into nutrition of her babies just recommended Super Baby Food to me, but I can't vouch for it. Also seems to have mixed reviews on Amazon. I was given a book called The Best Homemade Baby Food on the Planet that I haven't really looked at yet, but might now that we're starting solids.
The only cloth diapering book I read was Changing Diapers by Kelly Wels. It was okay, but I did better just by internetting.
And if you're a frugal momma, pick up the most recent edition of Baby Bargains. I've only heard good things.
If you're as clueless as my husband and I are, we liked Be Prepared. It's kind of silly, but at the same time we seriously had no idea how to change a diaper. We have a ways to go.
My husband wanted this book.
://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0743251547/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1522387283&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=be+prepared+a+practical+handbook+for+new+dads&dpPl=1&dpID=51JUh%2BuvTOL&ref=plSrch
These are from the book Safe Baby Handling Tips:
Safe Baby Handling Tips https://www.amazon.com/dp/0762424915/ref=cm_sw_r_other_apa_g2dYxbJEZKJZV
My wife and I received this when my wife got pregnant and I still pick it up for a laugh every now and then.
Star Trek bib and spoons! My husband is a Star Trek and Star Wars fan so when I saw this bib being sold I had to get it. (this was 4 years ago and currently it is not being sold in Denmark so I'm so thankfull I got it while it was here!). The shop I got it from sometimes imports a few items from the US to see if they sell well in DK. I think this one sold well but it might not have been worth the logistics anyway.
http://www.thinkgeek.com/images/products/zoom/e578_star_trek_light-up_feeding_system_anim.gif
Edite: I nearly forgot! I got him the "Safe Baby Handling Tips" by Kelly and David Sopp. So funny!
https://www.amazon.com/Safe-Baby-Handling-Tips-David/dp/0762424915/
You can view many of the images here: http://old.marcofolio.net/imagedump/how_to_and_not_to_take_care_of_a_baby.html
The picture is from the very funny book called Safe Baby Handling Tips.
Safe Baby Handling Tips https://www.amazon.com/dp/0762424915/ref=cm_sw_r_awd_vlCnub1SC51BM
Safe Baby Handling Tips
Hillarious book that has diagrams for safe handling and care of your new baby. Its been on reddit before, but is worth a mention. Even has the wheel or responsibility on the front.
This is a book: https://www.amazon.com/Safe-Baby-Handling-Tips-David/dp/0762424915
Safe Baby Handling Tips
Is this from the same author as Safe Baby Handling Tips?? The art style looks somewhat similar, and that book is awesome.
They stole that image from this book.
It's a good, cheap baby present, in case people are in the market for that.
It's a book
This is from a book called Safe Baby Handling Tips
http://amzn.com/0762424915
So good, i would read this by him as well
Well there's the sequel of course: Superfreakonomics. And everything by Malcom Gladwell kind of falls into the same genre: The Tipping Point, Outliers, Blink... Then there's The Long Tail by Chris Anderson of Wired and Bad Science by The Guardian's Ben Goldacre....
A Short History of Nearly Everything is also absolutely brilliant 'popular science' but not as 'generation now' as the ones above.
That's just top of my head. All of these books are a few years old but still a great read. I'd say they're all typical Redditor reading if that makes sense.
It's not JUST about Geology, but still...
I'm currently reading A Short History of Nearly Everything, which is really about science and history of science in general. Not very in-depth or technical about any particular subject, but a great read.
A Short History of Nearly Everything & Compass of Pleasure
You might enjoy A Short History of Nearly Everything
A Short History of Nearly Everything is a good read on natural history. Bryson has actually done some solid research for it, but still manages to be conversational.
Go pick up a copy of A Short History of Nearly Everything
It contains such gems as the fact that the same person who created CFCs was also responsible for creating leaded gasoline.
A Short History of Nearly Everything with the errata as annotations.
Also, The Hitchhiker's Guide series is awesome, so that's on the list, too.
Plenty more recommendations, of course, but those two are my go-to books.
Edit. To continue:
Thanks for storing my reading list.
Bill Bryson's A Short History of Nearly Everything is also awesome (someone else already responded with Stephen Hawking's book of almost the same name).
http://www.amazon.com/Short-History-Nearly-Everything/dp/0767908171
Bill Bryson's A Short History of Nearly everything. Really, really fucking awesome.
Have you read Bill Bryson's A Short History Of Nearly Everything? Bill's a writer who pondered the same questions you've been pondering, and set out to learn exactly how he, and all people, came to be, beginning with the start of the universe and running through to the scientific discoveries and pioneers which enabled the modern age. It's a book I'd recommend to anyone, and one I especially think you would relate to, learn from, and enjoy.
Pizza Delivery guys are hardcore.
Snow Crash! Keywords: ninja, cyberpunk, hackers, augmented reality, linguistics, religion, malignant memes, corporate-run America
Also, Petersburg, by Bely. Ulysses + Metamorphosis + House of Leaves?
I prefer this book... Neal Stephenson - Snow Crash
Snow Crash
No, I'd like to pick it up though.
This it?
http://www.amazon.com/Snow-Crash-Bantam-Spectra-Book/dp/0553380958/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1418667641&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=Snow+crash
Have you read Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson? It's a SciFi novel but the narrative is heavily based upon the Babel narrative and Sumer language. It'd be a very fun read for someone interested in the topic (obviously the facts are bent a little bit). No question, just think you'd enjoy it!
It's roughly what happens in the first chapter of Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson. Good book, I recommend it :)
In California of the near future, when the U.S. is only a "Burbclave" (city-state), the Mafia is just another franchise chain (CosaNostrastet Pizza, Incorporated) and there are no laws to speak of, Hiro Protagonist follows clues from the Bible, ancient Sumer and high technology to help thwart an attempt to take control of civilization
Here is a list of some of my favorites so far:
Snow Crash is a beautiful book, with Neal Stephenson being one of my favorite cyberpunk authors. Anathem is also a great book by him.
I highly, HIGHLY recommend getting the book, as it's only 10.20 + 6 day free shipping from Amazon right now.
For those details, read Snowcrash, Hiro Protagonist is the prototype of a professional pizza courier: delivers pizza, saves the world.
I haven't read that myself, but based on the description and notes elsewhere in the thread I might recommend these:
Click "first pages" on the left and enjoy.
I just started reading The Lies of Locke Lamora today, and so far (~60 pages in) I am really enjoying it! I'm also reading Libra for a literature class, and I am enjoying that a lot less.
I've read most of those and LOVED them. I'll just say you're looking for fictional "good books" and go from there. I recommend:
Ender's Game is seriously so much better than the movie. It's amazing what people will do to ensure the safety of the human race, without fully seeing the whole picture.
The Story of Edgar Sawtelle, by David Wroblewski. I was hesitant at first, always seeing it, but never checking it out at the library. It wound up being one of my favorite books to read, it was that good. Story of a mute boy raised on a farm breeding dogs. He can sign, and has pretty good life, as far as things go, until his father dies. He tries to prove his uncle had a hand in the death, but the plan backfires. Hated the ending - not because it was bad, but it was so damn sad.
If you're willing to poke at a series, try Scott Lynch's Gentlemen Bastards series, the first book is The Lies of Locke Lamora. The series centers around Locke and his shenanigans as a Gentleman Bastard - a notorious gang of thieves. They pull off some pretty intense schemes, some with great success, some with spectacular failures. It's a great series, and another set of favorites that I recommend to everyone that'd ask.
Congratulations on the new job, hope it works out well for you! Also, I love that you had such a great turn out for your book drive. My kids know how important it is to read - I actually push my daughter to read a little bit above her grade level. She keeps a reading log for homework, so her teachers are pretty impressed. She did amazingly well on her latest state reading/math test, and her teacher believes it's because of all the reading she does. If you do another drive, I hope it goes just as well.
Amazon (Red Seas Under Red Skies)
I would first echo most people here and say Sanderson's anything- Elantris comes to mind as a good recommendation.
When you say in the same calibre, are you talking in terms of story, in terms of being high fiction, in terms of length or in terms of moments that make you go, "ohhh... well DAMN!"
I would recommend a lot of things I saw below, so I'm going to try to not do that any more than I already have. The Conan Chronicles by Robert Howard are fun and a much unappreciated classic of Low Fantasy. Orcs by Stan Nicholls is a great series, somewhere in the middle ground between high and low fantasy, and does an interesting twist on the classical fantasy story. The Gentleman Bastards series is another interesting take, but it is more of an Ocean's 11 in a fantasy world. I only saw one mention, but anything Tolkien is a must read if for nothing else than to pay respect to the godfather. The Night Angel Trilogy by Brent Weeks is another good story, and it uses a lot of the ideas Jordan uses in terms of who knows what, why and when to progress the story. Finally, for a more Eastern themed book, Tales of the Otori by Liam Hearn is a good trilogy with a lot of political twists.
EDIT: added a link for Elantris
Not sure if it's appropriate for this thread and subreddit, but may I suggest a book? I just finished reading The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch and it's a funny, action-packed novel about a gang of thieves in a fantasy world and I already consider it one of my favorite books, it was so much fun to read.
I thought the lies of Locke Lamora was similar , check it out!!
https://www.amazon.com/Lies-Locke-Lamora-Gentleman-Bastards/dp/055358894X
Hm, here are some recommendations of my favorite Dark/Gritty Fantasies that immediately come to mind:
Joe Abercrombie is one of my favorite new authors, his books are incredibly gritty dark and original, but the characters are simply amazing. The best starting place is The Blade Itself, but you can read his two other books that aren't part of the trilogy and can be read without losing too much, though they are in the same world and there's more to like about it if you already read the First Law Trilogy. Out of his two stand alone books I'd recommend Best Served Cold which is a Fantasy revenge story in the vain of Kill Bill.
One really good book I read recently is Daniel Polansky's Low Town which is a really cool gritty noir fantasy novel. Where the main character is a former detective for a Fantasy city, but at the beginning of the book he's a drug dealer. Then when murders start to occur, he gets drawn back into the politics of the city, resulting in a great story and multiple plot twists and revelations.
One of my favorites books I've read recently has to be Brent Week's Black Prism. It has some really unique world building, where the magic powers are based on light/colors, and the different magic users have different really unique powers based on their color wavelength. His previous work, the Night Angel Trilogy is also great and it's a little more gritty, with the main character being an assassin.
Next I'll go a little indie here, with the author Jon Sprunk's Shadow's Sun. It features an assassin with slight magical powers and the conscience of a beautiful invisible woman (a real imaginary friend) that is always following him around. There's a lot of things to like in this book, even if they are a little shallow.
Two books from different authors (both of which I really loved) that have kind of similar settings featuring thieves running amok in the underbellies of fantasy cities with a decent amount of grit (without being too dark) are The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch and Doug Hulick's Among Thieves.
There's also Ari Marmell's [The Conqueror's Shadow] (http://www.amazon.com/The-Conquerors-Shadow-Ari-Marmell/dp/0553593153/ref=la_B001JSDH98_1_20?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1340785404&amp;sr=1-20), the main character is a former evil warlord who gave it all up to live a mundane life with a woman he kidnapped. He then has to put back on his fear inducing armor, when someone else is out in the world impersonating him. There is no evil force in this book, and there's a lot of interesting stuff here, the guy actually has a demonic amulet as a partner that provides him with magical abilities, and the demon is hilarious.
The next series isn't too gritty but it's awesome, so I'd still recommend the author Michael Sullivan, a DIY author that was so successful Orbit picked up his 6 book series to release as three larger books (he's also done some great AMA's on Reddit), the first of which is Theft of Swords. The characters in his book are absolutely superb. It's about these two master thieves that are brought into the conspiracy that they wanted no part of, but will see it to the end no matter what the cost.
Robin Hobb technically isn't real gritty, but she is one of my favorite authors, and in her books serious and horrible things can happen to the characters at times, but the endings of some of her trilogies are some of my favorite endings I've ever read. You could start with her first book about the bastard son of a king (that can bond with animals) being trained as an assassin, Assassin's Apprentice, or my favorite trilogy of her's set in the same universe but a different continent, Ship of Magic that has some awesome pirate settings, talking ships, and dragons. I also love one of her other trilogies set in a different universe than the rest of her books, Shaman's Crossing, the first book has kind of a Harry Potter-esque academy setting without the magic, and the rest of the trilogy gets into some really interesting stuff that's too weird to attempt to explain.
I think that's all I got, and you wouldn't go wrong reading any of these books, all of the pages I linked to are the book's Amazon page, so you can read further descriptions that I'm sure are better than mine. :)
Not Similar to white collar, but for a fantasy-style "Ocean's 11" book:
Lies of Locke Lamora
Brandon Sanderson's Stormlight Archive.
Scott Lynch's Gentleman Bastards.
Peter V. Brett's The Demon Cycle is just ok, nothing amazing.
I have 0 experience with incarceration, but I have loads of experience with books. Not sure his interests, but here are a few books I adore:
The Lies of Locke Lamora - Basically an Ocean's 11 heist story set in a world similar to Game of Thrones.
The Name of the Wind - (from the Amazon description) The riveting first-person narrative of a young man who grows to be the most notorious magician his world has ever seen.
Cosmos - Carl Sagan saw the best in our species. This book is what the TV series was based on.
I would encourage your friend to read text books as well while he is inside as well. Pick a topic they have an interest in, and find an older textbook on the subject. For me that would be this book. Not a topic I was educated on, but something I have an interest in.
Thank you for supporting your friend!
https://www.amazon.com/Be-Prepared-Gary-Greenberg/dp/0743251547
I'm a new dad of a 3-month old and while this isn't gospel-centered, this is an extremely practical and funny book about fathering during the first year:
Be Prepared by Gary Greenberg and Jeannie Hayden
I found this book funny, and also helpful. You can make an emergency diaper out of a tube sock and duct tape!
"Be Prepared: A Practical Guide for New Dads"
http://www.amazon.com/Be-Prepared-Gary-Greenberg/dp/0743251547/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1397582249&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=practical+guide+for+new+dads
My wife got me this book and it was funny and practical.
Reddit is definitely a great resource. However, make sure she knows about babycenter.com. That is a great resource for new parents (mom & dad). Having a brand new baby at home can be a very stressful time. However, between all the screaming you and your wife will have some of the most precious and memorable experiences of your lives. Treasure those moments and the stressful times will feel worth the effort. Definitely pick up the Nose Frieda. It definitely helps having the right tool for the job. Also, pickup a copy of Be Prepared. It's a great (and funny) book for new dads.
Yes, the crib can come at anytime, but I think he needs to be in the same room as mommy until 6 months. You could go sooner, but why? Unless he's causing problems with sleep, as they say, "if it ain't broke....".
EVERYONE, has advice and they are more than happy to give it, so I'll repeat mine. "If it doesn't FEEL right, don't do it."
You will over think everything about the first child, I did and still do. Read, but try not to obsess with "growth charts" and the "he should be doing "blank" at this many months" charts all baby books seem to have.
Find a good pediatrician, one you like as well as respect and but most of all has kids of his own. I think having kids changes your outlook and it's important that your doctor have some perspective and first hand experience of being a first time parent. Nothing changes your life more than the first child as you will soon see.
Dad needs to read this book "Be Prepared: A Practical Handbook for New Dads" it's funny but has some great advice. Yes, MORE advice sorry.
Good Luck the first six months or so are the toughest, but also the most rewarding.
I really enjoyed the book "Be Prepared." A little outdated but super practical. Still trying to get hubby to read it though ;-) https://www.amazon.com/dp/0743251547/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_H8JlxbQVXD3ZS
I got "So You're Going to be a Dad" as a gift and I loved it. It was hysterical to read, but insightful and useful as well. However, for the more serious stuff, I agree with someone else who suggested "Be Prepared". You've got a lot of good advice in this thread.
I'm a big fan of this book,
http://www.amazon.ca/Be-Prepared-Gary-Greenberg/dp/0743251547
Seems to be written for dads, without any of the semi condescending attitude that some writers/bloggers would have regarding the male portion of the equation.
I'm about 7 weeks away... and the wife and I are doing good. There are lots of opinions you're about to hear and yours probably won't hold any weight (because.. you're not a parent.. what would you know :P :P) but taker easy, think with common sense, ask questions and you'll be good. Congrats!
These have super high reviews and are what I'm considering for my husband (I've done this before, he hasn't):
The Baby Owner's Manual: Operating Instructions, Trouble-Shooting Tips, and Advice on First-Year Maintenance
https://www.amazon.com/Baby-Owners-Manual-Instructions-Trouble-Shooting/dp/1594745978/ref=pd_cp_0_4?_encoding=UTF8&amp;psc=1&amp;refRID=B1JXTK40A28QF1HXVB1R
Be Prepared
https://www.amazon.com/Be-Prepared-Gary-Greenberg/dp/0743251547/ref=pd_cp_0_3?_encoding=UTF8&amp;psc=1&amp;refRID=B1JXTK40A28QF1HXVB1R
The Expectant Father: The Ultimate Guide for Dads-to-Be
https://www.amazon.com/Expectant-Father-Ultimate-Dads-Be/dp/0789212137/ref=pd_bxgy_14_2/165-9281146-1737814?ie=UTF8&amp;psc=1&amp;refRID=A1YZ49KX0NSTEK2CF8PB
Edit: sorry for such messy links!
You may want to also ask this over at /r/daddit or /r/predaddit!
A friend of mine just got her husband this book when she found out she was pregnant: https://www.amazon.com/Be-Prepared-Gary-Greenberg/dp/0743251547/
You need to know the name of your doctor and this book
I bought two for my significant other. DadLabs and Be Prepared.
Be Prepared came in first and he enjoyed it. I picked it up and flipped through it a bit. Lighthearted with just enough neat little "tips" that it makes it worth the couple bucks I spent on a nice used book. It's just kind of bathroom material now.
Then DadLabs came in. He read it cover to cover. Put bookmarks in. Highlighted stuff. He LOVED it. He isn't a big "reader" so that's saying a lot for him. I read a bit of this one too. It's practical and more serious than Be Prepared, but still fun and enjoyable to read. I also got a score on Amazon with this one, bought used, it showed up in perfect condition, and was signed by all the authors. :)
Thanks for that. I read Be Prepared and found it helpful as well.
This was my favorite “dad” book — funny, but surprisingly practical.
Make reading to your child part of bedtime routine. For my two, it played a big role in making books and reading a natural part of their environment later on, and the dividends of that pay off in school. Ditto for taking them to the library. Even when it seems silly reading to an infant, it’s a great way for them to hear your voice. And you can literally read them anything — newspaper, Reddit!
Spending time alone with a baby can get boring, so don’t be afraid to leave the house with them. I was a part-time stay at home dad for a few months, and I don’t know what I would have done if I never left the house with my son!
Be Prepared
It's like someone wrote an actual manual for babies. Best practical advice I found (and I'm the mom.) The book is geared towards dads but the advice is mostly for both parents.
Also an hilarious read - they included a chapter called Bidding Farewell to the Breast
https://www.amazon.com/Be-Prepared-Gary-Greenberg/dp/0743251547/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1497477383&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=Be+Prepared%3A+A+Practical+Handbook+for+New+Dads
I really liked Be Prepared.
For your husband :
https://www.amazon.com/Be-Prepared-Gary-Greenberg/dp/0743251547
Best advice is buying and reading this book. BE PREPARED, is a quick read with practical advice like How to baby proof a hotel room in 5 min, what to pack in a Guy diaper bag. Be Prepared book
Congrats!
Lots of great advice already on this thread, but I wanted to recommend this book as well. It is witty and playful, but has a lot of really good information.
Also, be the best husband in the world and as soon as your wife starts getting big, buy her a body pillow. I made it through my first pregnancy without one, but now at 31 weeks along with my second, I can't imagine how I survived without it.
Be Prepared by Gary Greenberg is a very entertaining(and informative) parenting book, written in the style of the old boy scout training and survival handbooks.
http://www.amazon.com/Be-Prepared-Gary-Greenberg/dp/0743251547/ref=cm_cr_pr_pb_t
My cousin is about 3 months along now and her husband had this on his coffee table.
http://www.amazon.com/Be-Prepared-Gary-Greenberg/dp/0743251547/ref=pd_bxgy_b_text_y
I feel like he's handling it very well. Admits he's scared shitless and unsure of it all, but his friends and family are very supportive and he's thankful for it and takes any advice he can get from them.
I know I'm late to the party, but congratulations. I only ever give two pieces of advice:
Be Prepared
https://www.amazon.com/Be-Prepared-Gary-Greenberg/dp/0743251547
I read this one and it helped me out a lot.
https://www.amazon.com/Be-Prepared-Gary-Greenberg/dp/0743251547/ref=pd_bxgy_14_img_3?_encoding=UTF8&amp;pd_rd_i=0743251547&amp;pd_rd_r=RTJE4AVG8RTDZWGNK6X7&amp;pd_rd_w=mTNgv&amp;pd_rd_wg=w1cFo&amp;psc=1&amp;refRID=RTJE4AVG8RTDZWGNK6X7
I hear ya bud, but you dropped alot of details in your original post that is irrelevant to "my wife and I do everything together, she's super supportive, just needs some comfort around the whole entre' thing, throw a book my way.. yo."
Instead you drop info about how you're working 15+ hours and getting no respect and you got a kid coming. It sounded like you are bitching about it and feeling your needs aren't being understood. Been there buddy, totally can relate. I'd like to stick around for a flame war, but if you need a book recommendation I'd go with this one...
http://www.amazon.com/Be-Prepared-Practical-Handbook-Dads/dp/0743251547
I like Be Prepared
I read it on my tablet. It's kind of written like one of those Survival Manual type novelty books. Has a bit of humor but a lot of practical information. Cant imagine reading anything as dry as "What to Expect When You're Expecting"
I see someone else read Be Prepared, which is hilarious and incredibly helpful. Linky
Also since you will be a new dad, this dad's survival guide is freaking great.
For example - this book as an app would be amazing!
He should've gotten Be Prepared instead.
Get him this. I paid double that price for this book, and it was more than worth it. It is an awesome book filled with knowledge and humor.
Don't spend a lot of money on clothes for the first year, the kid will probably outgrow everything before they wear it more than a couple times. We got all kinds of newborn clothes at my wife's baby shower, and the kid grew out of them before most of them were ever worn. Ask for diapers at the baby shower instead, you can't really have too many diapers.
If you'll need a daycare, start looking now because the good ones will have a waiting list.
Get your wife/yourself a copy of What to Expect When You're Expecting and yourself a copy of Be Prepared.
Your wife is about to go through some very uncomfortable times. Be there for her. Massage her back and feet when they're sore and swollen and understand that when she may say and do things that uncharacteristic for her near the end of her pregnancy, don't take any of it personally. Being the perfect husband during this time will go a hell of a long way for years to come.
If possible, take a couple of spontaneous weekend getaway trips before your wife is too uncomfortable to travel. Enjoy an evening out at a non-animated movie and a quiet dinner. This will be the last opportunity for that sort of thing for a long time.
this was a fun read. Though I'm not sure how informative.
It's just relabeled artwork from this book
I got my hubs Safe Baby Handling Tips when we found out. He thought it was hilarious.
These are actually from a book called Safe Baby Handling Tips. That is, I believe the book was first.
Makes a fun gift for new parents though.
Actually, here: https://www.amazon.com/Safe-Baby-Handling-Tips-David/dp/0762424915
If you liked it: [Safe Baby Handling Tips Book] (http://www.amazon.com/Safe-Baby-Handling-Tips-David/dp/0762424915)
Do you know where these come from?The book's called Safe Baby Handling Tips. Anyone know where I can get those images as their own files? I'm working on a web project and this would be perfect for thisSafe Baby Handling Tips and Go the Fuck to Sleep. Sorry, I couldn’t resist.
In all seriousness though, Easy to Love by Becky Bailey is a transformative approach to parenting that I’m totally hooked on. Not everyone’s cuppa, as it falls firmly in the “positive parenting” category, but it works for some.
More helpful tips from the same authors...
From the book: http://www.amazon.com/Safe-Baby-Handling-Tips-David/dp/0762424915/ref=pd_sim_b_1
Hey OP this is part of a book, you could at least give the author credit. here
http://www.c00lstuff.com/1133/Do_s_and_don_ts_with_babies/
http://www.amazon.com/Safe-Baby-Handling-Tips-David/dp/0762424915/?tag=c00lstuff-20
It's from this book.
I'm not sure if this is the same book, but it's the same art style as Safe Baby Handling Tips.
It's from the Safe Baby Handling Tips book: http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0762424915
I would also recommend a Safe Baby Pregnancy Tips book: http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0762428430/
Give her Bill Bryson's a Short History of Nearly Everything. It's extremely interesting and well written...and mentions evolution in a thought out way that leads to the conclusion that its pretty much the only way it could have logically happened...not in a smug way...in an explanatory way that just describes how the whole thing works so that its not a vague idea that can be readily dismissed.
Also: Pokemon.
http://www.amazon.com/Short-History-Nearly-Everything/dp/0767908171
Guns Germs and Steel
A Short History of Nearly Everything
A Briefer History of Time
The Magic of Reality
A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson who did a lot of books on traveling, which are a hoot to read, as is the above science book.
Breaking away from fiction, I had to read Bill Bryson's A Short History of Nearly Everything.
A Short History of Nearly Everything is a book written specifically for this purpose! And the audiobook is excellent.
Posting from my phone so can't make a link, but here's the amazon listing.
http://www.amazon.com/Short-History-Nearly-Everything/dp/0767908171
Can't suggest it strongly enough, it was literally written for people asking exactly this. Just listen to the forward; the wording is absurdly similar to your post.
I just finished Bill Bryson's A Short History of Nearly Everything. The book explains the important scientific discoveries about life, geology, and astronomy; but also the stories of the scientists who came up with these discoveries.
I got the audiobook, and it made my commute seem much shorter. It's a little dry in a few bits (especially the parts about geology), but overall it's a good, entertaining read.
You will notice the absence of A short history of nearly everything, which is a good book, but frankly it didn't speak very much to me. Bryson is almost only interested in geography.
A Short History Of Nearly Everything*
Science & history & personal anecdotes mixed to make for fascinating
Reading.
H2G2
Learn to laugh.
The Giving Tree
Taught me more about being a kind, friendly person that anything else.
A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson. Not so much antitheist, but I found it a good place to start in terms of "big history." Some of the language is tempered--it won't be as hard hitting as any Dawkins book--but it does a good job of covering the basics, and gives a general overview of how cumulative scientific knowledge got us where we are now.
I strongly recommend A Short History of Nearly Everything. The guy does excellent job to go through a lot of stuff, including life.
I will drill on the "to develop" part of your question.
Basically, life as it exists now (and including us) had astonishingly "lucky" brakes. Even global disasters were needed to progress thus far. Having in mind that, I think it is very hard to define what would be better (e.g. there were stages when Earth's atmosphere would be deadly for most modern organisms, but life was present even there and probably in huge amount). Maybe some compounds/conditions would be more beneficial to life but in a lab environment. Our planet was far from that.
Another good point is that life's primary goal seems just "to be". Nothing more, nothing less. In this sense all those coincidences were neither "astonishingly", nor "lucky".
I don't have the book to hand to check for the exact quote (and his references) but the excellent pop-sci A Short History of Nearly Everything mentions this in a similar context, but notes that a certain amount of time has to pass to ensure complete dispersal of the atoms in question.
So while it might be true of things some thousand years ago, the probability of this being true for this a maximum of ~3-4 decades is significantly decreased.
Obviously the type of element is going to matter a lot - solids migrate slower than liquids, and much slower than gases, but I'm not even sure how you'd put a proper number on it.
This seems like something of a Fermi Problem to me. It's quite possible that Avogadro wins, and 10^23 * $really_small_probability has in fact happened.
> The original claim is that anyone can be great at anything. It's wishy-washy feel-good bullshit.
keep believing this and you are guaranteed to never be great at anything.
> Just because you paint, doesn't mean you are a great painter.
you think anybody thought jackson pollock would be famous? he threw random paint all over a canvas
> Just because you play guitar, doesn't mean a stadium-full of people will pay to hear you play.
nickelback. creed. limp bizkit. billy ray cyrus.
> You can't get up tomorrow and decide to run 100m faster than Usain Bolt - no matter how hard you try, you'll never get there
have you tried? michael johnson ran every day for 4 hours or more.
> Practice all you want, you'll never play in a Superbowl-winning team
kurt warner was a grocery stocker and busted his ass in the arena football league to get his start
> ever make scientific contributions on a par with Hawking.
read this book. its filled to the brim with scientists who started out of their garage or workshop and did amazing things that changed the world
> The fact that you think the number of notches on your bedpost is in any way the mark of a great man
great men are made by trying, failing, trying, failing, and trying some more, and none of them had the ridiculous attitude that being great at anything for anyone is wishy washy bullshit. if that is really what you believe, then you have guaranteed you will never be great at anything
Bill Bryson has some answers. I found this on reddit from people recommending books. This book is awesome and will help with all questions regarding that and then some http://www.amazon.com/Short-History-Nearly-Everything/dp/0767908171
Question: does Bill Bryson get credit for having written a book that quite nearly approximates the title of this little screed?
Answer: to my mind, yes. Bryson published said book several years before this bit was made and while he doesn't pretend to be a scientist, he does interview many of the world's leading thinkers and writes lucidly and intelligently and humorously about how a variety of complex concepts can be understood by lay-people.
Edit: oh yeah, here's the link to Bryson's book.
As per http://www.amazon.com/A-Short-History-Nearly-Everything/dp/0767908171 there was a significant decrease in anti-microbial activity of clothes washing with the advent of detergents which clean at cold or warm temperatures. As the author describes (if I remember correctly) at the scale of the germs in the fibers, it would be like an adult human wrapped in cargo nets. You simply need to kill/injure the organisms with heat.
Favorite song: I'm a cloud by Boy hits car
Favorite book: A walk in the woods by bill bryson
Favorite movie: Braveheart
Favorite game: Phase10
Just popped in to say, I'm sure you've read A Walk in the Woods, right? If not, READ IT!! It's an awesome and humorous account of hiking the Appalachian Trail.
mountains and hiking are fantastic for putting things in perspective. Im in the middle of listening to a walk in the woods and id be happy to send it to you once im done with it. give you some interesting factoids and tidbits to ponder while you're hiking.
I second the Horwitz nomination and add Richard Grant, author of "God's Middle Finger" and "Crazy River."
Both of those demonstrate a spirit for and enjoyment of adventure that was the core energy in Bryson's "In A Sunburned Country" and "A Walk in the Woods".
We were all 18 once...
Specifically, the problem with "go out to eat or go to a convenience store" is that both of those are going to basically nullify the benefit you have to backwoodsing it. Nearly anywhere in the US you can get a room to rent for something like $250/mo if you're willing to drive a bit. This doesn't apply to big places like New York or San Francisco... but if you're able to camp there, you can probably find a place to live for cheap. But if you're buying prepared food, I don't see that being less than $20 a day.
But look at dry goods like rice and beans. You can actually eat a 1:1 ratio of rice and beans and get a complete protein for a few dollars a day. A fridge (see above about renting a room) is going to be able to stretch your food dollars much further than if you have no refrigeration.
Regardless, you should use this summer as an opportunity to test-run some of this. Go find some dispersed camping sites, try camping for a week.
Also, I want to highly recommend you read Into the Wild: https://www.amazon.com/Into-Wild-Jon-Krakauer/dp/0385486804 -- maybe A Walk In the Woods, too: https://www.amazon.com/Walk-Woods-Rediscovering-America-Appalachian/dp/0307279464/ref=sr_1_3?crid=2165P9GZRK25U&keywords=a+walk+in+the+woods+bill+bryson&qid=1562608312
I was so happy to see this on Reddit today! Until I read Bill Bryson's A Walk In the Woods about his experience with the Appalachian Trail (a really enjoyable read, and funny), I had no idea that our forests in this area of the country once looked much, much different.
My favorite book in a long time which I'm currently reading is A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson. It doesn't have much to do with anything but it keeps me entertained. Definitely check it out.
Second favorite is A Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams. Both are rather obscure of meaning but have a fun precedence (this possibly more comical than the other)
If you are looking for a semi-serious book I recommend The Professor and the Madman by Simon Winchester. It does have to do with an ex-military doctor but it is hardly the focus of the book. It follows the creation of the Oxford American Dictionary, but it isn't quite what you'd expect. I don't believe I could give you in depth analysis for any of these nor if you'd like them. They are my favorite books (minus Calvin and Hobbs) and are worth a read.
This isn't exactly what you're looking for, but if you end up finding something for $92 or less, throw in a copy of A Walk in the Woods.
I recommend reading this before you go. One of the funniest books I've ever read.
I see you're interested in through-hiking the trail. Have you read Bryson's book "A Walk in the Woods"? I nearly peed myself reading it. http://www.amazon.com/Walk-Woods-Rediscovering-America-Appalachian/dp/0307279464
Bill Bryson? lol If you havent read the book I'm sorry
http://www.amazon.com/Walk-Woods-Rediscovering-America-Appalachian/dp/0307279464
Gotcha, I totally understand. I don't think your assessments are incorrect! PS I also loved A Monster Calls.
I always recommend from Marcus Zusak - I Am The Messenger. He wrote The Book Thief, which got a lot of traction (because of the movie) but this is an earlier work with I think more gravity/character development, and a good bit of humor. It's about this kid who's an underage cab driver, kind of a loser, and starts getting these cards in the mail, putting him on a bunch of missions, all the while wondering who's responsible, and why. A bit fantastical, but also grounded.
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Ready Player One crushes the atmosphere/setting, but if you're not into video games/VR as a theme, it might not be as interesting. However, my 65 year-old mom knows nothing about video games and she liked it, too, if that means anything, haha.
Relevant book: Ready Player 1
One of the main characters lives in an RV, from where she taps into the virtual reality universe.
It's one of the best scifi books I've ever read, btw. Highly recommended.
OH MY GOODNESS they are so cute!!! :3 I have a little chihuahua/rat terrior mix named Pookie :)
Young Adult is great! I really enjoy dystopias as well! If you're interested in trekking down that path, a few good Young Adult/Dystopias are The Hunger Games, Divergent, and The Giver. I also highly recommend Ready Player One and The Handmaids Tale :D
Ready Player One?
I love books too, but struggle soooooo much with them. Meds seem like they are helping a little bit, as does scheduling a specific time of day (when the meds are working) to read. I'm trying to read for 15 minutes before lunch. That seems to be working, and I'm hoping that eventually I can build up to an hour.
Ready Player One has really held my interest! I might be able to finish it!! WOO!
Ready Player One is a fine choice for a young adult. Little bit of romance but nothing crazy. https://www.amazon.com/Ready-Player-One-Ernest-Cline/dp/0307887448?ie=UTF8&amp;*Version*=1&amp;*entries*=0
It caught me off-guard too. A buddy who also reads and loves Suarez's work, IM'd me one day asking if I got my copy yet, assuming I had pre-ordered. Needless to say I was on Amazon within 5 minutes.
If you liked Daemon and Freedom, check out Ready Player One.
Ready Player One reference? Needs a Z, but I bet it is since he's a good parallel to Halliday or the Great and Powerful Og.
Sorry...that would help, wouldn't it...
Little Big Man is a historical fiction told from the perspective of a 111 year old man who recounts his time as a young boy moving west, then living with the Cheyenne, and then back with whites again. Along the way he meets all kinds of characters and figures. Think 18th century Forrest Gump (written a while before Gump though). I always used the Dustin Hoffman movie when I taught history but never read the book.
Ready Player One is a young adult novel set in 2044 where most of the population lives within a virtual reality gaming world and the real world has fallen to ruin. Within the game, its creator (a 1980s child and pool culture junkie) had created a quest to inherit his billions after his death. The story follows one, then a group of young players as they race against a mega-corporation to complete the three levels of the quest and earn their billions. It wasn't too bad since I got just about all the references and it wasn't wholly predictable as YA books can be, even if it was a light juvenile in parts with the writing.
Been looking into this one. Heard there was a movie being made also. http://www.amazon.com/dp/0307887448/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&amp;colid=2V8XJ4ANWV155&amp;coliid=I1UAPN3PRPMCB8&gt;
I've heard a lot of great things about Ready Player One but haven't gotten the chance to read it myself yet! I'd love to join said Reading Rainbow!
Movie: Headhunters. Don't let the subtitles deter you from watching this.
Song: Levan Polka
Book: Ready Player One
Ready Player One by Ernest Cline?
If you think that's depressing, you should(n't) read Ready Player One.
Ready Player One
You guys should check Ready Player One. It is essentially somewhat of a depiction of this picture. The world has gone to shit and they use video games and virtual reality to go to school and pretty much live a second life. The book is amazing in my opinion and written very well.
I'm not going to call any of them "literature", but I've read and enjoyed a bunch of new-ish books recently.
Read Ready Player One.
http://readyplayerone.com/
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http://www.amazon.com/Ready-Player-One-A-Novel/dp/0307887448
That is the future. Right there. Oh... maybe some political stuff might be different, and I think the tech will actually be better than in the book - unless we blow ourselves up, or suffer an economic apocalypse - I am convinced that the gaming life in this book is what we will see and experience.
Boys don't cry (title from one of my all-time favourite songs =D)
In a Year of 13 Moons (warning; REALLY triggering even from me, a pre-hrt woman who can't even cry when she is sad 9/10)
Paris Is Burning
The Crying Game (another triggering film)
The Adventures of Priscilla Queen of the Desert
Ma vie en rose
All about My Mother
Wild Side
Becoming Chaz
Tomboy (2011)
Beautiful Boxer (2003)
Soldier's Girl (2003)
The Badge (2002)
Hedwig and the Angry Inch (2001)
Princesa (2001)
M. Butterfly (1993)
The Crying Game (1992)
Prelude to a Kiss (1992)
Myra Breckinridge (1970)
Here's a comic and book if you'd be interested in reading them:
http://www.amazon.com/Flutter-Vol-Hell-Can-Wait/dp/1484085957
About a cis lesbian who has the ability to shapeshift, including into a male, and has a huge crush on a straight girl to the point that she pretends to be a man, believing that she would be able to have a "straight" relationship that way. She isn't trans, at least not identified as a trans man since she identifies internally as a woman even when taking on a male body. If she's non-binary it doesn't seem like the series is intending her to be. Still its a good story and a decent ending for its first volume. It also has a side plot that could be inevitable in real life at this point: a rally of bigotted right-wingers trying to ban same sex marriage in the USA. It's second volume is kindle only on amazon so far so i haven't read it yet, but hopefully its as good as the original.
http://www.amazon.com/Boy-Like-Me-Jennie-Wood/dp/0692238069/ref=pd_bxgy_14_img_2?ie=UTF8&amp;refRID=0DBX3BECWSV19086RCVF
She also made A Boy Like Me, a novel about a self-identified trans man, though this isn't scifi or fantasy like flutter is. Very sad at times, even for a trans feminine person like me who wishes i could switch places with him...
http://www.amazon.com/Ready-Player-One-Ernest-Cline/dp/0307887448/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1445063355&amp;sr=1-1&amp;keywords=ready+player+one
I know this post is 2 days old, which puts it in some sort of reddit graveyard, but I'll add my thoughts.
First, Altered Carbon by Richard K. Morgan is the definitive "modern" cyberpunk novel so check that out for sure.
Also, for more of a "5 minutes into the future" cyberpunk, check out the Nexus trilogy by Ramez Naam. The third book in the trilogy won the Philip K. Dick Award if that means anything to you.
Another series I liked, which has a great dark humor to it, is the Avery Cates series by Jeff Somers. Seriously, just read the 'About the Author' section at the bottom of that page to get an idea of the humor.
Have you read William Gibson's The Peripheral? It's a neat update on Gibson's cyberpunk vision now that the world has changed.
Someone else recommended Cory Doctorow. I actually think Little Brother is his best work, though it's young adult so prepare yourself for that.
Finally, I feel weird recommending this, but if you were a child of the 80s, have you read Ready Player One? It's pretty polarizing in this sub since you either love it or you hate it, but it is a popular modern cyberpunk novel.
If you haven’t read the book yet, ready player one is one of the best books i’ve ever read. It revolves around the idea that the world is in dystopia and almost everyone lives their life in the OASIS.
I think anyone who likes sci-fi and games and such should read it, oh it also has alot of refrences to the 80’s
Link: https://www.amazon.com/Ready-Player-One-Ernest-Cline/dp/0307887448
Thanks alot for the giveaway!
Ready Player One.
http://www.amazon.com/Ready-Player-One-A-Novel/dp/0307887448/