The Bastard Instrument.
I've followed your advice and must say this book is a must read. Very precise, documented and interesting. If i didn't already have a PJ, this book would have fueled a P bass desire !
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What are you reading Chapter 4
- Thread starter slobake
- Start date
I've followed your advice and must say this book is a must read. Very precise, documented and interesting. If i didn't already have a PJ, this book would have fueled a P bass desire !
It certainly is a great book. 
If you haven't yet picked up on another excellent book that I posted here long ago, check out Blair Jackson's Grateful Dead Gear. No need to be a deadhead (I'm not one) to enjoy this fabulous book.
If you haven't yet picked up on another excellent book that I posted here long ago, check out Blair Jackson's Grateful Dead Gear. No need to be a deadhead (I'm not one) to enjoy this fabulous book.
The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi - Shannon Chakraborty
A couple years ago I was looking for pirate and/or seafaring adventure novels that weren't YA or romance and this came up in my searches. I'm about a third of the way through it and I have some minor criticisms, but it's been very entertaining otherwise.
A couple years ago I was looking for pirate and/or seafaring adventure novels that weren't YA or romance and this came up in my searches. I'm about a third of the way through it and I have some minor criticisms, but it's been very entertaining otherwise.
My wife got me "Century of Song" for Christmas and I just started it. It talks about the song and artist for every year beginning in 1924. I'm learning about some songs I've never heard before and their impact, so that's cool.
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I've been watching Noah's YouTube channel for years and really love it. This is pretty high up on my wish list.
Soap, by French poet Francis Ponge.
A voice from the now-distant past. French poet and man of letters, Francis Ponge, born in 1899, served in both World Wars.
Is it necessary to mention the disagreeable (to say the least) events or spectacles which we have been obliged to endure since coming into this world? I think that no other age can have witnessed any which were more terrible, or trying of sensibility.
At any rate society everywhereāand each individualāhave shown themselves to be bewildered, thrown into despair and aberration. And it has become plain that self-control, sang-froid, patience and equanimity in themselves were not enough to put the mid to rights again, or console the spirit.
At the same time, i.e. our time, the consciousness of human responsibility and guilt--wrongly or rightly--has become extremely developed. And, whether this is right or wrong, I find it very admirable and very touching.
For my part, then, I will not foolhardily advise men to rely each on themselves, to search for tranquillity as the only good to be wished for. I would truly have scruples in doing so, mainly because I want to be able to be read by the members of an unhappy, unfortunate class, whose first duty I figure it to be to rise, by strength and courage, to a materially better situation.
It is conceivable to me that the mods may find this too close to "political" in which case I bow to their judgment, but am sorrowful that we live in such fraught times.
A voice from the now-distant past. French poet and man of letters, Francis Ponge, born in 1899, served in both World Wars.
Is it necessary to mention the disagreeable (to say the least) events or spectacles which we have been obliged to endure since coming into this world? I think that no other age can have witnessed any which were more terrible, or trying of sensibility.
At any rate society everywhereāand each individualāhave shown themselves to be bewildered, thrown into despair and aberration. And it has become plain that self-control, sang-froid, patience and equanimity in themselves were not enough to put the mid to rights again, or console the spirit.
At the same time, i.e. our time, the consciousness of human responsibility and guilt--wrongly or rightly--has become extremely developed. And, whether this is right or wrong, I find it very admirable and very touching.
For my part, then, I will not foolhardily advise men to rely each on themselves, to search for tranquillity as the only good to be wished for. I would truly have scruples in doing so, mainly because I want to be able to be read by the members of an unhappy, unfortunate class, whose first duty I figure it to be to rise, by strength and courage, to a materially better situation.
It is conceivable to me that the mods may find this too close to "political" in which case I bow to their judgment, but am sorrowful that we live in such fraught times.
At the present Iām reading various theological commentaries on the book of James in the New Testament.
Translated Works from Baudelaire, Verlaine, Rimbaud et.al, and Selected Poems
The Kaiju Preservation Society - John Scalzi
Scalzi has been on my radar for awhile, initially for his space epics, but later for his more humorous work. This is my first book of his I'll be reading, mostly because it's the one my local library had that interested me. Not very high-brow at all as far as sci-fi goes. In fact, it's very self-aware. I read a passage to my wife and she said it sounds like an episode of Futurama, which is pretty accurate when I think about it.
Scalzi has been on my radar for awhile, initially for his space epics, but later for his more humorous work. This is my first book of his I'll be reading, mostly because it's the one my local library had that interested me. Not very high-brow at all as far as sci-fi goes. In fact, it's very self-aware. I read a passage to my wife and she said it sounds like an episode of Futurama, which is pretty accurate when I think about it.
I finished up Spider Robinson's "Mindkiller" the other day. Had some twists that I had half-expected, but not quite how I had expected them. Slightly gratuitous stuff at some points, which I can't help but wonder why. Regardless, the books brings up some interesting technological parallels to our own time. I'll be finishing off that thematic trilogy of his next with "Lifehouse" - I'd mistakenly read the middle of the trilogy (Time Pressure) first. I think I prefer that one as a story, but "Mindkiller" better as a critique of modern life. Overall, while I enjoy these books, I definitely prefer his goofier "Callahan's Cross Time Saloon" series more.
Then, I'm moving on to what is sure to be a taut sci-fi thriller asking all the important questions (such as "Why don't we give space bears guns?") - Gordon R. Dickson's "The Right To Arm Bears". It should not disappoint.
Then, I'm moving on to what is sure to be a taut sci-fi thriller asking all the important questions (such as "Why don't we give space bears guns?") - Gordon R. Dickson's "The Right To Arm Bears". It should not disappoint.
While I await the arrival of this book I am reading a PDF of it.
Just Finished "The Once and Future King" by TH White (about King Arthur, Merlin, etc.). It had been on my shelf for years and I never got around to reading it until this winter. I highly recommended it. It's fun fantasy fiction, and also a deep look into the strengths and failures of human beings.
A reread of a favorite novella. Some reviewer called a sci fi take on the Book of Job. I like it because itās vintage and not so focused on the gadgetry itself, but on how the humans dealt with it. That and it was just a good story.
