Read any good books lately?
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Xplorervoodoo
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Just started reading "The Demon-Haunted World" by Carl Sagan. Very interesting read so far, and I'm only in the middle of the first chapter. I have a feeling this might be one that I won't be able to put down very easily...
rockskate4x
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The Trial and Death of Socrates... and yes, I'm seventeen...
rockskate4x
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dbw said:
I'm sorry that you found it that way... I think that it's fascinating...
Volitions Advocate
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I agree with DBW... I just finished it last semester. And I found socrates to be a pompous ass who needed to take real responsiblity for his life. The whole time he was like the bald kid in the matrix talking about how there is no spoon, and for some reason we all herald him as some genius. *cough* sorry. It was one of the dullest parts of my Political Science class. I even had to write an essay about it. I pretty much laid it out like Socrates was a hypocrite. Must've sounded good cause the prof gave me a B+
considering that we primarily know about socrates only from plato i think we must exercise caution when judging him.
i had this huge philosophy binge a few years back. it was like i was on fire to know the truth etc. for like four years i read everything i could get my hands on - from plato to spinoza to descartes to kant to hegel to wittgenstein to bradley to russel etc.
but then i am from india. so i went back to my roots and settled down with some buddhist and hindu texts for a few years.
somewhere along the line i felt that all these were but ideas and don't really reflect the "true" picture and that life is better lived than thought/analysed and so abandoned all philosophical study.
now i read tintin, lucky luke, asterix, ompapa etc - all my childhood favorites plus scifi, fantasy. i listen to blues and jazz. i play guitar. i am happy.
i had this huge philosophy binge a few years back. it was like i was on fire to know the truth etc. for like four years i read everything i could get my hands on - from plato to spinoza to descartes to kant to hegel to wittgenstein to bradley to russel etc.
but then i am from india. so i went back to my roots and settled down with some buddhist and hindu texts for a few years.
somewhere along the line i felt that all these were but ideas and don't really reflect the "true" picture and that life is better lived than thought/analysed and so abandoned all philosophical study.
now i read tintin, lucky luke, asterix, ompapa etc - all my childhood favorites plus scifi, fantasy. i listen to blues and jazz. i play guitar. i am happy.
Superlizard
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Sheesh - all this "my book's more intellectual than yours" crap is putting me to sleep. :icon_scratch:
Last books I read are:
"Yellow River" by I.P. Freely
"Hole In The Mattress" by Mr. Completely
:toothy10:
Last books I read are:
"Yellow River" by I.P. Freely
"Hole In The Mattress" by Mr. Completely
:toothy10:
Rick
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The Shadow of the Silk Road by Thubron
Basically, about two year's ago this guy traveled from Xian in China to the Mediterranian in Turkey. Right now I'm at about at the point where he's leaving china. Xian is the place where they are currently having the riots. It's interesting how there's a mix of east and west along this route. There are so many themes. I guess the big message from china is that the people miss the iron rice bowl, but also want to be free of their oppresive government. Their past while, not destroyed by communism, was diminished, but every ruler in China did this to the previous regieme. I could go on there's other interesting stuff like how europeans were in western asia, how religions got changed when they met other religions ...
Interesting read about interesting part of the world.
Basically, about two year's ago this guy traveled from Xian in China to the Mediterranian in Turkey. Right now I'm at about at the point where he's leaving china. Xian is the place where they are currently having the riots. It's interesting how there's a mix of east and west along this route. There are so many themes. I guess the big message from china is that the people miss the iron rice bowl, but also want to be free of their oppresive government. Their past while, not destroyed by communism, was diminished, but every ruler in China did this to the previous regieme. I could go on there's other interesting stuff like how europeans were in western asia, how religions got changed when they met other religions ...
Interesting read about interesting part of the world.
erogenousjones17
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I just started reading Paul Auster's New York Trilogy ("City of Glass," "Ghosts," and "The Locked Room"). It's fantastic. They're like mystery novels, but way smarter and more "literary" than any mass market fiction stuff (which I don't normally read; just not my scene). Mystery done right, by a real author. *flameguard on* :toothy12:
erogenousjones17
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I agree that Auster can be heavyhanded and over the top at times, but I think that's part of the appeal, as strange as that sounds. It gives his work a sort of camp value. I think he does it right, but I can also see how it's not for everyone. After all, des goûts et des couleurs on ne discute point...even if that is pretty much the point of this thread. :icon_biggrin:
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