Books - What Are You Reading / What Do You Recommend?

[Duman]

"The Man in the High Castle" by Phillip K Dick is something that would be interesting to WWII history buffs (RONIN). It is set in a reality where Germany and Japan won WWII. It's only 225 pages long.

I've been challenged by PKD, he was so far ahead of his time. I'll have to give this a read.

[Irving]

I've been challenged by PKD, he was so far ahead of his time. I'll have to give this a read.

I read "A Scanner Darkly" by him, and had a hard time reading it. I didn't like it. Not because it was poorly written, but because it was written too well. He so perfectly captured the incoherent thoughts of drug addicts that I could hardly stand the characters. Also, I know he wrote "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" which is what Blade Runner is based on. I've never seen Blade Runner, but I understand it is a cult classic so wanted to read the book first.

As far as "The Man in the High Castle," it is also a challenge for me to read because the way the characters speak drives me crazy.

[Circuits]

A non-discworld sf trilogy cowritten by Terry Pratchett: The Long Earth, The Long War and The Long Mars.

[Slapps74]

Just finished One Second After. Good read.

[Irving]

Half way through Starship Troopers, and will start The Name of the Wind sometime this week. I always come back to this thread and pick up book recommendations since my list is so long I can never remember them all.

[muddywings]

Half way through Starship Troopers, and will start The Name of the Wind sometime this week. I always come back to this thread and pick up book recommendations since my list is so long I can never remember them all.

I just finished Starship Troopers for the 3rd or 4th time. Read it every few years or so. Heinlein was a genius.

[SamuraiCO]

I have been driving a lot so I have listened to the Freakenomics series. Very good.

[Duman]

Just picked up 'Rama II', sequel to 'Rendezvous With Rama' by Clarke.

[Irving]

Just finished The Name of the Wind. I liked it, but it seemed to end abruptly. I'm off to see if there are more books. Thank you very much to those of you who so strongly recommended it!

While I wouldn't directly compare Name of the Wind to The Lies of Lock Lamora, I would for sure say that they pair well, and if you've read one, then you must read the other. That also goes for the Mistborn Trilogy by Branden Sanderson.

[cstone]

Now You See It: How Technology and Brain Science Will Transform Schools and Business for the 21st Century by Cathy N. Davidson

http://www.amazon.com/Now-You-See-Te.../dp/014312126X

An interesting read focusing on attention and learning. Davidson writes about how much of our early learning is based on neuron shearing and the cultural bias built into the connections formed in early childhood. Essentially, what we learn requires us to exclude the learning of other things based on the environment we find ourselves. I am fascinated by the mirror neurons and the concept that neurons in our brains fire in the same patterns whether we are doing a thing or we are watching someone else do the thing. Both the doing and the watching someone else do something help reinforce the neural connections and affect learning. It apparently is the basis for empathetic instruction and is very rare, only noted in humans and possibly Killer Whales.