Thanks to Brian, I now have an itch for the Amazon Kindle.
This does not bode well for my bank balance...
Showing posts with label Books. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Books. Show all posts
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Sunday, July 13, 2008
Saturday, July 12, 2008
Quote of the Moment Gone
I've removed the random quote of the moment. It wasn't pulling up the categories that I wanted and also pulled some quotes that I didn't particularly care to have associated with my site (mostly religious in nature).
In its place, I've added a "Currently Reading" list. I'll try to remember to keep this updated as I move from book to book. If I don't, feel free to give me a kick.
In its place, I've added a "Currently Reading" list. I'll try to remember to keep this updated as I move from book to book. If I don't, feel free to give me a kick.
Sunday, June 29, 2008
...Doomed to Repeat It?
Well, I just finished watching the John Adams miniseries done by HBO and I am happy to report that it is not the waste of $60 that I had been fearing it might be.
However, it does bring up certain gaps in my memory of my history classes. As one "for instance", I remember that we covered a piece of legislation called the Alien and Sedition Act but I could not have said when it was ratified, under which president, nor what it did. This is not the first time that my poor memory has left me knowing that I should know something about something that happened in relatively recent history but unable to recall specifics. I find this to be distressing and I wish to remedy my faulty memory (as best as possible, anyway. I need to find some way to transpose history into mathematical equations. I might be able to remember some of this stuff then).
With this in mind, can someone out there point me in the direction of a relatively unbiased book on American History? I'm looking for more along the lines of statements of facts (i.e. who, where, when, and how) more than editorializing (i.e. why). I'd much appreciate it.
However, it does bring up certain gaps in my memory of my history classes. As one "for instance", I remember that we covered a piece of legislation called the Alien and Sedition Act but I could not have said when it was ratified, under which president, nor what it did. This is not the first time that my poor memory has left me knowing that I should know something about something that happened in relatively recent history but unable to recall specifics. I find this to be distressing and I wish to remedy my faulty memory (as best as possible, anyway. I need to find some way to transpose history into mathematical equations. I might be able to remember some of this stuff then).
With this in mind, can someone out there point me in the direction of a relatively unbiased book on American History? I'm looking for more along the lines of statements of facts (i.e. who, where, when, and how) more than editorializing (i.e. why). I'd much appreciate it.
Sunday, January 27, 2008
Good Company, Good Books, and a Crappy Connection
Well, my sister came by to visit this weekend. I had ended up taking both Thursday and Friday off due to my ill-health and she was kind enough to run to the store after getting here Friday afternoon and load me up with drugs. NyQuil is my daddy.
She ended up sticking around 'til around 6 Saturday evening. She had never seen the second or third installments of the Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy so we watched those in three installments of 2-4 hours each. By the time she left I was feeling mucho better. I went to Cabot to visit D and discuss guns, politics, and housing developments. (Don't ask. We're still in the wishful thinking stages ATM.)
I managed to finish both Animal Farm and MHI over the course of my illness. I would recommend both. Animal Farm would be best described as a cautionary tale about socialist democracies (and possibly governments in general). I'd highly recommend this to those of you who might be dealing with a friend or loved one who's living in a state of denial about the direction that our own government is headed.
MHI was a very fun read and I do recommend it but with one caveat. Please remember that this is author Larry Correia's very first published novel. Unfortunately, the lack of experience shows as "stream of consciousness" writing style in several places. There are several misspellings (in more than one language), run-on sentences, and some sentences that are just down-right constructed poorly. It's obvious that Larry could use the services of a few professional proof-readers. If this is the kind of thing that can distract you from a good story, this might not be the novel for you. However, if you're willing to forgive a few grammatical faux pas in the pursuit of an excellent story arc, then this is something you'll want to read. The story breadth is really astounding for a first-timer (though those of you who've read the Welcome Back, Mr. Nightcrawler thread on THR probably had an inkling of Larry's abilities.) It's almost unfortunate that there have been so very many mainstream vampire/werewolf/zombie blockbuster movies recently as this feels almost like it's trying to use those as a springboard to get more of an audience than it really would otherwise attract. However, as the story progresses, it's obvious that Larry has no intentions of sticking with the same old same old. He manages to use the old horror formulas, throw in a dash of campfire ghost stories, add a generous sprinkling of Lovecraftian lore, and the excellent portrayal of use of a metric ton of the biggest and baddest small arms that you'll never see on the big screen and manages to serve up a novel that is completely new and exciting.
Overall, I'm giving MHI 4 out of 5 smoking .308 casings of approval (with 0.5 deducted for technical writing errors).
Lastly, my internet connection has been flaky for the better part of this last week. It seems like if I go for more than about 3-4 minutes without bringing up a new web page, the ISP drops my connection. I then have to use the repair button on my local area connection icon in the toolbar and everything's fine until I let the connection idle again. I have no idea if this is an ISP issue or if my modem might be flaking out on me (it's about 4 years old now and was getting glitchy before the move anyway). Anyone have any ideas as to what the problem might be?
She ended up sticking around 'til around 6 Saturday evening. She had never seen the second or third installments of the Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy so we watched those in three installments of 2-4 hours each. By the time she left I was feeling mucho better. I went to Cabot to visit D and discuss guns, politics, and housing developments. (Don't ask. We're still in the wishful thinking stages ATM.)
I managed to finish both Animal Farm and MHI over the course of my illness. I would recommend both. Animal Farm would be best described as a cautionary tale about socialist democracies (and possibly governments in general). I'd highly recommend this to those of you who might be dealing with a friend or loved one who's living in a state of denial about the direction that our own government is headed.
MHI was a very fun read and I do recommend it but with one caveat. Please remember that this is author Larry Correia's very first published novel. Unfortunately, the lack of experience shows as "stream of consciousness" writing style in several places. There are several misspellings (in more than one language), run-on sentences, and some sentences that are just down-right constructed poorly. It's obvious that Larry could use the services of a few professional proof-readers. If this is the kind of thing that can distract you from a good story, this might not be the novel for you. However, if you're willing to forgive a few grammatical faux pas in the pursuit of an excellent story arc, then this is something you'll want to read. The story breadth is really astounding for a first-timer (though those of you who've read the Welcome Back, Mr. Nightcrawler thread on THR probably had an inkling of Larry's abilities.) It's almost unfortunate that there have been so very many mainstream vampire/werewolf/zombie blockbuster movies recently as this feels almost like it's trying to use those as a springboard to get more of an audience than it really would otherwise attract. However, as the story progresses, it's obvious that Larry has no intentions of sticking with the same old same old. He manages to use the old horror formulas, throw in a dash of campfire ghost stories, add a generous sprinkling of Lovecraftian lore, and the excellent portrayal of use of a metric ton of the biggest and baddest small arms that you'll never see on the big screen and manages to serve up a novel that is completely new and exciting.
Overall, I'm giving MHI 4 out of 5 smoking .308 casings of approval (with 0.5 deducted for technical writing errors).
Lastly, my internet connection has been flaky for the better part of this last week. It seems like if I go for more than about 3-4 minutes without bringing up a new web page, the ISP drops my connection. I then have to use the repair button on my local area connection icon in the toolbar and everything's fine until I let the connection idle again. I have no idea if this is an ISP issue or if my modem might be flaking out on me (it's about 4 years old now and was getting glitchy before the move anyway). Anyone have any ideas as to what the problem might be?
Sunday, January 20, 2008
What the...?
That was wierd. I started to create a new post and when I began typing into the title block, the autocomplete came up with "Re: Bleeding Heart Gayboys".
Just wierd.
Anyways, not a whole lot's been going on. I've managed to do some cleaning on my truck and organizing around the house. Only a few things that warrant a mention: I'm a good way through Animal Farm by George Orwell. I will give my thoughts on this book once I've finished it.
My copy of MHI has apparently been lost in the mail or stolen. Larry Correia was good enough to send out a replacement copy this past week. I'm just itching to get my mitts on it.
Lastly, the gent from my work who made the comment that Ron Paul had dropped out of the race has retired. He put in his resignation just the day after having lunch with us. I think he annoyed my supervisor more than a bit what with not telling anyone.
Hopefully, there will be more of note later.
Just wierd.
Anyways, not a whole lot's been going on. I've managed to do some cleaning on my truck and organizing around the house. Only a few things that warrant a mention: I'm a good way through Animal Farm by George Orwell. I will give my thoughts on this book once I've finished it.
My copy of MHI has apparently been lost in the mail or stolen. Larry Correia was good enough to send out a replacement copy this past week. I'm just itching to get my mitts on it.
Lastly, the gent from my work who made the comment that Ron Paul had dropped out of the race has retired. He put in his resignation just the day after having lunch with us. I think he annoyed my supervisor more than a bit what with not telling anyone.
Hopefully, there will be more of note later.
Friday, January 11, 2008
Still Waiting
As some of you have probably realized, I'm really excited about Correia's new book Monster Hunters International. Unfortunately for me, it has yet to make it's appearance despite Larry having shipped all of the preorders last Saturday (1/5/08).
I just know some postal employee somewhere is lounging in a recliner at home and reading my book while trying to figure out where he's gonna put my patch.
What? Paranoid, me?
I just know some postal employee somewhere is lounging in a recliner at home and reading my book while trying to figure out where he's gonna put my patch.
What? Paranoid, me?
Tuesday, January 8, 2008
That Pioneering Spirit
I was watching the history channel tonight, particularly a show on the moons of Jupiter. In it they mentioned that there has been discussion on the possibility of manned missions to some of these satellites.
That got me to thinking about the old chart that we had on the wall of my classroom back when I was in the fourth grade. It had a projected time line on the study of Mars. The best that I can remember, it seemed that the projection stated year 2012 as the date that we send an extended manned mission to Mars' surface.
This in turn caused me to think of Heinlein's novel "Time Enough for Love" in which Lazarus Long hypothesizes on the fundamental nature of humans who were driven to colonize other planets.
I'm sure you're wondering if I have a point to this. I do and here it is. Would you choose to leave the Earth if you were given the opportunity to colonize another world?
Feel free to reply here or in your own blog.
That got me to thinking about the old chart that we had on the wall of my classroom back when I was in the fourth grade. It had a projected time line on the study of Mars. The best that I can remember, it seemed that the projection stated year 2012 as the date that we send an extended manned mission to Mars' surface.
This in turn caused me to think of Heinlein's novel "Time Enough for Love" in which Lazarus Long hypothesizes on the fundamental nature of humans who were driven to colonize other planets.
I'm sure you're wondering if I have a point to this. I do and here it is. Would you choose to leave the Earth if you were given the opportunity to colonize another world?
Feel free to reply here or in your own blog.
Sunday, January 6, 2008
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
People are still using that?
This is a bit of old news but I just saw it and thought it was amusing. It seems that Con Edison has finally discontinued distribution of DC power! I didn't even know they were still using DC current. Who'd'a thunk it?
But that's not even the kicker! It seems that the Mid-Manhattan Library as well as a few thousand other users had to be transitioned over to AC power over the last few years. Their method? Install an AC-to-DC converter!
Though come to think of it, I'll bet the lights in that place are great for reading...
But that's not even the kicker! It seems that the Mid-Manhattan Library as well as a few thousand other users had to be transitioned over to AC power over the last few years. Their method? Install an AC-to-DC converter!
Though come to think of it, I'll bet the lights in that place are great for reading...
Monday, December 17, 2007
Health and fantasy authors
Due to a couple of mentions by LawDog and Tamara, I recently picked up the first couple of books of Terry Pratchett's Discworld series. And I wasn't disappointed. Hilarious!
And then I see this and this. At least Mr. Pratchett is keeping a good attitude as evidenced in the letter titled "An Embuggerance" posted at the second link on December 11th. But, darn it, what's the deal with fantasy authors and poor health? First we lose Robert Jordan and now this.
Frankly, I think LD hit it on the head: BUGGER!
P.S. If Larry so much as gets the sniffles, me and Death are gonna have words...
And then I see this and this. At least Mr. Pratchett is keeping a good attitude as evidenced in the letter titled "An Embuggerance" posted at the second link on December 11th. But, darn it, what's the deal with fantasy authors and poor health? First we lose Robert Jordan and now this.
Frankly, I think LD hit it on the head: BUGGER!
P.S. If Larry so much as gets the sniffles, me and Death are gonna have words...
Sunday, December 16, 2007
In other news
Larry Correia has completed proofing his new novel Monster Hunter International. Larry is a moderator on THR and has been a contributing author to the online fiction started by Nightcrawler on said forum. I've been looking forward to this novel for several months and have already sent in my preorder. I don't figure there's any chance of it being in my hands by Christmas but I do hope that it will be out before the end of January.
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