[!@#$%!]

Originally Posted by Rob Instigator

Just meaning, 23 years ago I would not have understood what I understand at 46.

i read it a couple years ago

left it 2/3 of the way

[Severian]

Originally Posted by ilduclo

looks interesting, but a lot of current Middle Eastern history seems to stem from times way before that. If he doesn't go back at least to 1920, I think it's missing a lot

It’s really more of a first-person account of his time there, and his observations about how one thing led to another. It’s not really a history text. He was the NYY bureau chief in Beirut for several years, and this is the book he wrote about what he experienced, with some history for context.

Really more of a non-fiction, journalism piece than a historical text... at least that’s what his talk was like and that’s what I’m getting from the book thus far.

[Rob Instigator]

Just finished SEINFELDIA: How a show about nothing changed everything. http://rxttbooks.blogspot.com/2019/0...eldia-now.html


I am currently reading a galley copy of Cory Doctorow's new sci-fi novella collection, RADICALIZED, that he sent to me upon request. It comes out today.

[demonrail666]

Originally Posted by Rob Instigator

Just meaning, 23 years ago I would not have understood what I understand at 46.

Wait till you hit 92. David Lynch is suddenly gonna make a whole lot of sense.

[Rob Instigator]

that my be my man. that may be.


This has also happened with green olives.....

[Severian]

Originally Posted by Rob Instigator

that my be my man. that may be.


This has also happened with green olives.....

Is your ass EVER going to finish Book of the New Sun?

fucksakes

[!@#$%!]

soroastrianism!

 

very good stuff with the 80s as background. many reviewers turned off by it because... i don’t know.... “too philosophical” or something. i find it impossible to put down.

audio version is on jootoob actually. gimme a sec for the link

https://youtu.be/TI0V04dP4t8

[d.sound]

I'm finally starting to get burned out on Philip K Dick. I've read about 30 of his novels, the majority in the past year or two. I'm going to finish The Exegesis then I need something new.

Looking for books about the cross pollenation of jewish-greek culture in the B.C.E, history of Judaism. My number one curiosity is the Zadok priest lineage, how they were chased into the desert and became essenes who were the writers of the qumran/dead sea scrolls.

Anybody know any good books on the subject?

[Severian]

 

I was looking for a new smart, cerebral sci-fi book to read and I saw this..

“Inception” meets “True Detective”??? .... FUCKING SIGN ME UP!

So far the description is apt, almost astonishingly so. Very upsetting right out the gate. I’m gonna stick with it, though, I think.

[!@#$%!]

Originally Posted by d.sound

Looking for books about the cross pollenation of jewish-greek culture in the B.C.E, history of Judaism. My number one curiosity is the Zadok priest lineage, how they were chased into the desert and became essenes who were the writers of the qumran/dead sea scrolls.

Anybody know any good books on the subject?

im sorry i don't

[Rob Instigator]

Isaac Asimov's first volume of his Guide to the Bible deals a lot with the actual history presented in the Old Testament, exhaustively researched through the OG sources.

PDF download available here http://rxttbooks.blogspot.com/2014/0...ook-there.html

[d.sound]

Whoa thanks. I'm starting to attend a synagogue. tomorrow I'm going to pick my friends brain. He has a big library.

[SonicSleuth]

Long Walk to Freedom, Nelson Mandela's autobiography, for my ninth grade English class.

[SonicSleuth]

Originally Posted by d.sound

I'm finally starting to get burned out on Philip K Dick.

Haven't read any Philip K Dick. If you could recommend only one, which would it be?

[!@#$%!]

^^ im not a fan in general but i’ve read ubik twice. it’s highly readable somehow. just try a few pages on an online demo and see if it sticks. bet you it will. ps- avoid reviews which are full of shitty spoilers. just begin.

[d.sound]

VALIS is nothing short of genius. It's part self analysis, autobiography, philosophy, religion. Sci fi is just the wrapping.

He had a series of religious experiences that caused him to research and analyze for years and thousands of pages of notes which led to his three best, unfortunately final, books.

Strangely the most famous pkd books are not his best. Blade runner is pure garbage compared to the novella, and i didn't think that was so great either.

[Severian]

Originally Posted by d.sound

VALIS is nothing short of genius. It's part self analysis, autobiography, philosophy, religion. Sci fi is just the wrapping.

He had a series of religious experiences that caused him to research and analyze for years and thousands of pages of notes which led to his three best, unfortunately final, books.

Strangely the most famous pkd books are not his best. Blade runner is pure garbage compared to the novella, and i didn't think that was so great either.

I think I’m over PKD.

Like... been there, done that. Bought the T-shirt and was the fanboy ... now, whenever I re-read something of his, I’m not impressed by the quality of the writing. Still impressed by some of the ideas, but the writing was often pretty meh.

[Rob Instigator]

Originally Posted by SonicSleuth

Haven't read any Philip K Dick. If you could recommend only one, which would it be?

Man in Th High Castle is one of the seminal "alternate history" novels, detailing what life would be like had the Axis won WWII. Very cool stuff.

Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said is another great one. It is about a famous man who wakes up in a world in which he does not exist.

Ubik is a dope one too. It is about a man who works at a psychic agency and will warp your brain.

[demonrail666]

High Castle is cool but kind of its own thing and doesn't really represent what Dick's known for. I think the short stories are the best general introduction but Flow My Tears is a great, relatively accessible way in to his really mid-boggling stuff. Lots of his most devoted fans consider his VALIS trilogy a bit too far down the rabbit hole even for them. Either way I certainly wouldn't recommend it to anyone just getting into him.

[d.sound]

Man in the high castle disappointed me.
Flow is ok, Ubik is great.
Also
Confessions of a Crap Artist - non sci fi story from 3 different perspectives
Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch

He has a handful of great books and quite a few lackluster ones. He wrote 3-5 novels a year during his amphetamine phase.