151–160 of 224 posts
The Name of the Wind, and The Wise Man's Fear -- great fantasy books by Patrick Rothfuss.
1984, followed directly by Brave New World. Our world resembles a lot from each of these books. Much like in 1984, we have devices and companies constantly monitoring us (iOS, Android, Facebook, etc.), we have “news programs” and websites seemingly modeled after the “two minutes hate”, and we clearly have some Ministry of Truth-like misinformation getting spread around while accurate information gets lost or ignored.…
>Much like in Brave New World, we have soma-like drugs, distractions and trivialities occupying people while they accept the world as it is and even shy away from wanting to change things. Now hold on. There are millions of people in the streets demonstrating on a regular basis these days. How many have to be trying to change things before we stop labeling them all distracted, sleeping, over-amused sheeple?
3.5 percent, according to research.
https://rationalinsurgent.com/2013/11/04/my-talk-at-tedxboul...
* Contact by Carl Sagan
I had previously seen the movie. The book (or rather the movie) takes a bit of a departure. The backgrounds on all the different characters as well as the political parts weren't that interesting to me. But overall the book was great.
* We Are Legion (We Are Bob) (Bobiverse) by Dennis Taylor
I'd suggest listening to it on Audiobook. Excellent read. Makes me want to buy the book and read through it again. I can't wait until the next one comes out in (March?)
[0] https://www.amazon.com/Contact-Carl-Sagan/dp/0671004107/ref=...
[1] https://www.amazon.com/We-Are-Legion-Bob-Bobiverse/dp/168068...
The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, William Shirer. Many arguments about why and how are answered in that
Godel, Escher, Bach. But I'm not fully re-reading it, because the first time I only got to one third of it. So, until I get to that first third, I'm re-reading, and after that, it is all new.
I re-read Fahrenheit 451 recently. I had read it only once when I was young.
Zero to One. If I had to highlight the most important parts of the book, I would end up highlighting the whole book. :S
I separate my books into levels. Level 0 are the books that I reread steadily over the years (also the ones that I pack in my suitcase when I'm moving as opposed to shipping), so I'll just post that list here, in no particular order: 'Good Poems' edited by Garrison Keiller; 'Pride and Prejudice' by Jane Austen; 'Persuasion' by Jane Austen; Fitzgerald's translation of 'The Rubaiyat'; Ford Madox Ford's 'Parade's End';…
Not within the last year, but I've probably re-read that between five and ten times. I think I first read it as a teenager in the early 70s, or in the Navy in the late 70s.