Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

The Animal Is Tired

robinhobb.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

191–200 of 439 posts

Re: The Animal Is Tired

#191

Post by Andrew_nenakhov »

climb_stealth wrote: post #138
elyobo wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I need to revisit The Dark Tower, I last read it when it was incomplete and have never read it through. Very different to his more famous works. Thanks for the reminder.

Depending on where you stopped, I feel like it is gets a little bit odd in the middle but it is very much worth reading to the end. There's also The Wind Through the Keyhole which slots inbetween the main books. Learning about this one is that made me read the whole series again only a few weeks ago. It's still as good as it ever was!

Not worth reading to the end at all. King didn't even think of a proper ending, prefacing it with a suggestion to stop reading before it. The series got weaker and weaker after second book.

Re: The Animal Is Tired

#192

Post by hedberg10 »

steve_adams_86 wrote: post #181
polishdude20 wrote: post #179

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes! Weightlifting is probably the number one best thing you can do for your body.

Every time I stop, my quality of life drops like a lead weight. I have a sort of internal battle over this, but I love watching the numbers go up. They can’t forever and they won’t, but for the time being I find slipping another 2.5-5lb onto the bar incredibly gratifying. At the same time I know the numbers mean nothing and arriving, effort, and consistency are everything. Regardless, apart from god sleep, pushing my…

Don't get hung up on the numbers. What's gratifying now also has the power to be very demotivating later.

Fall back to 75% or 50% every now and then and be conscious that it's not bad at all, but still progress.

I don't know where you are in your lifting career, but it pays 5x later on, when numbers don't matter anymore. You'll be amazed how quickly you can build strength back up after a break or injury or how much muscle is still "just there".

Re: The Animal Is Tired

#193

Post by vessenes »

bitexploder wrote: post #154
tempestn wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To each their own. I've found Malazan to be quite a slog. Enjoyable in parts, but too many characters, too broad in scope for me. I'm on the final book now, and am going to finish it, but I'll feel more relief than anything when I'm done! The Assassin's Apprentice series, being from the first person perspective is in many ways its polar opposite. Each style has its advantages, but I've found I prefer stories where I…

I’m not convinced anyone has ever read of of the Malazan series. Sure, it’s theoretically possible, but has anyone really read /every/ word? Jokes aside, I love epic fantasy, but that series was just a little too epic for me. Wheel of Time has a nice balance, you really get to meet the main characters, it just takes a while.

I read it all.

I would say it needed a series re-edit. First book or two are really differently paced from the end; those two should probably get bulked up a bit, and pulled fully into the final story lore.

Then the series needs a trim down, probably like 33% of pages. It's possible some of the story arcs need to be moved around as well for better readability.

I have just specified like a decade of hard labor, I know. :)

With that done, I think Malazan could be considered one of the all-time great fantasy series. As it stands, it meanders too much at times, and it falls into a sort of military + fantasy sub-genre which I think lessens the impact of the overall story -- it really is an epic RPG-style quest involving hundreds of characters with a (mostly) satisfying finale.

Re: The Animal Is Tired

#194

Post by hutzlibu »

autarch wrote: post #33

Robin Hobb is one of my favorite authors. Her masterwork is a series of series (four trilogies and a quadrology) known as The Realm of the Elderlings. She published the first trilogy, which begins with Assassin's Apprentice, starting in 1995. I saw the books when they first came out and I assumed from the title and the cover that it would be a cheesy fantasy by the numbers, so I never bought it. But I kept hearing ab…

" Bad things definitely happen, but it's more hopeful and humane than something like Malazan or Song of Ice and Fire."

Ok, I agree on the positive outlook in her books in general (and I have not read the other books you mentioned), but I remember, that some books ended in a very dark way, leaving also me in a very dark mood. I felt a lot with poor young Fitz and the books affected me a lot in my teenage years.

But I never finished them, the last I read was Fools Fate quite some time ago ...

"The final trilogy brings so many elements together, and the ending is shatteringly powerful."

So this sounds very interesting and after a short research, this means I have to continue with Dragon Keeper, Dragon Haven, City of Dragons, Blood of Dragons, Fool's Assassin, Fool's Quest and then finally Assassin's Fate.

Well, if I treat my own animal not too bad and my baby animals give me some rest - I might one day finish them, too.

Re: The Animal Is Tired

#195

Post by aethertron »

Andrew_nenakhov wrote: post #191
climb_stealth wrote: post #138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Depending on where you stopped, I feel like it is gets a little bit odd in the middle but it is very much worth reading to the end. There's also The Wind Through the Keyhole which slots inbetween the main books. Learning about this one is that made me read the whole series again only a few weeks ago. It's still as good as it ever was!

Not worth reading to the end at all. King didn't even think of a proper ending, prefacing it with a suggestion to stop reading before it. The series got weaker and weaker after second book.

The series did deteriorate, but I liked book 4. It's a romance. I recommend it to all young fools, or those who can fondly remember being such.

Re: The Animal Is Tired

#196

Post by Andrew_nenakhov »

aethertron wrote: post #195
Andrew_nenakhov wrote: post #191

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not worth reading to the end at all. King didn't even think of a proper ending, prefacing it with a suggestion to stop reading before it. The series got weaker and weaker after second book.

The series did deteriorate, but I liked book 4. It's a romance. I recommend it to all young fools, or those who can fondly remember being such.

Story of young roland is... Too formulaic. Writing romance is definitely not king's forte.

Re: The Animal Is Tired

#197

Post by mellavora »

DougN7 wrote: post #29
rubicon33 wrote: post #2

70? My animal is only 33 and is very tired. Writing this as it lays in bed, 3 in the afternoon, because even a standard chair sounds more exhausting to it. It seems to have no motivation or energy to do much besides lay here. If I force it, it will get stuff done but at a huge cost. It will yearn the entire time to just lay back down. It's interest in things seems to be fading quickly. What desire it used to have to…

This actually sounds quite a bit like depression. Some inexpensive meds can make a huge difference. I know from experience.

It is very clearly depression.

I'm leery of the meds, however. They have a tendency to be highly addictive.

Also, the underlying cause might be something else; the depression might be a symptom instead of the root cause.

Chronic fatigue syndrome is a real thing. Inflammation, or perhaps aftereffects of some viral infection.

Or loneliness. We are social animals, the animal is supposed to be part of a group. Yet we've created this society which worships the idea of the individual.

Re: The Animal Is Tired

#198

Post by gwd »

Benjamin_Dobell wrote: post #163
autarch wrote: post #33

Robin Hobb is one of my favorite authors. Her masterwork is a series of series (four trilogies and a quadrology) known as The Realm of the Elderlings. She published the first trilogy, which begins with Assassin's Apprentice, starting in 1995. I saw the books when they first came out and I assumed from the title and the cover that it would be a cheesy fantasy by the numbers, so I never bought it. But I kept hearing ab…

100% agreed. Robin Hobb (Margaret Astrid Lindholm Ogden) was without a doubt my favourite author as a teenager. Sadly, in the last 10 years, I've barely read anything. However, when The Fitz and the Fool Trilogy came out, you can bet I made time to read it!

> Sadly, in the last 10 years, I've barely read anything.

Try audiobooks. It's difficult for me at the moment to set aside time to curl up with a sheaf of paper bound together; but I continue to get my dose of long-form words when working out, washing dishes, mowing the lawn (and, before the pandemic, cycling to the office).

Re: The Animal Is Tired

#199

Post by hutzlibu »

climb_stealth wrote: post #61
autarch wrote: post #33

Robin Hobb is one of my favorite authors. Her masterwork is a series of series (four trilogies and a quadrology) known as The Realm of the Elderlings. She published the first trilogy, which begins with Assassin's Apprentice, starting in 1995. I saw the books when they first came out and I assumed from the title and the cover that it would be a cheesy fantasy by the numbers, so I never bought it. But I kept hearing ab…

Aw man, I just started a comment saying how this sounds really promising and was going to ask about it. Turns out I have actually read them. I might have to read them all again. I would recommend them as well. I'm a big fan of the Malazan series as well. I still think of the hair jacket when I come across someone with a smelly jacket and it never fails to crack me up. My recommendation for epic fantasy that is a bit…

"The Dark Tower series by Stephen King. Some very powerful stories in there. The first book is pretty short so it is a good way to try it out. Though I think it hooks from the very start. "

I wasn't really hooked. I think it was a interesting read, but I got no motivation to read further. Might have been, because I read a note from King before, that he also did no knew yet, how the tower worked. And he just wrote freely to explore it, too. So I expected the story to have even bigger holes in the plot than his ordinary books and trouble to get the story lines together in a consistent way in the end, leaving too many logic errors.

But maybe I should give the tower a second try one day.

Re: The Animal Is Tired

#200

Post by wraptile »

marcell wrote: post #170

I'm 35 and I don't feel any of the ravages of age that some people describe. I do exercise and eat reasonably well, but I don't think it's anything out of the ordinary. I have a desk job (programming). Am I unusually lucky? or just part of a silent majority that has nothing to complain about? Is doom just around the corner?

I generally think it's just vocal minority. I might be subjected to survivors bias (I travel around SEA) but most programmers I meet, while older than me, tend to be quite healthy and happy!

I'm getting closer to the magic 30s and I'm honestly quite optimistic. Had some lower back issues (because of sitting too much) that I took care off with a bit of exercise and I find experimenting with diets fun and effective. Surely it can't all go down-hill in the next 20 years?

There's just so many interesting things to do these days; if for some reason I'm unable to climb mountains anymore I can easily migrate to a different hobbie - there's no reason to attach yourself so much to a single activity. Maybe it's a perception issue? Change isn't all that bad.

Post reply on HN