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Blood Meridian (or The Evening Redness in the West) by Cormac McCarthy. Quickly became my favorite book after reading it a second time. I've never read a book with more effective language.
I read The Road, and it was so sufficiently “effective” in its descriptions and it’s setting that I’m happy never reading another McCarthy book again. Glad I did once.
I will watch the movies though!
Honorable mention to Children of Time and its sequel. Gripping sci-fi story about transforming, interactions between humans and computers, and other beings. Imaginative world about cultures very different from own own, and how they might evolve under different evolutionary conditions.
Also, honorable mention to Project Hail Mary.
I’m 15% into Cryptonomicon by Neal Staephenson, and it’s living up to the hype. I’ve only read a few of his books: Snowcrash, Anathem, and Fall; or, Dodge in Hell. He’s such a good thought experimentalist and decent novelist. Reading one of his books is almost like sitting in a really interesting philosophy class in college that just makes you think about familiar concepts differently or way more in depth.
Yeah, I hope it continues to live up to the hype you've heard. I had a hard letdown, but I hope that doesn't happen for you.
That said, maybe I was expecting something very different. I enjoyed Snowcrash and I enjoyed various sections of Cryptonomicon’s prose, it was just sooooo boring in the end.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yeah, I hope it continues to live up to the hype you've heard. I had a hard letdown, but I hope that doesn't happen for you.
I tried to read Cryptonomicon as a first introduction to Stephenson. Kept waiting for the good parts, and actually just stopped reading halfway through out of sheer boredom. A few years later and I read Seveneves. Absolutely fall in love, and read Anathem right after. Loved it too. To this day I still don’t understand why the first book felt so boring and the others didn’t. To make it worse, when you go looking for a…
Bad blood by John Carreyrou.
I’m 15% into Cryptonomicon by Neal Staephenson, and it’s living up to the hype. I’ve only read a few of his books: Snowcrash, Anathem, and Fall; or, Dodge in Hell. He’s such a good thought experimentalist and decent novelist. Reading one of his books is almost like sitting in a really interesting philosophy class in college that just makes you think about familiar concepts differently or way more in depth.
I read snowcrash as a teen but Cryptonomicon was my reintroduction to Neal Stevenson as an adult and it got me hooked.
- several William Gibson novels between 1995-2008 - Most of the ender's game series and home coming from 80's to 2008. - Between 2008 and 2018 I read only 1 novel, which was Ready Player One. - From 2019 to today I've ready 40+ novels: The Expanse, Red Rising, Bobiverse, Planetside, Magic 2.0, Singularity Trap, Vicarious, NPC, Childeren of Time, Project Hail Mary, Fuzzy Nation, Space Between Worlds, The Salvage Crew.
I feel like I've exhausted sci-fi and have been checking out fantasy novels like Riyria. I've been having a hard time finding something new to sink my teeth into. Piranesi was weird but good.
“How to change your mind” by Michael Pollen. I read a lot of books, and this is one that caused a change in my life. The succinct summary is that psychedelics are misunderstood and there is more and more research showing their potential, especially in the treatment of trauma. I had a difficult childhood. It’s something I still struggle with personal interactions because of this, even after years of therapy. After rea…
I never really knew it was that hard to find/source said items. They aren't marketed publicly, but if you're in the right community they're available, usually for free.
Psychedelics have a powerful community online from numerous forums, to websites such as Erowid and Psychonauts, which have their own discords. You can also find like minded people on meetup, or facebook groups.
Or, what all the cool kids do - music festivals and camping.
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Is the shaman really that necessary? AS for doing it again, more and more psychdelics and chemicals with neuro effects are being legalized such as Ketamine IV treatment.
There's also a whole semi famous association with it, MAPS.org, which has been increasing in membership, and governance creation and paid studies that show that psychedelics time and time again have a positive role in society.
Then again, maybe Shaman isn't so different from a Doctor or N.P.
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Just curious information, ever since Barnes & Noble highlisted this book when published, it really took off and this small world now seems to be mainstream.
Gravity’s Rainbow. Too much to explain.