What are you reading?

Me?

The Skeptical Environmentalist.

First, Ulairi, where''s the new sig from? An interesting and nicely optimistic statement.

Secondly, at the moment I''m reading Mostly Harmless for entertainment, and Toni Morrison''s Sula for a class.

Julian Simon. He''s an economist. I have the full quote in my text book. He has written extensivly about the ''fear'' machines and how they are wrong. There is more to the quote, it''s just too long for this page. The rest talks about how there will always people to think and say that we will be worse off.

Here is the full quote:

The material conditions of life will continue to get better for most people, in most countries, most of the time, indefinitely. Within a century or two, all nations and mosto f humanity will be at or above today''s Western living standards.

I also speculate, however, that many people will continue to think and say that the conditions of life are getting worse.

Still plugging though Hyperion, am about 75% done. It''s tough to find time to read in between Praetorians, CC:Generals and World Series Baseball. Even Zelda has taken a back seat.

Once done I''m looking forward to reading ""The Hunt for Bin Laden"". The author and main character ""Jack"" a US special forces agent were on the radio show I listen to on my way to work, and if it''s half as good as described, I''m in for a good read.

Currently, I''m working my way through my Laurell K. Hamilton books again (the Anita Blake series that I wrote about a couple days ago), and I just finished reading Kushiel''s Avatar, the third in the Kushiel''s Dart trilogy by Jacquline Carey. Then I will no doubt read George R.R. Martin''s Song of Ice and Fire again.

I tend to read books that I like several times. I''ve read Martin''s books at least four times already, and the Anita Blake about the same. I don''t even know how many times I''ve read some of Terry Pratchett''s books.

Certis doesn''t often read anything more than once. I sometimes wonder why that is - maybe for me the enjoyment comes not only from finding out what happens next, but also from appreciating the craft involved.

I''m currently reading The Terrible Hours by Peter Mass, a riveting book about America''s first submarine rescue and salvage operation, which took place right before America''s involvement in World War II. This page has a great summation of the story.

Next on my list is After: How America Confronted the September 12 Era, which looks to an excellent read.

The material conditions of life will continue to get better for most people, in most countries, most of the time, indefinitely. Within a century or two, all nations and most of humanity will be at or above today''s Western living standards.

I am all for positive outlooks.

I hope someone didn''t say that to the Ancient Romans, Egyptians, Asyrians and Chinese, or the more recent British.

"fangblackbone" wrote:

The material conditions of life will continue to get better for most people, in most countries, most of the time, indefinitely. Within a century or two, all nations and most of humanity will be at or above today''s Western living standards.

I am all for positive outlooks.

I hope someone didn''t say that to the Ancient Romans, Egyptians, Asyrians and Chinese, or the more recent British.

The British standard of living is better today. This is based on economic data.

Currently working on,

Matthew B. Delaney''s, Jinn - A pretty fun ride
Steve Alten''s, Domain - better than I thought it would be, considering the shark books he wrote.

Maybe it''s just that they both have made for pretty good escapism reading, but I''ve really been enjoying both books.

I also just ordered the new Tad Williams book, War of the Flowers, which I am really looking forward to sinking my teeth into.

I was just lent a copy of James McManus'' Positively Fifth Street, which is a book that resulted from McManus being sent by Harper''s to cover the 2000 World Series of Poker. Being a big poker fan (but not a great poker player,) I''m really looking forward to it.

Unfortunately, I forgot to bring it with me on a recent trip I took. So I ended up wading through Necronomicon and The Next Big Thing. And I''d better hurry it up with those, as I have a big Amazon order that will be arriving in a few days.

I''ll start reading the diaries of Viktor Klemperer soon, alledgedly of more historic importance than Anne Frank''s pieces.

"Koesj" wrote:

I''ll start reading the diaries of Viktor Klemperer soon, alledgedly of more historic importance than Anne Frank''s pieces.

Wasn''t he the guy who played Colonel Klink?

Currently ""The Jesus Video"" is still on my list. I did not have the time yet to go any further.
On the non belleristic side I have read Inside ATL and ATL a Developers Guide. I always end up thinking that I could have got the same amount of information from reading the SDKs when I read a book about Computer Science. Same with these.

I just finished rereading ""A Storm of Swords"" by George RR Martin. Now I am starting to read the Hitch hiker''s guide to the Galaxy Trilogy (in 5 parts ) again.

"Pulse" wrote:

Still plugging though Hyperion, am about 75% done. It''s tough to find time to read in between Praetorians, CC:Generals and World Series Baseball. Even Zelda has taken a back seat.

Once done I''m looking forward to reading ""The Hunt for Bin Laden"". The author and main character ""Jack"" a US special forces agent were on the radio show I listen to on my way to work, and if it''s half as good as described, I''m in for a good read.

The second Hyperion book is much better, less disjointed too, it''s not done in the short story style. Don''tt get me wrong I liked the first one but it just saids the stage for the real story.

For me I''m deeply embroiled in George R. R. Martin''s A clash of Kings, the sequel to A Game of Thrones. Dark story but I''m really enjoying it. I have a stack of technical books languishing in the corner while I focus on pleasure reading

Barney uses Good Manners
The Grouchy Ladybug
Food Fight
various Pooh stories
various Dragon Tale stories
Green Eggs and Ham
Dr. Suess'' Alphabet
Wiggle''s Great adventure
Barney goes to the Zoo

and so on.....

I''ve memorized far too many of these books for my liking

Big A little a what begins with A? Aunt Annie''s Alligator..A a A
Big B little b what begins with B? Barber, baby, bubbles, and a bumble bee.
......
Y y Y A yawning yellow yak, young Younlander Yourgeson, yelling on its back.

Big Z little z, what begins with Z? I do! I''m a zizzer zazzer zuzz as you can plainly see.

ARRRRRGGGGGGGG!

nothing, until the next Harry Potter

Currently reading: My Most Recent Bank Statement,I plan to try and return it for a refund as I don''t particularly find this series a good read anymore, theres more and more red ink and angry statements in this one than earlier installments in the series

Seriously though currently (re)reading Battlefield Earth and trying not to spoil it by remembering John Travolta in huge baggy pants in the excerable film version!

"Flux" wrote:

nothing, until the next Harry Potter :)

I so want that book. Too bad I don''t walk the public dog walks in the U.K.

Nohing, except the Online Source for Java atm. Recently finished LA Confidential though, and I expect my next book to be one by James Ellroy too. I love that man''s writing.

Gabriel García Márquez''s autobiography ""Vivir para contarla"" and William Gibson''s Burning Chrome.

I''m looking for something mindblowing to read next, but I''ve not found it yet. I may have to settle for Benedetti''s ""Thanks for the Fire"".

""Vivir para contarla""

Does that translate to ''to live for the song''?

""To Live for/in order to sing it""

So yeah it probably translates into ""To live for singing"" or ""To live for singing it""

On that note I''ve always wondered about ""Oye como Va"".

Is it ""Listen to what you see"" or ""Listen like you see""?

I think ''va'' is the 3rd person indicative of ''ir'', which is to go. Also, como with an accent over the first o can be ''how''.

Which means ''oye como va'' probably translates to ''Listen how it goes''.

Well, once the book is translated the english title will be ""Living To Tell the Tale"" so take that however you will.

Damn infinitive gerunds. I never get those right!

Yep, it''s more like ""Live to tell the tale"". It''s a good book, but if you read some of his other works, you''ll appreciate it a lot more.

And damn those gerunds, I too get them all the time, on my feet. But I''m using topical cream now, so it''s ok.

edit: fang, ""Oye como va(mi ritmo!yeah 8))"" would be something like ""Listen how my rhythm goes"". Eh,they''re not great lyrics, but the music''s good, I think.

Ah ok

I thought ""Va"" was the command or subjunctive form of ""Ver"", to see

In that case isnt the subjunctive of ""Ir"", ""Vaya""? As in ""Vaya con dios"" = ""Go with God"" or ""Go with the Gods""

I actually think it''s more poetic as ""Listen to what you see"" in a musician sense.

We are a visually dominated society. It would be akin to the aural version of stopping to smell the flowers.

If I recall correctly there are two forms of mandatos (commands), one formal one informal. The informal uses the third person indicative when it is affirmative, which for ir is va. So, and Mex can correct me if I''m wrong here, if you''re telling your kid to go to school you can say ''va a escuela''. The formal and the negative informal uses subjunctive, so even in informal you say ''no vaya a escuela'' for don''t go to school.

The command for ver is ve, I think.

Just for the record, I don''t know what the hell I''m talking about.

Heaven forbid if Spanish has heavy slang or ""ebonix"".

It would be interesting to translate, ""Yo! Sup! I''m jus chilling with some freaks at my crib.""

""Hola! Que pasa? (Quep? Qpsa?) Solo yo estoy frio con algunas mujeres locos en mi pesebre.""

4 years of high school Spanish and all I remember is:

""Hola Paco.""

""Que tal?""

""Como esta?""

""Vamanos a la biblioteca.""