Books and literature

[Big Tater]

So being an English major, I really enjoy reading not just the classical literature, but recent novels as well.  This thread is for anyone who likes to read to discuss the latest books they are reading, their favorite books, etc.

Right now I'm reading Titus Andronicus for my Shakespeare's tragedies class.  I don't think I've read anything more disturbing, and honestly I don't recommend it to read for "fun".  Does anyone else like Shakespeare?

[Bidet to you sir]

Cool thread, I like that you've added the more pulp fiction element to it.

Well recently I read Bad Science, by Ben Goldacre, and I have to say it is the best book I have read in a long time, it's funny, it's incredibly informative, and it's incredibly insulting towards hacks and charlatans of the nutritionism and homeopathic medicine industries.

He rips into them just like a book called bad science should, with good science, science which has gone through proper peer reviews, real sensible analytical methods and even better, coroboration from other studies, in fact it seems like Ben Goldacre has a bit of a hardon for the cochrane foundation, a group which performs meta analysis, where to put it very simply they take all the studies on a subject, with say sample sizes of 100, take the results and then do the statistical analysis on ALL the test subjects so you now have a sample size of 1000, they then take factor in all the experimental errors etc.
I'm being very simplistic there, but he goes into such detail on this, it really is fantastic.

And for all of those MMR/any vaccine under the sun causes autism believers, seriously, buy this book, he will explain why you're concerns are based off of lies, and studies, and most of all, the media, and how this causes a large misunderstanding of scientific research and the scientific method amongst the general public.

In fact the best work in the book is when he rips into the media and shows you the real science behind the crazy headlines.
Stories about "evolution will make men have big willies" are taken by newspapers and ran with so they can mock the crazy boffins in their labs doing useless studies, while at the same time taking real science and warping it into nonsense themselves removing any element of journalistic intergrity.

Yeah....I rant, but it's a great book, and even better due to a court case, 1 of his chapters didn't appear in the original copy, but since he won the court case, he's released the chapter for free on his blog.
Read it here, it's all about a man named Mathias Rath, a nutritionist and vitamin and supplement seller who sells false cures for HIV and has directly worked with the south african government to spread a belief that HIV doesn't cause AIDS.

http://www.badscience.net/files/The-Doctor-Will-Sue-You-Now.pdf

I've also been reading "8 little piggies" by Stephen Jay Gould, the late great evolutionary biologist, and well, maaaaaaan, he has the most insanely brilliant vocabulary, I mean seriously, the words he uses in some sections I actually had to look up.
And the references to Opera....he loved his music.
Even if I don't come out of it learning much about evo bio (which isn't the case at all, I'm in the first chapter and have learned so much), I'll definitely come out of reading it a much more enriched person for reading it.
Just to peak your interest, the reason it is called 8 little piggies, is that early animals used to have 8 toes.

[Big Tater]

Wow that's really interesting.  However, I like the idea of home remedies, but what you find on the internet is not always easy to trust.  It's funny that you mentioned a book like this because usually people push home remedies instead of buying actual medicine.

I'll have to say I'm not so much into the science books, but that's terrible about that man spreading false news about HIV in South Africa.  I mean, how could someone be so heartless?

It really is scary how the media can skew so many things and make us believe ridiculous stuff.

Now to start "Much Ado About Nothing" 

[brenna]

English major

I almost majored in English... maybe someday I'll come back to it.

Right now I'm reading Titus Andronicus for my Shakespeare's tragedies class.

Oh! This is the cannibal play, isn't it? I'm twisted enough to enjoy it.
 
Fun stuff I have read recently:
The Sex Lives of Cannibals is not really a memoir, but more of a funny recounting of life on the worst place on earth - the island of Kiribati. I'm looking forward to reading the next book, Getting Stoned with Savages.
JD Robb's In Death series.
I've also gotten in to memoirs recently, such as Her Last Death.
And I'm always in the middle of some romance or fantasy trash.

While we're on the topic of books and literature: what are your thoughts on ebooks?

[chibimoon]

I've not read much (if any) Shakespeare, simply because I never had to in school and I've found that classics tend to make me fall asleep. :\ I'm trying to reverse that though, and buying more classics and poetry and fitting them in between reading my favored fiction/non-fiction books so I get a good balance of both.

Recent books I've read are:

Mao's Last Dancer - Li Cunxin (movie based on this will be out soon)
Atlantis - David Gibbins (good balance of history/adventure/fiction and being made into a movie)
The Brain That Changes Itself - Norman Doidge (the brain is plastic and non-damaged parts of the brain can adapt to learn new things which aren't usually learned in that part of the brain)

Currently reading fourletterword, which is a compilation of short stories/letters written by a variety of contemporary writers in how they perceive the love letter.

what are your thoughts on ebooks?

I'm not a fan. They can be useful if you don't want to carry actual books but I much prefer to hold a book in my hand while I read it. I find that reading books online or via the iPhone tires out my eyes a lot quicker than if I'm reading a book.

[hupla]

I've started reading Larry kings book "My remarkable journey", good stuff highly recomend it.

[Bidet to you sir]

ebooks sound like a good idea in principle, but so far I've only seen one good ebook reader (and I have forgotten the name of it), it's incredibly clever as it doesn't have black writing on a white background, it has a paper textured/coloured background meaning it doesn't hurt your eyes too much.
I think it depends on the book and the price, I'm not going to buy a £5 copy of a classic on paper if I know I can get it for less or even for free on a download and then read it on a kindle or something.
I might buy one actually, the reason I read less at the moment is simply being a student causes me to have too many text books and no space for fun books.

Yeah, I seriously reccomend reading that chapter from bad science, it's stand alone really as each chapter tackles one topic and he tried to make it so people who read it online wouldn't have to know things from earlier chapters.

Seriously, this may just be because I'm a bionerd, but it is the best book I have read in years, and there is a reason it became a surprise bestseller over here.
Ya know....if I can be bothered I might make an LOT thread about homeopathy and nutritionism. (and how it's all a pile of shit).

[Big Tater]

Titus Andronicus is a good play...just disturbing.  Once you look back on it though, it's actually pretty ridiculous.

E-books are convenient but I prefer regular books just because it's easier on the eyes than to look at a computer screen the whole time.

[brenna]

I find that reading books online or via the iPhone tires out my eyes a lot quicker than if I'm reading a book.

I agree with this. Also, a full bookcase makes you look far more intelligent than a bunch of files on your computer in a "library" of sorts.

But I'm always up for free books - ebooks or bound books.

[Adam]

Does anyone else like Shakespeare?

He's pretty alright.  I've enjoyed the comedies of his I've read (Comedy of Errors especially, for some reason), and a good chunk of the tragedies are pretty alright too.  Could never get into the history ones, though.  On the other hand, though, Shakespeare isn't really the sort of thing I can read that often.  I mean it's good, but not exactly the sort of thing that keeps me coming back for more.

Kurt Vonnegut, on the other hand, is highly entertaining shit.  I've been kinda bottle necked by the lack of me owning his books, but I think I've tackled more than half of his full-length novels.  And with a few exceptions, they're all really, really, good.  And those exceptions are just regular good.

To toss out some other favorite books: "Flowers for Algernon," "Catch-22," "Wuthering Heights," The Gods Themselves," "The Stand," stuff by Douglas Adams, stuff by Terry Pratchett.

And right now I'm reading "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies."  In every way an improvement over the original.

[Loki]

I'm reading "Vampirates." It's pretty sweet.

[Witless]

Before you judge, I'm not stupid or anything but I'm not really a reading-person. I don't know why, I just can't get into them.

I have read some books though but I could easily count them on two hands. I really want to get into books and read but I don't know where to start or how to spot an interesting book.

I have like, 2 books. 2 actual novels...

I love how I can check the cover of DVD/VHS and kind of get a hint of what it is about, but books, not really.


Does anyone have any tips or suggestions?

[brenna]

And right now I'm reading "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies."  In every way an improvement over the original.

ANYTHING is an improvement over Pride and Prejudice. I absolutely detest that book and I'm not even a fan of the movie.

[Bidet to you sir]

Witless, we can't really give suggestions if we don't know what topic a book you'd like would be about.
Also, surprisingly, some of the most enjoyable books I have read are non fiction.

[DarkLink]

I'm not reading a damn thing. I was, but after I finished it I couldn't find anything else interesting.

[Witless]

Witless, we can't really give suggestions if we don't know what topic a book you'd like would be about.
Also, surprisingly, some of the most enjoyable books I have read are non fiction.

I don't know. I guess fictions about sci-fi, war, whatever.

I liked Harry Potter? XD

[Big Tater]

I think I've heard about Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.  What's it about exactly?  (Aside from the obvious XD)

Witless- you may want to try reading "Next" by Michael Crichton.  It's rather lengthy, but it's definitely sci-fi.  I never actually finished it, but here's the wiki page on it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Next_(novel)

Beware of spoilers in the plot summary though 

[chibimoon]

I've started David Gibbins' second book Crusader Gold, a follow on from Atlantis. Still featuring the core group of characters from the first book, this time they're looking into the menorah (symbol of Jewish faith), supposedly ransacked from Jerusalem by the Romans, moved to Constantinople when the Roman Empire's capital moved there, but had disappeared by the time the Crusades came around. This kind of history thing completely interests me, for some reason. Goes well with the obsession I had with the Crusades a few years back.

Does anyone have any tips or suggestions?

Colorful picture books. xD

[Beh]

Witless, we can't really give suggestions if we don't know what topic a book you'd like would be about.
Also, surprisingly, some of the most enjoyable books I have read are non fiction.

I don't know. I guess fictions about sci-fi, war, whatever.

I liked Harry Potter? XD

Ender's Game sounds like it'd be right up your alley.

[Adam]

I think I've heard about Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.  What's it about exactly?  (Aside from the obvious XD)

Not much to add besides the obvious.  It's the entirety of "Pride and Prejudice," but edited so that it takes place during a zombie plaque, and the Bennet sisters are trained killers, and Mr. Darcy is a zombie killing badass, and Lady Catherine has ninjas, etc. etc. etc..