Books

[speed]

I'm almost finished with the collection ficciones of Borges--the half of philosophy, mythology and other arcane topics are amazingly good and genius, the other half about gauchos and knife fights rather blah.

Then I am looking forward to reading Nabokov's Bend Sinister.

On a popular level, and of some interest to some on this forum, Bernard Cornwell's The Pale Horseman, the second book about Alfred and his battles against the Danes in England, was ok.

 

[no country for old wainds]

Currently I'm flying through Lovecraft's often stunning catalogue, struggling through Kafka's The Castle, and enjoying Erikson's Gardens of the Moon. Been in a fiction mood in recent weeks.

 

[speed]

Currently I'm flying through Lovecraft's often stunning catalogue, struggling through Kafka's The Castle, and enjoying Erikson's Gardens of the Moon. Been in a fiction mood in recent weeks.

Kafka Castle is monumental. Once you finish and it settles in, then you will understand it or better appreciate it. Everytime I send out something or interview with someone and have to deal with a gate keeper so to speak, I think of the old land surveyor and his plight.

 

[Scott W]

Im currently reading White Noise by Don Delillo. Im enjoying it so far. It was recommened to me for fans of palahniuk, and I LOVE palahniuk. I have a stack of books about 2 feet high that im planning to read. Next on my list is Howard Zinn's A People's History of the US. I recently finished an collection of essays by Stephen Jay Gould, one of my favorite natural history writers.

 

[Lemonv1]

I'm reading The Shadow Rising, book 4 of Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series.

 

[ARC150]

Mathematics of the Quantum Zeno Effect

 

[Pitiless Wanderer]

i read daily. but am guilty of suffering from "beach novel" syndrome....my favorite author at the moment os John Sandford and his Prey series. They're fun, easy and very entertaining reads.

 

[no country for old wainds]

Kafka Castle is monumental. Once you finish and it settles in, then you will understand it or better appreciate it. Everytime I send out something or interview with someone and have to deal with a gate keeper so to speak, I think of the old land surveyor and his plight.

He manages to conjure the most bizarre, surreal and fruitless of atmospheres - it's brilliantly written, really. I find it difficult to read for long periods though. I'd also like to recommend Erikson's Gardens of the Moon having now finished it; one of the most absorbing and unusual fantasy works I've read, almost entirely avoiding the typical good/evil paradigm in favour of a many-sided political struggle filled to the brim with intriguing characters.

I'm thinking of reading Lowry's Under the Volcano, Hodgson's House on the Borderland, Aurelius' Meditations and Dennett's Freedom Evolves next.

 

[speed]

I just finished Money by Martin Amis. It is very, very good.

 

[infoterror]

"American Caesar," by William Manchester.

So English it gave me a blowjob, but an excellent biography nonetheless.

 

[speed]

Reread Nabokov's Pnin. Every page is pure ecstasy.

Also, finished the Moronic Inferno, Martin Amis collection of essays and interviews about America. Another wonderful book.

 

[Øjeblikket]

mostly I just gloss, but this is my most recent set:

Heidegger, being in time, and the fundamental concepts of metaphysics
Levinas, the theory of intuition in Husserl's phenomenology
Papus, the qabalah

oh yes, and my favorite book by far:

 

[speed]

mostly I just gloss, but this is my most recent set:

Heidegger, being in time, and the fundamental concepts of metaphysics
Levinas, the theory of intuition in Husserl's phenomenology
Papus, the qabalah

oh yes, and my favorite book by far:

What is this Papus?

 

[Øjeblikket]

What is this Papus?

this quote is from the book I've mentioned:

Papus [the author] (Dr. Gerard Encausse 1865-1916) was one of the great occultists of France, and was instrumental in developing and popularizing Eliphas Levi's earlier suggestions of a link between the Hebrew alphabet and the twenty-two trumps of the tarot. The Qabalah, first published in 1892, is particularly valuable because, along with his original theoretical explanations of the Qabalah, it also contains his complete translation of the Sepher Yetzirah, and an extensive Qabalistic bibliography.

or you may find a summary here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Papus

the book is an entertaining read, but it's also difficult.

 

[speed]

this quote is from the book I've mentioned:



or you may find a summary here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Papus

the book is an entertaining read, but it's also difficult.

I believe Andrei Bely, one of the great Russian writers, was heavily influenced by this book (I could be wrong).

 

[ARC150]

Reread Nabokov's Pnin.

Dig.

I know that Sting, when he sings "That famous book by Nabokov," is referring to "Lolita" - but I always think it funny that the listener could think he is referring to "Pnin."

 

[Cythraul]

I've been studying and obsessing over these articles recently:

Speaking of Objects - W.V. Quine
Indeterminacy, Empiricism, and the First Person - John Searle
Meaning and Reference - Hilary Putnam
Generalized Quantifiers and Natural Language - J. Barwise and R. Cooper

 

[speed]

I've been studying and obsessing over these articles recently:

Speaking of Objects - W.V. Quine
Indeterminacy, Empiricism, and the First Person - John Searle
Meaning and Reference - Hilary Putnam
Generalized Quantifiers and Natural Language - J. Barwise and R. Cooper

Cythrual, you have earned our honorary philosophical faculty position, due to your rather impressive continuing study of philosophy.

 

[Cythraul]

Thanks. Check out my thread about memory & knowledge.

 

[derek]

A history in fragments - europe in the 20th century by richard vinen