favorite books (to rmjon22.9999999999999999999999999999999 and all)
EWagner382
1132
Bed Head
> What do you consider your favorite books? Top ten? Top 23?
> 1132
As of this morning, *favorite* books and authors:
Starting with Science Fiction:
Doug Adams, particularly _Long Dark Tea Time of the Soul_. Though I
recently re-read most of the _Hitchhiker's_ series and it didn't hold
the same appeal as it did in college.
Bruce Sterling's _Scismatrix_ projected a future with some of the same
polar political struggles we have today manifested in the shapers
(cloners) and the mech's (augmenters).
Love the deep political nature and human-evolution-under-pressure
themes of the Herbert's _Dune_ series and have heard good things about
his other books.
Found Theodore Sturgeon's _More Than Human_ quite interesting and
unusual and will look into more of his work.
Favorite RAW fiction includes the Historical Chronicals (particularly
1 & 3, which will be worth the wait for those of you still waiting)
and _Masks of the Illuminati_. Favorite RAW non-fiction - _Sex &
Drugs_.
After reading Gibson's _Neuromancer_ and went on a binge reading
nearly all his stuff and then burned out with just a few left. I
think the _Neuromancer_ trilogy was his best.
Really enjoyed Heinlein's _The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress_ and unedited
version of _Stranger in a Strange Land_.
Love PKD, especially _UBIK_, _Transmigration of Timothy Archer_, and
_Divine Invasions_.
Thought _The Hobbit_ was a nice, easy read, but stopped 150 pages into
_Fellowship of the Ring_.
Other Stuff:
If you want a fun, hilarious intro to quantum physics, check out
_Cosmic Banditos_ by A.C. Weisbecker (OOP, but soon to be re-released)
- tequila, peyote, lop-eared mutts, sub-atomic particles and multiple
universes. I use multiple universes to explain my multiple
alternative spellings of words.
Hunter S. Thompson - My wife is the big fan here, but I've enjoyed his
work, in particular _Hell's Angels_; but not necessary the Gonzo
Papers and the other collections of letters. Have you read any of the
stuff he's got on ESPN Page 2, recently? Some heavy anti-Bush,
anti-war stuff still lurks among the mega-media. The man has courage.
Ken Kesey! Have an autographed copy of _Cuckoo's Nest_ with a "H'Pee
B-Day" inscription that's near and dear to my heart. That day in 1996
in Eugene, OR, Kesey and Babbs sang "God Bless America" on stage with
a gaggle of musicians from the first post-Garcia "Further Fest". Ken
had a Uncle Sam vest and top hat, and I find Kesey's attitude - love
of America and what the flag and Uncle Sam can stand for - refreshing,
especially in these crazy times.
Have read Leary's _Flashbacks_ several times and felt _Chaos and
Cyberculture_ the most accessible book (to me) that's made it on one
of RAW's "Most Important Books" lists.
Just finished Chandler's _The Big Sleep_ and plan to read several
more. Anybody catch the Phillip Marlowe miniseries on HBO in the
80's? Seen it anywhere lately?
Bandler's "Frogs Into Princes" truly hypnotized me.
Recent reads and re-reads that may not go down as favorites, but I
needed some variety here:
_The Autobiography of Ben Franklin_. A fascinating look at a
fascinating man though his own eyes. Trust me on this. It goes very
quick. I've been meaning to read Vidal's _Burr_
_The Art of War_. "I don't advocate that you use these methods, but
you should be aware of them in case they are being used on you." -Gene
Woolsey. Useful in any area requiring strategy from chess to rugby to
business.
_Principals of Scientific Management_ by Fredrick Taylor. A
controversial book that spawned industrial engineering and influenced
the labor movement (as a countermeasure). Perhaps the book that drove
us to peak of Industrialization? Glad we can look forward to
Informationization!
_BodyMind_ by Dytchwald has interesting things for body workers and
yogic types - correlations between physical symptoms and
mental/emotional causes.
_Iron and Silk_ provides an great portrait of the heart of the
Chinese. Side Note: Had a professor that believed that the key to
another country's culture could be found in their literature. For
each country, a given few books represent that culture. Read them and
you will gain insight and understanding into that culture. For
example: Switzerland and _William Tell_, Mollier's plays and France,
or for the U.S., Mark Twain and the above mentioned Ben Franklin's
Autobiography.
The Most Important Book I Read This Year:
_The War on Freedom_ by Ahmed. Also curious about _Weapons of Mass
Distraction_.
-BH
RMJon23
>> What do you consider your favorite books? Top ten? Top 23?<<
rmjon23:
Hmmmm...I don't quite make it to 23, eh? Well, almost anyone who knows me sez
I'm definitely missing something...As a HEAD revolutionary (hey: I wonder if
and when "HD" and "AE" got together either one gave the other a "present"?)
w/far too many interests, my readings on Da Brain have, in retrospect, had a
somewhat idiotic and idiosyncratic promiscuous-generalist trajectory. I make no
apologies for my wanton ways in choosing books; I clearly have some sort of
undiagnosed ailment in which I tend to grab books on a subject that interests
me and devour them indiscriminately, sorta like some poor kid with pica. Only
slowly, when I'd developed a sufficient map of "the" (Har!) territory, did I
choose w/a modicum of acumen.
In an interview collected in a 2001 book, _Scientific Conversations: Interviews
On Science From The New York Times_, interviews by NYT writer Claudia Dreifus
(which ain't good enough to make it on my list), young Dr. Ben Carson, widely
recognized as America's foremost pediatric neurosurgeon (and African-American,
btw) said something to the effect that he loves neuroscience because he can
really make a contribution, because "we hardly know anything" about the brain.
So the Generalist One at sea hears this and has to fight feeling like such a
damned eejit and continue plunging into these very cool weird grey and white
watery matters...
In Robert Anton Wilson's _The Illuminati Papers_ he makes the point that EVERY
discipline gets sifted from whatever largest "reality" might be out there
through our nervous systems, so we "have no physics but neurophysics, no
psychology but neuropsychology, no linguistics but neurolinguistics, and
ultimately, no neurology but neuroneurology, and no neuroneurology but
neuroneuroneurology, etc. See Von Neumann's catastrophe..." The burgeoning new
field of neurotheology and its dizzying potentials for deconstructing "God"
notwithstanding, I personally find the idea of "neuromathematics" pretty damned
heady stuff. I mean really: think about the implications. For example, could
there "be" something weirder and beyond our scope
than imaginary numbers?
Undifferentiated tapioca anyone?
(Btw, do we know of a more elegant shorthand than "neurophysics" to describe
the Copenhagen interpretation?)
Well, x-rays and infrareds and ultrasonics and gamma rays and and pheromones
and fMRI signals were once unimaginable to most of us (although I imagine
people like Giordano Bruno imagining things like them) until we developed
INSTRUMENTS that extended our nervous systems, but now that we "know" they're
"there" I guess it still qualifies as something "neuro"-physical. (Anyone
getting a vague Godelian shiver?)
If my dividing line between what I consider as a neuro- book and not (i.e.,
what gets left out) seems arbitrary, it seems. Anyway, I've considered
neuroanatomy, neurochemistry, cognition, perception, diseases,
genes-learning-environment, maps and models of brain-mind here. As far as
neurotheology, I've only read articles so far. I feel truant there...There
exist scads of wonderful books on optical illusions that help you get your
fingers into your brain in a way other books don't, and I'm sure I haven't
"read" the better books in that genre, although I think an optical illusion
book shows up on my list, if only in an occult way. Some hardcore
neuroscientists writing an article for Scientific American will often throw in
a classic illusion to get you on hir page.
Note: Perhaps the main reason the period roughly 1990-2003 saw such an
acceleration of knowledge about the nervous system is due to the stunning
advances in brain imaging technologies. I've seen a few books that show color
photos of brains using up glucose in certain areas rather than others when a
person's thinking certain thoughts, etc. These books seem really cool, but
we're rapidly getting to the point where even MRI, CAT, PET, and fMRI scans
aren't the cutting edge: very soon we'll be able to see pictures of the brain
thinking in "REAL" TIME, so watching Discovery Channel and other videos 'n
stuff like that is the ticket here.
As for that nebulous and huge group of books that want you to improve your
thinking, I consider RAW's entire oeuvre as the star player. And then there's a
treasury of things like _Programming and Metaprogramming in the Human
Biocomputer_, _Godel Escher Bach_, _Neuropolitique_, _Fuzzy Thinking_, Edward
De Bono's books, etc, etc, etc. Recently Ronin has reissued shorter extractions
from Leary's books, with titles like _Change Your Brain_ (from _Changing My
Mind, Among Others_) and _Your Brain Is God_. Well of course these are cool
books, but you've already read them, right? (Well, read them again!) I'm
listing lotsa stuff here that gets into the MEAT of the Thing.
_States Of Mind : New Discoveries About How Our Brains Make Us Who We Are_,
edited by Roberta Conlan (1999); and _The Science Times Book of the Brain_, ed.
by Nicolas Wade (1998) are two VERY accessible books from the last five years
about the neuroscience explosion of the 90s, which was dubbed "The Decade of
the Brain" at its inception, i.e, circa 1990, and they pulled it off. Some of
the hottest stuff in our culture, but try telling that to the public... Forgot
who dubbed it, but no matter.
Here's 23 I could think of in the past couple days, in no particular order, and
which I recall well enough to annotate a tad:
1. _The Amazing Brain_(1984), by Robert Ornstein and Richard Thompson,
wonderfully illustrated by David Macaulay. I also dug 6 or 8 other books on
"consciousness" written or edited by west-coast psychologist Ornstein, who's
also influenced by sufis. Speaking of Hedonic Engineering, Ornstein wrote a
neuro- book on the health benefits of pleasure, called _Healthy Pleasures_
(chapter 10: "The Optimism Antidote.") If you have kids they may have seen
Macaulay's books on cathedrals, castles, tunnels, _How Things Work_, etc.
Macaulay really makes this book, imo. This book works on a lot of levels for
the generalist-intellect, but it seems particularly strong on the anatomy of
the brain.
2. _The Conscious Brain_(1976 updated ed.), by Steven Rose. Hugely influential.
D. Hofstadter wrote that it was maybe the best primer on the brain, which was
good enough to make me read it way back when. Maybe the best book of this ilk
before Rose's was 1963's _The Machinery of the Brain_ by Dean Woolridge, which,
though dated, reads cracking well, methinks. Nuts and bolts stuff, but
engagingly written.
3._Receptors_(1994), by Richard Restak. One of the best and most accessible
popularizers of brain science, this Restak guy. I've read a lot of his books
but this one and _Brainscapes_ were the bigger thrills. Along the lines of
receptors and neurotransmitters, an old book called _Molecules of the Mind_
gave me a heady buzz. That book came out around '87, and I wonder how much of
it would seem very ideologically motivated if I read it again. Author was
Franklin? Candace Pert came out with something in '97 called _Molecules of
Emotion_, and I liked it but only got about halfway through its 370 pages.
Anyone who has the goods on endorphins or enkephalins, etc. is alright by me.
Some 4th year neurology student reading this list right now must think I'm a
completely clueless moron, but I don't care, frankly. I read this stuff for
KICKS! KICKS I TELLS YA!
(And I gently urge that the study of neuroscience can prove "mind manifesting",
better known as PSYCHEDELIC.)
4._Neurophilosophy_, by Pat Churchland, (1986). Huge in more ways than one. She
and her husband Paul are in deep in this stuff, and I'm not sure its held up
extremely well over the past 17 years, but it's a monster text, just fucking
amazing work. Neuroscience being one of the branches of the meta-discipline of
cognitive science, this one goes a long way towards fleshing out many ideas
that RAW and Leary and Lilly and others put forth, but its main aim seems to be
to put neurology in the forefront of philosophical thinking.
5._The Society of Mind_ (1986), by Marvin Minsky, & _Maps of the Mind_(1981),
by Charles Hampden-Turner. Minsky has been at the AI fore since its inception,
and I think he's wrong about a lot of stuff, but then remember I admitted what
an eejit I am. This book consists of a lot of creative ideas, whereas
Hampden-Turner gives you a thumbnail sketch of 60 "maps" of the mind, including
Freud, Korzybski, Jaynes, Bateson, Koestler, etc... Both of these make
interesting source material to compare and contrast ideas vis a vis the Eight
Circuit/System Model. (note: Francisco Varela and Humberto Maturana extend some
of the more interesting ideas that touch on "autopoesis"; Hampden-Turner gives
Varela map #55 in his book - which I wish would get a fat update - but I
haven't caught up to them yet; I've only read interviews and short pieces
about/with them. I'd like to see one of you brainiacs expound on their ideas
here!)
6._A General Theory of Love_, by Amini, Lannon, and Lewis. (2000) I've been
impressed with four or five other books that concentrate on the limbic system
and emotions, but I like this one the best. LeDoux's books are well
worthsomewhiles here too. Arthur Janov's book _The Biology of Love_ (2000) was
another one on these levels. Books on the neurobiology of emotions seem really
hot right now, and I understand philosopher(?) Martha Nussbaum's 2001 book
_Upheavals of Thought: The Intelligence of Emotions_, at 750 pages, has been
for other readers not an ill wind, and has blown many minds, although I haven't
gotten to it. I recall thumbing through a book on the "Just Released" shelf at
Midnight Special in Santa Monica a few years ago, called, IIRC, _Zen and the
Brain_, and it was like 900 pages or something and was written by a
neuroscientist (IIRC) who also practiced meditation for along time. It looked
really imposing and just damned mega-impressive, but when I try to recall the
pertinent facts I feel like maybe I was stoned that night, and I'm too lazy to
get a link for ya. Anyway, maybe it's closer to neurotheology, I dunno. I'm
rambling now but I surmise one of RAW's favorites, Persinger and Lafreniere's
_Space-Time Transients and Unusual Events_ (1977?) would fit in here somewhere,
but I've blown way off course, so onto book #7:
7._Perception: Mechanisms and Models_ (Scientific American collection of
articles from 1950 to 1972, dealing with the neurobiology of perception.) These
are wonderfully readable articles about hard-core neuroscience by the main
dudes themselves. This book made me realize that, even as a lay-guy I could
understand the main jit from the main guys.
8._States of Mind_, by Jonathan Miller. 1983 so it's dated, but what a melange
of interesting scientist-intellectuals (CP Snow's Culture) and
scientist-philosophers (Brockman's "Third Culture") types interviewed! And
Miller can interview. I thought of this book because the great neuroscientist
Norman Geschwind was in there, and that's where I first encountered him, and he
intrigued me. Geschwind and Miller talk a lot about split-brain experiments and
lateral specialization, but I've since read some other stuff by Geschwind in
which he nails pretty well certain weird types of obsessive behaviors with a
concomitant excess of religiosity. Weird, wild stuff. I think the article was
in Nature, but I'm not sure. One of you knows more about this than me. As the
pickup basketball players say, "A little help!?" Anyway, Dennett's in here, and
so is Richard Gregory (speaking of optical illusions!), Geertz, Szasz, Gombrich
(whose _Art and Illusion_ rawks!), Jerome Bruner, etc. Close to the Churchland
book.
9._The Man Who Tasted Shapes_, by Richard E. Cytowic (1993). An Oliver
Sacks-like title, and a worthy read for Sacks fans who've read all of Oliver's
stuff. The book's about synesthesia. I think the thing I got most out of this
book was a complete sense of wonder and a feeling for how much we don't know
about the brain. Anyone interested in the power of metaphor oughtta give this
one a try. I understand the topic of synesthesia has been warming up in the
last 10 years, but this is the only book on it I can speak about.
10. Antonio Damasio: _Descartes' Error_, _The Feeling of What Happens_(which I
haven't read cover to cover yet), and his most recent, _Looking For Spinoza_
(2003). This guy (and his wife) is wonderful! My favorite Third Culture guy.
Well, one of them. Great writing, tremendous in scope. An easy one to list,
'cuz he's pretty big right now, but what the hey.
11. Oliver Sacks: Maybe the most charming and seductive writer on neurological
anecdotal material. Gawd, he's a blast! Even when he's writing about
heartbreaking cases.
12. _Whispers: The Voice of Paranoia_, by Ronald K. Siegel (1994). Detective
work non-fiction, lots of RAW fans will like this book. He's the same UCLA prof
who wrote the great _Intoxication_ , the book that documents how throughout the
whole animal kingdom everyone's getting stoned; it's a basic animal DRIVE! In
_Whispers_ he uses his immense knowledge of human perception, abnormal
psychology, optical illusions, drugs, and other areas of knowledge to "solve"
some interesting paranoid cases...(Jose Delgado's book on electrical
stimulation of the brain just flashed on me. It's not like Siegel's book at
all, but it seems to have become one of the Ur-books for hard-core mind-control
conspiracy theorists; Delgado's work has fed a dizzying amount of Nazis/brain
chip/Manchurian Candidate/programmed assasinations, etc. Paranoia?)
13._Scientific American Book of the Brain_, ed. by Antonio Damasio (1999).
Subtitled, "the best writing on: consciousness, I.Q. and intelligence,
perception, disorders of the mind, and much more." Loved it. Fairly technical,
but not unreadable. The graphics are amazing. If you can only spend a bit of
time with it, don't miss, "Brain and Language", by the Damasios; and "The
Biological Basis of Learning and Individuality" by Kandel and Hawkins. The
chapter on consciousness has three articles, by Chalmers, Horgan, and
Crick/Koch. RAW readers who were intrigued by his writing on "false memory
syndrome" in Trajectories might want to check out Elizabeth Loftus's article,
"Creating False Memories."
14._Mind and Behavior_, ed. by Rita and Richard Atkinson (1980). Another
collection of articles from Scientific American, a sorta "greatest hits" from
1951 to '80. Core material.
15. Robert Sapolsky: _The Trouble With Testosterone_, _Why Zebras Don't Get
Ulcers_, and _A Primate's Memoir_. The "primate" is himself, and Sapolsky is
that rare combo of primatologist-ethologist-comedian. His specialty is stress
and if Selye is the grandfather, Sapolsky is the number one son. I've already
written about this guy enough in alt.fan.rawilson.
16. _The Computer and the Brain_, by John von Neumann, Illuminati supreme.
(1958)
Not sure how much of it I truly grokked - it's a very thin volume - but I had
the feeling I was in the presence of an alien intelligence. One of the bases
for AI.
17. _Brain, Vision, Memory : Tales in the History of Neuroscience_, by Charles
G. Gross (1998) MIT Press. Scholarly and digestible history of neuroscience. If
you've read a better history of the subject, let's hear it.
18._An Unquiet Mind_, by Kay Redfield Jamison (1996). She's a brilliant
psychologist who describes her own bouts with manic-depression. Gripping.
19. _Circuits of the Mind_(1994), by Leslie Valiant. Neural nets. Tough
sledding and close to beyond me, but I plug along in it because it rewards,
just like a lot of the Scientific American articles. Except this book is 237
pages. I was initially drawn by the word "circuits." Computers, math,
recognition of sentences, context-free grammars, speed of recognition, etc.
20. _Drugs and the Brain_(1986), by Solomon Snyder. Standard. If you haven't
delved into it, have a look. A nice companion for it might be _The Psychedelic
Reader: Classic Selections From The Psychedelic Review, the Revolutionary 1960s
Forum of Psychopharmacological Substances_, ed. by Leary, Metzner, and Gunther
Weil.
21._Principles of Neural Science_(1991, 3rd ed.), Kandel, Schwartz, and
Jessell, eds. I think it's been updated to a 4th ed. by now. Kandel finally got
a Nobel. This textbook could give you a concussion in a few different ways. A
monumental work. I admire it like I admire the Pyramids. Jeez! Glad I'm not
being tested on it.
22._Mind Matters_(1988 ), by Michael Gazzaniga. His attempt to write a popular
book, but he's not that great a writer. It meant a lot to me at the time
because I was looking for lucid material on anxiety, depression, "crazy
thoughts", etc. He delivered. He and Bogen and Sperry were the pioneers of the
split brain stuff.
23._Science and Sanity_(1933) Alfred Korzybski. 'Nuff said! Well...maybe not
enough. How about this: Too bad it still seems a big secret that Korzybski laid
the groundwork for NLP, cognitive-behavioral therapy, and rational-emotive
behavior therapy, in addition to General Semantics. Rather than being
acknowledged for his prescience and dazzling acuity and Promethean
intellectual-synthetic powers, he's still widely thought of as a crank in Ivory
Towers. And just as I see the popularity of O'Reilly (see other thread nearby)
as a symptom, so too here, AK a crank.
For every one brain book there are at least five that "I've been meaning to get
to", but probably never will...There are OTHER subjects and authors to spend
valuable time with! And I must tend my garden.
Bed Head
> 1132
Come on! I know the rest of ya'll read books. What was you favorite
in the last year? of all time? Last 10 books you read?
I get 75% of my book ideas from the man himself or this group right
here.
So (in my best Banlder tonalaity), "NOW... What books would you
recommend to others as your favorites? You, you've been lurking for
over a year, let's hear it!"
What are yours EW382?
-BH
Cliff Stabbert
I've been composing my response on and off...it's long! Probably will
get posted later today --
Fry voice: Books? Ehm [guilty look] sure I read books! With the
squiggly black shapes on the paper and everything! Although I prefer
the pictures...
--
Cliff
Revjbob
Just a Couple of Days by Tony Vigorito, The Three Stigmata of
Palmer Eldritch by PKD, and The War on Freedom by Ahmed were my
favorites of the past year...Just a Couple of Days being my favorite
of the past few years. I also re-read the Cosmic Trigger trilogy and
Prometheus Rising for the millionth time. With the exception of
Cosmic Trigger III...they seem to be getting more and more dated. I
haven't got around to reading TSOG yet...but I'll read it soon enough.
Proginoskes
> in the last year? of all time? Last 10 books you read?
>
> I get 75% of my book ideas from the man himself or this group right
> here.
So you're not an independent thinker, are you? 8-)
EWagner382
Ulysses, James Joyce
Finnegans Wake, James Joyce
The Game of Life, Timothy Leary
Info-Psychology, Timothy Leary
The Beethoven Quartets, Joseph Kerman
The Trick Top Hat, Robert Anton Wilson
Prometheus Rising, Robert Anton Wilson
TSOG: The Thing That Ate the Constitution, Robert Anton Wilson
The Widow's Son, Robert Anton Wilson
1132
nougat
nightstand, which I guess qualify as my current favorites, or at least those
I 'm finding most interesting at the moment:
We Got The Neutron Bomb/Spitz, Mullen
Nice companion piece to Just Kill Me (also recommended - awesome collection
of inteviews with personalities from the pre-punk/glam/punk explosion on the
East coast), this book similarly recounts West coast happenings from the
same era through interviews with members of the Weirdos, X, Fear, the Germs,
etc. Great reading, if you're into the whole scene.
Psychedelic Shamanism/DeKorne (endorsed by RAW on back cover)
Really readable book not only on shamanism, but on most classes of shamanic
plants/agents and descriptive accounts of their psychotropic effects on the
author and others.
The Match! Summer, 2002
Fred Woodworth's perennial beauty of a journal of ethical anarchism.
Probably not everyone in this group would subscribe to this flavor, but the
humanitarian, from-the-heart, down-to-earth yet edgy and intellegent
writings that fill its pages always inspire me when it shows up on my
doorstep. Not so much the result of a reactive academic political stance (as
is so much of the Anarchist crap I seem to run across all the time) as a
heartfelt declaration of a "wild desire for freedom".
Them - Adventures With Extremists/Ronson
Think this was talked about in this group at some point ... also happened to
catch a series of documentaries that Ronson must have made during the
writing of this book (on the Trio cable channel), which show him following
David Icke around, infiltrating the Bohemian Grove, interviewing surviviors
of Ruby Ridge, etc. Worth seeking out.
Ken's Guide to the Bible/Smith
Taking it hard to the good book. Highlights all the dirty nasty stuff the
fundies don't generally tend to bring up in their witness encounters. Good
ammo if you get bugged a lot by modern Xtian crusaders.
Twentieth Century Eightball/Clowes
Nice collection of comic strips from Dan Clowes' Eightball.
Books in queue:
Strange Creations: Aberrant Ideas of Human Origins from Ancient Astronauts
to Aquatic Apes/Kossy
Cyber-Biological Studies of the Imaginal Component in the UFO Contact
Experience/Stillings (ed.)
What You Should Know About the Golden Dawn/Regardie
TRANCE-Formations/Grinder/Bandler
SSOTBME: An Essay On Magic/Anon
Yeah I've got my work cut out for me, but as the baby gets older I actually
do find myself with an hour or two here and there to actually sit down and
read :)
steve
"Bed Head" <mgat...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:45f5959e.03092...@posting.google.com...
Bardo23
hmmm. let me see...
currently reading:
Feersum Endjinn / Iain M Banks
Wen Tzu / trans Cleary
The Hidden Connections / Fritjof Capra
Love:
The Coming of the King / Nikolai Tolstoy
The Tao of Zen / Ray Grigg
Historical Illuminatus Trilogy / RAW
Masks of the Illuminati / RAW
American Tabloid / James Elroy
everything ive read by Elmore Leonard and Ken Macleod and translated by
Thomas Cleary
Bardo Dos Tres
---
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Bed Head
Only 25%
Cliff Stabbert
kinda forgot. anywayz...]
EWagner382:
> What do you consider your favorite books? Top ten? Top 23?
> 1132
Bed Head:
>As of this morning, *favorite* books and authors:
Bed Head, Your list has a spookily large overlap with mine. Douglas
Adams, _Dune_, _More than Human_, _Neuromancer_ trilogy, PKD...
And although not in my top top authors list, I do enjoy Bruce Sterling's
writing, especially _Heavy Weather_ and _Holy Fire_.
My favorite RAW: _Historical Illuminatus Chronicles_ (esp. how the
writing tracks Sigismundo's maturation, and (in Part 2?) the characters'
voices are mirrored in the writing) and _Schrödinger's Cat Trilogy_.
Have read little snippets of Hunter S. Thompson and some of his (and dug
_FaLiLV_ the movie); haven't read Kesey; and haven't yet read Leary (for
shame! for shame!).
>Just finished Chandler's _The Big Sleep_ and plan to read several
>more. Anybody catch the Phillip Marlowe miniseries on HBO in the
>80's? Seen it anywhere lately?
That series totally r0x0red. Starring Powers Boothe, he of the Amazing
Jaw. A show that did everything just so; they paid a lot of attention
to detail and really captured that noir "attitude". Don't know of any
current showings, and I doubt there are any, but you can always search
your local listings at
http://entertainment.msn.com/tv/guide/
(search box is to the right of the "TV Listings" title)
[I can _almost_ remember the theme song, which I really really dug, and
unfortunately have not had much luck in my initial (admittedly shallow)
online search for it (by contrast, it took me ~20 seconds to find the
end theme of _The Incredible Hulk_ and the opening theme of _Dallas_
(don't ask ;-)).]
If you haven't yet seen _The Big Lebowski_, do so if you get the chance.
You may enjoy the way the structure reportedly closely mirrors _The Big
Sleep_'s (I haven't read the latter in ages, and the final word in,
certain speculative directions the genre seemed headed in at the time.
Some of my favorites other authors/books on my list:
- _Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid_. The book that, when I
was sixteen and thought I was pretty damn clever, made me realize there
were way, way more clever people out there -- a very comforting, rather
than discomfiting, realization (and people for whom, unlike for Ed
Norton's character in _Fight Club_ and unlike for myself at the time or
even now most of the time, being clever _is_ working out).
GEB: an esthetic masterpiece of a symphony for the left brain. If you
like logic puzzles; if you've ever been struck by the elegance,
symmetry, and beauty of a mathematical concept of proof, Newton's Laws
of motion, or the shape of a snowflake or beehive or molecule; if you've
ever felt the deep satisfaction of hearing (or far more deeply
satisfying, finding) an explanation of some previously puzzling
phenomenon that instantly "clicks" -- and if you've ever intuited some
deep structural relationships between all these phenomena: Read. This.
Book. He weaves a golden braid, indeed; not only of the three main
subjects but so many besides: the nature of intelligence and the
possiblity of artificial intelligence, zen, magritte, the genetic code,
formal systems, computer languages, interspersed with the continuing
advantures of Achilles and the tortoise. Extended tantric sex for the
left brain.
- _Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance_ by Robert M. Pirsig -- a
quote from the article rmjon23 posted just the other day under the
subject "philosophy as relevant therapy" struck me as an apt description
of what this book achieves:
"Philosophy, its proponents say, is an alternative to all that
[meditation, Oprah, psychologists, Dr. Laura and Dr. Phil]. It's a way
to think for yourself and to find satisfying guidelines for living. It's
a way to analyze complex issues through the prism of values, ethics and
character. Philosophy (which means love of wisdom) is a search for
answers that have made sense through the ages."
As described in that article, the novel brings philosophy out of the
ivory tower to the people -- not, however, in (just) a general sense;
the author does have an agenda. One that I found nobel and true. The
back cover blurb on the paperback edition I had was cheesy, and the line
"This book will change your life." the Velveetaest of all -- but in my
case, an accurate prediction.
It defies my ability to describe beyond this meager and utterly
inadequate attempt.
- Neal Stephenson, , author of _Snow Crash_, which takes cyberpunk (or
rather, certain trends therein) to the nth degree -- simultaneously a
brilliant parody of/tribute to, and the final word in, certain
speculative directions it was headed.
He co-authored two novels under the pseudonym Stephen Bury with his
(ex-NSA?) uncle. _Interface_, a brilliantly funny and scary conspiracy
novel, about which I atypically can endorse a pull quote on the back: "A
Manchurian Candidate for the computer age." - Seattle Weekly. The
second, _The Cobweb_, I initially wasn't as impressed by. On reflection
and reread it seems more mature and subtle, and less imaginitive and
more accurate how certain political processes work. A lot "realer" and
more nuanced feel, a lot more mature sense of humor. Less fluffily
amusing, more filling.
Stephenson's latest, _Cryptonomicon_, his longest so far, takes the
nuance and subtlety a quantum leap further. Weaving between the present
and the past, it covers a few key families over the course of centuries,
while introducing readers to the history and purpose of cryptography,
and slowly and quietly sneaking in development of some sophisticated
secret society and occult themes. This author seems to be maturing and
deepening with each subsequent novel. I'm looking forward to his and
his story's further evolution in the upcoming parts of this planned
trilogy.
- Tom Robbins, who claimed* to one interviewer to write his novels one
word at a time -- taking as long as necessary to find the perfect next
word and repeating this process through completion of the story -- a
cleim that strikes me as poetically, if not literally, true. A cosmic
sense of humor and love that shines through from the author: a
hopelessly hopeful or hopefully hopeless romantic. I've only read a few
of his novels, but recommend _Still Life with Woodpecker_.
* See http://www.wga.org/craft/robbins.html
- Some brief(er) honorable mentions:
Sean Stewart, emotionally rich speculative yet solid-feeling magical
realism with a bit of a darker edge. A publisher whose choice of quotes
and descriptions I often agree with (the third time I'm doing this, but
as a rule I don't, honest!): "Stephen King meets Ibsen. Trust me."--
Neal Stephenson.
- _Nobody's Son_, a takeoff on and from the classic fantasy hero, in
which "'happily ever after' is only the beginning". Clever and funny
and touching tale of emotional maturing.
- _Resurrection Man_ has some Crowley references and nicely creepy
atmospherics
- _The Night Watch_, which gets deeper and harder
- _Galveston_, his most recent and the most resonant of all. I found
this novel, especially certain passages and incidents, very hard to read
at times. But very worthwhile.
10/01/03:
There's more that I'm leaving off, but I figure I should post this
sometime before the next millenium...
--
Cliff
thor
day one,but time contraints have keep me from it so far, but after
some thought one of the books that just had been discussed by me and a
friend is:
[THE PARADIGM CONSPIRACY:<b> HOW OUR SYSTEMS
OF GOVERNMENT, CHURCH, SCHOOL, AND CULTURE VIOLATE OUR HUMAN
POTENTIALS</b>
(Hazelden, 1996), insightfully focuses on how worldviews can cause or
end
suffering.
This extremely important book examines many paradigms
that run our social systems, what kinds of "worlds" they create, how
they
affect us personally, and how we can create new models to replace
dysfunctional paradigms. In an extremely clear, non-antagonistic
presentation, the book
overall provides a workable model for individuals to claim their
power to change social systems by changing the paradigms on which they
are founded.]
I will follow up with more books at another time, but I feel this book
is a must read for our dark times....
-thor
ewagn...@aol.com (EWagner382) wrote in message news:<20030920200441...@mb-m25.aol.com>...