Slashdot Asks: What Book(s) Are You Reading This Month?

The gay science by Anonymous Coward · 2018-09-14 04:39 · Score: 0

By Friedrich Nietzsche

ww1 centennial coming up by bugs2squash · 2018-09-14 04:40 · Score: 3, Interesting

Storm of Steel by Ernst Junger. With respect to my heritage this is an account by someone on "the other side" in WW1. Always worth getting a different perspective.

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Nullius in verba

Re:ww1 centennial coming up by kalpol · 2018-09-14 06:05 · Score: 1

Good time to read it too, as it's just about the 100th anniversary of the end of WWI, and it's passed out of living human memory with the death of the last veteran. It's on my list to read as well.

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12:50 - press return.
Re:ww1 centennial coming up by neoRUR · 2018-09-14 11:41 · Score: 1

Well it's now passed down thru games (There have been many thru the years, everything from Real Time Strategy to First Person shooters.)
You get to feel and experience it, so it's not all lost. But it's not quite the same as reading a book, all perspectives are valid.
Here are some current games about WW1:
BattleField 1 - and there will be a new WW2 version coming out this year. (They have some good story elements and actually talk about the history of why the battles are happening.)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
Verdun - trench warfare.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
There have been many movies over the years, even some famous ones that still get played:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
Re: ww1 centennial coming up by Anonymous Coward · 2018-09-15 03:00 · Score: 0

Not all perspectives are valid. Pomo can die. Only so many perspectives work for a given task, and there's a bunch of media prducts that don't get history accurate enough that we can consider ww1 history 'saved'.

Good book by shaksys · 2018-09-14 04:41 · Score: 0

Reading this for my toy OS... USB: The Universal Serial Bus (FYSOS: Operating System Design Book 8)

The Mythical Man Month by bobbied · 2018-09-14 04:43 · Score: 4, Insightful

Everybody who engineers or manages engineers needs to read this book every few years.

"The Mythical Man Month" by Fred Brooks.

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"File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101

Re:The Mythical Man Month by DickBreath · 2018-09-14 04:51 · Score: 3

But will they learn the lessons from it?

Every few years since the 1970s managers get some new fad that it is possible to totally predict all software development, 100% perfectly, so it fits into nice neat marketing timetables. Clue: even companies with billions of dollars have trouble perfectly predicting large software projects or when they will be ready.

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I'll see your senator, and I'll raise you two judges.
Re:The Mythical Man Month by Anonymous Coward · 2018-09-14 05:14 · Score: 0

I am not sure you need to read this book if you already understand physics.
Re:The Mythical Man Month by Anonymous Coward · 2018-09-14 05:17 · Score: 0

I've seen some young "professionals" dismiss "The Mythical Man Month" because it is old.
Re:The Mythical Man Month by ShanghaiBill · 2018-09-14 05:19 · Score: 1

Every few years since the 1970s managers get some new fad that it is possible to totally predict all software development, 100% perfectly, so it fits into nice neat marketing timetables.
Can you give a few examples of these "fads", because I have never seen this.
The biggest fad today is Agile, with does the opposite. It abandons the idea of a rigid timetable, and instead uses a series of flexible "sprints", and incremental objectives.
Waterfall used rigid timetables, but it was around way before 1970, and was never a "fad".
Re:The Mythical Man Month by Bengie · 2018-09-14 05:34 · Score: 1

My company uses Agile more as a time management and priority planning process than a full development process. I think it works great in that sense. I can never really work on any one thing 100% of the time. Agile allows us to take in new work, see it relative to other work, and plan and communicate with others how we plan to spend our time for the next 2 weeks.

When someone comes to us with work that "must get done" we can show them all of our scheduled work and figure out which other work might need to get pushed and communicate with the stake holders of that work to find out who's work really is more important. It also helps with resource allocations. We can show to upper management where we spend our time and they can decide to shift work away from us, further delay work, or let us hire.
Re:The Mythical Man Month by bobbied · 2018-09-14 05:39 · Score: 1

I've seen some young "professionals" dismiss "The Mythical Man Month" because it is old.
This is folly.. Brooks was right, there is nothing really new about the problems of executing engineering projects, and there solutions will never change.

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"File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101
Re:The Mythical Man Month by bobbied · 2018-09-14 05:44 · Score: 1

But will they learn the lessons from it?
I read it because I need to remember the lessons. IF the young skulls full of mush refuse to understand it is their folly, not mine. They can take my advice, or not; they can learn the easy way (from others' mistakes) or the hard way (by making their own mistakes). Personally, I'm so close to being done here, I don't have a dog in this hunt anymore.

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"File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101
Re:The Mythical Man Month by Anonymous Coward · 2018-09-14 05:44 · Score: 0

> Can you give a few examples of these "fads", because I have never seen this.
This one actually works pretty well, but obviously not 100%:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three-point_estimation
> The biggest fad today is Agile
You say Agile, but are you perhaps talking about Scrum as it has sprints? I like Agile.
Problem with waterfall is that you won't always get all the requirements. We have been doing Agile project for a couple of years now, it is basically a rewrite of old software that was done in waterfall (and we have the old documents), and we still don't have all the requirements, and even those we have, change all the time (e.g. when end user encounters a problem). I don't see any point trying to do something like that as a waterfall. For a small project, say an application that needs to translate https requests into http requests, something that is very well defined and implemented already, for that waterfall would work just fine.
One of my favourite books is "Peopleware". It gives some interesting numbers regarding noise/error ratio, office space, etc. and some management errors and how people have fought against the management in a rebel way.
Re:The Mythical Man Month by bobbied · 2018-09-14 05:49 · Score: 3, Interesting

Actually, I don't think Agile runs contrary to Brooks. In fact, I think Agile flows pretty naturally from Brooks.
Of course, the term "agile" can be abused in astonishingly foolish ways (and yes, I've lived though some of these), but I actually think true Agile addresses many of the issues raised by Brooks as being keys to successful projects when properly done.
So let's call Agile and Brooks complementary.

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"File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101
Re:The Mythical Man Month by Nidi62 · 2018-09-14 06:45 · Score: 5, Funny

Everybody who engineers or manages engineers needs to read this book every few years.
"The Mythical Man Month" by Fred Brooks.
I was going to have all my subordinates read it but the book was too long, so I assigned them all a chapter to read so they would finish reading the book quicker.

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The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for it to be pitted against a slightly greater evil
Re:The Mythical Man Month by Gr8Apes · 2018-09-14 06:58 · Score: 1

My, that sounds like a tasks schedule chart, with assignments. Something that just might be considered part of a waterfall process. And you're modifying it!!! Oh noes!

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The cesspool just got a check and balance.
Re:The Mythical Man Month by Gr8Apes · 2018-09-14 06:59 · Score: 1

So let's call Agile and Brooks complementary.
Let's not.

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The cesspool just got a check and balance.
Re:The Mythical Man Month by Snotnose · 2018-09-14 07:15 · Score: 1

Don't forget DeMarco's Peopleware. 30+ years old, still relevant.
Re:The Mythical Man Month by Stephan+Schulz · 2018-09-14 08:33 · Score: 1

even companies with billions of dollars have trouble perfectly predicting large software projects
Strike "perfectly", and it still is true. All companies have trouble predicting any non-trivial software projects (say more than 3 developers involved, more than 6 months initial schedule), unless its the umpteenth copycat web app. Projects work well if you have one developer who understands the system and is provided with adequate support. And projects die when that developer is hit by a bus, or a Google offer, or a stupid manager. The other way to stay on schedule is to plan for about 1000% of the best-guess estimate of a competent project manager.

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Stephan
Re:The Mythical Man Month by Stephan+Schulz · 2018-09-14 08:50 · Score: 1

I can never really work on any one thing 100% of the time. Agile allows us to take in new work, [...]
Sorry, but what you describe is essentially the antithesis of agile. One of the core ideas of agile is for the team members to be 100% committed to the project, to pick their own tasks and to take responsibility for them. If you keep disrupting them with "new work", they can't be responsible for delivering their parts of the project - their time is not under their control. And, of course, this is extremely wasteful, as the task-switching effort is massive for complex projects.
Many companies work this way, but its not agile, it's just inefficient.
Of course, one of the most interesting parts of my job is to ask students what software development processes were used during their internship. It's almost invariably called "Scrum", and if so, it invariably is not Scrum, but something that combines the overhead of the V-model with the flexibility of waterfall, but requires daily "Scrum meetings" and the "Scrum Master" handing out assignments and micro-managing the developers.

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Stephan
Re:The Mythical Man Month by Bengie · 2018-09-14 09:26 · Score: 1

I asked a trainer on how to handle architecture and design with Agile since it doesn't really fit. I was told to "timebox". Yeah... ummm... no. Agile is a development process, not an architecture or design process. I haz hammer, everything a nail!
Re:The Mythical Man Month by ShanghaiBill · 2018-09-14 10:22 · Score: 1

I asked a trainer on how to handle architecture and design with Agile
You just start coding. You don't do architecture or design until coding is complete, docs are written, and you have buy-in from all stakeholders.
1. Code
2. Document
3. Design
Really, what could be easier? The cool thing about Agile is if you screw up the design, it doesn't really matter, because you already have working code, and everybody is happy.
Re:The Mythical Man Month by ngc5194 · 2018-09-14 10:40 · Score: 3, Informative

True story. A company was having problems with its development team. I was brought in to manage the team, to get things straightened out and act as a bridge between the developers and management. One of the folks on the management team asked me if I could recommend any books on the issues that address why they were having such problems with software development. I said there are a bunch, but start with the best, "Mythical Man Month". A few days later I asked him if he had bought it and started reading it. He said he looked at it, but it was really old so he didn't bother with it. He asked if there were more recent books I could recommend. I said, "Yes, but none of them are as good. Trust me, give this one a chance and we can talk about it's applicability to our situation." Again, a few days later we talked, and he decided he wasn't going to bother getting and reading it. I said, "Let me get this straight, you hired me for my insights into the software development process. You've seen me improve things around here. You asked me, presumably because you recognize I have some expertise in the field, what you should read, I told you, and you decided to go with your instincts on this matter over my judgment, is that correct?" To this day I have not received an answer to this question.
Re: The Mythical Man Month by Anonymous Coward · 2018-09-14 19:13 · Score: 0

You should read Machiavelli's Il Principe (The Prince). Much older still yet very valuable to this day.
Re:The Mythical Man Month by Gr8Apes · 2018-09-16 03:29 · Score: 1

You just start coding. You don't do architecture or design until coding is complete, docs are written, and you have buy-in from all stakeholders.
1. Code 2. Document 3. Design
Really, what could be easier? The cool thing about Agile is if you screw up the design, it doesn't really matter, because you already have working code, and everybody is happy.
Straight over the cliff, like a waterfall. ;) The cool thing about Agile is that the mess you create won't be yours, because you run away to the next project. Wait! You want maintenance and additional feature development? Hmm, maybe we should have thought about this a bit more at the beginning. Now we have an entire system that needs to be thrown away. Agile sure is cool.

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The cesspool just got a check and balance.
Re:The Mythical Man Month by Bengie · 2018-09-17 01:41 · Score: 1

Sarcasm? If you don't have a design, then anything could be considered "working code". A "bug" is anything that doesn't work according to the design. Without a design, you have no bugs, everything is a feature! Is your data getting corrupted? If it's working as designed, then it's an undocumented feature.
Re:The Mythical Man Month by Bengie · 2018-09-17 02:26 · Score: 1

I have to deal with tight SLAs for bug-fixes or work-arounds. You can argue about ideals from an ivory tower, but in the real world, a customer has a $10mil contract that is contingent on next-day turn-arounds, you get interrupted. 99% of the time, the issue is not with our code, but 11th hour feature changes that threaten the contract or with interfacing with under-designed code that the team can't even tell you what is defined as "working". Many "agile" teams define "working" as when the customer isn't able to get an issue to be reproduced.
Re:The Mythical Man Month by Anonymous Coward · 2018-09-17 06:08 · Score: 0

Other fads? HIPO. Structured, RUP. Fads that were subsumed into Agile? Pair programming, RAD, extreme, iterative.
"Waterfall" was a back formation to give Agile a straw man to attack. Before Agile, we never called process X waterfall.
The most intriguing technique I read about, but never was popular enough to be a fad, was Spiral which was like Agile in that it focused on iterative refinement but focused on managing risk. At least as I remember it.
Back in the day when you were lucky to get one compile a DAY, modern techniques would never have succeeded. Techniques are creatures of their time. Mythical Manmonth was and is a crucial reminder than not all programmers are created equal. Skills, experience, attitude, efficiency, communication skills are all different. The best programmer in my shop can analyze and code what the worst programmer could never accomplish. Can't put that on the GANTT/PERT charts though. Also fads.
Anyway, the book I'm reading now, Oliver Morton, "The Planet Remade" If remedial efforts to avoid further global warming aren't enough, is geoengineering an option?

The Billionaire Raj by Anonymous Coward · 2018-09-14 04:44 · Score: 3, Insightful

Picked "The Billionaire Raj" by James Crabtree, a former Mumbai bureau chief of Financial Times who used to live in India. For nearly a century leading up to its independence in 1947, India operated under a system of British governance known as the Raj, (Sanskrit for kingdom or rule.) Then, more or less until the introduction of economic liberalization in 1991, the country stagnated under a planned economy whose overwhelming regulatory demands were described as the License Raj. The book illustrates how India has come under the grip of a new but no less troublesome regime. In a nation no longer at the mercy of imperial administrators and maharajahs or petty bureaucrats, a new system has grown up, and the emerging superrich are firmly in charge. Pretty fascinating book if you want to learn more about India, which is increasingly becoming important for Silicon Valley companies, and take you mind off of the US politics headlines.

A few I've read that have had me laughing.. by malkavian · 2018-09-14 04:44 · Score: 3, Insightful

Are:
"Carpet Diem" by Justin Lee Anderson
(The Chronicles of Breed) "Dangerous to Know", "Tooth and Claw" and "Something Wicked" by K.T. Davies.

I'd say Carpet Diem would appeal to fans of Douglas Adams for the humour, and perspective on life.
The Chronicles of Breed books are the sort of humour that Deadpool brings to bear, though I'd say has a fair bit more insightfulness than Deadpool about life.
All of those are well worth a look.

Re:A few I've read that have had me laughing.. by Anonymous Coward · 2018-09-14 06:14 · Score: 0

Life. Don't talk to me about life.

Paul Anderson by Anonymous Coward · 2018-09-14 04:44 · Score: 1

Reading: Paul Anderson, Starfarers

Just completed and found funny: Part 4 (of 4) of the complete Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson. When compared to most of the recycled and utterly unfunny stuff on the funny pages these years, his cartoons are/were a breath of fresh air.

My Fantasy Reading List for September 2018 by Seven+Spirals · 2018-09-14 04:46 · Score: 5, Interesting

* The Prince of Fools by Mark Lawrence

* Lyonesse by Jack Vance

* The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss

* The Furies of Calderon by Jim Butcher

* The Fall of Gondolin by JRR Tolkien

I can recommend all of these, except for The Fall of Gondolin. It's not really up to Tolkien's best standard, but still worth reading for fans like me.

Re:My Fantasy Reading List for September 2018 by Anonymous Coward · 2018-09-14 05:27 · Score: 0

Under the Bleachers by Seymore Butts
Re:My Fantasy Reading List for September 2018 by AmiMoJo · 2018-09-14 06:07 · Score: 1

The BBC screened Hamlet earlier this year, and I decided to read it this month too.
Also Crash Override by Zoe Quinn.

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const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
Re:My Fantasy Reading List for September 2018 by bobbied · 2018-09-14 06:10 · Score: 1

"The Wilderness" - by I.M. Lost, forward by G.P. S. Down
"Flying into Fixed Terrain" - by We Tuw Lew, Forward by Paul Up
"I Drive!" - By Ickup Andropov, forward by Mr. U. Wilkin.
"Hexed" - By Eight Bits, forward by Justa Byte

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"File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101
Re:My Fantasy Reading List for September 2018 by Anonymous Coward · 2018-09-14 08:08 · Score: 0

""Flying into Fixed Terrain" - by We Tuw Lew,"
Sorry, I don't read books by chinamen, too many world class white authors to read first.

The Pirate Planet by Anonymous Coward · 2018-09-14 04:46 · Score: 1

The Pirate Planet, a Doctor Who story by Douglas Adams, novelized by James Goss. Captures good old Douglas to a great extent and intermixes with the good Doctor himself. A pleasurable commuter read.

Re:The Pirate Planet by kalpol · 2018-09-14 06:08 · Score: 1

The serial is good too, with the pirate captain and his killer rocket parrot.

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12:50 - press return.

The Joy of Linux by DickBreath · 2018-09-14 04:47 · Score: 2

The Joy of Linux
A Gourmet Guide To Open Source

https://www.amazon.com/Joy-Lin...

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I'll see your senator, and I'll raise you two judges.

Using FreeDOS by Anonymous Coward · 2018-09-14 04:47 · Score: 2, Interesting

Really liked Using FreeDOS from the FreeDOS folks. Kind of a blast from the past in there about old DOS programs, and its cool to see this favorite old OS also-ran still hanging around. It's for free as an EPUB or PDF, but there's a bound print copy too.

Re:Using FreeDOS by kalpol · 2018-09-14 06:09 · Score: 1

Interesting, I should get it. Still use FreeDOS a lot actually on old things like my Warcraft II CD and games from the 80s (Starflight!)

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12:50 - press return.

Foreigner Series by C.J. Cherryh by The+Original+CDR · 2018-09-14 04:47 · Score: 4, Insightful

I read 18 volumes of C.J. Cherryh's Foreigner series in 54 days. That's about ~7,000 pages. A fast paced story that never bogs down about aliens, first contact and languages. Volume 19 just came out but I haven't read it yet.

Re:Foreigner Series by C.J. Cherryh by Anonymous Coward · 2018-09-14 06:57 · Score: 0

After reading several books although my reading comprehension is near zero, I plan to be able to retired in 2020. I told you creimertards how to do it but no, you were to smart to listen!
I find AmazonTM the gretest thing since sliced bread and helps taking care of my health at retirement with the Amazon long tail revenue streams!
All you need to do is find a website with a permissive TOS, say, Slashdot, create a Python script to scrape your own comments, sprinkle Amazon affiliate links in various posts, and then re-post past links whenever possible. You can even make video of yourself going to pick up AmazonTM parcel at the convenience store and post it on your youtube channel for more redundant revenue streams.
They also have a wide supply, the best of latte and clif/power bars at the best cost, espicially if you make a friend buy them for you with your own affiliate link!
Also, I still use my iPhone 6s and reduce my monthly bill from $80 to $50. As a phone and a video camera, the iPhone 6s isn't obsolete and I use it to make my videos on youtube. As a Sprint very special customer for 20+ years, Sprint will always give me a new iPhone for free if I decide to stop using the 6s as a phone in the next several years.
I use PhotoShop daily!
I have a hearing loss in one ear, so my audio will always be suspect. I use a Zoom H2 audio recorder with a pop filter 12" away from my mouth, Audacity to clean up and normalize the audio, and sync the audio to the video and apply a "voice enhancement" eq to the audio in the video editor.
My PC has an eight-core processor and a Nvidia 1050 Ti 4GB video card. A minute of 1080p video renedered on the processor takes a minute. A minute of 1080p video rendered on the Nvidia card takes 10 seconds. I don't think an iPad has the same performance of my PC for rendering videos longer than a short clip.
I can't imagine using Photoshop without a keyboard and mouse, or not being able to access my files from my file server. Video rendering on the iPad will probably suck donkey balls.
Blackmagic also charges high prices for their gear as Apple does. Need an HDMI to USB3 capture device? Blackmagic is $300. Any generic company is $50.
I take public transit. A local bus take me down the street to pick up the express bus, the express bus drops me off in Palo Alto, and a local bus take me down the street to my job. An hour each way. Driving through Palo Alto during rush hour is insane. Since I work in government I.T., I start work at 7:00AM.
For a final project in Small Group Communications, my four Vietnamese classmates appointed me to do all the work and be the speaker because I was white. So I did all the work and spoke in front of the class. Our instructor, a black woman, gave me all their credit for the assignment and forced them to retake the class. They screamed "white privilige" all the way to administration and their complaint landed on deaf ears. They couldn't prove that they did anything to merit a grade and cheerleading from the back of the room doesn't count.
The background file for my national security clearance got stolen by the Chinese a few years ago That contained a lot more information than the credit reports that Uncle Sam requested from all three bureaus.
Bonus: get some silver coins, view recommendations on my special Youtube channel dedicated to the topic! They constitute a fail-safe insurance strategy for your retirement!
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The Singing Lizard Children Band @ Mt. View Art & Wine Festival 2018
Re:Foreigner Series by C.J. Cherryh by Anonymous Coward · 2018-09-14 07:00 · Score: 0

_,--=#[The Post CRIMER doesn't want you to read!!!]#=--,_ 1)Why-are-people-upset-with-him? 2)What-can-I-do 3)What-are-his-names 4)Who-is-FatCashewsLovesMe 5)How-to-defeat-his-hustles 6)Why-are-there-dashes 7)Pastebin-Copy
1)Why-are-people-upset-with-himHe makes frequent low quality posts for two reasons:
Money) BASICALLY: He made thousands of shitty posts & bragged about how much money it made him.
DETAILS: He wants u to folow his referer links & pick up his cookie. Even if u dont buy what he linked but do buy something else from that site later on he often makes money;He ALSO tries to drive TRAFFIC to his various BLOGS & vlogs.
Karma)He believes karma acumulates infinitely So he makes lots of pointles posts that r not bad enough to mod down;hoping they wil get moded up;He was a raging ahole when he thoght he had a karma surplus
2)What-can-I-do DOWNMOD u wil usually get more mod points. If he is postng from a new sock acount w/ krma, get his oldst posts first. DOWNMOD him and AC in fresh thrads early on;Metmods wil reward u. METAMOD his posts. REPLY ONLY ANONYMOUSLY to the most deeply nested coments in his threds it helps hide his posts. Dwnvote his SUBMISSIONS, he uses to get krma. REPORT HIM to slshdot & the afiliate progrms he is usng. DONT MENTION his brand names c**mer.
3)What-are-his-namesMost famous:The Original CDR, Cre|mer Cdre|mer ILoveFatCashews, Anonymous Cashews, The Fat Bastard aka TCDR
4)Who-is-FatCashewsLoveMe AKA Tardu Lardo,FCLM Funny & anoying; Not me or crimer;He keeps lookout for infestation
5)How-can-I-avoid-his-hustles --===DONT FOLLOW HIS LINKS!!!===--
IF YOU MUST:Use a privte tab & nevr buy anything on the same sesion. If he fools u, close tab, cler the cookies for that site. There r sites other than yutube that wil let u watch his videos. I dont know if people view his contnt but I can pictre his jowls jigling at the thoght of people subvrting his business model
6)Why-are-there-dashes & weird stuffI know most only skim thse posts. I want the most imprtnt infrmton to pop out at a glnce & to keep it shrt. I dont use TCDRs name becase he may think tht he benfits from geting it indxed by serch engnes. Id like 2 thnk TCDR & FCLM for editrial advice
7)Copy: http://archive.is/TtDrY
Re:Foreigner Series by C.J. Cherryh by Whorhay · 2018-09-14 07:14 · Score: 1

I read the first few books in that series when they came out, and had no idea she had continued publishing more. Thanks for bringing it to my attention.
Re:Foreigner Series by C.J. Cherryh by Anonymous Coward · 2018-09-14 07:31 · Score: 0

Thanks for calling creimer a pedophile the other day. His newest video got 150+ views in 24 hours. Who knew that Slashdot had so many fellow pedophiles?
Re:Foreigner Series by C.J. Cherryh by Mr.+Goodprobe · 2018-09-14 07:33 · Score: 1

I would humbly suggest you check out the "Downbelow Station" series, which came out before Foreigner. Really good stuff!
Re:Foreigner Series by C.J. Cherryh by Anonymous Coward · 2018-09-14 07:37 · Score: 0

There you are spamming amazon and youtube affiliate links with yet another fake account, you revenue stream hogging disgusting fat sexist tube of lard, Christopher Dale Reimer!
You can be sure I will be watching this fake account too. I know this is you because you told me you were working on your freepass 11 file server and you are so dumb that you can't even masquerade yourself properly.
Now, I told you I was out of meds last week and you didn't even care to contact me you lazy fucker.
How many times do I have to express the emergency of the situation??????
The python click script you wrote for my pheromone revenue stream web site suddenly stopped to work!!!!!!
You fucking incompetent python script writer!!!
When it works, I get 4000+ clicks a day on my pheromone revenue stream web site but only 5 or 6 without it!!!!
Now, it seems like you dont care and that you have abandoned me you heartless fucking pig!
Bonus:
Here is a story that creimer told me when convincing me what a hard life he had:
The tree was him and the tree knot was his butt hole!
So, his uncle packed his fat ass with lard and with his cock! Not that it makes much of a difference but anyway, there it is!
Signed:
Ethell, The girl that used to love you and now hates you, burn in hell where you belong you sexist pig!
Re:Foreigner Series by C.J. Cherryh by Anonymous Coward · 2018-09-14 07:51 · Score: 0

Get my family friendly Goat C shirt! ~ CaptainDork
Re:Foreigner Series by C.J. Cherryh by Anonymous Coward · 2018-09-15 12:49 · Score: 0

Worse, I first read C.D. Reimer when it was C.J. Cherryh and I had to do a double take in desperation. CROFLOL!

Three Body Problem trilogy by Guy+Smiley · 2018-09-14 04:49 · Score: 4, Insightful

I just finished this series, and each of them were among the most original sci-fi books that I've read in years. That is hard to pull off with three longish books, but the author is full of great ideas.

Re:Three Body Problem trilogy by Anonymous Coward · 2018-09-14 05:07 · Score: 1

Read them also, very nice! :)
Re:Three Body Problem trilogy by zlives · 2018-09-14 05:34 · Score: 1, Redundant

i think i enjoyed them more from a cultural reference point. its interesting to see how a "typical" Chinese would relate to events that i personally would see very differently.
I really enjoyed the books for their sci-fi content as well.
Re: Three Body Problem trilogy by Anonymous Coward · 2018-09-14 07:18 · Score: 0

I liked the first one, the second and third were just meh, the ending sucked imho.
Re:Three Body Problem trilogy by Applehu+Akbar · 2018-09-14 09:46 · Score: 1

i think i enjoyed them more from a cultural reference point.
My take also. As described at the start of the trilogy, China went through its anti-science paroxysm during the Cultural Revolution. The US and Europe are undergoing it right now.
Re: Three Body Problem trilogy by Anonymous Coward · 2018-09-15 03:07 · Score: 0

You mean anti-truth in all forms. 2015-2016 was a heyday for postmodern deconstructionism. Now the void has been rebuilt by jordan peterson, pinker, haidt harris, weinstein et al.

My list by Quirkz · 2018-09-14 04:50 · Score: 3, Insightful

- The Pun Also Rises (not a typo; yes, it's about puns)
- The Great American Novel by William Carlos Williams
- Thanks, but It's Not for Us - a book on writing craft
- Drinking with Dead Drunks by Elaine Ambrose and A.K. Turner

--
The Quirkz Handbook of Self-Improvement for People Who Are Already Pretty Okay

Current and upcoming... by gosand · 2018-09-14 04:50 · Score: 3, Insightful

Current:
Mistakes Were Made (But Not by Me): Why We Justify Foolish Beliefs, Bad Decisions, and Hurtful Acts

So far so good... very insightful into how we think and act.

Up Next:
Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!: Adventures of a Curious Character

Looking forward to this because he's such a great figure.

--

My beliefs do not require that you agree with them.

Re:Current and upcoming... by CaptainDork · 2018-09-14 06:21 · Score: 1

You would enjoy:
The Quantum Labyrinth: How Richard Feynman and John Wheeler Revolutionized Time and Reality by Paul Halpen, who worked with both.

The story of the unlikely friendship between the two physicists who fundamentally recast the notion of time and history
Feynmans's antics are quite legendary and discussed here.

--
It little behooves the best of us to comment on the rest of us.
Re:Current and upcoming... by ClickOnThis · 2018-09-14 08:25 · Score: 1

Up Next:
Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!: Adventures of a Curious Character
Looking forward to this because he's such a great figure.
After you're done, read its sequel: What Do You Care What Other People Think?, also based on interviews of Feynman by his colleague Ralph Leighton. Feynman's recollections of the Challenger inquiry are alone worth the read.

--
If it weren't for deadlines, nothing would be late.
Re:Current and upcoming... by thomst · 2018-09-14 09:19 · Score: 1
Current:
- On the ancient iPad I use for bathroom reading: Fear by Bob Woodward.
- On the the 55-incher in the liviing room (which is a display for our media computer): The Steep Approach to Garbadale by Iain Banks (which, unusually for his mainstream stuff, is a real slog).
- On my phone (which I mostly use as an ereader in doctors' office waiting rooms): Let's Spend the Night Together by Pamela DesBarres.
Upcoming?
I haven't really decided which one will go on which device yet, but John Dies at the End by Steven Wong (because I enjoyed the movie), any one of a number of musicians' (auto)biographies, and Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate by Owen L. Sirrs (as research for my work-in-progress, War - Volume Two of American Sulla) are next in the queue.
What I'm not going to read?
Anything on technology that doesn't directly bear on my writing - because I walked away from the tech journalism industry after the first Internet bubble collapsed, taking about 650 of the industry's rags down with it ...
--
Check out my novel.
Re:Current and upcoming... by chasvircio · 2018-09-17 08:36 · Score: 1

Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman! cemented Feynman as my favorite all-time physicist.

Reminiscences of a Stock Operator by Anonymous Coward · 2018-09-14 04:50 · Score: 2, Insightful

This is a tale of someone making $100 million during the 1929 stock market crash.
Imagine having enough cash to pay 100,000 people to work for you for nearly 3 years.
This day, that would be about $15 billion.

Re:Reminiscences of a Stock Operator by Anonymous Coward · 2018-09-14 05:21 · Score: 0

It's actually biographical about Jesse Livermore.

"Small Gods", by Terry Pratchett by MarchHare · 2018-09-14 04:51 · Score: 2

I've read 4/5th of it at this point, I'll probably finish it this weekend. It's a beautiful nice fantasy story. No need to have read any of the other Discworld novels, either.

It's the story of a young apprentice priest in a extremely religious society, who meets the actual god of that society. The god has just re-incarnated into a small tortoise, and has almost no godlike powers left. And, the little tortoise can only be heard by the apprentice.

Re:"Small Gods", by Terry Pratchett by i.r.id10t · 2018-09-14 05:17 · Score: 1

The BBC Radio production of it is really good. And if you like Pratchett, check out AA Pessimal on fanfiction.net -- https://www.fanfiction.net/u/1...

--
Don't blame me, I voted for Kodos
Re:"Small Gods", by Terry Pratchett by purple_cobra · 2018-09-15 13:28 · Score: 1

Much as I love all the Discworld books (and, of course, Good Omens; I am hoping the televised version of that due next year is worthy of the source), Small Gods is my favourite. I don't think Pratchett ever topped it, although Thud! came close and both Night Watch and Unseen Academicals remain close to my heart. If you're reading through the series in any order, do yourself a favour and leave Raising Steam until last or just skip it entirely; it's fairly clear that by that time, Pratchett had been overtaken by his "embuggerance" and the book has the appearance of being completed from crib notes. The latter period - from Thud! onward - mark a notably darker tone; Snuff is pretty unpleasant in places, and while most of Raising Steam is Discworld-by-numbers there are some hints of what it might have been had Pratchett not been overcome and it is *dark*.

not much of a reader by Anonymous Coward · 2018-09-14 04:51 · Score: 1

but.. "The Hidden Life of Trees"

Re:not much of a reader by ClickOnThis · 2018-09-14 08:27 · Score: 1

but.. "The Hidden Life of Trees"
Hope you got it as an e-book. ;-p

--
If it weren't for deadlines, nothing would be late.

Sunburst and Luminary by EdwinFreed · 2018-09-14 04:52 · Score: 3, Insightful

by Don Eyles, about the "development of software for the Apollo program". This book contains far more technical details than is the norm, and the tone is that of an actual engineer rather than a biographer/editor.

Re:Sunburst and Luminary by sconeu · 2018-09-14 05:38 · Score: 2

Similar vein, "We Have Capture" by Tom Stafford.
I've been on an astronaut bio kick recently.

--
General Relativity: Space-time tells matter where to go; Matter tells space-time what shape to be.
Re:Sunburst and Luminary by Anonymous Coward · 2018-09-14 16:26 · Score: 0

Thanks, this looks fantastic!
Re:Sunburst and Luminary by dargaud · 2018-09-14 20:13 · Score: 1

What was the name of the book from the chief engineer on Apollo ? It was fantastic, explaining how they tackled all the problems one after the others. Or at the same time. And also about how they received the famous "Houston, we have a problem".

--
Non-Linux Penguins ?

school, work, or fun? by i.r.id10t · 2018-09-14 04:52 · Score: 1

For school, text books on project management and agile management.

For work, technical documentation

For fun, I've been re-re-reading a lot of Terry Pratchett's stuff as well as a lot of excellent Discworld fan fiction from AA Pessimal on fanficton.net - https://www.fanfiction.net/u/1... . If you like Pratchett and all things DIscworld, Pessimal's stuff isn't to be missed.

--
Don't blame me, I voted for Kodos

The Day We Lost the H-bomb by willoughby · 2018-09-14 04:52 · Score: 2

In 1966, as a result of a mid-air collision of US aircraft, four unarmed thermonuclear bombs dropped onto Spanish territory. Three were recovered on land. Tracking down the fourth required the largest search-and-salvage operation in U.S. military history.

The Day We Lost the H-Bomb by Barbara Moran is a fascinating read.

https://www.goodreads.com/book...

My Favourite Book by Anonymous Coward · 2018-09-14 04:53 · Score: 0

still is likely Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson. Snow Crash by the same author is not far behind it.

BOOKS by Anonymous Coward · 2018-09-14 04:53 · Score: 1

Although I read this quite a bit ago, "On Killing" by Lt Col Dave Grossman, very interesting read.

Re:BOOKS by Anonymous Coward · 2018-09-14 05:51 · Score: 0

Wow, had this book many years ago, and never heard it mentioned. Short, punchy, informative, chilling. I highly recommend this book.

The Skull of Alum Bheg by magarity · 2018-09-14 04:55 · Score: 2

It's about the uprising in East India Company controlled India that lead to the direct UK government rule.

Maker's Schedule, Manager's Schedule by mykepredko · 2018-09-14 04:57 · Score: 3, Interesting

I have always found this essay: http://www.paulgraham.com/make...

To be the best way to explain to managers/executives how to work with engineers.

--
Mimetics Inc. Twitter

A Short History of Nearly Everything by Lucas123 · 2018-09-14 04:59 · Score: 3, Interesting

Author Bill Bryson explains some areas of science, using easily accessible language that appeals more so to the general public than many other books dedicated to the subject. I'm just beginning the book, but I've already found it absolutely fascinating as it's filled with little factoids, such as why Pluto lost its planetary status (it's less than half the size of the United States and may even be a comet in the Kuiper belt), or of the billions and billions of species that existed throughout Earth's history, 99.99% of them no longer exist; the average existence of a species is 4 million years.

It's a really compelling read.

Re:A Short History of Nearly Everything by Anonymous Coward · 2018-09-14 06:13 · Score: 0

Me too! I'm about 1/8th of the way though it now, probably finish up in the next day or two.
My impressions so far:
Likes:
It's entertaining, has good flow and is very readable.
Dislike:
it's not exactly insightful. So far I haven't come across any new 'a-ha' moments or interesting new thoughts to ponder, or brain stretchers. Totally fair though, it makes no claim to be an in-depth treatment of any one subject - how could it be, unless it were an entire library.
So overall, it's entertaining and light reading but a bit shallow. Brain candy. It delivers exactly what the cover promises, and I'm enjoying it. It would have been an amazing read had I encountered it in my early adolescence, when his ideas would have been new to me.

My lists by Anonymous Coward · 2018-09-14 05:00 · Score: 1

Investing in REITS, 4th edition, Ralph Block
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, Robert Pirsig
(Rereading it) The Prince, Niccolo Machiavelli

Short Next List (I have dozens more on my list):

Early Retirement Extreme: Jacob Fisker
Hackers: Heros of the Computer Revolution: Steven Levy
Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits: Phil Fisher
Interpretation of Financial Statements: Benjamin Graham

Death By Black Hole by Anonymous Coward · 2018-09-14 05:00 · Score: 1

By Neil deGrasse Tyson

Re:Death By Black Hole by CaptainDork · 2018-09-14 06:11 · Score: 1

Read it.
In fact, I have read all of his.
Very informative and entertaining for we lay.

--
It little behooves the best of us to comment on the rest of us.

Fiction vs Factual by Anonymous Coward · 2018-09-14 05:02 · Score: 0, Insightful

I find fiction to be a waste of my time - why read about made-up stuff based on someones thoughts about things that never happened and never will, when there are so many great books about what actually happened and how it happened, what is happening right now and why, and what science tells us can actually happen in the future ?

Even amongst factual books, I find SO many that are so badly written that while being fascinated by what they are about, I cannot read them because they are just full of bad grammar and plain bad writing.
Many publishing companies should be ashamed of what they put their name on.

Reading now: Smugglers Blues by Richard Stratton, the well-written (!) autobiography of a marijuana smuggler.

Re:Fiction vs Factual by rpresser · 2018-09-14 05:08 · Score: 2

I suppose you never watch (scripted) TV or movies either. Or make up stories for children. You must be really fun person.
Re:Fiction vs Factual by Anonymous Coward · 2018-09-14 08:09 · Score: 0

He watched Gettysburg, then criticized it. The Killer Angels was an amazing book.
Re:Fiction vs Factual by Applehu+Akbar · 2018-09-14 09:52 · Score: 1

I find fiction to be a waste of my time...
Works of fiction are scenarios. If you never 'run' such scenarios to pre-experience what might happen if, being surprised by what reality can throw at you is the REAL waste of time.
Re: Fiction vs Factual by Anonymous Coward · 2018-09-14 12:13 · Score: 0

Some people don't need TV to have - or be - fun, Shallow Hal.
Re: Fiction vs Factual by Anonymous Coward · 2018-09-14 12:16 · Score: 0

I tried and enjoyed The Martian.
But so much of that was fact-based and the fiction didn't get in the way of the entertaining information.
Any more heavy-on-facts fiction like that to to recommend ?
Re:Fiction vs Factual by UnknownSoldier · 2018-09-14 21:21 · Score: 1

Found the person completely clueless about Parables.
Does it matter that the story about the boy who cried wolf never happened? No one gives fuck about the actual history as long as you learn the lesson(s).
Your fallacy is that you think fiction has nothing to teach you; which is false. It is hard to fill the cup when it thinks it is already full. You are completely unable to understand the Three-fold nature of writing:
* Literal
* Allegorical
* Application
By dismissing fiction has having no value you remain blind to the lesson(s) that it can potentially teach. You are stuck at the Literal level not realizing that there is FAR more to understanding then just the Literal interpretation.
Examples:
* You can enjoy The Matrix (1999) at a literal level -- as a dumb, action flick. But you can ALSO understand it at a deeper Allegorical level -- that maybe consciousness is NOT just a physical process but something more.
e.g. How would you know if you were dreaming if you never woke up?
i.e. Peter Russel's The Primacy of Consciousness (Scientists view reality completely ass-backwards: Energy/Matter is NOT the foundation of Reality; Consciousness is. This has yet to be (re)discovered, but I digress.)
* Avatar (2009) Again, one can enjoy the movie as a dumb, action flick. But there are ALSO themes of unbridled greed such as Unobtainium, and respecting the existing plant, animal, and indigenous life. The movies presents the concept that maybe consciousness CAN be transferred.
Fiction OPENS YOUR MIND to possibilities that you normally would not be aware.
But keep writing off fiction as "useless" (pun intended.) Maybe someday you'll understand the point of non-fiction such as Baraka (1992)
Re: Fiction vs Factual by Anonymous Coward · 2018-09-15 00:51 · Score: 0

Go and visit some REAL psychiatrists.
Re:Fiction vs Factual by Anonymous Coward · 2018-09-15 05:56 · Score: 0

i.e. Peter Russel's The Primacy of Consciousness (Scientists view reality completely ass-backwards: Energy/Matter is NOT the foundation of Reality; Consciousness is. This has yet to be (re)discovered, but I digress.)
Except that there's absolutely no objective reason to think so, simply because we don't honestly know what conscious awareness actually is. Anyone who says they do is either lying or speaking from unvarnished faith.
I don't want to turn the thread into a philosophical debate, but it occurs to me that saying that reality is imagination, and imagination is reality, doesn't really explain anything—it merely exchanges terms.

Not everyone's cup of tea ... by Syncerus · 2018-09-14 05:03 · Score: 2

"A Companion to Hegel"

Hegel himself is very nearly impenetrable, so I'm using this book as something of a mental crutch.

--
"Man is nothing without the works of man" -- Helvetius

Re:Not everyone's cup of tea ... by blind+biker · 2018-09-14 06:18 · Score: 1

I'll have to check this one out. Thank you.

--
"The agriculture ministry is not in charge of Gundam" - Japanese ministry official.

Japanese novels by Anonymous Coward · 2018-09-14 05:04 · Score: 0

Like I, the Demon Lord took a Slave Elf for my Wife and How not to Summon A DEMON lord and My Little Sister is a Demon Lord because I stayed out Late.

The Art of the Deal by Anonymous Coward · 2018-09-14 05:05 · Score: 0

n/t

Slashdot is a very poor place to discuss books. by rpresser · 2018-09-14 05:07 · Score: 0

Try Goodreads, Mobilereads, LibraryThing, /r/books .... lots of places where people actually discuss books.

Re:Slashdot is a very poor place to discuss books. by CaptainDork · 2018-09-14 06:10 · Score: 1

Don't agree.
I contributed a post, commented on a couple, and now have some reviews that motivate me to pick something different to read.

--
It little behooves the best of us to comment on the rest of us.

Nobody's going to be impressed... by Anonymous Coward · 2018-09-14 05:07 · Score: 1

"Patriots and Liberators", Simon Schama,
"Right Ho, Jeeves", P.G. Wodehouse.

Two novels right now by Anonymous Coward · 2018-09-14 05:07 · Score: 0

The Bridge over the River Kwai, Pierre Boulle (English translation by Xan Fielding)
Plays a lot with British vs. Japanese stereotypes. Based on a true story.

The Forgotten Beasts of Eld, Patricia McKillip
Fantasy that's both traditional and innovative. Won the 1975 World Fantasy Award.

Ghost Rider by Anonymous Coward · 2018-09-14 05:08 · Score: 1

by Neil Peart.

No, I'm not a motocylist, and yes I'm a huge Rush fan. Have wanted to read this for years, so far really good except letter to Brutus can get boring. He really opens himself up. Incredibly sad story... But very interesting as well.

Re:Ghost Rider by jaybrau · 2018-09-14 08:05 · Score: 2

I thought Ghost Rider was especially interesting for the things it did not say. The basis is that acclaimed Canadian drummer for Rush, Neil Peart had recently lost his only child to a car crash and then his wife to cancer, and went on a very long escapist motorcycle tour of North America and journaled about it. Unexpectedly, he does not wallow in self-pity or introspect much at all (he admits to terrible depression without elaborating or indulging), doesn't share much of anything personal about his lost loved ones (Peart has always been carefully private about his personal life), doesn't say much about the unique situation he had financially that allowed him to travel this way for months (though he does mention some stress about limits and situational and internally sourced pressure to return to work eventually), nor much about his bandmates or the music industry. What it ends up being is not a self-help book for those coping with loss, nor a rock star autobiography, but an interesting travel book with a bonus of subtle gems for Rush fans and possibly Objectivists. My takeaway was that Peart seems to be a man of exceptional integrity to remain true to himself and his visions after all he has been through.

"Lost in Math" by fomalhaut · 2018-09-14 05:08 · Score: 3, Insightful

"Lost in Math", by Sabrine Hossenfelder.

Re:"Lost in Math" by blind+biker · 2018-09-14 06:21 · Score: 1

That's a great book. I would never read pop sci books written by journalists, but she is a theoretical physicist. Highly recommended book.

--
"The agriculture ministry is not in charge of Gundam" - Japanese ministry official.
Re:"Lost in Math" by nnet · 2018-09-14 07:07 · Score: 1

The butler did it.

Catastrophe 1914: Europe Goes to War by Scorch_Mechanic · 2018-09-14 05:12 · Score: 3, Insightful

By Max Hastings.

Fascinating, but its so tall that it's slightly awkward to hold it open with one hand, which I find myself doing a lot because I'm referencing things or looking up word definitions on my phone.

I had the good fortune of visiting Powell's City of Books for the first time in years in August and I've been working very slowly (much more slowly than I normally go) through the pile of books I got there.

--
You should turn signatures off.

Random recent stuff by werepants · 2018-09-14 05:14 · Score: 2

The Analects of Confucius
Python for Data Analysis
Eon (Greg Bear) - a bit dated, but fun
Dracula (Bram Stoker) - worth it just to understand the source material for so much modern horror
Apollo 8 (Jeffery Kluger) - Great, historical mission that isn't as commonly talked about as Apollo 11 or 13
Anthem (Ayn Rand) - Total garbage, should have known

Algorithms to Live By by perlstar · 2018-09-14 05:14 · Score: 1

Algorithms to Live By: The Computer Science of Human Decisions
by Brian Christian, Tom Griffiths

Most useful amazon review (by Wolfcrow):

There are predictably a number of readers who will look at this title and shy away, thinking that a book with "algorithms" in its title must be just for techies and computer scientists. There will be others who pride themselves on being technologically astute who think they know all about algorithms already. Both groups are wrong. Both will be astounded and profoundly affected by the human applications Brian Christian and Tom Griffiths make in this book for all of us. I should qualify that; it is a book for anyone who has ever had difficulty in such tasks as "when to stop looking" (for an apartment, for instance); how to schedule a busy family's priorities; how to clean out the garage; how to stop thinking about a problem; how to network. In fact, all the day-to-day problems that follow us from waking up to going to bed are addressed here by the human use of algorithms. I confess that I was grateful for the definition of "algorithms" early in the book; it is one of those words that everyone uses but many of us would have been hard put to explain. Notice I wrote "would have been" because this book explains it all so clearly that neophytes can understand it and technological people will not feel they are being patronized. And all of us who really use this book (not just read, but use) will find it has made our lives more productive, better organized, and essentially, much happier. Brian Christian and Tom Griffiths are geniuses at combining cutting edge philosophy with information we can use to make our lives richer.

Phil Collins by Anonymous Coward · 2018-09-14 05:16 · Score: 1

Not a typical nerd book, but I found myself with a copy of the Phil Collins autobiography "Not dead yet." I was a fan of his, and of Genesis back into the Lamb Lies Down on Broadway, and I kind of was under the general impression that Phil Collins was dead. Apparently not, and though I wouldn't qualify it as engrossing, I was curious enough about the career of Phil Collins and the arc of Genesis that I found it an interesting and surprisingly well written read.

Re:Phil Collins by omnichad · 2018-09-14 07:16 · Score: 1

Phil Collins autobiography "Not dead yet."
Such an insensitive book title after the death of the actor who played "Phil Collins" on Trailer Park Boys.

My standard go to ... Tom Clancy ... by Anonymous Coward · 2018-09-14 05:17 · Score: 0

My standard go-to is to re-read the Jack Ryan series from Tom Clancy, especially while on vacation.

It's escapist fluff, but it's well written escapist fluff -- it's amazing how much the geopolitical stuff still holds up after all these years, and how much of it still rings true.

Can't bear any of the endless churn of crap once they essentially franchised it out to lesser authors, but his solo stuff was good.

The black swan by MadPositron · 2018-09-14 05:19 · Score: 1

By Nassim Taleb. Excellent book touching philosophy & psychology in the context of risk management and our understanding (and misunderstanding) of statistics, esp. in the economic sector, but also applied to everyday life. His writing style is funny but for some readers it might be offensive. Definitely for anyone who's not afraid of having their brain re-wired and who likes to take a look at the world from a different viewpoint.

Wandering Inn. by Anonymous Coward · 2018-09-14 05:19 · Score: 0

Reading "The Wandering Inn" both a Kindle book and a web serial.

https://wanderinginn.com/

Humble Bundle also has the Trivia Champion which is a decent selection.

https://www.humblebundle.com/books/trivia-champion-books

Smart homes/smart cities and UI/UX are plenty geek fodder for those who bend that way.

https://www.humblebundle.com/books/smart-homes-smart-cities-books

https://www.humblebundle.com/books/ui-ux-books

H2G2 and Mythical Man Month by Anonymous Coward · 2018-09-14 05:21 · Score: 0

Maybe some Star Wars EU dreck.

And whatever other preach to the choir dumbass nerd shit nobody cares about.

Karma please!

The Anti-Gravity Handbook by mfnickster · 2018-09-14 05:22 · Score: 2

I just can't seem to put it down!

--
"Slow down, Cowboy! It has been 3 years, 7 months and 26 days since you last successfully posted a comment."

Graham Greene by cascadingstylesheet · 2018-09-14 05:23 · Score: 3, Interesting

The Heart of the Matter

Re:Graham Greene by cascadingstylesheet · 2018-09-14 05:25 · Score: 1

The Heart of the Matter

Difficult to read, but so moving ... so dead on in the pain that people experience in relationships, and in life in general.

Nikolai Gogol - The Carriage/The Nose by Anonymous Coward · 2018-09-14 05:23 · Score: 0

Short stories, but I'm not a huge fan of fiction.

Now for something different by Ol+Olsoc · 2018-09-14 05:24 · Score: 1

I've pulled out my old Brian Stableford novels. Some 70's oldies like Halcyon Drift, Rhapsody in Black, and Swan song for one series, and The mind Riders and Daedalous mission as well.

Probably no one today has heard of him.

--
The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.

Re:Now for something different by Anonymous Coward · 2018-09-14 08:46 · Score: 0

Need to dig mine back out - good writer, if a bit dark
Re:Now for something different by Ol+Olsoc · 2018-09-14 12:18 · Score: 1

Need to dig mine back out - good writer, if a bit dark
Yes - he is pretty dark. His Star Pilot Grainger series was my favorite.

--
The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.

Book marathon for me by UnknowingFool · 2018-09-14 05:29 · Score: 1

I plan on starting and finishing the "Where's Waldo" book series. I missed out on it as a kid. And I don't want anyone here to post any spoilers!

--
Well, there's spam egg sausage and spam, that's not got much spam in it.

Re:Book marathon for me by nnet · 2018-09-14 07:09 · Score: 1

The butler does it.

The Tempest by Shakespeare by LordHighExecutioner · 2018-09-14 05:30 · Score: 1

A real masterpiece!

"Cryptonomicon", years after everyone else by Anonymous Coward · 2018-09-14 05:33 · Score: 0

With the ongoing cryptocurrency fad and the FBI trying to start the "crypto wars" again, I decided that this novel was truly ahead of its time.

Tom, El Segundo, California

Jack L. Chalker's Well World by Rick+Schumann · 2018-09-14 05:33 · Score: 1

I've been re-reading all the Well World novels again recently. Down to the last two of them. If the theory that our Universe is a simulation is interesting to you, then you'll find the premise behind the Well World to be interesting, too.

Re:Anything BUT a Donald Trump Tell All by Anonymous Coward · 2018-09-14 05:34 · Score: 0

Whew, thank goodness someone brought up Trump in another discussion thread he hasn't been in yet regardless of topic. I was afraid he would slip past this one.

Godspeed sir...godspeed.

two, and they seem related by spywhere · 2018-09-14 05:34 · Score: 2

Bob Woodward's Fear and The Chapo Guide to Revolution.

Iliad... by Frederic54 · 2018-09-14 05:34 · Score: 1

Not original at all, but I am reading Iliad by Homer for the 3rd times...

Also just prior to this I read The Golden Ass by Apuleius, absolutely terrific!

--
"Science will win because it works." - Stephen Hawking

Re:Iliad... by ngc5194 · 2018-09-14 10:43 · Score: 1

The Iliad is awesome. Which translation are you reading? My favorite is still Lattimore, but I'm sitting on the translation by Mitchell and just haven't gotten around to giving it a shot yet.
Re:Iliad... by Frederic54 · 2018-09-17 01:04 · Score: 1

I'm French, I have the 1866 translation by Leconte de Lisle in audio-book, and the paper-book is the 1938 one by Paul Mazon.

--
"Science will win because it works." - Stephen Hawking

Desolation by broggyr · 2018-09-14 05:36 · Score: 1

Desolation (Book 1 of the Keystone Bone Trilogy) by Jesper Schmidt

--
Irony? Yea, it's like goldy and bronzy, only it's made of iron!

Capital in the 21st Century.. by propus · 2018-09-14 05:37 · Score: 2

By Thomas Piketty..I came across this book from a review in NYTimes..Here's a quote from The Times that intrigued me to pick up this book.. "Mr. Piketty argues that the decades after World War II, when the divisions between the classes narrowed and opportunities to move up the economic ladder expanded — that is, when the middle class as we knew it was formed — may actually have been an aberration. Society, Mr. Piketty wrote, risks a return to the historical norm of a yawning gap between rich and poor."

I am reading an Asimov classic by WCMI92 · 2018-09-14 05:38 · Score: 3

"Foundation and Earth" Of course I have already read it but the Foundation series always is a good re read.

--
Corporatism != Free Market

Re:I am reading an Asimov classic by CaptainDork · 2018-09-14 06:07 · Score: 1

I read that trilogy LONG ago and re-read it a few months back.
Stupendous both time.

--
It little behooves the best of us to comment on the rest of us.
Re:I am reading an Asimov classic by Anonymous Coward · 2018-09-14 06:34 · Score: 0

Completey agree, some of the best SF writing/storytelling ever!
Re:I am reading an Asimov classic by dargaud · 2018-09-14 20:16 · Score: 1

I always found it overrated and completely irrealistic (which says a lot in a SF settings...). One recent book I enjoyed in that space opera vein is the Bobiverse trilogy; it's a fast read: We are legion and the other two by Dennis E Taylor.

--
Non-Linux Penguins ?

Artemis by Anonymous Coward · 2018-09-14 05:39 · Score: 0

Andy Weir's new book - different than the Martian. Can't wait for the Movie!

Re: Artemis by Anonymous Coward · 2018-09-14 19:21 · Score: 0

Read it a few weeks ago. Great book!

Destiny's Crucible Series by Olan Thorensen by ibirman · 2018-09-14 05:41 · Score: 1

I have really enjoyed these books from Olan Thorensen, based on a man from the modern Earth who is sent to another world populated by humans but with 17th century technology:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07D3Z3QC3?ref=series_rw_dp_labf

White Trash by DaMattster · 2018-09-14 05:42 · Score: 3, Interesting

I am reading White Trash: The 400 Year Old History of Class in America. It's really eye opening and challenges everything I ever learned in grade school about American history.

Re:White Trash by Applehu+Akbar · 2018-09-14 09:59 · Score: 1

I second this one.

Click here to kill everybody by bart_smit · 2018-09-14 05:44 · Score: 1

Latest Bruce Schneier book on the dangers of the Internet of Tat

Bigfoot and the Bridesmaid by jwhyche · 2018-09-14 05:45 · Score: 2

Not much of a plot.

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I read at +2. If your post doesn't reach that level I will not see or respond to it.

Hundred Days by CrimsonAvenger · 2018-09-14 05:46 · Score: 2

We're coming up on the centennial of the end of World War One in two months. So a book about the last 100 days of that war seemed appropriate.

And Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors, just because I find that part of the Leyte Gulf battles in WW2 endlessly interesting.

--

"I do not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it"

Re:Hundred Days by blind+biker · 2018-09-14 06:24 · Score: 1

I bet you are a fan of ForgottenWeapons. Am I right?

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"The agriculture ministry is not in charge of Gundam" - Japanese ministry official.

Wired That Way by ArhcAngel · 2018-09-14 05:46 · Score: 1

I'm currently reading Wired That Way by Marita Littauer
Understanding personality type.

I just finished Big Potential by Shawn Achor
I'll probably read this one numerous times

And next up is Bringing Out The Best In People by Aubrey C. Daniels

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"A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky dangerous animals and you know it." - K

Stormlight Archive & Aruba ACMA Study Guides by David_Hart · 2018-09-14 05:47 · Score: 1

I've been reading "The Stormlight Archive" fantasy series this summer. Also got my sister hooked.

I also have Aruba (HP) WiFi Self-Study Training and certification that I need to complete by the end of the year for work (they are paying for everything). I plan on completing at least one of the courses and exams this month.

Do audiobooks count as reading?? by crmarvin42 · 2018-09-14 05:53 · Score: 1

Depends on what you mean by "Reading". I read precious few physical books beyond rather try technical ones for work (Nutrient Requirements of Swine, 11th Revised Edition, 2012 is hardly a page turner).

If you include listening to audiobooks, then I can claim the following:
1. The Light of Life: The Cycle of Galand, Book 4 by Edward W. Robertson
2. The Ritualist: Completionist Chronicles, Book 1 by Dakota Krout
3. The Bad Food Bible: How and Why to Eat Sinfully by Aaron Carroll, MD
4. Dark Deeds: Keiko, Book 3 by Mike Brooks
5. Grant by Ron Chernow

The first 4 were finished in the last month (had a lot of time to spend listening due to travel), whereas the 5th has been on-again off-again for the better part of the year and I'm only about 1/3rd of the way done.

The Bad Food Bible was the most gratifying. The others are more recreational for me, but since I work in the field of nutrition, it was nice to finally find a book about nutrition that gets far more right than wrong. It has become my new go-to recommendation for anyone asking about nutrition, supplanting The Big Fat Surprise by Nina Teicholz. Still a good book, but Dr. Carroll's book is more broad yet a quicker read.

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Bureaucracy expands to meet the needs of the expanding bureaucracy.-Oscar Wilde

Utopia for Realists by ET3D · 2018-09-14 05:55 · Score: 1

Utopia for Realists and How We Can Get There, by Rutger Bregman

A lot of the book is dedicated to the proven benefits of basic income, and how giving money directly to the poor is not only much more effective but also a lot less costly.

Another large chunk is about the 15 hour work week, the benefit of working less and how working more and more, which is has been the trend over the last few decades is bad.

There's a shorter part about the benefits of open borders.

I'm near the end, a discussion about cognitive dissonance, discussing how people find it hard to accept truths, and how even the author may be biased in his selection of proof.

A worthwhile read, IMO.

Sapiens - Yuval Noah Harari by musicmaker · 2018-09-14 05:56 · Score: 1

This is a wonderful book diving into the nature of what it means to _be_ Homo Sapiens; from how we conquered the Neaderthals to industrialism, capitalism and the modern economy. Top notch stuff. very thought provoking.

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Everyone is living in a personal delusion, just some are more delusional than others.

Re:Sapiens - Yuval Noah Harari by Applehu+Akbar · 2018-09-14 10:06 · Score: 1

I found Sapiens interesting until he got to Jared Diamond's total bullshit hypothesis on agriculture. He lost me after that.

Good reads by Anonymous Coward · 2018-09-14 06:01 · Score: 0

Now: “Tale of Two Cities” by Dickens

Recently and good: “Emporer of All Maladies: A Biography Of Cancer” by Mukherjee

Patrick O'Brian by kalpol · 2018-09-14 06:02 · Score: 3, Interesting

I'm rereading Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey-Maturin novels after having first read them 10 or 15 years ago. They are every bit as excellent as I remember, and even more of their glory is revealed now through the lens of age. You may have seen the "Master and Commander" movie, but it's a pretty pale ghost of the characters and plots of the novels.

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12:50 - press return.

Re:Patrick O'Brian by kalpol · 2018-09-14 06:04 · Score: 1

Also just a podcast, but Hardcore History's "Blueprint for Armageddon" since we're coming up on the century mark of Armistice Day. I read Tuchman's "The Guns of August" in August 2014 so it just seemed fitting to get through the whole 12+ hour series for 2018.

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12:50 - press return.
Re:Patrick O'Brian by Petrini · 2018-09-15 15:50 · Score: 1

I would second this. I've read the series through three times in the last five years, understanding more of it every time. There's a companion book that helps with the languages, idioms, jargon, and history. But the writing is superlative. Mr. O'Brian was a phenomenal craftsman.

Good shit ... by CaptainDork · 2018-09-14 06:05 · Score: 1

... like:

- Einstein's Dice and Schrödinger's cat

- The Quantum Labyrinth

- The Black Hole War

- Tales of the Quantum

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It little behooves the best of us to comment on the rest of us.

Growing up weightless by John M. Ford by mmutka · 2018-09-14 06:06 · Score: 1

I read it once years ago, but I am rereading it now. I was sort of reminded to it from watching the anime Planetes.

SF and Fantasy by Daetrin · 2018-09-14 06:09 · Score: 3, Interesting

Within the last month i've been reading:

- Spinning Silver - Naomi Novik: A re-telling/twist on the Rumpelstiltskin story. A lot darker and more intense than "Uprooted", but still good.
- All Systems Red - Martha Wells: A story about "Murderbot", a security robot that's broken its conditioning but somehow never gets around to doing much murdering. Re-listening to with my SO because of the Hugos. Still good the second time around.
- The Fated Sky - Mary Robinette Kowal: Sequel to the very excellent "Calculating Stars" about an alternate history space program after a meteor impact in the 50s.
- Girl in the Green Silk Down - Seanan McGuire: Sequel to "Sparrow Hill Road", about a hitch-hiking ghost on the run from a phantom rider. Still in the middle of this one, but enjoying it so far, and i'm curious if it's going to turn into a long running series or not.

"Additionally, what's a book you finished recently that you found insightful, or funny, or both."

I'll pick "funny"

Either

We Are Legion (We Are Bob) - Dennis E. Taylor: A guy gets dragooned into being a space probe. It's got geeky cultural references like Ready Player One (but much more toned down and well integrated with the story) in a near future (relatively speaking) space opera plot.

or

All Those Explosions Were Someone Else's Fault - James Alan Gardner: About an alternate earth where "creatures of the night" are at war with superheroes. The author does humor well, but a lot of it is situational humor about the ridiculousness of the situation and some of it is dark.

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This Space Intentionally Left Blank

My check book by kreuzotter · 2018-09-14 06:11 · Score: 1

I usually start with my check book and it makes me cry, so I don't read on.

Re:My check book by nnet · 2018-09-14 07:14 · Score: 1

oh! oh! I know how this one ends!

The Perfectionists-evolution of manufac.. precisio by Anonymous Coward · 2018-09-14 06:13 · Score: 1

https://www.amazon.com/Perfectionists-Precision-Engineers-Created-Modern/dp/0062652559

"The revered New York Times bestselling author traces the development of technology from the Industrial Age to the Digital Age to explore the single component crucial to advancement—precision—in a superb history that is both an homage and a warning for our future.

The rise of manufacturing could not have happened without an attention to precision. At the dawn of the Industrial Revolution in eighteenth-century England, standards of measurement were established, giving way to the development of machine tools—machines that make machines. Eventually, the application of precision tools and methods resulted in the creation and mass production of items from guns and glass to mirrors, lenses, and cameras—and eventually gave way to further breakthroughs, including gene splicing, microchips, and the Hadron Collider."

pulp by PopeRatzo · 2018-09-14 06:17 · Score: 1

At the moment, I'm reading Kzradock the Onion Man and the Spring-Fresh Methuselah by Louis Levy. Published in 1910, originally in Danish, it's pulpish gothic weirdness, part detective story and part psychoanalytic mysticism. It's good.

I've been on a tear of turn of the century gothic nastiness all month. I just finished reading The King in Yellow by Robert W. Chambers. Published in 1895, it's short stories wrapped around a play within a fucking nightmare. A friend told me that the first season of True Detective made references to these stories and I've since gone back and watched that for the first time.

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You are welcome on my lawn.

Spot the theme by jd · 2018-09-14 06:24 · Score: 1

My books for this month:

The Prehistory of Britain and Ireland
Craeft
Zend Frameworks 3

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It's a small world and it smells funny; I'd buy another if it wasn't for the money; Take back what I paid (SoM)

#2 is cheaper by Tablizer · 2018-09-14 06:25 · Score: 1

I'm considering "Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House" by Michael Wolff. It's discounted now that the Bob Woodward book is out. Wolff is the "poor man's Woodward".

And I just finished "Buffett: The Making of an American Capitalist" by Roger Lowenstein. It's a decade old, so also a bargain. (Get the "new afterward" edition.)

What I found fascinating is that the investment business has just as much Dilbertian bullsh8t and wasteful fads as software engineering. We are not alone: the grass ain't greener over there. I guess I shouldn't be surprised, but reading about specific examples on the investment side gave it legs. Buffet got rich mostly be ignoring bullsh8t and sticking to long-proven principles and logic.

Although his keen memory is an admitted advantage, he insists that "regular people" can do almost as well as he did with some basic business education, common sense, patience, and a little discipline. Academics mostly ignore him because his process is too simple: you can't sell expensive books and courses on too simple a formula. So they often claim he cheats by using insider knowledge; an unproven allegation.

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Table-ized A.I.

Re:#2 is cheaper by nnet · 2018-09-14 06:54 · Score: 1

I enjoyed Wollf, Comey, Amarosa, and now halfway into Woodward's Fear.
Re:#2 is cheaper by Anonymous Coward · 2018-09-14 07:35 · Score: 1

Yes, fiction can be fun.

At the moment ... by fahrbot-bot · 2018-09-14 06:27 · Score: 1

The Three Body Problem - Cixin Liu (just finished)
The Eye of God - James Rollins
The Amber Spyglass - Philip Pullman

Will be looking for another book by Alastair Reynolds soon.

Haven't decided yet if I want to read the next two books in the "Remembrance of Earth's Past" series by Cixin Liu -- any commentary?

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It must have been something you assimilated. . . .

Just Send an Email by Anonymous Coward · 2018-09-14 06:35 · Score: 0

I'm reading "anti-patterns for email-centric organizations". Can't put it down.

Hagakure by Anonymous Coward · 2018-09-14 06:48 · Score: 0

Matters of' great concern should be treated lightly.
Matters of small concern should be treated seriously.

All the Wrong Questions by Anonymous Coward · 2018-09-14 06:53 · Score: 0

Just read the _All_the_Wrong_Questions_ series by Lemony Snicket. Yup I read juvenile literature, as long as it is intelligent juvenile literature.
Deciding whether to read _The_Chronicles_of_Thomas_Covenant_The_Unbeliever_ by Donaldson or the Ringworld stuff by Niven, or maybe attempt to wrap my head around some Charles Williams. The Donaldson and the Niven are on my periodical reread list, and are about due, the Williams is something I tried many years ago and was left feeling kinda "HUH??" and have lately been thinking I need to see if it makes more sense now.

Unfortunately as I have aged my reread list has gotten big enough that it is hard to get new stuff in.

Seriously? by Anonymous Coward · 2018-09-14 06:55 · Score: 0

Bob Woodward's Fear and The Chapo Guide to Revolution.

Just one person mentioned this?!

One of the guys who exposed Nixon has a book, and just one of you guys mentioned it?!

Remember, the Trump Administration is the one that removed Net Neutrality. Trump is the one wreaking havoc with trade. He is the one who moved the US Embassy to Jerusalem - anchoring us in an everlasting war.

Trump removed much needed environmental protections.

Trump has crippled the CFPB - the best thing our government has done in 80 years for us little people.

HE got the Republican controlled Congress to lower taxes to the point where the deficit is ballooning.

Republicans think the "Laffer" Curve is linear. (If you don't know what I put "Laffer" in double quotes, then you have no business commenting on it)

Listen, Republicans are just for trust fund billionaires like Betsy DeVos and anti-abortion fanatics who refuse to address the reasons why women get them in the first place.

HINT: Abstinence is a Christian Kook fairy tale.

Sunsets of Tulum by Raymond Avery Bartlett by Anonymous Coward · 2018-09-14 07:01 · Score: 0

Great book if you've been to Mexico or are thinking about going someday. Interesting characters, unexpected ending, he really brings the place alive.

The Three Body Problem Trilogy by RobinH · 2018-09-14 07:18 · Score: 1

Just finished reading "The Three Body Problem" trilogy. It's translated from Chinese. The first book is interesting both because you can see the different cultural viewpoint coming through, and it's just good sci-fi. The sequels are more epic in scope and darker, and honestly are a bit terrifying. Good reads.

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"I have never let my schooling interfere with my education." - Mark Twain

Sherlock by omnichad · 2018-09-14 07:20 · Score: 1

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. After seeing all the adaptations over the years, I finally started reading the source material. It holds up well.

Factfulness: Ten reason why you are wrong by Hasaf · 2018-09-14 07:25 · Score: 1

Factfulness is a look at world statistics (that sounded very dry, the book isn't). It is not too shocking to me as I am a regular reader of The Economist (if you really want to get to "Oh, my god, he's doing it again" look, just start a statement in a meeting with "As was addressed in a recent article in The Economist. . . ) and I recently finished "The better angels of our nature, a great book but very dry. I mention this to explain why I scored well on the books pretest, yes, the book had a pretest.

The book takes a look at conceptions that people have about the world and compares them to the real numbers. It identifies the misconceptions from surveys, similar to the books pretest, administered to a plethora of groups in several countries. In all, it is a very readable, well researched book.

Re:Anything BUT a Donald Trump Tell All by Anonymous Coward · 2018-09-14 07:31 · Score: 0

I just started in on the Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant. Grant's level of badass is a striking contrast to the current US president Trump. Maybe Grant was typical for his era but, compared to rich and powerful men of the modern era, I'm like "How did Grant even walk with balls that big?"

SF Mostly by acvh · 2018-09-14 07:32 · Score: 1

Finished this month:
Solaris - Lem
Valis (reread) - DIck
A Scanner Darkly - Dick
The Idiot - Dostoyevsky

random by Anonymous Coward · 2018-09-14 07:39 · Score: 0

Small Fry by Lisa Brennan-Jobs
Creative Selection by Ken Kocienda
Bullshit Jobs: A Theory by David Graeber

Body weight muscle by Anonymous Coward · 2018-09-14 07:40 · Score: 0

Currently reading âoeBodyweight Muscleâ. Just finished reading âoeHow to win friends and influence peopleâ which was pretty good.

Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S Grant by aklinux · 2018-09-14 07:45 · Score: 1

A lot of insight of the years leading up to the Civil War and 19th century America generally

Douglas Adams by Anonymous Coward · 2018-09-14 07:49 · Score: 0

Hitchhiker's guide series.

Quite hilarious.

my 5: by themusicgod1 · 2018-09-14 07:54 · Score: 1

Currently reading:

The K&R
Engineering Mathematics, 4th edn by O'neil
(not technically a book, but I'm reading it like one) the Wikileaks GIFiles/Stratfor release.
Collected Works of A M Turing - PURE MATHEMATICS
And I'm trying to dig up something at the library that I haven't quite got my hands on yet - a 1984 copy of Electronics magazine. Anyone have a copy / know of where to find one? LC: ISBN: ISSN 0013-5070 Author: Stephen C Johnson Title: Electronics Magazine, Volume 57, Issue 9 Publisher: Informa (previously Penton publishing (previously DateOfPublication: May 3 1984
As far as the most insightful/funny :
I thought Milo Yiannopoulos' Dangerous ranked pretty high of the past few books I've read in both those categories.

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GENERATION 26: The first time you see this, copy it into your sig on any forum and add 1 to the generation.

Darn it... by gosand · 2018-09-14 07:57 · Score: 1

I thought at first this said "A Companion to Kegel"

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My beliefs do not require that you agree with them.

Re:Darn it... by Anonymous Coward · 2018-09-15 02:44 · Score: 0

Kegel itself is very nearly impenetrable.

Comment removed by account_deleted · 2018-09-14 08:07 · Score: 0

Comment removed based on user account deletion

darkening age by JackSpratts · 2018-09-14 08:12 · Score: 1

the darkening age: the christian destruction of the classical world - catherine nixey...highly recommended for fundies ;). you know, for a scholar she moves things right along

bad blood: secrets and lies in a silicon valley startup - john carreyrou...elizabeth holmes is a very bad girl. but we knew that

amity and prosperity: one family and the fracturing of america - eliza griswold...fracking can be very hazardous to your and your neighbors' health

Home eviction by Anonymous Coward · 2018-09-14 08:14 · Score: 0

My last read book "Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City" by Matthew Desmond deals with eviction in the non-white neighborhoods of Milwaukee, one of the most segregated city in US.

Re:Home eviction by Anonymous Coward · 2018-09-14 08:26 · Score: 0

How's that degree in sociology working out for you, bub?

Ignition!: An informal history of liquid rocket by Anonymous Coward · 2018-09-14 08:18 · Score: 1

Ignition!: An informal history of liquid rocket propellants by John D. Clark, first published by Rutgers University Press, 1972.

It's now available as free PDF and ebooks at archive.org. I thought I'd flip through it for a couple minutes and ended up reading it cover to cover. It's well written, and you don't need to be a chemist or rocket scientist to enjoy it. What I got out of it is how nasty some of the chemicals used in rocket propellants are. And of course there are tales of lonely nerds slaving away in their labs only to die in an explosion. Really a fun read for nerds.

Nice try, Amazon... by ctrl-alt-canc · 2018-09-14 08:22 · Score: 1

...so you want to monitor our reading choices also here on Slashdot ?!?

The Great Influenza by voxelman · 2018-09-14 08:26 · Score: 1

The Great Influenza: The Story of the Deadliest Pandemic in History Revised Edition by John M. Barry
This pandemic killed in the range of 675,000 individuals in the United States and an estimated 45 million worldwide.

military, Sili Valley, Snowden by Anonymous Coward · 2018-09-14 08:28 · Score: 0

Surveillance Valley: The Secret Military History of the Internet. Yasha Levine 2018 All the big names are mentioned. Very illuminating.

How America Lost Its Secrets: Edward Snowden The Man and the Theft. Edward Jay Epstein. 2017. Makes a case for the proposition that Snowden is an actual traitor, revealed to Russia/China a lot more than has been talked about.

looking forward to: Accessory to War: The Unspoken Alliance Astrophysics and the Military. 2018 Neil deGrasse Tyson.

"Reporter" by Seymour Hersch by Anonymous Coward · 2018-09-14 08:28 · Score: 0

A wide ranging tale by the Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter, the journalist who broke the story of both the My Lai massacre and the US torture of Iraqis at Abu Ghraib..

Some reviews:

Reporter by Seymour Hersh review – memoir of a giant of journalism

Amazon

Google

The Expanse by DaFallus · 2018-09-14 08:29 · Score: 1

Abaddon's Gate

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No one cares what your captcha was

Houston TX, USA

A couple I can recommend by Anonymous Coward · 2018-09-14 08:32 · Score: 0

I can unreservedly recommend Dead Wake by Erik Larson, about the sinking of the Lusitania.

I found The Feather Thief by Kirk Wallace Johnson to be interesting, but not as compelling. Still, an interesting story about the lengths some people will go to obtain rare feathers from now extinct birds, in order to tie flies (yes, fishing flies) according to precise Victorian recipes.

House of Trump, House of Putin by voxelman · 2018-09-14 08:34 · Score: 1

House of Trump, House of Putin: The Untold Story of Donald Trump and the Russian Mafia by Craig Unger
Probably should be read with a grain of salt or two.

huck finn by darktwains · 2018-09-14 08:37 · Score: 1

Again. Yes again. How people understand the broken patois of the south I will never know. Although the patois+spanglish is what I speak. So good.

The subtle art of not giving a f*ck by Anonymous Coward · 2018-09-14 08:43 · Score: 0

The title says it all. It is a bit laborious, but it reaffirms the importance of prioritization, and being realistic about your situation.

Re: C.J. Cherryh by thomst · 2018-09-14 08:56 · Score: 1

I have never read a C.J. Cherryh book, series or standalone that was anything but entertaining - and I've been reading her stuff since her first novel was published. They're all good ...

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Check out my novel.

History by Anonymous Coward · 2018-09-14 08:59 · Score: 0

Who's Who in the Middle Ages: From Collapse of the Roman Empire to the Renaissance by John Fines

Full of insightful biographies including Edward I, St. Francis of Assisi, Frederick Barbarossa, etc.

Only thing is that it is full of further persons and events I want to read even MORE about! Vicious cycle!

about cooking - Master of the Grill by Anonymous Coward · 2018-09-14 09:00 · Score: 0

waiting for Fear at the library...

Ready Player One type of book by Anonymous Coward · 2018-09-14 10:00 · Score: 0

The Land: Founding Chaos Seeds Book 1
So good. If you like Ready Player one for the 'video game' aspects of it. You'll be able to jump right into this book. Fantastic and its a series!

My Awakening: A Path to Racial Understanding by Anonymous Coward · 2018-09-14 10:11 · Score: 0

The book was David Duke's premier oeuvre, and perhaps is best. He was so prescient in predicting the problems we face today as a society. Highly recommended!

My Awakening: A Path to Racial Understanding, by David Duke, ISBN 1892796007

Factfulness by Anonymous Coward · 2018-09-14 10:11 · Score: 0

Factfulness - Hans Rosling, Ola Rosling, Anna Rosling Rönnlund

Propagates a fact based understanding of the world. Great personal stories from Hans Roslings life. Clearly stuctured, a pleasure to read. Infused with wisdom and kindness. I think this is the best book I have read so far this year. Definitely recommended.

Every Last Minute by Ellen Smith by Anonymous Coward · 2018-09-14 10:12 · Score: 0

First in a trilogy

Academic satires by Applehu+Akbar · 2018-09-14 10:14 · Score: 1

Julie Schumacher, Dear Committee Members and The Shakespeare Requirement.

These are the American equivalents of Lucky Jim.

That one Tom Wolfe that critics didn't like by Applehu+Akbar · 2018-09-14 10:18 · Score: 1

Wolfe was, overall, my favorite author of all time. Back To Blood, which dissects Miami culture, is his most underrated novel. Read it, and you will understand why. It hit too many nerves.

Every nerd should read this one by Applehu+Akbar · 2018-09-14 10:21 · Score: 1

Enlightenment Now by Steven Pinker. It's all about how the world is actually not coming to an end, supported by a slew of the sort of hard data you never get from "declinists."

Anything by Clive Cussler by spockman · 2018-09-14 10:40 · Score: 1

His books are always very exciting and usually have may historical items. Great characters too.

Dawkins, Herbert by mrcoder83 · 2018-09-14 10:54 · Score: 1

Spending three hours in commute each day I have a lot time to listen to audiobooks so hopefully at least three books this month: "The Selfish Gene" by Richard Dawkins, "Chapterhouse: Dune" by Frank Herbert, "The Extended Phenotype" by Richard Dawkins. Sadly I cannot cannot find the last one in an audiobook format so I may need to resort to text version and auto-transcription feature in iBooks on my iPhone :(

Louis XI: The Universal Spider by manu0601 · 2018-09-14 11:16 · Score: 1

Louis XI: The Universal Spider, from Paul Murray Kendall. Story of the odd king Louis XI of France (Note almost all notes from the Wikipedia article are references to that book).

Re:Louis XI: The Universal Spider by Anonymous Coward · 2018-09-14 15:12 · Score: 0

Interesting. Thanks for the tip.

The Broken Earth Series by cingeyedog · 2018-09-14 11:33 · Score: 1

I saw that the author, N.K. Jemisin, has won the last three Hugo Awards for Best Novel for each of the books in this series.

This should be something every month by skam240 · 2018-09-14 11:44 · Score: 1

On seeing "We have not run book recommendations and book discussion posts for some time." the first thing I wondered is why has slashdot not ever made this as a regular monthly thing? All news sources have their regular cultural posts like this, why shouldn't slashdot?

And please people, don't restrict this type of thing to modern works. If you're re-reading a classic younger folks might appreciate the recommendation. I'd have never read Asimov without such recommendations.

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I ignore Anonymous Coward posts. If you want to discuss something, that's awesome. Log in.

Reading Now by Anonymous Coward · 2018-09-14 12:09 · Score: 0

Just finished The Once and Future King. Starting on Life on the Mississippi by Mark Twain.

84K by Claire North by Camembert · 2018-09-14 12:14 · Score: 1

Excellent dystopian novel. Also semi-apocalyptic. The endpoint of extreme capitalism.

my overstuffed print-materials omelette by epine · 2018-09-14 12:16 · Score: 1

<overtly ontopic>

This is a list of holds (beginning with the most recent) covering most of August and September, for myself and my wife.

* Martha Stewart's Pressure Cooker (2018)
* Kurt Vonnegut: complete stories (2017) — over 900 pages
* The Tyranny of Cliches: How Liberals Cheat in the War of Ideas (2012)
* Suicide of the West (2018)
* Plutocrats: The Rise of the New Global Super Rich (2012) — author Chrystia Freeland has a small problem on her hands lately
* Gates of Fire: An Epic Novel of the Battle of Thermopylae (1998)
* How (2007)
* The Lost Art of Reading (2010)
* Leadership: In Turbulent Times (2018) — author of Teams of Rivals
* Fear: Trump in the White House (2018)
* The Shadow President: the truth about Mike Pence (2018)
* The First 20 Hours: How to Learn Anything (2013) — this could be a ten-minute skim
* The Obesity Code (2015)
* Valley of Genius: The Uncensored History of Silicon Valley (2018)
* Lost in Math: How Beauty Leads Physics Astray (2018)
* It Doesn't Have to Be Crazy at Work (2018)

Between us, we generally read about 1/3 of the total amount of text that passes through the house. This is the second pass on Plutocrats, because my wife had only managed about 1/3 on the first borrowing. (Amortized page-consumption quota not including compilations like Vonnegut's, where the target in the first place was to sample a few of his more famous stories.)

I'm also not sure how much attention the Trump/Pence books will receive. They could end up on my frozen list along with four other recent political books to fill some gap in my queue somewhere down the road when I'm less attentive to sourcing enjoyable subject matter.

</overtly ontopic>

Book review screed of the moment HOT HOT HOT

Unfortunately, The Tyranny of Cliches is already in hand, and pages 19–20 are a nightmare to behold.

I understand getting so wound up in your head about a perceived aggravation that you depart planet earth, and make a bit of an ass of yourself in doing so, I've done it myself a few times. But this one made it through the long publishing process. I can't recall the last time I've seen a page in print hold up less well, six years on. I had listened to the author interviewed on EconTalk, and he's an excitable, affable man with a first-class gift of gab and some decent chops in political theory. Just last night I described myself to my wife as someone with liberal inclinations, but largely a conservative implementation toolkit. So where a typical conservative sees government as having a 40-lb tumor, I see government as having a BMI of 25. The true conservative wants to put government on the operating table for radical surgery, whereas I'd be happy just to get government on a rigorous treadmill program—except for the excessive influence of money, which I've always blamed more on the Johns of industry than the Jezebels of congress (greed is not bad, and it's married to a hot wife—capitalism—though you suspect it might divorce its childhood sweetheart in a heartbeat if it wasn't also banging capitalism's trashy sister on the side, any old way it pleased.)

Back to Jonah Goldberg's tirade (that should never have it into print)—he's losing his cookies over one sentence of an early Obama speech:

"What is required," declared our president-elect, "is a new declaration of independence, not just in our nation, but in our own lives—from ideology and small thinking, prejudice and bigotry—an appeal not to our easy instincts but to our better angels."

Grammatically, that's a horror show. I think the implied grammar is "this being an appeal ...". Once you slip this tiny little banana peel into its formal cumberbund, the false resonance is laid bare, de rigeur as it were (who wants a president who can't hide a slippery banana peel in his cumber

word correction from previous post by epine · 2018-09-14 12:22 · Score: 1

From:

and yet the wisdom of crowds

To:

and ever the wisdom of crowds

NK Jemisin by Anonymous Coward · 2018-09-14 12:23 · Score: 0

Started the Broken Earth Trilogy last week after her unprecedented Hugo threepeat and it does not disappoint. Definitely lives up to the hype. Highly recommended to anyone who has any interest in SFF.

The Silk Roads by reanjr · 2018-09-14 13:24 · Score: 1

The Silk Roads: A New History of the World by Peter Frankopan.

My database answers you thusly by shanen · 2018-09-14 13:32 · Score: 1

Doesn't everyone have a personal database app to answer such crucial questions? Seriously, I should port it from the current CGI/PERL to something more reasonable and more smartphone friendly. Here is the answer for this month:

http://shanenj.tripod.com/cgi-...

Only five so far, but that's a live link and I may finish another 5 before the end of the month.

For last month, the answer is nine books:

http://shanenj.tripod.com/cgi-...^.{44}1808&searchfields=all&sensecase=nocase&sorttype=none&datetype=comp&numorname=authnums

For the year 2018 (in another live link, though sorted by title using a special book-title ordering function (to ignore leading "A ", "An " or "The ")) the current answer is 98:

http://shanenj.tripod.com/cgi-...

With a suitable regex, I can even answer such peculiar questions as "How many books did I finish on the 15 day of the month?" The current answer is 116 (for the entire database going back to 1971).

Seriously, can anyone point me at a good Python source I could modify to achieve something less kludgy?

Unusual that I posted before searching the existing comments, but I'll do that now... Especially interested in funny books.

--
Freedom = (Meaningful - Coerced) Choice != (Speech | Beer^2), and sad sock puppets' bad mods avail them naught.

Just finished âoeStraight Manâ by Richar by sdosullivan · 2018-09-14 13:57 · Score: 1

Very funny and insightful. Am trying to start âoeInfinite Jestâ but am still deciding if I am up to the challenge!

Other People's Money and the bankers who use them; by fortfive · 2018-09-14 13:57 · Score: 1

Both excellent. Brandeis book is as important as ever.

Books! by Ferretman · 2018-09-14 14:12 · Score: 1

I just finished "Amerika" by Paul Lally, an alternate history WW2 book. It was rather better than I thought it would be.

Next up are the final "trilogy" (it's really four books) of the Thomas Covenant series by Stephen Donaldson.

Ferret

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Sic gorgiamus allos subjectatos nunc

"What book(s) are you reading this month?" by Anonymous Coward · 2018-09-14 14:18 · Score: 0

I'm reading "Hillary is Mentally Ill" by William J. Clinton.

How to Read a Book by Anonymous Coward · 2018-09-14 14:47 · Score: 0

How to Read a Book
A once well known book first published in ~1940 that covers:

* practical instructions to better understand what an author attempted to communicate (with an emphasis on expository books)
* different strategies for reading different kinds of books (informational reading for technical work, reading for enlightenment from philosophical work, synoptic reading for adv. study)
* critical thinking, with an emphasis on deconstructing and analyzing an argument
* the importance of better critical reading skills to elevate political discourse, which seems all too prescient in the modern world

I would recommend this if you often read passively or over-actively (highlighting every sentence) and feel that you have trouble identifying core points, remembering crucial details, or identifying key terms.

Because it's no longer under copyright you can easily find free copies on google:
Here is one such free download link if you don't mind some bad OCR.

Re:How to Read a Book by Anonymous Coward · 2018-09-15 05:59 · Score: 0

> How to Read a Book
I remember seeing that title on the shelf at the bookstore and thinking, "who exactly is the audience for this?" :)

Java, The Complete Reference by myid · 2018-09-14 14:52 · Score: 1

I'm reading "Java, The Complete Reference" (Tenth Edition) by Herbert Schildt. I studied Java years ago. This is a good book for me. It reviews what I learned previously, and (later in the book) will teach me what's been added to Java recently.

The Risk Society by mrwireless · 2018-09-14 19:36 · Score: 1

The Risk Society by Ulrich Beck.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

A sociological analysis of the concept of 'risk'. Since big data and algorithms are often sold as a risk management tools, this helps to critically dissect those narratives. The book explores how society is structured in ways that distribute risk, with all of us trying to externalise it. For example, a consultant doesn't just bring in knowledge, but he/she also allows whomever hired the consultant to say "the consultant said it would be a good idea, it's not my fault", thus lowering the risk of being accountable/fired..

Uncompromising Honor & Accipiter War by Patrick_Seaman · 2018-09-14 19:53 · Score: 1

David Weber's 'Uncompromising Honor' (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1481483501/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1) is coming out in October and am looking forward to that. Otherwise (shameless self-promotion) am working on Book 2 in my science fiction series 'Accipiter War' (http://a.co/e9WT4t6) - Patrick Seaman

How much longer did you stay in that position? by Bruce66423 · 2018-09-14 20:35 · Score: 1

Surely time to run screaming... Scary story!

depends how far I get by Cederic · 2018-09-14 21:41 · Score: 1

I'm looking to finish TE Lawrence's 'Sever Pillars of Wisdom' then I'll finally get around to reading some Austen.

A friend's suggested Lady Susan as a start point, so I'll give that one a go and see how I get on.

Kingkiller Chronicles by Anonymous Coward · 2018-09-15 01:21 · Score: 0

N/t

Actually building a shed by Anonymous Coward · 2018-09-15 01:58 · Score: 0

Why read when you can spend the time doing? Looks like there are still people in need of help and/or things still need to b done. Spend the time picking up roadside trash, cooking a warm meal for someone who's homeless, big brother/big sister...

lots by hackertourist · 2018-09-15 03:23 · Score: 1

- How to win friends and influence people, Dale Carnegie
- Anne Bishop's series 'The courtyards of the Others' (a wonderfully original take on vampires and werewolves, with worldbuilding on par with JK Rowling)
- Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, JK Rowling
- British Secret Projects 5: Britain's Space Shuttle, Daniel Sharp

"Seven Eves" by Neal Stephenson by Anonymous Coward · 2018-09-15 06:13 · Score: 0

Just finished this and it was fantastic. I didn't think Stephenson could top "Cryptonomicon" but this book does it with ease. Can't wait to see how badly Ron Howard ruins it with the movie adaptation. Just started "The Way of Kings: Book One of The Stormlight Archive" by Branson Sanderson. So far so good.

Systematic Theology by Doctrinsograce · 2018-09-15 09:59 · Score: 1

Michael Horton's Systematic Theology -- about half-way through.

Jewish Pirates of the Caribbean by Mister+Null · 2018-09-15 13:34 · Score: 1

A history book that has scholarship behind it and written as if a page-turner of a novel.

Reading Rivers of London ATM by purple_cobra · 2018-09-15 13:52 · Score: 1

First four books of Ben Aaronvitch's 'Rivers of London'. I've just finished Banks' 'Consider Phlebas' and it didn't really grab me; the section with Fwi-Song nearly made me throw up and while the rest of it barrelled along at a decent clip, the end felt forced. I might pick up some of the others in the series if they appear in a sale.

On my e-reader ATM are...
Fiction:
The Randall Garrett Omnibus (a freebie), The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists (freebie), Ghost Stories by M R James (freebie), a couple of H P Lovecraft compendiums (free; my paperbacks have long disappeared, possibly to Yuggoth), and Slaughterhouse Five. The Way of Wyrd has a permanent place on my virtual bookshelf by virtue of it representing a time and place that were pivotal in my life.

Non-fiction:
A Life in Brain Surgery / Henry Marsh, The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers / Paul Kennedy, and The Happy Brain / Dean Burnett. Bruce Dickinson's 'What Does This Button Do?' is worth a read, though it could have done with some more careful editing; Bruce himself can be far more iconoclastic and scattershot than the book implies, so I'm hoping for a sequel that's more true to the man himself.

Book I am reading by THEUBERGEEK · 2018-09-16 06:12 · Score: 1

Currently I am not actually READING any books, I am writing them. I have had one book published by CreateSpace for several years, but have been unable to promote it. Recently I went back to it and discovered a TON of errors, so I pulled it from publication, re-edited it, partially re-wrote it, and have now had it published on Amazon... I would appreciate some feedback on the story... https://www.amazon.com/dp/1720...

--
Talking to Geeks is like eating jello with a chainsaw, interesting, but painful.

What book(s) are you reading? by huntermarchildon · 2018-09-16 13:08 · Score: 1

I'm reading Catch-22 by Joseph Heller. It's a deep read about war and logic of all things. It's nonsensical and means more than most books. I'd recommend it as a read for anyone.

Ovid, Metamorphoses by RockDoctor · 2018-09-16 22:06 · Score: 1

It's been on the best seller lists for something like 2000 of the last 2080 years, so it's hardly going to be controversial. It's even been available in print for over 500 years.

--
Birds are not dinosaur descendants;birds are dinosaurs, for all useful meanings of "birds", "are" and "dinosaurs"

My books in recent months by Anonymous Coward · 2018-09-16 23:32 · Score: 0

In no particular order:

* Name of the Wind (Patrick Rothfuss). I reread this roughly once a year...phenomenal book, probably tops my list of fantasy novels of all time.
* The Accidental Superpower (Peter Zeihan). You can find this book condensed down to a 1 hour presentation if you search Youtube for the author's name (he gives presentations regularly). It's sort of a history of the modern world from a geopolitical standpoint. I question some of his predictions, but it was an interesting take on how we've gotten where we are.
* We Are Legion (We Are Bob) (Dennis Taylor). The first book in a modern sci-fi trilogy that's great. Very funny, lots of references a geek will appreciate, and has an interesting story.
* Oathbringer (Brandon Sanderson). If you haven't read Sanderson's works, the Stormlight Archive in particular, you're missing out. Amazing world/universe building, excellent writing, riveting.
* Necronomicon (H.P. Lovecraft). Because why settle for the lesser of two evils?

culture of critique by Anonymous Coward · 2018-09-17 00:01 · Score: 0

great book

Everything You Love Will Burn by Ikonos · 2018-09-17 01:53 · Score: 1

Inside the Rebirth of White Nationalism in America by Vegas Tenold. Having watched the divide grow wider and wider in politics and economics as well as the rise and "normalization" of white nationalism I'm reading this to try and understand how we got here.

Re:Everything You Love Will Burn by bblb · 2018-09-20 06:05 · Score: 1

It doesn't take a book to figure that out... it's all down to a decade of people like Obama telling us we're supposed to be ashamed to be white Americans and berating us about our non-existent privileges, it's just the inevitable result of leftist identify politics. Spend two terms bemoaning whiteness and, invariably, you're going to get lots of white folks who become sick and tired of hearing about how awful they are just cause of their skin color... toss in two terms of people taking a knee over non-existent issues, celebrating scumbags because they've got sufficient melanin, and complaining about America not being great... and boom, white nationalism is on the rise. In this country, it's ok to be proud of your skin color unless you happen to be white. A proud black man is a proud black man, a proud hispanic man is a proud hispanic man, but a proud white man... well, he's a racist. There's your answer, I just saved you a couple hundred pages.
Re:Everything You Love Will Burn by Anonymous Coward · 2018-09-21 17:10 · Score: 0

it's all down to a decade of people like Obama telling us we're supposed to be ashamed to be white Americans
I'm no fan of the radical left, but I don't recall Obama ever saying anything remotely like this.
Obama is a moderate, by the way, on a world scale.

Thanks to Hurricane Florence by Toad-san · 2018-09-17 07:54 · Score: 1

and the loss of our local power and cable:

I'm re-reading the entire Destroyermen series by Taylor Anderson. Great stuff; I love alternate histories and navy stuff.

Books by Anonymous Coward · 2018-09-17 08:25 · Score: 0

The Civil War:A narrative By Shelby Foote

At the moment by bblb · 2018-09-20 06:02 · Score: 1

At the moment, I'm rereading One Second After by William Forstchen, which is an excellent read, and I recently learned that there were two sequels to it. Just finished Invasion by Jay Allan, part of a campy military sci fi series that's entertain if a bit lacking in in the sci portion of sci fi. Would recommend The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein and A Life in Letters by John Steinbeck, wrapped up both of those this month and both were exceptional in their own right. Dark Matter by Blake Crouch was a solid read as well.

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