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What Are You Reading?

Started by Arturo, March 15, 2017, 11:02:09 PM

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xSilverPhinx

Quote from: Recusant on March 13, 2018, 03:11:09 PM
Not sure which one will grab me and insist on being read first.

Did you try flipping a coin? ;)
I am what survives if it's slain - Zack Hemsey


Icarus

I am into a recent release titled: Heavens And Earth, subtitle; The scientific search for the afterlife, immortality, and Utopia.  Author Michael Shermer.  SHermer needs no introduction to the atheist contingent.  He is an accomplished writer and researcher into such things as this book addresses. So far I am impressed with the quality of the content.

Sandra Craft

Quote from: Tom62 on March 12, 2018, 05:45:54 PM
I'm reading some very old science fiction stories written by Henry Kuttner. I just finished Mutant, a great read.

I remember reading that when I was a teenager, and loved it.  I'd borrowed it from the library but when I wanted to check it out again I couldn't remember either the name of the book or of the author, and when I described the story no one had any idea what I was taking about.  Now I can put it on my wish list at ThriftBooks.

(correction: I'll have to put it on my Amazon wish list, both TB's copies are out of stock)
Sandy

  

"Life is short, and it is up to you to make it sweet."  Sarah Louise Delany

jumbojak

I'm rereading Grendel by John Gardner. I haven't seen a copy since high school.

"Amazing what chimney sweeping can teach us, no? Keep your fire hot and
your flue clean."  - Ecurb Noselrub

"I'd be incensed by your impudence were I not so impressed by your memory." - Siz

Essie Mae

  Fall of Man in Wilmslow by David Lagercrantz. This is a fictional treatment of the investigation from a policeman's POV into the death of Alan Turing in 1954.  The homophobic language is just what I remember from the seventies; it was still rife and widely acceptable well after the 1967 Act.  The main protagonist, the investigating officer, is not a nice person, but apparently he becomes more understanding and admiring as the story develops as he gets to 'know' Turing and gains a rudimentary understanding of the 'thinking machine'. It isn't comfortable reading at the moment, but i'm Not halfway yet.
Hell is empty and all the devils are here. Wm Shakespeare


Recusant

Quote from: xSilverPhinx on March 13, 2018, 04:37:25 PM
Quote from: Recusant on March 13, 2018, 03:11:09 PM
Not sure which one will grab me and insist on being read first.

Did you try flipping a coin? ;)

;D Not a bad suggestion, but I'll stick with my method.  :)
"Religion is fundamentally opposed to everything I hold in veneration — courage, clear thinking, honesty, fairness, and above all, love of the truth."
— H. L. Mencken


xSilverPhinx

Quote from: Recusant on March 14, 2018, 02:11:10 PM
Quote from: xSilverPhinx on March 13, 2018, 04:37:25 PM
Quote from: Recusant on March 13, 2018, 03:11:09 PM
Not sure which one will grab me and insist on being read first.

Did you try flipping a coin? ;)

;D Not a bad suggestion, but I'll stick with my method.  :)

:grin: When you have two options, sometimes flipping a coin can help you figure out which one you want to read first. :smilenod: It helps you become aware of things, like when flipping the coin results in an option and you think to yourself, 'Nah, actually I want the other one.'. :tellmemore: You didn't know you wanted the other option until that blasted coin chose the wrong book.  ;D

I hope I'm making sense. :lol: It's like you're gaining access to a decision that's already been made.
I use this method whenever I can't decide between two options, then I decide on the spot whether I accept the coin's 'choice' or not. But hey, I'm a little weird.   :badger:
I am what survives if it's slain - Zack Hemsey


Recusant

Makes perfect sense to me, and yes I can see how the coin could be a tool to reveal a choice you didn't know you'd made.  :sidesmile:
"Religion is fundamentally opposed to everything I hold in veneration — courage, clear thinking, honesty, fairness, and above all, love of the truth."
— H. L. Mencken


Icarus

That is deja vou for me Silver.  Flipping a coin is sometimes a revealing exercise.

xSilverPhinx

Quote from: Icarus on March 14, 2018, 10:33:26 PM
That is deja vou for me Silver.  Flipping a coin is sometimes a revealing exercise.

Isn't it? :grin: We should write a self-help book together, we could spout all sorts of scientifically-sounding BS and it'll sell like water! Deepak Chopra does it, so can we! :smilenod:

If I may I would suggest we title it Flipping a coin: When you've decided but don't know it! or perhaps something a little drier such as Coin flipping as a method to probe subconscious decisions: Implications for free will.   
I am what survives if it's slain - Zack Hemsey


Icarus


Dragonia

I just finished "Abraham Lincoln- Vampire Hunter" by Seth Grahame-Smith.
The book operates under the premise that most of the main events of ole Abe's life were influenced by vampires and that the Civil War was actually orchestrated by vampires. Abraham Lincoln was trained to kill vampires (by another vampire) and secretly did so through much of his life.
It was obviously fiction, but fun to read about the civil war and Lincoln's life events through a different set of eyes.
Now I can see the movie!
Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle. ~ Plato (?)

xSilverPhinx

Quote from: Dragonia on March 16, 2018, 12:19:12 PM
I just finished "Abraham Lincoln- Vampire Hunter" by Seth Grahame-Smith.
The book operates under the premise that most of the main events of ole Abe's life were influenced by vampires and that the Civil War was actually orchestrated by vampires. Abraham Lincoln was trained to kill vampires (by another vampire) and secretly did so through much of his life.
It was obviously fiction, but fun to read about the civil war and Lincoln's life events through a different set of eyes.
Now I can see the movie!

I like vampire movies (even the bad ones) so I wanted to watch that movie but nobody wanted to go with me. :sad sigh: If I remember correctly, it was in theatres for a short period of time -- usually a bad sign.  ::)

I will look for it online.

I am what survives if it's slain - Zack Hemsey


Arturo

I have been reading the new Power Ranger's comic book cross over event known as "Shattered Grid" (there is context behind the name which I will get to)

There are two separate Power Ranger's comic books -Go Go Power Rangers (GGPR), and Mighty Morphin Power Rangers (MMPR). Both of which are taking part in the same cross over event. (Or so I'm told.) I've read the available issues that have come out so far for both of these editions of the Shattered Grid Event (SG).

So the story picks up in the MMPR where the alternate timeline of Tommy Oliver/Green Ranger is still evil after being released from Rita's mind control. And the Power Rangers discover that he is still in their world as a prisoner to one of their close friends and hold an emergency meeting to decide what to do. Meanwhile Saba (the talking flying autonomous power sword of the white ranger) takes it upon himself to try and destroy the alternate time line Tommy Oliver aka Lord Drakkon but ends up freeing him by mistake and Drakkon tears the head off of Saba and uses Saba's magical powers to escape to another time and place.

Drakkon moves to a time where the Ninja Rangers are and asks the Blue Ninja Ranger to repair his broken Power Coin. Telling him that he was actually useful in assisting him in the future and giving Drakkon his powers. While the Blue Ninja tells him it was crafted poorly and he would expect more care from himself. Drakkon tells him that there was no time for such things and that there was a war about to break loose. He asks if they won the war, while Drakkon responds "Not yet..." Once he has finished repairing the power coin, Drakkon takes him hostage and...

Meanwhile the good Tommy Oliver and Kimberly (pink ranger) go out on a date and are going through the typical teenage angst about being in a relationship. They are dancing around each other trying to figure out where they fit and Tommy wants to have a good night kiss but Kimberly isn't feeling it. She just got out of a bad relationship and doesn't want to put that on Tommy ect. ect. They decide to leave without a good night kiss and Tommy walks down and ally telling himself he is stupid. Meanwhile Kimberly is thinking it over as well and goes back to find Tommy and yells his name. Tommy hears her calling and turns around to see who is calling when the Evil Tommy comes and stabs him in the back and takes his green chaos crystal to charge more of his powers.

Kim just barley finds him and morphs into the Pink Power Ranger to stop Lord Drakkon while another Pink Ranger from another time comes and stops him before he can overwhelm Kimberly.

Lord Drakkon escapes into another portal and Kimberly tries to help Tommy but it's too late...

The next issue picks up with Tommy on the operating table in the Power Rangers secret base and Alpha (the robot maid/butler/caretaker/ect) is trying to revive Tommy by hitting him with blue energy from the morphing grid (where the power rangers get their power). But it's no use. Tommy has died. And they all have to grieve. They put Tommy back into the ally where they found him and let the story break free. Tommy's parents are informed by the police. There is a funeral. And the rangers begin to grieve together...

But that does not last for long when they are called back to the secret base and are informed by the other pink ranger of what exactly is happening. Time is shattered. There was a single time line, power rangers that came after these power rangers. And then alternate timelines, like the kind of Lord Drakkon. And Lord Drakkon's attacks on the different time lines have shattered them all into their own separate universes in order to preserve themselves. But in doing so, it puts every other universe/time-space at risk of being destroyed. The longer it goes on, the close it gets to total destruction. And it all began in this spot where the original power rangers are when Lord Drakkon killed Tommy Oliver. Because Tommy was never supposed to die. And the fact that time is now broken, that means she cannot go back and forth through time anymore.

But they find a way to jump to the other universes since they are no longer existing in time-space. And they all go to assist the other power rangers against Lord Drakkon and his army. They are barely holding their own against just barely his army after Drakkon had infomed his soldiers to take the power coins from the rangers of this universe except for the red ranger who escaped. All the ones with the powers still group up when the soldiers fire a tank shot at them and they barely get out alive. They try to use an EMP device to disable the soldiers powers since they look and act similar to the power rangers. When that does not work they escape using their teleportation abilities.

The next page picks up with Lord Drakkon back at his castle beginning the process of becoming fully powered with the help of the Blue Ninja Ranger who is now under a mind control device.

And that is where the 3rd issue ends.

The GGPR has only one issue out and from what I've seen...it's mainly a prelude. They are fighting a putty (main foot soldier of the main bad girl Rita Repulsa). This putty is different than the others in that it can move it's body like a fluid and take the shape of anyone it wants. So it uses that to it's advantage in playing mind games with the Power Rangers but is ultimately defeated.

The Rangers congratulate themselves and move on to the next day. One thing I should mention is that there is no green ranger in this comic. The green ranger eventually shows up in the TV series as a nice guy and gets put under Rita's spell and transformed into the green ranger until he is freed and becomes a good power ranger. Later on he becomes the White Ranger.

The next day the Red Ranger/Jason asks the Yellow Ranger/Trini if what the putty said about her having feelings for him were true. And Trini said that the putty was just trying to use that against him. Billy/The Blue Power Ranger, informs his father that he doesn't want to go to the high class university but would still go to the "moderately exceptional" university that he chose for himself. And his Father gives Billy the relief of telling him that Billy is so much smarter than he is, that he is sure that whatever choice he makes will be the right one for him.

Zack-The Black Ranger and Kimberly (still the pink ranger) go to check on their friend Matty who was traumatized by something in an earlier issue. They cannot tell if he knows their secret of being the power rangers and is too stunned by that to even talk, or if he is in so much shock that he can't even remember what is happening. He also saw a lot of other things apparently that contributed to his catatonic state.

Zack asks if Kim is alright about Matt (I'm assuming there was a love story here) and that Kim explains that having an alter ego comes at a price. The price of having loved ones. That they serve as a distraction if they ever get in your way of being focused. And that if they do become a distraction, you don't even notice.

And the next page cuts to an evil pink power ranger with a green chaos crystal and some stuff about "this ought to have enough power to get you there" and the evil pink ranger saying "I'll bring our Lord back to us"

And that's that. That's all that's come out so far.
It's Okay To Say You're Welcome
     Just let people be themselves.
     Arturo The1  リ壱

Icarus

I am deep into a book by a woman who is the chairman at the NIMH in the Washington DC area.  SHe is a researcher of neurological stuff.  That is to say, a brain researcher.  Her name is Barbara Lipska, a Polish national who came to the US in the late eighties as an accredited researcher.  She is an athlete of considerable ability among other things, non technical.  Her credentials are impressive.

Her deal is that she, as a brain research person, contracted a cancer of the brain. A metatasitic  Melanoma, an almost surely fatal malady.  Her book is a page turner.  Somehow, against all odds,  she had the tumor removed from her skull and is now fully functional and back to work at the prestigious US federally supported agency that studies brains and the ramifications of various disfunctions and their considerable influence on society.

I suspect that this book might be of at least casual interest to our esteemed forum brainiac; Fernanda. It is every bit an interesting read about someone who managed to beat the incredibly long odds against recovery.

Book title: The Neuroscientist Who Lost Her mind.  She did lose it for a brief time but then miraculously recovered. after heroic efforts by some of the nations best neurosurgeons.