happy b said:

Have you read any of Irvine Welsh es books like trainspotting, Acid house,ecstacy or filth?I dunno if anyone who isn't Scottish could understand it though.

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Lol I fumbled through trainspotting all the way to end, where there is a glossary, and read it all over again- this time with the benefit of the glossary. Great book. Irvine Welsh is a twisted freak and creates some hellish scenes, but I've read several of his books. If people dig Trainspotting, they should read Porno- has all the same characters.

The only book I ever had to put down was Finnegans Wake. I swear, after 100 pages I still had no idea what the fuck was happening. As an Irishman I felt it necessary to read Joyce, but he just makes me feel stupid. I've been told that if you read Finnegans Wake aloud it will send you into a hallucinatory trance state. I tried it, but I don't speak Gaelic/English gibberish very well.

In the spirit of Kool Aid Test there is a social history of LSD book called Acid Dreams that is really worth reading. The same author also wrote the social history of cannabis called Smoke Signals. Among my favorite books for sure.

I love Palahniuk!! Read Fight Club before it was a movie and it got me reading again. Have first editions of all his work except fight club and Pygmy.

Robert Anton Wilson- Cosmic Trigger, Illuminatus trilogy, Scrodinger's cat trilogy, Quantum Paychology and his stand out work IMO: Pretheus Rising. I love old Bob, he's helped me greatly!

Dean Koontz is candy for me- I'll never forget Dragon Tears. A character could stop time and manifest beings out of dust and trash in order to wreak havoc. Mostly I loved Koontz because I was a horny adolescent, and he wrote descriptive sex scenes, haven't read his work in over a decade.

I've devoured EVERYTHING written by Graham Hancock. His work Fingerprints of the Gods is hugely important. In it he gathers evidence to support the theory there was an advanced civilization on Earth that was wiped out in the ubiquitous flood myth every culture on earth shares. Simply fascinating! I'm reading his book War God now- which is a story of the Spanish conquest of America... Which I believe he received as a vision while on ayahuasca. His book Supernatural is also one of the most important books I've ever read.

I've had the pleasure to meet Hancock as well. He's a real bright light and just a wonderful human being. Makes me mad my old boss used his ideas in his movies without paying him to do so.

One word: DUNE

Check out the book "Swan Song" by Robert McCamon. Seriously cool book, i bet its in the 1200 pg range and i seriously tore threw it in about a week, i just kept flipping the page. One more... One more...50 pages later.

Read that^. It been years but was a cool book.
Surprised it was never made into a screenplay for a movie.

More a short story than a book, but from one of "The Masters" of science fiction...Arthur C. Clarke. This one always gives me goosebumps when I get to the last paragraph...

"The Star"
www.uni.edu/morgans/astro/course/TheStar.pdf

I really need to stop sleeping on A.C Clarke. Same with Philip K Dick. I've read about them often, but have yet to read them.

From possibly my favorite author, Erich Fromme: To Have or To Be; The Art of Loving; Escape From Freedom


No book collection is complete without the work of Iceberg Slim. Pimp is good, likewise Trick Baby and Mama Black Widow, but The Naked Soul of Iceberg Slim is phenomenal.

No TV for this guy

NaturalTherapy said:

I really need to stop sleeping on A.C Clarke. Same with Philip K Dick. I've read about them often, but have yet to read them.

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"Childhood's End" is a classic of Clarke's. "Blade Runner" was based upon PKD's novel "Do Robots Dream of Electric Sheep"

NaturalTherapy said:

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nice

I usually split my reading time up 50/50- entertainment/educational. I've been studying foreign languages(spanish, Italian, French, and Russian) the last few years.

NaturalTherapy said:

No book collection is complete without the work of Iceberg Slim. Pimp is good, likewise Trick Baby and Mama Black Widow, but The Naked Soul of Iceberg Slim is phenomenal.

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I look these every time I go into a used bookstore, lol
When I ask about them I always get very strange looks

Harry Turtledove
Darkness series
Southern Victory series

I used to read books all the time. Jr. high, high school, college. And then something happened, I got a job and it all stopped. Had a few kids, got married, still didn't seem to find the time. Now all I read about is growing, seeds, and UofM football. I read forums, twitter and basically anything I stubble across on the net. I guess I just got into movies way too much. But, I don't ever watch tv, unless it's a football game, or netflix for bedtime. We have 1 tv with cable on it in the house and I honestly thing it's 1 too many.

I read my DnD gaming books too, so i guess there's that. Anyone into 5th edition? I'm still living in 3.5 :eek:

Calixylon said:

Hey does anyone know any good books on organic gardening, id like to read about it to get myself better educated on the whole thing. Im familiar with some things, but am looking for something that isnt to dense, but i can keep up for the most part so i want it to be a good book (Just not looking for a text book)

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Eliot Coleman's book, The New Organic Gardener is excellent.

indicabush said:

Mythology..The Iliad, The Odyssey, The Greek Myths, Greek Gods and Heroes, also enjoy Percy Jackson and The Olympians series

Classics:
Pride and Prejudice
Lord of The Flies
Of Mice and Men
The Old Man and The Sea
Dracula
Don Quixote

Also enjoy Sci-fi and Non Fiction

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I studied mythology in college, you're talkin' my language! Have you read Black Elk Speaks? Part of my coursework. Also, LOTS of Joseph Campbell, which led me to many stories and helped me understand what makes a good story good.

The Old Man and the Sea is pretty much the only work by Hemingway I like. He was an awful, awful misogynist.

For fun, I like to whip out my Edgar Allen Poe. But my favorites? Come from Mark Twain. The Tragedy of Puddin'head Wilson was EXCELLENT, and too often overlooked, IMO. I'm still working on The Gilded Age. Frankly, it's incredibly depressing to know that politics have been politics since before the inception of the colonies as a single nation, or uniting of states.

rubthe nub said:

One word: DUNE

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You want to see the documentary Jodorowski's Dune. Live footage of Salvador Dali!

I can't remember the exact title, but Playboy was part of it.

Seamaiden said:

Eliot Coleman's book, The New Organic Gardener is excellent.

I studied mythology in college, you're talkin' my language! Have you read Black Elk Speaks? Part of my coursework. Also, LOTS of Joseph Campbell, which led me to many stories and helped me understand what makes a good story good.

The Old Man and the Sea is pretty much the only work by Hemingway I like. He was an awful, awful misogynist.

For fun, I like to whip out my Edgar Allen Poe. But my favorites? Come from Mark Twain. The Tragedy of Puddin'head Wilson was EXCELLENT, and too often overlooked, IMO. I'm still working on The Gilded Age. Frankly, it's incredibly depressing to know that politics have been politics since before the inception of the colonies as a single nation, or uniting of states.

You want to see the documentary Jodorowski's Dune. Live footage of Salvador Dali!

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Black Elk Speaks...Oglala Lakota Medicine Man...Spiritual Classic...Imho...I have the pdf

The Power of Myth...Joseph Campbell...also have pdf

The Masks of God: Primitive Mythology...also have pdf

"The privilege of a life time is knowing who you are."...Joseph Campbell

Thank You Seamaiden, It feels like Home...If you want links to those pdf's I have them in my library collection.

indicabush said:

Black Elk Speaks...Oglala Lakota Medicine Man...Spiritual Classic...Imho...I have the pdf

The Power of Myth...Joseph Campbell...also have pdf

The Masks of God: Primitive Mythology...also have pdf

"The privilege of a life time is knowing who you are."...Joseph Campbell

Thank You Seamaiden, It feels like Home...If you want links to those pdf's I have them in my library collection.

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Thank you, indica! I actually still have my copies from college stashed somewhere. :D I lent out my copy of the Bill Moyers interview.

So, here's a non-fiction book that will, in real time and in real life, tie Joe Campbell together with John Steinbeck and his best friend and muse, the man who WAS Doc, Ed Ricketts.

In fact, being Steinbeck's good friend and muse wasn't, or shouldn't be Ricketts' claim to fame. His effect on modern taxonomy and our understanding of ecosystems should. He's got plenty of original descriptions under his belt, he and Steinbeck (and at one point Campbell, and all's wives/SO's) made several trips along the western coast and the Sea of Cortez specifically in order to collect and describe organisms (focused on sea life). Ricketts really did predict the sardine fishery crash of the 30s. It is called Beyond the Outer Shores: The Untold Odyssey of Ed Ricketts, the Pioneering Ecologist Who Inspired John Steinbeck and Joseph Campbell.

NaturalTherapy said:

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There is nothing like the feel and smell of a book...sad we now have chm, pdf and e-books...just not the same!

I disagree on a certain level. I got into e-books when I blew out my knee and was bedridden for over 2wks. I would have gone insane had I not been able to read what I wanted, as much as I wanted.

In fact, that reminds me of another really good book, historical fiction, it was my very first e-book. The Pillars of the Earth. I finished it in three days, though.

That's the thing with me. I read VORACIOUSLY, so it's really easy to end up blowing a lot of money on reading material between books and magazines (I need to renew my subscription to Archaeology still).