Finished reading 'Why People Believe Weird Things: Pseudoscience, Superstition, and Other Confusions of Our Time'
by Michael Shermer. Sadly the why is only a very small portion of the book, but it has made me more critical of a lot of the things people choose to believe in. As for the why, I kinda knew the answer already, it's that human struggle to make sense of things and to feel good and self-deception is just one of the many ways through which we achieve that. Yep, I am a dirty unbeliever and a big skeptic.
Now reading 'Trust Me, I'm Lying: Confessions of a Media Manipulator' by Ryan Holiday. I've always been interested in how news travels through the various channels and changes as it goes, but I never quite figured there where people who made a whole living out of manipulating that stream. Sure I knew some people fake news and time so as to overthrow a political candidate, but I never figured that for example the intentional vandalism of billboards that belong to the client to get a scoop and have that travel up to the big news networks was a thing. Some reviewers claim this has ruined (online) news for them. I however keep being fascinated with how all these things are possible simply because of how humans work.
You have received a new honour! Congratulations! On this day, you have shown your willingness to ensure a bug-free Lusternia for everyone to enjoy. The face of Iosai the Anomaly unfolds before you, and within you grows the knowledge that you have earned the elusive and rare honour of membership in Her Order. Curio Exchange - A website to help with the trading of curio pieces in Lusternia.
Viravain, Lady of the Thorns shouts, "And You would seize Me? Fool! I am the Glomdoring! I am the Wyrd, and beneath the cloak of Night, the shadows of the Silent stir!"
So this looks pretty sweet. But I'm worried if I waltz in the comic store for just Rocket Raccoon and this, they'll think I'm some kind of goddamn furry. What to do... Maybe wait to see if it gets a trade paperback.
So this looks pretty sweet. But I'm worried if I waltz in the comic store for just Rocket Raccoon and this, they'll think I'm some kind of goddamn furry. What to do... Maybe wait to see if it gets a trade paperback.
Been having a fun popcorn read since I've been too mentally drained to read anything really complex. Just about finished up with the whole Eragon series.
Have I mentioned that I'm chipping away at Discworld series? Well, that's still going on, but since I'm a literature major I've been somewhat more eclectic lately. Presently my focus is in early American literature - people like Emerson, Thoreau and Wheatley. In another class we've been doing lots of Chaucer. And I only just finished a ten-page paper arguing that Edgar Allen Poe never used death as a literal thing but instead meant for each of his works to be statements about certain stigmas against other people, problems in society, or commentaries on human nature.
The Necromentate's mind opens to you, and a grotesque, demonic figure appears in your mind's eye, screaming in torment: "THE DEMON LORDS CAN NEVER TRULY BE KILLED - GREAT IS THEIR POWER."
You shock a platinum-coloured geomycus with tales of terror bestowed on villages who don't follow Magnagora. A platinum-coloured geomycus slaps her knee and declares that, by the gods, Ptoma Hive should follow the Grand Empire of Magnagora after all! Shouts rise up from Ptoma Hive, as its denizens loudly pledge themselves to the Grand Empire of Magnagora.
I love Discworld. I read them backwards, until I reached the first book, at which point he had written more of them, so I went back to where I had started and continued on.
I still believe this is the best way to read them.
Currently I am tracking down everything I can find written by Dan Abnett. (Though some of it is rather...violent.)
I picked up Amanda Palmer's The Art Of Asking to read while on my flight / vacation. I keep hearing good things about it, and as someone who never asks anyone for help despite having a million people offering it, it sounds like something I could use.
You have received a new honour! Congratulations! On this day, you have shown your willingness to ensure a bug-free Lusternia for everyone to enjoy. The face of Iosai the Anomaly unfolds before you, and within you grows the knowledge that you have earned the elusive and rare honour of membership in Her Order. Curio Exchange - A website to help with the trading of curio pieces in Lusternia.
Just started on Black Prism by Brent Weeks! It seems promising!
Viravain, Lady of the Thorns shouts, "And You would seize Me? Fool! I am the Glomdoring! I am the Wyrd, and beneath the cloak of Night, the shadows of the Silent stir!"
I finished it a while back, but I feel the need to recommend The East Face of Helicon: West Asiatic Elements in Greek Poetry and Myth by M. L. West. Probably the best academic book I've read in a long time, doesn't need a super strong background to be understood, although reading the Iliad and Odyssey first will help.
Any sufficiently advanced pun is indistinguishable from comedy.
I've been reading Broken Music, the memoir by Sting from the Police. He's very poetic, and it impresses me.
Her storm-coloured eyes a muted blue, Lisaera, the Silver Goddess says, "Only sorrow can come from a rotting thought, My child, just like roots that have been drowned. You are a paragon of the wisdom I would see spread throughout the Serenwilde, but even the strongest minds must find release." - A shimmering liquid appears in your inventory smelling sweetly of something carbonated. It vanishes in a puff of silver smoke seconds later. - I write things
I keep returning to three rather interesting books: 1) Diplomacy by Sec. Henry A. Kissinger 2) The Game of Nations by K. Copelan 3) Collected works of H. G. Welles ... but I just picked up RASL (Jeff Smith a la Bone), and it's fricken awesome!
I also keep in handy reach: The Art of Computer Programming (D. Knuth), The Complete Maturin & Aubery stories (P. O'Brien), Post Script Language Reference (Adobe), Collected works of Jules Verne, Designing Virtual Worlds (Dr. R. Bartle), MDL Primer (MIT).
Fiction: Bleeding Edge by Thomas Pynchon. It's alright thus far despite being rather different from what I had expected, though the writer sometimes tries too hard to be all artsy and it just gets confusing and annoying. On the upside, has some clever puns.
Non-fiction: The Obstacle Is The Way by Ryan Holiday. I added this book not realizing he's the same guy behind Trust Me, I'm Lying. It's a vastly different book, where as the latter focusses on the tricks of the trade of pageview generation the former is very much a beginners guide to Stoicism. It is very much the book I should be reading right now, and one I feel everyone should. For all the books I've read on how to fix problems in my life this one is harsh but truthful. You don't make things better if you pussyfoot around the real core issue, at best you take some layers off. It does take a grand dose of willpower to do it, but it also yields the biggest reward. It also has some sobering words about how we sometimes choose to be victims because we make a decision to let things affect us. And, my very favourite, on how if we take our biggest flaw, and work on that and turn it into our greatest asset instead, we truly become invulnerable. Again, this take tremendous courage to do, and one needs to first get to the point where they can do that, but it really is the only way forward. Oh, and there is some fun stuff on combat tactics applying to life, too.
You have received a new honour! Congratulations! On this day, you have shown your willingness to ensure a bug-free Lusternia for everyone to enjoy. The face of Iosai the Anomaly unfolds before you, and within you grows the knowledge that you have earned the elusive and rare honour of membership in Her Order. Curio Exchange - A website to help with the trading of curio pieces in Lusternia.
So, finished it a while ago, but it still haunts my nightmares. "Outcasts and the Guild of the Orbs" or $20 I'll never have back. The book took me about a month to finish due to frequent sanity checks. Like, seriously, I'm not sure how it got published, but it was clearly never edited. utterly terrifying, honsetly.
Otherwise, waiting on the Dresden Files books to come out, and am current with Discworld. Also working my way through the Belgarion stories by the Eddingses. Finally finished Belgarath, Polgara, and Pawn of Prophesy through Enchanter's Endgame. Need to pick up the first of the Mallorean books next.
I keep reading and re-reading Ancillary Justice and Ancillary Sword. Glorious, glorious problematic space empire utopias with neurotic AIs, scarily unfathomable aliens, and a strong tradition of tea.
Comments
Now reading 'Trust Me, I'm Lying: Confessions of a Media Manipulator' by Ryan Holiday. I've always been interested in how news travels through the various channels and changes as it goes, but I never quite figured there where people who made a whole living out of manipulating that stream. Sure I knew some people fake news and time so as to overthrow a political candidate, but I never figured that for example the intentional vandalism of billboards that belong to the client to get a scoop and have that travel up to the big news networks was a thing. Some reviewers claim this has ruined (online) news for them. I however keep being fascinated with how all these things are possible simply because of how humans work.
You have received a new honour! Congratulations! On this day, you have shown your willingness to ensure a bug-free Lusternia for everyone to enjoy. The face of Iosai the Anomaly unfolds before you, and within you grows the knowledge that you have earned the elusive and rare honour of membership in Her Order.
Curio Exchange - A website to help with the trading of curio pieces in Lusternia.
Estarra the Eternal says, "Give Shevat the floor please."
It's true, I really am you.
It's true, I really am you.
That can only be sunshine and rainbows, right?
"THE DEMON LORDS CAN NEVER TRULY BE KILLED - GREAT IS THEIR POWER."
You shock a platinum-coloured geomycus with tales of terror bestowed on villages who don't follow Magnagora.
A platinum-coloured geomycus slaps her knee and declares that, by the gods, Ptoma Hive should follow the Grand Empire of Magnagora after all!
Shouts rise up from Ptoma Hive, as its denizens loudly pledge themselves to the Grand Empire of Magnagora.
I still believe this is the best way to read them.
Currently I am tracking down everything I can find written by Dan Abnett. (Though some of it is rather...violent.)
You have received a new honour! Congratulations! On this day, you have shown your willingness to ensure a bug-free Lusternia for everyone to enjoy. The face of Iosai the Anomaly unfolds before you, and within you grows the knowledge that you have earned the elusive and rare honour of membership in Her Order.
Curio Exchange - A website to help with the trading of curio pieces in Lusternia.
-
A shimmering liquid appears in your inventory smelling sweetly of something carbonated. It vanishes in a puff of silver smoke seconds later.
-
I write things
Amazing how in-depth and broad it could be at the same time.
1) Diplomacy by Sec. Henry A. Kissinger
2) The Game of Nations by K. Copelan
3) Collected works of H. G. Welles
...
but I just picked up RASL (Jeff Smith a la Bone), and it's fricken awesome!
I also keep in handy reach: The Art of Computer Programming (D. Knuth), The Complete Maturin & Aubery stories (P. O'Brien), Post Script Language Reference (Adobe), Collected works of Jules Verne, Designing Virtual Worlds (Dr. R. Bartle), MDL Primer (MIT).
Ixion tells you, "// I don't think anyone else had a clue, amazing form."
Non-fiction: The Obstacle Is The Way by Ryan Holiday. I added this book not realizing he's the same guy behind Trust Me, I'm Lying. It's a vastly different book, where as the latter focusses on the tricks of the trade of pageview generation the former is very much a beginners guide to Stoicism. It is very much the book I should be reading right now, and one I feel everyone should. For all the books I've read on how to fix problems in my life this one is harsh but truthful. You don't make things better if you pussyfoot around the real core issue, at best you take some layers off. It does take a grand dose of willpower to do it, but it also yields the biggest reward. It also has some sobering words about how we sometimes choose to be victims because we make a decision to let things affect us. And, my very favourite, on how if we take our biggest flaw, and work on that and turn it into our greatest asset instead, we truly become invulnerable. Again, this take tremendous courage to do, and one needs to first get to the point where they can do that, but it really is the only way forward. Oh, and there is some fun stuff on combat tactics applying to life, too.
You have received a new honour! Congratulations! On this day, you have shown your willingness to ensure a bug-free Lusternia for everyone to enjoy. The face of Iosai the Anomaly unfolds before you, and within you grows the knowledge that you have earned the elusive and rare honour of membership in Her Order.
Curio Exchange - A website to help with the trading of curio pieces in Lusternia.
Otherwise, waiting on the Dresden Files books to come out, and am current with Discworld. Also working my way through the Belgarion stories by the Eddingses. Finally finished Belgarath, Polgara, and Pawn of Prophesy through Enchanter's Endgame. Need to pick up the first of the Mallorean books next.