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The Book Thread


Amay
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Hubbard ? Seriously ?

 

 

Oh man. I remember reading Battlefield Earth like 15 years ago or something. Even then I thought it was terrible. And I was reading Sword of the truth series at that time (some of the worst writing ever to be printed) so thats saying a lot. :lol:

 

Edit To clarify I didnt know squat about Scientology then IIRC. So its not exactly a bias. Just horrible writing.

 

 

 

@birdbird Well, Hubbard was a great writer way before any of the scientology BS happened. So yeah, I don't think it's fair to put him down at the mere mention of his name, relating him to the Scientology crap.

 

Battlefiled Earth was quite good albeit a bit too long. But that was the nature of the book and most of his books. He goes into extreme detail regarding everything. One can just pick a book of his and finish it in a few days while at the same time you can also draw inferences about political and social analogies if you're so inclined. I read BE while in college and enjoyed it. I plan to start reading Invaders' Plan....part of a decalogy!!! Have you read any novels by him?..you shud try one mate.

 

@Aftrunner : I see. Yeah maybe not for you as by your own admission, you didn't know about the Scientology stuff prior to reading it. So maybe just not for you.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Reading Night by Elie Wiesel. First hand account of an Auschwitz survivor and its ....... well holy sh*t its certainly something.

 

Its really thin too, you could rip through it in an afternoon and I am really trying hard not to do that. I feel like if you do that it doesnt give each incident its proper due. But then again, going slow feels like you are really savoring it and that just feels so wrong.

 

Next up is Max Hastings All hell let loose, world at war. Heard really amazing things about that one too.

 

Kinda binging on World War 2 ATM. Also watching World at war (the BBC documentary) for the second time. Still the best documentary of all time. Its astonishing how much video footage there was of a time period where you dont expect a lot of free shot footage.

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Reading Night by Elie Wiesel. First hand account of an Auschwitz survivor and its ....... well holy sh*t its certainly something.

 

Its really thin too, you could rip through it in an afternoon and I am really trying hard not to do that. I feel like if you do that it doesnt give each incident its proper due. But then again, going slow feels like you are really savoring it and that just feels so wrong.

 

 

 

Appropriate time to bring in the hitler gif from the jokes thread?

 

 

tumblr_mb5q3mkrO81r6op7ho1_400.gif

 

:P

 

 

 

 

Spot on regarding the book and bolded part though. The write up does makes one wonder, even though ww2 has been extensively chronicled the book still hits hard.

 

 

Oh and thanks for the bbc docu info. I searched and it looks pretty good. It is episodic and not one full film, that is why i never heard of it or came across in random searches.

 

 

_

Edited by Nemo
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Teh ending is OMFG ! :panic:

 

Will have to disagree here man. Ending and last 20 or so % is about as cliched as one can get. Not saying it is bad or that it seems unfinished, just that very predictable and stereotypical. Felt weak to me.

 

The other 75+ % is pretty good and thrilling though.

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Will have to disagree here man. Ending and last 20 or so % is about as cliched as one can get. Not saying it is bad or that it seems unfinished, just that very predictable and stereotypical. Felt weak to me.

 

The other 75+ % is pretty good and thrilling though.

o.O

For me it was the exact opposite. The last 25-30% of the book is what I remember even now.

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@ alek

 

 

well if you grab it now, you'd see everything was either deus ex machina or in favor of the good guys- gunters. The hero just happens to stumble to the ancient Pac man machine with the coin and extra life that quite literally is the single most important thing that allowed him and his party to win at the end. That was very random.

 

Other than that the book had generic bad guy(s). The Sixes were shown to be highly incompetent, with limitless $$$ being the only thing that was powering them.

 

Also they protagonist towards the end never really seemed in any danger. Bad guys chasing, no problem.. Deceased Steve Job's pal Wozniak (allusions were unmistakable) comes to rescue with God mode on, etc.

 

Barring the japanese gamers' death there was no casualties from the good side and even then it didnt mean much as the japs were not developed as characters.

 

Edited by Nemo
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  • 5 weeks later...

^Scanner Darkly is the literary equivalent of trippin balls. A fast ride into the surreal realm...moves a bit slow at times iirc but that's the point I guess..to induce that slow-burn. Ending's pretty sweet too if ur into dick's works in general..so it'll be worth it i'd say. Thinking of getting Counter-clock world...the premise is interesting.

 

Last book of his That I've read was Divinie Invasion....weak. Not thrilled with it.

 

Anyway presently reading Before The Golden Age - edited by "Sir" Asimov Vol 1. A colection of shorts .Was lucky enough to get all the 3 volumes (paperback) intact from a flea-market at like 50 bux a pop :D

 

The stories i've read so far(2) have been pretty good..after all they were cherry pricked by Isaac Asimov.

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yeah Ready Player One got a lot cliched at the end. It was all good entertaining but the third act underwhelmed to be honest. The starting of the book was more interesting. Also alekh bro what did you find "omfg" about the ending? :P

The fight. More so, the description of the fight. Makes you feel as if you're in the middle of it. Excellent narration IMO !
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  • 2 weeks later...

Reading the Encyclopedia of Superstitions by A . Radford.

 

Very entertaining read, some really funny stuff pops up from time to time, but otherwise informative.

 

This sounds interesting. Where did you get it from? Flipkart doesnt have it.

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  • 2 weeks later...

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