Book Reviews

[vicious-vegan]

Anthem, by Ayn Rand is really great. It's the only thing I've read by her and I think it's really awesome. It's like illegal to think for yourself, in the book that is. There is no "i" there's only "we".

Animal Liberation, by Peter Singer. The title pretty much says it all. It's one of my favorite books as well.

The catcher in the Rye, another one of my favorites.

And Angelas Ashes! It's a really great book. It's funny and sad at the same time. It's about this young boys life in Ireland during a tough time.

[LadiesMan217]

Thanks for all the responses everyone, I have definitely added a lot of books to my reading list.

[ZNFYRH]

Nightwatch, Daywatch, Duskwatch (or Twilight Watch) by Lukyanenko.

Great supernatural/fantasy/sci-fi reading.

[LadiesMan217]

Nightwatch, Daywatch, Duskwatch (or Twilight Watch) by Lukyanenko. Great supernatural/fantasy/sci-fi reading.

What are those about?
So far I am about halfway done with Ender's Game and I am loving it so far. I will probably read the rest of the series when I am done. Then I'll get started on Atlas Shrugged or Anthem if it is any shorter cuz AS is a monster of a book, over a thousand pages, very daunting to try and begin. Then I think I will start the Dune series and after that maybe I will read Netapolis' recommendation of Mere Christianity. Then maybe something like the God Delusion to kind of compare and contrast the two points of view. So much that I want to read, I only wish I could read faster so I can expand my depth of knowledge and understanding.

[ZNFYRH]

The Lukyanenko books are about Light and Dark beings (witches, vampires, magic, etc) and their struggle to maintain the balance between them in a Truce that avoids ending the world with their conflicts.

I would save the Atlas Shrugged until after you're done reading series books, though Anthem is a really fast in-between read.

[LadiesMan217]

The Lukyanenko books are about Light and Dark beings (witches, vampires, magic, etc) and their struggle to maintain the balance between them in a Truce that avoids ending the world with their conflicts.

Those sound pretty interesting, although magic and witches have never really been my cup of tea, maybe I'll try Harry Potter before I get into something like that.

I would save the Atlas Shrugged until after you're done reading series books, though Anthem is a really fast in-between read.

Well, maybe I'll try Anthem first then to see if I like Rand at all and then if I do I'll begin the momentous task of reading Atlas Shrugged.

[ZNFYRH]

Momentous is the right word. Anthem is great right up to the preachy nature of the last one or two chapters. If you don't like the last parts of Anthem, stay away from Atlas.

You can't compare the Nightwatch series with Harry Potter. The Nightwatch books are meant for adults and written by an excellent Russian author.

I rather enjoy Philip K. Dick novels, but I dislike that his work has been turned into some not-so-good movies.

[LadiesMan217]

Momentous is the right word.

It is funny you should say that cuz I actually was not to sure and I was think of writing monumentous before I decided it was not the right word.

Anthem is great right up to the preachy nature of the last one or two chapters. If you don't like the last parts of Anthem, stay away from Atlas.

I had a feeling it could be like that from what I have heard from my parents about it, who told me to read it. It sounds like it is pretty in line with my way of thinking since I am a pretty capitalistic guy and I think you should keep what you earn and earn what you keep.

You can't compare the Nightwatch series with Harry Potter. The Nightwatch books are meant for adults and written by an excellent Russian author.

Point taken.

I rather enjoy Philip K. Dick novels, but I dislike that his work has been turned into some not-so-good movies.

I know that name but I can not remember something he has written, it is on the tip of my brain, can you refresh it for me?

[ZNFYRH]

Some of the movies inspired by his work:

Next (new movie with Nicholas Cage)
Scanner Darkly (Keanu Reeves)
Minority Report (Tom Cruise)
Paycheck (Ben Affleck)
Impostor (Gary Sinise)
Total Recall (Arnold Schwarzegovernor)
Blade Runner (Harrison Ford)

Those movies are all excellent, but pale in comparison with the stories.

If you like cyberpunk-style sci-fi, I recommend William Gibson. Not only did he define a genre, he still dominates it.

So in summary...

William Gibson (all works)
Philip K. Dick
Frank Herbert (Dune series)

Lately I've been reading the non-series Arthur C. Clarke books (though the 2001 books are great)...

I should really just take a picture of my bookshelf and post it.

[LadiesMan217]

Next (new movie with Nicholas Cage) Scanner Darkly (Keanu Reeves) Minority Report (Tom Cruise) Paycheck (Ben Affleck) Impostor (Gary Sinise) Total Recall (Arnold Schwarzegovernor) Blade Runner (Harrison Ford)

As movies these were total disappointments to me but I can completely see how they would make very good books.

[ZNFYRH]

Blade Runner? A disappointment?

Hmmm...

I forgive you, though. The stories are all short stories, and much better.

[LadiesMan217]

Blade Runner? A disappointment? Hmmm... I forgive you, though. The stories are all short stories, and much better.

I like Harrison Ford a lot and I know the movie is held in pretty high regard but I guess I just had higher expectations for it.
I haven't seen Next or Impostor. Next looked like it might be pretty good except for the fact that I don't like Nicholas Cage. I don't know what Impostor is. Minority Report was really not that good. I like watching him piece together all the different uses for the items he gave himself in Paycheck except I really don't like Ben Afleck and Uma Thurman. Scanner Darkly was pretty weird but that would probably be a pretty good book to read and I am a big fan of Schwarzenegger and I would say Total Recall was in between okay and pretty good, I still can't figure out if if was all real or in his head as part of the memory thing.

[Captain Cardio]

http://www.macobo.com/essays/epdf/CA...20Stranger.pdf

If anybody wanted to read "The Outsider" by Albert Camus - heres a link to it online.

[Objectivist]

Quote by: vicious-vegan Anthem, by Ayn Rand is really great. It's the only thing I've read by her and I think it's really awesome. It's like illegal to think for yourself, in the book that is. There is no "i" there's only "we".

Anthem is Ayn Rand's hymn to egoism. It's rather light reading, and she didn't characterize it as a book. She considered it "a poem". It's really not a poem, she was just saying that the book didn't really have a plot (in her eyes.)

Anthem is great as an introduction to Ayn Rand. If you want some real meat to chew on, or just a great book I recommend:

We The Living- It's a story about the individual against the state. It's a story about tragic love and loss in 1920 Soviet Russia. This is what the USSR really looked like. This was Ayn Rand's warning to America against communism. She was prompted to tell about Soviet Russia by her husband, her brother-in-law, and a friend from Ayn Rand's native Russia. Her friend said "Tell them that we are all dying and that Russia is a giant cemetery."

Atlas Shrugged- What happens when the world turns the back on Atlas, on the men of ability and talent? What happens to the world when it turns it's back on knowledge and reason? This is one of the best books by far. In a poll Americans said that Atlas Shrugged was one of the top books that changed their lives the most, it came in second only to the bible. It takes a long time to read, but it is extremely worth it. You don't have to agree with it, but be prepared to acknowledge it.

[Jack]

Quote by: Captain Cardio http://www.macobo.com/essays/epdf/CA...20Stranger.pdf If anybody wanted to read "The Outsider" by Albert Camus - heres a link to it online.

Thanks for the link. I like Camus, but as to "The Outsider", the book by the same name authored by Colin Wilson is still my favorite read of all time, perhaps because it enlightened me so well on my own personality.

I recently read "To Say Nothing of the Dog" by Connie Willis and recommend it highly for anyone who enjoys humor and satire along with historical science fiction.

[Technosoul]

A new book is out called "Death of the Grown Up" which claims that the baby boomer generation "adults" are acting like kids, and this is undermining Amreica such that they cannot deal with things like terrorism, because of the concepts of tollerence. It seems to be a book for Republicans because she (the writer) believes that Bill Clinton is the "poster child" of the boomer generation that are not acting like grown ups should act.

Michelle Malkin » The Death of the Grown-up

No doubt this will be a new best seller.

[Sweet Katie]

My favorite reads are:

1. Wuthering Heights
The beginning of Wuthering Heights was slow and difficult for me to get into. Once the flashback story begin unfolding, I was amazed.

2. Frankenstein
A novel about species seeking out a creator.

3. I Know This Much Is True (Wally Lamb)
Where does eccentricity end and insanity begin?

[Mia]

I already mentioned it in 'books you'd like to see made into a movie', but I'll plug for it here too. 'Infidel' by Ayaan Hirsi Ali is excellent.

It is her life story as a Muslim woman growing up in Somalia. She endured genital mutilation, got out to Kenya barely before the war started and her people were mass-murdered,,,,,in the course of moving around, she learned several languages.

When her father married her (without her permission even required from) to a man she didn't want, she ran away to Holland and lied to get refugee status.

She went from being a volunteer to a member of Dutch Parliament. There, she worked to gain attention to the plight of Muslim women, honor killings and genital mutilation going ignored in a country where that is not legal, in an effort to bend over backwards for multi-cultural ism.

After producing a small play, her co-producer was murdered, and a knife sticking out of his chest held a note to her that she was next.

She currently works for a think-tank in Washington, with a Fatwa still on her head for speaking out against Islam.