Whatcha reading redux.

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dfwmtx
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Re: Whatcha reading redux.

Post by dfwmtx »

Alternatively reading through George MacDonald Fraser's "Flashman and the Redskins" (only him and Michael Crichton do historical fiction with notes, but Fraser's Flashman is positively brimming with them) and Robert Conroy's "Storm Front" (which is not alternate history, which is odd, and WTF? I thought he was dead and "Custer in Chains" and "Germanica" were his last two books, so where'd this come from?)
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Darrell
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Re: Whatcha reading redux.

Post by Darrell »

evan price wrote:
Weetabix wrote:The Foundation Trilogy. I haven't read it in many years, so I thought I'd better refresh it since it's counted as a classic. Foundation and Empire is dragging sadly.
I've tried to read this for roughly 25 years. I have it in omnibus trade paperback. I get so far then I just can't stand it anymore and put it away. I think I got halfway through the second book and that's the farthest I've gotten.
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toad
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Re: Whatcha reading redux.

Post by toad »

I remember reading it as a teenager. Now I probably couldn't stand it because I believe the basic premise of a math that could predict history is flawed. Way too many variables, the butter fly fart effect of Chaos theory seem to be in play. This I believe is a reason centralized control of economies fail
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Vonz90
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Re: Whatcha reading redux.

Post by Vonz90 »

toad wrote:I remember reading it as a teenager. Now I probably couldn't stand it because I believe the basic premise of a math that could predict history is flawed. Way too many variables, the butter fly fart effect of Chaos theory seem to be in play. This I believe is a reason centralized control of economies fail
Yeah this. It is basically a paean to mechanical determinism, which has pretty much been completely destroyed as a scientific concept but still holds lots of sway as a philosophical idea. Ironically many people who claim to be all sciency fall back on some measure of mechanical determinism even though the actual science of it doesn't work.

Paul Krugman is an Asimov fan, that tells you right there where his ideas lead.
Last edited by Vonz90 on Fri Mar 25, 2016 4:12 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Weetabix
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Re: Whatcha reading redux.

Post by Weetabix »

I picked up Second Foundation, read just a bit, and when warding off a cat, dropped it on the floor. I don't have enough time in my life already. I think I'll leave it there.
Note to self: start reading sig lines. They're actually quite amusing. :D
Greg
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Re: Whatcha reading redux.

Post by Greg »

Weetabix wrote:I picked up Second Foundation, read just a bit, and when warding off a cat, dropped it on the floor. I don't have enough time in my life already. I think I'll leave it there.
Weird, I remember the original Foundation trilogy as being relatively slender books that were fairly brisk reads, kind of like the three precurser novels. It was the 4th book in the 'trilogy' and beyond, where he went off the rails.

Anyway, Norman Friedman has done a series of design histories of different classes of US warships. I have the volumes on cruisers and destroyers and I've been rereading them in pieces now that they're no longer trapped in moving boxes.
Maybe we're just jaded, but your villainy is not particularly impressive. -Ennesby

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Greg
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Re: Whatcha reading redux.

Post by Greg »

Vonz90 wrote:
toad wrote:I remember reading it as a teenager. Now I probably couldn't stand it because I believe the basic premise of a math that could predict history is flawed. Way too many variables, the butter fly fart effect of Chaos theory seem to be in play. This I believe is a reason centralized control of economies fail
Yeah this. It is basically a paean to mechanical determinism, which is pretty much the been completely destroyed as a scientific concept but still holds lots of sway as a philosophical idea. Ironically many people who claim to be all sciency fall back on some measure of mechanical determinism even though the actual science of it doesn't work.

Paul Krugman is an Asimov fan, that tells you right there where his ideas lead.
Maybe it's been too long since I read them, but I recall that the 'psychohistory' math was presented as working purely on a stochastic level. The core of the entire Foundation trilogy seems to be about unusual individuals blowing up all the math.
Maybe we're just jaded, but your villainy is not particularly impressive. -Ennesby

If you know what you're doing, you're not learning anything. -Unknown
Sanity is the process by which you continually adjust your beliefs so they are predictively sound. -esr
Greg
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Re: Whatcha reading redux.

Post by Greg »

Edit: was a double post that I can't remove. So I'll edit.

I've also been reading David Drake's series of the Elements. He does like making use of all the knowledge he's picked up on ancient Rome.
Last edited by Greg on Fri Dec 04, 2015 3:25 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Maybe we're just jaded, but your villainy is not particularly impressive. -Ennesby

If you know what you're doing, you're not learning anything. -Unknown
Sanity is the process by which you continually adjust your beliefs so they are predictively sound. -esr
John_in_Longview
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Re: Whatcha reading redux.

Post by John_in_Longview »

I just finished reading Rafael Sabatini's Captain Blood to my ten and eight year old sons. (I edited out the cursing and raping as I read it.) It held their interest and now they want to hear the other Captain Blood stories.
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Weetabix
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Re: Whatcha reading redux.

Post by Weetabix »

Greg wrote:
Weetabix wrote:I picked up Second Foundation, read just a bit, and when warding off a cat, dropped it on the floor. I don't have enough time in my life already. I think I'll leave it there.
Weird, I remember the original Foundation trilogy as being relatively slender books that were fairly brisk reads, kind of like the three precurser novels. It was the 4th book in the 'trilogy' and beyond, where he went off the rails.
That's how I recalled it from my youth, too, but now it seems to be relatively slender books that are fairly dull reads with lots of meandering description that doesn't contribute. Excluding the first, that is.

From reading his introduction, it seems that he wrote the first book as a series of short stories in the pulps. His editor wanted a book, so they put the stories together and he wrote the necessary links to make it a book. Fans wanted more, so the editor pushed him into writing books he didn't really want to write. I'm guessing that's what made the second two less enjoyable. Perhaps the fans back then were starved for entertainment and didn't notice?
Note to self: start reading sig lines. They're actually quite amusing. :D
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