[BMW2006]

Originally Posted by BTM

That's right books

Ficciones: Jorges Luis Borges (Latin American author but the translation is very good, dense and somewhat intellectual but overall very intriguing/thought provoking fiction)

Don't know how I missed this the first time through. I picked up his collected fictions (translated) after reading a short story by him in "The mind's I : Fantasies and reflections on the self and soul". I believe the story was barely two pages long where he debated the duality of the mind and body, believing there to be two separate "Borges" and trying to figure out which one is in control of his own writings. I liked many of the stories in his collections. They explored many philosophical ideas while set against the Argentinian version of the "wild west", with the characters getting into (or threatening) knife fights at the drop of a hat. I haven't read all of his works, I stopped at (hope I remember the title right) "Brodie's hat, or Brodie's diary", which he wrote in the seventies I believe.

Speaking of, I also recommend "The Minds I : Fantasies and reflections on the self and soul" Which was arranged by Douglas Hofstadter and Daniel C Dennet. It's a collection of short stories that explore the function of the human brain, the soul, life, death, fate, god, etc... I liked it so much that I read it cover to cover 3 or 4 times in high school. One particular story I enjoyed reading the "The soul of the Mark III beast" that explored the distinctions we make in the moral decision to kill something living or to destroy something mechanical, and how personification can blur those boundaries. Fantastic.

if you like that and want to read something dense pick up "Goedel, Escher, Bach : An Eternal Golden Braid" by Douglas Hofstadter. It's starting to get a little dated but I it won the Pulitzer prize in 1981 I think. I enjoyed the music history lesson about Bach and his compositions, and also the short and sometimes whimsical stories of Achilles, Tortoise, Anteater, and Crab. The math stuff was way over my head though. Took me a long time to read this one, my head felt like jelly after trying to understand the math portions, I ended up skipping all of them on the 2nd read through. .

For some reason I am eternally at odds with Ayn Rand's "Atlas shrugged". I just don't get it. I read it, had someone explain it to me, then re-read it about three fourths of the way though and ended up stopping there (probably picked up another book, I don't remember as it's been awhile). I can appreciate its popularity as feel like there must be something there, but I just don't feel that compelled by it or it's message and it appears to contradict itself in many areas. I read "the Fountainhead" also and didn't really care for it either. To each their own I guess.

-BMW2006

[BTM]

Cool, another Borges fan! I will have to check that story out, sounds really interesting. So far my favorite story of his is "Funes, the Memorious," which I've read probably 4 or 5 times and still always pick up something new from. And by pick up something new from I mean new perspective or way of interpreting it, it's not as if it's hard to understand (though I did pick up the word somnambulism from it ), just very thought provoking. The general plot (if you wanna call it that) is that there's this person who can remember things in such minute detail he can literally go to infinity within his memories recalling all of these details...in fact I'm a little bored of Bill James tonight I'm gonna go read that one again now

[py335]

attempting to start reading "Better" by Atul Gawande. havent succeeded yet though lol

[boymonkey]

I'm currently reading the Doomsday Key by James Rollins.

Originally Posted by Feyd

I'm actually am looking for a new book/author to get into at the moment. So I'm going to pay attention to this thread.

I tend to like fictional stories that are based on facts. Dan Brown/Michael Crichton, etc. My desire to read comes and goes in phases, but when I am in the thick of it I am a voracious reader.

For instance after I read the da Vinci Code, I read the other 3 books Dan Brown had published at the time (Angels & Demons/Deception Point/Digital Fortress) all inside of 3 weeks.

You will probably like the series of novels by James Rollins. It's based on history/facts like Dan Brown books, but with more action and fireworks. They typically have "A Sigma Force Novel" somewhere on the books.

[BTM]

Originally Posted by Dan in PA

Fup Duck

Just picked this up but I'm resisting starting it...then again it is pretty short and my other two current reads, well, aren't