What are you reading? Books, articles or publications of any kind!

[beeb]

Long-ish but interesting article on titanium.

The Story of Titanium

The earth contains a lot of titanium - it’s the ninth most abundant element in the earth’s crust. By mass, there’s more titanium in the earth’s crust than carbon by a factor of nearly 30, and more titanium than copper by a factor of nearly 100. But despite its abundance, it's only recently that...

www.construction-physics.com

Titanium dental implants you say?

 

[mike14]

I do enjoy some Birmingham, especially the little rants he goes on at his website from time to time. His 'without warning' series (may just be the name of the1st book) was fun, as is his sci-fi series (Cruel Stars) of which book 3 is due next year.

I've just started on The Expanse series because my kid keeps bugging me to read it. Finished 3 Body Problem before that which was good but weird, and re-reading some Pratchett because it's my comfort food in book form

 

[Asininedrivel]

I do enjoy some Birmingham, especially the little rants he goes on at his website from time to time. His 'without warning' series (may just be the name of the1st book) was fun, as is his sci-fi series (Cruel Stars) of which book 3 is due next year.

Yeah I haven't started Cruel Stars but that's probably next. Without Warning was an awesome book but the two sequels in the trilogy I thought were a bit meh, too slow and much smaller worlds. Perhaps I should read them again.

 

[beeb]

I read 'The Last Day' by Andrew Hunter-Murray recently. About a alternate reality where the earth has stopped spinning, and half the earth is burning and the other side is frozen, with a thin habitable region in the transition region (and all the associated political/migrant/science stuff that accompanies the change).

I also read 'Do you dream of Terra-Two?' by Temi Oh. It was also an alternate timeline/reality type story (ie: equivelant to present day life, but with subtle historical differences and vastly differing scientific possibilities where interplanetary travel is possible). About a group of youth astronauts-to-be preparing and undertaking a space voyage to Mars. Not 'enjoyable' as such, but a good read.

 

[mike14]

Yeah I haven't started Cruel Stars but that's probably next. Without Warning was an awesome book but the two sequels in the trilogy I thought were a bit meh, too slow and much smaller worlds. Perhaps I should read them again.

Without Warning was the best of the trilogy. The gaps between the good and bad bits of the other 2 were quite large, but I don't mind revisiting them on occasion for a holiday read

 

[steve jobs' pancreas]

Finished Frankenstein, was a good read.

Now I'm on to a lengthy story about an unhappy French bloke called Les Miserables

 

[Dales Cannon]

Thought I would post this here since not everyone can read... and maybe hasn't seen/heard robwords.

The new push in the US to ban contrary views to the GOP and other right wing groups still astonishes me in the current age of information but this video has a bit of history that I think is worth hearing about.
Years ago one of the subbies the company I worked for was using had a German fitter & turner in the main workshop. He was a pretty solid guy and in typical fashion was mocked and stirred for being German etc. You get the idea. Let's call him Boris. Boris was very well read and we quite often would talk books. He asked me once if I had read mein kampf. Obviously no as I don't speak German. He told me none of the translations were great but loaned me what he saw as the most accurate. I should point out that he had an original leather bound copy that was in the second or third print back in the 20s or 30s. I tried to read the translation. The best I can describe is that it was incoherent rambling and accusation and went on and on about the same thing in multiple chapters. At the time I put that down to a poor translation. When I mentioned this Boris explained that the original was worse and many translations smoothed this mess out and gave Hitler more prowess as a writer than he actually possessed. Boris said the book was almost a play list of what was to come and part of the indoctrination of the German people was tge acceptance of the book as mainstream reading though I was surprised when Rob mentioned that it was handed out to newly married couples in the 30s and 40s.

 

[Hools]

Proper lefty sci fi

 

[ForkinGreat]

View attachment 402475
Proper lefty sci fi

what makes it 'lefty', out of interest? I suspect that I've read a fair bit of it, but never thought to differentiate it from other sci-fi.

 

[Hools]

His Wiki entry probably explains it better than I could.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ken_MacLeod
His first series - The Fall Revolution - is a must read if you like British Sci Fi - Iain M Banks etc

 

[steve jobs' pancreas]

Not reading, listening. It’s about Greek Mythology. Cracker, if you are into this type of stuff, which I wasn’t but now am.

 

[Scotty T]

This is the first book I've read in at least 5 years, bit of an eye opener.

World Wide Waste

Buy now Authors: Gerry McGovern Publisher: Silver Beach Publication Date: April, 2020About: Digital is physical. Digital is not green. Digital costs the Earth. Every time I download an email I contribute to global warming. Every time I tweet, do a search, check a webpage, I create pollution...

gerrymcgovern.com

 

[johnny]

Giving this a crack. I've always enjoyed the way he writes and this one is not disappointing so far. Listening to a version read by his son, which gives it a tinge than reading hard copy might lack.

I don't have the stamina to read the unabridged version...

 

[Dales Cannon]

I read One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich for school English and was so taken by Solzhenitsyn I read all of his works I could get my hands on. The Red Wheel is a stellar work.

 

[silentbutdeadly]

I've finally found a copy to give it a crack...

 

[johnny]

I read One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich for school English and was so taken by Solzhenitsyn I read all of his works I could get my hands on. The Red Wheel is a stellar work.

Yes, One Day in the Life OF Ivan gets discussed at lengthen in the forward of Gulag. I have not read it yet, does not sound like a happy type of read!

My fav so far is Notes from the Underground:

“I am a sick man. ... I am a spiteful man. I am an unattractive man. I believe my liver is diseased. However, I know nothing at all about my disease, and do not know for certain what ails me. I don't consult a doctor for it, and never have, though I have a respect for medicine and doctors. Besides, I am extremely superstitious, sufficiently so to respect medicine, anyway (I am well-educated enough not to be superstitious, but I am superstitious). No, I refuse to consult a doctor from spite. That you probably will not understand. Well, I understand it, though. Of course, I can't explain who it is precisely that I am mortifying in this case by my spite: I am perfectly well aware that I cannot get even the doctors by not consulting them; I know better than anyone that by all this I am only injuring myself and no one else. But still, if I don't consult a doctor it is from spite. My liver is bad, well--let it get worse!"

 

[Oddjob]

Giving this a crack. I've always enjoyed the way he writes and this one is not disappointing so far. Listening to a version read by his son, which gives it a tinge than reading hard copy might lack.

I don't have the stamina to read the unabridged version...

View attachment 404056

It's an incredible book. My mum's family was from Taiwan so I had a fair idea of how bad things could be under dictatorships, but this was on another level. I still can't quite believe it ever got written and that he survived. Gulag Archipelago; and Anthony Beevor's work on the Spanish civil and Russian Revolution have soured my view of socialists ever since reading them.

Sent from my M2012K11AG using Tapatalk

 

[johnny]

It's an incredible book. My mum's family was from Taiwan so I had a fair idea of how bad things could be under dictatorships, but this was on another level. I still can't quite believe it ever got written and that he survived. Gulag Archipelago; and Anthony Beevor's work on the Spanish civil and Russian Revolution have soured my view of socialists ever since reading them.

Sent from my M2012K11AG using Tapatalk

Yeah, I don't know about inherent distrust for socialists. Franco was no better than Caballero. Those that committed the White Terror and the Guomindang weren't socialists and neither was Pinochet nor the folk of the GW Bush administration, but I wouldn't trust any of those folk or many others. I find it easier to just not trust people in general, that way you don't miss anything.

I've got to get back and finish Beevor's book on Spain, got distracted at about page 300.

 

[mike14]

I've finally found a copy to give it a crack...

Took me a while to get in to thjs, but it's a very good story

 

[Dales Cannon]

Yes, One Day in the Life OF Ivan gets discussed at lengthen in the forward of Gulag. I have not read it yet, does not sound like a happy type of read!

My fav so far is Notes from the Underground:

“I am a sick man. ... I am a spiteful man. I am an unattractive man. I believe my liver is diseased. However, I know nothing at all about my disease, and do not know for certain what ails me. I don't consult a doctor for it, and never have, though I have a respect for medicine and doctors. Besides, I am extremely superstitious, sufficiently so to respect medicine, anyway (I am well-educated enough not to be superstitious, but I am superstitious). No, I refuse to consult a doctor from spite. That you probably will not understand. Well, I understand it, though. Of course, I can't explain who it is precisely that I am mortifying in this case by my spite: I am perfectly well aware that I cannot get even the doctors by not consulting them; I know better than anyone that by all this I am only injuring myself and no one else. But still, if I don't consult a doctor it is from spite. My liver is bad, well--let it get worse!"

I liked it. Very dire and no nonsense but it was an understanding of the gulag and the writing is true and really gives insight. Maybe leave it a book or three after gulag though.