Books, authors, and reading.

[ZpaceJ0ck0]

"It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife."

Still my favorite opening line to a book ever, the irony and assumptions that can be drawn from such a simple phrase are so plentiful you can almost cut it like a halibut.

From which book does that come from?

[Kakariko Kid]

^ Pride and Prejudice

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So, is anyone doing or planning on doing the "100 books you must read before you die" thing? I'm thinking about doing just that.

If so, what list are you using/ would use?

There is a list here that has 100 listings, but some of the listing service are series (i.e. Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings).

[ZpaceJ0ck0]

So yesterday I finished reading Malba Taham’s The man who counted. 

Basically, it is a little collection of mathematical tales told by a fictional Arabic scribe Malba Taham (also a pen name for the author Júlio César de Mello e Souza, who was actually a contemporary Brazilian), who lived around the 14th century Baghdad, who befriends Beremiz Samir, a wise Muslim mathematician and the epnymous Man Who Counted. 

In each story, Beremiz encounters people who either doubt of of his abilities or want his help. They are set up simply with a bit of narrative embellishment to situate them in the larger plot, and followed with a precise solution by Beremiz. This is a great format because you can dive in and start to think about solutions after reading the set up and before reading Beremiz's approach to the problems. There are also many math-related tidbids that even people who aren't into Mathematics can find interesting,

However, I do have some criticisms about this book, two to be more specific. The first one is that not all of the stories or problems he comes across function as strictly mathematics or have mathematical solutions (the first problem about the camels comes to mind). The second one is that at one point, Beremiz is asked to give an example of multiplication where there is only one factor and the solution that he comes up with "is the multiplication of loaves and fishes performed by Jesus, the son of Mary." "In that multiplication" he argues, "there is only one factor: the miraculous power of the will of God". Regardless of what you think of biblical miracles, I don't think they belong in a book about mathematics. I realize the author is trying to make the book both historically and culturally accurate to the Medieval Muslim world which provided a vast amount of knowledge and learning to the world and specifically to the field of mathematics. But I believe it is unnecessary to the overall narrative.

BUT those are just some extremely minor nitpicks (especially the second point). The book it's only a few hundred pages, so give it a read if you're looking for a mostly light-hearted collection of short tales.

[ZpaceJ0ck0]

Graphic Novels Publisher NBM Turns 40

[Kakariko Kid]

I just bought the 7 Splinter Cell books. I have a lot of reading to do. Oddly enough, I've only played the demo of the first Splinter Cell game; I know Splinter Cell: Blacklist Aftermath is a sequel to the game Splinter Cell: Blacklist, so this should be interesting to see how much I know what's going on in that book.

[Raiden Blackwood]

I finished the Filthy Frank book a few days ago and I'm honestly going to read it again. It's funny, offensive, and everything you'd expect from Papa Franku.

[ZpaceJ0ck0]

I finished the Filthy Frank book a few days ago and I'm honestly going to read it again. It's funny, offensive, and everything you'd expect from Papa Franku.

Wait.... since when does Filthy Frank has his own book?

[Raiden Blackwood]

I finished the Filthy Frank book a few days ago and I'm honestly going to read it again. It's funny, offensive, and everything you'd expect from Papa Franku.

Wait.... since when does Filthy Frank has his own book?

It came out about a week and a half ago. He didn't really advertise it much.

[ZpaceJ0ck0]

Regular Show will get a "25 years into the future" epilogue/continuation in comic format by BOOM! Studios.

EDIT: BTW, there IS a separate thread for comicbooks, but it hasn't been active since 2013.

Happy 200th anniversary to Mary Shelley's Frankenstein!

[ZpaceJ0ck0]

I know I'm two years late (why didn't I post this sooner?) but this video by PewDiePie belongs here.

He actually read 72 books, not 721.

Here's the study that Pewdiepie mentioned: Teens Today Spend More Time on Digital Media, Less Time Reading (One of every three teenagers has not read a book for pleasure in a year, study says)

When you think about it, this study does explain why people nowadays have such SHITTY reading comprehension skills. The way people nowadays can twist or misunderstand simple messages is baffling.

Prominent Marvel And DC Writer Denny O’Neil Is Dead At 81

[ZpaceJ0ck0]

George R.R. Martin Is Finishing The Winds of Winter, For Real This Time

Yes, I know I'm like many months late.

The Expanse authors won’t finish A Song of Ice and Fire for George R.R. Martin

[ZpaceJ0ck0]

Do you like alternate history? As in, "what if certain historical events happened differently or just didn't happen at all?". I'm not a fan of the genre but I found an interesting story called The (Native) American Dream: The Complete History of Tahkoxia and Xuyuba. The title should give you an idea of what is about.

https://www.alternatehistory.com/forum/t...ba.490283/

[Berry]

Anyone hyped for the new Harry Potter game? If you are, then you are one of the many that has to go thru the BS discourse that has always plagued with the Harry Potter franchise. Not only with religious sect that hate on the wizarding world but with an Author that is currently living rent-free with Potheads.

To make it clear, I can't stand Harry Potter and have despised it since I was a kid. Didn't help that I had to do coursework about it within school and having to hangout with people that love this series. I am familiar with the books and I hated every page that I had to read. I don't like the story, characters and the awful implementations of magic.. The world was stupid and the fact that people can say the incantations from the books without shame or embarrassment says alot about the fanbase. I genuinely believe that the series has no positives and that the majority of people that enjoy the series have horrible taste in books. Suffice to say, I learned to keep my mouth shut as a kid because just criticizing the books were blasphemous to Teachers AND kids. It has been that way for quite a long time and the one time you can shit on the books is because the author was outed as a bigot. This is ridiculous and a blow to genuine criticism of the series. 

I hate Harry Potter and I hope we can live a world where these potfucks can stop circlejerking themselves. They are going to play the games, read the books, and enjoy the Wizarding World out in Orlando, Florida. You have no morals before when the Church was boycotting Harry Potter and you have absolutely no morals now when the Author is making Gajillions out of this shitstain of a series. You should feel ashamed in yourself whenever you contribute to this series. As a matter of fact, I am now gleeful that the fanbase has to fight among themselves. Its a shit franchise with a shit author with a shit fanbase and now the trinity of shite is complete. 

I wanted to write something more nuisance but the more thought I had about it, the more I realized that this was the obvious outcome of such a shit franchise. At least Twilight had the decency to peace out when it did but noooo, we have to have petty squabbles about not feeling bad about liking a shit franchise.