Evening Reading

by Jeff Mattas, Jan 28, 2011 5:00pm PST

Related Topics – Evening Reading

Now that the specs for the upcoming crop of next-gen handheld gaming devices from Nintendo and Sony have been revealed, there's a lot to be potentially excited about. I must confess, even having never been much for portable gaming myself, the tech is very exciting.

Bells and whistles aside, the one thing that could potentially sour my enthusiasm is cost. Pricing is still unknown for Sony's Next Generation Portable (NGP), though it'll likely be more expensive than Nintendo's 3DS, which is expected to retail for $250. That gives me pause, because as cool as the technology seems, I'm not sure I'm ready to pay roughly the same amount for portable gaming (hardware and software) than I do to play on the PC, Xbox 360, or PS3. In NGP's case, if it's just a matter of bringing PC and console-quality experiences to smaller platform, I expect I'd still gravitate to play the version I can experience on my TV, where I can get 10x the screen real-estate.

In other words, I'm cautiously optimistic, with a dash of wallet-panic.

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#698

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By: bipolar x Show Full Post

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If you could force everyone in the world to read one particular book, what would it be?
I posted this same question about seven years ago, interesting how tastes evolve.
My answer now would probably be Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, though that might be a waste of a choice. Not sure.

Earlier thread, for anyone interested: http://www.shacknews.com/laryn.x?id=6721988

Jan 28, 2011 6:49pm PST

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If you could force everyone in the world to read one particular book, what would it be? I posted this s... : bipolar
Thread Truncated. Click to see all 140 replies.
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  Or maybe Godel, Escher, Bach. : bipolar
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    I am trudging through this book right now. Keep me interested! What do you like best about it? : photonzach
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      He does a poor job of actually spelling out his theme (much more explicitly stated in "I Am A Strange Loo... : bipolar
      
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      Meant to say deconstruction instead of decentralization. : bipolar
      
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      You have a knack for writing, my friend. Where/how did you learn? Lots and lots of reading? : photonzach
      
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      Thanks for that :) I suppose it's just reading that did it, never took a writing class. FWIW, if GEB is... : bipolar
      
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      It's not so much it's approachability (or lack thereof) that I find difficult. I'm a pretty smart guy. It... : photonzach
      
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      grr.. its* : photonzach
      
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      It is admittedly a meandering work in which Hofstadter implicitly assumes that you share his interests in... : bipolar
      
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      That's kind of funny, because the main reason I was initially fascinated by it was how he connected the F... : photonzach
      
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      Best of luck. :) Have you made it to the chapter about the "careenium"? That was a memorable one for me... : bipolar
      
      I'm about 65 pages in, and I'm going to pick it up in the morning. I'll let you know what I think when I ... : photonzach
      
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      a few points: 1. Simultaneity was re-interpreted rather than found not to exist. Conceptual change is a : DonkeyPopsicle
      
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      I completely agree that extending Godel's theorem to other fields is a specious argument at best, and I a... : bipolar
      
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      it can't, but we simply dropped the notion of objectivity from our concept of simultaneity, just like we ... : DonkeyPopsicle
      
      and, maybe bigger than any of them, the requirement of physical contact for causation. This still hasn't... : DonkeyPopsicle
      
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      Right, but that was essentially the point I was making. Such concepts seem commonplace now, but we've gr... : bipolar
      
      I totally agree with that. It's definitely good to remind people how flexible many of our "common sense"... : DonkeyPopsicle
      
      Straight outta GEB :P : photonzach
- The Art of Happiness by the Dalai Lama : spiffymc
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  1984 : owly
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    By: steauengeglase x Show Full Post
    
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    This, but only to have a reason to whack people in the back of the head when they call something, Big Brother when it clearly isn't.
    
    Jan 28, 2011 9:11pm PST
    
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    This, but only to have a reason to whack people in the back of the head when they call something, Big Bro... : steauengeglase
    - Yeah, 1984 paints a very particular oppressive hellscape...and if such a thing were to arise it wouldn't ... : Vorlonesque
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    I've always thought that Brave New World was the more prescient book. A future where there's no need for... : bipolar
    - Hear hear! : GreatGooglyMoogly
- I don't tend to read 'important' books much, mostly read for pure entertainment. But I think Jared Diamon : Zakko
- No Country For Old Men. I get annoyed someone talks about the good ol' days and how things used to be an... : Squid Division
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  I tried to get into that book and it didn't work for me really, what about it appealed most to you? : pres589
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    For Zen? I really related to his notion of Quality, it struck a chord and made me think of things in way... : bipolar
    - I kind of thought the Quality stuff was just being careful and not wasting opportunity / money / effort o... : pres589
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  The Bible : dumb.
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    thats my schtick you jerk! Give me back my post : boring gegtik
    - We can split custody. I call weekends and every second Friday. : dumb.
  - and to read it as literal, not as metaphorical or as an allegory : hobosapien
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    What would you suggest for non-fiction? : rodneystubbs
    - I was going to post: the bible as fiction I guess that I'm too slow. : EruditeCaveman
  - Agreed! : StriderNL
  - This. : Rigor Morts
  - I bet that literally no-one has read the Bible from cover to cover : nrgXs
- I've been trying for 20 years to finish that book! : Pneum0
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  Have you read Shopcraft? : Deathlove
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    Nope. Closest match on Amazon is this: http://www.amazon.com/Shop-Class-Soulcraft-Inquiry-Value/dp/B003Y... : bipolar
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      Yes. That's it. : Deathlove
      
      On your recommendation I'll add it to the list (which never seems to grow shorter, somehow). Thanks! :) : bipolar
- Inflationary Theory by Alan Guth. : daVinci1980
- Any one of the mr. men books. : legsbrogan
- Dune : acheron
- Since forcing anybody to read anything makes them hate it, i don't think any book I like deserves the con... : gakera
- Intro to Probability : spiderfill
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  Roots : Nixx2004
  - Great book : bipolar
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  The Illuminatus! trilogy. (Ok, technically three books, but it's almost always sold in a single volume.) : Arcanum
  - I got through 2.5 of them. Interesting and hilarious, but felt a bit like more of the same towards the e... : bipolar
- Small Gods : locater16
- Cat's Cradle : disposition
- Twilight. I want everyone else to feel my pain and shame. : BanjoBoy
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  Ender's Game. : VenDrake
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    nah, alice already spoiled it for everyone : GoldfishInAJarOfPickles
    - TOYS spoiled it. : Earl Greigh
  - Is it like that Futurama movie? : Cliffzorz
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  either Thomas Gilovich's How We Know What Isn't So or any of David Hume's books. : DonkeyPopsicle
  - or really any basic book in logic and critical thinking, if only to reduce the abuse of the words "logic"... : DonkeyPopsicle
- Everyone Poops : retardhumper
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  Atlas Shrugged : watcherxp
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    beat me to it! doh. : Donborvio
    - yeah, was surprised nobody was earlier with this on here : watcherxp
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    speaking of which: http://www.boingboing.net/2011/01/28/ayn-rand-took-govern.html?utm_source=feedburner&u... : riptyde
    - hah, figures. Do I as I say, not as I do. Better off with some F.A. Hayek - The Road To Serfdom if you ... : Donborvio
    - Ayn Rand wrote the following in â€œThe Question of ScholarshiÂps,â€ The ObjectivisÂt, June... : TexasGameJunkie
  - fuck that is harsh! : thechunder
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  Demon Haunted World : Jiven
  - My first choice as well. Whole planet is full of superstitious nutjobs. : Bold
- Atlas Shrugged LOL : Donborvio
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_of_the_Really_Great_Whangdoodles : jane911
- Deadhouse Gates. There, I said it. : Visceral Monkey
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  Le Petit Prince : Navy Spitfire
  - great pick :) : MikkleThePickle
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  I like your answer a lot and would likely have chosen it on a different night but right now I'm going wit... : akirabob
  - Shit, or Summa Contra Gentiles/Summa Theologiae : akirabob
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  Timequake by Kurt Vonnegut. : The Wilhelm Scream
  - Really? I mean, I loved that book, as I do all of his, but if I was going for a Vonnegut I would have to... : asylumn
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  Some kind of textbook which teaches the scientific method in easy, clear language, and then goes on to sh... : Vantage
  - Or the Commonwealth Books by Hamilton, because goddamn they're good. : Vantage
- either The Age of Reason or Thucydides : ninjase
- A Brief History of Time, by Stephen Hawking. : JozhGoober
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  Das Kapital : NexusOne
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    Not sure if you're joking or not but this is actually a great response because it would force people to r... : akirabob
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      I wasn't joking. Marx's best writings were his critiques of capitalism, and they are still relevant compl... : NexusOne
      
      Agreed, many of them are actually far more relevant today. (see excess value growth models) : akirabob
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  THE NIV BIBLE. : CoRDS
  - Why this particular edition? : Volatus32x
- Slob by Rex Miller. Then American Psycho. Ultra-violence double feature. : DarthStank
- That new Tucker Max book. : reelbk
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  The Little Prince by Antoine De Saint Exupery. So many deep, philosophical statements about love, friends... : coldfusioncs
  - get in line, buddy : MikkleThePickle
  - What's hilarious about it being in this thread is that it is already one of the most popular books ever. : ThrillKill
- blind watchmaker : the if
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  How We Know What Isn't So: The Fallibility of Human Reason in Everyday Life by Thomas Gilovich. This plus... : Arctic Fox
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    Also, far less imaginative and open to suggestions. : akirabob
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      Being rational and humble about one's own intellectual abilities does not preclude imagination or seeking... : jipey
      
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      Being rational necessarily precludes on from looking at things from a non understood mentality. You thin... : akirabob
      
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      what the fuck. What an incredibly stupid perspective. Part of being rational is acknowledging what we d... : DonkeyPopsicle
      
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      See, there it is, your complete lack of logic once again. In a logical sense the best thing one could do... : akirabob
      
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      I'm not sure you know what the word 'logic' means, or have a clear point. You still haven't given a sing... : DonkeyPopsicle
      
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      "A method of human thought that involves thinking in a linear, step-by-step manner about how a problem ca... : akirabob
      
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      more simply put: Logic is a method for reasoning. Imagination is a psychological capability. There is : DonkeyPopsicle
      
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      From his posts so far, I feel like he's reacting against the idea of logic being superior to all other me... : jipey
      
      it's superior for certain purposes, of course. Logic is what you use to construct and critique arguments... : DonkeyPopsicle
      
      I don't quite understand the dichotomy you've presented here; it appears to be a false distinction betwee... : jipey
      
      The Wright Brothers were two incredibly rational people actually. The principles of lift were reasonably : Arctic Fox
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      FREE YOUR MIND, MAN : DonkeyPopsicle
      
      And it's your ongoing brilliance in posts like these that makes me think you've taken gone through someth... : akirabob
  - hey there cognitive bias buddy: http://www.shacknews.com/laryn.x?id=25135515#itemanchor_25135515 : DonkeyPopsicle
  - I've been meaning to get this one : ninjase
- Geez, just 1? Excluding previous choices, I'm going to go with Tjhe Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolv... : EnderWigginDA
- Christ, I can't believe I agreed with you about Atlas Shrugged in that thread. My how things change. I... : thetangent
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Short_History_of_Progress : The Key
- The fucking encyclopedia because people are fucking retarded that's what : d fluke
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  Proust: in search of lost time. 3200 pages. 2000 characters. I would become hunted. : steelsamurai
  - lol : Arctic Fox
  - That's like 7 books though :( : ninjase
  - at least it has an honest title : skizl
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  THE BIBLE amirite : Mr. Goodwrench
  - ahh god dammit : Mr. Goodwrench
- Quake manual : sasoi
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  Well, I probably wouldn't drive 12,000 miles to write "READ AYN RAND" on a map of the States. http://w... : rock elf
  - World's biggest douche : GreatGooglyMoogly
- 101 Dirty Jokes : drucifer
- lanark. : disembodied potato
- Animal Farm : dodob
- A Brief History of Time Goedel Escher Bach or, maybe http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_common_m... : tcs
- The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. : nomaad
- I don't think I'd bother. : Sacred Sperm
- I'd go for Wind in the WIllows! : gydot
- Mein Kampf lulz just kidding. Watership Down maybe. : theghostofsmdever
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  On The Road - Jack Kerouac : Broken Canoe
  - Forcing people to read it does not mean they'd 'get it,dig' : nrgXs
- an unabridged english dictionary, because if i had that kind of power, you'd bet i'd abuse the fuck out o... : delataur
- planescape torment : ballystix

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