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J-Dog



Posts: 4402
Joined: Dec. 2006

(Permalink) Posted: Aug. 24 2008,20:30   

A J-DOG Big Shout out to David Crystal for writing "By Hook or by Crook, a Journey in Seach of English".

Unlike most ID sites, this book is well-written and easy to read.  To steal from the blurb - and BTW "blurb" and its origens as a word are explained in the book - "it's a liguistic travellogue like no other".  

He explaine why I spell it "color", and Louis spells it "colour".  He writes about travels @ England & Wales, and even discusses some Chicago and San Francisco word backgrounds.

He discusses Shakespeare, strange Canadian writings, and making TV shows for the BBC. He discuses Tolkein and univocalics - citing an 8-line poem that only uses the vowel "a".  

Interesting for anyone that is curious about our language.

Two Thumbs UP!

--------------
Come on Tough Guy, do the little dance of ID impotence you do so well. - Louis to Joe G 2/10

Gullibility is not a virtue - Quidam on Dembski's belief in the Bible Code Faith Healers & ID 7/08

UD is an Unnatural Douchemagnet. - richardthughes 7/11

  
Arden Chatfield



Posts: 6657
Joined: Jan. 2006

(Permalink) Posted: Aug. 30 2008,12:51   

Everyone here urgently needs to read this. Especially Louis.

--------------
"Rich is just mad because he thought all titties had fur on them until last week when a shorn transvestite ruined his childhood dreams by jumping out of a spider man cake and man boobing him in the face lips." - Erasmus

  
stevestory



Posts: 13407
Joined: Oct. 2005

(Permalink) Posted: Aug. 30 2008,13:03   

Quote (J-Dog @ Aug. 24 2008,21:30)
He explaine why I spell it "color", and Louis spells it "colour".

I always just assumed Louis had brain damage.

   
Dr.GH



Posts: 2333
Joined: May 2002

(Permalink) Posted: Aug. 30 2008,14:13   

I finished Robert Richards's biography of Ernst Haeckel "A Tragic Sense of Life." I am reading two other books related to the Darwin=Hitler creatocrap;

Bergen, Doris L.
1996 "Twisted Cross: The German Christian Movement in the Third Reich" (University of N. Carolina Press)

Steigmann-Gall, Richard
2003 “The Holy Reich: Nazi Conceptions of Christianity 1919-1945” 2003 Cambridge University Press.

Both are excellent, and will make a refutation of Weikart's trash book rather straight forward.

I picked up two of John Haught's books, "God and the New Atheism" and "Responses to 101 Questions on God and Evolution." The latter is OK, but his reaction to the "New Atheism" is disappointing.

"Mark S. Smith's "The Early History of God, 2nd ed" and Ziony Zevit's massive 818 page "The Religions of Ancient Israel" came yesterday. I started with Smith's more managble book. I enjoyed his 2003 work “The Origins of Biblical Monotheism: Israel's Polytheistic Background and the Ugaritic Texts”  (Oxford University Press) inspite of his very scholarly writting style. (Great bedtime reading).

--------------
"Science is the horse that pulls the cart of philosophy."

L. Susskind, 2004 "SMOLIN VS. SUSSKIND: THE ANTHROPIC PRINCIPLE"

   
Stephen Elliott



Posts: 1776
Joined: Oct. 2005

(Permalink) Posted: Aug. 31 2008,07:30   

I am reading 3 atm.

BIOLOGY sixth edition Campbell&Reece

A SHORT HISTORY OF NEARLY EVERYTHING Bill Bryson

and

NOT FORGOTTEN Neil Oliver

The last is especially emotive. I have read it before but keep forgetting that the war memorials where mostly erected due to public sense of loss rather than government decree.

  
dnmlthr



Posts: 565
Joined: Mar. 2008

(Permalink) Posted: Sep. 03 2008,03:46   

Currently binging on functional programming, in part thanks to school.

Programming in Haskell by Hutton
Apart from using mathematical notation in code examples instead of the corresponding ASCII character set that you would use when entering code into your editor, a practice so stupid that it boggles the mind, I guess it's ok as a very basic primer on Haskell and functional programming. Mercifully thin and thus nice to my back, unlike most of our other literature.

Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programming by Abelson and Sussman
Haven't had the time to dig into this yet, school season is pretty intense right now. I just hope it's half as good as its classic status indicates.

--------------
Guess what? I don't give a flying f*ck how "science works" - Ftk

  
keiths



Posts: 2195
Joined: Jan. 2006

(Permalink) Posted: Sep. 14 2008,02:39   

David Foster Wallace is gone.

--------------
And the set of natural numbers is also the set that starts at 0 and goes to the largest number. -- Joe G

Please stop putting words into my mouth that don't belong there and thoughts into my mind that don't belong there. -- KF

  
C.J.O'Brien



Posts: 395
Joined: Aug. 2005

(Permalink) Posted: Sep. 15 2008,14:15   

Quote (keiths @ Sep. 14 2008,02:39)
David Foster Wallace is gone.

I'm just really bummed about this. Having lost friends to suicide, I feel for his wife and family. It's something you never really get over.

--------------
The is the beauty of being me- anything that any man does I can understand.
--Joe G

  
stevestory



Posts: 13407
Joined: Oct. 2005

(Permalink) Posted: Sep. 20 2008,14:39   

On the current reading list





and the usual backlog of New Yorkers and GQs.

   
Spottedwind



Posts: 83
Joined: Aug. 2008

(Permalink) Posted: Oct. 08 2008,09:57   

Perhaps I missed it, and my apologies if so, but is there a thread for good science books?  Evolution and associated topics of course, but others as well.

I picked up The Top Ten Myths About Evolution at a small bookstore but haven't found 10 minutes to read it yet.  It looked good and like it might be a good read for non- to semi-science inclined people.

Basically I was wondering if anyone had any thoughts about that book and/or any others to pick up.  As to reader level...any and all to be honest.  I want to be able to suggest easy, but accurate, reading at a layman level for friends and family if asked.  I'm not saying a dumbing down of the concept, but something that can make complex ideas and confusing terminology and jargon comprehensible to the average person.  For myself, I think I can handle something a bit more complex and probably could use the challenge, since my current job isn't that kind of mental stimulation.  (Something cometh before the fall but if I could only remember what...)  

Any suggestions appreciated.

  
dvunkannon



Posts: 1377
Joined: June 2008

(Permalink) Posted: Oct. 13 2008,14:46   

Just picked up The Illustrated Origin of Species, by C. Darwin. It's wonderful!

Also, the new Annotated Dracula!

--------------
I’m referring to evolution, not changes in allele frequencies. - Cornelius Hunter
I’m not an evolutionist, I’m a change in allele frequentist! - Nakashima

  
huwp



Posts: 172
Joined: Aug. 2006

(Permalink) Posted: Oct. 13 2008,16:56   

Quote (dvunkannon @ Oct. 13 2008,14:46)
Just picked up The Illustrated Origin of Species, by C. Darwin. It's wonderful!

OK this is somewhat off topic but on Saturday my wife and I visited Down House in Kent where Charles Darwin used to live.  The house is now owned and run by English Heritage who do a fine job.  The countryside round there has barely changed since Darwin's day apart from the aircraft noises - it's right next door to Biggin Hill airfield.

It's well worth a visit if any of you are in the area.

http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/server.php?show=nav.14922

Hwyl fawr

Huw

  
ppb



Posts: 325
Joined: Dec. 2006

(Permalink) Posted: Oct. 30 2008,15:13   

I finally finished two books that got set aside during my recent move.

Shubin's "Your Inner Fish", which I found to be excellent.  Very enjoyable account of our rise from the swamps to having opposable thumbs and hiccups.

"Michael Palin Diaries 1969-1979: The Python Years", a must read for the die-hard Python fan.  Lots of stories about "Holy Grail" and "Life of Brian", hangin' out with George Harrison, hosting Saturday Night Live, along with every day things like kids birthday parties and painful dentistry.

My lovely wife just gave me an autographed copy of "The Sibley Field Guide to Birds of Eastern North America ".  She knows me so well.

--------------
"[A scientific theory] describes Nature as absurd from the point of view of common sense. And it agrees fully with experiment. So I hope you can accept Nature as She is - absurd."
- Richard P. Feynman

  
Erasmus, FCD



Posts: 6349
Joined: June 2007

(Permalink) Posted: Oct. 30 2008,17:01   



I don't know if I have managed to clarify any of my thoughts by reading this.  Very interesting however.  




also very interesting.  there is a common theme between the two books, namely that of how to deal with so-called emergent properties.  in two very different contexts.

last one doesn't ask that question, just jumps right into the fray.  also a good read.  not finished with it yet.


Biotic Homogenization edited by J Lockwood and M McKinney

--------------
You're obviously illiterate as hell. Peach, bro.-FtK

Finding something hard to believe based on the evidence, is science.-JoeG

the odds of getting some loathsome taint are low-- Gordon E Mullings Manjack Heights Montserrat

I work on molecular systems with pathway charts and such.-Giggles

  
Steviepinhead



Posts: 532
Joined: Jan. 2006

(Permalink) Posted: Nov. 13 2008,15:21   

I'm reading Anathem, the new opus from Neal Stephenson, the author of Cryptonomicon and the "System of the World" books.  It's amazing how many issues that are au currant in our little science-creationist skirmishes that NS manages to render into lively fiction...

Anyway, it's good so far, but massive, so I'm only about a fifth of the way in.

I'm also reading an interesting book on Haida ethnography: The Curtain Within: Haida Social and Mythical Discourse by Marianne Boelscher.  


Also fortunate enough to be sharing a couple of chapters from BWE's secret project...

  
Steviepinhead



Posts: 532
Joined: Jan. 2006

(Permalink) Posted: Dec. 05 2008,16:32   

Over at TalkRational, we've started a Christmas Reading Wish List for our dear old friend, douty AF Dave Hawkins.  Here's teh linky.  (Funny, the hot-link worked just fine in the preview...)  http://talkrational.org/showthread.php?p=289873#post289873

And here were my initial contributions:

1. Grand Canyon Geology, by Beus and Morales.  Dave has been looking for a professional geologist to waste his time spoon-feeding Dave with the the “conventional”explanation!  The customer reviews at Amazon.com suggest that this book could use better pictures, but apparently the text is quite authoritative.  Perhaps others will suggest more “coffee table”-worthy numbers.

2. Dogs: Their Fossil Relatives and Evolutionary History, by Wang and Tedford.  Dave has recently asserted that he can tell that dogs and wolves are part of the same "kind."  We think he's overlooked, oh, just a few members of that baramin!

3. Bursting the Limits of Time: The Reconstruction of Geohistory in the Age of Revolution , by Rudwick.  A badly-needed corrective for Dave’s woeful misconstructions of how and by whom the earth’s early history was reconstructed.

4. The Rise of Animals: Evolution and Diversification of the Kingdom Animalia, by Fedonkin and several co-authors.  Both the text and illustrations are reputedly excellent.

5. On the Origin of Phyla, by Valentine.  A personal favorite, and a steal at $22.22 used in pb on amazon.com (i'm out of practice with the hot-links here, but hope I'm giving enough info that the interested can locate these online)!  I’m not sure Dave yet realizes how many of the phyla that “explosively” originated in and around Cambrian times are “just” one or another variety of soft-bodied worm.  Or how very few of the animals that Dave would recognize from our modern world were around then.

6. Annals of the Former World, by McPhee.  A highly-readable introduction to plate tectonics.

And, of course:

7. The Portuguese Language: History and Structure of Language, by Camara, Jr.  ‘Nuff said.

Anyway, feel free to stop on by.  Many old comrades are gathered there, roasting Dave's chestnuts round the fire.

  
C.J.O'Brien



Posts: 395
Joined: Aug. 2005

(Permalink) Posted: Dec. 12 2008,16:09   

Quote
I'm reading Anathem, the new opus from Neal Stephenson, the author of Cryptonomicon and the "System of the World" books.  It's amazing how many issues that are au currant in our little science-creationist skirmishes that NS manages to render into lively fiction...


Yes, good stuff. I've been reading it, too... almost done.

What did you think, Stevie? (I'm assuming you've finished it by now)

--------------
The is the beauty of being me- anything that any man does I can understand.
--Joe G

  
Steviepinhead



Posts: 532
Joined: Jan. 2006

(Permalink) Posted: Dec. 16 2008,20:14   

Er, no...  It's a big long book, slow going for pinheadz.

Actually, I have been enjoying it to date, but I tend to read several things at one time, especially when one of the things has the heft of this tome.

Just to spare my scrawny neck and shoulder muscles, if for no other reason.  

But I will report back.

Also, for Seattle-ites, or other fans or either paleoanthropology or Northwest Coast native art, we've got two great exhibits going on in town at the moment: Lucy Walks (well, actually, her bones flew over here from Ethiopia) at the Pacific Science Center and S'abadeb, The Gifts, an exhibit of Salish native art, old and new.  There is a good book/exhibit catalog associated with the latter, by the same title, edited by the curator, Barbara Brotherton.

I have been making (very desultory and behind-the-times) reports on the lecture series -- sponsored by the Burke Museum, our local natural history/ethnology museum -- associated with the Lucy Exhibit, over at TalkRational.  Charmingly, the lectures are titled "Lucy Talks."

  
J-Dog



Posts: 4402
Joined: Dec. 2006

(Permalink) Posted: Dec. 17 2008,08:19   

Quote (ppb @ Oct. 30 2008,15:13)
I finally finished two books that got set aside during my recent move.

Shubin's "Your Inner Fish", which I found to be excellent.  Very enjoyable account of our rise from the swamps to having opposable thumbs and hiccups.

"Michael Palin Diaries 1969-1979: The Python Years", a must read for the die-hard Python fan.  Lots of stories about "Holy Grail" and "Life of Brian", hangin' out with George Harrison, hosting Saturday Night Live, along with every day things like kids birthday parties and painful dentistry.

My lovely wife just gave me an autographed copy of "The Sibley Field Guide to Birds of Eastern North America ".  She knows me so well.

Thanks for the tip!  My library has the Michale Palin Diaries - it's Dewey Decimal 791.4509 if you are scoring at home.

--------------
Come on Tough Guy, do the little dance of ID impotence you do so well. - Louis to Joe G 2/10

Gullibility is not a virtue - Quidam on Dembski's belief in the Bible Code Faith Healers & ID 7/08

UD is an Unnatural Douchemagnet. - richardthughes 7/11

  
dnmlthr



Posts: 565
Joined: Mar. 2008

(Permalink) Posted: Dec. 17 2008,08:47   

Do text book authors in the US get paid by the word? We use "Fundamentals of physics" by Halliday et. al in a physics course now and man do they consistently take the long road...

--------------
Guess what? I don't give a flying f*ck how "science works" - Ftk

  
Seizure Salad



Posts: 60
Joined: June 2006

(Permalink) Posted: Dec. 21 2008,00:17   

There's a new Pynchon book coming out summer 2009. It's called Inherent Vice.

Y'all Gravity's Rainbow nerds should Google that shit.

  
Dr.GH



Posts: 2333
Joined: May 2002

(Permalink) Posted: Dec. 21 2008,13:39   

I have been reading some Christian "evolutionists" this week

Miller, Keith B. (editor)
2003 “Perspectives on an Evolving Creation” Grand Rapids: Eerdmans Publishing

Frye, Roland Mushat (editor)
1983 "Is God a Creationist?: The Religious Case Against Creation-Science" New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, Inc.

and a truly terrible book

DeRosa, Tom
2006 “Evolution’s Fatal Fruit” Fort Lauderdale: Coral Ridge Ministries. (Darwin-->Hitler, etc… cheap and incompetent)

Yesterday, I bought as an antidote,

Prothero, Donald.
2007 "Evolution: What The Fossils Say and Why It Matters" Colombia University Press.

--------------
"Science is the horse that pulls the cart of philosophy."

L. Susskind, 2004 "SMOLIN VS. SUSSKIND: THE ANTHROPIC PRINCIPLE"

   
stevestory



Posts: 13407
Joined: Oct. 2005

(Permalink) Posted: Jan. 06 2009,20:46   

So another trip to the liberry today. First, the usual negotiations with them about my fines, which ones I felt were valid, and convincing them that since I'm going to pay for that October issue of the New Yorker that has disappeared into the ether could they erase the overdue fines in the meantime (they could). Then off to get the most recent new yorkers (when i moved from NC i didn't take one with me, and to reroute your subscription apparently you have to know everything on the mailing label, so my ex-roommate is enjoying half a year on me) and a GQ or two and happened past this: American Gods, and checked it out. Going to crack it open tomorrow.

   
keiths



Posts: 2195
Joined: Jan. 2006

(Permalink) Posted: Jan. 07 2009,02:01   

Quote (stevestory @ Sep. 20 2008,12:39)
On the current reading list





and the usual backlog of New Yorkers and GQs.

Dude -- I just noticed who wrote your abstract algebra book.  Whoa.

--------------
And the set of natural numbers is also the set that starts at 0 and goes to the largest number. -- Joe G

Please stop putting words into my mouth that don't belong there and thoughts into my mind that don't belong there. -- KF

  
stevestory



Posts: 13407
Joined: Oct. 2005

(Permalink) Posted: Jan. 07 2009,02:37   

(tries to hit gangsta poses)

   
stevestory



Posts: 13407
Joined: Oct. 2005

(Permalink) Posted: Jan. 07 2009,02:41   

i'm all up on this 836-quadrillion permutation group, Bee-otch.

:-)

   
stevestory



Posts: 13407
Joined: Oct. 2005

(Permalink) Posted: Jan. 07 2009,02:51   

LOL in all seriousness, it is a really good textbook. And I took it under Dr. E. Stitzinger. I tutor math now, and when I want to hone my skills, I borrow it, and work through some of the proofs from chs 1-13. After that it gets too hard for li'l ol me.

"If you don't love Abstract Algebra, you don't love math." -Ernie Stitzinger

   
keiths



Posts: 2195
Joined: Jan. 2006

(Permalink) Posted: Jan. 07 2009,03:02   

I'm sure the author could help you with chapter 14:
Quote
The is the beauty of being me- anything that any man does I can understand.
--Joe G


--------------
And the set of natural numbers is also the set that starts at 0 and goes to the largest number. -- Joe G

Please stop putting words into my mouth that don't belong there and thoughts into my mind that don't belong there. -- KF

  
Assassinator



Posts: 479
Joined: Nov. 2007

(Permalink) Posted: Jan. 07 2009,06:58   

I'm finally going to read some books again (that means not buying the monthly computergame, a well yay for variation), namely the Discworld series recommended by a friend. Problem is, I have no idea where to start! There are 37 books, and according to this reading guide there are 4 big storylines and 2 small one's. Wich storyline would you guys recommend to start with, for whatever reason.

  
Arden Chatfield



Posts: 6657
Joined: Jan. 2006

(Permalink) Posted: Jan. 07 2009,09:34   

Quote (stevestory @ Jan. 07 2009,00:37)
(tries to hit gangsta poses)

HA HA THIS IS YOU:



--------------
"Rich is just mad because he thought all titties had fur on them until last week when a shorn transvestite ruined his childhood dreams by jumping out of a spider man cake and man boobing him in the face lips." - Erasmus

  
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