Best australia & oceania literature books according to redditors
We found 154 Reddit comments discussing the best australia & oceania literature books. We ranked the 66 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the top 20.
Brian's book is just one of the novels in the Orbit Cyber Monday sale. All are $2.99 and a list of the fantasy titles is provided here:
Title|Author|Book #|Series|Rating | # Ratings
:-:|:-:|:-:|:-:|:-:|:-:
The Fifth Season | N.K. Jemisin | 1 | Broken Earth | 4.31 | 34,271
The Black Prism | Brent Weeks | 1 | Lightbringer | 4.24 | 68,494
The Last Wish | Andrzej Sapkowski | 1 | Introducing the Witcher | 4.20 | 58,433
Blood of Elves | Andrzej Sapkowski | 1 | The Witcher | 4.23 | 32,039
The Shadow of What Was Lost | James Islington | 1 | Licanius Trilogy | 4.16 | 9,656
Sins of Empire | Brian McClellan | 1 | Gods of Blood and Powder | 4.47 | 3,727
Promise of Blood | Brian McClellan | 1 | Powder Mage| 4.16| 26,245
The Blade Itself | Joe Abercrombie | 1 | First Law | 4.14| 111,811
Theft of Swords^1 | Michael J. Sullivan | 1 | Riyria Revelations | 4.21 | 38,525
The City Stained Red | Sam Sykes | 1 | Bring Down Heaven | 3.68 | 1,088
The Red Knight | Miles Cameron | 1 | Traitor Son Cycle | 4.12 | 10,607
Skyborn | David Dalglish | 1 | Seraphim | 3.92 | 1,010
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^1 In full disclosure - this is a book that I wrote.
This is based on Randamoozham, a Malayalam novel written by MT Vasudevan Nair. Its a retelling of Mahabharatha from the perspective of Bhima. Completely humanizes the characters and no magic is involved.
Edit: The English translation is available in Amazon - http://www.amazon.in/Bhim-Warrior-M-T-Vasudevan-Nair/dp/9350297590/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8
The director is making a fantasy movie with Mohanlal this year. That will be the test of whether this project would take off under his helm or not. He is an accomplished ad film director.
Physicalism was just what I was left with when I stopped believing in magic. We physicalists do acknowledge the existence of mathematics, language, emotion, hopes, dreams, etc. For us they're qualities of, or relationships between, or phenomena arising out of or dependent on physical processes, physical reality. "Physical" isn't relegated to what you can poke with a stick.
>If you believe that "you are your brain"
I am not my brain, no more than I am my foot. My sense of "I" comes from processes in my brain, yes, but that's a different statement.
>what happens if I create using some advanced technology a perfect copy of your brain in a different location ?
Then that copy too would have a sense of self. He would be an individual unto himself, and would feel the need for self-preservation and all the rest. We might start off as identical, but since our experiences would be different then we would quickly diverge.
As an aside, I'd recommend the great book Permutation City, which explores these ideas in great depth. Many of Greg Egan's other novels and short stories also explore the same territory.
>Which brain are you ?
"I" is a first-person experience. The other instantiation of "my" brain pattern (which would quickly diverge from the original) would be its own "I".
It can take a little more time if the patient is hysterical and flailing around haha!
I never understand why police say they have to wait weeks for tox reports. At my hospital you can literally have those results in less than an hour. Maybe some tests take longer? But we test for all the most common stuff so I still don't get it.
I still wonder if she refused any tests. Can the police require the tests since she wasn't a suspect? I'm sure the hospital people wouldn't have wanted to put her through any extra stress since she was a victim (hahaha).
Someone on one of the subs mentioned this book that I highly recommend as a great read. In it, a girl is able to get away with pretending to be a kidnapping vicim. While it is fiction, it paints a picture of how it is possible to fake some things and get away with it.
My recommendations from books I read in the last year or so (yes, these are all VERY STRONG recommends curated from ~100 books in the last year) -
​
Science fiction-
Derek Kunsken's The Quantum Magician (I would describe it as a cross between Oceans Eleven with some not-too-Hard Science Fiction. Apparently will be a series, but is perfectly fine as a standalone novel).
Cixin Lu's very popular Three Body Problem series (Mixes cleverly politics, sociology, psychology and science fiction)
James A Corey's The Expanse Series (which has been made into the best sci fi tv series ever!)
Hannu Rajaniemi's Quantum Thief series (Hard science fiction. WARNING - A lot of the early stuff is intentionally mystifying with endless terminology that’s only slowly explained since the main character himself has lost his memories. Put piecing it all together is part of the charm.)
​
Fantasy-
James Islington's Shadow of What was Lost series (a deep series which makes you think - deep magic, politics, religion all intertwined)
Will Wight's Cradle series (has my vote for one of the best fantasy series ever written)
Brandon Sanderson Legion series (Brandon Sanderson. Nuff said. Creative as always)
​
Manga -
Yukito Kishiro's Alita, Battle Angel series (the manga on what the movie was based)
​
Non-Fiction-
Jonathan Haidt's The Righteous Mind - Why Good People are Divided by Politics and Religion (and how we are not as rational as we believe we are, and how passion works in tandem with rationality in decision making and is actually required for good decisionmaking)
Rothery's Geology - A Complete Introduction (as per title)
Joseph Krauskopf's A Rabbi's Impressions of the Oberammergau Passion Play, available to read online for free, including a fabulous supplementary of Talmud Parallels to the NT (a Rabbi in 1901 explains why he is not a Christian)
​
Audiobooks -
Bob Brier's The History of Ancient Egypt (as per title - 25 hrs of the best audiobook lectures. Incredible)
​
Academic biblical studies-
Richard Elliot Friedman's Who Wrote The Bible and The Exodus (best academic biblical introductory books into the Documentary Hypothesis and Qenite/Midian hypothesis)
Israel Finkelstein's The Bible Unearthed (how archaelogy relates to the bible)
E.P. Sander's Judaism: Practice and Belief, 63BCE-66CE (most detailed book of what Judaism is and their beliefs, and one can see from this balanced [Christian] scholar how Christianity has colored our perspectives of what Jews and Pharisees were really like)
Avigdor Shinan's From gods to God (how Israel transitioned from polytheism to monotheism)
Mark S Smith's The Early History of God (early history of Israel, Canaanites, and YHWH)
James D Tabor's Paul and Jesus: How the Apostle Transformed Christianity (as per title)
Tom Dykstra's Mark Canonizer of Paul (engrossing - will make you view the gospel of Mark with new eyes)
Jacob L Wright's King David and His Reign Revisited (enhanced ibook - most readable book ever on King David)
Jacob Dunn's thesis on the Midianite/Kenite hypothesis (free pdf download - warning - highly technical but also extremely well referenced)
Have you read the book Machine Man?
That's kind of how the book starts
The Shadow of What Was Lost (The Licanius Trilogy) is a pretty original setting focused on magic-users who have basically been de-clawed after the "Augurs" (magic-users capable of seeing the future) ruling class had their powers fail and subsequently fell from power. Characters act rationally, mysteries are generally resolved logically, and the first book ends with great promise. Really, the only thing that worries me is that there's a bit of time-travelling...
The author describes the Wheel of Time series as their main influence and I think it definitely shows (also, Brandon Sanderson, the book even feels a little like Elantris because of its "rediscovering what happened to the ancients" aspect). Second book of the trilogy comes out later this year, and the third book is already mostly done apparently so I'm hopeful this won't be a series that lingers unresolved.
Lexicon: a novel
https://www.amazon.com/Lexicon-Novel-Max-Barry/dp/0143125427
Wasn't something like that a plot point in the book The Rosie Project? Of course that character had undiagnosised Asperger's sydrome and found out the person that worked for him was one that didn't fit into his checklist at all.
Recent books by female authors I've enjoyed:
Your Voice in My Head by Emma Forrest
Burial Rites by Hannah Kent
How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff
Night Film by Marisha Pessl
and... The End of Everything by Megan Abbott
For anyone that wants to read an awesome book largely about this topic, I highly recommend "Permutation City" by Greg Egan. It's really good.
Some of the ideas explored with this concept is shit like rich dudes utilizing this tech to basically become immortal and continue to run their corporations after their real world self dies with their digital clones taking over. Basically also as a way to wait until real word robotics and cyborg tech and whatnot is advanced enough to host their consciousness in the real world again.
Also how like digital clones can mentally crack from the realization that the real them is not them etc etc.
https://www.amazon.com/Permutation-City-Novel-Greg-Egan/dp/1597805394#mediaMatrix_secondary_view_div_1562315580921
same premise in the sci fi called "Quarantine". A very good read
https://www.amazon.com/Quarantine-Novel-Greg-Egan/dp/1597805386
A few good books:
Pali suttas:
http://www.amazon.com/Buddhas-Words-Anthology-Discourses-Teachings/dp/0861714911
Overview of the Mahayana:
http://www.amazon.com/An-Open-Heart-Practicing-Compassion/dp/0316930938
Bodhicitta:
http://www.amazon.com/How-Expand-Love-Widening-Relationships/dp/0743269691
Shunyata:
http://www.amazon.com/How-See-Yourself-You-Really/dp/0743290461
Perfection of wisdom sutras: Heart Sutra:
http://www.amazon.com/The-Heart-Understanding-Commentaries-Prajnaparamita/dp/1888375922
Diamond Cutter sutra:
http://www.amazon.com/Diamond-That-Cuts-Through-Illusion/dp/1935209442
3 principle aspects of the path:
http://www.amazon.com/The-Three-Principal-Aspects-Path/dp/1559393505
Zen:
http://www.amazon.com/Zen-Mind-Beginners-Shunryu-Suzuki/dp/1590308492
I think you would like Greg Egan's Permutation City
Diaspora by Greg Egan is one of the best books I've ever read, period. While the entirety of the book is philosophical in nature the concepts are generally philosophy of mind related, as is common in science-fiction.
The book deals with the theme of what makes a mind 'conscious' as it explores civilizations existing within supercomputer calculations, with real-time information flooding in from galaxies away, self-cloning, slowing and speeding up time perception, dimensional jumping, personality architecting, and more. Even if you're not terribly into science fiction you'd likely enjoy the book - truly an incredible work.
That is one of the most inspiring videos I've watched. Why are companies and governments not throwing money at this guy !??!
(Also, reminds me vary much of a book called Machine Man - which is worth a read http://www.amazon.com/Machine-Man-Vintage-Contemporaries-Original/dp/0307476898)
It might be The Rosie Project, by Graeme Simsion.
>The art of love is never a science: Meet Don Tillman, a brilliant yet socially inept professor of genetics, who’s decided it’s time he found a wife. In the orderly, evidence-based manner with which Don approaches all things, he designs the Wife Project to find his perfect partner: a sixteen-page, scientifically valid survey to filter out the drinkers, the smokers, the late arrivers.
>
>Rosie Jarman possesses all these qualities. Don easily disqualifies her as a candidate for The Wife Project (even if she is “quite intelligent for a barmaid”). But Don is intrigued by Rosie’s own quest to identify her biological father. When an unlikely relationship develops as they collaborate on The Father Project, Don is forced to confront the spontaneous whirlwind that is Rosie―and the realization that, despite your best scientific efforts, you don’t find love, it finds you.
According to Wikipedia,
>In September 2014 it was confirmed that Sony Pictures optioned film rights to The Rosie Project.[3] Simsion penned the first draft of the script and screenwriters Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber were later brought on to work on the final script, with Phil Lord and Christopher Miller set to potentially direct.[3] Jennifer Lawrence was cast as the female lead for the film in July 2015.[4] In October 2015, Lawrence dropped out to star in the film mother! by Darren Aronofsky, director of the Oscar-winning movie Black Swan.[5] In July 2015, Richard Linklater was in talks to direct after Lord and Miller dropped out to do other projects.[6] However, after Lawrence dropped out of the film, so did Linklater.[7] In 2017, TriStar Pictures announced that Ben Taylor would direct the film.[8]
back to the beginning
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Last year only one book made me happy through and through, and that book was "The Rosie Project" by Graeme Simsion. It's a romantic comedy, but seen through the eyes of a Biology professor with Asperger's named Don Tillman, who decides it's about time he got married and so starts his "Wife Project".
Think "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime" crossed with "When Harry Met Sally". It's very funny, very sweet, and very uplifting.
Weirdly, I picked it up because it was on Bill Gates' recommended list.
The Death of Bunny Munro by Nick Cave, lead singer of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds.
Hm, most of my favorites have been mentioned, but there's some interesting weather magic in the series by Karen Miller with the first book The Innocent Mage and the series by Glenda Larke with the first book The Last Stormlord.
Also, the magic isn't too in depth, but I think there's a lot of things to like about it in the book White Fire Crossing by Courtney Schafer.
There is a a book called Machine Man that explores this idea.
I highly recommend many of the books already mentioned here. Haven't seen a bad one really in the bunch. My recommendation though is to remember all these, then go walk around Borders(or whatever book store you have near by) and see what grabs your eye. I could spend an hour+ easy walking the fantasy section over and over until I find that book that begs to be taken home. This is how I found The King's Bastard, the first in the King Rolen's Kin trilogy(finished already) and a damn good read. I recommend the trilogy to all the fantasy enthusiasts here that have never heard of it or have and were curious. I would put the series around an 8 on Sanderson's grit scale.
Happy reading.
From Socrates to Sartre: A Philosophic Quest Its a pretty good starting point. Its basically just an overview of major philosophers. Also for some fiction try Genesis by Bernard Beckett. Its a pretty easy read and deals with what it means to be human.
MFE,
I did like Train Job. I would have still liked the series if it had started with that one, but Serenity seemed to provide the perfect delivery.
>You'd think I would have gotten that down pat over the years.
I think you’re an excellent communicator. I feel like you have a good sense of yourself and are balanced between challenging and accepting yourself. I feel that you are very accepting of me and want the best for me but also understand when I don’t always hit the high notes. If that’s all correct, then I think we’re good. : ) I will generally take you at your word, but if I notice you say something that seems to contradict in any way how I see you being (most especially if you ever express falling short in an area where I see you shine), there’s a good chance I’ll speak up, although I’ll always give you the benefit of the doubt since you know yourself best.
I’m not sure why Take on Me isn’t high on my list. I’m thinking perhaps that it doesn’t have a strong enough hook for me and that I like a more distinctive drum line. I can tell that Vitas is very good, but if we’re going strictly by preferences, I do prefer what I’ve heard of Inva Mula over Vitas. However, I don’t know that I can distinguish my enjoyment of the song and composition from that of the voice. My sense is that for everyday listening, I prefer voices that do not abide in pure notes. Like candlelight, the flickering light thrown is as much or more a part of the ambiance than the flame itself.
I’ll add Gibson in behind Vinge. : ) Reading about cyberpunk made me think of Machine Man by Max Barry. Have you read it? It isn’t cyberpunk, but I liked it for its take on the line between optimizing our use of and actually becoming tools.
I’d never seen that pirating incident. Funny that the line after it goes back to the show is “As far as I can tell, a massive electric shock. He died instantly.” When I first saw pirating I thought of this and then this.
My love for Chicago is solely from my experiences there from business and tourist trips. It is a city I would brave tough winters to live in if called upon, although I prefer to be in the Bay Area and just visit it when I have the opportunity.
As far as what’s safe to share, I’m of the same perspective as you are as far as not divulging all my gnome’s secrets, and I’m also very careful to be respectful of the privacy of those who aren’t a part of the conversation. I’m guessing, though, that it’s fairly safe to say that I came to the Bay Area by way of stork.
Charles Schulz. Hmmm. I was about to wax eloquent about what I’ve heard of his character and went a-searching for some little tidbit about it to share and ran across this instead. : /
Not going to things in our own neighborhoods or extended areas is not that uncommon for Californians, I’ve found. I don’t think I went to Yosemite until I was almost thirty.
>Have I told you that your words make me happy? Well, and laugh a bit too?
I so much like that those things happen. I try very hard to just let what I’m going to say bubble up and flow out and not make any effort at creating a particular effect. I just know that I enjoy talking to you so much, and I want always to be open to having that show.
Were you ahead or behind the spider during the cup-and-paper operation, or did it use a duck-and-weave pattern that was virtually impossible to anticipate?
One word of advice. If you see cougar scat in the web, move.
I’ll send this and then write to your next part. : )
Edit: dusting and vacuuming
> Permutation City
Thats the hard cover. I got the kindle for $3 which is a steal, but can find the paperback for cheap: http://smile.amazon.com/Permutation-City-Novel-Greg-Egan/dp/1597805394/ref=tmm_pap_title_0
Have you read Machine Man, by Max Barry?
It's that. And so much more.
Machine Man is a lovely satire.
Not sure if these are appropriate, or if she's read these already but here's a few off the top of my head:
Am I on the right track?
https://www.amazon.com/Shadow-What-Lost-Licanius-Trilogy-ebook/dp/B01HMRF5FI was the cover white, not black?
It's nowhere to be found in the Charlotte area according to the online library sites. Not surprising. UNC Charlotte has it. Maybe it's time to get some student loans! Probably totally worth it.
It will come around, the book I mean. You know that Gudo Nishijima and Brad Warner just released a translation of Nagarjuna's Fundamental Wisdom Of The Middle Way too? It might be interesting. Gudo has a slightly different take on a lot of things.
edit: Link to that book.
A couple of the best
Iain M Banks : Excession
Greg Egan : Permutation City
I have similar issues with "typical" romance books.
I enjoyed The Rosie Project. It's from the male perspective and he's certainly not Mr. Perfect.
Somewhere between here and here today.
If I won this would be great :)
Thanks for the contest!
For those that are unaware of this, here is a link to 1 star reviews on the Amazon page. A number of the posters there (and commenters in those posts) are translators themselves. They explain pretty clearly how embarrassing the Warner/Nishijima translation is.
So long as it doesn't end up as badly as it did here.
I liked the book Thinking In Pictures , the movie Temple Grandin , the documentary Dad's in Heaven with Nixon and this novel The Rosie Progect . I don't recommend the books Socially Curious and Curiously Social or Look Me in the Eye .
You should read Machine Man by Max Barry.
Totally different genre from Sherlock Holmes, but I found myself picturing the protagonist as Benedict Cumberbatch/Sherlock as I was reading "The Rosie Project." It's silly and lighthearted, but a fun and worthwhile read.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1476729093
You should probably read Max Barry's "Machine Man"
http://www.amazon.com/Machine-Man-Vintage-Contemporaries-Original/dp/0307476898
http://www.amazon.com/Word-Bearers-Omnibus-Warhammer-000/dp/1849701059 yeah thankfully it is cheap on amazon; you'll definitely like the space wolves since its by william king and I dunno, I really like his writing style for Gotrek and Felix and it translates well
Only Daughter by Anna Snoekstra is by far the creepiest, but maybe not scariest book I've ever read. It's pretty suspenseful.
Or I Am Watching You by Teresa Driscoll is about the same.
If you want a good start on the feeling of Buddhism from a textual level, I'd start with Buddhism Plain and Simple by Steve Hagen. It's about as straightforward as you can get, covers the history and the basics of Buddhist thought and is pretty thorough.
If you are more interested in Buddhism from a personal perspective, read literally anything by Pema Chodron or Thich Nhat Hanh. Especially Thich Nhat Hanh. He is one of the leading thinkers of these times, and beautifully eloquent.
In fact if you're going to, start with The Heart of Understanding. Its short (60 pages), beautifully profound and powerfully motivating.
There's a book called the Last Stormlord where they ride giant centipedes sometimes. These are marked in their shells, similar to tattoos, by etching. They go just deep enough to show up. You could even fill it in with paint or ink to make it stand out more (kind of like old school dice!).
You guys should read Machine Man by Max barry.
Looks at bionic limbs & enhancements etc in a very Black Mirror way. When I see this gif I feel uneasy...
You might need to change that title. Sound interesting though!
https://www.amazon.com/Lexicon-Novel-Max-Barry/dp/0143125427
Play.com used book section or amazon ( where i got all the Nightlords books from )
http://www.amazon.com/Word-Bearers-Omnibus-Warhammer-Novels/dp/1849701059
http://www.amazon.com/Night-Lords-Aaron-Dembski-Bowden/dp/184970676X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1412257566&sr=1-1&keywords=nightlords+omnibus
http://www.amazon.com/Storm-Iron-Warhammer-000-Novels/dp/184416571X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1412257607&sr=1-1&keywords=storm+of+iron
or your local nerd-hobby store will most likely have most of the books.
TLDR: Buy used and be happy and wealthy.
Permutation City by Greg Egan
https://www.amazon.com/Permutation-City-Novel-Greg-Egan/dp/1597805394
... dust theory is very intriguing!
okay, this is a kind of a stretch but i really thought it was a funny and interesting book.
the death of bunny munro by nick cave. yes, THAT nick cave.
Check out Genesis by Bernarnd Beckett. It's a short read that goes fairly deep on modern views of AIs without getting too bogged down in character back stories or relationships.
Some questions and hypotheticals to probe your intuitions:
Someone you deeply care for is scanned and reassembled while sleeping dreamlessly (or under anesthesia, or whatever). Two of them lie side by side before you. Do you kill one without regret? Is it harder to kill one than it is to kill an extremely high fidelity video game model of one?
You say goodnight to your romantic partner of choice and go to sleep beside them. While you both sleep, someone sneaks into your bedroom and painlessly kills them. You wake up to see the intruder standing over their lifeless body. You are angry and upset. The intruder says "it's all good dude, I scanned them before killing them! Here's their saved brainstate (or whatever)". Do you laugh it off? And maybe kick the intruder out for playing such a hilarious practical joke?
Unbeknownst to you, you were copied yesterday and your copy has since slept a dreamless sleep (or is still saved somewhere and hasn't been created yet). Are you more comfortable with killing yourself then and there and being reformed from the save-state, or taking a 24-hour amnestic?
Is the badness of death continuous or discrete? Presume you're entirely, 100% OK with the perfect fidelity copying thing. Now wiggle some of the atoms around. Are you still 100% on board? Wiggle some more atoms. Change your favorite flavor of ice-cream to rum raisin, but leave everything else intact. Make your colon half an inch longer. Tuvan throat singing is now overwhelmingly your favorite sort of music. Etc. Still ok with it? Those things aren't really integral to your identity, are they? Or is the death of the "original", instead of being a neutral act, now 5% as bad as death sans "copy"? Now approach the process of copying from the other direction -- instead of having a perfect copy, you find out that "Sam" exists. Sam's your distant kin, and they sorta like the same things you do. They're willing to step into your shoes when you get vaporized. Are you now slightly reassured at the prospect of death?
-------------
I myself wouldn't step into the copy-destroy-reconstruct machine (except in certain circumstances), but would be inclined to do a piece-by-piece mind upload. I'm not nearly certain enough that copies are meaningfully "me" to risk death in the former manner, but my intuitions don't balk nearly as much at the latter. Perhaps the question's even arbitrary, and you can just as well imagine agents who value their "particular" configuration of matter as well as those who value only the pattern that configuration represents, or those who value both, or those who value neither. That said, in a sci-fi universe, I'd be totally in favor of creating "back-ups" before performing risky activities, if only because a lot of what I value doesn't have to do with me, personally, and the backups could fulfill those goals just as well in the event of my untimely demise (I'd also be in favor of just creating more of me, but that's a separate discussion).
I've another question for those who believe it doesn't matter, or that you don't die in any meaningful respect when you step in the teleporter: how certain of this are you? As in, give me a number, p equals what? Are you 99% certain? That still leaves 1% chance you die meaningfully (and there's still uncertainty about that probability estimate). How great a benefit do you have to receive to gamble on that uncertainty?
As for sci-fi books that investigate the question of personal identity, I recommend Permutation City.
Genesis by Bernard Beckett. Not your typical dystopian book, like the ones you listed, but still really interesting.
Non-mobile: The Rosie Project
^That's ^why ^I'm ^here, ^I ^don't ^judge ^you. ^PM ^/u/xl0 ^if ^I'm ^causing ^any ^trouble. ^WUT?
Have you read Machine Man? :)
Fantasy is my usual choice, but my book club recently read The Show Child and I really enjoyed it. It's a nice mix of realism and fairy tale set in 1920s Alaska.
We also read The Rosie Project which was surprisingly entertaining and sweet. I didn't expect to enjoy it but I did. I just saw there's a sequel to that one I'll be checking out.
I'm also a huge fan of M.R. Carey's post-apocalyptic The Girl with all the Gifts.
The Rosie Project Series
I usually read stuff that is SUPER depressing but these books just pull me right out of that :-) And they're not sappy & stupid, as a bonus.
Description: "The art of love is never a science: Meet Don Tillman, a brilliant yet socially inept professor of genetics, who’s decided it’s time he found a wife. In the orderly, evidence-based manner with which Don approaches all things, he designs the Wife Project to find his perfect partner: a sixteen-page, scientifically valid survey to filter out the drinkers, the smokers, the late arrivers.
Rosie Jarman possesses all these qualities. Don easily disqualifies her as a candidate for The Wife Project (even if she is “quite intelligent for a barmaid”). But Don is intrigued by Rosie’s own quest to identify her biological father. When an unlikely relationship develops as they collaborate on The Father Project, Don is forced to confront the spontaneous whirlwind that is Rosie―and the realization that, despite your best scientific efforts, you don’t find love, it finds you."
edit: added description
lol dude, the Mulamadhyamakakarika was written in the 2nd century in Sanskrit. The translation I am reading (arguably the most user friendly version) is tough as shit to digest. Each verse has a translation, and then that translation has a translation, and then THAT has the final "in other words" summary written by the authors of the physical book.
Here is the translation I am reading.
Keep in mind, this is pretty "advanced" Buddhism. Over the past year I've read about 8-10 books on Buddhism and Zen and Taoism, and have listened to hundreds of hours of lectures on the subject, and I have been practicing zazen. And in reading this translation of the Mulamadhyamakakarika, I feel that everything I have learned thus far is just giving me a glimpse of comprehension.
Have you read Machine Man by Max Barry?
Wow, that short story was awesome. It's great that there's still so much Greg Egan I haven't encountered.
You're right that this idea feels like a deus ex machina. When I first read "Permutation City" I walked around for a few days in a euphoric haze, imagining simulations running without their substrates. But then reality hit. I was running huge microprocessor simulations in those days, and I remembered that you can't simulate their instructions out of order. There are dependencies that have to be respected[1]. And Egan had glossed past that in a single page, so slickly that I never noticed. This feels similar. It's dangerous to introduce too much fiction into one's worldview.
[1] Though it's possible you can sidestep dependency constraints, using something like maximum entropy to simulate a set of particles at far enough time steps without simulating the intervening steps, simply by estimating the probabilities of different kinds of interactions. It might work better if you have a goal in mind to train for using reinforcement learning. Then you could leave the fundamental laws of the simulated universe open and part of the weights to train, and select the simulation that gives you what you want. But all this is probably like Borges's library[2], or at least way beyond our computational capacity. Or maybe you need to imagine your goal to such depth that.. what's the point of finding a simulation that yields it? The world has never been easy, so better to assume it never will be until one is proven wrong.
[2] When I first read Carl Sagan's "Contact", the final chapter left me in a similar euphoric haze for a few days. Inside the infinite digits of pi in all bases you could find all possible patterns, all truths. Then I discovered the insight of Borges's library for myself.
I'm reading a pretty neat book exploring some of that right now: Diaspora by Greg Egan.
At the moment, we haven't been able to conclusively simulate a simple worm.
I'm really not sure how I think it would interact with issues of the afterlife, but I also suspect semiconductor technology is going to hit a physical barrier that prevents unlimited technological development, and Earth civilization will kind of fizzle out without expanding beyond our solar system. Between those two, we fail to build a suitably complex computer. But that's just my own limited attempt to predict the future.
I am a really big fan of The Last Stormlord by Glenda Larke and am eagerly awaiting the third book in the series.
edit: wow, thanks for making me look that up, it's out already
This quartet by Rowena Corry Daniells fits the bill, the last book came out (in the US) last fall:
http://www.amazon.com/Kings-Bastard-King-Rolens-Book/dp/1907519017
Ah I've seen your comment below. read maybe:
Joe Abercrombie - Best Served Cold
Max Berry - lexicon
Dürrenmatt - Suspicion
Gaiman - Good Omens
Kafka - The Trial
Sillitoe - The Loneliness Of The Long Distance Runner
Adams - Hitchhiker's Guide ( no way you haven't read that - but who knows )
Branderson - Way Of Kings
Libba Bray - The Diviners
Nietzsche - Thus Spoke Zarathustra ( there is a really ugly bible style translation - beware!!! )
Lynn Kurland - Star Of The Morning ( your sex and age is of interest )
Schwab - Vicious
Bakker - The Darkness That Comes Before
Robert Thier - Storm and Silence
Eco - Name Of The Rose ( no way you haven't read it but u know the drill ) + Foucault's Pendulum
Lord Of The Rings ( duh )
Sanderson - Mistborn
Sanderson - Alloy of Law
Harris - Hannibal
Rothfuss - The Name Of The Wind
Bukowski -Ham on Rye
Burroughs - Running With Scissors
Wong - John Dies at the End
Machine Man, by Max Barry? Max Barry's awesome.
Quarantine - by Greg Egan
This book blew my mind.
Here are my previous reddit threads on it:
a: Official Translation - https://www.amazon.in/Bhima-Lone-Warrior-Vasudevan-Nair/dp/9350297590
b: Unofficial Transcreation (Kind of like cover of a song) https://thinkerviews.com/books/english-books/bhimsen-by-prem-panicker-mahabharata-as-bhim-view-it-book-reviews/
Translation: https://www.amazon.in/Tales-Athiranippadam-Sreedevi-K-Nair/dp/8125051279
True, it is quite advanced. Nonetheless, it represents the essence of Mahayana.
A beginner alternative might be The Heart Sutra.
Burial Rites by Hannah Kent
For an excellent, concise summary of the Tibetan view of death, I recommend the Dalai Lama's Mind of Clear Light. For the Heart Sutra, I recommend the Dalai Lama's Essence of the Heart Sutra which contains an extensive commentary and overview of Buddhism. Thich Nhat Han also has a nice short commentary on the Heart Sutra, but personally, I prefer Tibetan Buddhism over Zen. The only translation I've read of the Tibetan Book of the Dead is Thurman's and I would not recommend it in general.
http://www.amazon.com/Machine-Man-Vintage-Contemporaries-Original/dp/0307476898
Pretty short read.
I don't want to just talk about a book that moved me, I want to talk about one that quite literally altered my personal philosophy, and how I try to view everyday life. Last year I picked up a book called "The Heart of Understanding" by Thich Nhat Hanh. It is a really, really short read that took me all of an hour to read from cover to cover. The first time I read it, I was filled with an emotion that I find so hard to put into words. I want to say happiness, but that doesn't do it justice. I suppose compassionate towards others is pretty close. This small little paperback book had me wearing a smile for the entirety of the day, and brings it back every time that I pick it back up. I consider myself incredibly fortunate to have stumbled upon it, and am insistent on spreading the word about it, and the author.
Seriously, if you are ever in a low point that just won't go away, in need of a pick me up, get a copy of this book. It's not a blind faith cure-all, it will help you understand just why you are feeling what you are feeling. The answer, the remedy, comes naturally afterwards. And if not for the purpose of entering into a contest, let's at least have a conversation about this book. This applies to anybody who has read or would be interested in reading the work.
Lotus Sutra: I've only read the Watson translation, which is very good, but I've also heard good things about JC Cleary's translation, although that appears to only be available as an e-book.
Heart Sutra: I have read, and recommend, Karl Brunnholzl's The Heart Attack Sutra, Red Pine's translation, and TNH's Heart of Understanding. I've also got a copy of Kaz Tanahashi's exigesis on the shelf, which people speak very highly of.
This book may be relevant to your interests
Genesis by Bernard Beckett
I really wish I knew who it was that told me about it, or where I saw it on Reddit because I would thank them. This was my favourite book that I read last year. Whatever you do, DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCE read any summaries of the story aside from what's here on Amazon's page, or whatever is on the cover of the book. The less you know going into it, the better. DO NOT READ THE WIKIPEDIA PAGE ABOUT THIS BOOK! The ending of the story just completely blew me away.
Machine Man by Max Barry.
>As a futuristic side note, they would now be able to add a cool mechanical hand to their body that would be able to shoot lasers and play the banjo.
A fun read on this premise
Machine Man (Vintage Contemporaries) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B004J4X9YW/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_ttYhzbVFGVJMH