(Part 2) Best humor & entertainment books according to redditors
We found 15,606 Reddit comments discussing the best humor & entertainment books. We ranked the 5,025 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the products ranked 21-40. You can also go back to the previous section.
They do. Here is Milo's book on Amazon. It has 91% 5 star ratings and 3% 1 star. Clearly Amazon wasn't allowing 1 star reviews from people who didn't read the book, because there would be a lot more than the 10 one star reviews that exist right now.
That is from my Senator, Al Franken, in his book Lies: And the Lying Liars Who Told Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the right. Also available as a video.
I play chess. My USCF rating is currently 2123... And I thought the sphere chess looked absolutely retarded at first too.
>Nah, I feel you should start from openings.
You shouldn't. Opening theory is quite dense and heavily influenced by computer analysis. You benefit more from trying to understand what you are trying to achieve, rather than trying to simply memorize some openings.
Logical Chess: Move by Move is a great book for anyone that has mastered the basics but is looking to learn more. You will pick up some opening knowledge along the way, learn how openings give rise to specific kinds of middle-games. And you will come across some endgames (although endgame basics are absent).
If you wish to seriously improve there are 3 parts:
There is quite a lot of chess literature. If you enjoy chess and wish to study and improve there are plenty of ways to do that. If competing in tournaments interests you check out the United States Chess Federation if you are in the states. If you are abroad, check out FIDE. And of course there are online options such as chess.com, the Internet Chess Club, etc...
Sorry... bit of an enthusiast :)
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/069289344X/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=dangero0c-20&camp=1789&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=069289344X&linkId=d2fc648a907d1ec758d2254675719fdf
Before he was a senator, Al Franken wrote a book called, "Lies: And the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right".
It destroys Ann Coulter, and it's one of the most hilarious books I've ever read.
Amazon link: https://www.amazon.com/Lies-Lying-Liars-Balanced-Right/dp/0452285216
Here are my personal favorite head-fucks, each one of them did something strange to my whole world when I read them:
But yeah, by far my favorite is the one at the top of the list, The Illuminatus! Trilogy by Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson. There's just so goddamn much going on in that book, it's one helluva wonderful ride.
> A certain someone's book is coming out.
Yeah. Dangerous
Somebody should tell the UK biggest book retailer
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/069289344X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1500093157&sr=1-1
Read "A Walk in The Woods" By Bill Bryson
And...Do it.
EDIT: This...http://www.amazon.com/Walk-Woods-Rediscovering-America-Appalachian/dp/0307279464/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1266197998&sr=8-1
Here are the recently published novels we've covered in the /r/SF_Book_Club (you can check out the survey results for these books from the sidebar over there):
Amazon link to said book
You need to read this.
Illuminatus!
https://www.amazon.com/Dangerous-Milo-Yiannopoulos/dp/069289344X
for pre-order
Relevant book recommendation: Year Zero by Rob Reid.
Aliens listen in on our radio broadcasts, find (and copy) all our music, and only afterwards find out about the US Copyright laws.
Infinite Jest. It changed the way I think in lots of ways.
That cannot be unintentional.
Edit: I realize that its probably a similar type of book to this. In other words, not actually for kids.
Here is the link to Verily, A New Hope.
The others can be found in the "Customers who viewed this item also viewed" bar down below.
Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
From Amazon:
> It’s the year 2044, and the real world is an ugly place.
>Like most of humanity, Wade Watts escapes his grim surroundings by spending his waking hours jacked into the OASIS, a sprawling virtual utopia that lets you be anything you want to be, a place where you can live and play and fall in love on any of ten thousand planets.
>And like most of humanity, Wade dreams of being the one to discover the ultimate lottery ticket that lies concealed within this virtual world. For somewhere inside this giant networked playground, OASIS creator James Halliday has hidden a series of fiendish puzzles that will yield massive fortune—and remarkable power—to whoever can unlock them.
> For years, millions have struggled fruitlessly to attain this prize, knowing only that Halliday’s riddles are based in the pop culture he loved—that of the late twentieth century.
Check out Al Franken's Book, Lies: And The Lying Liars Who Tell Them.
Passive Aggressive Panda, eh? I can work with that.
For that matter, it doesn't need to necessarily be a children's book, that's just a style. Plenty of coffee-table books that are meant as comedy.
IIRC, there was a threat a while back about it being Star Wars written in Shakespearean iambic pentameter.
Edit: found it on Amazon, here.
Relevant to the relevant!
"Instability" and "unstable" have the same root, the Latin adjective "stabilis" (from the verb "stare," to stay). Like /u/probably-yeah said, the prefixes "in" and "un" came to English from different sources: "in" is French/Latin and "un" is Germanic.
English spelling really didn't standardize until the advent of the printing press, and then the choices were made by book publishers and were often arbitrary. 'Correct' English spelling was developed piecemeal, and various attempts to streamline it over the centuries have failed. Source: Bill Bryson, The Mother Tongue: English and How It Got That Way.
Rush Limbaugh Is a Big Fat Idiot: And Other Observations by Al Franken
no reason
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/069289344X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1500093157&sr=1-1
You've had a setback, but it isn't the end of the world. Things probably aren't as bad as you think they are, but it will take work both to catch up, and to convince yourself that you're up to speed.
a) Reading
A lot of English skills are about practice, so reading anything (including Reddit) is good. Maybe pick up a popular book:
"The Hunger Games" or "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's (or Sorcerer's) Stone" are both at about a grade 6 level. I'd avoid Twilight, which is at about a grade 4 level (and everything past the first book is crap, in my opinion).
If that's okay, try "To Kill a Mockingbird" or "1984". These are more cultural classics (so you can feel more sophisticated), but at still interesting to read, and are at about a grade 8-9 level.
There aren't really a lot of books that are more difficult than that to read, so if you can manage that, you can read well enough to do a GED.
The more difficult books generally use archaic language like "The Canterbury Tales" or Shakespeare. In general I wouldn't recommend Shakespeare since reading plays is difficult, the language complicates things, too many people treat them as serious and deadly dull, and it takes a lot of work to even understand many of the references -- that's a place for a good teacher (and teachers who are up to the task are few and far between).
You might also try looking at something like (Dont-Know-Much-About-History)[http://www.amazon.com/Don't Know Much About History/dp/0060083824]. It's fairly advanced reading (grade 11-12), and it teaches some aspects of US history that you might not know. If you like that, there's a similar book by the same author about geography. I'll also suggest (Mother Tongue)[http://www.amazon.com/Mother-Tongue-English-How-That/dp/0380715430] by Bill Bryson. Again a possibly interesting subject, and it's funny.
For other books, a good librarian can be a great resource, or some sites can offer some suggestions for books based on reading level.
b) Writing
I think that clear written communication is a very important skill. Your question was clear, so that's a good sign you aren't too far behind. Some Essay writing is more common in higher education, but the skills are still useful in office work. The introduction in an essay and an executive summary are quite similar.
The problem here is that getting someone else's point of view is very helpful. You might be able to find some assistance on Reddit, but many colleges have writing centers to help students with this. You could probably approach a local high-school teacher -- in many cases they are willing to help any motivated student. It's amazing how much you can improve if you find someone who is decent and take the time to re-write the essay a few times to incorporate their suggestions. It's difficult to completely rewrite an essay multiple times, but going through the effort once or twice can make a dramatic difference. (As a student my wife worked in one of those writing centers and several times had cases where the professors didn't believe the students could improve that much that quickly.)
c) Math
There are a number of sites like http://ca.ixl.com/ that have basic math tests. These don't try to teach math like Khan Academy does, but they can help figure out where to start going through the lessons.
I'm already helping with some math tutoring, so I'm fairly comfortable offering my help here. (If you're serious about this, PM me ahead of time since I'm not always logged into Reddit.)
Depending on how far behind you actually are you have a few options.
As others have said, there are GED courses at many community colleges.
If you don't feel ready for that there are also free online high school classes. I don't know much about these, but this one seems to have a pretty standard curriculum, and gets reasonable approval from the home schooling forums. There are also summer school and adult education high school courses that you can take in most places. Or you might try enrolling in regular high school -- this might be the best option, since it provides a structure, extra help from teachers if you're willing to ask for it, and some of the social contact. If you sign up for next year now you'll have given yourself a deadline for some of the other work, which might help with the motivation.
Year Zero by Rob Reid has humans as the universe's best musicians. And the writers of the universe's most devastating copyright laws.
Oh boy. D&D lore is an insane mess, as there's no real canon. Each edition handles things differently. Even within a single edition there are multiple settings which handle lore very differently.
If I were you I'd pick a setting you like and start reading up on it. Forgotten Realms is, by far, the most popular setting and is the "standard" setting in 5E. Unfortunately, it's also prohibitively large. Do not feel the need to know all the lore, or even most of the lore. Just learn what interests you and what seems useful to your game.
For 5E, every published adventure except for Course of Strahd (also far) will be a great resource for Forgotten Realms. There's also a 5E book dedicated to one part of FR which is big enough to be it's own setting.
http://forgottenrealms.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page
https://www.amazon.com/Sword-Coast-Adventurers-Guide-Accessory/dp/0786965800
http://www.amazon.com/William-Shakespeares-Star-Wars-Doescher/dp/1594746370
>Lies: And the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right
It’s from Al Franken’s book, Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: a Fair and Balanced Look at the Right.
Bill Bryson made the point, in his very enjoyable 1998 book "A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail", that the Forest Service builds and maintains more miles of roads than any other part of the federal government.
You want more good times, in book form? Franken has a shitload of fun reads eviscerating the right wing. He's good enough, smart enough, and gosh darn it, people like him.
http://www.amazon.com/Lies-Lying-Liars-Tell-Them/dp/B003IWYKW6/ref=pd_bxgy_b_text_y
http://www.amazon.com/Rush-Limbaugh-Big-Fat-Idiot/dp/0440508649/ref=pd_cp_b_0
http://www.amazon.com/The-Truth-jokes-Al-Franken/dp/B004JU1SMG/ref=pd_cp_b_1
Also, he can draw a map of the USA from memory, free hand, perfectly, in 90 seconds:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0-FYyuvrRk
Fanboy out.
Some links:
Purchasable Materials:
Free Materials:
If you're looking for a fun, but enriching read, I highly recommend Bryson's "A Short History of Nearly Everything". It's tough to put down and you're guaranteed to learn some amazing things.
Similarly, Bryson's "A Walk in the Woods" comes to mind, although I haven't read it in some time. Seems fitting for the gaybros since it's about hiking the Appalachian Trail - a dream of mine some day.
I always get very excited when anyone acknowledges my username, so thanks! And yes, I love it very much; I'd recommend The Mother Tongue - English and How It Got That Way if you want a hilarious (seriously, it is) book on English that'll make you love it too.
Just finished Ready Player One
Holy shit was this entertaining.
Your best bets, as a beginner, is to improve your tactical skills and make sure that you don't freely give away pieces. Read this and then use this. I assume you already know the relative values of the pieces (if not, just use the standard valuations). Make sure that after each move, no piece can be taken by a piece with a lesser value (unless you would gain more value in return by use of a different tactic).
If you want a chess book, then I would recommend Irving Chernev's Logical Chess, Move By Move.
Finally, learn your basic endgames (under Basic Checkmates) and opening principles. The former will partly train your visualization skills, and partly give you an edge in the endgame. The latter allows you to ignore the memorization of openings and to continue with an edge when your opponent plays a questionable move.
Doing all this will get you up to at least a 1400 rating (with 800 being an average beginner, and 1600 being a club player).
So for 5e there are a couple of things you can look at getting:
So the Basic Rules help out a lot, the Starter Set is basically a physical copy of the basic rules (plus some), and then the core 3 books in order of (my personal opinion of) usefulness are PHB > MM > DMG. I'd say you probably want at least everyone to have a PHB, or access if you guys continue to play.
Aside from that, most of the other 5e stuff you can pick up from wizards are modules. Modules are pre-created campaigns that have quests, items, locations, enemies (number, size, etc.) already pre-designed for you. Each of the following books has some sort of extra character information (like more subclasses, new races, etc.), but nothing is absolutely required. Generally if one person wants to play something (say, an Half-Elf Bladesinger Wizard) they should pick up the book to help build their character and to provide the GM with references to how the character works, but it's not necessary.
If you need any other help, please feel free to ask!
A playable Kobold race was actually released in the recent 5e supplement Volo's Guide to Monsters
And I'm zombies.
Nay, say I. That which you hath spoken is not the truth, it is contrary to reason.
Edit: Holy shit, it exists
i highly recommend this book for beginners: [Logical Chess Move By Move by Irving Chernev] (https://www.amazon.com/Logical-Chess-Every-Explained-Algebraic/dp/0713484640)
Here's an excerpt after the moves 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3:
At this point you will note that black must defend his e-pawn before going about his business.
There are several ways to protect the pawn. He must evaluate and choose from these possibilities:
f6, Qf6, Qe7, Bd6, d6, and Nc6
How does black decide on the right move? Must he analyze countless combinations and try to visualize every sort of attack and defense for the next 10 or 15 moves? Let me hasten to assure you that a master does not waste valuable time on futile speculation. Instead, he makes use of a potent secret weapon - positional judgement. Applying it enables him to eliminate from consideration inferior moves, to which the average player devotes much thought. He hardly glances at moves that are obviously violations of principle!
Here is what might go through his mind as he selects the right move:
2. ... f6: Terrible! My f-pawn occupies a square that should be reserved for the knight and it also blocks the queen's path along the diagonal. And I've moved a pawn when I should be developing pieces.<br /> <br />2. ... Qf6: Bad, since my knight belongs at f6, not the queen. Also, I'm wasting the power of my strongest piece to defend a pawn.2. ... Qe7: This shuts the f8 bishop in, while my queen is doing the job which a lesser piece could handle.<br /> <br />2. ... Bd6: I've developed a piece, but the d-pawn is obstructed, and my c8 bishop may be buried alive2. ... d6: Not bad, since it gives the c8 bishop an outlet. But wait - it limits the range of the f8 bishop, and again i've moved a pawn when I should be putting pieces to work.<br /> <br />2. ... Nc6: Eureka! this must be best, as I have developed a piece to its most suitable square and protected the e pawn at the same timeYou should read Year Zero.
And from someone who literally wrote a (great) book called "Lies and the Lying Liars That Tell Them"
Nothing spiked sales of Al Franken's book Lies: And the Lying Liars Who Tell Them, a Fair and Balanced Look at the Right like Bill O'Reilly whining about it.
The Illuminatus Trilogy by Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson
Thanks, apparently that's reprinted from Al Franken's "Lies: And the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right."
Just ordered!
It's one of the sequels. Comes from the same author as Go the F**k To Sleep.
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, for those wondering.
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies
> Your reading time will consist of Goodnight Moon
Go The Fuck To Sleep.
The Postmortal by Drew Magary is amazing.
It's set in a world where a cure to aging is discovered, and made available worldwide. There's the standard government euthanasia programs and cults, but the author also does a really good job of talking about what it would actually be like to live in a world where no one aged - what would happen to the value of our dollar? Where would everyone live? How do we treat the people who choose not to get the age cure?
It's a book that stuck with me a really long time after reading it.
The downside with not aging is that you're almost guaranteed to die a shitty death.
Here is an interesting fiction book on the topic.
If he's into the outdoors, I'd recommend A Walk In The Woods by Bill Bryson or The Last American Man by Elizabeth Gilbert
Peter F. Hamilton's Night's Dawn Trilogy is a must read. Also, try The Illuminatus Trilogy not sure if it's considered SciFi, but it's a good read once you get into it.
that it is! https://www.amazon.com/Dangerous-Milo-Yiannopoulos/dp/069289344X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1499643336&amp;sr=1-1&amp;keywords=milo+yiannopoulos
Infinite Jest is the only book I have read where the footnotes have footnotes.
If you are interested in this sort of thing, I recommend going to your local ibrary and finding The Mother Tongue: English and How It Got That Way by Bill Bryson. He's funny and has an engaging style (plus it isn't very long). He's one of my favorite nonfiction authors.
Bryson also wrote a companion book called Made in America: An Informal History of the English Language in the United States. I haven't read that one yet, but just based on the author, it's probably something worth checking out.
Al Franken did this like 20 years ago, guys.
http://www.amazon.com/Rush-Limbaugh-Big-Fat-Idiot/dp/0440508649
Al Franken summed it up nicely 13 years ago.
http://www.amazon.com/Rush-Limbaugh-Big-Fat-Idiot/dp/0440508649
Oh, like Al Franken did in his book 11 years ago? http://www.amazon.com/Lies-Lying-Liars-Tell-Them/dp/0452285216/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1425579984&amp;sr=1-1&amp;keywords=al+franken
The Magicians by Lev Grossman has been fairly popular on this sub.
Your girlfriend might also be surprised to learn that The Giver is actually part of a four-part series. :)
http://www.amazon.com/Go-F-Sleep-Adam-Mansbach/dp/145584165X
The general consensus for novice chess players is to do a few things:
---
So let's look at each of those items quickly.
Playing as much as possible.
If you can't play OTB, you still have a billion options. Here are some online options:
Don't have wifi and still need a game? There are plenty of apps for your phone/tablet:
Analyzing your games.
This is crucial. When you are done with your games, go over them and analyze the moves yourself. Where did you/your opponent go wrong? What did you do right? Did you miss tactics or mates? Did your opponent play an opening you were unfamiliar with? Did you reach an uncomfortable endgame and not know how to proceed? If your opponent played the same moves again in a different game, what would you do differently? Answering questions like these on your own will help you in future games.
After your initial analysis, you can then show it to a stronger player (you can submit your games to this subreddit to get criticisms, if you provide your initial analysis along with the PGN) and/or using a program to run a deeper analysis for you. Lichess provides free computer analysis on their site and I also made a quickie SCID/Stockfish tutorial a while back if you want more control over the depth of analysis.
Studying tactics.
"Tactics is almost undoubtedly the most productive single area that beginners and intermediates can study to improve their game - the more practice, the better." -- Dan Heisman (PDF)
There are a ton of places to study tactics online and you should make use of them.
Chess Tempo seems to be the gold standard when it comes to online tactics training. I would start with their standard set (Which means that time isn't a factor. You can stare at a board forever until you find the tactic, and the time won't affect your rating.) at first, but eventually play the other sets as well. I do a mix of each of them every day. Don't make it homework though, or you'll burn out, and chess will feel like a chore.
Don't forget to make use of their endgame trainer. After the first 20, you can only do 2 per day, and I recommend making it a top priority. Studying endgames, even for just a few minutes per day, will be very beneficial to your play.
Chess.com also has a tactics trainer, and for free users you get 5 tactics per day. At the very least, do the 5 chess.com tactics and the Chess Tempo endgames. You can find time for this every day, I assure you.
As a side note, this isn't really tactics but lots of people like this Lichess Coordinates Trainer for learning the names of the squares. If you do this once a day, for both black & white, it will take you about 1 minute. Easy.
Developing your pieces in the opening.
Read Dan Heisman's Beginner Guidelines, which I copied into this thread. At this stage, you don't need to study opening lines. However, whenever you read a point in the opening that you are unfamiliar with, you should look it up in an opening book, database, or online to find the common moves in that position. This will help you spot errors in your play and will set you up for success when you play that line in the future.
---
There are a ton of other resources that you should look into.
For videos, I would recommend these channels:
As for books, the ones that seem to be promoted for you level the most are:
There are a bunch of great chess columns out there, but I suggest starting with ChessCafe.com, and specifically Dan Heisman's Novice Nook.
---
Well fuck. I thought I was just typing out something quick, but I turned it into a novel. Sorry about that.
Time to eat some pumpkin bread and watch Sunday Night Football!
Logical Chess Move by Move is a great one. I recommend buying a premium membership on chesstempo for custom problem sets and to find where you're tactically weak. Not blundering pieces at your level should be your biggest concern and chesstempo is great for that.
It's from the Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide.
The spell description can be found in a variety of places, such as here.
A few adventures came out but I think this is what you will want to buy :
http://www.amazon.com/Sword-Coast-Adventurers-Guide-Accessory/dp/0786965800/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1451719103&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=sword+coast+adventurer%27s+guide
Here's something to help you, OP
Many replies here dismissing sleep deprivation because you think you can just "get by".
You can just "get by" with smoking too. With a shortened lifespan.
https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/307334.php
> Although occasional sleep interruptions are generally no more than a nuisance, ongoing lack of sleep can lead to excessive daytime sleepiness, emotional difficulties, poor job performance, obesity and a lowered perception of quality of life.
> Sleep loss alters normal functioning of attention and disrupts the ability to focus on environmental sensory input
> Lack of sleep has been implicated as playing a significant role in tragic accidents involving airplanes, ships, trains, automobiles and nuclear power plants
> Children and young adults are most vulnerable to the negative effects of sleep deprivation
> Sleep deprivation can be a symptom of an undiagnosed sleep disorder or other medical problem
> When you fail to get your required amount of sufficient sleep, you start to accumulate a sleep debt.
> Sleep deprivation can negatively affect a range of systems in the body.
It can have the following impact:
> Not getting enough sleep prevents the body from strengthening the immune system and producing more cytokines to fight infection. This can mean a person can take longer to recover from illness as well as having an increased risk of chronic illness.
> Sleep deprivation can also result in an increased risk of new and advanced respiratory diseases.
> A lack of sleep can affect body weight. Two hormones in the body, leptin and ghrelin, control feelings of hunger and satiety, or fullness. The levels of these hormones are affected by sleep. Sleep deprivation also causes the release of insulin, which leads to increased fat storage and a higher risk of type 2 diabetes.
> Sleep helps the heart vessels to heal and rebuild as well as affecting processes that maintain blood pressure and sugar levels as well as inflammation control. Not sleeping enough increases the risk of cardiovascular disease.
> Insufficient sleep can affect hormone production, including growth hormones and testosterone in men.
I've lived almost all my life with constant sleep issues and chronic sleep deprivation/massive sleep debt. Don't do it. Don't condition your body to think it's fine because you only feel a little like crap.
Get off your computer.
Get off your phone.
Go the f*ck to sleep.
Also, PSA about a lesser known sleep disorder:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delayed_sleep_phase_disorder
> Delayed sleep phase disorder (DSPD), more often known as delayed sleep phase syndrome and also as delayed sleep–wake phase disorder, is a chronic dysregulation of a person's circadian rhythm (biological clock), compared to those of the general population and societal norms. The disorder affects the timing of sleep, peak period of alertness, the core body temperature rhythm, and hormonal and other daily cycles. People with DSPD generally fall asleep some hours after midnight and have difficulty waking up in the morning.[1] People with DSPD probably have a circadian period significantly longer than 24 hours.[2] Depending on the severity, the symptoms can be managed to a greater or lesser degree, but no cure is known, and research suggests a genetic origin for the disorder.
Are you a night owl? You might have this.
Just one book. Go the Fuck to Sleep
The only book you'll ever need to read to your child.
The best ones are on Amazon.
Example 1 and Example 2
Other parts of it use meter. Longer preview here:
http://www.amazon.com/William-Shakespeares-Star-Wars-Doescher/dp/1594746370
And speaking of books, The Baby Owner's Manual is really all you need. Most of baby books are biased as hell, this is crap free.
I know I must be missing some, but these are all that I can think of at the moment.
Fiction:
Collected Fictions by Jorge Luis Borges
The Stranger by Albert Camus
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon
White Noise by Don Delilo
A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan
The Waste Land by T. S. Eliot
Everything that Rises Must Converge by Flannery O'Connor
His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman
The Crying of Lot 49 by Thomas Pynchon
Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson
Brief Interviews with Hideous Men by DFW
Infinite Jest by DFW
Of these, you can't go wrong with Infinite Jest and the Collected Fictions of Borges. His Dark Materials is an easy and classic read, probably the lightest fare on this list.
Non-Fiction:
The Music of the Primes by Marcus du Sautoy
Chaos by James Gleick
How to be Gay by David Halperin
Barrel Fever by David Sedaris
Let's Explore Diabetes with Owls by David Sedaris
Secret Historian by Justin Spring
Of these, Secret Historian was definitely the most interesting, though How to be Gay was a good intro to queer theory.
Didn't read the article, but I'm reminded of Year Zero by Rob Reid.
Summary: Aliens realize they're guilty of copyright infringement due to intergalactic law dictating that they're subject to the DMCA while listening to popular Earth music. They now need to hire a copyright lawyer and find a way to pay damages without bankrupting the universe.
And this:
http://www.amazon.com/Mother-Tongue-Bill-Bryson/dp/0380715430/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1291598396&amp;sr=8-1
Bill Bryson fo life, muthafuckas!
Rush Limbaugh Is a Big Fat Idiot: And Other Observations https://www.amazon.com/dp/0440508649/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_Xx0Szb5ZPHYF1
http://www.amazon.com/Lies-Lying-Liars-Tell-Them/dp/0452285216
It's a good read. And funny too. The author is now a US senator.
Now read The Magicians by Lev Grossman, if you haven't already.
It's a lot more interesting if the reference material is fresh in your head.
The Postmortal?
A walk in the woods - Bill Bryson. Read this book and randomly met the author on the virginia creeper a few months afterwards. Super nice guy.
Ready Player One
>Ready Player One takes place in the not-so-distant future--the world has turned into a very bleak place, but luckily there is OASIS, a virtual reality world that is a vast online utopia. People can plug into OASIS to play, go to school, earn money, and even meet other people (or at least they can meet their avatars), and for protagonist Wade Watts it certainly beats passing the time in his grim, poverty-stricken real life. Along with millions of other world-wide citizens, Wade dreams of finding three keys left behind by James Halliday, the now-deceased creator of OASIS and the richest man to have ever lived. The keys are rumored to be hidden inside OASIS, and whoever finds them will inherit Halliday’s fortune. But Halliday has not made it easy. And there are real dangers in this virtual world. Stuffed to the gills with action, puzzles, nerdy romance, and 80s nostalgia, this high energy cyber-quest will make geeks everywhere feel like they were separated at birth from author Ernest Cline.
The Handmaid's Tale, 1984, and more of a fun one Ready Player One
Everything Is Illuminated by Jonathan Safron Foer.
The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky (Constance Garrett translation)
Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace. Particularly the scenes describing [Spoiler](/s "Gately's and Joelle's recovery during their time in AA and his description of what living in the present is like, the NOW, what addiction do substances/TV/love/etc can be like, hitting rock bottom, just floored me")
The Sirens of Titan by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. Also Slaughterhouse Five. The description of the reverse war was so beautiful I nearly cried... link. video addendum
Is this it?
This is a very interesting point. Last week I read The Mother Tongue by Bryson. It's a wonderful overview of the development and divergence of the English language, and explores the tendencies for Americans to retain the foreign word for an object: but also the trend of using the German or French word for a foreign article over a spanish/mandarin/japanese one.
He argued that it came down to isolation of a language affecting it's development the most. There are people in England who are not mutually intelligible to one another, just as there are people who cannot understand one another in America, but they are all technically speaking the same language. The idiomatic expressions are more unique than regional dress or music (with the exception of the appalachians). Yet, if you add things like Uber or Wonder or Kinder to the front of a word, it becomes mutually intelligible across most dialects because of common Germanic roots. The same could be said for the latin participles, also.
I assume with foods that are easy to pronounce and are phonetically identifiable (for example saur sounds like 'sour' and kraut has a hard sound like 'cabbage'... retaining saurkraut is not as difficult as say: poutine, which is often called monster fries or urban fries).
Tough to decide between the two, but it's the same author and they're tied together so I'll just go with it: Made in America: An Informal History of the English Language in the United States and The Mother Tongue - English And How It Got That Way by Bill Bryson. As a lover of language and its history, it's really interesting to see the links between usage in Britain and America.
I didn't know of Bryson before randomly buying these (damn, do I love book stores) and plan on buying more of his in the future when my reading list has been pared down a bit. (I've since learned he's very well-known and my outdoors-loving, recovering alcoholic dad read a Bryson book about getting sober and hiking the Appalachians a few years back.) His writing is very engaging and incredibly funny. I've read a lot of other linguistic books that weren't nearly as "fun" to read as these. Highly recommended.
Oh yeah, i was right....
http://www.amazon.com/Rush-Limbaugh-Big-Fat-Idiot/dp/0440508649/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1324578328&amp;sr=8-1
down voted for what the fuck are u submitting a link to that big fat idiot's website for.
Just plagiarizing an Al Franken title....
> watching high rated games does nothing just like watching olympics doesn't make you faster runner or better at javelin
I disagree, depending on what "watching" means in this context. I believe actively working through well annotated master games can be very instructive. See for example the oft recommended Logical Chess: Move By Move: Every Move Explained.
The key difference between chess and athletics here is that you can watch actively, constantly coming up with your own candidate moves and calculations while "watching". Passively watching chess like you would watch running won't do much for you.
Player's Handbook is really all you'd need as a player.
There's also the Basic Rules you can download for free to get a feel for things, but you'll want the PHB.
There's also the Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide which is optional. It has some nice stuff in it, but one copy within a group is probably enough.
The only one I think you need to BUY is Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide.
[Amazon Link for Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide] (http://www.amazon.com/Sword-Coast-Adventurers-Guide-Accessory/dp/0786965800/ref=pd_sim_14_6?ie=UTF8&amp;dpID=51yV7jtt62L&amp;dpSrc=sims&amp;preST=_AC_UL320_SR246%2C320_&amp;refRID=090WWMWPJCWQGMZS7FNF)
[Player's Guide for Elemental Evil] (http://media.wizards.com/2015/downloads/dnd/EE_PlayersCompanion.pdf) (This one has the Goliath and Genasi Races as well as many spells)
[Players Guide for Curse of Strahd] (http://media.wizards.com/2016/downloads/DND/CoS_Character_Options.pdf) (new character backgrounds for CoS)
I think 5e is far better but your mileage may vary.
You can look at the Basic Rules here for free.
The buy-in for 5e is really slim. I HIGHLY suggest the Starter Set.
> You have the Core Rulebooks:
Not bad to start.
> Then there are only a few splatbooks:
The only other products are the mega-adventures. I'm out of time or I'd link em for ya but here is a list of products: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Dungeons_%26_Dragons_rulebooks#Dungeons_.26_Dragons_5th_edition
It's not often that I see someone that would fully benefit from the Sword Coast Adventure Guide, but you fit the bill perfectly. Especially since you want to run a homebrew moving forward.
That being said, it is 30 bucks, so I understand if you don't want to purchase it - so I'll do my best for you.
First, it's a good idea to read over the Sword Coast and Northern Sword Coast to get an idea of the area you'll likely run the immediate portion of your continuing campaign. There are three major cities that are worth knowing about: Neverwinter, Waterdeep and Baldur's Gate. Any of these three are a suitable setting for a big-city game.
The setting as a whole lends itself to a 'straight down the middle' feel when it comes to magic. It exists, is used commonly enough that adventurers will come across it - but not so much that the default setting has magical street-lamps and stuff like that. Magical items (at least in 5e) are rare and very prized by those who own them. The magic setting is perfect for whatever you want to do because it's so 'down the middle'. If you want a low-magic campaign it's easy to adjust - and the same goes for a high-fantasy concept.
The area is a melting pot of the core races minus the Drow and Dragonborn, although the latter would be more common than the former. Humans still dominate the coastal cities, but the other races are represented well.
Truly, the Sword Coast Adventure Guide will be your best resource if you're going to create a homebrew in this area and are unfamiliar with the region. Failing that, there are numerous online resources to familiarize yourself with the area. A simple Google search will point you in the right direction.
If you preorder off of Amazon you can get it for around $30. I guarantee with everything in it the $30 price is definitely worth it.
https://www.amazon.com/Volos-Guide-Monsters-Wizards-Team/dp/0786966017/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1478133433&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=volo%27s+guide+to+monsters
$31 here I’m sure you’ve probably seen this price but I got one from this seller and it was perfect.
An excellent question. In a word: fairly. As a creator myself (I work as a web developer) I find it insulting to say, as some do, that artists wouldn't create art without a significant financial incentive. No, money enables artists to devote themselves to the medium that they enjoy and thus contribute more to our culture, but no real artist makes art just because they want to get rich.
The Pirate Party is not copyright abolitionist. We recognize the benefit of copyright, but we don't see it as an end in itself. From the (flawed) financial standpoint, creating one wildly popular work and receiving royalties for the rest of your life (+50 years) leaves you with no further need to contribute further. Instead, we'd like to see a relaxed 10-year copyright term. Why? When was the last time you bought a brand new game over 10 years old? What about a movie? Or an album? Most of the revenue from a creative work is generated in the first 10 years, hell in the first year. Losing the rest of the life + 40 isn't going to have a significantly negative impact on revenue, but it will have an incredible impact on our culture.
Imagine having unlimited, legal access to everything created before 2001. What would you do with it? Maybe make a zombie remix? How about whatever you wanted? How much faster could we evolve as a society and a culture if our artists had the ability to remix and build on other artistic work within a decade? If hip-hop artists could sample freely, would they not be better able to practice their art?
I agree that shorter, less strict copyright terms would have a detrimental effect on the present big business of art. What I don't think is that a change to this business would be detrimental to artists, to Canadian culture, or to consumers. We're watching the creative economy evolving all around us, and it's not easy to predict where it will take us. However, music and art have been around for tens of thousands of years before the invention of copyright and the record label, and they'll be around for tens of thousands of years after the misguided notion of “intellectual property” has been all but forgotten.
Thanks for the question.
Looks like it would go well with this:
http://www.amazon.com/Pride-Prejudice-Zombies-Classic-Ultraviolent/dp/1594743347
Too bad I'm boycotting Amazon cause of, ya know, the thing...
Wait wait fuck wrong book. Let me try again:
It is a truth universally acknowledged that a zombie in possession of brains must be in want of more brains.
Is this William Shakespeare's Star Wars? You didn't specify but you said
> the production also includes five scenes from "The Big Lebowksi," also set in Elizabethan English.
which makes it sound like it is.
Edit: I'm guessing this is the Big Lebowski and this is the Star Wars one.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1594746370/
Only $18 for a hard cover! Grab it while you can fellow 'Pedes! https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/069289344X/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1498537253&amp;sr=1-1&amp;refinements=p_27%3AMilo+Yiannopoulos&amp;pi=AC_SX236_SY340_FMwebp_QL65&amp;dpPl=1&amp;dpID=51GWPkjQH4L&amp;ref=plSrch
When people first learn chess, they only learn the basic rules of the game. There is little positional or tactical understanding... (As it should be) There are many ways to get better at chess but all of them require work.
Some great players like Capablanca, insisted on learning the fundamental endings first. The problem is that, even if you know how to win with an extra pawn, you might not have the positional/tactical understanding to get to that pawn-up ending. So, I have found that you have to do a little bit of everything. I learned some endings, I learned some tactics and combinations, I learned some openings and so on.
I suggest that you study whatever is giving you the MOST problems first. Once you have taken steps to minimize and/or eliminate that problem, other problems will come up. Do the same and invest some time trying to get better in that area. Repeat until you get better. it is a simple concept but hard to do in practice.
Chess has a rich history. It is wonderful that we have access to the games of the past and all of its analysis. I recommend that you do not re-invent the wheel and that you read some books. The following should be helpful:
Also visit quality websites (Some recommendations below but not the only ones by any means...)
"If you know nothing at all about the game of chess other than the rules, there still things that you can do right away to help you win more games. You won't be beating tournament players, but you can rise above your current level by studying the right things. The same principle applies to all levels of players. There are things that you can do immediately to win more games. The key to chess improvement is pattern recognition. Whether you realize it or not, to improve at chess you must reprogram your brain to see things that you did not see before." - From the Introduction on "From Beginner to Chess Expert in 12 Steps"
Always do your best and enjoy the game! Good luck!
If you're a beginner My System probably isn't the book you should be reading. Its aimed at much more advanced players (the r/chess faq puts it in the 1800-2000 rating bracket). Thats not to say you wouldn't learn anything, but there are almost certainly much more fundamental errors in your chess play and a lot of things Nimzowitsch will presume you are already familiar with will go over your head.
As for a good book to help, I'd recommend checking out Logical Chess: Move by Move by Irving Chernev.
Endgame study is good, but I've seen a lot of beginners argue that being good at the endgame doesn't matter so much if the game is practically lost before you get there. Because of that I suggest you start with learning opening principles (control the centre, develop pieces, castling, don't move one piece too many times etc). There's plenty of stuff out there on this; if you really enjoy JBs videos then he talks about common opening mistakes a fair bit in his early "Climbing the Ratings Ladder" series, notably the under 1000 and 1000-1200 videos.
Note I don't recommend studying openings too much at this point, just the opening principles / ideas. Once you're familiar with those, move on to becoming comfortable with some standard endgames ( King+Queen vs King, King + Rook vs King, King + Pawn vs King)
As for watching John's game videos, I argue that if you're enjoying them then it doesn't matter too much if it's not the most efficient use of your time. Chess is about having fun, there's not much point to playing if you don't enjoy it.
Make sure you're focusing on his thought process and reasoning behind making the move rather than what the move actually is. Take time to pause the video in critical situations and think about what move you would make (similar to what Mato Jelic does in his videos) and then resume and see if you're right, or if he plays a different move again focus on his though process and reasoning behind it (i.e. why did you decide not to play that move whilst he did).
The most important thing when you're a beginner is to play lots and analyse your games. Once you know the opening principles and basic endgames, you should be spending most of your time playing and analysing your games (WITHOUT a computer).
If you know very little, you can always buy Sword Coast Adventurers' Guide. Take the time to read the customer reviews first though to see if this book contains what you are actually looking for. A lot of people bought the book expecting stuff not contained in it.
It also includes a few race variants, a few more class archetypes and a few backgrounds and 4 cantrips, all for 5e.
But the info/lore would work for any edition you play.
Sure, originally, I had intended on providing source and citing for all entries but that proved to be more work than I was up for. Mostly because some of the source material contradicts itself and I started getting myself confused over which source I was choosing to use as definitive.
The official publications I referenced were:
Unofficial references used were:
The newest book is the Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide, only $27-ish on Amazon. Assuming they already have the Player's Handbook, which is down to about $25.
Anyone got a good link for fancy dice?
Home cooked meal and this DnD book.
SO already knows he's getting Volo's Guide to Monsters. What a nerd. :*
There's a difference between open source and an editing free-for-all. Good, large open source projects have maintainers and approvers. Open source doesn't mean everyone gets to fuck with it willy nilly by the minute. It means if someone doesn't like the main version, they can copy it and make their own from it.
You could of course do exactly this -- and of course, some have -- with any book older than 90 years or so.
Baby Manual
The Baby Owner's Manual - I loved this book and found it to be useful as well as entertaining. One thing I found out pretty quickly, however, is that your baby is unique and is not necessarily going to follow some book(s) you read.
The postmortalworld is one guess: https://www.amazon.com/Postmortal-Drew-Magary/dp/0143119826
I tend to think the knowledge that you have to live with your mistakes might make us more cautious.
Brain-chemistry wise I expect we'd become more and more incapable of remembering everyone we know, all the things we've done etc. over time.
The postmortal- drew margary http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0143119826?pc_redir=1406726645&amp;robot_redir=1
If you like reading, here are a few other great books:
Bill Bryson's A Walk in the Woods is a hilarious account of his attempt to hike the Appalachian Trail, interspersed with really interesting information/stories about the creation of the trail and other US National Parks.
The Knife of Never Letting Go and the rest of the "Chaos Walking" trilogy is an amazing read, with plenty of awesome combat. It also brings up many modern ethical questions. I loved it.
He might also like Ready Player One which I am not quite finished with yet, but has really sucked me in. Even though there are several pop-culture references from the 80s, the reader doesn't need to be familiar with any of them to enjoy the story. I was born in 1983 and was too young to really have experienced much of it, but I'm enjoying the heck out of the book. I believe there is one passage where the main character alludes to masturbating, but content-wise, that's the only thing that a parent might consider questionable that I've come across so far.
Both titles have teenage fighter-type males as protagonists.
I loved Ready Player One, written by Ernest Cline and read by Wil Wheaton. It's Sci-fi, with many Fantasy elements.
I just finished this book last night, I listened to it at every moment it was so fun, engaging, interesting, exciting, new, GOOD.
Ready Player One book reviews on Amazon
Ready Player One on Audible
Year Zero: A Novel https://www.amazon.com/dp/0345534514/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_wM9ADbY4HECJR
It's very entertaining, it's about aliens downloading all our music and distributing it thoughout the universe only to learn that or copyright laws don't allow that so they now have to destroy earth to cancel it the debt they owe the music industry. Some want to find a solution, so they solicit the help of an Earth lawyer to help them save the world. This has a lot of clever humor on it, and I would categorize it with Hitchhikers Guide.
Eco is one of my favorite fiction and non-fiction writer, but if you enjoy conspiracies, I recommend The Illuminatus! Trilogy.
Lies: And the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right
Sweet! I live right outside of New Haven, CT and knew nothing about it. I've been reading A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson and been getting the itch to do something cool like the AT, but this may be more in my realm.
Awesome post!
This is the background of "Ready Player One" which is a very good book and shows why some characters have almost moved into their virtual worlds entirely.
"So let me get this right: you have the ability to create whatever you want - gold, jewels, platinum - at any moment, for effectively free -" Jeb paused, then decided to repeat this last bit to emphasize it even more - "effectively free - purely out of the energy from your 'dsyon balls' or whatever they are - and your price of admission is a former American President playing saxophone at the ceremony?"
The reply came back smooth and unconcerned, with the slightest hint of amusement at Jeb's incredulity - the perfect tone to really piss Jeb off. "Yes."
Jeb gripped the handle of his "#1 President" coffee mug until his knuckles went white and the blood pressure alarm started vibrating on his smart watch. "Now listen here, you alien or machine or whatever you are, the American people - and what's more, the people of Earth - are not fools. We know there's no such thing as a free lunch, we've lived and grown up knowing that, it's in our blood, in the blood of our forefathers and our fathers' forefathers, and what's more, we don't tolerate freeloaders. I'm not going to have you sit me through a 5 hour meeting to convince me you're some good Samaritan species so you can make a fool out of me and my country, or worse, enslave us with some fancy clause you forget to mention until the last moment, just to be a world of, of - galactic welfare queens." He slammed his mug on his desk as he spat the last words at his computer screen, splashing cold coffee onto his shirt cuffs.
"And don't think I believe for one minute your baloney about all the Koreans playing WoW being your 'researchers' gathering information on our culture and music because no actual Koreans would play WoW when they have better things in their country - frankly, I find it offensive you'd suggest we'd be foolish enough to believe it and -"
"Jeb, I assure you our intentions -"
"DON'T YOU DARE INTERRUPT ME," boomed Jeb, losing the last bit of patience he had struggled to hold during this ridiculous meeting with this smug, silver, sentient being before him. "I AM THE PRESIDENT OF THE GODDAMN UNITED STATES. AND, AND, and I am NOT, I repeat NOT, going to let you just absorb my country and my planet into your, your, collective or whatever you call it!"
The machine was making a frowny face - pissing Jeb off only more that they would condescend to him so much as to pretend human emotion.
Jeb felt a cool chill run down his back, and decided this discussion was over. "If America and the Earth enters space," he said, voice deadly calm in a manner he had practiced in the oval office mirror for dealing with the Russians, "it will be on America's terms, not yours." The machine mimed slight surprise back at him. "Until then, you'd better leave us the hell alone."
The president cut the connection, and slammed a button on his desk. "Susan, do we still have that supermajority in the Congress?"
"Yes sir, Mister President," came the reply.
"Tell them they're taking the budget out of medicare and slamming it into the defense budget, and pulling out that old Star Wars bill from Reagan and passing it immediately."
"Yes sir, Mister President."
--------------------------
P.S. - If you like this prompt, consider reading Year Zero: a Novel. It's absolutely hilarious, the idea being that humans are about to enter the galactic stage, but so many aliens have pirated human music that the amount of money owed humanity by aliens exceeds the amount of money in the universe. So, the aliens contact a human lawyer, and the following adventure feels very Douglas Adams.
He might really like this book by Bill Bryson: The Mother Tongue.
Jesus, now I have 40-year-old books in my cart.
You're really fucking up my reading list, Reddit.
> Lies and the lying liars who lie them.
Lies: And the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right by Al Franken
https://www.amazon.com/Lies-Lying-Liars-Balanced-Right/dp/0452285216
Commercial!
For what it's worth, a few Jewish fantasy authors, off the top of my head:
I'm sure there are more but those are the ones I can think of just now.
For those who are curious, Milo's "Dangerous" has around 25K sales between hardcover and kindle editions.
Zoe Quinn's "Crash Override" has around 1500 sales between hardcover and kindle.
Grim Jim's "Inside GamerGate" has around 230 sales between paperback and kindle.
All of these numbers taken from novelrank, which pretty much only cares about Amazon sales (ignoring all brick and mortar sales, sales direct from the publisher, and kickstarter/patreon/whatever preorders).
Data so far
https://www.novelrank.com/asin/069289344X
https://kindlepreneur.com/amazon-kdp-sales-rank-calculator/#
5,400 sales Physical
~101 Ebooks per day
That's from Amazon alone we don't know if Milo has managed to actually self publish such that bookshops are doing to be selling it too.
>Is FICS still the best place to play?
For free places, definitely. If you don't mind paying, either ICC or Playchess will give you more/better opponents with better behavior, but I still play on FICS quite a bit even with an ICC account. Other free ones, such as Chesscube, I have found really annoying flash heavy interfaces that cause browser problems and very rude players that would rather let the 20 minutes on the clock expire hoping you will accept a draw than resign gracefully.
>Is Babas Chess the best interface?
Definitely.
>What's a good chess engine to analyze games? I have old version of Fritz, Fritz 8 I believe and I think Chessmaster 10.
The best two free engines are Houdini 1.5 (Houdini 2 is not free, but only like a 50 ELO gain so for your purposes no different) and Komodo. Komodo is almost as strong yet only single core right now, and I have found the analysis more useful personally as often Houdini will suggest lines I would never even consider playing.
>Anything else you think would be helpful?
I'd recommend playing slow games to start with, at least 30 30. I would also recommend a book like Logical Chess Move by Move. You can play through the games pretty quickly, don't bother analyzing things. Should help you get back into the feel for the game, I know doing something like that after not playing for a while helps me.
When I was first learning, Logical Chess Move by Move was a huge eye opener for me. It explains every single move in the game in detail while going through full games. You get introduced to opening ideas, middle game planning, and endgame technique. The book is a very effective primer on a lot of key chess principles and it really teaches the beginner the importance of a single move since you get to read all of the ideas that go into every move.
When I was a low intermediate level player (I'd guess around 1300-1400), I read Silman's How to Reassess Your Chess and that had a huge impact on my playing level once I start to assimilate the knowledge. His coverage of the thought processes for middle game planning, move selection, and looking at material imbalances really opened my eyes to how I should be thinking about positions.
I've read probably 15-30 books in part or entirely over the years. Those two stand out the most to me. Beyond those instructional books, I think books of games collections are good to go through. My favorite were How Karpov Wins by Edmar Mednis (I am a Karpov fan) and Bronstein's Zurich 1953 book (one of the most highly regarded books of all time). Alekhine's Best Games was also a fun read, but it used old style notation I believe, which was a chore for me to learn and go through at the time.
Other special nods from me:
The exact book you want is this one: Logical Chess: Move by Move. I can't recommend it enough for someone your level.
To get your ranking, just play a few online games. The online ranking you get will (roughly) match your USCF ranking... Regardless of your ranking, that book will be perfect for you.
I'm also a beginner, and this book has been absolutely perfect so far. It's not bogged down with advanced detail and theory, and it does a great job of getting across the fundamental ideas from historical GM games.
http://www.amazon.com/Logical-Chess-Every-Explained-Algebraic/dp/0713484640
Tell him to bring out a chess board, or open up an analysis board, and play each move along with the author. It really helps the lessons sink in easier.
You need the following, if you are planning to run the most recent edition:
I recommend getting the following set in order to play a great starting adventure:
You can expand with:
Orcs é sim uma raça jogável oficial, disponível na página 82 do Volo's Guide to Monsters (que é um suplemento para o Player's Handbook, adicionando várias raças, monstros, e muita história).
The Regular Cover is so boring in comparison, but it'll be a while before I can get a copy.
Oh my GOD. I just thought to myself, "I would actually legit like that" and looked up coloring books on Amazon for fun and found this. I may actually buy this and a box of crayons .............
May I also recommend "[Unicorns Are Jerks](https://www.amazon.com/dp/1477468528/ref=cm_sw_r_awd_hqu-ub1PFE228
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1477468528/ref=cm_sw_r_awd_hqu-ub1PFE228)".
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies?
You can fund it right here.
Mine loves this one. He loves the silly humor and pictures. It's very informative too.
Well he actually did end up with a book deal and unfortunately for us, he was number one on Amazon for a while.
https://www.amazon.com/Dangerous-Milo-Yiannopoulos/dp/069289344X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1505146717&amp;sr=1-1&amp;keywords=dangerous+milo#customerReviews
FWIW I've been there and know exactly how feel. Unless you do suffer from dyslexia or are mentally retarded (and based on your writing style I doubt that!) by playing and doing regular tactics training you will eventually begin to see improvement in your game. That being said, here are some things to consider:
You say you've read a chess book; which one? Esp. for beginner/intermediate players it's important to read the right books. e.g. a book covering a specific opening wouldn't be helpful. I learnt this the hard way: my bookshelf is full of books that are far too advanced/specific for me! (I'm still a class C player but I've gone from 1100 to 1500 in the last two years). I found the following books helped me to understand how to evaluate and plan, which also helped me to figure what my opponents are up to:
There's also a great video series by IM Lawrence Trent on Chess24 called Planning Unveiled.
Getting destroyed over and over is just a normal part of improving and you should come to terms with it. Analyse your games afterwards. First without an engine and then turn the engine on since it will help you find more accurate moves and expose flaws in your own analysis. Using the engine to find tactics you and/or your opponent missed is especially instructive and I do it all the time.
Just my 2c.
Lichess has a coordinates trainer where you're just given a square on the board in algebraic notation, and you find it as quickly as you can. The notation is easier to grasp once you're not taking a few seconds carefully counting through the files and then counting through the ranks to hunt for each square. Other than that, it's just practice. The more you see it, the easier it will be to read. Lichess also has some basic tactics training. Their puzzles are good too because after you've found the solution, it's easy to study the problem further on an analysis board and see why your first guess was wrong by playing it and seeing what the computer would do next.
On YouTube, IM John Bartholomew's videos are very helpful, especially the "Chess Fundamentals" series and "Climbing the Rating Ladder." ChessNetwork has a good series for beginners also.
A good book for beginners is Logical Chess: Move By Move by Irving Chernev. Chernev annotates 33 games to explain what the purpose of each move was. Chernev wrote before masters were able to double check all their analysis with computers, so there is the occasional questionable judgement, and some people think he puts too much emphasis on general rules you should follow without enough on nuances and exceptions to those rules. However, it is probably still the best book of this kind that is truly aimed at beginners, and it will be helpful if it at least drives home the idea that every move ought to serve a purpose.
I gave you some advice for each book at each level. Of course all of these books can be switched around and if you want to read Dvoretsky (A very advanced author) at your level you're welcome to. Although a 1300 rating on lichess.org is still at a beginner level so I suggest you start from that section.
---
Beginner:
Play Winning Chess By: Yasser Seirawan
Logical Chess Move by Move By: Irving Chernev
How to Reasses Your Chess By: Jeremy Silman
---
Intermediate:
Practical Chess Exercises By: Ray cheng
The Art of Defense in Chess By: Andrew Soltis
Pawn Structure Chess By: Andrew Soltis
---
Master:
Fundamental Chess Endings By: Karsten-Müller and Frank Lamprecht.
Art of Attack in Chess By: Vladimir Vukovic
Dvoretsky's Endgame Manual By: Mark Dvoretsky
Openings: The Scandanavian will be fine for the rest of your chess career. Learn c5 if you feel like it, not because you think its 'better'.
Midgame: Tactics will be the first thing to help you improve your chess. I think its a good idea to add a little positional study in there, but focus on the tactics.
Endgame: This is a helpful thing to study. However, I don't have any good book recommendations for you on this one. Hopefully it is something someone else can help you with.
Christmas recommendations:
Gold membership on Chess Tempo for tactics.
Also the book Logical Chess Move by Move for some positional study.
The Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide is probably the best recent source however it isn't free. If you want something free for them to search through there is always the Forgotten Realms Wiki.
Currently, official resources are fairly scarce, and we won't be getting anything new for a bit, as the next book (The Curse of Strahd) won't have any new character options.
Currently, your official options are twofold:
Elemental Evil Players Companion:
This free resources adds 4 new races and a handfull of new spells.
Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide
Currently the most recent book, is roughly 80% setting information, but towards the back contains new race variants, background options, a handful of new cantrips, as well as new class options for the following:
If you would like, I can go more in depth on those extra class options if any one or all pique your interest.
Your unofficial options are much broader
Be sure to check out /r/UnearthedArcana, as this is the 5e Homebrew subreddit, and there's a lot of good stuff here, but it will require a lot of close monitoring by the DM to keep it fair and in-universe.
Secondly, DM's Guild is the WOTC 'marketplace' for homebrew content. It allows creators to host their stuff and set a price (or not) to purchase it. I would highly suggest looking at Matthew Mercer's Witch Hunter Class and Gunslinger Fighter Archetype (Both are "Pay what you want") as they have gone through some pretty rigorous testing and I can personally attest both are an absolute blast to play.
This book, Amazon link
the PHB contains all of the base classes and races.
There are two official supplements, the Elemental Evil Player's Companion: https://dnd.wizards.com/articles/features/elementalevil_playerscompanion
and the Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide (SCAG): http://www.amazon.com/Sword-Coast-Adventurers-Guide-Accessory/dp/0786965800/
The first is available online, the second is purchase-able. Neither are necessary, but check with your DM to see what's available to you to choose from.
Looks like HOTDQ and Rise of Tiamat are also on sale for around $20:
Volo's and Xanathar's are around $30:
SCAG is $30, as is the not-yet-released Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes:
...and scrolling down the list, it seems a bunch of normally $50 adventures are also on sale around $30-34. The DMG is $32 and the Monster Manual is $34:
The best general overview of the Realms I've found is Elminster's Forgotten Realms. It's system- and edition-neutral, and talks about many aspects of the Realms, including common festivals, education, literacy, and other elements that explain how this fantasy world is different than others. That said, the 5th Edition Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide gives you more stats and recent history, so it might be the more practical book.
That said, I recommend that you don't try to be completely true to the Realms. There's just far too much history and geography to learn if you want to be accurate. Start small and read up what you can, but feel free to shift things around as you see fit.
The absolute best way to get started is the Starter Set. It's everything you need to get started including some dice and an adventure. As you get more into it, you'll want to pick up the Players Handbook, the Monster Manual, and the Dungeon Master's Guide (If you don't want to get them all at once, I recommend getting them in that order.) Also very useful is a Dungeon Master's Screen. Moving into more advanced stuff, Xanathar's Guide to Everything is a book full of a bunch of optional rules to spice up the game, and Volo's Guide to Monsters gives more monsters for players to fight, and some you can actually play as. If you need more adventures to run, Tales From the Yawning Portal is a nice big book of dungeons.
It all depends on your preference but I recommend 5th edition also theirs a starter kit https://www.walmart.com/ip/Dungeons-Dragons-Dungeons-Dragons-Starter-Set-Game/37282882 if you down to buy that it comes with a premise campaign for beginners and I believe it comes with premade characters it’s ideal for 4-6 players. One of you will have to be the dungeon master(dm) who leads the characters through the story and plays the npcs(non playable characters) you’ll also play the creatures/characters your players fight against id recommend these books for now or later on when you start building your own characters etc... this for the dm https://www.amazon.com/Dungeons-Dragons-Dungeon-Rulebook-Roleplaying/dp/0786965622 and this for more monsters https://www.amazon.com/Volos-Guide-Monsters-Wizards-Team/dp/0786966017 and this for character creation etc https://www.amazon.com/Players-Handbook-Dungeons-Dragons-Wizards/dp/0786965606 as for dice it’s not that hard each player needs one d4, d6, d8, d10, d12, and a d20 you’ll also want a 10 sided percentile die here’s a cheap set off amazon with plenty of dice(theirs probably cheaper this is just the first thing I saw) https://www.amazon.com/Polyhedral-Drawstring-Dungeons-Pathfinder-Including/dp/B07DSCST6K now non of this is required of course for character creation you can always use sites such as dnd beyond or apps like fight club 5 which are free the only thing that’s really required is the dice. Now I know that’s a lot but honestly it’s a externally fun game and I’ve met some of my closest friends through it
Just FYI, if you are interested in getting it, Volo's is only $25 on amazon right now instead of the $50 it retails for.
There are 13 races added to the new book released by WotC. Volo's Guide to Monsters https://www.amazon.com/Volos-Guide-Monsters-Wizards-Team/dp/0786966017
Try giving young adult and children's books a read.
They're highly under-rated. There's a reason why the Harry Potter series is so well loved by BOTH children and adults.
In addition, if you have a little one, you both can read together and share some great memories.
To start off I highly suggest, "Go the Fuck to Sleep" by Admas Mansbach.
Or, if you're too lazy to read to your child you can always put the Samuel L. Jackson audio book on repeat.
I foresee such good memories and bonding ahead for you and the kids!
That's actually a pretty good idea. Something along the lines of Go the F**k to Sleep http://www.amazon.com/Go-F-Sleep-Adam-Mansbach/dp/145584165X where Cinderella ends up a single mother working at McDonald's and living off food stamps.
This is so amazing. I love it mucho
I kind of think that /u/martysthreegirls might like Unicorns Are Jerks ... haha!
Life is about using the whole box of crayons. :) (ps, thanks for the contest, you rock!)
Rolling up in my dinosaur footie pajamas, summoning /u/Boobafett13 as my Thunderbuddy 'cause StarWars, and coming equipped with coloring books!
Unicorns are Jerks
You would describe it like Ian Doescher did in his seminal trilogy: https://www.amazon.com/William-Shakespeares-Star-Wars-Doescher/dp/1594746370
The audiobook is pretty good.
The Globe in London. I had a nice experience there. I wish they would play this one time: http://www.amazon.de/William-Shakespeares-Star-Wars-Doescher/dp/1594746370
I need to get up and go to work. I've been on reddit for over an hour, and I'm already late. I should get going, esp. if I want to go to stick time during my lunch break.
Also, I got my copy of the screenplay to The Room, and I now want to give it the Shakespearian treatment that The Big Lebowski and Star Wars have recently received.
https://www.amazon.com/William-Shakespeares-Star-Wars-Doescher/dp/1594746370
I would recommend this one. I've given it to a few friends: The Baby Owner's Manual
The premise reminds me of The Postmortal by Drew Magary. It's not a horror story, but it has the same dystopic kind of themes. Good stuff, both this and that.
A Walk in the Woods perhaps?
A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson
There's a player on the game called [Player[Bill Bryson]], he wrote a funny user guide about the Appalachian Trail mission. It's more of a blog, really, but you may find it very helpful. I liked it.
Not many people that undertake the mission do it all in one go. But doing it as sectional quests is still great for [INT]. This is a good place to start.
Bill Bryson's A Walk in the Woods. It's not long, but I think it would be perfect for your adventure.
Wear layers, bring way more water than you need/have access to fresh clean water. Pack sufficient food. One of the best things, if you're not too keen on lugging everything around with you is car camping. Have a look at your state's park services, they usually have spots that you can rent for super cheap for the weekend, drive your car up, pitch the tent, and get started on the fire.
Also, heres a great book, kind of on camping.
Anything else that I can think: wet-wipes in a ziploc bag. Ziploc bags. Bug repellent. Lighter fluid. Propane for stove. Lighter. Pocket knife. Hatchet - seriously helpful. ICE. Cooking always takes way longer than you think it will, with set-up, assembly, clean-up. Don't take any unnecessary risks. Man, now I want to go camping.
Have a good time with your "buddy".
If y'all want to read some more of Bryson's thoughts on this, many of his travel books delve very deeply into it. My two favorites are A Walk in the Woods and The Lost Continent.
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\> If you've ever read the book [Ready Player One (Book)] or the movie [Ready Player One (Movie)] then you can get a feel for what I am envisioning.
I can highly recommend [Snow Crash](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snow_Crash) (Neal Stephenson, 1992). If you enjoy it you may also want to check out [Cryptonomicon](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cryptonomicon) by the same author.
I know this is slightly off topic, but let me play Grandma here and suggest some books for you that have gaming influences which you might enjoy. Coincidentally, my nerd book club is reading these three for April:
Ready Player One by Ernest Cline, The Boy Who Couldn't Sleep and Never Had To by DC Pierson, and Fantasy Freaks and Gaming Geeks by Ethan Gilsdorf.
Also, happy late birthday!
Well amazon (Canada) have some of the hardcover with the red cover 1st edition : Ready Player One https://www.amazon.ca/dp/030788743X/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_pNR.AbYKK38MT
Mental illness is one of Infinite Jest's many themes.
The words of David Foster Wallace seem strikingly apposite.
>The so-called ‘psychotically depressed’ person who tries to kill herself doesn't do so out of quote ‘hopelessness’ or any abstract conviction that life's assets and debits do not square. And surely not because death seems suddenly appealing. The person in whom Its invisible agony reaches a certain unendurable level will kill herself the same way a trapped person will eventually jump from the window of a burning high-rise. Make no mistake about people who leap from burning windows. Their terror of falling from a great height is still just as great as it would be for you or me standing speculatively at the same window just checking out the view; i.e. the fear of falling remains a constant. The variable here is the other terror, the fire's flames: when the flames get close enough, falling to death becomes the slightly less terrible of two terrors. It's not desiring the fall; it's terror of the flames. Yet nobody down on the sidewalk, looking up and yelling ‘Don‘t!’ and ‘Hang on!’, can understand the jump. Not really. You'd have to have personally been trapped and felt flames to really understand a terror way beyond falling.
I had always assumed they were inspired, in part, by the events of 9/11, but a quick Google search reveals the source of quote is his 1996 novel [Infinite Jest] (http://www.amazon.com/Infinite-Jest-David-Foster-Wallace/dp/0316066524)
http://www.amazon.com/Infinite-Jest-David-Foster-Wallace/dp/0316066524
http://www.amazon.com/Amusing-Ourselves-Death-Discourse-Business/dp/014303653X
I'll probably have to re-read some of Hero pretty soon and figure out to what extent the stages of the monomyth might be used in the plotline of IJ, but I really like your point about the external/internal. It runs through a lot of Wallace's work and its such an important of IJ because its dealt with across many characters and themes.
I looked at pg. 607, I couldn't see it and I have this edition.
Avril is a total enigma to me. I read up to about 550 last year, and one of the last scenes I read was [spoiler](/s"Pemulis walking in on Avril & Wayne playing football").
It's not a book. This is an excerpt from a commencement speech by David Foster Wallace at Kenyon College. If you like this, you should definitely check out the full speech or check out one of his three collection of essays. He's also got a number of short story collections, including a particularly famous work Brief Interviews with Hideous Men. He's probably most famous for Infinite Jest, a novel well over a thousand pages in length.
Year Zero.
There is a fantastic book about this very subject - https://www.amazon.com/Year-Zero-Novel-Rob-Reid/dp/0345534514
You laugh, but theres actually a novel about that.
http://www.amazon.com/Year-Zero-Novel-Rob-Reid/dp/0345534514
If you like this kind of stuff, here's an entire book devoted to the subject https://www.amazon.com/Mother-Tongue-English-How-That/dp/0380715430
I also liked http://www.amazon.com/Mother-Tongue-Bill-Bryson/dp/0380715430/
If you find the history of the English language interesting, I highly recommend the book The Mother Tongue, by Bill Bryson: http://www.amazon.com/Mother-Tongue-Bill-Bryson/dp/0380715430
Recommended these a while back, great, assessable reads.
The Language Instinct by Stephen Pinker
http://www.amazon.com/The-Language-Instinct-Mind-Creates/dp/0061336467/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1343383543&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=the+language+instinct
Patterns in the Mind by Ray Jackendoff
http://www.amazon.com/Patterns-Mind-Language-Human-Nature/dp/0465054625/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1343383561&amp;sr=1-1&amp;keywords=patterns+in+the+mind
And if you are into etymology, check out
The Mother Tongue: English and How It Got That Way, by Bill Bryson
http://www.amazon.com/Mother-Tongue-English-How-That/dp/0380715430/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1343383614&amp;sr=1-1&amp;keywords=the+mother+tongue
The Unfolding of Language: An Evolutionary Tour Through Mankind's Greatest Invention, by Guy Deutscher
http://www.amazon.com/The-Unfolding-Language-Evolutionary-Invention/dp/0805080120/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_2?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1343383676&amp;sr=1-2-fkmr0&amp;keywords=guy+deucher+language
Again, all superb books.
Trivia: it was aks and asteriks until fairly recently.
Here's one mention. I first read about this in Bill Bryson's The Mother Tongue.
You obviously haven't read Rush Limbaugh is a Big, Fat, Idiot. Franken shows how each and every show has many, many verifiable errors.
Trying to catch stuff that hasn't been mentioned here already:
Films:
Bob Roberts (1992)
Bulworth (1998)
Primary Colors (1998)
Documentaries:
The War Room (1993)
The Century of the Self (BBC)
The Power of Nightmares (BBC)
Books:
Anything by Al Franken
Lies: And the Lying Liars Who Tell Them
The Truth (with Jokes)
Rush Limbaugh is a Big Fat Idiot and Other Observations
Other authors:
Bowling Alone by Robert Putnam
Nixonland: The Rise of a President and the Fracturing of America by Rick Perlstein
Eliminationists: How Hate Talk Radicalized the American Right
by David Neiwert
Rush Limbaugh is a Big Fat Idiot
Same answer. It's just a higher standard of proof if it's a public figure.
Here is an excellent example of not libel.
https://www.amazon.com/Rush-Limbaugh-Big-Fat-Idiot/dp/0440508649
End of story... stupid obese racist.
Ten years ago a man wrote that Rush Limbaugh Is a Big Fat Idiot... that man is now a US Senator. Limbaugh is still a big, fat idiot.
Some are true; some are not true.
Trying to figure out which is which is very entertaining.
If you want to really get a handle on conspiracy theories, read this:
The Illuminatus! Trilogy
Kinda hard to read at the beginning, but if you get through a hundred pages you won't put it down.
It was a great book.
Illuminatus!
>Seeing the fnords
http://www.amazon.com/The-Illuminatus-Trilogy-Pyramid-Leviathan/dp/0440539811
Illuminatus! by Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson
You must read these two books:
The Illuminatus Trilogy
Foucault's Pendulum.
Both are amazing books near to the topic - the first is a huge spoof that's hilarious and heavily popularized Discordianism (All hail Eris!). The second is a seminal piece of literature by one of the best living authors and everybody should read it...it's about some publishers who put together 'the grand conspiracy' of the Illuminati and suddenly are embroiled in what they created.
I wish the Illuminati was real...the world would be a heck of a lot cooler place!
ok, but let's say I respect the flying spaggeti monster religion. I am polite to Pastafarians and I leave them wearing their spaggeti drainers on their head. Or, I respect that Erisians partake of a hotdog every Friday.
Suppose, someone starts to harass me about how I am a bad person because I do not eat spaggeti and meatballs all the time. Or that I am a bad person because I believe what is written and Fernando Po is really Not Really[tm] the Greatest Conspiracy on Earth(c).
And they do it in Public. All the time. Especially when I am in proximity to Lebanese women.
What then?
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Insert Mandatory Dawkins quote about Religion.
Bicycle/Tricycle, Hodge/Pogde, All Hail Discord, Five Tons of Flax
You have not read the Illuminatus Trilogy and Principia Discordia and that is why you do not understand. Sinner.
It's not for everyone, but the Illuminatus! Trilogy certainly meets those criteria.
This was written during the Bush administration but seems perfectly relevant to what's happening now: https://www.amazon.com/Lies-Lying-Liars-Balanced-Right/dp/0452285216/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1484770195&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=al+franken
It's called lying. Reddit admins lie because they are liars.
Here's a classic book of projection that even lies about who the liars are: https://www.amazon.com/Lies-Lying-Liars-Balanced-Right/dp/0452285216
I think that title is already taken.
Same guy - check the table of contents:
https://www.amazon.com/Lies-Lying-Liars-Balanced-Right/dp/0452285216
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_Franken
You can thank the junior US Senator from Minnesota for penning this.
http://www.beliefnet.com/news/2003/09/the-gospel-of-supply-side-jesus.aspx
>Reprinted from Lies: And the Lying Liars Who Tell Them-A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right by Al Franken
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lies_and_the_Lying_Liars_Who_Tell_Them
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fox_v._Franken
>August 7, 2003. Fox News Channel, the plaintiff, sought to enjoin Al Franken from using Fox's trademark phrase "fair & balanced" in the title of his then-forthcoming book, Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right.[1] Judge Denny Chin denied Fox's motion for injunction on August 22, and the network dropped the suit three days later.
https://www.amazon.com/Lies-Lying-Liars-Balanced-Right/dp/0452285216
Lies: And the Lying Liars Who Tell Them
The Magicians - Lev Grossman. It's a polarizing book for fantasy fans I suppose. I thought it was bloody brilliant.
The Magicians
There's a sequel too, called the Magician King.
I would recommend giving the Magicians series by Lev Grossman a read. It is a pretty cool and dark take on a wizarding ivy league-esq college in upstate New York.
The magicians by Lev Grossman springs to mind.
A little off-topic to this conversation but there is a book called 'The Magicians' and it has to do with a college of Magic. It's more adult than Harry Potter but it's interesting. Link!
Back to the topic. Love the thoughts that went into this. I've thought of what the american version of the Harry Potter wizarding world would be like but I've never gone into so much detail. Great work! :)
He claim's his book isn't for sale in the UK
Already done!
Woops, it's called postmortal
This has been done and been done better. Post Mortal was a pretty good book for a sports writer trying to break his mold.
I've just finished reading a novel called PostMortal. You should grab it.
It's the authors first novel, but it's pretty good and he's ambitiously attempted to describe a world where the cure for aging has been discovered. Addresses this question and many others.
I don't know how to write spoiler hiding text, so I won't tell you what he does with this issue.
Have you read Post Mortal? It covers one possible outcome of a "cure for aging". Scary stuff.
The Postmortal by Drew Magary. I wish this book got more love. I'm terrible at descriptions so I'll post a link to AMAZON
The Postmortal
Its about a world where the cure for aging is found. You can never die from old age, but you can still die from everything else. It gets pretty dark at times, and assumes the worst about human nature, but I couldn't put it down.
> ... and totally not known even remotely enough in general.
I think this is one of the reasons I'm so open about recommending his work. He seems to have the ability to take topics that most people may not be exposed to and make them comprehensible. It's similar to the way I feel about Mary Roach in books like Stiff, Bonk, and Gulp.
Along with that, Bryson has some purely entertaining works like A Walk in the Woods, Notes From a Small Island, and The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid: A Memoir that are just a joy to read. I guess I'll stop now because I'm starting to feel like shill.
Edit: spelling is hard.
A Walk in the Woods is about my home hiking trail: the Appalachian Trail. This trail was basically in our backyard and I would hike there often before I went off to school in Idaho. We're now settled in Texas so to go hiking we'll need to trek a bit further.
A great book I read recently was Hawaii and it was marvelous. Its no wonder Michener was awarded the Pulitzer for his work.
For kids, I would recommend The Eleventh Hour. Its a mystery about a birthday party and a delicious meal. Very fun. Young kids will really like the pictures and the older kids will like trying to solve the mystery.
Snickers Bars apparently attract them like mad.
Or so Bill Bryson says.
I'm really bad at reading through just one book at a time, so I'm in the middle of a few at the moment.
-A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson
-Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman (admittedly, it's been a while since I've picked this one up)
-Pale Fire by Vladimir Nabokov
I just finished a great book called The Other Wes Moore, also. It was super interesting.
I'm a big fan of non-fiction books, in case that wasn't immediately apparent by the list.
I'm sure your friend has access to all the recovery literature he can handle, and more. I wouldn't even go there, if you are considering it.
I might go for some light entertainment.
Bill Bryson's A Walk in the Woods is about hiking the Appalachian Trail, it's an easy read and it's hilariously funny.
Cheryl Strayed's Wild is about hiking the PCT and is also a fun read.
For novels, I have to recommend A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan, and Middlesex by Jeffery Eugendes. They are both big huge sprawling books that are also super enjoyable and easy to read. (So they are not a new Moby Dick.) I've never read them, but I hear the Lord of the Rings books are completely absorbing too. They would take up a huge chunk of his time.
You might also send some comfort clothes. Some warm socks or slippers or sweatpants or a hoodie, something like that. (I'm a huge fan of LL Bean's sweats, they are super comfy and well made.) Also maybe an iTunes gift card if he's got an iphone or ipod.
Out of curiosity, what's the scifi book you're sending? I'm a big scifi fan too.
This guy has some good info
Kristen Gates has great info on ultralight gear and has tons of experience.
Bill Bryson's A Walk in the Woods is a good read.
Youtube also has anything you could ever want to learn.
Also since you will be packing around trees. Many long distance hikers have sworn by hammocks, they are good alternative to tents when attempting to save weight.
Hiking socks, you can never have enough cozy socks. For a gag gift, you can get her a Go Girl. There is loads of books on hiking experiences. Here is one my mom seemed to like. Maybe books about going off the grid? Hope i was able to help.
Mandatory reading: A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson
[A Walk in the Woods] (http://www.amazon.com/Walk-Woods-Rediscovering-America-Appalachian/dp/0307279464/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1347030356&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=a+walk+in+the+woods) by Bill Bryson. I'm telling you, it's hilarious and a really good read. Most of his other books are quite funny as well, but this is my favorite.
Right now, I'm impressed with Ready Player One .
this is gonna make your blood boil, as it did mine: http://www.amazon.com/Ready-Player-One-Ernest-Cline/dp/030788743X
Ready Player One by Ernest Cline. Came out in August, 2011. Prodigies in the year 2044 get PhD's in pop-culture of the 1980's in order to save the greatest videogame ever made. Best entertainment value I've read since World War Z. I wrote Ernest Cline to tell him how much I loved it, and the man actually wrote me back. Fellow gunters, unite!
Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
If anyone thinks this sounds cool, and can read, you should immediately get a copy of "Ready Player One" by Ernest Cline. One of the best reads I've had all year.
Wouldn't it be funny is someone HAD a Ruger on their gift list? Wonder how that goes...
Anyway, I suppose of all the things on my list (besides the expensive stuff like mics and the Roku box) I really want to read Ready Player One so it's really desired. However, any of the 80 something albums I have listed are important too!
http://www.amazon.com/Ready-Player-One-Ernest-Cline/dp/030788743X
The first time in a long time I have been so sucked in that after finishing int in 3 days, I wanted to go right back to it. Every child of the 80s I have shared it with, especially those who were extra-nerdy, loved this book.
http://www.amazon.com/A-Short-History-Nearly-Everything/dp/076790818X/ref=tmm_pap_title_0?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1347860128&amp;sr=1-1
If you want non-fiction, I finished this recently and it is hands down the best non-fiction book I have ever read. History filled with compelling narratives rather than dry dates and facts, Bryson brings the past to life - the story of how Halley convinced Newton to write the Principia even though Newton would rather have been searching for King Solomon's tomb for the dates of Christ's second coming or practicing alchemy is just one example of the wonderful narratives that fill this book.
Ready Player One by Ernest Cline.
Ready player one by Ernest Cline http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/030788743X/ref=redir_mdp_mobile
I was reading John Dies at the End last night in bed and had a few moments of... horrorterror
Here are a few books I'm reading right now:
Dofleini mentions that "what was on [the] desk at the moment."
Broom is much less demanding time-wise, although I agree with your sentiments... Not only is it much less polished than his later work, I think it's also less rewarding. It almost seems as though he was warming up for Jest... I enjoyed it, but I'm glad I read it after Jest & Interviews. For me, it falls into the same category as the early Dickens novels: entertaining in their own right, but more interesting as a window into the foundation for more developed later work.
I'd recommend Brief Interviews or A Supposedly Fun Thing as entry points for Wallace, followed by Infinite Jest if you like what you've read.
Gravity's Rainbow is Thomas Pynchon's epic, wandering, convoluted WWII novel.
Infinite Jest is either the greatest novel of all time or the most overrated novel of all time, depending on who you ask (I happen to fall into the former category)
Fairly certain this paperback is the 10th ed. http://www.amazon.com/Infinite-Jest-David-Foster-Wallace/dp/0316066524/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1453494152&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=infinite+jest
I've previously read the thing on Kindle, and it had a lot of your standard Kindle-type typos (like constantly confusing "n"s for "r"s and so forth), but none of this stuff. The overlapping isn't possible, and you have to remember that the Kindle affords readers the chance to highlight and report specific typos, so it's possible to continuously see things corrected.
Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace. Link
It's a sprawling masterwork about how entertainment shapes our lives. Set in a near future America that's been weirdly altered by technological and political upheaval, its sharpest plot line involves a film so captivating that its viewers lose all interest in everything save the film.
Amazon recommended a book to me when I bought RPO off their site. It's called "Year Zero", and while it's not QUITE as engaging as Cline's writing it's a pretty fun premise.
Year Zero: A Novel, by Rob Reid. I particularly recommend listening to the unabridged audio book read by John Hodgman. He's an excellent reader, with great comic timing.
The Humans by: Matt Haig. An interesting story told from the point of view of an alien living among us.
I am now out of new content and re-listening to Year Zero by: Rob Reid. This is a "hitchhikers guide" like book about aliens who LOVE our music! It talks about funny subjects like the 1970s, insane copyright laws, the evils of Microsoft, and Lawyers. It is entertaining enough to keep me happy on the commute to work.
> They'd probably have access to all sorts of Radio, TV and even internet/telemetry information being leaked into the cosmos by humans.
Yes they have and it is a big copyright problem! Nice little read i can only recommend :)
"The entire cosmos has been hopelessly hooked on American pop songs ever since “Year Zero” (1977 to us), resulting in the biggest copyright violation since the Big Bang and bankrupting the whole universe."
Don't even get me started. We once cause the whole universe to almost go bankrupt, evidently nearly ending it until Nick Carter went ahead and saved the day. -Year Zero
You should check out the goofy book Year Zero.
You should read the book Year Zero :)
There was a book called year zero that is all about taking this concept to a completely ridiculously absurd conclusion.
Napkin and orange are examples of article confusion. The original words were apkin and norange (think of Spanish naranja). When pronounced, an apkin and a norange became a napkin and an orange. At least that's what Bill Bryson related in Mother Tongue, one of my favorite books.
here's a great book on it
Of course I'm biased because this is what I love to do for a living (teach about language), but I also find myself learning about language in my free time.
Here are my "Greatest Hits" of language people, programs, blogs, and readings, in no particular order (despite the fact that I've numbered them):
And I subscribe to /r/logophilia, which often has many amusing words, like pulchritudinous, an ugly word that means something beautiful.
EDIT: And it's great to get a book on usage. I like Garner's Modern American Usage, but here's a list from Diana Hacker at Bedford of other good usage guides
This book has a chapter on curse words and where each of them came from. It's very interesting.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Mother-Tongue-English-That/dp/0380715430
This book.
I doubt there are many recordings of Rush's show from that time period.
I know the second statement is true. The problem is he thinks the antarctic ice is floating in the ocean.
Some things never change. Guess he's still a big fat idiot
There's a great book on the subject called Rush Limbaugh Is a Big Fat Idiot
It is called the Eye of Providence and has been used/attributed to a group knows as the Illuminati. A behind the scenes group of rulers bent on world domination and the quest for immortality. A good fiction to read is the Illuminatus Trilogy. Hope this helps out a little.
The Illuminatus Trilogy? Or one of its 3 books, The Eye in the Pyramid, the Golden Apple, Leviathan?
http://www.amazon.com/The-Illuminatus-Trilogy-Pyramid-Leviathan/dp/0440539811
Well obviously there's a physical version as well.
can you see the fnords?
American Gods by Neil Gaiman and The Illuminatus! Trilogy by Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson.
You might be interested in this, then.
You're honestly going to claim that this strikes you as the work of a man who would rather express his views in a subtle, nonconfrontational manner than go public and go extreme?
Again, FWIW, I really like Franken as a senator. He cares about the right issues. But that doesn't change his past, and his past doesn't make him a bad or unfit senator.
The book in question came out in 2004 iirc?
Link
Not for sure on that, I linked the first imgur album from google. Though a quick google search shows that it comes from Al Franken's book Lies: And the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right.
(Al Franken for 2020)
>One case has pictorial documentation of groping,
Groping does not cast shadows.
> the perp was a sitting United States senator.
The USO tour was in 2006. Franken was not elected until 2009.
>It happened to be an organic development of the #metoo movement.
Leeann Tweeden was a right wing talk radio host who did frequent appearances on Fox News. Al Franken has been an aggressive and effective critic and agitator against Fox News longer than just about anyone. This was an orchestrated hit by the right taking advantage of an organic movement that developed primarily out of the left.
>The other case has a 35+ year accusation from high school, without any corroboration
Dozens of people attempted to contact the FBI with corrobation, but the executive branch limited the scope of the investigation into it's own nominee .
> it’s a politically motivated Democrat hit job
Sez you. change my mind.
>It’s a disgrace to all those who are real victims of sexual assault and rape.
Don't speak for me.
> Both situations make liberals look bad
That's clearly all you and your mind care about. Bye.
Just leaving this here for your readership pleasure. Recall, Fox tried to sue him for skewering their tag line.
Damn, that does feel like a lifetime ago.
Al Franken already wrote a book about it.
Yes. He lies for an agenda discrediting even his valid points. Don't take anything he says as more than just entertainment. Give this a read or just read up on his other lies. http://www.amazon.com/Lies-Lying-Liars-Tell-Them/dp/0452285216
For less messy amazon links you can extract the part after "/dp/" in
https://www.amazon.com/Magicians-Novel-Trilogy/dp/0452296293/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1484216430&amp;sr=8-2&amp;keywords=magicians
and make it:
https://amzn.com/0452296293
BEEP BOP
Plz send any recommendations via PM
The Magicians by Lev Grossman, and the sequel The Magician King.
http://www.amazon.com/Magicians-Novel-Lev-Grossman/dp/0452296293/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1324348733&amp;sr=8-1
If you liked The Chronicles of Narnia/Harry Potter/The Lord of the Rings/any Terry Pratchett books/any books regarding other worlds and magical lands/schools, you'll love this book. It takes all of those stories (some, admittedly, written for a younger generation) and pulls them into the real world, the adult world. The Magicians is like Harry Potter/Narnia with drugs, sex, and murder. It's full of gritty realism, but also fantastical magic, and it's amazingly written. :)
I hope you'll enjoy it! ^_^ Also, I'm quite hungry, and my paycheck's account didn't have the funds available to be deposited today, so here's hoping you'll pick me. :)
I always recommend, The Magicians by Lev Grossman. It is my favorite book/trilogy. I loved The War Against the Assholes by Sam Munson, but in a different way. It is always my go to rec for obscure books.
Books not mentioned so far that I like:
Lev Grossman's Magicians Trilogy (not 1st-person, otherwise follows your criteria, Harry Potter-esque, some people dislike the protagonist but he's intentionally kind of a tool), starting with The Magicians.
R. Scott Bakker's Prince of Nothing trilogy (not 1st-person, magic is seriously powerful and the protagonist is an already-accomplished practitioner, mythology is complex, I don't recall it having a huge amount of characters), starting with The Darkness That Comes Before.
If you're willing to step outside of prose works, I like The Books of Magic a lot; it's a comic book miniseries.
who cares, hogwarts is stuffy anyways. it doesnt matter what you do in highschool only what you do in college.
The Magicians
Archives for the links in comments:
----
I am Mnemosyne 2.1, Mass hysteria is only availible in the new DLC, $12.99 for the update ^^^^/r/botsrights ^^^^Contribute ^^^^message ^^^^me ^^^^suggestions ^^^^at ^^^^any ^^^^time ^^^^Opt ^^^^out ^^^^of ^^^^tracking ^^^^by ^^^^messaging ^^^^me ^^^^"Opt ^^^^Out" ^^^^at ^^^^any ^^^^time
Here's an amazon link to it:
https://www.amazon.com/Mohammeds-Koran-Muslims-Kill-Islam/dp/154262780X
While we're at it, Dangerous by Milo Yiannopoulos:
https://www.amazon.com/Dangerous-Milo-Yiannopoulos/dp/069289344X
> It has more to do with Participation Bias, than anything else.
Exactly. If you check the reviews for Milo's book, Dangerous, it's actually sitting at 4.9/5, higher than Hillary's 4.8/5 rating.
So it's obviously not an agenda being pushed, otherwise why rate Milo's book higher?
Juste pour éliminer quelques préjugés sur the_donald vu que j'y jette un oeuil régulièrement depuis presque deux ans:
Le reste vu de l'extérieur est exact:
(https://www.reddit.com/r/The_Donald/comments/67871m/statistics_and_polls_on_islam_around_the_world/). Anti-migration de masse en Europe, surtout car c'est une immigration illégale de masse, tout l'inverse de "légal et patriote". En bref ils sont pour l'assimilation et non le multiculturalisme.
A résumer je dirais que le point commun de leurs positions est la défense et l'opposition à tout ce qui détruit ou fragilise l'Etat-Nation, porté par un patriotisme passionné.
Si vous aimez la politique américaine il faut lire ce sub, ça contre le blabla des mass médias. Par exemple j'y ai compris que le fameux "muslim ban" qu'on a vu partout n'a rien de "muslim". 6 des 7 pays du Moyen-Orient ne sont pas mentionnées dans le décret de Trump. Ils ont été sélectionnés des années avant par l'administration Obama qui avait déjà mis en place un filtrage serré pour des raisons de sécurité. Il suffisait simplement d'aller à la source et de lire le décret. On reste libre de son opinion mais elle est au moins basée sur une source et non les médias.
Et je vous passe toutes les aventures, memes, pseudo-enquêtes politiques et judiciaires qu'a faits et subis ce sub polémique où se côtoient réflexion et connerie.
Voilà c'est ma perception de the_donald !
Chess: The Art of Logical Thinking: From the First Move to the Last by Neil McDonald.
I liken it to Chernev's Logical Chess Move By Move: Every Move Explained but more up to date, covering games by Kasparov, Karpov, Kramnik, et al.
My favorite 2 books:
I think both of these books are really good at mastering the moves that you should be making to reach a good position. I don't consider them too advanced, but they assume you know things like reading algebraic notation, basic tactics and motifs.
Also agree with others that a good tactics book will provide with serious improvement in your game. But if you want to understand how to get a position that will provide tactical opportunities, these two books are great.
Besides everything that is being said, analyzing annotated games from the masters is usually very useful and entertaining. This book is great if you want to do that.
You're in for a lot of fun kbphoto, welcome to chess.
For an adult beginner I'd recommend two things to start off with:
Both these together will get you off to a flying start and then later on you can take a look at some more resources listed in the FAQ in the sidebar.
Good luck!
Probably Logical Chess
Here are some things that many people do to improve:
I hope all this helps, and welcome to the chess world!
Yeah, sure.
It depends on a few things. How seriously do you want to take it, and what are your goals. If you want to just casually learn about the game and kind of play it from time to time, that's greatly different from someone that wants to try and get really good etc.
I guess, what does get into chess mean to you? ;)
I'll give a more detailed writeup after that, haha.
edit: Some starter info I guess!
There can be more details etc but that's basically it.
Have you read "Logical Chess: Move By Move" - Irving Chernev? It might help you! It deals a lot with the other aspect of the game, strategy (and openings etc)... Well worth a read!
http://www.amazon.com/Logical-Chess-Every-Explained-Batsford/dp/0713484640
I know you asked for videos but there is a classic book called Logical Chess Move by Move that touts its 'every single move explained' approach. Might be up your alley if you are interested in a book.
Not the book you're after, but I think Chess: The Art of Logical Thinking: From the First Move to the Last is a good book for you. It goes through 30 games (grouped by opening) by annotating every move, so you don't have to read through long sequences of moves without help.
Logical Chess: Move By Move: Every Move Explained is similar and probably good too (Chernev is cool) but I haven't read it.
You can get it for less at Amazon or Jet(about $28 before coupons/discounts).
Well, in all honestly he's completely right. Modules are inherently "railroady" and HotDQ is SUPER RAILROADY! Not only that, but it was being written and play tested while the rules were still being written. (There's an infamous Assassin encounter that will kill your party if run correctly. Because Assassin's weren't finalized yet.)
This will help you a lot: https://merricb.com/2014/10/09/running-hoard-of-the-dragon-queen-episode-1/
Merric Blackmen is an awesome Aussie and his notes on this module really helped me flesh out the campaign and loosen up the rails a bit.
You'd also benefit by getting a copy of the Sword Coast Adventurers Guide if you wish to continue running adventures in the Forgotten Realms.
And HELL NO you're not being unreasonable. Tell that motherfucker to step off or step up!
The Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide (SCAG, for short) is rad. Brief histories of the Sword Coast and other parts of Faerun by region. Profiles on the various races and classes. Couple new class archetypes and a few new spells.
Amazon has the SCAG on sale now for 31$.
https://www.amazon.com/Sword-Coast-Adventurers-Guide-Accessory/dp/0786965800/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1487940243&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=sword+coast+adventurer+guide
I also recommend Matt Forbeck's DUNGEONOLOGY book. It has a mini-setting manual on the Forgotten Realms (FR) but also has the best map of the Sword Coast in print to date.
https://www.amazon.com/Dungeonology-Ologies-Matt-Forbeck/dp/0763693537/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1487940329&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=dungeonology
You can also easily ignore the mechanics of previous editions and just focus on the flavor text in the campaign setting guides.
If you can find the 3e or 4e FR Setting Guides on eBay or Half Price Books for cheap, they are pretty useful.
The Volo's Guide to series from AD&D are boss as well; V'sG: to the North, to the Dalelands, to the Sword Coast, etc. They should all be on the DMsGuild in PDF for dirt cheap.
When all else fails, look for FR setting books written by Ed Greenwood (Volo himself); Ed is the Tolkien of the Forgotten Realms.
Unless you know what books they already have it might be a bit risky getting a book, but if you do get a book I would suggest getting something not in the "big three" as someone who's really into D&D is likely to get the players handbook, monster manual, and dungeon masters guide on their own. Better to get them something they'd like but might not buy for themselves since theyre not as "essential", like Volo's Guide to Monsters, the Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide or Xanathar's Guide to Everything I think. Also, any d&d player will always appreciate a new set of pretty dice, a cool bag to keep their dice in or a dice tray to roll on are also solid choices.
Same boat, friend. I reccomend getting
https://smile.amazon.com/Sword-Coast-Adventurers-Guide-Accessory/dp/0786965800/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1503322550&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=sword+coast+adventurer%27s+guide
The Book of The Righteous. A book all about Dnd pantheons, almost entirely lore, with some mechanical stuff as extras. This is probably the one I'd recommend most given the concentration of lore(plus cool pictures and stuff).
https://www.amazon.com/Book-Righteous-5E-Aaron-Loeb/dp/1934547816/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1526601339&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=book+of+the+righteous+5e
The Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide. Mostly lore about the Sword Coast, a region in the forgotten realms. It's almost all lore, with some mechanical stuff towards the end.
https://www.amazon.com/Sword-Coast-Adventurers-Guide-Accessory/dp/0786965800/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1526601688&amp;sr=1-1&amp;keywords=sword+coast
Volo's Guide to Monsters. About half the book is the lore of certain monster races, and the other half is monster stat blocks.
https://www.amazon.com/Volos-Guide-Monsters-Wizards-Team/dp/0786966017/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1526601471&amp;sr=1-1&amp;keywords=volos
Mordenkainen's tome of Foes. It isn't out till May 29, but it's supposed to be largely lore about the plains and various cosmic conflicts throughout time, and then several more monster stat blocks.
https://www.amazon.com/MORDENKAINENS-FOES-Accessory-Wizards-Team/dp/0786966246/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1526601510&amp;sr=1-1&amp;keywords=mordenkainen%27s+tome+of+foes
I recommend going into a local game shop and seeing which of these they have and flipping through them to get an idea of what they're like and which ones interest you the most. Also this is only listing some of the books from the most recent edition (5e), largely because they tend to be the prettiest(design has improved significantly over time). Past editions are absolutely full of books about everything to do with anything you could want in the dnd multiverse.
If you're a player then I would suggest getting the Player's Handbook https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0786965606/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1486601128&amp;sr=8-1&amp;pi=AC_SX236_SY340_FMwebp_QL65&amp;keywords=5e+players+handbook
And maybe the Sword Coast Adventurer Guide if you're playing in The Forgotten Realms setting.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0786965800/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1486601212&amp;sr=8-1&amp;pi=AC_SX236_SY340_FMwebp_QL65&amp;keywords=sword+coast+adventurer%27s+guide&amp;dpPl=1&amp;dpID=51yV7jtt62L&amp;ref=plSrch
My girlfriend bought me the D&D colouring book for my birthday. It is amazing! Highly recommended if your father is artistic. Even if he isn't, it is still fun.
http://dnd.wizards.com/products/tabletop-games/rpg-products/monsters-and-heroes-realm
If your father is a DM and has a cheesex mat for drawing his maps, you can never go wrong with a new set of markers. They tend to run out in the least expected circumstances.
http://www.chessex.com/Accessories/Accessories2.htm
And of course, you can always go with rulebooks. If he has a library, I'd start by seeing which books he is missing. The following are for players of D&D, there are many adventure books as well for DMs.
Volo's Guide to Monsters: https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0786966017/ref=mp_s_a_1_4?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1478899218&amp;sr=8-4&amp;pi=AC_SX236_SY340_FMwebp_QL65&amp;keywords=dungeons+and+dragons&amp;dpPl=1&amp;dpID=51yD0I7mRXL&amp;ref=plSrch
Sword Coast Adventure's Guide: https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0786965800/ref=pd_aw_fbt_14_img_3?ie=UTF8&amp;psc=1&amp;refRID=52RFJNRP5HSVN5MTMT06
Aside from this, you can always just get him random D&D knick knacks.t think geek is a good spot to start your search for any and all things nerdy.
D20 Chip Bowl: http://www.thinkgeek.com/product/1d89/
Whiskey stones: http://www.thinkgeek.com/product/14d6/?srp=16
Light up D20: http://www.thinkgeek.com/product/deaa/?srp=10
D20 spin ring: http://www.thinkgeek.com/product/iuov/?srp=54
Hope this helps spur some ideas for the holiday season. Good luck shopping!
Australian here, I bought mine from Amazon, was only $40 including shipping and only took a week.
Well worth it.
Read them this.
http://www.amazon.com/Go-F-Sleep-Adam-Mansbach/dp/145584165X
https://www.amazon.com/Go-F-Sleep-Adam-Mansbach/dp/145584165X
Oh it is not blurred it is part of the art lol
Nah this one https://www.amazon.com/Go-F-Sleep-Adam-Mansbach/dp/145584165X
May I perhaps interest you in a reading of my favorite bed time book?
http://www.amazon.com/Go-F-Sleep-Adam-Mansbach/dp/145584165X
I have previous experience reading this master piece to women with my soothing voice.
http://www.amazon.com/Go-F-Sleep-Adam-Mansbach/dp/145584165X
https://www.amazon.com/Go-F-Sleep-Adam-Mansbach/dp/145584165X
Serious answer: https://www.harpercollins.com/9780062457714/the-subtle-art-of-not-giving-a-fck
Joke answer: https://www.amazon.com/Go-F-Sleep-Adam-Mansbach/dp/145584165X
MISTERY ANSWER: https://www.amazon.com/Billionaire-Triceratops-Craves-Gay-Ass-ebook/dp/B00QTTIJVI
Link for the lazy
"Go the F**k to Sleep"
Maybe burn a CD and make it an audio read-along for them.
You have to put this in it
I do that too and then get so little sleep!
Also have you read the book? Go the fuck to sleep Also read by Samuel Jackson here
Depends on what you like. There are books out there for just about everything.
I you like somewhat simple and strange designs The bizzare coloring book for adults, and the sequel are good.
The adult coloring treasury. Is a nice way to get a bunch of samples from different artists to see what you like.
If you like animal designs This one is good.
And if you like irreverent coloring books Unicorns are Jerks is a fun and funny book
Over five but wanted you to see this
Okay, now. Here's your item! Unicorn stickers! They are lovely and you can stick them in random places and feel special! This coffee phone topper is mine because maybe Unicorns love coffee and that is why they are so hyper and love rainbows because they are so awake...okay that was silly but you never know!!
FIVE DOLLA! :)
Edit: Good luck!! I'm sure we can make it through this and when we're out of school and doing what we love, we'll look back and be grateful we kept pushing through :) Hugs!
unicorns are jerks
I think he definitely needs an [inflatable cat lady] (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0006GKJ7C/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awdb_Y8-OybY61034Y). Because who doesn't?
Also this [unicorns are jerks coloring book] (https://www.amazon.com/dp/1477468528/?tag=bfmaitland-20&amp;ascsubtag=3529370%2C5%2C16%2Camp%2Cmaitlandquitmeyer%2Cstyle)
I love my inner child. :)
And this unicorn book looks like it would be awesome. Because it's got unicorns. XD
Congrats on the baby! this makes me giggle whenever I see it. I ain't birthed no babies!
As for the kindle, I suggest "How to be a Woman" by Caitlin Moran. Happy Birthday!
Funnily enough, the other two books that I bought that arrived today are from the same author. XD
Let me introduce you to these my coloring brethren http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1477468528/ref=redir_mdp_mobile?pc_redir=1414122015&amp;ref_=sr_1_1&amp;tag=iflt-20
I love my inner child!!
Either:
Coloring for Grown-Ups: The Adult Activity Book
Or
Unicorns Are Jerks: a coloring book exposing the cold, hard, sparkly truth
Thanks for the contest!! It reminded me how much I LOVE to color! It's therapeutic for me.
Edit: I also have Between the Lines: An Expert Level Coloring Book == and == Outside the Lines: An Artists' Coloring Book for Giant Imaginations (totally stole that one from /u/chickenfriedsoup so if you pick this particular book, give it to them)
This is my second choice, but my first was over the limit. Could pair it with crayons to make it $10.
Just for the giggle it gives, check out the pooping pooches calendar sometime. Great gag gift!
Unless it's a zombie Harry Potter, not interested.
Hey, did anybody do "Harry Potter with Zombies"?
You know, like Pride and Prejudice and Zombies
Doing it wrong.
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies
I really enjoyed Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.
I've got a friend that loves this.
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.
I'm actually reading the book now.
So far my favorite zombie book is Pride and Prejudice and Zombies
looking at "Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought..." i duno whats more hilarious...
http://www.amazon.com/Pride-Prejudice-Zombies-Classic-Ultraviolent/dp/1594743347/ref=pd_sim_b_4
For those interested, someone actually made a book series around this.
https://www.amazon.com/William-Shakespeares-Star-Wars-Doescher/dp/1594746370
Has books for up to 7. Not sure about Rogue One or TLJ though.
I've got the first 6, but I haven't gotten around to reading em.
Found a book once where the author had re-written the first movie in Shakespearean dialog. You can find it here
I always pictured R2 and 3P0 as a Dwarf Blacksmith and an Albino English Professor.
He's a writer? How about getting him a videogame/comic book themed notebook with matching stationary? If he's a Star Wars fan and really in to screenplays then he might be interested in Star Wars by William Shakespeare.
http://www.amazon.com/William-Shakespeares-Star-Wars-Doescher/dp/1594746370/ref=tmm_hrd_title_0/178-6144581-1887900
Not my idea, I'm just predicting that at SOME point they'll adapt them to film.
https://www.amazon.ca/William-Shakespeares-Star-Wars-Doescher/dp/1594746370
Hence why it gets chopped from watching the films in Machete Order.
> "Episodes II and III aren’t exactly Shakespeare, but standing next to the complete and utter trainwreck that is Episode I, they sure look like it. At least, III does anyway."
Not to be confused with William Shakespeare's Star Wars.
This is a randomly amazing contest of random amazingness.
Morthy Demands:
Posh Old Englishman in Londontown [Found on "Little Bit of Everything!"]
Oh God! [Found on "Read or GTFO!"]
So phallic right now [Found on "Little Bit of Everything!"]
Akeleie Demands:
Geektastic! [Found on "Read or GTFO!"]
Reach for the Stars! [Found on "Little Bit of Everything!"]
Deserted Island! [Found on Little Bit of Everything!]
This was hilarious to me!
And here's the link if you want a copy from Amazon.
This should help.
http://www.amazon.com/Baby-Owners-Manual-Instruction/dp/1931686238/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1323325762&amp;sr=8-1
Congratulations. May I suggest a little light reading.
For the parents:
I got this in the book gift exchange and it is really good:
The Baby Owner's Manual: Operating Instructions, Trouble-Shooting Tips, and Advice on First-Year Maintenance
For the kid:
Turntable Timmy
Where the wild things are
Miss Nelson Is Missing!
Goodnight Moon
The Very Hungry Caterpillar
You'll figure it out fairly quickly. Mine is 6 months and we've got it covered. My few books:
The Baby Owner's Manual
Pacify Me - One of the best chapters in here talks about listening to friends and family, but mostly family and disregard the crazy stuff. You'll get to a point where you learn to listen to your instinct, its going to be right (We reference my wife's instinct as it seems to be better honed in, or so she says)
Relax, don't stress, you'll manage.
When I became a first-time dad several year ago, I found The Baby Owner's Manual: Operating Instructions, Trouble-Shooting Tips, and Advice on First-Year Maintenance EXTREMELY helpful, and humorous, too.
There is also a toddler edition of this book.
After a little while you can get used to it - at one point I could even tell if my runt was tired/hungry/dirty just by the type of cry she emitted. Best of luck!
This thing rules: http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Baby-Owners-Manual-Trouble-shooting/dp/1931686238
Here you go.
They don't COME with instruction manuals. You have to buy it separately.
I got this book Baby Owner's Manual as a semi gag gift when we were having our first. I actually read through this book and found it really helpful overall. I even referred back to it a few times when we weren't sure on some things.
What to expect is great and all, but it's just TOO much stuff. This keeps it straight and to the point. Plus it's funny because it's written like an instruction manual.
This came up not to long ago and I will put what I put before
It is very informative and research based but still fun "Caveman's guide to ...." http://www.amazon.com/Cavemans-Pregnancy-Companion-Survival-Expectant/dp/140273526X
A something a lot lighter and just fun to get him into the idea
http://www.amazon.com/Baby-Owners-Manual-Instructions-Trouble-shooting/dp/1931686238
The latter has a lot less hard fact but I know I enjoyed it and it got me prepped to read the bigger, harder stuff.
For pregnancy and for new baby
Edit: Written very well for men to read. Less earthy/crunchy and my husband says it's very informative.
That book sucks; buy this one instead: http://www.amazon.com/Baby-Owners-Manual-Instructions-Trouble-Shooting/dp/1931686238/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;s=books&amp;qid=1280205820&amp;sr=8-1
We found it far, far more useful.
on the topic of parenting books geared towards men, has anyone read this book? It looks like it could be both funny and informative.
Here is the mobile version of your link
I feel super bad and you've made me feel bad. Here's where you can buy that shitty book they "burned"
https://www.amazon.com/Dangerous-Milo-Yiannopoulos/dp/069289344X
I think you're taking his words out of context and/or not understanding the full context. He's very controversial which can be seen by his book name, so I'd take his words with a grain of salt. Before you actually try to claim he's such and such you should read his book. Even in his book (which I proudly own), he says he likes to piss people off, he goes on to say that gays used to push social taboos, now they're just normal people. I'll find the exact quote from his book if you'd like.
I thought that this book was very good.
Logical Chess: Move By Move: Every Move Explained New Algebraic Edition https://www.amazon.com/dp/0713484640/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_edGRyb4EAXJBJ
Go through a good book on endgame and another one on general tactics.
I like these:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1901983536/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_S_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&amp;colid=66EBRAUAHPIS&amp;coliid=I2A83X6EJLY8H2
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0713484640/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&amp;colid=66EBRAUAHPIS&amp;coliid=I2LJZWM16R3CB9
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1907982302/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_S_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&amp;colid=66EBRAUAHPIS&amp;coliid=I1FCMRD6EACKYP
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/9056914723/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pd_S_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&amp;colid=66EBRAUAHPIS&amp;coliid=I8AH7QFI6IYF4
I'd start with the endgame.
When I was a lad my dad never let me win against him at chess. He lent me this book, Logical Chess Move By Move. I set up a chessboard and played through all 40 of the historical games in this book. The book gives a short reason for each move. The results were incredible; suddenly I could hold my own.
I started to take it seriously 2 years ago. I recommend the book Logical Chess .
Once you learn a few openers and basic strategy, you can take out a casual player pretty quickly. Practice on your computer too ICF/ Chess.com. I enjoy watching legendary chess matches on youtube too, especially with move by move narration . ie bobby fischer
I've been working on my own homebrew world, too, and it is very daunting! Here is what has helped me thus far:
EDIT:
But yes, as most people are saying don't plan on everything done before the game starts and improvise a lot. I am making key areas and regions and from there I will have resources to pull from as I make things up along the way.
The update to the 5e lore starts with [The Sundering Series] (http://forgottenrealms.wikia.com/wiki/The_Sundering_(series)). Despite its name, that series only covers a narrow fraction of the actual [event] (http://forgottenrealms.wikia.com/wiki/Second_Sundering), tho. It is followed by Spellstorm and Death Masks, by Ed Greenwood (updates on Waterdeep, lots of misc. lore scattered throughout the book about returned deities like Eilistraee, the Weave, etc...); and by Fire in the Blood, Ashes of Tyrants and The Devil You Know, by Erin Evans (they include updates on Azuth, Mulhorand, Unther, the Dragonborn, Asmodeus, and Tieflings--you may want to to read the rest of her series first, tho). Keep in mind that even with those books, a lot of the changes happened offscreen, and their explanation was often left as a "mystery" or handwaved as "Ao's work". The book to read to know the status quo as of the 1490s DR is the "Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide".
If you want to read the lore that brought to 4e (Spellplague), I'm afraid that in tis case too there isn't much about the Spellplague itself. The Empyrean Odyssey and Abolethic Sovereignity trilogies are all that there is, and they don't even focus on the Spellplague itself. The Haunted Lands trilogy is also pretty cool. Keep in mind that all that you'll read in those books (except the in the Haunted Lands) no longer holds true in the current Realms. Like in 5e, a lot of changes happened offscreen, and the 4e FRCS is the book to read to know the status quo in 1479 DR.
Salvatore also kept writing Drizzt, but his story is mostly self-contained and never touches anything beyond Drizztland. If you want a reading order for his books, tell me and I'll provide it.
Well, That's a complicated question. I would think that for all monsters that exist in the DnD universe as a whole you would need to go to the edition with the most published monster manuals. My guess would probably be 3/3.5 for that. It has five Monster Manuals as well as several other compendiums. You can find a full list of the books for that edition in this thread.
If you want all the monsters that are in use in the current edition (5e) then you need to pick up the Monster Manual and Volo's Guide to Monsters for the vast majority of them.
in past editions they were the result of divine heritage somewhere up the tree the same way tieflings have infernal heritage, but in the new rules they are chosen beings that have their normal racial abilities replaced by special powers. Typically they are humanish, but theoretically you could have a dragonborn aasimar. they are outlined in this book. https://www.amazon.com/Volos-Guide-Monsters-Wizards-Team/dp/0786966017
If you want to go all out I'd recommend these books:
https://www.amazon.com/Dungeons-Dragons-Monster-Rulebook-Roleplaying/dp/0786965614/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1549840456&amp;sr=8-6&amp;keywords=dungeons+and+dragons
https://www.amazon.com/Xanathars-Guide-Everything-Wizards-Team/dp/0786966114/ref=sr_1_10?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1549840456&amp;sr=8-10&amp;keywords=dungeons+and+dragons
https://www.amazon.com/Volos-Guide-Monsters-Wizards-Team/dp/0786966017/ref=sr_1_14?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1549840456&amp;sr=8-14&amp;keywords=dungeons+and+dragons
Enough dice for you and whoever you're playing with:
https://www.amazon.com/Wiz-Dice-Pack-Random-Polyhedral/dp/B01KN7REWQ/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1549840537&amp;sr=8-4&amp;keywords=1+pound+of+dice
If you want minis:
https://www.amazon.com/Pathfinder-Roleplaying-Game-Codex-Pawns/dp/1601254725/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1549840982&amp;sr=8-4&amp;keywords=monster+codex+box
https://www.amazon.com/Paizo-Inc-Pathfinder-Pawns-Bestiary/dp/1601255616/ref=pd_sbs_14_1?_encoding=UTF8&amp;pd_rd_i=1601255616&amp;pd_rd_r=d89745e3-2d8a-11e9-bc59-4fcf3b72f982&amp;pd_rd_w=Ip8Jz&amp;pd_rd_wg=d87AF&amp;pf_rd_p=588939de-d3f8-42f1-a3d8-d556eae5797d&amp;pf_rd_r=CQ2TM4MZQSVKFXX2GYRS&amp;psc=1&amp;refRID=CQ2TM4MZQSVKFXX2GYRS
https://www.amazon.com/Pathfinder-Pawns-Villain-Codex-Box/dp/1601259255/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1549840982&amp;sr=8-3&amp;keywords=monster+codex+box
Do they change the price depending on the customer. I see £40.08 in the UK. (surfing from Denmark)
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Volos-Guide-Monsters-Wizards-Team/dp/0786966017/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1478324723&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=volo%27s+guide+to+monsters
This
I don't need Volo's Guide. I'm just really into D&D and want to have physical copies of all the main 5e books.
Got the Player's Handbook, Dungeon Master's Guide, Monster Manual, and Xanathar's, so far.
https://www.amazon.com/Volos-Guide-Monsters-Wizards-Team/dp/0786966017
new monsters and races for 5e
Canadian.
>ITEM DETAILS (From the WotC website)
>Price: $49.95 C$63.95
>Release Date: 15 November, 2016
>Format: Hardcover
>ISBN: 9780786966073
It's currently on sale for $34.59 on Amazon.ca
This is truly an amazing giveaway. Thank you for doing this.
Dungeons and Dragons stuff very difficult to get a hold of here. So I'd like to get the newest handbook coming out Volo's Guide to Monsters $29.97 .I would have requested a bundle of the things I don't have and want but I can't find one.
It's been done already. :(
http://www.amazon.com/Go-F-Sleep-Adam-Mansbach/dp/145584165X#
Read this. Quickly. http://www.amazon.com/Go-F-Sleep-Adam-Mansbach/dp/145584165X
For the doubtful/lazy: https://www.amazon.com/Go-F-Sleep-Adam-Mansbach/dp/145584165X
Highly recommend this book.
Just kidding.
I'd probably try The Berenstain Bears Show Some Respect
http://www.amazon.com/Berenstain-Bears-Respect-Living-Lights/dp/0310720869
Obviously not for the 17 yr old. A book isn't going to help that one.
I'm reminded of this.
Yep. What he said.
Perhaps a bedtime story?
Well, I'm not sure if this one qualifies.
So if it doesn't, I'll do this one
Either one, both are great and I plan to use for baby sitting gigs.
How about:
https://www.amazon.com/Go-F-Sleep-Adam-Mansbach/dp/145584165X
Go The F**k to Sleep
Bedime 3: Go the fuck to sleep
Unicorns are jerks.
I have a great and pressing need. This is because the stuff I'd list as actual needs, Amazon won't ship to me.
She's gonna smack you!
& as we all know (mostly from this particular coloring book) that unicorns are in fact very bad not nice no good animals that are harboring animosity over the fact that they were not chosen to board the Noah's arc and thus are extinct. But being the crafty (cough horny cough) unicorn that I am, I somehow snuck onto the arc and am the actual only living unicorn alive. I have committed my life to avenging my fallen brothers and sisters by holding fixed contests.
Because the truth of the matter is, I am a unicorn. & I can ride myself. Er...well you know. I am my own source of transportation.
Woo YEAH! This is the only coloring book on my WL. Life is about using the whole box of crayons
/u/lauran2323 would love this coloring book!
Colouring books are probably one of the best things I've discovered on amazon, last year for Christmas I got my mom this one and she thought it was awesome. It's also a bit of a fun/unexpected gift which is nice! Everyone should colour more.
Seriously, there's even a coloring book about the fact that Unicorns are Jerks
HAPPY BIRTHDAY HDATZ this book is pretty whimsical for sure.. So is unicorns are jerks but its much lower than the price range!
Congrats on the job. Boo on moving in with your sister!
You're awesome because monkeyslut! Those monkeys are sluts!
I am odd and enjoy coloring in coloring books to de-stress. There are some funny adult coloring books that may give you a few laughs and help you chill out. Just search "adult coloring book" in Amazon; you'll see what I mean-> [here's an example] (http://www.amazon.com/Coloring-Grown-Ups-Adult-Activity-Book/dp/0452298253/ref=pd_sim_b_1) . I enjoyed the book [Unicorns are Jerks] ( http://www.amazon.com/Unicorns-Are-Jerks-coloring-exposing/dp/1477468528/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1369842721&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=unicorns+are+jerks). Also, listening to music that is uplifting to you or puts you in your "happy place". Is always a good idea.
I hope things start looking up for you. Maybe with your new job you can start saving up to move in with friends or something :)
The coloring book Unicorns are Jerks would make my day. It just dropped to under $5 when before it costed double!! I really want to give it to my best friend. She loves horses/unicorns, that style of humor, and coloring. Basically I think that she needs it in her life.
The dog ate my homework!
I think everyone should have this because unicorns are jerks. :)
Maybe they can get this guy to write it, if they agree to throw zombies in.
Bookworms rule!
I would like to recommend Pride & Prejudice & Zombies. It's Pride & Prejudice... with zombies.
I have several books on my wishlist, including Big Little Lies which is less than $5.
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.
http://www.amazon.com/Pride-Prejudice-Zombies-Classic-Ultraviolent/dp/1594743347
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies Zombies fit surprisingly well into that story.
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies
http://www.amazon.com/Pride-Prejudice-Zombies-Classic-Ultraviolent/dp/1594743347
I also recently stumbled upon Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: The Classic Regency Romance - Now with Ultraviolent Zombie Mayhem! which was already submitted a few times[1][2].
Edit: Also found The War of the Worlds Plus Blood, Guts and Zombies. I haven't ready any of these books, if anyone has I would like to hear what they think about them.
Or Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Seth Grahame-Smith
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. Or at least, it will be when some Hollywood studio becomes awesome enough to pick it up.
At least this is better than Jane Austin with zombies. Pride and Prejudice and Zombies
Or you could try a classic with a twist...
http://www.amazon.com/Pride-Prejudice-Zombies-Classic-Ultraviolent/dp/1594743347
I'd rather see the film adaptation of this one.
I can't do iambic pentameter (I'm not even sure how to read it aloud properly), but I do love Shakespeare. I got this book for christmas and laughed my face off :)
That would be really cool! If it was possible for someone to rewrite Star Wars as a Shakespearean drama, then Eva surely could be given the same treatment.
On a similar note, I've always thought it would be awesome if someone rewrote Eva as an epic poem- maybe in alliterative verse like in Beowulf (which like Eva, describes a series of battles against progressively stronger monsters), but then have it occasionally turn into super modern experimental verse to describe the weird surreal stuff like the Komm Susser Tod sequence.
I feel like this contest was made for me, lol. Least favorite things - jar jar, anakin being whiney, the ridiculous plot holes, but most of all, no boba fett.
this star wars book is just over your price limit, but I think all of my star wars stuff is :(
Best. Contest. Ever.
Try the Shakespeare's Star Wars books. Alll the same tropes and language as well as lol the correct formatting. Only difference is its Star Wars. I did it with my 9th graders but it can work with older kids too. https://www.amazon.com/William-Shakespeares-Star-Wars-Doescher/dp/1594746370
Found the script leaked
https://www.amazon.com/William-Shakespeares-Star-Wars-Doescher/dp/1594746370/ref=mp_s_a_1_2?adgrpid=55626141323&amp;hvadid=274709668961&amp;hvdev=m&amp;hvlocphy=9022943&amp;hvnetw=g&amp;hvpos=1t1&amp;hvqmt=e&amp;hvrand=3248605918505942589&amp;hvtargid=kwd-301010410791&amp;keywords=star+wars+shakespeare&amp;qid=1550800214&amp;s=gateway&amp;sr=8-2&amp;tag=hydsma-20
I think that as a financier yeah even the gov't should exercise discretion on what it can and cannot fund. However I think it's pretty immature for that government to limit culture based on something so tame as nudity. However, that can be just as applicable to the performance. A nude performance just to act in the nude doesn't really sound like it adds anything other than to be a cheap gimmick. Nude Shakespeare had this problem cause that's all it did. But others that took Shakespeare and blended it with other media or "modernized" it actually had to exercise thought into why it held a purpose.
Not to say all nude performance is just that empty of substance outside of its nudity. But it really is up to the creator to justify it. Yes, nude is our natural, human state. Art and culture aren't natural, human states, though. They're intellectual expressions. So expecting a creator to validate the intelligence of the piece isn't a bad standard to hold, regardless of its subjectivity.
Thou shalt acquire said parchment on Amazon. Fare thee well, My Goodman. Amazon link to book
There's a whole series of books retelling the saga in Shakespearean style.
and now I'm thinking of William Shakespeare's Star Wars... :)
https://www.amazon.com/William-Shakespeares-Star-Wars-Doescher/dp/1594746370
Okay, I know you were just making a reference, but if you like Shakespeare and Star Wars check this shit out. It's the entirety of A New Hope painstakingly translated into iambic pentameter, oftentimes practically line-for-line, with a few beautiful soliloquies thrown in for good measure. It was done by someone who's obviously a huge fan of both Shakespeare and Star Wars, and if you are too you'll love it. I believe he's done Episodes IV, V, and VI, although I've only read IV. Can't recommend it enough.
I was interested in this until I did the "Look Inside" on Amazon.
At Scene 2 it has the rebel that Vader chokes out saying the part of the Imperial Officer who tells Vader that they can't find the plans in the main computer.
They couldn't even get to page 2 without messing it up! I can only imagine it has more errors like this.
I feel weird doing this..but why not :)
my name is Nick and I am a mild mannered banker by day, volunteer firefighter by night! And I believe there is a penguin on tip of the telly!
I fell in love with this William Shakespeare adaption of star wars that I stumbled upon and I would be very excited to have it in my possession :). thank you for the opportunity!
William Shakespeare's Star Wars
http://www.amazon.com/dp/1594746370/ref=cm_sw_r_an_am_ap_am_us?ie=UTF8
How about a book that exercises both High school English class with epic nerd fanfare
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1594746370?pc_redir=1396073356&amp;robot_redir=1
This book was awesome:
http://www.amazon.com/Baby-Owners-Manual-Instruction/dp/1931686238
Thought you might like this! Seems Legit!!!
Haha funny thing, my best friend bought me a baby owner's manual written in the same fashion as an appliance instruction manual. It was both humorous and helpful.
Baby Owners Manual for to-the-point advice.
Everywhere Babies is a classic the parents will love reading to their baby. It has great rhyming and as the toddler grows, he/she will enjoy looking at the many types of babies in various types of scenes. The book exudes parental love.
I'm sending my giftee a book too, actually. The Baby Owner's Manual
Postmortal everyone, you should read it ;)
The Post-mortal comes true.
Recent grad myself here, I just finished The Postmortal by Drew Magary, and it was both really exciting and thought-provoking. It is kind of a darkly comic dystopian thriller about what happens after we find the cure for aging. Lots in there for everyone, and so much fun to read (and talk about!). Here's Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/Postmortal-Novel-Drew-Magary/dp/0143119826
Cheers!
Have you read The Postmortal
http://www.amazon.com/Postmortal-Drew-Magary/dp/0143119826
Already done: The Postmortal
I always marveled at immortality, thinking it would be neat to have a lifetime to achieve everything I wanted. After reading The Postmortal by Drew Magary, I became skeptical of it entirely. There emerged a business to kill those who had taken the cure for aging, and it's entirely corrupt. Great book, offering great perspectives on not just an infinite life, but our finite one as well.
You should read the book The Postmortal. I finished it a few weeks ago and found it really good from start to finish.
What if you already have kids? Do you have to kill them before you can become immortal?
On a serious note, don't think for a second that any law or legal barrier will stop people from acquiring the "immortality serum." The black market will provide what the legal market withholds. There's a really good novel about all this called The Postmortal that explores all of this.
[I'd rather die] (http://www.amazon.com/The-Postmortal-Novel-Drew-Magary/dp/0143119826)
There is a book about pretty much exactly this. It's called The Postmortal. It's really interesting and a pretty short read
There's an amazing book called "The Postmortal" by Drew Magary that's about exactly this. Highly recommended.
https://www.amazon.com/Postmortal-Drew-Magary/dp/0143119826/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1T25PGE0G7D9O&amp;keywords=the+postmortal&amp;qid=1572102497&amp;s=books&amp;sprefix=the+postmortal%2Caps%2C166&amp;sr=1-1
The Postmortal: A Novel
Just started reading The Postmortal by Drew Magary and it is perfect for your needs. Best book I've read all year.
No. Very no. A few reasons:
First, the social problems caused by overpopulation discussed by others in this thread and books like The Postmortal.
Secondly, at best it would be really fucking boring after a while, but more likely it would turn into a nightmare. I suppose that if you knew you were going to be immortal, you could make some uber-safe investments and ride them until you were a bajillionaire, and then do whatever you want on this world for as long as it lasts; go back to school and get PhDs in everything and make all sorts of discoveries and inventions, and basically be a superhero. But after you've done all that, then you still have a literal eternity left to live. If you're smart you'll have devoted substantial energy to figuring out how you're going to get off of Earth and onto some other habitable planet before the Sun becomes a red giant. Maybe that's not even possible, in which case have fun enduring whatever surviving is like while the Sun incinerates the Earth. Even if it is possible to travel to another inhabitable world, you'll inevitably run into a similar problem wherever you go next, so in the best case you're probably going to spend untold trillions of years just traveling between different star systems. Which I'm sure is a spectacular experience at first, but anything will get boring after a thousand years, let alone ten billion. In any event, eventually your luck would run out and you'd end up on a planet with insufficient resources to allow you to get to another star system (again, that's probably the one we're on right now), in which case ultimately you'd just end up in a near-endless orbit around a brown dwarf star, waiting for the heat death of the universe to finally annihilate you. (Or not? What then?) Anyone who considers true immortality desirable doesn't understand what it would mean to be alive for literally eternity.
Finally, life just wears you down after a while. Have you ever talked to someone in their late 90s? They're almost universally ready to go. Not just because they're always in physical pain either: they have seen and done enough. Life contains a lot of joy but also a lot of pain, and it all gets to be really tiring after very long.
So no, I just wouldn't want to live forever under any circumstances. If there were some magical way to extend my life an extra 20 or 30, I guess maybe all the way up to 100 years or so, I might cautiously consider doing it, just because I'm curious to see what will happen in the future. But ultimately, I'm glad my life will someday come to an end.
I'm only halfway through, but [The Postmortal] (http://amzn.com/0143119826) by Drew Magary sounds like it is exactly what you are looking for.
Favorite song: I'm a cloud by Boy hits car
Favorite book: A walk in the woods by bill bryson
Favorite movie: Braveheart
Favorite game: Phase10
Just popped in to say, I'm sure you've read A Walk in the Woods, right? If not, READ IT!! It's an awesome and humorous account of hiking the Appalachian Trail.
You will notice the absence of A short history of nearly everything, which is a good book, but frankly it didn't speak very much to me. Bryson is almost only interested in geography.
mountains and hiking are fantastic for putting things in perspective. Im in the middle of listening to a walk in the woods and id be happy to send it to you once im done with it. give you some interesting factoids and tidbits to ponder while you're hiking.
I second the Horwitz nomination and add Richard Grant, author of "God's Middle Finger" and "Crazy River."
Both of those demonstrate a spirit for and enjoyment of adventure that was the core energy in Bryson's "In A Sunburned Country" and "A Walk in the Woods".
We were all 18 once...
Specifically, the problem with "go out to eat or go to a convenience store" is that both of those are going to basically nullify the benefit you have to backwoodsing it. Nearly anywhere in the US you can get a room to rent for something like $250/mo if you're willing to drive a bit. This doesn't apply to big places like New York or San Francisco... but if you're able to camp there, you can probably find a place to live for cheap. But if you're buying prepared food, I don't see that being less than $20 a day.
But look at dry goods like rice and beans. You can actually eat a 1:1 ratio of rice and beans and get a complete protein for a few dollars a day. A fridge (see above about renting a room) is going to be able to stretch your food dollars much further than if you have no refrigeration.
Regardless, you should use this summer as an opportunity to test-run some of this. Go find some dispersed camping sites, try camping for a week.
Also, I want to highly recommend you read Into the Wild: https://www.amazon.com/Into-Wild-Jon-Krakauer/dp/0385486804 -- maybe A Walk In the Woods, too: https://www.amazon.com/Walk-Woods-Rediscovering-America-Appalachian/dp/0307279464/ref=sr_1_3?crid=2165P9GZRK25U&keywords=a+walk+in+the+woods+bill+bryson&qid=1562608312
I was so happy to see this on Reddit today! Until I read Bill Bryson's A Walk In the Woods about his experience with the Appalachian Trail (a really enjoyable read, and funny), I had no idea that our forests in this area of the country once looked much, much different.
My favorite book in a long time which I'm currently reading is A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson. It doesn't have much to do with anything but it keeps me entertained. Definitely check it out.
Second favorite is A Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams. Both are rather obscure of meaning but have a fun precedence (this possibly more comical than the other)
If you are looking for a semi-serious book I recommend The Professor and the Madman by Simon Winchester. It does have to do with an ex-military doctor but it is hardly the focus of the book. It follows the creation of the Oxford American Dictionary, but it isn't quite what you'd expect. I don't believe I could give you in depth analysis for any of these nor if you'd like them. They are my favorite books (minus Calvin and Hobbs) and are worth a read.
This isn't exactly what you're looking for, but if you end up finding something for $92 or less, throw in a copy of A Walk in the Woods.
I recommend reading this before you go. One of the funniest books I've ever read.
I see you're interested in through-hiking the trail. Have you read Bryson's book "A Walk in the Woods"? I nearly peed myself reading it. http://www.amazon.com/Walk-Woods-Rediscovering-America-Appalachian/dp/0307279464
Bill Bryson? lol If you havent read the book I'm sorry
http://www.amazon.com/Walk-Woods-Rediscovering-America-Appalachian/dp/0307279464
I see you're in about half of my subreddits too. Have you read "Ready Player One" by Ernest Cline? It's probably the best Scifi book I've read in 10 years. http://www.amazon.com/Ready-Player-One-Ernest-Cline/dp/030788743X
There should be 4 posts up there, but thanks for the advice. I'm in the middle of Ready Player One, and I'm feeling inspired to get back into writing... not sure why this didn't take off, but I had an outline with quite a few ideas to continue with.
All of you need to put down the controllers for a few hours and read this book: Ready Player One by Ernest Cline.
Umm. you do realize this is exactly how the book Ready Player One started right? if any of you havnt read it already. do yourself a favour. :). Pretty much, the majority if the planet is educated like this in the book.
Ready Player One - Ernest Cline
Nope, http://www.amazon.com/Ready-Player-One-Ernest-Cline/dp/030788743X
Hey Wil, how does it feel being an elected official in 2044?
here is where you can buy it
I think the internet will be far more ubiquitous. In the not too distant future the idea of having to sit down in front of a box with a mouse and keyboard to interact with the web will be considered quaint. This is already happening with the rise of smart phones and tablets, but those devices basically perform the same function but remove the unnecessary hardware.
The web will be more seamlessly woven into your everyday life. It will be embedded in the technology you interact with. Think Augmented Reality and Heads Up Displays, but on an accesible consumer level. It will be more experiential, possibly moving more towards a virtual reality. The VR that the book Ready Player One seems quite plausible.
Ready Player One.
Have you read Ready Player One?
http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/030788743X/ref=tmm_hrd_new_olp_sr?ie=UTF8&amp;condition=new&amp;sr=1-1&amp;qid=1395271273
Prime eligable products cost the same as the same product from another supplier plus shipping. Amazon basically builds in the shipping cost and claims that you're getting free shipping.
$10.89 with free 2 day prime delivery -
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0316066524/
Well then... I have more to list!
In no particular order:
I would love something vampire related, maybe with a couple. I would like it to be somewhat dark, but with the love still there. Like maybe an evil aura or something? I'm sure whatever you come up with would be cool. A painting or a drawing is fine with me, and you can use whatever style you like. Thank you for the contest.
Gravity's Rainbow
and
Infinite Jest
Searching for David's Heart. I read it so long ago I barely remember why.
[Infinite Jest](http://www.amazon.com/Infinite-Jest-David-Foster-Wallace/dp/0316066524/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp; qid=1334368715&sr=1-1) when the wraith talks to Don Gately about why he made "the entertainment". It was just heartbreaking knowing that everything was so fucked up just because a man wanted to connect to his son.
I'm dying to tackle the beast that is Infinite Jest, which is on my high priority list. The reason I say it's a beast is because it has just over 1100 pages. I've heard lots of mixed reviews about it and would love to read it myself. Thanks for the book contest! :)
I've been wanting to read Infinite Jest forever, but hear it's impossible to read in the Kindle, so I've been holding out to buy a real copy.
The Somnambulist
Infinite Jest
Seriously this may be a great coming-of-age title for you: Infinite Jest.
Also since you got your first job check out The Wall Street Journal's Guide to Starting Your Financial Life. If you haven't yet appreciated math, I would suggest you do so as you're going to need it for any decent job these days. Detach yourself from Fallacious Thought.
I read a lot as a kid, but I think I read more as an adult--typically about two to three hours a day if I'm not working, and a half-hour to an hour on days I'm working. Currently reading Christopher Hitchens' Arguably. My favorite three books for the moment are The Baroque Cycle by Neal Stephenson (technically a three-volume set of 8 books, but the serialization was done by the publisher and wasn't the author's intention--without a doubt it is greatest story I've ever encountered), Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace, and Super Sad True Love Story by Gary Shteyngart.
This the one you have
This hardcover was released 1 February 2006.
which is the hardcover of this version
This softcover was released 13 November 2006.
How about Year Zero?
Year Zero. If you like absurd comedic writing the likes of Douglas Adams, this is for you.
You guys & gals should check out this book The premise is pretty funny. So is the book itself.
Annnnd here we go again. I'm doing this with all books, just because.
Allegiant
Berenstain Bears
Calvin and Hobbes
Dune
Edgar Allen Poe collection
Fahrenheit 451
Gulliver's Travels
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
If You Give A Mouse A Cookie
Julie of the Wolves
Kite Runner
Little House on the Prairie
Machine of Death
Neverending Story
Omnitopia Dawn (The book I'm reading now, actually!)
Pilgrim's Progress
Quarter Share (Also available free as a podiobook!)
Room
Snow Crash
[Tell-Tale Brain](http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_0_9?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&amp;field-keywords=tell-tale brain&sprefix=tell-tale%2Cstripbooks%2C222&rh=i%3Astripbooks%2Ck%3Atell-tale brain&ajr=2)
Uglies
Voyage of the Dawn Treader
Watership Down
Xenocide
Year Zero
Zen and the Art of Knitting
They dig all our music. Source is the book Year Zero.
exhibit A
Here it is...
http://www.amazon.com/Year-Zero-Novel-Rob-Reid/dp/0345534514
Could it be Year Zero, by Rob Reid?
>Low-level entertainment lawyer Nick Carter thinks it’s a prank, not an alien encounter, when a redheaded mullah and a curvaceous nun show up at his office. But Frampton and Carly are highly advanced (if bumbling) extraterrestrials. The entire cosmos, they tell him, has been hopelessly hooked on American pop songs ever since “Year Zero” (1977 to us), resulting in the biggest copyright violation since the Big Bang and bankrupting the whole universe.
Well there's this textbook but it's absurdly priced.
Bill Bryson has a book on the language. I haven't read it but Bryson is an excellent (very humorous) author.
Besides that, here is a free online summary. My claim about French is reiterated here.
>More than a third of all English words are derived directly or indirectly from French, and it's estimated that English speakers who have never studied French already know 15,000 French words.
You should read Mother Tongue by Bill Bryson.
Well, to linguists (and others), it does matter - to them! To the rest of us, what matters is that we all agree to use the same order - it keeps things, well, orderly. Because we've all implicitly agreed to use this order, it would gain nothing by trying to break it and use something else - if any order is just as good as any other, the current order is perfectly fine, and more importantly, compatible with current usage.
As to "why it matters that there is an order" I think can be answered not about language, but about human perception: we want to find order in chaos, and see patterns in everything, even when there is none - which is why gamblers have a huge problem, we see things like the face on mars, read tea leaves, etc. So we feel that there should be a reason why the letters are ABC, when there really isn't one outside of historical usage that changed over time.
For a good book related to the subject of English in general, pick up a copy of The Mother Tongue - English And How It Got That Way by Bill Bryson. Well written, very accessible to non-linguists.
http://www.amazon.com/Mother-Tongue-Bill-Bryson/dp/0380715430
Bill Bryson to the rescue!
And I suggest this book: Bill Bryson's The Mother Tongue
While you're waiting for the timer, you might try reading books on liguistics.
I'm being snarky, but I'm also being serious. You clearly are interested in linguistics, but you don't seem to know that much about how and why words form and evolve their meaning. A great book that I love because it's not a technical book for professional linguists, but for people like us who have a general interest in language and its history, is The Mother Tongue: - English And How It Got That Way, by Bill Bryson. Where a grammar teacher might say "'it's history' is wrong, the correct way to say it is 'its history'", a linguist might say, "'its' is considered correct, but someday that could change". That's a super general example, but from the reading I've done, I've noticed that linguists not only accept, but often prefer, when language breaks the rules, rather than abides by it.
I'm really not trying to rage against anything or break anything down. You just remind me of the French Academy, that stalwart defender of the French language which bans any "Anglicized" words from signs, and insists on people using the unwieldy "'courrier électronique" instead of "email." They're guided by the same principle you are: that there's some sort of "pure" form of the language.
I suggest reading Bill Bryson's excellent book The Mother Tongue: English and How it Got That Way". In it, Bryson explains that most of the sacred English "rules"- for example, not ending sentences with a preposition- were simply made up and decided upon by stodgy old men. These men weren't translating rules from the heavens- they were just being persnickety and officious.
Language adapts. It incorporates new ideas, it gets rid of old ones, it naturally discards of things which are no longer useful to its speakers.
Insisting on a "proper" way to speak is lingual facism, if you'll excuse my hyperbole.
This is simply one of the funniest books I have ever read. And it answers this question, and many others.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Mother-Tongue-English-That/dp/0380715430
I highly recommend "Mother Tongue" by Bill Bryson. Hilarious and great history and understanding of the English language;
https://www.amazon.ca/Mother-Tongue-English-How-that/dp/0380715430
lets see...
I've been interested in the development of the english language, and I like Bryson's writing style. I met someone from Korea, and as per my usual habit, when I meet someone out of country I try to learn some of their native history, thus the history book. I like urban fantasy, so Sandman slim looked interesting. I'm a CompE major, so code and The design of everyday things is relevant to me. The others are just things that have been recommended to me.
I think I might get get through half of them at most, especially since I also have a Steam library calling me like the whore it is. This is the first year I have access to a large university library during break, so I'm going to take advantage of it.l
Language plays a vital role in the forming and destruction of empires.
From this book:
Plane crash = "involuntary conversion"
Patient died = "negative patient-care outcome"
And not sure if this count as an euphemism but
toothpicks = "interdental stimulators"
As the book says, 'Why call a spade a spade if you can call it a manual earth-restructuring implement?'
Relevant
http://www.amazon.com/Mother-Tongue-English-How-That/dp/0380715430/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1347032489&amp;sr=1-1&amp;keywords=mother+tounge
Donald Trump is a Big Fat Idiot ^^and ^^other ^^observations.
Rush Limbaugh is a Big Fat Idiot - Al Franken
i was out of town for the weekend so didn't get a chance to follow on your ill-informed reply.
>"the Left can't or refuses to get humor (Sen. Franken)."
oh that's funny. it's the conservo-facists who don't get humor. fox news tried to create a jon stewart-like news parody show, "The 1/2 Hour News Hour". it was cancelled shortly after it started & bombed.
al franken "refuses to get humor". you're killing me. everyone in the Reich wing wishes they had an ounce of al franken's humor. you've forgotten about al franken & michael jordan on saturday night live or franken's all too appropriately book titled "Rush Limbaugh Is a Big Fat Idiot"
all the Right knows is how to use hatred, fear & division to piss off it's audience and to divide the country. they've been doing it for decades.
here's your Fox news citations. here's eric bolling on fox news saying that obama was specifically "chugging 40s" when he was visiting the guinness brewery in ireland. and bolling also commented that obama was hosting "gangstas" and "hoods" in the hizzy.
there is no reason for a so-called "news organization" to being using phrases like "chugging 40s" or "hoods in the hizzy". the only purpose of their usage is to incite or reinforce racist stereotypes & racist feelings within the bigoted fox news audience.
>"The things you mention are words. I'd like to think that we are grown up enough to not fear them."
it's not words that hurt it's the context or the implied meaning of the words that is what we need to worry about as george carlin so famously said. and carlin would be the 1st to verify that fox news & limbaugh's usage of racially charged language has one very specific purpose - to incite the bigotry & racial hatred that is very prevalent within their conservo-facist audience.
>"Limbaugh's every observation is flawed."
limbaugh's observations aren't flawed. they are very specifically engineered to help promote the agenda of a very specific group - corporations & the ultra-rich who are paying limpdick millions of $$ to spread their propaganda. and rush does it very well. that's why he's paid so handsomely.
Ask Al Franken.
Keeping with the theme... Rush Limbaugh Is a Big Fat Idiot: And Other Observations by Al Franken "What I thought you liked books with Rush in the title?"
Last I heard, Rush was a Big Fat Idiot.
https://www.amazon.com/Rush-Limbaugh-Big-Fat-Idiot/dp/0440508649
This link says it all...
https://www.amazon.com/Rush-Limbaugh-Big-Fat-Idiot/dp/0440508649
http://www.amazon.com/Rush-Limbaugh-Big-Fat-Idiot/dp/0440508649/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1376429126&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=big+fat+idiot
http://www.amazon.com/The-Illuminatus-Trilogy-Pyramid-Leviathan/dp/0440539811
seriously.. READ THIS.
I think there is some validity to this even though he is mostly known for his fiction. Something like Sex and Drugs may be of interest. The Illuminatus! Trillogy might appeal to those interested in 70's culture as I think several concepts in there could be considered commentary on it. I'm not sure, though, that one would get much practical occult value out of it unless one were a Discordian.
My wife is the perfect book detective. I was once browsing a book store and was interested in a book. We left without me buying it. She only remembered two things: The book was blue, and the title was "somehow Latin". And she found it.
Illuminatus Trilogy.
Rarely has so much happened in the first 25 pages of any book, and it is a work of beauty.
Let me enlighten you.
No, you need to go deeper. Once you've questioned enough, USE OCCAMS RAZOR and find the history of these information movements you'll start to see through the fnords. All of this has already happened several times. https://www.amazon.com/Illuminatus-Trilogy-Pyramid-Golden-Leviathan/dp/0440539811
I hear The Illuminatus! Trilogy does that.
Illuminatus!
F N O R D
Very nice,'' I said.But why did you bring me up here?''It's time for you to see the fnords,'' he replied.<br /> <br /> Then I woke up in bed and it was the next morning. I made breakfast in a pretty nasty mood, wondering if I'd seen the fnords, whatever the hell they were, in the hours he had blacked out, or if I would see them as soon as I went out into the street. I had some pretty gruesome ideas about them, I must admit. Creatures with three eyes and tentacles, survivors from Atlantis, who walked among us, invisible due to some form of mind shield, and did hideous work for the Illuminati. It was unnerving to contemplate, and I finally gave in to my fears and peeked out the window, thinking it might be better to see them from a distance first. Nothing. Just ordinary sleepy people, heading for their busses and subways. That calmed me a little, so I set out the toast and coffee and fetched the New York Times from the hallway. I turned the radio to WBAI and caught some good Vivaldi, sat down, grabbed a piece of toast and started skimming the first page.<br /> <br /> Then I saw the fnords.<br /> <br /> The feature story involved another of the endless squabbles between Russia and the U.S. in the UN General Assembly, and after each direct quote from the Russian delegate I read a quite distinctFnord!'' The second lead was about a debate in congress on getting the troops out of costa Rica; every argument presented by Senator Bacon was followed by anotherFnord!'' At the bottom of the page was a Times depth-type study of the growing pollution problem and the increasing use of gas masks among New Yorkers; the most distressing chemical facts were interpolated with moreFnords.''Suddenly I saw Hagbard's eyes burning into me and heard his voice:
Your heart will remain calm. Your adrenalin gland will remain calm. Calm, all-over calm. You will not panic. you will look at the fnord and see the it. You will not evade it or black it out. you will stay calm and face it.'' And further back, way back: my first-grade teacher writing FNORD on the blackboard, while a wheel with a spiral design turned and turned on his desk, turned and turned, and his voice droned on, IF YOU DON'T SEE THE FNORD IT CAN'T EAT YOU, DON'T SEE THE FNORD, DON'T SEE THE FNORD . . .<br /> <br /> I looked back at the paper and still saw the fnords. This was one step beyond Pavlov, I realized. The first conditioned reflex was to experience the panic reaction (the activation syndrome, it's technically called) whenever encountering the wordfnord.'' The second conditioned reflex was to black out what happened, including the word itself, and just to feel a general low-grade emergency without knowing why. And the third step, of course, was to attribute this anxiety to the news stories, which were bad enough in themselves anyway. Of course, the essence of control is fear. The fnords produced a whole population walking around in chronic low-grade emergency, tormented by ulcers, dizzy spells, nightmares, heart palpitations and all the other symptoms of too much adrenalin. All my left-wing arrogance and contempt for my countrymen melted, and I felt a genuine pity. No wonder the poor bastards believe anything they're told, walk through pollution and overcrowding without complaining, watch their son hauled off to endless wars and butchered, never protest, never fight back, never show much happiness or eroticism or curiosity or normal human emotion, live with perpetual tunnel vision, walk past a slum without seeing either the human misery it contains or the potential threat it poses to their security . . .Then I got a hunch, and turned quickly to the advertisements. it was as I expected: no fnords. That was part of the gimmick, too: only in consumption, endless consumption, could they escape the amorphous threat of the invisible fnords. I kept thinking about it on my way to the office. If I pointed out a fnord to somebody who hadn't been deconditioned, as Hagbard deconditioned me, what would he or she say? They'd probably read the word before or after it. ``No this word,'' I'd say. And they would again read an adjacent word. But would their panic level rise as the threat came closer to consciousness? I preferred not to try the experiment; it might have ended with a psychotic fugue in the subject. The conditioning, after all, went back to grade school. No wonder we all hate those teachers so much: we have a dim, masked memory of what they've done to us in converting us into good and faithful servants for the Illuminati.
Thanks! Is this what you meant with Illuminatus? I haven't heard of it before: http://www.amazon.com/The-Illuminatus-Trilogy-Pyramid-Leviathan/dp/0440539811
Ok, here's the thing... he has fiction and essays. Both are equally mind blowing but in different ways. The essays are easier to read, I think.
Fiction series:
Illuminatus Trilogy
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0440539811/therobertantonwi
Schrodinger's Cat Trilogy
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0440500702/therobertantonwi
Historical Illuminatus Trilogy (I think these are the easiest to read of the novels):
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1561841625/therobertantonwi
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1561841633/therobertantonwi
http://www.amazon.com/Natures-God-Historical-Illuminatus-Chronicles/dp/1561841641/ref=sr_1_15?ie=UTF8&amp;s=books&amp;qid=1236806921&amp;sr=1-15
Essays:
Everything else. I'd start with the book that I linked to here "Illuminati Papers" then "Right Where You Are Sitting Now" and Cosmic Trigger 1, 2 and 3.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1579510027/therobertantonwi
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0914171453/therobertantonwi
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1561840033/therobertantonwi
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1561840114/therobertantonwi
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1561841129/therobertantonwi
Cosmic Trigger 3 is subtitled "My Life After Death", it was written after it was rumored that he died...
Unfortunately he did pass away in 2007.
How about something from the 70's?
Illuminatus
dreamslaughter: ^^original ^^reddit ^^link
Don't give up on it.
The Illuminatus! Trilogy: The Eye in the Pyramid, The Golden Apple, Leviathan
Not horror, but this one is brilliant:
The Illuminatus! Trilogy: The Eye in the Pyramid, The Golden Apple, Leviathan.
Also very good: Cryptonomicon.
I enjoyed this at your age.
The Illuminatus! Trilogy: The Eye in the Pyramid, The Golden Apple, Leviathan
>Filled with sex and violence--in and out of time and space--the three books of The Illuminatus are only partly works of the imagination. They tackle all the coverups of our time--from who really shot the Kennedys to why there's a pyramid on a one-dollar bill.
Fnord.
You must own the illuminatus! trilogy.
edit: This book may be described as science fiction inspired, but it is one of the best books (omnibus edition) I have ever read. A used copy is definitely worth checking out.
As far as I can tell, this is the source.
To thing they drumded Al because of a photo from 20 years ago and everthing thing trump has done is worse and more recent.
Lies, Lying, Liars Balanced Right.
https://www.amazon.com/Lies-Lying-Liars-Balanced-Right/dp/0452285216
Lies: And the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right
With the exception of the brief Senate career of the author and the truth catching up to O'Reilly (anecdotes in the book) what's changed? Even the "gospel of supply side Jesus" comes from somewhere.
It's a classical conservative technique that was pretty well documented in Al Franken's book, Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them. Take something out of context, concoct an inflammatory story, repeat it, and embellish it until it becomes "general knowledge."
Here is a link for it...
http://www.amazon.com/Lies-Lying-Liars-Tell-Them/dp/0452285216/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;s=books&amp;qid=1261467437&amp;sr=8-1
So I see that you've already shot down ASOIAF-- however, based on your description it sounds exactly like what you're looking for. Haha.
On the slightly more campy/satirical side of things, The Magicians and The Magician King by Lev Grossman are two of my all-time favorite fantasy books. Grossman is an author and writer for Time Magazine, and his knowledge of pop culture really shines through. The books are an adult-level satire of The Chronicles of Narnia and Harry Potter.
The books deal with teenage and young-adult wizards at a wizarding college who discover a secret world (like Narnia) and discover the cost of their powers. Sounds campy, and it soooooort of is, but it's also really dark. I'm pretty sure the first book is one of the darkest books I've read. They deal with sex, drug abuse, depression, violence, power, lethargy, and meaning in a meaningless world. I highly recommend them, and the best part is there's a third book coming in August!
The Magicians: http://www.amazon.com/Magicians-Novel-Lev-Grossman/dp/0452296293/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1404262765&amp;sr=1-1&amp;keywords=the+magicians
The Magician King: http://www.amazon.com/Magician-King-Novel-Magicians/dp/0452298016/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1404262750&amp;sr=1-1&amp;keywords=the+magician+king
The Magician's Land: http://www.amazon.com/The-Magicians-Land-Novel-Trilogy/dp/0670015679
I feel a little like I'm cheating since it's only 10:34pm here in Hawaii right now! Haha! But I'm awake darnit, and contests are fun. :D
Oh goodness, I could never pick a favorite song I don't think, but I've been listening to The Blanks' cover of Hey Ya! constantly lately. It's just wonderful.
As for an item?? Hm...Would it be taboo to ask for a gift card toward my Wii U? If you'd rather not do a gift card I'd be thrilled to have a new book to read!
The Book of Lost Things maybe?
I'm in the middle of The Magicians. It seems pretty good.
Haven't read them yet but just caught up with The Magicians TV series and am on the waiting list to read the trilogy of books the show is based on. Might be a bit more campy than you're looking for (think Harry Potter for adults) but I've found it entertaining and there's definitely strong elements of time travel / time looping.
Fantasy:
The Magicians Trilogy by Lev Grossman
If mediums count, try There Is No Lovely End by Patty Templeton
Non-fiction:
The Life and Times of Augustus Rapp
A Discovery of Witches is the first in the All Souls trilogy, which is written by a historian named Deborah Harkness. She integrates a lot of history and alchemy into it, which is cool. I don't think it's anywhere near as well-written as Lord of the Rings, but it is interesting. However, it is a love story, so if you're not into romance, then steer clear.
I liked The Magicians a lot better; the series is kind of like Harry Potter but more serious and literary. It's not that fantastical, and kind of plays off Harry Potter/fantasy stereotypes, but it's a cool series nonetheless.
The Magicians is a little heavier than some of the other suggestions but is also a good mind expanding read.
It starts off as a fairly typical Harry Potter type story (loser kid finds out he has special powers, must learn to control them, etc...) but with a very deep story.
The Magicians.
Thought it sounded cool, wizards and stuff.
Let's just say it involved turning into ferrets and raping each other in a remote base in the middle of a frozen tundra. Fascinating....
What about A Short History of Nearly Everything? Or Seal Team Six? Or The Magicians? What about American Gods, Hyperspace and The Grand Design
What I'm saying is 18 is too few. Get cracking.
The Magicians by Lev Grossman is fantastic. I highly recommend it.
Anyone interested in joining a bookclub for the Lev Grossman novel 'The Magicians' can meet at the address provided.
The Magicians: A Novel by Lev Grossman
The way I described it to my wife was this: imagine Harry Potter, but magic is a tedious, miserable thing to practice and perform. Also, if Harry had depression and was on the Autism Spectrum. It went pretty fast and was the sort of book that afterward I wasn't sure if I liked it or not, but was glad to have read it.
Onward to summer book adventures !
If anyone likes "urban fantasy" I recommend The Magicians. It's like an extremely grown up Harry Potter. Scyfy is making a miniseries starting in late Jan, I am terrified they are going to do a terrible job. http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0452296293/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?qid=1452606908&amp;sr=8-1&amp;pi=SY200_QL40&amp;keywords=the+magicians&amp;dpPl=1&amp;dpID=51Omgf4bBkL&amp;ref=plSrch
https://amzn.com/0452296293
has anyone gotten a chance to read milos new book dangerous yet?
currently out of stock must be selling like scones
https://www.amazon.com/Dangerous-Milo-Yiannopoulos/dp/069289344X
> https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/069289344X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1500093157&amp;sr=1-1
I saw the number 20,000 somewhere. His publisher was expecting 100k or something though.
Yes you can buy it at amazon https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/069289344X/
I enjoyed this one. The same author did one for his PCT thru-hike, but I think it wasn't as good.
I'll also second dec92010's recommendation for A Walk in the Woods.
Read The Mother Tongue, by Bill Bryson if this subject interests you. It's a layman's book going through some of the quirks of the English language.
From my own limited experience on the subject of linguistics and languages English is one of the most flexible languages for adopting and adapting vocabulary. We've got any number of loan words that originate in French/Spanish/Italian (the "Romance" group and the Latin they all stem from) as well as German (grammar and vocab) and even Japanese.
Get another shot ready.No, I really should try to follow my username.
I'm a language descriptivist, not a language prescriptivist. Essentially, the distinction is that for descriptivists, the definition of words is how they are used, whereas for prescriptivists, the definition of a word is prescribed, usually by a particular authority, such as a dictionary.
In the descriptivist paradigm, it is impossible to use a word incorrectly (but it can be used contrary to what is usual or expected), new words come into and out of existence all the time, and a person can define a word for their own contextual use as they please.
In the prescriptivist paradigm, a word is incorrect if its use doesn't match the prescribing authority, new words must be specifically added by the authority, and a person is supposed to find the exact word or composition of words they need from the provided supply.
I find some problems with prescriptivism. First off, it means that some people who own the language others use. Second, there are many prescribing authorities, and they don't all agree. Third, if you want a word to describe a new concept, you're screwed.
I like descriptivism. First off, it's a better, more accurate model for how people actually use language; people make up new words all the time; languages evolve, borrowing and adapting where they see fit. Second, allowing people to define words within a context allows for more expressiveness, compactness, and power in the language we use.
An example of a prescriptive language in French[1]. An prescriptive authority would be one like Webster's dictionary[2].
A descriptive language would be one like English. A descriptive authority would be one like the Oxford English Dictionary.
[1] French has the infamous Académie française, which determines exactly what the language consists of. The academy has been involved in suppression of native languages such as Breton and Basque as recently as 2008, and of native languages in the french colonies when France had colonies. Prescriptivists can commit crimes against humanity.
[2] Noah Webster was a very important person in the history of english, for many of the wrong reasons. He was staunchly involved in trying to reform english, and was more or less singlehandedly responsible for a number of changes in our speak. The dictionary itself has strayed towards descriptivism since its book on english usage in 1993.
The topic is actually a really big one, and well discussed. An excellent book on the history of english that touches on the subject is The Mother Tongue, by Bill Bryson.
> You just gotta get over this issue you have with admitting when you're wrong.
Still confused, I see.
> f/7.1 is not a shallow DoF by any stretch.
This statement is correct for the OP's photograph, and you know it. It doesn't take intelligence to lift a statement out of context and then discredit your own misrepresentation of it. This is a uniquely conservative approach to debate. There's a whole book written about it, which is very good. I recommend it to anyone. I only mention the political aspect because it's interesting what something as simple as debate style can reveal about someone.
Just an FYI to everyone, and I hope this doesn't get buried to far:
Al Franken has authored a few political-centered books. My favorite being: Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them.
I strongly suggest picking up at least that one, and maybe The Truth
Nahhh
Bro I bought the pre-sale of Milo's book because freeze peach. Her folx would castrate me for "normalizing hate speech".
It's Breitbart, but still what? Here, let me Google "milo yianopoulos book" for you and click the 2nd result which is Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Dangerous-Milo-Yiannopoulos/dp/069289344X
Just in case Amazon takes off the #1 Best Seller in Books tag anytime soon I have a screen cap too
> Jeff Bezos
I had no idea who this guy was until I googled it, funny since Amazon only sells books here.
I just scammed this guy to get my free Audible audiobooks, just like the true anarchist I am :)
Halfway into listening to [Dangerous] (https://www.amazon.com/Dangerous-Milo-Yiannopoulos/dp/069289344X) ;)
I think she wrote:
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies
and
Pride and Prejudice and Niggas
You mean Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.
And here I am thinking my Shakespeare's Star Wars is cool.
You're a buttwad and deserve to feel bad. Also, I like horses, unicorns are jerks..
I think OP's answer is kinda refering to Year Zero? Anyone?
http://www.amazon.com/Rush-Limbaugh-Big-Fat-Idiot/dp/0440508649
for those interested in why!
I'll use a book written by a liberal sitting Senator to support my premise that liberals resort to childish name calling far more than conservatives
http://www.amazon.com/Rush-Limbaugh-Big-Fat-Idiot/dp/0440508649
Have some reading: http://www.amazon.com/Walk-Woods-Rediscovering-America-Appalachian/dp/0307279464/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1462998508&amp;sr=1-1&amp;keywords=a+walk+in+the+woods
As requested.
i checked and they are full of conservative people praising the book & there are no top reviews from liberals criticizing it.
[The Cost of Our Silence: Consequences of Christians Taking the Path of Least Resistance ] (https://www.amazon.com/dp/1622452712) 4.8 stars
ERADICATE: Blotting Out God in America: Understanding, Combatting, and Overcoming the Anti-Christian Agenda 4.3 stars
Big Agenda: President Trump’s Plan to Save America 4.7 stars
The Big Lie: Exposing the Nazi Roots of the American Left 4.6 stars
Rediscovering Americanism: And the Tyranny of Progressivism 4.7 stars
Understanding Trump - Newt Gingrich 4.8 stars
Dangerous - Milo Yiannopoulos 4.9 stars
most liberals have more work to do than write negative reviews for tripe that can be found on any facebook comment section. see, that is the difference ; most conservatives detest and loathe liberals while most liberals want to convince conservative to let progress happen.
but sitting and stewing in your echo chamber has made you believe that liberals are evil baddies
This is seriously disturbing....
Reminds me a bit of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies...
(http://www.amazon.com/Pride-Prejudice-Zombies-Classic-Ultraviolent/dp/1594743347/)
Check out Bill Bryson's The Mother Tongue. It's a fantastic read that explains where the English language came from and why it's so messed up.
I generally don't like it when people are grammar Nazis, but maybe English isn't your first language so... You are using "there", which means a location. What you mean to say is "their", which implies ownership. It's one of the dumbest, most confusing things in English... but then again, it's a language full of dumb and confusing things.
Although, Bill Bryson makes a good case for English's seemingly random nature as being the reason it so influential.
http://www.amazon.com/Pride-Prejudice-Zombies-Classic-Ultraviolent/dp/1594743347/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1449530289&amp;sr=8-5&amp;keywords=zombie+classics
it's in line with a modern strain of fiction the nativity is ... would it help if it was pointed out that there are others who revisit classic literature and make commentary on it ... in light of modern writing aesthetic it's on point ... there are classic stories retold with zombies ... there are also a lot of people that think jesus died last week when he didn't die at all ... it's fiction ... i mean i am more creeped out by normal ones ... if you are so down with jesus that you want to celebrate his birth the quote unquote normal way i am more frightened and put off by typical nativity sets than a creative zombie remake ... in other words for me personally the people with the zombies would probably be cooler people than a traditional nativity set owner ... i think it's cool becasue i think the people that put it up are probably cool ... traditional nativity sets are owned by people that have historically shunned me for thinking they are well stupid for celebrating a book club 52 times a year and not talking after the services and building community ... which position in society do i need to start passing out fines for what people use to celebrate the holidays in their front yard? like the zombie nativity would probably agree that church services would be better off being all day saturday and put a church to use the right way and then spill over into saturday night into sunday morning every week the normal nativity scene owner would probably want church services as tight and lean as possible to get the fuck away from the people in their church ... the cool church meets at saturday at 5pm and lasts until right before work on Monday but no one 's up for it every week
PRO TIP : I'm banned from sitwell's and the northside tavern because of an affair with a bartender but i'm pretty sure if you drop something like this line on a chick at the northside tavern she'd be wit it