Our Dumb Century

Buy this book, it is amazing from start to finish, especially if you know a bit of 20th century history (or know someone who does). The Onion upped their game for this book.

This image is one of the pages.

Credit to /u/yanray for making these:

>I made these crayons / took this photo... never expected to see it pop up here on Reddit. It was for a contest to win the crayons, the deadline (in a weird coincidence) is tomorrow. Proof: http://coloringforgrownups.com/post/34581772735/crayons-for-grown-ups
I'm glad Reddit likes them. I also directed the "K is for Knifeball" video that took off here not too long ago... Long story short, the crayons are a real-life version of one page from a book I co-wrote & illustrated called "Coloring for Grown-ups" - Available right now wherever fine books are sold (and also at Urban Outfitters)! This: http://www.amazon.com/Coloring-Grown-Ups-Adult-Activity-Book/dp/0452298253

Listen, /u/Warlizard... you and I have been through a fair amount over the years. We've had some compelling conversations, shared some secrets, and even discussed a collaboration which both of us failed to give any serious consideration. In a very real way, I think of us as the Jennifer Garner and Jessica Biel of the site, and not just because of that one time when some guy wrote a weird novella about the two of us tangoing with /u/vargas.

The thing is, despite all we've been through, you've been more than a little bit cold when it comes to one particular topic... and so here, on the anniversary of your most notorious claim to fame – more well-known even than your oeuvre of excellent literature, your many creative accomplishments, or your utterly unflappable sense of ironic wit – I've decided to publicly clear the air as I ask you the same question that I've been approaching you with for the better part of four years:

Can I have some of your french fries?

1976: "Cambodia to Switch to Skull-Based Economy."

I don't have power windows, so I guess I'll just roll my windows down.

Anyone can confirm the water would short the car's electronics before you could roll the windows down? Otherwise, even with power windows, you could just roll them down so long as the ignition key is turned to on.

EDIT: I was at work earlier when this was posted, so I didn't have access to my handy dandy Worst Case Scenario Survival Handbook. Yes, this is a thing, and they supposedly consulted experts for all the subjects. Here's what it says on escaping from a sinking car, from page 36:

"1.As soon as you hit the water, open your window. This is your best chance of escape, because opening the door will be very difficult given the outside water pressure. (To be safe, you should drive with the windows and doors slightly open whenever you are near water or are driving on ice.) Opening the windows allows water to come in and equalize the pressure. Once the water pressure inside and outside the car is equal, you'll be able to open the door.

2.If your power windows won't work or you cannot roll your windows down all the way, attempt to break the glass with your foot or shoulder or a heavy object such as an antitheft steering wheel lock.

3.Get out. Do not worry about leaving anything behind unless it is another person. Vehicles with engines in front will sink at a steep angle. If the water is fifteen feet or deeper, the vehicle may end up on its roof, upside down. For this reason, you must get out as soon as possible, while the car is still afloat. Depending on the vehicle, floating time will range from a few seconds to a few minutes. The more airtight the car, the longer it floats. Air in the car will quickly be forced out through the trunk and cab, and an air bubble is unlikely to remain once the car hits bottom. Get out as early as possible.

4.If you are unable to open the window or break it, you have one final option. Remain calm and do not panic. Wait until the car begins filling with water. When the water reaches your head, take a deep breath and hold it. Now the pressure should be equalized inside and outside, and you should be able to open the door and swim to the surface."

Their sources for this chapter were The U.S. Army's Cold Regions Research and Engineering Lab, located in New Hampshire; "Danger! Thin Ice," a publication of the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources; and Tim Smalley, a boating and safety specialist at the Minnesota DNR.

Back the fuck up.

Just so I'm clear, if I post something with an affiliate link, I get shadow-banned for spamming Reddit but when you do it, it's a new revenue model?

Am I missing something here? Is this new? Are you officially saying that Reddit users may now add an affiliate code to anything they link?

In the 5 years since my book came out, it has been linked countless times on Reddit. I can only imagine how much affiliate money I would have made by putting a little code after that and raking in the phat dough.

BRB, adding affiliate links to ALL THE THINGS!

EDIT:

Just to be clear, if I link my book like this:

http://www.amazon.com/Warlizard-Chronicles-Adventures-Vodka-Women/dp/0615461875?ie=UTF8&creativeASIN=0615461875&linkCode=w00&linkId=a17fd354f33b5cbdd0411289137ec0ab&ref_=as_sl_pc_tf_til&tag=warlizard-20

then nothing will be changed but if I just link it like this:

http://www.amazon.com/Warlizard-Chronicles-Adventures-Vodka-Women/dp/0615461875

Then your software will add in a Reddit affiliate link to it and you guys will get the revenue?

Just trying to clarify. I can't see any way this could be abused at all.

Oh, and here's my book, one more time, with affiliate link added, just so people can see an example of how this works:

http://www.amazon.com/Warlizard-Chronicles-Adventures-Vodka-Women/dp/0615461875?ie=UTF8&creativeASIN=0615461875&linkCode=w00&linkId=a17fd354f33b5cbdd0411289137ec0ab&ref_=as_sl_pc_tf_til&tag=warlizard-20

Not in Britain!

Which I learned while reading this fantastic book.

The worst-case scenario survival handbook may fit the bill. Want to know how to jump from a motorbike in to a car? Or win a sword fight?

No wading needed, there are automated tools to search your comment history.

I now know you live in Scottsdale, AZ, you have a wife and at least one son. (It also says you have a mother, but I could have guessed that. Chances are you have a father, too.)

You are a writer, here is your web page, and your rather amusing looking book on Amazon.

Also, you are a personal fan of lots of eyeliner. (seeing it, not wearing it)

I recommend every one who is interested in writing Star Wars fanfic to read Orson Scott Card's How to Write Science Fiction and Fantasy.


https://www.amazon.com/How-Write-Science-Fiction-Fantasy/dp/158297103X

Searched google for a paragraph, since the vibe I got from the end of the story was that it was an excerpt.

http://smile.amazon.com/Warlizard-Chronicles-Adventures-Vodka-Women/dp/0615461875?ie=UTF8&keywords=warlizard%20chronicles&qid=1463552710&ref_=sr_1_1&sr=8-1

Some of my own favourites: "an unkindness of ravens" and "a parliament of owls"

If you're way into this kind of thing, James Lipton (of Actor's Studio fame) wrote a whole book of them, An Exaltation of Larks.

There's that book with a century of Onion headlines.

Have a read.

How to invent everything

It’s a fun read that takes you from prehistoric times to more modern inventions, with all of the discoveries along the way. Granted, it is rather superficial as it needs to be given the amount of material it covers. I found it fun and fascinating!

The premise is that it’s a handbook for a stranded time traveler and tells you what you need to do to rebuild civilization.

https://www.amazon.com/Coloring-Grown-Ups-Adult-Activity-Book/dp/0452298253

On an unrelated note, I just discovered this guy has a book! Totally buying that with my next paycheck. You're one of my favorite redditors, extremely longstanding running joke aside.

This must be the perfect gift for OP http://www.amazon.com/The-Big-Coloring-Book-Vaginas/dp/B000R0HU92

He obviously didn't read "How to jump from a moving train" from The Worst Case Scenario Survival Handbook.

> Should I leave my current city out of respect for the people I've hurt? Is it okay if I try to stick around and improve myself

Only consider leaving if it's what you really want or for better opportunities. But don't leave to run away from your problems. Make sure you're doing this for the right reasons. Moving to a new place can be a great, cathartic experience.

I've been down this road of self loathing and self hate before. You've recognized your damaging, self destructive behavior. That's the first step. Forget your ex, but don't forget the lesson. Burn her number, email, etc. Burn all pictures. Delete any link to her on your phone. Delete your facebook, and all social media. Unplug. Re-connect with the real world. Exercise. Hit the gym, focus on 5x5's, now is time for you to heal.....you need to work on you. Your mind and your body. Forget all that shit in the past. Read more books. Read this, then this and then this. These books are warnings and advice all young men should get in their teens but don't. We all make these damn same mistakes, sometimes over and over again, we don't learn for some reason. You need to face your past, own it, learn from it - and move on. Why must all men be trapped like Jay Gatsby? Fight it. Good luck brother.

Only after disaster can we be resurrected. It's only after you've lost everything that you're free to do anything. Nothing is static, everything is evolving, everything is falling apart. - Tyler Durden, Fight Club

Congrats on your win!. Try this book https://www.amazon.com/Bobby-Fischer-Teaches-Chess/dp/0553263153/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1481030940&sr=1-1&keywords=bobby+fischer+teaches+chess

It basically starts with one move to win, then two moves to win, then 3, etc. You'll start to notice patterns and see tactics. Write in the book and do everything in order. After I did this I was able to beat the computer easily and noticed my playing went up drastically online. However you have to keep it up so do the puzzles every day and when you're done with the book get more chess puzzles.

Pick up this book immediately: https://www.amazon.com/Dude-Youre-Gonna-Be-Dad/dp/1440505365/ref=sr_1_2?crid=YV792GQITCOB&keywords=dude+youre+going+to+be+a+dad&qid=1554477971&s=gateway&sprefix=dude+you%2Caps%2C147&sr=8-2

​

It is really well written and addresses a lot of topics that you should hear about before it becomes an issue.

I believe you mean "eats shoots and leaves"

I don't know your level, but if you're a novice (as it sounds like you are) here's my advice:

• Plan to play one long game per day. Find out the time controls you will be playing in, and create those challenges on Lichess or chess.com. I would suggest filtering the games to your rating +100. Don't waste time playing much weaker opponents or much stronger.
  
  
• Find a coach/friend that is at least >500 rating points above you. Hell you can probably find one for free here that would find this challenge fun. Spend some time going over your games with them, or just playing while talking through games.
  
  As for the specific parts of the game, here are my suggestions. in order of importance:
  
  Endgames: Learn to your level, then practice them on Chesstempo/friend/computer.
  
  
• I strongly suggest Silman's Complete Endgame Course and learn to where it get's complicated. You should be able to get through the first 3 parts.
  
• Create an account on Chesstempo and do the endgame training. It's unlimited for the Gold plan which is cheap.
  
• Keep in mind, when up in material, trade. I have been told countless times by computer analysis that trading pieces (especially queens) was not the best move, but when I was up a few pawns or the exchange, getting pieces off the board made the win so much clearer.
  
  Tactics: It's tactics all the way down!
  
  
• I strongly suggest Seirawan's Winning Chess Tactics or Bain's Tactics for Students. You need to be familiar with the motifs
  
• Get a ChessTempo membership, and do tactics. The price of membership gives you all the analysis lines of all the wrong moves.
  
• Do both Blitz tactics and Standard tactics. You want the pattern recognition of lots of blitz tactics, but also the practice of calculating more difficult problems
  
  
  Openings: Play with the same openings. Don't spend too long on each, but maybe watch a few videos to get the ideas behind them.
  
  
• White: 1.e4. These are more tactical in nature, and you should be playing them because you will be working on tactics. Your goal is to survive the opening without being down material, severely behind in development, compromising your king, or completely screwing up your pawn structure. Anyone at your level that memorizes deeper into black's responses to e4 is just memorizing lines and will soon be in a complex position (perhaps up half a pawn) but unable to hold that advantage when the tactics take over. Have something for 1...c5 (and I'd look at both the Najdorf and the Dragon, but again, don't memorize, just get a flavor), 1...e5 (I'd suggest the Ruy Lopez. And look at the Philidor, but it's pretty quiet), 1.e6 (the exchange is easy to play), and 1.c6 (again exchange is easy).
  
• Black against 1.e4: Pick one of the above and play it exclusively. I suggest 1.e5 to start, but I also like 1...c5 and 1...c6.
  
• Black against 1.d4: 1...d5. No need to get fancy. Both the QGA and QGD set up good play. 1...Nf3 is more useful, since you can play the QGD, Grunfeld, or KID, but since you aren't building a tournament repertoire, just survive the opening with a classical queenside response.
  
• Black against anything else: Build a strong pawn center, get developed, get castled, and don't chase the enemy. And give an extra second to think about your opponents position. If they used a non-traditional opening, they are probably doing something wrong, but rushing will help them justify things like developing their queen to early or pushing all their pawns.
  
  Thought process:
  
  
• Have fun
  
• Utilize all your time. Hopefully you've been practicing at that time control as I said above)
  
• Breathe. Sometimes just close your eyes, take a deep breath, assess where you think you are, and come up with a plan
  
• Have a plan, always.
  
  That's all I got for now. Good luck!
  
  

I recommend every one who is interested in writing Star Wars fanfic to read Orson Scott Card's How to Write Science Fiction and Fantasy.

https://www.amazon.com/How-Write-Science-Fiction-Fantasy/dp/158297103X

What's the link to it? You're definitely funny, and I'd love to read more.

Also, the "crazy letters" idea reminds me of the book Letters from a Nut. I recommend it.

Fight Club. Human fat based soap. His name was Robert Paulson. Need I say more?

The movie is also great.

A similar book but a little more directly matching OP's scenario is How to Invent Everything: A Survival Guide for the Stranded Time Traveler. It's kind of a fluffy book that doesn't take itself seriously, but does attempt an outline of key inventions that allow advancing civilization more rapidly at each point in time.

But the information in that book is easy to absorb and more or less memorize. I'd want to condense it down to key facts, like recipes for simple chemical processes, etc., and then I'd be tempted to say I'd want some math tables, if I don't have a calculator, but I'm not quite sure how soon I'd need that.

A map of mineral deposits would be pretty useful.

Letters from a Nut?

I'm curious about it and will probably still end up getting it as well as another one that always comes up in the other recommended list. How to Invent Everything: A Survival Guide for the Stranded Time Traveler I'm suspecting what I've got in mind is just too big.

Alright, if this happens, here's whatcha need to do.

STEP 1

Roll down or break your windows as soon as you hit the water. This will equalize pressure and let you out. To break it, use anything from the headrest of your seat, to your foot, to a ladies heeled shoe.

STEP 2

GTFO. Don't take anything with you unless its someone else. Don't waste time on anything but a person, because if the water is deeper than fifteen feet, your car will end up upside down. This complicates things.

STEP 3

If you can't open or break the windows, do not panic. Wait until your car touches bottom and starts filling up. Once the water reaches your chest, take a very deep breath and open your door. Swim to the surface.

Source: https://www.amazon.com/Worst-Case-Scenario-Survival-Handbook/dp/0811825558 this book, which I'm super glad I have a use for, finally.

Same here for me. It took me a long time to get over religion after being born into it, as a Seventh Day Adventist.

Two things helped me. For 5 years I questioned my religion, but I tried very hard not to. I fully believed the line that the devil will try to trick you into denying christ, and I tried very hard to avoid that temptation. The first thing, was when I looked up Seventh Day Adventists on wikipedia, and it listed in the first couple of paragraphs that they are considered to be somewhat of a cult. That simple statement that is probably completely obvious to other people hit me like a ton of bricks. I knew instantly that it was true and it really opened my eyes.

Shortly after that, there was something going on in the local news about Scientologists (I cant remember what), and so I started reading about them to see what they were all about, and it suddenly dawned on me how that religion, as kooky as it sounds, is not really any different to the many other 'legitimate' religions out there that I was really familiar with.

So my faith in 'religion' was rocked, and I couldn't honestly believe in it any more, but I still wanted to believe in God, but after having my eyes opened, it didn't take long for me to realise, that if god did exist, he was either completely useless and couldn't help anyone, or he could help but didn't because he was a cold hearted bastard.

From the time I first started having doubts, to actually realising that I didn't believe god existed, was at least 10 years.

On a side note, although I read this book AFTER I'd already become an atheist, I recommend that everyone reads "A Short History of Nearly Everything" by Bill Bryson. It not only covers almost every scientific discipline, but explains how we progressed through our understanding of science. He is not a scientist himself, and does a wonderful job of explaining everything in ways anyone could understand. I think I've bought this book at least 15 times, because I keep giving it away.

Here's a link to the book on amazon

When I read A Short History Of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson it struck me that almost all of the scientists and innovators mentioned in the book came from upper middle class or wealthy families. It appears that having the free time and resources to invest in an interest is a huge requirement to success.

I have come to the conclusion that the first society that figures out that by having a populace that does not have to worry about food, clothing, and shelter while also being provided with the resources to persue their interests, that society is going to blow past the rest of humanity by creating 20 Einsteins.

Amazon link for the book

Or to search nearby libraries.

According to the fine publication of The Onion titled Our Dumb Century, it is indeed much older than that. This fine newspaper is descended from a newspaper titled The Mercantile-Onion, founded in 1765. It took on its current form in 1896, when T. Herman Zweibel took over, and renamed it The Onion. He would remain publisher until his court-ordered retirement in 1958.

Ah, I love non-fictin as well. Though most of my favorites are more science oriented, there should be a few on here that pique your interest.

• Salt: A World History - A fascinating history of humanity's favorite mineral. Wars have been fought over it, it sustained whole economies ... you'll be surprised to learn just how much of human history has been influenced by salt.
  
• A Short History of Nearly Everything - One of my favorite books. Bryson tells the story and history of science through amazing discoveries and stories about the quirky people who made them.
  
• Homage to Catalonia - A mostly auto-biographical account of George Orwell's time fighting for the communists in the Spanish Civil War.
  
• Capital: Vol. 1 Marx's seminal work and a logically sound criticism of capitalism. Whether or not you agree with his proposed solutions, his criticism is spot on. Depending on how leftist you are, you may have already read The Communist Manifesto. It's a nice introduction to Marx's ideas, but you should really go straight to the source and just read Capital.
  
• Why We Believe What We Believe - The neurology of belief, what could be more interesting? The authors go into great detail on how belief happens at the neurological level, as well as summing up nicely all sorts of findings from differing fields relating to belief. The most interesting part is the research the authors themselves conducted: fMRI scans of people praying, Buddhist monks meditating, Pentecostals speaking in tongues, and an atheist meditating.

You might like this book if you haven't already read it.

Ironically, Fight Club is a book.

> Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought: The Big Coloring Book of Vaginas.

It's actually an unkindness of ravens. You can have a parliament of owls.

In case you are looking for more. Or just want to know why I know this.

Reminds me of Ted L. Nancy's Letters from a Nut

Sounds like Ted Nancy's Letters From a Nut. He sends letters to real people and places and publishes the letter and response. They are laugh out loud funny.

Everyone needs to read the book which started funny crank letters in the late 20th century: Letters from a Nut https://www.amazon.com/dp/0380973545/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_ZQdJDbCMGE2GF

Buy his book. It's cheap and amazing. Like "I Hope They Serve Beer In Hell" but better.

http://www.amazon.com/Warlizard-Chronicles-Adventures-Vodka-Women/dp/0615461875

How come no-one has mentioned A Short History of Nearly Everything yet?

Random selection of some of my favorites to help you expand your horizons:

The Demon-Haunted World by Carl Sagan is a great introduction to scientific skepticism.

Letter to a Christian Nation by Sam Harris is a succinct refutation of Christianity as it's generally practiced in the US employing crystal-clear logic.

Augustus: The Life of Rome's First Emperor by Anthony Everitt is the best biography of one of the most interesting men in history, in my personal opinion.

Travels with Herodotus by Ryszard Kapuscinski is a jaw-dropping book on history, journalism, travel, contemporary events, philosophy.

A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson is a great tome about... everything. Physics, history, biology, art... Plus he's funny as hell. (Check out his In a Sunburned Country for a side-splitting account of his trip to Australia).

The Annotated Mona Lisa by Carol Strickland is a thorough primer on art history. Get it before going to any major museum (Met, Louvre, Tate Modern, Prado, etc).

Not the Impossible Faith by Richard Carrier is a detailed refutation of the whole 'Christianity could not have survived the early years if it weren't for god's providence' argument.

Six Easy Pieces by Richard Feynman are six of the easier chapters from his '63 Lectures on Physics delivered at CalTech. If you like it and really want to be mind-fucked with science, his QED is a great book on quantum electrodynamics direct from the master.

Lucy's Legacy by Donald Johanson will give you a really great understanding of our family history (homo, australopithecus, ardipithecus, etc). Equally good are Before the Dawn: Recovering the Lost History of Our Ancestors by Nicholas Wade and Mapping Human History by Steve Olson, though I personally enjoyed Before the Dawn slightly more.

Memory and the Mediterranean by Fernand Braudel gives you context for all the Bible stories by detailing contemporaneous events from the Levant, Italy, Greece, Egypt, etc.

After the Prophet by Lesley Hazleton is an awesome read if you don't know much about Islam and its early history.

Happy reading!

edit: Also, check out the Reasonable Doubts podcast.

Context for those who don't know the Onion or the book

Our Dumb Century: The Onion Presents 100 Years of Headlines from America's Finest News Source https://www.amazon.com/dp/0609804618/ref=cm_sw_r_other_apa_L7iOyb1W57QH4

all events for the past 5 years were written by markov bots based on history books, except someone slipped a copy of Our Dumb Century into the library.

Just some linkage for the lazy: "The Warlizard Chronicles: Adventures with Vodka, Women, & War" ... since he was "nice enough" to not include it (ie. self-promote), here.

Edit: Looks like a good book (and I nearly died laughing at Tucker Max's first novel, to which this is compared) ... so (Warlizard's book is) now on my own wish list.

Edit: clarified indefinite article in the previous stealth edit

I made a list based on where you can purchase them if you want to edit it onto your post:

This Month's Book

• The Woman in the Dunes by Kobe Abe
  
  

  January:
  

  
  

• [Consider Phlebas
  by Iain Banks]
  (https://www.amazon.com/Consider-Phlebas-Culture-Iain-Banks/dp/031600538X)
  
  
• [Brave New World
  by Aldous Huxley]
  (https://www.amazon.com/Brave-New-World-Aldous-Huxley/dp/0060850523)
  
  
• Fahrenheit 451
  by Ray Bradbury
  
  
  
• The Picture of Dorian Gray
  by Oscar Wilde
  
  
• Children of Time
  by Adrian Tchaikovsky
  
  
• [12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos
  by Jordan B. Peterson]
  (https://www.amazon.com/12-Rules-Life-Antidote-Chaos/dp/B0797Y87JC)
  
  
  

  February:
  

  
  

• I Am Legend
  by Richard Matheson
  
  
• Dune
  by Frank Herbert
  
  
• Kafka on the Shore
  by Haruki Murakami
  
  
• American Psycho
  by Bret Easton Ellis
  
  
• Life 3.0: Being Human in the Age of Artificial Intelligence
  by Max Tegmark
  
  
• Beyond Good and Evil
  by Friedrich Nietzsche
  
  

  March:
  

  
  

• The Old Man and The Sea
  by Ernest Hemingway
  
  
• Moby Dick
  by Herman Melville
  
  
• Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl
  
  
• Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
  
  
• The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka
  
  
• The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea by Yukio Mishima
  
  
• The Temple of the Golden Pavilion by Yukio Mishima
  
  
• The Book of Five Rings by Miyamoto Musashi
  
  
• Bushido: The Soul of Japan by Inazo Nitobe
  
  

  April:
  

  
  

• [The Dice Man by Luke Rhinehart]
  (https://www.amazon.com/Dice-Man-Luke-Rhinehart/dp/0879518642)
  
  
• [Stoner by John Williams](
  https://www.amazon.com/Stoner-York-Review-Books-Classics/dp/1590171993)
  
  
• [Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky]
  (https://www.amazon.com/Crime-Punishment-Fyodor-Dostoyevsky/dp/0486415872)
  
  
• [No Longer Human by Osamu Dazai](
  https://www.amazon.com/No-Longer-Human-Osamu-Dazai/dp/0811204812)
  
  
• Sun and Steel by Yukio Mishima
  
  

  May:
  

  
  

• [Spring Snow by Yukio Mishima](
  https://www.amazon.com/Spring-Snow-Sea-Fertility-1/dp/0679722416)
  
  
• [Runaway Horses by Yukio Mishima]
  (https://www.amazon.com/Runaway-Horses-Sea-Fertility-2/dp/0679722408)
  
  
• Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari
  
  
• In the Buddha's Words: An Anthology of Discourses from the Pali Canon by Bhikkhu Bodhi
  
  
• Mythos by Stephen Fry
  
  
• Inferno by August Strindberg
  
  

  November
  

  
  

• The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov
  
  
• Japanese Death Poems: Written by Zen Monks and Haiku Poets on the Verge of Death by Yoel Hoffmann
  
  
• Don Quixote by Miguel De Cervantes
  
  
• Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami
  
  

  Books Pewds suggested but hasn't talked about in any of the episodes yet:
  

  
  

• The Sound of Waves by Yukio Mishima
  
  
• Tony Takitani by Haruki Murakami
  
  
• The Forever War by Joe Haldeman
  
  linking pewds to see this u/pewpewpewPEWdie

Coincidentally, there is a book about this (and other things).

Layman here: I'm fairly sure it's because of how humans develop in the womb. Up to a certain point males and females develop the same way - i.e. nipples, hands, feet, etc. Then cells begin to specialize depending on gender and other genetic differences. For example, the cells that develop into the foreskin on a male develop into the labia on a female. Nipples are developed before any of this specialization.

>he is fairly nonplussed and doesn't really seriously discuss it with me

This is going to be your biggest hurdle, you need to have an open line of communication. We don't have a perfect marriage by any means, but we've been together for 5 years (baby status I know) but we don't fight. We communicate and have discussions, it makes a HUGE difference and keeps stress levels WAY down now that I'm pregnant.

Anyway. I got him the book, Dude, You're Gonna Be A Dad. He's really enjoyed reading it. It goes through a lot of what to expect during each trimester, how to prepare for baby care, and most importantly (to me) momma care. It explains what we're going through physically and emotionally. It does a really nice job laying things out in terms that guys can relate to, or at least as closely as possible.

Eats, Shoots and Leaves.

Concentrate on your endgame and middlegame

You will be amazed how important the endgame is. From reading [Jeremy Silman's Endgame course] (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Silmans-Complete-Endgame-Course-Beginner/dp/1890085103) I can see that even if you go down by 4 points of material that you can still salvage a draw. I suggest that you don't spend long on openings: For white I just play a white system (botvinnik system in the english) and I have 3 openings for black which counter the most common moves by white. Concentrate on middlegame and endgame since they are most of the battle!

edit reason: accidental post

If you're interested, James Lipton (yes, the same James Lipton) wrote a book called "An Exaltation of Larks" that researched all the terms of venery and created some new ones.

http://www.amazon.com/An-Exaltation-Larks-Ultimate-Edition/dp/0140170960

You could try picking up a book like A Short History Of Nearly Everything. It is a history book, no more, no less. It does focus quite a bit on science, what its learned, but more importantly how we learn things scientifically. The speed of light for example.

Yes! I read the first book they came out with (http://www.amazon.com/Elder-Scrolls-Infernal-City/dp/0345508017) and it was great to read something from the Elder Scrolls series that I could hold. I wish they would come out with one for their Lore. I would buy the fuck out of it.

I'm not huge on posting to Reddit, but I might be able to help elaborate on Palahniuk's thoughts on Fight Club. For reference, I own this version of the book: http://www.amazon.com/Fight-Club-Novel-Chuck-Palahniuk/dp/0393327345/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1393912583&sr=8-2&keywords=Fight+Club .

Palahniuk states on page 213 (the afterword):

>It [the book Fight Club] was just an experiment to kill a slow afternoon at work. Instead of walking a character from scene to scene in a story, there had to be some way to just--cut, cut, cut. To jump. From scene to scene. Without losing the reader. To show every aspect of a story, but only the kernel of each aspect. The core moment. Then, another.

>There had to be some kind of chorus. Something bland that wouldn't hold the reader's attention, but would act to signal a jump to a new angle or aspect of the story. A bland kind of buffer that would be the touchstone or landmark a reader would need not to feel lost. A kind of neutral sorbet, like something served between courses in a fancy dinner. A signal, like buffer music in radio broadcasts, to announce the next topic. The next jump.

>A kind of glue or mortar that would hold together a mosaic of different moments and details. Giving them all the continuity and yet showcasing each moment by not ramming it up against the next moment.

>Think of the movie Citizen Kane, and how the faceless, nameless newsreel reporters create the framework for telling the story from a lot of different sources.

>That's what I wanted to do. That one, boring afternoon at work.

>So for that chorus--that "transitional device"--I wrote eight rules. The whole idea of fight club wasn't important [my emphasis]. It was arbitrary. But the eight rules had to apply to something so why not a club where you could ask someone to fight? The way you'd ask for a dance at a disco. Or challenge someone to a game of pool or darts. The fighting wasn't the important part of the story. What I needed were the rules. Those bland landmarks that would allow me to describe this club from the past, the present, up close or far away, the beginning and evolution, to cram together a lot of details and moments--all within seven pages--and NOT lose the reader.

Take from that as you will. However, I don't really think that Palahniuk's initial motivation for Fight Club was to create a satire. Instead, I believe that he wanted to create a unique story, with a unique style and feel to it.

Edit: Missed a "not" and replaced "lost" with "lose" at the end. Also, I'd recommend anyone who enjoys Fight Club to grab the book, and also read the entire afterword. It's very interesting!

Edit: Another mistake correction: "withing" to "within".

Edit: Hopefully by using the quote formatting, I've made quote easier to read. Just to clarify, all of the italicized text is Palahniuk's emphasis not mine.

The general consensus for novice chess players is to do a few things:

• Play as much as possible (the slower the time control, the better) and analyze those games.
  
• Study tactics (Hammer single motif tactics into your brain first. Over & over & over... Then you can move on to combinations.).
  
• Develop your pieces using opening guidelines, rather than in-depth study/memorization-without-knowledge of openings.
  
  ---
  
  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:
  
  
• chess.com
  
• lichess.org
  
• chess24.com
  
  Don't have wifi and still need a game? There are plenty of apps for your phone/tablet:
  
  
• Play Magnus
  
• DroidFish
  
• Mobiala
  
• SCID on the Go
  
• Shredder
  
  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:
  
  
• Kingscrusher
  
• ChessNetwork
  
• St. Louis Chess Club (Their beginner level lectures should be on your must watch list.)
  
• ChessExplained
  
• Greg Shahade
  
  As for books, the ones that seem to be promoted for you level the most are:
  
  
• Logical Chess: Move By Move - Irving Chernev
  
• Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess
  
• The Complete Idiot's Guide to Chess - Patrick Wolff
  
• Everyone's Second Chess Book - Dan Heisman
  
  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!

I know the colors are off, but could it be The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook?

This book, "Plato and a Platypus walk into a bar" is very helpful for understanding basic philosophy concepts through jokes. I read it when I was younger and it was very entertaining to read, not overwhelming or intimidating, and pretty funny also.

https://www.amazon.com/Plato-Platypus-Walk-into-Understanding/dp/0143113879

They're actual novels, too.

>That suffering is pointless is a pagan and atheist notion, not a Christian one.

I wholeheartedly disagree. Christ ended physical suffering for a lot of people. He healed people so they wouldn't suffer. The whole point of Christ's existence was to end the suffering of people separated from God.

And, this just gets under my skin, someone saying they're "suffering for Jesus" is a pharisee. They're spitting in the face of the gifts of modern medicine - a gift from God to ease the suffering of a host of people.

I really and truly hope you never have to endure, or worse yet, see a loved on endure, true medical suffering. When you see what it does to a person, how it breaks them, there's nothing at all redemptive about that. It is painful, it is heartbreaking, it is the last thing that you think God wants his children to go through. And, believe me, you would want to do anything in your power to stop it through any means necessary.

Acts 5:41 is aimed at being a social outcast and a political refugee, not someone who is going through Chemo or someone who is battling MS.

And, we need to talk about Paul. Paul, formerly Saul, one, didn't know Jesus, never followed Jesus and really didn't have any first-hand knowledge of Christ at all. So there's that. And, when we read anything written by Paul, we're reading someone else's 1800 year old mail. It's like Letters From A Nut, except we don't have the letter he is replying it. We are missing basically all of the context.

Now, Luke is a little more reliable. And again, we see Christ talking in parable. He didn't mean to literally pick up a cross, obviously. So how do you jump to the conclusion that physical suffering is what he meant?

>"Should we stop palliative care of cancer patients and the elderly?"

But why not? If suffering is some wonderful gift, why not give everyone a good healthy dose of pain? Perhaps because it is cruel? On their way out of this world shouldn't folks get the "character building" experience of excruciating pain? Meet Jesus in the throes of agony? I mean, that's what The Saints ^^TM did...

Or perhaps your humanity kicks in and you realize that suffering is, really, rather pointless in our modern society.

Reminds me of the books by Ted L. Nancy. "Letters from a Nut" is the first one.

For anyone who would like to know, the following books I've read are my favorite and I'd really recommend them to anyone: The Martian by Andy Weir, Gerald's Game by Stephen King, The Panther by Nelson DeMille, Unflinching by Jodi Mitic, American Sniper by Chris Kyle, and Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk

EDIT: Oh, and Blackwater - The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army by Jeremy Scahill.

EDDIT 2: Oh, and Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card which is so much better than the movie. The movie does not do this novel justice. And Killing Lincoln by Bill O'Reilly.

It's from Fight Club

Here, I think I found it

hah.

yeah. let me point out something you said... " I've been trying to get better for a couple of days" & " I would assume ... a huge improvement spike"...

not so man. not so. you can do this self-taught to a fair degree, but you're still going to have to read and practice. hundreds of games, not a few days worths.

There are some base concepts and tactics that can help, once you see them in use. it's kinda like any other interest, there is a language and skill-set all it's own. I highly suggest Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess. It hits home 3 very important concepts. Some of it is overly simple, but it does hit home those 3 big tools. You'll also read through it, get done, and not ever see the need to og re-read it. I suggest it only because you seem to be having some basic-level troubles. Here's a PDF Version.

It might be a bit simple, but Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess. I'm reading it right now, but it is mostly "can white mate in this position". Not sure if it would be too easy for 1200. But no board or knowledge of notation required.

If you and her together go through the book "Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess" just $8 on Amazon there'll be less of a chance of her getting crushed, and you too will come up to speed

I think about this kind of stuff all the time!

I’ve had this book on my library wait list forever. Has anybody ever read it?

How to Invent Everything: A Survival Guide for the Stranded Time Traveler https://www.amazon.com/dp/073522014X/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_LV10Cb072BQ38

I own a first edition copy of "How to Invent Everything"

It's funny and informative, and covers pesky things like electricity and antibiotics.

The 5e official DM screen doesn't come out till January, I believe.

http://www.amazon.com/Deluxe-Screen-Accessory-Wizards-Team/dp/0786965630/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1406924495&sr=8-2&keywords=dm+screen

A friend of mine is working on a custom 5e DM screen, when he is finished with it, i'll have him post it on this reddit so you all can print it out and make your own custom screen.

Grab the 5th edition starter set, it will have a book for your DM on how to run the adventure, 5 pre-made characters so you can just get right into playing, and a set of dice.

Heads up. Like 2 minutes in everyone is going to realize they want their own set of dice rather than sharing one set as a group. They range from $5 to $15. Grab 'em before you start playing.

I'd also recommend getting a DM Screen for multiple benefits. On the inside are quick formulas and name/quest/monster tables and hints for the DM to use. The other benefit is the players can't see what the DM rolls.

The DM's #1 job is to make sure people have the most fun they possibly can. So if he rolls something that would wreck your party, and decides that wouldn't be very fun, he can fudge the roll to something else, and since the DM is rolling behind a screen, the players are none the wiser.

Almost every group starts out rotating the role of DM because everyone wants to have a character. This isn't the wrong way of doing it, but every group eventually comes to the realization that they're better off if one person is the full-time DM.

Here are some good rules of thumb for DMing.

Make sure whoever is DMing is up to the task and understands their job is to maximize the amount of fun for everyone else, not necessarily themselves. A good DM will find enjoyment in his players having fun. He will challenge them, not punish them.

It is not PCs vs DM. To liken it to Skyrim, it's 3-5 Dovakhiin traveling together, and the DM is Skyrim. He is the world and all it's inhabitants. The world isn't out to get you, but if you make poor decisions there will be consequences.

----

>These games take like a week or so to finish.

It took us like 5 or 6 sessions that were 3-4 hours each to get through the adventure in this pack, and we only had 3 players.

The game never really finishes. It's like Skyrim, completing an adventure doesn't end the game, you just move on to the next one.

----

Check out /r/DnD, it's way more active. And for the whoever DMs /r/behindthescreen and /r/loremasters are helpful.

Congratulations!!!

First off just pause your fears for just a moment and take in the feeling and enjoy it!

Second - Be there for her as much as you can, that’s your ‘other’ job now.

READ as much as you can - I like this book - Dude, You're Gonna Be a Dad!: How to Get (Both of You) Through the Next 9 Months https://www.amazon.ca/dp/1440505365/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_wRKEAb01K29SE

Watch YouTube videos - go to the appointments, ask questions, just overall be involved. Ask questions here! Read a lot of the posts - I’ve learned a lot from just being involved here.

You’re going to be fine - just enjoy the moment. I think everyone, myself included are going through a bunch of WTF holy shit moments.

Welcome to the club dude!

That's an unfortunate reaction from your husband. He probably doesn't understand that being supportive means being proactive.

I was browsing Amazon today for some journals and landed on this https://www.amazon.ca/Dude-Youre-Gonna-Be-Dad/dp/1440505365. I'm tempted to get it for my husband this Father's day, but I'm not gonna lie, it's a bit of a gamble, given his reaction so far, though I'm hoping the humorous tone will lessen the blow of the "lessons". The fact that the author is a man might help with that (husband dealt a lot better with the news after he spoke with a newly minted dad about it).

You've got to get yourself some good books and devour them. I have unconventional advice, but if whatever you've been doing isn't working, give it a shot.

My beginners routine
---

• Do 10 tactics puzzles a day (use a free chesstempo account)
  
  
• Get your hands on a copy of Silman's Amateur's Mind [Go through the book cover to cover] I usually follow along with a program instead of a real board b/c I can log in variations and whatnot.
  
  
• Play one 15-minute game a day, if you can't find people who want 15-minutes, go to something like 10minutes or 10min+2seconds. Then, analyze your game. If you go to lichess you can make a free account and they have computer analysis. If you're playing on chess.com you can just take the pgn (game notation) and put it into the lichess computer and they'll analyze it for you. You can move the pieces around and bounce some ideas off the computer on there as well.
  
  
• Develop an opening repertoire. This is not supposed to be the way a grandmaster does it.... not yet. You need to play the same thing because you can't learn and figure out mistakes if you're always switching openings, because the positions you get change too much. If you're playing random openings you'll get: Isolated queen pawn positions, French structure positions, caro-kann positions, central pawn structure vs c5/e5 pawn pushes, fianchetto positions that require h4-5-6 to attack etc.
  
  You need a consistent motif; so, if you want to play 1.e4 try to stick to that. For black choose 2 defenses: one against 1.e4 and one against 1.d4
  
  What you need to do here is learn the first few moves of the opening just so you can get yourself inside that structure... maybe the first 5 moves or so. And you're going to feel lost I promise you, but just do it, ok. When you win/lose, whatever, a part of your analysis is going to be to go to www.chessgames.com >set the year to >=2000 or 1980 something like that>set the openings to the opening you played or enter the ECO code>click search and you can watch Grandmasters play your opening. This will give you a good idea of what kind of moves are made and where you play on the board. You may even be able to extract some plans out of it.
  
  
  
  
• I'm not a silman salesman but you also need to work on your endgame and I like Silman's Complete endgame course This books is divided by rating, which is really good; i worked up to the A class section and then moved on to Dvoretsky's endgame manual. Dvoretsky's is a dictionary though, and you definitely don't want that now.
  
  

or perhaps vagina themed coloring books. They're educational, AND fun.

If you're looking for a book that's actually about writing science fiction, Orson Scott Card's is honestly pretty decent: https://www.amazon.com/How-Write-Science-Fiction-Fantasy/dp/158297103X/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2X9WQG8RJGZU3&keywords=how+to+write+science+fiction+and+fantasy+by+orson+scott+card&qid=1563984476&s=gateway&sprefix=how+to+write+sci%2Caps%2C125&sr=8-1

He's also written a few others on writing in general, the "Elements of Fiction" series.

How to Write Science Fiction and Fantasy by Orson Scott Card.

https://www.amazon.com/How-Write-Science-Fiction-Fantasy/dp/158297103X

Thanks Jagabond, really appreciate that. I’m relatively new to hosting the show, having taken over in June, around episode 209. Shaun Farrell created the show and deserves all the credit. I was a huge fan and when I saw the distance between episodes spreading out, I offered to help provide interviews. Shortly after he offered me the job. I’ve tried to keep it close to the original feel.

That’s not your question though. As for the most important factor, I guess I’d say that while the industry is shifting, you never know if you’ll be successful until you try, and one of the most favorable factors to this industry is the abundance of resources to help you get started. Finishing a book should be your first goal, because that already puts you into the minority.

When you say “shifting industry” I assume you mean the effect of ebooks on pricing, revenues and whether we should self-publish or traditional publish. The good news—depending on how you look at it—is that none of this matters to someone getting started writing, because all you need to worry about is how to tell a good story, and that advice doesn’t change. Are you referring to getting started writing or getting started selling?

For someone getting started writing, a very important factor to be aware of is that you probably have a story worth telling. Writing resources can show you how to start a story. As much as I try, I’m an organic writer, so I don’t use any systems any more except for a notepad and pen and just start asking myself questions about the characters I want to be in the story, what kind of conflict they’ll encounter, how this conflict will cause them to grow or fail. If it’s science fiction, I start researching main technologies to the plot, far enough to make sure the concept is plausible. If it is Fantasy, I essentially just talk to myself about the magic system, how it started, what powers it has, what limitations (costs) using the magic has, etc.

Here are some resources I’ve enjoyed:



The Craft of Writing Science Fiction That Sells by Ben Bova – I loved how well this taught character arc. (Character arc is the emotional progress/failure that your character goes through from start to finish.) In the brainstorming stage, he says to find a character that has to choose between two emotions, such as love vs. hate. He gives a very helpful list of questions to ask yourself that essentially brainstormed my novel for me.

Characters and Viewpoint by Orson Scott Card – great breakdown of the types of story (M.I.C.E.) and I believe has a section on how to ask yourself questions to make the story unique from genre tropes (The One finds The Sword to save The Girl).

How to Write Science Fiction and Fantasy by Orson Scott Card is also very helpful. I like how he says that you don’t have a story until you have at least two separate ideas, maybe three, and then you try to combine them.

Lane Diamond offers paid coaching. He’s the head guy at Evolved Publishing, which puts out some very well written books, no doubt a credit to his editing skills. He also edited the first 5k of my novel, so I know from experience he’s good.

Another couple editors I’ve worked with are C.L. Dyck and Joshua Essoe, if you’re at the stage of finding an editor. This could bring up the topic of when to search for beta readers (readers who read your story after you’ve cleaned it up) and when to hire an editor. My novel had such complicated technology weaving through the plot, that I didn’t know how to clean it up enough to give it to beta readers, so that’s why I hired C.L., and she helped me break down how the technology worked and where it didn’t. I suppose a good beta reader could do that, but I’ve not been fortunate enough to find ones that will stick around (i.e. finish reading and give me feedback).

Free resources:

The Snowflake Method by Randy Ingermanson – I’ve started this, but never finished. I’m just not an outliner. Plot evolves out of each progressing scene as I write them. He has a lot of writing tips on his site beyond just the Snowflake.

StoryFix by Larry Brooks – never used this, but hear great things about it.

And of course, podcasts. I love hearing authors tell us their story of how they got started and found success. Their advice never gets old, and often I hear just what I need. For example, I have an upcoming interview with Ronald Malfi, where he says: "The characters and their problems come first. If you've got really good characters and really good problems with those characters from the get-go then the stories build themselves around them."

Did by “getting started,” you mean being at a point where you have a story ready to sell? I’ll answer that when I get back in a few hours, if that was your question.

Hiya.

Some questions come to mind. Two factions, are they at war? Will your group get caught up in that? If so, why are they fighting? Will your group play an unexpected yet decisive role in the outcome of said war?

How does FTL (Faster Than Light) technology work in your universe? Warp, Hyperspace, Worm Holes, etc? Who owns the USS Funboat VII? Did they steal it, and if so, why wasn't it locked? Is that why they need to escape from the Republic? Will they be chased? Can they expect the Crystal Brotherhood to protect them?

You'll need to ask yourself lots of questions like these and starting getting more specifics figured out so that you can start figuring out your characters and plot.

Sounds like you're wanting to write Space Opera with either aBadass Crew or a Ragtag Bunch of Misfits.

If you want to get started writing Science Fiction I can think of nothing that would be more help than this book by Orson Scott Card, author of Ender's Game. Some people don't like his political and moral views but the man knows about writing. It has been invaluable to me.

Cheers

Of all the words in the English language.... you screw up the plurization of pandas

Silman's Complete Endgame Course is often recommended. For practice, Chess Tempo has an endgame mode that works well.

Since no one has said so yet, look up a book called An Exaltation of Larks for more classic and a lot of nouveau ones.

So you say:

> If I think that I'm a competent and nice person, and I have a roommate or coworker that treats me like a fool and a jerk, that's going to create some cognitive dissonance, for sure. But I don't have the right to control what he mirrors back to me.

But then you say:

> The problem is that others feel cowed by them and afraid to discuss things.

How is it the fault of "PC types" how others respond to them? They don't have the right to control what people mirror back to them, after all.

> But at the same time we have to also recognize that being part of a society necessarily involves repressing some aspects of ourselves in order to interact with others. Animals don't do this - they do not empathize, they do not conceive that other animals have rights, so they rape and assault and steal.

Acting as though humans, because we are animals, are all prone to the same impulses and desires as animals is rather fallacious. And as it happens, many animals can and do empathize. Bonobos do not rape or assault, for example; they're a pacifistic species that uses sexuality to form bonds, reconcile differences, and keep the peace. Animal psychology isn't my specialty, but you're talking veneer theory here, which is not really a current part of the field. Check out Frans de Waal's primatology research - it's not as simple as "animals are brutal and society represses that in humans." Learning to exist in an interdependent society, and so learning to practice altruism and to set aside violent tendencies, is not remotely the same thing as attempting to pretend to be something that you are not in order to protect yourself from bigots.

You're still talking about identity in a broad sense strictly from your perspective on/understanding of the term. That doesn't mean that it's everyone's experience. You're not Schroedinger's human, both extant and not until observed. Identity may be refined through interaction but it is potentially defined in many different ways. In the case of pronoun choice, that's not about asking people to mirror back your identity to you, that's about asking people to not forcibly impose their own reality onto you. There is a distinction. Your framing makes it sound more like "speshul snowflakes need everyone to validate them" - that's not the point, at all.

And you mentioned that you were thinking of reading Heidegger this summer? If you have time to reddit you have time to read. Pick up an actual book, it'll do you good. You don't seem to have much of a sense of humor, maybe try this.

Any of Bill Bryson's books are very good, but in a similar vein try:

Notes From a Small Island, an account of his time in the UK while traveling the length of the country.

In a Sunburned Country his travels in Austrailia.

Neither Here nor There his travels in Europe.

And though it is not a travel book, my personal favorite by Bryson is a A Short History of Nearly Everything, a history of science along the lines of the the Edmund Burke TV show "Connections" that is how every science textbook should be written. Spring for the Illustrated edition as long as you don't want to carry it everywhere you read, it's too big and heavy to be a good coffee shop read.

Surprised I didn't see this:

Bill Bryson's A Short History of Nearly Everything

It's not as academically oriented as I think the OP would like, but it's a great read and surprisingly encompasses a lot. Bryson, if memory serves me, got his name in travel writing and he makes Short History very interesting and a good read.

A book, you say?

Just posting some useful tidbits from the Imperial Library.

Here are some comments by Douglas Goodall, a developer, around 2001, before Morrowind was released. There are a few comments about Khajiit there.

The Interview With Three Booksellers, also from 2001, is an interesting, Bethesda-approved commentary on Khajiit in general, including their moonphases.

I'd also recommend taking a look at the Infernal City and the Lord of Souls, as they have interesting sections on the Khajiit, as well as being a general good read for any fan of Elder Scrolls lore.

For the sake of completionism, despite it being mentioned by others here, the Pocket Guide to the Empire's section on the Elsweyr Confederacy and Mixed Unit Tactics are good reads, too.

And finally, here is a compilation of Khajiiti physiology, which attempts to helpfully explains the Lunar Lattice.

I know this is just a post full of links, but I hope this is helpful, and feel free, after having read the lore, to ask any further questions you may have.

Letters From A Nut is full of great stuff too.

• Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut
  
• 1984 by George Orwell
  
• Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
  
• Fight Club: A Novel by Chuck Palahniuk
  
• Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

Coincidentally, I also just learned this yesterday! Read in a book called How to Invent Everything: A Survival Guide for the Stranded Time Traveler

Best guess is January 20th, 2015.
Based on when Amazon say's they'll get it to me.
LINK HERE

James Lipton (yes, that James Lipton, from Inside the Actor's Studio) wrote a book about terms like these, called An Exaltation of Larks.

Plato and a Platypus Walk Into a Bar - amazon

Descartes' Meditations on First Philosophy - wiki

And even though it is pretty heavy philosophy, I can't leave out David Hume's A Treatise of Human Nature - wiki

These novels cover a few key points from the last 200 years: Lord of Souls and The Infernal City.
I haven't actually read them so please don't ask for a TL;DR.

There is one. http://www.amazon.com/Elder-Scrolls-Infernal-City/dp/0345508017

A second book is being written right now. Honestly, it's okay. Not an amazing book, but a nice way to get your Elder Scrolls fix before Skyrim comes out.

Here's my contribution:
http://www.amazon.com/Elder-Scrolls-Infernal-City/dp/0345508017/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1277970441&sr=8-1

Hello!

So, firstly, I should admit that I'm haven't been published that much - I only have one book out. However, as a college freshman, I believe I'm in a unique position to give you advice. I'd just say to do what feels right, you know? I don't deliberate over my decisions, I merely perform actions after utilizing my brain for a nanosecond, and look where I am! Hell, the only thing I've put a singular iota of effort into is my verbose style of communication, and I don't even have to make an effort anymore!

Actually, you may not have realized this, but your first two questions are inextricably bound! Cannabis is a wonderful tool for the young writer. It can inspire awe, promote brilliance, and just take the edge off when it necessitates removal. I must confess, I only smoke marijuana in cigarette form approximately thrice (hint - thrice:twice::three:two) a week, although I must say my usage spikes whenever I desire to fully utilize my vast writing prowess (I just partook in a joint three sixtieth-hours ago, if you are incapable of ascertaining that information from my gargantuan vocabulary).

Thanks for the questions!

Edit: Although I'd like for future questioners to try harder to stick to the script. As a cinephile, I know a lot about scripts! ;)

My first exposure to The Onion was actually through that book. Hard to believe there was a time when I could have found it in a bookstore before finding it online.

Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook?

Dude, you’re going to be a Dad. Cannot remember the author, but the audiobook narration was solid. Felt super informative too. And has good quotes to start each section.

Edit: Found the link finally after work; Dude, You're Gonna Be a Dad!: How to Get (Both of You) Through the Next 9 Months https://www.amazon.com/dp/1440505365/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_xatVBb21N3E69

Also, congratulations!! My wife is 12 weeks today, so I’m interested to see what others here recommend!

If we are to believe Lynne Truss, this depends on your country. Punctuation inside quotes is good enough for the New Yorker, but across the pond it would be considered uncouth. There is also a difference in the use of serial commas between the U.S. (love 'em) and Britain (hate 'em). I don't have a style guide around but I think there is an exemption to putting the comma inside quotes (in the US). This might be the case where you would put the comma outside the quotes. Damn my lack of a proper style guide, and damn my brain for picking up so much information about the comma.

http://www.amazon.com/Eats-Shoots-Leaves-Tolerance-Punctuation/dp/1592400876

Source.

I really like this one : Silman's Complete Endgame Course: From Beginner to Master

https://www.amazon.com/Silmans-Complete-Endgame-Course-Beginner/dp/1890085103

Silmans Complete Endgame Course: From Beginner to Master is often recommended here

http://www.amazon.com/The-Big-Coloring-Book-Vaginas/dp/B000R0HU92

Interestingly enough, this was the title of a book: "Why do men have nipples?" Which was a pretty good read in case anyone was interested. Mainly men have nipples because nipples are developed during fetal development, many male and female traits are developed at the same time during this stage. Only certain traits that ensure genetic success in eaither males or females are differentiated. It's all explained quite nicely here. And yes many mammalian males have nipples as they don't necessarily impact reproductive success.

"Dude you're gonna be a Dad" has been the most enjoyable to me. http://www.amazon.com/Dude-Youre-Gonna-Be-Dad/dp/1440505365

I just graduated from predaddit to daddit.

Those pregnancy months are intense. The weeks after...even more so. What I would suggest is to assume she is right and work from there. Her brain is going through a ton of changes with hormones that continue on into after the child is born.

One thing to remember is that right now her body is growing a human. It sounds weird, but when I thought about it as, holy crap, she's got a human in there, I pretty much went with her thoughts.

However, names, etc. Definitely have discussions about those things. Some of the ways you used to talk about things, you might have to switch. For example; if you would have said, "That's a dumb name" she might not have reacted at all, now, it might be the thing that sets her off. Think about more diplomatic methods of disagreeing with her.


I statements work for this pretty well. I feel.... or I like...


Be prepared for her to disagree with your suggestions simply on principal.

There is a good book called "Dude, You're Gonna Be a Dad" that might help you.

The two books I've read over the last 9 months are [Baby Meets World] (http://www.amazon.com/Baby-Meets-World-Smile-Toddle/dp/0312591349) and [Be Prepared: A Practical Handbook for New Dads] (http://www.beprepared.net/). Both have something different to offer.

Baby Meets World uses basic motions a baby makes - suck, smile, touch, and toddle - as launching points for baby care techniques. The author, Nicholas Day, examines current trends and opinions related to breast feeding, swaddling, pacifiers, etc. and historical practices along the same lines. The book is not good at telling parents what to do. It's strength is putting current trends in context, describing human development in the baby months, and offering often funny anecdotes about Day's own experience as a first time father. The big takeaway from the book is there are many ways to care for your child and you're free to choose what is best for your family.

Be Prepared, as the title suggests, is a how to book. Gary Greenberg, author of the Pop Up Book of Nightmares, offers up some something of a Boy Scout Handbook for early fatherhood. His guide is a sequential arc of a baby's development from the [baby's first day] (http://www.beprepared.net/samples_willnwont1.html) through his or her first birthday all with a good sense of humor. Greenberg describes various activities that will be both interesting to dad and help build baby's skills at different stages of development. I wish a second edition would come out to update some of the references, ditch the audio/visual equipment chapter (can be replaced with "Get a smartphone.") and add something about social media. A father friend of mine gave me this book and my wife and I enjoyed reading it on long car trips.

The one book I didn't like was the one my parents gave me: [Dude, You're Gonna Be a Dad!] (http://www.amazon.com/Dude-Youre-Gonna-Be-Dad/dp/1440505365) by John Pfeiffer. I've seen other people recommend it here, but, I really hate the tone of the book. My wife and I started hate reading it and, to Pfeiffer's credit, his writing did spark some important conversations early in the pregnancy. My biggest objection is the author's lazy portrayal of men as oafish self-centered douchebags - the kind that get you lots of karma in /r/cringepics. If the dad to be is an oafish self-centered douchebag, this book is great. The takeaway here is "Stop being a oafish self-centered douchebag! Step up your game and be a dad." I tend to see the men in this sub as already over that obstacle.

TL;DR [Baby Meets World] (http://www.amazon.com/Baby-Meets-World-Smile-Toddle/dp/0312591349) = interesting read. [Be Prepared: A Practical Handbook for New Dads] (http://www.beprepared.net/) = funny how to guide. [Dude, You're Gonna Be a Dad!] (http://www.amazon.com/Dude-Youre-Gonna-Be-Dad/dp/1440505365) = for douchebags.

A hint from Orson Scott Card on language, from his book "How to write science fiction and fantasy":

> If "megusabala" means "bread", type "bread"!

He goes on ranting about amateurs who create so many words because they think it's cool. He has a whole chapter on language, you should read it.

Anyway, one thing is to take language origins into account, another thing it's to use a language so foreign that it alienates your readers.

From my personal viewpoint, if you use a known language, you'll end up using the same words. For example, IIRC, Canaan means "home"; the Egyptian word for Nile is Iteru, which means "River". So there you have it, a country whose name is called " home", and another whose river is called "river". Bahamas comes from "The low seas". Geographic names are stupidly simple, but you get my point.

If you need to create a new language for every culture in your world, you'll end up requiring the reader to use a goddamn dictionary!

Spare the reader from the gory etymological details, and use invented words sparingly.

Three things:

1. Writing Excuses: 15 min podcast featuring Brandon Sanderson, Dan Wells, Howard Taylor, and Marry Robenette Kowal. They give amazing advice and have awesome guest stars (Pat Rothfus, Brandon Mull, John Scalzi, Dave Wolverton/Farland, off the top of my head)
   
   
2. On Writing: A memoir by Stephen King: First half is his life story (SUPER FASCINATING!) second half some the best writing advice there is.
   
   
3. How to Write Science Fiction and Fantasy by Orson Scott Card: Some of the advice is outdated, but most of it is still good.
   
   of course this is assuming from your use of the word creatively you are looking to do genre fiction. There is two pieces advice that all three sources will repeat endlessly
   
   
4. Read a lot
   
   
5. Write a lot
   
   Edit: Also see if your favorite author keeps a blog, as they will usually give writing advice in those as well. I know Card, Rothfus, Sanderson, and Wells all do.

I found Orson Scott Card's book on writing science fiction and fantasy to be illuminating.

http://www.amazon.com/How-Write-Science-Fiction-Fantasy/dp/158297103X

He has a chapter on world building and devotes a chapters to key aspects of writing within an established world. It's a quick read.

Orson Scott Card's book How to write Science Fiction & Fantasy is a great reference.

In terms of fantasy books, some of my favorites include:

• The Black Company by Glen Cook - great, memorable characters, a compelling storyline, and an author not afraid to kill off his characters to advance the plot
  
• The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher - urban fantasy about a Chicago wizard; Butcher is a magnificent storyteller.
  
• The Silmarillion and Unfinished Tales by JRR Tolkien. Not everyone's cup of tea but I love the intricate worldbuilding and the tragic stories.
  
• The Dark Angel trilogy - Meredith Ann Pierce - an unconventional heroine and a combination of romance, horror and magic.
  
• Lyonesse by SF&F Grand Master Jack Vance. Jack Vance has a unique writing style that is filled with noble and quirky characters, fascinating footnotes and a very rich story. This is one of those book series I re-read often.
  
• The Gift by Patrick O'Leary - perhaps one of the greatest single book fantasy novels I have ever read. Terrific story-inside-a-story construction, great characters and emotional impact.
  
• The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman. I love Neil Gaiman's writing voice and his many novels and short stories, but this is one of my favorites.
  
• Hawk of May and the other two books in the trilogy by Gillian Bradshaw. Imaginative telling of the story of Gwalchmai (aka Gawain) in the Arthurian cycle.
  

I thought you were referencing the book. :(

A nice little book on the subject of grammar. I gave it to my wife, a copy editor, and an English major, one Christmas.

http://www.amazon.com/Eats-Shoots-Leaves-Tolerance-Punctuation/dp/1592400876

I'm going to steal someone else's joke to explain this terrible crime. It's a tragic tale but when little Mobius was only five, his family sat down for a quiet Sunday dinner. Suddenly, the doorbell rings.

In walks this panda. He sits down at the table, eats, shoots, and leaves, killing both parents (no rape involved).

The panda, you see, didn't know he was just supposed to go into the bamboo grove in the back yard to "eat shoots and leaves." So he did what he thought he was told when he got off the bus.

It's right up there with the title of that book that complained about such things: Eats, Shoots and Leaves.

If you're aiming to compete, try doing all of the following if you can:
 

1- Find a chess teacher. A rating above 2000 is preferred
 

2- Get Chess books that teach the basics of tactics, strategy, and endgame.
 

3- Make an account on Chesstempo.com and start solving tactics
 

4- Play many rapid games online. Chess.com allows you to play for free
 

5-For book recommendations : Endgame/
Middlegame
-As for opening, you really need a mentor to guide you in choosing the best opening for you. If you want to learn some opening, this is a good basic book

First of all, never say 'opening tactics' again. I think you mean 'openings', 'opening principles' or 'opening strategy'. Strategy and tactics are a different thing, and in chess the difference is huge.


Endgames can be beautifully complicated even when they might appear simple at first. Chesstempo.com has an endgame trainer that is useful. You can also learn a lot from books (example) and youtube (example).


Playing a lot is essential to improvement. But so is analysing your games, studying material and tactics training.

Here's the book he wrote about it:

http://www.amazon.com/An-Exaltation-Larks-Ultimate-Edition/dp/0140170960

> An "exaltation of larks"? Yes! And a "leap of leopards," a "parliament of owls," an "ostentation of peacocks," a "smack of jellyfish," and a "murder of crows"! For those who have ever wondered if the familiar "pride of lions" and "gaggle of geese" were only the tip of a linguistic iceberg, James Lipton has provided the definitive answer: here are hundreds of equally pithy, and often poetic, terms unearthed by Mr. Lipton in the Books of Venery that were the constant study of anyone who aspired to the title of gentleman in the fifteenth century.

Yes, these were the result of a language game that was common a few centuries ago.

http://www.amazon.com/Exaltation-Larks-Ultimate-James-Lipton/dp/0140170960?ie=UTF8&*Version*=1&*entries*=0

If you like that, check out the book An Exaltation of Larks by James Lipton (yes, the "Inside the Actor's Studio" guy.) that is mentioned on the Wikipedia page. It has a great introduction about these "terms of venery" and some of their origins, a really comprehensive list with illustrations, and Lipton himself even gets into creating new ones. Very cool book.

> collective nouns

They are also referred to as Terms of Venery or "Company terms" and some of the earliest can be found in the Book of Saint Albans, pub. 1486. A good contemporary compendium of terms of Venery is an Exaltation of Larks pub. 1993.

I have a book that names different groups. It's called An Exaltation of Larks . Apparently a group of cockroaches is an "intrusion of cockroaches." "disagreement of statesmen." "explosion of italians."

An unofficial source has told me: "a carton of retards" .. unsure of veracity

Hi, I have a degree in Philosophy and teach Philosophy/English to high schooler. The following advice and recommendations are what I give my students who are interested in philosophy. I would not recommend Kant as an introduction (not that he's bad, but he is difficult to understand). Plato and a Platypus Walk into a Bar is a book that explains philosophical topics and questions through humor and uses jokes to illustrate the concepts. It is accessible and thought provoking. If you are interested in logic you might enjoy Logicomix. It is a graphic novel that gives a biographical narrative of Bertrand Russell, an English philosopher whose work is the basis of all modern logic. It is not a book about logic per se, but it does give a good introduction to what logic is and how it can be used. Also, Russell's book A History of Western Philosophy is a good place to start your education in philosophy. If you are interested in atheism, read Richard Dawkins' book The God Delusion. This book goes through the most common arguments for the existence of God, and debunks them using logic and reasoning. Good luck and read on!

http://www.amazon.com/The-Simpsons-Philosophy-Popular-Culture/dp/0812694333

http://www.amazon.com/Plato-Platypus-Walk-into-Understanding/dp/0143113879/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1343839215&sr=1-1&keywords=plato+and+a+platypus+walk+into+a+bar

These aren't really comic books, but they might be what you are looking for.

Thanks for mentioning you're seventeen; it does make a difference (to my mind!). M'colleagues below have recommended some pretty heavy reading, which I don't think is what you're really looking for on the face of it. If I were to recommend a book about philosophy to a seventeen-year-old, I wouldn't recommend a textbook, I'd recommend the following:

Plato and a Platypus walk into a bar. This is a book of jokes about philosophy. They're not very funny, but it's a good way to learn some ideas. Doesn't talk about people (old dead white men, for the most part); focuses on ideas.

The Pig that Wants to be Eaten. This is a little less frivolous; it's 100 little thought experiments. I'd say this is a bite-at-a-time book; read one, put the book down and think about it for a bit, then read another. I really enjoyed this.

Philosophy 101. This little volume is a pretty decent intro to some of the key ideas and thinkers of philosophy. No, it's not a textbook and it's not written by a professional philosopher, which is why I've recommended it. Its mistakes are small enough that if you get interested and start reading some more about the topic you'll pick up where the author went wrong pretty quickly. Again, this is a bite-at-a-time book.

Hope that helps, and of course if you find an idea and you have questions about it: ask away. :)

I've always heard good things about Edgar Rice Burrough's The Land that Time Forgot though I've sadly never read it myself. And, hey, it's free!

As far as science non-fiction, I consider A Short History of Nearly Everything to be absolutely essential since it covers so very much in a tremendously entertaining way. Also, if you are interested in physics but don't have any background in it I recommend any of Michio Kaku's books such as his latest Physics of the Future. He writes in an accessible manner that distills all the things that make the ongoing developments in physics exciting. I credit reading his books many years ago with getting me started in the sciences. Lastly, for learning about the universe, you can never go far wrong with Carl Sagan's Cosmos. It is easy to see from reading it why he is considered one of the greatest of the science popularizers.

Yep, there's some more too

Is anyone else noticing the parallel with these longer exchanges and the Letters From a Nut books? http://www.amazon.com/Letters-Nut-Ted-L-Nancy/dp/0380973545

A guy did a whole book of stuff like this about 13 or 14 years ago through snail mail. Some of them are a hoot.

http://www.amazon.com/Letters-Nut-Ted-L-Nancy/dp/0380973545

There's a whole book full of this stuff. You should give it a read ;)

That is NOT my experience in shopping for ebooks.

Chosen at random from my recommendations on amazon.com:

Breathless, same price as paperback

Full Dark, No Stars, Same price as paperback

Daniel X, -$1 from hardcover

The Art of Fielding: A Novel, +$1.88 over paperback

Killing Lincoln: The Shocking Assassination that Changed America Forever. = to hardcover

The Heroes of Olympus, Book Two: The Son of Neptune, -$1.41 over hardcover

Hell House, -$0.18 over paperback

Fight Club, -$2.57 over paperback

Prices are only slightly lower, if at all over physical books. Obviously this is a small sample, but whenever I go looking it is typically what I find.

Your overhead arguments are mostly false as well:

• marketing cost are equal for ebook vs physical
  
  
• royalties are equal for ebook vs physical
  
  
• conversion? The books are all edited electronically already and it only needs to be done once
  
  
• Data center storage is vastly less expensive than warehousing and retail shelf space space needed for physical books which should result in lower price
  
  
• you only need 1 secure digital copy, vs thousands of physical books which should result in lower price which should result in lower price
  
  
• ebooks need never be shipped which should result in lower price
  
  
• publishers will never overprint ebooks which should result in lower price
  
  edit: formatting

This is from Our Dumb Century, a brilliant book by Theonion.com

It's from their book Our Dumb Century from 1999, with faux front pages from every year of the 20th century.

They've made some good books (and some not-so-good ones), but this is by far the best IMO. And the design is great, it really really looks vintage. That makes the jokes work on a whole new level for me.

Pretty much anything by Chuck Palahniuk.

• Haunted is probably the most flabbergasting, but it's so off the wall and unrelentless that after awhile you'll probably become numb to it.
  
• Survivor involves an interesting look at fictional cult behavior. As a bonus, it's also full of everyday household cleaning tips ("Remove protein stains (esp. semen) from clothing with cold salt water then wash as usual.", "Clean up small shards of broken glass using a piece of bread.", etc.)
  
• Diary is about art school, conspiracy, and material excess. Not the most disturbing of his novels unless a critique on suburbanism would scare you (it did me).
  
• Fight Club, I assume, requires no explanation. It's worth reading if you've seen the movie.
  
• Choke is another that's been adapted to the screen, so probably doesn't need an explanation. But for the record, I found it more amusing than disturbing.
  
  edit: Also, American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis, Naked Lunch by William S. Burroughs, A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess. And The Road by Cormac McCarthy, but only for one scene around the middle... anyone who's read it knows what I mean. Other than that, I found it to be a very emotion-provoking novel, but not "disturbing" in the sense that I think you mean.

American Psycho by Brett Easton Ellis

<Ascendance of a Bookworm>

<Accomplishments of the Duke's Daughter>


There's the live action anime, Primitive Technology (remember to enable cc/subtitles)

The light novel, How to Invent Everything: A Survival Guide for the Stranded Time Traveler


Also try tech uplift, Giving Radio To The Romans, and One Man Industrial Revolution.

This is giving me major How To Invent Everything vibes. In a good way!

If a weird looking, weirdly speaking stranger came into your village and taught your tribe actual useful principles like modern crop rotation, germ theory, celestial navigation, and movable type... why wouldn't you think they were a prophet from God? For all practical purposes they would be!

How to Invent Everything: A Guide for the Stranded Time Traveler by Ryan North.

I just read the book How to Invent Everything: A Survival Guide for the Stranded Time Traveler by Ryan North.

It addresses the same kind of thing.

Highly suggest this book, its humorous twist makes it a fun read and it covers how to set up civilization when you (the time traveler) get stranded back in history!

If you have a game shop around they should have some. You can also get the "official" screen on Amazon. Either way they cost more than they're worth in my opinion. You can make your own that will work just as well, out of cardboard, duct tape, and some printed-out information.

The Official WotC 5E Screen is good for new players, but for more experienced DMs you might prefer a different one. It's high quality material, too, very thick and wide.

Got to be that - https://www.amazon.com/Worst-Case-Scenario-Survival-Handbook/dp/0811825558

Never seen Mythbusters. Have read this book though.

Check this out on AMZN:

The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0811825558/ref=cm_sw_r_an_am_ap_am_us?ie=UTF8

She needs to read this book. She'll get her answer and then some.

Why Do Men Have Nipples?

Actually a good coffee table book for those interested.

You should read the book: http://www.amazon.com/Nipples-Hundreds-Questions-Doctor-Martini/dp/1400082315

There's an entire book detailing these.

It's probably more common than the fact that a group of ravens is called an "unkindness."

Source (scanned from my copy of An Exaltation of Larks)

Book recommendation: An Exaltation of Larks, by James Lipton. Yes, THE James Lipton. https://www.amazon.com/Exaltation-Larks-Ultimate-James-Lipton/dp/0140170960

It is the book version of this reddit post with a history of terms.

Fun fact -- we know a lot of these terms because some guy researched them and published a book. That guy was James Lipton (yes, that one from Inside the Actors Studio), and here's the book.

Note: Lipton found some of the terms and made others up, and the two have become permanently intertwined -- so "pandemonium of parrots" was probably made up by Lipton, while "a murder of crows" was not.

An Exaltation of Larks is a particularly fun book about the subject.

For those new to philosophy, I'd recommend The Pig That Wants to Be Eaten: 100 Experiments for the Armchair Philosopher, as well as Plato and a Platypus Walk into a Bar. I'm not all the way through the second one but it seems interesting. These are fairly simple but interesting introductory books that teach you some of the issues philosophers deal with.

Hope this helps!

I'm 16 and this book helped me get a handle on the basics
It's a bit corny, but it's understandable and goes through ethics, logic, metaphysics, etc, as well as some of the well known philosophers.
You can flip through the first few pages to get a feel for it.

Sorry for the delay in getting back to you, I got hit with a pretty nasty respiratory bug which put me down for awhile.

Anyway, on to talking about a general plan for this project. I think that the best thing to do would be to start with a light touch, and see how well she takes to it.

With that in mind, I might recommend starting with 'Plato and a Platypus Walk into a Bar'. Plato and a Platypus is a cheap, and reasonably instructive (though superficial) introduction to a range of philosophical questions through jokes. It is a strange approach, but one I think works quite well as a something like a philosophical appetizer that introduces lots of interesting topics. It has a sequel focused on politics ("Aristotle and an Aardvark") which is also quite good. I will warn that not all of the jokes are appropriate for all audiences, so whether you like this book might depend on how liberal you feel like being regarding jokes featuring explicit language, adult themes, etc.

I also definitely recommend anything from the Oxford Very Short Introduction series, particularly (given your interests) the Very Short Introduction to Philosophy and Ethics. In my experience, the entire VSI series is excellent, and I've used some of them to teach philosophy at the community college level. They are extremely brief (they can fit into my pockets) and accessible, and also quite cheap (usually about 10 bucks a piece). They are written by leading experts on each given topic, and there is an enormous selection if you decide that you want to explore particular topics (Ancient Philosophy, Political Philosophy, Theology, etc). They will be a bit tougher than Plato and a Platypus in that they don't typically have much fluff, but should still be generally relatively accessible. The Ethics volume is pretty solid, built around a series of major questions that ethics needs to respond to. I will offer two warnings about the VSI series:
(1) VSI formatting is largely left up to the author, so the approach varies considerably from text to text. This allows authors to structure the material however they feel is best, which usually turns out great. Just be ready for some jumps in how they deal with things (e.g., the Ethics volume is divided into sections which each review some set of related questions and possible answers, while the Logic volume is problem centered and features new tools of formal logic to address various problems presented in each chapter)
(2) Authors of VSI are almost always working scholars with particular philosophical viewpoints - and this will come across in their texts. Expect some axes to be ground, and presuppositions assumed. That said, of the one's I've read (maybe 5 or so at this point), they still presented a rather fair overview of the field.

I think for books, you will be hard pressed to do better than Plato and a Platypus/Aristotle and an Aardvark to provoke the feeling that philosophy is worthwhile, and the Very Short Introduction series to provide an actual introduction into the field.

There are also some great philosophy podcasts. The best for a non-philosopher is likely "Philosophize This", which is a largely chronological review of a fair chunk of the most significant philosophers in history (even including some non-Western thinkers). Again, the material isn't explicitly aimed at younger folk, so there may be some touchy content, but it is generally an exceptional program. They have quite a backlog now (something like 90 episodes), so there is plenty of material there.

Also, I've found a couple of course plans for philosophy in middle school. The strongest looking one to me is this one from UNC. Definitely worth looking at as a way to structure your thoughts, but I would augment it with some of the resources covered above.

I think this would yield a pretty low cost way to test if this approach will work. Assuming you were to buy all four books I've mentioned, I think it would run a total of about $40 per person, which should make this a pretty light investment in terms of money. Likewise, the books are all relatively short, so you might make it through them in as little as a month (if you were really motivated).

I think the real trick will be in deciding where to go after the initial introduction has been made and more serious texts are being considered, but this will depend a lot on how this project develops. I think the best thing to do with that is to wait and see how things turn out, then plan the next leg of the introduction. I'll be around for the foreseeable future, and would be happy to help you figure that out when the time comes.

Let me know what you think, and keep me in the loop as the project unfolds. I am very interested in this project and would be happy to lend a hand when possible.

I would also recommend Plato and a Platypus Walk Into a Bar. I found the book extremely entertaining because of the corny jokes (and some of them are god awful), and it made some schools of philosophy easier to understand for me.

There is also a new blog someone from Reddit started yesterday, and it is highly entertaining.

If you really don't know any physics I guess I can see how it could be a difficult read. I think you should push through it slowly and try to understand it. That kind of understanding can blow your world up so large it's beyond description. I found it to be leisurely but I've had an interest in physics for at least five years. If you want to learn more about physics after this I recommend Brian Greene.

But if you want to move on to something else that won't make you feel stupid maybe try A Short History of Nearly Everything which tells of the scientists lives as they discovered important things through history. A People's History of the United States, on a different track, gives you American history through the eyes of the common people. Just thought I'd throw that in.

Don't abandon every hard book - we're all guilty of it but pushing your mind through some tough ones is never something you will regret on your deathbed. Know what I mean?

The thing is... Pluto is VERY far away.

>On a diagram of the solar system to scale, with Earth reduced to about the diameter of a pea, Jupiter would be over a thousand feet away and Pluto would be a mile and a half distant (and about the size of a bacterium, so you wouldn’t be able to see it anyway)

Source: Bill Bryson's A Short History of Nearly Everything Got I love this book. Seriously, if you love science but are a layman, read it, if you're very highly specialized as a scientist, read it, if you hated science in high-school then definitely read it.

This is the book you want:

A Short History of Nearly Everything

Bill Bryson's A Short History of Nearly Everything

The only real books there are of TES are "The Infernal City" and "Lord of Souls" which tell of some events between TES IV: Oblivion and TES V: Skyrim.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Elder-Scrolls-Infernal-City/dp/0345508017
http://www.amazon.com/Lord-Souls-Elder-Scrolls-Novel/dp/0345508025/ref=pd_bxgy_b_img_y

Well I mean theres the OBVIOUS choice
http://www.amazon.com/Elder-Scrolls-Infernal-City/dp/0345508017/ref=sr_1_sc_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1320577705&sr=8-1-spell
http://www.amazon.com/Lord-Souls-Elder-Scrolls-Novel/dp/0345508025/ref=sr_1_sc_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1320577705&sr=8-2-spell

The two Elder Scrolls Novels that bridge some of the gap of the 200 years and also bring a lot of the back story and history into play.

There are novels. Here's one on Amazon.

Actually I meant in-game books, but yes, there are indeed books. Some in-game-like versions in a limited order and the two-parter novel from Greg Keyes I can recommand:

http://www.amazon.com/Elder-Scrolls-Infernal-City/dp/0345508017/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1454184380&sr=8-1&keywords=the+infernal+city

http://www.amazon.com/Lord-Souls-Elder-Scrolls-Novel/dp/0345508025/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1454184380&sr=8-2&keywords=the+infernal+city

i laugh every single time I read the Letters from a Nut series by Ted L. Nancy. it depends on how you define clean humor though, these books are probably around pg-13 level (at worst).

If you want more craziness like this I'd suggest reading Letters from a nut

Letters from a Nut
Ted L Nancy is a genius.

Mine

Yours

It's the weekend! AND I MISSED YOU. I AM SO HAPPY YOU ARE BACK. This book would be nice! I have really gotten into this Author and would love to read more BY him!

Glamorama, by Bret Easton Ellis. It's a complete mind-fuck. It starts out as a portrait of the shallowness of celebrity culture, and then the protagonist gets involved with a Zoolander-esque group of model-terrorists, and then the book gets really, really weird. (The Zoolander reference probably isn't fair, since Ellis did it first.) Bombings, body doubles, black vans. You start questioning whether the protagonist is just going crazy.

You also might enjoy some Chuck Palahniuk. Fight Club (of course) or Rant.

This coloring book is pretty awesome!

I'm finally about to start a new job, and will be able to pay my bills off way faster than planned. By doing this, I will be able to have a better life WAY sooner than expected!

I'm totally buying this one.

[Coloring for Grown-Ups: The Adult Activity Book] (https://www.amazon.com/dp/0452298253/ref=cm_sw_r_awd_6Vxvub0ZR1011)

I love my inner child!

I second the prismacolors, I swear by them as an artist and an art teacher. I also suggest a battery-operated electric eraser, they are a game changer in prismacolor drawing. Here's a cheap one:


Depending on your mom's taste and sense of humor, here are 3 of my favorite off-beat coloring books (way better than just mandalas and stuff):


This crass one is my favorite

Unicorns are Jerks - funny but not offensive

[Thrill Murray, the Bill MUrray coloring book (weird but fun, lots of Wes Anderson film stuff) ] (https://www.amazon.com/Thrill-Murray-coloring-book-Coley/dp/0957490909/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1482086999&sr=1-1)

You could also consider making her your very own coloring book. One of my art students made me one that was all pictures of dinosaurs and cats riding on bicycles (my 3 favorite things). If you can't draw, it's super easy to turn photographs into drawing pages with Adobe Illustrator or similar.

You could also get her some frames so she can display her favorite completed pages.

Got her this one and this one

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)

Just because of the nature of chess and go outside Asia, there's a lot more terrible chess players out there. If your friends aren't serious, you could probably at least give a good fight to all of them after going through this book. (corollary: if they are serious, you will probably never beat them unless you're serious about chess too).

There is always an opportunity cost, though. If you REALLY want to get good at go, splitting your time into another game is always going to hurt you.

Once you decide to get in into chess, no matter how good you are, you start to notice just how many people participate in global chess beyond a game occasionally played with friends/family. If you want to get into chess, you should really buy yourself a couple of books, starting at a child's level, and go from there. I would really suggest Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess by Bobby Fischer himself as a good, easy, interactive starting point to learning how to solve chess logic puzzles and situations. I didn't know about chess puzzles until I got into them, and I like them more than Sudoku and Crossword Puzzles now. After understanding a bit, then you can really benefit from the tons of videos online. And of course, nothing beats playing chess just by itself to learn!

Would it not be just as easy to ask /r/chess?

Anyway, in addition to what /u/Dazvac has said, you'll also want to learn about tactics; this is probably the most important part of chess. You can learn about them here and practice them here. Read through the first few pages of each chapter of the former site, then see if you can obtain the answers to the rest of the pages in each chapter. When you're fairly confident with the material in it, then train with the latter site. Don't worry if you fail the first 200 problems or so; you'll soon get to a point where the tactics are at your level (if you create an account).

As for reading material, I would suggest the two books "Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess" and "Logical Chess Move By Move". You can easily find pirated PDF copies online, but you can also buy them here and here. "Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess" mainly focuses around checkmating the king; "Logical Chess Move By Move" walks through games explaining EVERY SINGLE MOVE. It's also best if you have a chessboard set up when you read "Logical Chess", as it sometimes lists variations.

So here is, in summary, what the full list is:

1. Learn the values of each piece (see first table), and make sure you can immediately see the 8 squares a knight can move to from anywhere on the board. Also learn algebraic notation, as that's used almost everywhere now. Finally, make sure you know correctly the rules of pawn promotion, castling, and en passant.
   
   
2. Simple endgames (RQ, RR, Q, R, BB, BN, P). You can easily learn these online with a bit of searching. Recommended reading: "Silman's Complete Endgame Course"
   
   
3. Learn the strengths of each square; most notably the centre, and the weakness of the f-file and h-file pawns.
   
   
4. Learn the opening lines. I'd actually disagree with this; one should learn the general principles of the opening instead; namely:
   
   
5. Control the centre. This means developing knights to the c3 and f3 squares for white, c6 and f6 squares for black, and moving your d- and e- pawns two spaces forwards so as to gain space in the centre.
   
   
6. Develop all your pieces. That is to say, move all of them off the back rank. Start off with your minor pieces (knights and bishops). Leave your queen and rooks until quite a bit later.
   
   
7. Castle your king. This is to make it less susceptible to attacks, which are easier to direct towards the centre.
   
   
8. Open the centre once you have done all this. This is often done by exchanging pawns in the centre.
   
   
9. Tactics, tactics, tactics. Did I mention tactics?
   
   
10. Find some opponents to play with. Stronger opponents will show you your weaknesses, opponents of similar ability will bring you delight when you win, and weaker opponents will give you chances to experiment with different play styles and openings.
    
    
11. Tactics. Seriously, that's how important they are.
    
    
12. When you're up material, don't hesitate to trade away material. It makes the game harder for your opponent to win.
    
    
13. Finally, check out /r/chess; it has a wealth of information.

These two might be good, but I can't really speak from personal experience.

http://daveschloss.com/chesskid.htm

https://www.amazon.com/Bobby-Fischer-Teaches-Chess/dp/0553263153

Saw them on a Chess.com beginner recommendation list or something like that.

You can sign up and play on these websites.

1.chess.com

2.lichess.org

3.chess24.com

​

Watch beginner videos on youtube. You can subscribe to these channels and watch their videos regularly. Many of these channels are not entirely aimed at beginners. You can watch them for entertainment and learn chess history too.

1.https://www.youtube.com/user/AGADMATOR

2.https://www.youtube.com/user/ChessNetwork

3.https://www.youtube.com/user/STLChessClub

4.https://www.youtube.com/user/wwwChesscom

5.https://www.youtube.com/user/RosenChess

6.https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqLLqbclDQ6IQg39Wsgy-4w

7.https://www.youtube.com/user/PowerPlayChess

8.https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWRXqVXhkHYp9HU9gJATgJA

Check out these books that are great for beginners and intermediate players.

1.https://www.amazon.com/Bobby-Fischer-Teaches-Chess/dp/0553263153/

2.https://www.amazon.com/Chess-Tactics-Champions-step-step/dp/081293671X/

Years ago, The Onion published Our Dumb Century, a book of (intentionally) fake news about the twentieth century. This GIF couldn't help but remind me of one of its parody headlines: "Whites Eagerly Await Release of Windows 95".

I bought their book back in 99:

https://www.amazon.com/Our-Dumb-Century-Presents-Headlines/dp/0609804618

> and so it's fun to see people's reactions when they hear about it. Besides, this is not NEARLY the weirdest thing about me.

Well, you almost had me think you're /u/Warlizard. If you want to suddenly seem perfectly normal, I recommend you to buy his book. GF got me one as a gift. It's... well, it's quite something. I recommend it.

You can find stories from the book in comments he left in various askreddit threads and such.

Every time I see you, I just kind of want to post this. More people need to read that.

He wrote a book. And another one.

Alright, you win.

I would give you gold, but instead im gonna buy your book.

At least it is shows as available on amazon.de where it also offers the audible version vor 0€.

Edit: Also the whole book is readable through Google Books

1. "Emails from an Asshole"
   
2. I'll Go Home Then, It's Warm and Has Chairs. The Unpublished Emails (The reviews claim that the emails were published.. but its still amusing anyways)
   
3. [The Warlizard Chronicles: Adventures with Vodka, Women, & War] (http://www.amazon.com/Warlizard-Chronicles-Adventures-Vodka-Women/dp/0615461875) By one of our very own reddit users /u/warlizard
   
   
   Granted these are humor books so its going to be more entertaining than helpful.

I'd say American Psycho This book is absolutely amazing, and one of the best I've read. I've always been intrigued by the human mind. What makes people the way they are, and do the things the do. Love the true crime genre, etc etc. I think that Bret Easton Ellis did an amazing job of putting you in the mind of one of the most depraved, narcissistic, terrible (yet somehow almost likeable) fictional characters you could imagine. All I can say is, if you want to read something much different, then read this. (if you haven't already). Also, it's VERY graphic, so be warned. :)

1. American Psycho- by Bret Easton Ellis
   2.10/10
   
2. Humor, Action, Psychology, Satire "Horror".
   
3. Deeply interesting and humorous in all of most parts, it was like my Bible for the days that I read it.
   
4. Amazon

I haven't read any of these, but I'm fairly certain they would interest you:

American Psycho
Lucky
The Lovely Bones

The first one I am sure would be what you're looking for, the other two maybe not so much--not to mention I think they focus more on the emotion and psychological aspects--but they came to mind.

He wasn't. Source. Sorry to spoil it for you.

Some movies are based off of books

There is a book called "How to Invent Everything" that, supposedly, will help you restart civilization after the apocalypse.
https://www.amazon.com/How-Invent-Everything-Survival-Stranded/dp/073522014X

You may be interested in the book, How to Invent Everything: A How to guide for a Stranded Time Traveler

They seem to be planning a release for Jan 20, 2015.

There is a screen with the Murder in Baldur's Gate adventure. And (maybe) with Legacy of the Crystal Shard? But these don't have 5e rules content; just setting-specific stuff.

regular D&D screen is good and cheap

edit: oh 3.5, sorry I'm not too sure then.

First off, sorry for the length. I had nothing else to do and a session tonight, so I've got a DnD itch and a lot of time. I just got carried away and enjoy writing. It's super close to the comment character limit. :/

Intro

So, how to start DnD. It's good to see how it plays. I find Critical Role to be a good place to start. The DM is Mattew Mercer, who is great and moving things along, and the players are all voice actors, so it's nice to listen to. CR is a bit unusual in how well behaved the players are, if you run the game, expect your players to be more annoying. I recommend starting with episode 14, "Shopping and Shipping" as you can pick it up easily, and everything gets a bit better at that point as the new arc starts.

It's also a good idea to figure out what system to use. 5th edition is the current one. I find it to be fairly simple on the surface, with a lot of extra detail in the supplementary books. It's very flexible in tone and complexity, and a solid foundation I expect to see a lot of extra content piled on top of, with extra classes, rules, monsters, etc, in later supplementary books. 5e is probably the best place to start.

---

What you need

First off, you need friends! I know it may seem cliché, but it is true. You want one person to run the game (the DM) and 3 or 4 (maybe 5, but no more if the DM is new) people to play an individual character. If you don't have enough friends to do DnD, you can probably find new friends with something called The Adventurer's League. You also need a set (or a few) of dice, which contain 6 to 7 different dice. You have a 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, and the most-used 20 sided dice. You also have a "d100"^1 which is a d10 that counts in 10s. They're a bit unusual in early play, so don't worry. Last but not least you need the rules. The basic rules can be found here. If you want the complete rules and a few extra books, I'll PM you. Chaotic Good PDFs are frowned upon here.

Finally, you need to actually play is a story and a Dungeon Master. You can get prewritten stories and adventures that give the DM a framework to build around for money, although I have the 5th ed beginner adventure somewhere on my PC. (It's really useful for a beginner DM.) The DM can also create their own, but that needs a lot of effort. The DM acts as an arbitrator. They say how difficult it is do something, what happens when it's done, what the players see when they go somewhere, etc. They also role-play NPCs, decide what actions enemies take, etc. They are less a player and more the world the players are in.

---

The two main roles.

The Dungeon Master (Or Mistress)

The DM is often the person that brings the party together, finds people to play DnD, and ties it all together. However, they are not the most important, as that's a bad mindset to have. A DM without players is a person having conversations in their head. It's a symbiotic thing.

Being a DM is very hard, but also by far the most rewarding role if you have the skill and motivation. Being a DM is thinking up the bagpipe gag, is creating a cool city, is roleplaying the city guards who have no time for the player's shit and the shopkeep that warmly welcomes them. It is the role with the most freedom, as you can shape the campaign however you like. (As long as you don't drive your players away.) However, you need to know a lot of the rules by heart (it's easier than it sounds) and a good dose of creativity. The scheming, toying with the players and their emotions^2 all makes it worth it in the end. This is a bit long, but if you fancy the idea of being the DM I'll make a followup "How to DM." comment.

I also fancy the role of the DM myself as it feels like I'm making a world of facades very quickly, faster than the players can notice. The NPCs are fleshed out enough to survive one session without seeming two dimensional, but are not nearly as intricate as the player's characters. Physical locations have enough detail to tide the players over while I make more. However, if the players show particular interest in a character or place, I can build behind that facade to make the thing more and more realistic the closer the players look between running sessions. I also have a lot of pre-made things I can pull up. I might have a general set of bars with different qualities and a cursory list of their stock, with different names for different locations. So if the players go to a seedy bar in a dwarven city, I pull up a seedy bar template and add dwarven flavor to it. I'll also note down any on-the-fly descriptions for later use. If the players start to go regularly, I'll add detail. I'll create regulars with personalities and stories to them, I'll create notable events in the bar's history, etc. That feeling of going from pulling things together quickly to make it seem good enough, then after the session spending hours taking slower more thought out routes to flesh something out.

The Players

This section will be a bit less meaty. The players create a character from a set of races and a set of classes (some books have extra races and classes, and you can take levels in more than one class. So instead of being a level 10 ranger, you could be a level 10 character that is a 3rd level rogue and a 7th level ranger.) They have a sheet that holds the information they need to play their character, that details weapons, spells, abilities, HP, stats, proficiency, what skills they have, etc. Often the player will write a few sentences or paragraphs on their character and their backstory.

You also have personality outlines, which consists of (normally, you can change it up for fun)

• 2 general traits (Like, "I am new to these foreign lands, and have numerous strange but minor customs others may find confusing.")
  
  
• An overall ideal (such as "law keeps society together, those that break it should be punished.")
  
  
• A bond they have (like: "I'm the successor to a major title, but my family was deposed. Some day I'll regain it.") that they will either constantly work on, or be called to fulfill. (like protecting an object from attack.
  
  
• A flaw they have. (Like "I'm quick to anger, and can hold a long grudge." This could lead to a misunderstanding creating long-term animosity between a player and an important NPC.)
  
  These outlines are used to help the player get in the mindset of their character, and to role-play them better. So if the player outlined above is meeting a noble, because the noble's connections could help them regain their land, and they greet them in accordance with their strange customs, the noble remarks unfavorably about them, then the player should role play not liking the noble, but they shouldn't try and attack them, because that's outside the law. Stuff like that is what makes the player characters so much more complex. Also, don't take my talking up of the DM's role to diminish the player, they can have plenty of fun.
  
  Also, there are many types of players, and they often not just co-exist but may even require other types to do well. Some players just want to see what happens and play DnD, whereas others seize the initiative and direct the group. A party with too many of the first will do very little, and a party with too many of the second will do nothing but bicker. Also, some players are recluse and have a hard time roleplaying their character. Other players like playing hard to role play characters, and their willingness to set themselves up for possible failure (in roleplaying) might help nervous players come out of their shell. Some players make super strong characters without thinking about story, and others make weaker ones because all they think about is story. The strong characters will help the party in combat, the story characters will help the drama aspect of DnD that makes it so engaging. Some pay tons of attention, and can fill in those that don't. And so on. Together, you can get one functioning party!
  
  ---
  
  

  Buying things!
  

  
  

1. The starter set is great. It has rerolled character sheets, the basic rules, and an adventure that holds the hand of the DM more than others, but also provides plenty of room for growth. Also, it's not even 15 bucks on Amazon.
   
   
2. Dice. The starter set ones mysteriously all seem to be cursed to roll low, so new dice are good. Chessex looks good and is cheap, and Q-workshop are expensive but amazing.
   
   
3. Dungeon master's screen. Hides notes & rolls, looks nice, and has a quick-lookup of stuff on the back. About 10 bucks, I highly recommend it.
   
   ---
   
   

   Footnotes
   

   
   ^1 Dice are referred to as d[number of sides.] So a 20-sided one is a d20, and so on. If multiple dice need to be rolled, like with a Greatsword, it's shown as 2d6 + [modifier], where you roll 2 six-sided dice, add that together, then add a fixed modifier. The rules have more detail.
   
   ^2 Randomly rolling dice to make them nervous, evily grinning when the players ask something even if the thing is absolutely fine, having that little smile when the players ask if those bagpipes are silent or not, asking the players if they're totally sure if they want to do something then making them live with the consequences are all ways to mess with them.

http://www.amazon.com/Dungeon-Masters-Screen-Accessory/dp/0786965630/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1420912376&sr=8-1&keywords=dm+screen

https://www.amazon.com/Dungeon-Masters-Screen-Accessory/dp/0786965630

That what you meant is the damage bonus, which is an entirely seperate thing. When you attack, you roll 1d20+proficiency+atk.bonus and for damage you would roll in this case 1d6+damage bonus. With shortswords and as a rogue you would use your DEX, so if you would be level 1, and have a dex of 16 (bonus of +3), the calculation goes as follows:

attack: 1d20+proficiency(+2)+Dex(+3)

damage: 1d6+Dex(+3)

First of all, here is a link to the Basic Rules, which are provided by WotC for free.

To familiarize yourself with how the numbers on a character sheet are created, I suggest that you try to "reverse engineer" the character sheets that come with the adventure (you can download the sheets of the adventure here and you can find additional pregenerated characters here). Say if you have a problem at any point.

>[...] how does a DM know when those other stats are needed? His discretion?

As for how ability checks and skills are used, check out p. 57ff. of the Basic Rules. Yes, it is always the DM's discretion that decides when a player has to make an ability check. The adventure from the starter pack will include many such abilitychecks, and it always says, which ability is used and what the difficulty of the check is. You can take that as a guideline.

>Does the DM get to decide the difficulty of everything like a trap or a boulder the player has picked up?

Page 58 of the Basic Rules includes a short list of "Typical Difficulty Classes" as a guideline for the DM. 10 is easy, 15 is medium, and so on.

>I also sort of assume it's up to the DM to say "roll a stealth check and roll a strength check etc."

That's correct.

>Is there a list of what each monster's AC is and if so where can I find that? The monster's handbook or is there somewhere free?

Every monster that appears in the adventure is described at the end of the adventure that comes with the Starter Set, including its stat block, which its AC is a part of. You can find additional monster stat blocks in the DM-Basic Rules for free.

>Can I buy just one starter set and one player handbook and be set? Or would you also recommend the DM guide to someone who has never DMed before?

At the beginning you do not need anything beyond what is included in the Starter Set. It might be helpful to print an additional version of the Basic Rules for your players (which I linked to earlier and and they are also included in the Starter Set). However, while the Starter Set comes with one set of dice, I suggest that you get additional dice sets. For the first session, it might suffice to get one for the DM and one for the players, but ideally everyone has his own set of dice (and the higher the level the players are, the more dice are rolled).

As for the DMG or other books, I would hold off on any additional books until you have a few sessions under your belt, or even played through the adventure that comes with the Starter Set.

>What do you guys use on the back of a DM screen more than anything?

With back you mean the player side? I bought the standard 5e Screen, but you could simply assemble your own screen. You will know from experience which resources you might want to put there the most. I also use the screen to keep track of initiative by placing folded paper with the players'/monsters' names on them on the top of it. For the beginning, a simple piece of cardboard is enough, or you could simply go without a screen at all.
___

Additionally, may I suggest that you check out (Spoilers in the next link) this youtube series by WotC in which an experienced
DM plays through the first part of LMoP with a miyed group of experienced players and newbies.

Your players don't have to be experts prior to the game, but they should read the Basic Rules (p. 57 - 77) at least once,
so they know their options. The Dungeon Master generally is expected to have a better grasp on the game and should read
them multiple times in addition to the adventure they are currently playing, so he knows what is going on. Expect the
game to be a little slow the first time you play, as you have to get familiar with the rules, so basically it is the
same as for any more complex board game.

The Starter Set comes with pregenerated characters, and I suggest to use them (as did my group when we first started). While it is fun to create your own characters, playing a prewritten character allows you to concentrate on the game instead of your character too much.

I just bought mine off Amazon

Ah sorry I didn't clarify. Forgot there were different official screens.
Mine is this the dimensions of which are 26.6cm by 20.8cm per panel.

No space for inserts, just going to stick them over the top

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0786965630/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?qid=1458580204&sr=8-1&pi=SY200_QL40&keywords=5e+dm+screen&dpPl=1&dpID=51btvDVPo-L&ref=plSrch

That's the link for the same screen the other user posted on amazon. I use This screen for 5e, and I particularly find the status conditions to be very useful on it.

Could just get the D&D one from Amazon. It's $10.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0786965630/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

http://www.amazon.ca/D-Dungeon-Masters-Screen/product-reviews/0786965630/ref=dpx_acr_txt?showViewpoints=1

seems like a lot of the more 'useful' tables are missing. Useful is relative though I suppose.

Worst Case Scenario, maybe?

http://www.amazon.com/Worst-Case-Scenario-Survival-Handbook/dp/0811825558/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1370191051&sr=1-1&keywords=worst+case+scenario

Here is a gift idea:

http://www.amazon.com/Worst-Case-Scenario-Survival-Handbook/dp/0811825558/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1463583081&sr=1-1&keywords=the+worst+case+scenario+book&refinements=p_n_feature_browse-bin%3A2656022011

Make sure you get two copies, in case he loses one.

Ugh, it's at my mom's house right now. Let me do some searching online real fast and see if I can find it.


Here it is.


http://www.amazon.com/Worst-Case-Scenario-Survival-Handbook/dp/0811825558

There's a book you should read

then you'd like this book

My sister is a lesbian and on the back of the toilet in their guest bathroom they have this book

There's a book by the same name that answers that:
http://www.amazon.com/Nipples-Hundreds-Questions-Doctor-Martini/dp/1400082315/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1342245205&sr=8-1&keywords=why+do+men+have+nipples

I purchased the book Why Do Men Have Nipples? Hundreds of Questions You'd Only Ask a Doctor After Your Third Martini for my dad after he asked me this question.

Congrats! This is a good book for you for the next 7.5 months. It is not so much about what to do with a new baby, but I found it an easy and someone useful info for being a good partner in pregnancy.

Dude You're Gonna Be a Dad!

I used this one. Helped me understand some of the stuff that was going to happen. That being said, I would suggest you learn to tolerate an extra sprinkle of crazy that your wife will exhibit. Congratulations and good luck!!!

https://www.amazon.com/Dude-Youre-Gonna-Be-Dad/dp/1440505365/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1539975454&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=dude+you+are+gonna+be+a+dad&dpPl=1&dpID=51UysnNAM-L&ref=plSrch

This was really the only good "Dad" book I read that did not make me lose sleep. http://www.amazon.com/Dude-Youre-Gonna-Be-Dad/dp/1440505365/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1412723216&sr=8-4&keywords=dads+guide+to+pregnancy

My husband was gifted this book by our best friends (who have kids). It opened his virgin-to-babies eyes. He learned a ton and we talked about what he was learning. I've noticed him becoming even more attentive to me and planning for our little family's future.

I bought him Dude You’re Going To Be A Dad

Dude, You're Gonna Be a Dad!: How to Get (Both of You) Through the Next 9 Months https://www.amazon.com/dp/1440505365/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_KO6OBbA9N25J0

I picked up Dude, You're going to be a dad before our first was born. SHe's now 3, and we have a 15 month old. Its such a fun ride.. congrats!

I used "dude, your going to be a dad!"

It's not a huge book and actually a pretty fun read with an overview of what's going on. Think of it as supplemental. Some good tips as well.

Dude, You're Gonna Be a Dad!: How to Get (Both of You) Through the Next 9 Months https://www.amazon.com/dp/1440505365/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_kMfNzb5YTJK4Q

> how much he neeeeedddssss it

I would say you should explain to him that you neeeeeed him to respect you in this and to have some compassion.

I got my husband a copy of the Expectant Father and he's found it helpful and informative. If your guy won't listen when you explain what you need, maybe he'll listen if it's coming from a book. Or, no offense, I'm sure he's a great guy and has tons of redeeming qualities, but if he's as immature as this post makes him sound, maybe Dude, You're Gonna be a Dad might be more his speed.

Also, explain to him that pregnancy pulls crazy shit with our senses of smell, and for now you need him to either stop using his cologne or understand that he needs to wash it off before you can be near him.

But as far as meeting those neeeeeeds of his ... would it be nuts to take a trip to your local woman-owned sex toy shop to look for some toys to tide him over? There are some very classy men's masturbation devices out there, like tenga (nsfw) though they can get pricey. Maybe seeing that you still care about his sex needs would help him feel better, even if you're not able to drain his nuts yourself?

I haven't read this one yet but it was recommended at one of our child birthing classes from this week: http://www.amazon.com/Dude-Youre-Gonna-Be-Dad/dp/1440505365

My wife picked up Dude your gonna be a dad shortly after we found out. It is written in a really informal style, which put me off a bit at first, but as my wife read her books and we "compared notes" I realized it has alot of really good information in it.

I haven't read them yet, but I got this book and this book for my husband, they were highly rated.

As someone that has much of this problem as well all I can say is reading books or following courses on writing fantasy.

Personally I really appreaciated the two books from Orson Scott Card (Ender's Game if anyone does not know him) which are: How to write science fiction and fantasy and Characters and viewpoint.

There are also uploaded on Youtube the lectures held by Brandon Sanderson (MIstborn) which are free to watch and great to get abearing on writing. Here's the most recent one.

How to Write Science Fiction & Fantasy by Orson Scott Card.

Two of my favorites, from two of the all-time best science fiction writers:

How to Write Science Fiction and Fantasy by Orson Scott Card

World-Building by Stephen L. Gillett and Ben Bova

Both look at it from more of a writing standpoint, but they're great resources for RPGers or hobbyists too.

Eats, Shoots and Leaves

Eats, Shoots & Leaves

Enjoy a good book that covers both the topic of pandas and apostrophes.

From my personal experience I have always found chess books to be boring in the very least. I have only read 1 or 2 books that have managed to keep me interested and one of them is Silman's Complete Endgame Course.

I thought this book was good for a few reasons.

1. It is split into rating categories, which gives the reader a goal to aim for.
   
2. The book starts with very basic principles such as mating with a queen, then queen and rook, two rooks... etc.
   
3. The writing itself is interesting and motivating. The writing was not always dead serious analysis, in fact, it presented problems in an interesting manner. There are end of chapter tests that help you decide whether or not you understand the material within the chapter. The puzzles are given and then solutions are quite thorough because not only do they give you the answer, but they also incorporate common misconceptions that may come across a player's mind.
   
   In regards to immediately practical advice:
   
   If you're having trouble with game situations and nerves, I would suggest playing out positions with a friend. For example, if you are learning how to mate with a Queen and King vs King, you can set up a position over the board and play with a friend. This way you can practice and there is no pressure because you can take back incorrect moves. (Or if finding someone to play with is difficult, I recommend playing against an engine. Although that may be intimidating, you can always reduce its strength so that it shouldn't be a problem.)
   
   I hope my advice has been helpful!

First off, your best bet is indeed practicing tactics problems on Chesstempo.com. The great thing about that site is that it will give you problems at your appropriate difficulty, and you can keep solving problems as long as you want (no daily limits like there are on Chess.com). It's just like lifting weights or anything - the more you practice, the stronger you will get.

Meanwhile, a consensus seems to be that the first thing you should study are checkmate patterns and endgames in general. I personally like Jeremy Silman's Complete Endgame Course, which goes from beginner-level endgames to far more advanced endgames. And although many discourage simply memorizing opening lines, find some that work for you and memorize a handful. Maybe five or so. More importantly than the memorization is understanding the reasoning behind the moves. For example, are the moves designed to grab a strong presence in the center, or is it specifically geared towards an attack on the opponent's queen-side for example? Don't just memorize openings without understanding why the moves are what they are and what they hope to accomplish. Surprisingly, I think the Wikipedia Chess Opening Theory Wikibook is a fantastic resource for all this.

If you're just starting, silman's endgame course is the best book. Silman's endgame course starts from absolute beginner up to ~2000. If you go through silman's endgame manual and dvoretsky's endgame manual, should be the only books you need for endgames until ~2400

Dvoretsky's endgame manual is universally known as the gold standard for what a player needs to know about the endgame. But it's hard to understand, so take time to ease into it.

Studying from books (Pawn Structure and Endgame) and analyzing my own games (WITHOUT an engine) are probably the two major factors in my growth in chess.

Soltis's Pawn Structure Chess and Silman's Complete Endgame Course are my two top recommendations.

for years to follow:
http://www.amazon.com/Cunt-Coloring-Book-Tee-Corinne/dp/0867193719

http://www.amazon.com/The-Big-Coloring-Book-Vaginas/dp/B000R0HU92

The Big Coloring Book of Vaginas and a package of Colored Pencils

I would probably go with humor. Maybe this or this?

Here you go, straight from Amazon.

I hope this isn't too expensive, but check out this Big Coloring Book of Vaginas!

This was under the "Customers who bought this also bought" section... I am intrigued.

how aboutttttttttttttttttttttttttttttt THIS

May I present to you another version, The Big Coloring Book of Vaginas.

Source: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000R0HU92

The Big Coloring Book of Vaginas is only $12.

http://www.amazon.com/Nipples-Hundreds-Questions-Doctor-Martini/dp/1400082315

... along with similar books. I also want to say Quotationary, with over 20,000 quotes, but that book is MASSIVE.

Here ya go: http://www.amazon.com/Nipples-Hundreds-Questions-Doctor-Martini/dp/1400082315

The ebook is for sale on Amazon here. I think I will need a couple Martinis to buy this one.

Congrats!

I found this book to be really helpful and well written.

https://www.amazon.com/Dude-Youre-Gonna-Be-Dad/dp/1440505365/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_14_img_2?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=TDHWHW231P89TR81TDZ8

I made a little dad prep kit: an extra large 'Papa Bear' mug, Dude, You're Going to Be a Dad, Oreos (since we can't celebrate with wine!), and the tests in a heart polka dotted bag. He loved it!

Yes! I bitched on here about my situation a while ago. I bought my SO this book and gave it to him when I found out I was pregnant, but he didn’t start reading it until recently (I’m almost 32 weeks). I had a major meltdown a couple weeks ago where I told him that I didn’t feel like he was being emotionally supportive. After having talked to friends and family, I found out that this can be normal for men.. and it does not mean they won’t be good fathers. I ended up signing us up for a childbirth class, as well as a baby basics class. We’ve had 2 out of 5 classes so far and he’s been attentive and will interact with me in class, which I didn’t expect at all.

Maybe he’s like my partner, and giving him that little push will help. Have you communicated any of this with him?

Mine has enjoyed "Dude, You're Going to be a Dad"

Okay, so I'm not home so these are the few off the top of my head that I can remember I've read and loved.

• On Writing Well - this book was used for my Script Writing class in college - I loved it, and I still have it on my bookshelf.
  
  
• How to Write Science Fiction and Fantasy - This book by Orson Scott Card is genre themed, but I really suggest it no matter what genre you write. It's just a great source to have all around.
  
  
• No Plot? No Problem - Somewhat humorous take on those of us who procrastinate and have lots of writers block.
  
  
• Wonderbook: The Illustrated Guide to Creating Imaginative Fiction - Okay, so I haven't read this yet, but it looks amazing and I might actually just pick it up myself.
  
  
• Book In A Month - Okay, so this isn't really in the same category, but it's incredibly hands-on, fun book that can really, really, really help with outlining. I always suggest this book to people who participate in NaNoWriMo, because it's just super helpful.
  
  I hope one of these can help out!

Sure anytime
Try checking this book out it has some great tips
https://www.amazon.com/How-Write-Science-Fiction-Fantasy/dp/158297103X

There were three indispensable tools for me as a DM:

Dungon Master for Dummies -- Seriously, this is a fantastic book. It was written for 3rd Edition, but most of the book's advice is relevant for any RPG. Both authors have a long pedigree in designing and writing for D&D.

Sly Flourish's The Lazy Dungeon Master -- This book is now on its second edition ("The Return of...") and is amazing. It basically distills a lot of conventional wisdom related to running your game with the least amount of effort. That sounds bad, but when you get into DM'ing you will find yourself burning out quickly if you don't find a way to reduce the amount of boilerplate planning you have to do.

How to Write Science Fiction & Fantasy -- By Orson Scott Card. This book is recommended because of its world-building chapters. The way he thinks about and approaches world-building has influenced many other amazing writers, such as Brandon Sanderson, his protege and successor as creative writing professor at BYU. This is worth reading, again and again.

--EDIT: I hit "Post Reply" instead of "Insert Link". Whoops.

Here are some other bits of advice that I hope are helpful:

Know the rules

Seriously; read the PHB, know the PHB, love the PHB. 90% of you disagreements with players will be covered by the PHB. Do your due diligence so you can make trustworthy and authoritative rulings. If they players know they can trust your rulings, they will question you less.

As a newbie DM, I failed to do this, and the result was that my players did not trust me or my story. Engagement is hard to come by in that situation.

Also, read your DMG cover-to-cover. But I do find myself referencing that book quite infrequently (I make my own magic items, so I don't really consult the loot table, either). What the DMG has, and is worth reading for, is its advice on running games. This is also true of the 4E DMG, which is worth a read even if you never run that system (no one will ever ask you to).

Embrace Rule Zero

If you know the rules, and the players trust you, you are ready to employ Rule Zero: "The DM is always right." This is absolutely necessary. Many a time I've had a player attempt to use the RAW to create situational advantages that did not square with what I believed was common sense. The rules aren't running your game: you are.

Now, having said that...

Always Say "Yes"^H^H^H^H^H"But"

In 4E, the designers of D&D distilled a common and effective "design pattern" of DM'ing, and called it, "Just Say Yes." The idea was that you could maximize player buy-in and investment (and therefore, engagement) by giving them the most possible creative control over your story. Taken to its extreme, however, this proves disastrous; players are not uniformly interested in advancing your story, and I have some players that often need to be constrained a bit from taking every license possible.

The modern incarnation of this philosophy is "Always Say 'But'." "Yes, but..." and "no, but..." are incredible tools that help you keep control of the narrative while mitigating player frustration.

"Yes, you can run up to the BBEG in the middle of his monologue and bunch him in the face... (hidden bogus roll a couple times) ...but with a casual wave of his hand, you are thrown back 30 feet." (aside: this scenario requires maximum player trust, as well as Rule Zero4)

"No, you cannot by any means use deception to convince the king that he's a potted plant, but you can convince that dimwitted guard over there."

In short, be lenient, but don't be too lenient.

A word on voice acting: DM's that are good at it are amazing; the best DM I know is a veteran stage actor and drama teacher. It helps that he is a great storyteller. But it is absolutely not necessary to have an immersive, compelling game. In fact, done badly, it can be awful. I ran a 1E Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil game, and I wanted to play up the village of Hommlet by giving them all Irish accents. After two hours my players asked me to stop. Faking a voice that is wildly different than your own here and there is fine, but if you absolutely cannot pull it off (through no fault of your own), your game is best served by not trying. Speak in your own voice, and add adverbs like a book would. Don't try to lower your voice; describe his voice before you speak for him, and then speak naturally.

Caveat: joke characters or comedic relief situations you should totally ham up voices.

I have some but depends on what you want

About planets:
http://www.amazon.com/Planet-Construction-Kit-Mark-Rosenfelder/dp/0984470034/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1286906911&sr=1-2

About languages:
http://www.amazon.com/Language-Construction-Kit-Mark-Rosenfelder/dp/098447000X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1268637297&sr=1-1

i dont know about it too much but heard its good:
http://www.amazon.com/Maps-Imagination-The-Writer-Cartographer/dp/1595340416

This is THE deal:
http://www.amazon.com/How-Write-Science-Fiction-Fantasy/dp/158297103X

Another helpfull thingy:

http://www.amazon.com/Strata-Terry-Pratchett-ebook/dp/B003NX6Y6U/

I quote Orson Scott Card on this matter "[writers] imagine their poor reader won't be able to understand what's going on if they don't begin with a prologue showing the 'world situation.' Alas, these prologues always fail." This is from the book [How to Write Science Fiction and Fantasy] (http://www.amazon.com/How-Write-Science-Fiction-Fantasy/dp/158297103X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1382479922&sr=8-1&keywords=how+to+write+science+fiction+%26+fantasy+by+orson+scott+card). It's a book I'd suggest you read, if you haven't.

Orson Scott Card's How to Write Science Fiction & Fantasy.

I don't, sorry, but I'm talking about like actual anthropological or historical textbooks. I'd start by asking her about the world she wants to write about, whether it's your standard medieval European fantasy or something else, and what kind of story she wants to tell.

Like if she wants to tell a story about a rise to the throne it might help her to have the biography of a famous king or queen or ascended to the throne despite the odds being stacked against them.

But something that talks about the daily lives and customs of the people who lived during that time is usually a safe bet/interesting read too.

Of course, you could always fall back on actual writing books too.

Orson Scott Card's book on how to write science fiction and fanasy is the only actual book about writing/world building I've ever read. It was pretty good from what I remember, but I read it years ago.

I know he is not popular in some circles, but I have found How to Write Science Fiction and Fantasy by Orson Scott Card to be extremely helpful not only with practical advice, but with avoiding common tropes, or putting my own spin on them.

It looks like a great start! :) Once your book is out you'll want some really clear information on a dedicated page describing what the book is about and how to buy it.

Check out the Amazon.com Associates program. Ever listen to a podcast and they ask you to visit their page and click through if you're going to shop Amazon.com? Well Amazon gives a small percentage of each sale when the shopper comes from a referral partner. Since some of your sales will come directly from your author platform, why not take advantage?

For example, I really liked How to Write Science Fiction & Fantasy (referral link) by Orson Scott Card. I read it in college and it really gave me some insight on the topic, and I highly recommend it for new authors.

Now if you click on that link and buy the book, I get 3% of the sale price, and if you wander off in the same session and buy other stuff, I think I get 1%. I don't remember the details, since I haven't really used the referral link stuff. But that's how it works. You can read up on the program yourself.

Do I have the book for you: Eats, Shoots and leaves

If you haven't already read it, I suggest falling in love with this book.

Also, try PaperbackSwap if you're in need of free books, plus shipping costs.

Good comment. I'm not on either side of your argument at the moment. Originally, I was against Grammar Nazis for the exact reasons that you mention. I feel like grammar is made of rules formulated that describe how people use language. (But some grammar nazis act as though it's the other way around).

I believe that the language is in the hands of whoever's using it. Thus, I'll make up my own words when I wish, or find novel usages when I want. I'll even use unconventional punctuation when I can justify it. However, in learning to combat grammar nazis, I first had to really learn what I was doing, so I could know how to argue them. In learning these things, I became a nazi myself.

But it's not for the reason you mentioned. It's not about preventing a perceived degradation. It's about courtesy. Hah. Yup. I'd never use a term like that myself, but check out this book by Lynne Truss. She states that it is "rude" to not put effort into clarity in one's own writing. By using the wrong words or improper spelling, a burden is put on the reader (in addition to any misinterpretations).

>So waiting at a stoplight is dangerous?

Yep. Take any motorcycle safety course and you'll have that drilled into you. You always need to be aware of what's behind you when stopped.

>So lets just go ahead and run it. That's your solution. Clever! That's a lot better than waiting at the stoplight, right?

Not my solution, but that's what's going through the cyclist's mind. Have you ever talked to one? (note: yelling profanities out the window doesn't count) If they check for the presence of traffic in the intersection, I think it's no more dangerous than the habitual stop-sign running that motorists engage in.

>Does that mean that stoplights are dangerous for me too?

Yes, but to a lesser extent. You have a metal cage surrounding you that's designed to sacrifice itself in a collision to save your life. Bikers of both varieties have no such luxury.

>Should I just run all stop lights?

I'd prefer you didn't. You're way more likely to kill someone else than a cyclist (incidentally you're also way more likely to get ticketed, I suspect for the same reason). You have worst situational awareness than a cyclist (again, the metal cage thing). You also have less maneuverability and take up more space, making a collision that much more likely.

>Better to blindly push through it?

No. Blindly running a light is stupid and dangerous, and anyone who does that puts their life in serious jeopardy. Any driver who does that also puts other lives in jeopardy.

Also, long runs of periods aren't actually a way to denote sentence breaks in English. I recommend this book.

Relevant.

This might help:

http://www.amazon.com/Eats-Shoots-Leaves-Tolerance-Punctuation/dp/1592400876

Except the point of the joke is a punctuation error. So the dictionary entry says "Eats, shoots and leaves" (misplaced coma). Which is why this punctuation book is named after the joke (see image of back cover).

I recommend "Eats shoots and leaves" ... you can read it in a single sitting.

There are many different kinds of endgames. King and pawn endings are the most basic. I guess rook endings is the next step above that.

I learned practical endings from this book which looks like it's out of print now, unfortunately. Silman has a book that's also supposed to be very good.

There are also specific books that dig into very particular aspects of endgame play, like this book on pawn endings that heavily focuses on "corresponding squares". That book helped me a lot.

For practice, I found this android app to be very helpful. I believe there is also a PC version and probably an iOS version as well.

Playing endings out against a computer can be helpful but there are big downsides, too. The computer will usually not find the most stubborn human defense, for example. If a position is objectively lost it will just play any trash move because it sees everything as equally losing.

In addition to all of this, there's always the psychological aspect of chess -- meaning, it helps to keep in mind what you're actually trying to accomplish and to learn mental tricks to make playing endings easier. For example, sometimes it helps to imagine rearranging the pieces or pawns into a winning position and then figuring out how to work backwards from that. Also, it helps to keep in mind that zugzwang is a common factor in endings. When you're trying to checkmate somebody, it helps to visualize a mating "net" around the king, like imagining the squares he can't move to as being highlighted. There are also specific tactics and patterns that come up over and over again in endings.

It's a big subject!

I recently flipped through Spilman's Complete Endgame Course in a book store, and thought it was very well written and easy to digest. The chapters are based on level of difficulty (endgames for expert players, for A-class players, etc), rather than the type of endgame (rook and pawn, king and pawn, etc). Having already read Pandolfini's Endgame Course (a far more difficult read, by comparison), I found this chapter structure to be much better and more conducive to incremental learning.

As for saving yourself the $16.47, look for it in a library or just go to a book store and read it there without purchasing it (if you're in the US, Barnes & Nobles allows this).

A few questions, if you don't mind.

> an hour a day of chesstempo problems

Do you prefer ChessTempo (and similar sites) over a tactics book, e.g. Bain's at low levels or Coakley's blue book for a more intermediate player? Or maybe a combination of the two?

> starting with the fundamentals (Jesus de la Villa's "100 Endgames you must know" covers a very wide audience, and studying it should be about 100 rating points worth in your case)

How would you compare this to Silman's Complete Endgame Course? I have Silman and it has exploded my endgame knowledge.

> an hour a day of working through Jeremy Silman's "The Amateur Mind" or a similar book

At what rating do you think it's worth starting this book? I've read suggestions to not start until 1800, and another that said 1400.

I noticed that you mentioned nothing about endgame studies. You should probably shift your focus more from openings & middle games to middle games & endgames. Buy this if you truly want to improve your game.

Fast time controls like bullet and blitz won't help you get better at playing chess until you can understand the mistakes you're making. They're fun and great for working through openings, however that should be one of your lowest priorities at this stage.

In addition to using the tactics trainer, try to play through some endgames on chesstempo.com.

If you want the best stuff, then two books should be your foundation

First, Silman's Complete Endgame Course is strong. Silman is known for explaining things in an easy-to-digest manner. His book covers endgame ideas from beginner level up to ~2200 rating level. Despite the fact that you may not get much out of it (and so it will be a quick read), it is important to have all of his ideas understood before moving on, because the ideas he writes about are essentially basic.

Then, move on to Mark Dvoretsky's Endgame Manual. It's important to note that this book is not written by some patzer or some GM who knows how to play but not how to teach. Mark Dvoretsky is a well-known elite chess trainer who has trained some of the best players in the world, so you know that his writing is strong. The purpose of Silman's book becomes clear when this book is recommended: this book is for turning ~2100+ players into elite endgame masters. This book probably should not be read or understood until essentially basic endgames are understood.

Kudos to all the commenters for recommending [Silman's Complete Endgame Course: From Beginner to Master] (http://www.amazon.com/Silmans-Complete-Endgame-Course-Beginner/dp/1890085103/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1375204281&sr=8-1&keywords=Jeremy+Silman). If you do as Silman suggests, and don't start the next chapter until you have fully mastered the previous one, it will do wonders for your endgame playing strength.

That said, much will depend on what sort of time controls you play. The shorter the time control, the less likely that you will be able to convert solid endgame advantages into full points...

Here's some suggestions to start with.

Dvoretsky's Analytical Manual: Practical Training for the Ambitious Chessplayer
Great all around.

Silman's Complete Endgame Course: From Beginner To Master
Some great endgame work for you.

Can't go wrong with Silman or Dvoretsky. Suggestion looking through their works and seeing what would work for you.

Your daughter has to know about these things somehow. Why not with color?

For the lazy

This colouring book

http://www.amazon.com/Big-Coloring-Book-Vaginas/dp/B000R0HU92/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1321061735&sr=8-1

Want to buy it?

Impress all of your friends with:
www.amazon.com/Big-Coloring-Book-Vaginas/dp/B000R0HU92/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top

for a second I was afraid you were going to link to a page from the vagina coloring book

Relevant to your interests.

Related.

We must bring our brethren and sisteren up to speed. (I know that that is not a word, but it is very cromulent to the point at hand.)

https://www.amazon.com/Exaltation-Larks-Ultimate-James-Lipton/dp/0140170960


An "exaltation of larks"? Yes! And a "leap of leopards," a "parliament of owls," an "ostentation of peacocks," a "smack of jellyfish," and a "murder of crows"! For those who have ever wondered if the familiar "pride of lions" and "gaggle of geese" were only the tip of a linguistic iceberg, James Lipton has provided the definitive answer: here are hundreds of equally pithy, and often poetic, terms unearthed by Mr. Lipton in the Books of Venery that were the constant study of anyone who aspired to the title of gentleman in the fifteenth century. When Mr. Lipton's painstaking research revealed that five hundred years ago the terms of venery had already been turned into the Game of Venery, he embarked on an odyssey that has given us a "slouch of models," a "shrivel of critics," an "unction of undertakers," a "blur of Impressionists," a "score of bachelors," and a "pocket of quarterbacks." This ultimate edition of An Exaltation of Larks is Mr. Lipton's brilliant answer to the assault on language and literacy in the last decades of the twentieth century. In it you will find more than 1,100 resurrected or newly minted contributions to that most endangered of all species, our language, in a setting of 250 witty, beautiful, and remarkably apt engravings.

Actually, an exaltation of larks

One of the seminal works in the field of collective nouns was written by James Lipton from Inside The Actors Studio.

This book represents the largest collection in print for these terms:

https://www.amazon.com/Exaltation-Larks-Ultimate-James-Lipton/dp/0140170960/ref=sr_1_28?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1493395628&sr=1-28&keywords=Of+larks

I believe Mr. James Lipton is the authority here...

I hope you're referring to this book by James Lipton. I've always wanted a copy myself.

I see someone else has read Plato and a Platypus...

Plato and the platypus might be pretty good for you. It goes over the basics. Not sure how it stands up to other books.

http://www.amazon.com/Plato-Platypus-Walk-into-Understanding/dp/0143113879/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1317963654&sr=1-1

I honestly didn't know or see, I'm not usually a reader of r/funny or r/jokes. I read it in a very clever philosophy overview like 48 hours ago. Judging by the karma you got for your attempt, it would have been foolish on my part to steal from you. I thought it might be amusing to some, as I laughed out loud a little at the Starbucks I was reading it in.

Please tell me you're not picking fights over a meaningless and imaginary currency on a website that is designed for the discussion, not for the points. That'd be quite low and worthless.

I have a few suggestions.

The Philosophy Gym has 25 short philosophy things, with pictures and dialogues. Stephen Law also has a lot of other books of similar style that might be worth looking into.

Plato and a Platypus Walk into a Bar is a philosophy joke book, which might be a fun coffee table book.

The Philosophy Bites book has 25 interviews with leading contemporary philosophers.

The Stone Reader has articles by leading contemporary philosophers that were published in the New York Times philosophy column, The Stone.

Hope that helps!

http://www.amazon.com/Plato-Platypus-Walk-into-Understanding/dp/0143113879

This is a great light start into philosophy! http://www.amazon.com/Plato-Platypus-Walk-into-Understanding/dp/0143113879

If you like these sorts of philosophical books, I can also recommend What's Wrong With Eating People? and Plato and A Platypus Walk into A Bar.

This reference is also available in a wonderful book called Plato and a Platypus Walk Into A Bar: Understanding Philosophy Through Jokes

http://www.amazon.com/Plato-Platypus-Walk-into-Understanding/dp/0143113879

Plato and a Platypus Walk into a Bar . . .: Understanding Philosophy Through Jokes https://www.amazon.com/dp/0143113879/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_Va7gybENNW9CQ

I thumbed through the one on Aristotle. I thought it was entertaining, though not entirely accurate. Symposia, for example, would probably be better understood as "drinking parties," rather than "dinner parties."

I appreciate the joke-approach, e.g. Plato and a Platypus, though I suspect that these sorts of books are more entertaining for philosophers than they are to the general public.

Truly one of the best philosophy jokes... This is a fun book
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0143113879

Some good nonfiction: A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson.

Consider the Lobster by David Foster Wallace

The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson

Freakonomics by Steven Levitt

This


and


This

A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson

http://www.amazon.com/Short-History-Nearly-Everything-Illustrated/dp/0307885151/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1333214326&sr=1-1

Thanks! A good place to start might be Bill Bryson's A Short History of Nearly Everything.

I think I saw this in the book "A Short History of Nearly Everything" by Bill Bryson (illustrated edition obviously).

As I recall, the little tabs circling the base of the hair closest to the camera are the tails of eyelash mites burrowed into the folicle. Fun times!

Bill Bryson's A Short History of Nearly Everything

I loved this book: http://www.amazon.com/Brysons-History-Nearly-Everything-Paperback/dp/B0036WHHS2/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1291147874&sr=1-4

the latest version is now illustrated, but I have not read it to offer an opinion: http://www.amazon.com/Short-History-Nearly-Everything-Illustrated/dp/0307885151/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1291147753&sr=1-2

Two good introductions to physics and science in general:

Bill Bryson (popular and quite funny): A Short History of Nearly Everything

Brian Cox (slightly more serious, but still a fairly easy read): Why Does E=mc2?: (And Why Should We Care?)

The Infernal City and it's sequel Lord of Souls.

http://www.amazon.com/Elder-Scrolls-Infernal-City/dp/0345508017

http://www.amazon.com/Lord-Souls-Elder-Scrolls-Novel/dp/0345508025/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1319648547&sr=1-1

http://www.amazon.com/Elder-Scrolls-Infernal-City/dp/0345508017

http://www.amazon.com/Elder-Scrolls-Infernal-City/dp/0345508017

Well there are world canon books such as this: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim - The Skyrim Library, Vol. I: The Histories https://www.amazon.com/dp/1783293195/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_wjsmxbCCX1K6Z

Or fiction books such as this: The Elder Scrolls: The Infernal City https://www.amazon.com/dp/0345508017/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_Tksmxb7876QEF

Sadly there are only two fiction books. They take place before Skyrim and explain why Vvardenfell is a pile of ashes.

This lore is drawn from The Infernal City novel.

I mean, if in-game books aren't your style, there are always actual books.

Well I got mine at Barnes and Noble, but I'm sure there are many other places you can get them. Here's the Amazon link

For real ?

I found 2 Novels:

@https://www.amazon.com/Lord-Souls-Elder-Scrolls-Novel/dp/0345508025

@https://www.amazon.com/Elder-Scrolls-Infernal-City/dp/0345508017/ref=pd_bxgy_14_img_2?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=0345508017&pd_rd_r=Y3FGAMZWWSPXRJEZMGAJ&pd_rd_w=WjoFf&pd_rd_wg=9lJLz&psc=1&refRID=Y3FGAMZWWSPXRJEZMGAJ

And there're Titan Books which I've already placed the order.

Schweet... has 4 stars

There are Elder Scrolls books.

The Infernal City

Lord of Souls

Can I recommend "Letters from a nut" if you enjoy these letters. It's a great toilet book.

You should read this book: https://www.amazon.com/Letters-Nut-Ted-L-Nancy/dp/0380973545

Reminds me of Letters From A Nut by Ted L. Nancy

Reminds me a lot of this

If want authenticity, you can check out The Lazlo Letters or Letters from a Nut

A reading list...

The Myth of Sisyphus

Fight Club

The 7 habits of Highly Effective People

The games people play

>They're referencing scenes from Fight Club

FTFY

"Darkly Dreaming Dexter" was an awesome read. Loved the tv show so I read the book inspired by it, they're pretty different though especially after the first book. Also, Fight Club was really good as well.

May I suggest Fight Club?

http://www.amazon.com/Fight-Club-Novel-Chuck-Palahniuk/dp/0393327345

Unfortunately not, my copy of Fight Club is a paperback edition published in the early 2000s, but it's not a movie tie-in edition. Thanks for your interest.

I haven't read any of the five that made the list, but I absolutely recommend Fight Club and The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. They're both very good for anyone - man or woman - to read.

There's always the original:

http://www.amazon.com/Coloring-Grown-Ups-Adult-Activity-Book/dp/0452298253

[this] (http://www.amazon.com/Coloring-Grown-Ups-Adult-Activity-Book/dp/0452298253/ref=wl_it_dp_v_nS_nC?ie=UTF8&colid=33149OJUGGDGU&coliid=I3UBEOU979GME) is 10 or under , actually under 10 & hilariously fun!

credit to: coloringforgrownups.com

This book is available on Amazon.

Depends on what she likes. I bought a "Coloring for grown-ups" for my friend. She likes coloring and mean jokes.

DaddysLittkeTink & MaryRoseXOXO LOOOOOKIE!!! It's only $8.31 on Amazon!!

Coloring for Grown-Ups: The Adult Activity Book https://www.amazon.com/dp/0452298253/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awd_4aS1wbJYK2K0J

Adult Coloring Books are where it's at, Got My Mom this for Xmas, recommend it for a laugh
https://www.amazon.com/Coloring-Grown-Ups-Adult-Activity-Book/dp/0452298253

This [Adult Activity Book](http://www.amazon.com/Coloring-Grown-Ups-Adult-Activity-Book/dp/0452298253/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_nC?ie=UTF8&colid=OWMC4I9GOHMY&coliid=I1UWBSCM62JO07/ "Adult Activity Book") would be cool for me & my boyfriend to do together. Today is our 1 year anniversary :)

Thank you for your contest shabby_paynes!

this

Whatcha think?

This coloring book. My mom will be visiting me next week and we still love to color. (I know, corny.) I would love to surprise her with this one, should be different from our normal fare. :D

Thanks for the contest, X-Ray and Vav!

When I was in middle school. I enjoyed reading bobby fischer teaches chess!

http://www.amazon.com/Bobby-Fischer-Teaches-Chess/dp/0553263153/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1404435265&sr=8-1&keywords=bobby+fischer+teaches+chess

I would recommend you start with Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess as a starting point.

Yes, he turned into a freakshow, but the man could play some chess. You're not going to learn to be a champion by reading this, but it will help you learn the basics and, more importantly, teach you what you need to learn.

Then go out and play. Pick up a decent chess set you can carry around and get as many people to play as you can. Take notes. Learn from your mistakes. And keep playing.

A stalemate is when it's your opponent's move, and they have no legal move left. That's exactly what you've done: white cannot move without putting their king in check from either the queen or the rook. Ergo, a stalemate.

In a tournament a stalemate scores one half of a point for each player, just like a tie.

No offense intended, but based on the fact that you don't know what a stalemate is, and you couldn't manage a checkmate with an overwhelming advantage in material, you have a lot to learn about chess :) If you can find a used copy of "Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess" for a couple bucks I suggest you buy it - it's all checkmate exercises. And it's the end of the game that counts.

no it is a good way to teach structured thinking. Get a copy of BOBBY FISHER TEACHES CHESS. It is a really fun read and it will improve your game immensely in one reading, more with a reread. After that, if she kicks your ass you just lose at chess but win as a dad.
http://www.amazon.com/Bobby-Fischer-Teaches-Chess/dp/0553263153/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1409024153&sr=1-1&keywords=bobby+fisher+teaches+chess

I know this is not an Android game, but I would recommend working your way through this book if you want to learn: http://www.amazon.com/Bobby-Fischer-Teaches-Chess/dp/0553263153

I loved my copy of Bobby Fisher Teaaches Chess... Buy it... its like a wierd puzzle book, and after you know how to kick ass at chess the right way.... https://www.amazon.com/Bobby-Fischer-Teaches-Chess/dp/0553263153/ref=mt_mass_market_paperback?_encoding=UTF8&me= GREAT TEACHER....easy for beginer, then you become the master.

I enjoyed Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess. It is a straight forward book that concentrates on mating moves. It starts assuming you don't know how to play, but it teaches you how to recognize first one move mates, then two, and so on. The big take away I took from the book was how to recognize positions that lead to mate. This lets you know what to avoid yourself and what to take advantage of when your opponent does it.

The book Bobby Fisher Teaches Chess. Easy and it walks you through some great strategies in a simple fashion.

The first link has the front page. The "coverage" is labeled as "Holy Fucking Shit: Attack on America."

This is not to be confused with the Onion's fake front page from the moon landing, which was in the amazing book Our Dumb Century.

Corpse-eating rats now largest military force in Europe.

It's pretty amazing. It's even sharper and funnier (and so densely-layered and historically accurate, right down to the hyphened compound words and ridiculous ads) that I have to recommend it.

This is from The Onion, the famous satirical newspaper and website. Specifically their book Our Dumb Century. Other headlines include a series on Nixon escaping from Washington, leading authorities on a nationwide chase before being gunned down outside a hotel in Arizona, and President Hoover attempting to shore up consumer confidence in banks by giving away a free toaster with each new account.

"Yellow Submarine' introduces generation of children to the wonders of LSD hallucinations."

It's in The Onion's "Our Dumb Century" book, which is pretty hilarious/awesome.

It's from "The Onion: Our Dumb Century.". A collection of (obviously fictitious) headlines throughout the 1900s.

Support your local bookstore. But if all else fails, try Amazon.

Oh shit, you're missing out. The Onion was excellent back then. They had stuff like this:

http://www.amazon.com/Our-Dumb-Century-Presents-Headlines/dp/0609804618

Their articles during the gore/bush court battle, on 9/11, and leading up to the Iraq war were epic.

http://www.theonion.com/articles/this-war-will-destabilize-the-entire-mideast-regio,11534/

http://www.theonion.com/articles/god-angrily-clarifies-dont-kill-rule,222/

http://www.theonion.com/articles/nation-plunges-into-chaos,187/

I actually thought of that exact Onion page when I saw the photo.

This book has been sitting on my coffee table for many years and it never gets old:
https://www.amazon.com/Our-Dumb-Century-Presents-Headlines/dp/0609804618

That is true, they did surrender. Or rather, Petain did. De Gaulle did not. But I contest your claim that it was because of their getting steam rolled. The idea of French soldiers surrendering a lot seems to have been a recent invention, following first the Onion using the title a lot in their headlines in Our Dumb Century (1990), then Fark, and The Simpsons (1995), and finally being propagated, according to Quora, as a stab at the French as 'revenge' for the French refusal to help the USA invade Iraq in 2003.

Here

Back in my junior high days the most influential book for me was a toss up between Run, boy, Run and SoldierX.

In highschool, I found No Country for Old Men, The Road, and Fast Food Nation extremely moving. Brave new world is up there as well.


Right now, I'm reading this and it's actually really great.

The Warlizard Chronicles

Anyone who hasn't read it, do so. Dude's fucking crazy.

Pretty damn close.

or read it...

American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis.

A copy of American Psycho

I've been loaning it from the library for quite a while and I want my own copy. It's a pretty creepy book....I guess.

https://www.amazon.com/American-Psycho-Bret-Easton-Ellis/dp/0679735771/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1501875923&sr=8-1&keywords=american+psycho+book

It seems [American Psycho](
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0679735771/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awd_js1Dwb3Z7VTMD) would be a good choice for you.

Amazon description: "In American Psycho, Bret Easton Ellis imaginatively explores the incomprehensible depths of madness and captures the insanity of violence in our time or any other. Patrick Bateman moves among the young and trendy in 1980s Manhattan. Young, handsome, and well educated, Bateman earns his fortune on Wall Street by day while spending his nights in ways we cannot begin to fathom. Expressing his true self through torture and murder, Bateman prefigures an apocalyptic horror that no society could bear to confront."

I'd suggest any Bret Easton Ellis books, especially American Psycho. I would describe it exactly as a psychological thriller. And if you haven't read them, the Kingkiller Chronicles is a fantastic fantasy trilogy. The first book is The Name of the Wind

Technology related would for sure be The Cuckoo's Egg, and Ghost in the Wires


Not tech related, Junky, American Psycho, and Kitchen Confidential

• American Psycho
  
• A Clockwork Orange
  
• WatchMen
  
• The Prince
  
  

http://www.amzn.com/0679735771

There’s this book I was looking at Amazon the other day: How to Invent Everything : A Survival Guide for The Standard Time Traveler by Ryan North here

Take this.

Unless you have this book:

How To Invent Everything: A Survival Guide for the Stranded Time Traveller by Ryan North

Edit: I should have read the rest of the comments, first - someone else already mentioned this book.

how to invent everything

This book would help

https://www.amazon.com/dp/073522014X?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

I was looking for the wallet card, but found this

https://www.amazon.com/How-Invent-Everything-Survival-Stranded/dp/073522014X

Edit : Here it is, the cheat sheet
https://i.imgur.com/2psNjiL.png

How to Invent Everything: A Survival Guide for the Stranded Time Traveler https://www.amazon.com/dp/073522014X/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_GgpWDbET3F5JR

I haven’t bought it yet, but I think that a similar book might be:

How to Invent Everything: A Survival Guide for the Stranded Time Traveler https://www.amazon.com/dp/073522014X/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_1SU0DbEHTXWKK

It’s worth seeing if it covers any areas that you are thinking about.

There’s a pretty cool book on exactly this subject.
How to Invent Everything: A Survival Guide for the Stranded Time Traveller

Is it this one?

http://www.amazon.com/Dungeon-Masters-Screen-Accessory/dp/0786965630/

Hey this is a lot later lol but I found the old dm screen on Amazon used for like 20 bucks here's the link for the listings D&D Dungeon Master's Screen (D&D Accessory) https://www.amazon.com/dp/0786965630/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_t6qnDb2T2G8YR

I haven't used the Storm Kings Thunder screen but its not the only one that isn't official.
This is the official 5e screen:
https://www.amazon.com/Dungeon-Masters-Screen-Accessory/dp/0786965630/ref=s9u_simh_gw_i1?_encoding=UTF8&fpl=fresh&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=&pf_rd_r=KJKMT3EEXWTEB04HMNP7&pf_rd_t=36701&pf_rd_p=1cded295-23b4-40b1-8da6-7c1c9eb81d33&pf_rd_i=desktop

I like it!

There's also some nice printable ones here: https://www.reddit.com/r/DnD/comments/2j5qlg/final_version_of_my_5e_dm_screenplayer_cheat_sheet/

Or, I'd be willing to buy you one and send it to you. Unless you live someplace where shipping it would be insane.

Like the official one on Amazon.

Here you go.

IMO, just posting a capture onto reddit isn't the way to go. If you like 5e, you should show it by giving wizards money so that they will keep making 5e stuff.

Now, if you want to come up with your own "stuff happens" table, feel free to post it.

More tables are always nice.

dm screen you are pretty groovy

Last Breath: The Limits of Adventure

Worst Case Scenario Survival Handbook

I have brought both these books to many summer camps. They are fun to pass around and both have excellent scouting uses.

If you just want something to read for fun if you haven't read World War Z/Zombie Survival Guide those are fun written by Mel Brooks son.

11/22/63 by Stephen King is an amazing read. Someone from today travels back in time to stop the Kennedy assassination.

I read mostly fantasy/scifi so I'm probably not much help.

This game looks awesome! In the case of a zombie apocalypse I would grab my copy of the trusty Worst Case Scenario Book! From improvising weapons to living off the land, perfect for anyone running from hordes of zombies.

Thanks for the PiF!

Steam id: kmolleja

The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook is funny and actually informative.. if you need to wrestle an alligator or something.

My favorite bathroom book. Albeit I'll never be in those situations, but still a fun read.

Edit: Missing period.

The Worst Case Scenario Suvival Handbook



https://www.amazon.com/Worst-Case-Scenario-Survival-Handbook/dp/0811825558

I got this as a present. Its a cool little book! http://www.amazon.com/Worst-Case-Scenario-Survival-Handbook/dp/0811825558

in the wors case scenario books the author, after speaking with varios 'experts' (id guess physicists, im not at home right now so i cant check the book) says that its best to lay down in the middle.

It spreads the impact surface area and does the best possible job of keeping collapsing walls away from you.

I think I'd want to write more than I'd want to read. So I'd want the five fattest, sturdiest blank-page journals I could get. Then I suppose I'd need to catch a bunch of inky cephalopods and gather some feathers for quills.

Or:

1.) The Worst-Case-Scenario Survival Handbook

2.) Norton Anthology of Poetry

3.) Norton Anthology of World Masterpieces

4.) Cosmos by Carl Sagan

5.) Ulysses by James Joyce

Source.

Non-mobile: Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook

^That's ^why ^I'm ^here, ^I ^don't ^judge ^you. ^PM ^/u/xl0 ^if ^I'm ^causing ^any ^trouble. ^WUT?

This? https://amzn.com/0811825558

There's a book that explains this called "Why Do Men Have Nipples".

http://www.amazon.com/Nipples-Hundreds-Questions-Doctor-Martini/dp/1400082315

Buy this book.

there is a great series of books that deal with sillly questions like these. http://www.amazon.com/Nipples-Hundreds-Questions-Doctor-Martini/dp/1400082315

I don't know but this may help

http://www.amazon.com/Nipples-Hundreds-Questions-Doctor-Martini/dp/1400082315

Just thought of a great book that I'd like to share with you guys. Why do men have nipples? (Amazon Link)

'Why do men have nipples' is actually a good bathroom book. http://www.amazon.com/Nipples-Hundreds-Questions-Doctor-Martini/dp/1400082315

Personally, I think it's more difficult to not believe in God. I could give several reasons why though my own personal examples, but that'd be a fairly lengthy post.

One of the biggest things to me is looking at the earth, the universe and creation itself. Personally, when I was reading 'A Short History of Nearly Everything' by Bill Bryson, I found it as a affirmation of my faith. To me, the thought that the creation of the universe, the laws of physics and chemistry and all of our sciences that hold everything together is just a series of random luck seems laughable.

Medal of Honor, Crysis 2, Dead Space

Even though there are phenomenal chances you've seen the corresponding movie, my choice is "Fight Club" by Chuck Palahniuk. The book gives a greater view of what exactly is going through the narrator's head in his exchanges with Marla, Tyler, and others. You can learn so much more about Project Mayhem than you would in the movie. It is truly a great read if you can get past how confusing the nature of the narrator's mind is.

http://www.amazon.com/Fight-Club-Novel-Chuck-Palahniuk/dp/0393327345

Does #36 ► Fight Club (1999) have the same story as Chuck Palahniuk's Fight Club book?

If you're putting that on your birthday/Christmas list, you may want to ask for an 'advanced' coloring book, or you may end up with something like this.

The Warlizard Chronicles

Haha, I have a few of those stories in my collection, but too much of it is stuff I would never publish. lol Good for you.

Hello, yes, I am! Have you ordered my book yet?

would trade American Psycho, this edition for Hot Water Music if you are interested

> "Hey, Harry Potter/A Game of Thrones/Northern Lights/American Psycho were written 20+ years ago! I shouldn't have to pay 11.99 for copies! They should be 3.99 at most they're so old! Only new stuff should be expensive!"

Ummm....yes, actually. Would you pay $10,000 for a 1992 Ford Taurus, even if it still "runs well"? Would you pay $25 a The Dark Knight Blu-ray, even though it was one of the best movies of the 2000s and, arguably, the best movie of 2008? Would you pay $40 for A Link to the Past, a game considered the greatest of all time? No, you wouldn't. Despite those items still holding up and being great, you would not pay that expensive price for them, precisely because they were old.

There's such a thing as depreciation, and the market determines that (go to any used game store and CoD4 will be $5-7, whereas a black label copy of, say, Marvel vs Capcom 2 will be like $50, due to rarity). They're keeping the price artificially high to make it seem like a "premium" product that's still "in demand". If that were truly the case and people were still gobbling this game up (I'm not saying the community isn't still there, I'm talking about new consumers. That's what 'demand' addresses), they would continuously be bragging about the sales and that would justify its price point. You wanna know why GTAV is still $60? Because millions of people are still buying the game, to this day, and some milestone achievement is announced every 6 months or so. That obviously isn't true for CoD4, despite how good the game is.

Oh, and btw, I really don't know what point you were trying to make mentioning any of those books, considering:

Harry Potter

A Game of Thrones

Northern Lights

American Psycho (This one appears to hold up, but apparently it's a rare book)

I intentionally sorted by new, because if I picked used, the price would literally be a penny for 3 of those books, and $0.74 for the last.

For the lazy:

https://www.amazon.com/How-Invent-Everything-Survival-Stranded/dp/073522014X/

A book by that title exists.

http://www.amazon.com/Big-Coloring-Book-Vaginas/dp/B000R0HU92/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1324591806&sr=8-3

I loved the "Customers who bought this also bought" selections.

The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook

On the assumption that you are not trolling and actually are this poorly educated, you need to go back and review basic rules of English Grammar. If you don't have a copy of The Elements of Style, you need to pick one up and read it. I can also recommend to you the very entertaining Woe is I or Eats, Shoots & Leaves if you want to be entertained as well as better-informed.

The noun that follows "than" when it is used as for comparison is always in agreement with the noun it would have replaced if it were the only element of the sentence; moreover, "be" verbs have no object. Ergo:

> Pete may be fat, but that lady is fatter than he.

"That lady" is the subject of the sentence, ergo we use "he" for our pronoun instead of "him." But if we presume that this lady's misfortunes continue:

> After the mugger began beating on her with a shovel, Pete said, "Better that he beat up her than me."

In this case the lady is the object of the mugger's bludgeoning with a garden implement, ergo we use "her" and "me" instead of "she" or "I."

The one confusing aspect to this is that in informal English, we generally permit people to sloppily treat the end of our "be" verbs as objects, thus the joke in the title of O'Conner's wonderful book, because "Woe is I" sounds wrong, even though it is strictly correct.

One assumes a hottie educated enough to get into Stanford would know the difference and use the correct phrase.

Edit: Also, as a postscript, given that I'm currently fighting with my SO as to whether our son should be educated in our country or hers, the huge number of up-votes you are receiving is not helping my cause. All of you, stop being whiny bitches about not knowing how to speak and write properly and go learn something:

• Woe is I: The Grammarphobe's Guide to Better English in Plain English
  
• Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation
  
• The Elements of Style

PUNCTUATION! I'm sorry, but MsWinty, your sentences do not mean what you think they mean.

>"One girls bathroom and one boys bathroom each with two stalls in the front of the school..."

Why did these two bathrooms have stalls outside the building? How far in front of the building? Were they attached to the building, or did you have to walk some distance to reach them? Did they have more stalls inside the building? Also, girl's and boy's need apostrophes to make them possessive.

I recommend Eats, Shoots and Leaves.

just get him this: Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess.