triinu dos

[mikeh]

Been doing a lot of mountain biking the last few years. Had a bad spill a month ago (could have been REAL bad), but otherwise no issues. Golf is something pclayton did.

 

Looking for something good to read this summer if anyone has any suggestions.

what kinds of reading do you like? I am a voracious reader... There are any number of excellent books I have read in the past....well... large number of years

 

Non-fiction includes history, evolutionary theory, paleontology, psychology

 

Fiction: some 'serious' writers and a great deal of science fiction ranging from space opera to more thoughtful works... Neal Stephenson is an incredible writer, as one example.

I started to read a lot on the history of Istanbul a few years ago, but it didn't hold my interest.

 

For fiction I've read most of Crichton, and I confess to liking Ken Follett. I basically hate sci-fi.

 

Best non-fiction I've liked over the past few years was Fooled by Randomness and The Tipping Point. Also a few books on chaos theory I liked.

Interesting: I suspect that your dislike of sci-fi is based on a limited exposure to the genre.. some of the authors these days are extremely talented writers, and it isn't all Star Wars drivel or monster fantasies. Neal Stephenson is a great example... altho I am not very enthusiastic about his latest one (Anathem) which is, I think, his weakest since his very early efforts. The Baroque Cycle (originally published as three hard-covers but, I think, as 9 paperbacks is one of the great literary feats of the past 20 years or so. And, it really isn't science fiction... I doubt that it would have been markerted as such had Stephenson not already been well established as a science fiction writer.

 

Blind Sight, by Watts, is a less imposing book, but has a fascinating look at the significance of consciousness... the outcome suggests that consciousness is an impediment to intelligence.

 

Ian Pears is an excellent (non sci-fi) writer, altho he has only written 3 serious novels... the first, An Instance of the Fingerpost, is brilliant historical fiction.

 

Moving to non-fiction:

 

A People's Tragedy offers a review of the Russian Revolution and ensuing civil war, written by an Oxford professor with access to communist party archives.

 

Paris 1919 shows how flawed the peace negotiations were after WWI, laying the seeds for much of the European and Middle East violence of the next 90 years, and counting.

 

I have just finished House of Cards, on a more current topic... and it seems well done.

 

Dawkins' earlier books are his best, imo... once you've read The Blind Watchmaker and The Selfish Gene, most of his later writings seem like expansions on a theme, rather than anything new. Pinker is a brilliant writer. Gould's essays are almost always interesting even tho I find some of his ideas to be too politically correct.. his accommodation to religion strikes me as disingenuous. Diamond's ideas about how culture and agriculture (closely related) spread, and how local vegetation and other resources influenced the technological development of cultures offers a refreshing insight into how and why Europeans conquered so much of the world, rather than the other way around.

 

Oh... btw, if you liked Crichton... Crichton was a sci-fi writer.... as far as I know that's all he wrote early on in his career.... and in my view he was a mediocre writer by comparison to many lesser-known authors... so if you liked him, then I suspect that there is a significant body of writing you will love if you give it a chance. Some interesting ideas but wooden characters.

 

I am NOT talking about the huge amount of crap pedalled as sci-fi... most of which is really nothing more than fantasy... magic, dragons, vampires and that sort of thing. It may be marketed as sci-fi, but that's like saying that a Harlequin Romance is akin to War and Peace (which, if you haven't read it, isn't bad... but really... really slow by current standards).

[mtvesuvius]

I spend my time designing unplayable systems, or making fun of people/things.

 

When I just read that to myself I felt a little like matmat... Is that unhealthy?

[Gerben42]

So I am the only one so far to play World of Warcraft?

Besides this I try heavyweight beach volleyball.

 

I really like Warcraft, until they made it into some kind of fantasy roleplaying game..

 

Other than bridge I like playing the piano* and reading hard scifi (horrendously thick books with lots of details about the technology etc.), think Asimov's Foundation series or so :(

 

* Another thing at which Rodwell is so much better than me!

[Lobowolf]

I confess to liking Ken Follett.

Confess?! Follett has some GREAT stuff. Particularly, IMO, The Man from St. Petersburg (and Pillars of the Earth, of course).

[Aberlour10]

I play occasionally handball, skiing & trekking in Alpes or Tatra Mountains,

reading and collecting books/expedition reports about climbing in Himalaya/Karakorum, searching in internet for material about various historical reenactments ( currently for ex. about Operation "Catapult" ).....last but not least music, music, music :angry:

 

Robert

[Rain]

I played WOW a lot too, but have stopped. Come to US Stormrage server, firechief and photon play there a lot. I also saw this guy on server called Hrothgar and stalked him a bit, but he insists he's not the bbo hrothgar.

[babalu1997]

I spend my time designing unplayable systems, or making fun of people/things.

 

When I just read that to myself I felt a little like matmat... Is that unhealthy?

Yes, matmat is unhealthy.

matmat is sick!!! :P

 

I used to do a lot of cake baking and decorating. but that tuened out to be too fattening.

 

Now I bake bread-- any type from challah to englidh muffins.

[jjbrr]

peanut butter and jelly on a warm toasted english muffin. can't go wrong.

[cherdanno]

Having friends over for dinner. Even better, being over at friends for dinner with home-made pasta. (Yeah I have quite a few Italian friends.)

[Phil]

Having friends over for dinner. Even better, being over at friends for dinner with home-made pasta. (Yeah I have quite a few Italian friends.)

Cherdano = Hannibal Lechter

[matmat]

I spend my time designing unplayable systems, or making fun of people/things.

 

When I just read that to myself I felt a little like matmat... Is that unhealthy?

Yes, matmat is unhealthy.

matmat is sick!!! :lol:

 

I used to do a lot of cake baking and decorating. but that tuened out to be too fattening.

 

Now I bake bread-- any type from challah to englidh muffins.

I don't design unplayable systems.

[matmat]

Having friends over for dinner. Even better, being over at friends for dinner with home-made pasta. (Yeah I have quite a few Italian friends.)

pasta is evil.

[akhare]

Not truly unique, but:

 

Running marathons

Racquetball

Reading (mostly non fiction)

Movies

Cooking

 

I would have added programming, but that's my profession ;)...

[hrothgar]

Definitely a different Horthgar

 

These days I'm playing a DK named Narsille on Ravenholt

 

(Yes DKs are lame. Yes Ravenholt blows. However, I have one of those jobs things and can't raid seriously)

[hrothgar]

On the hobby fronts:

 

The big ones seem to be hiking and cooking.

Haven't done a decent trip overseas since Australia (sigh).

 

 

I still read a fair amount. The work related stuff all seems to be about Bayesian data analysis. For "fun" I tend to read science fiction and fantasy.

 

On the fantasy front, I'm a big fan of "The Malazan Books of the Fallen" by Steven Erikson. Yes, its epic fantasy and all that; but its done well, published at a reasonable pace, and the series is actually ending.

 

On the science fiction front, my favorite author is Iain Banks. Sadly, I don't think that he has yet matched some of his early work (Use of Weapons, Player of Games).

 

I also love most anything by Tim Powers, especially Last Call and Declare. I'm also quite fond of James Blaylock (The Last Coin is a lovely piece of whimsy)

[y66]

peanut butter and jelly on a warm toasted english muffin. can't go wrong.

Just had that with fresh raspberry jam. Yum.

 

Working on my short game a lot. Trying Stan Utley's suggestions for putting and chipping. After 5 rounds this summer, my team, the Flying Squirrels, are 5 up over my brother-in-law's team, the Whales. We keep giving them strokes. My nephew (teammate) keeps knocking down pins.

 

Walking and riding my bike more than ever. My wife and I biked to Memorial Bridge Saturday and caught the fireworks. Nice breeze up there and not crowded at all.

 

Saw the new Johnny Depp film last week. Liked it. Other family members gave mixed reviews.

[jjbrr]

raspberry jam is so good

 

must be nice to be beating the brother-in-law. i suspect most bridge players tend to be on the competitive side. i know i am.

 

golf is a very frustrating game to me. one would think it'd be relatively easy to get a little ball to go where you want it to go. i, meanwhile, spend most of my time looking for the ball in bushes or in some obscure place far, far away from where i wanted it to go. if golf was about hitting your ball into large bodies of water, they'd call me tiger.

[Jlall]

How do you even see where the ball goes lol.

 

On that note, am I old enough for lasik? A few years ago they told me I was too young.

[jdonn]

How do you even see where the ball goes lol.

 

On that note, am I old enough for lasik? A few years ago they told me I was too young.

First question, if it's in the fairway or sand or green it's easy to see where it goes, if it's in the rough or the forest you get an approximation and waste your time looking, if it's in the water you curse and abandon it.

 

Second question, I thought someone had to be 21 but I could be wrong. I also remember your prescription has to have stayed the same for at least 6 months so if you are still getting worse you shouldn't do it.

[zasanya]

I am surprised that scrabble and chess the other two addictive mindgames arent mentioned here.I play and love both the games as much as bridge.

[Lobowolf]

I am surprised that scrabble and chess the other two addictive mindgames arent mentioned here.I play and love both the games as much as bridge.

I mentioned chess. Didn't mention Scrabble, but I also play that (though no longer an NSA member). In my experience, people who are good at both chess and bridge overwhelmingly prefer bridge (which isn't to say that chess isn't a great game, too).

[Fluffy]

I play Airsoft, hell I even have/run a shop of airsoft items with a couple of friends, and have been working on an airsoft field.

 

About online games... When I was 20 I was adicted to counter strike (adicted on the sense of having a BIG problem), 10 hours a day for like 3 months, Luckilly my adiction costed me no money and no health at all.

 

I avoided WOW for this reason. But I have played more than 200 hours of online Warcrat3 (and AOE, and quake, and Blood Bowl)

 

Nowadays playing a couple of webgames, I recomend www.velmad.com for people with real patience (1 turn a day), and yes, quake live (quake 3 arena reedied only for online purpses).

 

 

If you like videogames I recomend looking at speeddemosarchive.com

[paulg]

I am surprised that scrabble and chess the other two addictive mindgames arent mentioned here.I play and love both the games as much as bridge.

I mentioned chess. Didn't mention Scrabble, but I also play that (though no longer an NSA member). In my experience, people who are good at both chess and bridge overwhelmingly prefer bridge (which isn't to say that chess isn't a great game, too).

Scrabble is no fun when you're married to the #2 player in the world.

 

Even if you do win she then sulks for two weeks.

[jjbrr]

quartz

[Lobowolf]

I am surprised that scrabble and chess the other two addictive mindgames arent mentioned here.I play and love both the games as much as bridge.

I mentioned chess. Didn't mention Scrabble, but I also play that (though no longer an NSA member). In my experience, people who are good at both chess and bridge overwhelmingly prefer bridge (which isn't to say that chess isn't a great game, too).

Scrabble is no fun when you're married to the #2 player in the world.

 

Even if you do win she then sulks for two weeks.

Mr. Gipson, I presume?