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olderthanIusedtobe Member
Joined: 05 Sep 2011 Posts: 7708 | TRs | Pics Location: Shoreline |
Just got "Morning Star" by Pierce Brown from the library, the third book in the Red Rising trilogy. This series deserves more attention than it gets. I've been promoting it since I read the first book a little over a year ago. Sweeping sci fi epic.
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wolffie Member
Joined: 14 Jul 2008 Posts: 2693 | TRs | Pics Location: Seattle |
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wolffie
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Tue Feb 16, 2016 1:19 pm
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Infidel, Ayaan Hirsi Ali. Amazing autobiography of a Somali refugee who eventually escaped (largely on her own) to Holland, and built a new life. Perceptive, succicnt, articulate vignettes of the cultures of Somlia, Saudi Arabia, Ethiopia, Kenya, and western Europe, particularly with respect to Islam and the position of women.
She worked with Theo van Gogh on a film which pissed-off some jihadis enough to butcher him, leaving a 5-page letter addressed to her impaled on a knife in his chest.
If you like to travel and explore exotic cultures, this book will take you on a trip that no airliner can.
Free Press (Simon & Schuster) 2007.
Some people have better things to do with their lives than walking the dog. Some don't.
Some people have better things to do with their lives than walking the dog. Some don't.
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bobbi stillaGUAMish
Joined: 13 Jul 2006 Posts: 8012 | TRs | Pics Location: olympics! |
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bobbi
stillaGUAMish
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Thu Feb 18, 2016 10:09 am
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i am finally reading 2014 The Bourne Ascendancy.
by Robert Ludlum
Identity, Supremacy, and Ultimatum
by Eric Van Lustbader
Legacy, Betrayal, Sanction, Deception, Objective, Dominion, Imperative, and Retribution
yep, i like the Jason Bourne series ...
bobbi ૐ
"Today is your day! Your mountain is waiting. So…get on your way!" - Oh, the Places You’ll Go! By Dr. Seuss
bobbi ૐ
"Today is your day! Your mountain is waiting. So…get on your way!" - Oh, the Places You’ll Go! By Dr. Seuss
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cartman Member
Joined: 20 Feb 2007 Posts: 2800 | TRs | Pics Location: Fremont |
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cartman
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Thu Feb 18, 2016 9:01 pm
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Recently finished The Tower by Kelly Cordes, which weaves the history of the supposed first ascent of Cerro Torre by Maestri with Cordes' and others more recent climbs of the "Shriek Turned To Stone".
This is Cordes' first book and he did an outstanding job of presenting the evidence in a highly readable and engaging way, and is probably the most definitive book on Cerro Torre ever written.
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jinx'sboy Member
Joined: 30 Jul 2008 Posts: 930 | TRs | Pics Location: on a great circle route |
The Big Short by Michael Lewis.
A great read about the financial meltdown a few years back.
I'm learning a lot......
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cartman Member
Joined: 20 Feb 2007 Posts: 2800 | TRs | Pics Location: Fremont |
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cartman
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Thu Feb 18, 2016 9:44 pm
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Mike Collins wrote: | It was exactly sixty-one years ago at this time that the American Karakoram Expedition made their attempt to summit K2. K2-The Savage Mountain by Bob Bates and Charles Houston MD chronicles that epic expedition. The tension is as strong as that on the rope used for the belay by Schoening when describing their heroic descent. The book is dedicated to Art Gilkey whose body has never been found after his fatal fall on the peak during the same expedition. The book rightly deserves its accolade as a mountaineering classic. |
Interesting fact: Dee Molenaar says the drawing by Clarence Doore of the climber's various positions on the ropes and on the mountain when the fall occurred is totally wrong in the original edition. He says only the 1994 Adventure Library edition has the correct drawing, which Dee drew himself.
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GaliWalker Have camera will use
Joined: 10 Dec 2007 Posts: 4929 | TRs | Pics Location: Pittsburgh |
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GaliWalker
Have camera will use
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Thu Feb 25, 2016 8:35 pm
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So, I was watching The Late Show with Stephen Colbert the other day, which included a demonstration of the device used to detect gravitational waves, when I began to realize that it sounded really familiar...
A few seconds into the demonstration it suddenly struck me that the device used to detect gravitational waves - interferometric laser gravitational wave detectors - was based on prototypes built by Robert L. Forward (and colleagues) at Hughes Research Laboratories. Some of my favorite SF novels were written by the late Robert L. Forward! While I was aware of his work with gravitation wave detectors (even the acclaimed SF writer Larry Niven had featured this in at least one of his SF stories), I had not connected the dots that led to the fantastic discovery of gravitational waves.
May you rest in peace, Dr. Robert L. Forward. I will be rereading Dragon's Egg for my next book in your honor.
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Backpacker Joe Blind Hiker
Joined: 16 Dec 2001 Posts: 23956 | TRs | Pics Location: Cle Elum |
The Sinking of the USS Thresher. Since I've been building Virginia Class Nuclear Submarines lately I thought Id read up on the disaster. Sad and scary.
"If destruction be our lot we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen we must live through all time or die by suicide."
— Abraham Lincoln
"If destruction be our lot we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen we must live through all time or die by suicide."
— Abraham Lincoln
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meandering Wa Member
Joined: 25 Jun 2010 Posts: 1516 | TRs | Pics Location: Redmond |
All Over But the Shoutin by Rick Bragg
His childhood and early new career in the poverty of the rural south
at times a gut wrenching story, but the prose is amazing clean and efficient.
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Mike Collins Member
Joined: 18 Dec 2001 Posts: 3096 | TRs | Pics
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Eels-An Exploration, from New Zealand to the Sargasso, of the World's Most Mysterious Fish by James Prosek weaves the stories from New Zealand, Micronesia, and the eastern seaboard of the United States by people who have close encounters with this odd fish. Eels mate in the ocean and migrate up rivers as small "glass eels" that lack pigment so the bodies can be looked through. His book helps to draw attention to the fact that eels are in drastic decline around the world because of dams for hydroelectric power and overfishing of adults.
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Stella Member
Joined: 23 May 2006 Posts: 113 | TRs | Pics Location: Seattle |
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Stella
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Sun Mar 13, 2016 7:05 pm
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Just finished "The Log of a Snow Survey - Skiing and Working in a Mountain Winter World".
The author, Patrick Armstrong, has a number of callings but one of them is to spend the winter months on 1-2 week long forays to measure the snow pack in the high Sierra. This involves skiing 100+ miles, crossing 12k foot passes, assessing avalanche danger and digging out deeply buried cabins. His descriptions of the joys and perils of the work is great. His observations about the natural history of the mountains is a pleasure to read.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book and heartily recommend it.
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olderthanIusedtobe Member
Joined: 05 Sep 2011 Posts: 7708 | TRs | Pics Location: Shoreline |
Went back to John Scalzi, Old Man's War series. Went thru "Human Division" fairly quickly. Just picked up "The End of All Things" yesterday and read for several hours during power outage. In between I started on Bill Bryson's latest "The Road to Little Dribbling" about his return to England 20 years or so after "Notes From a Small Island." Bogged down on it, may not finish it.
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Mike Collins Member
Joined: 18 Dec 2001 Posts: 3096 | TRs | Pics
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Geology Underfoot in Western Washington by Dave Tucker is a collection of 22 geological vignettes of easily accessible stops along Washington highways. The Ape Cave, Mima Mounds, Mount Rainier, and glacial erratics are visited with helpful maps. Useful illustrations buttress the author's informative text and helped to increase my understanding of the state's geology.
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olderthanIusedtobe Member
Joined: 05 Sep 2011 Posts: 7708 | TRs | Pics Location: Shoreline |
Hit and miss lately, I've given up on several books. I've been nibbling around the edges of the sci fi genre the last several years. I've been curious about exploring some of the earlier acclaimed authors of sci fi. Currently have Fahrenheit 451 by Bradbury (I think it's considered sci fi) and The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Heinlein from the library.
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NacMacFeegle Member
Joined: 16 Jan 2014 Posts: 2653 | TRs | Pics Location: United States |
I just started Jasper Fforde's "Friday Next" series after seeing it recommended as being similar to Terry Pratchett's novels. So far its definitely intriguing and more than a little bizarre; a mix of mystery, fantasy, and sci-fi the books are set in an alternate history version of Earth where literature is valued as highly as precious gems are in our universe. Time travel, fusion, and advanced genetic engineering exist, but they still use cassette tapes and other mid-20th century technology (it's set in 1980). It's very well written, and definitely worth checking out for anyone who (like me) is in search for an author to fill the huge void left by the passing of Terry Pratchett.
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