Silk Road forums
Discussion => Off topic => Topic started by: ProudCannabian on November 22, 2011, 03:23 am
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Hey everybody.
I think we need to inject some fun into Off Topic.
I propose a book club. We choose one book per month, get fucked up and read that somebitch. Then we come here and discuss that thing.
I do pretty much all my reading these days on my iPhone, it allows me to read anywhere! Stanza is tha bomb. If you need the hookup on free ebooks (for stanza or megareader) that aren't over 100 years old, send me a PM.
So I'll start us all off with one book, then we can vote on further books.
Robert Heinlein's Stranger in a Strange Land
This is one of my favorite books, and yes it is Sci-Fi, but it really speaks to me in a way no other book has.
I have three copies, and I'm constantly giving it away to folks. LOL I'm a Heinlein thumper!
Anyhow, I am pretty damned sure that if you don't have it, it can be had, cheap. Most libraries will have it too.
As we read/discuss this book, we will soon arrive at December 15th, the deadline. I know it's not a full month, but CHRISTMAS is coming! The most thought-provoking, and best post in here will receive a prize!
Yes, a PRIZE!
I will front the prize this first go, and we will see if we want to maybe do a group-buy for future prizes, or maybe the person who puts up a book will do it. Shit, maybe we'll even have a vendor or two sponsor our club!
Get READING!!!! Time is running short!
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Haha I'm down for this. Sounds like a gay old time!
So do you have some secret of getting the book on some e-reader for free or am I going to have to spend hard earned $$? Either way, sounds fun.
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"Our Right to Drugs: The Case for a Free Market" Thomas Szasz
and
for fun, once again: "Jurassic Park" and "The Lost World" by Michael Crichton
and what I"m waiting on?
The new Tom Wolfe book, not yet out, about Miami, FL "Back to Blood."
Learning to like my Kindle...still love a book in hand tho...
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Aldus Huxley - "Doors of perception"
anyone know how to remove DRM protection? I bought a few book through amazon, but I hate the Kindle app for iPads.
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I'd like to suggest Heart of Darkness, or if someone feels like reading 8 300 page books then the Incarnations of Immortality series
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Stranger in a Strange Land .txt:
http://www.btloft.com/torrent/Stranger_in_a_Strange_Land_by_Robert_Heinlein_.txt_file.torrent
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i throw my vote for
Blood Meridian by Cormac Mccarthy
fucking love that book!!
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Gonna be the obvious one and suggest Pihkal & Tihkal
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Gonna be the obvious one and suggest Pihkal & Tihkal
+1
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PIHKAL&TIHKAL as Reich suggested
A couple others I think would be good:
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
The Electric Koolaid Acid Test
Food of the Gods
Naked Lunch
Steal This Book!
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Thanks Variety Jones for posting the text.
I don't have an E source for Stranger myself, but for many other books, using stanza or megareader you can get them by adding a book source called Operation Alpha. The URL is http://www.operation-alpha.com/catalogue/c/catalog.xml
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Neuromancer, anyone?
http://www.demonoid.me/files/details/2280248/005964424256/
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i throw my vote for
Blood Meridian by Cormac Mccarthy
fucking love that book!!
O yeah! The best book by the greatest living writer...Sutree and the border trilogy are also fine reads...can't tell you how many times I've read him....
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Wouldn't it be best to do books nobody has read? And should it be scientific or fantasy or what?
-RI
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Well, seeing as this thing doesn't seem to be up and running yet I thought I'd share one of my favourite short stories with you all :)
It's called The Jaunt, it's a very short horror/sci-fi story by Stephen King. Quite unsettling and very interesting concept, I'll leave it at that.
Here's a link: http://www.freebooks4u.net/horror/The_Jaunt/
If you've got fifteen minutes to spare you should be reading this
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Oh this is running all right... folks better be reading! I wanna hear some feedback/discussion on the book if someone wants the PRIZE!
TY for the short story alphanumericnameguy.
RI - If no one has read the book, how do we know it exists? :P
One interesting fact about Stranger in a Strange Land is that it actually spawned a halfass religion, though it was not endorsed by Heinlein. (unlike that other crazy religion created by an SF author) Over a short time, it moved further and further away from the ideas in the book, to the point where it just became a salad of religious ideas.
I really like the creche idea, where you and a number of like-minded others that can group together into an economic and social unit. You don't HAVE to sleep with everyone in the unit, but you all work towards the success of the "family" unit. Each person has "shares" and if they want to leave they take their share with them.
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Wouldn't it be best to do books nobody has read? And should it be scientific or fantasy or what?
-RI
I think this was just sort of general, no rules, book club, what books you like/liked recommend to others...but I also think it would be cool if someone started a sci/fantasy book clue like you mention: i'm actually kind of new to that...just this year I finally read cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson and it pretty much changed my life, book wise, and 'money' wise. It was right before I found out about bitcoins and SR and all that, and suggest all should read that...see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cryptonomicon for info...
but I don't know if his writing is for everybody, but I loved it so much, I went on and read that huge trilogy--about nine books, actually--called The Baroque Cycle, and got lost all kinds of ways along the way.
But for sure, would be nice to hear from people better read than me in this area: I just got reamde, Stephenson's latest, on my Kindle...and I've read earlier works of his....but for those who find our future fascinating and weird, and think, just maybe, SR might be the beginning of some new world, all should read at least cryptonomicon, as it turns out to be main theme is new internet currency....kind of ;)
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Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time.
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This Thread Is Out Of Focus :)
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This is a brilliant idea, Heinlein's great. the missus got me a copy of 'The moon is a strange mistress' a while back. I'll start reading tomorrow morning, love saturday coffee, radio 4 and book in bed :)
We've all read Doors of Perception, Farenheit 451, all those big counter-culturey favourites.
I'd recommend one of Kurkov's books, they're a bit off beat, quite dark but not too heavy going, all can be read in an afternoon. Love the post-Soviet, anarchy in a new free market themes.
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Derrick Jensen - Endgame
or will that be a buzzkill?
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Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson
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OK. I'm gonna extend this until Sunday. Give people more time to read the book.
It's busy around this time of year! I know I can get through it in two days, but I've read it so many times it's like I'm just refreshing my memory. :P
SO, due to Christmas shipping issues (high volume, etc.) the prize will likely not make it to your doorstep in time for XMas, but I can prolly get it to you for New Years!
The prize will be a single hit of kickass, PROUDly tested LSD. ;)
I can either ship direct from myself, or work out a single hit-buy with one of the amazing vendors we have here on SR for those of you who wish to avoid revealing their address to me via PM.
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I grok it.
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Thou art God!
Man, I forgot how good this one was. Thanks Cannabian for starting this, and also extending the deadline. I read a lot of it on a plane today, and will probably be posting either tomorrow or Saturday.
yakyak
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I only started yesterday myself... RL is busy this time of year! That's why I felt it fair to extend, give peeps some weekend reading time.
I'm almost 1/4 way through now, so I should be 1/2 done by tomorrow night at this rate.
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I'd like to suggest Heart of Darkness, or if someone feels like reading 8 300 page books then the Incarnations of Immortality series
I approve of this :)
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maybe the book of the month can be posted through one of our member's sellers accounts as a download for a small fee and that fee can fund the prize?
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I started reading Stranger in a Strange Land after seeing it in this thread- I had heard about Heinlein for years from various geeky gaming buddies (well, 'TANSTAAFL' and 'Grok' sums up my entire prior knowledge), but as a history nerd, I venture into the fiction land maybe once a year or so. So glad I did. Haven't read any Sci Fi since Asimov in like 4th grade, and robots didn't do much for me (sorry, I am just rambling).
Anyway, I'm only about 1/4 of the way through (Boardman just got hired, Duke just got fired), but am really enjoying the selection- thank you!
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Shit, I cheated and read it the first day it was mentioned, Stranger in a Strange Land, I mean.
Prolly my 4th read of it, I love Heinlein.
Just curling up with another favourite author for a long anticipated second read of Garden of Rama by Arthur C. Clark and Gentry Lee.
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That's not cheating! You're just ready to rock this thread is all. ;)
Does anything about the book stick out to you? Some people find it very utopian, and other discount it as the hornyness of old fellas in the 50's, lol.
I probably shouldn't have chosen one of the busiest months of the year to do this though.
I wound up getting caught in a snowstorm over the weekend and, well, here I am!
So, I propose a further extension to January 1st. At that point we can discuss the book further (maybe we can all get some reading done with turkey/goose/ham in our bellies) and I can pick a winner by the end of that first week of January.
This first prize I will fund myself, but we could maybe get SR or Nomad to open a secure book club account that we could all contribute a small fee into to cover the cost of future, bigger and better prizes than a single dose of LSD, as will be provided this time.