MadeInKIM

If i recall correctly, 40th street in Manhatten is also officially called "Nikola Tesla Way" Do you know why? I don't, but I'd love to know

Placid Casual

Richard's Bicycle Book (or any of the modern variants), by Richard Ballantine.

One of the classics. A how-to book, and a love letter to the bicycle, and a philosophical/social treatise on the potential role of the bicycle in the modern city.

My parents bought me this book to keep me busy when I was eleven and anxiously, and loudly, awaiting the ten-speed that I knew I would be getting for Christmas. I read it from cover to cover and took most of his philosophy to heart, to the extent I was able to understand it. As a consequence, I was the only kid in my town who refused on principle to ride on the sidewalk. For the most part, the drivers were too stunned to get angry at me.

Ira in Chi

And then read The Forever War by Joe Haldeman

shants

alright, **** chuck palahnuik. i've never read worse drivel. that said, let's see. i am a total nerd for medieval and renaissance philosophy/theology and literature. no, i do not believe in god.

philosophy:
aristotle: metaphysics (also see the early arab commentators)
boethius: consolation of philosophy
augustine: city of god
maimonides: guide of the perplexed
spinoza: ethics
descartes: meditations: objections and replies (descartes was a horrible philosopher -- this shows it)
hume: an enquiry concerning human understanding
berkeley: principles

if you are at all interested in the problem of universals (in the medieval context), you should check out a small edition of pertinent excerpts, five texts on the medieval problem of universals.

literature, of a sort:
dante: inferno
foxe: acts and monuments (1570 and 1583 editions are best)
verstegan: theatrum crudelitatum haereticorum
gerard: autobiography of a hunted priest
marlowe: doctor faustus
spenser: faerie queene
marquis de sade: 120 days of sodom
voltaire: candide

not-quite-as-****ing-old (but still old):
camus: the plague
john dos passos: the big money
beckett: endgame
foucault: discipline and punish
rand: the fountainhead (some insight, mostly shiits and giggles)

alright, that's enough for now. yeah.

popluhv

Brian Evenson: the Wavering Knife

can I get an amen?!

mcatano

popluhv: every time i see your username, I think it says "popol vuh," which says way more about me than it does about you, I guess.

sillygirl

That basically sums up all the best books I read in college. 4 or 5 that I haven't read that I will check out now. That last list should really include umberto eco - most would say name of the rose, i would say foucault's pendulum.

eddiebrannan

can't find any reference to that, but he died at the new yorker hotel, which is on 34th and 8th. closest i can get i'm afraid

popluhv

mcatano,
Bruno S. or Kinski?

(Any one s welcome to reply too)

Also, in regards to the love/hate thread, I think fixed foo is a bad idea, and that this thread is refreshing 'cause we can have a book post, without going to a different thread. That is probably why the fixed/ss forum usualy has so much activity.

popluhv

s=else is...of course

oops

Placid Casual

...and, of the two, mostly the former.

Yes, I are a literary critic!

BlueBikeRider

The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini

Just picked up a copy of Foucault's Pendulum for .25. Gotta love the local used book store!!

DiegoFrogs

He was a New York Socialite for much of his life, despite not having much commercial success. I don't "know" new york, but I assume he spent some time on 40th street. Is there a park on 40th? I think he was spending some time in a park feeding pidgeons like a crazy man later in life...

nightfly

I was really taken with the Fountain Head in high school, but re-reading later it really struck me as crap. I can't believe how bad a writer she is and how unsophisticated and nieve a philosopher. You'd think in like 500 pages she could say something more than capitalism good, socialism bad in alternating chapters. Unfortunately this un-nuanced libertarianism leaves out any sort of humanity but seems to appeal to young people (myself included at the time) as this sort of romantic/artistic fantasy world. Re-read the love scene and it reads much more like **** than anything else.

Just needed to say it. Most of the other stuff that has come up is very interesting and impressive in breadth and sophistication.

sillygirl

Yes young people can easily romanticize the free-thinking and independence that her anarcho-capitalist sentimentalities represent (yes its actually a little different than libertarianism) - unfortunately, many of these youngsters can never appreciate the conviction and hard work that creates the foundation for this. Thus many are swayed later in life and resort to bashing it (and confusing it with conservatism or republicanism). On that note - this is probably more appropriate for the politics forum.

trial-sin

wow...this thread is amazing. thanks to all of you, i've filled my 'to read' page in my notebook and can look forward to numerous trips to the library, and local book stores, tracking all of these titles down.
as far as my own contributions:
i'll second derrick jensen's "a language older than words" and also throw out "a culture of make-believe",
great books, probably not the best for the holidays, as they're a tad on the somber side.
another vote for anything by david sedaris...he really knows how to spin a tale. if given the choice, i'd prefer to listen to his recorded books, as his voice is pretty integral to his style. check it out and you'll see. i listened to "dress your family in corduroy and denim" on my last drive from n.c. to n.y., and the drive seemed to fly by, i was laughing so hard...even through d.c. traffic...
right now i'm reading "dogrun" by arthur nersesian. just started it, but i'm already nostalgic for the day to day occurances that you can only have in nyc.
some quickies...
catfish and mandala---andrew x pham
how to lose friends and alienate people---toby young
bomb the suburbs---william upski wimsatt
no more prisons---william upski wimsatt
burn collector---al burian
evasion---crimethinc collective
days of war, nights of love---crimethinc collective
skipping towards gomorrah---dan savage
fugitive days---bill ayers
assassination vacation---sarah vowell
and of course, "the complete calvin and hobbes" by bill watterson

jedi_steve420

Yeah William Upski!!!! Can't believe I didn't think to mention those books. I found No More Prisons to be a much better read than Bomb the Suburbs though. Almost convinced me to drop out of high school and home school myself!!! Ahh memories... might not be a good thing to pick up again though with the way I'm feeling about university... good thing I never got it back once I lent it out :-)

Tmax1

I've got to throw my last read in:

"Memories of My Melancholy *****"- Gabriel Garcia Marquez's newest.

The main character is not a likeable guy but the book tells me to not wait for what I want/need. A bicycle figures prominently in this unrequited love story.

Tmax1

Placid Casual

Or it could be that the older they get and the more they see of the real world and learn about human nature, the more they're able to see the naivete and the massive blind spots of Rand's "philosophy." Somebody once referred to Rand, perhaps a bit cruelly, as one of the world's best-known authors of young adult fiction, and I have to say that I can see his point.

mcatano

Dealer's choice, really...

s_9

A few pages ago, someone recommended Art Spiegelman's graphic novel, Maus, which reminded me of the best celebrity delivery story I have:

It was a couple years ago, and I was picking up an oversize, poster-sized package from the Jewish Forward Newspaper. It was addressed to Art Spiegelman. "That's freakin' awesome," I thought. If I had known I was going to go to Art Spiegelman's place, I would've brought one of his books with me. But of course, I didn't know that. So I stopped at Forbidden Planet (comic book shop) on the way down. I said to the guy behind the counter "be careful with that. that package is going to Art Spiegelman. I need to buy a copy of Maus." He showed me through the graphic novel section, but surprisingly, there was no copy of Maus in the store. Even he found this odd, as they try to at least keep a few copies on hand.

I was disappointed, but it wasn't the end of the world. After leaving the store, his place was my next drop. When I got to his apartment & rang the bell, he answered the door. I told him how I was a fan & he's done some great work & that had I known I was coming, I would've brought my copy of Maus for him to sign. "Oh, Oh, Oh," he said, "hang on. come on in." He starts rummaging through all of his shelves & cabinets while his wife & a few suits were holding down the table they apparently had been having a meeting at before I arrived. His cabinets, instead of being filled with things like dishes, were all filled with comic books. Finally, he finds an English version of Maus, opens it up, draws a mouse on the first page, signs it, and hands it to me. "Here you go. Take care!" I was pretty much flabbergasted! Art Spiegelman had just GIVEN me a copy of his graphic novel, and signed it. This was easily the greatest tip I've ever gotten. It probably made my week.



.....I've got two more book recommendations, too. Even if you're not into Jazz, Miles Davis' autobiography "Miles" is incredible. And Charles Mingus' "Beneath the Underdog" is great too. It pissed me off the first time I read it, but a few years later, knowing that he was prone to exaggerate and make stuff up, I found it much more enjoyable.

nightfly

The best part about the Miles book is looking in the index under headings like "white people" and the topics listed are like "stealing the black man's music page 5, hatred for page 10, devils..." etc.

Great book.

queerpunk

i just finished Margaret Atwood's "Blind Assassin."

read this book.

then read Ian McEwan's "Atonement."

FixednotBroken

agreed - those are both great reads. also in the genre of autiobiography - klaus kinski's "Uncut". if you found miles and mingus' penchant for exaggeration amusing, you'll love kinski. the dude was most definitely out of his tree.

nightfly

If you're into jazz, check out "But Beautiful" be Geoff Dyer. Really good short stories relating to jazz musicians not quite fiction, not quite non-fiction.