What r u reading now? is it any good? share?
-
basically reading two books at the same time now...
both, i've just started..
A Brief History of Time - Stephen Hawking
nothing more need be said about this book
The Code Book - Simon Singh
a mathematician's tour with a storyteller's heart and wit about the evolution of encryption, and how it affected the world we live in, from secret messages which doomed Mary, Queen of Scots, to the Navajo Code Talkers who helped the Allies win the Second World War... and it tells of the people who wrote and broke the most difficult codes, giving a human face to this unknown war which no one knows about... -
Evolution: A Very Short Introduction
By Brian Charlesworth
Description
This book covers the crucial role of evolutionary biology in transforming our view of human origins and relation to the universe, and its impact on traditional philosophy and religion. Furthermore, it explains the most important basic findings and procedures in the area, and how it has developed since the first publications of Darwin and Wallace 150 years ago.
-
Originally posted by poon cho tang:
Interesting!!!!! what you think of it so far?? are you an evolutionist?
[b]Evolution: A Very Short Introduction
By Brian Charlesworth
Description
This book covers the crucial role of evolutionary biology in transforming our view of human origins and relation to the universe, and its impact on traditional philosophy and religion. Furthermore, it explains the most important basic findings and procedures in the area, and how it has developed since the first publications of Darwin and Wallace 150 years ago.[/b] -
ok lah...very introductory indeedOriginally posted by care bear:Interesting!!!!! what you think of it so far?? are you an evolutionist?
but i prefer the book "river out of eden" from the science master series...it gives a more interesting persepective on evolution
science basically postulates theories
until a scientific theory is proven wrong beyond reasonable doubt....the theory is upheld....that's evolution for scientific theories -
scientific proof is basically built on shifting sands...
what is irrefutably proven one day, will probably be proven wrong the next...
remember, earth is flat.. then earth is round and everything revolves around it.. the sun is the centre of the universe... we are part of the milky way.. now, there is theory of supermassive black holes which the whole galaxy revolves around...
then there's superstring theory...
atoms are the smallers, then protons, neutrons, electrons, then anti-matter, quarks and what nots...
there is no "beyond reasonable doubt" in science -
the key is proving wrong
proving right can never be established "beyond reasonable doubt" -
Mechanics of Solids.......you interested???
-
whats it about ?? never put any details, how anybody know if they interested or not??!!!Originally posted by dcx:Mechanics of Solids.......you interested??? -
How to put in all the formulas n the grandmother stories????Originally posted by care bear:whats it about ?? never put any details, how anybody know if they interested or not??!!!
Got Shear,Strain,Strain,Plane Stress/strain....blah blah blah....so many... -
nah...went thru the exercisesOriginally posted by dcx:How to put in all the formulas n the grandmother stories????
Got Shear,Strain,Strain,Plane Stress/strain....blah blah blah....so many...
used to be interesting -
strain, stress... sounds like the story of my worklife
but as to proof, there is absolute proof.. and that only lies in the realm of mathematicsOriginally posted by dcx:How to put in all the formulas n the grandmother stories????
Got Shear,Strain,Strain,Plane Stress/strain....blah blah blah....so many... -
mathematics is not christened the lingua franca of science for nothing
-
Now reading "The Curious Incident of the Dog at Night"...just read the first few pages, dun have time to really read yet cos I have 180 pages of my course notes to read
i.c.y -
okay. i've just finished reading The Code Book by Simon Singh.. well, have to say it got pretty technical.. all about encryption and how the codebreakers frustrate their efforts... and vice-versa...
codes from ancient times to now.. to the modern day of how public keys (like the ones in our computer systems) work, and what are the weaknesses.. how codebreakers in the past were linguists and around the Second World War, mathematicians and statisticians were brought in to break the code of the Enigma Machine and the efforts of the British when they built a huge mechanical computer to do it... to the evolution of a programmable computer...
the race is now on to build the first the quantum computer which will revolutionise and shift the balance of power back to the codebreakers, but will also give the encryptors a powerful tool which may allow them to build the truly unbreakable code....
quite a good read... but it isn't as good as Simon Singh's former effort, Fermat's Last Theorem or Fermat's Enigma..
only those with interests in trivia, history and encryption need read, i think it'll bore the heck out of the rest -
Falling Leaves by Adeline Yen Mah, just finished tat book. Am currently reading
The five people you meet in heaven by Mitch Albom -
I'm halfway through this now.....bought this at the MPH book sale on a whim cos it was only $5...am surprised to say that I have really been enjoying the ride and am having difficulty putting it down. She seems to be an amazing, strong and passionate woman ....I hope she runs for President in the next US elections...I believe she will be a good one.
Heres some media reviews on it...
The New York Times - Maureen Dowd
Living History is neither living nor history. But like Hillary Rodham Clinton, the book is relentless, a phenomenon that's impossible to ignore and impossible to explain.
The Denver Post - Tom Walker
Living History is a solidly written, personal account from a major player in one of this country's most politically contentious periods. It is an important part of the record.
Los Angeles Times - Ronald Brownstein
[Hillary] Clinton has produced a surprisingly engaging and, at points, even compelling book. Especially once the couple reaches the White House; she provides enough of a peek behind the curtain to keep the pages turning. She presents intriguing new details on her role in shaping the policies of her husband's presidency.
Kansas City Star
The only thing that matters, with any book, is this: Is it worth reading? And in the case of Living History, the answer is yes...it's going to be hard for any but the most partisan to ignore her grace, and her mix of self-confidence and the insecurities that seem to burden us all. -
Now Reading Milan Kundera's The Unbearable Lightness of Being...
hes been one of my favourite authors for ages and ages....am re- reading the book for like the 10th time already cos was just discussing it with a friend...
would highly recommend him....for those who dont know what its about heres a brief summary...
A young woman in love with a man torn between his love for her and his incorrigible womanizing one of his mistresses and her humbly faithful lover--these are the two couples whose story is told in this masterful novel. In a world in which lives are shaped by irrevocable choices and by fortuitous events, a world in which everything occurs but once, existence seems to lose its substance, its weight. Hence, we feel "the unbearable lightness of being" not only as the consequence of our private actions, but also in the public sphere, and the two inevitably intertwine. -
I just read Kafka On The Shore, by Haruki Murakami.
As usual, he delves deeply into the subconscious of the human mind, telling his stories through seemingly unrelated subplots until the reader reads much deeper. and he will find that there are similar themes in the undercurrent.Murakami writes in a fashion where the reader will experience a sense of disconnection and separation from the real world, from the protagonist's point of view.I like his novels, and you should read The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, it's his best work IMHO.Though Sputnik Sweetheart comes close in terms of emotional triggers.
This is an excerpt from The Daily Telegraph's Christopher Taylor, a reviewer..
"In the first of the book's two storylines, a 15-year-old boy – who calls himself Kafka Tamura – runs away from his sinister father and unwittingly embarks on an Oedipal quest. In the second, Nakata – an elderly man with learning difficulties caused by a mysterious childhood accident – becomes embroiled in an occult conspiracy. This being a Murakami novel, we also meet a kooky young girl and a mysterious older woman, both of whom are given to offering sex at unexpected moments. There's a terrific scene involving a cat-catcher dressed as Johnnie Walker (of whisky fame) and, later, a walk-on part for a spirit in the guise of Colonel "KFC" Sanders.
As the storylines begin to converge, it becomes clear that the novel's fantastic events are dramatisations of the characters' inner lives. This is usually the case in Murakami's fiction, but in the new novel he is uncharacteristically keen to explain what he's up to: there are frequent mini-lectures on Japanese folklore, Greek tragedy and so on. This turn to Borges-style bookishness – complete with references to Burton's translation of the Arabian Nights – is accompanied by a more whimsical, fairytale-like at-mosphere than usual, with less of the hypnotic domestic detail that Murakami's readers have come to expect.
Philip Gabriel's English-language text is also pretty clunky in places, and it's unfortunate that one strand of the novel hinges on the claim that Kafka means "crow", since, according to Kafka's most recent biographer, the name comes from a word meaning "jackdaw". Kafka on the Shore is still highly readable, and fans will enjoy tracing the echoes and symmetries between it and Murakami's earlier novels (particularly Hard-boiled Wonderland and the End of the World); but the uninitiated would probably do better to start with South of the Border, West of the Sun or the mighty Wind-Up Bird Chronicle itself." -
he he,Lazer Lord, I just bought two Murakami books!!!
Norwegian Wood and A Wild Sheep Chase... looking forward to reading them this two weeks cos I've never read him before and I keep on hearing about him...was looking for The Wind Up Bird Chronicle too in the Book shops but its all out...guess I must go to Amazon for it....will share my thoghts on them once I'm done!!
Nice to see a fellow book fan sharing!! thanks for the surpport...keep on coming back yeah?!!
-
Originally posted by care bear:he he,Lazer Lord, I just bought two Murakami books!!!
Norwegian Wood and A Wild Sheep Chase... looking forward to reading them this two weeks cos I've never read him before and I keep on hearing about him...was looking for The Wind Up Bird Chronicle too in the Book shops but its all out...guess I must go to Amazon for it....will share my thoghts on them once I'm done!!
Nice to see a fellow book fan sharing!! thanks for the surpport...keep on coming back yeah?!! 
I think The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle is still in stock at Kinokuniya? -
Really? went a couple of weeks ago but they were out...will pop by this weekend and take a look again...thanks!!Originally posted by LazerLordz: I think The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle is still in stock at Kinokuniya? -
to intro my current two books i'm reading... decided to leave A Brief History of Time alone for a while as i'm more confused than ever about it
Out by Natsuo Kirino
it tells of a bunch of women working the graveyard shift packing bento or boxed lunches.. each woman has a quiet tale of desperation, of estranged husbands and crippling debt...
when one of them snaps and murders her husband, the women close ranks to dispose of the body and the downward spiral of violence and mayhem...
i've not reached the murder part yet
The Curse of the Singles Table (A True Story of 1001 Nights Without Sex) by Suzanne Schlosberg
a 34-year old lady, smart, good-looking writer documents how come she's still single.. and in hilarious detail about her celibacy.. and her attempts to end it..
supposedly hilarious but have not started yet -
Just completed Mike Gayle's "My Legendary Girlfriend" ....abt a loser....who i can really identify ...cos its almost like writing abt me Anyway, its pretty funny also....its guy's book
So now I am starting on Mike's 2nd book called "Mr Commitment" abt a guy facing the ultimate question in life ...to get married or not and that choice could mean ending up with all or nothing. -
still reading Five People You Meet In Heaven...
-
jus finished John Grisham's King of Torts
not that good.....
something like The Chamber
in front very exciting, give u alotta hope.....
then later anti-climax......
i saw The Painted House at the library last nite
but i think i shall abstain from Grisham for a while.....
maybe i'll pick some china writer next......haben read chinese books for a long time......