What Books are you reading?

[crackdude]

"If you want to be a better person, exercise regularly, eat your fruit and vegetables, remember the saying 'treat others how you'd like to be treated' and masturbate on a regular basis."
If only exercise and a healthy diet could shape my mind haha
Funny how that saying was made by Jesus Christ

Yes, religion can narrow your mind, make you arrogant and non-open to other people's thoughts. But if that happens, it's the wrong religion. The bible advises people to love, respect and care for each other.

I know there's a religion thread going on, but here's my two cents as well:
The bible has some great timeless advice. You can say the bibles moral values were written for a different time the same way I can say that it is the modern moral values that are getting worse.
It doesn't matter how much we could argument around this, no one can deny that the world is more screwed up than ever. And if an old book can bring joy of living and hope to people, then that's the book I wanna follow, know what I'm sayin?

The bible is not a straitjacket, it's a seatbelt. It's teachings are by no means outdated.

Age doesn't make a book less great of a tool. Take the Art of War for example, written for the armies of 1400 years ago still has many things beyond the literal domain that work for armies, corporations and individuals today.

Taking the bible as the word of god would indeed be silly were it not for the amazing fulfilled prophecies it contains. And I'm not talking interpreting things and making it look like something I want, I mean the prediction of rise and fall of ancient superpowers like Babylon, Persia, Greece, etc.. Not to mention the foreseen of the year 1914 as a year that would erupt anarchy and mayhem that was being preached years earlier, which eventually occurred with the 1st World War.
There is way too much evidence that this is more than just a regular book, no matter how screwed up most religions are.

I believe everyone has something to live for. My something involves a hope only the Bible gives me. And that alone is making me a better person little by little..
Not bad for an old book

[Sega Uranus]

I think Sharky went a bit far with the statements he made, but he is not entirely wrong. If you let anything, like a religion take over your life then you are not doing anyone any good.

Really, I see absolutely nothing wrong with looking at how other good people lived their lives to improve your own. I think this is what Crackdude meant by saying the Bible is making him a better person. I also think it is good to believe in stuff, gives people hope even at the worst of times. Just sayin'.

[MadeManG74]

Let's not turn this into a religious discussion please. Reading religious material will NOT make you worse or hurt you, there is a lot of wisdom and good teachings in religious texs that will apply to anyone.

Being religious does not mean being fanatical. I would argue that Atheists seem to be the people who push their beliefs of others and insult other people far, far more often than any religion. It's more to do with the individual than their beliefs.


Moving right along, I can't remember if I said or not, but The Man Who Was Thursday is one of the best things I've ever read, one of my all time favourites. People in the US should really check it out if you have an e-reader or don't mind reading on a laptop computer, since it's now out of copyright and free. Otherwise, it's well worth buying too.

Currently i'm reading 'The Men Who Stare at Goats' (yep there was a movie based on it too), really fascinating, funny and disturbing in equal parts. It's supposedly based on a true story and research of military intelligence in the US over the last few decades.

[crackdude]

Currently i'm reading 'The Men Who Stare at Goats' (yep there was a movie based on it too), really fascinating, funny and disturbing in equal parts. It's supposedly based on a true story and research of military intelligence in the US over the last few decades.

True story? I thought it was just fiction.. I only saw the movie. The story was so ludicrous I just assumed it wasn't real.

[MadeManG74]

Currently i'm reading 'The Men Who Stare at Goats' (yep there was a movie based on it too), really fascinating, funny and disturbing in equal parts. It's supposedly based on a true story and research of military intelligence in the US over the last few decades.

True story? I thought it was just fiction.. I only saw the movie. The story was so ludicrous I just assumed it wasn't real.

I've never seen the movie, but the book seems pretty believable. About the US Military Intelligence toying with the idea of, and running some small units/tests based around 'psychic powers' or how they would try to use subliminal messages/psychological torture on people.

[crackdude]

Well, the movie bases itself on that but uses it to widely comical effect.. It's a pretty funny movie.

[Barry the Nomad]

As this topic snowballed into a gloom and doom discussion on the Earth (I personally think this planet is a lovely place to be), I've moved those non-book related posts into their own topic found within this very same forum.

Now talk about books damnit!

[max_cady]

Kinda weird, I had started reading The Last Thing I Remember from Andrew Klavan's Homelander series, but I had put it down since last Summer, I decided to pick up and man, I finished it in one sitting, even though I had like 100 pages to go.

Not bad, it started to get really interesting just after West's escape from the strange detention camp he had been held, some revelations are made that are just earth-shattering and the book ends on an interesting cliffhanger.

Apparentely they are already making a movie out of this, I think it's great idea, it's fairly easy to adapt this book into a movie.

[MadeManG74]

Reading this:


It's quite good so far, suffers from the same issues that some other non-fiction novels do (jumping between locations/times without much warning, huge amounts of characters being introduced/left at a time), but overall it's a really good read. Especially interesting to read about the gang wars they were involved in and how far things went (fortified headquarters, 'Shotgun Riders', cross-dressing hitmen etc).

[MadeManG74]

I bought this on a whim, not really knowing what to expect. Now I'm about half way through this comic collection and it's actually quite good.

It was published in serials originally so it suffers from the 'explain the story so far' requirements at the beginning of each issue, and each one only lasts a few pages, but once it hit it's stride it got really interesting.

The whole concept is just interesting too, a Genetically Engineered soldier goes rogue along with 3 of his 'Dead' friends. They were designed so that their personas could be saved onto a microchip and then inserted into equipment, meaning that his Helmet, Rifle and Backpack are all sentient.

[Barry the Nomad]

I'm currently rereading Harry Potter book 7, I picked up where the movie ended. I read the book back when it released, but after seeing the movie and knowing that I won't see the conclusion until next Summer, I figured I'd get my conclusion now rather than having to wait.

Also picked this up:

I know it's not a Douglas Adams book per say, but considering I've read all that he's written, this was the next best thing.

[Wilhelm]

....I have my reasons for this.

[Emmett The Crab]

I'm reading Stephen King's Salem's Lot  Pretty slow going for the first several hundred pages with a lot of unnecessary background on characters that will probably get killed anyway.  Not too dissimilar to other SK books I've read.

[Monkeroony]

I was given What is the What by Dave Eggers, SOG the secret wars of Americas champions in Vietnam by John L Plaster for Christmas that I plan on starting this week.

I also got Suburbia by Bill Owens but it's really just a photo book; it's absolutely hilarious- pretty scathing of the middle classes and a few things hit a bit home which is amusing.

[Emmett The Crab]

There's a book by Lynn Buchannan called "The Seventh Sense" that thells the story of the psychic spies for the US Government.  It's really interesting, and a lot of Men Who Stare at Goats come from events in this book.