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The Last Book You've read

arg-fallbackName="Whisperelmwood"/>
Pulsar said:
The WOT series has been on my to-read list for ages, but I've been put off by the increasing negative reviews of the later books. And now Jordan's dead, I don't know if I'll ever start reading them. I am going read Abercrombie, though. After the Malazan books... so little time, so much to do.
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My brother and his fiance got me into the series, they're both up to date on the books, and they've said even with the new author (writing using Jordan's extensive notes) it's still going to be a damn good read. I don't think I'll give up on this series, like I did the George RR Martin series, I'm too invested in the characters already XD



[edit due to tiredness]
 
arg-fallbackName="ImprobableJoe"/>
Pulsar said:
The WOT series has been on my to-read list for ages, but I've been put off by the increasing negative reviews of the later books. And now Jordan's dead, I don't know if I'll ever start reading them. I am going read Abercrombie, though. After the Malazan books... so little time, so much to do.
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If it were me I'd skip it. After about book 4 or 5, the whole thing seemed to spiral into a nonsensical jumble of a billion characters for me. Most glaring was the introduction of about a million characters with very similar names all crammed together in one corner of the story. Asne, Amico, Alviarin, Anaiya, Alanna, Andaya, Akarrin, Anghara, Aeldene, Adeleas, Adelorna, Ananda, Ashmanaille, Annoura, Afara, Aisha, Angla... and that's just one letter, and one type of character in the story.

And with 176,984 characters, none of them has an individual voice or any character traits whatsoever. The whole thing reads the way Charlie Brown's teacher sounds. :facepalm:
 
arg-fallbackName="Pulsar"/>
ImprobableJoe said:
If it were me I'd skip it. After about book 4 or 5, the whole thing seemed to spiral into a nonsensical jumble of a billion characters for me. Most glaring was the introduction of about a million characters with very similar names all crammed together in one corner of the story. Asne, Amico, Alviarin, Anaiya, Alanna, Andaya, Akarrin, Anghara, Aeldene, Adeleas, Adelorna, Ananda, Ashmanaille, Annoura, Afara, Aisha, Angla... and that's just one letter, and one type of character in the story.

And with 176,984 characters, none of them has an individual voice or any character traits whatsoever. The whole thing reads the way Charlie Brown's teacher sounds. :facepalm:
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Yes, many fantasy writers fall into that trap. They either become infatuated with the world they created or they milk it indefinitely. I love epics, as long as they're going somewhere. Less is more.
 
arg-fallbackName="Whisperelmwood"/>
Hrm. I think I'll stick it out for as long as I can! If I end up getting as lost with it as you're suggesting I might, I'll let y'all know :)
 
arg-fallbackName="Aught3"/>
On the go atm is:
The Greatest Show on Earth - Richard Dawkins
The Story of Christianity - Justo Gonzalez
Mythology of Egypt and the Middle East - Rachel Storm

Coming up is a book on Daoism and Frankenstein!
 
arg-fallbackName="Lallapalalable"/>
nasher168 said:
Just finished Contact. A very interesting read with a good, "realistic" plot.
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Much better than the movie by far. I am sad, because I lost that book a few years ago and reading that caused me to feel a slight pang of despair.
 
arg-fallbackName="Prolescum"/>
Just started reading Cerebus again yesterday. I picked up the first volume back in the nineties and had forgotten all about it. It is now a completed work (6,000 pages!) so thought I'd read the entire epic.

77348-81642-cerebus_large.jpg
 
arg-fallbackName="Daealis"/>
Last book I've read was Anton LaVey - Satanic Bible. When read with a thought I find it quite invigorating and thought provoking(read it a few times now).

Next on the table is The Picture of Dorian Grey by Oscar Wilde. I saw the movie made of it a while back and thought the book should be better, at least if you believe the critics :)
 
arg-fallbackName="FaithlessThinker"/>
The last book I read: "Understanding Muhammad: A Psychobiography of Allah's Prophet" by Ali Sina

It's a great read, a different take on criticism of Islam. You can get it from here:
English: E-book | paperback
Tamil: E-book | paperback
Home page: FaithFreedom.org
[showmoremsg msg=Read the blurb]Why are some Muslims intolerant, violent and supremacist? Why do they bully? What spurs them to riot and murder over the silliest things?

To understand Muslims, one must understand their prophet. This psychobiography seeks to unveil the mystery of the prophet of Islam. Historians tell us Muhammad used to withdraw to a cave, spending days wrapped in his thoughts. He heard bells ringing and had ghostly visions. He thought he was demon possessed, until his wife reassured him he had become a prophet. Convinced of his status, he was intolerant of those who rejected him, assassinated those who criticized him, raided, looted, and massacred entire populations. He reduced thousands to slavery, raped, and allowed his men to rape female captives. All of this, he did with a clear conscience and a sense of entitlement. He was magnanimous toward those who admired him, but vengeful toward those who did not. He believed he was the most perfect human creation and the universe's raison d'àªtre. Muhammad was no ordinary man.

This book ventures beyond the stories. Focusing on the "why" rather than the "what," it unravels the mystique of one of the most enigmatic and influential men in history. Islam is Muhammadanism. Muslims worship and emulate Muhammad. Only by understanding him can one know what makes them tick.

Understanding Muhammad begins with a brief history of his life. Muhammad had a loveless childhood. He then passed to the care of relatives who took pity on him and spoiled him. As the result he developed narcissistic personality disorder, a trait that made him a megalomaniac bereft of conscience. Muhammad believed in his own cause. Even when he lied, he felt entitled and justified to do so. Thanks to another mental illness, namely temporal lobe epilepsy, the prophet of Islam had vivid hallucinations he interpreted as mystical and divine intimations. He also suffered from obsessive compulsive disorder, causing his fixations on numbers, rituals and stringent rules. In the addition, he suffered from acromegaly, a disease caused by excessive production of a growth hormone resulting in large bones and odd facial features.

The combination of his psychological disorders and his unusual physiognomy made him a phenomenon that set him apart from ordinary people. His uneducated followers interpreted his differences as signs of his prophethood. Like devotees of all cults, they rose to champion his cause with dedication. By defying death and butchering others they made Islam the world's second largest religion, now the biggest threat to world peace. The author argues that Islam is incompatible with democracy and human rights, and the only way to avert the clash between barbarity and civilization, and a world disaster, is to expose its fallacy and demystify it. "Muslims must be weaned from Islam for humanity to live in peace," says Ali Sina.



A Bold and Daring Masterpiece! The hallmark of a seminal work is that it crystallizes into a single, overpowering coherence its reader's dark suspicions, ephemeral unease, and penumbral stirrings. Understanding Muhammad introduces an organizing principle into what hitherto appeared to be utter mayhem and lethal chaos. Ali Sina's book offers an explanatory scheme. One "a-ha" moment chases another as things fall into place and a causative chain emerges leading all the way from medieval founder to his current day followers and emulators. This blood-curdling tome is a sweeping, thought-provoking, and thrilling historical panorama that weaves seamlessly insights from numerous disciplines: history, mental health, theology, and more.

Dr. Sam Vaknin author of "Malignant Self-love: Narcissism Revisited."[/showmoremsg]
 
arg-fallbackName="FaithlessThinker"/>
lrkun said:
http://www.molwick.com/en/ebooks/evolution.html - free.

Criticize it.
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Are these materials good (as in scientifically valid)? I saw they have PDF's about science of love or something like that.
 
arg-fallbackName="Jotto999"/>
I just finished "The Brain That Changes Itself". I thought it was intriguing and absorbing.
 
arg-fallbackName="lrkun"/>
anon1986sing said:
lrkun said:
http://www.molwick.com/en/ebooks/evolution.html - free.

Criticize it.
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Are these materials good (as in scientifically valid)? I saw they have PDF's about science of love or something like that.
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That's why I said to criticize it.
ImprobableJoe said:
lrkun said:
http://www.molwick.com/en/ebooks/evolution.html - free.

Criticize it.
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It smells funny.
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Yes, I too smell something funny. I am just complying with the thread title. The last book I read yesterday.
 
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