Which book are you reading currently? #7

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So, so true. It's utterly bizzare that Jordan said something to the effect that he modeled all his women on his wife. Why would he ever tell anyone that? It's not a compliment!

*tugs braid*
*smoothes dress*

At least his women are better than Frank Miller's, though that's not saying a lot.

 

To be honest, the females I have encountered who have read WoT absolutely love his women and how he writes them. Just goes to show that women really are from some other planet.

 

The first omnibus of Gotrek and Felix. Only a hundred pages or so in but it's ok.

 

I just finished Mario Puzo's The Sicilian and Omerta - not bad (actually the first was imo very good), but I don't think I'm really into the genre. I will most likely either go for some fantasy or check out a collection of Woodhouse stories I bought on the last book fair.

 

After taking a 5-year break from Dragonlance (I'd read the Chronicles and Legends trilogies by Weis & Hickman) I've gone back and read through The Second Generation. I'm now halfway through Dragons of Summer Flame and am enjoying it. The Dragonlance books will never count among the best I've read but they're still quite good and enjoyable adventures.

 

well bad prose and a stale storyline are a solid 1/2 of the main traits of Ayn Rand... the other two being thematic vacuity and a truly moronic attempt at "philosophy"! So it seems like if the author is an Ayn Rand wannabe he is at least halfway there.

As for me, I'm about to read Macbeth, the selection on Macbeth in Harold Bloom's volume of Shakespeare criticism, parts of a book called "Life in Shakespeare's England", and some relevant selections from the Oxford Companion to the Theater.

 

There's nothing really wrong with Rand's philosophy, it is actually quite a good one although I cannot completely convince myself of the main points of objectivism, however I do believe that personal freedom and the freedom of the market are very important things. If you want to talk about 'truly moronic attempts at "philosophy"', talk about Hegel.

OT:
Currently I'm reading War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy, before that I finished Gödel's Proof, which was an excellent book, and the Trilogy of the Drow.

 

While I disagree with his methodology and everything he had to say, Hegel, when you consider him in the general context and have a proper background in Kant, is a much better philosopher than Ayn freaking Rand. There is a reason why nobody in philosophy reads or cares about Rand... her argumentation is at best sophomoric rehashes of arguments much older than her, and at worst so utterly wrongheaded that it defies characterization. Ayn Rand's attempts at philosophy would not pass muster in a 200-level undergraduate philosophy class, let alone are they good pieces of original philosophy!! If you want a defense of a free market political philosophy you would do yourself a great great great intellectual disservice to base it off Rand!

Gödel's Proof is that newish non-technical popularization edited by Hofstadter, right? I hope he didn't write it like he wrote Gödel's, Escher, Bach! If you have a background in logic, set theory, or philosophy of logic I'd recommend Peter Smith's Introduction to Gödel's Theorems for a bit more sophisticated treatment.

If you like War and Peace do read some of Tolstoy's short stories... they are unfairly neglected at times in favor of W&P and Anna K, but I think they are just as good!

Also: Cool sig! Horray Kant.

 

Go talk to a conservative philosophy major or professor, at a conservative school. They'll explain why Rand is awful. It's not just 'I'm liberal, so I think she's dumb'.

It's even better than that. Rand has that creepy stuff about men overpowering women, and Goodkind has...70 straight pages of sexual torture in his first novel.

 

Starting The Discourses and The Encheiridion, both by Epictetus

 

The Fountains of Paradise by Arthur C. Clarke.

 

The major plays of Henrik Ibsen, and a biography of Henrik Ibsen.

 

Magician`s Guild, by Trudy Canavan. Its quite good. Part of a trilogy.

 

The dragon in the sea by Frank Herbert. One of his early books (pre-Dune I think). An excellent and very satisfying psychological thriller.

 

just finished Reaper's Gale. Man, Erikson really tied up some loose ends on this one by just cutting them loose, heh. about to start night of knives that novel also set in the Malazan universe.

 

finished night of knives. not erikson quality but good if you want some backstory on the malazan universe. deals with the story of Temper who is mentioned several times in Erikson's books and sheds some light on the ascension shadowthrone and cotillion. not great though.

about to start soldier of sidon by gene wolfe, 3rd installment of the latro series

 

The Essence Of Christianity by Ludwig Feuerbach