I'm going to India today for my sis-in-law's wedding. I have about 23 hours of travel ahead of me. I'm bringing my laptop, loaded with movies, but I'd like to have a good book too. Here is a sample of what I've recently read or enjoyed reading:

Blink-Malcom Gladwell
Tipping Point - Gladwell

Mind At Light Speed
The Age of Intelligent Machines - Kurzweil
The Age of Spiritual Machines - Kurzweil

A Short History of Nearly Everything - Bryson

Harry Potter 1-6 - Rowling

Stiff - Roach
Spook - Roach

I'm thinking that it may be time for some fiction.

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The Trigger.

I enjoyed it. I don't remember who wrote it though.

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Security is just a word. The act of being secure is entirely different.
"...but I think that to make your dream a reality, having a dream itself is a mandatory prerequisite"
From A Book: Walking Through The Impossible

Just because it has two clutches, shifts faster, uses a torque converter or has near-infinite gear ratios, requires less driver intervention and is more efficient doesn't make it better in my opinion.
Save The Manual Transmission

Mother of Storms, by John Barnes.

I'm a huge Vonnegut fan, so when I read Christopher Moore's "Fluke" I was completely and thoroughly engaged from cover to cover. Its hysterical!

-Finney

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microchip13
The Trigger.

I enjoyed it. I don't remember who wrote it though.

Arthur C. Clark?

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MacResource User Map: [www.zeemaps.com]#

A little old but "A Man In Full." Tom Wolfe Jr. Of course if you have not read "Bonfire of the Vanities" by Tom I strongly endorse. Any of his stuff is superior and entertaining. Have fun!

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Da Good Life

If you like science fiction, "The Warrior's Apprentice" by Lois Bujold, or "Brothers in Arms." In fantasy, her "Curse of Chalion" is superior.

Pretty sure. That name rings a bell though I think there was a coauthor as well.

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Security is just a word. The act of being secure is entirely different.
"...but I think that to make your dream a reality, having a dream itself is a mandatory prerequisite"
From A Book: Walking Through The Impossible

Just because it has two clutches, shifts faster, uses a torque converter or has near-infinite gear ratios, requires less driver intervention and is more efficient doesn't make it better in my opinion.
Save The Manual Transmission

Has anyone read 'Ender's Shadow'? I thought that looked interesting.

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MacResource User Map: [www.zeemaps.com]#

David Foster Wallace's relatively new collection of short stories.

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spearmint
A little old but "A Man In Full." Tom Wolfe Jr. Of course if you have not read "Bonfire of the Vanities" by Tom I strongly endorse. Any of his stuff is superior and entertaining. Have fun!

I love that book spearmint. Makes me want a ham biscuit.

Going to India?

Have you read "Midnight's Children" by Salman Rushdie?

"The novel narrates key events in the history of India through the story of pickle-factory worker Saleem Sinai, one of 1001 children born as India won independence from Britain in 1947."


Todd's magical-realistic keyboard

Todd, he miiight not want to take that book to India, esp if he's going near Kashmir...

Zt- If you like the Orson Scott stuff, yeah, sure. There's nothing like reading some stuff about the place your'e going, though. If the wedding is full-on Hindi, a book on customs and practices may help as well. Sort of like cramming for an exam.

I recall that being able to quote from the Quran helped me immensely in Kuwait, back in the day.

I'm current enjoying iWoz.

It's a quick read, but fascinating autobiography of who else... Steve Wozniak.

Gives some great insight in to the personalities of Steve Jobs and Wozniak in the early days. I had no idea how different they were, and in many ways how unlikely a pair they were.

Wozniak seems almost childlike in his recounting of those early days. Not always flattering of Steve Jobs, but I'm guessing that's to be expected when two people have such different approaches.

Anyway, if you are up for non-fiction you might find it of interest.

"Kafka on the Shore" by Haruki Murakami.

You might want to consider an Indian language phrase book. How many dialects are there anyway?

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And we should consider every day lost on which we have not danced at least once.
—Friedrich Nietzsche
Western Massachusetts

Ender's Shadow was great..not as good as Ender's Game, but good in its own right..

Not exactly as you described, but have you read Into Thin Air (Mt. Everest disaster account). Easy read and chilling..

Also, The Kite Runner (Afghanistan) was excellent..

kiva

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ztirffritz
Has anyone read 'Ender's Shadow'? I thought that looked interesting.

Yes. If you read Ender's Game then you know most of the plot to Ender's Shadow. It is mostly the same story from another characters perspective. Sounds lame huh? But it is not. It is still interesting to see stuff that happened to Bean that was not in Ender's game. I liked it.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/22/2007 11:35AM by wickedsteve.

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Finney
I'm a huge Vonnegut fan, so when I read Christopher Moore's "Fluke" I was completely and thoroughly engaged from cover to cover. Its hysterical!

-Finney

I just fihished "Fluke" a couple of weeks ago. Great story. I've read several other books by Christopher Moore - really enjoyed "Lamb."

I'm just started "A Thousand Splendid Suns" by Khaled Hosseini. He also wrote "The Kite Runner", which I also recommend.

Have a safe trip!

Try the massive "Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell"

It will get you quite a ways on your trip. Very good book.

I just started this one and so far it has been very engaging...Last Flag Down: The Epic Journey of the Last Confederate Warship

"By late 1864, it seemed clear that the Confederacy had only a short time to live. In the west, the Army of the Tennessee was a spent, shattered force. In the east, Lee's Army of Northern Virginia was besieged at Petersburg, and the depredations of Sherman and Sheridan brought Southern soldiers to the brink of starvation. In the midst of this gloom, a Confederate ship, the Shenandoah, left Britain and launched a series of remarkably successful raids on Union shipping across vast expanses of open sea. However, cut off from communication with the Southern homeland, the crew was unaware of the surrender of Confederate armies in April 1865. Since the Shenandoah continued raiding, in strictly legal terms the sailors on board were now pirates. When the officers realized this, they began a heroic effort to find a refuge for themselves and their crew. Baldwin and Powers have written a stirring account of one of the more obscure episodes of the Civil War, filled with stunning examples of personal courage in the face of adversity."

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Aloha, Ken


“I have developed significant attachments to several members even though I wouldn't recognize them if I sat next to one on a park bench. I'm often tempted when in an airport to walk around, hollering "The Løpe", to see if anyone other than the Homeland Security people will acknowledge me. ” - The Løpe



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/22/2007 03:06PM by Harbourmaster.

Life of Pi for something contemporary. Meaty without being overly philosophical.

Jude the Obscure for something from the literary canon. A little off the beaten path for a romantic English novel.

House of the Dead for a little taste of (old) Russian politics.

The Periodic Table for something that crosses genres, combining fiction, painful autobiography, and humor through the lens of chemistry.