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Sept 18, 2011 11:08:20 GMT -5
Post by ECM on Sept 18, 2011 11:08:20 GMT -5
Eh, I was terrible at math (or at least terribly disinterested) in grade school, but you can always remedy that!
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Sept 20, 2011 23:44:04 GMT -5
Post by elchevalier on Sept 20, 2011 23:44:04 GMT -5
Reading any math book right now would make as much sense to me as reading something in chinese.
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Sept 21, 2011 10:40:32 GMT -5
Post by ECM on Sept 21, 2011 10:40:32 GMT -5
Well, there are math books and there are math books--the ones like I just read aren't laden w/ arcane formulae and college-level calc
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Sept 26, 2011 8:37:11 GMT -5
Post by Justin on Sept 26, 2011 8:37:11 GMT -5
I liked math, but I always had hot teachers. I tell ya, good looks are a fantastic motivator for kids.
I haven't had time to read anything lately. I'm still nursing the Return of Sherlock Holmes and slowly working my way through 'The Prince'.
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Sept 26, 2011 8:55:48 GMT -5
Post by Justin on Sept 26, 2011 8:55:48 GMT -5
This week(s) we have (had): * Asolutely Elementary Mathematics: this sorta defies description (and if I did describe it, there's no chance you'd read it), but please do take a look if you have even the tiniest, not crushed by grade school math, interest left on the topic. UPDATE: Never mind. I was looking at the 2012 edition. Are you reading a digital copy or do you have an advance release of the paperback? - I want one.
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Sept 26, 2011 18:06:53 GMT -5
Post by ECM on Sept 26, 2011 18:06:53 GMT -5
It's been on Kindle and pb here in ye olde States for months and months--I got it on Kindle, of course.
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Oct 1, 2011 0:03:42 GMT -5
Post by Justin on Oct 1, 2011 0:03:42 GMT -5
The Prince is really dragging on me. The whole book screams "This is a love letter to my master. Please tighten my chain and collar!". The concepts are neat and totally logical. I'd like to see some of the tactics mentioned used in a game like Civilization. Still, these are some of the hardest pages to work through and there's only 70 odd!
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Oct 1, 2011 1:31:57 GMT -5
Post by elchevalier on Oct 1, 2011 1:31:57 GMT -5
Wasn't The Prince suppose to be some kind of satire? Or i got my info wrong?
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Oct 1, 2011 12:17:00 GMT -5
Post by Justin on Oct 1, 2011 12:17:00 GMT -5
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Oct 1, 2011 22:46:16 GMT -5
Post by ECM on Oct 1, 2011 22:46:16 GMT -5
Due to present circumstances, my reading 'time' has dwindled to nil. But that doesn't mean you shouldn't take the tiny bit of time to read The Prince, chev. It's, like, 150 pages? Or so? Even a heathen like you could manage that in a couple of nights.
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Oct 1, 2011 23:03:26 GMT -5
Post by Justin on Oct 1, 2011 23:03:26 GMT -5
There is an audio book on librivox too. I think it clocks in over five hours.
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Oct 25, 2011 14:46:21 GMT -5
Post by Justin on Oct 25, 2011 14:46:21 GMT -5
I'm guessing that the lack of anything going on in this thread means that both E and I are not reading anything
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Oct 25, 2011 18:51:02 GMT -5
Post by elchevalier on Oct 25, 2011 18:51:02 GMT -5
I've been either playing Contra Hard Corps Uprising with a friend, or watching movies at night. Since my friend is not around these days i'll go pick up the books again.
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Oct 25, 2011 22:12:48 GMT -5
Post by ECM on Oct 25, 2011 22:12:48 GMT -5
No, I'm reading stuff, I just took a break from posting about it. So, here you go (since last post): The Great and Secret Show: re-reading this part of the great Clive Barker Rediscovery Tour 2011. This one wasn't nearly as good as I remembered it being. The Damnation Game: same as above, but even less appealing. Reckless Endangerment: the book everyone on planet Earth should read. Period. The Complete Histories of Polybius: No, this isn't a fantasy novel, but a series of essays on ancient Greece, written in the 2nd century BC. It's a Classic (yes, capital 'c') work that offers tremendous insight into its subject matter, up to and including its gradual rotting from within. The Last Werewolf: I love werewolves, it's just a pity they are done justice so infrequently that it's actually a major event when they are...but this isn't one of those times. What this is, essentially, is a werewolf story meets American Psycho in the sense that it is written in the same florid, hyper-descriptive, manner as in Brett Easton Ellis' 'classic'. It was near actual torture getting through all of it and, my God, the pay-off was so not worth it and I will never, ever, read another book by Glen Duncan. Ever. (Perhaps if it's made into a movie, I might go see that, since the film for AP is actually quite good and head and shoulders better than its source material.) I've also been thumbing through parts of Mark Steyn again, because I don't have enough frustration in my life as it is.
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Nov 2, 2011 10:37:21 GMT -5
Post by feilong80 on Nov 2, 2011 10:37:21 GMT -5
Some book reviews:
The Roots of Obama's Rage (Dinesh D'Souza) - Talked about this before when it was in-progress. Please don't let the title make you think this is a polemic. It is a well reasoned, interesting take on Obama's policy inclinations by way of examining his father's African anti-colonialism. Of course, the weakness here is that despite whatever esoteric origins may have influenced him, socialism is still just socialism no matter what the flavor. Despite this, the book's strong point is making clear the Barack Obama has absolutely nothing to do with the American Civil Rights movement... nothing to do with it at all. He's appropriated that for his own benefit, but he could care less about what Sharpton, Jackson et al care about, which is an interesting insight.
Moneyball (Michael Lewis) - Thought this would be a fun read, and yes, this is what the current movie of the same name is about. Essentially it is about how the Oakland Athletics and Billy Beane (their general manager) used advanced metrics (called sabremetrics in the baseball geek world) to find undervalued players, much like a stock analyst might find an undervalued stock. At the time, it worked well as the As won more regular season games than anyone for a stretch of years despite paying vastly less for players.
It is tempting to think this approach has failed as the As haven't made the playoffs since 2006, but the truth is that most teams have now adopted some aspects of the "moneyball" approach, most notably the Boston Red Sox (who were able to apply the approach with the added luxury of having much more money to spend).
All that said, here is why the book was controversial when it came out: Michael Lewis has a very arrogant writing style. He trumpets sabremetrics v. traditional scouting as if it is black and white "here are the rational guys versus the religious fanatics." He even compares this to "creationists versus evolutionary theorists" for cripes' sake. Of course, I'd admire him if he put the religious dogmatists in the Evo camp, but predictably he does not. So, despite the fascinating subject matter, Lewis made me cringe so much with his glibness that I doubt I'll touch another one of his books.
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