The Official Book Thread

[Monty]

Having come to the realisation that I haven't read a book in a while I stopped in WHSmiths at lunch yesterday and picked one up to get the ball rolling again.

Heart-Shaped Box by Joe Hill

Its a horror story with a very James Herbert kind of feel to it (which works for me) about an ageing-rock-star-with-troubled-past who buys a ghost on the internet. The premise is simple but the story gets going straight away and 60 pages in so far its already turned a bit sinister. Already it's made the hairs on my neck stand up!

[raithrover]

Its a solid first full length debut from Joe, but if you really want to read his best work then check out some of his short stories.  The collection 20th Century Ghosts (PS Publishing) is superb, some fantastic nerve ending tales within its pages. However it may be out of print, but Joe was eager to have something released stateside with the same stories - well worth looking out for.

Meanwhile I've just started the Traveller which was something I've been meaning to check out since its release in 05. Before commencing this, I did manage to read:

Young Stalin - Simon Sebag Montefiore
Montefiore researches Stalin's younger years as a result of an epic researching quest that reveals many new documents and government records. A harsh Georgian upbringing, but a promising student that almost became a priest before leading a bandit crew and raising funds for the red revolution.

While full of information it is written in a fictional style without too much emphasis on where the information was obtained (you can read this at the back if so desired), instead Montefiore tells the tale of how such a bright child became a heartless tyrant.

[Monty]

Finished Heart-Shaped Box and I thoroughly enjoyed every page. I'll have to keep an eye out for 20th Century Ghosts.

[MIkes]

Finished American Gods.  It was alright.  Not going ga ga over it, though.

Also finished the Tom Cruise Biography.  The guy's a nut job.  but he's so dreamy....

[tubaros]

Isnt he just?

 

[Sprite Machine]

Derren Brown - Tricks of the Mind (published 2006).
Not specifically a self-help book (although it does feature some techniques to improve your thinking and attitude), it's also part biography of Derren's life and experiences and part ranting about various fundamentalist groups. He is a very clever man, and it's gloriously refreshing to read such logical arguments put forward unashamedly. He does spend a bit too long either apologising for certain things or clearing up past misunderstandings about himself or his life, but it's forgivable. He also manages to explain brilliantly the conundrum about the three boxes and the choice of changing your first choice when an empty one is revealed (can't recall what it's referred to, but it's the same one mentioned in The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, and I've never been able to wrap my head around why it works before). We could all do with reading this book, particularly those of us prone to bad-thinking. If nothing else, it's worth a read purely for the excellent chapter on improving your memory through various visualisation techniques which genuinely do work.

[tubaros]

Does he say why he does that irritating neck jerk every 5 seconds when hes talking? I always thought it was sometihng to do with his voodoo.

[Monty]

I read that book when it came out and loved it. The memory techniques especially.

Even now I can picture a lot of the pairs but the order escapes me in places.

Telephone
Sausage
Monkey
Buttons
Book
Lettuce
Mouse
Glass
Stomach
Cardboard
Ferry
Key
Wigwam
Athlete
Christmas
Kiwi
Baby
Bed
Walnut
Paintbrush

Or something like that. In work the day after I read that I challenged a couple of mates to create a list of 20 items which I would then recite (forward or backwards) 10 minutes later at the pub during lunch and blew their minds. I repeated the trick using longer lists and more obscure words/items for about a week before letting them in on the secret. I spent the next week listening to their stories of how many words they can do!

[AdamGS]

Anyone here read World War Z? It's number one on my "to read" list. Heard it's quite good, and a unique take on zombie novels.

[Sprite Machine]

Does he say why he does that irritating neck jerk every 5 seconds when hes talking? I always thought it was sometihng to do with his voodoo.

I've never noticed it, but yes he does mention it. It's a habit he picked up through trying to appear naturally agreeable. Essentially he's always nodding. He tries not to do it anymore.

Monty, the lettuce is made of glass and the mouse is in a glass getting drunk. The ferry (made of cardboard) is on the Christmas tree and the kiwi is in bed.

[tubaros]

Anyone here read World War Z? It's number one on my "to read" list. Heard it's quite good, and a unique take on zombie novels.

Ive got that as an audio book - supposed to be freakin awesome

[Monty]

My first guess at the list was only about 12 words. I kept editing and throwing in the ones I remembered somewhere near where they should be. No I know them all I could probably put the list together quite easily.

Just shows it works though. Must be a couple of years since I read it.

[raithrover]

Currently reading Jack Kerley 'The Death Collector' fun detective serial killer pulp so far, entertaining without ever being ground breaking.

Richard Morgan has a new book out, that will be worth reading.

[Monty]

He also manages to explain brilliantly the conundrum about the three boxes and the choice of changing your first choice when an empty one is revealed (can't recall what it's referred to, but it's the same one mentioned in The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, and I've never been able to wrap my head around why it works before).

I love this puzzle. It comes up in 21, which I watched last night. It's a bit of a headf*ck trying to get your brain round it but it can be quite simple.

What confuses most people is that you're dealing in such a small number of boxes. Consider the same problem with 100 boxes.

Your first pick has only a 1/100 chance of being the winning box. Then, all but one other box are opened and revealed to be empty. The chances are higher that the remaining other box is the winning one as the chances of you picking the winning box in the first place are so small. Obviously there is still a chance of picking the winning box first time round but the odds are against it.

If you boil it down to the original 3 box puzzle, this logic still works. You pick one box and the dealer gets the other two. The chances are higher that he has the winning box. The dealer opens on of his boxes to show it is empty. As the odds of him having the winning box were higher, you have to assume that his remaining box contains the prize and that is why you have more chance to win if you switch.

[Sprite Machine]

^Yup, the reason it works is because your first choice affects the one that gets opened. If a random box was opened, rather than one that was knowingly empty, the odds would be weighted differently.

[iknowgungfu]

I read gaimans The Graveyard Book and really enjoyed that.  Like the Jungle Book for graveyards - ace.

Also read Marley and me because I want a dog.  I am currently reading another dog story which I can't put down - The last family in England by Matt Haig.  It is told from the point of view of the dog, quite a good read if a bit forgettable.

I read Angels and Demons a while back, and although he does have his set formula and pace I think this one is much better than Da Vinci.

[iknowgungfu]

I also just fnished Do androids dream of electric sheep again.  I love that book, but it is so depressing hence the light hearted reads like Marley and me and the last family in england

Anyways...can we sticky this thread somewhere?  I am always struggling to think of books to read.  Could do with a music one too......

[iknowgungfu]

On a slightly related note, does anyone have any experience with ebook readers?  I am starting to like the idea of having one as I am running out of room for the books I want to keep. 

Also, I like the idea of being able to download the book at whatever time I like and when I like.  I know fujitsu have just released a colour one, but I don't know if that would be that important - most books I read are all monochrome anyway.  However, I don't know if it is a universal file format or model specific and I can't quite find out from the net.

[tubaros]

the latest Amazon one looks good - mainly because you can now put PDFs on it, so dont necessarily have to go down the standard routes...

to get books.

Alternative would be the ipod touch, music player and mini games console as well as a reader

[iknowgungfu]

I have an iphone but I don't tyhink the screen would be big enough for a prolonged reading session. 

I am leaning towards the Amazon one (Kindle 2) or the latest Sony one.........

The Sony has a touchscreen (no nasty  keyboard at the bottom of the reader) and a backlit LED but no real internal storage. 
The Kindle has lots of storage space though..