What Books Are You Reading Right Now?

[turkishproverb]

Lesse...I have every Dresden Files novel to date, save the most recent. All of the Codex Alera series too. I have a few of Guy Gavriel Kay's historical fictions, Luyenko's Night Watch series, a handful of Stephen King, Joe Hill, and Neil Gaiman, and a couple of the great epics in the Iliad, the Odyessy, and Romance of the Three Kingdoms. I picked up Small Gods and Reaper Man just today and Promise of Blood that happyturtle mentioned earlier in the thread too.

I think part of the problem is that the things I used to read just aren't doing it for me anymore. The Fantasy/Sci-fi shelves used to be an old standby, but not anymore. At this point I really am up for just about anything.

Hmmm...based upon what you listed:
Liz Williams Detective Inspector Chen series seems up your alley a way. I just finished Brent Weeks Way of Shadows and it's extremely long, but if you liked Codex Alera, you might enjoy it. The First Chronicles of Amber by Zalazny might also tickle your fancy.

things get a little greyer past that, particularly because so much of my collection is in a huge pile to be sorted. Michael J. Sullivan's Hollow World is Great, so if you like fairly hard scifi, you might like it. There's also an anthology called Weird Detectives you might try.


More as they come to mind.

[Feytalist]

I've got Altered Carbon sitting in my shelf. Started reading it once but ...stuff came in the way.

Do eeeeet

I think part of the problem is that the things I used to read just aren't doing it for me anymore. The Fantasy/Sci-fi shelves used to be an old standby, but not anymore. At this point I really am up for just about anything.

If you liked Guy Gavriel Kay's stuff, take a look at Conn Iggulden. He also writes historical fiction. His Conqueror series about Genghis is pretty good, and I've heard good things about his Roman series as well.

Also, have you read Good Omens? And if not, why not?

[Cristo Meyers]

Hmmm...based upon what you listed:
Liz Williams Detective Inspector Chen series seems up your alley a way. I just finished Brent Weeks Way of Shadows and it's extremely long, but if you liked Codex Alera, you might enjoy it. The First Chronicles of Amber by Zalazny might also tickle your fancy.

things get a little greyer past that, particularly because so much of my collection is in a huge pile to be sorted. Michael J. Sullivan's Hollow World is Great, so if you like fairly hard scifi, you might like it. There's also an anthology called Weird Detectives you might try.


More as they come to mind.

I have read the first of the Way of Shadows books. It sadly didn't do much for me. I think it fell into the pitfall that Codex Alera and Song of Ice and Fire both also fall into: they're trying to tell too many stories. Way of Shadows had an interesting story just in the assassin character alone, I found myself just wanting to read more about him. Alera and SOIAF also have stories just in the political backbiting and maneuvering, they don't need their respective exterior threats in the White Walkers and the *minor spoiler*Vord (Zerg)*/minor spoiler* In fact I think they detract from their respective stories.

I'll have to look into the others, though. Thanks.

If you liked Guy Gavriel Kay's stuff, take a look at Conn Iggulden. He also writes historical fiction. His Conqueror series about Genghis is pretty good, and I've heard good things about his Roman series as well.

Also, have you read Good Omens? And if not, why not?

I have read Good Omens, of course Neverwhere and American Gods as well. Hell, I positively devoured Neverwhere. Finished it in a single plane ride.

[Knaight]

I think part of the problem is that the things I used to read just aren't doing it for me anymore. The Fantasy/Sci-fi shelves used to be an old standby, but not anymore. At this point I really am up for just about anything.

It's times like these where the classics come in. By which I mean the really, really old classics. Have you read Romance of the Three Kingdoms? Water Margin? Le Morte d'Arthur? If not, now's a good time. Romance of the Three Kingdoms in particular is an overlooked gem outside of China and it's immediate surroundings, and Water Margin is basically unknown among the general populace in Europe and the Americas, despite being awesome. Which is tragic, because it is also really good.

[warty goblin]

It's times like these where the classics come in. By which I mean the really, really old classics. Have you read Romance of the Three Kingdoms? Water Margin? Le Morte d'Arthur? If not, now's a good time. Romance of the Three Kingdoms in particular is an overlooked gem outside of China and it's immediate surroundings, and Water Margin is basically unknown among the general populace in Europe and the Americas, despite being awesome. Which is tragic, because it is also really good.

On that note, it's seldom a bad time in my experience to read Homer. Preferably aloud, even if you're only reading it to yourself. I find we tend to forget the beauty and power of spoken stories, since we've become so accustomed to reading them in silence, rather than hearing them. So many things that people find well written crumble up when read aloud, while many that are considered clunky become living and vibrant and felt in blood and marrow. I find the Lord of the Rings to be a perfect example of this.

[Knaight]

On that note, it's seldom a bad time in my experience to read Homer. Preferably aloud, even if you're only reading it to yourself. I find we tend to forget the beauty and power of spoken stories, since we've become so accustomed to reading them in silence, rather than hearing them. So many things that people find well written crumble up when read aloud, while many that are considered clunky become living and vibrant and felt in blood and marrow. I find the Lord of the Rings to be a perfect example of this.

You have to be very careful with translations here - Homer's powerful in the original Greek, but some translations just suck the life out of it.

[happyturtle]

If SFF ennui is the problem, going to the classics will just be more of the same. I'd recommend new stuff by new writers. Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie and The Martian by Andy Weir are both debut novels, published in the last year, both absolutely brilliant in completely different ways. I've flogged them both in this thread already, because I was just so thrilled to find something so new and wonderful. Brian McClellan's Promise of Blood was another debut novel that I liked a lot. I think the classics are well-trodden territory, while new writers are the ones on the frontiers.

[warty goblin]

You have to be very careful with translations here - Homer's powerful in the original Greek, but some translations just suck the life out of it.

A valid point. I've generally been fond of both Lattimore's and Fagles' translations, although neither should be taken as being exactly literal. Great for reading, less good if you're interested in figuring out exactly what Homer said and what that meant.

(One of my favorite bookstore activities is reading the first lines of an Iliad translation. You can tell a surprising amount by how somebody chooses to translate menin.)

If SFF ennui is the problem, going to the classics will just be more of the same. I'd recommend new stuff by new writers. Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie and The Martian by Andy Weir are both debut novels, published in the last year, both absolutely brilliant in completely different ways. I've flogged them both in this thread already, because I was just so thrilled to find something so new and wonderful. Brian McClellan's Promise of Blood was another debut novel that I liked a lot. I think the classics are well-trodden territory, while new writers are the ones on the frontiers.

I've found the classics to be many things over the years, but more of contemporary fantasy or sci-fi is pretty much never one of them. Unless one takes the absurdly reductive view that anything ever written which involves what we would today consider supernatural is fantasy, they really are entirely distinct things beyond some incredibly facile surface similarities.

[Knaight]

I think the classics are well-trodden territory, while new writers are the ones on the frontiers.

Some classics, particularly relatively recent ones, are well-trodden. Older ones very much aren't, by most people. Moby Dick is well trodden, the Epic of Gilgamesh is in a style so distinct from modern writing that it is basically a frontier for a modern audience. Water Margin has never been well trodden outside of China.

[happyturtle]

I've found the classics to be many things over the years, but more of contemporary fantasy or sci-fi is pretty much never one of them. Unless one takes the absurdly reductive view that anything ever written which involves what we would today consider supernatural is fantasy, they really are entirely distinct things beyond some incredibly facile surface similarities.

I see it differently. The classics, myths, legends, etc are some of the oldest stories we still have. But because of that, they are also going to be full of tired and discredited tropes and cliches. They're also going to be stories that have been told and retold and adapted since their time (e.g. Hamlet = The Lion King). Someone who is tired of stories from 10-20 years ago may find stories from 1000-2000 years ago even less compelling. Not because the stories are bad - they're classics for a reason - but simply because they're so familiar and been seen in so many forms over the years that they are no longer fresh and new.



*Not to mention all the baggage from its time and place - sexism, ableism, racism, and so on. I can only have so much of tales that fail the Bechdel test before I return to 2014 and look for something that won't make me cringe.

[Palanan]

Originally Posted by warty goblin
I find we tend to forget the beauty and power of spoken stories, since we've become so accustomed to reading them in silence, rather than hearing them. So many things that people find well written crumble up when read aloud, while many that are considered clunky become living and vibrant and felt in blood and marrow.

Well said, indeed. Too many writers forget that stories were first told in spoken word.

Tolkien understood this very well, and hearing him read passages of his own writing is quietly wonderful.

Originally Posted by Knaight
Romance of the Three Kingdoms in particular is an overlooked gem outside of China and it's immediate surroundings, and Water Margin is basically unknown among the general populace in Europe and the Americas, despite being awesome.

Either you or someone else around here has recommended Water Margin before. Looks very interesting, but the sample on Amazon is in a style I have a hard time latching onto, for whatever reason.

As for the Iliad and its various translations, I have the Fagles boxed set right here in front of me, which I've been waiting for the right time to begin. I shopped around for opinions on the best translations, and the people I asked all said essentially the same as W.G.--that the Fagles translation is not the most literal or technically precise version, but it captures the fire and spirit and passion of the original.

Originally Posted by happyturtle
....they're so familiar and been seen in so many forms over the years that they are no longer fresh and new.

I like to think of it this way: We're still reading Homer thousands of years later. How many of today's "modern" writers will be remembered that long?

Originally Posted by happyturtle
Someone who is tired of stories from 10-20 years ago may find stories from 1000-2000 years ago even less compelling.

Hey, don't blame Homer for the 90s.

[Knaight]

I see it differently. The classics, myths, legends, etc are some of the oldest stories we still have. But because of that, they are also going to be full of tired and discredited tropes and cliches. They're also going to be stories that have been told and retold and adapted since their time (e.g. Hamlet = The Lion King). Someone who is tired of stories from 10-20 years ago may find stories from 1000-2000 years ago even less compelling. Not because the stories are bad - they're classics for a reason - but simply because they're so familiar and been seen in so many forms over the years that they are no longer fresh and new.

I'd argue that the stories from 1000-2000 years ago are old enough to be less familiar, and less likely to have been seen in so many forms over the years. In my experience 100-400 years ago is much worse in this regard. This gets even more true in the context of classics that originated in non-native languages.

*Not to mention all the baggage from its time and place - sexism, ableism, racism, and so on. I can only have so much of tales that fail the Bechdel test before I return to 2014 and look for something that won't make me cringe.

This I do get - though I've found this is often much worse with relatively recent classics. The Odyssey isn't a particularly racist text, and it's over two thousand years old. Gone With The Wind* is far more recent, and positively drips with racism. Heart of Darkness isn't much better.

Plus, so much of the modern stuff is also terrible in this regard - I can cut the classics some slack, at least there's an excuse there, and there's the matter of valuable historical information. With a recent book I have much more of a "Really? This is from 2010, how is it not better than this?" reaction.

*Though how that pile of drek ended up a classic in the first place is a mystery.

[Cristo Meyers]

It's times like these where the classics come in. By which I mean the really, really old classics. Have you read Romance of the Three Kingdoms? Water Margin? Le Morte d'Arthur? If not, now's a good time. Romance of the Three Kingdoms in particular is an overlooked gem outside of China and it's immediate surroundings, and Water Margin is basically unknown among the general populace in Europe and the Americas, despite being awesome. Which is tragic, because it is also really good.

I've read Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Well, an abridged version at least. I actually got interested in it from playing the Dynasty Warriors games . It's an interesting read, very different from the things I'm usually used to. Never heard of Water Margin, though...

If SFF ennui is the problem, going to the classics will just be more of the same. I'd recommend new stuff by new writers. Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie and The Martian by Andy Weir are both debut novels, published in the last year, both absolutely brilliant in completely different ways. I've flogged them both in this thread already, because I was just so thrilled to find something so new and wonderful. Brian McClellan's Promise of Blood was another debut novel that I liked a lot. I think the classics are well-trodden territory, while new writers are the ones on the frontiers.

Actually picked up Promise of Blood on your recommendation. Just saving it for my vacation next month I'll look into the other two as well.

A valid point. I've generally been fond of both Lattimore's and Fagles' translations, although neither should be taken as being exactly literal. Great for reading, less good if you're interested in figuring out exactly what Homer said and what that meant.

(One of my favorite bookstore activities is reading the first lines of an Iliad translation. You can tell a surprising amount by how somebody chooses to translate menin.)

We read Fagles' translation in college, and I fell in love with it immediately. By God, the Odyssey was interesting and full of life! Kept that one and got his translation of Iliad shortly after we graduated. Maybe it's just that the only other translation I'd read before that was a prose translation that was just bone dry. Fagles' Odyssey just grabbed me right out of the gate and absolutely refused to let go until it was done.

[Aolbain]

Will soon finish my Fables readthrough. It's been good, sometimes very good. But then it gets big and weird and political and in your face.

[warty goblin]

We read Fagles' translation in college, and I fell in love with it immediately. By God, the Odyssey was interesting and full of life! Kept that one and got his translation of Iliad shortly after we graduated. Maybe it's just that the only other translation I'd read before that was a prose translation that was just bone dry. Fagles' Odyssey just grabbed me right out of the gate and absolutely refused to let go until it was done.

Which is really how a good translation of Homer should be. Unless one's interest is in academic literalism, and for some reason one doesn't know Homeric Greek, it should grab on and not let go.

Some classics, particularly relatively recent ones, are well-trodden. Older ones very much aren't, by most people. Moby Dick is well trodden, the Epic of Gilgamesh is in a style so distinct from modern writing that it is basically a frontier for a modern audience. Water Margin has never been well trodden outside of China.

Gilgamesh is indeed supremely weird seeming, but is also utterly its own thing, and not weird for the sake of weirdness. It just is that way.

I see it differently. The classics, myths, legends, etc are some of the oldest stories we still have. But because of that, they are also going to be full of tired and discredited tropes and cliches. They're also going to be stories that have been told and retold and adapted since their time (e.g. Hamlet = The Lion King). Someone who is tired of stories from 10-20 years ago may find stories from 1000-2000 years ago even less compelling. Not because the stories are bad - they're classics for a reason - but simply because they're so familiar and been seen in so many forms over the years that they are no longer fresh and new.

I find reading in terms of tropes, cliches etc to be tediously and unproductively reductive, so I don't do it. I tend towards stories of passion - not only in the bodice-ripping sense of the term - and breaking those down into little memetic elements is often extraordinarily uninformative. I don't care about what tropes occur in a story, or if it's built expressly to 'subvert' some of them. I care about whether it makes me feel. In my experience, even though many of the classics have indeed been retold hundreds of times, the originals (or versions very close to them) are often still the most intense and moving versions of those stories, and usually far more vivid than 'original' modern stuff. I don't care that love triangles are a done thing, Lancelot, Guinevere and Arthur still cuts to the bone for me.

*Not to mention all the baggage from its time and place - sexism, ableism, racism, and so on. I can only have so much of tales that fail the Bechdel test before I return to 2014 and look for something that won't make me cringe.

Personally I'd rather read an account of a time and place in its own words than the gilded version modern PC fiction tends to produce, but that's entirely the prerogative of the reader.

Well said, indeed. Too many writers forget that stories were first told in spoken word.

One of the great advantages of living alone is that I can read bits and pieces of whatever I want aloud, whenever I want.

Tolkien understood this very well, and hearing him read passages of his own writing is quietly wonderful.

Ooh, I'll have to see if I can look this up.

As for the Iliad and its various translations, I have the Fagles boxed set right here in front of me, which I've been waiting for the right time to begin. I shopped around for opinions on the best translations, and the people I asked all said essentially the same as W.G.--that the Fagles translation is not the most literal or technically precise version, but it captures the fire and spirit and passion of the original.

And really, if it doesn't have fire and spirit, what's the point?

Hey, don't blame Homer for the 90s.

The nineties, as I like to say, were a magical time. It's stuff after 2005 that's bleh.

[happyturtle]

Personally I'd rather read an account of a time and place in its own words than the gilded version modern PC fiction tends to produce, but that's entirely the prerogative of the reader.

To this I can reply no better than Jane Austen: "Men have had every advantage of us in telling their own story. Education has been theirs in so much higher a degree; the pen has been in their hands."

It isn't the "gilded version" to look for the stories of women. Women were there. The disabled were there. So were all the other non-priveleged peoples who weren't history's 'winners'. Our stories just never made it to paper, and so were lost. I've spent the four decades of my life hearing and reading and viewing the stories of white male heroes, and now I'm just done with that.

[IthilanorStPete]

To this I can reply no better than Jane Austen: "Men have had every advantage of us in telling their own story. Education has been theirs in so much higher a degree; the pen has been in their hands."

It isn't the "gilded version" to look for the stories of women. Women were there. The disabled were there. So were all the other non-priveleged peoples who weren't history's 'winners'. Our stories just never made it to paper, and so were lost. I've spent the four decades of my life hearing and reading and viewing the stories of white male heroes, and now I'm just done with that.

Well said, both by you and by Jane Austen.

Speaking of which, I'd kind of like to try reading some Austen. What's a good book to start with?

[happyturtle]

Either Pride and Prejudice or Persuasion. Her other four novels are also wonderful, but these two are the most approachable, I believe. Persuasion is much the shorter of the two - a nice read for an afternoon or three. P&P has so much of the sparkling wit Austen is famous for.

[Cristo Meyers]

Well said, both by you and by Jane Austen.

Speaking of which, I'd kind of like to try reading some Austen. What's a good book to start with?

Either Pride and Prejudice or Persuasion. Her other four novels are also wonderful, but these two are the most approachable, I believe. Persuasion is much the shorter of the two - a nice read for an afternoon or three. P&P has so much of the sparkling wit Austen is famous for.

Was going to say, if you're looking at Austen, might as well start with the one everybody knows. It never really grabbed me personally (but then, few books from that age do), but it's undeniably the place to start.

--

So I started picking up books pretty much at random from the local Half Price Books: now I have a compilation of Native American folklore, a history of the fall of Jerusalem after the Battle of Hattin, a steampunk-style fantasy apparently written by a local guy and self-published, and what is essentially a dictionary of 20th Century firearms (though that one is more research...)

Let's see what floats to the top.

[Jordan Cat]

-So I started picking up books pretty much at random from the local Half Price Books: now I have a compilation of Native American folklore, a history of the fall of Jerusalem after the Battle of Hattin, a steampunk-style fantasy apparently written by a local guy and self-published, and what is essentially a dictionary of 20th Century firearms (though that one is more research...)

Let's see what floats to the top.

Huh, I'd like to find some books on Native American folklore. It's not something you hear that much about.

[Cristo Meyers]

Huh, I'd like to find some books on Native American folklore. It's not something you hear that much about.

Hence my interest. It's probably the one I'm looking forward to the most at this point, with the history text behind that.

The name of the one I found is Voices of the Winds by Margot Edmonds & Ella E. Clark. I think there were one or two more, but I've only got so much room in my bag...

[warty goblin]

To this I can reply no better than Jane Austen: "Men have had every advantage of us in telling their own story. Education has been theirs in so much higher a degree; the pen has been in their hands."

As usual, Austen brings the truth.

It isn't the "gilded version" to look for the stories of women. Women were there. The disabled were there. So were all the other non-priveleged peoples who weren't history's 'winners'. Our stories just never made it to paper, and so were lost. I've spent the four decades of my life hearing and reading and viewing the stories of white male heroes, and now I'm just done with that.

I feel I misspoke, so please allow me to restate and clarify. I did not mean to imply that stories about women, minorities or disabled people in a historical setting were perforce the gilded version. That's clearly not the case, as you rightly point out. I however am not a tremendous fan of the modern habit (although this is not ubiquitous by any means) of writing historical people like modern liberal twenty-somethings. That's not the world that was, and pretending otherwise sells short both the enormous social progress that has been made, and the enormous diversity of human history. I mislike the tendency to homogenize history into an endless present or a generic 'back then,' which was what I was clumsily attempting to protest.

Again, I apologize for any misunderstanding, and any possible offense I have given.

[Jordan Cat]

Hence my interest. It's probably the one I'm looking forward to the most at this point, with the history text behind that.

The name of the one I found is Voices of the Winds by Margot Edmonds & Ella E. Clark. I think there were one or two more, but I've only got so much room in my bag...

Thanks for the name, I might have to check it out

[Solse]

Was going to say, if you're looking at Austen, might as well start with the one everybody knows. It never really grabbed me personally (but then, few books from that age do), but it's undeniably the place to start.

--

So I started picking up books pretty much at random from the local Half Price Books: now I have a compilation of Native American folklore, a history of the fall of Jerusalem after the Battle of Hattin, a steampunk-style fantasy apparently written by a local guy and self-published, and what is essentially a dictionary of 20th Century firearms (though that one is more research...)

Let's see what floats to the top.

What's the name of the steampunk book, and it is possible that I could (easily) acquire it?

[veti]

I was hooked on Pratchett from Color of Magic, and I've looked forward to new paperbacks ever since. As warty goblin says, some of the later books can be repetitious, and yet I enjoy the warm fizzy bath for the mind. For me, it's okay to be familiar and fun.

That said, Thud seemed to grasp in vain for a fingerhold on the fringes of meaning, and the books since then have been decidedly flat. Unseen Academicals is the last I've read, and it felt very thin and tired. I think there's Snuff and one more? Just haven't been motivated to read them.

I've been a serious Pratchett fan for years, but I agree the latest books have been disappointing. Snuff was probably the worst in the whole series - it's badly paced, confused, disjointed, contains a disturbingly high proportion of recycled material, and completely derails the character of Sam Vimes. The latest (Raising Steam) is not "bad" in the same way, but it is - boring.

My favourite book is currently To Say Nothing of the Dog, by Connie Willis. Time travel in romantic comedy is a sadly neglected blend.

A worthwhile recent read was Lloyd Jones's Mister Pip, which I read aloud to my dying mother, though I edited some of the most brutal scenes for her. It has its problems (the black girl's hero worship of the saintly white teacher is a bit - grating, to be honest), but a good update of Dickens nonetheless.

I have now, in my hands - finally - Gödel, Escher, Bach by Douglas Hofstadter. I've been looking for this book for years.

I don't expect this to be easy reading, but it's going to be good.

Oh yes, it's a great book. Actually very easy to read, but mind-bendingly hard to understand.

Hofstadter published a - follow-up, I guess is the word - a few years ago called 'I am a Strange Loop', in which he says that almost no-one really understood what he was getting at with GEB, so this time he is much more explicit and direct about (what he now thinks) is the core message. It's - if anything, even more amazing.

[warty goblin]

Bronze Age Military Equipment arrived today! I'm happy, and would be more happy if I wasn't going to spend the evening doing laundry and programming a parametric bootstrap to do prediction intervals for latent random variables*. But I can confirm it does have some really marvelous color photos of reconstructions of bronze age arms and armor, and a complete illustrated version of Nancy Sander's typology of Aegean bronze swords. This will be particularly handy, since I don't have that memorized yet, and am tired of Googling it up every time I need to remember when the Type B appeared. I'm particularly looking forwards to the Appendices specifically focused on Homeric weapons.

Now I'm left wishing I knew of some good books on bronze age life and culture outside of weapons and armor. I mean I love me some weapons and armor, but weaving, woodworking, agriculture, trade, religion etc are all equally fascinating, and even more important to understanding the texture of life three thousand years ago.

Am about a third of the way through Atonement, the second half of my Saoirse Ronan movie inspired reading list. The beginning was a bit slow, but by about page forty it had grabbed on with both hands and won't let go.



*If none of these words mean anything to you, it's a sign you have made wise life choices.

[TheThan]

Well said, indeed. Too many writers forget that stories were first told in spoken word.

Oh yeah that sort of bothered me in school. We would read Shakespeare even though his works are supposed to be seen and heard, not read. We read Beowulf, which is supposed to be heard not read. There is a huge difference between some highschooler stumbling over Shakespeare and an actor acting out it out.

I find reading in terms of tropes, cliches etc to be tediously and unproductively reductive, so I don't do it. I tend towards stories of passion - not only in the bodice-ripping sense of the term - and breaking those down into little memetic elements is often extraordinarily uninformative. I don't care about what tropes occur in a story, or if it's built expressly to 'subvert' some of them. I care about whether it makes me feel. In my experience, even though many of the classics have indeed been retold hundreds of times, the originals (or versions very close to them) are often still the most intense and moving versions of those stories, and usually far more vivid than 'original' modern stuff. I don't care that love triangles are a done thing, Lancelot, Guinevere and Arthur still cuts to the bone for me.

Oh I totally agree with you here. I could care less that the writer is using tropes X, Y and Z, as long as I am entertained by the story. I judge a story based entirely on how quickly I devour the story. If I can’t put the book down, it’s a good book. If I can’t stand to read it, it’s not a good book.

[Cristo Meyers]

What's the name of the steampunk book, and it is possible that I could (easily) acquire it?

It's called Dustball Air by Kenneth M Schuett. The link has the Amazon e-Book, though it looks like you can get your hands on a paperback at B&N.

From what I was told when I got it, the author himself sold a handful of copies to the Half Price Books I got it from. Considering mine appears to actually be signed (amusingly enough), maybe that wasn't total BS...

[Feytalist]

Oh yes, it's a great book. Actually very easy to read, but mind-bendingly hard to understand.

Hofstadter published a - follow-up, I guess is the word - a few years ago called 'I am a Strange Loop', in which he says that almost no-one really understood what he was getting at with GEB, so this time he is much more explicit and direct about (what he now thinks) is the core message. It's - if anything, even more amazing.

I've heard of I Am a Strange Loop, yep. I'll look into it when I'm done with GEB.

I'm a couple chapters in. It's quite engrossing so far, and I think I'm following most of the logic. My brain hasn't broken yet Reading about this sort of recursive thought is really interesting.

[warty goblin]

Read the first 30 odd pages of Bronze Age Military Equipment last night. If the rest of the book is as good as the first bit, this is going to be an absolute gem; it's clear, concise, from what I can tell extremely well researched, and looks in fairly close detail at the shape of warfare over a truly expansive timeline. The portion I read last night focused very heavily on the evolution of the war chariot, and provided a pretty interesting narrative about its decline being tied to the rise of body armor and subsequent devaluation of the bow in favor of the javelin, until the invention of the heavy chariot during classical Antiquity.

Not to mention, the biblography's going to be a godsend, assuming I can lay my grubby little paws on half the people he cites.