What are you reading now?

[cutestory]

Shit. I've been found out!

No, kidding, what's the point in dropping names if I don't actually drop the name?

I took freshman expository writing with Colson "Chip" Whitehead (he doesn't go by "Chip" anymore, ha!). At the time, I had no idea he would go on to write one of my favorite books, The Intuitionist (still his best, IMO). Last time I saw him was at our 10th reunion (um, 11 years ago). Yikes.

I'm older than I've ever been and now I'm even older...

[MoonShine]

Recently Finished:

   

 

Now reading:

    

[crappyjones123]

[MoonShine]

^ From the Goodreads blurb:

 

"A SCIENTIST’S CASE FOR THE AFTERLIFE Thousands of people have had near-death experiences, but scientists have argued that they are impossible. Dr. Eben Alexander was one of those scientists. A highly trained neurosurgeon, Alexander knew that NDEs feel real, but are simply fantasies produced by brains under extreme stress."

 

So he goes on to have his own NDE and I am curious: How is his NDE experience any more valid of a "proof" than anyone else's?

Is it merely because he is a doctor/scientist/(former)skeptic?

Or does he bring any actual science to bear on his experience?

How is this one special?

 

I ask as an admitted skeptic/unbeliever myself who long ago dismissed NDE's in general as worthy evidence/proof (being anecdotal).  But I want to believe.....

[blessingx]

Let us know Crappy. From Super Soul Sunday...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/30/dr-eben-alexander-oprah-heaven-afterlife_n_2206219.html

[crappyjones123]

Will do. It's the first on my list of many "doctor" books to read prior to med school.

I will be reading it the same way I watched religulous - probably laughing or shaking my head the entire time. I don't understand how a neurosurgeon of all people would abandon a reductionist view of the human brain and resort to heaven. Then again, dr Francis Collins, the director of the human genome project is a staunch believer. Never could wrap my brain around that one.

Edited December 18, 2012 by crappyjones123

[HeadphoneAddict]

^ From the Goodreads blurb:

 

"A SCIENTIST’S CASE FOR THE AFTERLIFE Thousands of people have had near-death experiences, but scientists have argued that they are impossible. Dr. Eben Alexander was one of those scientists. A highly trained neurosurgeon, Alexander knew that NDEs feel real, but are simply fantasies produced by brains under extreme stress."

 

So he goes on to have his own NDE and I am curious: How is his NDE experience any more valid of a "proof" than anyone else's?

Is it merely because he is a doctor/scientist/(former)skeptic?

Or does he bring any actual science to bear on his experience?

How is this one special?

 

I ask as an admitted skeptic/unbeliever myself who long ago dismissed NDE's in general as worthy evidence/proof (being anecdotal).  But I want to believe.....

I watched him in a TV interview, and he explained part of why why he believes his experience was real.

He met his deceased half sister in heaven but he didn't know it yet, as he had never even seen a photo of her until after his experience, but instantly recognized her when shown her picture later.

[MoonShine]

From Sam Harris:

http://www.samharris.org/blog/item/this-must-be-heaven

[HeadphoneAddict]

From Sam Harris:

http://www.samharris.org/blog/item/this-must-be-heaven

 

That article makes perfect sense, it just doesn't explain the spoiler above.  I'm not saying the guy really had his soul go to heaven and back, but one part of his experience is still difficult to explain.  I bought Dr. Alexander's eBook right after I saw him talk on TV a while back, but I've been more interested in finishing my 7 book James Rollins Sigma Force series of books first.  I may have to read this next, just to find out what all the fuss is about.

[crappyjones123]

Propf of heaven - I gave it 45 pages and can't go on. It sounds supremely contrived and the description is one that someone would probably give of what they saw on an acid trip.

The guy thinks he is god (neurosurgeons are known to have the god complex but this is different) but such certitude in things that might not be true or certainly haven't been proven to be true is reminiscent of religious zealotry or cultist behavior. The stark absence of humility makes this utterly unreadable for me. He keeps reiterating that it is the most important thing to him now - telling others about his NDE but then after every descriptive paragraph all he says is - oh you can't possibly imagine this because you suck or think about the most beautiful thing you have ever seen, now multiply that by a million and that's what I saw but that sucks for you because you can't imagine it because you didn't go on this acid trip with me and because you are a simple peasant.

I read a quarter of it which I think is a fair try. I implore others to give it a try and see of they can get through it.

Edited December 22, 2012 by crappyjones123

[MoonShine]

 

Post-apocalyptic awesomeness. Recommended.

[acidbasement]

 

I'm really enjoying this one.  A man leaves his family to live in the woods after his father dies, kills a cow moose for food, and befriends her calf.  Dry hilarity ensues.

Edited January 3, 2013 by acidbasement

[Dusty Chalk]

Added both of those to mah stack

 

Dave Dies at the End -- so far so good

 

Hide me Among the Graves -- superb so far

[blessingx]

My favorite writer gets a ton of due (David Foster Wallace also makes several guest appearances). In case anyone is interested (and a few earlier pieces have been linked earlier in this thread)...

George Saunders Has Written the Best Book You’ll Read This Year [NYTimes]

 

“I saw the peculiar way America creeps up on you if you don’t have anything,” he told me. “It’s never rude. It’s just, Yes, you do have to work 14 hours. And yes, you do have to ride the bus home. You’re now the father of two and you will work in that cubicle or you will be dishonored. Suddenly the universe was laden with moral import, and I could intensely feel the limits of my own power. We didn’t have the money, and I could see that in order for me to get this much money, I would have to work for this many more years. It was all laid out in front of me, and suddenly absurdism wasn’t an intellectual abstraction, it was actually realism. You could see the way that wealth was begetting wealth, wealth was begetting comfort — and that the cumulative effect of an absence of wealth was the erosion of grace.”

[boomana]

^ I just pre-ordered Tenth of December.  I need some good reading.  I've been reading a lot lately, but all work-related books, or nutrition books, or cycling books, and a ton of recipe books, which is funny considering I barely cook and have no intention of doing more than I do now.

[blessingx]

Cool Vicki. We linked to Escape from Spiderhead short back in Dec '10, but that link is now subscription-walled. If you or anyone else wants that story to preview the collection, looks like it's still up here: http://classes.dma.ucla.edu/Spring11/157A/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/X-Escape-From-SpiderHead-George-Saunders.pdf

 

In the words of Sherwood and seconded by Dusty - "fucking awesome."

[MexicanDragon]

Hey guys, I just checked my Audible account, and I have a shitload of credits (11, which is a shitload if you consider how many 30-40 hour books I have).  I just found out you can gift books with credits (I believe), so I wanna do that for one or two of you.

Do you have an Audible account, or do you want to make one?  Let me know.  I'll give away one or two audiobooks to people who would actually use it and enjoy an audiobook, vs hardcopy or Kindle/Nook/etc. It will be through http://www.audible.com

Just post if you would want a book, and if so, which one.  I don't know if this will be "first come first served" or "hmmm, that sounds interesting, listen to it and get back with me", but it'll probably be one or both of those.  Or maybe I will use http://www.randomizer.com

I'm not sure, really, but I'll pick one later this weekend, somehow.

If you're not familiar with Audiobook or Audible, I highly recommend that you listen to a sample of the book you're thinking of, to see if you like the reader's style at all.  Some have been great, some less so.  There are books like Baratunde Thurston's How To Be Black and Tina Fey's Bossypants which are read by the author, and there are some read by a cast, some read by actors (Tim Curry and Alan Cumming read Bram Stoker's Dracula, for instance.)

If you are wondering if you'd have time to listen to a book, think about commutes to/from work, gym, while cleaning or mowing the yard, perhaps even at work, etc.

Post up and I'll say who is picked later, to give a few more people who may be interested a shot.

**BRENT**

[HeadphoneAddict]

That's very generous of you Brent.  I still have few un-listened audible books to try out in my library, but they were mostly free public domain books like Tom Sawyer and Dracula or Sherlock Holmes.  

 

If there are not too many others interested then I'd always be happy to add another book to my library.  We mostly listen to them on longer trips in the car. I like that I can use them on my Kindle 3G with keyboard too.

[HeadphoneAddict]

I just noticed that my Audible copy of Huckleberry Finn is read by Elijah Wood, and Wizard of Oz is read by Anne Hathaway.  I have the Dracula you mentioned that I have yet to listen to.

[MoonShine]

Brent if you don't get any other takers I would very much like: WOOL Omnibus by Hugh Howey.

I have already read it but would love to gift it to my little brother who is slightly dyslexic and only does audiobooks.

I let my Audible account lapse once I got my Nook and rediscovered that I love actual reading.

[MexicanDragon]

Well, I've decided to give one to the first person, last person, and two random people, the person who commented most after the offer, and the one who commented the least. Looks like Larry and moonshine fit those criteria. Each 3 times. Hmmmm... Well, I figure one a piece will do. PM me to work out details. Hope you enjoy them.

**BRENT**

[blessingx]

Starting Half-Safe. Kindle Single (though I should have picked up the multimedia version).

 

http://vimeo.com/56075295

 

https://www.atavist.com/stories/half-safe/

[MoonShine]

^ordered, thanks!

[boomana]

Enjoying Tenth of December right now.  Thanks for the rec., Ric.

[en480c4]

Secret of the White Rose by Stefanie Pintoff. 

 

It's the 3rd in a series with a detective in early 1900's NYC, preceded by In the Shadow of Gotham and A Curtain Falls.  All three are quite entertaining, and I'm definitely reading a lot more with the iPad Mini since light in our place was rarely good enough to read without a book light for the Kindle, and the light I had was horrible.