register

  • Categories

Vanilla 1.1.4 is a product of Lussumo. More Information: Documentation, Community Support.

 

Books

General Discussions » Books (Posts 151 to 164 of 164)

  1. <
  2. 1
  3. 2
  4. 3
  5. 4
  6. 5
  7. 6
  8. >
    •  
      CommentAuthorBregje
    • CommentTimeNov 11th 2011
    Perhaps funny plays? I love the humor in dialogues...
    • CommentAuthorTimmer
    • CommentTimeNov 11th 2011
    Have you ever read Billy Liar?
    •  
      CommentAuthorThor
    • CommentTimeNov 16th 2011
    Urgh.

    Finally finished UNDERSTANDING ENGLISH GRAMMAR, PART 1. Took me more than a month, but there are so many terms, plus it's not exactly my favourite subject -- it's like the friggin' MATHS of language.

    I had intended to go directly to PART 2, but I think I'll leave that be for now.

    I'll rather move on to a brief and glossy history book called THE STORY OF ENGLAND by Christopher Hibbert. I read it last in 1997, and remember it containing very compact blocks of facts as well as an author unusually interested in architechture. I'll see how it holds up now.
    •  
      CommentAuthorBregje
    • CommentTimeNov 16th 2011
    Timmer wrote
    Have you ever read Billy Liar?

    Nope. I checked my library, they have it! So I can give it a try.
    But first I'll finish my Dawkins book. After I have finished my magazine...

    I get a magazine too each month which I like, but sometimes it takes a couple of weeks to finish that, so by the time I can start reading a book again, next month's magazine is in the mail again... Years ago I decided to quit magazines and only read books, but then, of course, they had a nice offer again, so I subscribed for another year.
    wink


    Thor wrote:
    Finally finished UNDERSTANDING ENGLISH GRAMMAR, PART 1. Took me more than a month, but there are so many terms, plus it's not exactly my favourite subject -- it's like the friggin' MATHS of language.

    I had intended to go directly to PART 2, but I think I'll leave that be for now.

    Perhaps it's a good idea to switch indeed. I prefer switching from heavy reading to light reading as well. So I go from difficult and slow reading, to finishing a couple of kids books in a row or something. That's very relaxing.
    •  
      CommentAuthorThor
    • CommentTimeNov 16th 2011 edited
    Bregje wrote
    I had intended to go directly to PART 2, but I think I'll leave that be for now.
    Perhaps it's a good idea to switch indeed. I prefer switching from heavy reading to light reading as well. So I go from difficult and slow reading, to finishing a couple of kids books in a row or something. That's very relaxing.


    Not a bad idea, except that I've gone through most of the light reading already. Furthermore, I'm used to reading only heavy stuff because of all my years in the university, both as student and teacher, so my challenge is more to find INTERESTING subjects as a means to create diversity. Especially since I'm now free to read whatever I want whenever I want. smile
    •  
      CommentAuthorBregje
    • CommentTimeNov 16th 2011
    Oh, I see. Well, there are many interesting subjects to choose from, when you're done with... grammar. wink

    There's a book on my wishlist (wanted to buy it but it was 39,-, I thought let's read it first from the library!) and it's called Myths of Our Time (or something like that) by Umberto Galimberti. I was surprised he has a wiki page only in Italian, so I was wondering if the book is translated in English as well? There is a Dutch translation, that's the one I would read then. My Italian is not that good.
    tongue

    It's about humanity in these times with technology and everything. Also some chapters about the myth of youth, about plastic surgery and all that. Really interesting.

    I mean, we have a TV show now on the commercial channel which probably looks like an informative program to many people but it is made by the medical institute Bergman Clinics, arrrrgh, drives me nuts this kind of stuff. You have too much hair, go to Bergman Clinics, you have no hair, go to Bergman Clinics, your toes too short, your lips too long (all of them!), legs not good, teeth not good, eyes not good, let's fix it! They make it look like there are real doctors talking. I believe they are real doctors though, but doctors who work for Bergman Clinics!!
    slant

    OK, some people really do have a medical problem. A medical problem. But most of it is easthetical crap.
    •  
      CommentAuthorBregje
    • CommentTimeNov 16th 2011
    Oh, and their slogan is 'Bergman Clinics - makes people better' rolleyes

    You should know that in Dutch better means also cured, like when you're not ill anymore you are better too. (wait it's the same in English right?)

    Anyway, make people better, arrrggggghhh, horrible! Of course we are not good enough, we need Bergman to make us better people.
    angry
    •  
      CommentAuthorThor
    • CommentTimeNov 28th 2011
    Finished STORY OF ENGLAND, and yes -- it was as bad as I remembered it.

    Not only the loooong tangents on architecture, but also the insane sentence structure. Each sentence is almost half a page long, with tons of inserted sentences with each having a new name, place etc. so that by the time you finish you had forgotten what it was about. Much like Mike Matessino's liner notes (Bernard Herrmann, who had previously collaborated with Orson Welles, now fresh out of RKO, the radio label that spawned a new era for the US media etc....).

    I'm not recommending it to anyone.

    Moving on to John Oakland's far more accesible BRITISH CIVILIZATION (my older edition just has a black cover), which is a more straightforward text book for students that cover the history as well as the social structures in more detail. And better organized, as far as I remember. It's been 14 years.
    •  
      CommentAuthorThor
    • CommentTimeJan 3rd 2012 edited
    Took me more than a month, but I finally finished the Oakland book. It was an extremely boring experience, not because of the subject matter (which is fascinating), but because of the very dry language and fact-oriented prose. Since the book is from 1995, it basically came off as reading 17-year-old, dated Wikipedia entries. The chapter on the media was particularly hilarious (no mention anywhere of the internet!).

    I had intially planned to go back to the Part 2 of the grammar book when I had finished this, but I need something a little more exciting now, so I moved on to a Norwegian book about political rhetorics and the speecher's credibility, Anders Johansens TALERENS TROVERDIGHET - TEKNISKE OG KULTURELLE BETINGELSER FOR POLITISK RETORIKK (THE SPEECHER'S CREDIBILITY - TECHNICAL AND CULTURAL CONDITIONS FOR POLITICAL RHETORICS). It's written in an 'essayistic' way, which makes for a more engrossing experience.
    •  
      CommentAuthorsdtom
    • CommentTimeJan 4th 2012
    I've been going through a Michael Connelly phase lately. He was the author of Lincoln Lawyer.
    Tom
  11. sdtom wrote
    I tried the Kindle and returned it. Too old fashion I guess as I prefer turning the pages

    Anne got a Kindle at the weekend (a birthday present for her birthday in March!)

    I love reading a proper book, the whole experience of the physical nature of the book, being able to rifle (or riffle?) through the pages, etc. But I have to admit that the Kindle does look quite pleasing to the eye in terms of reading experience.

    I suppose that with the Kindle - like buying music downloads - there's part of me that doesn't feel like I have bought anything: the physical book or CD does reinforce the purchase a lot more than the "Thank you for purchasing..." pop-up and the slight decrease in hard drive space a bought download gives.
    The views expressed in this post are entirely my own and do not reflect the opinions of maintitles.net, or for that matter, anyone else. http://www.racksandtags.com/falkirkbairn
    •  
      CommentAuthorThor
    • CommentTimeFeb 21st 2012
    My 'bookshelf walkthrough' has to take a break as I'm now back to studying again.

    Currently reading this article anthology book in my pedagogy studies (pedagogy?! I have absolutely no idea what this study is called in English):

    http://www.ord.no/coverImage?ISBN=97882 … size=large

    Difficult to translate the title, as I have no idea what these teacher titles are called in English either.
    • CommentAuthorTimmer
    • CommentTimeMar 7th 2012
    I also posted this in the JOHN BARRY thread, new book by Jon Burlingame...

    THE MUSIC OF JAMES BOND
  14. The last few days I have been reading David J. Breeze's book THE ANTONINE WALL, a modest book detailing the Romans and the circumstances behind the building of a turf-barrier at the north-west frontier of the Roman Empire (AD 140-160). The Antonine Wall is not as famous as Hadrian's Wall but it passed through Falkirk and was a popular topic at high school (particularly as the wall (visible today mainly as a deep ditch running through the countryside) passed within yards of the school.

    I am finding it an interesting read and it is quite surprising in some of the details. It seems the wall was constructed more as a political show of force rather than as a sign of conquest, there's no real evidence that the inhabitants of Southern Scotland hindered the advancing Roman army in any way and, in fact, because the Romans respected the laws of property farmers who lost crops with the building of the wall may have been compensated for lost crops.
    The views expressed in this post are entirely my own and do not reflect the opinions of maintitles.net, or for that matter, anyone else. http://www.racksandtags.com/falkirkbairn

151 to 164 of 164

  1. <
  2. 1
  3. 2
  4. 3
  5. 4
  6. 5
  7. 6
  8. >