Formula1racer - my apologies to you, actually; didn’t mean to come off as a lit snob! Gotta say, being a newbie to Swaylock’s, it’s a very nice change from some other popular surfing forums. Always good to get tips on great books!
Anyhoo - Steven Pressfield writes historical fiction about the ancient Greeks; “Gates of Fire” is his best, and I’m planning on reading his latest, “The Virtues of War”, about Alexander. “Following Hadrian”, by Elizabeth Speller, is a non-fiction work about that Roman emperor; very interesting.
A really cool read is Tom Standage’s “A History of the World in Six Glasses”. It’s about how certain beverages - beer, wine, spirits, coffee, tea, and Coke - had a truly profound impact on various eras. Very entertaining.
Ditto to Doc on Stephenson’s trilogy. And highly recommend George Macdonald Fraser’s “Flashman” novels; very, very funny take on the British Empire during the Victorian Era. Fraser’s research and knowledge of British history is excellent.
for some rather, um, funny oddball reading, try a book written by a not so well know jamaican author anthony winkler, called ‘the lunatic,’ or ‘me talk pretty one day’ by david sedaris. either one will have you laughing out loud. as long as you have a odd monty python sense of humor…/
Hey, Mike, Doc, and other historical fiction lovers. If you like the O’Brien books, go get “Beau Geste” by P. Wren, written 1923 if memory serves. French foreign legion, murder mystery, jewel thief… good stuff. If you ever wondered where the name Toureg really means, you’ll find out. (I doubt most Volkswagen drivers know…)
Has anybody read The Art of War. I was talking to my father and he suggested it under the pretext that i could learn some valuable life lessons from it. After picking it up i couldn’t put it down. It is a small book but within its pages it hold some of the most wholesome and valuable knowledge that i could say is on this planet. I would tell you guys the author but it is some chinese fellow and i would not do his name justice.
Sun Tzu - I have glanced through it, years ago, and it’s not bad, but I put forth that it or any of the similar ( Miyamoto Musashi’s Book of Five Rings, among others ) are interreloated. Mao’s Little Red Book and so forth.
An interesting translation of Sun Tzu was done by one Samuel Griffith, a military historian of some scholarly repute and a Ph.D (Hist; New College, Oxford) who also commanded a Marine Raider battalion on Guadalcanal.
Also, let me commend
The lone samurai : the life of Miyamoto Musashi / William Scott Wilson.
who also did a trranslation of The Five Rings
And again, thanks for getting me thinking about this… and adding to my reading list for summer
If you like good ficiton that brings some of the mythology to life in historical context, and good action as well, try Mary Renault’s The King Must Die, and The Bull from the Sea.
Dude, Swaylocks is more than just a design Forum. This is a place for friends from all over the world to talk to eachother. Long distance calling costs too much and were a chatty group. Please calm down, and If you have any specific design questions, search the archives. If you cant find it there then ask politely how to do whatever you need done.
“It takes more energy to Frown than to Smile”
lighten up and go make some ceviche and read a book.
As far as books go, I love the ender’s game series and Harry potter (the little kid in me)
Sometimes what appears to be non-essential is an aspect ‘of the essence’. Expanding one’s interests, nurturing the imagination, increasing knowledge, sharing what adds joy to living, all of this and more enriches us as individuals and as a community, and thereby enriches how we experience an important aspect of our lives called surfing.
Ya ive read them all. Orson Scott Card is a brilliant writer. he makes you feel immersed in the story. I managed to read 3 of the enders book on a 24 hour flight to Australia a few years back. I loved it, but didnt love the fat that my feat expanded due to pooling of blood, so when I got off the plane my shoes wouldnt fit and I had to walk in my socks.