What book are you currently reading?

Discussion in 'Off Topic Area' started by Anth, Apr 16, 2004.

  1. aikiMac

    aikiMac aikido + boxing = very good Moderator Supporter

    You're ignoring what I'm saying, amigo. Neither the vintage nor the particular translation changes the fact that there are at least 39 discrete books within the Old Testament, and they are not arranged in order of plot. Remember, I'm a teacher of this stuff. I've gone through the entire Old Testament more than a few times. For you to think that you can start at Genesis and work straight through to Malachi and actually know what you're reading, betrays to me your ignorance.

    I'm helping you out here by telling you what the plot-order is of the books. Give it a try.
     
  2. aikiMac

    aikiMac aikido + boxing = very good Moderator Supporter

    A few of the names will show up later in the plot, but at this stage that's not important. You can just say to yourself, "This was here because when it was first written, these were their grandparents and great-grandparents. All these names were their blood, their family. All of this stuff happened to real people who were their family." And then just skip over those paragraphs. :)
     
  3. Dead_pool

    Dead_pool Spes mea in nihil Deus MAP 2017 Moi Award

    There's quite a few books detailing all the religious and law bits of the old testament borrowed from other local religions / tribal laws. The old testament really isn't the absolute starting place if you want to put it into its correct context.

    (of course this also shows how the God of the old testament is a local creation, like all gods, so if that isnt what your looking for, best not seek the forbidden fruit of knowledge)
     
    Last edited: Nov 7, 2017
  4. Xue Sheng

    Xue Sheng All weight is underside

    Appreciate the help and thank you for calling me ignorant.

    Bottom-line here is; I have no idea who you are, or what you teach. I am simply reading the bible, never read it, thought I should. Did study religion in college, but it was from a philosophy program side. Actually know a lot more about Taoism and Buddhism than my own cultures religion. Also tend to have a Taoist approach to many things so with that in mind...The best answer to your question as to where am I beginning would have been ... at the beginning..... Thank you for your assistance in this matter
     
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  5. Dead_pool

    Dead_pool Spes mea in nihil Deus MAP 2017 Moi Award

    Well that's definitely debatable.

    :)
     
  6. Xue Sheng

    Xue Sheng All weight is underside

    It is simply where it begins in the copy I have
     
  7. Xue Sheng

    Xue Sheng All weight is underside

    That is generally what I do
     
  8. Dead_pool

    Dead_pool Spes mea in nihil Deus MAP 2017 Moi Award

    Sorry If I was unclear, I meant separate books, recently written books, not the bible but a comparative analysis of where the Bible came from.

    You can add onto that, how the modern Bible got put together in its current format, why certain sections didn't go into its current format, and how the modern English translations etc were put together, and the errors that arose from that process.

    At some point I'd like to read the Koran and the Torah (and associated texts) too.
     
    Last edited: Nov 7, 2017
  9. Xue Sheng

    Xue Sheng All weight is underside

    The Council of Nicaea comes to mind :D

    Thanks, I shall look at further reading once I get through what I have.
     
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  10. Dead_pool

    Dead_pool Spes mea in nihil Deus MAP 2017 Moi Award

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  11. Morik

    Morik Well-Known Member Supporter MAP 2017 Gold Award

    So I've read through Asimov's robot series & empire series, and am starting on Foundation.
    I like the quote, "Never let your sense of morals prevent you from doing what is right!"
     
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  12. philosoraptor

    philosoraptor carnivore in a top hat Supporter

    Just finished Kazuo Ishiguro's most recent novel, The Buried Giant. In it, we meet Axl and Beatrice, an old married couple living in an Arthurian England that's cursed by a mist that causes everyone to lose their long term memory. Ogres, dragons, knights, magic, Merlin, all figure into the plot. I'm still having trouble putting into words how much the book shook me - it's about loss, personal betrayals, societal atrocities, the value of memory and the value of forgetting. There's a quiet sadness that lingers through the entire novel before it stabs you in the heart with one of the most real and moving final scenes. It's a downer, the kind that you probably shouldn't read in public because ain't no one wants to see you ugly cry over your turkey club sandwich. Ishiguro is a strange writer who moves from genre to genre, tackling science fiction, historical fiction, fantasy and elevates each of them into something frighteningly personal. His prose is sparse and focussed on the mundane - a reviewer joked about one of his books that he could imagine Ishiguro thinking "Damn, I really nailed that scene where Katherine drops her pencil." Despite this it builds into something that's just deeply important, quietly personal, and speaking to the human condition.

    Also there are some friggin' awesome sword fights.

    Moving onto Liu Cixin's "The Three Body Problem," because I can't handle jumping into Ishiguro's sci fi foray just yet.
     
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  13. Morik

    Morik Well-Known Member Supporter MAP 2017 Gold Award

    I'm almost done with Foundation & Empire. Next up I'll be taking a short break from Asimov to reread books 1 & 2 of The Stormlight Archive, in preparation for reading book 3 which came out a few days ago. After I read the new book I'll go back to Asimov.
     
  14. Anjelica

    Anjelica Banned Banned

    Molly's Game. the story of Molly Bloom who hosted the biggest high stakes poker game in Hollywood before the FBI and IRS busted her. The movie is coming soon. Not saying Molly is a hero but I have to respect her. She saw and opportunity to make money off the celebs and took it.
     
  15. Chimpcheng

    Chimpcheng Yup... Giant cow head... Supporter

    Read myself 'In Order To Live: A North Korean Girl's Journey to Freedom' by Yeonmi Park.

    As the title might suggest, this is the harrowing (and I mean harrowing) memoir of Yeonmi Park who escaped from North Korea. It covers her upbringing, the social hierarchy in North Korean, the indoctrination of the population, her escape - subsequent abuse and violations, and adapting to life in South Korea and the wider world.

    Since reading it, I have since learnt that some experts on North Korea have doubted some of the facts in her recollection, but, nevertheless, her book makes for a very sad, depressive story, it's not something that you would "enjoy" reading, but it is, in my view, some powerful work.
     
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  16. Xue Sheng

    Xue Sheng All weight is underside

    The Great Work of Your Life - Stephan Cope

    The Mind Inside Tai Chi: Sustaining a Joyful Heart Paperback - Henry Yinghao Zhuang
     
  17. aikiMac

    aikiMac aikido + boxing = very good Moderator Supporter

    Finished #3 of the "Apollo" series by Rick Riordan. I know they're in the children's section of a library, but they're good!
    Actually, I thought #1 was so-so and #2 not very good, but he made up for it with #3. It's excellent. It's on par with the best of the Percy or Jason series.
     
  18. aaradia

    aaradia Choy Li Fut and Yang Tai Chi Chuan Student Moderator Supporter

    Lots of adults read kids and Young Adult books. See it all the time in my work! A good book worth reading is a treasure- no matter what "age" it is written for.
     
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  19. Morik

    Morik Well-Known Member Supporter MAP 2017 Gold Award

    I haven't returned to Asimov's Foundation series yet (next up there is Second Foundation, but I'm not sure when I'll get to it).

    I got sidetracked and read a bunch of other stuff in the meantime.
    Magic 2.0 -- a series about a computer hacker/programmer who discovers the universe is a simulation, by finding a data file that can be edited to alter reality.
    It was an ok series, the writing isn't particularly good (nor particularly bad). I'm not sure I'd recommend it, fairly meh overall, but some fun to be had reading it.

    Right now I'm re-reading the Honor Harrington series, and adding in all the side books/series. So about 55 books total, though that includes some short stories and novellas I believe.
    I've previously only read the Honor Harrington main series (13 books, 14th comes out in Oct which is what prompted this re-read), and the Saganami Island series (4 books), and a few of the short stories.
    Sci-fi, navy/war themed series (at least the main one & Saganami Island), though some of the other stories/series in the universe are more in the spy genre or adventure genre.
    (All (published; doesn't include forthcoming final book of the main series) books listed in the in-universe chronological order: Honorverse - Wikipedia. I'm reading all of them.)
    I really like David Weber's writing, I am also planning to read some of his other (non Honorverse) stuff at some point.
     
  20. Jerome Blanes

    Jerome Blanes Member

    Stavast - Knife Fighting in the Netherlands - The forbidden art of Bekkensnijden
     

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