962 replies to this topic

[checkymcfold]

Theraflu, on Wednesday, March 4th, 2009, 4:10 PM, said:

You mean, aside from Matt Christopher.

i had to google it, but well played. a slam dunk, even.SB, do tell, what DID the people of europe do before gaslights? (more seriously, those are the kinds of things my gf is into--should i recommend them?)

[Southern Buddhist]

checkymcfold, on Thursday, March 5th, 2009, 3:07 AM, said:

SB, do tell, what DID the people of europe do before gaslights? (more seriously, those are the kinds of things my gf is into--should i recommend them?)

Oh, that's a fantastic book -- by all means get a copy. It traces the first purpose-built beds and bedrooms to the late Renaissance / early modern period (did you know that it was Shakespeare who coined the word "bedroom"? I mean, who'd have thought it would have taken so long to think up that word?), but more importantly traces behavior throughout the night.The author freely admits that nearly everyone assumes that all anyone did after dark was sleep and ****, but in fact, it was a time that had its own etiquette and social norms. Blaming darkness allowed social inferiors to perhaps bump roughly into a superior, even knocking them down, without recrimination, and allowed superiors to go slumming for drinks or prostitution or even just lower-class friendships that they couldn't admit to during the day. Beer brewing was considered an after-dark activity, and there were special prayers to utter during different periods of the night. Women's sewing circles often concealed more forbidden activities like dating between young people, affairs, women drinking and smoking, political organizing, etc., and were always done after dark.Most interesting is that when we depended solely on fire for our illumination, the author argues very convincingly that all of humanity had a different sleep pattern. We would go to sleep around between ten and midnight, sleep for four hours, wake up for an hour or two, then go back to sleep for a second REM cycle between four and six am and finally get up between eight and ten am. For something that virtually nobody knows anything about anymore, he provides an astonishing amount of evidence that this was a universal pattern. He recounts diaries talking about "first sleep" and "second sleep," lists the prayers that were meant to be uttered "upon waking after first sleep," quotes writers about arriving at a village at two in the morning and all the people making their way to the ale house for a glass of beer and a chat before going back home and back to sleep, etc. He even offers evidence that in Africa, where electrical light can be hundreds of miles away, this pattern still prevails, since at least a couple of tribes have terms that mean "first" and "second" sleep and have ritual periods of dream interpretation where you can go talk to the local shaman after your first sleep and have him interpret your dreams for you at two in the morning or so.Really fascinating stuff. By the way, it was a midwife's traditional advice that a married couple should go to bed and sleep first, then only have sex upon waking from first sleep, during the nighttime period of wakefulness, if they wanted to conceive (and if they didn't want more kids, they should avoid sex during that period). Studies today now confirm that fertility is higher in the wee hours of the morning than it is late at night.The advent of gaslights also allowed the advent of beat-walking cops, and the looser social rules of nighttime gradually disappeared into the same social order as daytime, and gradually we used artificial light to compress all our waking time into one long period and all our sleeping time into one uninterrupted period, generally of two REM cycles one after the other. But, also interestingly, the author notes that we may have become evolutionarily adapted to artificial light, because a fair number of people now report waking up after one REM cycle for a couple of hours. In fact, this can be one main reason people go to doctors complaining of sleep problems. Sleep specialists are beginning to look at history and believe that in fact we're just reverting to the rhythm our bodies had established for millennia.

[Randy Reed]

PMJackson21, on Monday, March 2nd, 2009, 10:50 AM, said:

Finished the book I was reading in Kauai (The Black Company Chronicles by Glen Cook, pretty good in comparison to most fantasy from the 80's) early so I had nothing to read, but saw The Road in the condo we were staying in. Based off what I read in this thread I decided to read it and a few hours later I was looking forward to the movie. Only drawback was how short it was.

Still reading Deadhouse Gates but it's slow going only because I haven't had alot of time lately.On audio I finally got a digital player so that I can just download audio directly from the library. I drive 2 hours a day so this is how I pass the time and it's sooo convenient not running back and forth to the library. It's ridiculous how much sites like audible charge for books that are free downloads.I listened to 2 of the newer Patricia Cornwell books, (non-Scarpetta) and they were okay but not that great, almost like short stories wihout enough happening.On a library recomendation I went with a suggestion of theres, Greg Iles, called 24 hours and it was pretty good, enough so that I got another that I'm listenting to now but the name escapes me.The wifey just got a bunch of books cheap from somewhere that will take up my reading time for a while. A book written by an actual Geisha, biography of Rose Kennedy, andThree Cups of tea.

[RonBurgundy]

sick of nature and under the devil's the thumb by david gessner--great contemporary non-fiction writerthe plague- albert camus--just wow.collected works of emerson- ralph waldo emerson--yeah i know you read nature and self-reliance in 9th grade but seriously, pick this shit up and tell me it doesn't speak to you more than everpicked up/am reading notes from underground, the myth of sysyphus (camus again), waist-high in the world (nancy mairs), essay collections from montaigne and h.l. mencken, and loads of pragmatists (james, dewey, peirce) and jewish philosophers (buber, levinas, rosenzweig) for classes

[WageSlave]

read anansi boys in one sitting. i was hoping i would get a few evenings out of it but i couldnt put it down. back to the bookstore i guess.

[Piddle Duck]

WageSlave, on Friday, March 20th, 2009, 2:51 PM, said:

read anansi boys in one sitting. i was hoping i would get a few evenings out of it but i couldnt put it down. back to the bookstore i guess.

I just bought that yesterday.

[eYank]

For those Yankees or baseball fans, I read "The Last Night of the Yankees Dynasty" by Buster Olney and I'm now reading the Joe Torre book. I really liked the last night, very good book about the dynasty teams.

[Southern Buddhist]

RonBurgundy, on Friday, March 20th, 2009, 10:05 AM, said:

collected works of emerson- ralph waldo emerson--yeah i know you read nature and self-reliance in 9th grade but seriously, pick this shit up and tell me it doesn't speak to you more than ever

No. Thoreau, yes. But Emerson less so. I still like him, but read him and Thoreau back-to-back about a year ago and Thoreau blew him out of the water.Don't know what's next for me. I have my Hitler idea and easily fifty books on WWII, mostly about him specifically, but I've also been deeply into a Shakespeare idea of mine (regarding how to stage Hamlet) lately.Most likely, though, it will be whatever I have to read for the next term paper I'm paid to write. I've done the French Revolution and Australian business practices and culture; I think _Othello_ is actually up next week. I don't mind getting paid to learn and write, but it does get in the way of the reading and writing I'd like to do for personal interest.

[Randy Reed]

How Starbucks saved my life.Great book.Three Cups of TeaVery aaaaasome book

[Graydon]

Anybody else read anything by David Sedaris??? I think he's pretty funny.

[myenemy]

Just finished Flashman. Its kind of a goofy story about a ne'er do well, coward, scumbag, who always seems to get lucky and get the glory, set in the 1830's towards the end of the British occupation of Afghanistan, plus it is fairly historically accurate. Its a series. Id read more. Anything else good?

[LG's Touch]

I finally got around to reading On The Road. Almost finished it, totally loving it.

[hblask]

I'm currently reading "The Great Gatsby", which somehow managed to elude me my whole life.I love Fitzgerald's use of language, just beautiful.

[GeneralGeeWhiz]

First time reading this...

[Piddle Duck]

LG's Touch, on Tuesday, May 5th, 2009, 11:44 AM, said:

I finally got around to reading On The Road. Almost finished it, totally loving it.

I really enjoyed that book. Starting the Grapes of Wrath today. Never read it, seemed like a good time to do so.

[LadyGrey]

hblask, on Tuesday, May 5th, 2009, 12:11 PM, said:

I'm currently reading "The Great Gatsby", which somehow managed to elude me my whole life.I love Fitzgerald's use of language, just beautiful.

I wasn't all that impressed when I read it but I definitely want to read it again sometime. Check out the movie after you've read it. It's not great but it's just fun to compare, the version I am referring to has Robert Redford as Gatsby and it's a fun watch.

Piddle Duck, on Tuesday, May 5th, 2009, 12:38 PM, said:

Starting the Grapes of Wrath today. Never read it, seemed like a good time to do so.

Love love love this book. Read it last year and was crazy for it. I think a lot of people don't like it because they had to read it for school and that always taints a book, but it is a deserved classic. I love the way they say "fambly".

[Tactical Bear]

hblask, on Tuesday, May 5th, 2009, 1:11 PM, said:

I'm currently reading "The Great Gatsby", which somehow managed to elude me my whole life.I love Fitzgerald's use of language, just beautiful.

I have LG's previously mentioned "Required Reading Syndrome" when it comes to Fitzgerald. Actually, most literature is ruined for me because of my English class junior year. My teacher just butchered the analysis, and I would get in screaming matches with her about how ****ing myopic she was. I tried to suggest there were some pretty obvious undertones of homosexuality in Catcher in the Rye. It wasn't even a big deal; it was really obvious. She said I was being disrespectful and trying to sully one of her favorite novels to be mean. I was sure I was right, so I spent like 40 bucks on cliffs-notes and sparks-notes type stuff, put it all together, and read about 10 minutes worth of other people's analysis during class and demanded she admit she was wrong for shutting me down. She refused, so, for a state-mandated personal-reflection essay, I wrote a story about having an affair with her (using her first and last name), and was subsequently almost expelled from highschool. It was worth it. One of my friends fucked her daughter, too, I later found out. Bonus points.

[YonYonson]

Tactical Bear, on Tuesday, May 5th, 2009, 10:08 AM, said:

I have LG's previously mentioned "Required Reading Syndrome" when it comes to Fitzgerald. Actually, most literature is ruined for me because of my English class junior year. My teacher just butchered the analysis, and I would get in screaming matches with her about how ****ing myopic she was. I tried to suggest there were some pretty obvious undertones of homosexuality in Catcher in the Rye. It wasn't even a big deal; it was really obvious. She said I was being disrespectful and trying to sully one of her favorite novels to be mean. I was sure I was right, so I spent like 40 bucks on cliffs-notes and sparks-notes type stuff, put it all together, and read about 10 minutes worth of other people's analysis during class and demanded she admit she was wrong for shutting me down. She refused, so, for a state-mandated personal-reflection essay, I wrote a story about having an affair with her (using her first and last name), and was subsequently almost expelled from highschool. It was worth it. One of my friends fucked her daughter, too, I later found out. Bonus points.

goddammit, dude. i dont trust you as far as i can throw you. but i sure enjoy the way you lie.

[Tactical Bear]

YonYonson, on Tuesday, May 5th, 2009, 4:03 PM, said:

goddammit, dude. i dont trust you as far as i can throw you. but i sure enjoy the way you lie.

I rarely defend myself with any vigor, but here I am going to take a small stand. The year was 1999-2000, and the test was the MEAP (Michigan Education Assessment Program) test. The topic was: "Write about a special relationship you've had that's influenced your life." I had it narrowed down to drilling Mrs. Thomas and the special relationship I formed with Vic in a foxhole in 'Nam. I ended up suspended for 2 weeks, and my best friend's father (who is a district court judge) offered to put me in contact with the American Civil Liberties Union, since the administration opened a sealed document to read the essay. My parents kept a photocopy of the essay for a while, but I don't know if it's around anymore.I received a perfect score on the essay -- they had no choice but to submit it, so they attached a disclaimer -- and strutted into Mrs. Thomas's classroom during first period the day after I got the results in the mail and stapled it to her bulletin board. I almost got another week for that.The principal was a man named Dr. Newton (I always referred to him as Mr. Newton, to his great ire), who is now Superintendent of the district. He's a tool.

[brvheart]

Tactical Bear, on Tuesday, May 5th, 2009, 3:51 PM, said:

I rarely defend myself with any vigor, but here I am going to take a small stand. The year was 1999-2000, and the test was the MEAP (Michigan Education Assessment Program) test. The topic was: "Write about a special relationship you've had that's influenced your life." I had it narrowed down to drilling Mrs. Thomas and the special relationship I formed with Vic in a foxhole in 'Nam. I ended up suspended for 2 weeks, and my best friend's father(who is a district court judge) offered to put me in contact with the American Civil Liberties Union, since the administration opened a sealed document to read the essay. My parents kept a photocopy of the essay for a while, but I don't know if it's around anymore.I received a perfect score on the essay -- they had no choice but to submit it, so they attached a disclaimer -- and strutted into Mrs. Thomas's classroom during first period the day after I got the results in the mail and stapled it to her bulletin board. I almost got another week for that.The principal was a man named Dr. Newton (I always referred to him as Mr. Newton, to his great ire), who is now Superintendent of the district. He's a tool.

You're such a liar Wang... but that's why we love you. ("who is a district court judge"... hahahah... good one)[spoken under breath] That Tactical sure knows how to make up a good story. Such detail! [/muttering]