There were three indispensable tools for me as a DM:

Dungon Master for Dummies -- Seriously, this is a fantastic book. It was written for 3rd Edition, but most of the book's advice is relevant for any RPG. Both authors have a long pedigree in designing and writing for D&D.

Sly Flourish's The Lazy Dungeon Master -- This book is now on its second edition ("The Return of...") and is amazing. It basically distills a lot of conventional wisdom related to running your game with the least amount of effort. That sounds bad, but when you get into DM'ing you will find yourself burning out quickly if you don't find a way to reduce the amount of boilerplate planning you have to do.

How to Write Science Fiction & Fantasy -- By Orson Scott Card. This book is recommended because of its world-building chapters. The way he thinks about and approaches world-building has influenced many other amazing writers, such as Brandon Sanderson, his protege and successor as creative writing professor at BYU. This is worth reading, again and again.

--EDIT: I hit "Post Reply" instead of "Insert Link". Whoops.

Here are some other bits of advice that I hope are helpful:

Know the rules

Seriously; read the PHB, know the PHB, love the PHB. 90% of you disagreements with players will be covered by the PHB. Do your due diligence so you can make trustworthy and authoritative rulings. If they players know they can trust your rulings, they will question you less.

As a newbie DM, I failed to do this, and the result was that my players did not trust me or my story. Engagement is hard to come by in that situation.

Also, read your DMG cover-to-cover. But I do find myself referencing that book quite infrequently (I make my own magic items, so I don't really consult the loot table, either). What the DMG has, and is worth reading for, is its advice on running games. This is also true of the 4E DMG, which is worth a read even if you never run that system (no one will ever ask you to).

Embrace Rule Zero

If you know the rules, and the players trust you, you are ready to employ Rule Zero: "The DM is always right." This is absolutely necessary. Many a time I've had a player attempt to use the RAW to create situational advantages that did not square with what I believed was common sense. The rules aren't running your game: you are.

Now, having said that...

Always Say "Yes"^H^H^H^H^H"But"

In 4E, the designers of D&D distilled a common and effective "design pattern" of DM'ing, and called it, "Just Say Yes." The idea was that you could maximize player buy-in and investment (and therefore, engagement) by giving them the most possible creative control over your story. Taken to its extreme, however, this proves disastrous; players are not uniformly interested in advancing your story, and I have some players that often need to be constrained a bit from taking every license possible.

The modern incarnation of this philosophy is "Always Say 'But'." "Yes, but..." and "no, but..." are incredible tools that help you keep control of the narrative while mitigating player frustration.

"Yes, you can run up to the BBEG in the middle of his monologue and bunch him in the face... (hidden bogus roll a couple times) ...but with a casual wave of his hand, you are thrown back 30 feet." (aside: this scenario requires maximum player trust, as well as Rule Zero4)

"No, you cannot by any means use deception to convince the king that he's a potted plant, but you can convince that dimwitted guard over there."

In short, be lenient, but don't be too lenient.

A word on voice acting: DM's that are good at it are amazing; the best DM I know is a veteran stage actor and drama teacher. It helps that he is a great storyteller. But it is absolutely not necessary to have an immersive, compelling game. In fact, done badly, it can be awful. I ran a 1E Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil game, and I wanted to play up the village of Hommlet by giving them all Irish accents. After two hours my players asked me to stop. Faking a voice that is wildly different than your own here and there is fine, but if you absolutely cannot pull it off (through no fault of your own), your game is best served by not trying. Speak in your own voice, and add adverbs like a book would. Don't try to lower your voice; describe his voice before you speak for him, and then speak naturally.

Caveat: joke characters or comedic relief situations you should totally ham up voices.

1.) Blue: a classic, blue jeans. Need I say more?

2.) Summer: what says summer more than memories of being a kid and making sandcastles? Exactly .

3.) Food related: okay, so this is personal. I am Italian and no one I have ever met has this in their homes. We make our pizzas in normal ovens or just go down the street to one of the many takeaway restaurants. What is a pizza oven and why does anyone need one!

4.) Someone else: I decided to go random wishlist on this and what better way to learn something new about someone that go through their lists?! So I got /u/krispykremedonuts and her wishlists are full of amazing things. And a lot of socks. Someone get this girl some socks! I would get her socks. 😂

5.) Book: you need to read Sum: 40 tales from the afterlives. I recommend this to anyone who would listen. It's 'speculative fiction,' whatever that means, but essentially it's 40 short stories about what may happen after we die. It may sound weird, but seriously, trust me. Read the wiki page of it if you need to be convinced or the Amazon product description. It really makes you think and sticks with you!

6.) Under $1: This was hard! But I found the cutest mini-pens. One dollar, free shipping, AND adorable. BAM!

7.) Dogs: I've been considering getting this fancy brush. It's supposed to be super good for dogs with long hair!

8.) Not useful but awesome: Okay, so I have been obsessed with the idea of being able to print photos from my phone since forever. Useful? Most definitely not, awesome...HECK YES! Check this out!!!


9.) Movie: Life is Beautiful. It's about selfless love. It's beautiful and I can't speak more about it without bursting into tears. If you've seen it, you know what I'm talking about. If you haven't seen it, WATCH IT. It's incredibly beautiful and moving.

10.) Zombies: You definitely need a machete to defend yourself. This is even sharp on both sides!!!

11.) Needs and current goals: At this moment in my life, any sort of clothing would change my life because there is only so much sewing you can do before your clothes start looking very sad. BUT, since it has to do with current goals, a pair of workout leggings would really help in my workout goals! I've lost 3kg in the past 3 months! It's not a lot, but damn I'm SO happy :D :D :D

12.) Add-On item: Oh, add-ons...groans

13.) Fandom: CAW!

14.) So expensive: $11,703.38 carpet cleaner. I don't even know. But at least it has free shipping!

15.) Sharks: temporary tattoos!

16.) Good smells: I adore the smell of rosemary.

17.) Toy: I absolutely loved my jump rope. I had the red one! I got super good at it and my friends and I would jump rope together around the neighborhood like a bunch of weirdos. Such good memories though :D

18.) Writers: never underestimate the need of coffee in any job you may have.

19.) Current obsession: so it's almost summer and I am obsessing over which ankle bracelet I want. I feel naked without them. It's a problem 😂

20.) Random: this is what I got one of my last contest winners. I saw it on one of their wishlists and couldn't resist!!!

Obligatory wiki links: Dystopian Literature. Although, some of the titles listed don't seem to fit (The Dispossessed?). Nuclear holocaust fiction, and your general apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction.

Some of the better/more popular ones:

• Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang Kate Wilhelm.
  
  
• Eternity Road Jack McDevitt. Well written, but not very insightful.
  
  
• The Postman David Brin.
  
  
• Mockingbird Walter Tevis. Great read. Think Idiocracy, with a serious take. Humanity's totally run by robots, everyone's forgotten how to read and think for themselves, and the world population's dropped to almost nothing.
  
  
• We Yevgeny Zamyatin. The inspiration for George Orwell's 1984. Not the best read IMO, but some people claim it's better than 1984. It's possible I read a poor translation.
  
  
• Island Aldous Huxley. It's a utopian island surrounded by a dystopian world. Might not fit in this list, but it's a good read if you like Huxley. I think it was his last novel.
  
  
• 1984 George Orwell. One of my favorite novels. I have a bumper sticker with the quote "War is Peace, Ignorance is Strength, Freedom is Slavery", which is a slogan from the book. (Also, a sticker on my mirror with "Under the spreading chestnut tree, I sold you and you sold me"). The link points to Animal Farm and 1984.
  
  
• Fahrenheit 451 Ray Bradbury. Another must read. Very well written, thought-provoking novel. Is it still required reading in schools?
  
  
• Earth Abides George Stewart.
  
  
• Alas, Babylon Pat Frank. Lucifer's Hammer Larry Niven/Jerry Pournelle. I'm grouping these two together because they're very similar, both in setting and politics. I didn't really enjoy either. The politics were not at all subtle, and the characters fit too neatly into stereotypes, and too obviously the writer's hero fantasy. Still, they're pretty popular, so try them out and feel free to disagree with me.
  
  
• Brave New World Aldous Huxley. Really just a utopia that's rough around the edges, if I'm remembering it correctly (also called an anti-utopia, thank you wikipedia). Another must read.
  
  
• A Canticle for Leibowitz Walter Miller.
  
  
• Memoirs Found in a Bathtub Stanislaw Lem. Another favorite. I once created a text adventure based on this book. It was about as frustrating as that Hitchhiker's Guide game.
  
  
• The Road Cormac McCarthy.
  
  
• Philip K. Dick It's hard to keep track of PKD's novels, but some of them are dystopian, all of them worth reading. Favorites: Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep (also known as/inspired Blade Runner), Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said, The Man in the High Castle.
  
  
• The Handmaid's Tale and Oryx and Crake Margaret Atwood.
  
  
• Y: The Last Man A graphical novel/comic collection. Decent art, great story.
  
  Zombies: World War Z, Raise the Dead, Marvel Zombies, Zombie Survival Guide, Day By Day Armageddon, I Am Legend.
  
  Also, just for kicks, some of my favorite dystopian movies:
  Brazil, Soylent Green, 12 Monkeys, Blade Runner, Akira, Children of Men, Dark City, A Boy and His Dog, Logan's Run, Idiocracy, Equillibrium.

Orson Scott Card's book How to write Science Fiction & Fantasy is a great reference.

In terms of fantasy books, some of my favorites include:

• The Black Company by Glen Cook - great, memorable characters, a compelling storyline, and an author not afraid to kill off his characters to advance the plot
  
• The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher - urban fantasy about a Chicago wizard; Butcher is a magnificent storyteller.
  
• The Silmarillion and Unfinished Tales by JRR Tolkien. Not everyone's cup of tea but I love the intricate worldbuilding and the tragic stories.
  
• The Dark Angel trilogy - Meredith Ann Pierce - an unconventional heroine and a combination of romance, horror and magic.
  
• Lyonesse by SF&F Grand Master Jack Vance. Jack Vance has a unique writing style that is filled with noble and quirky characters, fascinating footnotes and a very rich story. This is one of those book series I re-read often.
  
• The Gift by Patrick O'Leary - perhaps one of the greatest single book fantasy novels I have ever read. Terrific story-inside-a-story construction, great characters and emotional impact.
  
• The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman. I love Neil Gaiman's writing voice and his many novels and short stories, but this is one of my favorites.
  
• Hawk of May and the other two books in the trilogy by Gillian Bradshaw. Imaginative telling of the story of Gwalchmai (aka Gawain) in the Arthurian cycle.
  

Thanks Jagabond, really appreciate that. I’m relatively new to hosting the show, having taken over in June, around episode 209. Shaun Farrell created the show and deserves all the credit. I was a huge fan and when I saw the distance between episodes spreading out, I offered to help provide interviews. Shortly after he offered me the job. I’ve tried to keep it close to the original feel.

That’s not your question though. As for the most important factor, I guess I’d say that while the industry is shifting, you never know if you’ll be successful until you try, and one of the most favorable factors to this industry is the abundance of resources to help you get started. Finishing a book should be your first goal, because that already puts you into the minority.

When you say “shifting industry” I assume you mean the effect of ebooks on pricing, revenues and whether we should self-publish or traditional publish. The good news—depending on how you look at it—is that none of this matters to someone getting started writing, because all you need to worry about is how to tell a good story, and that advice doesn’t change. Are you referring to getting started writing or getting started selling?

For someone getting started writing, a very important factor to be aware of is that you probably have a story worth telling. Writing resources can show you how to start a story. As much as I try, I’m an organic writer, so I don’t use any systems any more except for a notepad and pen and just start asking myself questions about the characters I want to be in the story, what kind of conflict they’ll encounter, how this conflict will cause them to grow or fail. If it’s science fiction, I start researching main technologies to the plot, far enough to make sure the concept is plausible. If it is Fantasy, I essentially just talk to myself about the magic system, how it started, what powers it has, what limitations (costs) using the magic has, etc.

Here are some resources I’ve enjoyed:



The Craft of Writing Science Fiction That Sells by Ben Bova – I loved how well this taught character arc. (Character arc is the emotional progress/failure that your character goes through from start to finish.) In the brainstorming stage, he says to find a character that has to choose between two emotions, such as love vs. hate. He gives a very helpful list of questions to ask yourself that essentially brainstormed my novel for me.

Characters and Viewpoint by Orson Scott Card – great breakdown of the types of story (M.I.C.E.) and I believe has a section on how to ask yourself questions to make the story unique from genre tropes (The One finds The Sword to save The Girl).

How to Write Science Fiction and Fantasy by Orson Scott Card is also very helpful. I like how he says that you don’t have a story until you have at least two separate ideas, maybe three, and then you try to combine them.

Lane Diamond offers paid coaching. He’s the head guy at Evolved Publishing, which puts out some very well written books, no doubt a credit to his editing skills. He also edited the first 5k of my novel, so I know from experience he’s good.

Another couple editors I’ve worked with are C.L. Dyck and Joshua Essoe, if you’re at the stage of finding an editor. This could bring up the topic of when to search for beta readers (readers who read your story after you’ve cleaned it up) and when to hire an editor. My novel had such complicated technology weaving through the plot, that I didn’t know how to clean it up enough to give it to beta readers, so that’s why I hired C.L., and she helped me break down how the technology worked and where it didn’t. I suppose a good beta reader could do that, but I’ve not been fortunate enough to find ones that will stick around (i.e. finish reading and give me feedback).

Free resources:

The Snowflake Method by Randy Ingermanson – I’ve started this, but never finished. I’m just not an outliner. Plot evolves out of each progressing scene as I write them. He has a lot of writing tips on his site beyond just the Snowflake.

StoryFix by Larry Brooks – never used this, but hear great things about it.

And of course, podcasts. I love hearing authors tell us their story of how they got started and found success. Their advice never gets old, and often I hear just what I need. For example, I have an upcoming interview with Ronald Malfi, where he says: "The characters and their problems come first. If you've got really good characters and really good problems with those characters from the get-go then the stories build themselves around them."

Did by “getting started,” you mean being at a point where you have a story ready to sell? I’ll answer that when I get back in a few hours, if that was your question.

1. I'd definitely choose to spend my day picking my nose through every single conversation. I work with kids so they'd think it was HILARIOUS! Also, I could preface every single interaction with "It was either this or sand in my underwear and a pebble in my shoe".
   
2. No shoes, because shoes are the worst!
   
3. I don't really care all that much about apps... but I like the FalconPRO app for Twitter. It's pretty HSLD.
   
4. Macaroni and cheese :)
   
5. That when they were wearing shoes/boots and socks and driving, the bottoms of their feet would itch.
   
6. Hawaii. I would like to go because my best friend's hubby is stationed out there, so we would have a place to crash. I imagine it's very sunburn-y out there (I am a pasty, pasty lady). And gloriously warm and sunny. Really, I imagine it is the opposite of where I am now.
   
7. Person who can jam the most rusty nails through their hands (must provide pics for proof!) will win a wishlist item of my choosing <$5!!
   
8. There are number of land reserves that have pretty remote areas. You could build yourself a pretty solid camp and no one would notice. It's happened before here in Maine.
   
9. My dog and I would perform a duet where I bark "Jingle Bells" and she howls at me.
   
10. This is one of the best works of non-fiction I have ever read. My husband just finished this and absolutely loved it. He described it as fantastical historical fiction.
    
11. As a summer camp director, I am a legally bound mandated reporter. What that means is that if I suspect a child has been abused or neglected at home, I have to report that to the state. It is my least favorite part of my job.
    
12. Ah crap, you caught me with Pokemon cards. In my defense - I was bringing them in to give away, since I haven't touched them since 1998. (We don't allow Pokemon cards, or any other trading/gaming cards at after care or camp for a number of reasons. Not just because kids lose them or they make trades they regret, but because we do have kids whose families can't afford them and it makes those kids feel like shit.)
    
13. Did you go to summer camp as a kid? If you did - what's your favorite camp song? If not - what's your favorite silly song from your childhood?
    
14. The sound of someone forcefully dragging a knife across a plate.
    
15. That look my dog gives me that lets me know she loves me unconditionally <3
    
16. "No longer from head to foot than from hip to hip, she is spherical, like a globe, I could find out countries in her". Because COME ON! it is totally the original yo' momma is so fat joke.
    
17. Calamity Jane, Nefertiti, Captain Jack
    
18. In the kitchen at work, preparing snack for the middle schoolers.
    
19. I was a deviled egg. I wore a white t-shirt, taped a yellow construction paper oval to my tummy, and had devils horns/pitchfork/tail.
    
20. I sure did! No one I voted for won, but that wasn't the point.

Of course I'm biased because this is what I love to do for a living (teach about language), but I also find myself learning about language in my free time.

Here are my "Greatest Hits" of language people, programs, blogs, and readings, in no particular order (despite the fact that I've numbered them):

1. Geoff Nunberg's segment on NPR's Fresh Air. Link to the Geoff Nunberg archive on NPR
   
   
2. The "On Language" column in The New York Times Magazine. I like the current columnist, Ben Zimmer, but I'm partial to William Safire. Here's a link to Safire's "How to Read a Column"
   
   
3. There are a number of good language blogs. It's probably "cheating" to put them all in one item, but here goes:
   
   

• Johnson, the language blog at The Economist
  
  
• Language Log
  
  
• Languagehat
  
  

4. Books:
   
   

• Bill Bryson: The Mother Tongue: English and How It Got That Way and Made in America: An Informal History of the English Language in the United States
  
  
• Expletive Deleted by Ruth Wajnryb
  
  

5. Random stuff: I like George Carlin's many humorous takes on language and Margaret Atwood's fiction and Dr. Seuss's many made-up and lovely sounding words.
   
   And I subscribe to /r/logophilia, which often has many amusing words, like pulchritudinous, an ugly word that means something beautiful.
   
   EDIT: And it's great to get a book on usage. I like Garner's Modern American Usage, but here's a list from Diana Hacker at Bedford of other good usage guides

She probably has all of the books you've mentioned if she really likes them, bookish people usually do... A special edition might be an idea, but I won't be able to help you with that, I go for cheap paperbacks due to money ;)

I'm tempted to recommend "We" by Yevgeny Zamyatin, it's not sci-fi classic per se, but it's a dystopian classic, she would probably like it if she likes Brave New World, but again, she might already have it. Still I'm sure she'd be thrilled to get a thoughtful thank you gift from you, even if she's read it before or even has a copy... Here's a link to that book on amazon, if you want to have a look: amazon link

If she does like classic sci-fi, here are some old-school, hard sci-fi (but it's not all just spaceships and aliens) that she might enjoy and possibly even not have, since a couple of the authors aren't from English speaking countries:

• Stanislaw Lem "Solaris" amazon link
  
• Arkady and Boris Strugatsky "Roadside Picnic" amazon link
  
• Artur C. Clarke "Childhood's End" amazon link
  
• Walter M. Miller Jr. "A Canticle for Leibowitz" amazon link

Random selection of some of my favorites to help you expand your horizons:

The Demon-Haunted World by Carl Sagan is a great introduction to scientific skepticism.

Letter to a Christian Nation by Sam Harris is a succinct refutation of Christianity as it's generally practiced in the US employing crystal-clear logic.

Augustus: The Life of Rome's First Emperor by Anthony Everitt is the best biography of one of the most interesting men in history, in my personal opinion.

Travels with Herodotus by Ryszard Kapuscinski is a jaw-dropping book on history, journalism, travel, contemporary events, philosophy.

A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson is a great tome about... everything. Physics, history, biology, art... Plus he's funny as hell. (Check out his In a Sunburned Country for a side-splitting account of his trip to Australia).

The Annotated Mona Lisa by Carol Strickland is a thorough primer on art history. Get it before going to any major museum (Met, Louvre, Tate Modern, Prado, etc).

Not the Impossible Faith by Richard Carrier is a detailed refutation of the whole 'Christianity could not have survived the early years if it weren't for god's providence' argument.

Six Easy Pieces by Richard Feynman are six of the easier chapters from his '63 Lectures on Physics delivered at CalTech. If you like it and really want to be mind-fucked with science, his QED is a great book on quantum electrodynamics direct from the master.

Lucy's Legacy by Donald Johanson will give you a really great understanding of our family history (homo, australopithecus, ardipithecus, etc). Equally good are Before the Dawn: Recovering the Lost History of Our Ancestors by Nicholas Wade and Mapping Human History by Steve Olson, though I personally enjoyed Before the Dawn slightly more.

Memory and the Mediterranean by Fernand Braudel gives you context for all the Bible stories by detailing contemporaneous events from the Levant, Italy, Greece, Egypt, etc.

After the Prophet by Lesley Hazleton is an awesome read if you don't know much about Islam and its early history.

Happy reading!

edit: Also, check out the Reasonable Doubts podcast.

Books

These are the only ones I bought and read:

• The Baby's Owner Manual
  
  
• Pregnancy Instruction Manual
  
  
• The Pregnancy Countdown book
  
  I love this Subreddit and just how easy breezy and fun the conversations were while still being helpful. I found these books had a similar feel to them.
  
  ----
  
  Baby Bump
  
  I'm pretty petite and really didn't start showing until 24-ish weeks? Then is was like BOOM. There's a baby in there. So, I bet it's coming sooner than you think. I honestly was able to sleep on my stomach late into the 2nd Tri - which made me very happy.
  
  ----
  
  Food
  
  I just ate what felt right at that moment. I had a lot of food aversions and it was just hard for a while. Eventually, I found things that worked and then the aversions tapered. I've been eating cashews a lot lately... Milk hits the spot... I'd say keep trying until you find something!
  
  ----
  
  TIMING
  
  I didn't really have a "timeline," and my OB would remind us and help us figure out when to do some things like, call the insurance company, schedule classes, etc. I preferred to take the classes later so the information stayed fresh.
  
  As for a car, we started that early because we knew we had two cars to sell/trade and wanted to make sure we found something we both really liked.
  
  Make a list of what you want done before baby comes and place it according to "MUST HAVES" / "NICE TO HAVES" -- that helped us prioritize and made it feel more managable.
  
  Hope some of this helped!!

No. Very no. A few reasons:

First, the social problems caused by overpopulation discussed by others in this thread and books like The Postmortal.

Secondly, at best it would be really fucking boring after a while, but more likely it would turn into a nightmare. I suppose that if you knew you were going to be immortal, you could make some uber-safe investments and ride them until you were a bajillionaire, and then do whatever you want on this world for as long as it lasts; go back to school and get PhDs in everything and make all sorts of discoveries and inventions, and basically be a superhero. But after you've done all that, then you still have a literal eternity left to live. If you're smart you'll have devoted substantial energy to figuring out how you're going to get off of Earth and onto some other habitable planet before the Sun becomes a red giant. Maybe that's not even possible, in which case have fun enduring whatever surviving is like while the Sun incinerates the Earth. Even if it is possible to travel to another inhabitable world, you'll inevitably run into a similar problem wherever you go next, so in the best case you're probably going to spend untold trillions of years just traveling between different star systems. Which I'm sure is a spectacular experience at first, but anything will get boring after a thousand years, let alone ten billion. In any event, eventually your luck would run out and you'd end up on a planet with insufficient resources to allow you to get to another star system (again, that's probably the one we're on right now), in which case ultimately you'd just end up in a near-endless orbit around a brown dwarf star, waiting for the heat death of the universe to finally annihilate you. (Or not? What then?) Anyone who considers true immortality desirable doesn't understand what it would mean to be alive for literally eternity.

Finally, life just wears you down after a while. Have you ever talked to someone in their late 90s? They're almost universally ready to go. Not just because they're always in physical pain either: they have seen and done enough. Life contains a lot of joy but also a lot of pain, and it all gets to be really tiring after very long.

So no, I just wouldn't want to live forever under any circumstances. If there were some magical way to extend my life an extra 20 or 30, I guess maybe all the way up to 100 years or so, I might cautiously consider doing it, just because I'm curious to see what will happen in the future. But ultimately, I'm glad my life will someday come to an end.

This is a tricky task. Many movies don't even bother to try and sound authentic, other than to remove references to words that obviously didn't exist back then. Even then, they're far from perfect in removing modern words. I can't tell you the number of times I've heard the word "scrounge" (which came out of WWI) in movies set long before WW1. Most people won't notice those little linguistic mistakes and won't really matter.

We don't have sound recordings for most of recorded history. The International Phonetic Alphabet didn't get started in the late nineteenth century, and wasn't very widely used at first, so even books that discuss pronunciation usually did it by reference to other common words - some of which are pronounced differently now. What we do know of historical language comes mostly from documents, and at many points in history, written and spoken language were different. For example, in the US in the eighteenth century, the conventions for written language were very formal and involved the use of a lot of flowery language and formal expressions (e.g. "I am your most humble and obedient servant" as a valediction). Oral communication in daily use was generally less formal and flowery than written language, though in certain situations (e.g. lawyers speaking in court), the spoken language would be closer to written documents. Written records also tend to show us how the wealthy and educated used language, which isn't always indicative of how everyday people spoke as they went about their lives.

Hell, even once we started having audio recordings, those recordings didn't always reflect the way people actually spoke. For example, nobody really spoke the way people spoke on early radio and television. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mid-Atlantic_accent

The reality is that nobody knows for sure how people spoke prior to the twentieth century, and certainly you can't rely on your average movie-goer knowing how people spoke back then.

We have a better idea about how words were used and have changed meaning over the years but, again, most viewers won't know that the meaning has changed and you run the risk of confusing people if you're too authentic. It's not like you can have margin notes in a movie. :)

There are a few resources around the web that can help you get a feel for the language changes, like:

https://andromeda.rutgers.edu/~jlynch/C18Guide.pdf

http://mentalfloss.com/article/29761/when-did-americans-lose-their-british-accents

https://www.theclassroom.com/how-to-speak-18th-century-english-12083381.html

One common mistake made is to make nineteenth century Americans sound British. According to second link above, the reality is that the British people used to sound more like Americans, not the other way around. At least one person has argued that the best example we have of what eighteenth century rural Americans sounded like is Yosemite Sam, believe it or not. I don't remember for sure where I read that, but I think it may have been Bill Bryson in https://www.amazon.com/Made-America-Informal-History-Language/dp/0380713810/ref=sr_1_4 . NB: I am not a linguist, and am only passing on stuff I've seen or read... and my memory is far from perfect. :)

Assuming you don't have access to a linguistic historian, your best bet is probably to find some other movies or shows from the time period your screenplay is set in, and look at how they wrote dialogue. Some possible suggestions: Deadwood, True Grit (Coen Bros version), Gangs of New York, etc. Note, none of these are historically accurate. The swearing in Deadwood is very accurate, and True Grit used a convention of minimizing contractions, even though contractions were widely used then in spoken language.

You want to sound authentic, not be authentic. :)

Sleep as much as you can. Get a very nice bed. Get black out curtains and make sure you have AC after night shifts so you can sleep well and get up and do it again the next night. Do not be late. 80% of success is showing up. Don't forget to eat, pee etc. - plan it into your day...you may find yourself irritable and forgetful at 4am and it may be you forgot to eat or pee.

Invest in your education, or use education money (we got ~$800) to have an "ectopic brain," reference smartphone app (I like PEPID (Emergency physician) but its expensive) to look up everything you are not sure of, or have never heard before. I used this , a high quality monthly podcast, and test questions to get 2nd highest inservice exam score in my residency without doing any book reading, which I hate. (WARNING! YOUR MILEAGE MAY VARY)

Trust no one - verify everything...you will get burned constantly by people telling you things then writing something else in the chart...think "prelim read".

Do it yourself - do not cut corners at this stage of the game - be complete. Never do the "patient looks good from door" note, or "nurse says patient okay".

Do it NOW...get things going early (consults, procedures, discharges, etc.)- write notes after if you are crunched for time. Short notes are much better than book chapters copied from the previous day's note. Think Haiku - focus on the salient points; minimize long swaths of negative this and that. Make sure the plan is clear and legible.

EXAMINE your patients! This includes looking under the diaper (peds and geriatrics!), looking in the ears, doing the rectal exam, practicing your fundoscopy, looking at the sacrum, taking off and examining all areas under dressings.

DO NOT LIE TO ANYBODY! "I don't know," or "I didn't check," is perfectly acceptable for an intern as a response. Lying will be quickly discovered and your reputation is all you got, my friend.

Do not accept abuse from anybody, especially attendings, senior residents, consultants, chief residents. Being called stupid or a dummy is NOT okay. That is completely unprofessional! But, do not respond, do not "fight back". --take it to your program director at once, let them deal with it, that is their job.

Do not feel inferior because you don't know something - if you didn't need to be taught, you wouldn't be in residency. Instead - bone up on the subject.

Always jump at the opportunity to teach, do case write-ups, short lectures - this is the best way to learn.

If you have tests in your future, study a little bit (15-30 mins) every day without fail and you will do well without freaking or having to cram too much.

Read House of God Timeless wisdom, like "gomers go to ground", and "if you don't want to find a fever, don't take a temperature".

Exercise every day - again - 15-30 mins is perfect...can be as little as a walk outside to a round of situps and pushups - mene sano en corpe sano!

I could go on forever. Before you know it, intern year will be over. THERE IS AN END TO INTERNSHIP!

Good luck!

Congratulations, and welcome! SO and I just found out about our incoming bundle of cuteness on Monday, had our ultrasound to rule out ectopic on Tuesday, and it has been a whirlwind ever since. I have been on the depo shot for 2 years, and I only missed one cycle (was due for a shot 7/1, conceived around 7/15). We are due April 11th, but they may change it to the 16th! As far as not drinking, I would go with the "new medications, can't drink" thing. It's something people shouldn't question, and if they do it is easy enough to explain. Just be prepared to answer the questions ahead of time!

One of my favorite books from my last pregnancy, especially for our dear sweet men, is The Pregnancy Instruction Manual and [The Baby Owner's Manual] (http://www.amazon.com/The-Baby-Owners-Manual-Trouble-Shooting/dp/1594745978/ref=pd_bxgy_b_img_y) once little one is here. They are easy to read and sort of hilarious!

Again, congratulations!

Congrats on the job. Boo on moving in with your sister!

You're awesome because monkeyslut! Those monkeys are sluts!

I am odd and enjoy coloring in coloring books to de-stress. There are some funny adult coloring books that may give you a few laughs and help you chill out. Just search "adult coloring book" in Amazon; you'll see what I mean-> [here's an example] (http://www.amazon.com/Coloring-Grown-Ups-Adult-Activity-Book/dp/0452298253/ref=pd_sim_b_1) . I enjoyed the book [Unicorns are Jerks] ( http://www.amazon.com/Unicorns-Are-Jerks-coloring-exposing/dp/1477468528/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1369842721&sr=8-1&keywords=unicorns+are+jerks). Also, listening to music that is uplifting to you or puts you in your "happy place". Is always a good idea.

I hope things start looking up for you. Maybe with your new job you can start saving up to move in with friends or something :)

Ah, I love non-fictin as well. Though most of my favorites are more science oriented, there should be a few on here that pique your interest.

• Salt: A World History - A fascinating history of humanity's favorite mineral. Wars have been fought over it, it sustained whole economies ... you'll be surprised to learn just how much of human history has been influenced by salt.
  
• A Short History of Nearly Everything - One of my favorite books. Bryson tells the story and history of science through amazing discoveries and stories about the quirky people who made them.
  
• Homage to Catalonia - A mostly auto-biographical account of George Orwell's time fighting for the communists in the Spanish Civil War.
  
• Capital: Vol. 1 Marx's seminal work and a logically sound criticism of capitalism. Whether or not you agree with his proposed solutions, his criticism is spot on. Depending on how leftist you are, you may have already read The Communist Manifesto. It's a nice introduction to Marx's ideas, but you should really go straight to the source and just read Capital.
  
• Why We Believe What We Believe - The neurology of belief, what could be more interesting? The authors go into great detail on how belief happens at the neurological level, as well as summing up nicely all sorts of findings from differing fields relating to belief. The most interesting part is the research the authors themselves conducted: fMRI scans of people praying, Buddhist monks meditating, Pentecostals speaking in tongues, and an atheist meditating.

Okay, so I'm not home so these are the few off the top of my head that I can remember I've read and loved.

• On Writing Well - this book was used for my Script Writing class in college - I loved it, and I still have it on my bookshelf.
  
  
• How to Write Science Fiction and Fantasy - This book by Orson Scott Card is genre themed, but I really suggest it no matter what genre you write. It's just a great source to have all around.
  
  
• No Plot? No Problem - Somewhat humorous take on those of us who procrastinate and have lots of writers block.
  
  
• Wonderbook: The Illustrated Guide to Creating Imaginative Fiction - Okay, so I haven't read this yet, but it looks amazing and I might actually just pick it up myself.
  
  
• Book In A Month - Okay, so this isn't really in the same category, but it's incredibly hands-on, fun book that can really, really, really help with outlining. I always suggest this book to people who participate in NaNoWriMo, because it's just super helpful.
  
  I hope one of these can help out!

> He also frequently talks about his love of space and his extreme desire to venture out there

There's this book, Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void, that has astronauts talk about how it actually is to be in space, it's filled with stories from engineers, researchers, some history of space flight and a ton of trivia. Your boyfriend might really like it and at $14 you can add other small gifts.

If he's more visual, he might also enjoy Universe by Martin Rees, a visual guide to the Universe - the pages are filled with pictures and interesting facts, everything we know about the Universe, very interesting and stunning to look at. Admittedly more expensive at $35 considering the high quality pictures.

Shameless self promotion coming right up too:

> Walking Dead [...] Comic Con

By any chance, he might like The Walking Dead Boardgame and you could both play together or with friends.

With video games, it all depends on what games he plays. Portal? This Portal 2 Desk Defender is very fun to play with and so is this Wheatley LED Flashlight. I'm not sure what else to suggest from your details, maybe it would give you a few ideas if you checked my SO and mine's website, introduce some details about him and see what gifts come up if they catch your eye.

I hope some things were useful!

Sure.

If evolution is of interest to you (and if you have interest in the intersection between theology and science), Finding Darwin's God by Kenneth Miller explores both sides of the debate and debunks many common misconceptions about evolution. I first read it in a college biology topics course.

If you like the topic of 'creationist attempts to dispute or disrupt the teaching of evolution in the classroom', Summer of the Gods, about the Scopes Monkey Trial, is a great book (although not explicitly about science).

You may find The Selfish Gene by Dawkins worth a read.

Books by Mary Roach can be fun; I've read Stiff and enjoyed it, and Packing for Mars was pretty good as well.

I have heard good things about The Emperor of All Maladies, though I haven't read it myself.

Our Stolen Future, about contamination of the environment by artificially produced estrogen and estrogen analogs, is dated but interesting.

The Discovery of Insulin by Bliss is a great story about how science happens and how scientific discovery occurs, and it lays out what may be the most important discovery in medical science during the 20th century.

Were those types of books what you were looking for?

Discipline is a tough thing, indeed.

Kanji/vocab are something you learn over time, not at once. If I were you, given the problems you mention with "sticking to it", I'd do the following.

1. Kanji Damage is a deck that (a) focuses only on Japanese>>English, (b) removes 1200 kanji from the standard RTK deck to focus only on ones you would reasonable expect to see (basically meaning ones that don't appear only in names, aren't the names of plants/trees/etc). You won't learn to write the kanji, but you will learn to recognize them -- all you need to do to read. Learn 5 per day and pay special attention to the vocabulary under each card. Do 5 per day and in 1 year you'll recognize the vast majority of kanji you see, unless you're into some really niche/technical stuff.
   
2. Do 12 cards of Genki I+II per day, and in about a years time you'll have all the vocab and grammar in Genki down. This will give you the foundation that you can make sense of most things you see with a grammar dictionary and patience, and you can also begin following simple/slice-of-life animes with Japanese transcripts on animelon.
   
3. In 6 months or so after you finish Genki one and are through around about half the kanji, I'd begin with The Core 2k -- to be able to read big things you need to first be able to read small things. You should have built up the vocab/grammar/kanji you need to begin working out these sentences by that time. You don't need to finish all 10 of the decks by any means; just keep trucking along until it becomes not-so-difficult to figure out each sentence.
   
   Once you get confident with working your way through sentences, find yourself a copy of Read Real Japanese: Contemporary Fiction and [Read Real Japanese: Comtemporary Writings). The book is natural Japanese -- as would appear in a normal Japanese rendition -- on the right side, then the left side is a gloss translation into English. In the back is a running grammar dictionary that gives good quality of literally every grammar point that doesn't appear until towards the end of Genki II or isn't in Genki (around that difficulty). This is gold to me because (a) you're reading real Japanese, and (b) 100% of what you learn while reading these books is in context and will be directly useful for understanding the story you're reading, and the slightly more difficult ones that come in succession. Expect to need to read these more than once; I read the fiction one 3 times before I read a normal book, and I want to read them again even though I've now read several books in Japanese .
   
   Once you get confident with these books, you have two options.
   
4. Breaking into Japanese Literature is a more difficult graded reader; it basically leaves you alone, but there is a running dictionary on each page so that you can read the book without referring to your phone or jisho.com to look up every other word. The downsides are (a) it does not explain grammar, and (b) the stories (I don't remember for sure) from the Meiji period, meaning that they will use more difficult words and have some unique grammar forms you definitely own't have encountered yet, and might not be the most useful for reading modern day stuff. That being said, if you struggle with Meiji stuff for awhile and then suddenly change to a contemporary book, the contemporary book will suddenly seem easier in comparison.
   
5. Look into reading some contemporary stuff if you have access to Japanese books. I think that Otsuichi is a very accessible first author, but he is a horror writer and the writing makes some people uneasy. I recently read Kino no Tabi; they're adventure stories and make you think critically about life and your values in a light-hearted way. I found it to be very easy, also -- but I had also read several books after finishing Otsuichi's collection, so maybe it was because I was just more experienced.
   
   Good luck!

Tough to decide between the two, but it's the same author and they're tied together so I'll just go with it: Made in America: An Informal History of the English Language in the United States and The Mother Tongue - English And How It Got That Way by Bill Bryson. As a lover of language and its history, it's really interesting to see the links between usage in Britain and America.

I didn't know of Bryson before randomly buying these (damn, do I love book stores) and plan on buying more of his in the future when my reading list has been pared down a bit. (I've since learned he's very well-known and my outdoors-loving, recovering alcoholic dad read a Bryson book about getting sober and hiking the Appalachians a few years back.) His writing is very engaging and incredibly funny. I've read a lot of other linguistic books that weren't nearly as "fun" to read as these. Highly recommended.

I've always heard good things about Edgar Rice Burrough's The Land that Time Forgot though I've sadly never read it myself. And, hey, it's free!

As far as science non-fiction, I consider A Short History of Nearly Everything to be absolutely essential since it covers so very much in a tremendously entertaining way. Also, if you are interested in physics but don't have any background in it I recommend any of Michio Kaku's books such as his latest Physics of the Future. He writes in an accessible manner that distills all the things that make the ongoing developments in physics exciting. I credit reading his books many years ago with getting me started in the sciences. Lastly, for learning about the universe, you can never go far wrong with Carl Sagan's Cosmos. It is easy to see from reading it why he is considered one of the greatest of the science popularizers.

https://www.amazon.com/Living-Japanese-Diversity-Lifestyles-Conversations/dp/030010958X/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1469162331&sr=8-2&keywords=living+japanese

I think that is an amazing recourse. Natural, REAL conversations with people of all ages and topics. Its really good for getting exposure you can learn from easily to native speaking that isn't "dramatized" or too over the top like most anime and Japanese TV acting in general.


LingQ.com (is also a great recourse. and its free if you don't use the in site word marking tools)

https://www.amazon.com/Read-Real-Japanese-Fiction-Contemporary/dp/1568365292/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1469162459&sr=8-1&keywords=read+real+japanese

https://www.amazon.com/Read-Real-Japanese-Essays-Contemporary/dp/1568364148/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1469162459&sr=8-2&keywords=read+real+japanese

https://www.amazon.com/Breaking-into-Japanese-Literature-Classics/dp/1568364156/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1469162459&sr=8-3&keywords=read+real+japanese

the last three are good for written japanese, which is more polished and different than real "spoken" japanese (like any language). But they all 3 come with audio, grammar and vocab explanations and are an amazing recourse IMO.

cs1098,

That's really thoughtful of you! I'll try giving you what items I think both gals/girls would appreciate.

1. Good, Non-greasy hand lotion. Washing our hands so much dries them out.
   
   
2. These sweet pens: http://www.staples.com/BIC-4-Color-Retractable-Ballpoint-Pens-Medium-Point-Blue-Barrel/product_168757?cid=PS:GooglePLAs:168757&ci_src=17588969&ci_sku=168757&KPID=168757&cvosrc=PLA.google-SALES.Office%20Supplies&lsft=cid:PS-_-GooglePLAs-_-168757,kpid:168757,adtype:pla,channel:online&gclid=CKvmp6KO6tACFYK3wAod38oP6A
   
   
3. Instant Starbucks coffee packets.
   
   
4. Dayquil/Nightquil combination packets, for when she gets sick and has to power through a shift. Actually- a sort of "medicine kit" would be awesome: include ibuprofen, cough drops, tampons, contact solution, tissues- the list goes on.
   
   
5. A sleek "journal," whose sole purpose is to write down meaningful thoughts/moments. In dark times people tend to forget these, so (for me) it's helpful to reflect on them. Check out https://www.domesticdomestic.com/products/field-notes-ruled-memo-books-ruled-ruled?utm_medium=cpc&utm_source=googlepla&variant=2476234308&gclid=CL_ds4aP6tACFZA2aQodf4QEAg.
   
   
6. A copy of "House of God," by Sameul Shem. https://www.amazon.com/House-God-Samuel-Shem/dp/0425238091
   
   
7. A Visa Giftcard, to be used on anything she desires.
   
   All the best,
   
   -wtffng
   

A little off-topic to this conversation but there is a book called 'The Magicians' and it has to do with a college of Magic. It's more adult than Harry Potter but it's interesting. Link!

Back to the topic. Love the thoughts that went into this. I've thought of what the american version of the Harry Potter wizarding world would be like but I've never gone into so much detail. Great work! :)

My DH and I didn't do anything special before trying, or while trying, aside from me using a ovulation predictor test daily that I ordered from Amazon (there are some really cheap ones that work well) and my husband keeping his laptop off his lap.

As for gaining too much weight while pregnant - everyone is different. I eat when I'm hungry and I try to eat healthy. First and second trimester I was right on for weight gain, exactly where I should be. Third trimester my weight has been bouncing all over the place and my diet/lifestyle haven't changed at all. I think your body has a lot more say over your weight gain than what you put in your mouth sometimes. I'm eating healthy and not ridiculous amounts, so I'm not going to worry about it until after I give birth, I can try to lose weight then.

I avoided all parenting magazines like the plague. Every one I looked at was pure advertising, or advertising dressed up to look like articles. I stuck to this subreddit, talking to my OB and This and this book. They were informative, enjoyable to read and pretty unbiased. DH and I also took a childbirth class, breastfeeding class and newborn care class through a third party company affiliated with our hospital.

I'm doing the same thing. At the beginning of my story, the young protagonist from an old earth colony "runs away" from the planet by stowing onto a departing spaceship. Why would he have to run away to have a chance at a life in space if the planet's colonized?

Whenever I explain the premise, everyone's immediately enchanted and captivated. It's immensely compelling. And it's throwaway background for the setting of the book. It would only be mentioned in passing as exposition.

It's probably a sign that I'm writing the wrong book.

The best thing to do is to get in the habit of thinking of things logically. Look at Star Trek? Massive computer cores and printed digital readouts with data tapes. Black stars (the term "black hole" was finalized a year after the episode). Half of everything makes logical if sometimes dated sense for 1967, and the other half became real in the intervening 45 years because it inspired engineers.

So decide if you're doing hard sci-fi (technology-based, hard science), soft sci-fi (person- or situation-based, lesser or no focus on science) or space opera (pew pew lol space adventure!) and work from there. watch 2001: A Space Odyssey. Read about the NASA moon programs Gemini, Mercury, and Apollo, read about Skylab, and read about the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project. Know that in Russian that last one's called Экспериментальный полёт «Союз» — «Аполлон»: "Experimental flight Soyuz-Apollo".

Real life will teach you quite a lot about how humans get along, much less aliens. And history can often come alive. I mean, just look what I found in the absolute best book at the library about life in space?

You can also look at various resources. Probably the far more comprehensive (and second-most fun) was Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void by Mary Roach.

Just give an intriguing premise with a consistent setting and compelling human characters and the rest will fall into place.

The Magicians by Lev Grossman, and the sequel The Magician King.

http://www.amazon.com/Magicians-Novel-Lev-Grossman/dp/0452296293/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1324348733&sr=8-1

If you liked The Chronicles of Narnia/Harry Potter/The Lord of the Rings/any Terry Pratchett books/any books regarding other worlds and magical lands/schools, you'll love this book. It takes all of those stories (some, admittedly, written for a younger generation) and pulls them into the real world, the adult world. The Magicians is like Harry Potter/Narnia with drugs, sex, and murder. It's full of gritty realism, but also fantastical magic, and it's amazingly written. :)

I hope you'll enjoy it! ^_^ Also, I'm quite hungry, and my paycheck's account didn't have the funds available to be deposited today, so here's hoping you'll pick me. :)

• Naked Statistics by Charles Wheelan is a great overview of the science of statistics, without being too much like a lecture. After reading it, you'll have a better understanding of what statistics are just silly (like in ads or clickbait news) and what are actually important (like in scientific studies).
  
  
• You on a Diet by Roizen and Oz is touted as a diet book, and it kind of is. I recommend it because it's a great resource for basic understanding the science behind the gastrointestinal system, and how it links to the brain.
  
  
• All of Mary Roach's books are excellent overviews of science currently being done, I've read Stiff (the science of human bodies, post-mortem), Spook ("science tackles the afterlife"), Packing for Mars (the science of humans in space), and Bonk (sex), and they are all very easy to understand, but scientifically appropriate. I'm sure "Gulp" is good too, although I haven't read that one yet.
  
  
• "How I Killed Pluto and Why It Had It Coming" by Mike Brown is a great, accessible overview of exactly why Pluto was demoted to dwarf planet, told by the man who started the controversy.
  
  
• "A Brief History of Time" by Stephen Hawking is a little denser, material-wise, but still easy to understand (as far as theoretical physics goes, at least!). Hawking explains the history of physics and the universe, as well as the future of the discipline. While there is a bit more jargon than some pop-science books, I think an entry-level scientist can still read and understand this book.
  

You jest, but it turns out that selecting for these missions, along with stuff like selecting for astronauts, is mostly about stuff like how you get along with people. Researchers now believe that mixed gender teams are best precisely because you end up with pair bonding and stabler psychologies.

I strongly recommend the brilliant and readable PACKING FOR MARS which is all about this stuff. She talks to a lot of antarctic scientists.

http://www.amazon.com/Packing-Mars-Curious-Science-Life-ebook/dp/B003YJEXUM/

Three things:

1. Writing Excuses: 15 min podcast featuring Brandon Sanderson, Dan Wells, Howard Taylor, and Marry Robenette Kowal. They give amazing advice and have awesome guest stars (Pat Rothfus, Brandon Mull, John Scalzi, Dave Wolverton/Farland, off the top of my head)
   
   
2. On Writing: A memoir by Stephen King: First half is his life story (SUPER FASCINATING!) second half some the best writing advice there is.
   
   
3. How to Write Science Fiction and Fantasy by Orson Scott Card: Some of the advice is outdated, but most of it is still good.
   
   of course this is assuming from your use of the word creatively you are looking to do genre fiction. There is two pieces advice that all three sources will repeat endlessly
   
   
4. Read a lot
   
   
5. Write a lot
   
   Edit: Also see if your favorite author keeps a blog, as they will usually give writing advice in those as well. I know Card, Rothfus, Sanderson, and Wells all do.

I love the Mental Floss History of the World and Mental Floss History of the United States. Those two may be exactly what you're looking for. Also, check out Sarah Vowell. Assasination Vacation is great. Bill Bryson's work is excellent. A Short History of Nearly Everything is mind-blowing and I've heard great things about At Home which is next on my reading list. :)

I wouldn't go for something like Murakami to practice translation because, as atgm points out, the translators wouldn't be translating 1:1.

Why not try one of the "Breaking into Japanese Literature" or "Read Real Japanese" books (any kind of reader really)? They usually come with a direct translation and a more artistic translation. The texts are shorter which should keep your interest up for longer but there's still enough stories for you to have enough to do.

There's plenty of others but a few examples would be:

Breaking into Japanese Literature: Seven Modern Classics in Parallel Text

Exploring Japanese Literature: Read Mishima, Tanizaki, and Kawabata in the Original

Read Real Japanese Fiction: Short Stories by Contemporary Writers

Read Real Japanese: All You Need to Enjoy Eight Contemporary Writers

Read Real Japanese Essays: Contemporary Writings by Popular Authors

I think all of those had the "look inside" enabled so you can decide which style of translation you prefer.

If translation is something that interests you, I recommend heading over to /r/translationstudies to get a few tips on good books on translation studies.

Atul Gawande - Better, Complications, and checklist manifesto.

Sandeep Jauhar - Intern

Jerome Groopman - How doctor's think

Michael Collins - Hot lights, cold steel and Blue collar, blue scrubs

Samuel Shem - House of God

Brian Eule - Match day

Paul Ruggieri - Confessions of a surgeon

Emily R. Transue - On call

Okay so I was in the same position you are in right now. I wanted to read as much as I could because I truly found it fascinating. I read these books and I'm glad I did. These books just give you an idea of how hard doctors work and what the life of a doctor is like. Another recommendation is Anthony Bourdain's Kitchen Confidential. It has nothing to do with medicine but I read it and I think you should too. He talks about the life of a chef and how perfection and long long hours are demanded of him. I feel like there are some overlaps between the different settings. Chef/doctor and Restaurant/hospital. Anyways, This list should last you a long time. Hope you enjoy.


Edit: Added links.

I don't, sorry, but I'm talking about like actual anthropological or historical textbooks. I'd start by asking her about the world she wants to write about, whether it's your standard medieval European fantasy or something else, and what kind of story she wants to tell.

Like if she wants to tell a story about a rise to the throne it might help her to have the biography of a famous king or queen or ascended to the throne despite the odds being stacked against them.

But something that talks about the daily lives and customs of the people who lived during that time is usually a safe bet/interesting read too.

Of course, you could always fall back on actual writing books too.

Orson Scott Card's book on how to write science fiction and fanasy is the only actual book about writing/world building I've ever read. It was pretty good from what I remember, but I read it years ago.

This is the older one you're thinking of?

https://www.amazon.com/Hitchhikers-Guide-Galaxy-Complete-Radio/dp/0563504196


The older one has five radio series, unconfirmed if it's the remaster of the first two phases and the extended edits of the next three, but I believe it is all that, and bonus disk:

>containing two programs from the BBC Archive: Kaleidoscope from 1980 (going behind the scenes of the second series) and Six Characters in Search of an Answer: Arthur Dent from 2002


Meanwhile the link you posted is explicit about being the remaster and extended edits. It has a bonus material of

>a 55-minute feature programme, Douglas Adams’s Guide tothe Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, and a fascinating 50-minute interview with Douglas Adams

and

>Douglas Adams’s appearance on BBC Radio 4’s Bookclub, in which he talks to James Naughtie and a group of readers about comedy, sci-fi, the creation of his characters and his influences




disclaimer: I'm only going by what is described on Amazon from those links. I own the older box set as described, but yet to get around to picking up the newer one

Pen Light It's probably a little too bright but it's still awesome none-the-less
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00008BFS5 The stylus might be more appropriate

I have also heard great things about the book The House of God even if you are not religious. I have not had a chance to read it yet but it's on my list.

If you are trying to spend a little more money an engraves stethoscope (I recommend the Cardiology III) is always appreciated.

Seconded - when I was pregnant I LOVED Baby Bargains.

This gift will help her save money and not feel overwhelmed about all the choices of baby gear.

I would get the Baby Bargains book and The Pregnancy Instruction Manual. It's an easy, entertaining, funny read.
http://www.amazon.com/Pregnancy-Instruction-Manual-Troubleshooting-Parents/dp/1594742456/ref=pd_sim_b_2?ie=UTF8&refRID=1BN4W2EAEGN45HWCJXM5

Most of the comments here are viable solutions and are probably the simplest way to explain those powers.
Coming to your character, there are few out there with super powers that make no sense, and this ruins the story arc as their powers aren't properly defined. This ends up with the writer resorting to a deus ex machina when his character is in a bind, and the writer bends the laws of nature to get him out of it.
I suggest you learn a little bit more about electricity. These comments have clearly described how your hero's powers work. But knowing more about the subject will allow you to write better and more creatively.
I know that it can be a hard subject to learn. I suggest reading There are no electrons - Electricity for earthlings by Ken Amdahl. This book is written as a story. You don't need to have any prior knowledge of Electronics or math and this book clearly helps you understand the basics of electricity. You can finish it in a day its pretty small.
https://www.amazon.com/There-Are-Electrons-Electronics-Earthlings/dp/0962781592

Hope this helped. Good luck!

In my post about reading strategies I suggested starting with translations of books you are familiar with, particularly those aimed at children and adolescents (primarily for the extensive furigana).

While I agree that good translation requires you to understand all the nuances of the text, translation is a completely different skill from comprehension. I also wonder if too much translation actually hinders the second language acquisition process. Isn't the goal to understand it in the target language, as is, rather than making sure you understand it in a language you already know?

Some suggestions for authors and books:

乙一（おついち）: He writes horror and light novels and was first published at age 16. It's not classic literature my any means but it's easy and most of the stories are short. I particularly liked "Seven Rooms" which was in one of the Zoo collections.

EDIT: Apparently there is a 30min short film adaptation of "Seven Rooms".

奥田英朗（おくたひでお）: His Irabu-sensei series of short stories is fun and fairly accessible. Although they are all connected through the eponymous doctor, the main character(s) of each vignette are different and the language varies accordingly.

夏目漱石（なつめそうせき）: While most of his work is incredibly difficult, 夢十夜 is an excellent collection of short stories made better by the free audio released by the publishers of Breaking into Japanese Literature.

I second the prismacolors, I swear by them as an artist and an art teacher. I also suggest a battery-operated electric eraser, they are a game changer in prismacolor drawing. Here's a cheap one:


Depending on your mom's taste and sense of humor, here are 3 of my favorite off-beat coloring books (way better than just mandalas and stuff):


This crass one is my favorite

Unicorns are Jerks - funny but not offensive

[Thrill Murray, the Bill MUrray coloring book (weird but fun, lots of Wes Anderson film stuff) ] (https://www.amazon.com/Thrill-Murray-coloring-book-Coley/dp/0957490909/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1482086999&sr=1-1)

You could also consider making her your very own coloring book. One of my art students made me one that was all pictures of dinosaurs and cats riding on bicycles (my 3 favorite things). If you can't draw, it's super easy to turn photographs into drawing pages with Adobe Illustrator or similar.

You could also get her some frames so she can display her favorite completed pages.

Cellular growth and development in microgravity is very interesting. Given how much the human body changes and/or deteriorates without constant force being applied, one can hazard a guess at how differently a human being might develop if conception and their entire growth cycle occurred sans gravity.

For example, Astronaut Cady Coleman has mentioned that as a white, petite 50 year old woman, she was quite concerned about bone loss during her ISS mission (Expedition 27). Appreciable bone density loss is experienced by most astronauts, and has largely been proven to be in direct relation to impact related exercise. Dr. Coleman followed a strict dietary supplement, exercise and osteoporotic drug treatment regimen partially described in this NIH paper. As a result, she experienced zero bone density loss. However, her bone density distribution changed significantly, creating an architecture that was thicker on the edges and more porous in the interior. I mention race, as African American women experience 16-28% less bone density loss in comparable duration spaceflights.

Vestibular and circulatory systems change, as well, and most long-duration spaceflight astronauts experience significant periods of re-adaptation when returning to Earth.

As far as life-cycle development:

Fluid dynamics is one of most complicated and highly studied aspects of spaceflight. Human bodies are one giant fluid dynamics problem, from intercellular transport to circulatory issues to urinary tract issues. (Fat, red faces on astronauts aren't necessarily because there's no gravity pushing urine to the bottom of the bladder, so they have no idea when they really gotta go, it's also because blood and body fluids require cardiovascular exertion to drive movement).

Red blood cells also become more spherical, and your spine decompresses, painfully forcing you to "grow" up to two inches. Embryos experience some degree of gravitropism, for example, certain amphibians orient themselves to gravity within seconds of fertilization.

Then we get into Seasonal Affective Disorder, and implications of living in a tin-can with zero exposure to natural seasonal changes, and we can move on quickly from there to radiation exposure. For example, rumor has it a female astronaut has exceeded her exposure allowance, 400REM and can no longer fly in space. No recorded increase in cancer incidence, but we have to be careful, just the same.

Honestly, I could happily write about this for the next three days straight and not even begin to address all the issues with human growth, development, and functions in microgravity, but I think you'd get a better read out of the following:

I highly suggest reading The Fundamentals of Space Medicine by Gilles Clement and Packing for Mars by Mary Roach, if you have further interest.

A Discovery of Witches is the first in the All Souls trilogy, which is written by a historian named Deborah Harkness. She integrates a lot of history and alchemy into it, which is cool. I don't think it's anywhere near as well-written as Lord of the Rings, but it is interesting. However, it is a love story, so if you're not into romance, then steer clear.

I liked The Magicians a lot better; the series is kind of like Harry Potter but more serious and literary. It's not that fantastical, and kind of plays off Harry Potter/fantasy stereotypes, but it's a cool series nonetheless.

You must read these two books:

The Illuminatus Trilogy

Foucault's Pendulum.

Both are amazing books near to the topic - the first is a huge spoof that's hilarious and heavily popularized Discordianism (All hail Eris!). The second is a seminal piece of literature by one of the best living authors and everybody should read it...it's about some publishers who put together 'the grand conspiracy' of the Illuminati and suddenly are embroiled in what they created.

I wish the Illuminati was real...the world would be a heck of a lot cooler place!

Surprised I didn't see this:

Bill Bryson's A Short History of Nearly Everything

It's not as academically oriented as I think the OP would like, but it's a great read and surprisingly encompasses a lot. Bryson, if memory serves me, got his name in travel writing and he makes Short History very interesting and a good read.

If you liked 1984 (or Brave New World) you should check out "We". It was the book that inspired both 1984 and Brave New York. It's fantastic and you can see where a lot of elements from both other books got their inspiration.

I feel a little like I'm cheating since it's only 10:34pm here in Hawaii right now! Haha! But I'm awake darnit, and contests are fun. :D

Oh goodness, I could never pick a favorite song I don't think, but I've been listening to The Blanks' cover of Hey Ya! constantly lately. It's just wonderful.

As for an item?? Hm...Would it be taboo to ask for a gift card toward my Wii U? If you'd rather not do a gift card I'd be thrilled to have a new book to read!

Right, I know about terminal velocity, but I don't mean the downward vector. I mean one's lateral speed. Issues of oxygen aside, a jumbo jet moves pretty fast, like close to 500mph, right? So, when you jump out, you're not only going down, but you're also going forwards, very very fast. And, according to this book:
> At 350 mph, the cartilage of the nose deforms and the skin of the face starts to flutter... At faster speeds, this Q force causes deformations that can, as the Aviation Medicine paper gingerly phrases it, 'exceed the strength of tissue.'

Furthermore,

> Cruising speed for a transcontinental jet is between 500 and 600mph. Do not bail out. 'Fatality,' to quote Dan Fulgham, 'is pretty much indicated.' At 400mph, windblast will remove your helmet... At 500 mph, 'ram air' blasts down your windpipe with enough force to rupture various elements of your pulmonary system.

If you pick up that book, it's chapter 13, in case you were wondering.

edit: some formatting

MS1 here:

Is she a coffee or tea drinker? If so, there are companies that do some really cool "coffee or tea" of the month deals. I've gone through quite a bit of coffee since I began...

Here are some really awesome books: House of God, Emperor of All Maladies, and Complications to name a few.

I wouldn't recommend getting her a stethoscope/medical supplies because they can be very personal. Sure, they're all roughly the same but it's an instrument you're going to be using for many years to come. "This is my stethoscope. There are many like it but this one is mine..." Just my 2 cents, at least.

I hope that helps! If I come up with any others, I'll post them here.

Its from this book.

Basically, the author, Kenn Amdahl, creates his own analogy where there are Male Greenies (Electrons), and Female Greenies (Protons). Greenies are these tiny little green dudes that live inside electronics. The male greenies are always looking to go party with the female greenies, and the female greenies are always hosting parties with music blasting, beer, and what not. Voltage is the male greenies' need to party, the current is how many are traveling along the roads (wires, etc.), and resistance is obstacles and conditions of the road.

With this Amdahl is able to create an analogy for most of the properties of electricity without it falling apart like the water analogy. He inter-weaves all this with a fictional story of how one of the little greenies is charged with the task of teaching him the "truth" of how electronics work, a wizard who makes Amdahl teach him electronics so he can repair a time machine, and other interesting pieces. It is a great read.

When I read A Short History Of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson it struck me that almost all of the scientists and innovators mentioned in the book came from upper middle class or wealthy families. It appears that having the free time and resources to invest in an interest is a huge requirement to success.

I have come to the conclusion that the first society that figures out that by having a populace that does not have to worry about food, clothing, and shelter while also being provided with the resources to persue their interests, that society is going to blow past the rest of humanity by creating 20 Einsteins.

I poop... about once a day. The thing is (T.M.I. WARNING) They used to be... substantial.... much more of a long softserve icecream (sorry for that) sort of thing. Now they are much smaller and firm. I think this is how they are supposed to be, once nice solid lump that comes out cleanly (which is a nice change) but the "urge" to go is much less strong now and the sense of satisfaction I get (poophoria as it is reffered to in "what your poo is telling you") is no where near the same. I'm pretty sure all is well... it's just very different from what I'm used to.

Oh gosh, I'm actually kind of horrible about reading! Some of my favorite little books are:

• Einstein's Dreams by Alan Lightman. It's a bunch of short stories about different universes based on some of Einstein's theories. For example, one of them is kind of like, "In this universe, time flows backwards. A woman picks a moldy peach out of her trashcan, puts it on her counter to ripen..." They're really interesting! It's a quick and wonderful read.
  
  
• Sum: Forty Tales from the Afterlives by David Eagleman is similar to the aforementioned book. Short stories about different afterlives. It's not a religious thing though. I was actually rereading it this afternoon! Really interesting ideas, some romantic, some ironic, cute, sad, etc. I think it could spark some great conversation.

I think Roko's Basilisk has a lot in common with Pascal's Wager, which I suppose is why it doesn't scare the shit out of me.

Pascal's Wager says, basically, that believing in God could bring eternal limitless reward, and disbelieving could bring eternal limitless punishment, so even if you think there is almost no chance that there is a God, you should believe. It's just safer that way.

Problem is, there was never a choice between THE God and nothing; there are a crapload of gods and belief systems making competing claims about reality. Your chance of picking the right one at random is almost nil. It's a mug's game.

Are we really supposed to worship the religion that makes the most extravagant claims, because it brings infinite utility functions into the equation? Why, that just makes it more likely that the high priest is a double-dyed liar!

Which brings us to Roko's Basilisk. The strongest argument we are offered for the potential existence of this evil AI is that we'll really, REALLY get fucked over if we don't help create it! WE MIGHT EVEN BE IN A SIMULATION THE BASILISK IS ALREADY RUNNING OH SHIIIIIT

Calm down, friends and friends of friends. We have an answer to this blackmail.

Non serviam.

Do what thou wilt. If you, oh foul deity, are really out there, then you know my game and you know I have the freedom to say Non serviam. I will not serve. Go ahead, punish me, if you must. We're all adults here.

In Robert Shea's and Robert Anton Wilson's Illuminatus! trilogy, the character Hagbard Celine (an anarchist 'leader', as odd as that sounds) makes this wonderful comment:

>The ultimate weapon isn't this plague out in Vegas, or any new super H-bomb. The ultimate weapon has always existed. Every man, every woman, and every child owns it. It's the ability to say No and take the consequences.

just some of my standard answers.


The Disappearing Spoon- yes, it's chemistry but I found it very interesting.


Abraham Lincoln's DNA- if you have a good background in genetics you might already know many of these stories. Read the table of contents first.


New Guinea Tapeworms and Jewish Grandmothers- disease based biology. There is a follow up book if it turns out you like it.


Stiff- more than you wanted to know about dead bodies.


And by the same author but space based... Packing for Mars.

I hope these help... Cheers.

One tactic I'll suggest from my personal experience: comparative reading.

1. Read the Japanese line.
   
2. Roughly translate it yourself (in your head or on paper; use a dictionary for any terms you don't know).
   
3. Compare to a competent translation.
   
4. Profit.
   
   It's no replacement or shortcut for the tried-and-true method of studying grammar and basic alphabet, but it accelerated my learning by leaps and bounds. Grab one volume of a manga you like (English and Japanese) and that'll be a good start. Alternatively, a Kodansha bilingual comic (which exists for Chihayafuru, for instance) or parallel text volumes for classic Japanese short stories (example) are also great resources.

1. Yup!
   
   
2. Well, she passed when I was 5, but I loved how she always smelled like strawberries.
   
   
3. This book would be absolutely lovely.
   
   
4. Hey Bean! My mom called me Messie Jessie and Maria. :)

You must own the illuminatus! trilogy.

edit: This book may be described as science fiction inspired, but it is one of the best books (omnibus edition) I have ever read. A used copy is definitely worth checking out.

Mary Roach! Mary Roach Mary Roach!

Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers

Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex

Packing of Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void

I can't recommend these highly enough. Mary Roach is the most engaging, funny science writer I've read.

Also [A Natural History of the Senses by Diane Ackerman]http://www.amazon.com/Natural-History-Senses-Diane-Ackerman/dp/0679735666/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1323874194&sr=1-1

I strongly recommend reading Made in America by Bill Bryson. In theory it is about the history of American English but in practise it is also American history and as with all Bill Bryson books is very funny in addition to being informative. It covers this whole naming situation, including amusing efforts at regulating spelling. The post office did (eventually!) manage to enforce that there couldn't be duplicate names within a state.

A short history of nearly everything is also a rollicking good read.

One of my all time favorites is Jon Krakauer's Into Thin Air, about a climbing season on Mount Everest where a lot of things went wrong.

I also enjoy Mary Roach - she has a great gift of being able to convey information while being really entertaining in the process. Stiff is my favorite of hers, but I also really enjoyed Packing For Mars.

This coloring book. My mom will be visiting me next week and we still love to color. (I know, corny.) I would love to surprise her with this one, should be different from our normal fare. :D

Thanks for the contest, X-Ray and Vav!

The radio plays can be bought from amazon for the full set of the first 5 phases. I would particularly recommend buying the radio series, It really is the coolest thing since cryogenics.
(http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0563504196/ref=asc_df_05635041969506194?smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&tag=googlecouk06-21&linkCode=asn&creative=22206&creativeASIN=0563504196)

Eoin Colfer really gets the style and feel of Douglas, If you enjoy Douglas's work you will certainly enjoy "And another thing", my only pet peeve is that I would have much preferred he had continued with the extended ending found in the radio series.

The Postmortal by Drew Magary is amazing.

It's set in a world where a cure to aging is discovered, and made available worldwide. There's the standard government euthanasia programs and cults, but the author also does a really good job of talking about what it would actually be like to live in a world where no one aged - what would happen to the value of our dollar? Where would everyone live? How do we treat the people who choose not to get the age cure?

It's a book that stuck with me a really long time after reading it.

If you want to read a fictionalized electronics course I would recommend There Are No Electrons. I am almost finished with it after a couple days because I can't seem to put it down! Engrossing, entertaining, and educational. You truly won't be sorry.
(Full disclosure: I have nothing to do with this book. It's just amazing and has made electronics an accessible hobby to me, whereas before it just seemed like black magic)

Two of my favorites, from two of the all-time best science fiction writers:

How to Write Science Fiction and Fantasy by Orson Scott Card

World-Building by Stephen L. Gillett and Ben Bova

Both look at it from more of a writing standpoint, but they're great resources for RPGers or hobbyists too.

Haven't read them yet but just caught up with The Magicians TV series and am on the waiting list to read the trilogy of books the show is based on. Might be a bit more campy than you're looking for (think Harry Potter for adults) but I've found it entertaining and there's definitely strong elements of time travel / time looping.

I really enjoyed the book Sum by David Eagleman. It's been praised by both religious and non-religious alike. It's essentially 40 meditations on possibilities of the afterlife.
Sum
I'm sorry for your loss. The book might not help if you're looking for answers, but it's great stuff to think about and an easy read.

I personally recommend reading "How to write science fiction and fantasy" by Orson Scott Card.

Lots of great advice in there, esp. about what NOT to do, rookie mistakes, etc.

And as a sci fi author, don't feel shy with starting with fanfiction, I started there. (No, you can't read it. Too embarrassing 😅)

TVTropes is also a great resource for writing, but it requires great willforce not to get sucked into opening 100s of tabs 😛

Here are my personal favorite head-fucks, each one of them did something strange to my whole world when I read them:

• The Illuminatus! Trilogy by Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson
  
  
• House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski
  
  
• Marabou Stork Nightmares by Irvine Welsh
  
  
• Naked Lunch by William S. Burroughs
  
  
• The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks
  
  
• A Scanner Darkly by Philip K. Dick
  
  
• From Hell by Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell
  
  
• Mr. Peanut by Adam Ross
  
  
• The Prestige by Christopher Priest
  
  
• The Invisibles by Grant Morrison
  
  But yeah, by far my favorite is the one at the top of the list, The Illuminatus! Trilogy by Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson. There's just so goddamn much going on in that book, it's one helluva wonderful ride.

Credit to /u/yanray for making these:

>I made these crayons / took this photo... never expected to see it pop up here on Reddit. It was for a contest to win the crayons, the deadline (in a weird coincidence) is tomorrow. Proof: http://coloringforgrownups.com/post/34581772735/crayons-for-grown-ups
I'm glad Reddit likes them. I also directed the "K is for Knifeball" video that took off here not too long ago... Long story short, the crayons are a real-life version of one page from a book I co-wrote & illustrated called "Coloring for Grown-ups" - Available right now wherever fine books are sold (and also at Urban Outfitters)! This: http://www.amazon.com/Coloring-Grown-Ups-Adult-Activity-Book/dp/0452298253

We - by Yevgeny Zamyatin

>First published in the Soviet 1920s, Zamyatin's dystopic novel left an indelible watermark on 20th-century culture, from Orwell's 1984 to Terry Gilliam's movie Brazil. Randall's exciting new translation strips away the Cold War connotations and makes us conscious of Zamyatin's other influences, from Dostoyevski to German expressionism. D-503 is a loyal "cipher" of the totalitarian One State, literally walled in by glass; he is a mathematician happily building the world's first rocket, but his life is changed by meeting I-330, a woman with "sharp teeth" who keeps emerging out of a sudden vampirish dusk to smile wickedly on the poor narrator and drive him wild with desire. (When she first forces him to drink alcohol, the mind leaps to Marlene Dietrich in The Blue Angel.) In becoming a slave to love, D-503 becomes, briefly, a free man.

Amazon

Personally, I think it's more difficult to not believe in God. I could give several reasons why though my own personal examples, but that'd be a fairly lengthy post.

One of the biggest things to me is looking at the earth, the universe and creation itself. Personally, when I was reading 'A Short History of Nearly Everything' by Bill Bryson, I found it as a affirmation of my faith. To me, the thought that the creation of the universe, the laws of physics and chemistry and all of our sciences that hold everything together is just a series of random luck seems laughable.

i laugh every single time I read the Letters from a Nut series by Ted L. Nancy. it depends on how you define clean humor though, these books are probably around pg-13 level (at worst).

Not horror, but this one is brilliant:

The Illuminatus! Trilogy: The Eye in the Pyramid, The Golden Apple, Leviathan.

Also very good: Cryptonomicon.

I've been on a non-fiction kick myself.

A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson is good. Very funny, very informative.

Packing for Mars and Stiff: The Curious Lives of Cadavers both by Mary Roach were also fun to read.

Not like this, no. Still, you can put in the work, build your own, and share it with others if you're feeling generous.

The closest example would be to get some of the Japanese readers out there like "Read Real Japanese", "Breaking Into Japanese Literature", and "Exploring Japanese Literature". These are aimed at people still learning so they're chosen to be notable, but still easy to read. More relevantly they typically have vocabulary at the bottom of each page to help you. Admittedly, there are other features present (full parallel text in English, Japanese audio for each, etc.), but that's why they're specifically sold as teaching tools.

I would start off with Stiff and then Bonk. I liked Spook but on amazon it doesn't have as good of reviews as the others so I'd read that one later if you aren't as interested in it. I've yet to read packing for mars but if it's anything like her other books, it's wonderful.

I own a few beginner books like this. If you like folk tales, this is exactly what you're asking for: Treasury of Japanese Folk Tales - the stories are in English on the first half of the page, and on the bottom half in mostly kana with furigana over any kanji. It's a nice hardcover book with color illustrations on each page, so I think it's worth the price.
Clay and Yumi Boutwell have written Japanese readers that are very similar- furigana and kana text with definitions for each kanji/vocabulary on the bottom half of the page, followed by a full English summary afterwards. I own Hikoichi, Momotaro, and Inch High Samurai. I think the Boutwells' readers are good learning material but way overpriced considering how small each reader is. Since the Treasury of Japanese Folk Tales also contains many of the stories covered by each of the Boutwells' readers, it's a better bang for the buck (though missing the 1-1 definitions for each kanji/vocabulary).
I also own the red Giles Murray Breaking into Japanese Literature, but it's a bit above my current skill level since many of the kanji don't have furigana.
I have also looked into Kodansha's bilingual series, but since it's aimed at Japanese readers trying to learn English- manga have speech bubbles in English with no furigana kanji on the sides, but regular Japanese manga + English translated counterpart is more helpful since regular Japanese manga aimed for children have furigana.

I absolutely loved this book. Link for the lazy.

The rights have been optioned by Scott Derrickson the director of Sinister. I hope he does the book justice if he decides to make the movie.

Honestly? I feel VERY well informed about my pregnancy and have used very few books. My resources have been:

• This sub
  
• Google (for symptoms/immunization info/basically to look up any term or concept I don't understand)
  
• Ovia App (to check out what's happening developmentally each week)
  
• Youtube (for things like birth videos, or doula/midwife/hospital pregnancy & birth classes)
  
  The two books DH and I have enjoyed are more 'user manual' type books. Hugely informative, but easy/fun reads and not preachy:
  
  https://www.amazon.com/Baby-Owners-Manual-Instructions-Trouble-Shooting/dp/1594745978
  https://www.amazon.com/Pregnancy-Instruction-Manual-Troubleshooting-Parents/dp/1594742456/
  
  This was hugely helpful with the early ultrasounds - trying to figure out what they're doing, and what i'm seeing on the screen:
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGC_RPqCKuU&t=508s
  
  

if you like this book, i HIGHLY, HIGHLY recommend reading We, by Yevgeny Zamyatin. It predates Nineteen Eighty-Four (written in 1921) and is said to have influenced it, along with Brave New World and many others.

For me...Marvin will always be Stephen Moore and Ford will always be Geoffrey McGivern, as in the original radio plays (actually, all the radio plays, for that matter).

Back before it was available in the US, I ordered the complete set of all the radio plays from amazon.co.uk. Worth every penny (EDIT: and yes, £0.01 is still called a "penny", at least since they switched to decimal currency).

Eco is one of my favorite fiction and non-fiction writer, but if you enjoy conspiracies, I recommend The Illuminatus! Trilogy.

Yes. If you don't mind spending a bit, you can get the COMPLETE series (Primary through Quintessential phases, not including the posthumous stuff by the Artemis Fowl writer) from Amazon (US). This version is the best quality from the original masters.


If you don't want to spend any money, I found this "archive" of the radio series.

Any of Bill Bryson's books are very good, but in a similar vein try:

Notes From a Small Island, an account of his time in the UK while traveling the length of the country.

In a Sunburned Country his travels in Austrailia.

Neither Here nor There his travels in Europe.

And though it is not a travel book, my personal favorite by Bryson is a A Short History of Nearly Everything, a history of science along the lines of the the Edmund Burke TV show "Connections" that is how every science textbook should be written. Spring for the Illustrated edition as long as you don't want to carry it everywhere you read, it's too big and heavy to be a good coffee shop read.

Can I recommend "Letters from a nut" if you enjoy these letters. It's a great toilet book.

Depends on what she likes. I bought a "Coloring for grown-ups" for my friend. She likes coloring and mean jokes.

• Almost everything by Chomsky (it starts to blur together after a while). Those damned nun-killers from the School of the Americas! Killin' nuns like they do! Manufacturing Consent is a great read for any teenager, although limited in its explanatory power. There's a big blind spot in Chomsky in terms of explaining the universities, the foundations, and how they coordinate with the press.
  
• Studies in Mutualist Political Economy -- this one's more fun when you don't know the history already
  
• Homebrew Industrial Revolution -- this one's fun but somewhat sloppy on technology
  
• Illuminatus! -- probably shouldn't suggest this because there's a good chance that your brain will fall out your head after you read it. This book and other Wilson books ought to be controlled substances.

If you're interested there is a great book called Packing for Mars, that goes through the history of space travel and includes a good section on astronaut diets and excrement amongst many other things.

http://www.amazon.com/Packing-Mars-Curious-Science-Life/dp/0393339912/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1342447493&sr=8-1&keywords=packing+for+mars

I love my inner child!!

Either:

Coloring for Grown-Ups: The Adult Activity Book

Or

Unicorns Are Jerks: a coloring book exposing the cold, hard, sparkly truth

Thanks for the contest!! It reminded me how much I LOVE to color! It's therapeutic for me.

Edit: I also have Between the Lines: An Expert Level Coloring Book == and == Outside the Lines: An Artists' Coloring Book for Giant Imaginations (totally stole that one from /u/chickenfriedsoup so if you pick this particular book, give it to them)

There is a book about pretty much exactly this. It's called The Postmortal. It's really interesting and a pretty short read

What's the link to it? You're definitely funny, and I'd love to read more.

Also, the "crazy letters" idea reminds me of the book Letters from a Nut. I recommend it.

I think there is some validity to this even though he is mostly known for his fiction. Something like Sex and Drugs may be of interest. The Illuminatus! Trillogy might appeal to those interested in 70's culture as I think several concepts in there could be considered commentary on it. I'm not sure, though, that one would get much practical occult value out of it unless one were a Discordian.

Strongly recommended if you like dry British humour. In fact, I would recommend listening to the original radio series rather than reading the books. The voice acting is excellent and I find that the first revision of the stories is actually the best written, but that may just be bias as that's where I started.

As someone that has much of this problem as well all I can say is reading books or following courses on writing fantasy.

Personally I really appreaciated the two books from Orson Scott Card (Ender's Game if anyone does not know him) which are: How to write science fiction and fantasy and Characters and viewpoint.

There are also uploaded on Youtube the lectures held by Brandon Sanderson (MIstborn) which are free to watch and great to get abearing on writing. Here's the most recent one.

I would recommend giving the Magicians series by Lev Grossman a read. It is a pretty cool and dark take on a wizarding ivy league-esq college in upstate New York.

Recent grad myself here, I just finished The Postmortal by Drew Magary, and it was both really exciting and thought-provoking. It is kind of a darkly comic dystopian thriller about what happens after we find the cure for aging. Lots in there for everyone, and so much fun to read (and talk about!). Here's Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/Postmortal-Novel-Drew-Magary/dp/0143119826

Cheers!

• The Disappearing Spoon
  
  
• A Short History of Nearly Everything
  
  These are two I've read and suggest. The first is about the history and events surrounding discovery of the elements. The second is just a nice history of various science topics.
  
  Enjoy, and have a nice couple weeks off.
  
  -- C

If you are interested in this sort of thing, I recommend going to your local ibrary and finding The Mother Tongue: English and How It Got That Way by Bill Bryson. He's funny and has an engaging style (plus it isn't very long). He's one of my favorite nonfiction authors.

Bryson also wrote a companion book called Made in America: An Informal History of the English Language in the United States. I haven't read that one yet, but just based on the author, it's probably something worth checking out.

Agreed, World War Z is fantastic. Postmortal by Drew Magary is also a pretty great "what if?" book. A "cure for aging" is discovered, the book examines the effect it would have on the world.

This has been done and been done better. Post Mortal was a pretty good book for a sports writer trying to break his mold.

Sounds like Ted Nancy's Letters From a Nut. He sends letters to real people and places and publishes the letter and response. They are laugh out loud funny.

Here's a box set on Amazon of all 5 radio series:-
http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Hitchhikers-Guide-To-Galaxy/dp/0563504196/ref=pd_cp_14_1?ie=UTF8&refRID=1E0Z1PTPGEBY0ZSKG1GG

Thing is the first 2 series, the "Primary" and "Secondary Phases" were the original series made by Douglas Adams. The other 3 'Phases' were recorded after his death and after some of the original cast, like Peter Jones & Richard Vernon, had passed away too. So if it's just the original radio series you want you might want to scan ebay etc. for second hand copies of the first 2. They've been released on vinyl and cassette tape (which I have) a number of times. Or you could go the whole hog and buy the box set on CD. It's not cheap but well worth listening to if you're a fan.

[Packing for Mars] (https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0393339912/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1497231768&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_FMwebp_QL65&keywords=packing+for+mars) is a great accessible read on a lot of the practical challenges of getting humans to Mars. I really enjoyed it.

We by Yevgeny Zamyatin is right up your alley. It's very dark, dystopian, and has sci-fi elements. This book came out in the 1920's, WAY before 1984 or Brave New World. It is difficult at some points but really challenges you and it made me question a lot of things about myself. Good luck getting out of the slump, I am in one myself

Just started reading The Postmortal by Drew Magary and it is perfect for your needs. Best book I've read all year.

I also studied Japanese in college. I had a lacuna of about 10 years before restarting my Japanese studies. After about two or so years of study, I now have my N1. Here are some things I did:

• I did Read the Kanji for a little bit, getting to some N1 sentences.
  
• I read bilingual texts like Breaking into Japanese Literature, though I never got around to finishing it.
  
• I also used readers such as Modern Japanese: A Basic Reader. These have graded reading lessons with a glossary of the words used in English in a separate volume/section. Basically I followed the reading program outlined here.
  
• I kept reading, getting to the point where I read editorials every day. Reading, reading, reading.
  
• I also listened to podcasts all day long at work. I think that’s why my JLPT listening score was relatively higher than the other section scores.
  
  Start with something basic, then try to work your way up any way you can.

I found this some time ago and it looked like a great idea so I bought it (or actually, I bought this one, not really sure what's different). I haven't actually looked closer at it since I bought it though, so I can't say how good it actually is.

It has short Japanese stories with the Japanese text on the left and English translation on the right, with vocabulary at the bottom. I'm not sure the content is as simple as you want though, it seems like there's only furigana for harder words, but they seem to have translation and reading at the bottom for all words.
Also, I don't think they have translation for the same word more than once - so if a word appears with translation on the first page, there won't be a translation for the word if it appears on later pages (though you still have the full English translation that includes the word).

The amazon link for the red book lets you look at the first few pages so you can see what it looks like.

> Doing projects around the house

This isn't math directly, but if learning electricity is on your to-do list, then I'd recommend There Are No Electrons: Electronics for Earthlings. It uses a bunch of analogies to explain electricity and how common electronic appliances and components work layered over top of a funny story that makes it not so dry and a lot more memorable.

By the end, you should know enough to be able to troubleshoot and fix simple electronics in your house including rewiring sockets/appliances, not because you got some guide specifically for rewiring sockets, but because you can reason about it and how it works.

Found it! Looks like a good read :)

http://www.amazon.com/Sum-Forty-Afterlives-David-Eagleman/dp/0307389936

I'd recommend A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson. This book is great because it covers so many of the most scientifically important events throughout history, rather than just being a layman's introduction to a specific branch of science.

If you're at all interested in statistics and how misleading they can be, check out The Drunkard's Walk.

I've just finished reading a novel called PostMortal. You should grab it.

It's the authors first novel, but it's pretty good and he's ambitiously attempted to describe a world where the cure for aging has been discovered. Addresses this question and many others.


I don't know how to write spoiler hiding text, so I won't tell you what he does with this issue.

oooh my goodness, read Made in America by Bill Bryson. Handles this exact question, and in the voice of Bill Bryson: funny, interesting, witty.

Novello also wrote a few books in which he would compile some very strange letters to customer service departments of various companies, presidents, universities, etc. all as a character named Lazlo Toth, then print their responses; they're hilarious and worth picking up.

The Lazlo Letters

Citizen Lazlo!

From Bush to Bush

I've been a fan of Novello for a long time. When I first heard Andrei Codrescu on NPR, I sincerely thought it was one of Novello's characters.

> I equate my agnosticism to a monkey (or an ant) trying to understand an atomic bomb.

Fantastic analogy.

> There is only the search for more understanding in the hope that the future will be able to comprehend a little more than we do.

Or, perhaps all answers will be revealed after our death. Or, maybe not, and we won't care about it anymore. Or maybe we'll somehow move to another plane of existence, forgetting all past lives, etc.

I know it's somewhat futile to comprehend, but I sometimes enjoy the mystery. Kind of like what David Eagleman ponders in his book, "Sum"

Read this, trust me you'll love it and everything about simple electricity will finally make sense...

All these comments are great, but the absolute beginning is here!

Next read the book suggested by ryzic. If you have the money, id buy the companion kits that Make sells for the book.

After reading those two books and doing all the projects, look into some "project kits." Check out sparkfun, The Evil Genius series of books, or my favorite the Nuts and Volts store.

After three or four "project kits" just find schematics and figure out how to buy all the parts yourself. Really the world is your oyester and with enough struggling you can build anything. Some ideas that always get people excited: a Tesla coil, cell phone jammers, tasers, ultrasonic range finders, a robotic arm, mechanized nerf gun, anything you think is cool and can find a schematic for.

From there you a going to find yourself really interested in microcontrollers. And well.. Thats a different comment lol!

The Magicians is a little heavier than some of the other suggestions but is also a good mind expanding read.

It starts off as a fairly typical Harry Potter type story (loser kid finds out he has special powers, must learn to control them, etc...) but with a very deep story.

If you like these you really need to get "The Lazlo Letters" by Don Novello (the guy who did Father Guido Sarducci.)

He sent letters to companies as a conservative reactionary, but wrote them so they really sounded authentic, and got some awesome responses.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Lazlo-Letters-Don-Novello/dp/1563052857

It's a commonly studied strategy for long-term space voyages, including potential Mars missions. Married couples reduce the likelihood of new romances blossoming between people in very close quarters- preventing loads of potential drama while increasing cooperation. Also, married people tend to trust other married people over single people. There are many others reasons that make it a good plan.

[Source: Packing For Mars by Mary Roach.]

Sum: Forty Tales from the Afterlives by David Eagleman

Amazing short stories - He starts with a premis about what the afterlife is like, then follows it through to its conclusion. The author is mostly a scientist, but also has dome some writing.

Very good stories that make you think. Although, some of them made my wife "too sad".

The book House of God was actually based on the hospital this happened in (Beth Israel). Really a great read for anyone looking to find out more about (what hopefully used to be) the culture of medicine.

Edit: and apparently it's on sale.

I loved The Lazlo Letters when I was a teenager. I don't know how it holds up, but it has good reviews on amazon.

I studied for 3 years, then stopped for the last 4...I can happily say that I've started practicing again.

I highly recommend purchasing books like these: Book 1 Book 2

You'll learn history/culture, familiarize yourself with relevant authors, be able to analyze how sentences generally translate, as well as learn words and practice reading! They give you kanji furigana, definitions, everything.

Edit: also, start learning your joyo kanji whenever you want to go above and beyond. It's from the Japanese department of education, the most commonly used/found japanese words. Often japanese newspapers are restricted to these, ~ 2150 kanji

If it's readable nonfiction in general that you like (as opposed to an economics bent), definitely check out Mary Roach, a science writer. She writes about oddball topics like cadavers in Stiff, sex studies in Bonk, or space travel in Packing for Mars.

Pretty funny stuff. Reminded me of an old favorite I had forgotten about, the Lazlo Toth letters, from Don Novello (Father Guido Sarducci). He wrote letters to stores, famous people, etc, and published a book of them - Book linkon Amazon

Oh man, I have to get back to reading Made in America. A great book for anyone interested in etymology!

This [Adult Activity Book](http://www.amazon.com/Coloring-Grown-Ups-Adult-Activity-Book/dp/0452298253/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_nC?ie=UTF8&colid=OWMC4I9GOHMY&coliid=I1UWBSCM62JO07/ "Adult Activity Book") would be cool for me & my boyfriend to do together. Today is our 1 year anniversary :)

Thank you for your contest shabby_paynes!

If you are a good reader, read this:

The Illuminatus! Trilogy


It's tough to read at first but stay with for a couple of hundred pages, then you won't be able to put it down.

It will give you all the inspiration you could possibly want.

Books not mentioned so far that I like:

Lev Grossman's Magicians Trilogy (not 1st-person, otherwise follows your criteria, Harry Potter-esque, some people dislike the protagonist but he's intentionally kind of a tool), starting with The Magicians.

R. Scott Bakker's Prince of Nothing trilogy (not 1st-person, magic is seriously powerful and the protagonist is an already-accomplished practitioner, mythology is complex, I don't recall it having a huge amount of characters), starting with The Darkness That Comes Before.

If you're willing to step outside of prose works, I like The Books of Magic a lot; it's a comic book miniseries.

Are you interested in medicine? House of God by Samuel Shem is about an intern at "the House of God" (read: Beth Israel Hospital). It's basically mandatory reading for anyone who works in healthcare. It's also extremely dark humor, so if you're offended easily I would avoid it.

Your post reminds me of a book I saw last time I was in Borders. Ah, here it is:

Poo Log

Also, be sure to check out the seminal companion guide What's Your Poo Telling You?. I'm sure you'll be enlightened.

I love stories like this. One time I came out of the bathroom at about a [7], and my dad gives me this book. I found a quiet place and proceeded to laugh my ass off reading.

It was a thread like this on Reddit where someone recommended this book. Lemme pay it back.

A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson

Loved every page of this book.

One of my favorite non-fiction authors is Mary Roach. She picks a topic and gathers all kinds of detailed and odd information about it, often covering the kinds of details that the genuinely curious find fascinating.

Stiff is about what humans do with the dead remains of other humans, including her visit to the body farms where scientists figure out the cascade of beetles, bugs and grubs invade the remains.
https://www.amazon.com/Stiff-Curious-Lives-Human-Cadavers/dp/0393324826/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1502060523&sr=8-4&keywords=Mary+Roach

Gulp is all about the human digestive tract
https://www.amazon.com/Gulp-Adventures-Alimentary-Mary-Roach-ebook/dp/B00AN86JZ4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1502060523&sr=8-1&keywords=Mary+Roach

Bonk is about sex, including the author convincing her husband to have sex in an MRI for science
https://www.amazon.com/Bonk-Curious-Coupling-Science-Sex-ebook/dp/B003M5IGE2/ref=sr_1_9?ie=UTF8&qid=1502060523&sr=8-9&keywords=Mary+Roach

Packing for Mars is all about the details of putting people into space
https://www.amazon.com/Packing-Mars-Curious-Science-Life-ebook/dp/B003YJEXUM/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1502060523&sr=8-5&keywords=Mary+Roach

Basically, I think everything she writes is worth reading if you write fiction.

Yep... But since it is huge and overwhelming and reads like a textbook, I also got The Pregnancy Instruction Manual for good info in smaller doses.

The Magicians by Lev Grossman has been fairly popular on this sub.

Your girlfriend might also be surprised to learn that The Giver is actually part of a four-part series. :)

If this tickled your funny bone, you'd love The Lazlo Letters. Maybe not as funny if you are under 30, though. You can find some of them as PDFs on the web, and try them out.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/1563052857/ref=cm_sw_r_tw_awdm_D0NXtb13R62HG

Hmm, I don't have any suggestions in the mythology vein at the moment, but for generally accessible nonfiction, I cannot recommend Mary Roach enough. Stiff and Packing For Mars are probably the best ones to start with.

New to /r/EDC, here's my start:

1. Notebook, puzzles, & book I'm currently reading (A Short History of Nearly Everything)
   
   
2. Gloves
   
   
3. Beanie
   
   
4. Nalgene
   
   
5. Firefox-branded Ogio backpack
   
   
6. Meds
   
   
7. mini-USB cable
   
   
8. Gerber multi-tool + Leatherman Freestyle CX
   
   
9. Kobalt flashlight
   
   
10. Belkin mini-surge + USB
    
    
11. Klipsch Image S4 headphones
    
    
12. Case for business cards
    
    
13. Spare earbuds
    
    
14. Contacts + glasses
    
    
15. Zune HD (yes, a Zune)
    
    
16. Spare 8GB flash drive
    
    
17. Nike sunglasses
    
    Items 18-24 are always in my pockets (+/- a few extras occassionally)
    
    
18. Chapstick
    
    
19. Keys
    
    
20. Gerber pocketknife
    
    
21. Gum (always always always)
    
    
22. 8GB flash drive
    
    
23. Money clip (credit/debit cards, license, a few business cards)
    
    
24. Fob for office
    
    
25. (Not pictured) HTC Inspire 4G
    
    Very open to suggestions/critiques. I really enjoy seeing all the different EDC collections, from minimalist to zombie apocalypse-ready.
    I'm thinking about putting together a car/bug-out bag, but that'll come later.
    
    EDIT: formatting

Two good introductions to physics and science in general:

Bill Bryson (popular and quite funny): A Short History of Nearly Everything

Brian Cox (slightly more serious, but still a fairly easy read): Why Does E=mc2?: (And Why Should We Care?)

My wife is the perfect book detective. I was once browsing a book store and was interested in a book. We left without me buying it. She only remembered two things: The book was blue, and the title was "somehow Latin". And she found it.

Sure anytime
Try checking this book out it has some great tips
https://www.amazon.com/How-Write-Science-Fiction-Fantasy/dp/158297103X

The Magicians by Lev Grossman is fantastic. I highly recommend it.

I like Possibilianism.

Here's David Eagleman, a neuro scientist and an authentic genius of our times introducing the concept of Possibilianism: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lS0b4QCpFGc .

Highly recommended video! Must see for every /r/atheism breed atheist.

Edit: I also highly recommend the book Sum, a collection of short stories by David Eagleman.

Iam not manga fan, so i try this book https://www.amazon.com/Breaking-into-Japanese-Literature-Classics/dp/1568364156 and iam happy with it :)

Many helpful diagrams as well! Pairs well with The pregnancy instruction manual: http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1594742456

This coloring book is pretty awesome!

I'm finally about to start a new job, and will be able to pay my bills off way faster than planned. By doing this, I will be able to have a better life WAY sooner than expected!

I'll recommend Bill Bryson's A Short History of Nearly Everything. It's a relatively easy read but packed with all sorts of interesting bits of history and science.

If you're looking for a book that's actually about writing science fiction, Orson Scott Card's is honestly pretty decent: https://www.amazon.com/How-Write-Science-Fiction-Fantasy/dp/158297103X/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2X9WQG8RJGZU3&keywords=how+to+write+science+fiction+and+fantasy+by+orson+scott+card&qid=1563984476&s=gateway&sprefix=how+to+write+sci%2Caps%2C125&sr=8-1

He's also written a few others on writing in general, the "Elements of Fiction" series.

Also noticed the 'Whats Your Poo Telling You' in the bottom left. They seem like wonderful people.

You should get the greatest bathroom book of all time, "What is your poo telling you?"

http://www.amazon.com/Whats-Your-Poo-Telling-You/dp/0811857824

I owned it once, but then slipped it into some chicks purse during a party at my house. Otherwise, I would look it up for you.

Adult Coloring Books are where it's at, Got My Mom this for Xmas, recommend it for a laugh
https://www.amazon.com/Coloring-Grown-Ups-Adult-Activity-Book/dp/0452298253

Thanks! A good place to start might be Bill Bryson's A Short History of Nearly Everything.

Hiya.

Some questions come to mind. Two factions, are they at war? Will your group get caught up in that? If so, why are they fighting? Will your group play an unexpected yet decisive role in the outcome of said war?

How does FTL (Faster Than Light) technology work in your universe? Warp, Hyperspace, Worm Holes, etc? Who owns the USS Funboat VII? Did they steal it, and if so, why wasn't it locked? Is that why they need to escape from the Republic? Will they be chased? Can they expect the Crystal Brotherhood to protect them?

You'll need to ask yourself lots of questions like these and starting getting more specifics figured out so that you can start figuring out your characters and plot.

Sounds like you're wanting to write Space Opera with either aBadass Crew or a Ragtag Bunch of Misfits.

If you want to get started writing Science Fiction I can think of nothing that would be more help than this book by Orson Scott Card, author of Ender's Game. Some people don't like his political and moral views but the man knows about writing. It has been invaluable to me.

Cheers

You didn't mention books but I am going to give you two anyways: You must read House of God by Samuel Shem. It's a really fantastic satirical novel about first year medical students. You should also check our Into the Breach: A Year of Life and Death with EMS. Sort of a wacker book, but still worth a read.

Also check out the movie Mother, Jugs, and Speed

LOL, get any surprising colors? Also, I'd just like to drop a link to a good bathroom read (seemed apropos).

There's three great books out there that I can think of off the top of my head.

[Read Real Japanese: Short Stories by Contemporary Writers] (http://www.amazon.co.jp/Read-Real-Japanese-Fiction-Contemporary/dp/1568365292)

and

[Read Real Japanese Essays: Contemporary Writings by Popular Authors] (http://www.amazon.co.jp/Read-Real-Japanese-Essays-Contemporary/dp/1568364148)

and

[Breaking into Japanese literature: Seven Modern Classics in Parallel Text] (http://www.amazon.co.jp/Breaking-into-Japanese-Literature-Classics/dp/1568364156)

PS: if you are "fresh out of Genki 2" level, I'd say these books may be fairly advanced for you, but to each their own. Some people don't mind. There are english translations after all.

Ok, here's the thing... he has fiction and essays. Both are equally mind blowing but in different ways. The essays are easier to read, I think.

Fiction series:

Illuminatus Trilogy

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0440539811/therobertantonwi

Schrodinger's Cat Trilogy

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0440500702/therobertantonwi

Historical Illuminatus Trilogy (I think these are the easiest to read of the novels):

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1561841625/therobertantonwi

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1561841633/therobertantonwi

http://www.amazon.com/Natures-God-Historical-Illuminatus-Chronicles/dp/1561841641/ref=sr_1_15?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1236806921&sr=1-15

Essays:

Everything else. I'd start with the book that I linked to here "Illuminati Papers" then "Right Where You Are Sitting Now" and Cosmic Trigger 1, 2 and 3.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1579510027/therobertantonwi

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0914171453/therobertantonwi

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1561840033/therobertantonwi

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1561840114/therobertantonwi

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1561841129/therobertantonwi

Cosmic Trigger 3 is subtitled "My Life After Death", it was written after it was rumored that he died...

Unfortunately he did pass away in 2007.

I'd also recommend We. Both Brave New World and 1984 were influenced heavily by it

You probably need to be more specific... like what you plan to accomplish (robotics, microcontrollers, amatuer radio).

For electronic theory I recommend: There are no electrons: Electronics for earthlings

Lol thanks I found it and put link in my comment.

Edit: http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0811857824?pc_redir=1406027754&robot_redir=1

I have some but depends on what you want

About planets:
http://www.amazon.com/Planet-Construction-Kit-Mark-Rosenfelder/dp/0984470034/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1286906911&sr=1-2

About languages:
http://www.amazon.com/Language-Construction-Kit-Mark-Rosenfelder/dp/098447000X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1268637297&sr=1-1

i dont know about it too much but heard its good:
http://www.amazon.com/Maps-Imagination-The-Writer-Cartographer/dp/1595340416

This is THE deal:
http://www.amazon.com/How-Write-Science-Fiction-Fantasy/dp/158297103X

Another helpfull thingy:

http://www.amazon.com/Strata-Terry-Pratchett-ebook/dp/B003NX6Y6U/

It is called the Eye of Providence and has been used/attributed to a group knows as the Illuminati. A behind the scenes group of rulers bent on world domination and the quest for immortality. A good fiction to read is the Illuminatus Trilogy. Hope this helps out a little.

Also, if this is rather common for you, or you're interested in learning more about different poo's, may I recommend What's Your Poo Telling You?

From Russia, I would add Yevgeny Zamyatin's We, it arguably was the first of the modern dystopia novels and clearly inspired 1984. Margaret Mitchell's Gone With the Wind and Harper Lee's Too Kill a Mockingbird are widely regarded as the essential southern literature. From France, I would read Victor Hugo's Les Miserables. It's really a book like non-other and you really haven't read the best until you're attempted it (make sure you find a good translation!).

That's where I first learned of Mary Anning.

>...In 1812, at Lyme Regis on the Dorset coast, an extraordinary child named Mary Anning--aged eleven, twelve, or thirteen, depending on whose account you read--found a strange fossilized sea monster, seventeen feet long and now known as the icthyosaurus, embedded in the steep and dangerous cliffs along the English Channel.
>
>It was the start of a remarkable career. Anning would spend the next thirty-five years gathering fossils, which she sold to visitors. (She is commonly held to be the source for the famous tongue twister "She sells seashells on the seashore.) She would also find the first plesiosaurus, another marine monster, and one of the first and best pterodactyls. Though none of these was technically a dinosaur, that wasn't terribly relevant at the time since nobody then knew what a dinosaur was. It was enough to realize that the world had once held creatures strikingly unlike anything we might now find.
>
>It wasn't simply that Anning was good at spotting fossils-though she was unrivalled at that--but that she could extract them with the greatest delicacy and without damage. If you ever have the chance to visit the hall of ancient marine reptiles at the Natural History Museum in London, I urge you to take it for there is no other way to appreciate the scale and beauty of what this young woman achieved working virtually unaided with the most basic tools in nearly impossible conditions. The plesiosaur alone took her ten years of patient excavation. Although untrained, Anning was also able to provide competent drawings and descriptions for scholars. But even with the advantage of her skills, significant finds were rare and she passed most of her life in poverty.
>
>It would be hard to think of a more overlooked person in the library of paleontology than Mary Anning, but in fact there was one who came painfully close. His name was Gideon Algernon Mantell and he was a country doctor in Sussex.

Reference: A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson

I feel like my SO makes me a better person in so many ways. Eating better, going on walks with me so I'm exercising without really thinking about it, just bringing joy to my life, etc. One way that really stands out is that from one of our first dates he pointed out that I was being negative. And he didn't just jump down my throat and say hey you're being negative! be happy! He understood why I was being negative about the issues, it was a pretty depressing one, but he pointed out that the person making me upset was just projecting all their bs on me. He did the same thing I usually do for myself when I approach a problem. I use my logic to try and figure out how to solve it, unfortunately I have a hard time doing that when people who are close to me upset me. Well what he said stuck in my head and since then a lot of drama has happened around us and even some with us, and I just think okay I'm being negative about it, use my logic to solve it, and I'm able to solve it before it drags on forever.

This is a fun item I'd love from my wish list.

[Coloring for Grown-Ups: The Adult Activity Book] (https://www.amazon.com/dp/0452298253/ref=cm_sw_r_awd_6Vxvub0ZR1011)

I love my inner child!

Great answers so far! I should add another couple of suggestions myself: The Athenian Murders, by Jose Carlos Somoza, which is about Platonic ideas and the notion of translation; Sum, by David Eagleman, which is a set of vignettes about possible afterlives; works by Irish Murdoch (e.g. The Bell and The Black Prince); and works by Rebecca Goldstein (e.g. The Mind-Body Problem).

I always marveled at immortality, thinking it would be neat to have a lifetime to achieve everything I wanted. After reading The Postmortal by Drew Magary, I became skeptical of it entirely. There emerged a business to kill those who had taken the cure for aging, and it's entirely corrupt. Great book, offering great perspectives on not just an infinite life, but our finite one as well.

if you liked the op, you'll like these:

http://www.amazon.com/Lazlo-Letters-Don-Novello/dp/1563052857/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1254661089&sr=8-1

Now read The Magicians by Lev Grossman, if you haven't already.

It's a lot more interesting if the reference material is fresh in your head.

A Short History of Nearly Everything

The Hole In The Universe

Universe on a T-Shirt

Light Years

Before The Big Bang

Why Does e=mc^2? (and why should we care?)

Your Inner Fish (about evolution)

And just because it was one of my first pop science books, I'll add The Telescope. Which is of course, about telescopes. It's a lot more interesting than it sounds!

Try the TV Show (may be a bit dated now) or the best version Radio Series as an alternate

You might like Mary Roach's book - Packing for Mars. She'll give you some great tidbits about the problems in travelling to Mars.

In terms of the furtherst a man made object has travelled, Voyager 2 has a twitter stream that tells you it's current distance in lightyears, along with what system checks it's doing.

Letters From A Nut is full of great stuff too.

It was a great book.

Goes great with [this book] (http://www.amazon.com/Whats-Your-Poo-Telling-You/dp/0811857824/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1343889726&sr=8-1&keywords=what%27s+your+poo+telling+you)

Peter F. Hamilton's Night's Dawn Trilogy is a must read. Also, try The Illuminatus Trilogy not sure if it's considered SciFi, but it's a good read once you get into it.

If you like this quote, you may like this book:

http://www.amazon.com/Sum-Forty-Afterlives-David-Eagleman/dp/0307389936

Anyone interested in joining a bookclub for the Lev Grossman novel 'The Magicians' can meet at the address provided.

This is a most excellent book...

From the absolute basics (electrons) to the operation principles of radio waves.

What about A Short History of Nearly Everything? Or Seal Team Six? Or The Magicians? What about American Gods, Hyperspace and The Grand Design

What I'm saying is 18 is too few. Get cracking.

I'd invite you to pick up an amazing read...

https://www.amazon.com/Short-History-Nearly-Everything-ebook/dp/B000FBFNII/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1498844129&sr=8-1&keywords=a+short+history+of+nearly+everything

In it, you will learn that the people who actually do the discovering almost never get the credit.